Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson One (Fifth to Seventh Years)

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Defence Against The Dark Arts. Finally a practical subject where she could learn something useful. Taylor hated having to sit and listen to a teacher preach to a class about their subject- especially if it was boring.

She loved Defence Against the Dark Arts so much, because it was as close to a proper muggle fight as you could find in the Wizarding World. Before coming to Hogwarts, Taylor's brothers had taught her to be pretty handy with her fists, and she was quite a good fighter by the time she had actually gotten her Hogwarts letter. Being the only magic person in her family meant that she didn't really need her fists anymore, as one wave of her wand would scare her brothers stiff.

As she sauntered into the lesson, she noticed one other Gryffindor and decided it would be better to sit nearer him. She walked over and slid into the seat next to him. "Hi." She smiled at her fellow Gryffindor as she made herself comfortable by leaning back in her seat. She couldn't help but notice the tension between the Gryffindor boy and the Slytherin boy, but figured that was just down to house divides and thought it would be better to stay out of it- things could get nasty.

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Though Gabriel wouldn't admit it, he was slightly feeling a little overwhelmed by all the other houses. There wasn't a single other Gryffindor in the class, not that it really did matter but still creature comfort.

He watched the Hufflepuff girl walk in, then the finally finished Hogwarts House cast of Ravenclaw and another Slytherin. He closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed.

He looked over to the new voiced that said 'Hi' noting the small symbol of red along her robes made him smile. "Nice to see a friendly face, not to saying the others aren't friendly...well maybe Murray but he's always an ass." He said with a grin, leaning on his seat "Have you ever tried the Patronus Charm?" He asked with a raised brow, he'd heard of it but never attempted it as he heard it was ridiculously hard.

The classroom filled up slowly, with some students that Jake recognised and others he wasn't familiar with. All of them, however, got a warm welcome from the professor in response to their acknowledgements. One boy, however, seemed to not know manners.

"Am I late? No I'm early...bollocks!"

"Good afternoon Mr MacKay. Please keep profanity from my lessons, if you don't mind." Jake acknowledged the boy, before greeting the next couple of students that entered the classroom after the Gryffindor.

Once the class was full, or as full as it was going to get, Jake noted that the two Gryffindors had taken to sitting on the floor. "Miss Green, Mr MacKay, please don't sit on the floor, the flagstones will give you chills in the least, possibly piles if you stay too long." Jake told them, before looking to the class. "Good afternoon everyone, welcome back to Defence Against the Dark Arts. This lesson we'll be looking in to the Patronus Charm. Now, who can tell me something about the charm? Please only give me one point each so that others can have a chance to show what they know."

OOC: Please note that Jake's class never has desks, unless otherwise stated in my post. People who constantly make the assumption that there are desks will not be given points for the rest of the lesson.

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Taylor shook her head and stretched her legs out on the floor, arching her back slightly as she looked up at the ceiling. "Nope. I've never done it before. Personally I think it should be taught earlier. As a just in case. So by the time you are actually supposed to learn it, you can practically do it already. It won't wast time then." She shrugged, giving her honest truth being as opinionated at she was.

She raised an eyebrow when the teacher walked in and told her not to sit to sit on the floor. "Where else am I supposed to sit?" She muttered under her breath before standing up and leaning against the wall. Taylor smirked at Gabriel's words and nodded in agreement, glancing towards the Slytherin boy. "Sounds like you and him have a bit of tension going."She pointed out before falling silent when the teacher asked them all a question, letting someone else answer.

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Alexander did not recognise anyone entering the class. It made him sad truth is, because he would have no one to talk to, or be supported by. A friendly face always made everything better, but this time, he would have to deal with this on his own. Maybe it was time to actually try and answer a question or two.
His mother expected the best.

Watching as all of the students arrived and the teacher started talking, Alex stood there, leaning against the wall and finally paying attention to something. He knew that even if he was intelligent, he just needed to pay more attention to the lesson.
Just for a change, he would try that.

The Patronus Charm. One of his favourites. But as many times as he tried, he still had not managed to achieve it. And he knew it was not something to be ashamed for. It was completely okay to mess thing up.
It was such a difficult spell, and they were trying to master it here. That is why their Professor was here.

