(7/12) OWL&NEWT Introductory and Review: Class 1

Charms Class
Fri, July 12th-Tue, July 16th
Introductory and Review: Years 4-7 (OWL and NEWT Level)
Day 1

Bring all required materials to every class (writing quill, parchment, and wand). If you fail to bring an item, you will not be allowed to leave to classroom to retrieve it. House points will be deducted.

Food and Drink are not permitted in the classroom. The Great Hall is open at all hours, there is no reason for you to need either during the course of Charms Class.

House Points will be both awarded and taken away during class. Any complaints are unacceptable. In earning house points, participation is key.

Be respectful to those around you and treat others the way you want to be treated. There will be no tolerance for rude or disrespectful behavior.

Poor behavior will not be tolerated. Detentions will promptly be handed out to those who fail to acknowledge this.

Textbooks will be provided in class. They are not to leave the classroom unless asked for special permission. It's suggested that you ask and sign out the textbooks in order to study for upcoming tests within the class and examinations (OWL and NEWT).

Homework will often be assigned. It is suggested that time is utilized at the end of each class to copy down the problems from the textbook before completing them. Permission is required to sign out any textbook. (OOC: Eirina will hand out homework. If you complete it and submit it via PM, you can earn House Points)

Eirina entered the classroom about 15 minutes before class was to start. It was the first time that she could remember ever being intentionally early to anything. Not that she was ever intentionally late, time just was not on her side for these sort of things. Time always seemed to nip her in the butt, simply to mock her for being late. It was never in her favor, and never tried to help her out. Eirina would swear to every god out there that time was animate and was completely out to get her.

She stepped up to the front of the room and picked up a piece of chalk, hating the feeling of the dry, grimy chalk in her hand. No wonder she usually used her wand. In the top, left hand corner of the board, Eirina wrote her name, "Headmistress Naer", and proceeded to then use her wand to write up all of the rules on the board. It was the first day of class, so she would have to review the basics that she had been teaching these 4th and 5th years for...well, 4 to 5 years.

Emma walked into the classroom, a ray of sunshine as always. She had a grin on her lips as she spotted Kaden and moved forward to take the seat next to him. She was sort of returning the favor from Herbology, but to her it was just a thing to do. She set down her book bag next to the desk before looking up to listen in on Kaden and the Headmistress's conversation. She was curious, now that Kaden had brought it to her attention; what did Headmistresses do over the summer, hibernate?

Claudia had gotten up in a happy mood. She loved Charms class. it was one of her two favorite subjects. As she entered the classroom she saw two people she recongnized from her house and the Headmistress. She decided to sit behind them. She sat her bag next to her and took out a book. She might as well get some reading in before class started.

Eirina was a little surprised by the question that Kaden had asked, but disregarded her immediate suspicions. This was a new bunch this year, not the same as the last graduating class, so she'd have to treat them as they deserved to be treated, not how the previous year had. But to ask her what she did over the summer...that was a little personal, she had thought. Not that she had anything to hide. In fact, she can't really remember ever going home, she was pretty much at hogwarts for the entire summer, with paperwork and new employees, she hardly had the time to leave.

"I was here, of course."

She made it sound like it was the usually, which it was. Eirina would have always been at Hogwarts, only over the summer she usually had more time to herself. More time for her to go home at night and sleep in her own home, her real home. Hogwarts was her home, too, but not exactly the same. She couldn't be as casual here as she was at home. More time she was able to spend going out for a cup of tea or two, and if she had so many friends she would have seen them, as well.

She looked at the class as it began to fill up, all Gryffindor students. But there was still a little less than 10 minutes to go, so she wasn't quite ready to start the class yet. Not to mention those that would be 5 minutes late. She would have to account for them, too, just as her professors had accounted for her when she was in her schooling years here.

Alyssa entered the room without celebration, or great joy or disappointment. That was how it was for most of her classes, although Charms would be interesting with the Headmistress teaching. Charms was rather easy for Alyssa, one of her better subjects even though it was not exactly a favorite. Several other students were already inside the room, and one Gryffindor boy was talking to the Headmistress. Another Gryffindor was sitting next to him, with yet another Gryffindor sitting nearby. ALyssa decided on a change of pace and sat in the front, seperated from the other students but still nearby. She noticed the boy was asking the Headmistress something about her summer. While she was answering, he appeared to be daydreaming, and then said another thing dreamily to her. ALyssa wondered what it was.

