Maxine and grown to quite like Charms, she had knack for them. Which always made her smile. Arriving at class she gave the Professor a nod. "Hello Professor" She added with a smile and took a seat, staring at the box, she needed to know what was in there ... she needed to.

It wasn't that Cooper was of the persuasion to retire his wand once he graduated and live out the rest of his days in a muggle lifestyle, but there was just something about working with his hands over relying on a wand and magic that inspired him more. Of course, one could argue that wandless magic was working with his hands...but Cooper lacked the raw talent and the desire to walk down that path right now. He did suppose that it would be beneficial to his interests if he did learn the art...but...maybe some other time?

The point being that of the subjects requiring exclusive wandwork, Charms was one that Cooper enjoyed most. There was something about the art of modifying what there already was that aligned quite nicely with his photography passion, rather than changing an object into something that it was not. Not that he was thinking too deeply about these things. Much. Late at night in bed while staring up at the ceiling from his sliver of bed while the rest of it was occupied by starfishing limbs. Maybe he should ask Theo about sharing a flat once they left this place...

...in a few months.

Oooof.

"Good day, professor," Cooper greeted with his usual cheer and modest bounce to his stride as he surveyed the classroom and found himself a seat right down in front. He couldn't help but give the little Gryffindor a chuckle as she STARED at the boxes. "You expecting it to move?" he teased softly as he leaned over towards her and looked ahead to follow her particular line of sight.

Aria had been somewhat extra hungry today. For that reason she’d eaten a little extra and as she headed for Charms, she decided that she regretted doing so. She felt stuffed. UGH. Hopefully she didn’t go into a food coma during the lesson. She already felt sluggish also. Mancini had better have a super interesting topic in store for this lesson, otherwise Aria would fall right asleep for sure.

“Good day, professor!’’ The greeting might be cheerful but Ms. McLeod certainly was not bouncing as she usually did. She briefly eyed the box then plopped herself down on a seat at the front of the class. Sitting there was incentive for her not to doze off as Mancini would be bound to notice and call her out.

He'd long since found himself in the habit - and, therefore, the predictability - of choosing the closest seat available to the door in every single lesson, which might have seemed like something to avoid but it was a habit Milo was not tempted to change. The disadvantage of certain movements being predictable and therefore open to sabotage was outweighed by a separate advantage. He'd given it a lot of thought.

So Milo did the same today. Except he didn't claim a seat at all. He claimed the desk closest to the door, sitting on top of it just as Ms Mancini was doing at the front, and pulled a book from his bag to look through while he waited.

Charms was okay, as far as classes went. One of the better ones, in Kinsay's opinion. In fact, it was her favorite subject next to Astronomy. It also helped that it was one of the few subjects she didn't feel anxious about regarding upcoming end-of-the-year exams. Unfortunately the same could not be said for Defense Against the Dark Arts and History of Magic. Tragically, she had fallen terribly behind in those lessons. But Charms? Charms wasn't terrible and she always paid attention. ...... For the most part. Especially now that her wand was cooperating with her. ...... For the most part (x2).

Even still, why everyone chose to sit at the very front of the classroom was a mystery beyond that of Kinsay James' comprehension. They did know they wouldn't get extra points for brown nosing, right? Not to worry. She was about to break the chain and hoped that her friends would follow her lead and join her. She hated sitting alone in lessons.

Stepping into the room, she greeted her professor with a subtle wave. "Hi, Professor. You look comfortable." Maybe a little too comfortable. She did know there were chairs to sit in, right? Then, walking past the front rows, she offered her cousin a tiny smile as she stepped past him and made her way for a seat in the back. Kinsay had no interest in the box.

Delilah strolled into the classroom. She didn't know if it was the tasty lunch she'd just had, or if it was the burst of fresh air. She was in a good mood, though. "Hello, Professor," she said, passing by the lady as she read through some magazine about Healers.

BORING.

There was also a box there, but Delilah knew better than to ask any questions about it. Wasn't there always some box, sheet, wall, blanket, etc. covering up something as the students walked in? It was like some rite of passage or something. Delilah slid into an empty seats and started the process of just staring around the room until something else happened.

Ash quietly entered the class. Quietly. She noted the magazine the professor was reading and the box. (It was lucky she didn't peek in the box, because she did not like unpleasant tattoos on her forehead. She'd had one too many of those.)

"Hi Cooper. Hi Kinsay. Professor." She took a seat by herself.

Violet was breathing a bit hard when she got to Charms, having run all the way from the dungeons so as not to be late. "Good day, professor," she greeted her teacher politely, though secretly she thought that sitting on top of a desk wasn't really professional behavior. But it wouldn't be good politics to say so.

