Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lesson One (All Years)

Having found out that Azalea would be teaching at Hogwarts this year -- and confirming with Victoria that it had not been her idea almost the moment he'd been free of the Feast -- Jake had felt somewhat frustrated with the new appointment at the school. It wasn't because Azalea was a bad teacher, of course not, Azalea was a very capable teacher, or, she had been over a decade ago. But it meant that she was here. Too much.

He'd thought he could kind of get on with the witch from afar, but now she was here...

It didn't help with everything else that was going on at the moment, that much was for sure, and it once again frustrated the man that he was being somewhat forced in the woman's presence. Not to mention the close proximity to their daughter... if Kit and Clara didn't see it fitting for Azalea to know them at home... But then maybe... Jake shook his head, deciding not to deliberate on the family politics which surrounded Mimosa and her parents. It was frustrating enough without getting involved in Azalea's inability to be a mother.

Instead of dwelling, Jake returned to his notes for the day, barely managing to read his own scrawl of the notes he'd made. Not that he ever really used them, it was just a habit he'd grown in to many moons ago with the help of a certain witch he didn't wish to think about.

Running his hand over his already tired features -- raising two children, and holding down two jobs was not ever going to be an easy feat, but when you knew their mother was not going to come through the door any moment to ease the burden like she once had, the whole process became much more draining on one's body and mind.

Checking his watch once more, Jake wondered who would be first through the door, silently hoping for his daughter to be the first so he could get an update on her summer that wasn't through a third party would be nice... Yes, that was better thinking, positive, hopeful. Jake stuck to that as he waited for his students, giving up on his review of his lesson plan all together.

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Having had a great time at the feast yesterday, Mimosa was overjoyed to find out her first class of the year would be Defense Against the Dark Arts. Jake was amazing, he never made her read books and always gave her tons of points. The man was easily one of Mimosa's favorite teachers and she had made sure to get up extra early for his class.

But while the Slytherin had planned to sneak in early to talk to Jake, hoping to tell him all about her trip to India and the cool things she had seen there, the child was once again bogged down by the group of people that never left her side. There were the usual suspects, Ji Hyun in particular laying out plans on how he intended to finally pin down the Chaser position on the team, but that Mimosa could deal with.

What annoyed the child was that when she entered, there was already a student talking to Jake.

Lilac Capulet had been freshly sorted in Slytherin last night and Mimosa had done the nice thing, introducing her to everyone. But Lilac was.... The third year couldn't put her finger on it, but she spoke of the palace as if it was her home. Which was ridiculous and Mimosa didn't like anyone else talking about her palace with that particular tone of ownership.

Walking straight up to Jake, the older Slytherin sharply spoke "Lilac, pourriez-vous nous donner une minute", addressing the girl in the same tone she would have addressed her at the palace, or her father. The blonde eleven year old looked dramatically taken aback before stepping away, leaving Mimosa and Jake some privacy in a slowly filling classroom.

"Sorry, I hope she wasn't bothering you," Mimosa finally spoke, not bothering to keep ehr voice particularly down. "But because the child couldn't stay annoyed for long, a smile lit up ehr face properly at having her teacher's attention. "How was summer? Did you get to do anything cool? Did you miss me? I went to India again, and I got you and Victoria presents again but they were too big to carry into the classroom so I asked the House Elves to bring them to you directly. Oh and I grew!" she finished, raising her hand to indicate the height difference before doing a full twirl, sending her school robes spinning and the sheer emerald buttons glinting in the sunlight.

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Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lesson One (All Years) Rsz_mi10

Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lesson One (All Years) Rsz_ja12

Defence Against the Dark Arts, Lesson One (All Years) Rsz_rs13

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Even it was the second day back at school things seemed to go well for Amanda. Everything seemed to be okay, and nothing will ruin her year for her. At least it was something the girl hoped for. She wanted to have good memories here in Hogwarts.

She walked into DADA classroom and looked around there. She has been here often but never stand out in the crowd, but this year she decided to changes it.

She didn't bother to talk with professor since she noticed he was talking with someone. Instead of it she just stood there and waited for class to begin. More likely other students to arrive.

Ravenclaw kept her distance there. She just figured it for the best. She didn't want to be at the centre of attention all the time. That wasn't her, and she didn't like it when people looked at her for a long time. That made her feel more insecure than she is. So she was quite there and soon leaned towards the wall. She just hoped she doesn't have to wait long to class begin.