Timothy quietly took his preferred seat off-center in the second row. 4 other students and the Headmistress. Nothing of real interest to note.

((I might not be able to RP as much as I'd like...))

(No problem Timothy! And if any students would still like to join, PLEASE join! I always give a day for students to join the class on time, if you post sometime between now and roughly 15 hours from now I'll simply say that you're only 5 minutes late to class, and you won't be deducted any House Points, so don't be afraid to join!)

Eirina raised a brow to Kaden, thinking that his choice of words was very, very strange, but didn't question it out loud. She ended up not answering Kaden at all, turning her attention elsewhere. Instead, she turned to her class, looking around, before checking the clock. It was time for class to begin.

"Hello class, for those of you who have recently transferred to Hogwarts, I am Eirina Naer, your Headmistress as well as your professor of Charms."

She stood up at the front of the classroom, her hands on her desk and using her voice to command the attention of her audience. As she spoke she looked at all of her students in the eye, going through each and everyone of them, both to grab their attention, and for attendance purposes.

"Now, as you should already know, there are rules. The first one is…"

She rambled on about the rules, mentioning her own classroom rules (which are listed out at the beginning of this topic) as well as reviewing standard school rules. She wanted to make sure every student understood, and plus, if they break a rule, they have no excuse because she verbally went over all of them.

"You'll find your textbooks in your desk. Please take them out and open them up to page 4."

(EDIT: I will post what the pages look like/read in my next post. No worries)

Timothy didn't pay much attention as Naer went over the rules. Her hands were on her desk, a sign of authority. Of course, she was Headmistress. She appeared to make eye contact with each student, possibly checking that they were paying attention, possibly counting attendance, possibly another show of authority, possibly showing that she was confident and honest, possibly trying to give each student a more one-on-one feel... Too many possibilities. He held her gaze, keeping his face impassive.

He pulled the special Charms textbook out and opened to page 4. He wondered if he should take out parchment and quill and prepare to take notes, or if she might write him off as brown-nosing.

Claudia noticed as Headmistress Naer went over the rules. She stood giving everyone eye contact. She then took her Textbook out of the desk and opened to page 4. She also took out her quill and a piece of parchment. She felt it was always good to be prepared to take notes. She always thought "It was better to have it and not need it, than to not have it but need it." She smiled to herself and looked up at the teacher for further instructions.

Jett was running late to Charms class. It was unforgivable in his eyes. Being late was a sign of disrespect and a nonchalant attitude. He was furious with himself for making such a simple mistake as reading his class schedule wrong and promised himself it would never happen again. As he gently opened the class door and sat in the closest seat he could find he was ready to take whatever punishment the professor was to give him.

She was in middle of explaining the rules of the class and Jett kept his ears open while taking a quick look around. He spotted Claudia nearby taking notes already and gave her a cheery smile. He didn't recognize any of the others in the class but made sure to study their faces quickly so as to remember them later. The board stated the this professor was also the Headmistress of the school. Oh great. Jett's mood sunk again. He was late to the headmistresses class. Today was just not his day. He was now going to have to excel in her class more than he had planed to make up for his rude behavior.

Taking out his book and opening it up Jett focused all of his attention back at headmistress Naer.

Irene yawned and looked at her alarm clock. Uh oh. She sprang out of bed, rushed down into the common room, and out the door. Some people called out as she ran down the hallway, "Where's the fire?" She sighed and just kept running. When Irene finally reached the Charms classroom, she tried to slip into the back and sit down. Glancing to the board, she could see that the Headmistress taught this class, which was both good and bad. Right now, it was just bad. She hoped that the Headmistress would excuse her for being late today. She would also have to apologize once class was over.

Irene tilted her head, listening carefully as the teacher explained all the rules. Most of them were easy to remember, and she hoped that she would have luck with following them. Trouble always seemed to focus on Irene, so she truly hoped today would be different. By how the day was starting out however, that didn't seem like a possibility.

