(DADA) T4: Lesson One: Bloodsuckers

[Angelique Juliette]

Veata showed the whole class why Slytherin's rocked. She took no time at all in getting that vampire away from her. Her mind worked so quickly. Angel was sure she never would have thought of any of those things. If it were her she probably would have been a goner. When Veata moved back to her seat she called out.

'Bang up job Veata.'

It made her feel good to see others from her house excel at anything. Now it seemed it was her turn she was being asked to do what Veata had just done conjure a patronus. That wasn't too much of a difficulty for her. She had done it before once at her mothers urging. Standing near the windows she pulled out her wand. Pointing at an empty spot she said the spell and watched as an enormous serpent appeared it was actually a basilisk and she knew that. She was actually quite proud of it watching as it slithered around on the floor it's gleaming eyes scanning the room. How fitting for her to have such a patronus.

[croll]

Watching encouragingly at Alexis, Caroline nodded, noting how smoothly the tigerlike feline emerged. "Beautiful, Miss Heart. Three points for Ravenclaw!" She called, hoping that might get the rest of the students up and conjuring quickly. Knowing this class had gone well, the professor's smile widened. Soon another animal besides her shark and the cat graced the air; a wolf. "Very impressive, Miss Turolia! Five points for Hufflepuff!" The first five points for them this lesson, Maria should be proud of herself. Eyeing her shark now, transfixed, Caroline waved the other students up. "Mr. Rivas, Miss Thimble, Miss Juliette, Miss Hubbles and Miss Thompson! Lets go! I want to see some Patronuses!"

Clapping her hands once again just 'cause she felt like it, the professor waited for them to get up and start saying the spell. Her shark was just awesome, she had to say. She loved that thing as much as her pet Kneazle, which rested in its catlike glory on the stairs leading up to her office. Distracted with Miss Juliette's patronus, Caroline's eyes widened. A basilisk, well that was huge. It was a bit smaller, seeing as the classroom had limitations. "Oh, my! Five points for you, thats magnificent."

As soon as everyone had conjured a patronus, the class would be dismissed.

Slytherin: 31
Gryffindor: 10
Ravenclaw: 10
Hufflepuff: 5

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[Angelique Juliette]

She was a bit shocked that the teacher was so impressed with her patronus. She hadn't thought too much of it, but seeing as how Basilisk's were very rare she supposed it was a pretty rare and odd patronus to have. This made Angel happy and what was better it actually earned her another five points. Ten whole points for all on her own in one class that was a first and she was so proud. She beamed at Professor Croll. Watching her serpant slither toward her feet.

The class today was great, she was happy even though she didn't think she would be.

[Joshua Rivas]

Joshua Rivas felt a little annoyed. Using a patronus was his idea. It wasn't even in textbooks, but he knew the spell was a powerful anti-darkness charm. It was an original Rivas vampire repellant. Still, at least now everyone knew how to defend themselves against Cessily. The blown kiss was only salt in his wounds. Joshua stood, nodding over at the teacher.

Again, he conjured the thought of Erys beside the Shining Pool and incanted the words.
"Expecto Patronum!"

He smiled. His patronus was conjured, a massive alpha male wolf. Since last term he had practised the charm incessantly, unable to let himself be defeated by Munroe again. The silver wolf had doubled in size, and in turn, potency. Now it stood almost as tall as he. In his studies he had read of a wizard able to conjure a giant patronus. His wasn't quite a giant, but it was certainly one of the largest he had seen conjured by a student. Hell, one of the largest he had seen conjured by an adult, too.

The wolf growled at the direction Munroe had left, then let out a shrill howl before disappearing. Joshua sat down, swung his legs over the table. "Hope I passed." He said with nonchalant arrogance. He wasn't happy and took little joy in the accomplishment he had spent weeks obtaining. It was just another reminder of his recent failure.

