IV: I -- The Appraise of Adroitness

[Prof. Nelson Rutherford]

IV: I -- The Appraise of Adroitness

Professor Nelson Rutherford
Please enter the room in an orderly fashion and talk quietly if at all![/center][/size]

The start of a new term and for the first time in four years there was a new Charms Professor. Hogwarts had always been known for its successful grades in Charms and Nelson was determined to keep up that high level of quality. Yet the school was new to him, teaching was new to him and more importantly so where the budding young minds he had to work with.

For today’s lesson Nelson was using some techniques he had picked up while training up new Auror’s back in the day. As always with every fresh batch of bright faces and eager applicants they needed to sieve out the weak and talentless, learn the limits and also the abilities of the individuals so that the training could be made more appropriate for them. So this is just want Professor Rutherford was doing today.

The Charms classroom had been emptied, the tables and chairs had been removed, book shelves and glad cabinets no longer lined the side of the room, portraits had been taken down revealing blast holes and stain on the walls. However being the clean freak that Nelson was all dust, fluff and soon the stains all vanished and a pristine stone walled room glistened in the morning sunlight. The Professor stood by the window, to the left of him was a chest with many locks and to the right a suit of armor…he was ready.

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10 -- points to those who's name is on the sign up list and attend
5 -- points for those who just attend and do not sign-up
-10 -- points for those who sign up and do not attend. [/font]

[loopylovegood]

Hermione grabbed her bag and set of for charms she was early as usual. When she reacher the class she peered inside nobody was there but the teacher. He was new.

She pushed open the door and walked inside. "Hello profes-" she said but cut of as she noticed that the classroom had been stripped bare. There was no tables or chairs and the book shelves and portraits were gone.

Once she had gotten over the shock she walked over to the coner and dumped her back the returned to the centre of the room and stood waitig for the rest to arrive.

[Polaris Stormwrath]

Charms? Something Polaris had never though of taking. Not that she didn't like the class or anything, but there was always such a fuss and bustle about it all, too much of a crowd. But this time, she was determined to ignore the crowd, since it was a small class, and learn for herself.

Reaching the classroom, the Ravenclaw entered and nodded a hello to the Professor while flashing a small smile. Looking around, she then noticed the lack of desks or chairs; even portraits for that matter! Furrowing her eyebrows in slight confusion, the girl then shrugged it off and simply sat on the floor, facing the direction of the Professor.

A smile ended up making it's way to her lips as she was waiting for the other students to arrive. Before too long, Polaris found herself relaxing and placing her arms out behind her to support her weight as she lounged out on the floor. Had to make herself comfortable in such a stark empty room somehow!

[Ellie Rook]

Ellie walked slowly toward the Charms classroom. She was still bummed about the fact that Professor Hubbles would not be waiting for her when she got there. The first Charms class of the new term was looming over Ellie's head, new Professor and all. Charms was Ellie's favorite class, and she had to admit, she was one of the best in her year.

As she walked, she wondered who the new professor was. She hoped he wasn't an old stuffy grump, boring and all about the lecture and not about the magic. Elie would just about die if she couldn't actually do something. She had heard rumblings about the new Professor, that he seemed pretty cool, but Ellie saved her opinion for after the first class.

The first class she could no long avoid as she reached the door to the class room. In the sixth year went. She looked around, and frowned. It wasn't the room she remembered. It was clean. It was bare. It was boring. The old character of the room had been totally wiped away. It disappointed Ellie. The new Professor wasn't do so well to start off with in Ellie's book.

Ellie placed her bag against the back wall and continued to walk in the bare room. She spotted the new Professor and seeing him, she felt a little better. He wasn't gray and old. He looked like an agree able guy, and luckily,he didn't look like a former Slytherin. That Ellie couldn't handle, she was sure.

The Hufflepuff Prefect walked up to the Professor, looking at the strange setup he had. "Hello Professor!" She said, with a bright smile. "I'm Ellie Rook, I'm glad to finally meet you." She said, extending her hand so he could shake it.

Introductions done, now Ellie waited for the real test for the Professor. The lesson was about to begin.

