Dratted ‘s’ on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Levy

July 12, 2013 4:22 PM

Beginner Level (1st-2nd 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 smiled at the class. “The quiz that you have just taken will not count against your grade and will count as extra credit. Happy Holidays!” Since she never gave extra credit this was certainly a rare opportunity in the class, as she was feeling very much in the Christmas spirit. “For those of you who did well, it may help to boost your grade and for those that didn’t, take this as a warning to be more prepared for this class. If you need some extra help, tutoring is available either from myself or from an older student. That said, let’s move on to today’s lesson. Please open your books to page 139 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. Please begin.”

OOC: Standard posting rules apply. The more detailed and creative the post equals more points earned. Have fun!

Subthreads:

I've heard of popcicles, but spider-cicles? by Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw with Ava Fletcher, Aladren, Dimitri Porter, Ava Fletcher

This is not my day. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren with Portia Dobson, Teppenpaw

Dratted ‘s’ by Analea Thornton

0 Professor Levy Beginner Level (1st-2nd Years): Lesson I 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw

July 13, 2013 5:42 PM

I've heard of popcicles, but spider-cicles? by Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw

Dimitri rubbed his eyes on his way to his DADA class. He had been up studying the night before and fell asleep kind of late. He woke up that morning feeling groggy as sin and just couldn’t shake it. He walked in to the DADA class still only half-awake. He found a seat close to the front of the room so he wouldn’t have to squint to read the board should anything be written on it. He set his bag down on the floor and prepared to take his book and notebook out of his bag. He placed both of them on the desk and waited for the last of his classmates to arrive and Professor Levy to explain what they would be doing. She surprised everyone with a Pop Quiz. Dimitri groaned with what sounded like about half of the class. “Fantastic,“ he mumbled, leaning back against his seat. He put away his books and pulled out a self-inking quill pen to write with. She passed out the quizzes and instructed everyone not to turn them over until she said to. Dimitri stared at the back of his quiz paper and sneered slightly. I HATE tests he thought grumpily to himself as he waited for the go ahead from Professor Levy. When she finally told them to turn their papers over, Dimitri flipped his paper over and got to work.

Name: Dimitri Porter
Year: First
House: Teppenpaw

1)What is the spell used to light the end of your wand? Lumos…derivative might be Nox?
2)What does Petrificus Totalus do? It renders a person enable to move, like they’re petrified.
What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? Expelliomus
What spell does one use to reveal a spell? ?
If one were lost what spell would be used? ?
What plant does flitter bloom resemble? Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled? I believe it resembles Devil’s Snare. Devil’s Snare is the more dangerous and it is repelled by sunlight.
What spell is used to unlock doors? Aloha Mora
What does Stupefy do? Umm…I think it partially hypnotizes people.
What spell is used to seal a door? ?
What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes? Contego or Protego, I think.

Dimitri answered as many of the questions as he could. A few of them left him scratching his head slightly because he couldn’t remember reading that far into the text about them. Even if he had, there was no guarantee that he had actually paid attention to what he was reading. He looked over his answers and frowned at the ones he had left blank. “I should know these,” he grumbled to himself. He just wished he could remember what they were off the top of his head since he wasn’t allowed to use his book. Dimitri sighed and walked up to the front of the room, placing his test paper on the stack of others already turned in to Professor Levy. The upside to the quiz was that it wasn’t going to be counted against them and was going to just be extra credit. That fact alone made him feel a little better about how he did on the quiz. He didn’t think his grade was suffering that much and whatever points he got from the quiz would only help it. He sat back down at his desk and waited for Professor Levy to tell them what their assignment for class would be.

He was intrigued when she explained that they would be working on the Immobulus Charm. He was even more intrigued when she explained to them what it did. That actually sounds pretty cool he thought to himself. He watched carefully as she showed them the wand movements they needed to cast the spell. He mentally followed her movements and used his finger to mimic what she was doing. He had been kind-of lost in thought when she gave them their next instruction. “Wait…spiders? She wants us to use this spell on spiders?” he asked his neighbor curiously. Dimitri wasn’t afraid of spiders or anything so that wasn’t the issue. In fact he wasn’t entirely certain he had an issue with this assignment. Dimitri shrugged and walked back over to Professor Levy’s desk and picked up his jar of spiders. He actually laughed a bit to himself as he walked back to his desk, glancing down at the jar full of creepy crawlies. My sister would have a heart attack if she saw this he mused to himself. He put the jar down on his desk and readied himself to cast the spell. He glanced at the spiders as they crawled around in the confined space on top of one another. “Whoa…that looks really gross,” he commented with morbid amusement. He circled the wand the way Professor Levy ahd shown them and cast the spell. “Immobulus!” he cast, watching his wand tip glow slightly.

He watched in total fascination as the spiders in the jar began to slowly stop moving within the jar. Within a matter of seconds every spider was simply frozen in place. Dimitri stared in awe and complete dumbfoundedness. Some of them were frozen right on top of each other while others appeared to be stuck to the sides of the jar. It was the weirdest thing he had ever seen. He picked up the jar and held it up to get a better look, turning it this way and that. “Wow…is that not the grossest, coolest thing you’ve ever seen?” he asked his neighbor, still holding up the jar of “frozen” spider-cicles.

