West was far more shocked by the professor noticing he needed help and actually helping him than he was by getting rained on that for once he didn't have any comments about things. For once his opinions stayed locked firmly in his mind.

He looked at his wand hand and realised when she moved it, he'd turned it the wrong way.

WELL HE WOULD GET IT RIGHT THIS TIME thanks to the professor's help.

He looked all determined.

He was FOCUSED.

And a little mad that he had got it wrong when apparently getting it right and being awesome at charms got you points and gold stars. He wanted a gold star!

SO, focus. He was focused.

"Protego Caelum!" He tried the wand movement again, like how the professor had shown....

.... but he got so caught up in getting the wand movement right that, you guessed it, kid got rained on.

The rain came down, and Vivi pulled up the cloak just a moment too late, leaving her hair a bit plastered against her head like a wet rat. Her cloak was dry and toasty, though, and her boots... well, those were wet, but holding. They were supposed to get wet.

She jumped in the puddle that was forming around her feet, sending a splash at the ankles and knees of those nearby. Shouldn't matter, right? They'd be dry if they did the spell correctly.

"Professor, can we perform the charm on ourselves? Skin or hair, I mean? How long will the shield charm last?" Because the water trickling down her neck from her damp braid was annoying.

Did he say ready? He sure did.

So it was with a perplexed look that Vickers looked up and watched the grey storm cloud just hover over him without a drop. Was he supposed to say something to it to get it to rain? But the Professor just stood and...

Drop...

....DROP.....

........DOWWWWWNNNPOOOUUURRRRR...

Out of habit the Ravenclaw hunched his shoulders and ducked his head as he braced himself for the torrent. Amazingly enough he couldnt even feel the raindrops on his shoulders although he can feel the slight mist from where the water bounces off the ground.

Its incredible. He wouldnt have to worry about forgetting to bring an umbrella ever again.

But he did have a question. Up goes the hand "Professor, how long will this spell last? Do we have to keep reapplying it to keep the water from leaking in?"

Alright. Protego Caelum. Anya was so ready for this. She was actually kind of excited that she almost never got spells right on the first time. Bonus.

She waved her wand in a clock-wise circular motion and added a quick steady flick. "Protego Caelum." she declared to her cloak.

Now... was it supposed to... glow or something? Because it kind of still looked completely like a cloak.

She swung her cloak around her. She walked right out under the cloud and said "Ready."

Soon she was bombarded with tons of rain. She was pleased academically to report that her cloak helped a little. ...about as much as an average "water-proof" windbreaker. But that was a start.

But, in non academic terms... It didn't work all the way! Squee. She grinned a little at the rain and fought her usual rainy day giggle. She figured Scary Charms Lady would not appreciate her giggling.

After the rain was done, she happily wiped the hair out of her eyes and went to go make a second attempt.

Had she mentioned before how much she adored rain?

Minerva had been getting ready again after Sir Nick when she was caught off guard by the rain cloud. Oh right, she had said ready just as the head popped up from the floor. Feeling the water bounce off her cloak she thought for a second that her spell worked, but then she felt the water on her back. Frowning she knew that it had not worked in the back. That kind of stunk now she was super went in the back.

Walking out from under the could she was still frowning. Her focus got changed from the spell to the ghost, that had to be what happened. Shaking out some of the water she shivered be a little chilly since the water was cold. Good thing it was hot in the room or she might be really cold. Thinking about the spell again she was about to redo hers when she heard Sutton getting points and doing a great job. 'Awesome Sutton.. You did fantastic." She smiled and silently clapped for her friend. Then went back to her own spells, ""Protego Caelum!"" she said to her cloak again hoping she got the entire cloak. Minerva stepped back under the cloud, "Ready" the rain began to pour again. Shutting her eyes Minerva felt the rain around her, but not really on her. A smile crossed her face and Minerva opened her eyes. "It worked" she said as the rain stopped. She still felt her wet back from the last failed attempted, but this one worked so she was happy.

Addie practiced the circular motion with a flick at the end for a couple of minutes to be sure that she had the wand motion first. Because if the wand motion was wrong then the spell would most definitely not work. Circle and flick. Circle and flick. Addie began to get the motion down.

Next was the incantation. Protego Caelum. With her wand tucked away in her raincoat she began to speak the incantation a couple of times. "Protego Caelum, Protego Caelum, Protego Caelum." Now the incantation was down and it was time to proceed to the casting of the spell. And then going under the cloud.

Deep breaths. Addie took her wand out again and said "Protego..." circular movement of wand..."Caelum..."flick of her wand. There, spell done. Now she just had to hope that it worked. Addie walked underneath her cloud and breathed, "Ready."

