Silence is Golden on Charms

Professor Perrault

December 15, 2016 3:49 PM

Silence! [III, IV & V] by Professor Perrault

Upon walking into the Charms classroom, the Intermediate students would see a number of occupied frog tanks and bird cages. Edward smiled in greeting as they sauntered into his class, waiting a moment for them to take their seats before promptly getting on with roll call.

“Thank you,” he said when he had finished calling everyone’s names. “Good morning class. You will have noticed that I have obtained a number of bullfrogs and songbirds for you to work on for this lesson.” If any of his students had failed to noticed this, they seriously needed to get their heads in the game and be more aware of the world around them.

“You might also have picked up on the fact that they are not making any sound. Can anyone hazard a guess as to why that is?” Edward glanced around the classroom at the familiar faces. They’d been back a week now since the midterm break and he was aware that CATS were getting closer for his fifth years. He expected all of them to be paying more attention than ever in class time and making use of his available service outside of class hours, which he would often remind them of.

“That’s correct, well done,” Edward nodded upon receiving the answer he was looking for, but he wasn’t dismissive of any potential incorrect answers because there were other plausible reasons for the quiet besides the Silencing Charm and he liked to see his students contributing and not being afraid to share ideas. “These creatures are currently under the Silencing Charm, which temporarily mutes them.”

“So there you have the focus of today’s lesson,” Edward informed the class. “The older years I am sure will agree that this is a very difficult charm, so please don’t be put off by not getting immediate results.” This was the first time the third years would have been taught the particular charm so he wasn’t expecting any of them to accomplish it within the first practical lesson on it. Edward knew that even some of the fourth and fifth years wouldn’t have much success today. But so long as they were taught exactly what to do, practising the charm was something he could set the class for homework.

“Someone shout out the incantation,” he said before turning to the blackboard with his wand so that it could reveal the word. “Good,” he added to the student who had supplied it correctly. “The incantation for the Silencing Charming is Silencio,” Edward repeated to the class. “It’s pronounced si-LEN-see-oh. Now you say it, si-LEN-see-oh. Good.”

His wand hand flicked towards the blackboard again and the wand pattern appeared. “This is the wand movement,” he explained. “Like this,” Edward added, slowly tracing the wand movement in the air.

Next he took one of the bird cages from the side of the room and placed it on his desk in front of the class. In the process he had subtly performed the counter charm so that the bird was singing. “Please pay attention as I demonstrate. Silencio,” he spoke the incantation and did the wand movement clearly so that his class could see exactly what he was doing. The bird instantly stopped singing again.

“You will find the frogs easier than the birds,” he told the Intermediate students. “So I’d suggest only selecting a bird if you feel confident with the charm already. If you are successful with a frog, you are very welcome to go and swap it for a bird but I won’t those who have never tried this before to start with the frogs. Please remember that this charm won’t come easily so your homework is going to be to practise.”

“Get practising,” he instructed, flicking his wand one last time and subsequently sounds of frogs ribbiting and birds chirping filled the room.

OOC: Normal class rules apply. Tag Edward if necessary. You may claim that your character supplied a wrong or right answer at the appropriate points but if you are doing this just check that no one has already claimed the same thing before you.

Subthreads:

Re: Silence! [III, IV & V] by Angelique Brockert, Crotalus with Laila Kennedy, Crotalus

I'll keep the audio, thanks. by Nevaeh Reed, Aladren with Joe Umland, Teppenpaw

Silence is Golden by Jax Donovan (Aladren) with Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

This has to be one of the most useful spells ever. by Fabian Brockert, Pecari with Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus

8 Professor Perrault Silence! [III, IV & V] 0 Professor Perrault 1 5

Angelique Brockert, Crotalus

December 18, 2016 2:41 PM

Re: Silence! [III, IV & V] by Angelique Brockert, Crotalus

Midterm had been wonderful for Angelique. She'd held her first official party where she, not her mother, was the hostess. Something she'd been dreaming of her entirely life. The Crotalus had invited the first through fifth year society purebloods-first and fifth years because of Owen and Emerald- even Lily Spencer despite Emerald not wanting her to and her not really wanting to either because Angelique had invited her older brother Jack and she couldn't very well leave Lily out without looking bad herself. Angelique owed her cousin big time for that.However, she regretfully could not invite the Newells with their scandal so fresh. Which was a shame given Dustin was extremely well-mannered and Emerald liked his sister. The Crotalus honestly would have rather had them there than people like Lily. She had also invited those of the same age from western pureblood society families.

It had overall gone quite well. She had had the most beautiful dress. More importantly, Angelique had had attention . Something she didn't get enough of here at school.

Unfortunately, she was now back at Sonora. Back where she had to wear uniforms and had no friends outside her family who all had their own lives. Besides that was really really pathetic. And Angelique refused to allow anyone to think she was pathetic!

However, she had no idea how to fix such a major issue short of giving her classmates personality transplants so they'd be people she had more in common with as there was no way the Crotalus was going to take an interest in Quidditch. In fact, Angelique had attended Spirit Club's first meeting and walked out the moment Laila had started going on about supporting Quidditch teams. There was no way she was going to be in subserviant position to the Quidditch players. Never mind that Angelique was a Brockert and therefore not too keen on being subserviant to anyone, but especially not to those who were playing sports. They had everything already while she was the odd one out, different, alone.

