Silent partners, anyone? on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor O'Leary

May 28, 2009 8:20 PM

Lesson I: Sixth and Seventh Years by Professor O'Leary

Drake sat at his massive oak desk grading the papers from his last class, which involved an unfortunate amount of red ink, while waiting for his sixth and seventh year student to begin entering. It was hard to believe that he had been here for seven years. In fact, he had begun at the same time Briony had. It was a painful reminder that she was all grown up and would be graduating with this year’s class. Soon enough, she would begin an entirely new life and it made him feel old even though he was only in his forties.

Thankfully, there would always be young minds that needed prepared before entering into that cruel world. That’s where he (along with the other professors) came in. It was up to them to teach the students the skills they would need to get through RATS and beyond. As students began to trickle in and take their seats, he called out, “Just take out your wand for today.” He set the papers aside and pushed his chair back, the legs making a scrapping sound against the concrete floor. Getting up, he moved to the front of the room and with one look set the tone for the lecture.

“Often before training young wizards and witches cast magic unintentionally, because the child is emotionally charged. This probably even happened to most of you before attending Sonora and may have even happened on rare occasion if you were in distress. So, if we are able to cast magic from a young age without a wand or incantation, why do we use them?” He gave a moment’s pause to allow the students to come to their own conclusion, before he went on, “The wand acts as a conductor for our magic.

They help provide direction. Without it, spells aren’t as powerful. The incantations help to deliver a focus to our mental and physical conditions for the spell to be successful. Without the incantation, the magic might be powerful, but may have unintended consequences. For example, young children may cause seemingly random items to break or disappear when they are upset, because the magic is unfocused. However, it is possible to cast all spells with neither a wand nor an incantation.

Today, we will be focusing on Non-Verbal, or Incantationless, Magic. It is possible to cast all spells without using an incantation, but the more advanced the spell, the more difficult it is to do. Even the most talented of wizards will often need to use the incantation for the harder spells,” Drake informed the class. “Now, what is the importance of using Non-Verbal Magic in Defense? It is important when an incantation either cannot be or is inconvenient to cast, such as if the Silencio spell had been used on the person or if the person does not want to be detected, but wishes to use magic.”

His lecture finished, it brought the class to what they would be doing specifically. “All right. I want everyone to find a partner. When first learning Non-Verbal Magic, we start with the most basic spells, so we’re going to be working on casting Expelliarmus and Protego. I want everyone to take turns attempting to disarm their partner and protect against their partner silently. Seventh years, attempt the spell first with your wand and then if you’re feeling adventurous, attempt incantationless with the wandless magic you learned last year. If you need help or have any questions, I’ll be around. You may begin.”

OOC: Please remember that posts should be a minimum of ten well-written sentences. Points will be rewarded based on length, detail, etc. Most importantly, be creative and have fun!

Subthreads:

Silent Night by Lila St. Martin with Devian Dupree

Silent partners, anyone? by Helena Layne with Annabelle Winslow

Keeping my wand for now. by Geoffrey Layne with Briony O'Leary

I'm incredibly generous by Morgaine Carey with Saul Pierce, Morgaine

Not a chance by Steven Beckett IV

0 Professor O'Leary Lesson I: Sixth and Seventh Years 0 Professor O'Leary 1 5

Lila St. Martin

May 30, 2009 5:53 PM

Silent Night by Lila St. Martin

Defense Against the Dark Arts was a nightmare, and that was all there was to it. That did not, however, mean Lila could slack off with her appearance on days when she had it. That would be letting it get the better of her, and if there was one thing she was determined to do this year, it was to not let anything get the better of her.

So, upon arrival in Professor O'Leary's classroom, Lila was as immaculate as ever. She had reapplied her make-up before coming because the teacher was now Head of Crotalus and had replaced her heels with flats and pulled her hair back into a sleek ponytail because of the nature of the class, but in all other respects, she looked exactly as she did in any of her other classes. Though still entertaining serious doubts about how well any of her professors were going to take her after the Concert, she also still walked in as if she owned the place. That she walked fast and headed straight for the back of the room did not, of course, have even a tiny trace of a connection to a fear she didn't have of O'Leary hexing her and calling it a demonstration.

