DADA Lesson Two - Group B

Class is about to begin, Thaor is not yet in the classroom.

Hunter normally rushed to his classes, because he was usually eager to see new kinds of magic. But today, he couldn't be bothered with running along the corridors. He wasn't even walking fast. All too soon, he reached the doorway that opened into the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. He hesitated outside of it. Why couldn't I get stuck in a staircase NOW? Hunter was not excited for this class. Mostly because the Professor had made him feel inferior for being Muggleborn, and then placed him in group B when his friends, Aoife and Willow, had made it into group A. And he'd given Aoife detention, which showed how unfair he was.

With a grimace, he gripped the handle and let himself into the room. He sighed in relief when he realized that Professor Elldir wasn't there yet. In fact, nobody was there yet. Somehow he'd managed to be early even though he had walked as slow as possible. He found a seat near the front - he figured they'd just have to move to the front anyway, like last time - and pulled out his defense book. He flipped instantly to the page that discussed Boggarts, reading through it for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

Hunter was particularly nervous for this lesson. When Professor Elldir had mentioned that they would be studying Boggarts, it hadn't sounded so bad. That's because Hunter didn't know what a Boggart was. Now that he knew, it sounded very bad. Hunter knew all about Boggarts now. He could probably answer any question Professor Elldir threw at him. But he didn't know what his Boggart would turn into. He didn't have a worst fear... well, he at least didn't know what it was. But he would potentially find out in this class, in front of a classroom full of students... but he didn't want to think about it. He kept skimming his book while he waited for the rest of the class to arrive.

Oh, dearest Fate.  Some characterised her as cruel, but Selwyn had never found her so.  Predictable, perhaps.  It hadn't been difficult to fail the test and get himself sorted into the remedial class.  Selwyn was looking forward to an easy year.

Group B. The worthless group. The one that wouldn't learn anything. Lucy's group. Great.
She walked up to the classroom, already hating his professor for putting her in the lesser group when it was clear that she was a great witch. Once in the room, she dropped her bag to the floor with a loud thump and took a seat next to Selwyn, the boy she had met in the Common Room a long time ago. "Hi." she muttered before leaning on her desk and putting her head down, dreading the beginning of class.

Felix walked down the hallway as the prefix had instructed him, we wasn't in any hurry he had heard the story's of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor and his cruelty to students. 'I am quite and keep to myself whats the worst that could happen?' Felix thought to himself as he neared the door to is class, he stopped right out side the door and took a deep breath before opening it and entering the class room.

Inside he found three students but no professor he looked around and spotted a boy he was sorted with, Hunter the only reason he knew the boys name was because they were put in the same house. Felix spotted a small desk in the back left corner of the room a nice dark cold corner, he walked past two more students on his way to the back of the room both appeared to be slytherin from the colors on there robes. Reaching the desk he sat down and pulled out his class book along with a few rolls of parchment an ink well and quill. There he sat quietly and scribbled on the parchment.

Auden walked into the class and glanced at everyone. She didn't really know anyone and her friends were in Group A. Auden sat down and pulled out her supplies.

Maya entered the DADA classroom, she didn't know why there were students from all different years or why there was an A and a B group but she wasn't about to question it.  She had heard the professor had a reputation for being really strict.  She was just glad that she was on time, she was even here before the professor.  Maya breathed a sigh of relief as she glanced around the classroom and noticed that she didn't recognise anyone. Great, obviously all the other third years were in the other class. Maya skulked down to a seat nearer the back of the class, hoping to avoid any unwanted attention and placed her school supplies on her desk.

Brats. Stupid, screaming, yelling, laughing brats. It was horrible, and wrong that the Late, Great, Lord Voldemorts son had to deal with them. All thinking they were better than the rest. They didn't know what being a witch or wizard meant, but he would show them. Yes, this class would be his way to show them the evils of this world in which they live.

Thaor walked into the classroom and slammed the door behind him, and the windows right after. An ominous darkness filling the room. He strode into the front of the room and looked at the students before him. Dementors, Boggarts, Inferri, Werewolves, each of these have their own claim to the darkest forces in our world. In my class, you will not learn a theoretic knowledge, but hands on. You will face each of these creatures head on, and learn to defeat and defend yourselves against them. He said, before turning to three large cabinets along the wall. In each of these cabinets, there are a Dementor, a Boggart, and an Inferri trapped inside. The one we face first will be decided at random, by you. You each get one vote, go stand in front of the cabinet you want to take on first, the cabinet with the most people in front of it is the one we will open. Only I know which cabinet holds which creature.

