Summer Holidays on Charms

Substitute Professor Lilac Crosby

April 17, 2011 2:02 PM

Cool off! [Fifth and sixth years!] by Substitute Professor Lilac Crosby

Lilac had never really subbed a lesson before, but she was entirely qualified for this particular subject. Personally, she had always felt her own subject, Transfigurations, and this subject, Charms, went a bit hand-in-hand. During her time as a student, she had been above proficient in both of these two subjects, only really choosing Transfigurations over Charms not for skill but for passion. Potions was another story, but in these two subjects, she excelled.

She had played with the temperature of the Charms class room for this particular substituted lesson. Also, the scenery was changed. Instead of a regular class room, it was more like a beach. Sand coated the floors, and the desks were missing from the area. The only thing that made it not really like a beach was there was no water, but that was the point of the lesson, now wasn’t it?

Also, Lilac had cast a spell on the doorway that anyone who entered would immediately find their clothes transfigured into more water resistant clothes, like bathing suits. Of course, the bathing suits were school appropriate like hers, which was more like a tank top-and-shorts one piece, striped with red and white.

“Welcome, welcome!” she greeted cheerfully as the Advanced students began to enter. “Just find a place to stand for now--or you can sit in the sand.” After it seemed that everyone who was coming had already arrived, the brunette professor shut the door and stepped in front of the class.

“Hello, students! I think all of you know me, but just in case, my name is Professor Lilac Crosby. Professor McKindy finds himself unable to teach as this time, so I will be your substitute today!” Her grey eyes scanned over the faces, almost entirely familiar, for looks of shock or anger. Not recognizing any anger, she went on.

Fanning herself with her hand, she noted, “It’s awful warm in here, isn’t it? Just like summer. Show of hands: who is reading for summer vacation?” She grinned at the hands that rose. “Well, let’s have a miniature summer vacation here and now!”

“I require a volunteer!” she announced, then pulled the nearest student over next to her by the arm. “Thank you for volunteering!” Lilac said to the student. Facing the others, she continued, “We’re going to play a little bit of water tag to cool off in this hot, hot classroom. The Incantation is,” she paused to aim her wand at her volunteer, “Augamenti!” A spray of clear water shot out of her wand and hit the volunteer, not hard enough to be painful. Actually, it was probably very refreshing.

“Thank you,” she said to the volunteer before gesturing them away. “Just try the spell out on each other, run around, and have fun today!” concluded the Russian. Today was going to be a good day, and she was very glad she agreed to substitute.

Subthreads:

Fun in the sun? by Andrew Duell with Daniel Nash/Nate Bealer, Nate Bealer

It's raining indoors by Jethro Smythe with Alison Sinclair, Pecari, Jethro

Summer Holidays by Dana Smythe

Cool as a cucumber by Charlotte Abbott with Jose Hernandez, Pecari, Charlotte, Jose Hernandez, Charlie

I'm trying.... by Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus

0 Substitute Professor Lilac Crosby Cool off! [Fifth and sixth years!] 0 Substitute Professor Lilac Crosby 1 5

Andrew Duell

April 20, 2011 8:37 PM

Fun in the sun? by Andrew Duell

Late again! Why was he always late! Andrew rushed down the hall heading for Charms. He skidded to a halt outside the doorway, there was no one else out here, they must all be inside already. How could he have lost track of time? No time to worry about that now. He shuffled his books and headed through the door.

The third thing that he noticed, was that Professor Crosby was in the front of the classroom instead of Professor McKindy. The second thing that he noticed, was that the classroom had been transformed, and he was now wearing a bathing suit. This struck him as odd, until he noticed the staff change. The first thing, however, that he noticed was that nobody else was in the classroom. He was early.

How was he early? He checked his watch again, it still said he was late for class. It hadn't actually moved since the last time he had looked at it. Huh. Oh, right, the experiment he had done on it... anyway, apparently he was early. Not by much though, as the other's started to enter the classroom.

Andrew got settled and waited to see what this class would bring. He didn't have long to wait before Professor Crosby pulled him to the front of the class before he could react. Another moment later, and he was soaked. He had to admit, it did feel rather good. From the sounds of it, this was going to be a fun lesson. Once the professor had given them their task, he spun on his heals, aimed at no one in particular and tried out the spell, "Augamenti!!"

2 Andrew Duell Fun in the sun? 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Daniel Nash/Nate Bealer

April 20, 2011 10:17 PM

I may have a touch of sun-stroke. (wotw) by Daniel Nash/Nate Bealer

Daniel couldn't quite prevent a sound of surprised protest as his quasi-formal school robes with their Head Boy badge and Quidditch Captain badge were transformed without warning or permission into a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt. While it was true that he had worn significantly less on national television, and he knew that he had nothing to be embarrassed about in the looks department, he still felt the costume change was unfair.

