If one way doesn't work... on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Zephyrflame

May 23, 2005 3:25 AM

Lesson 1 for First Years by Professor Zephyrflame

Professor Zephyrflame sat at his desk, smiling as the students flowed into the classroom.
Waiting till all of the students have settled down, the new professor stood up, walked to the front of the class and began to introduce himself and today's lesson.
"Good morning students. I am Professor Alexander Zephyrflame and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for this term.
Today’s lesson will focus on the Knockback Jinx. As first years, I am sure not many of you will have developed accurate aim for directing spells. This lesson will allow you to do that. Saying the word "Flipendo" easily performs the Knockback Jinx. Now, that is the advanced way to do it. Starting out, you may wish to direct your spell specifically at a person. Thus, you must say "Flipendo" along with the thing or person you wish to Knockback. I suppose the force of this spell is correspondent to being tackled by Muggle football players. In any case, you may pair up to perform this spell, or you may use the dummies."
Professor Zephyrflame pointed his wand and pointed it at the wall. There, a vast number of dummies that had twigs for wands were laid on the wall. "These dummies are bewitched to use certain basic offensive and defensive spells to face you in combat. If you are able to use the Knockback Jinx to sucessfully defeat the dummy, points will be awarded. You may begin."
After delivering this long speech,Professor Zephyrflame walked back to his desk and settled down, conjuring himself a glass of water, watching the class.
(OOC:30 points for the most creative post. 30 points for the next best creative post. 15 points the first to respond. 10 points to everyone else. Be sure to make it realistic. You are first years... they spell should NOT be easy as you've not experienced performing many spells yet. Those whose posts are completely illogical will have points deducted. Have fun!)
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Subthreads:

amendments by Professor Zephyrflame

Should be intereseting... by Earl Valentine

Re: Lesson 1 for First Years by Nicoletta Dupree

Dumb Dummy by Dalila Bastet with Christobel Dupree, Dalila

If one way doesn't work... by Catherine Raines with Gwenhwyfar Carey

Incomplete my foot...and other bits. by Asher Tallow

The Knockback Jinx by Izabella Santoro (Aladren)

A Duel With Bob the Dummy.., by Anne Wright with Connor Pierce

0 Professor Zephyrflame Lesson 1 for First Years 0 Professor Zephyrflame 1 5

Professor Zephyrflame

May 24, 2005 4:58 AM

amendments by Professor Zephyrflame

At the back of the original thread you will see that I posted a part which indicated that the first pupil will get 15 points for being the first to respond and the list goes on... but the Headmistress has informed me that the maximum I can give is 5 points so there yuo go =)\n\n

0 Professor Zephyrflame amendments 0 Professor Zephyrflame 0 5

Earl Valentine

May 24, 2005 6:45 PM

Should be intereseting... by Earl Valentine

Earl shuffled into the classroom without looking around. He had woken up late and had barely managed to get dressed, let alone fix himself up. And the getting dressed part wasn't even done correctly. His robes were hanging off his left shoulder, shoelaces undone, fly unzipped; his hair was not the usual mess of spikes. It lay flacid on his head as though it were just as tired as Earl was. All in all, it was not the best first impression.

He slumped down into the nearest unoccupied seat he could find and lay his head on his arms, trying in vain to will the professor's voice to soften, so he could sleep in peace. After a few minutes it did stop, but the sound of chairs scraping against stone and talking students interupted the momentary stillness. Earl suddenly wished for the professor's voice to resonate through the room once again...it was the lesser of two evils in his mind.

Earl began to drift off to sleep. He dreamt of flying with a hundred owls in a purple sky when one of the owls began pecking at him and wouldn't stop. He tried to shoo it away, but it persisted.

"Will you cut it out?" he yelled out loud. Earl was jerked awake by his own voice. He blinked a few times before the scen before him came into focus. He suddenly realized he was being poked by a person, not an owl. He scratched his head and yawned.

"Sorry about that." He looked around for a second before adding "What're we doing?"

