Boxes and Fear on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Drake O'Leary

January 30, 2007 1:39 AM

Third/Fourth Years: Lesson One by Drake O'Leary

Drake sat at his desk in a most unusual position. He was leaning back with his feet up on the desk. He appeared to be sleeping, but he could see the students from beneath his lashes. Today's lessons was one of his favorites.

He waited to see what each student did with the box placed on their desk. There was no lock on the box, but if the student tried to open it, they would be unsuccessful. After a few had tried, Drake got up from his desk and went to the front of his desk.

"As some of you have undoubtedly noticed from trying to open the box, you can't," Drake stated in a matter-of-fact tone. "This is because the Anti-Intruder Jinx has been placed on each box, which brings me to today's lesson. The Anti-Intruder Jinx is exactly as its name states, it keeps out intruders. Now, I'm going to show prove to you that the box on my desk is unprotected before I demonstrate the spell."

Drake called on one of the students to come up and try opening the box, knowing it would be easy to open. Once it was proven that the box was indeed unprotected, Drake asked the student to stay in front of the room.

Continuing his lecture, Drake warned, "Pay close attention."

Performing the wand movement and incantation, he ensured that the box was now protected.

He turned to the student he had asked to stay, "Try opening the box again."

This time the box would not open, but when Drake tried to open it, it did.

"If performed properly, the Anti-Intruder Jinx should allow the spell caster to open the box," he said, right before lifting the spell from each of the students' boxes. "Each box should have the spell removed, so that you can try the Jinx. You may begin."

OOC: Remember at least ten sentences. Have fun and be creative.
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Subthreads:

Why me? by Adam Brockert with Professor O'Leary, Guenther Heindrich

Boxes and Fear by Saul Pierce with Briony O'Leary, Briony

0 Drake O'Leary Third/Fourth Years: Lesson One 15 Drake O'Leary 1 5

Adam Brockert

February 13, 2007 11:11 PM

Why me? by Adam Brockert

After last year's incident, Defense was the last place Adam wanted to go. First of all, like any class, as they got older, there was more chance of being exposed to powerful dark magic and difficulty. Adam hadn't even been able to handle an enchanted malevolent pumpkin, so he very much doubted his abilities to deal with anything worse.

There was also the fact that Professor O'Leary didn't like him. Not that Adam blamed the man. There was nothing to like. Adam was unappealing in every way. Plus, they might have to work in groups again. The very thought made him want to wretch.

He crept into the back as usual and the lesson began.

"This is because the Anti-Intruder Jinx has been placed on each box, which brings me to today's lesson. The Anti-Intruder Jinx is exactly as its name states, it keeps out intruders. Now, I'm going to show prove to you that the box on my desk is unprotected before I demonstrate the spell."

The professor proceded to call a student and Adam froze up. The student Professor O'Leary had called on was him .

Adam got up, knees quaking. He wondered why, of everyone, he had been chosen. Professor O'Leary must want him to be humiliated. The only reason he'd even stood up was that he was pretty sure that if he hadn't came when the professor called, he'd be in worse trouble. Though, Adam reflected, a detention might be preferable to being the center of attention. However, being yelled at in front of everyone was not . Plus they might laugh at him for not going up there. Even though that when he got up there, they were probably going to do that anyway. Either way, Adam couldn't win.

He approached Professor O'Leary, still shaking, hopefully not real noticably to his classmates. Adam couldn't help but feel a bit relieved when all he had to do was open a box. He did so, not looking at either the class or the professor.

Adam was rewarded for not screwing this up by...being asked to stay there. As Professor O'Leary went on, he could feel his classmates' eyes on him. Even though they should be paying attention, he knew they could see him too. The thought made his stomach knot up and sweat poured down his forehead.

"Try opening the box again."

He did as he was instructed and it wouldn't open until Professor O'Leary did it.

"Each box should have the spell removed, so that you can try the Jinx. You may begin."

