Advanced: The sound of silence on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Nash

February 16, 2018 1:23 PM

Advanced: The sound of silence by Professor Nash

Daniel Nash was a verbose individual. He knew this about himself and, by now, most of his advanced students knew it about him as well. This was, in part, intentional. He knew the psychological theory that people were more likely to remember something they heard at least three times, so he was repetitive, saying the same thing several times, coming at it from as many directions as possible, hoping at least one of them would click with the majority of the students. He used simple statements for the foreign students and complex statements for the students who thrived on details and challenges. He then broke those down into normal conversational sentences for everyone else. The more times he said something, the more likely it was to be on the next exam.

So when the advanced students walked into Advanced DADA in the second week of classes, and Daniel Nash said not word to them, even after the clock ticked past the starting time and he closed the door, they would be forgiven for wondering if he had laryngitis or gotten cursed with a silencing spell. It was unusual behavior from him. Unnatural even.

He pointed his wand at the board and the chalk rose up and wrote “Nonverbal Spellcasting” in his clear neat handwriting.

The chalk continued, “Pop Quiz: Try it.”

The homework had been to read the background chapter on the topic, though they had not yet done any nonverbal magic in class. He was interested to see how well they did.

The chalk added. “Beginner charms recommended to start for 6th years. 7th years may try something more challenging if they like.”

The stick of chalk hesitated a moment then finished, “Lecture to follow. You have fifteen minutes to show me a nonverbal spell for credit.” Daniel began wandering about the classroom marking a check onto his grade sheet next to anyone he saw create a magical effect without making a sound. Still not speaking. It was a challenge for him, too.

OOC: you all know the rules by now. Permission granted to have Daniel nod at you and make a mark on his sheet once you complete a non verbal spell.

Subthreads:

In my element by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

Do I get technical credit for this? by Joe Umland, Teppenpaw with Kyte Collindale, Pecari

1 Professor Nash Advanced: The sound of silence 130 Professor Nash 1 5

Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

February 16, 2018 11:16 PM

In my element by Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw

Raine entered the Defence classroom and took her seat. Professor Nash went to start the lecture and… then didn’t. He wasn’t saying a word to them. But the words on the board quickly made it clear why. Non-verbal spellcasting. That was interesting. Her heart momentarily froze when she saw the words ‘pop quiz’ but it didn’t seem to be a written quiz, rather just that they had to try non-verbal magic.

His lack of a theoretical introduction did little to put her off, and theory had never been her strong point. She had done the required reading, some of which talked about focus, which she could relate to, and some of which tried to analyse the composition of a spell, which she could not. To her magic was just magic, it worked because it did. It was something that you felt and you honed your ability by doing it. Like practising for the circus… Someone describing the trick they wanted you to do was almost always impossible, and the whys and hows of how your body could bend that way or the effect of gravity and all the rest of it didn’t help you improve. Training did. Practising over and over again. Ok, you sometimes needed a little pointer - you’re bringing your head up too soon, it’s throwing your balance, you didn’t get your leg high enough - but you never needed to understand your own physiology to make your body do those incredibly things.

Raine decided to work on the levitation charm, as that was fairly easy and she readily had the materials. She lay a piece of parchment on her desk. She quite liked the silence. She felt comfortable in it. Whenever she had a performance, she had to seek silence. It wasn’t usually really possible with all the hubbub of a full circus tent going on around her, but she had to go into her mind and find that perfectly still place where the noise didn’t exist. Her act required her absolute focus on only herself and what her body was doing. Her ability to focus had served her well in class, although it was muted by the effects of all she found problematic in school… Her self-consciousness and her discomfort. Her sense that these were not skills she was good at. But she had passed the Defence CATS exam. She was starting to realise how competent she was at the practical elements of all that was asked of her. Her focus had been a strength she was previously unaware of. She knew she used it in her act but she had struggled to see the links between the skills she used in her everyday life and what she was asked to do in the classroom - it had all seemed so alien and so unlike the things she was good at. However, now, in the stillness, gathering her thoughts and her concentration, with minimal cares or distractions, it felt familiar, felt like preparing herself for a show.

'Wingardium leviosa,' she thought, her wand flowing easily in time with the words. The paper shivered, as if a breeze had passed over it. Within a few tries, it was hovering an inch or so above the desk.

Raine let it drop, and took a breath, allowing herself a moment outside of her focus in order to rest. She looked up and saw that Professor Nash was nearby. He seemed to be watching everyone and making notes. She turned back to her parchment, but it was hard to get properly back into the zone when she knew she was being evaluated. People often found it strange that someone who performed for a living could be so shy, and so self-conscious about being watched, but this was so different. The circus was a show. She was behind makeup and sequins, up high and too far away to feel the individual scrutiny of a pair of eyes. Being watched up close was different.

'Wingardium leviosa,' she tried, but Professor Nash was intruding on her concentration. She tried to push him to the back of her mind. She found the feeling again. She was well-practised in doing so, after all, regardless of nerves. 'Wingardium leviosa.' The parchment hovered cleanly and clearly above the desk. She breathed a sigh of relief and looked around. Professor Nash was marking something on a piece of paper. He nodded to her and moved on, and she breathed a sigh of relief.

