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 day


The third years had formed a gaggle around the trunk which sat in the middle of the classroom floor. Their desks had been pushed to the side before their arrival, and they had discarded their books and bags with them, before attending with their wands in hand, intrigued at the trunk.

All day the thing had been rattling, lurching about during the spellcasting. He'd been forced to pacify it during the 1st year lesson alas. An irritated, frustrated boggart made for some horrendous incarnations of worst fears, and he didn't fancy anyone wetting themselves after a long day of teaching.

"You have all practised magic for two and a half years now, and have seen a fair amount practised and discussed here to know that what is produced is somewhat related to what is happening up here." He tapped his temple with his left hand, glad of its return to normality, and the fact it had ceased itching since the splinching.

"Explain to me, in your own words and consideration, your understanding of this." He asked, posing the question to the floor. "Take a moment to consider, not the first thing in your head. Coherent responses accepted."

Seeing a hand raise, he nodded to the third year.

Amber had made her way to the Defense Against Dark Arts classroom and wasn’t sure she liked what she saw. A rattling trunk was in the middle of the room. She’d read ahead and had a feeling she knew what was inside it, and wrong or right, she wasn’t eager to find out for sure. She made sure she was sitting as far back as she could without being overly obvious about it. She didn’t mind letting someone else go first. She’d be more than happy to be invisible during this class.

As the teacher asked for opinions, Amber kept her hands firmly folded in her lap. She wasn’t going to volunteer. She wasn’t sure what to say, and she really didn’t want to sound stupid. She might have decided to try to break out of her shell, but showing insecurities was not the best way to do so in her mind.

Defense was one of his favorite classes - though it was not exactly his best, with his magic being a bit odd compared to the other student's. His trademark scowl lightened as he considered the trunk on the floor, his eyebrows disappearing into his wild hair. He knew what was in that trunk - they'd gotten a boggart under the sink years before, and it had caused a considerable amount of chaos (turning into a Grim, a giant leech, and finally his father's mother-in-law) before his mother finally caught it. This left him with a nervousness over what his own would be, and a rather malicious curiosity to see what the others' would be.

Elbowing Niko in the thigh, he hissed, "Boggart," he said, in case his friend didn't know. "Betcha a sickle Oliver's is Storm," he added, before the Professor in question started speaking.

"Explain to me, in your own words and consideration, your understanding of this." He asked, posing the question to the floor. "Take a moment to consider, not the first thing in your head. Coherent responses accepted."

When no one seemed in a hurry to answer, Bilius raised his hand - an odd ocurrance for him, in this class. "Sir," he said. "Most of the power of spellcasting comes from your mental focus and image of the spell, as well as your willpower. You must...imagine the spell in your mind as you cast - that's why just saying an incantation doesn't work, and how you can cast wordlessly if you've a strong enough will, as well as the skill...?" His voice trailed off into uncertainty.

"Clogg-Spleen." The Professor called, after he nodded to Billy, just about making out the young man's hand amongst his taller classmates.

"Sir, most of the power of spellcasting comes from your mental focus and image of the spell, as well as your willpower. You must...imagine the spell in your mind as you cast - that's why just saying an incantation doesn't work, and how you can cast wordlessly if you've a strong enough will, as well as the skill...?"

"Are you asking me that in question?" Professor Storm replied, "I asked for your understanding, a statement." He clarified. The nearer they got to examinations, the more he picked up on these issues. Not that the third years had their exams this year other than the more trivial ones to progress to the next year.

"Yes, spells do depend much on mind as well as incantation, correct, but can someone extend this understanding?" His eyes ran along the line of faces which glanced from trunk to their Professor, and at each other.

Erin had no clue what to expect when she skipped into defense this afternoon.  As soon as she got into the class though, she could tell something was off.  For once, she did not seem distracted by much of anything.  Not being the brightest bulb in the box, Erin had just assumed that she was running out of energy or something.  When Billy made a comment about how mind affected magic, she was slowly starting to put it together.   She figured that the Storm had either cast a spell or caught a creature that somehow manipulated her mind, but she did not know what exactly. 

Not exactly feeling the need to point out her ignorance, Erin did something she rarely ever did in class: remained still and listened.

"Sir, most of the power of spellcasting comes from your mental focus and image of the spell, as well as your willpower. You must...imagine the spell in your mind as you cast - that's why just saying an incantation doesn't work, and how you can cast wordlessly if you've a strong enough will, as well as the skill...?" Billy replied to Storm's question.

