Lesson Two

Professor Williams sat at her desk once more, watching her students with a small smile on her face. On each desk was a chest and inside was a bag of candy and their homework assignment. She grinned as she stood up to begin teaching them.

"Alohomora is the unlocking charm, as you all would know. The locking charm will not be taught until your second years, but we will be learning how to unlock them. On every single chest there is a locking charm placed over it. There are four chests inside that chest and you will have to unlock all four in order to find what is inside them all." she said as she walked over to a large chest next to her.

Alohomora she said and the first chest opened to reveil another chest inside of it. She repeated the process and the chest was empty. She grinned again.

"My chest was empty just to show you how you work on it. The incantation is indeed Alohomora and you can read a detailed explanation in Chapter 7 of your books. While normally it is used to unlock doors, you can use them on things such as this. Point wand at a lock on the object in order to cast successfully. Ready? Begin!"

Homework
1. Incantation is what?

2. How many chests are you unlocking today?

3. What chapter is this in?

4. What is this normally used on?

5. What is inside the chest?

Vanessa listened intently as Professor Williams started and ended her lecture. She found this class pretty high up in her favorites, so she made it a priority to try extra hard in this class.
Vanessa tried to will the incantation into her memory, so she would never forget it should she ever need it.
"A-Alohomora"she says, barely above a whisper, pointing her wand at one of the chests. It took her several tries until she finally managed to open the first chest. She was so excited about having opened it, that finding out she had four more chests to open wasn't as depressing.
However, it still took Vanessa the majority of the class period to open all the chests with bags of sweets inside.
She set the baggies on her desk while she took out a piece of parchment and wrote down the assignment and its answers:

Charms Homework- Unlocking charm

1. Incantation is what?
Alohomora It is an unlocking charm.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today?
Five chests(if you count the first one you have to open to get to the other four)

3. What chapter is this in?
It can be found in Chapter seven in Standard Book of Spells-Grade One

4. What is this normally used on?
This charm is usually used on doors

5. What is inside the chest?
There is four other chests in the first chest, and bags of sweets in the four chests.

After listening to Prof Williams explain their assignment and her example, Raven opened his book. He read the chapter eagerly. Just think of the stunts he could pull when he knew how to unlock doors and chests! Snickering he pulled out his wand and faced the chests. "Alohomora!"
The chest didn't even twitch, but Raven's eye did. He tried it a couple more times to the same result. Frusterated he jabbed the chest with his wand and jumped when a few sparks emitted from his wand. Gulping, he looked up hoping the professor hadn't seen that.

Harmony smiled over at Raven's attempts. The Professor might not have seen the sparks, but she sure did. She wondered if he wasn't saying it with enough vigor or thought? No matter. She looked at her own chest, before pulling out her wand.

"Alright here we go," she murmured, pointing her wand at the chest. "Alohomora!"

She heard a click and went to open the chest. Tilting her head slightly when it wouldn't open, she shook it.

"Little cheating box," she muttered to herself. "Only half-unlocked! Alohomora!"

Samantha paid close attention to Professor Williams. This was indeed interesting. She had already read chapter seven before but she got out the book anyway to refresh her memory. Since basic locking mechanism worked the same way - as in, the opened and closed using the same method - it made sense that a spell to lock could also be used to unlock.

Jotting down a few notes on her parchment, she got out her wand and pointed it to the chest on her desk, wondering what was inside.

"Alohomora!" she muttered quietly, knowing her spells yielded better results when spoken softly.

"Stubborn little bugger!" Raven muttered. Glaring at the chest he tightened his hold on his wand. Waving it as per the instructions and Prof Williams did it, he aggressively said, "Alohomora!"
He heard a click and stared not daring to hope. Lifting the lid he grinned. Finally! Feeling a bit better he once again cast the Alohomora charm and was met with failure. "Oh, come on!"

There was a faint sound of metal jiggling but the lock remained safely shut.

It's supposed to pop open, the dark haired girl thought anxiously, checking her book to see if she was following the instructions right. This was a basic mechanism, right? So the lock would be the simple input, output kind, a purely mechanical lock not enforced by magic of any sort. The aim would be to release the catch that opeend the chest.

Concentrating hard, she muttered the incantation again and listened to the satisfying click as the latch fell open to reveal... Yet another chest.

Despite her frustration, she couldn't help smiling a little. What a clever way to get the students to practice, she thought as she started on the second lock.

