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While your everyday classroom would be set up with desks, chairs and maybe even an indication as to what the lesson was going to be about, this classroom was different. The chairs were gone, the desks had vanished and the only ‘new’ thing about this class were the two boxes sitting by Professor Hirsch’s desk. One box, sealed, was sitting on the floor by the desk and the other, open and empty, was sitting on the man's desk itself.
With the desks and chairs gone, the Defence Professor has placed comfortable mats and cushions around the room. Each cushion has a small name tag on it and every inch of the floor is covered with the same mats that can be found in the Defence Training Room, if anyone has had a peek in there. If you look up at the board, you'll find out exactly what it is you're meant to do with your name tags...
Quote:
Take a name tag and write down your name, house and year before sticking it on your chest.
... And no fake names, please. He'd know. He would.
Speaking of, Professor Hirsch himself can be found leaning against his desk, his arms crossed across his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles.
So come in, grab a cushion, and wait for the lesson to begin.
OOC: Please make sure you're familiar with Hirsch's rules as well as the SS site rules before posting. Class will continue in about 21 hours time (Saturday 16th at roughly 3-4pm GMT). Hope you have fun! ^^
OOC: Class has already started but you may still jump in if you want to! Please don't post your charrie arriving, simply pretend as though they were there the entire time.
Oooh it was a trick question. What would she do in that kind of situation. Her first thought was to kick her attacker in the shins. But then she stopped to think about it properly. Her attacker was bigger than she was which wasn't hard because everyone was bigger than her.
"I would play dead, Sir." Trixie said, with her hand in the air.
As brave as she would like to be, she wasn't totally stupid. She knew that she wouldn't win against someone who was bigger than her no matter what was on hand.
Hogwarts RPG Name: Gabriella Rose Rustokova (#CCOOCC)
Ravenclaw
Third Year
x12
Otter This World ♡ Catpurrccino ♡ Slotherin ♡ Pandamonium
From her spot on her cushion Hady noticed several things. 1. This lesson had a nice turn out of students. 2. The small smile she had gotten from the new Professor which she easily returned even if she wasn't at all thrilled with having yet another new professor teaching her things. And 3. The presence of Maggie taking a cushion beside her. "Hey," she greeted quietly with a small nod of her head.
Attention back to the front she listened in complete silence to what was being said. All she had gotten from this was Dueling Club was still on! A smirk crossed her face and she could already feel her thoughts slipping away to new tactics she would have to test out and charms to practice. This wasn't the time for that though and the girl found herself quickly reining in her thoughts and attempting to get her mind to focus on what had just been asked.
How would she defend herself against an attack without her wand. This was NOT as simple a question as it might appear to be. Loads of factors would have to come into play if this happened. Where was she? Was it just her and an attacker or more people around? Was her attacker magical as well? Hady slowly raised her hand giving her answer, "Sir I can honestly say like a few others around me that the situation at hand would really play a large factor in how I would respond. If there's others around I might feel the need to try to protect them as well as myself by any means necessary. Like if my attacker if muggle I would probably fight back differently then if they were magical. Though wandless magic is good if you're capable of that and so is changing into an animagi form if you can as well. If you can't do those things though then using anything around could prove useful, be it a rock or stick. Biting, kicking or punching can help as well." See professor guy it really depends on the where and who. "Chances are though no matter what I say now won't be how I react in that situation. So just going by instinct would be my best chance." Do whatever comes to you in the moment.
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Days of Potter 2023:___________________________ Which Bertie Botts Flavour Are You? You are Bread!
˝ of Lauralie | Koala | The being in Ern's pocket | Baby Smurf | Prouf member of The Flock
So as soon as the professor man began the lesson, he asked them what they would do if they were without their wands and in danger. Firstly, he hadn't been parted from his wand since he got it, but if he was disarmed, he supposed it made sense. Also, was he really asking them how they would react if they were muggles? Having thought he was a muggle most of his life, he had a relatively good idea of how to react if something happened.
Yup. Raising hand. "If the person in question is bigger or tougher, they'd also likely be heavier. Which means that they would have a greater inertia. In which case I could probably use either my speed or their centre of gravity against them." Yup. That was the scientific viewpoint. Playing dead didn't normally work on humans. "If the attacker already had a hold on me, I'd drop to the ground which would cause them to -y'know- fall over. But otherwise the SING thing works too." Brilliant idea, that one. He'd just write it down for future reference.
As for wandless magic, Brian probably wasn't going to try just yet. He was having enough issues with regular magic with wands, something that would require more concentration seemed unattainable at the moment.
A path is not simply for walking, its purpose lies in moving forward and improving oneself.
“Congrats dude” Yoongi grinned at Carl. That had meant at least one of his predictions on which House a first year would be in. He didn’t say anything more even though he wanted to because the class begun and his interest was turned to the mention of the Dueling Club. So it would be running again this year? He was definitely going to sign up again, he learned so much in that club. So he made a mental note to sign up after class.
His eyes moved towards Norah and he blushed slightly as she waved back. Thankfully, the lesson was about to start so he could hide his face and stared at the Professor instead.
He frowned a little at the first question. Then , he raised his hand in the air. “I wouldn’t know Sir” he answered truthfully as he lowered his hand again. “I’ve never been in a situation like that before” Well, once but his attackers had been Acromantulas so there was no point in talking to them so he ran like hell. “I’d say I would use the element of surprise by letting them believe I’m vulnerable and then strike back but maybe i'll end up begging not to attack me” mweh, yeah probably. “Or run like hell” …he was definitely not a fighter. "I don't know..."
∞ 17 | RP entrepreneur | defies gravity | Miss George is flawless | blanket burrito lyfe
Professor Hirsch. New competition in the tale of Rooney's love life. Raising a hand, Rooney asked the question that he always wanted to ask if someone introduced themselves with a first name. "Can we call you Roderik?" Or Roddy? Rikky? Roo just wanted to know what sort of connection level there was between this new teacher and his pupils. How far he would be willing to go to maintain a relationship with them without overstepping any boundaries.
As soon as his hand landed back in his lap, Roo was subject to a large sigh and rolled his eyes. Dueling. The worst time of his life, and it was going to be running once more.. He made a note of that in his notebook and put a line of question marks beside it. It was going to take a lot to convince him to go back into that, and he was actually pretty sure that he would need to speak to Professor Roderik to organise his thoughts regarding the situation. Part of the Ravenclaw wanted to do it, to prove to himself that he wasn't incapable of the ultimate combination of magic. The other part of him didn't want to be shown up by someone like Blaise Bellaire once more. Because that had been a joke. Up went his hand once more. "Professor, may I speak to you about that after class?"
P l e a s e ?
Moving ON, like Professor Roderik (or maybe even Roderik) said, Rooney considered every option he had to answer this answer, pausing his thoughts only to listen to those coming from his peers. Good ideas, they had. Good, but nothing solid...until... AHA! Perfect.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mell
Oooh it was a trick question. What would she do in that kind of situation. Her first thought was to kick her attacker in the shins. But then she stopped to think about it properly. Her attacker was bigger than she was which wasn't hard because everyone was bigger than her.
"I would play dead, Sir." Trixie said, with her hand in the air.
As brave as she would like to be, she wasn't totally stupid. She knew that she wouldn't win against someone who was bigger than her no matter what was on hand.
THIS. This was his answer!
But...there were ways he would adapt it. He wouldn't just play dead. He probably wouldn't have gotten himself into the situation in the first place, but if the things arose... he'd just play dead obviously. Or use his talent to it's optimum. "I'd pretend to be law enforcement and then get away when I saw the chance. OR.. Or I'd do what she said. Pretending to be dead. I'm good at that. I can even hold my breath for over two minutes." Two minutes was the minimum. He could do it for longer, but no one wanted to BRAG.
Unless it was to Blaise Bellaire. Who really had made a fool of himself by believing that whole...buzzing noise.
Ilia was mostly focused on Henric, until she heard a little voice beside them. Aww it was baby Bella! There were only a handful of lions that she liked, but the first year she had befriended on the train was one of them. "Of course you can sit with us." She gave the younger girl a gentle smile and patted the mat beside herself.
The dueling club would be occurring again this year, she was determined to get permission. Her mother wasn't going to stand in her way this time, she had her father.
The whole idea that she would be somewhere bereft of her wand was rather unlikely, but she would play along. In danger and without a wand versus a human......"There is as some suggest, wandless magic. Certain shield charms could be useful depending upon whether or not your opponent is magical or muggle. If one lacks the ability to use wandless magic, the first order of business I would think, would be to survey your surroundings. The mind is both the greatest defense and weapon. Constant vigilance."
It was hard to say what she would use how, without being able to see the surroundings and attacker. It was too vague for her liking. Too many variables to answer definitively. Each opponent tended to need handled differently.
Zombie Apocalypse Team Leader ★ ★ in a crown of pepperoni and artisan cheese
Defense, defense, defense, DEFEEEENSE!!!!
Obviously, this was going to be Olivia's favorite class...and NOT because Professor Hirsch looked like Prince Erik ripped right from the pages of her "The Little Mermaid" storybook; even though, yea, he totally did. In faaaact, Liv might've swooned over him further if she were the sort of girl that did that type of thing...BUT SHE WAS STARING A BUNCH...and also might've doodled a small heart by his name in her notebook. He was just so aesthetically pleasing to the eye! The epitome of a Disney prince. That obviously stamped him as a preference.
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...BUT NO, NO, NOOOO!!! She'd get to learn about casting awesome spells with her wand...and DUELING. He'd even just mentioned a D U E L I N G -C L U B...Oh, Liv was ALL OVER THAT ONE. YAS!!! It was going to be so fun. SHE WAS PRACTICALLY BOUNCING IN HER SEAT from her overwhelming excitement.......So much so, that she nearly completely missed the rest of what the man had said.
Oops.
"I'd run and climb up in a tree, and then toss things at their head." She was VERY GOOD at climbing trees, you see. She'd even staged a running away before, but hadn't really left home. Nah, she'd just been in the trees outside her house. Took her mother AGES to find her, too. So, that told Liv something. Her mum was dead clever...the ickle blonde was loathed to admit. "...and then when they're all tired out from trying to climb up and catch me, I'd come down and kick them right in their bits...and then I would choreograph my flawless escape."...which would include loads of running, tripping over branches, more running...
Her eyes were GLEAMING.
.
.
"You look like a prince, Professor." Liv wasn't subtle, so...of course she mentioned this aloud.
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We live in cities you'll never see onscreen..._______________________________________________
So very pretty, and we sure know how to run things..._______________________________ Livin' in ruins of a palace, within our dreams...____________
We're on each other's team._____
Napoleon of Crime - Gryffinclaw - ❄ Lunar Library Lurker ❄ - Owl Emissary - Pirate Auror
The professor seemed nice as he returned her greeting, the man smiling to her and most of the class. Olivia took that as a good sign...for now. Soon enough class was being started and the first year was paying plenty of attention to what was being said. First...Dueling Club...maybe she would try it. It hadn't been said that it was only for the older students. What she had seen of the training room had interested her already so she made a note to keep a look out for those sign-ups.
And then their was a situation being described to them. What would they do if they were attacked...without a wand? What would SHE do? The absence of her wand probably wouldn't mean much since her spell knowledge was limited anyway. Olivia listened to some of her classmates speak up, noticing that Esme had an auror father as well. What a coincidence. As for her own plans, she finally decided to raise her hand to answer. "Definitely use my size and possible speed to my advantage, avoiding attacks until there's potential for a workable attack, I've worn out my attacker...or an escape is possible if absolutely necessary."