\n\n

0 Earl Valentine Should be intereseting... 67 Earl Valentine 0 5

Nicoletta Dupree

May 25, 2005 4:07 PM

Re: Lesson 1 for First Years by Nicoletta Dupree

Nicoletta watched the professor with interest, wondering if he would teach anything worthwhile or just waste her time, as other professors had already done. She smiled with satisfaction when he told them they would be working on the Knockback Jinx. If he hadn't made mention of muggle football players, she might have actually liked him, but alas, he did, and therefore, had made her think otherwise. At least, he was teaching them something useful.

Standing in front of one of the dummies, Nicoletta grasped her wand in an expert motion. She had had a practice wand when she was younger, at her father's insistence. It had looked like a wand, but contained no magical element to it. So, unfortunately, she had never actually been able to practice with real spells, so her aim was a bit off. When, she said the command, 'Flipendo,' she ended up hitting the wall beside the dummy rather than the target.

Taking a deep breath, Nicoletta tried again. It wouldn't do for a Dupree to have anything less than an expert aim. This time she would have hit the arm of the dummy, if it hadn't countered her spell.

Frowning, she tried again. Managing to hit the dummy on the leg, she wasn't prepared when the dummy fought back, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to fall to the floor.

Getting up, she attempted to hit the dummy with the Knockback Jinx once more. Again and again, she tried, and over and over, the dummy fought back and hit her. Frustrated, she could feel the anger and magic rushing through her.

Fighting for control over her emotions, she waved her wand once more and shouted, "Flipendo!"

Hitting the dummy with a deadly accurate aim, she knocked it back, and this time she noticed with a mix of satisfaction and disappointment, it didn't fight back. The fact that she had to be angry to perform the spell to the best of her ability was not a good sign. Duprees were supposed to always be cool, calm, collected, and have a deadly aim, not be angry with one.

\n\n

0 Nicoletta Dupree Re: Lesson 1 for First Years 64 Nicoletta Dupree 0 5

Dalila Bastet

May 30, 2005 9:58 PM

Dumb Dummy by Dalila Bastet

Dalila was a tad nervous as she entered the DADA classroom for the first time. Not because she thought she'd do bad, but because it was about the dark arts- even if it was defense. Dalila's family was very strict about keeping dark magic away from the Bastet name. A few years ago, before Dalila was even born, her third cousin had begun meddling in in things he wasn't suppose to and ended up accidently killing his wife and only child. Since then, dark magic in a ny form had been prohibited. Dalila didn't want to become the black sheep because of this one class.

Anxiously, she sat at a desk and gripped her wand tightly as she listened to the professor. After his explination on the day's lesson, Dalila sighed with relief. This wasn't exactly dark magic. It was a spell...like dueling.

She stood up and stared at the dummy nearest her. "You ready to get served?" she taunted at the dummy, using one of the remarkably stupid phrases some muggles kids had taught her. She whispered the incantation to her self before saying it out loud.

"Flipendo dummy!" she screamed. A blast shot out of her wand and hit the dummy square in the head...but nothing happened. Dalila stared at her wand, then at the dummy, then back at her wand. Just as she was about to try again, the dummy reacted and shot a spell at her she didn't recognize. Her wand flew out of her hand, landing a few feet behind her.

Dalila swiftly picked it up. "Dumb dummy," she grumbled before trying once again. "Flipendo dummy!" her wand fired, but the dummy deflected it. Dalila was getting slightly irritated at her victim and was forced to take a few deep breaths before starting again. "FLIPENDO DUMMY!" she cried out as the spell caused her dummy to fly backwards into the wall.

Grinning, Dalila cheered for herself. Halfway through her cabbage patch dance, her elbow knocked into the person next to her. "Whoops...sorry bout that. I guess I got a little to crazy there."\n\n

0 Dalila Bastet Dumb Dummy 60 Dalila Bastet 0 5

Christobel Dupree

June 05, 2005 11:31 PM

Doesn't seem so dumb to me by Christobel Dupree

"Seems like we keep bumping into each other," Chris said with a grin after Dalila's elbow knocked into him. Concentrating on his own dummy, he shouted, "Flipendo, dummy!"

Of course, his dummy got the better of him and blocked the spell.

