"It's in that little corner by the chalkboard. I left the cloak folded a little so it doesn't drape onto the floor. I just hope old Stonewall doesn't trip over it when he goes behind his desk."

        James looked into the corner that Zane indicated. It was just a shallow alcove formed where the closet next door butted into the room. It was unlikely that Jackson would venture there, but not impossible.

"Sometimes, he doesn't even go behind his desk all class," James whispered. Zane gave a little lift and drop of the shoulders, as if to say here's hoping.

        A few minutes later, Professor Jackson strode into the room, carrying his ever-present leather bag. James and Zane couldn't help watching intently as he draped his cloak over the desk and settled his briefcase into its accustomed space on the floor next to his desk.

        "Greetings, class," Jackson said briskly. "I trust you all had an instructive holiday. One can only hope you haven't forgotten everything we worked so hard to instill in your heads prior to the break. Which reminds me. Please hand your essays to the left and then to the front. Mr. Walker, I will collect them from you once you have them all."

        Zane nodded, his eyes bulging a bit. Both James and Zane had their wands slipped up their sleeves. If Jackson noticed, they'd just say they were carrying them that way in honor of their favorite Technomancy teacher, since Jackson himself carried his in a small sheath sewn into his sleeve. Thankfully, Jackson seemed a bit preoccupied.

        "I will be grading your essays tonight, as usual. Until then, let us take a sneak peek, as it were, into your cumulative understanding of the subject. Mr. Hollis, please favor us with a short definition of Hechtor's Law of Displaced Inertia, if you please."

        Hollis, a red-cheeked first-year Ravenclaw, cleared his throat and began to offer his explanation. James barely heard him. He looked down at Jackson's case, sitting tantalizingly only a few feet away. James thought he could probably kick it if he wished to. His heart pounded and he was filled with a horrible, icy certainty that the plan couldn't possibly work. It had been ridiculously foolhardy to think they could pull such a caper under the prow-nose of Professor Jackson. And yet he knew they had to try. He felt vaguely sick with anxiety. Jackson began to pace.

        "Unnecessarily verbose, Mr. Hollis, but relatively accurate. Miss Morganstern, can you elaborate a bit regarding the transference of inertia between objects of different densities?"

        "Well, different densities respond to inertia differently, based on the proximity of their atoms," Petra answered. "A ball of lead will be launched in a single direction. A ball of, say, marshmallow will merely explode."

        Jackson nodded. "Is there a technomancic workaround for this? Anyone? Miss Goyle?"

        Philia Goyle lowered her hand. "A Binding Spell coupled with the Inertia-Transference Spell will keep even low-density substances intact, sir. This has the added benefit that low-density projectiles will travel much farther and faster on a given factor of inertia than a higher-density projectile, such as Miss Morganstern's lead ball."

        "True, Miss Goyle, but not necessarily beneficial," Jackson smiled humorlessly. "A feather shot out of a cannon still won't hurt."

The class laughed a little at that. Jackson was just beginning his second circuit of the room. Then, suddenly, Ralph was at the door.

        "Excuse be," he said in a strangely gurgly voice. Everyone in the class turned except James and Ralph. "I'b sorry. I dseem to have a dosebleed." Ralph's nose was, indeed, bubbling blood at an alarming rate. He held his finger beneath it, and it was coated and slimy with blood. There was a chorus of oohsand ahhsfrom the class, some amused and some disgusted.

        Zane wasted no time. As soon as he heard Ralph and saw that Jackson was turned away, heading up the right side of the classroom, he whipped his wand from his sleeve.

        " Wingardium Leviosa!" he whispered as quietly but as forcefully as he could. The Invisibility Cloak became visible the moment it whipped up, floating off the fake briefcase in the corner. Zane held it there as James fumbled his own wand out. Behind them, they heard Jackson speaking to Ralph.

        "Good heavens, boy, hold still."

        "I'b sorry," Ralph stammered. "I meant to get a cough lozenge and I ate one of thode Weadely Dosebleed Dougats instead. I have to get to the hodpital wing, I thingk."

        James pointed his wand at the fake briefcase and whispered the Levitation Charm. The case was much heavier than anything James had levitated before, and he wasn't very good at it under the best of circumstances. The case scuttled on the floor, dragging by a corner. He moved it as close to the real case as possible, knocking the real case aside and partially under the desk. He gasped, and then caught his breath. Behind him, the students were laughing and making disgusted noises.

        "Good grief, you don't need the hospital wing," Jackson said, becoming annoyed. "Just stand still and move your finger."

        Ralph began to sway on his feet. "I thingk I'b a hemophebian!" he yelled. That had been Zane's idea.

        "You're not a hemophiliac," Jackson growled. "Now for the last time, hold still!"

James flicked his wand, trying to move the real case around the fake one. It was imperative that he move it into the corner and hide it under the Invisibility Cloak Zane was still levitating. The real case was stuck, however, wedged under a corner of the desk. James concentrated mightily. The briefcase levitated under the desk, pushing the corner of the desk up with it. James grimaced, lowering his wand, and both the case and the desk clunked to the floor. Nobody seemed to notice. Zane was looking at James, wild-eyed. James made a grimace of helplessness. Desperately, Zane made to lower the Invisibility Cloak onto the real case where it was, wedged under the desk. Somehow, however, the cloak had also become snagged, caught on a coat-hook next to the chalkboard. Nothing was going as planned. If anyone turned around now, there would be no hope of covering their tracks. James couldn't resist glancing around. Ralph's nose was still pattering blood. Jackson was half squatted in front of him, one hand on Ralph's arm, trying to pull Ralph's finger away from his nose, the other holding the hickory wand at the ready. The entire class was watching in various shades of amusement and revulsion.

        "Drat it, boy, you're making a mess. Move your finger, I tell you," Jackson exclaimed.

        James tried to free the real briefcase by working it back and forth with his wand. He was sweating and his wand hand was slick. The case finally came free just as James heard Jackson say " Artemisae."