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Goblinfrog · 03-10-2018, 01:49 AM

It had been a rainy couple of days leading up to this morning. That morning it was storming very heavily outside. This was the first serious storm that wasn't a blizzard of the year so far and outside was nearly dark as night.

Luckily this class was not taking place outside, for this was History of Magic, and everyone who knew Professor Charles O. Curtains knew that he never did any type of physical activity during class. Most professors did, but not him - despite his rather eccentric personality out of class.

And so it was that the classroom looked exactly as it often did during class. Charles was sitting behind his desk writing something on a notebook. Please find your seat. The lesson will commence shortly.

OOC:Lesson has begun, but you can still join us. Just say you were here all along.

First question
Second question
Answers + Activity part one and two

Birchwoodmom · 03-14-2018, 12:27 AM

Keeping her head down, because she had absolutely no idea what Professor Curtians was talking about, Emmalyn scribbled down notes and listened carefully to all of the answers. She was thankful to have not been around during that time. It seemed horribly scary and, unless someone mentioned the strange paintings showing up around the castle and Hogsmeade, Hogwarts felt safe to her.

She wondered which students in the room had family during that time. Glancing around, no one looked particularly uncomfortable with the topic, so maybe it was newer information to them as well. Either way, she was going to pay attention.

2111jen · 03-14-2018, 01:24 AM

SPOILER!!: Professor and Kirk

"What exactly would happen if you decided to stay there more then a year? I mean, I read about it before, but...would teaching in the room for more than a year make you physically sick or something?" Skyler didn't really understand.

Charely Potter · 03-14-2018, 02:27 AM

Touched on it.. Well.. as flattering as it was to be mentioned, Kirk would've welcomed it if.. nah he didn't have to say or think why. He was in those lazy but still motivated moods with his vacant expression. Anyways, they were now discussing the curses regarding the subject?

Skylar had the when and how down from the sounds of it. "I imagine he hoped for the subject to be cancelled after enough teachers being cycled yearly. Less people are going to go for the job if they know they'll be doomed one way or another." No defense meant easy target. Yes?

*Kolyander* · 03-14-2018, 01:48 PM

Huh? So they wouldn't be discussing what she had thought. This surely meant she would be taking down even more notes. She didn't know all that much about the jinx that was placed upon the DADA position but that's what she was here for. To learn.

Rylee gave the question a moments thought. "I think Voldemort actually asked for the position twice? Once when he was really young and he was denied for that reason and then again when he was older." Or something like that anyway. As for more details on the reasoning behind it all she wasn't entirely sure herself but it seemed like some of her fellow classmates knew.

Once her answer had been given she returned to quickly taking down notes on the subject just in case she would need it.

Bazinga · 03-14-2018, 03:07 PM

The professor who loved the dark lord, that was now what Zita was going to call this one. It was really annoying that's all this class did was talk about that era. She could think of thousands of things they could be doing, but they would sit and bore themselves into ghosthood with this professor, but she wasn't going to have it,
not today.

She'd find something else to do and as her eyes moved around the room, she found exactly what she wanted to do. Pulling out some parchment she started writing something down on parchment.

Though she'd pretend to be paying attention.

debpetrisor · 03-14-2018, 05:41 PM

The ceiling was awfully distracting... but Daehyun absolutely loved it.

And, although he seemed to be paying more attention to the dark sky above them than to professor Curtains, he listened to every word. Just... looking up every now and then, in between scribbling notes. He loved a stormy sky.

As for Voldemort's curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts professors, his hand shot up in the air. "Wasn't it also a way to reduce the knowledge taught in the subject, with the ever-changing professors, to have less of a challenge against his followers and himself?" Seemed like a pretty smart idea to him, if it weren't for the fact that it helped the dark lord become more powerful.

siriusblackliveson · 03-15-2018, 02:54 AM

Patrick listened to every single answer taking it in, he wasn't so sure himself why someone would curse a position unless he was trying to keep people from having knowledge enough to defeat him. "I agree with the others, a way to keep people from knowing the subject, or like someone else said, he would hopefully get the position himself." he wanted to mumble on about if he was going to come in power he might as well teach the subject so he could tell them just what he wanted... but that might sound like he sympathized with Voldemort, when in reality he just thought history was cool.

lazykitty · 03-15-2018, 03:23 AM

"The curse, or the idea of it, so was successful that eventually the only people that ended up being hired were followers of Voldemort, starting with Barty Crouch Jr. polyjuced as renowned Auror Alastor Moody, followed by Dolores Umbridge, Severus Snape and Amycus Carrow before the supposed curse is ended by the death of Voldemort." Honestly, he was surprised that no one else had mentioned it. "I think his real reasoning was to get to either Harry Potter or one of his friends and that the 'vengeance' reason was just a cover. After all, Harry was a Horcrux too, maybe Voldemort actually figured that out before anyone knew he had....?" Okay, that information was way more than Professor Curtains had asked for and probably wouldn't be discussed at length, though he hoped it would, because it seemed like that would be an interesting debate to have. Oh well.