Well, he did for a few seconds, until his Nate personality asserted itself. Daniel Nash the Second, after all, would never be caught dead wearing something as casual as this. In this outfit, he couldn't be anyone but Nate. Daniel's brain was so conditioned to defining himself based on his clothes, that he managed only that one sound before he began losing the struggle to remain the dominant personality.

Despite the odd voice vociferating loudly in his head that he should do nothing to embarrass himself, Nate blinked a few times and felt the cobwebs clearing from his mind. Of course, Nate was a bit confused because Nate was, for nearly all intents and purposes, a muggle. He took out his wand a bit awkwardly and listened to the professor (who he seemed to feel was not the professor who was supposed to be teaching him Charms - there was something definitely off about today's script; must be a new writer; but at least the director would usually allow a bit of improv if it fit Nate's character better) ask if they enjoyed summer vacations. Nate's hand naturally jumped into the air. He got to go live with his dad during the summer, in California.

This must be the off-season. The part that never made it to the screen. Nate felt momentarily off-balance for a second. There was definitely something strange about that. And come to that, he didn't actually have a script, either. No knowledge of what was about to happen, and no memorized lines for when it did. He looked around for Mom and then felt stupid. This was school. Of course, Mom wouldn't be here, and it wasn't her job to feed him his lines even if she was. He was going to have to wing this one by himself.

He recognized everyone, though. Professor Crosby was shooting water from her wand at Andrew Duell. He'd worked with Andrew in other classes. He could remember that. It just felt . . . off. Like it happened to someone else, not Nate.

He had moved, as if by habit, toward the front of the room. Again, not a habit he recognized as his own. He'd never been a very good student, and he usually took a seat near the back when he had a choice. But he was here now, which put him in range of Andrew's first attack on the front row.

Nate shrieked a little. The classroom was hot and the water was cold and as much as part of his brain said that it was perfectly acceptable for water to shoot out of a stick of wood, an equally large part protested that such an event was very much not in the natural order of things.

Having been somewhat distracted during the charm's explanation, he wasn't sure exactly what he was doing when he jumped back, raising one arm up defensively and pointing the other one - the one holding his own wand - back at Andrew as he shouted, "Augmenti!"

Nothing happened.

He lowered his sheild arm, and frowned at the wand as if it had failed him. Did he grab the wrong prop? Nate waited for someone to yell cut, but nobody did. Right. This was the off-season. Which, in theory, at least meant he wouldn't be kidnapped today. That was good.

The fact that his spell hadn't worked didn't seem to be quite so dire after that realization. So he grinned back at Andrew (he thought they must be friends), and confided, "My wand's defective. Someone didn't sneak me the super-soaker model."

He was ignoring it, but he thought the loud screaming in his head got louder after that. He didn't worry about it though. Nothing bad would happen during the off-season.

1 Daniel Nash/Nate Bealer I may have a touch of sun-stroke. (wotw) 130 Daniel Nash/Nate Bealer 0 5

Jethro Smythe

April 21, 2011 9:58 AM

It's raining indoors by Jethro Smythe

The universe was usually fairly good at confusing Jethro, but today it seemed be to making a really concentrated effort. Readjusting post-midterm to his class schedule always presented Jethro with a challenge, but when he turned up to charms class to find Professor Crosby there, he wondered whether he'd gotten out of the wrong side of his bed in the morning, and in doing so had slipped into some parallel dimension, that was very similar to his own, with the obvious exception that his trasnfiguration professor taught charms. Jethro checked that he was in fact with the correct classmates, and seeing other fifth years and some sixth year students around him he was marginally mollified, until he noticed his peers were dressed in swimwear. His first thought was that he had forgotten this requirement, or perhaps had been absent when it was announced, but as he looked down to verify he was wearing uniform robes, Jethro instead noticed an outfit unlike one he had ever worn before, consisting of baggy knee-length shorts in an oddly tactile fabric with some sort of floral design, and a white cotton garment on his torso that he'd seen Muggleborns wear - he thought they called it a 'tea shirt.' He knew very definitely that he hadn't put on this outfit himself because he did not own anything that resembled his current attire. However, rather than vociferate his surprise, Jethro was accustomed to being surprised, confused, and nonplussed, and so continued into the classroom with an air of acceptance. This might play out to be a dream, or perhaps the unlikely series of events that would lead to Professor Crosby teacing them charms in bathing suits had actually occured in his own reality, but that didn't seem plausible.

