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.

Last lesson of the morning before lunch, 11 o'clock, on a Monday.

---

By this point in the morning the notice pinned to the classroom door, which read Wait until summoned by name, had begun to look well fingered and had begun to curl. The shelves of junk used for the second years were going to be handy for a usually unco-operative assistant.

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.

Peeves circled a large, beautiful vase on a pedestal, set about four feet off the ground, and three feet in height, taller than any of the students and the Professor.

An instruction was attached in an oversized luggage label which hung around the neck of the vase - Protect me.

"This task will take five minutes. Attacking Peeves is forbidden. You may not transfigure or move the vase from its position. You may not touch it, or amend its physical properties. If you try, it will fail. Protect the vase."

Without pausing to see if a question would be asked, Professor Storm swiftly overturned a tall sandtimer which began to trickle through, and nodded to Peeves, who proceeded to do everything he could to destroy the vase, using the junk and centuries of devious tactics his half-witted poltergeist mind could fathom.

Shields held up for enough time to take a breather, and a couple of saucepans to bounce off it, but then mysteriously dissipated with a pop, ensuring that not even the most capable in the class could rest their defensive creativity for long.

OOC: Peeves will throw a whole junk shop of items at the vase, and if you persistently foil him, he may begin to throw them at you. In such a case, the Professor will be disinclined to assist, and still deduct marks if you try to hex him in return. You can control Peeves how you wish, but creative, amusing posts are all the more enjoyable. Oneshots are great, if you want Ignan to particularly respond, let me know so I can reply swiftly.

Whatever the outcome, your student will be relieved when five minutes is up!

Defense Against the Dark Arts would be one of Naomi’s first exams and would surely set the mood for the rest of the week. Either it would be a rush of exhausting satisfaction, or the beginning of a strenuous marathon before the Yule Ball fell upon Hogwarts. Some professors had scheduled projects for their examinations or provided reviews, meaning that it wasn’t about knowing the right answers, but their presentation, while others were a much more mind-wrecking guessing game in how one should prepare for them. After arriving at the Defense Against Dark Arts Classroom and reading the sign on the door, Professor Storm’s exam was clearly an extreme variation of the latter. With the students going in one by one to face Storm’s trials behind closed doors, it would be a mild mystery relying on nerves, wit, and skill--mild because after the first student finished their exam, their physical state, mental state, or both would be a sign of what was to come.

As she heard her name called through the door, Naomi soon discovered she would be that student. She crept into the doorway, her boots softly kissing the floor as she wandered into the bright classroom where Storm stood with an hourglass by his side, a vase towering on a pedestal, and the incorporeal prankster known as none other than Peeves the Poltergeist. Lovely.

With her wand drawn, Naomi crept closer to the vase and studied the luggage tag hanging around its as Peeves seemed to impatiently circle around her and the vase. She barely read the words “Protect me” before Storm began giving her directions.

• "This task will take five minutes. Attacking Peeves is forbidden. You may not transfigure or move the vase from its position. You may not touch it, or amend its physical properties. If you try, it will fail. Protect the vase."

[1]Green eyes narrowed at the turned hourglass before common sense set in, causing Naomi to turn and point her wand at the poltergeist and an incoming saucepan. Rather than waste a spell, the witch reached her hand out to latch onto the handle of the pan, but it wasn't so simple; the heat that seared her palm caused her to drop the pan and she hissed a breath through clenched teeth as Peeves squealed with glee.

Quickly, she caught the pan  with the tip of her boot and then drenched it with a heavy-handed Aguamenti spell before she kicked the pan back up into her grasp and batted it at another projectile Peeves had sent flying towards the vase. Instincts caused Naomi to bat like a Slytherin beater, but the object was clearly something other than a bludger, since it flew back and wrapped itself around a low arching ceiling beam, causing Peeves to temporarily struggle with a... yo-yo.

As the floating trickster struggled, an eyebrow rose on Naomi's forehead and she stole a curious look at Storm and then the hourglass--only a handful of seconds had passed since this test began and Naomi started to wonder if she had the patience for it.

Soon, the ringing sound of Peeve’s cackle filled the witch's ears, and Naomi snapped her head towards the ghostly annoyance; he had freed the yo-yo and circled around and tried to snap the yo-yo at the vase from a different angle, but the Slytherin stepped around and shot off a well controlled "Depulso!" at it. The spell hit the yo-yo and it rolled back along its string and into Peeves' ghostly palm while Naomi took a few confident strides that positioned her between the geist and the vase--now a rhythm and pattern to Peeves' actions were revealing themselves, and Naomi was determined to set it to her own pace.

Peeves floated above the vase and tried to fling the yo-yo straight down at it, but with a strong Accio, Naomi made the yo-yo rocket and pull towards her side. She trained her sea-green gaze on Peeves as she made an obvious reach for the toy, but the poltergeist yanked on the string--Naomi mischievously pursed her lips, ceased the spell, and let her hand fall to the side. Without anything pulling back on the yo-yo, it flew past Peeves and hit one of the ceiling arches, which was when Naomi whispered and cast a Sticking Charm on the toy. Oblivious to what spell Naomi had just cast, Peeves then tried tugging on the yo-yo a few times, but to no avail.