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Mercy was beginning to feel rather awful. Of course, every full moon was bad, but having one at the very beginning of the school year was the worst because Mercy was so excited about seeing all her friends and teachers again, but she just felt so tired that she couldn't enjoy it.

At least it was only fatigue today. It usually progressed from weariness to illness as the moon grew fuller, but even at a week away she still felt a little frail. She had overslept that morning, and had quickly stumbled out of bed and rushed down to catch the end of breakfast as she worked to calm her frazzled nerves. By the time she reached her first and favourite class, she was still shaking off the remnants of her stress and trying settle back into a positive headspace.

She wandered into Jake's classroom to see a few of her friends already there. Without thinking twice, she gravitated toward Mimosa, who was talking to Jake.

"Hi, Jake!" she greeted with a tired smile. On impulse, she linked arms with Mimosa, the other girl's presence seeming to restore some of her energy. She was determined to enjoy her favourite class, no matter how her body felt, and Mimosa being there would make that even easier. She felt her head start to clear as she relaxed, glad to be back at Hogwarts.

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No matter how hard Apollonia tried, she still couldn't believe that she was already in her fifth year at Hogwarts, one of the most important years, her sister and brothers had told her that summer, as it was the year where she was doing her OWLs where she would find out whether she could continue on with her subjects further during the NEWT years or whether she'd have to drop some of them.

The thought of dropping any sort of subject didn't sit well with the half-Greek teenager even as she rushed ahead of other students to head to DADA, dodging around the other teenagers and scowling at them when they just got in her way.

Slipping inside the classroom, the fifth year Slytherin breathed a short sigh of relief as she made her way further inside the room, she wasn't late, thank Merlin, which meant no loss of points so early in the year. Her brother would have her hide had she started the year with a loss of points.

"Hi, Jake!" She waved and blinked her eyes when she saw Mimosa Harrington, the cute third year that was in her house, talking to the man. "Hey, Mimosa." She didn't wait for any sort of reply from either and went to stand by one of the walls, waiting for the lesson to start, wondering what sort of thing they'd be doing that day.

The class was, as always busy from the outset. Many students came through the door to Jake's class with varying levels of enthusiasm that always made him happy to be a professor here at Hogwarts. Today was no different from normal as students arrived, greeting him in a multitude of manners, before one of the younger students came over to him to talk about the lesson and her arrival to the castle. The French accent was pronounced, and had the young witch not have told Jake her full name he might have mistaken her for another of the brood from the palace in France.

Jake answered her queries politely before they were interrupted by the young witch Jake had been waiting for, and despite himself, the happiness of seeing his daughter showed as she came over. Though, the French that came from his daughter's lips threw Jake off more than he would have admitted in that moment, and if whatever had been said was rude, the professor didn't have a clue.

"I had quite a busy summer," Jake replied softly, though he didn't elaborate on that point. Mimosa could take that to mean whatever she liked. "Of course I missed you, your bubbly nature is always missed!" He added with a soft laugh at the confidence in his daughter's mannerisms. "India again? So lucky! And thank you, for the presents, you didn't have to, but it means a lot that you remembered me over the summer. And, you definitely did grow, you're going to be really tall like y-" But Jake cut himself off, thankful that Mimosa was otherwise entertained with her spinning around before she moved back off to her friends.

"Hi Mercy," Jake replied to the Gryffindor that joined them a moment later, before repeating his hello to the others that followed in afterwards with as much enthusiasm as he was offered from them. As the clock struck the hour, though, Jake clapped his hands to regain the attention of the whole room that had immersed itself in conversation. After a moment a hush fell across the room, and Jake smiled gratefully to his students.

"Welcome back to another year, everyone. I'm really glad to see you all back, and I hope your summers were enjoyable." Jake opened with, making sure those who weren't quite finished speaking had done so now he was finished with polite introductions. "Now, today, we're going to be working on a little bit of a different manner than many of you might be used to. Today's lesson holds with it a number of theory points, which we will then move on to working with the more practical aspect of the lesson.

"So, without further ado..." Jake explained, flicking his wand towards the board where the chalk moved upon it's own accord. "We're going to be looking at the following creature today."

W E R E W O L F

The letters went up one by one, the gentle scratching continuing as Jake introduced the lesson. "The werewolf," Jake explained, motioning to the board to reinforce the subject. "Is a creature that I will assume almost all of you have heard of. But, we need to sort the fact from the fiction of what a werewolf is. So, who would like to start with an explanation of what a werewolf truly is?"

