Conned by Indy's innocence? Ellie let out a laugh at that comment. "Is that so?" Even on the Pitch. Well then, that made Indiana a very nice asset to the team. Not that the Captain was going to voice this, she didn't want Spike to be down about him not being on the team. Which was incredibly unfortunate, you know, because he was just as much of an asset as any of the other players.

Sigh.

"Yes. Such as 'Wingardium' for feathers and 'Globo' for rounded objects." Hehe. Little Professor had taught that one. "It's like how you'd specify when you use 'accio' too. But that's also optional. If you're casting from a distance, your wand has a larger..." What, exactly? "...field of...interception," wasn't that what the Muggles called it? Like how they picked up television interceptions. "So basically, you just want to make sure you summon or levitate what you intend to." HOPEFULLY that wasn't that much of a mouthful. It wasn't totally necessary, either, but Ellie wanted to make sure Spike understood why she mentioned it in the first place.

She stood back - metaphorically, she didn't actually move - and watched his failed attempt. She was about to pipe up encouragement, but he got it the second time. Which was not bad at all.

The look on his face concerned her a bit, though. "I like to think of Charms as the happy spells," she said idly, "The more positive your mindset is, the better you'll preform. Unlike Defensive spells where you can have a more aggressive mindset." Or that was just what worked for HER, but maybe it was a universal tip.

Nonetheless, the boy had the book in the air. "Right," Ellie said, "So now just point, and say, 'Fixate'." She preformed the spell as she said it and was not able to lower her wand, without the book falling. It was, essentially, fixed in the air at the height it was levitated to.

Annabeth gasped, "Oh my... Really! That's...that's amazing! But slightly strange, maybe you really are related to him somehow, what don't you trace your family tree back, you never know!" she said smiling. From what she had heard about Severus Snape he had been a good, brave guy. Sam might be his great great grandson or something. But since Snape never had kids... but he may be another relation to him!

"Mmhmm," Spike said with a knowing nod. "She knows how to get her own way alright..." And yes, he was talking from experience. Boy that girl knew when to wimper, when to pout, when to threaten and when to break out a full on scream.

Spike wrinkled his nose. "What's does 'Wingardium' have to do with feathers? Apart from the 'wing' bit?" He frowned. What was wrong with just using plain, simple English...like 'feather, up!' or 'book, come here!' or 'oven, bake!'? Who decided spells should be so complicated to use and remember? And people wondered why he liked working with plants!

Hang on, did Ellie say over distance? "So I don't need to be right next to the thing?" he asked thoughtfully. "So if I left my cutters on my bed, I still 'accio' them from the Greenhouses if I needed them for pruning?" Interesting... Though he was sure there was a catch. Else people wouldn't ever forget their gloves in Herbology, or have to run back upstairs for a new quill or whatever...

"Oh," Spike said, trying to relax his hunched shoulders a bit. He only knew about using intention in DADA, like when casting urticate (bamBAM!). As he moved though, the book dropped in the air and he bit his lip as he caught it again. "Oops." This height was fine too though, right?

He carefully peeled his eyes away from his book, clutching his wand tight in the hope it wouldn't fall again, and looked at Ellie. Point and 'fixate'. Seemed simple enough.

He pointed at the book. "Fixate!" He waited. And then he lowered his wand, looking away and wincing as he expected the book to fall. The crash didn't come. "Did it work?" he asked Ellie quietly, not wanting to disturb his book in the air in case it was still thinking about it.

Ellie nodded. "I'll definitely keep that in mind." That one should not be deceived by appearances when it came to Indiana Hutchinson.

Of course Spike would react as such. The Sixth year laughed, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm not entirely sure. Probably means something in Latin." Where most incantations are derived from. "Or French or Greek or something." Something Ellie knew nothing about. Another question for Little Professor. Merlin, it felt like she really needed him. She bet he would be able to help Spike loads more than she could.

"Nope. Not always," she said, shaking her head. Some spells needed direct contact, in which case, yes, you'd need to be right next to the target, but not always.

Oh, woah, wait. Cutters? "Theoretically," she said cautiously. "Though I wouldn't try and summon cutters from across the grounds and castle if I were you. Could be dangerous." Deadly and dangerous and it just wasn't a good idea. "But as long as it's physically possible for your target to reach you, and your spell's powerful enough, you can summon things over distances." Keeping a realistic distance, of course. Like, you couldn't summon something from another town, even, probably. But from inside the Castle? Sure.

