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DADA Lesson 1 - Duelling 101 With all the windows pried open |
Yoyo only had one word for the DADA classroom and that word was whoa. She'd never seen anything like the arena except in muggle film or the images she sometimes came up within her head while she was reading. It was a good thing she'd peeked at the blackboard first because otherwise she'd have followed her instinct and walked right up to one of those lined up dummies and thoroughly inspected them- why? well, why not? They looked creepy and cool and that was reason enough for the rambunctious Hufflepuff. She hopped into the arena proper, her braids swaying as she looked hither and thither, up and down- left and right- until she grew bored enough to seek out Headmaster Trent's familiar form. "Morning, Professor. Is this always how this place looks?" Yoyo good-naturedly asked. The grime was a choice. |
Sleep? What sleep? Noah was TOO excited for the first lesson of the day that he most likely did not get any shuteye. He'd taken enough naptime during the train ride going to school, and his energy reserves would probably last him until lunch break. After that, Merlin knows where he'll end up snoozing. Probably in History class. It's always history class whether it's held in a magical school or muggle one. With a pep in his step, he'd asked the friendly portraits to show him the way to the duelling arena, and so far so good. He made it there in one piece; with a grin on his face, keen eyes, a lively spirit, with his wand just like instructed, bathed, combed hair, brushed set of pearly whites, clean clothes, and a fresh pair of underpants thank you very much. He ought to make a good impression down to the last detail you know. Merlin knows if they do hygiene check around here just like in their former muggle school. He was armed, and ready. "Good morning, Headmaster Professor Sir," he said as he approached the man and gave him a grin. "This Gryffindor is reporting for duty." And yeaaah, what about those practice dummies? They all look cool, and menacing in a way, but definitely made for a challenge. Now, he was up for that. As for the dust and grime...well, he could tell that the room needed deep cleaning. "Dust is indeed eloquent," he said dramatically to no one in particular and waited |
Early lessons never were a bother for Claudine. Over the last year, she had developed the habit of doing some sketching before lessons so she was now accustomed to getting an early breakfast and being wide awake for her lessons. Claudine had gotten some directions to the room from an older student but she stood at the entrance for a bit to observe everything. Impressive, was the word that came to mind. "Hello, Headmaster,'' the second year muttered. Then in typical Claudine style, she ignored everyone else and wandered off to stand by herself a small distance away from Trent. She would continue with her observations now, thank you very much. |
Isla had figured she'd be completely exhausted with an 8 A.M. class, but she surprised herself by being up and ready way earlier than expected. She didn't know if it was because she was a first year in a brand new school or what, but whatever it was brought Isla to class exactly on time. As in, earlier than 8 A.M. Since she was new to the school, she had no idea what the room had looked like before. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary to her, because she'd never seen it before. She definitely noticed the dummies, and even though there was a warning not to touch them, she'd have stayed away from them anyway. She didn't know enough spells to duel a dummy and expect to survive. "Good morning, Headmaster," Isla said. Yes, she'd learned that the man who have the speech at the feast was, in fact, the headmaster and her Defense Against the Dark Arts professor. Her gaze traveled to the arena, and she made a slight face at the thought of having to clean it. They were going to learn a spell for that, right? The thought of scrubbing it down with a washrag turned her stomach. |
The dirt, grime, and general filth around the castle had not gone unnoticed by Kaiser, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. As always when the school threw undesirable situations at them, he'd seen it all before. Lived through worse. None of that stuff bothered him. Which was not to say that there was nothing bothering him at all, but that was a can of worms best left firmly unopened. Welded shut. Wrapped in three rolls of duct tape for good measure. It was perhaps no great surprise that Kaiser had not got a wink of sleep the night before - setting the tone for the rest of the year and all - but nevertheless he was present and (more or less) correct at the arena, ready for his first lesson of the year. It was, after all, unbelievably easy to get to class on time when you didn't have to worry about waking up to your alarm. Even easier when you didn't care about combing your hair or making sure your uniform wasn't already crumpled and creased. Stepping into the arena, Kaiser did not even attempt a verbal greeting. To do so seemed a herculean feat, and he was a firm proponent of knowing when to pick his battles. Instead, he offered Headmaster Trent a grim-faced nod, and stayed stood roughly around where he estimated the back of the group would be, still keeping the door in his sights. He pulled his sleeves down over his hands as far as they would go, and fiddled idly with the cuffs of his school sweater. His wand was concealed up one of his sleeves, easy to draw at a moment's notice if need be. |
Did Headmaster Trent KNOW how impossible it was to sleep well when you were SO excited to get the chance to explore the VERY castle your parents grew up in? DID HE? There was also the fact that she was trying to come up with ways that her and Fi could show that Kodee Chosen that he WASN'T going to intimidate them JUST 'cause he was a seventh year. ALSO, she'd been worrying about Catherine and hoping she wasn't TOO miserable sleeping with the Ravenclaws, who were her people now. It was a LOT to handle on a kid's first night at Hogwarts, OKAY? Cecelia simply COULDN'T bring herself to sleep and she was sporting some very lovely dark circles under her otherwise bright, eager eyes because of it. OOPS! By some miracle, the first year was STILL able to drag herself out of bed on time and even score some breakfast before reporting to class, the usual pep still in her step despite her exhaustion. "Hello Headmaster." She offered the guy a smile and a salute. He didn't hate her 'cause of the whole Beauxbatons debacle, DID he? She was hoping they could maybe start fresh 'cause of the new term and all, and she'd be doing her VERY best to win him over from this point forward, she WOULD. Spotting Yoyo, Cecelia grinned and offered her an enthusiastic wave. Kaiser, her bestest older friend and protector ALSO got a wave. Hiiii. Kodee Chosen could LEARN a thing or two from Kaiser, JUST saying. He was the REAL deal seventh year. She saved her biggest greeting for Noah, though, who got a side hug and a BIG smile and a wiggle from the blonde. "Can you believe we're at Hogwarts together attending an ACTUAL class at Hogwarts?!" It was honestly a dream come true. |
Ewan couldn’t help but arrive for his first lesson of the year with a wide smile on his face, excited that he was finally back in his home. Sure, his first night hadn’t exactly gone to plan, what with the excessive cleaning that needed to be done in the common room but it needed to be done at some point so why not straight away. Walking in, his dropped ever so slightly as he walked into the cold, dusty classroom, forgetting for a moment that the school had been left derelict for a while. Despite arriving what he thought was early, there were still a few students in the classroom already as he headed towards the centre of the room, avoiding the dummies as was required. “Good morning Professor! It’s good to be back here, isn’t it?” giving the professor a friendly smile as he joined the rest of the students in the middle. Defence against the dark arts really was one of his favourite lessons at Hogwarts and that had shown in his OWL results over the summer with the Ravenclaw prefect earning an O at it in his examination. He wasn’t sure if he’d require this in the future, still unsure as to what he wanted to do after Hogwarts but he knew that it would always come in handy, just in case. |
King made his way into the classroom, my goodness what happened to this place? It looked worse than the dungeons at the Barry Manor. Okay, mild exaggeration but seriously though. King wasn't a morning person, nope, not at all! Already four seconds in and the green eyed boy was feeling miserable. He was practically the grumpy cat 2.0! With the corner of his eye he caught glimpse of the Professor's small yawn and thought to himself: MOOD! "Morning Headmaster." With a tight smile and mumbled greeting he went to find his place. His eyes were puffy and sunken, not yet fully adapted to the time zone and from silently crying himself to sleep last night from the great deal of homesickness he was experiencing. Definitely didn't sign up for that kind of mood. Usually his mom would wake him up at around ten and have his breakfast ready by then, it would consist of pancakes, scrambled eggs, sausage links and a mystery treat. Oh how he missed his mom...sadness. "Ancestors spare me." King muttered under his breath rolling his eyes slightly, it's too early to exist. |
Cordelia wrinkled her nose as she noticed how dirty everything was as she entered the dueling arena for her first lesson of the year. Eight am classes needed to be banned. It was an absolute tragedy that she had to leave the warmth of her bed for this dump. ”Morning, Headmaster. Looks like the arena hasn’t escaped the grime of abandonment.” Did she care that such a statement might not be taken kindly by the headmaster? Not one bit. Ugh, she didn’t even like Headmaster Trent so having to be in his class at an ungodly time in the morning just made everything so much worse. She hated that summer was over and she had to go back to classes. The one thing that was keeping her sane was the goal of earning the position of seeker on the Gryffindor quidditch team again. Cordelia lived and breathed quidditch; the freeing feeling of not being ruled by gravity, the thrill of the chase, the glory of a win over the other teams. When could she get out of this classroom and onto the quidditch pitch? |
Ah... going to lessons where she knows where everything is was a relief, she couldn't be more happier to be back where she belonged. Sure Beauxbatons was nice and fancy, but Hogwarts was where it was at! Her home away from home, her second home. Sighing happily to herself, she skipped happily DADA classroom. Upon entering she smiled happily to herself, she thought she'll never see Hogwarts again. Walking into the classroom her sky blue eyes looked around abd noticed it looked like a dusty arena, but she didn't mind not everything had to look squeaky clean. Seeing the dummies again the wall, she wondered what they were doing for the day but none the less she couldn't wait. The now fifth year couldn't wait to wave her wand again in the home she knew since she was a first year, the only place she belonged. It was good to be back, if it wasn't obvious she missed Hogwarts dearly. Walking up towards the Headmaster she gave him a smile wave and smile. "Morning Headmaster, I hope you're well." Seeing Ewan she smiled and waved at him before walking towards him. |
Considering that she hadn't received an owl or a notice or a note at all, wellp, Bernie was just going to keep calm and carry on. The Headmaster probably had more important things to do than assign her to a detention. He'd probably forgot about her and her small boat riding adventure anyway, which was really, just fine, because it wasn't a big deal and no one had noticed and it was fine fine fine fine. So, in the spirit of carrying on, Bernie slipped into the Defense lesson and per usual, gravitated toward her friend Claudine. And then, because she was trying to hide a little from Trent's view, she stood directly behind Claudine and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hello, friend." |
Isla mentions Charlotte walked into the arena feeling overwhelmed. What exactly did the headmaster have planned for them? Surely they wouldn’t be cleaning. Tugging on her tie that had shown up shortly after she was sorted she looked around the room trying to spot a familiar face so she could buddy up. That’s what you’re supposed to do right? Sighing she glanced around again. Just when she was about to give up she spotted Isla she walked closer hoping that they could hang out together until class started. “Morning headmaster.” she tried to be chipper even though she could still feel the sleep in her eyes. “Mind if I join you Isla?” she really hoped the girl didn’t mind. |
This place was diiiiiirty. Did the Headmaster not bring back the house elves when he brought back... himself? Because it just needed a real good dusting charm, and Phoebe sneezed politely so that the Headman would know that his arena was dusty. Not saying, but, like, just saying? "G'day, sir, Mr. Headmaster. I'm looking forward to class, aren't you?" She positioned herself next to Yoyo and slipped her arm through the other girl's. |
Had DADA not been the first lesson of the term and instead it had been either Transfiguration or Herbology, Minjae would have skipped the lesson or come in later to get some more sleep. But since this class was one of his favorites, he did not dare miss it. So around 8am, the Hufflepuff walked inside the dueling arena like he owned the place. Now that he thought about it, he'd love to actually own Hogwarts. But instead of making it a school he'd use it as a hotel for mostly foreigner guests to come pay a visit. The money he could make out of it! Of course it needed to be cleaner than how it was now. He shook his head and frowned a little. Oh Merlin's Beard, he was starting to think like his father. Still, between owning a marketing company and Hogwarts...Hogwarts was far cooler even if the company was already set in stone if he did not refuse. "Hey Headmaster Trent!" he called from where he had found a place to stand, giving him a wave of his hand before his eyes landed on the Ravenclaw Prefect. Oooh look! He'd remembered where the dueling arena was! Good for him~ he let out a short laugh, amused at his own thought. Meaning he would probably look stupid by anyone else for laughing at nothing... |
The 8am class might’ve been too early for the Gryffindor’s liking but that didn’t stop a smile from spreading itself across the boy’s face. He was back at Hogwarts! There was a sense of familiarity and that was enough to make him smile. It was comfortable, you know? No more strange new people or overly crowded spaces or- ............. Uhh??? Lucas froze. The smile instantly disappeared as his eyes took in the room. This was....... new. Sure, Trent did say that they will have to help clean up but this was not what he was expecting. He moved forwards, slowly turning around to take in as much of the room as he could. Was that the aim of the lesson? To clean up? It might be better than the danger that came with Defence lessons. Sorry, Trent. And speaking of Trent, his eyes found the man next and he smiled. "Good morning, Headmaster," he said, coming to a stop at an empty spot. He....... wanted to talk to him. To ask him some questions that had a little something to do with the badge that was pinned to his chest. But the man, despite making him feel safe, was a little scary sometimes, and something told him that this would be one of those times. |
