Beginning DADA, Signed-up Students

[Davis Clearwater]

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It was finally what counted as “spring” for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Davis Clearwater couldn’t have been happier for that fact. He had missed teaching over the winter and had even found himself getting more than bored at points during the cold months. The centaur attack livened up a relatively small portion of the season, but that didn’t do it completely for the young wizard, whose idea of “fun” was basically limited to training and teaching nowadays. Davis had worked extremely hard on what his curriculum for Defense Against the Dark Arts would be for the spring, changing the way the classes were split up for one, and attempting to at least throw a bit of theory in as well. The former Ravenclaw was not fond of book work or theory, as to Defend one’s self from the Dark Arts, knowing some spells would be preferable to knowing the theory behind them. His first experience with teaching at the school had been a good one, for the students seemed to respond well to this hands-on approach to teaching DADA, so he was determined to keep it somewhat similar. The trouble was, there was a finite number of spells that the man could teach students from the ages of 11-17 without getting in a lot of trouble, so it took a whole bunch of work to figure out what was going to happen.

His first class of the spring term was the first and second years’ “Beginner DADA” class. In this class, Davis had decided not to only emulate what he had done before, but pretty much copy his past self. In this class, he had planned on teaching the students basic defensive spells. It would be a fun course, if the students caught on relatively quickly. That was one problem Davis had always had with teaching. If a student didn’t catch on quickly, or at least within the first few times of showing, he had a difficult time shoving himself past the thoughts of “Oh My God, what is wrong with you, kid?” that popped up in his head. Nonetheless, he had gotten quite good at it the last time he had taught some students and found the rewards for doing so much better than not helping the students who struggled through their problems. Now, Davis was adamant about being able to push through bad thoughts directed towards slow-learning students and teach the kids what they needed to know.

His classroom was set up as a sort of dojo, with the chairs and desks all pushed to the sides of the room along the counters that lined the walls. The center of the room was perfectly clear, except for a line down the middle, cutting the room in half horizontally, providing a place for students to stand behind while practicing spell casting. The door was situated at the opposite side of the room from where Davis stood next to his blackboard, which was hanging up on the wall by nothing but magic. In front of Davis stood a number of practice dummies, which waited patiently for some magic to blast them apart, to which they would respond with their amazing automatic repairing ability that Davis had imbued them with. On the black board was written “Davis Clearwater” and below the professor’s name it said “Please Take Your Wands Out As Soon As You Come In.” Hopefully, that would be an exciting prospect for the young witches and wizards soon to be entering through the door…

[Ariel Silvermoor]

Ariel was the first of the Beginning DADA class to arrive this particular day. Glancing around the room as she came through the door she noted the training dummies, and standing near them, the Professor... a tall young man with dark hair and intense, intelligent eyes; Professor Davis Clearwater, the chalkboard informed her. The little Ravenclaw's hand anxiously wandered to the handle of her wand, even before her sharp eyes noticed the notice on the chalk board. Not that she seriously thought that any real harm would come to her in a class ... it was just that from what she had heard, you never knew what might happen in a DADA class. Her brown hair was confined to a tidy pony tale for the period, in anticipation of DADA and the possibility that it might be in the way, otherwise. Her notes and books for her other classes were tucked into a bag slung over her shoulder.

Her sharp eyes glittered with excitement as she saw the notice informing students that they were to have their wands at the ready for class, and a grin crept its way across her face. This was going to be an interesting class, of that there was no doubt. Rumors said that Professor Clearwater had little patience with those students who weren't quick to learn... he was a former eagle, perhaps?

Whichever the case, the little eaglette mused, she would have little cause to worry about that particular offense. She was a quick learner and had, or so she was told, a quick wand, too. Indeed, she was often said to be better so far with her wand based magic than with potions... though she was capable of turning out acceptable potions MOST of the time. She adjusted her blue and bronze scarf which she had worn around the castle today, since the wheather, in spite of the fact that it was supposed to be spring, was damp and cold and the old Hogwarts castle tended to be drafty. How the badgers and snakes could stand living in that old dungeon was more than Ariel understood... though she was thankful that her own dorm wasn't down there. Her blue-grey eyes scanned the room intently once more.

The classroom was set up, evidently, for some actual practice with wands... perhaps even a bit of dueling, though on the first day of class of the term that was unlikely. Ariel was all for it, either way; book learning and studying the theories of HOW to do things was fine, but actually getting some real spell casting practice was something she was looking forward to.

