Azura's purple eyes watched Ausrin carefully as he used the locking spell, she took note of the way he said it and she smiled as he walked over to her!

"Thank you!" she said with a shy smile, she had been scared she hadn't gotten it! But thankfully she had! She listened to him carefully as he taught her how to use the locking spell and she nodded seriously.

She took the box in her hand and shut the cabinet door.

"All right.. Here it goes!" Azura took her wand out and aimed it at the door.. Carefully repeating Colloportus in her head to make sure she had the pronunciation right!

"Colloportus!" She said as she aimed her wand at the cabinet, making sure to say the spell just like Austin had taught her!

She jumped around excitedly as she heard a click!

"I did it!!!" The first year nearly hugged the older boy!! "Thank you so much Austin!! I was going to say the spell all wrong!" She grinned happily as she bounced happily next to him with her box.

Janelle returned her focus to her box, keeping one eye on the younger girl. She removed it from the cabinet and set it carefully on the floor in front of her. Then she turned her attention back to the glass cabinet. Taking her wand, she made the crazy movement and said, "Colloportus". Not sure whether this spell would work as well as the last one, Janelle breathed a sigh of relief when she found the cabinet to be locked again. "Guess there's something to be said for practice", she said to herself.

Janelle picked her box up form the floor and surveyed it. So this box held the key to getting into the next room, huh? What the next room held for them, Janelle could not imagine. More tests? Or would completing the locking/unlocking task make them worthy of learning from the new Professor? Maybe this whole thing was just a trick to see if they could behave and work together, especially while they were unsupervised. All of this surmising was keeping Janelle from the task at hand so she snapped out of her thoughts and went back to work. First though, she took a peek at the little firstie next door and found that she was getting even more help. That was good. It was always good to get a different take on how to perform a spell. That way you could figure out what worked best for you.

The instructions had been read three times by Vivie before she decided to actually take action. Generally she wasn't as into 'Constance vigilance' as today but at the moment she had reasons for being rather observant. After the occurrence at the feast she decided that precaution was some what necessary in such an environment. Could you after all blame her?

The blonde eventually ebbed forward towards a glass cabinet, one of which she chose at random. She then produced her wand from her pocket and with a swish and a flick she performed, what was to her, a simple spell. "Alohamora!", her voice was audibly smooth.

Within a short moment the glass case opened, enabling Vivie to reach for the small box.

