Roster

Charles Harcroft (G) - 0 points
Mairead O'Fearghail (G) - 2 points
Keegan Kearney (G) - 0 points
Oliver Ainsworth (G) - 2 points
Adley Rothwell (G) - 0 points

Fiana Flynn (R) - 4 points
Eirene Antonbopoulos (R) - 6 points

Pax Wintergreen (H) - 6 points
Laurissa Sarah Mainwaring (H) - 2 points

Elias Gates (S) - 2 points
Euphenia Grissom-Dolohov (S) - 2 points

 Glaring ominously from the front of the classroom Theobald watched the new first years arrive in.  He was not in a particularly bad mood however the establishment of proper discipline on the first day of any class was of crucial importance, especially a first year class. If you allowed the wrong precedent top be set and allowed them to get away from you it would be twice as hard to get them back under control . He had seen two newly appointed teachers make this mistake during his time overseas: one has learnt from her mistakes and clamped down hard on subsequent misbehaviour; the other, well he had moved on to another profession.  Theobald tried to recall briefly what that was but failed to do so. He had never known him well in any event.

 This week could be a tough time for new students, especially the muggle-borns. At least the children of wizarding parents had an idea what to expect. Muggle- borns though had no such preparation and often initially had difficulty, especially in matters pertaining to wizarding history. This disadvantage was only temporary of course but feelings of inadequacy were never helpful in adapting to what was many of their first experiences of boarding school. This lesson would be very basic  so it hopefully would not contribute to such worries, at least if they had done their required reading.

 It was a somewhat strange time for him as well. He would be teaching his niece in a Hogwarts class for the first time. He looked over at Laurissa. She looked both happy and awkward at the same time. That was understandable. Allegations of being the teacher's pet always abounded whenever a student was taught by a family member. Theobald vowed that he would do nothing in class that would further such rumours but he doubted that they could be avoided save if she ended up getting punishment regularly, which he would not do unless of course she deserved it and he believed that he had brought her up better than that.

 "Settle down!"

Theobald raised his voice,

 "Settle Down! Better.

 Welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts. My name is Professor Mainwaring. Some of you will no doubt be familiar with the need for defensive magic, some of you may not be. Suffice it to say during your time here at Hogwarts you will quickly learn that not all wizards are good. Many, far too many, of out kind have used their talents for evil ends, some to gain dominance , some to gain wealth, others out of sheer malice.  The Two Wizarding Wars in which I and many of your parents have fought should be testament enough to that.

 In order to deal with such miscreants you must learn to defend yourselves and here you will do that. You will also be taught how to recognise signs of malign magic and how to counteract its effects.

   There are other magical threats out there of course that remain unknown to the muggle world. Those you may face include hostile magical beasts and beings. The first chapter of Quentin Trimble's 'The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection' that you were to have read before arriving at Hogwarts names several of these. Can you recall any of them?"

Eirene hesitated by the front of the room, intimidated by the professor’s glare. She’d just rushed back from lunch and had, of course, saved something for Professor Mainwaring for their first Defense class. The moment his eyes landed on her, Eirene turned, hurried to his desk, and put the orange on top. Then she scurried to her seat, folded her hands, and settled down before he even told them to.

When he began class she listened attentively, impressed by the way he talked about the wizarding wars. He certainly looked old enough to have fought in both of them! He went on to mention the textbook and the assigned reading, which she had done well ahead of time, along with chapter two.

Eirene raised her hand to answer his question. “Acromantulas, boggarts, dementors…” she trailed off, listing the ones she’d remembered in alphabetical order. “Acromantulas are huge spiders, boggarts take on the form of what scares you the most, and dementors- they make people horribly unhappy, don’t they?” Eirene had only skimmed that part. The illustration of the dementor’s kiss had disturbed her enough to close the book and ask her nanny if their house was dementor-proof.

The exciting promise of making bottles of tasty drinks huge and revealing secret doorways to exciting fantasies had, officially, lost its luster.  Mairead's first day of classes had been long, exhausting and (not surprisingly), rather non-productive.  By the end of Charms, Mairead's non-compliant wand had left her so frustrated and crude with her wand that it had probably simply gone on strike during Transfiguration.  History of magic sandwiched between the two hadn't helped much. 

