Professor Levy

February 03, 2011 5:07 PM
Erika watched from behind her massive mahogany desk to see the reactions from her students as they walked into the classroom and saw a panther circling the room. Of course, this wasn’t an actual panther since it was fairly translucent and glowing, but it was still impressive if she did say so herself. Though, anyone that was an Auror, like some of her friends that had come to her wedding over the summer, wouldn’t have been quite so awed. Being able to cast a patronus was a requirement for being an Auror for all the obvious and not so obvious reasons. Many of which she would be discussing today.

Once everyone had taken their seats, Erika moved from behind her desk to sit on it. “As probably all of you know, the panther stalking around the room is a patronus, my patronus and as many of you have probably guessed, that’s what we’re going to begin discussing and working on. Anyone that has hopes of becoming an Auror must be able to master this spell,” she warned those that had aspirations of such a dangerous career. She had once been an Auror, one of the best and youngest, and quite often she missed the excitement of the field. Sometimes she considered going back and maybe she wouldn’t be able to be out in the field anymore, but maybe working in the Investigations unit.

“In terms of protection, the patronus is most effective against dementors and lethifolds. In fact, this is the only spell that truly works. Just for review, dementors and lethifolds are both dark creatures. Dementors will drain every last bit of hope and happiness from a person and the worst thing they do is the Dementor’s Kiss where they suck the very soul out of a person and leave nothing left, but an empty shell. As for lethifolds, I suppose they’re a bit better than dementors since they won’t leave a person a living without a soul. The lethifold looks like a thick black cloak, about half-inch thick. It will attack a sleeping person in their bed, smother them, and digest them. They leave absolutely no trace at all so if someone suddenly disappears that might be what happened.”

She paused for a moment. Her gray eyes glanced around the darkened atmosphere of the room. “Of course, this is assuming the person was visiting the tropics since this is the only place they’re found and are still pretty rare.” Erika brushed her dark hair back out of her face. Admittedly, she wanted to scare them, make them realize how important it was to learn these lessons. Not only for their exams, but for just their safety in the world. It wasn’t just the magical one either, because how often did people – wizards and muggles alike – just disappear without a trace? Not to mention all the other things that could occur. At the same time, she needed them to stay focused on the lesson. If they couldn’t perform the lesson in a safe environment, they weren’t going to have any hope if they were in real danger.

So, it was on to the other point. “The patronus is not only good for protection, it’s also good for delivering messages. If you wanted to warn someone or if you needed help, sending a patronus is very effective. They are able to deliver a message and the patronus will take on your voice or you can use it to lead a person to where you are or even a particular spot.” At this point, she demonstrated just what she meant. Some might have already seen a deliverance of one, but some might not have and there was nothing better than showing. One the other side of the room, her panther seemingly spoke, “Very effective.”

Erika drew their attention back to her. “Today, we’ll start with casting the patronus spell. Keep in mind that your patronus is a reflection of yourself and can transform with extraordinary emotional change. To perform the spell, simply point your wand like so,” she brandished her wand, “and say Expecto Patronum. Once everyone has a handle on the patronus charm, we will move on to working with pogrebins, because they produce feelings similar to a dementor, but on a lower scale. If anyone finishes early, you may try passing messages back and forth with someone. I’ll be around if you have any questions or need help. You may begin.”

OOC: Normal posting rules apply! Minimum of ten sentences with no major grammatical or spelling errors. Remember, the more lengthy and creative the post, the more points earned. Enjoy!
Subthreads:
0 Professor Levy Advanced Level (5th & 6th Years): Lesson I 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy)

February 04, 2011 11:30 AM
Daniel entered the DADA classroom with a determined step that came to a stuttering halt as soon as he saw the panther. All thoughts of - whatever he'd been thinking when he entered the room - were immediately replaced by quick reasoning:

There is a panther in the room. Panthers are dangerous predators. No, it's a ghost of a panther. No, it's not a ghost either, I've seen some of the school ghosts and it's different. Professor Levy doesn't look concerned. It's probably safe. Take a seat but keep an eye on it anyway.

