Expected Students:

Adrienna Hayes :: Ravenclaw :: 1
Beatrix Dark :: Ravenclaw :: 1
Bellatrix Dark :: Slytherin :: 1
Callum Knight :: Slytherin :: 1 
Darcy Bloxham :: Hufflepuff
Erin Harper :: Slytherin :: 1
Evie Pascal :: Slytherin
Faelyn Bancroft :: Ravenclaw
Ferguson Amherst :: Slytherin
Ferris Quinn-Nightwing :: Hufflepuff
Figaro Sellaphix :: Hufflepuff :: 2
Freya Jansdotter :: Gryffindor
Gemima McCoy :: Gryffindor
Joshua Harcroft :: Gryffindor :: 1
Julian St. James :: Slytherin
Kit Branwell :: Gryffindor
Kat Tyrrell :: Gryffindor
Lydia von Lucifer :: Slytherin 
Madeline Pratt :: Hufflepuff
Megan Ruiz :: Ravenclaw :: 2
Mystique Ketteridge :: Hufflepuff :: 1
Nebuchasnezzar Fields :: Hufflepuff
Nelly Woolfolk :: Slytherin
Nikolai Blackstone :: Gryffindor
Olivia Foley :: Hufflepuff
Peyton Wentworth :: Ravenclaw :: 3 :: (-5)
Regina Grayson :: Gryffindor :: 2
Reynaud Chancelier :: Hufflepuff
Sasha Schlagenweit :: Ravenclaw
Vincent Pennyapple :: Slytherin
Xavier Tawse :: Slytherin  :: 2


NB: Please write as if your character is already in the lesson by the time Ignan begins. If your character has a plot reason for being late, then by all means write their arrival as an interruption, with the house point loss accompaniment... Thanks.

The smell of breakfast was still hanging in the air in the castle. The first lesson of the day was about to begin, and for Ignan, and the Fifth Year students, that meant their first Defences lesson with their new Professor, who was quietly regarding them from behind his desk, with his fingers steepled.

It was an important year, the OWL year, not quite as important as the NEWT you might reckon, but Ignan took it just as seriously. For a large number of the class, it would be the final element of their magical education that would teach them the most important aspects of magic for their long term survival. It was important they left knowing enough that would prepare them for life.

The classroom appeared crammed full, and the noise indicated such.

Standing abruptly, Ignan made his way to stand, and nudged the eggtimer on his desk to turn over.

"Good morning." He addressed the class, his voice, different in tone to the younger, excitable tones of the students, cut through, and heads turned to the front. "It will not have escaped your attention that I am not the face you were expecting. I am Professor Storm, and as your replacement Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor for the duration of your OWL courses, I will be taking all classes and setting out what happens in this course from this day forwards." Now, with the attention firmly on him from the curious students, he added. "you can sob over the loss of your former Professor after class at your leisure."

He stepped to the side of his desk.
"Rather than try something mundane in an attempt to gauge your inabilities we will tackle combination curses, which I am aware is three chapters ahead of you in your text books. Excellent, which means even the smart arses of the class can keep their book quoting to a dull roar. One thing you may be pleased to hear, is that I do not believe that retorting paragraphs of your text book will help you when you're staring death in the face." He tilted his head slightly. "Unfortunately the Ministry still prefer you to try reciting the seven most effective shield incantations and their shapes, but as long as you can vomit that for your examination on the day, they'll be happy. Ah, vomit, so kind that this class be scheduled straight after breakfast. I do hope you all have eaten well..."

He stepped down from the front dais and reached the small projector at the back of the class. With a few sweeps of his wand and taps, the light reduced, and a screen lowered to receive the projections.

"Combination curses. The application of two curses in one presentation." He cleared his throat a little. "To work in the caster's favour, the two curses must compliment or combine, and not conflict. Those of you who wish to become Healers will see the effects of spell damage in time, and realise how dangerous such magic can be in untrained hands. The rest of us, will content ourselves with a few illustrations."

Professor Storm tapped the top of a projector which lit itself and showed enlarged photographs of injuries caused by spell damage. Burns, limbs half missing... wizards with no head... which the Professor flicked his wand at suddenly, allowing the photograph to linger.

"This particular late wizard attempted to experiment with combining four dark curses. Not only did he succeed in becoming tongue tied, thus changing the third spell, he also blew his head clean off, and caused his cat to grow larger than his house. It took the Ministry two days to deal with covering it up. A valuable lesson - leave the experimental magic to the official department, unless of course, you work there, which some of you may eventually."

