Virtual camping, anyone? on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Levy

February 03, 2011 5:07 PM

Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I by Professor Levy

Erika watched from behind her massive mahogany desk to see the reactions from her students as they walked into the classroom and saw a panther circling the room. Of course, this wasn’t an actual panther since it was fairly translucent and glowing, but it was still impressive if she did say so herself. Though, anyone that was an Auror, like some of her friends that had come to her wedding over the summer, wouldn’t have been quite so awed. Being able to cast a patronus was a requirement for being an Auror for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons. Many of which she would be discussing today.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Erika moved from behind her desk to sit on it. “As probably all of you know, the panther stalking around the room is a patronus, my patronus and as many of you have probably guessed, that’s what we’re going to begin discussing and working on. Anyone that has hopes of becoming an Auror must be able to master this spell,” she warned those that had aspirations of such a dangerous career. She had once been an Auror, one of the best and youngest, and quite often she missed the excitement of the field. Sometimes she considered going back and maybe she wouldn’t be able to be out in the field anymore, but maybe working in the Investigations unit.

“In terms of protection, the patronus is most effective against dementors and lethifolds. In fact, this is the only spell that truly works. Just for review, dementors and lethifolds are both dark creatures. Dementors will drain every last bit of hope and happiness from a person and the worst thing they do is the Dementor’s Kiss where they suck the very soul out of a person and leave nothing left, but an empty shell. As for lethifolds, I suppose they’re a bit better than dementors since they won’t leave a person a living without a soul. The lethifold looks like a thick black cloak, about half-inch thick. It will attack a sleeping person in their bed, smother them, and digest them. They leave absolutely no trace at all so if someone suddenly disappears that might be what happened.”

She paused for a moment. Her gray eyes glanced around the darkened atmosphere of the room. “Of course, this is assuming the person was visiting the tropics since this is the only place they’re found and are still pretty rare.” Erika brushed her dark hair back out of her face. Admittedly, she wanted to scare them, make them realize how important it was to learn these lessons. Not only for their exams, but for just their safety in the world. It wasn’t just the magical one either, because how often did people – wizards and muggles alike – just disappear without a trace? Not to mention all the other things that could occur. At the same time, she needed them to stay focused on the lesson. If they couldn’t perform the lesson in a safe environment, they weren’t going to have any hope if they were in real danger.

So, it was on to the other point. “The patronus is not only good for protection, it’s also good for delivering messages. If you wanted to warn someone or if you needed help, sending a patronus is very effective. They are able to deliver a message and the patronus will take on your voice or you can use it to lead a person to where you are or even a particular spot.” At this point, she demonstrated just what she meant. Some might have already seen a deliverance of one, but some might not have and there was nothing better than showing. One the other side of the room, her panther seemingly spoke, “Very effective.”

Erika drew their attention back to her. “Today, we’ll start with casting the patronus spell. Keep in mind that your patronus is a reflection of yourself and can transform with extraordinary emotional change. To perform the spell, simply point your wand like so,” she brandished her wand, “and say Expecto Patronum. Once everyone has a handle on the patronus charm, we will move on to working with pogrebins, because they produce feelings similar to a dementor, but on a lower scale. If anyone finishes early, you may try passing messages back and forth with someone. I’ll be around if you have any questions or need help. You may begin.”

OOC: Normal posting rules apply! Minimum of ten sentences with no major grammatical or spelling errors. Remember, the more lengthy and creative the post, the more points earned. Enjoy!

Subthreads:

That can't be what I think that is. by Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) with Jethro Smythe, Jethro

Oh feathered friend, appear! by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) with Dana Smythe, Adelita, Lita

Virtual camping, anyone? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari with Andew Duell, Jose Hernandez, Andrew Duell

Here, kitty by Charlotte Abbott with Marissa Stephenson, Charlotte, Charlie

0 Professor Levy Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy)

February 04, 2011 11:30 AM

That can't be what I think that is. by Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy)

Daniel entered the DADA classroom with a determined step that came to a stuttering halt as soon as he saw the panther. All thoughts of - whatever he'd been thinking when he entered the room - were immediately replaced by quick reasoning:

There is a panther in the room. Panthers are dangerous predators. No, it's a ghost of a panther. No, it's not a ghost either, I've seen some of the school ghosts and it's different. Professor Levy doesn't look concerned. It's probably safe. Take a seat but keep an eye on it anyway.

So Daniel sat down, acting cool like a not-ghost-panther stalked his classrooms all the time. His eyes followed it idly, as if it was just something to look at because it was moving and not because it was potentially dangerous. He brought out his notebook and quill and readied himself for the lesson.

A Patronus. That made sense. He'd read about those, he just hadn't seen one before.

Assured now that the translucent large cat wasn't a threat to him, Daniel was able to concentrate on taking down notes on everything Professor Levy said about them. Watching carefully while she demonstrated the spell, he added a few personal notes on the pronunciation and wand motions, and then put the notebook aside.

It was time to try it himself.

While he had no plans to become an auror (his future career plans were currently a bit vague, but he was fairly certain becoming auror wasn't among them - too much chance of becoming maimed or scarred), he still wanted to be able to perform the spell. He was an Aladren, after all, even if DADA wasn't exactly his best class.

His first try didn't really do anything. A small wisp of glowing fog that dissipated almost as soon as it formed, but that was it. Second try looked brighter and larger but never really coalesced into anything recognizable. The third attempt was closer still but what Daniel was taking for four legs were just round blobs and the main body didn't even have a distinguishable head.

The fourth try, though, the fourth try it became clear. He'd glanced down at his Head Boy badge just before casting it, and that extra buoy to his spirits seemed to have done the trick. He had a fully formed patronus.

Daniel sort of stared at it in disbelief. His mouth opened twice without emitting any sound. The third try, though, he managed to say, "There is no way my patronus is Matt Bealer's cop car from Street Beat."

Unfortunately, the evidence in front of him spoke strongly to the contrary.

1 Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) That can't be what I think that is. 130 Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) 0 5

Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

February 05, 2011 11:18 PM

Oh feathered friend, appear! by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

Adelita walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and nearly died from a heart attack when she saw the panther. She knew that there were dark creatures that they would be studying, but she hadn’t expected to see one right in her face. After the moment of shock vanished, Lita realized that the panther wasn’t real. She didn’t know what it was, but it wasn’t real and that made her feel immensely better.

Taking a seat, Lita pulled out her book, parchment, ink, and wand. She set this up in all of her classes. Rarely did they ever actually use their books in any class other than Potions, but Lita always prepared herself anyway. She looked around the room, eyes glancing occasionally at the panther, but not necessarily pausing. This was her sixth year here and really, nothing had changed. Sure there were new professors or whatever, but the routine was the same. But, Lita had heard news about one of her professors over the summer. Professor Levy had married her long time partner.

It had been in the paper that her parents read. The life section had all the marriages or engagement announcements in it and Lita had been surprised to find that her professor had been one of the announcements. Actually, it was really the first time Adelita had even considered the fact that her professors had a life outside of the school. She didn’t think about the fact that they could have families back home, wherever that was. Until she saw the announcement and saw Professor Levy’s wife standing beside her.

The picture shocked her because they both looked so happy, it wasn’t a normal look on her DADA Professor. At least, not to Lita. But it had made her take a second look at all her professors and pretty much everyone else. It also made her realize how empty she was in her own happiness when it came to love. Actually, it was a little amusing to the fact that Charlie was almost in the same boat and Charlie could have whoever she wanted. If Charlie was having issues, how would Lita ever get anywhere with her problems?

Her dark eyes slid over to a particular blonde she had only just recently admitted to liking, they lingered for a moment on him, but the Professor began to speak and her eyes moved away to focus on the lesson. She picked up her quill and began to write notes. The lesson was definitely interesting. She had never seen a patronus before, but she had always wondered how they worked. Her Tia Julia always said the producing a patronus was very difficult. She said that even adults had a hard time producing one, but if they could do it, the patronus was the best asset a Witch or Wizard could have.

Picking up her wand, Adelita focused on happy memories, family memories were always the best. Memories of the ocean, memories of her recitals. When the smile naturally came to her from her thoughts, Lita mimicked the wand movement and spoke “Expecto Patronum” A wisp and nothing more, but the fact that she had a wisp was awesome! She continued to try, finding more and more happier thoughts as she did so, but none seemed enough to create a full on body of her patronus.

“I think that one had feathers!” She exclaimed on her last try, but she was a little winded and needed a moment to regain her footing. “This is way hard.” She commented to no one in particular.

0 Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) Oh feathered friend, appear! 0 Adelita Garcia (Crotalus) 0 5

Jose Hernandez, Pecari

February 07, 2011 5:16 PM

Virtual camping, anyone? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari

Jose still wasn't entirely sure he approved of being considered an "Advanced" student in some of his classes. Not so much because he thought the material was too hard but because most of his friends were still in the intermediate level class and he didn't feel like he'd been at the school long enough to be called 'Advanced' yet. He was barely able to admit he was supposed to be in the fifth year instead of the fourth and now they wanted to call him Advanced already?

But here he was, in the Advanced DADA class, and he barely gave the panther stalking around the room a second glance. (The first showed him clearly enough that it was patronus which was only dangerous if it snuck up on you while you were practicing your balance act and the individual who cast it decided to yell 'Boo!' from directly behind you on a tightrope. Thank you, Uncle Dean. Jose bet Professor Levy never used hers to try to train a stage performer not to startle from unexpected sounds while doing dangerous tricks.)

