Charms ((OWLs, 4th/5th years))

[Professor Filius Flitwick]

First thing Monday Morning. Not one of the best times to be teaching. Students were often tired still after the weekend and would rather have an extra hour or two in bed rather than get up for lessons. Undoubtedly however, many of the professors were the same. Flitwick however always made sure he slept well each night, Sunday being no exception, and so he was always wide awake and entusiastic first thing every morning. It was a shame that the same thing couldn't be said for many of the students he'd be teaching-it was his OWLs group today. They were at the age where they'd rather go to bed late and wake up late as a result. They didn't appreciate having to wake up early, especially those who weren't very enthusiastic about charms. Which was, unfortunately, quite a lot.

Having eaten his poached egg on toast, an apple and a cup of coffee for his breakfast, Flitwick went to his room to prepare the lesson. A new week meant a new spell, and today he'd be teaching his class Accio and Depulso, more commonly known as the summoning and banishing charms. These were some of the most crucial spells in the OWL course, and often appeared in the exam, so the students would have to be able to perform them to a high standard to get a high grade. He ventured into his store room and brought out a box full of assorted items, from small toys to items of clothing, even a few books were among the items. He layed them out all over the front desk, ready for the start of the lesson.

Students started to file in to the classroom, many looking groggy as usual first thing in the morning, few looking rather awake and seemed to be looking forward to the lesson. They were generally the ones that did the best in Charms, and most likely many of their other classes too. Soon enough the class was full, as students arrived having had their breakfast. Some looked puzzled by the items that were on the front desk, others let their eyes barely glaze over them and just sat down at their desk rather drowsily. As soon as there were enough people in the class, he began the lesson.

"Good morning class, I trust you're all well after weekend. Well, I hope you are as today is a very important lessons. The spells you will learn often appear on the OWL exam. Actually, I'm sure I haven't seen a paper not mentioning Accio at least for over 10 years now. Which means it's likely to come up on your exams too. Now, I've already mentioned Accio, and the other spell you'll be learning about today is depulso, which is basically the opposite of accio. Now, have any of you heard of them already, and could you tell us anything about them?" He watched as a few hands went up around the room, and he picked someone from the middle to answer the question. "Now, can anyone give me any reasons why they are useful, and how they might be used?"

((Right, one person answer the first question, either talking about one spell or both. If that person answers for just one spell then someone else can answer for the other. Then another student can answer the second question. Thank you )

[Casey Allen G5]

Casey pulled her grey jumper down as she eyed herself in the mirror. Everything had been different lately. She was now dating Carson which was a bit new to her really. Also, her Eden life had basically been put on hold. She found herself practicing less and less. Bradley kept writing letters telling her to practice and then he would write one to Joel telling him to get Casey to practice. But, she wasn’t in the mood at all. She was confused. Very confused. Casey barely wanted to talk to Ezzie. Casey was too sad for her friend. She didn’t know what to say to her. She wanted to help Ezzie, but for some reason, he friend almost seemed like a lost cause. Casey eyed herself in the mirror one more time. She felt different. She felt as if her life was changing and it was. She just didn’t want to face it. She wanted to go back to before Ethan died and before she became Eden Sweden. But, she couldn’t. The past was in the past and Casey simply had to move on even though she just wanted to rewind the clock. Casey quickly picked up her book and jetted out of her dorm. She wanted to be early to the Great Hall to avoid any students glaring at her and whispering rumors about Ezzie. Lately, Casey had been trying to stray from the lime light.

Casey sat alone at the table. Only a few students were in the Great Hall at this hour, but she liked it that way. She grabbed a muffin and chewed it slowly. She now had the habit of thinking of Ezzie when she ate. She couldn’t help it. Casey didn’t understand Ezzie’s behavior. She felt as if her friend was a totally different person and Casey didn’t know what to do about it. Casey’s head turned as a huge group of students made their way into the room. She shook her head, picked up her books, and left her chair. She was sick and tired of rumors. She didn’t want to hear anymore. Her light brown wavy hair moved as she sped-walked out of the cold room. She could feel eyes looking her way. They all knew that she had been Ethan’s friend and she was Ezzie’s best-friend. Casey assumed that some of them even thought that Casey had been involved in Ethan’s death. She was sick and tired of them. But she couldn’t do anything about it.

An odd look was on Casey’s face as she entered the Charms room. She was the first person in the class which pleased her. She didn’t want to enter later and have all the students glare at her when she walked in. “Hi Professor.” She said simply and then took a seat around the middle of the class. She wasn’t one to sit in the first nor the back so the middle suited her. Casey noticed the weird items in front of her. She noticed some toys, books, and toys, but she ignored them and focused her eyes on the back wall. She smiled slightly when the class began. Now, she didn’t have to sit so awkwardly in her seat. She could participate in class. Casey knew the Accio spell. It was quite useful actually. And she had heard of Depulso as well. Casey raised her hand and smile when Professor Flitwick called on her. “Accio is the summoning charm. It causes the object to fly to the caster.” Casey had read something about it over winter break. She paused. She didn’t know much about Depulso. She knew it was the opposite, but she didn’t want to explain in wrongly so she decided to let someone else answer the second part of the question.

