Lesson I: Advanced Level (Sixth and Seventh Years) on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Levy

December 05, 2009 11:39 AM

Lesson I: Advanced Level (Sixth and Seventh Years) by Professor Levy

After the first few initial weeks of teaching, the uncertainty of teaching had transitioned to a liking. Erika had been worried that she would find herself in an unnatural rhythm of regularity, which was very different from what her life as an Auror had been. She enjoyed the uncertainty and adventure that had come with being an Auror, though, she knew that Torra had not been so thrilled with her tendency to worry that something would happen. Of course, something usually did, as was the way dangerous professions were, but in her last letter to her girlfriend, she had joked that nothing could be more dangerous than teaching teenagers.

While the statement had been made in jest, there was some truth to it. There was no way to predict what would happen day-to-day, even in lecture. Questions could range from the outstandingly insightful to the amazingly flabbergasting. It certainly made her day much less boring and even at times, she managed to forget the pain of her leg. Although, this was only until right before lunch when the pain was at its worst or right after when the taste of the vial potion she was required to take still lingered in her mouth. Then, she tended to get quite a bit cranky. Luckily for this class, neither was true, which was vastly important for the material she would be teaching.

“Good afternoon class,” Erika briskly welcomed the students. She straightened out the test papers from last week’s exam. From the way some were looking at them, she was sure that quite a few were a little anxious to find out their results. She remembered that feeling and she wasn’t going to make them wait longer than necessary. “The review of jinxes and hexes went very well as evidenced by most of your test papers.” Up until now all the material had been review, but even so, there was always the occasional poor grade. For the most part, however, everyone had done well. She expected no less of her advanced class students.

Glancing over to one of the students, she gave a warm smile, which probably looked odd with her dark lipstick and pale complexion. “Will you please hand these back?” She asked holding out the papers. “If anyone would like to discuss their exam, please see me after class.” Once the papers were taken, she continued on to what they would be doing. “Today we’ll be starting on curses. As you probably already know, most spells are only considered dark if the caster’s intent was harmful. Curses, though, are more often than not considered dark. This is because they’re not normally used without the intent to harm. Someone that merely wants to tease or prank is more likely to use a jinx or lesser spell.”

She waited a moment to allow the students taking notes to catch up, before going on. “Curses are the most dangerous spells and when cast even destroy things around the target. It is extremely important for anyone planning to continue in this area outside of school to know the various curses, what they do and how they work, as well as how to defend against them and when it’s ethical and legal to cast them, because, yes, in some fields, they are necessary to use, such as for Aurors. Even the Unforgiveables have exceptions to when they can be used, but this requires special training and licensing. For obvious reasons, we will only be covering the Unforgivables in theory and will get to them more towards the end of the year. Today, we’ll be covering the following curses.”

With a wave of her wand, the following appeared on the board:

Level One Curses

Body-Bind Curse: the body of the victim turns rigid

Impediment Curse: stops or slows down the target

Jelly-Fingers Curse: makes the target’s fingers like jelly, so they are unable to grasp anything properly

Leg-Locker Curse: locks the victim’s legs together making it impossible to walk

Sponge-Knees Curse: turns the target’s knees spongy making it difficult to walk

“These curses are considered level one curses, because though still dangerous, they are the least harmful curses and can be used with good intent, such as stopping someone seeking to harm. These are the ones that are safest for both you and them. They are also the ones that do not normally require a Healer to remedy. Any questions?” Erika took a moment to answer any questions before giving out before announcing the practical for the day. “All right, then, I want everyone to break up into groups of two to practice the spells and counter spells. If there are any questions or problems, just call out and I’ll be around.”

She normally said to raise their hand, but with higher-level spells, it was best to get her attention quickly in case there was a problem. “Oh, and before you leave, don’t forget to pick up a copy of the homework. Due next class!” She waved a piece of paper from a stack on her desk.

