Grayson Wright
January 25, 2021 1:23 PM
Now you see it, now you don't (Beginners) by Grayson Wright
Logically speaking, Selina’s absences should not have had a great impact on Gray’s life in the mansion. He had not, after all (to his relief – in theory, they should have been the most similar to members of his own House, but in practice, he found many of them a bit unfathomable), been among those deputized to shepherd the Crotali, and he was largely self-sufficient on a day-to-day basis, not one inclined to lean too heavily on the administrators. Even in past years, when he had been far less even remotely certain of what in the world he was doing as a teacher, he had been temperamentally, or at least habitually, more inclined to bluff on his own than to bother anyone. Now, after all these years and an extended failure to die due to critical mismanagement of Aladren, it would have seemed strange and presumptuous to indicate an interest in assistance, and so he didn’t do that either.Practically speaking, he was not sure why, exactly, but he had been feeling more stressed than usual, and this in his mind was linked with the recurring absences of the Deputy Headmistress. Even an Aladren, perhaps, liked to know there was a single steady hand on the tiller, even if he preferred to avoid being steered where he could – and with four people doing Selina’s job and Mortimer being as detached as ever, it was painfully clear that the steady hand was hers.
More practically speaking yet, he tried not to think about it too much. Thinking was, after all, a road that led directly to being aware of stress, or at least of the avoidable kinds of stress. The unavoidable stuff was quite enough to get on with.
“Hello, students,” he said, fairly loudly, to get everyone’s attention, or at least as close to ‘everyone’s’ as he could reasonably hope for in a room full of eleven-to-thirteen-year-olds.
“Let’s get to work. As we’ve discussed before,” he began, “our people are required by law to conceal our true nature, as well as the natures of certain animals and some of our possessions, from people who are neither part of the community nor parts of our immediate families.” Better to use the broad phrase over a specific term here; there was, after all, more than one way to lack magical ability. His mother had looked somehow distinctly frail the last time he had snatched a couple of hours from his duties to drop in on her, though she insisted she was as well as ever… “By the time you leave school, you’ll know several spells and a few potions which will help you do your parts in maintaining secrecy. Today, though, we’re going to work on what to do when you want to stop concealing something.
“The incantation you’ll use today is aparecium,” he told them. A piece of chalk scribbled the word out fully on the board, then hopped down a line and began to write it again, this time breaking it down into its syllables. “All together now – no wands, please – ap-ar-ee-see-um. ap-ar-ee-see-um. ap-ar-ee-see-um. Very good. As for the wand movement, this is one of the simplest: you tap the concealed object twice while you say the incantation.
“You probably see a limitation to this spell right away,” he acknowledged. “You have to know where the object is in order to tap it. You also probably realize that since you’re learning this charm in beginners, it’s not going to break every concealing enchantment there is – so I’m afraid that any adult witches and wizards you know will still be able to keep things hidden from you for a while. Once you master this charm, though, you will be able to break a standard concealment charm, and be able to read invisible ink. We’ll start working on mastery with invisible ink.”
He pointed his wand at a stack of seemingly blank papers, which began floating around the room, pausing in front of each student until a sheet was removed from the pile. “I’ve written a unique message on each of these papers,” he informed them. It had taken him a while to do that; apart from the difficulty of coming up with so many unique encouraging and congratulatory messages, in the interests of keeping the task fair, he had also had to keep all the messages close to the same length, a single sentence without parenthetical statements or semicolons or any of those things he usually had a weakness for. It had taken some creativity. “Your task is to reveal the message on the piece of paper you have. Once you’ve accomplished that, you can begin reviewing finite incantatem, to see if you can return the ink to an invisible state.”
