Term 5: Lesson 3: Year 1

Finally, something halfway interesting was happening at this boring school.  The charms classroom had a lot more candles than usual today, and Selwyn spent no time wondering why or checking the chalk board.  He was way more interested in dipping a scrap of parchment into the soft wax around the top of his candle and watching as it dripped down the sides.

oh yay, charms class, Violet was very exited for all the classes today, she even woke up very early, once she got inside the classroom she saw a Slytherin boy and the teacher, hmm maybe i did wake up to early, Violet sat in front of the class room and waited for her twin sister to arrive, all while waiting for the teacher give her lesson.

The day started out slow for Abby, she was not used to being away from her sister, but as she got to charms class she saw her sister entering the class, Abby entered and saw her sister sitting in front of the class room and decided to sit next to her twin.

A brand new day; Mooch thought to himself as he entered the classroom. He quirked a brow as his eyes began to scan the candle lit room. Why were there candles scattered everywhere? Isn't this a 'tad bit dangerous? He subtly shook his head and shrugged off the thought. Mooch began to scratch his chin in thought, wondering who he'd sit beside today.

A large smile formed on his face as he saw Abby. It was quite odd to him. Abby had been in his Charms class since the first day and he hadn't even noticed her until the other day at the Halloween party. He wandered over to the two sisters and pulled out a chair next to Abby. He carelessly plopped himself in the chair, and his books on the table. Mooch messily brushed his hair to the side and laughed, "Hello, hello."

Mooch watched in awe as the words magically appear on the board. Magic is wonderful he thought to himself. Everything about the magical world amazed him even the littlest things. You'd think he'd be used to it growing up in an all magic family, but that wasn't the case.

Abby looked beside her to see Mooch plop next her on the chair, Abby smiled at her friend, "Hi Mooch, did you sleep well?".

Felix strut on into the classroom, stopping for a brief moment to think of who to sit with, he looked to the Slytherin boy playing with the candle and thought, "Definitely not there...obvious fire hazard...", then he looked to the group of three, "A Hufflepuff, a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw....heh, sounds like the beginning of a bad joke...Meh anything is better than having a Slytherin whack you in the head with a candle...".

He strode over to the desk behind the three, he took a seat, and pulled up another chair to rest his feet on. Felix looked to the board, "The Fire-Making Spell...seriously? Now I KNOW that Slytherin is going to set us all aflame...".

Felix pulled an apple from out of his robe and polished it off with his pants, before taking a massive bite. He surveyed the room waiting for the lesson to begin.

violet was very excited for her first charms class, so excited that when the teacher asked a question, she raised her hand and said "Professor, the incantation for the fire-making spell is 'Incendio'."

Felix looks to Professor Fenech, and back down to his apple. He quickly chomps the apple down to it's core and puts his hands on the desk. "What kind of world is this? A boy can't simply enjoy an apple in his class?", he said under his breath.

He cleared his throat and continued to listen to the lesson.

Mooch couldn't help, but laugh quietly as his friend Felix was being targeted by the teacher. He leaned back in his chair and admired the teacher's charm work. Mooch absolutely adored charms. He thought it was the most brilliant thing in the entire world. He slightly tilted his head and smiled in awe as the candle lit up.

"That's brilliant!" Mooch exclaimed under his breath.

He leaned back in his chair and shrugged to Abby. He craned his head back and thought about his night for a few moments. He didn't have the best sleep, but it wasn't terrible. Of course there's that Hufflepuff boy that talks and mumbles in his sleep and last night he was particularly annoying. But he didn't want Abby to be concerned or even a tiny bit dissapointed, so he lied.

He bit his bottom lip knowing that the teacher would notice him if he started to talk. He squinted his eyes and grabbed a quill. He dipped it in the ink and wrote down on one of Abby's pieces of paper, "Yes, I did. What about you?"

He flashed Abby a kind smile, then returned his attention to the teacher.

Selwyn groaned as his toy was taken away.  He dropped the wax laden piece of parchment and sat up straight, paying attention to the teacher's words.  

Incendio, he wrote in his notebook, fire charm.

He glanced up as the room brightened briefly and only saw the results of the demonstration.  No loss there, it wasn't as though he'd never seen someone light a candle or a lamp before.  The real difficulty in this class would be puzzling out the spell for himself.  Being told to concentrate was hardly any help at all.

Selwyn put his quill and book away.  No point leaving them out where they could be incinerated by a random spell.  He looked around the room, but nobody else seemed to be taking the initiative yet.

With wand in hand, he practised the flicking motion a few times before summoning the courage to pair it with the incantation.

"Incendio!"

A streak of flame took the top off his candle and scorched the edge of his desk.

"Probably more concentration needed?" he asked.

Felix cracked his neck, and pulled his graffitied notebook, quill and inkwell closer towards him and copied word for word, what was on the board, stopping every few seconds to add onto the funny looking face he drew on the next page of his book.

He then grabbed for his wand, which appeared to not be there.

After panicking for a few short moments, he realized that he hid his wand in his robe, due to his earlier activities around the castle, causing mischief and possibly a little chaos, he thought it would be best if he had a lame excuse to fall on if he was found performing such activities. Felix thought the simpleton excuse of "I don't even have my wand on me!" would work. As he pulled his wand from out of his robe, he thought to himself, "Maybe it is fortunate that I wasn't caught...I need a better fallback...".

He took a deep breath as he lifted his wand up. He slowly pushed the candle further away from him, and cleared his throat, readying his voice for the incantation. Felix covered his eyes with one hand, and said pompously, "Incendio!", nothing but a few little sparks erupted.