So Daniel sat down, acting cool like a not-ghost-panther stalked his classrooms all the time. His eyes followed it idly, as if it was just something to look at because it was moving and not because it was potentially dangerous. He brought out his notebook and quill and readied himself for the lesson.

A Patronus. That made sense. He'd read about those, he just hadn't seen one before.

Assured now that the translucent large cat wasn't a threat to him, Daniel was able to concentrate on taking down notes on everything Professor Levy said about them. Watching carefully while she demonstrated the spell, he added a few personal notes on the pronunciation and wand motions, and then put the notebook aside.

It was time to try it himself.

While he had no plans to become an auror (his future career plans were currently a bit vague, but he was fairly certain becoming auror wasn't among them - too much chance of becoming maimed or scarred), he still wanted to be able to perform the spell. He was an Aladren, after all, even if DADA wasn't exactly his best class.

His first try didn't really do anything. A small wisp of glowing fog that dissipated almost as soon as it formed, but that was it. Second try looked brighter and larger but never really coalesced into anything recognizable. The third attempt was closer still but what Daniel was taking for four legs were just round blobs and the main body didn't even have a distinguishable head.

The fourth try, though, the fourth try it became clear. He'd glanced down at his Head Boy badge just before casting it, and that extra buoy to his spirits seemed to have done the trick. He had a fully formed patronus.

Daniel sort of stared at it in disbelief. His mouth opened twice without emitting any sound. The third try, though, he managed to say, "There is no way my patronus is Matt Bealer's cop car from Street Beat."

Unfortunately, the evidence in front of him spoke strongly to the contrary.
1 Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) That can't be what I think that is. 130 Daniel Nash II, Aladren (and Head Boy) 0 5


Jethro Smythe

February 09, 2011 11:09 AM
Jethro Smyte entered the DADA class just as he entered every class: late, clumsily tripping on the edge of his robes, and having no idea what was going on. He somehow managed to make his way to a seat and get his quill and notebook out of his bag before the class properly started. He liked Professor Levy - she didn't ever shout at him for being late. She didn't really seem the sort to shout at all, actually, particularly at a student. It made it easier for Jethro to listen to a professor if he had no reason to fear them, and he was therefore more likely to pass the class if his professors didn't scold him.

Unfortunately, though Professor Levy was being in no way threatening, she did introduce students' attention to a panther patronus not long after she started talking, and that's where Jethro's attention was redirected for the duration of the professor's introduction. He watched the glowing panther prowl around the room, turning the world beneath its feet. Then it spoke in Professor Levy's voice, and Jethro blinked at it. Luckily this was sufficient to draw his attention back to the Professor for the most important part of the instructions for the class. Lucky he was watching the panther and not another student or something.

When everyone started practising, Jethro held off a few moments to watch others do and say the spell first. He found this helped him to have some sort of idea of what it was he was supposed to be doing. particularly with this spell, lots of people were saying it quite loudly, so it was unlikely that Jethro would forget it before the end of the class. It was, he realized, just as unlikely that he would create a patronus by the end of the class, and not just because he was useless, and not just because there were sixth years in this class too so it must be hard, and not just because he knew some adults who had trouble producing a patronus, but a combination of all these three reasons with maybe a few he hadn't yet considered, too.

Nevertheless, Jethro was the sort to give up, especially before he'd even given the spell a try. So, raising his wand, he copied the movements and incantations and produced nothing. Twice. three times, in fact. his fourth go produced a very fine, silvery whisp that was sufficient to convince Jethro he was doing the spell right. He was preparing to cast the spell a fifth time, when a voice behind him said lots of words that jethro didn't understand. In spite of himself, he turned to look, and saw the Head Boy Daniel Nash looking at a patronus that he had presumably created, but that didn't look like anything Jethro had ever seen before. "You got the spell to work," Jethro commented lightly before he remembered that he was only supposed to speak when spoken to. Embarrassed, he hastily went back to his fifth attempt, which produced an effect similar to his fourth; the whisp dissipated after a few seconds.
0 Jethro Smythe Why not? 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 18, 2011 12:05 PM
Daniel turned as his remark was met with a comment that suggested he should be pleased that he'd met a minimum requirement of being actually able to pull off a patronus at all. Expecting James Anthony, he blinked when he found it was Jethro Smythe instead, and he was, it seemed, having genuine trouble performing the spell. So maybe it actually had been a compliment rather than a veiled insult.

