Isis Carter-Xavier
July 30, 2022 9:27 AM
I'm stunned to see you! [Beginners] by Isis Carter-Xavier
The Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom had never been one of Isis's favorite places, but over the years of splitting duties here, she had managed to make it a bit more of her own. A splash of purple on the curtains here, a dash of navy on the door frame there. Still all dark colors, mind you, but at least with a spark of life to them. And today, there were dolls.Perhaps “dolls” was not, in fact, the most accurate term, as such a word conjured the image of something cute and soft that a small child would play with. Theodora would be outgrowing such playthings in a few years, but for now, their quarters remained quite saturated with them. These were not of that nature. While about the size of a Barbie doll, they were blocky and wooden, more like the type of mannequin an artist might use for pose references, with movable joints and supported by a metal stand. They were unpainted and had no features to designate them man, woman, or other: just the basic humanoid figure all forming brains would recognize.
There was one of these figures on each pair of desks, and once everyone had arrived and taken their seats, Isis began the lecture for the lesson that would explain their purpose. As always, the chalk rose and fell on the board behind her, jotting an outline of relevant notes for her students. “Today we will be studying the Full Body-Bind Curse and ways to undo it,” she explained. “However, I don’t think your parents would appreciate me letting you perform the spell on one another this early into the year, so we have some helpers.”
With a flick of her wand, a wordless incantation brought life into the dolls, who stepped off their metal stands and began to move about the desks. They knew well enough not to try to leave their desk, and while it hadn’t been Isis’s intention to individualize them, there may have been some intrinsic personality from one to the next. “The Full-Body Bind Curse does work on objects as well as people - it’s just that usually, objects are stationary and you can’t notice. So these guys are going to do a little motion-making for you, so that you will be able to see.” She turned to the small wooden individual on her own desk, who was currently performing the macarena. “Now, watch the wand movement,” she instructed, though the chalk would draw a rough shape behind her. “Petrificus Totalus.” Instantly, the wooden person’s arms shot to his sides, and he fell flat on his back, motionless.
“There are several ways to undo this curse,” Isis continued, “but the one which we will use today is the spell Reparifors.” And with that, the doll released the tension in his arms and sprang back to his feet, resuming his dance. “Both spells are in your textbook, pages 41 and 68 respectively, if you would like to read up more.”
“I’d like you to work together with your deskmate and take turns with each spell. Whenever possible, do try to pair up with someone from a different year. You can swap seats if necessary, but Reparifors is a more difficult spell and may need the older student. If neither of you is able to get it, though, feel free to call me over for help. Unless anyone has any immediate questions, go ahead and get started.”
OOC: Wiki resources on both spells:
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Full_Body-Bind_Curse
https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Reparifors
Subthreads: The feeling's mutual by Robyn Lundstrom
Subverted expectations by Lyla Holland with Fortune Ardovini
12
Isis Carter-Xavier
I'm stunned to see you! [Beginners]
31
1
5
Robyn Lundstrom
July 31, 2022 7:56 PM
The feeling's mutual by Robyn Lundstrom
Defence Against the Dark Arts was as terrifying as the name suggested. Well, the teachers seemed nice, and seemed to not want to use throwing them into the jaws of monsters as a learning method, so it was mostly theoretically scary but still… Needing a class in self-defence against literal monsters and curses was still a big mental adjustment. And just because the teachers were going easy on them right now didn’t mean they always would. Robyn’s family had shielded her from a lot of the things that had happened to Xavier when he’d been taken away from them, but she had picked up enough hints and listened at enough doorways to know that, somewhere along the way, trying to shock and scare the magic out of him had been considered a valid technique. She thought that was at the government facility, not at school, but it was still a thing that someone had tried.It was sort of obvious from the dolls on their desk, and Professor Carter-Xavier’s comment, that they would be using them for spell practise. Still, Robyn wasn’t quite expecting them to suddenly come to life like something out of a horror movie! She let out a small squeak, that might not have been noticeable, but only because it was overwhelmed by the much larger squeak of chair legs on the floor as she scooted sharply backwards. She felt her cheeks turning red – something that was becoming an all too familiar sensation in classes. She had thought Xavier was making too big a deal out of how hard it was to fit in here, or that it had been down to his lack of magical prowess. She was actually doing fine with her classes, but she was sure she was living down to the Lundstrom reputation with her behaviour. What if she messed up so much they started gossiping about her family again? Xavier had only just turned the tide on the impressions of their parents, who had been unfairly painted as ‘strongly anti-magical.’ Robyn wanted to do well and fit in. Why was that such a challenge?