Taking a break, he asked her, "Have you heard about the Quidditch tryouts yet? Are you going to try out? You were a natural in flying class."

Giving some extra thought into the subject, he continued, "I wonder who Crotalus will have. That's my sister's house, but she won't be playing, and if her friends are anything like her, they won't be either."

"Anyways," he rushed on, "after this class, do you maybe want to hang out outside or something? We could go flying."

He hoped she would say yes. So far, she was the only possible friend he had made here. No one seemed to really understand his strange sense of humor, or they seemed to judge him based on his sister.\n\n

0 Christobel Dupree Doesn't seem so dumb to me 54 Christobel Dupree 0 5

Dalila

June 06, 2005 7:59 PM

Great idea! by Dalila

Dalila grinned broadly as the familiar person spoke. She watched as he tried blasting his own dummy without success. "Hey, Chris! Haven't seen you for a while." It had really only beena day or two, but that wasn't very important.

Blushing slightly at Chris's compliment at her flying ability, she tried to remain calm as she answered. "Yeah, I was the first to sign up for Teppenpaw, and I'm pretty sure a couple other people have signed up as well...I didn't know you have a sister. It's too bad she won't be playing. Everyone should play; it's too fun not to."

She tried twirling her wand in her hand, only to drop it, sending out a couple purple and blue sparks in the process. She quickly picked it off the ground and shrugged it off before continuing to talk.

"I would absolutely love to go out flying. I've been meaning to practice, and with all the lip my dummy is giving me, flying would do me some good." Dalila stifled a small laugh. "Well, if dummies had lips."\n\n

0 Dalila Great idea! 0 Dalila 0 5

Catherine Raines

June 09, 2005 1:28 PM

If one way doesn't work... by Catherine Raines

Catherine yawned, thoroughly bored by the professor and his opening speech. She had already made up her mind to despise all her classes as a matter of good taste, given that she hadn't learned anything even vaguely useful in any of them yet. Knockback Jinx, eh? While she might find using it on a few of her housemates personally satisfying, it would be socially tacky. Therefore, any aptitude she had for the spell would be wasted talent.

But that was for outside the classroom. Now she was in it, having to learn this junk. Curse it. Pulling out her wand with ill grace, she went to face one of the dummies and imagined that it was Gwenhwyfar Carey. "Flipendo," she said impatiently, hoping that it would work right the first time.

A few sparks shot out of her wand, no more. She had been paying just enough attention to what the professor had been saying to know the dummy would fight back, and managed to duck in the nick of time. She had to bite her lip hard to keep from screeching like a stepped-on cat as she felt her hair, frantically checking for damage. "Flipendo!" she exclaimed, and when this second attempt proved as futile as the first, she wasn't able to get out of the dummy's way in time. The return spell sent her sprawling. Before she could get her breath back, it went on the offensive.

Catherine thought this would be a good time to panic. She started repeating the spell over and over again, her voice gradually rising, not waiting to see if it produced a result. It seemed that she and the dummy were both hurling spells without any affect whatsover-hers failing because she couldn't perform the spell, the dummy's because she had taken shelter beneath a desk and pulled someone's bag in front of her as a shield. Once she calmed down a bit, she decided that it was time to do things another way. Glancing around to make sure the professor wasn't standing over her or something equally hindering, she threw the bag at the stupid thing.

Finally, something that worked. The bag hit the dummy and knocked it over. Knockback jinx indeed. It hadn't done a single thing some loser's backpack hadn't done better. She grabbed the bag and put it back under its owner's desk, hoping against hope that no one had observed her complete and utter failure with the spell. Especially Gwenhwyfar.\n\n

0 Catherine Raines If one way doesn't work... 66 Catherine Raines 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

June 09, 2005 3:59 PM

Then try another. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

When Gwenhwyfar was in a good mood, she could be charming. When she was in a bad mood, she could be snappish. When she was afraid, strange things that she had no explination for tended to happen. She was absolutely terrified as she sat down in her first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. This was one of the classes she had been doing her very best to pretend wouldn't happen-a class where she had to do magic and control it. Something she had no idea if she could do properly.