Daniel forgot, sometimes, that the rest of the school was not held to the same high Aladren standards that James set for their year, that not everybody was involved in an academic battle for supremacy and bragging rights.

A battle, unfortunately, that Daniel was not well positioned to win. He'd place, he had no doubt about that, but despite the genius he liked to fake, Daniel was not actually gifted with an abnormally high intelligence. He got through on willpower, determination, and hard work. The rivalry with James gave him fuel, his ego refused to bow even when logic said he shouldn't have a chance, and when he told himself he could do it anyway, he was a first class liar who believed his own propaganda.

And even if he didn't always - or even often - beat James academically, he was still in the top five of every class he'd continued into the RATS level.

Not bad for a kid who regularly got low Bs in his elementary school and dropped out of his highly-ranked private school in order to pursue an acting career he didn't even want and get taught by studio tutors in a bland room with folding tables and uncomfortable chairs.

So he watched Jethro fail to make a patronus and wondered if that would have been him if he'd been sorted anywhere else.

And he was glad, really glad, he'd turned blue six years ago. He kind of liked this whole being-smart thing. He liked the rush of accomplishment he got when he pulled off a spell correctly or got back a homework or test with a perfect grade. He liked success.

"Do you want help?" he asked, not wanting to butt in where he wasn't welcome, but feeling bad that Jethro wasn't having any success of his own.

1 Daniel Nash II It's not even a <I>real</i> police car! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5


Jethro

February 20, 2011 10:27 AM
Would his silvery whisp even make a Dementor anxious, Jethro wondered as his sixth attempt produced the same effect, or would they see it as a sign of weakness that an attempt at a patronus had failed? Would he perhaps be better off not even trying to cast the spell and in fact just running away? Jethro thought he might have had a better chance at the second option if he could run well, but in honesty his running was about as commendable as his spell casting. he was slow, he tired quickly, and he had a propensity to trip up over his own feet. Perhaps it was worth his while to perfect the patronus, even if the possibility of him being attacked by a Dementor outside of the classroom was wildly remote. Besides, Jethro considered as his seventh attempt gave him the fourth silvery whisp of the day, he usually got the hang of spells in the end. It took him a long time and it wasn't very strong magic that he produced, but he was determined not to get kicked out of school. What would he do then?

"Do you want help?" Jethro blinked and turned to see that it was Daniel Nash who'd spoken to him. Jethro had forgotten he was there already, having moved on from commenting on the sixth year's complete patronus to work on his own incomplete product. He wondered why Daniel was asking - was he offering his own services or would he call over Professor Levy? In in the second instance did he think Jethro would be a danger, or otherwise embarrassment, if he continued working alone? And in the first instance, why would he help? It could be due to fear of danger or embarrassment, Jethro supposed, or he could be hoping to impart advice because he himself had been successful. Considering that Daniel Nash was Head Boy, nominated by staff and voted for by students, this last scenario did seem likely, but if that were the case then Jethro ought to let him be to develop his own work because he knew he would be a waste of valuable time. In any case, he had asked if Jethro wanted help, rather than if he needed help, which was a more difficult question to answer. Jethro knew he needed help, he always did and always had, but whether Daniel would be in a position to provide it was another matter. Furthermore, he wasn't sure if he really wanted help, especially additional help, especially from a classmate who might have better things to do, because he already had assistance from his sister and cousin Dana and professors and textbooks so if he couldn't improve with all these resources already in use he doubted whether one more person could make a significant difference.

