Professor Taylor
December 06, 2007 5:43 PM
Intermediate Charms, Class II [Years 3, 4, and 5] by Professor Taylor
As with her Beginning Charms class, Lorraine was not so much teaching today as encouraging thought. As with her Beginning Charms class, the Intermediate class would also be working in groups. Unlike her Beginning class, the Intermediate class would still be receiving homework. After all, the fifth years would be taking some very important exams in a few short months and she wouldn’t like them to fall behind. There were a few minds she would simply love to see in her Advanced with Sciences class, although she was uncertain as to whether some of them would be interested or not. But no matter—that was something to be dealt with after the test scores came back.“Good morning,” she said, nudging the door shut with one brown shoe as the class began. “I trust you had a good Midterm.” this class was more crowded than her Beginning Charms class; well, that was as it should be. There was an extra year of students in the classroom now. Nevertheless, there were enough desks to fit them all, Lorraine had made sure of that. “Now, as we begin a new calendar year, we also begin a new emphasis in Charms. Our lessons will now be more theory-based and we will explore uses of these charms more completely. Some of you will be taking exams and deciding where you wish to place your career emphasis this year; others will be doing so next year and some the year after, but it is an important step for everyone. Hopefully, this will help you see that you will need to have a great knowledge of Charms in your future lives—or not.” this last was added with an especially icy tone to Lorraine’s voice. She simply could not stand those who completely disregarded Charms. There were so many different aspects of the subject!
“You will work in groups of two, no more, no fewer. Each pair will write an essay on one of the following.” flick. “This essay will be due at the end of class. You may use any of the books in the back or, if you wish, you may take your research to the library. If I hear of any misconduct, in or out of my classroom during this period, suffice to say that the student in question will not be a very happy person.” A pointed glare at some of the more well-known troublemakers in the room. “You may begin.”
On the board, in neat, white handwriting, read:
a. Under what circumstances will summoning and banishing charms work and why?
b. When is it ethical to use a Cheering Charm, or other mood-altering spells?
c. What are the problems intrinsic to using cleaning charms and how can these be avoided?
Students may choose to argue the assumptions of any of these questions.
OOC: Minimum of ten sentences as usual, correct grammar and spelling is a must. You need not actually write the essays, although if you do, ten extra points will be awarded to each participant’s House, fifteen if it is especially interesting. Please post completed essays under the ‘Homework’ thread. Enjoy!
Subthreads: Essays, blargh by Paul Tarwater with Echo Elms, Paul
uhhh....partners? hopefully my friends are here! by Guenther Heindrich
There are worse things by Elly Eriksson with Allie St. Martin, Elly
Oh no, essays by Saul Pierce
Boring essays? by Earl and Eavan Valentine with Meredith Lail, Eavan
Are partners really necessary? by Adam Brockert
Closed (nm) by Professor Taylor
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Professor Taylor
Intermediate Charms, Class II [Years 3, 4, and 5]
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Professor Taylor
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Paul Tarwater
December 06, 2007 7:16 PM
Essays, blargh by Paul Tarwater
Paul didn't look up when he walked into the Charms room, he didn't feel too happy from Midterm, and seeing all the excessively happy people certainly would't help his mood. He chose a seat in the far back, not moving his eyes up to look around or anything, and absentmindedly prodded the bruise on his shoulder. Despite its recent making and his body's failings to heal itself well, the bruise didn't hurt as much as normal. Paul saw his sister as becoming numb now, less murderous.He was thankful, she didn't hurt him as bad. But Paul was also scared, Cissy was probably holding everything in. He did not want to be there when she snapped and started hurting people, maybe destroying small animals and breaking things as well. He saw her at her worst when she let things out daily, more than daily even, and it was pretty bad. But the pent up anger was far worse than that, Paul knew. He'd kept everything inside, and ended up in a complete rage when only a few tiny words made him angry (though he still hadn't learned, and still kept things inside, except now he had added animosity towards more people).
Paul put his quill to ink and began to scribble out the Professor's words, glancing up once when he noticed the slight mood swings she seemed to have. A giddyness to almost a disgust, but only a slight change in the vocals. Paul was a bit confused, and wondered if the woman had hormone problems or something. She scared him a bit, so Paul didn't look for long. Not that she was horrifying in any physical feature, nor did she seem like a strict or mean person, it was just that change.
He never got on well with people who changed their moods that fast and that subtley. He'd noticed with his mother and her own mood that when you got close to those people that subtleness became far more obvious.
When Paul's mother had looked at his grades, she'd been happy at the high grades, yet became cold at one slightly lower grade (in CoMC, a class he had skipped mainly), wondering why he didn't do better. Or more, interrogating. Or when Paul had mentioned he wanted to work right out of Sonora and not go to college. His mother came quite close to Cissy scariness.
“You will work in groups of two, no more, no fewer..."
At that mention, Paul wrinkled his nose slightly. If she had said no more than two or three, Paul could have mearly worked alone. But now he had to have a partner, and if he left the class, his grade would drop and his mother would get angry. And if he disregarded the Professor's rules, then she might get angry (if his mood suspicion was correct).
Paul chose that moment to stop avoiding eye contact and look around. Partners... why did it have to be partners.
Paul saw a large amount of people get up and walk around, finding their partners quickly, sometimes they exchanged laughs or smiles. Paul frowned and looked for someone he could partner with. Or maybe... if he just wrote the essay himself and fabricated a name he could get away with doing it alone. Who made partners write essays anyway?
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Paul Tarwater
Essays, blargh
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Paul Tarwater
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5
Guenther Heindrich
December 07, 2007 6:12 PM
uhhh....partners? hopefully my friends are here! by Guenther Heindrich
Guenther wasn't looking forward to this. He was never really good at charms. It was interesting, but he wasn't good at it. He needed to find someone smart. Ginger would definitely be his first choice.Looking at the topics, he decided that b would probably be the easiest to do. He frowned. He hoped that his partner knew something, because being absent the first half the year had made him dumber.