Rachel tried to glower at Ilia but let's face it. She didn't have a good idea of how to do that because she was accustomed to being nice. "I feel flattered, Ilia. You shouldn't be wasting so much time bothering about me though. Henric might feel bad,'' was Rachel's reply in a false sweet voice. As much as she disliked Ilia, she nodded, accepting all the knowledge and experience being passed to her. "I am sure I'll remember this.'' She focused on the box again. "I know that much but I don't understand how exactly we have to use the numbers. Perhaps I have missed something.''
~~~~~~~

Rachel's eyes widened at the loud slamming sound at the room's entrance. Clutching her box close to her, she turned to see a rather dirty Haddie standing next to her. "Oh, Haddie. Whatever am I to do with you?'' she questioned in exasperation. "You didn't do such a good job. There's still... what's that? Ketchup?... on your face.'' Rachel indicated to it.

She remained silent after that though so that Haddie can properly concentrate on getting the box. "Oh, excellent job, Haddie!'' However, this was only for unlocking. Her best friend had a great deal of trouble with re-locking the cabinet. "I am not sure. I think we need to wait until everyone has gotten their boxes and locked the cabinets. Come on, Haddie. Don't give up. You can do it.''

Bentley watched as Blaise went to get the box. All the while he kept an eye out for the professor. Blaise needed to at least pretend like he was doing something if the professor decided to turn up out of nowhere.

"Yeah yeah I know...just step aside." He took a deep breath again. Colloportus...he needed to get this done quickly...."Collo---Colloportus!" The second year didn't stop to go check if the cabinet was indeed closed, but instead turned to do the second part of the assignment.

"Just hold the box....." He grinned.."And hope I don't miss. I'm not sure what would happen if you get hit with an alohomora spell." Okay so he was joking...it would be pretty wild of him to miss but still...he was curious...

"Alohomora!" He said clearly while pointing the wand at the box. "It's all you from here mate."

If there was one thing Daxton hated, it was an unexpected surprise. Except:

1. There were actually a great many things Daxton hated, and it was simply impossible to pick something to take the number one spot.
2. Surprises were very rarely unexpected, especially in Hogwarts. When the world in general had the habit to baffle and perplex you, you learned to expect the unexpected. But that rarely meant you were prepared for everything; that would be impossible.

The point was that Daxton Prince had stepped into yet another unconventional classroom set-up without any warning, and the lack of warning combined with the reminder that he was in for another year of... this... was enough to make him quite unimpressed. He stepped further into the classroom, and instinctively clapped his hands over his ears as the disembodied voice rang throughout the room, looking this way and that for the source until it became clear (from the words he could still hear) that he would not find it.

All these professors. They liked their theatrics, didn't they? Daxton rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. Honestly.

And then came the actual instructions. Clear enough, that was for sure, but no doubt they would be impossible. As he read them off the board, Daxton wondered why he had bothered even showing up today. He would likely have made much more progress hiding in his dorm or the library, continuing trying to teach himself the mechanisms - and eventually the practice - of non-verbal magic.

The Ravenclaw stepped across to a cabinet in the least busy section of the room - and he was wearing his school shoes today, a result of having read the rules for the class in order to know how much he might get away with - and eyed it. Obviously, magic was not going to work, but he pulled his wand out from up his sleeve in any case, and twirled it around his fingers once before pointing it at the cabinet. The Professor, despite what he had said about 'not formally attending' was no doubt watching, or maybe even disillusioned and in the room; it was stupid to mindlessly believe otherwise.

Anyway, he would try the magic first, for reasons. It was the first logical step, in any case.

Olivia has made sure to make it to the charms classroom with plenty of time to spare. It had helped that she had made note of which floor was which classroom so she didn’t get lost…much. The stairs were still tricky but she had made it. Stepping inside, she took in her surroundings only to find there were students and no professor. So no greeting the man that wasn’t there. And then the door was closed just as she had moved to an open spot near a wall of glass cabinets.

A man’s voice was heard and she looked around only to find he still wasn’t there as the voice itself explained. She was eager to work and try hard, especially given what she had been told about her wand. So she just had to show it. Spotting the notes being magically written on the board, Olivia copied stuff down before taking out her wand.

Could she do it on her own?

She was certainly going to try.

“Alohomora,” Olivia quietly mused, looking into her charms text for the spell. Finding it, she read up on it to know what she needed. The incantation was self-explanatory. “Alohomora…a-lo-ha-mor-a…al-LOH-ha-MOR-ah,” she practiced wanting to get it right. She didn’t want to be left behind.

With the cabinet standing before her unlocked all she needed to do was open it and collect the box inside. Hady spared a quick glance at the younger boy Carl to see if he needed anymore assistance from her at all on how to unlock the cabinet. She couldn't exactly with forever though so onward she would go.

Hady pulled the cabinet open and retrieved the small box inside. Shutting the door once more she pointed the tip of her wand at the lock and clearly spoke the incontinence needed to lock it, "Colloportus!" Hearing a soft click told her that the charm had worked but she lightly tugged the handle on the cabinet anyhow. It was stuck tight. Good