She managed to survive the pre-class period without getting hexed, however, and as a mark of gratitude (and a very self-serving interest in making her Head of House semi-like her, but she could call it a mark of gratitude if she wanted to) began to take notes. Because of this, she knew exactly what was going on in class and got to feel a thrill of horror at the mention of non-verbal, wandless magic.

Lila knew she had done bad things in her life. She had let the House go forward with mocking the staff. She had never bothered pretending to be nice to Morgaine when her sister had almost gotten disowned, or to Gwen since Gwen had been demoted. She had called her own sister fat...this morning. But surely nothing she had done made her deserve this.

So caught up was she in alternatively panicking and going catatonic that she almost missed the assignment, which at once brought a smile to her face. They were not to be graded on their ability to cast a spell in silence and without a wand - today, anyway. She was still being asked to perform non-verbal spells, but at least she could have her wand and didn't have to give it up. There was, of course, the option to later, but Lila had nothing that big to prove and had been born without so much as a scrap of an adventurous bone in her body.

With that happy thought in mind, she turned to the person next to her without dropping the smile. Lila thought that she could handle anyone short of Morgaine at this moment, and every other chair in the Western hemisphere would get destroyed before Morgaine would voluntarily sit with her, which made that seat relatively safe. "Would you like for us to work together?" she asked.

16 Lila St. Martin Silent Night 80 Lila St. Martin 0 5

Helena Layne

May 30, 2009 6:44 PM

Silent partners, anyone? by Helena Layne

Though it made her feel self-conscious and conspicuous for all the wrong reasons, Helena arrived early to Defense and took a seat in the very first row. Unlike her usual middle section seats, this one gave her a full view of the board, the professor, and her feet, though only the first one had factored into her logic in taking the seat. After her CATS had come back, it had become clear that she needed all the help she could get.

She had warned them not to, but Helena was sure her parents had still expected her to be a second Geoff. Often believed to be a myth, the Kid Who Did It All was in fact real and a member of Helena Layne's immediate family. Though he was as satisfactory to their parents as promised on the label, his presence made things a lot more difficult for his siblings, and Vinny's "medical condition" just made things even worse for Helena. Between having a child they were insanely proud of and a child they were utterly humiliated by, her parents had lost any grasp they might have once had on the unheard-of concept of having a normal child and being okay with it. They had at least had the grace to try hiding it, but there had been no doubt in her mind that Mark and Nadia were both horrified to see her score sheet. Hence the front-row seat.

And okay, maybe she did kind of like the feeling of superiority it gave her to sit in very front row of one of the hardest classes Sonora had to offer. There was nothing wrong with that. She only got to be a brand-new RATS-level student once.

The introduction of the lesson made Helena smile a little ruefully and shake her head, remembering a few of the too many dramatic moments a little accidental magic had given her childhood. It had been statistically inevitable; only thirteen months were between her and Geoff, and there had only been six more between him and Anne. When three magic-possessing children were that close together and spent as much time in each other's company as they had, a few loud and messy emotional outbursts turning into magic episodes was a given.

Her smile dimmed a little at learning she was expected to replicate the feat of producing magic without a spell ten or so years and a lot of self-control later. Oh, this was going to be difficult. If someone didn't snap and run out of the room in tears, she would be very, very surprised.

At least they were simple spells, with clear effects. Easy, when she thought about it, to visualize what ought to go on in her head. She could do this. Rolling her wand across the surface of her desk, she turned to the second row of seats. People there were more likely to be in her skill set and/or group of acquaintances. "Shall we?" she asked with a smile.

16 Helena Layne Silent partners, anyone? 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Geoffrey Layne

May 30, 2009 7:41 PM

Keeping my wand for now. by Geoffrey Layne

Having a question about the homework assignment had almost made Geoff late for Defense Against the Dark Arts. Cursing himself for not just owling, he hurried into the classroom and discovered there were no more open chairs in the front row. He was forced to drop his books instead on top of the last desk in the second row and sit down in a hurry before the bell.