She started breathing again when Professor Zephyrflame said they didn't have to work with someone else. The last thing she wanted was for Anne or one of the preps to take such a wonderful opporotunity to throw a few unpleasant spells in her direction. She didn't really think Anne would, for some reason, but the preps were another matter altogether. No, it was better to work with a dummy enchanted to go through a certain set of motions and spells than to go up against another person, given that a lot of people didn't like her for whatever reason and that people could do whatever they wanted to without warning.

She willed herself not to be nervous as she faced one of the dummies, ignoring the pandemonium that had begun around her. Calm and steady, that would do the trick. Wand and chin up, appear confident no matter what. It could always be worse. "Flipendo," she said, and wasn't surprised when she got no result save the dummy scoring a hit with a spell that gave her a shock. She frowned, trying to work out how to reporduce the affect, then realized that it wouldn't do any good on a dummy. Besides, they were only supposed to use the Knockback Jinx.

Her second and third tries produced a few sparks, though she was getting better at ducking when the dummy fired back at her. She couldn't tell if she was on the offensive or the defensive anymore, but it didn't particuarly matter when she only had one spell to use. The professor had said it wouldn't be very easy, so she wasn't surprised. She wasn't going to panic. Unlike a certain prep...

Catherine Raines didn't seem to be doing very well against her dummy, if the shrill exclamations from underneath a desk were anything to go by. Gwen couldn't stop herself from laughing right out loud, and the result was that the dummy managed to hit her with another spell, this one knocking her down. Maybe that was the Knockback Jinx, she thought, wincing slightly as she climbed back to her feet. If she could just copy what the dummy had done...

It took her three more tries before she finally managed to produce a spell strong enough to make contact with her stuffed adversary. It wasn't very strong-the dummy only tottered a little-but it was a result. She managed to hit it again while it was tottering, and it finally went over.

Not bad. She would have to go back and work on it more, of course, but she had knocked the dummy over. Looking around, she noticed that Raines had knocked hers over, too. With a bookbag. "Cheating already?" she muttered under her breath as Raines emerged from beneath the desk. "I'm sure you find it a worthy passtime." She wondered if the fact that she had caught Catherine cheating in class would make good blackmail material. She also wondered if there was any way she could use the fact that she had seen Catherine at the edge of hysteria over a dummy against the other girl. Probably not. She gave Raines her sweetest smile and set her dummy back up for another round of practice. It took four tries to get the dummy over again.\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Then try another. 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Asher Tallow

June 10, 2005 1:20 AM

Incomplete my foot...and other bits. by Asher Tallow

Asher stalked into class, her temper inflamed. The morning had dawned with many things: sun, probably birds singing somewhere, too much hairspray being used, and the burgeoning of what marked her first true entrance into puberty. The spot gave no warning before its rude protrusion from her skin. It didn't bother to even redden or swell beneath the skin to laud the appropriate amount of portent. No, the damned thing hid until the last second, and then exploded into full view on the center of her forehead.

She noticed it first while brushing her teeth. The headband she used to keep back her too long black hair, bangs and all, also displayed the epidermic volcano that birthed overnight to the whole world. With mint flavored lather falling from her mouth, she gaped at her reflection for a full fifteen seconds before yanking off the headband and flattening down her bangs with a slightly soapy hand. No matter how many glares she sent her reflection, the pimple did not retract. She settled with scrubbing her forehead raw in the shower and combing down her bangs to hide all evidence of the nasty thing.

With breakfast a tight knot in her stomach, her morning classes were spent in a brooding fit with only slight interruptions to growl a response or greeting. The time passed between classes only further cemented the growing suspicion that someone, and not the natural passing of hormonal flux, was the cause of her disfigurement. Every glance her way, every eye widening from bypassing individuals, even that one yawn by that boy in that other house- they only saw it, and there was nothing Asher hated more than to be embarrassed.

She threw herself down into a free seat, scowled pure hatred at the desk top, and listened as her professor, the ever unctuous Zephyrflame explained the day's lesson. Despite the wand use necessary, she looked forward to the task. She felt like attacking something- and since her morning ambush on her forehead failed utterly- a handy dummy would more than do, even if it was equipped with defense spells and the like. There was more than one way around those.