The girl looked around for where the students were supposed to wait for further instructions, and being uncertain, she took a place in one of the desks at the side of the room, waiting to see who else would arrive and what would happen next as she allowed the sack of books to slip to the floor next to the desk. Her Rowan wood wand with Hippogryph feather and sphynx whisker core was at the ready, sitting on the desk with her hand resting on top of it and waiting for whatever might come next. This was the first and second year class... so it was possible that some of her friends, Akio, May, Emric as well as other people she was quite familiar with but on less friendly terms might be attending as well. She cast a glance up at the teacher to see if he would give her any further immediate instructions or wait for the others to get here. The eaglette could feel her wand warm with energy at the prospect of what might come. DADA was a very practical class, the eaglette had decided... after all, one never knew when knowing how to protect one's self from the less scrupulous magic users in the world might be necessary.

[Davis Clearwater]

QUOTE (Akio Kyoto @ Mar 1 2012, 05:36 PM)

Akio was the second to the Beginner DADA on the first day just behind the girl he had a crush on.  Looking around he liked what he saw. ‘Will it seems the teacher believes in doing the spells not just learning about them.’ His pale blue eyes swept around the room and centre in on the blackboard ‘Please Take Your Wands Out As Soon As You Come In.’ Flicks his left wrist which called forth his school wand. His robe was hang off his shoulder has he walked toward a desk. The bag in his right hand held all his books for the days lessons. He looked around again to see he and his Ravenclaw crush were the only one in the room at the moment. The rumour he had heard about the Professor Clearwater weren’t pretty but he wasn’t going to voice those  rumours. He like his head where it was thank you very much. Akio may  be many things but stupid he wasn’t not. He sat down his robe and bag. Akio without thinking hops onto the desk where his stuff was.  Now looking even more closely he could see the classroom set up wasn’t for learning out of books but to learn with there eyes and ears. He was perfectly happy learning with his eyes thank you very much. His learning style when it came to DADA was auditory learner where his cousin May was tactile learner. He was hoping from some practical learning not book learning. Studying theories was ok to start with but he always inching to try the spells in his books. “Sir?” He asked with his French/Japanese accent. “Do you want us to keep our shoes on?”  He didn’t want to make a fool of himself but he did have that question because of how the room was set up. “Or do we take them off?” His wand was  in his left hand waiting for the others.

[Davis Clearwater]

QUOTE (May Marie Stacy @ Mar 1 2012, 08:48 PM)

A silkily tight ring like curly of dark auburn haired girl walked into the room pulling her hair back into a high ponytail. She didn’t seem to notice things around her as she walked into the classroom. She finished her hair has she neared where Akio was sitting. For once the emotions that was normal rolling around her chest were calm and she was at peace as she removed her black massager bag and robe. She looked around to see the blackboard say ‘Please Take Your Wands Out As Soon As You Come In.’ May looks over to see Akio sitting on his desk. She groans into her hands. “Akio get off the blasted desk,” She said in her French/English accent. “Really if I didn’t know any better I would think you were raised by a werewolf.” Her blue-green eyes were bright as the sun on a sunny day. Leading against the desk where her stuff is she flicks her right hand calling forth her wand from her reddish black wand holster was. She noticed the room was sort of set up like her Dojo at home. ‘Odd. It seems the rumours are true. His hands on not book learning. Good. I wonder what spells we’re learning to day?’ She thought to herself. She kneeled down to make sure her black boots were tight yet loose enough that she could move. After she was done playing with her shoes she stood up and notice Ariel was in the room. “Oh hello Ariel,” she said.

[Emric Bolstridge]

The first day of classes usually sucked. Nothing fun ever happened, there were just rules and rules, and then more rules accompanied by homework that was either far too easy or far too hard, depending on how irked the professor was about starting a new semester. If Emric wasn't so worried about getting in trouble, he definitely would have skipped the first day of class. It was just too much of a hassle to have to deal with all the boring lecturing... He didn't ditch of course, but he did find it extremely difficult to lug himself out of bed. Slowly he walked from his room down to where the classrooms were, dragging his feet as he tried to prepare himself for a long, seemingly endless day of monotone professors blowing meaningless air his way. "Ugh..." He sighed as he came upon the hallway that his room was supposed to be located. If there was anything that was somewhat cool about this new semester, it was that he now, for the most part, knew where to find his classes. It was a big improvement from last semester, though if he hadn't ever gotten lost, he wouldn't have met Izzy, and that would have been pretty lame. He and the other lion were pretty awesome together, and what made things even better was the fact that Izzy had a whole year of experience around Hogwarts over Emric, which proved to only mean that he knew where some of the coolest places to go to were at.

