Professor Aaron McKindy
August 24, 2011 11:25 AM
Beginner's Lesson 007 [Years I - III] by Professor Aaron McKindy
Professor Aaron McKindy had, by this point in his life, learned that things just had a tendency to not go his way. He had more-or-less resigned himself to that sort of thing, but the return of his old friend to the post of Headmistress at Sonora shortly after he had been invited to submit an application for professorship at the Center for Higher Education of the Society of Sorcerers was a bit much. Admittedly, Aaron had been excited to hear that he had been accepted and was already anticipating his move to the small town outside of Los Angeles. After the messy divorce of last year and the stress he felt at being somewhat friendless at Sonora, it would be a nice change. He had also begun studying to become an Animagus, and teaching at a university would provide him with better resources to do that, and it had (of course) been a tremendous honour to be selected out of the Society of Sorcerers as someone who would be a valuable contribution to CHESS. But it wasn’t fair that Sadi had returned as Headmistress just as he was leaving.After Sadi had pointed out with her usual calm, matter-of-fact manner that she was only the acting Headmistress while the Scot was away on family business and that Aaron ought to stop sulking he had, of course. It was just that he didn’t want to.
He hadn’t yet let his students know that he would be leaving , but he had planned a number of particularly exciting lessons. If Aaron was going to leave the post he had spent most of his last decade at, he was going to do it in style. He would miss his students much more than he would miss his colleagues, but he did hold out hope that some of them would pursue higher education at CHESS and that he would see them again.
Today, for example, Aaron stood outside of the doorway into the Charms classroom to intercept his students before they entered. The Charms professor had spent a gratuitous amount of time playing with wizard space and planned to hold his Intermediate and Advanced classes in the library until he could put things to rights. Once all of the students seem to have gathered in the hallway, the t-shirt-clad man shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans and leaned against the doorway, feeling his wand handle stick into his lower back. Aaron had a penchant for sticking his wand in his back pocket, although it wasn’t a strictly safe procedure.
“Hello class!” the tall, black-haired man said, grey-green eyes looking around the group. They were still mostly segregated by year, although there was moderate mixing. “Before we begin class, I want you each to pair up – different years, please. I don’t want to see any first years with first years unless it’s strictly necessary.”
Once the students had followed his instructions, some less willingly than others, Aaron began handing out scraps of parchment, apparently blank. Those students who had been paying especial attention to the Midterm Challenge assignment that Aaron had given them to complete over break would probably suspect that the slips of parchment had actually been written on in Invisible Ink, but those who hadn’t would, presumably, be quite confused at the moment.
“Line up, please, by pairs,” Aaron directed, then waited as the students did so. “Each of you,” the Pecari Head of House announced, a grin creeping on to his face, “are now a pair of secret agents. You have been given a confidential government assignment that you must complete in the next hour and a half or suffer the consequences of failure,” there weren’t actually consequences of failure, but Aaron thought that such a ‘threat’ fit into the course of the assignment rather well. “Beginning in just a moment, each pair will be released through the door at forty-five second intervals.” He paused, then smiled broadly, opening the door.
“First pair, go!”
The obstacles for each team would be different – therefore the manipulation of wizard space – and if the team didn’t figure out that the instructions could be found on the slip of parchment they wouldn’t get far, but overall Aaron thought that this lesson offered a fun opportunity for imagination, exploration, and an assessment of the students’ comprehension and practical abilities.
Getting out his gradebook, Aaron slipped into his section of the wizard-spaced classroom to observe the students as they worked at their pop-quiz, of sorts.
|OOC|
Minimum ten sentences, please! But the more you do, the more House Points your House gets. Be creative and have fun! Tag me in your subject line if your character needs Aaron. Feel free to be creative with the charms you use – check the Harry Potter Lexicon or Wiki if you want some ideas – but don’t forget to remain within realistic guidelines. Each student pair will definitely be required to use: Wingardium Leviosa, Alohomora, Aparecium, and Lumos/Nox.
A bonus of up to ten points per character will be given for use of creativity in designing obstacles and your character’s response to them. However, as you write your posts, please recall that Aaron would not have created obstacles or situations in which the students would be put in actual, physical danger – although the illusion of actual, physical danger is totally legit for use.
Enjoy!
