Defence Against the Dark Arts | September Class

[The Professor]

Joseph Barrett stood by the windows of his classroom as he waited for his students to arrive for their first class of the year. A small smile crept onto his face as he reminded himself that, as far as the study of Defence Against the Dark Arts was concerned, this was his school he was watching over. With the whispers of mysterious goings on beyond the school walls, Professor Barrett liked to think the information and knowledge he was preparing to bestow upon his class was quite possibly the most important of any of the subjects taught at Hogwarts. After all, how far would something like a levitation charm get you if the most unfortunate of things were to happen?



When the time came Joseph opened the door to his classroom with the most casual flicks of his wand, before moving to stand next to his desk at the head of the classroom. "Come in children," he started in his usual curt voice. "Quickly now. The summer holidays are behind us now and we have a busy year ahead of us." He watched the faces of the students to see if he could spot any unenthusiastic reactions to what he had said. It was true; the outside world wasn't getting any safer and they had a lot of studying to get through. Curtailing any hints of slacking early on was definitely the preferable choice.



Despite how hurried the entrance to the classroom may have felt though, Joseph had a relatively easy lesson planned to kick things off. There'd be some new faces amongst the studnet body, of course, but today's lesson shouldn't be too straining for anyone. Even muggleborn first years should be able to contribute as far as he was concerned. He knew that if he'd been in their shoes when he'd first come to Hogwarts, he would've soaked up all the information he could have from his textbooks before the train had even stopped in Hogsmeade.



"Welcome back. I trust you're all refreshed from the long summer holidays and ready to get back to your studious ways." He gave the class a smile as he took his seat and looked over their faces. Maybe it was a bit of an assumption, but Joseph liked to think the whole student body was committed to their studies. He hoped no-one would prove him wrong over the course of the year. "Let's start off with something straightforward, just to ease us all back into the swing of things. Name a magical creature that you might have to defend yourself against and give a characteristic or power which makes that creature dangerous or a threat to your safety. Show of hands, please."

[OOC: Hello and welcome to DADA. Professor Barrett will accept all answers that your students give. Feel free to fodder him calling your student out as you fodder them raising their hands. House points will of course be up for grabs, and I shall post again in a few days to respond to your characters answers. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to send a PM. Have fun!]

[CJ Warren]

CJ arrived at DADA early and headed straight through the door, taking a seat a row back from the front of the class room. He was eager to learn, but didn't like to look too eager. The front row always seemed quite a nerdy place to sit. He pulled out his text book, notes, and a quill and readied them on the desk in front of him, waiting for the lesson to begin.

As soon as Professor Barrett asked the question CJ's mind whizzed with possible answers. He didn't want to pick an obvious one. Most people might say Dragons, or Dementors, or Boggarts, but CJ wanted to pick a more obscure one that no one else thought of. With one in mind, his hand went up in the air, waiting until he was called on before answering. "A Hinkypunk. They're known to lure travelers in bogs and swamps, and they're capable of throwing fireballs from their lanterns. They're also know for providing false and misleading information to guide the unwary wanderer astray." He wanted to keep talking - to explain how to banish them, but that hadn't been part of the question so he didn't, just sat back and waited to see what answers the others would come up with. 

[Ryan Olsen]

Ryan had arrived at DADA with a few minutes to spare, and slunk through the door with everyone else, heading for the back corner and sinking down in to his seat, dumping his bag on the floor beside him without even bothering to pull anything out of it. It was September, and getting back into the habit of lessons was... not rated particularly high on his list of things he cared about at this particular moment in time. He should care, he just didn't care enough.

When Professor Barrett asked his question Ryan immediately started thinking through creatures. His favorite lesson was Care of Magical Creatures, so this was the kind of thing he knew the answer to, but it didn't mean that he actually wanted to answer. Even while he was thinking things over he didn't move - didn't react - just sat with his elbow rested on the table and his head resting on his hand.  He'd leave answering to the nerds and die-hard study addicts. 

[Georgina Parkinson]

Georgina hadn't been at the school long, but already lessons were proving to be a complete bore for her. Sure, she wanted to learn spells and stuff, but not like this. She didn't see any fun in sitting in a classroom being told to practice a spell, and having to just sit there while everyone practiced over and over again like robots. She'd rather just... learn on her own. Or get someone older to teach her, but not this. It was just horribly tedious.