He took a seat near the back of the room, took inconsistent notes during the lesson (he got the important parts anyway), and then pulled out his wand from its place in his bag. For a little while, he just watched some of his classmates try the spell and tried to guess what his would be. Uncle Dean had a lion. Saul, he was pretty sure, had Aunt Regina which he thought was kind of odd but also kind of appropriate. He wasn't a Pierce in the strictest definition of his name, so Regina had never given him as much personal attention as she had Saul and Maria. Jose was just as glad for that reprieve. She was every bit as terrifying as Dean's lion.

Maria had a falcon, if Jose remembered correctly, and Dad might have a scorpion. It wouldn't surprise him if Dad had a scorpion anyway. It seemed like a Dad thing. He had a fuzzy scorpion hanging off his rearview mirror instead of dice.

Jose raised his eyebrows as Daniel Nash pulled a police car out his wand and snickered a little at that. There was no way the guy could pretend to be pure-blooded with that kind of patronus.

Still shaking his head in amusement, Jose cast the spell himself. He'd seen enough of his relatives do it that the words fell off his tongue readily enough, and the wand motion was not difficult. He summoned some of his best good cheer to throw into the mix, and out came . . .

"Shouldn't have laughed at Daniel's," he decided out loud, tilting his head to the side as he regarded the barely cohesive but recognizable RV taking up the space in front of him. Nothing said 'home' and 'safety' like the main Recreational Vehicle that served as the California Pierces' family base. Plus, Jose bet it could run down and crush any dementor in its path. He felt pretty pleased with the shape his patronus had taken. Nobody had ever accused a California Pierce of being subtle.

0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari Virtual camping, anyone? 0 Jose Hernandez, Pecari 0 5

Andew Duell

February 07, 2011 8:16 PM

We'll just need some marshmallows now. by Andew Duell

Andrew wasn't entirely certain about the panther stalking the room. It clearly wasn't a normal panther, and that worried him just a little more. He was fairly sure what a normal panther was capable of, not that it was pleasant, but at least it was known. This thing was glowing, and he could see through it, who knows what it was capable of. Professor Levy didn't seem to concerned about it, she must have it under control. If they were to learn to fight it, it would have to remain passive until they learned how, right?

With that mindset, he found a seat next to Jose. They had worked together before, so if this was going to be a partner type lesson, he'll take Jose in his corner. He took out his books and notepad while keeping an eye on the panther. He did notice that Jose didn't seem particularly worried. Before he could ask, the professor got started, and he started scribbling notes.

Ahhh.. that would explain it, that was a patronus. Naturally he'd heard of them, but he hadn't really seen any. That was pretty cool. He had asked his mother about hers last summer. She said that she'd never really got the hang of that spell, and produced a weird floaty, bloby thing that didn't look terribly stable. He had hoped he would do better, and now was his chance.

He double checked the notes he had taken, waved his wand and recited the words. Nothing happened. Strangely he felt both disappointed and relieved. He really wanted to be able to make a patronus, but what if it was something really, odd or strange? It was supposed to be a reflection of himself? Something that would show everyone in class who he truly was? That sounded downright terrifying. Maybe this was something better practiced when no one else was around.

No. That wasn't right. That wasn't the kind of person he wanted to be, nor the type of patronus he wanted to create. Not something that skulks around in the dark hiding from everyone. Those days were over. He summoned up his courage and tried to build the magical energies much like he had in his transfigurations. He tried again and was rewarded with a shimmer. A form that faded out about the size of the professor's panther.

He moved to try again, when suddenly there was a large, glowing RV sitting in front of him. Where... then he heard Jose talk next to him.

Andrew's initial response was simply, "Wow... how...?" He took a moment to take that in. "That's pretty good. Let's see if I've got it now." He refocused, and tried again. This time a dragon, the roughly the size of a panther appeared in front of him. "Cool..." He muttered under his breath, then he noticed that it wasn't just a dragon. It was a dragon that looks like it had been fused with all sorts of technology. It was his childhood hero, Bahamut, the cybernetically enhanced dragon. Very cool. It then flickered and vanished.

"Huh... how do you sustain it?"

0 Andew Duell We'll just need some marshmallows now. 0 Andew Duell 0 5

Jethro Smythe

February 09, 2011 11:09 AM

Why not? by Jethro Smythe

Jethro Smyte entered the DADA class just as he entered every class: late, clumsily tripping on the edge of his robes, and having no idea what was going on. He somehow managed to make his way to a seat and get his quill and notebook out of his bag before the class properly started. He liked Professor Levy - she didn't ever shout at him for being late. She didn't really seem the sort to shout at all, actually, particularly at a student. It made it easier for Jethro to listen to a professor if he had no reason to fear them, and he was therefore more likely to pass the class if his professors didn't scold him.

Unfortunately, though Professor Levy was being in no way threatening, she did introduce students' attention to a panther patronus not long after she started talking, and that's where Jethro's attention was redirected for the duration of the professor's introduction. He watched the glowing panther prowl around the room, turning the world beneath its feet. Then it spoke in Professor Levy's voice, and Jethro blinked at it. Luckily this was sufficient to draw his attention back to the Professor for the most important part of the instructions for the class. Lucky he was watching the panther and not another student or something.

When everyone started practising, Jethro held off a few moments to watch others do and say the spell first. He found this helped him to have some sort of idea of what it was he was supposed to be doing. particularly with this spell, lots of people were saying it quite loudly, so it was unlikely that Jethro would forget it before the end of the class. It was, he realized, just as unlikely that he would create a patronus by the end of the class, and not just because he was useless, and not just because there were sixth years in this class too so it must be hard, and not just because he knew some adults who had trouble producing a patronus, but a combination of all these three reasons with maybe a few he hadn't yet considered, too.

Nevertheless, Jethro was the sort to give up, especially before he'd even given the spell a try. So, raising his wand, he copied the movements and incantations and produced nothing. Twice. three times, in fact. his fourth go produced a very fine, silvery whisp that was sufficient to convince Jethro he was doing the spell right. He was preparing to cast the spell a fifth time, when a voice behind him said lots of words that jethro didn't understand. In spite of himself, he turned to look, and saw the Head Boy Daniel Nash looking at a patronus that he had presumably created, but that didn't look like anything Jethro had ever seen before. "You got the spell to work," Jethro commented lightly before he remembered that he was only supposed to speak when spoken to. Embarrassed, he hastily went back to his fifth attempt, which produced an effect similar to his fourth; the whisp dissipated after a few seconds.

0 Jethro Smythe Why not? 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5

Jose Hernandez

February 09, 2011 11:16 AM

I've got the marshmellows. You have any chocolate? by Jose Hernandez

When Andrew sat down beside him, Jose took the opportunity to offer a quick 'Hi' before Professor Levy started in on the lecture. Andrew was probably his closest friend outside of Pecari and one of only two in his year that Jose considered a good friend. If he couldn't sit with Mel, Delilah or Starbuck during class, Andrew was an excellent alternative.

After he got the RV up and running (a task that was probably even more difficult on the real one than it was for Jose to create it as a Patronus given that it was nearly twice as old as Jose himself and held together with duct-tape and magical enhancements), Andrew managed to make some kind of robot dragon, which Jose was sad to admit was totally cooler than the RV. If he were a dementor, he'd be way more scared of a robot dragon than some beat-up old camper.

With that thought, the RV vanished from in front of them seemingly almost in protest.

"It, uh," he shook his head to get his thoughts cleared of Patronus Inferiority. "It feeds off positive energy so you need to keep up good thoughts so it doesn't fade out. Like flying in Peter Pan," he added. "Sometimes a specific happy memory helps."

He thought of one this past summer, where the Cousins were all gathered round a campfire and telling stories and eating s'mores, and said, "Expecto Patronum!" And the RV was back, clearer than before. In the back of his mind he kept up the memory of laughter and the taste of burnt marshmallows. "Think happy thoughts!" the RV said in Jose's voice, its front bumper moving up and down like some kind of cartoon car's mouth.

Jose's eyes widened and he laughed in delight at that. "Oh, that was awesome," he said, his planned 'Oo! It worked!' for if his attempt to project his voice was successful didn't stand a chance against his surprised reaction to how it worked. He was pretty sure his mouth had still moved, but ventriloquism was a skill he only had limited experience with.

1 Jose Hernandez I've got the marshmellows. You have any chocolate? 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Dana Smythe

February 09, 2011 11:33 AM

Birds of a feather by Dana Smythe

She wasn't supposed to be taking Defense classes, Dana knew, but here she was anyway. She had signed up as a last minute decision, having done well enough on her CATS that she could keep the class if she wanted. Turns out she did want to, after all. She hadn't originally intended to keep the subject, but she had found it interesting, afterall, and the dare devil she kept well supressed inside her liked to come out and play from time to time. besides, all the other subjects the Pecari was taking came very easily to her, so it only seemed fair she picked a class she had to work at, too. She didn't need to take any sibjects, of course, and her father would no doubt be disappointed that she'd kept up with DADA, but she couldn't let them rule her life completely. She was willing to do most of what they said, but if she didn't rebel from time to time she might go crazy, as many had done before her. So she took DADA.

Coming into the class, Dana noticed the patronus almost immediately, but didn't let it concern her in the slightest; she'd been around that sort of magic often enough before to know that it was there for protection, not to harm her. It also made her quite excited about the class, because this was a definite indicator that they would be studying how to produce a patronus. That was definitely very cool, and the sort of thing that had drawn Dana to this subject in the first place. Taking good notes from the introductory lecture, Dana allocated part of her brain to thinking of a happy memory that would be sufficient to produce a good patronus. She thought a lot of the times she'd spent with her Mom might do the trick; the mother and daughter had always been good friends and now they got on especially well in the holidays when Dana was back home from Sonora. Yes, maybe the time over summer when they'd made some seriously spicy Mexican food together would work - they'd laughed for hours.