Before the poltergeist could deduce what had happened, Naomi meticulously cast an Obex shield spell around the vase and the pedestal, giving herself more time to think about how to idly occupy the four-ish minutes that were left. But, after she noticed her shield spell didn't have the strength she was accustomed to it having, she began to have a sinking suspicion that the final minutes of her test would not be idly spent.

Peeves retrieved an armful of spherical glass candle holders as Naomi stood with the saucepan in one hand and her wand in the other. She immediately decided how to deal with the next onslaught of items and then tried to think of what to do when her shield spell died out. As Peeves began juggling the candle holders, Naomi suddenly thought of her Care of Magical Creatures project, and its tendency to hide things (and itself)[2]--often in plain sight.

Then the vase then came under attack from falling candle holders and Naomi quickly transfigured each into a water balloon that bounced off the shield before Naomi Accio-ed it into the pan, moving and stepping around the vase as needed until Peeves ran out of candle holders. Naomi then used the Banishing Charm and Sticking Charm on the pan to send and secure it to the same spot on the ceiling that the yo-yo was fastened. A pop then indicated that the shield spell had died out, causing Naomi to return her attention to Peeves , who had just retrieved a few more objects to juggle: a shoe, a flower pot, and a teapot.

Three items were more than enough.

First, came the flower pot, which Naomi blasted with Reducto, shattering the pottery into a cloud of dust and dirt; the shoe and the teapot quickly followed, but Naomi non-verbally blasted both with a simple smoke-screen charm, imitating the results of the Reducto curse but not its affects. So, both items cleared the thick overwhelming wall of smoke and dust, and Naomi quietly transfigured the shoe into a large sheet that crashed into her shoulder and just caught the teapot with her free hand.

As the smoke and dirt divided Naomi and the vase from Peeves and his inexhaustible shelves of items, the Slytherin made quick work of what she did next: around the vase and the pedestal, she non-verbally casted a weak Protego Durus shield spell, she then pulled the sheet over it and kept it frozen in place with a silent Immobilus as the shield spell dissipated. Finally she encircled the pedestal and cast a complex color-changing charm, resulting in the sheet taking on the appearance of an empty pedestal from all of its sides--Naomi knew she was no artist, but she was an excellent forger: she knew how to look at something, or someone, and copy its appearance with a startling attention to detail.

She quickly and quietly laid the teapot on its side, some believable falling distance from the pedestal and then quietly transfigured it into an excellent imitation of the vase--it was only missing its "Protect me" luggage tag.

Naomi ignored the hourglass now. With a headache caused by the quick combination of spells, she didn't need to bother with keeping track of time anymore, she needed to stay focused, relaxed, and ready for the remainder of the exam.

The smoke cleared and Peeves had a new arsenal of trinkets to toss at the vase, but he hesitated as he realized the pedestal appeared to be empty and the vase appeared to be on the floor--his gaze suspiciously moved between Storm and Naomi before the witch's dull tone filled the room, "Seat-cushioning charm, Peeves. What Quidditch player doesn't know it?"

The comment seemed to be enough to cast away suspicion--the poltergeist twisted its face at her and Naomi readied her wand again and hopped over the vase, keeping herself a little farther away from the pedestal in order to keep up her charade.

Rather than throw things one at a time, Peeves threw plenty of things all at once. Naomi threw up a shield charm and then banished and sticking charmed away several items before the poltergeist appeared behind her with a few new objects. She cast another Banishing Charm on a spyglass and punted a music box towards one end of the room, and then a jewelry box to another end of the room--but the jewelry box promptly exploded once it reached it collided with something. It didn't take much thought for Naomi to realize that if she blasted the item, its explosion would have been too large to control. Peeves had clearly decided to target her now.

The next onslaught of items she rendered harmless with a Featherweight Charm, and they all gently fell to the ground or were easily brushed away. Then a glass sugar jar and wireless radio was thrown at her and she transfigured the jar into a large pillow, grabbed it, and then used it to catch the radio--which was playing some annoyingly cheerful song. An annoyingly cheerful and distracting song.

That's when she heard the crack.

Naomi glanced over the untouched pedestal and then back at the vase on the ground, which had a few small cracks in it. She put the pillow and the radio down on the floor and she stepped closer, discovering that the vase had several hair pins stabbed into the side of it. Then Peeves descended upon the vase and Naomi crept back towards the pedestal as he gleefully danced around and sang some nonsensical rhyme about her being a sore loser or some nonsense. Which was true, Naomi didn't like to lose--but she knew she hadn't "lost" yet.

Peeves’ cackling filled the room and he began to poke a few more cracks at the vase, but rather than concern herself too much with it, Naomi absent-mindedly twirled her wand between her fingers as she watched Peeves taunt, sing, and dance around and on the pottery--chipping away at the vase with his merriment.

She thought it best to let the little snot have his fun, it made the seconds fly by all the faster, until, finally, the last grain of sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass and the Professor indicated the test was over.

A smirk peered between Naomi’s lips as she looked from Storm to Peeves, and then she flicked her wand at the pedestal, and her urban camouflage folded and rolled itself away, until it unveiled the real vase--untouched and as pristine as it had been when Naomi entered the room.