So, of course, she took a seat in the classroom and didn't move, just stared at the professor at the front of the room. Stared... glared... there was a fine line between the two. Even when he asked his question she just sat there. What did he think they were? Stupid? Why couldn't he just accept that people knew magical creatures were dangerous? They weren't imbeciles. He must just be doing it for the benefit of the muggle scum, but if that was the case, he shouldn't bother. They didn't belong here.

[Aria Brown]

Aria did walk into the classroom before it did sat somewhere middle in the classroom. DADA wasn't really one of her best classes but she did understood it more better than Transfiguration. She did take out necessary things from her back and but it on the floor next to her table. She looked around and wondered what they will learn today.

She soon her professor talking and even asking question. She wasn't sure what to answer back now to him. She needed some time thinking. She didn't really want to answer right now. Maybe later but right now no. She just looked at front and thought about magical creatures. She tried to figure out the answer for this question there. Today she really wasn't very talktive one like she usually was. There wasn't really any good reason for it. She just had hard time to come up with answer since finding answer for such question wasn't so easy for her actually. So she need some more time than just few seconds.

[Bartemius Crouch Jr.]

Defense Against the Dark Arts: simultaneously the least and most important of Barty's classes. He had no interest in defending himself against the Dark Arts; why would he, when the Dark Arts themselves were far more interesting and useful? Real life defense was nothing like in the classroom. It was no easy task to predict what exactly a Dark Wizard would do, and then defend yourself against him, assuming he was a decent one. Then again, it was always good knowing your enemy's knowledge; what did DADA teachers think were most important? What were the students being taught? That way, it was even easier to trick them, to throw something at them that they didn't know how to defend. And, to be fair, sometimes the spells and such they taught were useful on both sides of a duel; for the Dark wizard and the defender. Then there were lessons such as this, where the Dark magic was not one of a wizard, but of a creature. That could be useful, potentially.

Barty had sat near the front. Walking in that door he was an entirely new person; a studious and intelligent young man who was every bit interested in the lesson. It was simple, easy stuff that came quite naturally to him, so it was not entirely interested, but at least it was easy to play along. Give a teacher a correct answer and act as if you were enthusiastic about it, and they'd love you. Simple. It was a welcome relief, to them, from those who were too lazy or too self-perceived 'cool' or too stupid to answer the question. "The Bundimun is not particularly dangerous unless it is part of a large colony. However, even individuals, when threatened, use a very concentrated and harmful acid as a method of self-defese." he recited when called on. Just a few seconds of speaking and he was already on the teacher's favored list. Of course, from years past, he always had been, but DADA teachers always dropped like flies, so it was important to start off on a good note.

[Remus Lupin]

Remus walked into the class with Peter Pettigrew. The other Marauders he couldn't see, but they would probably show up sooner or later. It was not unlike Sirius and James to be late to a lesson, but both were keen on Defence Against The Dark Arts so he doubted they'd miss the lesson altogether. He made straight for the back of the classroom, sitting down near the back but not quite in the back row itself. Hearing the lesson was important too. Slytherins had a habit of dominating the back row, along with other kids who liked to chat the whole way through a lesson. They could be very annoying and he'd rather not have the distraction. A fair few Gryffindors preferred the back row, too, which often created arguments with the Slytherins he'd rather stay out of. Any other time, sure, but he didn't fancy getting into trouble in his first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year and was keen to learn more about this subject. It was his favourite, after all.

He leaned back and made himself comfortable. As he watched the other students file in, he pushed his chair back casually so he was swinging on the back two legs instead of the more stable four legs. He took his quill, some parchment and ink out his bag along with his textbook and set them out on his desk. It only took him a moment. They were organised, but not neatly arranged, as were most things about the seventh-year. He tried to dress well, but he could never quite shake the scruffy look about him.

People were busy moving around and getting their things ready. No eyes were paying much attention to what he was doing. This would be a perfect opportunity for a prank. No one would notice him setting something up. He reached for his wand, but thought the better of it when he saw how stern this professor looked. As one of the Marauders, if any prank was played people would swiftly attribute it to him, or the others if they'd turned up yet. If he could get on the teacher's good side now, he'd be able to get away with more in future. Some new teachers would be happy to see the funny side of a harmless prank to try and seem cool and fun, but this one didn't look like that kind of teacher. Maybe he might warm up to them enough for some pranks to go overlooked in time. For now, Remus decided to give the new guy a break, to assess how relaxed he might be and try getting in his good books. Not just in the nerdy way, but in the 'hey, that kid's all right as a person' way too. Then the professor might be more friendly, so more willing to overlook things.

