Oh boy. Me with a dodge ball. Oh no. [Blue team!] on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Levy

February 06, 2010 5:46 PM

Beginner Lesson (First and Second Years) by Professor Levy

Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons were probably tedious to the majority of students. Since the third through fifth years would be taking a break with the team building activities going on, Erika thought it was fair that the first and second years got a reprieve as well. In front of the room full of students, Erika held a spongy red ball in her hand. On the desk behind her was a cardboard box filled with more of the balls. “Today, we’re going to be playing one of my favorite childhood games. Dodge ball,” she announced with a fond smile.

As predicted, there was a mix of confusion and excitement among the expressions on the students’ faces. Elaborating, Erika continued on, “For those of you who don’t know what dodge ball is, let me explain. It’s a muggle sport where everyone divides up into two teams. For today, you’ll either be on the blue team or the red team. Everyone must stay on their side of the line. If you cross the line, then you’re out. The other main ways to get out are to get hit by one of these balls or if an opposing team member catches a ball you throw. Sounds simple enough, right? The point of the game is to be the last person standing. Any questions so far?”

Erika leaned a little on her desk for support. She still had the cane, but on good days, she was beginning to manage a little without. “All right, then, moving on. Now that everyone is caught up, you’re all probably wondering what this has to do with Defense Against the Dark Arts, which brings me to the lessons, yes, lessons, for today. One of the key points to defense is maneuvering. If you were ever in an actual dangerous situation, instead of balls being thrown at you, it would be spells, some of which can be very nasty to even deathly. This teaches you how to avoid being hit.”

She glanced around the room for a moment to make sure everyone was still paying attention. “Another point is aim.” She paused for anyone taking notes. “Aim is the second most invaluable thing in defense. Aiming helps to deter someone following you. You don’t necessarily have to aim at that person. You might just want to bring something down in front of them to help slow them down so you can get away. Aim is also necessary for Chasers for making those goals,” she smiled at a couple she knew played Quidditch.

“That said, let’s go ahead and move the desks against the walls,” Erika instructed the class. Sure, it could have been done by magic, but she liked to teach her students that there was some value in doing things without it. While they were being moved, she added, “All you’ll need is yourselves. Oh, and don’t forget your wands.” She had a secretive grin on her face, knowing that the students had no idea why they would need a wand for a muggle game.

Once everything was done, including a line on the floor, and teams divided, Erika revealed why they needed their wands. Up on the board, she wrote two spells Repello and Finite. “To add a twist to the game, everyone will be allowed to use the two spells that I have written down. When cast properly, Repello will keep objects thrown at the caster away meaning all dodge balls thrown will fly away. In fairness, those on the opposing team may try casting Finite on someone using Repello so that they can get hit. No one may use Finite Incantatem, because it’ll end all spells being used. Any spell used that’s not on the list will count as an automatic out. Anyone that’s out maybe take a seat on the sidelines,” she gestured to the area on either side of her desk. “At the sound of the whistle, you may begin.” She blew the whistle, allowing the students to run towards the balls set up on the line and thus, beginning the game.

OOC: Basically, this is dodge ball with a couple of spells introduced. Your student may try casting Repello to try and keep balls away or try casting Finite on a student using Repello. Obviously, casting Finite on a student not using Repello won’t do much. Students may be on either the Red or Blue team, just make sure to include which team in your subject for others posting. Standard posting rules apply – spelling, grammar, length, creativity, etc. Have fun!

Subthreads:

Flying the House colors for once [Red Team] by Rachel Bauer, Crotalus with Jethro Smythe , Edmond Carey

Oh boy. Me with a dodge ball. Oh no. [Blue team!] by Demelza Eagle with Jude Normandy [Blue Team], Demelza , Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

0 Professor Levy Beginner Lesson (First and Second Years) 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

February 06, 2010 11:42 PM

Flying the House colors for once [Red Team] by Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

Since she had come to Sonora, Rachel had been continually paranoid about the possibility that someone was going to call her bluff and let the entire class know there was no such thing as the Arizona Bauers. She worried about it constantly, and with what she thought was good reason; if anyone ever figured out that the only magical blood in her father’s veins was from a Muggleborn mother, her life was over. Blood was beans to her personally, she had always thought her dad was twice the wizard Jeremy was on top of being, well, nicer, but every visit back to Arizona let her know again just how unsuited to middle-class life she’d become. Going up was hard; going back down was impossible.

