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

Winter had come to the UK, but... weirdly mild this year.

France had been caught up with early snow storms back in October, but that had gone quiet, even at the Ministry. No, this year, no snow touched the ground in December, and even the Black Lake had neglected to freeze this year, much to the dismay of many students who would usually be found out on the Lake ice skating. Jake didn't ever grow too bothered by the weather of the UK, nothing could compare to the colds of Canada in the winter, but the memories of those snowy times were somewhat hazy now.

That, however, didn't mean that they couldn't bring the winter to the school, which was why Jake had changed his lesson to be outside this time. Instead of the usual suit pants and smart shirt this time, though, Jake was sporting a pair of jeans and a not-so-puffy coat to keep the minor chill at bay as he stood on the pier of the Black Lake waiting for his students to arrive. The note had gone to each common room with plenty of notice, so the ex-Quidditch star was not in any way worried about his students not remembering where they had to come.

With his hands in his pockets, Jake looked up towards the castle in all its beauty from this vantage point. It wasn't often that he got the time to just stop and appreciate his surroundings, but for once, the professor did. Perhaps Ivan and Adrienne would like it here, too? The thought was pushed away for the moment, they were both too young for him to decide which school he would send them to.

Right now, his focus was the students he needed to teach, not his home life.

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After the debacle at the beginning of the year, Mercy had begun treading very lightly, feeling awkward around those who had witnessed it, and especially around Mimosa. Despite reassurances that it was all right, that it was only an accident, the whole incident simply would not leave her head. It had even made DADA slightly less enjoyable as it reminded her of that day. Even though it was her favorite subject, with her favorite teacher, she still couldn't help feeling a little distant and distracted during class. It was beginning to affect her spellwork sometimes, which was especially frustrating.

She hadn't trusted herself to hold Mimosa's hand again since the incident. In fact, she didn't trust herself to touch the other girl at all, maintaining a safe distance whenever possible. How could Mimosa trust her after she had hurt her like that? How could she still want to hold her hand? Of course she wouldn't, and Mercy was determined to respect that no matter how hard it was.

Mercy was happy to receive the notice that DADA would be held outside today. A change of scenery might help her focus, and she had always preferred the spacious outdoors over the confines of a classroom. She threw on a light jacket and took off toward the designated meeting spot, wondering what they'd be learning today.

As she spotted Jake and realized she was the first one there, she waved, though without her usual gusto. She felt especially awkward around him now, since not only had he witnessed her losing control of her emotions, he'd also dealt with the aftermath. She wondered if he knew. So far, he hadn't given any indication that he did, but she thought back on that first class quite a bit, and the more she analyzed it, the more she began to suspect. He was an auror, after all, and his department was in charge of keeping tabs on registered werewolves. It would make sense for him to know. But if he did, why hadn't he said anything? Why wouldn't he have warned her about that lesson if he'd known it might upset her?

After the incident, she had managed to calm down slightly, but not much. She'd only half-heartedly participated in the practical portion - after all, it was too late to learn how to defend herself against a werewolf. That was one thing she'd never have to worry about again. All the other students in the class had to learn how to defend against her. But Jake had pulled her aside to tell her she could speak to him whenever she wanted, and she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been tempted to once or twice. It was always the uncertainty that stopped her. Did he know, or didn't he? If he didn't, well...it would probably be best to keep it that way. If he did, he could be extremely helpful. But she needed to know before she said anything.

So she said nothing, just waved and moved to stand a little off to the side, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

Mercy was avoiding her.

And Mimosa didn't understand why that realization made something in her chest really, really hurt. At first she thought she may have fallen asleep on her front. then she thought she may have accidentally ran into something and sprained or fractured a bone. But the rest of her didn't hurt,. She had even gone to the hospital wing and told the nurse that her chest hurt really badly. The kindly matron had looked alarmed and quickly produced a wand, running a quick diagnosis before concluding that Mimosa, like many other students, was just trying to get out of a particularly difficult lesson.

So the young model had left the hospital wing with a bar of chocolate but no cure. And she was starting to understand what she had done wrong.

She had cried in class when Mercy was holding her hand, and now Mercy didn't want to be around her because the Gryffindor thought Mimosa a cry baby. But Mimosa hand't meant to cry. She'd tried to keep the tears from falling as much as she could. An she hand's succeeded which was strange because she could do everything else. So why couldn't she not cry when she was in pain? Mercy hadn't meant to cause her pain, in fact, Mercy probably hadn't even been the reason for it. The older witch was just holding her hand when something else hurt it. And Mimosa had yelped and acted like a baby.

No wonder Mercy didn't want to be around her.

