Kayla raised her hand also. "Yes I agree with Paris, I think we can move onto something else" she said lazily and biting her lip to keep from laughing at Jake and Cam.

"Yes, yes! Of course you may! Thank you for speaking up!" Ian glanced at the clock. "How about we practice for...oh...ten more minutes? After that, I'll ask again."

Ian looked over to the two girls who asked to move on. "Sorry, girls, but I think I'll let everyone practice for a little longer. My uh..safety depends on it, anyway..."

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!!!

She looked at the professor when he said his safety depended on them practicing some more on this char. Oh goody! They were going to do something great for class. "This should be good," She whispered to Kayla.

Daniel, upon seeing his classmates did the spell, positioned himself. He stood up, stretched his right hand, his wand hand, and loudly muttered A-LO-HO-MO-RA, but nothing happened.

He then inhaled, stands still and again muttered, A-LO-HO-MO-RA, a movement was seen in the lock but it was never opened.

For the last time, he thought. Daniel closed his eyes and inhaled a large sum of air. He muttered, A-LO-HO-MO-RA he lock was then unlocked and he almost jump and shout out of glee.

Nervously, she tucked a blond strand behind her ear, lower lip trapped helplessly between her teeth. Really? Had she done it? Well, certainly, she didn't think it was beyond her! And as the thought ran through her mind, her hip cocked to side, one hand flying to accompany her hip movement. After all, she wasn't a squib and she did hear the lock click--however--something didn't sit right with her.

Confused, and feeling quite dumb, Daphne looked at Celandine a slight look of pathetic helplessness lost in her eyes. "I...did," hesitated to admit the third year Gryffindor. "Didn't I?"

Fishy, like the market Davis frequented to buy items for dinner.

"We," I, began Daphne with a frown. "Are not done!" Realizing her tone had been perhaps, a bit harsh, Miss Hopton cleared her throat. "I mean--I..."

Well, go on. We're all here to learn, right? "I might....be having a bit of..."

Oh, for Merlin's sake, woman!

"I can't quite get it!" exclaimed the little woman exasperated, with clenched fists before taking a deep breath. "I just need a few more tries."

Having seen that the Professor agreed, Daphne felt quite--ridiculous. Turning scarlet, she walked closer towards Celandine, placing one hand on her elbow as she had taken a tendency to do when nervous. "I'm going to do it again."

Asking for a few more minutes to practice had proved to be a stupid thing to do. Whether it was the truth or her paranoia surging, Daphne Hopton could feel several eyes on her, judging her character solely on this performance. Swallowing with some difficulty, she squinted at the chest, trying to appear as menacing as possible.

Just as she had begun chanting the incantation, she sucked her teeth and stopped to swipe her wand with her other hand. Palm flat against her robes, Daphne attempted to regain her composure back along with the dryness of her hands which had begun to inexplicably sweat. Again, she aimed at the lock on the chest but the sudden quickening of her herbeat was even managing to drown out the din in the classroom. It made her believe that she truly was being watched struggle with such an amateur charm.

Again, like a lost puppy, she allowed her round eyes to search for Celandine's face. Right. Take it back? I don't want to try anymore!

He nodded at the professor's advice and continued to watch Jake with his wand moments. Luckily they were given 10 more minutes to practice so it was probably his last one until they jumped to phase two. Oh was it his turn now?! So he held his wand again and tried not to violently throw the wand in all directions. As Ashby (he finally learned the name) said, there were to be no eyeball-less people in the first lesson so he just quickly flicked his wand and said the incantation. "Alohomora!"

Complete successss, yeaaaaah! The thing went open with just a CLICK and nothing else. With all of that... advancement he should have been placed in some sort of Charms Class for Professionals. Yup, he felt readeh for anything.

Walking up to the chest again he closed it and waited for further instructions from the professor.

Bwahahahahaaaa!!!!! I have mastered the ability of this wand!!!!! Go Jake, it's not your birthday, but let's party like itscha birffday!