That would be more of a challenge than they might think up-front, considering that finite incantatem was one of the very first spells he taught first years, and which they used regularly in class. In general, though, the spell simply terminated the operation of another spell; here, it was working on what was essentially a potion, altering the internal workings of the structure of the ink. In order to revert the ink to invisibility, it had to restore that structure, along with terminating the spell preventing subterfuges from operating on the paper. It was easier than Transfiguring the ink to make it invisible when it had not begun that way might be, perhaps, but this was an area where the two subjects started to blur their lines a bit. Those who drew this conclusion for themselves would probably give him more interesting responses to the homework he was going to set at the end of class, but that was for the future; one of the bits of wisdom he had more or less picked up along the way in this job was that it was usually best not to clutter their heads with too many directions at once.
OOC: Welcome again to Beginner’s Charms. Same rules and regulations as always; enjoy!
Subthreads: What did we see? by Billy Cobb with Isla Brockert
Fancy seeing you here, Tommy by Rosalynn Tellerman with Tommy Jamison
This sounds suspicious by Valentine Duell with Lavender Brockert
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Grayson Wright
Now you see it, now you don't (Beginners)
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Valentine Duell
February 04, 2021 6:11 PM
This sounds suspicious by Valentine Duell
Valentine hobbled into class early, well as early as she could. She had gotten released from the hospital wing, but things still hurt at times. Ordinarily she liked to get a seat in the middle of the room where she could be surrounded by people, but today maybe a seat not that far from the door would be okay. She unloaded her supplies with a sigh of relief and sank into the chair. She debated about pulling out her game notebook to jot down some more of the things she had thought out while she'd been laying around without anyone to talk to, but the thought of getting that out then putting it away to get out class stuff seemed like more effort than she wanted to expend just at this moment. So she settled with getting her class things out and watching the other students trickle into the room.She smiled and waved to all her friends as they entered, and then Professor Wright began class. She nodded along with his introduction and repeated the word of the day along with the other students. When the papers came around the room she took hers and glanced over the blank sheet. What secrets did it hold? One way to find out, she picked up her wand which had thankfully survived the incident, and tapped the paper twice. "Aparecium!" she said while trying to focus her will on making those words visible. It worked a bit, a few letters appeared, scattered about the page. Only one of them faded back out a moment later. She sighed, which made her wince. Oww... She turned to her neighbor, "I've gotten a few letters to show up, how are you doing?"
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Valentine Duell
This sounds suspicious
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Lavender Brockert
February 05, 2021 7:52 PM
Seems like a straight forward kind of spell to me. by Lavender Brockert
Lavender's eyes lit up as she walked into Charms and saw Val sitting there. Of course, she'd been concerned about her friend, who had been in the Hospital Wing. Not only had the Teppenpaw gotten hurt but she had to have been lonely too. Especially someone like Val who enjoyed socializing so much. Lavender had made sure to go and visit her as much as possible.After all, that's what she would want if she was in the Hospital Wing . She would want to know that the people she cared about also cared about her. Assuming she wasn't there with something contagious, of course, because she also wouldn't want to get anyone else sick. She would feel super guilty about making someone else suffer.
So, Lavender was very happy to see that Val was back in class because it meant she was feeling better. Unfortunately, she didn't have enough time to do more than greet her friend quickly and take a seat next to her before Professor Wright began the lesson.
Secrecy was not something she'd ever really given much thought to. She really hadn't ever had to worry about the Statute much, even though Lavender knew her cousin Kira worried about it a lot. Kira could quote it backward and forward, more or less literally. Which in terms on unusual talents was honestly really pretty impressive, and less gross than Daddy being able to burp the alphabet.
Still, Lavender didn't have Kira's other, even more impressive talent, which was basically being extraordinary at magic. Not that the second year wasn't good at it, she did just fine, better than some, but her cousin was really amazing. Which was why Kira had to be more cautious about it.
Anyway, it wasn't as if the second year spent any time around Muggles or had to deal with the smaller scale sorts of issues involving secrecy. She had nothing to hide from people and not really anyone to hide things from. Lavender wondered if the former made her boring or just childish.
