Eirian, now situated amongst her friends, simply listened, her quill dancing about the page as she decorated where her notes were to be. There wasn't much to do yet, so she'd let others answer for her. She'd wait for the more interesting questions... Yes. That was it.

Selena scribbled everything that they were saying into her notebook. She thought about it. Forms of the dark arts...? "Necromancy, sir?" she offered as she raised her hand. That was dark right? They were, after all, raising the dead. For some reason, she didn't want to get a wrong answer in this class... he seemed like a strict professor. Eep.

Brittany didnt now anything about DADA having grown up in the muggle world so she just sat and listened intently soaking up any information she could

raising his hand "Poisons "

Treyen raised his hand, "Not 'Dark Arts, but I'm familiar with a couple Dark Creatures" he nodded, yes, he'd read Gilderoy's books, you see. ;)

Eben looked around as various people answered the question of the Professor's. He knew of the Unforgivable Curses as some of the students had suggested, including that of Esme Lennox. Grr. All other spells had to deal with the taking care of magical creatures. And none of that had been of Dark Magic.

And so he stayed silent, waiting just to take notes of other spells that his peers would suggest.

Cosette sat by herself, giving herself all the more reason to think everything out easier. She didn't need any young children stifling up her creative thinking. After listening to the other students and thinking on her own accord, she raised a slender hand up in the air, ready to stake her own thoughts on the question.

"The Dark Arts is a vast range of things," she began, clearing her throat. "Besides dark creatures, there are dark objects. Magic itself can only be dark if the witch or wizard casting the spell, wields it with malicious content. That is how it becomes dark." That is what was so different between good and evil. They were the same spells, it was just who was casting it and what they were willing to do with the spell. Smiling, she put her hand down.

Dark arts she was already familiar with. What have they talked about in passed lessons? Actually, just the word ‘talk’ made her remember the lesson in which Lawson had taught; the one where the professor didn’t seem to have his wand on him so all they did was…talk. Meh. Nevermind, she didn’t want to answer that. "What about artifacts, professor? Such as things like…books, or rings. While not necessarily dark items in general, they could be used for the dark arts."

Poisons, dark creatures, and everything else in between.... strangely reminded her of professor Lafay. Would she get marked off if she said the Professor's name? Hmm, yea, probably. Not that she hated the professor or anything, but...yeaaaa. Maybe she'll ask Destiny if this class reminded her of anybody. Hehe.

Enya smiled and winked at Michael then sat, waiting for class to begin. She was excited about her first class. She raised her hand. "Dark creatures and Horcruxes sir."

Jacob raised his hand excitedly. "Ooh... OOOH!" he said streching his arm "I Know!" he finally put his hand down... and a blank look crossed his face. "...I forgot." hmmm... well thats a bad start to the year ahead. Great he looked like a complete idiot. "like... dark stuff?" great that made him look dumber... Where was Lainey when he needed her!

Marie sat there staring at listening to Sir Hottie as he started the class. Thinking back to the things she had learned in previous years she raised her hand. "Sir, dark creatures is something we learned about. We learned that dark creatures are the physical embodiment of evil and dark magic. They do not hurt or kill their victims for food or to reproduce, they do it because they are mean and nasty creatures that are contolled by dark magic. Dark creatures are controlled by dark wizards and their magic." Wow, that was a mouthful. Hopefully she got that right and didn't just make herself look like a fool in front of this man.

When Sophia stepped into the classroom, her impression was one of revulsion. The floor was a mess and it smelled like old socks. So unclean and untidy. There were cobwebs all over this castle! Oh well. At least her bed and things were neat...

When instructed to do so my the professor/headmaster, Sophia got her parchment and quill from her well-organized bag and placed them, just so, in front of her. Then, she got out her pink wire-framed glasses, cleaned the lenses the way Daddy taught her (with a handkerchief specifically for that purpose and given to her from her father's own personal stash of eyewear-wiping handkerchiefs), and finally placed them on the tip of her nose so she could see the professor over the top of them, and the parchment in front of her through the lenses.

She had to admit to being worried when she entered the untidy classroom, but the professor's posture alleviated most of those fears. Here was a proper wizard with proper poise and he would be a great teacher.... Not that she didn't think untidy and crazy Aunt Lainey hadn't made a great teacher... It's just the proper appearance tended to put your mind at rest.

Sophia raised her hand at that question. She was familiar with lots. Sort of. "My mum and aunt were an aurors and they fight against the dark arts."

Raiden paused before raising his hand, eyes flicking around to those around him that were answering.

"Spells are the most thought of, sir, at least I'd think. Everyone knows about the Unforgivables, and there's curses that are almost as bad but somehow still legal." He shrugged. "And like others have mentioned, we've dealt into Dark Creatures as well. Not heavily, but... well kappas, and boggarts and stuff like that. Some of us had a shot at dementors too, a few terms ago."

