Professor Levy
September 14, 2012 11:54 PM
Intermediate Level: Lesson I by Professor Levy
The past year had been both a blessing and a curse. Erika loved her babies. She really did. Every time they smiled at her or held her finger, she just melted. Unfortunately, that was only half the time. Spencer was especially fussy and didn’t want to sleep ever. In the rare moments when she did, were the moments that Parker didn’t. Adding in to the fact that both Torra and she worked, they had been absolutely exhausted. Erika had never in her life missed a day of work, but this year she had called in absent more than her share. Thankfully, Kiva had understood. She had a few familial changes of her own.Now that they were a little over a year, they were finally on a sleep schedule, which meant that, at least during the night, she could get some rest. During the day was another matter. Both babies were on the go. She worried more about Parker than Spencer, because he was already walking without the help of furniture and he tried to get into everything! She knew Spencer wouldn’t be far behind. Whatever Parker did, Spencer did. Though, the same wasn’t true for Parker. Already, Spencer could hold a conversation. Granted, half of it was gibberish, but there was no doubt she was going to be a talker. Parker had yet to try. Her mother had told her not to worry cause some babies took longer than others, so she tried not to worry too much.
Aside from that, with the babies having a set routine, she was able to focus her attention into teaching. Sitting behind her desk, she straightened the pile of papers she intended to pass out, which included the syllabus and their first assignment. Soon enough, students began filing into the classroom. Before class officially began, she gestured for one of the students in the front to hand out the papers.
After all the handouts had been passed out and everyone was situated, Erika began her lesson. “Welcome to Intermediate Defense Against the Dark Arts. I am Professor Levy for anyone that may not know or may have forgotten.” The last part was said jokingly for her absences last year. Speaking of which, “When I call your name, please say here. Adair, Alice…” She knew most of them by name already, so it was more a formality than anything else. Of course, occasionally, there were transfers.
Once attendance had been taken, Erika went over the rules. Again, mostly formality, but it never hurt to remind them that there was no fooling around. After all, learning defense was a serious business. It could be the difference between life and death. Not that most students thought about that fact, but it was there nonetheless. How many people had lost a perfectly good limb on the account of someone else not following the rules? It was a lesson that she had learned on account of a dimwitted partner. Though, she couldn’t say nothing good came from it. She got to see her babies more than she would have if she were still in the Auror field.
“If you’ll take a look at your syllabus, you will see that we will be focusing on the mind for the next couple of weeks. Many of you many not think that the mind is an important part of defense, because of how much emphasis is places on spell casting and deflection. Yet, the mind is probably the most valuable and most vulnerable asset we have in defense. For example, many of you may have heard of the Unforgivable Curse – the Imperius Curse. Just a quick side note for anyone who doesn’t. There are three Unforgivable Curses – the Imperius Curse, the Cruciatus Curse, and the Killing Curse. We won’t go into details today on all three, but needless to say, they are so named, because they are Unforgivable. No one in here should even be attempting these spells. They are a severely punishable offense. Got it?” She gave them all a stern look.
“That said, we are going to touch on the theory of the Imperius Curse. The Imperius Curse is a spell that causes the victim to be completely controlled by the castor. If a person’s mind is weak and susceptible, they are more likely to fall under this curse. But it is possible to resist, if one’s mind and will are strong. What we are going to focus on the different mindsets as well as the basics on what to do and not do to prevent yourself from becoming susceptible. A mindset by definition is a mental attitude or disposition that determines how a person responds or interprets situations. Everyone in here has a fixed mindset, which is the behavior to which you are born with and the most difficult to overcome. What we want to develop is the growth mindset, which are the qualities that we choose to develop.”
With a flick of her wrist, the following appeared on the board:
Negative mindset
Energy is focused on what is wrong in one’s life. Reasons are given for why the individual will never succeed – too sickly, too sad, no energy, don’t have anything, etc. Thus, the individual gives up before they can succeed creating a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure.
Has an attitude of ‘I can’t.’
Positive mindset
Energy is focused on what is right in one’s life. The individual is focused on being grateful for what they have. The individual sets goals and strives to meet their goals.
