Charms Lesson 1: Light My Fire

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Usually a change in classroom scenery might be a welcome experience, but today's Charms lesson takes place on a cold, dreary January morning. A chilly wind ripples across the Hogwarts grounds, picking up a few leaves and scattering them as it goes. The skies are gray, but there's no sign of a snowflake in sight. It's the kind of day that makes you want to stay in bed, curled up in a cocoon of blankets, but that will have to wait until after class. Let's hope you remembered Professor Marchand's instructions to dress warmly!

As you drag yourself out into the cold, the first thing you'll notice is a series of wooden benches arranged in a circle. The second thing you'll notice is the lack of warming charms around the area. Is Professor Marchand deliberately trying to freeze his students or is this part of the lesson?

The professor himself sits on one of the benches, bundled up in a thick coat, hat, scarf, and gloves and clutching a mug of coffee. He looks pale and tired but still greets you with a smile as you arrive. Was that a cough you just heard? On the bench beside him is a tray laden with piping hot muffins and several mugs of tea and hot cocoa. Have a seat and help yourself to a warm refreshment as you wait for class to begin!

OOC: Welcome to the first OOC Charms lesson of the term! Class will start in ABOUT 24 HOURS (3:00 AM EDT June 11)
HAS STARTED!.

Lesson Progression

Question 1
Flammae Caeruleum (bluebell flames), Extinguo & Mini Activity
Question 2
Glacignis (flame freezing charm), Incendio, & Main Activity

[Penelope Macmillan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Gaston had to bow his head to hide the concern in his eyes as he called on Derf. Here was an answer he hadn't heard yet; he was impressed... well, as impressed as it was possible to be with everything else weighing on his mind. "That's a good point, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne," he said with a barely perceptible smile. "Thank you for your answer."

He noticed the Hufflepuff prefect sinking down in his seat and pulling his hood up, and he knew Penelope must've arrived, even before he heard her speak. He rose from the bench,approaching the Healer. "Thank you for coming so quickly, Penelope," he said, looking at her with sad eyes that looked like they might fill with tears at any moment, eyes that reflected all the guilt in his heart.

His voice dropped to avoid drawing unnecessary attention - and to keep Penelope from hearing it break - as he explained the situation, "M-mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne had his toe b-burned by a rogue bluebell flame. I gave him burn paste and tried to bandege the area, but i'd feel better if you had a look at it, j-just in case it's more serious than it looks." He had to turn away as a sudden bought of coughing wracked his body.

Poor Poor Gaston. If there was anyone who needed a cheering charm, it was this man. He always looked like he was on the verge of tears and now was no exception at all.

“Cheer up Gaston. Burns are bound to happen in a class like this, please don’t worry.” Though really telling him not to worry was like telling the Sky not to be blue, or the rain not to fall, but hopefully she could be of some comfort. She gently squeezed his arm and nodded at he pointed to Derf.

“I can check you out here Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne, or you could stop by the healers wing when class is over. Your choice.” Yes she had noticed the slump.

[SilverTiger]

To be honest, the whole situation with Derf getting burned and the fallout had all distracted Stasya a little. Among other things, she couldn’t really figure out how the bluebell flame had burned anything given everything they’d learned about the spell and the flames produced. She knew it didn’t burn, from when she’d cast it earlier. But, out of everything, just how much it seemed to have affected Professor Marchand was distracting her. Not that she didn’t care about her friend and fellow prefect, because she did, but her head of house was acting like someone had nearly died. They’d been closer to that in the lake with the grindylows, but she sort of figured telling him that wouldn’t help. Honestly, she just wanted to give him a hug. Maybe after class.

