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Something was up.

It was mostly Ignan who was triggering Georg's suspiciousness, but Tapendra was doing it as well. Georg was out of the loop on something important, and given the conversaion he and Ignan had recently had, he wasn't sure what to make of it. Good, bad? He didn't know and Ignan wasn't telling. Well, some beer might fix that. He'd just have to butter him up at the Three Broomsticks later.

Still, there was no outlet for personal annoyance than some good old student torture. Juvenile? Perhaps. But this was a Charm they needed to know. And of course, his choice of target was practical. There were plenty about, and no one cared if one caught fire. Much, anyway.

"Greetings, class!" He boomed, having snuffed out his pipe and taken his to his usual place, pacing the classroom with his arms folded behind his back, military in appearance. "You have each been issued a rat! Your job today is to use the Growth Charm to increase your rat's size. The bigger, the better! The largest may indeed recieve a prize. Now then, be careful; the incantation for this charm is somewhat similar to that of the Color-Change Charm. If I see any rats changing color, I shall dock points."

He picked up his own rat, which looked suitably nervous. "Remember, your wand work must be precise and accurate, as must your pronunciation! Watch carefully."

He rested the rat in his hand, palm up, and pointed his wand; the motion turned out to be twirl-stab motion that blasted the rat with a blue bolt of light. "Actus Amplus!"

The rat squeaked as it grew in size rapidly; he let it fall to the floor as it grew, first to the size of a dog - then to a small horse. He stopped it when its shoulderblade reached the height of his own shoulders. The rat sat there stunned, twitching its huge nose. It looked even more confused when he shrank it back down.

"I do not expect you to reach that size of rat, of course, but you should try. And remember, the twirl in the motion is to the right! One twirl, and then a jab as you speak the incantation. Actus Amplus! Begin!"

Ambrose eyed the rat he'd been given, and in turn, the rat eyed him.

To Ambrose, it had seen the size of Professor Kirchelener's rat and it wasn't so sure it trusted Ambrose, and Ambrose didn't blame it one bit.
"Before I start," Ambrose whispered to the rat, "I want to apologise. If you want to make a run for it, I won't stop you, its probably a better fate, you might not grow, but I'll try really hard not to hurt you." He held his hand flat, palm uppermost on the desk and stroked the rat gently to encourage it to climb on, and then lifted it to face height and scratched it gently behind the ears and smiled at it nervously.

"Ready?" He asked it, "I'm not, I've already forgotten what the incantation is." He let the rat climb onto his shoulder and explore the new perspective while he turned to the index of his charms book to look up the charm. As he did, the rat tickled at his ears and clung onto his school jumper and shirt collar, sniffing away.

Actus Amplus the text book reliably informed him, and showed the wand movement. Ambrose picked up his wand, rat still pattering about his shoulders and tried the wand movement, his other hand resting on the book, index finger resting on the diagram. Ok, he was going to get this right, if not for Gryffindor, and Professor Kirchelener, but the rat.

Wand movement seemingly down pat, Ambrose repeated the spell words in his head over and over, and then tried to get his tongue around it, muttering to himself. Meanwhile the rat had begun to burrow from the neck of his jumper underneath between it and his shirt, Ambrose put his wand down on his desk and fetched it out.

"Right, sit there, keep still, it'll help." He told the rat firmly, and deposited it beside his wand before picking it up.

"Actus Amf - Amplus, damn!" The rat's eyes bulged and its ear steadily grew to thrice the size and it itched at it furiously. Still, at least there weren't rat guts all over the desk...

Ayla sighed as she stared down at her rat. It was an ugly little thing, she had always preferred hamsters as a child. She didn't believe that the little rodent was in any danger, not in front of her wand anyway. She wasn't a straight O student by any means but Charms was her specialty, aside from Potions it was the one class the petite Hufflepuff actually excelled in.

She took out her maple wand and tilted her head to the side as she regarded the rat. It tilted it's own head to the side, looking up at her with black beady eyes. She had once heard that one of Voldermort's lackey's had lived many years as a rat to make everyone believe that he was dead. It made Ayla wonder if the freaky little thing on her desk was actually an animagus.

With a small shrug she let go of the thought and raised her wand. With a perfectly mimicked wand motion Ayla called, "Actus Amplus!" She smiled widely as the creature on her desk grew to the size of a rabbit, "Too bad it doesn't make him any cuter."

Nikolas ran a finger down the back of his rat, smoothing its soft gray fur. The small creature arched at his touch, clearly enjoying the attention. He smiled at Ayla's comment, "I think they're actually pretty cute. Now Naked Mole Rats, those things are truly ugly."

