Currently Present:

Gryffindor
- Gabriella Dagon :: 1
- Jordyn Dimbleby :: 1
- Joshua Harcroft :: 3
- Sophie Flickwick :: 1

Hufflepuff
- Figaro Sellaphix :: 2
- Kelyn Adda :: 1
- Mystique Ketteridge :: 1

Ravenclaw
- Megan Ruiz :: 1
- Peyton Wentworth :: 2 (-1)
- Sasha Schlagenweit :: 4 (-2)

Slytherin
- Ferguson Amherst :: 2(-2)
- Callum Knight :: 2 (-5)
- Xavier Tawse :: 1

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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.
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The lessons at the end of the autumn term had been filled with practising combination spells and curses, and experimenting with shields. The fifth years were a determined bunch, always trying to outdo each other. It pleased him somewhat, as it meant he had little work to do with pushing many of them (though he still did.)

Over the Christmas holidays, he had however piled on the work, as was the norm. Each of the students had been warned that there would be a test on their return, Storm having wanted to cover all the material adequately and push them in general before Christmas, allowing them to catch up on the theory over the break.

Although a stickler for correct and exact written work (even down to correct spelling) he disliked requesting students to do so within lesson times, unless they were note-taking. Subsequently, homework, while they were restricted not to perform magic outside of lessons, was heavy on it.

The sun was barely up, behind the thick grey cloud, and a fire burnt in the grate of the Defences classroom, and the candles lit the darker corners, scattering odd shaped shadows about them. The room still felt a little cold.

Ignan noted how many faces were a little rounder, a little more red from the Christmas period, indicating feasting and doting mothers. If anything, he felt a little thinner.

"To your feet." Storm barked, once he had marked attendance. The students didn't have a moment to react, as the desks began to slide apart to the walls, several of the slower students finding their chairs shooting across with them. Then, setting the students in alphabetical order by surname in a line down one side of the room, he looked them up and down, and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Seven shield spells, and combination curses revised over Christmas, or supposedly. From what I have collected of your submitted work on arriving back here is poor. How any of you expect to pass an OWL is beyond me." His shoes creaked slightly on the stone floor as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other.

In truth, the seven shield spells were a little beyond OWL standards, especially as the majority of adults who didn't hold some sort of auror related job still struggled with a basic protego spell. Their OWL would only test protego to any great extent, but he hadn't let on for this.

"Wands drawn." He hissed, casting aside his long black cloak, despite the cold, down to a well tailored black waistcoat and white long sleeved shirt.
"Shields only." He instructed curtly, raising his arm, turning lightly on his heel and casting at his first, randomly selected victim,
"Depulso libero!"

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Notes:

The seven shield spells, contego, aegis, servo, patrocinor, assero, munio and protego and their derivatives for instance protego totalum more commonly used to provide a static, shield about a place, each have their inherent weaknesses and drawbacks to casting.

If you wish to post that you are receiving a curse from Storm, and I have not yet responded to the person before, please choose any mix from below, or make up one on my behalf. Assistance here

depulso - to push
libero - to lift
contorqueo - to twist
extorqueo - to wrench (such as an arm)
adflicto affligo - to weaken
quasso - to shake violently
vulnero - to wound
macero - to soften (arms, wand)
everbero - to strike hard
battuo - to hit

Despite it being early, Mysti was prepared for the morning class of Defense Against the Dark Arts. She’d had a nice breakfast and got herself to the classroom early. Her interest in the class had grown since the first few weeks, and she’d found herself determined to impress Professor Storm.  He was one of the most difficult to gain approval from, and Mysti found herself seeking it.

Homework had been turned in, and Mysti going over what she’d read and done over break. Now Mysti was ready to do some wandwork. And as soon as Professor Storm entered, they were up and ready.  Desks and chairs were against the walls and they were lining up to start some work.  When Ignan had said the work was poor, Mysti was a little upset, as she had worked so hard on it.  She’d even convinced her parents to let her practice the shields, even though she’s underage. Her mom let Mysti borrow her wand, and no one in the ministry had known. But Mysti was pretty good with the shields now.

