Today is a great day! on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Pye

July 02, 2015 1:14 AM

Hit [each other] with your best shots (Int. DADA, years 3-5) by Professor Pye

Ever since Alfie had borrowed Tallec’s class pet, the Care of Magical Creatures professor had somehow got it into his head that this meant Alfie wanted to be his friend. After much cajoling, Alfie had eventually caved and agreed to accompany the other man to a place of his choosing at the next possible opportunity. The idea which he had once been so loathe to agree to, however, had slowly become more appealing in Alfie’s eyes. To actually have a friend again—a friend who wasn’t involved in life threatening situations all the time and therefore never had much time to floo call other friends stuck in a dead-end teaching position, that was, was something that Alfie hadn’t realized he was missing. So he was in a particularly good mood that morning when he arrived to his intermediate defense class because there was a longer weekend coming up in which he had plans, actual plans.

In fact, he was so happy, he decided to let the class skip their quiz even though it was the only outside of class work he expected from his students as Alfie did not believe in homework especially as he had disliked having to fill his Hogwarts days in the library writing essay after essay on theoretics when he could have been actually employing the spells he learned in class. “Today we will be putting our practical knowledge to use. Again,” he said as he took his usual perch on top of his desk, his feet lightly resting on the stool he had placed in front of the desk for this particular reason. “By now I’m sure all of you have a store of rather nasty jinxes and hexes that you have learned over the years. Perhaps some of you are ashamed to admit you know them, perhaps some of you who aren’t particularly inclined to learn these jinxes and hexes need a push in that direction. That is why I have taken these,” here he patted the stack of books next to him in a rather protective manner. “Out of the library. The spell we’ll use today is salvio hexia” he flicked his wand and the chalk on the chalkboard began to write out the spell on the board.

“I’m sure most of you already have a handle on expelliarmus, he continued. “And while I think that is an important one to know, since you’re familiar with it, I do not want to hear it being thrown around today unless you believe yourself to be in grave danger. The wand movement for salvio hexia is a straight slashing movement that goes diagonally downwards. For the neatest rendition of this spell, stand with your wand a forearm’s length away from your body. Your wand arm should be at a ninety degree angle, the elbow tucked into your side. Move your wand up so that your hand is should height with your opposite should—for those of you who grasp your wand with your right hand, this means your left shoulder and visa-versa.” He didn’t think he needed to tell the students this as they now ranged in age from thirteen to sixteen, but he didn’t want to waste any time on students who in fifth year still couldn’t tell their right apart from their left.

“Next, bring your wand down in a slashing motion across your body as though warding off something. Stop when your hand is at waist level.” He stood up and demonstrated for the class, his firm grip starting at his left shoulder and moving down quickly and sharply until his wand was at his right hip. “Like so. In the heat of battle, this movement may not end up so precise, you may find yourself fireing over your shoulder. This is fine so long as you get in that movement, your wand will detect what spell you are trying to use.”

“Now,” Alfie looked out at his class and smiled. “Please find a partner. I’ll be watching so nothing too severe, please, and do your best to reflect any and all advances made by your classmates.”

OOC: Have fun, 200 words minimum, be creative but also realistic: Alfie would intervene should anyone be particularly spiteful so please do not let yourselves be killed or severely maimed in this lesson. Please tag me if your character has questions or is being hit by/casting a particularly nasty spell.

Subthreads:

Today is a great day! by Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw with Araceli Arbon, Crotalus

Do you fancy purple spots? by Clark Dill, Aladren with Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw

10 Professor Pye Hit [each other] with your best shots (Int. DADA, years 3-5) 30 Professor Pye 1 5

Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw

July 02, 2015 5:21 PM

Today is a great day! by Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw

Aiden was in such a great mood. He had been spending once a week helping out an attractive seventh year prefect with flying and he had even gotten a kiss out of it. He couldn’t believe his luck! He had only had the attention to get out into the fresh air and fly around like he used to, but he ended up meeting Ginny and she was just perfect. Aiden never understood really what people meant when they said they had a crush on another person, but now he totally did. His heart felt like it was in a tight grip being crushed whenever he saw her and it was the best feeling in the world to him. As odd of a thing to believe that was.