As the class began, Dana took a deep breath and summoned the memories to mind - they brought a smile to her face just thinking about them. "Expecto Patronum," she cast, and got a fluffy silver haze that glowed prettily but didn't do anything else. Well it was better than nothing. Focusing that bit harder, she raised her wand and incanted the spell a second time. This time her patronus had some sort of shape - it was long a thin, maybe like an eel or snake, except it seemed to have ... no, it was gone. She couldn't be sure, as the shape had faded almost instantly.

"I think that one had feathers," said a voice near her. Dana knew Adelita from their classes together, but didn't know her at all, really.

"I'm not a hundred per cent sure, but I think mine had fins," she replied. She nodded at Adelita's comment about the spell being hard. "It is," Dana agreed. "We're probably doing okay to be making idetifiable feathers and fins already," she surmised.

0 Dana Smythe Birds of a feather 142 Dana Smythe 0 5

Charlotte Abbott

February 10, 2011 4:00 PM

Here, kitty by Charlotte Abbott

Okay, so there was panther in the room, no big deal. Charlie would swear that her classes were getting weirder. People had warned her that they would be harder of CATS, and yes, that made sense, but nobody had mentioned anything about the increasing levels of weird. But whatever, so long as she was learning and having fun and not getting pulverized in Quidditch then all was good. Actually, as Charlie listened and took notes, she found the class in equal parts fascinating and disturbing. She was stoked to be learning how to make a patronus, but she didn't actually need the gory details about exactly how a lethifold kills its prey. that was no doubt going to creep her out on several future occasions - when she was younger and afraid if the dark in the sort of way that most kids are, she used to pull her blankets over her head to feel protected. Just as well she hadn't known about lethifolds then.

Thankfully, Professor Levy moved back on to talking about her patronus, which was altogether a more comfortable topic, even if the panther was a bit intimidating. Then again, that was probably the point - as long as the caster felt protected by the patronus then it didn't matter if everyone else found it intimidating.

Looking forward to discovering what her own patronus would be, Charlotte found a space to practise the spell. She looked around to see her friends' efforts that were resulting in hazes and whisps, and she endeavoured to get a recognizable shape before the end of the class. She could be quite determined when she wanted to be; how else would she manage to fit everything into her life that she wanted to? Summoning all her best efforts, Charlie called together some stong, positive memories. Dancing, anytime was good, but performing was best. Having a laugh with her brothers, Julian and Oliver - that was sufficient to put a smile on her face. Also her friends: Lita and James and Daniel. "Expecto Patronum!" she cast. This was followed immediately by an unmeditated expletive that made her color in embarrassment because she was sure half the class must have heard. To be fair, she had been expecting a whisp of smoke or something along those lines, and instead she'd been greeted with the head and shoulders of a life-sized tiger. Okay, it was blurry, incomplete, and had lasted just that second, but that was enough to make anyone shout in surprise, she was sure.

Also, she could understand others' responses to her swearing loudly in class. She glanced up to see someone looking at her with an expression that almost certainly wasn't approval. "Sorry," Charlie said, and she meant it.

0 Charlotte Abbott Here, kitty 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Andrew Duell

February 11, 2011 7:58 PM

Chocolate... chocolate... I thought I had some here... by Andrew Duell

Andrew burst out laughing right along with Jose at the RV's speech. That was awesome! He pulled himself together, "That is cool! Did you tell it how to do that? I've gotta try."

Alright, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. His happiest memories were when his parents were still living together, but that was so long ago. He couldn't remember those times that well anymore. Maybe his happy thoughts didn't have to come from the past, but from the future. He thought of his parents back together and them all living under one roof once more. The images came easily to him as he had pictured them thousands of times already. He couldn't help but smile, someday he would bring this to reality. They would be together again!

He cast the spell again, and his dragon appeared once more. It actually looked a little bigger than last time, had it grown? Could they do that? What all could the patronus do?

Bahamut looked at Jose and asked, "Did the professor say something about pogrebins to practice on?" Andrew then nearly burst out laughing again. "I gotta work on a more menacing voice if it's going to come out of that thing."

2 Andrew Duell Chocolate... chocolate... I thought I had some here... 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Adelita

February 12, 2011 2:35 PM

Flock together... sometimes. by Adelita

“Oh, fins?! Like a dolphin?” Adelita exclaimed, losing her focus and turning to the person beside her who ended up being Dana Smythe. Adelita knew nothing about Dana except that she was somehow related to the other Smythes of the school (there were so many that Adelita didn’t know who were sisters/brothers and who were cousins of who). Dana had gone away for awhile and when she returned, they had the transfers too and Lita had been already established in friendships that it never really came about for the two of them to get to know one another.

Adelita wasn’t really sure why that was. It was probably partly because she hung out with her usual crowd, it was easier that way. But she also thought it might be because Dana and Alison really didn’t seem to open up or chat to anyone. At least, as far as Lita could see. It was a shame really, their class was small, there was no reason why they all shouldn’t be somewhat friends. Thinking about it now, Lita had just assumed that Dana and Alison were best friends. Perhaps it was because they were roommates or that they did the concert together, Lita wasn’t sure. But that was what she thought. She was probably completely wrong. She was pretty sure that the Aladren boys were not at all friends, so just making that assumption about Dana and Alison wasn’t right.

“Hi Dana.” Lita greeted, smiling. Her eyes caught glimpses of some of the other students’ work. Daniel had some muggle thing – Lita couldn’t think of the correct term at the moment – someone else seemed to have a dragon. She had always thought that patronuses were designed by the witch/wizard’s inner consciousness to what they felt safe with or felt a connection to. She wasn’t really sure what sort of connection Daniel or anyone else had with some of their patronuses, but it was amusing to watch. Although, she was rather good with her wand, so the fact that they all were able to manage making a full patronus really put her off.

She closed her eyes again and thought back to happier moments in her life. Of her parents. Her grandparents. Her cousins, aunts, and uncles. Summers on the beach. Her dance recitals. She thought of her friendships. Of Juri. She felt the bubbly feeling of happiness well up in the pit of her stomach. Without opening her eyes, Adelita repeated the spell with gusto, not caring if she was loud enough to call attention to herself.

Opening her eyes, there she saw it in all it’s silvery glory. A swan. The most beautiful bird that Adelita knew. She loved swans. They represented femininity and beauty in the dance world. “Ooooh.” Adelita breathed, her delight as clear as fine crystal on her face. “She is beautiful.” Lita commented, looking away from her Patronus to Dana. “You try!”

0 Adelita Flock together... sometimes. 0 Adelita 0 5

Dana

February 13, 2011 5:40 AM

Sometimes they flock apart by Dana

"Smaller than a dolphin, I think," Dana replied. She did like dolphins - they were somehow cute and elegant at the same time, not to mention intelligent - but she didn't think that's what her patronus had been. Then again, it hadn't been around long enough for her to really be sure. "Hi," she returned Adelita's greeting with a smile of her own. She hadn't talked much to the other girl, but then Dana hadn't talked to many other people at all. If given the option to work alone in class then usually she took it. She hadn't been able to play Quidditch while her cousins were around so school activities weren't on her agenda until this year. Despite being in Pecari, she wasn't really the outgoing sort one expected from her House. She got along fine with Alison, and she spent a fair amount of time checking up on Jethro (somebody had to), and she'd gotten to know some of the younger students while they rehearsed for the concert last year. That was plenty of interaction for Dana; she was perfectly content to talk to other people but she'd never been the sort to spend lots of time with anyone outside her family.

Trying the spell again without much luck this time, Dana was then distracted by Adelita's 'Ooh' of delight, and she turned to see the glowing swan that had been produced. "Wow," she voiced her own thoughts on Adelita's patronus. "She is beautiful," the Pecari agreed. Dana couldn't actually tell if the swan was male or female, but Adelita had called it a 'she' and as she'd made the patronus then she probably knew best.

Encouraged by her classmate's success, Dana tried the spell again for herself. She closed her eyes - it seemed sensible to block out visual distractions to make it easier to concentrate - and worked hard to pull up some emotional memories. She thought of her mother again, of her brother Lucas - but then he had the tendency to annoy her. She thought instead of her bedroom at home, of spending midterm there tucked up against the winter chill. She thought of the roaring fires blazing downstairs, festive music playing on the wireless in the kitchen, the smell of meat roasting ... mmmm. "Expecto Patronum," Dana cast, then opened her eyes. It still wasn't as fully formed as Adelita's swan, but there was definitely a glowing fish of some sort gliding through the air in front of her as if it were in water. The elongated spike extending from the fish's face made it at once identifiable, even as it faded into mist. "It's a swordfish," she commented, sounding neither impressed nor disappointed - she didn't know much about the creatures. "Interesting."

0 Dana Sometimes they flock apart 0 Dana 0 5

Jose Hernandez

February 14, 2011 12:01 PM

I think I have the graham crackers by Jose Hernandez

"No, it just did that!" Jose exclaimed when Andrew asked if he'd made the patronus talk like that, "All I did was will it to project my voice!" Okay, that was almost cool enough to make up for not having a robot dragon for a patronus. Not quite, but almost.

Andrew did his casting thing again, and the robot dragon looked even more impressive than last time. Okay, not so much on the 'almost' either. The RV faded and then vanished all together. Jose's patronus clearly did not like playing second string to Andrew's and had gone away to sulk. Jose didn't really blame it.

Then the dragon spoke - with Andrew's voice - and Jose had to laugh. "Yeah," he agreed, "Maybe try deepening your voice," he deepened his own as much as it could go, "like this." It wasn't very deep. Jose's vocal chords had mostly finished their transition from child to adult already, but he just didn't have the size to have a really good deep voice. Curse those short Mexican genes, again! Not that his ma was really any taller. Curse those Mexican and American short genes! Again!

