It would have been nice if holding her breath had worked in getting rid of her hiccups. That would have been to easy though and likely defeated the entire purpose of this activity. So it was of no surprise to her that she was able to cross 'Hold my breath' off on her list.

*HICCUP* HICCUP*

Moving on. Rylee scanned the list of ways to get rid of the hiccups quickly. Hmm. Sing the Hogwarts song? Did it have to be that song or would any song work? Curious to find out she started to sing one of her favorite songs loud enough where maybe only those close to her could hear her. "Looks like a girl, but she's a flame... *HICCUP* So bright, she can burn your eyes... Better look the other way... You can try but you'll never forget her name." *HICCUP!*

UGH! This wasn't working either! Where was Ewan? Maybe he would sing this with her like they had done a few terms ago on their way to the barns. She had also showed him how she could do cartwheels that day along with other types of flips. *HICCUP*

Wait. Cartwheels was on the list!

Rylee quickly crossed 'Singing' off the list and got to her feet. Moving to the back of the room away from everyone to ensure she wouldn't bump into anyone she started doing a few cartwheels. One cartwheel. *HICCUP* Two cartwheels...

*HIC*

Vita eyed the board, deciding to try the easiest methods to rid herself of the hiccups first. *HIC* She didn't know how putting your tongue to the roof of your mouth could do anything other than make an even more ridiculous hiccuping sound, but she tried it, waiting a few moments before she- *HIC* So that method was a solid no. Moving on.

*HIC*

Holding her breath. This method was one she was familiar with and so she closed her eyes and held her breath and waited...

*HIC* *HIC*

...This was going to be a long day.

Patrick looked back at the headmaster wondering if he would actually partake in the activity. This class was going to be one each lesson he could tell if it was only the first few weeks it was telling of how the rest of the term would work out.

Taking a disgusted look at the glass he knocked it back quickly before feeling his chest contract with the first hiccup. It was loud and painful. He hated these stupid things. Looking at the list he decided why not be the most obnoxious one in the room.

“Hog-hic-warts, Hogwarts, Hoggy” a hiccup hit him again contracting his chest. He’d give it another line before he tried another method. “Warty Hogwarts, Teach us Some-hic-thing” Well that one was off the table since, hiccup it wasn’t helping.

He decided that maybe doing a few cartwheels down the isle of the chairs to the classroom would help him out. Moving beside his desk, hiccup, he stood trying to remember how his friends did cartwheels when he was home for the summer. Hiccup he put his left hand in the air and prepped himself to hit the, hiccup, ground. He did one awkward cartwheel after the other. And after the third one somehow he hadn’t hiccuped again. But maybe that was because he was holding his breath....

To be honest, Drewett had no idea and didn't know how to answer Caolan's question. He didn't see the relevance of asking what someone's middle name was to recover from hiccups which, by the way, were potion-induced in this case. It made all the difference than to naturally get hiccups. Perhaps the only way to relieve themselves of this hiccuping tragedy was an antidote.

HICCUP.

But instead, Drewett just shrugged a shoulder and gestured to the board for the list on remedies in response. It was what Professor Dopple wanted them to do, and the fourth year wasn't about to just go against it. Especially not with the headmaster seated at the back, observing everyone. "B-But at least..." HICCUP. "Asking for..." HICCUP. "Someone's m-middle..." HICCUP. "Name d-doesn't..." HICCUP. "...Work..." HICCUP. This hiccuping business was starting to make Drewett uncomfortable, and he wanted to stop it already. He glanced at the Charms professor for a moment, just hoping she would see him struggling. But she was too old, anyway. His effort was all in vain.

But no way was he ever going to consider singing in class. Nope. Aside from that, he couldn't even do a proper cartwheel even if he wanted to. And definitely another no to playing leapfrog as well. He was running out of options here but the most effective way was probably to scare himself. Still a nope, by the way. He could try holding his breath and pushing his tongue to the roof of his mouth, but he highly doubted any of those remedies would work anyway.

"I-I don't..." HICCUP. "Know what other..." HICCUP. "...Option t-to do." HICCUP. Drewett looked at Caolan, seeing if the older Ravenclaw had a better idea.

The hiccups were killing her! Damn. How annoying!!