Another flick of the wand, and the projector drained of light, removing the headless wizard from direct gaze.
"The difficulty with combinations are that they are extremely volatile. However, the pay-off is that they can save time, and be infinitely valuable in protecting yourself. The Dark take no time in learning to combine spells, producing some breathtaking wandwork from the more experienced. Equally, the duelling team of Britain are pretty good. If you can get to see them, go." The Professor had digressed slightly.

"The way to learn and practise these curses is to learn the singular first, for example -" he raised his wand towards the front row, where a student's book was sat on the desktop. "auctus will enlarge the book." As he twitched his wand, the book began to grow steadily. "and prolato will lengthen." the book began to grow longer, the desk beneath creaking.

The Professor halted the spell, with desino and the book stopped growing and lengthening.
"But the combination, to reduce and shorten it again - for the sake of example - otherwise you would use finite, the combination is affligo curto, where you see not only do you intone the double, but also perform one fluid movement from one to the next with the wand." The book promptly began to shrink and shorten. It went past it usual state, until the Professor cast the finishing spell, where it popped back to its original shape.

"As your first practical task, you must each ensure you are able to repeat that demonstration. Use your book, or some other inert object which is unlikely to cause damage if you make a mistake. First use the single spells, and then attempt to combine them. This is not a case of strength, but rather care, attention and fluid wandwork. I will be watching each and every one of you, and when I am happy, we will move on to some far more potent curses."

Practise:
auctus prolato - enlarge and lengthen
affligo curto - reduce and shorten
desino - stop or halt the spell temporarily
finite incantatem - stop or remove a spell's effects

OOC: Don't make it terribly boring and all do it correctly first time... also, have some creativity with what (or whom!) you practise on...!

To say that Xavier was a little annoyed with having yet another new Professor to suck up to was a bit of an understatement. He knew he could easily manipulate Cuthbert, he didn't think the little leprechaun had much going for him anyways and since he wasn't expecting any of his students to actually predict anything Xavier felt his O was already in the bag. O Morain was a bit more hardened and definitely nastier but at least he knew his stuff and seemed to have an amusing dislike for the Hufflepuffs which suited Xavier just fine. This new man however, he had no idea what to think of him. He was funny in that sort of sarcastic Grandfather way but it was only a matter of time before Xavier could be sure he actually liked him.

Xavier took care to keep notes on each of the gruesome spell damage effects that were shone through the projector. He found himself wondering if he'd have been able to pull off any of those, then again Xavier would never have been dumb enough to try a new untested curse on himself, that's what lackeys were for. Then again he doubted when it came down to it he'd even bother with new curses, there was nothing wrong with the old unforgivable ones, they had been tried and tested and true for centuries.

Xavier snickered as he watched Professor Storm play around with Wentworth's Quidditch book. He was almost hoping the Professor would notice it wasn't his Defence text book but rather a stupid book of Quidditch plays, perhaps he'd take a few points off for not being prepared for class.

When they were left to their own devices Xavier took out his wand and looked down at his book. It was a rare occasion for him to get a spell right on the first go but that didn't make him a bad student, he just tried too hard sometimes and became unfocused, so worried about getting it right that he'd mess it up. He cleared his mind closed his eyes replayed the Professor performing the curses again in his mind before opening his eyes once more and thrusting his wand at his book.

Much to his dismay the pages of his book seemed to have listened but the hard cover was being stubborn and so the pages were now growing out of the cover like an uncontrollable weed. Xavier growled in frustration and tried to perform the Desino curse but he was too angry to perform it right. He watched with growing annoyance as the pages of his book now growing at different rates soon became the size of his desk.

Peyton had been looking through his faithful Quidditch book while the Professor busied the class with a revolting slide show. He knew that playing around with untested magic was dangerous but he didn't think they needed to see it. Anyone that was dumb enough to throw four curses together all at once deserved that have their head blown off. He had a piece of parchment inside the text and was copying some of the more risky maneuvers used throughout Quidditch history. He was currently drawing up a sketch and explanation on how to effectively use the Wronski Feint, a move that had been used thirteen years prior during the Quidditch World Cup, Ireland vs Bulgaria.

He snapped his book closed when the light came back up and Professor Storm began to give them yet another explanation. Peyton was rather indifferent towards having another new teacher. He didn't think it made a difference either way. As long as the new teacher didn't hate Quidditch or the students that were on the Quidditch teams then they were golden. Peyton was still feeling resentful towards Professor Bombay who had made the final decision in pulling him off the quidditch team the previous year.

Peyton looked aghast when the Professor decided to use his trusty old Quidditch Plays and How Best to Use Them, for his demonstration. He watched in horror as the book expanded making the golden letters on the green background stand out even more. The last thing he needed was to get off on the wrong foot with a new professor. He could hear someone snickered behind him and wasn't all surprised to see Xavier being the source of the sound. His fellow fifth year had been the source of annoyance and anger in Peyton for over four years now. They had gotten into a scuffle their first day before even getting to the castle and had been rivals every since.