Seeing someone he knew, he smiled brightly and said "Nice to see you!"
His social skills had improved, especially from having to talk to 200 or so people at Kaleb's funeral. He sighed. His brain did bring up troubling memories at the worst of times. He did not need to think about that at the moment.
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Guenther Heindrich
uhhh....partners? hopefully my friends are here!
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Guenther Heindrich
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5
Echo Elms
December 08, 2007 1:55 AM
Sigh... again with the crowded classes by Echo Elms
Echo hated sitting in the back. He was too easily distracted and he knew the drop in his grades this year was related to his daily choice to sit in a back corner. His eating habits aside, of course, and the nightmares. Those had their part as well. But mostly, it was just the overall distraction of his phobia and his repeated failure to ignore it.Self-discipline. He wondered if there was charm for that. If he had just a little more he could so conquer this thing. At least his mom hadn't figured out he wasn't eating half as much as he should be. Thank the Way for small favors. She'd have pulled him out of Sonora and he'd be back in Kansas, and if you thought about it, Kansas was the problem. He hadn't had nightmares but every couple months before he went to Kansas. Now they were weekly, which was way calmed down from nightly. His roommates hadn't said anything, so he was pretty sure they at least weren't keeping anyone else awake.
Echo tried to focus on the lesson, but he found himself worrying about Novelling Fury! instead. It was in less than a month and there was so much to do before then. In the margins of his notes, he scribbled down a to-do list and as he looked back up at the professor, his brain jumped off on another tangent.
Bifocals are so awesome.
He'd gotten his this Christmas break and, oh man, they were great. No more switching from reading glasses to distance glasses, like awkward man, trying to copy down notes. Nope, not him. Echo was well equipped now for massive notetaking undertakings--except that his brain had been temporarily invaded by aliens who were experimenting with spare parts. They had swapped out the concentration section of Echo's brain with a piece cloned from Saul Pierce.
Speaking of Novelling Fury! Echo had a few ideas in mind.
Echo, you have got to FOCUS, he told himself firmly. The professor was winding down and that meant she was about to give them an assignment. She also wrote it on the board.
Partners, then. Echo looked around. He saw Elly way out amid the sea of people. Saul was out there too. And Meredith. And Caedence, not that Echo wanted to work with her. And Matt. And Josh. The closest person to Echo was Paul Tarwater.
Echo didn't know much about Paul. He got the impression the other boy was pretty smart, but then for some reason he also thought he was stuck up. Maybe Echo had heard somewhere that Paul was a pureblood and the association of stuck-upness with purebloods had stuck. Stranger things had happened.
Either way, there was no way Echo was venturing in the crowd, and it didn't look like Paul had anyone in mind either. A good match, then.
"Hey, Paul?" Echo hailed him across the aisle, "Need a partner?"
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Echo Elms
Sigh... again with the crowded classes
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Echo Elms
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Elly Eriksson
December 09, 2007 12:27 PM
There are worse things by Elly Eriksson
The new professor still made Elly a little uneasy. She wasn’t horrid or unfair, or even creepy like Professor O’Leary, but she certainly wasn’t as fun as the previous charms professor had been. Her lessons were fairly good, and so Elly forgave her for being a bit dull. That was until in her opening speech that lesson Professor Taylor informed them all that their lessons would be more theory based for the remainder of the term. Theory based lessons were notoriously more arduous than practical classes, and correspondingly far less fun. Plus there was usually a greatly reduced opportunity to chat during class when not doing wandwork. Of course, Elly’s underdeveloped magical skill made any attempts at practical work seem pointless at best, so she supposed she should be grateful for theory work, which at least allowed her a fair shot at a decent grade.Elly’s heart lifted when she heard they were to work in pairs. Perhaps this class wouldn’t be so dull after all! They were even given a choice of essay topics, which Elly thought was a fabulous idea, because it allowed each student to research their own personal interests. Well, to an extent, anyway. Glancing briefly at the board, Elly found she was less drawn to the first topic than the others, but any of them were doable. Working with a partner would probably allow for a little harmless fun, too. Trouble was discouraged, as always – Professor Taylor was such a stickler for rules – and Elly couldn’t help but snigger as Saul was sought out as a threat to decorum. Elly knew it wasn’t Saul’s fault he often ended up making a spectacle of himself, he just didn’t process directions in quite the same way as everyone else.
When the professor was done talking, and announced they could begin, Elly wasted no time in finding a partner. “Hi, would you like to work together? I’d rather not do the first point, but either of the other two are fine,” she said with a cheerful smile.
\r\n\r\n
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Elly Eriksson
There are worse things
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Elly Eriksson
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Paul
December 09, 2007 1:17 PM
And the partnerships, of course by Paul
Paul had been considering his options heavily, and so far it seemed like the fabrication of a classmate would be fine for him. Not many people would want to work with him anyway, he only knew a few people he found himself comfortable enough with to talk. Two people, maybe three. Other people he pretty much gave the cold shoulder to, never liking to converse and find every little flaw that for some reason only he saw.Elizabeth Tarwater had told her son he was far too picky with people, but Paul thought otherwise. Picky required that he want to find the perfect person to talk to or be "friends" with. Paul wanted neither in life, which had no word as there were so few people who didn't want to be around others. He doubted any of the people in here would even think of making up a name just to get out of partner-work, even the very anti-social ones (maybe that Crotalus boy a year older than him, he seemed more anti-person than Paul, which made the boy a bit happy he wasn't the only one).
Paul took out a sheet of paper and wrote on the top with his quill Paul Tarwater and Elizabeth Grishaw he wrote, using the name of his mother and the surname of his mother's best friend (distant cousin and also Cissy's soon-to-be surname). Paul had a feeling the teacher wouldn't be fooled for very long with the name, but she may look over it noting that there were two names and not the one that was real. He looked at the board and started to tick off in his mind which one to write about when Echo Elms came up to him asking for a partnership.
