'I, umm, guess I got a little carried away.'
That was it. Destiny was laughing again! Tears were streaking her dust filled face. She tried to clean the dust off of her robes but with the pain of laughing, she couldn't do it. The dust was everywhere. 'Great, now I'm going to have to sit through the rest of class looking like a giant dust ball!' She sat down and took off her glasses and pulled out a napkin from her bag to clean them.
'I think I'm done with the planks for now.' Then an idea hit her. 'Maybe you should take a picture of me for muggle studies homework? Before I get cleaned up, of course!'

After watching the professor carefully, Arianna turned to Theo, ignoring Rafe's hate gaze: " So we should practice it on th plank now right? I'll go first" she volunteered, determined to look good in front of Theodore. She made the karate movement determined, and said the incantation loud and clear.

make it work, make it work, make it work..

She peeked at the table, it had a fine but defined crack. But it was not broking. "Hmpf! Maybe you do it better..?" she suggested, stepping away and giving Theo the opportunity to practise.

Cedric smiled to Jake. Like him, he can barely talk at the moment. Maybe he hate partnering up with someone too. Then he started to talk. He said 'Kay..so..box..box', he rarely understand what that suppose to mean. "Err..So what do we need to do next Jake?!" he said in utter subtleness. They can't do this activity if they don't know what should be done. And they have to search for another team member as their Professor had said that the team should be compose of three members.

"That was a good try," Theo smiled at Ariana, "Next time, maybe you need to bring your wand down faster. Like you were trying to karate chop it."

Theo stepped forward. He didn't really want to practice the spell. He knew he would fail on it. It would take weeks of constant practice to get it right. "Deprimo," he said, slicing his wand down. Well now there was another crack, on the other side. "Your go again."

"Yes it's final time to start!, Okay so what are we going to do now?" K asked "What do we do for the spell Deprimo is what I mean? Did you want to go frist? K asked Herminny.

Alexandra couldn't take the smile off of her face. She was so bloody relieved that nothing had caught fire... yet.. and that she had not fallen down or anything. She watched intently as Lorcan made his attempt... "Oh wow, you're hole is bigger than mine! Good show!" Alexandra actually ran over and gave him a hug! Realizing that she was being entirely too friendly to Lorcan she hastily stepped away and tried to regain her composure.

"Uh.. erm. Deprimo" she said chopping her wand down at the board. Even in her hasty frazzled state she made a big hole appear. She smiled with satisfactory.

Arianna felt inspired by Theo's supportive words. " Good one!" she said to him, then, she she made the same karate motion, and even added a little YAAAAA! to go with it as she shouted Deprimo, but unfortunately she ended up hitting her wand in the wooden plank, making it fly away a few feet back. Her face was crimson red as she retrieved it from between a few fellow students legs.

She eyed the plank and there was another little crack there.

"I guess I shouldn't have done it so enthusiastically.. " she said awkwardly and giggled.

"Hey guys could I take a go at it", Fred asked in just away to mean I have'nt said anything in a while but please don't forget I'm still here.

"Sure, I'll take wack ait this first", Herminny said rather enthusiastically and then took out her wand. She then proceeded to do a karate chop like move with her hand holding her wand and said, "deprimo", all the while thinking intently on making that wood crack in half. Herminny felt intense pressure coming from her wand onto wood and she managed to put a a pretty big dent in it but alas, not crack it. Heminny turned to her partner then and said, "K, I believe it's you're go now.".

Each of his partners already had two go's. If they were not gonna notice he was there he guessed he would have to take matters into his own hands and just take his turn whether they liked it or not. This was'nt a new thing for him though this happened to him all the time at his old school Durmstrang so he was quite used to taking the initiative to get things done himself. He stepped up right in front of the two boxes with a wood plank on top and took out his wand. He then proceeded to do the karate chop move with intense force partially cause he was annoyed and he thought with all his heart and soul to break that wood in half. He then felt immense pressure soming from his wand as it hit the wood and it snapped. He had done it. He broke the wood in half. He smiled and then went over and got another piecw of wood and put it back on the boxes just incase his teamates wanted to keep on trying.

