Lesson Two for Beginners (First and Second Years) on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Morgaine Carey

September 19, 2009 1:34 AM

Lesson Two for Beginners (First and Second Years) by Morgaine Carey

Of all the (five) seventh years who'd volunteered to spend some of their precious free time instructing the beginners classes, Morgaine was the only one to be given a class all to herself.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of that, though she did, for some reason, doubt that the staff meant it as some sort of compliment to her. The subject matter she had been given was also interesting; she could see it being a sort of joke to assign her to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she had an inkling that the general population's sense of humor had significant differences from the variety most often seen in her family.

Knowing she stood no chance of appearing as intimidating as Professor O'Leary - she was five feet tall in shoes, and so small-framed that she could almost pass for a second year when, as it always was, her brown hair was worn down - Morgaine had merely dressed even more neatly than usual for her first day of teaching the firsties. To stay on the safe side, she also took a precautionary swallow of her migraine potion before class, though she was disappointed to see its total failure to make her less nervous. Breathing normally, she noticed, got more difficult by the minute.

Finally, all the students appeared to be in place. Edmond, in the front row, kept smiling and nodding at her while he gave her odd looks; if he didn't cut it out, she was going to hex him later. Resisting the urge to stand on tiptoe to give herself a little more height on them all, she cleared her throat and, mercifully, managed to say what she wanted to. "My name," she said, "is Morgaine Carey. Seventh year, Pecari. I'm going to be teaching your class for a while. I would like you to call me 'Miss Carey'." That last, out of necessity, involved a stern look at her brother. If anyone here was going to forget and call her by her given name, a hunch said it would be Eddie. He had an amazing ability to forget his titles, never mind hers.

"You're going to be working with two very basic defensive spells today: the Disarming and Shield Charms." At least, she thought they were very basic. "The Shield Charm will, probably, be harder, but you should get it eventually." A lot more effort than she put in it couldn't have kept her from sounding as though she didn't much care if they did, in fact, ever get it or not. "A proper Disarming Charm is meant to knock whatever an opponent is holding out of his hand, and a proper Shield Charm stops Disarming Charms or hexes from affecting the person they're aimed toward. The really strong ones can even make a physical barrier - but you're nowhere near being able to do that yet."

She rapped the board hard with her wand, revealing words in her narrow, precise handwriting. It had taken a bit to work out how to do that; pulling it off without a hitch now made Morgaine feel pleased with herself. Both of the spells were written out, complete with incantations and the definitions she had given in slightly more formal words. "The Disarming Charm is Expelliarmus," she said, taking care to say the word as clearly as her coastal Georgian accent allowed. Just to be safe, she used the chalk to mark where the group should place the emphasis on the written word. "A Shield is Protego." She marked that one, too. "All you do with your wands for both is point them at the person you want to Disarm or block, like this." She pointed hers at Edmond - a rarity in that he knew her personally, and a greater one in that he wasn't afraid of her.

"Now," she said, putting her wand away. "Everyone split up into pairs and practice Disarming and blocking each other. These - " she pointed at the spells she'd written on their blackboard - "are the only spells you can use. This isn't a duel, and I promise you don't want to turn it into one." She wasn't sure she had the authority to punish them in any way, but they didn't know that. "You're just learning to defend yourselves." The staff definitely had a warped sense of humor, putting her, of all people - of all families! - in charge of Defense classes. "I'll get around the room, making sure you're all on task and not in trouble, so...carry on." The end fell a little flat, but a single thought comforted her:

It could have gone worse.

OOC: Make sure to follow the posting rules (8-10 lines per post, or 200 word minimum) and have fun!

Subthreads:

Almost like a real duel by Charlotte Abbott

I'm a beginner by Jethro Smythe

0 Morgaine Carey Lesson Two for Beginners (First and Second Years) 81 Morgaine Carey 1 5

Charlotte Abbott

September 20, 2009 9:38 AM

Almost like a real duel by Charlotte Abbott

She didn't know why the seventh years were teaching some classes - whether it was to give them some experience for the future, or as revision, or just to give the professors a break - but Charlie quite enjoyed the change. She also liked to imagine herself up there one day, teaching charms, probably. She imagined she would be taller than the first years, towering over them. As Miss Carey introduced herself, Charlotte realised this might not actually be the case (though she was already taller than this particular seventh year).

Defense Against the Dark Arts could maybe sometimes be called Defense Against your Little Brother, or something equally less sinister. Today could be classed as either - it really depended on who was trying to curse you. Either way, the class was pratcial, and with parnters: two of Charlotte's favorite ingredients in a good lesson.

Having taken notes on Miss Carey's lecture, Charlie knew she had the wand movement down, so she practised saying the words a couple of times before looking for a partner. That bit was easy. The second year had never been especially shy. With a wide smile, Charlotte turned to the person at the desk next to her, and said, "Hi! Want to be partners?"

0 Charlotte Abbott Almost like a real duel 135 Charlotte Abbott 0 5

Jethro Smythe

September 20, 2009 9:45 AM

I'm a beginner by Jethro Smythe

Having a different professor at the front of the class confused Jethro. It took him a really, really long time to work out that she was wearing a uniform robe, and a little longer still for him to conclude she was, therefore, a student. Miss Carey was talking about some spells. She wrote their names on the board, so Jethro copied them down into his notebook. He underlined them where she did. He then thought to put the date on the top of his page, and got it wrong by a couple of days.

Other things Jethro had done since the start of the class included tapping his right shoe onto his left shoe in a regular beat, tracing over the graffiti already on the desk with his own quill (but no ink), counted the number of candles he could see around the room (34) and wrapped a stary piece of cotton from his robes round his finger until it almost cut off his circulation, and he had to pull it back off again. Jethro also noticed Miss Carey sayd they should split into pairs. Jethro clung to that vital piece of information, and when other people started moving, he turned right to the person sitting next to him, and said confidently, "She said we have to work in pairs."

Working in pairs was a god-send for Jethro, but usually a let down for his partner. He knew that - he needed to be helped along by his peers because he simply couldn't remember from one moment to the next what they were supposed to be doing. He'd already forgotten that the necessary spells, along with pronounciation guides, were written right in front of him. But that was okay - his partner for the class would be able to tell him what to do.

0 Jethro Smythe I'm a beginner 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5