[Girty Hubbles]

Girty had zoned out of the lesson for one brief moment and then suddenly she was being called up to conjure at patrons. She blinked blankly at the professor trying to get her bearings of where she was and what she meant to be doing. Looking quickly around the class she saw a few more people had turned up, glancing down at her parchment it was full of notes and her hand splattered with ink. She must have switched into preservation of sanity mode and just made notes on everything she heard even when the professor greeted people and gave them points.

With a small sigh Girty reached into her sock and pulled out her wand and gave it a small wave around to get the cramp out of her wrist. The Expecto Patronum spell was not to difficult as they had done it before in lessons many moons ago, although she still found it hard to believe it would work against a vampire, the light was bright yes but so was the light from other spells. But not wanting to argue or even share her opinion which never got her anywhere Girty waited for other members in the class to cast their spells, only showing a tiny bit of interest when Maria scored the first points for Hufflepuff, this teacher clearly did not like the current house cup holders.
After Joshua’s patronus had vanished Girty thought she might as well get it over with meaning the sooner she could get out of lesson and back to the common room. With a glance at the Professor Girty thought she might as well show off a bit, having your brother as the charms professor was always a big advantage and she had got quite a knack for non verbal spells.

Pointing her wand into the clearing between the tables Girty thought about her happiest memory a broad smile filling her face even as she thought about the time she bumped into her hero in the Leaky Cauldron. Concentrating hard Girty shouted the spell in her head but kept her mouth closed tightly. A silver light began to form from the end of her wand, transparent at first but as it grew larger the image became clearer and soon a silver badger was running around on the floor in front of her. Grinning down fondly at the creature she gave it a small wink and it vanished. Feeling satisfied with her work Girty twisted her wand around in her figures and placed it back inside her sock before wondering back to her seat.

[vampireangel]

Erika stared on in interest as various classmates conjured up their Patronuses. Taking a deep breath, she composed herself, and calmly made her way back to her seat. Sitting down, she took large,slow deep breaths and attempted to keep her thirst under control. But it was so hard to do! Their blood was calling to her. No! You can't do it! she clenched her fists upon the desk as she concentrated on not jumping out of her seat.

[croll]

Nodding her head as two more Patronuses graced the air with their presence, Caroline watched as a larger wolf for a moment. It appeared more muscular and larger in size than Maria's, and she couldn't just give the Hufflepuff five and the Slytherin three for the same animal. "Excellent, Mr. Rivas! Ten points for Slytherin, the extra five because Mr. Rivas had discovered the idea of using a Patronus." Winking at him, the professor slid her eyes onto Erika, who seemed to be having a difficult time with all this. Pursing her lips for a moment, she shrugged it off, figuring that if the Gryffindor didn't want to earn her house more points by conjuring her patronus, then so be it.

"Very nice, Miss Hubbles. Five points for Hufflepuff!" Surveying the remaining pupils who hadn't followed her instructions, Caroline sighed, seeing as she was practically giving away marks if they were successful. This certain spell wasn't hard at all, merely think of the happiest moment of your life. "Everyone who has done their patronus can leave, the rest of you can show me later if you dont feel like doing it now." One might wonder why Slytherin had received so many points, but if they had been to her class they'd have realised the Slytherins had been doing most of the participation, answering many questions correctly. Miss Bane had even figured the spell out herself, when faced by Miss Monroe.

With a flick of her wrist, Caroline's shark patronus vanished with a snap of its jaws. Another twist and the information on the board vanished, to scrawl itself on a tiny stack of notes to remain on file. Most if not all - even Girty seemed to lighten up a bit - had been happy with her first lesson, which pleased her. After everyone left, she began to walk up to her office inside the room, storing the notes and sipping a fresh glass of water. "Hm." She murmured to herself, smiling.

Slytherin: 41
Gryffindor: 10
Ravenclaw: 10
Hufflepuff: 10

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[Sarie Thimble]

Sarie took a deep breath. She needed a happy memory. "Oh great I don't have any of those. Then Ian's face popped into her head. "Expecto Patronum!" Sliver Vapor appeared. She needed to think harder. She pictured all of her friends here. A glittering Phoenix came out of her wand. "Wow..." She muttered. It soon faded.

