Defense Against the Dark Arts Closed

Joanne was first in class, like she often was. Today they'd learn about Defense Against the Dark Arts. Up till now she hadn't been very promising, magic-wise, and liked to make more progress when it came to using a wand. Besides, it seemed like a very useful lesson. Since it was their first lesson, they'd cover some basic creatures and how to defend against them, if necessary, as well as a few simple spells that would be the foundation of their future spellwork. 

When class finally started, their teacher introduced himself and told them the rules of his class. No drinking or eating, respect, no cheating and study for his lessons. He told them that he'd be teaching them about the beginnings of the dark art first, which he simply stated as ; As long as there has been light, there has been dark too. Which sounded logical, Joanne admitted. 

"The call of Dark Arts has been appealing for some people - those who actively seek power. And once you start dabbling in the Dark Arts, casting a spell with malicious intent, it will continue to corrupt you. But its power comes with a price," he told them. As an example he took Tom Marvolo Riddle, most commonly known as Lord Voldemort. The topic made Joanne uncomfortable. Her parents had told her a lot about the man, and had sheltered her from him and his followers in whatever way they could. One of those ways had been hiding among the muggles, she knew. Luckily, they had never come face-to-face with any Dark Arts. 

"Before you can study Dark spells and how we can defend against them, you must first understand what a Dark spell is, -" he continued to explain more about what a dark spell was. It was more a history lesson up till now. 

This class seemed a lot more interesting than a class on flower-picking. She was actually a little excited about participating in a class about something actually useful. She even brought her textbooks. That in and of itself was a miracle. 

She was disappointed when she learned that the lesson was more a lecture of responsibility. Of superstition. They were in the modern age weren't they? She would doodle along the edge of of her notebook with her quill. It was an exaggerated depiction of her herbology teacher that involved pointed teeth and flared nostrils with blazing flames from those distended nares.

She did not care about some dead guy that refused to stay dead. She was more interested in how he refused to remain dead. How could a man split his soul into so many pieces so that he might rise again and earn in a sense immortality. Phylacteries... mean Horcruxes were a truly fascinating art. She wondered if someday she might be able to emulate such a 'dark' skill.

"Before you can study Dark spells and how we can defend against them, you must first understand what a Dark spell is, -"

Finally, the good stuff, she thought as her attention returned to the front of the room. A part of her would of course wonder what was so wrong with these 'dark spells'? Because she did not see anything 'wrong' with a protracted life. With the security of knowing you had control over your own death. It seemed to her that 'dark' was relegated to 'powerful' and useful techniques. That 'darkness' was something that people used limit the growth of others. To instill fear and superstition. To increase their control. 

Ignoring the odd similarity this has to Star Wars, the whole concept of the 'Dark Arts' is actually quite fascinating. Gareth sat towards the back of the class and was half paying attention, half letting his mind wander. I suppose it would make sense for someone to use magic to stretch the laws of life and death, that way they'd live longer. Then again, he hadn't believed the existence of magic to be even possible until approximately two months ago, so who was he to judge? The professor's tone seems to suggest that the dark arts are a dangerous and widely discouraged thing in the wizarding world though, so he made a quick note of it for further examination. Compared to some other practices that these people take part of, it must be pretty bad.

Speaking of the wizarding world, what do these kids even learn in their classes? He'd skimmed through his schedule a couple days ago, and noticed that there was no form of mathematics anywhere. So this entire community of people somehow manages to function without any sort of mathematics in their culture at all. These poor kids, they don't know what they're missing out on. Except for the other 'muggle-borns', I guess.

The people he'd seen when he first arrived did seem pretty interesting though. Looking around, he saw a girl with very bouncy-looking hair, a blond boy with the kind of eyes that could stare into the depths of your soul, and another girl with purple? black? hair, among others. These people would pass off as perfectly normal...  little would others know that we are all scientifically unexplainable beings with the freakish ability to bend the laws of reality, Gareth mused. This could take some getting used to.

Caitlin rushed in halfway through the class dripping water and completely soaked. "I'm so sorry! There was a problem with my last class. I have a note from the teacher." She said as she handed the note to the teacher who read it before casting a drying charm to clean her clothes. With a quick 'thank you' to him she took a free seat in the very back of the class next to the windows. Dark arts? Interesting... I wonder what I missed. She thought to herself as she pulled out her books, quill, and parchment paper before finally leaning back against the seat and ran her fingers through her still damp hair. She only half listened to what the teacher was going on about and let her mind wander about.

