If he couldnn't use differnt spells, the then Set would do it differntly. He tried doing it with his eyes closed, and facing the other way. Both times it worked fantasticly!

Qaz watched a young Huffie....starting to get just a bit cocky....

She had an urge to teach him a lesson...perhaps she was just jealous...

Pint-sized little twerp was doing better with a wand than she was....and she was a Sixth!

Freya sighed and looked down at her own lock. 'Guess I'll just play with this spell some more...' She hadn't needed to use it much in the past, and the last time Freya had picked a lock the muggle way, well...things didn't turn out so good, and the memory of it made her feel sick.
She pointed her wand to the lock, murmered, "Alohamora." And there was a clicking sound letting her know it had been performed correctly.
Freya gave a gentle sigh and tried the charm silently, 'Alohamora'. Once more, the lock clicked. Maybe there would be something more entertaining to do later on. 'I guess it is good for the younger students to learn though...' She thought to herself as she stared at her beloved dark cherry wand, and turned it around in her pale hands. At least the wand had regained most of it's strength since the accident over the summer.

After successfully performing the charm several times, Qaz sat back down and made a few notes.

'I'll let Daphne get some practice in,' she thought. 'It looks like her wrist is giving her major problems.'

Twilight looked up at her professor and smiled. How kind he was. He reminded her of her great uncle. She then nodded and decided to give it another try.
Carefully she pointed her wand at the lock and said "Alohomora!"

......and slowly the lock opened. She gave out a sigh of relief.

Paris was having a giggle fit as she watched Jake and Cameron. Those two were funnier than a bad hair piece caught in a pool drain. She held on to her desk for support as she doubled over with laughter. Tears were streaming down her face as she watched them.


She wiped her face as her laughter subsided. She looked over at Kayla. "Are you volunteering to be locked in a box then? You want one of them trying to get you out?" She smirked pointing to Jake and Cameron.

Barry smilled the charm couldn`t be that hard, it was a basic spell. He pointed his wand at his chest, he saw that Cela had done it in one go. If he failed then he was..was..a... dare he saw it a failiure.

Barry raised his wand and was about to cast the spell when he droped it. "That doesn`t count" he murmered and cast the spell again "Alohomora" he said and his chest opened up, easy enough.

"Hmmm. I'm not so sure about this," Clifford muttered, giving his wand a practice wave and chewing his lower lip nervously as he eyed the small, locked chest on the desk between he and Evangeline. Knowing his luck.. and crappy skills with a wand, he'd end up setting the chest on fire or something. Eh. That would impress Professor Ashby.. setting his classroom on fire. NOT!

"Will you go first?" Evangeline was better than him. And if he watched how she did it, maybe he'd pick up the technique! Sounded like a gooood plan to him. Hehe.

"I don't know about being an expert, but I think I'll be able to manage a simple unlocking if need be," she said, putting her own wand away. "Cat burger," she matter-of-factly answered. "Actually, I want to work in Potions someday. I think I'd like to research possible new potions or ways to improve current potions," she added. Anna followed Copernicus' gaze to the front of the room, where the professor seemed to be having conversation with a few first years. "Cop!" Anna half-whispered. "The professor just told that kid that his safety depends on our skills with Alohomora. You don't think he's going to lock himself up in a chest or something, do you?" Anna asked.

Sarah looked down at the lock and sighed.Please say this won't be hard,using wands is not my speciality..fantastic witch I make.
Pointing her wand at the lock she took a deep breath and said "Alohomora" as clearly as she could.
Nothing happened.No click.No movement...nothing.
Awwww stupid thing.

William, who had no partner of his own, as if anyone would want to be his partner sigh and slithered up to a locked chest he didn't think anyone was using, his eyes misting over slightly. Total loner, that's what he was. But at least he could try to prove himself with the spell, right? Sighing loudly and watching as everyone else got their chest opened he shook his head, concentration written on his young face.

Holding out his wand and trying to remember the spell he frowned, "Alohomora!" He said in a weak voice, his pride dashing away like a bolt of lightening in the distance as nothing happened. Of course it didn't work he figured looking around in vain. His blue eyes refused to let the tears slid out, he was a boy! With a little more conviction on his face he said the spell again pointing his wand at the chest "Alohomora!" He was trying to think postive thoughts; after all he was a first year and so had very little expectations of getting it on the first try, though it would be nice he mused, secretly wiping his eyes.

