Professor O'Leary
September 26, 2007 1:59 PM
Lesson 1: Third Years by Professor O'Leary
The Defense Against the Dark Arts room was lacking in desks for the third years on the first day of class. The only thing sitting in the room was a rather large trunk that seemed to be very angry. It really was no surprise it was for inside was a boggart.Once the students had entered the room, Drake greeted them with a simple, “Welcome back class. I trust you still remember the rules.” The third years had already had him for two years and knew that there was no goofing off in his classroom. With a wave of the hand, he added, “Place your things against the walls and then gather around the trunk.”
After all the third years had gathered around, Drake began his lecture, “Today, we are going to be learning to face our fears. If you allow your fear to paralyze you, you will be unable to defend yourself in a real life-threatening situation. In order to do this, we are going to be using the creature that currently resides in this trunk, which is a boggart. Now, some of you may already be familiar with this creature. However, for those that are not, a boggart is a mischievous creature, which likes to cause mishaps. To do so, it will often shape-shift to what a person fears most.” He glanced around the room, viewing the students’ reactions.
Continuing, he stated, “A boggart can be defeated using the Riddikulus spell.” With a wave of his wand, the word appeared on the wand. He had found that, even with practical application, it was a useful reference to the students. “Repeat after me, Re-dic-u-lous.” After a few more times, satisfied that everyone appeared to be stated the spell correctly, he went on, pulling out his wand. “The wand movement is a quick forward swish.” He demonstrated a couple times, as it was fairly easy, especially for the third years that had mastered more complex movements.
“Everyone line up into a straight line. I am going to open the trunk and I want each of you to take a turn with the boggart,” he commanded. He waited a few moments for most of the third years to gather into a straight line, give or take. Then, he released the latch. “Begin.”
OOC: Remember, minimum two paragraphs, ten sentences. Have fun and be creative!
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Subthreads: I am fearless! I laugh in fear's face! Hah- by Paul Tarwater with Elly Eriksson, Paul, Red Aarden
Facing fears by Eavan Valentine
Ha! It's someone else's turn to be afraid. by Echo Elms with Nikki
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Professor O'Leary
Lesson 1: Third Years
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Echo Elms
September 29, 2007 8:07 AM
Ha! It's someone else's turn to be afraid. by Echo Elms
Echo wasn't sure if Professor O'Leary was his favorite teacher anymore--he really liked last year's astronomy teacher--but he was definitely at least his second favorite. O'Leary was strict, fair, and, most importantly, he didn't put up with any nonsense from the kids so everyone could focus on the subject.Today was a little different than usual and Echo stood off to the side to listen, as was his habit in classes where people where milling around without the comforting structure of desks. He could watch most of the other kids as well as the teacher from where he was and, as O'Leary explained about the bogarts and facing your fears, Echo folded his arms and waited for the line to form.
One, two... at least three kids in here already knew about his phobia of physical contact. But, in all honesty, he really didn't think anyone would be particularly surprised to find out about it. Well, now they would. It was inevitable either way, what with it getting progressively worse and all.
As they lined up, the other kids all seemed pretty tense. Elly and Paul had a brief exchange over who would get the end of the line. Echo was just as happy to be near the front so he could get it over with. It wasn't like the bogart could really be all that different than eating in Cascade Hall every day. People closing in, he figured. Hands, reaching out. Or maybe it would focus more on the stuff of dreams... fear that somehow through the physical contact he'd switch bodies and not be able to get back to his own. But even if it was, it wasn't like it didn't happen every single night in his nightmares. It wasn't like the whole scene would play, just the beginning.
It was weird. He was probably the 'fraidiest person here, but this lesson did not scare him (well, Eaven's dog startled him at first). When it was his turn, he stepped forward and nodded his readiness to Professor O'Leary.
He set his feet on the ground, shoulder width apart, and readjusted his grip on his wand. Now would be a bad time to drop it, but he didn't think he would. He had more practice being terrified than anyone else in the room. In fact, he was all terrified out.
So out came Jae, the Pecari second year, running towards him shouting, "Hugs!" while Janice appeared beside him and grabbed his hand and started to lean in close.
Echo snatched his hand away from Janice and ducked Jae's hug, only to bump into Saul (who was not in this class). The Pecari third year put his arm around his shoulders. Echo tried desperately to disentangle himself.
"Let go," Echo complained, not quite able to remember the spell.
"I'm sick of you being such a freak," Brett complained, appearing now in Jae's place and hovering menacingly. "We always have to do everything different for you."
Stomping on Saul's foot, Echo finally broke away from Saul and pointed his spell at both of them. "Riddikulous!"
They stayed where they were.
"Riddikulous!"
"Hey, I'm just joshing. For real real. Air fives," Brett said, holding up his hand. Echo made the high five motion from ten feet away, then they all swooshed back into the box. Echo stood still for a moment, looking at it, and then went to join the lucky kids who were done facing their fears for the day.
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Ha! It's someone else's turn to be afraid.
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Nikki
September 30, 2007 7:27 PM
Understanding Fear by Nikki
Nikki entered the Defense classroom and saw that the desks had been set up along the wall and a trunk was in the middle of the room. That could only mean one thing; the first Defense lesson this year would be a practical one. Professor O'Leary explained that a boggart was in the trunk, and told the students how to face it. Nikki knew about boggarts, but had only seen one once. That had been a very bad incident.Nikki thought about fear as she lined up to face the boggart. She couldn't remember what she had been afraid of when she was very young but she suspected it was one of the classic fears children had, like dragons or the dark.
When she was seven a tornado had hit the ranch, so she had then become afraid of tornadoes.
When she was ten, she had realized that people were never really afraid of anything, they were afraid of what that thing or situation might do to them, so she feared only fear itself. This was when she had seen a boggart; it had taken the form of a dementor. Papi had had to get rid of it for her.
Since Nikki had started at Sonora, she had been afraid of failure. No matter how much she still believed that no one truly feared anything, she still feared failure. What form would that take. She thought of two homeless people in an alleyway, fighting over a piece of meat. Okay, now what to do with that to make it funny? Turn the homeless people into first years with wrestling costumes.
She smiled as she thought of it, and then brought her mind back to the classroom. It seemed to be just in time too, because the person in front of her was stepping up to face the boggart. It was Echo. Nikki felt a slight pang for him when she remembered the opening feast; his fear wasn't just a fear, it was a phobia. But Echo handled the boggart very well. She smiled at him as she took his place and whispered, "Great job," resisting the urge to pat him on the back.
She approached the boggart, ready for the homeless people, but they didn't appear. Instead a crystal ball floated in front of her. In the crystal ball she saw Julio plowing a field on the ranch. Next to him was a man who looked like the pictures she had seen of a young Leonardo Idoya I. He was yelling at Julio, but it was in a language she couldn't understand. However she was positive that it was German, because the voice was that of Benito's girlfriend, Tara, who had stayed with the Ramirezes that summer and was fluent in German.
Nikki merely stared at the crystal ball with confused expression on her face before turning to Professor O'Leary. "Excuse me professor, but I don't understand what my boggart is supposed to mean."
OOC: Nikki's boggart symbolizes the future, which Nikki fears, although she doesn't know it. Crystal balls are used to predict the future. Julio plowing represents him becoming the patriarch of the family. Sr. Idoya yelling represents the negative opinion Nikki believes the man has of her, and how this will affect her friendship with he twins. Tara's voice represents her joining the family, since Nikki knows the relationship is serious. German represents confusion and uncertainty.
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Nikki
Understanding Fear
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