A small grin on her face Hady turned the box over in her hands a few times silently studying it.

Well this was... it wasn't ideal, that was for sure. Rooney didn't want to assume that one of their new professors was incapable, but this was only pushing him towards that assumption. Who didn't turn up to their first class? Who expected first years to be able to keep up with overachieving older students? This Professor, clearly. He had been tempted to get up and leave -- it wasn't like it would be noticed -- but the door had shut and he could only make faces and reach for his notebook. And write "insubordinate" next to his drawing of the new Charms teacher.

There were a few more choice words that he wanted to use, but he didn't have time. There were things to be doing and eyes to be rolling -- or thinking about rolling, but not really rolling. Cheeky, his mother would have called him for even contemplating it.

Wand pointed at the lock, Rooney was very sure of himself as he cast. "Alohamora!" C to the L to the I to the C to the K! See? His wand worked with him well enough that he didn't have a strange turn in his stomach every time he tried to cast something. That was LONG gone! Now he just got that feeling in his stomach when he saw Miss Sophie or Miss Charlotte or Miss Norah or Miss Dot.

He had heard someone nearby asking for help and smiled. "You okay there??"

Echo was moving along nicely and was very pleased with how things were going. Looking around she saw a younger girl that seemed a bit shakey. ughh this girl was tugging on her heart strings. which was werid because she thought that she didn't have a heart. "shrug"

Moving her way over to the girl with her box in hand she waited to see what the girl had accomplished. "Hey, Im Echo. Need some help?" she asked while seeing that the cabinet didn't open.

"it sounds like your incantation isn't right?? its Alo-Ho-Mora. theres the HO not HA? maybe that's your issue?" smile at the girl Echo smile at her, don't make it look like your so evil.

Kaylee sighed in relieve when she saw Norah walking towards her, she remember being introduced to the older Hufflepuff girl at the Start of the Term Feast.
"Hello Norah!" Thank you for helping me" The little girl payed close attention to what Norah was saying and doing. She copied the movements and repeated until it felt natural. She then put her wand down and started to repeat "Alohomora!" a few times until she could say it perfectly.

When Kay felt she was ready to try again, she went back to the cabinet, and said "Alohomora!" while doing the wand movements. To her delight she heard a click, and when she tried to open the door, it opened!
She beamed and turned to Norah "It worked! Thank you so much!"

Alohomora. The Thief's Friend. Technically this should have been Daxton's favourite spell, using that logic.

Except it was not really a very useful spell in that regard, when one thought about it. The Unlocking Charm was taught at a first year level; it was a very basic spell. So, if someone wanted to lock up their valuables or homes or anything like that, they would not very well go and do so in a way that an eleven year old could potentially come along and breach a frankly pathetic level of security. If people locked things up, they would be doing it so that nobody could access said things, and would no doubt apply extra security; more locking charms, a caterwauling charm, anything. Otherwise, what was the point? And that meant that this spell was basically useless. Unless, of course, those who wrote the curriculum at Hogwarts were hinting that they should all go out and burgle normal, non-magical people.

Daxton stood there musing over the issue for a short while, thinking about this spell and exactly what the point of it was. If it would have been more useful in years past, perhaps before better security spells had been invented. He very soon came to the conclusion that the best way to use the spell, was against muggles. But there was so much more to think about, and he was quickly getting carried away.

He eyed the cabinet again and pointed his wand at it, tilting his head slightly as though sizing up, before thinking the incantation of the spell as hard as he could, accompanied by the wand movement.

Alohomora.

Daxton waited, as though he expected the non-verbal spell to suddenly work, as though he had not been relentlessly trying to work non-verbal magic with his wand for months, and knew that the effort was futile. In reality, he had no expectations that it would suddenly start working. But still, he tried again. Daxton was nothing if not thorough.

Alohomora.

Nothing, as expected.

Oliver was not late to Charms. Just because he wasn't early didn't mean he was late. He may have been one of the last few there, but he had still gotten there before the lesson was technically scheduled to start. And the professor wasn't even there, so it didn't matter anyway. Except, when it was time for the lesson to actually start, it didn't look like the professor was planning on showing up ever. Not for a while, at least. Or maybe he was there, just hidden. Olly heard his voice of course, as it echoed throughout the room. And the instructions on the board appeared too. It was an odd first lesson, but not one he couldn't handle.

The unlocking spell was easy enough, even a first year could do it. If they knew the incantation and wand movement, that was. Sure, there were instructions on the board but that was nothing like being taught the real thing in person. He glanced around to see if any of them need help, but others seemed to be handling the helping part. That was probably for the best. Olly was only a second year, and somebody older would be better to ask for help. He would just focus on his own task. He made his way over to a cabinet. They looked like it wouldn't be hard to break them, with or without magic. Olly entertained that thought for a second with a small smile on his face but no, that wasn't the task. He didn't really want to get on this teachers bad side before he had even met the guy. So he took out his wand like an obedient student.