13 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw In my element 327 Raine Collindale, Teppenpaw 0 5

Joe Umland, Teppenpaw

February 17, 2018 11:10 PM

Do I get technical credit for this? by Joe Umland, Teppenpaw

”Non-verbal magic’s a massive pain in the – feet,” Julian had said when she and John had been discussing upper years with Joe. ”Like you’re trying to wear really strappy stilettos all evening to one of William’s work parties and there’s like no chairs and he stands and talks to the same person for like ten minutes in a row and it would be really rude to move from one foot the other – “

“I think I get the picture,” said Joe, sharing a smirk with John – Julian had clearly pulled that ramble about shoes out of the same portion of the anatomy she had meant to mention instead of feet, only to improvise a different answer at the last second because Mom had walked in the room. That, Joe reflected, was real power – the ability to make one’s adult child change her language, even though said adult child was not only married, but married with a pair of rings that could have likely paid Joe’s first-term tuition. Well, definitely the rings plus one earring, though Joe really wouldn’t be surprised if the huge pearl-and-diamond engagement ring, 18k wedding ring, and both half-carat diamond fan-shaped earrings wouldn’t have been enough to cover the year.

“I didn’t think it was that bad,” said John.

“Oh, shut up,” said Julian and Joe almost simultaneously.

“What? It’s what we do when we’re kids, isn’t it?”

Julian stared at John. “When did he learn how to humble-brag?” she demanded of Joe.

Joe did not know exactly when John had learned to humble-brag, but he was pretty sure that it was largely irrelevant to the task before him: earning the ability to brag-brag about his own ability to cast nonverbal charms.

He did not, if he was to be honest, expect this to be a major problem. A struggle for a bit, of course, but wandless was the real challenge and one which was yet to come. Non-verbal was just removing a…crutch to his concentration, sort of, and he had already gone through a lot of the finer points of removing smaller crutches – specific tags to general spells – in some of his intermediate classes. This was just one step further, and Joe had always been good at spellcasting in general.

He was also good at getting as much out of the system as possible with as little effort as possible, so he decided to take the board’s advice to stick to a beginner spell for the fifteen-minute window he was given, and to select one that involved minimal interaction beyond that. There were two kinds of charm, really, beyond ‘dark’ and ‘normal’ – those that needed another object involved and those that did not. Of the latter category, he decided that ‘lumos’ was a good bet. Make a light; in a lit classroom, it would be harder to tell if it was as bright as usual, and he wouldn’t have to work with the physics of some outside object. So he held out his wand and focused all his mind, or as much of it as he could focus, on the word lumos.

Nothing happened. Well, that was just the first try. Time for another.

Nothing happened again.

Joe twisted his neck one way and then the other. Surely there should have been a flicker by now. Something. Not just nothing. He looked around at other people, hoping against hope that everyone else was flat out of luck today.

They were not.

Frustration welled up. Well, maybe that was the key – being annoyed. Like a kid. Embrace the anger and let it fuel the magic. Just…not to the point of blinking over it. That was the trick. He could do that. Lumos, lumos, lumos, lumos, lumos, lumoslumoslumos -

Joe’s litany was interrupted as his inkwell came flying up off the surface of his desk, and due to the way he was half-bent over his wand by this point, hit him squarely at the hairline. This meant most of the ink missed his face as the inkwell bounced off his head and its lid came away, which was good. It also meant ink splashed all over both hands, his wand, and the front of his robes as well as a bit on the desk, which was not so good. It also meant he said “ow!” out loud, fairly loudly, which was even worse.

Okay. So maybe embracing the frustration was not the way. The only thing was, he was now annoyed, frustrated, and embarrassed, so how was he supposed to be a model of decorum and tranquility now?

16 Joe Umland, Teppenpaw Do I get technical credit for this? 329 Joe Umland, Teppenpaw 0 5

Kyte Collindale, Pecari

April 04, 2018 12:10 PM

This doesn't exactly play to my strengths by Kyte Collindale, Pecari

Kyte entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom chattering away to Ben. He didn’t particularly notice Professor Nash’s lack of talking. He wasn’t really one to stop talking or start paying attention until absolutely required to do so. He only really stopped talking because Ben kicked him under the table, and then he noticed that Professor Nash was making words appear on the board. Words that he was probably meant to be reading.

Nonverbal spellcasting.

“Ohh. That’s why he’s being so quiet. I get it now,” he whispered to Ben.

Pop quiz. Try it.

“Try it. Oh. Try non-verbal spells. Right. That’s cool. I always wanted to be able to do those,” he continued, however unlikely a coupling the words ‘non-verbal’ and ‘Kyte’ seemed. The fact that he was whispering was, for Kyte, being quiet. He had never really mastered the art of not saying everything that came into his head, and unless Ben or any of his other classmates could master a non-verbal silencing spell, now was not likely to be the moment at which he achieved it.

“First year spells-” he was about to ask what they’d learnt in first year cos that was like, forever ago, when he noticed he was getting A Look from Professor Nash, and stopped talking.

“It doesn’t say no talking…” he pointed out to Ben, earning him Another Look. Fine. He would be quiet. He would be quiet and think of a spell… He flicked his fingernail against his teeth as he thought, not really noticing that this also made noise. He liked the dancing charm. He managed to refrain from mentioning this, merely rummaging through his bag (humming softly to himself because dancing made him think of musi...il he found something he thought he could make dance. He found an interesting stick that he’d picked up whilst wandering through the gardens. It was all twisty and cool and he’d thought he’d do something with it. That had been… a while ago. He’d sort of forgotten that he’d picked it up.

He pointed his wand at the stick, imagining it throwing down the funky stick moves it surely had deep within its little wooden soul. Nothing happened. He tried a couple of more times, noticing his sister’s paper fluttering off the desk. Kyte was definitely in the right house, in that he desired quick results from his actions. Non-verbal spells were not living up to expectations.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, as Joe’s inkwell hit him on the head and deposited ink all over him. “Dude… Are you ok?” he asked, because that looked like it had hurt.

OOC - god-modding of Ben and Daniel approved by their author.

13 Kyte Collindale, Pecari This doesn't exactly play to my strengths 335 Kyte Collindale, Pecari 0 5