Before he knew it, the cub was already stepping into the classroom, finding quickly that he had Ariel to look forward to chatting with if everything else sucked. Soon after that he noticed the letters in bold on the board and quickly he grabbed his wand as his eyes darted around to find whatever it was he needed his wand for. When he found nothing, the cub looked at the older man curiously. What the heck? Was he playing a joke on them? If he was... then awesome, because he definitely got Emric. The first year shot a grin at the professor before taking a seat by his cousin; perhaps the first day of class wouldn't be as boring as he had thought. Settled in his seat by the eaglet, Emric scooted a bit closer to her and said, "Hey Ariel! Are you excited to learn how to be awesome? Because I am." Just then a boy had spoken up, asking about what to do with his shoes. what... The first year thought, pursing his lips slightly as he turned to look at the boy. Why would they need to take their shoes off? The idea didn't seem very safe, considering all the dirt that was probably on the floor. Whatever though, Emric was pretty sure they were allowed to keep their shoes on, and if for some reason they weren't, it'd be fine since he had a good pair of socks on. Some girl had greeted his cousin then, not before making some snooty comment to the boy who had asked about the shoes. Emric wasn't in the mood to deal with any trouble right now though, there simply wasn't time for it. Right now was learning time, and Emric wanted to learn everything this guy had to teach him. Preferably by the end of class, but he supposed it'd be alright if he needed a few more classes after that.

[Ariel Silvermoor]

Ariel watched as the other students began to file into the room; first May and Akio and then followed a few moment's later by Emric."Hey, May! " she added with a smile as the lioness greeted her. The little eaglette nearly burst out laughing at the girl's sharp rebuke to her cousin who she herself had given a friendly wave as he entered the room. "I'd be careful talking like that, May," the little Ravenclaw called with a laugh," If any werewolves overhear you they might be offended."

Ariel knew little as of yet about vampires, werewolves and other such beings, which muggles supposed to be purely imaginary. Nonetheless, any of them had to appear and behave relatively human most of the time so as to avoid notice, the girl reasoned.

Akio's question had caught her off gaurd... as it had Emric,too from the puzzled look on his face. Then the girl remembered... he was from Japan. It was entirely possible that it was tradition in Japan to train without one's shoes on.

Emric greeted her with a cheeky "Hey Ariel", plopped his person in a desk next to hers, and proceeded to ask if she was ready to learn." I am an eagle," She answered the cub with a smirk," Of course I am ready."

At that instant Ariel remebered an important fact... Akio didn't know that Emric and herself were cousins. "Akio, this is MY cousin, Emric. Emric, this is Akio." She introduced them. Something within her did not want Akio to get the wrong idea about herself and Emric... though she wasn't entirely certain what or why. That done, she glanced back up to see if Professor Clearwater was ready to start the class. It was, as Emric had said, going to be awsome.

[Davis Clearwater]

Even though Davis realized they were just kids, the questions they asked and banter between them was rather silly, notably the socks question. It actually baffled the teacher a bit and caused him to chuckle slightly under his breath before responding simply, “Of course not,” in the least pretentious way that he could. Davis stood up then and looked over the students that had walked in. They all looked rather excited, especially at the fact that they were going to be able to learn some actual magic, which was a good sign. One in particular had a consistent smirk on his face, and the professor decided that this must have been Emric Bolstridge, the Gryffindor boy Davis had seen on the list of students he had on his desk in the back room. The students were busy giving each other a hard time and saying hello when Davis finally said “Good day, class,” and smiled at them, his wide toothy grin hopefully being welcoming to the kids. The twenty-one year old walked to the center of the room then and stood on the line that was in the center. Turning around to face the dummies, he raised his Hawthorn wand, pointed it at the closest one, and yelled “Expelliarmus!”. The burst of energy from the end of his wand slammed into the dummy, which caused it to slide backwards along the floor and crash into the blackboard. The blackboard was unharmed due to a few spells Davis had put on it to make sure of that fact, but the whole demonstration was rather big and exciting, just what the teacher was hoping for.

