Should be easy... on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Zephyrflame

May 23, 2005 3:21 AM

Semester 2: Lesson 1 (For 2nd Years) by Professor Zephyrflame

Alexander had a few great plans for the class this semester. But before he could start anything, he had to teach the class a few more spells...

Alexander walked into the class and settled his things on the professor's desk. "Oh, everyone's early today," he thought in his mind. He took a look at the waterclock on his desk and realised that it was he who was late, not the students.

After arranging his stuff on the desk, he then walked over to the center of the classroom and began introducing the lesson.

"Good afternoon, students. Now, as we all know, quite a few dangerous magical creatures are afraid of the sun, such as lethifolds, chupacabras and vampires. So today, we will be learning a spell that produces a ray of artificial sunlight, which is very close to the real thing. The incantation is "Lumos Solarum".

Alexander moved back to his desk, took a piece of chalk out of his cabinet and wrote the incantation on the blackboard for everyone to see.

Lumos Solarum
Loo-moes Soe-la-rur-m

"Now, the spell is strong enough to hold back the advancing creature for a while, but effects are not guaranteed. So before anyone goes about trying to slay Lethifolds," he glared at a certain Stephen Baxter before continuing, "remember that creatures like them are far beyond school level, and even adults have difficulty facing them in tough situations. So today, I want you to practise the spell on your own.

You may begin."

\n\n

Subthreads:

Goat eaters... *giggles* by Mia with The Twins, Sorrel

Question (Yo! Zepherflame!) by Stephen Baxter (Pecari) with Professor Zephyrflame, Stephen

Should be easy... by Tally Adams (Teppenpaw) with Ash Craven, Tally

0 Professor Zephyrflame Semester 2: Lesson 1 (For 2nd Years) 0 Professor Zephyrflame 1 5

Mia

May 29, 2005 9:18 PM

Goat eaters... giggles by Mia

Mia reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts room and grabbed a seat towards the back where she liked to sit. Her mother always told her to sit up front so she could learn better but Mia had tried that at her old school and simply got more remarks about being a teacher's pet. She didn't need that added to what she already got here, though luckily she hadn't heard much of it this year.

She put her black, message scribbled bag on the ground next to her chair then took her wand from her pocket and twirled it like a baton through her slender fingers. It was a habit she couldn't and didn't see the need to break especially since her wand was always in close access to her in her right pocket. Her other hand went to put some hair behind her ear that had come out of her ponytail.

The professor began to talk about creatures that are afraid of the sun. Her memory seemed patchy on Lethifolds but she definitely knew of chupacabras and vampires. She bit her thumb to stop laughing at the mention of the 'goat eater.' To be honest, she didn't know why it was funny to her. It was one of the random things that had potential to get her caught in a bout of giggles.

Mia stopped twirling her wand and looked at the spell written on the board. It looked easy enough. She readjusted her small framed glasses when they began digging into her small nose and mentally swore to beg her mother for contact lenses. When Professor Zephyrflame said the class could begin, she did. Mia pointed her wand forward but angled it downward and said the spell.

“Lumos Solarum.” Mia chanted.

A flicker of light flashed at the tip of her wand and then faded as fast as it had appeared. She just pointed her wand again and repeated the spell. A line of light came from Mia’s wand though it looked like someone was shaking a dying flashlight. The third time had similar effects to the second time, but Mia was pretty sure she had the hang of it by the fourth time.

“Lumos Solarum” she repeated while trying to keep the same enthusiasm.

A long and bright light came from her wand’s tip and created something like a far too bright spotlight on the back of the chair of the person in front of her. Mia let out a low whistle at the spell and noticed that she was becoming pretty good with wand work. It seemed to be something she was good at, at least to her it did. Mia frowned slightly as the light faded again and she looked at the tip of her wand where the light had come from.

She just shrugged and began twirling it in her fingers again, mentally listing the ways this spell might come in handy in the future besides for hunting lethifolds, vampires, or goat eaters.
\n\n

0 Mia Goat eaters... *giggles* 0 Mia 0 5

Stephen Baxter (Pecari)

June 03, 2005 9:17 AM

Question (Yo! Zepherflame!) by Stephen Baxter (Pecari)

Stephen had arrived early for class, wondering what they would be learning this year. Last year had been really interesting, what with the knife-wielding maniac (who he never had managed to find, but then, you couldn't have everything, and the search itself had been brilliant fun) and learning cool things lke how to disarm knife-wielding maniacs and how to make forcefields, it was only to be expected that this year would be even better.

