Professor Levy
October 04, 2010 11:01 PM
Beginner Level (First and Second Years): Lesson I by Professor Levy
“Pop quiz time!” Erika’s voice rang out once all the students were settled. “Please put your books and papers away.” She started passing out the papers face down. “Don’t turn your quiz over until I tell you to. If you’ve been doing your homework and paying attention in class, this quiz should be fairly easy and if you haven’t, well, good luck and don’t think about cheating. If I catch you looking at anyone else’s paper or doing anything else that constitutes cheating, you’ll not only earn yourself a zero on the quiz, but a month’s worth of detention.” Handing out the last paper, she made her way back to her desk. Taking her seat, she said, “You may turn over your quiz and begin.”Name:
Year:
House:
1. What is the spell used to light the top of one’s wand? What are the derivatives of the spell?
2. What does Petrificus Totalus do?
3. What is the spell used to disarm an opponent?
4. What spell does one use to reveal a spell?
5. If one were lost, what spell would be used?
6. What plant does Flitterbloom resemble? Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled?
7. What spell is used to unlock doors?
8. What does stupefy do?
9. What spell is used to seal a door?
10. What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes?
Once everyone had turned in the quiz in the allotted amount of time, Erika began the lecture for the day. “Please open your books to page 139 to on Immobulus.” She waited a moment to allow the students to flip through their books. “Immobulus is a charm used to freeze objects where they are. It doesn’t hurt them, though, like some other defensive and offensive spells, but it does allow for what it is cast upon to stop moving completely. This can be used to slow down a falling object or person as well as to hinder something or someone on the attack.” She didn’t mean to scare them, but the entire point of taking a defense class was to learn…well…defense.
“To perform the spell, point your wand like so and then circle around like this,” she said, demonstrating the spell. At the end of her circle, she said, “Immobulus. Now, then I want everyone to come up here and get a container of spiders. Don’t worry. They aren’t poisonous. They don’t even bite. I want you to practice the Immobulus spell on them. You may work alone or in groups. If you have any questions about the material, feel free to ask. No homework tonight since I was a mean professor and gave a pop quiz.”
OOC: Standard posting rules apply. Minimum of ten sentences following basic spelling and grammar rules. Detail and creativity earn more points. Have fun!
Subthreads: Aiming for an 80 by Nicodemus Sawyer with Valentina Bentancourt [Teppenpaw]
Not my day by Autumn Collins with Renée Errant
Not my idea of fun by Jordan Adair, Crotalus with Neal Padrig, Pecari, Jordan
The Spider Lady by Kirstenna Melcher with Sam Bauer, Crotalus
Doing my best by Ryan O'Malley with Sara Raines, Pecari
Resignation really is the key to life. by Daisy Thorpe, Crotalus with Sophia Randolph [Pecari], Daisy
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Professor Levy
Beginner Level (First and Second Years): Lesson I
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Professor Levy
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Ryan O'Malley
October 10, 2010 2:13 PM
Doing my best by Ryan O'Malley
Defense was one class above all others that Ryan felt it was necessary to be good at. His mother had yet to do anything physical or magical to him but the young Crotalus wanted to be prepared in case she ever tried it, though he wasn't sure he'd have the courage if the time came. She was Ryan's mother for Merlin's sake.Granted, it didn't seem to matter to her so it shouldn't really matter to him, but it did. It really did. Still, Ryan just wanted to be able to protect himself.
Besides, he wasn't even sure he was capable of being good at DADA. It was a very physical class and Ryan wasn't a very physical person.His grandmother, being under the wrong impression that he was physically fragile, wouldn't let him do much that was. Plus, Ryan couldn't even get his broom up in flying.
Fortunately, the first year didn't have to worry about it right off the bat today. Unfortunately, that meant they were having a pop quiz. Ryan knew he had to do well. He didn't want to get another howler. Of course, given the last one came even though he had done nothing wrong, Ryan was sure they were unavoidable.
Name: Ryan O'Malley
Year: First
House:Crotalus
1. What is the spell used to light the top of one’s wand? What are the derivatives of the spell? Lumos, Lux, Lucis. One can also use bluebell flames to light things up.
2. What does Petrificus Totalus do? Makes someone unable to move at all
3. What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? Expelliarmus
4. What spell does one use to reveal a spell? Specialis Revelio
5. If one were lost, what spell would be used? Point Me
6. What plant does Flitterbloom resemble? Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled? Devil's Snare, which is the dangerous one. It can be repelled by relaxing.