0 Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw I've heard of popcicles, but spider-cicles? 0 Dimitri Porter, Teppenpaw 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren

July 14, 2013 6:57 PM

This is not my day. by Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren

Emery thought Defense Against the Dark Arts was an okay class. They were only learning basic spells right now and these were all spells he had already read about in the text book, but he knew that they couldn’t get to the better defensive spells until they had the basics down. However, today’s lesson was really going to force Emery to think twice about his feelings towards it.

The first issue he had was with the pop quiz. Emery respected quizzes and exams, but he did not respect the Professors when they did not give them adequate time to prepare. It just seemed rather cruel to throw something at them without warning. That often produced high levels of stress which often led to a student forgetting something important and missing an answer on the exam. Emery sighed when he took the exam and hoped this would not be the case for him.

Name: Emery Kijewski-Jareau
Year: First Year
House: Aladren

1. What is the spell used to light the top of one’s wand? What are the derivatives of the spell? Lumos. I am unsure of where the term is derived from, but I do know its form is Latin and means ‘light’.

2. What does Petrificus Totalus do? This spell locks a person’s limbs in a full body bind and makes them unable to move.

3. What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? Expecto Petronum

4. What spell does one use to reveal a spell? ...

5. If one were lost, what spell would be used? The ‘Point Me’ spell, which points the wand to the North.

6. What plant does Flitterbloom resemble? Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled? Devil’s Snare resembles Flitterbloom and is dangerous. It can be repelled by using light.

7. What spell is used to unlock doors? Alohamora

8. What does stupefy do? This stuns the person it hits.

9. What spell is used to seal a door? Colloportus (uncertain of the spelling)

10. What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes? Protego shields a person against minor spells.

Emery looked over his answers. There were two that he could just not get. He had no idea what the charm was to reveal a spell. He should know it and that he knew, but he didn’t and it irritated him. He also knew the charm for sealing doors but didn’t know how to spell it and therefore, thought it would be a lost answer anyway. Frowning at the unfinished quiz, Emery handed it in knowing that it would not be a perfect score.

When they finally came around to the lesson (the exam should have been all they had to do that day in his opinion), Emery found himself on edge. This was the second thing that Emery found himself slowly learning to dislike about the class. Their lesson was dealing directly with Spiders. Now, spiders were not Emery’s biggest fear. He could handle one or two house spiders and live peacefully. But when a professor hands one a jar of spiders, poisonous or not, Emery felt himself begin to sweat.

Sitting at his desk, Emery could only just stare at the jar, watching them move around in there and felt like he was going to be sick to his stomach. He honestly felt like they were crawling all over him. He thought this professor was being callous in her teachings. There were plenty of people in this world who had a worse fear of these things than Emery did and she was forcing them to interact with it for a grade. This was not faring well on his nerves today.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Emery lifted his wand and found his hand shaking. He set his wand back down again. This just was not going to do. Maybe if they weren’t directly in front of him he would be able to do it, but watching them… seeing their many eyes and hairy legs… he could barely focus let alone have enough stamina in him to do the spell properly.

This was not a good class day for him at all.

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren This is not my day. 0 Emery Kijewski-Jareau, Aladren 0 5

Analea Thornton

July 17, 2013 1:33 PM

Dratted ‘s’ by Analea Thornton

It wasn’t that Analea hated classes, in fact, she loved to learn. The problem was that anything she needed to say out loud with the letter ‘s’ in it sounded weird and she hated that. Maybe this one won’t be so bad… she thought to herself as she walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was one of the first students in the room, apart from a fair few. She spotted her cousin Dimitri and walked towards him, thinking that maybe it would be okay to work with him this time around. At least if there was a spell or charm they needed to do which had a letter ‘s’ in it, he’d know what to do… It’s better than ending up with someone who doesn’t know… she added to herself as some other students walked in behind her. Someone sat down next to Mitri and she frowned, looking around for Rina or Rory in the hopes of sitting with one of them instead. But at that point some students were pushing slightly and she ended up sitting in an empty chair nearby. Everything about the 12 year old wanted either her best friend or her cousin to have sat down next to her, but she put her attention right on the Professor, not paying any mind to who sat there. Though she definitely hoped it was someone she knew, who knew her…

Professor Levy’s voice rang out with the words ‘Pop Quiz Time’ and Ana’s mouth dropped open onto her desk (it seemed). Pop quiz? she thought to herself, forehead wrinkling at the thought. Ana hated pop quizzes and tests. Though she was smart, she had that added issue of the lisp to deal with and generally many tests she’d taken as of late had speaking parts of it too. A paper was placed onto her desk face down and Ana looked at it worriedly, wondering what was on the other side of the page. The professor explained what would happen if they cheated and she shivered at the thought of it all. When the class was told to turn their papers over and begin, she did so and looked at the questions from top to bottom. She started on it, hoping that she wouldn’t completely ruin everything… Heart pounding, feeling sort of light headed, she began.