But Professor Zepherflame hadn't been there waiting.

This didn't put Stephen off. After all, the teachers here weren't worried if you went into the classroom while you were waiting, and this meant he could look around. While his classmates arrived and picked out seats, he wandered around, taking full advantage of this opportunity by peering into cupboards and wandering up the front to fiddle around with the clock thing on Professor Zepherflame's desk. He had managed to get it to move faster by poking it a few times when he heard the Professor arrive. With one last poke, he moved off and grabbed one of the few remaining chairs in the second row.

The subject they were taught sounded suitably impressive, and he made sure to read the incantation carefully. It might be useful after all. Vampires and... whatever those other things were might be hanging around at some point. Possibly with the knife-wielding maniac.

"Now, the spell is strong enough to hold back the advancing creature for a while, but effects are not guaranteed. So before anyone goes about trying to slay Lethifolds," Stephen was astounded to find himself on the other end of a quite potent glare and wondered what he had gone and done to deserve that, "remember that creatures like them are far beyond school level, and even adults have difficulty facing them in tough situations. So today, I want you to practise the spell on your own. You may begin."

He waited for a moment in case Professor Zepherflame had anything else to say, as he was pretty sure some important details had been left out, but that seemed to be it. Frowning slightly, he lifted his wand and prepared to try the spell...

... at the last minute he stopped himself, dropped the wand and raised his hand for attention.

"'Scuse me, sir, but what are Chupa-cub-ras," he stumbled a little over the unfamiliar word, "and Lethifolds? I know Vampires, 'cause they're on TV, but I've never heard of them other two."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen Baxter (Pecari) Question (Yo! Zepherflame!) 0 Stephen Baxter (Pecari) 0 5

Professor Zephyrflame

June 05, 2005 3:30 AM

Tongue-Twister by Professor Zephyrflame

Just as he was about to sit dow, Alexander saw a hand raised in the air. Alexander took a closer look, and found out that it was Stephen Baxter. Stephen had asked about Chupacabras and Lethifolds.

Myths and legends always require retelling, Alexander thought to himself. He went over to the front of the classroom, and as he did so the class quietened down as though a judge had just entered the room and demanded everyone to stand, but of course, Alexander did not do anything of the sort.

"Now, some of you might be wondering just what a lethifold or chupacabra is," Alexander said in response to Stephen's question, "so I'll be telling you a bit about them now.

A lethifold is a creature which resembles a black cloak. It glides along the floor, and hunts out people who are sleeping. It is resistent to most basic spells like the Knockback Jinx, and is a potential threat to people in tropical areas.

Now, a chupacabra is a creature that looks like a cross between a very big wolf and a rather small jaguar, and has spikes running down its spine. It sucks out farm animal's blood and organs such as the liver, and moves on from farm to farm. It was responsible for a mass mutilation of cows in a certain farm a few decades back."

He then looked around the class as though this kind of thing happened everyday and said, "any questions?"\n\n

0 Professor Zephyrflame Tongue-Twister 0 Professor Zephyrflame 0 5

Stephen

June 05, 2005 4:00 AM

hmm... interesting by Stephen

"Yes," Stephen sang out in response to the call for more question. His hand shot up again to be sure that he'd be acknowledged before he went on. "How does the Chup-a... Chupacabra look like a dog and a cat? That's just weird. Unless..." Stephen tilted his head quizzically as a possible answer occured to him. "It's not a catdog is it? Like in the cartoon? And why doesn't it like light? It is because it's like a vampire, with the whole sucking out blood thing? Although the vampires on TV don't eat livers. At least, I've never seen a show where they do."

Stephen settled back into his seat and pulled out his notebook in case any more cool information was forthcoming. After all, the warning regarding scouring the school looking for Lethifolds had made no mention of either of the other dark critters, and he didn't want to attend the next Care of Magical Creatures lesson to hear that Rover had met a grisly fate. And there were rumours circulating about the new Astronomy professor...\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen hmm... interesting 0 Stephen 0 5

Ty

June 07, 2005 2:23 AM

Finally posting... by Ty

Ty just didn’t like Defense Against the Dark Arts. She was terrible at it, and anything that she was bad at wasn’t worth her time. She was well aware of the importance of subject, and had she had a teacher she respected, she probably would have put forth some effort. However, respect was the last thing she felt. To be fair, it probably wasn’t the professor’s fault. She had grown up in a well known, rich, and large pureblood family. It was given that amongst the people she met, both within the family and at society parties, she would meet at least a few successful aurors and dueling masters.

