"I agree with Azura and Miranda," said Kitty in response to the second question. The reason she hadn't answered the first was because she had strained her voice last night while practicing for charms. "It's like Muggles with their inventions. They invent cool new things when the need arises or just because it's fun. And if a spell hasn't already been invented then that's probably just because no one has thought about it and the person who's going to invent it hasn't been born yet."

Why was the professor acting so off today? It was slightly alarming to Henry when adults acted so strangely, especially when they were meant to be in charge. He watched carefully for a moment from his seat as he periodically jotted something down in his notes. He didn't know the names of any spell inventors off-hand and he wasn't all that inclined to go searching through his book. Not when there were plenty of others eager to answer.

He inwardly groaned when he heard the reason for the progression of questions. Was it going to be a purely theoretical class today? Those happened to be his least favorite, especially in a class that he normally was excited about like Charms. The fifteen year old did enjoy learning new spells and practicing old ones until he got really good at them. But talking about them and theorizing about them wasn't nearly as much fun.

Wait... they'd be creating their own spells? Henry shot the professor a skeptical look. Was there really a spell still yet to be invented? And wasn't that usually done by someone with really advanced knowledge, such as not a student? It'd be cool if they really could though...

why we invented new spells at all? Uuuuuuuuh...Jonas didn't even know that there were new spells still being invented. With that in mind, he bit his lip trying to think of a logical explanation....uuuuuuh.
"Maybe cos' there is a better way of doing things? Like why muggles would invent new technology instead of sticking with the stuff they already have?" Jonas offered as he raised his hand. Hopefully that was an acceptable response.

The blinking of the eyes, the taken aback look on the professor’s face did not go unnoticed by Mason after his outburst earlier and it did not make his feelings easier. He did not like being disturbed like that but neither did he want to hurt someone’s feelings. And the fact that it was one of the Professor’s only made matters more uncomfortable.

”Eeeh …i’m…it’s fine, Sir” Mason said, awkwardly waving is hands to show that he really wasn’t that angry. And….Merlin’s Beard was he actually bowing is head?! For what? Shame?

Seriously, what was up with him today?

Although he was curious, it wasn’t his problem so the Ravenclaw focused on the next question instead. He had his own worries at the moment. Like….how to not get a mental breakdown from O.W.L studies.

As he listened to his classmates, he had to agree with them that most spells were invented cause they needed it. He then thought about how his life would be if some spells weren’t invented and the longer he thought the more he appreciated them.

Instead of answering the question, Mason leaned forward in his seat ,placed his elbow on the desk and rested his cheek in the palm of his hand.

Charms was always an interesting subject to Tenacius. Because it was practical magic. Of course theres a lot to Charms than just the practical, but that usually makes this Gryffindor zone out. Unless he was highly interested in the subject matter.... like making things fly.

But right there was a question. Tenacius sat back in his seat and was still partially daydreaming when he replied "Because old stuff is boring Mr Gaston. New stuff is always interesting. And it shows that things improve when new stuff happens." to him anyway.

Hadn't they done this three times over? Natalia swore they just did something of the sorts in History of magic. Were the professors planning together to keep the lessons going around the same topic? Were they getting ready to have an invention competition at Hogwarts or something? Nat just sunk in her seat more trying to pay attention, but truly about to open her parchment and write a note instead of doing anything in class today.

Starting to doodle she heard the question and thought a moment. Why did people keep inventing things. She lifted her hand, "I think it's because some people always have to be better than others. I mean charms started to be invented to make life easier, but in this day and age do we really have anything else that could make our lives easier? I think now a days it is more on the line of doing it to make it better then the last person to be the best." A full competition type thing going on that Nat really didn't care to be in. Her music was way more important then coming up with a new spell.

The aura of the classroom continued to weigh down upon the seventh year and it was slowly becoming more difficult to focus. Although the feeling of deja vu this particular question provided was enough of a spark to at least help hold her attention a little longer. It was the same sort of thing they had discussed in History of Magic and Herbology was along the same train of thought with their new crossbreeds. Only Paige felt a much stronger connection to this subject than she did History of Magic and she herself had been thinking about trying to create a few specific healing charms.

So...why did she want to invent a charm? To fulfil a need that was not yet satisfied by the existing status quo. Why was there a need to begin with? Because she had seen and experienced things that hurt and she wanted to prevent, or at least subdude, future pain.

Unfortunately this all hit a little too close to home and thus her hand remained in her lap.

Dora listened to some of her classmates... others she blocked out. Heh. But as Professor Marchand asked his second question her hand went up in the air, a smile on her face. "Necessity is the mother of all invention like Azura said! We NEED new spells. Sometimes we create stronger spells, broaden the spectrum of a spell, or like... create something that we need that hasn't been invented yet. I think we do all of this because as the times change, our needs change. Like... a bunch of thousands of years ago we didn't need a channel changing spell for the telly, did we? But I am sure someone at some point lost their remote thingy and BAM! New spell created."

