This might help for awhile... on Charms

Professor Olivers

August 17, 2013 10:01 PM

Let's cheer things up. [III, IV & V years] by Professor Olivers

The doors slammed shut once the clock struck ten-thirty sharp. It wasn’t that Florence was in a bad mood or anything today. She simply felt a little less tolerant of her tardy students. It had absolutely nothing to do with the ripped envelope on her desk. Not at all. Besides, teaching her Intermediate students the importance of punctuality was essential to earning one’s wages in the future. “Good morning, students,” she greeted them. She usually enjoyed being animated, but today she didn’t feel like she had the energy to be so high-spirited. It was a dreary day, the kind that made a person want to stay under the covers all day and sleep. Florence was not immune to that feeling either, and today she was especially feeling it with a scratchy throat and a letter telling her that she had been rejected as a dialect coach for a local summer theatre production after such a long absence from the theatre scene. She knew it was nothing personal, but she couldn’t help but feel a little stabbed in the back. She had worked with the company she had applied to for most of her career on the stage. It wasn’t fair that they wouldn’t take her back after more than a decade’s absence. She was building her career up again. Just because she was older didn’t mean her credentials weren’t the same.

Florence had survived her morning’s Beginner class after finding the news without snapping at any of them, but she wished she only had her Advanced students to work with. They were simple; all she had to do was give them something to work on and leave them to it for the rest of the period. For her other two classes she actually had to teach them. Ironically, today they were on the chapter regarding the Cheering Charm. Merlin knew Florence needed that charm cast on her right now.

She did her best not to let her emotions show and instead tried to bring peppy Professor Olivers into the scene. “Today we’re going to be working on the Cheering Charm. Since I had you all read it last night for today, you should all know what page we’re on in your textbooks. For those who decided to bypass the reading for today, it’s page 142.” Florence charmed the chalk to write the name of the spell on the blackboard. She had no patience today to lecture her students about how important the readings were when she assigned them. Those who had read the chapter beforehand would be set apart from those who hadn’t simply by their skill and understanding of the charm during their time to practice in class.

“This charm is very helpful in morose situations or when someone is feeling down. Instead of trying to comfort with empty words, you can cast this charm. As you read last night, it makes a person happy. If the spell is overdone, the person is overcome with fits of hysterics. Hysterical laughter, that is. This spell was invented by Felix Summerbee who worked as a spell developer in the 1400s. The incantation for this spell is, ‘hilaro,’ pronounced, ‘ee-LAH-roh’. Emphasizing the second syllable is very important, but don’t drag it out for too long. And please do not pronounce the ‘h’ in the incantation. You pronounce the ‘h’ and you nullify the spell entirely. That means it won’t work. Got it?

“Then let’s get started. If you have any questions come and ask me. I will be at my desk. You will be working with partners today and only one. You may work with friends in this class, but keep the noise level down or else that privilege will be revoked. Take turns casting the spell on each other. If one of you becomes extremely depressed or begins to laugh hysterically, I’m afraid to say the spell has no countercurse. You will simply have to deal with it. I am assigning your weekly essay today as well. Fifth-years, for next Wednesday research why Finite Incantatem is unable to undo this charm. For my third and fourth-years, write down your experience with the charm and analyze why or why not the charm worked for you and how many attempts it took you. This spell will most likely be on your CATS, fifth-years, so be prepared.” A professor could only do so much to prepare her students and Florence, by being strict and expecting a lot from her fifth-years, had hoped to shape them into high achievers. Alas, only time and their CATS test scores would tell how successful she had been. “Go ahead and begin.”

OOC: All site posting rules apply; creativity and realism are especially important in gaining more points! Tag Prof. Olivers if any help is needed or someone in a fit of hysterics needs to be led away.

Subthreads:

A suitable boy by Effie Arbon with Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Who's up for a laugh? by Jorge Garcia, Pecari with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari, Jorge

This might help for awhile... by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw with Clara Abernathy, Pecari, Aria Yale

I'd rather not. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren with Henny B-F-R

How convenient. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Jade Owen, Cepheus Princeton

I think I need an Energy Charm, actually by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari with Rupert Princeton, Pecari, Wendy

0 Professor Olivers Let's cheer things up. [III, IV & V years] 0 Professor Olivers 1 5

Effie Arbon

August 18, 2013 10:33 AM

A suitable boy by Effie Arbon

Effie felt that she was on the level of pleasant small-talk with most of the eligible male members of her year group. This seemed like a perfectly satisfactory standard, as the idea of a close male friend was somewhat foreign to her. Men were people you married, not people you were friends with. She very much hoped that her own marriage would involve loving the person in question and it had only struck her over Midterm how disjointed this appeared. How was one supposed to fall in love with an acquaintance? It seemed to her that one did not but she was unsure how to move between the states of being acquaintances and being in love. She had not bothered to ask her mother. Firstly, she did not wish to challenge her parents, and her mother spoke of the idea of them falling in love as clear and obvious facts. Secondly, she felt she might be able to predict the answer. There had been several things, usually raised but not fully explained by her mother in the past. When Effie had sought clarification, assuming herself to have missed some part of it, her mother had assured her that she would understand when she was older. She had a feeling that the way in which love worked might come under that heading. She had one more source of information available to her, which were novels but these had proved unenlightening. All that exchanged between the hero and heroine were a series of conversations which somehow magically transformed into romantic feelings, mostly owing to the heroine's wit and talent with words. Although she had got over her initial shyness and was now able to chit-chat easily with her male counterparts she couldn't quite envisage anything she had to say about the weather or holidays as being enough to make someone go head over heels about her.

The subject of their Charms class sounded rather apt. Although she was not exactly feeling morose, she was puzzled and the thoughts had been nagging rather constantly at the back of her brain. Perhaps a Cheering Charm would help. It was certainly something she would like to be adept at, for those days when she did not feel quite herself, as it would save having to admit that to anyone else. She worried about worrying, in case the things that plagued her mind were things to which she should have known the answers. For example, if Amity and Isabel already understood exactly how they were going to make boys fall in love with them, they might think her silly and childish if she confessed that she did not.

She turned to the chapter, knowing which from having diligently completed her reading the previous night. Although she suspected herself better educated and naturally superior to those from Muggle backgrounds, she could not be complacent. She had a family name to uphold and, now that she was in the Intermediate class, was with students who had much more experience than she did. The spell had originally been thought to be mildly sedating, thus – rather than increasing the happiness of the person upon whom it had been cast – it actually reduced their stress, creating a feeling of generalised contentment. This had been brought into question by the first case of Cheering Charm Hysteria, after which it was generally agreed to be a stimulant. There were also notes on the mood of the caster, and how that might affect the outcome. Generally a cheerful but calm disposition produced one of those. She was not sure she had one of those at present, or even generally, as she did tend towards fretfulness. But, perhaps with the aid of a cheering charm, she might. The book had not really covered the effects of a person under the influence of one being the caster themselves. However, as it was the format of most classroom work, it would have presumably been discovered by now if it tended to severely unbalance the Charm.

As Professor Olivers talked, she checked and expanded her notes, all the while pondering the question of whether or not to seek out someone of her own kind with whom to practise. Working with a Muggleborn was not high on her wish list, nor her father's. However, it did not seem to mean people looked down on you, so long as the relationship was confined to class partners. It would be something of a blunder to make someone of good standing hysterical, thus was a risk to work with one of her usual preferences. However, it would be horribly embarrassing to be led away in hysterics in front of the whole class, and the odds of that were far higher if she allowed a Muggleborn to point their wand at her. She was still weighing up these pros and cons, when she heard a voice beside her, seemingly taking the decision out of her hands...

13 Effie Arbon A suitable boy 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Jorge Garcia, Pecari

August 18, 2013 3:24 PM

Who's up for a laugh? by Jorge Garcia, Pecari

Jorge took his seat at the back of the classroom near the window. He tried to always sit here. He wasn’t trying to be inconspicuous or look lazy or anything like that; he just liked to sit near the window. He always arrived a couple minutes before the start of class to ensure he did have the seat, but also because the teachers liked to be in the habit of locking students out for being late. He couldn’t understand the reasoning for that. They were basically saying ‘sorry you wanted an education today and were a minute or so late, instead you miss out on the lesson and fall behind in classwork. Good luck with that.’ And thus depriving the student the education their parents paid a lot of money for. If a student was late, just give them detention. They came to class to learn it and the professor just gave them a free pass.

He expected the doors to close, but not slam. This did not bode well. If the professor was slamming doors, she had to assume she was not happy. Either someone had done something wrong that she did not like or she woke up on the wrong side of her bed that morning. Jorge did not appreciate when people took their aggression out on others. It might have been his aloof way of life, but he found that when a person was in a sour mood, they loved to have company. He didn’t appreciate his mood being tampered with.

Jorge watched her with interest as she lectured the class on the lesson that day. Her voice wasn’t any more aggressive than usual, but she wasn’t her usual self either. Definitely not the wind that took the door. Considering what the day’s lesson was, Jorge found it somewhat amusing to be a witness to it. He flipped his book to the appropriate page, having read this lesson ages ago, and began to write out additional notes to his already written out ones. Jorge was thorough with his studies, but sometimes professor gave insightful additional tidbits in their lesson that he needed to add into what he already had found.

He could appreciate the charm itself. It seemed like a good idea. But he didn’t understand a friend throwing a spell onto another to try to make them happy as being more fulfilling than a shoulder and a ear and a kind word. She said empty words, but empty words were from people who did not care. Strangers perhaps. But if someone was feeling down, they would not turn to those who they were not close to or comfortable with. Or, that was his understanding anyway. He didn’t really ever have deep emotional conversations with people for it to be an issue. Maybe they did provide empty words. Or, like his sister, didn’t know how to convey the right words when needed.

Jorge twirled his wand in his fingers while the Professor explained the incantation and what their objective for the day would be. Jorge was not concerned. He was pretty good with Charms and had studied enough of the book for CATS to know that he was confident with it. He wasn’t so confident with his classmates, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Either they were arrogant with themselves or did not have enough discipline with their magic. Sometimes a little of both. It was fun to watch them during these times to see who fell above whom, but he could do that after he completed the assignment. Looking to his neighbor, Jorge raised an eyebrow in question, “Would you like to be cheered today?” He asked pleasantly.

6 Jorge Garcia, Pecari Who's up for a laugh? 0 Jorge Garcia, Pecari 0 5

Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

August 18, 2013 5:57 PM

This might help for awhile... by Aria Yale, Teppenpaw

Charms tended to be the one subject that didn’t interfere with her beliefs. At least, not yet. Because of this, she didn’t feel as though her relationship with Professor Olivers was strained in any way that she could think of. She did well on her homework, she was always on time, she never caused a ruckus while in class, and she always tried to do her best. There was no reason Aria would be on her radar the way she might be for Professor Skies and Professor Fawcett.

But that didn’t stop her from jumping when the door slammed shut when class was set to start. She wasn’t one of the late ones, so her being started or nervous about having done something was not something she felt should be a normal response, but still, her heart raced for a moment and she wondered if Professor Olivers was upset with them for something. Aria didn’t recall anything happening to cause a reaction, but she wasn’t someone that was really involved with the other students, so she might not have even been aware if they had decided to do something. She hoped that wasn’t the case. Aria did not want to have any sort of trouble because of something someone else did.