"This lesson we'll be looking in to the Patronus Charm. Now, who can tell me something about the charm? Please only give me one point each so that others can have a chance to show what they know."

"Well, it is one of the most powerful defensive charms,"
Alex said after raising his hand.
He wasn't going to say anything more, since the Professor wanted to test everyone out, and let them show what they know.

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Gabriel smiled at the Professor "Sorry, it slipped out." He said rubbing the back of his neck again, then he was told not to sit on the floor "The cold floor feels good though, but whatever." He shrugged, standing and leaning next to Taylor.

He listened to his introduction to the spell, he knew a few things about it and from what his Mum said it was meant to..." It's one of the few things that fights off a Dementor." He said clearly, with his arms crossed shrugging a little.

He turned to Taylor, silently blocking out the Professor "I agree, you know they had those Dementor's here a few years back? All because of that Escaping Azkaban thing." He said in response to her idea of having it taught earlier.

Gabriel laughed when she noted the tension between Murray and himself "We're Quidditch players, I'm a Chaser and he's a Beater." He paused with a smirk " And other than the Rival House stance, nothing else. I just don't like him is all." He shrugged a little, now aiming to change the conversation. "What about you? You play any sports?"

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Taylor laughed and raised an eyebrow as Gabriel apologized to the professor. She didn't really know anything about the Patronus, apart from what Gabriel had already said, so maybe she should have been listening. "No. I didn't know anything about that." She admitted, shaking her head slowly. "There were dementors here?" She bit down on her bottom lip, nervously. "Why?" She asked him softly.

She listened to him talk about his quidditch position and gave a small laugh before replying. "I've never really played quidditch. I'm not a big fan of heights." She stated, nodding at him. She paused for a moment, thinking about his question about sport. "Not any wizarding sports." She admitted, shrugging slightly. "But I used to do athletics back in Liverpool. And I played rugby too."

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(OOC ADMIN NOTE: Gabriel you have hereby recieved your first Warning from the Admins for GMing Josh Murray, there is no discussed backstory between you and Josh's handler ie. that he broke his arm, also your character acts as if he knows Josh's personality, which he does not. Taylor, you don't yet recieve a warning because you were responding to Gabriel in your post and thus probably didn't know that Gabriel was GMIng but in the last post you wrote about 'explaining why he and Murray hated each other', If you would please both to revise your posts appropriatly the thread may continue. -Admin Mar)

Allegra smiled happily as she stood by her friend and when the lesson began she started to think of what she knew about the patronus, most of which was broadly covered by the other students. So the girl thought some more, but it was hard to focus with that boy talking still, so being who she was, unable to stand rudeness she made a decision.

Allegra raised her hand and gave her answer to Jake, "The Patronus is also used to send messages between people," Something she knew because Mando and Jack used to constantly. Or rather, Mando used it constantly to tell Jack he was late again, and Jack used it to tell him that he said that yesterday, and the day before that. And before.

After giving her answer she half turned to the Gryffindor boy and girl, whom she didn't know yet, but so far they were being rude so she had to say something, "Could you stop talking, please, it's hard to concentrate on the question like this." Her Mexican accent tinting her words, but they were still clear. The witch turned back again, not once letting go of her best friends hand.

With each person who joined the class, Victoria smiled brightly to each of them. Not because her role of Head Girl meant she had to, but because she wanted to. Making new friends and the like was important to her, and Victoria most certainly wanted to make as many as she could. She'd even let out a small chuckle at the Gryffindor's words of needing a Ravenclaw to complete their ranks, because the notion was something light and carefree, she liked it.

"I didn't know Veela went here, you know that?"

Victoria's eyes had shifted to the door just after Gabriel's and in that time lapse, Victoria only saw her best friend, Allegra. A small smile touched the Hufflepuff's lips in that moment, and she nodded. "There are quite a few who have their blood." She'd agreed, almost so softly it could have been to herself in that moment, though it hadn't been. Allegra had moved straight towards her too, taking her hand and making Victoria smile more than usual.