Looking around, she saw Ashley sitting by herself and went over to join her. Violet hadn't seen the younger girl much lately. "Hi, Ashley, doing all right?" she commented as she took a seat next to her.

Sliding forward off the desk, Professor Mancini flicked her wand inconspicuously to close the door as was usual. "Right then, let's get started shall we?" She looked around the room, "So uh... please take your proper seat now." She gave an extra long look at Milo Evans, as she walked around her own desk, tapping her fingers a couple times on the desk to get their attention. She was fine with idle chitchat before the lesson officially started assuming it didn't get out of hand, but now it was time to learn.

"So in case you were unaware," Which they shouldn't be since she'd been there all term, "by trade I was a full-time healer for many years and today we're going to discuss some of the magic behind healing. Healing magic is particular branch of magic devoted to the health and wellbeing of living things. What are some common misconceptions you have about healing magic and charms? This could be some small myth you might have heard or something more major."


ooc: hi! class has officially started, although catch-up posts are always welcome. We'll move on again in about 24 hours, but this first question just is about misconceptions on healing and charms .. it doesn't have to be anything big =)

See, but Ash didn't WANT to look in the box. It barely occurred to her. Because... well, she didn't know why. She just wasn't as curious as she used to be. Or as present, maybe. She tugged at her bracelets and focused her attention on who was coming in. "Hey Violet. I'm fine." Kind of.

She then tuned out to whatever was going on until she heard the word "healing". Ash loved healing magic! It was one of her many interests, and she aimed to be good at it for practical reasons. "Um..." what... oh yeah... "I think there's this assumption that healing magic can fix anything. It can't, because some things do permanent damage no matter what. Also you could just die before you get the healing. So." Leave it to Ash to come up with an answer involving death. But they were talking about healing, so death was completely fair game.

She had another thing to say, but she kept quiet because it would just make her feel angry and upset- and they were supposed to only give one answer anyway.

She wasn’t falling asleep. Nope. Aria casually raised her book, hiding her face from view and in turn hiding a yawn. This was going to be a long and dreary afternoon unless something exciting happened. By the time Mancini was ready to get started, Aria had all her materials out.

Healing magic and charms.

Aria propped an elbow on the desk and rested a cheek on it. She lazily put her mind and brain to work. What she eventually came up with would have to do; her mind and brain wanted to zone out. Aria raised her hand. “This isn’t a Healing Charm but I’ve heard of the Mending Charm being used to fix injuries. And that it leaves terrible scarring.” What a terrible shock for the persons who used the Charm for that purpose only to be majorly scarred.

"Some people think that healing charms aren't very dangerous and must always be benign," Violet piped up when it was her turn. "Whereas you could cause serious injury if you don't know what you're doing and your healing charm backfires." Violet herself took healing magic very seriously, ever since she'd spent all that time sitting with her Uncle Horatio in hospital a couple of years ago. That summer had given her renewed respect for Healers.

Milo had half-glanced up - that is, lifted his eyes only halfway to Ms Mancini before looking back to his book again - when he was greeted, but that was all. Not out of rudeness of course. Just. Because looking at people could be as uncomfortable or simply as unnecessary as talking to them. So possibly actually maybe seventy-nine percent rudeness or so.

It was the pause after 'please take your proper seat' that ultimately made him look, knowing already that it was directed at him. He thought about arguing the point that 'proper seat' was subjective, that Ms Mancini had set the precedent, that he could learn just-as-well-if-not-better up here, but ultimately decided against it. Instead Milo shuffled back on the desk, scooted the chair out, and dropped down to sit cross-legged on that instead.

He had an answer too, sort of, though continued in his habit of neglecting to raise his hand to provide it. "That healing charms are suitable for everyone." That was a misconception Milo had heard for real, and knew to be untrue, because of Charlie, but he didn't know why it was untrue because of Charlie, and so opted not to elaborate.

Charms was Margaret's favorite class by far unless you counted flying. And Professor Mancini had grown on her, as new professors who weren't crazy imposters usually did.

She was less interested in healing charms, however. Like Violet and that first year had said, or maybe implied, healing was best left to the healers. And Margaret had no intention of being a healer. She also hadn't heard any myths about healing magic. Well, or if she had, how would she know it was a myth? The closest idea she had, that magic could heal everything, Ash had already said. And while it was good her parents thought magic could fix anything, she knew better. She knew magic couldn't fix a bad personality, or a broken heart.

