DADA Class - Integumentum Shield Charm - All Years [Closed]

[Ethan Forrester]

Since we don't have a lot of students yet, I'm going to try something a little different. All students are welcome to join this lesson. Just pretend that the material is appropriate for your student's year. In order to not create an unresolvable paradox that will break continuity, please avoid mentioning anything related to your own character's year or whether this is a NEWT-level class or not.

The core idea of this is that your character will treat any other characters from other years as if they were nameless NPCs. If you're a third-year student and Quinn from fifth year says something, you could react to "the Gryffindor girl's comment" but not mention Quinn specifically (since she wouldn't be present in this class with your character).

Let's see how this goes!

First-year students will already have had some safety training and know such things as a basic shield charm and a basic stinging hex. All students will know that Prof. Forrester doesn't tolerate spells being fired at any other students without his explicit instructions--that's something that will earn you an instant detention. If someone outright attacks you in class, you're expected to cast a shield charm, not retaliate, if at all possible.

This lesson takes place in mid-to-late September

It was almost time for a double DADA class (a two-hour block) to begin. Prof. Forrester exited his mezzanine office and descended the stone stairs at the front of the classroom as students began to arrive. With a beckoning gesture, a blackboard on casters, previously tucked away at the side of the room, rolled toward him and stopped in the perfect spot where all students would be able to see it from their desks.

Leaving a blank spot at the top of the board, he drew a wand movement indicating five taps on one's non-wand forearm, followed by a jabbing motion above it, using standard notation that all students would by now be sufficiently familiar with, at least for this particular charm. This notation was the equivalent of sheet music to a musician, as it allowed conveying any wand movement sequence, no matter how complicated, in such a way that any wizard anywhere in the world would be able to precisely replicate it.

He turned to face the classroom, and stood behind a lectern to review some notes while he waited for students to finish arriving.

"Let's get started. By now you're aware that there's a whole spectrum of shield charms to choose from, each with its own pros and cons. Each is best suited to a different situation, which can make it difficult to decide which to use in a pinch. Some shields will block more than others, but are more complicated to cast, or are more exhausting to maintain. Some shields are quick and easy to cast, but will also collapse upon being hit by even a mild hex. There's not a lot of good, general-purpose shield charms...but today I'll be teaching you one that I helped to develop while working as an Auror. It has a unique and notable property: it allows spells to pass through it, but only in one direction, which just might save you from getting disarmed, or worse, your wand-arm blasted off completely. Unfortunately, there are a couple of down-sides to this charm, but I'll get to those shortly."

He turned and wrote "in-TEG-u-ment-um" in large letters at the top of the board.

[Trent Innes]

Trent slipped into classroom 3C, one of the last students to arrive for double Defence Against the Dark Arts. While his attendance record had been excellent these first few weeks of term, the same could not be said for his punctuality; some habits were harder to break. Trent gave an apologetic half-smile to Professor Forrester then hurried to the back of the classroom where he usually sat.

Trent found his chair, surprised to see that the chair next to it, usually occupied by Kyle Winters, was also empty. Shrugging his book bag off of his shoulder and dropping it to the floor, Trent took a quick look around the classroom. After confirming that Kyle was indeed absent, Trent sat down and nudged his bag under the table with his foot.

It wasn't until Professor Forrester turned to write the pronunciation of the Integumentum Shield Charm that Trent noticed the notation written on the blackboard. How long had that been there? he thought, ducking down to dig through the bag at his feet in search of writing materials. He hastily copied down the wand movement in an untidy scrawl that he hoped Kyle would be able to decipher, then wrote "in-TEG-u-ment-um" as neatly as he could above it.

[Kyle Winters]

Abruptly the door of the classroom opened, and an unusually frazzled Kyle stood leaning against the door frame as he tried to catch his breath. In one hand he held his prosthesis – which was curiously bent out of shape – and in the other he had a wooden cane.

“I’m sorry for being late, Professor,” he said, hoping nobody would ask why he was in such a sorry state. Once Professor Forrester accepted his apology, he hobbled over to the empty seat beside Trent as quickly and quietly as he could manage with one leg and a cane. “What did I miss?” he asked Trent in a low voice to avoid disturbing the rest of the class, shrugging off his battered backpack and setting down his cane and prosthetic leg before he sat down. With his eyes on the incantation and wand movement for a spell he didn’t recognise, he tried in vain to locate his writing materials in his backpack with his hands alone. Nor did he manage to figure out what the spell was supposed to do.

