Am I going forwards or backwards? on Charms

Grayson Wright

January 04, 2023 7:40 PM

Intermediate Charms I by Grayson Wright

Ah, the Intermediates. The group was at a...delicate stage, both in life and in their education. The third years were transitioning out of Beginners, the fifth years needed to be at Advanced level by the end of the year, and the fourth years were in their own limbo, poised between the two other years and at constant risk of falling through the cracks. Teaching them was a perpetual balancing act, and one that Professor Wright could only hope he generally did an adequate job of.

"Hello, everyone," he said to the group, glancing around to see where various faces had located themselves. Occasionally, specific years would be assigned to work with specific years, very occasionally so the fifth years could learn by instructing the younger students, but much of the class material involved each student's individual mastery of the charm. If a seating arrangement caused too much of an obstacle to learning, he'd intervene, but otherwise the students were generally allowed to organize themselves, as they were also at the place in their development where they needed to learn responsibility for creating their own work environments. "Welcome back. Hope everyone had an enjoyable summer, and that you're all ready to get back to work."

'Prepared' might have been a better word to use, compared to 'ready'; he made a note of that for future occasions before he continued. "We'll start out with something simple, since you're probably all a bit out of practice over the summer." Third years weren't quite as bad as second years for seemingly forgetting everything they'd learned before the summer, but anyone who simply didn't cast a spell for two months was going to be a tad rusty upon their return, and technically, legally speaking, no-one here should have had much of an opportunity for spell-casting over the summer. Or at least, he very much hoped none of his students had had any opportunities over the summer to legally use magic, considering what the law defined as acceptable occasions for this age group in that time period.... "As some of you already know, Intermediate classes are where you begin learning some charms that can be - and are - used on people. Fifth years, by the time you leave us this year, you'll know several basic healing charms and the basic memory charm - things that you'll need to know as adult witches and wizards if you choose not to continue on to the Advanced classes. Third years, by the end of the year, you'll have started your foray into basic mood-altering charms - cheering charms, sleep-easing enchantments, that sort of thing. Fourth years - more advanced versions of the charms the third years work with and that you learned last year, and you'll begin on the healing charms, though not quite at the same level as the fifth years. For today, we'll all look at some cleaning charms that fall into the healing family, at least to the extent that they're safe to use on living things."

He tapped the board, revealing the incantations. "As you may have all had occasion to learn in some of your other classes - " he took a certain amount of pride in how it was rare for anyone to cut themselves in Charms; it wasn't impossible, it happened, but it was rarer than in some classes, especially, he imagined, Care of Magical Creatures, Potions, and perhaps Herbology - "one of the first things you want to do if you have a skin-breaking injury, once you've evaluated how serious it is, is to clean the affected area. If you're ever in a position where you can't access help immediately, usually if you're not comfortable trying to work on yourself or another person, then that's especially important. However, I'm sure you can imagine the reasons why you might not want to use the same spells on yourself that you'd use on your cauldron. Scourgify is a very useful charm, much like reparo, but they're both harsher than you usually want a spell you're using on something alive to be. The repairing charm, if you attempt to cast it on a person, will produce severe scarring; overly harsh cleaning charms will at best cause the patient a lot of pain, and at worst might make any bleeding worse. That's usually undesirable.

"A better - if more difficult - spell to use in such a situation would be emaculo. Instead of scouring what it's aimed at fairly indiscriminately, it works to lift substances - like dirt - that shouldn't be in an area more gently. Now, one of the issues about this class which may have already occurred to you, third years, is who or what you're going to cast these spells on. It would be very much against both my personal morals and the administrative guidelines for me to instruct you to deliberately harm yourselves, each other, or animals so you can practice healing them, and I imagine Healer Willow wouldn't thank me for conducting classes in her infirmary even on a day bad enough to allow you all to practice. As your older classmates can tell you - there's a variety of alternatives we'll make use of. Today, we're going to work on some very badly-potted - to the point it's injured a few of their tentacles - flitterblooms - you'll find them in pots at the back. For anyone who isn't familiar with them, they look very similar to Devil's Snare, but are much safer - they sway, but they react minimally to touch and aren't aggressive, so they cannot harm you.

