Aria let out an excited squeal the instant she saw the bubbles. Like any child person, she immediately and instinctively prodded at a few with her hand in an attempt to pop them. The result? She succeeded in sending a huge bout of wind shooting out of her fingers at the bubbles, which could propel them in a different direction that the one they had been going. UGH! Darn these powers!! Aria was so caught up in the drama of her power that she forgot about Mancini for a moment.

"Oh. Hello, professor! Lovely to be back at another lesson of yours. Sorry about that just now." The Slytherin gave her a smile as she skipped off into the classroom, albeit a little embarrassed at what had just happened.

Ash entered charms class looking like a mess, because she was a mess today. She'd gotten no sleep last night, because she'd been catching up on homework. She hadn't had breakfast. And, crucially, she hadn't brushed her hair, which meant she felt very unpresentable and terrible. She hated everything. March, school, social interaction, everything.

...except for bubbles. "I don't know why you're blowing bubbles at us, but I like it," she commented, blowing a few bubbles back at the professor with her wand. "You should get a nonmagical bubble wand." She took a seat and rested her head on her desk, ignoring the gray flowers growing around her.

Charms was still, and always would be, Margaret's favorite class (except for flying which she didn't count since it was all fun). "Good morning, Professor!" she said brightly, admiring the bubbles before plopping herself into the seat next to Ash. If she'd been looking, Ash would have gotten a big smile as well. Instead, Margaret stretched out her legs and leaned back in her seat, waiting for class to begin and admiring the bubbles.

They really were fun, bubbles were, weren't they!?

Rajesh was really not liking today.

So far it wasn’t one of his better days as he had already had to cast the umbrella charm that Professor Madigan had taught him after that first disastrous DADA lesson with his new abilities. There was literally a cloud hanging above the sixth year, bringing a storm and lowering his mood with it in the process no matter how small it may be. But he couldn’t bring himself to miss the latest charms class so dragged himself to the classroom hoping against all hope that it mostly only bothered him.

“Morning Professor,” he greeted Mancini as politely as he could manage, trying to keep his unhappy tone at bay. Especially since she herself seemed so cheery at the moment. He just had to get through the lesson without getting drenched or drowning. No big deal.

Luther walked in with his hands safely tucked in his pockets. The glow was getting old and he hoped whatever Peeves did would wane soon. 'It was cool at the beginning, though.' he thought as he walked towards one of the seats in the middle of the class. 'I wouldn't want to distract anyone.' thought Luther and said to Professor Mancini "Hello, Professor." After that, he saw Aria and forgetting the glow momentarily he waved to her. As he did so, he blinded himself for a couple of seconds, sighed loudly and promptly shoved his hand back into his pocket.

Desiree wasn’t sure whether to feel excited or nervous for today’s charms lesson. It was her favorite class, and she wanted to do well in it and make her dad proud. But the random teddy rat transformations made that goal a lot harder. What if she transformed at the wrong time and didn’t get to even try today’s spell? Stupid Peeves! Why couldn’t he have given her a curse that let her hold her wand?! Or better yet, one of the cool, princessy powers that he gave nearly everybody else… like flower or butterfly conjuring! She’d even take glowing or speech bubbles. Anything would’ve been better than turning into a beast!

Speaking of princessy things, Desiree wasn’t sure what to make of Professor Mancini’s bubbles. Her old self, pre-wombat transformations, would’ve been practically squealing at the sight of bubbles, but she wasn’t really in the mood for cutesy things anymore. She was mildly intrigued by the bubbles for two reasons. First, the bubbles seemed like something her dad might do, and that thought alone was enough to get a smile out of her. “Hello, Professor Mancini,” she greeted warmly as she entered the room and made her way to a seat at the back.

Second and more importantly, she was interested in the bubbles because she was positive they had something to do with the lesson. But what? A visual aid for the bubble-head charm, maybe? Was there a bubble-blowing charm she didn’t know about? Whatever the case, she couldn’t wait to find out what the spell was!

