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[Alexander Sowerby]

Alexander knocked on the door, as he waited for Professor Penvellyn to open it. He had practised the Petrificus Totalus spell all week, he hadn't been bad before his nose was broken but he wanted to make sure that she knew that he had mastered it none the less.

Today was one of those days he wished to have been able to go outdoors, for a evening stroll with one of his friends. Whom ever he could find in the Common Room, the Study Hall or the Great Hall; yet he had promised to be here.Wolfing down his winner, which consisted of turnips, sprouts and liver with onions. He had forced himself to eat the sprouts, for he knew that they were good for him but he always felt like retching afterwards.

It was still light outside and he half wondered if perhaps the Professor was out for a walk. Perhaps she was still at dinner? He wondered as he shuffled his feet slowly to a window opposite of the door to the Hufflepuff Head's Room. It was beautiful outside, the sky and the clouds were turning a deep orange flecked with navy blue, red and a pink. It would have been wonderful to be outside at this moment and yet he was stuck here.

[Professor Penvellyn]

Ordinarily Professor Penvellyn spent her time after dinner in her office down in the dungeon with a stack of papers and some red ink for her quill. However it was a bit cold down there, and she had left a note on the door that any students needing to find her could do so by heading to the Professor’s Lounge a few floors up. Had she wanted, she could have stoked the fire, however interaction with her colleagues had been scarce over the preceding few weeks, and she was rather glad for the excuse to spend time with other adults.

An essay drooped on itself, forgotten as Eleanor shared an anecdote with the Arithmancy professor concerning her childhood. As her laughter subsided, she heard a quiet knock on the door. The only ones that dared not simply barge in were students, so the professor stood quickly and strode across the room to see to the new comer. It just so happened that a young Slytherin she had somewhat been expecting was but a few feet from her.

“Ah, Mr. Sowerby; excellent. Just a moment.” Eleanor had a suspicion  that the lad would take her up on her offer for extra practice; he was a rather good student. She turned round and used her wand to gather the pages she was grading and then had them slide into her bag that was up against the wall. She would retrieve it later. “Let’s be off, shall we?”

Eleanor took the lead, making her way to the stairs that would lead upwards. She caught him looking outside. “The weather has been most accommodating to the Herbology lessons as I understand it.” Penvellyn herself rarely went outside for more than a quick stroll or trip into Hogsmeade. “Let us hope it lasts. Perhaps there will be flowers blooming in time for the Easter celebrations.”

[Alexander Sowerby]

“Ah, Mr. Sowerby; excellent. Just a moment.” Alexander smiled muttering a greeting, the Professor proceeded by turning around. She gathered parchment with the flick of a wand, undoubtedly papers she was grading thought the boy. She magicked them into a bag that was in the corner. “Let’s be off, shall we?” Alexander waved at the Arithmancy Professor who had peered at him. His sister often talked fondly about the Arithmancy Head and the subject.

The Professor lead the way, Alexander wasn't quite certain where but he followed in tow. She seemed to have realised that he was longingly thinking of being in the grounds for she said. “The weather has been most accommodating to the Herbology lessons as I understand it.” Alexander nodded, not sure he knew how to reply to such a statement. Professor Penvellyn was one of those teachers one didn't want to cross, she was intimidating, yet that factor made him respect her even more. She demanded excellence and Alexander was certain to not disappoint. “Let us hope it lasts. Perhaps there will be flowers blooming in time for the Easter celebrations.”

"That would be nice," said Alexander awkwardly. Looking and thinking of a subject he asked  a question to instigate some sort of discussion to fill the silence. "Professor, have the final exams been written already?"

[Professor Penvellyn]

Eleanor noted how quiet Alexander seemed to be. Perhaps he was thinking on something particular, or nothing at all. She didn’t know; she couldn’t read minds. It wasn’t until they had nearly reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom that he posed a question to her. “The exams are a tricky matter. Generally professors develop a pattern for what they will teach each year, there are standards governed by the Ministry of what needs to be taught and what shouldn’t be. We have some leniency in deviation, but there is a bare minimum.”

As they approached the door, Penvellyn pulled out her wand and tapped the knob quickly. Without missing a beat, she continued, holding the door open for him to enter. “Depending on how quickly or slowly a class moves throughout the term, questions regarding certain lessons may be more prevalent than others. Of course, new questions and practical requirements must be created each year, to ensure cheating doesn’t occur.” A dark look covered her face briefly. Only one student had ever attempted to cheat in her presence, and that student found herself nearly kicked out of the school. The French were far too lenient.

“Now then, have you attempted to practice since the lesson?” Penvellyn asked kindly. She understood that it was sometimes difficult to allow another student to aim jinxes at you without supervision. She listened while he talked, placing a cushion behind him and a longer one behind herself.

[Alexander Sowerby]

“The exams are a tricky matter. Generally professors develop a pattern for what they will teach each year, there are standards governed by the Ministry of what needs to be taught and what shouldn’t be. We have some leniency in deviation, but there is a bare minimum.”