[Veata Bane]

Still shoving her belongings into her bookbag, Veata lifted her head to Maria and Angelique's praise. Smiling wearily, she zipped the top her her bag and stood, feeling a power in her legs that hadn't been there when she first sat down. Well, that was probably because of how proud she was for raking in so many points for Slytherin. Even if it meant facing a real vampire attack, Veata would have tried her best, she loved her house that much. She was endlessly proud just to be in Slytherin.

"Thanks Maria," she said as she hoisted her bag up onto her shoulder. "Thanks Angelique." Not really in the mood to say much more of anything, but more in the mood to go tell Erys or Narcissus about her Defense Against the Dark Arts class, she set out of the classroom and into the hallway once being dismissed by Croll, turning to her and waving before she dissapeared from sight.[/font]

[Angelique Juliette]

Angel smiled as Veata thanked her. She had done a tremendous job and it was mostly thanks to her that they had so many points. Watching as her patronus vanished she moved back to her desk and shoved all of her belongings inside it. Smiling as she passed the professor she walked out of the room.

It was weird she hadn't been looking forward to class but she ended up loving it. The whole thing was so cool. She was still shocked that a vampire was brought into the room but it made the topic that more interesting. Wonder what the next class was going to be like, she thought.

[croll]

"Beautiful, Sarie. You just earned Gryffindor five more points." Caroline called, having not entered her office yet since not everyone had left. Since class was pretty much over, the professor stretched, petting the catlike kneazle that was currently perching on her desk. It made a noise somewhat similar to a purr, before hopping down and weaving around the legs of an unoccupied table. The beast had taken to her quickly, still a bit new. She hadn't named her anything yet, too.. Making a note of finding a suitable name, Caroline yawned, hoping to catch up with the other teachers in the staff room. She might just head there after taking a brisk jog, while planning her next lesson. After everyone had left the room, she filed her notes, locking her office door then the door to the room before leaving.

"Are you alright, Erika?" Caroline asked as she saw the tense Gryffindor outside, frowning. She had seemed so uncomfortable, she wondered if there was anything bothering her. "You can always talk to me if you want." Her voice was soothing as she placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, as a smile brightened her expression.

Slytherin: 41
Gryffindor: 15
Ravenclaw: 10
Hufflepuff: 10

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[vampireangel]

Erika felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see Prof. Croll smiling down at her. Erika looked down, and shifted her bag to her other arm. "Well....with all the stuff that was said about vampires today, about how they're all evil and whatnot... I don't think I can be in this class. I'm not saying I don't like the class, I love it. But because of people's attitudes towards vampires, I don't think it's a good idea for me to be here. I will admit that some of the stuff that was said today is true, but not all of it. And if we're going to be learning about vampires, then shouldn't we be study actual facts? Rather than based on what people have heard?" She sighed and looked up, sadness in her eyes. "What am I going to do? I love this class, I don't want to drop it, but... I don't know what other options I have."

[croll]

Listening to the girl as she explained her discomfort, Caroline nodded slowly, frowning. "This was the only lesson about vampires, there wont be any others. Are you sure you want to drop Defense Against the Dark Arts still?" The professor could tell there was something bothering the Gryffindor, and it must have something to do with the vampires. That little cut off line ran through her head once more, we vam-, the tidbit that could have revealed herself to the world. Was she really a vampire?

It wasn't her business to ask. But it was, to know if Erika didn't want to participate in the lessons anymore. That was the only one on vampires, though, so she shouldn't have a problem with the next ones. She was a welcomed member of her class, but if she wanted to leave.. Well how was she to defend herself against the dark arts?[/color]

[vampireangel]

Erika raised her head, hope alighting in her eyes. "Really, that's the only lesson on them?" she asked with relief. "So, I can stay?" she sighed. "But I'm still a bit uncomfortable with what was said, I guess it's because I don't agree with it. it's true that, some vampires might be like that. But not all of them are." Erika paused for a split second then said in a quiet voice, "I'm not."