Chloe would most likely consider herself a morning person, she got up to jog all the time, but at some point over the summer she started hitting the snooze button more and more and now she was feeling it. She had a hard time getting up even though she had tried to go to bed early, but she just wanted to visit with her dormmates and have some fun instead of going to bed early and now she was dragging as she headed into the arena. Her hair in a messy bun on the top of her head with some strands falling down, her robes at least looked presentable and her new "Good Morning Headmaster." She greeted with a small smile before heading to one side of the arena to wait for others to get here. Her eyes fell on Lucas and she gave a wave, "Think we'll be doing something dangerous today?" Small talk was acceptable wasn't it or did the question make her look like an idiot? Chloe shook her head at herself and reminded herself she was now the sixth year and shouldn't be sounding like a dumb third year to boys, especially one a year younger. ugh.. was it time to go flying yet? She was better on a broom than socializing with people. |
Fiona entered the classroom excited to finally be a student in the actual Hogwarts. "Morning, Headmaster Trent," she greeted with a smile trying to not be like a giddy twelve-year-old because that was not her style past, present or future if she could help it. The second-year then made her way to a spot near Claudine and Bernie. She quickly smiled and waved at them. |
Naya was rather excited for her first class of the new school year. It was going to take her a while to get used to life in the castle, but she was working on it. Arriving at the Defense Against the Dark Arts room, she couldn’t help but notice that things were a little........untidy. They surely had their work cut out for them, in more ways than one. “Good Morning Headmaster”, Naya said, trying to contain her excitement. The presence of the practice dummies made her wonder what they would be learning today. Naya could think of lots of possibilities, but she really had no idea what to expect. What she did know was that she couldn’t wait to fire some spells at those dummies. This was going to be fun, at least she hoped that it would be. Since there was nowhere to sit, Naya looked for a good spot to stand. She found a space to the side of the room and parked herself there. Now all she had to do was wait for the class to begin. Patience was a virtue, but it was not exactly her strong suit. |
Tom was super excited but nervous as he entered the room, he looked around and saw that there were already students here and he was about to continue when he suddenly had to stop. He quickly walked back out and then back in, seriously was he in the right place, the Headmaster was here. *Gulp* Did that mean that there was going to be a test and if you failed you were out? He had never seen a Headmaster teaching a class before, at his Primary School the head would just stay in the office out of the way. "Morning Headmaster, Sir!" That was the correct way to speak right, nice and polite. |
It was difficult for Jina to get a good night's sleep. The dormitory was incredibly dirty! This was not how she imagined Hogwarts would be. It was understandable, given the circumstances, but still ... She was determined to help out with the cleaning so that they could all sleep well in a hygienic environment. "Good morning, Professor Trent," she said with a smile as she entered the arena. Defence Against the Dark Arts was one of her weakest subjects, but she still chose to continue with it. The spells and skills she learned would definitely be useful in the future. Plus, she was not one to give up easily. She stood in the middle of the room awkwardly, away from the dummies, waiting for the lesson to begin. |
While many of her peers seemed not bothered by the grime, Nina thought it to be very distracting. And. Gross. Distracting because it was very difficult to sleep when you didn't know if your sheets had been washed the night before. Distracting because there were spider webs covering every surface and where there were webs, there were most likely actual spiders. She loathed spiders by the way, that much was made clear when she shrieked this morning, having found one in the shower. Distracting because she was allergic to dust and all of the grime meant she couldn't! Stop! Sneezing! It was absolutely horrid. And no matter how much they cleaned, it felt like it only ever got worse--though, she blamed the first years for this because she was quite certain that none of them knew how to clean. And despite her unabating need to impress Headmaster Trent (who she thought was so handsome and incredibly intelligent), Nina couldn't help but grimace at the layer of dust covering the arena. She did, however, quickly replace the look with a very fixed and polite smile as she stepped further into the room. "Achoo!" She. Hated. This. "Goodmorning," she paused politely and with a great deal of embarrassment before finding a place to stand in the least-dusty spot she could find. Had Headmaster Trent seen her exam scores? Was he proud of her O? And, of course she followed instructions and kept away from the dummies. Only someone without a brain would find means to incriminate themselves within the first hour of a new school year. |
*sits next to Jina* Her first night at Hogwarts felt a little different than the usual. There was dust and cobwebs almost everywhere, she managed to clean her area of the bed but of course she can't do much about her linens and pillow. She adjusted herself since this is just temporary; told herself to give this a week. Entering the arena early in the morning was unusual, not that she's going to ask any questions about it. "Hello, Headmaster" she greeted him with a polite smile before fixing the stiff collar of her uniform, she walked silently and stood next to a Ravenclaw girl (Jina). She glanced at her and also gave the sixth year a smile, mouthing a hello. |
As much as Rowan loved his sleep, he really didn't mind waking up early for his first Hogwarts lesson (though he was sure this would change in a few days). He couldn't believe he was finally attending his first real class at Hogwarts! He didn't even notice all the dirt and dust and cobwebs all about the castle as he was too excited for this experience. After casually following a few students, he managed to find the classroom, and awkwardly shuffled into the slowly growing crowd of classmates. He leaned his weight onto his toes as he tried to get a view of the rest of the room and the professor. As he peered around, he quickly recognized Claudine, who received a small wave. He was never quite sure if she liked him a whole lot, but at least there was someone he knew. Looking to his left, he also spotted Minjae, who got a wave as well... oh! And there was Bernadette! His dance partner at the ball at Beauxbatons! But... why was he averting his eyes from her? And why were his cheeks red? And his palms sweaty? The Puffer awkwardly shoved his hands in his pockets, focusing his attention back to the professor and shrugging it off. "You're just shy, that's all," he thought to himself. "You've never waved at so many people at once. You can only wave so much until it gets to you, y'know, since you're so awkard all the time." He affirmed in his head. Yeah. That was it. |
Cole wasn't usually chipper in the mornings, but today the ash blond youth had a pep in his step and was in a good mood as he entered the dueling area of the DADA rooms. It was hard not to have noticed the dust, grime and general untidy state of the castle that their we're clear signs of everywhere since their arrival last night, but Cole's spirits weren't dampened. They we're back at Hogwarts and that trumphed everything. He waved and sent 'Hello' smiles to Claudine and Isla before he moved further inside. Blue eyes stopped to rest on Headmaster Trent for a moment as Cole smiled broadly at the boss man "Good morning Headmaster Trent! It's great to back at Hogwarts." Just saying. He moved further forward into the arena now taking in the practice dummes and the blaring red sign above it. Yes, he'd keep his fingers to himself no worries there. Cole waved and smiled at Lucas, Stella and Ewan in turn as he passed them. "Morning Stella, Lucas and Ewan!" before he went over to stand next to Naya who he greeted with excitement in his tone. "Morning Naya, are you ready for some DADA spell fun?" |
You know who had hardly any sleep last night? This girl. You know who also spent most of it crying as quietly as she could? Also this girl. Catherine had been upset about many, many things recently, but at the moment what was making her even more upset was the fact she didn't know any magical - or Muggle, for that matter - solutions for red, puffy eyes. For that reason, she kept her head down as she followed a group of students from a distance towards the place where her first ever Hogwarts lesson would be held. Upon entering she quickly glanced around desperately trying to spot someone she knew. Ironically, the first thing she saw was Cecelia side-hugging Noah and although she thought the sight of them would be just what she needed, it wasn't. In fact, it had the opposite effect on her and she felt her eyes stinging once again. She'd stay well away from the pair of them, she decided. The young Ravenclaw chose to stay as far back as she could. Maybe that way she'd be sort of invisible and no one would |
SPOILER!!: Replies Was it time now? The glimpse over at the dusty clock told him as much so without another moment's hesitation, Malachi slammed the door shut with a flick of his wand. Woe be unto those that had decided to be late. They would find no access to his class and very likely a makeup lesson later in detention. Just great. He'd think about that later, for now, the man turned to face his students once more. "Welcome to Defense Against the Dark Arts. For those of you who haven't figured it out yet, or don't remember, my name is Malachi Trent. Headmaster Trent is the generally accepted term of referral. I accept 'Professor' as well while we're in lessons. The door I've slammed shut is a normal occurrence. Show up to class late and there will be no class for you to show up to." They would soon come to realize how literal he was being with that. It wasn't all the time that they remained in one place during a lesson. "Don't be here when I take attendance and you'll find more troubles than whatever led you to be absent in the first place." As it so happened, while at school, lessons were not optional. Shocker. Now then, with that little matter of house keeping taken care of...a lighter note. "Given the reading I know you all tried to get in before heading to class like the tremendous students I know you all are," He'd sent a message to their noticeboards, a greeting for when they woke up. Only a page or two. Nothing they couldn't have gotten done over breakfast. "It's time to talk a little about dueling." Yay, school, summer's over. Fun. "First, why do you think it's banned at Hogwarts without the expressed permission and supervision of a professor and can you see the logic in such a decision?" See? Easy. Sometimes, it was best to ease the students into the term...other times you led them into a dark swamp and hoped they survived...but he digressed. OOC: Hi everyone! The lesson has officially started. I know this seems like it's been moved a bit faster than usual but there was a whole issue with forum permissions and a mix up. No worries, you can still jump in, we've only just begun! You can simply say your charrie had been there all along--unless you want them late, lol. I'll be moving this along again in about 24 - 28 hrs. <3 |
Flynn was trying REALLY HARD not to yawn. His whole body was vibrating with the suppression of it, and it wasn't because he didn't like DADA either! But it was EARLY and everything had been so exciting and who could even SLEEP when it was your first night in the castle ever??? Even though you were a second year and it shouldn't have been your first night? But you were basically a first year all over again because it was all so NEW AND EXCITING? Still, despite the yawns trying their best to escape, he was also excited for class and so he put his hand up right away, and then down again (because he actually needed a second to think about the question BEFORE he answered it), and then back up once more. "Professor," Kale's dad, lol, "I think maybe some kids might have been mean or naughty and they got it banned and ruined it for the ones that aren't mean or naughty? I think it shouldn't be banned for everyone because then you can't practice as much because you have to wait for a professor to be watching you, so that means you can't get as GOOD maybe?" If he had to wait for supervision every time he wanted to practice dancing, he'd never get enough hours in. "Oh, what if it was more than just professors that got to supervise and stuff? You know, like.... seventh years and prefects maybe? That would be an okay compromise, I think." And then the yawn escaped. "Sorry, professor. I didn't mean to ya*crack*awn." ALSO he hadn't meant for his voice to crack but THAT wasn't something the almost thirteen year old could control either. |
:3 Curtis wasn't late, no, no. So when Curtis entered into the classroom, he smiled innocently to the Headmaster "Good morning." Oh no, fight the urge to yawn, fight it.... Nope, he was yawning. He did happen to walk in on the question though, something about dueling being banned. "...Because they don't want to clean up a blown up first year?" A tad morbid, but spells were serious business with what he read back home. |
Sleep had happened for one Rylee Prichard but only thanks to the aid of a dreamless sleep potion. Nightmares had become a real thing for the seventh year otherwise but that wasn't the topic at hand here. No, the mornings routine had changed once she had woken up. While somethings had remained the same like a early morning shower, breakfast in the great hall and making sure she was fully prepared for her first lesson of the day and in a nice and tidy uniform. The usual run or jog around the grounds wasn't that anymore. This morning it had been a walk... a short one at that. Simply enough to acquire some fresh air and a little exercise before heading to the DADA room for her first lesson of her final year. Of course her first lesson back here just HAD to be DADA. A lesson she enjoyed but now thanks to summer events had to be much more careful during. Rylee was in fact several minutes early and greeted the Headmaster with a light smile and 'hello' as she did to those around here. Gratefully the lesson got underway rather quickly and there was no real time for discussion with her peers. Rylee raised her right hand. "Duelling can very quickly get out of hand even in a friendly match or when training. Someone can get hurt even if that wasn't the duelers intentions. Those not even participating in the duel could get hurt if they haven't taken the proper precautions." Accidents happen. She knew that all to well. |
