"Good job, Zoe. I'll give Ravenclaw 2 Points for that. Wonderful." He picked up the bird and placed it back inside the cage, just as Casey started in. Leave it to the Slytherin to be the most to fight this, they were such secretive creatures.

"You must not have been very good at the Ministry if you're rubbish at dealing with secrets. What got you fired there, reading M.U.M.M.s out of turn? Flunking out of the Department of Mystries?"

With his back still turned he started his answer.

"For the record Casey, I wasn't fired. And my job there had a great deal to do with politics. So trust me when I say, uncovering secrets was part of the job. I didn't flunk out of anything, ever. I just felt I'd rather be here, to enjoy flunking you, " Gale smirked at the boy now as he turned to face the class, and lean against his desk, "And Chester who prefers to be called Chaz, is an architect friend of mine, an artist." With that he looked around at the other students and took notes on who was all being rather quiet,

"Amara...nothing to say?"

When the mechanical contraption stopped motionlessly, Amara released a breath she didn't realize she was holding. Once her head was clear enough, however, she couldn't help but subtly shake her head disapprovingly at Torret. Since when was she so... jumpy? As Kesali instructed them to write their worst secret, Mara scoffed and rolled her eyes, because that was never going to happen. Then again, she supposed almost everything could be her worst secret. It wasn't as if anybody outside the Báthorys knew all that much about the family, about herself... or the curse. As a matter of fact, she could use this to her own advantage. Cleanly ripping a piece of parchment, the Syltherin pressed her black Raven quill on the paper.

"It took another death of one most dear to me to cancel the effects the last such death has had on me; I can feel again." There, that was just perfect. Just the right amount of detail, just the right amount of sob-inducing phrasing and just the right kind of information flux manipulation. Just the perfect little secret.

Admiring her flourished, spiky writing, Amara was perfectly ignorant of the ridiculous dialogue between Kesali and, of course, O'Doherty. Speaking of Casey, the girl was most curious how his allergies would react with some of the more... foul potions in the Maleficium. She'd certainly like to test that sometime. But it came as a rather irritating surprise - although in retrospect, not really a surprise, this was Nightingale Kesali - when she heard her name called by the Charms professor.

Lazily raising her eyes from her desk, Amara eyed the man with detached curiosity, silently appraising the mood of the classroom, before sighing rather poignantly. "I've been taught that if I have nothing competent or relevant to add to a conversation, I should abstain from participating in said conversation. Silence is golden, and all that" she made a dismissive gesture with her hand, subtly rolling her eyes. "So, no, Professor, not really" she said rather disinterestedly, raising her eyebrows as if to ask is that all?

Of course, Casey felt the necessity to question Professor Kesali's method for teaching them that silencing charm. As if anyone cared in that room what Casey's secrets were. None of which sounded like anything damaging. Addison tried her hardest not to roll her eyes at him, but she ultimately failed at that endeavor.

To keep her sanity, Addison attempted to block out the vile spewing from Casey's mouth. She couldn't help but to hear him mention Professor Kesali's relationship with Chester. Now, that was certainly news worthy, and ultimately more important than Casey's excuses for secrets. It ranked almost as high as Aileen's and Tappy's relationship in her mind. Any of her Professor's relationships that she heard about would rank pretty high in her mind.

Oooh! Chester, or as he liked to be called Chaz, was an architect and an artist. This Chaz certainly seemed like a good character to her down. These thoughts completely drowned out Professor Kesali's attempt at embarrassing Amara, and her subsequent answers. Already, she was rummaging through her bag, extracting her sketchpad from its depths.

Flipping through several pieces of artwork, included a few of Aileen and Tappy, Addison stopped at a fresh page. Completely detached and distracted from the lesson now, she began to draw Gale and her idea of what Chaz looked like.

Unlike Addison, Esther didn’t even try to refrain from rolling her eyes. Of course Casey had to say something. Even if he did have a point.  Ugh, she was going to be so mad if he lost Slytherin points– especially if it was a repeat of last year.

Thankfully, however, it seemed Professor Kesali had things in hand, and her Housemate’s vitriol washed right down his back. However strange he might be, at least he was mature enough to keep himself from being drawn into an argument with a student such as Casey–

Or not. It appeared she may have thought too soon.

Suddenly, she regretted sitting so close to the front. If she’d been in the back, at least then she could roll her eyes at the professor, too.

As it was, she wasn’t, and so she tried her best to focus on the assignment at hand. Which… wasn’t much better, as it turned out. Though her exasperation ebbed away, something akin to trepidation began taking its place, that had her worrying her bottom lip instead of pursing it; her worst secret? Just about all a girl’s secrets was her worst secret! Really, it was like he was born thirty.