She skulked up to a free dummy, eyeing it with appropriate wariness and considering the best avenue to obliterate the grey, slightly worn mannequin. The Knockback Jinx was good and all, but the spare bits of text that Asher had bothered reading didn't make it sound too dependable. Especially at her level in which a simple wingardium leviosa took more than a week of practise to moderately master.

Asher idled fifteen paces away from the dummy. Three long looks later and she decided the best attack was the dirty kind. After all, Zephyrflame hadn't put any parameters on how they were to use the Knockback Jinx. That left the door wide open for interpretation. She let her gaze stray over the classroom, resting for a moment on the now emptied desks and chairs, and then finally returning to the waiting dummy. She gave a short nod; this assignment was in the bag.

But first-

"Flipendo dummy. Flipendo dummy. Flipendo dummy. Flipendo dummy. Flipendo dummy. Flipendo dummy," she muttered in quick succession. Each spell was easily deflected by protective wards and shields. In any case, she hadn't expected to actually 'flipendo' the dummy that easily. That's why she had her other plan.

Asher stuffed her wand into the dusky green of her robe's pocket and grabbed one of the unoccupied desks. With no small amount of dragging and yanking, she managed to draw it up in line with the dummy. She pushed it forward, ignoring the screech of metal and wood on the stone floor. Three feet from the dummy, she stopped and stood back. It was all in place.

Confidently, she returned to her stance from before, wand drawn and bangs secured over her forehead. With a quick jerk of her hand, she made the proper motions. "Flipendo desk!" she cried.

The spell hit the desk dead on and launched the heavy piece of furniture surface first into the dummy. As she expected, the dummy was only charmed to defend against magical attacks, not a physical one. The grey stuffed dummy bent easily under the desk's tackle and flopped defeated to the ground. Assignment complete.

Asher gave a crooked smile as she admired her handy work, and then raised her hand. "Professor Zephyrflame? I finished the assignment. Instead of points though, I'm fine with just leaving early."\n\n

0 Asher Tallow Incomplete my foot...and other bits. 1466 Asher Tallow 0 5

Catherine Raines

June 10, 2005 10:54 PM

Not you... by Catherine Raines

Catherine was congradulating herself on a dummy well flattened when she noticed Gwenhwyfar smiling at her. She felt sure that she knew what that was all about. Madam Redneck had seen her fail with the dummy. There was no other reason she could think of for Gwenhwyfar Carey to be smiling at her. She returned the smile with one of bland innocence and hauled her dummy back upright when she saw that Carey was doing likewise. She would try the spell again. She couldn't let the Queen of Losers beat her at anything.

The dummy seemed to have different ideas about what Catherine could and couldn't let Gwenhwyfar do. Although she kept at it, the dummy managed to hit her with a spell more than once and the only thing she managed to knock over with her feeble jinx was a bottle of ink, which only chance kept from staining her robes. By the end of class, she was mentally cursing Carey, dummies, Flipendo, Sonora, and approximately everything else on the planet. On her way out the door after the bell rang, she took a vinditive sort of pleasure in "accidentally" knocking Gwenhwyfar into a desk.

"Sorry," she said, too sweet for anyone besides the very stupidest of losers to fall for it. "I didn't notice you standing there. You're just so insignificant that I don't have time to look for you." Let her chew on that, if she wanted to. Very slightly more mollified than she had been but still in a bad mood because of her lackluster abilities, she left the room and resolved to forget that the class had ever happened.
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0 Catherine Raines Not you... 66 Catherine Raines 0 5

Gwenhwyfar Carey

June 10, 2005 11:14 PM

Yes, me, the one and only. by Gwenhwyfar Carey

Gwen noticed when Catherine smiled back. They could have passed for each other just then, standing there with the immaculate false smiles of rivals masking what they were really thinking. She had always wondered what would happen if a group of purebloods were put together in a small room and forced to speak plainly and honestly. She had a feeling there would be a lot more family feuds and a lot more money for the gravediggers.