Muttering something unintelligible under his breath, he took his eyes off the blackboard and glanced into his bag. Immediately he caught sight of what he was looking for, and he took them out. Chuffing hell. It was like some weird Schrödinger's cat paradox or something, where the damned writing materials were simultaneously inside and not inside his backpack until he visually checked whether or not they were.

[Ethan Forrester]

"When crafting a new spell, we have the luxury of being able to bind it to any wand movement we choose, so long as that movement hasn't previously been reserved for some other spell. Because the strength of this charm lies in the ability to use one arm to anchor the shield, while firing spells through it with your other arm, and we wanted the wand movement to be as easy as possible to remember--we decided upon this. Simply tap your non-wand forearm five times--once per syllable as you pronounce it--then jab forward, like so: in-TEG-u-men-tum". A round, translucent blue shield appeared on Prof. Forrester's left arm as he demonstrated the incantation.

"The charm doesn't know or care which arm you're applying it to, so it can't rely on the relative positions of your radius and ulna to determine which way to permit spells through it. That's why there's a jabbing motion at the end of the incantation--that sets the direction. If your timing is off--say, if you jabbed your wand forward slowly but retracted it quickly, it could actually set the shield the wrong way round, and then it's going to be worse than useless, it'll hinder you. Jab quickly, retract slowly."

"Now, I can fire spells through the shield." He faced the rear of the classroom and fired a stunner through the shield to demonstrate. It struck a bell, causing it to ring. "But, so long as I keep my wand-arm behind the shield, it's protected from disarming spells or anything that might hurt it." He glanced about the class. "Mr. Bishop, you're adept at using expelliarmus. Would you please stand and attempt to disarm me?"


"Yes, sir," Martin replied. He stood and drew his wand, and pointed it at Prof. Forrester. "Expelliarmus!"

As expected, nothing happened.

"Thank you, you may be seated."

Martin sat back down.


"Now, for the trade-off that might dissuade you from using this charm. Note that if I want to fire through the shield, my wand-arm is somewhat restricted in movement--I've got my elbow pointing backward so the tip of my wand won't bump against the shield when I cast something. If you happen to have a very long wand, the problem will be exacerbated. This means we're slightly limited in what spells we can fire off--a spell that requires more back-and-forth movement, or one that requires a specific elbow position, would be difficult or impossible to pull off unless I move the shield out of the way."

"The shield can be dispelled by tapping your arm five more times, or by incanting finite incantatum." He proceeded to demonstrate the tapping method.

"Are there any questions? If not, please take the balance of class time to practice casting the charm. You can fire any spell you like at the targets at the rear of the room, or you may pair up so long as you cast nothing more severe than a stinging hex at each other."

[Trent Innes]

"Hey," Trent said out of the corner of his mouth as Kyle took his seat next to him, his eyes still on the professor in an attempt to hide that they were talking in class. When Kyle had asked what he had missed, Trent took a moment to recall what Professor Forrester had said prior to Kyle's arrival, then he whispered back, "Not much. It's a shield charm that Forrester helped develop."

Trent looked up from his notes to see Kyle frantically searching his backpack for writing materials, and nudged Kyle with his elbow. "You can borrow mine," he muttered and gestured to his own parchment, where he had copied down the notes verbatim. Trent was usually less meticulous than Kyle when it came to his own notes, but considering Kyle had loaned him years' worth of material, the least Trent could do was supply him with today's lesson as detailed as possible.

As Professor Forrester began to demonstrate the Integumentum Shield Charm, Trent looked to confirm that Kyle had found his writing supplies, and then began taking notes in point form that were catered to himself:

• tap left forearm once / syllable

• jab quickly retract slowly

• right arm behind shield

• restricted wand movement

• dispel tap arm 5 times or FI

Trent's attention wandered, as he tried to think of all of the spells that would and wouldn't work with the charm depending on their wand movement or elbow position. He jotted a few down that he could think of, then looked back up at the sound of chairs scraping against the floor as students got up from their seats. Realizing that the lesson must have switched to the practical portion, Trent turned to Kyle and asked, "Want to pair up to practice, or use the targets?"

