Difficulties on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Levy

October 11, 2010 12:54 PM

Intermediate Level (Third, Fourth, and Fifth Years):Lesson I by Professor Levy

Erika hated having the third years with the fifth years. Last year, it had been nice, because they hadn’t had a fifth year class, so lessons had worked out nicely for being suited to third and fourth years since they weren’t so heavily apart, but the same couldn’t be said for third and fifth years. Instead of continuing to come up with lessons suited for all three years, she had decided to experiment today with teaching two different lessons with the fourth years going where needed. Hopefully, it worked, because otherwise it was going to be a very long term from here on out.

“Settle down!” She said to those still chattering. “Today, we’re going to try something different. I know the third years may find it difficult to do the spells that the fifth years need to be learning and the fifth years may find it dull to learn spells they’ve already learned, so while everyone is going to learn the theory behind the material we’ll cover, we’ll divide into two sections to actually practice spells. Third years will be in one section and fifth years will be in another with the fourth years going where they feel more comfortable. I know this may sound a bit confusing, but it should be come more clear as we go on.”

She smiled at the students hoping that she hadn’t perplexed them too much. “Everyone should open their books to page 211 for the section on boggarts. The boggart is more of a mischievous creature than it really is dangerous, but this doesn’t mean we want it to hang around. It’s still considered a dark creature, because it feeds off of our fear. To do so, they take on the appearance of whatever frightens us most. Often, we find them hiding in dark areas like under a bed. Some think that what children call a boogeyman is the same thing as a boggart.” She didn’t know if this was actually true or not, but she found it to be plausible and wondered how many muggleborns had actually come across one before coming to Sonora.

“Now, if you ever come across one, the spell used is Riddikulus and it’s actually pretty easy to use. The hardest part is over coming the fear. Anyhow, flick your wand in a downward motion like you’re throwing something at the creature and say Riddikulus!. And you continue until the boggart goes away. Any questions about the spell or boggarts?” Once any questions had been answered, she continued on, “The other creature we’ll be learning about today is the Pogrebin. Please turn to page 279. The Pogrebin is a dark creature often found in Russia and is actually dangerous to humans. It follows them around and infuses them with a sense of hopelessness. The person never suspects anything, because the pogrebin resembles a small rock. Once the person collapses, the pogrebin attempts to devour them. For those that realize what is going on, they can be kicked off or stupefy can be used.”

“Pogrebins are quite similar to dementors in that they bring about feelings of depression. Though, pogrebins aren’t nearly as strong. And unlike the boggart that feeds on fear, the dementor feeds on positive emotions. A cheering crowd is like an all you can eat buffet to them. They will drain every single bit of happiness from a person until the person has nothing left except the worse experiences of their life. Worse than that is the dementor’s kiss. Its worst weapon. It pulls back its hood and does what essentially appears to be kissing its victim. The dementor takes the soul of the person leaving nothing, but an empty shell. There’s absolutely nothing else there and no way to get the person back. Thankfully, there is a spell to defend against such foul creatures by using the Patronus spell, which is Expecto Patronum. This is the spell that the fifth years will be practicing today and any fourth years that want to attempt it. To perform the spell, you wave your wand like so,” she demonstrated the motion, “and say Expecto Patronum!.” Appearing before the class was a massive panther. “Everyone’s patronus is unique to them and can change as we change.”

“Now, then, I would like the fifth years and the fourth years that would like to join them over here,” Erika stated, as she walked over to where a tank sat with nothing more than a rock in it. “Meet Oskar. As we mentioned earlier, pogrebins look like nothing more than rocks. We will be using him today to replicate as best we can a dementor without actually having one. I want everyone to work on producing a patronus, with and without Oskar. You may work in groups of up to three and each group may take turns with him. You may find it easier to produce your patronus without Oskar, but I still want you to try with him around to give you a vague idea of how trying to fight off a dementor’s positive sucking energy might feel. Remember that dementors are much stronger than Oskar. If you have any questions or need help, I’ll be here. Just let me get the other group started.”