And then there was his method of teaching. As he spoke, her train of thought went something like this:

"Good afternoon, students. Now, as we all know, quite a few dangerous magical creatures are afraid of the sun, such as lethifolds, chupacabras and vampires.”

We all know? Since when? What about the people who are muggleborn… or the people who don’t know every detail about magical creatures? No, we don’t all know

“So today, we will be learning a spell that produces a ray of artificial sunlight, which is very close to the real thing.

You’re not going to tell us anything about the creatures we’re supposed to fight against with the spell? Well that’s smart…

"Now, the spell is strong enough to hold back the advancing creature for a while, but effects are not guaranteed. So before anyone goes about trying to slay Lethifolds-”

Who’s he glaring at? Oh, Stephen… well what’s his problem? No girlfriend? Stephen kicks arse, he’s totally brilliant… no reason to glare at him

"Remember that creatures like them are far beyond school level, and even adults have difficulty facing them in tough situations. So today, I want you to practise the spell on your own. You may begin."

Ty blinked. Maybe she was missing something.

If adults have issues facing them, why on earth is he having 12 year olds practise to do it?

Thankfully, Stephen interrupted and put forth several questions which sufficiently disrupted the professor. It was hard to explain Ty’s dislike, except that it wasn’t completely personal. She disliked a lot of people for stupid reasons; it was possible that this was one of them. All she knew was that he seemed fake… like he didn’t quite know how to teach.

She listened patiently to Stephen and the professor. As Stephen asked his question about vampires and livers (or something like that), she stood up and cleared her throat, deciding that she would make a rare speech rather than sit in her seat with her usual disdainful expression in this class (which was to cover up her complete lack of talent).

“And why would you be teaching something at an adult level to 12 year olds? I mean… I don’t think just practising it in class once or twice will help much against a Lethifold… I thought…” she trailed off for a moment, frowning. She was treading dangerous ground, as she wasn’t absolutely positive of her facts. She had better cut off here…

“Well, they’re really dangerous aren’t they? And wasn’t it…” She shook her head. “Never mind.” She knew she had her copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them somewhere, and the Aladren in her was nagging at the information which she was sure had been mistaken.

Sinking down into her seat, she brushed her frizzy hair out of her face impatiently and very nearly reached into her bag. She managed to stop herself however… she could at least wait until her question was answered. Of course, she had already resigned herself to a bad grade in this class. What did it matter? It would only help her little mini-rebellion against her mother… Father would be disappointed though. Sensitive, artistic Father, who was always so supportive of her, and so understanding. Maybe she should make an attempt to pass the class.

OOC: Apologies to the prof… I swear, Ty’s opinions aren’t mine. She’s an irritable insecure girl… don’t mind her.
\n\n

0 Ty Finally posting... 0 Ty 0 5

Professor Zephyrflame

June 07, 2005 4:12 AM

Gawd by Professor Zephyrflame

"Well, I am not having you practise what I think adults cannot do, but if you are however, able to, then that's good. But the spell written on the blackboard is not designed to completely subdue the creature, just hold them off for a while. But in case you meet any of these creatures, at least you will have a way to scare 5them away... it's sort of a repellent sort of charm."

That was a mouthful, Alexander thought to himself. But actually, the girl did have a point. Maybe he was moving too fast.

"You're not supposed to really go against the creatures with this spell," Alexander said, he decided that it wouldn't hurt to tell them a little bit more about the spell, in case anything cropped up again.

"In fact, this spell would not possibly even leave a burn on most creatures, except those which are really highly flammable, and believe me, there are some."

"Anyway, these kind of creatures are not meant to be hunted down," Alexander warned, "especially not with a spell that wouldn't even hurt them. And this is definitely not adult level."

OOC: No offence taken, Ty =) You really left me tongue-tied!\n\n

0 Professor Zephyrflame Gawd 0 Professor Zephyrflame 0 5

Professor Zephyrflame

June 07, 2005 4:25 AM

Catdog?? by Professor Zephyrflame

"No Stephen, chupacabras are not catdogs," Alexander answered the (very) inquisitive boy who never seemed to run of questions.