He removed his hand away from his face, "I guess it's safe to say that didn't work...", he thought to himself.

He brushed his hair back with his hand and cleared his throat once more, this time a little louder. He closed his eyes and held his breath for a short time, and slowly released it, trying to stay calm, and focus. Felix opened his eyes gradually. He looked at the wick of the candle and to his wand, "Here we go...Don't mess up Felix, you idiot...", he thought aloud.

Felix then quickly waved his wand in the air in the shape of a flame, wondering if a proper hand motion would do the trick. "INCENDIO!", he spoke, with great confidence.

An ample jet of flame burst from his wand, setting the wick of the candle on fire. A big smile appeared on his face as he watched the candle flicker before his eyes. "That went well...".

Felix smirked at his success. He sat there, in his desk for a while, waiting for others to try the charm. He looked around the classroom for a few moments, before continuing to add onto his drawing in his notebook.

Alyssa McLennen opened the door to the charms classroom and slipped deftly through the crack. She frowned as she saw that the class had already begun, and that she had missed the beginning of the lesson. The board told her that they were learning Incendio - her tension relaxed slightly. At least she hadn't missed part of a terribly hard lesson. She sighed and unconsciously ran a hand through her long, blonde hair, her eyes quickly scanning the room for a seat.

One look at the Slytherin boy's desk told her that sitting next to him was out of the question - she preferred to avoid receiving unnecessary third degree burns quite so early in the morning. Her eyes then traveled to a few students sitting in the front. Even if they had seemed endurable, she wouldn't have joined them. She wasn't a front seat type of student.

Her vision finally landed on a fair-haired Gryffindor boy - Felix was his name, if she wasn't mistaken. She was rather sure that he already had a slight reputation for causing miniature troubles around the castle, but the flame that was burning down the wick of his candle was enough to convince Alyssa that it would be safest to sit next to him. She muttered a quick apology to the professor and took a seat to the left of the Gryffindor boy.

She set her bag down, not bothering to waste time taking notes, and pulled her wand from her pocket, raising it and aiming it toward the wick of the candle. "Incendio," she muttered, and frowned when only sparks shot from her wand. Being late had caused her to lose focus. She had lit candles in the past for her mother, and surely she could do it now. Taking a deep breath, she steadied her hand and made sure to include the proper wrist movement, and said in a much firmer voice, "Incendio!" A small flame escaped the tip of her wand, but it was enough to light the wick of her candle. A small smirk found its way onto her face as she succeeded at the task.

Ryder opened the door to the charms classroom rather loudly and stepped inside. He wasn't surprised by the small group of students that were already working on some spell - he knew he was late. He had snuck down to the kitchens before class to get a couple of pumpkin pasties. "Sorry 'bout that," he said casually to the professor, striding confidently down the aisle to take a seat. He saw a Slytherin boy in his own year and took the chair next to his.

A bit juvenile, don't you think? he thought to himself, seeing the notes written on the board. Or perhaps not, he thought again, glancing sideways at the boy beside him. He raised his wand and said the incantation rather boldly, smirking slightly as his candle caught fire. He shrugged and leaned back in his chair nonchalantly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Nadia slightly opened the door to the Charms classroom and sat at a desk next to Selwyn, wasn't it?  She had saw him in the Slytherin Common Room a bunch of times. She glanced over at Professor Fenech and mumbled a "Sorry about that."

Nadia looked over at the board and saw that they were learning the Incendio charm. She pulled out her wand and said, "Incendio". The candle didn't light. She tried once more, "Incendio". The candle hesitated to light up, which had Nadia thinking it didn't light up. Nadia sat back, looking pleased at herself.

Aoife bit her lip when it was time for them to actually do the spell. Not that she was scared or anything. How stupid would that be? Taking a deep breath, she stared at the candle. Please please please work and prove I'm actually a witch. Please, she thought. She watched as a couple of other students from different houses tried

After a minute of pep talking herself, Aoife grabbed her wand. "Incendio!" she said shouted enthusiastically, her soft Irish lilt coming through, pointing her wand at the candle. Then she watched as a flame leaped out of her wand and missed the candle by the tiniest millimeter. The young girl held her breath as it leaped into the air before flying back down to the desk. Luckily, she didn't set the classroom on fire, just burnt the table. The top was now completely black and there was smoke coming from it. Oops.

So what else was there to do other than try again, persevere until she got it? Aoife grasped her wand and, a bit more calmly, said, "Incendio!" Her eyes opened. "I did it!" she couldn't help saying, jumping up and down like a four year-old on sugar rush. She SO was a witch!

She noted down the homework and smiled at the Professor. That didn't look too hard, as long as she didn't lose her spellbook. Aoife was good at losing things.

Alyssa looked up as the professor reprimanded her for her tardiness, but didn't comment. She waited patiently after she had lit her candle, taking the time to glance around the classroom at the few students who were still trying. She tilted her head as she watched a little Gryffindor girl nearly set her desk on fire with a badly aimed charm. Too enthusiastic, Alyssa thought to herself. Not enough focus. She nodded her head approvingly as the girl repeated the incantation with less fervor, successfully igniting her candle. Alyssa raised an eyebrow as the girl nearly jumped out of her skin in excitement - perhaps the girl was a muggleborn?

She glanced back to the front of the room as the Professor called attention to herself by extinguishing the candles. Alyssa couldn't help but wonder what spell she had used to get rid of all the flames, and wondered similarly how she got words to write themselves on the board. She reached down into her bag to fetch her planner, flipping it open and copying the homework into it. She closed it when she had finished, stuffed it into her bag, and waited patiently for the bell to ring so that she could go looking for her next classroom.