CHARMS - All years, Term 8

Andre wasn't so sure that it was possible to be any happier than he was at that moment. He had really grown to love Hogwarts over the past two years, and it literally felt like coming home when he stepped into the castle to begin his third year teaching. Zis will surely be ze best year ever! he thought to himself as be bounced giddily down the hallway to his first charms class of the year. Andre had had so much fun teaching charms last year that he was ecstatic to fill the position again! But zis year class will be even better, since zere will be everybody in ze room at one time!!

Yes, Andre had come up with the brilliant idea in France over the summer - he would have one giant class with all of the years! And it was a surprise - the students wouldn't know that it was a combined class until they arrived! They would be so excited when they realized! The more the merrier, as far as Andre was concerned. And of course, it is always nice to 'ave ze older students to 'elp me in ze case zat I do not know 'ow to do somezing. Because Andre didn't know what half of the spells he planned to teach actually did. It was always good to have backup. And he'd come up with an even more amazing idea while in France! He was going to sit his class in wonderful groups and give them an Andre-style cool project to do! He'd even made an epic seating chart that he could post in the front of his classroom on some amazing muggle computer program called Paint. Ze name is not very original, but ze result is a masterpiece!

Andre was, for the first time in quite some time, the first one into his classroom. He was quite proud of himself for not getting distracted. The moment he got into the door, he rushed over to his desk to greet it before focusing on anything else. "Why 'ello my marvelous friend!" he squeaked, sweeping his beret off his head in greeting and beaming at the brilliant wooden structure. "Zis will be a wonderful year, don't you zink?!" Right, time to put the seating chart up before everyone got there! Beaming, Andre pulled some spellotape from his desk and taped it up to the board - he'd enlarged it so that it was big enough for everyone to see when they walked in!

Seating Chart:

Andre had thought very long and hard about how to sort the students into groups. He wanted to make sure not to just put them with their own house or year, because that would be much too boring! Also, he didn't want to put that VanDerberg boy with his precious Mademoiselle O'Donnell because he was fairly certain that the boy had less than honorable intentions with his lovely little favorite student. So he put her with that charming Blake Ralston boy instead, as well as the twins! He did try to keep siblings together, because siblings were capable of marvelous things!!

Also, his amazing Arithmancy skills gave him a hunch that certain people were well suited for each other, and since Andre was French and a hopeless romantic, he saw nothing wrong with pairing them accordingly! The Walters boy and the red-haired Slytherin, for example, were clearly stupid for not being together by now. And from what his numbers could tell, the new transfer student would do well with the frightening girl in Slytherin. So he had put a lot of effort into seating his students this year. Now, all there was to do was wait for them to arrive and see their reactions!

Aoife walked to Charms with Lyra, chatting animatedly. The other girl was oddly quiet and perhaps sad, so while she still talked happily, she could tell now wasn't the time to try and convince her Blake was evil. Once she was in a better mood and actually joined in the conversation, she could turn her to the good side. Unfortunately, Lyn and Hunter were long gone, caught up in his evil reign.

"HELLO MONSIEUR LEBLANC!" she grinned as she practically dragged Lyra through the door. "How was your summer? Did you eat more papayas? Or was it pomegranates?" The redhead couldn't remember.

Oooh, seating chart! Aoife let out a little squeal at the sight of it taped to a wall and skipped towards it to take a look. "Lyra, we're on the same table!" she nodded approvingly. But then she saw it. The other one on their table. Not Lyn, she was fine. The devil. Blake Ralston. "Monsieur, I think you made a mistake here," she said, trying to remain calm. "It says I'm on the same table as... HIM." She couldn't even say his name.

But then she immediately forgot about the devil. She giggled childishly. "Tor and Mor and Zor are on the same table!" Was that deliberate? Professor Leblanc probably did it because it was funny. And it was. "Hey, Tor! My friend! Please can we swap Blake and Tor around?" Then Blake got to be on a table with a scary Slytherin and she got her new friend Tor!

Hunter was running late - as usual. He'd completely forgotten about charms! Of course, Monsieur Leblanc wouldn't care if he was late, so he didn't rush too quickly as he made his way down the grand staircase. It wouldn't take him too long to get to the charms classroom anyway. When he reached the charms corridor, he spotted a head of bright red hair entering the classroom ahead of him. Aoife and Lyra! If he'd caught up to them, he couldn't be that late. Breaking into a jog, he passed through the doorway just a few moments after Aoife and his sister, and was rather amazed to see that they were the first there. And the girls were staring at some big piece of paper on the wall - a seating chart?