"And yeah, once most of us get a hold on the casting thing, we try it again with the pogrebin. I guess we can start lining up for that."

1 Jose Hernandez I think I have the graham crackers 149 Jose Hernandez 0 5

Andrew Duell

February 16, 2011 7:14 PM

What else do we need? by Andrew Duell

Andrew tried deepening his voice, and was met with moderate success. It was deeper, but nothing close to what a dragon should sound like. He experimented having the dragon walk around a bit to see what kind of control he had over it and what it did naturally. From Jose's experience, it seemed that the magic just had to work some things out on its own. A thought occurred to him, he turned to Jose and asked, "What is the range on a patronus? The professor said they could be used to deliver messages, how far away? Once it gets out of my line of sight, how do I know what to tell it to do? Do I just tell it to go find somebody and say something to them, or do I need to give it step by step directions? Is there some way for me to use it's senses?" He stopped a moment, mainly because he realized he had thrown a lot of questions at Jose without waiting for an answer. He had more... but maybe he should wait a moment. He grinned "Sorry, maybe I should have read up on this better. What does the book say?" Andrew started digging around on his desk for his book. The dragon vanished once more as his focus shifted elsewhere.

He looked up and saw it was gone. "Huh..." he began to ruminate to himself out loud, "If I do send it off to deliver a message, do I have to focus on it until the task is done? What if it needs to go really far away? I guess that gets back into the question of range." He began flipping through his book, looking for answers.

2 Andrew Duell What else do we need? 145 Andrew Duell 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 18, 2011 12:05 PM

It's not even a real police car! by Daniel Nash II

Daniel turned as his remark was met with a comment that suggested he should be pleased that he'd met a minimum requirement of being actually able to pull off a patronus at all. Expecting James Anthony, he blinked when he found it was Jethro Smythe instead, and he was, it seemed, having genuine trouble performing the spell. So maybe it actually had been a compliment rather than a veiled insult.

Daniel forgot, sometimes, that the rest of the school was not held to the same high Aladren standards that James set for their year, that not everybody was involved in an academic battle for supremacy and bragging rights.

A battle, unfortunately, that Daniel was not well positioned to win. He'd place, he had no doubt about that, but despite the genius he liked to fake, Daniel was not actually gifted with an abnormally high intelligence. He got through on willpower, determination, and hard work. The rivalry with James gave him fuel, his ego refused to bow even when logic said he shouldn't have a chance, and when he told himself he could do it anyway, he was a first class liar who believed his own propaganda.

And even if he didn't always - or even often - beat James academically, he was still in the top five of every class he'd continued into the RATS level.

Not bad for a kid who regularly got low Bs in his elementary school and dropped out of his highly-ranked private school in order to pursue an acting career he didn't even want and get taught by studio tutors in a bland room with folding tables and uncomfortable chairs.

So he watched Jethro fail to make a patronus and wondered if that would have been him if he'd been sorted anywhere else.

And he was glad, really glad, he'd turned blue six years ago. He kind of liked this whole being-smart thing. He liked the rush of accomplishment he got when he pulled off a spell correctly or got back a homework or test with a perfect grade. He liked success.

"Do you want help?" he asked, not wanting to butt in where he wasn't welcome, but feeling bad that Jethro wasn't having any success of his own.

1 Daniel Nash II It's not even a real police car! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Marissa Stephenson

February 18, 2011 1:31 PM

I'm going to be happy with wispy. by Marissa Stephenson

Defense was one of the more magical subjects on the curriculum, but Marissa felt she’d always been able to get along slightly better in it than in its fellows. She’d reasoned it out as being because the necessity of the class, along with the things they learned in it, had impressed on her that the magical world was very dangerous and out to get her, and the pressure of necessity cut through…whatever it was that kept her from doing really well in her other classes, at least a little.

It did not cut through it nearly enough for her to feel ready to be working with the sixth years now.

She knew she was being stupid. She’d been working with these people for years and years now; a quick attempt to go back through it made her think second year had been the only one where she hadn’t been in the same classes as the Aladren boys and Charlie and Adelita and Dana Smythe and all of them. She’d even call Quentin a friend, and maybe Charlie, too, since they worked together so much for Quidditch. The sixth years were nothing new, nor were they more threatening than the aces of her own year.

Knowing all that, though, didn’t stop the Advanced prefix attached to this class from scaring her just as much as the one attached to her Charms class, and more than the possibly undead panther in the room. She’d come to trust that the staff wouldn’t permit things that were genuine, deadly dangers to them, and once she looked for Professor Levy and found her not seeming very – or at all – scared by the silver…thing, she concluded that it wasn’t much of a threat and she could take a seat without worrying more about being mauled than she did about failing and possibly being disowned. Her parents had always said they’d still love her even if she did something stupid and disappointed them, but she was not in a hurry to test the theory.

Once the lesson began, Marissa started taking notes. This was what she always did. For one thing, concentrating on writing it down legibly and completely meant she could block out any emotional reaction to what Professor Levy was saying, like when she talked about being smothered and digested in bed, and for another, missing something important, or getting it but then letting it slip her mind, was not going to increase her chances of doing well enough to pass, and every word she heard made her think that was less and less likely anyway.

She’d read about Patronii before, and knew they were supposed to be extremely hard. It had been noted that some adults had trouble producing a corporeal patronus that could stand up to…anything, really. Memories had something to do with it, of course, and the more history she read, the more Marissa realized that the wizarding world was not really a very happy place to be, but she’d be willing to bet that power did have something to do with it, too.

If that was the case, then the chances that she would ever succeed, except maybe in the last possible defense of her own life, were limited, but she would give it a try. If she could get something to half-work, then she could usually avoid actual failure, and then she could make it up on an essay or an exam or an easier spell. She wasn’t proud of knowing all those tricks around actually doing things right, but they were why she wasn’t in disgrace and was at least, if her badges were anything to go by, considered diligent.

Something happy. With a smile, she remembered her belated birthday party, over the summer. Everyone had been there, all her friends and cousins, and Paige had even been being nice for the day, and then some test scores had arrived in the mail and she had been at the top of the charts. It was the first time in her life she’d actually been so happy that she’d lost control and just jumped up and down and screamed about something. Trying to be there instead of here, she pointed her wand at nothing in particular, only checking that it wasn’t pointed directly at someone from long habit, and said, “Expecto patronum.”

To her surprise, a wisp of Silver Stuff Patronii Are Made Of came from the end of her wand and hovered for a moment before shock killed the happy and it vanished. She was about to try it again when a sudden expletive from not far away startled her into looking away from her wand and toward the source of the commotion to see what was wrong, that kind of language usually not being used in classrooms when things were going right.

Nothing very bad seemed to be happening to Charlie, though, so Marissa assumed it was just a spell not cooperating. She’d thought a few things her parents wouldn’t approve of herself, when things were getting especially difficult. She still had a startled look on her face, though, which changed into mild embarrassment when Charlie apologized. “It’s all right,” she said quickly. “Spell not going well?”

16 Marissa Stephenson I'm going to be happy with wispy. 147 Marissa Stephenson 0 5

Jose

February 18, 2011 2:10 PM

A library, apparently by Jose

Jose blinked and stared blankly at Andrew as he was bombarded with a whole slew of questions that he had no answers to. He'd seen patronii before, and been startled by them when they came up behind them, but the California Pierces didn't really have any need to stretch the limits of the spell. They didn't even use it in life or death situations (beyond that they were a tool to prevent life or death situations) or any other traditional use for a patronus.

It was just that somewhere back in their history, one of the Pierces learned how to cast one and thought it was cool and versatile enough to teach to the rest of the family and now it was part of the Pierce knowledge base that had been taught to everyone before California started requiring kids to attend proper schools.

The Pierce knowledge base said 'this is how its done, and this is how you scare the living daylights out of your kids with it' but nothing at all about its range or how to control it if it leaves line of sight.

As Andrew began flipping through his textbook, Jose nodded and agreed, "Yeah, that'll know better than me."

0 Jose A library, apparently 0 Jose 0 5

Lita

February 18, 2011 10:44 PM

They can't swim in a school like fish by Lita

Okay, so it wasn’t going to be a dolphin, that was okay. As wonderful as dolphins were, Lita had been snorkeling so many times while in Mexico that Adelita had seen many many sea life to know just how magnificent it all truly was. If Dana had any sort of fish, so long as it was tropical, Adelita would be quite impressed.

Thus far, Lita was finding it somewhat comfortable to be around Dana. For whatever reason (probably because of her last name), Adelita had assume that the girl would be a little distant and possibly snobby. Lita was, by all definitions of the term, a pureblood, but her family was quite different. They were accepted in Mexico and in Spain because after generations and hard work, their status was earned and respected. In America, it seemed more political and old blood instead of discipline and respect. The Santoro name and by extension, the Garcia name had little depth in this country so Lita assumed the old blood looked down on their family.

“Wow!” Adelita commented as she looked at the swordfish. Her excitement at seeing Dana’s patronus only seemed to make her own patronus stronger. The swan flapped her large wings as though irritated that Adelita’s attention was on another’s patronus and not on her own. But Lita had only ever seen swordfish in the aquarium, so it was very cool that one was now floating right in front of her. “Do you love the water or something?” Adelita asked Dana. It was clear to Lita why her patronus was a swan. Adelita was a dancer. It was who she was and what she always wanted to be. She had never thought of being anything else since she was four years old. And a swan was every representation of that thought and desire. There was no surprise and really, anyone who knew anything about ballet and Lita, probably should have guessed that this would be her patronus.