Peeves slowly stopped celebrating, contorted his face, and then sat on the fake vase with his arms and legs crossed. He opened his mouth to say something and Naomi let her smile fall away to make way for a stoic and disinterested visage as she raised her wand.

The poltergeist's mocking tone filled the room, "Well aren't you a happy little pile of--" with another wave of her wand Naomi summoned all the items down from the ceiling and the ones littering floor and piled them on top of the broken faux vase, which caused Peeves to fly away from the mess with a disgruntled noise. It was her way of "cleaning up." Naomi wasn't sure what the professor was going to do with the items, but she thought putting them all in one spot would make them easier to handle, but she was too tired to repair or fix anything that was broken, or to put anything back where it once was.

So Naomi nodded her head at the professor and exited the room, decided she would take a nap that lasted until the end of lunchtime.[3]

1.	Color Key: People, Items, Vase, Spells, and Action
2.	A Cat by Its Tail
3.	Sorry! The post got super long.

Just what was the exam going to be? In line Gloria gave a few practice swipes with her wand, no magic but swishing it back and forth, loosening her arm muscles. Naomi Foley was in there for at least five minutes. During the wait Gloria debated with listening at the door, although knowing Professor Ignan Storm there might be something in place to disincline that. Also during her wait she popped a stick of Drooble's into her mouth, passing the time by chewing the Best Blowing Gum.

Finally it was her turn. She scampered into the room to find out what the exam was. "Against Peeves? Excuse me, protect the vase from Peeves." She could do this! She took a stance in front of the vase, standing underneath the poltergeist that was making a rude gesture above her.

"Bring out your worst sock full of chalk Peeves!" she jeered, just as the test began and the intermediary shields faded.

Peeves was ready not with a sock full of chalk but, another vase? Two vases and some dinner plates and bowls that he was juggling, as if he had swiped dinner settings from a house table. With a snicker he tossed each of them towards the vase with rapid fire. That was too many to deal with at once!

"Impedimenta!" That slowed down the objects, still spinning in place but thir forward momentum slowed to a treacle crawl. Gloria could have cast another spell but seeing as they were just overhead it was more fun to jump up and bat them away, changing the course of the spinning plates and vases until they sped up again to crash satisfactily on the ground elsewhere.

Peeves wasn't stopped yet though. More attacks came from a cuckoo clock and, another vase? What was with this exam and vases? Gloria fired off two Reductos, one bursting the clock into pieces, gears and springs and wood chips and the little bird raining down, harmlessly to the giant vase she had to protect but she dodged back from the detrius before firing the other Reducto at the other vase. It cracked open and some foul smelling sludge splashed her.

"Ick! What is this?" Peeves cackled with mad laughter overhead. Gloria examined one of the fragments to the pot the sludge had come from. "Was that...a spittoon?! Or a chamber pot?!"

The raspberry from Peeves suggested the latter, while not actually confirming anything. Gloria looked towards the professor to complain but noticed the time slipping through the hourglass. She still had to protect the largest vase. "Where'd you go Peeves?" She spun about but didn't see the poltergeist, he must be attacking from another side. She dashed around in time to see a broken cauldron coming for the vase.

"Enough with the pot based weapondry! Flipendo!" The Knockbock Jinx was just enough to divert the path of the projectile. Gloria's ears were ringing each time something fell on the ground. A cauldron wasn't the only thing Peeves had thrown next, a broken broomstick came  from another direction. It still had enough flight in it to sprial in on the vase instead of a straight path. Gloria spun on the spot to change her aim but given the gunk she was covered in she slipped.

Not thinking, she reached out with her arms and knocked against the giant vase she was supposed to be protecting, smearing it at the touch of her empty hand. It began to wobble.

"Wait, don't do that!" She wasn't supposed to touch it though and it was about to crash! "Carpe Retractum!" A line of spell light shot out from her wand to snag the wayward broom. Gloria snapped it back to her hand and with both hands on the handle, used the bristles to brush the vase into a stable configuration.

"Just try some more Peeves!" The next almost full minute passed with Gloria essentially playing cricket with the broom and whatever Peeves chucked next.

"Where's he getting all this stuff?" At that point she finally noticed the shelves with junk where Peeves got his ammo. She should take it out. She chucked the broom out of her hands to cast properly. "Bombarda!" The shelves and all the junk on them exploded to the floor. "Ha!" she smacked her gum triumphantly.

A short lived victory when the abandoned broom hit her upside the head. "What?" Peeves was now smacking her with the broom, infuriated at her offense, targeting her instead of the giant vase. "Augh! Stop!" She tried dodging an raising shield but kept forgetting what shield type deflected physical objects and not spells. She managed to catch the broom and wrestle it away. She swiped at Peeves, not that he could be hit when intangible.

That was when the final attack came forth, the longest unbroken section of shelf, which Peeves had like a lance, taking the bigger stick approach in their battle of makeshift swords. What could block that?

