---

This job was turning out to be as he had both dreaded and hoped; relatively fast paced, full of promising students and above all, not boring. Oh yes. An exciting first day on Friday, for sure - and many more to come, it seemed.

Especially if Ignan kept up his record of success. Hah.

Georg paced the classroom as the clock ticked, his walking stick clicking on the wooden floor and occasionally muffling as he hit the currently padded portion on the room's floor. He'd moved most of his luggage into the room over the weekend, and the room was now filled again; not with books, but with his collection of Curiosities.

Strange artifacts lined the walls and upper level - above the studet's row of desks sat weapons, some magical and many otherwise. Banners, jars fill with heads and animals, mummies in glass cases - with the scrolls and nick-nacks rounding it out, most of his collection had made its way into the room. On the wall largely dominated by the massive windows, he'd put the animal heads - lions, hyenas, tigers, bears, yetis, dragons and just about anything that looked impressive when mounted had wound up in his collection at somepoint. His favorite was the moose, but that was just because he'd hung it low to use as a hatstand. His black top hat currently hung off one of the antlers, accompanied by his coat.

His podium at the end of the classroom was raised; while the previous professor may have been young enough to stand, Georg's age was beginning to effect him, and he'd added a chair. The windows behind him were now somewhat cleaner, but their age made it difficult to see anything past them other than light.

Really, the only thing that distracted from the piles of oddities was the padding. He'd lined the main row with it and even created walls with it, blocking the view from the desks. The black leather pads would have been familiar to any members of the dueling club, since he'd grabbed them from their supply of the things. It rather ruined the effect the room had, but oh well.

Still, he found himself liking the school so far, oddly. It certainly stood in contrast to Durmstrang; Durmstrang's modis operandi seemed to be as drab and functional as possible. Hogwarts was - dare he think it - whimsical. It was a refreshing change, though he couldn't help the feeling the place needed some new paint. Aware the students's voices were growing closer, he lit his pipe and blew a smoke ring with a sigh.

Students - the bane of the whole teaching deal. He'd heard stories about the 5th years, though they'd been subdued lately, apparently. He wondered if Ignan had had anything to do with that, but doubted it; if he remembered anything about Ignan, children were not Ignan's forte.

Not that he could talk - they weren't his either. Oh well. He snuffed his pipe and looked up, smiling briefly.

It was what was floating above the classroom that was the mot distracting item, and he was the happyiest about it. The dragon was a juvenile, but the stuffed and mounted body had been a gift, and he'd always wanted a good place to hang it, since his mother had hated it in their home and his sister hated it too, claiming it clashed with the curtains.

Women.

Students entering stopped his introspection, and he stood up with a grunt, taking his stick again and adjusting his lapel. He looked down at the rabble and spoke, his voice clear and firm. "Hello. Put your things at your seats, and keep only your wands with you. Do not carry anything breakable or precious with you, as we will be getting thrown around this lesson." His tone was firm, sticky and matter-of-fact. "I would also recommend removing any jewelery you may be wearing or any high heels."

When the crowd had more or less calmed down, he spoke again, having given them the time to dispose of such items.

"I am Professor Kirchlehner, and I understand I am not the only new face you've seen this year. Your previous professor was, I'm made to understand, a nice and friendly teacher." He dropped the metal tip of his walking stick onto the floor with a loud click. "I am not likely to be one. I have high expectations of you and will be most displeased if any of you and doing less than your best in my class." He set his lips in a thin line. "You are here to learn. You have other avenues for being social; I expect no chattering, arguing or other distractions in my classroom."

He looked over the rabble, clearly judging them one by one. "Today we will be practicing the Stunning Spell, both on each other and on objects." He looked at the padding. "You will be split into pairs and we will see how you do. Do not be afriad; any injuries you may occur in this activity can be swiftly taken care of by myself or your quialified Healer. Now then, shall we demonstrate?"

He took out his wand,  his movements smooth and quick. "The Stunning spell is one of your best lines of defense and offence if you are ever confrnted by an opponent. It is unlikely to kill your opponent but is a swift way to remove them from combat. It also works on objects, including summoned ones. Rather like so -"

Pointing his wand towards a nearby book, he levitated it into the air with a quick Wingardium leviosa. As the book hovered, he waited a moment - and then he moved his wand swiftly, flicking it upwards right as he said "Stupefy!" A red blot of light shot from his wand and the book blasted upwards, dissapearing somewhere into the high rafters, past the dragon. A slight amount of dust rained down.

