Professor Taylor
September 24, 2007 9:25 PM
Charms Lesson I: First and Second Years by Professor Taylor
Not a particularly patient woman, Lorraine Taylor had been standing to one side of the classroom door, watching the large clock on the wall as the second hand swept towards the twelve. Ten seconds...five...three.... When it hit the twelve, she snapped the door shut crisply. Any latecomers would have to open the large, heavy door in order to enter the room. Knowing the door's tendency to squeak at inopportune moments (something that Lorraine knew was just Murphey's Law exersizing itself, not an actual spell to discourage tardiness), said student would probably be noticed by the rest of the class if they appeared during her lecture, at least. Although getting away with arriving late during the practical part of the lesson was not completely implausible.Lorraine strode to the desk at the front of the room. Her mauve robes fluttered along the ground, revealing the bottoms of black, ironed pants and equally black dress shoes. She picked up a stack of papers and recruited the nearest socialising second year to pass them out. These were the class syllabi. In her own magical education, teachers had rarely passed such things out. Lorraine herself found them rather useful. They detailed the rules and provided proof that unruly students had known and agreed to the rules of the class before causing mischief. Not only that, but it provided a reference material later on in the class for the more forgetful of the students.
The syllabus essentially covered her educational background (seven years study at Sonora Academy as an Aladren, magical college in California, then several years of work as a magical engineer in Nevada), the materials required for class, what could be expected for homework, and a few rules:
1. There will be no tolerance for name calling based on race, religion, ethnicity, 'purity' of blood, ability to perform in this class, etc.
2. There will be no tolerance for dangerous behaviour (running around, dramatic or careless use of wands, etc)
3. There will be no food or drink of any type in the classroom.
Refusal to comply with these rules may result in detentions, loss of House points, or meetings with your Head of House.
At the bottom, there was a space for student signatures.
Lorraine waited until all of these had been passed out to the first and second year students. Then she pushed her short, gray-blonde hair securely behind her ears and fastened washed-out blue eyes on the students. After a few minutes, the room fell silent. Some students were looking around nervously, she thought. Honestly, she felt a bit bad about scaring the first years. Undoubtedly there would be a few from Muggle homes, unused to magic and completely out of their 'comfort zones'. Today's lesson would be familiar to both groups, however, and it would hopefully give the second years a bit to think about as well. Without saying a word, she returned her desk and picked up another pile of papers. These were diagrams of bridges, brooms, Muggle aeroplanes, and other, similar things. Once those had been passed out to all the students sitting in the neat rows of desks, she returned to the front of the class.
"My name is Professor Taylor, and I will be your Charms instructor. If you have read your syllabi, you will know that I was, until this past year, a magical engineer. Magical engineers use a combination of Arithmancy, Muggle science, and refined magical techniques to assure things like brooms, Wizarding radios, and some Muggle things such as airplanes work properly. The methods of doing this usually involve simple spells applied to various parts of the object. Today you will be learning two of those spells; Wingardium Leviosa, the levitation charm, and Luditus, the animation charm.
"To perform the animation charm, one must twirl one's wand like so and pronounce the incantation correctly. It is Luditus, emphasis on the u. You must have a motion firmly in mind when you do this. If done correctly, it can do anything from making a pineapple tapdance across a desk to making a gear move back and forth. It all depends on the strength of the purpose in your mind.
"To perform the levitation charm, you simply swish and flick your wand and say Wingardium Leviosa. Long gar, if you will. This should make the object in question levitate.
"You will be practising these charms on whatever of these array of objects," Lorraine gestured to a hodgepodge of nonflammable items in a bin off to the side, "you so choose to practise on. Please keep in mind the correct incantations and either call me over or ask an older student for help if you need it. Before you begin, though, I would like your signed syllabi to be passed to the front."
Lorraine collected the syllabi, then dismissed the class to begin their practise.
OOC: Minimum of ten sentences please. Anything shorter than that will not count for House Points. If you are having trouble writing the ten sentences, try to include what your character is thinking, feeling, seeing, etc. Site rules should be followed, of course. Beyond that, please be creative and tag me if necessary.