"Third and fourth years should work together in groups or two or three to a plant. Fifth years, you can warm up by practicing this spell, but by the end of class, I'd like you to also attempt a second charm - confervo. It closes minor cuts and abrasions - it may be sufficient for very minor ones, though a deeper cut would require additional healing later. For homework, everyone should look up both spells in the encyclopedia of Charms and make notes on their common uses and mechanics. As usual, I'll walk around the room and observe as you're working, let me know if you have any questions or need assistance. All clear? Excellent. Let's get to work!"

OOC: Welcome to Charms! For the record, neither of these charms is canonical - I made them up. All the usual posting rules and conventions apply. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Am I going forwards or backwards? by Xavier Lundstrom

Monsters! [Hansel] by Iris Cobb with Hansel Hexenmeister

Just ignore me by Yaniel Ayala Velez with Fortune Ardovini

16 Grayson Wright Intermediate Charms I 113 1 5

Xavier Lundstrom

January 06, 2023 5:55 PM

Am I going forwards or backwards? by Xavier Lundstrom

Xavier entered Charms in a huff. He couldn’t believe Oz! And it wasn’t like he could tell him that he was being ridiculous, although in this case he was sorely tempted to. Oz would just say Xavier was silly, or worrying over nothing, which was so unfair when actual empirical evidence was on his side. How could he possibly think that this was a good idea? After—

But Xavier didn’t have much time to stew on the problem. Class began shortly after he arrived, and although he was still internally fuming at his boyfriend, he did his best to stuff it down and pay attention. Although he would only admit it grudgingly, he did owe a lot to Professor Wright. A lot that he shouldn’t have had to owe to anyone, if people had just diagnosed him right in the first place, and not dragged him off to experimentation-land. It was hard to ever fully separate his thankfulness to his teacher from his resentment that he had needed so much helping, some of that inflicted by other people but… but he had. He had needed the help, and Professor Wright had willingly given it, and it had actually helped. So, Xavier tried to give his best in Charms. Letting his emotions boil and bubble, and not listening to the lecture, was not his best. Though he hoped for the sake of his good intentions that there wasn’t a lot of theory today, because there was only so much that they could take.

Professor Wright didn’t waffle on about Latin derivation, so it was a pretty good day, although Xavier couldn’t feel particularly inspired about healing magic. He’d never had ‘doctor’ on his career list even pre-Sonora, and there was no way he was strong enough magically to aim for that kind of career path. He wasn’t even convinced he’d trust himself to do first aid at the level they were being taught. He supposed he could try, seeing as his usual issue was being ineffective. He was hardly going to cause any of those issues like heavy scarring that Profesor Wright was talking about (and which, if he’d been listening properly, he would have realised were things caused by charms that no one should be doing on another person) - he was most likely to just fail to make a difference. If no one else and no bandaids or alcohol wipes were around, he guessed he could give it a go, but he foresaw very little personal use to the spells they would be learning today, in spite of how often he fell and grazed himself.

He went and got a plant, wondering slightly at the way the school’s classes fed into each other. It wasn’t the first time that more advanced magic had been ‘deal with this botched magic from earlier,’ and with plenty of students messing things up, there was no shortage. He wondered if Professor Wright would come and hang out in one of their more dangerous Care of Magical Creatures classes for a practical follow up on this. He had said it was against his personal ethics and school policy to have them cut each other on purpose (which Xavier would believe readily of him as an individual, hesitantly about Sonora as a school, and not at all about the wizarding community at large). However, between Quidditch, animal handling, and having both a club and class dedicated to mortal kombat, the school also didn’t exactly worry about them getting hurt, so long as it was in legitimately educational/sporting ways.

