Re: Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Deputy Head Amelia Pierce

April 25, 2012 10:15 PM

Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) by Deputy Head Amelia Pierce

Erika Levy had gone on maternity leave at the end of last year and she and her wife now had two little ones. Amelia wasn't entirely sure if it was Erika herself who was ill, or one of the babies, but she'd called in and said she couldn't teach any of her classes today. Amelia hoped it wasn't anything serious and they would all be well again soon. Alternatively, perhaps Erika just needed a day to sleep off exhaustion, which would be entirely understandable, from what Amelia understood of caring for two infants at once.

In any case, Amelia had been asked to fill in. She had some small expertise in Defending Against the Dark Arts, not nearly as much as Professor Levy, of course, but she was qualified to teach. Since becoming Deputy Head, she'd been taking summer classes to get certified, because it hadn't felt quite right to be second in command at a school without a license to teach anything other than flying lessons. So far, she had received her DADA certification because that had been her minor in college and so she'd had a head start there. Potions would be next, and she thought she might stop there. Two core subjects was respectable, and those were the two she knew best.

She stood at the front of the room as the intermediate level students arrived. She had contemplated writing her name on the board, but by now all of the third through fifth years ought to know who she was. There was, of course, the issue of whether or not they should call her 'Professor' in this context or not, but she would cover that in the first part of her lecture.

"Good morning," she greeted, closing the classroom door as the last student slipped in exactly on time. "As you may have figured out by now, Professor Levy couldn't make it in, so I will be covering her classes for today. You may continue to call me Coach Pierce or Deputy Headmistress Pierce." Either of which she would remember to answer to; she was less certain she would do so if they started calling her Professor all of a sudden.

"Today, we will be covering counter-jinxes. Almost every jinx has a specific spell to reverse or undo the damage the jinx has done. Counter-jinxes should not be confused with anti-jinxes, which are used to interrupt a jinx before it takes effect. It's impractical to learn every specific counter-jinx to every jinx you may run up against, so we're going to learn a universal one today. Universal counter-jinxes are not quite as effective as the one tailored to the jinx, and they do not reverse all jinxes, so most aurors will know a pretty hefty number of the actual counter-jinxes as well. As intermediate level DADA students, however, today's universal should be able to get you through anything you might run across prior to RATS level courses."

"To cast this spell, give a sharp snap with your wand, like this," Amelia demonstrated a quick sideways jerk, "and use the incantation Abrogario. Since we don't want parents suing us for casting horrible hexes on our students, on each of your desks is a wooden block labelled 'Do not touch'." She assumed that this had been obeyed since she hadn't heard any surprised shouting. "If you do touch that block, a jinx will trigger. I promise, it does nothing worse than turn your hand red. Any Crotalus can tell you that this is completely non-fatal. However, most people don't like walking around red-handed, so pair up and try to cure your partner of their affliction using the universal counter-jinx."

"If you experience any problems or have any questions related to the assignment, raise your hand and I will assist you."

OOC: You guys all know the drill by now. Long, detailed, creative posts and have fun!

Subthreads:

You Caught Me Red-Handed. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren with Regina Parker, Teppenpaw, Josh McLachlan

Re: Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) by Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus with Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

This will do. by Nora Dobson, Aladren with Arthur Carey, Aladren

You caught me! by Eliza Bennett, Crotalus with Jhonice Trevear, Pecari, Eliza

I'd rather be red-handed than wearing a red badge by Paul Bennett, Crotalus with Amira Thornton, Pecari, Paul

Relieved by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

1 Deputy Head Amelia Pierce Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) 20 Deputy Head Amelia Pierce 1 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren

April 26, 2012 10:02 AM

You Caught Me Red-Handed. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren

Sonora was becoming more familiar to him as the weeks droned on. The days were too long for Josh's taste, but he was glad for the homework and classes that took up most of his time. He hadn't taken to eating much lately except for some food at dinner. He tried to avoid social occasions if at all possible, opting instead to do homework and extra credit, if there was any. The library had become his home. Though he was a fourth-year transfer, he certainly did adhere to his house's stereotypes.

Josh arrived at DADA class five minutes early. He didn't like this class as much as the others only because, being a McLachlan, he'd been exposed to dark magic most of his life. The McLachlans were notorious for their dark magic and being sneaky enough to get away with it. His uncle in Australia was, at the moment, under government watch. Uncle Inigo, the one who had taken care of him since he was eight, would eventually get off "the list" because of his "good behavior." It sort of made Josh feel sick, but that was family life.

He had unpacked his textbook, quill, ink pot, and wand, assuming that they would be doing some real work today. After all, if he needed to write any real notes, he would just write it in his book. But now he had to wait idly for class to start. His sharp grey eyes examined the room as he always did when he came early. It was a relief when the professor came in. Apparently she was the Quidditch coach, the Deputy Headmistress, and not the professor. All the better, he supposed.

The wooden block that had warned people from touching it was apparently jinxed, and Josh was glad he had followed the rules. His face darkened when he learned that they would have to touch it eventually and inflict pain on themselves just to learn this jinx. Pain Josh could take, but he would really rather not. He kept his eyes on his desk when the prof--coach told them to work with partners. He could do this on his own. Besides, the whole reason he had transferred was so he would be able to make a new start here. One without friends. He'd seen what had happened back at The New Zealand Academy of Magic when his uncle had found out he'd befriended "the wrong kind."

If the person sitting next to him desperately wanted a partner, he would acquiesce. He wouldn't go searching for a partner on his own. The inherently lonely boy stared at the block, his features sharp and unfriendly. His pale hand was resting on the desk and, on a sudden impulse to do the classwork effectively, he lifted his hand and touched the block with his fingers, bracing himself for the pain.

To his surprise, his hand only turned red as promised. It was almost a blood-red, and Josh had a sudden flashback to his past. 'I couldn't do anything,' he thought to himself firmly, leaning back in his chair to get a hold of his rampant thoughts again. He cast a glance at his desk companion, wondering if they would approach him first or if he'd perform the counter-jinx himself.

0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren You Caught Me Red-Handed. 0 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan, Aladren 0 5

Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

April 26, 2012 6:20 PM

There seems to be something going around. by Regina Parker, Teppenpaw

Reggie, upon walking into the DADA classroom, was surprised to find the Coach there instead of Professor Levy. Of course, knowing that last year the Professor had left on maternity leave only suggested to Reggie that she was probably home with a sick baby. Or, working with students, sick herself. It happened, unfortunately. But Reggie wished her or the baby a speedy recovery.

Taking a seat, Reggie found herself seated next to The Transfer. It seemed that everyone had dubbed him that. Reggie, however, had heard his name in Charms when roll had been called. He was new and, therefore, intriguing. It helped that he was also cute, but Reggie really hadn’t admitted that to anyone. Lately, she noticed there were a lot of cute boys in their school, some of which she refused to admit to being such things if only because that would complicate things. Probably. Either way, this guy was new and cute and Reggie didn’t think there was any harm in the possibility of talking and working with him.

She pulled out her parchment notes for this class and her self-inking quill (there were times when she really missed notebooks and pens) and waited for the class to being, not that it took very long. Reggie was okay with DADA. Her mother was an Auror, so she was sort of supposed to be somewhat good at this and she felt she was once she got the spells down. But she wasn’t very good with reactions and Reggie was terrified of the bad things that lurked in the dark (she still kept her crystal with her at all times), so she knew she would never do anyone any good when things came down to it. No, she had inherited all of her father’s skills with potions and none of her mother’s skills in Defense.

The lesson, thankfully, sounded easy enough and Reggie wrote it down on her parchment as Coach Pierce explained what the lesson was, what the spell was, and how to perform it. Reggie didn’t think she could fudge this up, but it might take a couple of tries to rid the hand of the red. Before she could even take her wand out though, Reggie noticed that the New Guy, Josh, had already touched the box and was waiting for her to remove the red from his hand. She didn’t know what to make of him already. Either he was really eager to start the lesson, or he didn’t care for small talk. If the latter was true, he would regret her sitting next to him.

“Abrogario.” Reggie said, having now dug out her wand and tried a sharp snap of her wand as the Coach had done. It faded a bit, making it look a bit pink. Still, she thought it was pretty good. Reggie smiled at the Transfer. “Not perfect, but nothing ever really is.” She commented by way of breaking any weird ice that was bound to be there. “I’m Regina Parker, but everyone calls me Reggie. I never got a chance to welcome you to Sonora. I hope the Aladren fellas aren’t too weird for you.” She said, only semi joking about the Aladrens. She lifted her wand again and finished the spell, allowing his hand to be free of red once more. “Only two tries, Mom would be proud. Your turn.” She chimed, touching the box and turning her own hand red.

6 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw There seems to be something going around. 187 Regina Parker, Teppenpaw 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 26, 2012 8:14 PM

It's the Contagion. by Josh McLachlan

Josh had to blink twice when he made eye contact with the girl. She had eyes just like her. Dark hair, dark eyes. But her voice wasn't the same, obviously, and Josh looked down at his now-pink hand. Dark thoughts filled his head briefly as he watched Reggie make the red disappear completely. They were expelled when he lifted his eyes to meet hers again. "Joshua McLachlan," he introduced himself somewhat forcefully, his accent heavily Scottish and tinged with Australian. He was surprised that he was so affected just by a gaze. He knew why, but he didn't want to say it. It would bring more unwanted thoughts of her and he didn't want that right now in public.

He was surprised by Reggie's friendly greeting as well. He had expected his peers to be wary of him like his roommates were because he was disturbing their social structure. Apparently that wasn't true with all students.

Reggie was very forward, outgoing. She would make it easier for him not to speak and just do whatever she said. He was a good listener. He didn't try to continue the conversation, but focused on the task at hand. He was excellent in spells and well-versed in anti-jinxes and the like. It had been especially necessary when he had lived briefly in England with the relatives that were more infamous than his uncle for dark arts. Very necessary, actually. The reason why he disliked DADA, or liked it less than his other classes, was mainly because it brought bad memories. As well as Josh could compartmentalize his mind, he was still working on perfecting the trait. As of now, the memories he tried to suppress seemed to come back to the surface just to be suppressed again in Defense.

Josh readied his wand, allowed his mind to clear in order to focus completely on Reggie's red palm and the spell in his head. No more memories. He had to focus on the present. His keen eyes had caught the coach's movements to the very snap. He wasn't observant for nothing. “Abrogario." His red oak wand snapped just the way the coach's had and Reggie's palm lightened to normal. Satisfied, he leaned back and tried not to meet her eyes. The wound in his chest was still too fresh for any remembrance of her. Instead, he kept his eyes on the block.

Josh didn't know what to do now. He didn't want to look at the girl next to him, but he knew that he was done with the spell. Well, there was no harm in trying it again. After all, Reggie could work on getting it done in one try instead of two. Helping other people succeed, especially in academics, wasn't exactly the lonely boy's forté, but he had nothing better to do now except homework. So he brushed his hand against the block once more and held it out, red palm up. "Try it again."

0 Josh McLachlan It's the Contagion. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Reggie

April 26, 2012 10:35 PM

Everyone get your masks! by Reggie

“It’s a pleasure to meet you Joshua McLachlan.” Reggie said, still wearing her ever bright smile that rarely ever seemed to leave her face. There were very small moments in her life where Reggie was ever angry or sad or any other emotion that may make her not smile. Small moments, but they did happen. Lately, they happened because of her father and her mother’s family. The idea that she carried a gift that was precious to her mother’s family was a bit of an annoyance. Reggie did not want to gift of ‘Seeing’, especially if it meant that people with whom had never wanted to know her before suddenly had an interest in her. It was revolting.