Was there even such a spell? She had no idea, but that was something she could see a Witch or Wizard creating. They were a rather lazy lot, after all. "Also, like, someone invented spells to create or conjure fire, right? I am sure it came in handy when someone somewhere was kind of stuck out in the woods and needed a fire to stay warm, yeah?" Was she rambling now? Of course she was.

Hand down. No more talking.

Nope.

Juno raised her hand and waited to be called on. Once she was called on she responded, "I think that we invent or reinvent spells because we discover new things that can be controlled with or changed by magic. Magic does have it's loop holes and if a spell or charm is easily broken, we need to invent a better or stronger one to compensate for that." That was one of many reasons why they created spells and charms. She was sure of it.

She had been wondering the exact purpose for the topic of conversation, an inkling coming to mind that was happily confirmed by Professor Marchand. To say Cass was excited would have been an understatement. This was delving into her father’s area of expertise and she had always found it an interesting concept. Creating their own spells. The third year was trying not to seem too anxious to try her hand at the task they would be accomplishing later in, latching onto the questioned poised before them as a mild distraction.

Why do witches and wizards bother to make new spells when there were plenty already out there?

Well other than the fun of it? Which was part of why SHE would do it yet already expressed as part of the answers given by other classmates. What she didn’t want to just agree with them so Cass got to thinking on a possible additional reason. “Well there’s always the chance of accidentally inventing a spell,” the Ravenclaw finally answered after raising her hand. “Where a new spell developed out of a misspoken or miscast current spell. In that case the reason for inventing was not intentional but evolved from the learning or practicing of an existing one and bettering oneself.”

Text Cut: Necessity

Quote:

Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft

They were going to create a charm? How totally cool was that?? Azura smiled warmly up at the Professor, trying to encourage him a bit. He seemed like he wasn't doing super well and now she was curious as to what was wrong. She had planned to stop by his office later anyways.

She tuned back to reflect on his question.. what would she do without some charms? Especially the cushioning charms?? Those had saved her life (and her nose) several times already!

At his next question though her hand went into the air. "I feel like spells were invented because we either needed them, they say necessity is the mother of invention, or they wanted to make something different. I don't think anyone needs a tickling charm, but we have one. And it's quite fun to use in duels. " She added with a smile

Quote:

Originally Posted by Devina Wellheart

Miranda sat pleased with herself yet again as the professor accepted and praised her answer... But having listened further she learned that perhaps even she could at some point find a need and invent a new charm... Coolness!


As she listened on and thought about why it's an important thing that they would need to invent a new charm.... She didnt have to think for very long about the question at all really... Logic was staring them all in the face on this one...


" Professor, the need to invent or reinvent charms and spells is because times are forever changing as is our personal needs.. Not only to make life easier but also to make our spells more efficient and free of any unpleasant effects because of them.."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

"I agree with Azura and Miranda," said Kitty in response to the second question. The reason she hadn't answered the first was because she had strained her voice last night while practicing for charms. "It's like Muggles with their inventions. They invent cool new things when the need arises or just because it's fun. And if a spell hasn't already been invented then that's probably just because no one has thought about it and the person who's going to invent it hasn't been born yet."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eriin

Dora listened to some of her classmates... others she blocked out. Heh. But as Professor Marchand asked his second question her hand went up in the air, a smile on her face. "Necessity is the mother of all invention like Azura said! We NEED new spells. Sometimes we create stronger spells, broaden the spectrum of a spell, or like... create something that we need that hasn't been invented yet. I think we do all of this because as the times change, our needs change. Like... a bunch of thousands of years ago we didn't need a channel changing spell for the telly, did we? But I am sure someone at some point lost their remote thingy and BAM! New spell created."

Was there even such a spell? She had no idea, but that was something she could see a Witch or Wizard creating. They were a rather lazy lot, after all. "Also, like, someone invented spells to create or conjure fire, right? I am sure it came in handy when someone somewhere was kind of stuck out in the woods and needed a fire to stay warm, yeah?" Was she rambling now? Of course she was.

Hand down. No more talking.

Nope.

The first to answer was Miss Snow, and Gaston managed to give her a sad yet appreciative smile. "Excellent, Miss Snow," he said. "I doubt I could've said it better myself."

Then Miss Blaze offered an equally articulate and thorough answer, this one containing not just one but several reasons for wizards to create spells. The charms professor was impressed! "Very sound reasoning, Miss Blaze. Well done!"