She continued to work on completely mastering the spell. She had been trained to force excellence where it did not come naturally and to force brilliance where it did. She couldn't lower the number of times she had to cast the spell with any consistancy, but she did work out that adding the word 'dummy' helped and was content with that. For now. She stopped with five minutes to go to the bell, worn out from the effort of dueling for so long.

She was just working her way out of the aisle into the river of students heading for the exit when she was abruptly knocked out of the way. She stumbled painfully into a desk and found herself looking at Catherine Raines. She wanted to test the incantation 'Flipendo Raines' when she heard Catherine's so-called apology, but merely raised an eyebrow.

"Fine words from someone who can't perform a basic spell or have a thought without Dupree's stamp of approval," she said calmly. Raines wasn't worth losing her temper over. "You go on living in your little la-la land, though. Maybe one day you'll believe your own gibberish, Catherine darlin'. Have a nice day." She left without waiting for a reply, really unable to care less what Catherine Raines might want to say or not say.

OOC: This is the end of the thread.\n\n

0 Gwenhwyfar Carey Yes, me, the one and only. 63 Gwenhwyfar Carey 0 5

Izabella Santoro (Aladren)

June 12, 2005 2:30 PM

The Knockback Jinx by Izabella Santoro (Aladren)

Bella walked into the classroom with the rest of her classmates and selected a seat near the front. All research shows that those who do the best are the ones found sitting in the front of the classroom. Though Bella doesn't like to be labeled as a Teacher's Pet or Goody-goody, she has no qualms about sitting in the front of the room.

She took out a sheet of parchment, ink, and quill and settled in to listen to the Professor lecture. She was good at written stuff. Any test, so long as it was a written test, she could ace. It was the practical stuff that worried her. And this class seemed to be nothing but practical as Zephyrflame explained the knockback jinx to them.

Sighing silently to herself, Bella stood and made her way over to one of the dummies. She hesitated raising her wand to it because she didn't know any defensive spells to block any manuvers the dummy might throw her way. She watched some of the other students for a moment, while mouthing the incantation under her breath just to get the feel of it. Once she was sure she had to under her control, she turned back to her dummy. Raising her wand in a ready stance, she did the quick wand movements while saying the spell. She was in awe as the spell shot from her wand and heading for the dummy, but was disappointed when the dummy easily reflected it and it came hurtling back at her.

Picking herself off the floor (after diving down to avoid the spell) Bella quickly shot the spell back to the dummy. This was much like the muggle sport of Tennis. Back and forth went the spells with little success. Bella was growing frustrated with every spell she sent and every spell she thus had to avoid. Eventually, her frustration at it's peak, Bella shot a more aggressive spell toward the dummy, "FLIPENDO DUMMY!" and was surprised to see the dummy fly backwards and lay limply on the classroom floor. Wiping the sweat from her brow, Bella walked back to her seat, feeling drained but extremely satisfied.\n\n

0 Izabella Santoro (Aladren) The Knockback Jinx 0 Izabella Santoro (Aladren) 0 5

Anne Wright

June 14, 2005 12:24 PM

A Duel With Bob the Dummy.., by Anne Wright

In spite of her ever-present worries about wrecking her GPA if she had no aptitude for spellcasting(assuming that Sonora even did GPAs), Anne approached Defense Against the Dark Arts eagerly. A class where she could do something was a chance she was ready to leap on. She was a book learner by nature, like her mother, but she had gotten a trace of her father's preference for actually putting what she read into practice.

She propped her hand on her chin as Professor Zephyrflame talked. So he was throwing them straight in and giving them the option of sinking or swimming, eh? Good. Anne had always liked swimming. The most logical part of her brain told her that she was going to become insanely overconfident if she wasn't careful and be disappointed in the end. The competitive streak, another double-edged sword of a gift from her father, couldn't argue with cold, hard logic. She reminded herself that spells usually sounded easier than they were and that magic was nothing to get complacent about.

She was relived that they didn't have to work in partners. For one thing, she didn't relish the idea of feeling like she had been tackled by a football player, and for another, she was a cheerful loner and always had been. She possessed a gift for hanging in the margins of several groups, sharing a few laughs with each, but in the end keeping to herself. Since arriving at Sonora, she had become a real loner. The only group she had found so far to be on the edges of had been Laura's, and it had Gwenhwyfar in it, meaning the whole group was on probation. The only person she had met who was close to counting as a friend was Robbie, and she had never been in possession of that unfathomable self-confidence that some girls had that enabled them to make friends at the drop of a hat. So any class where she didn't have to beg on her knees for someone to work with was a good class.