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Talking to Jake was always fun because he confirmed everything she already knew. Of course she he had missed her, why wouldn't he? Everyone missed her when she was away from them. It was why Lilac was here too, wasn't she? Grandpere had said Lilac wanted to go to the same school as she did, but now Mimosa wasn't sure if she liked the idea very much. Especially if Lilac was going to talk to Mimosa's teachers, and friends, and especially Mimosa's Squid Boy.

But all uncertainties vanished from her mind as she felt Mercy step up beside her, silently slipping her hand through Mimosa's and making the young model smile. "Mercy!" she squealed, completely forgetting Jake and drawing her of to the the side before she bobbed her head up and placed a kiss on the girl's cheek. The Slytherin had no idea why she did it, she had just wanted to and Mimosa always did as she pleased.

Soon enough, class was in session, Squid Boy and Ji Hyun standing grumpily together when both had surmised Mimosa was not going to leave the Gryffindor's side. Bushrah lurked somewhere behind, the only person near enough to ehr to pair up with being Jia En. Lilac was nowhere to be seen and Mimosa didn't care to look too hard for the blonde.

The words flying up on the board were slow, giving he enough time to string them together individually. 'We...re... the girl tried as the letters aligned themselves one by one. "Woi, no wol...f.. we are wolf?" A confused look was shot Mercy's way. "We are wolves?"

"The werewolf,"

"Ooooh," the child mouthed, not at all embarrassed at her lack of understanding. She'd almost had it, they were talking about werewolves. Did that mean they would be seeing a werewolf in class? that would be cool. "I hope Jake brings a werewolf to class," Mimosa whispered to her best friend, her excitement clear at the prospect.. "I want to pat it, I hear they're super fluffy."

"So, who would like to start with an explanation of what a werewolf truly is?"

Five hands shot up in the air, including Mimosa's free one. there were the usual suspects, Squid Boy, Seema, Ji Hyun and... Lilac who was lurking behind a tall Ravenclaw. Luckily, Mimosa was called on first.

"Werewolves can't control when they change into big fluffy wolves,' she spoke, proud of the bit of knowledge she had remembered from the one time Squid Boy was rattling off about creatures from a book. "When its their time to change, they have to. They can't even wait to take off their clothes and shoes and bags and jewelry. I think it just disappears like all of superman's stuff and comes back when they change back to people."

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Mercy blinked as Mimosa kissed her cheek, and she felt her heart skip a beat. Her face grew warm and her cheek tingled as she replayed the moment in her head, long after Mimosa had ceased paying attention. Mimosa didn't seem to notice as Mercy gazed at her, fighting the urge to return the action. Was this going to be a regular thing now? Mimosa hadn't made a big deal out of it. Was kissing a friendly thing? Mercy automatically followed Mimosa to wherever she went, lost in a jumble of confused thoughts.

Only when Mimosa began sounding out the words on the board did Mercy even realize class had started. She snapped her attention first to Jake, and then to the chalk halfway through writing a word that made Mercy's stomach collapse on itself in dread. Werewolf.

Mimosa said something, but Mercy didn't quite catch it. She turned her head halfway, intending to ask her to repeat herself, when Jake began to speak, and Mercy's attention was divided three ways between Mimosa, Jake, and her own panic. She stood, frozen, as several people raised their hands to answer Jake's question.

Mimosa turned to whisper to her, and Mercy glanced at her best friend, clinging to her hand for stability as she tried to remain present.

"I hope Jake brings a werewolf to class. I want to pat it, I hear they're super fluffy."

"I..." Mercy had no idea what to say. Jake already has a werewolf in his class. You're holding her hand right now. "They're not really all that fluffy..." she mumbled, shifting uncomfortably and looking at the floor.

She winced slightly as Mimosa blurted out her answer. The first part wasn't...entirely wrong. But it certainly missed the mark in terms of the complexity of the situation. It suddenly occured to her that all those times they'd talked about other magical creatures in this class, they had no idea whether their understanding was accurate or not. Nobody else in the class knew what it was like to be a werewolf but her.

As she looked around at the other raised hands in the room, she cringed at the idea of the whole class trying to analyse her experiences without truly understanding. She imagined them speaking with fear and pity, referring to werewolves as monsters like the kids in Dublin did. She felt awkward and uncomfortable, and almost a little angry, a little afraid of what her classmates might think of her should they know what she really was.