There were no desks, so Jethro lingered near the middle of the crowd of gathered students. The situation could be surmised as unpredictable, so just in case something bad was going to happen, Jethro would prefer to be among a crowd, rather than on the front row, for example. However, as Professor Crosby began talking, Jethro managed to listen enough to hear her say that Professor McKindy couldn't teach today, which would partially explain why she was there instead, but that was about all he managed to grasp before he was too distracted by sinking his toes into soft, warm sand to get anything more from the introduction. In fact he was absorbed in his own world of burying his own feet that when someone splashed him with a jet of cool water it took him completely by surprise. Looking up at the perpetrator, Jethro said, "That was wet."

0 Jethro Smythe It's raining indoors 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5

Dana Smythe

April 21, 2011 10:23 AM

Summer Holidays by Dana Smythe

After an uneventful midterm, Dana returned to school without any thrill of excitement. It was getting too familiar - her routine, her life. It was dull, and most of the time Dana didn't mind at all - some days she was thankful for it, in fact - but just sometimes she wished she could be one of those people that things happened to. Things never happened to Dana; her life was uneventful. She loved her parents, got on well with her brother, had admittedly had a confusing period where her parents couldn't decide whether to send her to school or home tutor her, but ultimately she'd ended up back at Sonora. She was only on the Quidditch team as a reserve, and even that was pushing it, considering her family's growing affinity with WAIL. She was friends with Alison, and she liked her other yearmates well enough, but there was nobody she thought she was particularly likely to stay in touch with after she graduated. She would eventually get married, have children, and then they could leave the same, uneventful existence that she was experiencing right now.

Maybe she'd color her hair after class.

Looking at her feet as she trudged wearily into charms class, Dana wasn't sure whether to be more amused or abhorent that her robes were suddenly a one piece bathing suit. It was warm and the classroom was a beach now, apparently, so she decided this was going to be a good class. Dana sat on the sandy ground as invited, and she tied her shoulder-length hair back into a ponytail to keep it off her shoulders in the warmth as Professor Crosby explained and demonstrated the lesson. It sounded fantastic fun - just what the sixth year needed to cheer her up! Without hesitateing, she pushed herself to her feet and sent a jet of water at the student stood in front of her.

0 Dana Smythe Summer Holidays 142 Dana Smythe 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

April 21, 2011 11:05 AM

Cool as a cucumber by Charlotte Abbott

The lousy first half of midterm had been more than made up for by the awesome second part of midterm, which Charlie had enjoyed spending with Lita. From being freezing and lonely in Chicago to pool parties with Lita's family: the sixth year knew which she preferred. Of course home was home, and she still wanted to go there sometimes, but one week a year really was plenty. She was considering going to college simply so she didn't have to go back home again while she figured out what job she'd like and things like that. She still had a while to think about it, but she was going to start applying to colleges at the start of her seventh year, anyway, just to keep her options open while she made some life-changing decisions. For the time being she was happy to be back at school, amongst her friends, and even going back to classes would be fun while the novelty lasted.

Speaking of novelty, Professor Crosby was taking charms. That was okay, Charlotte supposed - she did prefer Professor McKindy but then it had been such a humungous relief when he'd replaced Professor Taylor that it would be difficult not to like him. She didn't have anything against Professor Crosby (even in a swimsuit the woman wasn't replusive, unlike Taylor would have been. Great, now Charlie had that unpleasant visual to deal with) and even less so considering the charms classroom had been turned into a beach. Passing through the doorway, Charlie was as dismayed as many of her peers to witness her clothes disappearing to be replaced by some swimwear that certainly didn't belong in the wardrobes of those modelling them. The Head Girl found herself in a khaki green tankini. It was positively the most she'd ever worn at the beach in her life. "Hell no," she muttered as she turned her wand on herself and expertly used a severing charm to trim the top and show her tanned midriff. After a moment's consideration she charmed some gold stars onto the shoulder straps, too - this was charms class, afterall, she could hardly lose points for that. More comfortable with her own outfit, Charlie looked round to scope the rest of her classmates while Crosby began the lesson. Sadly the attire was not as revealling as she would have liked in a room filled with boys her own age. Sad times.

The class was easy - the Augamenti charm was one Charlie had already learned, and having a water fight didn't sound like a bad way to spend the next hour. Delighted, she turned her wand on a nearby student and cast the requisite charm, sending a soft jet of water their way.

0 Charlotte Abbott Cool as a cucumber 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Jose Hernandez, Pecari

April 21, 2011 2:31 PM

Awesome as an Apple by Jose Hernandez, Pecari

Jose Hernandez stepped into the Charms room and found himself wearing something he definitely had not put on himself. All of the California Pierce swim trunks were in California, and he was pretty sure he hadn't stolen Jude's bathing suit either. They weren't bad though; he took a moment to appreciate how much more fun they were than the green school uniform. The shorts were bright blue with some brilliant green splashes, and the t-shirt had a smiling whale on it, which he totally approved of.