At Sonora though, Reggie was usually always smiling or laughing or chatting. She had a handful of really close good friends and an abundance of friendly acquaintances, there was no real reason for her to be sour here at school. Plus, she had her new movie project to keep her busy and as soon as she got some of her friends involved, she was bound to have a brilliant year filming and editing and just goofing around. Between classes, of course.

Still her smile remained when he went silent on her. He was a strange one. Perhaps Reggie had been spending too much time with Derry. He could talk just as much as she without either of them becoming winded. Reggie wasn’t used to boys who didn’t say much at all. What fun was that? How was she supposed to get to know him if he wasn’t going to talk with her? What a silly fellow. He was new here, wouldn’t he want to get to know people? Mingle a little? Or was he an uppity? Their class didn’t have anyone who was really ‘uppity’. The fourth years had lucked out on that (minus Preston Stratford as Reggie was sure he’d snub her if she was ever inclined to look his way), but there were plenty of uppities in the other years.

“Oh, first try!” Reggie exclaimed, happily as she watched her hand return to its original color. “Very good with your wand, I see. I’m far better at Potions than anything, to be honest.” She told him as she watched him touch the block once more. Lifting her wand, Reggie tried the spell once more and was rewarded with his hand becoming normal again. “Ha!” She said with glee. She relished her glory for a moment before returning her attention to him. “You have an odd accent.” She commented. Reggie was from Nebraska which literally had no accent whatsoever. She sometimes was jealous about those who had one. “Do you mind my asking where you are from? I’m awful at trying to figure them out.”

6 Reggie Everyone get your masks! 187 Reggie 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 27, 2012 12:03 PM

I'd better isolate myself.. by Josh McLachlan

Reggie was a fellow potions lover, it seemed. "That's something we have in common, then," Josh replied. "Potions is my favorite subject." Perhaps now Transfiguration could be added to the list because it was so challenging, but he most certainly loved potions most. He had more control over his potions than spells and it was all logical. He knew what ingredients went together, what had to be kept away from each other in order to work. Of course, he still had to study more in order to understand it completely. As a Potions Master, he'd need to fully understand his ingredients and their different uses.

The way Reggie spoke was reminiscent of his first meeting with the Girl. He couldn't bear to even think her name. Your accent's unique! Where's it from? Scotland?! I've always wanted to go there! She was a muggle-born so she didn't know any better. Even so, she hadn't cared that his family was deeply involved in dark magic. She hadn't cared about his irritatingly unhappy past. She had been his friend because she wanted to be and hadn't offered him the pity that he so loathed.

Now Reggie was here acting in a similar fashion and Josh was feeling slightly dizzy with memories. He hated this feeling to the core. It made him feel weak and vulnerable, two things he couldn't stand in himself. He sort of snapped when she called his accent odd. He had to be antisocial not for his own sake, but for the sake of others. That was the difference between first-year and now. He knew better.

And anyhow, if Reggie had to ask where he was from after hearing his family name, then she certainly couldn't be a pureblood. Or she lived under a rock. McLachlans were known in America and Europe and abroad for their dark magic, and he could tell she was American from her accent. His ancestry had played some part in his reason for transferring.

"Scotland," he said, trying to keep himself under control. He had to swallow thickly to keep from saying horrible things. Reggie probably wouldn't want to be his friend if he clammed up. The more boring or irritated he seemed, the less interested she would be. She'd go to her other friends and he could be left alone once again. His wand and his books were his closest possessions now. Really the only things that mattered. Besides, of course, his worn leather wallet-sized photo album.

He pulled out one of his textbooks now since it seemed like they were finished and was going to get started on his Transfiguration homework. Might as well get ahead when he had nothing else to do. Besides, there were still things he didn't understand completely that he was going to make himself understand even if they weren't studying it yet.

0 Josh McLachlan I'd better isolate myself.. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus

April 28, 2012 2:58 AM

Re: Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) by Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus

Defense, Ryan was coming to realize, was a very important thing for him to know. Especially given his current situation. Now that Carrie was in school and learning magic, she'd probably pick up some hexes to use against the fifth year-and aside from his own room, there was no place Ryan could hide from her. She wouldn't likely go outside to the gardens or in the library, but those were places that triggered his allergies, now that there was cat in the latter.

Cats made him almost as miserable as Carrie did or his mother had. They made him sneeze and his eyes itch even worse than stuff outside did. Ryan was so allergic to them that he couldn't even function around one. In a way, he was actually glad his sister was an animal hater. Otherwise, Carrie would probably insist on getting a kitten. Not that their father would ever let her have one, but their mother would have insisted upon it, had she not hated animals too.

That did not, however, mean that his sister would not try to curse him somehow. Of course, it wasn't as if his mother had ever harmed him physically or magically. What she'd done to him had been far more damaging. Physical pain and most hexes were temporary, there were counter curses, like they were supposed to be learning in this class. The way his mother had treated him had had a lasting effect on the fifth year.

The thing about Defense though, was that Ryan was not that good at it. He could perform the spells all right but he didn't do so well when things were being thrown at him. He wasn't exactly the most athletic guy ever. Which sucked, because Ryan thought girls would like him more if he was. Sophie had told him to be himself, but he still didn't think that was very impressive.

Still, the Crotalus really wanted a girlfriend. When Ryan wasn't worrying about the different ways his sister might terrorize him, he was still thinking about girls way too much. First of all, he was a teenage boy with...teenage boy desires. Come to think of it, Carrie being in the same house as him might have been the universe's way of punishing him for said desires. For not being able to control himself sometimes.

Secondly, well, Ryan needed someone who cared about him in that way. He needed to be liked, even loved. Had this desperate need to have someone think he was a wonderful person. Even though his self-esteem was such that he didn't think that was possible.

He turned his thoughts away from this topic and forced himself to focus. Thinking about those things just made him feel depressed and guilty and Ryan needed to do as well as he possibly could in his classes, so nobody would get mad at him. He even worried about disappointing his father and having him turn against him as well. The fifth year had been taught over and over again that he was not good enough.

Apparently, Coach Pierce was going to be teaching them today. This did not thrill Ryan. He was pretty much convinced the woman hated him for being bad at flying. Not to mention that he'd heard she'd had some trouble with Carrie as well, and he was kind of worried that Coach Pierce would hold that against him too. Even though Ryan was about as far from being like Carrie as one could get.

He sighed with relief upon hearing the assignment. At least it was less...physically demanding than Professor Levy's lessons were. That boded well for Ryan. Plus he didn't have to worry about Valerie getting hurt or sick either. Not that he minded watching out for his cousin. It made the Crotalus feel useful and needed. Though he supposed she didn't need him now that her own sister was around.

Ryan turned to the person next to him "Will you work with me on this please?" He'd have worried about a refusal but that had never happened once since he'd been at Sonora. Unless Carrie had managed to turn people against him already, it was likely that his neighbor would accept.

11 Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus Re: Intermediate DADA Lesson (3rd-5th) 176 Ryan O'Malley, Crotalus 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

April 28, 2012 9:09 PM

Better than a red nose I suppose by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Kitty gave the Coach a curious look when she saw her in the front of the class room instead of Professor Levy. Huh, I didn’t even know she was a Professor Kitty thought. Then again, she was second in command, didn’t you have to be a teacher at some point to be Vise Principal? Kitty hoped that Professor Levy and the babies were okay, she was one of her favorite teachers and Kitty would hate for anything bad to happen to her. In fact, Kitty was considering becoming an Auror after learning that her Professor had been one, and she always listened with rapt attention when the woman told them about her prior profession.

After taking her seat the tiny energetic girl literally had to sit on her hands so that she didn’t touch the block with a sign stating clearly not to touch it. Bright blue eyes stared longingly at the block as her fingers started to go numb. She felt like a three year old who’d been told not to touch the candle flame. There was just something about being told not to do something that gave her the irresistible urge to do it anyway, just to see for herself that yes, the fire is hot. It was a struggle, but Kitty managed to keep from giving in to the need to touch and focused her attention on the Coach/Deputy Headmistress turned Professor.

A general counter-curse sounded like a very useful thing to learn. Kitty grinned as she flexed her fingers to get the blood running though them again so that she could take notes now that the mystery of the block had been solved. “Sure!” Kitty chirped happily as she reached out and touched the block, a laugh bubbled on her bow shaped lips as her hand turned a bright red.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren Better than a red nose I suppose 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Reggie

April 28, 2012 11:55 PM

You've done a good job of that already. by Reggie

“Is it?” Reggie asked, rhetorically. She didn’t find very many people who enjoyed potions the way that she did, but it was a nice change for once. Most people seemed to either enjoy Defense Against the Dark Arts because it dealt with spells and counter spells and attacking people and dark things, or Charms because of its every day uses. A potion was very strict with what was needed and if one did not like to follow the rules, they were bound to destroy the potion before it had even begun to boil. “My father is a Potions Master.” Reggie commented. “I grew up helping him make them for the hospital, so I just picked it up pretty quickly. It’s something that we do together.” Or did, anyway. Before her father decided to start dating again and didn’t care to spend time with her anymore.

But she was not going to dwell on such things while at Sonora. No. She had promised herself this.

“I probably should be decent at Defense too…” Reggie said after some thought. “My mother is an Auror, so you’d think I’d be somewhat decent at it, but I’m rubbish on my feet.” She didn’t really have to explain herself to him, but Reggie was not ashamed of having flaws. She was who she was and if she couldn’t love herself as she was, she certainly couldn’t expect someone else to as well.

“Scotland?” Reggie repeated, her eyes giving him a once over as though she were taking him in for the first time. She had always assumed people from Scotland were redheads… or maybe that was Ireland? They seemed too similar to her to be different. Of course, she didn’t know much about Europe, so she was probably stereotyping in the worst possible way. “I’ve never been there, but it’s a fun accent to hear.” She told him in a semi-complimentary sort of way.

When Joshua decided to be finished with the lesson instead of continuing practicing with her, Reggie frowned at him. He was new here and it was apparent that he didn’t care to know her or her classmates. If he was going to be a jerk about things, Reggie would have gone off and sat with Derry or Maddie or Josephine. She would not have bothered wasting her time with a guy who wasn’t going to put in the effort to know his peers. That was extremely rude and ill-mannered. Had Reggie not been in Defense, she probably would have called him out on his behavior. She was being polite and trying to be friendly, the least he could do was make an effort back for the short amount of time this lesson was going to take them.

Giving him a glare, Reggie put her wand away and pulled out her notebook. If he wanted to do whatever it was he was doing instead of working with her, fine, she could spend the rest of the lesson working on her own project. She still had a lot to go on the script anyway and she could prove to Coach Pierce that she had tried to put in the work for the lesson but her partner didn’t care to work with her. Twirling her pen, Reggie sat in silence, angry over the rude attitude of the new kid, but also trying to work out the characters for her movie.

Still irritated by his behavior though, Reggie couldn’t stand it any longer and slammed her pen down and turned to him, “You know, Joshua from Scotland, the polite thing to do is at least pretend you are interested in the people around you.” She told him, her voice hard and her hazel eyes dark with anger. “I don’t know how people act where you are from, but here, in this school, people like to use a thing called manners. If you didn’t want to bother talking, just say it so I don’t waste my time, but you don’t have to act like I’m beneath you and ignore me completely.” She was really annoyed and it was rare for her to ever get to this moment, but she felt she was being treated like she was nothing and that was not something she could just let go.