SPOILER!!: Trent Cole got a smile out of Headmaster Trent so the year he'd wager was off to a good start. The usual dooms day speech about consequences if you we're late to class was given as expected. He respected their headmaster and knew that he wasn't saying this just to scare them. Reading? They hadn't been required to do any special reading for this first lesson had they? Cole tried to recall their summer homework but nothing came to mind. He'd just have to use his grand fantasy he supposed if he didn't know an answer. They we're to no surprise considering the dummies going to be talking about dueling. Raising his hand to answer Cole said with some sureness to his voice. "Dueling without supervision i think is banned because a duel between young witches and wizards can quickly get dangerous and often lead to both bad spell injuries and other accidents. The duelers might try to use spells they aren't mature or experienced enough to use for their age and that can get catastrophic consequences. With a professor on hand logically there'd be less risk of injuries and we'd train dueling in a way that is safe." Taking his hand down he now hoped they'd get to duel. |
She returned the smile and greeting to the girl who joined her. A green badge, that must mean she is a ... Slytherin prefect? It was nice of her to stand next to the awkward new kid on her first day of school. Jina jumped when she suddenly heard the door slam shut. Wow! She was usually punctual to class, but this really warned her that she should be on time to all lessons. "Students who are not on good terms may take this chance to intentionally harm each other. I think it is a logical concern." She said after she raised her hand. She wondered if they were going to duel ... she was going to be terrible at it. Also she hoped the "blown up first year" that another student mentioned was only hypothetical and did not actually happen in the past. |
Lessons had begun! Blake was excited to actually be at Hogwarts attending lessons in his home school!! What fun, after finding and seat he smiled at the professor. He listened intently to the replies to his fellow classmates .. and then listened to what Professor/headmaster had to say. "Well dueling can lead to major injuries or even death, so probably not suggested by a bunch of unsupervised not adequately trained underage wizards and witches." Blake replied to the question at hand. There that sounded like a very mature answer ... after all Blake was very mature now that he was 12.... |
SPOILER!!: Cecelia and Malachi before class + mention of Ewan and Catherine! SPOILER!!: First Question! With the slam of the door, Noah straightened up from his spot and gave Cecelia a wiggle of his brows. They were finally starting! As his usual, the Gryffindor did his best to stay focused on what was being said, from his name, to his title-- which by the way the 11-year-old decided that he'd stick to calling him Headmaster. When did he ever get lessons from a Headmaster anyway? Never. So this too was a FIRST. If he was going to be asked if he was able to retain anything from his readings last night, he'd be lying if he said yes. It was kind of hard to focus when one is excited to get in on the action, but he's got things done too last night, like learning basic spells like the wand lighting charm which was super easy. Even his five-year-old brother can do it, he was sure. Well, if he was going to be tested today like a pop quiz of some sort, he'd just wing it like the usual. At the mention of dueling, Noah's ears immediately perked. He'd probably combust from within at the excitement. Were they going to duel already? Fingers and toes crossed! At the Headmaster's question, however, Noah was forced to scale down his excitement and tried to recall the rare times he'd seen his dad and grandpa spar. He asked all kinds of questions afterward of course, like...were they scared? Because they might hurt each other? And Merlin forbid, singe their precious hairs in the process? Well so far, his classmates' answers were pretty much what his dad or grandfather would tell him. But what made a mark on him from his early years was something that his dad told him about dueling and spells in general. Noah raised his hand and spoke when gestured to speak, "Aside from getting the spells wrong, some are irreversible and permanent that makes it really dangerous, Headmaster...like death." he said as he lowered his hand, "So I suppose, supervision should be in place but aside from actual supervision one can advise too on how to properly use a spell to maximize its effect. I guess the logic behind it is to learn from it and not use it as a method to hurt someone or something intentionally." at least that was what he has witnessed in the Mordaunt household wherein it's all about class and grace and... yeah, the works of an old, traditional wizarding family. |
SPOILER!!: Replies to Stella, Cole and a mention of Minjae and Noah With the lesson starting now, his eyes became fixed on the headmaster as he listened intently to him, ready to answer whatever question that was put in front of him. So, they’d be looking at duelling this term? Interesting first topic, sure to bring out the excitedness in some of the first years no doubt. Having already learned to duel through uh…first-hand experience in his previous years at Hogwarts, he was well versed in duelling and could answer this easily enough. Putting his hand in the air until called upon, he replied “Duelling isn’t just about flinging spells at each other. There are a few things you need to do before a duel can begin” In all honesty, as much as Ewan liked sticking to the rules, if he was ever in the position where he had to duel to the death, he wouldn’t be bowing and showing his opponent any respect. He’d want to get the first shot in but, seeing as this most likely wasn’t what Headmaster Trent was looking for, he continued his answer “You need to bow as a sign of respect then separate from your opponent before counting down from three”. The if you considered what could go wrong with younger students who didn’t know what to do or which spells to use, it really could end badly, assuming that they obviously didn’t want to kill each other of course which, to be fair, seemed very unlikely anyway. Finishing off his answer now, he continued “As for the actual spell work, without supervision, you could do some serious damage to your fellow student unsupervised.” He’d heard stories of many a student lose their head and cast spells which have then done some serious damage. “When you consider this, having someone around who can advise you on the proper use of spells as well as to help anyone who has suffered a serious injury then becomes essential”. He’d covered all the basics there, right? |
Trent with the callout. Had to happen, really. Kaiser made himself smile a little, shrugged, and did at least speak up. Direct question, and from a member of staff he had a lot of respect for; he wasn't very well going to ignore him. "Never too early, Headmaster Trent." It was a joke, see? He could still joke. You would never have guessed that that was what it was, from his tone and the way he then immediately slid back into angst mode, but he could totally joke. Ha. See? As others arrived, and received greetings of their own, Kaiser stood by and eyed the dummies along the wall. Their presence wasn't much of a clue; he'd seen them used for all sorts of class activities. Perhaps that was why he kept eyeing them, in case they suddenly burst into life. The sound of the slamming door brought Kaiser's attention back to Trent - the slam never surprised him these days, it was all part and parcel of Defence Against the Dark Arts lessons. Anyway. Yes. Duelling. Easy question, really. Even Kaiser, who would have been content to sit back and say nothing until the spell-casting became necessary (non-verbals were... yeah, no), immediately thought of an answer that seemed worth sharing. It was sort of the same as what the others had said, but also... sort of not. He half-raised his hand, as was his custom. "People can easily get carried away. They get frustrated, upset, angry. Emotional. They stop seeing sense, and start to try and really hurt each other, even if it started off as a harmless, fun duel, or nobody expected it to get so bad. People just get carried away." He lowered his hand again, right as he added. "Kids especially." He may or may not have been speaking from... a wealth of experience. Not with duelling as such, but... yeah. |
Minjae waved his hand at Rowan after seeing him wave at him and he was about to walk to the second year and have a little chat before class started when the door slammed shut by magical means. Knowing that this was the cue that class started, the Hufflepuff stayed put and listened to the Headmaster. As the topic of dueling started, Minjae listened carefully. Was he going to demonstrate a new spell? He was disappointed that the topic was about safety. "Too much paperwork for the staff and Board of Government when something bad or even fatal ought to happen to anyone dueling without supervision." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. Did that mean he had never had a duel between classes? of course! he was a good student! Even he could hear the sarcasm in his head; Yes he had, and it was far more exciting than dueling with supervision. |
Naya was standing quietly, just watching as her classmates continued to arrive. Then she saw Cole who came and stood next to her. “Hi Cole” He looked to be as excited about the class as she was. “Oh yes. I am so ready. I wonder what we’ll be learning today.” Just then, the Headmaster called the class to order. Naya turned her attention to the Headmaster. After hearing about his serious dislike of tardiness, she vowed to never let that happen. But then it was on to the lesson. Dueling, was that the topic of the day? At least that was what the first question was about. Naya listened as her classmates gave their answers. She agreed with them mostly, but tried to think of something new to add to the conversation. Naya raised her hand and began to speak. ”I can understand the logic behind not allowing dueling without supervision. As everyone said, it could be dangerous for students who are not adequately prepared to be firing random spells at each other. Even if you are well practiced, thing could go wrong. A good reason to have a professor supervise is that they can give a student feedback as they duel. Corrections and suggestions can be made in real time and that is how students can learn and improve.” |
And a loud bang came from the door, guess this means class is officially starting. Her heart skipped a bit- somewhat literally. She felt a slight drowsiness earlier. It was quiet and they were waiting for the class to start, she thought she was going to drift away and sleep with her eyes opened BUT not anymore. Jillian noticed the girl next to her reacted a bit from door slamming close, giving her a polite smile before focusing back at the headmaster when he spoke up. Ah of course, Dueling questions. Not that she has a ton of experience with dueling outside of school. Nope, not really. But this question was important especially for the students. Jillian elevated her hand to answer "Because we need to have that sense of discipline to duel. Kids our age are quick to react or lose control which sometimes could lead to harmful effects" some of them pointed out 'dangerous'. "It needs supervision so there is control and guidance" she added while lowering her right hand afterwards. That's why they have school and this class in particular, right? To teach them the ways to duel. |
There were some surprisingly...or well not so surprisingly morbid answers the redhead was hearing. Eloise didn't know whether to be concerned or impressed. Especially the one about cleaning up blow up first years. Yikes, not the image she wanted with Alex and Benji here this year. Eloise was just going to sit back and listen mostly because she was no in the mood for talking right now |
UH ......... who had the brilliant idea to schedule a lesson at 8am the morning after the feast? Sure it was her OWL year and Carsyn was "Probably cause the rule-makers at Hogwarts thinks we're a bunch of irresponsible hooligans who can't control ourselves." Carsyn finally settled on an answer after raising her hand. Truth be told, it was accurate for some of her peers. "But even if we aren't intentional with our spell casts, we're learning and sometimes we might read about a spell that sounds cool but can actually cause serious harm. Or sometimes, well, accidents happen." |
Tom listened to the headmaster, so he didn't have to say headmaster, Sir, just one or the other, okay he could remember that. He listened again as the headmaster talked about the consequences of being late and Tom looked petrified the headmaster looked scary when he was speaking like that. Tom listened to the question and then he raised her hands. "Is it because if everyone was duelling out of lesson then stuff could go wrong?" Like seriously could you imagine how bad it would be having so many students dueling. "So I take it the board of directors wants us to have a safe learning environment." |
The headmaster’s reply of ‘We’ve been gone for over a year’ was a statement just as obvious as her original remark about the dust. Well yeah, every corner of this castle looked like something out of a haunted house. Technically the school was haunted, actually, with all the ghosts here. Had the headmaster even ever found out what caused the mist that they had to escape from in the first place? Why was dueling banned? The answer seemed rather obvious to Cordelia. ”Well, obviously it’s dangerous. But sometimes even the obvious things don’t become official written rules until somebody does something stupid to necessitate making it a formal rule. So, I bet someone had an unsupervised duel and blew up half the castle or irreversibly turned their opponent into a frog or something and that’s why duelling is banned.” It was just a question of how long ago that had happened, really. |
Charlie tried to smile at the little one comment from their headmaster, but honestly it made her feel like a smaller child than she was. But she figured it was better than a hey you or something until the poor headmaster could learn their names. She smiled and listened to the question. She felt herself wander off into deep though but then everyone else was starting to say the same thing over and over and over again. Why couldn’t they just say same. Hearing everyone else’s answers felt like a long long waste of time. Waiting until she was called on she finally piped up, “I agree with what most people have said, it keeps us from doing something extra serious that could hurt someone. And even though we are learning, seriously deadly situations should be avoided if they can be.” She felt her curls bob as her head moved with her answer. She really hoped she didn’t sound sassy. |
