A slippery situation. on Charms

Professor Olivers

June 29, 2013 6:22 PM

Intermediate Charms [III, IV, & V years] by Professor Olivers

At the stroke of the hour, as with each class period, Florence closed the door in the back of the classroom with her hand. Latecomers were not encouraged to join if they decided to make tardiness a habit. “Good morning everyone,” she greeted them. “I know your lunch hour is next, but please try and pay attention today.” She turned around with a flourish of her wand and the chalk began writing their lesson down on the board. “We will be reviewing the Gripping Charm we began learning yesterday, but we will be pairing it with the Liquid-Freezing Charm. Please open your textbooks to page 54.”

When the page-flipping had died down some, she stood tall and spoke once more. “The incantation, as you can see in your textbook, is glacius. Who knows the meaning of this charm? If any of you know any Latin, that will help.” She didn’t imagine any of them were taking separate language classes at Sonora, but after a few years of learning the meanings and origins of magic spells, they had to start picking up some Latin. She called on someone and waited for them to answer before continuing. “It is from the Latin for ‘you freeze,’ glaciās. Does anyone know how the charm freezes water? And no, the right answer is not ‘magic.’” After a beat, she added, “It’s in your textbook,” for those who hadn’t read ahead.

Once someone had told her the right answer, she said, “Very good. This charm conjures a blast of freezing cold air, cold enough to freeze several inches of water almost instantaneously into ice. If you get in the way of this charm, you’ll most likely freeze into a block of ice. So beware. For your homework, I would like you write a ten-foot essay on the origins of the Liquid-Freezing Charm and its use in the modern world as we know it. Argue a point of view for extra points.” She smacked her wand into her hand.

“Now then. Let’s get started. I’d like this side of the room,” she gestured with her arm, referring to the right half of the room, “to begin with the Gripping and Freezing Charms in the box. You’re each going to take a turn freezing the water, performing the Gripping Charm on the ice so you don’t slip, and then walking across it. If you do it correctly, you’ll be able to walk back and forth on the ice with no troubles. If not, you’ll have to take another turn and perhaps use the Drying Charm you learned earlier this term.

“For those on this side of the classroom,” she gestured to the left half, “you will begin researching for your essay due at the end of this week. Understood?” She paused to survey her class and then nodded. “Good. Now let’s get started.”

OOC: Two paragraphs, ten sentences, two hundred words, creative posts; you know the drill. The Liquid-Freezing Charm is not very easy on a larger body of water, let that be said.

Subthreads:

A slippery situation. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari, Clara Abernathy, Lucian

Skating my way through class by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

0 Professor Olivers Intermediate Charms [III, IV, & V years] 0 Professor Olivers 1 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

July 03, 2013 11:43 PM

A slippery situation. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren

Lucian was reading in the common room before his Charms class when he heard a loud grumbling. He looked around the room curiously, and then realized it was his stomach. Other people were sitting near him, so he coughed to hide the sounds of hunger his body was making. He really was hungry all the time, and knowing that he still had to go to another class before lunch hour made him sigh out loud. Reluctantly, he got up from his chair, picked up his books and papers, and left the Aladren common room.

Realizing what time it was he sped up his previously leisurely pace so that he would make it to class on time. He knew how Professor Olivers did not tolerate tardiness, for he was nearly shut out of her classroom on one occasion when he was running late. Once again, he managed to make it into the classroom right before she shut the door behind him, and took one of the few available seats.

Lucian’s stomach began growling again when the Professor mentioned lunch hour, so he cleared his throat, hoping that his desk mate didn’t hear. In hopes of distracting his thoughts from food, he took out his textbook and opened it to page 54. He quickly skimmed the notes about the Liquid-Freezing Charm, and raised his hand when the Professor Olivers asked if anyone knew how it freezes water.

“Cold air?” he said when she called on him, almost as if he were unsure himself. He smiled though, when she confirmed that he was right. He half-listened to the rest of Professor Olivers explanation, for he was far too distracted by his hunger, and sighed when he heard her mention an essay. Lucian found himself quite busy these days with Quidditch and all of the clubs he joined. It offered some relief from thinking though, and helped him to become more social.

After the Professor gestured to the side of the room he was sitting on, Lucian rose from his seat and approached the box of water on the floor. It looked like a large planter used for flowers.

“Guess I will give this a try,” he said to the nearest person while sizing up the box, and then raised his wand and said the incantation “Glacius". The water in the box appeared to be frozen, at least on top, so Lucian raised his leg and placed his right foot on it. Deciding that it seemed solid enough, he stepped up onto it and applied the pressure of his whole body. However, he had neglected to use the Gripping Charm, and found himself sliding across the box. He couldn’t seem to manage to steady himself, and ended up falling down onto the ice.