[Carson McGreggor H6]

Carson couldn’t believe it. He had been a taken man for almost a month now. Carson had never seen this happening. Just months ago, Carson imagined himself doing decently well in his classes, hanging out with Ethan, and continuing to play guitar and paint. He would have never imagined the life he was living now. During the summer holidays, Carson would have laughed at the thought of a dead Ethan. He would have said that Ethan was only fifteen, and wasn’t going to die any time soon. If someone told him he was going to be somebody’s boyfriend, he would have laughed even harder. During the holidays, Carson told himself he didn’t want to get into any kind of serious relationship. He would have said That’s Ethan’s area of expertise, not mine, or something of that nature. He used to tell himself that a girlfriend could wait, and that he didn’t want to get into anything just yet. Maybe he’d wait until next year and enjoy his single status in the meantime.

But along came Casey Allen, and all thoughts of staying single seemed to start to fly away. At first, he had tried to deny the fact that he liked Casey as more than just a friend, but eventually, that attempt seemed worthless. With Ethan and Ezzie shoving them together all the time, it was only a matter of time before the two realized Ezzie and Ethan had been right all along. He sighed as he packed his schoolbooks into his bag for the day. He was tired and groggy from lack of sleep, (his loud roommates had kept him up all night) and he wasn’t ready to let go of the weekend fun and begin a new school week. But of course, Carson had to forget about any thoughts of fun and games; for he had a Charms class to attend. He sighed and walked out of his dorm room, where his roommates were still fast asleep. He wouldn’t be surprised if they arrived late to Flitwick’s class. “Guys! Wake up. Charms starts in ten.” He threw a pillow at someone’s head and they awoke instantly, swearing because they had all overslept. Carson chuckled and started to walk out of the Hufflepuff common room.

Carson winced as his infamous watch hollered. “You’d better have a quick breakfast, or you’ll be late!” screamed the pocket watch. Carson rolled his eyes, knowing the enchanted watch was right. He’d better hurry, or he’d be late for class. He sighed, glancing down at his annoying pocket watch. The watch was a gift from his older sister Julie, who gave it to him when he told her he had gotten a job as Eden Sweden’s guitarist. It was Carson’s dream job, to be sure. He got to work with the coolest people in the world, and Eden had become somewhat of a sister to Carson, despite the creepy thought that she still seemed eerily familiar. During the holidays, he’d get to travel all around the world to perform for huge audiences. Not to mention the pay was amazing. It would definitely help his family out. Julie was doing just fine with the classes she taught from home, but that only gave her money enough for the necessities. He liked to be able to contribute his money to her and himself of course so they could afford the extra stuff that both of them desired but had never before been able to afford.

Carson was the second to enter the classroom, Casey being the first. Carson felt his lips curl into a grin as he saw her sitting alone at a table near the center of the room. “Morning, professor.” He said politely as he headed for the seat beside Casey. Pretty soon, the room began to fill up. Ezzie Mendez entered the room, looking tired and slightly ill. Ezzie’s eyes lingered on the table he and Casey were sitting at and Carson realized he had probably stolen her seat. After all, Casey and Ezzie were the best of friends. They’d probably want to sit next to each other. He got up and pulled out his chair for Ezzie to take. “Sorry Ezzie. Did you want to sit here?” He asked politely. Ezzie’s eyes darted fearfully to Casey for a moment and then she looked back at Carson. “No…no, it’s perfectly fine. I’ll just take a seat over here.” She said, walking toward the seat directly behind Carson and Casey. “Alright, if you’re sure...” Carson sat back down in his seat. “Hey, is something wrong between you guys? I know Ezzie hasn’t been in the best of moods lately, but she seemed even more depressed than before.” He whispered. But Casey didn’t have time to answer, for Flitwick had started his class. He asked a few questions and Casey provided one of the answers. He knew what Accio was, and used it many times before. But he honestly had no idea what Depulso was, so he stayed silent. “Good job Casey.” He whispered.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony narrowly avoided a girl with a mug of steaming hot chocolate in the Common Room as she made her way out for her Charms lesson. She leapt aside in time, probably a reflex action from her Quidditch training, and quickly apologised, even though it was definitely the half-blind seventh year girl who had come veering towards her shakily. Watching the Hufflepuff walk away, Harmony shouldered her bag and went on her way again. It was her favourite lesson, after all; she didn't want to be late. Not that Harmony was ever late to any of her lessons... Well. Not until the other day, when JJ had decided to spring onto her just before Herbology. Thankfully for Rex Carter, Harmony hadn't been injured, but she couldn't help but think wistfully that normally, the person who saved her was Ari. Their relationship was 'back to normal', one could call it. But it was still strained somewhat. Harmony knew she shouldn't lie to her sister about never seeing Rex again, when in fact the Gryffindor had saved her from the hands of what Harmony could only describe as a monster. She had no intention of avoiding Rex, actually. She had even let the boy persuade her to his way of thinking, and had agreed to meet him again soon. Her guilt at lying to Ari was normal, but what Harmony had found strange was how her sister didn't seem to question. Her eyes had been glassy, dazed, as though in a world of their own. Ari had merely nodded, patted Harmony gently on the head as though she were forgiven, and moved on, saying she had somewhere else to be. Aurora had given her an odd look, but said nothing, choosing to engage Harmony straight away in lively conversation with a bright smile. Harmony couldn't help but think that her cousin's visage was only a foil to what she was truly thinking underneath those dark eyes.