Oh, will you look at the time? It was time to get this lesson started! So, with a flick of his wand, Roderik made the door shut itself with a small SNAP! Anyone who was late was going to miss out. Their loss, frankly.
Standing up properly, he smiled around at the class before launching with his speech, "Hello one, hello all, and welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'm Professor Roderik Hirsch and, as most of you should know by now," Unless you were living under a rock. "I'm going to be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Before I launch into the main gist of the lesson, I'd like to mention one thing first." At this, Hirsch paused, mainly for dramatic effect. His eyes landed on Ava and he gave her a smile - was she listening? - before continuing, "I've been approached by a few students about, as I understand, a Dueling Club that was running last year. After some consideration and planning, I'm pleased to announce that the club will continue this year as well. All those interested in the club, look out for a sign up sheet after this lesson is over."
Was that an exciting enough introduction to the lesson?
"Moving ON, I want to ask all of you something." Another dramatic pause and another smirk. "Picture this: you're stuck somewhere, anywhere, and you don't have your wand on you. You're in danger and you need to find your way out of it by using your body, your mind and your surroundings." Interesting thought, wasn't it?
"In fact, imagine that you're about to be attacked........ by another human, say. They could be bigger, tougher, whatever you imagine them to be. I want to know............ what would you do to try and defend yourself against this person? How would you put your body, mind and surroundings to use?"
Be careful how you answer this, kids.
Ailsa had been quiet during the class so far but a question demanded an answer. She'd liked Katherine's answer quite a lot; it made good sense and the answer really did depend on the exact situation.
"Professor?" she started, "How can we answer without knowing more about the situation? We can't tell you how we'd use our surroundings without knowing what those surroundings are. We can't tell you how we'd use our body or mind against someone unless we know more about that person." The girl paused thoughtfully. "If you want a very general answer, I'd say that most places have some dust or dirt or something that I could throw into my attacker's eyes to disorient them a bit and then, if the setting allowed it, I'd run. I'm fairly fast and I'm small, so I could probably find some place that I could get into but my attacker couldn't. From there I could just out wait them."
Kat was still bouncing. Funny thing was she hadn't had a drop of sugar in any form today. All she knew was she was truly excited about the lesson. And she had made a new friend in the class. Oh she smiled. "I like your name." The class was already good so far. She shrugged, "Some thing interesting I hope!" And it looked like they would be finding out soon.
CLASS WAS STARTING.
The bouncing had turned flailing major flailing. DUELING CLUB. Philip had told her all about being in dueling club. Yes. Kat was signing up for this as soon as she could.
The tiny blonde gasped. Attacker. What would she do? First and realistically she would scream for her daddy..... Or Phillip even. She couldn't admit that here though. The cool older kids, thought she was cool. She wasn't messing that up. So she was going to go for the next option, Her little hand shot up. "I would throw whatever was close at the attacker person." Yes. Throw things. Because you know throw it hard enough and they might see birdies.
Oh, a student. One last student. "You're just in the nick of time, Miss Miklos," he said, giving her a nod of his head. And she did know that they could sit down, right?
Oh, will you look at the time? It was time to get this lesson started! So, with a flick of his wand, Roderik made the door shut itself with a small SNAP! Anyone who was late was going to miss out. Their loss, frankly.
Standing up properly, he smiled around at the class before launching with his speech, "Hello one, hello all, and welcome to Defence Against the Dark Arts. I'm Professor Roderik Hirsch and, as most of you should know by now," Unless you were living under a rock. "I'm going to be your new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor."
"Before I launch into the main gist of the lesson, I'd like to mention one thing first." At this, Hirsch paused, mainly for dramatic effect. His eyes landed on Ava and he gave her a smile - was she listening? - before continuing, "I've been approached by a few students about, as I understand, a Dueling Club that was running last year. After some consideration and planning, I'm pleased to announce that the club will continue this year as well. All those interested in the club, look out for a sign up sheet after this lesson is over."
Was that an exciting enough introduction to the lesson?
"Moving ON, I want to ask all of you something." Another dramatic pause and another smirk. "Picture this: you're stuck somewhere, anywhere, and you don't have your wand on you. You're in danger and you need to find your way out of it by using your body, your mind and your surroundings." Interesting thought, wasn't it?
"In fact, imagine that you're about to be attacked........ by another human, say. They could be bigger, tougher, whatever you imagine them to be. I want to know............ what would you do to try and defend yourself against this person? How would you put your body, mind and surroundings to use?"
Be careful how you answer this, kids.
_________________
OOC: Firstly, ohmygosh the turnout for this class ;____; The main reason this took a long time to post was because I was too busy fangirling over all of you ugh. Thanks for turning up you guys <3
Secondly, a signup sheet WILL be up for the Dueling Club later on today, as well as rules and more info about it all. Be on the lookout for that!
Be as creative as you like with your answers. And I won't be posting until sometime tomorrow. Thanks once again! ^^
Quote:
Originally Posted by VRSCIKA
Ilia was mostly focused on Henric, until she heard a little voice beside them. Aww it was baby Bella! There were only a handful of lions that she liked, but the first year she had befriended on the train was one of them. "Of course you can sit with us." She gave the younger girl a gentle smile and patted the mat beside herself.
The dueling club would be occurring again this year, she was determined to get permission. Her mother wasn't going to stand in her way this time, she had her father.
The whole idea that she would be somewhere bereft of her wand was rather unlikely, but she would play along. In danger and without a wand versus a human......"There is as some suggest, wandless magic. Certain shield charms could be useful depending upon whether or not your opponent is magical or muggle. If one lacks the ability to use wandless magic, the first order of business I would think, would be to survey your surroundings. The mind is both the greatest defense and weapon. Constant vigilance."
It was hard to say what she would use how, without being able to see the surroundings and attacker. It was too vague for her liking. Too many variables to answer definitively. Each opponent tended to need handled differently.
"Thanks," Bella replied softly to Ilia. She had taken off her bag and quickly sat down. It would have been quite embarrassing if she stayed standing while everyone else was sitting. She was just happy that Ilia didn't mind her sitting beside her because had really taken a liking to the older girl, in a role model sort of way.
Ooooo... dueling club. She was definitely interested in doing that.
Bella thought for a moment, before she answered. She was actually trying to imagine someone bigger and stronger than her. What would she do in that type of situation? Well she knew what she wouldn't do and that was take on the person head on. "Well I'd try to find their weakness," she replied, before adding. "Possibly look for something to even the odds.” There was one other answer she didn’t say out loud. If there was no possible way for her to defeat the person, than she would run, but she didn’t want to sound like a coward.
urine trouble | Pat's Strong Confident Other Half | Pees Like a Champion Unicorn Racehorse
You know what was interesting to note? The variety of answers given. Some were clever enough to think of hiding themselves somewhere safe until they were safe while others were willing to fight it to the bone. There was a clear divide between fight and flight and Hirsch LOVED it.
See the smile on his face? Pure and utter love.
Text Cut: The Fighters
Text Cut: Ava
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomRaven
And now the class had started.
Wait... did the Professor just smile at her? Wha.... Why? She didn't call him 'Professor Tattooed man' or villain or.... Hey, she didn't mention anything about his tattooes, right? But then Ava realized that he was talking about the dueling club. "YAYY!!!" She couldn't help with her excitement and threw her fist to the air.
.....
Oops?
Okay, just forget about that.
Moving on to the lesson, the young lioness listened to Professor Hirsch while she's biting her quill.... Picturing the situation. Well, it wasn't such a hard question. She raised her hand and answer. "If in this situation, the bad guy has something on his hand as his weapon, I'll attack his hand first... Maybe kick it or bite it... Also, I'll look around if there's something useful like big rock or wooden stick as a weapon."
And Roderik lost it. Completely. All manners of professionalism were thrown out the window as the man simply laughed. Just laughing.
Professor? What professor?
Gathering himself, the man smiled wider at her before saying, "I knew you'd like that piece of news." She was one of the two that talked to him about it, after all.
"The hand is an interesting spot to attack," he mused, "I guess with a hand out of function, they're less likely to attack you so you can get away. Interesting thought. Keep in mind, Ava, that the hand is a hard place to attack. You'd have to apply a lot of force onto it to attack properly."
Again, interesting.
Text Cut: Blaise
Quote:
Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo
Blaise allowed himself a grin, a genuine grin. "Always Professor, but this is nothing compared to how highly my quill thinks of me." True story. He missed his little buddy and would beg, plea and cry to get it back if he had to--for all the good that would do. His parents' minds were well made up.
And it seemed the grin was going nowhere. This was the first all term he'd been excited to answer something in a class that wasn't Muggle Studies because it was RIGHT up his alley. The boy never had his wand. Ever. Like now. Nope. No wand. He'd left it in his trunk.....unless Bentley brought it along like he'd been doing since they got back.
"If the person's huge, there's a chance he's slow too so I'd take my chances running, but if he looks REAL FIT I'd try to find a big stick laying around and swing til one of us gives--while hoping it's not me and ensuring my quill is recording what might be my last few moments on earth. Something heroic--something snazzy. I'd be famous in history books after." But he was digressing. "If I can't whack him hard enough where it hurts I'd hope he's got a brain so I can reason with him being SUCH a bully. I'm not exactly big you know and I'm still on that adorable dimpled phase. He'd have to be a rotten jerk--and you saw what happens to jerks at the feast, didn't you Professor?" A glance was spared a both Ravenclaw Prefects before his gaze settled on the man, grin still firmly in place.
This kid had a lot of faith in his quill, didn’t he? He’d heard of pets being people’s familiars but a quill?! It was different. That was for sure. Maybe he should be a journalist of some sort. If his answer was anything to go by, his articles were going to be just as dramatic.
"It’s interesting that you mentioned both a fight and a reasoning response." Was he using that word too much? "But you have the right idea about hitting them where it hurts the most. I’m glad you know where you should hit them.
And saw the glance that the boy had made but, like the good professor that he was, he was just going to ignore it.
You’re welcome, Bellaire.
Text Cut: Bastien
Quote:
Originally Posted by grangerfan8
When the door shut Bast focused his attention less on the people beside him, and more on the professor standing in front of all of them. He was new to the school too, but he also knew from Dora that this professor had only just gotten the job. What he didn't know, and had planned on asking about when the lesson was over, was if dueling club would be offered this year. No one was happier about this than this boy. No one showed it less than this boy.
His blue eyes twinkled and a smile twitched at the corners of his lips, but he otherwise remained focused on the lesson. That question seemed too easy, but maybe it was just him because other students so far had answers very different form the one he was thinking. Still he was a bit skeptical at where this lesson was leading, and if he would get much out of it.
"If we're both wandless, professor." He had his hand up briefly, long enough to gain the man's attention. "And I'm only allowed my body, mind, and surroundings, then I would fight my attacker." A lazy shrug rolled off his shoulders. "The best defense is a good offense."
And catch the man’s attention, he did. His eyes were on this boy completely and he nodded along, even smirking at the last sentence the boy said. Ah, it was like music to his ears!
Without saying anything, Roderik flicked his wand and a certain sentence of Bastien's appeared on the board.
Quote:
"The best defence is a good offence."