With that she waved over to the students that were left to come over. On her other side was a large black trunk. Once the students were gathering around, she started, “Inside here is a boggart. We’re going to take turns with the boggart and work on practicing the Riddikulus spell.” She showed them once more how to perform the spell. “Everyone line up in a straight line.” After the students had formed a line, Erika said, “Let’s begin!” With that, she opened the trunk to allow the first student their turn.

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Subthreads:

Looking for a loophole by Raines Bradley, Crotalus

Showing my materialistic side. by Alessa Hinckley

Difficulties by Edmond Carey, Aladren

0 Professor Levy Intermediate Level (Third, Fourth, and Fifth Years):Lesson I 0 Professor Levy 1 5

Raines Bradley, Crotalus

October 11, 2010 9:23 PM

Looking for a loophole by Raines Bradley, Crotalus

Raines hated classes where his year was lumped in with two others and his was, invariably, the youngest of the three. He'd enjoy it, he supposed, when he was the almighty fifth year making thirteen-year-olds cower, but for now, he found it difficult to cope with the unshakable feeling that he was being looked down on. Especially when he suspected that it was at least a little bit literally. He had grown over the summer, but he still felt ridiculously small compared to some of the boys in his classes.

Not, of course, that he cared what they thought of him. Most of them were hardly worth the trouble it took to remember their names, and as for the ones who weren't...he was better looking than Edmond Carey, saner than Quentin Melcher or Jethro Smythe, better-mannered than Dmitry Talsky, and, he was sure, smarter and richer than his roommate Theodore Manzana. And probably better looking than Dmitry and Theo, too.

It wasn't immediately stated, but somehow, as soon as they began covering the relevant page in the text, Raines knew that it was his year that would be looking at the boggart. He knew it, and he immediately began looking for a way out of it. He wasn't sure what his worst fear was, and he found the thought of finding out in front of the entire class to be...

Oh, no. He didn't want to find out in front of the entire class. Nightmares were private property, or should be. He had never approved of public displays of emotion. They were like classes with too many people and age groups in them.

Sloppy. Disordered. Wrong. Upsetting.

Combining the two would be a nightmare in and of itself.

He also had another problem to think about. What if the thing Rachel feared most was him telling about her, now that she knew he knew? Not only would she be of no use to him if the information became widely available, but he would almost certainly, once she had no need to keep quiet about that conversation they'd had, go down technically as quickly as she went down socially. Pierce and Powell and Emily Douglas would all come after him. He would be utterly defeated by a legion of inappropriate women.

Could a boggart assume multiple forms at once? Because he thought he might have just identified his worst fear.

He might have protested, but that would have to allow the class to know there was something he was afraid of. Raines really didn't think saying it was all about chivalry and concern for his classmates would work very well, since he thought he could have seen through that when he was eight. This wasn't like that time in Care of Magical Creatures; that had been about chemicals, not something intrinsic, and Professor Levy was much scarier than Dakin had been. He even thought of her with the honorific half the time.

The best he could do was get as close to the back as he reasonably honorably could or maybe a little further, be in front of instead of behind a girl, and hope many fourth years were incompetent and would drag this on until there was no time left for him. In the meantime, he would continue to look for a loophole.

He noticed he was being spoken to as he did so. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

0 Raines Bradley, Crotalus Looking for a loophole 0 Raines Bradley, Crotalus 0 5

Alessa Hinckley

October 14, 2010 6:35 PM

Showing my materialistic side. by Alessa Hinckley

While Professor Levy hated having the third through fifth years, Alessa just plain hated Defense. She was awful at it because it required people to be more athletic and she was not. Not only was Alessa raised to be a proper young lady and proper young ladies did not do sports, she was just bad at them. Not that DADA was sports exactly but it did require one to be quick on their feet.

She had to admit, today's lesson sounded slightly better. Though Alessa didn't relish going up against a boggart, and exposing her greatest fear to all her classmates, at least they weren't being split into teams and forced to compete at something she would inevitably be horrible at like that stupid muggle game or the obstacle course. Ignoring the part where everyone would see her worst fear, at least this would be more like Charms. Alessa could handle that, she was good at spellwork.