Shelby took notes in her small but neat handwriting as Professor Williams talked. Alohamora, she thought, This sounds like quite a useful spell.

It seemed easy enough. Shelby cocked her head to the side and gazed at the first chest that she had to open, concentrating completely on the chest and the spell while blocking out the noise of other students practicing all around her. She straightened her head and directed her wand at the lock on the chest. She took a deep breath. "Alohamora," she said.

The lock opened with a satisfying click! Shelby smiled. "I love Charms class," she said quietly to herself before setting her attention on the next chest. After all, finding out what was in the chest was great motivation to practice the spell.

"Alohomora!" the Slytherin whispered but the second lock refused to budge. What was she doing wrong? She had opened it once, why wouldn't the same method work again?

She had pictured the simple steel mechanism in her mind, pictured the latch sliding out from the lock, so why couldn't she get it to open?

Imagining the loud sound a lock made when it popped open and focusing on how the inner workings of the mechanism were supposed to be alighned, she tried again.

This time, it worked. But with the unlocking sound downed a few understandings.

There was yet another chest - the third one, this time - and Professor Williams had made each lock a little harder than the last so by the time the students reached the final lock, they would have perfected the spell.

Indiana finished hearing Professor Williams conclude the lecture portion, hanging onto her words from start to finish. Opening his book, the youth read the chapter explaining the unlocking charm before he was sure on how to perform it. Taking his wand out, he mimicking the movements needed to execute it for some time. Once he was sure that he had the needed movements down, Indiana turned his attention to the treasure chest on his desk before making his move.

"Alohomora!" he chanted before watching the latch disengage its internal mechanisms to unlock and the youth opened the chest to find another locked treasure chest. Taking a deep breath, Indiana executed the Unlocking Charm once more, voicing the incantation before watching the latch disengage and unlock.

Raven looked over at Sam who'd managed to get the second chest open. Turning back to his own chest, he growled and looked at the book again. 'Okay, I gotta calm down. It's all about the intent, or was that visual?'
Glaring his chest he mentally told it that it would open. Clearing his throat, he commanded, "Alohomora!"
CLICK. The second opened. Then he got the third, but now was stuck on the last stupid chest. He pouted, then turned to Sam whispering, "What am I doing wrong?"

This time, Harmony was glad to see that she could open the lid of the chest.

"Ah, sweet success," she murmured to herself. "Alohomora!

When she lifted the lid on her second chest, it opened. She smiled as she continued to say the spell on her chests. She knew just how much force to put into the spell as well as how precise to say it. When she was on the last chest, she opened it, grinning. Inside was her homework, as well as some candy.

"Excellent," she murmured. "I'll bring this to Dixie later."

Homework Answers

1. Incantation is what? Alohomara, the unlocking charm.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? Five, if you count the chest needed to be unlocked to get the other four.

3. What chapter is this in? It is in chapter seven.

4. What is this normally used on? It is usually used to unlock doors.

5. What is inside the chest? Four others chests, along with our homework and a bag of candy.

Samantha had opened four chests in a row and was now faced with the smallest of the lot. This has to be the last one, she thought.

Summoning all her concentration and combining it with all the experience she had had with the recent unlockings, she pointed her wand at the chest and said softly but clearly, careful in her pronunciation.

"Alohomora!" the latch popped open with a resounding click, revealing a bag of Honedukes' candy and a parchment containing their homework. Samantha smiled, she loved Professor Williams' sense of humor.

Theresa listened to the Professor carefully before looking down at the chest in front of her. She muttered the spell a couple of times before picking up her wand, she wanted to say it right before she tried to actually try the spell. She pointed it at the chest and took a deep breath and said as clearly as possible "Alohomora" but nothing happened. "Alohomora" she said, a little louder, her face brightened when she managed to unlock the chest. The second was tougher but she continued to mutter the spell until finally, the four chests were opened. She smiled at took out the sweets before taking out the homework.
Homework
1. Incantation is what?
Alohomora, the unlocking charm.
2. How many chests are you unlocking today?
Five chests.
3. What chapter is this in?
Chapter seven.
4. What is this normally used on?
The charm is nornally used on doors.
5. What is inside the chest?
Four chests and a bag of sweets.

Taking the third treasure chest out, Indiana executed the Unlocking Charm again but this time, the latch didn't move. The youth, thinking that his movement might have been off, tried the charm again and with a little more intent only to receive some mechanical disruption as though some unknown force was keeping the treasure chest locked.