And then she remembered a trick she had read about, one of the few things that could also work against poltergeists. Gloria blew a big bubble with her gum then spat it into the bristles of the broom, then pointed her wand at it. "Waddiwasi!" The gum shot away to catch Peeves in the back of the throat, where he gagged. He dropped the shelf and Gloria braced herself as it shuddered on the floor. She looked up to note the hourglass. Empty!

She looked back to the vase. Dirty where she had touched it. Was that a chip in the rim? Maybe from the explosions she had triggered. And had she techincally tried to hex Peeves by shooting gum at him?

No matter! She better get out of here and take a shower. Gloria waved to Professor Storm, wiggling her fingers. "Bye!' She slid out the door, leaving a trail of the sludge she had been dumped with in the attack.

Defense Against the Dark Arts was Alvis’s worst class, bar none. He was absolute rubbish at jinxes, curses, hexes, and violent charms; the very idea of attacking his classmates made him go weak at the knees; and the fear of self-harm rarely worked as motivation. His fear of Professor Storm’s fury did not make things easier.

But when it came to the actual defending part of defense, he did have two strengths: One, he knew more about the creation and maintenance of protective items than anyone else in his year, possibly more than anyone in the school. And two, he wasn’t a half-bad Keeper.

These facts swirled in his mind as he entered the room which had, in the time between Gibbon's exit and the call of his name, been put back in order. He absorbed the directions with a quiet nod and took his place between Peeves and the vase. Looking at him would not inspire confidence. His shirt was un-tucked, but only in the back; there was a quill stuck haphazardly behind his right ear, in anticipation of written exams to come; and his glasses had slid to the tip of his nose, threatening to fall.

Protect the vase. Right. How hard could it be?

The hourglass turned.

Peeves, riding the pent-up frustration of two thwarted mayhem attempts, wasted no time, flinging flower pots, plates, and textbooks one after another. Alvis held his ground between sprite and vase, imagining it to be a Quidditch goal in practice when they used more than one ball, knocking each object away, though the abuse of innocent books made him wince.

The barrage lasted maybe twenty seconds, then the poltergeist cackled, whipping the largest item yet from behind his back: a silver serving platter, large enough for a turkey that would satisfy even Hagrid’s appetite.

Inspiration sparked through Alvis's mind. Yes, that platter...that exactly what he needed.

Peeves flung the plate like a discus. Alvis leapt to catch it, his momentum carrying him past the vase again. As he skidded to a stop, he flipped the platter around, gripping its handle with one hand and holding its concave side steady with his elbow, like a shield. He jumped between Peeves and the vase, deflecting a mantle clock that dented the platter. His right arm aimed his wand at the silver. "Munio!"

Blue-silver sparkles danced across the platter's surface, the silver's natural state as a conductor of magic carrying the spell the way copper carried electricity. The next projectile -- a tattered pair of shoes -- bounced off as though it hit a brick wall, without any strain on Alvis's arm. The next two in rapid succession were the same, but already Alvis could feel the spell weakening. It wouldn't last, he needed to support it.

He pulled the quill from behind his ear, sucked the ink off its nib, spat over his shoulder, and scratched a short series of runes onto the silver. Nauthiz, eihwaz, algiz, all letters he'd used or researched while making his amulet for Ancient Runes, reconfigured on the fly to defend against the physical rather than magic. They weren't deep and they weren't pretty, especially since Alvis was constantly moving to keep up with Peeves's attacks. They wouldn't last. On their own, they were nothing; but he didn't need them to work alone. He just needed one good solid hit.

Suddenly, the constant barrage of nick-knacks stopped. With a pop, Peeves reappeared on the other side of the room, brandishing a broomstick over his head -- one of the school's Shooting Stars. He sounded a cavalry charge as though his lips were a kazoo and barreled towards the vase, wielding the broom as a lance.

Hurriedly, Alvis carved in the last stroke of the final rune and tossed the quill away, trading it for his wand. "Munire adversus arma."[1] This time, when the magic spread, some of it clung to the hastily-inscribed runes, causing them to glow a bright blue.

Gripping his makeshift shield by both handles, Alvis planted himself firmly between Peeves and the vase. Peeves barreled into him at full speed, his broom-lance meeting the platter head on.

The air crackled as though lightning had struck, followed half-a-second later by a thunderous crash. The broom splintered. The platter burst. Peeves was flung back, spinning head-over-heels into and through the opposite wall, screeching all the way. Alvis stumbled under the force, dropped the remains of his shield, and crashed into the vase's pedestal.

As the vase fell, the rule about not touching it never crossed his mind. Alvis rolled across the floor to cushion the fall with his own body. It landed on his chest, knocking the air from his lungs as the last seconds ticked away in the hourglass.

Merlin, he thought, lying winded on the floor. I wonder if I actually passed.

Maybe he did and maybe he didn't. Either way, he didn't wait around to find out.

1.	From the Munio family of spells, roughly translated as "fortify/protect against weapons."

After watching her predecessors march out of the class, some breathless and some quite dirty, Angie came to the conclusion that this was not going to be an ordinary exam. No sitting down and answering questions, nope. They were going to get down and dirty with this exam. Upon hearing her name, Angie stood up from where she was siting against the wall and braced herself before walking into he classroom.

Protect me.