Paul looked up at him, a bit surprised to see him away from his usual crowd. Paul had seen that he normally worked inside that little group. Also, Paul was confused that Echo would want to work with him, it seemed Echo and Elly were good friends. Paul had said some nasty things to Elly in the past, and happened to ignore her the rest of the time, and friends seemed to stick together when it came to "bad guys" like him.
But Echo also seemed very quiet and reserved (far more than any normal Pecari he'd seen), and he didn't seem like a person to babble on about nothing when he wasn't around his group. Paul shrugged in response to the boy, it was much better than this stupid name he made up, and he wouldn't get in trouble at all. "Sure, why not. Which one do you want to do?"
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Paul
And the partnerships, of course
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Paul
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Echo Elms
December 10, 2007 9:39 PM
Of course. Same old, same old. by Echo Elms
Echo hadn't considered the questions to hard yet, but now that he had someone waiting for him, his mind hunkered down into project mode. Question A and B were just information questions. The answers to them should just be a matter of looking it up in the book, but the "and why" in question A meant that no matter how closely you read the chapter, you'd probably leave out something important. The professor would be looking for a specific answer. Question B was more interesting and it was definitely what Echo would choose if he were writing this by his lonesome."B sounds more interesting," he said, sliding his desk over. Maybe Paul was more of a get-the-answers-out-of-the-book person, though. The book said a little about ethics, but not a lot and it certainly didn't have any real answers. He decided it was best to leave it open. "But I could really go with any."
So far, so good. It was probably better working with Paul than working with his friends anyway. It would be more focused, and they'd get through the project faster: both good things. Plus, Paul was one of those kids he never really talked to, so getting to know a new person was good too, and this was his favorite way to do that. It was nice and defined: talk about project, work on project, rejoice over a good grade on the project. Take the goal factor away and Echo and talking to people was sort of akin to him playing a piano with his hands tied behind his back--an activity which Echo had not personally tried, with or without his hands tied behind his back, but which seemed apt anyway because if he did try it, he was pretty sure he would just sit on the stool and look at the black and whites. Or, he might try pushing keys his elbow or his nose, or maybe his toes, which were usually in evidence because his preferred shoes were a pair of teva sandals. Either way, the end performance would be sufficiently clumsy to rival his social prowess when he lacked a purpose.
Echo, knowing his social limitations, was quick to find purpose and goals in all things. He generally did not make small talk. A casual hello with an acquaintance quickly became an opportunity to recruit a new Novelling Fury! member. A chance meeting with a Novelling Fury! member was almost always on the topic of Novelling Fury! ("Can't wait for Fury! this year. Any ideas for this one?"). His closer friends knew he could stop with the Fury! business and he often did, but it was a good fall back when he didn't know what else to say. Next to being friends with Elly and Meredith, becoming the Fury! guy was the best thing that ever happened to him.
For now, though, there was already a goal at hand. Echo flipped to a new page of his notebook and uncapped his ballpoint. Let the brainstorming commence... just as soon as they finished picking a topic.
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Echo Elms
Of course. Same old, same old.
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Echo Elms
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Paul
December 11, 2007 7:56 PM
I feel like I'm in a rut by Paul
It looked like Echo really wouldn't mind working with Paul, at least he didn't seem to look like he made the wrong choice. Which was fine with Paul either way, he didn't have to feel stupid now working with some nonexistant person anyway.Lightly, Paul scratched out the fake name and write Echo's in, showing it to him incase of any spelling errors (not that Echo Elms was a name that required any higher brain power). Paul then went over the questions before going back to B.
When is it ethical to use a Cheering Charm, or other mood-altering spells?
Oh good, it was easy enough. The other two were pretty simple too, but this contained more common sense and less facts. Paul nodded at Echo, "No, I like B too," Paul agreed. "I think I already have a few ideas for that one already. Ethics isn't too hard to get an answer for, it's basically just opinion on what's right. And we don't exactly have to scour our books for the facts and theories that go behind it. Though we should probably look up the other mood-altering charms." Paul scratched down the "B" that they were writing on, then started to speak again.
"I'm pretty sure that it's ethical if the person is seriously depressed, or considering suicide," Paul stated. "Maybe in cases of death or drastic changes, like a fall of money and lack of financial support." The black haired boy didn't start to write anything down yet in case Echo wanted to contradict one of his statements. "Anything else you can think of?" he asked, pulling up more ideas himself in case Echo ran blank as well.
Paul entertained himself by tapping his quill lightly on the desk with his left hand, while flipping through the charms textbook for more mood-altering charms. "There's also depression charms," he noted, "though I'm not sure what good those are." Who really wanted to be depressed. It took so much work. Paul had never been full-blown depressed, but he had been pretty upset for a long time and it exhausted him. Happiness also took work too, which was why Paul prefered not caring unless it concerns something important.
It was a lot easier, so you didn't have to bother yourself with false cheeriness or depression. And rarely things concerned Paul as well, unless it had to do with his family. He wondered if there was an indifference charm he could give to his overly emotional family to calm them down too...
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Paul
I feel like I'm in a rut
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Paul
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Echo Elms
December 12, 2007 10:22 PM
Should I call a tow truck? by Echo Elms
Echo checked the spelling on his name and it was right. He also checked the spelling of Paul's name and added it to his own paper. They could both take notes. He hoped Paul didn't mind. It was just easier to focus when he was putting a pen to the page.Paul agreed with his topic choice and they both started flipping through the book for what information there was about mood altering charms while Paul mentioned some of his thoughts aloud. Echo nodded along with depression and suicide, but tilted his head at death and financial problems.