Text Cut: Brady
Quote:
Originally Posted by DinosaursOnASpaceship
Lesson time...another lesson. What was life right now?! So much school work and brain hurting, HE COULD BE SLEEPING RIGHT NOW but oooooh noooo that's not what he was doing that really bugged him right now.
Bradson walked into the defense against the dark arts class room. Maybe they would do something cool in this class. Like cast spells and inflict pain on people. Not the nice people but the food throwing Gryffindors, that sounded like it would be so much fun.
The eleven year old looked around the classroom before picking up a name tag and finding a seat to sit down in. He was on his own with the whole seat thing. The Scottish first year looked around to see if he could find his best friend. Where was Kat?
The eleven year old looked at his name tag. He wrote his name and year down and pressed it on his chest, on top of his robes.
All done. Now for class to start.
First question. O__________________O
Wait! Brady knew the answer to this! He totally has this. Bradson raised his hand up high in the air for the professor to see. "Um...professor, I think if you were to not use magic and someone who is trying to attack you that is also taller and fatter than you I would say that you can kick him in the back of the knees." The first year didn't know if this would work or not though. "I mean those muggles have a saying the taller they are the harder they fall so maybe doing that would work, yeah?" He had to be going places with that answer, he was totally thinking outside the box.
Kick them in the back of the knees. Roderik found himself smirking again at that answer, thoroughly impressed that a first year had said this. "The back of the knees is a good place to attack someone." Good, Mr Somerhalder.
HAI Bre! So I'm going to ignore the coming in part for now since I didn't clarify that you can't post arriving. Next time, just pretend as though your charrie was there the entire time? ^^
Text Cut: Hadley
Quote:
Originally Posted by Callie
"Yep, I'm good." Hadley glanced around, and realized no one else was wearing their robes. She should probably start reading more than just class time and day on those notices. Sheepishly, she shrugged out of her robes and replaced the name tag on her shirt.
Class started with an announcement that excited Haddie. Dueling club. Penny had told her about it and how with Kira she'd be great at dueling. Haddie tried to imagine what dueling club would be like, and all the spells they'd be taught. She almost missed the Professor's question. Almost.
Haddie glanced around. This had to be a wizarding thing. Because she grew up not knowing anything about wands or magic, so this just didn't seem as tricky as everyone else seemed to think it was. Including Hirsch. She'd dealt with bullies plenty. For herself and her twin. And only a few times was accidental magic involved.
"It depends on the surroundings and the other person. You can find something to use as a weapon anywhere, and if you're smart enough you can use their strengths and weaknesses against them. Like if they're big and strong, they probably aren't all that fast and agile, so you can use that." She shrugged a moment, debating on whether or not she should continue with the important part. The lesson her Grandpa told her, that she never forgot. "And fight dirty. You're not in a boxing match," she was echoing her Grandpa's words now, "and there's no such thing as fighting fair when someone's attacking you. Do whatever you can to drop them before they drop you. Unless, um..." She looked down, avoiding eye contact, "Unless you're at school and it's another student..." Yeah, Grandpa got in as much trouble as she did for that one.
Woah.
Just……… woah!
This girl was a first year?! Merlin, how was her thinking capability so vast?! The man was impressed. So impressed that he flicked his wand at the board and a particular sentence of hers appeared on there.
Quote:
"There’s no such thing as fighting fair when someone’s attacking you."
With that done, he faced the young girl once more. "Those are some very wise words, Miss" he said, nodding at her, "And you’re absolutely correct. You have no time to act like a peacekeeper when it’s you versus them."
Text Cut: Olly
Quote:
Originally Posted by littledhampir
Olly scooted over a bit, closer to Ellery, before the lesson started. Everything was more fun with his sister by his side. So this Defense Against the Dark Arts class should be extra fun! He waved at a few people as they entered. Blaise, Norah, those people that it would make sense for him to wave at. He hoped there'd be some sort of fun activity later.
Right, time for the actual lesson part. The announcement about the dueling club was interesting, maybe Olly would actually join this year. The question was interesting. This was a magical school. Weren't they supposed to learn how to do things with magic? Not without magic? But he supposed defense applied in both situations, so the question did technically make sense. Fine, mister professor sir. Olly raised his hand.
"I would kick them," he said. "Hurt them just enough to draw their attention long enough for me to get a head start and run away." He knew that he would have no chance in a fight with pretty much anyone. He wouldn't be attacked by a child anyway, so basically he would lose no matter what. Therefore, the best option was running away. After kicking them somewhere it would hurt.
"Distracting them and then running away is a good approach. It might not be the epic tale that you tell your kids about but it works. Good thinking, Mr Thomas-Borzekowski."
See? He'd nailed that pronunciation.
Text Cut: Ellery
Quote:
Originally Posted by Casey O
Ellery wiggled excitedly in her cushion. This…was… a SURPRISINGLY good class so far. She had almost been expected Hirsch to smirk and think his (apparent???) good looks were enough but…this was ALREADY a great class. Talking about defense WITHOUT magic??? Amazing!
"Well, professor…you shouldn't fight them violently, or at least not unless they punch you first. The best way is to outsmart them - by distracting them with your words, or convince them that they shouldn't hurt you. Basically, avoid direct conflict, because if you manage to convince them that you aren't a threat, no one gets hurt."
It was funny how Miss......... Ellery had mentioned the same thing that her - he was going to assume brother? - brother had said. "In the long run, I would say yes, this is a good solution. If you can get out of there unharmed, do it."
And he liked her mention of not attacking unless they attack you first. Again, good thinking.
Text Cut: Torrance
Quote:
Originally Posted by DJ ExpelliarMOOSE
A Dueling Club? That sounded awesome! Torrance could learn so many more spells from Dueling. Not nothing on his Uncle, but Locking and Unlocking wasn't that that cool. Helpful, but not cool.
"What are my Surroundings?" Torrance asked, curious. "If the guy is bigger than me, then tripping him would be the best best solution, but I'm small so tripping him would be hard. If I knew my surroundings I could use some stuff around me to help trip him up. Then he'd fall on his face and get K.O'd. Unless well, the fight was at a Mattress and Pillow Factory." So please Mister Professor, where are they fighting?
His surroundings? Hirsch shrugged. "Your surroundings could be anything: you could be stuck in an alley when someone approaches you. You could be walking home when you're going to be threatened or attacked. Really, anything." The Dark Arts - or even your everyday thieves/attackers - aren't going to pick out the perfect setting.
"Just because you're small doesn't mean you can't do some kind of damage," he said, giving the boy an encouraging smile, "But using the things around you is a very key aspect in defence and, sadly, people miss it out. Thank you for bringing it up."
And a Mattress and Pillow Factory? Should he ask?
Text Cut: Dora
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eriin
Okay... 1. HIII SAM!! Dora beamed at her FRAND and maybe scooted her mat closer. Heheh. Bestie status right there!
2. CHLOE NEWMAN WAS BLUSHING AND DORA FOUND THIS MOST CURIOUS. In fact, she was staring at her friend. Hehehehehe!!!
And now, Professor dude, you are indeed being judged, sir. Aaaand her hand shot up quickly, "Kick them in sensitive areas! Especially dudes! And if it's a girl... well the stomp their foot and then punch them in the nose! " #GRYFFINDOR
Oh Merlin help him, this kid was violent.
And he secretly loved it.
Hirsch had a very wide - and amused - smile on his face at her answer. "And believe you me, that hurts." Mhm. Not going to say anymore about that. "Keep that fighting spirit." That was all he was going to say for now.
Text Cut: Jaemin
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ameh
Attacked? By a bigger person? The minute firstie looked around the room suspiciously, as everyone present seemed likely to be bigger than he. How would he fight any of them? He wasn't particularly strong, but he was small and quick... his hand went up.
"Chop 'em in the throat and poke 'em in the eyes," he said simply, holding up two fingers to demonstrate his eye-poking abilities. "Then run and find something to hide in before they can see or breathe again."
This was how Jaemin would settle pretty much any physical altercation, really. He didn't know enough magic to properly defend himself even with a wand.
"YES!" he called, pointing straight at the boy.
........... Okay, that was probably a bit much but he liked that answer very much. Especially the 'chop 'em in the throat' part. "Very well done. Attacking to distract them and then fleeing. It always works." You know, if you pull it off correctly.
Text Cut: Hady
Quote:
Originally Posted by SpiritWolfe Malfoy
From her spot on her cushion Hady noticed several things. 1. This lesson had a nice turn out of students. 2. The small smile she had gotten from the new Professor which she easily returned even if she wasn't at all thrilled with having yet another new professor teaching her things. And 3. The presence of Maggie taking a cushion beside her. "Hey," she greeted quietly with a small nod of her head.
Attention back to the front she listened in complete silence to what was being said. All she had gotten from this was Dueling Club was still on! A smirk crossed her face and she could already feel her thoughts slipping away to new tactics she would have to test out and charms to practice. This wasn't the time for that though and the girl found herself quickly reining in her thoughts and attempting to get her mind to focus on what had just been asked.
How would she defend herself against an attack without her wand. This was NOT as simple a question as it might appear to be. Loads of factors would have to come into play if this happened. Where was she? Was it just her and an attacker or more people around? Was her attacker magical as well? Hady slowly raised her hand giving her answer, "Sir I can honestly say like a few others around me that the situation at hand would really play a large factor in how I would respond. If there's others around I might feel the need to try to protect them as well as myself by any means necessary. Like if my attacker if muggle I would probably fight back differently then if they were magical. Though wandless magic is good if you're capable of that and so is changing into an animagi form if you can as well. If you can't do those things though then using anything around could prove useful, be it a rock or stick. Biting, kicking or punching can help as well." See professor guy it really depends on the where and who. "Chances are though no matter what I say now won't be how I react in that situation. So just going by instinct would be my best chance." Do whatever comes to you in the moment.
Woah.
Okay, uh. Just woah.
"You're very smart, Miss Lynch." There was no denying it. She'd thought of everything. "I do like that you've considered different types of situations and have your own way of getting out of each of them. Very broad way of thinking."
Text Cut: Brian
Quote:
Originally Posted by laurange
So as soon as the professor man began the lesson, he asked them what they would do if they were without their wands and in danger. Firstly, he hadn't been parted from his wand since he got it, but if he was disarmed, he supposed it made sense. Also, was he really asking them how they would react if they were muggles? Having thought he was a muggle most of his life, he had a relatively good idea of how to react if something happened.
Yup. Raising hand. "If the person in question is bigger or tougher, they'd also likely be heavier. Which means that they would have a greater inertia. In which case I could probably use either my speed or their centre of gravity against them." Yup. That was the scientific viewpoint. Playing dead didn't normally work on humans. "If the attacker already had a hold on me, I'd drop to the ground which would cause them to -y'know- fall over. But otherwise the SING thing works too." Brilliant idea, that one. He'd just write it down for future reference.
As for wandless magic, Brian probably wasn't going to try just yet. He was having enough issues with regular magic with wands, something that would require more concentration seemed unattainable at the moment.
Speaking of smart, this kid was as well. And he was only a fourth year? Merlin, why was his vocabulary so advanced? What potion was he taking to make this happen?
Right. Answer.
"Good! Very good tactic of using their own size against them. Taller people are more likely to be off balance so, a tall attacker, while looking menacing, is more likely to fall over. Well done."
Text Cut: Mel x2
Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimist
She just smiiiiled up at the Professor like a fool when he had said her name. Sure, her face was as red as a tomato from the nametag incident and it probably didn’t help that her forehead was still red and slightly sticky….but, wait they were learning about defense? THIS WAS SO HER CLASS.
