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Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah were all quite delighted that Heather had retained Professor Flitwick as the Charms teacher in one of the very few holdovers from Hogwarts.

During the Yellow Quartet's ever so brief stay at Hogwarts, it had been clear to them that Flitwick was a highly capable teacher who knew his subject matter well.

The Charms class where Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah had learned about Simple Color Change Charms had been one of their very few positive experiences during that ultra-short time at Hogwarts.

On Tuesday, September 8th, 1992, Professor Flitwick would teach the second year students at Skyward School of Practical Sorcery a very useful and versatile spell.

As the second years entered the Charms classroom and helped themselves to seats, Professor Flitwick piped up from his desk, "Good morning, second years."

"Good morning, Professor Flitwick, " returned the class in unison.

"Now, " said Flitwick clearly, "The spell I'm going to be teaching you about today is one of those spells that is on the fence between being a Charms spell and a Defense Against the Dark Arts spell. It can be used in either context. The spell in question is quite versatile. It can be used for fun, for practical applications, or for self-defense. Headmistress Abbott has divided the responsibilities of teaching spells that are on the fence between Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts between my Charms classes and Professor Lupin's Defense Against the Dark Arts classes."

"Is there any rhyme or reason to which spells were assigned to Charms and which spells were assigned to Defense Against the Dark Arts?" inquired Harry.

"Headmistress Abbott sent the simpler and easier to master spells into the Charms pot and the more complex and difficult to master spells into the Defense Against the Dark Arts pot," replied Flitwick, "The spell I'm going to be teaching you today is simple and fundamental to magical abilities."

"So?" asked Hannah, "What spell shall we be educated about today?"

"The disarming spell, Expelliarmus," answered Flitwick.

"OOH!" piped up Susan suddenly, "Expelliarmus is best known for its use in duels where a witch or wizard disarms his or her opponent of his or her wand. But the object being removed from the hand via the use of Expelliarmus doesn't necessarily have to be a wand."

"What other objects can be taken out of someone's hands by Expelliarmus?" wondered Amy.

"The object can be anything, " said Flitwick matter of factly, "Now, I'm going to start you all off small. Everybody please find a partner. Please stand facing your partner."

Harry partnered with Amy and Susan partnered with Hannah.

Next nanosecond, Flitwick passed out a small yellow gumball to every student in the room.

"So," instructed Flitwick, "One partner set your gumball down on your desk and retrieve your wand."

There was a spattering of noise as half of the students retrieved their wands from their pockets.

"Now," said Flitwick in a businesslike voice, "Expelliarmus is an easy spell to master because it doesn't require any mental image in your head that you have to concentrate on. And while aim is important, it doesn't have to be precise. So, let's see how well you all do."

The students, including Harry and Susan, who holding their wands, now burst out, "Expelliarmus!"

Just as Flitwick had expected everyone who had attempted the spell had cast it successfully and the room was full of the sound of gumballs bouncing from hitting the floor.

"Change roles," ordered Flitwick.

Now, the other half of the class, including Amy and Hannah, got their shot at it and cried, "Expelliarmus!"

Once again, the entire class succeeded, and the room was once again filled with the sound of gumballs bouncing off the floor.

"Excellent," smiled Flitwick.

"But" interjected muggleborn Justin Finch Fletchley, "What would happen if two people tried to disarm each other at the same time?"

"Excellent question, Mr. Finch Fletchley, " smiled Flitwick, "Here's the thing: wands are a special case in that regard. If two people holding objects that are not wands try to disarm each other at the same time, so long as both of their aim is accurate, both will have the objects they are holding fly out of their hands. Everybody please pick up a gumball and this time let's have both partners try to disarm each other at the same time."

Each student grabbed the gumball nearest to him or her off of the floor and picked it up.

Now, everyone faced his or her partner and every student called "Expelliarmus!" at the exact same nanosecond.

As Flitwick had told them would happen, everybody's gumball flew out of his or her hands and bounced off the floor.

"Bravo!" cried Flitwick, "So, the special case with regards to wands is this: if two duelists or even people in general try to disarm each other at the same time, it will come down to which person is quicker to cast his or her spell. The quicker spellcaster will retain his or her wand while the slower spellcaster will be disarmed of his or her wand. As this semester progresses, I'm going to building you up. Every few lessons, we'll came back to Expelliarmus, using a bigger object each time. By the end of the semester, I'll be teaching you more about the special case of wands and you'll start practicing trying to disarm each other of your wands in a controlled environment. "

"Um?" said Amy uncertainly, "It feels a little awkward to have a lesson where we all got it without any struggle."

"That," interjected Harry, "Shows that Flitwick is running this class in the right way. Start the year off simply and build up as the year progresses. That's absolutely the right approach and it's good teaching. If a teacher starts the school year off with something too difficult, it can cause students to get frustrated and discouraged. By starting easy and building up to hard, Flitwick is both using a student friendly approach and using logical progression to teaching at the same time."

"Exactly, Mr. Potter, " said Flitwick approvingly, "You are free to talk amongst yourselves for the rest of the period. You may also throw the gumballs at each other for fun. However, owing to the risk of choking, please refrain from trying to throw them into each other's mouths to catch. You may each take one at the end of the period."

So, the class ended with some fun lowkey frivolity as the second years of Skyward School of Practical Sorcery had what amounted to a snowball fight with gumballs. No one kept score and no one knew or cared who got the most hits or who got hit the most. It didn't matter. It was all about the fun.

When the bell rang, every student snatched up one gumball and popped it into his or her mouth and several delighted shouts of "LEMON!" could be heard.

The second years of Skyward School of Practical Sorcery all left Charms feeling good about themselves.

As Harry had said, it was a good lesson for very early in the school year.

Harry, Amy, Susan, and Hannah all just smiled at each other as they exited the classroom.

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