Like always.

With a soft hello to her best friend just before the class started, Victoria felt much more calm about the lesson now that she knew her best friend would be by her side. Though, in honesty, she didn't think there was too much to be frightened of when doing the Patronus Charm.

The question was relatively straight forward, in Victoria's mind, and with each answer that was given, she ticked down the list. Raising her free hand once others were done (and Allegra had asked the Gryffindors to be quiet) the witch waited to be called upon. "The Patronus Charm can take on different forms for different people. Some people can manage corporeal Patronuses, which means they have shape - mostly that of an animal, whilst others can only manage non-corporeal Patronuses, which means they don't have a shape at all. And, of course, there are people who can't conjure them at all, either." Victoria explained, squeezing Allegra's hand in a soft thank you for what she'd done, because it was annoying her too.

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Luckily, for the Gryffindor, Jake's hearing wasn't sharp enough to catch her talking back, so it went unpunished by the professor. Though talking back in Jake's eyes was the height of rudeness, and he'd been taught better. But the Gryffindor boy wasn't quite so lucky, Jake only raised an eyebrow in a look that said he shouldn't speak back again before listening to the answers.

"Well, it is one of the most powerful defensive charms,"

"Correct, Alex." Jake replied to the boy with a smile.

"It's one of the few things that fights off a Dementor."

"Correct, Gabriel." Jake replied to the second answer, quite happy the boy was going to follow instructions in the slightest, perhaps.

"The Patronus is also used to send messages between people,"

"Very good, Allegra!" Jake praised, quite thankful that someone was thinking outside of the box in that moment. However, the Hufflepuff surprised Jake when she turned to the two Gryffindors and told them to stop talking. Jake had been ignoring it, but it seemed his idea was not quite how other students saw it. Giving the witch a small smile of thanks, Jake listened to the last answer being offered.

"The Patronus Charm can take on different forms for different people. Some people can manage corporeal Patronuses, which means they have shape - mostly that of an animal, whilst others can only manage non-corporeal Patronuses, which means they don't have a shape at all. And, of course, there are people who can't conjure them at all, either."

"Very true, there are some people who can't grasp how to do the magical due to personality traits, for example, Lord Voldemort couldn't conjure one up, because it is said he was too evil to manage it. Though, of course, it could simply be that the witch or wizard is not quite thinking of the right thing as they try to conjure a Patronus, or their magical capability isn't large enough. There is absolutely no shame in not being able to conjure a Patronus, and I would like everyone to really let that settle in before they attempt the spell today." Jake told the group, because he knew this lesson could be stressful for those who were unsuccessful.

"I would also like to add, that you exam will not ask for a practical application of the Patronus Charm for the above reason, so you only need to know the theory. But it is a useful spell, so I will teach you to do it too."

Taking out his wand, Jake made sure there was room around them and readied himself. "Now, for those of you who may not have come across this branch of magic before, the key to the spell, is to think of a strong, positive memory. Not necessarily something that makes you happy, but something that makes you feel positive. You think about it clearly." Jake explained, closing his eyes and falling in to his usual memories. Of Marilyn, of Victoria, kind of like a quick motion picture of the times he'd seen and made both of them smile. He allowed it all to consume him...

"Expecto Patronum!" Jake spoke clearly, drawing a circle anti-clockwise with his wand. It didn't take a moment for the golden retriever Labrador to sprout from his wand, as Jake opened his eyes, allowing the figure to bound around the room to each member of the class before he finished the spell.

Jake allowed a short pause for people to take in what he'd just done before he spoke. "Each of you can try the spell, don't worry if you don't get an animal, or even if you can't hold the spell for long. Have a go, and I will come around and help out where I can." Jake insisted, waving them off to have a go at the spell.

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

» Defence Against the Dark Arts - Lesson Three (All Years)
» Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson Two - Fifth to Seventh Years
» Defence Against the Dark Arts - Lesson Three (Fifth to Seventh Years)
» Defence Against the Dark Arts Lesson One - Fifth to Seventh Years
» Defence Against the Dark Arts - Lesson Two (Sixth & Seventh Years)