Raising her arm HIIIIIIIGH into the air she just grinned. SHE HAD SO MANY IDEAS OF DEFENSE it was like her thing. Really, it was. Totally her thing. “Professor, I think I would at first try and reason with the attacker,” she smiled – beamed really. “but that doesn’t always work and sometimes the best offense really is a good defense…so I would try to see how the attacker was leading so if they were punching at me from the right I would try to duck left and throw them off balance while maintaining my own balance that way I could stay on the balls of my feet and run to safety” she grinned. “that of course is if it were with a muggle or in muggle areas.” Yep. Statute of secrecy totally needed to be followed here.
She was like a defense queen.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Optimist
Some of these ideas that people were coming up with were making Melbourne a little squirmy. “Professor?” She asked raising her hand, “are we aloud to use weapons?” Yes. That was an important question.
“Because really anything could be used to ward off an attacker even mint breath spray to the eyes…or blow horns or your own shoes especially heels can be rather painful” she nodded as if she had an extensive knowledge on those sort of things. She did. She collected them but that wasn’t the point right now.
“If those weren’t accessible I’d say a good kick to the shins could help or as Scarlett said yelling could help.” She nodded. “Not only could the yelling attract attention from others in the vicinity it has the potential to distract the attacker but its not always the safest option” yes. She knew things.
Her face was tomato red, did she know? She might want to have a look at it after the lesson was over. Just saying.
"You sound like you've seen a lot of action movies," he mused, his head tilted to one side as he looked at her, "But you're right about the reasoning part." Had she heard his answer to Miss Guidry? "Using your instincts always works, unless you're the reckless sort. Don't be reckless."
"You can use whatever you want, just not a wand." So he didn't want any magical answers.
"Using anything you have on you works very well. Even keys: keys are something everyone carries around with them but not everyone thinks about using. Good thinking with the weapons."
Text Cut: Kitty
Quote:
Originally Posted by Goblinfrog
"If I had a Quidditch bat I would beat them up with it!" Kitty began excitedly. "I've never been in a fight before thankfully but I know most people would be knocked out after getting hit with one of those in the head. But if I didn't have a bat then I would go after their vulnerable spots, with guys that would be easier. My nails are always long, I could use them to scratch at my attackers eyes. If he was wearing short sleeves then I could scratch his arms too!"
"But I hate violence and I would only fight like that to defend myself or someone else." She felt morally compelled to add this. "And I would never kill anyone, no matter what. I mean I could kill a monster if it was attacking me but I wouldn't kill a human or goblin or elf.
A Quidditch bat? "A Quidditch bat is a good piece of equipment to use. Or any bat or stick........ whatever you find lying around." But what he was pleased with was the mention of the two words he was after: vulnerable spots. "Vulnerable spots! Excellent! I like that you went for the eyes exactly."
Okay. This girl was a peacekeeper and probably gave out hugs while she was at it. Got it.
Text Cut: Ilia
Quote:
Originally Posted by VRSCIKA
Ilia was mostly focused on Henric, until she heard a little voice beside them. Aww it was baby Bella! There were only a handful of lions that she liked, but the first year she had befriended on the train was one of them. "Of course you can sit with us." She gave the younger girl a gentle smile and patted the mat beside herself.
The dueling club would be occurring again this year, she was determined to get permission. Her mother wasn't going to stand in her way this time, she had her father.
The whole idea that she would be somewhere bereft of her wand was rather unlikely, but she would play along. In danger and without a wand versus a human......"There is as some suggest, wandless magic. Certain shield charms could be useful depending upon whether or not your opponent is magical or muggle. If one lacks the ability to use wandless magic, the first order of business I would think, would be to survey your surroundings. The mind is both the greatest defense and weapon. Constant vigilance."
It was hard to say what she would use how, without being able to see the surroundings and attacker. It was too vague for her liking. Too many variables to answer definitively. Each opponent tended to need handled differently.
This was an answer that earned the girl a smirk from the professor. "Constant vigilance, indeed. Your surroundings can help you a lot in these kind of situations, even if it seems mundane at first. Well done."
Text Cut: Liv
Quote:
Originally Posted by Govoni
Defense, defense, defense, DEFEEEENSE!!!!
Obviously, this was going to be Olivia's favorite class...and NOT because Professor Hirsch looked like Prince Erik ripped right from the pages of her "The Little Mermaid" storybook; even though, yea, he totally did. In faaaact, Liv might've swooned over him further if she were the sort of girl that did that type of thing...BUT SHE WAS STARING A BUNCH...and also might've doodled a small heart by his name in her notebook. He was just so aesthetically pleasing to the eye! The epitome of a Disney prince. That obviously stamped him as a preference.
...BUT NO, NO, NOOOO!!! She'd get to learn about casting awesome spells with her wand...and DUELING. He'd even just mentioned a D U E L I N G -C L U B...Oh, Liv was ALL OVER THAT ONE. YAS!!! It was going to be so fun. SHE WAS PRACTICALLY BOUNCING IN HER SEAT from her overwhelming excitement.......So much so, that she nearly completely missed the rest of what the man had said.
Oops.
"I'd run and climb up in a tree, and then toss things at their head." She was VERY GOOD at climbing trees, you see. She'd even staged a running away before, but hadn't really left home. Nah, she'd just been in the trees outside her house. Took her mother AGES to find her, too. So, that told Liv something. Her mum was dead clever...the ickle blonde was loathed to admit. "...and then when they're all tired out from trying to climb up and catch me, I'd come down and kick them right in their bits...and then I would choreograph my flawless escape."...which would include loads of running, tripping over branches, more running...
Her eyes were GLEAMING.
.
.
"You look like a prince, Professor." Liv wasn't subtle, so...of course she mentioned this aloud.
"That's a good way of making use of your surroundings and of getting a good viewpoint on the attacker so that you can see them coming. Chances are, they'd probably give up on you if you manage to climb up a tree to get away from them." So it wor-
Kid say what now?
Prince? Prince?!
Roderik took a moment to glance down at his appearance, at the shirt and jeans he was wearing, before looking back up at the girl. He didn't look like a Prince. Not something out of fairytales that seemed to gallivant around singing cheesy lines at their princesses. Merlin, he would rather give up dueling than do anything as ridiculous as that.
"Uh, thanks, Miss Phillips. That's very nice of you to say."
Text Cut: Olivia
Quote:
Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline
The professor seemed nice as he returned her greeting, the man smiling to her and most of the class. Olivia took that as a good sign...for now. Soon enough class was being started and the first year was paying plenty of attention to what was being said. First...Dueling Club...maybe she would try it. It hadn't been said that it was only for the older students. What she had seen of the training room had interested her already so she made a note to keep a look out for those sign-ups.
And then their was a situation being described to them. What would they do if they were attacked...without a wand? What would SHE do? The absence of her wand probably wouldn't mean much since her spell knowledge was limited anyway. Olivia listened to some of her classmates speak up, noticing that Esme had an auror father as well. What a coincidence. As for her own plans, she finally decided to raise her hand to answer. "Definitely use my size and possible speed to my advantage, avoiding attacks until there's potential for a workable attack, I've worn out my attacker...or an escape is possible if absolutely necessary."
Hirsch was nodding, just nodding along at everything the girl had to say. "Yes, absolutely. Using your body to your advantage will always work in your favour, if you're clever enough about it. Well done, Miss Stone."
Text Cut: Ailsa
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirali
Ailsa had been quiet during the class so far but a question demanded an answer. She'd liked Katherine's answer quite a lot; it made good sense and the answer really did depend on the exact situation.
"Professor?" she started, "How can we answer without knowing more about the situation? We can't tell you how we'd use our surroundings without knowing what those surroundings are. We can't tell you how we'd use our body or mind against someone unless we know more about that person." The girl paused thoughtfully. "If you want a very general answer, I'd say that most places have some dust or dirt or something that I could throw into my attacker's eyes to disorient them a bit and then, if the setting allowed it, I'd run. I'm fairly fast and I'm small, so I could probably find some place that I could get into but my attacker couldn't. From there I could just out wait them."
And here was another sassy answer.
Merlin, where did kids get all this sass from? What did they eat? Were they born with it?
See, this was why he didn't want kids of his own.
He deadpanned and waited for the girl to finish before replying, "I did want a general answer because what I'm about to teach you is general as well. And if you wanted an answer on how to defend yourself against each individual type of person, we'd be here all day. So, yes. General."
A type of answer that she'd given.
"I like that you mentioned the eyes. That was exactly what I was going for." See? It wasn't that hard, after all. "And a good way of using your size to your advantage."
Text Cut: Kat
Quote:
Originally Posted by SarcasticStrawberry
Kat was still bouncing. Funny thing was she hadn't had a drop of sugar in any form today. All she knew was she was truly excited about the lesson. And she had made a new friend in the class. Oh she smiled. "I like your name." The class was already good so far. She shrugged, "Some thing interesting I hope!" And it looked like they would be finding out soon.
CLASS WAS STARTING.
The bouncing had turned flailing major flailing. DUELING CLUB. Philip had told her all about being in dueling club. Yes. Kat was signing up for this as soon as she could.
The tiny blonde gasped. Attacker. What would she do? First and realistically she would scream for her daddy..... Or Phillip even. She couldn't admit that here though. The cool older kids, thought she was cool. She wasn't messing that up. So she was going to go for the next option, Her little hand shot up. "I would throw whatever was close at the attacker person." Yes. Throw things. Because you know throw it hard enough and they might see birdies.
Throw things. Roderik nodded along at her answer. "That's a good way of making use of your surroundings. You will always have something nearby that you could use to throw them off."
Text Cut: Penelope
Quote:
Originally Posted by griffin
Penelope Would they be learning about non-magical means of self defense? She would use her Ravenclaw wits to assess the situation. Why was she being attacked? Did the attacker have a wand or other weapons? Was there anywhere to hide? Could she run? Use some nearby object as a weapon? Climb to higher ground and jump at her attacker? "Depends on the situation, my surroundings, if the attacker has a wand, and the physical strength of the attacker. I would assess the situation and use my wits to figure out what to do. Might run, might hide, might jump at the attacker." Jumping at the attacker would be only for if it had to come to physical combat, a surprise attack.
Dima had said something about wandless magic. Smart idea, if one knew how to use wandless magic. Young wizards and witches used magic without wands, but that was unfocused and mostly unintentional. Wands helped focus magic. Maybe intentional wandless magic would require extreme focus and concentration. This was a topic that she would have to research later. Wandless magic sounded incredibly intriguing. She would have to ask Dima what he knew about it.
Run, hide and jump at the attacker. "It sounds like you'd do whatever it takes to get out of the situation as well, as long as you're keeping your wits about you. Good. Keep that mentality."
Text Cut: Brooklyn
Quote:
Originally Posted by SilverTiger
The nod her greeting had received was only rewarded by another calculating look. Brooklyn was filing all of this away for later, especially the part where the professor was seemingly much more polite toward everyone aside from her. That wasn’t exactly the best idea, but then she wasn’t about to tell him that. He’d have to figure that out on his own. That she wasn’t polite for no reason. She expected a reaction, and that meant more than just a nod. She’d nearly rolled her eyes at the sarcasm his introduction had held, too. Nearly. It had stayed in her head, not a physical reaction.
