Professor Levy
September 27, 2011 7:19 PM
Advanced Level (6-7 Years) by Professor Levy
“Welcome,” Erika greeted her small class, as they trickled into the room. Most students tended to drop Defense Against the Dark Arts, because they felt they had no use for it. Though, she disagreed. There was still so much more that they could learn, however, she also knew they were better prepared than they would have been in some other schools. She felt confident in that. For those that remained, she was going to do her best to ensure that they got out of this class whatever they were looking for whether it was to one day be an Auror or for whatever other reason. Though, today’s lesson was more geared for those that would be continuing within the defensive fields.“We are going to start working with the Dark Arts: When to Use Them and Ethical Defense textbooks. I hope you all remembered to bring them,” she said, as she held up the paperback copies of the textbooks in her hands. Making herself comfortable in her usual position of sitting on the desk, she began her lecture. “Most of you have probably learned that using dark art spells on anyone is considered unforgivable. Hence, why the three main curses are called Unforgivables. However, there are instances when using them becomes acceptable. We will begin learning and talking about different situations in which this could occur as well as begin discussing the ramifications that can occur after using such magic.”
Erika shifted and crossed one leg over the other. Talking about the Unforgivables could be a touchy subject so she gave them a moment to process before she continued on. “There are three Unforgivables, named so, because they are Unforgivable. The first is the Imperius Curse, which is used for mind control. The second is the Cruciatus Curse, which is used for torture. The third is the Killing Curse, which is used for killing. The use of any of these curses will land you in prison unless extenuating circumstances exist. Let’s look at a situation.” With a wave of her wand, the following appeared on the board:
Person A tries to rob Person B. They fight and Person B uses the Killing Curse. Person A dies.
“This situation might seem straightforward. Person A obviously brought it upon himself, right? He was in the wrong by trying to rob Person B. But then we have to ask ourselves; didn’t Person B have the choice of whether or not he was going to use the curse? Couldn’t he have used another curse? Maybe he felt that he didn’t have any choice.” She allowed them to ponder what she was saying before she continued on, “But didn’t he? Couldn’t he have used Petrificus Totalus or some other spell that would have been effective without being harmful? Maybe. Everything that occurred is unclear. This is why in situations like this a review is conducted to determine if the spell was necessary to use and what course of action should be taken. Sometimes, it is determined there is no further course of action and sometimes, the person could end up being punished, depending upon review.”
Anything dealing with ethics could get very complicated and many of the students who pursued careers in the defensive field would have to deal with them frequently. “And that brings us to what we’re doing today. I want everyone to break up into small groups of two to four. Think of details that would make the Killing Curse the only viable option and details that would have made it the wrong choice. Also, include what action should be taken in each circumstance. We’ll go over the results at the end of class.”
OOC: Remember posting rules apply. The more detailed and creative the post, the more points earned. Have fun!
Subthreads: Closed-minded by Charlotte Abbott
An interesting dilemma by Andrew Duell
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Professor Levy
Advanced Level (6-7 Years)
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Professor Levy
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Charlotte Abbott
October 02, 2011 5:41 PM
Closed-minded by Charlotte Abbott
Discussing the Unforgivables always gave Charlie the shivers, even after seven long years (or probably fewer, as she almost certainly hadn't been aware of such curses in her first year). Try as she might to embrace her magical heritage, the Muggle upbringing sometimes got in the way. She couldn't think of a single scenario where it would ever be appropriate to use a killing curse. Obviously, Muggles would never use it, but then that hadn't stopped them being creative in killing each other in a variety of ways. The killing curse was so impersonal, so... so easy. Not that she really believed it was easy in the sense that just anyone could do it - she knew you needed dark magical power behind that sort of a spell - but there was no thought involved, no judgement, no planning. Just raise your wand and - she shivered. Magic could be plain creepy sometimes.Almost as if she'd known this was going to be a dismal class, Charlie had decided to dress in bright colors that morning. Her fitted red dress was classy, but the zipper that ran the full length of its front added a playful aspect. Her knee-high boots were low-heeled, and so perfectly sensible for school; she couldn't help it if they naturally drew attention to the skin exposed beneath her skirt. Her dark hair was pulled up into a simple ponytail, and her fingers were distractedly tugging on the tips of its length as she contemplated the remainder of the lecture.
The way Professor Levy talked about the scenario like a person had brough death upon themselves by stealing was still creepier. Not that Charlie generally condoned stealing, but neither did she think that death was a suitable punishment. She wrote down the topic of discussion at the top of her piece of blank parchment: 'Think of details that would make the Killing Curse the only viable option and details that would have made it the wrong choice.' She turned in her chair to face the people at the desks behind her who might constitue a group.
"I have a feeling I'm being uncreative," she began, "but I can't think of a single circumstance where using the killing curse would be the only viable option." Muggles had a bit more of an excuse sometimes. If someone was trying to kill you, as unlikely as that scenario was, she thought death as self-defense could be considered acceptable. But a witch or wizards with a wand had an enormous resource to draw on - incarcerating charms, body locking, impedimenta, and that was just off the top of her head.
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Charlotte Abbott
Closed-minded
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Charlotte Abbott
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Andrew Duell
October 08, 2011 11:42 AM
An interesting dilemma by Andrew Duell
Andrew still wasn't entirely certain why he had kept taking DADA. It wasn't a requirement for CalTech's magical department. At the time it seemed as if it wouldn't be a bad idea, he knew that there was a lot of bad magical threats out there and he wanted to know about them and know what to do if in some odd chance he ran into one of them. But past that, he wasn't really sure what he was looking to get out of the class. As such, he tended to like the direct application classes that Professor Levy held, but from the sounds of things this was not going to be one of those classes. Judging by the books she had made sure they were to bring today, it was going to be an ethical discussion.He found a seat and pulled out his notebook and the textbooks. He commented to the person next to him, "Think this will be about the ethical implications of challenging the devil to a fiddle-playing competition?" He wasn't entirely sure what made song pop into his head, but it fit his mood at the moment. Professor Levy began talking and it turns out the topic was the unforgivable curses. Fun. She did pose an interesting question though, Andrew had no problem thinking of many different possibilities of dealing the given situation. The aspect of this exercise that intrigued him was how to eliminate all of those other possibilities. That could be a challenge.
Turning back to the same person he commented to earlier, "I guess not. I can think of quite a few other tactics 'Person B' could take rather than flat-out killing this unpleasant 'Person A'. So what conditions would nullify all of those possibilities?" He pulled his notebook closer and began jotting down all the other spells he could thing of that might resolve the situation without resulting to killing. As he wrote he continued talking/thinking-out-loud, "Once we get a good list of possibilities we'll have to find their weaknesses that would prevent their use."
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Andrew Duell
An interesting dilemma
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Andrew Duell
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