While Potions had been marginally better that morning, Mairead had never been forced to be still for so long ... to be so attentive in her life!  And herbology - well ... that had been a complete disaster.  It felt almost impossible  And, then, to end the day, it had felt like she'd spent hours sitting, staring at the text on the History of Magic book trying to make sense of the printing on the page.  In early British History, the apocalyptic prophecies of Merlin were thought to see far into the future and foretell the fate of Britain was a far cry from The bug is high. 

Mairead was already feeling considerable trepidation and anticipating another completely failed class when she stepped through the door of the Defense Against the Dark Arts and looked up at the Professor at the front.  As she stared up at the stern man glaring at them from the front of the room, she shifted uneasily.  Her wand wasn't going to work again - Mairead knew it!  Or ... this professor was going to make her read something aloud.  Or ... even ... would he snap her wand?  And then ... was he going to laugh at her in front of the class?  Or yell at her?  He looked like the yelling, wand-snapping kind.  An intense overwhelming feeling of anxiety.  Suddenly, she turned and scampered through the door.

 Defense Against The Dark Arts. At first, Fiana had thought the class was literally about art. She didn't know why one would have to be defended from paintings and such, but then of course paintings were different in the wizarding world. They were a bit like movies - they moved around and talked to you. And some of them had very dark coloring. Maybe it was bad for your eyesight, and that was why you needed defending?

 Apparently not, however, as she had quickly discovered upon glancing over her textbook. It made Fi a little afraid. She'd been so excited about her new world, she hadn't realized that there was bad in it. She supposed it made sense, however. How many fairy tales featured a wicked old witch, after all?

 She filed into the class with the other students and selected her desk, setting up her notes and things and waving at the other first year girls. Then she faced forward and prepared to listen, because this professor looked like he might be angry if one didn't pay close attention. Eirene, of course, gave the first answer. No surprise there - she seemed to be very knowledgeable about all their subjects. Fortunately, Fiana felt that she also had something to consider, and raised her hand. "There's the kappa," she said. "They live in water and look a bit like monkeys, and try to strangle people." The petite brunette gave a shudder. What a horrible creature!

After a satisfying lunch, Oliver hurried off to Defense Against the Dark Arts.  According to his father, it had been his best - and preferred - subject.  The name of the course spoke for itself; ‘Defense against the Dark Arts’.  To him, it certainly sounded interesting.  Much more-so than Lumpkin’s History of Magic class.  The professor for this one, an older man who introduced himself as a Professor Main... Main...waring?  Yes, that was it.  He was sitting at the head of the room, bearing a somewhat displeasing expression.  Oliver hustled into the room and took the nearest empty chair, which happened to be next to the brunette-haired Ravenclaw.

“Hi, Fiana,” he greeted her cheerily, setting his supplies on the desk, but remaining wary of the teacher.  The man was obviously in a bad mood.  “Do you mind if I sit here?”

"Settle down!"

He snapped to attention, remaining silent for the duration of Mainwaring’s speech.  A question on Trimble’s book drew an unsettled conclusion to his introduction.  Oliver had read the book - he found it quite fascinating, really -, but just as he opened his mouth to give Mainwaring his answer, Eirene piped up and answered ‘dementors’.  He closed his mouth and huffed a small, exasperated sigh.  She was always the first to answer any type of question, regardless of the factuality of her response.

Pax was more subdued than usual, and this was only in part due to Professor Mainwaring's stern demeanor. He sat quietly near the front of the class, hands clasped, his fleeting concern about why Mairead o Fearghail had fled the classroom quickly pushed aside when the professor had started speaking. It was when Professor Mainwairing mentioned the wizarding wars that Pax's expression first became serious.

It hadn't been his parents to fight in the Second Wizarding War, though; it had been his grandparents. And his grandmother had not made it through.  He glanced almost unconsciously at his backpack, and the corner of the green hard-back book that poked out of it. The diary that had been a present from his late grandmother. He had taken to carrying it around with him everywhere, almost as if for moral support. This wasn't the class he was most enthusiastic about, but it was the one for which Pax placed the most pressure on himself to succeed; to be strong like Grandma Zora, to do her proud.

'Dementors completely suck the happiness out of anyone near them,' he quietly added to Eirene's definition after she and Fiana had made their contributions. He knew about dementors; his grandfather hadn't believed in shielding him from the horrors of the wizarding world, much to his parents' chagrin. Pax had been morbidly eager to learn about dementors at the time, with the same zeal with which some children drink in ghost stories, but he had been victim to violent nightmares for a few nights after learning all the details.

