After today, Professor Storm was looking forward to finishing with the Third Years (usually not a hassle). There was an Ogden's firewhiskey with his name on - only he recalled, it would probably be long delayed by the detention he'd issued at lunchtime to three of the seventh year students. Still, that would prove mildly entertaining at the very least.

Third years were in limbo between being incapable idiots (first years) and arrogant idiots (fifth years). Still a little unsure of their capabilities and also discovering they were individuals more than an entity as a class.

Their homework had been to summarise different charms and methods for masking the sound of feet on the ground. It had been a delightfully challenging task, which had involved lateral thinking. Some had been incredibly narrow-minded, and a few of the best (who had achieved house points for merit) had gone into great depth on the best methods for different ground types and conditions. Either thieves or aurors in training - only they would decide.

Today, they would practically test out themselves.

The room was set out without the desks. A ring of chairs slightly spaced apart far enough for someone to pass between them, faced inwards, with a single chair in the center.

"A volunteer." He asked, enjoying the cautious looks that followed. The student elected came forwards and Ignan motioned for them to sit in the chair, before blindfolding them.

"Use your spell to cast lumos in the direction of any sound you hear which you believe may be your attacker, which will be one of your classmates. If correct in your direction, you succeed. If wrong, your pursuer may continue until they have walked once round the circle, and then approached you to place their wand tip to your temple. Easy enough."

Then, looking for a volunteer from the rest of the group, the game began.

After being off for the holidays, it felt odd being back in classes for long days at a time. Well, that was how Chris felt about being in class. During the holiday, he could just lounge around and not worry about how he performed in his classes. But, now, with Hogwarts back in session, he had to care now, especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts! Professor Storm gave them all theoretic and practical work. The theoretics didn't bother him that much, and he usually excelled there. However, the practical magic was where he was his weakest. Which meant the class was essentially a toss up for him, meaning that his marks were all over the place.

Sitting there in Professor Storm's class was like a disaster waiting to happen. Chris sat there at first as Professor Storm asked for a volunteer to sit in the center of the room. His wand was in his hand, and he was figeting nervously with it. Certainly the Professor had to be joking right? Would he really have a student sit in the middle of the room? To do what, ridicule them? Professor Storm seemed like the type that would do that too.

Chris allowed his gaze to take in the rest of the class, trying to judge if anyone else was going to volunteer. With a sigh, he raised his hand, and stood up, thinking that it would be best to be first, so he wouldn't have to sit in agony for too long. He sat down on the center chair, and looked around at his classmates. Immediately, a blindfold was placed around his eyes, so he couldn't see. 'Oh great, a mocking ritual!' he thought to himself.

When Professor Storm announced the directions, Chris's mood lifted a bit. 'Yes, a spell I could cast with ease!' he thought. At least he was able to use lumos, a spell that he knew by heart now. It was certainly better than masking a sound. He was slightly happy to have volunteered. All that he had to hope for now was to hopefully catch one of his fellow classmates. Holding his wand steadily in his hand, he waited for a sound.

Ayla was a new woman, or at least she'd like to think she was. With another year behind her she felt that she could go back to school without having to worry about the stupid rumors and troubles the older Slytherins had been causing for her. Spending the holidays with her cousin had given her a new respect for life beyond school. All that was left now was to enjoy what she could while she could. There was no point spending her days in Hogwarts worrying about what idiots had to say about her. As long as she liked herself and enjoyed herself there was nothing they could do to her. She liked to think she now had a new lease on life and had the time to focus on more important things, like her friends and her studies. Thankfully Ayla had been one of the students to give a more out of the box approach to the assignment Professor Storm had given them. It was a first for the little social butterfly but her father had promised her a new broom if she picked up her grades and she was determined to prove to him that she could do it.

With Chris sitting in the center of the room blindfolded she eagerly raised her hand to volunteer, another first. With her raven hair now twelve inches longer than it had been before Christmas Holidays she wondered how much she looked like Dahlia now who had always worn her hair this length. Once Storm indicated she could begin Ayla removed her five inch heels, dropping down to her natural height of five feet. If she was going to conceal her movements it would be a lot easier to do in her stockinged feet than in heels.