Isla had literally just noticed Charlie coming to stand by her, when the slamming of the classroom door startled her from any kind of response. Yikes. So instead of launching into a conversation, she just smiled at Charlie and Cole then turned her gaze toward Trent. Whoa. He seemed pretty strict about being in class and on time. Note taken, Trent. Note taken. So first up for discussion was dueling. That wasn't much of a surprise seeing as this was Defense Against the Dark Arts class. The thought of dueling terrified Isla, mainly because she was worried she'd get in a situation where she wouldn't know what to do or how to get herself out. Experience mattered in a duel, and she had next to none. Speaking of experience, that got to her to thinking about the Headmaster's question, and she raised her hand. "It's probably because we're not experienced enough to cast at another person without someone watching us," she said. They were still students. What would be the point of school if everybody showed up already knowing how to do everything? "I don't think we know our own limits yet, either." There were some powerful spells out there, and if somebody didn't know what they were doing, they could seriously hurt somebody else. |
Cecelia liked that Noah got JUST as excited as she did about stuff 'cause it meant she wasn't getting all excited alone. That kind of feeling was MUCH better when it was shared, or so she thought. As for whether she'd seen Catherine yet or not, the small blonde shook her head. She hadn't and that was pretty strange since Catherine was the type to be early rather than late. She was about to suggest that maybe she'd gotten lost on her way to the arena when she spotted her. She didn't look very happy, did she know? It made some of Cecelia's happiness slip away and she wondered if she should go hug HER, too. She would've even had it not been for the headmaster, who seemed to notice Catherine's...what WAS she feeling? Cecelia would have to ask her later. OH! The door slamming made her jump AND giggle AND cup a hand over her mouth to stifle said giggle as she made eye contact with Noah. She hadn't expected that and suddenly she was feeling MUCH more awake than she had been a few moments before. Maybe that was the whole POINT of slamming the door in the first place. That Malachi Trent was a SUPER clever guy. Dueling sounded like it was going to be REALLY fun and difficult and the added element of danger only made the Gryffindor more excited to try and master the act. As for why it was banned, well, Cecelia could think of all KINDS of reasons, most of which had already been said. HM..."Bet it's 'cause we have to prove that we're responsible enough to duel, well, responsibly...you know, follow the proper dueling etiquette and only use approved spells and stuff. Adults would HAVE to supervise for that to happen." She paused, stood up a bit taller, and then added, "Lucky you've got such a responsible lot this year, Headmaster. You'll have us dueling like professionals in NO time." |
Catherine genuinely believed that if she stayed at the back as quietly as possible no one would notice her and hence she'd be left alone. There were so many students there, it should be easy. But she was wrong, because the professor, the Headmaster himself, spoke directly to her, asking if everything was alright. Catherine felt her entire face go nearly as red as her eyes and felt a little lightheaded. Keeping her gaze down and As if on cue, right after the Headmaster had spoken about lateness, the door opened near her and someone walked in. He was much older, and Catherine thought that he was trying to make a point for some reason. She didn't like that one bit, because why would he even do that? What was he trying to prove? And more importantly, what would Headmaster Trent do to this boy? His answer to the first question made her deadpan once again. Clean up a blown-up first year...? This was... bad. Catherine knew duelling could be very dangerous and it was obvious why unsupervised duels were banned at school. In fact they weren't just banned in schools, certain duels were banned other places too, even to adults. Had they ever heard of the International Ban on Duelling? It was a thing. All of her classmates were mentioning the reasons that pop into her mind, and she particularly agreed with one older Gryffindor girl that said even friendly duels could get out of hand quickly, especially if done by young student who had poor control over their magic and emotions. Too much paperwork? Now that had been something Catherine hadn't thought about, but it was probably true. She wondered what the Staff had to do that other term when two students died on Hogwarts grounds - yes, she did know about that even though mum tried to keep the information from them. The perks(?) of having talkative cousins. She bet it had been a lot of work in so many levels. So she strongly agreed with that Hufflepuff too. ...Why was everyone just repeating what others have said? Yes, it had already been mentioned that it could easily get out of hand, no need to keep saying that over and over. Did people get points for just speaking in lessons? Maybe that was why they just kept repeating the same answer. Kind of annoying, really. Though Catherine knew a few people who'd probably have a lot of points then, if all they had to do was talk. That one Gryffindor who said that 'accidents happen', though. Seriously?? Catherine shot her an incredulous look because... seriously?? No, they didn't 'just happen'. They happened to clumsy, irresponsible people. Duelling accidents shouldn't happen, in fact Catherine had witnessed countless duels in which accidents didn't happen - not irreversible ones, at least, but hexes and jinxes hitting the target shouldn't count as 'accidents' in a duel because that was the sole purpose of them anyway -, and she knew for a fact that it hadn't been a fluke. There was such a thing as professional duellers and championships and people hardly ever died The ban was very likely just because they were kids and didn't know what they were doing. Just like adults also shouldn't randomly duel without knowing how to do it properly and safely. Or as safely as a duel could go, which was actually pretty safe, if those involved wanted it do be. Otherwise why would there ever have been be a duelling club at Hogwarts? It could be done properly. |
Claudine was very absorbed in her observation of the room. It was for this reason she did not see Bernie sneakily approach her. At the tap on her shoulder, she whirled around It was funny to her, as someone who tried to avoid other humans, since starting her Hogwarts journey, she seemed to attract them. Anyway. The lesson was getting started and Claudine turned her attention fully to Trent, even though she had been distracted by her housemate, Curtis, who had arrived late. That guy was definitely looking for trouble. Her hand went up without much thought to the question. “What most of them said. But mainly because things can go wrong.” |
The early hour of the DADA lesson hadn’t exactly been a problem for Carys, as she was usually awake rather early these days. It had meant postponing her morning run if she’d wanted breakfast before the lesson, but either way, she’d gotten to the classroom on time and slipped into her seat rather quietly, her only greeting a smile to both the headmaster and her friends before the lesson had begun, the door had been slammed shut and she’d settled in for the usual chaos that resulted from discussion. Dueling. She’d read the required page before breakfast, between keeping an eye on the younger students and everything as she felt was necessary, and most of the answers that had been given were hardly surprising. Even her sister’s reaction to Flynn’s suggestion that prefects be given the ability to supervise duels was somewhat expected. Personally, she wouldn’t have minded had it not been OWL year and therefore there was studying to schedule in amongst the other things she always tried to do. Like painting and Quidditch, hopefully, and other voluntary exercise. “Touching on some of the others’ thoughts, if dueling wasn’t banned, people might decide to use it for any disagreement they might feel with another student. And that would lead to a lot more work for the professors and whoever else is responsible for trying to keep things under control if students were just starting duels right and left?” Not to mention any accidental deaths or maiming or transfiguring that might occur. She didn’t particularly want to have to handle cleaning up after duels along with the other cleaning they already had to take care of given the state of the castle, and she figured prefects counted as those who’d need to do so. |
’You’re in for a treat today.’ .......... Uh??? Eyebrows furrowed, Lucas STARED at Trent. A treat? Yeaaaaaah, he didn’t know what to make of that. See, this was Defence Against the Dark Arts. If it was Astronomy, he would’ve wasted no time in believing that he was in for a treat. But Defence? What were they doing that would be a treat for him and still be related to the subject? The door slamming shut was enough to cause the Gryffindor to immediately jump out of his thoughts. Right. Lesson. And maybe he’ll find out what it is that Trent has planned for them because now that he mentioned it, Lucas couldn’t seem to let it go. He was anxious to know what it is they were- DUELLING?! Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no. Maybe he should’ve known. Maybe he should’ve realised that this was the topic because of where the lesson was taking place and all the dummies that were there. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so surprised. But that wasn’t stopping the fifth year from staring around him, his green eyes slightly wider than they would be. But there was a question, one that had gotten a lot of good answers and some....... well. Some that was doing nothing for his anxiety. Lucas chose not to say anything, mostly because he was deep in thought, especially after Carys’ answer. And because a part of him couldn’t help but think that the answer was obvious: duelling was dangerous, and that was why he was reluctant to take part. Just saying, Trent. |
I can't believe I force myself to do phone posts like this when my computer is nearby Text Cut: Dani & Alicia Ah, snap, the exploding kind. He'd seen her. Nothing got past him, eh? Was this why he was allowed to teach Defense and not the other professors? Did he have eyes in the back of his head? "Y-yeah, I WAS trying to avoid the Headmaster," she started to mutter to her friend, but of course then it was class time and the Headmaster was embarrassing her by bringing up her detention and... ugh, they were learning???? ALREADY???? She frowned a bit. Duelling was banned at Hogwarts? That sucks. News to her, honestly. Did this mean she could have duelled someone last year, since they weren't technically at Hogwarts? WHAT A MISSED OPPORTUNITY! But maybe, since he'd asked this question and all, Trent was considering removing the ban on duelling?? He'd asked if they saw the logic in this, and no, she did not. Bernadette raised her hand to share this insight with the whole class. "First off, sorry for not greeting you, Professor Headmaster Malachi Trent, sir." She did a small curtsey with her greeting and continued. "I thought you were busy with the other kids, you know, the elder ones who caused there to be a ban on duelling in the first place. It's always someone who causes a rule to be created, y'know? If not for rulebreakers testing the boundaries, though, I say, we'd not nearly have the magical progress we have today. But why have a rule against duelling anyway? It's a pain to enforce, and duelling can be SUCH a good way for us youth to practice our defensive and offensive spell work, plus I believe it is similar to the Muggle sport of boxing, and can therefore be an effective and elegant method to settling an argument. Just think, if we Hogwartians hadn't banned duelling, we could have settled that whole 'trial' nonsense last year with a few simple spells. No doubt you'd have beaten Beauxbatons' Headmistress in like, one round, sir. So really, I don't see the logic in this ban, especially not for those of us who have never ever even gotten to duel at all ever before, because there should be a first time for everything, and we, second years especially, should have the chance to give it a try. If not now, when? How will we ever learn to defend ourselves???!" Was this just about duelling, or about the opportunity to ride the first year boats, which she had taken, justifiably, in her mind??? Who knew, really? Who can tell???? |
Oh, dueling??!? That was a much better plan THIS year than it would have been last year, when Phoebe occasionally had nervous breakdowns mid-class at the reminder that she didn't know any spells. Or enough spells, at any rate. Now she knew a few, but imagine her up against one of those seventh years. Certain death. "There are a lot of rules in dueling, sir, and kids don't follow rules unless there's an adult there to make them do it. So if left to our own devices, some seventh year would accidentally murder a third year and you have to fill out all this paperwork on it, and my mum says that paperwork is the death of progress. Especially when someone dies unexpectedly." Something like that, anyway. |
Her cheeks blushed as she realized that the Headmaster heard her question to Lucas when Lucas himself fully ignored her or was it that he didn't hear her? No, she thought it was the first thing, she was really coming up a winner when she couldn't even get the attention of a fifth-year how on earth would she ever get noticed by her own year or who she really wanted to... a seventh year. Thankfully she couldn't dwell on it long since they were starting and the headmaster gained her full attention with a duel, she was itching to duel and hoped that they would do it in class. She thought she could be pretty good at it now. Giving her hand a raise she waited for her turn, "I think if you don't fully know spells or are inexperienced it is very dangerous to do them without the supervision of older students or professors. I mean older students could get out of hand especially if they have a competitive streak in them, getting caught up in the winning could send someone to the hosptial wing or worse. So we have the supervision so mistakes that are made aren't deadly and our competition side doesn't get the best of us." |
Before Rowan could even greet the headmaster, class had begun, aaaand he was immidiately called out for not saying hello. The second year was already blushing cuz of Bernadette, and his cheeks flushed all the more as Professor Trent let him know of his free pass. The badger gave a small nod. "Good morning, professor, I apologize, that wasn't very polite of me, and I really do mean that and hope you're having a good morning..." he trailed off awkwardly, deciding not to press on and let it go as he didn't want to take up any more time than he already had. The class began with an interesting discussion question regarding dueling. Rowan glanced around him, listening to his fellow classmates answers all the while racking his brain for something to add that wasn't the ongoing answer of "it's dangerous." He gently cleared his throat, slowly raising his hand. "Perhaps some students are more advanced than others... which could possibly make it unfair sometimes?" he suggested. "Especially without proper supervision, rules can be bent if it's certain it won't be seen...and since professors likely have more experience than us, it's good we are supervised by them since we are still new to it..." he added. |