In addition to that, Aiden had heard of a rumor that someone had carved the initials ‘G’ and ‘A’ into a tree in the gardens. He hadn’t seen it for himself because when he had gone to look, the initials were gone, but his Head of House had left a note advising whoever had done it to never do it again, so it must have been true. Aiden had to wonder if Ginny felt the way that he felt when they were together and was trying to let him know through school vandalism…

Obviously, that was just wishful thinking for him. There was no way someone like Virginia Bellrose would be interested in him in any way. Besides, after just a couple of flying lessons with her, he easily picked up the fact that she held her friends in high regard. Part of him wondered if she had a thing for either of them or possibly both of them, but it wasn’t his place to ask. Instead, he kept his own thoughts and dreams about her to himself and enjoyed spending the half an hour a day with her on the pitch.

His good mood continued when Professor Pye cancelled their daily quiz. Aiden couldn’t feel any better about his day. Defense Against the Dark Arts was not his most favorite class, it wasn’t even close to the top, but he could get behind the professor if the quizzes were no longer a thing for them to have to do daily. Aiden liked not having homework too, but he did his readings like a good student so he preferred a quick ‘summarize the reading’ task over a daily quiz. And, honestly, what was the difference between the professor reviewing homework or summaries and grading a quiz?

Aiden did not understand adults.

As he took notes for the class, Aiden was completely lost with what they were doing. Where they throwing the spell at their partners or was the spell something to protect them against the spell their partner was throwing? What exactly did this spell do? And why would he have gone out of his way to learn hexes and jinxes? What kind of people did the Professor think raised him? He had no reason to know those things. He knew of some of those spells but he didn’t know how to do them.

Aiden quickly looked up the spell in his book just to see what he was supposed to be doing and realized that it was a protection spell. That made sense. So, he had to now just think of a jinx or hex to throw at someone. Maybe his partner would have an idea of what spell to use. Looking around at his classmates to see who still needed a partner. Seeing someone who was free, Aiden made his way over with a pleasant smile on his face. “Hi, I was wondering if you would like to be partners?” He asked. “And, do you have any hexes or jinxes in mind to use?” He added. “I don’t actually make it a habit to study them as the professor seems to suggest we do.” He joked.

6 Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw Today is a great day! 287 Aiden O'Neil, Teppenpaw 0 5

Araceli Arbon, Crotalus

July 05, 2015 12:36 AM

Based on...? by Araceli Arbon, Crotalus

Defence was just awful. It had been awful last year and it was going to be worse this year. In other classes, it was easy to keep her head down, to control her magic and get suitably mediocre results. Defence tapped into your instincts though. It was hard not to throw everything you had into it because it made you feel threatened. Last year, that had been almost alright. It was suspicious if she performed flawlessly but at least she was expected to be better than the majority of her classmates - she was a second year, and a Pureblood. But now…. if she reacted on instinct and sent a fifth year flying across the room, eyebrows were going to be raised. She had practised extensively with Father over the holidays, trying to tone it down, to not snap automatically to the defences she knew, trying to execute them badly, the way a third year should. Only Care of Magical Creatures came close to being anywhere near as awful, as she had to pretend to like all the animals, when many of them made her feel uneasy - to add to the difficulties, that was something animals could sense, no matter what kind of a brave face she put on it. Her only comfort there was that at least Kneazles were done with now.

She took care to sit with other third years. Specifically, she found herself with Aiden O’Neill. He was another of Araceli’s misjudged attachments in first year. Kind, which she supposed she had needed, but no one special. Not really worthy of her time but a much safer bet than partnering up with someone older. He hadn’t really bothered with her much during second year, which made her feel the whole thing had been rather one sided anyway. Araceli, being so desperate for any kind of social contact that didn’t end in complete failure, mistook those minor successes as friendships, when really it took so much more than not failing miserably to make someone really like you. Hence the little bottle of Potion that sat in her pocket now.