But the one place Mercy couldn't avoid her was in DADA. So when the notice had gone around stating that the next class would be by the lake, Mimosa had started telling everyone how she wasn't too keen on going. It was cold this time of year and the outdoors clearly messed with her new red hair which were now a more common sight around the castle. As expected, the fifteen or so people who followed the young Clement ward everywhere had at cone agreed, saying they would not go either. Instead, Ji Hyun and Zannia had started planning a marshmallow roasting party in the common room.

Mimosa had made sure everyone was gathered around the fireplace before donning her Gryffindor robe and pulling up the hood over her hijab. It had been ridiculously easy to sneak out of the dungeons dressed as Bushrah because no one paid any mind to the Arab witch. It was only as she reached the castle doors that she shed the headscarf, leaving it lying on the ground and freeing her fiery new new locks to the wind.

Her robes came off next, revealing the green skirt and jumper underneath, her Slytherin tie perfectly in place as she joined what appeared to be only a tiny crowd at the pier. Most Slytherins would be sitting this out, some Gryffindors too. The only people present so far were Mercy (her heart gave another painful thud), Squid Boy, Seema and Jia En. Still a few too many.

So the girl moved quietly to stand beside the Gryffindor, not at all unlike her cheerful, bubbly self. The child didn't even wave to Jake, her blue eyes reverting to Mercy now and then, hoping the Gryffindor would say something. Anything. Even if all she did was demand an apology.

Because as much as her hand had hurt last time Mercy was close, the pain in her chest from being apart was much much worse.

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

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

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

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Lyra hated the cold. Hated it. And lately it had been getting colder than she would like it to be. Rumors were passed around that this winter was much more mild than they had been in previous years, putting Lyra in an even worse mood. If she thought this was cold, how cold must it have been in years before? And how cold was it likely to be in these coming years? The thoughts alone drew a shiver from the fourth year as she went about getting ready that morning.

Even worse than it being cold out, was having to have classes in the cold. She suffered through Care of Magical Creatures of course, but that was because it was one of her favorite classes, not because she enjoyed being in the cold in any way, shape, or form. That day she didn't even have Care of Magical Creatures, and yet she still had to go outside for a class.

The professor, one Jake Newbury, was a retired Quidditch player, and therefore she knew about him before she ever even stepped foot on the grounds of Hogwarts. He was famous after all! Or at the very least, he was in her household. He seemed like an amazing person so far, even off a broom, and she had needed to hold back her excitement when he told her to just call him 'Jake'. He was the reason she was bundling up in a long sleeved shirt and the only coat she had that day, which really was a light jacket that could barely be called a wind breaker. She really needed to do some shopping.

She made a mental note to ask Mimosa to go shopping with her soon for some better winter clothes, the girl had impeccable taste after all. As she pushed open the door to the harsh outdoor she left out a huff. It was definitely cold, even if she saw students out without any sort of jacket. She supposed her SoCal body just wasn't yet accustomed to the whether of Europe, and she wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. She would never consider herself a European, and so the fact that her body didn't either gave her a weird sense of pride. But at the same time, she wished she could have made the trek down to the lake without shivering and looking like an American fool.

She had, of course, heard of the class ditching Mimosa had arranged, but had opted out. She needed as good of grades as she could get at the moment, especially because she was behind in certain subjects. She didn't have time to attend a party or whatever at the moment, not at the expense of her class. Besides, what would Jake think if she were to not show up to his class?

Her first move was to approach the professor, a both nervous and excited smile lighting up her face even as she shivered pitifully. She extended a hand for him to shake. "Good morning professor Jake!" She fought the urge to giggle at his name. The thought sprung to her mind that if he was hosting class outside, that must mean he liked winter, so words popped out of her mouth that she didn't think about, nor did she even mean. "It's a nice day out, isn't it? Very sunny." She could kick herself for the words, but instead chuckled nervously and changed the subject. Now he would think that she liked winter, and that couldn't be farther from the truth! Had that counted as a lie? "Did you see the Moose Jaw Meteorites' latest game? They're really doing pretty good this year!" She attempted to chat with him for a little while about Quidditch before dismissing herself as she went to greet her best friend.

"Heeeeey Mary-Kate!" She chirped and settled in beside the younger girl, frowning slightly as it became more and more obvious in a matter of moments that Mimosa wasn't herself. She frowned slightly, worry seeping in for the younger girl. "Are you feeling okay? Actually, what are you even doing here? Shouldn’t you be at your ditching party? Did you all get busted??"

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Winter had always been one of Apollonia's favourite time of the year and no it wasn't due to the presents she received at Christmas but it was due to the beautiful white snow that seemed to just blanket most of the UK in the beautiful snowflakes. She loved just transversing through the snow, listening to it crunch beneath her muggle-style snow boots. She loved the winter so much that when the note about their next DADA class being outside arrived in the common room Apollonia had been probably the only one who had been eager to head to the lesson.