Of course she knew the bubblehead charm was an option, but it would make her look SO stupid! People would probably have so much to say about it too and she didn’t need anyone to think that she couldn’t handle a little bit of dust. She did nod politely at Headmaster Trent’s suggestion, but for the moment she would go without one in hopes that the sneezing would subsist and that she could conquer the As it was, however, those thoughts had to take a backseat because it was time for their lesson and Nina was very particular about setting aside all potential distractions. Learning was very important, especially if she planned on receiving all O’s on her NEWTs at the end of seventh year. She did plan to receive all O’s, by the way. It was imperative. The subject of dueling was an interesting one and Nina had mixed opinions on the matter. On one hand she ddi believe it to be a valuable skill. But on the other, she did not believe in violence and dueling for sport often led to horrible injuries and provided a space for people to be violent. She was curious to learn, however, and as such was careful to control her visceral reaction to the subject matter. This meant she had to try very, very hard not to make faces when her classmates offered ridiculous answers. This was especially difficult with the second year Hufflepuff (Flynn), who for some reason decided to speak for almost three entire minutes, only to be outdone by that other second year (Bernadette) who did not know how to make a concise point. Apparently. Didn’t they know that their arguments were more powerful if done without excessive rambling? ACHOO! There were also answers such as her housemate’s (Curtis) which were so entirely far fetched that Nina couldn’t even believe what she had heard. Blown up first years? Absolutely ridiculous and entirely foolish. Had the boy no class? Like, ew! Gross! Nina did not want to think of that. Thank you very much. Most of the other, more sensible answers were all far too similar. She thought Kaiser’s to be one of the more intelligent ones, but otherwise did generally agree that unsupervised dueling could pose a potential threat to the safety of students, especially those who were not properly trained to engage in such an activity. She also thought that rules were necessary for everything. Rules were how people functioned in society. Achoo!!! Without rules, everything would be a free-for-all and nothing could truly last. The same applied within a school. As much as some seemed to take issue with it, it was important to have rules so that the school could function as it was meant to. If students were allowed to duel whenever they wanted, it would be so entirely distracting! School was a place of learning, not dueling. In her humble opinion, anyway. And while she wanted to offer these thoughts, she remained quiet instead. Though with one glance over at the sixth year, it was quite evident that she was engaging in the conversation silently. Listening very fervently to each answer, despite how ridiculous they were. |
SPOILER!!: Late bug An ashen look crossed the Headmaster's face when the door was open. Magicked open very likely as he'd properly closed it when it slammed shut. It may have made the man even more angry than if the boy had just come and knocked. The stunned look quickly passed to a passive yet patient one as the man waited for the inevitable. 3. 2. 1. Just as the boy got done offering his answers a set of five, pale, spindly arms with long bony fingers crawled out of the wooden structure. They rushed in, grabbing hold of him anywhere they could--the collar of his shirt, his arm, pant leg, his hair, it didn't matter. The arms latched on to him and gave a hard tug yanking him out of the room before the door slammed itself shut once more with a hollow echo of finality. Perhaps the boy could consider knocking. SPOILER!!: Replies The Headmaster looked to the solid, wooden door with passive indifference. The door had moments ago reopened and sucked the Slytherin boy back out before once again returning to its shut state . The boy who'd been late and had the audacity to open that door he'd magically closed. There was a strange mixture of both satisfaction and annoyance etched into the man's expression, though at the moment, he supposed the annoyance had won. Calmly, Malachi turned to the rest of the students, knowing they too had witnessed the spiral of translucent hands grab their classmate. "Believe it or not, I've waited three years for someone to be brazen enough to ignore my warnings on punctuality then try to open a door I've closed. I must say, it worked as well as I thought it would and it made for a good, practical demonstration for the rest of you. It's one thing to tell you not to be on the wrong side of the door when it closes, and an entirely other thing to have you see for yourself." Pale and menacing hands reaching in to yank you back out without care or concern for where or what parts of you it grabbed. One did not simply waltz into his class once he'd begun. "Now then, I see most of you have a working concept of the fact that things can go horribly wrong in duels--a given--and that for that reason, it's better to have supervision. Competent supervision that's been around the block a few times and knows how and when to step in. Things can end badly. Usually for the one that lost, sometimes for the one that won, too. You're also not wrong about rules, many times they come about because of things that have already happened. Often times, they aren't enforced when unmonitored. Duels have rules; etiquette, too. Some go until your disarmed, some go until someone is dead. Regardless, everyone participating knows the rules going in." Jones has already briefly mentioned some of this. And if you didn't know the rules, there was a good chance you shouldn't have been in that duel.... "So let's talk dueling rules etiquette. Do you know any? Could you think of any that should be added if they don't already exist to change dueling for the better in your opinion?" A two parter. They could choose to answer one, or both. OOC: Aaaand the second question is up! Once again you'll have about 24-28 hrs to get in a reply. Keep 'em coming, I'm loving the responses so far ^^ |
Fiona wasn't too familiar with duelling except for a couple of factoids so she slowly raised her hand. "The two duellers have to face each other and bow. I suppose it is kind of like that Muggle sport called martial arts where the competitors do the same type of thing prior to combat." |
Whoa. Was the Headmaster awesome or what? Noah watched a set of boney hands drag a Slytherin boy out of the room with his mouth agape. It was an awesome thing to see because, magic. That only infused further excitement to learn as much as he could about spells and charms and...boy, being a wizard is SO COOL! His astonishment was soon replaced by a toothy grin. He was quite impressed with himself, considering that he was running on NO sleep and that he could not, for the life of him, remember what he even read last night for today's lesson. He did find himself listening to the others, although most were just repeating what the others have said, he used the opportunity to drill into his head WHY there was such a rule. He finds rules boring, to be honest, but not at the expense of his life thank you very much. HE wasn't that stupid. He would have questioned such rules if it had been illogical or questionable. However, he found his fellow Gryffindor's answer to be intriguing. Bernie was it? But then again, he thought, what good would learning be if he ended up lifeless after an unsupervised duel, right? And then dueling rules...well, Ewan did mention one already...and tried his very best to remember from observing his parents and grandparents when they spar. They were, most of the time, a treat to watch with all the controlled spells flying about, and blocked and dodged...until one falls down on the wooden floor exhausted that is. Noah raised his hand while the memory was still playing and answered when he was called, "I think it's a standard rule to not have any physical contact with one's opponent, Headmaster. I mean, it wouldn't be called dueling if they'd just end up knocking each others' teeth." he said shrugging and putting down his arm. As for the second question, well he's not really a fan of rules unless they make 100% sense to him. He thought it'd be best if he'd just let the others add their own ideas to it. |
To be fair, Minjae had never actually thought about the families so when the Headmaster elaborated on his answer, it really made him think for a moment. And the thought of having to tell one of them that their child had been injured or killed was definitely not pleasant. "I never thought about it like that..." he said honestly. To him, it was simple fun and the man had totally ruined it as now he thought about the parents. This was no fun, when were they actually going to duel? As the door opened up, Minjae saw the guy with the lost tarantula but the moment he saw him, the next he was picked up by one of the dummies and quite literally kicked out of the room for being late. He looked shocked for a second, just a second before he LAUGHED out loud. "Did you see that?!" he said to no one in particular. Now THAT was awesome and the type of content he came here for. "Is he okay though?" He asked and added a quick "Oh and one of the etiquette's is that only magic is allowed in a wizarding duel. So no physical contact" after raising his hand in the air. |
Jillian smiled at what the Headmaster replied to her answer. Quite satisfied with it too. Off to a great start for her first day of class. Hooray. Her smiled however instantly changed when she saw Curtis stepping in late for class. Of course. Professor Fuller-Thompsn is going to have a fun day ahead. Moving on to the lesson... She overheard Ewan said something that was related to the etiquette in duelling. She dug deeper into her thoughts to give a different answer. One that can be added to what was already said at least. "Wands are or should be held in a certain way" she said after raising her hand to share her answer. Is counting one to three before saying the spell during a friendly duel counts as an etiquette? She can't be too sure with that one. |
Whoa! So Naya doubled down on her personal promise to never, ever be late for Defense Against the Dark Arts class. She had gotten the message after the first warning. Apparently, not everyone did. Did the Slytherin just get snatched out of the classroom by? ...she wasn’t quite sure exactly what that was. Way to make an example Headmaster. And it was back to work, as the next question about dueling was presented. Rules. Of course there were rules. Magic was full of rules about everything. Anyway, it was answer time. Naya thought for a moment and then raised her hand. “Duels should be fair fights. Both opponents should assume the starting position and begin at the same time. No jumping the gun and starting early. The rules are important, but I think that in a matter of life and death, the rules probably go out the window.” |
Ohhh and that was yet another warning that she should arrive at class on time. This school was scary. "I think they should make it a formal rule to not let anyone die ... at least, in friendly duels like at school." She said after raising her hand. It was odd that magical duels had so many rules of etiquette but they were allowed to kill and torture. Why show respect by bowing if you are going to murder your opponent in the next minute? |
Alessandro was mutely impressed by the display of magic that Trent conjured as ghostly hands yanked the unsuspecting student out of the room for being tardy. Frankly, at best, the seventh year considered Trent somewhat soft. He had seen him with his son, the practically feral second year Gryffindor, and that man did not seem like the type to inspire fear. Or order. But perhaps he was wrong. No. Likely not. It was still an impressive show of magic, he would grant him. The Huffepuff raised his hand and said, "Sir, after the initial bow of respect, isn't the only rule of a duel is that all combat must be magical in nature?" Plenty of people died in duels. They had studied enough of them in History of Magic to know that certain. |
Cole was delighted that Headmaster Trent liked his answer to the first question. He had even said that he had raised good points. What happened next to Curtis was a creepy and very visible show of what would happen if they turned up late to class. Poor guy, he thought silently. Hopefully the bony fingers didn't injure him too much since they had grabbed at him pretty brusquely in his eyes. Cole was going to make sure to always be early for DADA class from now on. He really didn't want to be treated to the same conequence. A little shaken up by the demonstration Cole didn't immediatley raise his hand to answer the next question. He thought over his answer for moment before he raised his hand to say "I've heared that in some practice duels its etiquette for those dueling to agree to limits like not using particulary dangerous/advanced spells or unforgivable curses.” "I also think if it's not already a dueling rule that we at school should never duel with the intent to severly injure or kill another peer." Cole finished off. It probably was a rule already but right now he couldn't recall reading about that in his textbook. |
Her mouth dropped open as the late boy was dragged out of the room by those things. Was the headmaster even allowed to have things physically touch the students like that? She wouldn’t allow that to happen to her. If any professor ever tried to have her physically dragged out of the room, Lorelai Stemp would be hearing about it. The corners of Cordelia’s mouth twitched up into almost a smile as the headmaster actually agreed that her answer might be right. Yes, she was probably right. She should know, as she was the sort of person who caused new rules to be made. Still, she had expected the headmaster to dismiss her idea so it was a nice change to actually get something at least possibly right for once. Couldn’t get too excited over this, though. Didn’t want professors to start expecting more from her. Now, what were the rules of dueling? Cordelia took a moment to mentally prepare her answer before raising her hand. ”The duel should be agreed upon by both parties before starting. Otherwise anyone and everyone could just go around hexing random people when they felt like it. As for the second question, I think people who lose a duel, assuming they are still alive, should have to wear a silly hat that says ‘loser’ on it for a week after the duel. A sort of public shaming tactic as a reminder that it was stupid of them to be involved in a duel in the first place.” The part about the silly hats was, of course, just something silly that happened to pop into her head. Cordelia didn’t expect anyone to take it too seriously. |
That whole situation with the Slytherin latecomer was watched by Kaiser as casually as he might have let his gaze follow someone who crossed the room to open a window. When it was over, and the boy had been unceremoniously ejected from the room, Kaiser looked again towards Trent. So... yeah, the chuckle and the likely meaning behind it was not lost on Kaiser, and he might have mentally winced a bit. But this was neither the time nor the place to really get into anything, a fact for which Kaiser thanked his uncharacteristically lucky stars. He hated to see concern on people's faces over him. Or worry. Or pity. So, yes. Quite happy to be moving along. To duelling etiquette. As kids started providing their answers, Kaiser stared at one of the dummies that lined the walls of the arena without really seeing it. Then, when he finally looked back at Trent again and raised his hand to speak, he wasn't providing an answer as such. "The etiquette... it applies to official duels only, yes? There does not seem to be much sense in following rules if someone is duelling to kill you and you are trying to not be killed." Also, Kaiser was sure not to say so, but it was still so weird to think of rules and etiquette being applied to fights and stuff. For, you know, reasons. |
