[charms] stock and barrel [september]

Filius had missed his students over the summer; it was lovely as always to have them back, now that school was again in session. He couldn’t admit it openly, of course, but he was especially happy to see those students who arrived early to lessons with questions, despite the fact that he was prone to answering them at unnecessary length (or perhaps because of it.)

“So, a Sneakoscope,” said Filius, giving a welcoming nod to a small cluster of students making their way into the classroom, “relies on a form of Object Legilimency, quite like the sorting hat does -- unlike the sorts of wards I might put on a door or my wallet, it doesn’t measure physical breaches of security, it measures duplicity! (Come in, take a seat!) ...so if a wizard were to burgle and ransack my office, it would raise an alert, measuring his malicious intent, whereas if a kneazle were to do the same thing, I wouldn’t hear a peep (anywhere is fine, welcome back!) as a kneazle isn’t being malicious so much as it’s being a kneazle.”

He redirected his attention toward a group of first years coming in -- “Good morning! Welcome to Charms, take a seat wherever you like.”

Back to his explanation: “Now, applied Legilimens spells are quite beyond the scope of this class, so if you have interest in those I’d recommend writing to magical research facilities, but -- in answer to your question -- you will learn how to make objects whistle on command like Sneakoscopes in your fifth year.”

It seemed that most of his students had arrived, by now; Filius excused himself and hurried to his desk, up the stairs to his chair. He cleared his throat -- “Welcome to Charms! I hope you’ve all enjoyed your summers, and are ready to begin the year!”

“Now, one of the simplest spells any of you will have in your repertory is the unlocking charm, which was developed in Africa in the sixteen-hundreds prior to being brought to Britain, ultimately replacing the spells in use, which were noted for being less subtle.” Open Sesame, the precursor to Alohomora’s precursor, had ripped doors from their frames and shredded them.

Filius pointed his wand at the blackboard, revealing his first questions for the class; he read them off. “Firstly, who can tell me the incantation and wand movement for the spell? Who can tell me its most common nickname? and who can tell me how the spell is counteracted?”

nb: forgot to do this last night! as always -- feel free to have your students answer questions, whisper to each other, sit awkwardly in silence, engage him in conversation before class starts (i imagine the sneakoscope tangent is not the only one he's run today) and so on -- once he gets a few replies he'll continue the lesson

Approaching the charms classroom with several housemates, Pixie was so deep in conversation she only noticed she was already inside the room once she realised Professor Flitwick was talking about sneakoscopes. She paused where she was, already interested in the subject and curious whether that was going to be the topic of study today before remembering she was, in fact, standing vacantly just inside the doorway and people were actually walking around her.

Naturally, in that short space of time everyone who had entered the room before her seemed to have made a beeline for the back of the room and thus there were no seats vacant on the last row. Oh, well. She chose a seat in the third row instead, thinking that was far enough back that she would still be able to talk and pass notes with some hope of not getting caught. A group of nervous-looking first years arried just after she'd sat down. and she recognised one of the kids she's spoken to last night and waved in their direction. Most of her attention was, unusually, directed towards Professor Flitwick.

Slightly deflated that they weren't actually going to be studying legilimency or making their own sneakoscopes anytime soon Pixie stifled a sigh, glancing at the people sitting closest to her to see who would be most likely to want to play a game of hangman later on. For now though, she was reasonably engaged in the lesson, particularly as she knew the answer. Unfortunately, knowing the answer and actually articulating it in a coherent fashion were two different things, because Pixie's mind had already wandered off on a (to her) much more interesting tangent.

"Did wizards before the sixteen hundreds have locks, or did they just rely on charms? Or did they have locks, but no charms to open them, and that's why the charm was invented, because they couldn't get at their stuff? Oh - Alohomora. That's the charm, I mean...oh, wait! Is it the same all over the world or do they have a different charm in, say, China?" she asked all on the same breath, posing more questions than she had successfully answered. 

Leona walked into Charms and sat down, removing her things from her bag and spreading them around her. Professor Flitwick was speaking about Sneakoscopes by the sounds of what she was hearing when she walked in. From Sneakoscopes, he began talking about Legilimency, the type of magic the Sorting Hat used when sorting new students into their Houses during the Beginning of Term Feast. Nest, he began talking about the Unlocking Charm, Alohomora. It was a basic charm, everyone knew that, but it was a very useful basic charm. Then, Professor Flitwick began asking questions. Leona raised her hand before speaking, wondering which question she should answer, as another of her classmates had already answered his first question about the incantation.