Wait, this was magically induced. She didn't think any normal method would work in this case.
'Prof' *hic* '..ssor! Will any of these*hic*'Will any of these even work?*hic* 'These are magically induced unlike *hic* 'normal hiccups!!' she asked, desperately!

God, this was annoying!

Indigo did not want the hiccups. He definitely didn't want to purposefully give himself hiccups. Sure, the point of this lesson was about how to get rid of them, and it would likely end with a charm about getting rid of hiccups. When that time came, then he could drink the contents of this cup. For now, he was going to hold onto it and just not drink it. Based on pretty much everything that had happened in this classroom so far he was fairly confident that the professor would have no idea if he had drank it or not.

He looked around at the attempts of his classmates and his gaze landed on Vita. Dopple had said they could work with partners, yeah? He silently moved over so he was behind her and tapped her shoulder. Did that scare her? He was being helpful, see?

Should she ask which Max he was? Did that defeat the purpose?

Tessa decided to leave it a mystery. She was at least sure that it wasn't the real Max. "Uh....okay." She tried to mimic his word choices. Was it weird to think 'he'.....what if it was Zoryn or Faith? Hmm. Never mind. They were both Max right now and that was what mattered.

She briefly wondered whether doing the leapfrog one would get them in more trouble for, like, embarrassing Max or something buuuuuuut it was Professor Dopple's request, so......

Wait what..?

Caolan squinted back at the board dubiously, a frown falling on his face as he read the words ‘ask someone their middle name.’ Surely that wasn’t a cure? It didn’t make sense whatsoever. He shrugged and looked back at his mate. “I think that one was pretty *HICCUP* obvious”. That it wouldn’t work he meant. “It’s more like someone wanted to be nosey.” Or wanted to guess someone’s password.. or knowing this school could be used in some weird form of human control. You never knew, there were give prefect clones walking about so surely anything could make sense here?

As for trying a second cure, the fifth-year scanned the board and decided on the tongue thing. It sounded the most logical after his drinking water upside down thing but the only water here was this hiccup water and he didn’t trust it to not make the situation worse. “Shall we try pressing our tongue to the roof of our mouths?” he asked mid moving his tongue.

*HICCUP*

He pressed his tongue super hard and seemed to be making progress before another hiccup reared it’s ugly face with an audible force. Now that one actually hurt. “Is she going to hurry up and tell us *HICCUP* how to cure this because it’s really starting to get on my nerves!” At least he hoped that was where the lesson was heading and it wasn’t that the professor enjoyed torturing her students with hiccups and was just going to leave them suffering.

*HICCUP* *HICCUP* Well, so far this was going horribly! Tina had succeeded in scaring herself but not in getting rid of her hiccups. And now she'd worked herself into such a panic that her heart was racing! Wonderful... Okay, calm down Tina, she told herself, keeping her head down to hide the frightened look in her eyes until she pulled herself together. You haven't done anything, so there's no reason for you to get in trouble, right?

After a couple of deep breaths (and several more hiccups), Tina was able to relax enough to look back at her notes:

Text Cut: Tina's notes

Non-magical Hiccup Cures

- Bite a lemon
- Drink upside down
- Hold breath (not too long)
- Forget about it!
- Scare yourself
- Vinegar and sugar
- Cartwheels
- Ask someone their middle name
- Play leapfrog
- Sing the Hogwarts song
- Press your tongue up

Now what should she try next? She decided to go with holding her breath. That one seemed fairly safe... She took a deep breath in and mentally counted. One acromantula, two acromantulas, three - *HICCUP* Well, that didn't work! She tried again and again just to be sure; still no luck. After about her fourth or fifth attempt, Tina gave up on the breath holding "cure" and looked at her notes again. Now what?

She supposed the tongue trick could be worth a try. Okay, here goes... She pressed the tongue to the roof of her mouth, and *HIC* *HIC* HICCUP* maybe she wasn't pressing it hard enough? She tried again, pressing her tongue up with all her might. For one wild moment, she thought it was actually going to work, but then the hiccups started again. Ugh! So much for that... Dopple may be completely senile, but she was right about one thing: hiccups were annoying!

Tina had pretty much given up hope that any of these so-called cures were doing to do anything, and she was running out of things she could try on her own. So what was left on the list? Forget about it... Well, that was pretty much all she could do at this point. Tina tried to distract herself by reading through her charms textbook. Even if it didn't get rid of her hiccups, at least she was learning something from it... which was more than she could say about this chaotic mess of a class!