"As you can see. The trick to this spell's wandwork is the slight flick as you speak the incantation." He looked at the lot of them as he carefully repeated the gesture. "The incantation is simple - Stu-pe-fy. Now, then - our lesson today will go in stages." He gestured with his wand as he spoke. "As you can see, each pair has a simple black globe waiting for them. You will first take turns to practice the spell on the globe - toss or levitate it into the air by magic, however you like - and once everyone is comfortable with the spell's basic use, we will move on its other uses."

He dropped the end of his walking stick on the floor sharply. "Right - get into your pairs and wait until my signal to do anything! If I see a single spell go off before my mark the caster will regret it!"

---

Charms had always been one of Callum's favorite classes. He enjoyed it- because he was good with his wand, and it was a way to show off. Showing off meant that more people would be less likely to think he was a complete buffoon, and it would also allow him to- hopefully at least- gain some more house points. They were only eighty behind Ravenclaw at the moment, and even though Callum wasn't sure they could win- he could damn well try. There was, after all, half the year left- and a lot of things could happen in the span of half of a year.

He had heard that there was a new charms professor- and Callum could only hope he was more competent than some of the recent new-hires (most notably Trishna and Austerlitz). Callum had heard mixed reviews about the man, and eventually decided that he would save the judgment to be made himself.

Callum found an empty desk against the wall closest to the door and set his stuff down on it, then studied the directions on the board as well as partner pairs. He listened as the professor spoke, giving them instruction as to what their lesson for the day was. Callum chewed his lip, unsure of what to do. His partner was a girl. And although Sophie was a Gryffindor, his distaste for partnering with her wasn't based on that.

The Slytherin raised his hand. "Excuse me, Professor," he said- in the most polite tone he could muster. "I'm afraid that I cannot work with Sophie for the whole lesson." The boy supposed stipulating that might aid his plea. "I was raised to never use my wand against a female- whether or not it is assigned, it is against my moral code." Callum knew that others would snicker- but he truly did follow a code, however screwed up it might seem to the rest of the world. "I'll not use that spell against her. She can stupefy me all class long- but I refuse to turn my wand against a girl."

Georg gave Callum a look of momentary surprise before his eyes narrowed in thought. "Very well," he said, after a pause. "If your classmates don't mind a quick shuffle of partners..." He looked at the crowd, and then at the board as he thought quickly.

"Miss Flickwick! You and Miss Branwell are now partners. Mister Amherst, team up with Mister Knight." He seemed to ignore the expression of the students and focussed on Callum again for a moment. "I've heard good things about you, Mister Knight - I trust you to keep to your previous standards, moral code or no."

He looked at the rest of them and scowled for a moment. "No more interruptions, please - get in your pairs and in position. Make sure there is adequate space between your pair and the next group!"

Bellatrix dragged herself into the Charms classroom after lunch in her untidy uniform, not even bothering to straighten her tie. After all, the dress code that went up that morning had severely ticked her off and she wasn't about to show any kind of respect for it; her natural reaction was to rebel against it!  She came to an abrupt halt at the sudden change of scenery in the classroom and gaped in mild surprise at all of the new decorations. Some people might find it intimidating, others appalled or intrigued, but Bellatrix found it quite off-putting. She didn't particularly care for the hunting of animals and after the loss of Duke... Well, she'd had him since her first year. Could she have really expected him to last much longer? His diet had only included Fudge Flies and not normal insects; to this day, she wondered how he managed to live so long with that kind of chocoholic appetite.

Shrugging off her bag as she was instructed, Bellatrix was glad to hear that this would also be a straight-forward practical class and from the look on the board, this new teacher (whom she'd heard little about since she was caught up studies and avoided people as of late) was taking their O.W.L. exams as seriously as the other teachers. She was unnerved by this because the teachers were worrying her enough as it was with the constant reminder at how important these tests were to their future and he was only adding to the problem now. Regardless, a Stunning Spell would be more than useful if she could use it on that offensive caretaker! Who was he to tell her she had to dress properly?

