Hovering like a Hummingbird. Or something. on Charms

Lila St. Martin & Saul Pierce

September 10, 2009 3:20 PM

Beginning Charms: Hover Charm by Lila St. Martin & Saul Pierce

Today's Charms lesson would be different from the norm. Instead of Professor Taylor standing up in the front of the room, the usual teacher was off to the side, grading essays and looking less than pleased by their contents, and in her place at the front stood two seventh year students. To add to the day's oddities, Saul Pierce and Lila St. Martin were perhaps two of the least likely people to be caught sharing the same space, never mind working together to teach a class of young students. The planning sessions leading up to today's lesson had involved perhaps the most on-topic conversations Saul Pierce had even participated in. They'd certainly been more efficient than the practice meetings he'd shared with her identical twin, Allie, for Transfiguration, which he'd be doing the next day.

But here they were. Lila had planned the lesson and written its script. Saul would do most of the speaking. Saul would have guessed Allie would have been more likely to take that route, but it was Lila who had opted to step back out of the center of attention while Allie gave them both about equal speaking time. He wasn't clear on Lila's motives, but he was happy to take center stage if that was what she wanted.

"Hey, guys," Saul greeted cheerfully, once all of the first and second years stopped trickling in and had all taken their seats. "Welcome back to Charms. I'm Saul Pierce, and this is Lila St. Martin," he smiled and made a sweeping wave of introduction in Lila's direction. At the gesture, Lila inclined her head very slightly and raised her hand regally, giving a few Crotali a tiny smile. "Professor Taylor was nice enough to let us teach you folks about the Hovering Charm." He was a little off script already, but introductions were supposed to be informal and ad-libbed anyway. He sent a grin and a salute over Professor Taylor's way. "Thanks, ma'am."

Returning to the script, he let his smile fade and adopted a relatively more serious expression and attitude as he began to recite, "The Hovering Charm is a slightly more advanced form of the levitation charm, Wingardium Leviosa, which you learned before break. They're both part of a family of charms called Moving Charms because they move objects from one place to another. The Hovering Charm is a bit more stable than the levitation charm and is better to use for something that you don't want to jostle around too much. In a minute, Lila will show you how it's done. She'll draw a z in the air with her wand, and then she'll say the magic word, 'Naretus'." He waited a moment, then repeated, slowly and distinctly, "That's Naretus, for the spell word." As he said it, Saul carefully wrote out the word on the board in block letters. Getting the spelling right had been the hardest part of his prep for the class. "Now putting it together. . . . Lila?"

With a slight twitch of her shoulders at the use of her first name, Lila stepped forward and took out her short, well-polished wand. “As you heard,” she said brightly, “the Hover Charm is the incantation Naretus combined with a z-shaped wand movement.” She pointed her wand at an inkwell on the teacher’s desk, standing aside so the students could see what her arm was doing. As she moved the wand in a sharp, distinct Z, she said “Naretus!” very clearly. The inkwell rose into the air several feet, where it remained steady until she twitched her wand again to bring it down slowly. “First years will work with feathers,” she informed them. Since they couldn’t bring objects down easily, it had seemed prudent to only give them things that could do no serious damage. “The second years may use cushions, if you want, for an extra challenge.”

When he had the floor again, Saul clapped his hands together and let himself grin again. "Okay, folks, that's it. Now it's your turn to try. Lila, Professor Taylor, and I will all be around if you have any trouble with it. Just raise your hand and one of us will be over."

OOC: Usual posting rules apply. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Floaty light! by Charlotte Abbott with Jose Hernandez, Charlotte

Hovering like a Hummingbird. Or something. by James Anthony

hOveracheiver much? by Daniel Nash II with Andrew Duell

0 Lila St. Martin & Saul Pierce Beginning Charms: Hover Charm 0 Lila St. Martin & Saul Pierce 1 5

Charlotte Abbott

September 11, 2009 12:01 PM

Floaty light! by Charlotte Abbott

Charms class could only be improved by Professor taylor not being there. She was okay sometimes, Charlie supposed, but more often than not she was unnecessarily boring. Today, luckily, the class was being taken by some more seventh years. Charlie recognised Lila from her commons, and she vaguely knew Saul - her brother, Oliver, had played Quidditch with him most summers, or something. Ha, Charlie remembered thinking how popular her brother must be to be invited out over the summer with a huge group of friends. Turns out he was just tagging along, and didn't know any of them all that well.