*HIC!*

Oh no.

*HIC!*

Oh no oh no oh no.

He knew he shouldn't have drunk the liquid! He knew it he knew it he knew it! And now he had the hiccups and you know what? Dopple was right. This was annoying. And now he was sitting there, frantically flapping his hands in front of his face because of these - *HIC!* - HICCUPS!

The only thing keeping him from freaking out completely was the fact that he wasn't the only one with hiccups in here. It almost brought a smile to his face if he wasn't, you know, trying to get rid of these hiccups.

Speaking of, there was a list, wasn't there?

Lucas glanced over at the chalkboard and squinted to make out what Dopple had written in her wiggly handwriting. Bite a lemon? Where was he going to find a LEMON?! No, that was out of the question. Drink upside down? Uh....... somehow, he didn't really like the sound of that. Maybe..... he could do....... press your tongue up? Yeah, that sounded easy enough.

*HIC!*

Taking a deep breath, the second year sat there and pressed his tongue right up to the roof of his mouth. He even leant his head back to see if this would make this...... easier? Yeah. He didn't know. This was not something he'd tried before so he was..... trying it now.

The problem? He didn't know how long to hold his tongue up there for. It didn't say a time and he had just started, not bothering to keep check of the time. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea? Because he was only staring at the ceiling and all the streamers that Dopple had put up and it was starting to get...... boring.

After a while, he let go of the roof of his mouth (?) and looked down again. His eyes were wide again and he was trying - trying! - to breathe normally. Were they gone? Was he free? Did this really WOR-

*HIC!*

...........

Sigh.

Okayyyyy, next then... next... uhhhhh... next was...

"HIC."

... something to do with the tongue and the roof of the mouth? Abra thought he remembered someone saying something like that, but he couldn't remember the exact details, and actually the racket in the classroom - however many kids all discordantly hiccoughing alongside each other - was really really distracting. And aggravating. And distracting. And aggravating. And-

"HIC."

Tongue... roof of mouth... Just kind of guessing, Abra tried tickling the roof of his mouth with his tongue, but-

"HIC."

Not to be deterred, he tried again. This time, he tickled the roof of his mouth until it went all tingly and he had to quickly press his tongue against it instead to make it stop, at which point he remembered that that was exactly what one of his classmates had suggested. Pressing the tongue to the roof of the mouth.

So then he waited...

... and waited...

... aaaaaand.......?

"... HIC."

Yes, please for the ending of the heating charms.

And maybe for a professor who didn’t seem like she had gone completely blind and senile. Septimus might have chuckled at the rolled eyes he got from Ewan if he wasn’t concerned with getting caught by the headmaster no doubt already not pleased by both the duplicated Maxs AND the older woman who just wasn’t getting it. As for the student leaders, the fourth year didn’t know why they seemed to have let it go and annoyed with Derf.

Fun was fun but messing with a lesson with using Polyjuice only made things complicated and wrong.

And there was a reprieve from the warmth, Septimus getting the feeling it was the headmaster as Professor Dopple was more interested in continuing on with no big deal. And the cup of stuff on his desk…the fourth year wasn’t too keen on drinking it, even if all he was seeing happening was everybody drinking it was getting the hiccups. How was one supposed to cast a spell to end hiccups successfully if one was interrupted by the very same hiccups.

Nope…no drink for him.

The way the classroom looked, the light pouring onto the corridor floor, made Holly excited to get into the class - the light and the sunshine were always welcome. However, that thought didn’t last very long as within two seconds of stepping inside the classroom, she felt the heat pressing on her, heating her skin and she was sure that she would be …. s w e a t i n g …. by the end of the class. GASP. How horrible. She would need a shower as soon as she could get one, she just knew it.

Noting the instructions on the board, Holly took her seat and wrote her name on the paper that had been there and then folded it into a tent like they had been told to. Silently, she wondered if she could use it as a fan instead - it was HOT in here.



….. Too cold.

She was being sarcastic right??? The second year looked around at her fellow students, mouth slightly ajar as she looked at the Professor as if she had three heads. It definitely wasn’t cold in here … in fact, it felt hotter than it had when she had walked through the door. Merlin, help.