With that, he began walking back over to where he had been standing next to the black board. While doing so, he waved his wand in the direction of the dummy he had cast the spell on and silently said Locomoter Dummy, which cause the thing to slide back to where it had been standing alongside the other two dummies that were there. He whipped his body around when he arrived at his previous location and announced, “That was the ‘disarming’ spell Expelliarmus, a vitally important spell for your repertoire if you ever want to be able to defend yourself effectively. It’s simple enough to cast and rather powerful in and of itself. Also, I use the term ‘disarming’ rather loosely, as while it can be used to simply disarm, generally it’s used as a ‘blast people away from you’ spell, as a badly aimed charm will cause the person’s body to lift into the air, as if the spell is attempting to disarm the whole body. That being said, once you learn this charm, you may not use it outside of class…unless your life is in danger, but that’s always a special case. Nevertheless, this particular spell is quite simple to cast,” Davis lifted his wand at this, “A simple ‘Swish-and-Flick’, which is possibly the most important wand motion in everything spell casting…” The professor swished and flicked, twirling his wand clockwise quickly and then flicking it forward, “…and of course you combine that motion with the word: Expelliarmus. Make sure to say the incantation with force and confidence. Any wimpiness and your body will realize it and who knows what could happen. I’ve seen wands backfire, I’ve seen completely different effects happen, and I’ve seen everything else you could possibly imagine come from simply not saying the incantation like you mean it. I’m sure, though, you guys will have no trouble doing so.” The professor finished his main speech and grinned his wide grin again and looked at the faces of the students. He could tell they were excited to give it a shot, and he was also mentally preparing himself for what might happen when they did. You could never know if students would get it right off the bat or if it would take them many tries, but it was always interesting. Sometimes the spell simply didn’t work the first few times. When Davis had tried it the first time, though, he got it right away, so he knew it was possible…

“Anyway, students, I would invite you to try this out yourself. Don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t work the first time, it will eventually do so, trust me. Now, create three lines behind the center line and in front of each of the dummies and give it your best shot. Once you’ve tried and either failed three times or had it work once, please give the student behind you a chance. All right, off you go!” This was going to be exciting. He had assumed at least a few of them were first time spell casters, and it reminded him of his first time and how exciting it was. The rush he got when he first managed to cast a spell was astonishing…

[Peter Stonewall]

Peter’s hands were cold and shaky that morning, from anything besides nerves. Just because his Hornbeam wand was less-than-predictable didn’t mean that he couldn’t whip the thing in shape in time for class. The whitish wand was agreeable sometimes, after all. Like that one time…. Yeah. No—what was Peter thinking? His wand was down right impossible to control, dropping things that were supposed to be levitating, turning love potions brown, burning the plant leaves in Herbology when it was supposed to be nurturing them... About the only spell he could really perform was an old offense spell—the “Exploding Rose”, it was called, or sometimes “Quick-Fire”. In summation, it was short, to-the-point, and left everything thoroughly singed when it was done. No, Peter’s strength was not in spell-casting. He… he was more the physical type, to be honest. Not that anyone knew that, and no one would know, or even have an inkling of the notion or the slightest of proof that he was not good with his wand. Because someone who knew that would have to have unhuman insight… almost as if they were peering into his head and heart through an RPG post. See, what a first year, or even second year, would see was a big, tall boy with big muscles tensed and a wand reared as if he were about to demolish them whether by magic or by muscle.
So, the second year stuffed his trembling hands into his slack pockets and let his shoulders relax into a slope as he entered the large classroom door, his stylish and expensive leather messenger bag hanging from his shoulder casually, his usually-curly hair slicked back into a stiff ducktail coiffeur. What he saw when he entered was an—oh jolly—a male teacher, looking at ease in front of a line of dummies. To the side of the room, lined against the wall and sitting in their desks, was another line of dummies. What struck him was shock that apparently the professor intended to teach them instead of lecture endlessly. And that sucked, because… well, as the reader knows, he wasn’t confident in his ability with a wand.
Adopting a confident, aloof expression, he surveyed the students in the desks again, and intended to not seat himself with them. After all, they wouldn’t apparently be sitting down during class, so what point was there in sitting now? There were still many students climbing into the classroom behind him, filing in to fill the room, but there were a few that were there before him that looked familiar. There was Akio Kyoto, who was in his dorm with him, then, egad, Emric Bolstridge, the little twerp… then May Stacy, nice… but then also was the elusive Ariel Silvermoor, which was very okay by Peter. Both girls had their hair swept up into ponytails, May’s in a high flirty one, and Ariel’s in a low practical one. Ariel was already surrounded on her right and her left by both guys, and that made her attractiveness go up by at least ten percent for Peter. He had been owling her pretty constantly, and they had a friendly repoire going. But, as she was already surrounded, and he wanted her attention, he wandered over to May and gave her a great big smile. “Hello again, my Belle.” He told her, then suddenly the professor started talking, and Peter rolled his eyes and did anything but pay attention, until suddenly there was a spell cast and things were banging, and Peter suddenly took the whole “have your wand out and ready” thing seriously and whipped the troublesome stick from his custom, leather, steel-studded shieth and had it pointed toward the front of the room with wide, surprised eyes. When he realized that it was the dummy that had been hit, and it was now coming back together, he brought his gazed toward the professor, lowering his wand. This wasn’t to pay attention to the stupid speech the guy was spurting, this was to size him up.
He was a looker, weirdly, as if he’d only just graduated Hogwarts the previous year, tall and looking like he was ready to take on an entire classroom of fifth years bludgering him with spells. Peter swallowed. Even he himself wasn’t that tough!