So, looking around again, Adelita was curious to know what connections her classmates had to the animals or objects that they produced. Lita could probably guess why the professor had a panther. They were strong but beautiful creatures. They were clever and they were hunters. Considering Professor Levi was an ex-Auror, it seemed to make sense to Lita. “How do we make them talk?” Lita asked, getting distracted when she realized that others were getting their own to talk. Adelita never liked it when their lesson simply said the basics. Although Levi usually gave great descriptions and lectures regarding the lessons, sometimes it just wasn’t enough.

0 Lita They can't swim in a school like fish 0 Lita 0 5

Jethro

February 20, 2011 10:27 AM

What's your point? by Jethro

Would his silvery whisp even make a Dementor anxious, Jethro wondered as his sixth attempt produced the same effect, or would they see it as a sign of weakness that an attempt at a patronus had failed? Would he perhaps be better off not even trying to cast the spell and in fact just running away? Jethro thought he might have had a better chance at the second option if he could run well, but in honesty his running was about as commendable as his spell casting. he was slow, he tired quickly, and he had a propensity to trip up over his own feet. Perhaps it was worth his while to perfect the patronus, even if the possibility of him being attacked by a Dementor outside of the classroom was wildly remote. Besides, Jethro considered as his seventh attempt gave him the fourth silvery whisp of the day, he usually got the hang of spells in the end. It took him a long time and it wasn't very strong magic that he produced, but he was determined not to get kicked out of school. What would he do then?

"Do you want help?" Jethro blinked and turned to see that it was Daniel Nash who'd spoken to him. Jethro had forgotten he was there already, having moved on from commenting on the sixth year's complete patronus to work on his own incomplete product. He wondered why Daniel was asking - was he offering his own services or would he call over Professor Levy? In in the second instance did he think Jethro would be a danger, or otherwise embarrassment, if he continued working alone? And in the first instance, why would he help? It could be due to fear of danger or embarrassment, Jethro supposed, or he could be hoping to impart advice because he himself had been successful. Considering that Daniel Nash was Head Boy, nominated by staff and voted for by students, this last scenario did seem likely, but if that were the case then Jethro ought to let him be to develop his own work because he knew he would be a waste of valuable time. In any case, he had asked if Jethro wanted help, rather than if he needed help, which was a more difficult question to answer. Jethro knew he needed help, he always did and always had, but whether Daniel would be in a position to provide it was another matter. Furthermore, he wasn't sure if he really wanted help, especially additional help, especially from a classmate who might have better things to do, because he already had assistance from his sister and cousin Dana and professors and textbooks so if he couldn't improve with all these resources already in use he doubted whether one more person could make a significant difference.

"I don't want to take up your time if you have something more productive to be doing," Jethro said, wishing not for the first time that he was more eloquent, like his sister (yet another way in which he had failed to develop satisfactorily), "but if you have any suggestions that you think I might find useful then I would be happy to hear them." This was true, in fact, in all aspects of life, but Jethro had meant it in context of the class assignment on this occasion, and fully expected Daniel to interpret it thus.

0 Jethro What's your point? 0 Jethro 0 5

Dana

February 20, 2011 10:47 AM

This fish can swim in a school on its own by Dana

Adelita seemed nice. Not that Dana had ever suspected otherwise, but it was pleasing to make the discovery first hand. Part of the reason she'd kept to herself so much at Sonora, more than anywhere else, was that Dana was afraid people might judge her before they talked to her. She couldn't blame them; it was simply unfortunate that her family was associated with a number of values that could make any number of people back off. On more than one occasion she had wished that Salem had stayed open, because then at least she'd only have had her own brother to contend with. Lucas could be odd, yes, but he was generally a nice person, even to people he didn't like very much. Her cousins, on the other hand, were only nice when it suited them (and in Cynthia's case it never seemed to suit her). Admittedly even if she hadn't followed her family through the school then Dana would have been tied to her surname, but there were still people out there, she was sure, who tied the Smythe name to respectability, not bigotry. Cecily had done her utmost in the past seven years to make sure that none of those people were at Sonora. It was was much harder to be a Smythe when Cecily was around. Luckily, Adelita either didn't care, or was prepared to give Dana the benefit of the doubt anyway. Or there was the slight off-chance that she agreed with the bigotry, but then she was best friends with the Crotalus Quidditch captain so it seemed unlikely.

"Do you love the water or something?" Adelita asked, no doubt prompted by Dana's fish creation.

"Um, I guess so," Dana replied. She didn't have the opportunity to spend a great deal of time in the water while at school, so it hadn't really occured to her, but now that Adelita had mentioned it, the Pecari thought about all the time she spent in the pools back home, and that any time her family went on vacation she always encouraged them to go somewhere close to the ocean. "I hadn't really thought about it before, but I think I do." She smiled; it was odd to have an almost total stranger identify your own likes better than you had done yourself, but not altogether unpleasant. "I like floating," she added as an after-thought.

Now that she'd gotten the shape of her patronus in mind, Dana cast the spell again, finding much easier this time to force it to take corporeal form. She liked how it was graceful in the way it moved, but looked like it could defend itself with that sword-like weapon held out in front of it at all times, almost like it was expecting an attack at any moment. She encouraged her swordfish to swim in circles round Adelita's swan. It suddenly didn't feel much like they were working, but much more like they were just having fun. When Adelita asked how to make them talk, Dana was almost disappointed to be drawn back to the lesson. "I don't think there's a spell involved," she said, "I think you just have to sort of, want it to?" She didn't sound sure of herself, but then she hadn't ever made a patronus before so she was hardly an expert. "Maybe just try giving it a go, and see what happens," she suggested.

0 Dana This fish can swim in a school on its own 0 Dana 0 5

Charlotte

February 20, 2011 11:09 AM

Always aim higher by Charlotte

Luckily Marissa at least didn't seem to offended by Charlie's outburst. At least this particular fifth year was no stranger to the occasions when Charlie let her emotions get control of her language, which happened more often on the Quidditch pitch than in any other scenario. "Spell not going well?" Marissa asked.

"Opposite problem," Charlie replied, with a self deprectaing smile that didn't quite hide how impressed she was with herself that she'd managed a great deal more than some pathetic whisp on her first go. "Almost landed myself in the hospital wing with a mammoth heart attack," she laughed. Seriously, where had that come from? And a tiger, for real? If Charlie had thought about it much beforehand, she thought she might have made something, well, more girly. Her favorite color was pink, she danced ballet everyday, she wore make-up and loved cute dresses - even now to class she was wearing a long black skirt with a lace cardigan over a cream cami. She was most definitely a girly sort, and was sort of expecting her patronus to reflect that. Perhaps a small pony, or a regular house cat, but not a huge predatory cat. She had some bite, she would admit, but still...

"Did you get a form yet?" she asked Marissa. looking round the class it seemed like some of her friends were starting to get the hang of it - she saw Lita's swan and held back a laugh. Oliver's patronus was a swan, too; that was just funny.

"Okay, I'm going to give this another go," Charlie said, physically shaking her shoulders as she psyched herself up. "No heart attack this time." After a couple of deep breaths, Charlie summoned her happy thoughts (a smile creeping onto her face as she recalled these memories) and cast the spell again with vigor. Again the creature formed, ghostly in its silvery splendor, but still hazy as it struggled to remain corporeal. At least it was fully formed this time, rather than merely a head and torso, so Charlie could be sure she hadn't imagined it on the first occasion. However after only a few seconds it was more mist than toger, and before long it had faded entirely. "Why a tiger?" she asked Marissa? "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's pretty cool, but... you know?"

0 Charlotte Always aim higher 0 Charlotte 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 22, 2011 12:23 PM

I've got a TV prop riding to my rescue! by Daniel Nash II

"More productive?" Daniel repeated, and looked around the classroom. He'd been one of the quickest students to produce a full patronus (not too surprising given the cloud of glee he'd been riding since he'd been named Head Boy and the spell's propensity to be strengthened by positive emotion) so the pogrebin hadn't come out yet. "Not immediately."

He'd watched Jethro's last attempt fairly closely, so he'd noticed a few little things he could offer. "Your diction is good, and your wand motion is okay," not quite as crisp as Daniel's own, but within acceptable parameters or Jethro wouldn't even be getting a whisp.

"Maybe sharpen it up a little." He demonstrated what he meant, "Like this," he showed the clean movement, "instead of like this," he showed how Jethro had done it. His skill at mimicry was one of the reasons he did as well as he did at pretending to be a Sonora genius. A fair number of classes required little more than perfect repetition and conviction to pull off the practical effects. "See the difference?"

"Also," he added, and this was the important part, though if he criticized too much he'd probably do more damage than help, "try to sound like you mean it. Like you know it will work. You don't have to actually believe it, just sound like you do. Enough to trick yourself for a couple of seconds. And, well, smile," Daniel finished with a smile of his own, because sometimes just faking happy produced happy-like side effects.

1 Daniel Nash II I've got a TV prop riding to my rescue! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Jethro

February 23, 2011 12:01 PM

What's your point? by Jethro

It seemed that Daniel was going to attempt to help. Jethro wasn't going to argue, certainly not as Daniel Nash was Head Boy, and even Cynthia had said that it was best not to argue with figures of authority unless there was very good reason. jethro didn't have very good reason, and in fact if Daniel did help him then he would certainly appreciate it.

Daniel began by saying that Jethro's diction was good. the fifth year couldn't help being momentarily hung up on this because people rarely told him he was good at anything, so being good at even something as basic as diction surprised him. He'd always thought he couldn't possibly be completely useless. His wand movement was okay, too, but when Daniel showed him how to do it better, Jethro was confused.