[Kyle Winters]

Kyle’s ears perked up immediately when Trent mentioned that Professor Forrester had talked about a shield charm that he had helped develop; as an aspiring Auror, that was of great interest to Kyle. As he was getting his writing materials out, Trent nudged him, and he looked up to see that Trent had copied down everything that he had missed. “Thanks,” he whispered gratefully. “I owe you one.” Hastily he copied the notes onto his own parchment, all the while trying to listen to Professor Forrester as he continued his lecture. He did notice the professor announcing that he could still fire spells through his magical shield, but with his eyes glued to his parchment he hadn’t realised that the professor was going to perform a demonstration using a bell at the back of the classroom. Without warning – at the very least for Kyle and anyone else who hadn’t been paying attention – the bell rang out and he jumped a little, barely catching himself from accidentally drawing a huge black streak across his parchment in his surprise.

For once he was lucky to have averted a messy situation, but he wasn’t going to risk an accident like that happening again. Copying the rest of the notes in double quick time, he got himself back up to speed just before the professor called upon a student to cast a spell at the translucent blue shield at his arm. The student dutifully did so, and the spell clashed harmlessly against the shield before dissipating.

Professor Forrester then moved on to what was arguably the less exciting but more important part of the lesson: the drawbacks of the spell. Kyle’s brow knitted in concern as he noted down what the professor was saying. The teenager was somewhat lanky, and as a result his wand was above average in length. But what worried him more was how he wouldn’t be able to move his wand arm freely. While he was a competent wizard, his spell casting form was still a little lacking in terms of finesse and precision. It was ‘rather flamboyant and expressive’, as Professor Dextera had very politely put it, and that was likely one of the main reasons why Kyle had always been better at Charms than Transfiguration. Granted, as a Muggle-born with no prior exposure to magic, he had came a long way since his first year at Hogwarts, but his technique could be refined much further.

After Professor Forrester announced that the class was now free to practice casting the shield charm, Trent asked if he would prefer to pair up for the practical portion of the class, or use the targets that had been set up at the back of the room. “I’d love to pair up,” he replied with his usual lopsided grin. “There’s really only one way to find out whether your magical shield’s working properly, innit?”

As he got up from his seat, Kyle was about to reach for the wooden cane under the desk when he decided against using that crude replacement for his prosthesis. He’d need both hands for this spell, and besides the cane wasn’t that much of an improvement over hopping around. “I know I look ridiculous, but don’t mind me,” he said as he hopped over to a position where they wouldn’t accidentally hit the other students with their spells.

Referring to the incantation and notation on the blackboard to refresh his memory, Kyle rehearsed the motion as he mouthed the incantation. The jabbing motion at the end felt a little weird, and he wasn’t sure if he had pulled back his wand arm too quickly. He tried again, and that second attempt felt a bit smoother. Satisfied with the dry runs, he tapped his left forearm five times, coinciding each tap with a syllable as he intoned, “InTEGumentum!” Finally, he jabbed his wand forwards to complete the spell, and right on cue, a translucent blue shield appeared on his left arm.

The spell worked, but whether the shield was facing the right way remained to be seen. Only one way to find out. Kyle looked up to check if Trent had successfully put up his own shield. “Ready?” he asked, with a tiny hint of nervousness in his voice.

[Trent Innes]

[OoC: Better extremely late than never? Haha]

Trent grinned when Kyle agreed to pair up, gave his notes a last once-over, then pushed his chair out and stood up to follow Kyle. As they passed Professor Forrester on their way across the classroom, Trent asked, "Sir, is there a Hogsmeade weekend coming up?" There was something he had been meaning to talk to Professor Forrester about, but Trent was still in the habit of bolting out of the classroom at the end of each lesson, and he only ever remembered when it was too late to turn back without being late for his next class. He didn't want to waste any more of his time attending office hours, and taking Professor Forrester up on his offer to meet up in Hogsmeade was the more appealing option.

Reaching a spot well out of the way from their classmates, Trent rolled up his sleeves and then held his wand ready while he gave the blackboard a quick glance to remind him of the incantation. Then, without practicing, Trent said "InTEGumentum," and tapped his left forearm five times with each syllable. When he reached the end of the incantation, he jabbed his forearm quickly, then slowly retracted his wand and inspected the round transparent blue shield that appeared. Satisfied, Trent looked up to check on Kyle's progress, catching him at the end of the incantation.

While the blue shield that appeared on Kyle's arm looked normal, Kyle had retracted his wand too quickly and as a result, the shield was most likely backwards. It was a good attempt, and Trent didn't comment, expecting Kyle to simply dispel his first attempt and try anew. But to his surprise, Kyle asked if he was ready to practice, and a quizzical look passed briefly across Trent's face before he composed himself. "Uh, yeah…" he said in an absent tone, looking down at his own shield as if to inspect it to buy time while his thoughts raced to form a plan.