Go, now.

Zypher was late to class and sucked. He couldn't help the castle was a maze. Rushing into class he had no time fret. Taking a seat in the back he quietly said sorry for being late and looked down. Before did that though he had seen his brother and smiled. It seemed they were both taking the same classes

Both Aylee and Kynan had Defence Against the Dark Arts after breakfast but only Aylee decided to go. Kynan was ditching, again. Although she disapproved, she couldn't help but agree with Kynan. If she wasn't trying to keep her grades up, she would've totally ditched the class too. The Professor totally ruined her love for the subject. Aylee took her time in going to class, taking the longest route and trying to decide if she should skip class at the last minute or not. Being in group B, Professor Elldir had told them that they'd be facing Boggarts. She did not want to face those vile creatures. She had already faced Boggarts twice and she didn't feel like facing them again. Also, she was tired that morning after having spent the whole night studying.

As she reached the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, Aylee spotted a young boy enter the classroom before her. The boy didn't spot her, and she didn't talk to him. She slipped in a few seconds after the Hufflepuff did, though, and found a seat, without thinking, next to Maya. After she piled out her things, she decided that she shouldn't mention her being late if the Professor didn't bring it up. But she hadn't heard what Professor Elldir had said about the lesson.

She noticed most students looking a bit scared, and then realized that the whole class was standing up and walking towards on of the three cabinets at the front. Confused, Aylee stood up and joined Maya and Hunter and most of the other students near the middle cabinet. "What's going on?" she muttered to Maya.

Maya jumped slightly from her seat as the professor came bursting into the room, demanding their attention. His presence filled the entire room as silence fell over them like an invisible mist.  Maya was never usually one to slink away from people, but she did feel herself dropping a few inches in her seat, trying to avoid unwarranted attention.  The rumours were true apparently, his solid form even seemed to precede the rumours of how strict and scary he was.  Maya listened aptly to what he had to say, not wanting any excuse to get points deducted. Maya's head raced as she tried to keep up and comprehend what the professor was saying to them. When he had finished Maya's face turned into a grimace. "Eh what?" Was the first few words that escaped from Maya's mouth before she could stop herself.  The words that followed in her head were: was he a madman!?.

Maya wondered how the little first year was going to handle what came out of the cabinet, never mind herself.  She had only ever read about Dementors and Inferni, surely he couldn't set them on students? Maya decided that it was against school rules, but still didn't put it past the man who now stood before them glaring at them, willing them to move. Maya smiled weekly at Aylee as she entered and sat next to her, Professor Elddirs speech still ringing in her ears. She wondered silently were Kynan was and thought it best not to speak aloud again without permission. The silence unnerved Maya as she clambered out of her seat walking towards the nearest cabinet and settling in front of it. She was standing before the middle one and looked over to the other students, wondering what they would choose.

Hunter jumped as the door to the classroom slammed open and shut again. Professor Elldirs swept inside and drew the windows closed as well, causing the light in the room to fade. Then the Professor began talking. Inferi? Dementors? Werewolves? Hunter had only studied about Boggarts, and was nervous to take on one of those! Werewolves sounded much worse. He didn't have a clue what Inferi or Dementors were, but he was sure they were bad if they were included in the same group as werewolves.

Wait, these things were in those closets? Hunter eyed the three closets that the professor referred to warily. They were supposed to fight them? Hunter could barely make his wand light up. How was he supposed to fight some monster? When a third year girl spoke out and seemed to be concerned about the task at hand, Hunter began tossing the idea around in his head of escaping the classroom, regardless of the points it would lose him. If a third year was skeptical, he didn't stand a chance!

But he couldn't just run away. He'd lose Gryffindor all kinds of points. So when the class rose to go chose which closet they wanted to face, Hunter hesitantly made his way toward them as well. He didn't want to go first, because he didn't know what to do no matter which monster appeared, so he followed the Slytherin girl to the middle closet and stood behind her. She didn't seem as mean as Jen was - maybe she'd be able to save him if things got bad? He had a feeling the professor wasn't in the mood to do any saving today.