"The wand movement for the Unlocking Charm is a backwards "S" shape."

Trudy rather liked charms. Charms was probably one of the most useful classes that they had at Hogwarts. Every witch or wizard needed charms in every day life, after all. Truth be told, the little Ravenclaw could hardly wait until she was old enough to use charms at home too. It was just so convenient to do chores by just flicking your wand.

Professor Flitwick was a good teacher as well. Trudy loved listening to him, enjoyed it when he trailed off and answered questions that did not necessarily have anything to do with the topic he meant to cover in the class. She liked that he was not too strict and encouraged the thirst for knowledge in his students.

As she walked into the classroom he was already engaging in a conversation with some students and Trudy tried to catch what they were talking about. Sneakoscopes clearly were a very interesting topic but the second year wasn't sure it really belonged into Charms. It didn't matter, of course.

The actual topic of the lesson seemed to be Alohomora, though. A very useful spell that Trudy had already learned in her first year at Hogwarts. Two older students answered questions already and Trudy decided that, as she didn't have a lot to contribute herself, she should just scribble down some notes.

While he hadn't actively been a part of the Sneakoscope conversation, Benny had been standing close enough to hear most of it. He'd been fighting with his bookbag's zipper, trying desperately to get into the compartment that held the ink and quills when something Professor Flitwick said caught his ear. There had been a kneazle ransacking the professor's office? Instantly, he turned to look at @Tomie Vos and mouthed her cat's name, a questioning look on his face. Had he broken into the professor's office? Were they talking about that? Of course, about a billion half kneazle cats were running amock in the castle, but Benny's suspicions turned onto Tomie's cat. It was a hellion on four paws, and he had the torn up shoelaces to prove it.

Benny shrugged, hoping he was wrong or at least that there hadn't been too much damage done, as he finally got the zipper to budge. A bit of ink had spilled out of it's poorly sealed well (Benny should have known better than to just chuck it in there after class rather than securing it upright). It was dry and crusty on the inside of the zipper and stuck to his fingertips. The Gryffindor rubbed the India Ink on his faded cloak and groaned quietly. Off to a good start, he settled into his seat just as the professor began to speak.

Alohamora was undoubtedly one of the many spells that Phillip took for granted as a wizard. He'd known it for years now and used it more than he probably should have been, but because it was something they were allowed to see, it just didn't have the same sort of allure as other magic. Phillip was an awful student, but he did have quite the motivation to learn things. Especially when he was told not to learn those things. Rebelliousness, mixed with classic Ravenclaw curiosity, had created quite a mix of chaos in Phillip. He folded his arms in front of his chest and exhaled silently. Participating in class discussions wasn't typically something he did either, and certainly not by choice.

He hoped there would be more spells covered in today's lesson, but because it was so early in the term, the seventh-year didn't get his hopes up. Instead, he opened up the notebook magically bound to Billie's and checked to see anything new to read. Seeing nothing, he returned the journal to its hiding place underneath his charms textbook. Opening the text and tuning out of the discussion, Phillip began to read quite a few chapters ahead on his own.

It was difficult to believe that O.W.L. year was upon her – it had always seemed so far into the future, something that didn’t apply to her. Where had the past four years gone? The reality had set in overnight, it seemed, for the morning after the Welcoming Feast she was already beginning to fret about falling behind. Aase found herself fixating on more trivial things that she probably didn’t need to know much about – but what if she did? Like how exactly a Sneakoscope worked, for instance, and if it was a spell she’d need to know how to do.

It was more of a DADA question, she supposed – but she didn’t have that until last period today (and would probably forget to ask by then), so she’d turned up to Charms a few minutes early to ask Professor Flitwick. As usual, he was kind enough to oblige her willingly; as he did so, Aase bobbed her head from time to time to demonstrate that she was following.
“Thank you, sir. That was most helpful,” she replied gratefully. So it sort of was something she’d learn this year, in a way…

As the lesson began she slid into an empty seat beside Freddie, flashing him a quick smile in greeting as she withdrew her supplies from her bag. Aase fidgeted with her quill absently as she listened to Professor Flitwick’s opening questions and the answers offered up by her peers thus far. She felt reasonably confident about the nickname one, and so she spoke up when called upon.

