Expected Students:

Adelia Delacroix  O :: Hufflepuff :: 2 + 5
Atticus Pennyapple O :: Slytherin
Ava Grosvenor E :: Slytherin
Bethan Ellis O :: Gryffindor
Cam Jacobs E :: Ravenclaw
Chance Ryker ? :: Gryffindor :: 3 + 5
Dajda Dennis E :: Hufflepuff
Emily Carter E :: Gryffindor
Ethan Krosse E :: Slytherin
Eveline Chancelier A? :: Hufflepuff :: 1 +5
Fauna Blake A :: Hufflepuff :: 6 + 5
Gavin Snark    O :: Slytherin
Grace Eddy E :: Gryffindor :: 3 + 5
Leon Monroe E :: Ravenclaw
Maeve Whitman E :: Slytherin
Trent Travis A :: Slytherin
Waker Nolan A :: Ravenclaw
Zoey McAdams O :: Slytherin

NB: Please write as if your character is already in the lesson by the time Ignan begins. If your character has a plot reason for being late, then by all means write their arrival as an interruption, with the house point loss accompaniment... Thanks.

Once the Fifth Years had finally left, Ignan left the classroom and closed the door behind him. Rather than be disturbed by an early student, he set up a ward at either end of the corridor, where students would suddenly believe they'd forgotten something and rush away, only to forget what they had suddenly thought they had forgotten, a few moments later...

With a long stream of incantations, and concentration in the empty corridor, Ignan set to work.

Rubbing his temples ten minutes later, he examined the row of six doors with a proud, unobserved smile. The door to the classroom had been duplicated, forming a row of six, each that lead to the same place, and each protected by the same set of wards. Removing the confusing wards at either end of the corridor, he stole away innocently, waiting for the seventh years to realise they hadn't forgotten anything, but were about to find that getting to class was rather more difficult than usual.

A steady stream of older students filed past him stood back between two sets of armor further down the corridor. Too busy chattering about the previous lesson (which he had gleaned was Care of Magical Creatures) or idle gossip. The noise beside the classroom door, or rather the six classroom doors was growing, so he stepped out from his convenient hiding place and made his way down the corridor towards them.

"I trust no one recalls chapter forteen...?" Ignan asked the group, his voice steady and an eyebrow raised. Having not yet even introduced himself to the group, he had to rely on the fact the generalised introductions and mentions of his arrival would allow them to put two and two together. There was a glance between each of the students, until one cleared their throat.
"Yes Professor, static wards on objects and dwellings, Sir."

"Well then, why are you not all inside, present at your desks?" He asked, folding his arms and fixing the group with a critical look. The uncomfortable looks that were returned indicated a crisis of confidence in several.

"Six, identical doors, protected in the same way, and you need to get inside. How you divide your efforts is up to you, but for the first group to succeed in lifting the wards - not blowing the door off its hinges, will be rewarded, according to their efforts and skill." There was a pause, the one where nobody wants to choose a group, and where the more clever ones were considering how to steal more glory by attempting it alone...

"Honestly, the first time in your lives a Professor is actively encouraging you to break into a classroom, and you all get cold feet. So much for the bravado of Hogwarts students!" Before they blushed any harder amongst their frowns, he drew himself to full height and looked disapprovingly. "Don't stand there staring at me for Solomon's sake, put that bookish reliance to good use!"

When Fauna wandered down the hallway of the first floor for the second time that day (the first time she thought she'd forgotten her backpack, only to realize she was carrying it), she spotted a cluster of seventh years by the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. As she got closer she saw the reason for all the noise and gossip. There were six doors! Six that looked identical, so it was impossible to place where the Defense room could be among them.

Fauna felt dread bubble in her gut. This had to be a test of some sort, and she didn't feel prepared at all. She bit her lip and looked up when an older, stern man appeared, talking about Chapter Fourteen. She racked her brain, coming up blank. Fauna had been keeping up with the reading, but she often had a hard time remembering what she read, which was one of the reasons she stuck to more practical classes and had dropped History of Magic as soon as possible.

A student piped up with an answer - wards, and the professor explained their objective. Shite, Fauna thought, face flushing. She missed Professor Mainwaring, and rather resented this new professor with his apparently new way of doing things. Not only was Professor Mainwaring someone she'd respected, but her Head of House, too. She was angry at Snark for replacing him and worried that the professor had been sent away because of his encouragement of SAWS.