As she passed the handful of Slytherins huddling by the fire in the common room, she noted that those were all the people that followed Mimosa around yet the Clement Ward was nowhere to be seen. Curiously, Apollonia made a subtly inquiry to one of the third years only to receive a quite surprising reply from the younger wizard. Mimosa ditching class due to an excuse of the cold messing with her new red hair? Yet what made the answer puzzling was the fact that Apollonia could not see a hide nor hair of the younger Slytherin.

Humming, the Slytherin donned her long green cloak and escaped the common room to head towards the pier outside. When the cold air hit her face, Apollonia bit back a sharp curse before she flicked her wand to cast a warming charm upon herself, even though she loved winter, she hated when the cold air literally slammed against her face the moment she stepped out of the door.

Happily making her way towards the pier, Apollonia did a double-take when she noticed the wayward third year who had supposedly ditched DADA. More like she ditched her group, Apollonia almost chuckled even as she worriedly looked at the younger witch that stood next to a dark-haired Gryffindor.

Well, it wasn't her business and if Mimosa needed help Apollonia would be there to offer a sound ear to the younger female but until then, she'd focus on the lesson. No need to get involved where she probably wasn't wanted.

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DADA.. One of Cora's favorites. Transfiguration being a close second. She received notice that class was going to be outside today... great... What could they possibly do outside that they couldn't do inside??? Cora hated the outdoors. She always got all hot and sticky when she went outside and it was quiet disgusting. She made her way to their meeting spot carrying everything that she thought she would need. She looked up and the sky was blue and the sun was out. Great. She was hoping there would be a sudden weather change and the class would be moved to indoors.

Today she wore her robes, and her long brown hair in a side braid. She liked her hair out of her face when she was in her lessons and doing her work. When she got to the group, she noticed that she was the only Ravenclaw. Great. She would probably end up showing everybody how to do the entire lesson because of how prepared for it she was, and she knew how prepared she was because she read at least five chapters ahead.

Assuming that Professor Newberry didn't screw up his order, things should go as planned. She nodded to the professor and said, "hello Professor. Honestly, why are we outside? We can learn just as well inside."

She sat her bag down to let her professor know that she was now ready and the lesson could begin.

As students came down to the Lake, Jake greeted them individually as he always did. Though today brought with it a few exceptions. Mercy, usually so excited to see him, was vastly subdued that day, he wondered why, but before he could step forth to ask the witch if she was alright, other students arrived and not wanting to embarrass the witch, he let her be. He'd noted the behaviour change though, and made a note to speak to the younger witch about it if the mannerisms persisted.

Similarly, though, Mimosa's arrival was a muted version of itself, and the professor couldn't help but feel a little worried about this. Maybe it was the outdoors lesson that had them in a bad mood? Jake wasn't quite sure, and he felt a little bit of anxiousness knowing that both Mercy and Mimosa were out of sorts in his class.

But, his attention was pulled away from his daughter and her best friend when the arrival of one Lyra Fletcher happened. Distracted by the duo to his right, Jake struggled to focus on the Hufflepuff entirely, but he wasn't rude by any stretch of the imagination. "Hey Lyra, yes, I thought it was just warm enough for us to come outside today." Jake replied with a small smile. The mention of the Meteorites made him grimace a smile. "They're doing better than they have for a number of seasons, yes, but not nearly as good as they have done in the past. They'll turn it around at some point... I hope." Jake replied, though you could see he wasn't happy with the topic, the Moose Jaw Meteorites had taken a nose dive after some of the big names had left in the last decade, and poor Samar's texts grew more and more frustrated with each game. It wasn't Lyra's fault, though, and therefore Jake wouldn't be taking that out on her.

The next person to speak past greeting, though, was Cora, and the not so positive response made the man bristle slightly. "I think I know how to teach my class, thank you, Cora." He replied gently, not looking to cause a fuss because the plan for today was a good one, and he would not be pulled down by children.

Checking his watch, Jake smiled to himself seeing that it was now time to crack on with the lesson. "Right, good morning everyone. Yes, we're outside, yes it's a cooler climate than being inside, but I can assure you that you're not going to die from the cooler weather." He told them, his smile showing the good natured humour of the situation. "Today's lesson is going to be one I hope you all find to be good fun, and though perhaps today's application isn't overly useful in every day life, the spell most definitely can be.

"So, who can tell me what the incantation Glacius will do if performed correctly?" The man asked, looking around all of his students for an answer to the question he'd posed.

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~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

Usually so hyper and excited to answer all of Jake's questions (because he was the bestest teacher in the school, he never made them read silly books and instead played games with them and made them go swimming and throw things at each other), today Mimosa simply wasn't feeling up to it. She waved mildly as Ashley walked in almost frozen but nothing more than that. No squeal to great her fellow model friend, no catching up of the day's event and worst of all, even though she stood only a few feet from mercy, the Gryffindor didn't look Mimosa's way once. Even the arrival of Loni only pulled a small, perfunctory smile from the child's lips.