Which brought his mind back to Oz…

Which wasn’t going to help him cure this badly potted plant. The tentacles were both busted up and dirty, so he guessed they had to use this hygienic cleaning charm to cleanse the affected area. Which, given that they were literally wriggling around in soil, was pretty badly compromised.

He tried to do the ridiculous, annoying breathing things without looking too much like he was doing ridiculous, annoying breathing things. He dug deep, grasping for power and ‘flow.’ As per advice, he tried not to force it… But it was hard. And it was hard to define the difference between force and necessary energy. It was like lifting a heavy box—you could get the right posture, with your feet apart and your knees bent all you wanted, but at some point you did have to put your back into it, or the box was going nowhere. That was how magic had always been for him. He tried to do that in a way that didn’t feel like it was tensing up his body or straining himself, but he still had to put a big push behind things to get them moving.

”Emaculo,” he cast, pointing at the damaged tentacle. He felt the rush of magic from his core, through his finger tips. His wrist jerked slightly with the force of it, but it still hit its target. Much of the visible dirt vanished. Xavier blinked, surprised to have got such noticeable results on his first try.

His triumph was short-lived though, as his next two attempts made no further visible difference, even though he could feel that recoil sensation in his wrist each time. Urgh. Stupid spell. Stupid wonky magic. Stupid Oz— he felt his frustration at both of them building to the point where he wasn’t sure he could keep them underneath the surface.

He dropped his wand, shaking out his hand and wrist.

“Given that a lot of dirt and germs and stuff are microscopic, how do we know when we’re done?” he asked his neighbour, sounding grumpy. “And why in the heck has Oz signed up for Quidditch again after what happened last year?!” he added, finding that once he’d loosened the vent on one frustration the other came tumbling with it. Even if neither would make much sense to his classmate, given that the tentacle looked as finished as could be expected, and nothing of significance had happened to their classmate during a game…

13 Xavier Lundstrom Am I going forwards or backwards? 1529 0 5

Iris Cobb

January 06, 2023 7:46 PM

Monsters! [Hansel] by Iris Cobb

Iris entered the charms classroom and surveyed those who had arrived before her. She had two objectives to accomplish this year… well, three if one counted passing their CATS, but that one was significantly lower on the priority list. The first was to finish that assignment from Ulrich, and the second was… Iris smiled as she found what she was looking for.

The Crotalus girl slid into the seat next to Hansel Hexenmeister with the best and friendliest smile she could manage. "Hi Hans." She said in almost, but not quite, a purr before setting out her books, notebooks and getting ready for class. It wasn't long before Professor Wright started the lesson.

As usual, he talked a lot. They were starting off with review things, which was good. She wasn't feeling to bad about the task at hand until he unveiled their practice subjects. The first thing that went through her mind was 'What happened to those poor plants!?'. The leader of the gardening club couldn't help but stare at the poor plants in near abject horror. Had they been potted by the first years? She was pretty sure that Professor Xavier's daughter could do better.

Momentarily forgetting her primary objective that she had set for the lesson, she rushed to the plants and picked the one that looked like it was in the worst shape. Iris carefully brought it back to her seat with a concerned look. "How could anyone do this to an innocent plant?"

2 Iris Cobb Monsters! [Hansel] 1526 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

January 09, 2023 3:33 PM

Just ignore me by Yaniel Ayala Velez

Third year. Intermediate classes. That might have been vaguely overwhelming, if it wasn't for the fact that all of life already felt that way. When every single day felt like dragging around and invisible rock, then stepping up a grade level was just another pebble on the load. Academically, it would be challenging. Yarielis tended to be middle of the pack, and to worry that was enough, so that was a bit scary. Should have been scary? It was like, in theory, Yarielis knew it should feel that way, but there were too many other feelings on high alert for it to really register.