Subthreads: Excuse me? (professor) by Holly
Signatures and Flying Inkwells by Ebony
Charms Woot! by Rilla White with
I don't like change by Talitha Cumni with Brett Hodges, Talitha
Lucky Charms! by Irene Liddowe with Oliver Abbott
Are you kidding? by Lucas Smythe with Hyana Kamiya
Not as easy as it looks by Liz Guthrie
Disclaimer-The character's views do not reflect the author's by Chelsea Brockert
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Professor Taylor
Charms Lesson I: First and Second Years
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Professor Taylor
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Lucas Smythe
October 02, 2007 1:31 PM
Are you kidding? by Lucas Smythe
Lucas was slouched at the back of the classroom staring at the new professor with a raised brow, she seemed a little strict for his liking. He also didn't much like the fact that she had made him jump by practically slamming the door. Still, she was his professor so he supposed he ought to get used to it.He sat up and pushed his fringe from his eye as a piece of paper was placed on his desk by another student on command of the professor. He kept his mouth shut and thoroughly hoped that she didn't notice him smirk at the sheet in front of him - honestly, who makes kids sign something to say that they won't be an idiot?
He signed it in ink and left it on the corner of his desk. Since practising with his quill over the summer, his writing was still a bit messy, but it was far better than last year.
He listened as the woman introduced herself as Professor Taylor and then proceeded to grimace in boredom as she explained what the class would be doing. He knew those spells already, his parents had taught him luditus at a relatively young age, and he had learned wingardium leviosa previously too, but became well practised in the charm last year.
Then again, if he could perform both charms perfectly then maybe Madam Strict would go a little easier on him - providing she hadn't seen him roll his eyes as she spoke, the grimace he made at the choice of charms, or his smirk at the sheet for him to sign...
Pushing his fringe from his eye, Lucas passed forward his signed paper, smudging it a little on the way, and wandered over to the bin the professor had pointed out.
He sighed - he much preferred partner work. He just hoped that Sctricto would allow general chit chat in class, otherwise he might just die of boredom. 'I hate charms,' he thought.
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Lucas Smythe
Are you kidding?
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Lucas Smythe
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Hyana Kamiya
October 19, 2007 4:10 PM
Maybe *shifty eyes* by Hyana Kamiya
Hyana couldn't hide her grin. She would get to see Professor McKindy! Josiah really liked him, and he was the charms club superviosor. She hoped that she would be able to get to know McKindy better. His classes were always so fun. But she was running late! She had brushed quickly through her black hair with her fingers as she ran.She got to the classroom just as the door snapped shut. Gasping for breath, she had run the entire way, she waited for a moment, and once her breathing was back to normal, she opened the door. The door made quite a loud squeak, and Hyana's face turned bright red (if she saw her face she probably would have said crimson) as eyes fell on her.
"S-sorry Professor M-" she began to apologized in a whisper, which had almost no sound at all as she looked at the ground. But when she looked up, she found that she was not apologizing to McKindy at all. Her eyes widened, and her face turned even more red. McKindy wasn't there. There was a woman there instead, and Hyana couldn't believe how stupid and irresponsible she must have looked.
Nice first impression idiot, she mentally scolded herself, You're late, and began to call the professor by the wrong name. Nice. She found a seat next to the first familiar person she saw. Lucas. He signed a paper that she caught a glimpse of. It looked like a muggle teacher's syllabus.
The Professor began speaking, and Hyana tried to listen. Really, she did, but all she could hear was the spells that Professor Taylor told her about. She already knew Wingardium Leviosa. She felt her throat tighten up, tears threatening to come at the memory. That was in McKindy's class. Hyana glanced over at Talitha, who seemed just as miserable as her. Hyana suddenly had the urge to go over and hug her friend, but she didn't want to look like an even bigger idiot.
They were dismissed, and Hyana quietly followed Lucas to the bin. She couldn't help herself. The question just came out. It wasn't directed at Lucas, but since she was standing right next to him, it probably seemed like it was.
"Where's Professor McKindy?" she asked, gulping, so she wouldn't cry. "I thought he was really cool..."
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Hyana Kamiya
Maybe *shifty eyes*
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Hyana Kamiya
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