She read the sign quickly before surveying the task set before her. Peeves was floating around looking quite smug, and there was a shelf full of goodies behind him looking oh so breakable and delicate. But not as delicate as the vase. She watched the professor flip the hourglass and then she turned to the vase, and Peeves.

The poltergeist began the onslaught by flinging a few pots and and pans, the usual MO for someone who's trying to break something. The shield held for a bit of the debris before it flickered out like a light. "Infligo!" Angie shouted, aware that it was a spell typically used for smacking someone, but she figured it would do the same for an object. The invisible spell collided with a flower pot, sending it to the floor where it shattered quite gracefully.

Angie used the spell two more times before she had to dodge and incoming object. It was some sort of ball shape, and Angie's first reflex was to kick it. She was a Quidditch player after all, she had reflexes. "Is that all you've got!" She yelled, and apparently it wasn't.

A few dull platters came her was, she ducked under the first two and hid behind a desk to dodge the third one. She ran out from hiding to find that Peeves had disappeared, but then he popped up from behind the shelf full of stuff with  a teapot in hand, he threw it at the vase, along with a few other things, and for a moment Angie felt like this test was doomed.

She threw up a shield using protego, hoping it would be strong enough to withstand objects. The teapot bounced off with no problem, but Angie had to use her creative skills to dodge the incoming flower pot and glass jar. "Ventus!" Angie shouted, flicking her wand and feeling the air rush from he tip of it and towards the pot and jar, sending the two clattering to the floor. Her eyes looked to the hourglass to see that she was almost out of time, but winced as she heard a shattering sound.

Luckily it wasn't the vase, but a plate Peeves had tried to drop on Angie's head. Then Peeves shot a few spoons at the vase, two of them hitting the rim where chips went flying off, the others knocked out of the way with 'flipendo.' She looked back at the hourglass and saw that it was empty, but missed the incoming flower pot. She noticed it in time to send a hex at it, but shattered it a few inches away from her, raining down dirt and shards of the pot on her. She shook most of it off on her way out, not bothering to say a word as she stalked out the door.

"If you need me, I will be sleeping." She said, exhausted from the exam as she made her way down the corridor.

Perhaps it was just Professor Storm, but Zoe hadn't been looking forward to the Defense Against the Dark Arts midterm. Dueling Club had helped her with defensive spellwork as well as offensive spellwork, but the fact stood that she never held any talent in Dark Magic and was only slightly skilled in protective spells. Zoe hoped for an E, as she wasn't confident she could pull off an O.

Wand in hand, Zoe came into the classroom once it was her turn. She was given instructions that her mind barely had time to process. Protect the vase. Don't hurt Peeves. No changing the vase. That was all she took in. The Ravenclaw tried to form a plan, but ended up just throwing herself between Peeves and the vase once the shield disappeared.

A china plate was hurled just above her head and Zoe raised her wand to recite the first spell that came to mind. "Depulso!" The plate reversed direction midair, shattering against a wall. Peeves threw a china glass next, going through a whole china set piece by piece. Zoe broke each with a Banishing Charm. The strategy killed some time, but the young witch knew it wasn't useful to keep up for long. A frying pan being hurled towards her gave Zoe an idea.

Leveling her wand, Zoe summoned the pan to her. "Engorgio. Spongify." The pan grew until the handle was as thick as a baseball bat and every part but the handle had turned from metal to a rubbery substance. Zoe almost fell over from the weight of the pan. As she tried to regain her balance, an alarm clock flew over her head.

Zoe's body twisted around to stop it, but she couldn't keep it from knocking right into the tall pedestal. "Consisto Cilicis!" The pedestal froze before it wobbled far, and the vase looked unsteady but remained in place. Zoe sighed, quickly performing a Featherweight Charm on the pan. She lifted the pan over her head and used it to deflect a textbook. It bounced off the pan without appearing to do any damage to the charmed pan. Yes, a functioning contraption.

The pan was able to ricochet a few more attacks of silverware and a basketball before Peeves humphed and disappeared. "Merlin, where did he go?" Zoe demanded, looking over to the still draining hourglass. Her five minutes weren't up yet! There was a cracking noise at the other side of the vase. Zoe practically dove around the pedestal, just in time to see a cloth doll being thrown at the unsteady vase.

"Locomotor!" The doll froze in midair, before floating over to Zoe. Another idea struck her, and she handed the pan over to the doll, using a quick Sticking Charm so the doll could hold it upright nicely. Peeves grabbed, of all things, a toaster by its cord and began to spin it around like he was a competitor in a hammer throw. It flew at the vase at a high speed, though Zoe didn't lift a finger as the doll floated up to let the toaster bounce off the pan.

Zoe joined her doll minion, letting the doll defend the vase for her. However, this barely lasted for twenty seconds before Zoe noticed the doll's arms beginning to tear off. "Munio!" The doll sparkled for a moment, and seemed to wield the pan better against the force of a few more textbooks.

Peeves suddenly pulled out a table lamp and dove at the doll. The doll attempted to swing the pan, but the shield spell on it broke from strain and one of the doll's arms came off entirely. Zoe pointed her wand at the doll. "Reparo!" The arms reattached to the body thread by thread and the doll lifted the pan to meet the lamp.