Oooohkay, he thought she wouldn't be able to beat a dummy. Duh, yeah she would. That's why they were called dummies, obviously, because they were dumb and easy to beat. Bernie rolled her eyes at the Headman but also piped up, "I'll take you up on that offer, sir." You know, for him to teach her how to fight people. She supported it. Duelling etiquette though? Why were they even discussing this if they were only allowed go hard on dummies? "You get a backup person, like, someone you can tag in if you DIE," Bernadette responded dramatically, hand raised and then clutched as though she were taking in her last breath. "Cos wizards do die from magic, sometimes, and someone has to take over in their stead to defend their honor. Duels are useful in that regard." She meant, that you could accidentally kill an enemy in the name of honor, but whatever. Just think, if Trent had duelled Desmaris and she had died, then he could be running TWO schools. Or he could have given one to Nostredame, and he wouldn't have had to move all the way to Scotland, poor chap. |
Alexandre did not know much about duels, to be honest. Why would he? He had never dueled anyone. He wasn't sure if he'd really like it all that much. It seemed a bit... mean. He was already wondering if that's what they were going to be doing in this class. He didn't think he really wanted to. But there was no use thinking about that now when he had no idea if it would even happen. He tried to focus on the question instead. Had he missed one? He tuned back in to the conversation about etiquette. He raised his hand. "I think you should shake hands at the end." He wasn't sure if that was a real thing that actually happened. Was that just quidditch? It was a sports thing to shake hands at the end of a match. It seemed like something one could reasonably expect from a duel too. So if it wasn't already standard he was going to propose it should be. |
Was that really a sign of a good leader? Someone who physically throws a student out of their class for being late? Honestly, he didn’t know. Maybe the Headmaster was on to something. Maybe physical actions were the way forward for the newly appointed Ravenclaw prefect? He’d have to give it a little more thought though. And then there was his rebuttal to the answer that he had given to the question he had asked. Stick to the question. Had he not ‘stuck to the question’? Maybe it had been banned because people were not following correct duelling etiquette? Maybe their lack of understanding on how to duelling was leading to injuries which then lead to it being banned? With a small shake of his head, Ewan listened to Trent’s monologue, as if he were some kind of super villain, explaining his evil plan to the hero, waiting for the obvious question that was coming at the end. When the question did eventually come, Ewan considered it for a moment before replying. He’d already mentioned most of the etiquette so there was little need to go there again and some of the other students had already mentioned some of it to. Like the headmaster had already said, there were rules in place before, so assuming that they agree on the severity of the duel beforehand, i.e. if it ends with disarming or death, there surely should be someone there to referee the duel, checking to make sure both wizards stick to the agreed rules. “Could there be an impartial referee on hand to watch, checking to make sure both duellists stick to the agreed outcome? If they both agree to the duel ending when one is disarmed and then someone loses their temper and ends up trying to kill the other, introducing someone who can be on hand to stop that and step in or administer some kind of consequence at the end if this happens could be a deterrent” Pausing for a moment before adding on at the end “This is similar to someone supervising the duel but not exactly the same as the referee would just be watching the duel where are the supervisor, someone like a teacher, could be watching, ready to give advice and tips at the end” Hopefully that explained what he meant. Sure, both were similar but having that extra person would surely make it safer and allow for better teaching? |
Blushing slightly .. Blake got up from the floor... he honestly hadn't thought about it ... just kinda plopped down .......... "Sorry Professor." He added ... okay ... way to make a fool of yourself in front of the Headmaster. If he could face palm himself and not look even more stupid he certainly would have. Recovering to the best of his ability .... he listened intently for the next question. " Umm....." Blake had lost some of the confidence he had come in with ... "You're suppose to bow to each other before you cast a spell right?" There .. that seemed liked a reasonable answer. |
:'3 It all happened so fast. Curtis only got a look from the Headmaster before hands came after him. One by one they were holding him down. His mouth opened to yell out a spell. Ask for help. Something. ANYTHING to let people know what was happening. His mouth did gape open but it was quickly covered as another hand went over his own mouth. Preventing him from even breathing. This was CHILD ABUSE. Curtis thought as he was physically dragged out and the door snapped shut after he was thrown to the floor. BANG! Curtis got up slowly, already sore in the places he landed on. "How.. RUDE." Not that anyone could hear this as he was outside the classroom door when he muttered it. I was only a little late. It was the first day. Why was he so mean? The least he could get was a warning and then maaaybe after he ignored the warning he could get this kind of treatment. That was in Curtis' mind right then and there. They were out to get him all these adults. He knew it and they didn't deny it. So what could he do? Kick? Scream? Cast a blasting charm? Nah, the door was probably fixed to absorb all of that. He had enough nerve to just leave and go back to his dorm.... and see his dad. Heh, like that scenario would play out to his advantage. This was UNFAIR. Curtis folded his arms and took a few moments before an idea hit him. He walked gingerly over to the door, rubbing his back to get rid of any sores before letting fall to his side. No, he wasn't going to show weakness. Instead, with a defiantly calm face, he went on a knocked on the door. Not gentle. Not angrily, but firm and evenly spaced. Could he come back in? The least he could get was to know whether his answer to the first question was right or not. |
Mention of Curtis knocking Holy Hippogriffs! Okay. Cecelia hadn't expected THAT to happen and she felt kind of bad for the Slytherin guy who got pulled from class like that. She was PRETTY sure it didn't feel nice being an example of what NOT to do and she made a mental note to NEVER. EVER. be late for Headmaster Trent's lessons if she could help it. She didn't want that to happen to her. No way. What Cecelia DID like was that her answer had been right AND probably impressed the headmaster, which was CLEARLY in her best interest since she had a PAST now. First year had been ROUGH, okay? But look at her, clawing her way back from the rebellious reputation she liked to think she had and showing off how smart and eager and SMART she was. If this wasn't being on the right track, she wasn't sure what was. "Headmaster, I think it'd be cool if there were rounds to duels, with snack breaks in-between rounds. We could eat healthy stuff like orange wedges and hydrate, too. That way we could get some energy back and go into the next round feeling refreshed and ready to rumble." Pretty GREAT thinking, right? ... Oh. He was back. "Do we get the door, headmaster, or is he banished from the WHOLE class?" |
Claudine stared in shock as that… thing gabbed the latecomer and tugged him out of the room. So that was what happened when they came late to DADA. How humiliating; she was never going to be late without a valid reason. Her eyes moved to Trent. The man seemed unworried; obviously that was his way of throwing out the late ones if needed. And he had waited three years? Yeah, Claudine was going to stick to arriving early to classes, thanks. She wished she had her writing materials to make some notes but alas… that was not to be for this lesson. Instead, she tried to memorise some of the more unique answers given before raising her hand. “All persons involved should agree on a common place for the duel to take place. One person might try to pick somewhere that works more in his favour.’’ |
Catherine took a few steps back when all of a sudden creepy, pale hands came out of the door, grabbed the boy who was late and threw him out of the room. Wide eyed, the girl stared at the closed door for a long few seconds and blinked twice. Had she not been feeling horrible because of her circumstances, a tiny little smirk would've creeped to her lips. As it was, this whole thing was just enough to lighten her mood ever so slightly, because that was interesting. It meant the school dealt with hooligans as they should be dealt with, and Catherine approved of that. Looking at the Headmaster under a new light, she turned back around to face him and the rest of the class, taking another few ever so small steps away from the door just in case. Her eyes were still red and puffy, but her brow wasn't as downcast as she listened to the man's explanation of the door and his view on tardiness. Good. Very good. Quote:
She took a step back this time, again: just in case. |
Tom watched as an older student was dragged out of the room, now this was scary, he then listened to the headmaster as he replied to all the questions, he listened as he asked another question and his hand went into the air. "Could we have a safe word to stop the duel?" Tom would love for that to happen in a duel. |
Headman seemed like he was willing to do more paperwork than her mother was, but maybe it was different here than at the Ministry. Like the paperwork was much less painful. Phoebe watched in detached interest as those creepy hands jerked a kid out the door, and she promised herself to show up on time for class. Early, even. She was extra polite as she raised her hand, since she didn't want those hands touching HER person. "So the thing about dueling is that it doesn't really set you up well for fighting with magic. Like those aren't the same things. Because in a duel, you have to be fast and you have to make split decisions, but there are rules. In a fight, there aren't rules like that, and no one waits for you to bow and there aren't qualms about really hurting each other." |
A whole half minute of the lesson was lost for Isla all due to the excitement surrounding the door of the classroom. It took her nearly a whole minute to remember to breath again after she watched a boney arm drag Curtis back out the classroom and into the corridors. That was the single most interesting and equally terrifying thing she'd ever seen... IT HAD BEEN SO COOL! Anyway...back to the lesson. She tried to ignore the sound of Curtis knocking until some girl brought it up. It drew Isla's attention back to the door again, and she hesitated before returning her focus to the lesson again. She wasn't sure what else she could say about the question Trent had asked. Being from a magical family, she'd heard dueling etiquette mentioned a time or two. The thing was, all three of the rules she knew had already been mentioned. She raised her hand anyway. He'd asked if they thought anything else should be added, which was something she'd never really thought about. A quick little thought came to mind, though, so she chimed in. "Maybe they should agree to the rule of 'what happens in the arena stays in the arena'. Somebody might get mad at their opponent for winning or casting on them and try to get back at them outside the arena," she said. She would hope that would go without saying, but you never knew. |
Nothing that would send him to the Hospital Wing? Well. He had to admit, that was helping his heart rate slow down a little but it had more to do with who was saying the words instead of what he was saying. Trent had that ability to make him feel calm about anything, mostly because of the way he said it. It was enough to make him give the man the smallest of nods. And yes, he was still nervous. Something that didn’t help his current mood? What happened next. His eyes widened to the size of galleons as arms - A R M S - came out of the door? and grabbed Curtis?? and pULLED HIM OUT OF THE ROOM. M E R L I N! Mouth agape, he STARED at the door, completely shocked about what he had just witnessed. This was what happened when you were late to Trent’s class? THIS???!! Cue some mental screaming. With the look of shock still on his face, Lucas turned his attention back to Trent as he started speaking. It took a while to tune in to the Headmaster’s words because, well, mental screaming was loud, you know? And for some reason, he was finding it difficult to forget the mental imagery of the arms coming out of the door. By the time he did tune back in, answers were being given about........ something? There were suggestions being made and a lot of talk about rules. The pieces weren’t really fitting together but that didn’t stop the Gryffindor from raising his hand in the air. "I, uh, I agree with the others about not duelling to death. At least, not if you’re practising." Pause. "I also think there should be an official - sAFE! safe - way to end a duel like that. Because there’s an official way to start it, you know?" And now he was just rambling. |
tiny curtis mention, tiny cece Yoyo was so enamored. She hadn't seen a proper duel since Barcelona, back when she and mum had lived in one of the brightest and most beautiful wizard cities, where dueling competitions were held and some of the greatest of wizards proved their worth. it had been great, but it had also sucked because her mum had never let her stay up for the more advanced matches. Well, the joke was on Jaslene Luna, because Yolanda was about to learn first hand. Or at least, it seemed that way. enraptured as she was, Yoyo hadn't uttered a word, choosing instead to listen to her fellow students, to learn from them so she could properly, properly decide what actually mattered for herself. She nodded along, sometimes with enthusiasm and sometimes with a barely-concealed look of dislike, but there wasn't a single thing she missed. And that was Curtis included. Poor Curtis, he probably hadn't meant to be so late to the lesson, but rules were rules and Headmaster Trent was nice, but not that nice. "I reckon dueling is more about showmanship than it is about fighting." Yoyo found herself musing, tugging on her yellow and black tie as she contemplated the door. "Like bull-fighting or fencing. What if you added a points rule? For every spell that hits you lose a point until 3. 2. 1. You're out." This made a lot of sense considering everyone's answers and all. "Headmaster, have you ever been in a real duel? Not just one for fun?" She asked, finally tearing her attention away from the banished boy reminder and back to the professor. Also, yes. What CECE SAID. Could they let him back in? |
