Jillian flashed her pearly whites again. "Yer doin' fine, Cap'n. Just raise the balloon fer ten sec'nds and after that, gently put it back down on the desk without bursting it." she nodded. She usually looked like one of those bobble-head figures when she did this. Poor girl couldn't help it though. Nodding had been involuntary since she was eight. She was used to nodding a lot now she didn't even notice her nodding much.

Jillian continued to observe Daphne as she raised the balloon. Daphne was really doing well. Jillian had to maintain that concentration too, so her balloon wouldn't pop and wet Daphne when it was her turn to levitate the rubbery thing filled with water. Jillian nodded at the thought. "Yer pirate talk be improvin' quick-like, Cap'n" she complimented as the balloon hovered mid-air.

she turned her attention back to the slytherin as she gave him a small smile."nice to met you." she turned to look at the other slytherin girl he had introduced as evolette." Nice to meet you as well. Like i said all three of you are welcome to join us if you like. Though hot potato sounds entertaining i was thinking something more fun. More like everyone gets a few water balloons and the last one not to get wet is the winner. Something a bit more challenging." she raised an eye brow at the group." if your up for a challenge. By all means sit here bored if you like."

she raised an eye brow at him as he liked to be devoured. the only thing she would like to devour would be his ego." By Me or by anything female that comes your way. " Good grief. mari sure picked a good boy to have a crush on.

she turned to ludo as she moved to sit on a near by desk table, just between the two groups."Thanks. Im sure you'd great. When you take a shot at it." she said as she knew he was going to do fine. He was in ravenclaw. no promblem.

Asteira complimented Ludo and he blushed a bit. "Don't be so sure. I'm just as prepared for O.W.L. Charms as the rest of you..."

He grinned, "Now if you promise not to eat me, I might give it a try..."

10...9...8....7

Jillian was speaking again and she paid attention to her words long enough to choke. In her coughing, her hand shook and her balloon shook ominously in the air before it feel a few inches before Daphne was able to catch it again. Pressing her pink lips together, she focused her irritation on keeping the balloon up (even though now, her emotions seemed to be making it shake sinisterly above them) and contained herself from burning Miss Jillian alive with a scathing glare of disapproval.

6...5...4...3...

"Argh, matey, do not speak yer cap'n be concentratin'" she barked genuinely. "I think I'm done." She spoke finally, and brought down the balloon, her time having ended with her last spoken word. "You're turn."

Mariska had no idea what Asteira was up to, but she turned to watch the brief exchange between the Slytherins while she and Ludo stayed behind. She was going to ask Ludo if he would just stay back with her, as she had a feeling that Asteira knew more than she let on now...that could only lead to more embarrassment for Mari. Or, perhaps a bit of closure. She debated for a bit, but her decision was made for her when Ludo seemed to join the group.
Mari looked around, a little bit of uncertainty showing in her face, but she figured that there wasn't anything she could do about the situation. She did notice that Ludo blushed again; He seemed to prone to that, she noted with a slightly arched brow. She looked around silently at the little group, and she wondered very briefly if this would end well or badly.

Chad grinned at the Natka and took a seat next to the young girl, he placed his books onto the counter and unrolled his parchment.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Natka.. I'm Chad, Chad Mondai," He said shaking her hand, he wrote down a few more notes and then rolled his parchment right back up with a pleased air. Chad turned to his fellow Ravenclaw and gestured to her balloon,

"Are you having trouble with it?" The Ravenclaw asked kindly, bounceing his balloon with his right hand and chuckleing slightly as it bopped Natka on the head.

"Sorry," He said taking the pink balloon back and placeing it gently before him.

A small squeak escaped from Jillian's mouth as Daphne's balloon almost fell. She bit her lip, trying to hide the smile [or most probably a boisterous laugh] that was about to escape her lips. She nodded, showing she understood, for she couldn't speak. If she let go of her mouth, she would start laughing, and not speaking in pirate-language as she intended to.

"Well done, Cap'n!" she said applauding Daphne as the balloon landed on the table. "Indeed it be!" she agreed, whipping out her wand and pointing it directly at her balloon.

Concetrate. She told herself. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she said as if commanding the balloon to take flight at once. Oddly, the balloon twitched once, then quickly rose to the air. "IDIDIT!" Jillian mused excitedly. "I mean--arg. I done it!" she added, catching herself un-pirate-like.

One. Two. Three. Four. Through her excitement, she lost her concentration and the balloon descended towards Daphne's feet, but before it could reach her friend's shoes, she recollected her concentration once more and the balloon rose. Phew! "Got it right on time eh, Cap'n?" she said grinning.

Five. Six. Seven. Eight. "This be fun. I should try this spell on one of me sister's dolls sometime and see if I can get her to believe they're alive and flying. Aye!" she plotted mischievously. Learning spells was fun, especially if she could get at Susie.

Nine. Ten. "Okay, down she goes now. Arg!" Jillian lowered her wand, and the balloon followed suit, gently landing on the table, next to Daphne's balloon.

Callie was very pleased as she walked around the room, and watched everyone practice. "They're taken the charm rather seriously and showing great restraint at the temptation to take those balloons and start a water balloon fight," Callie thought to herself. "I'm really impressed with you guys, great job so far." Callie told the class.


Perhaps she had spoken too, soon. . .

She watched the Ravenclaw boy rant something about weapons. "Weapons?" Callie began to respond when the boys sudden actions . . . reaching out, grabbing the balloons and putting them under his shirt took Callie by surprise. "What on earth?!"

Callie was about to summon the balloons right out of his shirt, when another student did one better . . .

Callie watched as suddenly a clumsy hufflepuff girl crashed into the Ravenclaw boy hiding the balloons under his shirt.

