Professor Florence Olivers

August 28, 2012 11:50 PM

Professor Florence Olivers

Former Staff
Subject: Charms
Written by:

Make 'Em Laugh! [III, IV, V years] by Professor Florence Olivers

Florence Olivers burst into class slightly late. She had had a little trouble with her purple robes this morning after a mishap with coffee. She was a little more nervous that she had expected. The black coffee hadn’t helped much with that, hence the mishap. Florence had never taught a professional class before. She had been a Charms tutor for most of her post-academic life even as she had pursued a career in the theatre. She was used to being given a curriculum to deal with, not making her own. Hypothetically, if her husband was still alive, she probably wouldn’t have even considered officially teaching. Though her career on the stage was slowed by thirteen wonderful years of marriage, she had loved everything about her work: the limelight, the audience, the people she would meet. She had met her husband that way. The only reason she could not return to it now was because now she lacked the passion. There seemed to be no point in throwing herself into acting again. It was time to move on.

She had prepared a syllabus for all of her classes with the rules, class expectations, and what she expected from them on a daily basis. It had been interesting creating a curriculum for her class instead of following one, but she enjoyed it. She had more freedom this way. The rules in her class were simple: don’t speak out without raising your hand, work diligently, do not curse, and respect everyone. She just hoped she didn’t have anyone speak out or outwardly discriminate others because of their blood status. She had seen much of that in the students she had tutored back in Chicago.

Since the classroom was already filled with her brand new pupils, Florence walked to the front. On the walls hung posters of the class rules and the different charms that she was going to teach them that she had put up the night before. There was a nice rug on the floor near her desk. She had never liked cobblestone steps or hard floors. They sounded so…ominous.

Her brown hair was neat and tidy like her immaculate purple robes and she was wearing comfortable muggle clothes underneath. Her black boots unfortunately reverberated against the floor as she walked to the front. When she reached the front of the class, she swiveled, opened her arms, and smiled at every student. An actress at her very best.

"Welcome back to another year of Charms class," she said in her theatrical voice. Loud, but comforting. "I am your new professor, Professor Olivers,” that would take some getting used to, “and I will teach you the wonders of Charms. If you excel in this subject, you have come to the right class. If you don’t, this is the class for you as well. We will learn a lot in this course. Now, first things first: roll-call." She called names clearly as she twirled her wand in one hand, the other holding the list of names. It went by quickly and when she finished she placed the list down on her desk next to the pile of syllabi. She would be memorizing these names tonight.

With a swish of her wand, the syllabi were handed out. "This is your syllabus. On it are the rules of the classroom, what I will not tolerate, the grading scale, and what to expect from this class. There will be an essay assigned once a week on a spell that I feel we need to work on. There will be three exams during the course of the term. The first will be in three weeks, another for the midterm, and the final exam at the end. Study hard; I am not an easy grader.” She smiled briefly, showing her straight white teeth. She scanned the entire room in silence before swiveling on her heel and writing the name of the spell with her wand on the chalkboard.

“Today we will be working on the Tickling Charm. It is quite self-explanatory as you all should know how tickling feels like. Can anyone tell me what this charm was created to do?” She picked one student who had their hand raised politely. She never liked any students who spoke out of turn. After a student answered correctly, she nodded. “Very good. It’s a harmless spell to disarm one’s opponent in a duel. It can easily be removed with Finite Incantatem. If you cannot perform the countercurse correctly, then call me and I will remove the spell it for you.

“The incantation for the Tickling Charm is Rictusempra. Let’s say it all together without our wands, please. Rictusempra. It’s very important to pronounce it correctly. The more force you say it with, the more power that your wand will have and the longer the tickling will commence. Let’s say the countercurse together as well. Finite Incantatem. It’s a more advanced countercurse, yes, but I have faith in you fifth-years. To perform the Tickling Charm, one must simply make the shape of a quill with your wand complete with a line going through the middle. A picture of it is in your textbook on page 13.

“However, before you begin, I’d like each and every one of you to write down what you remember from your last Charms classes and what you’d like to learn, or what you expect, from this class. As you all know, I’m quite new here and I’d like to know where you all stand in terms of academics.” Teaching three different years of students would most definitely take its toll since they were in all different levels of mastery, but she wouldn’t let it hinder her.