[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie was getting ready for her Charms lesson of her third year. She wondered what the new Professor would be like. She had been so used to Hubbles that she couldn't believe that he needed to be replaced.

She grabbed her bag and head down the stairs. She walked thought the common room. She opened the Fat lady. Then she headed down the stairs. She finally arrived at the Charms class room.

She entered the room and nearly dropping at the sight of it. The walls where blank, the desk and chairs where gone. She put her stuff next to another person. She noticed that there was an older Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. She noticed the Professor. She didn't know what to say.

[Bradyn Reed]

A new Charms teacher? The idea seemed proposterous but it was sort of assumed when their previous teacher's ego was inflated as he was booted up to Headmaster. Bray was a little surprised that he didn't strut around the corridors all the time with a big goofy grin on his face. Actually, come to think of it, Hubbles probably did.

Either way, it meant that he should probably show up for the first lesson to see what all the hub-bub was about and whether or not they could fill the overly large shoes left behind. Poor guy, everyone was probably going to be tough on him. As he arrived he found himself relatively early to the point that it was almost awkward in the nearly empty room. Just a few students and the teacher but it felt like it was just him and Ellie in the room. Well, of course she'd be here, she was such a Charms enthusiast.

Strolling over to them with his hands casually in his pocket, he couldn't help but smirk at her little introduction. "G'day professor." He greeted with a small nod then fell short as he couldn't decide on what to say to her. "You look rather.. excited, Ellie." Bray said flatly as it was the first thing that came to mind before quickly looking around the room. Where was Fay? She needed to save him and quick.

[Brinley Graves]

Brinley had just managed to sign up before the first class had started, it seemed, and the luck just kept on rolling. Stepping slowly into the room the Ravenclaw quickly took note of everyone inside, cocking her head to the side as she saw a pair of prefects who were--incidentally--together, present. Bray didn't seem too tickled to run into her here, his expression was pretty awkward. Something was probably up, probably happened, but she dismissed the thought, seeing as it really wasn't her business in the first place. She just liked reading people's faces. Offering a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes to Polaris and Bray, seeing as they were housemates and all, she then cast her eyes around the room, wondering where the chairs and tables were. Some sort of odd teaching technique, she was guessing? "Hello." She murmured smoothly to the professor, with nothing but mild curiosity in her eyes.

Stepping past a younger Gryffindor girl to deposit her bookbag in the little heap that was slowly growing and accumulating, the Ravenclaw turned back waft towards the group of students, saying nothing and waiting for the class to begin. She should have brought her sketchbook, now that she thought about it.. But Brinley shuddered at the idea of getting it confiscated for drawing in class. It had happened more than a few times before, and it hadn't exactly been pleasant. So she stood there, only half-aware of the little titterings of conversation floating around her.[/font]

[loopylovegood]

Hermione stood and watched the class slowly fill. The small pile that she has started was slowing filling. The teacher still hadn't said anything to anyone even though most people had greeted him. Nobody said anythiny to her so she stayed quite waiting for the lesson to start.

[theodorik]

Ah!, charms; perhaps one of the most important forms of magic in the world. Theo was glad to be back for the subject that contributed the most spells to magical knowledge. He walked through the corridors, navigating his way to the charms classroom, finally finding the door to the classroom.

Theo stepped into the empty charms classroom, almost aghast at the emptiness. He walked into the centre of the room and stood there with his bag and looked around. Almost uncomfortably, he looked about the room, seeing a number of students ready for the upcoming class. He also saw the professor, or at least the man Theo assumed was the professor, standing. Now, Theo had only to wait for the class to begin.

[Prof. Nelson Rutherford]

The bare and empty classroom was slowly starting to fill up with students; many seemed to be rather exited about the prospect of learning magic or maybe it was the prospect of a new teacher. Professor Rutherford knew he had a lot to live up to, some of the stories about previous lessons that Headmaster Hubbles had come up with impressive and absolutely ridiculous. The grades in Charms had been good yes but Nelson did not agree with many of the teaching methods within the school that was going to be the biggest shock to some of these softies who were now standing around in the centre of the classroom.

