Platform III (nm) on Charms

Professor Olivers

September 09, 2012 1:24 AM

Walk of Faith [VI & VII years] by Professor Olivers

To be honest with herself, Florence much preferred the Advanced class above the others. The older students were more mature, obviously more advanced in their spellwork, and had been going to school long enough to know how to act properly during classroom activity. Of course, that didn’t go for every single student, but she liked to think so. So far she hadn’t had too much of a problem in any of her classes.

Florence was a very meticulous witch who enjoyed setting stages for her acting, and today was no exception. She was kind of proud of the transformation the room had gone through in 24 hours. The posters on the walls were gone, replaced with South Asian tapestries. There was traditional Indian music playing softly in the background, and the desks had been vanished, leaving the entire room open and no fire hazards in sight. Her exotic carpet was gone as well, and in its place were long and narrow wooden platforms that were slightly raised. Coals were too dangerous to play with in class since they were too slow to cool, but there was a small fire going on instead. Sustained by magic, obviously, but no less real. It had been going on for at least an hour now, burning bright and warm. A challenge she hoped her older students would enjoy.

There were three of these platforms spread out in the room. She didn’t want them too close together. There were oriental pillows on the stone floor that surrounded the platforms at a distance for them to sit on while she did her mini lecture today. After that, they were going to do some walking through fire. Of course, it was a bit anticlimactic since they were going to use a charm to make the fire safe to walk through, but nevertheless, the sight of fire was enough to make any student hesitant to walk through it.

Once everyone was inside and seated, she stood up from her desk that had been pushed to the very back of the classroom and walked a few feet from the platform closest to her. Today she was wearing a sari to keep with the theme of today. Different cultures fascinated Florence, hence the name she went by, and she especially liked the Indian culture. It was a perfect way to integrate it into her lesson today and gave her a great reason to wear her sari.

“Good morning, class,” she said with a smile. By now, she had memorized everyone’s name and face so she no longer needed to take roll call. “Welcome to a little bit of a cultural lesson. Today we are going to walk through fire.” Oh, she was going to have fun with this. “Firewalking is an old South Asian custom as a rite of passage, a test of one’s strength and courage, or a test of one’s faith. In a sense, we’re going to be using all three. Traditionally, one would walk on hot coals, but in accordance with our lesson, we are going to be walking through fire.” The fire burning on the platforms seemed to grow a little taller.

Florence looked to see how her students were taking in this news with a mischievous smirk. “We’re going to be working on the Flame-Freezing Charm today. It’s on page fifty-four of your textbook.” She paused for a moment to let them turn to the page as she retrieved her wand from her desk. “As you can see in your book, the incantation is ‘Frigus Ignis’. The charm was quite popular back in the medieval times where witches and wizards used it as they pretended to burn at the stake during witch hunts. It was a fun way to pass the time back then, I suppose. However, we’re going to use it to change the properties of the fire you are all going to be walking through.

“Let’s all say the incantation together. ‘Frigus Ignis.’ Good. The platform you are sitting at is going to be the platform you are going to walk on. Your fellow classmates are going to be your spectators. Oh, and please take off your shoes and socks. It wouldn’t be fun with those on.” She smiled again, a little twinkle in her eye. “Though the fire feels hot, if you performed the charm correctly, it should feel like a warm breeze, a gentle tickling sensation, when you walk through. If you haven’t, well, ask your parents to buy you new pants.” She winked. “I won’t let it get that far, don’t worry.

“And just to make this interesting, whoever successfully crosses the platform and back first without getting singed doesn’t have to do the essay for this week.” Offering a get-out-of-homework-free pass was always a great motivator. “Remember, this is a more difficult charm and takes a lot of concentration. Even the slightest hesitance will weaken the spell. You have to walk through it confidently.” Florence closed her eyes and spread her arms. “Let the magic flow through you. Imagine the warm breeze and concentrate on changing the fire’s effects. Trust your magic.”

The former actress opened her eyes. “The fire will not change in appearance after you cast the charm. You have to trust your magic to perform correctly so you don’t scorch your feet.” She took a deep breath and let it out with a smile. “Go on, now. If any of you do burn your feet a little, come to me and I’ll take care of it for you.” That’s what salves and magic were for.

OOC: Firstly, NO MAJOR BURNS ALLOWED. You can get scorched here and there, but no burning up. You can singe your pant legs and whatnot, and of course Florence will be there for minor burns (tag her in the tagline if you need her), but nothing major! Two-hundred words minimum as usual, but make them extra creative and long for extra points!