As they were instructed to try the curses out for themselves Peyton carefully tucked his book back into his bag and took out his wand. He twisted in his chair ever so slightly so that he had a clear vantage point on Xavier. Knowing that the 'oh so charming' Slytherin would no doubt be trying his best to suck up to the new teacher Peyton was ready to make that task as hard as he possibly could. As Xavier focused on enlarging his own book Peyton swiftly flew a Desino curse at it. His own spellwork seemed to be slightly off target but the end result was rather humorous. Instead of making it look as if Xavier was unable to perform the curse, his own curse had only affected one half of the book.

Peyton covered up his own chuckles as he watched Xavier grow increasingly angry with the text book that was only enlarging it's pages and not it's covers. As Tawse tried to throw a well aimed Desino curse at it Peyton quickly followed it up with another shot of Auctus Prolato, causing the pages to continue to grow in an uneven fashion. Peyton doubled over trying not to give into the great big ripples of laughter that were threatening to break through him. Messing with Xavier like this was just too priceless.

Mysti wasn’t sure exactly what was going on with the teaching staff.  If her memory served her right, this would be the third new teacher that had started this semester.  But, Professor Storm seemed like he was going to be an interesting teacher. Whether it was a good interesting or bad interesting, the Hufflepuff girl was unsure of yet. So far, he seemed like it might make for a good interesting. Perhaps a bit on the strict side, but at least he appeared to have a bit of a sense of humour.

When he mentioned something about people who might want to become Healers, Mysti’s ears perked up. She could always see herself becoming a Healer, assuming she didn’t make it into professional Quidditch.  And Healers should know about these combination curses. Mysti was sure to pay attention as he talked about them.  Of course, some of the pictures shown were a little gruesome, but she figured the point was made about the importance of these curses.

After the explanation, Mysti took a moment to watch what other students were doing. They seemed to be doing all right. Then she decided on what she would cast the spell on.  She didn’t feel like using her book or a notebook, because those wouldn’t be good things to lose if she really messed up. Looking through her bag, she found a reserve chocolate bar from the previous Hogsmeade trip. She cleared off her desk, except for the chocolate bar, and then cast Auctus Prolato on it. Slowly, it started to grow. Unfortunately, the next part didn’t work.

Mysti tried casting Desino, but something went wrong and the chocolate started growing at twice the speed. Perhaps it was that she was a little too excited about getting the first part right, that the girl didn’t focus enough on the next spell she was doing.  She fell back out of her chair, and then tried casting Affligo Curto from the ground. That just caused the chocolate bar to break into smaller pieces. And the bad thing was that the chocolate pieces were still growing, and now were surrounding her. A momentary thought in Mysti’s head was that she was going to have a literal death by chocolate. Under normal circumstances, this might be funny, but she was thinking that she was too young to die.

“Professor! I think I need a little help over here!” Her voice was a bit frantic as she attempted to stop the spell on the pieces of chocolate. A few of them stopped growing, but it was the the ones that were still growing that worried her. Mysti hoped that some of her other classmates could stop some as well. Of course, the thought of the classroom being taken over by chocolate made her want to laugh, but she kept trying to stop the growing sweets.

Another day, another new professor.  Josh was wondering who would be the next to go, hoping it would be Snark herself. He watched as the other members of the class attempted the spells they were set. Tawse made the pages of his book grow at different speeds, Wentworth seemed to have only half his book growing, and Mystique had managed to cause a chocolate bar to break apart and start growing, surrounding her. " Finite Incantatem" he said, pointing his wand at the chocolate surrounding Mysti. Turning back to his desk without looking to see if it had worked or not, he cast the Auctus prolato spell on a broken quill he had in his bag. it worked, of a fashion. The quill enlarged, only to fall off his desk and straight into his ankle through his shoe. Swearing loudly, Josh quickly cast the “Finite Incantatem" spell. Clutching his ankle with one hand, Josh hoped someone could see he was injured, as he was in too much pain to tell anyone.

Ignan patrolled around, seeing various attempts, and tongue tied students consulting with each other on the correct order of words. He watched a Slytherin boy attempting to enlarge his book, but achieving an inconstant reaction from the object. The pages of the book were enlarging at a faster rate than the cover, illustrating how easily combination curses could become unbalanced even with the most well meant intentions.

"Desino!" He ordered the book, but his hasty words did not correct the situation, and the book grew to the size of his desk. Ignan paused a moment longer, to see if he might manage it, but as the desk beneath gave a creak, he uttered the words quietly for the student.

