"I think it's very interesting, Professor," Zeke said, raising his hand. "Maybe we're going to practice a summoning spell or something?" It seemed logical to him, but who really knew?

"I am quite well Professor, thanks for asking. I'm enjoying my year immensely." William replied grinning as he sat straight ready for the lesson to begin.

Raising his hand he guessed, "Could we be learning the magical writing spell?" He asked, was there such a spell he wondered? He had read of something like that but wasn't exactly sure.

"Professor I like the floating idea. Ash called from her seat "And uh...are we learning about leavitating items and controlling them in mid-air? Ash asked hopefully

Linda raised her hand and asked 'Are we going to learn how to make a paricular type of ink like the flavoured ink,invisible ink etc?'

Satine listened to everyone else's ideas of what the ink and quills and rather random placement meant...they all were great ones and she couldn't come up with any like theirs, so she decided to take a chance, "Professor, are you going to teach us some special charms to help us with our personal interior decorating skills?" she said with a smile and hope the Professor would understand her humor and answer.

Cedric raised his hand,"Umm,Professor Ashby,I think that we were going to discussed and learn about the hovering charm,We'll make the quills hovered and inks too,I bet."He answered,Its really good to see their charms professor again.

"It's pretty unusual," Varius admitted, "Maybe we're going to be learning some form of avante garde charm?

As Miles stared up at the ink pots above his head and raised an eyebrow. "I ... like it?" It was rather scary having big glass pots hanging above, just waiting to fall and giving you brain injury. "I wonder if we're going to write on the ceiling and walls?" He smiled, now THAT would be fun. "Or, we're going to learn a charm that summons them to us?"

Clark rose his hand excitedly. "I think it's so that the quills are like bein levitated by you, and we have to keep them levitating or they poke us in the eye." He looked up, then immediatley put his head on his desk covered by his arms. "Um...and what ink would you be using, sir?" he asked after he sneezed four times in a row.

Miranda took her time to look around the classroom at the various ink bottles, wondering just what they were stuck to the walls.

Tilting her head to the side, Miranda stared at the ceiling with a concentrated frown until she finally decided to answer the professors question.
"Professor," she said with her hand raised, "is it possible that we might try to hoover the quills to go into the ink bottles and then try to write with the quills, still hovering?"

Becca muffled laughter the best she could at Clark's answer. He was funny- she had to admit. Having an idea herself, Becca rose her hand "Professor Ashby, I have a theory that you are going to ask us to levitate the ink and if we don't do it properly it will spill on us, furthering our motivation to do it right."

Iris giggled at all of the ideas, they were so creative! So she raised her hand to give her opinion "Professor, I like them. They're different. In a good way" she said, smiling, "Are we going to be learning Levitating spells?" she asked seriously.

Nancy's eyes still flickered back and forth between the ink bottles and Professor Ashby as she remained standing right there in the middle of the classroom, waiting for an explanation. This had to be somekind of game, right? There had to be a reason for those ink bottles and quills to be hanging in mid-air, right? There sure was a reasonable explanation. Another glance at Professor Ashby and Nancy wasn't so sure about this anymore. Or not... Maybe he had just done this for fun, because he had felt like it. With him you could never be sure.

The 15 year old refrained from rolling her eyes at the professor's answer but instead - not without a mumbled "Okay..." - turned around to take a seat at an empty desk. Things would be made clear soon enough. So, there was a reasonable explanation for the weird whereabouts of the quills and ink bottles.

Just as Nancy had leaned back in her seat after having placed her wand onto the desk Professor Ashby apparently decided to get up to start the lesson. Well, the "start the lesson"-part turned out to work out pretty well. The "get up"-part? Not so much. The 15 year old bit her lip hard to suppress the laughter that had been building up inside her upon watching the professor's attempts to get off his desk which somehow ended with him hitting the floor. He seemed to be okay, though, so no need to worry about that.

Well, Professor Ashby's first question was easily answered but the second one posed a bit of a problem for Nancy. Why had he chosen quills and ink bottles? Because they had been on sale? Probably not. "Uhm...well, I think it's, well, different. Your ink bottles and quills-decoration I mean. I sort of like it. It's unusual but in a good way. Sort of." Yeah, right. "Well, I think we maybe need to levitate them or something. And yes, write something with them on...uhm...parchment?" Well, duh. Whatever.

Winnie blinked. "I think it's inspired, sir," she said quite seriously. "When people decorate they never think of putting things that aren't flat on the walls. It makes you think of perpendicular angles in so many different ways...It's art. Is it a sort of obstacle course? Or will we be experimenting with sticking charms? Do you think a cushy sofa would stay on the wall if you stuck it there?"

