Advanced Class, how fast can you cast? on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Professor Hawthorne

November 29, 2018 12:35 PM

Advanced Class, how fast can you cast? by Professor Hawthorne

Tabitha always enjoyed teaching her Advanced classes. The material that she had to teach was more substantial and harder and gave them plenty to sink their teeth into. The same could be said for the Defence professor. DADA required a lot more actual thought at the Advanced level. One certainly couldn't get away with simply throwing out any old spell anymore and it required the students to think and then, subsequently, come up with their own ideas. Today's lesson was particularly creative. Tabitha was curious to see what her students would come up with.

Ailuros was sitting on Tabitha's desk, watching with her ears pricked up as the students entered the class. Her eyes roamed the room, taking in all these two-legged beings. Hopefully, if she was lucky, some of them might stay behind to pet her. Ailuros liked being fussed over. Maybe she would go and find the Nice Two-Legged who often stayed behind to chat to her other mistress and was gentle with warm hands. Ailuros liked him.

Tabitha gave the kitten kneazle a stroke before looking to address her class. "Good morning," she began, her eyes taking in the appearance of her students. She hoped that they would all be good and focused, which could sometimes be difficult given that the Advanced lesson took up most of the lunch service. "Today, we're going to be looking at something a bit more theoretical in nature called Combination Casting."

She flicked her wand in the direction of the chalk which rose obediently. Ailuros' attention was momentarily snagged by this, her eyes fixating on the chalk as it wrote on the board.

"In a duel, your opponent will not give you the courtesy of taking it in turns. There will be no breaks where you can recover and you certainly won't be given the time to think of a spell. You need to start thinking strategically and working out how a number of different spells can complement each other and create a bigger and better effect than they could do on their own. This is not simple. You need to be able to think one step ahead - you need to analyse each spell and work out not only what benefits it will have from the previous spell but also how it will enhance the next spell. You also need to be aware of how many spells you can cast in one go. Exhausting yourself by overstretching and being too ambitious will render the whole point of combination casting pointless."

"There are two categories that combinations can fall under - simply offensive or defensive. Whichever of these categories that your combination falls under depends on the base of your combination. Or, in other words, the first spell that is cast. For example, if you start your combination with the stunning spell, Stupefy, you would probably continue casting in an offensive manner. It's the most important spell, it sets the tone of your combination so it is very important to think about how you want to start."

Tabitha glanced at Ailuros out of the corner of her eye, making sure the rambunctious kitten was still on her desk and not attempting to eat the chalk before continuing.

"The next spell you cast should enhance the base. For example, if I cast the Jelly-Legs Jinx and then follow it up with the Tongue-Tying Curse, I have not only made my opponent unsteady on their feet, I've also prevented from speaking. If they're reliant on verbal incantations, I've taken away the ability for them to use the counter-curse. If they can do non-verbal magic, then it's still useful as they're distracted by having to undo your jinxes."

"The next spell could be one of two things. If you're losing and on the defensive, you need to use a spell that would cause a distraction and divert your opponent's attention. The Reductor Curse is very good example for this as you could blow up a tree or a wall, forcing your opponent to stop their assault on you and protect themselves. If you're winning, you'll want to cast something harmful like the Stinging Hex, which has the added benefit of causing swelling. If you hit them in the right spot, like between the eyes, you could temporarily blind them giving you a very big advantage."

Ailuros had now taken an interest in the end of Tabitha’s wand, which had been flicking occasionally to keep control of the chalk that was scrawling notes on the board. The kitten kneazle was now trying to bite the wood. Tabitha smiled affectionately at the animal before pulling her wand away from Ailuros - it would be embarrassing if she had to go and purchase a new one, citing reason for replacement as ‘became a chew toy for a kitten’.