Lucian pulled himself over to one side of the box and slid to the edge. He stood up, his face displaying a look of embarrassment. “Well, that did not go as gracefully as planned,” he said to the person standing in front of him with a laugh, “Why don’t you give it a go?” Lucian stood back now, rubbing his sore upper right thigh that he landed on when he fell.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren A slippery situation. 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Aladren 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

July 04, 2013 7:27 PM

Get your ice skates! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

Waverly always felt like she was on the run somewhere. She had tons to do all the time and was always rushing from one place to the other. She had been spending more time in the Potions classroom surrounded by the fumes and in the gardens to try and perfect her terrible hand at potions. Either she was in Fawcett's classroom to practice her potions, for class, or for the baking club, and she didn't even like the Potions classroom all that much.

Charms came more easily and she enjoyed coming to class even if Professor Olivers was a little strict. At least she was kind of interesting. Waverly slipped behind the door moments before it closed and only when she sat down did her hunger pangs hit. She hadn't eaten breakfast, instead trying to finish up her homework for Transfiguration. She was going to suffer now and she knew it. She bit her lip, wishing she had a breakfast bar or something in her bright orange backpack. Apparently her deskmate felt the same way, but she pretended not to hear it and brought out her book.

Instead of dwelling on her whining stomach and her partner's, she pulled her hair into a ponytail and began writing down notes. The boy next to her, apparently named Lucian, answered a question right and she smiled at him. Waverly liked knowing things and answering questions, but for this lesson she really had no idea. Professor Olivers asked something about the Latin term and Waverly couldn't even pretend to know. The incantation sounded like "glacier," but she knew that couldn't be right.

Finally it came to the practical lesson and Waverly joined Lucian at the planter. He seemed pretty successful with the first part of the charm, but he hadn't put down the Gripping Charm and she gasped when he went down sliding. It actually looked really fun when he was sliding until he fell down. "Are you okay?" she asked, her green eyes wide. He simply laughed it off and Waverly took that as his answer. "I'll give it a try."

The spell lifted and the ice turned into water once more so she could try it. She sent the Liquid-Freezing Charm to it and watched it solidify before her eyes. She put a foot on it to feel how solid it was before remembering the Gripping Charm. She cast that spell, feeling more comfortable with it on the second day, and stood up on the ice. After a couple steps forward, there was a crack and then her foot disappeared into the ice, throwing her off balance. She could feel her shoe getting soaked and because it was a slip-on, it was starting to slip off. She hopped off the ice with only one shoe before it cracked completely and waited till the ice turned back to water. She retrieved her shoe, feeling a little embarrassed as she slipped it back on. At least she was wearing shorts so there weren't any pant legs to worry about.

A quick Drying Charm was all she needed before she joined Lucian on the other side. "Well, I have to say you were better at it than me," she said sheepishly. "Hopefully we can have another try before we have to start working on the essay. Don't you feel like we get a whole lot of essays in this class?" She realized then that Lucian might not know who she was. "I'm Waverly Canterbury, by the way, Pecari Prefect." The badge on her robes said just as much and she stuck her hand out with a smile.

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Get your ice skates! 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Clara Abernathy

July 05, 2013 2:37 PM

Better make it water socks by Clara Abernathy

Clara sat in the Pecari common room trying to finish up her homework for Potions class that she had started, but hadn’t finished yet. She glanced up at the clock on the wall and grumbled to herself as she packed up her potions book and notepad. She stuffed them into her book bag and headed out the door for her Charms class. She arrived to the class room a moment before Lucian and Waverly squeezed through the door and took the seat nearest him. She wasn’t really paying attention to where she sat down, she just chose a seat. She smiled when he sat in front of her and Waverly off to her side although she was pretty sure he hadn’t noticed yet who he was sitting next to. She covered her mouth to stifle a giggle when she heard a strange rumbling noise. She heard him cough trying to cover the sound. She wasn’t sure what the sound was, but she reminded herself to ask him about it. She watched him flip open his book and start reading. “Trying to get a jump on things?“ she asked him softly, glancing over his shoulder to the page he was reading. “You aren’t getting a cold are you?“ she asked referring to his cough. She gave a small wave and a smile to Waverly. She was about to say hello to her when Professor Olivers began telling them about their lesson for that day.

When Professor Olivers asked about how the freezing charm actually freezes water Clara watched Lucian raise his hand to answer while she and Waverly remained silent. She shook her head slightly. He would know she said amused to herself. She grinned slightly checking her own book. She must have missed that part in the reading. She groaned aloud when Professor Olivers mentioned the essay she wanted done. “I swear its like they want our hands to fall off from all the essays they assign,” she complained jokingly. She watched them get up and head for the box and got up herself and followed them over towards the box full of water. She giggled when he commented about trying out the charms. She was pretty sure with him doing it first it should go pretty smoothly. She watched him with interest as he performed the Liquid Freezing Charm on the water in the box. She said the words for the spells in her head as she watched him perform one spell, but appeared to miss the other. She was about to cast it for him when she watched with surprise as he slid on the ice across the box and fell on his bottom towards the end.. She clapped both of her hands over her mouth trying to muffle the gasp of surprise that escaped from her lips.