Unfortunately, her parents had both started their careers as liberals, and Dad had never quite gotten out of that phase of his life. Part of the problem between him and Momma had been his insistence that Rachel and her sisters should be well-informed on topics like his side of their heritage. Even more unfortunately, at least from Rachel’s point of view, Momma hadn’t gotten custody of them until after the damage was done, at least for Rachel and Kate. Alicia, having only just gotten the concept of complete sentences down when the divorce was finalized, had largely escaped that particular curse, but even she knew the basic premise of Superman.

Even Rachel, despite being the eldest and so most exposed, had…gaps…in her knowledge, though, so when Professor Levy mentioned dodge ball, she couldn’t say for sure what that was. She thought she had the basic idea down, though; it was right there in the label. It also sounded fun, which was why she therefore expected it to be ridiculously stupid.

She made a face when they were told they had to move the desks, wondering why Professor Levy didn’t just do it by magic. Since they were barred by law from using their powers to try to improve or take over the world, being able to get around doing chores the hard way seemed to her like half the point of being a witch. It also took longer to move all the desks manually, which wasted class tim…

Wait. Had she just told them to get their wands out for a Muggle game?

Confused, and suddenly glad she was wearing sensible shoes, Rachel took out her wand and took up a position near the line. The position lasted longer than the confusion; of course, if this was a real situation, they would probably be able to put up some defense beyond a strong offense. It was a pity, though, that she couldn’t use magic to launch the little balls at the enemy more effectively; the only things she’d really thrown for a long time were random magazines at whichever one of her sisters had gotten into her stuff on a given day, and she wasn’t sure how good her arm was anymore. Not that she was weak, one of the perks of having big solo bedrooms was being able to patch together enough of a routine to make sure that didn’t happen, but she was out of practice in the pitching department. And, for that matter, the catching department.

Here was hoping she could get the repelling spell right straight off. Her record said she probably could, but would it move with her, or would she need to recast it every time she moved? Besides, it wasn’t terribly smart to trust a spell she’d never done before entirely, and performing any set of spells over and over again in quick succession while running around and throwing things would probably wear her out in no time flat. It would work better if the team could set up some kind of strategy, maybe switching who was in the front and who got to hang back a bit so that didn’t happen, maybe work out evasion patterns, and – there was no time for that, because there went the whistle.

Rachel did what came naturally: she dove forward, grabbed a ball in her free hand, and threw it, as hard as she could, across the line. Then, remembering the purpose of the game, dove the other way to avoid retaliatory fire and gave the repelling spell a try before grabbing another ball to throw.

16 Rachel Bauer, Crotalus Flying the House colors for once [Red Team] 154 Rachel Bauer, Crotalus 0 5

Demelza Eagle

February 09, 2010 2:22 PM

Oh boy. Me with a dodge ball. Oh no. [Blue team!] by Demelza Eagle

Demelza found that DADA was her absolute favorite class. She loved it! She loved preforming defensive spells, and she even loved the theory. From only having the class for half a year, she had already decided that she wanted be and auror when she grows up. This was the class for her. Everything seemed to click! And Demelza was definitely put in this world for the good of others. She is all against dark magic. So, yeah, it made sense that she loved DADA.

The funny thing was that her whole family is good in potions, and she's the only one that is really good at DADA. Demelza was the little reject, which she was fine about: she just loved the class so much!