[Davis Clearwater]

QUOTE (Ariel Silvermoor @ Mar 5 2012, 02:14 PM)

Ariel had been watching intently as Professor Clearwater demonstrated what he called the 'Expelliarmus' spell for them... a usefull spell indeed as he went on to explain. Judging from the way it had blasted the dummy flying, it was good for more than simply disarming one's opponant... AND Professor Clearwater would NOT be a wizard the little eaglette would want to be facing in a duel. Ariel glanced back at May to see that Peter Stonewall had entered the room and was standing near her firend... the little Ravenclaw rolled her eyes. He had no doubt been saying something flirty to May, though she hadn't been paying enough attention to be certain. Odd, though, that she hadn't noticed him enter the room; either way, she hadn't the desire to deal with him, right now in class... if he had the misfortune to run into her later later, however, she might just decide to hex him. When the professor told them they were to line up in front of the dummies and attempt the spell themselves Ariel slipped from her seat and headed for the line in front of the dummy farthest to the right. The carved Greek Olive handle of her wand clutched tightly in her hand, she headed towards her place before the dummy. " Let's do this..." she whispered to it as she stopped along the line.From what the Prrofessor said, you had to mean it when you spoke the spell... she had to think like her life might depend on it. She closed her eyes for a second imagining herself in some epic duel against the forces of darkness before opening them again, and aiming her Rowan wood wand at the dummy. "Expelliarmus!" She called out, flicking her wrist as she had seen the teacher do. Ariel had slipped fairly easily into a standard spell-casting stance... feet placed for balance and wand arm stretched out to full length. The little brunette was gratified when a blast of energy burst from the tip of her wand, smacking the dummy flat in the middle of its chest and sending it flying a few feet before landing on its back with a solid thump... the spell had worked! Unfortunately, her wand had also decided to add a bit of drama of its own... when she had cast the spell, it had released a shower of blue sparks and a cloud of acrid smelling smoke. The girl coughed, waving a hand to attempt to dissipate the smoke. "Sorry about that, Sir..."She said looking sheepishly at Professor Clearwater ," My wand has a bit of a taste for mischief and drama, I am afraid." She added before stepping to the side to make room for one of the other students at the line. She glanced back to Emric with a smirk who she was certain was laughing himself silly at her wands antics... she wondered how the others would fare. Ariel's wand was well behaved enough most of the time... it did appear to have a mind of its own at times, though and it DID indeed have a tendancy to mischievous spells; as the incident that had just occurred showed. Her spell had been nowhere as strong as the professors, but still... it had worked and there was plenty of time for practicing on strength and accuracy later.

[Davis Clearwater]

QUOTE (Akio Kyoto @ Mar 5 2012, 05:18 PM)

“Haha very funny May,” said Akio hoping off the desk. “That was so funny I forget to laugh at your joke.” He crossed his arm “Hi Ariel and nice to meet you Emric. This my cousin May. A Gryffindor like you.” He ruffed May’s hair. He smirk down at his four feet cousin May. “Through I think May could have been a eagle not a lioness.” “I only asked because you have the room set up like a Dojo. May and I train at a muggle Dojo not far from her home,” He said softly. Unknown he pulled May to his side like he would with his own sisters. For some unknown reason he was feeling very protective of May at the moment. A few minutes later he found out why. When his slytherin dorm mate walked in. When Peter called May ‘Belle’ something in him want to rip his fellow Slytherin head off. When the teacher started the lesson he went back to watching the teacher. After the teacher was done everyone lined up he was right behind May who was behind Ariel. He watched as Ariel’s wand acted up. “I think your wand match you perfectly,” He said trying not to laugh. She stood aside as May step forward. He squared his feet waiting to see what May’s wand would do this time.

[Davis Clearwater]

QUOTE (May Marie Stacy @ Mar 5 2012, 07:02 PM)

