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Note: This is right after the 1st year lesson.

The bird feathers were at last gone; at least not all of them were white, though there had been rather more white feather than he'd hoped for. Ah, well. He'd beat education into the 1st years until it stuck.

Georg sighed, the smoke from his pipe drifting upwards as he blew a smoke ring, his wand in his other hand and pointed up at the ceiling. At least he hadn't had to clean the room himself - thank Merlin for house-elves.  He didn't know how he'd got on without them. They'd even found the padding for him, bless their little hearts.

He was busy carefully placing the padding around the front of the classroom, lifting the last of it upwards with his wand  to form a hollow globe of the stuff that was quite large, but was leaving the far end of the room open and untouched.  He cursed under his breath as  voices echoed up the hallways and around the door. Damn - they really needed to give him a longer break, or he needed to streamline this process. Either way, the students were a bit too early.

In the center of the circular shell of padding floated a simple blue ball of glass, about a foot in diameter. He'd left a few pieces of padding laying flat on the floor to form a door of sorts into the front of the classroom.

The last piece of padding sailed upwards towards the ceiling and he hoped it would do. The gaps on the floor and wall could be dealt with with a cushioning charm, of course.  At least the 3rd year class was small, which was good. He snuffed out his pipe as the students filtered in, putting it away on the podium.

"Put your things at the far end of the room, students. Bring only your wands and assemble in front of the podium," he said, absently fixing the ends of his mustache. "I would also recommend removing any high heels, as you may have difficultly on the padding - and please tie any long hair back, ladies, and remove your hats. This lesson will be somewhat physically active."

With the small group moving to comply, he headed to the podium and put his walking stick, pipe and coat in a box which he quickly affixed to the floor with an Expoximise.

"Now then," he said, turning to them and looking the small group up and down. "As I'm sure you're aware, your Charms Professor has chosen to leave you. I am his replacement - Professor Kirchlehner. I hope the interesting lesson you had with Ig - with Professor Storm yesterday has not unduly distracted you. I've heard good things about you as a class; I expect to see you live up to your professor's praise."

He looked up at the floating ball. "We will be practicing two charms today; the Ascent Charm and the Descent Charm. Tell me, have any of you used these Charms before?"

Charms... Ugh. It wasn't that Winnie hated the professor, or the class, or what she was supposed to learn- that wasn't the problem. The problem was that Winifred had questionable magical skill at best- and at worst, she exploded things left and right. And people always looked at her wand like something was wrong with it. Just because it was short and bent and had a weird core didn't mean it was any less of a wand!

She shuffled her feet as she came into the classroom, slightly taken aback at the sight of a new professor (especially since he was smoking in the classroom). Then Winifred noticed all of the... padding. She wondered what had had happened to Fleetfoot.. Grabbing her wand, she dumped her bag where instructed and filtered up closer to the podium. Winifred nudged the person beside of her. "Who's that?" she asked- in a very loud whisper. "I've never seen him before."

When he mentioned the day before, Winifred's stomach churned. Her class with him had been awful. "Professor Storm tried to kill me yesterday you know," she added to the person next to her. "When we apparated, he hit me in the head, s'why I passed out," she asserted. At least, that was the story she was telling people at this point. Winnie didn't really think that they believed her- but it was stirring up some interest, and it gained her attention- and the Hufflepuff girl definitely liked attention.

Niko grinned widely as he glanced around the classroom, eyes taking in everything around him. Distractedly he dumped his bag where indicated and walked over to where Winnie was standing.

"Professor Storm tried to kill me yesterday you know. When we apparated, he hit me in the head, s'why I passed out,"

Nikolas smiled consolingly at Winnie, patting her lightly on the shoulder. "I was there Winnie, I saw." It wasn't that he actually believed her about Storm, but if it made her feel better about yesterday then he wasn't going to argue with her. "But you made it through alright, so that's something."

"We will be practicing two charms today; the Ascent Charm and the Descent Charm. Tell me, have any of you used these Charms before?"

Turning his attention back to their new teacher he raised his hand, Might as well bite the bullet and go first. "I haven't  used either spell, Professor." Nikolas quickly glanced around at the rest of the class. He doubted he was the only one who hadn't  but still, better to potentially look foolish now, then lie and look like a complete moron later when it became obvious that you had no idea what you're doing.

Ayla pouted as she entered the Charms classroom. Yet another new Professor and this one was old too. She actually really liked Charms, it was one of the few classes that she was actually really good at. Charms were her specialty, she supposed that made up for the fact that she couldn't do much else with her wand. However Charms class had been much better when Fleetfoot was teaching if only for the fact that he was a rather good looking man. He was no Isaac Frasier, no sir, but he was definitely a lot better than this old coot.

