(1939-10-11) Fifth Year D.A.D.A. Class
Details for Fifth Year D.A.D.A. Class
Summary: As they reach the second month of the fall term, the Fifth Years practice jinxes and counters, and discuss Merwyn the Malicious, with Professor Arcadius Lestrange.
Date: 11 October 1939
Location: D.A.D.A. Classroom, Hogwarts
Related:
Characters
ArcadiusAbraxasAmeinoclesHattie

The door to the DADA office opens as the last chime of the bell that marks the sixth period fades, and Professor Lestrange emerges, taking his place at the head of the class. "Good afternoon, class. Today we will finish up our review. Though, of course, since you are facing your OWLs at the end of the year, we will be reviewing what you should know periodically, in addition to adding new material." He holds his glowing-headed walking stick in one hand, and motions casually with it towards the projector, which displays a picture of a thin, pale wizard in archaic robes with a hooked wand, "Think back a few years, and tell me who this individual is…"

At one of the front tables, Abraxas Malfoy sits with some of the other Slytherins, his Malfoy-platinum hair slicked back in a very Malfoyish way. He is murmering something about how much easier it is to find a seat without having to worry about muggle-born proximity, but he becomes silent as the door opens and the Professor emerges.

Hattie sits near the front of the room with her own classmates. She seems to have no ready answer for the professor, her brown eyes squinting at the projected image. The robes in particular, and the wand. She purses her lips.

As he sits at one of the middle tables, Locks has his parchment and his quill out in front of him. He cocks his head to the side looking over at the picture. He presses his lips into a fine line in thought. He remains silent because he is a bit unsure himself.

"Oh, come now…" Lestrange says, "I know that you are all too old to play with Chocolate Frog cards anymore, but he certainly has one." The Professor tilts his head and waits a beat more, "Not only that, but there's a portrait of him hanging somewhere in the Hogwarts Castle as we speak. This…" He points with his wand and the picture enlarges onto the wizard's face and wand, "Is the infamous - and fortunately very dead - Merwyn the Malicious, inventor of many of the same dark jinxes and hexes that you will be learning how to counter in this class, especially when we move on to the ever-important shield charm in the NEWT-level class next year."

Young Malfoy dutifully takes notes, drawing a little sketch of the hoooked wand. Hexes? Jinxes? Sounds like a good fellow to know. Abraxas puts his quill down and listens.

Hattie makes a notation with her own Quill to visit the third floor landing for a better look. Who knows if they will all be expected to memorize plates, after all, like they sometimes do for History. She puts up her hand.

"You mean Protege?" Locks says loud-loud without thinking. He blinks and runs a hands through his hair before he looks back down at his parchment. He takes a few notes.

"Yes, Miss Wilkins?" Lestrange asks, then nods, "Close, Mister Mulciber. The Shield Charm's incantation is similar. However, for the OWL level, you will be responsible for only the Deflection charm, which you learned in your second year." He turns back to Hattie to hear her question.

Hattie says, "Professor, were the countering spells developed -prior- to his demise, or after; and were they the cause of his downfall, or did he go, er, naturally, sir?"

Ameinocles turns his attention to Hattie with a raised eyebrow. He hmmms before looking back at the Professor to hear his answer. He leans slightly back in his chair while looking over in Malfoy's direction. His lips pressing into a fine line.

"That's an interesting question. The history of the dark arts and the defence against them is something of an arms race, when you think about it. I would say that as long as there have been hexes, there have been counters, perhaps cruder than what we use now, but the same nonetheless. We see that in the ancient tombs that are explored by curse-breakers. Most of the time, our current counter-hexes are effective, though now and again we meet an obstacle where…" A lazy, cheshire-cat smile from the Professor, "a bit more effort is required. As for his death, I don't think we know. Lost to the midsts of history. I would suggest asking Professor Binns, perhaps." He was probably still teaching at the time. "Speaking of counters and hexes, perhaps you can tell me one that we studied last year?"

Abraxas continues to listen, glancing around at the other students as if expecting one of the Ravenclaws to throw out an answer.

Hattie huddles a bit in her seat, uncomfortable as ever being upon the spot. "The Revulsion Jinx, sir? Since you can use it in opposition to some spells of binding. Its incantation is 'Relashio'" she says, placing her stress cautiously upon the middle syllable.

