Charms Class: 1st year lab

Annie giggled while her wand remained unlit. "Maybe you're right," she shrugged. She eyed the weights Kerry had selected and placed the lightest one in front of her. "How about if I tried to move this?"

She held her wand up and flicked her wrist, "Locomotor weight."


Move it or lose it: 1 of 5: locomotor
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

14

Kerry could see that Annie was trying way too hard. He concentration didn't seem to be there for some reason. He leaned in and told her, "Don't get mad; sit a little and think about fly with me this weekend." He gave her a little smile and touched her cheek. "Good thoughts help, you know."

"It doesn't appear to be my day for magic," she smiled back at him, trying to keep the bad thoughts from taking over. She moved the weight closer. "Maybe the only kind of magic I can do is to shut up annoying girls."

She winked at Kerry and tried to move the weight again. "Locomotor weight."



Move it or lose it: 2 of 5: locomotor
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

31

Kerry laughed not at Annie's attempts but at her comment. "There are certainly enough of those around today," he said, getting a puzzled look in return from Anna. "So what are you wanting to learn? What is your feel for today?"

My feel... Annie knew the answer to that, but she certainly wasn't about to give it voice in the middle of a room full of people. Ever since her birthday wake up call, her head was decidedly elsewhere.

"I think I'll give lumos one more try. If it doesn't work," she shrugged.

"Lumos," Annie said, giving her wand a small flick.



Lighting the way: 3 of 5: Lumos
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

76

Kerry gave Annie a gold clap. "That's it. Just relax, enjoy it." He kissed her on the cheek again, wondering if Professor Douglas would walk in a catch them. "Relax and try those again. Do the moving one. I think you'll be surprised."

Annie could hardly believe that her wand tip was glowing. She beamed up at Kerry and nodded. "If you think so," she said and pointed her wand at the small weight still perched on the table.

"Locomotor weight," she said and gave her wand another small flick.


Move it or lose it: 3 of 5: locomotor
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

40

Annie sighed as the spell failed...again. This is going to just be one of those days, she thought while turning away from the table. Annie glanced over at Kerry and watched as he set the broken abacus in front of him on the table. When he caught her staring, she poked her tongue at him and giggled. Focus.... Ever since her birthday, focusing had taken on a whole other meaning.

She lifted her wand and decided to try the lumos charm once again. "Let's see if I can get this one down," she whispered as she flicked her wand. "Lumos."


Lighting the way: 4 of 5: Lumos
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

57

Annie giggled while the tip of her wand glowed. It wasn't blindingly bright, but it was lit all the same. Here was her chance to get the wand tip to go out.

She held up the wand and again gave it a short flick. "Nox."



Going back to darkness: 1 of 5:Nox
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

7

Annie shook her wand but the end stayed lit. She glanced around the room and noticed Anna smirking in her direction. She glared back at the girl. Ever since she'd run off after Ella at the madness, those two had been inseparable.

Annie rolled her eyes and turned back to her wand. "Nox."


Going back to darkness: 2 of 5:Nox
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

14

Still glowing. The dim light was stubbornly stuck to the end of her wand. What if it never goes out...

She felt the panic start to rise and took a deep breath. You can do this. She gave her wand a tight flick and said, "Nox."



Going back to darkness: 3 of 5:Nox
Annie Krum carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

39

Kerry was setting up but watching Annie out of the corner of his eye. For some reason today she was off--really off. She's pushing too hard for some reason, he thought, and struggling. He didn't know why: Annie was good, really good. It was just that today she didn't seem to have the feel.

He stepped over and had his wand ready. "Nox," he said, and the light on the tip of Annie's wand went out. He saw how defeated she looked, and it was heartbreaking. He stepped in closer and wrapped his arms around her.

"It's okay," he said, holding her close. "You're good, you know that. Don't worry--" He gave her hair a little kiss. "We'll practice tonight."

Though Ella might not be having the best day, it was making her heart sing to watch Little Annie Krum stumble through her charms. Oh, hell, she can't do anything! she thought.

But when her loser of a boyfriend had to step over to put out her crapy almost-not glowing wand, she couldn't hold back. "You Squib!" Ella shouted. Her laughter filled the room. "Holy Dragon Crap, Annie: you suck!" Ella was laughing even harder, with Anna joining in.

Kerry had no idea what a squib was, but the look on Annie's face told him it wasn't good. And when Ella yelled, "You suck!" Kerry felt something snap--

He stepped away from Annie and turned to Ella. "Yo, Ebola," he said, his voice tight with anger. "Let me show you how to scorch cloth." He pointed his wand at the still-setup stand with the fireproof paper. "Incendio!" A lance of flame shot from his wand and engulfed Ella's test. Ella jumped back, screaming as the cloth ignited.

Kerry flipped his wand up as the room grew silent. Standing next to Annie he told Ella, "Now that's what I'm talkin' about." He gave Annie a peck on the cheek. "Next time keep your mouth shut and your opinions to yourself, Ella." He aimed his wand at her for a moment, but said nothing. After a few seconds he turned back to his own work.

Annie was shocked as Kerry let loose a flame that consumed Ella's paper. The mastery and quiet power he exuded didn't escape her; she'd never seen him so upset. Her hands rose to her gaping mouth as the excitement of the whole episode left her breathless.