Subthreads: I spy by Linus Macaulay with Jessica Applerose - Teppenpaw, Linus
*Puts on sunglasses and a dark suit* Good to go, sir. by Russell Layne, Aladren Second Year with Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren
To the Batmobile! by David Wilkes, Aladren with Alice Adair, Crotalus
A positive outlook by Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw with Jhonice Trevear - Pecari
*gulp* by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus with Derry Four, Teppenpaw
0
Professor Aaron McKindy
Beginner's Lesson 007 [Years I - III]
0
Professor Aaron McKindy
1
5
Linus Macaulay
August 24, 2011 4:37 PM
I spy by Linus Macaulay
Before he'd come to Sonora, Linus' concept of a real wizard would have involved a long cloack, pointed hat, white beard, and possibly a staff of sorts - in short, a lot like Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings movies. Since learning a little bit more about wizards, however, Linus had ammended his concept; old wizards did look like Gandalf, but younger adult wizards looked like Professor McKindy, who could probably almost pass for a Muggle most days, but then he often wore an eccentric pink bubble top hat and sometimes his clothes had motifs that moved. In Linus' mind, this was how actual wizards were.Charms classes were usually quite fun, because the students learned how to do things that in a Muggle environment would be considered impossible. Things like making objects float, or disappear, and they almost always used their wands. It felt like real magic, whereas potions and care of magical creatures, for example, could sometimes be rather dull in comparison. Linus still enjoyed those classes, but they just weren't as exciting as waving his wand around and actually personally causing things to happen. The draw of charms was such that Linus was actually looking forward to the class. He tried not to be too disappointed when they were asked to partner someone in a different year group. Linus was adverse to this arrangement because he didn't like to be made to feel inferior, and older students inevitably had that effect for one reason or another.
Regardless, he wasn't about to break school rules or go against a professor's instruction simply because the scenario didn't sit pleasantly with him. He sucked in his gut, approached one of the students who he knew wasn't in his yeargroup. He usually looked presentable with his dark blonde hair swept back from his face, his uniform robes neat and shoes properly polished. He was decent at the spells they had studied in class so far this year, and so he thought he was just as recommendable a partner as any of the first years, and probably moreso than most. "I'm Linus Macaulay," he said boldly but not rudely. "Could we be partners for this class?"
0
Linus Macaulay
I spy
205
Linus Macaulay
0
5
Jessica Applerose - Teppenpaw
August 25, 2011 3:40 AM
With my little eye by Jessica Applerose - Teppenpaw
Jess was excited for Charms. She had studied her whole first year, nearly neglecting her social life--something quite unusual for her--just to know more about her favorite subject. The British-born California girl knew a lot of the spells that was used in this class and loved using her wand. Another reason why she loved this class. She had fervently done the homework the professor had assigned over the holiday, between having fun with Regina of course, and had learnt a lot. Prepared herself a lot, really.Jessica tugged on a brunette curl when she received her piece of paper. She knew better than to expect it to just be a blank piece of paper. She smiled secretively. Perhaps when they went into the room whatever was on the paper would appear. Or a simple revealing charm would work as well. She liked professor McKindy's scenario of being a secret agent. She wasn't sure if the purebloods would get it like she did. She was lucky to have lived in the Muggle world, although she certainly did not live like a Muggle.
And now they had to find partners. Easy. But before Jess could even turn, someone approached her. She turned to look at a well-groomed boy in surprise. Then her surprise melted into a large smile. "Sure. I'm Jessica Applerose," she offered. After introductions, she gestured for her companion to go with her to professor McKindy. Soon, they were allowed into the room. First of all, the room looked nothing like she had expected. It almost looked like they were in a boring Muggle office without the cubicles and with heavy-looking desks. It was missing the employees, though. And there was a random wardrobe in the corner. Creepy.
"Well, time to find out what's on this paper," she said. "Aparecium," she said, pointing her wand to her paper. Black inked words appeared, just like she had thought. Her lips curled into a smile. "Invisible ink," she said. She wasn't sure if the first-year beside her would know how to do the charm, but she had faith in him. Might as well not hurt his pride. She read a couple of the instructions.
"One. Find the Quick-Quotes quill and write a message. Use the message to find the emerald amulet (watch out for beasts)." Jess' eyes widened. "Beasts?" she repeated skeptically. Well, what else could she expect from such a class? Nothing remotely safe, anyway. She wondered if this really was the Charms classroom they were still in. She glanced warily at the wardrobe. "I have a feeling we'll need to look inside that wardrobe eventually. I dearly hope that it's only holding clothes, though. Do you want to explore that part at the end?" As confident as she could pretend to be, she was deathly afraid of the unknown.
The paper suddenly dropped out of her loose grip. "Whoops!" She bent down to pick it up and said, "Why don't you read the rest of the instructions?"