"It is really difficult to describe a chupacabra," Alexander said, "but I'm going to give it my best shot. Chupacabras look like a small jaguar, with the head, fur and tail of a wolf. It has spikes running down its spine, it's eyes glow yellow in the dark and their fangs are really sharp, much like vampires.

And the reason why a chupacabra dosen't like light is because the moment it comes into contact with strong sunlight, much stronger sunlight then this spell, it turns into dust, much like a vampire."

Alexander looked around the class to see if there were more raised-up hands. Thankfully, there weren't.

"And if any of you have any more questions regarding chupacabras, I believe there is a book entitled 'Magical Animals' in the Library that describes both Lethifolds and Chupacabras," Alexander said to the class, and then walked back to his desk and looked out for any more raised hands. \n\n

0 Professor Zephyrflame Catdog?? 0 Professor Zephyrflame 0 5

Tally Adams (Teppenpaw)

June 07, 2005 12:18 PM

Should be easy... by Tally Adams (Teppenpaw)

Tally made her way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom along with all her other peers. This was her second favorite class (and easiest thus far). It helped that both her father and brother were Aurors and had been teaching her (with a stick not wand) all sorts of defensive spells and the like.

She sat towards the back of the classroom so that she could avoid any weird looks and be somewhat invisible to most people. She was having issues lately that dealt with feminine things and she didn't want to be stared at by anyone.

She sat in silence while listening to Zephyrflame talk about dangerous creatures and how to repell them. Didn't seem all that difficult. Tally already knew the lumos spell from having studied it the year previously from her book on spells, but she didn't know the one for artificial sunlight. She took out her 10 inch maple wand, studying it with a satisfied smile (she had just polished it the night before) and silently said the incantation in her head a few times over.

As she patiently learned the incantation without so much as waving her wand to practice it, Her eyes looked around the classroom at everyone else. She always found it interesting (and somewhat challenging) to find out how everyone else is fairing when it came to learning spells. Once she assest how everyone else was doing, she returned to her own spell work and began the lesson properly.

She lifted her wand and gave it a wave while speaking, "Lumos Solarum." It was a dim beam of light that emitted from her wand and her confidence in her spell work increased slightly. Not so bad for the first time. She continued practicing the spell, but little had changed with the results. Though spell work usually came easy to her, sometimes it was bothersome and difficult even with the simplest of spells. Her smile vanished and was replaced with an ever growing frown. After awhile she gave up on her own spell, finding it hopeless and disappointing, and looked around the room again to see if she was the only one who couldn't get it to work.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Tally Adams (Teppenpaw) Should be easy... 0 Tally Adams (Teppenpaw) 0 5

The Twins

June 11, 2005 11:41 AM

Do Princesses combust? by The Twins

Unlike pansy subjects like Charms and Transfiguration, judgement of Defence Against the Dark Arts was reserved until after the twins had enetered the classroom each lesson. Defence Against the Dark Arts had potential. If it delivered, the lesson was treated with enthusiasm (or at least a loud and boisterous approach). If it didn't live up to the expectation of being violent and/or mutilating, the twins switched off pretty quickly, and getting them back on track for that lesson would be a task and a half.

Lounging in the back row, they exchanged interested glances at the mention of 'dangerous magical creatures', even though they didn't really know what some of them were. The spell in itself sounded a bit lame. Artificial sunshine. It was just so sugary and twee. But the thought of vampire hunting appealed to them, and so they tried to focus on that.

"Might come in useful in astronomy," whispered Ash.

"Yeah," whispered Sorrel back, "Reckon we should find her and put the spell to test after the lesson?" she grinned. The only time doing work outside of the classroom was worth it was when it was for the pain of someone else, or personal gain.

"Can you imagine Bulla-plop's face if we made a professor blow up?" Ash grinned.

They were about to dig their wands out and begin, when they realised that no one else had. It was then they realised that Zephyflame was still blabbering on. They rolled their eyes as Stephen raised his hand. Why the heck did he want to encourage him? The twins slumped on the desk, wishing that everyone would shut up. Theory was boring. Who cared what the things looked like? If in doubt, point sunlight at it. It was hardly going to make anything stronger.

Once he was finally done yacking on, the twins lethargically dug for their wands, most of their enthusiasm now drained.

"Lumos Solarium," said Sorrel dully, flicking her wand. Nothing happened. Whilst Ash tried with similar results, she glanced along the back row.

