No desks arranged as per usual?

This was always a curious thing. Jude paused just inside of the classroom briefly as he surveyed the place. Pillows though! These were always in the place of chairs! Except now the young man had to resist the always lurking urge to build a fort. And was that construction paper? Whatever were they doing today during the lesson?

Having read the note on the board, Jude selected a pillow directly opposite of Professor Sayse. No greeting had been offered because no one liked to be disturbed while meditating.

It was always curious to see how a classroom would be for each lesson. There were ones that stayed the same every time and others that left one surprised when you approached the room and stepped over the threshold. This time was one of the latter and Rajesh paused just inside to take it all in. Including the two people already there, being one Professor Sayre and Jude. They were to sit on the cushions and not touch the paper. Got it.

“Goo—” he started to greet the woman but cut himself off not wanting to disturb. She seemed to be in her own world at the moment. “Hey,” he greeted his fellow seventh year albeit quieter than usual not to make too much noise as he took a seat on a cushion.

Maxine entered the charms classroom - and took a step back - she did a double take to make sure she had actually come into the classroom seeinga as the desks were all pushed away. The she noticed the pillows and the Professor, normally she's greet them with a smile and a kind hello, but it didn't seem right to distrube. So for now she took a seat on a pillow and sat cross legged waiting to hear about the days lesson.

Hope was bundled up in several sweaters this day, but when she arrived in her Charms classroom, she realize she would have to take at least one of them off, because the room was warm. She read the notice--oh dear, didn't the professor know that telling students not to touch something made them want to touch it all the more?--and then started to greet Professor Sayse, but stopped herself. Hmm...she looked rather, uh, busy at the moment. So Hope chose to just quietly enter the room and walk over to a cushion near her fellow Ravenclaw, Rajesh Atreyu-Rehman. She shyly seated herself--he was a seventh year, after all-- and softly said, "Hello."

Classes were always a place to stay polite and pay attention. Giselle had been taught that from a young age, even if outside of such she did what she wanted. Mum had always said it was important that the professors have a good opinion of them, and she had burned that in her memory. Anything that might provide a use for her later on, after all. And Charms was one of the subjects she actually thought might be useful. Fire charms and all. Finding out if they could be used for her dancing.

If the fact most of the others in the room already having been older had bothered the brunette first year, she didn’t let it show. No, she had walked in with her ack straight and as elegantly as she could…only to see that the professor wasn’t likely to have noticed her anyhow. Meditating was all good, but how was she supposed to make a good impression with her greeting if it would’ve been taken as an interruption.

Dilemma swirling in her head, she had acknowledged Hope at the very least with a smile, taking a seat on a cushion one away from where the professor was meditating. At least then it was likely she’d be noticed at some point. Then she could greet her.

The quiet manner in which the students before her had entered the room went entirely unnoticed by Vera, as she skipped her way inside after the little green first year. The pillows immediately caught her attention - she LOVED when they got to sit like that instead of uncomfortable chairs - and then the paper did too. But before she could grab a piece to fold and mess with while waiting for class to start - she noticed the instructions and pulled her hand back with a small pout. She supposed she'd try that patience thing and wait. Maybe.

Glancing around, she spotted Professor Sayse and completely disregarding the current pose that was probably meant to inspire peace, quiet and relaxation and chirped out a loud, enthusiastic "HI Professor Sayse! Thanks for warming the room! It's nice and cozy in here. If we finish early on whatever you have planned, think we could take naps?" I mean... there was pillows and warmth.

She moved further into the room and plopped herself down on a pillow, folding her legs under her criss cross applesauce. She snagged the pillow on the spot next to her and dropped it into her lap to cover over her skirt. Modesty and all, you know. Plus... this was easier to then hunch over and fall asleep on the other pillow. In case that nap suggestion struck a chord.

Bella felt cold as she entered the charms classroom, stopping breifly upon entering to take in the warmth. At least she wasn't going to freeze her toes or fingers off during this class. Professor Sayse was thoughtful. Bella opened her mouth to say something when she noticed the lack of desks, pillows, and seemingly meditating professor. She gave professor Sayse a silent 'hello' nod in greeting before she passed by Hope, Giselle, Maxine, Rajesh and Vera on her way over to sit down on the vacant pillow next to Jude. "Hi Jude!" she greeted in a whisper to not disturb Professor Sayse. "Want to drink some hot chocolate with me later?"

