Professor Pye

April 02, 2017 10:36 PM
It had been a long summer. A really, really long summer. And Alfie didn't think he could ever look at his younger brother the same way again. His insides were turning inside and out. It just wasn't possible that what his informant had told him could possibly be true. He had almost staggered back to the school at the end of break and had refused to see anyone socially, preferring to lock himself into his quarters to think.

Rebuffs to social advances were given--the only thought Alfie had in those moments were to push everyone away. He should have known better, Pyes were dangerous, Pyes were not meant to be trusted, Pyes were terrible monsters and he was going to put an end to it all even if it meant bringing about his own destruction.

Once he had made this decision, he was back to his old self again, cheerily flirting with those he felt comfortable doing so with and winking most heavily at the rather pinch-faced Medic who he was positive didn't have a single nice bone in her body. As his intermediate students filed in, Alfie smiled widely at them. He had never let on to them his swinging moods, to them he had always been a rather cheerful but strict professor.

Except for when Louis Valois had popped in to chat about the Aladren prefect badge. Then he had been a rather strict but baffled professor who firmly sent the young wizard on his way after assuring him that there had been no mistake at all and that he himself was not in sole charge of picking students for prefect but that he, personally, had voted for Louis because he didn't like overachievers. If it got him reported, he didn't really care, he was on his way out and it would be for the good of everyone.

"This semester we are going to primarily be focusing on the defense part of Defense Against the Dark Arts," he said as he looked out at the faces of the students who he had known since they were small eleven-year-olds. "I know that we never focus on the Dark Arts part, but this semester I think it especially important we work on shield spells and counter-attacks. Today we are going to pair up and discuss any and all spells which we can either do or already know of. Tomorrow, we'll get to work."

If he was going to have to leave soon, he was going to do his darnedest to make sure his students were prepared to defend themselves against whatever out there wished them ill will.

OOC: Have fun, 200 words minimum, be creative and have fun sifting through the wiki. Pretty much everything is a go for because anyone could have heard of anything. Please try to be realistic though in the how/why your character knows of the spell and tag me if your character has any questions. In the event that someone has decided it is a good idea to test spells on each other, Alfie might let a few exchanges happen before jumping in to put all that to a halt so please allow me a chance to respond before cursing your partners' eyes out of their head. Thanks!
Subthreads:
10 Professor Pye Intermediate Defense (Years III-V) 30 Professor Pye 1 5

Sébastien Évreux, Crotalus

April 06, 2017 3:56 PM
Potions was undoubtedly Sébastien’s favourite lesson, but that wasn’t to say he entirely disliked the others (except of course Care of Magical Creatures – why on earth would he ever want to take care of the pathetic bunch of animals they were regularly let loose on?). He could definitely see the use of studying Defence Against the Dark Arts, even if they never got to try out the more interesting spells. Unfortunately, today was simply a lesson of talking, but the next lesson promised to be more hands-on. Maybe there were perks to being in the intermediate classes, even if it did mean the work got harder. Sébastien wasn’t a fan of hard work.

Besides Madeleine, Sébastien still didn’t have anyone he fully considered a friend. Despite assuring himself that it wasn’t actually necessary to have friends, he couldn’t help feeling a little miffed about this, especially when it came to partnering up in class. Still, he was Sébastien Évreux, and he was confident enough that his name would win people over eventually.

“Shall we work together?” he asked a nearby person, not really waiting for an answer as he continued. “I know a fair few relevant spells already – mon père made sure that my tutor prepared me for the real world.”

Having a tutor was perhaps a natural part of the upbringing of a rich society heir, and Antoine Évreux had paid close attention to what his only son was learning. Wizarding society could be a dangerous place, Sébastien had always been informed. Whilst he generally had little interest in reading and research, the few books that Sébastien had read from cover to cover were those that dealt with subjects such as the Dark Arts and the shadier side of legal spells. After all, it was better to be prepared rather than dead, or, worse, the laughing-stock of everyone.

“You’ve got your hexes, of course, like the knee-reversal hex, or the horn tongue hex – although I’ve never really seen the point of that one, as how are you meant to get information out of a person with a horn for a tongue?”

Hexes were a bit pathetic as a form of defence or attack, so Sébastien assumed they would be used for trying to get information out of someone, and leaving your victim with a horned tongue would be a definite miscalculation. He was sure that he would be smarter than that, if he were ever in such a situation.