With the order for wands drawn, Mysti was ready. Her grip on her wand was slightly tense, but at the ready. When he turned and cast the spell at her, she was slightly surprised, but ready enough to throw up the shield.

“Protego durus!” She flicked her wand and said the spell she’d been perfecting. While she was still working on it, she’d gotten some good results while practicing with her brother and mom.  And now, she finally was testing it in class on her teacher.

Encouraging, Miss Ketteridge had clearly been practising wand movements and pronunciation over the Christmas holidays. Her return was assured in both those, but she seemed almost a little surprised at the results.

Giving a curt nod as the spell dissipated, Ignan flicked his wand and eyes to the next victim without delay.

"Battuo depulso!"

DADA was easily one of his least favorite classes, yet he was still required to go. He just wanted the semester to go by quickly, so he could finally be done with it. There was no chance that Kel was ever getting a career in an area that would need to rely so heavily on defense. Confrontation was not for him. He folded until pressure of that sort.

As was evident by his grades in class this term. The homework, he could do just fine. Kelyn had no problem writing and analyzing the material for class. Which was why that part of the coursework was usually fine. But it was the practical stuff, the actual magic part of it, where Kelyn was falling way behind. He still wondered sometimes why Professor Storm had not kicked him out of the class yet.

Tired and still wiping sleep from his eyes, Kelyn jumped up at the command. He knew enough not to be slow to his feet in this class. As the professor addressed the class, Kelyn groaned, realizing that they were having the test which had been promised. That was just bloody perfect. Kelyn's mind went into panic mode, trying frantically to remember an appropriate spell to use. He knew them all, it was just the pressure of the test, the knowledge that at any moment he could...

The boy thought too slow, and wasn't paying nearly enough attention to what was going on. Before he could focus his thoughts, Kelyn was abruptly pushed back by Storm's spell, landing harshly on the ground. "Ugh.." Heat flashed across his face and Kelyn knew he was blushing as he stood up. There was no need for an excuse, he knew that Professor Storm didn't want to listen to whatever was his attempt at a reason for his failure. Trying not to focus his classmates, who were probably laughing at him, Kelyn kept his eyes on Professor Storm, purposely avoiding the man's gaze but trying to pay attention enough to know if he was going to have another spell aimed at him.

Tittering broke out amongst the students as Adda flew off his feet with an incorrect shield.

"Silence!" He hissed at them. "Adda! On your feet! I will not tolerate such feeble attempt at defense!" The Professor barked across the classroom, causing several of the students to jump at its harsh tone. Without waiting to see if Adda had come to his feet, or was even conscious, Storm had twisted and fired towards the other end.

"Extorqueo libero!"

These fifth years would learn their lesson today, the moment Adda was back on his feet, he better be ready.

With Professor Storm teaching now, Megan found Defense Against the Dark Arts to be more challenging. It wasn't as if she was slacking off on her work, but she found that her wand work had to be exactly precise without any mistakes. But, she knew that she had to try as hard as she could to do well in the class. Even though her mind still wasn't made up on what she should do once she left Hogwarts, she knew that failing her classes wouldn't help that matter. She wanted to keep her possibilities as open as she could, which meant that she had to do well in her classes.

When the class was ordered to stand up, Megan immediately jumped to her feet, and watched as her desk slid to the side of the room. She noticed that Professor Storm seemed to have the class perform practical work a lot, as well. But, she had no problems with that, unless she suddenly forgot the spell. As she tried to remember the spells correctly in her head, her heart sank when Professor Storm said their homework was poor. Certainly that was not her standard while doing homework. Maybe the holiday and the Winter Festival got to her too much.

Megan sighed as the Defense practical began. Professor Storm was going to aim a curse at them, and they had to block it with a shield spell. She watched when Mysti successfully blocked her curse, and smiled to her. When a curse came to Kelyn, he was hit by it. While some of the students laughed at him, she simply frowned at their amusement. After all, everyone had their own troubles with different things.

Suddenly, Professor Storm sent a curse her way. Surprised, Megan flicked her wand, "Patrocinor levo!" hoping that the shield would hold.