"It's good to feel bad things sometimes," he put up for consideration, "You can put them off and ignore them, but you can't just make them go away. There shouldn't be quick fixes for that, should there? Ethically speaking." He tried to say it like he was just playing devil's advocate, but he agreed with his point. There were times when it was right to feel bad, and it would be wrong, unnatural, and unhealthy to change it.
He looked down at the page and saw the potions Serenity and Courage. "But, maybe if you've been like really stressed out, or unhappy for a long time, maybe, do you think it'd be okay to take them to have a break?" He casually turned the page, "Just for a little while?"
He looked over a couple other spells and found the introduction to the mood altering spells. Paul brought up depression charms.
"Maybe those are for your enemies?" Echo tried to think of a time when depression was a good thing. He couldn't. He found a similar one in the index. "Same with this. A scaring charm. That's definitely for enemies."
Echo tried to remember what Paul's fear was from DADA earlier that year, but he couldn't seem to recall if he'd even taken his turn. He had been the last person on line, so maybe they hadn't gotten to him. Echo had been one of the first students to go and it hadn't been so bad. A boggart, at least...you could defeat a boggart. Boggarts didn't scare him none.
"Unless you're countering an emboldening charm, I guess. But then why not just use finite incantatum?"
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Echo Elms
Should I call a tow truck?
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Echo Elms
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Paul
December 13, 2007 2:31 PM
It <i>is</i> pretty deep... by Paul
Paul took Echo's nodding for an agreement, and Paul was able to write down the hit on depression and suicide being an ethical reason for Cheering Charms. He also wrote down the problematic but, even though Echo was contradicting it, because he felt he could add on to it to make it a little more ethical. But he had to admit, Echo was right that bad things did happen and you had to get used to them on your own once and a while."Not right away, of course," Paul stated. "And not just for a simple break, the person should really be in deep." Paul was pulling from his own experiences here, a little. Or what he believed should be happening in his family. "If they're just ready to give up on everything. Finiancial problems for years? I'm pretty sure after trying everything to pay off debts and buy enough to get by, a normal person will probably feel like not even trying anymore. A little Cheering Charm..."
Paul found another mood-altering charm flipping through and cut off.
He turned his book to show Echo, "Or something like this confidence charm, may help someone get the push they need to get back on track." Paul had also seen his partner looking at the Serenity and Courage pages he'd ignored when he saw depression. Courage, maybe for doing something you really need to do. Serenity maybe for a person who was always angry, a murderer maybe but not a complete sociopath (Cissy may need a hit of that, she was always angr). Paul wrote these down and went back to depression.
"Well," Paul muttered, "There certainly is no ethical reason to make someone depressed. But maybe fear..." Well, maybe, like if a criminal used fear to do their work. Then it would be almost an equal punishment. Paul only wrote a basic of this part down, as it was probably not something the professor would like to see, or maybe not Echo either, but it had a chance. And that's all that really mattered here.
Paul showed Echo the little notes he'd written down by himself in case the boy wanted to comment on it. "I'm pretty sure fear charms can be used to make someone see how badly they hurt someone. Maybe the someone found out someone's fear and used it to hurt them. A court may rule that this person would have to feel his own fear magnified like this charm makes it," Paul mentioned, pointing out that section of what he'd written, below the serenity and courage bit. "It may not seem very nice, but a lot of people could argue that it's right. Especially those vicimized by this kind of person.
"Many people who hurt others intentionally don't actually feel that the person they harm is actually a person. Some even grow so cold that they're barely human. Putting some of the same fear they put on others may also refrom them, see that they did hurt people and did something very wrong," Paul explained his side carefully. "But I only really think that this is right with fear charms. Depression just seems cruel to me, even if this is only a light version of depression, it might add on and the person may seriously harm themself."
In fact, Paul could hardly believe that this charm for making someone depressed, even slightly, was in a third year's book. He was definately tearing this page out before it became his sister's hand-me-down for sure.
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Paul
It <i>is</i> pretty deep...
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Paul
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Allie St. Martin
December 13, 2007 10:28 PM
It's never the worst while you can say it is. by Allie St. Martin
Allie gave Professor Taylor a small smile on her way to her favorite Charms desk. Her mother, unimpressed as she was by her firstborn's admission that she was somewhat intimidated by a mere female teacher, had offered her advice during the holidays. Teachers, Sarah had said, were simply people with social maladjustment issues. If she was nice and polite, it was likely they would respond favorably, just as people did at home. How the parties truly felt about each other was of no consequence. Allie wasn't sure she liked it, but she had to acknowledge the evidence supporting the theory.It took real discipline to hold to the nice-and-polite idea and not groan aloud when Professor Taylor explained how the Intermediate Charms class would be spending the rest of its year. Allie could muddle along with actual spells, but what made those spells work usually went straight over her head. She wanted badly to look around at her relatives to see how they were reacting, but she didn't want to do that and have Professor Taylor notice. How much of the CATS exam was over theory? She and Lila were lost causes if it was a majority.
Maybe an essay wouldn't be too bad, though. How two people could write one essay was a bit beyond her, but Allie felt reasonably sure it couldn't be worse than a thick stack of worksheets concerning the idea behind and/or case-specific applications of the given charms. She had quit using those post-unit features of her textbook back in her first year, after she realized staring blankly at sample problems with an empty mind was not helping her learn anything.
She was considering who to ask for a partnership when one of the other students, a very-tall-in-comparison-to-Allie girl with red hair, took the matter out of her hands. She wasn't entirely sure, but she thought she was speaking to one of the younger students. The girl certainly wasn't in her year, and putting her in with the fifth years didn't, for some reason, feel right. Allie smiled back. "Sure." A topic. Number one was out - just as well she didn't like it, either - and she had, at one point or another, gotten the impression that mental magic was very difficult. That left cleaning charms. "Is the third one all right?"
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Allie St. Martin
It's never the worst while you can say it is.
