" Thanks for explaining the spell to me" Willaim told the professor.William raised his hand. " Ron Weasley used the Diffindo Charmn to sever his lace sleeves at the Yule Ball" William told the professor.

Eino looked around his classroom slightly confused. How did people know so much about Hairy Podder? Eino didn't even know who he was let alone all the spells he cast... And this Hermimi Grainger and Ron Weasel-Lee? They sounded like plants. Anyway, he turned to the professor and raised his hand. "The Severing Charm was used by Phyllida Spore multiple times as a way to collect samples of plants an herbs. She listed it as one of the most helpful charms for any Herbologist, and also wrote that it is rather useless to use against devil's snare and snargaluffs, in contrast to popular belief."

Yay! Two points!

Savannah moved on to thinking. The charm Diffindo is a historically famous one? Really? When did that happen? Too bad Savannah didn't read as much history books. Lets see...everyone's saying stuff that the legendary Harry Potter and his friends did.

Savannah musted have seen some history books! Or listened to some at bedtime. After a while, Savannah remembered when her Aunt told a bedtime story of Harry Potter. And...ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Savannah raised her hand high in the air. "When Harry Potter was searching for the sword of Godric Gryffindor's, he saw a Patronus that let to the frozen river, he had to use Diffindo to crack the frozen river!"

Lara paused trying to remember where she had heard of this spell before. It didn't take her long as she remembered that it was her brother who told her about it for some reason ,she raised her hand and answered "Harry Potter used it to break the ice when he retrieved the sowrd of Gryffindor" she put down her hand waithing for the Professor.

She hoped her brother was sre of this piece of information though, but he usually is so there's nothing to be worried about.

Penny put her hand in the air - excited cos she knew the answer...."Professor, when the famous wizard Harry Potter was in the Triwizard Tournament..i think it 1994.. yeah anyway, Harry used the Diffindo charm to rip Cedric Diggorys bag in order to speak with him...

Lowering her hand, but still thinking of other examples..

Jared resisted the urge to grin. "Horcruxes," he corrected. "But yes, you're right. Though it didn't work out, that is one of the most famous historical uses of Diffindo. Take two points for Ravenclaw."


"Take two points each," Jared said, as the class fell silent. "The most important thing we learn from these recorded instances is that Diffindo is a charm that can sever lace sleeves or split an entire lake into two - depending upon the caster's abilities. What sets it apart from most other charms is that the caster's will, and not concentration, is what is most essential to it." If a person didn't possess enough anger or hatred, he or she wouldn't be able to utilize the charm to hurt someone else.

Moving on, though. "The correct incantation for the standard Severing Charm is dih-FIN-doh. The wand movement is a downward slashing motion. Like this." Jared glanced down at the cardboard box on his desk, took out the first item that he saw - some sort of rubber duck - tossed it into the air, and brought his wand down in a brief, slashing movement. Diffindo. The rubber duck split into two pieces, which hovered in the air until he lowered his wand, and let them drop back into the box. "If there are no questions, I'd like all of you to come to up here, grab an item or two -" He motioned towards the box standing on his desk "- and give the charm a go. Sixth and seventh years, try casting the charm nonverbally after you've learnt to cast it verbally."

The keyword being after.


OOC: There are participation points for this part, and we'll move on to the class activity in *counts* thirty hours or so? Just so you guys know.

Finally! The... practical part. Helena's favourite. Hehe.

However, she watched with her wide eyes as professor Descoteaux used that on a poor rubber duck. It was so CRUEL! Even if it was made out of rubber... it was still a duck! And a cute one! Maybe even squeaky.

The girl stood up and grabbed the first thing that her fingers touched, which was a... fan. Eh, it would work. She walked back to her seat, and tossed it in the air, just like professor Descoteaux showed them, then said "Diffindo," and made that slash-kind-of-wand-movement. There were two pieces now that were gently falling in front of her on the desk.

But... there was just one question. "Does Reparo work as a counter charm?" Helena asked with a hand in the air. She didn't want to leave that fan looking like that. But she was pretty much sure that Reparo wouldn't quite work if Diffindo was used on a... finger.

"Depends on what you're using it to fix," Jared said. "It will work as a counter-spell in the case of any of the objects you've been provided, right now. But Reparo can't fix everything, and it's limitations continue to apply, here. "

Just as she thought. It would definitely not fix a finger (or maybe something worse, but Helena didn't want to think about anything else), if it had been severed with Diffindo. Hehe.

