Today's Spell
The Confusion Charm
or, Confundo
The Confundus Charm is a charm that causes a person or animated object to become highly confused. There appear to be varying degrees of inflicted confusion, ranging from tricking a person about a specific issue to making them lose all semblance of common sense, even to the point of endangering themselves.

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The 5th years were considerably quieter than they used to be. He supposed it was OWLs finally catching up with them, which was good for the little rascals. About time they bloody well focused on something other than their personal dramas.

Georg sat, as was his habit, at the podium - this time, with his feet resting calmly on a large wooden trunk. The trunk occasionally bounced and shook, and any Quidditch players would likely recognize it as the storage case for the game's balls. He seemed content to leave it for now, and sat smoking contentedly. There were other boxes nearby as well, but these didn't seem to house anything very angry.

He stood with a grunt as the students entered, leaning on the podium. An astute eye would notice subtle dents in the desks and walls, and that a few of the large animals were off-kilter. The moose, in particular, was currently at a 90 degree angle, and looked surprised about this.

"Good afternoon," Georg said. "As your final year of required classes comes to an end, we've been putting an emphasis on both defensive and practical spells. In this last month, it's time to move to attack or ambiguous. These spells," he continued, as he snuffed his pipe, "Are not attack in the sense that, say, Storm might teach you. They can be use for a myriad of uses, but when they strike a fellow human or animal, have a damaging or debilitating effect."

His wand drawn, he tapped it on the podium. "Today, we will cover the Confusion Charm. The Confusion Charm is exactly as it sounds, and can produce a...varying type of confusion, depending on the target..."

He turned suddenly and shouted, "Confundo!" The spell shot its flash of aquamarine light and struck Georgiana Trishna, in the Slytherins; she reeled, eyes rolling, and slumped to her desk. Then she sat up and grinned inanely, turning to the nearest Slytherin to her, Woolfolk, and smiling innocently.

"You always look like a tadpole, Neely. Was your mum a frog!? That's so romantic!" She giggled happily at this idea.

"As you see," Georg said, as if he hadn't just hexed a student, "Those struck with this spell are considered Confunded, and often abandoned logic for amusement and odd leaps of logic. This spell works on enchanted objects as well - can someone give me an example of the results one would see from that? Come, we haven't got all day!"

It was hard not to be on edge in Charms class, today.

"You always look like a tadpole, Neely. Was your mum a frog!? That's so romantic!" Georgina Trishna was giggling at Woolfolk. Raine observed the Slytherin only briefly-- Kirchlehner was speaking again.

"As you see, those struck with this spell are considered Confunded, and often abandoned logic for amusement and odd leaps of logic. This spell works on enchanted objects as well - can someone give me an example of the results one would see from that?" The professor posed his question - an easy enough question but many eyes were torn between the trunk at the front and the Slytherin group.  "Come, we haven't got all day!" Kirchlehner urged the classroom and Raine mechanically lifted her hand to answer.

"The Goblet of Fire was once confounded to allow a fourth participant in the Triwizard Tournament at Hogwarts." Her voice was a monotone, hiding her slight apprehension; it felt like months since the Gryffindor had spoken at all in lessons.

Professor Trishna had been right.  Professor Kirchlehner was definitely no Fleetfoot.  But, with one month left to get ready for OWLs, Sasha would happily exchange warm and encouraging for precise purposefulness.  It was Sasha's first day back in classes but he was more than ready to buckle down and focus on the home stretch. 

He bent over his parchment, taking careful notes as Professor Kirchlehner explained the confusion charm.  Confusion charm - can be used offensively.  Causes:  Sasha glanced up and over his shoulder at Georgiana as the girl got ... uncharacteristically giddy.  Sasha raised his hand, tentatively, as he turned forward, again.  "Are the effects always so, well, obvious?  I mean, anyone who knows her would know she's not behaving normally.  If you're going to use it, should you assume the change would be detectable?" 

After all, Sasha would assume that if anyone who knew him found him suddenly 'abandoning logic for amusement and odd leaps of logic,' (what an absolutely terrifying circumstance) they would know something's wrong.  "And, if one typically has a rather ... loose sense of logic," Sasha said, thinking briefly of Abby.  "Does it make it worse?" 

Can be used on people or enchanted objects.  Sasha looked towards Raine as she offered one example.  He nodded in agreement.  Sasha hadn't missed the rattling in the box at the front of the class, though.  The Professor's line of thought seemed to be rather straightforward.  "If you confund a bludger, is it less apt to respond to the beater's strikes as-"  Sasha caught himself before saying as physics might suggest.  "- one might expect?"