"No, I'm sorry," he replied to the question that may or may not have been rhetorical, "I don't see the difference. Could you show me again? Slowly?" It always helped Jethro if things were taught to him slowly. His brain just didn't keep up if things happened too quickly, or quickly at all, in fact.

Daniel's next piece of advice was to sound like he thought it would work. This concept confused Jethro enormously. His sister had told him that Daniel was an actor (he didn't know how she knew so much about everyone but he was happy for her help in getting along well with his peers), which meant he was very good at doing and saying things he didn't really mean. Jethro, on the other hand, never did or said things he didn't mean. If he didn't mean it then why would he say it? The concept was backwards and upside down at the same time. "But I do mean it," he said. "I want to do the spell, I just don't think I can, and if I don't think I can then I can't act like I think I can because... well I don't think I can," he explained in very clear and concise terms.

Finally Daniel suggested that he smile. Jethro could smiel. He didn't do it very often, but he'd learned it made his mother happy if he smiled when he received a gift or good news or when he saw his relations. The Crotalus raised his eyebrows a little and pulled up the corners of his mouth into a tight-lipped expression that fit the description of a smile, somehow without making him look any more cheerful. Hopeful, possibly, but not more cheerful. This merely presented another problem. "I smile with my mouth closed, so how can i cast the spell if I smile?" he asked.

0 Jethro What's your point? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 23, 2011 5:03 PM

I'd get a fake emergency vehicle for a real emergency! by Daniel Nash II

At the request to do so, Daniel repeated the two methods of wand motion - several times. Once at full speed again, so he remind himself of how it went and try to figure out how to slow it down, then again at increasingly slower speeds as he tried to work out how to draw it out without changing the movement or inaccurately emphasizing anything.

When he got to the part that was different, he drew attention to it by saying, "Here, you want cleaner lines. Make it smooth, instead just sticking your wand out in a pointing jab. Smooth," he said as he repeated his way of doing it. "Jabby," he explained as he imitated Jethro's unartistic point again in slow motion. "A Patronus is a defensive spell," Daniel he added, "A counter, not an attack. You don't want to be too violent with it."

A short while later, as Jethro was explaining his issues with sounding confident, Daniel just blinked uncomprehendingly back at him, just as baffled by what Jethro was saying as Jethro seemed to be by his suggestion. Also, his smile was one of the least genuine he had ever seen. It was all wrong. All wrong. "A happy smile," he corrected, hoping Jethro just got the instruction wrong but knowing it went far beyond that.

Jethro didn't get the concept of acting. It shook Daniel to his core that anybody could honestly not get this. The fact that Jethro wouldn't - possibly couldn't - even pretend to believe something he didn't actually believe was so anathema to him that that he wondered how they could both exist on the same planet. And since Daniel was fairly certain that he did exist only because Mom and Dad got confused about reality and forgot that in real life they didn't actually love each other like they did in The Taste of Waffles, the problem was clearly Jethro's.

"Okay," Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep, calming, centering breath. He opened them again and looked at Jethro. This called for the big guns. Daniel could lie better than anyone he knew. "Forget the acting. You can do this. Smooth out your pointing of the wand like I showed you," and he showed it again, just in case, "and think about penguins," he'd read an quote some years back that claimed a person could not think about penguins without smiling and he was going to put it to the test, "just before you cast it, and I guarantee you will improve your results and get at least an outline this time before it fades."

1 Daniel Nash II I'd get a fake emergency vehicle for a real emergency! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Lita

February 23, 2011 9:30 PM

Your fish sure is talented. by Lita

Adelita grew tired for a moment and her patronus took the effect of it. First by flickering as though it was being disrupted by static but it eventually faded away while Adelita’s mind was preoccupied by both Dana’s swordfish and the thought of how to get her patronus to speak. She didn’t like things being so open when it came to spells. Transfiguration seemed much much to open for some of the things that they are taught. Most of it is ‘use your imagination and it’ll happen!’ And although Lita wasn’t a fan of potions (hence why she dropped it after her CATS), she still liked the fact that it was very straightforward. Maybe that was why she had stuck to Ballet for so long. It was rigid and strict. Of course, she had long since sprinted off to try other, more liberating, dance techniques, but the design of ballet would always be there. She needed more structure for certain things. Magic spells being one of them.

Dana’s semi-hesitant reply had Lita curious. She didn’t know a person wouldn’t know if they loved the water or not. Water was a must in her family. Considering her mother’s family was from Mexico and Spain where water was all around, she didn’t know a life without it. It was probably why her Grandpapa settled in Los Angeles considering how close it was to the water. Adelita didn’t know life without water, or at least, hadn’t until she spent ten months out of the year in a desert. But now they had that special room with all those bodies of water and Lita no longer had to miss out on swimming. Thinking about the water made Adelita smile, so she cast another patronus and happily watched her swan.

“Floating?” Adelita asked, looking curiously at Dana. “Like just floating on your back in the water? Or do you like floating in general. As in, floating in the air too?” Lita always enjoyed learning new things about people. Of course, anything that Dana told her would be new since she didn’t know her, but that didn’t make it any less interesting.

She watched their patroni play together as she thought about what Dana said. Lita had to ‘will’ it to do her talking. She tried to focus really hard and think words for the patronus to spout, but after awhile of doing that, she only ended up with a headache. “Boo.” Lita said, looking somewhat grumpy (which was entirely a rare look to have for her) and frustrated. “I suppose I should just be happy to have my patronus at all. I’ll have to figure out this voice thing as I go on.” Lita sighed with a shrug. She knew she had limitations, maybe for her patronus, this was hers.

“Anyway…” Adelita focused on Dana for a moment. “How’s life in the Pecari world, Dana?”

0 Lita Your fish sure is talented. 0 Lita 0 5

Jethro

February 28, 2011 11:45 AM

Would that be a problem? by Jethro

As daniel slowed the wand movement down for his benefit, Jethro paid close attention. When the movement was slower and Daniel showed Jethro not only how to do it right, but how he'd been doing it not-so-right (he couldn't say wrong exactly because it wasn't wrong, there was simply room for improvement), the fifth year thought he might have a better understanding. However, he really understood it when Daniel said something about it being a defensive spell, so it didn't need to be jabby and aggressive. That sort of made sense, and Jethro thought it might help him to remember to move his wand more smoothly. He repeated the movement for Daniel to see, once slowed down, and then once normal speed. He thought it was smoother. "Is that better?" he asked his mentor.

The next part, about preteneding to know he could cast the spell or whatever he was supposed to be doing, had the effect of baffling both Jethro and, by the looks of it, Daniel. The Crotalus wasn't good when it came to recognizing other people's emotions or expression, but he was quite good at getting 'confused' right, and that was just how Daniel looked right then, and exactly how Jethro felt. Luckily it apparently wasn't all that important, because Daniel let the subject drop and told Jethro to 'forget it.' He didn't literally mean forget it, which was just as well because although Jethro knew he would forget this conversation in time, probably even by the end of the day, if he actively tried to forget something he only ended up thinking about it more than usual. He was fairly sure that daniel was using a figure of speech, one of the many rhetoric devices Cynthia'd had to explain to him over the years.

"Forget the acting," Daniel said. "You can do this. Smooth out your pointing of the wand like I showed you, and think about penguins."

Jethro did as he was told. He thought about penguins - the bird that couldn't fly, that lived in snowy nowheres and sort of wobbled as it walked. He felt the muscles in his lips stretch as he imagined them, and he opened his mouth to cast the spell. "Expecto patronum." He wand movement was smooth, and from the end of the wand came a great deal more silvery vapor this time, hanging around in a sort of blob that struggled to find form before it dissipated. "Penguins," Jethro said to himself. "Think of penguins."

0 Jethro Would that be a problem? 0 Jethro 0 5

Dana

February 28, 2011 12:06 PM

It takes after me by Dana

"Floating?" Adelita repeated, and Dana nodded in affirmation.

"Floating on your back in water is the best," she considered, "but any sort of floating is good. That's why I still fly from time to time." She wasn't fanatical about flying like the rest of the Pecari team, but then she was only a reserve and would be perfectly content if she never had to play in a real game. She did have fun at the practises, though. "It's sort of freeing," she explained to Adelita. "Like you can stop thinking for a moment and just... be. Just float." She wondered whether her yearmate thought she was crazy, and decided she didn't care. A little bit of crazy never hurt anyone.

Adelita didn't seem to be having any success in getting her swan to talk, which didn't encourage Dana to try. Perhaps she would spend a little more time becoming familiar with her patronus before she got it to start doing tricks. "Anyway," Adelita said. "How’s life in the Pecari world, Dana?"

"Oh, it's okay," Dana replied non-committally. Honestly, she wasn't fussed either way about being in Pecari. She doubted she'd be any more or less bothered by any other House, either, so she really ought not to complain. "Alison and I get on okay," which was all she really wanted in a roomate. "The younger years are a bit... well, sometimes the commonroom is loud," she said with a smile. If Adelita had ever run into any Pecari underclassmen she would probably understand what Dana meant. "But, you know, it's okay." That was about all she could manage. "What's it like in Crotalus?" she asked, thinking it was lucky for Lita she managed to land in a year that wasn't governed by her cousins. Dana and Lucas were in fact the only Smythes to have not been sorted into Crotalus, in the past generationas well as this one. It was sort of refreshing to stand out, but sometimes she wondered whether she'd be a different person, perhaps fit in a bit better, if she'd been sorted into her family's House.