An interesting choice of shield combination, Storm thought, as Megan's shield held up to his attack, reflecting some of the curse towards the empty space between them. Levo weakening his spell to prevent reflection - which could be hazardous for those around her. Perhaps some of these students had studied over the Christmas holidays.

Megan too received a curt nod, while out of the corner of his eye he looked if Adda was on his feet and half prepared. Twisting on his heel once more, he sent forth another curse.

"Battuo quasso!"

Josh had been watching as other students had been forced to defend, noticing Mystique and Megan had managed to block the curses, and Adda had failed to. seeing a curse heading his way, he immediately yelled out a shield he had read about during the christmas holidays when Adrienna wasn't there. " Contego Totalum" which Josh chose for a simple reason. It was actually a visible shield, since Contego meant to conceal, to cover, protect, defend. Contego Totalum produced a larger shield, which should protect half the class. Though only for one shot.

Standing between Megan and Figaro, Sasha's eyes fixed somewhere on the floor in front of him.  The young man shared little of the round, rosy cheeks of his classmates.  He was hoping what "tutoring" he'd received under Kronos' watch during his four weeks of suspension would help minimize whatever humiliation was to come from this exercise.  Maybe, just maybe, they'd help fill the gap of what Sasha had missed. 

Professor Storm was just one of a good number of professors who'd been hired after Sasha's suspension.  They'd all had six weeks of hearing other people's stories: Madam Snark's suspension, her letter in the Daily Prophet that painted him as a troublesome hooligan not to mention the article about him getting found with the second most wanted man in Wizarding Britain.  Whether they'd heard anything different, Sasha didn't know but if he had any hope of being allowed to sit his midterms than he had a lot of damage control to do.  And, it didn't probably didn't help that Sasha hadn't even thought of inquiring after homework over the holidays let alone even doing it.  For the first time in as long as Sasha could remember, he hadn't had his assignments to turn in.

Unfortunately, wandwork and the practical side of Defense Against the Dark Arts had never been his strong suit.  He'd always made up for it with detailed, stellar essays and memorization skills.  He was also having to learn the ins and outs of his second new wand in as many months - he didn't know whether his parents had destroyed his previous wand or simply hid it when Sasha returned home but Sasha had been in no position to go look for later.  And, the new wand had chosen him quickly and readily enough that, chances were, it had been destroyed.  Again, his only hope was that the lessons with Kronos would help there as well. 

Or, if he was really lucky, he would prove far enough down the alphabet that Professor Storm wouldn't reach him in time.  It was a shame he wasn't shorter - he wouldn't mind being able to hide behind his classmates.  It was unlikely he'd be lucky enough for the same tactic to work on Professor Storm as on the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal but, just in case, he kept his gaze carefully diverted to the floor, trying his hardest to avoid eye contact. 

(( OOC: To clarify, you may invent shields based on the quote in the first post - protego is canon, contego is good too. Patrocinor is the root for patronuses. Play with the latin dictionary - linked in first post - to find combinations if you want to try it out. I'm only going to look them up if I don't recognise them! However it would be good to see some more varied attempts - not in spell wording - but in reaction, slow, quick, too large a reaction etc - according to how your character is likely to perform.

Oh, and lastly, he may have lined you up in alphabetic order, but he's by no means firing curses one after the other down the line and is choosing victims by random - hence the fact anyone can jump in. Any problems let me know by PM - Kit. ))

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Harcroft defended for himself and others, how noble... but foolish if he was expecting to keep up a shield for any length of time, or against a barrage of attacks. With another curt nod, he switched directions again and fired off yet another curse.

"Libero contorqueo!"

Returning to school was not something Peyton was looking forward to. The rest of the holidays had been spent in a tense silence. Peyton felt as if he were ready to burst at any moment but didn't want to bring his mother and Helena into the fray. The incident with Xavier was between Peyton and his father and aside from some small one word responses Peyton hadn't been speaking to him ever since. Since coming back to the castle Peyton had been trying to avoid his brother. Thankfully despite the large amount of classes they had together (Muggle Studies was the only class of Peyton's that Xavier wasn't in) the shorter Slytherin seemed to be ignoring him. It was an odd feeling but Peyton almost preferred getting punched in the face over the awkward silent treatment Xavier was currently giving him, almost.