6 Reggie You've done a good job of that already. 187 Reggie 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 29, 2012 3:07 AM

Self-preservation at its best, I say. by Josh McLachlan

Josh was past the jealousy he had once felt when people talked about their parents. He knew enough about his father, but he was never sure if it was true or false. All Josh really focused on was his own ambitions, and, if Reggie’s father was indeed a Potions Master, he wanted to be someone like him. He couldn’t remember there ever being an Auror in his family, but then again, very few McLachlans worked for the government. That required background checks that would always end sourly. It sounded like Reggie was from a well-rounded family, or at least from one that knew what they liked to do. Josh didn’t feel glad knowing that Reggie was from a totally magical family, nor did he feel any interest in learning that Reggie’s father was a Potions Master. He hardly felt anything nowadays, and nobody gave him anything different to feel. He would rather be alone than have people pretend to be interested in his life and pretend to be interested in becoming his friend. Or worse, have people really be interested in learning about his life for their own gain. He’d met plenty of those people in Australia.

It was a relief that Reggie had decided to work on her own as well. From what he could see from his peripheral, she was annoyed. Not exactly what he had been going for, but inevitable and foreseeable. Josh didn’t know how to act like a proper boy, honestly, having been left on his own terms for most of his life. He’d been taught how to act like a proper, mannered, fake pureblood when he’d lived with his grandmother, and Josh had hated every minute of it. So he had decided to do away with it altogether once he started school. But right now he was thinking too much to really concentrate on his homework, and he began to clear his mind.

Josh was startled when Reggie slammed down her pen and he was sure it showed in his eyes when he turned to look at her. His eyes widened when she confronted him about his behavior, heart thudding in unease. He didn’t know how to act in confrontation. No one had ever confronted him about him being rude since he was seven. He was surprised especially that Reggie was doing this in the middle of class as well, but it was warranted.

After she had finished her rant, irritated with him still, he had to blink a couple of times to get his bearings back, blank face replaced by a startled one. “I—I just don't usually talk.” He could feel himself coming back together, and his eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t think you’re beneath me at all, and I most certainly have manners, but I’d rather not go through life pretending to be someone I’m not with everyone I meet.”

Honesty was what he believed in, and what he lacked in tact he made up for in passion. Silent passion, of course. “Just because I’m not making eye-contact with you doesn’t mean I’m not listening or uninterested," he continued carefully. "I have a different way of showing it, that’s all.” That was as personal as he’d gotten so far here at Sonora, and that was saying something. If Cec—Reggie had any idea, she’d probably be more annoyed with him. Still, it gave him a quiet, irrational pleasure, feeling like a child who had received attention from his parents for the first time.

The emotion was a familiar one, and he had to make sure to moderate it. Or at least moderate his interaction with Reggie from now on. He met her eyes again. “Go on, then. Let’s have a conversation. I’ll try to make up for my ‘ill-mannered’ ways.” Okay, he was being slightly sarcastic now and it was strange being this “open” with a stranger. This interaction made Josh feel strange, as if he had just been released from a fog of nothingness and left vulnerable. He waited for Reggie to say something, to accept him or reject him, and he knew he would have to be content with either. He swallowed, suddenly slightly nervous of being rejected by someone like her though he had seemingly been rejecting her. If she did reject a conversation with him now, he couldn't blame her in the least.

0 Josh McLachlan Self-preservation at its best, I say. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Nora Dobson, Aladren

April 29, 2012 7:15 AM

This will do. by Nora Dobson, Aladren

Nora's summer had been fairly interesting with the usual events and weddings and whatnot. Her cousin Kaylie was pregnant and Autumn had been hospitalized. The latter was rather a source of curiosity for the Aladren. She didn't quite understand why someone would stop eating like that and had spent many hours pouring over books on the topic.

In secret, of course. Nora's mother did not really approve of her interests in what others saw to be ugly parts of their family. She said it was insensitive but the third year just needed to know the why of things. Nora was an Aladren with a thirst for knowledge. Her mother lacked the same curiosity and thus, she did not understand.

More relevant to herself, perhaps than Autumn's illness-it was an illness,even if it wasn't physical like Aunt Harmony's-was that Nora had gotten betrothed . This was a milestone in a young pureblood girl's life and the third year was pretty sure that she was the first person in her class to be so, though she wasn't so sure that betrothals would be a part of the lives of many of her year mates. Nora was betrothed before a lot of older girls too, including Nina, Hope and Autumn. Nora hoped that Autumn didn't take it too hard. The Aladren didn't really want to cause the sixth year getting sick again.

Still, she didn't really think it was that big of a deal, the way some girls did. However, Nora was glad to have Nye Brownbriar as her betrothed. He seemed intelligent, a Ravenclaw over at Hogwarts. Perfectly acceptable and he thought she was too. They wouldn't be like her grandparents. Her grandfather had pretty much drove Grandmother insane. Nora might not have been very mushy sentimental sort of girl, like Hope or Kaylie kind of were, but nobody with any sense wanted to end up like her grandmother had.

Now, however, was not the time to think about betrothals or get all giggly over them. Not that Nora ever really got giggly. There was a class at hand right now. She frowned slightly over the absence of Professor Levy. Was the school Quidditch Coach really qualified to be teaching Defense? Hadn't a person been hired for substituting classes when someone couldn't make it anyway?

She felt a little bit better about the whole thing, though, when Coach Pierce began to give the lesson and actually seemed to know what she was talking about. This was Nora's education and competent professors were important. Though, truth be told, it wasn't the defense aspect that the Aladren was interested in, important as it was to be trained in such things, especially while her grandfather was still alive. Nor was it even the Dark Arts that Nora was curious about. Rather she would prefer to learn more about the sort of people who practiced them.

That, however, was not really the point of the class. Honestly, the Aladren wished there was a class like that at Sonora. She craved intellectual stimulation. Maybe though at least philosophical and ethical discussions would come later, when Nora was in advanced classes. After they learned basics. Maybe then classes such as this would get less physical and more cerebral.

Right now, however, she had to do this particular lesson. Nora doubted that would really be a problem. She turned to the person next to her and asked. "Would you like to work together?"

11 Nora Dobson, Aladren This will do. 197 Nora Dobson, Aladren 0 5

Reggie

April 29, 2012 7:35 PM

It's definitely a selfish act on your part. by Reggie

The look on his face was clear that he hadn’t expected her to react to him like this. Good. Of course, she wouldn’t admit to anyone that she had not planned on reacting to him this way either. She wanted him to feel guilty for his behavior. He ought to feel guilty for his behavior. She had been trying to be nice and get to know him. If he had been a decent person back, making the effort with her, Reggie would have introduced him to her friends, offered a seat to him at meal times so that he didn’t eat alone, or any number of things she would do if she had wanted to be friends with him.

Reggie didn’t have to do that. She had wanted to. Reggie enjoyed getting to know people. She liked being around people. So, she had gone out on a limb to try to get to know the Transfer and he didn’t even try to reach back. He hardly even looked at her. His excuse for his behavior too had Reggie restraining herself from rolling her eyes. So he wasn’t a talker, Reggie knew plenty of those, but none of them just pulled out homework and started working on it in the middle of a conversation unless they were working on it together.

“I didn’t ask for eye contact, but when we’re in the middle of a lesson and you just decide to quit and pull out work to do that is essentially ending the conversation. And, to be honest, you weren’t really trying all that hard to begin with.” Reggie explained, her voice still heated. She could feel her cheeks burning and knew she was flushed from anger. “I’m sorry that you are apparently so into your issues that you think having a conversation with someone means to have to pretend to be someone else. No one has asked you to be someone you aren’t. I simply asked for you to pretend to pay attention. Big difference there, Joshua.”

If Reggie was a cursing girl, she would have told him to screw himself in a not so pleasant way. He didn’t deserve her friendship now, especially after mocking her. This time she did roll her eyes and with it came a sour laugh that she had never heard from her before. “I regret taking a seat next to you. I have never met anyone as audacious as you and I am sorry for thinking that I could extent a hand of friendship to you. My mistake.” She exclaimed in a low voice. Her dad had told her once that she often had her mother’s angry voice. It was the sort that went low and cold and he knew to run in the opposite direction. Reggie had never heard it before.

“Your behavior and attitude is unwarranted. Welcome to Sonora, Joshua McLachlan.” Reggie stated in an angry huff.

6 Reggie It's definitely a selfish act on your part. 187 Reggie 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 29, 2012 9:56 PM

In your opinion. by Josh McLachlan

If he had been somewhat pleased at the attention Parker was giving him in the beginning, he was getting more annoyed now. Of course, he didn't exactly have any reason to be annoyed at her in particular, she not knowing his situation, but he was annoyed and frustrated with his entire situation. His entire life. But she wouldn't know or understand. It wasn't like she was trying to understand him now. What she saw on the surface was what she was lashing out at, and perhaps she was right. But Josh had too much pride to not lash back at her, and his eyes narrowed.

"Didn't you just say that I should at least pretend to be interested in what you were saying? I don't 'pretend.' Pretending means not acting in your inherent nature, putting on a guise, and I don't enjoy pretending to be interested in other people when I'm not. Besides, we were finished with the lesson. You and I both know now that we can perform the spell in one go. Isn't that what the whole lesson was about? It's not quitting, it's knowing when we're finished."

He met Parker's furious gaze head-on. "And you're right. I have loads of issues, but it's not your place to judge how focused I should or shouldn't be on them, seeing as you don't know me at all. And I don't need you to get to know my issues and pretend to sympathize when them when you really wouldn't understand. I don't believe in pretending in order to accommodate another's view of what 'polite conversation' is." His expression darkened. "I'm sure you wanted to try and welcome me as the friendly person you are, but you're wasting you time."

If only Reggie knew just how warranted his behavior was in the bigger picture. His smirk was mirthless. "You wouldn't be the first to regret sitting next to me. It's completely understandable that you shouldn't speak to me anymore. Don't I deserve that? After all," he continued, his voice lowered slightly, "no one said friendships were easy to come by, though it may be different for you. I bet you have loads of real happy friends in your happy life.

"I don't apologize for my behavior, Miss Parker, but I am sorry that you wasted your time on me. I'm glad you realize that I'm not the kind of boy you should attempt to be friends with. If we weren't in the middle of class, I'm sure you'd have better people to sit next to." The words were bitter in his mouth. Just nine months ago he'd had friends of his own.

There were still a lot of emotions swirling around in his chest, threatening to choke him, and Josh had to sit still for a moment, listening to his heart thud from the exertion. His sharp gaze was still locked onto Reggie's. He had too much pride to really apologize; after all, he had done nothing wrong. He was a rude and blunt character here purely for educational purposes. After tasting friendship and seeing how awful it could end and what vulnerability it brought with it, he couldn't bear to let himself be hurt once again. He didn't want to be hurt and didn't want others to be put in danger of the McLachlan clan. Friends were vulnerable spots and the fewer he had, the less vulnerable he was. Sometimes, when dealing with people like Reggie, his burden became very hard to bear.

Josh came back down to earth and broke his gaze from Reggie's form and stared at his clasped hands on his desk. They were trembling from the emotions he was trying very hard to contain. It was so difficult, but Josh couldn't bear to pity himself. He didn't want to wallow in his own regrets and family life. However, in turning his body towards Reggie in his rebuttal and sitting straight back in his chair again to gather his wits, his leather wallet-sized photo album had fallen out of his open trouser pocket, unnoticed by its owner.

The wallet was open to the unspeakable photograph of a young girl their age with dark brown hair, dark eyes, olive skin, and a heart-shaped face. She was athletic, dark hair cut to her shoulders. It was only a head-shot of her laughing, trying to place her hand over the camera and then moving her hand as she beamed at the photographer. The other photographs the album held was a ratty photo of his American mother and a cleaner one of his Scottish father. Both looked young in their separate photos with dangerous glints in their eyes. They were a good-looking couple, but Josh had no idea what their personalities had been like. Though he'd heard several stories about his father's great magic from his relatives, no one ever spoke personally of him, and no one ever uttered a kind word about his mother.