The lesson started, however, like normal, so Aria began to relax again. She had read the chapter that they were supposed to, but Aria also had a habit of reading ahead in her books. Due to her lack of a social life, Aria had a lot of time on her hands, so to keep herself busy with her morning rituals and studying from her books. Sometimes, she went for walks around the school or in the gardens, but that was when she needed exercise or air. She definitely had a lot of time on her hands.

Cheering charms… she could use with some of those now days. She missed her home. She missed her friends. She missed her parents. Sonora, the people here could pretend to be interested or ask her a million questions, but they still did not care to understand her and they judged her for it. They thought she was weird and beneath them. They might not say it or even be aware of thinking it, but she could see it. No matter what she did or said, it was always wrong to them. She stuck out like a sore thumb at this school. She could try and try and try to be nice and helpful to people but it didn’t help. This place was lonely. She was in a crowded room, but she was completely alone. Her mother said it would get better. People would forget to see her that way. They would get to know her and their differences wouldn’t matter, but she didn’t see that happening. She wasn’t even sure that was what she wanted. They didn’t make sense to her any more than she did to them. So what was the point?

Aria sat quietly in her seat after they were dismissed to do their work. She waited for everyone else to pair off with their friends before she approached anyone. She didn’t want to get rejected by people if they already planned to work with someone, so she’d rather wait to see where everyone went, only, she didn’t get the chance to wait because she was approached first…

6 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw This might help for awhile... 0 Aria Yale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Pecari

August 20, 2013 9:27 PM

It's better than nothing helping, right? by Clara Abernathy, Pecari

Clara woke up early the morning of her Charms Class so that she had a chance to get some breakfast before her class. She grabbed her stuff her class and took it with her over to Cascade Hall. She grabbed a quick breakfast and hurried up to the Charms Class so that she wasn’t late. She knew that the class started at ten thirty sharp and she didn’t want to be late. She walked into the classroom and glanced around for a place to sit. Normally she would have sat wherever she found an empty seat. She liked doing it that way because she always ended up working with new and interesting people. They may not always hit it off, but it gave her the chance to talk to someone new everyday. As strange as that sounded to others, it made perfect sense to Clara. Her dad always liked to tell her that a stranger was just a friend she hadn’t met yet. If you put yourself out there you’ll be surprised what you discover. So far she had found that piece of advice to be incredibly helpful. Because of it she had an interesting conversation with Thad and Ceph their first class together. She wasn’t entirely certain what they really thought of her, but it was fun talking to them all the same. She met Ji-Eun and Charlie, Wendy, Waverly, Sully and a slue full of others that were great people. Her favorites so far after only four years at school had to be Waverly, Lucian and Aria and Angel. Every single one of them were absolutely fascinating to the pluckly little Pecari for very different reasons. Waverly she liked because she and Clara were both a little on the talkative side and they were from the same house. That and they got along really well. Lucian she liked because he was funny, sweet and he made her happy. Angel she liked because he was so the opposite of her and she found that fascinating. That and she had never encountered anyone like him before in her life. She only hoped that her loud personality hadn’t frightened him too much. And then there was Aria.

Clara liked Aria because she knew who she was despite what anyone else may or may not say about her. She had never heard anyone say anything negative about her, but not everyone was kind. She liked that Aria did things that was completely contrary to how everyone else was being taught to do things. She had learned a lot from Aria during their last Potions Class and she was eager to learn more from her. She may not completely understand where Aria was from and how she was raised, but that didn’t stop Clara from wanting to be friends with Aria. That is if Aria wanted to be friends with her. Whether she did or not, it wasn’t going to stop her from being nice to the other girl. It wasn’t in Clara not to be nice to anyone. Well…that wasn’t entirely true. Someone would have to push the right button for her to be mean in any way, but since that rarely ever happened it wasn’t something she worried too much about. Clara glanced around the room and was happy when she spotted Aria. She made her way over to the Teppenpaw and took the seat next to her. She gave Aria a warm friendly smile as she put her bag down next the desk on the floor. She pulled out her Charms book and placed it on her desktop. She was about to say hello to Aria when the door to the Charms room seemed to slam shut and the slam echoed around the room. She gave Aria a curious look and leaned closer to her. “You don’t suppose something is wrong with Professor Olivers this morning, do you?” she whispered to her. She leaned back towards her own desk when the Professor began telling them about their assignment.

She recalled reading about the Cheering Charm when she read through the chapter the night before. It sounded both fascinating and troublesome. Troublesome if the spell went arwy and you accidentally sent someone into hysterics. She sincerely hoped that that didn’t happen while she and Aria were working together if Aria was okay with working with her again. She took notes off of Professor Olivers lecture and made certain that she wrote them meticulously. “The correct pronunciation is ee-LAH-roh, making sure to emphasize the middle syllable, but not too long. And don’t pronounce the H at all. If you do, it will nullify the spell and it won’t work at all” she told them seriously. Clara made certain to write that down as well. When Professor Olivers released them to work on their spells, Clara turned in her seat to Aria. “I enjoyed working with you last time and learned a lot I didn‘t know before. How would you feel about us working together again?” she asked her, smiling cheerfully.

OOC: I hope its not a problem that I added the part of Clara learning a lot from Aria during Potions class since we didn't get to go any further with that thread.

0 Clara Abernathy, Pecari It's better than nothing helping, right? 232 Clara Abernathy, Pecari 0 5

Aria Yale

August 21, 2013 9:45 PM

I suppose so. by Aria Yale

Aria had only noticed who had sat beside her when the other student whispered at her after the door slam. Aria ignored the comment though because she did not like it when others spoke during a lesson and there was that part of her that felt like even if she was nothing more than the victim of the chattering, she would be the one in trouble. Also, she thought talking during a lesson was rude. It didn’t matter what the topic of the chatter was, to do so when anyone was trying to explain something or say something to everyone was not polite.

Aria had no qualms with Clara, but she did not engage in the whispers and was grateful when Clara did not continue with them. She did not know what to think of the other girl. Aria knew her to be the best friend and possible relation of her roommate, Thornton. This year, Aria had a run in with Thornton in the gardens and also with Clara in Potions. Aria had no idea why they suddenly decided to start talking to her, but it was a bit unnerving to her. Especially since everyone was now asking her everything about her culture. She didn’t mind questions, but she felt like this was something they should have asked back when they were first years and not suddenly as fourth years. What was worse, after her conversation with Rupert at the pool party, Aria felt like everything that she said to them in regards to her community, they would just twist what she was saying to make her community seem unequal to their world as Rupert had done. She had been trying to compare them to show that they were different, but equal, he made them out to seem naïve and ridiculous. Now she just wanted to keep them to herself instead of being judged on something she cared deeply for directly to her face.

Needless to say, she was surprised when Clara turned to her to work with her. Aria had been under the impression that Clara would scamper off to work with one of her many friends, which would have been completely fine with Aria if she were being honest. She didn’t really want to answer any more questions, but she needed a partner just the same. At least Clara seemed nice and interested. “There are no other ways of doing this charm.” Aria stated. If Clara only wanted to work with her because she thought she could teach her a different way than what the Professor had, she was mistaken. “But I have no feelings of discomfort with working with you on this assignment.” Aria advised, realizing only after that it might have sounded like an odd assessment of the question.

“Would you like to start?” She asked the other fourth year.

OOC: No, it's perfectly fine. Aria would have worked with her and helped her along with the potion, so I'm sure she learned things.

6 Aria Yale I suppose so. 228 Aria Yale 0 5

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

August 22, 2013 12:53 AM

I'd rather not. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Alicia prided herself on not being the type who jumped a lot over simple loud noises, but the unexpectedly sharp slam of the door did make her look in its direction and then at the professor who had produced it. Olivers was sort of neurotic about timeliness, in her opinion – of course it was a virtue, but, well, important people were often also lazy slobs, and exercising the full limits of one’s power to not put up with annoying stuff was probably never a smart idea, she was sure she wouldn’t even do it if she took over the world and was immortal to boot – but that was a little sharper than usual, she thought. What was her problem?

Professors, however, were merely glorified members of the service class, and when she did not proceed to act out further, Alicia decided to ignore the issue. It could have merely been a spell which came out stronger than Olivers meant for it to, and, frankly, she had more serious problems to consider.

Alicia knew the Cheering Charm. She’d used it before. It disgusted her to think about it – to think that she had been so weak that she’d given into the temptation to do that, rather than just dealing with a bad day or two – and it scared her almost as much as it disgusted her. When she’d been…she wouldn’t say happy, that hadn’t been real happiness. It had been strange, artificial, and she had felt as though she were not herself, and not in the way she’d always wanted. It had also made her reckless. She had generally refrained from jumping off the climbing wall or anything like that, nothing drastic had happened, really, but the last time she had done it, she had ended up espousing politically incorrect views in writing and putting the resulting paper into a book, where anyone in the whole school might have found it and read it. She had written with her left hand, to be sure, and it was so far from how she presented herself to the public (officially, she was careful not to state political opinions at all except when it was absolutely unavoidable, as she frankly found the whole subject ridiculous, but she was sure assumptions were made based on the friends she kept, the books she read, the clothes she wore) that surely no one would have connected it to her, but still. She might as well have let her parents throw her that birthday party as written that response to the Heritage Society. The only thing she could have done to bring herself closer to spell-induced social suicide would have been to send the thing to them.

No, Alicia didn’t like Cheering Charms. The time might come when she would consider them appropriate for use on someone else, but she would demonstrate a little less restraint in the use of power she had in the area of curses if anyone tried to use one on her, at least outside of this lesson. She could almost get a laugh out of the irony, actually – she hated these things because they were a resort of the weak, those who couldn’t deal with problems, but today, they were the problem she had to just shut up and deal with! It was delicious, enough to put her in a better mood all by itself.

That, however, was another problem. She suspected it would be easier to end up hysterical if she was already happy when the spell was used on her, especially if the caster got it right but wasn’t practiced with it. Just a theory she had, and not one she wanted to be the test subject for. So she turned to her neighbor with a smile and said, “This should be fun. May I go first?” while lifting her wand to indicate what, exactly, she planned to go first at. Misunderstandings had the most skillful way of slipping into a single situation and somehow using those few moments to ruin someone’s entire day. If they succeeded in that task in this room today, she didn’t want it to be her day which they ruined.

16 Alicia Bauer, Aladren I'd rather not. 210 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 0 5

Henny B-F-R

August 23, 2013 5:21 PM

Me neither by Henny B-F-R

Henny felt a little wrought as she headed to Charms, and Professor Olivers slamming the door made her flinch slightly. Having done the reading, she knew what was coming in the lesson and she hated the idea of it. She couldn't understand why everyone talked about cheering charms as if they were sweet, pleasant and harmless. Like any other artificial way of numbing pain or dealing with problems, they were horribly addictive. She hoped she had more sense than that, though she supposed part of the fear was the worry that she'd actually like it. She couldn't see that happening, as the idea was downright creepy. But then, it was downright creepy precisely because it stopped you thinking like yourself, and turned you into a dumb, smiling replica. It struck her that it must be a vacant kind of happiness, if one had no real reason for feeling it, which was the root of her dislike. This charm would take what was going on in her head out of her own control. She hated any loss of control but she prided herself on her mental faculties, and thus loss of control over them was the worst kind of threat.

She took a seat next to Alicia. She often sat with her anyway but if she had to have someone mess with her, it had to be someone she trusted. She was feeling twitchy at the idea. Professor Olivers' lecture did nothing to make her feel better. How dare she say words meant nothing? Words could be real and powerful, and provide genuine comfort! Therapy was a far better solution that medication. It was longer term. Therapy, which in the case of psychological problems was based all around words and talking, could actually cure a person, whereas medication just masked their issues, or became a crutch. Someone who fundamentally hurt on the inside but had a smile plastered over their face was just wrong.