"May I go back to my seat now?" Adam inquired quietly. He didn't know how much more of being up here he could take before passing out. He was shaking and sweating and thought he was going to lose it at any moment.
\n\n

11 Adam Brockert Why me? 78 Adam Brockert 0 5

Saul Pierce

March 06, 2007 4:54 PM

Boxes and Fear by Saul Pierce

Saul arrived with a sad lack of fanfare. Stepping through the door, even with a flourish, excited little to no interest from his classmates. They were busy talking amongst themselves or readying for class or playing with some boxes that sat atop each desk. Curious despite himself, even though he secretly blamed these boxes for nobody taking particular note of the fact that they were now in the presense of Saul Pierce, he took a seat toward the middle of the room and grabbed his box.

Opening it proved futile. He tried lifting the lid, bashing it against the desk, shaking it, prying at it, even alohomora didn't work. He hadn't quite admitted defeat yet when Professor O'Leary called for and got their attention. O'Leary was really good at getting attention. It was probably because he was so scary. Not that Saul was scared of him.

Adam was though. Saul watched the other boy all through the demonstration, studiously taking mental notes of his expression, posture, nervous gestures, and involuntary shaking. It was classic fear and if Saul was going to have a bigger part that 'Yes, sir!' in next summer's Shakespeare production, he'd need to be able to portray fear. He'd heard rumours that it was going to be The Scottish Play.

Unfortunately, his interest in Adam and his mannerisms meant that he missed just about everything that Professor O'Leary said.

Looking around, he saw that other people were opening their boxes. Giving his own a try, he found that it opened easily now. Huh. Disappointingly, it was empty, too. All that effort to open it and there wasn't even anything inside.

He dug into his bag and pulled out an eraser which he then put into the box and shut the lid. There. Now, there was a prize.

Figuring the point of today's spell was to make it so the box wouldn't open again, he picked up his wand and looked at the board for the spell word. Okay, spell word, check. Wand motion . . . Saul watched two different neighbors try it out then copied them. They hadn't done exactly the same thing, but they'd been close, so he figured doing something like both of them was probably a good starting place.

When he was done, he tried opening the box, but it opened with no difficulty. Not even a little stickiness. He sat back in his chair and frowned at the box, as if it had somehow personally betrayed him.\n\n

1 Saul Pierce Boxes and Fear 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Professor O'Leary

March 06, 2007 7:32 PM

Because you were the first I noticed by Professor O'Leary

Finishing his lecture, Drake had nearly forgotten that Mr. Brockert was still standing in front of the room until the small voice chimed up.

"May I go back to my seat now?"

Drake nodded in response with a wave of the hand. He assumed that the student would have taken his seat at the end of the lecture rather than continuing to stand there. Being fairly perceptive, one had to be to be a professor of DADA, it always surprised him how jumpy the boy was, as though someone was out to get him at that very moment. Not that Drake didn't encourage some level of paranoia, it kept you on your feet. Unfortunately, the boy was wound so tight that he would probably end up hurting himself in the event of an attack rather than the enemy.

He was curious as to what caused such behavior. He knew Mr. Brockert's sister from his fifth year classes. She appeared to be friendly towards other students and well-liked. On occassion, she even raised her hand to answer questions in lecture. Though, he felt she didn't perform to her abilities. She tended to maintain an average grade in his class, and while he didn't think she would ever be a high-achiever in the class, he felt she could be in the above average category.\n\n

0 Professor O'Leary Because you were the first I noticed 0 Professor O'Leary 0 5

Briony O'Leary

March 06, 2007 7:51 PM

I can do without fear by Briony O'Leary

Well, this was certainly interesting. She had never learned this spell before. Being the daughter of the DADA teacher meant learning alot more than others did. Mostly due to her father's paranoia and the fact that she was his only family. Sometimes, she wondered if it would be different if her mother was still alive, but there was no point on dwelling what couldn't be changed.

Her father called on Adam, a boy she had met in Muggle Studies, then again in Potions. She felt bad for him, because he looked terrified. She almost wished that her father had just called on her. She didn't mind going up to the front of the room and being a guinea pig, but alas she wasn't and thereby was forced to just sit in her seat and take diligent notes.