Today’s class sounded manageable… Nothing a third year could throw at her, especially a sweet little Teppenpaw one, should make her flinch that much. Professor Pye also helped, describing in minute detail the perfect posture for the spell. She noted it down, appearing the diligent student, but mentally making notes on how to slacken off…. Some were easier to subvert than others. Straight slashing motion, diagonally downwards… Well, she couldn’t exactly go upwards without looking like a complete idiot, but she could make it wobbly - allow her arm to travel out from her body the further down she sliced. Forearm’s length. Easier to be closer or further away, or - as she had thought for the diagonal - start at one point but then drift. Ninety degree angle, elbow tucked into your side. Forty-fives degrees, elbow out. Blah de blah de things she couldn’t really change, stop at waist height. She could under or over-shoot. In theory, it was easy. It was just hard when she knew the spell so well, when she had been drilled to be perfect at it, to now force her body into a different shape.

“Uh, just the ones we learned in beginners,” she lied through her teeth, as Aiden asked what jinxes she knew. She was working hard on being able to take a hit, so she certainly wasn’t going to be throwing around spells only an advanced student should know. “There’s the knockback jinx. I mean, that’s not too nasty, right?” she suggested. For all that she knew worse, she didn’t really have much of a taste for using it - regardless of how suspicious it would make her look, it just wasn’t in nature to want to hurt people. Plus the less threatening the spell coming her way was, the more likely she was to be able to control her response to it. “Would you like to attack or defend first?” she asked.

13 Araceli Arbon, Crotalus Based on...? 290 Araceli Arbon, Crotalus 0 5

Aiden O'Neil

July 07, 2015 7:38 PM

Things happening in my life? by Aiden O'Neil

The person that he was going to be partnered with looked to be Araceli Arbon. In their first year together, Aiden had sat next to her during one of their Transfiguration lessons, or was it Charms… he couldn’t remember. She hadn’t said a single word to him during the lesson but they had still managed to make conversation with one another. At the time, Aiden thought she was a little strange to not even say hello or anything to him and he hadn’t really understood how she could perform any of their lessons without talking, but she had done well enough to move onto the next year. For awhile after that, Aiden had wondered about her. He had always thought about partnering up with her again, but each lesson, she ended up with someone else and eventually, his desire for it went away.

Last year he had noticed that she was talking a lot more now and he was happy for her. He had felt bad about not working up the nerve to really work with her again, but she seemed steady on her own and he didn’t want to bother her any. His mother had warned him about some of the Purebloods in the school. Both the O’Neils and the Mathers were well off financially and socially, but that didn’t mean that people would feel he was their equal. There were some families who just felt more entitled than they should. His mother didn’t know much about the Arbons, but she felt that made them even more questionable. Aiden wasn’t one to judge someone without knowing them and Araceli had seemed nice, even if she hadn’t actually spoken to him.

He supposed this was his chance to find out if she was actually a nice person or if her first year here was really just a test to see how she was treated when she wasn’t speaking. Aiden wasn’t naturally suspicious of people, but with all the crazy rumors going around lately (even if he dreamed that one of the reasons was really due to him and seventh year), he just didn’t know what to think anymore.

He thought over the jinx she recommended. He probably should have thought about ones that they had learned in this class during his previous years here, but he had been more focused on the deflection of the jinx or hex rather than the actual jinx or hex. “Yeah, that’s probably the best one that we’ve learned that won’t end with us having weird side effects for the remainder of the day.” If, by chance, they didn’t get the protection spell right the first time, they’ll only get a couple of bruises from the hex. He didn’t plan on going at her with it at full force anyway, so she might not even get injured at all. He couldn’t speak for her, but he hoped she would do the same for him.

