Kiri looked up. A Gryffindor girl, probably not much older than she was, stood over her. Someone to partner with! Kiri had her mouth half-opened to speak when another voice reached her from the other side of the table. A girl with the green Slytherin badge pinned to her robes had joined them, and she... Kiri blinked. They hadn't been partners!
Then she saw the sly look the girl gave her, and her brain finally started working. She cleared her throat nervously, and said to the Gryffindor girl: "Err yes, I'm really sorry, but I already have a partner." She pointed to the girl from Slytherin, hoping that the Gryffindor wouldn't do anything inconvenient, such as noticing that Kiri had no idea what the girl's name was.
She gave the Gryffindor an apologetic look, then, as she walked away, turned to the Slytherin girl.
"Umm, hello", she said a little uncertainly. "I'm... Kiri. Want to sit down?"

Nico couldn't help but grin at the younger Slytherin's eagerness and he nodded as Raiden indicated he'd be happy to start first with the ear infection healing charm.

He watched carefully and smiled at Raiden comfortingly, "Just a little; how about we practice the wand movement a bit first, hmm?"

Nicholai extended his wand and moved it slowly in a clockwise direction in a circle that would be about the right size to contain an ear, following up by pulling his wand back. He did it again, still slowly, turning his head to check Raiden was paying attention. He sped it up and did it again.

"You got the incantation right, it is Auris; but you need to be firm about it. You aren't asking your wand to cast a spell, so focus your intent, okay?" Nicholai explained, "Here, I'll show you."

He stood in front of the other red-marked infected ear on the dummy and swirled his wand around the infected ear in the clockwise direction he had demonstrated to Raiden, pulling his wand back and firmly speaking the incantation, "Auris." He watched for a moment and the red flickered before slowly turning green. He nodded at Raiden and sat down to write a quick addition to his notes about how the charm had worked for him, looking up at Raiden again and gesturing for his housemate to try again, "Alright, go ahead."

Camira blinked. The girl wanted to sit down? There was no time for that. They had practicing to do. "Kiri, eh? Lovely. I'm Camira. And you can sit down if you'd like. I prefer to cast unfamiliar spells standing up. She looked at the dummy. Hmmm, the ear spell was probably the easiest. She got a bit closer to the dummy, all the while thinking that if this dummy was real, it would be a seriously messed up person. First thing was first. She'd heard what Trel had said about the possibility of pus flying everywhere. She quickly cast Impervius on herself. Now she was ready. She pointed her wand at the dummy's right ear, swirled her wand clockwise twice and jerked her hand back, while saying "Auris". Very quickly did pus fly everywhere. Ewww. She breathed a sigh of relief when the pus bounced off of her. Thank the heavens for repellent charms. And oooh, the ear had turned green. She grabbed a piece of parchment and quickly added something to her notes about being very careful when pulling back the wand and avioding jerky movements at all costs. Not like she could forget the sight of pus flying about. ugh. She turned to Kiri, hoping that no pus had gotten onto the girl. "Your turn", she said cheerfully, before grabbing her notes and reviewing the cat scratch cure.

Sapphire realised that everyone had paired up she sat there and looked at her dummy and looked round the class hoping to spot someone without a partner

Quote:

Originally Posted by NicoT

Nico couldn't help but grin at the younger Slytherin's eagerness and he nodded as Raiden indicated he'd be happy to start first with the ear infection healing charm.

He watched carefully and smiled at Raiden comfortingly, "Just a little; how about we practice the wand movement a bit first, hmm?"

Nicholai extended his wand and moved it slowly in a clockwise direction in a circle that would be about the right size to contain an ear, following up by pulling his wand back. He did it again, still slowly, turning his head to check Raiden was paying attention. He sped it up and did it again.

"You got the incantation right, it is Auris; but you need to be firm about it. You aren't asking your wand to cast a spell, so focus your intent, okay?" Nicholai explained, "Here, I'll show you."

He stood in front of the other red-marked infected ear on the dummy and swirled his wand around the infected ear in the clockwise direction he had demonstrated to Raiden, pulling his wand back and firmly speaking the incantation, "Auris." He watched for a moment and the red flickered before slowly turning green. He nodded at Raiden and sat down to write a quick addition to his notes about how the charm had worked for him, looking up at Raiden again and gesturing for his housemate to try again, "Alright, go ahead."

Raiden watched Nicholai, his own wand moving absentmindedly at his side in the same pattern as the older boy's. After a moment, he realized his first mistake, and his face went a bit pink, but he smiled and giggled.