Less than half-over, and this day was already a bust.

He hadn't known it was possible to be this stressed. It was as if every time he finished taking care of one thing, four more popped up to take its place. He wouldn't drop it - his pride wouldn't allow it - but he was already jealous of his sister for having the sense to not take Ancient Runes as an independent study. If this was what it took to get ready to take the RATS, Geoff had serious doubts about how well he'd survive college. Some days, it felt like Potions was all he was even barely competent at, never mind good at.

This lesson, which began almost the moment he dug out his wand, did not seem geared to improve his self-esteen. His memories of wandless magic were not fond ones; after some initial success with the basics, he'd started having lots of problems making things happen the way he wished. Since non-verbal magic at least allowed for a conduit, it ought to have been easier, but Anne had left him with the very, very distinct impression that it was ten times harder. He didn't trust her judgment on a lot of things, but she was one of the few people he considered smarter than him.

He thought he was going to keep his wand for now. Later, if all went well, he might attempt wandless if he cared to, but right now he didn't think so. Especially if the one he worked with was younger; Geoff liked to be an impressive figure to the younger students, and taking several tries to do something he'd technically learned a year before was not conductive to that aim. He made a mental note to review his wandless magic over the weekend, if he could find both time and solitude to do so, and pushed his bad mood aside before getting up to look for a partner.

Since, as Head Boy, he needed to get around some, he made a random selection and went to the first person he saw. "Want to work together?"

16 Geoffrey Layne Keeping my wand for now. 72 Geoffrey Layne 0 5

Morgaine Carey

June 01, 2009 2:00 PM

I'm incredibly generous by Morgaine Carey

By the time the rest of her Defense Against the Dark Arts class filled in, Morgaine was completely engrossed in the latest issue of MagiMed Monthly. It was with great reluctance that she put the periodical aside to listen to Professor O'Leary's opening remarks for the day.

That worried her a little. She'd started using the minutes of dead time arriving early to classes gave her to read in her fifth year, but she'd never had a problem with getting back on task. Being a model pupil was what she did, if only because she was afraid of being disowned and, as a rule, had nothing better to do. Since she'd gotten a stamp of familial approval on her old interest in medical magic, though, she had started gradually becoming more focused on that goal than on the other one. If she wasn't careful, it might get to the point where she actually wanted a job.

Luckily, the lesson was a good, hard one. One of those she could throw her whole mind into and so forget about all of the other things normally on her mind. It also gave her an opportunity to work more on her wandless skills, which was always good. Her goal for the class was to graduate with a skill set large enough for her to defend herself under any circumstances, and being able to perform a spell both non-verbally and wandlessly would be a major step toward that.

Taking a tie out of her bag, she pulled her fine hair back into a low ponytail to keep it out of the way and graced a fellow student on one side of her with a look. "You're now my partner," she informed them. A disadvantage of possibly being the most feared person in the school was the trouble it caused in partner-oriented classes. Just ordering those who got the seats next to hers to work with her and hoping they were too nervous to rebel was easier than approaching people. "I'm going to try to disarm you non-verbally while you try to block me. You can pick our ground."

0 Morgaine Carey I'm incredibly generous 81 Morgaine Carey 0 5

Saul Pierce

June 01, 2009 8:52 PM

You very definitely are by Saul Pierce

Saul was taking DADA at the RATS level for one reason and one reason only: it was Briony's favorite class. He usually managed to get a seat next to her and partner her, but today he'd been late and the seat most readily available without incurring too much of Professor O'Leary's wrath was the one next to Morgaine. So Saul sat there and tried to pretend he'd been on time.

Fortunately, the lesson was a review on wandless and wordless magic, which he'd been working on all summer. Being seventeen for most of it was awesome since he no longer had to pretend that any spell he cast was actually done by Maria or one of his other older cousins. Wandless and wordless magic was the one aspect of DADA he'd been glad he'd stuck around for - there was a lot of application for it in show business, even with muggles watching since they'd just figure it was special effects.