"Are you asking me that in question? I asked for your understanding, a statement." Their Defences Professor replied, and Ambrose felt a tinge of ha! in the back of his head for all the times Billy had sniggered at him.

"Yes, spells do depend much on mind as well as incantation, correct, but can someone extend this understanding?"

Nobody seemed willing to speak, so Ambrose thought, what the hell.

"Sir, some spells rely on you to think of certain things, like in transfiguration, you have to visualise what you're turning an object into to ensure it looks right, and some spells, you need to think positively for - know that they are going to work before and as you cast them." Ambrose suggested, making sure to keep his voice from wavering upwards in question at the end to avoid the same trap Billy had fallen into a moment before.

He shuffled his feet and peered at the trunk between two classmates. A couple of them had whispered boggart, and Ambrose was sure he'd heard some of the other students mention a boggart at lunch, but hadn't thought it would turn up here.

"Sir, some spells rely on you to think of certain things, like in transfiguration, you have to visualise what you're turning an object into to ensure it looks right, and some spells, you need to think positively for - know that they are going to work before and as you cast them."

"A considered extension, Pepper." Professor Storm confirmed ambiguously. "We are all acutely aware of how mind and incantation are a particular weakness to you." He poked fun at the third year who had caused many magical accidents in this classroom in cahoots with Winifred Oliver.

"A point a piece to Gryffindor and Slytherin. I do not doubt the work of the student body's ability to spread rumour and intrigue within minutes, so what is in the trunk, third years?" He gave the trunk a heavy kick from behind and its inhabitant rattled around ominously. Not long you bugger, Ignan thought as the boggart.

Several students answered at once, to confirm it was a boggart.

"Yes, a boggart. A shape-shifting creature that takes on the form of the viewer's worst fear. He's quite harmless within the trunk, in no real form, without a victim to feed from the mind of. Boggarts are particularly fond of inhabiting certain places that are dark, such as in wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, and the cupboards under sinks and desks. Muggles encounter them as the monsters beneath the beds or in cupboards - they enjoy manifesting in the presence of children. They have the most vivid imaginations."

The trunk lurched.

"Which means it will have great delight in meeting you third years." He shot a look at Freddie.

"The correct defensive incantation against a boggart is?"

Frowning again, Bilius crossed his long arms again. Admittedly he was glad he'd gotten points rather than lost them...At least this next thing he could answer confidently.

"Riddikulus, sir," he said. "But it's laughter in general that defeats a boggart, so even if you perform the spell properly, if the outcome isn't funny, it doesn't really work..." he trailed off, remembering how the boggart in their house had reacted to his mother's uproarious laughter at what form it had taken to scare his father. The boggart had been phased even before his father had used the charm...

"Is that why they rarely attack groups of people, sir? Because the laughter of even one person can weaken them?"

Winifred hated going to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Her foe glass wasn't working. According to it she had no enemies. She'd even sent it back to the manufacturer to get a new one- she had done this twice, actually. Three different foe glasses had all told her she did not have any enemies. So the Hufflepuff had been faced with the possibility that perhaps Ignan Storm was not her enemy at all. A hard bezoar to swallow, that was certain. But just because he wasn't really her enemy or trying to murder her did not mean that he was totally innocent either, now did it? Of course it didn't!

But the Hufflepuff wasn't sure she wanted to face a boggart. She wasn't very sure what she was most afraid of. Winifred was afraid of a lot of things. And depending on what the boggart decided to be, that could very embarrassing for her indeed.

Maybe she could fake being ill to get out of the assignment? That seemed like the best option at the moment. So, without further ado, Winifred fell to the floor with a very loud thud. She stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth and gave it a few seconds to get some attention before opening one eye to look at those in the room to see i they were buying and really thought she had fainted (again).

Baxter had been unusually quiet throughout class. The boggart had been distracting, and Baxter was not one who enjoyed focusing on his fears. He had no clue what that boggart would turn into when he was forced to face it, and he was not looking forward to seeing how that would turn out. He let the others answer the questions as he stayed at the back of the group, watching everyone else's reactions.

And knowing he would have to make it funny- that was even worse. Baxter's sense of humor was not exactly spot on or similar to that of his classmates. And he couldn't imagine a way to make any of his worst fears funny. There was nothing funny about the things you were afraid of. Not for logical fears, anyway. Baxter supposed if he were afraid of a dragon or something it would be easier to make it funny. But Baxter wasn't afraid of anything like that. His fears were more... mature than those of his classmates. The only thing Baxter could think of that he was really afraid of was losing his mom. And there was nothing funny about that. And he'd been afraid of that since he was little and his parents were fighting all the time.