Stefan · 03-15-2018, 09:49 AM

In all honesty, Jace was hoping they'd get to talk about something else besides Voldemort or his followers. He'd been studying the same thing for the past seven years now and truthfully things got old and boring way too fast for the Ravenclaw. He was hoping they'd get to learn something else besides Voldemort. American Wizarding history would be a good start...or maybe something closer to home like...yeah, Grindelwald's history...his relationship with the famous Albus Dumbledore...the reasoning behind why he wanted to suppress certain things and issues...

Yeah, not happening today. Jace resorted to pulling out his notebook and began to scribble down his plans for when he comes back to Japan. Instead of using the standard alphabet, he resorted back to his native language and dared to look busy "taking notes" in Japanese. No one will ever know anyway.

RachieRu · 03-15-2018, 04:53 PM

Hmm. This was an interesting subject indeed. Hattie liked lessons like this, though they did bring about debates, and that wasn't always the best. Things tended to get a bit out of control when they had debates. She did enjoy these kind of discussions though. She took some notes, writing down what her peers were saying so she could remember them. She didn't know if it would come up in her NEWTs next year, but she just wanted to haven notes to revise from if she did need them next year. And now she needed to think about her answer. She spent a few minutes thinking about her answer before she put her hand into the air.

"I kinda wonder if Voldermort thought if nobody could keep the job for very long that eventually nobody would be qualified? If the teaching level of defence against the dark arts was so low. Then Hogwarts might be forced to accept him, because he was the only person qualified to teach the subject"

Dokimoto · 03-15-2018, 05:15 PM

Merlin's beard... How old was Voldemort when he was asking for the job? From what she recalled, he was about 50 years older than Harry Potter which left a long period of time in the depths of that curse. Kye thought about her opinions and questions for a moment before piping up. "Well, I've heard that he was basically throwing a fit about not getting the position and that was why he cursed it... But whether it was because of his tantrum or because he didn't want people to learn how to defeat him... didn't at least the Headmaster know or have an idea that it had happened?" More thoughts started to flood through her, questions creating more questions, and she couldn't help but continue. "I mean, that was many many years of just one year tenured professors... Couldn't they have found a way to break the curse, or to at least find a loop hole? Would the teachers be able to do some kind of rotation, or maybe just teach little by little as it pertained to their main subject material?" After all, it wasn't like each new professor lost his/her life after taking the position... And with the amount of time between Voldemort's rise and fall, you'd think that SOMEONE would figure SOMETHING out? Not that this was a real resolution, but she was on a roll in her thought process and felt like laying it all out there in the hopes of any clarification.

Kye took a breath, realizing that she had just gone off on more of a jumble of questions than she normally did during class, but this was definitely more of a discussion than most classes where they were just talked to... not with. Kye quite appreciated the open dialogue they were able to have, as it encouraged her to speak up. On the other hand, she was currently forgetting to actually write any of the others' responses as notes because were they really telling her that with all of the great wizards of that era like Albus Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Harry Potter, Hermione Weasley... NONE OF THEM had any ideas on how to fix this until Voldemort actually died?? There was some powerful magic of course, but still... Surely something could be done in one decade or another.

Cassirin · 03-15-2018, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 2111jen

Skyler snorted at the answer.
"Wouldn't eyeliner make the world darker?" She said an amused smile on her face.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

"Yes, Voldemort's reign of power was certainly a dark period for defense against the dark arts, indeed it was a dark period for all subjects and all people from every walk of life. Now the same can also be said for Gellert Grindleward's reign, though perhaps to a lesser extent." He was echoing their answers. The answer he had been looking for had not been provided by anyone, but these were still good answers. "And though I have never used eyeliner, I suppose a time where it had not been invented would be inconvenient for the millions who do use it," he said, smiling at Ms. Toussaint's answer. Did Professor Hirsch ever use eyeliner? Hmmm.