Oh, she didn't mean to make him lose concentration. "Whatever works for you, really. I just tend to find that being positive...smiling, as well, maybe, helps." Charms were cheerful. That was what Ellie's learned.

Spike tried out the spell, lowered his wand and....it stayed. The Captain grinned. "IT worked!" So he could look now.

"Now, locomotor is very simple. You just move your wand as you'd like your target to move," she explained. Then lifted her wand again, "For example, Locomotor," she commanded, dragging her wand, aimed at the book, to the left and right. The book, though hovering and a good few feet in front of her, followed.

Just like that, Spike.

Latin? Pfft. That was just so OLD. "If I ever invent spells, they're gonna be in plain normal English," Spike said with a nod. "Or maybe in Gobbledegook." For funsies. He wanted to learn Gobbledegook, and Mermish.

That was cool, but he could sense Ellie's discomfort at his mention of cutters. "Why's everything too dangerous?" he muttered quietly, with a purse of his lips. Then he realised himself, and gave Ellie an apologetic look. She was helping him, and he was very grateful for her extra time here and on the pitch. And to be fair, with his current level in charms, Ellie was probably right. Cutters flying through the castle might be a bit too dangerous.

His lips tried to curl upwards, but all the time Spike was concentrating on holding the book there, he wouldn't be able to smile fully. But then Ellie's words made a wide grin spread across his face. "It did?" he questioned, before confirming himself that it had. Awesome! First time as well...

Eyes wide, Spike watched Ellie's demo. Well, she sure made it look simple. He decided to follow her example, and start with a gentle side to side movement. "Locomotor," he said, trying to recreate Ellie's commanding voice, and then moved his wand to point from left to right. Instead of following the neat straight path of Ellie's however, it was swaying from left to right, as if following the arc of a circle.

Why'd he have the rebellious book?

Oh, Spike. Though, in all fairness, Ellie would also much rather have spells be straight forward. 'Turn yellow', 'Come', 'Go', and the like. "I look forward to using your spell daily, then." If the little guy were to actually invent one. And Ellie wouldn't put it past him to try, and succeed.

Okay, she couldn't NOT raise an eyebrow at that. Why was it dangerous? Really? "Well, how would you like it if you turned a corner to find a blade speeding toward you?" She couldn't imagine he would like it very much. What if it was speeding just at his height, and whizzed through his hair? WHILE Matilda was in there?

Good for Ellie, not so good for Spike.

But he seemed to catch on that idea fairly quickly.

Her grin was back at his excitement for getting the book to stay. See? He WAS good in Charms. He could probably move on to third year stuff easily. Even fourth year. Though that might be more challenging. But that was the way it should be, seeing as he was a fourth year and all.

His locomotor wasn't all that fabulous, though. "You can try moving your entire arm, like so," Ellie moved her arm, from her elbow, across her body and back, "To keep it straight. And then you can try and ease up on the big motion, and just use your wrist." That might keep the book in line. "And remember to keep a clear intent of what you want to happen." Otherwise...well....WEIRD things could happen.

Sam smiled." possibly yes. . .I'v tried to find since I heard about the old potions master of hogwarts.It would be the greatest thing for me if I really am related to him.May be it's just a coincidence. . Or may be . . "
Then Sam rememberd that his strongest subject is potions.
" did you know. . Potions is my strongest subject as well. . .so may be I really am related to him. But my problem is there's no other wizard or witch in my family. . At least I dont know anyone. . .and snape is a slytherin that means he is a pure blood. . And i'm just a muggle born. . "
He looked in to Annabeth's face to hear what she has to say

"Maybe we should try and find out together!" she said happily, if Sam was related to him, it would be amazing! "Well, there's another reason to research it, if you really are good at potions, it would be a very good resaon to see. Actually, I'm not too sure if Snape really was a pureblood, I read somewhere that he was a half blood. Even then, if he was a pureblood, maybe somewhere along the line, there was a squib or something, you never know!"

"Really?" Spike questioned tentatively. "I mean I didn't say it was going to be a useful spell. Just a spell of random sorts." He was already the experimental type of guy, but it usually involved plants or critters and some kind of outdated Muggle technology. The microwave experiments were cool. And he'd got some awesome results too. A spell wouldn't be too hard, right?