"Wonder what Princess is doing in the back row where she can't show off so easy," she whispered, nudging Ash and jerking her head towards Mia, just as she tried the spell again, having more success than the twins were. There was a sharp, hissing intake of breath from Sorrel. She didn't want to be as swotty as Mia by any stretch of the imagination, but she wasn't going to stand for her being able to do something that she couldn't at all.

"Lumos Solarium," she said with more conviction. Nothing happened. She glared at her wand. Ok... She had to try harder. She couldn't just say the words, she had to make it work. She moved her hand through the movement.

"Lumos Solarium," she said, carefully and deliberately, guiding her wand along. "Lumos Solarium," she said, more firmly and succinctly, swishing faster. A gentle beam of light filtered out of the tip of her wand.

"Ha!" she said, "I did it! Oi, Ash," she said, "Watch out, I can blind you now. Lumos Solarium," she cast, shining the beam on his face, the same way kids did with laser pens to wind each other up.

She turned, looking at Mia out of the sides of her eyes. Two facts came to mind... Ants sizzled if you held a magnifying glass over them, and nail varnish was flammable. She couldn't see from this distance if Princess was wearing any, and even if she was, Sorrel wasn't sure it would work, but it had to be worth a try.

"Lumos Solarium," she cast, directing the thin beam, the intesity of which flickered and fluctuated, as close to Mia's hands as she could get. \n\n

0 The Twins Do Princesses combust? 0 The Twins 0 5

Ash Craven

June 11, 2005 12:53 PM

... isn't going to be by Ash Craven

Ash was actually rather glad when Sorrel got distracted by secretly competing with Mia. He liked this class, to the extent he liked any class, and could see that to get onto more interesting stuff, he had to get the hang of things like this first, even if it would have been more exciting to have a real vampire to practice on. He could always seek out Dione after the lesson.

"Lumos Solarium," he repeated, magic words were funny, and he knew he rarely said them right enough the first time around to get it to work. This one seemed ok though. "Lumos Solarium," he repeated, this time including the wand movement. It felt familiar, somehow, but he couldn't quite place why. He cast his mind back to first year, as far as it could reach. He was fairly sure they hadn't used it in this class. He wasn't sure if it had worked. If it had, it had been very weak, but he could have sworn he'd seen a flicker. It was too light in here to tell properly though.

"Lumos Solarium," he cast again, shielding the spot he was aiming for with his hand. There was definitely something there...

'Ha, I did it! Oi, Ash. Watch out, I can blind you now.'

Ash twisted Sorrel's arm away as she pointed her wand in his face, not troubling to make sure he didn't hurt her. Although he'd never have thought he'd be thinking it, he was glad for Princess's presence. Sorrel was so busy trying to do... whatever it was she was doing, she hadn't actually asked if he could do it.

He glanced up, finding Tally looking at him from the row just in front.

"How likely do you think we are to meet a vampire?" he asked, rolling his eyes a little in a good natured way. "And what's wrong with good old fashioned garlic if we do?" \n\n

13 Ash Craven ... isn't going to be 50 Ash Craven 0 5

Tally

June 11, 2005 6:24 PM

and why not? by Tally

Tally was only observing the rest of the class with swift movements of her eyes, so she was quite surprised to see that she spent a longer moment on the Craven twins than on anyone else. She frowned for a moment remembering the conversation at the welcoming feast she had had with Mia. She liked Mia, was good friends with Mia, and, therefore, couldn't understand why people couldn't like the girl.

But, Tally also liked Sorrel. Of that brief meeting on in the gardens, Sorrel hadn't been like everyone else Tally had met. She was even beating up a tree and hadn't scolded Tally when she let off the curse words without thinking. A habit of hers she always picked up when spending long periods of time with her father and brother (neither of whom ever corrected her if she cursed infront of them). So, even though she could understand why the two girls would clash, she didn't see why they would hate each other for no apparent reason.

As Tally observed them, she unintentionally locked eyes with Ash. Tally hadn't really spoken to him, but knew him well enough by how he interacted with his sister and Stephen. Tally was surprised by the eye-contact and looked quickly away, she didn't want them to think she was listening in on them or anything. Because of her embarrassment at the eye-contact, it took her a moment to realize that Ash was speaking to her and an even longer moment for what he said to register in her brain.

Her head was slightly tilted as she listened and tried to figure something to say that was witty or funny. Since she was neither witty on purpose nor funny by nature, she said the first thing to come to her mind, "I suppose you could just go up to the Astronomy classroom to find the vampire. As for the garlic, where's the fun in that?" She then realized that she had made a negative remark towards a professor, and flushed with embarrassment while looking just passed Ash to the back-wall.

