Not sure I'd like to live in a bubble on Charms

Professor Grayson Wright

July 01, 2017 7:06 PM

Life in a bubble (Intermediates III-V). by Professor Grayson Wright

For several years after university, Grayson Wright’s life had gone exactly according to plan. He’d gotten a job as a junior writer on one of the wireless dramas marketed to children and had eventually advanced to senior dialogue on one character on that show. It had been cancelled eventually, of course, but he’d snagged the same position on another before he even had time to consider himself properly unemployed. His short stories were nothing to build a life on, but he got them published fairly regularly and one had even been nominated for an award. It hadn’t won, but one couldn’t, as his mother had remarked at the time, have everything - including, it seemed, a firm place in the company.

When his last show had been cancelled, Gray hadn’t been too worried. He had a decent resume and had saved enough money to weather a brief stint without work. As months had done by, though, the rate at which he’d been offered interviews had proven slower than his rate at which he had gone through his saved money. His contacts all told the same story: politics, cut budgets, etc. It had become obvious that for the meantime, he was going to have to find some other work.

His cousin Anne was the one who’d suggested he get the qualifications to become a private tutor, as she had been. Anne no longer had to do that work, but she still knew people and had been able to put him in contact with them. Working for spoiled pureblood brats was not exactly his idea of a good time, but it had kept him from having to move back in with his parents, who he suspected would have taken far too much pleasure in being right about there not being much of a future in writing, and so he had endured it until Anne had summoned him again and informed her that they needed teachers at Sonora.

Becoming one of those, Gray had explained to Anne, would be a terrible idea for him to even consider, never mind move from 'idea' to 'plan' or from 'plan' to 'action'. Anne had thought differently, so here he was, well over a month into teaching classes and almost accustomed to the only familiar faces he saw suddenly being attached to grown-up bodies and surrounded by unfamiliar and bizarrely young-looking people. Some of whom were killer Teppenpaws, apparently. Gray was positive they hadn’t had any of those in his day….

He made a mental note to mention this change in Sonora in his next letter to Jera. Not only was her teaching less weird than him doing so in general, it had also been before this lot showed up, he thought. For now, he gave the class the slightly awkward wave (though less awkward than it had been at first - he was almost used to wearing robes with full sleeves instead of a variety of amusing t-shirts and trying to look his thirty-four years in general) which he began classes most days as the class settled into their seats. “Good morning, everyone,” he said. The Intermediates were probably more or less awake by now, though hopefully not yet eager enough for lunch to turn unduly distracted or cranky. Checking off the roster, he looked at his notes on this class. “Looks like I didn’t set you any homework that’s due today, so let’s get to it. The charm we’re going to learn today is a very useful one, even if it doesn’t seem that way at first. Who can tell me what the Bubble-Head Charm is?”

He called on a student and nodded when he was given the correct answer. “I was sort of hoping you’d say ‘it turns your head into a giant soap bubble,’ but your answer is the correct one,” he said. “This spell gives you a bubble of fresh air over your head to breathe in situations where you wouldn’t normally have fresh air. Take two minutes to write down a situation where this spell could be useful and explain how it’s useful there and put your name on it. I’ll collect them when my timer rings and the most creative use gets five points for their House next lesson.”

Bribery, Gray had learned as a private tutor, was a great incentive. Win more flies with honey and all that. He gave them the two minutes, then announced “Time’s up! Everyone tear off your answers, or fold them up.” Once this seemed to be done, Gray summoned all the papers and directed them to a drawer in the desk. “Thanks, everyone. Now, the most practical use for this spell is if you’re ever in a situation where you might drown, and that’s probably why it’s on your curriculum, but it’s also useful if you’ve got a roommate who likes to experiment with potions or set off Stink Bombs, so you’ll want to pay attention now as I cast it: aurecrumena.”

A bubble of air appeared over his head, distorting his features. He considered grinning at them through it but considered that this might scar some of the more delicate ones for life and so dismissed the bubble instead. “It’s a simple wand movement - point your wand in the direction of your head - never right under your nose or in your eyes - and give your dominant wrist one firm twist to the right. For safety, I want you each to have a partner. Look at each other as you work to make sure your partner isn’t in any distress.” Of course, he’d be watching them, too. Dangerous complications were extremely unlikely, but so was going to referee a Quidditch game and abruptly finding oneself in a desert in Egypt, and that had apparently happened at least once. He hoped this career change of his was only temporary, but did not want to be responsible for anyone dying in the meantime.