A grin appeared on his face the moment he realized what was going on. 'It's either more power is needed or the movements need to be more fluid and graceful without flaws to achieve the desired result.'

With that in mind, Indiana carried out the movements and spoke the incantation on the third locked treasure chest before hearing the latch disengage with a click. The youth opened it to find the fourth treasure chest of the sequence and he quickly cast the Unlocking Charm to reach the last one.

"Alohomora!" Indiana chanted while moving his wand with smooth precision and focusing the desired intent. The final obstacle to his goal opened to reveal his homework questions and a bag concealing unknown sweets.


Homework

1. Incantation is what? Alohomora.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? Five.

3. What chapter is this in? Chapter Seven.

4. What is this normally used on? Unlocking locks.

5. What is inside the chest? Additional chests, homework questions, and a bag of candy.

Hailey walked into class and sat at her desk. She listened to Professor Williams while she was giving the lesson for this week. When Professor Williams finished giving the lesson for this week Hailey went on with what she was supposed to do. She stood up and pointed her wand at the chests. She was thinking back of what she had to say. She said,"Oh yea, Alohomora!" and the first chest opened. She says,"Hahaha oh I said Alohomora!" the second chest opened. She says,"Hahaha I said Alohomora" the third chest opened,"again, hahaha." She says,"Okay, I'm going to stop saying "that word." Hailey points her wand at the last chest and says,"Alohomora!" The last chest opened. Hailey says,"WOOHOO, I said it on purpose this time." She laughs at herself. Hailey then peeked in the fourth chest and saw a bag of candy. She says,"Hmmm, I wonder if I can keep the candy..." Hailey raised her hand and and says to Professor Williams,"Professor Williams, Did I do this right and may I keep the bag of candy?
Homework
1. Incantation is what? The incantation is Alohomora.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? We unlocked four chests today.

3. What chapter is this in? This is in chapter seven.

4. What is this normally used on? This is normally used on locks.

5. What is inside the chest? Inside the chest is a bag of candy and homework.

Rebecca listened to Professor Williams describe the lesson. This was a spell that she could have used when she was five. Maybe she wouldn't have been locked in a closet by her brother for hours. That memory still haunted her. She looked at the chest in front of her. She opened her book and looked at chapter seven again. She had read the book already but she wanted to brush up on it before she started the spell.

Ten minutes later, Rebecca closed her book knowing that she could do the spell. She looked at the chest in front of her, pointed her wand at it, and said "Alohomora." The chest didn't do anything. Rebecca closed her eyes, cleared her mind, and settled herself. She opened her eyes and tried again. "Alohomora." This time the chest opened. Rebecca smiled. She pulled the second chest out and repeated the spell again. The second chest opened. She repeated the process with the last three chests. Inside the last one she found a bag of sweets and her homework. She smiled and pulled the sweets out. She looked over the homework and set it aside. The sweets were going to be given to someone else. They were not ones that she liked. She put the chests back inside each other and set them on the edge of her desk so that she could start her homework.

Homework
1. Incantation is what? Alohomora

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? We are unlocking a total of five chest.s

3. What chapter is this in? Chapter 7

4. What is this normally used on? Doors

5. What is inside the chest? Four other chests, a bag of sweets, and our homwork assignment

Artemis rushed to the Charms room, her cheeks a bright pink-she was such a fool! How could she have been this careless about it!?!

She knocked on the open wooden door, "Er...Professor Williams?"

They were practicing Alohomora, that was obvious-they had locked chests in front of them, and were muttering the incantation over and over again, some of them anyways-others, were moving from chest to chest, and grinning almost cheekily.

Hilary quickly read though Chapter Seven before even looking at the chests. She knew this spell would be harder than the last one they had learned, she wanted to make sure she completely understood what was supposed to happen before she tried it.

Once she was sure she understood what she was doing, she pulled the first chest closer to her. She went over the wand movements first, just to make sure she could do it properly. Then she added the incantation, "Alohomora!"

Nothing. The chest didn't move at all. She tried again. And again. Finally, the lock on the chest popped open. It took her the better part of forty five minutes, but she managed to unlock all the chests, revealing a small bag of sweets. The fact that there had been a surprise inside of the boxes had been great motivation to keep trying. She couldn't help but wish that her professors would do it in every class.

Pulling our a fresh sheet of parchment, she began to work on her homework.