“I think, you can defend first and then attack last.” Aiden said. “This way, you can exact revenge on me if I accidentally throw the spell too hard and it hits you.” Aiden explained with a lopsided grin. Aiden maneuvered so that he was a few paces away from Araceli and turned to face her. After making sure she was ready, Aiden raised his wand and shot the hex towards his partner.

6 Aiden O'Neil Things happening in my life? 287 Aiden O'Neil 0 5

Clark Dill, Aladren

July 09, 2015 9:52 AM

Do you fancy purple spots? by Clark Dill, Aladren

Clark did not dislike DADA, but he could not say it was one of his favorite classes. The daily quizzes did not help matters any, and since he was already spending a good block of his free time reading ahead in his textbook and studying the supplemental material to make sure he would do well on the quizzes, he wasn't entirely sure the whole 'no homework' thing really worked out in his favor.

It did help, though, when Professor Pye dove right into his lecture without properly introducing the spell they'd be working on, jumping directly into how to cast it without saying what it did first. Fortunately, Clark already knew what it did from his readings, so he only experienced a small mental hiccup before he caught up to what Pye was talking about.

He knew it was touted as a fairly universal defense, but he was still a little surprised to hear that they were free to use any hex or jinx that wasn't too nasty to test it. That 'fairly' qualifier had led him to believe there might be exceptions, but maybe that just referred to some of the more powerful hexes that would certainly fall under the heading of 'severe' that Pye had warned them against, while working perfectly well for all low level jinxes and hexes an intermediate might be expected to know.

Clark considered his options. He generally wasn't the sort of person to enjoy hexing others, but they had studied a number of them in this class already. He had become proficient with all of those, plus several related ones that had been noted as potential material for the CATS, so he had a pretty solid selection of jinxes available to him.

"Hey," he cheerfully greeted a classmate who appeared to not have a partner yet, "how do you feel about defending yourself from becoming covered with purple spots?" he asked, figuring that was a good one for the day's lesson. It wouldn't hurt and it was pretty easy to reverse if it got through, but Clark didn't know anybody who liked to be purple-spotted, so it was still a good incentive to do the defense spell properly.

1 Clark Dill, Aladren Do you fancy purple spots? 277 Clark Dill, Aladren 0 5

Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw

July 14, 2015 7:26 PM

Depends what they're on. by Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw

Savannah knew very well that her twin was none too pleased about Professor Pye becoming the permanent Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Sonora. Scarlett had only been moaning about it since the beginning of the term and while Savannah had less issues with him-being that she tended to be more studious and thus, more okay with daily quizzes than her sister, especially when there wasn't any homework-she still thought he could have been a little nicer.

So when Professor Pye didn't give them a quiz that day, Savannah was pleased, knowing it would make Scarlett happy. Besides, even though they didn't bother her that much, who'd prefer to have quizzes than not? That was just weird.

Granted, it was also odd for the Defense professor to deviate from his routine and though she briefly wondered why, she just decided to go with it, for the sake of her sister-and cousin. Chaslyn always seemed so stressed out, having to try so hard to do it all and do it well. Sometimes the third year really worried about her. Aunt Jillian was much harder on her daughters than Professor Pye was on his students.

Anyway, whatever made the professor skip the quizzes could only have been a good thing happening to him, so Savannah was glad he was happy too. When a teacher was in a good mood, they were more likely to ease up on students and when things were bad they were more likely to take it out on students. Of course, she supposed he also could have been too busy to make up the quizzes or sick or something but he looked well enough

Salvio Hexia was a spell that the Teppenpaw had read about. Whenever she wasn't in class or with Scarlett or Aiden or her cousins, Savannah tended to be reading or crafting. She knew it was a good idea to know what hexes and defenses were out there not just for classes or to know how to protect herself if necessary, but also to pass on to her more adventurous, mischief inclined twin as well as her cousin Fabian who liked "the great outdoors." This particular spell was spell of protection.

"How do you feel about defending yourself from becoming covered with purple spots?"