“Is it ‘the thief’s spell’? Or ‘friend of the thief’?”
Something like that, anyways; Uncle Lyall had mentioned it at some point or another.

As had become habitual for her over the past year, Jacqueline watched the classroom door in her peripheral vision for Andy’s arrival. Regrettably, they were coming from different directions this morning; otherwise they would have walked in together. The Head Girl arranged her parchment, quill, and inkwell absently, half-listening to the Sneakoscope discussion between Professor Flitwick and a dark-haired Hufflepuff girl who’d been made Prefect last term. Her ears pricked at the words ‘magical research facilities’; her gaze briefly shifted from the door to the Charms professor, half-hoping he’d elaborate further.

But then it was time to begin, and the Scottish witch brushed off her mild disappointment – but did make a mental note to ask if he, by any chance, had any points of contact within said magical research facilities. If he did, she’d be sure to pass the information along to Lionel as well. The fact that she was a Seventh Year and would be out in the world in just under ten months hadn’t fully set in quite yet.

She listened to her peers’ responses to Professor Flitwick’s introductory questions, pleased that one of the younger students had spoken up. Jacqueline frowned slightly out of habit at her Housemate’s description of the wand movement; personally, she felt it was more like a circle culminating with a bisecting vertical line from top to bottom, but she certainly wasn’t about to be so rude as to offer a correction. She took up the final question instead, sitting up a little straighter in her seat when called upon.

“The incantation for the Anti-Unlocking charm is ‘Caveat furem’, which ensures ‘Alohomora’ willnae work on the target object.” She hesitated a fraction of a second before adding: “No to be confused with ‘Colloportus’, which is the countercharm to ‘Alohomora’ but doesnae prevent it from working.”

Sliding quietly into the seat next to Jacqueline, Andronicus wished he could kiss her. The lovestruck teenager had to remind himself they were in class, and she was the Head Girl, so those sorts of things might not have been welcome. He made a mental note to find her somewhere privately later, and that brought a little smirk to his dimpled cheeks. "Hey," he whispered instead, bumping his shoulder into hers lightly, before turning his attention to the professor. Charms class was one of his favorite courses, it had been for a long time now, and he followed along quickly. Following along and participating were often two very different things for Andronicus, though, and while he knew the answer, he remained quiet.

After a few answers, Andronicus heard his girlfriend begin to answer the question, and his eyes turned to watch her. Jacqueline was an impressive witch, she was smart and refined, and she didn't shy away from answering questions. Andronicus had always liked that about her; well, honestly, Andy liked everything about her. Staring lightly, he smiled as she finished answering the question and then turned to open up his charms notebook. Jotting down a couple of critical things, the incantation, the difference between Alohomora and Colloportus, and so on. They were things he already knew, but there was a fair chance they would be on the exam if they were in the lesson, and Andy was trying to be more proactive with his notes this term. They would count more this term than ever before, and he was well aware of it.

Mavis slid a note toward Magnolia while the other students began to answer the professor's question. She thought she was sneakier than Mavis really was, folding it up, so it was a tiny piece of parchment barely the size of her palm; she hadn't thought ahead far enough to realize Magnolia would have to unfold it seventeen times to read it. And that could get quite noisy, primarily where these witches were concerned, they didn't do a thing quietly. She realized the misfortune a moment after the sliding pas was completed and shrugged her shoulders. What was the worse that could happen? The note had some juicy gossip in it, but nothing particularly humiliating, well not for Mavis or Nola at least. Hufflepuff 6th year Cara had been spotted kissing Ravenclaw 5th year Bryan (who Mavis thought was dating Natalie, one of their dorm mates) in the hallways between class.

She'd known the answer to some part of the question, enough that she could have raised her hand or began to speak, but she hesitated. The cute boy from her potions class was sitting two chairs over, and she would have been absolutely mortified if she got it wrong. Or worse, if she got it right and he labeled her a nerd. She was a bit of a know-it-all, but she hadn't quite come to terms with it yet. Mavis was still struggling to figure out who she was and who she wanted the world to know her as, and it certainly wasn't easy.

Fidgeting in her seat, she turned to watch the Head Girl give an answer; Mavis knew enough to pay attention when the Head Girl was speaking and felt a twinge of envy. She wished she could be as confident in her answers as Jacqueline MacClelland always seemed to be. Being Head Girl must have been just the best. Mavis placed her hand in her chin, sighing dreamily, and began to daydream about the day she was Head Girl.