She grinned with delight as the balloons popped under his shirt. She couldn't help herself, but she had to do it, she had to give the girl points for her clumsiness! "Well done!" Callie clapped. "Five points to Hufflepuff for teaching your friend here a nice, cold lesson that fooling around in my class doesn't pay, nor does stealing my precious balloons!" Callie laughed. "Ahh, I couldn't have done it better myself!"


---------------

"And with that my friends, I think it's time to bring this class to an end." Callie called out.

"Excellent work today everyone. I hope you all learned a little lesson in patience, and concentration today as you practiced this spell. I'm not a fool," Callie laughed, "I know how tempting it was for all of you to want to take one of these balloons and throw it at a friend, or even at an enemy . . . but you didn't. You all controlled yourselves and showed great restraint. I'm very proud of all of you."

"Now let's see. . .Hmm, if I could have three volunteers who can properly cast the Tergeo Charm to come forward, I will ask you to dry your classmates off as they head out the door." Callie thought aloud as she scanned the room for the first three hands to go up. "Come on now, don't be shy. Extra points are up for grabs here guys!"

Anna's hand shot into the air. "Professor, may I?" she asked. She was getting quite good at this volunteering stuff if she did say so herself. She wasn't quite so nervous to get in front of the class and have all eyes on her anymore either.

Cale raised his hand and smirked over in Nico's direction. "I'll volunteer, Professor," he told her with a smile.

I will professor." asteira raised her hand as she saw other students do it as well. she so wanted to be a volunteer. especially after their talk at the lake.

she turned to ludo as she then gave him a fake laugh." ha ha. I'll eat you right after Nico. Dont go anywhere." she said seriously.

Callie's head practically snapped back as hands shot in the air just as quickly as the words left her mouth.

"Excellent! Hmmm, seeing as you guys were so eager, something tells me there may be one or two more eager students who weren't able to raise their hands as quickly."

"Last chance, is there anyone else interested in helping out?"

Christine raised her hand when the professor asked for more volunteers I'll help.

Curt smiled at the opportunity, it was his 6th year. Might as well get involved eh? His hand shot right up into the air in response to Professor Hawkins.

Mari was quite relieved when Professor Hawkins called the lesson to an end, mostly because it meant she wouldn't have to find out what Asteira had planned. That girl was quite the Slytherin, Mari thought with a little smile. She watched as Asteira volunteered to dry off other students, noting that Cale and Anna had as well. Now they both seemed positively cheery. How odd, she thought. " I'll help too, Professor, if that's alright." She offered with a little shrug.

Dominic wasn't sure he should volunteer, being the new kid and all, but what they hey. He raised his hand a little and spoke quietly, "I'll help."

"Perfect!" Callie clapped again.

All five of you take 3 points each! Thank you for volunteering! As you see wet students leaving, I'm going to ask each of you to cast the Tergeo charm on the student and dry them off."

"Alright class, if there are no questions, your homework will be posted on the notice board shortly. Don't forget to stop by and check it. I will not accept any excuses for late homework."

"For those of you who feel you need a little bit more practice on this charm, you may stay behind for a little while longer, I'd be happy to help you."

"For everyone else, class is dismissed!"

Alyss wanted to help. She wanted deperatly to help. But like was she going to go up there and parade like a performing loon. Lifting the Charms book back up again, she curled further up into her chair. Expect to get good homework. She thought.

Christine was excited that she earned some point for her house. She stood up and walked towards the door. She pulled out her wand and got ready to cast the Tergeo charm to whomever needed drying.

Dominic sighed as the Professor picked other students that volunteered just prior. Of course; he honestly didn't expect her to pick him anyway... the quiet new guy who sat in the back of the class and rolled his eyes. Sighing quietly, the fourth year turned to fetch is bag and then made to leave the classroom. He didn't need drying anyway since he hadn't gotten wet.

Cale grinned and shot another look at Nico. Bwaha! Take THAT Toussiant! I just earned points off of using YOUR charm! he thought wickedly to himself. He positioned himself at the door and pulled out his wand. "Step right up," he said with a grin as the rest of the students started to leave.

Mari was actually a little relieved that she wasn't picked, and she watched as those who were went about their duties. She looked on as the Professor announced the homework and then dismissed the class, which was when Mariska began putting her things away. She hung back a bit, hoping to catch Asteira and have a quick discussion with her.

Curt smiled as she mentioned that Hufflepuff was getting more points, Thank merlin. Hufflelpuff had literally no rubies in the hour glass, and was most likely in negative points by now...

"Good Lesson Professor." he said with a nod, writing a final note on his parchment before hopping up and approaching the door. Tergeo, Curt chuckled at this. He had used this charm only days ago at the feast as well to clean his pumpkin juice off his lap that Frederic's dog knocked over.

Waiting at the door as people were walking out, he had his wand poised waiting for anyone that might need a little dryin' off.

Asteira saw him levitating a balloon as she turned back to callie as she spoke about drying students off. Perfect. she pulled out her wand as she moved to take nico's floating balloon and head over to him. She moved to drop it over his head and she then spoke." whoops. Your really bad at that hot potato game. You should work on that spell more often. Here let me dry you off." she said as she then moved to use the spell."Tergeo." she said as she pointed her wand at his wet clothes." thanks for the help." she told him with a smile as she moved back to her original spot." anyone else need to be dried?" technically since she helped a student already she was done. why not help a few others...that were already wet.

Evolette pouted as she walked over to Cale, eyeing the sleeve of her robe disdainfully. "I successfully succeeded in refraining from getting wet, until I tried exiting the classroom and someone walked right into me." She told him. He had better feel sorry for her. Holding up her arm, she smirked, "Work your magic dear."