Professor Levy
June 19, 2010 11:07 PM
Beginner Level: Lesson II by Professor Levy
Coming back from midterm was harder than coming back after summer break. At least it was in Erika’s view. For midterm, she only had a limited amount of time with her girlfriend and some of that limited time was spent in the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers as she tried to get her own holiday shopping done. Thankfully, she didn’t have anyone on her list that was hard to buy for or else she might not have gotten to spend much time with her family at all. And the time she did get to spend with everyone was only a teaser to make her wish it were summer where she could relax and spend everyday with them. Looking over the students coming in, she was sure they probably felt much like she did and weren’t quite ready to get back into the swing of things, which is why she had planned an easy lesson for the day.It wasn’t her normal style. She much preferred hands-on learning to theory, but she thought that today would be a good day for a simple review as well as to begin introducing the second years to the dark creatures they would be learning about next year. Once everyone was seated, she passed out the papers in her hand. “Welcome back, students. I trust your break was enjoyable and you’re probably not quite ready to get into the full swing of things quite yet, which is why today we’ll be working on a crossword puzzle. I assume everyone had had experienced with doing these, but if you haven’t, it’s quite easy.”
With a flick of the wrist, a one by one crossword puzzle appeared on the board with the second letter of the down clue intersecting with the first letter of the across clue. “As we can see by the across clue it’s a red fruit said to keep the doctor away. Anyone venture guess?” With the correct guess, she said, “Right. An apple so we would put apple in the boxes that match the clue going across.” Another wave and the letters appeared in the appropriate area. “So, then we see that the second letter of our down clue is an A and the clue is a yellow fruit enjoyed by monkeys.” She waited for someone to give the correct answer. “Exactly. Banana. Then, we would fill that in. Now, this is a very simple crossword, but you get the idea.”
Erika waited a moment for anyone to object to understanding and then continued on, “Your puzzle focuses on spells that we’ve learned this year as well as some dark creatures that we’ll learn about in Intermediate DADA that I wanted you to become familiar with. The first one to turn in their puzzle in completely correct before the end of class doesn’t have to do the homework assignment for today. You may work in small groups of two or three if you would like. I expect everyone to turn in the puzzle by the end of class regardless if it’s finished or not. Also, before you leave, please be sure to pick up a copy of the homework assignment from my desk.” She pointed to a stack of papers. “Please begin.”
OOC: Please adhere to posting guidelines. Points will be awarded based on creativity, detail, etc. I’ve given a copy of the crossword puzzle below. Answers can be given through posts and if you would like to try to be the first person or group to actually finish the puzzle, a list can be given instead of actually filling out the puzzle. For anyone solving the puzzle, spaces count as a box of their own. Have fun!
Subthreads: Happy Happy, Joy Joy by Alessa Hinckley with Demelza Eagle
People! Competition! Yay! by Rachel Bauer with Theo Manzana
Having difficulties.... by Sam Bauer with Neal Padrig, Pecari
A stressful situation by Autumn Collins with Brad Hayman (Aladren)
Happy to be back by Jane Carey with Dorian Talsky
In it to win today. by Raines Bradley, Crotalus with Jessica Zeworth [Pecari], Raines Bradley
I'm way better at word searches by Tristan Volkmann (Pecari) with Delilah Kerrigan, Pecari
Refusing to compete by Kirstenna Melcher
This is easy...sort of. by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)
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Professor Levy
Beginner Level: Lesson II
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Professor Levy
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Autumn Collins
June 23, 2010 7:12 PM
A stressful situation by Autumn Collins
Autumn sat nervously awaiting the beginning of Defense class. There was no class that stressed out the curly haired first year more. The whole premise of the class was to learn how to protect oneself against dark creatures and dark magic and she appreciated the value in that wholeheartedly. The idea of going up against such things terrified her.However, while Autumn knew she wasn't in any real physical danger in class, she was anxious about Defense for another reason. She had a tendency to overthink things, to second guess herself, and this was an area of magic that required people to think on their feet. Autumn was terrible at that. In fact, in situations like that, she would freeze up and become unable to think at all .
To make matters worse, in this class, she had to sometimes work in groups in these situations. Autumn was constantly worried she was going to break down and people would hate her. She was terrified that they would tease her and she would become the class outcast whom everyone made fun of and Autumn really didn't want that. She wanted to be liked.