Fingers crossed she waited and then the rain began to fall and unfortunately the rain coat clad Addie got soaked. The spell didn't work on her first try.

Stepping a bit away from the cloud again, Penelope sighed and tried to focus as she prepared to try the spell again. She wasn't sure what she was doing wrong, but she was determined to get it right eventually. She tried a few deep breaths to help herself focus, then she pointed her wand at her cloak, did the wand movement and said, "Protego Caelum."

Here we go again.

She stepped back under the cloud and told it she was ready.

...

But of course, she'd failed again, the rain hitting her cloak and soaking it and her as it normally would.

With a small, frustrated huff, she stepped away once more and practiced the wand movement and the incantation separately for a few minutes.

Glad to know that her question hadn’t been totally off mark, Eliza felt at east. Yes. Practice does make perfect, she repeated to herself. Well, not perrrfect perfect, because I’m not sure if anything is ever actually 100% perfect. But I get the idea. She listened to Professor Bellaire answer the other students.

Three points!! Eliza was so excited she could hardly believe it. Her answer hadn’t even been the best and she’d been awarded points?! My first points ever! She squealed inside and jiggled her feet a little in the sand. The professor’s next comment mentioned weather. She had figured the lesson would incorporate it somehow since they were told to bring cloaks and galoshes…and they were on a beach.

She pulled her cloak from her bag just in case they would be needing it right away, and set it next to her galoshes. She wondered if the professor was going to make a tropical storm since they were on the beach, but she didn’t ask. She wouldn’t want the professor to think Eliza was assuming they’d all be put in danger. No, she’d just see how it all played out instead.

She was glad to hear that the coconut water had been intended for all of them. She really did think it was just for the professor, so she was glad that Bellaire was more hospitable than that. Her mouth was practically watering at the thought of the sweet drink. She got up and poured a cup for herself, quietly, and sat back down to enjoy it.

Eliza had already taken out her gear, so she put her notes and quill back into her bag and walked over to the trunk. She was glad for the professor’s thorough lesson planning as she really didn’t want all of her school work to be sopping wet. She sat her empty cup back on the table next to the coconut water, assuming they’d all be washed and used again. She then walked back over to her spot in the sand, careful not to get smacked by any of the cloaks that were being pulled from bags all around her.

She hadn’t thought the professor said to actually put on their rain gear, but she saw a lot of people doing it anyway. She wasn’t usually a fan of joining the masses, but in this case she thought they might have the right idea. Maybe it was implied… She shrugged and put her boots and cloak on. Ready to go.



Shocked that the professor had treated a student like that in front of everyone, Eliza covered her mouth to hold back any protest. I guess it is only water, she thought, trying to calm her urge to speak out on this sort of punishment. She watched the soaking wet Hufflepuff go back to join the rest of the students. I hope she saw some fun in it at least, she thought as she tried to give the girl a sympathetic smile.

Already, students who hadn’t practiced nearly as much as Eliza thought they should, were forming a line to stand under the cloud. As for herself, she stayed put and said the incantation, “Protego Caelum” whilst circling her arm in a clockwise motion. The flick was a bit harder. Her wand was slightly springy and it wasn’t sure if it wanted to flick so much as it wanted to bounce.


“Protego Caelum,” she said again - waving her arm in the same fashion as before, this time her flick really flicked and she felt a slight wobble in the air as her shield manifested around her. Her mother had always said she’d bet anything that Eliza would be good at charms. Her father had agreed too of course, since he worked with a variety of charms every day for work. Eliza had heard him say to her mother in private though that he was eager to see how Eliza performed in Potions, which she thought was sort of odd.

Turning her thoughts back to the task at hand, she smiled at her shield and she saw another ghost slide up through the sandy floor. Having met Peeves earlier, she welcomed the sight of the ghost she’d heard greeted as Nearly Headless Nick. He seemed to be much more agreeable, so she decided to speak to him.

“Hello Sir Nicholas!” she called out. She’d never talked to a ghost before. This is almost better than the lesson! she thought excitedly. Then to her professor, she said, “I’m ready for the rain!” and walked under a cloud.



She closed her eyes and crinkled her nose, expecting at least a few drops to get in - but to her happy surprise, they did not! She remained completely dry. She really was good at charms! Simple ones anyway, she thought. She stood there grinning ear to ear as the rain pounded harder without any dampening results. She couldn’t wait to show her parents what she’d learned.