She glanced around at the padding her green gold eyes focusing in on the floating glass ball. As they were instructed to tie back their hair Ayla got to braiding her long raven locks as she listened to rest of the instructions for the day. She was vaguely familiar with the charms, she had seen her father perform them once or twice.

With her fingers delicately twirling her hair into a neat braid she spoke up, "I've never done them myself but I saw my dad do descendio last year. We don't know how she did it but my sister got angry and something about young kids not being able to control their magic, anyway she got stuck on the ceiling and my dad had to get her down."

"Hm. Very well; let us hope this is informative to all of you then," he said, stroking his mustache for a moment. "Right - stand inside the circle, please, all of you. Quickly."

He strode to the center of the large bubble of padding, standing underneath the glass ball as he waited for them all to gather in a loose crowd. When all of the students were inside, he flicked his wand and the final piece of padding levitated into place, effectively sealing them inside the enclosure.

"Now. We will first begin by practicing the spells in question," he said, his own wand at the ready.

"The first is Ascendio. The wand movement is quite simple for both of these spells; as Ascendio lifts you, we point our wands upwards, like so-" he raised his hand, wand pointed straight at the ceiling. "Once in this position, speak the name of the spell, as on the last syllable, flick your wand slightly. Descendio is the same, in reverse; for this, we point our wands downwards. Again, flick your wand on the last syllable."

He looked at them all critically. "To reduce the change of injury with these spells, we'll be in a weightless environment. Be careful as this takes hold - it can cause nausea for a few seconds-" He pointed his wand directly at the glass ball. "Recolligo Summissus Gens!" He boomed, and the glass ball started glowing blue. The air around all of them rippled blue and nothing seemed to happen, save a sudden feeling of disorientation; however, when Georg jumped suddenly, he floated gently upwards, placing a hand on the orb to steady himself and stop in midair.

"Right; give the spells a try. Don't put too much power into them at first, and mind your classmates."

Winifred groaned loudly after the professor explained today's lesson. Why on earth they would ever need to lift themselves up and down like that was beyond her- and this whole non-gravity thing was really dumb too. Winifred felt her stomach lurch whenever he cast the spell. She looked to Ayla and made a fake gagging sound before repeating the spell to herself a couple of times.

Professor Kirchlehner just didn't understand how temperamental her wand was, or he would just excuse her from the lesson. At least he had thought of the padding- that might protect her. Unless...

Winnie looked up at the professor. "Excuse me, Professor Kirchlehner- but are these mats flammable?" she asked. It was very important information to have. The Hufflepuff's wand was far more inclined to set things on fire or blow them up than it was to actually cooperate with whatever spell she was currently trying to cast.

"No, Olivier, they are not." Wouldn't have lasted as dueling mats if they were, admittedly. "Though I doubt fire will be a concern here - unless you are particularly bad at pronunciation." It was possible to say Incedio instead of Ascendio, he supposed; he just hoped she wouldn't. "However - do be careful - your classmates are not inflammable,"  he felt this needed pointing out, given her tone of voice. Holding himself steady with one hand on the glass ball, he cocked his head to the side.

"Enough dilly-dallying, Oliver - get to practicing."

"I wasn't dawdling," Winnie informed the professor. "It was a very valid question. Sometimes my wand... doesn't do the things it is supposed to do. That's why I was asking." Really- did he have to be so contrary? It wasn't like she was trying to cause trouble. Winifred just didn't want to set the entire globe on fire and put the lives of herself and her classmates in danger because of it. Since when was being considerate against the rules? Harumph!

She resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at him, and instead gave her wand a few practice movements. She made sure to follow his directions exactly- holding it up, mouthing the spell, and flicking at the last syllable.

The Hufflepuff girl cast a furtive glance at her classmates and took a deep breath. She pointed her wand upward, "Ascendio!" she called out, flicking her wand on the last syllable- but naturally Winifred Leigh Oliver did not rise up into the air. Instead, she was shot backward, slamming against the mats with a loud yell, and falling onto the ground.

