Leap of faith! [Years I and II} on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Prof. Isis Carter

July 14, 2017 12:42 AM

Leap of faith! [Years I and II} by Prof. Isis Carter

As the Pecari Head of House, Isis Carter was most likely to be subjected to the more rambunctuous students Sonora housed. Sometimes she resolved to do her grading and lesson-planning in the Common Rooms just to keep an eye on them, but sometimes she just gave up and left them to their own devices, offering a silent prayer that nobody died.

Today’s curriculum drew surprising inspiration from those energetic little boars. Isis had definitely caught some kids jumping on couches before, and today, she was going to let them take that energy and jump off stuff. It was the last class of the day for the Beginners, but hopefully - she had never expected this thought - they would still have a little bit of spunk left in them.

Isis had laid some rugs out around the students’ desks, preferring not to cast spells on the actual floor, in preparation for the lesson. When it seemed that all of the first and second years had arrived, she climbed on top of her desk, doing her best not to smile wistfully as she imagined what Alfie’s face would look like if she’d done this with him still present. “Alright, everyone,” she said. “Can anyone tell me what the incantation Molliere does?” Isis paused to allow time for the correct answer to be given.”Right, it softens the target,” she reiterated.

“Usually, this spell is known as the cushioning charm,” she went on. “And we’re going to practice it today by casting it on the rugs around your desks, like so: Molliare!” Isis aimed at the rug in front of the teacher’s desk and fired the spell. “Now I’m going to jump down, and it’ll feel basically like landing in a big pillow.”

Isis bounded down merrily. “Yup, I did it right,” she confirmed. “Don’t worry that it doesn’t look any different; the effect changes the feeling, not the appearance. You guys can go ahead and try it out for yourselves, just make sure you think about how you’re landing, just in case it doesn’t exactly work for you.” The desks weren’t high enough to allow any sort of real damage to accompany a failed performance, but if they jumped with complete disregard, a strange landing might twist an ankle or something. “Alright, go ahead and get to it!”

Subthreads:

I'm getting too old for this by Zevalyn Ives, Aladren with Jennifer White (Aladren)

Leap of pain, more like by Victor Callahan, Crotalus

12 Prof. Isis Carter Leap of faith! [Years I and II} 31 Prof. Isis Carter 1 5

Zevalyn Ives, Aladren

July 14, 2017 9:25 AM

I'm getting too old for this by Zevalyn Ives, Aladren

Zevalyn arrived in her DADA class with a few minutes to spare. She eyed the rugs around the desks with a slightly raised brow but figured they were going to somehow factor into the day's lesson. She was right, but when she saw the teacher stand up on her desk and jump off, she kind of wished she wasn't.

She could see the useful of the spell, of course. She wasn't sure it would be of much use for defending against the dark arts specifically, but the class title, she had decided some months ago, was a bit more narrow than what the class actually covered, which was probably a good thing. (It was good that it covered a wider breadth of topics, that was; she was still a bit miffed in an abstract sort of way that the class title was inaccurate.)

So it wasn't so much the day's specific lesson that bothered so so much as the testing methodology. She was fourteen. She was a bit old for jumping off furniture, wasn't she?

Though, Professor Carter had done it, and she was an actual grown up, so it couldn't be too bad, could it?

With a put-upon sigh, so that those around her knew she was doing this under duress and not because she was so immature that she was eager to use the furniture in ways it was not designed for, Zevalyn climbed up atop her desk.

She tried not to give any outward sign of the thrill that irrationally buzzed through her in anticipation of her coming leap into what should feel like a nice soft giant pillow.

Spell first. "Molliere!" she cast on the rug beneath her. This was not one of the spells she'd practiced ahead of time in her efforts to skip ahead a year, so she peered down doubtfully at the untested cushioning charm below her.

There was no visible change to the rug, of course, which was as it should be, but that did make it hard to judge if her spell had been even remotely successful. Nothing for it but to jump, she supposed, so Zevalyn was cautious for her first leap, going feet first with her wand tucked safely away so she could use her hands to break her fall as well.

As she landed, it did feel like there was a pillow cushioning her fall, but it was like an old flat foam one from sixty years ago with not much give left.

"Ugh," she grunted as her bottom hit the 'pillow' a bit harder than was entirely comfortable. It didn't hurt, but it wasn't the giant cushy welcome she'd been hoping for. "I think I need a bigger and softer pillow," she observed to her neighbor. "How was your first try?"