Deprimo? What was that? Evan looked surprised, but then shrugged. Whatever. He was sure it would take no time to learn. He nodded at Rayedem, and stepped aside. He watched him carefully, just in case he got something wrong. Nope, it was alright. He waited for it to break apart, but it only cracked. He smiled at his joke, and nodded again. He was almost afraid the professor would be angry if he talked. Like the firsties weren't already babbling. Talking of who, it seemed like there were more firsties than elder students. Maybe they were extinct too, just like males?

Shrugging off the interesting ideas, he grabbed his wand and chopped the plank while saying "Deprimo." At first nothing happened, and he thought he had failed. He, Evan Cartwright had failed! However, after a few minutes, the plake broke apart and he sighed in relief. He turned back to Rayedem with asking questions: What now?

Lyra watched the other students as they began practising the Deprimo spell. She shivered when a wave of cold air blew inside the classroom and looked at Nataly as she gasped loudly. Lyra looked outside and saw it was snowing, it was beautiful in Lyra's opinion. She loved the snow even though it was very very cold and she hated cold. Lyra blew on her gloves covered hands that Professor Svensson had given the students and rubbed them against each other, trying to get a bit warmer.

Lyra's thoughts were disrupted when she heard the professor speak again. YAY finally they could try the spell!. Not bothering to practise saying the spell, Lyra immediatly let her wand fall out of her wristholster and pointed it at the plank that Nataly had placed on the table. "Deprimo!" she shouted and moved her wand. But nothing happend. Lyra didn't give up so soon, she pointed her wand again and said "Deprimo!" but still nothing happened.

Lyra continued saying the incantation and waved her wand. With each attempt her movements became more violently as she jabbed, poked, twirled and whatnot her cherry wood wand. But the spell didn't work for her. Mumbling something dark under her breath, Lyra placed her arms over each other and pouted her lips. Stupid plank..stupid spell.. hmpf. she thought as she eyed the plank suspiciously.

"Nice to meet you," Kiri said before sniffling into her tissue again. "Sorry," she added, "it's just, er, a bit cold in here."

The reason for the open windows soon became apparent, however. They were going to be blowing stuff up! Kiri wasn't quite sure how she felt about that. Some of the other students seemed positively delighted at the idea, but to her, it just meant a lot of smoke and noise. On the other hand, Deprimo was considered a useful spell.
She practised the wand movement and the incantation with the rest of the class for a few minutes. And then they were allowed to try the spell.

"I'll go first, alright?" Kiri offered. To be able to reach the plank better, she got up from her seat. Muttering "Deprimo, Deprimo" under her breath, she took careful aim. "Deprimo"! Kiri said loudly, and brought her hand down in a swift chopping motion. Nothing happened. Well, nothing except her nearly dropping her wand as it slid through fingers that felt like icicles. There was a moment of uncertainty, but then she managed to get a grip on it again.
Kiri could feel herself blush slightly. She was making a fool out of herself in front of a first-year!

"Let me try that again," she mumbled. She tightened the hold on her wand until her knuckles were whitening (they were rather pale in the cold classroom already), then moved her arm in the appropriate way and said clearly, "Deprimo!"
There was a puff of smoke, and for a moment Kiri thought, horrified, that her wand had caught fire. Coughing, she waved the greyish clouds aside. An uneven hole, about as big as a Galleon in diametre, had appeared in the wooden plank.

Feeling pleased with herself, Kiri returned to her seat. "Want to try it now, er, Chelle?"

"Hei, sure, have a go on it, maybe you'll do better than I did!" Arianna said, relieved that this boy was still up for being a part of the group. She didn't know if she could take it alone with Theo, he made her.. nervous.

"Either join a group of two to make a group of three, or work with someone from a group of three," Svensson replied. "Then take turns practicing."

"Exactly what I expected," Edem said, smiling with his eyebrows raised slightly. Stepping over to examine the plank, he shrugged, not knowing what to do next. Well, the plank broke just about in the middle.. Not very efficient. Had they broke it just a little on its side, they might still be able to reuse the bigger part. Both him and Evan seemed to be able to use the spell without much difficulty, although Edem still needed more practice. "I'm gonna ask the professor," he finally said, then turned away and walked, slightly running towards the professor.