"When you put it like that..." Spike answered quietly, biting his lip. But the idea seemed good, not having to run all the way up those stairs again. "What about gloves?" he asked. He forgot those on a regular basis. He didn't understand why people didn't like the feel of mud between their fingers, and jammed under their nails.

With a sigh at his book, Spike tried moving his arm as Ellie suggested. The arching smoothed out, but the bigger motion meant his book was now racing across half of the Common Room. It was a good job the it wasn't busy right now, as someone could have easily taken a book to the ribs. Or face, if it happened to be an ickle firstie. He gave Ellie a crooked smile, and instead tried to control the motion with his wrist.

"So do I just sit here doing this now?" he asked, wondering how soon it'd be before his wrist began to ache.

"Half blood" Then only he remembered. .that. . . " of course . .he is halfblood. . I almost forgotten. . .he used to call him as HALF BLOOD PRINCE . . Who can possibly remember . . . I always feel that those slytherins are all PURE BLOODS. . . "
he smiled.
" it would be amazing if I am related to my favourite wizard of all time. . ."
then he waited a moment and said. . .
"I'm glad if you can help me. . But I dont know where to start looking.. . May be from my parents . . Oh god I have to wait till next vacation. . .may be library? But I would've known already if there's something else about him there. . -cause I've read all I can find about Snape there. . . May be headmaster Tate? Or . . . ? "
He gave a another questioned look to his best friend.

Well that was worrisome. What if Spike meant to invent a spell to destroy the world? Or something far worse? What if he was going to invent a spell that conjured spiders? "Doesn't have to be useful. You invent a spell, and I'll use it." But please don't invent one that conjures spiders, Spike.

Heh. Yeah. The dangers that came with summoning sharp objects. Even dull objects could be dangerous. It was really best to summon things from within the same room, she supposed. Though, "I see nothing wrong with summoning gloves."

........OHMY.

Flying book.

"Gently," Ellie said. Perhaps he was a bit too excited. Moving his wand a bit too fast. Something like that. "You should have control over it." In other words, it shouldn't be flying across the room, Mister.

But Ellie grinned back. How could she not? He was trying and he was adorable.

"Well, that's the spell." So...basically, yes. "You could stop it by saying, 'Finite'. Or change the rhythm and move the book up and down," she did this with her book, "Or in circles or anything."

Jayden entered the common room happily, a slight bounce in her step. She had just received an Owl from her parents that morning and was excited to share the news with Cael. Her mother was pregnant with a GIRL!

"Merlin!" Jayden mumbled to herself, a smile forming on her lips. "I need to tell Elliot about this too, even though we aren't on the best of terms, I'm sure she cares!"

Hopefully.

Spike chuckled. "You do realise that on current interests the spell is likely to be intended for Herbology or looking after critters, right?" Even spiders, which he knew Ellie absolutely adored...as long as they were nowhere near her. Poor Matilda. "I guess I could try something a bit different though, shake things up."

"Well that'll save me some stairs," Spike said with a grin. "I always forget them for Herbology. I don't see people's fascination with wearing gloves for practical work. I mean, what's wrong with mud and worms and beetles?" Even the more 'dangerous' plants he'd naturally approach with his bare hands - it just seemed so much friendlier than sending the message 'I'm wearing gloves because I don't trust what you might do to my fingers'. "Would they come through the castle, or the dorm window?" Ya know, so he could face the right direction when they arrived, and not get a smack to the head instead.

Spike nodded. He was trying...and he didn't think he wasn't being gentle. The book just went like that. Hmmm. Nevertheless, he tried toning his movements down, so the rather than taking over the whole Common Room, his book was now just moving the length of the sofa. Better, Tutor Ellie?

He looked sheepish at her grin, not sure quite how to react to the fact his spell was working pretty much as planned. He changed his movements to mirror Ellie's, though his was still a lot less controlled than hers and appeared as if it was bouncing between floor and ceiling.

"So if I wanted to mix something, which way would I hold my wand? Do I still hold it pointing towards the item, and then make the mixing shape, or hold it as if it were the item?"