He felt it was sorely missing a caption, though, so he turned his wand on the shirt and made it say "A Whale of a Good Time" in a blue that matched his shorts. Once that was done, he felt satisfied by his new wardrobe, kicked off his shoes (which had also transformed into flip-flops), and walked barefooted in the sand covering the floor.

Only then did he notice that Professor Crosby seemed to be the one responsible for these events and he immediately decided he liked her even more than he already had. (He'd had an odd dream over midterm that involved her changing into a talking tiger, and something about mirrors... he'd come out of that liking her better than before, too, and now he took this as proof that maybe some of the divinations ability that ran in his family wasn't entirely lost on him.)

The spell was also one he one he was already familiar with, it being a very practical one that even the witches and wizards in his family with the least amount of magical ability learned to some degree. He thought even Neil's mom could cast this one and get a small trickle of water. Water was a good thing to be able to conjure when part of your family territory was dessert.

He was still trying to remember if any of the Fab Four couldn't cast it (they were all wizards, but only barely) when he was caught unawares by a splash coming from behind him. He spun around, laughing, and pulling out his own wand. "Oh, you'll pay for that," he taunted and cast his own retaliation back at Charlie. "Augamenti!" The water spouted from his wand right where he aimed it. If it lacked a little in volume, he figured practice would take care of it.

0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari Awesome as an Apple 0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari 0 5

Andrew Duell

April 21, 2011 9:08 PM

I'm sure it's nothing serious by Andrew Duell

Daniel? Maybe he should have aimed a little more carefully. Oh well, it could have been worse. He could have hit one of the girls, that just wouldn't have been right. He noticed Daniel draw his wand to return fire, Andrew ducked when Daniel raised his wand, he was rather surprised when nothing happened. Daniel was good at charms, and this wasn't a terribly difficult one. Something seemed a bit off, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. Andrew smiled at Daniel's joke, he assumed it was a joke anyway. Strange though, that was another thing that didn't seem very Daniel-like.

Andrew recognized that he faced a bit of a conundrum. Daniel was having some problems with a fairly basic spell, he couldn't really offer help or advise, could he? This was Daniel after all. That would be like telling a world class writer how to use a simile to make a good comparison between two things. Something he himself could probably use some help with. Anyway... his other, slightly more subtle, option would be to demonstrate the spell again and hope Daniel would figure out what he was doing wrong. Unfortunately that meant he'd have to continue assaulting Daniel, who for some strange reason couldn't fight back. That just wasn't right either. A third option would be to leave and find someone else to soak, but that didn't sit well with him either. Daniel was a friend, and he had to help him... somehow.

A thought struck him and he ran with it. "Oh no, you don't get to try that sneaky stuff with me. I'm not falling for that." Hopefully going along with the jesting tone would help. He moved away a bit while aiming his wand back towards Daniel, and fire... watered off another shot carefully aimed to miss. It was cast big, and exaggerated, but hopefully not to noticeably so. Maybe he could still help demonstrate how to do it, without anyone realizing what he was actually doing.

2 Andrew Duell I'm sure it's nothing serious 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Alison Sinclair, Pecari

April 23, 2011 3:28 PM

As long as it's not raining cats and dogs. by Alison Sinclair, Pecari

The first sign Alison had that something was weird was that the long sleeves of her robes were no longer tickling her wrists. She raised her arm, confused, found it bare, and then looked down to see what she was wearing.

“Huh,” she said, looking over the black swimwear she was suddenly wearing, then shrugged and moved on into the room, which was completely unrecognizable.

She wasn’t expecting to find Professor Crosby there, but neither was she exactly surprised once she did. McKindy might have been whimsical enough to mock up the room as a beach, but there were some things a woman teacher could get away with a lot more easily than a man one, and involuntarily putting girls in even modest swimsuits was one of them. If McKindy had done it, there was a decent chance he would have had some pureblood father after his blood by the end of the day. There was still a chance someone’s pureblood mother would throw a fit over her daughter showing this much leg in a class with boys in it, but Crosby was still significantly less likely to be thought of as being in it to ogle the students, especially since the guys seemed to be wearing t-shirts. Double standards were fun.

The room was as hot as a beach on top of looking like one, so Alison dug in her bag – cheap Crosby, not turning them all into beach bags complete with blankets and sunblock and bottles of water while she was at it – until she found the hair tie she kept around for Defense and Potions and pulled her long, dark brown hair up into a ponytail. Not as attractive as it was when she left it loose, but most of the guys around here either weren’t into girls or were in long-term, unacknowledged flirtations with girls which had begun before she ever thought of coming to Sonora, so that was all right. Besides, she had to assume they were going to be doing something active today, and she’d do better if her hair wasn’t flying forward into her eyes.

