Term 5: Lesson 1: Year 2

Maya sauntered into the Charms classroom, anxiety creeping up on her. She wasn't the best Charms student in first year and hoped that it wasn't about to catch up on her. She had heard at the start of the feast that there was a new Charm's teacher and she thought it best to attempt to get on her good side by turning up a few minutes early, or at the very least, on time for class.

Maya entered the classroom and eyed the teacher who was already seated at her desk. Maya recalled her from the feast and thought that she didn't appear to be the most approachable. Maybe she was nice and friendly, just nervous at being introduced in front of all the staff and students, Maya silently hoped. She took her seat towards the back of class after giving the professor a small smile, hoping that she could avoid answering questions and the eye line of the professor. She hoped that she wasn't about to stamp her authority on the class, Maya wasn't in the mood to be given out to.

Maya waited in silence watching other students milling in as she took out her books and parchment, preparing herself for the class. Maya perked up when the stern looking professor began speaking and decided that she appeared to fair and that she she would give her best effort in the class. She noted the professor's name, hoping that she got her pronunciation correct.

Maya was slightly taken aback when the words Freezing Charm appeared on the board. She had actually looked over the chapter in the book on it last night, in a hurried attempt to catch up on the subject. As a result Maya was one of the first to raise her hand and answer the question. "The name, Freezing Charm, kind of states the charms purpose. It can be used to immobilize living targets."

Tired, Kynan was one of the last to enter the Charms classroom. Charms wasn't the first class he wanted to sign up for, he didn't want to sign up at first but his sister Aylee somehow convinced him to. It seemed interesting anyway. Maybe it would end up being one of his favourite subjects, next to Defence Against the Dark Arts and Herbology. He found a seat somewhere in the middle of the classroom and looked around. As the last student closed the door, he saw the teacher for the first time. She seemed scary. He told himself not to do anything stupid when the Professor began her speech. Come on, maybe she seems scary like Professor Umbranox but is actually nice? he thought to himself while Professor Fenech was speaking. He wasn't even paying attention.

Kynan finally started to pay attention when the teacher started writing something on the board. Freezing Charm, he thought. Then Professor Fenech asked what they thought it meant. He was about to raise his hand and say something stupid, like, The Freezing Charm is a charm used to freeze stuff but Maya had already gotten there first. Lowering his hand, he looked at the Professor and told himself that he should participate more so he could earn house points.

Although he didn't know what the etymology of the spell was, Kynan raised his hand, determined to answer the first question. He had been flipping through some books the day before he caught the train to Hogwarts and this answer was one of the other random things which he had remembered. "Professor, might the incantation be Immobulus?" he asked.

Maya nodded her head in conformation of her name, she smiled back at the professor when Maya caught a touch of a smile on her lips. She didn't hold her stare for long though, as she felt intimidated by the professor and quickly fixed her  gaze upon her book. She realised that she had hadn't even opened it yet and proceeded to do so, locating the page which contained the spell they were studying with ease.

Maya was too distracted by Professor Fenech's movements to answer her next question and looked over at Kynan when he answered and smiled in his direction, glad that he knew the answer and was participating in class. Maya glanced down at her book, noting that Kynan was correct and then she looked up expectantly at the professor and the box she had placed on her desk.

Maya sat up in her chair, immediately more attentive when professor Fenech turned her attention towards the box. Maya listened to what she had to say, shocked, but impressed that she was letting them cast the spell this soon into the class. She obviously believed in practise being the best way to conquer a spell. Maya wholeheartedly agreed and was already enjoying the class more than some of her others. She tuned in to Professor Fenech, as she gripped her wand tighter, determined to preform the spell and master it in this class. Her face fell at the mention of frogs. Eww! was her first reaction, she hated the slimy creatures. They used to spawn at a nearby pond as she grew up and her brother often chased her with them, encouraging her to kiss them as he genuinely believed they would transform into a prince. Shaking her head at the memory and trying to concentrate on the task at hand Maya rested her eyes firmly on the box in the professor's hand.