Subthreads:

Platform I (nm) by Professor Olivers with Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw, Jane Carey, Teppenpaw

Platform II (nm) by Professor Olivers with Eliza Bennett, Crotalus, Nic Sawyer, Crotalus

Platform III (nm) by Professor Olivers with Marcus Williams, Pecari, David Wilkes, Aladren

0 Professor Olivers Walk of Faith [VI & VII years] 0 Professor Olivers 1 5

Professor Olivers

September 09, 2012 1:25 AM

Platform I (nm) by Professor Olivers

0 Professor Olivers Platform I (nm) 0 Professor Olivers 0 5

Professor Olivers

September 09, 2012 1:25 AM

Platform II (nm) by Professor Olivers

0 Professor Olivers Platform II (nm) 0 Professor Olivers 0 5

Professor Olivers

September 09, 2012 1:25 AM

Platform III (nm) by Professor Olivers

0 Professor Olivers Platform III (nm) 0 Professor Olivers 0 5

Eliza Bennett, Crotalus

September 09, 2012 8:48 PM

Ready to jump...well, cautiously step in by Eliza Bennett, Crotalus

When Eliza had spent time over the summer lying on her bed and studying her CATS results, making pro and con lists for taking or not taking certain classes and worrying over her ability to keep up with course work in preparation for the day when she had made an appointment with her parents to present her proposed schedule to them, it had never occurred to her not to mark Charms at once as one of the subjects she was definitely taking as a sixth year. The skills she had already learned in Charms were, as far as she could see, the ones from her pre-CATS curriculum that she was most likely to actually use on a day-to-day basis for the rest of her life, so it only made sense to continue to learn that kind of thing. Her parents had agreed; they had not even questioned the decision, and had approved of her logic when she explained it to them in her presentation anyway.

She had, then, been picturing the class as a very practical affair, not something that would often entertain her, much less be a pleasurable aesthetic experience. When she walked into the Charms classroom and saw the hangings and pillows, heard the music, and noticed the fire-topped platforms, it came as a surprise, even knowing that the professor had once been an actress. She smiled in delight, feeling herself relax a little in the atmosphere, and went to pick out a pillow to sit cross-legged on, her hands resting on her knees as she waited for the class to begin.

One day, she thought as she looked around, she wanted to travel, but until then, getting slices of exotic-seeming opulence at home would have to do. She had, after all, a long time left in life, and she didn’t see herself running out of money any time soon. Until she married, her parents would give her almost anything she wanted, and then once she did get married – something she only thought about in terms of money and hostessing; she had never pictured a specific husband, just a generic figure who’d appear on her arm at events at most – she would have other people who would do the same thing. She didn’t picture that ever changing.

She did, though, have a few mental pictures of the way the bottoms of her feet looked when the professor mentioned that they were walking through fire. Hearing about how the flame-freezing charm, when done properly, would feel like being tickled didn’t make her smile fade further than it had, but it didn’t bring it back, either. So, they had to concentrate not to get burned, okay. Eliza had four siblings. She’d learned from that experience that being tickled was distracting all by itself.

Still, she found she wasn’t really afraid as the lecture ended. Her skirt, though not indecent, was short enough that she didn’t think she had to worry about it burning, and at school, with her wardrobe so limited and replacements slow to come, Eliza felt like she needed to worry far more about her clothes than about her person. She did, though, take a second to tie up her hair before she smiled around at the other people at her stand.

“So,” she said brightly. “Unless anyone objects, I’m willing to try it first.”

She could put her foot over it and tell if it was hot before she stepped onto it at first, which would definitely alleviate some blisters as she got the spell completely down. The only problem would be if it heated up suddenly while she was in the middle, but then she could just concentrate again, she thought, and it would be all right.

0 Eliza Bennett, Crotalus Ready to jump...well, cautiously step in 174 Eliza Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Nic Sawyer, Crotalus

September 11, 2012 10:36 AM

Year 1 AR (After Rachel) by Nic Sawyer, Crotalus

Sonora was wrong this year. It had begun with the Feast. It had continued in the Commonroom and in classes. The library was also wrong. Only the room he shared with Sam seemed unaffected by the blight that had consumed the rest of the school. But then, Rachel had never touched that place aside from the drawings Nic had provided and they were still there. Elsewhere, her absence was as clear to him as the sun's disappearance at night. It was darker, duller, everywhere he went.

Too often, he found himself sitting in his usual haunts, waiting for an arrival that never came. He had staked out the library monitor sign-up sheet for three days before he realized what he was doing and reminded himself that Rachel's name would not be joining it this year.