Baxter raised his hand. "May we choose not to participate?" he asked- in very un-Baxter-like fashion.

Amber didn’t think she’d like this lesson, even if she generally enjoyed all of her classes. She just enjoyed learning. She didn’t think she’d enjoy learning what her biggest fear was though. She had no idea what it would be. She was only sure it would embarrass her. But then she perked up. Someone had asked if they could choose not to participate. She waited tensely for the answer. She hoped she wouldn’t have to, or at the very least, have a private session to face the boggart.

She wasn’t spoiled enough to think that just because she wanted privacy to face her fear that she should get it. She wasn’t the type to throw tantrums if she didn’t get her way. Oh, if it was something she really wanted, she might feel the need to sulk a bit. She just wouldn’t argue after getting a solid no. It went back to the whole insecurity with her family thing. For the longest time she was afraid that they’d send her back if she wasn’t perfect. She’d only made small steps when it came to toeing the line, but it was something. Walking out of class though, if she was forced to face the boggart, wasn’t a way she wanted to test the adopteds. And she knew that if she made a big deal out of it and ended up walking, they’d hear about it.

"Is that why they rarely attack groups of people, sir? Because the laughter of even one person can weaken them?"

"Isn't it also because there are too many people that it has to scare and they all are afraid of different things?" Nikolas  added on to Billy's answer. He stared at the trunk trying to figure out what would appear when he faced the boggart. He mentally ran though the list of small and sometime stupid fears that he knew he had, dismissing them all as to minor for the boggart.

Though if he was honest with himself he knew there was one fear above all others and there was nothing that could make that funny. Niko shuddered at the thought, but mentally reassured himself that he probably wouldn't have to worry. With what he knew about boggarts, he was pretty sure they couldn't manifest being trapped motionless but aware in his own body.

A loud thud distracted him from his thoughts. Glancing over he spotted Winnie 'passed out' on the floor. He blinked slowly and then turned back to Professor Storm with a deadpan expression on his face. "Oh, dear," his voice completely flat, "Winnie has fainted. Whatever should we do for her."

Bilius scowled as Winnie threw herself to the floor. Unlike his classmates, he wasn't able to ignore this; his almost irrational need to poke fun at the girl overwhelmed him and he poked her cheek with his wand, as one might poke a dead body.

"Thank god, the Stupid's finally offed her," he whispered to Niko, though his whispering could certainly have been heard. "Knew it was a matter of time before her brain overheated." He grinned. "Should we pose her before she stiffens, you think? Something obscene, or maybe spreadeagled so she doesn't fit in a coffin?"

Erin wondered what Oliver was up to.  While she was always one for skiving class, and had no deliberate intention to face her worst fear (and mentally wondered at the sanity of someone  who would actually want to), she had no idea what her boggart was.  But she knew that she would at least put on a better show than Oliver.  Hearing Spleen's comments, she decided to make the most of this incident.

"A sickle says Oliver's faking it," Erin spoke at a slightly loud whisper, hoping that someone would take the bet.  Besides, though it would be in character for Oliver to faint, she doubted that Storm would let her get away with that even if she really did faint.  It was a welcome break of levity from the more serious matters at hand.

Ivory was amazed by the trunk that was posed like an odd style of a statue. Of course she was curious as to what might be hidden inside. However something toward her if she did she would be reenacting the famous Greek tale of Pandora and her famous box. Shaking her thoughts from that trail they were going down, Ivory turned to look at the third year the Professor had pointed towards.

Boggart, oh great. That made the Razvan girl bleach whiter then what her porcelain skin already was. If they were facing Boggarts then that mean her fears would become real. And out there for everyone to see. Swallowing the lump in her throat, Ivory slowly started to back track toward the back of the room when suddenly she tripped over someone's bag, ended up falling on her butt in front of the whole classroom.

Cursing she looked down to see who the bag belonged to and discovered that it wasn't a bag but a person! To make things worse it was Oliver. 'Damn it Oliver' She thought as she looked at the 'body' and wanted to kick her, instead Ivory hopped back up on to her feet and straightened out her skirt. Gah the one day she had to wear a skirt she would have something embarrassing like that happen to her. She was grateful that Percy wasn't around to see that. Talk about a damn good way to make a boy no longer look at her. Sighing she shook her head and then kept her gaze down on her feet as she moved away from Oliver. Her bum stinging from the fall, but she wasn't going to rub it like she would have done if she was alone. Instead she waited for Professor Storm to ask the questions that had been asked already.