Name: Analea Thornton
Year: Second Year
House: Aladren

1. What is the spell used to light the top of one’s wand? Lumos What are the derivatives of the spell?

Oh bother… derivatives… uhm… she thought as she skipped it and moved on to the next one.

2. What does Petrificus Totalus do? It puts the person it is casted on into a full body bind. They can’t move.

3. What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? Expelliarmus

4. What spell does one use to reveal a spell?

Ana racked her brain for the answer to this one, not having much luck. She went on to the next question.

5. If one were lost, what spell would be used? Point me.

6. What plant does Flitterbloom resemble? Devil’s Snare Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled? Devil’s Snare is dangerous, and can be repelled by light.

7. What spell is used to unlock doors? Alohamora

8. What does stupefy do? Stuns the person

9. What spell is used to seal a door? Collaportus

10. What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes?

Again, Ana thought hard for the answer, but it didn’t pop up. Oh no! she sighed, bringing her paper up to the Professor’s pile and going back to her seat.

When she’d done that, Professor Levy told them that the quiz they’d just taken didn’t count against their grades, but it was extra credit. Seriously? I think I just had a minor heart attack over this quiz and it didn’t even count to anything? she thought, as she finally turned to see who was next to her, though she didn’t have time to do anything but see who was there before their teacher spoke again.

Immobulus… she thought with a sigh. Dratted letter ‘s’… She took down her notes and when she heard that she was going to need to go and get a container of spiders, she stopped moving entirely and stared from the teacher’s desk to her neighbor, then up to Professor Levy in almost shock.

“Spiders…?” she thought (without realizing she’d actually said it out loud, instead of to herself.) Suddenly she’d felt a tap on her shoulder and she turned to see her neighbor there.

0 Analea Thornton Dratted ‘s’ 0 Analea Thornton 0 5

Portia Dobson, Teppenpaw

July 18, 2013 11:23 AM

Mine either by Portia Dobson, Teppenpaw

Defense was not a class that Portia really looked forward to. She didn't like dark things that much and didn't expect to need to defend herself. Nora said the lessons got more fun later, but the first year knew that her idea of fun and her sister's differed greatly. She personally was a girly girl through and through. She liked experimenting with hair and makeup and dressing in nice clothing. She enjoyed shopping and going to the spa, though she'd only done that once but she'd enjoyed it. For Portia that was fun. Nora's idea of fun involved reading about scary or unpleasant things and observing and analyzing scary and/or unpleasant people or people with serious issues. The Teppenpaw found that either depressing or, well, scary. She wasn't in denial of the ugly side of life, she just preferred to think of the pretty side.

She really didn't love quizzes either, especially pop quizzes. Who did? Maybe some Aladrens but that was it. Still, it wasn't something Portia was especially anxious about either. She might not have been as smart as Nora-granted the sixth year might have seemed smarter than lots of people because her passion was academics and she spent a lot of time learning things that weren't covered in any class, including things that no school taught as far as Portia was aware, like psychology and magisociology. She was still probably the most brilliant person that the first year knew.-but Portia wasn't stupid either, she was just not as interested in scholastic things. Besides, she wasn't the sort who got too anxious over academic things, since she knew her future would involve more parties. She was far more likely to be a socialite-as was her goal in life-than to be an Auror.

Still, it wasn't nearly as bad as some of the physical, unladylike activities that would mess up her hair and potentially make her sweaty or the dark spooky creatures they could learn about and Portia settled in to work on the quiz.

Name: Portia Dobson
Year: 1
House: Teppenpaw

1. What is the spell used to light the top of one’s wand? What are the derivatives of the spell? Lumos . Not so sure about the derivitaves.

2. What does Petrificus Totalus do? Petrifies people so they can't move at all

3. What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? Expelliarmus

4. What spell does one use to reveal a spell? Reavealio

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 more dangerous one. I think you can get out of it by relaxing but its best to avoid it, even if its really Flitterbloom

7. What spell is used to unlock doors? Collaportus

8. What does stupefy do? Makes people stupid and out of it for a bit.

9. What spell is used to seal a door? Er, Sealius?

10. What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes? Protego is the shield charm which will deflect them

She gave the professor an incredulous look when she mentioned the quiz was just for extra credit. Extra credit was nice and all, but to do something so...sneaky. Of course, Professor Levy had been an Auror, so she had some sneakiness in her, because she'd have to be so to sneak up on bad guys. Portia had literally no desire to have a career personally, it just wasn't done for women in her social circle but she could see the need to have people who did. People who were Aurors and Healers and Professors. So even though this had been a bit irritating, she could still respect the professor and accept her sneakiness.

However, the next part of the lesson made Portia rethink that last statement. Sneakiness and getting people all worked up for basically no reason was one thing. Spiders were quite another. She didn't like gross icky things! Things like snakes and rats and bats and spiders . Evan had both a bug collection mounted-he was something of an amateur entemologyst-and a terrarium full of live ones and the Teppenpaw tried to stay away from both.

