Yikes. Azura appeared to have bit her lip, and it looked pretty bad. "Ah, no, Azura! We better hurry up and get you patched up." Garreth tended to his friend, shooting occasional glances back at the dummy to make sure it didn't try anything. Satisfied that it wouldn't be making another move, he wracked his brain for a solution. "Hey, you remember that healing spell you taught me in the hall on the fourth floor?" he smiled at her as the answer came to him. "That'll fix your lip, right?" He wasn't sure if the spell would work on her specific injury, but it had closed a cut on his knee, and he failed to see how a bite in her lip was much different.

"At least your nose is okay." he teased, trying to move the subject away from the fact that she had slipped and fallen again. The boy was finding it increasingly difficult to believe that Azura was just clumsy. She must be cursed or jinxed or hexed or some other word that means the same thing. Someone had cast a spell on her and made her to hurt her! That HAD to be the answer. Right?

"I don't suppose you want to try again?" he winced at her, feeling like she might have had enough of the dummy fighting already.

That was a good jab.

Bentley grinned and looked around to see if his cousin was watching. Did he see how he got the dummy right in the nose?! Hahaha. He was so busy enjoying his victory against the dummy and NOT looking, that he was caught off guard completely when the dummy closed his arms around him.

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" He said as he tried to wiggle free. Luckily he was still snall enough to wiggle down out of his grip. As soon as the second year wiggled free, he jabbed the dummy in the neck..right where his adam's apple would be.

"Take that stupid dummy!" That nickname was sorta reserved for Heath but right now he and the dummy were sharing.

Dante watched the dummy get closer because please like he would walk to it. He was the alive one here. Not the magically animated. So it would have to come to him. Dante waited and when it was time to actually do anything dodged it's outstretched arms and jabbed the dummy into in the right temple. Huh maybe he was better without a wand than him one. He did not have to deal with spells hindering his movements and you know worse stuff.

The dummy stopped moving just like the Professor had said. So cool. He did it right. but Dante wanted to have a little bit more fun with the dummy. Since you know this type of activity did not come around a lot in this school

Dante karate chopped the dummy in the neck

How Did You Like That Dummy!

Tory knew about the Kidney punch. He was happy to know he was right about it being one of the weak spots on an enemy. He did at one point elbow his cousin Kaleb there once, on accident. Though Kaleb did look hurt he didn't topple over in defeat. That's what these pressure points were for weren't they. That's why he mentioned to really have at your opponent's Kidney region.

So that's what he'll do to his dummy. He'll get him in the Kidney, and good!

The Young Gryffindor stuffed his wand into his bag as instructed and moved over to a Free Dummy.
Kidney, punch the dummy in the kidney. Punch the Dummy good. He set himself up standing firm and ready for the Dummy to come at him.

But Tory would surprise the Dummy. He'll evade it like a master martial artist and get behind it. With a Great big punch to it's Dummy Muffin-top.
Then he heard Liv yell something about Treats. He turned his head to watch her struggle with her dummy that had pinned her hands down.
He also suddenly had the craving for a treat. Like a Chocolate Frog or something. Frogs were pretty neat you know....Amphibians. Such as they are. His Mind wandered and completely missed it when The Dummy charged him. His clamped his arms down, but Tory's mind had wandered off into space thinking about Frogs and Toads, and Chocolate and Caramel.

Kitty retreated from the dummy, trying to determine how exactly she would hit it. "I would go right for the eyes!" was the answer she had gleefully given the professor, but this dummy had its arms outstretched and Kitty was afraid that if she reached forward it would have an opening to grab her. So instead she slapped its right hand as hard as she could and then pulled back. It tilted slightly but kept coming.

Before he knew it, the grip on his arm that the dummy had was changed in to a kind of hug and the Head Boy struggled as he tried to get out of its grasp. But no such luck, either he was really weak or the dummy was really strong.... Ehm....lets say it was the latter okay? Ahem...