Peeves easily dodged the raised pan, and chucked the lamp at Zoe's head. She gave a surprised squeal and ducked out of instinct. The lamp flew over her and straight into the pedestal. The lamp shade dented and the light bulb shattered upon impact. Swearing under her breath, Zoe got to her feet and tried to run around the pedestal. Zoe ignored the doll, still holding the pan, falling to the ground from her lack of concentration.

The pedestal retained a crack where the lamp struck, but Zoe didn't see that. All she saw was the pedestal tilting, at first slowly, as the Immobilizing Charm weakened from the force of the impact. The vase wobbled on top of pedestal. The charm soon dispelled entirely, and both the pedestal and vase tilted to the ground. "Pulvinufi!"[1] Zoe shouted, her wand pointed at the floor, the area of which held the shadow of the vase.

The pedestal cracked into two pieces hitting the ground, but the vase was undamaged except for a few chips and cracks at its base from top of the pedestal knocking it. "Technically, I didn't move the vase!" Zoe insisted to no one in particular. "The pedestal did!"

Zoe looked over to the hourglass and noticed the top drain the last of its contents. Finally, it was over. Surely she had gotten no higher than an A. Bloody Peeves.

She walked to the door a little too quickly, not giving Professor Storm any form of a goodbye. What happened had happened, there wasn't much else to it.

1.	The incantation of the Cushioning Charm.

Moira waited quietly outside with the others and had to refrain herself from flinching when her name was called. She really didn't feel up for any kind of exam, much less a defensive one. Of course, in all honesty, she didn't feel up to much of anything, except maybe visiting the animals.

Hearing Professor Storm's instructions a weight dropped in her stomach. Defend a vase for five minutes when she'd had to struggle to get out of bed? Not to mention Peeves had seemed to take a particular interest in her current misery, stalking her down certain hallways, dumping water on her once when she had come back inside, and now he got to try and flunk her in Defense Against the Dark Arts. Giving a soft sigh she pulled out her wand and heard the sand begin to pour. The exam had begun.

During the first minute Moira managed to keep up with Peeves, casting charms easily enough. But then Peeves threw a toy horse and it headed right for her face. Paling, a brief flash of flailing hooves could be seen in her minds eye, she barely moved her head in time to dodge it, and after that she was no longer keeping up with the poltergeist and barely managed to keep the vase from being hit or toppling over.

Right before the three minute mark, Moira was just a little too slow, and the vase hit the ground and shattered. Stupid. Real horses didn't make her freeze or panic, but a toy horse coming at her face did? So stupid.

Putting her wand away she turned and headed for the door. She didn't speak to the professor, or the other students out in the hall as she passed. Instead she went to get her coat and go outside.

In the line that crawled over the tens of minutes that it took a few people to test and the classroom to be reset, Casey looked like he was sleeping. He wasn't, merely saving his energy by leaning against the wall and keeping his eyes closed for long stretches. He wasn't worried about performing an unknown spell. Casey could perform every spell in the fourth year ciricculum and some from higher grades. The big question was whether he could face everything Professor Storm had in store for him.

There was a tightness in his chest, though not of an obvious medical or magical nature. Whenever he got on edge he became hyper aware of his new underwear, contributing to the perpetual itchiness.

He walked into the room when it was his turn. He pondered, for the briefiest of moments, what Storm would had thought if Casey performed the task with two wands. That was unreality. Casey could not expect to have the old hornbeam wand for some time so his strength in dual wielding was low.

The test: Protect a giant vase without touching or magically affecting it, while not attacking Peeves as the poltergeist threw objects to attack. Peeves had an especially mad grin that knew some strange knowledge. Casey scoffed silently at the poltergeist. Had the spirit found out about his supposed Halloween terrorizing?[1]

Minute one:

When the shield dropped, Casey had his own shield ready. Obex family, barriers that blocked physical objects which was all Peeves had to work with. Casey kept his wand trained in the center of the shield, constantly flowing magic into it. It was sapping his energy and would be dangerous to keep up more than a minute if he needed to defend the rest of the minutes. He shifted the area of effect a few times as the poltergeist assaulted it with chucked junk, growing frustrated with each deflection.

Minute two:

Casey dropped his shield, exhausted to come up with powerful magic right away, just as Peeves had unloaded a full set, if mismatched, of dinning room chairs fit for a table of four with varied tastes. Exploding spells handled two, one bursting with pyrotechnics while the other broke into kindling. The third chair was banished in a random direction. The last was deflected with a Smack Hex.

Casey's throat was also getting dry from all the incantations. He had forgotten to drink some water before coming inside and he wouldn't be able to take a break for a few more minutes.

A broken broomstick followed suit. Repeating spells until it got stale also increased the rate of Casey's spell fatigue so he needed to get creative. He spied an umbrella amongst the stockpiled trash of Peeves ammo depot. Casey performed a rushed Switching Spell, replacing the bristles of the broom with the panels of the umbrella. It flopped open where it had been swapped to the broom but didn't slow the descent enough. Casey pushed that back with a gust of wind.