They just happened to be really special effects.

Before he could go and find Briony, though, Morgaine was practically - no, not practically, she was ordering him to be her partner. He shot Briony an apologetic look and a shrug then grinned at Morgaine. She had been a great in the play last year and he totally owed her. The least he could do was partner her in class. Besides, she wasn't nearly as scary as people seemed to think. "Sure. I guess over here's fine." He moved out in front of the row of desks, so they had a little bit of open space to maneuver around.

He took a defensive stance and held up an arm in front of himself as if holding an invisible wooden shield. His wand was still in its pocket in his backpack, but he wasn't going to need it. He'd practiced some blocking a month ago - against flying physical objects rather than magical spells, but it was probably the same idea - so he was fairly confident he wasn't going to need its assistance. "Okay. Ready when you are."

1 Saul Pierce You very definitely are 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Morgaine Carey

June 05, 2009 2:39 PM

Glad you agree by Morgaine Carey

Luckily for Morgaine, Saul felt like playing along with her today. She didn't grin back, but she did give Saul a small, terse smile.

Though she still didn't exactly like him, Morgaine had come to find Saul less annoying than she had for the majority of their time at Sonora. She chalked this up to over-exposure; the Concert rehearsals had clearly caused brain damage. The way she found it easier to tolerate Pecaris in general gave credibility to that theory, as did her failure to be overly upset about it. It probably helped that it wasn't doing any harm to her work yet, but still. She was supposed to have some standards.

It wasn't the moment, though. The only standard to meet in class was the one set by the professor, which related to a whole lot of nothing except performing the spell or spells correctly. "Great," she said, then picked up her wand from the desk and followed Saul to the front of the room.

Her eyebrows came together in confusion when Saul took up a defensive stance without his wand, but it didn't take a lot of effort to figure out what he was up to. Show-off. She almost said the words aloud, but decided not to.

Saul's move put her in a quandary. On one hand, she'd been, if not fabulous, at least good at this the year before. She had worked with it, experimenting alone in her room, until, by the end of sixth year, she thought she had made a lot of real progress. On the other hand, however, she hadn't had a chance to really practice all summer. Her birthday was only six days before the start of term, and though it was almost a form of teenage rebellion in her family, Morgaine did her best to be a law-abiding citizen. Performing underage magic at home was illegal, so she'd never done it, and she'd been continually busy since she'd come back for seventh year.

The smart thing to do would be to let Saul have his moment, keep her own wand, and proceed to take his from his pocket. A face-saving thing to do would be to point out that it was kind of hard to disarm someone who wasn't armed, but it was quickly dismissed as too obvious and pathetic. The stupider-than-stupidity thing to do would be to pocket her own wand, cross her fingers for luck, and see which one of them would win.

She put away her wand. No way was he going to go bragging to Elly Eriksson and Caedence Redoak that he was flat-out better than Morgaine Carey.

She took a deep breath and let it out, attempting to become less tense. Contrary to what childish explosions would have made her think, this seemed to work best if she wasn't that tense. She tried to picture Saul's wand - not quite simple, since she'd never paid a lot of attention to it - where the wand was at present, and the trajectory it would follow if, as she devoutly hoped it would, this went right and it came to her. "All right," she muttered under her breath, feeling the need to say something just because not doing so was the point of the exercise.

Think, don't talk. Think, don't talk. Let it happen, and think, don't talk. She could do this. Morgaine extended her right hand and made a sharp gesture, as though she were physically yanking a wand from someone's pocket, while keeping her mind fixed on the word Expelliarmus.

0 Morgaine Carey Glad you agree 81 Morgaine Carey 0 5

Saul

June 07, 2009 1:38 PM

I kinda forgot something here by Saul

Saul stood ready. Morgaine looked a little uncertain for a moment, and then, she too, stood ready. And then nothing happened. Well, no, not nothing. Without any warning of movement or word, he felt a slightly windlike sensation as his robes fluttered around him, almost like something invisible was rifling through his empty pockes, and then, behind him, his wand popped out of his backpack and rolled across the floor toward Morgaine.