Classes were worse. Despite being acutely aware that his RATS exams would come for him at the end of the year whether he was ready for them or not, Nic repeatedly found himself not paying attention in favor of studying each member of the advanced class, as if he had somehow simply overlooked Rachel's presence and if he just looked hard enough among his classmates he'd find her.

Coming into class today, he found himself confounded enough by the new layout that his first and greatest concern switched from missing Rachel to figuring out how exactly he was supposed to fold his long limbs in order to sit down on the provided pillows.

He was sure his awkward attempt to land his rear end on the pillow next to Eliza's without jabbing her with a knee or elbow disqualified him for life from any awards for graceful conduct, but he managed it without injury to himself or Eliza.

"Tall people are not built for sitting on the floor," he grumbled, a complaint he would not have made if anyone else was sitting beside him, but he considered Eliza an ally so she was therefore privy to this opinion. He had grown another inch and change over the summer, bringing him up to a total of six feet and three inches in height. His doctor thought he might have another inch or two in him, but he was definitely in the home stretch. He was still half an inch shorter than his father, so he kind of hoped he would get one of those inches, just so he could look Dad in the eye without looking up for a change.

Maybe it was new arrangent of the classroom, or maybe it was the burning platforms of fire and the risk of personal injury if he lost focus, but he got through the lecture with only a few light scans over his classmates, more to make bets with himself over who would end up in the hospital wing than to look for a blond head that wasn't there.

When Eliza offered to go first at their platform, Nic nodded and made a go-ahead gesture, having no objection to her going first. He preferred going after somebody else anyway. Nobody had ever accused him of having leadership potential.

1 Nic Sawyer, Crotalus Year 1 AR (After Rachel) 165 Nic Sawyer, Crotalus 0 5

Marcus Williams, Pecari

September 15, 2012 6:21 PM

It's Magical by Marcus Williams, Pecari

Marcus was going to be graduating from Sonora soon enough and he still hadn’t any idea on what it was that he wanted to do with his life. But, he knew he still had time to figure things out. What he really need to keep on top of was his school work. He had managed an O in charms, so he felt good about the class, but if he wanted to get a scholarship anywhere, he needed to make sure he kept getting Os or Es in his lessons. The only one that seemed to be trouble for him was Potions. He was never really good in science, so he supposed the one class that was like Chemistry would be his most difficult. At least they didn’t have math here. He wasn’t terrible at math, but it was really boring to learn.

Charms was a new professor and a whole new year. He never really knew what to expect from the Professors and the new ones weren’t any better. This one, Professor Olivers, was weird in her own way. She seemed really happy but also strict. Walking into the room, Marcus had to freeze for a moment to get his bearings. The room was completely different. The desks were gone, there were new things on the walls, cushions on the ground, and weird planks that had him a bit nervous. He plopped his tall frame onto one of the free cushions and folded into himself so that he wasn’t taking too much room up.

If nothing else could be said about the professor, at least they could say she wasn’t boring. He had seen ‘fire walking’ in movies and read about them in books. He knew that certain tribal cultures did it as a test of faith or manhood or something along those lines. Marcus didn’t really see the purpose. So, you like to burn your skin and cause yourself an immense amount of pain, congratulations but I will not take part in it. Unfortunately, today seemed like one of those days where he was actually going to have to participate.

“You ever wonder why we do certain lessons?” Marcus whispered to the person in the cushion next to him. He really hoped that there would never be a day where he would have to walk to fire and therefore, need to use this spell. Freezing other things might be more appropriate. Like, if he accidentally knocked a glass over, he could freeze it before it hit the ground. That would be something reasonable and helpful. Walking through fire was just the professors way of making it interesting and possibly enjoyed watching her students injure themselves.

“My Ma always told me never to play with fire.” Marcus said as he stood up and walked to the front of the platform. Watching the fire for a moment, Marcus took a breath and held up his wand. Slipping out of his shoes and socks, Marcus prepared for the spell. He was good at Charms, so he could do this without fear. He could. Really. And what a great letter that would be for his mother. Hey Ma, hope you’re well. Guess what I did in Charms today. Walked through fire. Yeah, that’s right. He’d be yelled at for sure, but it’d be funny to see her reaction. With this in mind, Marcus said the spell. The fire didn’t freeze, but that was the point. It just only be warm.