7. What spell is used to unlock doors? Alohamora
8. What does stupefy do? Makes someone unconscious
9. What spell is used to seal a door?Colloportus
10. What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes?
Protego
That finished, Ryan sat quietly waiting for the rest of the class to be done as well. He hoped he had got everything right. Ryan needed to do well on whatever he could in the hopes that maybe, just maybe his mother would be happy with him for once. He was half convinced that the only way to get her to leave him alone was to get perfect scores.
He listened carefully as Professor Levy gave the lecture, wanting to make sure he got everything right. When it was finished, Ryan went up to get a jar of spiders. He took it back to his desk and looked down at it. He really didn't want to hurt the spiders but it was more important to get good grade. Ryan gave the jar an apologetic look and took out his wand.
However, before he could do the spell, he heard someone approach him. Ryan looked up and asked. "Hi, do you want to work with me on this?"
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Ryan O'Malley
Doing my best
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Ryan O'Malley
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Sara Raines, Pecari
October 11, 2010 5:09 PM
Everyone should always try to do their best. by Sara Raines, Pecari
She felt a skittering of nerves at the words, but Sara felt confident enough of her knowledge of the material the class had been covering for the past few weeks to meet a pop quiz with her usual polite, slightly inquisitive coming-to-class smile in place. It was always hard to tell how well she was doing, but Sara had made it a goal early on to win over all the professors, and seeming willing, even happy, to come to their classes seemed like it would help with that.Adults were often annoying, but they could be very useful. They had power, especially here. At minimum - which, she'd reluctantly conceded, might be as much as she'd be able to get from Transfiguration - she couldn't have one disliking her openly, no matter how she felt about one in return.
"Thank you," she said when Professor Levy handed her one of the papers, then put it, as instructed, questions-side down on the desk in front of her.
It wasn't, as the professor had said, too very hard. The first question worried her most, since she had a nagging feeling she was leaving out an example or had confused a spell here with one from Charms, but she didn't think it would be enough to seriously hurt her score even if that feeling was right. Besides, she had that feeling all the time, and it was seldom right.
Once everyone was done, she flipped with them to the page where the newest spell was and raised her eyebrows a bit. This spell would be useful if anything ever did happen - though, of course, she suspected it would not; her father was an influential man, but he lived in the shadow of his cousins, and since Alan had been born, she'd just been a girl - and it was acceptable for a lady because it would hold off an attacker without actually doing damage that might indicate an unsound mind, but she thought it would take a little more energy than most of the things she had tried before.
She contemplated removing her shoes if they had to work together, but decided against it. She could walk as well in her one-inch heels now as well as anyone else could in flats, and there was something a little too undignified about fighting barefoot. Besides, she didn't know who else might have been barefoot here, and thought she might be even more likely to slip that way anyway.
The dilemma was resolved once and for all, though, by the announcement that she was going to be fighting spiders, not classmates. She didn't like spiders, but nor did she dislike them so much that it would send her into fits to be near one, and she could get to know her peers much better when there wasn't that sense of competition that practicing spells on each other brought up.
Her mother had been pleased with her progress thus far, but had made specific notes about making sure to introduce herself to Ryan O'Malley and Eliza Bennett as well. Ryan was of suitable status to at least consider marrying, and Eliza lived in their state. That made it important that she try to be on at least civil terms with them. She decided to start with Ryan, simply because he was closer to where she happened to have started out sitting. When he spoke to her first as she approached, sparing her from appearing too audacious, she took it as cosmic confirmation that this had been the correct option.
"If you don't mind," she said, carefully holding her jar of spiders between the tips of her fingers in a way that, she thought, looked like she just happened to have done it from delicacy instead of trying to look delicate. "I don't think we've been introduced yet. My name is Sara Raines."
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Sara Raines, Pecari
Everyone should always try to do their best.
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Sara Raines, Pecari
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Ryan
October 17, 2010 1:55 PM
I usually do. by Ryan
Ryan shook his head. "I don't mind. Hi Sara, I'm Ryan O'Malley. It's nice to meet you." He hoped that sounded polite enough. Sara was a Raines and Ryan knew them to be pureblood even though he didn't know the pureblood families by heart. Of the little attention his mother paid to him, one thing she wanted him to know was the pureblood families, so he wouldn't offend them and she had given him a book on geneology to look at so, in order to memorize them. Ryan had not done so though he had tried.It was probably the only thing she ever had given him. Ryan did get presents on his birthday and his dad put used to put her name on them, but at some point decided it was an insult to Ryan's intelligence to do so. His dad knew better, he really did. Ryan felt sort of bad for him because he tried so hard and couldn't do enough.