"Hey guys!" he said brightly, tugging a strand of his sister's hair jokingly as he joined them to see what the chart was all about. He'd gotten used to Aoife's weird new appearance a bit more, and didn't feel the need to stare at her now - though he was still a bit confused at the strange feeling he got when he saw her. But it wasn't like Ariel and Darcy, where he literally had to fight the urge to look at them. Which was good, because he was pretty sure if Aoife caught on she would hit him.

Speaking of Ariel and Darcy, they were at Hunter's table! That would be awesome and frustrating all at the same time, because the Wilde sisters were great, but the older one was particularly distracting. And some second year he'd never talked to. Oh, and Seren. That wasn't so bad, then! Although Aoife wouldn't exactly be happy if he got along with Seren. That could be a problem... Aoife didn't seem happy anyway, as she'd gotten Blake in her group. He couldn't help but laugh as he heard the eccentric professor respond.

"Ah, but Mademoiselle, zis seating arrangement can not be changed! I 'ave put very much effort into ze placement of ze seats! And zis foreign Tor Monsieur, according to my calculations, would be very well suited with ze terrifying Slytherin girl. And so I am 'elping zem along, you see? So zey must remain seated where zey are!" So the professor was grouping them based on who he thought would be good together? Hunter tried to share an amused look with Aoife and Lyra at this realization.

Morgana hadn't really thought about charms for a while, but during the break, something had gotten her attention in the Gaunt journal, and she figured she might as well try the class out. It seemed fairly interesting, and people were constantly nagging about how professor Leblanc was so amazing. Maybe he was. She had never met him, so she hoped it was a fact.

Upon reaching the classroom, however, Morgana was pretty sure she'd walked into the wrong class. A beaming man was standing by a desk, looking at it in a very absurd way. Almost loving. And he has just said a few words that made Morgana's eye twitch. Seat chart… Really? Three other students were there, and all of them considerably much younger than her. One of which, O'Donnell, her new co-worker. Morgana instantly prayed that the girl wouldn't be bouncing towards her to be all friendly. Morgana might be pleasant enough in the shop, but out here, Aoife had nothing to do with her life. And there was Hunter. She didn't mind the kid all that much, but he better not pester her.

She then eyed the huge seating chart. Well, thank Merlin. Aoife would be sitting in the complete other side of the room. Morgana walked over to the table, making it very clear that she wasn't at all interested in making conversation and sat down on the chair designated for her. She fished her book out, and started reading it while waiting for the lesson to start.

Ariel skipped through the hallways of the monstrous building that was Hogwarts. Her mind was elsewhere, and she didn't watch where she was going at all, so people scooted out of her way to not be hit by her speed. They shouted some stuff after her, but she didn't care. There was one particularly nasty word, but Ariel just decided that she'd pay him back once with one of her nasty stick-pudding plans. No need to get obviously vicious.

She finally reached the classroom and beamed as she saw three of her awesome friends there already! "Hey awesome people!" she exclaimed happily, and then her eyes found the seating chart. "We have permanent seats?" she asked with big eyes and noticed that she was sitting with Hunter and Darcy, and a girl she didn't remember having met. She grinned again. "This can be fun!" she said happily and slung herself down on the chair that was going to be her chair.

Morgana noted when a guy sat down on her table. This would be the Tor-guy, according to the map. She wondered briefly what it was shortened from, but soon found that she didn't much care for the rest of the name. She looked up at him. He had dark hair and a kind of face that held a lot of features. Most people would probably deem him as very handsome. Morgana, however, was Morgana and didn't care.

But she did not like the way he was looking at her. He looked bewildered and he was staring at her with a very weird emotion. Morgana frowned at him, considering saying a sharp and snappy 'what' to him, but decided against it, as she didn't really care why he was looking at her like that. So her face returned to the careless expression that was Morgana. She then returned to her book, not really bothering with the guy at all, hoping class would commence as quickly as possible.

Yes, he'd put a bit of effort into chucking people into random seats, but that didn't mean she should have to put up with Blake on her table! AngryFaceAoife. But then he started talking about her best friend Tor and her cool colleague Morgana being deliberately placed together. "Morgana is scary, I agree," Aoife nodded.