Trent didn’t want to embarrass Kyle by pointing out his mistake, but even with a mild jinx, Trent could not bring himself to attack his friend knowing that his defence would fail. Even more, if Kyle attacked Trent, his own spell would rebound – and Stinging Jinxes to the face were no joke. "I'll go first," he said quickly, an idea occurring to him. If he was wrong (and he was almost certain he wasn't), the spell he planned to use would do nothing. If he was right, the worst that would happen would be that Kyle would drop his wand… and it wouldn't be out of the ordinary for Trent to "accidentally" mix up the Stinging Jinx with the Revulsion Jinx. He raised his wand, pointed it directly at Kyle's hand, and said, "Relashio!"

[Kyle Winters]

With his own shield raised, Kyle looked up to check on Trent. The latter’s shield was up as well, an identical-looking blue disk on his non-wand arm, but there was a strange fleeting expression on his face. Furthermore, he sounded a bit distracted as he indicated that he was ready. Maybe he’s trying to commit the incantation and wand movement to memory, or thinking of a suitable spell to use, Kyle reasoned, and he dismissed his suspicions as him overanalysing the situation.

Before Kyle could ask, his training partner volunteered to go first. He nodded in acknowledgement, and adjusted his arm’s position so that his shield was facing Trent squarely. Time slowed to a crawl as he waited apprehensively for Trent to 'attack'; although he had successfully cast the shield spell, he had a niggling feeling that he might not have performed the jabbing motion correctly.

Trent raised his wand. This was it, the moment of truth.

“Relashio!”

Kyle tensed as he heard the incantation. An unusual spell, but that was not the only thing that surprised him. The spell phased through Trent’s one-way shield, streaking towards Kyle and – shockingly – passing right through his shield as though it wasn’t even there. The spell struck his right hand dead on: his fingers twitched involuntarily and opened on their own accord, and his wand fell from his loosened grip. Caught off guard, his focus broke and the shield vanished completely. The sound of his wand clattering on the floor brought Kyle back to his senses, and he swiftly got down on his knees and grabbed it just before it rolled out of reach. Thank goodness for his long limbs; it’d be really embarrassing to have to hop or crawl after his wand on top of casting the shield spell incorrectly.

“Whoa…” Kyle managed as he stood back up, still at a loss for words and taken aback by what had happened. It wasn’t wholly unexpected, but nonetheless he was deeply disappointed in himself for making such an amateurish mistake. Did Professor Forrester witness what had happened? He was hoping against hope that the professor hadn’t. “I think I messed up that jabbing motion at the end,” he said ruefully as he scratched his head sheepishly. “You did so much better than me, and your aim was impressive,” he added. “That was right good choice of spell too. I was bracing myself for a Stinging Jinx in case my shield was facing the wrong way, but the only thing that was hurt was my pride.”

Earlier during the lesson, Kyle had noticed that the shield only protected the caster's head and torso, much like a police riot shield, instead of being a full-sized barrier. He had intended to clarify something about the spell after the practice session, but now seemed as good a time as any. “Um… Professor Forrester? I have a question,” he called in an attempt to get the professor’s attention, and waited till the professor was with them before he continued. “Is it possible to create a larger shield?” he asked. “Trent and I are pretty tall, and a sneaky opponent might aim for our legs.” As someone who didn’t hesitate to capitalise on any advantage he could get, this was something he had realised immediately when Professor Forrester first demonstrated the spell. “Apart from that, we might need to protect other people around us, and a wider shield would be really useful too.”

After his query was addressed, Kyle turned back to Trent. “Do you mind if I try the shield spell again?” After a quick glance at the blackboard to confirm that he had memorised the incantation correctly, Kyle rehearsed the wand movement and made another attempt at casting the shield spell. “InTEGumentum!” he said, tapping his forearm with each syllable and jabbing his wand forwards, this time taking extra care not to pull his wand arm back too hastily. Right on cue, a translucent blue shield appeared, and this time round he felt more assured that he had cast the spell properly.

“I’m ready,” he declared, raising his shield yet again.

[Ethan Forrester]

Prof. Forrester was observing his students as they practiced casting the shield charm, and occasionally correcting their enunciation or wand movements, when he heard Trent's question. "Yes, Professor Sigma has just worked out the arithmancy and determined that the first Saturday in October has the least chance for rain, and so our first Hogsmeade outing will be on that day. I believe that falls on October first, so it will be coming up very soon."

