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Join Date: May 2009 Location: London
Posts: 32,841
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Alexander River Hirsch
Gryffindor Third Year
Hogwarts RPG Name:
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Text Cut: Replies! Text Cut: Dora Quote:
Originally Posted by Eriin  Dark subjects didn't bother the Gryffindor so much. Nope. She was no stranger to them really. At least in having read about them anyway. She was not a PRACTITIONER, mind you. But whatever. Dora raised her hand slowly and took a look around at her classmates. She had HEARD of necromancy, sure. She wasn't an expert or anything, but she had an answer... and a question for him as well.
"Professor, Necromancy is a branch of magic that is used to contact the dead. It is most commonly thought of as like... reanimating a corpse. Like... bringing the dead back to life or something. But I think that it can be used to even speak to the dead... Maybe." That was probably the MOST the fifteen year old had ever said in a Defence class... maybe. Hah. But she quickly recalled that she wanted to ask him something on the subject matter! "Are inferi like... animated by Necromancy?" Because that was the first thing that came to mind for the Gryffindor really.
Bringing the dead back to life? That was.......... an interesting way of phrasing that meaning. Hirsch paused, rubbing the scruff on his chin as he took in this particular answer. "In a sense, yes," he said, nodding slowly at the Gryffindor, "Be careful on that phrasing: nothing can bring the dead back to life but 'reanimating a corpse' is an excellent, general way of describing necromancy. Well done."
As for the Inferi question, that was one that amused the man. Why? Reasons. "Yes, you're absolutely correct. Inferi are brought about by Necromancy and used to do a dark wizard's bidding. Almost like the Imperius Curse but much worse."
Text Cut: Bentley Quote:
Originally Posted by Davvy_Wavvy Oooh oooooh, so they were touching on the really dark stuff huh? Bentley didn't mind one bit but if he saw inferi bust in through the class door he was out. So so sooooo out and if he had to blast students and the walking dead out of his way, then so be it.
"Umm necromancy is trying to communicate with the dead, or attempting to raise the dead to do whatever creepy bidding you want them to. It's super weird. Pretty sure if you raise the actual corpse it probably stinks." The fourth year made a face.
" I suppose it's forbidden because it would be super gross having stinking corpse wandering around." He added.
This answer. This answer was one that got the man chuckling very quickly. He could have a corpse wandering around after him and the boy was worried about how much it stunk?! "I see where your priorities lie, Mr Moore." Oh, teenagers. "But that is an accurate definition. I'm very glad you mentioned communicating with the dead as well."
As for the last part, the man let an amused smile cross his face before saying, "It's forbidden because it's very similar to the Imperius Curse and it's generally used for evil deeds. It's been twisted for evil deeds. The dead are dead and they're not anyone's to control." Simple.
Text Cut: Nat Quote:
Originally Posted by Bazinga Her eyes widened when he got started. He wanted them to do something super dark. She was interested and kind of scared at the same time. What if it was to difficult and she screwed it up? She didn't want to look stupid in front of him now. Not after trying as hard as she had this term. So she would just sit and try to pay attention extra hard today.
His next words caught her off guard though. Necromancy? Wasn't that a form of Divination? Her hand rose as she was actually ready to answer. "Sir that has something to do with the dead. Some use the form in Divination to call on the dead to communicate. It is considered super dark because people use the dead to do their evil bidding." Something that no one should be doing, because honestly in her own opinion messing with someone that is in their eternal resting place is only messing with disaster.
Oh, a Divination answer! This pleased the man a lot. "I'm very glad you mentioned divination. Well done!" There were a lot of Divination links made with this topic at hand, even if it was one that people tended to ignore. Defence and Divination was a weird mix. "You're completely right. The intent makes it dark more than the subject itself."
Text Cut: Junia Quote:
Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow Junia frowned and her shoulders slumped. This topic was not her favorite, did professor knight in shining armor know? The dead were gone and never coming back. Never supposed to. Anyone who thought differently, well, they were naive. She'd learned that much. Dark, too, for the reasons being mentioned by her classmates.
Something Hassan said registered and her hand went up before she knew what she was doing. Guess she was going to participate after all.
"Doing something like that is dark because the dead are-well, hopefully they're finally at peace. Disturbing that-messing with them is wrong. It's cruel to them and their families." She dropped her hand again and chewed on her lip.
Hirsch might not have noticed the frown but there was no way that the tone and the chewing had gone unnoticed when he turned his attention to the young Slytherin. She was more than welcome to sit this lesson out, did she know? He wouldn't be offended, considering.
As it was, the man was glad she had come up with an answer and tried to give her a warm smile as she did so. "Precisely." A single nod was given. "You shouldn't mess with their peace. Well done, Miss Botros."
Text Cut: Kitty Quote:
Originally Posted by Goblinfrog "Good morning Professor," Kitty said cheerfully at the same time as everyone else, gazing curiously at the target range. Wonder what they were going to use that for?