He took a step and could feel the heat of the fire. It wasn’t so hot that he was burning, but it wasn’t a warm breeze either. He did a fast walk over the fire to the other side and then hopped a bit to ease the skin and the bottom of his foot. “That was not very comfortable. Someone else have a go, my feet need to cool down.”

6 Marcus Williams, Pecari It's Magical 180 Marcus Williams, Pecari 0 5

Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus

September 19, 2012 5:07 PM

Most things here are. by Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus

New professors had a tendency to make Ryan very anxious. He was constantly worried about not just their teaching styles but whether or not they'd like him. These things actually fed into one another. If their lessons weren't something Ryan would do well with, such as last year's lesson with weird muggle balls that flew at him, the professor would definitely dislike him and see him as stupid and defective.

He wasn't at all sure what to make of Professor Olivers. The Crotalus knew his cousins weren't thrilled with the weekly essays, Amity because it cut into the free time she so desperately seemed to need and cherish and Arabella because she just plain didn't like schoolwork much. Ryan could personally handle the actual essay writing, but he never felt like his were good enough. The professor was a tough grader so naturally, he expected to be inadequate, like he believed himself to be in everything but Transfiguration. He always breathed a sigh of relief when an essay came back with a passing grade, which so far, they all had.

Fortunately, Ryan hadn't been too sure Professor Light had liked him either, and was in fact, pretty convinced that he hadn't. It wasn't like Transfiguration though, where he'd known full well that Aunt Lilac had . At least in Charms, he didn't have to go from a professor who liked him to one he was sure wouldn't. The sixth year was sure he hadn't made a very good impression on the sub last year either.

Today's lesson didn't help his nerves either. Oh, he knew about the historical uses of this spell, it had saved many a witch or wizard from death during the Burning Times, stories often used to scare Ryan as a child. They were used in general to scare him and cousins away from Muggles and his mother had also enjoyed telling him that someday someone would try to burn him alive and he wouldn't be able to escape because he wouldn't be any good any magic.

It was something that was echoing through his head as the professor spoke. How was Ryan ever going to do this without being burned? Not only would that be humiliating, but it would be painful . Which seemed to be the case with Charms. One commonality that all the professors he'd had for this subject seemed to share was that they came up with lessons that were unpleasant and possibly dangerous. If Ryan couldn't cast the spell fast enough-and he didn't think quick on his feet, he was a cautious Crotalus-he would get hurt badly. Burns could cause an awful lot of damage, even scarring. Ryan didn't even want to think of how his sister would torment him if that happened.

He nodded in agreement when Marcus Williams whispered to him about wondering why they did certain lessons. The sixth year knew very well that this charm had been practical at one time, but he wasn't sure if Muggles still actually would try to burn them. He didn't really want to find out either, and if they still did that, it was best just to stay away from them. Plus, Ryan didn't think Marcus was a pureblood, so he sure wasn't going to suggest such a thing and offend him. The last thing he wanted was an enemy.

The Crotalus watched as his classmate went up to walk across the fire and made it through, though he was hopping a little. Ryan rose next and stood at the edge, nervously. He supposed though, it couldn't be worse than dealing with his mother or sister. That was enough to make him summon up his courage. what little he had. Ryan said the spell, which initially didn't do anything and once the fire froze (on his fourth try), he began to cross.

It was warm, a bit too warm and the sixth year moved across it faster than he ever had moved in his whole life. He agreed with Marcus, he really didn't see the purpose of this whole thing. Maybe if his house was on fire or something and he needed to escape but otherwise, Ryan was never doing this again. "You're right." He told the Pecari. "That wasn't comfortable at all."

11 Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus Most things here are. 176 Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus 0 5

Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw

September 20, 2012 6:00 PM

And it burns, burns, burns.... by Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw

Kirstenna was still trying to get a sense of the new professor. She knew that the woman was an actress and a difficult grader who gave weekly essays, which so far, the Teppenpaw wasn't doing so well on. Thankfully, she was good enough at spells not to be failing the class. It was just that she wasn't the sort that excelled at academics. Kirstenna was a creative thinker, not a practical logical one. She wasn't like Quentin, who happened to be the smartest person she'd ever met.

However, she had not yet decided if Professor Olivers was in league with the Imposter. Not everyone was. The Headmistress wasn't, but she was in danger because the Imposter wanted her job, which meant having Ultimate Power at Sonora and the Imposter's ironically named spawn was now residing in Headmistress Kijewski-Jareu's house. That was even more insidious than the Beetle Baby. At least Kirstenna didn't have to quite worry about the Beetle Lady as much now.

