So he might of totally been freaking out still. Completely. His hands were stuffed into the pockets of his robes and he as rocking on the balls of his feet a bit just watching everyone in the room be quick to cliam others, until he heard someone say his name..

Oh it was Tag!

Thank Merlin! he might of had a heart attack if it was someone else. "Oh, Tag, Yes Hi Awesome." awesome. yes, he could breath a bit more now. Thanks Tag.

She would have raised her hand to participate in the discussion about hexes and charms, but the others had already said most everything that needed to be said, so Alice saved her breath. Instead, she soon began channeling those efforts into finding a partner.

.... but none of her friends were in sight. At least, it didn't seem like it thanks to poor old lady vision.

Anyone would do, then? Someone?

Sophie looked over her shoulder at whom Alec was looking at and turned back to face the boy with a small smile. "You can partner up with her if you want." She should have known better, shouldn't she? Although... it didn't make sense because Alec himself asked for a partner? Weeeirddd! Then he was saying he'd work with Sophie and huh? Haha, Alec was funny!

How good she was with the Tickling Charm? "Well, it's not something I use very often on people, but..." The brunette shrugged, half-smile in place. "I've never used the hex one, though. That's going to be new." Once again, she had never had the need to hex anyone using a tickling spell. That sounded a bit odd to her, but oh well. DADA lesson, so se'd go for it. "What about you? Do you want to go first?" She offered, spreading out her arms a bit. Maybe it would be better if he went first, because he looked extremely more fragile than her at the moment. Being old and all. Merlin, she'd need to be careful.

The eighteen year-old turned to look at professor Romanos and wait for further instructions.

Had West been there all along? Who knew? Probably. He'd been quiet and not answered anything apparently, and didn't speak up until he saw his girlfriend looking for a partner.

Which would be him, even if someone else tried to volunteer. No. Him.

He moved to stand next to her and reached out to squeeze her hand. Hi. Partner.

The crazy Slytherin looked up when he'd heard his name being called. He studied the Hufflepuff for a moment or two and decided that he'd met the criteria perfectly. "Alright, you'll do, I suppose." He joshingly said to the other secundo.

"Do you want to have the fist go, or should Rictusempra!", he began without even a warning. It was go time, baby. He never got to work with Addi.

It was lucky that someone who knew how much Alice HATED to be tickled was now her partner. Meant this could go her way, yes? Yes.

"So I'm gonna practice on you when Romanos gives the word, and you can pretend you cast on me, yeah?" Merlin knew if anyone in the room didn't need to work on their spell performance, it was West Odessa.

And she wasn't quite keen on turning into a giggling fit in front of the whole class, thanks.

There were going on about tickling...or well that's what she heard anyway but she couldn't be too sure and she couldn't be sure what the differences had been either but felt somehow that maybe she should know? Yeah, seriously, this was DADA she wasn't meant to feel this clueless in here and needed to start throwing hexes around before she forgot how those were done as well.

Lex made a face at the whole finding a partner thing. It wasn't usually the easiest thing to do and she could see most everyone already partnered up. Welp, this would be interesting.

Could she just get a dummy, explode it a few times and use the excuse that she'd forgotten what spells they were meant to be practising? How would the Professor know she was lying when memory loss was getting to be common place among the student population? It was a legit question but perhaps the more legit question would be...

"Anyone need a partner?" Please? She didn't wanna sit this one out...but would if it came to that.

What? No. He eyed her.

.... and was about to protest but stopped short because he was pretty sure if he disagreed then there were ways that she could punish him.

...And he could hear in his head a sound that very much resembled Ascanius making whipping noises....

"Fine. You better make a good show of acting though."

Her gaze had stayed trained upon the back of Toby's head as Romanos went on to explain the task at hand. So they WOULD be using the spells, AND they had the option of sitting it out. TOO GOOD. She was game for some rest time, until... Tobes wasn't moving. Did he really WANT to do this? Or maybe he had gone completely deaf and hadn't heard anything Romanos had said anymore. Hm.

Approaching him cautiously from behind, Sophie slipped her hand into Toby's and gave it an encouraging squeeze before pulling away. "Partner? I'll promise to go easy on you. Probably won't even be nearly as awful as Culloden's potion. Whaddya say?"