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Allie St. Martin
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Saul Pierce
December 14, 2007 12:18 PM
Oh no, essays by Saul Pierce
It was a big class and Saul had either arrived before any of his friends, or he just hadn't spotted them, so he picked the first empty chair he came across which, unfortunately, was a bit closer to the front of the room than he usually liked to sit. He did not let this phase him, however, and he immediately began talking to the people around him, telling them all about sledding, which he as a native Californian found to be an absolutely fascinating thing.The teacher closed the door and tried to get their attention, but Saul was, as usual, one of the last to realize this and he gave her a slightly guilty look when he finally did quiet down. Her trust about everyone having had a good midterm made him want to turn to his previous audience and continue with his story, but he managed (barely) to tamp down that inclination.
He did groan aloud though when she said they were moving into theory. Saul was by no means the greatest practical charm caster in the class, but theory meant thinking and that wasn't something he would just as soon avoid. He repeated the sound more loudly and with even greater heart-felt dismay than before when she added that they'd be writing essays. Essays!
The problem wasn't so much the writing. Well, technically, the writing was exactly the problem. Specifically, the spelling. Every essay he'd ever written at Sonora had come back drowning in red in and it was all spelling mistakes. It was terrifying to look at a paper covered with that much red.
The teacher's gaze flickered briefly toward him as she warned against misconduct, so he forced a wide-eyed innocent look at her, but it faded quickly as she moved her warning onto somebody else. "I hate essays," he complained aloud as his classmates broke out into pairs.
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Saul Pierce
Oh no, essays
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Saul Pierce
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Elly
December 14, 2007 12:28 PM
Always look on the bright side of life. by Elly
Elly smiled at the brunette girl who’d agreed to be her partner. Elly didn’t know who she was, but that was fairly usual – unless they played Quidditch or were called Briony or Pepper, Elly hardly knew any of the older students. “Is the third one alright?”“Yep,” Elly replied. She glanced at the board to check what she’d agreed to – ‘What are the problems intrinsic to using cleaning charms and how can these be avoided?’. She would have to check what intrinsic meant.
“I’m Elly,” she told the other girl, holding out her hand in greeting. It was a polite gesture she’d recently fallen out of the habit of using, but it seemed the right thing to do in this instance. “Nice to meet you,” she added, smiling. Once the other girl had introduced herself, Elly shook out a new sheet of parchment and took the lid off her biro – her handwriting with a quill was so messy it often wasn’t worth the effort.
“So,” Elly began, having written the title ‘Plan’ at the top of the page, “do you know what intrinsic means? Is it something like the problems you get when you use cleaning charms?” Knowing what the question meant was going to be her first step in writing the essay. The second step would be pooling ideas in a plan - at least, that was what Elly would do unless her partner had a preferred essay-writing method.
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Elly
Always look on the bright side of life.
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Elly
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Allie
December 14, 2007 8:41 PM
There always is one, technically speaking. by Allie
Allie was relieved to hear that topic three was acceptable to the other girl. This partnership appeared to be getting off on the right foot. It was still odd to see girls shake hands instead of curtsy, but she had learned how. "Allie," she responded, deciding the informal introduction was more appropriate to the situation. Picking those things out was easier than it had been. "Nice to meet you, too."Allie looked curiously at the object Elly was using like a quill, but didn't say anything. She'd seen other students, most of whom she thought were Muggleborns, using things of a similar appearance, but she'd never heard a name used to refer to them. "The inevitable problems that come with the charm, yes," she said when asked what 'intrinsic' meant. A moment of affection for her tutors came and went. They had given her a fairly good vocabulary, even if she didn't use it much.
There was nothing written under the heading of 'plans'. A logical next step was making some. She thought that would include points to cover. "So..." Allie bit her lower lip, as she always did while she was thinking. "I've never had to use one myself, but I think that cleaning charms are a little hard to control the strength of." She wasn't quite sure those words had come out in the right order.
Best to just move on and pretend it hadn't happened, if it had. "Mama won't let the elves use magic to clean the good antiques," she explained. "She uses them if something gets on the tablecloth or our robes sometimes, but never on the drapes or the good china or...those kinds of things. All I can think of is the charm being too harsh for old things." She gave her partner a slightly anxious look. Presenting a theory, especially one of her own invention, was not among her accustomed pastimes. Allie reached for her bookbag and the textbook it contained. The book was much more reliable than deductive logic, or whatever kind of logic it was.
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Allie
There always is one, technically speaking.
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Allie
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Echo Elms
December 15, 2007 11:48 PM
Let me just rig this up, I'll have you out in a jiffy! by Echo Elms
Echo nodded to himself, grimacing slightly about Paul's opinion that charms shouldn't be used for just a simple break. He was probably right. Charms could have unpredictable effects sometimes, he knew, and it wasn't smart to mess with your emotions. He jotted this idea down, and tried to think of others like it as Paul tried to verbalize his own take on it.See, there was this dance coming up. The whole school would be there. There would be music and dancing and couples and Elly looking her best and talking loudly, and Meredith giggling and showing off all the manners she'd been taught that summer, and making fun of them. And Saul would finally have chosen between Pepper and Briony. Matt might get up the guts to ask Meredith. Josh might ask Danae. Brett and Irene were the only definite couple there.
Echo wanted to go. If a charm could nullify his phobia for one night, that would be the night he'd choose. It was just a stupid dance, sure, but it was also the Event of the Year. Was it ethical to try? Paul saids no. No mood altering for a little break from the chronic terror of everyday life.
It probably wouldn't work anyway. The intended effect would be to overcome the phobia, not to overcome the fear of revealing his crush on Elly... to Elly. It was best not to chance it. Courage could mean anything.
He added side effects to his list.
But, at the same time, think of the benefits. Maybe one night without fear would recondition his brain to not be afraid. It wasn't a logical fear anyway. It was a nightmare he had when he was a little kid and when he woke up, he thought it was real. He never managed to shake it. Maybe a charm would help where muggle therapy had failed.