Grimacing at the lesson that she'd already faced multiple times, she stood up and walked behind the middle cabinet. She was at the point where she didn't care what she had to face, it couldn't be worse than what she'd been through. Despite being Professor Elldirs assistant, she still had to participate in the class, as it was hers.

Felix had been in a dream when the professor stormed into the room slamming doors and closing windows. Felix jumped nearly clear out of his seat as the thunderous sound of the door slamming echoed throw the room, he was writing down lyrics for a song he was working on and had drifted off in his mind. Now his full attention was on the professor as he raved about werewolfs and what not, Felix not being the hands on kind of person sunk in his seat hoping that the darkness of the corner and room would hid him from site.

Thaor frowned as most of the students chose the middle cabinet. Dementors he thought himself. He was hoping they'd chose the cabinet with the boggarts. You could tell a lot about a person from the form their boggart took. It was going to be all sunshine and daisies today, dementors were relatively tame, if you know how to cast a patronus, that is.

With a fluid swish of his wand, the outer two cabinets flew to the outer walls of the classroom, and the middle cabinet glided to the center of the classroom, barely missing the feet of the students standing before it. The desks stacked themselves on the outer wall, and Thaor walked over to the cabinet.

You all have chosen Dementors. Aylee, since you were late, you may go first. What is the most effective spell to use against dementors?

Aylee had no clue about what was going on. She looked around and didn't notice the cabinet flying towards the middle of the classroom until she felt something bump her foot. At that she jumped and looked at the Professor as he spoke. So they were facing Dementors. Really, she felt both relief and worry. In her opinion, Dementors might just be easier than Boggarts. Then again, Dementors sucked the happiness out of you so maybe they weren't that great. Honestly, how did he expect a first-year student to fully take on a Dementor? Aylee tried staying out of Professor Elldir's sight as he spoke but then noticed that it was useless as soon as he mentioned her name. Damn it. She froze for a few moments before she quietly gulped and replied, "The um... the Patronus Charm, Professor."

Thaor smiled as he sensed fear spread throughout the room. This would be interesting. Right you are, you just saved yourself from losing points for being late. Now, bonus question. What is the encantation for the Patronus charm?

At least she didn't lose any points, right? Aylee stared back at the Professor for a few moments, her heart beating fast. She literally felt like she was unable to move with fear. Come on, you can do it, she thought to herself. Like possibly ever other Ravenclaw, she knew the basics of the spell. Sometimes she practised it in the common room at night, while everyone was asleep, but never managed to conjure anything other than a small silvery light. That thought didn't encourage her. "Expecto Patronum, sir," she mumbled, staring at Professor Elldir and feeling surprised at how the Professor suddenly looked so much younger.

Aislinn ran down the hall. She had gotten the owl assigning her to Group B for Defense Against the Dark Arts not even five minutes before class. She quickly took out her map and found where she was going before she began the journey there. She had hoped the Professor was nice enough to give her a warning or something.

When she burst through the door, all the students were standing in front of a cabinet. Great, a practical lesson she thought. Explaining to the professor why she was late, she spoke softly, he didn't look mean, but looks were deceiving.

Thaor frowned as he heard the door open, signaling another late arrival. Without turning to see who it was, he flicked his wand and pushed them out of the classroom, and slammed the door shut behind them. He then focused on the cabinet. Right again. Ten Points to Ravenclaw he said.

To successfully cast a patronus, you must dig deep down inside yourself and think about the happiest memory you have. Not just think about it, but focus it, try to re-live it. he said, getting ready to demonstrate.

EXPECTO PATRONUM he said, as a large, silver dementor patronus came out of the end of his wand. His eyes widened for a split second, he hadn't given thought to how much his recent trip to Azkaban had effected him. But he wasn't entirely surprised the more he thought about it. The dementor patronus flew towards Aylee before disappearing.

Thaor's face remained emotionless as he addressed the class. Now, each of you try, and I'll come assist you. The first student to successfully cast a patronus shall be rewarded. he said.