The lock jiggled. Well it was something. At least it could jiggle he figured sighing once more. Biting his lower lip he glared at the chest, as it that alone would open it up for him. He didn't want to be an epic failure like he had been with the other spells he had learned. This time he put his wand between his ear and head, chanting the name over and over in his mind, trying to get the pronunciation down pact. It seemed to be working, his soft-fudge courage was beginning to rise a bit like a loaf of bread in the oven.

"Okay, let's do this." He said with conviction as he took his wand off his head and looked - no glared - at the chest. "Alohomora" He said this time with conviction. The locked opened! Grinning at his accomplishment he did a little jig, his eyes bright once more. Looking around he grinned, the urge to stick his tongue out at the chest overwhelming. This time he had no qqualms about the spell as he locked the lock up once more and tried again. "Alohomora" He said pointing his wand at the lock, watching as it opened. Yes he could do this, he just needed some encouragement from himself. If no one else would talk to him he would talk to himself.

Yes he was weird.

Cadence practiced Alohamora a few more times, making sure to lock the chest by hand every times. After she had successfully performed the charm five more times, she raised her hand, Professor, I think we can move on as well.

Clutching her wand firmly on her fingers, Evangeline shook her head. "You'll be fine, Cliffie. Trust yourself, aye?" She said comfortingly, as she looked at the chest. Okay - Alohomora was an easy enough spell, right? Clifford was just overracting and being the cute low-confident person he was usually. Yup, yup. Yay! A smug, playful smile creeping to her lips, she looked at him. "Watch and learn, love."

Clearing her throat, she looked at the chest and frowned in concentration. "Alohomora!" She said firmly, pointing her wand at the chest. Oh, please, please, work. Thank Merlin, she heard a click, indicating the chest was now unlocked. "Yay!" She bounced happily, setting her wand on the table to open the lid of the chest. WOOHOOO!! Turning to Clifford once more, she smiled, no trace of smugness now though. "You try now!"

Jane, although a forth year, hasn't been practicing the unlocking Charm for quite some time found herself to be quite rusty at it. Almost rubbish actually, but she did not give in.

"Alo...uh...hommorahh!!!!,"she said while pointing her wand to the corner of locked chests.

CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!CLICK!

"Uhhhh, Professor?Can it do that????"she asked in disbelief.

The locks on the chests starting clicking away in a small jiggle. Locking and unlocking itself for quite some time. Jane looked at the professor, shocked and in disbelief that her Charms skills were THAT rusty. She hoped the Professor would help her SOON.

Baaah! How did Evangeline DO that? Make everything look so simple and just all around easy peasy? She flicked her wand, said the incantation and BADABING BADABOOM! The chest unlocked just like it was meant to. No fair.

He was hoping watching her do it first would give him at least a little confidence though and with a sigh, re-locked the chest ready for his go. "Don't blame me if I 'cause some sort of explosion." He mumbled, not feeling confident in the slightest. This was going to end up in embarrassment. He just knew it.

"Alooo-homora." He said finally, pointing his wand at the lock and anticipating the worst. Rather than unlock like it was meant to though, his wand emitted a puff of smoke and the chest rocketed off the table. Oops.

"Well, it could've been worse, I suppose." Clifford wrinkled his nose and glanced at Evangeline sheepishly.

Smiling encouragingly at Clifford, Evangeline stepped back when he got ready to try Alohomora. She didn't think he'd cause an explosion, but still. It was better to be on the safe side, right? Heh heh. She watched closely as he performed his spell, her eyes widening when he caused the chest to rocket off the desk.

Oh gosh.

When he spoke, she clearly changed her surprised expression to a joking one and poked her tongue out at him. "It could've. No one got hurt, after all." With a smile in his direction, she picked up the chest that had nearly fallen on her head and put it back on the table. Hmmmm. How could she help Clifford?

"You're sorta pronouncing it wrong." She started with a nod as she got her wand again. Maybe it she showed him how to do it again? "It's AL-o-ho-MOR-ah ... and you really can't be scared nor insecure when you say it." Oh no. That was one thing she was sure of. They had to be firm about their purposes! Like ... "When you go to pick your broom ... if you say 'up' insecurely, it won't come up, will it?" There was an example they both knew about. Clifford knew because he, well, obviously could get his broomstick to go up ... and she because, she couldnt. Right.