Homework
1. Incantation is what?
Alohomora.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today?
Four chests.

3. What chapter is this in?
Chapter Seven.

4. What is this normally used on?
It is normally used to unlock doors.

5. What is inside the chest?
More chests, our homework and a bag of candy.

Reina listened carefully to Professor Williams and then eyed the chest suspiciously. She took out her charms book and scanned over chapter seven. She noticed Artemis had come in late. "Artemis." She whispered. She passed her textbook to her housemate with a piece of parchment sticking out, marking chapter seven. The note read "Read this chapter and then try to unlock your chests using the Alohomora charm. There are four chests and in the last one is a bag of candy and our homework. It looks like each chest is a little harder to open then the last, so just keep practicing."

Reina then took out her wand and pointed it at the first chest. "Alohomora!" She said outloud. The first chest unlocked easily for her. She expected that, having witnessed several other students, including some of her housemates have little trouble with the first chest. She opened that chest and then pointed her wand at the second chest."Alohomora!" This time the chest only rattled. "Alohomora!" She said again, this time more clearly and with more force, picturing the chest unlocking. The second chest unlocked.

She sighed, trying to unlock the third chest. This was going to be rather challenging. "Alohomora!" Finally the third chest opened and she pointed her wand to the four. This one took the most tries to unlock. She didn't give up, however, each time picturing the lock a little more clearly and speaking a little more clearer. At last the fourth chest opened and Reina eagerly took out the candy and her homework.

She munched on a piece of candy while she scribbled down the answers to her homework.

1. Incantation is what? The incantation is Alohomora.

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? I unlocked four chests.

3. What chapter is this in? This is in chapter seven.

4. What is this normally used on? Normally Alohomora is used to unlock doors.

5. What is inside the chest? There were three other chests. Inside the fourth chest is a bag of candy and this homework.

Satisfied, she handed Professor Williams her homework and returned to her seat, looking around to see how her housemates were faring.

Artemis smiled at Reina, "Thanks, but I forgot to sign up," she whispered back.

She waited for Professor Williams, watching as the fellow Ravenclaw easily went through her chests and wrote out her homework in a slightly curled print.

"Professor?" She asked again, walking over to her.

She seemed busy, should she just...go and come back another time?

Shelby made short work of the remaining locked chests, eager to see what they contained. The final one was the toughest. It took all of Shelby's concentration to unlock. "Alohamora," she said confidently, despite two previous failed attempts. She was sure that this was it.

She was right. The lock slid open and she grinned as she opened the lid. She picked up the small bag of candy inside and noticed a piece of parchment underneath it. She read the parchment and laughed softly. 'Of course our homework is in here,' she thought.

She took out a quill and began to answer the questions.

Homework

1. Incantation is what?
Alohamora

2. How many chests are you unlocking today?
Five chests (an outer one and four chests inside that one)

3. What chapter is this in?
A more detailed explanation is available in chapter 7 of our textbook.

4. What is this normally used on?
This charm is typically used to unlock doors.

5. What is inside the chest?
Four more chests, the homework for this class period, and a small bag of candy.

Looking at question four again, she began to think. 'If this charm opened all locks, then no one would be very safe,' she thought. She considered letting the idea go, but her curiousity go the better of her. Shelby quickly answered question five and raised her hand.

"Professor Williams, will this charm open all locked doors, or is there a spell that disallows the use of this charm on a lock?"

"There is a variation of the locking charm you will learn next year that Alohomora can not open," she answered with a grin. She had used the variation charm rather a lot when she wanted some alone time in her office. After all, who wouldn't know the heavier charm when you're the one teaching them how to unlock them?

Raven looked up at the teacher and sighed before glaring at his chest. He prodded it with his wand and tried to remember everything he'd overheard Harmony and Will jabbering away about. Waving his wand exactly as he had observed the others doing, he muttered, "Alohomora."
He was rewarded with the last chest opening. He grabbed the bag of candy out with a disgusted look. He'd give it to someone later. Taking out his homework he quickly filled it out.

Homework
1. Incantation is what? Alohomora

2. How many chests are you unlocking today? We unlocked five chests. (even if it felt like more!)

3. What chapter is this in? Chapter 7

4. What is this normally used on? Unlocking doors

5. What is inside the chest? Four other chests, a bag of candy, and our homwork assignment

Turning to look behind him, Raven whispered, "Lawr, you want the candy?"