"Alohomora." He heard the click, alerting him that the cabinet was open. Olly smiled faintly to himself again and glanced around, getting a feel for how the others were doing.

Kitty creeped into the Charms classroom as silently as she could. Relief ran through her when she saw the doors were already open, because that meant she could come in without having to open or close the doors - which meant it would be less likely anyone would be disturbed or notice she was late.

She was late, but she had a good reason for being late. Professor Kitridge had asked her (and Haddie) to help clean the library because of the food fight she participated in last night. Right in the middle of cleaning Peeves had shown up and had attacked them with pudding, tomato sauce, potatoes, and tons of other food. So of course there was no way Kitty was going to attend classes that way! She was able to clean some of it with magic, and had gone up to the tower to quickly comb her hair and paint her nails black again.

But what were they doing? All the students were standing and there was no place to. She walked over to the instructions on the board curiously. Hmm.... This didn't look so hard. "I've got this!" She pulled out her wand and walked over to the nearest empty cabinet.

Azura was happy, and that was a good thing. At least The Ravenclaw believed it to be good. Happy friend's made for a happy time. The only shocking thing was that Austin had taught her enough for her to get it on the first time. He didn't think he was that good of a teacher. Maybe it had to do with teaching his baby sister. He was Lucy's role model after all.

"So the next thing to do would be to open the chest? Yea?" He took a moment to look back up at the chalk board. "Ah yes. So, Azura," He turned back to his purple eyed friend. "To open it you're just going to do Alohomora again. And make sure you say Alo-HO-mor-a, and not Alo-HA-mo-a. Otherwise it won't work." The more he spoke, the more he sounded like a teacher. And he wasn't sure how to feel about it. On one hand it was surprising. The only other person he had ever taught was his baby sister. And that was maybe how to walk, or to say his name. Nothing as big as spells before. On the other hand, it felt good. It was not only nice to have a friend, but to be able to help them in times like this gave Austin confidence. Something he hasn't had in a long time.

"Why don't you watch me first? To make sure you've gotten it down." He held the chest out in his hand, and pointed his wand at it. He spoke as clearly as he could. "Alohomora."

Gently, Vivie closed the cabinet with her wand hand and then used the same hand to perform the next spell. Precision had always been one of her strengths and thus she had no difficulty in any of the tasks they had been required.

With ease and after a murmur of 'Colloportus' the box appeared to have locked itself. For extra measure the blonde took hold of the cabinet door and pulled backwards. It wouldn't budge in her direction at all. Perfect!

This appeared to be a little to simple and Vivie being a forward planner had already begun to wonder what the catch had to be...

Oh well, next step, then?

WHAAAAA???

They had to do a test?

On her first day of school ever?

Hehe, apparently so. Trixie took out her wand and raised it like a sword and skipped towards the nearest glass cabinet. She circled around it for a moment, looking at it from every angle. Why she did this, she had no idea. But she was sure it made her look like she knew what she was doing.

She glanced back at the banner and read the incantation once again. "Alo - ho - mora." She muttered to herself. Okay yep, she could do this.

Flourishing her wand at the lock on the cabinet, Trixie squealed out the incantation. "Alohomora."

Nothing.

Okay she would just try again.

"Alohomora." She said again, with more flourishing of her wand and once again nothing happened. Hmm, it appeared that she was doing something wrong. Trixie looked back at the banner and scratched her temple with the end of her wand and a couple of sparks flew out the end causing her to jump back and drop her wand.

Maybe she needed help?

Mel was glad that Sha hadn’t told her to skedaddle when she had walked over and watched her. Mel’s grin grew even bigger when she heard Sha’s exclamation. “Thanks Sha” she grinned up at her because she was short herself.

Sha was even MORE amazing really. She was like her cousin and then she saw another girl who looked a bit…stressed? Watching Sha move closer to the girl Mel did the name.

COUSIN? Did she say Cousin? Mel’s smile broadened again and all she wanted to do was give Sha a BIG old hug because…well, obviously it meant that Thunder viewed her like a kid and that was just…she loved Thunder. Really. He was going to get ALL the boy related questions not her silly brothers. They were silly. “Hi,” she smiled at the other girl as today was a beautiful day and she had cousins in school with her! “If you need help I’ll practice with you…I probably need more work too” she admitted with a grin after all learning the spell wasn’t the hard part…it was making it become fluid like a muscle memory that was the hard part.

Make no mistake: Callum Kettleburn was a pureblood, so he grew up around magic and knew plenty of magic, at least at face value. He knew incantations, he sort of knew some wand movements... but there was no denying the difference between knowing spells and actually performing the spellwork, so when the voice rang out and the eleven-year-old found that there was no professor, no practical teaching today, and they were being tested on their capabilities with performing spellwork their very first day... Callum was visibly distraught.

No, he did not want to have to ask for help. No, he did not care to make a fool of himself in front of the older students. Yes, he wanted to do magic, but no, he did not want to be tested on it in front of everyone like this. The professor had not taught him any of the basics of spellwork, and as excited as he was to make good use of his wand early on in the year, this was not his cup of tea. He did not want to hold any older students back by making them walk along with him every step of the way like he was some sort of helpless baby, so he made up his mind pretty quickly that he wanted out.

