Closed Charms being not so charming

On the morning of April 8th, a certain white haired Hufflepuff woke up way too early. She had been on increasing pins and needles ever since the dates for the school visits and the spring ball had been announced. Considering what had happened at the last ball, which she had, frankly, not really thought about herself since Stephen hadn't mentioned it at all, but came back to her with blinding speed every time she thought about him in any capacity now that another ball was approaching and considering what she had heard from her um family over Spring Break, it was all EmmaLee could do to remain at least sort of calm and not run away and hide in Hogsmeade until everyone else went home.

She wasn't sure how to feel about her mother's sisters and her grandmother. The whole visit had been, uh, alarming, and full of information that she was not ready to confront yet. It made her feel weird about everything and she had been pushing the whole thing down and trying to burry herself in anything else to avoid thinking it through.

Her dreams were chaos of swirling emotions and dancing and fears and joys and scenes she couldn't piece together or understand but they woke her up and way too early hours like this and then she couldn't go back to sleep for seeing Stephen in a tuxedo and a sea of white hair.

EmmaLee rubbed her eyes and slid off her bed, prompting her cat, Minx, to roll over and stretch out to fill the warm place she left and continue to sleep. Well, now that she was up she might as well go find something to do.

Dressing in her school uniform, she headed out into the castle and wandered around for a while. It had been a while since she had explored the castle. Maybe today would be a good day to find something new about it.

As she was walking, she suddenly heard a loud thunking sound coming from an empty classroom. The thunking hand a certain rhythm to it, but it was awfully loud for this early in the morning. She wondered who could be making such a racket at this hour as she headed over to the classroom and opened the door.

"'Ello?" She called, as the door swung open to reveal a girl she vaguely recognized as one of the new Hufflepuff first years. "It everything alright in here?" She asked, taking in the scene of the desk cramped classroom and three of those desks dancing? and crashing together to make the ruckus. She bit her bottom lip a little to keep from chuckling. It was an interesting scene to say the least and the girl looked a bit upset at her predicament, stuck in a cluster of desks, three of which looked likely to run her over.

Interacting with:

Reducio

@EmmaLee LeDames

Outfit:

Reducio

Hufflepuff robes, her hair falling on her shoulders.

Violet flinched as someone behind her called her out. She noticed a slight French accent in the voice. She hoped that the person behind her was not a prefect. She slowly turned around, scared. The girl in front of her, who looked slightly older than she was, asked if everything was alright.
Even though Violet had already gotten over being shy and was now much more interactive with people, considering the situation, she couldn't help but stutter."O-oh, w-well, I-I was trying to practice some s-spells." Saying this, Violet once again looked around, indicating the ruckus she had managed to cause which the other girl had seen well enough already. Violet flushed, she hated how she cast a spell so imperfectly. She could feel a knot forming in her stomach out of tension for her near future that is for her upcoming year-end examinations. The spell she had cast today was a perfect example of failure, and she did not want to fail her finals. The discomfort and the creepiness of the situation were well visible on Violet's face."D-do you think you can help me with this?", Violet asked desperately.
At the same time, Violet was run over with various thoughts in her mind, 'I should have never discarded the study plan I made earlier. It was perfect, so what if I was not left with any free time. At least I was getting enough practice then. At least I knew I was going to do well in exams.'

Reducio

249 words!

EmmaLee smiled warmly as the girl turned to her and asked for help with her obvious spell mishap. "Of course." She said, stepping further into the room and taking stock of what to do.

It would probably be best to remove the obstacles and make the room less claustrophobic and crowded if the girl was going to continue practicing spells. EmmaLee pulled her long, white wand out of a black and blue holster on her thigh, waved it, and began the process of quickly levitating all of the immobile desks into a neat pyramid at the back of the room. Granted, she had to do this one by one, but she was a quick and confident spellcaster.

Now that the room was clear, this gave a lot more space for the mobile desks to begin dancing around the room and for a moment, the chaos became even more frantic until EmmaLee remedied that by casting flipendo at each, which knocked one on its side and the other two completely onto their tops. EmmaLee winced at the loud bang as each desk was flipped off of its feet, but giggled at the new sight of the desk legs uselessly wiggling around in the air once the task was done.

No that the room was clear and the desks weren't so apt to run either of them over, EmmaLee turned back to the girl, smiling widely. "Now that's taken care of, I'm EmmaLee." She said cheerily. "The spell should wear off in a minute or so and you can try again if you wish. It was pretty good to get three of them dancing at once, although that seems to not be the effect you desired, yes?" She asked with a raised eyebrow and a small, amused smirk.

As she spoke, the rattling of the desk legs slowly edged to a stop and they became straight and sturdy again. EmmaLee turned around and levitated one back to its feet in front of them and the others onto the stack of desks she had made at the back of the room. Probably better to give the girl only one desk to focus on.

Interacting with:

Reducio

@EmmaLee LeDames

Outfit:

Reducio

Hufflepuff robes, her hair falling on her shoulders.