He might not have noticed the last part if his nine inches of Alder wood hadn't bumped into his shoe before shifting to a slightly different trajectory. He stepped on it to stop its motion when he looked down to see what had run into him and gave Morgaine an chagrined look of embarrassment. "Oh, yeah. You needed something to disarm. Sorry. Want to try that again?"

He picked up the wand from underfoot and took a more traditional deulist's pose.

1 Saul I kinda forgot something here 82 Saul 0 5

Morgaine

June 07, 2009 8:02 PM

Eh, it happens. by Morgaine

Well, something had happened. Nothing as dramatic as she'd been hoping for - his wand was not flying in a perfect arc toward her, to be caught with a slight flourish as it came down - but, to be so long after her last serious effort at this, it wasn't bad. She'd at least had an effect on his robes.

Everything in perspective, or however that line went.

She was about to suggest trying that again when Saul looked first down and then back at her. He looked...embarrassed? A quick analysis said that was a more appropriate emotion for her at the moment, as she was the one who'd failed. Curious as to why that wasn't the case, Morgaine glanced down, too, and saw what she assumed was Saul's wand under his foot.

Forget perspective. She was good.

"Sure," she said to the proposal of a rematch, trying hard not to smile. It was going to work properly this time. She could feel it. She now knew exactly where the wand she was after was, and she couldn't think of a spell right off the top of her head that didn't work better when the object of it was in the line of sight. Morgaine squared her shoulders again and stamped down on her sense of satisfaction. There was only the wand, and the spell in her head.

Because of the change in the position of Saul's wand, the quick, sudden gesture she used once she worked her way up to an attempt changed, with her hand pulling the invisible wand more to her shoulder than her chest as she focused on saying the incantation silently in her head. This time, she made sure to repeat it a few times for good measure, in case a single Expelliarmus wasn't yet good enough for her non-verbal skills. This was going to work.

0 Morgaine Eh, it happens. 0 Morgaine 0 5

Devian Dupree

June 22, 2009 3:19 PM

Silent Terror by Devian Dupree

Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of Devian’s favorite classes, which is why he was careful in picking his seat. He didn’t want anything (or anyone) ruining it, especially after his summer had been ruined. Or at least, he thought it had been, but now he wasn’t so sure and it was frustrating him to the point of wanting to rip his hair out. Although, in truth, he didn’t even know if she was taking this class, but he wasn’t about to take any chances and so it was as a result that he found himself sitting in an area that he normally didn’t sit in.

Normally in class, he sat up straight, paid attention, and took diligent notes. Unfortunately, today would only be two of the three as he slunk down into his seat with his notebook pressed against the edge of the desk so he could write. Yes, he knew that they were only supposed to be using their wands today, but he still wanted to copy what was written down. Even if he didn’t get the hang of it today, he planned to have it down pact very soon since it was an obviously useful spell, especially with the concern he could end up like his uncle one day.

With the lecture finished came the word teachers always loved. Partners. Devian didn’t really care one way or another about having a partner other than that he was rather picky about whom he partnered with. The problem with Geoffrey and Morgaine was that they were just as good, possibly better, than him and could potentially show him up. It wasn’t that he didn’t like a good challenge. He just didn’t want to be less than perfect in front of a professor. Of course, there were those that would present none at all.

For those, he would probably end up making them cry, which might be amusing to some degree. But before he could choose one way or another, he heard a voice next to him. Glancing over, he raised an eyebrow, surprised that he was sitting near Lila or that she was asking him to be partners. He had never thought one way or another about her other than she seemed to be a good pureblood. Though, thinking about it, she had to be pretty daring to have put on that play last year, which made him consider her. “Yeah, sure,” he decided with a shrug. Wanting to judge her ability, he said, “You start.”