0 Josh McLachlan In your opinion. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Arthur Carey, Aladren

April 29, 2012 10:34 PM

I suppose so by Arthur Carey, Aladren

Seeing the Quidditch coach where the Defense professor usually was made Arthur stop for a moment, tilting his head slightly as he studied this phenomenon, but he prided himself on never thinking that he couldn’t believe his eyes, so he shrugged very slightly and then went to get a seat. It was not really his concern, and an answer to why it was happening was likely to be forthcoming. Perhaps she was looking for Arnold or David, though he couldn’t imagine what would be so urgent that she would come here instead of writing them. It was just a game.

Of course, he didn’t know that it wouldn’t happen, sometime, somehow, but for today, there was no evidence that he was wrong: Coach Pierce was going to be the substitute, as Professor Levy was not here. Should he call her Deputy Headmistress, if they had to speak, while she was here? Hopefully, it just wouldn’t be something that he had to worry about. He had developed the habit of answering his questions in the library instead of asking the professors, when he could. He preferred to seem to just know everything, when he could; admitting it when he didn’t was uncomfortable. He felt as though whomever he admitted it to was going to think less of him afterward, even if it happened to be Arnold, though it wasn’t nearly so bad with Arnold as with other people.

Or Jane, but that was a different thing altogether. With Jane, it was just understood that she knew more than he did. They both knew this, there was no point in trying to pretend otherwise; he did not like it, but he thought that her looking at him if he tried to bluff would be far more humiliating than admitting to his deficiencies.

He carefully mouthed the spell after Coach Pierce said it, writing it down, too; this was something that sounded very useful, particularly with things getting who knew how tense with all the badges floating around and now…girls and things getting involved and there being a not-entirely-friendly new person around – he was sitting with Miss Parker, Arthur noticed; would the Teppenpaw alliance take him in? Miss Owen had been sitting with them at the Opening Feast, so perhaps they were seeking to expand their network – and just in general, just to know. He had more of a problem, though, with deliberately jinxing himself, no matter how mild the result was supposed to be, and with touching something clearly marked ‘do not touch.’

It’s research, he told himself firmly. If he continued in what he was doing, he was going to have to end up testing things on himself sooner or later, so it was good to practice. Small steps before he poisoned himself or anything like that. And it was ridiculous to be disturbed by the sign when he had been directed to ignore it. He looked up with a vague smile when Miss Dobson, of whom he approved, asked to work with him. “Certainly,” he said, and touched the box quickly, before he could over-think it again, taking it as granted that he would have to do it before a girl did.

He grimaced slightly, then took his hand away. It did indeed look red. “My brother always did say I would have been Crotalus if there was no Aladren,” he remarked, examining his fingers. It almost certainly, he thought, wasn’t in any way related to the Sorting potion, even though they both turned things colors; the Color-Changing Charm wasn’t this, either. They’d work, he thought, completely differently on the same things.

0 Arthur Carey, Aladren I suppose so 0 Arthur Carey, Aladren 0 5

Reggie

April 29, 2012 10:47 PM

It's what matters at the moment. by Reggie

This guy was unbelievable. Being polite to another person by feigning interest because it was clear that they wanted to have a nice conversation while working on a lesson together was not the same as pretending to be someone else. Pretending to be someone else was making oneself greedily happy when, in reality, they were angry and hateful of the world. Pretending to be someone else, would be saying you’re a Pureblood from a Proper family when really you were just a Muggleborn from a poor family. Listening to someone talk as though one cared was not putting on a guise as he stated. It was being human. It was being normal.

On top of that, he really just insulted her. He was such a jerk that Reggie couldn’t stand it! “You really are unbelievable.” She stated, the disbelief clear on her open face. She had never been treated so poorly by anyone. Ever. Reggie didn’t live necessarily a difficult life, but it wasn’t an easy one either. Her mother was gone 11 and a half months of the year and could be killed at any given moment. Reggie’s relationship with her was strained and basically non-existent, but she reminded herself often that she was still alive. Her father and her had a decent relationship but he now chose his girlfriend over her and Reggie hardly saw him over the summer. On top of that, she recently found out she had a special gift that was apparently so special that the people who disowned her mother before she was born suddenly decided they wanted her in their lives again. The only thing she had now was her friends, they were what kept her smiling and he was threatening to take that from her.

“I wasn’t finished with the lesson, just so you know. Just because I could get it on the first try once, does not mean that I could do that twice in a row. I’m good with potions, but I take my time with wand work. Had you bothered to get to know me on at least that basic of a level, you would have learned that and been at least a decent partner despite your lack of being a decent human being.”

What he was saying made absolutely no sense to her. She wasn’t judging him on how he handled his own damn issues, she was judging him on how he treated others. He really was socially inept and didn’t care to listen to anything someone else told him. “You really don’t listen do you?” Reggie said, never had she been so angry, not even at her father for lying to her for so long. “When did I say I wanted to know your issues? No one in their right mind would sit here and listen to your verbal abuse, when you feel so inclined to actually give them the time of day to talk with them. I said you had issues if you think pretending to be someone else is the only way to make polite conversation. Everything else is clearly just in your head.”

Reggie stuffed her notebook back into her bag, along with her wand and quill. “Actually, I do have really good, close, happy friends and do you want to know why that is?” Reggie looked at him, speaking to him as if he were a small child, “It’s because they know how to communicate properly with other beings without having to fake it with me. They laugh with me, they listen to me and I listen to them, we have fun together and we don’t get bogged down by everything else.” Reggie glanced at the wallet, saw the photo and then looked back up at him with contempt, “If you hate people so much, maybe you should have just been home schooled. No one cares for your kind here. People try here. They want to try. They want to help. And they like people. You, you will get nowhere in life with how you are right here and right now.” Reggie had never been rude in her life. Not ever. Her parents would probably die of a heart attack had they witnessed such a confrontation she just had. Usually things just rolled off her back, but this guy was beyond her. She emotional state, already on overload thanks to her gift, well, for being a growing girl, couldn’t handle him. Grabbing her bag, Reggie left the table, she would tell the Coach what happened if she asked about the seating change, but she couldn’t sit with him anymore. Finding another empty seat, Reggie grabbed it and returned to the assignment at hand.

6 Reggie It's what matters at the moment. 187 Reggie 0 5

Eliza Bennett, Crotalus

April 29, 2012 10:58 PM

You caught me! by Eliza Bennett, Crotalus

It was, Eliza thought as she walked down the hall, no easy thing to always be perfectly composed for the occasion without anyone ever seeing her go to that effort except maybe Jordan. Her hair had been down around her shoulders all morning, but it was in a high ponytail which swung jauntily as she sailed into the Defense classroom –

– And promptly stopped short, blinking, at the sight of her Head of House standing where Professor Levy normally was. She frowned slightly, too, before she caught herself and smoothed her expression back out to a smile. Of all the adults she could have chosen to have here, her Head of House was one of the last ones on the list, because her Head of House was on the side of – Eliza honestly couldn’t think of her as anything anymore, her blood pressure just went up at the faintest hint of it. So her Head of House was on the side of high blood pressure. But that didn’t mean Eliza had to be an idiot and let her know at every opportunity that Eliza knew she was the enemy.

Would, she wondered, have things have been different if she had just reported the initial incident, all those years ago? Well, of course – so the question was, would it have been better? It was way too late for that now, but – ah, there was no chance a disowned person would have sided with her against the likes of….

Eliza bit down hard on the inside of her mouth, then sat down, crossing her right knee over her left and waited for the lesson, which came, she had to admit, in a reasonable amount of time and in a reasonable way. Coach Pierce was not, it seemed, a bad teacher, but she saw that as a good thing. Eliza did try to remind herself that she didn’t have anything personal against Coach Pierce, just an awareness that any attempt to interact with her would lead to having something against her. Eliza laughed at the joke about how Crotali knew that turning red was not fatal, and when they were set to work, she reached out and touched the box without hesitation or worry.

Her hand turned red, and she was smiling as she looked at the person beside her. “It looks like I’m caught,” she said lightly. “Think you could help me out?”

0 Eliza Bennett, Crotalus You caught me! 174 Eliza Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Josh McLachlan

April 29, 2012 11:00 PM

Re: It's what matters at the moment. by Josh McLachlan

Mission accomplished. She was gone from his table and Josh had to be fine with that. Of course, she had weaseled her way through his barriers by getting him all riled up, and in discovering that, was furious. Watching her leave him without deciding that he was worth any more than that hurt. It wasn't supposed to keep hurting. He'd been left by hundreds of people before, but her comment about being homeschooled hit way too close to home. It wasn't that he hated people, it was that he cared too much and he couldn't get that across. He was the most socially awkward person in the world.

Great. Alone again. Josh saw her glance down and, in following her glance, noticed his album lying on the floor, and he swiped it up immediately, furious at her for looking at it. It was gone the instant she left his table. He really was that awful to be near and he knew it. She had no idea how much he craved friendships, intimacy, good conversations that didn't end up in desertion. He wasn't wanted by his own family, his friends, and it wasn't even his fault.

The unfairness of it all was going to overwhelm him someday. As of now, he'd start patching up his broken self, pretending that Reggie's words hadn't affected him, and move on. He opened up his textbook again, forcing himself to focus on something he could control.

0 Josh McLachlan Re: It's what matters at the moment. 0 Josh McLachlan 0 5

Jhonice Trevear, Pecari

April 30, 2012 8:55 PM

Ah-ha! by Jhonice Trevear, Pecari

Jhonice swept into the Defense room in a rush. She had been hearing rumors all day, Professor Levy was out and Matriarch Pierce was filling in! This was going to be a great class! Her face broke out in a huge smile as when she saw the Deputy Headmistress standing in the front of the room. She quickly found a seat without paying to much attention who was around. Her attention was drawn to a wooden block in front of her clearly labeled 'Do Not Touch'.

While the other students filed in, she naturally touched it. The Coach had left it there just for her, it would have been rude to ignore it. She watched with mild surprise as her hand turned red. That was cool! It was kinda like the sorting potion, Matriarch Pierce was great at changing peoples' colors. Then the Coach began speaking, and Jhonice began scribbling notes. Some of those notes were even about the class.

She turned to Eliza and returned the girl's smile. "I think I may be able to help you out there thanks to Coach Pierce." She looked over the notes she had taken, then held her wand in her red hand. "Isn't it great that she is here to teach us today? Abrogario!" She flicked her wand just as had been demonstrated, and Eliza's hand slowly faded back to its normal coloring. Putting down her wand she held out her own red hand, "Okay, your turn!"

2 Jhonice Trevear, Pecari Ah-ha! 209 Jhonice Trevear, Pecari 0 5

Ryan

May 01, 2012 4:22 AM

Yes, those are horrible. by Ryan

Apparently, the person that Ryan had asked to be partners with was a third year Aladren named Kitty McLevy. Ryan didn't know much about her other than she was sharing a room with Nora, who was a distant cousin of his, and Sally who was...well, he really wasn't sure how to classify his relation to her. Her aunt was married to his uncle, which meant that they were not cousins themselves, but Uncle Seth and Aunt Lilac's baby would be a cousin to both of them

Complicating matters further was the fact that Sally's mom had been supposedly seeing Ryan's dad ever since Uncle Seth and Aunt Lilac's wedding. Not to mention Sally's cousin Martin being betrothed to Tawny. It made the fifth year's head hurt. Maybe his mother and Carrie were right and he was mentally handicapped after all.

Still, compared to trying to figure all that out, the Defense lesson didn't seem so hard. Not that it really had in the first place. Transfiguration might have been Ryan's best, but he could still manage the wand work in Charms and DADA. It was just that in the latter he wasn't so good at the lessons where hexes were being fired at him and he had to react quickly, the ones where they were more physical.