Violet walked into the common room with tears stains still on her face. She hadn't known that Maxwell had left her so fast, but maybe it was time to move on to another boy or she could just forget about boys and focus on studying. She stared at the fireplace as she sat on the comfy chair.

Hmmm. "I'll have to invest in a plant, then." Something mundane, though. Preferably one that can take care of itself, while she worked long Quidditch hours. And, yes, a plant. No bugsy spell, okay, Spike?

Or, actually, he could do whatever he pleased and invent a bunch of different spells that served different purposes. One for plants, one for bugs, one for...something Ellie'd actually find useful. "You can do whatever you want." He shouldn't let others influence what he does.

The redhead giggled. "Just a few," she joked. It would save a LOT of stairs, what with them living in a tower and such. Why wouldn't someone want to touch bugs and beetles? "'s one of the great mysteries of the world, I guess." Though personally, Ellie was with the majority on that. Dirt she could handle, but creepy crawlies? No thank you.

Ellie bit on her lip, mulling over his question. "Whichever's more direct, I suppose." She couldn't imagine that summoned articles would be too fond of too many twists and turns. "I think if you had your dorm window open, it would more likely fly out of there." Then it would have the open-ness of the grounds.

She watched his movements, and the book's, and nodded. Better.

Her eyes grew a bit when he changed motions, and the book picked up long strokes again. But at least Spike had the idea right. And at least it was working. Ellie could see him being most disappointed if he couldn't get the book to move at all.

Oh, interesting question. "'m not too sure..." Ellie silently fixated her book in mid-air as she tried the two motions. "I think you'd just point and 'stir'." Yes, air quotes were in there. "You'd have the bowl low, of course, so you'd point down at it, and make a stirring motion." It just felt more comfortable with her wand gripped correctly than...well...backwards.

Lily came down from her dorm where she had been studying and entered the common room. Looking around she saw Violet. She hadn't seen Violet in a long while so Lily walked over and gave her ravenclaw friend a hug coming around the back of the seat. "Hey Violet! Long time no.....are you ok?" Lily's face went from a happy-to-see you face to a worried face. Quickly, the first year took a seat next to Violet and looked at her worriedly.

"I could grow you something, if you'd like," Spike said quietly. "Something pretty to brighten up your window sill, but not too much hassle to take care of." And he would make sure it wasn't flesh eating, nor bitey nor noisy. Though his Chiming Bluebells just made relaxing background noise, and had the advantage of being blue. Hmmm. Thinking of which...he should go see Professor Bentley soon-ish.

Spike laughed, his curls bouncing. "I mean, the view of the grounds is great. But the stairs? And when they decide to move...gaaaah!" He shook his head. He swore some of the staircases only moved because they liked to play tricks on him and make him go the long way round. "I don't get why people are so scared of them. They're so small and cute..." Okay, so Matilda wasn't exactly small, but she was cute. "And caring too."

"Better leave the window open more often then..." Spike answered. "Just in case." Admittedly, gloves flying through the castle would be a bit weird. Especially if they turned corners and managed to open doors. Window made much more sense.

Yay for Ellie's nod! He was improving! And with a bit more confidence, the movement became less jagged and the book's flight path steadied itself to a more gentle pace. He smiled at Ellie, glad that she was willing to help him. If she mind tutoring him a little bit each week, he could actually see him getting somewhere this term...and maybe even getting a credible pass on the paper. He didn't realise that thought could be exciting as it now felt.

So...like an actual stirring action then? He watched her tried the two actions, before trying them out himself. Except he hadn't had the forethought of Ellie to fixate the book first. So it was now circling the coffee table. "That'd be a very big mixing bowl..." he said as a bit of an afterthought. "Big enough for a Ravenclaw Quidditch Celebration cake."

Violet felt someone behind her and turned around to see her friend, Lily looking worriedly at her. She quickly wiped away the tears that were still on her face. "Nothing really." She smiled sadly. "I was going out with a boy named Maxwell, but after I lost my memory of him somehow, he left for another girl." Violet took a deep breath before continuing "He promised that he would do anything for me to remember him again, but I guess promises can't be kept sometimes." She fell silent and stared back at the fire.