"I don't want to take up your time if you have something more productive to be doing," Jethro said, wishing not for the first time that he was more eloquent, like his sister (yet another way in which he had failed to develop satisfactorily), "but if you have any suggestions that you think I might find useful then I would be happy to hear them." This was true, in fact, in all aspects of life, but Jethro had meant it in context of the class assignment on this occasion, and fully expected Daniel to interpret it thus.
0 Jethro What's your point? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 22, 2011 12:23 PM
"More productive?" Daniel repeated, and looked around the classroom. He'd been one of the quickest students to produce a full patronus (not too surprising given the cloud of glee he'd been riding since he'd been named Head Boy and the spell's propensity to be strengthened by positive emotion) so the pogrebin hadn't come out yet. "Not immediately."

He'd watched Jethro's last attempt fairly closely, so he'd noticed a few little things he could offer. "Your diction is good, and your wand motion is okay," not quite as crisp as Daniel's own, but within acceptable parameters or Jethro wouldn't even be getting a whisp.

"Maybe sharpen it up a little." He demonstrated what he meant, "Like this," he showed the clean movement, "instead of like this," he showed how Jethro had done it. His skill at mimicry was one of the reasons he did as well as he did at pretending to be a Sonora genius. A fair number of classes required little more than perfect repetition and conviction to pull off the practical effects. "See the difference?"

"Also," he added, and this was the important part, though if he criticized too much he'd probably do more damage than help, "try to sound like you mean it. Like you know it will work. You don't have to actually believe it, just sound like you do. Enough to trick yourself for a couple of seconds. And, well, smile," Daniel finished with a smile of his own, because sometimes just faking happy produced happy-like side effects.
1 Daniel Nash II I've got a <i>TV prop</i> riding to my rescue! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5


Jethro

February 23, 2011 12:01 PM
It seemed that Daniel was going to attempt to help. Jethro wasn't going to argue, certainly not as Daniel Nash was Head Boy, and even Cynthia had said that it was best not to argue with figures of authority unless there was very good reason. jethro didn't have very good reason, and in fact if Daniel did help him then he would certainly appreciate it.

Daniel began by saying that Jethro's diction was good. the fifth year couldn't help being momentarily hung up on this because people rarely told him he was good at anything, so being good at even something as basic as diction surprised him. He'd always thought he couldn't possibly be completely useless. His wand movement was okay, too, but when Daniel showed him how to do it better, Jethro was confused.

"No, I'm sorry," he replied to the question that may or may not have been rhetorical, "I don't see the difference. Could you show me again? Slowly?" It always helped Jethro if things were taught to him slowly. His brain just didn't keep up if things happened too quickly, or quickly at all, in fact.

Daniel's next piece of advice was to sound like he thought it would work. This concept confused Jethro enormously. His sister had told him that Daniel was an actor (he didn't know how she knew so much about everyone but he was happy for her help in getting along well with his peers), which meant he was very good at doing and saying things he didn't really mean. Jethro, on the other hand, never did or said things he didn't mean. If he didn't mean it then why would he say it? The concept was backwards and upside down at the same time. "But I do mean it," he said. "I want to do the spell, I just don't think I can, and if I don't think I can then I can't act like I think I can because... well I don't think I can," he explained in very clear and concise terms.

Finally Daniel suggested that he smile. Jethro could smiel. He didn't do it very often, but he'd learned it made his mother happy if he smiled when he received a gift or good news or when he saw his relations. The Crotalus raised his eyebrows a little and pulled up the corners of his mouth into a tight-lipped expression that fit the description of a smile, somehow without making him look any more cheerful. Hopeful, possibly, but not more cheerful. This merely presented another problem. "I smile with my mouth closed, so how can i cast the spell if I smile?" he asked.
0 Jethro What's your point? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 23, 2011 5:03 PM
At the request to do so, Daniel repeated the two methods of wand motion - several times. Once at full speed again, so he remind himself of how it went and try to figure out how to slow it down, then again at increasingly slower speeds as he tried to work out how to draw it out without changing the movement or inaccurately emphasizing anything.

When he got to the part that was different, he drew attention to it by saying, "Here, you want cleaner lines. Make it smooth, instead just sticking your wand out in a pointing jab. Smooth," he said as he repeated his way of doing it. "Jabby," he explained as he imitated Jethro's unartistic point again in slow motion. "A Patronus is a defensive spell," Daniel he added, "A counter, not an attack. You don't want to be too violent with it."