It was why she preferred to remain in the background, so nobody would notice if she screwed up.
Hearing that today's lesson would be a review crossword puzzle brought only slight relief to Autumn, relief that was quickly diminished by finding out that they would be competing against each other. She didn't care about being the best but she didn't want to be the very worst and Autumn was pretty sure she was near that in DADA as it was.
To make matters worse, it had to be done by the end of class. What if she didn't know something and turned in an incomplete puzzle? Autumn's grade would suffer then.
Miserably, the Crotalus turned to her puzzle. Her face fell further as she read the clue for two across. For the life of her, Autumn could not remember what a goblinlike creature with a love for bloodshed was.
She fought the urge to cry, as she simply could not allow herself to break down in front of her classmates. Autumn was a Collins, for Merlin's sake! More importantly, she did not want to be a laughingstock.
Perhaps, she should ask someone else for help. It wasn't really a matter of too much pride, it was just that Autumn was worried that if she asked someone to work with her on something, they would turn her down either because she wasn't an asset to the assignment or because they just plain didn't like her.
But the assignment had to be done. Autumn summoned her courage and turned to the person next to her. "Will you work with me on this?" She asked timidly.
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Autumn Collins
A stressful situation
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Autumn Collins
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Brad Hayman (Aladren)
June 24, 2010 12:48 AM
Stress Reliever to the rescue! by Brad Hayman (Aladren)
Brad walked into the Defense classroom and took a seat, excited for the day’s lesson. Defense was such a great class. It made him feel like a true superhero because everything he learned had to do with offensive and defensive spells. It was action-packed, just like a comic book! The other classes were fun and all, but he just didn’t find them that applicable to real life. Changing buttons into pebbles was cool and all, but there wasn’t much to it. Defense could come in handy when Brad graduated and started fighting evildoers on a regular basis, putting all these hardcore spells to use.He really wished he could've used them on his stupid cousin. When he’d gone to his grandparents’ house for Christmas, his awesome uncle Lucas got him a huge collection of Iron Man comic books. His cousin Jerry was a complete and total villain, so he’d decided to grab the comics right out of Brad’s hands and tear them up! The first-year had wanted to cry, but he wouldn’t. Heroes didn’t cry. Heroes had standards!
So instead, he’d punched Jerry in the face…and Jerry had punched him right back. Mom and Pop had not been happy about that, and neither had Jerry’s parents. In fact, Brad's parents had grounded him for the rest of midterm after that.
He didn’t regret it, though. He loved his comics, and he wasn’t going to let Jerry push him around. What if Superman had let Lex Luthor get away with taking over the world? What would have happened to all those innocent citizens? Life as they knew it would have come to a halt!
In conclusion, he was proud of his black eye. It made him feel extra hero-like!
Brad frowned and slumped in his chair as Professor Levy started the lesson. A crossword? Seriously!? This class was supposed to be awesome and intense, not word-tastic. Ugh, he thought, his frown growing as the teacher went on. Once she was finished, he looked down at the crossword for a moment. His mind immediately shut off, the words blurring together into a giant, black mess he didn’t care about. He so didn’t want to do this…How was this going to help him save the world someday!? He sighed in exasperation.
“Will you work with me on this?”
Brad’s ears perked up at the sound of someone’s voice. He turned to see a nervous-looking girl; she looked like a damsel in distress, but he had no idea how to save her from this crossword.
“I guess so,” he said unenthusiastically. “Not that I don’t like you, I just don’t like crosswords. Or any writing assignments, really.” He frowned again. “I’m Brad Hayman, by the way,” he introduced himself, giving her a small smile despite his disappointment in the lesson. “Aladren first-year. How ‘bout you, Damsel in Distress?” He always used comic book-related terms to describe people whose names he hadn’t yet discovered.
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Brad Hayman (Aladren)
Stress Reliever to the rescue!
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Brad Hayman (Aladren)
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Autumn
June 29, 2010 7:54 PM
My hero! by Autumn
Autumn was pleased to see that the person she had spoken to was an Aladren and that he confirmed to her that his name was Brad which was what she had thought it was. Remembering people's names was a very important thing, regardless of whether or not the person was pureblood, halfblood, muggleborn or even muggle.Not that Autumn had ever met an actual muggle. Lily's mom was one, but according to Lily, and for that matter, their father and Grandmother Amelia, Lily's mother was not someone that Autumn would want to meet. Not because she was a muggle, but because of she was-well, the first year was not allowed to use words like that.
