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

Professor Levy

December 07, 2011 2:54 PM

Advanced Lesson I: Seventh and Sixth Years by Professor Levy

“Grandmother, what big ears you have.”

“The better to hear you with, my dear.”

“Grandmother, what big eyes you have.”

“The better to see you with, my dear.”

“Grandmother, what big teeth you have.”

“The better to eat you with, my dear.”

The parts were said in two distinct voices. Some might have thought that Erika had lost her mind, but it was quite the contrary. It was a tale that she wanted them to pay attention to. “The lines you just heard might be familiar to some of you. It is from a muggle piece of literature called Little Red Riding Hood. In the story, a young girl sets off for her grandmother’s house wearing a red cloak. A wolf stalks her. He gets to her grandmother’s house and eats the old woman. Then, pretends to be her when Little Red Riding Hood knocks at the door. At the end of these lines, he gobbles her up whole. Thankfully, a huntsman is nearby and comes in, cuts the wolf open, and frees the girl,” Erika concluded, as she sat down at her desk. She had been absolutely exhausted lately.

She shifted a little uncomfortably. Her pants were becoming a bit tighter due to the changes that were occurring. Soon, she would have to switch to maternity wear. She was a bit worried about what it would do to her image. Typically, she wore black robes with steel-toed boots. Her dark hair and makeup made her fair skin a shocking site. It was a positive for her position to be a little intimidating. She was concerned that having a baby would make her seem less so. But she also wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. By this time next year, Torra and her would be the proud mothers of two wonderful babies. It made her uncharacteristically excited, but she had to focus on the task at hand, which was not one to take seriously.

Clearing her throat, Erika continued on with her lecture, “This story, like all fairytales, comes from some merit. Often, the truth comes from the wizarding world where creatures that muggles think are make-believe actually exist. Can anyone guess where Little Red Riding Hood comes from? Some think that the grandmother wasn’t eaten at all. If she had been, why wasn’t she freed too when the huntsmen cut the wolf open? No, many wizards and witches that study the connection between muggle literature and the wizarding world think that the grandmother was actually a werewolf and that the little girl came at the wrong time. Not a pleasant subject, is it?” Erika asked, addressing the class. The idea that someone so very close could harbor such a secret was never pleasant.

“Some of you may be taking Care of Magical Creatures and as I understand it have approached the subject area in regards to werewolves. But for those that aren’t, let’s have a quick review. In terms of the law, werewolves are classified as creatures. Why? Some might argue that they should be classified as beings, because they are sentient when the wolfsbane potion is taken. However, without it, the person inside of the wolf is no longer in control. Instead, all that is left is a creature that has no other purpose than to harm. For this reason, a werewolf is not only classified as a creature, but as a dark creature. It is for this reason that we will be studying them in here. Though, our approach will be from a different one than you may have received in Care of Magical Creatures. Our purpose is not to take care of them or emphasize with them, but rather to defend against them. After all, even with the wolfsbane potion, some people choose to use their transformation for dark intentions.”

“If you plan on working in the defensive field, you will most likely come across werewolves. It will be your job to take all steps necessary within the governing laws to defend against them while also protecting them to the best of your ability. However, when it comes down to beast and being, they are beast in our field and we must do what is necessary to protect any within harm’s way. That said, I have set up three dummy werewolves.” Erika moved the curtain on one side of the room that had been hiding the large creatures. “These wolves will mimic their live counterparts with the exception that they will not hurt you…much.” The wolves would not do the students any serious harm, but bruises and bumps were always bound to occur. Sometimes, even a broken bone.

“The first step in dealing with a werewolf is to determine if they have had the wolfsbane potion and if not, to try and administer it. As you may recall, werewolves that have had wolfsbane potion behave quite differently than without. Also, if you can get a glimpse of their eyes, the intelligence seems to be lacking in one that has not been given wolfsbane. Once you determine that a werewolf has not been given wolfsbane, it is up to you to provide them with the potion. To do so, there is a spell that we can use to briefly, very briefly, turn someone human called the Hormorphus Charm.” She demonstrated the spell, showing that it only last a few seconds. “It is vital that you get the potion to them immediately. Each of you will take a vial. The vial is filled with water, but for our purposes, it will do. The wolf that you administer it to will turn blue showing that you have successfully administered the potion before resetting.”