Should she say something? She was the only one who could. But what if people suspected? What if people realized she knew too much? She looked at Jake. What if he hated werewolves? She trusted him, looked up to him. She didn't think she could bear it if he looked at her with disgust.

Her hand remained limp at her side. She was brave, but not that brave. She couldn't do it. Not right now. She would wait to hear what her classmates said. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

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Apollonia hadn't been perturbed when she didn't receive any sort of hello from anyone as she stood in her place in the classroom, her eyes solely focused on the board in front of her as the chalk slowly but surely wrote out the topic of their lesson for the day.

She blinked her eyes when the handful of letters were written, her brows furrowing - if there was one thing that she hated with a passion about DADA is that there were some creatures that they all thought were a danger to the Wizarding world and should be put down.

In Apollonia's humble opinion, it just made the Wizarding World look like fools. Just because a werewolf turned into a fluffy, gigantic animal on four legs or just because a vampire required blood every so often or because a Vella was considered the equivalent of a slut didn't really make them dangerous. To Apollonia, they were all Wizards and Witches just like her, capable of wielding a wand and holding onto a job. Unfortunately, even with all the wars and the world going forward, it meant nothing if the Wizards and Witches still thought of such people as dangerous and unnatural.

As Apollonia listened to Mimosa's words, she couldn't help the quirk to her lips as amusement flashed through her eyes - the young girl was certainly a breath of fresh air and even though she wasn't entirely right on what a werewolf was, Apollonia silently praised the girl.

"The only way that a person can become a werewolf is if they are bitten or scratched by a werewolf during the full moon," Apollonia spoke up after the silence stretched on for too long. "Unfortunately the infected person has no choice whether he or she wants to become a werewolf or not, there is no cure for it after all and the only thing that helps in the Wolfsbane Potion which enables the wolf to retain their mind during the transformation."

As he'd posed the question a number of hands had flown up, bringing a small smile to Jake's lips as he took in the enthusiasm from his students. It was always refreshing, after a summer away from the children, to come back to this. No matter what he might think at times, this was the best job you could ever ask for.

His choice of who to pick first was bias as he motioned to Mimosa to speak. He knew he shouldn't, but Jake couldn't help it. Her answers were always so pure, he couldn't help but want to hear her views on the world. And, of course, he was not disappointed in the response that came. Mimosa wasn't wrong with the fluffy side of things, though perhaps not the most apt way of discussing werewolves, but the notion of being like Superman had to be corrected, gently.

"If the werewolves are still wearing clothes when they transform, they unfortunately rip them with their transformation. Their bodies change to become larger than a human form, and the material can't hold out." Jake told the young witch, hoping not to upset her with his gentle correction. "So, they either have to prepare for the Full Moon, or when they turn back they'll be left... somewhat unclothed.

"Five points for Slytherin, by the way." Jake added, giving Mimosa a warm smile before he turned his attention back to the class a whole. "Anyone else?"

The next person Jake called upon was Apollonia, who offered a much more sensible rendition of the werewolf that her house mate, and with much more accuracy. "Correct, Apollonia, well done! Take five points for Slytherin as well!" Jake continued on.

"Werewolves only change at the Full Moon, too." Jake's eyes turned towards Nikolai Kessler in that moment who hadn't waited to be called upon as he brooded at the side of the room, not too far from Mimosa. "Some Muggle fictions denote them as able to change at will, but that's not true. Their affliction is not something that can be used by choice, but something that controls them instead. It's quite an amusing one, actually, that if a werewolf doesn't take a Wolfsbane Potion on the night of the Full Moon, they could end up killing their whole family, their friends, or even complete strangers if they don't.

"The Ministry tries to regulate them, too, I think it's your division actually, Jake... or the Department of Magical Creatures. Keep a list of those infected. Not that it will ever work, of course..." Nikolai's eyes moved to Mimosa in that moment and Jake's brow furrowed at the nature of his words.

"Okay... also correct, Nikolai, well done, points for you, too." Jake interjected before the boy could speak further. "So, as we can establish, a werewolf can be quite dangerous. But, if they take proper precautions, they can be... in Mimosa's words, big fluffy wolves. It would be up to Miss Blackwood to teach you about the Wolfsbane Potion, though, so for my class, we're going to concentrate on how to deal with a werewolf if it is not in control of itself.

"As Apollonia pointed out, if you get bitten or scratched by a werewolf you will become one, so... how do we combat a werewolf should we find ourselves out in a Full Moon?" Jake posed the question to the room once more, looking around for answers.

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