It seemed Miss Valentine had something to add to this line of thought as well."Very good, Miss Valentine," Gaston said, nodding in agreement when she mentioned inventing things for fun. Call him biased, but the girl was right. Creating spells was fun... except when it was for that nightmare boss he once had. But that was a story for another time!

Another sad, forced smile, this time for Miss Umbridge. Gaston didn't mind her rambling at all; he thought it helped illustrate her point... though he wished she'd used something besides fire as an example. It seemed he had finally found reason to award points to Gryffindor this class. Good, he hated awarding extra points to every house but one! "Excellent explanation, Miss Umbridge. Five points to Gryffindor."

Text Cut: Improvement of existing spells

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2111jen

why we invented new spells at all? Uuuuuuuuh...Jonas didn't even know that there were new spells still being invented. With that in mind, he bit his lip trying to think of a logical explanation....uuuuuuh.
"Maybe cos' there is a better way of doing things? Like why muggles would invent new technology instead of sticking with the stuff they already have?" Jonas offered as he raised his hand. Hopefully that was an acceptable response.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

Charms was always an interesting subject to Tenacius. Because it was practical magic. Of course theres a lot to Charms than just the practical, but that usually makes this Gryffindor zone out. Unless he was highly interested in the subject matter.... like making things fly.

But right there was a question. Tenacius sat back in his seat and was still partially daydreaming when he replied "Because old stuff is boring Mr Gaston. New stuff is always interesting. And it shows that things improve when new stuff happens." to him anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bazinga

Hadn't they done this three times over? Natalia swore they just did something of the sorts in History of magic. Were the professors planning together to keep the lessons going around the same topic? Were they getting ready to have an invention competition at Hogwarts or something? Nat just sunk in her seat more trying to pay attention, but truly about to open her parchment and write a note instead of doing anything in class today.

Starting to doodle she heard the question and thought a moment. Why did people keep inventing things. She lifted her hand, "I think it's because some people always have to be better than others. I mean charms started to be invented to make life easier, but in this day and age do we really have anything else that could make our lives easier? I think now a days it is more on the line of doing it to make it better then the last person to be the best." A full competition type thing going on that Nat really didn't care to be in. Her music was way more important then coming up with a new spell.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Suziella

Juno raised her hand and waited to be called on. Once she was called on she responded, "I think that we invent or reinvent spells because we discover new things that can be controlled with or changed by magic. Magic does have it's loop holes and if a spell or charm is easily broken, we need to invent a better or stronger one to compensate for that." That was one of many reasons why they created spells and charms. She was sure of it.

Gaston was pleased when Mr. Emery came up with a different answer than what his classmates had already said, though the boy didn't sound incredibly sure of himself. He gave the Slytherin an encouraging nod. "Yes, very good, Mr. Emery," he said. "Finding a better way of doing things is a completely valid reason for inventing spells."

The charms professor rolled his eyes as Mr. Salander called him "Mr. Gaston". It never failed... there was always one in every class, wasn't there? He knew the boy hadn't mean any harm by it, but today, on top of everything else going on in his life, it just really rubbed him the wrong way. "Mr. Salander, i'll remind you that students are to address me as 'Professor Marchand'," he said testily, his blue eyes flashing warningly. "The next person to do otherwise will lose house points." He sighed. "But yes, you're right; good answer."

Miss Franks-Mundie's answer caught the Frenchman a bit off guard, but he still gave her a nod in acknowledgement. "Interesting opinion, Miss Franks-Mundie." Was what she said about some people needing to be better than others directed at anyone in particular? No, Gaston was sure it was just his broken heart making him overly sensitive...

Then Miss Darcy added to the similar answers already given. Oh, yes. Gaston knew all about magical loopholes. They'd given him quite a difficult time during his time at the French Ministry of Magic, but he quickly blocked that memory from his mind. The last thing he needed was that thought making him feel even worse! He turned to the Hufflepuff and said, "Very nicely worded, Miss Darcy."

Text Cut: Accidental invention

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

She had been wondering the exact purpose for the topic of conversation, an inkling coming to mind that was happily confirmed by Professor Marchand. To say Cass was excited would have been an understatement. This was delving into her father’s area of expertise and she had always found it an interesting concept. Creating their own spells. The third year was trying not to seem too anxious to try her hand at the task they would be accomplishing later in, latching onto the questioned poised before them as a mild distraction.

Why do witches and wizards bother to make new spells when there were plenty already out there?

Well other than the fun of it? Which was part of why SHE would do it yet already expressed as part of the answers given by other classmates. What she didn’t want to just agree with them so Cass got to thinking on a possible additional reason. “Well there’s always the chance of accidentally inventing a spell,” the Ravenclaw finally answered after raising her hand. “Where a new spell developed out of a misspoken or miscast current spell. In that case the reason for inventing was not intentional but evolved from the learning or practicing of an existing one and bettering oneself.”