Harmony sighed as she hurried down the stairs. Whatever. At least Ari was speaking to her again and their relationship was not as tenuous as before. That Harmony was grateful for, and coupled with Ari's nonchalant reaction, she felt the white lie was no big deal. With both Ari and Rex on her side rather than against her, Harmony could finally feel better than she had in weeks. Finally she reached the Charms classroom and entered eagerly; instead of last weeks’ dire performance, Harmony wished to make it up to Professor Flitwick with better concentration and skills. Of course, it was Monday morning, but Harmony had been looking forward to the class all weekend. She was a morning person, not a nocturnal one like Ari, and was quite happy to rise and shine to greet a Charms lesson. As expected, she was one of the first students there. Professor Flitwick was at the top of the room with an assortment of objects on his table. Looking at the arrangement, Harmony guessed immediately that they would probably be doing Accio. That was fortunate; Harmony had witnessed Aurora and Ari performing it before, and they had taught it her not too long ago. Harmony had been practising it recently on lots of different objects, and it was an extremely useful spell. “Good morning, professor.” She greeted Professor Flitwick quietly with a smile, before taking her usual seat near the front of the class. She began to take out the suitable materials as other students flocked in, still groggy from lack of sleep. Monday mornings were always the most tired and weary for pupils. Harmony smiled and waved at a few acquaintances, before the lesson began, noticing Rex and Billy enter near the sound of the bell and take their positions at the back.

Indeed Harmony had guessed correctly; the lesson was to be centred around Accio, as well as Depulso. A slight crease marred Harmony’s forehead as she tried to recall what the latter was and if she had ever heard of it. Evidently as Professor Flitwick was saying, if Depulso was the opposite of Accio, it had to do the opposite of the Accio spell, meaning it banished rather than summoned objects. Simple enough. Harmony finally remembered Ari once using it, but it was a spell rarely used in comparison to Accio. Harmony put up her hand to answer the questions Professor Flitwick asked; he chose Casey Allen first, a Gryffindor in her year, and she described the Accio spell correctly. Harmony let her arm stay up, and she decided to answer for the second spell. “Depulso is the banishing charm.” She stated simply and confidently, though her voice was small and reserved. It was loud enough for people to hear her though, and she continued, “The opposite of Accio, it causes the object to leave the user rather than to bring it to the user.”

[Professor Filius Flitwick]

((Best move on with the class. Anyone else can join if they wish after this post. Someone can answer the last question, and I'll give points accordingly in the next post.))

Flitwick nodded as Casey Allen answered the first part of the question. She'd been having a hard time recently, predominantely due to the death of Ethan recently, who was apparently one of her best friends. It was a great shock to learn of his death-nobody that young deserved that fate. And Ethan had been a friendly, caring boy, who seemed to love life and everyone he knew. Nevertheless, Flitwick was supposed to be teaching, not thinking about death. "Indeed, yes, Accio is the summoning charm. I expect many of you have encountered it before. It's a very common and useful spell-hence why it is very important to know it in great detail, and be able to perform it very well. Five points to Gryffindor."

Harmony Chan, a Hufflepuff, was the next to answer. Harmony was a very competent student, and appeared to enjoy Charms lessons. Flitwick had faith in her, and was sure she would do well, and hoped she'd continue Charms to NEWT level. "Yes, very good Miss Chan. Five points to Hufflepuff. I expect not so many of you have heard of Depulso, but it is still important. Though argueably not as important as Accio-it isn't used nearly as much. But as Miss Chan said, it is basically the opposite of Accio-it is the banishing charm. Hence why I'll be teaching you both of them in the same lesson."

"Now, to start with, we'll be doing Accio-the summoning charm. Make sure you understand it and can perform it to the best of your ability-I know that a lot of you are more than capable of achieving Os at OWL, but only if you pay attention. Basically, you point your wand at the object you want to summon, and with a swift flick of the wand call "Accio!" and the object should fly towards you, like so." He took out his wand, pointed it at a stuffed toy on the desk, flicked his wand, called Accio and the toy flew towards him quickly. "Now, are you ready to try it out yourselves? Just point your wand at a specific object on the front desk, perform the spell and the object should fly towards you. Good luck class!"

((Post your students performing the spell etc etc. As I said above, "new" students are welcome to join. It's a great oppurtunity to do your house proud!))

[Casey Allen G5]

“Umm,” Casey didn’t really want to respond to Carson’s question, but she had to tell him something. Thankfully, however, class began. Casey really didn’t want to have to tell Carson everything; not now. Casey was having a hard time with it herself. She could barely bring herself to look at Ezzie. In the back of her mind, Casey knew that she was supposed to support Ezzie no matter what and she wanted to, but it was hard to say the least. Casey looked over to her old friend, a few rows down. She just wanted everything to be back to normal so Casey could have the old Ezzie back, but it wasn’t that simple was it? To completely have the old Ezzie back, Ethan would have to be alive again and that would never happen. Eventually Casey would have to talk to Ezzie and they would have to sort this out, but not yet. Casey wasn’t ready yet. She eyed Carson and then looked to the Professor as class began. Casey quite liked Charms and was pretty good at the subject unlike Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she couldn’t help that really. Casey sighed and listened to the lesson.

She smiled after she answered the question correctly. Gryffindor could use some more points so she was glad she could help out. She didn’t want her house to finish last this year in House Points. Casey nodded slightly to the instructions and eyed the objects on the front desk. She wasn’t sure how this would go, but she would try her best. She picked out a stuffed teddy bear similar to one she had received as a child. She smiled and focused on the object. Casey pointed her wand at the bear and did the traditional swish and flick. “Accio!” She called. The object wiggled around a bit, but didn’t actually leave it’s spot. Casey sighed. Oh, right. She must have flicked her wrist wrong or didn’t say the charm at the correct time. She took a deep breath and began to try again. “Accio.” She said as firmly as she could. This time, the bear rose a few inches and traveled a foot or so, but then went back to its spot. Casey shook her head and eyed Carson who offered her a smile. She smiled back and decided to fully concentrate. No thinking of Ezzie, Ethan, Eden, or Carson. None of that mattered right now. Casey just wanted to focus for once. “Accio!” She commanded clearly as she preformed the swish and flick. Then, the teddy bear rose and came to her and landed in her arms. Yes, it wasn’t as fast as it should have been and maybe it was a bit wobbly, but it was good enough for Casey. She smiled, hugged the teddy bear, and looked to Professor Flitwick to see what he would say.