As he continued to try and wriggle free, his eyes flashed to the board and he automatically read what was on it. And it had given him an idea. He stopped struggling, took a deep breath and kicked the dummy backwards with the back of his heel in the lower region.

Instantly, the dummy backed away and Yoongi let out another frightened yelp as he slipped because of the mat and he fell on the ground. He did NOT like this lesson at all.... He NEEDED magic!

.

.

.

Obviously, in times like this, Olivia did what she ALWAYS did...and turned to her Disney heroes. This situation was kinda similar to Mulan, right? When Mulan had been forced to don boy's clothes and went off to fight in the war to protect her dad. THIS DUMMY WASN'T PLANNING TO LET HER GO, WAS IT?! As if reading her mind, the large figure seemed to be trying to wrestle her down to the ground...IT WAS GOING TO BE LIKE A WAR TO BREAK FREEEE.......SHE WOULD LIVE TO DANCE AGAIN...and BASK IN THE BRILLIANCE OF FREEEDOOOOM....

/DRAMATIC

Teehee.

Lance used to do this, too, when he was being a toad...but stomping his feet always made him let go...THE SHIN!!! Kicking someone in the knees could hurt them, too, right?!...That had been listed on the board, as well, hadn't it? Er...Since her dummy was holding her super tight, she lifted both legs, since the grip had her suspended, and kicked both shins at the same exact time! The force from her own legs and suddenly being dropped her flung her backwards a bit. Olivia landed on her bum with a THUD!, but she hardly noticed the pain of it. Just another bruise. She got loads of them all the time. One couldn't really call themselves an adventurer if they didn't have battle scars to prove it!

She'd bounced back up on her feet in no time; her high metabolism and stamina being the cause of what seemed an endless supply of energy. Olivia would feel the effects later, though...like after an especially invigorating dance lesson. Her bum would definitely need to be iced.

"WE MUST BE SWIFT AS A COOOURSING RIVER.....WITH ALL THE FORCE OF A GREEEAT TYPHOOOOON...." Deciding to go on the offensive this time...and actually DODGE the dummy with that speed and precision Prince Erik had mentioned....(since the hands were kinda tough...Psh, NOT AS TOUGH AS HER...but...er, tough, yea)...she awkwardly twirled around to kick it in small of it's back. Awkward twirling because...eh, her bum really hurt. The goal was to get it on its hands and knees or topple it over, in any case. It didn't completely work out, but had started oddly warbling; clearly off balance. Kicking it again, as hard as was able this time, it finally went down.

Dancer legs were strong. It was probably the most helpful tool she had at her disposal. So...in the vein of that...Liv quickly moved back to the side and full on kicked her dummy in the side of its head; in the temple. Viciously, too. Her dad had told her to be ruthless.......in dueling club, but this still counted right?! Well, she thought so.

"MYSTERIOUS AS THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOOOOOOON!"

.

.

That had been kinda fun, actually.

It was hard NOT to notice the yells and loud noises coming from around the front of the room where dummies and students met. Olivia was trying her hardest though, not to let it distract her. It would only serve to get her in trouble and then likely making sounds of her own she kept reminding herself as she worked out other options against her own opponent. The opponent that had bounced back relatively quickly from her blows to the neck and going for her again with its arms and basic movements of attack.

Since it had offered some success, the Ravenclaw gave it a couple more wacks to the neck to distract the dummy before changing direction once more. The stomach area this time...which had been called the solar plakis or something or other. Her hands had gone from flat to balled into fists and she tried to manuever around the dummy's arms to punch the area in question while it was recovering from her other blows. It was not going to get the better of her.

One...two.

One...two...three.

That time Olivia was certain of her success as the dummy seemed to shut down. "Picked on the wrong girl."