Pointing her wand at the chest once more, she held it firm and looked at him, cocking one eyebrow upwards. "Firm and secure. And concentrate on what you want to do as you say the incantation. Like this.." Dearly hoping the spell wouldn't let her look stupid and it'd work this time too, Evangeline turned back to the chest. "AL-o-ho-MOR-ah!" She firmly said.

CLICK!

Phew.

Clifford really did want to get this spell right. Honestly, there were first years getting it perfect first time, and there he was making a complete and utter fool of himself! Why was life so ruddy unfair? Hmpf. He did want to prove he wasn't that much of a doofus though, and listened to Evangeline carefully. Goodness, was she smart or what?

So he had to get the pronunciation right and he couldn't be afraid or insecure. SNORT! How was he meant to do that whe he was frightened he was gonna blow the classroom and everyone inside it up? Eh.

And then Evangeline went and did it again. Perfectly.

"Okay then.. firm and secure." He said, taking a deep breath and locking the chest again. "AL-o-ho-MOR-ah." He said, glaring at the chest and blinking when nothing at all happened. Nothing. "Aaaah, it'd help if I used my wand, right?" Gosh! How stoopid WAS he?

Ears burning in humiliation, Clifford retrieved his wand ready to fail try again. "AL-o-ho-MOR-ah." He said for a second time, this go round pointing his wand at the chest AND glaring at it. Dumb thing. This time it just gave a funny little jiggle, like there was a creature inside trying to escape. "Hmmm. That's gotta be an improvement."

"See? You'll get it." Tobi encouraged her. "'Failed' is a bit of a strong word for not getting it on the first try."

Tobi took out his wand. "I'll try, betcha I can't do it on my first try either."

Dear Merlin, don't let this be the only time I actually don't suck at charms.

Tobi pointed the wand at the chest, "Alehemora," He barked, and for his trouble he was knocked back a foot. He stumbled a little and his back smacked hard against a desk. But the chest remained firmly locked, it hadn't budged a quarter of an inch.

"I'm my own worst enemy," he grumbled.

Be careful what you wish for...

It was really, really hard not to laugh when Clifford attempted to unlock the chest without his wand. Gosh, was he nervous or what? You'd think that after six years, he would've gotten the hang of practising new spells, but apparently, he hadn't. "You really don't need to be nervous. You won't explode the room." Really, if he were to - he would've already. Yup.

Upon his second attempt, she nodded proudly when he got the chest to do a little jiggle dance. "I think so." She said in agreement when he commented on how it had to be an improvement. "Just do it a bit more firmly. Show that chest who's the boss!" Psssh, she totally PWNed has an encouraging person. Oh yeah.

Snort.

Clifford knew Evangeline was trying to help him - encourage him - give him more confidence or whatever, but it just didn't seem to be helping. He knew he sucked, and that was that.

Siiiiigh.

And now she wanted him to try again! Had he not embarrassed himself enough already? He certainly thought so, that was for sure. BAH! But he had to try!

"Righteo. Show that chest who's the boss." Who was the boss again? "GRRR! I AM THE BOSS!" He growled menacingly at the chest, pointing his wand right at the lock. Third time lucky. Hopefully. "Alohomora!"

Were his ears deceiving him, or was that a CLICK! he just heard? "I - I did it!" Clifford's eyes widened in surprise and he dropped his wand on the table and opened the chest just to check. "I actually did it! Clifford's the boss!"

After Set had completed his charm more than like a billion time (not really it just fealt like it. lol), he decided he was definitly ready to move on. Not a second had passed by after his thought, when the proffesor said that exact thing! "Oh, yes professor, i'm defintily ready to move on!" Set said confidently!

Dominic cocked his head to the side slightly, studying the Ravenclaw carefully. Oh no, she seemed to have been quite perceptive about his tone he was using. And she called him rude; though to be honest, he didn't recall ever being rude towards Willow Kovac. Then again, he was rude to many people, so there was the off chance it happened. "I just get ... touchy," he sighed, feigning defeat and directed his attention back at the locked chest.

"Oh, if you insist," the fifth year finally agreed, noting her use of his name and couldn't help but smile inwardly. Clearing his throat, he heard the professor speak about giving them ten more minutes. Clearing his throat, he swished his wand appropriately while trying to focus on the pronunciation. "Alo-her-mora" Dominic spoke in a quite tone, accidentally mispronouncing the charm. He watched the chest expectantly but frowned when nothing happened. "Uh..." he waved his wand again, as though suggesting something to be wrong with it.

