To Do an Essay, One Must Know What To Put. [invite only]

Clarisse had told herself hours ago that she would go to the library to do her Charms homework.

Drying Charms. First, Cleaning Charms, now Drying Charms. Are they being trained to become housewives or something?

It was 4 hours before curfew. Plenty of time to study. Clarisse took a short glance at the librarian, whose eyes were focused on a book. She pulled a second year Charms book from a shelf and sat down. Scanning the book for the word "drying", she felt totally non-committed to studying.

She glanced every now and then at the entrance of the library, checking if anyone else has arrived. She was expecting people, actually. They have organized a group study before hand, although Clarisse wants to get a head start.

She pulled out new rolls of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink. Apparently, the one she did in Charms was just an outline. Three meters long for an essay about Drying Charms!

Now, where was I... Oh yeah, Drying Charms...

[OOC: The purpose of this post is to help students in doing their Charms essay. If you'd like to join, please owl Alessa D'Angelo Romano or Clarisse Valliere.]

Alessa just came out from the Slytherin common room, desperately searching for her Charms' essay draft. She's pretty sure she inserted it somewhere in her cloak. But she searched her cloak and robes for the nth time now, making a ruddy mess on her bed. Perhaps in her satchel, then? Same - she searched every inch of her satchel.

She recalled her Charms class earlier and closed her eyes. Maybe she left it inside the cauldron?

Alessa sighed. Since she's headed for the library anyway, might as well just get some fresh facts from the books and write it down.

She took her cloak and satchel, tied her hair in a messy bun and went for the library. She opened the door and peaked at the chairs. Clarisse must be somewhere... She entered eventually, planning on starting ahead. She went towards the Charms section and found a blonde Ravenclaw sitting on one of the empty tables. "Hey," she said silently, as she sat beside Clarisse. "I reckon I lost my draft. Have you found the books?"

She slightly turned her head when she heard a person sit next to her.

"Oh, Alessa. Hello." Clarisse said distractedly.
She was already wearing her glasses, and intensely poring over the books in front of her.
Clarisse is far-sighted therefore, needed glasses if she was reading something for a long time.
"Maybe you dropped your draft...Or left it in the classroom.." she suggested helpfully, albeit distractedly.

"Here."
She handed over the books she found to Alessa.
"The Charms section is over there, you could look for more books regarding the essay... I couldn't carry many books at a time, so these three are all I have for now." she smiled slightly.

Alexis told Alessa she will join her and Clarisse at the library for a study session, to do the charms essay. She pulled on her jacket over her shirt, took up her slatchel and set out for the Library, her dark hair hanging open like a hallow of night.
Alessa and Clarisse were already present, she went to the charms section, pulled out a book on household charms, and join them.
'Hey there, Less, Clarisse, found anything?'

Alessa nodded nonchalantly while opening various Charms books. "I suppose. I remember writing a few spells, though - Hot Air Charm. Professor Lewis wasn't quite specific... There are various drying charms, right?" she asked Clarisse.

She saw Alexis come in and waved. "Clarisse found some - I just came in as well. I think I'll search for more," she said, diving in the pile of Charms books.

"Yeah, there's the Hot Air Charm, Drying Charm and Drought Charm. I think we ought to know their incantations just to be safe. Professor Lewis said Drying Spells and those three are applicable for drying." she said.

"Although, there might be more, I don't know." she added.

She saw Alexis come in and she turned in her seat.
"Hello." she greeted. "Do you still have your draft with you?"

Iris found the group from the common room and walked towards them. "Hey there. Sorry if I'm late. Am I? Started anything yet? I really have no idea. And I don't get the topic either. Cleaning charms? Ugh." She whispered - remembering the library policy, and shrugged. "I haven't started with a draft. That alright?" She asked while looking one by one at the girls. "I'm Iris by the way. We have some classes together." She smiled at Clarisse, remembering they haven't talked for awhile.

She smiled towards Iris. "I lost my draft inside the Charms classroom, anyway, so I guess it's okay. What's important is," she said, walking from the Charms isle with about 5 books at hand, dropping it on the table with a loud thud, "research. There are about three to five Drying Charms, according to Clarisse, and what we'll do now is read all about them."

She sighed while looking at the pile of books.

[OOC: Oh God I'm acting like we actually have to submit an essay. ;_;]

Iris smiled back and took a book and flipped the pages - looking for something significant. She saw one and wrote the information on her parchment. She then asked while writing busily. "When will this be submitted actually?"

Hot-air Charm
a charm that can be used for dry-cleaning, causes hot air to emit from the castor's wand.

Drought Charm
a charm used to evaporate liquids.

Drying or Air-Dry Charm
the charm blows a rush of warm air from the castor's wand

[OOC: Whew. Feels like really doing homework for school.]