The worst part of the class was that it was a bigger group of people. Yarielis took a seat in the middle, at the edge, trying to be as invisible as possible. It was always something that had come easily to the Crotalus, though the older they all got the more it felt like it was slipping. Like Yarielis' body was big and clumsy and wrong, and that everyone was constantly staring at it. It was hard to be invisible with that itch constantly running under your skin. Alarm bells started ringing as Professor Wright started talking about how they would be practising spells on each other in intermediate classes. That was yet another attack on the invisibility armour which Yarielis needed. Being invisible was safe. Being invisible was almost comfortable. But you couldn't fade into the background when you were the target for someone else's spell.

Luckily, they weren't starting with that today. Today, it was only plants. Yarielis filed the worry away for later, and went to get a beaten up flitterbloom - an act which involved moving amongst people, which made it so much harder not to be noticed. Yarielis successfully navigated a flitterbloom back to the table, only wanting to die a handful of times from human proximity.

The Crotalus bent over the plant, glad for the fact that the task required close attention to detail, and thus provided a perfect excuse for not looking at or talking to people.

"Emaculo," Yarielis cast, wondering why a cleaning charm was masculine when it was typically associated with women. Well, first aid and nursing was. Maybe 'proper' healing and being a doctor was more associated with men. Or maybe it was all arbitrary and nonsensical. The visible dirt did not change. It would probably help to cast above a whisper volume and to have the courage of one's convinctions... In which case, the poor flitterbloom was going to be waiting a long time for adequate help.

OOC: Although Yarielis is not being sociable, I am more than open to someone replying

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez Just ignore me 1554 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

January 14, 2023 7:01 PM

The Professor says I can't by Fortune Ardovini

Fortune took a seat in charms next to Yarielis. It wasn't really something he consciously did on purpose, there were open seats scattered about the classroom and he'd picked one. It just happened to be next to Yarielis. He had noticed that the Crotalus usually liked to keep to herself and that was fine, but she was a fellow teammate as well. Maybe they could talk some Quidditch when the lesson got boring or they finished it early. He was pretty sure which of those two things would happen faster.

He unpacked his class stuff and did his best to follow along with Professor Wright, but he somehow had forgotten how the Professor's words seemed to meander around the topics and Fortune occasionally got lost along the way. Thankfully it seemed like the Professor was starting them off easy, as this opening was almost direct to the point... for him. He wondered if that would get worse now that he was an intermediate. If so, he hated to think what the Advance classes had to listen to when they got to Charms.

When the professor said that the third and forth years should work together, he shot Yarielis a friendly grin. She didn't seem to be paying attention to anything around her though. When they were instructed to get plants, he started to get up but Yarielis beat him to it. Huh, he thought she might have preferred him to go get it if they were supposed to share a plant. Oh well. She got back and made an attempt at the spell? It was barely a whisper, but he thought it was the incantation they were supposed to use. Nothing seemed to happen.

"Should I give it a try next, or did you want another shot at it?" He asked his partner with a casual smile.

2 Fortune Ardovini The Professor says I can't 1549 0 5

Yaniel Ayala Velez

January 16, 2023 3:08 PM

That's rude of him by Yaniel Ayala Velez

Yarielis was startled from solitude by someone asking if it was their turn. The Crotalus looked up, finding Fortune without a plant and most of the rest of the class in pairs or threes. Oh. Oops. Had Yarielis really missed the fact that this was group work? How?! That was something the third year was normally on high alert for. There had just been so much else going on... Not really in the class, which had been quiet and seemingly attentive as usual, but inside Yarielis' head...

"I'm so sorry!" Fortune hadn't called out the mistake but it was so obvious and that was just because he was being nice. "I wasn't listening to the instructions properly." And chose to work by myself, like a big, loner freak... "Here." Yarielis forcefully shoved the plant over to Fortune, almost toppling it and adding to its injuries. "I'm sorry."