“Another wolf you will be unable to administer the potion to. No matter how many times you try the spell, the wolf will not turn to human form. In this case, it is up to you to determine how best to handle the wolf so that the wolf may not harm itself or others. The final wolf will have had wolfsbane potion, but will still act like a creature. This is because the wolf when in being form is a dark wizard who uses the wolf form for evil deeds. Again, you must determine how to best deal with the wolf so that others may be protected. If possible, it is best that the wolf is kept alive for questioning. Do not count on your classmates, because the wolves will change for each time. Sometimes, it might be the white one that is evil or it might be the black or the gray. You may work in teams of two or three. Good luck.”

OOC: Standard posting rules apply. The more detailed and creative the post, the more points earned. Have fun!

Subthreads:

The tree little wolves...wait... by Edmond Carey, Aladren

I'll blow your house down works here too by Dulce Garcia, Teppenpaw with Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

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

Edmond Carey, Aladren

December 09, 2011 1:58 AM

The tree little wolves...wait... by Edmond Carey, Aladren

When the professor began reciting lines about someone’s grandmother in two voices, when the grandmother sounded like a very unpleasant individual indeed, Edmond wasn’t really sure what to think. It sounded…not quite sane, and that made him a little uncomfortable, particularly in this class where he was never really comfortable anymore anyway, but he refused to let himself shift in his seat and instead held out the faith that it would prove to be part of the lesson. Sometimes, lessons began in strange ways; Jane had been telling him about a Charms lessons he had where what at first glance had seemed to be mangled bodies had fallen from the ceiling. This was not as bad as that so far.

He blinked at the detail of the talking wolf being cut open to get the girl out, but supposed, on thought, that it was no different really than the Wizard’s Hairy Heart story, which he had been in school before he ever accidentally ran across a reference to while reading something else. It was almost, looking at it from another angle, a reverse view of Babbity Rabbity. That made sense; here, the Muggle girl was the protagonist, where there, it was the witch Babbity. He could see the beginnings of a good paper in that idea. He still wasn’t sure about its connection to Defense, though, unless they were having a lesson on animagi.

…Or werewolves. Someone’s grandmother, a werewolf. He didn’t have a grandmother, really – he didn’t know what had ever become of his blood mother’s family, if she had any, Alasdair’s mother was alive but he did not know her, and Robert and Julia’s parents had never seemed to really know quite what to do with him – but it was still an unpleasant thought. Especially since Little Red Riding Hood had most likely been scratched on her way down the wolf’s throat and was now infected herself.

He looked with resignation at the werewolves, finding something good in his life as he did. With everything, he had never yet faced a real one. Nor did he want to. Would everyone trying to Stun it at once work? Then they could use another charm to tie it up, then Stun it again any time it started to wake up.

Edmond pinched the bridge of his nose for a moment, then set his mind to the task at hand. They had to get into groups and assault the wolves in their turn, trying to figure out how to get them in hand. One of them was a monster in every sense of the term. He couldn’t see much point to questioning it…no, Veritaseurum, find out who it bit, and who it worked for. Of course. He could not let his feelings on dark wizards cloud his judgment just now. He had to be objective and clear-thinking. That was the way to succeed in this lesson.

He didn’t think there was any reason to wait any longer than he had to, if the things that happened with other groups wouldn’t help theirs, so he found a first companion. “Would you like to work together?” he asked, figuring they could, if desired, bring in others from there. He’d had a few…bad days in fifth year, but he’d generally just not come to class if it was one, and he was, as distasteful as he found it, good at Defense, so he supposed he wasn’t the worst person to work with, anyway.

0 Edmond Carey, Aladren The tree little wolves...wait... 0 Edmond Carey, Aladren 0 5

Dulce Garcia, Teppenpaw

December 10, 2011 9:52 AM

I'll blow your house down works here too by Dulce Garcia, Teppenpaw

The minute the professor began to tell them the story (as creepy as it was), Dulce knew that they were going to be discussing Werewolves. She wondered briefly if the new Care of Magical Creatures’ professor and Professor Levy conspired together to have a theme for their Advance lessons. It was a bit odd for there to be so closely related subjects (though not entirely unheard of since so many of these lessons intermixed quite nicely). She wasn’t sure why there was the drama of a story for the lesson, but at least it was something different. She had heard this story before, Muggle or not, it was a famous tail. There were magical equivalents to it, of course. Any Muggle fantasy story began from a Muggle witnessing something magical.

