Saturday | 8pm  | Common Room

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Charms wasn't Tynan's worst subject - Astronomy was definetly that. But it wasn't his best either. Admittedly, he wasn't sure what his best subject was - Potions, maybe. He certainly listened to that professor all right. He wasn't sure why, really. But for some reason it was much more interesting to listen to Vaillancourt than to any of the other professors.

Still, reviewing his known spells for this new Charm's professor's class was proving to be more difficult than he'd like to admit. It wasn't that the spells didn't do anything, but they did things...wrong. And not all of them. He couldn't unlock the trunk he'd been practicing Alohamora on, the book for Wingardim Leviosa shot sideways; but Lumos worked just fine.

It was annoying.

He'd dragged himself down to the relatively quiet Common Room and set up in a far corner. He had to walk off and retrieve his book of Charms every now and then; he was starting to think maybe using something other than his textbook as a levitation aid might be a good idea.

Glaring at the book, he raised his wand again and put as much will into it as he could. "Wingardim Levisae," he snapped, and the book lifted into the air - and then shot off across the room again.

Hannah was also attempting to work on her Charms homework. She sat in a chair with her notes all spread out in front of her, but instead of studying she had her feet propped up on the table (very bad manners - her mum would've killed her) and her head tilted back. Wispy hair fell in waves  down the back of her chair as she gazed up at the ceiling and daydreamed about how sweet her pink little dove had been in Charms the other day.

Hannah wanted a pet like anything. Erin had one, he'd gotten a kitten, and Landis had his owl, but Hannah wasn't allowed. She was apparently too young, or she could borrow one of her brothers' if she wanted to write letters home - she "wouldn't know how to take care of it," she'd "lose it." Shows what her mum knew. Her dad, too. For a girl who'd grown up being spoiled rotten, this was both highly unusual and highly upsetting, and utterly, utterly unfair.

It was while lost in these thoughts that a Charms book at high velocity zoomed past her nose. Jarred out of her daydreams, Hannah jumped like she'd been shot. Hurriedly she tried to sit up, but slowly, slowly, she could feel herself tipping; overbalanced, her chair fell backwards with a whump. She hit the ground in a flurry of blonde hair and a yelp that quickly turned into muttering of some really unladylike words.

The yelp and thud shot guilt through him, especially when he realized who it was he'd nearly hit. Tynan flushed in annoyance and embarrassment and stood up, brushing himself off and straightening his clothes.  Emerging from his corner, Tynan strode over to Hannah's fallen form, frowning. "Sairy, Hannah. You alright?" he asked, holding a hand out to her. "You've got quite a mouth on you, lass," he added as she cursed. "Couldna make me mither go all soor-faced on ye."

His book had lodged itself near the fireplace; he glared at it for a moment. "Sairy again. I cannae get a handle on these spells, for some reason."

Hannah pushed herself upright irritably, glancing around both for the perpetrator of the dastardly flying Charms book, and to make sure that no one had seen her. Some older years over by the fireplace were snickering (she glared at them briefly as her eyes traversed the room), but the Magic Snap game at a table had its players all distracted, and the couple in the corner were completely absorbed in eating each other's faces. So no one had really noticed, no one except for - oh. Tynan.

Well... drat. That's not who she wanted to witness her little accident at all. Hannah's mouth twisted in a sulky little frown, an expression that disappeared by the time Tynan had reached her and was extending his hand. She took it silently, but gave him a wavery smile.

"My mum too," she said lightly, as she stood and picked up her chair. "Don't tell." But he apologized again, glaring at the escapee book now all the way across the room, and realization dawned for Hannah. "Oh, you were the one with the book?" she said in disbelief. "Do you - " A hint of laughter in her tone - "Do you want some help?"

Tynan flushed slightly, looking embarrassed. On top of everything else, she was laughing at him - well not laughing, persay, but sounding like she was thinking about it.

"Ye-yeah. That was me," he admitted, having learned from years as the youngest kid it was best to be honest about some things like this. "Cannae seem tae get a hang of some of these..these Charms." He rubbed the back of his head and sighed, retrieving the book and looking sheepish - well, as sheepish as he was able to manage with his scarred face.

It wasn't that Tynan was opposed to getting help - just that, well...he wasn't bad at wand work. He shouldn't need help. But... oh, bother.

"If ye wouldn't mind," he said finally, clutching his book to his chest before he remembered himself and tucked it under his arm.

Tynan flushed, and Hannah hurriedly bit her lip. She'd forgotten boys didn't like to be laughed at - even if it was funny. It was sort of nice to see Tynan flush, though. Even with the scarring it was definitely... cute. She was more used to scowls.

"Oh, I can definitely help. I'm good at Charms," she assured him and, "...Well. Good enough. I'm supposed to be doing my homework now, too." Turning away from him, she swept all her notes into pile, clearing up table space. Chattering idly she went on: "I made my dove pink the other day, did you see? I couldn't make it go all multi-colored like the professor wanted, but I though that was okay. It would be so lovely to be able to make other things change colors, too, because then - um - " Tynan probably didn't want to hear about the wardrobe potentials of such a spell. Hannah changed track. "Nevermind. Here, I made a space. Maybe you should put that book down before it escapes again."