"Okay," Helena said with a nod, then turned back to face her... two pieces of that fan. "Reparo," she mumbled as she pointed her wand towards them, which had instantly fixed themselves. There. The pretty fan was alive back.

Simon listened as the class moved on and most of his classmates offering examples of the use of the diffindo charm, though he himself said quiet only taking the occasional note for later use.When they were to move on to the practical part of the lesson, the Gryffindor put his quill down beside the parchment and stood up from his seat, going to the front as instructed to pick out items to work with. Reaching into the box to randomly pick out something to work with, he came up with a pillar candle and a pocket watch giving a shrug as he walked back.

They dont seem too hard to deal with.

Starting out with the candle, the simplier of the two, Simon prefered to keep it immobile to avoid accidents, simply standing it up so there was enough off the desk to avoid hitting the surface. "Diffindo!" he cast with the required hand movement, the waxy item cut in two even though it wasn't exactly even.

Marilyn sighed, standing and wondering over to the Professor's desk. She grabbed the first two items her fingers came into contact with (a miniature toy bear and a empty medicine bottle), and ventured back to her seat.

She copied Descoteaux's wand motion and allowed the movement to become familiar. Since he'd just demonstrated a slashing motion, it was simple...For what he'd described, the particular spell was more about emotion than technique.

With that in mind, the blonde concentrated...allowing the spell to fill her up. With a nod, she silently made the wand-slashing motion...

...but nothing happened.

Feeling more than a little frustrated, she groaned. It seemed she was a little more out of practice than she realized.

Calming herself, Marilyn leveled the stuffed animal with a steady look, focusing intently on it. With a second slash, the bear split...the plastic bottle doing the same just seconds later. Feeling satisfied, the Slytherin smirked.

It was obvious that Marilyn had became timid in her spell work. She'd need to practice more outside of class...Maybe Carter could help her...or Rafe.

Daichi scribbled down some information that was given in the hope it would be useful later. His quill scratched over the parchment that lay on the desk but soon stopped when he noticed that the Professor had stood up. The first year watch curiously as he picked a rubber duck Awww! out of the box and threw it in the air, cutting it in half with the spelllllll......

O____o

"HEDIDNOTJUSTCUTTHATDUCKY!" The shout came out before he even realised it and he stared in shock to the front of the class. Daichi thought about Mr.Duckles his plushed DUCK that was hidden in his school bag. He was happy now that he hadn't taken him out of his bag, the professor was a "ducky killer" He mumbled under his breath. Daichi made a mental note never to let Mr.Duckles get close to ...him...

Daichi sighed as they were instructed to practise the spell. He pouted his lips as he moved to the front of the classroom and looked inside the box. He saw the rubber duck laying in the box and wanted to grab and nurse the ducky sooooo badly! But then points would be taking from him for stealing and since Slytherin was second place he couldn't risk that.

The first year Snake grabbed an small car out of the box and walked back to his seat. He didn't sit down but continued to stand up as he grabbed his wand out of his holster. He pointed to the toy car and looked at his notes to find how to pronounce the spell again. Daichi looked back at the small car , he wouldn't dare throwing it up in the air like the Professor had done. He still remembered the lessons from Evan in the room of ..something. He had almost killed the Prefect that time...Said that he was good at spells but his aiming was off, and yeah , he was selected for the quidditch team, ironic right? So no, he would just let the car stay on the desk and drove it to the edge so that hopefully he wouldn't hit the desk itself.

He concentrated on the car and spell and moved his wand down like a slashing sword movement while saying the incantation. "Diffindo!" He shouted and as the magic wore off , Daichi wondered if he had hit the car. His eyes looked at the car but it was complete. He frowned, he had been sure he had done it .. maybe he would give it another tr.....Oh no..

Daichi was right about him casting the spell right, It was just like his practises with Evan. He knew the spell but... He gulped as he raised his hand in the air. "Uhm..P-p-professor?" he stuttered, a little afraid he would snap at him for damaging school property. "I-i...desk.." He pointed at his desk on which a deep cut was visible on the surface, near the car. It wasn't cut in half, he hadn't had that much force but still.