Um...maybe he should at least try out the activity.

With one final look at the stands off to the wall of the classroom, Benny changed his gaze debating gaze to one looking over his fellow classmates. Romanos had told them to partner up so he would need to find someone to work with if he was going to participate.

He looked out of habit in the direction he had last seen his friend Adi, the Hufflepuff usually his first choice of partners. But he seemed to have already found someone to work with, a boy he himself vaguely recognized but couldn't register his name. That left Ben to look for someone else and the Gryffindor didn't know just where to start as he searched for familiar faces.

Anyone want a second year partner?

Ugh, no This was a horrible idea and Adrienne didn't want to be tickled. She made a disgusted face, and after a moment reasoned that the only way that this would work out in her favour was to find someone who would be too intimidated to try a spell on her, or someone that she could keep helpless and under her control so that they didn't have a chance. However, all the first years seemed to be taken, so she had to look around for someone she didn't know.

This Gryffindor boy looked younger than her, which almost definitely meant she'd manage to scare him into submission. Adrienne approached him and poked the kid in the shoulder with the back of her wand. "You. Partner," she said, leaving the request as simple as that.

Tobias was still staring wide-eyed and straight ahead, trying to think of what to do, when he felt someone's hand slip into his. That was all it took for Tobias to turn and see who it was, and when he did, his expression relaxed into a relieved smile. Sophie. Yes, perfect. Not only was Tobias grateful that she would know to go easy on him so he didn't end up falling and breaking a hip, but he actually really wanted to partner with her anyway. The Hufflepuff beamed and nodded his head.

"Sounds perfect," he agreed, visibly relaxing. Thoughts of that potion Culloden had taught them sent a shiver down Toby's spine, and he silently hoped that Sophie was right. But, out loud, he said, "And I'll go easy on you, too," and gave a little wink.

Just banter. Y'know.

"MEEEE!" Fern cried, scrambling across the room to be the first to claim her dorm-mate. "Lux! I'll be your partner!"

The two of them needed to stick together, and Fern knew she could trust Lux. Her fellow second year wouldn't be deceived by the likes of Cuthbert, unlike Adi some people Fern knew.

So...Ella had sort of missed the discussion as she was too busy being sad about things beyond her control. She'd spotted Tobias and given him a small smile and then started thinking about how she'd have to leave her favorite younger badger soon and it sort of spiraled from there. Needless to say, the eighteen year old was a little surprised when people starting pairing off. Whoops... She should probably find a partner for...whatever they were doing. Yeah.

"Anyone still need a partner?" No one would mind working with the aged eighteen year old right? RIGHT? Puppy dog eyes were being used. Pick us!

Why was no one choosing her? Lux wondered if there was something wrong with her.

Everyone was flocking to their friends or whatever, and she was stuck looking like a partner-less loser.

Oooh, hello dorm-mate! Lux smiled at Fern, she was cool and seemed really friendly too. "Yeah, I would love to work with you!" They would be an awesome team! Hopefully these spells would not cause Fern any discomfort, because she did not want to be mean!

Bart had been there yes he had, but he was day dreaming about days when he didn't have a bald issues, or wrinkles, or now a blown knee. He wasn't even sure what was going on in the classroom. Just talking of the professor and talking of the students, so his mind kept drifting away. Far far away to a place where there was quidditch and no old, possibly a place where people never got old.

His mind came back to the present when he saw movement. People were moving, why were they moving? He looked until he noticed students getting partners. Oh they had to get up and get a partner for something. Well alright he could do that. Standing he heard a voice say about a partner and he turned. "Head Girl Ella, I'll be your partner."


Grinning he headed towards her.

Beverly had been mildly distracted when the lesson began - for reasons - but managed to hear the basics of what was being discussed. The Tickling charm and hex. Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? She was familiar with their similarity, but the effects varied to an extent.

WAIT.

Were they going to practice it on each other? An image of a little ninety-something-year-old lady rolling on the ground laughing uncontrollably crossed her mind. Said little lady being her. MERLIN. That was going to be embarrassing.

