In need of a minion, er, first year. on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Pye

October 22, 2016 5:58 AM

Beginner's Defence by Professor Pye

From 3:00 to 5:00 pm every Monday, Wednesday, Friday Alfie taught beginners Defense Aginst the Dark Arts. Over the years he had learned to appreciate teaching although it was still not his profession of choice. At first the advanced classes were the only ones he liked as those students were the ones who had specifically chosen to be there. But he had learned to like all of the classes and apparently the classes had learned to love him—Jozua Sparks, a second year, had come to him at the beginning of the year asking if he would head a dueling club. The idea had interested Alfie greatly and he had been ashamed to think of it’s use or purpose before the twelve year old. After all, it was a dangerous world and if other families were like his family well, then, his students would need a lot more than simply Defense class training to overcome their hardships.

As Alfie had set his intermediates to start dueling just earlier that semester, he figured it was about time that his beginners start to learn the basic disarming and shield spells that the third years needed to know for their first intro to dueling classes. The second years already had some practise with the spell and so, as usual, Alfie asked the second years to pair up with first years if possible so that the younger ones could learn not only just from him but also from their peers.

“Today we will work on the basic shield and disarming spells,” Alfie announced, running a hand through his messy hair. “In order to disarm an opponent in a wizarding duel, the correct spell is expelliarmus.” He waved his arm at a dueling dummy that he had brought into the classroom for this purpose. “Again, the wand movement is like so,” and he slowed down the wave of his arm so that the first years could clearly see what was expected of them.

‘To block, the spell is protego,” and again he cast to the dueling dummy which fell back a few feet. Afterwards he repeated the arm movement and again the pronunciation of each spell two or three times. “If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Otherwise, I will circulate the room to observe. Second years with more practise please find a first year or two to work with so that they may become more familiar with the spells.”

OOC: Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. This post is set a few weeks into the term so your students should already be familiar with each other’s names and basic spells. Like your other classes, posts are graded on realism and creativity. In addition to these two things, posts are also marked on length and abiding to the site rules. Tag me in the subject line if your character has any questions or is having difficulties.

Subthreads:

Ready to get to work by Kit Reid, Aladren with Lily Spencer, Pecari

There's a lot to get used to by Isaac Song - Pecari with Kellen Mormont, Aladren

Oh boy... by Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw with Sébastien Évreux (Crotalus)

Ready when you are. by Florence Newell, Aladren with Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

Meeting new people! [Tag: Conrad Helms] by Finbar Scott (Teppenpaw) with Conrad Helms

In need of a minion, er, first year. by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

10 Professor Pye Beginner's Defence 30 Professor Pye 1 5

Kit Reid, Aladren

October 24, 2016 2:23 PM

Ready to get to work by Kit Reid, Aladren

Being sorted into Aladren gave Kit the freedom to actually enjoy school without the worry of the stipulations that followed being a societal Pureblood female. By being in Aladren, there was no denying that she was intelligent and thus, decided to use it to her advantage to do her best in her classes. As such, the first year had made sure to have a seat in the very front of the class in every class that she possibly could. Though, she wasn’t quite sure that she wanted one in Defense Against the Dark Arts. It was a conflicting class of the fantastic and horrific. She really couldn’t decide if she actually liked the class or not. Thankfully, however, they hadn’t learned any of the scary things…yet. And today was no exception.

Kit took out a quill and her sparkly turquoise notebook. She loved the color cause it was so bright and it seemed perfect for such a ‘dark’ class. On a blank page, she added the date and once the class began, she included the spells that they were learning with specific details. She drew a set of arrows in arrangement to how Professor Pye was moving his arm. She liked having as much information as possible. Later, she would add additional notes about what was in their textbook about the spells like when they were best used and if there were any instances in which they wouldn’t work.

Of course, knowledge was only part of the course. The other was being able to actually perform the spell. She mimicked the movement a few times. When she felt a little more comfortable with the movement, Kit looked for a second year to work with. She would have preferred to have worked with someone that she had already made friends with only so that they could laugh about the mistakes they were bound to make with the spells. However, there was nothing like meeting someone new. She had a general knowledge of who the older students were, but she hadn’t had much opportunity to interact with anyone yet, so it was exciting to find a new person she could become friends with, hopefully.

Not one to wait for someone to approach her, Kit stood up and brushed any wrinkles that had formed in her oversized white shirt, which was worn over a pair of black leggings. With the green robes, it looked pretty stellar in her opinion. She tended towards the philosophy that feeling good starting with looking good. Satisfied that she was at her best, she approached the nearest second year. “Hi,” Kit waved, the bracelets on her wrists jingling. Accessories were a main part of that philosophy. “Do you want to work together?”