This impromptu annoucement elicited a number of positive responses from those who overheard it.

He proceeded to walk further down the aisle, and dodged the occasional stray spell-fire as it ricocheted about. One Slytherin girl got hit by a stinging jinx in her bum, and she turned around and slapped the Gryffindor boy who was standing behind her, though it hadn't been his fault. This sparked a small commotion.

Prof. Forrester was preoccupied with another student when Kyle's shield failed him.

"As it happens, there is a variation to make the shield larger," he replied to Kyle. "However, it's a bit more difficult to cast because it drains twice as much magical energy. Just add a 'maxima' to the end of the incantation, with three additional taps to your forearm, one per syllable. The shield will be about forty percent wider in diameter, which doubles the area it can protect. I had thought to mention it in our next class, after everyone's had a bit of practice with the normal form of the spell."

[Trent Innes]

As expected, Trent's Revulsion Jinx passed through Kyle's shield without resistance. Thankfully, due to the combination of some poorly aimed jinxes and the ensuing commotion, Kyle's backward shield had gone unnoticed by anyone other than Trent, who was thanking himself for his decision not to use a Stinging Jinx. Unlike their classmates with failed shields, Kyle had not been injured but merely disarmed, his wand falling to the floor with a clatter that only Trent was close enough to hear. Without commenting and with a neutral expression, Trent waited for Kyle to collect his wand and presumably re-apply the shield, his mind wandering to the upcoming Hogsmeade trip.

The normal elation that Trent would have felt knowing he would soon be free from the castle grounds had been somewhat soured by the mention of Professor Sigma. It had been an unwelcome reminder that he still needed to talk to the strict Arithmancy professor about his notes (or lack thereof); a task that was bound to be so unpleasant that Trent was seriously considering dropping the subject as an alternative solution. Nevertheless, he had offered a strained smile to Professor Forrester for answering his question and made a mental note not to get any detentions for that weekend.

Trent had been wondering if the 'E' on his Arithmancy O.W.L. would be enough for Gringotts to consider him for employment and adding it to the list of questions to ask Professor Forrester in Hogsmeade when he heard Kyle speak again. Forcing himself back into the present, Trent was relieved that Kyle had correctly identified his mistake so that he would not feel obligated to point it out and blow his cover. "Next time," he said in a casual but encouraging tone, neither confirming nor denying his motives for his choice of jinx. "Looks like it wasn't just your shield that was backward," he said with a nod of his head to gesture to the different classmates rubbing angry red welts on their forearms.

Trent's face lit with interest at Kyle's question about making the shield bigger, and he turned to listen to Professor Forrester's answer. As they would learn more about the variation next class, Trent did not bother to try and remember the instructions, but he shot Kyle an excited grin of approval of both the question and the answer. "Sir," he said quickly, taking advantage of the professor's proximity; he hated asking his questions in front of the class. "How does the shield fare against Cursed objects?"

After Professor Forrester left to allow them to continue practicing, Trent nodded to Kyle's question to try his shield again. As he had never dispelled his own shield, Trent waited for Kyle to re-apply and grinned when Kyle mastered the technique on the second try. "Nice one," he said. "All right, Stinging Jinx this time, and don't worry - I won't aim for your legs until next class." Grinning playfully, Trent pointed his wand at Kyle's shield. "Feel free to jinx me too," he said, raising his own shield in defence as he shot a Stinging Jinx at Kyle, confident that it would not penetrate the shield this time.

[Ethan Forrester]

Prof. Forrester paused to consider Trent's question. "In my experience, most cursed objects will employ more subtle means to attack you, so you usually don't even realize you're being attacked until it's too late. Compulsion charms. Confundus charms. Slow poisoning or corruption. Parasitic tapping of your magical energy. These types of attacks require you to already be in very close proximity to the artifact in question, where a shield charm won't do you any good. But if you were to encounter a cursed object that attacked from a distance using conventional spellfire, then this shield would hold for as long as your magical stamina could endure it."

[Kyle Winters]

Professor Forrester’s impromptu announcement of the first Hogsmeade visit was met with elated cheers from some of the students. They were soon followed by a low murmuring of confused questions; a number of students hadn’t been paying attention, and they were now bugging their friends to tell them what they had missed.

Immediately Kyle thought of Quinn: at the start of the school year he had promised her that they’d hang out at the Three Broomsticks Inn. As Muggle-borns they had stood up for each other a couple of times before despite the rivalry between their respective houses, but outside of those chance encounters they hadn’t really talked to each other much. They had met on the Quidditch pitch multiple times too, but needless to say those were terrible times for a chat, especially since they would be fighting over the Quaffle. It was a shame really, for Quinn seemed like a pretty cool person.