[rex]

Monday morning was possibly the worst day and time to hold class. Who actually wanted to go to class and learn in the morning after the weekend? Classes should start Monday afternoon. One would think that the solution would be to hold classes on Tuesday. But no, that wouldn't work. Then you would start dreading Tuesdays as much as you dread Monday mornings. And Tuesdays were still pretty good right now. No, the best solution was to hold classes on Monday afternoons. Then you could have classes on Tuesday morning because you would have been warmed up after Monday afternoon. These very thoughts were running through Rex's head as he met Billy in the corridors outside of the Charms' classroom and they stumbled in together, just ahead of the bell.

The first thing Rex did was scan the room for Harmony. He sighted her at the front of the room. She usually sat there. As if she was sucking up to the professor. It made Rex sick. Never, in a million years, would Rex suck up to a professor. Even if his marks were in the toilet, he would never allow himself to fall into that trap. Rex would just have to break Harmony of that little habit. Suddenly, an idea came to him. Billy and he made themselves comfortable in the back of the classroom, Rex making a big scene of choosing his spot. As soon as Professor Flitwick had begun his lesson and Rex was positive that Harmony would not look anywhere but at Flitwick he turned toward Billy and made a beckoning hand gesture. When Rex was positive Harmony's attention was glued to the professor he moved up a row. Professor Flitwick asked a question of the class, a question that Rex neither knew nor cared to know. While Casey was answering he moved up another row. Flitwick then called on Harmony next and this was the perfect chance. Rex moved all the way forward until he was right behind Harmony. He ignored the glares that he was receiving from the other students in the class. All he cared about was that Harmony did not see that Rex had moved right behind her. Professor Flitwick was explaining the Accio charm and Rex was half listening. The other half of his mind was trying to figure out how to use the Accio charm to his advantage. That's it!

The professor then let the class practice the charm on multiple objects on the front table. Rex half-heartedly tried the swift flick of the wrist and quietly called, "Accio." He was concentrating on a brown stuffed bear. It had a lavender ribbon tied in a bow around its neck and glass beads for eyes. Rex did not want to call Accio too loudly for fear of alerting Harmony of his presence. He had totally forgotten that he had come into the class with his best friend Billy and that he had not told Billy of his plan. But he didn't want to spoil it. Something about Harmony made Rex seem to forget all about Billy and Stace. Even though they had been the best of friends for a while now. Oh well, what can you do? The room was soon full of the sound of students calling out "Accio." Some trying to make it two syllables and some only one. Some stressing the 'A' sound while others were stressing the 'O' sound. Rex threw caution to the wind as he figured that his voice would be lost in the see of student calls. He pointed his wand at the bear on the table and called, "Accio." The bear come flying toward him but it didn't come to him. Instead it flew straight into Harmony and bumped her on the head. Rex broke out in silent laughter and quickly ducked beneath his desk. "Perfect," he said under his breath, a huge smile across his face.

[Billy Brady H6]

Urgh, Monday mornings. Most likely Billy's least favourite time of the week. Or perhaps that was Sunday nights, where he often had to cram in loads of work for the following day, knowing that Monday morning would follow. At least the lessons on Monda mornings weren't so bad...he started with Charms which was probably one of his better subjects-he hoped to get at least an E in it at OWL. The trouble was that due to having late nights often on Sundays he was often tired and grumpy on Monday mornings, and often got up late and so had to rush breakfast and everything else he had to do in the mornings.

And today was no exception. He'd been up late working on some Divination work he had to do for later that day, and hence he woke up half an hour later than he should've done. He quickly threw on his uniform, had a quick wash, made his way up to the great hall to have a very quick piece of toast and marmalade and a cup of tea, looking round for Rex as he was eating. He didn't see him, or Stace even, and assumed that it was because they'd already made their way to lessons. He'd find out soon enough when he entered the Charms classroom.

He wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he met Rex just as he was turning into the Charms corridor, and they walked in together just as the bell was about to go. They weren't late so Flitwick couldn't take points off. And the lesson hadn't started either-Flitwick was at the front of the room, with a slightly concerned look-the room was only half full. He looked around for any more familiar faces, and saw Harmony Chan sitting at the front waiting for the lesson. If Billy had had any more say in the matter he would've chosen to sit at a bench near the girl that he'd had a secrt crush on since 2nd year, but Rex practically dragged him into one of the benches at the back of the room, and Billy decided to keep silent, for his own good more than anything. He didn't want Rex finding out about his secret crush, no way!

Sonn after, when more students had arrived, the lesson started. It turned out that it was about Accio and Depulso today, which explained the pile of assorted objects at the front of the room. Questions were asked first, and answered by Casey (a Gryffindor) and Harmony, who was obviously enthusiastic about Charms. Not many students would've known about Depulso and what it did-and Billy was one of the ones that didn't. They were then asked to perform Accio themselves, so Billy drew his wand and waited for Rex to have his go. Billy couldn't help laughing as the teddy bear he'd summoned crashed into Harmony. He just hoped she wouldn't get the wrong idea and think that it was intentional.