0 Devian Dupree Silent Terror 70 Devian Dupree 0 5

Briony O'Leary

June 22, 2009 4:17 PM

How long will that last? by Briony O'Leary

Being the professor’s daughter didn’t really give Briony room to miss or even be late to classes, especially her father’s class. And since she was always early, it seemed wrong to sit in a seat that wasn’t in the front since there were a few that were open. So, she took one of the coveted seats and took out her wand since it would be a practical lesson. She placed her bag on the seat next to her in an attempt to save it for Saul, but as the class was filling up this became an impossibility and eventually she was forced to move it.

When Saul finally came in, she offered him a small smile before turning her attention to the brief lecture on wandless and nonverbal magic. Usually, she had an unfair advantage of having learned most things before the rest of the class since her father had an obsession with being prepared for the eventuality of anything, but there were the rare lessons that she had to wait to learn with the rest of the class. This was one of those times though what was new was the nonverbal part rather than the wandless since they had learned that last year.

Once they were allowed to begin, Briony turned automatically to look for Saul, but was a bit disappointed at the apologetic look she received as he was partnering with Morgaine. Though, she preferred it to be Morgaine rather than Pepper now that she knew how her friend felt about her boyfriend, which was going to make their soon to be conversation probably rather awkward, but it needed done. And because of that, maybe it was a good thing that she and Saul weren’t partners. She seemed to like him more every day and that could be a dangerous thing.

Now she had to find another partner. She was about to get up to look when she heard the person that had taken the seat she had been trying to save turn down Geoffrey Layne’s offer. “I’ll work with you if it’s all right with you,” Briony offered. She figured that it would be good to get to know one another since they would be working together all year as Head Boy and Head Girl and in all honesty, she wasn’t sure if they had ever talked before.

OOC: I wasn’t sure that Briony could really be counted as a random selection so I hope you don’t mind if I had someone that turned Geoff down. If I wrote anything wrong, feel free to ignore or rewrite Briony a bit to make it work. >^^<

0 Briony O'Leary How long will that last? 75 Briony O'Leary 0 5

Lila

June 22, 2009 9:41 PM

I think I'm the one with the right to that... by Lila

Lila's eyebrows rose slightly at Devian's way of accepting her (very gracious, in her opinion) offer to work with him for the lesson. She would have expected better manners out of a Dupree, even to a second daughter of a family of only middling practical importance outside of South Carolina.

Of course, if certain rumors about her cousin Anne and his cousin Christobel were true, that family was rapidly going to the dogs anyway, and she shouldn't expect anything from a member of it. No one respectable would court Anne, and a respectable family would immediately disown anyone who was stupid enough to want to. Talk of Chris and Anne had begun months before they graduated.

She still smiled pleasantly, though. This year, she had to be the perfect pureblooded girl, and that meant always and forever being pleasant. It was the only way to combat what damage had already been done to her legacy at the Academy; if she was perfect enough, maybe eventually everyone would begin to believe the story she had floated about Jordanna, who wasn't around to suffer the consequences, being behind the play.

"Of course, Mr. Dupree," she said civilly. "Shall we move over here?" Lila gestured to an open bit of floor. It was not a subject she took much interest in, but six years of Defense classes had instilled enough knowledge of dueling in her for her to know that it was generally advisable to have more space than the gaps between rows of desks.

Once they were situated, Lila took out her wand. Resisting the urge to needlessly straighten her clothes and reassure herself about the state of her hair, she pointed the short length of mahogany and dragon heartstring at Devian. "I'll begin now," she informed him, and, accordingly, started to focus on pretending she was saying the incantation for the Disarming Charm.

16 Lila I think I'm the one with the right to that... 80 Lila 0 5

Annabelle Winslow

June 23, 2009 5:56 PM

Sure by Annabelle Winslow

Annabelle had had to think long and hard about what she was going to continue taking after CATS. Her scores had been okay, though not great and aside from Potions, she'd passed everything and really, she'd been just fine with not passing Potions. It made Annabelle queasy anyway and she'd had no intentions of taking it.