He stopped petting it, picking up his wand from where he had set it on his desk. The rat looked at him, seemingly disappointed. "Just a bit," he told the rat. He moved his wand in the motion shown, "Actus Amplus." He smiled down at the now larger rat, it looked to be about the size of his grandmother's rat terrier. He reached out and scratched it behind its now larger ear. It leaned into his fingers, nose twitching and eyes closed in pleasure.

Charms was a class that Baxter had yet to decide how he felt about given the new professor. Kirchlehner was capable, certainly, but he was always distrustful of any foreign professors. It seemed unnatural. And as the professor explained the topic of today's class, he couldn't help but spare a glance toward Clogg-Spleen. Baxter had a feeling it wouldn't be long before someone tried to enlarge the guy's nose. Sad, really. Clogg-Spleen wasn't that awful.

He watched as the professor enlarged a rat to epic proportions, and then watched it shrink back down. Baxter looked down at his own rat- which was staring up at him. Baxter hoped he didn't get bitten throughout the course of today's lesson. But if someone was growing and shrinking him, Baxter might have a tendency to snap as well.

Baxter watched a few of his classmates. Ambrose had trouble as per usual, Ayla's rat instantly grew to the size of a rabbit, and another managed to grow it to the size of a small dog. Baxter certainly did not want to be outdone. He was a skilled wizard in every sense of the word and in every aspect- and if a Hufflepuff and a Gryffindor could grow their rat so well- Baxter could certainly out do them.

He read through the information in his book about the spell. Then he practiced the wand motion a few times- just be sure he got it correct. Twirl to the right and jab- and the jab had to come as he spoke the incantation. Baxter stood from his seat, pushed in the chair, and then placed the rat on the floor before he began. He would much rather the rat not break a desk if he managed to grow it as large as he had hoped.

The Ravenclaw took a few very deep breaths, and then focused his mind on the task at hand. He pictured the rat slowly growing in size, larger and larger. Then he mimicked the professor's twirl and jab motion exactly, calling out the incantation. Baxter kept his eyes on his rat which began to steadily increase in size. It surpassed the size of Ayla's rat, it surpassed the size of Nikolas' rat, and it did not stop growing until it was the size of a very large dog. Then the growing slowed down and stopped completely.

He dropped his wand, and smiled broadly as he peered at his gigantic rat. "Not half bad," he said quietly to himself. "Not half bad at all!"

Winifred watched the professor, and gulped when she was quickly informed that she was also going to be transforming a rat into a gigantic rat. The Hufflepuff girl was not sure how she felt about this news, considering her poor wand work.

Her gaze shifted over toward Ambrose- one of her good friends- and she watched as he... enlarged its ear. Well, he had managed not to hurt the rat. Winifred wasn't so sure if she could ensure the same. So, naturally, the Hufflepuff raised her hand into the air.

"Professor! Do we have a not alive object I can practice on?" she asked. "Because if I killed a rat I'd feel really awful about it."

"Well done, Colins! Five points for Hufflepuff!" Georg said. "Pepper, try and get the whole rat to expand," he added to Ambrose, though part of him was impressed it had worked even slightly, and not shrunken or turned blue.

He considered denying Oliver's request for just a moment, but the girl had a good point. Georg nodded to her curtly, and strode to his podium, sending a pen over to her with a wave of his wand.

"Well done, most of you! Keep it growing until it reaches - oh, let's say, two foot at the shoulder, and then dispel the effect as we practiced last month! Oliver, try to get your pen to two feet long," he added to her. "If you can do that, then move on to your rat."

He re-lit his pipe, puffing on it as he watched the group.

"Well done, Colins! Five points for Hufflepuff!" The Professor praised and Ambrose snuck a look at Ayla's rat. "Pepper, try and get the whole rat to expand,"

"Oh.. yes Sir." Ambrose replied meekly, thinking that had been his intention, but he'd once again stumbled over the words.

"Well done, most of you! Keep it growing until it reaches - oh, let's say, two foot at the shoulder, and then dispel the effect as we practiced last month! Oliver, try to get your pen to two feet long, if you can do that, then move on to your rat."

Ambrose looked over at Freddie and the pen with envy, and the back at his rat and gave a sigh. It was still furiously itching at it. Raising his wand again he cast a spell to finish the effects, which luckily tended to work even if he stammered a little. His wand somewhat forgiving in that sense.