"Well said, Almasy," Georg said with a nod, realizing this was the first time he could remember the blonde Gryffindor piping up. "A historic example of this Charm, indeed, and a dangerous one."

Another blonde popped up - Schlagenweit. He gave the boy a nod, curtly, as he asked his questions.

"A skilled wizard can disguise it, yes," he said. "This charm is easy to learn, but difficult to master. A master of Charms however can make people think  blank pieces of paper are warrants without their victim appearing to act very differently. Note, however, that is a very powerful wizard's ability, along the lines of Dumbledore, Grindelwald or Voldemort. Such finesse is unlikely to be achieved by any of you." It was simple fact, rather than a put-down attempt.

Schagenweit's second question, however, made him smile - a quick, lightning flash smile that registered as a twitch of his mustache.

"Yes," he said, simply. "Shall we demonstrate...?"

And with that, he turned and blasted the Quidditch trunk open, opening the chamber of the Snitch and one of Bludgers. The Snitch rocketed away, disappearing into the rafters above the massive hanging dragon. The bludger, however, went for Georg. He sidestepped it and it smashed into the floor, cracking the floorboards and leaving a dent.

"Note the chaotic aggression it has currently!" He boomed, as the ball shot off towards the students, rocketing above their heads as they ducked to their desks. "Shall we give it a purpose? CONFUNDO!"

The Bludger came to a screeching halt above a student's head and began to gently bounce on top of their head, with a soft but rhythmic thump thump thump. The ball could not be chased off; it returned to its task no matter the struggles of its victim.[1]

1.	Feel free to be this student.

outfit

Neely was seething. Her blue eyes became larger than a pair of galleons as she stared daggers at Trisha-- and then promptly turned her gaze on the Charms professor, who seemed not to notice the words coming out of his student's mouth. How unprofesh! Neely's ribboned hair whipped round her shoulders and threatened to whiplash her cheeks. Her puffy doll's lips were not set in their natural pout, but were instead stretched with anxiety and a dragon's pre-tantrum quiescence.

Two seconds after Sasha closed his mouth, Neely's hand flew into the air like a Guy Fawkes finale. "Excuse me, professor!" She called out, attempting to interrupt the man before he strayed too far away from the topic at hand-- insults targeting the innocent! "Georgiana just bullied me in front of everyone, and I'm totally mortified! That can't be part of your lecture! That is not ok." Neely Woolfolk did not look like a tadpole! She looked like a koala. Her father had spent far too much money on his baby daughter for to look anything less than angelic, genetic jackpot aside.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she was now breathing audibly-- and visibly, judging by the scrunching of her shoulders toward her ears. "My mum is not a frog," she moaned, a wetness welling in her eyes. The deep pools were brimmed by waterproof mascara that only made Neely look prettier when she cried. "My mum is too pretty to be a frog." A giant drop splashed onto her textbook and her pout made its first appearance for Professor Kirchlehner, wobbling puppy chin and all.

Looking over her shoulder at the Trishna girl, her longtime roommate, but not a girl with whom Neely was particularly close, she narrowed her teary eyes in a silent 'You.'

Why was nobody mentioning this terrible act?! Had Neely been the only one to hear it? Was she Confundo'ed-- Confunded, Confused? Her daddy would be doubly angry; Neely had not signed up for this in volunteering to show the world her wunderkind magical prowess.

And then, out of nowhere, a ball swirled through the air and the Charms room became a Quidditch pitch. Neely loved Quidditch insofar as she loved cheering on the lush players. But the bludger was beating people, and she might be next. Verbal abuse had escalated to physical violence, and Neely had decided that behind that giant mustache was a Dementor in professor's clothing. That is, unless the ball decided to target someone who deserved it...

It had been a little while since Peyton had felt so comfortable in class. It had nothing to do with the growing acceptance of himself or his slight increase in grades or even the promising sight of the quidditch trunk at the front of the class room. It had everything to do with the fact that this just so happened to be the day that his best friend returned to school and Peyton being the good bloke he was, took seat right next to him hoping to make him as comfortable as Sasha made him. They had managed to spend some time together over the Spring break but when you were used to spending day in and day out with someone one for the better part of four years having them gone for over a month could be rather discouraging.