0 Kit Reid, Aladren Ready to get to work 363 Kit Reid, Aladren 0 5

Isaac Song - Pecari

October 27, 2016 2:30 AM

There's a lot to get used to by Isaac Song - Pecari

Getting used to waving a wand around took a while, but Isaac was trying not to think about it too much. Sometimes he waved it too hard and made things fly across the room without trying or his charms didn’t work because he flicked the stick too gently. It was hard using a wand, but he didn’t want to admit it especially if there were a bunch of experienced wizards and witches here who used to play with toy wands in their childhood. It almost made him wish his mom could have raised them to be more in tune with their magical side, but he wouldn’t trade his childhood for the world.

As he was getting to know his classes and schedule, Isaac found it nice to walk around between classes instead of sitting in one classroom and going out for recess. Having different teachers for each subject was a little confusing and he still had to get used to calling them “Professor,” but so far so good. He liked his classmates for the most part, and his roommate was cool too. Overall, he liked it here pretty well and there was always a lot to write home about. He'd only received one letter from his crew back at home, but he'd only been gone for a few weeks so he cut them some slack. He had one reply currently ongoing; whenever he had time he added something new to it and was going to send it by the end of this week. They were still asking why they had to send letters instead of Facetiming like normal kids, and Isaac didn't really know what to say to that so he just ignored it.

DADA was a subject his mom had really liked and Lauren seemed to like too, so Isaac paid extra attention in this class. It was pretty important knowing how to defend yourself and Isaac knew it would come in handy just in case he ever had to protect his mom and sisters. He liked how practical these classes were. Instead of learning pointless history and doing projects on things that didn't matter (and he'd probably forget anyways), magic was useful and they were learning how to use it better. If his classes in elementary school had been like this, he would've been a straight-A student.

The basic stuff looked easy when Mr. Pye did it, but Isaac knew it was never that easy, at least for him. He didn’t hate his wand, but he wished he could just perform magic with his hands like the characters in Dragonball Z. He was a lot more coordinated that way and wand-work seemed like pretty delicate stuff.

Isaac copied Mr.--Professor--Pye’s movements, not caring if he looked a little silly doing it. He hated feeling uncoordinated or awkward when he was naturally athletic, but he couldn’t help it. ‘It just takes time,’ he told himself silently, and forced himself to practice it again. “Protego, protego, pro-TE-go,” Isaac said to himself. “Expelliarmus, expelliarmus, expelli-AR-mus.” Good thing he was working with a second year.

When it was time to find his partner, he boldly went and approached an older student. “Hey, do you want to work together?” Isaac had a good idea of everyone’s name by now, but certain names and faces stuck better than others.

19 Isaac Song - Pecari There's a lot to get used to 375 Isaac Song - Pecari 0 5

Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw

October 27, 2016 2:28 PM

Oh boy... by Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw

Ayla wasn't super excited about Defense class. She understood the basics, and knew that there were bad people in the world (Uncle Roland had made sure of that), but evil just didn't figure into the young witch’s world of sunshine and rainbows. She was going to marry a respectable, pureblooded wizard and raise a family someday, not become an auror or something dangerous like that. Dark Arts just didn't really factor into homemaking. It was a required class, however, so she had to go. The Teppenpaw girl figured she might as well make the best of it. After all, there was always the chance of meeting someone new.

She decided on a black pleated midi skirt and a yellow peplum top with a hot pink belt. It has hard to coordinate outfits when you had to wear forest green robes over the top, but Ayla did the best she could. Her long blond hair was down, and held back from her face with a black bowed headband, and she was, of course, wearing the golden heart shaped locket. As she made her way to class, she made sure to smile and wave at people and paintings she recognized. The first year paused in the doorway for a moment, surveying the room for a place to sit. Her initial instinct as was to go sit with Kit, but she was at the front of the class, and they couldn’t exactly chat when the professor was standing right in front of them.

Ayla frowned a little and found an empty spot in the middle of the class. She settled in and prepared herself to take notes. Professor Pye began the lesson, and while he wasn’t hard to look at, the young witch wasn’t thrilled about the lesson. She was familiar with the spells, not the actual casting of them, but she knew the words. Milo and Lenn liked to torment her by chasing her around the house pretending to hex her while using sticks for wands. The only way you’d be able to get them to stop would be by using the spell to disarm them and taking their sticks, until they found something else to use for a wand, of course. Ayla rested her cheek in her palm as she waited for the professor to finish his instructions. She tried her best to look thoughtful, rather than bored. She was going to have to muster some sort of enthusiasm if they were going to have to do partner work, which she should have anticipated.

The 11 year old removed her elm wand from her robes and practiced the wand movements to make sure she got them down before turning to the person beside her. She didn’t think she’d recognized them from orientation, so they must be a second year. She put on her best smile, which came easily to her, even if she wasn’t the most excited about dueling.

“Hi! I’m Ayla Tremaine, of the Palo Alto Tremaines. You’re a second year, right? Would you mind working on this with me?”