"The answer I am thinking of today, and the one we will be studying, is more narrow in scope. Kirk touched on it." Kirk mentioned Voldemort killing several teachers. "I would like to know how many of you know about Voldemort's curse against any teacher who would attempt to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts. You may describe why he cursed the job, when this happened, how it worked, and when it ended. Just say what you know."

Oh, noooo, sweet summer child. Katy gave Skyler a compassionate grimace and patted the air in her general direction. There there. "You're wearing it wrong, then. It goes on the outside, not on the inside."

But sure, they could talk about Voldemort. And his epic temper tantrum curse. Imagine if everyone who didn't get the job they wanted reacted by throwing a jinx on the position. No one would ever hold a job for more than a year, and no one would ever grow thick skin from rejection. The world would probably be a more miserable place if every tantrum was allowed its way. Katy raised her hand. "It's such a childish thing to do, sir. This hissy fit reaction to not getting a job, so no one else can have it either? It's like destroying something beautiful because you don't have the funds to possess it for yourself. I think it shows the real evil of Voldemort, his complete selfishness."

Goblinfrog · 03-16-2018, 07:28 PM

"You are all right, each and every one of you. Defense Against the Dark Arts was jinxed by Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka Voldemort - and it was jinxed because he wanted the job and couldn't get it. The first Wizarding War had not yet begun, but whispers of Voldemort's heinous deeds were trickling their way throughout Britain. It was in this time period that Voldemort paid a visit to then headmaster Albus Dumbledore to request a teaching position at Hogwarts. He was turned down rather quickly and left in a rage. Voldemort never actually specified which position he wanted, but a study of both later events and previous events prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that defense against the dark arts was the job he wanted. He had requested the job previously upon graduating from Hogwarts, but was turned down due to his age. As Rylee pointed out." Because whoever heard about a student becoming Hogwarts professor at eighteen? Grading people who he/she had been friends with or quarreled with but a year ago? Preposterous! "We can only guess how he would have twisted a generation's mind if Dumbledore hadn't seen through him. Would he have taught them to love the dark arts rather than defend against them? Or would he have simply used his closeness to Hogwarts ancient artifacts to pillage the castle and secure powerful Hocruxes, as many historians believe was his goal? And Ms. Toussaint is absolutely right: I believe this episode is an excellent example of the real petty nature of Voldemort. yes, it may have been a good strategy for depriving future students of valuable knowledge, or of making sure that eventually only dark wizards would take the job, but it also backfired several times as his own agents were not spared by the jinx anymore than his enemies were."

Ironically, it was around this part of the discussion that the dark clouds started lighting up and the lightning became distant. Obviously he didn't make that happen. The ceiling merely reflected the real weather outside.

"For many years after this second rejection," he contined. [B]"This school was unable to maintain a defense against the dark arts professor for longer than one year. Something bad would happen to each and every one of them which would prevent them from carrying on teaching for another year. It ended in 1998, after Voldemort's final defeat during the Battle of Hogwarts. Well done Skylar on knowing that." An approving nod to Skylar.

"That's a good question, Valkyrie," Charles said to the sixth year Slytherin. "Unfortunately, not even Dumbledore fully understood the jinx, and so was unable to reverse it. We can be sure he would have done everything he could have to end it if he had only known how. As it was, the existence of the jinx was not known until after several professors were unable to stay longer than a year."

And Skyler Queen had an interesting question too. "That's a very good question, Ms. Queen. We actually do not know how exactly the jinx worked, or if there was another way to break it other than killing Voldemort. It seems the jinx operated through finding weaknesses in the professors personal lives or of circumstances surrounding them, and then exploiting those weaknesses to cause tragedy. For example, one such professor was Professor Remus Lupin, who taught when Harry Potter was in his third year at Hogwarts. Incidentally, Remus was a werewolf at a time when werewolves were discriminated against by society at large. You may remember a previous we had where we discussed Dolores Umbridge and her anti-werewolf legislation. Anyway, it was revealed by one of Remus's fellow professors that he was a werewolf, and he resigned. Incidentally, the professor who betrayed his secret would go on to get the defense against the dark arts post a few years later, and the jinx worked its magic on him too. His name was Severus Snape and you can find his portrait in the headmistress's office. If Voldemort hadn't jinxed the job, would Snape still have betrayed his co-workers secret? We can't be sure where exactly the jinx worked its magic."