Once the second year hopped underneath the cloud and said READY, rain poured down on her. Well, she likes the rain and all but this wasn't like the rain she likes. This was like more having a shower! And she never walked under the rain if it was raining that much because her mother wouldn't let her .Though she still likes it because she could imagine herself swimming somehow if she considered tha……wait a minute!

Why was she feeling the rain! She wasn't supposed to, no?


She cast the spell in order to NOT get wet by the rain. Eh….too late.
Cassia still getting showered under the pours of rain. The snake felt like she needed to do something. Like do the spell CORRECTLY this time. Oh well, she didn't do it correctly on purpose. Because she wanted to…..have a shower. Yup that was totally it.

Anyway, she's done showering now so might as well do the spell.
Cassia took a step backwards and got her wand out. She shook her head to get the hair get OUT of her eyes. Though that didn't work. So she had to push it back with her hand because bangs were plastered to her forehead.

Now spell time. She motioned with her wand in a circular shape like the professor showed them and with a flick she said, "Protego Caelum," Did it work?
Only one way to find out.

The snake hopped back under the cloud murmuring a ready. She shut her eyes closed waiting to see if it worked. Then a couple of seconds of nothing she opened her eyes and looked up. The twelve-years old grinned seeing that rain was still pouring but she wasn't affected! Well, aside from the wetness from the previous try.

Now she stands enjoying this weird feeling of not getting wetter by the pouring down rain.

Kurumi walked over to Nessie and administered a Hot Air Charm to the Hufflepuff to dry her robes before heading back over to her own cloud to practice some more when she noticed...of course...West.

So instead of going back to her rain cloud like she had intended to, Kurumi took a little side trip over to the Slytherin and waved her wand at him. "West, you want a Hot Air Charm too? Might help you focus a bit more if you are not soaking wet," she offered. His choice though, of course. She wasn't going to force him to dry off.

Kurumi glanced up at his rain cloud again and then back at the drenched snake. His wand movement hadn't seemed far off, so Kurumi wasn't entirely sure what had gone wrong besides, well, West did seem to have a hard time focusing on any one thing at a time. That much was obvious with the questions he asked in lessons.

Jory had prepared himself to be soaked once under the cloud. But after waiting for almost ten seconds and not feeling so much as a drop of water he looked up.

It had worked! There were raindrops pouring down but not a drop touched him. No need for an umbrella or anything. Simply amazing!

Everyone seemed to be getting on fairly well, she was indeed having a weird feeling in the pit of her stomach....she was indeed having a proud professor moment as she watched majority of the students master the spell. On days like today she understood why wizards went into the teaching profession..watching students progress was reward in itself...a real tear jerker.... unless that was the room affecting her /:

She continued making her rounds until she received questions from two of her older students.

"The spell can be performed on your body but I would prefer if you didn't try it..well at least not today.." in her class. "As for how long the charm lasts well... That usually depends on the person casting the charm. Skill levels matter so you'll find that a more powerful wizard's charm could last almost a whole day while more inexperienced ones will get a few hours tops."

Thing were going very well so Professor Bellaire figured she could make things a bit more challenging for those who had gotten the charm down.

"For those of you having trouble with getting the charm just right please go under the thatched hut. I'll be with you shortly to see what problems you are having." She pointed in the general direction of the hut she was talking. She suppose having a smaller group would give her time to one on one, especially since she needed everyone to get this charm.

"Older students and those of you who think you have master the storm stay here." She banished the raining clouds away and grinned. There was a mischievous gleam in her eyes..just like the evening she had locked Medea in the room.

"I'm not sure how many of you have every been exposed to a hurricane or a tropical storm..." Probably not many. "Today you will all be. As a girl growing up on the island almost every summer we'd face a hurricane or some sort of tropical depression. MY parents would protect the house using this very charm and it saved us from having to rebuild or do repairs after every storm. But before my siblings and I learnt the charm we'd get caught out on the beach sometimes when playing after the eye of the hurricane had passed and all sorts of things would fly at us because of the heavy winds....coconuts became missiles
, parts of muggle houses, tree branches you name it..but those we could dodge..the sand grains were murder. Nothing hurts more to me than getting slapped with sand over and over..it's like being stung by a thousand bees." She grinned...good times...gooood times. "Anyways..you'll all be exposed to hurricane conditions in a little while. You'll need a strong charm so don't put yourself through this if you know you might not be able to produce one. I'll give you a little time to dry off and prepare yourselves." She waited for reactions.

"Now i'll have something special for the witch or wizard who manages to come out of this hurricane the driest and with little or no signs of being stung by sand."

"Oh. Thanks." Yeah. That was nice. He would accept that gratefully. Since she was offering and stuff. He screwed his eyes closed and held his arms out, waiting to be dried off.