The fifth-year Hufflepuff hurried into a seat, coming late from grabbing a snack between lessons, and his chair squeaked across the floor. He'd missed the entire conversation about Sneakoscopes (something the budding conspiracy theorist would regret later) and gotten to his seat just in time to not be late. Flipping open his Standard Book of Spells textbook and getting out a bit of parchment, Jari began to write down literally everything the professor said. The prefect hadn't learned how to take proper notes yet. Instead of writing down what was necessary or things he needed to study more, he copied the professor's words verbatim. He had to write even faster as the students began chiming in; he added each of their answers to a sloppy bullet point list that got messier the more he wrote.

A bit of ink blotched on the page, and he managed to run the side of his left hand through it as he wrote, smearing it across the page until finally there was a break. He'd scribbled down everything his cousins had said, and the others, especially the Head Girl's answer, and then exhaled because apparently, he'd been holding his breath. Jari wasn't the best student, far from it, but damn if he wasn't trying to change things this year. It was his fifth year, which meant OWLs, and he was trying to do well. His mum had explained that they were essential, and the teenager was trying to take it seriously. He'd managed passing grades thus far, but just barely in some classes, and he wanted to do better.

Of course, he chose the same year he became prefect, signed up as a Mentor in the SNAIL program, joined the Quidditch team, and gotten an (almost?) girlfriend to take up the challenge of being a better student. It wouldn't be a stretch to saw Jari was in way over his head. It was the only month one, but he already felt exhausted. Not too exhausted to ask questions, though. Almost as soon as he'd set down his quill, his hand was shooting into the air.

"Professor, couldn't we just create magical padlocks that keep the locking charm from working?"

The first to speak up was @Pixie Clarke-Trickett , though she had as many questions to replace it as there were left; Filius hesitated, trying to make sense of the jumble of thoughts before saying, “Yes -- the charm is Alohomora. Origins of spells and their iterations worldwide is a rather interesting topic (but perhaps one for another lesson, down the line).” He had much experience with the unique goose chase of teaching Ravenclaws who were curious about something that wasn’t in the lecture for the day -- he made a mental note to come back to Miss Clarke-Trickett later in the lesson to discuss it further. (He had quite the book recommendation for her, should she be interested in incantatory transliteration.)

The next question was answered by one of his Ravenclaw students; “Correct, correct,” he said, giving @Leona Millegan a nod before he picked on Pixie’s cousin to answer the next question. “Absolutely right, Miss Trickett-Cassoway; ‘the thief’s friend.’” The last question was answered again by a Ravenclaw -- and answered quite thoroughly. Filius nodded proudly -- @Jacqueline MacClelland was a credit both to her house and to her position as Head Girl and he was pleased to have had his recommendation taken seriously.

“Exactly right, Miss MacClelland. The locking charm is, unfortunately, no match for the unlocking charm.”

He tapped his wand thoughtfully against hsi desk, bushy eyebrows drawing closer together. “Let’s see -- that’s Five points to Gryffindor for Miss Clarke-Trickett, ten points to Ravenclaw for Miss Millegan and Miss MacClelland, and five to Hufflepuff for Miss Trickett-Cassoway.”

@Jari Trickett had raised his hand enthusiastically now, though: Filius grinned. “That we could, Trickett --” he gave his wand a little wave and the padlocks he’d spent the previous morning charming in exactly that manner went soaring out to the class, one deposited in front of each pair of students. “These padlocks have all been charmed in some manner against magical intervention; several have been charmed in multiple ways.” He’d done his best to distribute the more difficult padlocks to the N.E.W.T.s students, but -- of course -- he could rarely predict with 100% accuracy where everybody would choose to sit.

“Not all of them will resist Alohomora but quite a many of them are charmed to resist being unlocked in other ways -- all harmless ways,” he added, spotting a fourth year’s apprehensive look. “Your task is to collaborate to open your designated lock -- I’ll be going around to assist.” And, of course, to make sure that each student had been given a padlock appropriate for their skill level. “My recommendation is to start with Specialus Revelio --” that would reveal the nature of the charms on each padlock -- “and, for N.E.W.T.s and O.W.L.s students, to review Appendix B in A Standard Book of Spells about countercharm development. Are there any questions?”