She pulled her hair back before she went to face one of the dummies. There had been times she was sorely tempted to hack it off to her ears with kitchen scissors, but even she,fashion enemy number one, had more pride about her appearance than that. "All right, Bob," she said to her dummy, bowing as if this were a real duel and feeling slightly silly for doing it, "This is just between you and me. Let's see who can fire 'em off the fastest. Flipendo dummy!" There were a few sparks from her wand and a real spell from Bob the Dummy. It hit her head-on, knocking her backwards. She caught her balance on the nearest desk and smiled at the dummy.

"Oh, so you want to play dirty, then," she said, beginning to get caught up in her little fantasy where she and Bob were dueling over a matter of honor and ducking an offensive spell from him at the same time. "That's good. I can play dirty too." She made practical use of all her childhood ballet lessons as she twirled to the side outside the dummy's line of "vision" and tried the spell again. A little better, but she had to drop quickly as it fired back. She noticed that other people seemed to have gotten the same idea and wondered how many people had gotten hit by someone else's dummy's stray spell. She was suddenly flat on her face and knew that the count was up to at least one, though she had no idea whose dummy had cast the spell.

Beginning to feel a little bruised and a little annoyed, she got back up and continued her duel with Bob, talking less and less as it went on. She became really angry when she managed to get the spell down but couldn't aim at the dummy while ducking. If she wasn't careful, she was going to start blowing things up. Deciding that the pain was worth the gain, she quit ducking and managed to topple her dummy, causing its last spell to bounce off the ceiling instead of off her.

"A pleasure defeating you, Bob," she said, thoroughly worn out and even more thoroughly pleased with the accomplishment. \n\n

16 Anne Wright A Duel With Bob the Dummy.., 59 Anne Wright 0 5

Connor Pierce

June 15, 2005 9:21 PM

As long as it's not Connor the Dummy... by Connor Pierce

Connor was still trying to get his head around the idea of actually learning magic spells and stuff when Defense Against the Dark Arts rolled around. He had accepted the reality of magic-sort of-but not his own ability to do it. It became obvious inside the first five minutes of class that he was going to have to hurry up the process, because, as with all the other classes, they were doing something straight off the bat. Something called a Knockback Jinx.

Most people seemed to favor the dummies over actual opponents. Not surprising, really. He had taken the same route as the majority, thinking that the dummies wouldn't be that difficult to deal with since they were school-issued. In his experience, 'school-issued' was the equivalent of 'from the dollar store'. It wasn't long until he figured out that he had stumbled on another universal rule that didn't apply in the magical world. His dummy went on the offensive inside the first minute and stayed there until the end.

It was tiring work, spellcasting. Connor couldn't help but get the wierdest feeling that spells drew their strength or whatever it was from the witch or wizard who was casting them. He had an odd feeling that he wasn't saying the spell right, either. He tried to watch the dummy and listen for other people saying the spell at the same time.

If he hadn't been listening for someone, he probably wouldn't have noticed the black-haired girl talking to her dummy like they were old fencing partners. Oh, great, he thought. We have a nutcase in first year. It wasn't until she said the spell again, confirming his belief that he hadn't said it right, that he recognized her voice. It was the girl he had mentally dubbed 'Anne the Amazon', the aggressive Aladren who had caused a stir at the Quidditch pitch. If she was tougher than nails and nutty, then he needed to steer clear of her. Very clear of her.

Now that he knew how to pronounce the spell, things seemed to go considerably smoother. It seemed he had a knack for this. It took four tries saying the right word before the stupid dummy, still firing off offensive spells, went over. Its last spell hit Anne and knocked her flat. Good thing it wasn't very far to the floor from her original position and that there was almost no way she would be able to figure out that it was his dumb dummy that floored her.