Way to screw up. He was probably already made at Yarielis for not signing up for Quidditch. If he cared. It was a fantastic piece of brain gymnastics, but Yarielis was fully convinced the rest of the team would be furious-to-the-point-of-shunning and also not even notice or care if their forth beater didn't put in an appearance this year.

13 Yaniel Ayala Velez That's rude of him 1554 0 5

Fortune Ardovini

January 22, 2023 11:43 AM

It sure was. For some reason. by Fortune Ardovini

A brief look of confusion crossed Fortune's face as Yarielis apologized, but it was quickly replaced by one of surprise as the plant came his way a bit more forcefully than necessary. He caught it before anything worse could happen to the poor thing and Yarielis was apologizing again. He gave the Crotalus a small questioning/concerned look. "No problem."

He wondered if maybe she was unhappy that he'd sat next to her. Maybe she'd wanted someone else to do so. He wasn't quite sure who, since he couldn't really recall Yarielis hanging out with anyone on a very regular basis. There was Cole occasionally, had he gotten in the way of something there? She couldn't mind sitting with one of her Quidditch teammates on occasion though, could she? Although, now that he came to think of it, he had noticed earlier that Yarielis' name hadn't shown up on the sign up sheet yet. Although maybe she just never had a quill handy or was just planning on showing up at try-outs. Or... (hopefully not) maybe she wasn't going to play this year?

Fortune wasn't sure how to put that forth as a question. If Yarielis didn't want to play again, well she didn't have to. He'd miss her from the team, but it wasn't like he could force her to do something she didn't want to. Plus, if you didn't want to play and had to, your heart wasn't in it and you wouldn't play well and the whole team would suffer for it.

He attempted the charm on the plant with a wave of his wand and "Emaculo". A few particles of dirt lifted themselves from the section of the plant he had been focusing on. He smiled at his limited success, there was a lot of bad on this plant yet. "Alright, your turn again." He moved the plant in between them so they could both work on a side of it. Then made a decision, "How are things going so far? Got any big plans for the year?" Maybe that would be opening enough?

2 Fortune Ardovini It sure was. For some reason. 1549 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

January 24, 2023 5:06 PM

How . . . terrible. by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel had arrived early to class today, more by accident than design, though he had intentionally added a little bit of buffer to his travelling times today just because it had been a couple months since he last had to find his way around the school. It came back easier than usual this time, now that he was in his fifth year and he was moving into his third year of following the Intermediate schedule, so the extra time hadn't been necessary, so here he was. He'd picked a seat near the middle, a row closer to the front than the exact center, figuring his friends would find him easily if he was right in the middle.

It wasn't one of his close friends, though, who slid into the seat next to his not long after. Iris. She was in his year, and seemed nice enough. He returned her friendly smile with one of his own, and echoed back, "Hi, Iris." She set out her books and supplies and he decided to follow suit since it looked like an efficient arrangement should he need any of those items.

Professor Wright then began the lesson, going on for quite a long time, as he was prone to do, though he suspected lectures would get even longer next year once they moved up to Advanced and the concepts became even more complex.

Iris rushed off to the plant for them to work on - he guessed the fifth years were supposed to work in teams, too, but that hadn't been explicitly specified. Third and Fourth year were working in pairs or trios. Fifth years . . . could work on the cleaning spell first, but should then try the healing charm, but he hadn't said to work alone.

Anyway, Iris brought back a plant with multiple injuries, so there was plenty of work for them both to do on it. She seemed outraged that the plant would be allowed to exist in this condition.

Hansel had never given a whole lot of thought to the well being of plants. Obviously, leaving one with broken stems and battered leaves like this one had wasn't great, but he wasn't sure he would have given it much more than a second look if he'd seen it out in the gardens. Or really known what to do about it before this lesson, even if he'd thought it needed treatment.

Professor Wright had said they were badly potted, so presumably the damage had come from the potting process. "I guess someone didn't know what they were doing?" he ventured. "I doubt it was on purpose," he added, because he tended to believe in the best of people.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister How . . . terrible. 1524 0 5