As soon as the box was opened, a dozen or so frogs emerged from it. Maya's grip on her wand immediately flaxened as she felt overwhelmed by the croaking, green frogs, their beady eyes bulging unnaturally in their head. Their long legs helped them jump enormous distances and all Maya could do was repeat the incantation in her head, trying to not forget it. One jumped onto her desk and let out a loud croak, she jumped from her seat, horrified by its slimy presence on her charms book. "Ugh!" Maya exclaimed, momentarily forgetting her wand. The frog looked as though it was about to jump once more, her being the target. Maya unconsciously raised her wand and confidently and forcefully said the incantation, which was stuck in her head, very loudly and clearly. "Immobulus!" Relief flooded Maya as the frog froze mid jump and fell onto the floor.
One down, she thought encouragingly to herself, not dwelling on the fact that she had actually just preformed the charm on her first attempt.

Darcy, who had been sitting rather silently during the entire lesson, perked up when professor Fenech talked about frogs. She didn't want to say it out loud, but she had always been rather fond of frogs. Yes. Frogs. She straightened up and memorized the incantation to herself, pulling out her wand. She did, however, hope that the frogs wouldn't be hurt by the spell. But they'd probably be frozen so quickly that they wouldn't feel it at all.

She rose to her feet when professor Fenech released the frogs. They jumped around the entire classroom, all of them different from the other in some way. She set her jaw not to smile, and probably looked as if she absolutely hated them. But she didn't want people to think she was weird for liking frogs. What she didn't know was that no one would probably care if she liked them or not, but back home, that wouldn't be a cool thing. Her mother would freak if she saw Darcy hold a frog of any kind.

She looked at the frogs as a couple of them came towards her. Would the spell work on both? She shrugged and pointed. "Immobulus!" she shouted, happy when her spell worked, but it hadn't been powerful enough to knock them both out. So, she shouted it again and again, trying her best to get them all frozen with the help of her fellow students.

All lessons had started a while ago, so Evan was hurrying to be as little late as possible. Everyone should have got all the theory in Charms class by now. But hey, I know a lot of things, maybe I already know the spell after all. The door had been already locked when he reached the Charms classroom, and he could hear the voices inside. And croaks. Croaks?! Evan decided not to waste his time on thinking about strange croaks and opened the door wide open. "Dragon bogies!" Evan spatted, when he saw lots of leaping frogs and heard the croaking pandemonium. While he was standing in the doorway, stunned by the sight of the classroom, some frogs escaped into the corridor. Oh. Froggies. I think I need to catch them before they leap away. Evan leaned down and picked a frog, then the second one, and one more. Meanwhile some more frogs escaped, as the door was still opened. Evan rushed to shut the door, but as he stretched his hand towards a door handle, two frogs fell to the floor. Damn! I can't hold all these frogs! He looked back and saw frogs leaping farther and farther from the classroom. "Professor Fenech! Frogs!" Evan cried for some help. He had no idea what he should do now, he was just standing in the doorway,  holding the last remaining frog in his hands. Oh no. It's all my fault. Ten points from Ravenclaw, I guess.

The Professor announced that she was going to let a box of frogs loose in the class and that they had to freeze them. Kynan frowned. He didn't hate frogs, nor was he fond of them, he just thought of the animals as harmless creatures. But he wondered if the lesson was going to bother other students, especially ones who probably hated frogs. Shrugging, he took out his wand, waiting for Professor Fenech to open the box. Suddenly, the classroom was full of frogs. He saw Maya and Darcy managing to freeze the frogs nearby and Kynan didn't waste time. "Immobulus! Immobulus!" he repeated, pointing his wand at a frog which was now on his lap. He didn't manage to freeze it so he stood up, causing the frog to fall on the floor. "IMMOBULUS!" he kept saying, but the frog still didn't freeze, although it slowed down a bit. Aw, come on! he thought angrily.