Brandon was glad it was warm in here. Because it was very cold out, and he didn't do so well with the cold. He hadn't even adjusted to less-cold temperatures yet.

Brandon disliked how often professors changed the layout of the classrooms. It did keep it interesting, but Brandon liked things to always stay predictable. He did not say this. He sat cross-legged on the pillow, but he didn't meditate because he wasn't sure how and he really hoped it didn't involve closing his eyes. He liked to have his eyes open to notice things. Such as the construction paper. Such as the instruction not to touch it. Those were important things to notice.

Brandon waved at Giselle, but he didn't greet the professor. He didn't want to interrupt.

It was time for charms, aka Desiree’s favorite class! The dark-haired Hufflepuff practically skipped down the hall toward the classroom, basking in the warmth that hit her as she stepped inside. “Hello-” she started to greet the professor in her usual cheery manner but stopped as she noticed the woman meditating (?) at the front of the room. It would be rude to disturb her but just as rude to not say anything at all, so she settled for a much quieter greeting. “Hello, Professor.”

While the heating charms were no surprise to Desiree, the unusual room setup was. Meditating professor, cushions instead of desks… were they doing something with meditation today? That wouldn’t explain the paper, though. Ooh, was this going to be another art project? She remembered the combination of art, charms, and Latin at that get-together earlier in the term and how much fun that was. Hopefully whatever this was would be just as much fun! Still trying to guess the lesson’s subject, she took a seat on the nearest pillow. “Hi,” she whispered, waving at Jude.

Remaining in her cross-legged position on her pillow - because it was rather comfortable, Marilyn gazed around at each of them for a moment, appreciative of how respectful majority of them were. And even Vera who had broken the silence, wasn't rude in her dialect.

"Hope it's not too warm in here, but please let me know if it does get too warm. I can always open the window to let some cool air in for a couple minutes. Good afternoon everyone." She said by way of greeting, since she hadn't done so individually this time. She could also turn off the heating charms.

"So the pillows actually don't have a purpose for today's lesson other than to act as our seats today. I thought it would be a nice change in pace to sit on the floor. But perhaps if there's time at the end we could play a short game involving them." Maybe. No naps though, even if the warm air was lending itself to it.

"Today we'll be learning a charm that I've found quite useful in daily life." She wasn't joking either, as she literally used this charm every day. "The folding charm. Can you tell me what or where you might find use for this charm?" She'd rather tell them what they were working on quickly so they can actually get the time to practicing.


ooc: welcome to the charms lesson this term!! Lesson has officially started. Catch-posts allowed, but no late arrivals, unless you wish to have consequences. Question is simple, what/where might you use this charm for? Will continue in about 24 hours

HOW did one focus that much to be able to meditate? Jude frowned slightly as he watched Sayse meditating. At least that’s what he thought she was doing. The other option was that she had fallen asleep in that position. Was it the Lotus position? Anyway, for the life of him, this Hufflepuff could not manage meditation. His mind was always too loud, switching from topic to topic at a rapid speed.

His face cleared of the frown to smile and wave at Raj. Then the quiet that he and many of his classmates after had been trying to preserve was broken by Vera. He winced, instantly reminded of his older sister and the way she was loud so very often. Why, WHY couldn’t everyone use indoor voices always?? Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Jude diverted his attention to his best Slytherin buddy. “Hi, Bells!’’ He spoke in his usual quiet voice, and had given up on keeping silent now because Vera. “Hot chocolate?! You know I can’t resist that nor a date with you! After our last lesson of the day, then?” Catching sight of Desiree, Jude grinned. “Hey, Desiree!”

Now that Sayse was getting things started, his attention was fully on her. Was it too warm for him? Not really. The Hufflepuff felt warm but it was the comfortable kind of warmth. He muttered a response greeting, wiggling slightly as he adjusted his spine to sit straighter. Sitting slightly hunched always hurt after a while. “Folding a fort’s many blankets after being done using said fort, professor.’’ He lowered his hand with a slight grin. Yes, he was fort obsessed. It couldn’t be helped.

Professor Sayse's comment was not taken with any malice from the young girl, instead she just smiled back at her and gave a small giggle because she knew the teacher was probably right. But she might be able to try if it got them out of a quiz or something, if that were on the agenda for the day.

