Gaston shook his head, hoping to clear away some of the sleep-deprived haze that fogged his mind. He took another sip of coffee and looked back at Skylar with an encouraging smile. "Sorry about all this," he said. He didn't want her to think he was too tired to help her! "I just..." Should he tell her? The students were bound to find out about his daughter sooner or later, but he didn't want to burden her with his family troubles. He was supposed to listen to the students' troubles, not the other way around! "... have a lot going on in my family life right now."

He nodded in reply, lowering his wand when the girl said the music was fine. He had a slight suspicion she was lying about it being fine, but he wasn't going to press the issue. His expression changed upon hearing the reason for her visit. He blinked dumbly, unsure what was more surprising to hear: the question itself or her saying she trusted his opinion!

He smiled, too touched to speak, but his smile wobbled as he felt a pang of guilt for not telling her about his daughter. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his rising emotions as he considered the question. He wasn't sure if he was the right person to answer - his definition of success was very different than normal - but he was certainly going to try. "i think there's no one definitive way to measure success because success means different things to different people," he said. "For some - probably most, it means winning, but for others, like myself, success is measured in the amount of hard work you put into something or the number of people who care about you." Goodness, that was a sappy answer, wasn't it? "What does success mean to you?"



Gaston half-expected Daniel to say something when he saw his lips part, but whatever was on his mind, he must've thought better of voicing it. The enthusiastic nodding made him smile. He was poised to remove one of the flowers and give it to the boy, but what he said next stopped him. Now that was unexpected! He couldn't imagine Daniel killing a plant - he was too kind to harm any living being! - but it all made sense when he mentioned the owl. "That's alright, I understand," he replied, his face falling slightly. "I'd offer to help take care of your owl, but I don't think Phantom would like that."

As if on cue, the little black and white Persian cat looked up from her spot on the cat condo and meowed, but Gaston was too distracted to pay her any mind. This line of conversation was a harsh reminder of his own neglectfulness. The image of his baby Desiree crying for a father who was never home to comfort her suddenly popped into his mind, and his heart shattered. Daniel's voice jerked him violently out of his thoughts, and he was able to give him a small, forced smile as he accepted the offer for chocolate.

Gaston gave Daniel - and Night, too, if she wanted some - some time to enjoy the chocolate before changing the subject. "Whenever you two are ready, we can get started," he said. "I'm going to teach you two spells today; we'll start with the one I used to animate the mice in class today. This one isn't permanent but gives greater control of the animated object's behavior. This spell would be useful for the dogs Night mentioned."

"You can use these for practice to start out..." He picked up a box of toy mice left over from the lesson and set it in front of him. No sooner than he had, Phantom hopped onto the desk and stuck a paw inside the box. "Phantom... those aren't for you." The cat gave a pitiful meow, and Gaston's expression softened. "oh, alright - but just one!" He tossed a toy mouse toward the wall, and Phantom shot after it.

Then he turned his attention back to the students. "To cast, concentrate hard on what you want the target to do, point your wand, and say the incantation piertotem locomotor." He drew his wand and demonstrated on one of the mice; it poked its head out of the box and twitched its nose.



Gaston smiled warmly. "I do love it," he replied. "I'll treasure it forever!" The words seemed inadequate praise, but there were no words to express how much that gift meant to him. His expression changed slightly at what Daisy said next. So Mr. Swann was a muggle apparently. "That's good to know; I wouldn't want it to come as a shock when an owl turns up with a package for him!" He chuckled a little. "Between you and me, my father still isn't used to Owl Post, and he's had over twenty-five years to adjust!"

His laughter quickly turned to concern as he noticed Daisy's expression. He'd worn enough tearful smiles in his life to know one when he saw it! He wondered what was wrong... Had he said something that upset her? Before he could ask her about it, she was getting up. Now he was positive he'd done something wrong! "Oh, alright then." He rose from his chair and opened the door for her. "Take care, Daisy - and please don't hesitate to come to me if you need anything!"



Gaston returned Shera's nod with a slight smile. She was right; it was a long time ago, but it was still bugging him that he couldn't remember her mother. He wracked his brains. Wait, he vaguely recalled sitting behind a girl named Alice in Herbology for several terms. Was that her? Probably not... there were a lot of girls named Alice when he was at Beaubatons. He was definitely going to have to look through his old yearbook later!

He couldn't help but giggle a little along with her as she continued petting Phantom - though if he had any idea that she was contemplating stealing his cat, he probably would've laughed out loud! Unfortunately, he wasn't a legilimens, so he remained blissfully unaware as he he watched the little Persian continue to purr and nuzzle against Shera's hand.

Oh, okay. So it seemed they were doing the Illusion Charm first. Fair enough. Gaston smiled, nodding in reply. "Very well, the Illusion Charm it is!" he said. "Keep in mind that this is a complicated spell, so don't get discouraged if it takes several tries to get it right." He paused for a moment before drawing his wand. "Concentrate on the illusion you want to project - this part is very important! Then move your wand in a sort of backwards E-shape over the area you want the image to appear, and say the incantation, Allucinatio. Here, I'll show you..."

He aimed his wand at the opposite wall, making the correct wand movement as he repeated the incantation. The image of a small yellow bird hovering just overhead appeared. Phantom's eyes widened at the sight, and she began pawing at the air where she saw the bird. Gaston laughed. "As you can see, this spell is quite useful in entertaining cats. Would you like to try it now?"