"Desino." The book came to a halt in its growth, and the desk gave a creak. He stepped forward, the paper and the writing now enlarged so far it was cascading out of the tiny cover.
"Affligo curto - reconcinno persisto." The book began to right itself, the pages reducing slowly but steadily, each at different rates and speeds, but eventually equaling out to restore themselves to their rightful size.
"Precision is the key, your frustrations hinder your efforts, keep your feelings in check." He instructed the Slytherin with a firm tone, before rounding on a classmate whose body language, despite his intentions to hide it, indicated he found the Slytherin's situation funny.

"It is foolish to take humour in those who try, when you are to cowardly to even attempt." He flicked his wand, sending the book before the Ravenclaw student backwards towards its owner, rather than deduct points. The whole process had meant his back was turned to the scene behind him, until a worried voice interrupted.

“Professor! I think I need a little help over here!”

Well, at least this class of fifth years had some character, he thought, as he took in the sight across the classroom. Not sure quite what the young witch had decided to cast her combination spell on, it was clearly growing at quite a rate. Hurriedly he brought the growing foodstuff to a halt, and gave a sniff. A nearby student also cast finite upon the spell, which helped to stop some of it.
"Chocolate, Miss...?" He looked down at the Hufflepuff student amongst her enlarged snack, hoping she would enlighten him on her name.
"Clearly you have mastered the enlargement, I suggest you tackle these in small chunks, though whether things will remain edible remain to be seen..." He sighed and stepped away from the mess, bumping into the student who had tried to assist, who appeared to be clutching his ankle.

"Are you unaware of the route to the infirmary?" He asked scathingly, not inquiring if the young wizard was mortally wounded.

"If you are one of the fortunate few not to have let their hormonal cravings, frustrations or smug satisfactions hinder your work, try not to fall in the latter from identifying with this description. Instead, use the chapter in your books to try an alternative combination. Only when I am sure enough of you will not cause accidental decapitation of your classmates will we move on to the proper curses. Those who aren't, we'll just have to take our chances..."

Figaro's voice was among the loudest before Professor Strom called the class to order.  He'd been leaning out of his desk, nearly shouting at some friends.  He had speculated on the whereabouts of their old Professor and whether the old legend about the Defense post was true.

Even when Professor storm began talking in very stern, chilling tones, Figaro couldn't help but make small comments under his breath or in quiet whispers.  The newness of the situations was too damn exciting for him not to process the event socially.  His eyes were everywhere other than on the professor, eyeballing his fellows, trying to gauge their reaction to all this.  He was only half paying attention to the usual scare-tactics lecture they normally got in this class.

But then came the slides.  The class reacted verbally when the disgusting depictions of maimed body parts flickered against the screen.  The moving photographs even moved slightly, the pus and open wound glistening under the photographer's bulb. 

"What the hell...!" he murmured.  "Who is this guy?"

Demonstrations, description and the directions.  And as the class went abuzz with activity around him, Figaro didn't make a move.  He made the obligatory cover moves, grab an object (he took off his brown trainer), and take out his wand. But he made no move to even attempt the project.  Figaro was more interested in what was going on with his mates.

Xavier looked like he was going to kill someone.  Peyton was being smug-ass Ravenclaw about it.  Josh managed to break his leg or something, and Mysty was trying her damndest.  And the strange new professor had something to say about all of it.  No professor ever went off on Harcroft like that.

Figaro turned to a student next to him* and began speaking in hushed tones, all the while keeping an eye on the new professor, as he patrolled the room as his classmates kept at the excercise.

"Is Snark taking the piss with this one? I hear they sent him over from Durmstrang Institute because he was too angry.  Too angry for bloody Durmstrang.  I'm surprised he doesn't put Josh out of his misery instead of sending him to the Healer? Madam Nagde's way out in the hut.  Barmy old man.  Merlin," he said with a guarded smile, "this class just got interesting.  I will absolutely consider dropping out if he's meant to be our new Head of House as well.  Lord Voldemort was more Hufflepuff than this old shitehawk."

"Too cowardly to even attempt?!" Peyton indignantly threw back at the Professor, straightening up as he was addressed. Surprise, surprise yet another Professor was falling for Xavier's innocent 'I'm such a bloody brilliant student' routine, "I'm the one that made his book do that in the first place!" He pointed to Xavier's uneven book as it was starting to right itself under the Professor's control. He regretted the words as soon as he had said them. Sure it had been fun to make Xavier look like a chump and mess with his book but he never meant for the Professor to find out about it.

He kept his back straight and his face stony. He wasn't a trouble maker, bad at focusing and rarely turned in his assignments on time but he definitely wasn't a trouble maker. There was just something about Tawse that got under his skin every time he just looked at the Slytherin.