Then she got it. At least, she thought she did. "WAIT ROMANTIC WHAT ME AND LYN ROMANTIC WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE I'M SO CONFUSED HUNTER STOP LAUGHING HUH." And HUNTER and SEREN together. "I don't LIKE Lyn like that! We aren't involved romantically! Or do you mean me and LYRA? WAIIIIIT. BLAKE? NO. NO WAY." Never in her life would she spend any time with Blake unless she absolutely had to. Romantic? No chance.

This was so confusing, Aoife couldn't cope with it all.

So when Morgana and Ariel and Tor turned up, she was almost relieved. Were these people normal? Nothing else was. she breathed out gently, trying to make sense of all the stuff going around in her head. Her colleague was too scary to talk to and she might want to maintain her reputation, so the redhead just waved. "Hi Ariel," she smiled at the next new arrival.

"TOR! HUNTER! THIS IS MY NEW BEST BUDDY TOR!" Hunter had been replaced by the cool Scandinavian boy. Tor didn't laugh at her when she was put on a table with BLAKE. So maybe he wasn't there, but still. He was a better friend than Hunter! But what was wrong with Tor? He was so different. He just stared at something. Oh... someone. Morgana? They were in LOVE? Disgusting!

She shipped them anyway.

The more Aoife went on, the more difficult it was for Hunter to stop laughing. In fact, he was soon doubled over and completely unable to collect himself while Aoife started accusing Monsieur LeBlanc of pairing her with Lyn and Lyra because of some mysterious nonexistent romantic connection he'd discovered. For some reason though, when she brought up that Monsieur Leblanc could have sat her with Blake on purpose, his laughter died a bit. Which was stupid - Aoife would never want anything to do with him, she hated Blake. Not that it mattered if she did - but suddenly, he felt a bit of jealousy that Blake was sitting with Aoife instead of him. At this point, Hunter was fairly certain that he was going crazy.

Thankfully, Ariel always seemed to turn up at just the right time to take his mind off of things. "Hey Ariel!" he exclaimed brightly to her, turning his attention away from Aoife to focus on the happy blonde girl instead. "Looks like you're stuck with me," he joked with her, inclining his head toward the seating chart. "Just make sure you write really big during tests so I can read your answers without having to struggle, okay?" he said, grinning. In reality, he highly doubted that Monsieur Leblanc would even have tests - he was way too cool for that.

Hunter tossed his bag down on a seat next to Ariel, and when Morgana showed up, Hunter nodded to her in greeting but didn't say anything to her. He was surprised when Aoife acknowledged her, but then remembered that Aoife was working at the Ice Cream parlor with Morgana this year. And then Aoife was going on about her new best friend, Tor. New best friend? No, Hunter was Aoife's best friend. What was she trying to do, exactly? And why did he care? "Who the hell is Tor?" he asked, his irritation over this whole stupid Aoife thing likely evident in his tone. Oh, Tor was within earshot. Oops. "What year's he in?" Hunter asked, trying to sound curious to cover his earlier tone - the guy was obviously older at least, so it made sense that Hunter didn't know him.

Mademoiselle O'Donnell had seemed upset about the seating chart - this was to be expected. Andre had thought that she would be opposed to not being seated near the VanDerberg boy. But apparently his favorite little student had an aversion to Monsieur Ralston! But Andre couldn't change the seats now! And there was no reason for her to dislike the boy, as he was very charming and friendly. So Andre decided, for his red-headed mademoiselle's own good, to stick to his seating chart. It would do her good to befriend Monsieur Ralston, and maybe his group project would be just the thing to unite them!

But then, she rushed into a tantrum about how she had no romantic relationship with either of the twins, and in a very short time Andre was very confused. "Ah, but Mademoiselle O'Donnell, you seem to misunderstand! I 'ave not paired everyone for zis reason! I 'ave simply taken zis into consideration for a select few students! Like ze two zat I 'ave mentioned. And also Monsieur Walters and Mademoiselle Wincehster!" Andre beamed at Aoife, hoping that she now understood. "But you must keep zis quiet, as zis plan of mine may not work at all if zey find out about it!" Then, to hopefully settle things down once and for all, Andre pulled out his candy bag and handed it to the redhead. "'ere, 'elp yourself and pass ze bag around when you 'ave taken your share!"

And it seemed that at least one of his calculations was right! The foreign boy couldn't take his eyes off of the scary girl. Andre wasn't sure why, because she looked like she might randomly pull out an ax or something and smash the lovely oak table that she sat at to bits for no reason at all. But to each their own! So long as she didn't actually harm the table.