1 Zevalyn Ives, Aladren I'm getting too old for this 380 Zevalyn Ives, Aladren 0 5

Jennifer White (Aladren)

July 16, 2017 4:09 PM

You're already too old for this by Jennifer White (Aladren)

There were many different indicators that the beginner students were going to be in for a weird lesson, and the professor climbing on top of her desk was definitely one of those signs. Jen watched Professor Carter dubiously as the woman cast a spell that had no reassuring visible effects before she jumped off the furniture and onto the rug on the floor which, it transpired, had successfully been made into a soft landing. Okay so Jen could sort of see the benefit of this particular spell, and its applications (outside of jumping off furniture) were more obvious than for several of the spells they had learned inside this classroom. Plus any opportunity to stand on a school desk with permission was not to be wasted.

Diligently, Jen climbed up onto her desk, her thumb poking through a hole in the end of her hoodie sleeve as she held her wand, the hems of her baggy jeans almost entirely obscuring her converse as she aligned her toes with the edge of her makeshift diving platform. Skeptically she cast the spell, even while knowing that skepticism and shoddy spellwork often went hand in hand. She was struggling with the knowledge that the rug wouldn’t change perceptibly until she had already jumped, and that just seemed like a recipe for disaster. Still, it wasn’t that far, so Jen readied herself and jumped.

She bent her knees as her feet pounded onto a rug barely softer than it ought to be. It felt as if there was a thin comforter was spread over the top of the rug, which might have been softer if she were lying down, but did very little to cushion her landing from a few feet up onto an otherwise solid floor. It didn’t even rank as good for a first try; Jen was disappointed in herself. She had even known her error and yet hadn’t been able to fix it.

“Could have been better,” Jen spoke her assessment when Zevalyn asked. She hadn’t missed the huff of someone feeling put-upon from the older girl when they’d started the practical assignment. She thought she was going to miss Zevalyn when she wasn’t in their classes any more. Despite having gotten the initial impression that she was too much of a girl to spend much time around, the Muggleborn from Arizona was definitely one of the least objectionable people in their classes. Which was good in the short term, but in the grand scheme of time or whatever, that kind of sucked. “At least I didn’t land on my ass,” she said, her tone ironically conciliatory.

Jen held out her hand to Zevalyn in case the older girl wanted to use her as leverage to pull herself up from the floor. “Take two?” she suggested.

0 Jennifer White (Aladren) You're already too old for this 388 Jennifer White (Aladren) 0 5

Victor Callahan, Crotalus

July 20, 2017 9:03 AM

Leap of pain, more like by Victor Callahan, Crotalus

Victor was intrigued to see rugs around the desks when he arrived at the classroom. Hopefully this meant they’d be doing something fun, or at least something different from usual, and he started trying to work out what it could be. He’d just settled on flying carpets (which would definitely be a cool lesson!), when he remembered that that would more likely be a charms class. A frown crossed his face in disappointment, as he’d always wanted a flying carpet, but he was soon distracted by Professor Carter climbing on top of her desk.

This wasn’t exactly usual professor behaviour. Maybe Professor Carter had been cursed? There could be an evil wizard (or witch, but an evil wizard would be more of a threat) wandering the corridors of Sonora, cursing all the professors. Maybe everyone else at Sonora was actually already dead, and Victor (and his classmates) would have a dramatic battle to defend humanity- wait, did she just jump off?!

Seeing his professor jumping off the desk was enough to bring Victor back to reality, and he quickly paid attention in order to catch up with what they were doing. Once he’d understood, he couldn’t wait to try the charm himself. The minute they were given the instruction to go, he was scrambling up on his desk and aiming his wand at the rugs below.

“Molliare!”

Quickly casting the spell, Victor grinned as he launched himself off the desk. This was one of the best lessons he’d had! However, the feeling of euphoria was soon dispelled as he landed with a thud and an ‘ow!’. Having had too much faith in himself (and being too eager to start), Victor hadn’t properly cast the spell, and the rugs were barely cushioned at all.

“I don’t think the spell works,” he informed his neighbour, half joking and half wondering if he could actually blame his failure on a dodgy spell. Rubbing his elbow, which had collided with the side of his desk, he looked around for his wand. Picking it up, he prepared to go again, determined to master the exercise.

9 Victor Callahan, Crotalus Leap of pain, more like 368 Victor Callahan, Crotalus 0 5