(I  hope it's okay, bu to my post. It's not that Ivie is late I just like making an interesting post)

Holding her Charms book to her chest, ivory walked into the classroom, not really uttering a word to anyone for she was more focused on was was in the middle of the room. She was now curious as to what they would be learning today, however when the new Professor spoke to the other girls, Ivie couldn't help but smirk. Unlike most girls her age she wasn't very fond of high heels, given the accidents and twisted ankles they could lead to, not to mention death if one was to trip in them while on the stairs. She stuck to either flat bottom shoes like Sneakers, or to boot like footwear that would give her at least two extra inches in the heel. Today she had thankfully opted to wearing her black tennis shoes with Ravenclaw blue shoelaces, so she wouldn't have to be removing her shoes like the other girls would most likely be having to do. Ivory sat her things down at her usual desk, and then removed her wand from the holder she had strapped to a little leather belt that was worn around her waist yet until her school sweater. Moving closer to where they would be doing their lesson for the day, Ivie listened with great interest, and when she heard the spells they were to be working on her face lit up. Oh this would hopefully be fun to do, just so long as no one got stupid and tried to toss the sphere at someone.

Ivory was near the young girl who everyone seemed to either call her Freddie or Winnie, while the professors of course addressed her as Oliver. She managed to hear what the Hufflepuff was saying about the day before and Professor Storm. Ivie softly chuckled, causing a left sided smirk to appear on her face. She as had many of the other 3rd years had seen what happen, and many had most likely guessed at what had happen to the girl. However many, including Ivory would just smile and nod or ignore the girl. It was better then trying to argue with her and that would most likely be like poking a stick into a hornet's nest or worse.

When the Professor asked about the spells, Ivory listened to those that admitted the truth and smiled softly. At least there were some honest people among the school. She had seen both her parents and her brother use the spells a few times, not to mention others in her family that could do magic. So she had seen the spells in work but as for the practition of them by her own hand, lips and wand. That would be a definitely big no. So she was looking forward to getting to finally learn how to execute the spells. She felt her fingers already itching and her brain in bliss at the knowledge it was about to receive.

When Professor Kirchlehner, wow talk about a mouthful, told then they would be in a weightless environment, Ivie's eyes grew larger then the largest plate among the Hogwarts's kitchen set, surely the man would see the issue that could arise from that situation. Girls in skirts in a weightless environment with teenage boys? Clearly this Professor had forgotten what it was like inside the mind of a teenage male. She was even more grateful she was wearing slacks. Once she was in a spot that would hopefully be away from Winnie's Hell Wand, Ivory began to say the pronunciation of the first and then the second spell. Using her index finger to make sure she had the movements right, She then tried to repeat them with her hand minus her wand. Ivie was a girl that would practice a million times before executing a spell, after all better safe then sorry.

However, when Winnie asked if the mats were flammable, Ivie's head shot up so fast she shoulder have gotten whiplash. Moving over a little bit more, Ivie then went back to working on the spell. Her eyes darting over to the Hufflepuff a few times. Alas before anything else happen the badger third year was thrown back into the padding. She's lucky that was there, otherwise she would have broken her back and her head. How can that be her wand if it's acting so badly? Surely its the castor and not the wand.' ivory found herself thinking but went back to her task at hand.

Ivory took in a deep breath, calmed her mind and slowed her heart rate down and then her right hand, this time with the wand inside its grasp, pointed up towards the ceiling and then the spell was said with a sure of herself tone. “Ascendio” And with that last syllable she flicked the wand, and gave a soft gasp as she felt herself rise up from the padding that served as the flooring. She wasn't up for very long but she managed to get at least some air time. As she came down the Ravenclaw felt very proud of herself. Her parents would enjoy hearing about this in her next letter.

Nikolas grinned as he watched the Professor float upwards. "Ascendio," he pointed his wand upwards and found himself rising towards the ceiling. Catching himself on the ceiling, he pointed his wand down towards the ground, "Descendio ." Zooming towards the ground he twisted around so he was going to be landing hands first. Niko used the force of his decent to launch into a front flip, spinning lazily upwards and slightly to the side.

Laughing, he sent himself shooting upwards again, narrowly missing one of his classmates on his way up. Catching hold of the ceiling he grabbed the nearest person and spun around with them. "This is great. Hey Professor," Nikolas called down to Professor Kirchlehner. "Do you think we could learn this weightless spell instead?"

"Stop playing around, Olivier," Georg said when Winnie fell over, his mustache only adding to the severity of his scowl. Silly girl - it was like her wand didn't work. You weren't supposed to take wands that didn't like you, so why had she? Unless she'd stolen it.

The other students seemed to be doing fine, however, and they got a quick smile from him for that. "Well done, Razvan!" he said as the Ravenclaw zoomed off. He swiveled around to the other side of the glass ball to let her go by and eyed the other students critically.