Looking absolutely flummoxed, she finally moved from her spot when he ordered all of them to stop looking at him and get to work.

Fauna grabbed her nearest friend in the crowd and led her over to one of the doors, thinking it best to claim a door and let others come to them. She didn't wish to relive any Quidditch memories of standing around and being the last one picked for a team.

"Do you remember the chapter at all?" she asked in a low voice, shifting her backpack on her shoulders nervously.

Eveline had started back to Hufflepuff twice before she realized someone was messing with her head. She immediately guessed that it wasn’t just her being messed with; it was everyone. From that revelation she moved on to scowling at the most likely people to be doing the messing...the Slytherins. Not that Gryffindors wouldn’t mess with you, of course, but this wasn’t their style. Too subtle...

"Six, identical doors, protected in the same way, and you need to get inside. How you divide your efforts is up to you, but the first group to succeed in lifting the wards - not blowing the door off its hinges, will be rewarded, according to their efforts and skill."

Eveline looked at the teacher, surprised. Not that he would appear out of nowhere; after all this was a school of magic. Nor that the doors were warded...she’d already guessed as much. Not even that a teacher would mess with students’s heads...that was far from unknown at Hogwarts. What she was wondering was where the former DADA professor had gone. Was this old grumpus a stand-in?

"Honestly, the first time in your lives a Professor is actively encouraging you to break into a classroom, and you all get cold feet. So much for the bravado of Hogwarts students!"

The teacher...whoever he was...gave everyone the sort of look the Headmistress usually  reserved for Schlagenweit. "Don't stand there staring at me for Solomon's sake, put that bookish reliance to good use!"

Eveline glanced around warily. She didn’t have any friends in this class really. In fact she didn’t have any friends anywhere, except for her brother Razzy. She had been brought up to believe that her sole purpose in life was to marry well; and that once she did, she would automatically have the right sort of friends. People of her own class...

However...lately Eveline had come to suspect that while such beliefs might work for a Slytherin, they were unrealistic for a lowly Hufflepuff. Here she was a Seventh Year, and far from being almost engaged, she’d never even had a boyfriend.

So...who could she approach to team up with? Her NEWT’s were tolerable, but she had no O’s in anything...mostly just A’s. She did have an E in DADA though...

Her eyes lit on Fauna Blake, a fellow Hufflepuff. True, Fauna struggled with DADA. But she had many friends; and among them was Adelia Delacroix, also a Hufflepuff and one of the best students in this class.

Eveline looked hopefully at Fauna. “Could I team up with you?”

Three girls and a few boys in the hallway hardly seemed fair, Addie thought as she attempted to enter the room. Her eyes looked over to the professor and found herself shift uncomfortably, not to mention where it caused her to trip on her feet, slamming into a wall. "Shut it," she snapped at the boys who were snickering as she headed off towards Eveline and Fauna. A door? Er, six? Seriously? She looked back at the instructions and began to think back about what she had recently read. This class had been a benefit and a bloody curse too. Had this been the feeling for those who had gone through professor and professor in Harry Potter's days? Most likely.

... “Could I team up with you?” ... "Do you remember the chapter at all?"

Addie scratched her hair, thinking back to the chapter, closing her eyes in the process. It had been over stationary items – and here was the issue at hand:  how to get them open without breaking it open, much less without getting confused. She had already had that issue plague her on the way to the classroom. Opening her eyes once again, she looked to her teammates. “Good question, Faun. I know there’s got to be a way around those spells he put on them. Alohomora isn’t going to be the simpleton answer,” Addie commented, scratching her chin as if there was a beard there. “I hope I can figure it before those dolts over there do,” she added in a hushed whisper, referring to the boys who had laughed at her moments before. She, along with Fauna, were the offspring of Malcolm Blake – he had good brains, so they’d be able to figure it out before long. Or so Addie hoped.

Chance Ryker was by no means known for being the studious type.  In fact, he was considered quite the slacker, perhaps even a class clown at times.  However, when it came to DADA-Chance became quite serious.  He believed in the validity of this subject matter and that at Hogwart's there was nothing more important to learn.  There was still a great deal of darkness and evil in the world and Chance's protective nature would not bear to have him fail saving a friend due to lack of study in such a vital course. 

Storm: "Don't stand there staring at me for Solomon's sake, put that bookish reliance to good use!"

