Drake O'Leary
September 15, 2006 1:17 AM
Lesson One - First and Second Years by Drake O'Leary
Before the first and second year students arrived, Drake placed a single piece of parchment on each student's desk. Each of which stated one of four colors - red, blue, yellow, and green. Once finished, a wave of his wand caused the word to vanish from each paper.As students entered the classroom, Drake announced, "Do not touch the parchement on your desk, as it serves a purpose for this lesson."
He strode to the front of the room, his black robes flowing out causing his form to look more impressive than it actually was. Once there, he turned suddenly to face the students, his robes whipping around with him.
After the students were seated, he started his lecture, "Each of the pieces of parchment contains a word. This is a two part lesson. First, you must master the spell to make the word appear. After doing so, you must find the other students that have the same word. This will be your group for the next lesson."
"To reveal the ink, we use the spell Aparecium. To do so, flick your wand like so," Drake lectured with a twist of his wrist, "while stating firmly 'Aparecio.' This spell will serve the basis for more advanced magic used to reveal hidden magic, which can be quite dangerous. Begin."
OOC: You can have any color that you want, but please try to vary. I don't want to see everyone having red for example. Have fun!
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Subthreads: ahh...finally school!! by Caedence Redoak with Danae Dupree, Danae, Nikki Ramirez
A firm believer in looking at the end result alone by Michael Tallow with O'Leary, Eavan Valentine, Saul Pierce
Sounds like far too much effort. by Elly Eriksson with Briony O'Leary, Elly, Echo Elms
The dreaded G-word. by Adam Brockert with Echo Elms, Ginger Silverstein, Gray
Gray? Blue? Yeah, sure... by Grail Markner with Ginger Silverstein, Gray, Echo Elms
I am very sorry for not posting....and being late by Guenther Heindrich
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Drake O'Leary
Lesson One - First and Second Years
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Drake O'Leary
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Michael Tallow
September 16, 2006 4:14 AM
A firm believer in looking at the end result alone by Michael Tallow
Michael was a fair hand when it came to wandwork. Transfiguration was by far his better subject, as the spells required an intense focus. He was long used to wrapping his thoughts around one idea at a time. Concentration was key; that he was highly obsessive when it came to things he concentrated on helped quite a bit in that regard. One might think that such a mind might also be somewhat talented at other spells. But one would also then be falling prey to the normaly reasonable premise that with such possible talent would also come an inherent interest.Michael had no such interest. Especially when it came to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Michael had no intention of ever being in a situation or environment that would make necessary such training. He happened to value his life, and so was not of the habit of hunting down dark creatures or wizards. He was no hero; there was only the skin on his back to worry about. He'd save the hero business to others- to people like the ones who made up most of his house.
He did not like, however, to get failing grades.It bothered his pride and made his neck itch.
That was not to say that he was not above finding ways to circumvent a lesson's purpose- such as teaching him how to make invisible ink appear. Sure, Professor O'Leary claimed that the spell had a more lingering purpose other than its current chore, but Michael felt suspicious. The assignment had a distinctly 'creative' feel to it, and he was generally against creativity when it came to learning. He preferred the 'read a chapter of the text, watch the demonstration, and try not fail' approach as opposed to team building and cooperative education.
He gave his parchment a sour look and switched his wand to his left hand. "Aparecio," he commanded. The parchment did not comply. He tried again, this time actually moving his wrist with a slight twist. "Aparecio."
The parchment seemed to be ignoring him. Michael paused before launching a third assault and considered. Obviously, the parchment was charmed; there was a word there, written most likely in ink, that was now invisible. The ink, being physical in property, must therefore be charmed. Since it was charmed, then there was a spell currently attached to it. And the easiest way to end a charm was. . .
Michael's mouth slide sideways. Chances were in his favor that the charm, whatever it was, was not overly strong. He should be able to pull it off. He switched his wand to his right hand this time, the appendage more familiar with the remedy than the left was. "Finite Incantatum," he ordered confidently.
The parchment shuddered and then stilled. The word appeared all at once, and Michael leaned back into his chair, annoyed. "Green," he muttered with an agitated sigh. "I suppose I should be happy it's not brown. There's an unlucky color. . ."\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Michael Tallow
A firm believer in looking at the end result alone
1465
Michael Tallow
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O'Leary
September 16, 2006 2:10 PM
The start is just as important by O'Leary
With a keen eye on the students, Drake watched to ensure that none cheated. Cheating would be unbeneficial for them, because it meant that they wouldn't be able to perform the next lesson properly. Yet, it seemed that cheating was inevitable.Like the dark creature he seemed to be, Drake blended to the shadows before looming behind this paticular student.
With his deep voice and controlled tones, he said, "Did you really believe that I wouldn't notice? Now then, I believe I will take this and give you this-" Drake took the parchment with the word 'green' and gave Michael a new blank parchment, "so that you can try again the right way. Also, I want an essay written on why this spell could be important and how it could benefit you personally by next class. Oh, yes, and it for the length...twelve feet."