'They make you relive some of the worst moments of your life, make you forget what happiness even feels like. They were on his side in the war. The only way you can drive them off is with a Patronus Charm. That's also the only thing that can drive off a lethifold.' Pax shuddered visibly; no, he definitely didn't want to broach that particular subject. 'But the Patronus Charm is like, really advanced magic,' he added despondently. It sounded to him like one of the most useful charms to know, and he had no idea when he'd be good enough at magic to create a patronus.

 Theobald was pleasantly surprised. Clearly some of the first years actually had been doing their prescribed reading. He was puzzled by the behaviour of the young Gryffindor who had just fled his classroom though. He had killed during the war of course. Perhaps she had heard of that? Maybe he had even brought a Death Eater relative of hers to justice. Even so though the Sorting Hat must be having an off year. Weren't Gryffindors supposed to be brave?

 Frowning he turned to the other Gryffindors,

 "Do any of you know whom that young lady who just left us is? If you do would one of you be so kind as to retrieve her and back her back to the classroom."

 "Returning to the topic in hand, well answered.  Miss...Antonopoulos and Miss Flynn isn't it? You may have 2 points  for Ravenclaw each.  Mr Wintergreen you may have 2 points for Hufflepuff.

 These creatures and others are out there, some more closer than others. The Forbidden Forest contains many such threats which of course is the reason that it is forbidden. Of those who venture there without proper training few survive. In time you will learn how to deal with these threats. Boggarts for example we will cover later this year.

 The beasts we have touched upon so far would try to murder you if they get the opportunity. There are certain beings whose bite can cause a different effect if it is not fatal. For extra points who can name any such being? "

”Do any of you know whom that young lady is who just left us is?  If you do would one of you be so kind as to retrieve her and bring her back to the classroom.”

“I will, Professor,” Oliver said, pushing his chair out from under him and standing up.  He strode out of the room and towards the door, closing it behind him. 

It wasn’t like Mai to walk out on a class like that.  She had some unfortunate luck with her wand earlier that morning, but surely, everything their professors were teaching them was a learning process.  Nobody expected them to be Auror-material on the first day of class.  With that thought in mind, he proceeded to follow his friend down the near-empty corridor.

“Hey, Mai, wait up!” he called after her.  He had to struggle to keep up. 

“What’s the matter?”

For several steps, Mairead pretended she didn't hear Oliver as she made her retreat from the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.  She knew she'd only started trying - she knew they were only two days into it but she couldn't remember every living through two more challenging and exhausting days.  Even Ballinasloe never seemed to be so tiring - and those were long days.  And, as exhausting and humiliating as the start to school had been, when the stern looking professor had glared at them, declaring that they, apparently, were supposed to have read a whole chapter in their book, it had proven too much.

 But, when Mairead had reached the grand staircase, she figured she couldn't continue to pretend she couldn't hear Oliver.  Reluctantly, Mairead turned towards him and, trying very hard to appear nonchalant, she shrugged.  "I ... nothing," she said, hastily, and a bit too forcefully, shaking her head.  She didn't want to admit the doubts running through her head nor did she want to confess how difficult this was all proving to be - even to Oliver. 

"I'm just ... I ... I forgot me book," she lied, glad her bag was firmly closed.  "I just gotta run up and grab it.  But, ye shouldn't be late, ye know?  I'll be back when I grab it." 

With that, Mairead turned and scampered up the stairs with absolutely no intentions of returning.

Right off the bat, Oliver could tell that she was lying.  She wasn’t acting like herself - that much was certain.  Had the teacher done something to upset her?  Or one of the students, even?  He hadn’t the slightest idea, and he didn’t want to pry.

On the other hand, she was his friend.  He owed her the kindness and acceptance that she’d shown him the day they ran from the hot dog vendor in London.

When she turned and fled up the staircase, he was left with one of two options.  One; he could go with her and try to console her, but risk getting a detention for skipping out on the class.  Or, two, he could turn-tail and head back to the classroom.  

But at what cost?  He didn’t want the latter to come between them.  If she didn’t want to tell him why she wanted to leave, she didn’t have to.  He thought it necessary, though, to at least let her know that she could tell him if she so wished.