The adage went that assuming was bad for her and the speaker alike, but it turned out that this time, she was right. They were having a water fight. Fun times. She took out her wand and fired at random, not really aiming for anyone in particular, and hit one of the fifth years.

”That was wet,” he informed her.

“That’s kind of the point,” she told him, recognizing who he was now that she looked at him. Dana’s cousin, she thought, or brother or something like that. One of the Smythes, anyway. “We’re playing water tag.” Someone else hit her from behind, and she jumped with a little shriek before turning to fire back. This was gonna devolve into complete chaos in no time flat and make her whole day for her right here and now, regardless of what Fawcett did to them in Potions this afternoon.

16 Alison Sinclair, Pecari As long as it's not raining cats and dogs. 140 Alison Sinclair, Pecari 0 5

Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus

April 23, 2011 8:27 PM

I'm trying.... by Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus

Marissa gasped at the sight of her altered apparel, her social life flashing before her eyes as she struggled to remember if she’d shaved her legs last night or not. After a very long two seconds, she concluded that she had and began to breathe again.

And to, for one moment before she collected herself, give Professor Crosby a look that was not anything like the kind of look a perfect student who was known for tenacity and work ethic, in possession of two badges of authority, and still had a shot at being Head Girl would normally give a teacher. That had been low, not to warn them that they were going to be showing their legs off in January. With the weather charms like they were, it was the third or fourth month most of them had been wearing longer pants and skirts for warmth, and she doubted she was the only one who would have at least applied a liberal amount of lotion to her calves last night if she’d known her teacher was going to decide to trick them into walking into June.

Wait. Her teacher had tricked them. Her Transfiguration teacher. This was Charms. This was Professor McKindy’s class. What was Professor Crosby doing here?

Her face losing color rapidly, Marissa dug out her schedule, her hands shaking so much she nearly gave herself two paper cuts before she resigned herself to having to open the folded page slowly to see what was on it and make sure she hadn’t snapped from CATS stress – she’d heard some awful stories about that, of running screaming from exam stations, attacking proctors, or going catatonic halfway through and not leaving dorm rooms – and either started wandering to the wrong places or, worse, losing huge tracts of time, so she didn’t remember going to Charms. She could not afford to dissociate that much during lessons, even if she had lost it a few times for a few minutes and found she’d kept taking notes even while she was out. Even a perfect sheet of notes wasn’t enough to make up for an entire lesson….

After a second, though, her eyes made sense of the words on the page and of the figures on her watch. Her hands now very full, she dug out her planner, too, to make sure she knew what day it was, but that turned out to match what was on the schedule and on her watch. She wasn't in the wrong place, Professor Crosby was. Feeling assured, she went to stand with the rest of the class.

Professor McKindy, it turned out, wasn’t here today. Marissa frowned, this time in concern. She hoped he was all right. His class was one of the worst things in her week, but he was nice, and she didn’t wish harm on anyone whether they were nice or not.

At least an explanation for their clothes being taken away was offered. Marissa decided to look to the bright side, where maybe the scene would become so chaotic with water duels that no one would notice whether she succeeded or not.

Just in case her wand decided to shoot fire instead of water, she pointed it at the ground instead of at another person. “Aguamenti,” she said, and felt her heart leap in excitement when a fine, but thick, mist of water came out a second before it leapt in surprise as water hit her. “Oh,” she exclaimed, then turned her wand on them, sending mist back. “Aguamenti,” she tried again, this time managing a thin stream of actual water.

16 Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus I'm trying.... 147 Marissa Stephenson, Crotalus 0 5

Nate Bealer

April 26, 2011 1:20 PM

You're probably right. by Nate Bealer

Nate wasn't quite sure what Andrew was getting at when he accused Nate of trying to trick him, but his next attack was telegraphed so obviously and yet so off-target, that Nate could only guess that he'd been expected to jump into the line of ~~fire~~ water. Fortunately, he'd chosen the other direction to flee in. Nate did notice, too, that he'd said the spell word wrong. Augamenti, like 'agua', not Augmenti, like 'augment'. That totally make loads more sense.

In as much as saying anything to make water spout out of a piece of wood could make sense, anyway.

Trying again, Nate pointed the wand back at Andrew and cried out, "Aguamenti!" and he thought he may have gotten a few drops that time - or possibly they were splashed off from someone else's casting - but he felt like he'd been much closer to successful that time, so he tried it again. "Augamenti!" This time there was a splash of water from his own wand. Not as much as some other people were getting, including Andrew, but water. From a wand.

Nate laughed and cheered, "That is so cool!"