Though a lot of people still had to show up, Andre decided to go ahead and explain his plan for the class to them. The others would figure out what was going on when they arrived! "So zis term, I 'ave somezing a little different planned." he began, bouncing excitedly on the balls of his feet. "As you can see, I 'ave seated you at certain tables! Zis is because I 'ave decided zat we will work on a project zis year! You will work with your table on ze project."

Now to tell them about the project! Wait - what was the project? Had he even come up with one? He was sure that he had, but maybe he had just been pretending that he had so that he had an excuse to make the cool seating chart. Well, time to improvise. "Ze project will be to - to... AHA! Ze project will be to design a set of costumes for ze members of your group! Zese costumes should 'ave a theme, and should incorporate as many charms as possible! At some point later in ze term, we will 'ave a contest for the best set of costumes! Ze winners will receive a prize!" That was pretty good, right? Andre was an awesome improviser. Now, perhaps he should wait for the rest of the class to show up before he actually began his lesson - perhaps he should also figure out what he was going to do for his lesson. Hmm...

Nina walked into Charms. She felt more confident about this term because she actually knew people now. She had met Ariel and all of her friends, and now Hogwarts was a little more enjoyable. She hadn't told any of them about what had happened over the summer yet. She didn't feel comfortable talking about it with just anyone.

She walked in and saw the girl whom the Charm's Professor threw the birthday party/end of term party for along with Ariel, Hunter, and two Slytherin's she didn't know. She had heard that one was a transfer student from Durmstrang.... Weird.

When she walked in, she noticed the seating chart... great.... She wondered if she could sit with Ariel and Hunter... That would make Charm's at least a little bit more enjoyable. Though she did meet this professor at the party and he was talking to his desk... so... maybe it will be a little more interesting than she thought.

She walked up to it and saw that she was supposed to sit by Lyn and Lyra, who were twins, Aoife, and Blake... She didn't really know how she felt about him still... Oh well. At least this term she'd get to figure him out. She went and sat at her assigned table and awaited instructions.

It wasn't long before she saw Aoife complaining about having to sit with Blake. She wasn't sure how she felt about the poor kid, but she wouldn't mind sitting with him. But the Professor hopefully calmed her down and gave her some candy to pass around. This class won't be so bad after all... Until he assigned the project... Costume designing? What does that have to do with Charms?

But she went along with it. He was giving them candy...so... But she noticed that he stuttered before assigning the project. Did he even have one planned? She giggled a little bit. This Professor was silly. Sarah would like him. She would definitely write to Aisha about him as well. Just because she wasn't her actual mother didn't mean Nina didn't want her to not be involved with her life. She DID adopt them after all.

She looked around after the professor assigned the project and noticed that there were only five people there including herself. Most of the class hadn't even showed up yet! This was going to be an amazing term with this teacher. (She might've found her favorite)

Charms was probably Seren's favorite class. Some of the other subjects were just such a waste of time in comparison. Like potions,  where Seren had to cut up slugs and work with the most DISGUSTING ingredients ever. Or Herbology, where they actually played with dirt. REAL DIRT. Seren hated dirt, and slugs. And all of the boring magic they learned in their other class. But charms was full of pretty, tricky spells that Seren loved to learn about! And of course, even SHE couldn't deny that Monsieur Leblanc, the charms teacher, was amazing!

When she got into the classroom, the first thing she noticed was the huge seating placement chart posted at the front of the room. She instantly groaned. Seating charts were NEVER good. She was probably going to be forced to sit with Aoife and a variety of first year brats. But then Seren actually looked at the chart. NO SHE WAS SITTING WITH HUNTER AND NOT WITH AOIFE THIS SEATING CHART THING WAS THE BEST! Her mood greatly improved, Seren turned to join Hunter and some blonde girl at one of the tables.

Seren sent a smug look toward Aoife as she took a seat next to Hunter and leaned forward so that she was definitely in his field of vision. "Hi Hunter! Did you have a good summer?" she said sweetly, giving him a wide smile. "I'm Seren," she said to the other girl at the table. Who was the blonde girl, anyway? Why did Hunter keep looking at her? For a moment, Seren was confused. Should she be annoyed that Hunter was paying attention to this girl instead of her, or be happy that Hunter was paying attention to this girl instead of Aoife? In the end, she settled on the latter. Anything that caused Aoife distress was worthwhile in Seren's opinion.