The rat's ear returned to normal size and it sniffed, its whiskers twitching.
"Sorry." Ambrose apologised to it. "But I've got to try again." The rat cringed, Ambrose was sure of it.

"Ahhhktoos ahhmpis." Ambrose tried and flicked his wand.

The rat didn't grow at all and Ambrose made a face, which turned wide eyed as the rat's tail grew in length, and continued to grow. It stood up on its hind legs and turned round sniffing its backside in surprise as its tail lengthened off the edge of Ambrose's desk and headed towards the floor like an enormous piece of spaghetti.

"I don't suppose I get points for tail length." Ambrose mused, peering over the edge of his desk.

Naomi skeptically eyed the rat on her desk; who on earth wanted rodents of unusual sizes? Not her. First, it seemed awkwardly complex to grow something that was alive. Second, rats weren't at the top of her list most-respected creatures list, and didn't trust them as far as she could kick, especially not really big ones. Third, she doubted that the more magically-handicapped students of the class would garner results that were anything less than dangerous and--oh well there went Ambrose, at least Oliver had the sense to not even bother. But something in the back of Naomi's head told her she should at least try, before she voiced any of her thoughts.

So the colored witch conducted her wand with the proper movements and correct incantations, resulting in a growing rat, huddling to the center of what space was left of the desk before there wasn't anymore, and one of it's legs scraped off the side and it finally jumped off. It leisurely sniffed the floor in its hulking form, but Naomi still watched it suspiciously.

Then a spaghetti strand of a tail plopped on its head and it first sniffed at it. Naomi looked towards Ambrose's rat, growing in all the wrong places again, and then back to her opened-mouth rat with a stringy tail in its mouth. Before it could close its mouth she jerked the anti-growth spell at it, deflating it back to its normal size before it clamped down its teeth on Ambrose's rat.

Naomi scrunched her face with annoyed disapproval, "I think growing somet'in wit' a tendency to chew anyt'ing isn't a gewd idea," she said firmly.

"Well done, most of you! Keep it growing until it reaches - oh, let's say, two foot at the shoulder, and then dispel the effect as we practiced last month!"

Nikolas smirked with confidance and placed the dog sized rat on the ground. He twirled his wand and spoke the spell causing the rat to begin growing again. His cocky attitude disappeared as, while the animal was growing at a steady rate, the rat's ears were growing about 3 times as fast as the rest of it. With a quick jerk of his wand  Niko stopped the spell.

He frowned as he inspected his rat, it looked like it was just short of Professor Kirchlehner's two foot mark, but the rat's dumbo ears meant that this latest round was a failure. He sighed and canceled the spell with a wave of his wand and scooped the now normal sized rat off the floor. Nikolas inspected its normal proportions with relief and set it back down on the ground. Standing up, he pointed his wand at the rat and it began to expand again, thankfully this time in proportion.

He let the spell stop when the rat was at his waist. It squeaked in confusion and tried to hide itself under under Niko's desk, though it was only able to get its head underneath.  The rat's legs pinwheeled against the ground as it tried to shove the rest of itself in a space that was far too small for its new body. Niko took pity on the small thing and shrank it back down to normal. He gently lifted the rat from under the desk and set it down on top. Despite no longer being under cover the rat was far more calm now that, in its mind, things were no longer shrinking around it.

"Actus Amplus," Georg said to Ambrose as he passed, with the barest hint of a sigh, speaking the syllables as clearly as he could. "Speak it firmly, Pepper. And watch the drag on your syllables." He'd grown used to this with Pepper. Sometimes he wondered if the boy needed  pet parrot to repeat the words for him.

He continued off down the line, walking with his hands folded behind his back and his boots clicking on the wood floor with his regular military-style walk, eyeing their work critically.

"Well done, Foley. Ten points to Slytherin," he said, flashing the girl a smile. "As for your comment: They make you work with care." He reached over and patted her rat with two fingers, gently stroking its head. "Makes Pepper and Oliver worry about causing them to explode, and the rest of you not try it. If I'd handed you lot quills we'd all be coated in feather bits by now..." He shot Clogg-Spleen a pointed look, at the short boy made an attempt to look innocent. He failed.

The rat shot him a resentful look, admittedly justified. Georg's arm retreated behind his back and he set off down the line again, pausing to grab the wand of the boy next to Naomi and forcefully correct his grip and movement.

Scratching and a mild grumble drew his gaze to Falkenwrath; he walked over, frowning at the struggling rat as the boy shrank it back down. "Well done," he said. "If it continues to panic," he said, his frown telling the rat he though it was being silly, "Let me know. I will fetch you a new one."