She looked up at Clark Dill. Savannah didn't know him well, just that he was an Aladren, that his roommate was her distant cousin and that he wasn't from a proper family himself. The latter two facts were completely irrelevant in this context. Contrary to what Kelsey believed, there were more important things in a partner than blood status. Savannah personally wanted a partner who was pleasant to work with, especially in Defense, especially in a lesson where she was going to have to defend herself from hexes, because meaner people were more likely to use the cruelest hexes they could get away with.

It was even more important to Savannah than competence. She had infinite patience with those not as intelligent or academically inclined but people who were arrogant,cruel or otherwise unpleasant but still smart tried it. She was pretty sure this was why she was in Teppenpaw not Aladren.

Clark, on the other hand, fit the bill for what she was looking for. He seemed to be one of the nicer Aladrens, and like herself, proved that kindness and intelligence were not mutally exclusive. Savannah returned the smile. "Sure, if you don't mind defending against tarantallegra. "

11 Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw Depends what they're on. 286 Savannah Brockert,Teppenpaw 0 5

Clark Dill

July 16, 2015 12:32 PM

I'm guessing "your skin" isn't high on your list? by Clark Dill

Clark's smile brightened considerably when Savanah returned it. It was a risk, approaching purebloods, when one was a halfblood (or second generation muggleborn, or whatever you called it when your only known parent was magical and his parents weren't). Usually, it turned out alright, and he was pretty sure he'd worked with Savannah before and she was one of the ones who thought being a decent person was more important than finding society partners, so it hadn't been much of a risk today, but Clark was still relieved she'd agreed. Getting rejected was never fun for anybody.

"Sounds great," he returned cheerfully to her invitation to defend himself against tarantallegra. As with the purple spots hex he was planning to do, that spell would not actually hurt him if it got though, but Clark did feel highly motivated not to be seen dancing involuntarily by the entire class if he could at all help it.

After finding a spot with sufficient room to cast both spells, Clark raised his wand at the ready in front of him. "I'm ready whenever you are. Do you want to hex or defend first?"

OOC: If you want to defend first, feel free to say Clark cast the hex at her successfully so you can get on with the defending. So far as I recall, there isn't a canon purple spots hex, so you can just skip over the incantation or make something up.

1 Clark Dill I'm guessing "your skin" isn't high on your list? 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Araceli Arbon

July 29, 2015 5:33 AM

Ah, that'll be why I don't share your enthusiasm by Araceli Arbon

Aiden seemed to accept her spell choice without judgement, much to her relief. Truly, she hadn’t been expecting any for suggesting a more or less harmless jinx that they’d learnt already in class. Professor Pye might find her choice too tame but she’d rather meet with that sort of disapproval than pull out some weird, conspicuous spell, especially one that - as Aiden noted - would leave them with weird side-effects for the rest of the day.

“If you do, it’s my fault for not getting my wandwork right,” she shrugged, when he suggested she should defend first so that she could take revenge if he hit her too hard. He was probably just trying to be funny or friendly though, so she threw a smile back his way. She didn’t want to be that person who took everything too seriously, who you couldn’t share a laugh or little fun comment with.

She took the ready stance, nodding to him when she felt prepared enough.

“Salvio hexia,” she cast, forcing her arm to stray slightly away from her body. It was hard. She felt she would look foolish if the spell sent her sprawling and even though she didn’t have to do it perfectly in order to avoid that, it was hard not to let that worry snap her into action. The field appeared around her, patchy and inconsistent. Aiden’s jinx hit, and she staggered slightly, as it knocked her a little off balance but not enough to send her crashing to the ground.

“I… I think that was ok for a first attempt?” she queried, “I don’t feel a need to get vengeful anyway,” she assured him.

She took up an attacking stance, and when her partner indicated he was ready, she sent the same back his way. It was a second year spell, and so it was alright for her to execute it well. Still, she tried to keep her wrist relaxed to take the edge off it, resulting in a firm but not devastating knockback jinx heading his way.

13 Araceli Arbon Ah, that'll be why I don't share your enthusiasm 290 Araceli Arbon 0 5