She got her jar of spiders and looked down at it unenthusiastically. Portia had no issues with learning the immobulus spell, in fact, she'd very much like spiders to be immobilized. It was simply that she didn't want to work with them or have anything to do with them whatsoever. She didn't care that they weren't poisonous-though that was good, since her uncle had once nearly died from being bit by a poisonous one-or would even bit. Spiders were icky.

Before Portia could get started, she noticed that the boy next to her, Emery she thought, looked kind of ill and frowned. "Are you all right?" She asked. He seemed to be dealing with the spiders much worse than she was. Either he was sick or he really had a terrible fear of them. If it were the former, Portia would be more than happy to escort him to the hospital wing. Not only was she a bit concerned, but she wanted to get away from those spiders too.

11 Portia Dobson, Teppenpaw Mine either 262 Portia Dobson, Teppenpaw 0 5

Ava Fletcher, Aladren

July 19, 2013 4:02 PM

Is that also a frozen treat delicious to eat? by Ava Fletcher, Aladren

Ava had spent the last few night restless, thinking about her mom and wondering what she was up to. When those thoughts wandered to worries about her grandfather and if he was managing by himself alright, she could barely bring herself to study- something she'd always liked doing in elementary school as it gave her something to do when the other girls played together. She had studied however because if she hoped to be a Healer like her mom then she'd have to get good marks, even if she was only a first-year. However much she'd studied before this class, a pop quiz was not something that she was looking forward to. She'd never liked them. She needed to prepare before quizzes, time to breathe and calm herself down so that she wouldn't be overcome with anxiety. When Professor Levy passed out the quizzes, Ava didn't flip it over as quickly as everyone else had. Instead, she closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. If she wanted to pass this quiz then she needed to collect herself and slow down. If she wrote the answers too quickly then she'd be bound to make a mistake. Once Ava was sure that her mind was clear, she prepared herself and turned her quiz over.

Name: Ava Fletcher
Year: First
House: Aladren

1)What is the spell used to light the end of your wand? What are the derivatives of the spell?

Ava smiled. She knew the answer to this one, it was quite easy. She used the Lumos spell a lot in order to stay up late and read in bed. The derivative however was a tiny bit harder. From her grandfather and his friends obsession with teaching her how to figure out what different words meant from their roots she knew that lumen meant light which is where illumination came from. She figured that Lumos probably came from lumen and so wrote that down. 'Lumos is the spell to light your wand. Lumos comes from the Latin word lumen which means light. Lumen has also been used to make the word illumination.' There, she hoped that would be good enough. She took another breath and moved on to the next question.

2)What does Petrificus Totalus do? 'It makes someone behave as if petrified, so basically they cannot move.'
3)What is the spell used to disarm an opponent? 'Expelliarmus," wrote Ava. This one was easy and she'd remembered it from class before.
4)What spell does one use to reveal a spell? This one Ava knew from somewhere, either class or going through books on spells she'd found in the library to read for fun. However for some reason she couldn't remember the whole of it. 'Prior something," she wrote, hoping that she'd at least get some credit for it.
5)If one were lost what spell would be used? Ooh, thought Ava. This would be a good one to know, she reminded herself to look it up the next time she got a chance and left this answer blank.
6)What plant does flitterbloom resemble? Which plant is dangerous and how can it be repelled? Ava scratched her head and thought hard before the answer came to her. 'Devil's Snare looks similar to Flitterbloom. It is the more dangerous of the two as it can be deadly but it can be repelled with light.'
7)What spell is used to unlock doors? 'Alohamora.'
8)What does Stupefy do? 'Knocks someone unconscious'
9)What spell is used to seal a door? Again Ava had no idea, and left the answer blank.
10)What spell would one use to defend against minor jinxes? 'Protego."

As she looked over the answers on her quiz, Ava sighed shakily. She'd been able to answer seven of them with no trouble and one of them she could only remember half of the answer. She'd have to snap out of whatever was causing her to study less and start to focus more on her school work. She didn't think that a 70 would get her to where she wanted to go. Ava stood up, quiz in hand realizing that most of the people in class had already finished. Embarrassed, she quickly scurried up to Professor Levy's desk and put her quiz on the pile of other quizzes before hurriedly returning to her seat whereupon it was announced that this pop quiz was only for extra credit. She wrinkled her nose, a little unhappy that she'd stressed herself so much over something that wouldn't count against her and then realized that extra credit was always good.

When Professor Levy explained their lesson, Ava thought it sounded kind of cool but also a little odd. It would be useful, she supposed, if one was being stampeded by millions of horses, but she couldn't really think of a time where she'd need it other than that. She wasn't planning on getting into any fights and her reaction time was pretty quick as it was considering the amount of times she'd knocked something off her desk and caught it before it broke. Quick reaction times were part of what came with being absent-minded and clumsy in a school full of girls who disliked you, Ava thought. As Professor Levy explained the exercise, she heard her neighbor say something about using the spell on spiders, but she disregarded it, assuming he was talking to someone else. She hadn't really made any friends yet, the only friend she thought she'd made seemed to be avoiding her and she had started to shrink back into the protective shell she'd created around her back at her previous elementary school. As the lesson went on, however, her neighbor continued to talk, seemingly to no one, and she wondered if he wasn't a bit odd. Then she heard a comment that seemed to be directed towards her and she realized that he'd been talking to her the whole time. She blushed slightly, embarrassed that she'd been ignoring him and responded quickly.

