Class #3: G&H / 4&5

[Professor Filius Flitwick]

INTRODUCTION

Group #1: Gryffindor Fourth and Fifth Years
Group #2: Hufflepuff Fourth and Fifth Years
Discussion: Banishing Charm

"Hello, boys and girls!" Flitwick said as he class started to pile in. "Please gather 'round at the front of the class!" he called to everyone in his squeaky voice. He climbed up onto his podium so he could see all of his students. "Today we will be starting the Banishing Charm! You will all be breaking up into pairs to practice this spell, so partner up!" He waited for students to group together before he turned to the huge pile of large pillows he had stacked at the front of the class. "As you can see, I've pulled out an assortment of cushions for you to start with," he told them, gesturing with his wand. "You'll have your partner toss one at you while you try to banish them back -- and by 'them' I mean the cushions, of course! Please don't send your partner flying across the room!" That might seem like a ridiculous thing to specify, but this group of students tended to... interpret instructions in their own unique way. "You need to use a strong diagonal cut through the air with your wand and use the incantation, Depulso. After you've gotten used to the larger targets, you may switch to the smaller bean bags in the crate to the left of the room!" The bean bags were only the side of his palm, so, hopefully, they couldn't do too much damage with them.

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[Gideon Prewett]

Charms really wasn’t Gideon’s strongest class. Really. But that was okay, he figured, because he did well enough in it to get by. He’d gotten his first O in this class when they worked on Summoning Charms, and everything else was mostly E – some A, here and there, but not too bad. Today they were doing Banishing Charms, which Gideon figured would be pretty easy since it was just the opposite of Summoning Charms. He knew the gist of the spell, having seen his mum and sister and brother do it a couple times (whenever Fabian found Gideon to be annoying, he’d threaten to Banish him, which just made Gideon laugh). He considered asking Gabby to be his partner, but decided against it; she was so small he was afraid he’d Banish her out the window. Jezebel was in this class with him, so maybe her, but… then again, he wondered if trying to Banish each other could just cause problems. Chace had already partnered up with that Cameron Troy bloke, which was a bummer… hm. He looked over at Jezebel and gave her an awkward smile. “If we’re partners for this, we can’t take it personally, right?”

[milo]

Milo loved Charms. For years, Defense Against the Dark Arts had been one of his favourite classes. This year, Charms had moved up and now was his top class. Milo was good with spells and magic – mostly, he figured, because he was good at mimicking people, and after watching professors do it a few times, he could copy almost exactly what they did. He’d seen Professor Flitwick perform the Banishing Charm, and remembered how he did it, so hopefully this class wouldn’t be too bad. “Depulso,” he whispered under his breath, then looked around the class for a partner. He was pretty easy-going, and friendly, so he was willing to pair up with pretty much anyone.

[jezebel]

Jezebel actually really liked Charms classes. It was always pretty fun, and even though she sometimes thought that Flitwick was an evil elf and had plans to kidnap her, he was still a pretty nice professor. She also liked the fact that, unlike some classes, it was more about hands-on experience and they got to do wandwork, which was Jezebel's favourite part of magic. She grew even more excited when she found out they were learning a new spell, a banishing charm. Almost immediately, her mind began conjuring up adventures of times when she could use it - perhaps when she was fighting dragons. But then she would have to really excel in the spell to push back something with the size of a full-grown dragon, wouldn't she? Still smiling, she immediately began searching for a partner, her eyes falling on Gideon, who was giving her a bit of an anxious smile. His comment made her laugh and she rested a reassuring hand on his arm. "Don't worry about that, Gideon, I will not be offended if you accidentally banish me. Just please try not to?" she teased, more comfortable with this flirting thing now that they have been dating for a few weeks now. Grabbing one of the pillows, she took a few steps back to give him space and then raised an eyebrow. "Ready?"

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[Michaela Petrova]

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She had this. Mica did well in Charms class, not like in Transfiguration or Potions. You’d think she’d be better in potions, because she liked to concoct different scents and perfumes but to create something that wasn’t pretty? She didn’t have it in her. She would never send her partner flying across the room. At least, she would not do it on purpose. Michaela could see why Professor Flitwick had said it – there were students in their class with a bit of an attitude problem and she would not be pairing up with one of those. Poor Professor, he always looked so…traumatized by something. Perhaps he was traumatized by teaching. Breaking into partners, Michaela casually looked around for someone she knew that was still solo. There was Milo Whittle, a boy in her same house and year. He didn’t look dangerous. Grasping her wand in her hand, she walked over to Milo and tapped him on the shoulder with a friendly smile. Oh look at that, “M” and “M”. “Do you want to pair up?” she suggested. She couldn’t, after all, hurt him much with a pillow. She pulled her hair up with an elastic to keep it out of her face while they practiced their spell and picked up a pillow from the pile.

[Emmeline Vance]

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Charms. Emme was good at Charms. It was fun, too. After listening to Professor Flitwick explain the instructions, Emme glanced over her shoulder at the pile of cushions they were supposed to be practicing with, and grinned a little. Seemed pretty exciting after all--something Luke would probably have fun with, she thought to herself, chuckling a little under her breath at the thought of him before licking her lips and looking around for someone without a partner. She glanced over at Gideon before he turned to Jezebel, and she ignored the fleeting twist of jealousy in her stomach before turning away, because it was about time to get over that, as much as it had hurt, they were growing out of it. She looked over to Gabby, her safe choice, and waltzed over to her, twirling her wand around and sending her a bright smile. "Gabs!" she piped up. "D'you wanna pair up?