Taking Charms and Transfiguration had also been no brainers. Annabelle had gotten an O in Transfig and it was a subject her aunt whom she admired had specialized in before teaching at Salem where the position hadn't been open and Aunt Emma had had to teach Charms instead.

Annabelle also chose Charms because it was a major part of everyday life. History of Magic had been discarded basically because she hadn't been aware that the elder Flatt was being replaced and she could do without the gory visuals that made her just as nauseous as Potions did. Plus, Annabelle had only gotten an A in it whereas she got better scores in everything else.

It had come down to a decision between Defense and COMC. Annabelle had always liked animals but in the end, the fact that she had a healthy (and she felt well-justified) sense of paranoia had led her to choose DADA. After all, what if her ex-father's family decided that disownment just wasn't enough? Or if he came after her aunt and uncle for taking her in? Aunt Emma could probably manage herself, but her uncle had had to drop out of magical school when he got sick, so he was untrained and Jenna and her baby to be certainly weren't going to be much use. It was best that Annabelle took up DADA to know how to defend herself but her family as well. COMC had none of its usefulness whether Annabelle liked the subject or not.

She took a seat in the second row, behind her roommate, and listened to Professor O'Leary's lesson. Annabelle remembered her own bouts of accidental magic as a good thing.They had been disasters really, but the fact was, if she had not had them, there would have been worry she was a squib and life had been hard enough for Annabelle with her then father without having to worry about that too. If she'd been a squib she may have been disowned even sooner...or worse.

Then Professor O'Leary mentioned partners. Annabelle wouldn't have minded this much, except the class had more than its share of the type of proper purebloods whom she didn't exist to and would likely not want to work with her,(because, after all, how could you work with someone who doesn't exist)

To her immense relief, Helena turned around and asked,

"Shall we?"

Annabelle looked up at her. "Sure." She answered.

11 Annabelle Winslow Sure 89 Annabelle Winslow 0 5

Geoff L.

June 23, 2009 10:33 PM

Probably for a while. by Geoff L.

...And his random selection already had a partner in mind, making him look like a bit of an idiot to anyone who heard the exchange. This really was destined to be a rotten day, wasn't it? "Good deal," he said, amiably enough, hoping to save some face.

To his relief, he was quickly rescued by Briony. He'd known there was a reason, despite having little to do with any of them over the years, that he liked the Teppenpaws. Geoffrey gave the Head Girl a grateful smile. "Perfectly all right," he said.

As small as their year was, it was almost strange that he'd never really had anything to do with her. Sure, most of his time had been caught up with Anne and Quidditch and being a typical Aladren overachiever, but...they had been in all of the same classes, several of which had not included Anne in them or - as with Potions - he had always been reluctant to work with her in.

Well, he and Briony would probably work together enough for a lifetime this year. Such was the lot of the Head Boys and Girls. He hated to think of what it would be like when - as was eventually inevitable - a Head Boy and Girl with a real problem with each other were elected. 'Trainwreck' wouldn't even begin to cover it. "Would you like to start?" he asked her.

OOC: No problems! Additionally, sorry for the shortness of the post; I'll try to do better next time.

16 Geoff L. Probably for a while. 72 Geoff L. 0 5

Helena

June 23, 2009 11:40 PM

Excellent. Let the slightly-shady business deals begin. by Helena

Helena gave her roommate what she hoped was a friendly sort of smile as Annabelle looked up at her. They had shared her dorm room for over a year now, but had never exactly gotten to know each other. Annabelle had, however, struck her as a nervous person from the beginning, and Helena wasn't really sure how nice she'd been while she was adjusting to being a Quidditch captain instead of just the Assistant Captain. It had not been one of her better few weeks.

"Great," she said brightly. "Just let me toss my hair up." As often as she had to put it up for one or another class, it would have been easier to just start wearing a ponytail on a daily basis, but she had just enough vanity to really hate the way the style looked on her. Wearing it down, she could at least look decent in the hallways and during meal times.