"I did it backwards, didn't I," he murmured, watching as Nicholai Toussaint demonstrated the charm on the dummy. He quickly wrote down what he'd just been told about being firm with speaking the charm... he seemed to have a tendency to doubt when he was casting spells. He needed to stop doing that! "Okay... I'm gonna do it right this time! I promise!"

He grinned widely and stood again next to the still-red ear infection opposite of where Nicholai had just finished. He held out his wand and, for the first time since arriving at Hogwarts, he spoke the spell in a clear, confident tone while swirling his wand around the ear twice in a lopsided circle (he was only 12, afterall... nobody was perfect when it came to circles!) and pulling backwards.

"Auris!"

...


...


...

Green! He grinned, but before speaking another word, held up one finger, indicating Nicholai should wait for just a moment. He bounced over to the rubbish bin and peeked inside...

"Eeeeew," he giggled. "Awesome."

Kiri gave a slight gulp. The girl's manner was... brisk. She felt the nervousness rising. What would happen if she cast the spell incorrectly and held up their practice? She glanced at the girl's face, but Camira had already turned, looking at the dummy with a calculating expression before putting the Impervius charm on herself. The Impervius charm! Kiri hastily pointed her wand at herself and managed to mutter "Impervius", just as Camira cast the Auris charm and pus began flying everywhere. She flinched, but her charm had apparently worked - as she touched her face quickly, she was relieved to find it was still dry.

And now it was her turn. Contrary to her first impression, Camira seemed to be in a good mood, and Kiri felt more secure when she stepped up to the dummy. Her hand was gripping her wand very tightly, and she loosened the hold a little as she practised the swirling movement that was required for the Auris charm to work properly. She breathed out deeply, then, said: "Auris!" Miraculously, it worked, and Kiri tried to hold her wand steady as she moved it away from the dummy's ear. A slight smile appeared on her lips, she had done it!

Nicholai nodded, satisfied that Raiden had not only identified what he had done wrong the first time, but rectified it and taken notes about it. "Hey good; that was a lot better- you see the difference?" Nico raised an eyebrow as Raiden checked the rubbish bin, obviously looking for the pus capsules. He turned his head ever so slightly as he heard Camira cast the charm and Nicholai non-verbally raised a protego shield, the few pus splatters that headed their way bounced off, leaving Raiden and Nicholai happily pus-free.

"I guess we should work on the next one; the one for scratches." Nico demonstrated the wand movement twice slowly before approaching the dummy and enunciating clearly "Erasum." zig-zagging over the red marked scratch starting from below and going up and down repeatedly before flicking his wand onto it. He watched it critically as the marker flickered, not turning quite the same green as before. Hmm. "I think I zagged one time too few, Raiden; you try it now."

Nicholai leaned over the desk to quickly jot down his results and shot a quick grin at Camira who was working with another firstie, before turning back to watch Raiden.

"Hi" she smiled "I'm Jayne and No, I don't" she smiled and pulled out her wand

This one... might be harder. He watched as Nicholai Toussaint performed the charm, and the red section didn't turn quite the same shade of green... That was odd.

"Right," he said, false-confidence showing. He practiced the wand moment over his own arm: Zig zag. Zig zag. Bottom to top, and then Up, down, up down, up... and flick it. After tapping his wand against his own arm, he moved to the dummy and stared at it. "I feel bad for you, Mr. Dummy. All infected and dislocated and stuff..."

"Erasum!" He traced his wand back and forth: zig zag. Zig zag. Up, down, up, down, up. Tap... Ooooh, look! Green! Raiden smiled proudly and looked at Nicholai. "I did it! It didn't explode or stay red or anything!"

He scribbled down notes; it might be better to zig zag once more, just for good measure, next time.

He glanced in the direction that pus had come flying from earlier, just to see who was working over there; his friend Kiri was working with Nicholai Toussaint's friend! Raiden gave the girl a little wave before looking back at the dummy and his very intelligent partner.

Camira couldn't help but smile at the girl. "Excellent! And without throwing pus about." This girl must be smart. Of course, most Slytherins were.

Alright. It was on to the next spell. She picked on of the cat scratches and mentally reviewed everything Cassandra had. This one seemed like it could be tricky. She practiced the motions for a couple of minutes, going up, down, up, down, up in a zig zag pattern before flicking her wand. She forced herself to keep her movements precise. She had a tendency to end motions with a flourish, and while it looked pretty, it was not good for spell casting. When the motions became comfortable, she did it with the incantation this time. "Erasum." She smirked slightly as the scratch healed itself and that part of the dummy turned green. She eyed the area closely, looking for any trace of the scratch, but it looked as if there had never been one. That was more like it. She grabbed her parchment and noted the positive results one gets when making the motions of this particular spell quick and precise. She then sat down in her chair so that Kiri could have her turn.

