Professor Pye
January 12, 2015 1:46 AM
Beginner DADA-- Years 1 & 2 by Professor Pye
His first night at Sonora, Alfie had stayed in his room, asking the prairie elves to send him some simple bread and soup as he really didn’t want to have to deal with the students first thing. However, Alfie was not one to do a half-job and so he rose early the next day to finalize his lesson plans—all ones he had asked former professors to look over for him, in order to ensure they were beginner level material. He had at one point been concerned that perhaps his material might overlap with that of the Care of Magical Creatures or Charms material but he soon put those thoughts out of his mind. He wasn’t at Sonora to make friends, just there until they found a full-time professor for Defense or until he found a better suiting job—whichever came first. However, with the damage his father had done it seemed as though the former was more likely than the latter.He’d been teaching the beginners for a week now, which meant five one hour lessons, and he was bored. The only part about his job that he liked was that on Tuesdays and Thursdays he had nowhere to be until 1:30 pm and on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays he basically had the whole day off since class was from 4:00 to 5:00 pm then. This meant that he was able to spend the rest of his time as he pleased, which meant walking in the Labyrinth Gardens, wracking his brain to figure out why it was that his old job had not been enough for his father who was a fan of those suit and tie positions. Here, however, he left his ties alone as he dressed, choosing instead to pull on dark, worn khakis and a lightweight, cream colored sweater. The weather in Arizona was hot, he had discovered, unpleasantly so and nothing like his native England. The school itself however was temperature controlled for the most part and he had made sure to make his bedroom and classroom even colder than the rest of the building. If students got cold, they could wear extra layers under their robes but he wasn’t going to swelter in the heat of a place he didn’t even want to be in. His dark hair he left unbrushed and, in one last dig at his father who thought that men worth their weight were clean shaven, he left the more-than-five-o-clock-shadow alone. He was twenty-seven years old and his father was still controlling his life, though it seemed like a small thing, each one was a victory in and of itself.
Today Alfie’s legs dragged more than usual as he walked to the classroom. It was Monday. He hated Mondays. He vaguely remembered hearing of a Muggle cartoon cat who also hated Mondays and felt sympathy towards the fat, orange creature whose name he could not remember. However, it was the start of his second week which meant there was one less week, one less Monday, and soon to be one less class that he would have to teach. Defense class was the one time during the day during which he was required to be in the same room as Barnaby and it was not a situation he looked forward to in the slightest. It was forced, awkward and uncomfortable.
He entered the classroom seconds before the period began and took his place at the front of the room, choosing to sit on the desk’s smooth surface rather than stand around like professors had when he was in school. Blue eyes stuck out of the crowd, piercing him with their intensity. Alfie ignored them. The students already knew of the no nonsense policy he had described on his first day of the class. They already knew that they ought to address him as Pye, though because of his gruff attitude, some had slipped and called him Sir when they asked questions. That, he was okay with—he just couldn’t bear to have the professor title added to his last name. Every time he thought about it was like another knife to the heart reminding him that he had lost out on the opportunity to do what it was he really wanted to.
“Quills and parchments out, notes and books away,” he said once he had finished tallying up the number of heads in the room. Full attendance or not he was going to start the class and if a student was late, then they would have to make up lost points as he had already made it clear that tardiness or absence during his daily quizzes was not to be tolerated. Perhaps one of the redeeming qualities of his class was that he assigned no homework, preferring instead to use daily quizzes on the previous class’s material as a way to make sure the students knew their material. One might say he was a little too harsh, but the subject on which Defense was formulated around was difficult and he refused to let his students slack off. A good foundation was essential to later success. He understood that they were eleven and twelve, but age made no difference to the creatures and dark wizards and witches who lurked out in the real world. “Today, your quiz is a paragraph on doxies and bow truckles. I want ten lines minimum, name, year and house at the top of your parchment. You will have fifteen minutes, your time starts now.”
While he waited for the class to finish their quizzes, he began to prepare for the lesson, taking out the various shoeboxes he had put under his desk the night before. Once the time was up, he collected the papers and resumed his tabletop space. “Today, we will be learning a spell to repel. This spell can help if someone has thrown something at you, if a small creature—like the ones we covered last class, has decided to attack you, or if something is falling towards you among other things. The first day we covered the lumos and nox charms which are considered defensive charms.” Why that was exactly, Alfie had no earthly idea. “The second years should have been familiar with them already from previous classrooms and maybe some of the first years were as well. By now all of you should have mastered it.” He had asked they all be completely able to cast that spell by the end of the first class so any student who still couldn’t execute it to his standards would have been approached and asked to stay after class on Friday. “The spell today is the knockback jink. You will have a week to learn it as it involves wand movement and direction. The incantation for this is flipendo,” Alfie said, demonstrating the wand movement with a quick wrist flick in the shape of a check mark with a hook at the end of it. “The emphasis of this spell is ‘pen’.”