Now this was an out-of=the-box answer! And true too, as Gaston could attest to himself... though he was sure his class didn't need or want to know about the mistakes he'd made during his short career as a charms developer. The Ravenclaw's answer earned a small smile from the professor. "A very original and well-thought out answer, Miss McNally!" he said, nodding in agreement. "Spells can sometimes be invented in the most unlikely ways."


"Excellent answers, everyone!" Gaston praised the entire class before resuming his place by the blackboard. Moving on... "Now, there are two basic parts that make up a spell: the action, or what the spell does, and the subject, who or what it effects. When the two are combined, you can create an endless range of spells such as..."

Now seemed as good a time as any to show off one of his own spells; he aimed his wand at his face. "Celomacula." The dark circles under his eyes vanished, but the spell couldn't mask the sad, haunted look in his eyes.

"There is also an optional third part to a spell called a modifier," he continued. "This changes the intensity of a spell. For example... Lumos." He pointed his wand into the air, and a beam of light shot from its tip. "Lumos maxima." A much brighter beam of light erupted from his wand this time.

Gaston gave his class a few moments to process the new information before going on. "While there are some exceptions, most of the incantations we use are derived from Latin. Unfortunately one class period isn't enough time for you to learn an entire language, so for the purposes of this exercise, you have two options. You may mix and match terms to create a spell from this list-" This time instead of writing on the board himself, he just aimed his wand at it. His arm was tired, adn besides, the students would have more time to finish if they didn't have to wait for him to write everything!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Spell Terms List

ACTION
Mobil- to move
Levio - to levitate
Lacero- to cut
Ligo - to bind
Glacio- to freeze
Cresco- to grow
Resilio- to shrink

SUBJECT
Lignum - wood
Vitrum - glass
Saxum - stone
Biblus- paper/parchment
Liquidum - liquid

MODIFIER
duo - double strength
tria - triple strength
maxima - maximum strength
sempra - forever
totalum - total (useful for spells covering a large area)

"Or if you have your own idea for a spell, just raise your hand and I'll help you come up with an incantation. Remember the point of this activity is not necessarily to create a spell that doesn't exist but to explore the mechanics of charms development," Gaston said, looking out at his class. "You have the rest of the period to work; you may create as many spells as you like, but I expect all fo you to do at least one."

OOC: I'm soooo sorry for the delay! I was busy celebrating my birthday yesterday and unable to post Anyway you have 48 HOURS to complete this activity. There is no post requirement, do as many or as few as you feel necessary. If you need help with an incantation, PLEASE TITLE YOUR POST TO REFLECT THIS! We'll be popping back in periodically to help/answer questions.

Hummmmm. They were talking about figuring out the right incantations for created spells based on Latin here right? Char WAS following that much... only... she stuck her hand up.

"What about the part with the wand movement? Because an incantation on its own won't do anything, how do you know what kind of wand movement you need? To you have to like.... calculate it somehow? And is it the same through all the branches of magic? I think a lot of the time charms have easier wand movements than say, conjurations right? So do you come up with the incantation, and then try like... a jab or a point or a tap or a swish and hope for the best? How do you know if there's something missing from the movement? And how do you find the balance between the two?"

It was sort of interesting to Char because she knew her mum had started inventing spells at the age Charlotte was now. But then again her mother was a Ravenclaw and had the patience for that sort of stuff.... Charlotte, not so much.

Also interesting to her though, thanks to her dad's background in magical languages and stuff:

"And what about spell roots that come from other languages? How does an inventor know whether it might be stronger or more suitable or something like that if they use like... Sanskrit or Ancient Greek or Phoenician or.... ummm..... Etruscan?"

Was it bad that she had a ton of questions? Char tilted her head expectantly, hoping for some kind of enlightenment.

Creating spells! Carl was excited for this. He listened to Professor Marchand's explanation, took notes, and when they were (finally) allowed to try out incantations, he put down his quill and read through his notes. Hmmm. He could see some possible combinations, like "to cut" "wood", "to bind" "paper/parchment", "to cut" "paper/parchment" and so on.

The Hufflepuff took out his wand and decided to try out the latter. "Lacero Biblus!" He said as he aimed his wand at a spare piece of parchment. It did not work. He looked around the classroom, uncertain as to whether he was doing it correctly. He saw a Gryffindor asking questions - lots of them - and paused his work to listen to the Professor's reply.

She was listening, she was, kind of at least. She wasn't interested really though. She didn't want to invent a new spell. She found no reason to when all the spells were already there. Plus what if she combined two that some how made the room blow up. Yeah Nat wasn't going to deal with this at all. She was in the back, so she thought if she acted like she was doing something maybe, just maybe she'd go unnoticed.