A short while later, as Jethro was explaining his issues with sounding confident, Daniel just blinked uncomprehendingly back at him, just as baffled by what Jethro was saying as Jethro seemed to be by his suggestion. Also, his smile was one of the least genuine he had ever seen. It was all wrong. All wrong. "A happy smile," he corrected, hoping Jethro just got the instruction wrong but knowing it went far beyond that.

Jethro didn't get the concept of acting. It shook Daniel to his core that anybody could honestly not get this. The fact that Jethro wouldn't - possibly couldn't - even pretend to believe something he didn't actually believe was so anathema to him that that he wondered how they could both exist on the same planet. And since Daniel was fairly certain that he did exist only because Mom and Dad got confused about reality and forgot that in real life they didn't actually love each other like they did in The Taste of Waffles, the problem was clearly Jethro's.

"Okay," Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep, calming, centering breath. He opened them again and looked at Jethro. This called for the big guns. Daniel could lie better than anyone he knew. "Forget the acting. You can do this. Smooth out your pointing of the wand like I showed you," and he showed it again, just in case, "and think about penguins," he'd read an quote some years back that claimed a person could not think about penguins without smiling and he was going to put it to the test, "just before you cast it, and I guarantee you will improve your results and get at least an outline this time before it fades."
1 Daniel Nash II I'd get a fake emergency vehicle for a real emergency! 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5


Jethro

February 28, 2011 11:45 AM
As daniel slowed the wand movement down for his benefit, Jethro paid close attention. When the movement was slower and Daniel showed Jethro not only how to do it right, but how he'd been doing it not-so-right (he couldn't say wrong exactly because it wasn't wrong, there was simply room for improvement), the fifth year thought he might have a better understanding. However, he really understood it when Daniel said something about it being a defensive spell, so it didn't need to be jabby and aggressive. That sort of made sense, and Jethro thought it might help him to remember to move his wand more smoothly. He repeated the movement for Daniel to see, once slowed down, and then once normal speed. He thought it was smoother. "Is that better?" he asked his mentor.

The next part, about preteneding to know he could cast the spell or whatever he was supposed to be doing, had the effect of baffling both Jethro and, by the looks of it, Daniel. The Crotalus wasn't good when it came to recognizing other people's emotions or expression, but he was quite good at getting 'confused' right, and that was just how Daniel looked right then, and exactly how Jethro felt. Luckily it apparently wasn't all that important, because Daniel let the subject drop and told Jethro to 'forget it.' He didn't literally mean forget it, which was just as well because although Jethro knew he would forget this conversation in time, probably even by the end of the day, if he actively tried to forget something he only ended up thinking about it more than usual. He was fairly sure that daniel was using a figure of speech, one of the many rhetoric devices Cynthia'd had to explain to him over the years.

"Forget the acting," Daniel said. "You can do this. Smooth out your pointing of the wand like I showed you, and think about penguins."

Jethro did as he was told. He thought about penguins - the bird that couldn't fly, that lived in snowy nowheres and sort of wobbled as it walked. He felt the muscles in his lips stretch as he imagined them, and he opened his mouth to cast the spell. "Expecto patronum." He wand movement was smooth, and from the end of the wand came a great deal more silvery vapor this time, hanging around in a sort of blob that struggled to find form before it dissipated. "Penguins," Jethro said to himself. "Think of penguins."
0 Jethro Would that be a problem? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

February 28, 2011 2:27 PM
"Much better," Daniel confirmed when Jethro repeated the wand motion a lot smoother than before. The remaining imperfections in the motion were too minor to be able to explain or correct, and were probably no more than the resultant differences caused by their relative levels of dexterity and just their general movement styles. For all Daniel knew, that tiny bit of 'off' that he couldn't quite put his finger on was caused by Jethro's minor slouch and his actual arm and wand movement actually was completely perfect.

He wondered briefly if people with good posture were better spell casters generally, but decided that was a research project for another time and probably for another person.