After the lecture, she was working on her own box when she noticed a boy nearby. He kept opening his box, which she knew wouldn't work. You had to have someone else try and open it. She needed someone to try and open hers, so she thought it would be a nice way of telling him without embarrassing him.

"Excuse me, but could you try opening my box to make sure the spell worked?" She hoped he would get the hint.\n\n

0 Briony O'Leary I can do without fear 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Saul Pierce

March 07, 2007 8:57 AM

Yeah, me too. by Saul Pierce

Saul looked over in surprise as one of the people he'd imitated asked if he could try opening her box to see if the spell worked. His eyes widened in sudden comprehension. The box wasn't supposed to get stuck closed for everybody, just everybode else. He supposed that made more sense.

Closer inspection of the girl (instead of just her wand and hand) showed that she was Briony O'Leary, daughter of this very class's professor. He really hoped she wouldn't tell him that Saul had obviously not been paying as much attention as he should have been.

Hoping to distract her from that rather obvious fact, he grinned cheerfully at her and pretended he'd known from the start that the spell wasn't supposed to affect his ability to open the box. "Sure."

Trading boxes with her, he tried to open her box, but apparently being the professor's daughter meant she knew what she was doing because the lid hardly budged. He tried prying on it and holding it upside down, but nothing. Giving it back, he grinned, "All secure."\n\n

1 Saul Pierce Yeah, me too. 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Briony

March 08, 2007 5:14 PM

Good to know we have that in common by Briony

Briony tried Saul's box, as he tried hers. She tried to pry it open with all her strength. Didn't open. Then, she tried 'Alohomoro' on the box. Still didn't open.

She handed the box back to him and taking back hers, "Same here."

She turned back to her own desk to pull out a notebook and write some notes, but then paused. Her father told her that he was worried about her. She was in Teppenpaw, known for friendly people, yet she was such a loner. She decided that trying to make a friend in front of her dad would be best. It would show him she was at least trying. It wasn't like she LIKED not having friends.

"I-uh..." she blushed and turned away.

Well, so much for making a friend. She had no problem talking to someone once she got to know them. She could talk for hours, but the initial conversation, forget it. She was hopeless. She gave a small sigh. Making friends was for the birds.\n\n

0 Briony Good to know we have that in common 0 Briony 0 5

Saul Pierce

March 13, 2007 1:53 PM

Totally. Fear's no fun by Saul Pierce

Saul watched with obvious fascination as Briony failed to open his box. She even used the unlocking spell and it still didn't open. That was totally cool. A wide grin spread across Saul's face as it became increasingly obvious that, even without having a clue what he was doing, he'd still managed to pull off the spell correctly. Some days, he supposed, you just got lucky. That, and he had a lot of practice pretending that he'd been paying attention. He was evidently getting good enough at it that he could pull off the lesson with only minimal assistance from his classmates.

"Cool," he told her when she gave up trying to open the box and gave it back, sounding as surprised as he was proud of himself.

She turned back to her notebook and started to write something, so Saul picked up his pen (he always used pens because quills tasted nasty when you accidently put them in your mouth and chewed on them) and pretended to write something in his, but that was entirely for appearances in case her dad looked this way.

It seemed like a good idea to take his lead from Briony since he was still uncertain about whether or not talking was allowed even after you got your work done. He might not be the best student in the school, but his cousin was on staff and if he got a detention, Mom and Dad would be finding out about it within the hour. Briony probably understood that even better than he did.

He was still trying to figure out if his doodle more resembled a dog or a dragon (he had as much drawing talent as he did musical talent, which is to say, none at all) when she turned back to him and got as far as "I - uh," before blushing and turning away.

Saul didn't need much more encouragement, though. She'd started to talk, so that meant it was okay. He abandoned his pen and the fire-breathing dog-thing in favor of his favorite activity: talking. He remembered, just in time, to keep his voice semi-quiet because some people were still working and stuff, but Briony was done and she'd given some indication that she wanted to talk to him and the EEs weren't in this class so Saul was lacking the people he usually talked to. It was about time he made friends in his own year anyway. It was a sad sad sad state of affairs that only a handful of second years voluntarily talked to him.