5 Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw Oh boy... 367 Ayla Tremaine, Teppenpaw 0 5

Lily Spencer, Pecari

October 27, 2016 5:26 PM

Not so ready. by Lily Spencer, Pecari

Lily was feeling ill today and didn’t want to do anything. She already didn’t enjoy sitting in lectures and feigning interest, but even practical lessons didn’t appeal to her at the moment. She’d stayed in bed the day before with Pepper-Up and Rosie by her side. She hated being ill. It made her feel weak and irritable, but she couldn’t miss another day of class if her fever had gone down. Her pride wouldn’t let her. Her pride also wouldn’t let her check in with the medic because she most certainly wasn’t ill enough for that. At least she didn’t feel like dying today, that was always a good sign.

What Lily had really wanted was for Jozua to coddle her and bring her sweets and tea like her siblings normally would, but she didn’t know how he would react to such a childish request. That was the worst bit about boarding school, taking care of oneself. At home she had her house-elf and her mum. It was lonely here at times even though she had friends. It just wasn’t the same. At least she had her Puffskein here that didn’t mind being cuddled against warm cheeks and a drippy nose.

DADA was turning into one of her favourite subjects, but today she was hardly in the mood for work. It was good being out here with her classmates, though; socialising brought a bit more colour into her pale cheeks. But she didn’t look very good, she was sure of it, and was surprised when a first year approached her. Lily approved of the first year’s outfit - Kit, her name was if she remembered correctly - and she mustered up a smile. Lily’s uniform was buttoned up so no one could see her sweats and T-shirt underneath. Lucky they had uniforms at this school else she’d dress like a slob and bring shame to her dear ol’ family.

“Sure. I’m a bit ill, but I’ll try my best.” Duelling was incredibly interesting to her and Lily liked practising both protecting herself and sending spells towards others just in case she ever had to do so in the future. Luckily DADA was her best subject and this work didn’t require thinking quickly on her feet so she wasn’t worried. “I think learning how to effectively protect yourself is important, so you should begin with the defensive spell.” Lily wiped her nose with her handkerchief before readying herself. She felt blooming miserable, but she had to hold it together in front of this younger witch.

“Ready? Here I go… Expelliarmus!”

40 Lily Spencer, Pecari Not so ready. 357 Lily Spencer, Pecari 0 5

Kellen Mormont, Aladren

October 31, 2016 1:30 AM

It gets better by Kellen Mormont, Aladren

Kellen was ready for Defense Against the Dark Arts this year. His summer had given him cause to explore different ways of defending himself, and doing so magically kind of fell in along those lines. He’d checked out a few books from the library on defensive magic, so he felt particularly prepared for the day’s lesson. He seated himself near the front of the class and pulled everything he’d need for notes out of his bag. He listened intently as Professor Pye explained that they’d be covering shield and disarming charms, and jotted down notes when it was appropriate. Excellent. These were going to come in handy, particularly if Arianna decided to jinx him in retaliation for him yelling at her in the sports room. He’d imagined many different scenarios in which she was lurking around corners, just waiting to jump out and magically assault him. Kellen attributed that to his anxiety riddled imagination. He often found himself worrying about dumb things like that a lot, but it encouraged him to read more. That way, he’d be prepared, and know what to do in case she threw a hex at him--or tried to poison him.

The second year was still a little sketchy when it came to wand work, so he was glad when the professor explained that he’d like them to pair up with first years. He wouldn’t be able to hold his own against some of his classmates, he knew that for sure, but he felt a little more confident about facing off against someone who may have never used a wand before. Granted, it wasn’t much of a challenge, but Kellen figured he could do with a bit of ego inflation. He was a little anxious about working with someone new though. Being picked last was always something he dreaded, so he hoped that maybe he’d be able to snag Conrad as a partner. This was one of those times that having a younger student as a roommate could definitely be a plus.

Before he had a chance to search for the first year Aladren boy, Kellen was taken by surprise when another boy approached him to work together. He opened and closed his mouth, in shocked silence, before forcing himself to nod. He probably looked like an idiot, and this boy was probably instantly regretting his decision. “Y-yeah, that’d be great.” He said, rising from his seat so that they could properly square off and practice the spells. “Which did you want to try first? I’m good either way.” He said as he removed his beech and unicorn hair wand from the pocket just inside his robes. “I’m Kellen by the way, Mormont.”

5 Kellen Mormont, Aladren It gets better 341 Kellen Mormont, Aladren 0 5

Florence Newell, Aladren

November 03, 2016 2:29 AM

Ready when you are. by Florence Newell, Aladren

Florence was fairly quick to get into the academic vein. She absolutely adored learning, and she ate up her lessons and textbooks with considerable eagerness. The year had progressed enough for her to set up a schedule for studying, which was both boring and exciting to her as she was definitely book-inclined but did miss the sort of misadventure in which her younger brother always landed them. They were far enough now too that one could begin to determine proficiency vs skill and select a favorite course. In Flo’s case, however, she was finding herself moderately skilled in all scholastic fields, and thus far, she was taking to all of her classes quite well.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was no exception. Something about it did rub her a bit wrong--maybe it was the little voice whispering how the Dark Arts were part of Uncle Nelson’s business that had gotten the family into trouble, so its inclusion in a title, albeit it one set up in defense against it, made her uncomfortable--but she did do a good job with the work. Nervous or not, she was unavoidably intelligent. With an impeccable memory, her wand work was her weak point, but even that was easily satisfactory.