Professor Kirch, as she would call him since she didn't speak foreign languages well, had made his instructions implicitly clear: she was allowed to use a Stunning Spell on her partner. On the globe first, obviously, but later on her partner. Bellatrix's cold, blue eyes suddenly gleamed with malice as they so often did when being allowed to perform a "harmful" spell on another human being. However, the darker Dark twin had learned her lesson months ago on not attacking innocent people and she wasn't about to resume her old habits today. No, she would instead inflict it upon someone who desperately deserved (although, that caretaker had pushed her too far earlier). When he announced that Bellatrix would be working with Beatrix, she grinned in satisfaction and stepped up to the orb.

Now, she had been moping for months and her magical talents were rusty. This she understood. She had once tried to get her old spirit back shortly before the Valentine's Day dance and because of that god-awful fiasco, she hadn't been able to so much as raise her wand. The darker Dark twin put a lot of thought into how she might be able to approach her problem. If her magic was indeed attached to her emotions and depression made her abilities disappear, then... How could she get it to come back? For a long time, Bellatrix thought about this and could not yet come to a conclusion.

Sophie was... nervous. She wasn't sure what Professors were saying about her since her fight with Storm. She wanted to make a good impression on Professor Kirchlehner (she couldn't remember if Ruby had had him yet or not; but if she had Sophie would obviously be known as the dim Flickwick). She also felt her heart jump onto her chest at the prospect of working with Knight... until he surprised her more than if Gordic had handed him his garters himself. He wouldn't practice with her? At first she expected it to be some stupid reason; that she wasn't a pure blood, or she wasn't a fit partner because she was dreadful at charms... but no his reason was; say she say; noble.

Callum confused her on the bloody whole. He was so awful to Fergie and Sasha but he didn't seem to pick on many other people - not on that level. If she hadn't ever inserted herself into that fight he might never have even done anything to her. When she let herself think about it - he was a chauvinistic pig but he didn't pick on girls or most people smaller than him. People were so confusing. She just did not even know what to do at this point. So she set down her bag, removed her jewelry and slipped off her heels. She felt completely naked at this point as she turned toward Kit and offered her a small smile; "We already know you're better at this than I am. Maybe you could give me pointers - you are, after all, one of the best duelist in the school, let alone Gryffindor".

Which one of the founders had Jordyn pissed off for this today?  It wasn’t as though her February was already horrible or anything, of course.  It just had to get even worse.  She really thought she liked charms up until she realized it was going to be like this.  Not only was the board basically telling her this was another DADA class - one they had first year, mind you, but now she had to be paired with Tawse?  Of all the rotten luck! She had watched him be practically dragged out by Aurors and now she was going to have to be with him in this class? 

Pushing herself out of her chair, she huffed and tried to find a space in the classroom, waiting for Tawse to stand across from her.  Naturally, Callum couldn’t do what he was supposed to - though today it was for better reasons than any she had heard him be a jerk about before.  Though, she felt fairly awful about Fergie.  He was going to get to be partners with Kit, which would have at least been good and skill building (she was really talented), but now he had to work with Callum, who would probably try to kill him.

She had to work with the other member of the ex-dynamically stupid duo who she was not on wonderful terms with.  At least they could master the spell in a minute, claim they were done and return to their seats where they did not have to communicate at all.  Jordyn was supremely happy with that, at least.  Now, just for Xavier to join her so they could get this done as quickly and painlessly as humanly possible.  "Let's get this going," Jordyn sighed, "the sooner the better."

Xavier had taken the time to admire the new decorations to the Charms classroom. With the amount of new hires amoungst the Hogwarts staff it no longer bugged him whenever a teacher was replaced. In fact it was becoming so common he was ready to bet which one was going to go next. He only hoped it wasn't Morrigan or Levartian, at least those Professors were hot.

Xavier scoff quietly when Callum decided to be noble. While he understood the sentiments behind it he was sure that sort of thing was going to get him killed some day. After all some of the worst death eaters had been female. He may not be able to raise his wand against a woman but Xavier didn't know any witch that would hesitate in raising a wand against Callum. It had nothing to do with him being a jerk to people or what people thought of him it was just simple self defense. If you wanted to stay alive you couldn't hold yourself back with a moral code.