Or perhaps she'd take it even to get out of folding. Was that what they were going to do be doing this class???? Would they all be folding their own clothes?? Perhaps Professor Sayse had decided the house elves needed a day off which if that was the goal... She supposed she could suck it up for a day and do menial labor. But with magic.

But at the same time .. wouldn't the meditation have something to do with the lesson? Which made her think of yoga, which was folding in it's own right... So the Gryffindor's hand went up into the air. "Can you use the folding charm to better fold your body into a yoga pose???" Wouldn't that be handy!

Having been followed in by the loud Gryffindor girl, Giselle had rather expected a different reaction from the professor once Professor Sayse had acknowledged the girl. Respect was something very important to Giselle, having had it drummed into her by her mum and twisted by her young mind into probably something nearly unrecognizable. Seeing as she very much so hadn’t seen any of the other students who had spoken while it had seemed obvious to her the professor had wanted quiet. She had returned Brandon’s wave, though. That wasn’t offensive.

And no, it wasn’t too warm for her. She quite liked the temperature in the classroom right now. Adapting to the castle in winter had been difficult. Nor had she particularly wondered about the pillows, aside from the fact they were much nicer to sit on than the cold floor.

“Origami?”, she said, raising her hand. Not like it was a useful everyday activity, but the paper was right there. She didn’t see any clothing or blankets or anything else in the classroom. Plus, it might be fun to try and make a origami dragon and animate it sometime. Like mum’s rock dragon and stuff at home. Along with the fire charms and use in fire dancing.

Settling his school bag on the floor before him, Rajesh watched as students followed him and Jude inside. Most were relatively quiet, even those exchanging greetings. “Hi,” he said, returning Hope’s greeting with a friendly smile at the younger Ravenclaw. And then there was Vera who came into the quiet like a bull in a china shop. He just bit back a laugh and silently shook his head and waited to see on a reaction and Professor Sayre didn’t disappoint.

Couldn’t stay quiet enough to nap indeed.

“Good afternoon,” he said, returning the woman’s greeting. Folding things. One idea certainly stuck out, something to be used everything. “Keeping your trunk organized.”

Slighty a bummer that the pillow aren't being used for anything for the lesson - but oh well - moving on.

"I would use to fold laundry." Maxine added - thinking if it was the same spell her mom used at home it made the chore go much faster.

Brandon had zero problems with pillows. He preferred chairs, but he didn't like having to sit on the hard floor and he decided that the pillows were a great improvement. His was even his favorite color, and a nice firmness.

He always liked when professors told them what they were doing immediately. The folding charm- that sounded useful. Brandon was always doing laundry and packing things for people at home, so this was a good charm to know. Too bad he wasn't allowed to use magic outside of school... he wasn't dependent on magic, but he felt weaker without it. "This fits in with the laundry and trunk organization ideas brought up by Raj and Maxine, but the folding charm could be useful if you've got to put a lot of things into a small bag or box or drawer and you're not very good at being efficient with space. Does it always fold them, or can it roll things up too?" Because rolling was usually better for packing than folding was.

Brandon didn't like having to do so many chores at home, but he did like everything done the way he wanted, so he didn't complain. He rarely complained about anything.

Desiree returned Jude’s greeting with a smile, but there wasn’t time to chat. Class was starting. She looked to the front, paying respectful attention as Professor Sayse spoke. No, she wasn’t too warm. In fact, she rather liked the room temperature; it was nice and cozy! She wasn’t fussed when she heard the pillows weren’t for the lesson, though she was awfully curious about the possible game. Ooh, what game was it? She resolved to work extra hard to finish early so she could find out!

Oh, the folding charm. She knew that spell! Assuming this was the same folding charm she was thinking of, she’d seen her dad use that spell many times. Her bright blue eyes flicked toward the stack of paper as she heard the spell, and her thoughts instantly turned to origami. But someone had already said that, and Desiree didn't want to take the easy way of repeating answers. How else could one use the folding charm? It came in handy for laundry - at least that was the way her dad used it most often - but that answer was taken too.

Still thinking along the lines of fabric folding, Desiree’s thoughts turned to sewing. Maybe the folding charm could be used to fold pleats. She tentatively raised her hand and said, “Sewing pleats, maybe. You have to fold the fabric a certain way to do that, so maybe the folding charm could help.” She wasn’t sure, but what other answer would a fashionista like her give?