She noticed Nico's grin, and his adorable partner's little wave and smiled at them, giving them both a quick wave of her own before turning back to Kiri.

"Yours looked better than mine, Raiden." Nicholai noted, comparing the green markers and making a few more notes. "So do you remember the next charm?" Nicholai read his notes on the third charm to himself and looked up at Raiden with an encouraging nod, before reading thoughtfully.

This charm was the one that Nicholai found most interesting since it covered charms, transfigurations and potions in one go. He wondered for a moment which ingredients were conjured and which pain potion resulted; it had to be one that required no brewing unless you were simply summoning a pre-made potion...

He mentally listed a few ingredients that he knew required no brewing or stewing or any other preparation and were simply activated by combining with other specific ingredients. He thought he knew which potion it was; A second year standard potion.

Reassured, Kiri nodded at Camira and then watched as the girl practised the next spell. Leaning forward, Kiri grabbed her notes from the table and read the instructions on the Erasum charm. She was supposed to... move the wand in a zigzag motion over the scratch, and if she did everything correctly, it would turn green. It sounded easy enough, but as she tried it, Kiri noticed how jerky her movement was. She felt the nervousness bubbling under the surface again. To distract herself, she looked around to see how the other students were doing. On a table close to her, she saw Raiden, who had teamed up with another Slytherin. He looked as excited as ever, and as he turned around and gave her a little wave, Kiri felt herself smile widely. She returned the wave happily, the beginnings of a blush creeping up her cheeks, then focused on the dummy again.

Kiri saw that Camira had finished already, she was busy writing something down. She stood next to the dummy again, trying to keep her wand hand steady and practising the zigzag motion one last time. She eyed the cat scratch on the dummy, then, before she could stand there longer and become nervous again, raised her wand and spoke the incantation: "Erasum!" She thought the movement of her arm was more or less smooth, and she didn't forget the flick at the end, either. Kiri bent over the dummy to inspect the scratch marks. To her disappointment and slight annoyance, she saw that she hadn't been too accurate. However, most of the scratch had turned green, and Kiri returned to her seat more or less pleased with herself. How would she fare with the last spell?

Raiden nodded; he remembered the next one. He even knew what he'd written in his notes for it.

"It's Resarcio...used to put dislocated joints back in place," he recited, the line straight from the notes he'd taken during class (He didn't repeat the subnote he'd jotted down: "Caution for the Future. Do NOT dislocate things. It looks reaaaally painful..."). "It makes a pain potion and puts it on the nerves that aren't happy about the dislocation, and you perform it by...by...hmmm."

He thought for a second, then slashed his wand slowly downward before performing a quick jerk upwards, just as Miss Healer Intern Lady Trelawney had demonstrated. He then stepped up to the dummy and,remembering to make sure his wand was on the left side of the joint, he repeated the action, firmly saying "Resarcio!" as he did so... the light waited a bit longer than it had before, for the other charms, and for a moment he thought he might have done it wrong, but eventually it turned green. He smiled at Nicholai Toussaint.

"She said it had to be on the left side... why does that matter, do you know? What would happen if you did it on the right side of the joint?"

"Right." Nico agreed, and watched as Raiden performed the spell remarkably well considering his earlier lack of confidence in casting. Nicholai blinked and mulled over the question, examining the joint, "I'd imagine it has something to do with the direction in which you are trying to force the joint to relocate." he paused, "She'd not have been so clear about it if it didn't matter; I guess it would probably dislocate the joint even further; if you did it with enough force you might completely rip the..." Nico trailed off, not wanting to upset Raiden with his musings. "We can ask after we are done with the practicing and the notes, alright?"

Nico approached the dummy and examined the final marking on the dislocated shoulder joint. He practiced the wand motion a few times and after a moment added the incantation in a firm and clear voice. "Resarcio." He accompanied the incantation with a slow slash downward- his wand at the left of the arm and followed it with a quick upward jerk. This one was better; Nico watched and nodded as the marker turned green instantly, brightening even further as the pain reliever component obviously began to take effect on the practice dummy.

He sat down and added to the final portion of his notes before rifling in his bag and drawing out a potions textbook so he could check whether his thoughts regarding the pain reliever potion component of the spell were accurate.

Camira got up, both to inspect Kiri's spell work and because it was her turn. She nodded at Kiri, a small smile on her face. "Not bad at all. I think a bit of practice on increasing the fluidity of your motions and it'll be perfect. You're a very impressive 1st year."