Remus smiled to himself at the professor's question. That was an easy one. Technically, he himself was classed a magical creature, and one of the most dangerous ones out there at that. If James or Sirius had sat next to him, he'd have leaned in towards them to speak in a hushed voice to only they could hear. "Werewolf; dangerous because by day they could be anyone, even someone in this very room," he put on a false mysterious voice like a mockery of a child scaring another child around a campfire.

If James or Sirius hadn't sat next to him, he'd have kept his thoughts to himself, of course. Regardless of whether or not his friends were there, his hand went up somewhat lazily. When called, he answered, "Erumpents are especially dangerous. They're large and strong with thick hides able to protect against most charms and curses and with horns that can punch through metal and inject an exploding fluid."

[Sirius Black]

Every year, at the start, Sirius made a not-so-sincere effort to get to class, and to get there in a timely fashion. Sure, it was a half-assed attempt, but it was an attempt, which was a hell of a lot more than what he offered for the rest of the year. At the beginning of his seventh year, it was sorely tempting to retire from that tradition, but if he started out on such a low note, he would never make it through the year. So, upon hearing his roommates moving around and preparing for their first lesson, Sirius too dragged himself out of bed, albeit slowly, and eventually left the dorm a little bit later than Remus and Peter. To be honest, he really had no interest in making a good first impression, because even if he somehow managed that, the good impression would be lost in weeks, days even. He wouldn't even be surprised if the rest of the staff had warned the new DADA teacher about the Marauder menace, so his reputation with the teacher may have been a lost cause already. Nevertheless, it was the first lesson of the year, and now was the most effort he would give the whole year.

Overcoming his tardiness habit was no small feat. Early for Sirius was still late by most people's standards. So, to be stumbling in just before the new professor began welcoming them back to school was something of an accomplishment. He had known that Remus would allot enough time to get ready and get to class on time with some time to spare, so as long as Sirius didn't leave too long after those guys, he was good to go. And considering he made it in time to take his seat at the same time this new professor was taking his and introducing the lesson, his logic worked. He immediately made for the back row because that was where he always preferred to be, when he was actually in class - out of eyesight and earsight of the professor - but he caught eye of Remus and Peter not too far from the back, and quickly changed course toward them. If he had any sort of chance of making a decent impression, it was sitting with Moony, who would surely answer questions and be attentive and overall make himself look good.

Sirius, on the other hand, was quick to lay his arms on the table and rest his head on them. Obviously, getting to class on time in the morning on the first day was the extent of his effort. Paying attention and answering questions? That was too much. Barrett would eventually suck it up and accept the fact that this was a good day for him. Give it a week, give or take, and he wouldn't even get this much. He looked up, eyes slightly visible under the shaggy black hair, to give some sort of indication that he recognized the teacher was speaking, and gave a tired smile to Remus when he leaned over and whispered his answer. "That's pretty terrifying when you put it that way," he managed in response, but that was all he would offer. While Remus and a few others actually raised their hands and gave legitimate answers, Sirius sat in silence, contemplating whether he would need to make this lesson a little more interesting and how to do so if needed.

[Angela Winters]

Angela was so ready for this! She was ready to make the staff at Hogwarts see how much better she was than her annoying older brother. How awesome was it going to be when she finished the year with grades better than Thomas, when he'd already been here for two years?



That was the motivation that had Angela virtually bounding towards the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. She took a seat towards the front of the classroom, as that was always the best place to learn from, and pulled out her supplies for the class: parchment, quill, ink, and wand of course, just in case. She gave Professor Barrett a smile as he introduced them to the class. She may have stolen her brother's first year Defence textbook on a few occasions, so she already had a good feeling about this subject. A part of her did hope that her brother would be a featured monster one day. That way she could learn how to get rid of him and his annoying personality. At least she hadn't been placed into Slytherin. If the Sorting Hat had put her in there, she would've just died. No, Slytherin were very welcome to her brother, and when Gryffindor beat them at everything, maybe that would shut him up for once.