She’d mentally shrugged in response to the dueling club announcement as well. She hadn’t been part of it last term, so it hardly made her excited this term. In some ways she just felt it was an example of new professors trying to make it seem like nothing was changing. She knew things were changing. She wasn’t stupid.
She also wasn’t quite as afraid as it seemed like some people thought she was. “Obviously if they’re attacking me, they aren’t very smart,” she replied, lazily raising a hand. “If they did, I’d find a way out of the situation. Dodge them, hit them,” if she had to. She would do something. The important part was that she wouldn’t hide. She didn’t cower, and she most certainly didn’t curl up into the fetal position if something dangerous was around. Preferably, she’d get someone to defend her, but she wouldn’t hide. “Or I’d use a potion to incapacitate them.” It wasn’t a wand. He hadn’t said they couldn’t use magic at all.
Roderik snorted at her answer. Not very smart, indeed. "So you're more of a fighter than a flighter? Or just one to do anything to get out of the situation?"
"Interesting that you mentioned a potion." Not the answer he was looking for, by the way, but still interesting.
Text Cut: Zeke
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hera
Limbering up? Why yes, yes he was. "Have to be prepared for anything," he replied with a smirk. THAT, and he didn't much fancy sitting around and twiddling his thumbs while the girls in the room swooned and drooled all over the place. Mmhhmm. No, he was going to get himself IN THE ZONE and ignore the fact that there was ANYONE here other than himself and the Professor. He call call it private tuition, and it would be spectacular.
Sitting up a little straighter and holding his knees, Zeke stretched his neck from side to side as Professor Hirsch began their introductions. All standard stuff... almost. At the mention of Dueling Club, Zeke's eyes widened a bit before he settled into a casual grin. IT WAS HAPPENING! Internally he was fist-pumping, externally he was just a guy on a mat. The news was excellent, it would mean that his sessions with Sabel and Elijah over the summer wouldn't be wasted efforts, and he could defend his title. Dueling Champ in the house, yo.
But celebration could wait till later, he was curious about why they had to wear comfortable clothing - which screamed PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, and he yearned for it.
As they jumped back into lesson material, Zeke pondered the scenario Hirsch put to them. Wandless, danger, worthy opponent... obviously there were many things he could do, but what he would do wouldn't be something he'd decide until the very minute it was required of him. As such, he valued Janelle's answer, but also so many others. That Jaemin guy had the right idea about the neck, because he was a fan of a well-placed punch to the throat. Accuracy with strikes was a factor though. Wandless magic, yeah, if you were able... frankly, he wouldn't be relying on it any time soon, he trusted his body more than that.
With so many of his ideas already spoken, Zeke wondered if there was much value in speaking them again. Regardless, he raised his hand to participate.
"I don't like vague scenarios," he stated simply at first, because yeah... his answers were taken and the scenario was too open to really give a response that he was happy with, "but generally speaking you'd assess the situation, can you fight and win? do you have to fight? or should you run? and if you're fighting, disarm, disable and confine... using of course whatever you have available." Sand to the face, direct knocks, height leverage, objects of the environment... yeah, endless possibilities to which vagueness didn't help.
Oh come on, Mr Browne, you were going to be one of the favourites what with the limbering up. Please don't sass him now.
Hirsch tried to keep a neutral expression at the first sentence Mr Browne said, as if the sentence hadn't bothered him. Instead, he shrugged a shoulder before saying, "I don't want to push anyone to an answer just because they think it'll make me happy. I want to see how you think without having so many clues thrown at you." Hence, the vague.
"Disarm, disable and confine......." he repeated, taking a moment to think before turning to the board and giving it a flick of his wand. Those words appeared right there and he said nothing more. Nothing else needed to be said, did it?
Text Cut: Cornelius
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezerz
Spiderman.
This professor was a descendant of Spiderman that for some ridiculous idea decided to wind up at Hogwarts and teach rather than live an exhilarating life saving lives and kicking butt. It was sad quite frankly. Cornelius was sure of it. In fact, Professor Hirsch was like...Spiderman-mixed-Harry-Potter. The glasses and that geeky look to his face.
There was something about him and Cornelius was going to make sure to keep a close eye on him.
Aside from that, Cornelius had made himself a comfy bed spot with the cushions after jotting his name down and all that jazz. He was quite comfortable which made it both easier and harder to concentrate. The question wasn't a hard one but a very broad one. His imagination let loose as he raised his hand.
"I would SING. Depending if my attacker already had a hold on me, I would SING." Cornelius nodded seriously. Did Hirsch know what SING was? Cornelius wiggled, sitting up straight. "First, you target the solar plexus." He chopped his hand sharply through the air. "Then you JAM your heel into their instep." He picked up his foot and brought his heel down on the floor. BOOM! "Then you swirl around and you hit them in their nose and then the most PAINFUL part of all." Cornelius SMIRKED though he wiggled in his spot. It hurt even thinking about it. "You get them in the family jewels." YA'OUUUCH. M'HM.
He grinned victoriously. "S.I.N.G."
"SING!" Oh, how this answer made Hirsch giddy! There was nothing calm and neutral about this face now. "That is an excellent way of defending yourself and probably the only way that works in almost all situations. Very very good thought process, Mr Baltazar."
And that answer, ladies and gentlemen, was going on the board.
Text Cut: Rula
Quote:
Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl
Oh, and class was starting. Time to focus on Handsome!Hirsch's face on the lesson. Yes, okay, she could do this.
Dueling club announcement was great, and she glanced over at Bast briefly with a grin before paying attention again.
So imagine a situation where she didn't have a wand and was gonna be attacked by some bigger, scary bad person. What would she do? Hmm....
Rula let some other students answer first while she thought, occasionally getting a little distracted by the professor's face, and then finally raised a hand once she had an answer. "I think I'd try to pretend to be really helpless and scared so the bad guy would either feel sorry for me and not attack me, or they'd get overconfident and underestimate me, and that's when I'd surprise attack them." Seemed like a solid plan to her.
When the girl first started her answer, Hirsch felt a little deflated, mainly because it almost sounded as though she was going to be a damsel in distress and he wanted her - and everyone else - to be the type of people that could stand their own ground.
But then the end of her sentence made him perk up and he smiled. Oh, how he smiled. "Good! Making them think you are a pushover to bring their guard down and then showing them that you're not. Excellent answer!"
Text Cut: Scarlett
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom
There had been a dueling club last term? Well that sounded AWESOME! Sign Scarlett up! She wanted to learn how to fight, even though she knew the chances of her actually being in a duel someday were pretty slim. Still, it was good to KNOW.
She raised her hand. "Well I'd probably scream, then punch them in the face. And hopefully the adrenaline going through my veins would make my punch strong enough to do damage. Then I'd run," she told him truthfully. Because that was EXACTLY how it would play out.
Fight and then flight? Roderik nodded along, deciding not to judge the girl's size when it came to her answer. From his experience, small people could do a lot of damage. "Making them drop their guard and then fleeing before they could do anything about it. Good. Very good."
Text Cut: Tenacius
Quote:
Originally Posted by Steelsheen
[FONT="Lucida Sans Unicode"]Well it doesn’t look like the Professor was gonna be biting his head off, to which the curly top broadened his smile as he relaxed some more. Mr Enthusiastic? Almost as awesome a name as Mr Fantastic.
And whoah there is a dueling club? That got Tenacius all sitting up alert. Ohhh he wanted to try that out, are they going to be using swords? Probably wands, but he wants to try out swords, like the ones in the armory! He's had experience!... Ok maybe it was plastic lightsabers BUT THEY ARE THE SAME THING!
And ok, looks like everybody was wearing a name tag. He was missing his wasn’t he? Scuffle scuffle whereisit-- AHA!
And wow what a question. This got the curly top thinking-- yeah he was thinking! Because he was ickle and he knows that. If he was built like a Green Bay Packer this was easy peasy answer, but he wasn’t. He also wasn’t a Jedi or a Sith, or an Air/Fire/Water/Earth bender, so that’s all out. All out.
This was a hypothetical situation that can totally happen in reality.
"Uhm.... Take the higher ground?... Higher ground that’s difficult to get to by the bigger guy, like a tree, or as close to volcano as possible, because those has rocks and I can throw those." He was an ickle, and if he ever gets transported to that situation right now, at least he knew what to do.
Oh, here was a new answer. "Interesting thought, Mr Salander." And thank you for putting your nametag on because otherwise, Roderik would've had to come up with a nickname and he wasn't sure if the boy would like it or not. "Taking the higher ground would help majorly. You could see our attacker coming which would be more advantageous for you."
Uh. Wait. "Are you telling me you'd go near a volcano?!"
Merlin, kids these days.
Text Cut: Dot
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cassirin
Dot leaned back on her mat, resting her weight on her palms and tilting her chin back as she stretched out all the muscles in her back, arms, and legs. It just seemed like the thing to do, sitting on a mat on the floor, even if she wasn't about to go to a barre and start dancing.
The mats meant they were going to do something practical, anyway, so she might as well be limber. As for the question? She sat up straight again and raised a hand. "Yell, sir. Loud. It puts off my attacker, draws attention to my plight, and maybe gives me time to figure out a better plan. And then probably run away, because, Merlin, have you heard how violent these kids are? If I met one of my classmates in a dark alley, I'd prefer to leave said alley."
And HERE was another answer he liked. "YES! Yes precisely! Yelling, shouting, just do anything that's likely to attract someone else's attention. Chances are, it'll startle the attacker because they wouldn't think you'd do such a thing." Well done, Miss Prefect.
The comment about her classmates earned the Prefect a snort from the Professor who then went on to turn it into a fitting cough. Who was laughing? Not him.
Text Cut: Charlotte
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tegz
OH CHARLOTTE HAD A WHOLE LOT OF GREAT IDEAS. TWO OF THEM WERE IN THIS ROOM EVEN. She put her hand up.
"Professor I think it depends on the situation but, I'd SIC MY COUSINS ONTO THE BAD GUY!" Yeah! She enthusiastically pointed with both fingers, first at Dima and then at Bastien and then nodded a few times for effect. See? They even had good ideas right? "And if they weren't right THERE then I would try and SCARE the bad guy by telling them about BADDER GUYS that I know," Her uncles, actually, Dima and Bastien's fathers', "And if they weren't listening or were dumb, I'd YELL and then KICK THEIR SHINS." Those things would work. She also considered flinging a snail at someone who finds snails gross, but she wasn't sure how you'd know that in a split second, and also wasn't sure that if it came down to it she would sacrifice one of her snails. "Also because we have a house elf, I'd summon her, and she could take me away to safety! OR use her house elf magic to like... have a wall collapse on the bad guy or something like--" Charlotte snapped her fingers. House elf magic. Like that.
Her cousins? Mr Toussaint and Bastien were her cousins?!
............. Right. Priorities.
"Yelling works and scaring them would work as well. They wouldn't expect you to do either one of them and if it works, you can get away without a scratch. Works in your favour, it does."
Text Cut: Davie
Quote:
Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl
Having filled out his name tag, although of course the professor already knew who he was, David leaned back on his hands and looked around thoughtfully as his classmates gave answers. These answers were interestingly very indicative of their individual personalities. Oh, and Dueling Club WOULD be back? Alright. He'd been torn on whether he wanted it back or not, and ultimately reasoned that dueling would be a useful skill to learn... not to mention something his parents would expect of him...