Ayla drew her maple wand and pointed it towards the hardwood floor of the classroom, "Imperturbatus." Casting an Imperturbable charm on the classroom floor worked in theory and Ayla was hoping it would work in practical application. If the charm placed on the door of a room made it impossible to hear what was going on on the other side why couldn't it keep any sound from being made on the floor? She then turned her wand on herself and cast a cushioning charm on both of her petite feet further reducing the chance of making any noise.

With her choice spells in place she started to slowly move toward Chris as instructed hoping not to make any sound that might have him be able to identify where she was.

And so it began.

The Professor sat back on the edge of one of the desks pushed to the side, so he could see over the heads of the students who watched and tried not to laugh. Of course, anyone who did laugh would cause Locke to consider them a threat and cast lumos at them. But no doubt they'd find keeping absolutely silent impossible in this situation and tittering would ensue.

Choosing to ask them to cast lumos was for the sake of the health of the students, and his classroom. Third years were not yet the most gifted of magicians (he looked forward to playing this game with the seventh years after an unfortunate lesson where he would have to cover theory) so magical accidents would result in such a game.

Instead, the student in the center could exercise a different sense to their eyesight - absolutely perfect for times in darkness where showing light would also compromise them to their foe, and the one around the edge could use the skills studied over the Christmas holidays instead. He hoped they'd all choose slightly different techniques - if not, he'd compromise a few just to make it interesting.

Chris sat in the chair in silence, holding on to his wand. Since his vision was impaired, well actually completely artificially gone, he could feel his other senses increasing to make up for his lack of sight. His hearing increased, thus he was able to hear the occasional whisper, giggle, or laugh from his classmates in the room. It was simply remarkable. Naturally, being blindfolded wasn't always the best thing to happen, but in this case it did increase the perceptions.

As he sat there to try to hear the a sound of his fellow student, Chris used his enhanced hearing to try to detect any footsteps. Throughout the sea of laughter, he did hear a soft muffled sound of someone walking around him. Yes, indeed the whole point of the exercise was for him to essentially 'catch' the 'intruder' that circled them in the darkness. However, jumping to every sound wouldn't help in the process, and making it obvious would be even worse. While his 'attacker' could see him in this case, as he was the only one blindfolded, a different procedure would have to be used where they both couldn't see.

So, instead of merely attacking once he heard the footsteps, Chris waited a bit until he knew he had a better shot. After all, precision was important, especially with a spell that he could cast with relative ease. Once the footsteps went to the right of him, he pointed his wand to the left, knowing full well that his classmate would see him and possibly dodge the attempt. Quickly flicking his wand back to the right to catch the person off-guard he called, "Lumos!" pointing his wand now at the sound of the footsteps.

Ayla's plan was working. Most of her movements were muffled but still not completely silenced. At least she wasn't being bounced or repelled off the floor like she had feared. She had been taking it slow as she circled Chris doing everything she could not to snicker along with her friends. She was shuffling along with her muffled feet moving along Chris' side keeping on eye him for any sign of him hearing her movements.

As Chris drew his wand and aimed it in her direction she quickly dodged it only to be caught dead on with a bright spotlight from Chris' wand, "Dammit!" Ayla jumped on the spot causing her cushioned feet to slide out from under her and plop her on her butt. With a humph and a rosey colour to her cheeks she looked to Chris, "How'd you know where I was?"

Sitting there in the chair with his wand pointed at what he thought was his classmate, Chris hoped that he hit his target. After all, the whole exercise appeared to be a lesson in public humiliation. Seriously, how many of their Professors would actually do such a trivial activity? Nonetheless, he hoped that he succeeded, despite the occasional snicker he heard from his classmates.

After his spell was cast, Chris did hear the snickering slow, and eventually stop. Combine that with Ayla's reaction, he could tell that he guessed correctly. Thankfully it was with a spell as easy as lumos. Otherwise, he probably would've failed. He didn't want to have to do it again with a much harder spell, so he slipped off the blindfold and stood up. "I heard you walking, and attempted to guess what you might do," he responded to Ayla.