Of course, if that were so, wouldn't Mr. Whats-his-name in the Hospital Wing have prescribed that to begin with? Wouldn't he have recommended a Wizarding Psychiatrist when he blurted Echo's secrets to his parents?
Get back on track, Echo added to his notes. Paul was adding it too, for his own reasons, and was responsible for inspiring Echo's thoughts in that direction. He couldn't agree more.
He pulled away from his own problems to keep up with Paul and his thoughts about controlling criminals. Fear was definitely a punishment. However, "You sort of get used to fear, after awhile. I mean, you get a higher tolerance for it I mean. I don't think I'd want a criminal being able to deal with fear that well."
Maybe that comment was a little too personal. It seemed like it. Paul might not think so, though, since they didn't know each other real well. Still, this was quickly becoming a personal topic altogether. Maybe it was for Paul, too, since he seemed to know a lot about depression. You never knew. Nikki had turned out to be bipolar.
"I don't know much about depression," Echo admitted. What he knew ended at the fact that Brett had gotten kind of depressed last year and it had been annoying. He got real down on himself and on everyone else, too. Good thing Irene came along.
"Okay," he said and tried to think of a way to sum up what they'd been saying and translate it into essay speak, "So... Using mood altering charms is only ethical... when the.. subject... is in danger of committing suicide," There was more to it and that was just exactly what was already said. "Or... has a chronic emotional imbalance that needs to be corrected."
That was horrible.
"Do we want to choose a particular type of mood altering charm to focus on? You know, like, narrow the topic."
What topics did they even have here? He started trying to organize the information into different topics:
Types of Charms: Positive emotion charms, negative emotion charms, neutral emotion charms
Situations where charms are used: When is charm use okay
when is charms use not okay
Who should decide when it is okay: User, Parents,
Are charms more like medicine or more like recreational drugs?
What are the side effects of charms? Good? Bad?
He showed his notes to Paul.
21
Echo Elms
Let me just rig this up, I'll have you out in a jiffy!
93
Echo Elms
0
5
Elly
December 16, 2007 1:50 PM
Every cloud has a silver lining. by Elly
Elly and Allie. Well that was worth a smile. Elly was smiling already, though, so Allie probably didn’t think she was too odd. Allie was able to clarify what the question meant, too. She didn’t seem to be a bad choice in partner at all. She even offered up some good ideas for the plan. Elly jotted down ‘difficult to control strength’. Allie attempted to explain her point by talking about House Elves, but she succeeded in doing little but losing Elly completely. Although Elly was vaguely aware of the existence of Prairie Elves at Sonora, her experience of them went no further than that. Elly nodded, in a way she hoped conveyed her understanding, limited as it was. It did make some sort of sense that cleaning charms shouldn’t be used on old or delicate items, in case they got damaged.Allie pulled out her textbook then, and Elly thought that was a good idea, and followed suit. Professor Taylor did seem the sort who would like to see references for their ideas, so taking notes from the book might be a good idea. While she was looking for the right section in her book, Elly said, “I guess you might get the wrong sort of cleaning spell. I mean, I know there are some different spells – maybe you wouldn’t want to use the same spell on your silk robes as you would cleaning out your cauldron.” Elly couldn’t help but giggle at the mental image her point had conjured. She jotted down ‘correct use of different cleaning spells’ on her plan, too.
There were a few pages in Elly’s textbook about cleaning charms, and she didn’t think she would have time to read it all and write the essay with Allie before the lesson was up – perhaps a little skim reading was in order. “Hey,” she said, scanning one of the subtitles, “what about magical interference when using charms to clean items that are already charmed?”
0
Elly
Every cloud has a silver lining.
0
Elly
0
5
Earl and Eavan Valentine
December 22, 2007 4:41 AM
Boring essays? by Earl and Eavan Valentine
Earl stared at the spinning wand, following its motion with a slight twist in in his head. When the wand began to slow down, Earl twisted it again, continuing to follow the wand with his head, When the wand began to slow down a second time, Earl went to twist it again, but it was snatched from his desk."Hey!" Earl lifted his head and his eyes slid momentarily out of focus from the dizziness. "Eavan, give it back." Earl held out his hand to his sister, but she just grinned and held his wand out of reach.
"Eavan!" Earl said, just a bit louder, so that the person sitting in front of him turned to look for a second. But before Eavan could respond, Professor Taylor began the class and Eavan shut her mouth and tossed Earl's wand back with a roll of her eyes. Earl gave her the evil eye, but she didn't see as Eavan had begun pulling her book, quill and ink from her bag. Earl saw the butterfly he had given her flapping happily on the front. He smiled and then followed her lead.
Both siblings groaned at the announcement that they were going to be learning theory. Earl more than Eavan because he knew it was going to be on the CATs and so he actually had to pay attention and learn it. Both he and Eavan scrawled down the main points of what Professor Taylor had said.
At least they could work in pairs on the stupid essays. When they were dismissed to find their partners, Eavan turned to her brother in the hopes they they could work together, but Earl had already turned to the person on the opposite side of him and was tapping them on the shoulder.
"Hey. You got a partner?" he asked, while trying to avoid Eavan's eyes staring at him. Eavan finally sighed and turned to the person in front of her who hadn't seemed to have found a partner yet. She repeated her brother's action of tapping the person on the shoulder, but she asked much more politely.
"Hi! Do you need a partner?"
0
Earl and Eavan Valentine
Boring essays?
0
Earl and Eavan Valentine
0
5
Paul
December 22, 2007 6:16 PM
*bats eyelashes* mah hero by Paul
Paul thought he noticed Echo sinking a little when Paul mentioned that the charms shouldn't be used for a little break. He believed he may have imagined it, or maybe not, he wasn't sure. But he did wonder whether Echo wanted to believe he could use this charm, or did Paul just shoot down an idea he really believed in?Well, Paul didn't ask. He didn't particularly care and he didn't want to pry into the boy's life. They were partners in this one class, not best friends forever or whatever in the world they called the people who you told everything to. Also, Paul knew what he believed in was correct (at least in his eyes).