But it was going to be okay. Mimosa could totally fix this. She could do anything she wanted to after all. And Mercy and her always worked well in this class together. So if she could just remind the Gryffindor... if she answered questions like normal...maybe Mercy would join in and then they could just throw hexes at Lilac? And everything would be okay again.

"So, who can tell me what the incantation Glacius will do if performed correctly?"

Mimosa did not know what the incantation did, but she was getting on with her French. And "gel' or "geler" usually meant to freeze something. So perhaps spell language was French? It made sense, the Clement language was the most important so it would be like spell language too.

"Does it freeze things?" she asked, her voice not quite as bubbly as usual but carrying nonetheless in the hopes that Mercy would hear and join in. "Or make something really cold, if not completely freeze?" To demonstrate her point, the witch indicated to the Hufflepuff a few feet away. "Like Ashley is right now?"

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Jake's response caused her to backtrack quickly. "W-well yeah. I mean... that is to say they're doing better than they were is all..." She trailed off, blushing slightly. She hurried to remedy the conversation. "But I'm sure they'll get better! We just have to get back some of the bigger players, and we'll be fine. Really they just need you back!" She grinned, adding a bit of flattery in, maybe not quite subtly. She then waved her goodbye and scurried off, still blushing lightly and determined to get away before she said something else stupid.

But, it seemed she had said something else stupid because her questions earned no response from Mary-Kate. She glanced around, noting that none of the others were there and frowned even more. So it wasn't that she'd gotten busted, but that she had ditched the ditchers. Her first instinct was to try and cheer the younger girl up, but no sooner than she had opened her mouth to say something else than the class started.

And her attention turned to Jake once more. The handsome, sweet, ex-quidditch player, most amazing teacher in the world, Professor Jake Newbury. "Good morning," she whispered in response to the man's greeting.

She giggled slightly at his comment that they weren't going to die, ignoring the shivers going through her that told her otherwise. He was funny too! But, at the next words from his mouth she couldn't help but groan to herself softly. Glacius. Great. They'd get even more cold then. She'd practiced this charm back at home, at Ilvermorny, but then it hadn't been freezing outside already. But, the upside was that she'd be able to show Jake that she was competent enough to use the spell already!

She raised her hand quickly, but Mary-Kate was called on first. At the mention of how she was cold she blushed once more, shifting nervously and raising her hand higher, resorting to not respond to the younger witch and trying to calm her shivering.

"It's a charm that causes a blast of really really cold air to come out of your wand. Back home I know that we used it in class to extinguish fires." She supplied once she was called on.

The first answer from Mimosa brought a smile to Jake's lips as she spoke. Always keen to get involved in the lesson, Mimosa once again showed how she was either reading up, or talented in this subject area. "Very good, Mimosa!" Jake praised the young witch. "You're right with your first answer, it freezes things. Take five points for Slytherin."

Though, with the mention of Lyra being cold, Jake took out his wand and conjured up a blanket for the witch to put around her shoulders should she wish to.

Only a second later, though, Lyra was offering her own answer, this time a use of the spell. "Again, you're quite right, Lyra. Take five points for Hufflepuff." Jake replied giving the with a small smile.

"The Freezing Spell is used to turn water in to ice, to freeze fire where it is, and can also be used to cool off Salamanders. The latter will be taught to you by Professor Venizelos in Care of Magical Creatures, I'm sure. Now, as we don't have fire out here to practice with, I'm sure all those thinking outside of the box will have realised why we're here." The professor continued, before motioning to the unfrozen lake behind him.

"We're going to bring winter to Hogwarts!" The man explained, giving everyone a moment before he continued on.

"Like so, Glacius!" He called out, drawing a circle within a square in the air. Blue light jumped forth from the tip of his wand down to the surface of the water, where upon touching the water turned it to solid ice before the eye. Moving his wand left and right, the spell covered about a five foot semi circle in front of the man before he turned to the group.

"So, today, I want you all to practice the spell, and... well, we'll see if we can't freeze the whole lake!" Jake told them excitedly, before stepping aside to let the students hurry on past him to give it a go.

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~ Auror ~ Profile ~ DADA Professor ~
~ In a Relationship ~ 36 ~ Father ~ 6' ~ American Accent ~

» Defence Against the Dark Arts - Lesson Three (All Years)
» Defence Against the Dark Arts - Lesson Two (All Years)
» Defence Against the Dark Arts: Lesson One - Years 1-4
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» Defence Against the Dark Arts (Lesson Three - All Years)