"Folding letters, if you've got to send out lots of invitations at once, for instance," Hope said promptly. She still remembered having to fold all those letters for her mother when her youngest aunt had gotten married; she probably still had papercuts from them.

Once it seemed like everyone had the chance to offer some usages for the folding charm, Marilyn figured it was time to continue forth with the lesson. "So while these were quite amazing suggestions and they would all technically work well for the folding charm. Although there's one a little more specific for clothes, the one we're doing today should technically work on fabric. But origami and folding letters were the closest to what we're going to be working on to practice." Not quite though.

"So we're actually going to be using two charms today, one being the folding charm. The other being the severing charm. Which, while we'll be practicing on paper, they both work well together for fabric. Specifically something Desiree talked about with making pleats." But they weren't tailors todays.

"Before we can get started on the actually activity, we need to practice the charm. So take a piece of scrap paper to practice on. The first charm is plico, the wand motion is a point and move your wand in the direction of the intended fold." Mari took a piece of paper and demonstrated with her own wand, drawing the paper in half. A moment later, the paper creased itself and folded in half. "The second charm - the severing charm, the incantation is Dih-fin-doh. The wand movement for that one is a downward slashing motion. So take some scrap paper and let's spend a few minutes working on the incantation and wand movements before we continue." She looked at the few older students in here, "Older students may attempt non-verbally if you wish."


ooc: Practice the two charms for a bit before we move on, which will probably be Sunday evening (so about 40ish hours from now). Let me know if any questions <3

SPOILER!!: Catch up

"It's a date Jude! Shall we meet in the kitchen?" Bella asked out loud. If they were in the kitchen then the house elves could help them with possible chocolate misshaps. Of course then Professor Sayse began the lesson and Bella had to focus and take notes. They were going to work with the folding charm today. Raising her hand she said "I think the folding charm is niffty when you need to pack your trunk or want to fold a nice card for say christmas or valentines day." Bella had probably mentioned something that her other peers had already offered up but she couldn't think of anything else that the folding charm was good for.

Giselles idea of origami though was pretty good, but it technically was a variation of what Bella had already said. All right it was time to practice. She began practicing the wand movements for the two spells, sneaking looks at Jude sometimes to see if she was doing plico right. The severing charm Bella was more used to since they had had used and practiced it before in class. "Plio, no Plico, Plico." she chanted several times and then moved to then next one "Diffindo, Diffindo, Diffindo."

Gripping her wand Bella preformed the wandmovement for the folding charm in conjunction with her saying the incantation "Plico!" Watching the piece of scrap paper fold neatly in half she retried it to get the paper to fold once more. Then Bella opened the double folded paper before she casted firmly "Diffindo!" watching how the scrap paper parted in half a smile appeared on her face. Success!

Jude liked to think out of the box as often as he could, that’s why Professor Sayse had not expected that answer. But yes, he constantly used magic to fold his blankets - both at home and at Hogwarts. It was nice to be of age. He really liked Giselle’s answer. Magic really did make origami much easier. As Sayse continued, the Hufflepuff went ahead to jot down the two spells and other relevant information that they would be learning today. Already there was anticipation about the activity on his part.

Scrap paper on his desk, the seventh year got to work. His incantations were done verbally because nonverbals? Yeah, those gave him so much trouble that he had given up on them. “Plico!” Jude said quietly, after a bit of incantation and wand movement practice. He moved his wand, copying Sayse in her earlier demonstration. To his delight, the paper folded in half then with some more wand movement, into quarters.

When it came to Diffindo, this was a spell that the Hufflepuff was proficient in. For that reason, the practice was skipped over completely. “Diffindo!’’ Cue the downward slashing movement. The paper he had folded got severed neatly in half.

Now that those tasks were done, they would be repeated, especially the Folding Charm.

Brandon was disappointed that the charm didn't roll things, but it was okay. Some things were better to fold than roll, like thick sweaters. So it was still useful. He noted that there was a specific fabric folding charm. Was it better at folding fabric? Or was it just terrible at folding paper? He hoped it was the first one. Otherwise that spell would be pretty useless.

Brandon's first thought had been folding clothes, but he did have to fold paper occasionally. Multipurpose was good.