“Fifth-years, as you all are preparing for your C.A.T.s, it wouldn’t hurt to practice Finite Incantatem on your fellow classmates. Let’s do it this way: I’d like you all to break into groups of three. I’d like there to be one of each year in the group. Don’t be shy. You should all be used to this by now. Fifth-years, I put the extra burden on your shoulders to perform the countercurse. If you need extra assistance, come see me. As for the parchment I mentioned earlier, please put your name and your year on it as well and put it on my desk before you begin.” She looked at them all and then nodded. “Alright, then. If you have any questions, feel free to approach my desk. And if you don’t, well, go ahead and begin.” She smiled again, her blue eyes crinkling, and then she turned swiftly on her toes and went to sit at her desk. She brought the roll-call to her and studied it carefully, looking up once in awhile to see how her students were doing. They were officially her students now. This whole process was going to take some getting used to.

OOC: Welcome back to Charms! Please no god-modding or serious injuries (you never know). Minimum ten sentences, please. Tag Florence in the subject line if any of you need her assistance. Happy tickling!
Subthreads:
Fourth Year Seeks Older And Younger Groupmates by Sullivan Quincy, Pecari with Topher Calhoun, Crotalus, Waverly Canterbury - Pecari
Please approach with caution. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan - Aladren with Brianna Japos, Crotalus, Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus, Josh McLachlan, Brianna Japos, Cepheus Princeton
Fifth year here by Arnold Carey, Aladren with Ephanie Lucore, Aladren
I'm sure someone will be amused...sometime by Arthur Carey, Aladren with Attoria Covington, Crotalus, Arthur Carey, Arabella Brockert, Pecari
One Fifth Year, requiring a partner or two by Josephine Owen with Paul Bennett, Alicia Bauer, Aladren
Written work followed by mixed year work? JOY! (tag: Mellie) by Michael Grosvenor with Mellie Goodwin
5th year looking for partners by Fae Sinclair, Crotalus with Evan Brockert, Aladren
Inviting a fourth year into the Pierce party by Thad Two (and Derry Four), Aladren with Nora Dobson, Aladren, Thad Pierce, Aladren
Do they then make us laugh? by Russell Layne, Aladren with Valerie Lennox, Crotalus, Alexandra Devereux, Crotalus
Laughter is good. by Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw with Theresa Carey, Pecari, Michael Grosvenor, Teppenpaw
Shouldn't be a problem by Madeline Parry, Teppenpaw with Henny B-F-R, Aladren
Fifth year looking for youngers! by Addison Thornton, Teppenpaw
Closed (nm) by Prof. Olivers
0 Professor Florence Olivers Make 'Em Laugh! [III, IV, V years] 27 Professor Florence Olivers 1 5


Arthur Carey, Aladren

August 29, 2012 8:00 PM

Arthur Carey, Aladren

Peripheral
Written by:

I'm sure someone will be amused...sometime by Arthur Carey, Aladren

As difficult as first days were for him, and in spite of the other things he’d found it necessary to do this morning, Arthur still arrived promptly in the Charms classroom, found a seat up front, and was waiting in it, his desk neatly arranged and his reading glasses on, when the bell rang. This contributed to his frown when the new professor was late for class. People being late for appointments annoyed him anyway, but it was worse when the same person could have punished him for being late to the same appointment while he was powerless to do more than frown at her for a few seconds.

When he heard his name on the roll call, though, he made sure to sound pleasant as he said “Present” and then allowed his eyes to go out of focus as she continued to call the many names that fell after ‘Carey’ in the alphabet. It was easier than continuing to really look at her when he did not have to, since she was not paying attention to him and he did not have to see her to think.

She seemed dramatic, reasonably compelling. Those were not bad traits in a strictly academic sense, but he was curious how she would play into the current situation. He had given Preston the idea of a staff schism to keep him from starting a civil war in the dormitory, but he had started to wonder since he said it if it might not be true. This would make a new professor a potential game-changer or game-solidifier, depending. More likely the second; the professors at Sonora tended toward more progressive thought, as near as he could tell. Did the Heads of Houses have more influence than the other teachers, though? In that case, it was especially interesting, with Coach Pierce and Medic Bailey, perhaps that would cause tensions with the actual professors, who might feel that they were more worthy of respect, a new staff member might be especially likely to feel that way, but it would be difficult for a student to try to exploit that for anything other than the sake of causing chaos, and even chaos wouldn’t be that easy, he thought, enough of the staff was a little distant….

His thoughts blurred together as much as the objects on his desk did when he realized the roll call was over and tried to focus back in to hear what she was saying about the syllabus. Arthur glanced over the document, but found nothing remarkable there. Professors had to know that they could not command him, or anyone, to respect anyone else, but it was a convenient shorthand for ‘act as if you do,’ so he let that one quibble go. It sounded better, too; perhaps it made them feel better about themselves, or they thought that if they made the students act in certain ways for long enough, maybe it would work….