"I don't know about coolest," she said as she studied her own jar of 'frozen' spiders in mild fascination. "But it certainly is gross." She turned her head to study the boy at her side. "My name's Ava." She held out her free hand, having set her wand down on the desk to pick up her jar of spiders.

0 Ava Fletcher, Aladren Is that also a frozen treat delicious to eat? 0 Ava Fletcher, Aladren 0 5

Dimitri Porter

July 20, 2013 9:05 PM

In some places maybe, but not here I don't think by Dimitri Porter

Dimitri smiled as the girl next to him introduced herself and he took the hand she offered, shaking it lightly so as not to hurt her. He had seen her blushing slightly and had wondered what that was about, but decided it was best not to ask. “It’s a pleasure to meet you Ava,” he replied politely. “I’m Dimitri.” He introduced himself simply figuring that was easier than the formal greeting. He laughed a bit when she agreed that the jar full of “frozen” spiders was pretty gross. “Maybe thinking it was cool is strictly a boy thing,” he offered jokingly. “It was still gross though.” He checked the jar and found the spiders had gone back to moving around on top of each other again. He wrinkled his nose a bit at the sight. “Well that’s a bummer,” he said despairingly. “Apparently the spell doesn’t last very long.” He put the jar back down on the desk and tried not to watch the spiders crawling around inside. He wasn’t the least bit afraid of spiders, he had a pet tarantula back home (much to his mother’s dismay) and played with her all the time. He played with Dinky the most when he wanted to scare off his sister from his room. She wasn’t really afraid of spiders either, but she didn’t go out of her way to play with his pet. Dimitri figured it was probably because Dinky didn’t seem to like his sister much. Every time Rina entered the room, Dinky seemed to stand up with her “toes” against the glass of her terrarium and go bonkers. You could practically hear her hiss at Darina she was soo agitated. Dimitri would have to cover her tank with a blanket to calm her down.

Dimitri didn’t have many friends here at school yet and was lightly hoping that Ava might be his first one. “How do you think you did on the quiz?” he asked her, trying to make conversation. I am really no good at this he tells himself as he tries to think of interesting things to say. He had never been very good with making conversation with people. There were a few exceptions, but not many. He was an amateur compared to his cousins. They all seemed to have no problem with the talking thing. It could just be because they’re all girls he reasoned to himself. “I might have done alright…I think,” he told her. “There were a few that had me stumped, but the rest went okay. I’m not a huge fan of pop quizzes, but then again who really is?” He laughed lightly at the comment. He could think of at least one of his cousins who liked the quizzes and homework. She always had. She was definitely the brain from the family. “Okay…I take that back. I actually know someone who does like them. My older cousin Andrina is something of a brainiac, but she’s pretty cool.” He had liked listening to Andri tell him and Darina stories from her books. Despite lightly teasing his cousin he really did love her. “Do you have any family that goes to school here too?” he asked curiously.

0 Dimitri Porter In some places maybe, but not here I don't think 0 Dimitri Porter 0 5

Ava Fletcher

July 21, 2013 2:28 PM

Thank goodness we don't live there! by Ava Fletcher

Dimitri, Ava nodded approvingly. That was a fun name, she liked it and it wan't one that she would forget. George, one of her grandfather's many friends and balding Greek man who always gave her chocolates when he came over had a grandson named Demetri who he was always winking at her about. That Demetri made Ava roll her eyes though, he was the reason she'd gotten in trouble when she'd tried to fly of her grandfather's roof. Ava shrugged. "Maybe, lots of girls think doing things with spiders are cool too." She refrained from going into any further detail thinking that might interest him, a boy who found spiders cool, and she didn't really want to go into the topic any further. Boring him with details of her elementary school full of girls who did not appreciate those with higher quality tastes in music and books did not sound like a good way to make a new friend. Besides, all that was behind her. She'd just have to deal with it when she went home for the holidays. But Ava didn't think it'd be that hard, she'd just stick to her grandfather's cottage and the beach surrounding it. And besides, her mother would come home to visit inevitably and there were all of Papa's friends like George- so long as he didn't bring Demetri along.

When the Dimitri who was standing in front of her in class, not the hated grandson, asked her how she thought she did on the quiz, Ava shrugged again. "Alright, I suppose. I tried hard but I could only answer seven of the questions fully. I got another one halfway though. At least it was for extra credit, right?" Ava smiled at him uncertainly. "I really hate pop quizzes. I think I only got so many as I did because I took time to breathe before I took it. Sometimes I-" Ava stopped abruptly. She didn't want to tell this Dimitri about the anxiety lest he make fun of her. "Sometimes I get nervous," she finished. It wasn't exactly lying, but it wasn't exactly the truth either. "How did you do?"