As for the Charms professor nothing about her had yet alerted Kirstenna in any way. Which was not necessarily a good thing. Sometimes, the most innocuous seeming people were the most dangerous, secretly plotting something and knowing nobody would ever suspect them, biding their time while others destroyed each other only to take it all in the end. Merlin, did Kirstenna to want the Teppenpaw Quidditch team to be like that!

Doing today's lesson did not personally bother the seventh year. She'd been raised in the circus and people always did stuff like this as part of side shows, given that it wasn't politically correct to display things like the Bearded Lady or little people anymore. Apparently though, it was perfectly all right to put these people on TV under the guise of "education". Quite frankly, those TV shows probably were hurting the circus business, which wasn't wasn't exactly in its heyday as it was.

Still, Kirstenna knew that fire walking was a very dangerous thing. Someone could get hurt badly and that could mean that Professor Olivers was into torturing students, as not everyone would be able to cast the spell correctly. Which meant she might be working with the Imposter, or she could just be a random sadist. There was also the possibility that she was working against the Imposter and training them just in case the Imposter attempted to burn them alive. As she'd boiled Tobar like a lobster, Kirstenna wouldn't but it past the Imposter to do so. However, the Imposter would also know that as witches and wizards, they could cast the charm they were learning today.

The Teppenpaw, though, had no qualms about actually walking through fire, so when they were released to do the lesson, she stood right up. "Frigus Ignus " Kirstenna was not all that surprised when the flames froze and she walked across to the other side, her feet stinging a little from the fire.

11 Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw And it burns, burns, burns.... 161 Kirstenna Melcher, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jane Carey, Teppenpaw

September 22, 2012 9:10 PM

Yes, it does by Jane Carey, Teppenpaw

The complete transformation of the Charms classroom caught Jane by surprise as she walked in it, and for one wild moment, she thought it had something to do with Edmond. Non-western history and magical theory were among the subjects they had studied less intently in their lessons when they were younger, so she couldn’t deduce much about what they were doing just by looking around at the décor and the fiery platforms except that it was eastern, and that the only person she knew with an interest – admittedly, a forced interest, he hadn’t chosen to go, but he did write about interesting things in his letters sometimes – in that was her brother, still studying in Thailand at least until they were sure it was safe for him to come home again. She hadn’t heard a thing, though, and she was sure it would have come through the Carey grapevine somehow if he had reentered the country….

Looking around, she had that suspicion confirmed quickly. Professor Olivers was wearing a strange set of robes, presumably from the culture reflected in the rest of the room, and Edmond wasn’t exactly the kind of person it was easy to overlook, as he combined quite a lot of red hair with usually being taller than everyone else in the room. Shaking her head at her own stupidity even as she was a little disappointed in spite of herself, Jane stopped blocking the doorway and went to find a cushion, as several other people already had.

Listening to the lesson, the disappointment grew. The flame-freezing charm…well, she could see how it could, potentially, depending on the exact circumstances, be useful in a combat situation even if you had better sense than to get caught and set on fire by Muggles for some reason, but Jane had no intention of ever going into a battle. That part of her life was over and done, and it was never going to be looked back on or reentered ever again. Perhaps it could be used when she had children, though – she’d heard stories about how her father’s first magic had been breaking the wards around the fireplaces, which had caused her grandparents a lot of stress – so the lesson was still useful, but…well, she had been hoping for something more unusual, something outside the usual kinds of magic they studied, something that would go along with the elaborately-decorated classroom. Edmond mentioned things, but he rarely went into detail about them, something which she planned to correct him for at Christmas but which for now just had to be frustrated by, and try to research on her own in the library.

The lesson, though, was the lesson, and she preferred this to the professor decorating the room with stakes to tie them all to so they could learn the spell. She got in line to go up, not feeling really concerned. It had been a long time since Jane had worried about having trouble in one of her lessons.

It was a surprise, then, when, walking more quickly than usual and on her toes but still with what she hoped was a reasonable amount of dignity, she did feel sharp stings in her feet and ankles as she made her way through the low flames, and even more of one to see a small burn had formed on her skirt when she got across. Jane’s eyes widened, almost in indignation, as she looked at it. “Scourgify,” she tried, but that only removed the ash. She clicked her tongue irritably. “Occulto,” she said instead, obscuring the damage until she could deal with it properly. Looking over her feet, she winced at the thought of putting her shoe back on over the bright pink patch on the side of the left one, and of how a shoe would rub against a splotch just underneath her right ankle. Why on earth hadn’t the spell worked properly for her?