“You will all have ten minutes after I’ve explained the exercise to practice your flipendo wand movements, after which I want you to all pair up. I have hidden immobilized pixies, imps, and fire crabs around the room. Your job is, in these pairs, to take turns using the lumos and flipendo spells. I will dim the lights and you will use lumos to explore the room taking care to aim down-wards so you don’t blind your classmates while your partners will use flipendo to “knockback” any creature you discover. After each creature is discovered, switch spells. If I find that anyone is using the knockback jinx to purposely hurt each other or if I believe they are then they will be severely punished. So be absolutely sure it is one of the aforementioned creatures before you cast the spell. You may begin.”
As a student, Alfie would have loved to take part in hands-on lessons such as the one he had just given the students. In reality, the various creatures would have been on the offensive, but Alfie wanted to make sure the students knew how to properly cast the spell before animating their targets. Of course the “creatures” he had hidden around the room were simply harmless plaster replicas that would most like turn into a crumbly mess if knockbacked into something hard enough but that wasn’t something he wanted to tell the students. It didn’t fall into the category of things he thought they ought to know. Besides, the lights would be dimmed enough that they would most likely not see the mess they had created and he planned on cleaning the room after the period so the other professors wouldn’t have to deal with the mess. It would give him more time on his own and hopefully would enable him to avoid conversation with the other professors at dinner.
OOC: Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Like your other classes, posts are graded on realism and creativity (I am loads more lenient than Pye). In addition to these two things, posts are also marked on length and abiding to the site rules.
However, Pye would intervene should anything get out of hand so please allow me time to respond by tagging me in the subject line if your character has any questions or is having difficulties or causing trouble.
If you want a class schedule, you can find that here
Subthreads: I think I have decided this is not my favorite class by Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw with Scarlett Brockert,Pecari
Regrettably finding a partner. by Jax Donovan, Aladren with Sutton Nicolls, Pecari, Anna Clarissa Cooper-Flemming
Eagerly searching for a partner. by Gia Donovan, Pecari with Diana Carey, Pecari
Why are partners necessary? by Aislinn Nicolls, Aladren with Andrew Carey, Teppenpaw
Defending in the semi-dark. by John Umland, Aladren
Analyzing by Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw with Caelia Lucan, Crotalus
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Professor Pye
Beginner DADA-- Years 1 & 2
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Professor Pye
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Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw
January 13, 2015 3:38 PM
I think I have decided this is not my favorite class by Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw
After one week of classes, Ginger Pierce felt pretty certain of one thing at least: DADA was not going to be her best class. No homework was not really worth a quiz every single class, in her opinion. Homework, for one thing, could be worked on together if they proved difficult. And, somehow, even though it was only one week into the term, DADA was already looking difficult. Mr. Pye was very particular. At least on Mondays, she had an hour between Potions and DADA to review the material and practice the spells they'd worked on previously. Weekends would have completely killed her grade otherwise. She sighed heavily and put away her notes as Mr. Pye had them get ready for the daily quiz.Ginger Pierce,
1st Year,
Teppenpaw
Ginger filled out the top of her parchment the way she was already becoming accustomed to doing, then began her paragraph.
Doxies and bowtruckles are both magical creatures. Okay, yes, obvious, but she was hoping for at least partial credit if she got everything else wrong. At least she knew they were creatures, right? That counted for something, she hoped. Fortunately, her pre-class study session did remind her of a few more facts regarding the two critters. Bowtruckles live in trees and are really good at
As Mr. Pye explained the day's activity, Ginger's expression grew worried. She didn't want to get her eyes poked out or be bitten by a poisonous fairy creature - or whatever it was that pixies, imps or fire crabs did when they attacked. She was okay with the lumos and nox spells, now that she'd practiced them endlessly last week, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to get a repelling spell to work under pressure. She practiced diligently for the given ten minutes for that sort of practice, getting the pronunciation and the wand motion down, but she still hoped for a second year to partner in case the immobilized critter mobilized and attacked them. Older back-up would be good for both her confidence and her well-being, she thought.
Approaching somebody she didn't think she remembered seeing in Flying Lessons - and therefore probably wasn't also a first year - she asked hopefully, "Need a partner? I'm Ginger Pierce." She made no mention of branch, kind of hoping anybody who cared about that kind of thing would mistake her for the kind of Pierce they got along with, just to simplify diplomacy and improve her likelihood of surviving this class. Though, of course, anybody who was really into that kind of thing probably already knew the New Hampshire branch did not have any children of an age to begin at a magic school this year.