She rushed over and took his arm trying to help him up. Once he was upright she laughed lightly at his attempted joke, glancing towards Waverly when she asked if he was okay. “I’ve seen more graceful moves from you,” she agreed. “But it could have been worse. You could have broken your bottom instead of just falling on it.” She teased him back lightly. “Trust me…broken bones are NOT much fun,” she assured him. She knew that part intimately as she rubbed on her collarbone absently. She stood next to him as she watched Waverly perform the spells next. She seemed to hesitate slightly before she took a step forward. Clara thought she was doing great and went to tell her so when she heard a loud crack from the ice. Clara turned to see Waverly’s foot disappear into the water in the box. She sighed as Waverly pulled her wet foot from the water. “I’m a little surprised you’re the first one to get wet,“ she told her playfully. “I was completely sure it was going to be me.“ She laughed at her own bad joke.

She swallowed a little hard when he suggested she give it a try. She glanced from him and Waverly to the box of water and back. She was pretty sure that the water in the box had turned back to liquid by this point. She glanced over the edge of the box at the water and prepared herself for the spell. She pointed her wand at the water and after glancing at them briefly with uncertainty, she turned back towards the box and cast the freezing charm. “Glacius!” she cast at the water. She watched with wonder as the water froze over and appeared to be solid. She let out a breath she had been absently holding and placed one of her shoed feet onto the ice. She stepped onto it with her other foot and stood as still as a statue. She was soo worried about falling that she had completely forgotten what other spell she was supposed to be casting. Her mind went completely blank for a moment as she struggled for the spell she needed. She finally remembered which spell she was looking for and tried casting it before taking a step. “Tenaci!” she cast, pointing the wand towards her feet. She hoped that she had done the casting right. Only way to know for certain was to take a step and test it out.

Clara took a step forward and closed her eyes as she waited for her feet to slip out from underneath her. When her feet didn’t slip on the ice she glanced up at him completely shocked. “Holy Macaroni you guys! I actually did it!” she exclaimed happily, jumping up and down in place on the ice. However, she either miscalculated the strength of the spell she cast or the duration of it, because she found when she jumped again and landed instead of landing on solid ice she landed in liquid water. She was soo surprised by the change that she fell into the water on her backside. As she scrambled to get up she was realized that she was now soaking wet from the waist down and knew that she should probably be mortified. Instead she found the situation highly amusing and started laughing at herself. “It figures I’d be the one to get all wet,” she laughed, glancing down at the bottom half of herself dripping wet. “I guess I get to be the one who tries out the drying charm we’ve been working on in class huh?” she grinned sighing lightly. She stepped gingerly out of the box filled with water and pointed her wand at her clothing. “Keep your fingers crossed,” she mused, trying to remember the words for the drying charm. “Here goes nothing.” She found the words she was looking for and cast her spell. “Siccare,” she cast. She watched with amazement as the water within her clothing began to vanish. Within a moment or so she felt as if she had never fallen into the water. Her clothes were completely bone dry. “Now that was cool,” she mused smiling wide. “I am soo going to have to remember that spell.”

Clara smiled towards Lucian and Waverly. She was about to ask if they should all try it again when she heard Waverly introduce herself. Clara lightly smacked herself in the forehead. She glanced towards Lucian. “It never dawned on me that you might not know Waverly,” she told him sheepishly after Waverly‘s introduction. She glanced apologetically at Waverly. Clara nodded when she mentioned the Prefect part. “She totally is too. Best one ever.” She smiled big at her friend. She glanced from them back to the box of water. “Should we take another whack at it?” she asked them. “Only this time…ya know… we don’t fall down or get wet maybe,” she suggested half seriously.

OOC: The words used in the posting for the Gripping charm and the Drying charm are from the English to Latin dictionary since the Harry Potter Wiki lists both spells castings as UNKNOWN. I needed something specific to work from and got creative. I hope that’s alright.

0 Clara Abernathy Better make it water socks 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

July 05, 2013 2:45 PM

Skating my way through class by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Carter had a chance between classes to grab himself a snack since he wasn’t going to be able to lunch until after Charms class. He left Cascade Hall with a banana in his hand as he made his way towards the Charms classroom. He tossed the peel into the trash can as he found himself a seat once he was inside the room. He put his book bag down on the floor next to his chair and pulled out his book. He was pleasantly surprised to discover that their assignment for the class was going to be either working on the Gripping charm and the Liquid Freezing charms or getting a head start on their essay due at the end of the week. Carter would almost have preferred to start the essay, but since he was seated on the side of the room that was to be doing the actual charms, he figured he’d do them and get them over with so he could try to start his essay. He had a read a little ahead on the freezing charm and had raised his hand to answer Professor’s Olivers question on how the charm actually froze items, but Lucian beat him to it. Carter shrugged at missing the chance to answer her question. There will be other chances he told himself, flipping to page 54 of his textbook. He frowned slightly at Professor Olivers question on the Latin aspect of the spell. He really had no idea. You would think by now he would.