They were set to work, in pairs. Which presumably meant moving around. Which meant taking her mannequin with her. Except it was busy doing a little exercise routine on the desk. She reached a hand towards it, wondering whether she could just… pick it up? She picked up bugs from under rocks without any issue. Applying the same principals plus a few new ones—namely, that letting it flail around would be unpleasant for them both, and that she probably couldn’t grip this so hard she hurt it seeing as it was made of wood—she closed her hand tightly around it, with its arms pinned to its sides. It continued to wiggle, trying to go through its high kicks and side stretches. She held it at arm’s length, but firmly and with a determined look on her face, as she went to approach a second year.
“Hi. Want to work together?” she asked. “Urgh!” she added, as the mannequin gave a particularly decisive wiggle. She released her hand, dropping it onto the second year’s desk, hoping that they said ‘yes.’ She had a feeling she was going to be quite good at zapping this thing until it stopped moving. She definitely wanted to.
13
Robyn Lundstrom
The feeling's mutual
1558
0
5
Lyla Holland
August 11, 2022 1:31 PM
Subverted expectations by Lyla Holland
Lyla wasn't sure what she would find when she walked into her first Defense Against the Dark Arts class. As per usual, she picked a desk in the back of the classroom, so she could observe what everyone else was doing, and follow suit.Everything seemed to go normally, until the Professor Carter-Xavier said that their parents wouldn't want them to perform spells on each other this early. Did that mean they'd practice on each other later in the year? It seemed horrendously unsafe to practice jinxes on other students; Lyla had thought this class would be mainly book learning, maybe using mannequins for hands-on classes, like the little dolls in front of them.
As if on cue, the professor charmed the mannequins into movement, and Lyla startled. She heard a loud squeak as Robyn a few seats over practically fell out of her chair. Lyla's cheeks burned with secondhand embarrassment for her friend, and purposefully didn't stare at her while she recovered herself. Lyla knew she wouldn't want anyone watching her get over a shock. Instead, she watched as her curious little wooden doll began to jump up and down, waving it's arms wildly as though to say, 'look at me!'.
Lyla's attention drifted back to Professor Carter-Xavier as she explained the spells and how to perform them, the tapping and scraping of the chalk on the board a backbeat to her words. Lyla wrote her meticulous notes, copying the information on blackboard verbatim.
Towards the end of the lecture portion of the class, the professor announced that they'd be working in pairs. Great. Lyla didn't know whether she ought to go find a partner, or wait for one to come to her. She stalled, arranging her notes, until everyone else was just about paired off. Steeling her nerves, she grabbed her rather... lively mannequin and approached the nearest single second-year.
"Can we work together?" she asked, catching her doll as it tried to launch itself out of her hands. It wasn't as if the other student would have much choice at this point, anyway, but it was polite to ask.
64
Lyla Holland
Subverted expectations
1559
0
5
Fortune Ardovini
August 19, 2022 6:18 PM
Aren't those the best kind? by Fortune Ardovini
Alright! It was time for Defense Against the Dark Arts class again! Fortune like this class, it was the one that most seemed like the adventuring stories he heard on the wireless. He got to learn about defeating evil and such, it was great! He found a seat and got ready, hopefully they'd be doing something practical again, theory was fine and learning about things was great, but actually doing it was the best. There were wooden figures? dolls? on the desks so that looked promising for doing some practical work. He unpacked his things for class and got ready for the professor to begin.Fortune scribbled notes as the professor talked, and was slightly disappointed when they were told they weren't going to be using on each other. The moving dolls were sure neat though, and at least they were pairing up with someone. He started looking around for someone to partner with when Lyla approached, that worked. She was a first year and he wasn't anymore.
He smiled at her. "Sure!" he answered her question and made sure there was room for her things at the desk. His own doll was dancing around on top of his notebook. "Looks like you got a lively one there, do you want to start out by calming it down a bit? Then I can see if I can release it." He continued talking a bit, just because he could. "I've heard this hex getting used a lot on some of the adventure wireless programs I listened to, it's neat to get to use it."
2
Fortune Ardovini
Aren't those the best kind?
1549
0
5