But the lesson was continuing, so she’d scrambled to scribble down the notes that had been established from the discussion she’d honestly sort of missed when it had been going on. That and she weighed the option of just not trying to cast Incendio. She knew how to cast that spell, had known since first year when she’d gotten help with it in Potions, but then she also didn’t really want it to seem like she was defying the professor b not practicing it. But then, also, she was getting the sense that the professor really wasn’t comfortable with the lesson, or the fire itself. She wasn’t sure, but it gave her the feeling that maybe it wasn’t a bad thing if they didn’t practice it…

But the other spell was new to her, so she was definitely going to work on that. Although she’d gone up to collect a few logs just in case she decided to cast Incendio afterward. It made sense to her, even if she felt like the other charm was something she could easily say wrong. “Glacignis. Glacignis, glacignis, glacignis.” She could see how the incantation explained what the spell did, sort of. But it was difficult to pronounce anyway.

“Glacignis,” she said once again, waving her wand over her head and concentrating. Okay, hoping it worked, and she let out a breath when she saw a faint white glow around herself. Hopefully that was good enough, even if she wasn’t planning on getting close to any fires. Actually… “How long does the Flame-freezing Charm last?,” she asked, mostly just out of curiosity.

Also…”Incendio.” She waved her wand in the open flame pattern toward her logs and smiled a little when a flame sparked in her baby!campfire.

[MadMadamMalfoy]

[COLOR="RoyalBlue"]Gaston smiled as Skylar summoned a pepperup potion for him. Yes, he remembered the strains of seventh year all too well... though he never had the potion making skills to keep his own supply of pepperup potion. He was really not keen on having steam shooting out of his ears for hours, but he'd promised to take it and he was not one to go back on his word. "Thank you, Miss Diggory," he said, taking the vial and downing it in one gulp. Immediately he felt the warmth coursing through his body, and he jammed his hat down over his ears in an effort to hide the steam. The class didn't need to be distracted laughing at him, though he had to admit, the steam did fit with the theme of today's lesson.

He was too distracted by Derf's burn (and the guilt of having a student injured on his watch) to congratulate Lydia on her successful bluebell flames at the time, but he gave her an approving nod as he moved on. Her answer got a small smile from him. "Very good, Miss Beckett," he said. "The size of the fire is a big difference."

Gaston managed a faltering smile for Penelope as she squeezed his arm.Deep down, he knew she was right, but he still felt he should've done more to stop this from happening. If only he'd provided better fire safety or taught the flame freezing charm sooner... Well, he couldn't change the past, but at least he could keep anyone else from getting burned this class!

He took a long swig of coffee as he watched the students. Skylar's pepperup potion had made him feel a lot better, but he was still going to need caffeine to function. He had the rest of the day to get through and a daughter who was going to keep him up for hours when he went home tonight. His eyes darted from one student to the next. Still no rogue flames... good. He saw that Skylar and Ronan had made quick work of both spells and beamed at each in turn. "Nicely done, Mr. Carter, Miss Diggory!" he said.

Lydia was also doing incredibly well! She, too, earned an approving smile. "Great work, Miss Beckett!" he said. Elsewhere, he saw that Maxton and Maddie had moved past the flame freezing charm. He beamed, nodding in reply to Maddie's thanks. "You're quite welcome, Miss Kemp!" he said before turning to the Slytherin. "Well done, Mr. Carden!"

Gaston's head whipped around as he heard Stasya's question, just in time to see her successfully cast Incendio. "The flame freezing charm can last up to two hours, depending on the strength of the caster's intent," he replied with a small smile. "Nice spellwork, by the way, Miss Dalgaard-Volkova!"

Oh, dear! Chloe appeared to be having trouble. Seeing her sitting in a ball on the ground broke Gaston's heart and sent his paternal instinct into overdrive.
He shot her a sympathetic look as he knelt beside her, his fear of the fires blazing nearby momentarily forgotten. "Oh... I know it's frustrating to struggle with a spell," he said, sitting on his hands to keep himself from giving her a hug. "It may feel like you'll never get it now, but I promise you will, as long as you don't give up. You may take a break, but I'd like you to try again when you feel ready." He gave her an encouraging smile. "We can switch gears and try the flame freezing charm-" Which, technically she was supposed to use before attempting Incendio, but maybe trying a different spell wouldn't be the best idea now. "-or keep practicing Incendio. I'll let you in on a little secret..." His voice dropped as he whispered in her ear, "I still struggle with casting Incendio."