He was actually totally focused in class today, if only so that he wouldn't focus on the shorter Slytherin on the otherside of the room. Peyton watched as the students protected themselves from the hexes Professor Storm was throwing at them like rapidfire and couldn't help but wonder if any of this was actually allowed. Professor Storm had supposedly come from Durmstrang where they supposedly taught Dark Magic. Since coming to Hogwarts Peyton had assumed that someone was keeping tabs on him to make sure he wasn't, or making any of his students, perform Dark Magic.

However he was unable to contemplate this particular train of thought any further. Professor Storm had turned on him next and was now firing a hex in his direction. With his wand gripped tightly in his hand Peyton tired to dodge the spell much like he would a bludger in Quidditch. He raised his wand and flicked it shouting the first thing that came to mind, "Speculum!" A shining oval shaped object appeared in front of him causing the hex to bounce off of it's smooth surface and head straight back to Professor Storm. Unfortunately for the Professor and more important for Peyton, the first thing that came to mind had not been a shield charm. Instead Peyton had conjured up a magic mirror that sent the spell zooming back to the Professor.

The reflected curse dissipated on the Professor's shield, and he barked a retort:
"Shields only Wentworth - point from Ravenclaw for your inability to engage ears!"

It didn't take too much more time to work through the entire class, with varying degrees of success, and a few bruised backsides at least.

"Each of you will be aware if you need further practise. We have no time to linger on these shields with all the content that is required of your OWL course." He told the fifth years with irritation.

The current syllabus was filled with such twaddle, and historical fact, it could have doubled for history of magic.

"I suggest those of you who failed or lack confidence, meet here Friday after lunch to practise some more." When he saw a few frowns, he pre-empted their wondering by adding, "I don't trust any of you to test each other with strong curses - rather than your shield quality, you're more likely to lose an eye trying." He sighed.

"If you're too arrogant to attend, you will, as part of a detention to deflate your oversized egos."

The fifth years would be thoroughly irritated in return by him now as he rapidly noted down marks in his mark book across the room from them. He'd left it up to each of them to make the decision up on whether they attended extra practise outside of regular class time. Though hopefully the guilt trip would encourage their attendance.

"Although we have studied a wide range of shields, the highest grades will only be achieved by those who can discuss, and to some extent, demonstrate shields in at least one of the seven types. Protego is an excellent selection for everyone in this class - and covered well in your text books. Repeat and mimic the wand movements now."

As if the class had become some queer foreign languages lesson on verbs, the Professor drilled the fifth years through a set of Protego shield variations:

Protego - Self protection shield
Protego durus - hard shield (will force caster backwards)
Protego levo - weaken (will reflect a weakened form of the attack)
Protego discutio - dissipate (will reflect the attack a short distance in multiple directions)
Protego declino - deflect (will deflect, often little control on which direction, risk for bystanders)
Protego absorbeo - absorb (will absorb the curse, can cause burns other risks)
Protego totalum - group/wide (will protect several people, but takes considerable effort to maintain - inefficient)

After each set, he barked "Repeat!" patrolling up and down the line, correcting wand gestures and angles until the fifth years looked like they all wanted to murder him.

"Enough." He snapped eventually, and the wand arm of a line of students dropped. "Now, we shall play a game." Hoping it would fill them with dread.
"Form a circle. One will use a stunning spell* at another who will use any form of Protego to shield. If successful, they in turn stun another student. If unsuccessful, they lose a house point, and step out of the circle. Last three standing gain points." Pointing out a student he ordered the game to begin.

*stupefy

Josh watched as the rest of his compatriots tried agianst Professor Storm. He personally thought it was the professor thhta needed their ego deflating, but kept silent. Speaking up about that would be a very fast way to get a detention, or worse, expelled. Unfortunately, Josh was the first to get a stunner sent at him. He called out 'Protego Totalem", not thimnking, and the shield recieved too much power, and Josh coud see it had knocked at least a  couple of people off their feet. Oops. " Stupefy" he called out, sending the spell at a random member of the class.