It made Ryan feel very guilty too. He often felt like everything was his fault, all the fighting and whatnot-and indeed his sister and mother would tell him that it was. Ryan felt it would be just better for him to live with his grandparents full time when he wasn't at school.
He wasn't just trying to save himself from having to deal with her-okay he was but that wasn't the whole reason. Ryan thought his family would genuninely be happier without him there. His parents wouldn't fight and he wouldn't be yelled at and tormented by his mom and Carrie. The only ones that might not be better off were the house-elves because there wouldn't be someone to take the blame for them.
But right now, Ryan couldn't dwell on it. He had to do his DADA lesson with Sara. He hoped she would like him. Ryan didn't really want any enemies. "Do you want me to go first?" Ryan asked out of both chivalry and a desire to be liked. His mother would probably kill him if he made a girl work with spiders first. Actually, she'd probably have a fit that pureblood girls like Sara had to work with spiders in the first place and somehow make it Ryan's fault.
"I'm not exactly sure what we're supposed to do work together, to be honest." Ryan just liked having someone to talk to while he worked, in hopes the person would become his friend. He needed all that he could get.
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Ryan
I usually do.
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Ryan
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Sara
October 17, 2010 7:38 PM
What about the other times? by Sara
It was still a little unusual to be called Sara by someone she had just met, and she had the notion that the failure to address her as Miss Raines for that one moment before she granted permission to a new acquaintance to call her by her given name was tied somehow to a lower social status than her own, but she smiled charmingly just the same. "And you," she said, taking care to push away her emotions so they didn't show up in place of what she wanted on her face. She wasn't sure, since he confirmed that she had not somehow walked up to the wrong person, what it meant that he hadn't observed the protocols, so she was going to play safely for now.If it was merely that Ryan wanted to belong to the informal culture of Sonora, well, that was all right. Sara was in Pecari for a reason, and part of it was usually being able to adjust her behavior to the situation. If Sonorans wished to be familiar with her, on the basis that they would spend seven years together more often than they were with their families, then she would allow them to do that, and be familiar with them in return.
If it was that Ryan thought being an O'Malley was somehow better than being a Raines, or that being male somehow gave him privileges that she was to be denied, and was trying to show superiority by calling her Sara, then she would still be polite and charming. That way, she incurred no wrath from her parents or social censure, and he would have no idea who it was going out of her way to make him uncomfortable much later in their acquaintance.
Sara didn't think of herself as a malicious person. She did not enjoy putting people down, the way some of her family did, and she would never actually hurt anyone on purpose. It was just that she couldn't let someone insult her and not know, for herself, that they hadn't gotten away with that. If she ever did, then she was afraid she'd be like Aunt Lila, or Aunt Ellie, or Catherine, or even her own mother. Witches who had to smile and smile while their own husbands insulted them to their faces - sometimes, with her father and Theo Gardiner, without even seeming to realize what they were doing.
She was going to be like Aunt Margaret. Aunt Margaret did not defy the social order, like some women. She'd married extremely well, especially for the family status at that point, and had children, and she was perfectly deferential to Antonio in public all the time. Everyone knew, though, that she was the one arranging all sort of things behind the scenes - there were whispered stories of marriages and assassinations and elections and so forth; Sara didn't find it implausible - and that her husband, far from being outraged, respected her. Father loved Mother, Sara was sure of that, but he didn't respect her very much.
It was how he and Mother felt about Sara, too. They loved her, and they took pride in her little accomplishments, but in the end, she was - a girl. She was a drain on expenses, with her dowry, and once she died, it was very possible that whatever advantage her marriage had gained for the family would evaporate unless she was another Margaret, which most girls were not. Her parents didn't think she was. She was determined to show them otherwise.
Ryan's offer to go first indicated at least the superficial respect one gave to a lady of means, though, so she let the matter drop in her head as she smiled at him again. "If you like," she said, pushing her jar of spiders away just a hair.
Her expression became thoughtful as he offered up yet another statement she didn't quite know the meaning of. He was enigmatic. Sara almost liked that. It meant she might have a bit of a challenge on her hands to win him over to her. "Well, most people have trouble the first time they try a spell," she said, careful to avoid the absolute. It would let him think, if he wanted, that she thought he didn't understand because he was too superior to them all to need to. "If you have someone else watching you, then that person might see what you did wrong, or hear how you mispronounce or - oh, I don't know a word - mis-emphasize something."
