Defense Against the Dark Arts - Week 002

[your_dada_prof]

Week Name: 'Familiar Faces'
Location: DADA classroom
Open To: Any student taking DADA
Currently Involving: Professor Faust and students

Comments

Fourth Years.

[your_dada_prof]

Class roll: Avery Kellaway, Alysha Dark, Alexandra Harbridge

Abel had their papers from last week marked and placed into the pick-up bin at the side of his desk. The students, from habit, knew to pick them up as they entered the classroom or when they left. The answers were satisfactory; with the amount of Death Eater activity going around the country it was impossible for them not to have at least heard mention or rumors of the Unforgiveables. Quite unlike how things had been just a few years ago. They would start a new topic this class however, in case it promoted certain ideas for some students.

Re: Fourth Years.

[averykellaway]

Avery walked in and went straight to the pile of papers stacked on the professor's desk. "Good morning, professor, " she said, and sieved through the pile until she saw her name. Tentatively, she folded it and slipped it into her bag so she could look at it later. It had become a habit for her to only look at the remarks on her assignment after class so that she didn't get distracted.

Furthermore, she had a feeling that her grade wouldn't be as fantastic as she would like, knowing Faust and his new-found suspicion in her. She was just doing extra research, so what is wrong with that? That's because it's a little MORE than extra research, a voice in her head reminded her.

Sighing, she made her way to her usual seat in the second row and sat down, placing her bag on her lap.

Re: Fourth Years.

[your_dada_prof]

"Good morning, Miss. Kellaway." Abel chimed in response. Their meeting earlier last week was still fresh in his mind. Enough for him to dig a little into her background anyways. Currently, he was still undecided on what he ought to think of her. He would have it all figured out by the third week though, he was sure.

"Today we start a new, and what I find, interesting topic. Voodooism." In front of his desk was a table with a bunch of clay or straw dolls, wrapped with paper seals and stuck with pins all over. Some of them were the typical hollywood stereotype while others were from shamanic cultures. A more horrible one was a human hand, with dark runes carved in and again, the pins stuck all over.

He smiled, a rare sight from the man, "Has anyone seen these before?"

Re: Fourth Years.

[averykellaway]

Setting her bag aside, Avery straightened her shoulder and looked up expectantly at the man. She hoped this week would be better than last week, and if he wanted to do anything which require using her wand, she would definitely be ready.

At the mention of voodoism, she had a feeling that this class was certainly going to be better. She had heard about a little about voodoo dools and what they mean in the Muggle culture, and she had gotten some reading done on what voodooism is in the Wizarding world. The doll with pins stuck on it looked familiar, but not the human hand. Today, however, Avery figured it would be better to just fade into the background and not draw attention to herself, so she kept quiet when Professor Faust asked the question.

Re: Fourth Years.

[alexharbridge]

Alex sauntered into the classroom. She was five minutes late, so she quickly slipped into a seat near the back of the room, hoping Professor Faust hadn't noticed her late arrival. It looked like they were studying voodooism this week. Alex quickly took some parchment and a quill from her bag and pretended to studiously listen and take notes, while covering her paper in sketches and doodles.

Re: Fourth Years.

[your_dada_prof]

Abel knew for sure that more than one student would at least know something about Voodoo. He knew he had seen it attempted at (and failed) for love experiments and that sort. Perhaps he should give some incentive for answering, he was starting to hate calling out to students to answer a question.

"For ten points to their House, can anyone guess how this particular doll would work?" He pointed towards the straw doll that held a blood spotted bandage as well as runic designs all over it. Pins included, of course.

Re: Fourth Years.

[averykellaway]

Avery felt that the professor was getting a little impatient at the lack of enthusiasm. To her side, the Slytherin girl - Alex, or something, she believed her name was - was busy trying to look, well, busy. She fought internally, not sure whether she should answer, but she knew either way, she would have to. Not because she felt Professor Faust would pick her, but she wouldn't want him to lose interest in the class because of the lack of interest of some people

Re: Fourth Years.

[alexharbridge]

Alex rolled her eyes as the Gryffindor girl eagerly answered Professor Faust's question. She was like some kind of mutant puppy. After Avery answered she looked up at the Proffesor in a manner identical to a dog begging for a treat. Alex leaned towards the other girl and whispered, "Watch out mutt, if you wag your tail any harder you'll fall out of your seat."

Re: Fourth Years.

[your_dada_prof]

"Good answer, five points to Gryffindor." He would have given her the full ten points but her last part about the hand was incorrect.

"True enough, this hand however," He gestured over it, without touching it. "Curses the entire bloodline of a family. It was taken from a man while he was still alive, by carving the runes directly onto a physical part of the body the curses surrounds everyone with a remote blood tie. The pins represent other ailments that can be inserted. One of the most severest form on Voodooism."

He looked for another student to ask, "Miss. Harbridge, have you ever tried Voodooism?"

Re: Fourth Years.

[alexharbridge]

Alex glanced up at the Proffesor. "Wouldn't that be rather illegal, Proffesor? I mean, if I admitted to practicing voodoo on another student, like, for example, lovey little Avery here, wouldn't I be in rather serious trouble? I mean, voodooism is a Dark Art. So, to answer tour question, no I haven't," Alex said, smiling sweetly.

Alex actually knew very little about voodooism, probably only slightly more than Avery, who was raised as a muggle. Some of the family histories held references to voodooism, but they never told any of the fun details. However, Avery didn't know that. The girl seemed to think Alex,as an evil Slytherin, knew a lot about the Dark Arts. Alex enjoyed encouraging this idea.

Re: Fourth Years.

[averykellaway]

Avery knew that answer wasn't particularly spot on, as from the point the professor had motioned to the hand, she was lost. She did know, however, that Voodooism isn't all evil, unlike what Alex had mentioned. Despite being a pure-blood, who was supposed to know more, she definitely knew very little.

She decided there is no point correcting her anyway. Those Slytherins just never appreciated that, and furthermore, if she wanted to be misled, Avery wasn't going to stop her. The less interaction she had with them, the better, in her opinion.

She looked up at Professor Faust, wondering what he would come up with next.

Re: Fourth Years.

[your_dada_prof]

"Not all of it, Miss. Harbridge. In some shamanic practices it is even used to ease pain from severe injuries," Abel's lips quirked, he felt tempted to grin. Dark Arts were so misconceptualized in the Wizarding world, ambiguous spells that had one point been completely viable and legal were now being prosecuted because a certain infamous Dark Wizard and his followers used them often. Ah, the way how things change.

"Of course, ones like this hand doll here," Again he referred to the gruesome icon on the table, "Are created with a purely dark intent. The curse, being such a strong one, would have never succeeded if the intent and hatred from the curser wasn't as vindictive as they were."