Now, she was stuck in Charms though this was one of Angelique's favorite classes, when they were doing practical lessons. She also did fairly well on them. Due to the fact that she didn't really have much of social life, she was doing better in classes than she probably would have otherwise. Of course, the third year was still getting mostly As but she had an E here and in Transfig last she knew. Angelique still spent most of her time outside class singing rather studying and anyway, she'd give up good grades for popularity in a heartbeat as all that mattered was passing.

The Crotalus looked over the beautiful songbirds, glad she didn't have to silence them since she felt a kinship with them. That would probably be her animagus form if she was planning to become one. To her, taking their voices away would be a crime. As singing was the only release she had, the only true happiness she had at school, the third year just didn't know if she could do that on moral grounds.

Instead Angelique grabbed a bullfrog. The sound they made was less pleasing on the ears so she didn't have that same objection, thankfully. "Silencio She spoke, pointing her wand at the bullfrog. It responded with loud croak that was probably the bullfrog version of a belch. She sighed. Nothing could ever go her way, could it?

She looked over at her neighbor. "How is your spell coming along?"

11 Angelique Brockert, Crotalus Re: Silence! [III, IV & V] 332 Angelique Brockert, Crotalus 0 5

Nevaeh Reed, Aladren

December 22, 2016 2:40 AM

I'll keep the audio, thanks. by Nevaeh Reed, Aladren

Nevaeh was more than a little glad to get back to classes. Midterm itself had been fine, and she loved going home to her parents, but as of late, she couldn’t help but think of what she was missing, and the holidays had a bad habit of only intensifying these sort of feelings of loss. She was thinking about her biological father a lot, how she could never know him. She thought about how much she was missing from her biological mother, too, who had popped into her life when she was ten despite a complete distance prior, a woman who now she encountered at her school, their connection a secret, her existence a secret.

She wasn’t sure what she wanted. Honestly, the Aladren didn’t want Isis to suddenly wake up and ask for custody or something, and she knew logically that she had spurned more than one attempt on Isis’s part to get to know her better. She didn’t want to be angry - she knew how young Isis had been, and, logically, she knew that her teenage mother had made the right decision - but knowing one was given up took a toll on one’s psyche in any circumstance. It was human nature to want to be loved by one’s parents, and Nevaeh couldn’t say for sure that she was. The Reeds loved her unconditionally, and she knew that, but a part of her that had laid dormant for the first ten years of her life had been woken, and now it was in its fullest effect.

So even though returning to Sonora meant the return to close proximity with her slightly estranged biological mother, Nevaeh was grateful for it. Classes would serve as a sufficient distraction, or at least she hoped. Charms was a decent class taught by a decent professor; if nothing else, Professor Perrault certainly sounded interested in the subject matter, which lended itself well to comprehensive education.

He took roll and began. “Good morning class. You will have noticed that I have obtained a number of bullfrogs and songbirds for you to work on for this lesson.”

Nope, thought Nevaeh with a faint smile.

“You might also have picked up on the fact that they are not making any sound. Can anyone hazard a guess as to why that is?”

“Are they dead?” she mumbled under her breath. It seemed as logical as anything else, as far as she could perceive, but figured there would have been more alarm if it was actually the case. People would have been freaking out about the dead animals. Plus, they had to be useful for today’s lessons, and reanimation spells were not only super unethical and maybe impossible, but especially in a class with third years, it hardly seemed worth guessing seriously.

She got her frog with help from Scout, telling him that she needed one as opposed to a bird, letting him sniff a bit, and following the line of his snout. Then she returned to her seat, but there was another aspect of this spell she needed to get down before making an attempt. “Hey,” she said to a neighbor. “Do you mind if I hold onto your arm while you try the spell? I need to feel out the wand movement.”

12 Nevaeh Reed, Aladren I'll keep the audio, thanks. 325 Nevaeh Reed, Aladren 0 5

Joe Umland, Teppenpaw

December 22, 2016 7:24 PM

Can't imagine why. by Joe Umland, Teppenpaw

Joe immediately noticed the songbirds in the room and immediately knew there was something…off…about them. He had spent enough time around John to know that the birds probably should have been making some noise with all these people they didn’t know walking in on them, but though they were moving around in their cages, they were completely and utterly silent. That would have made perfect sense had they been jobberknolls, but Joe could see that they were not. There was at least one northern mockingbird present and accounted for (John was fascinated by those little birds; they weren’t native to Alberta, so this was the first one Joe thought he’d ever noticed in person, but he’d seen plenty of pictures), but Joe was confident there was no jobberknoll in evidence.

Curious, he sat down, greeted the people around him, and waited to see what Professor Perrault had in store for them today. Joe enjoyed Charms in part because of the never-know-what-you’re-going-to-get nature of it, though, as in all his classes, he often felt rather inadequate in individual lessons this year. Logically, he knew he was not expected to keep up with the fifth years and was in fact doing quite well to often be up there with the fourth years. Emotionally, though, he was an Umland, and more than that, he was Paul and John Umland’s biological brother. Joe truly didn’t think he loved his brother Stephen and sister Julian any less than he did Paul or John just because they had different birth mothers than he did, but he also couldn’t deny that he compared himself just a little bit more to Paul and John than he did to his other siblings because of that genetic connection, and those two brothers both happened to be brilliant. Paul had completed a commentary on Lombard’s Sentences as a high school project, and John was doing independent research on the impact of Sonora’s artificial environment on local bird populations. When he held himself up to those standards, ‘quite good’ just didn’t seem quite good enough.