Max walked into the classroom and aaw the tesched…blowing bubbles. Class, we are five years old today.
“Morning Professor,”. He smiled and walked inside. Wonder what this lesson will be.

Once it seemed as if everyone was here, Leanne holstered her wand to stop from blowing bubbles and figured she might as well get started. "Good to see everyone again this morning... So i figure I know we've been working hard this year on enunciations with some of the more tricky incantations, that we needed to do something light and carefree. Who can tell me what they know about the cheering charm? Could be anything big... or small... just one thing will suffice"


ooc: officially commencing the lesson now.... fell asleep last night after watching the CMAs, oops XD ... so uh, question one is posted.. will continue tomorrow afternoon, after i get home from work <3

Having selected a seat, Aria had taken out the necessary materials she would need for the lesson - her books, quill and ink - and sat back with her hands fisted on her lap. Yeah… she was NOT going to be causing any chaos during this lesson as she almost had a few minutes ago. A smile lit up her face when she saw her favourite Little Lion Man - Luther. Oh my! The girl blinked like crazy at the brightness that suddenly appeared. Clearly Luther was having very strong issues with his powers as well.

Her attention refocused since the lesson was getting started. OOOH!!! The Cheering Charm! How EXCITING! The Slytherin girl would have started to bounce in her seat hadn’t it been for the fact that Mancini’s words echoed in her ears: the reminder about being relaxed. UGH! This power of hers would not let her live her life! Aria cautiously removed her right hand from her lap then raised it.

“The Cheering Charm was invented by Felix Summerbee. He’s credited for it on Chocolate Frog Cards.’’ This was exactly why Aria knew the wizard’s name so well.

Desiree looked to the front as the lesson began, hanging on to Professor Mancini's every word. Lighthearted and carefree? Well, that explained the bubbles… They were sort of light and carefree. Ooh, the cheering charm. She knew that spell! Well, technically she didn't know how to do it (yet), but she knew of it.

As soon as she heard the question, one fact immediately came to mind, and her hand shot up. She wanted to get it out there before someone else had the chance… or she had the chance to turn into a wombat, whichever happened first. "The cheering charm can cause fits of hysterical laughter if you overdo it," she said when called on.

That was the very reason why her dad refused to use that spell on himself when he was sad, or on anyone else!

Cheering charm…

Wasn’t that ironic? If only that could help his issue though he supposed Peeves would love people to be hysterically laughing, or at least something that got the poltergeist that way. Hysterical laughter was kind of the trickster’s thing. An almost scary thing and something Raj might enjoy being silenced…for a little while for sure. As punishment for Peeves had done to everyone this term.

As for the question, it seemed it might have all been covered by his fellow sixth year and the younger badger, but Rajesh thought about it long enough to come up with something else. “It was considered to be a charm to help against hiccups,” he answered.

Max blinked. Cheering charm. Cheering charm...what did he know about it?
Well, that explains the bubbles. He listened to the others. He wasn't exactly sure. Seemed like everyone else had an answer.

Daniel had considered ditching today's Charm lesson for the first time. He was tired, and it was noticeable on his face. The usual sparkle in his eyes had dimmed, and his face seemed to be paler than usual. He wasn't getting sufficient sleep, and all of his days were spent studying or tutoring. Fun? what was that? Nonetheless, he was present. Seated on one of the chairs, with a notebook and a pen on the table, ready to take notes if needed. Worried that one missed lesson could result in a failing OWL grade.


While the professor questioned about the cheering charm, Daniel listened to his classmates' responses but did not raise his hand to give an answer. Most had already been mentioned, and he disliked repeating answers. Instead, the fifth year rested his elbow on the table and his head on the palm of his hand. He knew enough about the cheering charm from studying for his OWLs to know that a few seconds of closing his eyes wouldn't hurt anyone...

"So the cheering charm, as stated was founded in the 1400s, or 15th century, by Felix Summerbee. One of the purposes for this charm is merely to make people happy and elated. It should also be noted, in case you've forgotten, that Hogwarts was founded in the 10th century." While this wasn't history of magic, having a little history background of charms was essential in Leanne's mind for being good with charms.

