Defense Against the Bullies (Jake)

Guest

Lyra had failed at her first goal. She hadn't been able to think of a single reason the Gryffindor boys could have had to have wanted to hurt her. She didn't see how her presence could have affected them in any way, or how she could have caused them any difficulties, and it didn't make sense to her. Why did they want to make her life harder if she hadn't first made their harder in some way? What reason did they have to pick on her, besides her being different? But when someone's different you don't attack them, right? That doesn't even make sense.

But Lyra had decided that it didn't matter what their reason was, they shouldn't have done it. And she couldn't let them do it again. But more than that, she couldn't let herself be scared anymore. That's what bullies wanted. You inconvenience them in the slightest way and they decide they have to prove they have power over you, that they can scare you and hurt you and prove that you are lesser and weaker than them.

No more. She took it the first time. She curled up in a ball and took it, decided to just wait until they were done with her. Well, that wasn't entirely true, she had spit come backs at them at first, tried to stay on her feet at least, but she had been outnumbered and it wouldn't have been a fair fight even if they hadn't pushed her down those stairs.

So, what she really needed was to be able to defend herself. And who better to teach her that than the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? After all, in Lyra's head there was no greater darkness than a person who hurt someone else just for the fun of it.

So that evening after class she'd set off the find the professor, fortunately lucky enough to find him on the first try. She knocked on his open door, peering into the classroom. The sight of him immediately made her doubt herself and she shifted nervously in the doorway, determined not to back out. But what if he didn't help her..? Yeah, what if? It didn't matter. Suck it up.

"Professor?" She called in, in case he hadn't noticed her knock. "Do you have a minute?"

Subject: Re: Defense Against the Bullies (Jake) Thu Mar 07, 2019 5:58 pm

January was going slowly, or it felt like it to Jake. The colder weather had finally crept in, freezing the Lake as it went, before the snow arrived. It was good, seeing the snow here, because it was never as bad as Canada, it was fun, and the kids seemed to enjoy it when it was around much more here.

But, just because there was snow outside didn't mean you could forget your duties as both Head of House, and a professor. So, Jake was holed up in his room, going over the grade sweeps of his classes and ensuring he'd put down each of his students current grades down for the Winter term. They'd all seemingly done well, but the only tell tale sign of his aptitude as a professor here at Hogwarts would come with the year end exams.

His work, however, was interrupted, but not by the snow.

The sound of feet in the hallway had registered, but Jake rarely got distracted by many people, in truth. The footsteps came in to his classroom, though, and Jake looked up to see the newest transfer student, Lyra.

"Hi Lyra," Jake replied, motioning her in to the room. "Please, call me Jake. I've never liked the term professor." He told the witch, taking in the bruising upon her face, but not lingering because he knew many witches grew self conscious. "How can I help?" He asked, keeping his tone light so that -- he hoped -- she would feel comfortable in talking to him.

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

Guest

She gave him a nervous smile and made her way into the room slowly, though she still lingered near the door, a flicker of doubt still telling her to walk back out of the room before she made a fool of herself. The request to simply call the man by his first name brought a light blush to her face.

"Yes sir, sorry I... I remember that now." He had told her that the very first lesson she'd attended, but it somehow felt strange to call teachers by anything other than 'professor', or their last names, or something much more formal than their first name. It was so.. personal and casual.

His next words brought her back to the moment, to the reason she'd come. "I uh..." She hesitated, running a hand through her hair, her gaze falling to the floor as she tried to figure out how to phrase her request. She'd had everything all planned out on the way over here, and now that she was here it was like it had all melted away.

All the words she had so carefully practiced to explain what she needed were gone, leaving her to scramble and fumble through her thoughts to gather together a coherent sentence that wouldn't come out sounding like she wanted to learn how to harm someone else, rather than simply protect herself.

"So I've been.. having a bit of trouble with some of the students here," she began, speaking slowly so she could think through her words before they came out of her mouth. She gestures to the bruises lingering on her face, lifting her eyes to his. "And I can't..." She sighed, going quiet for a moment.