Still it was rude to not remember someone's name. Unless you had some serious memory issues-like amnesia or having destroyed your memory with certain substances-or they were not people you had met more than a few times, it showed a lack of respect for the other person, like they did not matter, like they were not worth remembering
Autumn blushed as he referred to her as a damsel in distress, something about the way Brad said it did not make it sound like an insult where he thought she was weak-even though she knew she was. "Autumn Collins, first year Crotalus." She replied, nervously brushing her curly brown hair out of her face. The fact that Brad had sounded unenthusiastic did not exactly help to decrease Autumn's anxiety but she was glad it was because he disliked crossword puzzles and not her.
She just hoped the latter would remain true. So far, Autumn had not done too horribly with talking to people. She thought she'd got on with Nadi and Jane both well enough but that did not mean the streak of luck would continue. "I can take or leave them myself." Autumn admitted. It was just that she preferred them to well, the stuff they usually did in DADA.
But what they were doing did not matter that much when it came to the fact that they were being timed and competition was involved. Autumn had given up the idea of winning right out of the box but she still didn't want to fail. "Do you mind if we don't win this?" The Crotalus asked. Autumn feverently hoped so,it would help her feel a little less nervous, a little less sick to her stomach if she was working with someone who did not care about winning.
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Autumn
My hero!
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Autumn
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Brad
June 30, 2010 11:39 PM
That's <i>exactly</i> what I am! by Brad
“Autumn—I like that name,” he decided with a nod and a smile. “Can’t go wrong with seasons! You ever met anyone named Winter or Spring? It stinks that no parents seem to pick those names for their kids. I think every season deserves some representation!” He felt very passionately about the issue. One day, when he had children, he was one hundred percent sure he was going to name them after the seasons. It was simply the just thing to do!“Oh, I don’t mind if we don’t do it at all!” he told her, pushing the crossword aside. “Hate the things, myself…Unless they have to do with comic books, of course, but this one doesn’t.” The redhead shook his head and gave the crossword a disapproving look. His green eyes shifted their focus back to Autumn, looking at her with curiosity.
“You a comic book fan?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “I’m a fanatic, myself. Can’t get enough of ‘em. They’re really the best kind of books out there. They’re fun and exciting, and they don’t make your brain hurt with lines and lines of description—the artists give you all the description you need in their epic drawings! I can’t even remember the last time I read any other type of book.” He’d ignored his book assignments throughout his elementary school years back in Kansas. He didn’t have time for boring stuff like that when his huge collection of comics kept him so occupied. His parents were never happy with his English grade come report card time…
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Brad
That's <i>exactly</i> what I am!
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Brad
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Autumn
July 03, 2010 11:36 PM
Which is what I need by Autumn
"Um, thanks." Autumn replied."I haven't met anyone named Winter or Spring-or Summer either but I really haven't met that many people." She looked down at her desk embarassed. Brad might think her terribly sheltered for not knowing many other people. Of course, had she been born in a different season, she might have been named Winter,Spring or Summer."Actually, I probably should have been named after a plant or flower, as my older sister is Lily and my younger sister is Willow." Autumn generally felt like the oddly named one out of the three, something she generally did not like being. Of course, it could have been worse, as her sister's best friend had a younger sister named Strawberry. Besides, even though Autumn immensely hated being different in any way, she had always thought her name suited her. She couldn't imagine being named Rose or something.
And even in a class full of people with fairly normal names, Autumn's was not the most unusual, she was pretty sure that honor belonged to Kirstenna Melcher, and even her roommates had more unique names than she did. Previously, Autumn had never heard of the name Nadi-she'd heard of Nadia but not Nadi-and the world wasn't exactly full of Cosettes.
Actually, Autumn was sort of afraid that her name was not unusual enough with her year and house group and if things were based on names (which Autumn was sure they weren't and which would have been a silly way to sort things), she and Kirstenna probably should have switched rooms.
The fact that the Crotalus first year boys were named Sam and Nick was immensely comforting. Unless, of course, those turned out to be short for something other than Samuel or Nicholas.
Which brought her to another question. "Your name is nice too. Is Brad short for Bradley?" Autumn asked.
"Well, we kind of have to do the puzzle." She replied. The first year bit her lip, hating to disagree with Brad, as she didn't want him to get mad at her or think she was bossy. (Which would be strange, actually, Autumn was less assertive than everyone she knew, even Adam or her aunt Oleta.)