He waved one hand -- “Then begin!” and trotted down the desk and straight to @Pixie Clarke-Trickett 's desk. “If you’re still curious about spells in other languages, I’m happy to explain a little further,” he said, though he kept a wary eye out for magical mishaps all the same.

Bren was very rarely forgetful or late, but today he was – unfortunately – both. He’d completely lost track of time and had to scramble to pack his bag for the day (in his hurry nearly forgetting his wand itself), and it wasn’t until he was three-quarters of the way to Charms that he realized he’d left The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 on his bed. By that time it was far too late to double-back, and even so he’d barely eked into the Charms classroom before the door closed smartly behind him to announce the start of the lesson.

Feeling very out-of-sorts, he shuffled to the closest open seat (in the front row and furthest from the door, of course) and quickly sat down, mouthing an embarrassed apology to Professor Flitwick. He’d formally apologize after class; Bren hated feeling like he was being disruptive.

The Second Year listened closely, and nearly let out an audible groan. This was going to be a lot trickier without his textbook for reference. He couldn’t even remember the wand movement for ‘Specialis Revelio’, though he was sure they’d discussed it at least once before in class. At least he hadn’t forgotten his wand?

Nervously, he tried watching the older students – the Head Girl, for instance, seemed to be quickly but firmly tapping her wand on her padlock, almost as though it were a door – but he was too far away to hear what they were saying (if anything at all, for some seemed to be practicing nonverbal spells). For all he knew, they could be trying more advanced charms… and the last thing he wanted on this already-stressful day was to make a mess in a class he already had difficulty with by inadvertently combining one charm’s wand movement with another’s incantation. He would never quite forget Professor Flitwick's warning about Wizard Baruffio... granted, this was a little different, but the advisory seemed to apply all the same.

Reluctant to disappoint Professor Flitwick so early in the lesson after already being nearly-late, Bren twisted around in his seat.

“Pssst, Trudy,” he whispered, “d’you know the wand movement for ‘Specialis Revelio’?”
She was good at Charms, she probably knew. And if not… maybe one of the older students would overhear.

Trudy had listened to mostly older students contribute to the class with interest. Trying to soak up all the knowledge that was offered. She liked this class and even if she hadn't actively participated yet, it was obvious that the girl was paying attention from the way how her gaze always rested on the person that was speaking and how she eagerly scribbled down some notes.

As Brendan addressed her, Trudy straightened up a little and then leaned forward to talk to the Slytherin. She hoped that professor Flitwick wouldn't mind but, after all, they were supposed to work together anyway.

“Yes,” she said nodding eagerly, “I know the wand movement. You need to rap smartly like that,” she said and picked up her wand to demonstrate it using the spell on the padlock she had to work on anyway. “Specialis Revelio” she said and tilted her head to look at the padlock.

“Hmm,” she said as she felt that even knowing which charms had been cast on the padlock was not helping her a lot yet. “And now?” she asked Brendan, eyebrows slightly raised.

She quickly retrieved her textbook from her bag and opened it, flipping through the pages in the hope to find something useful in there.

Charms was okay. Not his best or favourite class but not among his weak and hated classes either. He felt additional pressure this year. Professors frequently dropped the term O.W.L.s and whenever he heard that, the boy grew a little tense. He wasn't stupid but he wasn't a diligent student either. Whenever he felt like just chilling and neglecting school work, the boy reminded himself of his mother and that he did not want to disappoint her, that didn't want to give her anything to worry about and he kept trying to keep up with his homework.

He beamed at Aase  as she slid into the empty seat next to him. His mood hadn't been great this morning as he had had a letter from his mother that had sounded rather sad. There hadn't been bad news in it, really, just the boy felt that he could hear that she was upset just reading the lines. However, seeing Aase always cheered him up.

The Gryffindor wasn't eager to participate in class. Yet, as Aase chose to say something he smiled at her proudly. She was such a clever girl. He felt honoured that he was sitting next to her, that they were friends. He listened to what the other students had to say but none of the other replies impressed him quite as much. Then professor Flitwick spoke of them having to work with padlocks that had been specially prepared for them and that they'd have to collaborate – that was good news as it meant that he'd get to work with his friend.

When they got their padlock to work with, Freddie pulled his wand out of his school bag and laid it on the table in front of him. “Ladies first,” he said, smiling at Aase. “Unless you'd want me to start, of course.”