Defense Against the Dark Arts Closed

Christy smiled brightly at the boy and took his hand to shake: "I'm Christy Blake, nice to meet you!" She was excited that he was being so friendly to her, she hadn't really met anybody yet. She was also happy to finally have someone as a partner in one of her classes, being raised without magick was really a disadvantage here. It seemed like kids were already supposed to have some knowledge of magick by the time she got here. "Actually, no. I come from a muggle family, actually, so I've been pretty lost. I wasn't even able to lift the feather actually..." She was embarrassed to tell him this since he was able to, but she knew she shouldn't lie to him just to look cool. "I don't know for sure, but, judging by the name, I'd assume Defense Against the Dark Arts is learning how to defend yourself against magickal attacks." Not that it mattered, if someone attacked her, she'd be a goner. There's no way she'd be able to protect herself.

She was a determined child, that much was obvious. She told him to do it again as she maintained her hold on the wand. "Do it," she encouraged haste and revealed her impatience as Own looked about the room and gawked at the other students.  

He would face Erin once more and his wand would rotate on an unseen axis. A flash of light on the very end of his wand announced the power that moved through him as he declared again his word of power.

"Expelliarmus!"

The wand would shift in her hand and her fingers would curl about the base tighter than before. The wand would not escape her grip. 

"Again."

His wand would cycle once more and the terminal point of the wand would erupt in halo of light. Erin's would spark and violent tug from her hand. It was as if a brute had grabbed her wand by its shaft and ripped it from her hands. It was so quick. It was so powerful. It was so unexpected. It roughly ran across the palm of hr hand, it burned as it did so. The wand would spin end over end as it sailed overhead before clattering on the floor.

It was an astonishing feat, but it was also disconcerting. It was outside of her power to prevent the disarming move. She wondered how it could be countered. What could be done to prevent it when physical strength failed her. She would open and close her hand, staring at the pink groove in her hand that possessed an uncomfortable sheen. A friction burn adorned her hand, she had truly tried her best to maintain her hold. 

She would search for her discarded wand, it had clattered beneath a desk and she would have to crawl under. She would reach under the desk and grab her wand, a part of her concerned that it would leap from her hands once again. It did not, it was presently inert. Whatever life Owen had bestowed upon it had extinguished these moments since. "That hurt," she commented as she fondled the wand in her hand. "Would you mind if I tried?" She inquired with a calm voice.

If he gave her an affirmation she would replicate Owen's movements flawlessly before she said the same word he said multiple times before. "Expelliarmus," her voice calm as she said it.  The wand would not erupt with a display of power. Owen's wand would not respond. Nothing would happen and her heart would drop. She expected this to be simple, for it to be a simple motion coupled with a magical word. Obviously there was an additional component, something she lacked or something she missed.

She would immediately repeat the word with greater insistence. "Expelliarmus!" Again, nothing.

Christy Blake wrote: Christy smiled brightly at the boy and took his hand to shake: "I'm Christy Blake, nice to meet you!" She was excited that he was being so friendly to her, she hadn't really met anybody yet. She was also happy to finally have someone as a partner in one of her classes, being raised without magick was really a disadvantage here. It seemed like kids were already supposed to have some knowledge of magick by the time she got here. "Actually, no. I come from a muggle family, actually, so I've been pretty lost. I wasn't even able to lift the feather actually..." She was embarrassed to tell him this since he was able to, but she knew she shouldn't lie to him just to look cool. "I don't know for sure, but, judging by the name, I'd assume Defense Against the Dark Arts is learning how to defend yourself against magickal attacks." Not that it mattered, if someone attacked her, she'd be a goner. There's no way she'd be able to protect herself.

James turned slowly, watching the other students as they recited incantations and waved their wands around. A few times, James jumped at the sight of a spark or a flash of light coming from a wand. The only magic he had seen done before by a wand was him lifting a feather in Charms Class while learning levitation. Apparently, defending against dark magic was a little different from levitating a feather, but James figured that was to be expected.
James turned back to Christy with a thoughtful expression.
"It looks like we're trying to practice disarming each other... like, getting rid of the other's wand." James thought the other students were saying something like expel-ee-arm-us. Something sounded familiar with this word... what was it? Weren't spells essentially just gibberish? Like abracadabra alakazam? James grinned at the thought of his muggle fandom, Pokemon, as he thought of these magic words used on muggle stages that doubled as Pokemon names.
Then, it hit James, almost like a brick in the gut.
"Oh! They're pretty much saying expel arms! Expel as in 'force out or eject', and arms as in 'weapons'. The incantation has Latin roots! I know, because I studied Latin in my muggle school, the one I went to before coming here." James explained.
He glanced back at the other students, who seemed to be doing a specific wand movement along with the incantation.
"Hey, Christy? See if you can figure out what they're wand movement is..." James said, still looking ahead, observing the other students.