He pushed his notebook closer to her and elicited her opinion, "Would you say that looks more like a dog or a dragon? I was trying to make a horse with a bit and lead but it totally doesn't look like that." He grinned at her, "I'm open to reinterpretation."\n\n

1 Saul Pierce Totally. Fear's no fun 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Briony

March 19, 2007 6:33 PM

Unless it's from a rollercoaster :P by Briony

Briony gave a genuine smile, as she looked at the picture. She tried very hard to keep any expression off of her face, but she could feel an eyebrow quirk coming. It was truly an awful drawing and she wasn't sure what to say. She didn't want to hurt his feelings. That would be an easy way to lose a potential friend.

"Uh-well, um, it kinda looks like a...uh...chicken," she gave him a sheepish grin, hoping he didn't take offense.

Hoping he hadn't, she continued, "But a very good chicken. A fire-breathing chicken that is going on an adventure."

Okay, that sounded a little strange, but she liked the idea. Maybe it could turn into a story. It would certainly be different.\n\n

0 Briony Unless it's from a rollercoaster :P 0 Briony 0 5

Saul Pierce

March 20, 2007 12:24 PM

Roller coasters are cool by Saul Pierce

Saul frowned down out his doodle as she declared it was neither a dog nor a dragon, but a chicken. A chicken. What happened to it's other two legs? He tilted his head, and oh. Huh. Yeah, he could sort of see that. The front two were sort of wing-like, and the snout was decidedly beak-like now that he thought about it.

He grinned. "Cool! I drew a chicken!"

Then she went on and said it wasn't just a chicken but a very good chicken, a firebreathing chicken that is going on an adventure. Saul beamed brightly at her, not finding this statement at all odd. "Yeah!" he agreed, "It's going out to fight dragons. That's what fire breathing chickens do, you know," he told her, nodding with absolute certainty, as if fire breathing chickens really existed.

"It's probably going to slay one that kidnapped a princess," he added, since they hadn't really gotten to dragons yet in DADA or CoMC, so he was still of the opinion that the normal folk tales were roughly accurate. "Or maybe loot one that has a lot of treasure. Chickens probably like gold. It's shiny." Not that he knew much about chickens except that they tasted good.\n\n

1 Saul Pierce Roller coasters are cool 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Guenther Heindrich

March 21, 2007 4:00 PM

Re: Because you were the first I noticed by Guenther Heindrich

Guenther stared at the box. He was going to get this right! He was a third year now and he should be able to do these things by now. Taking out his wand, he said the spell and made the wand movements. Nothing really amazing happened, but how could he tell if it worked?

He looked up at the front of the classroom to see what other people were doing and saw that Briony, the girl that he had met in COMC that morning, was swapping boxes with a boy that he thought was named Saul (though he had no idea of the boys last name). Hmmm....who should he swap with?

The desk next to him was empty, though someone clearly was supposed to be sitting there. He around the classroom and realized that it was the only available seat open and that Adam was still up at the front of the classroom.

Why was he still at the front? He couldn't figure it out. He just hoped that Adam got back to his seat soon so that they could swap boxes.\n\n

0 Guenther Heindrich Re: Because you were the first I noticed 0 Guenther Heindrich 0 5

Briony

March 21, 2007 7:43 PM

I like ones with double dips by Briony

Eyes glittering brightly, she sat up straighter. She was glad that he understood the necessity of being a little odd, sometimes.

Getting into the story, she continued,"The princess is locked away in a tower on a forbidden island. And the chickens like gold, because they are really cursed princes and it reminds them of the treasure they once had."

There, she thought that sounded pretty good. All fairytales should have a prince, a princess, and a curse. At least, in her opinion. She briefly wondered what it would be like to be a locked-away princess. She was sure it wouldn't be much fun.

"The princess is probably really bored," Briony said thoughtfully, a finger twisting a piece of her red hair. "I wonder what she does all day."