"Falkenrath, slow down," he snapped as he had to dodge the boy. "You're liable to hurt one of your classmates. And no, you cannot learn this charm yet," he added, glancing at the ball. "It's too high level for you at the moment. Not til 7th year - it's very difficult." He'd invented it - and it was still finicky sometimes.

Ivie felt proud of herself when the Professor complimented her on her spell work. Returning to her spot, a bit more carefully this time so as not to hit the man, Ivory smiled back at him as she passed by. "Thank you, Sir.” She was proper after all. Once in place she pointed her wand down and with the firm yet calm tone once more uttered the word “Descendio” making sure that she flicked her wand at the last syllable. She was of course grateful to be down on the padded ground again.

However her youthful mind always at work then dared to ask Professor Kirchlehner. (That might be fun to say while drunk) “Sir, forgive me for asking especially if this is later on in the lesson, but is there a way to holt the height of the person or item that the spell is cast on or do they just go rocketing off until the counter spell is used?” It was a legitimate question so the third year Claw thought.

Naomi thought it was a bit extravagant to make an entire weightless-inducing dome to practice a simple spell and the vanishing gravity that dispersed through her just made judging how powerful or weak the spell they were to practice that much more difficult. She was assumed this teacher was just too fancy for her tastes, taking some drastic safety measures,  of course she care more about the class than the teacher, and just hoped this teacher rotation Snark was putting into effect didn’t interrupt their studies or had an actual point to it.

However, as the girl pulled out her wand she realized she she should have been paying more attention to Winifred, since the Hufflepuff was standing in front of her beginning to attempt a spell. Not the safest place to be, and in the weightless environment, almost impossible to avoid.

Naomi whipped out the ascent spell, as Winifred twirled her wand and Naomi nearly dodged her, with a quick inhalation of breath, wrapping her skirt around her butt and kicking her feet up and out of Oliver’s way as the girl flew past horizontally. Leave it to her to mess up a spell.

Even though Naomi was wearing tights that conveniently censored her upper most thighs and buttocks near the top, like a pair of shorts, modesty and self-awareness was an issue for her, especially since her above average waist and butt size tended to be an annoying topic for guys like Camden to try and poke fun at her with.

Once she felt safe from the dangers of Oliver, the Slytherin’s ascent slowed right before she hit the ceiling of the dome. Naomi caught the view out of the corner of her eye. Filled with calmness and relief, Naomi cast the descent spell, which gently pulled her back to the ground. Safe. But, for good measure, she began to hop in the zero-gravity environment, casting the descent spell so she wouldn’t float out of control.  She finally stopped when she made her way over to Ivory, a much more pleasant spell-caster to be in the general vicinity of. Of course, Ivory actually asked a question Naomi also wished to know the answer to, mostly because the next time Oliver flew at her she would like to find a way a better way to stop before hitting the ceiling.

"A good question, Razvan; the answer is somewhere between a yes and a no," Georg said. "You cannot stop your ascent - or decent - at a predetermined point unless you have a different spell in effect; the freezing charm, for example." He licked off from the globe and floated in midair, looking as serious as a man in a proper waistcoat and floating can be.

"As for adjusting the power - yes, that can be done. As you should all be aware, the amount of focus, or willpower, you put behind a spell can greatly effect the outcome; that is the case here." He held his wand out and demonstrated; first by going up very slowly with Acendio, then descending very quickly with Descendio. He flipped himself over in midair so he landed on his feet.

"Like so. Try various speeds, and once you're comfortable, try attempting to judge distance as best you can; a master of these spells can put just enough power into it to reach his destination."

Winifred frowned at her professor. "I am not playing around!" she protested, picking herself up and dusting off the skirt of her uniform. Winnie adjusted her shirt and tie and tightened her pony tail. "Not everyone is good enough at charms to get it right the first try," she informed him haughtily. "As a professor you should be smart enough to realize that." Talking back to professors wasn't typical of Winifred, but really, how could he expect everybody to get it right the first time? They weren't all Ravenclaws after all.

But she tried not to get too discouraged. Winifred raised her wand in the air and tried it again. And this time- instead of getting thrown backward- ... nothing happened. Well, she supposed, that at least was better than getting thrown backward and hurting yourself. (Perhaps her shaken confidence had made her wand stop working again? Who knew.)

Winnie sidled over to Nikolas and prodded him gently. "Hey Nikolas- how'd you manage that? What am I doing wrong?" Because she would much rather ask a classmate who hopefully wouldn't make fun of her the way that the professor had done. Winifred couldn't help she was bad at magic- maybe Professor Kirchlehner would realize that eventually. She could hope.