Seren didn't know most of the people in the room, so she just ignored them. There were some older students and some younger ones, but none of them mattered. Blake wasn't there, but Seren hoped that he would turn up. She listened as Monsieur Leblanc explained the project. Costumes? That was a bit stupid, but Seren's group would win because Seren was in it. Maybe their theme could be maniacal psychopathic Hogwarts students, and they could all dress up as Aoife and wear tacky red wigs. Oh, the professor seemed to like the maniacal psychopathic Hogwarts student. That wasn't such a good idea then, maybe. Pity.

Uh... what year was Tor in? "Sixth, I think?" Probably. "But he's too in love with Morgana to be my best friend anymore, so I'll stick with you," Aoife grinned, sticking her tongue out at Hunter.

Professor Leblanc explained his reasoning, so she just shrugged. That wasn't so bad, except that she had to be in a group with Blake. She grabbed a large handful of sweets and then passed them to Hunter, before going to sit down at her table. Other than Blake, it wasn't so bad.

"Hi Nina!" she grinned when the younger girl came over to their table. "Weeeeelcome to our table! Sorry about having to sit with Blake. Nevermind. Did you have a good summer? Come on, spill to Auntie Aoife now!" That was quickly becoming her catchphrase, it seemed.

Seren. The annoying brat turned up next. Aoife sent a patronising smile her way, boasting about how tall and amazing she looked with her eyes. It was so unfair that she got to be on a table with Hunter. Speaking of the dragon, he was staring at Ariel like usual. She was okay with it though, because Ariel was way too pretty for her own good and everyone should be staring at her.

Monsieur Leblanc started the class so she turned her attention to him. Costume designing? Awesome! "So I have the most awesome idea!" she immediately exclaimed to the group. "Animals! I'll be a sheep, Blake can be a bunny! Or... some other idea, not quite as cool as Blake in a pink bunny suit." She was already picturing the bow he'd have between his long pink ears.

What could he do today to cause mayhem at this lovely establishment called Hogwarts? He wanted to cause trouble. After all, he wasn't called PEEVES for nothing. He had heard of the crazy charms teacher, and wanted to make him go crazy. He had a few dung bombs in his hand from his life time supply from Fred and George Weasley (he was a little obsessed with them.) And smiled as he hung down from the classroom door and peeked in.

The crazy one was in there along with a few students. Perfect... This was exactly what he wanted to happen. The next student that walked in the door, would get a big surprise! Oh how he loved pulling pranks and making people angry. It was his number one goal in life.

He got tired of waiting for a student, so he decided to use his abilities on the Professor. He smiled and swooped in the classroom making himself noticed. He flew around, and picked up the chair that was behind the Professor's desk. And flew around with it! This was going to be so much fun!

Darcy walked into the Charms classroom just as something else made their presence known. Was that Peeves? Darcy frowned as he swooped down and took the professor's chair. That poltergeist was getting more and more reckless. She saw her sister sitting down at a table and looked on as Peeves joked around, walking slowly over to her sister.

A big drawing of some kind then grabbed her attention and she saw her name next to Ariel's. They'd be sitting together? That could be fun. At least, Ariel would have to play on her own team, a slight reassurance to the older sister.

She kept an eye on Peeves, not sitting down, rather sticking her hand in her pocket and grabbed her wand, ready to use a blocking spell should he throw something at them. Like a chair.

Nina smiled at Aoife as she asked about her summer. She didn't want the other kids to feel sorry for her because of what happened with her Nana, so, she played it safe and said, "Alright...I suppose..." That was probably the best answer she could've come up with. Then the girl started spitting out costume design ideas for their project.

She giggled a little bit at the thought of Blake in a pink bunny costume. That would be quiet hilarious. Her favorite animal was a giraffe. She loved how tall and beautiful they were. She then noticed that Peeves the poltergeist had come in the classroom. She laughed as he took the Professor's chair and flew around the room with it. He did like to start trouble.

Blake entered the Charms classroom just on time by the looks of things as the professor was just talking  about the day’s assignment. Blake had heard that they would be sharing class with the other years and had thought it was a good way of getting to know everybody. Although he didn’t like the look of the older Slytherin’s so he traipsed on past their table. Blake spotted Hunter sitting at a desk with Seren, Darcy and Ariel and was about to join them when he wondered why Aoife wasn’t with them. In fact, the seating arrangements seemed a bit odd. He recalled that Aoife wasn’t too impressed with Hunter on the whole book incident at the feast but they were hardly still fighting over that. For crying out loud she was crying over a book! Blake really wondered what had gotten into Aoife over the summer, it seemed like she had caught a weird girly bug and was going around crying over books and wearing lipstick. Blake soon figured out there was a seating chart and immediately had a sinking feeling.