…. Also…. Should the Professor not have noticed that there were FIVE (Merlin, help) Max Carden’s in her class?? This was NOT what she had signed up for…. Especially not after that stupid love potion at the opening feast. Merlin, she was suddenly GLAD for the heat in this classroom as her cheeks were already heated and slightly pink. Thankfully, the addition of each new Max Carden couldn’t be seen by those in the class - but seriously… Why wasn’t Professor Dopple more worried or curious about it?

…. Oh well. Irritating things? After thinking for a minute or so, she put her hand in the air and then waited for her turn to speak. ”Professor, it’s always really annoying when you almost sleep through your alarms and then have to rush around to try and get everything done in time for class starting.” She was normally okay with this… but there had definitely been some close calls over the past year and skipping breakfast had never been a good start to Holly’s day.


…… What is a Carden?!?! ……. Was she for real??? Holly shot her brother and friends another incredulous look as she shook her head. She was pretty sure this was a conversation between a Professor and a Headmaster that she would never hear again. Which was just as well because she couldn’t believe she was even hearing it in the first place.

The hiccups. Right. They WERE annoying and she never could place a reason on why she ended up with them. They were never the outcome of the same thing two times in a row - which always bugged her more than anything. It wasn’t even like she could avoid doing something to in turn stop getting the hiccups, because she didn’t know why she got them each time. Professor Dopple was right about this, they were annoying!

“Um, Professor?” Holly spoke up when it was her turn. “As well as attempting to scare yourself, a friend should try it - especially if you don’t realise that they are going to try and scare you to get rid of the hiccups.” The flight or fight reaction often worked in her favour… Or, at least it had in the past when someone else had actually been around to scare her.


Holly couldn’t agree with the Headmaster more - she was sweltering in the heat, and she was pretty sure she had lost like four pounds just from the heat and the amount of layers she had on. It was hotter than a full session in the gymnastics auditorium over Summer.

So… Hiccups. How did that have anything to do with charms??

With her chin in her hand, she waited in the heat for … well, whatever was coming next. Something had to be coming next. It had to be. See? Drink the liquid.

Drink. The. Liquid.

Frowning, Holly picked up the container and looked around the classroom to see what was happening. She didn’t trust liquids at this school anymore - not after all of the funny horror stories that had been spread about ice cream and juice and potions being used to affect the students without them being told about it beforehand… Cameron had told her about it before she had started last year and yet here she sat, with a frown on her face, watching as her classmates drank something else and ended up with the hiccups.

Sighing and hating the idea of failing - and at least she was forewarned on what would happen - she tipped the cup back and drank down the liquid, and before she could count to three in her head -

*HIC*

Ouch. They hurt. She always forgot how much they hurt.

*HIC*

And so she began. By holding her breath - but after seven seconds it was interrupted by a sore *HIC* …. And after a further nine seconds it was interrupted by another *HIC* .

So holding her breath didn’t work. She put a large X beside it on her own list as she *HIC*‘d again and then moved onto the next item on the agenda.

Doing cartwheels. EASY!!

Standing up, she moved to the side of the room - looking for a good bit of empty floor. *HIC* Here looked okay. ”Incoming cart*HIC*wheels!” She said to give warning before she tumbled and tumbled and tumbled and tumbled down the little alley at the edge between the wall and the tables.

When she finished off her run, she held her breath again waiting to see if they would come back. She got to sixteen seconds before -*HIC*.

*HIIIIC*

Could it be possible that her hiccups were getting worse and not better? She was starting to question her decision to drink from that cup. Maybe the Max clones had messed with those, too. Surely that Dopple character wouldn't even have noticed if they ha-OH!

The sixth year jumped when Indigo tapped her on the shoulder, so lost in her own thoughts that she hadn't heard him approaching. "Merlin, you sca-" *HIIIC* Sigh. "Guess we can cross being scared off the list." *HIIIIC* "Wait, why aren't you hiccuping, too?" That just wasn't fair.

...but it was smart.

Hiccup

Hiccup

Hiccup

This was not what Chloe thought of as learning or fun. How could anyone even concentrate on learning if they were just hiccuping? She couldn't help but think the woman maybe this woman shouldn't have ever left the nursing home. She was sweet and nice, but Merlin did she not have a clue how to teach. Making students hiccup and then do muggle ways to fix it. This wasn't muggle studies, but Chloe wasn't going to just stop and let the hiccups get in her way.

