wand and shield

[occluminous]

The semester wears on. Bella studies and flies and reads through the library elves' recommendations and accommodates Sherlock's sleep schedule. (Artemis Burberry is actually tolerable enough on any subject but Sherlock, and is more than happy to avoid him on occasions when Bella is around to sleep over with Tony for a night.) She gets A's in everything except Transfiguration; she gets a B there, because she eventually compromised with the teacher on the subject of live animals. Bella will work with bugs, but she wants to be very good at bugs before she messes with mice. Some of the mistakes the other students have made with their rodent subjects made her want to throw up, however easily they were put right.

She explains this compromise to Feral, when the semester changes over. She's just in the next segment of each of the core curriculum courses - no electives till seventh grade, when the brooms course is over with - but they'll have all different teachers and schedules and classmates. (Feral is still in her Defense course, and now so are Sherlock and Tony; she has the twins in brooms and theory, too, and Feral in potions.) "Bugs are really stupid and they have really simple nervous systems. You could probably get a B like I did if you would work on bugs."

Comments

[sparksflying]

"Weren't you trying to learn how to do that kind of thing? Maybe it worked," says Tony.

[occluminous]

"I didn't even come up with anything good to try. Feral was going to test stuff for me because he didn't mind me trying to break through, but eventually we figured out he wasn't a good subject. I've been working on other stuff. And a little bit of made-up Occlumency practice, here and there, but it's supposed to be really hard to get to be a good Occlumens."

[sparksflying]

"I guess you're just lucky, then."

[occluminous]

"Maybe. Have you ever heard of someone just doing it automatically?"

[sparksflying]

"Me? No," says Tony. "But I don't know that much about Occlumency."

It turns out that Nike is in Tony's room.

"Hey, buddy," she says. "I need to send a letter to Mom, you up for it?"

Nike bobs her head regally.

"Cool," says Tony, and she ties the letter gently to Nike's claw with a bit of ribbon.

[occluminous]

"My parents couldn't do anything, I guess," Bella says gloomily.

[sparksflying]

"If there's a lot of people yelling, it might help if yours are too," says Tony. "But if it's just my mom... yeah."

[occluminous]

"Nobody else in class seemed fazed. Except Sherlock."

[sparksflying]

"Honestly, I didn't care that much either," says Tony. "But it is kind of creepy and weird, and I care that you care."

[occluminous]

"It would be one thing if he asked for a volunteer and Feral raised his hand and then didn't remember doing it. But he just went and cast it on everybody."

[sparksflying]

"Yeah."

[occluminous]

"Tempus." Bella sighs. "We should probably head back. In case he doesn't get fired."

[sparksflying]

"Yeah," Tony repeats. "...Do you want a hug, or something?"

[occluminous]

"Yeah." Bella hugs her.

[sparksflying]

Hugs.

[occluminous]

And slow, reluctant return to class.

[alicornucopia]

The class is in the process of receiving a lecture about how many hostile moves - actually hostile, not a teacher with their very best interests at heart making a point - can be subtle and that their best defense is their perceptiveness!

[nobodyelse]

Sherlock is staring unblinkingly at him while he makes this speech!

[alicornucopia]

"In fact," says Mr. Phelps, "as happens in about half my classes, someone - welcome back, Miss Swan, Miss Stark - was able to identify what happened, although I don't know how much of a part the subsequent outburst played in providing clues. Nicely done, Miss Stark - can you lead us through your thought process as you came to realize what I'd done?" Mr. Phelps asks Sherlock.

[occluminous]

Bella hisses under her breath as she resumes her seat.

[nobodyelse]

"A few seconds of my experience of the world went missing just as you were passing by me," he says. "And then Bella yelled, just as you were passing by her - it seemed obvious that you were Memory Charming us to make a point and she had thrown you off or at least noticed."

[alicornucopia]

"Thank you," says Mr. Phelps. "Unfortunately, allowing the front half of the class to try their respective hands at noticing something amiss would require more editing than I ever perform on students at this point, but do notice that everyone behind Miss Stark here, who was charmed, merely assumed they'd 'spaced out', re-read the paragraph that had gone missing, and otherwise went on undisturbed. In other words, 'spacing out' - making a general habit of it - is a hazard to your ability to react to your surroundings. Attention, and the readiness to react, are the core of Defense."

[pythbox]

Completely inexplicably, the end of Mr. Phelps's sleeve (opposite his wand hand) starts smoldering.

[alicornucopia]

"Exstinguo," says Mr. Phelps, and he repairs the scorch. "Case in point, but there will be no more of that. This is my classroom and points are mine to illustrate."

[pythbox]

Feral grins.