As they were set to work, Alicia asked if she could go first. It was only going to get worse the longer she left it...

“Sure,” she nodded, “Let's get it over with,” she added, bracing herself as if preparing for something unpleasant.

13 Henny B-F-R Me neither 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

August 24, 2013 1:48 PM

How convenient. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

The slam of the doors made Cepheus flinch and then unbearably angry. Who did she think she was, slamming the door like that? Being a professor did not mean she was allowed to take her anger out on them. He was prepared for the worst, whatever that could be, but was surprised by her cordial state. He frowned, but just put it off as a witch's thing. It had been difficult to get up this morning, but he had made it through and was now here. Any classes before lunch on days like these were the worst. If he didn't need to keep up his high marks he would have slept in today of all days.

Cepheus had done the reading the night before and he opened up to the page in their textbook. It was simple enough, the charm; it wouldn't be too difficult to administer, but it would be difficult bearing the spell's effects. He sighed before he began taking notes.

Ha. Empty words. Cepheus had experienced that numerous times with people attempting to comfort him. Instead of trying to encourage him to be optimistic, it usually just made him feel worse. They should have merely cast a Cheering Charm on him and all would have been better. He smirked at the thought of any of his mates attempting that. He didn't think Professor Olivers was actually serious about the charm replacing comforting words. No one in their right mind would turn to magic first before turning to other people for comfort. Unless that person was an addict or suffered from serious anthropophobia.

CATS were on the horizon and Cepheus was not looking forward to them. He had been studying as much as he could since he arrived back at school, but he wasn't sure if it would be enough. He wanted desperately for some sort of relief from all this stress, but it wouldn't come about until the fair at the end of the term and all this was over. Rupert had been learning how to bake this year and, since they had reconciled, had been offering his older brother desserts that did not encourage his supposed Quidditch diet. But it didn't matter anyway; they'd lost and there was nothing left to lose but his reputation and his marks.

They were allowed to work with a friend, but Cepheus found both Henny and Alicia occupied with each other. He hated people practising their spells on him, but if it was a friend it would be all right. He turned to the person closest to him, wanting to find a partner now that the good ones were being snatched up so quickly. "Would you like to work together? And if so, would you mind if I went first?" There was no way he was going to allow himself to be the target before practising it on someone else first.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus How convenient. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Alicia

August 26, 2013 10:13 AM

We'll just have to make the best of it. by Alicia

Alicia’s smile turned sympathetic when she saw Henny’s reaction to her proposal. Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who was less than crazy about knowing one of her classmates was about to mess with her head.

Since it was Henny, she didn’t take it personally, instead assuming that their feelings were the same. It wasn’t that Alicia didn’t trust her friend not to leave her a gibbering wreck of one streak or another, it was just that she didn’t want anyone doing it, and didn’t even really want to do it to anyone else, either. Messing with and playing off other people’s feelings was as much a part of a regular day for her as brushing her teeth, but this way didn’t appeal to her. It was…well, practically speaking, it was riskier, harder to maintain, and easier to trace back to her, but it wasn’t just that. She just found the idea distasteful for some reason.

Part of which, no doubt, was the worry that if she could just go around enchanting everyone else with minimal effort and virtually no skill requirement, then it was entirely possible other people were doing that to her. Only what was unthinkable was undoable, and everyone in the room was now capable of thinking of this. Not exactly a comfortable idea for her.

“I see I’m not the only one who was just dying to get to class today,” she observed. “Trust me, though, I would not do this to you if I did not know I could do it right. She’d just have to fail me first. You’ll be you again in no time.”

On that hopefully reassuring note, she raised her wand more, cast the spell, and instantly had a very unpleasant thought.

Didn't it make sense that someone happy casting it on her, as Henny was supposed to in a minute, might have a stronger effect than just a person who was feeling normal casting it on another normal-feeling person, as she had just done? It was hard to say; when she was happy, relaxed and content, Alicia found she didn't do as well at anything, those emotions seemed to interfere with her willpower and objectivity, but she didn't know if it would be that way for everyone. She should, anyway, have let Henny go first; now, she might well end up saying or doing something hideously indiscreet, in front of the one person she was friends with who might really like that, and might not let it go....

Too late for that now. She could fight it off, if she tried hard enough, maybe. She'd try, anyway - ideally, she'd just go through the memories she usually used to snap herself out of it when she was tired, the ones which made her want to go just start cursing people for existing, but it was hard to feel that and completely hide it from whoever she was talking to. She was used to forcing those feelings back into their box when she had to put her face on, but that would defeat the point - even if she stepped on her toe or bit the inside of her mouth, she'd just stop as soon as the spell took effect. Could fear work better than anger, maybe? Merlin knew it was no trouble to think of things that scared her....

"Feeling cheerful?" she asked Henny, trying to focus. One thing at a time.

16 Alicia We'll just have to make the best of it. 210 Alicia 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

August 26, 2013 6:25 PM

Not I, said the Canterbury by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

Things were going pretty well this term, at least in Waverly's opinion. Though she hadn't seen Brandon over the break, spending time with her family and being supported by her friends when she was about to fall apart last term had helped her so much. She was renewed; at least she felt renewed. Maybe getting over it would take a little while longer, but at least she didn't have to cry about it anymore. It was in the past and Waverly was happy to keep moving on.

Next year she would most definitely have to cut something out of her busy schedule. She had missed so many Book Club meetings this term she felt really bad about it, but with the other two she was a part of she couldn't help it. Jorge was right; she was crazy.

The slamming doors made Waverly jump a little as she hurried in. She usually barely making it through the doors and today seemed to be the wrong day to be anything but early. She just had a lot on her plate. She was also hoping to catch Jorge in this class. She had been busy in her other classes and hadn't seen him to give him the present she had gotten him. She had seen something in a music store a couple days before leaving for Sonora that she hoped Jorge would like. There was, luckily, an empty seat by him so she went and sat down next to him.

Professor Olivers, thankfully, didn't seem to be in a terrible mood. Maybe it was just the wind that had helped slam the doors a little harder than necessary. The wind that seemed to go around the still air of the room, that is. Waverly just shook her head and took down notes. She had done the reading for the charm, though very quickly. She probably wouldn't remember everything she had read, but that was okay. Hopefully Professor Oliver's lecture would help.

Waverly didn't necessarily think words were empty, but maybe Prof Olivers was a little jaded. Waverly had been on the receiving end of many comforting words this past few months and she found it helped a lot. While a Cheering Charm was temporary, words could help rebuild a person's psych. Hm. That would be an interesting essay to write. She wrote down the idea in small letters and singled it off by drawing it in a cloud.

Waverly finished the rest of her notes and read through them quickly. She never liked being on the receiving end of any spells. She would rather try it on some inanimate object or even an animal than try it on a person. She did love Charms, though, and she was the best at it so she was confident she wouldn't send someone into crying fits. She was in the middle of getting her wand out of her orange backpack before Jorge spoke to her. "If I must," she replied, "but if I go into hysterics I will hold you responsible." She winked and put her wand on her desk. "Just to warn you, I'm happy already so I might start giggling like a fool with this spell." She grinned. "Okay, go for it." She could give Jorge his present later if the spell went well and she remembered to give it to him.

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Not I, said the Canterbury 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Jorge

August 29, 2013 8:33 PM

Then I shall ask another. by Jorge

Jorge drew a slow smirk onto his features when Waverly joked regarding his magical skills. He could have retorted something back to her, but he didn’t see the point. It didn’t help that her wink threw him off for a moment. It wasn’t every day that someone winked at him as though there were some sort of conspiracy between them. Jorge didn’t think he and Waverly shared any secret, certainly not with his magical ability. Did people wink just to wink? Or wink to show they were joking? Maybe they did and Jorge wasn’t in on that joke. Or wasn’t a cool enough kid to pull it off. Still, winking was a strange thing, He doubted that it would ever be something he would attempt to do.

He was not expecting to be the one to go first, but had merely asked if she wanted to get cheered by him. Most people always wanted to be the ones doing the experimenting and not the guinea pigs. He supposed that showed a lot of trust that Waverly had in him than he did of her. He wasn’t suggesting that she couldn’t do it, it was just that he didn’t like the idea of anyone who wasn’t an absolute professional to use him as their target. But, this was school and they were the guinea pigs of their classmates. It was most unfortunate. “You can hold me any way you want.” He commented, still smirking but otherwise sitting up straight and turning to face her so that he could try the spell out.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better.” Jorge said by way of making conversation. Being an observant boy, he was not blind and so he had seen the emotional downfall of his housemate and heard the rumors that she and her Muggle boy had broken up. He didn’t care for the details; but he was glad that she was finally getting over it.

Before attempting the spell, Jorge went over his notes once again. He had to pretend the ‘h’ did not exist and emphasize the middle of the word, but not too much. That wasn’t so helpful. What was too much? Before he could really start to doubt himself because, in all honesty, he was rather confident in his work, Jorge raised his wand to Waverly and gave her a smile. “Well, if you are already in a happy mood and go into hysterics, I’m blaming the teacher. It’s seems foolish to try a cheering charm on an already cheerful person.” He stated casually before firmly and with such coolness that it seemed he might have done this charm before, he cast the spell onto her, “Hilaro”, making sure the ‘h’ did not exist and the ‘lah’ was nice and emphasized.

He waited a second for Waverly to do any adjustments or whatnot before asking the dreaded question, “Feel any different?” He asked her.

OOC: Once Waverly is set, she can go ahead and try the spell on Jorge. He’d give her the okay.

6 Jorge Then I shall ask another. 0 Jorge 0 5

Clara Abernathy

August 30, 2013 10:31 PM

Thats the spirit :) (nm) by Clara Abernathy

0 Clara Abernathy Thats the spirit :) (nm) 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Clara Abernathy

August 30, 2013 10:32 PM

Thats the spirit by Clara Abernathy

Clara was glad to hear that Aria apparently had no issues with working with her on this class assignment. She had worried a little bit that Aria might object to the pairing since the pair really didn’t know each other all that well. Clara felt bad about that in many ways and in a way wanted to make up for that factor. She had had the chance to speak to Aria once before now at the Halloween Party that Regina thrown a couple of terms back. While she had an interesting conversation with her and Liam at the time, she kind-of got the impression that Aria may not have liked her much and wanted to give her some space without intruding upon her. She knew that fourth year was a little late to be trying to get to know someone, but it sure beat never trying. She felt that Aria was worth the effort and since Aria seemed a bit more receptive this time around, Clara figured it couldn’t hurt to try again to connect with her. Clara just hoped that Aria was as receptive as she hoped she was. Clara was a little surprised by Aria’s comment about the spell. She hadn’t even considered that there wasn’t an alternate way of casting the spell. Clara had figured that the spell pretty much only came with one way of doing it and was perfectly fine with doing it that way.