Then Billy decided to have a go. He focused on a book in the middle of the pile, that he was too far away to see the title of. He shouted Accio rather enthusiastic, flicked his wand and the book flew ofer the heads of other students in the room. Unfortunately however, it also flew over his own head and hit the wall behind him and falling to the ground. Hmm, that wasn't the best spell he'd ever done, but he was sure that he could get it perfect if he had more practice with it. He did want to get a high grade in Charms, after all.

[Harmony Chan H6]

Harmony smiled when Professor Flitwick approved of her answer, pleased because she had just earned some much needed house points for Hufflepuff. She had nothing against Ravenclaw, but it would be nice if Hufflepuff could win the House Cup this year; Ravenclaw had won it the year previous too. After the questions had been answered, the professor proceeded to tell them to practice the charms. Harmony knew how to do Accio fairly competently already, so she knew she had to practice Depulso. However, since they were meant to show Professor Flitwick they could perform the former spell first, Harmony settled on a book on the far end of the classroom and summoned it towards her. She spoke the charm clearly and as predicted, it sailed cleanly towards her. Smiling contently, Harmony was just about to take the book out of the air with her free hand, when something bumped into her head. Harmony gave a startled jump and looked up to see a teddy bear, having been charmed towards her. It was soft and so it didn’t do much damage, but it had surprised her. The book she had been about to get fell to the floor, but Harmony caught it in time with her fast reflexes. The teddy bear too was falling, and she flicked her wand to make it float in midair. Raising an eyebrow, Harmony turned around and lo and behold, Rex was laughing in mirth and delight at his trick. Somehow he had materialised from the back of the classroom to right behind her! She rolled her eyes, but a smile was set on her face. Pointing her wand at the book, Harmony attempted to try the Depulso spell with a grin on her face.

Harmony didn’t know why, but she felt comfortable with Rex now. Oddly so… she even a little playful around him. Since the JJ incident, Harmony felt like she could trust Rex, and allowed him to near her on occasions without worrying about the consequences. Rex never took it too far with her, which she was glad of. Muttering Depulso under her breath, Harmony sent the book flying from her hand towards Rex, finally smacking gently into the side of his head. He hadn’t even seen it coming. Laughing silently, Harmony turned around again, plucking the teddy out of midair and smiling at it. It was cute. Sitting it on her table, she looked around for another object to summon, but couldn’t see anything free. Finally, her eyes landed on a pile of books. She was just about to summon one, when the pile exploded and one of them flew towards her from the middle of the chaos. Turning around, Harmony saw it fly over Billy’s head – he had evidently done the spell. She chuckled under her breath, eyeing Rex up too, and went back to trying to summon the other books to her table. She could restack them and all, being the neat person she was. However, it was then Rex’s voice broke her concentration and she turned around with a smile on her face. “Rex, I didn’t appreciate that from before.” She said jokingly, her head tilting towards the innocent teddy. “Getting such a cute thing to attack me. I hope that book knocked some sense into you.”

[Theo Darke]

“Coming, coming!” Theo laughed as Lori tried to drag him out of his dormitory. “Give me a moment, will you?!” He choked, adjusting his tie in front of the mirror and trying not to fall over from Lori’s persistent pulls. “Okay, okay, done. Let’s go, mummy.” Theo shook his head with a small smile as he followed his best friend into the Common Room, joining the usual throng of students on a Monday morning heading to their first class. Theo noticed a few familiar faces and waved at them, yelling good mornings and chuckling at how dozy they looked. Most students were still half asleep, but Theo was generally good in the mornings. His tie had been a bit troublesome today though, hence why he and Lori were running a minute or so late. “I swear you’re worse than my mum, Lori.” Theo mumbled in her ear as he followed her out of the door and into the corridors. She made a witty remark, which Theo laughed at, and the duo proceeded to make their way quickly to the Charms classroom, where Professor Flitwick would be waiting. Charms was one of Theo’s favourite classes, and he was sure he would be taking it for NEWT next year. He enjoyed the subject itself, and Professor Flitwick was a good teacher. He was sure Lori wanted to take it too, and was glad they would at least have that lesson together.

They arrived on time; the bell hadn’t even run yet. Theo and Lori took their seats near the front, and waited for the lesson to start. It soon did, and Professor Flitwick asked some simple questions that Theo knew the answer to. Like Lori and many other students, he raised his hand; he wasn’t anxious to gain house points or anything, he just enjoyed Charms work in general. Ravenclaw were in the lead at the moment anyway, and it looked set for them to win the House Cup for the second year in a row. Expectedly, since Theo and Lori generally got chosen to answer in class and subsequently got the questions right, Professor Flitwick scanned over them to ask a fourth year Gryffindor, Casey Allen, who answered for Accio. Harmony Chan, who Theo recognised as one of the Hufflepuff Quidditch Chasers, answered for Depulso; Harmony had always struck Theo as being extremely good at Charms. Question section over, Professor Flitwick proceeded to ask the class to perform Accio. Knowing he could do this spell easily, as it was so commonly used by the older years, Theo got onto his feet beside Lori and scanned for a suitable object.

Theo’s eyes landed on a flowerpot at the back of the classroom, sitting quite innocently in the corner. Grinning, he turned to Lori as he took his wand out. “I’m going for a flowerpot.” He said with a smile, and then flicked his wand with ease. “Accio.” The flowerpot began to slowly make its way over to Theo, and he was careful to manoeuvre it past other zooming objects and fellow students. It was then it almost crashed into Lori’s own object, causing Theo to laugh and lose his concentration. The flowerpot began to fall to the ground, and in alarm, Theo said the spell again and it finally finished its short journey to their table at the top of the classroom. Smiling, Theo sat down, having completed the task. Most likely they would practice Depulso next, which he had never done before. He was looking forward to it.