Kirstenna had, she’d noticed, seemed utterly unfazed by it all, and Jane found herself feeling slightly inferior to another student. It was a strange feeling, one she had never experienced before in her life. She had felt equal to a very few, but never inferior. It was strange. She went, forcing herself not to hop too much, over to her roommate and smiled. "This is an interesting lesson, don't you think?" she said. "You did very well."

0 Jane Carey, Teppenpaw Yes, it does 0 Jane Carey, Teppenpaw 0 5

Eliza

September 22, 2012 9:14 PM

It's a whole new world by Eliza

Eliza had smiled when she heard Nic grumbling about the difficulties of sitting on the floor. “Try it in a skirt sometime,” she advised him. She could see how his build made the cushions more difficult than they were for her, but still, sitting on the floor in a dress was no task for the faint of heart. She would have loved to wear pants sometimes, but that was not the conduct of a proper young lady, so she and Nic both got to suffer today.

It was going to be strange next year when he was gone, beyond even that being a reduction to the number of people she was sure would be on her side. She thought she was going to miss having Nic around. Hopefully, she would be busy next year, very busy, but she was sure she would notice his absence every now and then. With Jordan grown more distant over the years, more interested in boys than anything, and the other one someone Eliza didn’t think she could befriend no matter what happened, she thought Nic might be, despite the actual size of her network of acquaintances, the closest thing to a friend she had, even if the relationship was, from her perception, more one of mutual sympathy than of intimacy. That was enough to suit her; it would have been nice to have someone to gossip with, but most boys just weren’t wired that way, and she knew she most likely would have felt the same paranoia she did with most people if she’d tried anyway.

She chose to look on the bright side of that. One day, she was going to be a great success because of her paranoia. It was an asset in politics.

Nic’s failure to make a chivalrous objection to her going first into the fire was not a surprise, and she smiled before bowing slightly in answer to his go-ahead gesture and then stepping up to the platform.

On level ground, Eliza hadn’t been worried about this at all, but now, actually face-to-face with it all, she did feel her stomach flutter with anxiety. None of that she told it firmly, and raised her wand, the dark wood of which shone with polishing, to perform the incantation even as she started to put her foot out, knowing that the key was to just not think before she acted. If she did, she’d stand there dithering until the fire burned out, which was not really what she wanted to see happen now that she’d stepped up and announced her desire to be the leader for their group. She’d be a laughingstock if she didn’t do this, and she would rather walk through fire than be a laughingstock any day.

She jumped a little as her foot landed on the platform, at first just out of reflex, sure it was going to be hot, and then because having the bottoms of her feet tickled wasn’t a feeling that she liked. Noticing, though, that the flames around her ankles and feet did still feel warm, if not enough to burn, she decided to hurry up –

She got halfway across before she felt a burn form on her left foot and executed a twirl, lifting that foot off the ground and taking herself toward the other side faster than she would have otherwise, even as she bit her lip to muffle a cry of pain. She finished the course with more of a leap than anything, glad to see that ballet lessons when she was little were finally proving useful for something, and hopped from one foot to the other as she touched stone again.

The condition of her feet, she was relieved to see as she examined them afterward, wasn’t bad – she got worse burns on her fingers in Potions all the time. She wouldn't even need the ointment she carried to Potions for that reason for these. She made herself look up and smile. “Not too bad,” she said brightly, entirely for the benefit of her public. “Even if you do slip up a little." She'd have to try it again later, but she thought someone else could have a turn now, while she thought about how to improve on her performance.

0 Eliza It's a whole new world 0 Eliza 0 5

Kirstenna

September 27, 2012 3:04 PM

Painful, isn't it? by Kirstenna

"Thanks!" Kirstenna replied beaming. She and her roommate weren't especially close, the Teppenpaw had figured it was partially because Jane was one of those proper pureblood girls and she wasn't. She really wished they could have been better friends but girls like Jane just...didn't befriend girls like Kirstenna.

At least they weren't enemies though. That would have made all their years sharing a room unbearable. She couldn't imagine the amount of tension there would be then. Kirstenna would find that intolerable. It was bad enough that she didn't really have any friends, except possibly Sam, which got to be very lonely. She didn't really feel she was that close to anyone now that Renee had successfully stolen Sophia away from her as a friend. Her attempt at reconciling with the Pecari had been thwarted by the little demon.

Though it wasn't Renee's fault entirely, she couldn't help being the dark foul creature that she was. It was the Imposter of course, like everything else that was wrong at Sonora now that the Beetle Lady had left to take care of her spawn. Actually, Kirstenna had never thought the Beetle Lady was as evil as the Imposter anyway, just weird-though the Teppenpaw had actually liked the woman's fuzzy orange slippers.