“That’s okay,” she replied, shrugging slightly. “It never occurred to me that there might be another way of doing it. I pretty much figured that spells only had one specific way of doing them anyway.” She smiled pleasantly at her partner and chuckled. “Besides, from what I’ve been able to gather from studying with you and listening to my nanny talk, potions seem to be the only things done in magic that have alternate ingredients to them for the same result. Or am I wrong about that?” she asked curiously. She waited briefly for Aria’s reply and after she gave it, Clara nodded acknowledging her view on the subject. She only hoped that Aria didn’t see the nod as a means of dismissing her opinion. Clara had asked her for her opinion after all so that alone should suggest that she wasn’t dismissing Aria, right? Clara nodded again when Aria asked if she wished to start them off. “Sure, I’m willing to be the first to take a whack at it. I just hope I don’t accidentally overdo it,” she giggled a little nervously, hoping she didn’t make Aria too nervous. “Are you ready for me to do this?” Clara asked her politely. Once she got Aria’s reply Clara nodded her readiness and prepared to do the Cheering Charm. “Just for the record, I want to apologize ahead of time if I accidentally goof up and cause you to go into hysterics,” Clara apologized sincerely. “I promise though to do my best not to goof up.” She tried to sound as reassuring as possible.

Clara said the spell a few times to herself to make sure that she had the pronunciation as correct as possible before she took her first attempt. She raised her wand and gave Aria a reassuring smile and tried out the spell. “ee-LAH-roh” she cast, making sure that she emphasized the second syllable as Professor Olivers had instructed they do. She hoped that she had emphasized it long enough without going for too long. She would rather have the spell fizzle than cause hysterical laughter. She didn’t think Aria would ever talk to her again if she made her hysterically laugh even if it was by accident. She watched Aria for any signs of contentment or laughter. When neither seemed to readily present themselves Clara couldn’t help asking. “Did it work? Are you feeling happier or should I be worried?” she asked curiously, still waiting for either elation or hysterical laughter.

0 Clara Abernathy Thats the spirit 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Waverly

August 31, 2013 3:44 AM

Well, since I'm already here... by Waverly

Jorge's little comment made her smirk, and she had been trying to think of a good comeback when he surprised her with his next comment. Frankly, she was surprised he had noticed her at all. They were friends, but with Waverly's crazy schedule it was hard to plan any time for people like Jorge who seemed content to keep with himself. She did try, but it was a little hard for her, especially this year. Regarding last term, her Dark Ages, she knew it hadn't been much of a secret, but it was nice of him to say what he had. There seemed to be a lot about Jorge she didn't really know very well. One was that he was more observant than she had originally thought.

It made her wonder how Jade and Jorge's friendship was like. She didn't seem to like opening up about her problems and Jorge seemed to pick up on more than a regular person could see. She could only imagine it going two ways: either Jade and Jorge just rubbed each other wrong all the time or they were already secret bosom buddies. With how Jade talked about Jorge sometimes she wondered if there was anything going on, but she didn't want to pry too much and annoy her roommate any more than she already had with her incessant talk of Brandon the year before.

But now was not the time to feel happy over a little attention. She tried to think really sad thoughts so the effects of the charm wouldn't be completely overwhelming, but once Jorge cast the charm it was a little more difficult to think at all. It felt like she had taken a potion, but she felt very light. Her green eyes grew brighter, her face lit up, and she felt like she could fly on her toes. But it didn't last very long and ended with a hard crash of emotion. "Whoa," she said, almost feeling unsteady. "Yeah, totally. I was really happy for a sec and then I feel like I just crashed. Wait. I can't really decide if I'm happy or not." Her emotions felt like waves currently, both happy and not happy, but it would pass over time. Hopefully.

Though those emotions were still there, she picked up her wand. "Okay. I'm going to give it a try. Hopefully all my reading came in handy. Hilaro." She had practiced saying the spell during her reading that it came out nicely, but she hoped her wand work was on par. After a minute of garnering Jorge's physical reactions, she hoped she hadn't overdone it or underdone it. "How'd it work out for you?"

0 Waverly Well, since I'm already here... 0 Waverly 0 5

Jorge

August 31, 2013 5:36 PM

Oh, than let's have a laugh. by Jorge

So, his first attempted worked somewhat. But he had to wonder if the crash came so soon after because she was already cheerful and there was nothing for it to work with instead of it being his own shotty wand work. Considering this was a less than ideal environment for experimentation and hypothesizing, there was little for Jorge to work with. He would just have to try it on someone feeling down to see if it turned out any better. “I don’t think it bodes well if you can’t figure out if you’re happy or not after using the charm.” Jorge commented after a little thought.

Now it was his turn and Jorge took a moment to compose himself and wait for Waverly to do the spell. The spell hit him dead center and at first, Jorge didn’t feel anything. However, after that initial moment he was suddenly floored with this giddiness that he hadn’t really ever felt before. There was so much of it that Jorge thought his heart would explode with it. More so than that, he felt this bubbling of laughter building up from deep within and he was suddenly fearful that she actually had caused hysterics.

At her question, Jorge started to laugh. This was a sort of laugh he never had before. It was empty. Jorge wasn’t much of a laugher. Not while at school anyway. At home was another matter. But he wasn’t his sisters. Adelita was a lot like Waverly, in Jorge’s opinion. She was easily excitable and always wore her emotions on her sleeves. When she was happy, you were happy because it spread through her and infected you. But if she were angry or upset, you learned to avoid her. Jorge had only ever seen her really depressed after she had dated Carlos. Jorge had been young, 8 or 9 at the time (their age difference of 7 years), when things had gone sour for his sister. She cried all the time, but Jorge hadn’t been able to help her. Even at that age, he had fury and wanted nothing more than to cause suffering to the boy who had hurt his older sister.

But that was a long time ago and she was married to Juri now. Over Christmas, he had seen that she was still as happy as ever and that was good enough for him. Dulce, however, was the opposite spectrum of that. She didn’t have emotions. Or, at least, didn’t know how to convey them properly. Jorge wondered if that was what the professor meant by ‘empty words’. Dulce’s words tended to be empty, but it wasn’t without trying to make it more. She just didn’t know how to empathize with a person. But she could play her feelings on the piano and did so when words failed her. Maybe the professor was just around people like Dulce?

Jorge tried to stop laughing, but it wasn’t really working and because of the laughter, he was having trouble breathing. “I think… You did… Too much.” Jorge commented between chuckles. After a couple of minutes of laughing, the chuckles began to subside and Jorge was able to breathe properly again. “Ouch.” He stated, holding his ribs. It had been awhile since he laughed, but having to laugh under a spell was hard since he was trying to fight against it.

“Well, I guess you can say that was relatively successful.” He said to Waverly. “Next time you want to have me laughing, use your fingers and not you wand. It doesn’t feel right when it’s not actually a happy moment.” Jorge suggested, mostly teasing since he knew Waverly hadn’t meant it.

6 Jorge Oh, than let's have a laugh. 0 Jorge 0 5

Waverly

September 01, 2013 12:35 AM

Ha ha ha...ha ha... by Waverly

It was obvious Waverly's charm hadn't worked perfectly on Jorge and instead had led to the hysterics Professor Olivers had warned against. It was almost painful watching Jorge laugh at first when it sounded so empty, but she had never seen him laugh before like that. Even fake laughter was infectious and Waverly felt her lips turn up in a smile even though she knew she shouldn't. It was wrong to laugh with someone who was being forced to laugh, wasn't it? She pressed her lips together, trying not to be amused, and then looked over at Professor Olivers to see if she noticed. "I'm really sorry," she said sincerely when Jorge noted the charm had been a little too much. At least it hadn't lasted for a really long time.

Waverly had never really been around stoic people or humans who tried to keep their emotions to themselves. She liked to laugh and her family loved to joke around and be silly together. Her dad was sillier than her mom so she didn't really get why guys here seemed to feel the need to look cool all the time. Boys at the high school she would have gone to were like that too and she didn't really get it. Maybe when she was older she would understand boys better.

The spell had finally ceased and Jorge seemed to be out of breath. "I'm really sorry!" she repeated, hoping he didn't hold it against her or anything. But he sounded like he was joking at his last comment, though she couldn't be so sure, and just smiled. "Well, if I do make you laugh I hope it'll be because I say something really witty. I think that's the first time I've ever seen you laugh." Otherwise implying she didn't really say witty things, but Waverly didn't bother to correct herself. She rustled through her backpack instead and brought out a rectangular package. "I have something for you." Waverly smiled. "Merry belated Christmas." She hadn't bothered to write a card for him like she had for her roommates, assuming that he wouldn't appreciate it like girls did.

Inside the package was a pair of pale wooden drumsticks with strengthening charms on them so they wouldn't break. One drumstick had "Jorge" written in cursive and the other "Garcia". The letters were enchanted to change from black to gold when Jorge used them. She was a little embarrassed to watch him open it, if he did, but she hoped he would simply accept them and then carry on with administering the spell on her again even if she didn't really want to go through all those emotions again.

0 Waverly Ha ha ha...ha ha... 0 Waverly 0 5

Jade Owen

September 01, 2013 4:30 PM

On the same side, for once. by Jade Owen

Jade often had difficulty staying awake during charms. She had never actually fallen asleep, but her concentration had definitely wandered on previous occasions, and from time to time it had happened that she had very little idea of the class assignment at the time they were supposed to begin. As this was arguably the most important year of her academic career (and definitely so far), the Pecari was trying desperately not to fall any further behind, but she couldn't say it was easy. At the start of today's class, the door slamming shut actually worked in Jade's favour, as it recalled her already meandering concentration back to focus on the Professor.

Ah, cheering charms. Jade liked to think of herself as a cheerful person, most of the time, though she would accept that certain people might disagree with her. Either way, she didn't think she would ever like to be hit by a cheering charm. If words and consolation couldn't improve her mood, she would consider her temper justified, and any magical intrusion to alter this would be an invasion of her emotions, and her very personality. She scribbled these thoughts in short-hand on her parchment, in case they would be valid in an assignment on the topic in the future. She also skimmed over the textbook directions of the spell once the professor had explained it. She looked up as the person at the next desk requested partnership.

"Um, yeah, we can work together," Jade replied to Cepheus. In their five years together at Sonora, Jade had hardly ever spoken to Cepheus, other than Quidditch-related taunts and insults. It was nothing personal, and she was sure he understood that. The little else she knew about him had been gleaned from rumour and Theresa, so could not necessarily be replied upon. "Yeah, I guess you can go first," she added after a short contemplation. That way she could watch how he did the spell, as a further guide to polishing her own performance. "I suppose nobody needs cheering up as much as the two of us," she grimly acknowledged, with the Quidditch championship game just around the corner, in which neither of them would be participating.

0 Jade Owen On the same side, for once. 221 Jade Owen 0 5

Aria

September 01, 2013 9:10 PM

Sure. by Aria

Aria did not understand Clara at all. Not at all. Everyone seemed to believe that Aria was the strange one, but she honestly thought it was Clara. The only reason the girl had spoken to her in Potions and continued throughout the lesson was because she wanted the alternative. Wasn’t it then, normal for Aria to believe that was the reason she chose to speak with her now? Aria couldn’t fathom any other reason the girl would chose Aria to work with over her friends. But Aria did not know the alternative to this and therefore, there was nothing for her to offer to Clara. This seemed completely logical of an assessment in Aria’s mind.

Aria shrugged at her question. “I would think everything has an alternative way of it. The world is not limited to one path, why should spells be?” She asked the other fourth year. Perhaps it was simply the way that Aria was raised, but she always believed there were alternatives to things if one opened their eyes to find it. It was probably why she still had such a hard time with Transfiguration. Not only did she have an absolute issue with using animals, she truly believed there was a better way to do it that should involve the creatures. Aria felt that a lot of people who lived outside of the realm of Spirituality that she did often restricted themselves to one thing and did not open their minds to the possibilities that surrounded them.

