Poor William was scared out of wits. This dude really needed to chill! Some lights would be nice! Setting a hand on the first year's shoulder she gave him a reassuring squeeze, before raising her hand. "Could it be perhaps a wand and knowledge, sir?" she gave it a shot at least.

Lasca raised her hand. "Sir, perhaps intuition. Without it, knowledge is useless." This was something her father had always believed. That and always being on alert. She glanced beside her and gave Mariel and small smile.

The young Ravenclaw was intensely pleased that her friend had not gotten in trouble. Returning her attention back to the Professor, she wondered if her answer or if anyone else's had been what he was looking for.

"Very good. One point for everyone who attempted an answer. Many of you answered correctly, or somewhat so: quite simply, your focused, aware mind is the most important tool in defense against the dark arts. You must be completely aware of yourself and your surroundings at all times, with your senses fully engaged." He paused. "Ladies, you may be seated."

He glanced around the classroom and then pulled out his wand quickly and waved it. Instantly, the drapes flew shut and the candles were snuffed, throwing the room into total darkness. "Now then. I would like you to think about your surroundings. Who is seated behind you? In front of you? On either side? Do you know? Are you certain?" He paused to give them time to reflect in the cold darkness.

Quickly, Daphne took a seat. She didn't bother looking over at who was on her side. She knew perfectly well who it was and it roused a scowl from her. She would give her left toe to make Garret disappear at the moment. What a lousy unwanted boyfriend he was.

Daniel, in spite of the darkness of the room closed his eyes. He felt the cold room and sighed. Who were behind me? In front of me? Most importantly who is at my side? He started to put his senses, aside from the visual sense, in great heightened alert. He started to hear almost every breathe in the room. He thought he feels every movement made in that room.

He inhaled and exhaled and opened his eyes.

Erm... oh crap!

Well... Paris is to the side... Cameron is, somewhere over there, I think... so I should be safe from his new-fangled wand 'skills'...

There are... big people here? BLAH!!!!!

Jake remembered sitting by the side of the room, at the front, so... he just needed to know who was behind him. Eh... it was kinda unnerving to not know. Jake wasn't scared of the dark, per say, but more what he couldn't see.

Gulp.

Camira blinked a bit. Sit back down? Well, that was strange. Why had he made them stand just to sit back down? Maybe it was senility. She wasn’t about to question him and so she sat down quickly.

Her eyes widened in surprise as the room went completely dark. And if that wasn’t bad enough, his words were freaking her out. Not that she thought any of her classmates would do anything to her, they knew better, but it was still a bit disturbing. And she really had no idea who she was sitting next to.

She willed her eyes to focus in the dark, ears opened for any type of sound. Her classmates might not do anything to her, but he was a different story. She had no reason to trust him. And he did seem a bit cracked. She gripped her wand tightly and waited. She wasn’t really sure for what, but hopefully she would be ready.

Holy canaries!! No points docked!? And wait, did Kazikrakiloo just give him one point?! Sure it wasn't quite a lot, but it was enough to satiate Dominic for the time being. To at least help him to breath easier and sleep at night to know that the crazy ancient one didn't hate him. At least not too much.

But then he pulled out his wand and the fifth year sat up straighter - if that were even possible. Still, the ancient one with a wand scared him. Wasn't there like an age or wrinkle limit on who could use a wand? Probably not.

Oh. Total darkness. This was not good and even though Krazi had given him one point, Dominic still was weary over his trust. Biting his lip as he shivered ever so subtly, he tried to recall who was sitting in proximity to him. Only thing he knew for certain was that he didn't think anyone was behind him; at least he hoped not, since he had skillfully chosen a seat in the back row. Anything else though - that was indeed a mystery.

Cam was at least relieved to have gotten one point for attempting to answer the question, even if it wasn't right. Just when he was going to take out a quill for note-taking, darkness suddenly surrounded everyone. It was dark, he was super scared. The thought of flesh-eating ghosts and clowns and insects crawling on his legs and he didn't even know. Darkness. Darkness. His mind's worst enemy, he wondered if some creature would suddenly go on his head. The professor did have a point, but this was pushing the freakiness level.

"HEEEEHUUUHEEEEHUUUHEEE," he was heavily breathing and then stopped by putting his hands over his mouth again. Remember, you are in a happy place. A man in leotards is behind you, it's Professor Kazimeriz! Then he could have possibly screamed but luckily his hands were in the way so it turned out to be a "MMMMRMM" to other people.

Turning around, he heard people moving. Heeeehuuuheee... I think I see dead people.

Kayla knew that Celandine was right in front of her because she had made a point of sitting behind her. Tobi was seated next to Cela and William, she thought his name was seated beside Kayla on her right because she had given him her sweater but she had no idea was behind her and she knew that was a crucial mistake right there. As to who was on her other side she had no idea of that either. Crap! Nice one Winters, had you not learnt anything from your grandmother, she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Now that she was aware of someone sitting behind her and not knowing who it was made her uneasy.

Garret almost rolled his eyes, as he was all too aware of the fact that the person sitting beside him was Daphne Hopton. The girl he didn't want as a girlfriend but was forced to keep anyway.

His bright blue eyes swept over the classroom and he saw Cela, and Dominic, and Camira... some other people he recognized. He didn't want to look behind him for fear of finding a wrinkly old wizard staring right at him. He shuddered almost imperceptibly and shifted just a little closer to Daphne. She may be unwanted, but he would take her over KraziKazi anyday.