She sat attentively as Professor Pye explained and demonstrated the spells they would be learning, jotting down a few notes, including doodles of the wand movements required. The system might not have made the most sense to someone else looking over her shoulder, but Flo understood her own messy notebook, and that was what mattered.

The Aladren attempted a shortened version of both movements in her seat just to get the hang of them, eyes locked on the appropriate motion drawing as she went. Content with her muscle memory, she stood up and walked over to the nearest student she thought to be a second year who as of yet did not have a partner. “Would you like to pair up?” she asked kindly. “You can either disarm first or defend, whatever you prefer.”

12 Florence Newell, Aladren Ready when you are. 362 Florence Newell, Aladren 0 5

Kit

November 03, 2016 5:00 PM

It'll be okay by Kit

Kit frowned when the other girl mentioned being sick. She felt awful for the other girl, but she also hoped that she didn’t get sick herself. She absolutely detested being sick. It was the absolute pits to have to lay in bed all day, not being able to do anything, but read. She loved to read. Though, even that, lost its enjoyment when it was among the inability to breath, the sneezing, the coughing. It was misery.

Replacing the frown with a smile, Kit reassured the older girl, “I’m sure that you’ll do great. You already have good advice for this class.” It was true that it wasn’t bad advice. All it took was one offensive spell to hit to take a person out. But a proper defensive spell could turn out to be a lot more useful.

Positioning herself, she waited for the other girl to go. She should have tried to defend herself, but she allowed the spell to hit. It was useful to know what to expect if that occurred. It was a good lesson to learn. Picking up her wand, she repositioned and took her turn. Mimicking the older girl, she commanded, “Expelliarmus!”

She wasn’t sure what to expect. If the spell even hit. But even if it did, there was no telling if she had actually done a good job or if it was simply because the other girl was sick. Of course, if she had been feeling better than her spells could have been more powerful. Kit wasn’t sure of her powers and limitations yet.

0 Kit It'll be okay 363 Kit 0 5

Sébastien Évreux (Crotalus)

November 04, 2016 2:29 PM

Second year boy, at your service by Sébastien Évreux (Crotalus)

To be completely honest, Sébastien was a little disappointed by his year group. He hadn’t formed any particular friendships with the boys in his year, which was of course not his fault. Jozua and Finbar were in Teppenpaw, whilst Killian just seemed a little pathetic. There was, of course, Kellen, but he was new and he looked weird. Besides, both Kellen and Killian were muggleborn, or at least not pureblood, so investing in a friendship with either of them was even more of a waste of time. The girls were a better bunch, with the exception of Those of Little Consequence. For example, his housemates were a pleasant group, and some came from very good families. There were girls from good families in other houses too, although Lily Spencer seemed a little exuberant at times (even if she was friends with Madeleine, which made her more okay), and that Juniper Brockert was very quiet. That was probably because she was a Teppenpaw - or, he supposed, was probably why she was in Teppenpaw. Presumably she had been like that before she became a Teppenpaw, or was there just something about that house that automatically made students value the strangest things? There was also Arianna Valenti, who was technically not someone he was meant to be friends with, but something about her intrigued him. She was nobody important, so why did she act so confidently? Furthermore, she seemed to be vaguely friendly with Louis Valois, which was just weird. Presumably that was just tactical, although even Louis couldn't be so stupid as to get involved with a muggleborn.

Obviously the highlight of his year group was his fellow French student, Madeleine. After all, you couldn’t get much better than the French. However, in order to make the most of being at Sonora he had to make connections with other people, rather than just spending as much time as possible with Madeleine. It was probably time to ignore how pathetic Teppenpaw sounded (who wanted to be described as kind or caring?) and make friends with Jozua and Finn.

However, Professor Pye’s announcement that second years were to work with first years reminded Bastien of his other options. There were potential connections in both the year below and the year above (well, that would be easier next year, when he had classes with them)! It was time to get talking to the younger students. He liked to think they were already aware of who he was, but establishing some form of friendship was a good plan.

Fairly confident that he could perform the task expected of them (and well aware of the fact that working with a first year had more chance of making him look good), Bastien started to look around for today’s victim. He’d just reached the conclusion that he wanted to talk to one of the new Crotalus students when the girl beside him started talking. Oh well, there would be plenty of other lessons, and at least she seemed to be from a good family.

“I’m Sébastien Évreux, from France,” he replied, with a slight air of self-importance. He loved how Americans could only say a state, whilst he got to claim an entire country. “Yes, I am a second year, in Crotalus. I’d be more than happy to work with you.” A practised and ideally charming smile was thrown onto the end of this.