With a wrinkle of her nose, she raised her hand in order to get noticed. "I need a partner--" NOW "--please."

Burt. ...No, that wasn't right. It was something with a B though, wasn't it? Wait, she knew this. She totally knew this. UH. Ben? Nope. Bill? Not even close. Bart? YES. Bart. He had to be Bart. Well, hopefully he was. She'd feel really awful if she got his name wrong...again. Yeah, someone had totally called her on it after the Quidditch game she commentated. Sorry, kiddo.

"Hey Bart, thanks." The eighteen year old met him half way and gave the second year a small smile. "Ready for..." Wait, she honestly still didn't even know what they were supposed to be doing. THIS was embarrassing. UM..."Ready for this?" Yes, this. She'd elaborate after she observed the others unless he'd been paying attention. Hopeful looks for you, Gryffindor. Do you know what we're meant to do?

Bay looked around to see that everyone was already partnered up.. but then yay… he heard someone say if they still needed a partner.. and it was a girl he didn't know moving his way over to her "Howdy Partner…" he said with a western drawl…

"i don't have a partner…. " hoping she was picking up that he wanted to partner with her…. hopefully..

Benny was still looking when he felt a poke in his shoulder. "Hey!" he said turning around to respond, his other reaching up to rub the spot. "Me...be your partner?" The Gryffindor mused looking at the Ravenclaw girl who belonged to the offensive wand. Her own words didn't exactly sound like she was asking him but more like telling him he would be.

"I guess I could," he replied with a shrug and then trying to hide the discomfort of the movement. "My name's Ben," he introduced. Might as well be polite if they were to work together. As long as she didn't poke him again.

Alex had gotten her answer right. Well that was a relief. Now they were actually going to try out the spells. She wasn't particularly ticklish, but when a charm or hex was being used, anything was possible. When the Professor instructed the class to find partners of similar age, Alex scanned the room. Fortunately, her buddy was there to save the day as always.

Sander came over to ask Alex to be his partner. "Well, I don't know........I have so many choices" she said with a mischievous grin while looking around the room. "But since you said pretty please.......yes, I will be your partner." Alex could barely contain her giggles, but she couldn't help teasing her friend. Having the giggles already was probably not a good sign on the day they were practicing tickling spells. Seriously, Alex just hoped she had the energy to make it through the class and finish with all her bones intact.

Lost cowboy ALERT!

Not really, but...who says 'howdy' nowadays? It didn't matter. She wasn't going to end up a total loser seeing as she caught on to what the boy was hinting at. He wanted to be her partner. Okay, yeah. Even if he did look older and might pack up a punch with magic, Bev felt she could take him on. Not that she'd attack him. She's done enough attacking to last her a while.

The thought of said attack scene ALMOST had her smiling. But no. No smiling. It was DADA. House points were on the line.

"You can be mine," she said, though she still wasn't so pleased with the idea of being tickled. He could go first.

When Alex took her time to answer, Sander began to worry.

'Oh no she'd better not say no,' Sander thought to himself as he looked worriedly around. The others were partnering up fast.

Then she put him out of his misery by saying that. Sander grinned.

"Don't scare me like that. My young...okay old heart...can't handle that much suspense," he teased her as he laughed along with her.

Alright. All partnered up. Now let's hope I don't make a fool of myself.

Sophie just kind of nodded along as the professor detailed the two spells. Whoa, whoa, whoa--they were going to practice the spells? As in...even the one that intentionally hurt you?! ...COOL! Not that Sophie wanted to be hurt, but it was nice to get some REAL experience once in a while. It kind of made her more prepared for that Nundu she was going to battle and defeat one of these days.

"Does anybody still need a partner?" she called out. Hello? Hello? Attention all smart people in the room!

"If you want to be partners with an old man who is liable to wet himself if tickled too hard, then I AM that man," Mo hobbled in Lex's direction, his face lighting up in a pleased grin. Yes, it was probably one of those activities that Mo should willingly opt out of, but he wasn't willing to show that much weakness.

If old!Lex and old!Alice and all them could participate, so could he. "Lex. You've been missing me, right? Right."