Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson Two - First to Fourth Years

It was not Nilla's proudest moment, arriving late to Defense Against the Dark Arts, but she wasn't about to let it show. She straightened her shoulders and sauntered into the room, eyes forward and chin high. "Sorry I'm late, Professor," she stated while sounding anything but. Smokescreen Spell was scrawled on the board, and she grinned. It sounded fairly harmless but still very useful in a fight, something Nilla was rather fond of. She didn't like inflicting pain unnecessarily, and especially physically, so anything that could protect without harming in return was worth learning.

She shoved her hands into her pockets and leaned against the wall. Despite the fact that she was late, Nilla had a rather good feeling about this class, and she was greatly looking forward to it. Still, she hoped she didn't miss anything truly important. Being late was one thing, but missing important information in the process was entirely another.

Mason had been here the entire time.

He saw Professor Newbury, smirking. He had his wand ready for another day with awesome stuff to kick the Dark Art's butt. He was really good at this class, probably one of the top of his year. He heard him say something about the Smokescreen Spell. He racked his brain, not remembering that easily. Then, he remembered he read it was use in duels defensively somewhere. "Um, Professor, sorry, I don't know much about the color, but it's used definsively in duels. It's exactly what it sounds, shooting smoke out of your wand at your opponent." Please be right. Please be right, he hoped. He tapped on his leg with his wand. "Oh, wait!" it came back to him, "it's yellow, right? Like, when you shoot it out of your wand?" He raised his eyebrows in curiousity

When the professor mentioned about the room being cold, Alberi did everything he could not to show he was cold. He didn't want it to seem as a weakness and he certainly didn't want to ask for a warmer room. And besides, he often had times which he had to stay next to the open window during a cold day while doing something on the computer which was more important from closing the window. So he supposed that he would be able to make it through one hour with a more cold room, after all.

Alberi listened to what an older Hufflepuff said to move his brain. He wished it had been someone more confident who began to talk and not a boy who um-ed while talking. He tried not to roll his eyes when he asked about the colour of the spell. Of course, it was yellow. Alberi didn't think it was good to answer a question with such an unsure answer. As soon as the other boy was done, he spoke up. "The incantation of the Smokescreen Spell is Fumos, which comes from the latin word for smoke - fumo." he said matter-of-factly. He knew he was right.

Naomi moved to a corner of the classroom, Finley trailing her and standing a little ways away. Ignoring her friend for now to concentrate on her spellwork, Naomi practiced the wand movement a few times, muttering the incantation under her breath.

When she felt she had a good grasp on the technique, Naomi moved her wand in a careful spiral, pronouncing "Fumos," out loud. Barely a wisp of smoke came out of her wand, but it was a start. She changed the tightness of her spiral and tried again, getting a slightly better result.

Tweaking her wand movement (and occasionally her pronunciation) every time she tried the spell, Naomi eventually created a decent cover of smoke that left Finley a dark outline where he stood a few feet from her. Naomi grinned in triumph. With more practice, she'd be able to create a smokescreen to dense to see through at all.