“True I don’t want to be werewolf food,” she muttered darkly. ‘Again.’ she add in her mind. Her none wand arm snaked around her stomach where the three slash marks were hidden by her clothes.  She could remember where and how she got them. Not long ago her fear had been that of any child until a cousin of hers told her the story of a brave werewolf. “Akio if you ruffle my hair again I will personally ask Charles turn you into a dog again so I can chase you around the Stacy’s ground with a rolled up newspaper this summer!” She snapped as she smooth back her hair. “And it will not be just the cross-word puzzle like the last time.” She noticed that she was standing very close to Akio who had his none wand arm around her shoulder. When she heard “Hello again, my Belle.” from someone who didn’t get the term ‘watch it buddy’ seriously. Something in May was starting to burn again. She couldn’t understand what and why it was. The hand that was holding her wand was balled into a fist. “Hello,” she said coldly. “Don’t call me Belle. My name isn’t that.” She felt Akio tighten his hold on her. Taken some calming breath. She’s watched as the teacher’s uses the disarming spell. A half smile appeared on her face has she watched the dummy come back. A light appeared in her eyes. The class lined up as May pray that her wand would behave but she hardly doubt it because she’s land on her butt a fair few times. Her wand was known to be temperate because of the Veela hair in it. 10 inch rosewood wand with the core of veela hair. She didn’t know what the wand would do this time. After Ariel’s wand show of problems. May step forward while squared her shoulder back.  “Expelliarmus!” she called out while flicking her wrist. The spell shoot out of her wand and arch to the left side ways and hit the dummy in the side. The hit sent the dummy flying side ways into the wall. While in the process of the spell leaving her wand May was sent flying back into Akio’s waiting arms. “I hit the stupid thing this time at least.” she said trying to find her footing. “Stupid temperament wand.”

[Emric Bolstridge]

It was interesting...ly weird to see Ariel so quickly introduce him to the boy who had asked about the shoes. Em figured they would have met anyway, but did the eaglet have to ensure they would with such haste? It was almost as if the other kid mattered to her... or maybe the cub was just over exaggerating. Either way, there was no point in wasting any time on the matter. Tilting his body so he could see behind Ariel, the cub shot the kid on the desk a grin and said, "Hey." Meeting people was cool. Sometimes. It really depended on who you were meeting and on if you were even in a good mood to meet anyone, but this kid looked pretty nice if you didn't consider his odd behavior and weird question. Emric nodded a quick hello in response to Akio and straightened himself by Ariel's side again as they continued to wait for class to begin. Then, disaster struck. Peter Stonewall, that jerk of a Slytherin had just strolled in, holding his head high as if he were royalty blessing the rest of the students with his presence. Pfft, and the way he shot flirty glances at the girls in the room... did he have no shame? Did he not realize the two girls could see each other and just as easily notice the suggestive eyes he was throwing at both of them? Surely he had to know such actions would stir up some kind of trouble... but maybe he just didn't care. Sighing softly to himself, Emric simply looked away from the second year, not wanting to become too engulfed by the stupid snake's presence and miss anything important.

Just then the professor spoke up, showing off a giant grin that seemed a little too welcoming for the lion cub's comfort. An explosion of awesomeness soon followed, leaving Emric with a hanging jaw and eyes alit in wonder, respect, and a hint of jealousy. He had little time to stare in amazement as Clearwater began explaining their goal for the day along with several tips about the spell. This was all... so troubling, because Emric had no paper to write all the information down. How was he supposed to remember all the interesting details about the spell? How was he supposed to remember all the tips the professor gave him? The pace of the class was becoming quickly apparent, for the cub soon realized that he had no time to think about anything. Already Clearwater was displaying the proper technique to cast the spell, keeping what Emric perceived to be a serious tone, lightly coated with a sense of playfulness and excitement. This did little to ease the first year's concerns, but he could do nothing more than ignore them. Rethinking his troubles, he realized that at that moment, nothing mattered but to get the spell right. He could owl the professor later and ask to have a hand written explanation of the spell easily enough. The time for action was upon him, and with this realization came a newfound sense of urgency to act! Emric would be the first to try the spell, the very first!

Or not! Before the cub could jump ahead of the line of the students, Ariel Silvermoor had already seized his prize for herself. Normally Emric would have been irked at losing something to a girl, but his cousin was a special exception. He couldn't seriously get upset at his own blood for beating him out of the spot; that just wouldn't have been okay in his mind. Hanging back with the rest of his peers, the cub watched intently as his cousin imitated the professor’s movements perfectly - what else could any have expected from his kin? Pride overtook the cub as he noticed the eaglet's precision in casting her spell, and immediately after a giant smirk swept across his face as his pride was quickly replaced with amusement at the added effect that had burst out of the eaglet's wand. "Awesome job Ariel." He whispered as she came to his side again. Apparently nobody cared that Emric wanted to have his turn, because as soon as he was ready to move forward, some other kid jumped ahead of him. Again. This time, the cub was allowed to be angry, for the girl who took his spot was neither his kin nor someone he cared for. Crossing his arms, the first year did his best to wait patiently for the girl to finish, finding that his patience was rewarded at the sight of the girl flying backward at the power of the spell.