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[Lilah Jackson]

Lilah liked Charms. She wasn't always perfect at them, and sometimes she struggled with the proper arm movement because she was down right uncoordinated, but it was still one of her best classes. She also liked Professor Flitwick, who, in her opinion, was one of the sweetest old men ever. Today's lesson would be good, she figured, just as long as nobody mispointed their wands and banished another student across the room - that was never any fun! But she was optimistic, regardless! They were just banishing cushions after all! And surely it would be easy - it was just the opposite of a summoning charm, right? She got that down pretty quickly, and she didn't see why this would be much different. She glanced around the room, already seeing some of her friends pairing up, but she wasn't sure if anyone wanted to be her partner. Well hopefully someone else wouldn't have a partner and she could practice with them! And if she needed to, she could just practice with Professor Flitwick, which she didn't particularly mind, either.

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[milo]

Milo was beginning to wonder if he’d have to partner up with Flitwick himself when he felt a tap on his shoulder and turned around. Oh, it was that Mica girl he’d hardly talked to, despite being in the same year and house as her. She seemed cool, and she had asked Milo very nicely to be partners, so he beamed back at her and nodded. “Yeah, definitely!” he said, picking up a pillow and going to hand it to her when he realised she already had one. “Ladies first,” he laughed, standing back a few feet and readying his wand. Hopefully she had good aim and reflexes, because Milo liked to think that he did.

[Michaela Petrova]

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Michaela smiled and gripped her wand at her side, ready as ever, while her other had the pillow firmly in place. She raised it but didn't throw for a few minutes, trying to catch Milo off guard. She smiled at him and turned in a half circle so they were facing opposite from one another. "Thank you," she chirped back before taking position. "When you least expect it, it's going-NOW!" she cut herself off and with an excited and challenging expression. throwing the pillow toward Milo for him to counter....or miss. Likely the first but the competitive nature in her leaned toward the second. As the pillow soured a couple feet Mica shot her hand up into the air with an outstretched arm so as to be completely ready when the pillow returned. In wizardry, a spell could take just as long as you needed to say it and for some people, the fast talkers, it was very quick.

[milo]

Milo and Mica wound up circling each other for a bit while he waited for her to actually throw the pillow. He figured she was trying to catch him off-guard, which she probably could if he let his down at all. Milo knew he had to focus, though. He had to remember to cast the Banishing Charm – Depulso – and not a Shield Charm, despite Shield Charms being his strength. Dep–

“Protego!” he said automatically as Mica finally threw the pillow. Well, he’d succeeded in deflecting it, but he definitely hadn’t Banished it the way he was supposed to. Laughing apologetically, he picked the pillow up and handed it back to her. “Sorry ’bout that. I’ll Banish it this time, I promise.”

[Michaela Petrova]

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"Sorry love, I shouldn't have pounced it on you," she laughed lightly, taking the pillow in her hand while feeling the smallest sense of pride, even if she hadn't technically tricked him. Milo had reacted accordingly, he'd simply used the wrong spell. He ought not to worry about her use of the word "love", as Mica had a thing with calling everyone under the sun that endearing expression. For her, it was like calling someone "pal" or "dude", if you were an American. It was actually quite the common terminology in England....or, hopefully. "Ready?" Michaela rocked back and forth on her heels and held the pillow up in her hand, obvious with her intentions to throw it at her partner this time. Mica peered quickly around the room to see how the other students were doing and saw that most of them were just getting started, having spent a few minutes chatting it up. She smiled - she and Milo were going to have this spell down pat by the time they actually started something. Wouldn't Professor Flitwick be proud? "Don't forget - depulso," she winked, before throwing it toward Milo for the second time. She shot her wand up again so as not to miss the pillow coming back to her, because they wanted to get a rhythm going, like a game of badminton. Once you got started, it became easier.

[milo]

This time when Mica tossed the pillow, Milo was definitely ready. He had his wand up and aimed, the incantation clear in his mind and 'Protego' far from it. Mica tossed, and Milo flicked his wrist the way Flitwick had shown them and said (louder than needed), “Depulso!” The pillow, which had been inches from his face, seemed to pause in midair before spinning around and flying the opposite direction. But instead of going directly toward Mica, it swerved and seemed to go around to her left instead before dropping to the floor. “Whoops, sorry!” he laughed apologetically. “Guess my aim's a little off. Least I did the right spell this time, though! Here.” He Accio'd the pillow, catching it deftly as it came at him. “You try this time. Ready? Three... two... one!”

[Michaela Petrova]

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Mica was bouncing on her heels even as the pillow came toward her It was her "ready" stance, but ready as she was she still could not stop the pillow because it moved and fell on the floor. If Michaela had been better at the spell she probably could have caught it in time regardless, but she hadn't. "Progress is progress," she quipped reassuringly to Milo as he sent the pillow flying back to him with another spell so Michaela could have a turn. When it came toward her Mica was determined that she should say the spell with enough power that it would have momentum to return to Milo, but she may have planned a little too much when she shouted, "Depulso!" and sent the pillow with a lot of speed at Milo. For her first try it was a good one, but her aim was slightly askew as it looked like the pillow was about to hit Milo in the face. Michaela made a "whoops" face and put down her arm. "Sorry. At least if there was ever anything in this room I should hit you with, it was a pillow." A pillow couldn't hurt anyone. Professor Flitwick was smart and no doubt through his experience from teaching many years had picked the perfect object for students to practice with.

[Professor Albus Dumbledore]

POINT COUNT

TALLY	Gryffindor	Ravenclaw	Hufflepuff	Slytherin
Attendance	05	00	55	00
Earned	00	00	00	00
Total	05	00	55	00