Natka thought about this one.

"Perhaps you want us to work on something individually and so the quills are charmed so we cannot copy off each other? or you want us to study charmed quills? or something to do with charmed ink changing colour, or moving across the parchment?" she wondered aloud, wondering if she was even anywhere near the truth.

Wow, charms. Another lesson Grace looked forward to. She lloovveedd the life in Hogwarts and this lesson seemed just like a magical lesson. Yeah, a potential awesome lesson.

The brand new Slytherin thought for a while as she didn't want to screw up at the first answer. "Decoration is rather... um... unique, we can say." Actually, too unique. "And I think we'll summon things and erm... maybe see the difficulty when it's sticked?..." she trailed off. No, that wasn't the answer, but she'd already said it.

Cela was pretty sure she'd figured it out, but she just sat there looking smug until something occurred to her. "Professor? How come we aren't learning charms that have to do with protecting us from the flooding? Helping us to... protect our things or to breath or to float or whatever? I can't really see how quills and parchment and ink help with that." She blinked at Ashby, genuinely curious.

Aaron heard the Ravenclaw. She's right. In every class we should be learning how to protect our selves form the floods. I know I certainly don't want another broomshed incident. He then rubbed his arms remebering. he then raised his hand. "Yeah, why aren't we learning anything in ANY class to protect ourselves from the floods." He didn't want to sound demanding, but it was the way it came out. "Um... i mean, it would help us all, professor." he added trying to help himslef.

"Thank you!" Ian beamed. "We won't be levitating them, no. Good guess, though."

"Oh dear, we can't have that, now can we?" Ashby never liked writing essays. In his days at Hogwarts, he really enjoyed the hands-on activities, which was one of the reasons he took up such an interest in Charms.

"Nope, not the sticking charm either."

"Yes, not really, no, no, and no. That's my final answer, Regis." Regis? Who the heck was that and where had that phrase come from? Ian made a mental note to ask Professor Dumont about that later, as he had a feeling it might have been muggle in origin.

"Bingo!" Ian squealed. He was a little saddened that he had apparently been so obvious to some of the students, but he shrugged it off, deciding that they were all just smart as a tack, thanks to his teachings.

"The amount of notes you'll be taking today is completely up to you, however, you will be writing things today, as it is part of the class assignment. Believe you me, though, it will be a fun activity, and not tedious at all."

Ian ignored the bit about the flood. Flood? These students were crazy. There was no such thing happening. And besides? Who would think of floods when there was "STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE!" to be eaten.

Oops! Had he said that out loud? Well...he had been craving it. OH, the sweet sweet aroma seemed to be filling his nostrils at this very moment.

"Yup, yup!" Ian exclaimed, his mind still concentrated on the delectable dessert waiting for him in his office.

"Oh, you never know. I quite like the way the sun is glinting off the bottles, don't you? I think this would make a lovely decoration in any room!"

"Thank you for your input, young lady. I do think I'm going to keep it this way for a while."

"Twelve thousand friendship points to you, m'boy, for being so enthusiastic about the decorations! Perhaps one day I will teach you my decorating ways, for I have long been perfecting my technique."

"Yes! We will be working with the revealing charm today. Or, one of them, at least, since there are many in existence."

"Hmm, you know, that's an interesting topic I'd like to delve into more one day. I'll have to do some research on ancient charms in my spare time, but thank you for bringing that up! I'll keep them in mind."

"Childe, there will be no violence in this room. You may put your wand away and know that these quills shall do you no harm. As long as you treat them with respect, that is..."

Ian listened intently and once the Head Girl had finished speaking, he immediately waved his wand around the room, filling it with splashes of clashing colors, like pinks and purples and oranges and browns and greys and blues and colors one could not even imagine even existed!

"I think you're right," he added once the room was a messy rainbow of color splotches.

There was that word again. What had gotten into these students? Flood. HA. Professor Morgan must have done a lesson with the Giant Squid or something and they thought the lake was flooding the school.

MMmm....strawberry cheesecake.

"Not quite, although that might be a fun lesson, wouldn't it? It would be just like learning how to write all over again!"

"No, no, you needn't worry about getting ink on you. It wouldn't show even if the ink did spill..."

"Close, but not quite, Chris."

Ian chuckled. He remembered all the fun he had had during the sticking charm lesson from last term, and was itching to run up and stick himself to the wall again. Too bad he didn't realize there wasn't glue on the walls this time...