"I mean, I really do not want to fail." She added. Failing a class was unacceptable to her, not because anyone in her family would get mad at her, but because Autumn would be mad at herself. "I just don't think I can do this well enough to win."
Autumn shook her head. "I've never really read much for comic books." Admittedly she was more the myth and fairy tale type, though she probably should have been outgrowing the latter. "But artwork? Really?" She totally got what he was saying, as Autumn definitely preferred a clear picture of something rather than a general description of how it looked. In fact, she was better at doing things that way herself. It was one reason Autumn loved to draw and paint. She could paint a picture of something much better than she could describe it using words.
It surprised her too, to hear that Brad didn't read much for non-comic books. After all, he was an Aladren. Aladrens generally liked reading didn't they? But Brad seemed much more like a Teppenpaw as he was pretty nice and didn't like reading books or crosswords. "I'd like to see that." Autumn admitted shyly. "The artwork in the comic books, I mean."
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Autumn
Which is what I need
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Autumn
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Brad
July 06, 2010 1:28 PM
I'm glad to be of assistance by Brad
“You’re welcome,” Brad replied with a smile when she thanked him for the name compliment. “Well, at least you’re different from them,” he said when she told him about her sisters’ flowery names. “Your name’s unique—I think that’s the word?” He tilted his head slightly, wondering if his word choice was fitting; he wasn’t exactly a walking dictionary.“Your name is nice too.”
“Thanks!” he replied brightly. “Yeah, I don’t like Bradley, though—it sounds dorky. Brad gets the job done better.” He nodded decidedly.
The redhead frowned when Autumn insisted that they do the puzzle. “But it’s so boring…” He frowned as he looked at the crossword again. He looked back at Autumn; she seemed pretty concerned about completing the assignment. Well, he didn’t want her to be a Damsel in Distress. He supposed he’d have to just suck it up and do it. After biting his lip for a moment, he said, “Okay, we can do it.” His attitude remained unchanged, but he tried his best to pretend he was at least a tiny bit interested in doing the work. He slid his crossword back to the center of his desk. He furrowed his brow at the quill and ink on the side of his desk, taking out a pencil to use instead. It wasn’t like this was a formal essay or something—thank God—and it would be a pain not to be able to erase his answers, especially when he had no idea what he was doing.
“Aw, that’s a shame,” said Brad when Autumn revealed she wasn’t a big comic book reader like he was. Comics held a vast world that sparked the imagination, and the Aladren thought everyone should read them. They were as vital to Brad as food or water.
“I’d like to see that. The artwork in the comic books, I mean.”
“Oh—I have some comics right here!” he said excitedly, reaching into his book bag and pulling them out. “Which one do you wanna see—The Dark Knight Returns #1, The Flash #123, or Adventures of Superman #500? Personally, I like the Superman one the best, ‘cause he’s my favorite hero.” He grinned, very happy to discuss comics with someone.
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Brad
I'm glad to be of assistance
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Brad
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Autumn
July 11, 2010 6:30 PM
And I'm glad you are. by Autumn
Autumn nodded. The thing was she didn't like being unique. Unique was a euphemism for different and people who were different got picked on and excluded. They didn't make friends. That was what had happened to Nina's older brother Adam and in fact, Nina herself. Autumn's cousin, whom she would have thought would have been popular as she was similar to the type of person Lily said became popular at Sonora, aside from that she was nicer and less arrogant, had confided in Autumn about she felt left out among her roommates because they were on the Quidditch team and Nina was not allowed to play.Still, nobody made fun of her for her name being different than Lily's and Willow's and Autumn was happy about that. It wasn't real likely that they would either, as Lily was long graduated and Autumn would be by the time Willow got here. The only one who knew was Brad now and he seemed to think being unique was a good thing.
"It's not on purpose. That my name is different, I mean." Autumn explained. "My sister Lily had a different mom and her name is for some long dead ancestor, Lilith Brockert. Then when my sister Willow was born, it was a name my parents liked. They wouldn't have singled me out as different or deliberately gone with a theme anyway." The Crotalus felt comfortable telling Brad this, she felt comfortable with him.
She continued. "But if you want to be called Brad, then I'll call you that." It didn't matter to Autumn, if that was what he wanted. She wanted him to like her and she would not do anything to ruin her chances of that.