Tally wasn't a teacher's pet. Far from it in fact, but she had been taught to respect her elders, no matter how creepy, strange, scary, boring, childish, or vampire-ish they were. Looking back at Ash, still flushed, she shrugged. Vaguely remembering that they were in class, Tally indicated with a slight wave of her wand, "How'd you do with the spell?" Of course, saying this Tally realized, that Ash might have thought her to be snooping, "Mine's no brighter than a nightlight." Tally said with a scrowl on her face as she demonstrated with her wand.
\n\n

0 Tally and why not? 0 Tally 0 5

Ash

June 11, 2005 6:50 PM

Dunno. Current evidence just suggests it. by Ash

Ash was a little surprised by how much the girl looked away and went all... blushy. He was sure it was Tally. Sorrel had pointed her out, he'd seen her in classes, acknowledged her existence in corridors... But she wasn't acting a bit like the girl Sorrel had described. She wasn't acting like someone who had a pet frog and a mouth as foul as his and his sister's. He hated when people blushed. Ash was a confident, out going guy. He was also a fairly typical male, in that others' feelings were difficult for him to compute. Therefore, he could never understand what social reasons people had for turning the colour of a tomato. He couldn't see what he might have done to embarrass her, especially given that she was meant to be hard, so he decided to flatter himself and assume she thought he was cute.

"We were just saying the same thing," he grinned, jerking his head at Sorrel, although it was probably obvious to anyone who he was talking about. "The fun's in watching the vampire go all crinkly and turn to dust," he said, as if this were obvious, though the grin remained on his face.

As she asked how he'd done with the spell, he shrugged nonchalantly, wondering how he could get out of it without either having to demonstrate his non-existent prowess nor admit he'd failed. It helped when Tally said hers wasn't that good.

"I think I'm getting the hang of it," he said, "But it's kind of light in here, which makes it hard to tell. Show us yours then, perhaps we can..." he tried to think of a non-geeky way to say 'swap tips', "Two heads are better than one," he shrugged. He felt oddly guilty at having said this, even though he and Sorrel had never said it to each other, and weren't working together on this particular thing. He just guessed it was one of those things they'd internalised. Another of their unwritten twin rules. A furtive glance told him she was still busy trying to burn Princess though, so it wasn't like it mattered. \n\n

0 Ash Dunno. Current evidence just suggests it. 0 Ash 0 5

Mia

June 12, 2005 12:30 PM

I'm not the one to ask. by Mia

Just to pass the time, Mia decided to do the spell again. She knew that once she got the hang of a spell it was hard to forget how to do it. It was like riding a bike, you just don't forget. Mia spoke the incantation again, pointing her wand slightly downward and another bright spotlight came from her wand and hit the chair in front of her.

It was still cool to her that just by speaking a set of weird words she could make magic happen. She wondered if she'd ever get over that but didn't show the amazement on her face. That would make her look stupid which was the last thing she needed. Mia put her wand down, not in the mood to do the spell again, and rested her head in one hand while observing the other lying flat on the desk. Her nails had grown long though not sickeningly so, and still on a few nails were small patches of clear nail polish that she had applied the previous week. Polish never lasted long on her nails anyway because she always managed to peel it off within a few days. It was one of her bad habits.

She only just noticed a small beam of light flickering randomly from bright to dim and back again, reaching the tips of her thin fingers. She raised an eyebrow to it at first and was about to look for who was aiming their spell at her when the light suddenly got bright again and reflected off one of the small patches of clear polish left on one of her nails, straight into her eyes.

She flinched back a bit and then tried to blink away the after image. She snapped her head to the source of the light and was truly not surprised to see Sorrel Craven at the other end. It did surprise her a little that Ash didn’t seem to be apart of whatever she was doing as well. Mia gave Sorrel an annoyed glare and fought the urge to roll her eyes as had become yet another habit.

“Sorrel, don’t you have anyone else to bother today?” Mia mouthed in an annoyed hushed whisper. She left the question as rhetorical and looked back at her hand, the after image still vaguely floating about. She didn't plan to prolong any interaction with the girl if she could avoid it but if Sorrel did it again, she’d just have to make things even...wow that sounded dumb when she compared her thought to her personality.