Chocolate is made from the Cocoa Bean which was originally grown in what is now Venezuela. Thanks to Cocoa Beans we wouldn't have the Delicious treat that is Chocolate.
Frogs are amphibians. They can live in Water and Land and are Super slimy. If you catch one it usually will go to the bathroom in your hand to try and escape...which is gross.
Tory always wondered why the two would be combined to create the treat that they have today. Wouldn't it be easier to have a treat that better fits collecting cards than Frogs? Like Chocolate...Cards. Yeah like you can eat the Common ones. You'll always get those. Eat Harry Potter all the time, but if like a Xavier Rastrick came up you shouldn't eat those ones.

So why don't Chocolate Frogs do this...you know to protect themselves? Wouldn't they not want to be eaten?

Oh...wait was something holding onto him...

Torrance's attention finally came to, and he brought his head out of the clouds only to come face to face with a Dummy who was holding onto him pretty tight. "Sneak attack huh!? I'm not an easy Target you know!" He taunted the Dummy that had been holding him pretty still for at least the last Seven Minutes give or take.
The Young Lion tried to wriggle himself free, but to no avail the Dummy had a pretty good grip on his upper arms. He squirmed for a bit. Then he lifted his knee. The Dummy hadn't pinned his legs down so he could use them.

With a swift jab forward Torrance kneed the Dummy in his...well... area.

This caused the dummy to release him finally and stumble backwards.
Tory stumbled backwards too, but now the thing had his full undivided attention. "MY TURN!" He yelled at the top of his lungs and darted forward.

The Dummy still recovering from the knee to his spot tried to snag one of Tory's arms as he got behind it. This wasn't enough to stop him. With a quick bounce off the floor Tory piggy-backed onto the Dummy. "How you like it, DUMMY!"
Of course he wouldn't give the dummy enough time to respond...if it could. Using his free hand that wasn't behind. Leveraging himself back just a bit. Tory started punching the poor dummy at least four times in his kidney spot until the Dummy dropped to it's knees.

With that Victory in hand, He stepped off the back of the Dummy and sneered happily at it. "Better luck next time, Dummy." He mocked the inanimate object.

Kitty retreated several steps from the dummy and turned to watch how her fellow students were handling their dummies. The dummy moved so slowly that she reckoned she had time to do this. Her attention was immediately grabbed by the energetic first year (Olivia). She watched in admiration as the student escaped from the clutches of her dummy and then went into the offensive, using awesome quotes that Kitty had do idea where they came from. When she said "Mysterious As The Dark Side Of The Moon" Kitty felt inspiration coarse through her and she repeated the quote in her mind so she wouldn't forget it.

So immersed was she in watching the battle that her own dummy managed to sneak up on her from behind and wrap its arms around her. "AHHH!!!" Kitty screamed in surprise, not expecting that the dummy would come at her from any direction that was not straight forward. "That's cheating!"

This time, Austin was ready. He had tried to get most of his fears out with the first dummy, but his heart was still racing. His current dummy unwound his arms from the teen, and set back up across the room.

Taking a deep breath, Austin tried to remember the places to hit. Again he wasn't going to get the back of the knee right now, or the groin. Although it would probably work for the demonstration. He wanted to think like a Ravenclaw. If a dummy were actually trying to attack him, those weren't the smartest places. The smartest place for him right now was going to be the throat. He was tall enough to reach it, and could get a good momentum going from where he was at.

As the new dummy came towards him, the Ravenclaw's hands went into defensive fists in front of his chest.

Get ready Austin... He thought. Wait for the right moment. He probably waited a moment longer than most would, but struck when it was in front of him. He punched the throat, or what would be the throat of a human, and closed his eyes. The teen was waiting for another failure, and arms to wrap around him again. But when none came, he realized he had won. When he opened his eyes, a dummy was lying on the floor in front of him.

His heart was racing again, but this time from excitement. Now that he knew he could do it, he was ready for his next dummy.

No wands....... Oh my gosh. But.....

Fighting dummy's. Yes. This was going to be fantastic. That day of TaeKwondo was really going to pay off in this class. Yeah. Kat wasn't much for violence so one day of taekwondo was all she could take. But if this Dada was going to be hand to hand combat then she would give it a try.