Positioning himself in a vaguely duel-like stance, Sébastien bowed to his opponent. True, this wasn’t a real duel, but Bastien had yet to learn the meaning of overkill. Ever the gentleman (or, at least, when it suited him), he waited for Ayla to cast the first spell.

9 Sébastien Évreux (Crotalus) Second year boy, at your service 350 Sébastien Évreux (Crotalus) 0 5

Finbar Scott (Teppenpaw)

November 04, 2016 4:20 PM

Meeting new people! [Tag: Conrad Helms] by Finbar Scott (Teppenpaw)

Finn wasn’t sure if he liked the instruction to work with a first year. Oh, it wasn’t that he had a problem with any of the first years, even if he could be a little shy at times. He didn’t know any of them particularly well, but he was happy to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were all nice and friendly. However, working with a first year meant that he couldn’t work with Juniper, and he wasn’t so happy about that.

Finbar Scott was a creature of habit. He often worked with Juniper, he liked working with Juniper, and being forced to change that (and not even given the option of working with Jozua, the other person he was used to working with) just felt odd. Besides, he wasn’t sure he liked the idea of some random first year sending a potentially uncontrolled spell at her, even if it was just a disarming spell. He didn’t doubt Juniper's ability to protect herself, but he had promised her brother that he’d look out for her, and letting her be target practise for some first year didn’t exactly sit well with him. But on the other hand, the current situation did mean that Finn wouldn’t have to aim a spell at Juniper himself.

Defence Against the Dark Arts was by no means Finn’s least favourite lesson. He could totally see the uses of it, and duelling could be fun. He knew Jozua definitely enjoyed it. But Finn really didn’t like the thought of directing spells at Juniper. It just didn’t seem right, somehow, to aim at her. It wasn’t the fact that he was friends with her (he was friends with Jozua, and didn’t feel the same hesitation at the thought of duelling with his roommate). Finn knew that, in some way, his feelings for Juniper were rather different than those of just a friendship, even if it wasn’t something he was really ready to dwell on quite yet. Nevertheless, he kept a lookout to see who she partnered up with.

The question of who Finn was going to work with seemed a little daunting at first, but after glancing around the room he noticed a boy who he was sure had been on the same wagon as him. It was reassuring to have a vague sense of familiarity, so Finn walked over to him. He’d been trying to keep track of all the new names, so he was fairly certain that his intended partner’s name was Conrad.

“Hi,” he said, giving Conrad a friendly smile. He was the older student, so there was no point in being shy. Besides, he wanted to make more friends, and you couldn’t do that unless you met new people. “Um...do you want to pair up?”

9 Finbar Scott (Teppenpaw) Meeting new people! [Tag: Conrad Helms] 347 Finbar Scott (Teppenpaw) 0 5

Conrad Helms

November 06, 2016 4:51 PM

Thats nice of you! by Conrad Helms

Sonora was going well, as far as Conrad could tell. He was enjoying his classes and meeting new people all over the place. However, the Floridian still felt out of sorts when it came to people. It was so hard for him to get used to this new social setting. He had gone from being every minute of the day with his family to be every minute of the day with strangers. He was doing his best to make it work, but it was harder than he had initially thought.

The Aladren had found comfort in the privacy of his shared room with Kellen. The older boy had made his time at Sonora less hard, but Conrad was supposed to be branching out. He smiled to people and seemed approachable, but NO ONE had told him it was going to be this hard. In retrospect his father probably had no idea since he had lived in the family state all his life and he never went out. Work came to him. There was really no reason why Jacob would need to leave the security of his home.

Conrad entered his DADA class and sat on his regular desk without bothering anyone. He started taking notes as soon as Professor Pye mentioned the spells they would be working on. The first-year put every ounce of attention to the movements and replicated them in small diagrams in his notebook. He smiled in congratulatory at his awesome accomplishment. His notes were something everyone should be jealous off! He grinned and looked around to find an older student to pair up with when someone vaguely familiar approached him first. Conrad had met so many new people in the past couple of weeks that sometimes he forgot names or faces, but he was fairly sure he hadn't met properly this particular older boy.

The Floridian remembered his face from the wagon and from other classes, but he had never talked to the boy before. “Sure,” he smiled back. “I don't think we have been properly introduced,” Conrad extended his hand to the other boy, “I am Conrad Helms,” he finished with a smile. The younger wizard looked at the other boy expectantly, trying to assert what type of person he was. His father had told him to seek out the people that would make the most sense to befriend when it came to Pureblood politics.

0 Conrad Helms Thats nice of you! 359 Conrad Helms 0 5

Lily

November 07, 2016 3:04 PM

I hope so... by Lily

Lily was glad Kit wasn't running away to find a more able partner. She seemed like a nice witch who even believed in Lily's capabilities. That meant a lot when most of her peers, she was sure, doubted a loud-mouthed witch who didn't find studying enjoyable. She didn't know why boisterous students were regarded as less intelligent, but perhaps that was just Jack's incredibly misguided judgement. Though Lily herself loathed academics - she would much rather play outside with her friends - Sonora wasn't all that bad and her marks were decent.