Aurora took a small stuffed toy from the box and squeezed it a little, so cute! She sat back down and looked at the toy. She didn't really want to ruin the toy but she tried anyway. "Diffindo." She brought her wand down in a slicing motion. Nothing. Not even a broken stitch. She tried again. And again. And again. Still nothing! Suddenly the toy didn't seem so cute anymore. She WANTED it to be broken! "Diffindo!" She brought her wand down, almost violently, in the direction of the toy. It had been sliced clean in half!! Aurora grinned and gathered up the stuffing that had fallen out, she restuffed the two halves and put them next to eachother. "Reparo." she had to try a few times before the toy was totally fixed but she got there eventually.

Heehee. Two more points.

Savannah watched carefully as the professor performed the charm. Aww...poor rubber ducky. Why did it have to be the poor little rubber ducky? Noooo! Not the cute ducky! Why would anyone want to cut a cute little rubber ducky!! Rubber ducky murderer...

Savannah walked up to the box and put her hand in. Hoping not to get anything cute. Something ugly or unworthy will be great. She pulled her hand out of the box and found herself face to face with a giant spider. "Ahhh!" She immediately dropped it. Then she slowly realized that it was just a stuffed animal. Whew...

Thank Merlin the spider wasn't cute or anything. She will have a great time splitting it in half. She set the stuffed spider on her desk and pulled out her wand. "Diffindo!" said Savannah loudly and clearly. The stuffed spider ripped only half way. Wow...that's actually the best spell she have ever done on her first try.

Ariella wandered up to the box, reaching in with her hand. She grabbed the first thing her fingers touched - an empty chocolate frog container. Strange.

She grasped her wand tightly and repeated the movement. "Diffindo!" she said firmly, watching as the container split into two pieces. Nice! It worked!

Oooh Practice time. Finlay was looking forward to this. He kind of wanted to make sure he could do everything practically as well as knowing the theory of everything. The headboy smiled at the teacher as he wandered to the front of the classroom, and picked up a few items. Wandering back to his desk, he placed them down, and sat himself back in the chair. Ooh. He was going to practice the verbal spell first. He was sure he'd be able to that. He really shouldn't be graduating if he couldn't.

Pullling his wand out, he pointed it at the first item. "Diffindo!" He said it as confidently as he could, and thankfully the item did cut in half. Woot. Score Carmicheal. He was soo epic today.

...

Right. He should have seen that coming.

Reparo, Jared thought, fixing the rubber duck and placing it on the desk so that the kid could see. That it was... alive? In one piece, at any rate.

The things he had to do to keep these kids happy.

Not that he had much of a choice, especially if he wanted the classroom to retain a modicum of sanity.

He looked up again when the first year stuttered out his name, green gaze a tad... concerned? Concerned. He had a right to feel concerned, after all, considering he knew the things these students were capable of, at the drop of a hat.

"Yes?" I desk? His gaze flickered downwards. Oh. He pointed his wand at the scratched piece of furniture. Reparo. "Take a deep breath, let it out, and then give the charm another go, alright?"

Translation: Calm down, kid.

Cassie had been busy writing down notes unto her slightly scented parchment paper and casually glancing at the students answering until her favourite part of the class got underway. The practical bit. She put away her ink well and her parchment paper then made her way to the front of the class to get an item from the box to try the spell on.

She rummaged around for a bit until she pulled up an ugly toy, she wouldn't feel bad about destroying it then.

After returning to her seat, she placed the item in the center of her table and pulled out her wand. Of course she had been using this spell since her fourth years for most of her venting needs and right now, she was not in the best of moods so perfect.

Perhaps she had been concentrating on destroying the thing on the table too hard because after she did the slashing motion with her want, the toy and the table split in two.

Right O.o.....Calm down Cassie.

Excitedly, Louisa slipped off her seat and stumbled all the way to the box wrestling a few students on the wayand she dived in. Literally. After one moment of hard looking, the thirteen year old got out with a wooden boat in hand. Louisa raised the toy above her head as she went through the crowd back to her seat.

She placed the boat on her desk and stood still for a moment gazing down at it. She didn't sit down because she knew it was a serious business. Pointing her wand at the toy in a dramatic sword-like move, she said loudly "Diffindio!" With an emphasize on the unnecessary second 'i' ........

Squeeeeaaak.

The wooden boat rolled down on the desk and bent over itself with a squeaky sound. Go figure.

O__O
Louisa frowned and held the boat in her hand. It wasn't rubber. It was wood! She specifically chose a solid material to make sure that THIS wouldn't happen. With an exaggerated sigh, she threw it back on the desk and pointed her wand at it clumsily, "di-fin-do." She muttered.