It was not just John and Paul’s brilliance which he didn’t measure up to, either. Both of those brothers were characterized by an intense energy and visible sense of purpose; everything they did, they did single-mindedly, and it was readily apparent that those who were in the way could get out of the way or get rolled over. They knew what they wanted and what they needed to do and did it, unlike Joe, who was increasingly aware that he had no driving force behind him like those two did. Julian was the sibling he was like in that, and Joe understood why she had taken so readily to playing feudal overlord. It was not a desire for power, it was relief at having a purpose handed to her after she had come face to face with the fact that she, like Joe and unlike Paul and John, did not have a driving goal or deep interest or highly developed exceptional skill. They were jacks of all trades, masters of none, and when Joe, at least, thought about what mattered to him, he thought of John and Julian and Mom and Dad and Paul and Steve and Gabe and Nat long before he thought of any of his studies or philosophical texts. Unfortunately, caring for the people close to him was not a way to make a living.

All of this was what Joe thought of when Professor Perrault explained that the toads were easier than the birds and that third years should therefore start with a frog and were not really expected to even shut up the frog today. He knew it was irrational – if anything, this was the sort of spell Joe thought he’d be better at than his brother was; even John admitted Joe’s technique was more ‘elegant’ than his own, which tended to involve more dramatic gestures and noise than Joe’s spellcasting – but he couldn’t help feeling sure John could have shut the frog up by the halfway mark in class, at least if he got the lesson on a good day where he could concentrate for ten seconds pulled together. Maybe, if he worked hard enough, Joe could get it by the end of class.

His wand had still not lost all the benefits of its midterm polishing and the eleven inches of cedar gleamed in the light as he took it out and floated a bullfrog, now croaking loudly (he had winced a little when the noise level abruptly rose from all the birds and frogs) back to his desk. Before he could get started, though, his neighbor turned to him with a request he had not anticipated.

“Sure,” said Joe. Well, he had taken one of the seats near Nevaeh because he wanted to get to know more of his Ethiopia teammates. “This is, uh, Joe Umland, by the way,” he added, just in case Nevaeh didn’t recognize his voice right away. He spoke often enough in class, but not one-on-one with Nevaeh enough for him to be sure she’d recognize him right away. He tried to figure out what the logistics of complying with her request politely would be. It seemed weird to just grab a girl’s hand out of nowhere, even if he wasn’t sure she had a way to find his. He decided to ask so she could tell him, as this seemed the path least likely to end with him giving offense. “Should I take your hand?” he asked.

16 Joe Umland, Teppenpaw Can't imagine why. 329 Joe Umland, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jax Donovan (Aladren)

December 24, 2016 3:02 PM

Silence is Golden by Jax Donovan (Aladren)

Jax sat in the row closest to the windows with his striking blue eyes staring out them. He might have looked like someone who wasn’t paying attention to the class but that would be incorrect. He was listening intently to the Professor and his classmates while they answered the question and the lecture began. His mood just wasn’t in it dealing with anyone though. The moon would be full in just a couple of days and his energy levels had dropped dramatically. He was quite lethargic, but that was normal during this time of month. It would last a couple days longer after the full moon before he was back to feeling human again (and there was no pun intended on that). He just wanted to work by himself and be left alone, but rarely does that occur because Professors always wanted people to work in pairs.

This time of the month always made him nervous, especially with sharing a room with John. Barnaby at least kept his mouth shut so that he could hold it over his head and if Jack ever figured it out, he never said anything, but John was a completely unknown entity for Jax. Even living with him for the past year did little to change that. If anything, Jax just found him more of an enigma than he had previously.

Jax had practiced this spell in the past when they had done the lesson prior, so he was quite adverse to it. Whenever they were assigned a new spell, Gia and him would spend several days working it until they had both perfected it. Their practice time had been greatly diminished due to all her extra work and their studies for the CATS exams, but they still made sure to work on their spells. This spell they had conquered the previous year. Still, this could just be practice for him for the CATS exams.

He was relieved that they would not have to work with partners, so Jax quickly got up from his seat and grabbed a song bird. He listened to the bird for a couple of minutes, finding himself enjoying the song that it was singing. Sometimes birds could be annoying, but after the silence that the birds had recently sat in, it was nice to have the sounds fill the air and sort of block out everything else. “Sorry bird, you’ll have to be silenced again.” Jax commented, looking sorrowfully at the small thing in the catch. Jax didn’t normally get on with animals as they sensed something off about it (they all weren’t terrible, but they often took time to warm up to him), but birds never really bothered him.

Lifting his wand up, Jax spoke clearly and confidentaly, “Silencio”, moving his wrist correctly as he spoke. The bird’s song was cut off, but not completely silent. It was almost as if someone turned the volume on really low. It had been awhile since he had to practice this spell, so it wasn’t a terrible surprise that it hadn’t worked completely. It felt like a pretty good start though.