Lily listened as Violet spoke, not saying anything until she was finished. "Don't worry about him. If he can't keep true to you in sickness and in health then he's not worthy of you... that's what my dad always tells me." Lily tried to comfort her friend, but wasn't sure what exactly to say. "Plus boys are icky." Lily grinned a bit because she had just talked to Tay about boys being icky, and still only being eleven, that was what she thought. She had never felt anything towards anyone...she didn't even know what that meant. But right now she was going to be there for her friend, helping her through whatever Violet needed.

Annabeth smiled, "So do I, but there are those Slytherins that aren't, Snape was an example of that." seeing Sam so happy at the prospect of maybe being related to Snape made her feel really happy herself, "Of course I'll help you, why don't you write to your parents and ask them how far back they can remember, then while you wait for their reply, we could go to the Library and have a look at the books about Snape, if we could find a family tree for him, then we could use that to trace his ancestors back and if they had children then we could try and work it out from there." Hopefully her plan of action would work.

"Mmm . . .ok. . .i will send an owl for sure. . . But I dont expect anything new 'cause like I said I've already asked them and I got nothing. . . About library . . Well possibly there could be some more books which I missed. . .if you say so . -we can check. . . Here's something as a gift for paying so much attention for that. . . "
Sam stood up. . Took out his wand. . -pointed to Beth's lap. . . Then he said.. . . . . . . .
" orchideous "
. . .Then a beautiful bunch of orchids magically appeared on her lap. . .Sam gave a satisfied look and sat down.

Jez slumped down into the armchair beside the couch Nate usually took. She leant her head on her arms on the armrest, her feet tucked under her, staring at the stripy throw on the couch beside her. Her head was spinning, and she felt like she'd forgotten something. A conversation, maybe, or a lesson. Her hand tightened around the orb in her pocket. What was this little ball's secret?

"Well you never know, if you ask them how far back in their family then can remember, then maybe we would be getting somewhere."Annabeth looked at Sam to see what he thought. Then he stood up, she didn't know what was happening, but he cast a spell and on her lap a bunch of orchids appeared, she smiled, "Oh, thank you Sam, their lovely! Thank you!" she said and gave him a hug.

Another hug from Beth. . . ."well you dont have to thank me Beth. . . It's just a very simple spell I learned recently. . . . About the letter . I'm going to start writing . . right now. . " Sam opened his bag. . -looked for writing equipments. .it was full of papers . . He managed to find all he wanted. . . Suddenly he dropped his ink bottle . . It didn't brake but ink. . . They were every where. . . ,"oh my . . . I have to clean this before our prefects see this . . . " He grabbed his wand once again then he thought for a while . .'what is the spell. . ' . . Then he said . " scourgify " poof all the ink were gone. . He didn't know any spell to collect them so he cleaned the mess . . "oh there goes my ink. . .mmm . -do you have any ink . . To burrow? "

"That would be nice," Ellie said. Her very own Spike-grown plant. And then she'd know it was low maintenance and everything, because Spike said so. And she wouldn't have to go ask Bentley about a random plant she found or bought. Or try and look it up in some....book. Her body gave an involuntary shudder at the thought of browsing through a library, surrounded by the millions of books that surely every library consists of. It was horrifying.

The Captain smiled down at him. Personally, she rather liked all the stairs. They were just an excuse for more exercise. Which came in handy when the grounds were too frozen to take a run on. But the fact that they moved, well, "They can be rather annoying." Especially when you were running late to class.

Oh, Ellie GOT why people were scared of bugs. She was a bit iffy with most herself. Downright terrified of others. "I suppose that's why there are people like you, who care for them, when others aren't so fond." That was all she had to say about that. Because if Spike went on, she would surely have to start disagreeing on every point. She already did. For one, no bug was CUTE. Nor did she see how they were caring.

She laughed softly. "It would be a good idea." If you were very forgetful. But he had to keep in mind his roommates, and if they cared if the window was open. And the weather. Because if it was winter, and cold, and snowing, surely he'd regret leaving a window open all day.

"You're very good at this, Spike," she said, smiling at his progress.

A smile which only grew when he tried the mixing motion, and the book started going 'round the table. "It would, indeed," she laughed.

A Ravenclaw Quidditch celebrtion, huh? Like a Ravenclaw Quidditch CHAMPIONSHIP celebration. Wouldn't that be epic?

"Would you like to try another spell now?" Or continue with this one? Anything was fine with Ellie, but she felt he mastered the basics of Locomotor. He only need practice now.