[Elaine Bentley R6]

“Ugh,” that was the only thought rushing through Elaine’s mind as she sat at the Ravenclaw table for Breakfast. Mondays weren’t the best days for her. Actually, a lot of others hated the day just as much as Elaine did. It was the following day after the weekend, so everyone was tired from staying up late, and sleeping in late. Elaine didn’t do much this weekend. She wrote, and hung out with a couple of friends, but nothing out of the ordinary. Well…Elaine spent most of her Sunday outside searching for Noalan. She didn’t know why, but she just wanted to meet him again. He probably had forgotten all about her. That’s what most boys did. Sighing, Elaine ran her fingers through her thick hair that was parted on the right that day. Her hair was slightly different everyday. She’ll either part it to the right, or the left, or maybe even put it up into an up-do style. Today, Elaine was just too lazy to do anything with it, so he just parted it to the right after her shower. Yawning loudly, Elaine shook her head lightly trying to rid the sleep from her foggy mind. Sighing, she picked up her goblet of orange bringing it to her lips for a drink. There wasn’t much food on her food. Elaine didn’t like eating in the morning. It made her sick, which was odd. Not all Breakfast made her sick, but just very early. Which meant when it came close to lunch, Elaine was starving. Sighing, she took a pick of toast off one of the platters buttering it then smothering it under a thick coat of jam. Taking a couple of bites into the crunchy toast, Elaine chewed quietly before dropping the rolled bread onto the plate as she noticed the time. She had only ten minutes to get to Charms!

Quickly packing her things, Elaine set her shoulder bag comfortably on her shoulder racing down the hallways. She still had eight minutes to reach the classroom just around the corner, but Elaine was always a power walker when heading toward class. Entering the large classroom, Elaine slowed her pace down as her blue eyes scanned the room. There were a few tables left unoccupied, others already full. Elaine didn’t mind sitting by herself. She liked it actually. Taking a seat at the table closet to the window, she let her shoulder bag fall to the ground with a loud ‘thump’. Professor Flitwick was standing in front of the class, his small body being seen over the enormous amounts of books scattered everywhere. Elaine liked Charms, but it wasn’t her favorite subject. She preferred Transfigurations and Herbology. A few more students entered the classroom as well right as the Professor began to ask a question to the students. Elaine kept her mouth shut as the fourth year Hufflepuff Harmony answered his question. As he demonstrated one of the charms they were practicing today, Professor Flitwick then turned the class over for the students to do their own work.

Squinting in concentration, Elaine swished her wrist reciting the familiar charm as she pointed her wand toward the large pillow that lay among the table of supplies. “Accio!” Nothing happened. Not even a stir. Sighing, Elaine cleared her mind of thoughts, flicking her wrist again her mind more focused and ready. “Accio!” she called out more clearly grinning as the pillow began to float through the air toward her. It almost collide another student’s object, but she moved it out of the way just in time. Watching as the pillow rested on top of her table, Elaine grinned as she set her wand down looking back up across the room at the professor for the next set of instructions.

[Lori Leigh R6]

Lori smiled at the dragonfly clip she placed in her hair. “Perfect.” She nodded to herself before checking the pink watch on the wrist. “Oh no.” She said out loud before dashing out of her empty dorm room. Lori raced through the common room and up the steps. Her blonde hair bounced as she bobbed her way up the stairs. “Theo Harrison Dark! We’re gonna be late!” She called while banging on his door. She shook her head when he said just a minute. Lori opened the door and placed her hands on her hips just like her mum. Lori laughed at Theo still trying to wear his tie properly. She shook her head and tried to drag him out of the dorm anyways. Well, she didn’t want to be late. Lori laughed as they made their way down the stairs. “C’mon. You’ve only been wearing a tie for like five years.” Well, that wasn’t exactly true, but Lori was one to procrastinate. Lori shook her head as they headed out of the common room. “I resent that!” She called as he said she was worse than his mum. “And your mum is not that bad.” Of course Theo really knew this but that wasn’t the point. Lori shook head slightly as they slipped into the Charms classroom.

She sighed. Right on time. Actually, they had a few seconds to spare. Lori took a seat beside Theo in the front row. She eyed the items a bit in front of them. Lori nodded slightly as Professor Flitwick discussed the Accio and Depulso Charms. Lori and Theo pretty much knew them from fourth year, but some of the fourth years didn’t know it at all. It had taken Lori awhile to get used to it, but know she could do it pretty well. She used it often actually. Lori raised her hand as the professor asked questions. She knew the answers already, but it was good that the fourth years already had a knowledge of the spell. Lori remembered doing an essay of the spell so she understood it pretty well. Lori looked around the class at all the fellow students. Full class today or so it seemed to Lori. She smiled as they were to perform the spell. This would be interesting.

Lori stood up next to Theo and eyed the table of objects. Hmm, what to choose? She smiled at the bright pink notebook. Lori looked around at the various students trying to practice the spell. She sighed. Hopefully, the notebook would make it to her okay. “Accio.” She said firmly. The notebook flew to her at a medium pace. It was then that the pink notebook nearly hit Theo’s flowerpot. Lori wanted to laugh, but kept her concentration. All was going well until it hit a picture frame. Lori didn’t know whose object it was. She shook her head at the pink notebook now on the ground. “Accio.” She called. And then slowly, it made her way to her. Lori nodded, placed her picture frame on the desk and sat down. She smiled to Theo, satisfied with both of their performances.