If she were stuck in the tower, she would want to have a pile of books, then she could get lost in them. It would be like an escape from her location.\n\n

0 Briony I like ones with double dips 0 Briony 0 5

Saul

March 22, 2007 8:58 PM

My favorite part is the no-gravity peak by Saul

Saul nodded sagely as Briony agreed with both the treasure and the princess parts of the chicken's mission. His blue eyes widened in surprised amazement as she revealed that the chicken wasn't really a chicken but a cursed prince. He'd had no idea he'd been drawing a prince.

As Briony lamented at the bored state of the princess, ideas spurred through Saul's mind, chasing one another, almost too fast to catch onto. His tongue tried to keep up and he spoke quickly, his voice raising just a little too loud to be considered an indoor voice. "She's plotting how to escape!" he exclaimed.

"She's got the plan all worked out, all she needs is for the stupid chicken to get there and provide the distraction! She's got the sheets all ready to be tied together so she can climb down out of the tower and she knows that when the hero gets there, he'll have come by boat, so she keeps watching out her windows, watching for where he comes up on shore and she'll get there while he's fighting the dragon and she might even grab some of the treasure first so the hero doesn't have to carry it all and she'll be ready to cast off and get away the minute the hero gets back to the boat, or if it looks like he's not gonna make it, at least she will."

Saul paused to take a deep breath because his ears were starting to ring from oxygen deprivation. "She's brilliant! She's got it all worked out already!"\n\n

1 Saul My favorite part is the no-gravity peak 82 Saul 0 5

Briony

March 25, 2007 8:15 PM

Sounds like great fun by Briony

OOC: Want to continue the conversation elsewhere? Briony likes talking to Saul, but Drake should be closing the class soon. :P

BIC:

The entire time, Briony had been having a hard time trying to control not laughing, but she just couldn't help it. The poor chicken being left behind. A few people turned to look at her with odd glances, one including her dad. She gave a sheepish grin before continuing.

"She's very brillant," she said solemly, "but mean. The poor chicken is never going to get turned into a prince. And after everything that he went through to rescue her!"

"So, the question, Saul," Briony, her blue eyes locked onto his. His were a rather nice blue. "Would you be upset if you were turned into fried chicken, because the princess left you?"

\n\n

0 Briony Sounds like great fun 0 Briony 0 5

Adam B.

March 25, 2007 9:57 PM

I didn't think you were around. by Adam B.

Sighing inaudibly with relief, Adam crept nervously back to his seat, purposely trying not attract attention. He'd had more than enough for one day. Every second up front had been excrutiating. All those eyes on him. Adam shuddered involuntarily as he approached his chair and sat down.

He glanced from the box to his wand. He didn't have the best track record lately. Everytime Adam tried to do something it went horribly wrong. Last year there was the thing with the pumpkin and then there was the thing with his ear in Charms. With my luck, Adam thought glumly, I'll probably set the room on fire. Not only would that possibly kill people-something Adam didn't want to do. He wasn't Lily - but it would attract way too much attention.

Adam gazed around the room and spotted Briony talking to Saul Pierce. Now he knew Briony probably wouldn't like him. Saul was the most popular guy in class, if she was friends with someone popular she wouldn't like Adam very much. He sighed. The popular guys always were friends with the pretty girls. Not that he was interested in Briony per se. It was just that he thought she was attractive. Besides, Adam didn't dare get interested in anyone in particular. Nobody would ever like him back and he'd just be disappointed and hurt and feel worse about himself than before. Girls wanted people like Saul or that guy Kaylie was with. Not some weirdo like him. Adam didn't think he had a single good quality.

Suddenly, he realized that Gunther wanted his attention. He blinked twice, the usual deer in the headlights look came to his face. Adam couldn't think of what to say to him. Simply saying hello sounded too stupid. Asking what Gunther wanted would have made him sound rude. Saying nothing and ignoring his classmate might make him look stuck-up. "Um..." He looked anxiously at the Aladren, hoping he'd say something instead.\n\n

11 Adam B. I didn't think you were around. 78 Adam B. 0 5