They'd also dealt with their insane potions professor who, while not a Dark Witch by any extent, certainly qualified for misuse of magic in detrimental ways and magical creatures. Insanity definitely should have qualified people for checks into their activities. Definitely.

Brant raised his hand "Sir, I've seen a few dark arts." he said while remembering last term. While lowering his head.

"I know mostly of Dark Creatures." Eben added in, remembering certain trips where his parents wouldn't let him observe what they were doing while they worked.

That's he was most interested in and why he wanted to go into that field later on in life.

Riley sat quietly in the back of the class thinking hard about what this Professor would classify as being 'dark' magic. Did he mean strickly the Unforgivables or would all of the bad spells count. "Professor would you say any spells used intentially to harm someone severely could be considered dark magic, not just the Unforgivables. But ones that could leave unhealable scars and such?" Riley said looking around innocently.

That had nothing to do with him....no way. He absent mindedly scratched the top of his led through his dark grey jeans.

Lyra walked in a few minutes before the professor started the lesson. She stopped at the door for only a second, long enough to take in where everyone was sitting, and the odd chalk on the floor. Lyra saw a small girl about her own age sitting alone and decided that was where she should sit. Lyra walked across the room looking as if she didn't care if she stepped on and smudged the chalk - she didn't smudge it, that was disrespectful, but she didn't make it look like she was minding the chalk. She took note of the professor at the front of the room, but said nothing to him. He had enough greetings from the rest of the class, and a little bit more than greetings from two rather lovestruck looking girls at the front.

Lyra sat down next to the girl reading and took out her parchment and quill and listened to all the answers the other students were providing. She had quite a few more things in mind to add to the conversation, but Lyra had decided she would keep quiet and as reserved from class discussions as possible. At least until she had gotten used to speaking to people without insulting them.

Pam nodded to the girl who sat next to her. She put down her book, and took out her pen and quill. She loved her fancy purple feather quill. Anyways she started writing down what others said in little bullets.

From here on out, latecomers are LATE.
 

"Yes, that's certainly a big one," Tate agreed.

"And those are a good example of the curses," Tate nodded. "I'm sure we'll hear the other two, because the Unforgivables are the most obvious and first thought of, when we consider Dark spells."

"Ah, good point. If we're developing a general definition of Dark magics, then that's an excellent place to start. With bad intentions."

"That's an excellent one, actually. Dark Creatures are an important area in the Dark Arts. I notice that you're dismissive of kappas and grindylows, but they're dangerous to the uninformed," Tate nodded.

Oh, the Bott. "And the Cruciatus is another one of the Curses," Tate gave another nod and tried to avoid looking at the girl. Sparkly. "I wouldn't pin too much on Professor Duskurk. He had... his own motives."

"Hmm. That one is trickier. The Department of Mysteries would tell you that bringing someone back to life is impossible, or that it was classified. Unless you mean the spells to make Inferi?"

"Yes," Tate agreed quietly. "The Cruciatus is... impossible to describe, but extremely painful is a start."

"Is a poison in and of itself Dark? Or are we circling back around to intentions?" Anyone was free to answer that question.

"Now, Mr. Lockhart, I would argue that Dark Creatures certainly DO involve the Dark Arts. They're one and the same," Tate responded.

"So your definition of the Dark Arts would be... anything intended maliciously? If I use Wingardium Leviosa to drop a book on your head, am I a Dark Wizard?"

"Thank you for expanding our working definition. If I understand what you're saying... Dark Arts are magics that do harm? Or is it deeper than that?"

"Excellent point. Dark Wizards can imbue an item with Dark magic, creating an artifact. An enormous area of study that I have always found very interesting."

"And what is a horcrux, Miss Finnigan?"

Dark stuff? Yup. Sure. Tate gestured at the boy. "I'll come back to you."

"That is an excellent and concise definition of a Dark creature. Thank you very much," Tate smiled at the girl. He hoped everyone made a point of writing all that down.

He eyed the little Slytherin. "Yes, Aurors are specifically tasked with hunting Dark Wizards. You'll bring a unique perspective to the class."

"It IS strange, isn't it? There's a broad spectrum of Dark spells, yet only a few of them are considered completely illegal. Just a bit less dangerous, and the spell isn't illegal. What makes an Unforgiveable so BAD?"

"That's an interesting question, and it's one I'll let your classmates answer. Is someone a Dark Wizard if they merely create a Dark Creature or develop a new Dark Spell? Can you even do either of those things without being a Dark Wizard?"

Pam raised her hand. "Wouldn't you be a dark wizard or witch if you had dark intentions and a dark heart? Like you wanted to kill someone so badly it overcame you?"