To Kyle’s relief, his mistake had gone largely unnoticed by both Professor Forrester and his fellow classmates. The professor was busy attending to other students: a few of students had mucked up the exact same way Kyle did, but unfortunately for them their training partners hadn’t been as merciful as Trent. On top of that, a kerfuffle had broken out on the other side of the classroom, drawing the students’ attention away from his blunder.

Professor Forrester revealed that was possible to make the shield bigger by adding the word ‘maxima’ to the end of the incantation, along with three additional taps to the forearm for each syllable. It sounded so obvious and logical that Kyle couldn’t help but wonder why that hadn’t occurred to him earlier. However, the professor also noted that this variation of the spell was more difficult to cast, and he had planned to mention it only in their next class. “Thank you, Professor,” Kyle said. “I’ll stick with the basic version of the spell then.”

While he wasn’t intending to become a Curse-Breaker, Trent’s question about the shield’s efficacy against cursed objects was of interest to him as an Auror hopeful. Pricking up his ears, he listened attentively to the professor’s reply, but soon found himself slightly lost when terms like ‘corruption’ and ‘parasitic tapping’ popped up. He only had a vague inkling about what they were, but that was pretty much the extent of his knowledge.

With their queries thus resolved, the two students returned to their practice. Kyle manifested his magical shield yet again, and this time round Trent declared his intention to use the Stinging Jinx instead. In spite of that, Kyle was feeling more confident than he was before. “Hit me with your best shot,” he grinned as he braced his shield arm against his body.

Trent launched his spell, a white bolt that streaked from his wand and passed through his shield before bearing down on Kyle’s shield… and dissipated harmlessly as it struck the sturdy barrier. Utterly chuffed that his shield was working properly now, Kyle allowed himself a celebratory fist pump. “I gotta admit, I still had a tiny shred of doubt in me,” he confessed as his earlier bravado faded away, along with the pressure that he had piled on himself. “Thank goodness the shield held.”

“Now, let’s see if your shield works.” With that, Kyle readied his wand. For a second he wondered if he should cast the Revulsion Jinx instead, but he reasoned that it might seem a little disrespectful to do so, especially since Trent had just used a more powerful spell and was expecting him to do the same too. Right… here goes nothing. Pointing his wand at the centre of Trent’s shield, Kyle recited the incantation for the Stinging Jinx. Right on cue a burst of white light shot forth, phasing through his shield (as it was supposed to) and racing forward towards Trent’s shield.

[Trent Innes]

Based on the little experience he had working with cursed objects, Trent had a feeling that the Integumentum Shield Charm would not be very effective, but he was still disappointed when his doubts were confirmed by Professor Forrester. As the spell had been developed by the professor himself while he was working with the British Ministry of Magic, Trent thought that he might be able to share it with other Curse-Breakers during his travels around the world. Still, it would be worth picking Professor Forrester's ear about what protective spells he ought to practice for a future in Curse-Breaking, and Trent made a mental note to add it to his list of questions to ask in Hogsmeade.

As predicted, Trent's Stinging Jinx did not penetrate Kyle's magical shield but bounced off as if it had hit a solid barrier. Still playing it casual, Trent tried not to look overly celebratory, but he couldn't help but break into a laughing grin at Kyle's fist pump. "Of course the shield worked," Trent said dismissively, confident in Kyle's abilities. "But if you want, we can practice it more before the next class. It wouldn't hurt to master the basics before moving on to the more advanced variation," he added fairly, as they had not yet tested his own shield.

Raising his arm, Trent braced for Kyle's attack. "Cool," he said when his shield deflected the incoming Stinging Jinx. Looking around the room, Trent realized they were the only two students left in the practice area, but thankfully, there was still enough pandemonium that no one was paying them any attention. "Finite Incantatem," he said, dispelling the shield and pocketing his wand.

"I have to run right after class," he said as they began to walk back to their desks to wrap up the rest of the class. "I've got Sigma next, and she's not as forgiving as Professor Forrester went it comes to being late." At some point during their practice session, Professor Forrester had written some homework on the board, and Trent hurried to copy it down and had just finished when class was dismissed. Shoving his belongings back into his bag, Trent slung it over his shoulder and headed for the door. "See you later," he said to Kyle and rushed out of the room.