Returning to his normal tone, he added, "Here's what helps me: think of something that makes you angry. Imagine that anger flowing through you and coming out your wand as fire, like this..." He rose to his full height and summoned a log, setting it on the ground a few feet away from them. He couldn't believe he was about to do the spell again, but helping Chloe was more important than his own fear. Okay, Gaston, he thought. Angry thoughts... He had it! "Incendio!" Once again, flames shot out of his wand and engulfed the log.

Gaston took an automatic step back from the fire and glanced at his watch again. Merlin, was that the time? He'd been so busy helping Chloe that he lost track! "You have TEN MINUTES LEFT, everyone!"


OOC: You have ABOUT 20 HOURS left for this activity! [/COLOR]

[sweetpinkpixie]

Derf...honestly wasn't sure if he deserved the professor's praise yet for his wandwork since he had mostly just been practicing the incantation, but would gladly take the man's word for it. Though he merely offered a sheepish smile for the time being, his attention drawn to the healer - who at least wasn't calling him Sugar or anything too sweet this go around. Though it was almost surreal to hear his actual name - so formal too! - being uttered by the woman.

"I...er...here is fine," he nodded as he wiggled his toe that the Charms professor had already somewhat tended too. "Been burnt way worse by a Blast-Ended Skrewt honestly...it hardly hurts at all now." Because he had the paste on it and everything. Really...he felt bad the woman had been asked here considering how minor this was.

And since he was sorta still stuck in his seat until she was done...Derf flourished his wand and summoned a few logs - once he was sure the path between the front of the room to him was clear - to his person and rested them on his lap. He was actually somewhat confident with Incendio...so there was that going for him at least.

[Waterloo]

Max cracked a grin at Professor Marchand's word of encouragement. It didn't take long for the grin to be replaced with a look of panic though.... Ten minutes left!?

Okay, time to get a move on then.

The Slytherin collected a couple of logs and set them in a little pile away from the rest of the group. He was positive that this was going to go smoothly but better safe than sorry.

"Incendio!" He pointed his wand at his target and just as he'd been expecting, flames engulfed the log pile and it was soon crackling away. "You didn't happen to bring along any marshmallows did you, Sir?" Max called happily in the direction of the Professor. Or jacket potatoes. Or damper.

[SarcasticStrawberry]

Firewood, they were basically going to get to make their own mini bonfire. This was going to be fun. She was very familiar with incendio. Moving up to the front of the room she grabbed three logs and went to find a spot in the room where she could work.

She arranged the logs standing up like a tripod. That was the best way to set them up honestly. It looked nice too. Next she had to cast the freezing charm on herself. Waving her wand above her head with a nonverbal glacis, there was the white light it did work.

Now was the part, well to her anyway. She didn’t know if anyone else liked fire as much as she did. Probably not because she really did. Also it made her want to go camping, maybe that was something that she could talk her dad into doing this summer. Her little brothers would love it and it would be fun to see Sundae roughing it camping.

She took a deep breath before doing the pretty obvious wand movement. A flame for a fire spell. “Incendio!” The flames shot from her wand and hit the logs. Nice fire. Toasty.

[Anna Banana]

At this point, Maddie had done everything but cast Incendio. She'd practiced, cast the Flame Freezing Charm on herself, gathered and arranged her firewood, and...well, here she was. Maddie stared down at the firewood and pictured how it would look in flames. The flames seemed angry and out to get her. It helped her get in the mood for casting a fire-creating spell.

"Incendio!" she called out, and she moved her wand in that teardrop-shaped motion the professor had taught them. In seconds, the firewood was in flames, and she widened her eyes. One, because she was shocked that she'd created these flames. Two, because there were just so many flames. So much fire.

"Whoa," she whispered to herself.

With the fire came a welcomed heat source, and since her fire wasn't spreading or any danger to anybody, she decided to keep it and not extinguish it. She didn't dare step closer to it, but she wanted to. She could almost feel the cold air drifting away.