Minute three:

Now Casey was visibly stooped, unable to keep his sweat soaked back straight. Would he be able to stand once the examination was over? Peeves had it in for the young Slytherin, as he kept sending larger and larger objects towards the vase. A forgotten trunk with peeling leather. His spells to deflect it didn't work on something that size. Even past matches in the dueling club weren't helping Casey. Blocking spells required less effort that manipulating solid real objects. Casting speed meant nothing in this exam, except to keep up with Peeves' rate of fire.

Drastic action time. Casey flung himself in front of the trunk and was hit hard, almost off balance. His ribs felt broken if not bruised. Eerie how that precise kind of pain was one he readily recognized. Contributing to that was the inflamed skin on his arm that had hit the trunk, his leather allergy having been triggered.

No time to feel sorry for himself. Casey levitated the damn trunk to block the floor lamp, both falling at impact when Casey lost his hold on the spell. Not only did Casey have to protect the vase but his own body was in jeopardy. He spent a moment reaffirming himself with a Flesh Fortifying spell in case he had to take any more hits.

All this for a damn vase. Well, the grade was more important to Casey. He was so angry at the poltergeist that Casey's wand moved without him consciously thinking of it as a cabinet burst into flames, burning so quickly in a flash it became ash. Casey drooped further.

Minute four:

Casey wanted to rest but he couldn't, he had to push himself further like every damn day of his life. His wand vibrated in his hand, agitated, dragging him towards each object he had to deflect or banish or blast. The fates of a grandfather clock, a setee and a side table.

"Tried to blame Peevesy when Peeves was not peeving, boy?" Ah, so the poltergeist was ticked about the time Casey had pretended to be him. Remarkable that he had waited in revenge this long. Funny. The more exhausted Casey got in this exam, the more he felt detached from the world, although at his prompting his wand fended off each attack. Thinking about the motives of a poltergeist when he had a stupid vase to protect.

Clank.

Casey fully opened his eyes. Oh where had the spirit of chaos found this? Peeves puppeted the battered pieces of a suit of armor scrounged up from his pile of junk. It shambled forward with two weapons, a sword and a flail. The spirit didn't actually have to possess the objects as he cackled madly over the suit of armor.

Beat him quickly and you might yet rest. The armor was slowed and then Casey worked an Incarcerous to rope all the pieces together, pinning the net back, the weapons bound together.

Minute five:

Casey had a dangerously vicious smile on his face, the look of someone dropping all restraints, weakened but very close to snapping berserk. "Is that all?" he said very foolishly, because he still had a minute left to protect the vase. That angered Peeves. He started zooming around the room, picking up objects in his wake. Broken antiques, pieces of junk, trashed collectables, far more than the poltergeist normally manipulated at once. He zoomed and spun, shrieking all the while more and more stuff was brought up towards the ceiling in the updraft. In half a minute he had the final assault prepped, a veritable storm of flying curios, a tornado of rubbish.

Casey just stood there. It wasn't as if he could run away if he wanted. He wasn't afraid. Rather, almost impatient, as if he knew the inevitable result of his victory. He built up the last reserves of his strength. A small part of him wondered that if had he still had his amulet, would he have held out this long?

He waited until Peeves brought his storm as close as possible. By this point he had also ripped down the chandelier to join the multitude.

Casey took two steps forward, a measured distance so he wouldn't fall against the pedestal once he fell unconscious.

Casey raised his wand up. And when he shouted the incantation the word had an odd ring to it, a doubled tone as if spoken by two people. "MANINCARCEROUS!!"

Casey regularly worked lengths of chain into the restraints in each Incarcerous spell he cast. That was just the tip of the iceberg for what he could do if he constrained on the more advanced spell that could shackle victims. The chains conjured into being and shot everywhere. Lengths snaked through handles, clasped into buckles, furniture legs were shackled to baubles, hooks fished the wayward scrap that snuck past every opening. Technically, he had also reattached the chandelier to the ceiling although some of the pieces of discarded armor had been strapped up there as well.

A web of chains tepeed the vase, the links tangled with junk that failed to strike the vase. Peeves flung one last cymbal towards the apparatus but it bounced off, no space available for it to reach the vase.

Test concluded.

And somewhere under all of that was the knocked out body of Casey O'Doherty, spent of all energy. His fingers gripped his wand tightly in rigor.[2]

1.	Poltergeist Activity - Oct 31
2.	Typed from my iPad, so no fancy fonts or colors. Cleared with Kit. Per usual, if you want to post your student's exam you can assume the room has been reset before your test. Casey would have be whisked off to recuperate unnoticed.

Awaiting her turn in line by Professor Storm's door, Addison couldn't help but to fidget nervously. While she didn't normally do especially bad in Defense Against the Dark Arts, that wouldn't make it any easier. Besides, it wasn't exactly her favorite class in the school, but it wasn't her worst class either. It was kind of in the middle. The part about the class that really made her a bit uneasy was the whole practical portion of the class. It wasn't that she was horrendous with the spells. Rather, it was that she wasn't entirely too successful all the time with her wand work. If you weren't perfect all the time in class, you would have to endure Storm's wrath. At least, that was how she felt about the class.