Discreetly flicking the professor a mulish look, Esther looked back down at her parchment and began to write. He would just have to content himself with an inferior secret. The ‘worst’ part was probably just to encourage their strength of will against a Babbling Charm, so they could all practice Silencio…

His worst secret? On a parchment? With a bird that spouted enough secrets already?

He didn't much fancy yet another detention with Kesali in any form, so with his face twisted into a look of mild fury he took his quill and hurrumphed as he considered the problem.

It wasn't going to be his worst, but it would be one he wasn't proud of certainly.

I once stole from a shop in Diagon Alley and when I was found out, I let my brother take the blame. It had happened just before his third year while school shopping with his father. Tim had actively gone out of his way to take the rap, Ambrose acting out of character because of the thought of going back to school when everything was so unsettled at home back then.

"So tempting to lie." He muttered to Zeta, "But I don't want another detention and he's wild enough to have some of that truth serum stuff in his desk." He shifted uncomfortably.

"It will give you fuel to keep the bird quiet won't it?" He said taking up the parchments to feed it into the bird's spell. Instantly the thing started to squawk again making a few horrible noises and jumbled up the words. 

"It's a 5th year charm, but I think you can handle it. We'll suffer through a more formal lesson later, but today let's just see what instinct will do no?" Gale went on to instruct the formal motions, the wand movement and how to properly pronounce it. "I've also learned that this is one spell that is often best unspoken, no pun intended, but with the added pressure of keeping your secret quiet, perhaps it's best to just jump right in? So, for any of you that can get the bird to be quiet, I'll give you some extra credit and a free pass in a lesson of your choice." With that Gale cast his charms on the bird which promptly started spewing secrets without naming names, and he sat back on the edge of his desk with one arm crossed over him clasping the other that held his wand. He would start the bird over and over again,

"Also for this one, let's just try not to cast this charm on one another, but if it does happen know that the worst thing that will happen to you is you will be quiet. And we both know how taxing that can be for some of you." He cast his one eyed glare in Casey's direction.

"Ready? Wands up." Somewhere in the back of his mind he was hoping they would think this to be close to a game. He knew he was getting exhausted as they had all been going really strong ever since winter break, and were due a little reprieve from the harder lessons.

"Go," the bird took off in a beautiful silvery flash and came really close to buzzing the hair off the tops of their head as it went around the room spouting nonsense and flying as though it were insane.

---

GUYS I AM SO SORRY I HAVE NOT POSTED HERE

Cast at will, move around the classroom, and think of it as a hunting game. Duck Hunt. Yes. Duck Hunt.

I'm a Legilimens. I can read your minds, all of them, if I wanted, and you couldn't stop me because I can't even stop myself...

That was what Alvis should have written, when instructed to inscribe his worst secret. But he didn't. That was the one thing he couldn't let get out. He'd go from a mild eccentric to a freak and a danger. His classmates would never trust him again and rightfully so. It'd ruin everything.

While the rest of class muttered and complained, he though for a while about what to write before finally settling, in a burst of instinct, on, "Your father misses you, Professor Kesali," which he scribbled down right before the pages were collected and the bird took flight.

Alvis took up his wand and followed the bird with his eyes, his nerves mostly settled. The bird had already spewed out all the information he'd given at the detention. The worst he could hear now was what other people thought of him, and he had no reason to fear...

"...slipped off to the Astronomy Tower for a snog, naughty naughty..."

...okay, so maybe the bird had picked up its rumors from more than detention. Despite having no names attached to taunt, Alvis's face flushed. He didn't want to hurt the bird, its construction was much too nice to waste. But he didn't really need that getting out either. "Silencio!"

No good. For a split second, the bird's sound dropped to a single squeak. Then, without any prompting from the professor, its voice surged back full-power and it fluttered off to its next target, chattering all the way.

Erin was supposed to be doing something.  What was it?  Oh, right silencing the bird.  Or was she supposed to do something about it?  What did she write down?  Something about quidditch - and there was a spherical object right near her.  "KEEPER!" Erin yelled, her voice drowning out all other concerns and classmates as she thought she was on the quidditch pitch.  She also made a nice vertical leap to grab the mechanical avian.  After all, it was round shaped object, and it was her job to catch those things.  Or maybe it was just to prevent them from going through hoops?  She'd have to ask the captain about that later.  For now though, she had to find someone to pass the quaffle too when she realized,

"Oh - we're not in a quidditch match " Erin said sheepily.

"squawk- you half baked" the bird started to chirp.