Yep, obviously Hunter got to sit with all the cool people while he was stuck beside annoying and obnoxiously loud Aoife. Blake wondered if it was too late to drop the subject as he made his way over to his assigned desk, sending hateful telepathic messages to Professor Leblanc on his way. As much as he liked the man he had just made the subject ten times worse.

Blake wished he could sit with Hunter, it seemed like a much funner table, hell he’d even take the Slytherins over Aoife. He hoped she didn’t have another book to burst into tears over. It was so awkward seeing her like that, usually she was all hateful and mean, and Blake knew how to handle that Aoife, just not the teary eyed teenager Aoife. Blake sat tentatively down at the table, wondering what Aoife he was about to experience.

He was about to shoot her an apologetic look, but then came to his sense when he realised who he was dealing with and he shifted his chair closer to Lyra. At least he had the twins. It looked like Lyn was supposed to be there too, but in the meantime he was stuck with all the Gryffindors. Blake nodded at Nina, still unsure about the girl. "Hi guys." Blake said trying to remain calm as he seethed inside.

"I am obviously not being a bunny, I'd rather dress up as a sheep." Blake stated, already deciding taking Charm's was the worst decision he had made this year. He crossed his arms and slunk moodily down in his seat. In truth he didn't want to dress up at all, but he knew his opinion was mute. He didn't have a better idea for their project and Aoife would just end up succeeding in forcing him into a costume.

Another year of Charms class wouldn't hurt. It was only a year, after all. A few more days of this and Ryland would be done with school forever. He finally decided to get out of the Common Room and walked out to the hallway, taking his sweet time to get to class. At this point, he did not care whether he got in trouble for it or not. Ryland ignored the Fat Lady when she asked him if he was having a good day. After last year, she had become a mere addition to the many portraits and he was not going to socialize with her at the moment.

He wasn't exactly excited for this class, but at least it helped him pass the time. He also liked Professor LeBlanc a little. Ryland walked in just in time to hear the Professor talking about a project, and to see the seating chart he had arranged for them. He was sitting with Aylee! No! That can't be! Ryland frowned as he looked around, not caring for anyone in the room except Darcy and maybe Morgana. They were already there, but they were too far away from him. He walked to his table, which was empty, and listened to Professor LeBlanc talk.

Design a set of costumes? That should be fairly easy. Except no one in his team was in the room yet! He decided to start thinking of themes and he came up with some really stupid ones like Star Wars and Pirates, but he didn't want to dress up as any of them. He then glanced towards Darcy's table. There was Hunter, of course, and though Ryland sort of liked the boy he couldn't help but feel a bit of hatred towards him. After all, he'd heard rumors that Hunter liked Darcy, and Darcy was too good for him. He quietly kept his hate inside, but sneaked a glance at Darcy and smiled just because he could. He didn't think she noticed, though, but she was the only person at Hogwarts that actually meant something to him. The only person he would risk anything for. Moving his eyes away from Darcy, he saw another two girls; one with blonde hair and fine features that reminded him of sunshine and spring, and another one with dark hair and bright blue eyes that was the winter version of the first. He concluded the first one was Darcy's younger sister.

Turning back to his table, he decided to wait for Aylee and the rest of his team by putting his head down and taking a very quick nap.

Yes! Charms class was one of the best! Even though the only thing he remembered from the last lesson was him walking in only to get drenched, it was enough to make him love this class. Oliver walked from the Great Hall all the way to the charms classroom, which wasn't as far as he thought it was but he still liked to make a big deal about it and run through the hallways like he was competing in a race. With his legs carrying his as fast as they could, Oliver arrived to class a bit late. He had misread the clock! When he finally walked in to his class, the first thing he noticed was the seating chart. According to it, he would sit with Morgana, Tor, Zoran and Madeline. The last name sounded familiar, but it had yet to be put into a face as the person sitting to his left had not arrived yet. So far it was only Morgana and Tor that had arrived.