A few wondered over and greeted him and in response they got a small smile and a nod of his head just to acknowledge there presence. There was a slight murmur of talking but nothing to raucous which was defiantly a good start. With a small glance down at his watch Professor Rutherford watched as it struck ten minutes past the hour and that was his sign to start the lesson.

“Good Morning class.” He began softly allowing the acoustics of the room to carry his voice to his students. “Welcome to your first Charms lesson of the term. I am Professor Rutherford, ex Aurora for the Ministry of Magic and of course you’re new Charms Professor. Today I shall be evaluating your skills so that those gifted students among you shall not be held back by your less able class mates.”

Striding forwards to the centre of the room Professor Rutherford withdrew his wand from the inside of his inside pocket from his deep red robe. Twisting the hawthorn wand through his hands the professor eyes up his students trying to gauge their abilities straight off but he knew nothing was certain until they gave those first few flicks and swishes of their wands.

“We shall cover basics first, I want you all to take the proper duelling stance and cast a simple spell at the suit of armour. Nothing too fancy please otherwise I will deduct points as I will class it as showing off.”

(Please feel free to join the lesson! You do not get points taken away for being late!)

[Polaris Stormwrath]

Nodding and listening to what the new Professor had to say, Polaris understood what she had to do. Must be a new way of training. Good! Variety is nice and a good change up every once in a while. The Ravenclaw mused to herself as she waited for him to finish up with the task they were to perform.

Polaris waited for a few minutes, watching to see if anyone went up or even raised their hand. None. Not surprising, a new Professor could be intimidating, especially so if he were good looking. But she wasn't about to get distracted. To perhaps break the ice, the animagus raised her hand as she stood, "Profesjon, I would like to give it a go, please." She asked while positioning herself appropriately infront of the suit of armour.

Glancing to the older man with bi-coloured eyes waiting for approval, she nodded slightly as if to say she's ready after catching his gaze.

Turning her head forward and narrowing her eyes slightly at the offending suit of armour that was simply standing there, Polaris slid her right foot back and bent her knees just slightly to get herself a bit comfortable with the feeling. This wasn't her first time in a duel, though hers usually consisted of teeth and claws. Keeping that out of her mind, the girl then drew back her right arm, wand in hand before announcing her spell and thrusting the wand forward to execute the spell. "Aguamenti!"

The runes etched into her wand glowed momentarily before conjuring a jet of water, aimed at the suit's heart. Not that it did much, of course, it was a simple spell. Polaris then returned to her regular position, turning to the Professor and awaiting his approval, or disapproval just in case her spell was too flashy; which she hoped wasn't.

"Wasn't too bad was it, Profesjon?" She queried with a tilted head.

[Bradyn Reed]

Ah, ignored, not only by Ellie which was to be expected by also by the professor. Suddenly he didn't expect this class to be so fun anymore. Sidestepping away from the girl and by himself some more, he waited for the instructions to come and his lips pressed tightly together when they finally came. Someone seemed like he was going to be a toughie, it was almost laughable. As he continued to prattle on about nonsense such as not liking anyone, Bray's eyes drifted over to the suit of armor and he started to think about what he could do to it. It didn't have flesh so that ruled out a good number of his spells since they would be pointless, and he couldn't do anything flashy. Oh, this was too troublesome.

Keeping silent and deciding not to go first, the dog finally broke the awkward tension and did her spell. Aguamenti? Nicely done, he had to admit. As soon as she was finished, he cleared his throat lightly before stepping up to where she was. "I'll go next." He said in a bored tone before pulling his wand out of his pocket and griping it fightly in his left hand, letting his more dominant foot slide forward while his wand arm raised so that his wand was at about eye level. "Engorgio!" He said clearly, going for an easy spell since he figured that Reducto would be classed as flashy, and if it wasn't, then someone else could do it. After the charm had taken effect, he just pocketed his wand once more and moved over to a wall, leaning against it. If this was all they were going to do, then he might as well have skipped the class and let the prefect badge cover him for it.