As he looks back towards the Professor, Locks raises his Quill and says, "Incarceration Jinx." He dips his quill in some ink as he writes a few notes to himself, before looking back up towards the Professor. "This spell conjures thick ropes, which then bind the target. The ropes will actively resist attempts to physically free the target for the duration of the spell (even attempting to tie cut ends), unless the caster wills otherwise. The incantation is: "Incarcerous"

"Yes. Putting the two answers together, we learned the incarceration jinx, the counter for which is the revulsion jinx. Of course, generally more useful in releasing someone /else/, owing to the difficulty of speaking and using a wand under the influence of a correctly applied incarceration jinx." Lestrange stays, as he walks up to the blackboard and illustrates with bound stickfigures and other figures wearing pointy hats and weilding wands.

Hattie scribbles in the margin, but not what appears on the board. 'Possible charms to release SELF?' she writes, and circles the question mark, shorthand for something or other.

"Is there a charm that the one held by the Incarceration Jinx can use to free themselves if need be, Professor?" Locks asks with a curious look on his face. The young boy runs a hand through his hair to get it out of his eyes.

"The revulsion jinx /will/ work, Mr. Mulciber. The issue is that, properly applied, the incarceration jinx may make it hard to either move a wand or, indeed, speak. Now, it is possible to work magic without both of those things, but it is very difficult, and certainly beyond the abilities of a fifth year." Lestrange steps towards the middle of the room, and says, "Alright, then, a few practical exercises before we break for the weekend. Stand and move to the rear of the classroom, please, with your wands."

Abraxas gets up, pulling his long elm wand from inside his robes. Being a good student aide, he marshals the line, getting all the other students, as they wander back, arranged in a neat queue.

Hattie closes out her page, blowing cool air across the drying ink before she hastily makes a grab for the blotter, before she heads for the back at Professor Lestrange's direction. Her fingers, through, fumble with her wand's finial, with raw nerves. Where she sat in the front for the lecture, she tries to be in the back, or back-ISH for the practical, tattling on herself.

As he blows on the ink of his own parchement, Locks hops down off his stool. He looks over at Hattie and smiles softly at her before giving Abraxas a flat look. He says in a flat tone, "I do not need to be ushered into a line, Malfoy. I know what it is." The Moody in him coming out slightly as he stands behind Hattie. He leans in and whispers, "Take a deep breath when it is your turn, and picture yourself doing what the Professor wants. You can do it."

"Oh, just shush up and get in line, Mulciber…" Abraxas replies, crossly, before going to the back of the line.

Professor Lestrange pulls out his wand and sends the tables neatly along the wall to open up the space in the middle of the room, then brings out a target dummy, which he makes dance and wield its fake wand menacingly. "Alright, then. The first person binds the target, the second releases, and so on, until we reach then end and then repeat, performing the opposite role. Everyone clear?"
The class makes murmurs of assent, and then begins working through the line, practicing incarceration and revulsion jinxes against the slightly moving, sometimes mocking target.

Hattie is clustered, therefore, third to last. "I don't know what happens," she whispers, and smiles gratefully for the pointer. "At least the Professor doesn't bark commands at us. I could miss." When her turn comes up, it is of course on the offensive side. She rolls her sleeves, grips her wand delicately to release her strangle-hold on it, and asserts: "Incarcerous," with a slight quaver to her voice, binding up the student in front of her.

The wooden student. With the dumb hat.

Ameinocles smiles softly as he leans in and says, "See. Good job." As he takes out his own wand, he looks over at the Professor for a moment before he turns his attention on the wood student. He makes the proper motion with his wand and says confidently, " Relashio ". As he begins to move his wand with small circular motions to unravel the Jinx.

Conjuration spells are not Abraxas's strong point, but he steps forward after Ameinocles has released the dummy from Hattie's spell, and points his wand,"Incarcerous!" he calls, and ropes fly out from the end of his wand to bind the dummy.

"Good, good. Some of you obviously still need a little work, but that was well done by and large." the Professor says, and then the order reverses, with the first person in line releasing Abraxas's jinx and matters continuing until it reaches the end of the line again, with Hattie this time being faced with a bound dummy.