6 Jax Donovan (Aladren) Silence is Golden 296 Jax Donovan (Aladren) 0 5

Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

January 02, 2017 9:10 AM

As the Tremolos said. Clever guys. by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

They were sitting in Charms class, and Professor Perrault was asking about the unlocking Charm, asking what else it was called. They’d covered this last year. She raised her hand - something she never did in class, even when she was sure of the answer.

“Yes Raine?” the teacher asked her.

“Theif’s friend,” she replied brightly, happy to know she had the right answer and excited that she might finally win some points for her house. She rarely lost them because she didn’t deliberately do things wrong but she was usually a bit mixed when it came to class performance.

“AHA!” Professor Perrault pounced. “And how might you know that, I wonder?”

“I-I…. You-” Raine stammered. He had told them this, last year. Why was he looking at her like that now?

“I thought you might fall for that. Not exactly the brightest girl in your year. Things have been going missing lately, and now I think we know who to blame…”

Raine stifled a yawn as she entered Charms class. In her dream, she’d been dragged up to the front and Professor Perrault had made the class yell insults at her, calling her ‘theif’ and ‘gypsy trash,’ until she’d woken with a jerk. After that, she hadn’t been able to get back to sleep. It was just a stupid dream, she knew that. Professor Perrault had never seemed like a mean teacher, nor did Raine think she’d done anything in particular to incur his displeasure. She doubted she was his favourite student because she doubted she was anyone’s. She wasn’t altogether stupid. She understood some ideas quite well. But even when it was something she was familiar with, she never could quite get her thoughts down right on the page, added to which, the shaky, misspelt words and the blotches that inevitably ended up on her homework made her feel like she never did a good job.

She took her seat, keeping her head down, and avoiding the teacher’s gaze as he called on her classmates to answer questions. Questions she knew the answers to, for the most part, but she never liked drawing attention to herself, and especially didn’t feel like it today. She took a bullfrog, placing its cage down on her desk.

“Hello there, Mr. Frog,” she greeted it, “I’m sorry to be taking your voice away. It’ll just be for a moment, if I manage it at all. I promise you’ll be right as rain again by the end of class.” Raine wasn’t particularly squeamish about practising magic on animals - having grown up around magic, it was just a fact of life to her - but she did still feel one ought to be polite and appreciative. It probably wasn’t very nice for the frog to be kept in a cage and have students firing spells at it. She noticed Jax, who she’d sat next to, apologising to his bird too, and smiled to herself. She’d always liked the older boy, and was pleased to see this further evidence that she’d been right in thinking he had a kind and gentle soul. She chose not to strike up a conversation for now, feeling content with just working side by side. After her bad dream, it was calming to be next to someone who she could be confident wouldn’t make fun of her.

“Silencio,” she cast, trying to copy the wand movement and the pronunciation faithfully. The frog kept croaking. Raine tried a couple more times but still with no effect. Professor Perrault had said it was a tricky one, but she wasn’t sure that was the real reason for her lack of progress. She glanced at Jax. She normally wasn’t too chatty in class, if she wasn’t forced to be through pairs work, but he was someone she was comfortable making conversation with, and she was glad of the opportunity to talk to him.

“Charms tend not to work when your heart’s not in them, do they?” she sighed, “How are you getting on?”

13 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw As the Tremolos said. Clever guys. 327 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jax

January 08, 2017 3:02 PM

Talking is cheap... by Jax

Jax had putting all of his focus into the bird and not on anything else. It was easier for him to block other people out when he wasn’t feeling very good. When the full moon was coming, everything about Jax ached. His head, his body, his bones, his teeth, all of it. Anyone who was prejudice against Werewolves had no idea what sort of pain they went through every month. It wasn’t something he enjoyed. He hated it. He hated not being like everyone else. He hated the fact that people condemned him and his family because of something he could not control about himself.

This moon would be a hard one, he could tell. He started aching a few days ago and when it started earlier than just a day or so before the moon; it meant that he would have a difficult change. This made him even more upset. His potion helped keep his mind so that he didn’t hurt others, but sometimes he wished that it didn’t. Not because he wanted to hurt anyone, but because he didn’t want to remember it. He didn’t want to feel it. He wondered if he could ask Medic Eir to wipe his memory of his nights as a wolf so that he didn’t have to think about the pain of it all anymore. But he worried that she would get carried away with the charm and he’d lose half his memory in the process. As a person in the medical field, Medic Eir was a strange one. He sometimes thought she enjoyed the pain in others.

Jax heard a voice beside him and turned to find Raine sitting there looking at him. He hadn’t realized that she had sat beside him. Of course, he had been staring out the window when people were taking seats and throughout the lecture, so really, it shouldn’t have surprised him at all that he hadn’t noticed her. He liked her though. She was quiet, but polite. In a lot of ways, she reminded him of Wu. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that. On the one hand, things with Wu were apparently heading in the correct direction from what Gia had told him, but on the other, her past actions and confusing choices after that only made him wonder if she was someone he could ultimately trust.

