Fourth and Fifth Years: Lesson I on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor O'Leary

December 20, 2008 3:37 PM

Fourth and Fifth Years: Lesson I by Professor O'Leary

The desks were against the walls in order to provide the space necessary for a practical application lesson. Drake preferred these types of lessons over pure lecture, because while lecture provided information about spells, creatures, or whatever else they were learning, it was the application that would make the responses second-nature that would enable them to survive if ever faced with a real situation. Though, he only hoped that they would never be, especially not in the way that he had been, not in the way that his eyes had been opened to what others were capable of. He wished he had known. If he had, maybe she would still be alive, but that was his regret to live with, not theirs.

Drake stood leaning against his desk as the fourth and fifth years began entering the room. He didn’t bother telling them where to place their things or to make sure to have their wands. After having him for a little over four or five years, he assumed the students knew well enough to what was expected. Once they were gathered in the middle of the room, he pushed off his desk to begin the lesson. With a flick of his wand, the following appeared on the board:

Advanced Shielding

The Shield Charm (Protego) vs. Hex Deflection (Contego)

“By now, all of you should be well versed in casting Protego, the Shield Charm. However, this charm is only designed to deflect minor to moderate jinxes, but what do we do when the spell is more powerful?” Drake asked about the former and to lead into his introduction of the latter. “We use Hex Deflection, which is stronger protection, and because it is stronger, it takes more work to master. The specific spell we are going to learn is Contego. Repeat after me, Con-ta-goh. As you can notice, the spell pronunciation is similar to Protego, so I expect that you will have little trouble with that part. Now, to perform Contego, wave your wand like so.” He demonstrated the movement, which was more complicated than the shield charm.

After showing the students a couple more times in order to try and make sure everyone had a chance to see the correct wand movement, Drake continued on, “For this lesson, I would like ach of you to pair off with one other person to practice dueling with this spell. While you work on this spell, I’ll be around observing to see where improvement needs made, especially for you fifth years since you have C.A.T.S. coming up.” He had never had anyone not make it through for Defense and he wasn’t about to start now. “If you have any questions or need help, don’t hesitate to ask. You may begin.”

OOC: For the cutout activity, think of the wand acting like a flashlight to cast images. Otherwise, have fun and be creative. The more detailed and imaginative a post is, the more House points can be earned. Also, please remember that posts should be a minimum of ten sentences (approximately two paragraphs).

0 Professor O'Leary Fourth and Fifth Years: Lesson I 0 Professor O'Leary 1 5

Helena Layne

December 20, 2008 11:52 PM

I'd rather come back with my shield than on it. by Helena Layne

When it came to Defense Against the Dark Arts, as with Care of Magical Creatures, it usually paid to pay more attention to freedom of movement than to fashion. There were days the class was spent in lecture and notes, but there were also a lot of days when they were asked to duel, deal with a minor Dark Creature, or otherwise be active. Her oldest robes and jeans put her even further from "Most Glamorous Girl in the Class" than usual, but Helena was more concerned with being able to ruin the outfit with relatively few compunctions.

A glance at the room proved her decision to dress plain a good one. Putting everything to the side except her wand, she moved to the middle of the room to join those who had beaten her to class. She turned to speak to the person on her right, but had evidently showed up later than she had thought, because Professor O'Leary put the subject of the lesson up on the board before she did more than smile.

She wished, as he began to lecture, that she had her quill and parchment to take notes, but supposed it would've been a waste of time to have them all put up their notes before they tried the spell. The material should all be somewhere in the textbook. When they got a demonstration of the wand movement, she tried to copy it empty-handed, but messed up halfway through. She managed to master it before the final demonstration, but only by one showing. Theory was usually harder to learn than wand movements, but the patterns they had to execute were doing their level best to catch up.

Two things in the assignment failed to please Helena. First was the order to duel. While she knew it was a skill any of them might someday need - there were, sadly, some people in the world on whom diplomacy was wasted - she hated dueling. It was stupid for someone who played a violent sport to get worked up about landing in the hospital wing for some other reason, but Helena did. The second thing to worry her was a comment about fifth years being watched more than the other students. She didn't want to botch a spell at all, but even less so in front of a teacher.