Now they were getting close to the activity portion of the lesson. "Now. You will be needing your writing materials for the next part of the lesson." No one thought he was about to break his pattern with a physical activity like so many others did, right? Nope! Charles was all about debating and writing.

"There are two parts to this assignment. For part one, I want to see how many of you know at least one defense against the dark arts teacher who was forced out of his/her post because of the jinx. Mr. Carter did a very good job listing several professors. I hope you were listening to his answer. Once you've selected your professor, I want you to think of all you know about their tenure at Hogwarts and try to determine where exactly the jinx took them down. Do you believe the professor you have chosen would have lasted if not for the jinx? Write your conclusions down."

The sky was definitely lighting up now. That didn't mean the weather was completely clear - a heavy drizzle had just started coming down a few moments ago. Of course it couldn't affect them in here - though it was still nice to look at.

"Some of you may not know enough details about these past professors in order to write a compelling essay. I encourage you to read up on this period after class if that is the case as we will be studying this subject in greater depths on a future date. But in the meantime, I have another assignment for you, and this one is for everyone. Do you believe that this jinx against the defense against the dark arts position was the only time a jinx like that had ever been used on this school? A great number of frightening things have taken place within these walls over the past several years, often completely disconnected to each other - or so it seems. And we all know what's been happening this year. Do you believe it's all coincidence that it happens at Hogwarts, part of the trade of living in a magic school, or do you believe Hogwarts may have a secret enemy connecting all the recent dangers that have taken place over the past several years?"

OOC: Sorry for the delay in writing this...I had much of it typed down yesterday but our electricity was knocked out.

You are free to have your characters do one or both of these assignments.

Birchwoodmom · 03-16-2018, 10:25 PM

The sky began to change as Professor Curtains spoke. The weather was changing and she could hear the rain coming down harder. Even with the lighter look inside, it still felt ominous. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as goose bumps appeared. It wasn't the weather that was chilling, it was the thought of all the horrible things that had happened right at the very school she was attending.

There was so much she still needed to learn about her magical history. Up until her letter from Hogwarts, she didn’t have any idea these things, or people existed. How was she supposed to know the history of the school when she was still trying to figure out the here and now? Thankfully, Professor Curtains offered an alternate part to the assignment for those that were not as knowledgeable of Hogwarts past.

She pulled out her notebook and pencil to begin writing.

Quote:

Emmalyn Walsh
First Year Hufflepuff

Jinx against Hogwarts?

Is there a jinx against Hogwarts? The things that have happened so far this year suggest that there very well may be a jinx upon the castle. There have been may unexplained events happening and none of the professors have told us why or how they are happening. I think that is a sign that they do not know why. If they don’t know why, then they probably can’t stop it.

As for things that have happened in the past. I believe that it is probably a jinx, otherwise one of the professors or the headmistress would have put an end to it. I don’t think they would allow such things to happen to the castle or the students if they could stop it. Just like with the defense against the dark arts position. If they would have known how to stop it, I think they would have. Why let all of those, mostly, fantastic professors suffer without need?

I hope the professors and figure out what is happening now. I’m worried to go out of the common room alone because I may find one of the messages or whomever or whatever is leaving them. Maybe they would want to hurt me or another student.

Once she finished, she made a note on the next sheet of paper to read up on the former DADA professors and what all had happened to them. She would also take the time to research the more recent history of Hogwarts to see what else had been going on at the castle. Maybe it was the weather, or atmosphere in the room, but she didn’t have a good feeling. In fact, she was scared.

Lissy Longbottom · 03-19-2018, 03:14 AM

Was there a jinx against Hogwarts? Scarlett didn't think so. At least, not in the way that it had been when Voldemort had cast a curse on the DADA position. She bit her lip and looked around - were they meant to write it down? Or were they supposed to share what they were thinking? Since they had to write the first part down, she assumed the second part was also supposed to be written, not spoken.

So, she pulled out her quill and parchment and began to scribble.

Quote:

The professor I have selected to analyze in terms of the jinx is Gilderoy Lockhart. Lockhart, despite being a Ravenclaw, had set himself up for being taken down by being a terrible person to begin with. It was only a matter of time until his lies were exposed, so he went into the school year having a ton of baggage that the jinx would exploit at some point. The moment it all came crashing down, of course, was when he bragged about being able to take down the monster all on his own. His own big mouth got him in trouble, and he was put in a position where he had to show up, or be exposed. He tried to run and was, of course, found by Harry and Ron, and the rest is history.