And trying to think about the SPELL going right. Gosh.

Sooo he had to go under a hut....? West could dig that. It'd be drier for one thing. He waited for Kurumi to dry him off first, then he'd go under there. Totally.

He definitely wasn't ready to brave flying coconuts.

Sarah had quite gotten the hang of it.. her charm seemed strong. She had practiced and practiced it. So she stayed where she was. SHE WAS A LION AFTER ALL! LIONS DO NOT QUIVER AT THE SLIGHTEST TERROR! She put on her miss. confident face and prepared to face whatever she would be facing. She may not win, but she was going to have fun.

O________O

Theodore just knew that he wasn't magically stable enough for this task. Yeah, he had gotten out of the rain in the previous activity but... hurricane conditions? He just was NOT sure. Though, the temptation of whatever prize Professor Bellaire mentioned was enough to entice him. Clutching his wand VERY tightly, Theo remained where he was.

Why did he feel like he was about to make a face plant with the sand?

Yea, he was in way over his head on this one.
...

Nodding, Kurumi made two little clockwise circles and then moved her wand wand up and down West's body, "Siccus Aerous." After a few moments, she stopped the movement and looked him over a little. His hair was still a little damp, since she had been focusing on his robes mostly, but nothing he should be worried about. Yeah?

Seeing that West was obviously down, she tried to give him a reassuring smile. "You'll get it West. Just try not to put too much emphasis on just the wand movement or just the incantation. They are both important after all."

She was about to offer some more advice, or at least words of encouragement, but the professor called them all in to...face a hurricane? Flying coconuts?

o__________O

Okay, hurricane was one thing. That was, well, the elements of nature coming violently together....BUT COCONUTS AND BITS OF HOUSES?! Kurumi really wasn't sure she liked the sound of that...at all. Still, she had managed the spell and she would really be a shame of a Gryffindor if she did not at least attempt this portion of the lesson so...stay here it was.

AND SARAH WAS OVER HERE TOO?!

Yeah...Kurumi might be throwing herself in front of bits of debris ....

Elliot lived in Scotland. Did Scotland have hurricanes? NO! And she was quite glad of that, thank you. But it seemed she would be facing one today. Go stand under the hut? Please. Elliot was totally ready. Maybe she would slapped around by sand, maybe she would be plummeted with coconuts...but Elliot was NOT going to stand under that hut...EVER.

Proud Ravenclaw, here.

And plus, she HAD mastered the charm...so she should be fine, right? Hopefully...or she'd be taking her first trip to the hospital wing afterwards...eh...she didn't want that...."Bring it on, Professor," she said with a smirk, looking determined. She twirled her wand around in her fingers...mentally preparing.

Sutton froze. Seconds ago, she had been so proud of her accomplishment, and now she was mildly regretting her success. Hurricane-like conditions? Slapping sand? Looking around, she saw a few of the students her age going under the hut, but... Sutton had been rewarded for doing well, and it didn't seem appropriate for her to go hide under the huts.

And so, she would stay out here on the beach... among all of the older kids... who had pretty much been around magic and doing magic their entire lives. Suddenly, she realized that she was gripping her wand so tightly that her knuckles were turning white. Swallowing hard, she shuffled closer to Minnie to "prepare herself" as Professor Bellaire had put it. With a brave smile to her friend, she said, "Together?"

Wow! Surya wondered. Whatever be the difficulty Surya must stay and test himself how his performance will be in HURRICANE like conditions. After all Surya has done well under the rain cloud and was waiting for something more challenging. So Surya again started practicing for the second test. "Protego Caelum", "Protego Caelum" he repeated many times. He made sure that his wand movement is correct and shall not change shake the Hurricane.

As soon as the word 'Ready' came out from his mouth, the rain poured down on him and he was soaking wet. Wait. He's not supposed to soak, its the purpose of this spell. To protect them from this. So his first attempt was failed.

Messer took a step backward from the cloud and cast the spell "Protego Caelum!" he made a clock-wise circular motion and added a quick steady flick. Hopefully this time it work.

The third year went back to stand under the could and told it that he's ready. He grinned widely when the spell worked. The rain didn't effect him at all. He was still standing under the rain when the Professor banished the raining clouds away.

They will be facing hurricane? GULP.

Waving back at the boy that was waving at him, Sir Nicholas called over politely. "Hello."

Bubbling Hufflepuff girl! Directing his eyes in her direction Sir Nicholas fired off his best smile. "Good day."