Professor Wright handed out the papers that had the invisible ink on them. "Aparecium " Lavender said, tapping her paper. Some letters appeared albeit not all of them. She was just about to give it another try when Val spoke to her. "About the same." She replied.
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Lavender Brockert
Seems like a straight forward kind of spell to me.
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Valentine Duell
February 06, 2021 5:35 AM
That's just what they want you to think. by Valentine Duell
Valentine was overjoyed that Lavender had taken the seat next to her. The Crotalus girl had come to see her a few times during her stay in the hospital wing, and that had been a life saver. Medic Willow was a nice and wonderful person whom Val liked and appreciated very much, but... that was her job. Her friends and family that visited had taken time out of their own schedules to come and visit her, to see how she was doing. That made her feel all fuzzy, warm and loved. It also made her really want to get out of that hospital bed.She looked at the paper Lavender was working on and smiled, thankfully it didn't hurt much to do that anymore. "Thank-you again for coming to visit me, I really appreciated it." Valentine moved to embrace her friend in a hug, but paused half way there with a wince as some pain shot through her back and arm muscles. She grimaced, and pushed through. She was going to give Lavender a hug if it killed her. She kinda hoped it didn't though.
As she pulled back she gave Lavender a serious look, "A word of advise, if you're every flying a broom and need to dodge a lightning bolt, I suggest pulling up not down." She couldn't hold the straight face for long before she giggled, which still kinda hurt a little as well.
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Valentine Duell
That's just what they want you to think.
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Lavender Brockert
February 07, 2021 5:31 PM
They are sneaky like that. by Lavender Brockert
Lavender looked at her friend. "Of course. "She replied. "It was no problem at all." She frowned as Val winced in pain as she started to get up. It didn't seem like the other second year was completely healed. Surely, though, the medic knew what she was doing when she released the Teppenpaw. Lavender very much had confidence that qualified people were being hired at Sonora.Still, she was about to tell Val to sit down and not hurt herself further when the other girl hugged her. Lavender returned the hug. Gently. "Are you sure you're okay?"" She asked. "Did you take your medication? I mean, I assume you were released with medication if you're still in pain."
"Noted." She replied. Actually, Lavender wasn't going to get on a broom when there was lightning period. Or even better, she was not going to get on a broom at all if she could avoid doing so. She was not a sporty type of girl and had really not enjoyed flying lessons all that much last year. The Crotalus would rather do...almost anything else than fly. Val's accident had only reinforced those feelings. She didn't even really like watching Quidditch that much though she did go to school games because her friend was on the team and she wanted to be supportive of her. Still, Lavender didn't find the sport in general all that interesting or fun. She hadn't even liked how flying felt much last year. It hadn't been thrilling or exciting, it had been terrifying, being up in the air with nothing but a small piece of wood supporting her.
However, Val was giggling so that was a plus. To Lavender, it looked like she was in lots of pain but maybe she was doing okay. Honestly, the Crotalus really admired her friend's bravery. If an accident happened to Lavender, she would probably never want to go near any of the elements involved in said accident ever again.
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Lavender Brockert
They are sneaky like that.
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Valentine Duell
February 07, 2021 6:30 PM
Very true, one must be very careful by Valentine Duell
"I'm okay," Valentine nodded with a smile and only a minor wince. She shuddered mildly as Lavender reminded her about that medicine. That stuff tasted horrible, she made a face to show her displeasure with the medications. "Yes Mother," she replied with a playful smile. "But," she continued, "That first thing this morning, I'm probably due for another dose again soon." She sighed. When was potions again? Maybe professor Brooding-Hawthorne could suggest something to make it taste better.Val nearly giggled again as Lavender 'noted' her suggestion. She knew her friend wasn't one for flying around and that was fine. Everyone had their own interests and hobbies. Valentine liked a lot of things not necessarily because the activities were great and fun, but because they let her hang out with people, and that was what she really liked to do. Flying and gaming were some of the things she liked to do just for the sake of doing them... although it was really hard to separate gaming from hanging out with people, so that made it all the better.