Kitty, Ryan noted, seemed awfully excited about touching the block and having her hands turn red. Oh, the fifth year didn't think that was a bad thing or that having his hands turned red was all that bad either. After all, he was a Crotalus and turned red all over. Ryan hadn't minded a bit though quite frankly, lately he wished it had been yellow instead. Then he'd have never had to worry about all that he did now.

Well, the fifth year supposed he wouldn't be able to go to most other places in the school, because Carrie still had access to them, outside was still full of pollen and the library still had a cat. Actually, he thought some of the other Crotali students might have had cats as well. Had he been in Teppenpaw (or Aladren or Pecari for that matter) though, Ryan could have at least felt safe to be in his own common room. Unless, of course, students in other houses had cats as well.

Maybe he should really see the medic about the whole thing and get something for his allergies. Hopefully something that wouldn't make Ryan sleepy and rather out of it. He hated to complain, hated to have anyone know his problems beyond his uncle, cousin and best friend. As a child, before he'd learned not to do so, he'd told his mom when something was wrong and she'd just gotten mad at him.

What if the school medic did too? Ryan knew he was nice enough to Valerie but that was different, she was a girl who had a chronic health issue. The elder Crotalus was a boy who had an issue that wasn't even fatal. Ryan should be able to handle it. His mother had called him a wimp and a cry baby when he didn't feel well, and accused him of faking, then when it was discovered that he wasn't, his mother had rushed to get him out of the house before he could infect her or Carrie. It might have made sense if his younger sister had the same sort of issues as Valerie, but she didn't.

Ryan was terrified the Medic too wouldn't listen to him, would think it was nothing and tell him to suck it up. The fifth year had come to expect to be treated inferior to others. That people would be harder on him when he screwed up. Even though his allergies made him completely miserable and somewhat non-functional, especially the one to cats.

And he really did want to assist in the library again. It was a way Ryan could be useful and helpful. A way he could feel needed, especially when he kept worrying Valerie wouldn't need him now with Melanie here. Maybe to help with Transfiguration or look out for her during class.

He turned back to the third year. "You're Kitty right?" Ironic, given his current worries about cat allergies. Ryan asked. "I'm Ryan O'Malley, of the Colorado O'Malleys." He wasn't entirely sure she would know who he was. The fifth year doubted he'd made much of an impression on anyone aside from Sophie. He was pretty unremarkable except maybe in Transfig.

Ryan gave his wand a sharp jerk, as instructed and said " Abrogario. " The red on the Aladrens hands began to slowly fade. "Huh, I wonder if this would work on the sorting potion results." Ryan remarked, reaching out to touch the box himself. Red all over again, at least on his hands. "Your turn."

11 Ryan Yes, those are horrible. 176 Ryan 0 5

Eliza

May 01, 2012 9:06 PM

So now what are you planning to do now? by Eliza

Eliza found she only vaguely recognized the girl she was sitting next to, so she was sure she was one of the third years, new to the Intermediate class and so in Eliza’s classes for the first and last time, since she had only the rest of this year left before she was in Advanced and the other girl had two more years left here. Eliza would finish this school when the other girl finished this class, as strange as that seemed. Most of the third years, though she knew intellectually that they were the same age as Paul, seemed barely older than the first years, but it was strange to think of how they’d finish their CATS at the same time that she just finished when they were in the same class now.

“Of course,” she lied at once when the third year girl said it was great that Coach Pierce was here to teach them today. More evidence that the woman must be fond of her Quidditch players, she supposed; she was reasonably sure there were two third year Pecari girls and that they were both on the Quidditch team. “I hope Professor Levy is well, though, and she comes back soon.”

She certainly did, for the sake of her own preservation. If there was some kind of active lesson, and she took a spell to the back…She could imagine it happening just for the fun, rather from active malice, and that, she thought, more than an honest attack, that would be the thing that made her lose her composure and do something that she would definitely regret when her mother got hold of her after it was all said and done.

For now, though, she was stuck with a red hand. The other girl’s spell worked, and Eliza flexed her fingers as the color faded away, leaving the limb, to her relief, as usual; she thought she had pretty hands, but no one looked good in unnatural colors. She picked up her wand and tried the spell out herself, the incantation word feeling strange in her mouth. “Aborgario!”

She watched with a sense of satisfaction as Jhonice’s hand gradually became less red, too. “Good spell,” she said. “I hope I don’t have to use it, but it’s a good spell to know, yeah?” She didn’t know that the other girl might not have even more of a use for it than she did; she had always gotten the impression Pecari was kind of a chaotic and lawless place, and plus, Jhonice did play Quidditch against Aladren. She wouldn’t put it past some of those Carey boys to start taking their wands to the Pecaris on the Pitch or something crazy like that; her opinion of the family since her uncle’s fiancée – sort of – died had been that they were suffering from some kind of contagious collective psychosis.

0 Eliza So now what are you planning to do now? 0 Eliza 0 5

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

May 01, 2012 10:36 PM

I'd rather be red-handed than wearing a red badge by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Paul had already heard, by the time he got to the class, that Coach Pierce was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts for the day, but he saw as soon as she walked in, a couple of minutes after him, that his sister had not been in touch with that particular section of the grapevine today. He was more than a little surprised by that; he would have expected Lize to know something concerning the movements of an important Crotalus even before he did. He guessed he should have told her when he heard, just to be sure, but he hadn’t thought of it.

Eliza recovered quickly enough, anyway, and Paul thought little more about his sister as the lesson began. He found the joke about Crotali and turning red a little weak, but he smiled politely for the benefit of anyone looking for his confirmation that the process wasn’t fatal, and otherwise thought the lesson sounded good. Useful, anyway, he could imagine how useful it would really be around the Quidditch season if things got any more tense with Aladren than they were already and always had been. That was all Paul could think of that might come before them outside of this class before RATS, anyway.

Hopefully, anyway, and hopefully after RATS, too. There were a lot of things he thought were pretty good about his life, and one of these was how his life usually did not involve violence, or at least didn’t involve it at any level higher than that of someone smacking someone else with a toy. Paul was averse to violence in general, but never so much as when it potentially involved him directly. There were, he was sure, almost certainly always other, better ways to handle things. Ways that didn’t involve Paul Bennett having to dodge deadly spells.

At the release, Paul made a face and then touched the box, wincing even though it didn’t hurt as his hand turned red. It was, he noted with a little amusement, actually closet to the shade the new Crotali turned each year after they drank down their potions at the Feast. He couldn’t get away from Crotalus, but he was, by and large, okay with that.

“Almost looks like a glove, doesn’t it?” he remarked, looking at how even the color was. If there was just a little less definition of the knuckles, it could almost look like he was wearing a red glove. Why he’d want to, he had no idea, but that was what it could look like at first glance. “Do you want to try the spell first, or should I do it?”

0 Paul Bennett, Crotalus I'd rather be red-handed than wearing a red badge 201 Paul Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Nora

May 03, 2012 3:49 AM

It could have been worse by Nora

As it turned out, the person that Nora found herself asking to be her partner was Arthur Carey. This pleased her, as this particular Mr. Carey was someone that the younger Aladren definitely approved of. Not that she had an issue with his twin or the new one in first year or Edmond. However, not only was Arthur a pureblood from a complex and interesting family, he was also extremely intelligent.

That should have been a given, being in Aladren, but it truly wasn't. Kitty, for example, had never struck Nora as particularly bright. Curious yes, but in a way where it seemed the other third year would go rushing into danger without any thought for her own well-being. She supposed one could say the same for Arthur's twin, the way he played Quidditch, but Nora felt a bit more inclined to have to be polite about him.

Still, brains were something that the third year respected above all else. She had little patience for stupid people, which was, Nora supposed, why she mostly talked to her own housemates. In theory, she wanted to give others a chance, especially if they seemed interesting or intelligent as well but she didn't want to waste her time with pointless chit chat. Nora craved intellectually stimulating conversations.

Of course, at the moment, the Aladren would have to concentrate on the assignment at hand. Defense was, after all, an extremely important subject. Well, Nora actually found most of her subjects to be important, but with people like Grandfather around, Defense had its definite uses. Not that her grandfather took much interest in her, and Nora only was interested in him from an academic stand point. He only seemed to care about Uncle Oliver and his son, Oliver II.

This was really for the best. When Grandfather took an interest in someone, it tended to end up badly for them. Like how her grandmother's mind seemed to be rather...gone. For example, she seemed to think Uncle Marshall was Uncle Jim and Aunt Isabella's son and seemed genuinely confused about Adam being the Brockert family's heir. Nora knew this hurt her uncle terribly and was just another excuse to send him to the bottle.

Nora snapped her wand and said the incantation. The red from Arthur's hands began to fade as the third year spoke. "I suppose I would too." She began. Evan always said that Nora had a tendency to completely forget about the human element in things. To look at people merely as things to study at times. That she was detached. Which Nora supposed that she sort of was. It made the pursuit of knowledge simpler. Still, that would have removed Teppenpaw as a possibility if there were no Aladren.

And there was absolutely no way Nora could imagine herself as a Pecari. They were too in love with danger, which the Aladren thought was the height of stupidity. It drive her insane.

"Your turn." Nora said with a smile, touching the box herself now, her hands turning red.

11 Nora It could have been worse 197 Nora 0 5

Amira Thornton, Pecari

May 03, 2012 3:34 PM

It's the red badge of courage! by Amira Thornton, Pecari

Amira was looking forward to Defense Against the Dark Arts more and more. There was something about that class which Amira liked the older she got. As a third year now, she’d finally been allowed into the Intermediate Level of most of her classes and she loved that. Especially in DADA. She didn’t care if that meant she had to be in classes with Arista and Addison. Sure, she loved her older sisters, but at the same time she was at the age where she didn’t think she needed them as much anymore. Mir felt like a grownup in her own right and she enjoyed that feeling. The fact that Clara was in Pecari with her definitely had something to do with that too. She liked being able to look after her little cousin quite a bit. It didn’t make her motherly, per say. It did make her an older cousin who felt better knowing that her little cousin was safe though. Amira knew that she wouldn’t have classes with Clara for the most part, but she’d be with Andri and Brielle so she’d be fine.

Amira, on the other hand, was heading that day to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Levy. With a spring in her step she walked into the room. She was surprised to see that it wasn’t Professor Levy in the front of the room, but Coach Pierce was in her place. Hm… Interesting. she thought as she shrugged her shoulders and sat in her chair anyway. Coach greeted them and explained that Professor Levy wasn’t going to be in today and what they would be doing in class.

Counter jinxes. Hm. Cool. she thought as she wrote down notes from the Coach’s words in her book. Sharp snap with your wand and say, “Abrogario” she wrote as Coach Pierce showed them. “So all we have to do is touch the block, let our hand turn red and have our partner do the same. Then we have to try to use the counter jinx to cure our partner?” she asked the student sitting next to her.

“Hm. Interesting.” she added as she examined the box on her desk. Her desk-mate touched his block and spoke, talking about how it looked like a glove. “Yes, it does…” she said as she reached out to touch the block herself.

Her hand turned red and she marveled on how alike it was to what the first years got when they were sorted. “I wonder if this is the spell or jinx or whatever that is used on the first years?” she said quietly, but didn’t expect an answer of anyone as she’d thought it hadn’t been heard.

“Oh, uhm. You can go first if you want.” she answered the boy. Amira waited to see what would happen next as she looked up at the boy she was sure was older than her.

0 Amira Thornton, Pecari It's the red badge of courage! 0 Amira Thornton, Pecari 0 5

Arthur

May 03, 2012 8:17 PM

Very few things can't get worse by Arthur

“Indeed,” Arthur said when Nora said she supposed she’d be, in the absence of their House, a Crotalus, too. “I imagine about half of us would. The rest would most likely go to Pecari.”