She leaned down and dug in her bag, searching for her Charms textbook. Why wasn't it here? Irene spotted it hiding behind her Arithmancy textbook and breathed a sigh of relief. She grabbed it and turned to page four, then decided it wouldn't hurt to take a look at her fellow students. There were two Ravenclaws, four Gryffindors not including herself, and one Slytherin. Hmm. Was Hufflepuff the smallest house here? Most of the students appeared to be her age or slightly older, like Sixth Year or Seventh Year. Seventh years were sometimes scary. She giggled and then clapped a hand to her mouth. Oops, she hoped she hadn't disrupted anyone else's concentration.

She looked up from her Parchment to notice Jett and a Gryffindor girl come in. She smiled back at Jett. She then heard The girl giggle. She couldn't understand what could be funny but she shrugged it off. She hoped that this was going to be a good class and nothing would go wrong. She was having a great morning and she did not want that to be ruined.

One of the Gryffindor girls glanced up from her parchment to look at her and the Ravenclaw boy. She smiled at him, so Irene assumed that they had already met. Would everyone here know each other besides her? The other girl looked puzzled for a minute, staring at Irene, then seemed to make up her mind about something and turned back to her parchment. Irene wondered what she'd been thinking. She flipped a lock of hair behind her ear, then put it back. She hated her hair right now. She hadn't taken a shower today or brushed it, so it was fairly snarly and messy. She fervently hoped that the other students wouldn't notice and be disgusted of her, preventing her from making any new friends. She examined the other students more carefully. Right before she had walked in the room, she remembered that Ravenclaw boy Claudia had smiled at frowning and then burying his head in his textbook. What on earth was up with him? Mood swings? Anyway, the Gryffindor that had looked at her seemed really nice, and Irene hoped she would get to know her better eventually.

Charms was one of her best subjects, and she loved to make fire and make things glow especially. Irene whispered a few words and waved her wand delicately. A candle popped into existence silently, and she hoped the Headmistress wouldn't notice or care. After all, this was Charms class, wasn't it? Irene focused on the flame, turning it blue, then violet, then pure yellow, then dark red, like blood. That reminded her that she'd heard there were some vamps at this school, and one of them was a professor. She wondered what a vampire looked like, apart from in the movies and in books and such.

"As you can here, we are going to be reviewing your first three years at Hogwarts, because those of you in this class will either be taking the OWLs or NEWTs within this or next year, and reviewing the information will be critical,"

Eirina looked out into the crowd as some students came later to her class, but she didn't make any comments. Today would be a one-time thing. However, when looking out into the lot of students, she spotted a candle out of place. She hardly even had to wave her wand, and without a word, the candle disappeared. As she had spoken, Eirina looked at the girl in the eyes, being sure to make herself clear. She was always harshest on the first day, otherwise the kids would develop into energy-sucking monsters later on in the year.

"Not again, Ms. Moore. This is a warning. Now,"

She held up her own book, opened to page four, and then made the text disappear. If any of the other students looked down at their books, they'd notice that page 4 had disappeared for them, as well. Eirina's book, in a way, controlled all of the other textbooks. Whatever she did to hers, happened to theres, which was also why it stayed in the classroom and students needed permission to take it out.

"Who can tell me what a charm is? Shout it out. Someone different, shout out what a counter charm is."

Raising hands would take too long, especially since this was just review, after all. Normally Eirina did ask for raised hands, but she wanted to get through this lesson because there was a lot to review.

It wasn't intentional, nor did she even notice it, but Eirina was slightly biased in that those who were shy and quiet didn't have nearly as much opportunity to earn house points, because Eirina firstly asked for raised hands, which weaned out the crowd, and then she even had them shout out answers at times, which would wean out even more of the crowd. When it came to casting, she had no way of giving house points systematically, it was just if she felt like giving them out or not, one day or the other. However, the one thing Eirina was good at was no being house-biased when handing out house points, that was the one thing she could credit herself with.

Irene was puzzled at first when her candle went out unexpectedly.  She'd thought she'd cast a spell strong enough to prevent other students from messing with her candle.  Next, the words on page four of her textbook disappeared. Did someone cast a spell on her to mess up her first day of class? Then she heard the Headmistress's warning, and Irene assumed she'd also made page four disappear.  Irene sighed.  She thought she knew what a charm was, basically.  "It's a spell that glamours something?  It's a spell that affects how something appears to a person using all five senses?"  Irene wondered if she was right.  It didn't make a lot of sense, but it was her interpretation.  After all, charms affected people and items, and made people fall in love and such.  "A charm is associated with an item and can only be placed on a concrete person or thing?  Like, for example the glamour on the castle is like a gigantic charm?"