"I want to be able to protect myself against.. certain people who mean me harm. But I don't know any spells or anything yet that can help? E-especially when I'm outnumbered." She frowned, looking down once more, ashamed she hadn't been able to do anything. "I just thought maybe you could help?"

Subject: Re: Defense Against the Bullies (Jake) Sat Mar 09, 2019 5:30 pm

"It's okay, most people forget about my preference anyway, but that doesn't mean I can't keep trying to encourage it." Jake replied to the witch's apology, hoping to ease her slightly with his light hearted joke about the situation. He knew not every one of his students liked the casual manner with which he liked to be treated, but it was to help them, break down the divide and hopefully make him more approachable. It seemed that this had worked with Lyra at least.

"So I've been.. having a bit of trouble with some of the students here,"

The bruises. The detention sheet he'd been handed from Grayson with the information of a physical attack but the name of the victim being left off the sheet. The fact Lyra was now stood before him denoting her troubles. Jake's brain clicked all the pieces in to place in only a matter of seconds, and he couldn't help but feel terrible for the witch before him. She was new to the school, and she had been targeted by the bullies. It made him think back to Victoria, when she'd been Lyra's age, moving halfway across the world... had his sister been subjected to this?

He doubted it, Victoria would have told him.

But that didn't push the thought from his head, or make it okay because it wasn't his little sister. No, this only made Jake more angry with the Gryffindor boys, and Merlin's beard they were going to know about it when they came in to detention the next day.

As the witch continued on, talking about how she wanted to defend herself, Jake got up from his desk, leaving his pen atop the work he'd been doing and moving around his desk to stand before the witch. "You know, I wish you were in my house?" He told the witch, waiting for her to look up to him in that moment before he continued on. "Knowing when to ask for help, and then to actually help is the bravest thing anyone can do, admitting their flaws out loud. The boys who... weren't pleasant, are cowards, nothing more, and I want you to know that they will not hurt you again.

"That being said, I understand your desire to learn to defend yourself. I will teach you that, of course, but I will only teach you to defend. I won't be teaching you to retaliate." Jake explained, though he doubted the Hufflepuff witch would ask that much of him, he wanted to be sure because going with the view you could hurt others was not the way forward. "The simplest form of defence is, of course, the Shield Charm. I'm not sure if Professor Hughes has completed this one with you yet, I know it's on our syllabus, but mastering this spell would be the best way forward.

"It'll allow you to not only block physical attacks, but also attacks from any spells, too. When you get better with the spell -- which is by no means something I expect straight away -- your shield may also have the ability to knock back any potential threats." Jake explained, looking to the girl in a hopeful manner. "Have you tried it before?"

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

Guest

Lyra was aware of the man moving around his desk towards her and felt a pang of guilt. She was obviously distracting him from his work, something she hadn't even considered before just barging in.

"You know, I wish you were in my house?"

She looked up quickly in surprise, her cheeks slowly reddening as the man continued on to call her brave. When he tried to reassure her the boys wouldn't hurt her again she nodded slowly, managing a small smile. "Thank you, Jake."

Not that she believed him, not really. Sure, she believed he wanted to be able to live up to the promise, but he couldn't. Not really. The only actions he could really control were his own, and short of having the boys expelled there wasn't really any way to make absolute sure they wouldn't hurt her again. No matter how much adult supervision there was at the school there would always be places and moments where the opportunity would arise to do the right thing or to be a bully. It was up to each person to make the right choice and the boys had already proved once they would make the wrong choice.

And even if they changed their ways there would always be a new idiot to take their place. But in that moment she let herself believe him, because she wanted to. Just for the moment she'd let herself believe he could actually do something about the situation.

At his next words she shakes her head quickly, eyes widening slightly. "No, no! I don't want to hurt anyone. That... that would make me no better than them." As he explained the shield charm she nodded slowly. "I think I've seen Professor Hughes use that one? I haven't tried it before but he was really good at it."

She thought back to when he'd used it and nodded. "It was like... a bubble around me? Is it that the same one?"