His ideas came from a few years ago, a month or so after Paul's father had been bitten by a werewolf. Dad was really upset and took mainly to being locked in one of the empty rooms. Paul remembered his mother (a normally extremely happy-go-lucky woman) flipping through a book. She'd went upstairs to show it to Dad, while Paul stayed downstairs with his new kitten, Lussni.
Cissy had followed Mom.
Paul had been told later what happened (he'd thought the earlier noise was Grandfather...). Dad had yelled at Mom that he wasn't going to use artificial spells to be happy and how dare she suggest it. He said he could take care of himself and so could Mom.
The next day he'd sucked up his sadness and went out looking for a job.
Echo made a note on the criminal bit, and Paul recognized his point. Whatever his sister's fear was, Paul certainly didn't want her getting over it at all. It was a benefit, knowing everyone had a fear, even the people you feared most. Even if he wasn't exactly sure of hers (though he was guessing it had to do with the marriage thing) if she got over it, there might be another fear deep down, one harder to find or stimulate.
But who could pass up something that may reform that criminal? Even with that chance. Paul tried to think, wanting to justify his idea. "Maybe in small doeses then. Just a little fear for an hour every week or month. Depending on the person," Paul mused aloud. "Its true, you don't want a criminal getting used to something like that though."
"I don't know much about depression,"
Paul nodded, not many people really did. Especially not at this age, where you only really knew adolescent problems that may seem big but in actuality really probably weren't. "I know a little," he stated, remembering the memory of his father. Thomas Tarwater still had a depressed additude to be honest, he seemed to feel useless.
Paul had never really been depressed though, his main emotions being fear and indifference. A little happiness when he was alone, and guilt three days a month. He had no reason for being depressed (sad maybe, not depressed).
"Choosing one type should make the essay a little less messy, though we should draw some examples on other charms," Paul agreed, checking his notes for something they had a few opinions for. Paul had a lot for fear, that criminal bit, there was a lot for cheering charms too, and courage. Paul looked at Echo, "I'd say either the fear, cheering, or courage for the main charms. They have a lot of topic on them, so it will be wordy. Also, they're the more interesting ones, at least to me..."
Paul pulled the outline Echo traced out closer to himself nodding. "Good, we'll use this too, do you want to write or should I?" he asked, not looking at the boy as he reread the outline. "And which charm should we use?"
0
Paul
*bats eyelashes* mah hero
0
Paul
0
5
Allie
December 29, 2007 1:06 AM
Just look at the glass as half-full. by Allie
Allie nodded when Elly brought up the possibility of using the wrong spell. She hadn't thought of that, which went to prove the validity of the point. "That could definitely be a bad idea," she agreed when the example of silk robes and dirty cauldrons was made. "Er..." Skimming, she noticed at once, was not going to work. The relevant passages were as foreign as the collection of withering Greek phrases Alban liked to rattle off at Lila. "Scouring charms would be the best bet for the cauldrons," she said after a moment.She was still struggling to speed-read and comprehend what she was speed-reading when Elly spoke again. "Good point," she acknowledged, looking up briefly to smile at the other girl. It seemed she'd lucked out and landed a partner more intelligent than herself, which worked in her favor. Allie was always slightly uncomfortable with such arrangements - it felt like cheating, something she'd never even tried to do - but that was how it went.
"I don't think just taking the charm off would work well," she said. "Residues and all that, and then there's all the people who aren't good enough at charms to work the spells and patent issues and...stuff." It was a bit of a lame end to the sentence, but she had no real practical experiences with the things she was talking about. They all fell under the category of things her father and sometimes her uncles worried about and that she and the other women heard a bit about every now and then. "That's probably why there's the market for cleaning potions."
She bit her lip thoughtfully, still scanning her book for key phrases. "I'd think wards and cursed objects would be harder to work with than other things. The whole point of them is to make bad things happen to people who mess with the enchantments. Not that it really matters if the spell is just doing what it's supposed to or if it's accidental if you're the wizard getting blown up, I suppose." She was definitely spending too much time around Little Julian if she was thinking along those lines.
OOC: Sorry for the delay!
16
Allie
Just look at the glass as half-full.
76
Allie
0
5
Elly
December 31, 2007 8:43 AM
Optimism is the way forward by Elly
“Scouring charms would be the best for cauldrons,” Allie asserted. Elly nodded, and added it to her notes. She was glad that she had partnered with Allie, because, judging by her knowledge of charms and familiarity with house elves, she was from a magical family. Whereas Elly could read all the books in the library, and practise the spells until they were perfect, she often didn’t really understand the significance of what she was learning with respect to this world she was now a part of. For example, she had guessed that the same charm shouldn’t be used for cauldrons as for robes, but Allie actually knew which were the best charms for each scenario.Similarly, Elly guessed that mixing cleaning charms with already-charmed objects wasn’t a good idea, but Allie was able to give examples of what could go wrong, and why. She even offered the solution of cleaning potions. Elly listened to Allie’s comments, and scribbled them down onto her parchment along with the other points amassed so far.
“Cleaning potions,” Elly repeated. “That’s a good point for the second part of the question, about overcoming the problems.” She sucked the end of her biro while she thought, but soon stopped because it tasted disgusting. She took to tickling her chin with it, instead. “We could do with a bit more about how to avoid the problems, though.”