OOC: I'm 99% sure I read in canon of at leats one powerful shield spell that blasted someone off their feet. That's where thta came from.

Sasha flinched as he saw the curse ricochet off Peyton's curse and hurl in the Professor's direction.  "Zum Teufel!" he muttered.  He'd anticipated the professor's response but, even so, couldn't resist the temptation to sigh. 

So far, this class wasn't doing much to give the new Professor reason to allow Sasha to sit the midterm he'd missed at the end of the previous term.  He'd had no problem with all the professors who'd known him prior to the suspension - most of them had had the midterms prepared before Sasha had even approached them.  Most were even willing to give Sasha an extra couple of weeks to catch up on the material he'd missed in the last few weeks of the term.  The new professors - the ones that only knew him through reputation - were more of a challenge. 

From what little Sasha knew of Professor Storm, he reminded Sasha a fair bit of his Grandfather.  Direct, to the point, little room for frivolity.  Apparently, that was a trait common between both muggle and wizarding Germans of his age.  Sasha knew pity wasn't going to gift him with a chance to make up his grade; he had to step up and win a few points to earn it.  If he was going to convince the man he was worth the opportunity, so far he wasn't going about that the right way.  He had to impress.  And, for once, he had the advantage of a wand that cooperated with him.  And he'd had Kronos' guidance in getting comfortable with that new wand and with dueling.  He could do this.

Not to mention Sasha didn't need extra lessons on top of all the other make up work which was still on top of his already full schedule.  Which, again, meant he had to prove he didn't need them.

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, trying to block out the classroom and it's inhabitants and picture his reflection in that mirror.  He repeated the incantations and let his arm follow the wand movements as he visualized them.  If he just focused on this and didn't let himself get distracted, he could do this.  He'd done it several times before at the castle.  Still trying to picture the mirror, he opened his eyes and turned towards Joshua and raised his wand.  "Protego durus!" he called with a swift, firm wand flick. Remarkably, he managed to avoid flinching when the spell struck the shield.

 Fergie wasn't late to classes. It just wasn't what he did, wasn't who he was. He was a good student, and he liked to stay in his professors' good graces. Particularly professors as stern as Ignan Storm. He wanted to make it to the end of the year and survive OWLs, after all. And yet here he was arriving late for his second defense lesson since arriving back at Hogwarts after winter break.

 It wasn't his fault, though. There were...extenuating circumstances.

 Of course, since these circumstances all included Callum Knight, Fergie couldn't exactly explain, truthfully, to the Professor why he was late. Not without suffering some unpleasant side effects later. So when the Slytherin finally cracked open the classroom door and hesitantly stepped inside, it was with the knowledge that he was about to get himself in trouble. Maybe he should have avoided class altogether. Maybe that would have been better. He could have feigned sick or something. Why hadn't he thought of that before? He heaved a mental sigh - Ferguson really didn't do his best thinking in the mornings.

 But, it was too late now. He was there and was going to have to accept the consequences. "I, um... I apologize for my tardiness, sir," he said, clearing his throat to attract the man's attention and blushing slightly. "It won't happen again. I...over slept. And," he added, chewing his lip and scowling briefly at the floor, since a quick glance around the room hadn't given him the opportunity to glare at the person the poor unfortunate floor boards were standing in for, "I can't find my wand. Sorry."

 This wasn't, despite what the professor might assume, due to any negligence on Fergie's part. He wasn't the sort who left his things lying around random places, especially not his wand. But it had been forcibly wrested from his grasp the night before and... well, he had spent the entire morning looking for it all over the dorms, not even having time to give his hair the attention it required, resulting in a slightly lesser degree of perfection than he was used to, and he'd skipped breakfast altogether. The oversleeping part, that was a lie. But not being able to find it was the unfortunate truth, albeit a bit incomplete. The sixteen year old heaved an inward sigh - this wasn't the first time Callum Knight had stolen his wand just to make life difficult, but it was certainly the most inconvenient.