BAM! The boat had exploded in a small non-smoky non-firey explosion. Leaving her with a pile or wood remains. Her eyes stared widely at what happened and then her hand was raised automatically, "Err.. was that supposed to happen, sir?" She said absentmindedly without taking her eyes off the small crushed wood pile on the desk. Was it ok to destroy the boat instead of splitting it?

Presley skipped to the front to grab a couple of items. Setting them back on her desk, she pulled out her wand. Presley grinned in anticipation of learning how to sever things. This could be especially useful when she was angry, right? The only problem was, Presley didn't often get angry. She got annoyed, and snippy, and rude, but she was hardly ever angry. No matter. Presley focused on her fist item, willing it to be split in half. "Diffindo," she said, moving her wand in the instructed downward motion. The little plastic car fell apart into two even peices. Presley smiled. She turned to her next item, a...well she wasn't quite sure what it was. It looked as if it were some sort of spinning, music making childs toy. She focused her energy again, and as quietly as she could (to test herself) she whispered "Diffindo" The..toy thing split neatly. Presley was elated. Most of the other spells she'd tried hadn't worked so well the first or een the second time. She seemed to have an affinity for this one.

William raised his wand. He ponted at the pecil at his desk. "Diffindo" Wiliam called out. The penicl broke into two pieces. "Willaim raised his hand. How do we reverse this Charms spell?" Willaim asked the professor.

...

Reparo.

The desk that had just been split into two, returned to its normal, scratch-free state. Jared gave the Badger a bit of a smile. She seemed to have concentrated a little too much, there. "Take a deep breath, and then give it another try," he said.

No. Severing Charm, not Charm of Doom, remember?

"I don't think so," Jared grinned, repairing the wooden boat for her. "You forgot to execute the proper wand movement, the second time you cast the charm." She'd said the incantation wrong, the first time she'd tried to cast it, but since she had corrected that in her next attempt, he didn't point it out. "Remember to bring your wand down in a slashing motion, right after you utter the incantation."

Hearing another question, Jared looked up to see who had spoken. "Reparo should do the trick," he said, repairing William's pencil with two short flicks of his wand. Just in case the first year didn't know the spell.

Cassie looked to her right and was about to look to her left to see if anyone or the professor had noticed when she heard his voice and jumped. Yeah he saw, just her luck there...at least he wasn't lafay. She returned his smile and nodded."Thanks professor...right...i'll try it again."

Ness watched facinated as the Proffessor Diffindoed the Adorable rubber Ducky. Why did he have to use the Duck, couldn't her rather use something less cuddly and addorable. Nessie let the thought go away, and started to focus on the spell more. Nessie got up and walked over to the box.Ness looked inside the box and found all sorts of things. Ness picked up, what looked like a picture frame. It was deffinately better then having to cut a cute soft toy in half.

Nessie returned to her desk and put the item on top of it. She closed her eyes trying to focus and opened them again looking at her target the picture frame. One.. Two... Three counted Ness inside her head and on the third count she pointed her wand at the target and shouted. "DIFFINDO". but instead of cutting the frame in half, Nessie watched as her chair, behind seemed to be spilliting apart.

Trying to look normal, and trying not to embarres herself more Ness decided she was going to try fix the chair herself and if she wouldn't be able to do that she would have to call the Proffessor. Ness walked around to the other side of the desk, so the only thing infront of her would be her chair. Nessie then pointed her wand at her chair and quietly whispered"Reparo" trying not to attract attention. Thankfully the chair immiediatley became one solid piece again.

Nessie turned back to her frame,focused on her target then pointed her wand at it and shouted "DIFFINDO!" This time the frame split into two perfectly. Ness was highly proud of herself, she was pretty good when it came to charms. Nessie then looked back at the frame, pointed her wand at it and shouted "REPARO!". She watched as the frame came back together. Nessie smiling a huge smile, put the frame back into the box and waited for the next instruction.

Louisa nodded at the Professor's comment.. after she'd gaped at the way he fixed the boat.. like it was nothing. Aaaah.. she just loved magic ^__^

Focusing her gaze back at the boat, she held her wand high.. higher than necessary in fact but again it was her first time so.. "Diffindio!" She said forcefully bringing her wand down in a slashing move.. and a kongfu fighter sound just for affection.

SPLIT!

The little boat was in two pieces sitting peacefully on the desk. At last. Grinning, Louisa stood proudly by her desk leaning on it to let everybody know that SHE did this!