Mia didn’t even know if Sorrel had meant to get the light in her eyes or if to just bother her with the flickering beam but either way, it was just as annoying. Obviously it wasn’t enough that Mia had to deal with her in the dormitory or even in Cascade Hall. Sorrel had to get her kicks in class too.\n\n

0 Mia I'm not the one to ask. 0 Mia 0 5

Tally

June 12, 2005 2:17 PM

Oh, yeah, I forgot. by Tally

The blush had finally left her face and Tally was once again able to look Ash straight in the eye without hesitation. She smiled when Ash told her that him and Sorrel had spoken about Dione being a Vampire as she had done. Now Tally didn't have to feel so bad. It's not that she didn't like Dione (she has only had one class with the woman and hasn't been able to figure the woman out just yet), but she never voiced her dislike or feelings about a Professor (or an adult in general) so bluntly before.

"Have you actually watched one turn to dust?" Tally asked out of curiosity. Ash's confidence in his statement made Tally believe that he might have actually been present when a Vampire stepped into the sunlight and turned to dust. "I've seen it in the movies, but not in real life. It's cool to watch on the big screen, so if it's anything like that..." Tally commented.

At the mention of swapping ideas and the use of 'we' when Tally wasn't apart of the 'we' confused her momentarily. And then her eyes fell on Sorrel and the confusion immediately cleared. "Yeah, sure." Tally demonstrated the spell, swishing her wand to the movements specified while voicing the incantation with as much confidence as she could muster. The results were the same as before, only this time the light pulsed rhythmically. She looked up at Ash, glancing at Sorrel, but mainly keeping her attention on Ash, "See, nothing brighter than a nightlight."\n\n

0 Tally Oh, yeah, I forgot. 0 Tally 0 5

Ash

June 13, 2005 4:36 PM

Duh by Ash

OOC - actually, with the second 'we' and the 'two heads' thing, he did mean him and Tals. Sorrel is... otherwise occupied. *rolls eyes*

IC
"Looks alright to me," said Ash. Coming from him, this was pretty high praise. Ash rarely went into hyperbole, and almost never with compliments. "Reckon you could ward a vamp off with that until the cavalry arrived with some garlic grenades," he grinned.

"I wonder if there is a nightlight spell that like... Purebloods and stuff use, cos they wouldn't know what a proper nightlight is." His cousin came to mind as he said this. Not that he would admit to having a cousin afraid of the dark, because it was almost as shameful of being afraid of it yourself. He wasn't actually sure Alfie was afraid of the dark. It just seemed like the sort of thing he would be afraid of. Mainly because he seemed afraid of everything. "I guess they's use lumos," he said, suddenly realising how obvious this was, and how stupid he'd just sounded. He tried not to blush. Blushing was girly.

"Hey- lumos, lumos solarium!" he exclaimed, before he had time to process that exclaiming it would reveal how ignorant and slow he'd been being up to that point and just serve to make him look even stupider than his first lumos comment had. He didn't embarrassedly mutter 'But you probably already realised that...' because that implied he thought she was smarter than him. Even if he did think that, he'd never say it. He resolutely did not blush. If he didn't believe he was blushing - if he ignored the burning in his cheeks that let him know he was - then he wasn't. It was logic along the same principal of 'If I can't see you, you can't see me'.

"Right, it shouldn't be so hard," he said decisively, "We can both do lumos, and it's just that with a bit added on. The wand movement even starts out the same," he said, as he realised why it felt so familiar. He managed not to sound so totally amazed this time, so he at least came off as partly knowledgeable.

"Lumos Solarium," he cast, firmly, supported by the reassurance that he part knew how to do this spell. A beam as bright as Tally's emitting from his wand, much to his self satisfaction and relief. He hadn't been beaten by a girl, even a cool one. \n\n

0 Ash Duh 0 Ash 0 5

Sorrel

June 13, 2005 5:53 PM

Maybe not, but you're a good test subject by Sorrel

Sorrel grinned with spiteful glee as Princess noticed the beam of light and reeled back in what she assumed to be shock - shock that anyone would dare to to assault a Princess in such a manner! Her comment was even more priceless, and added to Sorrel's sense of triumph, as it proved she was bothering Princess. Which only made her keener to carry on, the same way it would have caused a nicer person to stop immediately and feel guilty for their actions.

Sorrel wasn't a thoroughly bad person. She didn't wish death upon Mia by any means, and could be tolerable to people when her mother forced her into it, but she wasn't the most sensitive to feelings. She liked to goof around, and got a kick out of people rising to her bait. She wasn't out to upset, just to annoy. The main problem was that she wasn't very good at working out where the line was between the two, or between teasing and outright bullying. She was even worse at being able to understand where other people might draw the line differently to herself.