Ugh! This lesson was already sounding wicked. Darker than usual...a little violent too... Again, ugh! Kitty wasn't very good with activities that involved physical danger, and violence always made her nervous. She would have much preferred learning about the dark arts from a book or practicing on a dummy or something. Professor Hirsch did graciously give her the opportunity to sit it out if she wanted, but she was a prefect and that might look embarrassing. She'd just to wait and see just HOW dark and violent it was.
She raised her hand. "Necromancy, sir, is one of the most evil of the dark arts possible. It is the twisting of the dead to make them into mindless zombies to serve the necromancer. Some people have described it as 'bringing back the dead' but that's incorrect, because they don't really come back with necromancy. Their body does, but it's rotten and their soul isn't in it - so they're just puppets for whoever summoned them. Voldemort was a necromancer."
There was no way they'd be practicing Necromancy here, so what was the violence that Hirsch referred to?
This was an answer that got him smiling the most. Not only had the girl mentioned the exact meaning of necromancy, she'd also given an imagery and an example to go along with it. Needless to say, Hirsch was very proud of his prefect right now.
"That's a better answer than I could have hoped for. Excellent, Miss Valentine! Really excellent." He was practically beaming right now. "Keep the thought of puppets in mind, it's very useful and will help you understand the topic the most."
Text Cut: Tim Quote:
Originally Posted by Star-Lord Tim knew an answer to this question. Her grandmother studied divination in her younger years so the blonde had read one of her books. Raising her hand, Tim answered the question. ”Necromancy is the practice of talking to the dead; whether contacting their spirit or bringing a person back to life,” Which Tim admitted would be pretty cool, yet freaky. ”People who study divination use it to see into the future, but it's dangerous and risky to perform,” Not to mention forbidden nowadays. But so were others things and she was sure some people out there still secretly performed them.
And here was an elaboration on the Divination answer, which only told him how knowledgeable some of them were about this topic. Maybe this was something he needed to mention to Laurel the next opportunity he got. Huh.
As for the Gryffindor's answer, the man nodded along before saying, "Exactly. It was primarily used to see into the future and twisted for darker means. It already sounds pretty dark but it's important to remember how...... innocent it used to be. To some extent." Good.
Text Cut: Azura Quote:
Originally Posted by FwooperOnYourLeft Necromancy..
Azura shivered a little bit at the name and she titled her head a little bit as she listened to other people's answers before her hand went into the air..
"The only thing I remember reading about Necromancy, is that Dumbledore himself said it was "A branch of magic that never worked."" She paused for a moment.. "Perhaps because even though you can bring back people and make them into inferi.. their souls and minds are gone.. So it works.. but it doesn't fully.. They aren't really there they are just puppets.. Like Kitty mentioned. " She said with a nod.
Oh, a direct quote? This wasn't something he was expecting but it was something he was glad had been brought up.
"Very good mention of a quote from Dumbledore himself. He was completely right: it's not a branch of magic that worked as people think they would because of the reasons you've mentioned. You can't bring back the dead with their souls and minds as they used to be so yes, it never worked, even if it's been tried. Well done, Azura."
Text Cut: Paige Quote:
Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie Necromancy.
The term alone elicited a small shiver from the Hufflepuff as she thought things over, particularly when Azura spoke and mentioned the words of the former Hogwarts Headmaster.
"It...it is my understanding that true necromancy is the raising of the dead both in soul and in body...which is not something magic has been able to accomplish...Dark or not...hence why Dumbledore said it was a branch of magic that never truly has been successful. The Resurrection Stone, for example, some could argue, is a form of necromancy as it gives a person the ability to communicate with the dead...and the Stone produces creates a person-like imprint that’s more solid and real than a ghost...but the person raised by the Stone is not truly raised..." As was told in the Tale of the Three Brothers. "...or if the definition of simply communicating with the dead considered necromancy...then we all are practitioners to a certain degree as we communicate with the House ghosts..."
So...really...perhaps not as Dark and sinister as one would first think? Depending on the proper definition that is...of which it seemed there were varied opinions among her classmates. Paige could really only pull from literature - mostly of the muggle variety - and was admittedly curious about the subject now. Would be useful for her series that was forever being written and never to the point of being good enough to present to a publisher. Maybe once she finished university it would be.
"And...we should be careful when using such terms as zombies," Paige added meekly. "They are an entirely different creature...living dead...which also includes vampires..."
Hirsch had thought that he couldn't possibly be happier with an answer until this one came along. The man tilted his head as she answered, a curious smile spreading across his face. "That is a very clever connection, Miss Skeeter. Very clever, indeed." And one he hadn't really thought about. "The Resurrection Stone could be seen as a form of necromancy and considering who it's from, according to the tale, I'm not surprised. It's probably one of the slightly more positive uses of necromancy but it's still one all the same." Huh.