Has an attitude of ‘I can.’
“Everyone has days when they are up or down. We all have traits that fall into a positive or negative mindset. Maybe you feel that you can do well at Potions, but feel hopeless about Charms. Maybe certain things make you feel nervous. Or maybe other things like teasing can trigger a negative mindset. What we want to focus on is learning to control what causes a negative mindset and working towards a positive mindset. When we are in a negative mindset, we are susceptible to poor performance and consequently, poor defense. That said, I want everyone to answer the provided questionnaire to help determine your fixed mindset and ways we can work on our growth mindset.”
Page 1 - Mindset Questionaire
1) You do well on a test, because:
a) I’m smart.
b) I was lucky.
2) You do poorly on a test.
a) I’ll do better next time.
b) I’m a failure.
3) You join your friends, who have suddenly stopped talking, you think:
a) Nothing of it.
b) They were talking about you.
4) Your boyfriend/girlfriend dumps you:
a) There are other fish in the sea.
b) Your life is over.
5) Being myself guarantees people will:
a) Like me.
b) Dislike me.
“If you answered mostly a’s, then you have a positive mindset and if you answered mostly b’s, then you have a negative mindset. Knowing where your mindset lies, you can work towards improving or overcoming initial barriers that cause us to fail. All right, I want everyone to break up into groups of two. Using the next page of this packet, I want you to think of how you would react in the following scenarios and what might be a better way to react. Please discuss this part with each other. If you have any questions, please raise your hand and I’ll be around. For those who finish early, you can start on tomorrow’s assignment, which is listed on the third page.”
Page 2 – Scenarios
1) You are walking down the hall when some kids corner you. They start calling you names and teasing you. Eventually, one pulls out a wand and attempts to hex you with the Jelly Legs Jinx. What is your initial reaction? What is a good way to handle the situation?
2) You are walking through the Labyrinth Gardens and come across a creature you have never seen before. It looks rather dangerous. How would you feel about the situation? How would you handle the situation? Are there any ways to handle the situation that would be more appropriate?
Page 3 – Overcoming Obstacles – Using Expelliarmus with a positive mindset
With a partner, practice the Disarming Charm (or other previously learned spells) while trying to remain positive. ‘I can disarm my opponent’ or ‘I will not be disarmed.’ Does the spell feel easier to perform in the positive mindset? Were more positive results shown?
Subthreads: Well...this may be interesting. by Brianna Japos, Crotalus with Sullivan Quincy, Pecari, Michael Grosvenor, Brianna, Sully
I'm fine with mentally gray, myself by Paul Bennett, Crotalus with Eris Ackart, Paul
Looking on the bright side by Derry Four, Teppenpaw with Hope Brockert, Teppenpaw
It just had to be girlfriends, didn't it? by Arnold Carey, Aladren with Josephine Owen, Josephine
I'm totally positive on this. by Regina Parker, Teppenpaw with Phoenix Lucore, Crotalus
Everything looks good from here by Thaddeus Pierce, Aladren with Henny B-F-R
Oh, this should be a bundle of laughs.... by Theresa Carey, Pecari with Nora Dobson, Aladren, Theresa
Well, parts of this are interesting, anyway.... by Alicia Bauer, Aladren with Arabella Brockert, Pecari
Too rigid for my tastes. by Evan Brockert, Aladren
Apparently negative. by Valerie Lennox, Crotalus
Everything in moderation, that's my motto. by Russell Layne, Aladren with Arthur Carey, Aladren
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Professor Levy
Intermediate Level: Lesson I
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Professor Levy
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Alicia Bauer, Aladren
September 25, 2012 5:03 PM
Well, parts of this are interesting, anyway.... by Alicia Bauer, Aladren
As she entered the Defense classroom, Alicia paused ever so slightly when she saw Henny sitting on her chair, but she had never really seen her roommate, despite her prettiness and intellectual gifts, as a rival any more than she had ever seen her as a friend because of what Alicia perceived as a lack of fighting spirit, so she picked a nearby one without fuss and began getting her things ready for whatever the lesson might hold. Intermediate-level Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of the things she had been most looking forward to this year, and a minor incident on the first day wasn’t going to put her off it if the class itself was any good.As Professor Levy began to speak, she reminded herself again, sternly, not to get her hopes up. The first two years of her Sonora education had been the happiest time of Alicia’s life to date, at least of all the years she could remember, but the frustration that had always characterized her existence as much as anger did had not gone away. If anything, as she became happier in every other way, it had gotten worse. As much as it disgusted her to know anything about them at all, she knew enough about Muggles to know that wizards had not become the superior beings they were just through a knowledge of the parlor tricks and household helpers they had studied in the beginners’ classes. America didn’t have the kind of resources there were in other places, older societies – she cared nothing about her mother’s half-sister as a person, but could have happily cursed half her family for antagonizing Aunt Helena so much that she hadn’t spoken to them since she was married into one of those – but there still had to be more to it than had even been hinted at to them so far. The question was just if they would ever be able to learn any of it, and if so, if they would start in the Intermediate classes.