Elly laughed at Allie’s comments about the cursed objects. A wizard exploding himself probably wouldn’t be very funny in reality, but it was an amusing mental picture at any rate. “I suppose there’s a charm or something to work out if objects are cursed before you try cleaning them?” she suggested. They were crossing into the realms of DADA now, and Elly thought she might soon be out of her depths. Twirling an orange ringlet around her fingers – her hair smelled of the new lavender shampoo she’d received from her mother’s family for Christmas – Elly said, “Here’s what I’ve got so far, anyway.” She pushed her notes so Allie could see them, too, and re-read what little she had written.
What are the problems intrinsic to using cleaning charms and how can these be avoided?
Plan
- difficult to control strength - too harsh for old or delicate things
- correct use of different cleaning spells e.g. scouring charms for cauldrons not suitable for robes etc
- items already charmed – residues - patent issues (like legal brands?) – wards and cursed objects
- skill of charm caster
- market for cleaning potions
OOC: Don't worry about it :) Did you want to bother with actually writing the essay for those extra points?
0
Elly
Optimism is the way forward
0
Elly
0
5
Meredith Lail
January 15, 2008 9:02 PM
Sounds about right. by Meredith Lail
Class was one of the few things Meredith wouldn’t bend over backwards for. While she wouldn’t mope from room to room, as was completely against her nature in any situation, she certainly wasn’t going to hurry. Unless she was having a race perhaps. She entered the crowded Charms classroom just on time for class to begin. She had gotten distracted on her way there by a daydream of her, Elly, and Echo skulking down a hidden hallway and finding something absolutely incredible. She ended up going down a wrong hallway and only finding a few snooty paintings clicking their tongues at her.Mere grabbed an available seat and waited for Professor Taylor to start the lesson. At least when it came to classes like Charms or Transfiguration, interesting things could come from poorly done spells and there was always someone who didn’t quite catch on right away, namely herself. It was something to look forward to.
Or maybe not. It was a theory day. Actually, it was a theory semester according to the professor. They were being made to write an essay. At least she wouldn’t have to write it on her own. Maybe Meredith ought to say that Academics in general wasn’t something she would bend over backwards for. The students were told to begin and started partnering up. Mere didn’t know who would be good for helping her write her essay. She did know that Elly, Echo, Matt or any of her friends would definitely make it more entertaining. She looked at the topics to choose from. Entertaining couldn’t hurt.
Before she could pick someone, someone else picked her. She turned around to look inquiringly at the girl who tapped her shoulder. Eaven, she was pretty sure her name was, only because she was a fellow third year.
“Sure do.” Mere answered with a grin, turning around to sit backwards in her seat so she could see her partner better. She opened her bag to start getting her usual class items out. “I hope theory doesn’t mean essays for the rest of the year,” she started as she took out her parchment and a quill and inkwell. “Imagine a class like that. All writing, all the time.” She stuck out her tongue distastefully, but laughed. “So, any topics catch your interest?” Because none of them caught hers.
0
Meredith Lail
Sounds about right.
0
Meredith Lail
0
5
Adam Brockert
January 17, 2008 10:00 AM
Are partners really necessary? by Adam Brockert
The idea of doing an essay didn't thrill Adam. He always had massive anxiety over whether or not he was saying things right. Adam didn't feel he was any better at communicating ideas by writing than he was in everyday conversation. Everything he said was completely stupid no matter what medium he used. The only advantage to writing was that he could go back over what he'd written and change it, which Adam often found himself doing...and even then he wasn't thrilled with the results. Not that things had to be absolutely perfect, but he never even felt they were adequate.Adam cringed when he heard they had to have the essay done by the end of class and work in pairs. That would never be enough time to get things to sound good. To make matters worse, he had to not only worry about how they sounded to the teacher, but to his partner as well. That would also require the shy fourth year to have to carry on a conversation. Adam knew that had to be the thing in the world he was the worst at. The only person who really seemed to like talking to him, for some reason unfathomable to him, was Talitha and she wasn't in this class. Next year, Adam assumed she would be and that would be great, but that wasn't going to help him much at the moment. The few others who seemed to like him much at all would probably have different partners, as other people liked them.
Not to mention that Adam was petrified of even asking anyone to work with him. He slumped in his chair, not really knowing what to do. If he didn't work with anyone, there was the possibility of getting in trouble with a teacher who appeared to be very strict. If he did, he'd probably end up humiliating himself. Adam couldn't take that. It might even get back to Talitha what an idiot he was, and then she might not even want to be friends with him anymore, let alone go to the ball with him.
Checking the clock, Adam sighed to himself. He had better get writing. It was probably better to at least have a finished product so his grade didn't suffer too much.
11
Adam Brockert
Are partners really necessary?
78
Adam Brockert
0
5
Eavan
January 19, 2008 10:42 PM
Not just sounds right...it IS right! by Eavan
Once the person she tapped turned around, Eavan recognized her right away. Meredith was a Pecari in her year; one of the large group of Pecaris that Eavan never managed to be friends with. They seemed like an exclusive club and Eavan could never find the secret entrance to their hide-out. Luckily she had met Danae, who had felt the same and Eavan quickly stopped caring that she never really became good friends with anyone.Staring at Meredith's face and hearing the affirmation to her question made Eavan wonder if there was still the possibility of her becoming friends with the other people in her year.
Eavan made a face when Meredith mentioned writing all year long. She was never any good at writing and hated being forced to do so. "Don't say that. A whole year of just essays...scary. And I used to like this class."
When Meredith mentioned the questions, Eavan glanced at the board and read everything over. She turned back to Meredith and raised an eyebrow.
"They all look awful to me. Uh....let's try this: Eenie meenie mynee mo..." Eavan continued the rhyme until her finger landed on one of the questions.
"Summoning and banishing charms? Well, I guess that's easy enough if it's in the book. It's more of a fact question than the others." Eavan flipped open her charms book searching for said charms.
"If we have to write any more of these essays this year, I'm quitting am becoming a muggle," Eavan said with a wry smile.
0
Eavan
Not just sounds right...it IS right!
0
Eavan
0
5