He didn't waste too much time snickering at what had happened though. Going third was fine, but going fourth would have been an embarrassment. Gripping his wand tight, the cub marched up to the line, keeping his eyes stern and focusing all his attention on the dummy that had just finished realigning itself. Taking a similar stance to one he had seen Clearwater and his cousin take, the cub practiced flicking his wand a few times, paying close attention to his motions. When he felt he had gotten the movement down well enough, the cub fixated his gaze on the dummy some distance away from him. After silently taking a deep breath, Em shouted the spell, flinching slightly at the warm sensation that shot through his arm as a bright beam of light left his wand. The blast of light hit the dummy towards its side, and, to his dismay, sent it bouncing backward slightly before bobbing back up as if it were just some balloon dummy that had been tapped. This sucked. Why hadn't it come out like the professor's? Unable to accept this pitiful performance, the cub proceeded to try again, allowing his determination to drive his second try. His second try proved to be more effective than his first, hitting the dummy at its other side and sending it backward a little more than the first. This still was not acceptable. It was okay though, because... he still had one more shot. Using a more ferocious tone, the cub mimicked the twirl and flick with more force this time, keeping his mind solely focused on blasting that stupid dummy to bits.

... None of this worked. The dummy had merely been knocked over in such a pathetic way that Emric could no longer look at it anymore. Allowing his arms to go limp, the cub merely walked over to his old spot, this time positioning himself a step closer to his cousin. Why had he failed so horribly... Maybe he wasn't going to be as amazing as he thought he would be...

[Aria Aranda]

Veni, Vidi, Vici.
Aria came, she saw, and she fully intended to conquer. She had trodden into the room silently, making no noise whatsoever as she set her bag down and pulled her Cedar and Hemlock wood from its place in her pocket. It hummed happily at her familiar touch. She barely took notice of the rowdy second and first year's, nodding to her teacher, Professor Clearwater by the board's word, as she waited for class to start. She examined the classroom and its inhabitants carefully, taking note of anything extraordinary. The classroom was much like a dojo, with the majority of the floor uncovered and set up with practice dummies. The classmates were being loud and annoying as usual. The Gryffindors were having a hissy fit with the resident flirting Slytherin. It wasn't a surprise. Gryffindors tended to hate Slytherins whether they were good or bad, and vice versa. Aria had personally never understood it, viewing it like it was a blind hatred because it totally was. She'd met a Slytherin or two, and they were pretty decent, as far as human beings go.

"Expelliarmus." Aria thought to herself when the teacher demonstrated it. She'd read about it, of course, but wasn't entirely sure if she could actually achieve the spell. She gulped, brow furrowing with determination as she checked to make sure her hair was still intact in its lovely plaited fishtail braid. If Aria was being honest, she was absolutely magic when it came to fixing hair. She readied herself, pointing her wand smartly at the dummy as her brain strained to translate the word correctly. Syllabus and pronunciation was everything when it came to spells. Having an Italian accent woudn't help with her conquest to get a good grade.

Suit up, Aria. With that, she pushed bad thoughts from her head and relaxed, eying the dummy calmly. She flicked her wrist in a perfect imitation of her teacher, making her wand follow. Expelliarmus "Expelleearmoos!" Nothing. Not even a whisp or spark. Aria's cheek twitched in anger, but she looked calm otherwise. With a determined frown tilting her perfect lips donwards, she pointed her wand again and imagined the spelling to be different. Expelliarmos. Expelliarmes. She murmured a quick, "Ma va!" and narrowed her eyes as she flicked her wand again. "Expelleearmes!" She commanded in her soft spoken voice. It was like a jolt went through her arm and shot her wand to the back wall, causing Aria to yelp quietly in surprise. Aria stared at her wand, which lay abandoned on the floor near the wall, in complete shock. Her beloved wand had never backfired so violently. It was a frightening new experience and Aria stalked mutely over to collect her wand. She gingerly clasped it in her hand and went back to her spot. Aria couldn't do anything but stare at her wand, as if communicating with it. Please, She thought reverently, I need this to work. She aimed it at the dummy which hadn't moved an inch. Expelliarmus. Expelliarmes. That left her last option, Expelliarmos.

"Okaiie..." Eyebrows furrowing at new records, she squared her shoulders and pointed it at the dummy, almost looking to stab it. "Expelleearmos!" She commanded. To her delight, the dummy, though it was supposed to be completely blown backwards, was forcefully moved back, tilting as though to fall. Though Aria herself was blown back onto her rear end, she grinned at her new achievement, and got back up.

Veni. She came into the class, despite not wanting to have to deal with her loud peers. She came to recognize a new level of respect for her wand.

Vidi. She saw her new teacher, her classmates nearly get into a fight, and a kind of classroom she'd never seen before. She'd seen a frightening display of temperamental wands.