“Once you each have a bubble on, we’ll test them out over here,” he said, indicating a large wood-and-glass screen, a bit taller than Gray himself, off to his right. “I’ve sealed this corner of the room off so smells can’t escape it, but inside, there are some potion bottles, as some of you can probably see through the lattice, and they have different smells and some are stronger and some are weaker. If you smell anything - and I’m not going to tell you ahead of time if they’re going to be good or bad smells - then you’ve done it wrong and you need to go brainstorm about where your mistake might have been. If you don’t smell anything, you’ve done it right and you can start reading pages 143-148 and thinking about how this charm allows people to breathe for over an hour even though the bubble does not hold enough air to keep someone breathing that long. Fifth years, you might want to really work on that, because there might be an essay in your near future. Okay, then. If you have any questions, raise your hand now, and if you don’t, get started.”

OOC: Welcome to Charms! All posting rules apply. Realism and creativity get the most points. Feel free to theorize about Gray’s question and make up the smells behind the screen if your character isn’t immediately successful. Also, have accidents if you want, but remember that Gray is a reasonably competent adult despite his protests to the contrary and would intervene long before you suffocated/asphyxiated/what-have-you-ated. Tag me if you require the professor’s attention and have fun!

Subthreads:

Working on My Class Participation Grade by Jozua Sparks, A Killer Teppenpaw with Fabian Brockert, A Not So Kiler Pecari

Not sure I'd like to live in a bubble by Finn Scott, Teppenpaw

16 Professor Grayson Wright Life in a bubble (Intermediates III-V). 113 Professor Grayson Wright 1 5

Jozua Sparks, A Killer Teppenpaw

July 07, 2017 4:22 PM

Working on My Class Participation Grade by Jozua Sparks, A Killer Teppenpaw

Jozua raised his hand to answer the professor's question about what a bubble head charm did. It had been a few weeks since he last volunteered an answer and he actually knew this one so he figured it he answered now he was probably safe from being called on involuntarily for a while. "It gives you a bubble of breathable air."

“I was sort of hoping you’d say ‘it turns your head into a giant soap bubble," the teacher started and Jozua shook his head, and since he was still feeling on the spot and the direct target of the comment, he took it as an opportunity to show off a little bit, "No, that's the Soap Head jinx; the bubble is surprisingly hard to pop, but that's a really good thing, because it can be fatal if your head pops before the jinx gets countered or wears off. You really don't want to get those spells confused with each other."

The lesson moved back on topic and they were instructed to write down a creative use for the bubble head charm.

Jozua could almost feel the time ticking away on Professor Wright's two minutes for the exercise but all he was coming up with was the obvious. After what had to be at least a minute, he just wrote down, "to breath underwater," so he'd at least have an answer even if it wasn't very creative.

With that accomplished, his brain stopped seizing up under the pressure and he could actually think again. With only a few seconds remaining, brilliance struck and he quickly scribbled down his answer: "to keep gnats from flying into your ears and buzzing inside your brain" and only partly got his first answer scribbled out before Professor Wright started collecting them. He slid a line through the rest of it as part of the same motion that put his quill down then folded his paper and turned it in. As it flew off amongst his classmates' papers, he was suddenly struck by the worry that he might not have put his name on it.

Oh well. Nothing to be done about it now.

He listened to the rest of the lecture and his eyes widened in surprised approval of an application he'd never thought of but would definitely come in useful whenever Dad or Grandad had a minor (or not so minor) mishap in the lab and stunk up the house with smoke or worse.

Turning to his neatest neighbor when the professor finished talking, he asked, "Want to spot each other against asphyxiation?"

1 Jozua Sparks, A Killer Teppenpaw Working on My Class Participation Grade 348 Jozua Sparks, A Killer Teppenpaw 0 5

Fabian Brockert, A Not So Kiler Pecari

July 09, 2017 5:38 PM

Trying to figure things out by Fabian Brockert, A Not So Kiler Pecari

The end of the year-and CATS-were fast approaching. Fabian wasn't really worried about failing CATS and he wasn't out for perfect scores or even straight Os. That was just slightly more likely than Amity and Aunt Jillian reconciling or the former working . He'd never been particularly studious but nor was he stupid though he didn't expect to do better than an A in Potions if he was lucky. And while he was fond of Sophie and had enjoyed the fishing lesson, he had no intention of keeping it. An A was fine and if Fabian got a P, he'd survive. His parents wouldn't be thrilled per se but nor would they give him a hard time.

The problem was that the Pecari still didn't know what to take after next year. Going on grades alone so far, Transfig was still his best-and a Brockert not taking it was unheard of- followed by DADA. He also got fairly all right grades in other classes, because he sort of found COMC and Herbology interesting at times. Fabian liked being outside and camping, so knowing what plants did what and about different animals was something he rather needed.