“I might have done alright…I think, there were a few that had me stumped, but the rest went okay. I’m not a huge fan of pop quizzes, but then again who really is?” Dimitri gave a small laugh and Ava wasn't entirely sure what was so funny- quizzes certainly were not! But she imitated his laugh anyway because she didn't want to be rude. She was wondering how they would carry on the conversation, it seemed like now might be a place where it would come to a halt naturally and they would both turn away from each other and continue on with their school work. That's how it had happened on the Quidditch Pitch, wasn't it? An awkward silence followed by a quick retreat- and Ava hadn't really talked to anyone else her age since then save a random conversation in Potions class due to her clumsy feet. Then, Dimitri saved her.

“Okay…I take that back. I actually know someone who does like them. My older cousin Andrina is something of a brainiac, but she’s pretty cool. Do you have any family that goes to school here too?”

Ava shook her head no. "I'm an only child and so was my dad. My mom has a little sister but I don't really know much about her or her family." Ava decided to keep it brief leaving out the usually absent mother due to business who never talked much of her family. "How about you? You have a cousin, any others?" Family was a safe enough topic for most and as long as she kept it on others then she'd be fine. She loved to talk about her grandfather but right now it didn't seem like it would fit in the conversation. Ava pulled on the tip of her messy braid, the ends of which were covered in oil paint- the result of finding the MARS room earlier that week. She'd been able to get it off her hands but her hair? Not so much.

10 Ava Fletcher Thank goodness we don't live there! 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Dimitri Porter

July 22, 2013 3:21 PM

I second that! by Dimitri Porter

Dimitri was a little surprised to discover that Ava was an only child. That sort of thing wasn’t uncommon, but he couldn’t imagine not having his twin sister and his little brother at home. Yeah they were kind of annoying, but he wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Dimitri was a little stumped as to how to reply to that statement. Saying I’m sorry seemed kind-of lame since it wasn’t her fault that her parents didn’t have any other children. So like most of the rest of his family, Dimitri said what he was thinking. “I couldn’t imagine being an only child,” he began. “It would feel too weird to me. Not being able to play with anyone if you’re bored, not having anyone to talk to when you want to complain about your parents when you think they’re being unfair. The upside of being an only child I suppose would be that you don’t have to worry about siblings stealing your stuff or blaming you for something they did wrong,” he joked lightly. “I would be lost without my twin sister and my baby brother.” When she asked if he had any other cousins going to school as well he almost laughed aloud. If only she knew. Dimitri nodded and actually raised one of his hands up and began counting them off on his fingers.

“Lets see…there’s my cousin Addison, she graduates this year, Amira (she’s a sixth year), Andrina (fifth year), Aubrielle (fourth year) and Analea (second year). They’re all sisters. Then there’s my twin sister Darina and our other cousin Clara (she’s also a fourth year).” By the time he was done counting he had used up seven fingers. As he thought more about it, he realized that he would have to add one finger to that count when his cousin Ariel joined them at school (if she joined them). She would have to be accepted first. He nodded slightly at her comment about girls maybe liking stuff with spiders as well. He didn’t know any of them personally, but he supposed she was right. “True enough. I suppose you’re right and maybe some girls do like playing around with them. I don’t know these girls personally, but I suppose its possible.” He shrugged. “I’m going to go ahead and guess that you’re probably not one of those girls, are you?” he inquired curiously. He listened to her talk about getting nervous and nodded. “Well that’s understandable,” he told her. “There’s nothing wrong with feeling nervous sometimes. I feel nervous sometimes myself whenever I’m writing music or I play a song. For all I know the song could suck or I could play a wrong note. I worry about it all the time, but it doesn’t keep me from playing.” He debated for a moment whether or not he should make the offer he was about to make, but figured that there was no harm in throwing it out there. “I’m a really good listener if you need someone to talk to the next time you feel nervous,” he offered. “It couldn’t hurt, right?” he asked, offering her a friendly smile.

It was then he casually noticed that she appeared to be playing with her hair. Upon closer inspection he realized there were what appeared to be flecks of paint in her hair. “I don’t want to nosy or anything, but is that oil-based paint in your hair?” he asked curiously.

0 Dimitri Porter I second that! 0 Dimitri Porter 0 5

Ava Fletcher

July 23, 2013 1:59 AM

Popsicles are nice though. by Ava Fletcher

Ava felt her eyes grow wide at the mention of all his cousins. All of which were girls, and all of which had absolutely beautiful names. "That's a lot of family!" She exclaimed. "It gets lonely sometimes I guess, but my grandfather and I get along really well and he has his friends over sometimes and they teach me all kinds of things like Latin and roots- they're all bibliophiles. If I got that bit about the derivative on the quiz then they're the only reason I did." She smiled fondly, thinking about Papa and his friends. She missed them a lot, they always had funny stories to tell her and on Sunday nights they'd all go to the 50's themed soda fountain and they'd buy her a licorice ice cream and teach her new things about the town and it's people. Having them around was like having a bunch of older brothers, much, much older brothers, Ava felt a little weird saying that, she didn't know if Dimitri would understand that, so she tried to explain it. "Papa, he's my grandfather, is my guardian, I live with him. And he has his friends over a lot and we play games and read books together and they buy me ice cream, so it's sort of like they're all my grandfathers." A small white lie didn't hurt and besides, for a girl with no siblings, father, and pretty absent mother, her grandfather was the world to her. Calling her Papa's friend her other grandfathers was probably a higher compliment than her original one of brothers.