Pulling out her parchment and wand, she laid her wand down on her desk and pulled out her quill. So now it looked as if she was writing notes about spells. Combining them even. She'd even make sure to do some to actually make it look like she was doing work. Then she was going to start a note to Lily. That was more interesting then this class at the moment.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fake notes

Mobil Lignum = move wood
Incendio Lignum = Firewood

Glacio Liquidum= Freeze liquid

Liquidum sempra= liquid forever

Okay so liquid forever didn't truly make sense, but did it really matter as long as it looked like she was doing something. Though the fire wood in class sounded kind of fun. She did contemplate this for a moment.

Hmmmmm.. Azura's purple eyes looked up at the board and they stayed on one thing.. Levio. To levitate!

But she didn't see a second thing that she wanted on there, which was herself! If she could create a levitate herself spell, than perhaps she could avoid all of the stairs that were constantly trying to hard her every single day.

But hmmm.. how to go about that?

Maybe if she added something for her to stand on? Like.. wood? So lignum?

And then she wanted it to be powerful enough so it could lift her.. so maxima it was..

Levio-lignum-maxima..

All right, let's see if that would work?

"Professor! I'm ready for your help!" She said as she raised her hand..

No need to say Matt did engage with any part of the lesson so far. No hands-on, no interest.

HOWEVER, it was time for them to actually DO something, so he was alert now. ALERT!

He got his wand and had it at the ready, but before he could even think about what combination of words to do, Charlotte asked all of the questions in the world. Interesting questions, actually. It even got Matt's attention and that was saying a lot. He sat there, looking from her to the professor.

...

RIGHT. Charms. Mixed words. Creating their own Charm? Matt wasn't so sure, but that sounded like a cool experiement anyway so he was up for it. "Resilio biblus." He said as he simply pointed at the parchment in front of him. Nothing happened, so he reckoned it needed some wand movement to work, like Kettleburn had mentioned. So Matt waaaved his wand around randomly and repeated the 'incantation'.

Olivia Phillips was being an awesome student lately. Totally, due to the sheer amount of notes she'd been taking for each subject this year. Well, so far, anyway. They were already in April, so... There wasn't much space for her to monumentally mess up, right? Here's hoping.

Anyway, APPARENTLY, they were going to be developing their own spells. Was she hearing this right?....Because.....BECAUSE.....That. Was. Awesome. But also, to answer the posed question, muggles survived without the convenience of magic perfectly fine. There were impressive muggle technological advances that pretty much enacted the affects of their magic. Olivia, who was the daughter of a pureblood witch and a muggleborn father, had loads of experience with muggles. Her grandparents were, after all, muggle. And brilliant, actually. They were doctors.

And she liked Ace and Dora's answers best. Personally, she thought necessity was the fundamental foundation of all things. After all, that's what kicked the brain into gear. Like, when something was desperately needed, the brain automatically tried to compensate and come up with solutions....Or, she assumed this happened to everyone. When she was trying to figure something out or find a way to do something, that always encouraged her Gryffindor mind to create contingency plans. Can't was not a word in her vocabulary, to be perfectly frank. So, lots of thinking went into making can'ts into cans.

And...

Conjurations? Did...Char not realize that this was a Charms lesson? Thankfully, as Transfiguration always went totally wrong for her. But she supposed her friend did pose some pretty great questions. Liv liked the idea of the wand motion coming third, behind incantation. Because once you had the spell worked out and everything, you could just continuously test with your wand to see what finally worked out. Lots of work but... worth it? Maybe? Depending on what the spell was meant to do.

"Professor, have you invented many spells?" She'd seen him being sassy at Ace about using Gaston, but really....What did the man expect? He was a walking Disney meme. Anyway, as she asked this question, her quill was dutifully moving across her notebook page; writing and then scribbling out a few things...before she rubbed at her cheek, smudging ink there. Eh, the Gryffindor blonde didn't care.

Oh. Maybe.....she could do something like mobil + liquidum...to move liquids. WATER BENDING; Avatar!style. Or, she could do something with glass? She'd been looking into getting a pair of glass slippers, circa Cinderella. Man, she was NOT a Ravenclaw, so this type of thing was not in her wheelhouse, at all. Scribbling Cresco + Vitrum down onto her parchment, because her brain was starting to ache from the excessive amount of thinking, she raised her hand again. "Professor, what's your opinion on glass slippers?"