Not that Raine was someone he thought in those terms with. He only knew her from their extra lessons with Professor Skies and from when they worked together in the challenges. That was about the extent of it. His opinion was simple but it was fitting based on their history together. “The bird is silenced.” He replied to her question. “But I’ve done this charm before, so it’s more of just a review for me.” He explained to her. “Why is your heart not in it?” He asked, although he didn’t actually expect her to tell him, but he offered an ear just the same.

6 Jax Talking is cheap... 296 Jax 0 5

Nevaeh

January 09, 2017 5:48 PM

I'm such an enigma like that. by Nevaeh

Joe Umland, huh? Nevaeh smiled. She was decently sure she could have figured that out without his clarification - they were in the same year, so that meant they’d been in class for two and a half years together at this point, and even if they didn’t talk a lot, she had heard his voice enough - but she appreciated the gesture. “I know,” she said gently, hoping her tone would clearly convey that she didn’t mean it in a sarcastic or mean way.

“I think I can find yours,” she answered and began reaching over. Nevaeh was legally blind, not completely blind; shapes, lights, and movements were of much comfort to her, as they were her only visual perceptions. She was pretty good at recognizing people by their specific blurred imagine, having a lot of practice, and since Joe was seated fairly close, she found his arm without much major upheaval: a couple slight misses, but nothing major. “Nailed it.”

She glanced up in the direction of what she could only assume was his face. She felt Scout shift beneath her seat, edging closer to the side Joe was on, just to sniff him out a bit since he wasn’t someone she spent time with regularly. “Ready when you are,” she said.

12 Nevaeh I'm such an enigma like that. 325 Nevaeh 0 5

Laila Kennedy, Crotalus

January 09, 2017 9:04 PM

Re: FUN! by Laila Kennedy, Crotalus

Sprit Club, now in it's second semester, was doing well. Gia had done an amazing job with the uniforms for the Quidditch games and the members had been so enthusiastic when it came time to set-up the Halloween party and equally helpful when it was time to clean it all up. The candy-cane event had gone really well too and the money which had been collected had all been donated to a shelter in Pheonix which made Laila feel really good since she hadn't been able to participate in her church's collection event for the past few years. Of course there was the church she went to in Pheonix who also held similar events, and she had done what she could being in a boarding school, but when Mamma wasn't stocking the cupboards with canned foods and Daddy wasn't around to help her buy clothes, there wasn't much she could contribute to a church collection drive besides money. Which she couldn't even do because while at Sonora her pocket change was in wizarding coins, something she was certain would give the collection basket folks a shock when it came time to pool together the crumpled dollar bills from the other members.

All of this meant that Laila was in high-spirits (no pun intended) when she returned to Sonora. She hoped to organise another school-wide party, maybe something Valentine's-y, or else something for St. Patrick's Day. Either could be fun, she thought. The schools back home had always had a fun Valentine's Day party and her dad's family knew how to have fun on the latter. These ideas swimming through her head, Laila bounced into Charms class happily. The lesson, one she had completed at the lower level the previous year, was something she thought helpful at home. Her younger brother was getting to the age where he thought it fun to make random noises and loud sounds. This was something she felt to be quite annoying and even though she had really missed him, was enough to make her spend quite a few days of the break counting down to her return to Sonora.

Of course, Laila knew that she wasn't allowed to perform magic at home, but just the thought of someday being able to Silencio Gabe when he was getting too annoying made her feel at ease. When it was her turn to collect an animal for experimentation, she plucked one of the pretty songbirds and carried it back to her desk. She had felt pretty confident with the bullfrog she'd silenced the previous term and had, in fact, achieved high marks over all in Charms (despite the one or two which still stumped her such as water into rum since it was something so close to the miracle the Lord performed at the Wedding at Cana that Laila felt positively irreligious performing it) and so was excited to move on to something harder.

Laila looked at the bird sitting on her table. The bird blinked. Laila blinked back. "I'm sorry," she whispered, feeling a little bit guilty over having to silence the bird before it had even begun to sing. The bird chirped a few melodious notes in response and Laila raised her wand to silence it. "Silencio," she enunciated carefully as she had done many times before on bullfrogs. The bird's song became muted though she could still hear faint notes echoing around her. Were these the sounds of her bird or the countless other birds being practised on by her classmates? Laila couldn't be sure. She was raising her want to attempt the spell again when the student to her right said something.

She turned to see Angelique Brockert, one of her fellow house members. "Decently," Laila replied to the younger Crotalus. "How about you?" The croaking she'd heard from the frog moments earlier probably answered the question for her, but Laila thought she'd be polite and ask anyway since assuming someone else had failed was never a nice thing to do. Besides, Angelique was a third year, it was probably her first time attempting the spell and Laila wanted to make sure she felt comfortable.

10 Laila Kennedy, Crotalus Re: FUN! 318 Laila Kennedy, Crotalus 0 5

Fabian Brockert, Pecari

January 11, 2017 11:58 PM

This has to be one of the most useful spells ever. by Fabian Brockert, Pecari

While Charms tended to be one of those classes everyone kept-Transfiguration seemingly the other-Fabian was not entirely sure he was keeping it after next year. He was not by any means stupid but nor would he consider himself academically inclined. There were just classes that appealed more to his outdoorsy nature. His nature to be inclined towards nature, he thought with some amusement. Transfiguration didn't suit said inclination either, but Fabian was a Brockert and not taking Transfiguration was just not an option. Besides, it was one of his better subjects. Natural genetic talent assured that he would not fail.