Xavier crossed the room to stand in front of Jordyn. With one look he let her know that he wasn't going to be as chivalrous as his dormmate. He had already proved months ago that he had no problem hitting a woman (though he still claims she drove him to it) and one of the best duels he had ever had had been with a girl. Not to mention he was dying to wipe that smirk off of Jordyn's face. She just had to be the one to see him get in trouble with Aurors.

"Ready when ye are."

The class had started out well enough. There was a great whole wall of dead things and a dragon floating overhead, and if that wasn't promising, Erin didn't know what was. He was better at Charms than he was at, say, Astronomy, and while he'd been paired with a Gryffindor at least it hadn't been, say, Branwell, who would've kicked his arse at this stuff. He did notice that all the pairings were carefully House-divided, and it was with a faint dirisive snort that he rose out of his seat and looked around for Harcroft.

As he did he ruminated on the professor's warning. Apparently Mr. Mustache was no softie. Well, as long as he wasn't as bad as Storm, Erin really didn't much care.

Wait just a mandrake picking minute. The professor was pairing him with Callum? Kit was dangerous enough herself, but at least he knew Kit had no intention of actually killing him. Callum, on the other hand... No. Fergie wasn't just going to stand there and invite bodily harm, thank you very much.

"Um, that doesn't work for me." He informed his new professor, raising his hand to make sure he was noticed. Fergie very likely wasn't making a good impression on the man, but whatever. If he came out of this class intact it'd be worth it. "I can't partner with Callum. Last time we were taught this spell he tried to kill me. I'd like Kit back, please."

New Professor, new decorations and all new problems, none of which Peyton cared about. While he was still himself, ever since the Valentine's he felt like he was somehow different and he still wasn't sure how to deal with it. He still loved quidditch, he was still poor at studying and he was still convinced that somehow, some way Xavier was going to remember being his brother and beat the crap out of him for it but now he had a different outlook on things, at least romantic things.

Thankfully for this little exercise the new Professor had given him a girl to work with. He smiled at the pretty Slytherin Russian and took out his wand. He wasn't horrible at Charms but like most of his subjects he just had a hard time applying himself, he got too easily distracted. At least he wasn't going to get distracted by his partner. In some ways he felt that not liking girls was actually a blessing. He saw how crazy some guys got over girls and was thankful he didn't have to deal with any of that drama. Although he still had no clue what kind of drama came with liking guys.

He rubbed the back of his neck and blushed a little bit at the thought before looking at Demetria. Much like Bella she was one of the few girls that may actually notice that he had the same eyes his brother did, "I'm not too good with this stuff how bout you?"

Demitria slipped into the room with a spring in her step. It had been a good last couple of days and her internal flame was slowly turning back on. She wasn’t much in the mood to listen to a lecture, so a practical day was exactly what the spritely little Russian needed to keep her mood up. The only thing that dampened her bright outlook slightly was what Kirche-something (However you said his name) put her with Peyton. She had nothing against the boy. In fact, from what she had heard in the past five years was mostly rather pleasant. But she didn’t know if he knew that she knew that he and Xavier were brothers. It was slightly an awkward feeling and Mimi wasn’t very good at handling awkward situations.

Instead, she ignored the slight nagging in the back of her head and walked over to Peyton. She smiled brightly. “Then this’ll be interesting. I’m not the best at charms, I’m more of a strategist than anything, but I’m good enough.”

She stepped across from him, her blood red cherry wood wand already in her hand.
“Ready when you are,” she said, an eyebrow raised expectantly. Only then, she noticed how similar his eyes were to Xavier’s. Her brain went spinning. How did the oblivious Xavier not see it anymore? It was staring him right in the face.

Billie bounced into the room as usual but this time the new decorations caught her by surprise. While she was supposed to be listening to the new Professor and paying attention to what they were supposed to be doing she found herself wandering around the room looking intently at all the new bits and bobs that had been added. She stopped in front of the moose head and chuckled to herself at the sight of the hat perched ontop of it. She imagined the moose tromping around in the wild wearing a bowler hat while it was still alive. It would be the most fancy moose in the woods, all the other moose would be jealous of his hat but he didn't mind because he was a gentleman moose. One that would get all the lady moose, afterall who could resist a fancy gentleman moose?