Since Clara only gave a nod in response to Aria’s comment, she felt that Clara didn’t really believe her. Aria took that to mean that Clara was not as open minded as she perceived herself to be. Being friendly towards others who were different from one another did not mean they actually accepted this other people. Aria was beginning to understand this concept after her many conversations with people. It was a demon within herself as well. She was figuring out how to cope and let go of it.

As Aria was the first guinea pig for this spell, she wasn’t sure how she thought about Clara already admitting failure by apologizing before even getting started. Confidence was key to performing any spell and if she was simply going to believe that there was even a possibility of doing the spell incorrectly, than she was likely to fail the spell entirely.

She closed her blue eyes for a moment, almost afraid of Clara’s wand skills and opened them a split second after she heard her partner say the spell. She waited to figure out how she felt, but there was nothing especially different about how she was feeling. Did that mean it hadn’t worked? “Maybe I feel more cheerful?” Aria offered to her partner. “But, I’m not sure it was strong enough of a spell. You have to have more confidence to really make it work.” She advised Clara.

6 Aria Sure. 0 Aria 0 5

Jorge

September 01, 2013 9:45 PM

That's the stuff. by Jorge

Jorge had to think about Waverly’s comment regarding his lack of laughing. She had a point, he hadn’t really had a good laugh here at school. Considering he was alone most of the time, he had no reason to laugh and when he was with people, it was during class and they were working more than anything so there was no reason to laugh there either. It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy laughing because he did, it was just different at school. “Well, to be fair, it’s not like we hang out all that much for you to see that side of me.” Jorge stated. He wasn’t accusing her or anything, just stated a fact. Jorge and his best friend, which was also his cousin, were always joking and laughing. He was comfortable with him. The relationships he shared with people at school were very different and mainly with girls. He didn’t really have much in common with them to have shared jokes.

“I guess this just means you’ll have to spend time with me so that you can see me laugh without the use of a spell.” Jorge said casually. He didn’t mind Waverly so much. She was super chipper and crazy about her schedule and he wasn’t really fond of some of her friends, but she was nice and didn’t seem to hold some negative thought of him the way some people seemed to. Although, he couldn’t figure out why. Jorge had never done anything remotely bad at school for people to believe him to be that way. If anything, Jade should be the one who was thought of as a bad seed. He wondered if she went around telling people he was the one pulling all the pranks and making him look bad? Not cool.

Jorge’s eyes widened in surprise by the gift. Were they present exchanging friends? No one told him if they were just as no one told him it was cool to wink. He took the gift rather hesitantly from her. It was bad enough that he ate her baked goods like all the time, but now she was buying him things? He missed a step in this friendship. “Er… thank you.” He said after a moment. “I’m sorry, I didn’t get you anything. I didn’t realize that you were going to give me a present. My Ma will kill me if she knew I accepted your gift without having one to give in return.” Jorge stated and meaning it. His mother felt manners were so important. A reminder of her Santoro days.

He wasn’t sure if he should open it now or not since they were in the middle of class, but then he thought that maybe Waverly was expecting him to. Unwrapping the box and opening it, he found himself looking at a new pair of drum sticks. The ones he currently had were old and warn, so he had been planning on getting another set at some point. It was like she read his mind. “Oh hey, awesome.” He picked them one up from the box and examined it closely. “I needed a new set. The ones I have now are starting to split. Thanks.” He remarked to Waverly. She apparently paid attention to him sometimes.

Putting them away out of fear that Professor Olivers would take them from him, Jorge returned to the task at hand. “Back to business, Miss.” Jorge cleared his throat and pointed his wand to Waverly. Now more cheered in a natural way by his gift, Jorge shot the spell off once again, feeling more positive about it this time around.

6 Jorge That's the stuff. 0 Jorge 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

September 03, 2013 6:41 PM

That's a first. by Cepheus Princeton

It was rare that Cepheus would ever approach Jade Owen for anything. They had attended the same school for five years and hadn't really spoken, though he knew of her from Quidditch. He had also made it his business, recently, to know who Theresa's room-mates were. But they didn't run in the same circles, they didn't seem to share the same interests, Quidditch excluded, and she wasn't the proper sort of witch Cepheus wanted to associate himself with. He didn't know much about her, but he didn't exactly care to know any more.

However, as they were on the same side of the coin this year concerning Quidditch, he thought he ought to make at least an effort to talk to her once. Just to see what sort of witch Theresa had to live with. Cepheus had been lucky; his only room-mate was Welsh, of the right sort and his best mate.

Jade acquiesced to his offer and reminded him of their losses. "At least we can say we didn't go down without a fight," he replied, equally as grim. The matches had been strange this year to say the least. The Teppenpaws had won though the bludgers seemed to be attacking them every other turn and in Jade's match Clara had gone and knocked herself out before the match was even through. Cepheus hadn't been at that match, still sore about his own loss, but it was not exactly a well-kept secret that the Pecari's new Keeper had gone and almost done herself in.

"I hope it helps, then, Owen," he told her. The reminder of his loss didn't sting as much as it had, but it still brought his mood down. Ceph was used to calling others by their surnames in sports and, as he really didn't know Jade outside of the pitch, he felt it only natural to call her by her family name. If she had been any more lady-like, perhaps he would have added a 'Miss,' but any witch that played Quidditch couldn't be all that much of a lady especially with the boyish clothes he had seen her wear. "Are you ready?" Once she had readied herself and given him the go-ahead, he did the wand movement and sent the spell at her with, "Hilaro," making sure the 'h' wasn't pronounced and the syllable in between was emphasised correctly.

40 Cepheus Princeton That's a first. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Waverly

September 05, 2013 5:44 PM

Now if only it was real... by Waverly

"I'll see if I can fit you in," Waverly replied with a smile. She did want to hang out with Jorge more, but though she made it sound like she was joking with her comment, she was just a tiny bit serious too. Waverly had her group of girl friends here, but she hardly had any guy friends at Sonora. She hadn't really noticed it till last year when the ball came up and she had no guy to go with. Not that it had really mattered then. Still, it would be nice to have more male friends just because sometimes guys were a lot of fun to hang out with. If they weren't one of those snotty pureblood types.

Jorge seemed surprised by the gift and she suddenly felt like Santa Claus. Except she was giving away her own cookies and milk too. "Don't worry about it," she replied, feeling happy in the goodness of her gift-giving. The feeling after she gave a gift to somebody without expecting anything back was nice enough. "You can get me a really nice present next year," she joked. She had been feeling especially generous with her presents this year and she had realized she'd never gotten Jorge a present in the five years she had known him. It wasn't like they were close friends or anything, but she thought it would be nice.

And his reaction was good enough to satisfy Waverly. "Glad they could be of some use!" It was good to know this kind of gift wouldn't go to waste. It was Jorge's turn for the charm and she stood her ground as the spell went straight to her. It was funny, having just given him a present, to think that this was the way she was being repaid. She had almost giggled at the silly thought without the spell, and maybe that had made it go a little overboard. The happiness she had felt at seeing Jorge's reaction to her gift seemed to overload and she burst out in laughter, probably causing some glances over. Whatever she did, she just couldn't stop laughing. She tried really hard to stifle it, but she didn't know how to. Waverly felt positively giddy, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong. She was magical and it was amazing and Jorge liked his gift and Jade liked hers and all her roommates liked their presents and she had a nice family and the sky just looked so funny and--

The giggles subsided little by little and Waverly could feel her side splitting. "Oh geez," she wheezed, holding her side. She hadn't laughed that hard since she had broken up with Brandon. "Well, you've improved," she remarked with a little smile.

0 Waverly Now if only it was real... 0 Waverly 0 5

Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

September 07, 2013 12:57 AM

I think I need an Energy Charm, actually by Wendy Canterbury - Pecari

It was an extremely tiring day today and Wendy just wanted to move slowly. It was winter and she wasn’t used to this freezing weather when she had to be awake and doing things. It snowed in different parts of Arizona, but she wasn’t familiar with it really in Phoenix. The snow, though it had been fun at first, was now almost unbearable. She never wanted to leave her dorm or her bed. She liked Professor Olivers a lot usually because she seemed so peppy and nice, but today she seemed to be a little angry.

Wendy was on alert once the doors slammed closed, but soon the drowsiness that threatened to overtake her came over her. She paid attention as well as she could in class, but she was just so tired and feeling a little antsy. She had skimmed over the reading, but she hadn’t done much. Hopefully she wouldn’t mess up.

Hearing that they were going to practice on actual people made Wendy go back to read as much of the chapter on Cheering Charms as she could. She really didn’t want to mess up and make someone super depressed or crazy happy. Although being crazy happy would be much better than super depressed. Wendy suppressed a yawn and wondered if this was how her sister felt after a full day. Wendy could not imagine having a schedule like Waverly’s and she turned in her seat to see how her sister was holding up. She didn’t look too crazed; it was a miracle she was even still on her feet.

It was really nice not having to worry about CATS yet, but she knew she would have to study for that someday. It would suck when she was a fifth-year and had her CATS and was expected to do harder work. Though this wasn’t the easiest either. But, if she wanted to become a Prefect like her sister, she probably had to aim higher than she currently was. Professor Olivers dismissed them to work and she looked at the person who had sat next to her.

“So Cheering Charms. Did you do the reading? Can we work together?” There was probably one too many questions in that little blurb, but she didn’t want to suffer emotional duress under someone else’s wand. She really hoped Professor Olivers would be able to help them if they did.

0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari I think I need an Energy Charm, actually 0 Wendy Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Jorge

September 07, 2013 8:20 PM

It's got a creep factor to it. by Jorge

“Oh, that’s very kind of you to do.” Jorge teased lightly to Waverly, saying it as though it was the nicest thing he had ever heard. He didn’t really think that she would find the time to actually hang out with him and he wasn’t sure if that bothered him or not to be honest. Waverly was the sort of person who seemed to always need to be involved. She needed to keep busy. When Jorge swam for an hour each day, Waverly had probably accomplished five tasks in that time. He didn’t think Waverly could really handle spending time with someone like him. Jorge worked hard, but he worked at a pace that was suitable to him. He believed she would go mad just waiting for him to get through something. Actually, that might have been amusing to watch happen.

“Agreed.” He commented to her request for a fabulous gift for next year. Of course, that put him in a dilemma. The only females that Jorge ever needed to buy gifts for where his mother, grandmothers, and sisters. They were all easy to shop for because they all just told him what they wanted. Plus, if he had to ask any of them for assistance in picking up a gift for a female not related to him, they would nag at him for eons to figure out whom it was for and if he had a girlfriend. He had no problem pretending that they were dating just to get them off his back, but next year was the concert and it was likely to be a family event. Which meant, they would insist on meeting her. Maybe he could find a unisex gift that no one would question? He had a year to figure it out, there was no point in trying to find his options now.

Uh oh. Waverly was laughing. Had he pushed her into hysterics? He felt the urge to clasp his hand over her mouth to quiet her a little in hopes that the teacher won’t notice, but he knew that would be rude and Waverly was likely to smack him for it. Besides, it wasn’t like he hadn’t just laughed himself. He felt his cheeks twitch as he watched her laugh. It was unnerving to see someone laugh without the light in their eyes. A real laugh make them sparkle. It wasn’t like hers were dead or anything, but it didn’t have that same look to them. He didn’t like it. He’d always pick words before charms whenever it dealt with cheering a person up if it meant there was this sort of possibility.

“It’s not pleasant, is it?” Jorge stated, looking grim. “I feel like the Professor should have only chosen subjects who were feeling down when we did this lesson. Otherwise, we just end up going overboard with the charm.” Jorge commented. “Did you want to have another go?”