They were older. Much older. Five or so years older. They also seemed to be the kind of people that only talk to a certain group of friends, or the ones with no friends at all, but that didn't stop Oliver from running up to their table with a big smile on his face. "Hi!" he announced his presence. "Sorry I'm late, though I don't think I missed much." he told them as he took a seat in front of the girl, Morgana. For the next few minutes he listened carefully to what the professor was saying, and he immediately began to think of costume choices for their team. His first option, as surprising as it was, was not trees. It was to dress up as magical creatures! Merpeople, dragons, hippogriffs! All of those beautiful and majestic beings could be turned into a costume, and if they used magic they had even more possibilities. He decided to share his idea with his table since the boy seemed too preoccupied with staring at Morgana. I should probably introduce myself first.....

"Okay, I'm Oliver!" he smiled again. "I can tell by the seating chart that your name is Morgana." he told the dark haired girl. She was very pretty, the way his mum was, but she had a cold aura. "And you're Tor?" he asked the boy. He took a break from introductions and went ahead to his idea. "How about we do magical creatures?" he suggested happily, leaning over the table a little. "For example, Morgana, you could be a fairy, or a mermaid, or a unicorn!" he told her before turning to the boy. "And you could be a Phoenix or a dragon!" Oliver was very excited to begin this project, more excited than he was about trees. And that was quite a big deal.

Madeline was excited for the new year at Hogwarts. Over the summer she'd pretty much got rid of her stutter. She was also a lot more confident in talking to people and her mum said she'd probably almost got over her social anxiety. It was mainly due to her first year and the fun summer camp she'd attended. The changes in her were noticeable, her smile brighter and her cheeks filled with more colour.

Her first class was Charms. Unfortunately, she managed to get caught up in a heated argument with a portrait about how it was terrible to have butter on a bacon sandwich. Maddie was certain that it made for a disgusting taste, but the portrait with the big beard disagreed. It meant that she was a few minutes late for the lesson.

When she got there, the professor was explaining the project. It didn't seem like she'd missed much. Not wanting to interrupt him, she glanced at the seating chart and went in search of her seat. Tor, Morgana and Ollie. True, the two older Slytherins were really scary but at least she had Oliver on her table, the boy she'd met in the Owlery while he got frustrated over owls not being friendly.

"Hi Oliver!" she chirped as she took her seat. "Erm... hello," she added to greet the other students. "I'm Maddie." She had no ideas for the project, so it was good that Ollie was creative. Magical creatures sounded great! She nodded eagerly and couldn't stifle her giggle at the thought of Morgana as a mermaid and Tor as a dragon.

Morgana was growing more and more annoyed with the ass sitting at her table, staring at her as if she was something to devour. Maybe he was a cannibal? That would explain the look. Not that he'd have a chance. Even though magic at a school like Durmstrang had loads of spell teaching, she would gladly throw her wand away and beat him bloody. He was annoying. She ignored him.

And then a kid joined them. He had the nerve to be happy and joyous and she found him to either be brave or an idiot. Probably bits of both. Oliver. And then another girl joined them. Maddie. Oh, annoying Hufflepuffs, no doubt. Second year by the looks of them. How could the professor be daft enough to put her with an ignorant bastard and two babies? Not to mention how the kiddo Oliver suggested she dress as a fairy, mermaid or unicorn.

Her eye twitched as Tor was allowed to be a dragon or phoenix. If they were gonna do a stupid plan like magical creatures, then she wouldn't go easy and be an angel. "Excuse me," she said, her voice eerily calm, "Why is it that I should be a fairy? They are tiny beings who have wings and are absolutely useless, not to mention that this isn't Transfiguration. As for a mermaid, they are half-naked creatures and last time I checked this wasn't an R-rated class. And the unicorn? Do I really look that helpless?" she asked the kid, getting more annoyed by the second. This day was not turning out great. Next year, she was going to drop charms.

"If we're going to do stuff like magical creatures, we should use more fantastic creatures. As in manticores, sphinxes, lethifolds, phoenixes and dragons. Your two latter were good examples. And a unicorn could be possible as well, I suppose. Only a fool would say they weren't fantastic creatures," she deadpanned, her annoyance leaving her and she went back to her empty shell.

All of a sudden, everyone was arriving all at once. A pretty dark-haired girl joined them at their table, and her curly dark hair identified her as Seren immediately. But she'd certainly grown up a bit over the summer as well. The difference wasn't quite as blatant as with Aoife, but it was enough that Hunter noticed. And all of a sudden, with new-Aoife and Ariel and Seren, and then worst of all Darcy in the room, Hunter decided that he completely agreed with Aoife about not wanting to be a teenager. There were too many girls everywhere, and Hunter was internally kicking himself for wanting to look at all of them.