When Jethro did cast the spell, Daniel was secretly kind of impressed at the amount of improvement shown, though he kept that tightly under wraps. It would not do Jethro any good to act surprised that he'd done better, especially after giving him a 'guarantee' that there would be much more success this time.

He still wasn't quite sure what shape that it had begun to form, but there had been a good blob for several seconds that had tried to coalesce into something. "Much better," he encouraged, sounding like he hadn't expected anything less.

Daniel felt his own mouth pull up in a corner as Jethro repeated the instruction to think about penguins. Penguins, it turned out, did have the power to make Jethro smile, at least somewhat. Interesting. So far, the theory had not yet been proven wrong.

"I heard they make people cheerful, and you should be cheerful for this spell," he explained, in case Jethro didn't understand the connection and was mulling over why Daniel might possibly want him thinking about an obscure thing like penguins.
1 Daniel Nash II Since Real Cops can't stop Dementors anyway - I guess not 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5


Jethro

March 02, 2011 10:30 AM
Jethro was very much encouarged when not only did his patronus attempt a form (it didn't manage it but it was progressing well) but Daniel Nash said he was doing 'much better.' Jethro felt his lips curve upwards just a little more at the praise. but then Daniel said that penguins made people cheerful, and Jethro's smile fell again as he considered this. Did that mean that penguins had some sort of ability to charm people into making them happy? jethro hadn't known this until now, otherwise he would have procurred a penguin already - one for himself and possibly one for several other people he knew, too. In fact, if this turned out to be true, his was going to look into getting a penguin immediately. Of course, if penguins made people happy by being there, then thinking about penguins would be irrelvant, and Daniel had just told him to think about penguins, not to go and get one. It had apparently worked, though, so maybe the magic of the penguin was simply in thinking about them. This second theory didn't make any more sense, however, so Jethro eventually gave up on that thought process and just accepted that thinking of penguins had helped with the spell.

"I'm going to think of penguins and try the spell again," Jethro said to Daniel, sounding by far more enthusiastic than he had at any previous point in the class. Encouraged by his ongoing spell development, buoyed by praise from the Head Boy on his performance, and smiling as he thought of penguins, Jethro encanted the spell loudly and produced... well, a penguin. It was glowing and silvery white, just like a patronus, but it was obviously a penguin, and Jethro had just been thinking about penguins. Maybe he'd just made one by mistake. "Is that a patronus?" he asked Daniel Nash. "Or is it just a penguin?" Frowning at the thought of having created a penguin fake-patronus instead of a real one, Jethro lowered his wand as the funny looking, non-flying bird faded into not being.
0 Jethro So... everything is okay after all? 0 Jethro 0 5

Daniel Nash II

March 02, 2011 1:30 PM
With more confidence that Daniel had seen him muster yet, Jethro tried the patronus spell one more time, and . . . . it formed into a penguin. The aspect it took dumbfounded him enough that he didn't get in his whoop or his congratulations before Jethro second guessed himself and it vanished.

"No," he said, hurried, hoping to make up for the lapse, "no, I'm sure that was a patronus. You did it exactly right." He grinned encouragingly at the younger boy. "You did great, Jethro. You did it. You made a patronus." He should have left it there, he knew he should leave it there, but his mouth kept talking in a slightly perplexed tone, "A penguin patronus."

Suddenly, a fake cop car seemed like a perfectly logical form for a patronus to take, if only by comparison.

Cop cars at least symbolized rescue and help. That particular cop car additionally symbolized Daniel's father who was the first person he normally turned to for assistance. Even if it was just a prop, it had come screaming onto a scene to slay the foes faced by Nate Bealer often enough that his subconscious mind must have equated the Street Beat car as his own personal personification of Help Is Here.

Jethro . . . had a penguin.

And Daniel had thought his psyche was messed up.

"Maybe," he said after a moment of thinking about it, "Maybe you were having so much trouble with the spell before because it didn't know what form to take. You gave it an idea, and so that's what it used. A patronus will take the form of something you consider safe. Penguins . . . are safe."
1 Daniel Nash II Yeah, I suppose 130 Daniel Nash II 0 5