Right after she had answered the question, Aylee noticed the classroom door open and a young Hufflepuff come in. Without even looking at the girl, the Professor waved his wand and pushed her out of the classroom. Her eyes were open wide with fear and hatred- that girl was only a little first-year! Must he be so mean? You really couldn't blame younger students for getting lost, could you? She glared at the Professor as he continued on his explanation about the Patronus Charm. Then Professor Elldir, did the Charm himself and Aylee hoped that she wasn't the only one that was surprised about the fact that their Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor's Patronus was a dementor. Immediately, all her anger was gone and she was taking a step back as the Patronus approached her. It didn't stop, so she took another step backwards in fear. She had never seen a Dementor before, unless you counted their Care of Magical Creatures lesson about them where they only saw pictures, so seeing the real thing so life-like... she wondered what the actual dementor looked like. But she didn't want to experience it. Not a bit. The Patronus disappeared before she could take another step backwards, and all Aylee did was let out a small sigh of relief. Now all she hoped was that the others didn't notice. Then Professor Elldir was telling them to attempt at the Patronus Charm. Greaaaat. Slowly, she took out her wand from her robes and tried to rack her brain to find the happiest memory ever.

On other days, Aylee could name tons of happy memories. That one time, when she was forced to find one, she was lost.

So she tried to think of the thing she actually loved the most- her family. Then tried to find one funny memory she had with her family. After a few moments, she decided on one memory where she and her brothers had attempted to make popcorn for a family movie night and succeeded in blowing up a pot and make popcorn rain. "Expecto Patronum," Aylee murmured, waving her wand and concentrating on Ethan's funny yelling, and Kynan's pleading to eat the raining popcorn, and herself twirling around in the popcorn rain as thought it was bubbles, and the fact that their parents were watching loud TV without any idea about what was going on. "Expecto Patronum." A tiny silvery light jumped out of her wand and disappeared. She sighed. At least it was something, right?

As the door closed in her face, Aislinn had a sudden flash of anger flood over her. She had tried her hardest to get here on time. Does he realise how confusing this school was to her? Does he realise how confusing being a witch was? Her face flushed red and she punched the door as hard as she could, her hand going through the door. Feeling a little more relieved, she turned around and walked down the hallway. It was his fault she was late. She didn't get the owl on time.

However, she wasn't done just yet. Her Umbridge instincts kicked in and she had plans circling through her head as she headed towards her dorm.

Okay, so the cabinet that Hunter had chosen had a dementor in it - whatever a dementor was. Professor Elldirs asked Aylee what spell to use against dementors - wait, Aylee was in Group B? The same Aylee that had turned them invisible and snuck them into Hogsmeade? How had that happened? Anyway, Hunter strained his ears to hear her answer, because she'd surely get it right and he didn't have a clue. The Patronus charm. Expecto Patronum. He repeated the incantation in his head over and over so that he wouldn't forget it.

Professor Elldirs explained that in order to cast the Patronus charm, you had to think of the happiest memory you had. That's all? Hunter was eleven! Almost all of his memories were good ones! Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as he thought. The professor then lifted his wand and said the incantation. A big silvery cloaked figure flew from the end of his wand and floated toward Aylee. What was that? So if Hunter said the charm and thought of something happy, the same thing would happen.

Only, it seemed that it wasn't as easy as Professor Elldirs made it look. Aylee looked a little dubious about the whole thing, and when she cast the charm it looked nothing like the professor's. Her wand produced some silvery stuff, and that was it, really. Hunter figured he better start trying, because it would probably take him the entire lesson to accomplish anything substantial.

Happy memories. That was the most important thing. Hunter had tons. His mind easily returned to last Christmas, which he had spent with his family. Just thinking about the joy on his twin sister's faces when they got their present from him brought a smile to his face. He'd used his own money to buy them gifts that year, and although it wasn't much his little sisters were still ecstatic. He got a little lost in thought as the entire memory came back to him, and almost forgot that there was a reason behind it. Well, now's as good as ever. "Expecto Patronum!" he said, not really expecting anything to happen. To his surprise, a bit of silver smoke escaped from the end of his wand. It wasn't anything, really. But at least it was the right color, right?

Dementors! This wasn't good, why couldn't it be a lovely boggart Maya wished, regretting her choice in cabinet and scowling at the other students for following her. It wasn't her fault! Maya glanced around at the other students, trying to gauge their reactions and seeing if they thought this was as outrageous as she did. No way he was allowed to set a real live Dementor on them, not that they were living, but that was besides the point. Oh no, she had started rambling in her head and wasn't listening to what the professor was telling them. Maya looked up just in time to spot a first year student being shoved out the door, nobody commented on it and Maya wasn't too sure what had happened so she dropped the subject quickly from her head, thinking she should ask someone about it later as surely it wasn't normal to be kicking students out?