"No, I don't really like them much- too many bad memories involving them." She shuddered involuntarily, remembering one particular morning when she had pulled her coat out of her cubby at school to go to recess and a whole cardboard box of the creepy-crawlies had tipped onto her head. "They're not exactly my favorite things." Her Papa would have been furious had the teacher told him. However, not wanting to give the girls the satisfaction, Ava had just pulled her coat on anyway, trying to keep the tears at bay and brushed them off in the hallway. So, the teacher never noticed, Papa never found out, and the spider pranks finally came to an end.

The first thing that came into her head after Dimitri offered his ear was that he wrote and played music. That was fantastic, she loved music- so long as it wasn't the bubblegum pop that she heard from her old schoolmates. She liked classical, grown-up pieces. Stuff by old composers from the 1600's and up, music by musicians like the Boss. However, she thought that she at least ought to answer his question before diving off into his musical abilities. Besides, he'd smiled when he'd said it so her probably meant it. "That would be really nice, but it really only happens right before a quiz or test. Or when I meet new people." She smiled back. She wasn't sure what made her say the next thing that she said, but that didn't matter because she said it anyway. "Maybe we could talk another time though, even if I'm not nervous, it couldn't hurt, right?" Her eyes twinkled mischievously after throwing his words back at him. She hoped he'd say yes. She could use a friend.

"Oh, um, yes, it's really a pain to get out. I was painting earlier in the week with it, but I got most of it off me, it's just this bit here that I'm working on. It's being particularly stubborn." She glared at the end of her braid as if it were insulting her. "It's rather a nuisance but what can you do?" She shrugged. "Do you paint too?"

10 Ava Fletcher Popsicles are nice though. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Dimitri Porter

July 25, 2013 7:46 PM

I like popcicles by Dimitri Porter

Dimitri found himself listening intently to Ava talk about her grandfather and his friends. His own grandparents were great people who spoiled all of their grandchildren, but only as much as their parents would let them. His grandfather did a lot of things with all of them that hers did with her and discovered that they had a few things in common. “I don’t live with my grandparents, but they’re really great people. They own a horse training ranch in the English countryside. Gramps taught just about all of us (who were willing) how to ride and care for the horses they breed. He and grams read to us every time we visit and they play all sorts of weird games with us. They’re mostly ones my gramps makes up, but they’re still fun. My youngest cousins love it the most,“ he found himself telling her. Grandpa Abernathy had always been the patriarch for the family and while he was a strong, intelligent shrewd man with his business, he was a silly, loving attentive man with all of the children. He was like a big kid with wrinkly skin and false teeth. Dimitri smiled at the thought and shared it with her. “He kind of reminds me of a big kid with wrinkly skin and false teeth,“ he told her. “Your grandpa and his friends sound absolutely fantastic. You’re very lucky to have them.“ Dimitri had no idea what it was like being raised by his grandparents, but he figured it couldn’t really be much different than being raised by your parents, could it?

Dimitri merely nodded when she answered his question about the spiders. “I had a feeling they weren’t your favorites,“ he said diplomatically. “I’m sorry that they bring up bad memories for you,“ he apologized. He knew that he hadn’t personally created the bad memories for her, but it didn’t mean that he couldn’t feel bad on her behalf. He put his jar of spiders as far away from her as possible to make her feel more comfortable. Where he really wasn’t worried about scaring his sister with them, he didn’t want to make Ava uncomfortable with them. He figured since he was moving the jar of them out of her view it wouldn’t be such a great idea to mention the fact that he had a pet tarantula at home. Somehow he didn’t think that mentioning that would up his chances of her wanting to be his friend if she knew he played with the creepy and crawly at home. So when she answered his question about the paint in her hair, he jumped to the art subject with ease. “Actually I just started working with oil paints myself,” he replied. “Up until recently I spent most of my time sketching with paper and pencil. I like drawing faces…see,” Dimitri reached down into his bag and pulled out his sketchbook. He flipped to one of his drawings and showed it to her. The drawing was of his cousin Abigail. “This is my other cousin Abby, she also goes to school here along with her sisters. She’s not much of a people-person though. She prefers animals,” he told her. He placed the sketchbook on the corner of the desk so she could flip through it. “Most of the drawings are of my sister and cousins, but I also like drawing castles and stuff too.” He flipped past a couple of the facial sketches and showed her the sketch he did of one of the castles he and his family saw on their castle tour of Europe a few years back.