Vici. Aria conquered the spell and syllabus, being able to blow the dummy back within the first few times. She could do it. She always could... Though she would need some major improvement. She smiled happily at Professor Clearwater before slipping into her spell casting stance and trying again.

[Iridessa Thomas]

Iridessa, a short, brunette first year with sunken eyes and slender limbs, came into the DADA classroom, nervously practicing brush strokes with her right hand, wrist flicking as if she had a tic. Her twisted wand, with all of it’s knots and flaws in the wood, felt unnaturally heavy in her knitted wand pocket, hanging from her belt. Oh, today was going to be bad, she just knew. The Professor, Professor Clearwater, was obviously one of those hands-on types, letting kids get their hands in the learning. This was a quality she used to like in teachers, but ever since she learned about this whole magic thing… well, she figured it wasn’t so good, with all of the dangerous things that could happen. This DADA class wasn’t just a calm class where they could learn the theory in a safe environment, it was a place of horror and dread!

To prove the point, all of the cozy-looking metal-and-wooden desks were lined neatly along the wall as other students meandered around the classroom, and Iridessa was pleased to see that her friend, May, was one of them. The Hufflepuff started to smile and wave at her friend, but she didn’t want to bring attention to herself, a bit nervous about meeting all of the people who were already surrounding her friend. Actually, the only person she actually knew was May, but she was talking to a Slytherin boy with two piercing blue eyes that looked in a way like May’s walnut eyes, but were narrow and almond shaped. Iridessa had had an asian friend way back in muggle school, and she had also kissed him and hugged him, but that was so long ago, and that boy had had dark, dark brown eyes that almost looked black unless you looked very closely. It was weird, in her mind, that the older Slytherin had light eyes! Nearby to those two was another boy, a Gryffindor, at the left of a Ravenclaw. It struck Iridessa that he was the only one in the group of wizards on that side of the room who didn’t have blue eyes, and so she felt a little less scared of him. In fact, if she weren’t mistaken, the brunette boy was a friend of her best friend, Izzy, which made him even warmer of an almost-friend.

What made the whole being-alone-against-the-wall thing a little better was that a Slytherin she knew strode into the room, an in-control aire coming off of him. He had his hands tucked cooly in his pockets, and his light brown hair was slicked back into a rich-looking hairdo. His name was Peter Stonewall, and he was a very friendly person to her. He always seemed like he knew what he was doing, and so Iridessa was pretty confident that he actually did. She nearly waved at him, too, but after he glanced at Ariel, he immediately turned to, not Iridessa, but May. A big, friendly smile was on his face, making him look kind of cute, but not quite as cute as a certain goofy grin she knew of. Realizing that she shouldn’t interrupt Peter and May in order to be polite, she turned to look at the board, and realized for the first time that they were supposed to be ready for something dangerous. Her heart sped up like a rabbit who had just spotted a fox, and gingerly took a hold of her wand. She couldn’t even remember what the stick was made of, but she remembered that the shop had fluttered with butterflies made of light when she touched it. She couldn’t make that happen again, but the memory was a nice one that she liked to turn to in order to remind herself that not all magic was scary. Lifting the wooden piece into her grasp, she was rewarded with a loud shout, an explosion, and then one of the beaten-looking dummies was flying across the room, falling in a heap on the floor, the bucket-head with the frown drawn on it with black ink, looked sad as it sat in the pile, and Iridessa had the urge to go over to it, build the dummy back up, and then maybe give it a hug or something to make it happier. It was a funny thought, but a real urge that she nearly acted on, almost moving to go over. However, before she could leave her spot, the dummy was summoning itself together and reassembling in the line.

Eyes wide, the little brunette mouse stared up at the teacher as he gave his speech, and she obeyed the orders to get in line, doing her best to stand near either May or Peter. In the end, she actually got in the back of the line, flinching and feeling worse each time a dummy got blasted to smithereens. Finally, it was Iri who was in the front of the line, and she looked from her gnarled wand and to the bucket face, then to the ugly stick, then dwelled on that sad face, which seemed to be begging her not to kill him. Her chin wobbled a bit, and she looked with wide eyes at Professor Clearwater, feeling a conflict in her heart… wasn’t… wasn’t this… mean? She realized the impatient students behind her were itching to get another chance at the poor statue, and felt bad for holding up the line. She glanced back at the teacher, then gazed into the black eyes of the bucket head. “E….eckspellearrgmus.” she said weakly, and waved her arm a little, looking away from the dummy and attempting to shuffle to the back again without trying to use the other two chances she had, not making eye contact with anything but her mary-janes and knit yellow socks.