So she kept her hand down and her mouth shut, and instead made some notes of people's answers on her parchment. Even if she wasn't interested, this might be on her OWLs.

Settling into her seat, Kinsay offered Ashley a tiny smile in reply to her greeting, but otherwise began pulling out her supplies and neatly setting them before her on her desk. What? Her sketchbook counted as supplies too. Maybe not for Charms, specifically, but drawing helped her focus. Sometimes. In any case, she was doing perfectly fine in the class so.

Absently sketching in her book, she only looked up on occasion to demonstrate that she was, in fact, paying attention to the lesson at hand. But when the question was posed, she didn't find it to be terribly interesting. Which meant, she really didn't feel like contributing to the discussion. There was something else that piqued her curiosity though. "Did you become a Healer by trade knowing that you eventually wanted to practice in a school setting, Professor? Or did you decide that later?" This question felt just as important as the one she had posed to the class. And twice as interesting.

Summer who had been waiting for the lesson to start, suddenly heard the Professor speak and she looked up, now it was time to answer a question and her hand shot up. "Eh, don't people always think that charms and healing are the exact same thing?" She wasn't sure if she understood the question but she thought she might as well guess.

Glancing up and spotting Milo arrive, Cooper figured Mercer would be along soon with the third member of their eaglet trio. His heart smiled thinking about it, how easily Mercer had found people here and had a group of friends to build upon. It was during his little glance of the room that he spotted Kinsay enter and softly returned the smile, his stomach knotting somewhat, while watching her find a seat in the back. "Oh, hello, Ashley," Cooper smiled a little more obviously while his attention turned away from his cousin and back towards the front of the room and the professor herself with the mystery box.

Just in time too since things were getting underway.

Chuckling at the introduction (that was meant to be a joke, right? She was the school's healer, after all), Cooper slouched a bit more in his seat and tapped his left foot against the floor softly. No real rhythm in mind and not really any sort of anxious tick, he was just feeling a bit restless today. The topic of today was, remarkably, one that he had a fair bit of experience on. Well, healing magic in application with creatures that is. His summer work with Celyn's brother on the creature rehabilitation sanctuary run and maintained by him and his girlfriend had really enlightened him in the path of magizoology he could theoretically go down. Certain aspects had been amplified during his time with Monsieur Benoit and a ranch full of abraxan. He had not been able to actually perform any of the healing enchantments, underaged magic and all, but he had watched both Derfael and Chloe perform several dozen charms of varying degrees. Mostly his assistance had been in collecting ingredients required for brewing salves and potions which, thanks to Olivia's tutoring, he had become quite good at.

Not feeling like he had much to offer on this particular topic, the seventh year went out a little on a limb that was on topic if you squinted at it a bit. "Nonna swears by olive oil....lather a little on minor burns and a spoonful a day for healthy living. Spoonful a day keeps the healer away." Italian things. "Also eating white rice with lemon whenever there was a stomach ache in progress."

Neither were really misconceptions, however. Nor even magical. Though, maybe, nonna's twist on the apple a day saying was close enough to being on topic.

Delilah's whole 'sit around and look around the room while waiting for things to get underway' suddenly came to a halt. The professor was tapping her nails and shuffling kids toward their proper seats, which led the first year to believe she'd been letting her thoughts drift away a little too much. What else had happened while she'd just been sitting there?

Anyway, she didn't really have any common misconceptions about healing magic, which meant it was time to make something up off the top of her head. Uhh...uhh...uhhh... She halfheartedly waved her hand in the air. "I don't know, I mean...maybe people assume that because they're good at charms, they can automatically heal sick and injured people? Don't you need some extra training or something to heal people?" she asked.

She looked around the room. Some of her classmates were good at Charms, but she didn't know if she'd feel comfortable having them as her only option when she was sick or hurt.

Welp, her answers had already been taken, the magical ones anyway. So what was she supposed to say? Her family didn't really have any of those folklore-y type of things; her own mother being a healer had pretty much disabused her of any of those notions. So Dia just sat back and listened to her classmates' answers.

While they were discussing the questions, the chalk was magically notating a few of the answers that were said aloud, in case anyone wanted to take notes on the question.

Quote:

Misconceptions and healing remedies
* Not everything can be healed
* The mending charm used for injuries
* Healing charms can be dangerous / not benign
* Healing charms are suitable for everyone
* Olive oil for minor burns / healthier living
* You have to be good at charms to heal the sick or injured

"So one of the most important takeaways is that while I don't necessarily expect you all to become healers, I do hope that you'll feel confident enough to know how and when to use the charms that we're going to learn today. We'll discuss some on the how later, but for now I'd like us to work enunciations and practicing the incantation for a couple spells each, along with practicing the wand movement. But please for the moment, don't use your actual wands." They didn't need any mishaps today. "You can just practice the hand movements with just your finger." She flicked her wand at the chalk and the spells appeared on the blackboard.