“This was one we saw while we were traveling through Germany,” he told her. It showed mostly a hillside with the ruins of a castle left. Most of the stone walls had fallen down due to war, weather and time. Some of the walls were left standing, but with large holes in them big enough for a person to walk through. The stones were covered in moss and ivy giving them an almost living wall kind of look thanks to the foliage. He had spent almost 2 hours sitting on a large rock sketching. It almost drove his sister insane from having to wait. Dimitri still grinned from time to time when he thought about it. He nodded as she explained that the paint had been in her hair for about a week and it was being especially stubborn about coming out. “I know the feeling,” he told her. “I had the same issue when I started using the oil paints. It got everywhere. I had to turn my once most comfortable t-shirt into a paint rag,” he complained lightly. Then he shrugged. “Oh well. I found though that using a mixture of paint thinner and turpentine tends to get it out of most things. I’m not quite sure how well it would work on hair though,” he admitted. He nodded in agreement when she mentioned that she usually got nervous just before tests and quizzes. “I think a lot of people do. I know I do,” he admitted again. An idea struck him just then that made him smile a little. “I’ve got an idea that might help with that,” he offered. “What if, the next time we have a test or quiz in class, we make a funny face at the other one right before it to break the tension?” he suggested. He hoped that the idea wasn’t too unusual for her. He liked the fact that she seemed amendable to their continued interaction and smiled at her question. “I don’t see what it could hurt. If anything, I think it would help. Don’t you think so?” he asked, wanting her opinion on the subject. "I know I would definitly like for us to talk again. Maybe even be friends...if that's okay with you," he added hoping that it was okay with her.

0 Dimitri Porter I like popcicles 0 Dimitri Porter 0 5

Ava Fletcher

July 26, 2013 2:22 AM

They're pretty much a summer staple. by Ava Fletcher

Ava thought that Dimitri's grandparents sounded like wonderful people and wondered what life was like to have two parents and then grandparents to have fun with separate. Dimitri's description of his grandfather made Ava laugh, "My grandpa has kind of wrinkly skin. He has a beard and mustache and very white hair on his head." She smiled. "Yeah, they are pretty fantastic."

"Why apologize?" She asked with a shrug. "It's not like you did it. And besides, that's in the past now." For now , she added in her head. This Dimitri was a lot kinder than the Demetri who came over every now and then when visiting his grandfather. "But thanks, you're the first person to apologize for that so it's kind of nice to hear. Now, if only your voice were higher and more feminine," she smiled at him teasingly, hoping he got the joke.

"That's neat, I've always loved drawing myself as well!" She smiled at him as he pulled his sketchbook out. "My favorite things to draw are the beach and the ocean and all the stuff I find on it. I've tried to do faces before but for some reason I can never get them quite right. Humans are so hard to capture on paper. I mean, my Papa says they look alright but he's kind of supposed to say that, you know?" She paused for a minute, then sighed. "I think I'd be a lot better if I'd had an art teacher, a real one, not the crappy ones they pass off as art teachers at school. All Ms. Lowell had us do was silly arts and crafts projects like making macaroni necklaces." She rolled her eyes. "It's ridiculous the things that some adults think will entertain us 'children'." She shook her head and picked up the sketchbook to flip through the drawings and sketches. Normally she wouldn't have been so rude as to assume it was alright to go through someone else's sketchbook seeing as she was so protective of hers, but Dimitri was the first person her age she'd met who liked art and making art so she was really excited to see the talent of others.

"Your faces are so much better than mine!" She thought unhappily of the noses that never seemed to be in the right place or the smiles that always seemed to be too happy or not happy enough. You're too hard on yourself, Mermaid, She heard her grandfather say in her head. You're drawings are really quite good. Ava heard Dimitri mention the castles "and stuff" and only barely registered it, more absorbed in his drawings than what he was saying so was taken a bit by surprise when he reached over and flipped through the pages to find one of a castle.

"This was one we saw while we were traveling through Germany," he said. Ava smiled. It was a pretty hill and the castle ruins looked very picture-esque (she giggled to herself in her head at the use of 'picture-esque' to describe a picture of castle ruins), something that she certainly would have been captivated by had she ever been to Germany. "It's very nice," she commented. "Kind of reminds me of The Secret Garden." She smiled fondly, thinking of her favorite book, but also realizing that as a boy he probably hadn't either heard of it or read it. "Do you know that one?" She asked.

"I've been using oil paints for awhile," said Ava in case he thought she was a novice as well. "My mother bought me a small set for my 8th birthday as an apology for not being around much that year. But I still get it in my hair and on my hands and stuff. It's gotten to the point that I only have a few clothes that don't have paint on them but I don't mind. It's 'the mark of an artist', or so my Papa says."

"A funny face?" Ava asked. "Yeah, that might help. We'd have to be sitting close together so that we could see the other one though." Ava really liked this boy. He was nice, artistic, and had good ideas. He also listened. When he said that he thought her idea of them talking on a normal basis would help, she smiled. "Yeah, i think so too." Ava's forehead puckered then as she tried to figure out. Did this mean they were friends? Luckily for her, Dimitri saved her from asking the awkward question. "Yeah, friends would be cool. I'd like that." I've never had a friend my age before, she added in her head.

OOC: Sorry this is kind of all over the place and more detailed in some places than others. There are just so many conversations going on haha!! And Ava's my first character- I haven't even gotten to double digits in posts yet!

10 Ava Fletcher They're pretty much a summer staple. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5