0 Dana It takes after me 0 Dana 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 28, 2011 2:27 PM

Since Real Cops can't stop Dementors anyway - I guess not by Daniel Nash II

"Much better," Daniel confirmed when Jethro repeated the wand motion a lot smoother than before. The remaining imperfections in the motion were too minor to be able to explain or correct, and were probably no more than the resultant differences caused by their relative levels of dexterity and just their general movement styles. For all Daniel knew, that tiny bit of 'off' that he couldn't quite put his finger on was caused by Jethro's minor slouch and his actual arm and wand movement actually was completely perfect.

He wondered briefly if people with good posture were better spell casters generally, but decided that was a research project for another time and probably for another person.

When Jethro did cast the spell, Daniel was secretly kind of impressed at the amount of improvement shown, though he kept that tightly under wraps. It would not do Jethro any good to act surprised that he'd done better, especially after giving him a 'guarantee' that there would be much more success this time.

He still wasn't quite sure what shape that it had begun to form, but there had been a good blob for several seconds that had tried to coalesce into something. "Much better," he encouraged, sounding like he hadn't expected anything less.

Daniel felt his own mouth pull up in a corner as Jethro repeated the instruction to think about penguins. Penguins, it turned out, did have the power to make Jethro smile, at least somewhat. Interesting. So far, the theory had not yet been proven wrong.

"I heard they make people cheerful, and you should be cheerful for this spell," he explained, in case Jethro didn't understand the connection and was mulling over why Daniel might possibly want him thinking about an obscure thing like penguins.

1 Daniel Nash II Since Real Cops can't stop Dementors anyway - I guess not 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Jethro

March 02, 2011 10:30 AM

So... everything is okay after all? by Jethro

Jethro was very much encouarged when not only did his patronus attempt a form (it didn't manage it but it was progressing well) but Daniel Nash said he was doing 'much better.' Jethro felt his lips curve upwards just a little more at the praise. but then Daniel said that penguins made people cheerful, and Jethro's smile fell again as he considered this. Did that mean that penguins had some sort of ability to charm people into making them happy? jethro hadn't known this until now, otherwise he would have procurred a penguin already - one for himself and possibly one for several other people he knew, too. In fact, if this turned out to be true, his was going to look into getting a penguin immediately. Of course, if penguins made people happy by being there, then thinking about penguins would be irrelvant, and Daniel had just told him to think about penguins, not to go and get one. It had apparently worked, though, so maybe the magic of the penguin was simply in thinking about them. This second theory didn't make any more sense, however, so Jethro eventually gave up on that thought process and just accepted that thinking of penguins had helped with the spell.

"I'm going to think of penguins and try the spell again," Jethro said to Daniel, sounding by far more enthusiastic than he had at any previous point in the class. Encouraged by his ongoing spell development, buoyed by praise from the Head Boy on his performance, and smiling as he thought of penguins, Jethro encanted the spell loudly and produced... well, a penguin. It was glowing and silvery white, just like a patronus, but it was obviously a penguin, and Jethro had just been thinking about penguins. Maybe he'd just made one by mistake. "Is that a patronus?" he asked Daniel Nash. "Or is it just a penguin?" Frowning at the thought of having created a penguin fake-patronus instead of a real one, Jethro lowered his wand as the funny looking, non-flying bird faded into not being.

0 Jethro So... everything is okay after all? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

March 02, 2011 1:30 PM

Yeah, I suppose by Daniel Nash II

With more confidence that Daniel had seen him muster yet, Jethro tried the patronus spell one more time, and . . . . it formed into a penguin. The aspect it took dumbfounded him enough that he didn't get in his whoop or his congratulations before Jethro second guessed himself and it vanished.

"No," he said, hurried, hoping to make up for the lapse, "no, I'm sure that was a patronus. You did it exactly right." He grinned encouragingly at the younger boy. "You did great, Jethro. You did it. You made a patronus." He should have left it there, he knew he should leave it there, but his mouth kept talking in a slightly perplexed tone, "A penguin patronus."

Suddenly, a fake cop car seemed like a perfectly logical form for a patronus to take, if only by comparison.

Cop cars at least symbolized rescue and help. That particular cop car additionally symbolized Daniel's father who was the first person he normally turned to for assistance. Even if it was just a prop, it had come screaming onto a scene to slay the foes faced by Nate Bealer often enough that his subconscious mind must have equated the Street Beat car as his own personal personification of Help Is Here.

Jethro . . . had a penguin.

And Daniel had thought his psyche was messed up.

"Maybe," he said after a moment of thinking about it, "Maybe you were having so much trouble with the spell before because it didn't know what form to take. You gave it an idea, and so that's what it used. A patronus will take the form of something you consider safe. Penguins . . . are safe."

1 Daniel Nash II Yeah, I suppose 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5

Lita

March 03, 2011 8:29 PM

Is that a fact? by Lita

“Hm…” Adelita mumbled as she thought about all the times she had been in the water in the last couple of years. She was pretty sure that she had never just floated in the water before. Then again, she was in Acapulco and the beaches were usually packed with people that it was hard to just lay back and relax. She probably could have if they ever used their own swimming pool, but they were hardly home in the summer for her to really experience that. Jorge used it all the time, but he was home all year except when they went on family vacations. It just made her want to have a pool party even more. Now that she knew Dana, it wouldn’t be weird to invite her either… or Alison really, reach out to her fellow sixth years.

“I can’t say that I’ve ever really just floated before. Usually I’m being thrown about by my relatives.” Adelita commented with a grin. It didn’t matter if she was just laying in the sand or swimming, she always ended up being plucked up by either her father or her Tios and then tossed into the water. It was a mean game of theirs simply because she was just so small. “The down side of having lots of males in the family.” Lita explained with a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. If nothing else, they kept her from getting too serious.

She laughed a little when Dana commented on her common room. “Dulce says the people in her year who are in Pecari tend to be …a handful.” Adelita replied, using a nicer phrase than her sister had. Dulce didn’t mind all of them, but there were one or two whom her younger sister felt needed to be knocked in the head a couple of times just to get them to be quiet every so often.

“Crotalus has it’s moments.” Lita commented looking amused. “Not so much now that ‘The Ladies’-“ Lita did the quotation marks in the air when she used their tag name, “have graduated. There was so much hostility in that dorm room. But, otherwise, I think we’re just sort of calm and quiet.” Lita said after a moment. “Although, I did hear rumor of some tension going on with the younger years, but that doesn’t concern me too much as it would Charlie being as she’s Head Girl and the Prefect. I think we’re probably far more boring then most of the other houses considering we’re supposed to be all ‘prim and proper’”

0 Lita Is that a fact? 0 Lita 0 5

Dana

March 07, 2011 12:07 PM

Not as such - I can't prove it. by Dana

"I can’t say that I’ve ever really just floated before. Usually I’m being thrown about by my relatives." Adelita said. "The down side of having lots of males in the family."

Dana couldn't hide her surprise. She didn't really remember the Santoros who'd been through the school before her, who were possibly the relatives to which Adelita was referring, but she couldn't imagine her own family being that rambunctious. Lucas didn't even go near the water, Dana would probably die if she had the shock of seeing her father or uncles in swimwear, and Jethro wasn't allowed near the water because nobody was sure if he could swim. Anthony, one of her younger second cousins, could sometimes be rambunctious, and her older cousin Peter probably wouldn't think twice about throwing someone into a pool, but he had been away traveling then studying then traveling some more, so Dana rarely saw him, and it was usually at at occasions that required more formal attire than a bathing suit. "I think my family are..." was there a word for either her family or Adelita's that wouldn't sound offensive to either of them? "... more sedate."

Then again, perhaps her family made its presence known in other ways - Dana winced when Adelita mention The Ladies. She sort of wanted to apologise on cecily and Amelia's behalf, but she didn't honestly believe that her cousins were sorry at all, not even for the way Dana had to remain at school hoping the damage they had caused didn't inflict itself on her. She nodded as Adelita explained about the tension in younger years not really being her problem - the loud younger years in Pecari weren't really Dana's problem, either - but disagreed with the conclusion that Crotalus was a boring House; surely more went on in that commonroom than people were really letting on. There just had to be quarrels about families and betrothals and all sorts of things that just wouldn't be of consequence in the other Houses. "I guess every House has its ups and downs," she said, "but I don't think you're boring, if that helps," she said to Adelita. "Or especially prim, for that matter." She couldn't really tell how 'proper' Adelita was from this short conversation, nor could she be sure whether her assessment would be taken as a compliment or insult, so it was safest to leave that comment well alone.

0 Dana Not as such - I can't prove it. 0 Dana 0 5

Marissa

March 10, 2011 12:40 PM

Good motto. by Marissa

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t,” Marissa said with a laugh when Charlie’s problem turned out to be that she’d surprised herself by doing a little too well with the spell straight off. “I don’t think I’m quite ready to be captain yet.”

Though that did, of course, imply that she thought she might be someday, which Marissa felt was being a little optimistic. There was something about the idea of being a team captain that felt more intimidating than being a prefect did. She thought it was at least a little that her older sister, Paige, had done it and been really good at it, but also that being a team captain involved a lot more original thinking than being a prefect did. Prefects could technically be called upon to help students and stuff, but that didn’t really happen in Crotalus, so most of her duties were fairly by-the-book. As captain, though, she’d have to come up with their training strategies and schedule all the training sessions and be, pretty much, responsible for how well the Crotali not looking for the Snitch represented the House as well as for actually winning.

She’d do it, of course; sooner or later, she always did things she had to do, whether she wanted to or thought she could or not. It was just hard to really listen to the voice that was reminding her of that until the crisis was actually at hand and the panic voice telling her she couldn’t handle whatever-it-was got stomped on by necessity.