Still, she was glad that she didn't have to deal with roommate drama. It gave her time to focus her attention on other matters, such as Quidditch and foiling the Imposter's plots. Granted, Kirstenna really had no idea what to do about either. Her nemesis seemed unstoppable, what could she do against someone who literally committed identity theft,kidnapped and poisoned people? Or about an Imperiused Aladren team. She was simply not the strategic planning type.

"I'm kind of used to stuff like this." Kirstenna added. The circus was not what one would call a safe life, with the trapeze and the high-wire and what not. Plus, she was often exposed to dangerous animals like lions and tigers, though the acrobatic acts were more common, thanks to groups like PETA. Between them and 'sideshow television' the circus was dying and it made Kirstenna mad. The circus was her family's livelihood and she couldn't imagine any other life. Besides, all the danger had prepared her well for Sonora.

11 Kirstenna Painful, isn't it? 161 Kirstenna 0 5

Jane

September 29, 2012 1:25 AM

A little bit by Jane

Jane blinked, surprised, when Kirstenna said that she was kind of used to stuff like this. She knew that her roommate had an…interesting background even beyond being a half-blood, but being used to situations where people had to know magic meant to protect witches and wizards from persecution in the days before the Statute of Secrecy implied that it was even more interesting than Jane had thought. She knew from personal experience that her own family could be more interesting than anything really needed to be, but she, at least, wasn’t used to the kinds of things that made it that way happening.

“That, I can’t say,” she said. “We’ve always used books more than magic at home.”

Sometimes, Jane thought her parents must have been more eccentric than she had always assumed they were. When she had turned seventeen, one of the first things she had thought was that she’d be able to use magic to do things they had always insisted she do herself, by hand, even though they could have flicked a wand and had it done, and yet the habits ran deeply enough that she’d gotten up and at least started to sweep her bedroom floor and make her bed before she remembered that she could just make the chores complete themselves more often than she had not over the summer. She had seen her father use his wand for small tasks more in the past two years than she had in her entire life before that, she thought, and she could only assume it was because he often didn’t feel very well even when he wasn’t really ill. One of the texts she and Edmond had read had been about how becoming too dependent on a wand narrowed one’s thinking in dangerous ways. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do if her husband came with a house-elf – paint more, she guessed, and keep tinkering with charms in her free time, and hope that she had children who were bright enough to begin teaching at very early ages if she wasn’t used to more usual arrangements by the time she had children.

Hopefully, she would be, but that might partially depend on when she had children. If Jethro’s entire family conveniently dropped dead the day after the wedding, she thought she might end up being mostly in charge of that, but she really doubted that was going to happen, or that her family wouldn’t have things to say about it even if it did. As far as they were concerned, she and Jethro were nothing more than the means to an end, a way to get more resources. It was infuriating, in a way – she was much smarter than most of the men in the family, and if she was right, she was also more cool-headed than half of them, but no one but her father and brother had ever bothered to notice, never mind acknowledge it – especially since Edmond’s near-breakdown had done its share to disabuse her of any notions of male superiority, but there was nothing to do but smile, at least for now.

“Did you get scorched at all?” she asked, deciding that wasn’t something to think about too much in class. She still had to finish seventh year, at the very least, before any of that became relevant, and part of that was successfully completing this lesson. If Kirstenna had any useful tips to offer, she was going to take them and use them as best as she could so she could be done with the task and not have to ever walk through a fire again.

0 Jane A little bit 0 Jane 0 5

Kirstenna

October 03, 2012 1:15 AM

I'm sure it can be treated. by Kirstenna

It was Kirstenna's turn to blink. She'd always assumed that purebloods used magic for everything once they got to be old enough. She thought they, like her father, were just so used to it that the idea of doing something by hand if they didn't have a house elf to do it for them wouldn't occur to them. That was how their circus trailer stayed neat though aside from her father's magic act, they didn't use magic in front of anyone else.

"Nobody uses it aside from my dad and me." Kirstenna replied. "That's because they're all Muggles though. They have to do this," she nodded at the fire, "without the spell. Well, I mean, I guess they don't have to walk on hot coals at all," Quentin had had something of an effect on her speech, "but that's one of the things people in the circus do. There are also people who swallow fire and swords and stuff. All without magic." Some people-in fact, most people-would probably wonder why anyone would do such a thing, but to Kirstenna, it was fairly normal seeming.