All true, but not the advice she'd been given at home on why to always take partner opportunities. The school was not completely oblivious to the real world, and in that world, it was important to have connections outside of the little boxes the Houses put them in. Why, in her real world, almost everyone she would meet would be a Crotalus. If she stayed only with Pecari, she would be hopeless when she graduated and needed friends to rely on. Sara would remain friendly with her, because it was useful, but she was already sure Sophie was not going to be a very good contact for her once they were adults, and Marcus, though she liked him more, would only be of use if she married an actual politician from the area he ended up living in and she needed to gather intelligence on the state of the Muggleborn community. Class was where she would have to begin the connections that could blossom into useful relationships in the dining hall and library and gardens.
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Sara
What about the other times?
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Sara
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Ryan
October 23, 2010 5:57 PM
Those times, I just can't win. by Ryan
It wasn't long before Ryan realized his faux pas. "I am so sorry, Miss Raines. I didn't mean to call you by your first name without your permission." The Crotalus apologized to his classmate profusely. He was from an important pureblood family-two actually, his mother belonged to the most pureb important pureblood family in Colorado and one of the most influential between the Mississippi River and California-and was well aware that the Raines family was just as good as the O'Malleys and Brockerts, but Ryan was not used to being around other pureblood children. His mother had never really thought that he was worthy of socializing with them and if he was home for one of his sister's lavish birthday parties, he was to stay in his room, make no noise and pretend not to be there. As far as Ryan was concerned, it would be better if he just wasn't.Unfortunately, the only children Ryan had met prior to Sonora were his sister and cousins and it would have been weird to call Arabella and Amity both 'Miss Brockert' not to mention confusing. He didn't even-thankfully-have to call Carrie 'Miss O'Malley' possibly because Ryan was not supposed to address his little sister at all. (Another thing he was really okay with as his sister was just plain mean to him.)
Still, his mom would be very very very mad at him if she somehow found out Ryan had referred to Miss Raines as Sara without permission. Actually, come to think of it, his mother would probably not want him to call her Sara even if she did, but Ryan was so much more comfortable using first names.
Plus, Ryan did not want to offend Sar-Miss Raines. He just wanted her to like him. Not because of any pureblood status they both posessed but just because he didn't want enemies and conflict. Ryan got enough of that at home.
He looked at his partner. What she had said seemed incredibly intelligent. "I never thought of it that way." Ryan replied. The people in his class sure seemed awfully smart. Sophie was amazing at Potions and her roommate seemed to be just as clever. Not to mention the Aladrens and some of the second years. "I'll give it a try then." He smiled shyly over at her. "Tell me what I do wrong, ok?" The Crotalus only hoped that she would be nicer about it than his mother was.
Ryan pulled out his wand and waved it over the jar, using the motion and inflection that Professor Levy had taught them. " Immobulus. "
About half the legs on two of the spiders stopped moving. The rest seemed to be in the same condition as before. Ryan winced, which he hoped Sara, er Miss Raines, would take it as him being embarassed about not getting it right rather than sympathy for the spiders. Somehow, being half immobilized seemed worse to him than being totally immobilized but Ryan didn't want Miss Raines to think he was too sensitive. Boys were not supposed to empathize when they immobilized bugs. They were supposed to be tough.
He looked over at the Pecari. "Do you want me to try again or would you like to?" Whatever she wanted was likely to be what Ryan would do.
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Ryan
Those times, I just can't win.
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Ryan
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Sara
October 27, 2010 10:55 PM
But you should always try anyway. by Sara
Sara laughed politely when Ryan began to apologize to her. All was well, then. It had just been a slip of the tongue, one encouraged by how school society worked. They had been here long enough for that to happen. She would have to be careful of her own manners. "It's quite all right," she said. "It's what people do here. May I call you Ryan?"Manners were very well, but she had to survive here. Work here. Sticking to principles no one around her held would be silly. Besides, she found many of them tiresome anyway.
She flushed slightly at what she read as praise - he hadn't thought of what she thought of, he thought it was worth a try, a pureblood boy thought she had a good idea - and smiled back, genuinely this time. Maybe he wouldn't be much of a challenge to like after all. "All right," she said. "Er - I mean, I'll watch. You. Not that I think you're going to do something wrong."
Stupid, stupid, stupid, she scolded herself. She wasn't used to people her own age, and it was making her slip up that this one was being amiable.
Luckily, he didn't do anything wrong. It didn't work all the way, but it wasn't a failure. "That's very good," she said, leaning further toward Ryan's desk to see. "Sometimes you just have to - work up a spell. To make it strong enough to work." She wasn't sure why he was giving her all the control, but she didn't feel completely comfortable dominating the situation. Not openly, with his consent. "Why don't I try now, and then you try, and we can alternate until we both have it?"
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Sara
But you should always try anyway.
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Sara
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