Just swish and flick. I'll try not to take anyone's eye out. on Charms

Professor Wright

September 09, 2018 11:14 PM

Time for liftoff, Beginners (First and Second Years). by Professor Wright

On paper, Beginners should have been the easiest class to teach. The spells they learned were, well, beginner-level, introductory, basic, elementary. In theory, any teacher in the school could have covered for Gray – most of the spells were little different than they had been in Beginners Charms classes for the past twenty or thirty years. The theory might have taken an hour to read up on, but it was purposefully simple, what the first and second years were taught – anyone with a reasonable facility for reading English could understand as much as the Beginners needed to. Simple, Beginners was. Easy. On paper.

In practice, of course – well, it wasn’t always the most difficult course. That was often the Intermediates, the largest class and the least mentally stable. For the first few weeks of the year, however, the first years gave their Intermediate colleagues a good run for their money, and he had to somehow keep them from setting the school on fire while also imparting some kind of useful information to the second years. There were times when, struggling to teach small people the difference between a swish and a flick while also providing a minimum of supervision to the second years without losing his mind and demanding to know what exactly was so difficult, when Gray had the dazed thought that there was a certain heroism to dealing with this age group – at least for the first few weeks.

This most trying of interludes was, however, hopefully over – for the most part. They could perform some of the simplest charms without injury to themselves or others, they had the basic wand movements down, and it was time for their first experiment in breaking physics.

“Hello, everyone,” he greeted them. “Is everyone ready to make objects fly?”

This was an important day in the lives of young wizards, and he had made an effort to dangle it in front of the first years over the past few weeks, using old skills for spacing out events and building to suspense as best he could as they studied the theory – or a very simplified version thereof; in Intermediates, they would have to study the difference between Levitating an object and actually changing its weight with things like the Featherlight Charm – and practiced wand movements over and over again.

For the second years, it had, alas, been less interesting, and there was little to be done about that, he thought – they had first had to make up for summer slip, and had been levitating progressively heavier objects since then while the first years caught up with them, with him checking off their work and making sure they didn’t hit too many first years in the head on purpose. That task, he thought, was going to get harder today….

“Second years, today, you’re going to take another step forward,” he informed them brightly, making the effort to smile – a neat trick about wearing glasses was that it was much easier to smile even if one didn’t really mean it when one’s eyes were obscured at all times. “You’ll be working with these cushions – they weight about a pound each – and you will make them go back and forth in the air after you levitate them, all this with the spell you already know. It’s a feat of concentration, which is why you’re using cushions.” Even if they dropped the cushions directly over their own heads, they shouldn’t be injured enough to require the medic, an individual Gray still felt slightly awkward around because she was the one other staff member who knew what his private space here looked like.

“First years – today is your welcome to the world of breaking physics,” he said. “You will notice on your desks that you each have a new feather quill.” That these were comparatively cheap ones he wouldn’t personally write with was a fact he found unnecessary to add – for one thing it was irrelevant, and for another thing, well, his budget for class props, particularly those which could be presented to students as mementoes of their successes once they demonstrated the skill to him. Besides, it was the rare first year who was going to write much of any substance anyway, particularly voluntarily. “Your task for this lesson is to perform the swish and flick with the incantation Wingardium Leviosa. Done correctly, this will make the feathers rise about five feet in the air and hover for you.

“As always, you may take several tries to get the hang of it – this is true for both years – and don’t get discouraged if you don’t master it today. Just the same, I will be watching to make sure you’re working,” he added, lest anyone get any ideas.

OOC: Welcome to Beginner Charms! This lesson takes place several weeks into the year, so your character has some knowledge of a few simple charms and some Charms theory; it’s not their first time holding a wand or meeting Gray. All posting rules apply. If you have questions IC, tag Professor Wright; if you have them OOC, ask on the OOC board or catch me (usually as Tatiana) in Chatzy. And, last but not least, have fun!

Subthreads:

Just swish and flick. I'll try not to take anyone's eye out. by Malikhi Hill, Pecari with Beau Tate, Pecari

Re: Time for liftoff, Beginners (First and Second Years). by Caitlin Pierce, Crotalus

16 Professor Wright Time for liftoff, Beginners (First and Second Years). 113 Professor Wright 1 5

Malikhi Hill, Pecari

September 22, 2018 9:28 PM

Just swish and flick. I'll try not to take anyone's eye out. by Malikhi Hill, Pecari

Malikhi felt positive when he walked into his Charms class. Of the subjects that he was taking, he enjoyed Charms and DADA the most as they taught him useful and practical things and he got to use his wand a lot which he felt was a very important part of being a wizard. Potions was alright but he wasn't very good at following instructions or being precise so he didn't always manage to produce anything of any quality. Herbology was boring - it was just about plants! He'd had a dislike for Transfiguration ever since their pebbles to buttons lesson - not only was it hard but it was also where he'd met Ness.

He tried to push the thought of the first year Aladren out of his head, not wanting to spoil his mood. He was trying hard to be friends with her, for Evelyn, but the girl made it so difficult, with her insufferable habit of seeming to know everything. He was also pretty sure that she thought he was stupid. Which he wasn't. Evelyn had said so and whatever she said had to be true.

Anyway, he plopped down into his seat and eagerly pulled out his parchment and quill for notes, as well as his wand. He didn't mind Professor Wright as much as he did when he'd first met him at orientation. Malikhi had found him boring then but his lessons were generally alright and Charms was one of his favourite subjects - it just seemed to make sense to the boy that he'd like the teacher associated with the subject he favoured.