As for the rest of the school being under some sort of curse, I don't think that is true. Due to the nature of our world, and the fact that magic is such a large part of our lives, dark magic is bound to be part of it as well. While it is unfortunate that so many terrible things happen at Hogwarts, a lot of it is usually unrelated, and there doesn't seem to be any evidence that all of it is related.

Bazinga · 03-19-2018, 02:50 PM

Well this class was turning out to be... boring. She had checked her nails, glanced around the room, filed a sharp edge from her nail, and then looked back at her parchment she was clearly writing notes to her friends on not writing some essay.

SPOILER!!: notes

She looked up to see what they were all doing and noticed they were still writing, well that gave her more time for her note to Andi.

Dokimoto · 03-19-2018, 08:46 PM

Kye listened to the details of the DADA position and wondered if such a curse would be able to be exploited ever again. Would they recognize it now? Kye gave a bit of a surprised expression when she learned that someone had kind of backstabbed their fellow professor and managed to become Headmaster, but that went away when she heard who it was. Ah yes, Severus Snape and his lifetime grudges and all that. She hadn’t known that he had told on Remus Lupin though. Kye prepared her parchment as she listened to the directions. She felt like two had just been given and she wondered if anyone would just list those two. She jogged her memory, trying to think of who else. They had also spoke of Dolores Umbridge… was she off the table? Kye shrugged, deciding to list any names she knew.

SPOILER!!: Notes

As for the other professors, Kye couldn’t say that she knew enough about, so there was definitely a bit more research than she really wanted. And now she was wondering if the school was in fact cursed. After all, weird things happened every year basically, right? It’s not always as bad as Voldemort stuff though. Sometimes just… weird. That was an accurate summary of anyone’s time at this school, in her opinion.

*PhoenixRising* · 03-20-2018, 01:54 AM

So ... they had to sit for the remainder of the lesson and write an essay? Something that could easily have been done from the comfort her own dorm where she usually took to writing such things? It wasn't that the topic was uninteresting, but merely that she felt she could have made better use of her lesson time than sitting here in the classroom if all she was meant to do was write an essay. And apparently they would be studying the subject more in depth at a later date? This was why people frequently SLEPT in History of Magic.

Sighing, she didn't even bother opening her text because she already knew enough of the basics. Besides, no doubts that Curtains would talk for five hours about it at a later date. Dipping her quill into its inkwell, Skylar began to write:

SPOILER!!: notes

She wasn't sure that was what he was looking for, but that was what she'd written and that was the essay he was getting. Setting her quill down, she glanced up and waited to see if there was more she was expected to add or not...

lazykitty · 03-20-2018, 03:46 AM

Okay, now he was absolutely convinced that Professor Curtains didn't listen to his students, at least not closely. Because what he had actually said was that those were the professors that had been Death Eaters. But, whatever, it wasn't worth stating over again just so Curtains could just half-listen again. Just like his stupid decree thing that had been a total bust. Sigh. Ronan normally didn't exactly mind History of Magic, but under this professor, it was basically just a giant waste of time.

Anyway, he got started on the essay that would most likely either be half read or not read at all.

Quote:

Ronan Carter
Sixth Year
Gryffindor

I don't think there is a curse on Hogwarts, but rather that it's a victim of its own prominence. See, as far back as time has been documented, any single person or group that has an agenda has targeted the most prominent places in their society as a place to get their message across. Some do it peacefully, but some are more in-your-face about it. Unfortunately, Hogwarts is frequently the target of the later.

Now, the only way that this can be stopped, is to have some kind of punishment for it. But, the only way for that to happen is for the Ministry to get involved. And they always refuse. So, things are destined to keep happening at Hogwarts.

Goblinfrog · 03-20-2018, 07:38 PM

Charles did not end the lesson until every student was finished writing. Some of them were taking a much longer time writing that he'd expected, but he wasn't going to rush them. The next class on these students schedules was after lunch, so it was not like he was going to annoy another teacher by keeping them occupied a little longer.

Though some of them seemed to finish very quickly. Like Zita, for instance, who seemed more interested in her nails as the lesson. Hmm. He would have to remember to check what she wrote.

When at last the very final student was done writing, he stood and clasped his hands together. The ceiling went back to normal. "That's a wrap. I will appreciate you all to deposit your essays here on my desk. I will be interested to see your opinions on your subject. Class dismissed."

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