"No, I think we'll stay away from the sticking charms for a little while," Ian responded

"Nope, not today!"

"You're quite ahead, aren't you? We won't be doing things like that until later in the year, but please always be prepared to use your expansive breadth of knowledge every day."

"Yes, we will be working with invisible ink today. And who do you take me for?" Ian asked, feigning offense. "Professor Kazimeriz? I am, by no means, as tough as he is. No, your lesson today is not nearly that difficult."

"That can be accomplished without magic," Ian said, reaching out and grabbing a quill from the air.

"Have we not covered that yet?" Ian asked. He thought back on his time at Hogwarts and realized he hadn't! "Oh, we haven't! Well, we shall get to that sometime soon for those of you who don't know how."

"Excellent!" Ian bellowed. "However, no magical writing spell."

"We will not be levitating today, no."

"No flavored ink, but yes! We will be working with invisible ink today, although we won't be making it."

Ian chuckled. This girl seemed to understand his humor, and he appreciated it. "Not during class, but if you'd like some tips later, you most certainly should come by my office!"

"Nope, no hovering charms."

"Ah, some different thinking!" Ian exclaimed, impressed by the boy's words. "Not today, I'm afraid."

"No summoning, although writing on the walls and ceiling would be fun, wouldn't it? Let's save that for a later date, though."

"There is no need to worry, young man," Ian said in hopes of calming the boy down. "These quills won't be raining down on your heads."

"No, we won't be hovering things today."

"No, I'm not that devilish," Ian said, thinking back on the strawberry cheesecake. It was red...supposedly like the devil and OOOO. Devil's food cake! How that sounded SO delicious at the moment as well.

"No levitation, ma'am."

"Writing, yes. Levitating, no. The levitation was merely for decoration."

"Art! Oh, you're too kind! I could never think of myself as an artist, but thank you." Ian blushed. And drooled, because he was thinking of so many different kinds of cakes by now.

"I guess you could call it an obstacle course, although it was not intended to be. And oh yes, you can definitely stick a couch to the wall. Been there, done that."

"Good thinking," Ashby said, looking at the girl.

"Nope, none of that."

Ian returned to his teaching voice and addressed the class: "It seems as though the consensus of the class would be that I'm crazy! Well, I won't say you're all wrong. Anyway, today, as some of your fellow students pointed out, we will be working with invisible ink! We won't be going into the properties of the ink and what makes it invisible, but we will be working with making it appear. So, class, who can tell me what the incantation is to make invisible writing appear....and let's also discuss the root of the incantation." Ian always did enjoy root languages.

Ian was rather caught off-guard by these two students. "What is it with you all? What flood are you talking about?" It was a shame Ian was so terribly aloof, because he had just made a complete fool out of himself in front of the entire class.

Nancy quickly raised her hand and said, "Is it Aparecium, Sir? Oh and I think it comes from the Latin word appareo which means to appear. "

Erm...ooh, root languages! That was always fun! "The incantation is Aparecium, from the Latin...erm, Apar. For appear." Woo! Right answer, right? Score 1 for the Clark man!

He was still freaked out by the quills though.

Emiliano raised his hand. "The spell used to make Invisible Ink reveal itself is Aparecium, and it's called after the Latin word appareo, which means to appear or become visible. " He took his hand down, already too excited about this lesson. Hehe....

Cyrus frowned when the man told him to put his wand away. Rather reluctantly, the first year put his wand on his desk and heaved a loud sigh.

Anyways, Cy knew the answer to the Professors question. His always over-eager hand shot towards the ceiling. “Aparecium,” Cy said with a smug nod, “Believe that’s it sah’. Pretty tricky, I always try and use it on Katie’s papah… doesn’t work for me… yet.” He looked around the room rather anxiously. She wasn’t supposed to hear that.

The root of the word? The first year was confused. “Root, you mean, like a plant? I don’t get it…” Cy’s brown eyes were lost in though. Very lost.

"Um... the dungeon and the kitchen level are flooded sir... the Hufflepuffs moved in with us and the Slytherins moved in with the Gryffindors and detention is now in the owlery and people got really sick and its all very scary." Celandine explained, ignoring the charms related questions for now.

She raised her hand. "Crazy or not sir I think you are lovely." She didn't want him to think that they thought him being crazy was a bad thing. he was positively funny and amusing to her. "Aparecium is the charm to make visible ink reappear and the etymology or the world is Latin and it means to become visible or to appear." she told him with a smile.