Chance was the first male to silence himself as he entered the classroom, taking his seat toward the middle of the classroom, beside his best friend Kimberly "Kim Kim" Chan.  The duo listened as Professor Storm barked out his instructions.  Chance's brow immediately began to furrow as he went to racking his brain to solve the problem.  The more time taken when dealing with a serious situation, the more likely it was to lose the "battle."  Even though Chance's previous performance was ranked as "Outstanding", he still questioned his own competence in a classroom setting.  Kim Kim could see Chance's mind was already working out a possible solution, and she canted her head on an angle, as her high, silky, raven black ponytails swayed.

Kim Kim: "Uhhh...Chance?  How's the hamster doing on that wheel in there?"

Chance stood and made his way to the first door.  He had to try what he had in mind.  Hopefully this would cease the ward already in effect...at least on that particular door.

Chance: "Finite!"

Fauna looked up in surprise when Eveline asked her if she could join them. After a pause, she nodded and smiled at her, a little taken aback by her friendliness considering that they'd never quite gotten along.  Still, this was a group project, and though Fauna was a little wary about Eveline she definitely wouldn't tell her no.

Adelia commented that Alohomora wouldn't work this time around, and Fauna winced, knowing she was right. She glanced over at Chance, watched him cast Finite, and suddenly got an idea. It would be easier to dispel whatever wards the professor had set if they knew what the wards were, she thought.

Her eyes lit up and she looked at the Hufflepuffs, "Ah, well, first we could try... let me see..."

Fauna paused, concentrating, and raised her wand, "Prior Incantato!" She said quietly, trying to keep her voice down in case other groups were listening.

Out from the tip of her wand came a silvery mist, forming into the ghost of the spell that had been cast on the door earlier. Fauna let it hover there for a few moments so they could get a good look, then cast Deletrius to dispel it.

Fauna turned to the group, hoping one of them might recognize the ward that was used. "What do you guys think?"

Grace had trailed behind some of her fellow classmates, the usually overzealous seventh year dragging her feet when it came to heading off to their DADA lesson for the day. It was uncharacteristic behavior for her but one rooted in her ongoing love-hate relationship with the course ever since she had decided on becoming a healer and realizing how essential it was for the profession.

In the beginning of the year, Grace had approached the challenge of raising her grade it with vigor. But it wasn't long before she started to feel like she would never rise beyond the plateau upon which she currently stood--mediocrity. At least in her eyes.

Maybe it was her intense desire to succeed that prevented her advancement. Sometimes wanting something so much was the primary barrier.

As the group approached the classroom, Grace was too engrossed in indulging her personal woes to realize that there was a problem to solve.

Chapter fourteen. Grace tilted her head to the side and tried to recall the general outline of all her meticulous notes on their required text. She squinted her eyes, as if to hone in further on what her written words said but it was translating into nothing but jibberish. Y-eeahhh.....Nope. Drawing a blank, she heard dismissively in her head.

The worst part was that Grace suddenly felt the eyes of several students from the class looking in her direction, as if to wonder why she wasn't speaking up. Quite irritably at that moment, she realized that her tenure at Hogwarts had managed to earn her the title of Grace Eddy, one of the Know-it-alls of the Seventh Years.

Grace glared at one of her accusatory classmates and tersely demanded, "What?"

Luckily, another student spoke up and Grace could return to her goal of being invisible for the time being.

She listened to their new professor introduce their assignment for the class and despite her indifference towards the course, it was hard to quell her curiosity completely.

In other classes, when charged with a group project or task, Grace could be counted on to eagerly lead the charge. Or if not outright leading, being an enthusiastic follower.

But here, she felt it best to let others do the honors. If she suddenly got a jolt of confidence, she might  change her mind about her role.

She naturally gravitated to a group of her female classmates that was forming--Fauna, Adelia, Eveline. The friendly Hufflepuffs were just the sort of collaboration she needed. She watched their efforts for a moment before approaching them and quietly asking, "What can I do to help? Should I open our text for reference? Or, I can conjure pom poms and cheer you guys on," she quipped. "Every team needs that, right?"

((OOC: Sorry its taken me longer than usual to get back to it. I'll try and give you some suggestions?))

It was curious to see how the seventh years reacted to the task. Their brains were clearly fuddled by hours of book work, and when presented with a practical challenge was quite a tough one for them. Then again, he hadn't made it easy just to see what they would do.