"So, what do we think about this lesson?" She asked, deciding that they had better get down to things before the professor wandered this way and they hadn't gotten very far yet. She looked down at her own paper, "Do you think we just keep casting it over and over until everything is revealed?"
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Valentine Duell
Very true, one must be very careful
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Lavender Brockert
February 08, 2021 8:18 PM
I usually try to be by Lavender Brockert
"I know, most potions generally don't taste very good at all." Lavender replied. Which was not all that surprising when one considered what was in them. They were full of ingredients such as beetle eyes and bat spleens and armadillo bile, none of which sounded at all appealing. She could understand why Val would not be all that excited about ingesting them.Granted, they were effective and necessary when one was in pain or sick or had some other problem that, well, could be solved by a potion and the second year had never known anything different.Still, that did not make the potions taste any better or the ingredients in them seem any more appetizing. Of course, if things were added to make a potion taste better then they might not be as effective. Or effective at all. Or downright poisonous. That was the thing, potions had to be done very precisely or it could spell disaster. Lavender tended to be fairly good at making them as she generally wanted to avoid disaster as well as bad grades.
Of course, the second year supposed that having to take unpleasant tasting potions that were full of disgusting things was a very good reason to avoid doing things that were dangerous in the first place. Not that pain and injury were not good enough reasons to avoid them to begin with. Or the fact that Lavender just plain did not like doing the sorts of things that could get one hurt and having to take said potions at all.
She really hoped that did not make people think she was boring. Of course, one could say that the sort of people who would think that made her boring were the sorts of people whose opinions she should not care about. That did not make Lavender feel better though. It was one thing to think that, but it was quite another thing in practice and she generally wanted to be liked or at least not disliked. She was just glad that the people she knew like Val and Stanley who did like things like flying liked her anyway because they didn't have to even if Stanley was her cousin. People did not have to like their family.After all, her dad absolutely hated Stanley's biological grandmother who was her dad's sister. Actually, come to think of it, most people hated Stanley's biological grandmother.
"It's a pretty good one." Lavender replied. After all, it was one with low danger-though she supposed someone could somehow set their paper on fire, some people could always find a way-a low amount of physical challenge, a low possibility of being personally humiliated in front of her peers and a chance to add to her magical skills, what wasn't to like? Granted, she couldn't readily see a reason to use it either since even if Lavender had been inclined to pry into someone's private communications or writings, most people she knew could do higher levels of magic that aparecium did not respond to. "I think that's exactly what we're supposed to do. Unless you have an idea that would make it more interesting or go more quickly." Her tone suggested she would not be opposed to such things. So long as they weren't going to possibly injure Val further or her at all. Or get them into trouble.
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Lavender Brockert
I usually try to be
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Valentine Duell
February 10, 2021 6:05 PM
You are better at that than me by Valentine Duell
"It is nasty stuff," Valentine confirmed for her friend. "I think it's half Flobberworm Mucus." she said twisting her face up into a good disgusted expression. "There are some little crunchy bits as well. I don't know what they are, but I've just taken to swallowing them down. Breaking them open makes things even worse." She faked gagging then sighed. Her next dose was in her bag and potions was until after lunch. She would need to take it before then, and she wasn't sure she had enough time to get over to the potions room and find Professor Brooding-Hawthorne and convince her to fix the potion in time either. Assuming she could fix the potion. After class, she thought. I'll chug it down after class. Maybe she could swing by the hall for a glass of water to go with it at least.Val nodded at Lavender's assessment. It was a pretty good one but.... "I think it'd be better if we learned the other half as well." She gave her friend a mischievous smile, "We can reveal secret notes we pass in class, but we can't actually make them." She looked at her own paper while considering Lavender's suggestion. Was there a way to make this more interesting or faster? She couldn't think of anything for faster, but more interesting? Hmm... "We could turn it into a guessing game." she suggested. I've got a few letters scattered about as do you, can you guess what your message says yet? We could write down our guesses then reveal a few more letters, we could see how good we are at figuring out hidden messages before they're revealed?"