Hattie is heartened by praise and her previous success. "Relashio!" she calls more forcefully, with her wandtip unwinding a miniature gordian knot in the air. The student in front of her is more adept, so she needs the extra oomph to unwind the bindings. She hops a little in celebration, and gets out of the boys' way.

Conjuration is not one of his strongest suits. Locks takes a deep breath. He whispers softly, "I can do this…" He flicks his wrist and says outloud, "Incarcerous". A rope flies from his wand, as he begins to loop the rope in a triple knot. He smiles softly and then looks over his shoulder at Abraxas with a Cheshire Cat grin. He moves to get out of the way…

Abraxas doesn't engage in any fluffy self-talk. Confidence isn't something that Malfoy's tend to lack. He thrusts his wand out in a slashing motion, "Relashio!" he calls forcefully. The bindings are tight, but he just manages to match the strength of the previous incantation.

Professor Lestrange pushes himself away from one of the tables and, with a flick of his wand, sends the dummy back into its cupboard. "Right! Excellent work, all of you. Well, except those few who need more work, and you know who you are. We'll be going over this again later in the term, but you should already know it. You will no doubt have noticed that the more skilled the jinx, the more you need a powerful counter-jinx to break it. Keep that in mind. Next time, we will move on to the new material for this term but…" He claps his hands, "For now, enjoy your weekend. Read the chapters on dream creatures, and be ready with a foot on succubi and inccubi, and their relation to the story of Merlin, by next class."

Hattie thuds Locks on the arm once in excited encouragement. "Not so bad yourself, you see. Show me later, did you straight arm that, or…? Oooh! Well done, Malfoy. Do they practice this one in dueling much?" Her head swivels a little to the Professors direction, and she turns a distinct whiter shade of pale. Evidently someone is reading a little ahead.

Ameinocles nods and says to Hattie, "It can be very useful in Dueling club. You make the rope cover their mouth and they can't cast." He looks over at Malfoy and smirks, "Not too bad, Malfoy." He shrugs slightly before he looks over at the Professor, "Have a good weekend Professor."

"Of course not." Abraxas says, as he puts his wand away, tucking it into the inner pocket of his robes. "And yes, it is used in dueling." He does half-groan to himself, "A foot by next week. Well, that's not so bad, I suppose."

After giving his instructions, Lestrange says, "Mister Malfoy, make sure the classroom is reset for Monday morning. Good evening." And with that, Lestrange withdraws to his office, up the spiral staircase onto the balcony, leaving the students alone.

Hattie murmurs to Abraxas and Locks, "I am not sure how good of a weekend that I can have, writing a whole foot about supernatural rapine before bedtime. I'm glad at least that its more of a footnote in the chapter."

Ameinocles nods, "I will work on it myself and get it done. Talk to you later." He looks over at Malfoy and gives him a flat look before he begins to gather up his materials.

"It's all allegorical anyway, I suspect." Abraxas says, to Hattie, then looks at Ameniocles, meeting his gaze levelly, "There some problem, Mulciber?"

Hattie is just seizing her satchel from her desk, and clearing out ahead of the brewing trouble.

Ameinocles snorts like canvas ripping, "With you Malfoy? No…what you stand for…yes. But I don't have time for that I actucally have friends who are waiting for me to go with them to Hogsmeade. So…you will have to excuse me." He looks over at Hattie and smiles softly, "I will see you in Common Room Later."

"I doubt we've actually talked enough for you to know what I stand for, Mulciber. Funny, I thought you Ravenclaws were supposed to be wise and openminded. But… suit yourself. I have work to do." Abraxas says, crossing his arms and waiting for the other boy to leave.

Ameinocles rolls his eyes, "And you live up to everything a snake would…power hungry and slimey. When your not a part of the Magijugend. We can talk. I wouldn't want one of Flint's errand boys to make up some lie about me to get me in trouble like most of your pals do." Locks turns on his heel and makes his way towards the door.

Abraxas seems oh-so-very-ready to say something that will probably be very, very questionable. But he manages to bite his tongue with only the near-silent slap of one hand against the thigh of his robes. He harrumphs and pulls out his wand and goes about putting the tables back in place, with more ferocity than is absolutely necessary under the circumstances.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License