Drake wanted to sigh in frustration, but didn't. He wanted to know when they would learn that they came to school, took these classes to learn valuable lessons for their futures. In the case of Dark Arts, anyone could become involved or become a victim to, which is why they learned to defend against it, and sometimes even that wasn't enough.
Maybe making the lesson interesting had been a mistake. He looked over to his daughter, Briony. It had been her idea. She had pleaded with him til he agreed. Damn soft spot.\n\n
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O'Leary
The start is just as important
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O'Leary
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5
Michael Tallow
September 20, 2006 7:31 AM
Only if you care about junk like that. . . by Michael Tallow
Michael absolutely hated to have things snatched away from him. It peeved him to no end; he found the behavior invasive and rude, and completely within the domain of adult behavior. Ie: the sort of behavior that said in proud letters: I am an Adult. I am Superior. I am better and bigger and there is Nothing you can do about it. He had already made up his mind that he did not like Professor O'Leary. The way in which his parchment was then snatched only further cemented this feeling.He felt the compulsion to answer to the unspoken opinion his professor's manner seemed to say; Michael fought it down. What was the point saying anything? Even though the class's title was Defense Against the Dark Arts, it was still a class, so that meant: it's the Professor's Way or a million feet of parchment. Much like the twelve he was now stuck with.
Well, it wouldn't be the first time he'd been stuck with essay writing as a punishment. He didn't like to write, felt reading was inconvenient, but he took these supposed punishments as challenges. Michael would certainly write all twelve feet required; he would also write about why the stupid spell was important. But he would make it as boring and as dull and as completely brainless as possible.
Without plagiarizing, of course.
Michael purposely kept his mouth shut and gave the new piece of parchment on his desk a foul expression. It helped that he now knew that the hidden word was a color of some sort. It made the probable result easier to visualize. And visualize he did; thinking back to the past year's tutoring, he remembered his oldest brother sharing how he managed to master new spells.
"Picture what should happen in your head," Danny had said. "Picture exactly what the spell should do and what should happen. And then do it. Easy as pumpkin pie."
Michael sometimes wished his older brothers were quite so talented. They made everything sound far easier than it was. Still though, he clenched his jaw and visualized: he saw the words hidden in the parchment, saw the spell unbinding them, and saw the words appear.
"Aparecio," he said, and his eyes involuntarily widened. The word 'green' appeared yet again, faintly at first and then boldly as the spell rooted itself through. "What do you know. . .it actually worked."
He ignored the satisfaction that welled just as equally as involuntarily from the spell's completion. He didn't care about things like that after all. He got the same answer both times; who cared about how he got there? If the easy way works, then use it. That was his opinion, and O'Leary could stuff it otherwise.
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Michael Tallow
Only if you care about junk like that. . .
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Michael Tallow
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Eavan Valentine
September 27, 2006 2:41 PM
I don't care really... by Eavan Valentine
Eavan sat in a random seat in class. Not near the front because she couldn't people watch, and not near the back becausr then she could see the professor properly and it was harder for her to concentrate. So somewhere near the middle it was.She got out her wand and began to roll it back and forth across the desk, trying toavoid the blank piece of paper sitting on it, and looked around. There was a girl not far away talking to herself...she could reember her name, but Eavan was sure she was a first year. Another, rather sallow looking boy was getting reprimanded by the vampire-like professor. MAybe she should star this before she gets 12 feet too.
Evan picked up her wand and tried to remember the wand movements, but couldn't. She glanced around her for a moment or two a the other practcing students and got both the movements and the incantation. Doing them as correctly as she could she stated the incantation clearly.
"Aparecio!"
Nothing happened at first, but then, very faintly, Eavan saw the barest bit of a word. It looked like green, but just to make sure, Eavan tried the spell again. This time the words shown in relative brightness. "GREEN"
"Cool," Eavan said under her breath. It wasn't as hard as she had thought.
She glanced round the room again, trying to see who had a lso gotten green. The only paper she could see with "Green" written on it was the boy who had gotten yelled at for cheating. Well, she might as well...
"Hi, I'm Eavan. I noticed we both had green," She said brightly when she found her way to his seat.
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Eavan Valentine
I don't care really...
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Eavan Valentine
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Michael Tallow
September 28, 2006 9:06 AM
That's one point in your favor. by Michael Tallow
As he was aggravated and in a mood of general irritation, it really couldn't be taken personally that he reacted as he did. After all, it was only common sense that when a person was scowling and looking unapproachable that he then be left alone and unapproached. Apparently, this particular logic escaped the first year girl who all but bounced up to Michael's side. She even went so far as to introduce herself. The silly idiot."I'd compliment your observational skills, but as you missed my obvious body language, I'm going to hold back." His tone was too flat to be sarcastic, but the dryness managed to convey enough contempt that Michael felt suitably placated. He did not return the favor and introduce himself.