"Don't you feel flattered that your clearly my favourite?" she muttered sarcastically across the distance between them. "I have a very long list, as it happens, but lucky you's the only one off of it present at the moment, so you get the fun of my full attention. Doesn't that just...light you up? Lumos solarium!" As she practised, she was getting better. The light was probably no where near strong enough do damage to a human being, though it might sting if she hit Mia directly in the eye. Sorrel flickered the beam over her arch nemesis's face in an erratic motion. If Mia held the moral high ground and ignored her or complained to teacher, she would be a snobby Princess. If she sunk to Sorrel's level, Sorrel had really got to her and 'won', so - however she reacted - she was only going to gratify Sorrel, and feed her desire to pick on her; if she didn't react, to try and force her to crack, if she did, to try and make her do it again. \n\n

0 Sorrel Maybe not, but you're a good test subject 0 Sorrel 0 5

Tally

June 15, 2005 2:57 AM

And, I'm all out of titles. by Tally

OOC: Heh, sorry, 'we' should have been 'us'. BIC:

Tally tried not to show her happiness in the compliment he had given her or his approval of her spellwork. A small tug on the corners of her mouth and a slight tilt of her head away from him to hide it. She thought she did a good job of concealing it, but when she turned back, he was grinning at her and her face fell easily into her own matching grin, "Thanks."

When he asked about a Purebloods nightlight and seemed to then ramble on as though doing a one-sided conversation with himself, Tally couldn't help but smirk at him, especially when his cheeks reddened a bit. "Or they could use a candle." She said casually with a tiny shrug of her shoulders.

Again he seemed the need to work things out loudly as he talked his way though the lumos spell. Tally sat quietly as he did so, waiting patiently until he tried the spell on his own. And when he finally did cast it, Tally was impressed with the results. "You don't seem to need any help." She told him with a grin, "That's some good spellwork."\n\n

0 Tally And, I'm all out of titles. 0 Tally 0 5

Mia

June 23, 2005 8:29 AM

I'm pretty sure testing on humans isn't legal. by Mia

OOC: I’m going to start keeping track of how many times you put Mia in a lose-lose situation like this because we’re on number two right now. lol

BIC: Mia knew Sorrel wouldn’t let up as much as she wanted her to. At the feast last year, Mia couldn’t get Sorrel to leave her be using her own tactics and no doubt just telling her to buzz off wasn’t going to do the trick. She heard Sorrel continue talking to her, her sarcastic comment gnawing at Mia as they usually did. Mia couldn’t help it. She could be easy to annoy and Sorrel just seemed to know how. The problem was Mia had yet to properly get back at her because revenge really wasn’t her thing though a few ideas did go through her head at some point.

‘I feel oh so flattered’ Mia thought with a roll of her eyes.

She looked at Sorrel with another glare as she kept talking and luckily looked away after her terribly corny final comment. It was lucky because Sorrel followed her corny line with a flash of light from her wand. The beam, which was better than the first one that hit her finger nail, flashed repeatedly over Mia’s eye from the side though since she had turned, the light wasn’t quite painful. Rather it was an extreme bother.

Mia put her hand up to block the light and quickly fumbled through her bag on the opposite side of her chair for her mirror which she always had in there. She wasn’t sure why since she barely ever looked at it. Mostly she went with instinct about how she looked after doing her hair in the morning and looking at her mirror once. Mia felt it and quickly put it in place of her hand. It was big enough to shield her face from the light that was flashing back and forth over her eyes. The light that was hitting her face bounced back Sorrel’s way. Thanks to video games with her brother Isaiah, Mia had pretty good hand-eye coordination and managed to get the light to bounce back at Sorrel’s face, namely her eyes like she did to Mia.

“That has to be the corniest thing I’ve ever heard, Sorrel.” Mia commented and planned to hold her mirror steady until Sorrel stopped the spell. “Come on now, I’m sure you can do better than that.”

Yeah, so she ended up doing things Sorrel’s way again. Big deal, if she ignored it, Sorrel would most definitely have continued anyway so by playing on Mia gets a little satisfaction too. It might not last, but the little she gets for now works for her.\n\n

0 Mia I'm pretty sure testing on humans isn't legal. 0 Mia 0 5