Anyway. The twelve-year-old eventually raised his hand to answer when it was his turn. "I would do what Daxton Prince is doing." Why this kid, you may ask? Other than the boy's INNATE NONHUMAN ABILITIES due to his being half-goblin, he was remaining quiet, perceptive, and... maybe a little bit defensive, what with that knees-to-chest bit he had going on. But David didn't say all that aloud, mostly because his goblin theory wasn't ready to go public yet although he was still watching the kid. What? Prince livened up the lessons sometimes.
"I mean," the spectacled boy tore his eyes away from studying his dormmate, "I would get into some sort of defensive position, perhaps behind a rock as Ariadne mentioned, and quickly analyze what I could of the situation. Is there an easy way to escape? Some kind of weapon to utilize against them? An easily discernible weakness of theirs which I could manipulate to my advantage? Could I talk or reason my way out of things, to prevent their attack entirely? Is this conflict avoidable by any chance?"
Davie certainly wouldn't attack first, nor would he attempt wandless magic nor apparition because he wasn't even sure of his older classmates' abilities to do any of that. And who was to say his house elf would come on command? Pinky was loyal to his mother, first of all, not to him. Not really. He certainly didn't let Davie get away with keeping spare chocolate frogs under his pillow. So it was best to act defensively, in his opinion, in this hypothetical scenario which seemed to be primed to garner some sort of telling response out of them, particularly since it didn't have many details. Hem hem. We're on to you, Professor Hirsch.
Oh Davie Truebridge you clever clever boy.
It wasn't the answer he was looking for but it was a good answer. At the mention of Daxton, the man looked over at the quieter Ravenclaw who hadn't even uttered a word, before looking back at the one answering his question. "Yes! Not only does that buy you more time but it also means that you can sneak attack if you have to. Or escape, if you have the chance to escape unnoticed and unharmed."
Text Cut: Hugo
Quote:
Originally Posted by WeasleyGirl
Helloooo. Hugo was in the room waiting for the class to begin, with his name tag on his robes next to the Prefect Badge. EHEM.
He didn't even bothered to write his middle name 'cause it didn't mattered. So...first question and it was a very interesting one. Well, in fact the room itself was interesting, especially the sealed box. He wondered what could there be inside it. Anyways, back to the question. To be honest, Hugo couldn't picture himself without his beloved wand, I mean, it was necessary, okay? Especially if Hirsch was talking about surviving.
He raised his hand. "I would definitely need my wand" he was sincere "But if I don't have it. Umm...I would run away from that person and then look around at my surroundings to find like a piece of wood to defend myself. Just in case the person wants to do me some harm and then, I don't know...maybe hide behind a bush" yeah. That worked for him.
"Finding a piece of wood and hiding is a great option. Not the best but it means you can escape while still having something on you to defend yourself with." Because surprise surprise, you're not always going to be able to use your wand or you could have it taken away from you. Scary thought, wasn't it?
Text Cut: Rachel
Quote:
Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19
With one last concerned look at Haddie, Rachel focused her attention on Professor Hirsch. She was confident she would enjoy his lesson and couldn't wait to get to that aspect of the lesson where they found out what the boxes were for. Oh, a dueling club? Rachel knew instantly she wanted to sign up for this. Hopefully, her dad wouldn't be too over protective and let her take part. She would work to convince him on this.
About the question, the eleven year old focused on finding an answer. After a moment, she raised her hand. "I would do an observation of my surrounding first, Professor. Then I would use my wits to find a way to use what there is in my surrounding to my advantage either as a shield to hide myself or as a weapon or as both.'' In Rachel's case, she would use it as a shield, however.
And here was another answer that applied to almost all situations. "Very god use of your surroundings, Miss Watson. Whatever you can use to protect yourself, you should use it. Well done."
Text Cut: Bella
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lady Marmalade
"Thanks," Bella replied softly to Ilia. She had taken off her bag and quickly sat down. It would have been quite embarrassing if she stayed standing while everyone else was sitting. She was just happy that Ilia didn't mind her sitting beside her because had really taken a liking to the older girl, in a role model sort of way.
Ooooo... dueling club. She was definitely interested in doing that.
Bella thought for a moment, before she answered. She was actually trying to imagine someone bigger and stronger than her. What would she do in that type of situation? Well she knew what she wouldn't do and that was take on the person head on. "Well I'd try to find their weakness," she replied, before adding. "Possibly look for something to even the odds.” There was one other answer she didn’t say out loud. If there was no possible way for her to defeat the person, than she would run, but she didn’t want to sound like a coward.
Finding their weakness? Hm. HM. "You don't even know how close you are to the answer that's linked to the lesson." Really. She was closer to it than she probably knew. "What kind of weakness would you look for?"
Text Cut: Flighters
Text Cut: Gareth
Quote:
Originally Posted by Compootor
Class was finally starting! Of course, Garreth had been far too nervous to say much during his first ever Hogwarts class, but it was starting to dawn on him that there wasn't anything to be afraid of. The first-year anxiously awaited the professor's introduction to the class, making sure his nametag was clearly visible. He couldn't very well have the professor mistakenly giving all his house points to some Hufflepuff student, could he?
Instinctively, the boy wrote down all that the professor said, not fully registering the meaning of his words until after they had been put to parchment. What would he do? What a way to start! He'd have to think long and hard about his answer, lest he disappoint the professor.
"I would try to hide, professor." he said after some moments. "If there was a way to avoid being spotted in the first place, I would want to do that. Otherwise, I suppose I would try to run away or disarm them somehow." perhaps his answers weren't the most impressive, but the question wasn't about what the ideal reaction would be, it was about what he would have done. "I guess, in the end, it really depends on my surroundings.
Try to hide? "So you're more of an 'avoid conflict' type of person?" How many of those kind of kids did he have in this class? "It's a good way of keeping yourself out of trouble." Which, as a professor, he approved but as a man who liked a bit of conflict and fighting? Eh. Just eh.
At least he'd be safe.
Text Cut: Tia
Quote:
Originally Posted by PhoenixRising
Tia beamed when the professor said he was pleased to be there, but she guessed he didn't know just how pleased she was he was there and sooooo good looking.Nodding as he went into explaining the dueling club would in fact be returning, the seventh year made a note to check for the signups later.
She was in danger and needed a way to get out, which her first instinct went to apparition. But what if it was like Hogwarts where apparition wasn't allowed. Sitting thoughtfully for a moment as she listened to her peers before raising her hand, "First I would probably attempt apparition, but if for whatever reason I couldn't apparate then I would probably find some place to hide safely where I could call for assistance to get out of the situation" because, Ravenclaw here . she wasn't for violence which could further threaten her life...
And here was another smart answer. Not a conflict answer but still smart, he'd give her that. "You never know, apparition might not be always at hand." For example, if she was up against a muggle attacker. She couldn't just apparate out of the situation.
Call for assistance? Hm. "I guess you could. As long as you're safe, I don't see why not. One thing's for sure, though: you might not be able to call your assistance in time and they might not always get there in time. You'd need to be able to keep yourself safe long enough for them to get to you. And you'd need to remain inconspicuous." But good thinking.
Text Cut: Janelle
Quote:
Originally Posted by Daydreamer11
Finally, it was time for class to begin. Janelle listened as the Professor introduced himself to the class. She wondered how he would compare to their previous professor, who she thought was pretty awesome. And then, Professor Hirsch made an announcement. They would continue to have the Dueling club at Hogwarts. Janelle was glad because she hadn't had a chance to join the club last year. Now she would have the opportunity to participate.
Then the professor presented a scenario and posed a question. What a question it was. This one, Janelle had to think about for a while before she raised her hand. "That's a very hard question professor. There are a lot of things that could affect my answer. Is the person attacking me a witch or a wizard? Do they have a weapon? Are they big and slow? My size? What I would do would depend on these things. I'd probably have a split second to make a decision." Janelle paused for a moment to give it some more thought.
"If the attacker is my size and don't have a choice, I might look around for something to use as a weapon and try to fight them. If they are very big and weaponless, I might try to run because I'd probably be faster than them. If they have a wand.......that would be a problem. I've been known to talk my way out of trouble, but..........I don't think that that would be my best option in this situation." Hopefully the professor would shed some light on the subject because being prepared was probably their best advantage.
A very hard question? Hirsch shrugged. "It's just to get you thinking. Expand that thinking. See how your mind works." And what exactly they thought an attacker would be like.
"I like that you're thinking about different situations at once. Shows that you're prepared." Or as prepared as she could be. "And no, talking your way out of a situation like this wouldn't be the best option. Chances are, they'd attack you before you could pull out the puppy dog eyes."
Text Cut: Azura
Quote:
Originally Posted by MunchyBubbles
She had to.. WHAT NOW?
Oh goodness! In a room, with no wand and she was being attacked? Her purple eyes were wide and she bit her lip a little.. there would be no way she, little Azura Kennedy would be able to fight anyone! Not without falling and breaking something! Could she use that to her advantage? The purple eyed Ravenclaw slowly raised her hand.
"I don't think I would be able to fight them Sir." She admitted honestly. "I might possibly be able to run, but I'm not very good on my feet." Let's hope he hadn't heard about the charms incident or the fact that she had broken her nose.. THREE times now! "I think my best defense would be to hide and try to get out of the room using stealth,maybe hide in a box and slowly move towards the door. otherwise I wouldn't be able to escape." She said honestly.
Because.. without her wand.. she was slightly helpless!
Her answer about not being able to fight earned her a small frown from the man. "Everyone has it in them to fight. You just need to harness it in the right way."
"Stealth works and trying to sneak your way out could work if you were clever enough to do it right. You have that one chance so you have to get it right." That was all.
Text Cut: Yoongi
Quote:
Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi
“Congrats dude” Yoongi grinned at Carl. That had meant at least one of his predictions on which House a first year would be in. He didn’t say anything more even though he wanted to because the class begun and his interest was turned to the mention of the Dueling Club. So it would be running again this year? He was definitely going to sign up again, he learned so much in that club. So he made a mental note to sign up after class.
His eyes moved towards Norah and he blushed slightly as she waved back. Thankfully, the lesson was about to start so he could hide his face and stared at the Professor instead.
He frowned a little at the first question. Then , he raised his hand in the air. “I wouldn’t know Sir” he answered truthfully as he lowered his hand again. “I’ve never been in a situation like that before” Well, once but his attackers had been Acromantulas so there was no point in talking to them so he ran like hell. “I’d say I would use the element of surprise by letting them believe I’m vulnerable and then strike back but maybe i'll end up begging not to attack me” mweh, yeah probably. “Or run like hell” …he was definitely not a fighter. "I don't know..."
Run away? Beg? From the HEAD BOY?!
Hirsch was shocked. Sure, not everyone was willing to fight and maybe this boy was morally against all of that but he expected some sort of fire within one of the most responsible students at Hogwarts.
Merlin.
"Well......... I guess that works too. And you'll know. You WILL know." Hirsch would make sure of it.
Text Cut: Other answers
Text Cut: Esme
Quote:
Originally Posted by Squishy
Esme had a feeling that she had made the Professor feel more at ease somehow, and even though she wasn't sure HOW, it was something that made her smile more. Maybe Hufflepuffs were just calming.
As the lesson started, she listened closely to what he had to say. This was one of the subjects that she didn't have a passion for but enjoyed. Fighting wasn't her thing, but she did see the usefulness of being able to duel. Maybe she'd join the club, but she wasn't sure. Something to talk about with Juno later...