Demelza walked into DADA class really excited for today's lesson. Was it hard to tell that she loved to perform spells? She doubted it. With a huge smile, Demelza sat down at a desk. Soon the teacher began to speak, and she got really excited. Dodge Ball! Demelza had played it with her brothers many times, and she was awesome! Although, she had no idea what this had to do with DADA...

But as it was explained, Demelza understood, and she knew that his was going to be a really fun class. The only problem was that Professor Levy only said that chasers needed aim. Insulted, Demelza muttered, "beaters need aim just a much as chasers." She was grinning wildly, and choose to go on the blue side. She grabbed a blue sponge ball, ready for action. She quickly looked at the board and tried to remember the spells before the game was started.

When it was time, Demelza threw a dodge ball with all her might (which is really hard, by the way, because of her beater muscles), and them casted 'Repello' with her wand. She gave a small smirk, and then shouted to someone on the red team, "Try and beat that!" She turned to the closest person next to her on her team and asked, "That wasn't too mean was it?" she hated to be mean, but hopefully the person would just laugh it off.

0 Demelza Eagle Oh boy. Me with a dodge ball. Oh no. [Blue team!] 157 Demelza Eagle 0 5

Jude Normandy [Blue Team]

February 10, 2010 2:59 PM

Yeah, probs shouldn't be standing behind you, huh? by Jude Normandy [Blue Team]

It wasn’t that Jude Normandy didn’t like DADA, it was just that he preferred Charms and Care of Magical Creatures. He knew it was Mel’s favourite class, though, so he decided beforehand that he should probably work with her. Even though Jude was a friendly guy, he liked to chill with his old friends just as much as make new ones. Actually, as friends went, he was pretty sure that Mel and Jose were his closest ones. Jose was the coolest roommate ever (and he like shoes, which Jude did not) and Mel was just a lot of fun—she was so wacky and kind of wild, but that was what made her interesting.

The Pecari’s blue eyes widened as Professor Levy explained that they were going to be playing Dodgeball. Jude had never actually played before because his parents had homeschooled him, but he understood the theory well enough. After all, even though he lived in an eco-friendly artists’ den in the middle of nowhere, he did have the basic TV stations and he had watched the Recess cartoon as a kid. The professor’s explanation didn’t take very long, so Jude hurried and grabbed a dodgeball, not wanting to be hit.

As it turned out, the ball was blue. With a grin, Jude fired it off at someone on the opposite team then quickly stooped to grab another ball. When the boy’s brown head popped back up, he was behind Mel. Which was really a good place to be, seeing as that he had just fired a ball at someone and he would probably need to hide somewhere in case they wanted revenge.

“Bit showoffy,” Jude admitted from behind Mel with a shrug. “Also probably not a good idea. Maybe you’re not the person to be hiding behind after all,” he admitted with a grin. “I think you may be about to become a ball magnet.

0 Jude Normandy [Blue Team] Yeah, probs shouldn't be standing behind you, huh? 0 Jude Normandy [Blue Team] 0 5

Jethro Smythe

February 12, 2010 8:28 AM

Did I miss something? [Red Team] by Jethro Smythe

DADA classes were sometimes quite frightening. Professor Levy looked quite scary, and she walked with a cane, which for some reason made Jethro a little uncomfortable. Then they studied all sorts of scary and evil things in the classes. Jethro knew the general point was to learn how to defend against the dark arts - hence the name of the class - but he would admit to preferring petting puffskeins in care of magical creatures than thinking about how to defend himself if he was being chased.

As it turned out, the class today wouldn't be frightening at all - they were going to play a Muggle game. Jethro listened intently to the rules of the game and, having understtod them, decided not to listen to the rest of the opening lecture. He could only retain a small amount of information, and the rules were usually what mattered in a game. Jethro did hear the bit about using some spells in the game, but there was really no way he was going to be able to concentrate on throwing balls and catching balls and doging balls and using spells.

So with his peers, Jethro stood on the red team side of the room. A whistle blew, and suddenly balls were everywhere. Jethro manage to dodge one almost by accident, but then just one second later a ball smacked right into his side. It hurt. Jethro looked down at the place where he'd been hit, but it looked just the same. Vaguely he remembered that if he was hit by a ball, then he had to go and sit by the Professor's desk. Before he could be hit by another ball, Jethro went and sat down.