Alexis settled down opposite to them, "Yes, I have it with me. I've found a spell called Arefax which evaporates water. and I've heard of one called Exaresco, though I don't know anything about it." She waved at Iris as she came inside, "So what have you found Clarisse?"
Alexis read Iris' draft, "Um, Iris, isn't point one and three similar?"
[Right you are, Iris. ]

Iris looked at her work and replied. "They are all the same! These charms! I'm going to give up." She sighed and stopped writing. At the thought of giving up, she put her head down on the table - looking silly. "Yeah. Those are the Latin names I know too." She mumbled calmly now.

[OOC: Fail, Alex.]

"Ok, I'm going to list down the spells I can find, their functions and so so. What are you going to write?" She asked the three.
She took out her draft and wrote:
Spell name: Arefax
Pronunciation: ARE-eh-fax
Appearance: Invisible
Description: Completely dries whatever is in its path (usually used on clothing or pets), but does not work directly on pools of water. Instantaneous.
Regulations and Skill Level: Legal. Advanced.
Etymology: From Latin arefacio, “to make dry”

Spell name: Calefax
Pronunciation: KAL-uh-fax
Appearance: Invisible, but a spray of hot air from the tip of the wand, like a hairdryer
Description: Causes hot air to shoot from the wand, which dries whatever is in its path, or melts things which would normally be melted by hot air (such as snow). Lasts until the caster stops it.
Regulations and Skill Level: Legal. Beginner.
Etymology: Latin “to make warm, heat”

Spell name: Inaresiccitas
Pronunciation: ihn-AR-eh-SIH-kee-tahs
Appearance: Wisps of sand-colored mist descending over the affected water
Description: Causes small bodies of water (from a puddle to a pond) to dry up; proper casting will consume approximately a gallon per second. Does not work on larger bodies of water. Effect is permanent.
Regulations and Skill Level: Legal. Intermediate to cast at all, Advanced to work on more sizable bodies of water.
Etymology: From Latin inaresco, “to become dry”, and siccitas, “drought”

"That's all I'm getting. A drying charm, a hot-air charm, and a drought charm." She leaned back on her chair.

"Yeah, those are the only ones I know. I haver heard anything about exaresco or whatever you call it.." she said.

"Hello." she said to Iris, giving a little smile. She had seen her in most of her classes, so she was quite familiar to her.

[OOC: Lol Alex, we have the same source for the charms XDDD]

Alessa looked up from her reading and gasped happily. "I know what we'll do!"

She took a piece of parchment, quill and a bottle of ink and explained while writing. "Since there are three charms, we can write about all of those - explaining each one and taa-daa! We'll have a three foot essay in no time. All we have to do now is read all about them and their etymology!"

Alessa smiled at her friends and ran towards the Charms isle one more time, attempting to get more books.

"You mean like one spell per foot? Like, we do an essay about Arefax, that's one foot long, then same for Calefax, another foot long?" she inquired.

Clarisse thinks Alessa's making it sound easy. Is it really just three spells? Darn, why didn't the Professor specify how many?

'We could include the Exaresco, I suppose.' Alexis said thoughtfully. Will it be enough to cover three feet? 'Come on, lets go find some more spells' She stood up to find some more books.

"I guess so."
She beckoned Iris to look for some books with her. She didn't really like to leave people in the library alone, especially after a slight mishap with a certain book days ago.

Iris tilted her head upward from her current position and followed them- skipping happily at the thought of the essay being easy now. "Okay. That's a good idea. But we need to know more about them." She said while smiling and passing the huge shelves.

Iris found a familiar book entitled about their topic and took it. She flipped the pages cautiously until she ended on the charm they're all looking for.

Exaresco (The Drying Charm)
Effect: Dries a desired area by evaporating its water content. If used maliciously/inappropriately, it can make a person dehydrated.
Difficulty Level: 1st-2nd Year

"Hey look!" She whispered to the other three who were still looking for information.

"Finally! We actually found one about the Exaresco Charm. I thought it was kind of odd I didn't run into it while reading the other books." she grinned.

Alessa glanced at Iris while taking an extremely thick book from the upper part of the shelf. "Well, then that's one down - two more to go!" she said encouragingly towards her friend. She climbed down her ladder, went towards the small table where she put her parchment and quill, and started jotting down terms and notes.

Iris began to feel curious. "Are we going to include the charms Alex mentioned? So we got those three plus this. That makes it four. One more to go!" She said while flipping for more charms.

"Actually, I'd want to make it four, I mean, the more charms we include, the better, right? More grade for us." she said.

"Well, there's Arefax, Calefax or Hot-Air charm, Inaresiccitas or Drought Charm and Exaresco. Although, based on the various books I have read today, both Arefax and Exaresco are called Drying Charms." she frowned slightly. "How do we do that, then? What do you think, Alexis?" she turned around.

Iris made an opinion and considered it. "Well, from the names and definition Alex had given us, I think both are still different in some way. Better to be sure." She put the book she was holding aside and climbed the ladder to look for more useful ones.

Alessa furrowed her brows. "That's the point, I guess, right? That's why we're getting all these charms together in one essay - because there are a lot of Drying Charms." She shrugged, turning to Alexis for her opinion.