What the what?? She jumped a bit when the boy was thrown from the room. He just threw out a professor's kid, did he realize that? She looked at the headmaster and back to where the kid was and wasn't now. If he was willing to throw out a professor's kid she really didn't want to know what else he would do. She decided she would try to stay fully focused, but there was a chuckle and her eyes went to Kaiser. Even his chuckle was cute, she started to wonder if he chuckled like that often. She had been around him many times, but had she ever heard him chuckle? He needed to do it more often because it was nice to hear, but while she was thinking that she really had gotten distracted from what was going on in class. She turned to focus or try to at least when she saw Al, what was with the cute boys in the seventh year? Her mind went to Gunnar like it always did when she thought of his friends as cute and it always ruined it for her, but she couldn't help she thought they were cute and now she was trying to remember what the lesson was even about. Dueling... yes.. that's what it was... Her hand went up and she hoped to be on the right subject, "Professor, honestly I think with every sport out there it doesn't matter what rules are in place someone isn't going to like it or try to change it. I don't think any rules could be changed for the better, it's just people need to focus and follow them." |
… Nina had absolutely no sympathy for her housemate. If he thought he was above punctuality then clearly he was mistaken. Just because his father was a Professor did not mean he could walk around the school like he owned the place. Nina’s opinion was one of professional caliber, by the way. Her father was a Professor too It was such a distracting feeling that it kept her attention entirely. Which, by the way, was rather unfortunate as it caused her to miss Headmaster Trent telling Eloise off. That and she was still sneezing every now and then. Though she was trying very hard not to. As for their Headmaster’s warning against tardiness, Nina didn’t need it. She refused to be late for anything. Ever. There was only one instance in which she had lost track of time, but due to a remarkably coincidental plant emergency, she had to skip the class all together! Show up late, though? HA! She would never. It would risk public humiliation and the loss of a Professor’s respect. She cared very much about Headmaster Trent’s respect. The next question was another simple one, though it had two distinct parts. Nina didn’t raise her hand, but she did listen to each of her classmates. Again, working hard not to show any sign of judgment though there were always some answers which elicited a great deal of it. Her practiced look of neutrality only faltered when Chloe McCarthy offered up her opinion. Nina almost entirely disagreed with what the Ravenclaw had to say. Of course some rules could be changed for the better. It was ridiculous to assume that all rules were in the best interest of all involved. There were always circumstances that warranted adjustments. Especially as time went on, environment changed as did the times. Rules that were made in the past could use improvement in the future. Just because a rule was a rule did not make it a good one, nor did it mean it had to stay. She did agree that people ought to respect them and perhaps focus more on following them, however. Despite these concerns, Nina kept quiet. Her silence couldn’t be mistaken for absenteeism because it was clear that she was thinking. She just didn’t have anything she wanted to add to the conversation at the moment. Disagreeing with Chloe so openly would draw far too much attention and she rather that stay on the boy who got pulled out of the room. |
Hello yes, what was a summer child? It WAS nice that Kale's dad, aka the professor, aka Headmaster Trent thought he was sweet though! Flynn might have said Headmaster Trent was sweet back but the man was talking a lot now, answering him, saying so much about risks and pure intentions that Flynn just found himself nodding along in earnest. Except, wait, dummies? That was a little mean wasn't it? Couldn't they call them mannequins or even figurines instead? Still thinking about this even as the lesson moved on, Flynn took a moment to catch up with the questions. His hand went up. "Sir, what about taking things away or changing them? I think some of the duelling ruels and etiquette things maybe actually don't have a practical use, they're for show and showmanship because duelling was a popular spectator sport in super old times," was it still now? Not in the same way at least, "and some of those things are performance elements that maybe just stick around because its tradition." Bows and paces and salutes and things. They were signals to the audience that something exciting was going to happen. As a performer himself, Flynn was inclined that way too. He wasn't against a bit of flourish. |
Did Malachi feel bad for the way the boy was pulled from the room? No. Just the night before, he'd implored all his students to be on time. He'd told them specifically not to be late. Just the night before. It was a slight that the Headmaster would not take kindly. He respected their time enough to be there. The least the boy could do was return the courtesy. If not, there were consequences. Easily avoided consequences. SPOILER!!: Replies "Well done. Just a bit of recap before we move on. These days, many of the duels that take place are sporting in nature. Yes, you can use it to solve a dispute if both parties decide on the terms but...in a situation where you find yourself in trouble, the last thing you'll want to do is propose a duel. Of course, there are still some who, while not on friendly terms, do decide to use a duel with higher stakes to solve their disagreement. It happens. Less frequently and not always with witnesses but it happens. Remember, though, if someone wants you dead, they won't bow, count to three then fire. They'll just fire. All the rules go out the door. That's the difference between a duel and a normal altercation. One is agreed upon and both parties are trying to keep the rules in mind, the other is more or less every man for himself." The latter being what he DEFINITELY didn't want inside--or outside--the castle. "Someone stepping on your toe or stealing your boyfriend that results in you hexing them does not constitute a duel, even if they fire back. Grabbing your friends and heading down to the lake to shoot spells at each other--also to be avoided without supervision--is not the same as going in with the intent of a proper duel. Duels have structure. They have rules. There are expectations of both participants and above all, willingness in one form or the other." Attacking someone was very different from challenging them to a duel. Only one of those allowed the person to decline should they choose. "Today, we'll be covering the basics of the duel, just the easy things that should get you a little more comfy, get your feet wet and allow a cushion before we hit the "big league"." There would be time for real dueling another time. Right now, there were still many who didn't have the first clue what to do in a duel--some were still learning how to hold their wands. Throwing them fully into the deep end wouldn't necessarily help. "Everyone, come up and grab some of this thin padding." A pile appeared by his feet after he'd spoken. "Don't be concerned by it's thinness. It's charmed to absorb most things while giving you room to move as needed. Next, make your way to a dummy. Not too close, just close enough to make it clear it will be your opponent." He paused and with a flick of his wand, created bright red lines on either side of the floor. "Behind that line is a safe distance." Behind that line, the dummies wouldn't react. "Eyes on me while I demonstrate the bow to begin the duel. There are two types. One, involves a near 90 degree bend." Here, he paused to demonstrate with a fair bit of precision. "And the other is more of a 45 degree bend." Which he also demonstrated. "It's up to you to decide which you prefer but do be careful, the dummies are a bit......sensitive to insult at the moment and won't take just any bow. I recommend you practising from the safety of that line before stepping forward to give it a real go." ....Just in case. OOC: Time for the mini activity guys! Have your charries either practising the bow or stepping up to the dummy they're facing and giving it a good ole try. I will be posting reactions for the dummies so please don't RP their reactions. You'll have about 48 hrs to get this done before we move on to the main activity. ^_^ |
Yes, yes Noah agreed on the barbaric thing that the Headmaster said. He'd spent a lot of his time, mostly during the summer, to watch his dad go against his grandpa, and heck even his great-grandpa into a duel and it always seemed so elegant and controlled. Like it was a dance between rivals. The timing, the pacing, the breathing even...much wow. As soon as the first set of discussion was over, he got himself what looked like a protective gear for them and then made his way towards one of the dummies. It was a good thing that the magical line appeared before he could get too close to his sparring dummy and say en garde. Noah inched away from the red line and then turned to see the Headmaster do the bow. Well. That was new. Back home, his dad and grandparents would do the wand salute instead. But then again, the session's supposed to be a basic one so he too followed suit. He did the 45-degree one, and once satisfied with it, turned to face his dummy. But before stepping forward, he gave the dummy a good look first-- noting how big it was for him and just how...well, looking far from human. He didn't have trouble imagining it to be a giant though, and that made the whole thing more awesome than it already was. "Can I call you Bob? Hi." Yep. He just had to name the dummy. Give it some dignity because it was going dooooowwwwnnn! Noah stretched his arms and legs a bit, a habit he's got from football practice, shook off the excess excitement there was and slowly found his center. This was Defence Against the Dark Arts after all. He has to take this class seriously as much as winning their football games back home. Standing a tad taller this time, he took a deep breath, and a confident step inside the line. With his shoulders square, his back straight and his arms on both sides, he went on to bow at Bob as perfectly as he could. Snapping back up, he looked at the dummy dead in the...eye or where its eyes would be and waited for it to do the same. It can't be that rude, right? Right? |
Oh good, that was already a rule. She thought a lot of duels ended in death, but apparently that was not true. It made the thought of duelling just a bit less frightening for Jina. She was relieved to hear that they will not be doing it this lesson. Then, she was slightly embarrassed for feeling relieved - she was such a coward. She went to grab the thin padding and moved to stand in front of a dummy behind the line. So they were just practising how to bow? It was an important component of duelling etiquette, so maybe they needed lots of proper practice. She chose the 90 degree bend, which she thought might be preferred by the dummy. Just to be safe. She practised bowing politely, not too quickly but not too slowly either. She then stepped forward to face the dummy and bowed, the way she practised. She spent two seconds at the ninety degree bend, then straightened back up. Well … was that okay? Was it going to bow back? She really wanted to step back behind the safety line, but was afraid it might offend the dummy. If it decided to attack her she was ready to run away. |
They needed to practice the bow??? That seems awfully silly... I mean come on ... a bows a bow right?? Blake thought about it .. and also .. how on earth could a dummy be sensitive ... were they alive .......... I guess anything is possible with magic. But following orders none the less Blake retrieved his 'thin' padding that he has been assured isn't as thin as it looks. He picked a dummy and lined up to it .... well to the red line that was drawn across the floor and took a bow. It felt like a 45 degree bow .. but who knows maybe it was 60 or 80.. definitely not 90. He returned to his upright position and tensed ... did he miss a step? Something about practice ............ dear Merlin what was going to happen .... |
Thank goodness this part of the lesson was over. Most of this stuff was review for Whitney since she'd been in the Dueling Club back at Illvermorny. And she really didn't enjoy going over the same stuff over and over. At all. So, getting started on the actual dueling part of the lesson was a relief. She grabbed a set of padding and put it on before approaching one of the dummies. She stopped with her toes just touching the red line and executed a perfect 90-degree bow to the thing, not intimidated at all. |
Fiona carefully observed Headmaster Trent as he demonstrated the two bows mentally taking in the precise movement of each one. She then made her way to where the pile of thin padding was and put some on before heading to one of the dummies ensuring that she was indeed standing behind the red line. The second-year decided to perform the 45-degree bend. Fiona faced the dummy and carefully bowed, hoping that she had gotten the angle correct because she didn't want to offend. |
Well, that was awkward. Catherine was expecting her to be at least a few months into the Hogwarts system to have a professor be wrong, but it happened on her very first lesson. Seconds weren't 'more common among Muggles', they were also very common - official, even - among Wizards. She would know that, because she had seen official duels many times. Perhaps Headmaster Trent didn't want to scare the students. She agreed the reason he gave the Gryffindor girl who had brought it up could fool the ignorant, but it wasn't accurate. Besides, there was a lot more to a Second than just replacing someone when needed. Of course, they wouldn't be needing any Seconds if they were about to duel dummies and/or under the supervision of an adult. Not that Catherine would said any of that out loud. Still, Seconds were a thing. With that She put it on as she moved towards where the dummies were and turned to watch the Headmaster's demonstration. Blink. A bow, not a wand salute. O...kay. School rule, maybe? She could accept that. There was no way she would do the 90 degree one and lose sight of The dummies were a bit 'sensitive to insult'. See, exactly what she was thinking. So if they insulted one, that was it, they were in for a proper duel and Catherine was certain those dummies could do some damage. They were huge! In all honesty, Catherine felt utterly stupid practicing the bow - the 45 degree one, of course. It was just a bow, there was no way it could go wrong if people took it seriously. Her only consolation was that all other students were doing it too, so at least she was hidden in the silly-looking crowd as she looked stupid herself. After a few times, she looked around until some of her classmates stepped over the line and bowed to a dummy. It was only then that she stepped forward herself, eyes on the single dummy in front of her. She only got close enough so that the object knew she was its opponent, but she also made sure there was plenty of space in between them - they were huge! Bowing politely at a 45 degree, Catherine then kept close watch on the dummy in front of her, resisting the urge to wipe her sweaty hands on her robes. |