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Valentine Duell
You are better at that than me
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Lavender Brockert
February 12, 2021 8:06 PM
Thanks. It's nice to know I have a talent. by Lavender Brockert
"Ewww!" Lavender replied. "I mean, I know that's normal and stuff but I wouldn't even want to drink the mucus of something nicer than a flobberworm, like a kitten or a puffskien or a unicorn. And crunchy bits....that is so so icky." She made a disgusted face. The thought was actually nauseating but at least she didn't gag. That would have been slightly embarrassing though only Val would have seen and while Lavender sometimes worried that the other second year liked Bonabelle better than her,she still had confidence in their friendship as a whole. Val didn't judge for not liking flying and she didn't think she would judge her for gagging about crunchy bits either.Still, it wasn't about her. Lavender didn't need the potion and it only reinforced her decision not to do dangerous things that could lead to injury and pain that would make her need to take mucus-y potions with disgusting crunchy bits. She felt even worse for Val though and for the Crotalus to gag at the thought of taking something so repulsive might be making it about herself. Though she thought gagging might be a reflexive thing.
"I agree." Lavender replied, happy to move on from the conversation about potions with mucus and crunchy bits. " I mean, I could see myself using that even just for the fun of it. I don't really want to like read other people's private things." After all, she would not want them reading hers. Plus, she might learn things that she really would not want to know by prying. "Of course, even if we could do the other half of this, pretty much everyone we know could use this spell to decipher what we wrote. I mean, it's not like either of us has younger siblings that couldn't." The only people that Lavender thought that she could keep out of her things by doing this were Gabriel's sister, Piper and Wally and Stanley's sister Charlotte and Val was an only child. And even if they had younger siblings, the younger siblings would not be at Sonora and would quickly learn it once they arrived.
"That sounds fun." Lavender replied to Val's suggestion. That was exactly the kind of thing that she was talking about. Something that would make the lesson more fun but would not cause them to get injured and/or in trouble. The Crotalus turned back to her paper. " Aparecium . She tapped it twice as instructed. "I think that word is "the" and then there's an a by itself, so I'm going to guess that word is a."
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Lavender Brockert
Thanks. It's nice to know I have a talent.
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Valentine Duell
February 13, 2021 11:58 AM
You have many talents by Valentine Duell
Valentine did her level best to not giggle while Lavender was reacting to her description of the potion. Her friend was absolutely, one hundred percent right in everything she was saying. Still there was something about voicing it in such a manner that just made Val want to smile, and that she couldn't resist. "I agree wholeheartedly." She replied, then asked aloud her other thoughts on the subject. "Do you think Professor Brooding-Hawthorne has any way to make it better?"She thought about Lavender's statements on the lesson. "That is true," she said slowly while her mind worked on the problem. "If we were just passing a seemingly blank piece of paper back and forth, it would be rather obvious. We would need to obfuscate the fact that there was anything secret there at all." She brightened, "Aha! We could write a normal letter about nothing really at all, and then between the lines of writing we could write the secret message and make that disappear. It's just like the Professor said, this only works if you know where something is that needs to be revealed." She winked at Lavender conspiratorially. "We'll just need to figure out our own system for hiding the hidden bits."
Val nodded as Lavender made her predictions, then examined her own sheet again. She didn't have any good groupings of letters yet, they were all spread out. This may be trickier than she'd thought. "Hmm... this is probably 'you'?" she indicated an 'ou' cluster. "But I guess it could also be 'about' or something like that?" She tapped her wand and cast the spell again. Nothing appeared in that section of the paper, but a few others were revealed. "That says 'on'!"
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Valentine Duell
You have many talents
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