Jake reeeeeaally wanted to get up and do his elbow-to-knee dance, but alas! Twas impossible. He tried to do it sitting down, but grrrrrr... that didn't work either. Jake just ended up on the floor.

"How come I always end up on the floor when I use this thing," he asked nobody in particular, as he shoved his wand up on his desk before pulling himself back up.

As he sat in his chair and pointed his wand the trunk, he felt eyes on him... THE EYESSSSS!!!!! THEY BUUURRRRRN!!!!!

Slowly, his head twisted round to find the owners of said eyes. Ooh, admirers of my extremely AWESOME magic, eh? Hehe...

Jake leaned back, sorely tempted to rest his feet on the table, but refraining, and pointed his wand somewhere in the direction of the trunk. And guess what?

The wand was the wrong way round... and Jake ended up on the floor.

"Ya see!" Jake sprung back up, looking at Cameron, or anyone that saw the... incident. "It wasn't me, Woody did it!" Jake pointed at his wand, before turning it round at pointing at the chest. "Alohomora... See!!!!!"

The trunk had sprung open again, and Jake conveniently forgot that little incident. "I'm'a have to mark on this thing which end is which," he added, looking at Woody.

"Excellent work!" Ian said, beaming.

"You too! Good work! You have come quite far just in this class alone!" Spazz or no spazz, he was learning.

Or was it this one who was the spazz? Ian could hardly tell the difference. "Just make sure you don't alter the magical properties of the wand if you do," he suggested, chuckling. "Might I suggest attaching a sticker with a permanent sticking charm on the end you hold?" He held out his hand with a sheet of stickers. "Take your pick! I've got plenty. As for the sticking charm, I can take care of that for you. I've some practice with them."

He chuckled. He had his next prank idea for Kapoor's office. And BOY, was it sweet.

Ian turned to the girl who had quasi-screamed for help. "Er, would you like some help?" he asked, bounding over to her, his gut jiggling along with him. He had become accustomed to the excess flab bouncing around. In fact, he was on the verge of affectionately naming it "Phineas."

Cela smiled in encouragement and nodded at Daphne. Why was she getting nervous? Classes were supposed to be for learning, not showing off what you already knew... Celandine chewed on her lip thoughtfully and decided to try a different approach,

"Hey, Daphne it was so generous of you letting me borrow that herbology book; there is so much in there about planting gardens and being organised and I know I could never learn how to be as great as you are at keeping things straight and tidy. And you know what? It sort of just occurred to me about how much trouble Garret and I would get in if you weren't always so conscientious and cautious where we just rush in without thinking things through. It's very smart of you to take your time with this too, because it means that you will get it perfectly right." Celandine paused and smiled brightly, her eyes flicking around at the rest of the class, hoping someone else would figure out what she was trying to do and tell Daphne she was awesome and distract her from being nervous.

"And, you are such a good friend helping me with the saddle thing, and you have so many good ideas and my brother really likes you and keeps telling me that I'm really lucky to have a friend who knows how to present herself and is a real lady. Actually he won't be quiet about it when I talk about my friends. He says that you have potential to be great. But you know what Daphne? I think you already are great, really great." Celandine chattered on, complimenting Daphne in every possible way she could think of and finding it not to be a stretch at all.

Celandine stroked her ebony wand, watching the chest and hoping Daphne would manage the spell.

"Thank you, Professor."said Daniel after he was given recognition by his instructor.

"Yeah," Jake muttered absently. "I wouldn't want the snidget thing to-"

Jake's head whipped around like a gazelle being stalked by a lion. "Stickers?" Jake LOVED stickers!!!!! His eyes went wide at the colours and the... (cue fangirling).

"OhwaowpurfessahIlurveshtickers!!!!!" he gabbled, eyeing the choice. Woooow... in the end he chose a purdy colourful one. "Could you do the sticky thing pleeeease, Professor?" he smiled.