“Things get more interesting when you look at curses, of course, as they have more of an effect.” He paused here, not wanting to alienate his partner by talking at them all lesson. He also realised that eulogising over the opportunities that hexes and curses presented wasn’t the most strategic thing to do, either. It would be of no benefit to come across as a dangerous freak to his classmates, especially as his current aim was to make connections, if not friends.
9 Sébastien Évreux, Crotalus Finally, something interesting 350 Sébastien Évreux, Crotalus 0 5

Arianna Tate, Crotalus

April 18, 2017 12:58 PM
So far, things were not going as Arianna had planned. She had dreamed her whole life of starting a sorority of sorts at Sonora, which would not just give her true friends but elevate girls who deserved it, singling them out as special, showing them and the entire school who was superior and overall leaving a lasting legacy at Sonora for years to come. Especially given that Arianna would be known as the founder, which made other people realize how important she as an individual was outside of her family name and her mother's maiden name. Obviously, there were girls from important families who....were undeserving because they did things like play Quidditch. That was the main thing that was a big no . Therefore a bloodline wasn't the only thing that mattered. Aunt Holly's daughter, Jasmine, for example was a way better fit than Lily Spencer.

The problem was a lack of suitable people to...include. There were her roommates and she was probably going to just have to ask Gwen, Ayla and Emerald because even though the first two were Teppenpaws, they were proper ladies while Emerald, though not really seeming to be a girly-girl the way Arianna would prefer, was...a rather great political move. The Aladren wasn't just a Brockert, she was the Headmaster's granddaughter. Plus she disliked Lily Spencer immensely and the enemy of thy enemy was thy friend. And Arianna definitely considered tomboys like the Pecari the enemy.

Anyway, the three girls weren't ideal, but they were the best options she had.

However, she knew next to nothing about the new first years. That was why the second years were important because they were going to have to be the ones who had to observe the firsties to see who was suitable. And Arianna had to convince them to do so and tell them what to look for. As well as propose the whole idea to the lot in the first place.

Right now however, she was in Defense Against the Dark Arts, a class she secretly really liked. It wasn't necessary terribly ladylike but there was just something really enjoyable about learning about jinxes, hexes and the like. Plus, it was really a good idea to learn how to defend yourself in dire situations. Arianna had already been almost kidnapped once as a little girl and if someone-anyone, not even necessarily the same people-tried again, she didn't want them to be successful this time either.

Sebastien Evreux, who was sitting next to her, asked to be her partner and then without waiting for an answer, kept on talking. Thank Merlin that Arianna didn't find him objectionable and was amenable to working with him or she'd have to cut him off and tell him to look elsewhere. Of course, if Arianna had had a problem with the other Crotalus in the first place, she wouldn't have sat here.

Anyway, it turned out that he was exceedingly enthusiastic about this topic, something the third year wouldn't have expected. Well, okay, maybe she would have but she wouldn't have expected him to show it. Enthusiasm was for Teppenpaws and Pecaris. And when it came to schoolwork, Aladrens. All of which made her ponder how her cousin Connor had gotten into Crotalus in the first place. Arianna hoped he wouldn't be cramping her style. He could be useful or stay out of her way. Those were his options.

At least it wasn't Beau though.

As for Mr. Evreux, well, truthfully, this did sort of help her opinion of him. Not that it was poor as it was, but at least this was a subject worth getting enthusiastic about and the fact that he was talking about information gathering techniques was very intriguing. "Indeed. Or even as a defensive spell, it's not one of the better options. I mean, even if someone is incapable of wordless magic, they could still abandon magic and just come at you physically. Or in the case of some dark creature, it's not talking in the first place."

Arianna went on. "And that is so true. Of course, the curse that would probably one of the best for gathering information or even defending yourself is the Cruciatus Curse, but that one's banned. There's always the Conjunctivitis Curse though. That causes great pain to someone's eyes."
11 Arianna Tate, Crotalus Incredibly 353 Arianna Tate, Crotalus 0 5

Dustin Newell [Aladren]

May 05, 2017 2:19 AM
Dustin was by no stretch of the imagination a fan of Defense Against the Dark Arts class. He found the subject matter dangerous and the class work reckless, a bit too practical to be appropriate to someone like him, whom nothing and no one would ever want to hurt in real, adult life. It was just a bunch of unnecessary risk and foolishness, and personally, he couldn’t wait until he could drop it next school year.

Today’s lesson did manage not to threaten the integrity of his body, but in Dustin’s humble opinion, it went too far the other direction, which he had previously not even known as a possibility. This lesson was too safe, too theoretical, too… boring. Not to mention the pain of having to just sit and have a conversation with someone. The fifth year hated conversation with almost anyone, considering himself friends exclusively with Louis and friendly with Emmy-Lou and Laila, and he didn’t even want to partner with one of them for this inane assignment. Verbally compiling a list of known spells was a waste of his time and breath.

So, reluctantly, he did it on paper, scribbling down every applicable spell that he knew. Then he cleared his throat to garner the attention of the person beside him. When he felt he had it, he handed them his list. “Let’s make this easy on ourselves,” he suggested. “There’s all the ones I can think of. If you also know a spell, put a checkmark beside it. If you think of one I missed, add it at the bottom in a different colored ink. I used black for mine, obviously, so you’ll have to find another. I have a blue inkwell in my bag, if you need it.”
12 Dustin Newell [Aladren] Putting the text in "Harry Potter text-based roleplay" 312 Dustin Newell [Aladren] 0 5