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Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw
I think I have decided this is not my favorite class
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Ginger Pierce, Teppenpaw
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Scarlett Brockert,Pecari
January 17, 2015 1:08 PM
Yeah, me too. by Scarlett Brockert,Pecari
Pie was a sweet yummy treat. Pye was not. Scarlett didn't much care for the substitute DADA professor. The daily quizzes were bothersome and he was so uptight. And the quiz wasn't even multiple choice! She despised essays and could tell full well that the professor wasn't going to appreciate her sense of humor if she didn't know the answer. She did, but not in any detail. Not the kind of answers that would be satisfactory. Scarlett could only hope that someone more fun was hired as a regular professor soon.Bowtruckles are ugly but usually harmless stick-like insects. Doxies are poisonous and look like fairies. They lay eggs that are used in potions. Neither is really something you'd want around the house. .
Yeah, that didn't take up half the requirement even if she wrote big, which she had. Not going to be impressive. Not going to get her a decent grade. Scarlett couldn't think of anything else though. She was certain Savannah would write something incredibly intelligent but this wasn't the Pecari's forte.
At least the practical part of the lesson didn't sound too terrible. Besides, she never knew when she might run into such creatures when she was out making late night excursions around the school. Scarlett was hoping to do a little bit more of that this year than last. If only she didn't have to sit through essay questions on quizzes and Mr. Pye's demeanor, she might actually enjoy this class. Somewhat. Actually, all classes could be approved upon if they could eliminate the boring theory parts. She would certainly do better in them.
Before Scarlett could find a partner, one of the first years approached her. "Sure." She replied. "I'm Scarlett Brockert, of the Western Brockerts." She introduced herself properly but neglected to curtsey. The second year already knew Ginger wasn't one of the New Hampshire Pierces, given Kelsey moaning about the amount of improper girls in her class. Scarlett figured working with Ginger would probably horrify her cousin which was a plus.
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Scarlett Brockert,Pecari
Yeah, me too.
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Scarlett Brockert,Pecari
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Ginger
January 21, 2015 12:07 PM
We just need to survive until we get a real DADA teacher by Ginger
"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Brockert," Ginger replied politely, recognizing the surname as coming from not just a proper family but the Headmaster's family. Scarlett seemed kind enough despite surely knowing Ginger was from the mixed California clan, so Ginger saw no reason not to demonstrate that she was at least familiar with proper etiquette even if she didn't have the bloodline to require its frequent use. Besides, if Ginger got along nicely with most pure bloods, hopefully Jemima would feel comfortable being friendly with her outside just roommate relations.She hesitated a moment, uncertain if her next invitation was appropriate yet or not, but given that danger may loom in today's exercise, it would be better to be addressed by a name she was sure she'd respond to. "You may call me Ginger, since we'll be working together."
She picked up her wand from its place on her desk and took a deep steadying breath, as she prepared herself to start going after the paralyzed beasties. "So, do you want me to cast lumos or flipendo to start with?" As Scarlett was older, it only made sense to let her lead their team through the lesson.
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Ginger
We just need to survive until we get a real DADA teacher
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Ginger
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Scarlett Brockert
February 04, 2015 3:40 PM
It'll all be okay soon. by Scarlett Brockert
Scarlett agreed. "Pleased to meet you too." She'd feel a bit ridiculous calling someone not a member of her social circle Miss Pierce. Had Ginger been a New Hampshire Pierce, it might have been a bit different. Besides, it always seemed a little ridiculous to call people her own age Miss and Mr. So and So anyway. There were aspects of adulthood she looked forward to, with exciting parties, travel and dashing men, but she wasn't there yet and to address people around her age as such seemed a bit silly. "And you can call me Scarlett."Besides, despite Kelsey fully believing that those not part of pureblood society should show their betters proper respect, Scarlett knew they weren't going to understand society's rules, and well, she couldn't force something on them that they would inevitably flub up as it was something they weren't used to. Her mother had taught her and Savannah that that sort were far more informal and didn't learn the proper rules of etiquette. Personally, the Pecari didn't mind a bit. She far preferred her first name. It was made her an individual and with a school full of Brockerts including her identical twin, Scarlett very much wanted her own identity.
"Hmm.." The second year thought. "I suppose I should do the flipendo ." Much as she would have preferred the easier spell, the easier grade, she had to admit it wouldn't be very fair to that to one of the firsties. Scarlett would be downright annoyed if one of the second years had stuck her with the more difficult task last year and lumos was something that Ginger probably knew quite well given how they'd all had to practice it to Mr. Pye's satisfaction.
Merlin, did she ever hate teachers like that. Scarlett swore that her house-elves had it easier. What happened in this class was probably a little slice of what it was like to be Chaslyn and she'd never felt sorrier for her cousin. Mr. Pye would likely drive her over the edge if he stayed around too long.
The room darkened. "I suppose the fun really begins now." The Pecari told the younger student. "As opposed to, you know, the daily quizzes." Scarlett made a face that she didn't really care if Ginger caught or not.
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Scarlett Brockert
It'll all be okay soon.
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Scarlett Brockert
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