Not even risking a look at Darcy, Hunter turned his attention to Seren - partly because she had started talking to him and partly because her appearance was the least disconcerting. Hunter assumed that it was because she looked basically the same, just prettier than before. Unlike Aoife, who hardly even looked like the same person. "Hi Seren!" he said in a bright voice, flashing her a smile. "It was great! I had Aoife and Blake over for part of the holidays! How were yours?"

Soon, the professor was starting class even though half of the students weren't there. That was typical. And they would be making costumes. Hunter hated projects, but this one didn't seem too bad. He didn't have any good ideas though, because he was pretty boring and uncreative. It was more interesting to listen to everyone else's ideas, anyway. Hunter laughed at Aoife's suggestion that they dress Blake up in a bunny suit and shot his friend a sympathetic look. "I'd pay to see that," he muttered to Seren and Ariel under his breath. Then, Oliver was suggesting that Morgana dress up as a fairie. The kid clearly didn't know who he was dealing with. "I think I'd pay even more to see that."

Then, a sudden disruption overtook the classroom, and Peeves had burst into the space. And he was flying around with the professor's desk! Oh, this would be interesting...

Maya entered the Charms classroom full of anticipation and hope. She hadn't seen Kynan around much since their return from the summer holidays and what better way to run into her best friend than in class. Her hope was immediately diminished though after a fleeting survey of the room. She should've known, after all it was Kynan and he prone to missing class every now and again. Maybe he would turn up late she thought to herself.

Maya quickly glanced at the seating chart and was happy to see that she was beside her two good friends Kynan and Deirdre. Pity neither of them had showed up yet. The seating chart had also placed Aylee at her desk but she wasn't here yet either. Maybe she was busy trying to drag Kynan to class she told herself hopefully. Or maybe she was hoping too much.

Feeling slightly deflated Maya took her seat at the desk and noticed that at least someone was there. Ryland, but she hadn't talked to him in a while. They never usually had class together. It wasn't since her first year that they had really talked to each other. Maya remembered the encounter with fondness especially since Kynan had showed up after a while. Although she had heard of a lot of rumours about the boy since and wondered if half of them were true. Maya didn't want to endure any awkwardness and decided to just act as if she had never heard any of the rumours, well for the time being anyway. If he started acting like a wolf or werewolf or whatever he supposedly was she was requesting a change in seats. Maya cleared her throat hoping to wake the boy from his stupor and wondering if he was actually sleeping. She supposed he was probably bored being the only one here first. "Hi Ryland. How are you?" Maya said. "Any ideas for the assignment?"

Maya had a few but it was hard to decide without the rest of their table around. She hoped Aylee would turn up soon, she'd be sure to have a good idea. Actually Maya was pretty confident in their table's ability and thought they had a fair chance of being the best. If they ever showed that was.

"You don't sound so certain of that, Nina," she remarked, giving the girl an odd look. "If you ever need anything, I probably can't help much, but I'll give you a hug!" Hugs could help a bit, though. Aoife wished she could give good and useful advice, but that was unlikely. Unless the matter at hand involved sheep, I'm which case she was an expert.

Then the evil git turned up. She considered switching seats with someone, but whatever happened she'd still be on the same table as Blakey, so where she sat didn't much matter. She saw Lyra smirking about the new arrival, so she kicked the younger girl hard under the table. Just because she could stand to be around Blake, it didn't give her the right to show her elders so little respect and enjoy seeing her annoyed by the boy.

Blake? A sheep? Aoife laughed humourlessly. "YOU? A sheep? Do you really think you are cool enough and have the mental capacity to take on such an important role?" she asked, outraged. Of course he didn't. "If you refuse to be a bunny, perhaps you can have a slightly better animal. Worm? Slug?" Then, reluctantly, she sighed. "Fine, you can be a dinosaur." Only because she was in a nice mood today.

When she heard the word unicorn, her head snapped up. Had Mustachio arrived? No, it was just another student verbally abusing the animals. Helpless? Unicorns? WHO SAID THAT? No. No! "MORGANA, IF I EVER HEAR YOU SAY ANYTHING AGAINST UNICORNS EVER AGAIN, I WILL..." What could she do to that awesome cool girl? "Get my unicorn friend to EAT you!" Yes.