Knowing that they would eventually end up duelling at some point during the lessons, he now focused all of his attention on the headmaster. Not because he needed to particularly practice the formalities of duelling but because it was just respectful. And also, because he was a prefect and wanted to set a good example. Did he mention he was a prefect? Sure, the headmaster made a few good points, points that he himself had thought of whilst considering the rule changes to duelling but either way, a duel didn’t really come down to your bowing technique. It might have been a tad disrespectful to not actually do it or to do it to a poor standard but in the end, it came down to how skilled a duellist you are. But was he the one who wasn’t going to practice bending at different angles? No. Obviously not. After taking a few moments to find some padding that actually fitted his large frame, Ewan stepped behind one of the red lines, watching the professor as he showed the correct bowing technique. Surely the 90 degree one was a sign of respect? Bowing lower? Choosing to do it properly, he fixed his arms to his side and bowed, not in any real direction but just as a practice one. Finally satisfied with his technique, he stepped to the red line, stopping just behind it, his hand clutched tightly in his right hand and, after a moment, bowed 90 degrees to the dummy, doing his best to keep perfect eye contact with the lifeless enemy. |
Charlie hadn’t added anything to the second question because shew wasn’t sure what to say. Sure her mom had mentioned duels here and there but never had she actually sat down to learn the rules. That just sounded bleh. Yet here she was in class about to have to do just that. Learn rules and actually duel. She rolled her eyes at their task. Walking forward she grabbed one of the padded things of gear and placed it over her. It felt large but she was fairly certain it was only because she was so tiny. Sighing she walked past the red tape on the floor. No way in Merlin she was going to end up getting hit by a dummy and be made a fool. Glancing around she noticed some of the room practicing a bow. She bent with nearly straight legs, because everyone knew that you never and she meant never locked your knees. Once she hit 45 degrees she stopped. She wasn’t too sure about bending to 90, that seemed like poor taste because she wouldn’t be able to see her opponent. Taking a deep breath she took a step forward and bowed to the 45 degrees she had been practicing then slowly stood. She sure hoped this was the right thing. It was the right thing.... right? She did not want to get blasted by a dummy. |
Headmaster Trent's assurances to him that maiming and the use of too advanced spells weren't allowed at Hogwarts lifted a little weight off his shoulders that he didn't even know had been there. Cole had guessed that it probably was the case with supervised practice duels in school settings but it was nice to get it confirmed from an expert. He heard the sound of knocking on the door but ignored it as the lesson moved on. Cole immediatley felt displeased. They we're going to duel dummies? But he had wanted to duel with a peer like Naya or someone else from his house not a dummy that apparently we're very touchy. As ordered the blond fifth year went over and got himself some thin protection padding which Cole put it on in silence as Headmaster Trent kept demonstrating the next steps of bowing. When they we're allowed to practice Cole went over to stand behind the a safe red line but in front of his chosen dummy. He practiced the two bows several times before he felt confident enough to try it for real. Taking a long breath, he stepped over the line to face his dummy. He looked up at it and smiled broadly but with respect. "Hi mr dummy sir! I hope it's okay that we partner?" Not expecting an answer Cole bowed down low in the 90 degree bend as best he could before he straighted up and waited with suspence to see if the dummy would bow too or not. |
SPOILER!!: Headmaster Trent Alessandro took the Headmaster's point about the technicalities of a duel, but rules were only as good as the men that abided by them. And while it was hardly gentlemanly to break the predetermined rules of a duel, well, things happened. True duel or not. As the Defense Against the Darks Arts Professor, Trent ought to be more explicit about that to his wand-happy peers (see: Gryffindors). He quietly did as he was bid, collecting the materials and prepping accordingly, before he watched Trent demonstrate two proper bows. His technique was good. Al knew. He had seen his father and uncles and cousins in countless duels in enough duels to know the difference. There was something about a good dueller that was in the shoulders, taut bowstring, always ready, but not too stiff. Fluid. Alessandro was a fair dueller. Better than most of his peers, if he had to assume, but he was not Angelo. His older cousin was devastating in a duel. Al aspired to be as quick, as refined, as catastrophic. He had fought in duels before. |
That was a lot of info from the Headmaster, Jillian heard most of it- well, the important parts really. She knew that if she didn't listen well enough and doze off into her own bubble that she might be doing the next part of their class wrong... Which based on experience (during her baking sessions with her aunt) she tends to do. She eyed the headmaster when he picked one of those padding. Okay, that's good to hear. With these things, Jillian just really wants to be safe. Deep breath. They're going to do something simple for now. First up was the bowing to these dummies that the Headmaster prepared for them. Growing up in a traditional Korean family, bowing was a way of life. She watched the professor demonstrate what they needed to do for now. It was simple and straight-forward. It was the appetizer before they dive into the dueling activity. As he did mention 'before we hit the "big league".' earlier. So she went on to grab herself on of those padding just like what the other kids did , then made her way towards one of the dummies. Her feet planted not too far away from it, staring at the dummy for quite sometime. She remembered the headmaster said something about it sensitive. How is the dummy going to be sensitive considering that it is an inanimate object? Whatever that meant, she will soon find out... Her eyes squinted a bit before taking her position and bowing in a 45 degree bend. Still watching the dummy and making sure she can move quickly just in case it becomes 'sensitive'. |
Letting Curtis in! Cecelia suspected that deep down, Headmaster Trent was a bit of a softy. He was even letting the older boy back into class after he'd been late, which he DIDN'T have to do, but was. That was real nice of him, truly, and the blonde smiled at the man and nodded her head. "Sure thing, headmaster." She could get the door NO problem. Quickly and quietly, the second year moved over to the door and opened it, offering the older kid a curious look. "If I were you, I'd apologize. 'Specially 'cause he's letting you back in." She was JUST saying. It was the least he could do. Job done, Cecelia was SO ready to duel and even IF it was against a dummy, she was feeling excited. She'd never really HAD a duel before that wasn't make believe and she hoped she'd be a good dueler with some practice. Grabbing some protective pads and putting them on, the second year found herself a dummy and moved behind the line so she could try a few bows out on her own before things really got going. The 45 degree bow was the easier one, obviously, and Cece bet it was the one she'd go with against classmates 'cause she could right herself quicker and get to dueling STRAIGHT away. The 90 degree one, though, felt VERY dramatic and SUPER polite and she wondered if THAT one would please the dummy more. She practiced a few times, very serious expression and with attention to posture, finding the whole thing kinda humorous. Was she making a good impression here or what? Once she felt she had a good grasp on bowing, the small blonde got her wand out and stepped back in front of the line, eyeing her dummy. She kept eyeing it even as she bowed down the WHOLE 90 degrees JUST like she saw another older kid doing. As she righted herself again, she felt a surge of nervous energy rush through her, waiting to see what the dummy would do in response. |
Good thinking? Claudine felt instantly proud of herself and murmured a quick ‘thank you’ to Trent. Believe it or not, his praise boosted her morale a little higher. She focused her attention on the other responses thinking that some of her fellows raised good points too. Already she was liking this lesson and couldn’t wait to get started on the activities. Since they were covering the basics in this first lesson, the Snakette wondered if the would be moving on to full duels as the term progressed. That would be very exciting indeed. Perhaps she could duel Blake; the thought was rather satisfying especially when she thought of making him sprout antlers. Claudine eyed the padding that had suddenly appeared. They really did look like they would shred to bits from the slightest of spells but if Trent said they were sturdy than they looked, then she believed him. “Grab the dummy next to mine?’’ she whispered to Bernie before moving to take some padding. Once that was done, she placed herself before a dummy but behind that red line. Sensitive dummies? They needed to get over themselves. Nevertheless, Claudine practiced a ninety degree angle bow safely from behind the line. What did she think? That it was enough practice for she stepped over the line to make the exact confident but polite ninety degree bow as before. |
Suddenly, Isla was really nervous about the thought of dueling. It had made her nervous before, but now that the headmaster had gone and used the words 'big league', her nerves were getting the best of her. She just hoped her paired first years with first years and so on. The thin padding wasn't helping much either, even though it was supposedly charmed to hold a lot. Isla eventually made her way toward the pile of thin padding and pulled the piece off the top. Padding in hand, she turned toward the line-up of dummies and chose one at random. None of them made her feel any easier about the thought of dueling, so it didn't matter which one she faced off against. She looked toward it, giving it whatever signal it needed to realize she was challenging it. She wondered if it would be okay to just stay behind the red line to the entire time. She liked this little mini activity. She could interact with the dummy with it not moving a muscle, or whatever you called the body parts of a dummy. Of course she'd be doing the ninety degree bend. The last thing she wanted to do was insult an inanimate object charmed to do Merlin-knew-what to her. Then, behind the safety of the red line, the first year bowed at what she estimated was a ninety degree bend. |
Quote:
SPOILER!!: Dani!boss Bernadette wasn't really paying attention to the boy that got snatched out of the room, because honestly, he deserved it for being late, but she was somewhat surprised that the Headprofessor was going to let him back in. "I will," she replied defiantly to the professor. She would stop by, that is. AND she WOULD show him how dumb the dummies were. Also, MAN, he really had to go in-depth on her answer, didn't he? Was the Headmaster anti-duelling or what? Quote:
And don't worry, Trent. She was right behind the red line. |
:3 returning Considering what happened with Curtis, what would be his normal reaction? Making a scene of course. He still thought this was totally unfair. But... a scene had already happened. It was humiliating being pulled out of class like that without so much as a direct warning to him. Lots of things get forgotten overnight. He could've broken something on him from the fall if he wasn't so young and athletic from all the running around back home. No matter who was at fault it was what it was. When the door had snap shut, Curtis thought he reacted quite maturely. He didn't yell or scream or throw anything at the door. Anything he muttered was at a volume so low only rabbit ears could detect through the door from the distance he was away from it. He thought it over. The Headmaster versus him. Nope. That meant parents knew instantly anything he did involving the Headmaster. That was all he needed was his parent's attention. So with that, he resigned to making nice. Knocking politely, he waited... and waited.. and waited.. Okay, maybe it wasn't that long of a wait but patience was still a learning process for Curtis. But he wasn't going to break. His patience paid off when the door finally opened and it was a younger girl who opened it instead. Well, least that meant he was okay to come in. Apologize?? To the man who inflicted child abuse on him? Well, he was going to do better than that. He nodded at uh... whoever this girl was, she was nice, that was all he knew. So she got his form of grateful acknowledgment. Walking over to the Headmaster, Curtis paused for a moment, not wanting to look down instead meeting eye to eye. "Thank you." For letting me back in. For not yelling. For not uh.... using me as a test dummy? Bah, hopefully, that delivered the message. Guess he could participate in lesson now? When he was allowed to join the others, Curtis looked around to follow what everyone else was doing. Picking a test dummy. Oh, so they were going to duel? Curtis had no choice but to be a good boy now. He collected a padding to put on himself. Everyone was bowing to a dummy.. why? Oh. Probably has some sort of magic on it. He gazed at the dummy behind the red line before taking a bow as low as some others around him were (90 degrees) to it. Was that respectful enough? He attempted to mimic what everyone else was doing. |
Whatever just happened was all a whirlwind because one minute there was that slytherin boy inside the classroom and then he was outside and Cecelia was going to let him back in? Cecelia who suggested snack breaks?? Which sounded good in THEORY, but practical, definitely not. Perhaps at the END of the dueling matches, snacks might be beneficial but not in between rounds. Other signs of etiquette well, a lot of them were already mentioned cause Carsyn had been thinking on the slytherin boy and the creepy fingers. Vigilance? But she wasn't sure that really counted as etiquette. No matter though because they were moving on and the fifth year had to stifle a snicker. Wait, was anyone really that petty that they would duel over stealing a boyfriend?? Also kinda a good thing he mentioned to avoid shooting spells at each other down at the lake. So dueling was kinda preparation for the unprepared? Should they expect to be randomly attacked when out in the real world? Taking some of the thin padding, she watched the Headmaster demonstrate the bows, deciding right then and there that the forty-five degree bend was going to be her preferred bow because she would have better eye contact that way. Which was the one she practiced from behind the line. |
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