She was shocked and slightly horrified when Kit simply allowed the spell to hit her. "That's not really what I meant," she said, eyes wide. The British witch was glad to see that it didn't harm her, really. It wasn't a very powerful spell anyway, seeing Lily's condition, and for once she was glad for that.

When Kit responded in turn, Lily almost let the spell hit her, but decided instead to deflect it. "Protego!" Lily was rather good at this, she thought. "Do you want another go or do you want to practise defending yourself?" she asked kindly.

40 Lily I hope so... 357 Lily 0 5

Kit

November 07, 2016 8:19 PM

We're doing good. by Kit

Kit smiled in turn at Lily’s shock expression. She knew that it must have been surprising since most people would have blocked the spell, but she wasn’t most people. She needed to know cause and effect in more sense than just a textbook definition. Not to mention by not doing what was expected, it would throw the opponent off guard. She had read about the idea of mind games in a book that she had read and it seemed applicable here. Not that she was trying to hurt Lily in any way, but it was good practice. It was how she would eventually be able to duel with the best of them.

When Lily blocked her spell, she wasn’t surprised. It was completely natural to try to protect one’s self. She watched carefully for the movement the other girl performed. It was nearly an art to watch, to figure someone out. The older dueler could most likely still beat her out of experience and knowledge. But that was all right. She even hoped that they would be able to do this again when Lily was feeling better. She wanted to make this as difficult as possible so she would learn. Plus, it was oddly fun.

“I’ll go again and then I’ll take a turn at defending?” Kit thought that would work. And it might allow Lily more freedom without having to pause between the spells. “Ready?”

Once Lily was ready, Kit aimed for the same spot. She was looking for repeated patterns. She was sure that she would have some herself, but noticing them in her opponent was key. Repeated movements meant predictability. “Expelliarmus!”

0 Kit We're doing good. 363 Kit 0 5

Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

November 11, 2016 2:52 PM

Not sure that's really going to happen. by Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw

Juniper hated going to classes. It wasn't because she was a bad student or disliked learning or found them boring-though she didn't like having to use animal ingredients in potions-it was because being there, surrounded by people, filled her with terrible dread and anxiety. The only subject she didn't have trouble getting through was COMC because the presence of animals generally tended to help her relax some.

The only other thing that got her through was Finn. She needed him, depended on him. Everyone else-other than Tasha-scared her. In a few cases, like Georgia's, it wasn't personal and Juniper was just terrified of people in general. However, for the most part, she felt with her yearmates, her fear was more than justified. The girls in her class seemed to mostly be very much Not Nice and the whole thing just confirmed Juniper's general belief that humans were terrifying creatures in general, with a few notable exceptions like Finn and well...Finn.

That was why Juniper tended to work with him in class if they had to have partners. So when she heard the instructions for that day, a desperate panic seized her. Second years had to work with first years? That meant she couldn't work with Finn! And she didn't know any first years! Who knew what any of them were like? What if they weren't nice to her? What if she made a mistake, not even with regards to the lesson-which was dueling and not her favorite thing anyway, just because Juniper was scared of people didn't mean she wanted to hurt them, she just wanted to avoid them as much as she possibly could-but socially? Even if she was talking a Muggleborn, she could still come across super awkward especially considering that what was normal for Juniper in terms of introductions and propriety was odd to them. Plus, she was just plain an awkward person.

Maybe last year when she was a first year, she could have dealt with it. She could have worked with Tasha. As it stood right now, Juniper felt sick to her stomach and all the color had drained from her face. She threw Finn a look of pure terror.

Her hands were shaking and all she wanted to do was run out the room despite knowing full well she couldn't do that. That's when a first year approached her.

“Would you like to pair up?”

She didn't, she really didn't. It was nothing against the first year-who incidentally wasn't even a Teppenpaw, which would have put her at least a little more at ease-but she couldn't dare say that and risk hurting or offending someone. Especially when she didn't know who that someone was. "Okay." Juniper replied softly and carefully considered the question. She didn't like attacking people generally speaking and the other girl was younger than her. On the other hand, if the first year wasn't a very nice person, Juniper didn't want her throwing curses at her right off either. "Um, you can pick."

11 Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw Not sure that's really going to happen. 345 Juniper Brockert, Teppenpaw 0 5

Ayla

November 12, 2016 1:06 AM

I could get used to this by Ayla

Ayla had to actively will herself to respond when Sébastien introduced himself. While he wasn’t as gorgeous as Louis was, he was still good looking...and that accent. She wasn’t sure when the French accent started rendering her speechless, but it definitely frazzled the young witch. She took a deep breath to regain her composure and removed her elm wand from the pocket inside her robes.