"SILENCIO!" Erin cast, probably a bit louder than was neccesary.  Whatever the bird said was temporarily drowned out for the next couple of seconds, before flying on to its next victim.  Erin wondered if the lesson would continue or not.  She just hoped the rest of the class would forget about her outburst sooner than later.

With what was practically an entire menagerie at home and a rowdy, boisterous younger sister, Amara had acquainted herself with the Silencing Charm quite some time ago. This entire class was a charade and now, with her thoughts back to her dead younger sister, Amara's hand tightened around the rose shaped handle of her wand and a little crackle of magic flitted through her silver hair, causing it to charge with static energy.

Dark and her antics were a disgrace to everything Slytherin and Amara turned to watch her with a darkened glare and her lips drawn into a tight line. She wanted to wring her neck, squeeze until she was silenced properly, but with a loud inhale, nostrils flaring she pushed that image at the back of her head. Just then some uninspired classmate thought it wisely to start talking in a whispered voice, and for some reason, she found herself incredibly irritated, just wanting everything to stop.

She turned towards the origin of the voice, somewhere in the vicinity of Dark and that blasted bird, a vein throbbing violently at her temple and raised her wand to the individual. With a forward tilt of her chin and narrowed eyes she flicked her wand and immediately the sounds stopped coming out, even if the mouth was still moving. She smirked minutely, relishing in the quiet, before realizing that... perhaps this would be frowned upon. Gaze impassive and expression unimpressed she flitted her eyes around the classroom slowly. "Oops" she finally said, devoid of any inflection or remorse.

"Sticky fingers this one has, he stole from-."

No sooner had the Professor released the bird from Amara's spell, it had flung itself straight at Ambrose, to the Gryffindor's great horror.

His first reaction was to swipe it out of the way, straight at Zeta beside him, which was a mistake, as it didn't cease to squark.

Raising his wand, Ambrose near yelled the spell in his head, which unfortunately tumbled out of his lips in his haste rather than keeping them shut with the same ferocity.

"Silexio[1]!" Ambrose exclaimed, his tongue as ever, getting the better of his casting.

Instead of shutting up the bird, his incorrect combination of charm and transfiguration spell resulted in a blast of sandlike stones breaking forth from his wand and scattering all over the desk and showering nearby classmates with rock smoke.

"Let his brother take the rap!" the bird continued to exclaim, unbothered as it was made of metal and not of organic matter.

"Argh!" Ambrose exclaimed, and got to his feet, exclaiming something that would have made grandmother Pepper's hair curl to have come from the lips of her grandson. "Bloody bird," he continued, snapping his wand at it, wordlessly this time - stupefy his desire.

1.	silex :   silicis   (med. cilicis) : hard stone, sharp, rock, flint.

Ugh, he loved his job, and this particular year of students. They were so full of life and eager, they hadn't reached that annoying 'teenage' stage just yet where little things like this lesson wouldn't be funny. (Half the time fart jokes were still funny) But they were starting to mature, really get the hang of this whole magic thing, and start to develop not only into adolescence but wizards as well.

"Good! Alvis ni--" He stopped when the bird sang back to life and hid a little grin behind his hand, "Well try again?"


Ambrose as always reminded him more and more of Donald Duck, but he quickly got control of his grin so that way Pepper wouldn't think he was laughing at him.

"Take it easy Pepper, take a step back. Relax. Remember what we have been practicing. Keep you--" He stopped just as saw Amara out of the corner of his eye, knowing that look and the way that white fire could have fallen from her lips like venom, electric current so strong that even her hair seemed want to kill.

"Miss Báthory," He called on both Amara and the student she silenced, "Since when is it acceptable to cast spells on any of my students? I am pretty sure we have been over this a few--"


Gale stopped in his tracks, wand in the air it cast it's spell with ease and the bird returned to it's cage, "Who wrote that?" His voice was so very deadpan and angry that when he turned to look at his students he would have set them all on fire if looks could kill.

"Which one of you wrote that?"

Alvis went pale.

Stupid, he thought. Stupid, stupid! This was why he shouldn't listen to his gut instincts. They always led him straight into bad decisions, errors in judgement and slips in rational thinking. They always made people mad and they always, always got him in trouble.

A fog of tension fell over the classroom, thick and stifling under the Professor's harsh gaze. Seconds stretched into strained minutes, a few students snickering at the bird's announcement while others looked nervous at what their temperamental teacher might do. Alvis stared at his desk and fidgeted. He half-wished that Professor Kesali would just let it drop and move on, but he knew that wouldn't happen. If no one spoke up, they'd all pay for it. That wouldn't be fair.