The girl's warming smile slightly eased Violet's tension. She was grateful for having a senior to help her with the mishap.
She looked at the blonde girl, in awe and amaze as the girl flicked and waved her wand, effortlessly levitating the table one by one, and making a pyramid of them.
The middle of the room was now left only with the three dancing desks, on which the older girl casted the Flipendo spell and at once the tables were all upside down, their legs still wiggling.
Seeing the tables, Violet could not help but think of young babies who would cry while kicking their small legs. Violet giggled at the sight, joining the older girl.
As the laughter died down, the older girl introduced herself, making Violet speak up, returning back her smile, "Nice to meet you EmmaLee! I am Violet.".
As EmmaLee continued, Violet flushed deep red and replied, "That was not an intended effect. I did not know the spell was this strong. I ended up making a ruckus. I really hope, I did not disturb anyone else. Also, thank you so much for your help. I was quite scared, and was not sure what to do."
The tables then stopped dancing completely and EmmaLee again flipped them over, removing two of the tables out of them, clearing the space for Violet to practice. Violet shyly mumbled a thankyou again and smiled.

Reducio

236 words!

EmmaLee giggled just a little at the other girl's embarrassment, not out of meanness, but out of familiarity and empathy. She had had more than her own share of mishaps with magic, as everyone likely had when first learning a new spell. EmmaLee enjoyed helping the younger students and making friends with them. It was nice to feel like she had something helpful to offer them and she could make them feel better by offering that help.

"It is best to have a clear and open room when practicing magic. Anything can happen from a too strong spell because of excitement to a backfire." She said, turning to a more advice-giving voice, returning her wand to the holder on her thigh, and clasping her hands behind her back.

"Also, don't worry at all. I was wandering around more out of boredom than anything else. I woke up far too early and couldn't go back to sleep so I thought a walk around the castle would be nice before breakfast. I don't believe you 'ave disturbed a single soul." She said with a wide, hopefully reassuring smile. Then she giggled at a thought. "In fact, I know one soul who would have been delighted to encounter such a ruckus."

"Would you like to try again?" She asked, quelling her giggles and gesturing to the now lone desk in front of them. "Maybe take a calming breath beforehand for a more controlled result." She offered with a step back to give the girl room to cast.

date: 08/04/2024

location:empty classroom

Violet was delighted to have a senior help her through the charms practice. She did not want to create more ruckus and the older girl's mere presence was somehow calming and reassuring for her.
Violet smiled brightly as EmmaLee assured her that the young Hufflepuff had actually not disturbed anyone. "I am glad to know that I have not disturbed someone's beauty sleep.", Violet giggled along with her older counterpart.

As EmmaLee encouraged Violet to try again, perhaps more calmly, she nodded. Violet sucked in a deep long breath, closing her eyes and letting it out, once she opened her eyes back. Sighing deeply, she adjusted her wand in her hand focusing on only one table that EmmaLee had put out. Drawing 'a pair of stick man legs' again with her wand, she enunciated "Tarantallegra"
This time the spell had hit the table's legs squarely, as the table erupted into an enchantingly funny dance. Violet could not help but let out a giggle at her success as she looked towards the older girl smiling, her eyes full of gratitude. "Thankyou", Violet said and slightly bowed down still smiling.

Suddenly, Violet seemed to realize that EmmaLee was from her own house and was a duelist as well. "EmmaLee, you are in the Hufflepuff dueling team, right? That is so cool. Even the way you casted the spell was so graceful. I had like to get into the team too, one day and be as good as you! I would need all the help I can get though" , Violet said admiring the older Hufflepuff's abilities.

outfit: Reducio Hufflepuff robes, her hair falling on her shoulders.

mentions/interactions: Reducio @EmmaLee LeDames

EmmaLee beamed as the younger girl drew a breath and perfectly cast her spell. She clapped and bounced a little on her toes, sharing Violet's excitement as the desk began to dance.

"That was a wonderful cast, Violet!" She said, happily. She rather enjoyed the moments when she could help out those younger than her. She'd helped quite a few find their way in the earlier part of the year and had comforted some who were homesick. It made her feel like she had a reason for being at Hogwarts and staunched some of the feeling that she should push her mother harder to transfer to Ilvermorny.

Pulled from her own musings, EmmaLee smiled and blushed under Violet's praise as the smaller girl recognized her from the dueling team. "Ah, well, I'm not the greatest duelist on our team," EmmaLee said, sheepishly, twisting her hands together. She really wasn't, especially considering she hadn't ended a duel conscious yet. Not that she was the worst either and she had so far won every official and practice duel she had participated in, but still, there were far better casters on the team that Violet could admire so much.

"I definitely would not 'ave done as well without my teammates backing me up." She continued, beaming with pride at Hufflepuff's teamwork. "'Ufflepuff is a great team to be on and I 'ope that you are able to join us." She finished sincerely. Though she had been nervous about Hufflepuff's fairly shifting team at first, Hufflepuff was known for its hard workers and its penchant for teamwork, so almost any Hufflepuff was a good person to have on your side.

"If you're looking at joining the dueling team, we should spar sometime." She offered with a smile. "Or just simply practice together if you would like. I can show you some of my favorite strategies"