His cool grey blue eyes, identical to Xavier's, stared up at the Professor waiting for his response. It was obvious from the start that he was a hard ass. What kind of punishment would he give him for messing up another student's work?

Adrienna was sitting in the front corner of the room, quietly watching the class in their attempts to perform the spells that the new professor had assigned.  Professor Storm had been very detailed yet blunt in his giving of directions – detailed in his assignment, blunt in the effects of misfiring them.  Indeed, the photographs on the projector were gory and rather frightening, and after seeing them, she had to admit, she didn’t have any desire to cast the spell for herself.  She looked warily at her wand and then fearfully at the image of a headless man that was hovering in the light of the projector.  Already, the other students were tackling the assignment, some of them doing well, others… not so much.  The pages of Xavier Tawse’s textbook were drooping out of their bindings and off of his desk… But no one’s head had blown off their necks so she decided to give it a go.

She took a deep breath and aimed her wand at her book, “Auctus prolato.”

Nothing.

“Really?” she sighed.  Then she lifted her wand again, “Okay what about… affligo curto.”

The book shuddered ferociously and then, to Adrienna’s frustration, popped right out of existence.  She blinked, staring at the place where her book had been resting only moments before.  She even waved her hand through the space it should have occupied, but there was nothing there.  She glanced around; no one had noticed.  Looking at the clock, she knew that she should be working on completing the assignment, but she was too embarrassed to raise her hand.  It was more embarrassing than Xavier’s problem for sure.  At least he had a book in front of him.

The professor said something about decapitation followed by ‘take our chances’, which immediately sent Adrienna’s nerves aflutter once again.  If they moved on and people weren’t ready, she might just cry… or leave.  Or both, if it came down to it.

Professor Storm had taken to helping Xavier regain control of his textbook when he caught a boy who Adrienna didn’t know laughing.  Professor Storm seemed like the type of man who gave few praises and exceeding amounts of sharp discipline.  Laughing didn’t seem like an intelligent plan of action in his classroom, though the results had definitely intrigued Adrienna enough that she had temporarily forgotten about the assignment.  She gawked in amazement at the stupidity of the laughing boy and the anger that had seeped onto the professor’s face.  She wasn’t telling him about her disappeared book anymore, not with the way he looked right now.

At first, Megan was surprised to hear that there was a new Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. It appeared recently that there were plenty of new Professors recently. While that did not really matter to her at all, it made her wonder how Hogwarts could be capable to give them their OWLs if there were so many faculty changes. It would certainly frighten her if they were forced to take those dreaded exams in the summer, or to even wait a year. For that matter, any disruption in the planned OWL tests would scare her completely, and probably make her even more nervous about her future. Of course, thinking about it certainly wouldn't help her.

But, at any rate, Meg would still need to pay attention, and try to complete the coursework as correctly as possible. So, she would give Professor Storm her complete attention when he started class. As the Professor starting speaking, she noted that he went down to business almost immediately. At the hint, if it really was a hint, on what would be on the OWL examination, she took a quick note to know the seven effective shield charms. Not only would those be important for safety, but it could help her with her OWLs as well.

When Professor Storm started the lesson, and showed pictures on the projector screen, Meg took notes on a piece of parchment. She didn't bother trying to draw the various pictures of combination curses gone wrong, but she did list the effects of a failure to perform those correctly. She assumed that if they were going to practice one of those that day, it probably wouldn't be one that they could harm themselves that badly. While she wasn't moved like some of the other students in the class at the pictures, she wouldn't want any of those to happen to her.

Meg watched as Professor Storm showed the class the spells that they were to perform. She quickly jotted down what each one did, along with their names. She liked to be as descriptive as possible when it came to her notes. While most of the information probably wouldn't be on a final exam, or even the OWLs or NEWTs, it might be good to retain the information if at all possible.

When the class was able to start practicing the spells, Meg took out an old book from her bag. She didn't want to use anything too valuable, not wanting to destroy anything by mistake. Pointing her wand at the book, "auctus prolato" she casted. A beam of light shone from her wand, and hit the book, but nothing happened. It neither enlarged, nor lengthened.

At the disappointing results, Meg sighed lightly. It appeared as if she needed to study a spell extensively just to get a good result. That was something that definitely wouldn't help her when she graduated Hogwarts. With a shake of her head, she looked around the room, and noted the way Professor Storm criticized each student, even Josh. Now, that was a surprise. Even when Josh messed up, he was never belittled as he was, especially when he hurt himself.