Anyway, the class today was about hovering charms. That's what's so great about charms class - there are practically, everyday uses for all the spells they were taught. There had to be lots of occsions when you wanted to hover something - like to clean under it, or to bring the teapot in without having to stand up. Magic could make you lazy like that.

As the seventh years continued their teaching, Charlotte made notes in her notebook (pink with glitter on) and thought that she's start with a feather, and progress to a cushion. Got to learn to walk before you can run, or some other such nonsense. Pushing her seat back to stand, Charlie was surprised when the legs slid along the polished floor quicker than she'd intended, and her chair rapidly collided with the person who'd been walking past behind it. "Oops, I'm sorry!" Charlotte exclaimed as she hurriedly stood up and moved her hair back in. "Are you okay?"

0 Charlotte Abbott Floaty light! 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Jose Hernandez

September 11, 2009 2:30 PM

Better than crashing heavy. by Jose Hernandez

Jose had known his cousin was going to be teaching some of his classes this semester. The first clue had been Saul's name on the sign-up sheet in the Pecari bulletin board. The second had been when Saul told him he'd be doing both Charms and Transfiguration. What Jose hadn't known was that it was going to be today.

Upon walking in, he was swiftly disabused of the hope that Saul's teaching day would never materialize. With a quiet groan he slunk to the back of the room and hoped to avoid any notice at all. He was evidently successful, because Saul didn't acknowledge him in any way. Thank Merlin.

He liked Saul. He did. But Saul was popular and the Quidditch Captain and a prefect, and if Simon could be believed, he'd run for Head Boy the year before. It was a lot to live up to. And Jose had no intention of being known in the school as 'Saul's little cousin' so the less public notice Saul took of him, the better off his own lot would be in the long run.

But maybe he'd overdone the 'be invisible' vibes. On the way up to the front of the room to collect a feather for trying out the new charm, a girl backed her chair directly into him.

Jose stumbled and grabbed at the chair that attacked him and regained his balance without taking an embarrassing fall. Once he was stable, he gripped at his thigh dramatically and faked a look of extreme suffering. "I don't think I'm gonna make it," he moaned. Letting go of his leg with one hand, he grasped at her wrists. "Tell my mother I love her. Tell her, tell her," he blinked a few times, considered falling to the ground in an excellent death scene, but decided this wasn't the venue for it, and he'd probably get run over by another chair or maybe trampled by another student.

"Tell her I'm fine," he said cheerfully as he made a sudden and abrupt recovery from death's door, and gave the girl a cheeky grin. He offered her a flourishing bow and said, "Thank you, thank you, I am Jose Hernandez and I'll be performing here all week."

Straightening up again, he burst immediately into an improvised plug as though he really was a Charms Class performer trying to draw in an audience. "If you enjoyed this heart-rending portrayal of Jose Doesn't Fall On His Face But Nearly Dies of Chair Impact, be sure to catch my next amazing act, Jose Performs a Hovering Charm with Brilliance and Panache, scheduled to begin in about five minutes." He had no clear idea what Panache actually meant, but he'd gathered it was a good quality to have and it sounded bit exotic and special. "Autographs will be available upon request after the show."

1 Jose Hernandez Better than crashing heavy. 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

James Anthony

September 12, 2009 6:16 PM

Hovering like a Hummingbird. Or something. by James Anthony

James Anthony pushed his glasses up his nose with one finger, blue-green eyes resting on the pair of older students at the front of the classroom, and lips curved into a slight frown. The twelve-year-old did not understand why his favourite professor and Head of House, Professor Taylor, was not teaching their class today. Moreover, he did not understand why a Pecari and a Crotalus, the Houses known for producing clowns and Members Of Society, respectively (at least according to Lutece), had been chosen to replace Professor Taylor in this venture. And clearly, since she was sitting in a corner and marking up papers—hopefully not the ones they had just turned in—with a dissatisfied expression on her face, it was not because she was ill or otherwise preoccupied. What the conundrum.

Fortunately, James’s education would not be impeded by the surprising appearance of a pair of upperclassmen in lieu of the Head of Aladren House. Last summer, James had done a bit of reading up on all of his classes, and considered himself particularly advanced in Charms and Potions, his two favourite subjects. He hadn’t been able to get beyond the third-year level in Defense Against the Dark Arts though, which annoyed him. Although James did not personally appreciate why DADA would be necessary, he did not want to end up in a situation where he was lagging behind in the class. And if situations like these were to become more frequent, that might legitimately become a problem.