Therefore he had to decide which of the other classes he'd end up taking. He knew Potions was out for sure but he adored DADA and Herbology and COMC just had so many practical applications for him.

Thanks Merlin he didn't have to worry about this for awhile. What he wanted to take seemed to fluctuate based on both his lessons and what the twins said they did in Advanced classes. Right now, Fabian just wanted to enjoy his youth. It would be gone soon enough. After all, while it hadn't been stressed much for him this yuletide season the way it had for Scarlett, Kelsey and Kira-Kira being a week younger than Kelsey even though they were in different years seemed to have backfired on the shy Crotalus who hated being on display- he knew himself as candidate for betrothals next year was a distinct probability.

Fabian most definitely didn't want to think about that either. Of course he thought some girls were totally hot and all, but he didn't want to have to grow up, get married, go through CATS and RATS and ultimately get a job. He hadn't the foggiest clue what he wanted to do, just what he didn't. For example, there were few things he found worse than working in the corporate world and those things included stuff like getting rabies or having his face sliced off and sold on the black market.

However, when he heard what today's lesson was, the Pecari perked right up. Silencing charms! Who hadn't wanted to use this at one point or another? Especially those who were closely related to Kelsey Atwater. Natalie was going to be sooo jealous. Of course, they had worked on them last year, and he wasn't quite at the point where he could silence a human being yet. Maybe Kira could. Kira should at least be able to silence a kitten if not a full grown cat. Actually, he was pretty certain that a few of his first cousin group had used this one as accidental magic on more than one occasion. Usually on Kelsey, but presumably-he was quite a bit young to remember for sure -on Carrie and definitely on Aunt Jillian. Which Amity, of course, got blamed for, just as she had when the gravy boat incident at Yuletide dinner one year where said gravy boat at risen up and dumped itself all over Aunt Jillian. Amity's wand had been checked and she'd been proven innocent. Fabian was pretty sure Kira was the culprit which he felt she totally should have been proud of. Not only for a fairly neat display of accidental magic, but because Aunt Jillian totally deserved it. He himself had accidentally silenced his aunt a few times when she insulted his mother.

So all in all, Fabian was glad to have more practice on this whether or not he decided to drop the class post-CATS. Generally he tended to like lessons he could see a clear reason for and this was definitely one. The fourth year selected his songbird with utmost glee. Nothing against songbirds per se but he understood they were just a stepping stone to bigger things. Things like purposely silencing Kelsey, Aunt Jillian and pompous Aladrens.

Fabian mimicked the wand movement he'd seen Professor Perrault do. "Silencio" In it's cage, the bird tried to sing but what came out instead was basically a bird that sounded like it had a very sore throat. "Well, it's a start." Fabian said to the person next to him. "How're you coming along?"

11 Fabian Brockert, Pecari This has to be one of the most useful spells ever. 321 Fabian Brockert, Pecari 0 5

Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus

January 12, 2017 9:13 PM

Don't I know it? by Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus

Charms was by far Arne's favorite subject. It wasn't because of the professor or because of the flashy nature to the spells. It wasn't because the coursework was thought of as easier than Transfiguration or because everyone else liked it either. Charms was Arne's favorite subject because he had grown up around metal charming and he knew the full potential the class had to teach him. It was probably the only class in which he did not doze off no matter how irritating the professor was being at the time, and it was probably also the only class for which he actually turned in all his homework and studied for.

The hard work had paid off, too. Arne was a naturally smart wizard and he had some of his own natural ability to boot, but with the slacking off he did in his other classes, he was only just passing them. In Charms, he was more than passing, he was excelling and he had proudly taken home a Charms report card with a shining O on it every year for the past three years so he wasn't about to let his fourth year become the year where that O became an E or even an A like the rest of his grades.

The subject of the day's lesson, however, though Arne was still trying to figure out how he could play it to his planned life's work was going to come in handy before he joined his father and Tobi (who by then would likely have already made his way onto the Reinhardt's Metal Charming sign outside the workshop). With three younger siblings each as loud as the next, Arne often wanted some peace and quiet to himself. He couldn't go and follow Tobi to the woods because he knew he would never be able to keep up. But this Silencio charm? Perfecto! It was their second time doing it, which meant he got to upgrade from bullfrogs to birds if he wanted or felt ready. And Arne definitely knew he was ready!

He went up to collect his bird, sitting down next to Fabian Brockert when he returned to his seat. This was going to be easy. He might have been rusty if Charms weren't a subject which he paid rapt attention to, but Arne frequently kept practicing the spells they learned in class whenever he could. Arne silenced his songbird with relative ease (it taking only two attempts since he had practiced a bit on one of the birds outside the house over break) and had just finite incantatum'd it to start over again when Fabian asked him how he was doing.

"Oh, you know," he said offering the Pecari his trade-made grin and shrug of the shoulders. "Alright." Arne wasn't a bragger and he wasn't one to show-off unless he was trying to impress a girl that he liked and even then he sometimes liked to play things down so that they would spend time to help him, so there wasn't any need for him to tell Fabian that the spell had been easy for him. "Just trying to figure out how to incorporate this into metal is all."