6 Jorge It's got a creep factor to it. 0 Jorge 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Pecari

September 08, 2013 1:52 PM

Can't help you with that, but you can help me! by Rupert Princeton, Pecari

When Rupert walked into class that day, it seemed that things were going in his favour. There was an empty seat next to Wendy Canterbury and he went immediately to take it. Ever since he had started his Muggle Studies course, he had been so intrigued by the Muggle lifestyle and he wanted to learn more about it than the mere classroom could teach him. He really wanted to befriend a muggle-born and learn more about his or her experience with Muggle life as opposed to his professor who, from his understanding, was not a muggle-born herself. There were three muggle-borns in his year; Neeka Campbell, Clarissa Clark and Wendy Canterbury. He hadn’t really spoken to Clarissa before, and though Neeka was in his house he didn’t interact with her very much. But he had bumped into Wendy once in the gardens and they were in the same house, so perhaps that would be enough to make them familiar acquaintances.

“Hi Wendy,” greeted Rup upon sitting down. He unpacked his bag, and the lesson began as he scrambled to set his things out. He quickly flipped to the page of his textbook and wished he had done the reading last night. He had merely looked over it, hoping that a brief skimming over would be enough to satisfy today’s class. He hoped his understanding of the Cheering Charm and Professor Olivers’s lecture would be enough for Rup to perform the charm right.

He took dedicated notes to make up for his lack of reading. Apparently there was no counter-curse for this charm; that was unfortunate. That meant if either he or Wendy messed up the spell, there would be no way to undo it except to let the charm take its course. He didn’t like the idea of that. Their essay was not as daunting as the essay for the fifth years sounded and Rup was glad. He was so enthralled with Muggle Studies that his other lessons were beginning to be neglected. He needed some time to hurriedly bring his marks back up to at least E’s before the term ended.

Once they were set to work on their practicals, he turned to Wendy and smiled apologetically in response to her first question. “No, I didn’t; I skimmed over it, but didn’t do it in depth. You can go ahead and practise the charm first on me, if you’d like. That way I can watch you do it first.” As she readied herself to perform the charm, he continued to say, “I’m taking a Muggle Studies course this year and it’s really fantastic. I haven’t been able to work nearly as hard on my other courses. I’ve been learning loads about Muggle appliances and television shows. You’re not taking the class, are you? I suppose it would be a bit repetitive for you. You’ve lived in the Muggle world all your life, haven’t you? Oh, go ahead with the charm, I’m ready whenever you are.”

0 Rupert Princeton, Pecari Can't help you with that, but you can help me! 0 Rupert Princeton, Pecari 0 5

Jade

September 08, 2013 4:25 PM

Fifth year's the charm. by Jade

When he called her Owen, Jade found herself smiling at the address; she quite liked it. Correctly (although she had never cared for that sort of thing) she wasn't even Miss Owen, because she had an older sister; she was just Miss Jade, and she'd glare down anyone who dared to actually call her that. her family weren't rich enough to mix with people who habitually used society titles, but neither had Jade encountered anyone who'd dared to just call her by her surname. She supposed it was their Quidditch association, but she appreciated it nonetheless. When Cepheus asked if she was ready, Jade replied in kind, "Take it away, Princeton."

Having never worked with him before, Jade didn't know how her partner was with spells. It would make sense that he wouldn't find this one too difficult, as they were in the highest year of three present in the class, but then presumably he was casting it for the first time, so neither would he be an expert. Unsure what to expect, Jade relaxed her shoulders as someone she barely knew pointed a wand at her and cast his spell. The thought she'd been having about how the majority of her classes assumed a certain amount of trust in her peers was gently dissipated by a general feeling of contentment. She had the feeling that she might have been smiling in a vague sort of way, while she contemplated that the world seemed more pleasant in that instant.

She remembered the spell, and turned her smile to Cepheus, with the comment, "Well hey, Princeton, I feel more cheerful. In a sort of calm way, you know? Like, gently happy." She wasn't sure if that made any sense at all, but the residue of the spell reassured her that everything was okay. Sort of. She could feel its effects wearing off, and her smile dropped a little. "Well that was quite cool," she concluded. "Not bad for a first try. Mind if I have a go?"

Jade raised her wand and waited for Cepheus to give his permission. Following his consent, she mimicked his pronunciation of the spell, and took care to focus. She was about average at spell-casting, with none of her attempts having gone too badly thus far. Her grades were always pulled down by her written work, but that wouldn't matter at that precise moment.

0 Jade Fifth year's the charm. 0 Jade 0 5

Wendy

September 08, 2013 9:31 PM

Is that right? by Wendy

Rupert seemed like a nice enough guy, though the first time Wendy had seen him outside of their common room and classes had been in the gardens where he'd been bitten by a gnome. It wasn't exactly under the best circumstances that they had talked, but that was okay. She was willing to get to know him better. He didn't seem to have done the reading and she was a little nervous to have him try the spell on her. But he said she could go first and she was happy with that.

He started telling her all about his Muggle Studies class and Wendy listened, intrigued. They had a class on Muggles like her family? That had to be a pretty cool class. Maybe her iPod could work in that classroom. She could have tried it out if she hadn't left all of her electronic appliances back home. Rupert was really talkative and Wendy pretended to be reading up on the charm just to hear what he had to say. When she finally looked at him, he told her he was ready whenever she was, so she decided to do the charm then.

"Hilaro!" She had tried to read more in depth with the charm in class, but it wasn't exactly her best. She should have read it over last night instead of just skimming it. Well, at least she had company. If she made Rupert half-crazy with this charm it was only fair he got to do the same.

"Yeah, I grew up in the Muggle world," she told him after administering the charm. "I didn't think I'd want to take that class even if it would be an easy O for me. I'm bad at essays though, so I probably wouldn't have done that well anyway. What kind of stuff have you been learning about?" she asked curiously. "Oh, is the charm working okay?" She hoped he really wasn't half-crazy by now.

0 Wendy Is that right? 0 Wendy 0 5

Rupert

September 10, 2013 11:54 AM

I hope so. by Rupert

There were so many questions Rupert wanted to ask Wendy, but the thoughts seemed to fly out of his head as soon as the spell hit him. He had talked so much before, but suddenly he didn’t feel like talking at all. It was strange, how she was looking at him. He looked over at their professor. Would he receive failing marks if he didn’t do this spell right? Wendy had to have done it right and compared to her Rup was going to fail. If he had a T anywhere near his final marks his parents would never forgive him.

Wendy was telling him that she had grown up in the Muggle world and Rup did his best to listen. There were just so many other things to think about, like failing. “You’re bad at essays?” asked Rup, surprised. “Then I’m not alone. I’m terrible at essays as well! I’m going to fail all of my classes and be too ashamed to go home. Merlin, if I don’t do well on this essay then I’m doomed for a T in this class for sure!” It was clear; though Rup knew he was under the effects of the spell, his anxiety was unbearable. “I’m anxious about everything, to be honest,” he replied to her last question. “I don’t know if it’s working or not, but I’m not cheered. That must be one sign.” He shook his head. “Sorry it didn’t work as well as it ought. I’m sure I’m going to do worse, though. I always do.”

Being the black sheep of the family was a difficult burden to bear and Rupert sometimes hated how his grandfather looked at him. They all supported his interest in Quidditch just so he wouldn’t fall away into the Muggle world and get himself disowned by his family. Disownment wasn’t exactly a popular thing to do for the Princetons and Rup knew his parents loved him too much to want him to go down that route, but if it was necessary, they would disown him. Rup wished his parents could love him as much as they loved Cepheus, but it was impossible. His spirits were sinking and by the time the spell wore off, Rup felt terrible about himself.

It was a little difficult to gain his bearings once more, but he came back to reality and felt slightly better now that he wasn’t under Wendy’s spell. He shook his head. “Sorry, I didn’t answer your last question,” he said. “In Muggle Studies we’ve been watching a few television programs and videotapes. I don’t always understand the humour in it, but some of it’s quite funny.” Thinking about those programs made Rup feel a little better and he took a deep breath to wash out the dark feelings inside of him. He really hadn’t known he had any thoughts like that deep down, but apparently he did when he brooded on them.

“I apologise in advance for any burdens you have to bear with my spellwork,” said Rupert. If Wendy had done some of the reading herself and her spell had made him feel miserable, he could only hope his spell didn’t do the same to her. He would never want his new friend and his one source of Muggle information to be completely depressed and hold it against him. Nevertheless, he had to practise to get better. “Hilaro,” he said, and stopped, realising he had pronounced the ‘h’ and nothing had happened. “Let me try again,” he said with a little laugh. “Hilaro.” This time he didn’t pronounce the ‘h’ and tried to pronounce it just as Professor Olivers had. The phonetic spelling of it was written on the board which he did his best to follow. “How goes it?” he asked, worried.

0 Rupert I hope so. 0 Rupert 0 5

Cepheus

September 10, 2013 11:54 AM

What a charming sentiment. by Cepheus

Jade returned the favour by responding with his surname and she didn’t seem to mind it. Cepheus rather liked being called by his family name on the pitch. It gave him a feeling of professionalism and he liked to think it reminded others of his strong pure-blood, English heritage. In a world where half-bloods were becoming more prominent, the Princetons, at least in the line he was a part of, kept their blood untainted. It had been a bit of shock discovering that a McLachlan was a part of the illegitimate line, but the only surviving heir of that line at this school didn’t seem to want to cause too much trouble for him or his relatives. It was just another reminder of why having any relations outside of one’s betrothed could be detrimental to the Princeton lineage. A reminder Cepheus pointedly ignored.

The spell seemed to have worked and Jade seemed to be content with the world. At least from what he could tell from her facial expressions. ‘Gently happy’ was not a description with which he was familiar, but he trusted her judgment. Perhaps in her addled state of mind it made perfect sense. In return, he had keep his ground as well against her spell. Practising magic on each other did not seem to be the best way to learn; he’d much rather practise on magical creatures that he didn’t care about.

It all left his mind as soon as Jade’s spell hit him and he thought it wasn’t all that terrible to be practised upon. It was a little pleasant, actually. He felt like humming, strangely enough, and Cepheus had never hummed in his life. ‘Gently happy’ didn’t seem to be the words to describe what he was feeling. It was more…muted giddiness. This was probably how his brother felt all the time. Cepheus was just happy to be living. “I understand you now,” he said with a genuine smile. This charm seemed to be a bit stronger than what Jade had experienced as he began humming a fast-paced song. The effect seemed a bit longer as well and he felt like jumping up on his chair and singing. At least he had enough inhibitions about him to stop himself. “Is it supposed to be this strong?” he asked. “I feel energised. I feel like I could sing to the entire classroom.” That was a bit embarrassing to share to a near complete stranger, but she was supposed to know how her spell worked.

Finally the spell began to wear off and the giddiness that had given Cepheus loads of energy faded away. He sighed, once more coming back down to reality. “Well, that worked well. That was great for a first try, though a bit strong.” Having never experienced the Cheering Charm before, Cepheus didn’t know what to compare it to. But if he was ever down, he wouldn’t want to have a spell used on him to make him feel better. He rather liked brooding on his problems or complaining about them to his mates. “Shall we have another go?” he asked.