Once the neat shoulder-length light brown waves were all in a tight ponytail and safely out of her line of vision for a while, Helena picked up her wand. Sixth years, in a part of the lesson she was very grateful for, only had to perform a pair of spells non-verbally. That would be hard, but not as hard as doing so non-verbally and wandlessly, which was the seventh years' "optional" assignment. It hadn't taken her a long time to learn that, in Advanced classes, you took what little bits of mercy you could get. "D'you want to start us off, or should I?"

16 Helena Excellent. Let the slightly-shady business deals begin. 88 Helena 0 5

Steven Beckett IV

July 04, 2009 8:39 PM

Not a chance by Steven Beckett IV

There was one main reason that Steven had decided to take Defense after CATS, and that was that Professor O'Leary was a pureblood. Indeed, Steven thought he might be the only pureblood teacher in school other than the Headmistress, whose class was one Steven never would have taken anyway, even if the fact that he'd not had it at Salem made it impossible and it was still being taught. Defense was also a favorite of Steven's because it was generally more action-packed.

It was also the only one he'd done well at.

The most important thing was that Professor O'Leary was a pureblood though. Steven hated taking orders from anyone who wasn't. (Well, he didn't like taking them from anyone period, but better a pureblood than a muggleborn) He'd also chosen Transfiguration over Charms, as while Steven wasn't exactly sure of then-Professor Baer's blood status, he did know Taylor was a muggleborn, who preferred muggle things. He couldn't even imagine how anyone could think muggle ways were superior but the thought of having to not only take orders from someone who was impure but have to do muggle things made Steven want to vomit.

Professor O'Leary might have been the only professor that Steven didn't have too many problems with, but he sure wished the man would get to the bloody point. When he finally did, Steven wasn't too happy about the lesson either. Wandless magic was hard . People rarely did it on the first try and Steven didn't have the patience. On the other hand, at least it was spell work. He couldn't stand book work and essays.

Steven surveyed the class. It looked like pretty slim pickings for partners, Devian and Lila were already paired off and for some reason, Morgaine was working with Saul. Steven couldn't imagine why a Carey would lower herself in such a way. Pierce was a respectable pureblood name, but the Pecari boy was a California Pierce. A family that while having money, was not in the least bit respectable in Steven's eyes. Plus, he'd worked with Saul in class last year and knew the boy had screwed up ideas. He actually wanted to allow muggles into a magical school. That was completely ridiculous when they couldn't do spells anyway.

There wasn't much he could do. The people left were not people Steven was going to work with. Maybe he could try simply disarming people at random. Steven could still concentrate just as well on disarming someone that he wasn't working with.

11 Steven Beckett IV Not a chance 87 Steven Beckett IV 0 5

Annabelle

July 13, 2009 7:57 PM

Shadiness is in my blood :) by Annabelle

Annabelle was really glad Helena had asked her to work with her. They had roomed together all last year but never really got to know each other and she wouldn't have minded knowing her better. Helena seemed nice enough, even though she'd seemed stressed out with the Quidditch stuff, which was understandable.

Plus Annabelle would not have wanted to be left without a partner, like Steven Beckett was. Part of her felt he deserved it. She had never liked him, even at Salem. He embodied everything she'd ever detested about the world of pureblood high society and him being stuck alone served him right for being such a jerk.

"Just let me toss my hair up."

Annabelle nodded. She herself had nearly waist length hair that she preferred to leave down most of the time but she'd put it up for this class. The other class she'd always had to do that for was Potions, which she was no longer taking anyway. She looked around the room while Helena put up her hair.

For some reason, Steven was watching them. Annabelle shuddered. Though she couldn't imagine why he would look at her or Helena as she knew she was a non-entity to him and Helena probably barely existed to him, it creeped her out a bit, since he was staring intently and not scowling or glaring, just... staring. "Um, let's move over there.." Annabelle gestured to a place where hopefully it would be harder for him to see them. "And then I'll start."

She took a step towards where she had gestured, suddenly feeling more glad than ever that she'd continued with Defense.

OOC-Sorry for the wait.

11 Annabelle Shadiness is in my blood :) 89 Annabelle 0 5