Mentally, Meg hoped that Professor Storm wouldn't become like Headmistress Snark, who clearly wasn't the most liked in Hogwarts. Clearing her mind, she pointed her wand at the book. "auctus prolato." Still nothing. Getting frustrated, she jabbed her wand at the book this time. "auctus prolato!" she nearly yelled at the book. This time, the book still didn't do as intended. But, it flew up into the air. Quickly getting out of her seat, she jumped up, and caught the book before it flew off too far. Immediate crisis diverted. However, she still didn't perform the spell right, which clearly wasn't too good. She placed the book back down on her desk.

Well, this was interesting. They'd all seen DADA teachers come and go this year, almost to the point where Erin, watching their new professor try to intimidate everyone with his withering sarcasm and gimlet stare, was almost too busy wondering what would happen to him rather than listening. He zoned back in when he caught onto the professor's tone- what a hardarse. Erin liked him. He wasn't stupid enough to think he'd still like him if Storm ever turned his personal attention on Erin, but all in all, the kind of professor who was this old and still showing pictures of eviscerated failures to his students was the kind of professor Erin approved of. So for the rest of the instructions he listened, studying attentively the glisten and gore of parts of people's bodies never intended to see daylight, watching under lowered lashes as Wentworth's book grew and shrank, and repeating the words to each spell in his head after Storm named them. And when the man turned them loose to practice on their own, Erin obediently twisted his ring (it belonged to someone in the family, a thick silver thing that he wore occasionally if only because when he punched someone it left a mark) off his finger and laid it on the desk in front of him as though there was nothing more satisfactory than the prospect of a spell to practice.

Of course, as soon as the Professor turned his attention to individual students, Erin dropped the act. Everyone around him was so busy trying to cast the spells on their own objects- and then preoccupied with dealing with the consequences- that no one was paying the slightest bit to whether he was casting spells or not. He tapped his wand on his desk idly as he watched the mayhem unfold, making disparaging internal remarks about Sellaphix's big mouth or Tawse's pathetic utter inability to realise that all his efforts were being thwarted by the giggling Ravenclaw in front of him. Ketteridge's attempt sparked a little interest in him, though, enough to make him swivel in his seat to stare at the ring and wonder whether he could replicate the effect with OTHER food. Erin was a teenage boy, after all; he was always willing to eat.

"Auctus prolato," he said clearly, and poked at the ring with his wand. It did nothing. Erin sulked.

Then he tried again. It looked like the professor was getting closer, after all. This time, the ring began to grow in a jerky stop-go-stop-go kind of fashion.

With breakfast still settling within the confines of her stomach, Reggie sat in a slightly slouched position in her usual seat. To say she was a bit sleepy would be a gross understatement. It had taken every fiber of her being to pull herself up out of bed to face this fine morning. She still had no idea how she made it down to the Great Hall, shoveled food into her mouth, and then successfully made the trek to the classroom. Maybe some higher power was finally watching out for her after all these years. Pfft. Yeah right. Reaching up with her hand to cover her mouth and stifle a yawn looking to escape in the process the fifth year Gryffindor was about to shut her eyes for a split second when the Professor began to speak. After listening to him for a few moments she could already tell that he had one of those voices that commanded attention, which likely meant that there would be no dozing off during lectures in her future. Hurrah. Really she should have been thankful since this was OWL year and all. Falling asleep and missing important info that would likely be on the exam was clearly not an option at this point.

Taking out a quill and a fresh sheet of parchment she tentatively began to take notes, feeling the sleepiness immediately fade away. This new professor certainly was a miracle worker. And a complete hard-arse to boot. She really didn't mind his gruffness as long as he didn't start to single people out to pick on. Then there would be problems. Looking up from her parchment she was just in time to catch the extremely graphic images that flashed across the screen. Yuck. The still undigested food shifted uncomfortably inside her, not quite agreeing with the lingering image of a headless man who obviously screwed up big time. Reggie paused to look around the classroom briefly to see that mostly everyone was having similar reactions. Biting her bottom lip she averted her gaze back to her parchment, opting to stare at it until the grisly presentation was done. Thankfully, it soon was, allowing her to exhale a sigh of relief. Was that really necessary?

Next came a demonstration that was much less disgusting in nature. Reggie watched as the book Professor Storm focused on grew, lengthened, then returned to its previous size. All the while she made sure to quickly scribble down the words and proper movements for later study. Then it was time to practice what they'd just seen. Reaching down to fish her wand and pencil case out of the battered messenger bag by her feet she proceeded to set the case down and point her wand at it. Here goes nothing. "Actus prolato." Almost instantly the book began to grow and lengthen. Phew. At least she could do that part right. "Desino." She said afterward with a flourish of her wand. The pencil case halted as expected, shuddering slightly. Two for two. Not bad. Now for the finish. "Affligo curto." The pencil case groaned audibly. Uh oh. "Affligo curto." Reggie repeated, though with a more firm tone. Well, apparently the pencil case didn't like that too much, for the next thing she knew it had launched itself off the desk and through one of the glass windows leading outside. She sat there, stunned beyond all belief for a few seconds, then sighed, shoulders slumping downward.