Hmm the firewood charm was still on her mind. That could spark some fun in here if it worked. Could everyone enjoy the fire with her? She glanced around the room to see if anything could really catch fire if she did it. Shrugging it off she decided to look back at her notes and start on her real note. Flipping the parchment up so she could easily put it back if the professor started watching, she started writing. She'd pass it to Lily once class was over. Glancing to see if her bestie bandmate was actually doing work or not.


Turning to her parchment she started writing fully trying to just ignore the spells being said around her. Though her eyes lifted... should she be worried about being hit by a random charms that students were trying to make. Like really how safe was this? Now she was going to keep an eye on the students and write her note.

Now back to the note...

SPOILER!!: note

Lily,

So what do you think of this class? I'm not sure I trust half these students to actually invent real spells without sending the majority of us to the hospital wing. Anyway, I am ready for class to be over. I'm thinking after classes we should tryout some new songs. We really need to work on the one you were writing. Maybe we can record at the shop. I think I'm going to try to work there on the weekends if he'll take me back.

Wait.. were they actually going to attempt to invent a new spell or were they just learning the theory behind such a venture? Henry wasn't completely sure as the professor mentioned something about exploring spell mechanics, but he squinted at the board as the man explained some things. And that was a lot of information. He should probably write this stuff down.

Thinking it best to write down the information before actually deciding what he might try out, Henry began to take some notes, looking up as he heard Charlotte's voice. She really had all the questions, didn't she? But they were good questions and made at least some sense to Henry. He stared at her a moment as she voiced her thoughts, then he looked up at the professor. Yeah, that. What about all of that?

Apparently her answer had stricken the out of the box chord for which Professor Marchand had been aiming for and was pleased with. That made Cassie happy, especially since the small smile he had aimed at her was far better than the saddened look that had permeated his face recently. A look that wasn’t entirely elevated by the spell the man had demonstrated for the class as an example of a charm that seemed to be a possible work of his own creation given the nature of today’s class.

The third year copied down the three lists that were suddenly upon the board at the professor’s command, adding the descriptions of the three potential parts of a spell within the notes. There were certainly some possibilities written amongst the listed Latin pieces, Cass mused to herself as she let her gaze wash over and read the lists as complete lines instead of fragmented segments. All she and the rest of her classmates for that matter, had to do was work on pulling them all together in the best way that came to mind.

Mobila-saxum?

To move a stone, perhaps a gobstone?

That had some potential use, with a modifier that controlled the force the gobstone moved along the circle and obstacles. She added that to her notes, her attention momentarily shifting back to the class as a whole as Olivia posed an interesting question to Marchand. Yeah…have you, Professor?

Her hand was up... but Charlotte beat her to it. Really. How DID they know what movements of their wands would pair correctly with the incantations that they strung together? It was all some very valid stuff Charlotte was spewing and to be honest... she was just gonna wait on the seemingly sad dude to answer.

Not about his sadness, because really he should have left that at the door.

She needed charm info, tho.

Text Cut: Charlotte

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

Hummmmm. They were talking about figuring out the right incantations for created spells based on Latin here right? Char WAS following that much... only... she stuck her hand up.

"What about the part with the wand movement? Because an incantation on its own won't do anything, how do you know what kind of wand movement you need? To you have to like.... calculate it somehow? And is it the same through all the branches of magic? I think a lot of the time charms have easier wand movements than say, conjurations right? So do you come up with the incantation, and then try like... a jab or a point or a tap or a swish and hope for the best? How do you know if there's something missing from the movement? And how do you find the balance between the two?"

It was sort of interesting to Char because she knew her mum had started inventing spells at the age Charlotte was now. But then again her mother was a Ravenclaw and had the patience for that sort of stuff.... Charlotte, not so much.

Also interesting to her though, thanks to her dad's background in magical languages and stuff:

"And what about spell roots that come from other languages? How does an inventor know whether it might be stronger or more suitable or something like that if they use like... Sanskrit or Ancient Greek or Phoenician or.... ummm..... Etruscan?"

Was it bad that she had a ton of questions? Char tilted her head expectantly, hoping for some kind of enlightenment.

Gaston unlocked the top drawer of his desk, but before he could pull out his little black book, he saw Miss Kettleburn's hand go up. Merlin's beard, that was a lot of questions! He supposed he didn't do a very good job explaining, and his mind berated him for it. "All excellent questions, Miss Kettleburn," he said, turning to the Gryffindor with an appreciative nod. "To calculate the wand movements, think about the meaning of the Latin words themselves. The actions in particular provide clues to the wand movements. For example, you might try a slashing motion for 'lacero', an upward swish for 'cresco' or a downward swish for 'resilio'. You'll know the wand movement needs tweaking if your spell comes out too strong or too weak, or if nothing happens at all. If you're still having trouble guessing the right wand movement, just raise your hand and I'll help you figure it out." That last sentence was meant for the entire class, not just Miss Kettleburn.