When the professor asked his question, Angela joined some of her classmates in putting her hand up. Eventually he called her out and she gave her answer as confidently as she could. "There's trolls, which are dangerous for their sheer size, strength and unpredictability. They're known to be extremely violent, but also incredibly stupid, which perhaps makes them even more dangerous?" The last part was a bit of a stab in the dark, but perhaps stupidity did make them more dangerous. Though, she guessed if that was the case, he brother would be the most dangerous thing the wizarding world had ever known.

[The Professor]

Sirius was indeed very close to being marked as late. It was the first lesson though, and we was willing to be lenient today, giving the fact that he was here now, and hadn't truly caused any disruption.

Joseph was pleased to see a fair showing of hands to his question. That meant the students were either eager to learn or, more in the case of older students, hadn't managed to forget everything they'd been taught before the summer. The depth in which the students gave their answers to was very impressive. "Ah yes, a fine answer Mr. Warren. There are many talkes of lost travelers falling victim to the misinformation of hinkypunks. Of course, we'll be learning how to stop yourselves from joining this rather unfortunate statistic, but it is advised, like with many other magical creatures, to just stay away from them."

Joseph nodded as Bartemius gave his answer. "And one of the most foul-looking creatures we know of as well, wouldn't you say, Mr. Crouch. Though I guess we do get some of our cleaning products from them, so I guess we can't complain too much." He let out a small chuckle, happy to laugh and joke, to an extent, with students who knew the subject well. "Yes, Mr. Lupin, they are definitely creatures who I'd recommend even the finest wizards stay away from. One wrong move would almost certainly result in death. We can only be thankful that they're quite peaceful unless provoked." Jospeh would've been interested to hear the comment about werewolves too, as they were amongst his favourite magical creatures. Such fascinating things. One final hand now though. "Yes, Miss Winters. Their eagerness to attack everything they see does make them very dangerous... and a reputation for being stupid enough to earn their own grading level in official examinations." Maybe that was why they were always so angry? The wizarding world had effectively labeled them the dumbest creatures alive. Getting to his feet, Joseph smiled at the class at large. "I'm pleased to see you've all kept up your reading over the summer, and we have some eager new starters. They were very fine answers all around and I'm sure you'll each be pleased to know you've earned ten points for your houses." He then turned his attention to those students who hadn't provided an answer. "But not to worry if you weren't able to give an answer. They'll be plenty of other opportunities to earn house points." His gaze settled on a few students who perhaps didn't want to be here though. One glaring his way like he'd offended her or something, and the other two... apparently still in vacation mode as they sat there looking like they were about to drift off to sleep any moment now. He made a mental note to keep an eye on them and their commitment levels for the remainder of the lesson, but for now he was going to burst their bubbles with the next task anyway.

"Now, onto the next part of our lesson. If you could all please stand up while I move the desks to one side." He waited for the students to follow his instruction before waving his wand and sending each desk to the side of the room in an orderly fashion, hoping that none of his students would be swept along for the ride. "I think before we move onto the theory of how to defend ourselves against some of the creatures you have mentioned, we might try some basic offense and defense, so, if you could each pair up now now we can get started. I'll put some spells that you might like to use on the board, but you're free to use any spells you know... so long as they're not too dangerous. We don't want anyone in here today becoming the topic of discussion in a future lesson, do we?" He smiled as he meant it in a lighthearted way, but there was a serious undertone to that final instruction. With that he waved his wand at the board, and an assortment of defensive spells, curses, jinxes and hexes appeared. Now to see what his class could do.

[OOC: Thank you for a great start to the lesson so far. Students are still more than welcome to join the thread, of course. Either fodder that they've been here all along, or are running late if you'd like them to get a scolding. =P

Please now pair up your students and practice attacking and defending in turn. Professor Barrett has put a few examples of spells on the board, but please feel free to use any spells that you like, and would be realistic for your student's level of knowledge. Success will be determined through dice rolls, with the following constraints applying:

1st & 2nd years: Range 1-8
3rd, 4th and 5th years: Ranges 1-6
6th and 7th years: Ranges 1-4
(1 is success, 8/6/4 is a fail. Numbers in between = varying degrees of success!)

If you have any questions, please feel free to PM this account. Otherwise, have fun, and Joseph will be keeping an eye on students, and making suggestions/comments to each group as the lesson progresses.]