Marcus sat in the corner of the room, listening to the lesson by the professor as he writes down several notes on his parchment involving the dark arts after he finishes he glances around checking over his fellow classmates, seeing Caitlin rush in completely soaked, raising an eyebrow at that he shrugs and writes some notes down on a seperate sheet involving his plans for the future 'it should be quite simple to gain allies in Slytherin as well as Ravenclaw maybe Hufflwpuff as well but Gryffindor would be difficult due to house rivalry history even though it is completely stupid for a whole house to be punished for the actions of a few, also..why only Slytherin? Ravenclaw had a few dark wizards as well as Gryffindor also rumor has it Merlin himself was a Slytherin so the hate is pretty stupid' he thought all that as he wrote down his notes after he finishes he looks around to see if Erin or Vera were around but didnt see them so he began reading a book about defense as he waited for the professor to continue the lesson hoping to get back to the dueling room to practice somemore 'i do need to test the modified stunner I'm thinking about'

As Caitlin looked around the room she spotted Marcus sitting not too far from her. She blushed and gave a small wave before turning back around. She tried to pay attention to what the teacher was, saying she really was, but she found it hard. After all, who knew better about the dark arts than her. Almost her whole family had been killed before her eyes using them. She closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing while counting back from ten. Now was not the time for a panic attack. However, behind her eyelids, she saw that day over and over again and she only felt her heart rate pick up as tears threatened to spill over. She opened her eyes to try to make them stop but the sunlight coming in from the windows was too bright and it blinded her, the teacher's voice was too loud and the writing of a quill attacked her ears. She had to get out of there. Now! On shaking legs she stood up and raced from the room and into the hall where she sunk down the wall and gripped her hair as the tears finally won over and spilt down her cheeks.

One of the classes Peach was very excited to start was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Throughout her childhood, she was frequently around animals considered as dangerous to wizards or human. Although she never saw the bad in them it always interested her, all the dark and scary stuff. She helped to take care of dragons, usually babies, but still dragons, and always saw them as cute little rocky fluffs. Not once she was attacked by one of them and she really wanted to understand why they were treated as badly. And plus, with the Voldemort thing, things got way dangerous and her mum told her many many stories about him and his followers. 

Entering the class, she found a seat towards the middle of the classroom and she quietly observed her companions before the professor started. The first one she remarked was a pretty girl with pretty curly hair, and not so far from her a boy with very blonde hair. After them, her eyes fell on a girl with black-purple hair and then another boy with dark hair too. He seemed to be looking at the students too and Peach smiled a little. 

"The call of Dark Arts has been appealing for some people - those who actively seek power. And once you start dabbling in the Dark Arts, casting a spell with malicious intent, it will continue to corrupt you. But its power comes with a price,". Every power comes with a price...she thought to herself. But it also all depends on the wizard and his wand. The dark arts can be ridiculously easy I've read...Which makes it scary. 

As the lesson went on, a girl came in, soaked, head to toe, saying that something went wrong in her last class. After that incident, the professor didn't take long to keep going on about with the lesson. 

Rian entered the room and took a seat. He was worn out, he had been running back and forth for a while now. He had not paid attention to any tour or anything else, so he knew where nothing was, and could only hope he was never late for a class. "Oh, you've done it now." He scolded himself. This time he was on time, but what about next time?

Rian didn't pay much attention to the other students. He was focused on the professor. This wasn't because he didn't care for his classmates, but because this was the subject he knew the absolute least about. "The call of Dark Arts has been appealing for some people - those who actively seek power. And once you start dabbling in the Dark Arts, casting a spell with malicious intent, it will continue to corrupt you. But its power comes with a price" The teacher lectured.

This sent chills down his spine. Questions filled his mind, and he thought about all of them. He was young and inexperienced. But he was curious. Is Dark magic all bad? Could you use it for good? His mind was both innocent and naive. He still paid attention, he needed the lessons.

Arceus just sat in his chair twirling his wand around in his hand, which looked dumb. He couldn't even keep still for a moment and felt like running about. He kept taking casual notes, he didn't eve notice Caitlin coming in and handing a note to the teacher, he was just humming a song he used to listen to all the time when he was younger but he couldn't remember the name of it. He didn't really know what the teacher was talking about and Defense against the Dark Arts didn't interest him that much anyways, he wanted to cast spells but the teacher rambling on about how to point your wand and why to never cast a spell if you are in school was getting boring, he did however notice Caitlin run out. He thought of Caitlin as a big sister and felt terrible whenever he saw her sad, he wasn't sure if he should go, he felt like she needed someone but he would have to search the whole school to find her. She might have gone to the girls toilets he thought to himself if she went in there he wouldn't be able to follow after because he was such a gentleman. He decided to go.. but would he be able to find her?