Gaston entered the practice room, his wand clutched tightly in hand. He nervously glanced over his shoulder, searching for signs of Scrimgeour and his cronies before closing the door behind him. He had an important experiment to perfect, and he couldn't chance being disturbed... not by them anyway. A student's company, however, would be a different story.

He crossed the room and pulled a piece of colored parchment out of a drawer in the cabinet. With a wave of his wand, it folded itself into an airplane-like shape; another wave sent it flying around the room. So far so good. He had the flight; now he just needed to add something to camouflage. He cast a disillusionment charm on the flying piece of parchment. It flickered in and out of visibility before crashing to the ground. He mumbled something in French under his breath, then tried again. The same thing happened. Darn! What was he doing wrong?

Come on, Gaston! Get it right! he inwardly berated himself. Every day it took him to figure this out was another day the owl post checks interfered with his correspondence with his family. Poor little Desiree needed to know her dad loved her, even if he couldn't be with her! it was only for her sake that he'd put up with Scrimgeour's tyranny thus far. If she weren't so afraid of his scars, he would've resigned in protest, but for now he had to toe the line and stay at Hogwarts.

He sighed, picking up the fallen parchment, and decided to give it another try. This time he started with the disillusionment charm. He aimed a flight charm in the direction of the disillusioned parchment, and... a fireball erupted midair. He had barely enough energy to vanish it before collapsing into the nearest chair. The fireball was gone, but the bad memories it brought remained... the entrance in flames, children injured and crying all around him, rotting fingers slashing across his face...

Gaston's wand fell from his hand with a clatter.. He shuddered, fighting back sobs as he tried to regain normal breathing. The inferi were gone, he reminded himself. And they weren't coming back. With a trembling hand,
he picked up his fallen wand and summoned a bottle of pumpkin juice from the mini fridge. Maybe the beverage would distract him from his dark thoughts...

Ryan had read up on Hogwarts ever since he got his letter and to tell you the truth this place was nothing like what he read up on. He was just wondering the castle still exploring when he heard what sounded like a wand falling. Being curious he decided to follow the noise.

Ryan suddenly realised that it was coming from the charms class. He stood there and watched as the scary looking Professor picked down and grabbed his wand. Now unsure on what to do, he wanted to ask if the Professor was okay but he didn't want to get in trouble he stood there silently watching, waiting to see what he would do.

Gaston leaned back in his chair, crushed under the weight of his emotions. He took a long swig of his pumpkin juice, hoping the sweet liquid would distract him from his sad thoughts... but it didn't, not for long anyway. The memories of the attack last term refused to die. He sighed sadly. He just wanted to go home to his girls and forget this place!

Suddenly, he had a strange feeling he was being watched, and he sat up straight in his chair. He reluctantly turned his head, half-expecting to find Scrimgeour or one of his cronies standing behind him. Instead, he saw a student, and one of his Gryffindors at that! "Hello, Mr. Long," he greeted, nervously trying to arrange his hair to hide his scars and blind eye. He wanted to smile for the boy, but he couldn't. It wasn't Ryan's fault, though; he hadn't been able to smile for anyone in months! "Is there something you need help with?"