Peyton was taking notes as well and doing his best to ignore the giggles and wails coming from the two Slytherin girls ahead of him. Honestly it was enough to make him question why Sasha had ever dated the blonde princess. He rolled his own cool grey blue eyes and shook his head. He focused on continuing to write down the current conversation between Sasha and Professor Kirch. It made him wonder just how powerful of a wizard you had to be to confund someone and not have it be noticeable. Clearly the example the Professor had given had been on the extreme side given who he had listed as being able to pull it off but where was the happy medium? And if they had to be powerful did that suggest that Kirch wasn't powerful enough given Trishna's uncharacteristic giggles or was he simply doing this all on purpose?

All questioning thoughts ceased when the quidditch trunk was opened and the bludger was released. Peyton was instinctively on his feet ready to dodge and bolt if the bludger came his way. After all he was a chaser, it was his job to make sure he didn't get whacked by a bludger.

Xavier's cool grey blue eyes narrowed as the introduction to today's lesson included Georgie being hexed and Neely being insulted. He shook his head ever so slightly. You'd think after all the time these Professor's spent with them they'd know better than to antagonize girls such as them. Georgie would never forgive him for the uncharacteristic giggles he had forced her to make and Neely clearly was not going to allow such injustice to go on unpunished. Watching the tears glisten in her giant eyes sparked a chivalric instinct in him to sock the Professor one. Instead he decided to take the high road and leaned over his desk to pat her on the shoulder comfortingly.

As it seemed that the Professor wasn't going to do much about the wailing drama queen Xavier felt it in his best interest to continue to pay attention to the lesson. Afterall he knew it was only a matter of time before something exploded, be it Neely - into a fountain of wails, moans, gushing tears, and promises to tell her Daddy so she could get the good man sacked - or Georgie once she snapped out of it and realized what she had been made to do.

Though he was putting effort to pay attention to the lesson, his attention was ripped away when the quidditch trunk was opened and the bludger was set loose. Without hesitation Xavier reached into his book bag and slid out his beater's bat. He wasn't supposed to have it with him in class but it was just easier to have it on him than not, especially given Callum's fondness for impromptu practices after class. He rose to his feet bat in hand and as the bludger zeroed in on the already harassed koala faced Slytherin Xavier gave it a hefty whack hoping to send it in the opposite direction.

Unfortunately the bloody confunded thing decided he looked like a better target and despite his best effect to whack it away again the horrible thing started to bounce itself atop his head. Xavier snarled and looked at the Professor, "Well tha's jus annoyin'"

Her world swam. She felt odd - light, giddy, like her mind was full of bubbles. Her classmates were so funny! Even though they were all blonde. That was...odd. Why were they all blonde? But the Romans thought blondes were whores, a\hadn't they? That made it make total sense. Yes. She was surrounded by whores. Things could be worse, right? They could be nuns. Blargh!

Neely's distress was utterly lost on her even as the giddiness faded and her senses recovered. Rubbing her forehead, Georgiana groaned, trying to think clearly and finding it easier to do so after a minute. She looked at Neely as the girl glared at her, and returned the glare. She'd...called her a tadpole? Gigi smirked. Neely looked more like a mouse, in her opinion. Or possibly a squirrel.

She quickly turned the glare on the Professor, though. Cursing her in class! He'd had plenty of targets; why her? Well, he wanted them to practice the damn hex, didn't he?

She found and pointed her wand as subtly as she could, watching his wand movement as he cast on the balls. When he'd turned his back on her, she raised her wand...

" CONFUNDO!"

The aquamarine light struck Georg in the back before he even had turn to turn halfway around, and he dropped his wand, stumbling to the podium to regain his balance, reeling. The Bludger, no longer under his control, pulled away from Xavier and smashed into his desk, apparently no longer interested in being gentle.

Raine dropped to the floor, quick and catlike, as soon as Professor Kirchlehner let loose the bludger. Her eyes followed the erratic, violent movements of the ball from underneath the desk and she kept a tight hold of her wand, tracing its decorated handle impatiently. Once confounded, the bludger found its home on Xavier's head: a smirk was suppressed as she watched him attempt to bat it away, "Well tha's just annoyin'."

Finally feeling safe, Raine stood straight and glanced back to the front of the classroom- just in time to watch Georgiana curse the professor from behind. "CONFUNDO!" her classmate yelled and the entire class watched Kirchlehner stumble, dropping his wand. Attention quickly shifted: the bludger was loose again. Raine didn't even want to think what their teacher was going to do, or what on earth the Slytherin had been thinking, she just ducked as the quidditch ball pummelled into his desk and ricocheted back towards the students. It zoomed over her head and she turned around, watching it race towards the opposite wall.