She cracked her knuckles and went to stand in front of the dummy. Last spell. woot. And jerkiness was encouraged for this spell. That would make things a whole lot easier. She pointed her wand and made slash-down jerk-up motion once to make sure she had the hang of it. Satisfied that she did, she repeated the motion with a firm "Resarcio". She eyed the dummy critically until the light turned green. Success! She grabbed her notes once more and jotted down her experience, including information about the quickness of the motion and a theory that explained the reason for it. In her mind, if the motions were slow, the healing would be slow, perhaps making it more painful and more importantly, causing the ball not to go into the socket all the way. She'd have to ask Cassandra later and see if she was right.

Kiri shrugged, smiling embarrassedly. "Thank you," she mumbled. "I try to work hard." She nodded at the smooth green marks from the second and third spells. "You're very good!" she added admiringly. "And now it's my turn again..." She felt herself relax more; talking to Camira was much easier now. Vaguely self-confident about this fact, she stepped forward a final time, the incantation for the third spell echoing in her mind. Resarcio, Resarcio, Resarcio...
According to her notes, she was supposed to move her arm downward in a slow slashing motion, then jerk it upward. She tried it a few times without muttering the incantation, changing the speed of the downward slash every time to get a feel for it, then pointed it at the dummy's arm and said in a firm voice: "Resarcio!"
For a moment, nothing happened, and Kiri felt her heartbeat quicken, afraid she had done it wrong, but even as she peered at the arm, the mark turned green. She returned to her seat, smiling at Camira as she sat down, and began adding more notes for the last spell.

Hmmm...they were done. What did they do now. She looked around the room to see how the others were fairing, and that is when she noticed that Nico and his little partner were also done. She suddenly had an idea. "Kiri, let's go visit Nico and...his partner", she really needed to learn the kid's name. "We can have compare notes." Yes, she definitely wanted to see Nico's notes.

She headed over towards Nico, note-taking tools in tow. "Care for a bit of group discussion", she asked, holding her notes in the air. She didn't want him to think she was just coming over to chat.

Kiri looked up. "Alright", she said with a nod and a glance at the teacher. Would that get them in trouble? She hoped not. She stood up, picked up her notes and followed Camira, smiling inwardly at how she was trailing the older girl and peering around her at Raiden and his partner, whose name she did not know.
As they approached the table, Kiri gave Raiden another smile and a wave. She stood behind Camira a little forlornly and waited for her to make get the conversation going, or maybe make introductions.

Raiden listened to Nicholai's musings, frowning slightly when the older boy cut himself off. "Completely rip the wha-"

Oh. Ewie.

Raiden nodded. It would be better to let Miss Healer Intern Lady Trelawney answer the question, so they would know for sure... wouldn't want anyone casting it from the wrong side and ripping things...

"Oh wow, Nicholai Toussaint!" Raiden said when the red immediately changed to green and glowed brightly. "You did that really well! You said Charms wasn't your best subject... You must be really, really good at everything else then!"

And then Kiri and Nicholai Toussaint's friend were coming over, and they wanted to compare notes... Raiden looked down at his own scribblings, then back at Kiri and the other girl and smiled.

"Hi Kiri!" He said happily, looking from her to the older girl and back again. "Long time no see!"

"I think its the potions component that made it easier for me." Nicholai answered, "But yes you are right; charms is not my best subject- it just goes to show what you can do when you work hard, right Raiden?" Nico continued to flick through the potions book and looked up as Camira approached with her first year in tow. He nodded as she asked if they wanted to discuss the charms.

"Sure, I guess as long as we do it quietly so we don't disturb anyone who is still practicing." Nicholai looked around the room and shrugged. He turned his head slightly as Raiden greeted the little girl and smiled at her, "Kiri is it? I'm Nicholai, and Camira this is Raiden. Pull up a couple of chairs." Nicholai gestured to the desk and moved over slightly so the two girls could join them.

"So, did you two have any trouble? I didn't quite extend the motions enough for the first two spells and they seemed to work slower as a result." Nico shrugged, "The third one though; well that one is more interesting. It was the easiest of the three for me; the marker turned green instantly and even brightened further- I assume as the pain reliever portion took effect. It seems to be an interesting spell since the relocation is a charm, the conjuring of a pain reliever potion is a transfiguration and then there is the potion itself. And I think I know what potion it uses." Nicholai looked at his notes and wrote down what he just said.

Camira smiled at the boy, Raiden. What a cute name! "Hi there Raiden. Nice to meet you", she said, just managing not to coo. She grabbed a chair, carried it over to Nico and sat down next to him.