Still, the idea of someone seeing her worst fear was more than a little embarassing. Fortunately, everyone else in her class had to go through it too but the older students did not and they would likely see the younger students' weaknesses and could laugh at them or exploit them later. If they weren't too busy being depressed from the pogrebin. Oh how, Alessa hoped they were. Not because she genuinely wanted people to feel bad but because she didn't want them picking on her.

At least her fear wasn't too horridly embarassing. She was afraid of her house burning down with all her stuff inside. Alessa thought a lot of people might be afraid of fire though her fear made her seem materialistic. She really wasn't but she liked her stuff. Even though she knew just about anything could have been replaced, Alessa didn't want it to have to be.

It turned out she was near the front of the line. The Aladren scowled as she waited for the first few people to be done. This wasn't something she was in a hurry to do.

On the other hand, at least she would get it over with while others were still worried about their own fears being shown to everyone. As she stepped up, the boggart shifted itself into a letter,which Alessa promptly opened. Naturally it said her house had just burnt down to a crisp. With pictures and everything. Nice touch.

Alessa shut her eyes and told herself mentally it wasn't real. Not that that would help anything but it did keep her calm. She raised her wand and said "Riddikulus" .

The letter folded itself into the shape of origami crane and turned neon orange. It flew itself over and landed on Alessa's head. She swatted it away, giggling and went to the back of the line.

11 Alessa Hinckley Showing my materialistic side. 150 Alessa Hinckley 0 5

Edmond Carey, Aladren

October 20, 2010 9:21 PM

Difficulties by Edmond Carey, Aladren

"Excuse me," Edmond said politely, stepping around someone as he made his way to his accustomed desk in the classroom and put his things down. He was too tall, now, to take one of the front row seats in good conscience, but his concern for his classmates did not extend quite far enough to take him to the very back of the room, where he might not hear. In a class this crowded, which was one of the reasons that he was not very fond of it for all that he was good at it, it was likely that the talkative would migrate there.

He could be talkative, if he liked a subject and he had an audience which would allow him to ramble on without giving any indication that they found the demonstration of that behavior undesirable, but not in class. Here, more so than even the rest of their classes, that was dangerous.

So he listened closely when Professor Levy began to lecture them, and was glad, since the instructions turned out to be more complex than usual because of the two assignments they could pick between. The actual choice, though, wasn't hard. He had a good idea what his boggart would be, and he had no desire to see Jane - even knowing that none of it was real, and that she was perfectly safe in another part of the same building he was in - lying on the floor like a broken doll, Morgaine all over again and in person this time, and having an absolute certainty that it was somehow his fault she was dead. Irrational despair was hardly more inviting, but he'd rather be irrational than see that even so.

Oskar, as Professor Levy called him, did indeed look like a rock, but the moment Edmond stepped close to the tank she'd put it in, he began to feel anxious, as though there was an obstacle he couldn't clear, and very like there was nothing he could do to escape his situation. It was difficult to be reasonable and just step away. He didn't know if it was the pogrebin itself bothering him or a combination of Oskar and the knowledge of what Oskar should do, but it had been very unpleasant just the same.

Still feeling unsettled, he tried to focus on the task at hand. He would learn the spell, then he would try to take on the pogrebin. That was the logical way to handle this.

Somehow, though, the spell wouldn't work. He tried to take it in stride, but as it went on, when he'd known he wasn't his best because of the pogrebin to begin, Edmond began to feel more and more frustrated. It was impolite to think on one's own accomplishments too much, but he did have a high success rate with spells, particularly in Defensive magic. He thought that most likely had more to do with his sister than with any innate talent he had for the subject, as he preferred more peaceful lessons, but he still called in some of his highest grades here. What wasn't working?

"Are you having any luck with this?" he asked the person nearest him, his tone conveying mild exasperation. "I've been having a terrible time today."

0 Edmond Carey, Aladren Difficulties 0 Edmond Carey, Aladren 0 5