Lasca gave a nod when he gave out points to all those that answered. She listened intently as he explained the true answer. In a way most of them had been right. Then all of the sudden the room was plunged into darkness. Closing her eyes the young Ravenclaw focused on what the Professor had asked of them.

To be honest she wasn't sure who was behind her, but Mariel was beside her and on the other side was a wall. She thought for a second and remembered that the girl named Qaz was sitting behind her. The one that puts most of the announcements up on the board in the Common Room. She took a few more calming breaths and awaited Professor Kazimeriz's next move.

Crap! Where did the lights go! This dude was completely off his rocker! Was his lesson meant to freak everybody out? Good thing her little brother didn't come here yet. He would be so scared. Still holding onto William's shoulder, she hoped he would be alright with the transition. What a way to start a lesson.

Thinking over what Professor Kazimeriz said, she looked around her. Nope. Couldn't see a thing. Well she knew for a fact William was sitting beside her. Kazimeriz was standing about 10 feet away from her. She could've swore she had heard Anna and Cale somewhere to her left. A small hufflepuff first year was sitting close to her right. But she had no idea who was sitting behind her.

So...what was the question again? Were they supposed to be answering what was surrounding the aloud? Gwah! This sucked.

Twilight listened carefully. She didn't know the names but she knew the house for some of them. There was a Hufflepuff next to her and a Slytherin on the other side. She was in the back so no student was behind her. And a Ravenclaw in front of her. And then she listened into the room and smiled, her hearing was always good and better in the dark.

He moved stealthily as he gave them time to think, using the light from the hand of glory he had taken off his desk. He paused to cast a disillusionment charm on Addams, then made his way to the back of the class. He stood behind Dominic and restored the candlelight, lowering the hand of glory onto his shoulder as though patting a dear friend as he did. "Very good. Please look around and see how aware you were. Raise your hand if you knew all the students around you.And does anyone notice anything... amiss?"

"Well I believe you moved, sir." Sam retorted to his question. Wait. Was this a trick question? Was there something different? This was definitely a trick question. Dang! She was never good at observing her surroundings.

Jake looked around him and behind straight away. EEP! BIG SCARY RAVENCLAW!

Nope, hand stays down. DOWN I SAY. Jake bit his lip and resolved to forever look over his shoulder.

Shudder. That old man was creepy... and he was about to eat DonnyMick.

Before Dominic could realize it - he could hear the breathing of the ancient one walking around the room - and then the lights went back up to that familiar dim lighting that was able only via that of candlelight. But that wasn't what really got the fifth year all jumpy; it was the feeling of something weird and disembodied on his shoulder.

Twisted.

No one was behind him, right? Glancing to his left, he saw Willow and another 'claw whom he remembered played quidditch last term (and possibly this term as well). And to his right - a wall. And in front of him, Kayla Winters. He did technically know them all, even if he didn't know they were near him.

And behind him? Fully expecting to see no one, except a weird something on his shoulder that had fallen from the ceiling as asbestos would, the Hufflepuff's golden eyes nearly popped out of his head at the sight of KraziKaz standing there. Patting his shoulder like a -- a -- friend with a dead looking hand. Actually, it matched the rest of his body and if Dom hadn't known better, then he might have actually thought it WAS his hand!

"Cana-" the fifth year started, before regaining his wits about him. "Professor, sir, were you always behind me?" And anything 'amiss'?! What was this man playing at anyway!?

Lasca opened her eyes to find the lights restored. She heard the Professors voice from behind her and quickly checked. The only thing she hadn't paid attention to was who was in front of her. Grimacing at her mistake she glanced around to see if anyone had guessed their surroundings correctly.

Seymour shivered involuntarily as a cold, wet feeling spread over his head, down onto his shoulders, and to the bottom of his feet. He glanced around, looking for the source-- had someone just poured a bucket of ice water all over him? Or was this what it felt like when a dementor was nearby? Well, he certainly wasn't feeling as much dread and unhappiness that was often described...

He looked down at himself and his eyes grew wide-- well... where was he? Surely he was physically there? Had he just been killed, and he was hovering as a ghost? Or a soul? Was this what it was like to be DEAD? Oh, Merlin!

Kayla raised her hand. "Well sir I was correct that Celandine and Tobi were in front of me and William here was to my right. I honestly didn't know that Denton was behind me and that is scary in itself" she looked around the room for a moment. "And I do believe that the little slytherin boy I think his name is Seymour seems to have departed.."

Cam was still in his insane state, scared as always as he was quickly thinking of the horror that was going to happen to him. It was just too much, he couldn't blink. Blinking meant more darkness which meant it would be scarier. Once the professor asked the question, he did not raise his hand. It would have been impossible for him because of his small, small brain and his bad memory. And did KraziKazi say something amiss? He looked around, not really noticing any difference. Except for one thing, he was sure he'd seen another Slytherin boy in the classroom. He was just sure of it.

He opened his mouth to make a small gasp.

THE SLYTHERIN BOY WAS KIDNAPPED BY CLOWNS! NUUU. HIDE ME. Yes it was the clowns' evil plans. Maybe the professor was a clown since he obviously had something to do with it. He quickly put his feet off the ground and then looked everywhere.

Clowns, the most random thing he'd ever thought of, but it all seemed to fit in. Why else would the professsor like... be all mysterious and such. Turning to Kayla--AHA! So she knew it too. Slytherin boy abducted by clowns. I could see it in the Daily Prophet right now! He would be next, YES, he was a Slytherin too.