He pondered the girls' point for a moment. He sort of agreed about charm wand movements being a bit easier than conjurations, but it probably just seemed that way to him because of his affinity for the subject. "Generally yes," he said. "While the phrases and their meanings themselves differ quite drastically from one branch of magic to another, the basic structure of the spell is the same throughout."

Now he only had one question left to answer. "As far as languages go, the desired complexity of the spell has a lot to do with deciding which one to use. Spells derived from Latin have a more generalized effect and less potential for unpredictable results than other languages, part of the reason it's so widely used for spells, while other languages are useful for more complicated effects but run a higher risk of dangerous outcomes. So deciding which one to use is a bit of a trade-off. Does that make sense?"

Text Cut: Azura

Quote:

Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft

Hmmmmm.. Azura's purple eyes looked up at the board and they stayed on one thing.. Levio. To levitate!

But she didn't see a second thing that she wanted on there, which was herself! If she could create a levitate herself spell, than perhaps she could avoid all of the stairs that were constantly trying to hard her every single day.

But hmmm.. how to go about that?

Maybe if she added something for her to stand on? Like.. wood? So lignum?

And then she wanted it to be powerful enough so it could lift her.. so maxima it was..

Levio-lignum-maxima..

All right, let's see if that would work?

"Professor! I'm ready for your help!" She said as she raised her hand..

Gaston had just finished answering Miss Kettleburn's barrage of questions when he saw another hand in the air, and he was at Miss Snow's side in an instant. Wow, ready for his help already? That was fast! "Of course, Miss Snow," he said, giving her a small smile. "What do you need?"

Text Cut: Olivia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

Olivia Phillips was being an awesome student lately. Totally, due to the sheer amount of notes she'd been taking for each subject this year. Well, so far, anyway. They were already in April, so... There wasn't much space for her to monumentally mess up, right? Here's hoping.

Anyway, APPARENTLY, they were going to be developing their own spells. Was she hearing this right?....Because.....BECAUSE.....That. Was. Awesome. But also, to answer the posed question, muggles survived without the convenience of magic perfectly fine. There were impressive muggle technological advances that pretty much enacted the affects of their magic. Olivia, who was the daughter of a pureblood witch and a muggleborn father, had loads of experience with muggles. Her grandparents were, after all, muggle. And brilliant, actually. They were doctors.

And she liked Ace and Dora's answers best. Personally, she thought necessity was the fundamental foundation of all things. After all, that's what kicked the brain into gear. Like, when something was desperately needed, the brain automatically tried to compensate and come up with solutions....Or, she assumed this happened to everyone. When she was trying to figure something out or find a way to do something, that always encouraged her Gryffindor mind to create contingency plans. Can't was not a word in her vocabulary, to be perfectly frank. So, lots of thinking went into making can'ts into cans.

And...

Conjurations? Did...Char not realize that this was a Charms lesson? Thankfully, as Transfiguration always went totally wrong for her. But she supposed her friend did pose some pretty great questions. Liv liked the idea of the wand motion coming third, behind incantation. Because once you had the spell worked out and everything, you could just continuously test with your wand to see what finally worked out. Lots of work but... worth it? Maybe? Depending on what the spell was meant to do.

"Professor, have you invented many spells?" She'd seen him being sassy at Ace about using Gaston, but really....What did the man expect? He was a walking Disney meme. Anyway, as she asked this question, her quill was dutifully moving across her notebook page; writing and then scribbling out a few things...before she rubbed at her cheek, smudging ink there. Eh, the Gryffindor blonde didn't care.

Oh. Maybe.....she could do something like mobil + liquidum...to move liquids. WATER BENDING; Avatar!style. Or, she could do something with glass? She'd been looking into getting a pair of glass slippers, circa Cinderella. Man, she was NOT a Ravenclaw, so this type of thing was not in her wheelhouse, at all. Scribbling Cresco + Vitrum down onto her parchment, because her brain was starting to ache from the excessive amount of thinking, she raised her hand again. "Professor, what's your opinion on glass slippers?"

Another student's voice caused Gaston's head to whip around in Miss Phillips's direction. He was visibly caught off guard, but he didn't know what surprised him more... the girl asking him about his own spells or her not calling him by his first name. "I..." He nervously ran a hand through his dark hair, making it even more disheveled than ever. "I'm not sure I'd say many, but yes, I have invented some spells." Like the one he'd used to make the dark circles under his eyes vanish, for example...

Blink, blink. WHAT? Glass slippers? What did that have to do with...? Never mind, he caught the connection. "I think it's an interesting idea, though trying to carry it out could be incredibly dangerous," he said, sending a warning look toward the Gryffindor girl in an attempt to dissuade her.