[Aria Brown]

Aria did listen what other said there basically. Herself she still wasn't sure what to say. She didn't really had any ideas and she gave up thinking today too. She knew quite much about these creatures but there didn't came anything good in her mind right now and she wasn't really into answering today either.

She soon heard next what they had to do. So she now looked around the classroom. She barely know anyone in this class. She have seen all these people around before. She did take deep breath and then walked towards one boy who she have seen before in her common room, that means Ravenclaw one. She isn't really sure what was boys name or in what year she was but him she have seen around more than these other people. "Em, hey, would you like to be my partner?" she asked then from CJ with smile on her face. She hoped that she won't refuse the offer.

[Ryan Olsen]

Ryan stayed slouched over his desk as various students answered the professor's questions about dangerous magical creatures. As each one answered, Ryan was thinking over what he knew about them, and the best way to defend against them. He was also thinking of a few answers that he himself would give... if he actually had any desire to answer the question, that is. 

It was very hard to suppress the urge to groan when Barrett said they had to stand so the tables could be moved. Why couldn't this just be one of those lessons where they just sat and took notes while the professor talked? Still, Ryan shoved to his feet, pulling his bag up with him, suddenly glad that he hadn't bothered to get any of his things out. Looking around with a frown, he couldn't see anyone that he wanted to work with, so he figured he'd just hover until someone approached him. That'd give him a bit extra time to do nothing. 

[Remus Lupin]

Remus grinned. What Professor Barrett had just said was essentially allowing mini-duels to spring up all across the classroom. With all these students, it would be impossible to keep tabs on every single one. He was quite proud of his skill at casting these sort of spells, and needed to give himself more of a challenge than the basics, so who was to say one of those more advanced spells wouldn't accidentally go astray? Who was to say some poor Slytherin wouldn't be staying right in the way of it?

There was little doubt as to his choice of partner. As they stood up to shove the tables aside, he nodded at Sirius. "You and me, then, Padfoot?" he asked. Other people were scraping the old wooden desks aside. Not wanting to look like h wasn't doing anything, he managed to stretch out the moving of a single chair to the length of time it took everyone else to move all the tables. Getting the timing right to avoid any real effort was something he'd put into practice a good many times.

Regardless of who was around them, Sirius would be an excellent partner dor a mock duel. With James' invisibility cloak the restricted section of the library was open to them. Those books had taught the Marauders more than how to become Animagi. If you looked hard enough, there were some great spells in there. They'd made up a couple of their own, not to mention stolen a few of Snape's inventions. Remus rolled up his sleeves. It was too warms for a cloak, but cold enough for him to be wearing his grey school jumper. He loosened his tie and took out his wand.

[Sirius Black]

It was very difficult not to groan when the professor gave the instruction to get up, partner up, and essentially duel. Normally this would be Sirius's favorite kind of lesson (even though that wasn't saying much): one that was active and involved casting spells that could potentially be harmful. But getting up and doing something sounded like the worst thing in the world right now. Hadn't he just sat down? Half the time he went to lessons, he went to catch up on sleep, anyway. But he heard the scraping of seats and tables as others stood up and began clearing the way, so he nodded to Remus and gave a little salute of confirmation that they would be partners, and stood up grudgingly and followed Remus, not bothering to help clear the tables and chairs out of the way himself, and he stopped a short distance away from his partner to allow for sufficient dueling room. It's not like he needed practice with dueling, anyway - he was in fights and duels every other day, so it seemed, and it was more realistic than classroom dueling anyway.

But there were advantages to mock duels in the classroom, and that in itself was worth the effort of getting up and coming to class today. Sirius could see on Remus's face that he had the same thought in mind. Just because both of the two of them were skilled duelists, doesn't mean that the professor had to know that. Maybe they had horrible aim. He only hoped a group of Slytherins stood near them, so targets would be easy, but hey, he wasn't picky - he would victimize someone from any house. He followed suit of his partner, rolling up his sleeves and removing his wand from his pocket, a bit more energetically now from before, but he still took his time, allowing the other groups to get started first. That way, in the commotion, any foul play wouldn't be so obvious. He pointed his wand toward Remus, a knowing look on his face, and muttered a quiet Conjunctivitis Curse, but the motion in his wand a bit embellished so that the spell was directed not toward his partner, but toward a young Slytherin girl nearby. 

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