As she approached the dummy, the dummy jumped up at her. Katerina squealed, slightly startled. She gave the dummy a swift kick in his man business. "Haha, sir. BRING IT ON." Assuming the dummy was a boy. Sorrynotsorry. She grinned and used her elbow to knock the dummy in the head.

Rawr rawr rawr.

Sure the dummy was easy to beat up because it really wasn't fighting back it was more like trying to hug her. Except not the dummy came up from behind her and jumped on her back. Ugh no no no. Kat GOT piggyback rides, she didn't give them. Another elbow to the stomach this time. Hehe.

That didn't seem to help at all. The dummy did not get the memo of no piggyback rides. Moving her tiny hands to the dummy's head she grab the head and flipped the dummy over her head, body slamming it to the floor. She let out yell. "It's on like donkey kong no, son." Beating her chest like donkey kong as well.

Well maybe now she would see if she could get back into the taekwondo classes in the summer. This was kind of fun. Really Kat might be tiny but she was mighty. This dummy had really gone and ticked her off even worst than the old hag had done in the kitchen.

Crazy was one word to describe this class.

Hirsch was at a crossroads: on the one hand, he was starting to get a little worried about the violent tendencies of some of the students in here but one the other hand, he was beside himself with joy at the dramatics displayed here. Oh, the dramatics! Oh, how he was enjoyed the dramatics. The kicks and punches, along with the occasional 'HI-YAH!'s that rang around the classroom. It was like music to his ears.

And then there came the sound of singing.

What?! Were people having that much of a good time?

Yeah, time to move on, then. Taking out a whistle from the pocket inside his blazer, the man gave it TWO SHARP TOOTS to call everyone's attention. Yes, hello, he still existed over here. "I have to say, I'm delighted at how you tackled that task. Even those of you who don't like attacking and would've run off if they were confronted managed to cause some damage. Good." So what if he was inducing some level of violence? This was defence, after all.

"I hope you all learnt a few things: for example, if you're in a confrontational situation, you have very little time to make your move and very few moves to get the attacker to back off. So every move is crucial." He could not stress that enough. "And if you're going to make a strike, I want you to try and throw your whole weight behind it. You have that one chance to throw your attacker off: why not do it properly?"

Moving on! "OKAY. So I'm going to mention how you can get out of one of the most common holds: the wrist hold. This is a hold where someone grabs you by the wrist and tries to drag you away somewhere. They're doing this as a way to trap your hand from causing any harm, making them think they have control over you. DON'T. LET THEM. THINK THAT. And DON'T think you can attack or try to pull away. " Got it?

"If someone in front of you grabs you by the wrist, take a step towards them and bring your elbow down at the same time. Their wrist will be bent and they won't be able to move it: as if it's been locked into place. Quickly, shoot your arm upwards, freeing your wrist from their grip. With lots of practice, you'll be able to do this faster than you can say 'self-defence'." It was as simple as that.

Merlin, that was a lot of talking.

Breathe. Breathe.

Oh, and another thing:

Quote:

Pressure points:
- Eyes: gouging, poking, scratching attacker’s eyes with fingers or knuckles: anything to impair their vision or distract them
- Temple: hard to reach but a sharp jab is all you need
- Nose: use heel of your palm (bottom curve near the wrist) to strike up and under the attacker’s nose; if they’re behind you, the elbow works as well
- Neck: HUGE target (probably biggest because of the blood vessels flowing there): - can stun your attacker using this method: hold your dominant hand out with the fingers straight and held tightly together and the thumb bent inwards slightly: like a karate chop motion but palm facing upwards; simply strike the side of the neck
- Solar plexus: Punch, kick, do whatever it takes to target this specific area and bring the person down
- Groin: well, that’s obvious
- Knee: kicking the back of the knee is the best option because, with enough force, it’ll make them stumble and fall and give you enough chance to run off; can kick front of the knee for more injury but is less likely to cause an imbalance


Getting out of the wrist hold: Take a step forwards and bring your elbow down towards the floor at the same time, then shoot the arm upwards as quickly as possible

"NOW. I want you to put that technique into practice, along with everything you know about pressure points. Remember, self defence is merely a way of attacking the attacker in their weakest spots in the quickest and easiest way possible. There is always a way to get out of any hold, you just need to figure out how by using the pressure points. For your final activity in this class," Yes, final, don't look so upset. "I want you all to put on a little something." And with that, he turned to the sealed box and opened it: revealing a head support, a torso support along with shinpads and gloves.

