DADA Lesson 1

[Sirius Black]

The weekend had been hell… Damned if he got any sleep at all. He was literally being driven on coffee and the comforting fact that after this week’s first round of lessons, he was going to be allowed to go home for the weekend. It wasn’t a luxury most Hogwarts Professors had in the past, but when the Deputy Headmaster also served as the Head of the Auror Department AND happened to be a single father who was relying on the Ministry’s child care program to provide qualified and capable sitters… Well, Minerva had granted him this once concession and it was all he’d ever really asked for.

He walked into the room from the office atop the stairs, cup of coffee in hand. Generally, it was where most of the Defense Against the Dark Arts professors resided during the course of the term, but given his other position, his primary office had to be close and accessible to the Gryffindors. Still, he used this room as a temporary storage closet… Lupin had told him it made one hell of a room to store dark arts detection devices.

“Unless my clock is off, I do believe it is time to begin lessons. Now, normally, it would be around now that I shut and lock my door, but as some of you are new to Hogwarts, today and only today I shall leave it open for some of our directionally challenged students. First things first… For those of you who don’t know me, I am Professor Black, resident Defense Against the Dark Arts expert, Deputy Headmaster, and Head of Gryffindor.

“Introductions out of the way, let us jump right in to my expectations. I believe I had, in addition to your school supplies, sent rules to be read by each of you prior to stepping foot in my classroom. Since I’m going to go ahead and assume that most of you know how to read, I won’t bore us all with rehashing the rules. Do not mistake this glossing over as leniency. All of you are accountable, and I do expect each of my rules to be followed. I have no problem throwing anybody out of here if they happen to test me.”

He shot them a glare before continuing. “As some of you might have noticed, I’m tired, cranky, and in no mood to deal with much of anything today, so with that said, let’s go ahead and get into the sum and substance of what Defense Against the Dark Arts is. Now, any of you with half a brain can surmise that it means exactly as it says. This course is, simply put, meant to give you the knowledge and skills needed to properly defend yourself against the dark arts. To do that… however, it is first important to define what the dark arts exactly. I’m sure that most of you have a perception in your head that there are certain spells that qualify as inherently bad. Be that as it may, the most basic definition of what the dark arts are is any and all spells used with the means of doing harm to another.

“You may be asking yourself now how exactly we plan on defending ourselves from such a broad scope of spells. It does seem rather vast when put into perspective, but that’s the harsh reality of it. I do assure you, the things you will learn in here can and will prepare you for that reality… And it is out there.

“Should you ever find yourself face to face with another wizard or witch who means to harm or even kill you, the first thing you should remember is that an armed wizard is a deadly wizard. Of course, wandless magic is possible, but casting without a wand is exceedingly less effective, accurate, and more taxing. That is why one of the most important spells you will ever learn is the Expelliarmus spell: the disarming charm. When cast correctly, the spell will knock your opponent’s wand out of their hand thus giving you the upper hand in a duel. It is not always a guarantee, though. Depending on the strength of the wizard you are dueling or the accuracy of your own casting, it may not always yield the desired results. This is why we encourage practice.

“Another vital and life saving spell to have in your repertoire is Protego: the shield charm. It does exactly what it sounds like. Cast correctly, it will create a shield in front of the caster, thus blocking hexes, jinks, or spells that are cast at them. Like the disarming charm, this comes with its draw backs. If, for example, you are fighting against a person who is stronger than yourself, it is likely that whatever spell they cast will not be deflected. Another thing to note… Unforgivable Curses cannot be blocked with the shield charm.

“Now… one of my personal methods is either a full-body bind, the Petrificus Totalus which you will learn more about in Charms class, or, in the case of many Aurors who wish to physically have their perpetrators bound, the Incarcerous works marvelously. Incarcerous is a spell that shoots ropes out of the end of your wand and constricts the target, binding them as effectively as a full-body bind. If one cannot disarm them and they are also uncertain if the shield charm will work, the Incarcerous will work nicely. Even if it fails, it serves as a distraction.