0 Cepheus What a charming sentiment. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Henny B-F-R, Aladren

September 13, 2013 2:52 PM

You know, it really does seem a lot better.... by Henny B-F-R, Aladren

“I'm glad I'm not the only one who seems to find it a little sinister,” Henny smiled at Alicia as her room mate expressed her sympathy, through the medium of sarcasm. Perhaps it was why they got along so well. Clearly they were more similar than just being Aladrens. They somehow thought the same. She was glad that Alicia seemed to understand, as she was aware that her feelings towards the Charm were, quite probably, unusual. It was all fun and happy, and what kind of odd person didn't like that? She was relieved at not having to explain herself.

“I do,” she nodded, when Alicia told her to trust her. She was very glad it was her friend casting it on her. And a friend whom she felt was highly capable. Alicia was good at being balanced too, which was what the spell required. It wasn't about full on power. Her friend was one of the calmest, most rational people she could think of though. And if anyone had to put her into docile contentment, she was glad it was her.

She tried not to tense as Alicia pointed her wand at her, and tried not to fight the feeling sweeping over her as the spell hit. She was sure that resisting it was bound to lead to more unpleasant outcomes. The book hadn't covered it, presumably presuming that no one could want to resist such a charming and harmless spell. A gentle and warm contentment spread through her, though if she tried to pinpoint why she felt that way, it eluded her, like a dream upon waking. It kept slipping away before she could properly glimpse it. Underneath it, there was a vague unease. A sort of unspecified nagging feeling. Like the kind one got when one was sure one had forgotten something important. Not being able to identify the forgotten thing in question, one did not get terribly het up over it. It was just.. sort of there. Stopping one from relaxing entirely.

“It's like... happy fog,” she commented mildly to Alicia, as her room mate asked her whether she was feeling cheerful.

“Let's do you now. It's really nothing to worry about,” she added cheerily, aware that they had both been nervous beforehand. But she had been through it now, and it really was fine. Better than fine.

“Hilaro.” The word rolled gently off her tongue and she cast it calmly and confidently. After all, she had no reason to possibly expect it would go wrong. Or perhaps, no reason with which to suspect.

13 Henny B-F-R, Aladren You know, it really does seem a lot better.... 211 Henny B-F-R, Aladren 0 5

Clara

September 13, 2013 6:02 PM

You don't think so? by Clara

Clara regarded Aria’s reply seriously. She made a very good point that Clara hadn’t quite considered at the time she made her comment. She was sure that there were spells that were similar to one another, but she was fairly certain that while similar they had different outcomes…didn’t they? Since she hadn’t tried all of them yet she really had no way to know. I guess that could be a goal of mine she thought to herself before responding to Aria. She nodded absently. “You make an excellent point,” she told Aria. “It does make more sense that there would be more than one way to do things in life be it spells or potions or just traveling in general,” she agreed cheerfully. “I think the best part about it comes with the discovery of those ways, dontcha think? Especially if you have someone to share that discovery with,” she commented. Clara may not be good at a lot of things, but that has never stopped her from trying despite the outcome. She couldn’t help wondering if Aria went into things with the same gusto.

She watched Aria closely to see if there was any change in her thanks to the spell. However, neither of them seemed to be sure. She regarded Aria curiously as she waited for Aria’s answer to her question. She was hoping that she had managed to get the spell to work, but if Aria’s reaction to it was any indication she had to conclude that she hadn’t done as well with it as she had hoped. Well at least she doesn’t appear to be going into hysterics so that could be counted as a plus I guess she chided herself lightly. She nodded agreeingly with Aria’s assessment. She really did need to show some more confidence in her spell casting. Given her track record with most things, Clara had more confidence in something going horribly awry with the things she attempted than anything going right. It was why nobody was more surprised than she was when things didn’t blow up in her face.

“I know that you’re right and I really do need to have more confidence with this, but I’ve gotten soo used to things going horribly wrong when I attempt them that I’ve come to expect that they will from the get go just to minimize any disappointment when it does happen ya know what I mean?” she commented half jokingly. She even smiled a bit at the admission. She wasn’t certain that Aria would fully understand, but it felt good to admit it anyway. She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm herself. An interesting thought struck her as she did so and she couldn’t quite stop herself from voicing it aloud. “Maybe I goof up so often because I’m over thinking what I’m trying to do and I end up trying too hard,” she voiced aloud. “Maybe I just need to go for it and not worry so much that its going to fail from the get go.” Coming to that conclusion with Aria’s assistance made Clara feel better about trying the spell again. It felt the same as when Lucian helped her figure out how to fly. All she had to do was let go of the negative thoughts and go for it.

Clara smiled at Aria and nodded. “Okay…I’m ready to try again,” she told her. Clara raised her wand and gave Aria an encouraging smile. “ee-LAH-roh!” she cast pouring as much confidence as she could into the casting. She held onto the second syllable a little longer this time than she previously had and did the movement with the wand that they had been shown. She waited expectantly for Aria’s reaction to her second attempt with the spell. “How do you feel now?” she asked her partner curiously. She had felt way more confident going into this casting than she had the last one so hopefully that had made all the difference.

0 Clara You don't think so? 232 Clara 0 5

Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

September 13, 2013 6:05 PM

You found me by Carter Browning, Teppenpaw

Carter was stuffing his Charms book into his book bag when he happened to notice the time. “Ahh cripes,” he grumbled to himself. He was going to be late for class if he didn’t get a move on and he knew how much Professor Olivers detested tardiness. He threw the bag over his shoulder and headed quickly out of the Teppenpaw dorms. He walked quickly towards the Charms room and made it in time to miss being hit by the semi slamming door by about a minute and a half. As he sat down and placed his bag on the floor near the desk, he couldn’t help wondering what the door slamming thing was all about. He kept that question to himself as he grinned friendly towards his seatmate and quietly pulled his book out of his bag. He caught sight of Wendy a few seats away and waved towards her. He leaned back against the seat as Professor Olivers began her lecture on their class assignment. He nodded slightly as she explained that they would be working on the Cheering Charm. It made sense since that was what she had them reading up on for the reading assignment. He had actually done the reading the night before which he was rather proud of himself for. Normally Carter was more of a doer than a reader, but he was finding that it actually did him some good to do some of the reading for classes before hand around Sonora.

That wasn’t to say that he was doing terribly in his classes, he was actually doing alright with them if he had to guess and the reading wasn’t all that boring so it was a win either way. He jotted down a few pertinent notes and then grimaced slightly as she said that they could work with partners. He had hoped to be able to work with Wendy, but she appeared to already be partnered up with Rupert. Good for her he thought to himself as he grinned at her. He liked Rupert. He was one of the few Princetons that Carter had met so far that he liked, Leo being the other although he was fairly certain that Leo wasn’t his biggest fan at the moment since he had accidentally busted open Leo’s lip during their Quidditch match at the beginning of the year. He still felt really bad about that even though it wasn’t entirely his fault. He had been aiming for the open hoop, not Leo’s face. He couldn’t control the fact that Leo had moved into the path of the quaffle as it sailed towards the goals. He’d been trying to figure out how best to apologize for the unfortunate incident since it took place, unfortunately he’d been coming up blank so far.

He turned away from where he spotted Wendy and Rupert sitting and turned towards his seatmate. If he was not mistaken he was fairly certain her name was Effie. He had heard it said by the Professors during roll call. It kind of stuck with him since it wasn’t a name he had ever heard before. She seemed like a nice enough person from what he could tell. He hadn’t had the chance to work with her yet. He wasn’t even sure if they were in the same house, not that that ever mattered to him. He smiled at Effie and cleared his throat slightly to get her attention. “Eh-hem…I hope I’m not interrupting anything, but I was wondering if you would like to work together?” he inquired politely. “I’m Carter Browning…You’re Effie Arbon, am I right?” He introduced himself and inquired politely about her name. He was fairly certain he was right, but he waited for her confirmation or denial of the fact. Once she did he continued. “Would you prefer to be the first one to try the spell out or would you prefer it if I went first?” he asked. He was jumping the gun a bit on her accepting his partnership he knew, but he was hopeful that she would accept and was asking so that she had time to decide how she wanted to proceed. He was leaving the decision completely in her hands.

0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw You found me 0 Carter Browning, Teppenpaw 0 5

Jade

September 14, 2013 4:42 PM

Uh-oh. Are we in Pun-ville? by Jade

As she witnessed the effects of her spell on Cepheus, Jade thought there could be as much gratification drawn from the instigator as the recipient. For example, she was thrilled that her spell seemed to be working, so bonus for successful casting, plus when Cepheus started to smile and claimed that he understood her now, Jade couldn't help from breaking out into a genuine smile herself. Making other people giddy was fun, if this experience was any sort of indicator.

"Oh, please do sing to the entire classroom," Jade implored him, with a chuckle. If that was supposed to be one of the side effects of this charm then she wasn't sure she was going to allow him to cast it again; she doubted the intermediate class was really ready for her to unleash such a force.

Unfortunately, Cepheus didn't sing - or even whistle or hum - and commented that perhaps her spell was a bit strong. Jade suspected she'd been over-enthusiastic in her first attempt, so determined for it to work that she neglected to implement any level of control. "Okay, I'll try to dull it down next time," she agreed with a nod of her head as her partner suggested they try the spell again.

So far, she had no objections to working with Princeton. He didn't seem to be an overly-stuffy sort, but he was evidently far too proper for Jade's preferences as firstly, it was rumoured that he was engaged, and secondly, Theresa liked him, and she was a proper sort of girl. Jade had never told anybody that she'd seen Theresa and Cepheus together in the labyrinth earlier on in the term. She spent a lot of time in the gardens, and often was witness to things she thereafter kept to herself. She hadn't even said anything to T, because she didn't want to seem like she was spying on her roomie, but if there was going to be any trouble then Jade wanted to help her avoid it. She would be even less likely to say anything to Princeton, seeing as she barely knew him, and was so accustomed to him being the enemy.

"Okay, Princeton," she said, shaking her shoulders as if to loosen them in preparation for the oncoming onslaught. She gestured to her partner with a beckoning of her fingers to indicate that he should take another turn. "Hit me with it."

0 Jade Uh-oh. Are we in Pun-ville? 0 Jade 0 5

Wendy

September 14, 2013 8:52 PM

Shoot! by Wendy

Apparently Rupert didn't take too kindly to Wendy's spell and she watched in surprise as he became more and more anxious and despairing. It was kind of sad, actually, seeing how sad he was getting and she almost wanted to give him a hug. He just looked so depressed! By the time her spell on him finally wore off, she just couldn't handle seeing the normally peppy Rup looking so depressed, so she did give him a hug without knowing whether or not the spell had faded. He really looked like he needed it and it was kind of her fault for making him feel like that. She hated anyone looking sad especially when it was her fault.

The hug was quick and she was glad to see that it had worn off. He was telling her about videos and she nodded. She would just let him talk and hopefully he would be all the way back to normal. It was his turn to do the spell and, seeing how badly her spell had gone, she was really nervous about being under his if he hadn't read at all. His first attempt didn't help either, so when he said the spell right she shut her eyes and let the spell hit her.

Immediately it felt like she was being tickled and she gasped a laugh, and then another forced laugh followed and then she couldn't stop. She was laughing like Rup was tickling her or something and just couldn't stop. She even snorted once or twice accidentally and didn't even have the breath to be embarrassed. The laughing started getting a little painful, but she couldn't stop. It was weird. It wasn't like she felt particularly giddy, but she just couldn't stop laughing. "S-sorry!" she wheezed between fits of laughter and tried her best to keep it quieter, but it was almost impossible.