Whereas the males of the class were trying more brute force attempts to breach the doors, which had resulted in a couple of singed doors (and eyebrows), the girls were attempting a much more quiet and thoughtful approach. Neither would get them anywhere too quickly, but for a first attempt, it showed there were some brains behind the eyes, even if this was a more unusual problem solving application.

"Consider the strategies of your classmates." He instructed the group, referring to the boys with the scorched door. "Too forceful, and lucky the wards were not to trigger anything more drastic," then he referred to the girls, looking to the boys, "Too cautious?" He raised an eyebrow.

"If you cannot successfully diagnose, pick your possible options, and work through them observing the results. It does take time to successfully identify ward reactions, but the chapter in your books will assist... if you happen to have your copy with you of course."

He turned on his heel and retrieved his own copy from an alcove in the corridor's stone wall.

"Investigate and observe reaction patterns of the wards by using the following four diagnostic spells: ostendo, fateor, promptu, aperio these causing the ward to appear either with colour, shape or pattern. Then, you may be able to identify the possible combinations from the basic outlines below those spells." He replaced the book.

"Carry on."

examples - feel free to make up your own: >>here<<
fulcio - crimson red & solid reaction - strengthen
augeo - bright orange & solid reaction - strengthen
signum - deep indigo & shimmer reaction seal
munio - silver & flash reaction static defense
securus - gold colour arcing out from spell point secure (locking that cannot be undone by alohomora)

The wards will be used in combination of two, and then there may be another beneath. Amotio can be used to remove when used in combination for instance amotio fulcio. Anyway, I'm treading on your creativity. There is no right answer, we make it up.

When Grace joined them, Fauna grinned, happy to see her. Not only was she smart, but easy to work with and happy to help out, too. If anyone would be able to skim through the text in the chapter and be able to pick out the important bits, Grace would.

Unfortunately, the group's method of figuring out which wards had been cast on the door was moving a bit too slowly, so Fauna stopped what she was doing for a moment and listened to the professor's advice.

The spell Fauna had cast earlier had conjured a ghost image of gold and indigo, but it was all a general blur and didn't pinpoint where the wards had been cast on the door. So she decided to try the four diagnostic spells he'd suggested. It took her a few tries, but finally, she saw a gold mist shining through the keyhole and the indigo border shimmering around the door.

"Grace!" She grabbed her friend's arm. "What does the book say? Isn't that purple-y border some kind of seal?"

Fauna couldn't remember the name, but once they found it, they could begin dispelling the wards.

D.A.D.A. was one of the few classes where Chance showed a nigh unconquerable resolve in.  It was here that he threw himself headfirst at the problems in front of him and continued trying his hand and testing his knowledge.  So...if he couldn't directly deactivate the previous spell, then Chance would follow the Professor's advice and seek out the ward itself, to decide how to deal with it.

"Fateor!"

Chance tilted his head, analyzing the door's reaction.  His eyes narrowed and he lifted a forearm as bright, solid orange shone through.

"Amotio...augeo!"

Kim Kim nodded, impressed as the strengthening ward was broken. 

"There might be more on the door-rhyming totally not on purpose!  Annnd...ostendo?"

"Promptu!"

"Why do you always have to shout like you're angry at the spell?  Aperio?"

"And...why do you always have to ask the spell permission to cast it?"

The golden hue appeared at the points of securing of the door.  The two best friends continued to test the wards and sought to break them.

"Amotio...securus!"

– since we’re encouraging?
signum infringe | “weaken seal” – grayish green hue, shimmers

Addie had full well heard her stepsister’s suggestion and immediately grabbed her book from the satchel. Indigo seals, indigo seals. . . Her eyes lit up the second she found it, grinning madly as if she were the Cheshire Cat suddenly. “Here it is – sorry if you were going to look it up, Grace,” she whispered, pointing at what she had found. “The seal, which I think we four saw it as indigo states that it’s a form of signum, which means it has been sealed. That’s the easy part, naturally – now, if it is a seal, would a weakening spell knock it down a few pegs?” she offered as a suggestion, looking back over to the ward. Perhaps this would work, then again, it could be a fool’s response to offer. Then again, maybe not.