"Hello Penelope." Sir Nicholas greeted the young lioness with a smile of approval. It was good to see so many lions in the room.

"I’m very good, thank you for asking, miss prefect." Sir Nicholas shot the girl a blink before eyeing the floor weird looking floor again. Pity he didn’t know her name. Maybe he could ask the Friar?

O____O

Not everyone had reacted so calmly to his appearance. Shooting the girl an apologetic smile he said softly. "Sorry dear. It was not my intent to scare you." Making sure his head was actually on his head like it should Sir Nicholas murmured dismally. "Its okay to look now."

"Hello." Sir Nicholas greeted back distractedly. Maybe he should leave?

"Hello." Sir Nicholas greeted a claw with a beam. She seemed excited but probably more because of the lesson than his own sudden appearance.

Practice a charm that would mean this was a LESSON.

Resisting the urge to cover his face and sink into the floor he came from, Sir Nicholas instead responded to Kurumi’s question. "I’m looking for the Grey Lady have you seen her?"

Hovering over the professor lady he fired off beam in her direction totally ignoring her sort off request of him leaving. "What is the yellow stuff on the floor?" Sir Nicholas asked. "I hope it’s not something nasty Peeves has cooked up?"

Untroubled by the rain that started to pour down around him Sir Nicholas eyes caught those of a lioness that looked scared by his judgement of her body language. Floating over to her he tried his best to be encouraging "You can do it dear! Just picture yourself not getting wet and then make it happen." The transparent man cheered the lioness on. Go GRYFFINDOR!

Hannah by no means was looking forward to the hurricane that the professor was going to conjure up. She seemed like she was enjoying the practical a little too much.

Now Hannah was able to produce to charm without any problems, but she wasn't sure if she was ready for sand to slap her around. That didn't sound like any fun at all. Still she knew she would not be going to that hut. That would be embarrassing. She was just going to have to tough it out.

Oooooooooooooooooooo, that sounded cool! It was Sophie's chance to check how strong her spell was! It probably wasn't the strongest one, of course, she was only a third year, but she believed herself and stood where she was. Besides, if she wanted to be the Charms Queeeeen, she'd have to trust her Charms skills.

Which she did!

But... waitwaitwait. WHAT?? Flying coconuts and house parts?? "Professor, this spell can protect us from flying objects as well?" Wasn't it only from weather conditions? A flying door was not a 'weather condition', was it?? o_____O

Sophie was getting a little worried. But... she remained there. She tightened the grip on her wand and waited for... whatever was going to come her way. Maybe she'd have to dodge those flying stuff, like they used to do in their flying lessons? Sophie was good at avoiding things, but she remembered pretty well those flying squirrels from her first term falling all over her and almost knocking her off her broom.

Oh Merlin...!

Minerva looked at the professor.. she was kidding, right? As a kid Minerva remembered seeing the news with Hurricanes, but never had to experience them thank goodness. Her back still a little wet from the first failed attempt she shivered not as much for cold, but maybe fear of what they were going to do next. Looking at her cloak, wouldn't hurt to do the charm again to make sure it was correct. "Protego Caelum!" doing the wand movement and making sure she got both sides of her cloak.

Then she heard Sutton and looked at her, "Umm yes let's do it together." she tried to smile, but fear was definitely showing in her face. Taking a deep breath Minerva looked at Sutton and then towards the professor, "alright, let's do this.." She wasn't sure how bad it was going to be, but if it was better to think the worse she was already doing that...

After having practiced the wand movement and incantation many, many times - he lost count at thirty - Ethan had finally tried it for real under his rain cloud. He was determined to not got wet and, though he had somewhat surprised himself, he managed to keep dry performing the spell under the downpour. But what was the professor proposing now?

Yes, he was an older student - relatively - but had he really mastered the spell? Perhaps because he had practiced this beginner spell so much was why he was successful in the storm... he wasn't so sure he'd be able to weather a hurricane. His eyes flickered back and forth from the hut to the clouds trying to decide where he should stand. As he did, he noticed the ghost on the other side of the room, talking to some of the students.

Grey Lady? She was the Ravenclaw House ghost, wasn't she? "Sir Nicholas.." he called over to the ghost as that's what he heard a few others call him. "I've seen her... the Grey Lady, I mean. In my common room before class." Was she still there? He didn't know. But maybe that would at least point the ghost in the right direction if he was looking for her.

Turning his attention back to the class, Ethan decided he would not stand in the hut... even if that meant enduring a hurricane if his spell was not strong enough. He was a fifth year and he was going to act like it. Looking towards the professor, Ethan gave her a confident nod as he held out his wand. He was ready.