Arne's paternal grandparents were famous across Europe and high class American families for their wonderful metal charming products, and Arne's father and uncle had begun to make Reinhardt more of a household name in the U.S. too, so his declaration that he was trying to figure out how Silencio could work with metals shouldn't have been a surprise to Fabian. After all, Charms was in Reinhardt blood like fashion was in the Valois.

10 Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus Don't I know it? 319 Arne Reinhardt, Crotalus 0 5

Angelique

January 13, 2017 3:46 AM

Silencing certainly can be. by Angelique

Angelique looked up at her neighbor, not expecting to see Laila Kennedy there. There was a pang of guilt in her stomach, as she had walked out of Spirit Club. Oh she hadn't made a scene the way Gia and Emilia-Louise had the year before in Fashion Club but instead slipped quietly out the back. It wasn't done to hurt Laila's feelings in any way as the fourth year seemed like a perfectly lovely person and she knew from the infamous Halloween party-infamous because of Emerald and Lily- that Spirit Club did do other things.

And the truth was, maybe if Angelique wasn't in such a sports oriented class where she was the one not fitting in, she might have stuck around. She was just tired of them having it all while she wouldn't be interested in sports no matter what short of like serious mental magic performed on her and was left out when even her less sporty yearmates preferred the more atheletic people to her. Part of it had to be the tent thing at the bonfire honestly, where all the girls in their year except her and Tasha were in a tent together and now were the best of friends leaving the two of them with each other. And they were cousins, distant or not! She didn't just want to be friends with her own family!

Other than their differences in how they felt about supporting Quidditch teams-something that Angelique basically had an issue with regarding the resentment she felt as a non-athlete while most of her classmates were total jocks and beloved because of it -and their obvious upbringings, Laila being the sort Angelique's mother would have never allowed her to have over but at least she didn't seem the sort who actually played sports and in fact, seemed girly enough.

"Congratulations." Angelique replied. "Mine...could be better." She admitted. "I guess I'm not really all that focused. I mean, some people regard this as something they can't wait to do but...I'm an only child so..." Plus she had other things on her mind. The constant feeling of rejection when it was obvious that she shouldn't be the different one. The moral objections to silencing a songbird, even though she didn't actually have to.

The worry that she might have hurt Laila's feelings by leaving Spirit Club. She was about to try her frog again when she instead turned to the other girl. "Hey, um, I'm sorry I walked out of your club. It's just that I've had enough of everything being about the jocks when I'm not at all athletic and don't really even enjoy watching Quidditch games." She wasn't going to get real deep on this, not with someone she didn't really know well. "The parties seem fun and I enjoyed the Halloween one." Minus what happened with her cousin and that dreadful girl. " I just want you to know that it wasn't personal at all." Angelique hoped Laila would accept her apology.

11 Angelique Silencing certainly can be. 332 Angelique 0 5

Raine Collindale

January 16, 2017 7:56 AM

I'll keep my answer short then by Raine Collindale

“Because I like his voice,” Raine replied, when Jax asked why her heart wasn’t in it. “Sure, he’s not a songbird, but it’s still beautiful in its own way.”

Taking his voice away seemed like something that would cause sadness. Sadness to her, to the frog… It would just make the world a slightly worse place overall. And Raine couldn’t help but feel there was enough sadness in the world without adding to it. Perhaps on another day, she wouldn’t have been in that state of mind. The dream had brought her down, but even if the dream had caused her low mood which had caused her feelings about taking away the frog’s voice, her answer was still true - it just didn’t perhaps go back to the ultimate root of the problem. But it had just been a silly dream. Besides which, she didn’t want to remind people what the outside world thought about them and called them, lest they got ideas…

“I know it’s not forever. Just for the lesson, but…” she trailed off with a shrug, stopping short of admitting to Jax that her brain didn’t work that way. Everyone else seemed to understand that lessons were a thing you just had to do because they were lessons and that was that, but Raine didn’t. She found it hard to get behind the spell and do it just for the sake of the credit - it wasn’t an intrinsic motivation, wasn’t enough. But a lot of people cared too much about their grades to understand that. She stopped short of assuming that Jax would because he was an Aladren, because she didn’t really like or believe in these little boxes the school had assigned them, but it just seemed to be a thing that a lot of other people felt - that you could dismiss your feelings easily if passing a class was what was at stake. She was different in not believing that. Just like she was different because her hair was wild and all over the place, and she was different because her family moved around instead of having a home. Most of the time the Sonorans were nice, and didn’t make her feel like those differences mattered, but she was still reluctant to advertise them too broadly, just in case.

13 Raine Collindale I'll keep my answer short then 327 Raine Collindale 0 5

Jax

January 20, 2017 6:53 PM

That is kind of you by Jax

Her answer made him smile a little. It was such an innocent thing to say and for Jax, most people weren’t so innocent. He could appreciate her train of thought. Although he wasn’t one to open his mouth and talk just for the sake of hearing his voice the way he knew many people were guilty of doing, he would still feel resentment towards anyone who tried to silence his voice. It was his voice and his body. He already didn’t have control over it on full moons, he would hate for someone else to take another thing away from him.