Once she had defeated her own dummy, he considered going over and apologizing for the wayward spell, but he saw her talking to her dummy again. He decided he'd just stay where he was and let her continue her conversation with Bob. It was none of his business.\n\n

0 Connor Pierce As long as it's not Connor the Dummy... 68 Connor Pierce 0 5

Anne

June 15, 2005 9:41 PM

I only beat up boys if they annoy me. by Anne

Once she was satisfied that Bob knew who was the victor in their little battle, Anne pulled her hairbow out, letting her curtain of black hair swing loose. She immediately regretted it-it was so hot!-but it seemed like the right gesture. Now that she had completed her work like a good little Aladren, she could follow her spy instincts and take stock of things.

The first thing she noticed was that Gwenhwyfar was keeping to herself, minding her own business for a welcome change. Anne got tired of constantly watching her. Gwen might be interesting to a pureblood looking for a wife but, as Anne's function was to make sure she behaved herself and didn't lapse back into Prepdom, she got a little dull for Anne. She saw a few people she recognized and/or vaguely knew, including Gwen's mumbling friend who had played hero when Whatever-her-name-was fell off her broom. She hadn't come across as very nice that day, if she remembered rightly, and, since he was close enough to have heard her conversation with Bob, he probably thought she was crazy. Making a tremendous effort, she went over.

"Hey," she said. "I'm Anne,guess you already knew that. You're Gwen's friend, sorry that I can't remember your name." It occured to her that she still sounded sort of jerky. Time to start over. "Listen, sorry I was such a jerk that day at the Quidditch Pitch," she said. Bluntness had always been one of her faults. She couldn't dissemble for the life of her. She had a feeling that this guy was going to be one of the people she was on terms of general sort-of-know-you hostility with. Oh, well. \n\n

16 Anne I only beat up boys if they annoy me. 59 Anne 0 5

Connor

June 15, 2005 9:52 PM

Remind me not to get on your bad side. by Connor

Connor could have said he was thrilled when Anne the Amazon came walking over to talk to him, but he would have been lying and he had never seen a point in lying. The truth always came out in the end. Expecting to have his head bitten off about the stray spell, he was surprised when Anne seemed to be making some kind of effort to be diplomatic.

"S'all right," he mumbled, not sure of what she was up to or why. "M'name's Connor." He vaguely remembered resolving not to mumble so much and made himself look directly at her.She looked like the Italian version of Gwen or something. The features were strikingly similar, but the coloring was the exact opposite. He found it a bit alarming that he was referred to as Gwen's friend. Back home in Austin, that would have been turned into 'Gwen's boyfriend' inside two weeks by the rumor mill.

"Don't worry about it," he said clearly. "We all have our off days." He silently thanked Heaven when the bell rang. Though he would never have admitted it, Anne scared him a little. Somewhere between her way of acting, her way of talking, and her habit of talking to inanimate objects, he thought he had a pretty good excuse. "Yeah, it's cool. See you." He didn't think he had ever left a room faster. He was on another floor before it occured to him that he had probably made her mad.\n\n

0 Connor Remind me not to get on your bad side. 68 Connor 0 5

Anne

June 15, 2005 10:03 PM

I will. by Anne

It took Anne some effort to work out what the first four words the Pecari guy said. She nodded when she figured out that the second part of it was his name. "That's good," she said. "Now I can stop referring to you as 'you', 'Gwen's friend', and 'Pecari guy'." She smiled, trying her very best to be polite if not quite friendly. She stopped that the second he looked at her. She looked like Gwen, and she was gradually coming to realize that other people probably thought she was beautiful like Gwen was. She had spent eleven years intentionally looking as dowdy and scholarish as possible, and now her face had to go and ruin it.

"Later," she said when the bell rang and Connor made for the door. She hated extending conversations, so she wasn't annoyed. As she made her own way towards the door, she noticed that there seemed to be some sort of disturbance was going on further up. Gwenhwyfar seemed to be having a run-in with Catherine Raines. After the scene ended, Anne decided that she wouldn't hold the incident against Gwen. Raines was one of those girls who could make anyone act a little snotty.

OOC: We're done.\n\n

16 Anne I will. 59 Anne 0 5