0
Jessica Applerose - Teppenpaw
With my little eye
0
Jessica Applerose - Teppenpaw
0
5
Linus
September 05, 2011 7:22 AM
Something beginning.... by Linus
(Sorry it's so late! Crazy couple of weeks.)His first instincts concerning Jessica were not entirely companionable, but then Linus rarely managed to extract a good first impression from people he met. All jessica had done, in all honesty, was be an older student and a girl, and that was sufficient for Linus to be wary of her. However, she did immediately ascertain that the piece of paper they'd been given was written on with invisible ink, and not only knew the correct spell to make the words appear, but also executed it proficiently. Linus couldn't help but grudgingly admit she was apparently adept at at least some forms of magic, and thus she would probably make a decent partner for the day's assignment. "Nice one," he made a positive comment on her initial success; girls usually responded well to positive feedback.
The instructions Jessica read out made little sense to Linus. How were they supposed to follow directions if they had to be the ones to write them? What was a Quick Quotes Quill, anyway? The contents of the wardrobe weren't concerning him just now; if that was something at the end of their trail, or even along the way, they'd have to get to that point before they needed to deal with it. And, Linus thought as Jessica dropped the instructions, at this rate they may never need to worry about it. "Let's follow the first instructions first," he said, taking the parchment from her. "We can worry about the next bit once we've completed the first bit." That was obviously the logical way to do things.
Loathe as he was to seem ignorant, Linus didn't want to ask about the Quick Quotes Quill. Instead he looked around them for some inspriration and, on a shelf way above their heads, he saw an acid green feather producing of its edge. "Do you think that's it?" he asked his partner. Then, before he'd given her chance to answer, the Crotalus cast Wingardium Leviosa and gradually guided the feather back down to him; it had taken a lot of practise before midterm for the first year to float items down as well as up, but as the feathered quill landed in his outstretched palm, Linus was convinced he'd gotten that spell down nicely.
Fairly sure that this was the Quill they required, Linus looked round for some ink, but found none, only some parchment in the cubicle where they stood. He'd seen some of the other students use self-inking quills, so, hazarding a guess, he put the nib to parchment, and immediately the Quill stood up on its end and began to scribble. Linus leaned over to see what it had written.
0
Linus
Something beginning....
0
Linus
0
5
Jess
September 08, 2011 10:52 PM
...to freak me out a little... by Jess
Jess smiled when Linus levitated the quill down. She supposed she had to let him do some things. She knew she could do the spells on her own. After all, she was a second-year now. "Good job," she told him. Might as well make a friend on the way! Nobody could ever have too many friends, even if they were younger than her.She watched as he put the quill down and watched the letters form from its inky end.
Holding a prize am I.
Holding a monster to die.
Your beast of burden is weathered and hurtin'
But choose the right potion or cry.
The words gave Jess the chills but she didn't know why. "Okay, so that's pretty self-explanatory. We gotta heal a beast in there with the right potion or, er, cry? The beast'll probably hurt us." She gulped and pulled out her wand. "Don't worry," she said, trying to reassure both herself and the first-year. "My dad is a Potions master so I know some of the healing potions. Just some though." She didn't want to frighten him with her own trepidation. She sighed. "I'm guessing that the creepy wardrobe is holding that 'beast of burden.'"
She took a couple steps towards the wardrobe, wand grasped tightly in hand, when suddenly she felt her foot stick. Frowning, she looked down at the floor. "Darn it!" she cried. "I stepped in Sanderblot's Super Sticky Sobbing Glue!" She'd never understood the sobbing part, except for the rumor that Sanderblot's had found the super sticky stick for his glue by sobbing...but there was no time to dwell on that. Now her foot was being chomped on by a desk!
She screamed. "My shoe!" she screeched. "That stupid cubicle desk has its, er, leg around mine!" She wondered what charm to use to get out of this mess. "Darn it!" she exclaimed again for lack of a better word. Suddenly her eyes widened. "I know. I'll use a cleaning spell and then you, Linus, try and lift me out of here." She wasn't exactly looking forward to facing the end of his wand much less being levitated by him, but he had seemed reasonably good at it. "Wingardium Leviosa-me out of here right after I clean up this glue. If you don't, my shoe's going to slip and the desk'll come on top of me!"
There wasn't exactly much space the desk could hold for her foot so she wasn't worried about getting eaten alive. She just wanted to get out of this strangely enchanted room before she went mad. It was a darn good thing she had studied like mad her first year and last summer. It had been much easier having her parents show her how to say and use the charm without her actually using it herself outside of school. She loved being magical. "On the count of three. One, two...Scourgify!"
0
Jess
...to freak me out a little...
0
Jess
0
5