The spell didn't last long, thankfully, but only about thirty seconds. Still, after thirty seconds of forced laughter her side was splitting and she was completely out of breath. "Ugh," she said once she was done and put her head down on the desk. "I feel sick." Her stomach felt strange after laughing for so long and she took a couple deep breaths to get air back in her lungs. "Phew, I don't think I want to practice the spell on you again," she told him once she had gotten her breath back. She lifted her head to look at him.

"Maybe we can just start working on our essays? We can probably make up attempts just so Professor Olivers doesn't notice. And I can tell you more about the Muggle world! Like I watch TV a lot when I'm at home and have nothing to do. What kind of things did you watch in your class?" For once she felt like an expert in something at this school.

0 Wendy Shoot! 0 Wendy 0 5

Cepheus

September 15, 2013 2:25 PM

If we are that's all I've got. by Cepheus

Under the spell, singing to the entire classroom didn’t seem completely ludicrous, but he was thankful for his self-control once the spell had worn off. It was satisfying, he was sure, to see one’s spell work successfully, but he was equally thrilled he hadn’t burst out into hysterics or been completely debilitated. Jade’s suggestion that she would dull it down the next time, however, wasn’t particularly the most exciting thing to hear.

She did agree to let him have another go and he complied. He had never interacted with Jade before this in the classroom and he didn’t think it was going too terribly. She was actually competent in spellwork and he was somewhat impressed by it. He had naturally assumed she was obsessed with Quidditch and nothing else and he was sure she had thought the same of him. He was wrong, thankfully, and he was glad to see she harbored no hard feelings. It was to their unfortunate luck that neither of them was competing for the Quidditch Cup or Cepheus wouldn’t have hesitated to make a pernicious mistake or two in his spell.

Making conversation with someone he was always facing off against on the pitch was a bit difficult and he wondered what else he could possibly ask her without mentioning Theresa. It seemed too dangerous to show too much interest in Jade’s room-mates, particularly the pure-blood ones. He had never come into contact with Arabella in class or on the pitch, and Waverly was a muggle-born which immediately dulled his interest in her though she was pretty. All of the Pecari fifth year witches were pretty in Cepheus’s opinion, except for Jade, perhaps, but it was particularly because of the way she dressed that he had never noticed her outside of the pitch.

“Hilaro.” The spell left his wand once more and he hit her with it as she had asked. He had tried to have the same mindset as he had the last time. His spell seemed to have gone over well then and he wanted the same reaction. At least he hoped for it. He watched her carefully to see if anything interesting was going to happen. If she was pleasant once more, he would be less entertained, but he didn’t care either way. There seemed to be enough madness happening around him with this spell that he didn’t feel obliged to add to it.

0 Cepheus If we are that's all I've got. 0 Cepheus 0 5

Rupert

September 15, 2013 2:26 PM

Not the Muggles! by Rupert

It was always somewhat horrifying to see one’s spell go over badly when practising on another and Rup felt that way when Wendy began laughing. Normally he wouldn’t be opposed to someone laughing at a good joke or a funny comment, but to see her laughing on account of a spell that had gone wrong was painful. She had given him a hug that had surprised him, but Wendy seemed to be that sort of person who would give out hugs to strangers, at least from what he knew of her. He had, admittedly, been watching for an opportunity to talk to her since he had realised she was the only muggle-born that wouldn’t give him a strange look at being approached so enthusiastically about the Muggle world.

Rup was indeed horrified by Wendy’s reaction to his spell and he was at a loss at what to do. He simply watched, dumbfounded for a bit. Professor Olivers had told them there was no counter-curse for this spell so he merely let her laugh and hoped it would be over soon. And it was over, soon enough. After around thirty seconds—not that he was counting—she stopped and put her head down. “Are you all right?” he asked, concerned by her sick comment. He hoped she wouldn’t be sick all over the floor and he would feel even worse if that became the case.

She seemed to need a moment or two before she was all right and he agreed with her whole-heartedly. He didn’t want to feel depressed again and he certainly did not want to make her go hysterical and sick once more. Essays sounded like the safest bet. “Let’s do it,” he agreed, growing excited as she told him she watched the teevee a lot at home. “So you’ve got a television?” he asked curiously. When he went to live on his own, he was planning to have loads of Muggle appliances all around the house, one of them being a teevee. He wanted to learn how to use them as well without destroying it, though using magic was sometimes much more convenient. But being magical did not mean he couldn’t enjoy the pleasures of the Muggle world so long as he kept his family from knowing how deeply interested he was in the subject.

“We watched cartoons, mostly. One in particular was the Smurfs. I didn’t really understand it, really. There was a wizard wanting to kill the Smurfs who lived in mushrooms, but the wizard didn’t want to pluck the mushrooms for his potions. Professor Chambers tried to explain it to us and told us it was fictional, but it was still strange. I understood puppeteering a bit better. Since Muggles couldn’t charm the puppets, they use their hands, right? Have you seen a program called ‘The Muppets’? It’s interesting how Muggles perceive us magical folk, though. What other sort of appliances do you use in the Muggle world?”

0 Rupert Not the Muggles! 0 Rupert 0 5

Alicia

September 16, 2013 7:39 PM

...Funny, I think you're right.... by Alicia

“Now that you mention it,” Alicia mused, looking around at her classmates, “I’m not really sure why more of our classmates don’t seem to grasp that they probably don’t want people playing around with their emotions all the time.”

It was amazing, really, how many perfectly legal spells and potions there were which could, if she had cared for that kind of shortcut, allow her to effectively take over every person she could persuade to eat a cupcake, or whose goblet she could get close enough to while the target’s back was turned. She suspected she had just stumbled onto the secrets to the success of a great many arranged marriages, and for a moment allowed herself to be amused by the thought of a husband and wife both drugging and enchanting each other for contrary purposes.

She mostly forgot about all that, though, when Henny said she trusted her and she couldn’t help but smile. Henny was, in her way, even more complicated than the boys – damned politics – but while Alicia had taken up with her in the first place just to keep the dorm divided, keep it a place she could live with and work in, she had gotten attached to her over the years, just like the others. Truly, Alicia thought, she had to have been born lucky, to have made such a beginning as she had and ended up with friends, real friends, anyway. “Good,” she said. “Okay, let’s get this over with.”

She watched Henny closely as the spell took effect, noting what it looked like from the outside; she could practice the look in front of the mirror later, in case she ever needed it. She couldn’t see why she would, but she had read Truth Potions could be resisted and faked, so surely this could as well, and it was just a habit, learning to copy expressions whenever she could. This sort of expression – relaxed, happy – was hardest, but Alicia believed that with enough time, she could learn to convincingly fake whatever she needed to well enough to fool anyone or thing, except that one impassable charm.

She was confident with this charm, but still, the change it wrought in Henny’s way of speaking was more than a little unsettling. She did not like it, and tensed as the person who looked like her friend but was not right pointed a wand at her, her fingers tight around her own still, the nails of her other hand digging into it in the hopes that pain would both keep her from doing anything stupid and give her a measure of resistance.

The spell crept over her, and she tried to fight it, with the result that she found herself vaguely annoyed over the tears stinging her eyes as knots began to work themselves out of her shoulders. Her hand hurt, and she looked at the tight grip she had on her wand and laughed at the stupidity of holding it that way before putting it down and leaning back in her seat, draping one arm along the back and turning her back into the bar, allowing her to face Henny better, slipping her feet out of her shoes and twisting her feet up behind her.

“Nice job,” she remarked. “It’s almost like that time I went to this spa in Victoria – oh, that was a nice day.” She beamed at Henny, feeling unaccountably even fonder of her than usual – the reason why there was usually a slight block didn’t really make sense at the moment. Politics were so silly. “It’s just like nothing can go wrong – I guess this is the overall contentment part?”

16 Alicia ...Funny, I think you're right.... 210 Alicia 0 5

Waverly

September 17, 2013 12:03 AM

I hear ya. by Waverly

As a girl, there were times when Waverly wondered whether she would ever date certain guy friends. Usually she could think up at least twenty reasons why it would never work out and was okay with that. If she thought too hard about it she would start psyching herself out. She had never thought that about Jorge, though, until right at this moment when he was teasing her about them hanging out. The thought of seeing him as a potential crossed her mind, but it was fleeting. She was way too busy to have a boyfriend here at Sonora and Jorge was more of the laid-back type. They'd probably just get mad at each other all the time. And besides, there was Jade. Jade and Jorge were such good friends that Waverly would feel weird even thinking about dating Jorge. Even if he was kind of good looking.

She banished the thoughts from her mind and didn't take it seriously that he would buy her a gift. It wasn't like Waverly really cared anyway. She had gone on this gift-giving spree because she felt like it, not 'cause she wanted anything back. But it was nice of him to agree at least right now. By next year she was sure they would have both forgotten about it.

Waverly was getting over the feeling of the charm and she was a little hesitant to try it again on Jorge. "Just one more time and if I totally suck then you can have a turn and then we can stop," she said with a little smile. "Yeah, well, I guess she can't really help how we feel before the charm. Unless she gave us all T's on an essay or something right before. That would have made everyone sad or mad."

"Anyway, if you're ready..." With that, Waverly, paying closer attention to her wand and the incantation, let the spell fly and watched, hoping it would be the best attempt yet.

0 Waverly I hear ya. 0 Waverly 0 5

Jade

September 17, 2013 4:25 PM

Let's keep our punning to the pitch. by Jade

The spell came for a second time, and Jade felt her face split into a grin before she allowed a breathless chuckle to escape her lips. She didn't even know why she wanted to laugh; suddenly everything seemed funny, and if she'd ever had any worries or cares then she couldn't remember them. yet at the same time it didn't feel altogether normal, as though she wasn't supposed to be feeling happy at all. She likened it to the sensation of walking with your shoes on the wrong feet: your shoes were on, you were walking fine, but somehow it wasn't quite right.

"This is weird," she told Cepheus, an unnatural smile still in place. She glanced around the room and had oddly complementary thoughts about her friends and peers, which was such a bizarre and unfamiliar thing for her to do that she couldn't help laughing in spite of herself. "And it's getting weirder," she admitted, finding that statement far more amusing than it warranted, and sniggering at the absurdity of it all. "I'm completely happy," she told him, her smile possibly starting to look manic, "but without rhyme or reason. It's like finding some chocolate in your tomato soup," she said, and then laughed outright because that would make no sense to a person who wasn't inside her head. To Jade it was logical, because chocolate was usually something enjoyable, but not when it was entirely out of place, like in a bowl of soup, and that's sort of how her cheeriness felt: entirely out of place.

Gradually, the spell wore of, and she calmed down again, her smile becoming dimmer and her chuckles diminishing until she was able to simply sigh and cover her eyes with her hands as if in pain. "Dear Merlin that was horrible," she said, feeling herself again. "I just had positive thoughts about Alicia's hair, and contemplated that Jorge might be a lovely person," she admitted, sounding disgusted with herself.

She dropped her hand and looked at Cepheus with a gentle glower. "Don't do that to me again," she instructed, her tone closer to conveying a warning than a request. Jade shook herself again, a little more violently this time, as if trying to shake off the cheerful feeling. She would be quite content to live the rest of her life without ever having a cheering charm cast on her again. "Brace yourself," she gave Cepheus fair warning before raising her wand again and recasting the spell. She had meant to dull it down, as she had promised, but the experience of his spell was still fresh with her, and it made her a little vindictive. She probably put exactly the same amount of power behind her spell as she had before... perhaps even a little bit more.

0 Jade Let's keep our punning to the pitch. 0 Jade 0 5