It had originally been something Arnold said, but Arthur found himself able to see, thinking about it, what his brother meant about Aladren being sort of like Crotalus and Pecari muddled together in some way, though he was inclined to add the disclaimer of it also being near-essential for the mixture to have a healthy dose of willpower added in. That, to him, was the essential Aladren characteristic, the one that kept them all from being Crotali or Pecaris or the occasional Teppenpaw and bound them together as Aladrens – that excessive sense of determination. Some of them were scholastic by nature, some were not, but he couldn’t think of a member of the House, off the top of his head, who did not have a great deal of determination.

He looked at his hand as the red faded, thinking that it looked almost strange, almost as though it were not his hand at all. His fingers, as he pressed them together and lifted his hand up a little from the desk, were not quite straight; his right pointer and ring fingers, particularly the first, curved inward and a little up, so he could not put them flat beside the longest finger, which went lower than the others and didn’t so much curve in the same direction as his pointer finger as it tilted away from it, just ever so slightly. It was something he had to look at to notice, but he did notice it every now and then, and was noticing just now; he wondered if they had always been that way, or if it had happened because of the accident when he was small. His left arm had taken more damage in that, but the fingers of his left hand were straighter than those of his right. Perhaps the left hand had been fixed when the arm was smashed to bits.

He let the thought drift away and picked up his wand. “Of course,” he said, and performed the spell on her hand as well. He watched intently for a moment as it took effect.

“I’m not sure what the purpose of this jinx would be,” he said. “Even as a theft-prevention device, since I think you could cast this countercharm on yourself, and it’s not even going to slow you down, as far as I can tell, if you can’t, you’d just need to find a partner to remove it.” The concept of being a person without people was alien to Arthur; he had seen other things since he came to Sonora, but he had been taught as a child that to go rogue and strike out without the family was to surely die soon after, and at Sonora he had concluded that even Muggleborns formed families and networks for protection and this had reinforced the view his grandfather had pounded into his head on that subject at the Fourth’s direction.

“I suppose it was developed as a training exercise. It could be that. We have those dummies for training here, and sometimes in Charms, they can’t serve another purpose….”

He noticed he was frowning slightly, which drug him out of his thoughts again. “I beg your pardon, Miss Dobson,” he said. “I have the habit of thinking aloud at times.” Just never about anything important. Even that had, to some extent, been a deliberate lowering of his guard, perhaps partially to amuse himself and partially to test her. Arthur found a true loss of control was a rare thing for him, something that he found difficult even when he wanted to be more open. He had the affinity for it, but couldn’t bring himself to be comfortable with chaos. “Can you think of another use for a training dummy? Or this jinx?”

0 Arthur Very few things can't get worse 0 Arthur 0 5

Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

May 04, 2012 1:40 AM

Relieved by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus

Defense Against the Dark Arts was, without a doubt, the most stressful class for Valerie. Very often the lessons involved running about with spells being fired at you. This was not good for the third year. She was not supposed to exert herself much, especially when she was getting over or coming down with something, which honestly, Valerie usually was.

In fact, she felt like she was coming down with something now though she didn't want to admit it to anyone. Melanie had told her this morning that she wasn't looking well and should go to the medic as soon as possible, but even though Valerie agreed, she didn't think it wasn't urgent enough to miss class. If she went now, people might think she was using her condition to get out of something that she didn't want to do, even though Valerie genuinely didn't feel too good-she really never did, even if she wasn't completely incapacitated, she generally felt at least vaguely ill-and was genuinely incapable of doing most things in DADA.

She supposed that she needed some sort of alternative assignment, so she would still learn what she needed, albeit in a different way. Valerie was sure she could get the medical excuse, like she had for flying lessons. It was just that she was afraid to ask. She didn't want to come across as a spoiled brat, but still, the sort of activities that were done in DADA were often genuinely bad for her.

Nor did she really know exactly who to ask about such a thing. Did she need to talk to the medic or go to her Head of House or even the Headmistress herself? Headmistress Kijewski-Jareau seemed like a kind person, that would want to help the students but yet Valerie was intimidated, even though she shouldn't have been. She was a Lennox after all. Still the Headmistress was the one in charge, who made all the decisions. She was the one with the power here at Sonora, not Valerie.

Of course, the third year honestly felt powerless most of the time, despite her last name. First of all, she was supposed to be a lady in every way, bound by the rules of society and the school. These things were not that difficult for her generally speaking, except obviously when Valerie was asked to do a physically taxing lesson.

That was when she truly felt helpless. Weak. She genuinely couldn't do anything about her condition except take the required potions to boost her immune system. The Crotalus supposed asking for help, for an alternative to strenuous might also be taking some initiative to help herself, but she was still scared.

Valerie turned her attention to the front of the room, noticing that Coach Pierce was teaching today, instead of Professor Levy. This was not a comforting thought. Not because the third year had anything against the woman, even though she was someone that quite obviously Valerie's parents disapproved of, she'd never been particularly nasty to the Crotalus, even summoning the medic to the commons that time when the third year had been very sick.

The unsettling part was that, well, Coach Pierce was the Quidditch Coach and Valerie pretty much expected something from her that was very strenuous and that the Crotalus wouldn't be able to do. Not to mention the fact that any sort of substitute likely meant that the regular professor was sick or that one of her babies was-and when other people got sick, so did Valerie.

At least though, the lesson wouldn't be that bad. Just touch a box and turn her hands red. No more dangerous than the sorting potion, no running around when Valerie was already exceedingly tired and her head ached a bit. She turned to the person next to her. "Would you like to work with me?"

11 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus Relieved 204 Valerie Lennox, Crotalus 0 5

Paul

May 04, 2012 8:39 PM

Those are high on the list of things I never want by Paul

Paul shrugged as Amira wondered aloud, if not very loudly, if this was related to what was done to the first years. “Ask an Aladren,” he said. “Or Professor Fawcett. But I wouldn’t think so. That’s a potion, and it can turn you one of four colors.”

This, as far as Paul was concerned, or at least concerned enough to bother to find out about, was all that was needed to close the case. A potion was not a jinx. They could both have bad effects, but one was designed to have nothing but bad effects, at least using a loose definition of the word, and the other could have either good or bad results, depending on what it was and how competent the person making it was. Admittedly, this logic was undercut by him thinking that maybe this could be related to a Color-Changing charm, but he didn’t mention that aloud because he was not in Aladren for a reason. Knowledge was like food to him; it was a good thing, he had to have it, and sometimes he liked to indulge in it more than at others, but if he got too much of it, or of one kind of it, then it would make him sick. Or something like that, anyway.

He obligingly tried the spell, and grimaced when after a moment, it didn’t seem to take. It took another two tries before it got it to partially, but still not completely, work, and he concluded he might need more knowledge about counter-jinxes on his plate for a well-balanced meal. “You can give it a try, if you like,” he said. “I’ll try that again after.”

It irked him a little, too, that he couldn’t predict how the girl sitting beside him was going to do. He knew she was the Thornton girl who wasn’t in Teppenpaw, and that she’d played Quidditch as the Pecari Seeker for a year before Jade Owen swept onto the scene, and that she was in his year, but that was about all he knew of Amira. It was more than he knew of her sisters, and he guessed enough since there were no Thorntons in Crotalus, but he would have liked to have known how someone who was about to cast a spell on him was going to do, or at least have a good idea of how they would do. He made a note to watch people he didn’t know more closely in class so he didn’t end up like this on a day after they moved into the more aggressive sort of jinx and counter-jinx patterns, one where they were doing something more active and crazy in class. That would, he thought, be something he wouldn’t enjoy, depending on someone he didn’t really know to fix him up. Paul didn’t think he was a very trusting person anyway, and neither did he think of being so as a character flaw.

0 Paul Those are high on the list of things I never want 0 Paul 0 5

Nora

May 06, 2012 2:45 PM

True by Nora

"I think my cousin, Evan might go into Teppenpaw, in that situation." Nora replied. He was the one who was always telling her that she forgot about how the humans involved in things she was curious about might have felt whereas he thought about that. Hope would probably say that Russell would too, but that was just because she liked him. Actually, Nora couldn't imagine most Aladrens, aside from Kitty going into Pecari. They were just too intelligent. Maybe Arnold with his Quidditch craziness.

"Why do you think it would be split up that way?" The third year asked,genuinely curious and wanting to start an intellectual conversation. She could see Crotalus, the sensible, respectable sorts but Pecari? And why not Teppenpaw? Granted Nora couldn't imagine herself in either, Tepp because of the reasons Evan mentioned and Pecari because they would drive her completely insane-it was like a whole bunch of Kittys but with much larger egos and for no quantifiable reason. When Aladrens tended to have big egos, it was at least usually well deserved because they were intelligent.

However Crotalus, it seemed to have more of a variety in general. For example, she didn't think Valerie or Brianna was much like Renee Errant. Nor were they like Carrie O'Malley, who seemed to have made quite a dreadful impression on most people. Still, such a wide range of personalities meant that it could have easily included the Aladren sorts.

"I'm really glad there's an Aladren though." Nora added, as Arthur seemed to take an interest in his hands. Maybe it was just something about the spell, which the third year thought she'd performed quite accurately. Or maybe Mr. Carey wasn't well. Perhaps she should ask if he were ill or something?

But before she could, he seemed to snap out of it and was removing the jinx from her own hands, but soon appeared to be thinking out loud again.Nora only further wondered if Arthur was okay. He had a point, she thought. "Well, not really." Nora admitted. She wanted to be able to come up with some other reason, and impress him with her intelligence. "I mean, I suppose if someone had like a younger sibling that they didn't want getting into their stuff, they could use this jinx. I think here they're just doing it so nobody gets hurt."

11 Nora True 197 Nora 0 5

Arthur

May 07, 2012 9:17 PM

I try by Arthur

Arthur did not know the second year personally, but it only took him a moment to put together ‘Evan’ with ‘Evan Brockert’ and bring to mind what he did know about the fellow: second year, of course, roommate to Thaddeus Pierce, a second son but from the central line of his family, if Arthur understood it correctly, and a bit of, or so it seemed, an eccentric, which Arthur could hardly say anything about but which could be a disadvantage later in life. He couldn’t say, though, what House the other Aladren would go into if there were no Aladren; he didn’t know him that well.

“Partially by default,” he admitted about his opinion on the theoretical split. “Perhaps Mr. Brockert could manage Teppenpaw, but Merlin knows I doubt I would last long there.” He would give himself perhaps a week in a dorm room with Derwent Pierce before he was led away in either a straightjacket or a set of handcuffs, neither of which Arthur thought he’d look very becoming in, and he did try to at least dress well. It was generally agreed that a man was at least somewhat judged by his clothes. “But some of their traits – on paper, at least – are not entirely dissimilar to ours. Energy – desire for effective results – we are problem-solvers, and that is a trait that tends to lead to adaptability and survival. This could suit those of our fellows who lack caution and practicality.” He smiled politely and added, “Of course, I suppose I am somewhat biased. One of my close cousins is in Pecari.”

And though the average Pecari, or at least the stereotype of one, did not play them out in a way of which most of his family would approve, the Pecari traits were among those that his family valued. Spontaneity was not precisely desirable, not the way the others were, but the ability to operate quickly under pressure was – provided that it was within limits. Arthur had gotten the impression, listening closely, that many in his family would have been happier if they’d never progressed from being little more than a group of bandits in Europe, but even if they had not, someone would have still had to stay in control.

“Far better for everyone, indeed,” Arthur agreed about it being best, overall, that there was an Aladren. It might be better for Pecari and Crotalus to be led by those who would have been Aladrens, as he did not doubt would have happened if they’d all gone into those Houses and been in the struggle for the badged positions in their hierarchies, but it would have been much less interesting for the Aladrens themselves, he thought.