Alicia had always favored Defense Against the Dark Arts because it was a class where they did sometimes hint at those things they wouldn’t tell her about yet, where she got some idea of how massive the possibilities of magic might be. She honestly wasn’t sure if the subject really still had a lot of applications in the real world, where things these days were all about who had the most money and connections, rather than the most real power, a fact which made her nearly as furious as her family but which she couldn’t do anything about from where she was right now, but if it could give her something to go on, anything that could help…She knew from reading about Potions that things could be changed, and if there was magic that could help her slip through a side door of the oligarchy, she thought her best chance of learning it, or at least learning about it, was here, so if it turned out that she was going to spend three more years learning the kind of simple jinxes that idiot boys used to pick on each other, she thought she might have to find a quiet place after class where she could scream. There was so much to know, and she wanted it all, and she wanted it all right now. She didn’t have time to wait around until seventh year to start learning anything real.
“Present,” she said clearly when “Bauer, Alicia,” was called off the roll, smiling at the professor as she did and folding her hands in her lap to wait as Levy moved on. The effort was rewarded when the lesson was presented to them. Alicia’s eyes lit up at the mention of what the unit was going to be about, though her expression did move into puzzlement for a moment when Professor Levy said that she knew some of them might not think the mind was important for defense. Of course it was. They were their minds; if someone could do something to control those, then they controlled everything else. How to keep other people out of her head seemed like a very appropriate topic for a Defense unit to Alicia.
Her eyes narrowed, though, at the mention of the curses. Imperius - well, that was straightforward enough, it was what it sounded like, and obviously the Killing Curse was, too. Cruciatus – Alicia started, blinked. ‘Excruciating’ was the first thing that came to mind, followed quickly by her Latin, which she took as all but confirmation. Pain. She would look it up when she had time, since she wasn’t going to start flipping through the textbook while Professor Levy was talking, but she was pretty sure she knew exactly what that one did – and did impressively, for it to be considered Unforgivable, considering she could think of jinxes and hexes off the top of her head that also caused some pain. That was….
She glanced over the mindset classifications, immediately deemed them overly simplistic, and fixed her features into a blandly attentive mask as she thought more about the interesting part they were moving away from. Total control, was it? She tried to imagine what that would feel like. Killing and causing pain were scenarios she could at least imagine, even if it did make her stomach churn to do it, but having total control over something, or having someone have total control over her…Alicia had no idea, could not begin to guess, what that might feel like. She had never been powerful, but neither had she ever been powerless.
She wondered. She couldn’t help but wonder. What did complete control even mean, anyway? That someone could act against their conscience? That they could be ordered to stop breathing? Why did they always stop short of actually learning anything?
Reluctantly, she looked at the questionnaire they had been given, since that was what she was going to be graded on. The first one was easy. She did well on tests because she was smart. The second was completely irrelevant; she didn’t do poorly on tests. She would be upset if she did, but there were maybe two possible circumstances where it wouldn’t be because something was wrong with the test, and neither of them were likely. As for the third one, why would all conversation suddenly cease if it hadn’t been about her, and not in the good way? That was a fact. The fourth….