With another chuckle she moved on from the fancy moose and her chocolate eyes travelled upwards to the juvenile dragon. She spun around on the spot trying to take in every detail of the dragon. It wasn't nearly as fancy as the moose and so it didn't keep her attention for long. By the time she had turned back to the class to see what they were up to she noticed they were in partners, ones that apparently Professor Moustache Face had chosen. She scanned the board to find her name and then moved through the cluster of students to find her partner.

She gave Bridget a smile she proabably didn't get very often from her fellow classmates, "I'm really not good with wand work so you might be doing all the work on this one, sorry mate."

Georg glanced at Fergie, scowling and letting out a curt sigh.

"Then I assure you, Mister Amherst, that if he tries that in my class Mister Knight will find I have a rather pragmatic view on punishments," he said, and looked to Callum. "Mister Knight, I have already given you another partner; I trust you will not disappoint me by killing or injuring your housemate. You've made a good impression so far, Knight; don't tarnish it on a petty fight."

He tapped his walking stick on the floor. "Right. Get to work, gentlemen. You have hesitated long enough."

His voice boomed in the room as he spoke up to address the rest of the class. "Remember - practice using it on the ball first! Practice caution - even if you know this spell already your classmates may not!"

Callum sighed at Amherst's protest. He was unsurprised- but it wasn't warranted. He had no intention of viciously attacking his housemate this time. Callum had to keep up a reputation now as a good leader to gain control of his quidditch team, and if he inteded to be prefect one day he had to decrease his negative altercations. And making a good impression on a professor who yet had reason to hate him seemed wise.

He approached Ferguson, keeping few feet between them. "I'm not going to try to kill you, Amherst," Callum told him. "I was out of line that day- and it won't happen again." At least not in class. "I'm trying to turn my reputation around, in case you haven't heard, which makes fighting with you a bad decision. Besides, I can't afford any detentions- it would interfere with quidditch."

"I'll let you go first," he said, motioning to the globe. Hopefully it would be enough of a peace offering to quell Amherst's outright disapproval of the partnership. Whether they liked it or not they had to work together- and Callum would rather work with Ferguson than he would a girl.

Xavier had entered the room, but for once she hadn't noticed. Things were going swimmingly for her since she had talked to Fir that night in the common room at 3 AM. If it wasn't obvious by the bright, vivid shades of blue streaks in her hair, then it would be obvious by the hard look of concentration she was giving the orb of her and her twin, Beatrix. Peyton had meandered in, she jerked her head up at the sight of him, waved with a smile, and returned her focus to the task at hand so that he could get his work done. If depression made her powers dwindle, couldn't rage or happiness make them come back? Bellatrix tried hard to think of something that made her implicitly happy, but she hadn't had a blissful feeling since... She angrily chucked the thought of Xavier from her mind, emitting an involuntary snarl as she did so. No more crying, no more sadness, no more depression! Anger, rage!

Then it became clear: the aggression she had once felt was the key to revitalizing her magic. When she got the hang of practical wand-work again, then she would be able to relax. What made her angry? Certainly not Xavier. She swept all of her platinum blond, black, and blue hair up into a ponytail, pointed her wand at the orb, and gave her emotions of anger her undivided attention. The dress code! Yes, that made her furious. It wasn't the code itself, it was the principle of the matter: at Hogwarts, people were trying to find ways to suppress the young...just like her mother! She wouldn't have it. She wouldn't let anyone tell her what she had to be or let them expect things from her!

"Stupefy!"

The spell burst from her wand perfectly this time, blasted the orb with red light, and made it float there for a good, long moment. Her thoughts held on the thought of their ways to express themselves being suddenly limited to nothing more than white shirts and ties. They needed color and accessories and fun! Without realizing it, the harder she thought about this and the longer the train of thought went, the spell lingered on. Her spell continued to hold the brightly glowing orb in place for almost an entire minute before she caught on to it, lost her concentration, and the orb dropped back to its place, black as ebony.

Bellatrix took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. Now all she had to do was apply that to her sister, but she wouldn't dare let the effects of what happened to the orb linger on Lil Bee. No, she'd have to exercise a certain amount of control over her emotions and thoughts so that she wouldn't hurt her twin.

"I won't do that, Lil Bee, I promise," she hastily explained.