He tilted his head slightly as he considered the alternate use for the spell that Nora proposed after he indulged himself with a tangent. “Of course, of course,” he said about it being, at the moment, for their safety. “I had not thought of the other.” He smiled slightly, thinking of how things worked at home, which was that he didn’t put spells on his possessions and Anthony didn’t go in there to find out if he was telling the truth about not doing that. A few things would burn if anyone but him touched them, but that would not harm the one who provoked it, which was the essential thing; he was sure he could do much better, but the slightest harm to Anthony might get him killed, if his grandfather’s grumblings and the very reason that Arnold had been so unceremoniously deprived of the privileges of the firsborn son were anything to go by, and so he had to keep everything he particularly didn’t want anyone to see in his trunk and protect that instead. It was, then, fortunate that his roommates would not fit any of his clothes, anyway, since this greatly decreased the chance that he needed to worry about them trying too hard to steal and getting hurt. Only parts of the trunk would do that, but he imagined Arnold would, without error, manage to go right to them if he ever began rummaging around in there. “Do you have younger siblings, Miss Dobson?”

0 Arthur I try 0 Arthur 0 5

Jhonice

May 07, 2012 10:21 PM

I hadn't thought that far yet, any suggestions? by Jhonice

Jhonice nodded in agreement with her partners sentiments towards their actual professor. She was thrilled to have a class with Matriarch Pierce, but that doesn't mean she wanted anything bad to happen to Professor Levy. "I'm sure it's nothing serious, they would have told us something if it was. Coach Pierce would have at least let us know that she would be doing the class for the next few days."

She finally pulled her attention away from Coach Pierce as she talked to her partner. She was sitting next to Eliza Bennett. Interesting. She had done some research on the Bennetts and then more when she found out that they had crossed paths with the Careys. She had crossed paths with the Careys in Quidditch and she was certainly glad to learn this counter-jinx, Eliza probably was as well.

"Yeah, you never know when something like this would come in handy." she watched as her hand slowly changed back to normal. Time to do some subtle... interviewing. Jhonice glanced around the room, "There are some strange and crazy people out there, aren't there?"

2 Jhonice I hadn't thought that far yet, any suggestions? 209 Jhonice 0 5

Kitty

May 08, 2012 9:37 PM

So are red toes by Kitty

“Yep! Hi Ryan it’s nice to meet you.” Kitty said happily, pleased that he knew her name. Maybe he’s a fan of Quidditch! She thought, then again, she was pretty sure that he wasn’t an Aladren. Well, she hadn’t seen him around the commons before. He was older and this was the first term she had classes with him so Kitty really wasn’t sure what house he was in. If he was a Quidditch fan then he would probably know the names of some of the better players. It was true that she was a pretty good player, but it was also true that for the past three terms she’d been the only girl on the Aladren team so it probably wasn’t difficult to remember her name.

Obediently, Kitty held her now bright red hands out for him to try and fix. A small delighted laugh bubbled in her throat when the red faded away. This really was a good all purpose jinx remover. Another giggle tickled her lips at the thought as she imagined a voice over for a commercial And now, for a limited time only, the patented all purpose jinx remover Abrogario! It’s handy, it’s dandy, it can even julienne fries folks. Just a few sprits and colors will return to normal, the poodle will stop floating, and the mailbox will cease attempting to eat the mailman! The giggles increased and Kitty had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the silly thoughts.

Clearing her throat, sky blue eyes still glittering with surpassed laughter Kitty said “Sorry, um well maybe. I don’t think that would qualify as a jinx though?” Her voice was still a bit strained with the effort not to laugh, but it smoothed out quickly as she gave the question some thought.

Once Ryan’s hands were red, Kitty brought up her wand. “Abrogario!” Kitty intoned as she gave her wand a crisp snap sideways. The color started to fade, moving from his wrists to his fingers, but then it stopped, leaving the last joint of his fingers as red as if he’d dipped them into kool-aid. “Oops.” Kitty murmured as she studied the now red fingertips and wondered what she’d done wrong.

0 Kitty So are red toes 0 Kitty 0 5

Nora

May 09, 2012 11:34 AM

To make things worse? by Nora

"Nor would I." Nora admitted. "I mean, I just wouldn't...belong there. Still, I don't think I'd last long in Pecari either. All that...lack of intellectual stimulation. Not that all Pecaris are stupid, they just don't seem all that academically inclined or interested. An awful lot seem just so improper as well." Of course, maybe Mr.Carey would fare better there than Nora would. He was a Quidditch player and she would be bored silly by all the talk of the sport.

"My cousin, Nina, is the prefect for Pecari." Nora said. She wasn't bragging, it was just common knowledge. "She says that her roommate used to be the loudest most insensitive obnoxious self centered egotistical person though she's gotten slightly better." This was even taking into consideration that Nina had Chelsea for a sister. "The stereotype has lent itself to my family thinking that it was not a place we want our relations to go."

Actually, Pecari in general seemed like a rather uninteresting place to Nora. Most of the students there seemed so...ordinary. For the most part, they seemed to have no glaring psychological issues. They appeared to be so blasted normal , so well adjusted beyond a desperate need to be the center of attention, which according to Adam, was because they thought they were so great that they wanted to show off. Not that Nora's cousin was necessarily the most reliable source.

She wouldn't have liked Teppenpaw much either, she thought. Everyone there would have been so bloody good and nice and not necessarily approve of some of the things Nora looked into. "You do bring up an interesting perspective though." She told Arthur. "I mean, we both want effective results, but they also want them quickly, whereas Aladrens are more willing to wait and do things right." Okay, so she could be a little obnoxious about house pride, but the thing was, when Aladrens bragged, it was for a real reason, something tangible, aside from being that they just thought they were cool and awesome without anything to back it up, something Nora found most interesting.

"Oh yes, one younger sister named Portia. She's eight." Of course, Nora didn't really have to do much to keep her stuff safe from her sister. The younger girl wasn't really interested in the Aladren's books or anything. "I'd be more worried about my roommate getting into my stuff than Portia actually." Nora nodded in Kitty's direction. "What about you? Do you have siblings besides Arnold?"

11 Nora To make things worse? 197 Nora 0 5

Eliza

May 09, 2012 7:31 PM

Any chance we could make a deal? by Eliza

Eliza was not sure if she really shared her young new friend’s outlook on how free with information the adults were really likely to be, but she couldn’t say for sure either way and certainly wasn’t going to get into an argument over the subject, so she just said, “Of course” and left it at that. She probably was right about the part where the coach would have mentioned it if she thought she was going to be with the class for a while, though that would be irrelevant if they were quietly dealing with a transition of professors in the middle of the year. Still, even then, perhaps something would be said….

She made herself stop looking at that issue. It was not really important to her who taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, and even if it became important, there was nothing she could do about it right now. She only had so much mental energy. This was not the thing to waste a lot of it on.

The remark about strange and crazy people in the world, though, caught her attention and held it. And she was looking around the room…did she mean someone in this room? Who could that be? Eliza had never really paid much attention to the Pecaris outside of her own year, and so she didn’t know what their various troubles were, who knew who and had a problem with the other person and all of those things she kept such close track of among the fourth and fifth years. Honestly, she hadn’t really thought of them having any; the years below hers except for the fourth years, and really all of those above, seemed so dull most of the time, as though nothing interesting ever happened there. She should have known better, though.

“There always are,” she said lightly, twirling her wand and watching as a few golden sparks fell from the end of it. “I try not to dwell on it or anything, though. It’s not much fun, is it?” She smiled brightly, aware that she probably did not look very intelligent. As long as she didn’t look stupid, that suited her well enough. It was hard to bend her pride enough to play really dumb, but other than that, she could be flexible about that kind of thing, so long as it got her what she wanted. “What made you think about that?”

If there was someone strange and crazy in the lower years, after all, she did need to know about it, if only to know. Unless Jhonice was the strange and crazy person, of course; she’d have to ask Paul about all of that later. He never said very much about his year, but she never asked; maybe asking would work.

0 Eliza Any chance we could make a deal? 0 Eliza 0 5

Arthur

May 09, 2012 8:24 PM

To make true statements by Arthur

Arthur smiled, amused by Nora’s thoughts on Pecari House. “Indeed,” he said. “I do wonder how on Earth Miss Raines has found being their new prefect.” That was a job he did not think he would want; he would take it, if it were offered to him, for the prestige or for the doubling of the trust fund he had courtesy of Featherlight Children’s Brooms, but he would not want it. Part of that, it was true, was because it would make him Theresa’s prefect and he could just imagine how well that would go, but more of it was just how most of the House did not tend toward surnames like Carey, or even Raines. Sara no doubt had it worse than he would, too; she was a lady, and such a tiny little thing….

It was, he thought idly, such a pity that the two of them could never suit each other very well, but he hoped she and Preston did well together. If he could find a single business interest which would hold them all together after school, and the right people married the right people…He irritated him how many ‘ifs’ were in there, though. He needed to develop better planning skills. Everything would become easier once he was an adult, he knew, but the point was not for things to be easy, and he felt better thinking he had a handle on the future now, rather than having it as a vague thing out there that he could not control.

He was surprised, after her dismissal of the place, to hear Nora claim a Pecari prefect as her cousin, but even more surprised to hear how open Nina apparently was about her problems in the House with an outsider. Arthur couldn’t imagine telling Anthony about it if there was a problem between him and Arnold, and it seemed to him like much the same thing, though he had been accused before of being too secretive. “My family generally favors Aladren,” he said. Pecari and Crotalus had desirable traits, but were tainted by reputation and associations, respectively, and while diplomatic skills were very good, the general Teppenpaw was not quite what the family looked for in boys, at least.

Nora’s degree of House pride was amusing, too, and interesting. What, he wondered, did it imply about her family and its notions of unity? She had claimed a Brockert as a cousin; they seemed to be a family a bit like his own, one which considered the descendants of girls to be family as well at least within a few generations, but he didn’t know her exact parentage off the top of his head. He would have to look it up, and that could only be done later, both because he didn’t have the resources right here and because it would be impolite to do it in front of her even if he did. Was her attachment to their House an extension of a very tight family bond, or was it evidence that the Dobsons did not particularly lean that way? Arthur was much milder about it, but he did not always feel as connected as some to his real family, either, except for Arnold and to a lesser extent his parents….

“Accuracy is important,” he agreed blandly.

A sister, eight. Interesting name. He had to stifle a laugh when she nodded toward Katrina and said she was more of a threat to her possessions than Miss Portia, though. “Ah, Katrina,” he said. His father had said that from the way it sounded, Katrina was the closest thing to a friend that Arthur had, but then, the person making the sounds had been Theresa, and she had been trying to seem better than him at the time, so he did not know how much weight to attach to that. “She is on my Quidditch team,” he added to explain how he knew her.

He nodded about his own additional sibling. “Another brother,” he said. “Anthony is his name – Anthony Carey the Eighth. He’s ten now.” Arthur was still not sure how it would be, having Anthony at school, too, but at least it would remove the chance that Anthony was at home going through his things. There was nothing very secret left there, but the thought of someone going through his things just made Arthur’s skin crawl. “I doubt he disturbs my things, but he is the heir, so enchanting them against him would hardly be…prudent.”

0 Arthur To make true statements 0 Arthur 0 5

Jhonice

May 10, 2012 9:51 PM

What exactly did you have in mind? by Jhonice

There was something about Eliza that Jhonice liked. She wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was definitely there. It didn't seem like she was going to be a great source of information, but she had to know some things. Even if she didn't know much about the other students, she certainly knows about her family... and hopefully something about the Careys. She just had to figure out how to get to that information.

She started off by returning Eliza's smile. "We're learning about counter-jinxes in Defense class. By its very nature we should be suspicious about everyone, right?" She looked around the room again and spotted Arthur Carey. Ah-ha! The perfect opportunity. "For example, take Arthur Carey over there," she subtlety gestured in his general direction. "What do you think he might be up to?"