“The final spell that you should cast needs to be devastating. In a duel, it should be the spell that guarantees a win or, failing that, puts you close to winning. Disarming your opponent with Expelliarmus is a good example. Unless you’re up against somebody who can do wandless magic which, as you all know, is extraordinarily difficult, this would generally finish any kind of fight. The Full Body Bind Curse is another thing that could end a duel. How is your opponent going to take you down if they can’t move?”

Keeping her wand away from Ailuros, she flicked it at a stack of papers which obediently distributed themselves to Tabitha’s students. Simply a summary of everything she’d explained. There was also a list of spells, both offensive and defensive. It was quite lengthy and it was unlikely that they knew all of the spells - some of them had incredibly silly effects and Tabitha had compiled the list from a mixture of duels she'd had when travelling the world and the immature fights she'd had in her own school days. She had, of course, left out the Three Unforgivable Curses. While they would probably be effective, she didn't want to put those thoughts in the minds of her students. They were also abhorrent.

“For the remainder of the lesson, I want you to come up with your own combinations. The list of spells is to help you, though as you will have noticed, they are not separated into offensive and defensive and also, no explanations as to what they do. You will need to figure out what each spell does and which is suited to which heading and, bear in mind, there are some spells that can be both. I would like you to come up with at least two combinations, preferably one of each and then, write an essay detailing why you have chosen those spells and how you think they will benefit you in a duel. Each combination should have a minimum of three spells though if you want to create longer combinations, feel free. Next lesson, we’ll be trying out your combinations for real. You may begin.”

OOC - I hope this lesson is understandable and interesting for you guys. Normal posting rules apply. Below is a list of all the spells on Tabitha's list.

Aguamenti
Anteoculatia
Aqua Eructo
Avis
Bombarda (and Bombarda Maxima)
Calvario
Cantis
Colloshoo
Confringo
Confundus
Densaugeo
Everte Statum
Expelliarmus
Expulso
Finite Incantatum
Flipendo (Duo and Tria)
Fumos
Furnunculus
Immobulus
Impedimenta
Incarcerous
Incendio (Duo and Tria)
Lacarnum Inflamarae
Langlock
Levicorpus
Locomotor Mortis
Melofors
Mimblewimble
Nebulus
Obscuro
Oppugno
Petrificus Totalus
Protego (Diabolica and Horribilis)
Reducto
Relashio
Rictusempra
Sectumsempra
Silencio
Slugulus Eructo
Steleus
Stupefy
Tarantallegra
Ventus
Vulnera Sanentur

Subthreads:

Quite fast when I'm not distracted. by Lily Spencer

Pretty fast, actually by Arianna Tate, Crotalus

20 Professor Hawthorne Advanced Class, how fast can you cast? 1417 Professor Hawthorne 1 5

Lily Spencer

November 30, 2018 3:24 AM

Quite fast when I'm not distracted. by Lily Spencer

These days, Lily was feeling quite happy. Things were going well for her this year, and competing in Quidditch against other schools was absolutely smashing. The English witch loved every minute of those matches. Though she wasn’t in her desired position, she wasn’t quite sure why she’d given up being a Chaser. She enjoyed it more than she remembered, and it was lovely having two other team-mates to rely on and play with. Seeking was too solitary for the extroverted witch.

Besides Quidditch, she had friends to chat with and was doing well in her courses. Her marks were higher than years before and she couldn’t believe it, seeing as these courses were much more difficult now. However, she chalked it up to only having to take electives rather than a full course load. DADA was especially fun. Even though they did loads of theoretical work, they also were able to practise spells that could potentially be used in Duelling Club. It was much more interesting to her than Potions or Charms.

Lily's short hair had been sticking up from the moment she'd woke, and she had been smoothing it down all day. By DADA it was nearly there, but the ends still had a bit of a curl to it. Lily sat down in her usual spot in class, hand in her hair, greeting everyone. The upside of being so cheerful - and perhaps downside to her professors - was that she became more outgoing and chatty with just about everyone.