No, she was going to get them to stop. Pointing her wand at the cup she vanished the rest of the liquid and then put water in her cup before trying to take a few drinks.

Hiccup, Hiccup

No, that didn't work. So she continued on to try other things. Puffing out her cheeks she counted in her head as she held her breath.

1....2....3....4...

Hiccup

Hic...

Oh lord she hated the hiccups, they were the worse in her opinion. She always had a tough time getting rid of them, now she was going to go all day with them! Ugh... really how she wanted to spend her day. Looking down at her notes, she bit her lip. Hm... what to do first? Maybe putting her tongue at the top of her mouth would help?

*HIC*

Oh... Merlin, couldn't they learn about something different besides this? Shaking her head she pressed her tongue against the top of her mouth abd waited. "Hey... I think this is working!" she thought to herself.

*HIC!*

"Or... not... dang it!" she thought to herself taking her notes she crossed that out. "So..pressing your tongue up doesn't work, at least not for me." shensaid to herself. Hm... maybe holding her breath would help? she heard about this one, but never really worked on her much. But hey... it was worth a shot again to get rid of these dag blasted things! She would hate going all day wirh these things until they go away on their own.


Holding her breath for as long as she could...

*HIC!*

Yeah... that didn't work, they came back the moment she started breathing again. Oh... Merlin this was going to be a long lesson. What was worse the hottness was making the hiccups worse to her. She didn't know what was worse, feeling like she was in a boiler or these hiccups she was having.

Torii laughed. Well, she started to laugh, and the hiccuped again, and she finished her laugh. "It's Presley Victoria," she said. "Torii's just a nickname." Neither one of their attempts worked, which was kind of annoying for two different reasons. One, she hated having the hiccups, and two, this had nothing to do with Charms.

She nodded when he suggested pressing his tongue to the roof of his mouth. "...and I'm going to...," she said, thinking this one over. "I'm going to turn a cartwheel!" She'd seen another girl do a few not only a second or two ago, and now she wanted to try it. She stood up, moved to an area of the room where she didn't think she'd hit anybody, and then she cartwheeled.

"Heyyy....," she said, coming back to Gunnar. "I think my hiccups are gone!" She doubted seriously it was because of the cartwheels, though. It was probably because enough time had passed by for the hiccups to naturally go away. I mean, that was bound to happen at some point, right?

If the headmaster hadn’t come in to prove that the half-dozen Maxes weren’t a heat-related hallucination, Stasya had been fully prepared to pretend that the heat was the reason for it all. Maybe it was even the reason for Professor Dopple’s slight craziness. Heat could do all sorts of things to a person after all, and it had definitely been overly warm in the classroom before Headmaster Trent had fixed the situation. At least now it was comfortable in the room, even with the headmaster sitting at the back of the classroom as if he was keeping an eye on all of them.

At least she could think now, and her first clear thought was that some of those hiccup remedies seemed awfully ridiculous. She didn’t see how asking someone what their middle name was could cure hiccups, or leapfrog. Not only that, but as others were pointing out, there weren’t a ton of lemons, vinegar or sugar in the room. Either way, she’d silently drank the contents of her tiny cup.

“hic…hic…”

Then she noticed Derf again, and the mini activity sort of got pushed to the back of her mind as she got up and walked over to his desk. “Are you…hic…okay?,” she asked, keeping her voice as soft as possible. I asked, she was testing the theory that distractions could cure her hiccups, but really, she was just worried about her friend. Something told her he hadn’t intended on betraying anyone if he, in fact, had gone to get the headmaster. At least, that was her belief. Even if she remembered certain events from last term too.

Hang on... what was the headmaster doing here. Too many Cardens? There weren't THAT many Cardens at Hogwarts though? Obviously, there was only one that Bel particularly was fond of, but she didn't think there were too many, and Mercy and Alex were nice. Chloe wasn't elaborating on whatever she'd been saying before, and now Derf was back too and Bel was still oblivious as to why he'd gone in the first place, but at least the charms professor was nice? Bel turned in her seat in time to see (a) Max hauled to his feet. Yes that was a Carden. Her favourite Carden. In fact there wasn't a single other Carden who compared to that Carden. She--- waitwhat? FOUR other ones? What was the headmaster on abo-- finally, Bel saw, and Bel gaped.