She listened to Nico, hastily taking notes on what he was saying. And the potions part was interesting. She was definitely curious about that. "Nico, would you mind elaborating on which ingedients you think are being used in regards to the potions and why", she said, head bent down and still writing.

"I actually had the most trouble with the first one. It appears as though the pull back has to be carefully calculated, or at the least, not overdone, or else you get a gross pus flying everywhere reaction", she said, wrinkling her nose at the memory. So gross. "I was actually wondering about the reasoning behind the importance of the speed of the motions for Resarcio. I'm thinking that it has something to do with lessening pain and making sure the ball is correctly snapped back into place. I was kind of equating it to muggle doctors and how when they snap things back into place, they do it hard and fast. Maybe magic holds the same logic?" She hoped she was making some sense, at least.

Kiri smiled warmly. "Hello Raiden", she said. "How have you been?" She looked around. "Actually, hold on a second." There was an empty chair at a table near to them, and Kiri dragged it over with some effort. She sat down and brushed her hair out of her eyes impatiently. Now the boy Raiden was partnering with spoke to her, and she turned to face him. "Yes, I'm Kiri", she said and gave him a smile in return. He seemed nice enough, and obviously Raiden had enjoyed working with him. "Nice to meet you, Nicholai", she added, then looked at her notes again.
She wasn't sure how much she could contribute as Nicholai went on talking about pain-relieving potions and transfiguring them or something... All that seemed to be too complicated and advanced for her, so she said to Raiden: "So, what did you think of it? Did you manage to cast all the spells?"

Raiden smiled and looked at the dummy, thinking hard about what Nicholai had just said. Working hard.. if he worked harder, he could maybe be good at this, too. He wanted to be.

"I hope so... I want to be good at magic, like you and Miss He-, er, Miss Trelawney. If I'm good at it... I can help other people, and make them smile!" He watched Nicholai flick through the book a bit more before Camira and Kiri were ready to compare notes.

"Nice to meet you, Camira!" he said enthusiastically, bouncing a little. "I like to make new friends!"

He tried to keep up with the two older students as they started discussing the spells, but gosh, it was difficult. There was so much technical stuff involved... He felt as if he would never get it. He looked at Kiri and smiled as she sat down.

"I've been alright, how've you been? I haven't seen you around much, but I bet we've both been busy with class and... other things." Like Staircase pirates and detention? "I messed up the first one when I tried it, but Nicholai Toussaint helped me figure it out, and the other two, I managed." He tilted his head to the side. "What about you? Did you get them all, too? Nicholai Toussaint did really well on the last one, it got all bright green and I don't think I'll ever get it to work that well..."

"Well, wormwood, chickweed, yarrow, vervain leaves and skullcap leaves are all particularly effective as stand alone ingredients for treating damage to nerve endings and work to reduce trauma and swelling as well as reducing pain; and when you combine them together in different quantities it makes them even more effacious. You don't need to brew or stew the ingredients or prepare them in a particular way so I figure it makes the most sense to be one or a combination of those. Oh, salicin as well; which you can get from white willow bark. It relieves chronic and acute pain like with dislocations and damage to nerves. Salicin is converted into salicylic acid in the body and that lowers the body's levels of inflammatory prostaglandins; which are hormone-like substances that promote pain and inflammation." Nico paused and eyed Kiri and Raiden, shrugging apologetically for getting complicated on them.

"Hmm, I must have done that part alright; same with Raiden since we got the capsule things in the trash." Nicholai made a note of Camira's comment about being cautious with the pullback. He nodded as she talked about Resarcio and spoke, "I suppose its like lining it up to get it in correctly or something as far as the slow motion goes."

He eyed Kiri and Raiden and gestured to them with his little finger, indicating they cut back the chit-chat and catch up later. He relaxed slightly when they began to talk about how they had found the charms and shook his head at Raiden.

"You did wonderfully; just practice the wand movements and the incantation- not at the same time though. I'll be doing the same." Nico re-read his notes, satisfied. "I guess we have quite a few questions for Trelawney when she gets to us, don't we?" In the meantime Nico figured readiing ahead in his charms textbook would be a good idea. He put the potions one away and opened the charms text.

Ack. Pair up and practise on ... dummies. Though Evangeline, as a future Healer, was seriously interested in this ... and though she found practising on students rather cruel .. well, dummies weren't as cool. Looking around, she tried to spot some student who wasn't paired up yet. Hmm. Taking hold of her dummies, she walked over to where Amanda was and nodded at her. "Pair up?" She asked, very much hoping the girl wouldn't just refuse.