OOC: For those unfamiliar with my lessons, please post as if you have been present from the beginning, unless you have a valid, and pre-discussed plot reason for announcing a late arrival.

PMing me is encouraged if you'd like me to be aware of something character significant for the lesson, ta. I don't deduct housepoints for non attendance, I do add them for participation, interesting, plot furthering or amusing IC reactions, and especially for balanced character abilities. If you can't join us, may be to your advantage to drop me a quick note.

Mid morning, ten o'clock, on a Monday.

---

Outside the classroom, the second years had formed an orderly line based on the notice pinned to the classroom door, which read Wait until summoned by name. For those who tried the door, they found it locked, and no sound within. If it were not for the note, it would have seemed the end of term test was cancelled for the second years.

Instead they stood in the corridor, the chatter nervous and quiet. Nobody wished to irritate their Professor on a day like this.

The door opened, and the Professor's voice called a name from within the classroom, though was not glimpsed. The classroom was brightly lit. Summoned by name, the solitary student entered and the door closed behind them, while the others continued to wait.

On entering, students would see directly to their left the back wall of the classroom had a set of freestanding shelves covered in a miscellany of items like a rather busy junkshop. The Professor, stood at the other end, beckoned with a hand gesture to attend the other end where a chalk line was drawn across the floor about 10 metres, or 30 feet from the shelves.

"You have one minute to stun each and every one of the goblins on the shelves without upsetting or damaging any other items. You will be marked on speed and accuracy." The second years would be sitting a grizzly written test the following lesson, their spellwork this term had been theoretical mainly due to its use against beasts or in more exotic engagements.

Allowing the students a matter of seconds to study an example of the tin goblin sat by their feet at the chalk line, the Professor then flipped over a sandtimer, and the time began.

OOC: Go to town on hitting them, missing, trying to spot them, shooting from different heights (the shelves are up to say, seven foot high, and right down to the floor) There's definitely no more than thirty, as that would be one consistently every two seconds! Oneshots are great, if you want Ignan to reply particularly, let me know so I can try and reply asap. Thanks.

Mairead, for one, had not been standing around and chattering nervously.  As usual, she'd been amongst the last to arrive in the hallway.  Though not technically late, she'd again displayed her tendency to play chicken with the clock, still munching on a leftover roll and jam from breakfast.  The roll finished, she brushed her hands against her skirt and joined her classmates to peer at the note on the door. 

"What the bloody-" Mairead started to gripe, but was cut off when one of her fellow second years offered further explanation.  "Midterm?!  Already?!  Arrgh!" How could she have forgotten?  They were at midterms already?  How had she missed that? 

Oh well.  They were being called individually.  That gave Mairead at least ... fifteen minutes to cram.  More, if they were being called alphabetically.  Fewer if Professor Storm caught her studying last minute and decided to call her early.  The Gryffindor flipped through her notes, waving off the disapproving snickers and mutters of disapproval from the Bird House. 

Mairead heard her name called by the all too familiar, grumbly voice and got to her feet, shoving her book in her bag.  The bag was tossed, unceremoniously, against the wall when she entered the classroom and she tugged out her crooked, unfinished rowan wand. 

"So - ye mean, I just gotta hex 'em?" Mairead asked the professor, pointing to the shelves.  If that's all she had to do, why'd she waste all that time studying?  She spared the example only a fleeting glance, figuring the goblins would be easy to differentiate from the knick knacks on the shelves.  For one, the goblins would be the ones that moved.  With a soft thud, the timer was turned over and Mairead started casting. 

The first handful were easy.  Straightforward.  They ducked out from behind vases only to be stunned promptly off their feet.  The fourth, though, ducked back into its hiding place and the stunning charm hit the neighboring vase instead.  The vase shattered, sending the goblins on the two adjacent shelves scattering to new hiding places.  Mairead sent another stunning charm after the one that got away, sending one jar flying into another and both went smashing to the floor.