He also waved his wand in a funny little zigzag motion over the dummies.

Was it just him or were they starting to look scarier?

"Grab some of the safety clothes and I want you to practice releasing yourself from holds by using your wits and targeting any of the close pressure points. For this activity, you CAN pair up with someone if you want to OR you can pair up with one of the dummies again. Bear in mind, though, that the dummies are going to do more than just hug you. They're going to attack!" But surely, with their protective clothing and their knowledge, they knew what to do, right?

"Good luck!"

TOOT went the whistle!


OOC: EEEEEEE MAIN ACTIVITY TIME YAYAYAYAYAY! *bounces*

Okay so for THIS activity, you can EITHER pair up with someone or work with the dummies from before. The dummies have been charmed to do more than just hug: they're going to attack, maybe grab hold of your charrie's wrist and try to pull them away...... really, you can make it up as long as it's NOT a simple bear hug.

If you want to work with another charrie, you can pair up to do so. Just try and bear in mind that there should be NO serious injuries. None. *stern Kita looks*

For this activity, I'm giving you 48 hours from the time of this post to make a minimum of 4 posts for full credit.

All creative licenses go to you guys so HAVE FUN! ^^

Hugo was ready for this karate thing that Hirsch was talking about. He had heard of it before but of course, never actually tried it. Except yoga but it didn't have anything to with this. So, he put his wand away and cracked his knuckles before beginning.

The dummy started to walk towards him and Hugo simply stood there. When the animated thing was close enough to him, the fifth year poked one of his eyes. HA! He always wanted to do that but would feel bad for the other person's eye and since this was just an animated object it really didn't matter. Apparently, the dummy stopped moving so it meant he did it right. He could be black belt now.

For his next move he wanted to try the nose or neck area. He had seen too many action movies and was living the dream with this activity.

As soon as Professor Hirsch blew the whistle, the dummy hugging Kitty let her go and froze. Bushing herself off, she backed away from it and listened to Hirsch talk about how to escape a wrist hold. Uneasiness went through her when he pulled out safety equipment and said that the dummies were going to attack.

There were two sharp TOOTS sounding throughout the room, causing Ariadne to stop in place and look around the room. OHH, it was the professor! Funny little sound, that whistle was! He followed that by launching into a huge discussion about a wrist hold, which Ariadne actually listened to from start to finish. The dummy had always KILLED her (no, not really), so she wasn't going to wind up the weak one a second time around.

After that, Ariadne began to get dressed in the weird little get-up the professor had provided for them. Dear MERLIN, these were huge on her! She should have really looked for a smaller size, but everything was on her now! Maybe somebody knew a re-sizing charm or something like that. Now she had her choice--work with a dummy or another person. ANOTHER PERSON! There was no contest about that one! Those dummies were scary, and somebody else could deal with them!

"Does anyone want to partner up with me?" she asked. Someone? Anyone? ... Please?

Alright. Now for his second move, he practiced a bit before hitting the dummy.

Hugo was ready, he was BORN ready. Yes. This time was different and the dummy grabbed his hand. OH NO! You animated object stay there! He hold the hand of the dummy and with the other punch him in the chest. Yeaaah. He was released. Wohooo.

But the dummy was still moving. Wasn't that punch hard enough for it?! Oh well. When the dummy was close enought he punch him in the chest (again) and on the temple. What about that, huh? It was enough for the object to stop moving.

Point for him!