[Professor Filius Flitwick]

Flitwick walked around the classroom, trying to avoid various objects that were flying from the front of the room towards various students around the room. The first student he visited was Casey Allen again. She performed the spell well, but not to her best ability. The teddy she'd summoned was a bit wobbly when it was moving through the air. "Ah, Miss Allen, a good attempt, but you need to be more assertive. Then the charm should work a lot better. 5 points to Gryffindor for a good first attempt."

Next was Rex Carter, another Gryffindor. He was a good spellcaster, and he could do well in his works, if only he'd pay more attention and work harder. He watched as Rex summoned another teddy. It seemed to be flying well, but then it crashed into Harmony Chan, who was sitting at the front of the class. "Well, Mr Carter. You just need to take care with you wand action, then it should fly right overhead. 5 points to Gryffindor for a good attempt."

While he was at the tabel, he decided to see how Rex's best friend, the Hufflepuff Billy Brady was doing. He watched as the book he summoned flew right overhead, crashing into the wall behind him, which turned some heads around the room. "Mr Brady, it is a simple matter of care, and needing to take more of it. Don't be as violent with the flick, and it should fly towards you ar eye level, and not 2 feet overhead. 5 points to Hufflepuff for that attempt."

By this time, Harmony had noticed the bear that had crashed into her, as it distracted her fromthe book she had summoned. She didn't seem very pleased, quite understandably, with Rex's behavious, and was now getting ahead of herself and cast depulso on the book towards Rex. Flitwick had to do something about this. "Right, Miss Chan, there was no need to do that. So I shall no be awarding you the five points you should get for Accio, as I am immediately deducting them. However, you can redeem yourself later if you perform depulso very well again later on in the lesson. I take it your sister and cousin have been showing you these spells, hence why you know about them?"

Having hopefully sorted out that situation, he moved on to the group of Ravenclaws. Firstly was Theo Darke, who'd arrived with his best friend Lori Leigh, as usual. The boy obviously enjoyed Charms, and was quite skilled at it. Flitwick watched as the flowerpot he summoned moved slowly, but carefully towards him. "A good attempt, Mr Darke. You don't beed to be quite so cautious though, I'm sure it would've arrived just as safely if you were more adventurous , however I understand why you were cautious.. For that attempt I'll give you 5 points, for Ravenclaw. Well done."

Next was Elaine Bentley, another 5th year Ravenclaw. Like Theo, she was good at Charms, however she didn't seem to be quite as enthusiastic. Again, Flitwick watched as she summoned a pillow from the front of the room, floating rather slowly (though not as slowly as Theo's) through the air. "Excellent, Miss Bentley. Again, like Mr Darke, you could probably be more assertive and slightly less cautious, but a great attempt. Five points to Ravenglaw, Well done.

Finally, before continuing with the lesson, he went to see how Lori Leigh was doing. She was also a very good Charm caster. In fact, there were quite a few in that year-Flitwick had high hopes for all of them. The pink notebook she summoned flew rather quickly towards the girl, who controlled it well until it hit a picture framed summoned from elsewhere in the room. "Very good, Miss Leigh. That crash into the photo frame was unfortunate, but otherwise well done. Five points to Ravenclaw, very good."

"Now, class" Flitwick addressed as he stood at the front of the room, when there were no more objects flying around. "It looks like a lot of you need to practice more with that, and others just need to be more careful. There were several crashes, which was inevitable and in a real situation not likely to happen, but still. Now, I'm going to tell you how to cast your objects away again, by using the depulso spell. Simply, take your item, point it towards the place you want it to go, flick your wand and say "Depulso". Is that clear?" He pickedup the toy he had before and using depulso cast it onto the front desk, quickly and neatly. "Okay, now, this charm is more difficult, so take care. I want you to cast your objects back to the front desk."

[Casey Allen G5]

Casey nodded to Professor Flitwick as he graded her work. More assertive. It was true. Casey was a bit too kind most of the time. That was simply the way she was. Casey wished she could be more aggressive, but she wasn’t that way. No, she was the kind of girl that needed a boy to take care of her. She wished it was different, but it wasn’t. Casey smiled as she received five points for Gryffindor. Good. Her house had the least amount of points right now. Casey had faith that they could full it together, but they were a ways behind Ravenclaw. She sighed. They still had months to go. There was still time. Casey smiled to Carson before looking back to the Professor. It was weird. Here Casey was sitting next to her new boyfriend and not her best-friend. Carson wasn’t the one that tore Casey and Ezzie apart. Nope. That would be lies. But, Casey still felt weird sitting near Carson without Ezzie. After all, Ezzie and Ethan introduced Carson and Casey and forced them together. It was because of those two that Carson and Casey were together. But, Casey didn’t want to talk about that. She was too mad at Ezzie to think about that. Yea, Casey would have to get over it eventually, but not yet. Right now she was mad and she was okay with that.

Casey nodded to professor Flitwick and then eyed her teddy bear. She had to be assertive and send her bear back from where it came from. Casey hugged the bear once more and then pointed her wand at it. Casey faced her bear toward the right direction and then concentrated on her wand. Casey then flicked her wand. “Depulso.” She demanded. The bear moved up a bit but then went back down. Casey flicked her wrist too much. She nodded realizing what she had done. She wanted for it to work properly this time. It had to. She flicked her wrist again. This time she kept it stationary. “Depluso.” She said firmly. The teddy bear the levitated and moved slowly to the front desk. It wobbled a bit along the way, but Casey was just glad that it landed there gracefully. She smiled to herself. Professor Flitwick was quite right. She then eyed the rest of her classmates. She was quite curious as to how they were fairing with the spell.