Arceus watched as Leslez  tried the spell and sparks flew out of his wand. "Good Job!" he said whilst holding a thumbs up, "Well you did better than when I first tried.. I kind of failed" He said smirking.
"So I'm guessing you get the idea of how to do it so we can start practicing.. If you're fine with that that is!" He stands up and gets his wand out "So.. I guess the most important thing is not to face each other so we don't actually kill each other.. not that I don't trust you I do.. I mean" He sighs heavily "Look let's just do our best I mean it's everyone's first or second time so we can't do that terrible"

He positions himself next to Lex so he can't accidentally fire at him, "Sure this is a good position so.." he closes his eyes and focuses on the spell, "Expelliarmus!" He shouts and an array of blue sparks fly out of the tip of his wand "Yes!" He shouts jumping in the air "That went way better than I thought it would" He looks at Lex and smiles giving him a slight push " Now your turn!" He moves back "Now remember clear your mind..." He grins "...or maybe think of fireworks"

Owen face erupted into a brilliant grin as he watched her wand sail across the room. The brief burst of magic had felt exhilarating, something he felt he could become addicted to. Looking down and examining he wand he noticed that nothing had changed it, but it felt so much alive in his hands now, something incredibly precious and powerful to him. An apologetic feeling lingered just below his elation when he saw Erin's reaction, and her being forced to crawl under the desk to retrieve her wand. He let his face slip into a expression of concern after he noticed a red mark on her hand but as she turned up to turn and look towards him placed a model of seriousness onto his face. Feeling a bit bad for what he had done, he said, "Oh...Sorry" in a fairly quiet voice when she mentioned it hurting. He nodded his consent to her next words and prepared himself for the spell, expecting his wand to go flying out of his hands hers had done, he kept his grip somewhat loose to prevent any damage that might be done to him. Repositioning and giving her a small encouraging smile he waited for her to cast the spell again, and again nothing. He hadn't noticed anything different between the ways the two of them had cast the spell, but nodded his approval for her to continue practicing.

He apologized for his successes and his potential power. "I wanted to see if I could stop it from being sent away," she shrugged. "I apparently could not," she concluded. "Good job." She hated to admitted, but it was an excellent effort considering the fact that they both were novices.  

There was of course something missing, something that defines magic at its very core. Words were like ingredients and the motions like measurements but there was a third, intangible ingredient that most oft forgot. Passion and intent. She was measured and calculated, something that benefited her for the most part but in this case it did not. There was no urgency, no victory, no agency in her words. While they were flawless in practice, motion and enunciation, there was no magic in mere words and the gesticulations of a child. No, magic came from something deeper than words, songs and dances, it came from the heart or perhaps something less poetic and more conceptual such as the soul.

A sense of panic and dread was festering inside of her. She did not know what it was that she lacked, only that she lacked in some regard. That fear could be seen in her eyes for only a moment, she put on a brave, indifferent face as she rose her wand again her voice wavered as she said the charm once more. "Expelliarmus." Nothing happened, her wand had no display of power nor did Owen's wand respond because there was no authority in her words, no magic. 
 
Her face felt hot. She was embarrassed, slightly angry. She was getting nowhere and she was doing so in public which was the gravest insult of all. Her face twisted slightly, a girls face was never pretty when she was about to cry. But she would hide it well, that swelling sense of shame. She hid it with arrogance, something a Slytherin possessed in abundance. "I'm bored," she lied as she turned around to hide her expression. "You're really good," she muttered as she put away or rather sheathed her wand and started to make her way back to her seat. She would open up her bag and retrieve a notebook. She would start to write the incantation, a simple single word over and over again. Was she saying it wrong? Was she moving wrong? She was certain that she was doing it right -- so why?

[Refer to thread adjacent]

James Lachoneus wrote:

Christy Blake wrote: Christy smiled brightly at the boy and took his hand to shake: "I'm Christy Blake, nice to meet you!" She was excited that he was being so friendly to her, she hadn't really met anybody yet. She was also happy to finally have someone as a partner in one of her classes, being raised without magick was really a disadvantage here. It seemed like kids were already supposed to have some knowledge of magick by the time she got here. "Actually, no. I come from a muggle family, actually, so I've been pretty lost. I wasn't even able to lift the feather actually..." She was embarrassed to tell him this since he was able to, but she knew she shouldn't lie to him just to look cool. "I don't know for sure, but, judging by the name, I'd assume Defense Against the Dark Arts is learning how to defend yourself against magickal attacks." Not that it mattered, if someone attacked her, she'd be a goner. There's no way she'd be able to protect herself.