“Great! Thank you! It's really nice to meet you, Sébastien, from France.” She said with a dimpled grin as she too adopted something resembling a dueling stance. She wasn't sure if she should mention her house. Granted, dueling wasn't really her style, but she didn't want him to hold back because she was a girl and a Tepp. Ayla had resigned herself to the fact that she was sorted into the right house, but it still seemed a little suspicious that she was attracting all of these Crotalus boys. That had to mean she possessed at least some of the other house’s qualities. That's what she told herself anyway.

“Are you ready?” Ayla asked as she readied her wand and tried not to focus on the fact that Bastien was cute and French. She took a deep breath before biting down on her bottom lip, and attempting the wand movement that Professor Pye had demonstrated.

“Expelliarmus!” She said firmly, hurling the disarming spell in the direction of her partner, and hoping for the best.

5 Ayla I could get used to this 367 Ayla 0 5

Florence

November 16, 2016 2:56 AM

We'll skip "ready" and move onto "set", then by Florence

“Oh!” Flo interjected as an afterthought. “I didn’t introduce myself. How rude of me!” Despite the nature of her words--admitting a mistake--she offered a very welcoming and warm smile. Maybe the girl was just a bit nervous, but the second year seemed practically ill. “My name is Florence. You may call me Flo, if you would like to. It’s nice to meet you.”

Where Florence’s robes marked her as Aladren, this girl was deigned a Teppenpaw. That made a lot of sense, she thought. The yellow House seemed known for kindness and gentleness, if not perhaps almost a strange fragility. If this girl was anything to go by, that was certainly the case. She seemed very nice, but she was very… shaken, almost. The eleven year old hardly considered herself intimidating, which meant it was either the prospect of the lesson, the prospect of anyone, or both.

She had given Flo the power to choose who did what first, and the younger girl paused after introductions to consider what to do. “Hm… How about you go first?” she offered. Picking herself to attack first seemed a bit too hostile, whereas letting the other girl go first seemed like it would be a show of good faith. And, hopefully, the Teppenpaw second year would not completely obliterate her with her entire year’s worth of extra knowledge and practice.

The dark-haired girl took some steps away to give them more room to perform (and therefore more time to react to) their spells. “Okay,” she said with a slightly nervous smile. No one had ever shot spells at her before, and, trusting the competency of the system and of the professor to keep her safe or not, Florence was a bit anxious now that she would be staring down the metaphorical barrel of Juniper’s wand. “Go ahead when you’re ready. But, um,” she added with a weak smile, “let me know before you actually go."

12 Florence We'll skip "ready" and move onto "set", then 362 Florence 0 5

Finn

November 17, 2016 1:56 PM

That's what we Teppenpaws do! by Finn

Finn mentally shook himself, flushing slightly at his mistake. Being a second year, he had become too used to knowing who everyone was, and this had led to him forgetting to introduce himself to the younger boy. That wasn’t the sort of first impression he wanted to make, especially when talking to someone who was potentially another pureblood! Really, what would people think!

“I’m sorry, I always forget to introduce myself in class,” he apologised, not wanting Conrad to think he was just rude. “I’m Finn Scott, of the Maryland Scotts.” He took Conrad’s hand and shook it. Conrad hadn’t introduced himself in the proper pureblood manner, which was a little discouraging, but Finn was used to introducing himself in that manner and did so anyway. It felt odd to introduce himself in any other way, almost as if he was giving false information. Hopefully Conrad was a pureblood - it would be nice to make more friends, and surely someone who insisted on a proper introduction had to be someone of good upbringing?

“Do you want to attack first, and I’ll try to defend myself?” he asked. After all, he did have some experience with the spells from last year, so it was probably a good thing for him to take the defensive. He didn’t want to hurt Conrad, and the chances of that would probably decrease once the other boy had got a bit of practice in. Besides, it would probably be useful to see how good Conrad was first. Finn didn’t particularly want to be shown up by a first year, but nor did he want to knock him off his feet.

Finn glanced over at Juniper to see how she was getting on, and found her paired up with a first year girl. That was a relief - Finn had more confidence in a girl being gentle or weak at spellcasting than a boy, and he didn’t want Juniper to be at any risk of getting hurt!

9 Finn That's what we Teppenpaws do! 347 Finn 0 5

Sébastien

November 17, 2016 2:19 PM

I'd rather not by Sébastien

Oh yes, Bastien had chosen his partner well (obviously, the fact that Ayla had chosen him was to be ignored). She was pureblooded, pretty, and she knew exactly what to say to make Sébastien like her. The enthusiasm with which she greeted him was noted and very well-received, causing Sébastien to award her another smile.

However, Ayla Tremaine had not deigned to mention her house, which was a shame. Knowing somebody’s house gave you slightly more of an idea as to their character, and Bastien liked knowing things. Knowing things gave you power, and power was something he’d never turn down. Even if it came via Louis Valois himself.

Was he ready? Of course he was ready! Sébastien Évreux was always ready, especially when it came to being attacked. Not that, he supposed, a first-year could do much to him. He had the advantage of age, wisdom, and also ability (unless she was an Aladren...yes, it was less concerning if he mentally ruled out Aladren as a possible house). And then she cast the spell, and oh dear.