"If ye wouldn't mind."

Her smile was a small, warm slip of a thing. "I wouldn't mind."

Tynan nodded gratefully as she agreed to help him out and was hurriedly gathering his things as she chattered, nodding occasionally to show he was listening.

"I turned mine reid," he said, looking up as she mentioned the birds. "Couldna get it tae turn two colours, though..it got all...blotchy instead," he added regretfully. "Tha's another spell tha's nae working right."

He put his things - mostly books - on the table, slightly out of the way of Hannah's supplies.

"Ye aren't...havin' trouble with any of your classes, are ye?" he asked, feeling a tad guilty he wasn't likely to be able to help her in return.

Hannah frowned in sympathy, gave a quick shrug to match. "Yeah, it's hard. I've tried the spell on other things - it's easier to make things multi-colored that already are, for me. You should try practicing on something Gryffindor-striped. It's like - " Her nose wrinkled. "It's like if you can already see it, the places where the color is different, it's not as hard to change. Especially if you go one stripe at a time. Then you can work your way up."

Hannah hadn't managed to 'work her way up' any further than that, but it was still better than she'd done in class. Maybe if thinking of things that way helped her, it'd help Tynan too.

"We can practice the spells together. That way we can watch each other to make sure we're not doing anything wrong."

"Ye aren't...havin' trouble with any of your classes, are ye?"

Hannah was a smart girl, and did well in most of her classes from a combination of hard work and natural aptitude. But she recognized the importance of not coming off as a goody-goody, as well as the nonspoken fair trade agreement of a study session, and hastened to think of her less successful classes.

"I'm not very good at Herbology," she admitted, after a moment of thought. She didn't care much for plants, and more importantly didn't like getting dirty, but she hurried on before Tynan could ask her further and discover how girly a reason that actually was. "Nor Astronomy. But I'm getting better at that."

Tynan nodded glumly, looking through his things before he shrugged and pulled out his striped scarf, putting it on the table between the two of them.  "Something like that?" he asked, then instantly felt a little silly, since she'd just said she meant something exactly like that, down to the Gryffindor colors. "Aye," he said, aware his uncertainly probably was audible in his tone.

He pulled his wand back out quickly, grunting when she mentioned Herbology. "Dunno if I can help ye with that," he said. "I know herbs but not what Bombay seem tae teach..." Which annoyed him greatly. He should know this stuff - but all the herbs they covered weren't the kind his mother had grown and used.  As for Astronomy...hah.

"Right. Spells," he said, realizing he was getting mentally off-track. "What was the incantation again? Abeo Umbrae, right?"

"That's perfect," she said encouragingly, already getting into her tutoring role as Tynan laid the scarf on the table between them. And, cautiously, "Herbs like... in tea and cooking and stuff?"

"What was the incantation again? Abeo Umbrae, right?"

Immediately, Hannah saw the problem.

"Ah," she said, bizarrely embarrassed. "Um. Well, I know why it's not working...." She shuffled closer, tapped the scarf with her wand. "Abeo Umbra!" she said tartly, and the scarf obediently turned a startling neon pink and green. Her pronunciation was crisp, round Welsh vowels whipped into shape per the professor's instructions ... and completely different from Tynan's.

Unlike her confident casting, the look she sent Tynan over her shoulder was uncertain, almost apologetic. "Do you see?"

"Some 'o those, yes," he said. "Mostly herbs for healin' and remedies - gottae make them with her back home," he said, and had a moment's pang of homesickness; everything was simple there. He was coming to like Hogwarts - but it wasn't home, not yet.

Tynan listened as Hannah demonstrated, nodding; a dark scowl found its way across his features as he realized the issue along with Hannah. He said something in Gaelic under his breath; given his tone, it was fairly obvious what it meant. Rubbing the side of his head, he looked at Hannah.

"Pronunciation," he said. "'ell. That's what I'm worst at, accordin' tae everyone..." He looked at the scarf as if it was its fault (and part of him thought it might be).

"Abeo Umbra," he tried, his vowels a bit off, and the scarf twitched; changing color just slightly, the pink becoming slightly red.

Hannah did look sympathetic.

"You can get it," she said, tucking her wand back into a pocket. "You're just going to have to work harder than everyone else, I'm afraid." She pulled out a chair from the table and sat, swinging one leg and watching as the scarf flushed a faint red. She tried to remember exactly how the professor had said it, forming the syllables silently with her lips before turning back to him. "Look, it's... ah-bee-o um-bra. Come on, say it after me." She smiled at him, to soften her somewhat bossy tone.

Tynan grunted - he was used to hard work. Just the physical kind, normally; academic hard work...he'd been doing that all year.

"Right..." He listened to her say the spell, lips moving to make the sounds along with her; his one good eye was wide as he worked to make to make sense in his head. "Dinnae help he's got that silly accent," he said after a moment, referring to Kirchlehner. "Throws me off."

Clearing his throat, he tried to make sure he had it right. "So it's...Ah, bee like boy, o, um, and bra, like those things Mum wears, right?" he said, without a hint of humor to his tone or face.