This was ridiculous. Hirsch wanted them to put all of that padding on (which obviously meant they could get hurt this time around) and allow someone to put their hands on them to try and hurt them? That sounded like the silliest, most absurd plan ever.

....

But somehow coming from Hirsch it sounded really, really wonderful. Like a dreamy kind of wonderful. The kind of wonderful that sent Chloe's freckled face up in a red haze again.

EVERY. TIME.

The twelve year old needed to learn to combat these random bursts of blushing. It was humiliating.

No matter how wonderful that all sounded coming from Hirsch (like honey dripping from his lips) she still wasn't dumb. Chloe wasn't going to pick someone who she didn't know, was taller than her or had a significant amount of body weight on her. Like calls to like in these practice scenarios.

She searched for her Liv and....ah ha. There she was.

Grabbing safety materials for the pair of them, Chloe slipped next to her friend and tossed her some body protection. "Partners?"

Before Azura could fully reply to Garreth, the Professor blew his whistle and she turned to look at him as he spoke..

That wasn't the main activity? Merlin! Azura wanted to lay down and die right now! And she was still bleeding! She pulled her lip into her mouth and started to suck on it a bit.. hopefully it would stop bleeding enough for her to complete this main event..

She groaned a bit.. her nose still hurt and she could see soo much potential for harm to her poor face in this exercise.. Hopefully the protective guards would help..

She looked over at Garreth as the whistle went off and she gave him a bit of a shrug.. "Wanna practice together? I don't trust those dummies." She said with a smile, "And we can heal me after class, we aren't suppose to have our wands out.. and if this were real battle.. I'd have to keep bleeding until I got away.. so.. let's try it." She said as she moved to grab some protective gear.. and wiped the blood from her nose and her lip..

The heck was THAT?

Matt EYED those thingamajig the professor had told them to wear and raised an eyebrow. Weeeeeeird thingies, but HEY, kinda like Stormtrooper outfits? .......Matt's imagination was THAT good, alright, so STORMTROOPER OUTFIT IT WAS!! WOOOOOOOO!!! "COOL!"

After Matt was all geared up, he held up his blaster!fingers and got in a READY!SET!WAITFORTHEGO!pose. He was back to facing a dummy because he could be a bit more wild with them than with a classmate, so he thougth that'd be more FUN. HEHEHEHEHE!!

THE DUMMY WAS MOVING AGAIN! Coming towards him! "READY!" He shouted just because he could as he jumped into the perfect position in which he could point his blaster!fingers directly at the dummy's FACE. He waited until it was really close because it had to grab his wrist, hadn't it?

But MERLIN, this dummy was too slow. TOO SLOW. Matt took several steps forward to get this done quicker. "Come on, take my wrist, dummy, you're so slow!" SHEESH. The boy literally held his hand up and waited until....... it.... reached out and he pulled his hand away. "AHA! YAAAHH!!" The Gryffindor spun on spot and tried a super back kick.

Did it work? He had no clue.

Olivia was still on a high from the previous...er, altercation, but her bum was properly throbbing now. Properly in a way that she could expect one heck of a bruise when she dressed into her pajamas tonight. Gah!...but the ickle blonde would never admit to being scared of ROUND TWO. If that was meant to be her fate, well, you know, she'd bounce to it and TRY...but finding an alternate partner was MUCH MORE desirable.

Like...Blaise or Bentley...or Phillip, even...

Of course, CHLOE found her first, and Liv could've DRAMATICALLY CLUNG to her friend from her relief. No more facing off with the dummies today. Not for her. Those things were too grabby for her liking.

"Yes, please, and thank you." The tiny Gryffindor immediately began suiting up in the padding, needing to take a bit of time to figure out how all the individual pieces went on. She was new to it, ya know? She couldn't be expected to understand muggle padding right off the bat, psh. Also, it had not occurred to her that they might be expected to do more than breaking this wrist hold. If they were, of course, Liv was going to have issues. She'd NEVER hurt her Chloe.

So...er, they could just stick to the write hold, yea?

