Advanced Defense (Years VI & VII) on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Pye

August 18, 2015 3:30 PM

Advanced Defense (Years VI & VII) by Professor Pye

When the Advanced Defense Against the Dark Arts students walked into the classroom that morning they might have been pleasantly surprised (or not) to see that all the desks had been cleared out of the way and were neatly snacked on the far wall. Twice a month, Alfie liked to give his Advanced students some practical lessons in dueling. Protective spells were always put up to prevent the students from using any of the Unforgiveables or other dark spells that they might have learned outside of the classroom.

However, Alfie thought that the more variety of spells that the students had access to that wouldn’t otherwise kill them, the better it was so that in the future they would have the abilities to defend themselves. Alfie had always been a little bit on the paranoid side and he was sure his students probably talked about it behind their back but he didn’t care, he was teaching them how to be safe—and after the midterm break he’d had, keeping safe was the only thing that was on his mind.

“Alright,” he said one he was certain everyone was there. “You guys should know the drill by now, partner up, please try not to kill each other, and I’ll be making my rounds just to be sure.” He gave the class a broad smile and stepped back to allow them to get to work. Dueling days were his favorite for a couple reasons—firstly, the only work he had to do was ensure the students stayed alive, giving tips on how to better cast a spell here and there, which was like training the new recruits at the Academy, a job that he’d really enjoyed. But second, and more importantly, he didn’t have to grade any quizzes.

Though the quizzes Alfie gave weren’t difficult ones, simply the same standard question rephrased and asked over and over again (write me a paragraph on what we covered last class), it was one less thing that he had to do. Reading and grading those quizzes were only a reminder of what he had lost. He raised a hand to massage his temples. He was getting a headache just thinking about it. “And just a reminder,” he said as the students began their dueling. “I will be holding practicals next week for those of you who want more personal feedback on your defense skills. But be warned, I will be brutally honest.” The charming grin that accompanied that last bit was one he was sure his students were familiar with by now and being brutally honest was a phrase he often used. They should have been completely familiar that though brutally honest he was never outright mean and had never purposely tried to hurt the feelings of his students. “Sign-ups are on my door and they will remain there until Friday. You can come to me at anytime that I am not teaching a class.”

Alfie couldn’t careless if he had to miss dinner for a practical—it just showed devotion on the part of the student and that, that was something he was always willing to make time for. He might not have wanted to be a teacher, he might not have even wanted to be in the vicinity of a school at all unless he was there as a protection detail or investigating corruption or something like that, but he wasn’t an idiot. He wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to help someone further their interest in his Defense class. It was a useful class, probably the most practical one out there (in his opinion) and even though he didn’t want it, it was now his job to make sure these children were sufficiently prepared to take on that horridly dark and twisted world that existed outside the safe walls of their school.

He walked back around to begin his lesson plan for the Intermediates. The more he got done now the more free time he would have outside of class for…other activities.

OOC: By now you know the drill on class posts so I won’t bore you with those. Rules for the dueling: use pretty much anything that has been covered in Harry Potter canon by Harry’s sixth year, although please no Unforgiveables/equally deadly spells, Alfie will definitely be there to help a student should a more harmful spell be cast however feel free to, for example, let your student be hit by a jelly legs jinx without Alfie intervening. As for sign-ups for the practicals, should you want to mention them in your post the time slots he has available are literally any time that the Advanced students aren’t in class or that Alfie isn’t in class up until curfew.

Subthreads:

Looking for a partner by Tristan Spaulding,Crotalus

10 Professor Pye Advanced Defense (Years VI & VII) 30 Professor Pye 1 5

Tristan Spaulding,Crotalus

August 29, 2015 11:44 PM

Looking for a partner by Tristan Spaulding,Crotalus

Despite the lack of Nellie, DADA was still Tristan's favorite class. While he still loved Quidditch and never missed a game, dueling was more and more replacing the sport as his passion in life, having made a conscious effort to do so last year. It was something the Crotalus honestly had quite a knack for and really had been a great outlet for his anger and frustration over the years of not being able to play Quidditch, especially after what had happened with Cedric last year. Tristan was certain he could out duel his cousin with his hands tied behind his back. In fact, challenging his cousin to a proper duel was on his summer time agenda since he'd be of age then. Blasted April birthday. If Tristan's birthday had been pre-midterm, he could have done so over the break. Other than spending time with Nellie, he couldn't envision a better holiday.

And today was his lucky day, for the DADA lesson was, indeed, going to be dueling. On these days, Tristan couldn't help but feel excited, even though his face retained a dignified expression befitting a Spaulding. At one time he'd even wanted to start a dueling club but then he'd realized Chaslyn would have to join at her mother's request and he just didn't want to be responsible for putting more on a girl who had too much on her already. The sixth year had learned all too well how much she and Amity had had put on her over the years. There was a reason why the latter had ran away to live with his family.

Admittedly, Tristan hadn't been all that sympathetic about it at first as all parents wanted their children to be credits to their family and that he didn't see how Amity (and Chaslyn) had it any worse but then he'd learnt the full extent of it and how impossibly unreasonable Aunt Jillian's expectations of her daughters truly were, as opposed to that of his own parents who just expected him to be the ideal heir and didn't seem to expect anything at all of Kira other than she make a good marriage some day and not embarrass them. She had it so easy.

Tristan also took note of the practicals. He'd be sure to come in for one, not being particularly afraid of his professor's brutal honesty. After all, it couldn't have been worse than what his cousin gave him last year. Besides, what sort of honesty could Professor Pye really give him? That Tristan was a brilliantly gifted dueler and then give him some small pointers on how he could be even better? The sixth year was never one to do things halfway, giving everything his all whether it be dueling or wooing Nellie. He didn't really expect much harsh criticism from the Professor in the least. Which was good because the last time someone had given Tristan harsh criticism, it had provoked him to violence and he really couldn't do to Professor Pye what he'd done to his cousin. That would get him expelled and no family ties to the Headmaster would save him then.

Quickly, he went to sign up for an available time to meet with the professor and then turned back to his classmates. Approaching someone, he asked. "Would you like to work with me today?" Part of him couldn't blame them if they said no, he wasn't sure he'd want to duel himself after all.

11 Tristan Spaulding,Crotalus Looking for a partner 264 Tristan Spaulding,Crotalus 0 5