Arthur shook his head a little to clear it. Oh, yes, he should have taken that Awakening Draught on top of the headache potion, even though the combination meant spending the morning sick to his stomach. That would have been easier than wandering off on mental tangents every few minutes. At the very least, he should have eaten breakfast and had some tea or coffee, whichever was closer to hand – or perhaps both. He had already gotten through something this morning, and now he was meandering down the path which would lead to his favorite bed in the hospital wing by evening.

With that thought in mind, he supposed it was almost good that they couldn’t work with others in their year. He had meant to speak with Russell during this class, but it might be better to bludgeon his way through the cobwebs rapidly clouding up his head first and then catch his roommate in the hallway after class. Picking up his quill, he turned it between his fingers for a moment before beginning to write about his knowledge of Charms.

At the beginning of the summer, he wrote, more slowly than usual as he was taking extra care with his handwriting, I took a CATS practice exam, on which I scored an E. I have a good grounding in the general theoretical groups – basic healing magic, locomotion charms, security charms – we learned in years three and four, but am better at some individual spells than others. That, he thought, implied he was much less good at the second category of spells than he really was, but someone who boasted of herself as a hard grader might take a point-blank statement of talent as a challenge, and since he wasn’t planning to involve the staff in anything he did, he didn’t see a use for a conflict like that with a professor right now.

He elaborated a bit, then put his quill down and began to seek out younger people, trying to look on the bright side, where he really did need to cultivate more relationships among those groups anyway. He would have preferred to do it next week, though. Times like this were what made him wonder if his father might not have a point about a boring life being a good thing, but he didn’t see that as an option now. Smiling, he approached a younger student. “Good day,” he said. “Shall we work together?”
0 Arthur Carey, Aladren I'm sure someone will be amused...sometime 0 Arthur Carey, Aladren 0 5


Attoria Covington, Crotalus

August 29, 2012 8:34 PM

Attoria Covington, Crotalus

Peripheral
Written by:

Perhaps, eventually. by Attoria Covington, Crotalus

Attoria had chosen Sonora originally as a way to get away from her New York life. Though, now, she had to wonder why she had chosen the school. It didn’t say much for it when the new Charms professor couldn’t even manage to be on time. It was only her first day with them after all, but she supposed that she could forgive that since she had the excellent taste to choose purple robes. She absolutely adored the color purple. For some cultures, it was considered the color of royalty and she fully considered herself to be royal. That didn’t, however, mean that everyone noted that particular quality, especially at this school.

She wondered, however, if the problem didn’t fall with her. She had wanted so badly to get away, but why? So, she could do what? At home, she was one of the ‘It’ girls. Here, nobody really paid attention to her. If anything, Brianna, yes, Brianna, got more attention than she did, but was that really such an awful thing? She wasn’t sure. Attoria wondered just how that had come to happen. Was there something wrong with her? Did she try to punish herself? If she lived home, her parents would have happily ignored here, but here, there was no one to do that, but herself, so was that what she was doing?

Tapping a perfectly manicured nail on the desk while the professor went over the rules, Attoria was lost inside her head. She truly wanted to know if there was something wrong with her. Why couldn’t she be happy? She was never happy. Nothing was ever good enough. Ever. She could get good grades and it didn’t matter. She could be the center of attention or not and it didn’t matter. Nothing ever seemed to matter. Nothing except Brianna. Why? Why did it drive her so utterly mad that someone that was supposed to have nothing had everything? She glanced over to her frenemy, who had become more of neither, and sighed. It just wasn’t fair.

The brunette’s attention was turned back to the professor when the actual assignment was stated. She frowned slightly. She didn’t like the idea of having to work with a fifth and third year. They were going to be at completely different levels. Great. Well, maybe it was. Maybe they could work together and she could just sort of be there. She didn’t really care for the assignment anyhow. Who really wanted to be tickled in class? She knew she would rather not be. Tickling went with laughter and laughter was for when one was happy and she was certainly not that.

Brushing aside a lock of hair, she turned when she heard someone talking to her. Looking up, she saw an older boy, a Carey, she believed, asking if she wanted to work together. Giving him a look over with blue eyes, she shrugged. “I suppose that will do. We need a third year though and I’m not really interested in trying to procure one.” This was meant that he should try to find one. It might have sounded a bit snotty, but to be honest, she didn’t really know any third years and she figured his ‘niceness’ would be taken with more regard than her barking orders at some third year.
0 Attoria Covington, Crotalus Perhaps, eventually. 0 Attoria Covington, Crotalus 0 5


Arthur Carey

August 30, 2012 1:14 AM

Arthur Carey

Alumnus
House: Aladren
Written by:

Age in Post: 15

We shall have to wait and see by Arthur Carey

Attoria Covington. New York. An only child, if he remembered correctly, though he would have to double check that to be sure, and from the same place, if not the same social background, as her roommate Brianna Japos, which he found mildly interesting. Their year was a strange one in some ways, especially for Crotalus, but not in a very dramatic way generally. Miss Lennox could present a romantic figure to someone not familiar with what a messy business being sick was, but that was about all, from his perspective.