With his blue eyes centered on a corner far opposite of the room, he carelessly gestured to the open desk next to him. "You can sit there, but try to fight the urge to talk to me. I'm not interested in whatever-" He paused and switched his gaze to her robe's crest. Super: a Teppenpaw. She was probably going to start bawling and claiming mental distress just like that spazz Brockert always was. 'Cept, of course, that particular pansy was in Crotalus, so apparently not all the cry babies ended up in Teppenpaw.
"Whatever you might say- I don't care," he finally finished, and purposely set his jaw to rest on his palm, eyes back to their spot on the corner opposite. While the thought made no change in his expression, he did rather hope that she did not start crying. Something told Michael that his professor might not believe him innocent.
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Michael Tallow
That's one point in your favor.
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Michael Tallow
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Eavan
September 28, 2006 1:32 PM
Eavan - 1...Sourpuss - 0 by Eavan
Whatever Eavan as expecting from the dejected boy in front of her it wasn' this. He didn't even try to be nice. Earl would have punched this boy in the face, but that's probably why he was in Crotalus and she was in the good-natured house of Teppenpaw.Eavan's grin was all but gone now, replaced by a sort of scowl. Anyone who knew her would think this a strange thing., as she rarely ever actually scowled. But this boy didn't know her, and frankly, she didn't want to know him either.
She sat in the chair indicated by Mr. Sourpuss and gave a definitive and indifferent "Fine" before lapsing into silence and continuing her people watching, wondering who else was in her group. Hopefully someone she could talk to. She glanced at the boy again, who from now on would be Mr. Sourpuss in her head, and wished she were in a group with Gil. He's talk to her.\n\n
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Eavan
Eavan - 1...Sourpuss - 0
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Eavan
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Saul Pierce
September 28, 2006 11:25 PM
Actually, Sourpuss is a Pecari by Saul Pierce
Saul had not made a good first impression on Drake O'Leary. Even if laughing at the man's overly serious delivery of the statement that fairies were dangerous hadn't put him on the professor's bad side, Saul was almost certain the man hadn't been amused by his answer that 'Tinkerbell in a bad mood' was an example of a dangerous fairy. Even if she was.Things had not gotten much better in the last year and a half. Saul hadn't gotten a detention yet, quite, but he'd lost quite a lot of points for his House, rarely gained any, and overall stood out as one of the worst DADA students in the class, simply because he wasn't able to keep his mouth shut when he should. It was horrible having at teacher with zero sense of humor. He liked the practical lessons because, in those, he at least had a chance of not getting himself into trouble.
Lessons like this one were the only way he kept himself from failing the class. He was good with the wandwork and stuff, it was during the discussions that he managed to make himself look like a dunce. That's what happened when the room itself was imbued with enough Dark Arts to suck up every drop of humor and leave all of his answers sounding stupid and childish. Or maybe it wasn't the room, it might be an anti-humor field that the professor generated that drained all fun within a twenty foot radius of him.
Taking out his wand, Saul looked down at the blank seeming parchment, gave it a stern look, then flicked his wand with a sharp twitch of his wrist and said firmly, "Aparecio."
A very faint smudge appeared in the middle of the page, neither dark nor distinct enough to make out any individual letters. He was on the right track though, and a second, louder, "Aparecio!" accompanied by another quick flick brought it out into legibility.
Green.
Well, that was hardly exciting. It couldn't have been a fortune cookie saying or anything, could it? Just . . . green.
Bored, he sat back in his seat and looked around the room. He was one of the first people done. In any other class, he would have been happy about that and started talking with his neighbors, but O'Dreary didn't like talking, and he was still on a warning after an incident from before break.
So he just sat there, and when he saw O'Dreary glide into the row in front of him to speak with Michael, Saul pretended to be reading the chapter in his text. The words on the page just sort of blurred together, though, and as soon as the professor moved on, Saul sat back in his seat and watched with curiousity as a girl approached his roommate and greeted him.
After eavesdropping on the brief exchange between them, Saul couldn't keep him tongue in check any longer. "Hey, Michael, lighten up," he told his Housemate, "she's just trying to get to know the people in her group." He gave the girl a grin, "Hi, I'm Saul, and I'm a Jolly Green Giant, too." He lifted up his parchment with word green on it for her to see. He'd picked it up by its bottom edge, though, so from her point of view, it would be upside down.
OOC: Prof, as there haven't been any class threads for Saul since his first day, I'm guessing here that Saul's usual manner would be frowned on and he'd frequently get himself in trouble. If I'm wrong, ignore comments about his previous history in the class as appropriate.\n\n
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Saul Pierce
Actually, Sourpuss is a Pecari
82
Saul Pierce
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5