"I think it's safe to say that you've made us stop and think about whether we're practising necromancy or not. Frankly, that's a scary thought." Really. "But it's an excellent thought. Very well done, Miss Skeeter. I'm impressed!"
Text Cut: Jace Quote:
Originally Posted by Stefan Jace simply nodded at the professor’s greeting. There was nothing to talk about really, obviously clueless that the unknown man his classmates saw a couple of weeks ago was actually his father. Ignorance is bliss, according to old folks.
Snapping his book shut, Jace narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember the text he remembered from before. The Ravenclaw timidly raised his hand, and answered the moment he was called. “Necromancy is one of the branches of Dark Magic, since it disturbs the peace of the dead. Necromancers raise and animate dead beings as their puppets, and commands it to do its bidding, usually to harm people and inflict hysteria to someone; especially if said dead person being animated is a loved one.” Who wouldn’t go crazy upon seeing a friend or relative walking and shaking up things amongst the living, right?
Jace slowly slouched on his mat, and kept his head down again and imagined his mum or dad being raised from the dead. That would be…really, really awful.
Another mention of puppets? Oh, how Hirsch was glad that this imagery was becoming known amongst the student body. "Keep that imagery in your head, it'll prove to be quite useful." Not just now, but for general understanding as well.
"Excellent mention of causing hysteria as well. People would use this as a manipulation tactic: a way to cause harm and pain, both physically and emotionally. Dark wizards tend to use emotions against people that they think are weak." Pause. "But you're right with this definition. Well done, Jace."
Text Cut: Char Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz YOOOO she was right? About shooting STUFF? HEYYYYY. That was good news. GOOD. Because it would be sad if Hirschy had just stuck targets and things up to taunt them and actually planned this to be a theory lesson.
"Like inferi, professor?" Char asked excitedly. WERE THEY GONNA BE SHOOTING BURNING ARROWS AT INFERI FOR SOME REASON? Who knew? Not her!
Oh yeah. Hand. Hand up.
"Necromancy can be combined with other forms of dark magic, like you could technically use a dead body and reanimate it as a golem instead of an inferi if you wanted to, depending on how much otto... aut.. ...autonomy you wanted it to have. Or umm... oh! You could use blood magic specifically to only raise the bodies of certain dead people, and also to contain any inferi or risen into a certain area by using the right mix of blood and runes and stuff in the ground!" Possibly, possibly her cheer and excitement was at odds with what it was Char had just said, but she knew some things okay? Selective listening to certain family members, you picked stuff up.
And, speaking of selective listening... she was selectively listening to the questions too. And selective answering. Cos she did. She did know of incidences of necromancy-related stuff. You heard things, with an extended fam like hers.
Another mention of Inferi? These students were practically seeing through his mysterious plans, weren't they? They still didn't know the exact message but the theme was there and, in fact, he was impressed.
"You are beyond your years, Miss Kettleburn." Unless she just happened to be interested in defence. "But that is an excellent way of combining necromancy with other types of dark magic, especially blood magic. Combining the dark practices would only help to strengthen the dark magic itself." Something they really didn't want.
"Really excellent thinking, Miss Kettleburn."
Inferi, communication and even a mention of a quote from a former Headmaster. It was safe to say that Hirsch was very proud of the answers being given, even if so much knowledge about the current topic was a slight cause for concern.
"I have to say, I'm very impressed with these answers. You all seem to know so much about the topic that it's almost pointless to go over it again." Not that he was complaining, mind you. "I hope you all have been paying close attention to your classmates's answers, particularly the ones with the imagery of a puppet, the links to other kinds of dark magic and the mention of the Resurrection Stone."
"Necromancy, as most of you have mentioned, is a form of communicating with the dead. While not being entirely innocent in the past, it was a form of magic that was primarily used for divination purposes. People thought that by communicating with the dead, they could see into the future and gain more knowledge about what is to come. In this sense, necromancy can come from shamanism, which is more linked with communicating with spirits than the dead itself."
Pause. "However, it's also a form of magic that took a dark turn because of the way it manipulates the dead. Always, always remember that the dead are at peace and they don't belong back in our world. Disturbing that peace is risky business. Necromancers use the dead for a number of twisted reasons, whether to build an army or because they think it's easier to use the dead than the living. With necromancy, please make sure to remember that the intention is what makes it so dark." Something to draw from their lesson on Golems, in fact.
"Now! I'm glad that a few of you have mentioned the Inferi because the creature we're talking about today is very similar to the Inferi themselves." Dramatic pause, anyone? "Today, I want to talk about a being called the Draugr. Does anyone know anything about it and what its purpose is? Or, if you don't know, take a guess at what they could do."He didn't really expect many people to know about this particular being so he would be very impressed if someone actually did know what they were. OOC: My apologies on the lateness <3 Just answer the questions above (one or two or all), whether your charrie knows or not. We don't mind completely crazy, out-of-this-world guesses ^^
Lesson will continue tomorrow evening, when I get back!
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