As good a choice as any, though Arthur was surprised and a little amused – as it was better than being offended – by her manner when she accepted his proposal. He really had no idea what to make of that. It suggested a level of confidence, bordering on arrogance in his opinion, that he wouldn’t have predicted necessarily, particularly – particularly, since Grandfather’s dislike for him was a family secret – when a pureblood girl was dealing with a potential husband. Not a likely one, but still. Arthur found that interesting, too. Perhaps, if he could keep his head together, this class could be less than completely, lethally boring and irritating.

That was a pleasant thought, enough to help him smile. He had done more of that this morning than he normally did in a week and expected his face to be sore tomorrow. That would be unfortunate; he hoped it did not happen. “As you say,” he said. “I will of course be happy to relieve you of the responsibility, Miss Covington.”

Not a girl like Sara, or Fae. They were…soft, like curtains, pretty, elegant, though not exactly like each other. Sara was too much of something, he wasn’t sure what. Not like Alice, either, Alice was…he didn’t know what Alice was, but he liked her, they could talk of interesting things and actually have it be a conversation, not him droning on to a bored audience, as it usually was. He liked that a great deal. He did not know what he thought of Miss Covington’s type, it was another one; he preferred the other two in some ways, but hers had the potential to be interesting as well, in its way.

He found a third year and smiled again after rejecting the idea of introducing himself right away, since he didn't know how familiar most of the third years, who had not been in classes with him thus far at Sonora, would be with who he was. It would be more relevant once the person agreed. “Good day,” he said. “Would you like to join me and Miss Covington to complete the group requirement for today’s lesson?”
0 Arthur Carey We shall have to wait and see 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Arabella Brockert, Pecari

August 30, 2012 7:09 AM

Arabella Brockert, Pecari

Alumnus
House: Pecari
Written by: Allegra Brockert

Age in Post: 13

I think I can manage amusement. by Arabella Brockert, Pecari

Schoolwork was not Arabella's favorite thing in the world and she wasn't quite ready to get back into the swing of things with it either. The practical aspect of it all, the actual casting spells, wasn't too terrible but the written work just bogged her down. She did nothing but procrastinate on it either. Every time Arabella sat down to work on essays, she just got bored and found something better to do.

The was why she had to resist the urge to show a horrified look of disgust when she heard the new Charms professor speak. Essays every week ? And she wasn't an easy grader. Arabella would be doomed if it weren't for the fact that she wasn't bad at wand work.

So far, Professor Olivers was making a rather poor impression on the Pecari. Professor Light hadn't been exactly her favorite, but at least he could be fun and Professor Regal had been a decent substitute, even though Ryan hadn't liked the lesson they'd had for Intermediates much last term. This woman, despite her theater career, seemed downright boring and strict. Even more so that Professor Fawcett who at least seemed fair and reasonable. Plus, he'd scolded Carrie, so the third year had developed a soft spot for the Potions Professor.

Actually, now that she thought about it, it seemed like Intermediate classes were not only harder-which Arabella wasn't looking forward to necessarily, but was understandable-but unpleasant. Last year, while her class was sort of playing with teddy bears, Ryan's had had weird Muggle contraptions firing weird Muggle balls at them-which the Pecari could have handled probably-and the previous year, Professor Light had declared some sort of stench warfare that seemed downright sadistic. Though it was debatable whether or not Arabella would be rather subjected to that than weekly essays. As awful as that sounded, at least it was a one-off.

Already the writing was beginning too. Ugh. The third year quickly scribbled down a few lines before rising to find a fourth and fifth year. Arabella didn't really know any of them very well, Ryan was close to Valerie but the Pecari wasn't so much. That didn't really bother her that much though, she was perfectly capable of handling new people. Even if she didn't like or understand them, she would remain polite.

A boy that she thought was Theresa's cousin, Arthur-it was as hard to keep the Carey relations straight as it was her own family's-approached with a fourth year girl that Arabella recognized as Attoria Covington, a Crotalus that she knew little about other than she was from a good family and Valerie's roommate. "Certainly, Mr. Carey."
11 Arabella Brockert, Pecari I think I can manage amusement. 217 Arabella Brockert, Pecari 0 5