It would help, he supposed, if he knew what he wanted to do with his life once he graduated. Quite frankly, work didn't appeal to the fifth year all that much in general. He had this image in his head of work as a place where one had to dress all professional and uncomfortably and be trapped inside at a seriously dull job all day. However, as Fabian was a guy, society expected him to work and he couldn't think of anything in particular he wanted to do. He rather envied his sisters and female cousins not having to make this decision, because it was another thing to stress about regarding one's future.

And his older male cousins were hardly helpful. Tristan had decided easily once he had dropped all notions of being a pro-Quidditch player and hadn't had really been able to understand while Ryan had told Fabian when asked that he had been Fabian's shoes and still wasn't entirely sure. Fabian had replied that that didn't exactly fill him with confidence. Ryan was twenty-eight and married with two kids. While the Pecari didn't feel it was fair for him to have to figure it right now, he at least hoped to have it figured out by then.

He also envied those who pretty much had it all figured out already such as Owen. Owen, it seemed, not only had planned to be a writer since the time he, well, could write but had found a girl who was not only from a good family but that was perfect for him. Yup, his distant cousin had it all.

As it was, Fabian doubted he was going to take Charms. The decision was which two he was going to take out DADA, Herbology and COMC as he was keeping Transfig. He knew nearly everyone kept Charms but the things was, he liked most other classes better.

Maybe he should talk to his Head of House about this, but she was so busy . Professor Carter was seriously overworked. It was like she was the new Chaslyn. He didn't know who else he could possibly discuss this with though.

The lesson on the bubble head charm started with having to write down a practical use for it. Fabian quickly scribbled down.

If someone nearby lets out a really stinky fart

His answer was summoned along with the rest of the class' as Professor Wright began to talk more about the lesson. When he mentioned fifth years having to do an essay, Fabian made a face that was well, similar to one that one might make if someone let out a really stinky fart. He did not like essays. They were one of the reasons he did not get excellent grades, as he didn't put as much effort into them as the professors would have liked. And just the fifth years? So not fair.

Before Fabian could do anything though the third year next to him spoke up. "Sure." He replied. "Joshua, right?" He didn't know much about the year group in general and was not sure of most of their names save for Juniper Brockert as she was family and on the wagon with him.

11 Fabian Brockert, A Not So Kiler Pecari Trying to figure things out 321 Fabian Brockert, A Not So Kiler Pecari 0 5

Finn Scott, Teppenpaw

July 20, 2017 8:29 AM

Not sure I'd like to live in a bubble by Finn Scott, Teppenpaw

Finn wasn’t a regular question-answerer in lessons. Even in Care of Magical Creatures, where he knew more of the answers, he preferred to be a quieter presence, only volunteering information if it was clear everyone else was hesitant. Awkward silences in class were something to be avoided, for everyone’s sake.

Jozua, however, was on fire today, giving the answer and then some. Finn wasn’t sure it was necessarily a good idea to essentially correct the teacher, but his best friend wasn’t always one for doing things because they were a good idea.

Three years into Sonora, Finn was still feeling very lucky about sharing a dorm with Jozua. He could have been rooming with someone awful and completely inappropriate, but instead he’d found himself a best friend. He figured he and Lily were probably tied for best-friend-position in Jozua’s mind, but that didn’t worry him. Lily was a little too loud and excitable for Finn’s taste, but he didn’t mind spending time with her every now and then, such as when they all went to the duelling competition over the holidays (which had been awesome!). Besides, he also had Juniper as a friend, so it worked out nicely that Jozua had another close friend to hang around with.

Getting a little lost in his musings, Finn was brought sharply back to earth as Professor Gray gave them a task to do. Coming up with a creative use was hard and Finn felt like he was fast running out of time as he scribbled down ‘to give you fresh air to breathe when cleaning out stables’. He was sure it wasn’t the most imaginative of ideas, but he’d written something, anyway.

Professor Gray was obviously good at coming up with creative uses, and Finn decided that this lesson had the potential to be good fun. Provided, of course, he managed to master the spell – he didn’t really want to be smelling bad smells. However, he’d been planning on partnering Jozua, but his friend had already found someone else. Oh well, there were other people in the class, and Finn would always have other opportunities to spend time with Jozua.

“Do you want to work together?” he asked the nearest person to him. “I hope Professor Gray hasn’t been too evil with the smells!”

9 Finn Scott, Teppenpaw Not sure I'd like to live in a bubble 347 Finn Scott, Teppenpaw 0 5