Carter shook his head and tried to listen as she told them about their assignment. He sighed a bit as he got up from his seat and walked slowly towards the box with the water in it. “This should be fun,” he mumbled to himself as he took a peek at the water in the box. Here goes nothing he thought to himself as he pointed his wand at the water. He let out a deep breath and did his casting. “Glacius!” he said, casting the charm. He watched closely as the water appeared to get solid and freeze. “Now that’s cool,” he said aloud to no one in particular. He stepped over the side of the box onto the ice and brought over the other leg and foot. It was once he had both feet upon the ice that he remembered the other part of their assignment. He pointed his wand at his feet and cast the Gripping charm. He hoped that it actually worked as he slowly made his way across the slick ice. When he didn’t slip he began to relax and took a few more slow steps across the ice. He was coming close to the end of the box when his shoes began to slide on the ice. “Whoa!” he blurted out when he slid. He slid about six inches on the solid ice before the ice seemed to instantly melt and went back to being liquid. At that point Carter ended up standing ankle deep in freezing cold water, his socks and tennis shoes completely soaked through. His shoes were soo wet that they squished when he took his feet out of the water and placed them on the floor. The edge of his pant legs were also dripping wet. Carter glanced down at his soggy shoes and pant legs and sighed. “That’s just great,” he grumbled to himself. He pointed his wand at his pant legs and shoes and cast the drying charm. He could feel the dampness leaving his shoes and socks and sighed with relief. “Well at least that worked right,” he commented to the person standing nearest him. “I’m just glad it’s a box of water we’re freezing and not an entire swimming pool. Then I would really be in trouble!” he joked. “Care to take a stab at it?” he asked politely.

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw Skating my way through class 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Lucian

July 10, 2013 2:11 AM

Or maybe some flippers, just in case? by Lucian

OOC: I tried to combine the two previous posts together as smoothly as I could in my response, so I hope it isn't confusing. BIC:

“I usually have a lot more balance,” Lucian said in agreement with Clara, “But balancing on ice does not seem to be one of my strongest abilities.” He then turned to face Waverly. “Guess I could never be a hockey player huh? Thanks for asking if I was okay, by the way.” He had heard that she was a muggle-born, since her sister Wendy was in Alex’s year, and assumed she knew about hockey. He didn’t care that she wasn’t a Pureblood, for he actually found it interesting. Lucian had spent some time reading about muggle sports, and had watched a few of his neighbors playing street hockey. They always looked at him like he was crazy when he said he didn’t know how to play their sports.

Lucian stood back, next to Clara, and watched as Waverly took her turn at the Liquid Freezing Charm. He chuckled a little bit when she lost her shoe in the water. “Glad I am not the only one who had trouble with this,” he said with a smile at Waverly, “At least you remembered to use both of the incantations and didn’t land on your bottom.” He rubbed the sore side of his upper leg once more.

Then Clara walked up to the box to take her turn. Lucian smiled at her after she performed the incantation and started jumping up and down enthusiastically. He was just about to warn her that the ice had changed, but it was too late. She ended up landing in the water with a splash and fell onto her bottom. He started towards her to make sure she was okay, and then stopped as she stood up and began laughing at herself.

“It does figure… you always seem to have these sort of things happening to you,” Lucian said to Clara with a smirk, “I have my work cut out for me.” He was half joking, but also being a bit serious. He knew she was prone to accidents, especially when in the air, and he didn’t want her to get injured. Lucian was glad, however, that she also had a good sense of humor to go along with her accident-prone trait. He watched her dry herself with the drying charm and walk over to where he and Waverly were standing.

Lucian reached out his hand and shook Waverly’s after she introduced herself. “I am Lucian D’Alesandro. Nice to meet you.” He looked at Clara as she apologized for not introducing them. “It’s alright,” he said with a shrug, “No harm done.” He turned to face Waverly once more. “Aren’t you in charge of the Baking Club?” he asked her, “You sound like you are quite busy. And I agree, we have a lot of essays. I like reading and learning, but this is getting a bit tedious.”

“Sure, we can give it another try,” Lucian said at Clara’s suggestion of trying out the charm once more, “The line seems a bit long though. Why don’t we start working on the essay, and then try again once everyone else goes?” He gestured towards an open table.

0 Lucian Or maybe some flippers, just in case? 0 Lucian 0 5