"Did you wanna start?" As if to emphasize, Liv thrust out her wrist.

Chloe was so relieved that Liv was eager to be partners. She didn't want to match up with any boys because, well, gross: boys. And there weren't any other girls she trusted with her wrists. The bones in the wrist were some of the easiest to fracture, you know? Skele-Gro or any painful spells were not something she wanted to spend the night dealing with.

Liv won out!

As to the padding, Chloe was a little lost. So she just followed Liv's lead, which meant that the two blonde youngsters probably spent longer than normal figuring out how padding worked. Chloe, at least, kept putting things on backwards.

Once that was all sorted, her hair was now three times bigger from frustration to match the lovely red face, Chloe squared off with her friend. She tried to assume some kind of intimidating stance and then remembered Chloes weren't intimidating physically. She changed her plan of attack.

Stick to the bare minimum of physical exertion. It would result in the lowest chance of injury.

The blonde took a deep breath, reached out and grabbed Liv's wrist. Chloe flinched, prepping for what she knew was next, "Don't kill me Livy."

Pressure points. Thirty two of them in the human body, which actually made Tia kind of nervous. Would she ever need to know this stuff, she didn't know but she guessed it was better to be prepared. Especially cause the hag kept her forewarning up that they would meet doom or death or whatever other nonsense she was on about. So surely a bit of self defense wouldn't hurt anything?

The groin. She knew that one was painful, mostly from being around boys. With a sigh, she put her wand away, because she wanted to stay on Professor Hirsch's good side. Impress him with her ability to self defend without magic. Ready, she could do this. As the dummy started coming at her peers, Tia waited patiently for her turn to defend herself, deciding what move to use. Not the groin because ugh, no, no. Just no.

Then without much warning, it's hand came fast out of nowhere, quickly aiming for her chin ... and if she allowed it to make contact, she'd probably break a tooth when her chin got smacked upwards. Fortunately, she was ready for it, effectively taking her own hand and smacking the dummy hand away from her and then took her palm to the area underneath the dummy's nose. Had it been a live person, the nose no doubt would have broke, but as it was just a dummy, the fake person just went up and backwards.

If Liv could read minds, she might argue that boys weren't all that bad, mostly because some of the best friends she'd made thus far had been of the opposite gender...but then she would, undoubtedly, remember that her friend tended to be more wise about these matters. It was best not to argue with people smarter than you were, unless you understood every facet of your argument. Her mum had taught her that...though, she'd used different words to explain it.

Also, she was TRULY APPALLED at the thought of hurting the Chloe. No one would EVER hurt the Chloe, not even herself, or Olivia would stab them with her dinner fork, or command Gus to attack!

"I wouldn't! I swear."...and also, because she wasn't sure what she was meant to be doing. Trying to recall what Prince Erik had said...Liv was, supposedly, going to allow her friend to grab her wrist and then....would move forward, jerking her arm upward? Was that right? Ugh, this was harder than the previous.

So, going through the steps again, she bounced forward and jerked her arm skyward!

Wait...that wasn't right. She'd missed something...

The Gryffindor offered a sheepish smile. "This is complicated."

Chloe totally understood why Liv had missed the lesson. She had barely understood what was going on either and, honestly, they weren't to blame. It was Hirsch's dumb, beautiful, amazing....dreamy face that did that. It drove minds blank with its perfection. The Ravenclaw was sympathetic to her friend's struggle. The struggle was real. So handsome. And real. And...and...she couldn't remember.

Ah yes! Self-defense. How was she ever going to manage getting any real lessons learned in this classroom? This year was going to be so hard and Chloe resented Hirsch. Not that much. She snuck a glance in his direction.

The second year offered her friend an easy smile, "Livy, just pull my wrist down. It'll bend it and then it'll lock." Up didn't do much. But down would do a whole lot. Or at least that was what Hirsch had said.

...and she was inclined to trust Hirsch.

Her blush was creeping down her neck now. Focus, Chloe. No boys/men were worth this level of distraction. Lies.