He was dying to learn nonverbals, but he was eleven and didn't even know the regular spell yet. He sighed, wishing he were older so he could do powerful magic without talking. He'd seen both his sister and Professor Khanna even use some wandless magic, which to him was the best thing ever. When could he learn to do that?

...probably when he'd already mastered verbal magic with his wand. At least he was patient. He actually knew diffindo already, having used it a few times- but not the other one. He had questions. Did the fold get all crooked if you moved your wand wrong, or did it correct itself? Which way did it fold? He had to experiment on it.

"Plico. Plico. Plico? Plico." Once he'd got it working, Brandon used "Plico" to fold the paper, intentionally drawing the line in a sloppy way. Interestingly, but maybe not surprisingly, the paper folded sloppily, with a bad crease and imperfectly lined up edges. Yes, that was what he'd been trying for, but he still hated it to look like that, so he smoothed the paper out and used "plico" again to fold it in half properly. Edges lining up. Nice, thin, neat crease. That made him happy enough to smile.

What exactly were they supposed to be using diffindo on? The fold? Or a separate piece of paper? He decided on trying both. "Diffindo," he said, cutting a fresh piece of paper into strips. "Diffindo," he said again, slicing his original paper neatly down the fold. This was a very useful spell to know.

Brandon spent the rest of the time fixing the paper with Reparo, because he didn't like having a bunch of random paper strips when he could have a normal piece of paper. Paper was useful. Plus, Brandon liked to fix things.

Ah so it wouldn't work on humans? That was too bad, some of those yoga poses were pretty tricky. But it would work on clothes and paper? Seemed boring but at least it was knowledge she'd have. Listening to Professor Sayse's explanation and instructions for the next part of the lesson, Vera got herself a piece of scrap apper when it was time to do so. Diffindo was one she'd had to use before, so she wasn't worried about practicing that but... plico would be trickier.

First straightening out her paper on her desk, she picked up her wand and pointed it at the paper "Plico!" Before drawing a line down the length about an inch in. The fold wasn't PERFECT (shaky wand movements) but it looked about as good as doing it with her hand would have. She flipped the paper over, before repeating the process. "Plico!" Wand point and line drawn another inch in. The paper folded again, perhaps a little cleaner than the last but still not straight. So once more, she flipped her paper again and continued. "Plico!" The process was repeated about 4 more times until the paper had been accordion folded, each one looking the slightest bit better than the last.

Process completed, she picked up her piece of scrap and spread it out like a fan, using it on herself a moment before deciding to actually do the second part. Vera put her new fan back down. "Diffindo!" The paper split itself, so not instead of one fan she had TWO.

Hope listened carefully to the instructions for the spells and wrote them down in her notebook in case she forgot them later (which she had a bad habit of doing--there were so many classes and all the spells and charms started running around in her brain after a while). Then she took her piece of paper, set it before her, took up her wand, and just looked at it for a while, gathering up her confidence. She still felt very stupid compared to her fellow Ravenclaws and she wanted to get this right.

"PLEE-koh....Plico, Plico, Plico," she muttered under her breath, then, pointing her wand at the paper, tried it out. "Plico!" she said out loud, pointing her wand, then moving it away from her toward the other end of the table. To her amazement, the paper cooperated, folding itself upward and in half. All right, it was a trifle crooked--after all, her wand movement had been a bit wobbly there--but it was folded, beyond a doubt.

Pleased with this, Hope started on the next spell. "Dih--FIHN--doh.....Diffindo, Diffindo, Diffindo." This one made Hope a little nervous--after all, with cutting, you could hurt something, or someone. She also practiced the downward slashing wand movement without the words a few times. Finally, hoping she had gotten it right, she tried it on the paper, opening it up and trying to cut it along the line she'd folded. "Diffindo!" she cast the charm at last, boldly slashing her wand in the desired direction. Looking down, she was that the paper was indeed cut, and cut in the place she'd meant it to be. Success! Smiling, she picked up a piece of paper in each hand to admire her handiwork. Then, looking down, her smile faded. There was a faint scratch in the desk where the paper had been--she'd cast the spell too hard and cut both paper AND wood. Oh dear. She nervously looked around to see if her classmates had noticed her error, and wondered how much one had to pay Hogwarts for defacing a desk.