Subject: Re: Defense Against the Bullies (Jake) Wed Mar 13, 2019 7:45 pm

The notion of having a bubble around the witch was one Jake considered for a moment, before shaking his head. "The Shield Charm only works to put a barrier between the caster and the threat. So, the spell Professor Hughes would have used would be slightly different because the barrier was formed between you and the threat." Jake explained, not going in to details of what that spell was, because right now that wasn't relevant to the witch's progress.

"So, if you would like to practice now," Jake proposed, waiting for an affirmation to that before he slid his wand from his belt and held it out before him.

"The incantation for the spell is Protego and you move your wand in a straight line downwards, like this." The professor explained, before clearing his throat.

"Protego!" He spoke clearly, performing the same movement as before put bringing the whole spell together. An almost clear shield presented itself before the man, and if touched it would denote the sharpness of a well established shield. After he was sure Lyra had gotten the idea, Jake finished the spell off, and looked to her with a hopeful smile.

"It'll take time for your shield to be strong, of course, and a lot of practice to master it, but even the flimsiest of shields is better than none." He explained, moving back around to his desk to open the drawer to pull out a bar of chocolate before putting it on top of his desk. "You'll need to keep your energy up, too, so feel free to take some chocolate if you feel like you need a boost." The man insisted, before going quiet so that the witch could attempt the spell.

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

Guest

She nodded slowly as the man spoke, making a mental note to speak to Professor Hughes about what spell he'd used, just out of pure curiosity. She wondered if it was something she could teach herself from a book or something, though she wouldn't know where to even start to look. After all, that's why she was here, was because she didn't know where she would even begin to learn defensive spells.

She nodded quickly in response to his proposal of practicing, scrambling to pull her wand out of her boot and raising it like him, mimicking his stance subconsciously. She repeated the word under her breath as soon as he speaks it, watching his movements carefully and mirroring his movement once he demonstrated it, careful to be fluid but precise, or as much so as a fourteen year old witch can manage to be that is. "Like that?" She watched him nervously for confirmation.

She lowered her wand for a moment as he preformed the spell, stepping out of the way out of instinct in case it did like he said it could and tried to knock her back. Her eyes widened as the shield appeared and she hesitated, glancing at Jake for a second before reaching out to touch it lightly, surprised at how entirely solid it truly was. She took her hand away a second later, and the older wizard let the spell finish.

His smile drew a grin of her own to her face immediately and she nodded quickly. "That was so cool! I can try now?" She took a step back to give herself room, though she didn't at all expect her own shield to go flying towards the professor by any means. He'd said that took more practice and was more difficult after all. She listened carefully as he spoke, going over the spell in her mind as she did to make sure she absolutely, positively, one hundred percent remembered it.

The mention of chocolate drew a small smile to her face and she automatically thought of Cocoa back home before mentally scolding herself for the distraction and focusing back in, giving him a grateful smile. "Thank you Pr- Jake." She blushed as she used his name before clearing her throat and pulling herself back to the spell, going over it once more mentally before raising her wand.

"Protego," she tried, mimicking the movement he'd shown her, only to have a shield sort of kind of appear in a flicker, dying off almost immediately. She frowned slightly, glancing at Jake once before steeling herself for another try. "Protego." The semi-clear object appeared once more, looking a bit stronger this time before dying just as the first had. But nonetheless, she had improved and that was enough to at least lighten her frustration and light her face up with a grin. "Did you see that one?! It was almost there!"

Subject: Re: Defense Against the Bullies (Jake) Sat Mar 16, 2019 5:42 pm

Jake confirmed the movement that the witch had made in that moment, giving her a reassuring smile to show that she was doing well with how she'd followed him so far. Of course, he had completed it slowly for this exact reason, but he was glad the witch was picking this up quickly so that they didn't have to waste too much time on the basics, and instead move on to the much more interesting part of this lesson.

"You can," Jake had replied simply to the question of whether Lyra could try the spell. Stepping out of her way -- as he would with any student, he simply waved away the thanks in respect of the chocolate because that was a normal aid in his classes. Magic sapped energy from you, especially when you weren't competent with the spells you were trying, because it needed the energy to transmit in to the spell. Lyra would get used to his methods with time, he was sure.