As things were, the class was quite trivial and rather dull. Hovering cushions was something that James considered to be child’s play. Consequently, he decided against attempting to use the lesson period to further his education and rather decided to apply it to furthering his social experiences. He had seen Charlie Abbot, a Crotalus in his year, at the beginning of the lesson and was now determined to find, and perhaps work with, his yearmate. James had observed her as a particularly pretty girl several times in the past, and was now considering approaching her.

Unfortunately, another clown made it to Charlie first, and James frowned in irritation.

For all that his focus remained steadfastly on his studies, James Anthony was not bad-looking. His light brown hair ran a little on the long side, covering his forehead and the top of his blue eyes with a particular fringe that was often side-swept. Additionally, James always made it a point to wear smart clothes, generally with a high degree of brand name recognition, although he was forced to wear the horrible school robes over them. Honestly. Who wore uniforms anymore anyway?

Not about to give up his quest, James slid into the empty desk next to someone who looked a bit lost and smiled at them in what approached upon a friendly manner. “Hello there,” the Aladren said, pushing his glasses up his nose again. “Would you like to work together?”

0 James Anthony Hovering like a Hummingbird. Or something. 126 James Anthony 0 5

Daniel Nash II

September 15, 2009 5:34 PM

hOveracheiver much? by Daniel Nash II

The problem Daniel had with most of his classes this year was that they were all shared with the first years. That meant every lesson was doable by rank beginners. A year and a half into his tenure as a wizard, Daniel no longer believed this description applied to him. He was, after all, an Aladren.

He went up to the front of the classroom to collect a cushion, opting for the higher difficulty rating just for a challenge, but didn't think it was going to make a large difference. Potions was his best class, but Charms was a close second. He was sure that whatever essay Professor Taylor was frowning at right now, it wasn't his.

Sitting down again, he pulled out his wand and cast, "Naretus," as he traced out a z with the wand's tip. After a brief moment, the cushion lifted lazily up into the air, about four inches over his desk. Daniel sat back and nodded. Not bad.

He ended the spell and looked to one of his neighbors. "That one's going to be useful the next time I move."

According to the latest letters for his parents, Mom was seriously dating someone again. If she kept true to form, there'd be a marriage, a move, a divorce, and another move in the the next three years. Maybe the next two years. Depended on how fast this new guy moved through the usual stages. He'd have a better idea of the timetable by the summer, if it lasted that long. But they usually did if they got this far.

1 Daniel Nash II hOveracheiver much? 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Charlotte

September 20, 2009 9:13 AM

Yeah, sorry about that by Charlotte

The boy charlie'd hit - drama queen tendencies aside - seemed to be fine. His reactions made her laugh at first, which progressed into an expression that might've read 'Are you aware you're still talking?' by the end of his spiel. "Shucks, my autograph book is full," she made a poor effort at faking disappointment. "Perhaps if the show had ended earlier you might have caught a spot."

"Jose, huh?" she repeated the name."Glad to see I didn't maim you too terribly. I'll go get our feathers, yeah? You stay there and recover from your injuries." Flashing a smile, Charlotte collected two feathers from the front of the classroom and took them back to the desk. After passing one to Jose, she decided it might be nice to have the company while she worked. Pulling over a vacant chair (that might possibly have belonged to someone who'd only left it temporarily), she said, "Pull up a pew," and resumed her own seat, double checking nobody was behind her on this occasion.

"I'm Charlie," she said, in case he hadn't picked up her name in attendance registers over the past couple of months. "Nice bumping into to you." The pun was delayed, perhaps, but Charlotte still thought it was funny.

0 Charlotte Yeah, sorry about that 0 Charlotte 0 5

Andrew Duell

September 20, 2009 7:04 PM

One of us should be by Andrew Duell

Andrew looked down at the notes he had taken while Saul was speaking. As his standard notes went they were very meticulous. He had drawn out the path of the wand movements, he had written out the spell word and spelled it phonetically. Following all that he had the listed effects that the spell should have had. Everything there looked okay.

Next he looked at his wand, which in his opinion, had made a very accurate 'Z' path through the air. A 'Z' path just as had been demonstrated and placed into his notes. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with his wand... it wasn't sparking or sputtering or anything anyway.

He sighed and sounded out the spell word again, "Naretus... Naretus..." He was pretty sure that's had the girl had said it. He'd copied it down right, it sounded right. What had gone wrong?

Why was his feather now impaled into his desk?

The boy next to him made a comment about using it for moving. "Yours may be... I'm not quite sure what is going on with mine. Do you have any suggestions?" He glanced up at the cushion and looked at his feather suspiciously.

2 Andrew Duell One of us should be 145 Andrew Duell 0 5