DADA (Covering for Prof. Shacklebolt)[8]

[Garrett Liddel]

*Walks in late, looking embarrassed, and hands Professor Snape a note from Madame Pomfrey, excusing him from class due to being in the hospital wing recovering from a Quidditch injury*

Sorry I'm late, sir. Madame Pomfrey just let me out of the hospital wing.

*Goes to take a seat near Jennessa and winks at her*

*Whispers*

Awlright, 'Nessa?

[Deleted]

Jennessa had been entirely fixated on what she had been doing. Trying to keep her entire attention upon keeping that blasted book aloft while keeping absolutely silent. She grinned playfully and began to make it rise higher and higher, not even noticing when Garrett entered. Now Nessa wasn't entirely sure how she felt about the boy. He was a decent sort to be sure. And for some reason he made her heart flutter a bit. But he was certainly no snake... And yet he seemed to have a bit of an effect on the puff.

Of course she wouldn't overly let him know. They were friends afterall. Or at least in her mind she was. Whether this was a true reality or not, who knew? But as her name was said, concentration was broken and the book came crashing to the desk with an even louder thunk than before... For the third time that class. Blasted accident prone Hufflepuff. She yelped again as the book hit. This time it was even worse, as she had thrown out her other hand to attempt to stop it from hitting the desk, and managed to get her finger smashed. This caused the yelp this time, and it was out of pain instead of complete surprise. But she shook it off, pulling her hand away from the book and sticking the wounded finger into her mouth. No blood or anything, and it was removed quickly as she looked up to see who had said her name.

A blush crept into her features once more that day as she saw it was Garrett. She grinned in a sheepish manner and gave a little wave as he sat down beside her. "Afternoon Garrett. You're late." She gave a cheeky playful grin his way as she glanced at her book where it lay on the desk. "We're practicing nonverbal charms. Wingardium Leviosa is what we're doing now." Her eyes absolutely danced with mirth at this fact as she relayed it to her Ravenclaw classmate.

[Severus Snape]

::He sneered as he was handed the note by the latecomer. He was not a fan of tardiness, whether it had an excuse or not, but unfortunately there was little he could do about it in this case.::

Go on Liddel, catch up with the others.

[Tina Griffin]

*When Snape resumed talking, Tina allowed the book to sink slowly back on the desk. She had never been a particularly courageous person; this was why facing violence or even thinking about it could be quite exhausting for her. At school there naturally was some sort of protection, even if they were dueling. In an actual combat situation things would be a whole lot different.*

*For a starter it suited her nicely that the professor chose a charm instead of a duel at the beginning, considering things had been so turbulent as of late and nobody knew when and if Professor Shacklebolt would return.*

*Indeed she could imagine that casting spells without speaking them aloud were less effective in their power, you just focused in a different way when you formed the words. The moment of a real duel would probably come at some point in her life, hopefully not too soon.*

*Happy another try worked even better she did her best to improve herself further.*

*She noticed Garrett's arrival rather late, so concentrated she was. Before she returned to work Tina nodded at him.*

[Dinah Manning]

*her concentration had left her and she was starting to get grumpy and frustrated*

Can you all just be quiet? I can’t think! You’re all making me DEAF!

[Garrett Liddel]

Garrett took out his book and wand, and tossed his bag carelessly under his desk. "'Course I'm late, 'Nessa," he said quietly, so Snape wouldn't give him detention. "Madame Pomfrey thought I needed another while in the hospital wing, but I needed to get out of there. I just took a Bludger to my ribs and bruised them! It's not like I broke a bone." He smiled at his fellow Ravenclaw, Tina, and rubbed his sore ribs. Despite his stay in the hospital wing, they still ached a little, but Madame Pomfrey had assured him that would happen, and would fade away in another few days.

He looked at Dinah and whispered, "It's a little charm called 'Muffliato', Manning. Learn it, love it, use it." He rolled his eyes, wondering if Dinah would lighten up and let them have fun.

He beamed when he was told they were practicing non-verbal charms. Charms was his best subject by far, and he had already experimented with casting them non-verbally when he studied at night. "Shall I show you how it's done?" he teased, and silently cast Wingardium Leviosa on Jennessa's book, making it float a few inches above her desk.

[Dinah Manning]

Muffliato…ME??? Tell the others!!! I’m the one that’s getting deaf here!!!

*She realized that she wouldn’t be able to master the spell if she was unable to concentrate, and her brain, right then, was pure of any concepts vaguely related to non-verbal spells, clean as a bleached white sheet of paper. Instead she tipped dangerously back on her chair while taking command of her surfaces, pretending to be in a state of deep concentration*

[Deleted]

Nessa cringed as Dinah had a bit of an explosion. She looked over to the other Hufflepuff with a look akin to that of a kicked puppy and she frowned, glancing down at her book. She was sorry, she didn't want to disturb anyone... It just seemed like she couldn't concentrate a lick. And if she could, then it was quickly interrupted by thoughts or by a certain best friend. And besides, she ended up smashing her finger. She didn't need yelled at too, did she?