Her eyes moved over, for just a moment, to Thad. He wasn’t her boyfriend, of course, but just the thought of him dumping her as a friend, of it being the way it had been before Sonora again, of being alone again –
Alicia pressed her lips together. That wasn’t going to happen. If it did, she would get rid of whatever or whomever had made it happen and then get back on her feet and soon it would be like nothing had ever happened. There was always a way. The things wrong in her life far outweighed those that were right in her life, but that just meant she had all the more reason to do whatever she had to do to keep the good things.
She looked up at the classifications again. Maybe she did fit in with the first one, if not remotely in the way she was dead sure that Professor Levy had intended it. But then, that was why fine print existed on contracts. The devil was in the details, as Jeremy often said. Levy hadn’t closed the loopholes. She turned back to the quiz and had to work hard not to roll her eyes at the last question, the ‘correct’ answer to which was painfully obvious and utterly stupid. She was not going to get anywhere in the world walking around with her heart on her sleeve, letting every stray thought she had spill out of her mouth for general consumption. She listened blankly as she was informed that she was a pathetic, grubby whiner who was going to sit around and never try to achieve even where she didn’t deserve to – which was as far from the truth as possible – and flipped without interest to the third page, the scenarios, which she read over before summoning up a bright and enthusiastic smile. “Would you like to work with me?” she asked.
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Alicia Bauer, Aladren
Well, parts of this are interesting, anyway....
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Alicia Bauer, Aladren
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Arabella Brockert, Pecari
October 02, 2012 1:19 AM
This tends to be an interesting class by Arabella Brockert, Pecari
Defense was probably Arabella's favorite class. She very much understood the necessity of it. There were dark creatures and bad people out there. Admittedly, the former was not that big of a threat to anyone that she cared about but the latter was more of a concern. Of course, Arabella didn't really believe Carrie was capable of being a dark witch,though it was still fun to learn spells that she could use against the younger girl if she deemed it necessary to do so, which the Pecari inevitably would. The second year was just an unbearable brat. Not necessarily evil in the potential dark wizard sense, but the meanest, cruelest person the third year could have ever imagined, though she probably wouldn't have been able to do so had she not known her.Still, Arabella never knew when her cousin would strike out at someone she cared about in order to hurt her. Her younger siblings and Ryan-even though he was older than her, she still viewed him as more vulnerable, especially given that he was the one Carrie would seek to hurt most-in particular were her weak spot and it was very hard for her to control herself and be a lady when they were threatened. Alexandra was another one. Even though Arabella didn't view her friend as particularly in need of protection, she'd still seek revenge on anyone who messed with her. With the rest of her cousins, it was the same as with the other third year.
She sat with interest as Professor Levy began to talk about the Unforgivables. Her younger sister Serena always seemed frightened at the thought of them, but Arabella was less squeamish in general. Though she could understand where her sister was coming from. The idea of being killed, tortured or having someone control your mind was pretty terrifying, it was just that Arabella didn't ever think she'd meet someone who would use them. Even the very worst people she knew or knew of cared enough about not having their wand snapped. Using magic was just too important.
The Pecari quickly filled out the questionnaire. The interesting thing about it was the one question that she'd replied B was a more imaginable situation than the next three. She wasn't a great student, especially when it came to theory and written work, though she was pretty good with a wand, but nor was Arabella stupid so while she might get mediocre grades on tests, she wouldn't fail. Nor could she imagine her friends saying anything bad about her or her dating someone when purebloods just really didn't do that.
As for the last question, well, in general, it sort of depended on the other person. Some personalities just clashed, especially if the people in question had opposite values or no common ground. Nobody was going to be liked or hated by everyone. Even Carrie and Aunt Pearl who were universally disliked by everyone else, liked each other. Probably because the former had been molded in the latter's image.
"All right." Arabella replied, when Alicia Bauer addressed her. She didn't know the Aladren well, they moved in different circles but the other girl had always seemed rather intense and ambitious, in contrast with Arabella's more laid back attitude. The Pecari had never seen much point in being ambitious when her family was already at the top but she could rather see why Alicia might be, given that her family didn't share the Brockerts' social position.