Aaaaand she entirely missed the question about hiccup cures because right now she could see multiple copies of her boyfriend's face. Polyjuice? Whaaaat. Bel blinked as the headmaster said all that and something about student leaders and yada yada yada. All at once she understood. Firstly what Chloe had been on about, and secondly why Derfael had rushed off (and she understood that and supported his reporting whatever this was whole-heartedly) and thirdly that Dopple, as lovely and grandmotherly as she seemed, was also borderline senile, and lastly? That she, Bel, completely needed to do better at noticing what was going on around her.

And now they were supposed to... drink some potion and get the hiccups? Bel went ahead and did that without really paying any attention and continued staring around at the multiple Cardens.

WHICH ONE WAS HER CARDEN? WAS SHE A CRAP GIRLFRIEND FOR NOT KNOWING?

*hic* *HIC* She squinted at each of them one at a time.... and since she was focusing so hard on the Carden Conundrum, Bel almost immediately forgot about the hiccups and inadvertently, she was cured.

Hiccoughs were??? sO ANNOYING. Not just listening to them; that was just a minor annoyance, whereas having them - violent, loud ones - was really starting to grate on Abra's nerves. He wanted rid.

Possibly that was the kind of determination he really needed, though he was still doubtful that-

"HIC."

-... that hiccoughs caused by what was clearly a potion could really be gotten rid of by more mundane approaches. It just didn't make sense; more likely they would just run their course, which sort of gave Abra the idea that that was all hiccoughs ever did and that people managing to 'cure' them was total coincidence. But, you know, even if it was futile, it was a way to pass the time and feel like he was being productive rather than sit and get steadily more frustrated.

What was next then? Abra thought he remembered something about holding his breath being one method, and it was easy enough to try.

"HIC."

He took a few steady breaths, followed by one big gulp of air, and then held his breath with his lips pressed tightly together and his cheeks ballooning outwards. How long did he have to do this for? Abra couldn't remember, but if he just kept going until he couldn't hold it any longer, that would probably be enough for him to say he'd tried it.

Faith just wanted to go back to her room and sleep, okay? But she couldn't. She had to stay here and then stay here longer and even though it was a lot more pleasant now that the headmaster man had turned the heating off, it wasn't pleasant to know that she would definitely have detention FOREVER after this. They weren't supposed to get caught. Maybe they should've planned this for a class that Derf didn't take.

Anyway, turning to Deskmate!Max, fully believing it was Zoryn!Max, she elbowed him. "You're with me." Wait. "But you're me. I'm you. I'm with me? You're with you?"

And then she decided that this was way too philosophical for her tastes downed the potion in one go.

HIC.

Ah. Fun stuff.

Now, what would Max Carden do? Oh, yeah! Steal glances at Bel. Which wasn't a problem, because Faith liked girls and Bel was pretty. Though this did make her wonder if this is what being heterosexual felt like.

Oh, and would ya look at that. It seemed Bel had FINALLY clocked on. Ten thousand years later, sure, but better late than never, right??? He spotted her across the classroom, ogling the Carden Clones, and when she finally got to him - THE ONE AND ONLY REAL MAXTON CARDEN - he gave her a LOOK. A look that basically said 'I have no idea what's going on either but HAAALP.'

He needed all the help he could get because deskmate Max was getting all up in his business.

The fact Headmaster Trent had all but confirmed that these weren't ACTUAL real clones but kids masquerading in his body under the influence of Polyjuice Potion made this whole thing even weirder and Max eyed this fake Max suspiciously. He had the fleeting hope that the more he stared at the fake Max the more he'd maybe recognise who was actually hiding IN there, but nope. It was just his face. asdjhagjas.

"You're not me." *HIC* "I'm me." *HIC* "And you're you." *HIC*

He'd forgotten all about the task at hand... y'know, actually trying to get rid of these hiccups the good old fashioned muggle way. He was more interested in questioning this IMPOSTER. "Who ARE you?" And more importantly. "You haven't done anything........ weird in my body, have you?"

Of course it was obvious. Caolan didn't have to point that out. Drewett simply shrugged a shoulder again. It was worth a shot anyway, because no way was he doing the other things on that list. Leapfrog? Singing? Cartwheels? He wasn't physically nor emotionally equipped for such activity and the possible embarrassment that would result from it.

