Lesson II: Sixth and Seventh Years on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor O'Leary

September 10, 2008 7:58 PM

Lesson II: Sixth and Seventh Years by Professor O'Leary

Drake sat at his massive oak desk, as he graded papers and waited for his sixth and seventh year students to begin entering. It was hard to believe that he had been here for nearly five years. It was hard to believe that the students that had been third years when he had begun were now seventh years, no longer children. Soon, they would be graduating. Soon, they would be entering the world to begin the next stage of their lives. Some would be settling down, getting married, and raising a family. Some would be furthering their education. No matter what the case may be, he could only hope that he helped prepare them for whatever would come their way.

Of course, what was coming their way next was RATS, which Drake fully intended to get them through just as he had done with CATS. As students began to trickle in and take their seats, he called out, “Just take out your wands for today.” With a flick of the red quill, he finished grading the last paper just as the last student sat down. He pushed his chair back, the legs making a scrapping sound against the concrete floor. Getting up, he moved to the front of the room. “Often, before training, young wizards and witches cast magic unintentionally, because the child is emotionally charged. This probably even happened to most of you before attending Sonora.”

Continuing in his lecture, Drake asked, “So, if we are able to cast magic from a young age without a wand or incantations, why do we use them?” He gave a moment’s pause to allow the students to come to their own conclusion, before he went on, “Wands acts as a conductor for our magic. They help provide direction. Without it, spells aren’t as powerful. The incantations help to deliver a focus to our mental and physical conditions for the spell to be successful. Without the incantation, the magic might be powerful, but may have unintended consequences. For example, young children may cause seemingly random items to break or disappear when they are upset, because the magic is unfocused.

However, it is possible to cast spells with neither a wand not an incantation. Today, we will be focusing on Non-Verbal, or Incantationless, Magic. It is possible to cast all spells without using an incantation, but the more advanced the spell, the more difficult it is to do. Even the most talented of wizards will often need to use the incantation for the harder spells,” Drake informed the class. “Now, what is the importance of using Non-Verbal Magic in Defense? It is important when an incantation either cannot be or inconvenient to cast, such as if the Silencio spell had been used on the person or if the person does not want to be detected, but wishes to use magic.”

His lecture finished, it brought the class to what they would be doing specifically. “All right. I want everyone to find a partner. When first learning Non-Verbal Magic, we start with the most basic spells, so we’re going to be working on casting Expelliarmus and Protego. I want everyone to take turns attempting to disarm their partner and protect against their partner silently. If you need help or have any questions, I’ll be around. You may begin.”

OOC: Please remember that posts should be a minimum of ten well-written sentences. Points will be rewarded based on length, detail, etc. Most importantly, be creative and have fun!

0 Professor O'Leary Lesson II: Sixth and Seventh Years 0 Professor O'Leary 1 5

Mia Kerova

September 26, 2008 6:42 PM

Serious déjà vu. by Mia Kerova

Mia didn't dislike Defense Against the Dark Arts. Sometimes she thought the class wanted her to dislike it because of how dank the room tended to be. She almost felt like she had to wear her brighter clothing on days she walked in there as a counter measure. Like the white t-shirt and light blue jeans she wore that day. But truthfully, she knew there was nothing ominous about the room, the class or the professor unless she wanted to revert to her RATS phobic mindset, which she didn't. The only troublesome things were lectures, but those came with just about every class.

Mia took a seat a few rows back and started taking out her wand, text and notebook. She was pleasantly surprised when Professor O'Leary only asked for their wands. Mia could never oppose the use of her wand and loved classes that focused on it. That was why Charms was a favorite of hers while something like Potions wasn't. It was a lot of instructions to follow that rarely, if ever, involved her wand unless lighting a fire. Definitely not a branch of magic she was interested in.

While the professor lectured, Mia contently weaved her wand through her fingers like a small baton and lightly tapped her sneakers against the floor so that the sound was barely audible except to her. Professor O'Leary spoke about accidental magic and Mia remembered a few incidents that stuck out in her mind like when she destroyed a bookcase just by screaming in mid temper tantrum. So there was a way she could purposely do spells without speaking the incantation that didn't result in disaster. Awesome.

Nonverbal spells had infinite potential for convenience and even some fun. Even more so if a wand wasn't needed either, but that sounded more difficult. One step at a time. And a few steps back considering the spells they were practicing. Disarming and shielding were simple spells she and her classmates had learned back in first year with interesting results the first time if Mia recalled correctly. Bruising an arm and shattering a window seemed significant enough to remember pretty clearly. It had been a fun lesson with Jenna though.

But to practice the spells again using nonverbal magic, Mia still needed a partner. She looked to the first obvious places; the seats beside her. Mia stopped spinning her wand and used it to tap the desk of the available student to her right with a cordial smile.

"You look like you could use a partner. How about it?"

0 Mia Kerova Serious déjà vu. 0 Mia Kerova 0 5

Lily Collins

October 20, 2008 9:52 PM

Re: Serious déjà vu. by Lily Collins

Defense had always been Lily's favorite class. She didn't mind the dark dank room since she'd rather always been a bit of a fan of the darkside. (Of course, she'd been raised to think the darkside included witchcraft which was an inherent part of who she was.) Lily had always been rather fond of Professor O'Leary herself, not being one who was easily scared or intimidated. Actually there weren't any teachers that she didn't like, having never had the legendarily awful Professor Flatt...who couldn't have been all bad if Chelsea hated him.

Her face lit up upon hearing what today's lesson was. This was the kind of stuff Lily wanted to do now, not dreary review packets like in Charms. She knew it was important to pass her RATS but she wasn't too worried. She wanted to learn new stuff. Besides, they spent a good portion of time studying outside of class. It was a good idea to do something that could be different .
Lily had always liked learning new magical stuff and was sick of the same old stuff when there was so much new and useful stuff out there for her. For example, if she could do wandless magic, she could still use magic if for some reason she ever did not have her wand. Not that there was much chance of that happening, given she took it everywhere.

Not that Lily had never used either wandless magic or non-verbal spells before. She'd done more than her fair share of accidental magic. In fact, sometimes she even tried to do it on purpose, because it scared people. Lily had tended to believe that if people weren't going to like her, she would prefer to have them afraid of her and back when she lived with her mom in Ohio, people there weren't going to like her. Lily wasn't entirely sure people liked her at Sonora either and by now, she really didn't care that much.

"You look like you could use a partner. How about it?"

Lily turned to her left to see Mia Kerova had spoken to her. This was perhaps the first time in her years at Sonora that the other girl had ever spoke to her...and vice versa. They tended to run in different circles and Lily had no idea what the other girl even thought of her.

And there wasn't time left enough at Sonora before she graduated to care much anyway. "Sure" Lily responded. She rose and took her wand. "Shall we begin?" She took her wand and did the incantations for expelliarmus, without even saying a word.

11 Lily Collins Re: Serious déjà vu. 45 Lily Collins 0 5