Somewhere unnoticed in the back of his head, someone groaned and lamented silently, *My reputation is ruined.*

0 Nate Bealer You're probably right. 0 Nate Bealer 0 5

Andrew Duell

April 26, 2011 9:56 PM

Me? Right? That can't be right. by Andrew Duell

There was something not quite right here. Definitely something not right. Not only was Daniel not casting this charm at the level that he should be, but he was acting really, really weird. He was laughing and cheering, this wasn't that Daniel that he had come to know. What had happened? It almost seemed as though he didn't know anything about magic, but he knew that wasn't true. Daniel was great at magic, was this some sort of magical clone thing designed to come to class while the actual Daniel went off to do something else? From the way it was acting, it wasn't a very good clone copy, but that would have to be a tricky spell.

Andrew's curiosity was now engaged, what was Daniel up to? Was there anything that Andrew could or should do about it? He would just play along for right now... there's no telling what may happen to this clone if his bluff is called. It could become violent, or possibly just explode or something. That wouldn't be good. Perhaps it would let something slip that he could use against it. He dodged 'Daniel's' first actual blast of water and sent his own back aimed right for this impostor. "You can do better than that Daniel!" Yes, Daniel, keep thinking that I think that you are who you are pretending to be, but I'm on to you...

2 Andrew Duell Me? Right? That can't be right. 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Nate Bealer

April 26, 2011 11:09 PM

So you're wrong? by Nate Bealer

Andrew managed to dodge - which, honestly, wasn't too surprising, since Nate hadn't tried any kind of subterfuge. Now that he'd actually performed the spell though, he thought he could properly get into the spirit of the water fight. He ducked under Andrew's next shot, a few drops still catching him, but most of it going overhead. The words he said, though, those struck Nate hard. Or, one of them did.

Andrew called him Daniel.

Again, Nate paused, waiting for someone to call cut, but again, nobody did. Right, this was the off-season. So why was Andrew calling him by the wrong name? This was the Elsewhere place where he went when he wasn't living with Dad. People here shouldn't call him Daniel by mistake. He thought it must be unlikely for folks in two different states to make the same error.

He frowned, deeply confused. His stood up again, and his wand lowered. "Nate," he corrected. "Why do people insist on thinking my name's Daniel?"

*Because it is Daniel,* part of his mind answered, but he'd trained himself to ignore that part years ago and he didn't really hear it.

0 Nate Bealer So you're wrong? 0 Nate Bealer 0 5

Jethro

April 27, 2011 5:37 AM

That sounds like it might hurt by Jethro

"That's kind of the point,", said the girl who had used the water charm on him. Jethro knew her as Dana's roommate, and he remembered that her name was Alison, and that Dana liked her, but he didn't know anything else about her. She seemed to think that she was supposed to be making Jethro wet, and as someone then did the same to Alison he had to concur she was probably right. It would explain the strange attire - it didn't make sense to get their uniform robes all wet if they had to wear them for the rest of the day.

Alison sent a water stream back at the person who'd hit her, and she made a sort of happy shrieking sound, which was an oxymoron as far as Jethro was concerned, but he had just witnessed it so didn't doubt its existence. He did however doubt that this world was actually real, and therefore while he would usually have minded entering into battle with a girl, even a battle that just involved making each other wet, he decided that this peculiar dreamworld wouldn't hold punishment for his participation.

He had no idea what 'water tag' was, but from a quick glance round the classroom-turned-beach, Jethro deduced it involved using the water charm to hit fellow students, and shrieking a lot. He wasn't convinced he could shriek, but in this dreamwork he believed he could cast a water charm successfully, so he aimed his wand at Alison, cast Augamenti and shot a stream of water towards her torso. He was pleased that his spell had - it wasn't a sensation he experienced all that often - and decided that this dream world or whatever it was could be a nice place to spend the day.

0 Jethro That sounds like it might hurt 0 Jethro 0 5

Charlotte

April 27, 2011 6:00 AM

Brilliant as a Banana by Charlotte

At Jose's proclamation that she would 'pay for that', Charlie laughed and did her best to duck out of the way of his retaliation shot. Unfortunately the classroom wasn't as big as it should have been with the number of teenagers now simultaneously engaged in a water fight, and in order to avoid running into somone completely, Charlie suffered a sprinkle of Jose's water charm even though she avoided its full force. "So you'd pick on a girl?" she teased him, turning back to face him with her wand trained at the cartoon whale on his t-shirt. It seemed like running might not be an option after all, but she might be able to duck, dodge and weave to avoid his attacks.

"You'd best know what you're letting yourself in for." Charlie was unable to keep a straight face as she threatened Jose - she didn't think she was any good at trash talking, but it was definitely part of the whole water-fighting experience. She couldn't talk too long without expecting an attack - it was something like holding the ball too long in Quidditch, each second increasing your chances of being hit by a Bludger - so without further hesitation she cast the charm again, aiming for the whale, and sending another soft jet from her wand.