“Not unless my patronus is a raincloud,” Marissa said lightly, because it was best to say such things as though she did not take them too seriously, when asked about whether or not hers was starting to take form. “Which it might be, if Jose’s RV is anything to go by,” she added, spotting her fellow prefect’s effort. For all that he’d been consistently around since year one, her mind always wanted to call Jose younger. She honestly didn’t know if this was because he was short or because he spent so much time hanging out with the – she couldn’t even remember if that group was in third or fourth year now. “Or Andrew’s – er – Godzilla thing,” she added.

Charlie’s tiger was much more normal. She bit the inside of her cheek when Charlie started to speculate about why it might have taken that form. “Well, you’re very graceful,” she said, raking her mind for anything she could ever remember about tigers. Somehow, she didn’t think Charlie would appreciate the comment about low stamina, or that it really fit, either. “And fast, in Quidditch, and tigers, you know, spring and move fast when they’re hunting something, like you hunt the Quaffle.” She realized this was starting to sound ridiculous. “Sorry, Daddy goes on these huge marathon Animal Planet binges sometimes, he had one of them this summer, and stuff starts creeping into my head by osmosis every time I walk by the living room when I’m home and he does that.”

16 Marissa Good motto. 147 Marissa 0 5

Charlie

March 16, 2011 12:14 PM

I have more by Charlie

Charlie chuckled at Marissa's claime that she wasn't ready to be captain yet. "Eh, you'll get there," she said with a smile. It was just the way it went, a captain would graduate and the assistant would naturally fill their shoes, so to speak. "And don't worry, I have no intention of ceasing to exist just yet." There was still so much she wanted to do, and making a patronus was currently right there at the top of her list.

Marissa didin't seem to be having much luck so far, unless her patronus actually was a cloud. Charlie actually thought there was no reason that it shouldn't be a cloud, especially considering her classmate's efforts that Marissa was pointing out - was Daniel's a police car? - but it probably wasn't a cloud, unless the fifth year had an affinity to weather conditions that had thus far remained unmentioned. "A cloud is better than nothing," Charlie said wisely, and vaguely sure it was true - even a little bit of a patronus was probably better than no patronus at all. Obviously a big, strong corporeal shape was the thing to aim for, but they'd only just started working on the spell, so a cloud was definitely progress.

As Marissa suggested reasons for Charlie's patronus to be a tiger, Charlie herself thought that actually while she had been surprised, she guessed an animal like that made a lot more sense than some of the random stuff that was appearing in the classroom. She didn't think Marissa was making a great deal of sense though, and when she explained about her Dad it became clearer. "Ah," Charlie said, nodding. "Yeah, my Dad's the same." Not that her parents watched a huge amount of TV, busy as they were with the hotel, boring animal programs were fairly common. And cop shows, come to that, which is how Street Beat had initially made itself into Charlie's life - now, of course, she watched it for other reasons.

No longer bothered by her unexpected patronus, Charlie was just pleased to be able to make it and to have something relatively normal. She cast the spell again and watched her toger take form once more. It even did a little prowling before disappearing this time. "I think it helps that I'm in a good mood," Charlie commented aloud to Marissa. "You managed to summon your happy memories?"

0 Charlie I have more 0 Charlie 0 5

Marissa

March 24, 2011 11:23 AM

Such as? by Marissa

“Of course,” Marissa agreed cheerfully when Charlie assured her she’d get there. “Still glad you’re planning to remain among us a while longer either way, though.”

That was one thing about Sonora: no one ever seemed to die. Maybe it was because they were a boarding school and people never left campus and the nurse was more qualified than school nurses usually were, but still, she would have thought a potions lesson would have gone badly wrong at least once in five years. Not that she wanted it to, but she had a cousin who swore that one of the local public schools lost as many seniors every year as they won football games. It was strange, but in a good way, and now she was afraid she’d jinxed it just by thinking about it.

Not too much, though. If she hadn’t managed to accidentally kill herself or someone else with magic, the chances that anyone else would be incompetent enough to in her time at the school were slight by any reckoning.

“By the sounds of these lethifold and dementor things, anything is definitely better than nothing,” Marissa agreed. That wasn’t something she’d considered before – she didn’t think she was as bad about being all or nothing as she had been when she came to Sonora, but it was still usually her default way of thinking – but it made her feel a little better. Anything that could offer even a little protection against living shrouds and soul-sucking fiends sounded like a good thing to know.

Though the soul-sucking fiends thing did make her wonder about something she’d wondered about before. She’d grown up a Baptist, and still went to church with her family on holidays, but one of the things she had yet to figure out about the wizarding world was what it was the majority of wizards in the United States believed as far as gods, an afterlife, and all that kind of stuff. People said “Dear Merlin” the way they might say “Dear Lord” at home, but History of Magic had lasted long enough for her to get to the part where Merlin was confirmed as a historical figure, so either it was kind of like her shaky understanding of Buddhism – otherwise known as “Buddha was a person, and this religion has something to do with him;” the lack of a decent social studies curriculum was really a problem the wizarding world needed to do something about – or like muttering “heavens to Betsy” or “for Pete’s sake,” or something like that. If it was the latter, it didn’t really have anything to with religion or an afterlife at all.

It seemed the soul was accepted as an actual entity, but what it was wasn’t something Professor Levy had seen fit to tell them. Probably because that wasn’t really the point of Defense Against the Dark Arts – this class was to prevent the soul from being removed by things with a name that implied they made people crazy, not to define its properties. And she almost certainly did not have time to really do any meaningful research on the topic here, not with CATS coming up. She wondered if, when she went on the back-to-school spree in August, if she could convince her mom to go back to Muggle Atlanta for a few hours and leave her in a magical bookstore.

Probably not.

Charlie’s patronus hung around for a moment before disappearing this time, and Marissa put her hands together a few times in acknowledgment. “Probably,” she agreed with Charlie suggested that being in a good mood helped her. She went back through the memories she’d been using. “I think I have them, yeah,” she said. “Were you in a good mood before you came?”

16 Marissa Such as? 147 Marissa 0 5

Charlie

March 25, 2011 5:20 PM

Be prepared; Think positive - I may have borrowed them. by Charlie

"Were you in a good mood before you came?" Marissa asked, and Charlie tried to remember to answer honestly.

"I think so," she said, somehow no longer able to recall how she'd felt before class. She was usually in a good mood, unless she's just lost a Quidditch match or was pining after Daniel or she was developing a spot or something horrid like that. "I'm sort of iun a good mood generally these days," she commented. "No exams this year, Quidditch practises are going well, I've got a new place to practise my dancing. Nothing to be in a bad mood about," she said, smiling at Marissa. Okay so if she thought about Daniel too long her mood could go either way, but aside from her love life being dormant she had no real complaints. Marissa did have exams this year, and she probably had the rest of Charlie's titles looming over her, too. She would defintiely she be prefect, she would certainly become Quidditch captain, and she had a good chance at becoming Head Girl, too - probably a greater chance than Charlie'd had in her yeargroup. Marissa could probably handle the pressure; Charlie took it in stride.

"So let's see if those memories make a difference," Charlie said, encouraging Marissa to try again. She sort of wante to ask what the memories were but that was just too intrusive, and she didn't really know Marissa all that well, Quidditch practises and prefect duties aside. She's said that a cloud was better than nothing and she meant it, but a corporeal form was definitely better than a cloud. Loads of people in the class were starting to get the hang of the spell now. As official representatives of Crotalus, charlie thought she and Marissa owed it to their House to do well. "Show me what you've got."

0 Charlie Be prepared; Think positive - I may have borrowed them. 0 Charlie 0 5

Professor Levy

Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I by Professor Levy

Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy)

That can't be what I think that is. by Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy)

Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

Oh feathered friend, appear! by Adelita Garcia (Crotalus)

Jose Hernandez, Pecari

Virtual camping, anyone? by Jose Hernandez, Pecari

Andew Duell

We'll just need some marshmallows now. by Andew Duell

Jethro Smythe

Why not? by Jethro Smythe

Jose Hernandez

I've got the marshmellows. You have any chocolate? by Jose Hernandez

Dana Smythe

Birds of a feather by Dana Smythe

Charlotte Abbott

Here, kitty by Charlotte Abbott

Andrew Duell

Chocolate... chocolate... I thought I had some here... by Andrew Duell

Adelita

Flock together... sometimes. by Adelita

Dana

Sometimes they flock apart by Dana

Jose Hernandez

I think I have the graham crackers by Jose Hernandez

Andrew Duell

What else do we need? by Andrew Duell

Daniel Nash II

It's not even a <I>real</i> police car! by Daniel Nash II

Marissa Stephenson

I'm going to be happy with wispy. by Marissa Stephenson

Jose

A library, apparently by Jose

Lita

They can't swim in a school like fish by Lita

Jethro

What's your point? by Jethro

Dana

This fish can swim in a school on its own by Dana

Charlotte

Always aim higher by Charlotte

Daniel Nash II

I've got a <i>TV prop</i> riding to my rescue! by Daniel Nash II

Jethro

What's your point? by Jethro

Daniel Nash II

I'd get a fake emergency vehicle for a real emergency! by Daniel Nash II

Lita

Your fish sure is talented. by Lita

Jethro

Would that be a problem? by Jethro

Dana

It takes after me by Dana

Daniel Nash II

Since Real Cops can't stop Dementors anyway - I guess not by Daniel Nash II

Jethro

So... everything is okay after all? by Jethro

Daniel Nash II

Yeah, I suppose by Daniel Nash II

Lita

Is that a fact? by Lita

Dana

Not as such - I can't prove it. by Dana

Marissa

Good motto. by Marissa

Charlie

I have more by Charlie

Marissa

Such as? by Marissa

Charlie

Be prepared; Think positive - I may have borrowed them. by Charlie