"I'm sorry." Autumn apologized, when Brad said the puzzle was boring. Suddenly, she was worried again that he wouldn't like her if she insisted they do it, but she didn't want to get in trouble. "It seems like a lot of it is review." She added, hoping that would make it seem easier for him. "If we get it done fast, we won't have to worry about it." That would be good for her too as Autumn was a worrier. "Then we can talk about names and comic books and whatever else we want."
"I guess I'll look at the Superman one then." She said, going with Brad's recommendation. Autumn had never heard of any of those things, and she assumed they were muggle comics. However, she didn't want to tell Brad she hadn't heard of these comics because she was afraid he wouldn't like her.
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Autumn
And I'm glad you are.
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Autumn
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Brad
July 12, 2010 12:39 AM
What a nice balance by Brad
Brad listened curiously as Autumn explained the origin of her name. “Doesn’t matter if it’s on purpose or not,” he replied. “Your name’s different either way, and that's good.” He smiled at her reassuringly.“No need to apologize,” he told her. “You haven’t done anything wrong, Autumn.” He didn’t like it when people felt that they were wrongdoers if they were perfectly innocent. Wrongdoing was reserved for evil souls, like Lex Luthor, the Green Goblin, or the Joker—the thought of the Joker sent a shiver down his spine. His parents hadn’t permitted him to see The Dark Knight movie because they’d deemed it inappropriate, but he’d still seen snippets of it in TV ads. The Joker’s face—especially those eyes—had made it impossible for Brad to sleep at night when he’d first witnessed the ad. Michael, one of his six older brothers, had dressed up as the Joker for Halloween a couple years ago. Brad wouldn't admit it, of course, but the costume had scared the jeepers out of him, and the nightmares had returned for a solid couple of weeks afterward. As he looked at Autumn, he decided there was no way on earth that she could possibly stoop to such a low, terrifying level as the Joker's!
Brad tried to resist the urge to frown because he didn’t want Autumn to feel bad, but he couldn’t help it as she suggested that they get it done fast. He wasn’t good with puzzles, so there was no way he was going to be able to do it quickly. But since Autumn was so eager, maybe it wouldn’t be so hard.
“All right,” he said with a nod, smiling in anticipation when she mentioned that they’d get to discuss comics once they finished. “Good choice!” he added when she picked out the Superman issue. “You won’t be disappointed by that one, lemme tell ya!” He grinned enthusiastically.
“Let’s get started, then…‘Goblin-like creature that loves bloodshed’—the Green Goblin!” he exclaimed immediately. He looked to 2-Across in excitement, but there weren’t nearly enough boxes to fit the supervillain’s name. “Nuts!” he said, snapping his finger.
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Brad
What a nice balance
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Brad
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Autumn
July 14, 2010 6:51 PM
And balance is good. by Autumn
Autumn smiled. Brad seemed so nice and easy to talk to and generally, that was the type of person she preferred to be around. The Crotalus felt uncomfortable around people who didn't seem so. Chelsea, for example, was someone Autumn felt massively intimidated by even though she'd never actually said anything mean about Autumn. She did,however, say mean things about Lily and Nina, who had always been kind to her.She didn't completely agree, however, that it was good to be unique. Maybe in terms of her artwork which was an expression of who she was inside but usually when all were the same except one, that one got singled out and made fun of by the others.
Not that her sisters did that to her, ever. Willow looked up to Autumn and Autumn looked up to Lily, even though she knew she would never be as bold and brave as her older sister. Yet the first year still admired her.
Autumn also felt something like relief when Brad said she had nothing to apologize for. She was always somehow worried that she did. She wasn't sure why, Autumn had never been a scapegoat at home and nobody treated her poorly there. Still, for some reason Autumn couldn't stand the thought of someone blaming her for something.
She grinned genuinely at Brad. Autumn could tell he was as passionate about comics as she was about her painting and drawing. The Crotalus also somewhat envied his ability to be so vocal about what he loved. Autumn generally didn't share her artwork with many people or even that she did it. Some people might make fun of her for being artsy (and shy) rather than athletic (and outgoing).
"I think it's red cap actually." She replied. Autumn was not entirely sure. Professor Levy had told them that the creatures were things she wanted to familiarize them with but they weren't at the moment."I know the spells a little better." She admitted.
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Autumn
And balance is good.
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Autumn
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