From there, things went downhill quickly over the next thirty seconds.  Emboldened by their recent victories, the goblins started taunting Mairead with victorious faces and crude goblin gestures.  Frustrated, whatever accuracy Mairead might have had was tainted by her temper.  When the minute was up, it took a physical interruption to disrupt the Gryffindor.  "Ah, Go hIfreann leat!"[1] Mairead muttered as she crossed the room to fetch her bag.

1.	Essentially, 'Go to hell'

As she did when nervous, Obderedria had ravenged the end of a Sugar Quill. Although she should stop chewing if she was to have any length left for the written exam--it was a written exam, wasn't it? But why would they be brought in individually for a written exam? So no one could cheat? Maybe that meant short and few in number for test questions.

Although when it was her turn Obderedria found that it wasn't a written test. Target shooting. She wasn't sure if her wand was good enough now to do so, that is perform well in the shooting.

She had a moment to see the ugly little goblin toy waddle in front of her, then she saw the rest of them moving behind the shelves. She fired off her Knockback Jinx. It missed. She fired again and knocked over a toy. For about thirty seconds she fired spells, hitting thirteen of the tin goblins, seven of her attempts hitting other items on the shelves.

Her tongue was out as if that actually helped her aim. She tracked one toy and was about to fire when it hid behind--

--was that her blender?? There it was, the pieces of it that she had in her trunk, ever since Figaro had busted back when she was only trying to be nice and making smoothies.[1] Obderedria couldn't fire on her blender, making it more busted than what her magic had done to it last October. After a moment's pause she remembered what she had to do for the test. She looked for another goblin toy that was behind--

--those were her glasses!! The ones she had to wear if her contact lenses gave her trouble, clunky purple framed ones that were kind of embarrassing to wear but she needed them. Even if the frames were cheap, she didn't want to see them busted, the arms bent or snapped off and the lenses cracked.

Obderedria frantically scanned the shelves for something she could fire at without risking further damage to something she cared about. But soon she forgot about tracking tin toy goblins as she paused in her aim, each sighting bringing forth new surprise and confusion on her face. The Telly she and mum watched when eating microwave meals, a giant hole in the screen and the aerial crooked. Her notebook with all her doodles and stories as if ravenged by Silvia Bogg-Goyle, a lean-to askew that a toy wobbled behind. One goblin was holding her old wand, snapped if half!!

--what the wand looked like before it had been rebuilt and returned to her possession before this exam--

The fragmented pot her dwarf peach tree was in. Mum's blackberry phone as random colors flashed across its screen as it whistled like a tea kettle.[2] The basket she carried her pet cat Puddin' in when traveling, ragged as if run through a paper shredder. The very paper shredder that was two shelves below the basket, the one mum kept in the kitchen to shred work papers she brought home, dented on the side and crumbled as if an elephant had stepped on it.

Obderedria blinked. The toy goblins were no longer visible. Her minute was up. She glanced around the room once, as if waking up in a new morning. Feeling out of place she walked to the door to exit but not without glancing back to the shelves with junk--why couldn't she find her broken blender or her kitten's basket when she had just seen them--?

Before she turned back to the door and left, feeling very worried about why she couldn't figure out what she was worried about.

1.	Blend It Whipped - Oct 1
2.	A Moment Together - Aug 10

OOC: Thank you all for such beautiful, creative responses. As the timeline has moved to January I'm closing the exams up. If I haven't already contacted you for exam grades (perhaps because your character is a recent addition) then please see the details below and let me know your additions. Its not necessary to have written a response to this thread to send me a PM. - Kit

Request for Defence Exam Grades

Please would you be able to help me grade the performance of your characters in Defence Against the Dark Arts?

As this is an internal exam grade for December 2009, please keep in mind that Professor Storm is a hard marker and will often give the grade lower than the student would have achieved, had they been marked by an external examiner.

More about picking grades for DADA.