After a long, awkward few minutes, Alvis took a deep breath and raised his hand. "I...I did, Professor," he squeaked. Then he cleared his throat and lifted his head. "In my d-defense, it's true."

Amara still could not fathom how a dimwit like Ambrose Pepper had managed to live a grand total of fifteen years... Surely, nature should have discarded him as useless and inferior by now? That boy would inadvertently kill someone one day. It was just a matter of time...

She watched the rain of rocks with an impassive gaze, blinking once or twice at the mess that was spreading over the desk and spilling over. She was prepared to excuse her miscast silencing charm by calling it an accident, but that wasn't necessary, it seemed. Kesali's disturbed tone of voice had her lean her head into her hand as her gaze went from the professor to the oddly still and silent classroom. Whomever would know anything about Kesali's father? She wondered curiously if their professor had gotten his... particular brand of charm from him. One of him was enough, she concluded with a little scowl.

It was when mousy little Norling squeaked his guilt that Amara perked up, shifting her curious gaze to the Ravenclaw. What business could Alvis Norling possibly have with Nightingale Kesali's father? Well, it didn't matter, really. What mattered was that Norling, star pupil and generally droll individual managed to incur the wrath of their rather unstable professor. Amara wondered if there would be blood? She'd settle for yelling if nothing else, she decided with a little giggle and turned her upper body to face Alvis solemnly.

She slowly clapped at him, without actually making any sound and shook her head in faked astonishment. The gesture was subtle and finished just as quickly as it was started. She settled into a more relaxed posture, expression gleeful and body thrumming with anticipation for the oncoming slaughter.

Gale was simply blown away....Alvis? Really? The poor boy looked like a lamb that had come to slaughter, and he could easily see why his father would have chosen him to be his prey. Had they had a run in? Certainly not, but with all the folklore surrounding some of the students he had to wonder if Mister Norling wasn't as innocent as he let on to be.

"Alvis..." His own voice betrayed him in sounding quiet, and rather...perplexed, instead of horrid and angry, "I...Are you being serious right now?" He asked with such a snarky nearly shocked tone that he just HAD to think Alvis was joking, "What makes you think that any of that is ok to speak to me about? Stay after class, which is dismissed by the way. Mister Pepper...please clean up the rocks, and Miss Báthory..." As if someone was running a key around him to get him going again he pulled his eye from Alvis to attend to the Slytherin girl who he covered for often.

"Amara," In a much softer and kinder tone he spoke to her as though wanting to level with her, and even knelt down so that way he could speak to her more privately. He used her desk to steady himself (not as young as he used to be) and continued, "Is everything alright? We haven't talked in a while, but you do know that my office is always open to you no?" Oh he was trying to show he cared, but when he gave the girl a chance to answer his eyes slid darkly over to Alvis...what in the world was that even about? It was just so out of character for him.

"You don't have to talk, but you know that the offer is still good right?" Looking back at her now, he will never forget how absolutely miserable and lost she seemed that dinner back from Christmas. It broke his heart and at ever chance he got he spoke up for the students and their going home at all. If he had his way, he would never send some of them back home--because when they returned to school they were broken and it was always so hard putting them back together again.

One last shade … and … done.

Addison smiled at her now finished drawing of Professor Kesali and Chaz sitting near each other on a couch. On the top of the page, she wrote, 'Chaz n Gale.' She had to quickly cover her mouth with her hand to keep herself from laughing. Pointing her wand at her drawing, she muttered as quietly as she could, "Evaginato Moveo[1]." Her sketches of Chaz and Professor Kesali suddenly animated to move towards each other and kiss.

She nearly stuffed her sleeve into her mouth to quite the giggle snort she was about to make. Turning towards where Gloria previously was sitting next to her, she suddenly realized that the class moved to actually performing the silencing charm.

Awkwardly, Addison suddenly stood up with a blush. She tried to walk over quietly to where the rest of the class was, practicing the silencing charm on the bird. Her now animate drawing was still face - up on her desk. Just as she attempted to join the class, rocks and dust started to fly thanks to Ambrose's attempt to silence the bird.

She just made it to the little class gathering when Professor Kesali silenced the bird himself and returned it to its cage. Apparently one of her classmates wrote something that their Professor didn't like. Even though she was sure that hers was appropriate, she tried not to make eye contact. After all, with him mad, he may explode on her for doodling as opposed to practicing the charm. Addison continued this averted gaze, hoping to stay invisible during the slaughter of poor Alvis.

Thankfully, Professor Kesali seemed eager to dismiss the class already. "Thank merlin," she muttered as she hurried back over to her items. In her rush to pack her bags, her drawing of 'Chaz n Gale' fell to the ground.

1.	spell description