Well, there was a simple solution to that, and it was just not to mess up. She turned back to the person on her right side. "Want to work together?" she asked. "I'm...not great with hexes, so you should be relatively safe."

16 Helena Layne I'd rather come back with my shield than on it. 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Paul Tarwater

December 22, 2008 3:04 PM

I'd like to not have to use my shield by Paul Tarwater

Paul was afraid of Defense Against the Dark Arts. That wasn’t very odd, most people were, Professor O’Leary definitely would win “Creepiest Teacher of the Year” award every year if there was such a spot in the yearbook, but that wasn’t why Paul was afraid of the class (he probably would win “Creepiest Student” in his grade, if anyone voted), it was more the actual subject. Bad run ins with the Dark Arts, even the simple spells his sister used, just make Paul shudder. Yes, this was Defense, but that made no difference. They still learned those hexes and jinxes by name and sight, and just thinking of what they could do made the boy sick.

He looked sick still. Well, he looked more tired than sick. While sitting in the dark room, at the desk, Paul looked over his wrist. His skin was never very pale, so even the slightest paling (making him simply look like one of those people born) worried him. It was probably, most likely, the fact that he didn’t go outside unless it was to go to Quidditch practice (the only normal thing he kept in this school). Still, like everything else, Paul worried over it, his fingers drew the robe sleeve up higher, stopping just below what he knew shouldn’t be flashed. Slight discoloration against his skin wouldn’t get the best result for him to see.

A sigh crossed the tired boy’s mouth, as he let the sleeve drop. Worrying so much wouldn’t do anything, wouldn’t calm his mother or himself down at all. Worrying wouldn’t make his sister stop bothering him this year, it would only make things worse. O’Leary caught his eye, and he looked out at the board, Paul’s heart just sank. The spells, they would be useful, he thought, would have been useful for so many things. He closed his eyes to them, Paul could learn these spells easily. It was the whole timing thing he was off on, when should he use them? When would using them be the wrong plan? When would not using them be the stupid thing?

A shudder ran up Paul’s spine, and his twitching fingers slowly lifted his wand, repeating the spells in his low monotone. His face was blanked while he just kept his eyes on the professor, waving his wand the correct way and everything. However, a look of bile growing up his throat broke through the blankness of Paul when he realized what the lesson was. Dueling. More hexes being thrown at him, and Paul having to decide what would be the right time to use the shield spells. His eyes drew around the room, looking for the person that wouldn’t be hurting him. Cissy... she wasn’t that person.

Standing up, Paul made a movement to hide in a throng of students getting up and finding partners, walking by Helena Layne he was shocked when she turned to him. He knew for one that he was a random pick (had he actually been picked out by anyone, that would have worried Paul greatly), had he walked around a bit more he knew the fashion icon probably wouldn’t be his first pick. They did work together once in History of Magic (turning out more awkward than painful), and when she said she wasn’t very good at hexes (ohh, that was something good to here), Paul decided why not?

He nodded dumbly, folding his arms across his chest and looking down. “Mhm, sure,” he muttered in a low voice, there were probably more advantages to this. Helena didn’t like Paul very much, from what he’d seen, so she wasn’t very likely to talk his ear off or anything like that. She definitely wasn’t going to pry... “I’m... not very good with hexes myself,” he added, this was probably because he refused to practice them. “So... how would you like to start?” he asked. Yes, Paul was fine with sounding awkward and silly, it was better than sounding paranoid as he normally did, after all.

0 Paul Tarwater I'd like to not have to use my shield 0 Paul Tarwater 0 5

Helena

December 25, 2008 9:42 PM

Me, too, but if I must... by Helena

They were hardly up for the yearbook's Best Friends awards, but Helena had no objections to working with Paul. Aladrens made better in-class partners than they did companions, and the success of their fourth-year History project had raised Helena's confidence in Paul's abilities. She would, though, like him better if he'd spoke up and looked at her.

"Great," she said once she decided that had definitely been an acceptance. She was, for some reason, a little surprised he'd admitted to lacking a talent, but dismissed it. He had asked a question she'd really hoped he would skip over.