Yet the hurt look nor the hurt finger feeling lasted long as Garret came in and began to whisper to her. Her spirits couldn't remain low for long with that boy in the room. She cringed a little as she heard his words and shook her head a little. "You shouldn't play that sport... It's so dangerous!" She whispered almost urgently... These words were words she had told him time and time again, yet he never heeded them.

Nessa's grin soon lit up her face once more as she saw her book rising off her desk at Garrett's words. That brat. The two shared a love of Charms... And yet he seemed to catch on quicker than Nessa did. Not that he was better... Once Nessa got the hang of it, she was a formidable opponent. It just took her a little bit. But with a swish and a flick, Garrett's carelessly flung bag began to float out from under his desk, and a playful grin lit up the puff's features. "Don't know... Shall you?" That grin stayed in place as she settled his bag upon his desk without a word.

[Garrett Liddel]

Garrett nodded. "Yeah. If you cast it on yourself, you won't hear anything but a gentle buzzing. I use it all the time in the common room if people get too loud," he explained. He had a thing for blondes, and the blonde Hufflepuff was very pretty. He would have liked to draw her, but she seemed a bit highly strung and he didn't want to upset her by asking.

Garrett sniggered under his breath. "Part of the territory, I'm afraid, 'Nessa!" he said. "It would be a very boring game if it wasn't dangerous."

He grinned widely as he made her book float, but lost his concentration and it dropped like a tonne of bricks onto her desk when his bag started floating. He stared, amazed, for a second, then grinned. "Oh, it's like that, is it!" he said with a smirk, and put his bag back under the desk. He non-verbally cast Wingardium Leviosa on Nessa's pigtails, making them lift up and down with almost lazy gestures of his wand.

[Severus Snape]

::He stood from his seat and glared at the Ravenclaw boy and Hufflepuff girl.::

Enough.

::He paused for a moment letting his gaze sink into them.::

It seems to me that we may be ready to move on to the next stage of the lesson.

::The semblance of a smirk began to appear at the corner of his lip.::

Liddel, Trevena, to the front of the class.

[Dinah Manning]

I don’t need buzzing, I need silence!

*With a new-found enthusiasm Dinah started to practice her own variant of the non-verbal spells. She pointed her wand towards Jennessa, gave it a quick jab while repeating “silencio” inside her head. Somehow she found it a lot easier to concentrate this time.*

*Disappointed she saw Nessa move out of reach of her silencing attempts. She scouted the room for another target, ready to strike if anyone should try to break her already lost concentration.*

[Tina Griffin]

*She had noticed that there had been a conversation, yet Tina managed to keep to herself and the task, needing improvement. Professor Snape's voice though was difficult to overhear.*

Oh dear. Hopefully that ends well.

*Rubbing her left arm nervously, she couldn't do anything else than feeling worried about what might happen next.*

[Michael Billows]

*Not wanting to be outdone by his classmates he focused hard, ignoring everything around him and tried again to levitate the book.*

*He managed it, not quite as hard as he thought it would be, but in the meantime had not noticed the things happening around him. He looked up as Snape called to the other students, wondering if he was about to dish out a punishment.*

[Zelda Harkain]

After awhile Zelda began to get the hang of the non-verbal Levitation charm. Her book left her desk without hesitation. Snape's voice startled her out of her concentration, and her book dropped to her desk with a thud. She heard him call Jennessa and and Garret up to the front. Sitting in the front gave Zelda the opportunity to watch what was going on and still be able to look like she was working.

This can't be good, Zelda thought to herself. She didn't want them getting in trouble they were rather nice to her and Zelda could see them hanging out. She hoped that they wouldn't get in too much trouble.

[Deleted]

Jennessa grinned lightly at her dear friend. It terrified her to know he put himself in danger so often with his Quidditch... But she knew he loved it, just as she loved dueling. It was his passion. She sighed gently and watched as he pointed his wand at her and giggled as she felt her pigtails lift and fall with the movement of his wand. She released his bag as he placed it back under his desk and moved back to levitate her book once again with that swish and flick motion.

But then something happened that made her freeze and her blood run cold. She had felt eyes on her and as she looked up, she met with the glare of the Headmaster. Those bright blue eyes widened with fear and dread. She felt as if her throat closed up, like Dinah's Silencio attempts had worked...

And then it happened. Her name slipped from his lips, and all thoughts of him being a decent one slipped from her mind. Garrett's name was called too, and the girl casted a terrified glance to him before rising from her seat. "Yes Headmaster..." She said meekly. She hated to be called forward, hated that much attention being put upon her. She quaked almost visibly as she shifted her chair back as she rose, and pushed it in once she was free. She paused waiting for Garrett, her friend, her strength... And then would begin the walk to the front of the class, trying to push that smile back into place and put on a brave front... Which she certainly did not have.