2 Jhonice What exactly did you have in mind? 209 Jhonice 0 5

Amira

May 16, 2012 8:52 PM

What else is on that list? by Amira

Amira had only been wondering, didn’t completely believe her thoughts wholeheartedly, but couldn’t stop her mouth from speaking the words she thought. This was her normal practice, so it didn’t surprise her sisters nearly as much as it seemed to have surprised the boy she’d spoken nearby.

“Ask an Aladren, or Professor Fawcett. But I wouldn’t think so. That’s a potion, and it can turn you one of four colors.”

“I know that, I only meant that if there was a jinx inside of the potion. There could be more than one thing in it, you know.” she said, getting kind of snippy as she hadn’t really been asking him or anyone else, merely just asking herself in wonderment.

Coach Pierce told them how to cast the spell and that all they’d need to do was touch the box which would turn their hands red before they’d change it back with the counter-jinx. Mira wrote, ‘Give a sharp snap with your wand and say, Abrogario’ down in her notes and then watched as Paul tried the counter-jinx.

When Paul told her to try, she held her wand in hand and snapped it as she’d been told to do. “Abrogario.” she said as she watched his hand turn a lighter shade of red than it had been. “Well, that’s something, right? At least it’s not as red…” she said to him as she wondered if maybe she wasn’t thinking about making his hand less red, hard enough. Amira was usually pretty good in this class and she hoped it would continue.

“Do you want to try again?” she asked him, glancing down at her red hand.

0 Amira What else is on that list? 0 Amira 0 5

Eliza

May 17, 2012 8:41 PM

Oh, I'm open to suggestions.... by Eliza

Eliza laughed, surprised and genuinely amused, when Jhonice said that they ought to be suspicious of everyone, at least in this class. “I like the way you think,” she said approvingly, looking over the other girl again, reassessing her a little. She would have to tell Paulie to talk to her sometime and see what he thought about her.

One of the things that bothered Eliza about her brother was how he seemed to have virtually no network. Hers was built up of interesting people more than influential ones, but they were at least there, and sometimes themselves connected to bigger people, but her brother’s just didn’t seem to exist. He was too self-contained, and while Merlin knew Paul was good at keeping up, he couldn’t always do everything himself, and he had to know that; Father had taught them that when they were still using her dolls to act out the lessons. Maybe he needed a nudge, but whether he did or not, Eliza had no problem with being the interfering older sister who gave him one. No one else would always look out for them but them.

She followed Jhonice’s slight gesture to Arthur Carey, who seemed to be carrying on some kind of conversation with Nora Dobson while they worked on the spell. Eliza didn’t really know what to think of him; he was handsome, she guessed, but a little too tightly wound. And a Carey, which could add a certain something to that; his brother usually seemed harmless enough as long as he wasn’t on a broom, but always she remembered, anyway, that he was a Carey, and that family, if not his specific branch so much as some of the others, had a bit of a reputation, which her family had evidence about the accuracy of. And Arthur was smart, too; this was why, even after his showdowns with her nemesis during Quidditch matches, she had never tried flirting with him to see if she could get him into her contacts. She just had a feeling about how it was likely to end.

“Probably taking the spell apart to see how it works,” she said lightly, since the exchange looked pretty friendly to her and the people having the conversation were the ones that they were. She had seen Arthur hanging around in the library shelves dedicated to theoretical magic, on those occasions when she had been able to slip in around unfortunate shifts of library monitors, a few times, and he and Nora both came across that way to her – the sort that thought too much about things that weren’t really that important, who wanted to know things just to know them. There were a lot of Aladrens like that, really. They tended to think intelligence was just that kind of thing, too, or memorization; she thought otherwise, but didn’t feel the need to tell them about it. “What do you think they’re doing?” she asked back, looking again at her possible new protégé.

0 Eliza Oh, I'm open to suggestions.... 0 Eliza 0 5

Paul

May 17, 2012 8:46 PM

Heroic destiny, medals, cursed objects, snickerdoodles, etc. by Paul

Paul didn’t react in any way to the snippy tone. “True,” he said, inclining his head to acknowledge a point, to the claim there could be more than one thing in a potion. “If there is, though, I’d put my money on a color-change charm, and something mental.” He knew from some of the more boring conversations people who knew his father had that spellwork could get ridiculously complicated at a certain level, which was definitely not one they were going to teach third years, and while he had no idea if this was actually the case with the Sorting potion, he was aiming to sound smart here. He smiled at her mildly. “Doesn’t really matter much for us, though, does it?”

It was, he knew, good that some people messed around with magic and learned how it worked and how to make it do new things. That was how they made things better, and everybody, even if they thought civilization was already at its peak and there was nothing left to discover, and Paul doubted there were too many people like that left, agreed there were probably still loose ends to tuck in here and there. Paul, though, saw no need to be one of the people who made new things or tucked in loose ends or anything like that. He had no desire to blow himself up before age forty; he intended to be one of those guys who lived to be two hundred. Plus, he just didn’t find the topic very interesting, not once it got into the technicalities, and he saw no reason to be bored when he could help it. Let the Aladrens have fun with that and he would have fun with other stuff, and then everybody would be happy.

He flexed his hand again as it turned a lighter red after Amira’s spell. “That’s something,” he agreed, not particularly worried about it. If she didn’t get it completely right, the coach would probably patch them all up later, and if the coach didn’t, he’d make Eliza set him right again. Definitely his image-conscious sister would not want her brother walking around red-handed for ages if the spell didn’t just fade, which was after all a third option, and Lize was a fifth year, one of the people in the room who ought to be having the easiest time with the spell. No matter how it fell, he was fine, which was his major concern.

“Sure,” he said when she offered to let him try again, and he did, snapping his wand a little more sharply this time. Her color faded until her hand looked more sunburned than painted red, and he nodded to himself, pleased with this result. “Abrogario,” he tried once more, snapping the wand harder still, even though it wasn’t too comfortable, and the spell cleared up. Paul smiled slightly, pleased still further. “Your turn,” he said, reextending his own jinxed hand to give her a chance to work some more.

0 Paul Heroic destiny, medals, cursed objects, snickerdoodles, etc. 0 Paul 0 5

Ryan

May 19, 2012 4:01 PM

Those can be hidden though. by Ryan

"It's uh, nice to meet you too, Kitty." Ryan replied. He tried to remember the names of all his classmates. It would show that he cared enough to do so and in turn, they would hopefully like him better. Ryan desperately needed to be liked. Needed to compensate for all the hatred he'd felt from others. A hatred that kept him from venturing out of his room when it wasn't absolutely necessary.

Kitty started to giggle and the fifth year frowned. He was confused. Was she laughing at him? What had he done wrong? He'd done the spell correctly, the red was fading from her hands. Maybe it was the question he'd asked. It was probably a dumb one and the third year was an Aladren. So she was most likely more intelligent than Ryan. The fifth year believed himself to be rather stupid. It was what he'd always been told.

Heat rushed to his face. He was completely embarrassed now, especially given her response that it wouldn't be much of jinx. Kitty probably hated him for sure, or at least thought he was in idiot. "I guess not." Ryan muttered looking down at the floor. He wondered what was stupider, the question or the fact that he should have known better. Nothing good had ever come of him thinking out loud. All it had ever done was get him mocked.

She was doing the spell now and Ryan looked down at his fingers. "Good try." said the Crotalus. He didn't really expect much of others, he'd learned not to, and it was perfectly normal for a third year to not only not do as well as a fifth year but to not necessarily get all the spells perfect the first time. Kitty was still probably more intelligent than him.

"Care to try again?" Ryan asked. He did still have red fingertips after all and quite frankly, he did not want to be left with them due to the fact that if a certain person noticed, she'd make him miserable about it-and had it been Kitty left with red hands and she found out, she'd still make him miserable about. Ryan could never win.

11 Ryan Those can be hidden though. 176 Ryan 0 5

Kitty

May 21, 2012 6:30 PM

Unless you’re wearing sandals by Kitty

Ryan looked sad, and Kitty wilted a bit. She knew that she didn’t often get spells right the first time she tried them. Instead she had to a new spell out and it could take a while to get the pronunciation and wand motions just right to get the affects of the spell correct. But, she tried hard and she didn’t mean to mess it up. Leaving his fingertips red unacceptable and she would fix it. “Sorry, I’ll do better I promise!” Kitty assured him so that he wouldn’t be sad and didn’t have to worry that he’d be stuck with red splotches on his fingers.

Magic wasn’t like book work where facts could be memorized and recited. There was memorization involved but it wasn’t the same as doing a report or getting all the answers right on a pop quiz, Kitty learned. Instead it was more like learning how to dance, that the mind played a part but it was really up to the body and muscles to orchestrate the movements. With magic, it was like flexing an inner muscle that she didn’t know she had. Even if the wand motions and pronunciation of the spells was correct, the magic itself had to flow properly as well, just as muscles did. Magic was more like an art than mathematics, and while procession was needed so was heart.

For the excitable girl it was easy to get caught up in the details of either the pronunciation or the wand movements and not put them properly together in a smooth flowing whole. She wanted to get it right this time (although she’d never gotten a spell right after just two tries before) so that Ryan wouldn’t have to worry any more. Carefully she practiced her wand movements first, her sky blue eyes focused intensely on her wand to make sure it looked just how Ryan’s did when he casted the spell. Once she was sure she had that part down, her lips shaped the word over a few times to get a better feel for the incitation.

“Ready?” She asked, her tone conveying false confidence in her own casting ability. If I believe, really believe I can do it, then I can Kitty thought, ignoring the fact that this thought never ever helped in potions or really in anything she applied it to. Like everyone always said, it’s the thought that counts. She let out a breath and centered her focus “Abrogario! Kitty said as she snapped the wand sideways. His thumbs returned to normal and Kitty’s bottom lip trembled slightly. Failing when she was trying to cast a spell on another student was so much worse than just failing to turn an object into something else. After all, a tea cup didn’t have to worry about going through classes as half a spoon. “I’m sorry Ryan.” She whispered.

0 Kitty Unless you’re wearing sandals 0 Kitty 0 5

Amira

May 23, 2012 8:52 PM

You never want medals or snickerdoodles? Why not? by Amira

Amira watched Paul. She was glad he wasn’t snippy or anything to her as she sorta felt he was being snippy to her already. When he agreed with her, she smiled at him as he kept talking. “Color changing charm.” she repeated, thinking. “Hm. Interesting thought.” she added to him. When he said that it didn’t matter much for them, she nodded in agreement. “This is true.”

Shrugging, knowing that he was right and it completely didn’t matter. She had no idea why she’d thought of it to begin with, but she had. Oh well.

Amira performed the spell for him to rid him of the red hand and he flexed his hand, seeing the lighter colored red. She was proud of herself, but wished that she’d be able to do more for him right away! She wasn’t liking this ‘not getting it completely right’ thing. Mir asked him if he wanted to try again and he performed ‘Abrogario’ on her once more. Her hand faded too, just like his had and now it only looked like she was a little bit sunburned. Of course her hand specifically, due to her hair, looked funny that shade, so she couldn’t help but giggle at it. Paul did the spell again and her hand was cleared. “Nice! Thanks!” she said to him as she held up her own wand to his outstretched hand.

She snapped it harder than before and said, “Abrogario!”

Amira looked at his hand and it was back to its normal color. “Hey cool! We both did it! What do ya think of that?!” she asked him happily. She wondered what the jinx was that was on the box and thought that perhaps she’d ask. This could be quite a fun April Fools Day joke! she thought.

0 Amira You never want medals or snickerdoodles? Why not? 0 Amira 0 5