"As Felix was a wizard who lived after Hogwarts was already founded, there's many a tale of him attending Hogwarts and excelling in charms, particularly. He was a Hufflepuff who wanted to make the world a better place through using his strengths. Which surmounted to his invention of the cheering charm."

Enough about Felix Summerbee though.

"Enough background, as I'm sure you're all ready to learn the wand movement and incantation. So the wand movement looks much like a cartoon tongue. You start with a half smile and then move the wand down to create another longer half circle." Leanne drew a sketch on the board for them as a visual.


Incantation: Gaudeo. Gaw-dee-oh.

"I will forewarn you though that the more pronounced your tongue is, it's one way that you could overdo the charm. So it needs to be just right in terms of proportion. There's a window of maybe couple centimeters."

"And the incantation is gaudeo. Take the next few moments and practice the motions and incantation separately before we move onto testing them out."


ooc: mini activity time ... just practice the incantation and wand movements, separately. Any questions, ask... We'll pick back up some time (depending on how far along you all get) on Sunday with the next task ...

While Ash had originally kept her head down, not feeling like talking or listening or doing the classwork, she perked up at the mention of the cheering charm. That sounded like... something she needed right now. She remained silent for the question portion of class, but she took notes. It was a start. "Gaw-dee-oh. Gau-dee-oh. Gawdeeoh, gaudeoh, gaudeo... gau de o... gaudeo." She made sure to practice the movement separately, to avoid accidental casting. It looked more like a laughing mouth or a smile to her. She practiced the wand movement much more than the incantation, wanting to get it right. She was going to USE it. And she wanted to be happier, not start laughing hysterically.

Luther sat his hands tucked in his pockets through Professor's question, his classmates' answers and Professor's instructions. Without taking his hands out of his pockets, Luther practiced the incantation.

"Gow-de-oh." Nope. "Gow-dee-oh" Close but not exactly. After a couple more tries, "Gow-dee-oh. Gaudeo!"

Then, with a sigh, he completely focused on his hands and dimming the glow as much as he could. After taking calm breaths for a couple of seconds, he gently took out his hands out of his pockets. They were not glowing like a little lighthouses. Luther would even say it was not distracting at all. Before long, he started practicing the wand movement.

Summer had been listening to the professor and had been staying quiet with the questions, but now it was time for the activity, and she loved trying different spells out.

"gadddooooooo!" Summer said it a couple of times, nope, that wasn't right, she giggled a little bit to herself. " gadddeo!" Summer tried again, she said it a few more times, nope that was wrong again.

Summer took a deep breath. "gaudeo!" Summer said it a couple of times. Now she would try the wand movement. This was going to be fun.

Aria eyes her fingers a bit after she had finished giving her response. See, she really needed to make her notes and was keen on hoping her power would cooperate. Also, had she noticed that Mancini had outed herself as a Chocolate Frog Card collector? No. It was a nice thing to learn about the woman. Deciding to take her chances, the Slytherin picked up her quill and proceeded to make jottings about the Charm.

A cartoon tongue, huh? A neat sketch of the movement was drawn in her book, complete with the arrows and the incantation. With her quill swapped out for her wand, the wand movement practice began. It actually took Aria a number of tries to get it to her satisfaction and only then did she move on to the incantation.

“Gaw-dee-oh. Gaw-dee-oh. Gaw-dee-oh. Gaudeo. Gaudeo.”

Daniel would have dozed off if not for the sudden incantations around him. As he jolted awake, he dropped his arm, which landed with a thud on his desk and his gaze was drawn to the students practicing and then to the blackboard with a symbol drawn on it.

The Hufflepuff flipped through the pages of his charms textbook until he reached an empty page and jotted down the wand movement before glancing around to see what the others were up to. He was already familiar with the cheering charm, but he figured it wouldn't hurt to practice it again. Practice makes perfect. Or so he heard. He looked at his notebook and drew a cartoon smile in the air with his wand. But there was definitely room for improvement, so Daniel sat up a little straighter before attempting again. "Professor Mancini? Will this charm be included in the OWL exam?" he questioned casually, wand still tracing in the air as he looked at her briefly with tired but curious-looking eyes.