She grabbed her wand and aimed it at the ward. “signum infringe!” she canted, which immediately seemed to have a reaction that shimmered greenish gray. She blinked as if she had discovered something unbelievable, of which in a manner, she may have. Addie looked back towards the group of girls and smirked. “I think . . . we may have figured something out, that is, if you all saw that too. It may have weakened something, but of course, it wasn’t a lot since . . . it wasn’t entirely all green. Do you all have anything else you can think of?”

Perhaps they’d best this test just yet.

With the direction from Professor Storm, Grace felt a little more at ease in the class that she had struggled with (by her standards) for the better part of her Hogwart's career. In true Gryffindor fashion, though, she rallied, pursing her lips determinedly and flipped her book open. She was ready to aid her team in solving this little mystery. No. Matter. What.

Grace found the page from which Storm quoted and her eyes narrowed in deep concentration. When Fauna posed the question to her about the diagnosis, she trailed her finger along the options and murmured, "Indigo....gold....that would indicate a secure seal...." She looked up just as Addie spoke, clearly on the same page both literally and figuratively. Grace nodded with a smile when the Hufflepuff apologized. "Great minds think alike." She listened intently to the other girl speak and nodded at her suggestion about using a weakening spell, wryly stating, "It will probably do a heck of a lot more good than using alohomora."

After Addie tried her hand at weakening the seal, Grace searched a little more for other ways that might help and urged, "Try....amotio...securus..." Grace's voice trailed off and she was fully aware that if she had only used her wand and said the combination together, it would have been done already. But she was hesitant to do it herself, for fear that it might be unsuccessful.

They were making progress! Fauna looked at Grace as she suggested a spell, then turned towards the door, raised her wand, and took a moment to concentrate.

"Amotio securus," she said, quietly but confidently, and watched as the lock on the door shimmered, and the last of that enchantment faded away.

"I think we did it," she said excitedly. "Oh wait... alright, so if 'signum infringe' weakened the seal, and 'amotio securus' removed one of the seals... 'amotio signum' should remove the indigo border," Fauna nodded, then glanced at the group.

"Grace? Do you want to...?" Fauna trailed off, hoping to give her friend a fair chance to practice with the wards. Since Fauna herself felt much more comfortable working in a group of friends than she did alone, it didn't occur to her that Grace might not want to try.

Grace was pleased that they were succeeding in spite of her insecurities with the subject. As they worked and as she watched her classmates do as she had suggested, Grace felt the excitement. The rush as she waited to see if it would work.

Oh please work! She felt her fingers curl around her quill a little tighter and she started to worry that she was going to break it. Go, Fauna! Go, Adelia!

When Fauna's spell worked, Grace dropped her pen and pumped her fist. "Yay! It worked!" But then she was taken aback by Fauna's suggestion that she try her hand at removing the other border on the door. Grace's first instinct was to refuse. And it was on her tongue to do so. But Fauna's suggestion was genuinely non-threatening (but also with a hint of support), perhaps as only Fauna could be.

Grace nodded and eeked out, "Okay. Sure."  She pulled out her wand and pointed it to the target. Her hand tightened around the shaft and she said somewhat timidly, "Amotio signum." When nothing seemed to happen with that attempt, Grace bit her lower lip. She knew what she had done wrong even before nothing happened. She hadn't been forceful or convincing enough.

Furrowed her brow, she tried again. This time, her determined Gryffindor demeanor showed through.  "Amotio signum!"

With a sigh of relief, Grace watched as the indigo border slowly seemed to fade away.

The Professor made his way up and down the line of doors, listening and watching the way the seventh years co-operated and worked together. Some were a little unsure, others adopted team leader positions instinctively. He was getting a feel for their personalities a little already, always good.

"Will any of the groups be stepping inside today?" He asked, stood behind the group of girls who were pouring over their books and suggesting alternative spells to each other. They were each very close to succeeding.

"When you unpick the wards on these doors, you'll be far more aware of how easily, or obvious the wards are on doors you protect. As this is Defence Against the Dark Arts, and not House Burglary for Beginners, the examinations will focus on the casting of wards, rather than the removal. This process will allow you to make more informed decisions on your combinations, as well as remove them when you require."

He continued to pace, watching as doors shone different colours.
"Of course in the examination you will perform these spells alone, so I should see all wands out and spells cast from each of you…" He warned.

Once at least one of the groups were through, they would be able to move on to the opposite, and locked dormitories would be all the rage for a week at least.