Raine seemed genuine when she spoke as though taking the frog’s voice was taking something much more powerful than it was and that it did not sit well with her. It reminded him of the conversation he had with Sutton Nicholls in Potions where she was upset that they had to use animal products for their potions until he advised that she could ask for the vegan ingredient lists or other alternatives. Schools, just like everywhere else, had to provide alternatives in case the traditional way went against someone’s religious or moral beliefs. The school may not like it, but he didn’t think Professor O’Malley would say no anymore than Professor Skies would.

“If it bothers you, why not ask for a different assignment or object that will create the same affect using the spell?” Jax asked her. Raine took the extra lessons with Professor Skies, so she might have a more comfortable relationship with her to be a bit outspoken with than say Professor Pye. “It couldn’t hurt to at least try and that way, you don’t have to take his voice away.” She might not appreciate the suggestion or want to do it, but he was making an effort to try to make her feel a little bit better about it all.

6 Jax That is kind of you 296 Jax 0 5

Raine

January 28, 2017 12:45 AM

I do my best by Raine

Raine was somewhat taken aback by Jax’s suggestion that she could just ask for something different. In her experience, class definitely didn’t work that way. You did what the teacher said, otherwise you got in trouble. The age gap between her and Jax was such that he hadn’t witnessed her disastrous first year, although she wouldn’t have been surprised if he had heard, if it had been snidely giggled about behind her back. There were just so many things that had seemed illogical to her but been perfectly common sense to everyone else, and which had caught her out. From small things, like needing to ask someone’s permission to go and use the bathroom, to big ones, where instead of working on the assigned Potions project for the day, she’d started making her mother’s cold remedy - Kyte had been looking peaky, and therefore his need was immediate and there was a practical reason for making it, instead of the common antidote to poisons they’d been supposed to be brewing. As far as she’d seen it, no one had been poisoned, so that could very much wait, whereas Kyte definitely looked under the weather. What was the point of making something no one needed? But apparently the point was this was school and you just did as you were told, however pointless it seemed or however much you disliked it. She’d quickly learnt all the senseless rules, but more importantly, she’d learnt to just keep her head down, do as she was told and try not to be noticed too much.

“I don’t think Professor Perrault would like that very much,” she said quietly, afraid that even discussing the subject might bring his wrath down upon them. Jax had said it couldn’t hurt, and she could see what he meant, in that she was quite likely to fail with her current rate of progress, so even if he said ‘no,’ she had nothing to lose. Except she did. She would take a stern rebuke at the end of the class, or better still a quiet little red ‘T’ in her grade book over the Professor lecturing her in front of everyone. That was a far worse punishment because it was so much more public and embarrassing. Jax’s strategy was high risk, high reward, to someone for whom public embarrassment was just about the worst thing imaginable. Especially whilst the names she’d heard chanted in her dream still echoed in her mind too. She definitely didn’t want to attract any negative attention right now.

“Thank you though,” she added, because she recognised that Jax was trying to be kind, and to help her, “Maybe I can do it like that for homework,” she added, so that he knew his advice was useful and appreciated. It wasn’t a bad idea, after all, and she would definitely need to practise the way this class was going.

13 Raine I do my best 327 Raine 0 5

Laila

February 13, 2017 1:49 PM

And so can other things! :) by Laila

Angelique congratulated Laila on her spell well done and she smiled in return. It always felt nice getting compliments, especially from purebloods who were the ones with status at Sonora. Coming from a town where she had status simply because of her name, Laila had needed to adjust to the difference in power balance at Sonora. Sometimes it was jarring for her to think that she wasn’t the one people wanted approval from and she didn’t necessarily go around Sonora trying to please the purebloods because she was a Kennedy and Kennedys didn’t grovel. But it was still nice to hear compliments.

“Thanks,” she said cheerily. “But don’t worry if you don’t get it right away, it’s your first time with the spell, isn’t it? By next year I’m sure you’ll be able to do it easily.” And why wouldn’t she? Angelique came from a magical family which meant that if she wanted to she could probably practise magic at home even though it wasn’t legal. Laila only had the months she was at school to practice and so she had to work extra hard so that she wouldn’t fall behind over the summers. Just like how Kennedys didn’t grovel, they didn’t fail either.

Angelique, perhaps heeding Laila’s advice or maybe wanting to tune out the meddling Muggleborn, turned to work on her frog again and Laila busied herself looking at her bird, trying to distinguish if the chirps she heard from around the room were coming from her project too. But the younger Crotalus surprised her and spoke again, this time apologizing for walking out on Spirit Club. A society pureblood apologizing to a Muggleborn for rude manners? Laila was certain that would be a first, especially since it wasn’t a Teppenpaw.

Not one to let the opportunity slip by, Laila smiled at the younger girl. “Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I get it, sports aren’t for everyone. But you know if you liked the parties you can still join and not participate in the cheering part of Spirit Club. We have plenty of other things we do like the Halloween party and the candy-grams. I was thinking of having a Valentine’s Day party too but I decided that one party in our first year was enough—next year we can do that. I think you might have fun helping plan that—” Angelique was society, society girls were supposed to love planning things like that, weren’t they? “—and I promise you won’t have to dress up in any sort of cheerleading uniform or go to any Quidditch games if you don’t want to.”

10 Laila And so can other things! :) 318 Laila 0 5