OOC: The Body-Bind Curse uses the incantation Petrificus Totalus, the Impediment Curse uses Impedimenta, and the Leg-Locker Curse is Locomotor Mortis. The other curses and the counters may be made up at the discretion of the author and count towards creativity.

Please remember that all posting rules apply. Posts should be at least ten sentences, but more is better. Points will be rewarded based on detail, grammar, creativity, etc. Most importantly, have fun!

Subthreads:

This is a witty title. by Helena Layne with Cynthia Smythe

I'm in advanced classes now by Oliver Abbott

0 Professor Levy Lesson I: Advanced Level (Sixth and Seventh Years) 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Helena Layne

December 08, 2009 9:45 PM

This is a witty title. by Helena Layne

The first few weeks of Defense Against the Dark Arts had been almost restful. Reviews did not ask anything of her mind; even in practices, she could perform and counter most of the jinxes and hexes they'd had a second look at in her sleep. She would rather defuse any situation she got into diplomatically, but she'd felt that it would be prudent to have a working knowledge of how she should go about fighting off anyone who did not share that sentiment while she was signing up for her Advanced course load last year, and she'd taken her first Advanced year of the class with that thought in mind.

Last week, though, there had been an exam. An exam meant a new set of material was highly likely to be in the offing, since there was only so long they could spend in reviewing old material before they just repeated her sixth year.

Her eyes latched onto the papers in Professor Levy's hands as class started; for a moment, she felt her old, intense, interest in her grades flare up. Just because she wasn't a brilliant student didn't meant she didn't care about marks or work hard for the ones she got; if she'd been even half as lazy as Geoff, she'd have probably failed half her CATS on written exams alone.

The sight of the professor's smile startled her slightly, but she returned it politely and took the proffered test papers. Of course hers was on the very bottom; everyone in the room had theirs before she finally got to hers. Sitting down again, Helena flipped through the pages, remembering with a wince the mood she'd been in the day they took it. That she'd scraped an E was nothing short of a miracle in her opinion.

She didn't have much time to ruminate over it, though, as they were quickly introduced to curses. Not quite a topic she was eager to delve into; they'd touched on it in other years, a few had been on her CATS, and she didn't like them at all. Advanced ones were likely to be even nastier than what they had covered back then, and as much as she wished no good to the...woman, she didn't honestly think she'd even do some of the things she'd read about to Emily. She wasn't that eager to have them done to her, either, but that didn't seem to be an option; using level ones was on the schedule for the day.

Surely she was allowed to block them. The professor couldn't ask her to just stand there and let someone who might not know how to fix it turn her fingers into jelly. Besides, blocking was a bit of a specialty of hers. Helena could fight, she'd learned everything O'Leary had tried to teach her to some extent, but she was always better on the defensive than the offensive. Her spells might be mediocre, but her Shields were good.

She decided to just get getting a partner over with and turned to the nearest person. "Want to work together on this?" she asked. Now that Morgaine Carey wasn't around, she thought she should be able to more or less hold her own with most of her classmates, making careful selections less of an issue than they had once been.

16 Helena Layne This is a witty title. 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Oliver Abbott

December 18, 2009 10:52 AM

I'm in advanced classes now by Oliver Abbott

Oliver had known that most of the professors were going to be new this yar, but it had still taken him some time to get used to it. Now several weeks into the year he had forgotten any of them had been new at the start of the year. Even Professor Levy, who had replaced Oliver's favourite (and most feared) teacher Old Eerie, seemed as much part of the school as the class she taught. Plus she taught some pretty cool classes. Oliver wasn't going to start crushing on teachers becuase that was just gross and cliched, but Professor Levy might even be hotter than Coach Fox.

When she mentioned the unforgivables, Oliver was disappointed that their class would just be Level One curses that he'd known since first or second year. Still, he supposed they'd hardly be practising unfrogivables in the classroom, and it might be fun to cast the jelly jinxes on one of his classmates. Not Helena though, because Oliver was already a little bit afraid of her, and might actually curse him if she was in a bad mood. So when they had to form groups of two, Oliver veered away from his Quidditch Captain and headed towards someone in his own year, instead.