She just hoped the Aladren wouldn't be too difficult to work with.
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Arabella Brockert, Pecari
This tends to be an interesting class
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Arabella Brockert, Pecari
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Alicia
October 02, 2012 11:42 AM
True, but this is especially intriguing, don't you think? by Alicia
When she had first come to Sonora, Alicia had planned to make well-connected, no doubt one day to be important, friends wherever she could, and she could honestly say that was the only goal she’d had for her school years which she had already been in a position to accomplish and hadn’t. She had done well with the boys in her year, but when it came to the girls, she hadn’t, and after the first month of school, she hadn’t really been able to find it in her to care, either. She just didn’t like other girls ninety percent of the time, and the prominent ones in her year were, for a variety of reasons, not people who had ever or were likely to ever find their way into the remaining ten percent.If one of them ever did, though, she doubted it was going to be Arabella Brockert. The Brockerts would make her grind her teeth together if she thought about them too much in an unguarded moment anyway, just because of their assurance of place, but them being from her side of the continent made their presence at Sonora a potential disaster for her. There were people in this room she would rather work with a Brockert than speak to, but not many. Not many at all.
“Excellent,” she said brightly, as though nothing could have pleased her more. Compared to getting through an entire summer with her family without starting any trouble, lying to Arabella wasn’t hard at all. Even if she was offering no help whatsoever. Alicia thought it helped that whether this went badly or well, it would be over in an hour, unlike the holidays, which sometimes felt as inescapable as Hell. The light sparkled off her magically-reinforced back-to-school French manicure as she straightened her packet on the desk in front of her. The small things weren’t satisfying, really, but they did have their uses when she was stranded miles away from the nearest salon. “Let’s look at this first one.”
She read it out loud, thinking anew that this was pointless. She was not going to tell some Brockert girl that she would do her best to follow the ringleader into the Gardens one day, disarm him from behind, and then, preferably with her friends but alone if necessary, which was more likely, demonstrate to him why – aside from, if the rest of her House saw things her way, the rest of them immediately descending on the whole gang’s head; to her, Aladren was something to be loyal to, and if such a thing really happened, she’d even help out Evan Brockert or one of the Muggleborns, at least as things stood now – it was foolish to bother an Aladren. The most interesting thing she could get out of this was an attempt at analyzing Professor Levy’s psychology; was she so far removed from Alicia’s mindset that she thought people would be honest, or did she expect them to lie and not care? Either way, Alicia found it interesting from an academic stance, because she couldn’t imagine really doing either of those things.
“I guess I would ask them to stop,” she said, after finishing the recitation of the question and pausing for breath, in her best good-student voice. “And then, if they wouldn’t, I’d report the incident to a professor. Don’t you think that would be the right thing to do?”
Alicia lightly bit the inside of her lip for a second, thinking that she might be smart to actually do that, if she thought of it, before the part where the offender was hexed into unrecognizability. It would make her denials of involvement later seem more plausible. All of it, though, hinged on her being able to control herself when actually attacked; Alicia had forced herself not to react to a lot of things, but never to an actual physical attack. How she would handle that was another of those things she couldn't help but be curious about, if maybe not so much as she was about the things they weren't taught.
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Alicia
True, but this is especially intriguing, don't you think?
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Alicia
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Arabella
October 05, 2012 5:26 AM
I have to agree on that one. by Arabella
Arabella considered the Aladren's reply. "I'm not really sure how well asking them to stop would work." There were, after all, some people who didn't respond well to that. They'd just laugh in your face and keep doing it. In fact, there were people who no matter what you did, were going to hurt you and the only way to make them stop was to get them out of your lives. Like with Ryan and Aunt Pearl. Except, the idea of a restraining order on some kids that teased you was kind of ridiculous."And tattling on them might make things worse for you later on." Arabella added. She did know a few things about bullies, with a cousin like hers. No matter what you did to them, they always found a way to come back with something worse later. They seized on any weakness they could find, hitting a person where they knew it would hurt the worst. Carrie had a special talent in this, inherited from her mother. The Pecari could fight back, but in the end, she'd end up coming away looking unladylike and for some reason, her mother cared more about that than any harm Arabella would do to the second year. She guessed that just went to show how little her mother thought of Carrie as well.