"Just a few more minutes," Dominic called up to Professor Ashby, hoping he wouldn't think too poorly of the fact that it was taking him ages to figure out a simple Unlocking charm. Sure he was distracted, but that was no excuse for his miserable performance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Dominic cocked his head to the side slightly, studying the Ravenclaw carefully. Oh no, she seemed to have been quite perceptive about his tone he was using. And she called him rude; though to be honest, he didn't recall ever being rude towards Willow Kovac. Then again, he was rude to many people, so there was the off chance it happened. "I just get ... touchy," he sighed, feigning defeat and directed his attention back at the locked chest.

"Oh, if you insist," the fifth year finally agreed, noting her use of his name and couldn't help but smile inwardly. Clearing his throat, he heard the professor speak about giving them ten more minutes. Clearing his throat, he swished his wand appropriately while trying to focus on the pronunciation. "Alo-her-mora" Dominic spoke in a quite tone, accidentally mispronouncing the charm. He watched the chest expectantly but frowned when nothing happened. "Uh..." he waved his wand again, as though suggesting something to be wrong with it.

Ooops. Ashby was giving them ten minutes to finish the assignment, and she had not even tried the charm, for Merlin's sake. Well, she would just have to get at the first try. Er. . . Right.

Touchy? This made Willow blink several times. Sure she already knew guys were touchy, but hearing a guy admitting to be touchy was not something that happened often--actually, it never did. Deciding that it was best if she didn't make any kind of comment on the matter, Willow snapped back to reality just in time to see Dominic practice the charm.

Making an effort to not sound obnoxious about it, the girl cleared her throat a bit before commenting casually, "It's Alo-ho-mor-ah, Dominic, not Alo-her-mora." She was just helping. Wasn't that the reason why Ashby had told them to partner up? Well, one of the reasons. "Hmm. I think I'm going to give it try now."

Focus, Willow, focus.

Pointing her wand directly to the locked chest, Willow said, "Alohomora" Her tone of voice, however, had been clear enough. Or rather, she had sound particularly confident, which was why the locked chest had only shaken up a bit before remaining still and perfectly locked.

But she did not know that. "Alohomora" Nothing. Ugh. Why was it not working? Her dark eyebrows pulled together "Alohomora!" In her desperation for wanting the charm to work, Willow unconsciously started to make a movement that sort of looked like she was stabbing something that was just above the locked chest, but that was not visible.

Naturally, though, as concentrated as she was, the girl only noticed when the wand connected with something that was too hard to be just air, yet too soft to be the locked chest. . .

. . . Dominic's arm.

Forest green eyes opened wide. She looked at her wand, before very slowly facing the boy she'd just accidentally injured. "I am so sorry." And truly, she was.

Partnerless. Well, Nikita could deal with that. She could cast a simple charm on her own, thank you very much.

The sixth year stepped confidently up to a locked chest, holding her wand firmly in her right hand. “Alohhamora!” she said clearly, keeping the wand pointed at the chest, performing every aspect of the magic perfectly – or so she thought. Something must have gone wrong, because it merely bounced a bit, but remained locked. Nikita walked over and poked it in annoyance before returning to her former stance.

Clearing her throat and swallowing a few times, she made sure her wand and the lock were lined up perfectly. “Alohomora!” she repeated with force behind the words, jabbing her wand towards the lock at the same time. The lock sprung open and shot off the chest, arcing in the air and landing a foot away.

“…Oops.”

Nikita retrieved the lock and tried again with less emotion. The lock gently clicked open, and Nikita gave a small smile. Her charms skills weren’t too rusty, then.

Hearing the Professor ask if everyone was ready to move on, Nikita relocked the lock and replied, "I'm all set over here, Professor."

"Oh! It's okay, Twilight." Sloanne spoke when she noticed how close to tears the young girl was. "I couldn't do it for the longest time my first year either. In fact, there are still times when it won't work for me. I'm sure one more try will do the trick."

"See!" Sloanne said enthusiastically. "You did great!" Now it was her turn. Sloanne relocked the lock and placed the chest in front of her. "Alohomira!" She said, intentionally mispronouncing it. She didn't want to seem like she thought she was so much better than Twilight or anything. "Alohomora!" She said again, this time the lock opened.