Jett watched unfazed as the Gryffindor girl who had walked in later than he had struggled to answer Professor Naer's question. Her answer was long and round about, using too many extra words and losing her intention within them. Jett found terse answers preferable, much easier to understand. She also ended her answer in a question herself, giving away she wasn't certain.

"A counter charm is a spell to remove or nullify the effects of a previous charm or spell." Jett answered confidently. This was simple review and he hoped to be over with it soon. His eyes never strayed from the headmistress as he answered her second question with a smile.

Irene rolled her eyes. Just because he'd answered his question in less words and faster didn't mean he had to be so smug about it. Especially if he ended up wrong. She almost hoped he did right now. It was obvious that he thought he was sooooooo much smarter than her. Well, he could think that all he liked. Just because he was in Ravenclaw and was one year older didn't mean he was any smarter or could get it right. Plus, his question was easier because it was just the opposite. So, you could say it removes the effects of a charm without even knowing what a charm really does. These questions were unfair! Irene knew what the professors always said if someone complained that something wasn't fair. *Life isn't fair,* they said, and she knew that. That didn't make it any less annoying though. Irene waited for the Headmistress's verdict on the subject.

A few students ran into class late, one looking like she just rolled out of bed. Timothy tried to keep his attention on Naer, but couldn't resist turning to look when she gave "Ms. Moore" a warning.
She appeared to erase page 4 from her textbook, and page 4 in Timothy's book cleared, as well. Glancing around, every textbook was missing page 4. Why have them open to information and then remove the information? Was she showing off?
She asked for the definition of a Charm and Counter-Charm and two students called out the answers. Timothy wasn't paying attention to that. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at the page. "Reparo." he whispered.

(NOTE: I will bold anytime that Eirina gives housepoints during class. She is not shouting, it is simply for myself so that when I look back at the class it's easier for me to find the housepoints that Eirina rewarded)

"You're close..."

Eirina paused for a moment, casting another silent spell. Within seconds, the student's textbook pages had begun to appear once more in an odd fashion, as if water had hit their paper and it was the cause and the form of how the text had reappeared in their books. This was review, after all, so the students shouldn't need their textbooks, but Eirina was proven otherwise.

Spoiler:

"A charm is a type of enchantment, a key word that will be on your exams, which causes an object to behave abnormally. And 10 points to Ravenclaw, because yes, a countercharm is any spell that has the ability to counteract another charm's effects."

Looking around the classroom, Eirina wanted to make sure that all of her students were paying attention. To the ones who were not, she cast a short glare at them all as she tried to grab their attention. It was clear to her that some of these students were in poor shape, and it was only a review session. She'd have to kick their gears into shape, and fast.

"Pay attention, all of you. It's clear to me that some of you are falling behind already, and this is only a review of what should already be heavily engraved into your brains," She paused for a breath and for everyone to watch her, "Bewitching, a term that you should be familiar with, is any object that has a lasting charm on it. Somebody else, without looking at your textbooks, briefly tell me what Protective spell is. Oh, and somebody tell me what Negative magic is. Again, be brief, and I'd like to hear some new voices."

Claudia had been taking notes as she always did when she heard Naer ask a question. "Professor, A protective Spell is as it is said, to protect an object, person, or surrounding area like a Patronus Charm or I read in a book in the library that when you use Protego Maxima, Fianto Duri, and Repello Inimicum charms it creates an almost unbreakable barrier." She looked back down at her parchment and began writing some more. She hoped she wasn't wrong but it couldn't be that bad if she was.

Timothy was surprised as words reappeared on the page as if water was rippling out from the center. Had his spell done that? No, Naer had returned the textbooks to normal. She'd asked for the definitions for a protective spell and a negative spell and a Gryffindor had answered for protective spell. He covered his textbook with his hand and called out the answer.
"Professor, a negative spell is an umbrella term for any spell used to harm another person or creature."