Charlotte considered that she seemed to be able to produce an ample quantity of water, but it lacked force. She doubted she'd be able to hit a target from any great distance away, and it wasn't like her water jets would have the power to knock over small objects. Maybe that was something she could work on in the lesson, when she wasn't busy dodging return fire.

0 Charlotte Brilliant as a Banana 0 Charlotte 0 5

Andrew Duell

April 27, 2011 8:40 PM

It's been known to happen by Andrew Duell

Andrew stopped. Did he just hear Daniel correctly? He was claiming that his name was Nate? Why was he claiming his name was Nate? His name wasn't Nate, it was Daniel. Right? Yes, it was. Daniel must have made a seriously flawed duplicate of himself. Why would he even try and pass this clone off as himself, when it wouldn't even try to claim to be him? Daniel was up to something, and Andrew was going to find out what it was. To accomplish that, he was going to have to play along with this clone.

"Right, sorry Nate. My mistake." Who did this clone think he was, if he didn't think he was Daniel? "You're getting pretty good with the wand there, where did you learn that?" Where did he learn that? What kind of a question was that? He didn't know was sort of rules the clone was working with. How was he supposed to play along if he didn't know what the game was? How could he figure out what Daniel was up to if he couldn't even converse properly?

2 Andrew Duell It's been known to happen 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Alison

April 28, 2011 1:52 PM

And be incredibly messy. by Alison

Her hastily-aimed spell missed, and Alison frowned, momentarily cross, at having her revenge thwarted by something as simple as not taking one second longer to plan and execute it. Then she shrugged again and focused back on the game as Jethro Smythe, apparently getting it now, joined in.

“There you go,” she said, and retaliated. This was, she thought, maybe supposed to be kind of a fun class, a distraction from the fifth years’ issues with CATS and the sixth years’ growing awareness of just how short the year left before their RATS, not to mention the gap between now and their standard end-of-the-year exams, was, but she might as well get in some aiming and avoidance practice while she was at it. She’d heard a rumor the Defense RATS went both ways, demonstration of defensive spells and identification of both dark creatures and the best ways to handle them, and every little bit helped.

She’d never really worried about taking her CATS, trusting to her luck to get her through them as she usually did and usually got away with doing, but for some reason, the spectre of the RATS was already starting to bother her now more than that of CATS had the night before the exams had. She didn’t know what to do with it, but she definitely hoped it went away before or at least early into the crazy focus of next year, because she was toast if it got too much worse. Now, she sometimes felt that bowling-ball-in-stomach feeling of dread in brief flashes, every now and then, sometimes without warning or any conscious thought about exams; if that became a regular thing, she figured she’d go kind of nuts. Waiting was infinitely worse than just dealing with a problem, and seventh year, from the sounds of it, was just one long, endless-seeming hell of waiting to get something done that no one particularly wanted to do.

And learning stuff, but even that fell under the category, she was guessing, of prepping for the RATS and generally not thinking about anything else in life. Problem still present, problem still irresolvable on her own terms, problem still therefore a real pain to think about having next year. Day where she could act like a three-year-old playing with water guns with her roommate’s cousin, and anyone else who happened to wander by, therefore still a good thing.

16 Alison And be incredibly messy. 140 Alison 0 5

Jose Hernandez

April 29, 2011 4:42 PM

Sweet as a Strawberry by Jose Hernandez

"I'd totally pick on a girl!" Jose retorted. "Equal opportunity for all!" He dodged aside, slipping a little in the sand, and the resulting fall was the only reason the majority of Charlie's shot went over him. He briefly wiped at the sand sticking to him, but didn't even bother standing again before picking up his wand from where he dropped it and turning it back on Charlie.

"Augamenti!" he cast, and only then did he scramble back up to his feet, using his own spell as covering fire. Of course, its aim was completely wild, but he wasn't convinced that wouldn't make it even harder to avoid.

"So what am I letting myself in for?" he asked, taunting her back, "A little sprinkle?"

1 Jose Hernandez Sweet as a Strawberry 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Nate

April 30, 2011 3:59 PM

You're weird by Nate

Nate frowned at Andrew, unable to keep from thinking the other boy was a little odd sometimes. Where did he learn that? Really? "This particular spell, I learned from Professor Crosby," he said slowly. "You were standing right there." He pointed over to where Andrew had been during the demonstration.

And in case he meant it more generally, Nate added in the same slow tone that was somewhere between I-think-we're-joking and are-you-actually-serious, "The rest I learned here at Sonora, too." Honestly, where else could people go to learn magic? Nate might feel a little dissociated from his memories, but there was nowhere else but Sonora that he would have been for the last six years of his schooling. Sonora was the one that sent him a letter, and as a muggleborn, he hadn't know how to shop around for another magic school.