Yep. Definitely should have stayed in bed today.

"Too cowardly to even attempt? I'm the one that made his book do that in the first place!"

Chocolate crisis averted, Ignan returned to the desk of the defiant Ravenclaw student, who for the sake of his own reputation had claimed outright his disruption to another student's valuable practice.
"Then you will be pleased to have lost five points from Ravenclaw for your interference. Whether you keep your wand to yourself for the rest of the lesson will influence my decision on whether to deduct further points and instigate a full detention, though it appears you'd relish the opportunity to attract attention from anyone, clearly desperate." His eyes flickered from the student's face, to the Gryffindor prefect still struggling with his ankle, others uttering that the distance to the temporary hospital were a little far to be fair on one foot.

"Your housemates would prefer you didn't tempt me." He told Peyton, and returned to Joshua, uttering a short incantation and wand movement towards the Gryffindor's ankle, to provide temporary pain relief.
"Whether you go now or later to have that properly healed is your own decision." He told him in a quieter voice, before progressing back through the class, leaving Peyton and his friends to stew. With any luck the other Ravenclaws would enlist peer pressure to keep the young man in line.

"Be sure to ensure the two wand movements exactly coincide with your words. A lack of synchronicity will produce unreliable outcomes." He passed a student clutching a book before putting it back down on her desk, and suspected she may have been having this trouble. A Slytherin counterpart had achieved growth from a ring, but rather than fluid motion, it had been achieved in a rather stop-start fashion.
"Smooth progression comes with practise." He informed the Slytherin, his tone verging on praise, unaware Regina's pencil case had just sailed out of the window behind him, turning back, he only saw the aftermath of confused expressions, and presumed it was over the task in hand.

In the next few minutes, a variety of books, rings, quills and hats had grown and shrunk before the students with varying degrees of success. The fifth years were focusing. With all the items returned to their correct state, the lesson continued.
"Now that you have basic experience in a combination spell rather than a specific curse, it is time to try. Knowing the power and force that a spell gives out will better prepare you to defend yourselves from it. The seven shield spells, contego, aegis, servo, patrocinor, assero, munio and protego and their derivatives for instance protego totalum more commonly used to provide a static, shield about a place, each have their inherent weaknesses and drawbacks to casting." Walking to the front again, he turned.

"The spells cast today are of course most forbidden to be cast on others, and not to be cast outside this classroom and at my bidding." The corner of his mouth twitched.
"This shall be taken in turns, please stand so that the desks can move out of our way." With a wide wand pattern, the desks skittered off to either side again, allowing Ignan to gather the students at the back, and bring forth a life-size dressmaker's dummy dressed in tatty robes.

He thought nothing of teaching in this way at Durmstrangs, where they still felt that the teaching of the basics of dark magic were acceptable. However, he had not reckoned for the fact the students of Hogwarts had been concentrating solely on defending from these spells, and not experiencing cursing anyone further than childish pranks. The difference in teaching was no doubt alarming to some of the students.

"Observe very carefully." He instructed the fifth years, in a gruff voice, raising his wand, and putting a foot slightly forwards for balance, as the curse would push you backwards if you were not ready for it.
"Aduro intorqueo!" He cast, wand movements precise.

Across the room, the dummy burst into flames and a horrible creaking sound came as the body began to twist, the bottom in one direction, and the top in the other.
"Finite incantatem." He uttered, once the effect of the combination had been realised by the students. With a crackle, the fire vanished, and the charred dummy returned to its normal proportions, before the damage faded, and it returned to its original state.

"First?" He requested, indicating where he had stood with a curt gesture.

-- Uniform. --

Beatrix Dark watched the new Professor speak, seemingly interested. She sat in the front of the class, which always meant a student was eager to learn, and sat upright, feet tucked under, gaze transfixed... But she could care less about what he was spewing out of his mouth. She hadn't been too focused on her schoolwork those days... Her being in her sweet sixteen meant, sadly, that she was melodramatic and believed everything was awful in her life. She couldn't think of anything other than those bad things... She was living, passing school with flying colors, had a lovely boy that was oh-so romantique, had a father that was free and loved her...

Being a teenager was harder than being an adult. So. Much. Harder. Well, to Beatrix at least. Once she became adult, her hormones adjusted but her life still ahead of her, she'll understand how ridiculous she was acting those days.