She did not want to be the first one to try the spell. She never wanted to be the first one to try the spell. She was also the sort who felt an obligation to take on the least-desirable tasks herself most of the time. The conflict the two opposing feelings caused was a hallmark of every group effort that didn't involve someone volunteering to start a task, and it was her least-favorite aspect of group works. She pushed her sleeves up so they wouldn't get in her way, and then adjusted her grip on her wand. "I'll do the spell first, if you like," she said.

Once the class was spread out enough, she raised her wand and prayed she remembered the incantation and wand motion correctly. "I guess I'll just try the spell, and then you throw hexes at me until one of them gets through," Helena told Paul. "I'll do it now. Contego!"

16 Helena Me, too, but if I must... 88 Helena 0 5

Paul

December 27, 2008 1:30 PM

Try running first? by Paul

Paul looked up at Helena’s face, seeing if he could meet someone’s eyes without jumping, but he didn’t get very far when she accepted him as her partner. After asking his first question to his classmate, he backed up a few steps so they would be ready for the practice when it was confirmed who would start. When she pulled up her sleeves, Paul mimicked this movement clumsily his wand fumbling in his hand when he used that hand to push. His eyes glanced up once more when Helena offered, and Paul nodded simply. “Sure, I don’t mind,” though he was a bit thankful, having hexes thrown at him wasn’t Paul’s favorite things to have. His voice had the polite edge to it, which hid the jitteriness he felt about this lesson.

Still, he liked to think he would have done the shield first if she felt very against doing so (though that wouldn’t make sense, both of them would still have to go). He winced a little when thinking of hexes breaking through the shield, and his stomach dropped slightly. Oh, how did he know Helena couldn’t do a good hex? His shield may be strong, but if the will to hurt him was harder... but Helena wasn’t his sister. He had done nothing to make her want to hurt him, and his paranoid mind just sped ahead too far, expecting that. Besides, that would be a bridge to burn when he got to it, he was the one sending off hexes now. “Okay,” he stated obediently, politely. She pulled up the shield, and Paul raised his wand, thinking snapped away.

“Pungo,” he said, very simple very monotone voice. The stinging hex was one that had been used on him in surprise, it never hurt that bad but it was a shock that caused his mind to race ahead to all sorts of things that may be attacking him at that moment. Bugs, normally, he’d believe. It brought about not-so-pleasant memories, but then so did all the hexes in the book. The word hex did. Paul used this one because he was more familiar with it, he hadn’t been thinking of which hex to use against the shield, just said one. He blinked when he realized the spell was over, and his face paled in case maybe he ended up doing something bad.

His fingers twitched on the wand as they were brought down. “Did it work?” he asked, checking Helena for signs of being stung. “The shield?” he added, thinking maybe he should clarify. His eyes touched her face briefly, but dropped as he started thinking about the hex this time.

0 Paul Try running first? 0 Paul 0 5

Helena

December 28, 2008 5:07 PM

But then you get stabbed in the back. by Helena

She did her best not to show it, and her best wasn't half-bad, but Helena was extremely nervous about her shield. It wasn't like there was a dramatic visual effect to show her if she'd succeeded or not, and waiting to see if she would be hexed seemed worse than what would happen if she took a hit. Suspense had never appealed to her.

Paul was an Aladren, for Merlin's sake. Aladrens had weaknesses, but not usually in ways non-Aladrens would get. There was no way she could -

Helena's right hand automatically went to slap the place on her left arm that felt ant-bit, and her wand almost fell to the floor. Recovering in time to prevent that - she kind of doubted Professor O'Leary would have been impressed with an obvious display of ineptitude - she tried to smile at Paul, so he'd know she wasn't annoyed with him for getting past a pathetic attempt at a shield, but he looked down again.

"Nope," she said, as cheerily as she could right after the mistake. "Not completely, anyway - I think it might've got the worst of it, because it didn't hurt that much." Helena shook her head self-consciously, looking down at her shoes for a moment. "I wasn't concentrating," she confessed. "Do you want to try, now, or do you want me to try again?"