0 Nate You're weird 0 Nate 0 5

Andrew

April 30, 2011 5:27 PM

If only that were the first time I had heard that by Andrew

Andrew did everything in his power to stop himself from slapping himself in the forehead for being so stupid. Of course Daniel would have filled his clone with all of his previous memories. That would be the only way for it to integrate itself into it's role here. The personality and identity of the clone were the only things that were out of sync. The implanted memories must have been twisted to meet the altered identity. Hmm.. could that have been a part of Daniel's plan all along? Perhaps he was testing something, trying to gauge reactions? No... you wouldn't necessarily need to make a clone to do that. Maybe it was all one big distraction, make them investigate what is going on here so that they wouldn't even thing of looking elsewhere until it was to late. But to late for what? Well, there was only one way to find out, and luckily Andrew was figuring out more of these rules as they went. Hopefully he wouldn't mess up again, he couldn't afford to make 'Nate' more suspicious.

Okay... how to recover this? Ooo, idea. He smiled back at Nate, "No, the spell and magic in general I know. I'm talking more of the form you use with your wand." Yeah... that sounds good... right? "Your motions have a nice flow to them. I duplicate what the Professor shows, but it seems so blocky and a bit disjointed." Please buy that, please buy that... Andrew silently hoped.

2 Andrew If only that were the first time I had heard that 145 Andrew 0 5

Nate

May 03, 2011 1:23 PM

There are worse things to be by Nate

Nate blinked a couple of times at Andrew, but could honestly not come up with an answer to how he learned to be so fluid in his movements. He shrugged, and came up with the best thing he could think of: "I'm pretty good in gym class. Maybe it's some of that athletic stuff."

Deciding they had done enough talking in a class meant for water-fighting, he added, "I mean, how much different is this than throwing a baseball?" and then he swung his arm around as though pitching, but it ended with the wand pointed at Andrew as he yelled, "Augamenti!"

Water splashed out of the stick of wood.

0 Nate There are worse things to be 0 Nate 0 5

Andrew

May 03, 2011 8:32 PM

I suppose that's true by Andrew

Andrew took the shot of water right to the chest. Was 'Nate' making his water colder than everyone else's? Maybe it was just in his head. He did definitely get the the clone was done talking. He'd have to find a different way to get information out of him. "I guess you're right." Andrew imitated 'Nate's' pitch and shouted back, releasing another splash of water aimed for the clone. Now that 'Nate' had gotten the hang of it, he wasn't defenseless anymore. Andrew could let him have it.

He would just play along for the rest of class. Whatever happens would happen. After class however, he'd follow him and see where he led. Perhaps right back to where his creator and mastermind was working. Should he let the professor know? Hmm.. that was a tough question. The teachers certainly had a right to know what was going on in their school. They were the ones in charge, how could they administrate properly without all the information? At the same time, Daniel was his friend, and he really didn't like the idea of running right to the 'authorities' without first finding out what was going on. If he had time, perhaps he say something quick to the professor; if the clone ran for it right after class, that would take priority.

2 Andrew I suppose that's true 145 Andrew 0 5

Charlie

May 04, 2011 12:40 PM

You think I'm sweet? by Charlie

Charlie grinned at Jose's equal opportunity remark, but otherwise left it well alone - she couldn't think of a come back worth using, and in that situation it was usually best to stay quiet. Either that, or resort to the 'so's your mom' version of verbal plane wrecks, but she wasn't twelve any more. She did of course laugh at his when he slipped and fell, and all that earned her was a wet midriff; she squeaked as a section of Jose's wild water spray fell on the area of skin exposed between her top and shorts.

"Augamenti!" She cast back, almost shouting the word, and hoping Jose hadn't had time to get up to avoid it. "You've got it coming to you, Hernandez," she mock-threatened him as she tried to draw breath through her laughter. Crosby was a genius - a lot of the other students didn't like her but this class undoubtedly made up for anything she'd ever done wrong in the past. For a start there was immense fun to be had in a water fight, and secondly it was rare for Charlie to be in a position to wear so little in fron tof her classmates. She wasn't shy; she was sort of hoping the boys might be tempted to take a look at what they were missing. In turn, she was doing her best to appraise the fifth and sixth year boys as they ducked and dove, but as most of them were wearing long shorts and tee shirts it wasn't really anything special.

For his part, Jose sort of looked more at home in his whale tee shirt. He was pretty good looking anyway. Not in the well-kempt Daniel, James and Dmitry way, but he had a sort of care-free and natural attraciveness that could definitely distract a girl if given half a chance.

0 Charlie You think I'm sweet? 0 Charlie 0 5