Alexander listened to the explanation on how the exam came to be, he didn't feel however that it was a satisfactory answer for it was a bit vague to say the least and he felt that Professor Penvellyn had dodged answering the question, for he wanted to know above all whether their particular exam had already been written.

The Professor unlocked the door and held it open for him, he murmured a thank you as he stepped through them pausing just past the door to wait for the Professor to enter herself. “Depending on how quickly or slowly a class moves throughout the term, questions regarding certain lessons may be more prevalent than others. Of course, new questions and practical requirements must be created each year, to ensure cheating doesn’t occur.”

“Now then, have you attempted to practice since the lesson?” the teacher asked. He couldn't help but smirk, he had after all cast the Body Bind Curse on a couple of unsuspecting Slytherin fourth years to the guffaw and hilarity of all in the common room. Although he did practice legitimately with a rather daft third year, "Yes Professor, I practised a couple of times with Ethan Hawthorne."

[Professor Penvellyn]

“I see…” Ethan Hawthorne wasn’t the brightest wizard in his year, but Penvellyn couldn’t deny the fact that he was at least willing to help out a younger student in need; Slytherin house needed more of that. “We can get right down to business then, pull out your wand.”

As he did so, Eleanor took a second glance at her own cushion, nudging it just a bit with the toe of her boot. She wasn’t entirely certain that Alexander would be able to stun her, at least not in the first few attempts. In fact, she intended to use a shielding charm just so she could get a feel for the strength of his jinx; she told him as much. “Just shoot two or three in my direction. They won’t hit, but I’ll be better able to offer feedback if I’m not yet frozen on the ground.”

Spreading her feet a few inches apart under her robes to get a firm stance, Eleanor conjured the shield. “When you’re ready…”

[Alexander Sowerby]

"Petrificus Totalus"


He half shouted as he pointed his wand right at the teacher. The shield the teacher had cast had revertebrated with a loud clang, and it was lucky that Alexander ducked just as the curse rebounded and smacked the wall behind him.

Looking back at the wall that the curse had hit, he looked back at the Professor. His wand came down again and this time there was no need to shout; he simply murmured.


"Petrificus Totalus"

[Professor Penvellyn]

The boy was ready to go quickly and fired off a spell before Eleanor expected. It hit her shield spell with such a force that a loud noise caused by the contact rang out. She also noted the slight indent the energy had made in her spell before being shot back. Perhaps I should lesson that a little. Though her shield was of a good strength to block Alexander’s, she shouldn’t have sent it back at him. Rather, the translucent blue field around her should have cushioned his jinx gently.

“Again,” Eleanor said, for the both of them. The second spell was significantly lighter, due, not doubt, to his lower enthusiasm. It was effective enough to nudge her shield, which was all she was after.

“Very good, indeed. Are you certain you haven’t had any other extra practice?” She looked him over with some severity. It was impossible not to be skeptical when first years possessed such remarkable talents. Of course, the professor didn’t like to be so suspicious, and there wasn’t much she could do if they had been learning the spells at home, however she could always ask; generally if students were practicing on one another, she would hear of it from the victims.

“At any rate, you clearly have a firm grasp on casting the spell, though your level of control is yet very subjective and volatile. I suggest finding a middle ground of where you just performed and try again. This time, I’ll have my wand lowered.” She put her feet together and leaned back ever so slightly to make sure she would fall in the correct direction. “And do be sure to lift the spell in a timely manner, Mr. Sowerby,” she cautioned with a stern glint in her eye.

[Alexander Sowerby]

Alexander's face bore no hint of the Professor's accusation. Of course he had practised, he wasn't about to go in to practice with a Professor and not have some measure of how to perform a spell after all. She seemed to think his second spell which was much lighter, was due to his inability to cast the strength of the spell twice in a row.

He would show her, he thought as she asked him to cast the spell again.

"Petrificus Totalus" he said loudly.

"Finite Incantatem"

[Professor Penvellyn]

The last thing Eleanor noticed before her arms snapped to her side was the hard face of concentration Alexander had adopted. She supposed she had offended him in some way, or perhaps he was simply thinking very carefully on his spell casting. Despite the motivation, his shot was superb. The brief set of sparks hit the old woman square in the chest and gently tipped her back onto the enlarged cushion. She spent only a moment staring up at the dark stone ceiling before control returned to her limbs.

There was no mistake that the young Slytherin had been practicing, such a remarkable sense of responsibility this particular student had; he was quickly becoming a favourite of the professor. “Excellent,” she remarked, standing back up in a set of slow and calculated movements to keep the hem of her skirts near the ground. She towered over him once more and thought of where she wanted the make-up session to go. Would it be of any use to keep him here after such obvious skill mastery? Eleanor thought not.

“I don’t see any need to keep you from your free afternoon, Mr. Sowerby,” she concluded. “You are free to go. I will see you this week.” It was strange indeed, she mused while setting her cushion back where it belonged. There were some students that saw no need to pay attention in class while others, such as Mr. Sowerby, went to lengths to stay at the peak of performance. She was very excited to see how such students would progress through the years. Hopefully Alexander would continue to take such an active interest in his learning.

[Professor Penvellyn]

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