Quite honestly, even though she was a halfblood, she couldn't imagine living the life of a normal Muggle. It just seemed so dull to her. Magic, and the circus, that was what was for the Teppenpaw. Sometimes, she even got a little bit restless at Sonora, because she wasn't used to staying in one place for long periods of time though it was easier now than it had been as a first year. Kirstenna had no real permanent address. She didn't have a place where she could officially say that she was from, though she'd technically been born in Indiana.

Still, it didn't bother her. The seventh year was just so accustomed to it all. Others seemed to place a good deal of importance on it, purebloods were always introducing themselves by their location. Iowa Melchers. Colorado Brockerts. Virginia Careys. Kirstenna had never understood this really, but then she wasn't really one of them, her father had thrown that away. Not that she resented him for doing so one bit. She liked her life and the pureblood one wasn't for her. Much too stiff. The Teppenpaw would have gone crazy.

"A little." She admitted. "It just feels a bit warm on the bottoms of my feet. There's probably a mark on them too but there is probably something to prevent scarring." Kirstenna would hope that Professor Olivers wouldn't seek to disfigure them, but it was entirely possible that she would. She certainly wouldn't be the first psychotic sadist that was hired at Sonora.

11 Kirstenna I'm sure it can be treated. 161 Kirstenna 0 5

David Wilkes, Aladren

October 04, 2012 12:10 PM

I'm debating where to place my faith today. by David Wilkes, Aladren

David had been attending school long enough to know how to act properly during class time, and would agree that his charmswork was more advanced than it had been in first or even third year, but there were only a few circumstances under which he would claim to be a particularly mature person, and under all of them he would still be lying. He didn’t find that too much of a problem. He still had at least five more years of education stretching out before him, and after that, he’d still have a good handful of decades to worry about being mature in. For now, walking into the elaborately decorated Charms classroom, he saw no problem with first worrying that they were going to have to drink hot tea and do yoga – both activities he supported in the abstract, since his older sister’s affection for them annoyed certain members of their family so very much, but had never contemplated really taking up himself and thought of, since Annabeth was the only person he knew who liked them, as somehow essentially girly – and then wondering if there would be people dressed like Princess Jasmine.

Those thoughts, though, didn’t stick with him long after Professor Olivers started talking, except for a vague one about how he wished it had been yoga. That looked painful, but at least he could take an aspirin – or visit the hospital wing for the potion equivalent, he guessed – afterward and no harm done. Fire was…different.

David worked well enough with tiny amounts of it in Potions, but it was never a comfortable experience. He’d heard, over and over again, never to go near the heaters and fireplaces when he was little, and though he guessed now that they’d been more afraid of kids falling in it than of the actual fire, he had learned it was something to be afraid of, a feeling which had been confirmed, if by someone else, when he was about ten. Now he was being asked to do the same thing, even with magic…yeah, he didn’t like that.

He looked at his shoes. Even if he could work a Disillusionment Charm, the rubber soles would melt unless he could Transfigure it into stone somehow. And do all this without anyone noticing that he was cheating. It was a tall order, that was for sure. And he was decent at charms, had access to magical medicine, and wasn’t an idiot who’d sit at home for a week after getting burned, so maybe he should just try to do things properly.

That resolution was challenged when the first person came off his platform smarting. It didn’t look any worse than sticking one’s finger to the side of a cauldron every now and then, but David didn’t like that, either, which was why he usually wore his gloves during Potions.

David shook his head, thinking of what the professor had said this lesson was about in its home culture. A rite of passage was right out, it was too late in the year to worry about being properly initiated into the mysteries of the Advanced classes. A test of strength and courage wasn’t necessary, either; he was happily aware that he possessed neither, it was just that he got stubborn sometimes, or was more afraid of one thing than he was another, such as not jumping up and announcing he wasn’t doing this because he was worried about getting in trouble. As for a test of faith – faith in what? His magical ability? Normally, that would have been all right, but he was feeling nervous at the moment, which wasn't great for magic, and he needed practice before he got a spell right. As for other faith, well, he believed in God, and even believed in miracles, if it came to that, but not in throwing down the gauntlet and demanding one for his very own….

“Frigus ignis,” he tried, deciding he could at least practice a little, if not with any clue how much good it was doing, before he had to make up his mind about chickening out or trying to bewitch his shoes. “Frigus ignis, frigus ignis,, wish I knew Latin, frigus ignis,….”

16 David Wilkes, Aladren I'm debating where to place my faith today. 169 David Wilkes, Aladren 0 5