Suddenly, a shout was heard from the back of the class. Kynan turned around and saw Evan who was holding a bunch of frogs, and had the classroom door open. Oh no, he thought. He was about to run out into the corridor but then realized that all of the frogs were escaping so he might as well stop the current ones from leaving. He pointed his wand at one of the frogs which was leaving and muttered the spell, using all of his concentration and determination and hoping that the frog was going to freeze.

The first thing Evan noticed after he cried for help was Kynan pointing his wand at him. Oh. What is he going to do? Is he going to help me? "Immobilus!" Kynan muttered. Immobilus? Sounds like it has something to do with paralysis. Oh. Wait. He's trying to curse me! The spell, however, missed Evan, and now he drew his wand to counterattack. I don't know what madness is going on here. Frogs, Kynan, paralysis. That is really strange, but "I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six", as muggles say. Evan pointed his wand at Kynan's chest and shouted, "Everte Statum!" He spent a lot of time practicing this spell during his first year, as he imaged being at Hogwarts as a typical fiction book or a computer game: one always has to be prepared for a fight.

A frog got frozen, to which Kynan smiled at, but suddenly he was being thrown back. "WHAT THE HELL!" he yelled and crashed into a table. He felt his left arm and head getting banged onto the table and tried to sit up. But it hurt him. Why the hell would Evan go a freeze me?! he thought, seeing the boy pointing his wand at him. "Ow!" he exclaimed, rubbing his head. "What the hell was that for?" Hell was his current favourite word. His wand was still in his hand, so he raised it and pointed it at Evan. "Furnunculus!" he yelled. Aylee had taught him the spell not long after the start of the term and Kynan had just found the perfect opportunity to use it.

Evan's body was covering with boils and that felt quite annoying for him. Oh oh, this thing is really disturbing. I can try to stop it now by using a general counter-curse, but in this case Kynan will have time to hit me again, probably with something more dangerous. I need to strike him now. Evan pointed his wand at Kynan again. I can try a body bind, but I'm not really good with it, and boils are making things even more difficult. He raised his wand slightly, so it was pointing at Kynan's head, and shouted, "Everte Statum!" again. Eat that, son of banshee!

Before he knew it, Kynan was being thrown back harder into the table, his head hurting worse. I won't be surprised if I am bleeding, he thought. Why am I even getting attacked? Then Professor Fenech was there, making the boils on Evan disappear, and helping him up. When Kynan managed to stand up, he looked around and saw that a few students were staring at him and Evan. He narrowed his eyes, and he shot a shut-up-or-you'll-be-the-one-with-boils-next-time look to whoever looked at him. The next thing he knew, he had just lost Gryffindor ten points, but earned another ten. Professor Fenech continued awarding and deducting points. He was growing dizzy, his head was hurting and the Professor's words weren't exactly helping. Then the class was being set homework and he was ordered to go to the Professor's office in the evening. Do I have to? he mentally groaned- Charms wasn't going to be his favourite lesson right now.

Slowly, Kynan made his way back to his table, put his wand back in his bag and copied down the homework. He packed his things and then heard Professor Fenech say something about the Hospital Wing. He grew dizzier as he mindlessly walked out of the classroom, glad, and held onto the walls as he walked towards the Hospital Wing.

Kynan was thrown back again and now Evan was aiming at his right hand to strike him with Everte Statum and probably disarm. But just before he started casting the spell, professor Fenech appeared between him and Kynan, preventing Evan from unleashing another strike. "What is the meaning of this?" she asked, then she pointed her wand at Evan and broke the boils curse. Mmmm, no more boils, it feels great! Kynan's injuries couldn't be healed so easily and he had some troubles with standing up, so professor Fenech helped him out. Not feeling so good, are you? That will serve you well. Then professor gave a lecture about dueling and Evan discovered that he decreased Ravenclaw points by ten. That's just not fair! He turned to the girls, looking for support. Although he said nothing, his look and gestures were like "I haven't done anything wrong, why don't you back me up? Please?"