"Um, professor, my partner and I already broke the plank," he said, "Could we have another plank to practice some more?"

Gah! Edem, weren't ypu taught how to ask someone older for something nicely?

Nataly watched as Lyra preformed the spell. She wasn't much worse than Nataly, so she feared she'll have the same fate. She rubbed her hands against each other to warm herself, and then took out her wand. "Deprimo!"
At first, she thought nothing happened, but then she noticed a tiny creak on the blank. Exemining it closely, she said "Well, it's something, too.."

Kay smiled at Marie. "Ok, a smaller voice, I will give it a try." Kay said has she turned to face the plank. "Deprimo." Kay said has she did the chopping movement. She walked up to the plank and looked at it. She had done it, there was a hole the size of a knut. "Marie, you were right. It has to do a lot with the way you are felling and how loud you say the spell." Kay said to her. Kay turn around just in time to see that girl hug Lorcan. Kay felt a flash of heat in her face. 'what was that?' Kay thought to herself.

Theo giggled, "Maybe not so close either." She was getting good at it. For a first year. He should be able to do it straight off. But he couldn't.

He nodded, "Go ahead. Dan needs a partner though. If you'd rather be in a pair." He shrugged, pointing at the board, "You need to be wearing your gloves."

Michelle smiled as Kiri tried the spell before her. Nothing happened at first and Chelle was getting anxious. If a fourth year was hesitating to try the spell, then how would she get it right? The secong time, the spell did work. Chelle looked up at Kiri with a smiling face, `Sure.' Wish me luck, she wanted to say, but didn't dare to. She'd be making a complete fool of herself anyway.

She took a deep breath, clutching her wand tightly in her hand, and concentrated fully on the spell. She made the copping- kindof movement that Professor Svensson had shown the class, and muttered in a low voice, `Deprimo!' She knocked the plank with her wand while performing the spell. Nothing happened, the plank was as it had been.

Totally discouraged by the incident, Chelle said, `I should have another go!'. She repeated the movement , this time a little careful not to hit the plank of wood with her wand. Or she might break the wand itself. She shut her eyes tightly right before shouting the incantation out loud. When she opened her eyes, the plank lay split into two. Her spell had worked. Chelle grinned and looked up at Kiri. `How'd I do?' she asked.

Lyra stepped aside as Nataly grabbed her wand. She watched as she said the incantation and moved her wand. A small tiny creak was visible on the plank. Lyra closed her eyes and nodded her head a few times. "It's something atleast, my spell didn't even work" she said and opened her eyes again to look at Nataly who started to exam the plank up close.

Lyra waited till she was done and grabbed her own wand again. She slowly pointed it at the piece of plank and took a deep breath. Visioning that the plank would break, Lyra shouted "Deprimo!" but again nothing happended. Whyyyyy! why her? she loved this class, it was her favorite after defence against the dark arts, Why was she so bad at it! Lyra tsk'd loudly and sat on her chair waving her hand that Nataly could try again.

Arianna frowned a little, and took a step backwards, keeping a safe distance from the plank really seemed like a good idea, for her and the plank. As she waited for the other boy, whose name she didn't know, she turned to Theo " What year are you in? I know you're older but.." and she waited for him to reply.

Poor Lyra. thought Nataly as the girl failed to do the spell again. She looked around. Many students were successful with the task, but there students who didn't complete it, like Nataly, or ones that failed it, like Lyra.
Nataly turned her gaze to the plank, aimed her wand at it, and said the spell, "Deprimo!"
Creak!
"Yaay!" Nataly squeled, looking at the broken plank. "I finally succeeded!"

"Yea me too." Evelyn said, grinning, holding her still aching sides and still wiping the tears of laughter away.

"You're totally awesome right now!" she said, summoning her bag to her and taking out the camera. 'Now how to just work this thing would be great.' "Which button do you press?" she asked Destiny, looking up at her.

"I am a fourth year," Theo smiled, "I am 15 next month." Why was she asking? "You are a first year aren't you?"