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Gaston kept a close watch on the students for the final minutes of the activity. He was feeling much better than he was at the start of the lesson. He still blamed himself for the bluebell flame incident, but he was relieved that nobody else had been burned since then. And with so little class time left, it was looking extremely unlikely that anything else would go wrong.

He sent a somewhat apologetic look at Derf. He hadn't meant to embarrass him by sending for the healer; he just went into overprotective "dad" mode and overreacted... even more than he normally would upon seeing a student injured. Chalk it up to his fear of fire.

As his eyes scanned the area, he saw Juni succeed casting Incendio, and Maddie wasn't far behind. Both of the girls received a beam from the professor. "Well done, Miss Primeaux! You too, Miss Kemp!"

Gaston returned Maxton's grin with a small one of his own, and his smile grew even wider as he saw the fire the boy made. "Great job, Mr.Carden!" he said. Blink, blink. Again with the marshmallows? He wished he'd thought ahead and brought some with him. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I didn't."

Even if he had any marshmallows, there wasn't much time left for the students to enjoy them! After a few minutes, Gaston looked at his watch again. Class was finally over, thank Merlin! "Alright, class. TIME IS UP!" he said, waving a hand to get the students' attention. "Excellent work, everyone. I'm very pleased with your progress! Don't worry about the fires-" Wow, those were words he never thought he'd say! "I'll extinguish them myself. Enjoy the rest of your day!"

OOC: Thanks for coming. This class was so much fun! I'll leave the thread open ANOTHER 24 HOURS for those who want to post their charrie's leaving.

[Birchwoodmom]

Sitting by her warm fire, Emmalyn let her mind drift to another place. It was strange how fire could be so mesmerizing, grabbing hold and not wanting to let go. She pictured herself flying in the warm summer sun, not a care in the world.

Unfortunately, her daydream was interrupted by the sound of Professor Marchand's voice announcing time was up. She let out a long sigh, gathered her things, and started back towards the main class area. "Thanks for a great class, professor. Sorry about setting Derf on fire. " Then, her eyes, filled with worry, looked directly into his. "Please do take care of yourself." She gave him one last smile and skipped back towards the castle for some hot chocolate and marshmallows by the fire.

[Dokimoto]

Kye’s eyes darted over to the fiasco with Derf, but luckily it seemed to be under control. Seeing Professor Marchand just not have the energy for anything was so disheartening… Poor guy! And he wasn’t accepting help from anyone which made one feel a quite helpless. She would feel better later when Sky produced the potion for him. When it was time to answer his questions about the difference between the top charms, Kye’s first thought was about the more calm nature of the bluebells, and being able to put them in a jar or your hand for some time. Incendio being used more often for direct and powerful fire that was harder to control. They were as opposite as mass of lights could be really. When these and more were mentioned, Kye jotted notes even though she felt that she had that information memorized. As she wrote, she heard him bring up the flame freezing charm which she knew was a smart choice, especially considering Derf.

Kye watched Professor Marchand demonstrate Incendio as well, and honestly she was a little upset with him when he extinguished the flame. Uhm, you could still use that Sir! She did in fact notice the tremble in the professor’s voice, but hers did the same thing when it was too cold out. When he was done with his demonstration, Kye followed suit. Bringing a few pieces of the logs to her area, she arranged them in a neat little pile. Normally she would do the flame freezing spell nonverbally but the cold had started to get to her and she didn’t want to risk the charm not being powerful enough. She cleared her throat.