Text Cut: Carl & Matt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean Granger

Creating spells! Carl was excited for this. He listened to Professor Marchand's explanation, took notes, and when they were (finally) allowed to try out incantations, he put down his quill and read through his notes. Hmmm. He could see some possible combinations, like "to cut" "wood", "to bind" "paper/parchment", "to cut" "paper/parchment" and so on.

The Hufflepuff took out his wand and decided to try out the latter. "Lacero Biblus!" He said as he aimed his wand at a spare piece of parchment. It did not work. He looked around the classroom, uncertain as to whether he was doing it correctly. He saw a Gryffindor asking questions - lots of them - and paused his work to listen to the Professor's reply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

No need to say Matt did engage with any part of the lesson so far. No hands-on, no interest.

HOWEVER, it was time for them to actually DO something, so he was alert now. ALERT!

He got his wand and had it at the ready, but before he could even think about what combination of words to do, Charlotte asked all of the questions in the world. Interesting questions, actually. It even got Matt's attention and that was saying a lot. He sat there, looking from her to the professor.

...

RIGHT. Charms. Mixed words. Creating their own Charm? Matt wasn't so sure, but that sounded like a cool experiement anyway so he was up for it. "Resilio biblus." He said as he simply pointed at the parchment in front of him. Nothing happened, so he reckoned it needed some wand movement to work, like Kettleburn had mentioned. So Matt waaaved his wand around randomly and repeated the 'incantation'.

While looking around the room, Gaston noticed a couple of students already trying out their spells, with varying degrees of success. "Excellent first attempts, Mr. Leonard, Mr. Merriweather," he said, giving each boy an encouraging nod. "Keep trying."

OOC: You still have JUST UNDER 24 HOURS to complete this activity, so no rush!

This was...an incredibly amazing opportunity. Once that, well, Paige was not entirely confident that someone her age could so easily accomplish given the time constraints and her own personal lack of understanding when it came to spell invention logistics and theory. Until now it had been the standard routine of practicing and mastering those spells created by others. And listening to what the professor was telling Charlotte...there was A LOT to consider. This wasn't like hybrid breeding - which was also a complicated affair, but one where you could somewhat hypothesize your results - this was magic and it was quite the unpredictable force. Why else would Hogwarts be so concerned with making sure all witches and wizards receive a proper magical education and the Ministry so actively seek out underaged magic?

The Hufflepuff was mostly observing her classmates at the moment, trying to draw inspiration from their own charms inventions while looking over the humble list of magical terms she had copied down to her own parchment.

"Ligo...and...Biblus," she said to herself while tickling her nose with her quill. Binding parchment...to make a book? Book binding spell? That was something she could use when sending off her eventual manuscripts to publishers. But now came the composition of the actual enchantment...which was not really all [s]that[/i] straightforward.

Quote:

Originally Posted by parchment

Paper Binding Charm
a charm to bind paper/parchment together
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Incantation variations
Ligo Biblus
Biblus Ligo
Bibligo
Liblus
? ? ? ? ? ?

wand movement variations
.......loads

Was she overthinking this? Possible.

But...in order to experiment...she supposed she ought to get out some parchment and prep it by folding it in half. Maybe just two sheets each...worst that could happen was that it burst into flames on her desk, yeah?

Matt paid attention to the professor's answer while the man explained about wand movements. Once they got to talking about languages the Gryffindor lost interest and went back to focusing on the activity.

He gave the professor a grin when the man said his first attempt was excellent. He knew it hadn't been excellent at all since nothing had happened, but the man was nice for saying that, so he deserved a grin. GRIN!

Besides, Matt wasn't that bothered for not having managed to make the spell work anyway. It wasn't like if he cared THAT much about 'creating his own Charm'.

Righto, second attempt anyway because there was nothing else to do and he had to admit it was kind of fun doing random wand movements and saying random word combinations. Way better than History of Magic, for example.

"Lignum... levio. Lignum lacero. Lignum ligo." The third year said as he waved his wand around, pointing it downwards at his desk. Matt was doing it all halfheartedly and was surprised when he noticed the wooden material now had severe marks all over its surface. He was personalising the desk! Coooooooool. Although he wasn't sure which of the 'incantations' had done it, he carried on repeating 'lignum' along with some of the other words on the board, making slashing wand movements across his desk.

Azura smiled up at the Professor as ha came over to her. "Well Sir, I think I have my spell together. It's basically a spell to levitate wood.. with me on it.." She explained. Due to well.. stairs..

"I was thinking the incantation could be Levio - Lignum - Maxima. " She said with a nod..

"I figured an upward swish wand moment would work well at least for the first part.. not sure about the second or third part.. Or really if it will work.. " She said finally.