16 Helena But then you get stabbed in the back. 88 Helena 0 5

Paul

December 29, 2008 6:04 PM

Neither idea is very glamorous by Paul

He saw the way she reacted to the hex in time, and his face turned grim, maybe that hex wasn’t the best place to go. He kept away from any assignments dealing with hexes, curses, and jinxes so his knowledge on them was very limited. He heard enough outside of class, so he purposely ignored them inside of class and came home with less-than-good grades in this class for that simple reason. Mother told him to stop “not learning”, stating that she knew he was better than that. But that didn’t help much, so the only hexes Paul knew were the ones he learned outside of class, namely the ones that were more unpleasant.

Apparently he was a little better at hexes than he thought, or Helena’s shield wasn’t well placed. Biting his lip, Paul didn’t bother asking if she was alright, she would probably tell him (rather, she would probably yell at him, most people would he guessed) if he’d hurt her too badly. He hadn’t been aiming to make it feel like thousands of needles pressing into her skin, he hoped he’d kept it lighter than that. She composed herself fine enough, she even sounded rather cheerful when she spoke next.

He looked up again, but his eyes didn’t hit Helena until they did a full sweep of the room, after he realized he hadn’t seen his sister and she must be farther away. “Ah,” he murmured, but then tried talking a little more when she mentioned being hurt only a little, “Good, as I said I don’t know many hexes. I–I didn’t really mean to use that one...” but his voice lacked any real emotion, just sounded rusty like he never used it much (which was true, and when he did it was barely above a whisper, he yelled only when he was truly having a horrid day), so Paul stopped and nodded with what she said again.

It was just easier to go along with things. So much easier. Paul had been preferring these easy things in the past few years, though his older attitude had flared up once or twice, the dry sarcasm and curtness that he’d favored. Normally though, he just sounded so dead.

She admitted to not concentrating, and Paul could admit to her that he was concentrating a little too much, trying to not think of anything else because other things normally pulled him down. Of course, he wasn’t going to say things like that to someone he barely knew, and that went for pretty much everyone in this school. “I think you should try again,” he told her, voice getting only a little louder and not at all stronger in emotion. “You got hit with the hex a little,” he repeated what she’d said, “And I think it would be better if we tried working on perfecting yours, instead of switching so fast.” The words came out fast, simple and easy for him to say, he didn’t think of any meaning they may hold.

0 Paul Neither idea is very glamorous 0 Paul 0 5

Helena

December 30, 2008 1:17 PM

Sad, but true. by Helena

As Paul went on about having not intentionally used the hex he had, Helena had to fight down the urge to tell him there was no harm done and to stop acting like he thought she was about to bite him. Everything, from his posture to his tone of voice, made her feel like she was talking to someone who had been very sick and who she had once done something very horrible to, and she didn't like that feeling. It was close to guilt, and she'd done nothing to feel guilty about.

Instead, she kept her expression pleasant and nodded as he finished explaining why he thought she should try again to get the spell right. It was what she would have picked for them to do, anyway. With CATS always hovering somewhere in the bottom of her stomach, weighing her down and adding an extra touch of urgency to everything she did, Helena found she wanted to tie off all loose ends before moving on even more than usual. "Sounds good," she said brightly.

It felt almost foolish, being so resolutely pleasant in the face of Paul's blankness, but it was all she could think to do. There was something almost frightening about it, though she could associate it with nothing but a vague idea of her mother.

She had to pay attention this time. No getting distracted, however legitimately, by the thought that Aladrens were as likely to be accurate in their idea of what it meant to be bad at something as she was to get a fan club. Focusing on the task at hand was the key. "Contego, she said, a little more firmly this time.

16 Helena Sad, but true. 88 Helena 0 5

Paul

January 01, 2009 12:28 PM

But then that's life by Paul

Paul nodded, slightly confused at how she could stay so calm faced while he was so... not (well he wasn't frantic either, just not calm). Not that the whole world had to feel exactly what he was feeling (it quite often proved the opposite, people were way too happy in life right now, as Paul saw it) but he was used to proving to have the effect of downing moods appearing in others. Not this year, it seemed, another thing that was changing which meant another thing he felt a bit of fear towards (not that fear was new to the mind of Paul Tarwater).