Wow... Jake felt like a four year old having L and R written on his shoes (useless practise...) but... STICKERS!!!!! "Thank youuuuuu..."

Cam gave a quick thumbs-up to the professor, something he's never done to adults before and then paid attention to all of the other people around the room. There was Jake who was getting--What?! He was getting stickers from the professor and he wanted one too. Whether it could have just been plain or had some sort of cartoon-ish picture he still wanted to have one. If it was just plain white he would put his name on it and stick it on top of his forehead. If it had cartoon then he would eat it put it on his forehead too. So there was practically no difference! He leaned closer to Jake and whispered in his ear.

"Pssst... can ya gimme a sticker with chocolate on it? Oh, or maybe a plain one, doesn't mattah."

Ian laughed a deep and hearty laugh as the boy picked out a sticker. This one was definitely the spazz. "Well then, if that's the one you like, lemme stick it on there right now!"

He peeled the backing off the sticker and placed it on the bottom end of the boy's wand, pointed his own wand at it, and muttered the incantation for the permanent sticking charm. "There you go! All fixed! Hopefully you will remain upright and off the floor so long as you please!"

Ian looked at the boy's friend, who leaned in to whisper something. He could only assume he wanted a sticker too, so he pealed one and stuck it to the boy's forehead with a squish.

At this place and time, Ian was SOOO Lisa Frank. If only he knew what the heck that was.

"Actually," began Daphne nervously, wishing she could tell him she was feeling ill and that perhaps she was coming down with something dangerous and contagious, such as meningitis. The opportunity never came because as soon as she had sought silent auxiliary advice from Celandine, the Ravenclaw girl had loyally delivered.

There were so many words pouring out of Celandine at once that it was proving quite tedious to keep together, especially in her current state of nerves but what she did manage to caught made her unexpectedly confused. The feelings she couldn't decipher instantly, as they were mixed and jumbled as much as her minds' thoughts were and Daphne could only stare back at her blond friend dumbly, wand pointing aimlessly at the ceiling.

Daphne it was so generous of you letting me borrow that herbology book; you are such a good friend helping me with the saddle thing; my brother really likes you and keeps telling me that I'm really lucky; you have potential to be great...

Bottom lip wobbling dangerously, she turned on her heel, new-found determination feeling her bones. That bloody lock would open if it was the last thing she did. "I don't need help!" exclaimed the girl haughtily, a blond brow raised in temporary annoyance. "Alohomora!" this time, she made sure to conjure Celandine's image properly in her mind and mimicked her to the last detail.

Not that she'd ever admit it.

The lock clicked and revealed itself to have succumbed to the charm. Grinning she glanced over her shoulder at the Professor. "I told you I'd do it."

Suddenly feeling bashful, she walked quickly, rapid short steps leading her besides Celandine, whose arm she squeezed in apology only to lean in to whisper in her ear: "Thank you."

Like whoah, did the professor just smash that sticker on his forehead! Ooh he loved this class and looked up to see which cartoon he got. The only thing he could see was his hair and eyebrows and only seeing a glimpse of a sticker. It looked like some sort of a purple dog but it was really a hippopotamus. I got a purple dog?! Cool stickers. Cam started to poke the sticker that was on his forehead and looked at Jake to see what sticker he got. "Lemme seee, lemme see!" He fidgeted in his seat and was having a hard time to see what sticker he got.

Then he forgot his manners, oh how could he?! "Thanks Professah Ashby. Nifty collection of stickers ya got!"

WAIT 'TILL I SHOW IT TO EVERYONE!

Jake watched in total adoration as the Professor applied to sticker (a pink and red frog on a yellow and blue lily pad thingamajig in a green pond if you simply MUST know) and permanently stickified it. To Jake, this man coulda been Mr Merlin himself.

"Sir," Jake stated, boldly, standing up before giving a deep bow and sitting down again. "I honour and respect you." And round things off with a fiiiiiiirm... nod. "Yougivededmeastickah!!!!!"