She knew it wasn't right to gang up on one person, normally. This, however, was a case of safety in numbers, loyalty, having each others back. Being united against a common deserving enemy who had started the whole thing, or rather kept up what her mother had. None of them would have to act as they did towards her if not in retaliation and nothing they did was as bad as anything she would come up with to do back.
It was frustrating, really really frustrating. Arabella might have loved the bonds their mutual distaste for Carrie deepened between her and her cousins. It was just that, well, she couldn't do anything to stop her. If Uncle Jeffrey-the third year had grown up calling him uncle and the habit was hard to break-or another of the adults caught her, Carrie would surely be punished, of course, but that didn't mean the Crotalus wouldn't strike back later, worse, and most likely toward Ryan, whose spirit had been long ago broken by his mother. Who didn't have it in him to fight back and who didn't think it was right to just use the fact that he was bigger, older and knew more magic to do so. Because he didn't want to stoop to their mother's level.
Honestly though, Arabella wasn't exactly sure how to deal with the situation in a way that didn't get her in trouble for unladylike behavior and that wouldn't start a war of sorts. Certain people didn't stop. "I've been told you're supposed to ignore it and not let them see that it gets to you and it takes the fun out of it for them." Which had also not really worked. "And that it's okay to block a hex and defend yourself. I think that's what the professor is going for. Like, she wants us to remain positive and not get upset by the teasing so we can deflect the hex and fight back." The trouble was when people went too far, that's when you ended up looking bad.
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Arabella
I have to agree on that one.
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Arabella
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Alicia
October 08, 2012 5:47 PM
Will we agree on anything else? by Alicia
Alicia wanted, more than anything, to take what she perceived as that condescending tone right out of Arabella’s voice as she made her reply. Preferably by a demonstration of her skill in the area of offensive magic. Instead, though, she forced her face into a false smile.“You’re right,” she said brightly. “Let’s ignore people when that’s just going to make them work that much harder to get a response, and then duel five people at once.” Alicia would put herself against two fourth years at once, no more, and that was only because the fourth years weren’t one of the more intelligent and dangerous classes around, at least in her estimation. Against a good portion of fifth year, she thought she would have trouble holding her own even one-on-one, at least for now. As for ignoring…she had spent her whole life ignoring a thousand insults and offenses a day and knew that ignoring a problem didn’t solve it; it just made it sit there and fester, made her think about it and how she couldn’t do anything about it, at least not for years yet, until the slightest reminder drove her blood pressure up.
One day, she reminded herself. One day, I’ll get away, and I’ll never have to see any of them ever again. Aunt Helena did it, and so can I. Her aunt had the advantage of not having the kind of complete dirt in her background that Alicia did, but had only ever amounted to a Quidditch captain in school, which made Alicia think she hadn’t been that bright, which was why she’d had to permanently emigrate to make something of herself. Alicia, on the other hand, was very bright, which she thought would balance things out.
“If you’re against a group, the only thing you can do is come back with a bigger or a more powerful group,” she said. “If you do, then the other group will eventually get punished until they get the point.” It wouldn’t be, she thought, half as satisfying, she would want to break them herself, but it would be more effective and be less likely to get her in trouble. “Of course you deflect the jinx they’re sending at you, but if you try to leave it there, the rest of them will tear you to pieces if you’re standing alone.”
And then, at least in the very controlled conditions of a school, they would still fall to the system. Even the real world, they most likely would, too. There was always someone bigger, or who had something stronger behind him, there to step in. Each of them had, by the time they left school, the powers described in the interesting part of the lesson, and yet they were constantly ground down by the system, bound by society and family and blood until, by the time they had a chance, they were too old and tired and used to going through the motions to do anything with it. She wasn't going to live that way, but just knowing that it was so common, that almost everyone did...it disgusted her. It made her sick. How could the vast majority of people in the world stand to wake up every morning? She would sooner die than accept the portion the world had tried to assign her at birth.
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Alicia
Will we agree on anything else?
210
Alicia
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5