Professor Storm let them practice a few easy spells and she quickly came out of her daze. She glanced around the room, letting her eyes linger on important people (Tawse, Mystique, Megan) before she turned back around and pulled her DADA book out of her bag. She would use it for her practicing... Just to show she had no real imagination when she was depressed and whiny. Bea pulled out her wand and sighed. Might as well make it look like she cared... "Affligo Curto," Beatrix said, firmly. The book began shrinking with ease. Beatrix wasn't perfect with DADA, but she always did quite well. She just had a bit of trouble memorizing spells all the time, but once she put her mind to it she could get past that obstacle.

"Desino," Beatrix quickly said as the book shrank to the size of her hand and abruptly stopped. How cute! A pocket DADA book! She'd never forget a spell again! She smiled to herself, proud that she was doing so well, and continued. "Auctus Prolato," she was still firm and was actually enjoying herself with this. She smugly flicked a lock of pink hair over her shoulder and looked back at the rest of the class, seeing if anyone noticed her success. She felt like herself for a moment... Like everything could be okay.

But then her eyes landed on Erin Harper and her stomach twisted. He was being all sulky and mysterious and being Erin in general. She bit her lip and didn't exactly stop herself from staring. Of course she couldn't forget about anything that happened between the two... And always be quite memorized... Haunted by the boy. But Beatrix couldn't exactly say she didn't ever want to see him again...

It was like saying she never wanted to see a kitten again. Beatrix's girly mind didn't work that way. She couldn't just abandon her brain, after all.

She began to hear creaking and she could swear it was her insides getting ready to burst... But no... It was coming from... Beatrix's head snapped away from the adorable boy and she watched as her book grew large, knocking her bag off the desk, and the desk itself nearly screaming from the weight of it all. "SHIVER ME TIMBERS!" Beatrix squealed and stood up, pointing a shaking wand at the book. How did she let herself get distracted!? "Ah- Ah-- Oh!" She nearly forgot the spell, but thankfully remembered just before the book was about to topple the desk over. "Finite Incantat-- ium?!" Wrong! The book fell over and continued to grow.

"Ohhhh!" She bounced up and down, trying to think, "Finite Incantatem!" She shouted and, thank Cthulhu, the book went back to normal. It laid on the floor next to the toppled desk and her cute bag. "Holy moley, that was close..." She muttered, even more depressed than she was before. Beatrix went stiff and turned towards Professor Storm, expecting a detention, or points deduction, or at least a scolding... It wasn't often Beatrix screwed up like that. It wasn't often she would wait for her punishment, either. If she was feeling herself, she'd be long gone by now.

Xavier rose to his feet when he heard Peyton's outburst dismissing the fact that his book had been returned to it's original state completely unharmed thanks to Professor Storm. He was ready to wring his scrawny little neck. He had been butting heads with Wentworth since they first got on the Hogwarts Express their first year. Xavier had made quite the impression showing up to the Welcoming Feast with a black eye and a bloody nose although in his opinion Wentworth had been worse off. If he remembered correctly he had been able to knock one of the pretty boys teeth out. He couldn't even remember what the fight had been about but they had been at each others throats ever since.

Xavier had even taken a step forward ready to leap over his desk to knock Wentworth's teeth in all over again but was stopped when Storm addressed the Ravenclaw instead, "Then you will be pleased to have lost five points from Ravenclaw for your interference. Whether you keep your wand to yourself for the rest of the lesson will influence my decision on whether to deduct further points and instigate a full detention, though it appears you'd relish the opportunity to attract attention from anyone, clearly desperate." Xavier didn't bother holding back a laugh. Not only had Storm called Peyton cowardly he had now taken away points and called him a useless desperate attention whore. Xavier definitely liked this guy.

Feeling that Wentworth had been sufficiently taken care of Xavier stepped back as the desks were pushed out of the way and gathered around with the rest of the students. He clapped as the Professor gave off an impressive display and when volunteers were called upon Xavier was the first to rush to the front. Making sure his new favourite Professor was successfully out of the way and with a glance over his shoulder to make sure Wentworth didn't have his wand pointed at his back Xavier focused on the dummy. He planted his right foot forward as the Professor had and flung out his wand, "Aduro intorqueo!"

As the dummy burst into flames with it's wireworks beginning to twist in a horrible display of what could have been pain Xavier watched with a flash in his cool grey eyes and a slight smirk on his lips. He watched for a little bit longer than he probably should have before swishing his wand once more, "Finite incantatem." With a slight groan the dummy return to it's regular state supposedly unharmed. He turned to the crowd of students and sent Peyton a smug look, let's see Wentworth bet that.