James turned slowly, watching the other students as they recited incantations and waved their wands around. A few times, James jumped at the sight of a spark or a flash of light coming from a wand. The only magic he had seen done before by a wand was him lifting a feather in Charms Class while learning levitation. Apparently, defending against dark magic was a little different from levitating a feather, but James figured that was to be expected.
James turned back to Christy with a thoughtful expression.
"It looks like we're trying to practice disarming each other... like, getting rid of the other's wand." James thought the other students were saying something like expel-ee-arm-us. Something sounded familiar with this word... what was it? Weren't spells essentially just gibberish? Like abracadabra alakazam? James grinned at the thought of his muggle fandom, Pokemon, as he thought of these magic words used on muggle stages that doubled as Pokemon names.
Then, it hit James, almost like a brick in the gut.
"Oh! They're pretty much saying expel arms! Expel as in 'force out or eject', and arms as in 'weapons'. The incantation has Latin roots! I know, because I studied Latin in my muggle school, the one I went to before coming here." James explained.
He glanced back at the other students, who seemed to be doing a specific wand movement along with the incantation.
"Hey, Christy? See if you can figure out what they're wand movement is..." James said, still looking ahead, observing the other students.

Christy started to study the students who seemed to be most successful with this spell. It seemed really intense and honestly pretty scary. Christy hadn't even mastered how to levitate a feather, how was she going to be able to disarm another wizard? Christy listened as James figured out what the spell means and she smiled at him. "I probably wouldn't have been able to figure that out..." she thought to herself as she continued to watch the other students in hope she could figure out the wand movement. They were all moving so fast, it was hard to really tell what they were doing, but she figured she would just try it out and see if it worked.

"Okay, I think I got it..." she practiced the movement a couple times, still watching the other students and trying to copy them - it seemed like they were kind of trying to lasso the other students' wand. "It looks kinf of like a lasso, like people use in those old cowboy movies... Would you mind if I tried? It probably won't work. I haven't been able to levitate my quill yet."

As James observed the other students, he began to notice that their wand movements looked a bit like a spiral. A downward spiral, to be specific.
"It looks kind of like a lasso, like people use in those old cowboy movies..." Christy said.
James nodded in agreement. Now that he looked at it that way, James could see what she was talking about.
"Would you mind if I tried? It probably won't work. I haven't been able to levitate my quill yet." she asked.
James nodded again and proceeded to step back, creating room between the two of them. James held his wand up, creating the target for Christy. As much as James was excited to try the spell, he had decided to let Christy go first 1) because she asked, and 2) because James felt like being nice. Of course, he always tried to be nice, so that wasn't surprising.
"Alright, you ready?" James asked. "So, it's 'expelliarmus' with a lasso motion and it's to disarm me... I remember someone saying something about also needing to concentrate on exactly what you're trying to do." James shared.
As he waited for her to use the spell, James had another thought.
"Later, if you want, I could try and help you with the levitation spell."

"My name is Adohiro Moira. Before you ask what my name means or what it is, it's Japanese and it means peace within chaos." He introduced himself to his classmates. Usually, when he introduced himself, people asked what his name meant or what kind of name it was so he always told what his name meant before he was bombarded with questions. Ever since his first day, he had to explain his name meant "peace within chaos." Focusing on the lesson, Adohiro held his wand, hoping he could easily levitate the feather before him. How could he possibly be a great wizard if he couldn't do a simple spell that anyone could do? Focusing his wand on the feather, he shouted Expelliarmus with great passion. He saw a bright light and noticed the feather floating above him which he was happy he had been successful at the first attempt. It seemed like a few people couldn't do the spell while others did. The Defense Against Dark Arts Class seemed quite easy, but it would most likely become more difficult as the class progressed. However, he was more than ready to be the top of the class and Slytherin House.

Ryan got to the class just after the teacher's last words, he was truly excited. Defense Against the Dark Arts was one of the subjects that he really wanted to excel at. One step into this classroom is one step being closer to his career as an Auror. He pulled the handle of the door and when it opened he looked around at the others as he took his seat. One guy was writing notes, hmm a Slytherin, no doubt he'd be a friend in an alternate timeline. He walked gallantly up towards the front passing all students as he walked in. 

There seemed to be a lack of other Ravies in the class, but no bother, suppose he could make friends in other houses if he wanted. I mean of course making friends in his house would be optimal but can't always get what you want in life. As long as he became a strong and powerful wizard it didn't matter who he had to hang with. He winked at the lonely Gryffindor girl as he walked forward, and then he took his seat.

Since Ryan was a pure-blood wizard, he had been among magic all his life, and many of the spells being covered had been seen at home. While he didn't have much knowledge himself, he could at least learn the point of them faster. He pulled out his wand, a chestnut wood wand with a unicorn hair core, not really a wand built for DADA but he'd make it so. He laid it down on his right side of the desk. Pulled out his paper, and a feather pen and started to jot notes from the teacher, ready for his future.