"Just the person I wanted to curse," he said with an awkward smile.

0 Oliver Abbott I'm in advanced classes now 99 Oliver Abbott 0 5

Cynthia Smythe

December 18, 2009 11:03 AM

Careful selection? Still an issue by Cynthia Smythe

Being in sixth year was nothing short of bliss. Cynthia didn't have to take the ridiculous, pointless classes anymore (namely studying absurd creatures out in the gardens)and could focus her attentions on things that actually mattered. Like the Dark Arts. Although the class tended to teach defense against dark spells, Cynthia was at least able to learn the Dark Magics in the first place. In addition, professor Levy seemed keen on regular quizzes and exmas; Cynthia approved of this. It gave her regular updates on her progress in the lessons and frequently encouraged her to revsie previous topics, which only made them more memorable. She had no complaints, especially as her most recent paper was returned with a resplendent 'O' on its front. Excellent.

Cynthia was therefore already in a good mood by the time the professor let them know they would be casting curses on each other. It was as if Christmas had come early. The sixth year was rarely encouraged to cause discomfort to other students (though she often managed it unintentionally) and was not going to waste such an opportunity. When her Housemate turned to her and asked to be partners, Cynthia almost felt sorry for the girl. Almost.

"Certainly," she replied with a smile that would have sent chills up a weak man's spine. It wasn't as though she could do much damage though - the curses they had permission to perform didn't induce any pain, and would be short-lived even if they weren't lifted. unfortunately a simple finite incantatem would put an end to all of these basic spells. Nevertheless, Cynthia would do her best to enjoy the class. Pushing her chair back from her desk she stood up, pleased to have a little height advantage on the older girl. "Which curse would you like to start with?"

0 Cynthia Smythe Careful selection? Still an issue 103 Cynthia Smythe 0 5

Helena

December 18, 2009 6:18 PM

I expect to see that shortly. by Helena

There was something about Cynthia Smythe's smile when she accepted the offer of partnership that made Helena wonder about the sagacity of random selection. Based on her life experiences, she couldn't help but interpret it as saying that the other girl was either skilled enough to wipe the floor with her or just thought she was. It would work out well for Helena if it was the latter - with the crowd she had grown up with, learning to take advantage of displays of overconfidence was a necessary strategy for survival - but if it was the former...

She was a year older than Cynthia, and so theoretically a year ahead. That had to count for something, right?

Right. And even if not right, well...The damage wouldn't be permanent. Someone always had to lose, and Helena knew that sometimes it was going to be her who did it. If they'd only found their way to accepting that somewhere along the line, she thought her father and brother, not to mention half the rest of their relatives, would be a lot better off in life. She smiled back calmly. "Fantastic," she said. "Body-Bind."

It was, of the list, the one she personally felt would be most useful in an actual situation. Unless the person she was fighting against could somehow perform non-verbal and completely mental magic, without even hand gestures, they would be almost totally out of commission unless they got so worked up about it that they lost control. Since being trained not to lose control usually (though not in every case, as Anne could probably still attest to) had a stronger impact on most witches and wizards than training so long with a wand did, it was a good way of keeping the defeated party alive for information. It just came across to her as far more useful than knocking someone over and leaving them with full use of their voices and at least a little control of their hands; someone with adequate talent could do rather extensive damage just with those two things.

She didn’t bow to Cynthia. Seeing the likes of her bow was, in her opinion, far too good for the egos of some of her Housemates, and not something she saw the professor really approving of. Or anyone approving of, really, who had half a brain; there was no point. Instead, she took her wand out, focused automatically, and said, “Petrificus totalus” and quickly followed it up with a shield for whatever Cynthia threw at her if the spell missed.

16 Helena I expect to see that shortly. 88 Helena 0 5