Professor Fenech gave them homework and asked Evan and Kynan to come to her office as she wanted to hear the explanation. I'll tell her how this happened then. Maybe I'll even get my house points back. Thinking about his glorious truth revelations, Evan copied the homework to a sheet of parchment. But despite his anticipation of the evening talk with the professor, he felt sad. Hm. Darcy can definitely help me. I'd rather be under her charm now. At least I won't think about all these things: points, duels, frogs. Why are the frogs here anyway? Evan made some steps towards the girl and called her quietly, "Darcy?.."

Darcy, feeling a flood of joy when the professor congratulated her, kept going with more intensity and managed to freeze two frogs at once. But it didn't happen again. She sighed. Just a stroke of luck, then? She shrugged, still high in spirits, and jumped slightly as she heard a door open. She didn't turn to see who it was, being much to busy with the frogs, but when someone called for the professor for help, she turned and saw that a lot of frogs were escaping the classroom through the open door that Evan had come in through.

She blinked and immediately felt bad for him, pretty sure he was feeling guilty, but she quickly turned back to the frogs in front of her and kept freezing them. However, when she heard the familiar sound of Everte Statum, she spun around and suddenly felt as though she had been frozen. Evan and Kynan were duelling. She blinked. And blinked again. She knew she ought to do something, but no ideas came to mind, and her feet wouldn't budge. And then professor Fenech was back.

Darcy decided to have the decency not to listen in to what professor Fenech was saying to them, but when she turned her attention to them all, Darcy quickly perked up, listening to what she said about homework. She quickly scribbled it down on a piece of parchment and really just wanted to run away from the classroom due to the horrible tension that filled the air. But then Evan spoke her name and took a few steps towards her. She turned to him and felt a mixture of emotions all of them both negative and positive.

"Come with me," she said calmly, though her tone was strained and she wasn't at all happy with him. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him with her out of the classroom and into one of the corridors.

Maya was busy concentrating on being attacked by a number of different frogs from different angles. She was on her feet, quickly shuffling backwards and running out of space. She kept shouting "Immobulus," but in her haste and her nervousness her spells kept narrowly missing. Maya was too caught up with the frogs that she lost track of what was happening around her with her other classmates and the fact that the professor had complimented her.

Maya was shaken out of her own conundrum when she heard a loud crashing noise. She looked up just in time to see a student flying through the air. What the..? I thought we were supposed to be attacking frogs and freezing them. Maya moved towards Kynan as she was going to help him to his feet as soon as she realised who the student was. He jumped up, shock etched on his face and his features set hard. He then muttered a spell that she had never even heard of. Maya looked across the room to see boils sprouting on..Evan? What was going on, did she miss something? Maya was growing more and more confused and slightly distressed. The boys had evidently been practicing dueling in their own time and were actually sufficiently accomplished to be doing damage to one another. Kynan flew across the classroom once more, being more unlucky this time as desks stopped his fall. The noise of him colliding spurred Maya as she thought hard about what to do. Calling the professor was the best port of call. Where was she? Maya swung herself around racing back, as she presumed she was probably trying to control the frogs. The act was unnecessary as she turned up. alerted by Kynan crashing into the desks she presumed.

Maya immediately looked away from the professor, her stern stare glaring at Kynan and Evan harshly. Maya was glad that she hadn't got involved, especially when they lost house points. Professor Fenech soon dismissed the class after giving them their homework assignment, which Maya didn't dwell on too much as she was still caught up on the drama which had just unfolded. She was still in shock, wondering what had actually happened. She gathered up her stuff, trying to get out of the class as quick as possible as awkward silence ensued among the students. She could also see the professor huffing to herself so Maya made a beeline for the door. As she walked by Darcy she was talking to Evan and clearly unimpressed. Maya kept walking though, deciding not to get involved in their conversation.

As she turned the corner onto another corridor she spotted Kynan up ahead clutching the wall for balance. He had clearly hit the tables hard and Maya caught up with him easily enough. She grabbed his schoolbag and tried to offer him support to steady his swaying figure. She supposed that now wasn't the best time to question his actions in the charms class as getting him to the hospital wing was the first priority.