After his momentary double-take, he ascended the staircase as well.

 “You’re as bad as a liar as I am,” he joked light-heartedly, catching up with her on the landing.

“What’s the matter, Mai?  We can talk in the common room if you’d like.”

((EDIT: Continued in another thread.))

After two flights of stairs, it was quite apparent Oliver hadn't returned to class.  For better or worse, (mostly for worse), it wasn't going to be too long before Oliver discovered she had no intentions of returning to the common room to retrieve the book that was actually in her book - its first chapter quite thoroughly unread.  Nor did she really have any intentions of going to the common room. 

She was, simply, running away from the class so she wouldn't have to admit she hadn't read the chapter.  Or, God forbid, admit reading the chapter had been too much.  Her mind had, already, stubbornly been made.  She'd embarrassed herself enough in front of the class and had no intentions of doing so anymore that day. 

But, admitting that was her motivation wasn't exactly on her list of activities for the day.  Admitting weakness and insecurity wasn't easy.  She paused on the stairs and turned back towards Oliver.  With a shake of her head, she shrugged her shoulders and said, bluntly, "I don't want to talk about it."  With another shrug, she turned back and pushed on to the seventh floor.

((Note: Mai's exciting the thread so class can continue.  If you want to continue to follow with Oliver, we can start a new thread in the Room of Requirement.

Pax watched the back of the room distractedly for a moment as Oliver left the class. Mairead hadn't come straight back? Was something wrong? He swallowed guiltily; even though he hadn't done anything wrong, he still felt bad for Mairead. He hoped she wouldn't end up in trouble over this.

It was no good calling attention to his classmates' absences by staring after them, however. No, it would probably be best to divert attention from them by continuing the class discussion. Pax faced forward again and wracked his brains to think of a creature whose bite could be deadly but wasn't always... His dad had been stung by a billywig once in Australia, but at billywigs were never deadly, he wasn't sure that counted... So what... Oh!

Pax raised his hand. 'Um... a werewolf, maybe? I mean, when they're transformed... Um, sometimes when they attack someone--' Pax cringed at the thought-- 'the person doesn't always die, they can get... turned into a werewolf... But... But that's pretty rare, right?' he added hastily. 'I mean, I heard there's a potion you can take and all, if you're a werewolf...' He trailed off uncertainly. He didn't know more than the basics of how it all worked. He resisted the urge to look back to see if Mairead and Oliver had returned yet. Was it just him, or were they taking a while?

 "Correct Mr Wintergreen, take another 2 points for Hufflepuff.

 A werewolf bite, if one survives it, will indeed pass on the curse of lycanthropy. You are also right that it is rare now.  A human who bears the curse of the werewolf looses his mind during the time of his change. In my youth there was nothing that could be done with such unfortunates save restraining them during the full moon for their own good and that of others.

 In the late 1970s however  the great potion maker Damocles Belby invented the Wolfsbane Potion, which is made mostly of aconite. This potion was a great breakthrough in the treatment of lycanthropy. It is not a cure for the disease but it allows werewolves to retain their faculties during their change, thereby keeping them from being a danger to society. Nowadays the main threat posed by werewolves  comes from rogue werewolves, who elect not to register themselves with the Ministry for their own often nefarious ends.

 Can any of you name such a rogue?"

Eirene raised her hand immediately, before really thinking it over. She couldn’t let Hufflepuff get more points than Ravenclaw! It just wasn’t done! Though Pax was nice to her, there was  just no stopping her competitive side from rising up and taking over.

When the professor actually called on her, she lowered her hand slowly, trying to remember the rogue’s name. Eirene’s face looked blank for a moment, but then she thought of it.

“Oh! It’s Fenrick Greybeard, isn’t it? Wait, no. Fenrir...?” Eirene offered, getting frustrated that she couldn’t remember, exactly.

“Anyway,” she plowed on, trying to make up for it. “He was the one who was on V-, I mean, You-Know-Who’s side,” she said in a hushed tone, mimicking the way her parents spoke about Voldemort, the very few times they’d actually talk about him. “He turned innocent people into werewolves to build up their army,” she finished solemnly, hoping she got that part right, at least.

Eirene would have liked to throw a gloating look at Mairead, but for some unfathomable reason, the girl had raced out of the room before classes had even started! That was a surefire way to lose points for Gryffindor, she thought smugly.