He grinned widely when Professor Wright started talking about the Levitation Charm. He'd never performed it before but his mother had told him about it, when he'd ask how she made all her kitchen things fly when she was cooking. He also felt that the charm would be a useful one, as he could end up making things hover - like buckets of the slime he and Evelyn had accidentally created at the Opening Feast - before letting them fall on top of an unsuspecting victim. Ness was at the top of his list but he didn't think Evelyn would be too happy with him if he targeted one of her friends and he didn't want Evelyn to be unhappy with him.

The quill he'd been given was just plain and white. It was a bit boring. Malikhi would've preferred something in blue, his favourite colour. Still, he supposed that if they were only making the quills hover, the colour didn't matter that much. He listened to the instructions and wrote down both the incantation and the movement he was supposed to do with his wand. When Professor Wright had finished his lecture, Malikhi immediately got stuck into the task at hand, picking up his wand with a determined look at his face.

He gave an intense stare at his quill before moving his wand and declaring 'Wingardium Leviosa!'. However, he'd moved his arm too much and accidentally elbowed his neighbour, disturbing them. He gave them a sheepish grin.

"Sorry about that..."

20 Malikhi Hill, Pecari Just swish and flick. I'll try not to take anyone's eye out. 1423 Malikhi Hill, Pecari 0 5

Caitlin Pierce, Crotalus

September 26, 2018 4:09 PM

Re: Time for liftoff, Beginners (First and Second Years). by Caitlin Pierce, Crotalus

Caitlin sat in Charms, the white gardenias in her hair. She noted, with satisfaction, that Allegra Brockert was wearing them too. Yes, the whole thing had been Sylvia's idea,but the second year wanted that girl on her side. Later conversations had revealed that she and Emerald were quite fond of each other and maybe, just maybe, Allegra would push her cousin towards Winston so the Brockerts would side with her family instead of Thaddeus and the Other Alicia.

And Caitlin was slightly concerned, Emerald had gone to the ball with Victor Callahan, so there might be something going on there. Of course, there were other Brockert girls about, and it would be just fine with her if her brother married Allegra herself!

Or if that didn't work, maybe she should go after Vlad. The Crotalus didn't know that she would want Beau, they weren't related but they were still kind of closely connected. Her mom's half sister was married to his mom's first cousin. Vlad-as well as all the suitable girls-weren't that closely related to Uncle Marshall.

Professor Wright started the lesson and Caitlin was relieved to see it was a good one. She didn't mind learning relevant things but sometimes professors went off on something that was either not on topic or just not....necessary. She wanted to learn spells and potions and didn't especially mind theory. Whether or not the Crotalus knew exactly how she would practically apply each lesson was a different matter, but obviously she'd been raised in magic and it was important to know as much as one could. It was what separated them from the Muggles.

Okay, it wasn't thrilling that they were doing something that they'd done last year, but at least second years were going to the next step. Sometimes, it was a little annoying to share classes with younger students whom were less advanced than Caitlin herself was.

She received a cushion and took out her wand. Having mastered the spell last year, she didn't expect to have trouble now. "Wingardium leviosa . Her cushion rose about an inch in the air, however, someone spoke to her and her concentration was broken, her cushion crashing down on her desk. "What was that?" Caitlin asked the person. She was slightly annoyed at the interruption but she didn't let it show.

11 Caitlin Pierce, Crotalus Re: Time for liftoff, Beginners (First and Second Years). 1415 Caitlin Pierce, Crotalus 0 5

Beau Tate, Pecari

October 04, 2018 6:42 PM

But we can still come up with something fun by Beau Tate, Pecari

While Charms was a practical and fairly easy subject in terms of spellwork, Beau didn't always enjoy it. Sometimes, Professor Wright droned on about boring stuff. Actually, that was true of all professors really. The Pecari was fairly convinced it was a requirement for those in academia. Probably because he found academia boring to begin with. There was a reason he wasn't an Aladren and it wasn't because-as Arianna insisted-he was stupid. Beau just didn't find intellectual subjects interesting.

There was a difference. While he was far from a genius, he certainly could have grasped some of the theory, but he didn't really pay attention. Because it was boring and he didn't like boring things. Beau knew some of it was going to be on tests and homework but he didn't care . All he had to do was pass his classes and he was perfectly capable of making things up on the practical.

And then there was stuff completely irrelevant to the lesson at hand. Honestly, that was a turn off because people would tune it out and miss the things that were needed. It was like setting people up to fail. So to Beau's way of thinking it was a good thing for him that he didn't always pay attention anyway because what was the point when teachers deliberately rigged things against them?

Today, it looked as if it would be a fairly good day, despite a mention of physics that made the Pecari wrinkle his nose. Why did Professor Wright think that was something that they needed or wanted to be introduced to? What was wrong with Aladrens? Well, most Aladrens anyway, his mother was one but she was different. Actually Mother and Arianna were similar, except that Beau liked Mother.

But it was still a good day, in that Professor Wright didn't prattle on and on about boring pointless things or even boring things that technically had a point but that he didn't care about. They still had to do a lesson that they'd actually done less year, just for the first years. Why didn't teachers just rotate lessons on a cycle so the older people in their class wouldn't get bored. And Beau was a person who tended to get bored rather easy.

He sighed to himself as he received his cushion. The second year got out his wand and was about to get started when the first year next to him elbowed him. "It's okay." He said as the kid apologized.

Then he took note of who it was. The slime-covered boy from the feast. Malcolm or something. Beau smiled. At least this guy wasn't dull. "I'm Beau Tate, of the Napa Valley Tates" He introduced himself in the manner that had been ingrained in him. "Got any ideas of how to make this class more exciting?"

11 Beau Tate, Pecari But we can still come up with something fun 1416 Beau Tate, Pecari 0 5