The question he asked them made her bite her lip. After thinking for a moment, Esme raised her hand. "Maybe I'd use my wand to shrink them. Then they wouldn't be so big and scary! If that didn't work, I'd get my dad because he's an Auror and has put Dark Wizards in Azkaban." If her dad could do that, he could deal with a bully.
This girl didn't understand his question, did she? Roderik closed his eyes and took a deep breath before launching into his explanation. "I should have clarified, what would you do if you were attacked by, say someone who's bigger and tougher than you, and you didn’t have your wand on you?" So no magic, please.
And about the family relations part. "I want to know how you would get out of it. They're coming at you, ready to attack you, and you have a split second to defend yourself in any way possible. Would you stand there calling your dad?"
Text Cut: Ariadne
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anna Banana
Class was starting! OH, HAPPY DAY!
...and there was going to be a club to join, too! COOL. TOO COOL. Ariadne was going to sign up as soon as the list was made available. Mmkay, moving on...
The next little speech brought about a range of facial expressions from Ariadne. Stuck somewhere? *eyes widened* No wand?! *eyebrows raised* In danger? *slight jump back* An attack?! *dives under mat* Just kidding on that last part. Ariadne was on edge, though. What would she do?! She guessed running for her life was out of the question. What about wandless magic? That was a possibility, but she was too young for that.
OHH, she had an idea! "What about camouflage?" Ariadne asked, raising her hand. "I've heard about people who can make themselves look like ANYTHING from trees to the ground to rocks! If you can manage to figure out really good ways to camouflage, you can make yourself pretty much invisible to anybody or anything!" That didn't really solve the problem of what you'd do if you didn't randomly have any materials to camouflage or if your attacker didn't give you any time to hide yourself. It was a start, though.
Would it be acceptable to laugh at the dramatics? Because Roderik wanted to. Really.
Oh, her answer! "Camoflague!" he called, clapping his hands, "Yes, that's a very good suggestion! Would you hide until they go away or would you be tactical about this approach?"
Text Cut: Dima
Quote:
Originally Posted by lemon
His cousins were... being his cousins, there was a small child from the Yearbook team squished between him and Norah, slight jabs were being taken at Prefects, and Gryffindors were talking about using big sticks as weapons. In Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
So nothing new. Dima felt right at home.
Hand up. "Wandless magic, sir?" It seemed more logical to him to work around the 'no wand' portion of that question than think of an actual response.
He was a little too sleepy for this right now.
What in the name of?
Wandless magic. Wandless magic. Frankly, Hirsch was stumped because he hadn't expected someone - or two people, actually - to mention this option. He'd been so focused on the fight and flight options that this one......
"What if you can't do wandless magic? It's very advanced magic, after all."
Text Cut: Katherine
Quote:
Originally Posted by StarShine
Hmm...
Katherine had no idea, because she was still arrogant to think she would never find herself in such a situation. However, a question was a question and for the sake of the smaaaaaaaall possibility, she listened to her classmates' answers before rushing to give her own.
She liked some of those answers, and some were outright absurd (like that Slytherin boy's). When it was her turn, she raised her hand.
"It heavily depends on the surroundings," she said like the arrogant know-it-all she was, "if there were plenty of places to hide, I'd hide first and surprise attack my attacker. However, if I was quite visible, I'd try to make my attacker angrier, because angry people do unwise things in a rush. I'd also try using my own physical ability to its best - and this means knowing my body, of course. But the first thing I'd so would be stealing the object they are attacking me with - if they have one."
This girl was........ tactical. And not in the physical approach either. While others had said something about attacking the attacker and dropping their guard and then fleeing, she was talking about using their emotions against them. Making them do unwise things so that she didn't have to do anything in the first place.
Tactical.
And also a little scary, considering how small the girl was.
"That.......... is a very clever answer." He was going to give her that. "The chances of you being attacked would be dropped by a lot once the attacker doesn't have their weapon on them."
Text Cut: Trixie
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mell
Oooh it was a trick question. What would she do in that kind of situation. Her first thought was to kick her attacker in the shins. But then she stopped to think about it properly. Her attacker was bigger than she was which wasn't hard because everyone was bigger than her.
"I would play dead, Sir." Trixie said, with her hand in the air.
As brave as she would like to be, she wasn't totally stupid. She knew that she wouldn't win against someone who was bigger than her no matter what was on hand.
Play dead. Play. Dead.
Hm.
"That would be a lot harder to do as a human being. Your heartbeat would give it away in an instant. But it's an interesting approach to throwing them off their guard." If that was what she was after.
Text Cut: Rooney
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shanners
Professor Hirsch. New competition in the tale of Rooney's love life. Raising a hand, Rooney asked the question that he always wanted to ask if someone introduced themselves with a first name. "Can we call you Roderik?" Or Roddy? Rikky? Roo just wanted to know what sort of connection level there was between this new teacher and his pupils. How far he would be willing to go to maintain a relationship with them without overstepping any boundaries.
As soon as his hand landed back in his lap, Roo was subject to a large sigh and rolled his eyes. Dueling. The worst time of his life, and it was going to be running once more.. He made a note of that in his notebook and put a line of question marks beside it. It was going to take a lot to convince him to go back into that, and he was actually pretty sure that he would need to speak to Professor Roderik to organise his thoughts regarding the situation. Part of the Ravenclaw wanted to do it, to prove to himself that he wasn't incapable of the ultimate combination of magic. The other part of him didn't want to be shown up by someone like Blaise Bellaire once more. Because that had been a joke. Up went his hand once more. "Professor, may I speak to you about that after class?"
P l e a s e ?
Moving ON, like Professor Roderik (or maybe even Roderik) said, Rooney considered every option he had to answer this answer, pausing his thoughts only to listen to those coming from his peers. Good ideas, they had. Good, but nothing solid...until... AHA! Perfect.
THIS. This was his answer!
But...there were ways he would adapt it. He wouldn't just play dead. He probably wouldn't have gotten himself into the situation in the first place, but if the things arose... he'd just play dead obviously. Or use his talent to it's optimum. "I'd pretend to be law enforcement and then get away when I saw the chance. OR.. Or I'd do what she said. Pretending to be dead. I'm good at that. I can even hold my breath for over two minutes." Two minutes was the minimum. He could do it for longer, but no one wanted to BRAG.
Unless it was to Blaise Bellaire. Who really had made a fool of himself by believing that whole...buzzing noise.
Call they call him Roderik? Uh. "You can call me Professor Roderik or Mr Roderik or Roderik Sir." He didn't want his ear bitten off by the Headmistress for being on friendly first-names basis with the students. That was a no. As for speaking to him after class: "Sure! Remind me later, okay?"
"Holding your breath for over two minutes is impressive, I'll give you that, but playing dead doesn't always work."
Text Cut: Carl
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jean Granger
The poke on his shoulder made him look around and to his surprise, he saw Yoongi taking a seat next to him. "Hey! Oh, yeah. Hufflepuff." He said as he straightened his yellow and black tie proudly.
And the lesson had begun! At the mention of the Dueling Club, Carl grinned excitedly and took a mental note to sign up after this lesson was over. Moving on, he took out his parchment and quill to take real notes. Hmm, he could answer that question for sure. So in his imagination, there was this big, tough man in front of him ... he had a large beard for a scarier effect - wait, a scary effect. The Hufflepuff raised his hand and answered, "I would glare at my opponent and try to appear really intimidating. Maybe they would be scared and run away from me!"
No? Well, chances were slim but it was possible, right?
Intimidate and scare was a more popular option than he thought it would be. Funny, really. He hardly expected it to come up and yet......
"Being intimidating works if you get it just right. Interesting approach, Mr Leonard."
Text Cut: Dante
Quote:
Originally Posted by Meizzner
See Dante appreciated a Professor that played along to a name tag. Even if all Dante wrote was The before his name. WAIT The Dueling Club was returning. Now that was cool. Which meant Dante had a chance to redeem his terrible finish to last years one. Which nothing against Thornton and Hady. Which are both awesome. He wanted to win. So of course he would be signing up again. It was fun minus getting his butt kicked by Thornton and Hady like he said.
Anyway onto the first question and what a hypothetical question it was. You could surrender. But he never said if the person was rational attacking you. All you know his your are being attacked and you have no wand.
"Well since this person is already attacking and i assume it is stronger and faster than me so running away to fight another day would not help. I guess i would do what Dima said wandless magic"
Dante would try and not get himself in those situations in the first place. But apparently nobody could be that smart in this hypothetical situation.
Another wandless magic answer. His eyes flew over to Mr Toussaint over there before settling on the young Slytherin boy. "Can you perform wandless magic, the Dante? What happens if you can't?"
Text Cut: Altha
Quote:
Originally Posted by bizarre
This was the class she'd been waiting for. After the woman at Ollivander's had told her her wand would be great for DADA, Altha'd been looking forward to the class since the first day.
With her posture straightened and her chin up, Altha strolled into the DADA room, glancing around. The room looked quite simple, something she could appreciate. Altha chose a cushion on the floor, and slowly sunk down to it. Crossing her legs, she sat up straight, and took her the name tag. After she'd shuffled through her bag and found a quill, she scribbled down:
It still felt strange to be writing Slytherin as her house. For a moment, Altha let her dark hazel eyes linger on the tag. Then she pushed her black hair back and looked down at her shoulder, pressing the tag on.
HAI! I’m going to ignore the walking in part since I hadn’t clarified it in my post. Next time, if I’ve already posted, just pretend as though your charrie was there the entire time? ^^
Text Cut: The silent ones
Text Cut: Chloe
Quote:
Originally Posted by pundantic
He was so handsome.
Chloe was so distracted by his face. For someone who was so used to telling other people, boys exclusively, how dumb they were she was really feeling very foolish right about now. The blonde could scarcely concrentrate on the lesson. That was how distracted she was.
It had to be some kind of lesson tactic: his face. Truly. Nobody, especially no boy, had ever made her face as red and her mind as mushy as this professor was right now. Maybe because he wasn't a boy. He was a man.
Ravenclaw!lowkey!swoon
When she finally clued back into the lesson people were talking. She panicked. Chloe had missed the question with all of her embarrassing face staring. From what other people were saying she discerned that they were talking about self protection but in what capacity she had no idea.
Text Cut: Daxton
Quote:
Originally Posted by Felixir
Someone sitting nearby had caught Daxton's attention, and he looked up to see Dora not too far off, in turn looking towards the professor. Daxton watched her for a moment, then finished off the small but detailed drawing he had been before turning his own gaze back to the... professor.
He gave no discernible reaction to being called 'Mr. Name'; it was, of course, what he had written on his nametag, and simply kept his eyes fixed on the man up front, expression now unreadable as he looked him up and down but never once directly at his eyes. After a moment, Daxton shifted his position so he was no longer sitting cross-legged, but instead with his feet planted on the floor in front of him, knees bent and acting as a sort of barrier between himself and everyone else in the room, particularly the... professor.
Daxton's expression did not change when Hirsch started talking, even when he mentioned the renewal of the Duelling Club. Still he scrutinised the man - this newcomer, this usurper, this masquerader - thinking hard. Though just about what, it was impossible to tell.
The hypothetical situation provided sent a jolt of recognition through Daxton, but still on the surface he remained cool, calm, composed, and completely closed off. He had one potential answer instantly, having the... benefit of experience, but the Ravenclaw said nothing, wrote nothing down. Aside from tensing up - a minuscule action only those who were paying close attention might notice - no response came from Daxton in the slightest. The smart thing here was to stay absolutely silent and non-reactive; anything else might lead to trouble of the least appealing kind.