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita was bad at Charms. That wasn't just being modest - it was utterly true. She had absolutely no affinity for it, much as was the case for Defence Against the Dark Arts as well. So really, it was hoping for a bit much that she might actually be able to perform well in a Charms class. Oh, so she was supposed to cast Accio today? Not likely! Sita wasn't much good at movement spells in general. Sure, Accio didn't require quite as much control as some of the other ones - whatever you Summoned tended to zoom towards you without much directional effort being required on the part of the caster, unlike something like Mobiliarus. But Sita was actually better at exerting close control (a skill necessary for Herbology and Potions, after all, and those two she was good at) than she was at generating the power needed for a spell like Accio. Especially at the moment, being in a slightly apathetic state of mind as she was. Apathy wasn't renowned for its power-producing properties.

So it was that Sita started the task of Summoning a scarf (blue, grey and yellow stripes), with about as much enthusiasm as Filch would have for giving up the hope of punishing a student when he found out that he in fact had no legitimate reason to do so. Needless to say, she didn't have much success. She tried intoning the spell numerous times, in varying degrees of monotone and defeatist exasperation. Sitting near the front of the classroom as she was, Sita had plenty of opportunity to observe just how little effect her spell was having. On the worst occasions, she could see no change in the scarf's position at all. Her average mediocre attempts managed to tug the scarf's tassels slightly upwards, but of course not with nearly enough power to actually lift the whole thing towards her. On her final attempt before Flitwick halted the class to demonstrate Depulso, she had just started to bend her mind towards concentration. The result of her increased effort was that the infernal piece of knitting jolted towards the edges of the table where it contemptuously stayed put, unwilling to go any further towards Sita, before finally sliding off the table to land in a soft pile on the floor. Hmph. Sita could see how useful this spell was going to be to her... her ineptitude would be a fine excuse for breaking all of Professor Trelawney's china. Even Ingy might have been mildly amused by the idea, had she not been too high and mighty in her exclusive depressivity to notice the childish antics of someone so humble as Sita. Sita glanced longingly behind her to where her oldest friend was sitting (Ingrid had already successfully completed the task, of course), and then looked away again, slightly abashed at having caught her eye by mistake. 'I'm sorry that I didn't grow up quickly enough for you,' Sita thought sadly. 'You left me behind.'

She would have been quite content to just leave the scarf where it had fallen, but unfortunately then she needed something to practice Depulso on. Following her dreadful performance of Accio, Sita didn't expect to have much luck, but she reckoned that she'd already tried Accio enough times that she couldn't possibly gain anything further from failing to perform it correctly in yet further attempts: therefore she might as well move on to Depulso, for all the good it would do her. So, slightly furtively and certainly very grumpily, Sita went up to the front to collect the scarf manually. Well, hooray huzzah, hadn't that been easy? Who was it that had argued that the practical methods of Muggles were highly primitive when presently a case to have them classified as lesser creatures than wizards? Because they had been so, so wrong. Practical wasn't primitive. It was sensible. Who needed a charm when flesh, blood and muscle had been quite capable of performing the same task millennia before controlled magic first appeared?

Never mind, she would persevere with this 'Depulso' charm. Perhaps she wouldn't prove quite so hopeless at this one. Sita prepared herself for a period of intense mental concentration, and as she chanted the charm over and over she gradually channelled in her frustration and bitterness and anger at how small and insignificant she was being made to feel by people who were supposed to be her friends. She thought about how much she would like to drive out all this unhappiness and distracting negativity: the blue days, grey skies and the jaundiced view of the world. 'Begone', she thought, using the archaic way of speaking that she and Gavin had used to find very amusing. "Depulso", she chanted angrily, and the scarf flew up and away, soaring in a high arc towards the table. Unfortunately it dipped into a chandelier as it went, and so when it arrived at the table it was in flames and soon it had set a teddy bear on fire as well... but, at any rate, it had arrived. Not quite safely, or intact, but Sita had made it budge with the power of her mind, and she felt strangely proud of herself.

[Professor Filius Flitwick]

Flitwick walked around the class as they attempted the "Depulso" charm, and it was the general concensus that those who did well with "Accio" did well with this charm too. The majority of the class was doing very well, and he commented on how well they were all doing as he walked around, without giving out extra points if they'd been given points for Accio. He soon watched Sita Mehadi attempt Depulso-she hadn't done very well with Accio, but he was more confident about her attempt at Depulso. The scarf flew overhead and was making good progress towards the table, however it passed one of the chandeliers on the way, catching fire. Flitwick widened his eyes in shock as it landed on the table setting fire to a nearby teddy bear. He rushed over to the desk, quickly shouting "Aguamenti" at the bundle of flames, extinguishing the fire before it spread.

"Now, miss Mehadi, you performed the charm very well, but be more careful in the future. Now, I'll give you five points as the charm worked very well this time, but take care and remember control is the key with these charms." Flitwick said as he returned to Sita. Once he'd finished, he went back to the front of the room as the final students were finishing off. "Now, class, very well done today. I shan't be setting any homework, and you are free to go. See you on Wednesday." He watched as the students packed up and began to file out of the classroom.

((Class is officially finished...at last.))