It felt like it took forever, waiting in the line. At every passing minute, she became more and more fidgety, nervous, and anxious. It was almost as if she was a first year again, trying desperately to learn magic and actually fit in amongst her peers. Within that regards, she thought that she had been relatively successful, being able to catch up in her lack of understanding.

Eventually, Addison heard her name called to take the practical midterm. Taking out her wand, she walked into the classroom with a big vase sitting on top of a pedestal in it. A label hung from the vase. Protect Me. Simple, yet elegant instructions. Clearly, it would require more work than simple attempts to actually protect the vase. Having barely entered the room for a few moments, instructions were rattled off to her. Peeves would be attacking the vase. Before she could even think about any questions, or even process the instructions, Storm immediately started the timer. With a sigh, she held her wand in her hand, awaiting the first attack.

The attack started immediately. Peeves threw two pans at the vase. "Protego!" Her shield blocked the two pans from hitting the vase, but were immediately dissipated with a pop. Apparently, shields wouldn't hold too long against the objects. At that moment, she was surprised that her shield barely held. Peeves threw a candlestick holder at the vase during her surprise. Noticing the item spiraling towards the vase, she stuck her arm out and caught the object. Letting it fall to her side, she noticed Peeves coming at another angle with a set of five plates. The Poltergeist threw each one, one by one, at the vase, while simultaneously moving at different angles. "Expulso!" she fired at each plate. With each direct hit, each plate shattered. As she continued to move, she ignored the glass shards that were raining on her, instead focusing on Peeves.

The next item on Peeves' agenda was a pillow. He threw it, not at the vase, but at her. "Wingardium Leviosa!" she caused the pillow to levitate in the air. "Engorgio!" she casted on the pillow, which became massively huge. The Poltergeist next threw a teapot at the vase. Moving her wand in the direction of the teapot, she moved the pillow to intercept the teapot. The teapot hit the pillow and smashed onto the ground. The next item thrown at her, was a jewelry box. Again, she moved the pillow to intercept the jewelry box, which caused a few feathers to be forced from the item. Peeves held out a bunch of silverware. Unlike what he did with the plates, he threw all of them at once. The spoons lazily hit against the pillow. But, the knifes and the forks went right through her enlarged pillow. Letting her spell drop, she let the damaged pillow fall to the ground.

Picking up a statue, Peeves threw it at the vase. With a quick Accio, Addison caught the statue. Before she could do anything with it, Peeves already threw a drawer at the vase. "Protego!" she set up another shield. This one stayed up, after the drawer hit it. Using her time quickly, she placed the statue on the ground next to her. "Engorgio!" The statue grew to about her height. "Piertotum Locomotor!" the statue was quickly animated. Just in time too, Peeves threw another pan at the shield, and it quickly broke down. "Accio pan" the pan flew into her hand. Wielding it like a weapon, she stood next to her now animate statue. Peeves picked up two pots. He threw one at the statue, and another one at her. The statue lifted up its shield, and the pot crashed into it, raining pieces of glass and dirt on both the statue and on her. She hit the pan against the the pot, shattering the pot and sending it flying.

Peeves shot a toaster at the vase. Again, the statue raised its shield, letting the toaster bounce off of it. Addison smiled, happy that she managed a relatively good defense. But, this just angered Peeves. He picked up two lamps, and threw one at the vase and one at her. The one at the vase, again hit the statue's shield, this time completely breaking off the shield from the statue after impact. She hit the lamp that was thrown at her with the pan, but the lampshade bounced off of her arm, and knocked into the pedestal. The vase wobbled a little, but still stayed on the pedestal. The pan slid from her hand, hitting the ground. Swearing under her breath, she noticed a frame being thrown at her. "Expulso!" the frame crashed into one of the walls, breaking apart. A piece of which hit into the vase, taking a small chip off of its top. The next item that sailed at the vase was a goblet. The statue raised its sword, letting the goblet bounce off of it to the floor.

The Poltergeist threw a cabinet at the vase. The statue raised its sword to block again. But, the cabinet crashed into the sword, breaking it completely in half, the rest of the pieces flying directly at the vase. "Reducto!" she casted, hitting some of the pieces out of the way. But, a few pieces hit the vase, causing a few light scratches on the vase. He picked up a broom, sending it flying at her. Catching the broomstick by its handle, she let it drop to the ground quickly. Peeves picked up a shelf, and sent it flying at the vase. "Depulso!" Her spell hit the corner of the shelf, but caused it to fly in the air. Hitting her directly in the stomach, she pushed back, falling over near the pedestal. The ground shook from their combined impact, but the vase only wobbled a little. Thankfully, she was able to hold onto her wand. Peeves picked up a trunk, launching it at the vase. "Expulso!" she shouted, the spell hitting the trunk. Pieces of the trunk went flying. "Protego!" she cast the shield once more on the vase, watching the pieces of the trunk hit into the shield.

Taking her eye off the scene very quickly, Addison noticed that the timer was empty. She let out a sigh of relief. Giving Peeves a dirty look, she turned on her heel and headed for the door. "Bye Professor," she said to Storm on her way to the door, not bothering the shake off the pieces of glass and dirt in her hair and on her clothes. Without another word, she slid out of the room quickly, wanting to get back to her dorm to rest.

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.