"Confundo! Raine directed her wand at it but her voice and technique, compared to either Trishna or Kirchlehner, was weak. Surprisingly, the bludger stopped mid-air. It shook a bit, as though it were laughing (the witch's heart sank at this) before it began to bounce between the ceiling and floor with ferocious strength. At least, Raine reasoned, it wasn't all over the place. She couldn't tear her eyes away from it.

"She doesn't mean what she's saying."  Sasha offered as placatingly as he could as he glanced over his shoulder in Neely's direction.  It didn't surprise him that Neely took Georgiana's words at face value.  She was ... prone to that.  "She's confunded.  The spell's making her say things she wouldn't necessarily say.  It's so - she..."  Dangerous turf!  Back track! He needed to not make assumptions on what Georgiana might think.  That was asking for trouble.  He turned his attention back to his notes. 

Degree of skill can influence spell usage transparency, Sasha carefully noted on his parchment.  He looked up from his page as the man offered a demonstration and turned his attention to the crate of quidditch balls. 

Two balls dashed out of their harnesses.  The golden snitched flittered up towards the ceiling like a hummingbird on a mission and the bludger rocketed into the room like a bull who'd just been branded.  Sasha watched the bludger's course carefully, ready to duck or jump as needed if it came crashing his way but with a flick of the Professor's wand, the bludger stopped. 

"Its been ... tamed."  Sasha said quietly, as he watched the ball move over their head. 

In fact, the bludger was actually behaving in a more tame manner than the fifth years.  The bludger, in fact, seemed intent on adding more insult to Neely's injury.  And, things were just getting more chaotic by the moment.  "What are you-?"  Sasha  asked of Georgiana, more than slightly horrified as she hexed the professor.  And, of course, the chaos seemed to have ensued early enough in the class that they hadn't gotten to discussing the counter curse to the day's lesson.  He tugged his textbook out of his backpack and flipped quickly through the pages. 

Charms was always a class where anything could happen. Much like DADA, in Reggie's eyes. Of course some would say any class at Hogwarts fit into that category. Teaching magic to eager young witches and wizards with itchy wand fingers was a sure fire way to have something off the wall occur. Seated at a desk with her book out the Gryffindor listened attentively as Professor Kirchlehner explained the spell they'd be working with today -- Confundus. In her idle time of reading slightly ahead she'd stumbled upon it, finding it an interesting charm. Not only could it work on people, but also on enchanted objects. It had to be quite powerful to be able to completely befuddle something of that nature, and as such she didn't dare try to cast it on her own. God knows what the results of that would've been.

The surprise hexing of Georgiana Trishna with the confusion spell caught Reggie off guard. Well, crap. That could have easily been her had the professor willed it to be. She looked over at the Slytherin girl with raised eyebrows, noting how effective and immediate the reaction was. A few students then took a stab at the Charms professor's request for examples of objects that may be "confunded". Reggie remained quiet, almost as if speaking would lead to her suffering the same fate as Georgiana. Once satisfied Professor Kirchlehner then took things in a more active direction, releasing a snitch and an actual bludger into the room.

"Holy hell." She said lowly, ducking when the bludger started to zoom around. Getting smashed in the face was not on the agenda today. Or any day for that matter. The death ball was stopped only when the professor decided to demonstrate use of the charm, causing it to then bounce up and down on the head of Xavier Tawse, another Slytherin. From her position of safety Reggie looked on with amusement, unable to contain a few snickers as the angry boy kept attempting to bat the offending object away. Hey, better him than her!

Things took a slightly more serious turn however when Georgiana decided it would be a fun idea to use Confundus on the professor himself. Reggie turned just as the spell hit the man, causing him to stumble and drop his wand. Her mouth nearly fell open. "Holy hell." She repeated, immediately turning to then look at Sasha Schlagenweit. As a prefect he sort of was the next in line of authority if something were to happen to the instructor. Edging over to him, she watched as he started to turn the pages of his Charms text frantically.

"Does this count as an emergency?" She quipped, throwing a dubious look back at the still confunded Charms professor.

Peyton's cool grey blue eyes widened as the bludger was set loose on the students and nearly feel out of his head when Xavier pulled a slightly worn looking beater's bat out of his book bag to keep the crazy menace of a ball from hurting one of the other Slytherin girls. Peyton swallowed a lump in his throat. Was he that out of the loop? When had his psychotic half brother join Quidditch? The thought of Xavier being a beater, in charge of slugging bone breaking balls at other players was so frightening it sent a shiver down his spine. He supposed he should have actually attended the last Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Slytherin.[1]

Still on his feet Peyton crossed the room when Geogianna attacked the Professor and the Bludger was once again left to it's own devices. He shot a small smile at Raine as she attempted to stop it. At least she seemed to have kept it in place, bouncing between the ceiling and the floor. He knew it was only a matter of time before the wild sphere set it's sight back on the students. With it no longer under the Professor's control it wasn't going to be bouncing on anyone's head it was going to be cracking skulls.