And so he simply stared.
The silent ones. Those were expected. He gave them a nod of acknowledgement and hoped to Merlin that they were taking in their peers' answers.
"Excellent! Really, truly, excellent answers. I have to say, I really like the variety of answers you've all given. Some particularly interesting ones are up on the board." So they can jot them down, memorise them, do whatever it takes to remember them, at least.
Quote:
- 'The best defence is a good offence'
- 'There's no such thing as fighting fair when someone's attacking you'
- 'Disarm, disable and confine'
- 'SING!': target the solar plexus, jam your feet into their instep, hit their nose and their family jewels
Moving on. "Firstly, I don't want ANYONE in here thinking that they can't defend themselves in whatever situation arises. No one. I don't care if you're the size of a giant or the size of a house elf: you CAN defend yourself. You just need to harness that power." And it sounded as though some people might need to harness more of that power than others.
"The reason why I asked this vague question is because a wand is a wizard's best friend. You won't find the two without each other and chances are, if a wizard doesn't have their wand on them or can't use magic, they'll be stumped as to what they should do, especially if they were about to be attacked. We've just grown too attached to having a wand on us. We rely on it too much."
Pause.
"Don't get me wrong, it's great! But what happens if you can't use it? Are you going to lay there and say that you give up on life? Or are you going to do what the Muggles do and fight using your body and mind and surroundings? Because let me tell you, those are some of your greatest assets." And he'd gotten himself out of those kind of situations so he knew what he was talking about. Mhm.
"Muggles have martial arts, a form of defensive techniques where they use their hands, legs, anything to fight their opponent. What they do is they target their opponent's weakest points. Strike at it, if you will." He took a moment to grin over at Mr Baltazar over there who had given him, possibly, the most relatable answer to his lesson.
Oh, how he was giddy about this lesson! And he was going to show it by....... smiling. Widely.
That was the most giddy they were going to get out of him.
"Every human being has their weak spots. Their physical weak spots and we call them pressure points. Now. Can anyone give me any examples of these pressure points?"
OOC: Oh gosh, I'm SO sorry if the first question was confusing <3 Hopefully this one should be better?
And please just stick to ONE example per person, please. You'll have roughly........ until 2pm GMT on the 18th to answer this ^^
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Last edited by hermionesclone; 01-18-2016 at 01:48 AM.
Reason: Fixing some coding
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Oh dear, this year really was going to be all about the physical, wasn't it? What about the Dark creature lost Davie had presented to Mr. Hirsch, hmm? Did that mean nothing to the man? At least he had something nice to say about Davie's answer. Respect points, yeah! Violence points, nah! Squirming in his seat, David reluctantly copied down the list from the board and then slowly raised his hand. He knew nothing about pressure points. Nothing. But he knew where he would attack someone, if he had to.
"The back of the head." Yeah, take 'em out by taking out their brain! BAM! Only not really because Davie mostly hated hitting people unless they deserved it or they hit him first.
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Ellery was loving this. First off, she TOTALLY high-fived Olly because they were INSIDE EACH OTHER'S BRAINS, but also - self-defense??? She TOTALLY needed this. She was so pumped for this. She was a pacifist in theory…but she would totally punch someone if need be.
"I think there's one in your foot? But you shouldn't press it with a pregnant woman because it could induce early labor."
David talking about heads. Wouldn't it hurt to punch the skull??
Katherine allowed herself to smile brightly, but then she listened to other answers, of course. The whole class had heard that, right? HEH.
She'd write about this to her mum too.
...
The instant those four principals appeared on the board, her hand began flying on the parchment to copy them as quickly as possible. She giggled at the 'family jewel' and shook her head while writing that down. Whoever found the phrase was a genius. Anyway, right, the professor. Luckily, he didn't say anything else that needed to be written down, so she could rest her wand for more note-taking if she had to.
OH. She knew the PERFECT physical weakness spot!
Her hand raised at light speed, she said "The ears, sir. They are the regulator of balance, so if they are hit strongly enough, the person will feel at least dizzy."
Raven sits in the back and near wall, leaning his shoulder to wall suddenly change his sitting posistion, he straigthen his back and raise his hand
Oh this is interesting, pressure points..
"I think, the eyes Sir, if they blind a sudden, it would be a great opportunity for us, either to run away or to fight back right? He look at the Proffessor hoping finding approval for his answer, but yet he also want further explanation from the Proffessor
Last edited by LestrangeRaven; 01-17-2016 at 11:34 PM.
Reason: Wrong words sorry
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Olly certainly hoped he would not be getting into any fights anytime soon. People tended to get angry at him though, even when he had no idea why. So maybe it would be a good idea to know how to defend himself. In case he accidentally angered someone way bigger than him. So pretty much anybody older than him. He still thought he could just run away, but if he would be forced to fight it would be good to know how. Also, high five from Ellery. Why? Yay!
He raised his hand, even though he didn't really know the answer. "Uh, you could hit someones neck? That would probably hurt." Among other places. Why was Ellery talking about inducing early labor? He leaned even closer to her. "I don't think you're likely to be attacked by a pregnant lady."
Kaylee wasn't sure if she would be good with this question, she wasn't really a fighter, but she wanted to try to attempt.
She raised her hand and answered hesitantly. "Umm, I think the throat could be a pressure point." She finished up and listen to her fellow classmates give their answers. She was slightly concerned by one of the answers a Gryffindor girl gave 'Why would you need to do that a pregnant woman?'
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Janelle listened to all of her classmates' answers and the comments that the professor made about them. It was true. They could be waaay too dependent upon their wands for protection. Janelle knew a bit about muggle self defense, but that didn't mean that she was good at it. Hopefully she would learn some good things in this class, things that would make her feel more confident about defending herself.
Professor Hirsch asked a second question and this time Janelle raised her hand right away. "Isn't there a pressure point in the shoulder, close to the neck"? At least seemed to remember people on TV being taken down by a squeeze to that area.
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Esme blinked. Had she touched a nerve? "But Professor, couldn't I use wandless magic to summon my wand?" She was just saying. Esme wasn't even going to reply to the part about her dad. She'd still call him, tyvm because he was her father and would come to her rescue.
Maybe she needed the dueling club more than she had originally thought. She'd definitely have to work on her abilities with her sister because Juno was more adept at this subject.
Raising her hand, she attempted to answer the second question. "Well, I'm guessing that the head would be one of them. A good thumping on the back of a person's head might do the trick." Right?
Colt was liking this Professor already. He seemed to be pretty chill, I mean despite wearing the glasses and making him look like a dork. It seemed like some of the students well most of the girl students, look like they have a crush on him. He rolled his eyes and he heard the first question and he heard the answers. He figured he might as well write his name tag for the dude. He began to scribble on....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Name Tage
Colt Winchester
Fourth Year
Slytherin
Then he began to observe what he wrote down on the board. I mean this Winchester knew how to defend himself. He was from Durmstrang, that is what they taught you to do in DADA 101. He knew the basics and he was pretty good in dueling club last year. He was def going to sign up again. He heard the second question about pressure points. Hmm interesting one. He studied his hands and raised his hand,
"Professor..." he began because he forgot his name already. "I know there is a pressure point like on your wrist....well below the wrist actually. It is kind of on your arm..." He kind of demonstrated. He knew about the one because his cousin almost did it before his mother stopped him.
Cornelius was unbelievably giddy he couldn't stop wiggling in his spot. Hirsch, a DADA professor, praised his answer. Wait until he told his mum.
'Dear Mum, DADA professor said I had the best answer in the class. Making the family proud. xx Cornelius. P.S. I think the professor fanboyed my answer.'
Adding an extra bit wouldn't hurt. Besides, it was a truth he saw, therefore, he wasn't lying. Technically. And now that Hirsch was speaking again Cornelius' attention zoned back on the man. The boy shook his head to himself. No. There was no way he'd ever lose his wand or his wand would lose him. There was no way. They'd always have each other and that was that. He DID agree with training with mind and body. His mum has invested important Auror training in him so Cornelius found himself nodding at the rest of Hirsch's speech.
HIRSCH WAS LOOKING AT HIM OH MY MERLIN. AND GRINNING.
Cornelius flashed the man his BEST GRIN EVER. We got you, homie. His hand flew into the air at light speed, popping at the elbow from how fast he had reacted to the question. Oops. Pick him, pick him!
"The torso region, sir!" he said a little too excited and giddy. "Otherwise known as the sternum." He pointed at the center of his chest. "If you hit it right and with enough power you can break it and it can be catastrophic." BEAM. His mumma taught him well.
Oliver had been writing down notes the entire time, since he wasn't quite sure what to say about the whole defending himself thing. His anger issues insisted fighting a person but Ollie had never been in a fight before so he figured it would be best to keep his mouth shut on the topic.
Noooow, about pressure points. Oliver didn't know much other than the basics. Raising his hand, he said, "Well...it's a point...on your body...and you put pressure on it and then you faint." The boy wasn't quite sure if putting pressure on the point was painful, so he left that out. And as far as where they were, he didn't have answer for that either.
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Norah, who was still awfully amused and maybe even glowing a tiny bit at Katherine's dramatic reaction (she'd called her MISS. Didja hear that? This must've been what it was like to be the QUEEN. Or Sophie Brown, which was much more impressive than being the queen. Obviously), took on a slightly more somber expression when class started. She knew it was defense 'n all that, but fighting was not exactly the world's most pleasant topic of conversation. She was a fast runner 'n all that, but that was in races and maybe wouldn't count of there was a meanie face trying to attack her. There probably wasn't much she could do about that, except maybe some shin kicking but that had been covered by the other students, so she concentrated instead on her notes. Yes. Notes were good. Maybe that was one good thing that came out of being finished with OWL's--she knew firsthand now that rubbish notes made for even more rubbishness in the future, which was lame but at least now she knew. Trying her best to keep all her words in straight line instead of diagonally down the page as they usually ended up being, she copied down all the facts Professor Hirsch provided, before setting her quill down to raise her hand for the next question.
Seb had told her about THIS one before, uh huh. Back before she'd gotten too scared of hurting them to keep up with the wrestling games. Not that she could really do much damage with her baby noodle arms, but y'know. If he or Marcel got hurt it might as well be the end of her entire LIFE, and she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for that yet, so safe games it was. "I think there's a spot on the inside part of your elbow. Y'know, if you flip your arm over? Where it bends? If you press really hard there in the right way your opponent will FAINT or something scary like that." Supposedly. She was never ever ever going to test that one out, if she could help it.
No he did not know wandless magic. But that would be the perfect time to see if you can do it. Dante had laid out his hypothetical and would run away to fight another day. He did say the bigger stronger and everything else. Fighting dirty would not help if that was the case. Because you should always expect them to fight dirty anyway. Real life was not some duel in the Dueling Club. And can you defend yourself against a giant without a wand? Well i would love to see the Professor try. Because Dante did not believe it. He also did not believe that 'The best defence is a good offence' No the best defense is a really good defense and then counter attack when you have the chance.
But whatever, what did he know. Okay Martial Arts, he was seeing where Hirsch was going with this.
"The Throat. Since being able to breath i guess is important to defending yourself"
But the rest of the points on the board he agreed with.
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DADA Lesson One - You Wanna Fight 
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