Jake watched the big ole nicey dude give Cameron a sticker on the boy's forehead and grinned. "SIRYOU'REDABESTEST!!!!!"

Jake's Hogwarts education was... complete. Because he had... a sticker.

Yeah... be jealous.

Cela sat up and smiled brightly as Daphne managed the spell perfectly. She watched Daphne as she sat down again and shrugged as the other girl squeezed her arm. "For what? You are the one who unlocked the chest." Celandine pointed out.


Cela reached out and shut the chest, waiting for the lock to click before she pulled her wand free from her hair and pointed it at the chest, "Alohomora!"

Of course, the chest opened immediately, infuriatingly, smoothly and with only the tiniest click of the lock releasing to accompany the successful spell.

Celandine began to hum quietly to herself, shoving her wand over her ear while she made a few notes in her book.

"Well...." mumbled Daphne, wand tapping against her chin. "I am, quite fabulous if I do say so---" Celandine had managed to do what took her about three tries in one.


Pride. Shattered.


Slouching where she stood, she stared in awe at the opened chest. Was she breathing? Just to make sure she patted her chest.

"Oh, excellent work!" Ian said, clapping his hands together. "What a great success!"

Ian chuckled at the two boys, who were going bananas over their stickers. Perhaps Ian should have refrained, but he just couldn't help himself! He enjoyed a good laugh.

"You're both quite welcome. Now then, don't forget to practice the charm!"

Ian took note of the ease with which this girl had completed the task at hand. She was obviously a natural at charms. He hoped that he would be able to actually teach her something about charms this year...and that she wasn't too advanced even for him!

Jake nodded. Nod nod nod. He pointed his wand at the now locked chest (with it pointing the right way this time, thanks to the Merchant of Stickers.

"Alohomora," he recited... wait for it. Waaaaiiiit foooor iiiiiiit.

Clickedy-click. Open. Jake sat back and hugged his wand. So Woody wasn't evil after all, eh? Interesting development. Hughug.

"Are you okay?" Celandine asked, looking up at Daphne innocently, "Want to borrow my notes?" Cela scooted her glisseo shoes back and forward under the table, idly letting them slide, stop and stick in turn.

Cela looked over to the professor and raised her hand, "Excuse me professor? Does the type of lock have any effect over how easily the charm works? Like... how if you use those little lock pick tools, some locks are harder to break? And also; the charm can't unlock heavily warded doors or barriers or whatever, can it? only standard locks?" Celandine could keep asking questions for the entire class but she bit her tongue incase Professor Ashby turned out to be one of the professors that didn't like excessive questions.

Failure. Epic. FAILURE! Inside her head, Daphne could hear centuries of her pureblooded ancestors shrieking in pain of pride and prestige lost. As if to silence the painful inner monologue, Miss Hopton covered her face with her hands and turned sideways on the spot, groaning against her palms.

FAILURE. UNACCEPTABLE FAILURE!

Daphne ventured to peek at the Professor between her short stubby fingers, a disbelieving laugh escaping her before she could return to hide behind her hands once more.

REPUTATION IN SHAMBLES. DISOWNED FROM FAMILY!

Too frustrated to cry, Daphne simply refused to see the light (quite literally) and continued to seek solace behind her own hands. Even as she heard Celandine speak to her, it was her wounded ego that didn't allow her to face her friend head on without speaking harshly at her. "Not even your notes can save me now."

cedric watch his classmates that been practicing charms and he wanted to practice too

Kayla leaned back in her chair and grinned. "I certainly hope so. Maybe he's going to lock one of us in a box and the others have to get them out." Oh dear she often had a warped way of thinking about things.

Qaz had good luck the first time, so she thought that she'd try again.

Pointing her wand at the chest, with a flick, she said, 'Alohomora' Once again, the lock opened. 'Geez, I'm really starting to get better at this wand stuff.'

Still, Muggles had much more exciting ways to do this....pick the lock, blow it up, etc....but with magic, you'd never know the lock was compromised....