[Prof. Nelson Rutherford]

From what he had been told by the other Professors students where always keen to step and show off in front of their classmates. And lo and behold it turned out to be no surprise to the Charms Professor when a Ravenclaw offered her services and be the first to show her stuff. With a nod of his head in acceptance Professor Rutherford waited, arms crossed, studying the posture of the girl. That was indeed up to standard, although like everything in life it could be improved, and her pronunciation of the spell was also good despite the fact she had a slight accent, surprising or not the spell worked and a jet of water sprouted from the tip of the wand and hit the suit of armour square in the chest plate.

“Very good Miss Stormwrath, ten points to Ravenclaw.” His voice held little emotion; he had learnt that too much enthusiasm and praise could go to a pupils head and fill them with cockiness and self belief, two things which were never good when in the heat of a duel.

The second person to volunteer was yet another Ravenclaw, a male one this time who had an air about him that the Professor did not like. Making a mental note then Professor signalled for the boy to move forward and silently waited for him to cast his spell. Once again the boy’s stance was good and his pronunciation was also correct, clearly the last Charms Professor had been good in that area. The spell its self was simple, just like he had asked for and the Professor watched as the suit of armour swelled in size, it was indeed a very good cast.

“Well done Mr Reed, ten points the Ravenclaw.” The professor then watched as the boy skulked over, leaning against the classroom wall looking less then impressed. A less then impressed look filled the mans weathered features and as he restored the suit of armour back to its former state the Professor knew he needed to state a bit of authority. “Mr Reed, if you are going to sulk in the corner of the room I would rather you did that in your own time. For now please have the curtsey to pretend to look bothered in what your classmates are doing.”

Spinning around on the spot the Professor pocketed his wand and looked around at the rest of the class managing to summon something that could arguably be counted as a smile.

“Now, who is going to go next?”

[Willa Abbott]

[/i]h no." Which sounded like she combined Accio and oh for the tired eyes, and it was then she realised she had uttered the very spell not to use. "Oh god!" Willa screamed, eyes wide as the suit of armor rocketed towards her. Stepping back and whirling around she then began to run around the room, the metal armor clattering angrily and quickly as it tore after her. Issuing something that sounded like a laugh and a shout mixed together she ducked under a table, rolling out from underneath it and watching as the armor slammed--and then exploded--into the corner of the desk.

Breathing heavily while laughing, she rested a flushed hand on her chest, resting the other on one knee. "Whoo, I am sorry. Did not mean to do that." Said the first thing on her mind, of course. Just about as smart as she was graceful, hey? Brushing dust bunnies from her robes and tugging a pencil out of her curly blue-streaked hair Willa straightened, expecting quite the lecture on thinking before casting, instead of the other way around. If she had only been a few seconds earlier on that thought, this whole debacle might not have happened. Then again, it was friggin' hilarious, couldn't deny, and she flashed a toothy smile. Whoo, ten points for Gryffindor![/ul][/color]

[Prof. Nelson Rutherford]

As the Professor stood with his arms folded he waited for another student to step forward however there was now a commotion occurring in the doorway of the classroom. Looking over to the entrance to the room the Professor saw a Gryffindor picking herself up off the ground, her robes looking in such a state that made the neat freak in Professor Rutherford shout out in disgust, but non of this showed on the exterior of the man, in fact he did not even move to help the student up he just watched.

The newly arrived girl offered to go next and it was this reaction that managed to force the tiniest bit of emotion from the Professor. His eye brows rose in interest and his arms entwisted themselves and dropt down to his side almost in anticipation of something going wrong, and lo and behold it did. The scene that played out next was something that, in Professor Rutherford’s mind, would be found in a children’s book not the Charms classroom of an established school such as Hogwarts.

As the cloud of dust rose and the Gryffindor crawled out from under the table the Professor finally decided it was time to move and made his way across the empty expanse of the classroom to where the girl was gibbering away.

“Miss Abbot not only do you turn up late, but you mange to cause chaos in my classroom and destroy the suit of armour. You shall be award no points but be thankful that it was a good enough cast of the Accio spell for you not to lose any.”

With a nod of his head to show that his decision was final the Professor turned his back on the Gryffindor and strode back over to the spot where he stood before. “If anyone would like to repair the damage Miss Abbot has caused I would be very grateful, then perhaps we can get on with the lesson.”