0 Jethro Smythe Did I miss something? [Red Team] 146 Jethro Smythe 0 5

Demelza

February 15, 2010 7:25 PM

Oh no. Another bad decision by Demelza

"Showoffy? Nah, just giving all I got!" Demelza said back to Jude, with a laugh. she probably really was being showoffy, but she wouldn't admit it: she was into this game! "and, yeah, I'm always a ball target though, aren't I? Being in Quidditch and stuff... But, I'll just do this. HAHA!" she said before shouting, "REPELLO REPELLO REPELLO! HAHA!" she yelled like a mad lady, hoping from one foot to the next each time she shouted the spell. Wow, she really was mad/crazy/nutz... all the above. You could only find that in Demelza.

This crazy wackiness really isn't Demelza's fault. Her parents spent much time paying attention to her little sister with disabilities, so she was practically raised by her brothers, which she rather enjoyed. But with seven brothers, things can get hectic, and rather crazy. Hence, the reason why Demelza is the way she is.

Plus, her parents really weren't the most sane. Her mother used to go on hunts for Magical creatures as a job, and her dad does some crazy projects... so what, her family isn't completely normal? She isn't completely normal.

"Oh, c'mon Jude, you have a go now! Just kill that guy!" She said, pointing to some random guy on the red side. "Or, well, I'll use 'finite' on him, and you throw the ball. Teamwork, y'know. Ok, so ready, set, FINITE!" she shouted to the guy, as she signaled for Jude to throw the ball.

0 Demelza Oh no. Another bad decision 0 Demelza 0 5

Edmond Carey

February 25, 2010 5:05 PM

I think I may have ended up on the wrong side [Red] by Edmond Carey

Edmond had known coming in that school was not going to be like home on several different levels. For one thing, at home, there weren’t a hundred-odd people present to view his every error, and his tutors had been paid handsomely to ensure that he knew whatever it was they were teaching, not just to present the material to a room and see what happened; being relatively unimportant was still something of a novel experience for him. He had, however, expected things to remain basically the same in terms of speed and methods of presentation.

He had been wrong about that.

It wasn’t that he never had a chance to show off his mastery of the Trivium, because he did. Professor Fawcett loved the essay, and until recently, they’d had history classes, which Edmond was planning to resume as one of his independent studies the second he reached third year. Overall, though, Sonora was a performance-based institution with an emphasis on basic skills for everyone, and that threw him. He did not think less of himself for that; anyone could tell it was a major transition to go from spending hours a day reading or discussing books on magical and political theory to actually being asked to do things.

The class he’d had the easiest time adjusting to had, hands-down, been Defense Against the Dark Arts. This was not so much because of any natural martial traits of his as because he was Morgaine Carey’s little brother and Morgaine was paranoid. Every Tuesday, without fail, during his first year, she had used him for target practice until he had figured out how to block her. It had been then that Edmond figured out just how fast of a learner he really was – by the end of the year, he had been able to hold her off and even retaliate a little, though he’d never actually managed to hit her – and his skill with magic in general had increased only a little more slowly. Without that training, if you could call it training, he doubted he would have been nearly as close to the top of the class as he was. So Edmond had a certain fondness for Defense Against the Dark Arts.

It helped that there were not huge differences between Professor Levy’s style and Professor O’Leary’s, even if the former did demand that they move their own desks and seemed to have a bit more of a preference for lively activities. Today seemed like a fine illustration of that difference; he had never heard of dodge-ball, but put it together in his head to be something like Quidditch on foot, only the Bludger hits were always severe and the Bludgers were also the Quaffle and goals were scored by hitting other people with them. At least the Bludger-Quaffles looked softer than either of the real things; with luck, no one would get hurt too badly even if they couldn’t figure out how to play Keeper with magic.