She proceeded to grab her wand from her pocket, listening to what the professor had to say with rapt attention. Maya was already on end from the thoughts of having to face a Dementor and she jumped slightly when a hooded, ghastly creature came out of the tip of the professor's wand. Dear lord, what was wrong with him? Who had a Dementor as a patronus? Maya kept her mouth shut once more, getting more used to having to bite her lip in this class.

Maya trudged off to find herself a space at the back of the class, trying to think of a really happy memory. By the time she reached the back wall she had settled on the first time she had flown with Kynan. The memories of flying alongside her best friend and spending time with him brought butterflies to her stomach thinking about it so she decided that it should be enough. Maya glanced around at the other students muttering to themselves before she screwed up her own face in concentration and began remembering the feeling of the cold air through her hair and of how happy she felt at Kynan's own flying achievements. "Expecto Patronum," Maya repeated, her eyes closed tight in concentration as she kept repeating the incantation. "Expecto Patronum!" She eventually shouted, slightly exasperated and a silvery form emitted from the tip of her wand. It disappeared quickly, but not before Maya thought she had caught the form of a polar bear. "Cool," Maya muttered to herself, as she looked around at the other students and noticed that the colour of the puff that burst out of her wand was similar to Aylee's and the first year, Hunter she thought his name was

Happiest memory, Aylee kept thinking. Happiest memory. She tried countless of memories with her parents- her first trip to a zoo, the time they invited a few cousins over for Christmas, when she was sick so her brothers got to be her servants for a few days... but she managed to produce nothing more than a small puff of silver. She let out a frustrated sigh and decided to focus on something else that she loved- her friends. Happy memories with her friends. "Expecto Patronum," she muttered,  remembering about her first sleepover with her best friend Sydney. She could still remember the excitement when she realized that someone wanted her as their friend- which was usually something hard to find for her. But all she got was a small silver cloud. Then she tried on a memory when she and Sydney had made up after their huge fight that had been going on for over a year. When she had found Sydney crying over her ex-boyfriend, when she had comforted her and when the two made up and became best friends again. "Expecto Patronum," Aylee whispered, waving her wand again.

Another silvery cloud of smoke flew out of her wand, this time bigger than the rest of her attempts, about the size of a messenger bag. But it wasn't exactly what she expected so she decided to try again. "Expecto Patronum," she muttered yet again, concentrating on meeting Elita for the first time. The Slytherin was one of her first friends in Hogwarts, and was one of those people who made her feel like she belonged somewhere for once. She concentrated on her happy feelings as she muttered the incantation to the spell. Another cloud of silver. Another sigh of frustration. Aylee tried a few more- when she met James, when she won the Best Ravenclaw Award and got a book for a prize, when her brother got to come to Hogwarts, when she went on her Hogsmeade trip with Auden and Ryland and met up with Sydney there... nothing. Just a tiny cloud of silvery smoke.

After racking her brain for a few moments, Aylee decided on a memory- one that made her face go crimson with shyness but decided to concentrate on that one anyway. It was the day when Ryland had asked her to go to the Defence Against the Dark Arts dinner party with him. Honestly, she could practically remember those few moments with exact detail so she didn't have much trouble focusing. She remembered her silly sentence, 'You have a ferret on your shoulder.' And she could still remember Ryland's laugh and reply, 'Yeah, I noticed.' Besides the wave of shyness that took over her when she remembered it, she felt happy. A kind of happiness that she never usually felt. Like a warm feeling inside you that you couldn't shake off. Her face warm, she tried remembering that day- Ryland entering the Owlery with his pet ferret, complimenting her beauty, admitting his feelings for her. "Expecto Patronum," she whispered, re-living the memory inside her head.

Instead of smoke, a silvery animal flew out of her wand. A large and beautiful bird, spreading its' wings and beating them as it flew around the room. It was silver, but it was magnificent. It circled the heads of the students and then flew over to Aylee before disappearing into nothing in particular. She stared in awe at the spot where her Patronus had vanished and then softly smiled at herself. She had produced a corporeal Patronus in her fifth year, which she considered a really big achievement. At least she wouldn't be facing the Dementor defenceless now, anyway. And she had now discovered what her Patronus was. It was an owl.