“Glacingis!” she said aloud, but nothing happened. “Glacingis!” …She furrowed her brow and looked back at her notes. Oh. Whoops. “Glacignis!” THERE we go. To her relief, the spell seemed to work just fine when you said the incantation correctly. Who would’ve thought? She attempted a nonverbal Incendio, but it was met with terrible results. No, she had not sent flames flying or anything, but only smoke was coming out of the end of her wand. With a sigh, she tried once more… Nothing. Alright FINE. “Come ON. Incendio!” she said, a bit of frustration at not being able to do it nonverbally. Would that be on the NEWT exam?? Nonverbal Incendio? Ah, Merlin, her stress was growing again. She had half a mind to ask Sky to use some of that Pepper Up Potion she had gotten for the professor! This last attempt seemed to work… enough at least. A tiny tiny flame had crept up through the middle of the logs, and she could feel the slight warmth starting from her little campfire… and now she just wanted marshmallows to roast. Picking a different spot on the log, she tried casting her spell again for practice. “Incendio!” ……………….Nothing?!?! She had just done it!!! Taking a break to curse under her breath, Kye overheard something about anger becoming the fire. Hm? Well perhaps that was it then. She wasn’t angry enough? She closed her eyes and let the frustration come back, trying to find other things that set her off a little bit. Feeling the anger start to flow a bit, she tried once more. “Incendio!!” and the flame poured from her wand. It still wasn’t impressive, but it had worked! She let the flame grow with her previous attempt, and was glad that it looked so much less lackluster. She had but a second to try to enjoy the flame though, as the end of class was called.

How was time up? They hadn’t even been able to properly warm themselves! Granted it had warmed up now that everyone had cast Incendio everywhere, but still. Kye put her things away, and made sure to pass by the professor. “Thank you, Sir, and I hope you’re feeling back to normal soon.” She gave him a sympathetic smile before heading back to the castle. She still thought he was absolutely nuts for doing class like this when he was so sick. Shouldn’t HE be the one seeing the Healer then??

[Nyx]

Professor Marchand had seen her spell! Lydia glowed with excitement. It felt amazing to do well in class. She lived for those moments when a spell turned out just right. Some classes were much more difficult for her, but Charms seemed to come naturally. She enjoyed every minute of Professor Marchand's lessons, even if sometimes people did catch on fire!

Lydia gathered her belongings into her shoulder bag, pausing to make sure that her pile of logs was properly extinguished. She didn't want to set the grounds on fire! The professor was looking so much better after drinking a pepperup potion. That made Lydia feel better. She gave him a big smile as she departed.

"Thank you, Professor, for the wonderful lesson! Feel better soon!"

[MadMadamMalfoy]

Gaston gave Kye an approving smile for her work in the activity. He was a bit worried when she had trouble with Incendio. He thought she might get frustrated and give up, but that didn't happen. He was pleased! "You're very welcome, Miss Atwater," he replied to her parting words. "Thank you; I'm sure I will." The pepperup potion was helping already... he could do without the steam coming out of his ears. "Great spellwork today, by the way!"

He beamed at Emmalyn. "You're most welcome, Miss Walsh," he said. "I'm glad you enjoyed it!" Her next words made his smile wobble as his mind flashed back to the bluebell flame incident. No, don't think about that! he mentally shook himself. He'd start getting sad again if he let himself dwell on that for long! "That..." He coughed to mask the hitch in his voice. "That wasn't your fault." He should've provided better fire safety for his students! The look in the girl's eyes made him feel guilty all over again,
but this time it was guilt for worrying her. "I will. I think I'll go back to bed for a while, now that the lesson's over." He picked up the jar of bluebell flames at his feet and suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and Miss Walsh... I'm giving you two points to Hufflepuff for the kindness you showed me today." He meant to tell her earlier, when she gave him the jar, but he'd been too preoccupied with his sadness at the time.

Gaston extinguished the fires his class had made, pointing his wand at each one in turn. He clutched the jar of bluebell flames a little tighter. This was going in the glass case in his office with all the other things his students had given him over the years... just as soon as the flames died out. He turned away, just in time to see Lydia give him a big smile. He returned it with a smile of his own. "You're very welcome, Miss Beckett," he said. "Thank you; I'm sure I'll feel fine by tomorrow." It was nothing sleep, some chicken soup, and time with his family, not to mention the pepperup potion from Skylar, couldn't fix!

His eyes scanned the area, and after seeing that all the fires were completely out and the students gone, he started back toward the castle.

OOC: This lesson is officially over! Closing the thread a little early, just in case I'm too busy to do it at the scheduled time.