Standing back to watch, the witch's first attempt came to the expected result. Nothing really came from the first attempt, which was to be expected, and the thin shield that had appeared for only a moment was testament to the witch's first use of the spell. Still, she'd achieved something which was a very good basis to start off on. Giving the witch an encouraging look as she glanced across at him, Jake didn't say anything in that moment, the technique hadn't been wrong, it was possibly just lacking in the concentration needed.

His silence was taken as he'd intended, and the witch attempted the spell again. This time, there was an increased strength to the shield that came in to being, but it fizzled out quite quickly once more. The strength of the barrier unknown, but it was okay. They were making progress.

"Very good, Lyra!" Jake praised the witch as she got excited with the appearance of the shield. "Now, if you feel up to it, try the shield again, but this time, try to keep it there. The stability of the shield doesn't matter right now, but a shield that only flashes up for mere seconds won't do well in blocking many things. Keep your focus on what you're trying to achieve, and when you're ready, give it another shot!" The man explained with enthusiasm, because he didn't want Lyra to give up on the spell at all!

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

Guest

The affirmation from the man caused her grin to widen even further. This would be the second time he'd praised her. Jake Newbury was not only helping her, but encouraging her, which only made him all the more amazing in her eyes. "Thank you!"

"Now, if you feel up to it, try the shield again, but this time, try to keep it there. The stability of the shield doesn't matter right now, but a shield that only flashes up for mere seconds won't do well in blocking many things. Keep your focus on what you're trying to achieve, and when you're ready, give it another shot!"

She listened carefully, tightening her grip on her wand and raising it once more. Keep her focus. As if it was that easy. Her eyes closed, the Gryffindor boys flashed into her mind for a moment and she latched onto the image. The boys' sneers came into view and she grit her teeth, eyes opening quickly.

"Protego!" She insisted, motioning with her wand and watching the shield appear once more. Her hand shook slightly and Lyra practically glared at the results of her spell, determined not to let it falter. Or not too much at least. And to her delight it held. It was staticy and unstable at best but it was there, and it mostly stayed there until she ended the spell with a huff, lowering her still shakey hand with a satisfied smile. "Like... like that?"

She stepped forward, reaching towards the chocolate previously offered hesitantly, taking a small piece when Jake made no move to stop her. She popped it in her mouth, her smile growing at the thought of her accomplishment. Not bad for her first couple tries at the spell after all.

Subject: Re: Defense Against the Bullies (Jake) Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:48 pm

Watching as the witch got ready to start the spell again, Jake remained quietly by her side. She needed to concentrate, and Jake had never been the kind of teacher who would jump in too quickly to correct or explain things better. Trial and error worked much better than simply telling people how to do things, and today's impromptu lesson would not be any different than his usual lessons.

The young witch closed her eyes, collecting herself Jake guessed, before opening them sharply and speaking the incantation with renewed vigour. From the tip of her wand spouted the shield he'd been expecting and though not very strong, it held. The shield might not look much to an untrained eye, but to Jake, it was the potential for a very good shield spell, should the witch keep up her work.

As Lyra flicked her wand away, completing the spell, Jake could see how the energy had sapped from her body in that moment, and he moved slightly closer to ensure she didn't collapse. The Hufflepuff moved to his desk, though, retrieving a piece of chocolate and Jake didn't make a move to stop her from doing so. He'd offered, and of course he'd meant it in that moment.

"That was really good, Lyra!" Jake told her, making sure that she wouldn't beat herself up in the slightest. "If you can hold the spell for an extended period of time, that will bring a good basis to the spell. The next part, of course, is to strengthen the shield up. This won't be something you can do today, but with practice, I can assure you that you'll have a shield as strong as mine with time.

"Eat some more chocolate," the professor encouraged, before he continued. "I used to practice with a baseball. I would throw the ball at a wall, and put up my shield. If I was successful, the baseball would bounce off the shield and away from me. If I wasn't I got hit by the ball." He explained, hoping this would pique her interest. "You could use a tennis ball, if you prefer, they're a little lighter."

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

» Around Again (Jake)
» You Kept This From Me?!? (Kit & Jake)
» Defence Against the Dark Arts: Lesson One - Years 1-4
» Seeing the farm (Jake)
» Spark of Joy (Jake)