He needed to do something.

His eyes locked on the frantic ball as it wound it's wall from floor to ceiling again and again. Peyton took three sharp breathes and the leapt. His lithe athletic body hit the bludger, on it's way down, square in the chest. He knew he'd be feeling it in the morning but right now his goal was to get it back in the trunk. He had crashed to the floor hard, his arms wrapped tight around the ball as it bucked under his weight. He scrambled with his feet, trying to keep a hold of the little monster while slowly inching his way towards the front of the classroom.

---

[1] Assuming the H vs S match happens late april as scheduled

Sasha hunched over his desk, flipping quickly to the pages on Mind Muddling Charms.  He was only half aware of his classmate shifting closer towards him until she spoke. 

"I - what?  Me?"  Sasha stared blankly at Regina, clearly baffled to find her addressing him.  Did this count as an emergency?  Why was she asking him that?  Was he now some sort of authority on what constituted an emergency?  Sure, he had a lot of experience, but...

Sasha cast a quick glance around the room, his gaze lingering briefly on the quivering bludger held (not very securely) in place in the air, the still slightly frantic Neely and then on the mostly incapacitated professor.  He dipped his head in a slight nod as he looked back at Regina, his eyebrows still lifted in an unspoken question. 

"Why are you looking at me?" he finally asked, between the thumps of the partially contained bludger.  Then, the answer seemed to dawn on him.  He was still, technically, a prefect.  And, not just technically.  He blinked at the Gryffindor, seriously doubting his voice would carry much weight - especially since it was his first day back.  But, she was right.  And, wasn't he trying to regain control of his reputation?  "Look and see if you can find a counter-curse," Sasha said, sliding the textbook towards Regina.  If Georgiana refused to cooperate, (from what he knew of her between classes and the few times he found himself at Professor Trishna's over Easter, it was possible) it would be good to have a plan B. 

"Georgiana, just release the spell," he said, getting to his feet as Peyton tackled the rogue bludger.  He jogged quickly up to the front of the classroom and started dragging the quidditch crate towards Peyton before the bludger managed to ram Peyton against a wall.

Sasha's confusion made Reggie roll her eyes. She was looking at him because he was a bloody prefect, that's why. Had he forgotten his duties or something? She knew he'd been having a hell of a year but really. Pull. It. Together. Man. When he got up with instructions to her to find a counter-curse she nodded, "Can do chief." Pulling the book towards her she started flipping through the pages, eyes leaving them for brief moments to glance at the Ravenclaw prefect who was now helping another Ravenclaw -- Peyton Wentworth -- try to get the bludger back into its holding case. Shuck, who said Gryfifndors were the only ones capable of heroics in times of need?

She turned back to the book, flipping more pages as her vision dance frantically across them. Where was she going to find- OH. DUH. She felt like smacking her forehead right then and there for her stupidity. She didn't need to look up a stinking counter curse! Whipping out her wand she stood up, pointing it in Georgiana's direction. The girl was still extremely confunded, leaving Reggie no choice but to take action. She just hoped it would be enough to remove the effects of the charm.

"Finite!" She flourished her wand in the proper manner, satisfied when a quick jet of light shot out and rushed towards the Slytherin girl. The end of her wand smoked slightly, the smell of the spell's discharge wafting slowly up into the air as she waited for the hopefully desired result. She cast another look at Sasha and Peyton, ready to lend them any extra assistance with the bludger if needed.

Georgiana felt the twinges of regret the moment the hex hit the professor - but god forbid she show it. Regina removing the last vestiges of the spell helped...her feel more guilty. Bugger.

"Duh," she told Sasha, rather more scathingly than was really necessary. She was watching the Professor instead of Schlongenweit anyway. Her spell had apparently made him find his beard very interesting; he seemed to be paying more attention to his 'stache than the Bludger that was currently causing chaos around the room. He might even have been giggling to himself.

She nodded almost imperceptibly to Regina, which was as close as the other girl would get to a thanks. She sighed and raised her wand again, pointing at the professor. "Finite!" She said, and Kirchlehner twitched, his eyes refocusing and immediately looking around for the culprit...

Georgiana did the first thing that came to mind - which was to sit down and duck out of sight. She instantly felt stupid, but what wasn't about to make her stand up.