“One thing I must stress to each of you is that there is nothing glamorous about finding yourself in such a position. The life of a magical law enforcer is not how it is painted in literature or even the Daily Prophet. It is grueling and risky. The same is true for any that find themselves at the business end of a wand. The fact of the matter is, duels are not at all like what you might find in a club here at Hogwarts or even hall-way battles which I do not at all condone just in case Professor McGonagall asks,” he added with a smirk. “There is a fine line between victory and defeat and one mistake can mean death. That is why I strongly would advise that should any of you find yourself in a situation where you must perform any of these spells to save your life, to take the first opportunity to run. There is some wisdom in the adage, live to fight another day.”

That seemed to cover what he wanted. All that came next was the practical part of the lesson… But first the obligatory: “Are there any questions?”

[Claire Lunette]

Today was the first day of classes. Taking a look at her schedule, she realized how many she had. It seemed the more she went up in years, the more her schedule looks packed. She wonders what next year would be like. She would be a fifth year and studying for O.W.L.S. All of those classes that she may be getting because of such an important year. She sighed and looked at her schedule. Where did she need to go now?

Immediately the thought of so many classes wiped away from her mind and she smiled. Finally, Defense Against the Dark Arts, she thought to herself and she walked down the hall to the DADA room where she saw Professor Black getting ready to teach. She made it just in time. Claire sat in the second row from the front and took out her belongings for the class. She looked around to see that there weren't that many people around. Just a few, but not the handful that she was used to. She wondered how many first years there was going to be for the class.

Professor Black began his lecture without waiting for the majority of the class. He was always on time, but usually on the first day teachers would want to make sure that students were safely in their rooms before beginning the most important part of the class: the introduction. Listening to his introduction, Claire knew that there had to be something wrong. Usually his classes felt fun and spirited, but for some reason it felt more like a drag. What was going on?

She listened anyway, trying to ignore assumptions that could be going on in his life. But she still kept thinking. He was pretty busy within the Wizarding World. Being Head of the Auror Department and all. Who cares for now... Listen! He's getting onto the real part of the lecture, she focused herself. She listened to his lecture. It was one that she had learned many times before. Although it was always repeated, it was definitely the most important lecture that she could hear all the time. It was the main defensive spells.

Once he was done, he asked if anyone had any questions. Claire looked around and no one had yet raised their hands. She didn't have a question in mind either. Although she felt like she should have one but there was nothing coming up to mind. She just nodded her head no and slowly got out her wand from in her robe pocket to get ready for the hands-on part of the class.

[Bella Chimere]

Bella walked into the DADA class which was actually known to be the most important class. It was a class that not only worked on spells, but spells to defend. It was something that she had always wanted to know. Just because of all the nasty catastrophes that were happening in the world. She wanted to be strong in that field. She walked in and immediately saw that there were quite a few students here, but not a lot that she would be hoping for. She guessed she could be here early, but already the Professor was coming out to make his introduction.

Bella at down in the middle rowed seats and listened to his introduction and then his embedding lesson. It was the main three spells that defend. She wrote them down and while waiting for him to finish his ramblings about the difference of dueling and actually in battle, she began to make acronyms for the spells for her to remember better on what it is called and what it was used for. He had then asked if there were any questions. She began to doodle on her paper while waiting to see if anyone did have any questions.

[Kaia Doyle]

Kaia liked Defense Against the Dark Arts as a class. She genuinly found the class interesting and important. Plus... well... the professor did not look half bad. How did anyone stay that good looking? In most classes she preferred to occupy the very last row, preferably near a window. For this class, however, she found that the seat in the front offered her a much better view of Professor Black's... um... face. He seemed irritable this morning and considering everything that was happening right now, it was entirely adequate to be a little annoyed. She was used to his standard lecture about the rules but quite thankful that he was not about to read them out yet again. Really, she had memorized the rules by now. She did not take notes as a rule. It usually turned out that she got carried away and started doodling instead of listening, or daydreaming in the case of Transfigurations, History of Magic and Divination. So for this class she listened.

He asked whether anyone had any questions. She looked around quickly first, not really wanting to be the first to ask a question. Since no one else was volunteering and she expected that Professor Black's attitude was scaring some of the newer students, she raised her hand. "Professor? You have already stated that a basic shield charm can not hold off any Unforgivable Curses, but say that you were confronted with the uh... Avada Kedavra," she said quickly. She felt bad for even saying that but she knew that it was silly. It was entirely reasonable that one might be confronted with it, given the time they lived in. "Is there anything one could do?"