She could follow the professor’s logic in regards to the grandmother being a werewolf, but she had heard other variations of the story to know which one was the original. Stories were always elaborated and exaggerated that one could never really tell what was the truth any more. People were too dramatic. Not to say drama wasn’t a good thing from time to time. Heck, music was just as dramatic, if not more so and that was the only way Dulce really knew how to share her feelings. They were all artists in some way.

Dulce sat quietly as she listened to the professor explained what their lesson would be for a day. She wasn’t sure what to think of it, really. It was different, that was for sure. She hoped that she would never come face to face with a werewolf in order to figure out any of this. Seriously though, even if she did run into one, what was the likelihood that she would happen to have wolfsbane on her at all? She certainly didn’t carry it around now, she doubted she would just have it in her back pocket for a rainy day. An Auror might need it. A music major, not so much.

Although she had already read this lesson nearly two years ago (when she had borrowed Lita’s books), Dulce still wrote down the spells and what to do. She felt like she was working with the three little pigs, only it was the three not so little werewolves. All she needed to do was identify what each werewolf was by shooting the spell at them. The one that turned human, she would give the ‘potion’ to. The others she just had to bound or stupefy. Shouldn’t be too terribly hard, she didn’t think.

Turning to the person nearest her, Dulce asked, "Would you like to be in a group?"

0 Dulce Garcia, Teppenpaw I'll blow your house down works here too 0 Dulce Garcia, Teppenpaw 0 5

Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

December 12, 2011 11:21 PM

Not if it's a...brick house, wasn't it? by Rachel Bauer, Crotalus

Rachel had spent more years of her life than not, now, trying her best to be a pureblood, but in her formative years, she’d been given as half-blood an upbringing as her father could arrange for her. She’d learned what various pieces of technology were and how to use them, she knew about crosswalks and buses and the sheer number of people in the world, and she knew stories. She’d heard Red Riding Hood right along with the Wizard and the Hopping Pot, Snow White with the Fountain of Fair Fortune.

She didn’t remember everything about them, she was sure, mainly just her lack of comfort with how women who had magic were always bad in them and they always got fairies completely wrong, but she remembered enough that, after a second where she was a little confused and not sure whose grandmother was under discussion and what that meant for the day, it came back when the professor started reciting the back-and-forth between Red Riding Hood and the wolf in the bed.

Immediately, she make a bet with herself that the lesson was one about werewolves, and smiled in triumph when she was proven right. Though that meant the lesson was probably going to be hard and not a little unpleasant, well, at least they weren’t going to have to carry old grandmothers or dummies approximating old grandmothers off over their shoulders out of danger, as she’d been briefly concerned that they might have to with the talk of Grandmother.

Though, looking over the…things they were dealing with, Rachel wasn’t sure she found this as comforting as it had sounded in the abstract. They wouldn’t hurt them…much. Well, wasn’t that reassuring?

And though she’d been excited about coming into the upper levels at first, she was starting to see a problem with it: there just weren’t many people in sixth and seventh year, not compared to the rest of the school. Already she was starting to feel like she didn’t see enough of Samantha, and even aside from that sentimentality, there weren’t a lot of options of who to work with. There was a chance, and she hoped it would never come to pass, that she might have to work with Bradley before the year was over.

Not today, though, because Dulce Garcia approached her first. She smiled at the other girl in relief and welcome, since she didn’t mind working with Dulce. Sure, they weren’t the best of friends, but they had gotten along and worked together well enough in the past, held similar views of certain people. She didn’t know how their relationship might be at the end of the year – all the prefects in their year were girls, and there was only one Head Girl slot, so unless two or three someones got left off the ballot, she could easily see there being a lot of tension in the ranks over the last few months of school, especially since she did not see the past two Head Girls being Crotali as any good reason to bow aside herself. She was Rachel Bauer first and foremost, and Charlie and Marissa’s accomplishments were nothing to do with her – but for now, she thought they could work together.

“Totally,” she said. “How do you think we should start? Stun everybody and sort them out later, or start with the hormuncu-whatever charm?” She realized that might not have sounded terribly impressive, phrased like that. “I know what it is, I just tripped over that word. It’s a long word.” And she was very obvious, but it got her point across.

16 Rachel Bauer, Crotalus Not if it's a...brick house, wasn't it? 154 Rachel Bauer, Crotalus 0 5