Rather unimpressed with the class entirely, Callum opened the classroom door and left.

Opening the cabinet, Esme reached inside and carefully pulled out the box. So this was what contained the key to the next room. She was more curious than ever to see what was inside.

Carefully she set the box down on the ground by her feet before closing the cabinet door. She was about to lock it when she heard a younger student struggling. Smiling, Esme bent over and picked up her wand.

"I can help you if you want." She could remember how it felt to be a First Year and it WAS the first Charms lesson. The Professor had definitely chosen a good way to test their skills.

Way to go, Sir.

Hopefully he would arrive soon though she had a feeling that he wouldn't appear until they finished the tests. She couldn't wait to see what else was in store for them!!

Okay. Box. This felt a little like what she'd heard OWLs would be like. With the instructions and stuff. Not necessarily the level of difficulty obviously. Like, she highly doubted she would get an O in Charms for knowing the Unlocking Charm.

Taking out the small box, Maggie held it in her other hand while using her wand to lock the closet again. "Colloportus." There. Now all she had to do was get INSIDE the box. For that she turned around with her back to the closet and...just looked around the room for a moment. There were quite a few younger students struggling with these spells. None looked familiar (i.e. were Slytherins) however.

So Maggie decided she didn't care.

One person did catch her attention for a few moments however. Daxton. The boy from the train. Who didn't speak. He was only a second year though so she assumed he wasn't exactly an expert in doing non-verbals just yet. Interesting. She watched him for a while before looking back down at the box in her hands. Right.

Well, then. No magic. What a shame. What was to be done about this? As if Daxton did not already know, the moment he had laid eyes on the instructions.

Shoving his wand back up his sleeve (he still had no holster for it, and it was unwise to keep it tucked into his belt in such a busy room of untrustworthy people), Daxton took a step back from the cabinet and quickly glanced around the room. He found varying degrees of success, as expected, but also managed to catch sight of Magdalena Traulton right as she looked away from him (suspicious; why had she been looking in the first place?) and one student in particular leaving the room. Daxton watched him go, thinking back to one of his own classes last year, Muggle Studies, which he himself had walked out of. Interesting to see it again now. Sort of.

But not interesting enough to hold his attention for very long. Daxton turned back to his cabinet, satisfied with his brief survey of the classroom. Not even hesitating, he stood right up to the glass cabinet, placed his bent elbow against it, protected by the thick material of school robes, and with a sudden jerk he sent said elbow right at the glass with a resounding crack. The impact probably should have hurt, but if it did, Daxton did not show it. Instead, he simply drew his arm back, repeated the action, and his elbow went right through, smashing the glass (which had not troubled to be quiet about breaking, either).

Suffering no injury from the venture, Daxton removed his arm again and, finding his path to the box inside quite clear, he reached in through the broken glass and pulled it out.

And look at that. No need to re-lock the cabinet. Convenient.

Great.

First day of classes, in fact first class ever, and they had a test on magic.

Not a theory one, an actual, practical, magical one.

Jasper groaned mentally, sluggishly making his way over to one of the cabinets. What was wrong with just having keys? Worked just fine for him for the last 11 years of his life living in the muggle world!

"Alohomora," he whispered to himself, trying to actually remember what this spell was.

Pulling out his wand, and pointing it towards the cabinet he quietly repeated the spell "Alohomora."

Nothing.

Not that Jasper was actually expecting anything to happen, it would have been really nice if it did though!

"Alohomora" he tried again. Still nothing. Not even a twitch. Or a creak. Something inside him told him this was going to be a very frustrating class.

The first year walked into the Charms classroom and looked around. There was no professor in here.Brady saw a list of directions, he took a free seat and looked around at everyone else. So this was a test or something? Oh, joy!

Brady looked at the box right in front of him. He took out his wand and thought it was probably a good idea. "Alo-ho-mora." the boy said, to be honest he didn't feel very confident about it. "Alo-ho-mora." He said a little slower. That was a little better. The Scottish boy raised his wand towards the box and said "Alohomora." nothing happened.

The boy shook his head nad looked at the box. "Alohomora." he said with a little more feeling and maybe a little bit of anger. Still nothing, Brady huffed and glared at the box.

Haddie reached up and rubs the sauce off where Rachel indicated. "Tomato sauce actually. Probably got some mashed potatoes and chocolate pudding I missed somewhere too. What? I was in hurry." She turned back to her cabinet and aimed her wand. "Libraries are fun. Colloportus!" Click.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.... no? Longer then? Click. There it is!

"Colloportus!" Click.

...

Click.

"Colloportus!" Click.




...





Click.

"COLLOPORTUS!" Click.







...

Haddie perked up. Was it actually going to stick this time? Stay locked? Yes?

Click. Nope. "Colloportus!" Click.





Click.

"Okay, I'm doing it, right? It's locking. It just won't stay locked." She glanced around. There was an older girl (Hady) who performed both spells easily. And her cabinet actually stayed locked. Good enough for Haddie.

The first year Ravenclaw marched over to the older girl and tapped her on the shoulder. "How do you get it to stay locked?"