Edmond thought he’d have an easy enough time with it. He was already a fairly competent Chaser, which would cover the catching, dodging, and throwing aspects of the game, and he could do these spells. He was going to have to remember to thank Morgaine again the next time he wrote. After he saw how much of team strategy he knew well enough to put into practice. One of the disadvantages, after all, of being tall was that he presented a great target.

The game quickly devolved, from his perspective, into utter chaos. There didn’t seem to be any strategy involved; everyone just threw Bludger-Quaffles at each other and tried not to get hit, doing nothing to help each other or really focus on reducing the opposite team’s numbers. Wishing he knew non-verbal magic already, Edmond ducked a projectile thrown at him a little too fast and ended up on the floor. It was not the most dignified of positions, but he thought it made up for it in obtaining the desired objective of not being hit by a Bludger-Quaffle. As he pushed himself back onto his feet, he tried the repelling charm again and was rewarded with the sight of a ball that would have taken him out bouncing off harmlessly instead.

“We need to organize,” he said to no one in particular, reaching for the offending article and throwing it back toward the opposition as hard as he could. One of the benefits of his size was that this was pretty hard.

0 Edmond Carey I think I may have ended up on the wrong side [Red] 143 Edmond Carey 0 5

Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

February 26, 2010 5:13 PM

I'd say more than one (Blue Team) by Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw)

It shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that Dulce was not an overly happy person the way her sister was. Actually, she was pretty much the opposite of her sister in many ways. Other than their dark brown hair, Dulce and Lita looked relatively nothing alike. Dulce shared all the physical traits of their father while Lita shared those of their mother. Lita had a knack for liking the ‘girly’ things in life like the color pink, boys, and dancing. Dulce, well, she liked ‘girly’ things too, but not in the obvious ways like her sister. But, the biggest difference between the girls was their attitudes. Lita took life by the reigns and rode it like it was a carnival ride. Dulce, well, she took it as though she was in an ocean fighting a horrible under current.

Dulce may not have been a downer had she been able to go to the school for music as she had originally intended, but because she was here at Sonora, she just seemed to be extra negative about everything. So, she wasn’t in the best of moods when she went to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She didn’t mind the professors, none of them seemed outwardly rude or anything and they each seemed eager about their careers and teaching, but Dulce just couldn’t drum up enough enthusiasm to really make the lessons worth it.

And much like any other lesson Dulce was privy too, she was even less enthused about this one. Dodge ball? Great. Just what she needed. She grew up in a neighborhood full of magical kids, some were halfbloods who went to muggle schools and brought home the games they learned there. One game happened to be dodge ball. Dulce could appreciate why this was a lesson for them in Defense, but it didn’t mean she had to like it. Having people throw balls at her didn’t sound all that fun. But, it’s not like she had much choice.

Nor did she have much choice in whom she was teamed with because, somehow, she was on the team with the loudest and apparently not all that smart ones. Dulce, who had managed to avoid being hit by any balls (nor had she felt compelled to throw any), finally had enough of listening to the girl scream and make them all look stupid. “You’re doing it all wrong.” Dulce commented under her breath, dodging another ball as she did so. “Repello is used when a ball is coming at you, you know, to repel it away from you.” Dulce demonstrated the spell on an incoming ball that was flying towards them. “And Finite is used when someone you threw a ball at tries to repel it away from them. You finite their spell so that they still can get hit by the ball.”

Dulce resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the other two students and in her attempt to help her team mates, Dulce ended up taking one in the gut (for which she was sort of grateful for). “Oh, thank Merlin.” Dulce muttered, now getting a break from having to play along.” Walking off the court, Dulce decided to add, “And yelling doesn’t make the spell any better.” Dulce wasn’t looking to make friends, so whether they were insulted by her input or not didn’t bother her. She just didn’t want to be on the team that lost because they were too slow to understand the lesson or the spells.

0 Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) I'd say more than one (Blue Team) 0 Dulce Garcia (Teppenpaw) 0 5