Ella's eyes burned with fury. Annie knew she'd eventually need to be dealt with, but right now was Kerry's moment. She turned her back on the callous girl and slipped in between Kerry and his repairo set up with the broken abacus. Her trembling arms wrapped tightly around him, holding him close to her body.

"Kerry," she breathed, feeling the tears sting her eyes. "I don't know what is wrong with me. I..." She couldn't bare to finish and buried her face in his chest.

Kerry pressed her into him and stoked her hair. "Don't worry about it," he said. "It's not always easy to stay on top." He didn't care who heard him when he said, "But that's where we're staying, okay? This is just one class: there's like 40 more to go before the end of the school year."

He tried to lighten her mood with his smile. "Like I said, we'll work tonight. It's either that or sit in the commons--and I'd rather be in the Charms Dungeon with you."

All the drama behind them, Kerry gave Annie a little pat on the butt and turned back to his charms test. An abacus awaited repair, and Kerry was going to repair it. Or at least try.

Again, the move was simple: point and incantation. Kerry cleared his throat and pointed his wand, saying in a firm tone, "Abacus Repairo."




Kerry's attempt at fixin' things 1 of 5: Repairo
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

94

Annie giggled as Kerry knocked the hell out of his spell. The abacus was not only fixed, but looked brand new. She clapped, as the biggest fan in his own private cheering section, and blew him a kiss.

"I'd give it to Ella. She's great at breaking things with her wand." She winked and then added, "Although, I seem to be having a string of bad luck today." She waved her wand in the direction of the abacus and laughed.

First he shoots an Incendio charm at her--he got lucky getting that off! Ella thought--then the semi-smug look on both his face and the face of his little witch after he repaired his abacus on the first try was just too much for Ella--

"Professor Wednesday!" she yelled, storming towards the classroom door, "Kerry tried to set me on fire!"

Kerry mumbled, "Loser," then gathered up the glasses. He didn't care about Ella, though he thought the likelihood of getting detention was high. Yeah, but I set her stuff on fire, so it was totally worth it!

He set the glasses on the work table just as he had the abacus. He knew there was a Latin word he had to use with the glasses; just the way the charm worked. That could make it interesting to know what to say in the future, he thought, but thought it couldn't be that hard . . ..

He pointed the wand at the glasses and said in his pure, even voice, "Oculus Reparo."




Kerry's attempt at fixin' things 2 of 5: Reparo
Kerry Malibey carried out 1 launched of one (D100.) :

98

Wednesday looked up from her grading as one of her first years came storming in. She heard Kerry and fire, and sprung from her seat to see what was going on.

After glancing around the room and finding Kerry busily repairing a broken pair of glasses, she was satisfied that no one had been turned into a human barbeque and turned her attention to the upset girl.

"Calm down and tell me what you're going on about," she snapped.

"Professor Wednesday." Ella tried not to sound petulant when she spoke. "Kerry got mad 'cause I said something about Annie, and he cast Incendio at me and hit my test that I was doing trying to scorch fabric and burned it up and he looked at me mean and . . ." Ella ran out of breath 'cause she was so wound up at the idea of getting this teacher's pet back--

"And they've been kissing, and that's sick 'cause they're like 11!" She turned and point to both Kerry and Annie. "Make 'em stop!"

Wednesday grinned and suddenly she remembered this girl from a conversation she'd overheard in the teachers lounge. This was the girl Annie attacked with silencio and left with an altered voice for quite some time. She really wants to lynch Malibey and Krum.

Wednesday sighed entered the classroom, taking her place at the front of the long room. "Attention, students," she said. "Kerry, would you mind joining me." She had trouble controlling her smile as the boy made the journey over to her side.

"Ella, please take your place back at the table."

Kerry set his wand on his work space and walked over to Professor Douglas. When he was before her he said, "I did use an Incendio charm, Professor." He didn't try to plead his way out, but rather gave the facts. "And I aimed it at the cloth she'd failed to scorch--" Kerry's expression didn't change when he over-inflected the word "failed".

"And, yeah, I was mad . . . because Ella was making fun of Annie." He turned back to Annie, then back to the professor. "Annie's been having a hard time, and when I was trying to give her a little encouragement, Ella called said she sucked." He remembered what Ella said before that. "And called her something like a squib."

Nodding slowly, Kerry said, "So, I did that, Professor Douglass. And I'm sorry."

Wednesday was half-listening while Kerry prattled on. She nodded as he finished and lifted her wand.

"Accio Kerry's wand," she said, flicking her wrist in the direction of Kerry's wand. It sailed neatly through the air, landing in her outstretched hand.

She addressed the class. "This lab has been set up for independent study, not for name calling," she glared at Ella. "None of you should be able to nail every spell. If you could, you wouldn't be first years."

She motioned toward Kerry and winked. "There are always exceptions, however. Using a third year spell when I expressly said to use only first year spells is regrettable...but I never shy away from a chance to teach, and neither should you." She handed Kerry's wand over.

"Miss Krum, please join us." Wednesday was truly giddy now and could hardly contain her pleasure.

As Annie joined them, she oriented her so that she directly faced Kerry. "Since Kerry likes to play with fire, let's do a little demonstration."