He could do a hex better than he had guessed, it was simple, and now Paul tried to tone it down. Be a little softer in the way he said the hex, not as powerful as before, so it would fail anyway even if Helena's shield proved him wrong. But that should be easy for Paul, he spoke in a low voice on a normal basis, but just how low was low enough? Helena set out her shield, her voice was sounding stronger, which normally meant one was more concentrated on making the spell work, which normally meant it would work. His hands moved his wand again to point at her.

"Pungo," he used the same spell because it was already what he was used to. His eyes didn't trail away from her face, and he took a deep breath after the spell. He hadn't said it any softer, trusting the girl to be more prepared this time with her shield (she had said she was distracted before) and also trusting that she would be angry with him if he tried to fail the hex (she had seemed fine with the sting before?). He liked the thin silence in the air, perfectly fine with any awkwardness. The spell passed, and again Paul looked to Helena for any signs of a failed sheild.

His wand dropped to his side and the other hand scratched behind his head, in his dark hair. "Okay?" he asked, raising his brows carefully and his eyes checked the arm that she had seemed to feel pain in before. He liked to think that she had gotten it, so he wouldn't have to keep fooling around with this hex that made him feel so nauseous. "It sounded better," he finished off feeling as if his voice was too rough to be present, though he had been trying for a compliment and feeling though he failed. It was hard to probe anything he said for meaning right now, anyway.

0 Paul But then that's life 0 Paul 0 5

Helena

January 03, 2009 7:55 PM

Not necessarily by Helena

Paul attempted the same hex as before, which Helena liked. It was as if the slate had been wiped clean of her mistake and she could just start over, without a record. There was no pain this time, so the shield had worked, but she had a feeling it would have collapsed again at a second hex. She decided not to mention it. Paul needed time to perfect his hex-deflector, and Helena didn't want to look incompetent. If worst came to worst, she could duel with her brother on the weekends until she had the spell down.

"Thanks, Paul," she said, a little surprised, when he said her second spell attempt had sounded better. Of all of the people in her year, Paul was probably the one she would've least expected a compliment from. "It held up that time. I think I've got it now." She flashed him a quick smile.

Experience said Paul wasn't going to suggest - or even try to order - how to move forward, so she didn't wait for him to. Class periods were too short to waste any time, and it was worse when there was partnerwork and two people had to master the spell or complete the project or do what other thing the professor had cooked up for them. "I guess it's your turn, now," she said. "Whenever you're ready."

16 Helena Not necessarily 88 Helena 0 5

Paul

January 15, 2009 8:40 AM

You must have a good life then by Paul

She looked like she was okay; she didn’t fall over from shock of anything, or any pain at least, so Paul imagined that she had the shield up. That, or his hex failed to do much of anything. However, the Aladren doubted that happened, preferring to put faith in Helena’s abilities and not down the only things he could do right (not hexes exactly, no, rather spells in general). After he complimented her, Paul found his voice rejecting him; Paul wasn’t somebody who told people these things just to reassure them. The words had slipped out in the same dead tone, but somehow they were different? She smiled at him, and he acknowledged it, not about to smile back and risk looking like a… fool.

“Wonderful,” he told her, trying to force more emotion into his voice. Wonderful, he thought dryly, it was his turn next then. The dark haired boy found his stomach itching at him, using a shield in real life would only contribute to more pain afterwards. He was very much adverse to it, so to say. He hid his shaking hands from sight, Helena said when he was ready, and now he just had to get ready. Maybe he could convince her to go a few more times? He had already gotten used to doing the hex. Having a hex performed on him… he was more than a little frightened. “You said… you aren’t the best at hexes?” he tried to confirm, but that was little help.

“C-contego,” Paul said forcefully, no he didn’t feel that had gone well the anxiety had overtaken him. “Contego,” he said again, quicker in case Helena had already set out her spell. She was going to try and hex him now, he thought. This was something he had hoped to not go through. He should have just skipped Defense, didn’t he always? Stupid, stupid boy.

OOC: Sorry it took so long. RL excuse.

0 Paul You must have a good life then 0 Paul 0 5