The kitten kneazle at the front was entertaining and also rather distracting. Lily’s eyes continued to veer towards it during the professor’s explanation. "That little creature's adorable, isn't it?" she whispered to her classmate. Lily herself was not much of a cat kneazle person, but the professor’s pet made her think of her beloved dog back home. Even with so many dogs in the house, her entire family agreed that Tod and Lily had a special relationship. Tod was quite old now for his breed, and the thought of not having him anymore was absolutely heartbreaking. She wished she could spend more time with him, but between school, visiting friends and family holiday trips, it was difficult to play with him as much as she used to.

Flying papers grabbed Lily’s attention again, and she sat up and took a look at it. It was a list of duelling spells, and she was surprised she didn’t know all of them. She’d vaguely heard Professor Hawthorne say something about combinations, but this assignment didn’t seem very difficult. It was much like Duelling Club, only more structured and thoughtful. She couldn’t wait for to actually duel next week.

Deciding to go on the offence, she started with her favourite, ‘Locomotor Wibbly,’ the incantation for the Jelly Legs Jinx. Next, she wrote down ‘Langlock,’ ‘Expelliarmus,’ and then finished her list with ‘Stupefy.’ It was tempting to put down a powerful spell like ‘Confringo,’ but that could go horribly wrong and she didn’t want to be responsible for destroying the entire classroom in one go. She wasn’t quite sure how Professor Hawthorne thought starting with Stupefy would go well, as knocking out one’s opponent would cut the duel quite short. Perhaps in a real duel of life and death, it would be prudent to begin strong, but Lily liked having to practise thinking on her feet.

“Hey, what do you think of this?” asked Lily to her desk-mate. “Do you think it’d work all right in a real duel?"

OOC: Incantation for Jelly Legs Jinx taken from here.

40 Lily Spencer Quite fast when I'm not distracted. 357 Lily Spencer 0 5

Arianna Tate, Crotalus

December 17, 2018 1:53 PM

Pretty fast, actually by Arianna Tate, Crotalus

There were definitely things that Arianna did and did not identify as and definitely things she did and did not want other people to think were part of that identity. First and formost, she wanted people to know that for the most part, she was better than them. Secondly, the Crotalus wanted people to think she was not to be trifled with. Hence taking Defense Against the Dark Arts.

The problem was that with this interest came potential for people thinking things about her that she didn't want to be identified as. For one thing, Arianna did not want anyone to think of her as a tomboy, a sort that she had nothing but contempt for. She felt sympathetic towards Aunt Holly all the time that Anya was turning out that way-and she didn't understand it either. Still, there was nothing Arianna could do about it but be a role model.

However,people thinking of her that way was not likely since she generally came to class with well manicured nails, perfectly done hair and tasteful and expensive jewelry. However, those were the sort of girls who were usually interested in taking DADA.

Arianna also didn't want people to think she was a nerd and this was trickier as she also wanted to appear intelligent. After all, she was.

So while Professor Hawthorne's lesson sounded interesting, she couldn't let it appear that she found it so. Her face remaining impassive, the Crotalus got down to work. Obviously she was going to use an offensive spell as the base, she just had to pick a really good one. Anteoculatia was one that Arianna thought would be fun, but that was a later one to use. Calvario sounded like a terrible thing, but to use on someone she disliked, it was definitely a place to go. She didn't know if it would win a fight, but it was definitely a devastating curse. To have her hair fall out would be one of the worst things that could happen. Unless her attacker happened to be bald or the type of person that clearly didn't care about their hair.

Arianna looked down the list. Oooh, Sectrumsempra ! Okay, yes, she was going to put that one to finish. And first she'd do Silencio because people couldn't cast spells on her if they couldn't talk, aside from some who could do non-verbal magic.

She turned to the person next to her. "So what do you have for combinations so far?

11 Arianna Tate, Crotalus Pretty fast, actually 353 Arianna Tate, Crotalus 0 5