Gaudeo…that was an incantation that didn’t exactly roll right off one’s tongue. Which was probably why they were making sure to practice it well before trying to put it all together. Rajesh moved his mouth without speaking at first, trying to work out the movement moving on as he finally spoke. ” Gaudeo… Gaw-dee-oh… Gaudeo… Gaw-dee-oh… Gaudeo… Gaw-dee-oh,” over and over again until it sounded as close as he could to how the professor and healer had spoken it.

"Gaudeo"

Now there was the wand movement, something one had to be real careful with it seemed or it would do too much and cause harm . The movement itself almost looked to Raj like a lowercase g without the upper arch. Taking his wand out to practice, Rajesh went to work without the incantation as directed. Trying once…twice, nope that had two big of a loop. Tried again and it seemed a little better, not as big at least.

Annnnd scribbling and scribbling and...done! At least, Kalie thought she had everything important written down. Charm name, incantation and wand movement included. Or, well, a crude drawing of the wand movement anyway.

"Gaw-dee-ooo." Yeah, that was a weird one to say. It sounded like some super secret government operation or something. "Gaw-dee-ooo. Gaudeo. Gaudeo!" Oops, was that a little to enthusiastic?

Desiree beamed, pleased to hear that she got the answer right. Not that she ever doubted she would because she’d learned that fact from her dad, and why would he give her wrong information? She listened intently, furiously scribbling down notes. Ooh, the inventor of the cheering charm was a Hufflepuff like her! How cool was that?! Maybe she’d invent a useful spell someday too… if she ever got over these random wombat transformations!

She had to stifle a giggle at the wand movement on the board. Professor Mancini was right; it did look like a cartoon tongue! So a pronounced tongue wand movement was one way to overdo the charm… good to know! She wondered what the other ways to overdo the spell were. Not that she actually intended to overdo it, of course. She would never intentionally get a spell wrong, but she’d like to know all the ways one could overdo a cheering charm so she could make sure to avoid them. Maybe she’d ask about it later. For now, she wanted to get in as much practice as possible, lest she turn into a wombat!

“Gaw-dee-oh,” Desiree practiced the incantation quietly. “Gaw-dee-oh, Gaudeo, Gaudeo, Gaudeo…” That part wasn’t very hard! Feeling confident in her pronunciation, she decided to move on to the wand movement.

She carefully made the half smile and tongue-shaped movement with her wand, trying to copy the sketch on the board exactly. Hmm… that tongue looked a bit too wide. She tried again, but this time, the tongue was too narrow and pointy-looking. She kept practicing, and on her third try, she achieved a happy medium between her previous tries. Not too wide this time, or too pointy. Did she get it right that time?

Once it seemed as if everyone had a chance to practice the movement and incantation, it was time to continue again. "Okay, we're going to move on to actually practicing the spell on a partner. Pair up... preferably with someone you've never partnered with before!" Because why not? "And take turns casting the cheering charm on each other. If you need assistance, you may ask. The charm should wear off in a couple minutes, however, you may end it quicker by casting 'finite incantatem' to counter it so that the other person may have a chance to practice. I'll be watching for signs that you overdid the charm. Also if you wish to be further challenged, older students may attempt the charm non-verbally."


ooc: sorry for the delay... main activity posted, which is to practice with a partner. And use the counter charm if necessary so that the other partner may have a chance. Let me know if any questions or if you need help <3

Aria had always been rubbish at non verbals. Like… literally nothing ever happened no matter how much she tried. However, when Mancini suggested that older students challenge themselves, the Slytherin knew that she would not run away from this opportunity. She would try again! There was no need to give up on non verbals just yet.

“Would anyone like to partner up?” Ms. McLeod asked, casting a look around the classroom and wiggling her brows in good old fashioned happiness. Anyone want to find out what she was like when she was even more cheerful? If not, she was coming to you, professor, to pair up!