Quote:

For the Younger Students:
Episkey
Incantation: eh-PIS-kee
Wand movement: Circular motion around the injury

Anapneo (Clear-Breathing charm)
Incantation: ah-nap-nee-oh
Wand Movement: point wand at target

**

For the older students:
Ferula charm (Bandaging Charm)
Incantation: fer-rool-lah
Wand Movement: down, up, down again

Vulnera Sanentur (Wound-healing spell)
Incantation: VUL-ner-ah sah-NEN-tour
Wand Movement: Trace wand over wounds

ooc: so IC you'll have about 10 minutes to practice these incantations, but ooc, will give you 36-48 hours. Younger students should practice anapneo and episkey, for those in years 1-3. Older students, Ferula and Vulnera Sanentur, those in years 5-7. Those in year 4 can choose which set you want to do based on your character's skills/comfort with charms. Any questions, let me know, but right now we're just practicing the incantation and wand movements. You can complete the exercise in one post or multiple posts, it's totally up to you!!!

Aria definitely wanted to take notes and she began doing exactly that, even if her writing hand felt like lead. Anything to keep from falling asleep! As for becoming a Healer… well, that wasn’t her career aim but at least she could learn simple Healing Spells. No doubt they would be useful. Heck, her fathers were aging {they weren’t that old as yet!} and what if one of them fell and injured themselves? Or Aunt Mae or Uncle Deacon had some minor accident? Aria was going to swoop in and save them!

The Slytherin finally managed to get her notes made which made it possible for her to draw her attention to the list of incantations they would be practising today. She opted to get started with the Bandaging Charm.

“Fer-rool-lah,’’ Ms. McLeod started off muttering. “Fur- no. FER. Fer-rool-lah.” Using her quill as a substitute for her wand, the necessary movement was made: down, up, down.

Violet was glad that there were more advanced spells for the older students in this class, as she had already mastered the first two. Using her parchment as her patient, she traced her finger over an imaginary wound a few times muttering "Vulnera Sanentur", making sure to emphasize the first syllable of the first word--she'd read that wrong in her head when she was looking over that chapter in her book, so she wanted to be sure to get it right.

Cooper had at one point been curiour as to where or not nonna's claims had any validity, performing a bit of research on his own to see what sort of real medical research had been done on the benefits of olive oil. As it turned out, there had been some and thus he had stopped resisting a spoonful when offered. Thoughts and reflections that were not helpful given the current parameters of the lesson, so the seventh year tucked them away for another day and another letter home.

For now, practicing. He was fairly familiar with all the charms on the day, though mostly in observation and very little practical application. Laying his left arm on the desk to act as his object in need of treatment. First up was the Bandaging Charm, the movement easy enough to practice with a little down, up, and down again movement from his quill. It felt more natural to have something in his hand rather than use his finger. "Ferula," he spoke softly to himself, giving both movement and incantation another go before feeling satisfied with this level of practice and moved on to the next.

While the Bandaging Charm was one he had seen performed numerous times in over the summer while working alongside Derfael and Monsieur Benoit, Vulnera Sanentur was one that he had only seen performed in the immediate aftermath of the war. Something that brought a moment of reflective pause before he began softly muttering the incantation to himself. "Vulnera Sanentur..." he whispered over his imaginary wound. "...Vulnera Sanentur..." The feather end of his quill tickling his arm, Cooper paused his practice and looked around the classroom a bit. Mamie seemed...a little under the weather, so to speak, but he didn't let his gaze linger too much - but there was a little lingering smile before he did look back at his arm and quill...though instead of more practice he simply tickled his arm with his quill.

Daniel had opened up his Charms notebook to copy the student's responses while the chalk wrote them on the blackboard by itself. When he was done, the third year positioned the pen neatly beside his notebook and rested his elbow on the table. He leaned his chin against the palm of his hand and stared into space as the Professor began to explain the activity.

The reality that he was still in the 'younger students' group' bugged him more than it should. He thought he was better than most of his year mates anyway, so why was he stuck doing the 'kids' stuff?!

The Hufflepuff read the spells written on the blackboard, narrowing his eyes slightly at the wand movements. They were far too simple to practice with a finger. Who COULDN'T point or make a circular motion?!

Because practising the movements would be a total waste of his time, Daniel leaned back in his seat and silently muttered the first incantation a couple of times.