"I-I doubt...." HIC. "Any of those..." HIC. "R-Remedies are..." HIC. "...Effective...." HIC. There didn't seem like a point in trying. Drewett was nothing but desperate for this lesson to be over. He loved Charms class, he truly did, but hiccupping just wasn't in his list of things he liked about the class. Instead, he nodded at Caolan's suggestion to press their tongues to the roof, which he did after giving his signal of affirmation.

...

.............Was it...working...?

HIC.

Nope. Drewett let out a mildly disappointed sigh.

Oh, this was so wonderful! Oddly enough, the sound of children hiccuping was music to her ears! But only because it meant they were about to learn a very useful spell that would serve them for the rest of their lives. They could thank her later.

As the activity began and students began attempting to remedy their hiccups in ways that really would not work, Dolly wandered around the room, hands clasped in front of her chest, an eager, wrinkly smile plastered on her old face. She did notice those were weren't participating (she wasn't THAT blind), but she was giving them the benefit of the doubt. She knew that not everyone enjoyed participating in class activities. But it was their loss!

She was passing by one young girl who thought to ask her for sugar. Oh, how funny! She must not have been paying attention! Silly. "Nope!" Dolly replied cheerfully before moving on.

Later on, she was nearing another student as they addressed her. Ah, now she must have been a Ravenclaw! Quite the thinker - putting two and two together! Dolly clapped her hands together. "You're absolutely right!"

So, yes, they were trying in vain.

How fun!

After Dolly had made it around the classroom, she returned to the front of the room and stood by her dead kneazle. Really, it HAD to be dead. Wait, did its tail just twitch???

"Excellent job, everyone! I appreciate ALL of your participation in the mini activity. As you have probably discovered, all of these silly muggle tricks don't work! Especially not on magically induced hiccups, like -- uhhh, that girl-" she pointed to the smart Ravenclaw (Sangeetha) who had figured it out, because, honestly - was she going to learn any of their names? Probs not. "just figured out. An extra 10 points to Ravenclaw!"

Oh, it felt good to award points! How exciting.

"Now, since you all still have the hiccups, we are going to learn the handy little spell that will get rid of them." Waving her wand at the chalkboard, the list of muggle tricks disappeared and a new spell appeared in its place, in the same, wiggly, terribly old-lady hand writing.

singultus fixus
(sin - GUL - tuss - FIX - uss)

"Singultus fixus!" Dolly said, as an example of how to pronounce it. "Now, for our last activity I want you all to practice the incantation and wand movement and then help someone else get rid of their hiccups. Of course, if you wish to work alone, that's just fine. Now -- the wand movement!" Dolly lifted her wand and then did the quickest little tap in the air. "It's quite simple, just lift your wand and pretend like you are going to tap the person on the nose. Just a quick little tap. But don't actually touch them - that could be quite dangerous." Maybe. Perhaps. Who knew.

Dolly tucked her wand away again. "Alright everyone! Get to work! Practice your spells and get rid of those hiccups!" Oh, weren't they so glad for her help?!

OOC: It's time for the main activity! Have your character practice the spell and incantation. Then have them get rid of either their own hiccups or someone else's. You can partner up with someone if you like, but it's not necessary. Students WILL be able to cast the spell on themselves. If your character has a question for the professor, please put "Professor" in your post title. There is NO minimum post requirement - post in as many or as little posts as you want/need You have about three and a half days to complete this activity (until January 17th at about 9 PM (GMT-7))

It seems that he had succeeded in scaring Vita, more than he'd meant to, honestly. Though it had not cured her of her hiccups. "Shhhh." He shushed her when she asked about his own lack of hiccups and glanced around. He didn't want to get in trouble, though he wasn't sure if Dopple's hearing was very good either. "I didn't want to." He had had quite enough of potions, thank you very much. This one was voluntary and not non-consensual but still, he wasn't very eager to drink it.

Dopple was talking again now, giving them the incantation. Indigo supposed he'd actually have to take the potion now. He had to actually have the hiccups in order to get rid of them. But if they were still working with partners maybe he could put that off for a bit longer still. He turned back to Vita. "Want me to get rid of your hiccups for you?" And then she could do it for him?