The spell was strong, stronger than Bastien had expected, and it caused him to wobble a little, his wand almost leaving his hand. Luckily he had a tight grip, and he managed to keep hold of it. It would never do to be beaten by a first year girl, especially when he was an Évreux. Being an Évreux should mean he was good at this sort of thing! However, his protego had been a half-hearted affair (Bastien was, of course, too confident in his own ability to bother with much effort), and he was not going to similarly underestimate this witch next time.

“That wasn’t a bad first attempt,” he replied slightly condescendingly, hoping that she didn’t realise quite how close she had come to disarming him. “Do you feel ready to defend, now?” It was only gentlemanly to give her time to recover (which also gave him time to recover too, not that he’d ever admit that it would be nice). Any thoughts of holding back were gone, and he was determined not to look like a fool in front of Ayla or anyone else in the class. He just hoped Madeleine wasn’t watching.

He took a deep breath, and released the spell. “Expelliarmus!” A jet of light shot from his wand towards Ayla, and he hoped as hard as he could that it would meet with success.

9 Sébastien I'd rather not 350 Sébastien 0 5

Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

November 23, 2016 12:08 PM

In need of a minion, er, first year. by Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw

Glee. It was not a word that could frequently be used to describe Jozua Sparks, who generally came across as mildly antisocial (in as much as a Teppenpaw could ever be described as such) and just a bit dry in terms of both enthusiasm and his (limited) sense of humor.

Generally, however, Jozua was not attending a class focusing on the two most common and basic dueling spells in the world. Today, his attention was rapt (even though he already knew everything about these two spells and had spent embarrassingly large amounts of his free time practicing them into perfection after they were introduced last year) and the expression on his face was almost disturbingly gleeful.

This, dueling, was the center of Jozua's greatest obsession. He followed the professional tournaments like some people followed Quidditch or Quadpot. The annual dueling tournament held in Aladren, Oregon, happened to fall within a few weeks of his summertime birthday and going to see it in person had been his favorite birthday gift and the brightest highlight of nearly every year since he'd been six.

Last year had been the one exception and even that had only paled due to the high competition of getting his own wand and being able to finally try some of those spells himself for the very first time. Of course, last year had come with some troubles, too, thanks to his deep interest in duelists, in that his attempts to cast his class lessons as dramatically as his idols did result in ... well, his Most Likely to Cause an Explosion award had been honestly earned.

He was doing better this year, truth be told, as he had figured out the grandest flourishes often super-powered the spell effects, but he still overdid it on a roughly triweekly basis, because, well, blowing stuff up was kind of amazing. And being a Teppenpaw, people seemed to give him the benefit of doubt that maybe he didn't do it on purpose.

He suspected Professor Pye might suspect him of less pure motives, though.

Today, though, today was a dueling day and Jozua had these spells mastered. There would be no uncontrolled explosiveness from him today. Today was for impressing Pye that Jozua Sparks was the best second year duelist the man had ever seen.

And to do that, he was going to help a first year, maybe even two of them if he wanted to be an overachiever, which he kind of did, except that required talking to not one but two new people who were not Lily, Finn, or Madeleine.

Maybe just one to start with, then, see how that went.

"Hey," he said, finding a person who was not from his own year. "Need a second year to work with?"

1 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw In need of a minion, er, first year. 348 Jozua Sparks, Teppenpaw 0 5

Ayla

December 02, 2016 8:30 PM

Am I that bad? by Ayla

Ayla was a little disappointed that Sébastien’s wand didn't go flying out of his hand, but obviously this was a more realistic turn of events. She could have sworn she saw it wiggle. Either way, he'd managed to deflect her, but he'd had a year on her, she couldn't really be upset when the math was in her favor. She'd just have to try harder next time.

Ayla smiled at Bastien’s comment on her spell. “Thanks. I'll get you next time though.” She teased as she adopted the dueling stance again and prepared to defend. “I think I'm ready.” She admitted, though she couldn't help feeling a little nervous. She wasn't embarrassed at the prospect of being disarmed by the older boy, she just didn't know if it was going to hurt or not. She knew the anticipation of the spell hitting was likely worse than what was actually going to happen, but it didn't change how she felt.

The Teppenpaw student was determined to hold her ground. Maybe she wasn't book smart like Kit, but you didn't have to be clever to wield a wand and land a spell. That took heart, and Ayla had lots of that.

“Protego!” Ayla shouted when Bastien cast his disarming spell, but Ayla winced, and felt her wand pull from her hand as the spell landed. Her heart sank a little as she bent to retrieve the slender piece of elm, she really thought she could do it. At least her wand didn't fly across the room, and seemed to be in good repair. Maybe she'd done alright after all.

“Care for another round?” She asked, brushing her blonde hair back from her shoulders before taking her position once more.

5 Ayla Am I that bad? 367 Ayla 0 5