"Just whack it on the head, Niko, that usually quiets 'em down," Bilius said, from next to him. Bilius spoke with the quiet confidence of a boy who'd seen his mother dispatch a rat at 20 yards, and then happily eaten the soup she cooked later without a hint of suspicion.

His own rat was doing well, if not as well as he'd hoped. He'd been handed a fat and rather elderly rat, which seemed to have spent most of it's life in the kitchens. It regarded the shrinking world around it with quietly assured curiosity.

It wasn't growing that much, though. It was growing consistently, yes, in the sense it was turning into a bigger rat with no extra giant bits, but it was only the size of a small lapdog for all his efforts. He scowled at it darkly, as if it was the fault of the rat.

"Bloody vermin," he muttered under his breath, and the rat bit him on the hand.

Ayla smiled widely as she was awarded points for her effortless effort. The only thing she didn't like about this class was the Professor. Professor Mustache was a bit of a meany sometimes and she didn't like the way he walked around all critical of everyone's work. True he was the one in charge but he could do it in a less drill Sergeant like manner.

She picked up her rabbit sized rat and placed it on the floor in front of her desk. With another skilled twirl of her wand and perfectly punctuated spell her rat soon grew to the size that was instructed. The foul creature sat back on it's giant haunches and began cleaning itself. Ayla rolled her eyes and made a disgusted sound at the creature before looking around at the other students.

She caught sight of Baxter and gave the Ravenclaw a smug smile, openly challenging him to beat her. If there was ever a class that Ayla had any possible chance of being better than Baxter it was charms. The boy was just too much of a perfectionist and crazy devoted studyer. He was easily just an older male version of her sister and it drove her crazy. However Charms gave her confidence, and a bit of an ego. One that she had no qualms about flaunting given it was the only class she could actually do so in.

"Bloody vermin,"

Ayla turned her gold green eyes to the smaller figure a few desks down. She crossed the space to stand next to Billy and regarded his successfully grown yet still smaller rat. She gave the boy a smile and held out her wand, "It's all in how you move you wrist," She demonstrated, "a little more flare with your twirl and I'm sure you could make it grow faster and bigger."

"Actus Amplus, speak it firmly, Pepper. And watch the drag on your syllables."

"Yes Sir." Ambrose replied sullenly. He knew exactly what it was up in his head but it never came out the same. He set about reducing the length of the rat's tail, missing half the conversation around him.

"… They make you work with care. Makes Pepper and Oliver worry about causing them to explode, and the rest of you not try it. If I'd handed you lot quills we'd all be coated in feather bits by now…" Ambrose shot a look over at Professor Kirchlehner and Naomi for speaking about him. Looking back at his rat he felt an altogether sinking feeling about the lesson.

"… If it continues to panic, let me know. I will fetch you a new one."
"Just whack it on the head, Niko, that usually quiets 'em down,"

"Knock it out more like. Pity we can't do that to you." Ambrose muttered to himself, and then apologised to the rat. "I meant Billy, not you." He explained to it.

"It's all in how you move you wrist, a little more flare with your twirl and I'm sure you could make it grow faster and bigger." Ayla told Billy. Ambrose nearly managed to cover a snigger at the thought of Billy 'twirling'. Ambrose's rat scampered up his arm as he was distracted.

"What, like this?" He asked Ayla, drawing himself upright with a comic expression, and over emphasised the movements, "Aaaktoos ammploos." He intoned, right at Clogg-Spleen, as if the Slytherin were Ambrose's rat, which now peered out worriedly from the boy's jumper, whiskers twitching.

Ayla Collins was giving him advice, like she didn't think he was a disgusting little twerp. Bilius was so surprised by that he almost ignored said advice.

"Um, yeah, ok," he said, eloquent as always. "I'll, uh, try that-" He said, blushing, his gaze firmly locked on a beautiful pair of...eyes. Yes. That was what he was eye level with. And looking at. Yes.

"Aaaktoos ammploos!"

As if that spell's caster wasn't obvious. Bilius had only had enough time to turn his head and ready a scathing reward when the spell hit him, knocking him out of his chair. He fell to the floor with a thump, and found an odd sensation; everything was getting smaller.

He quickly realized it wasn't that everything was shrinking; he was getting bigger. Well...just his head was. He didn't dare try to lift it - after a few seconds he wasn't able to. His eyes rolled in their sockets, trying to figure out where his wand was, increasingly big teeth bared at Ambrose.