DADA - Lesson 2 (Years 1 & 2)

The twelve year old boy hoped that he wouldn't be the only one in the class and that his new found friend Brayden was in here with him. The Wormwood wouldn't know what to do with himself if he was the only one who decided to attend the class, but it wasn't just any class it was a helpful one. No one really took this class or Dueling seriously, they usually pretend like they know everything and that's it. Well not him, he didn't want to die while in battle. When he walked into DADA he saw he was the first student there again. It was like Care of Magical Creatures all over again.

"Hi" he greeted.

When Brayden walked into Defense Against the Dark Arts he was glad that he saw Ares there, it made him feel more at ease because the two of them got along so well and now they became buds. The Belladonna walked further into the class room and waved to Jake before fist pounding Ares. The two were like partners in crime and it made it complete worth it if Brayden ever got into some trouble.

There was something about the Defence Against the Dark Arts class that unnerved her, and she really couldn't pin point what it was, but it was definitely not one of her favourite classes, and if you added to that, the fact that there were only boys at the classroom when she arrived, you could see how the frown on her brow was completely justified.

It wasn't that she had anything against boys, it just seemed to her that most of them were quite loud and blunt when it came to doing things, and she had yet to find one that had a wonderful mischievous and intelligent personality.

Sighing, she walked to the side of the class hugging her bag full of books. "hello" she said to everyone and waited for the class to start while she breathed deeply and tried to hide her blush.

Putting her bag full of book on the floor and sitting next to it, Gillian took out her DADA book and some parchment. She knew that most DADA classes were practical, but she wasn't really that good at practical magic and preferred the theoretical part of it, knowing for sure that if she had a full grasp on how things worked, she might be better at doing it.

Looking up to prof. Newbury, she frowned about his questioning. Maybe there was something tricky about the question, seeing how the name of the spell pretty much said everything there was about it.

Deciding that she's better answer first, before one of the other boys could take a chance on saying the only thing that she knew. Gillian raised her hand, looked around and said "it is used to knock back things or people, it throws them back". Feeling like that was a mediocre question, she started flipping through her book trying to find something else about the spell that would help her give a better answer.

Brayden heard Jake begin class and he was about to give an answer to his question but Gillian did instead, Brayden waited until she was finished her answer before he raised his hand and spoke the first thing that came to his head. "The Knockback Jinx can blast a fragile object apart" Brayden answered the question, he lowered his hand. Brayden knew very little about the Knockback Jinx but he knew that it could break fragile objects apart.

Jaden knew then that she was late and she thought maybe she will not go to Jake's class but then Sadie had told her to go and that Jake wouldn't get mad. And skipping class was not a good thing because Sadie had made cake or jake and he had teach her to fly, Jaden did not want to disappoint Sadie so she walked into class and then Jake was talking about knockback jinx.

"Knockback jinx can be used to physically repel an opponent, knock away an object, blast apart fragile objects and active magically charmed switches," she then said, hoping her answer was right. 

Prof. Newbury was one of his favourites, and even if he wasn't after that sarcastic comment, he would have definitely joined the ranks. Gillian wondered if the girl from her house heard the sarcasm tinting the greeting from the professor; she should have cause it was extremely evident and for that it was even more amusing.

After hearing the explanation on how the wand flick should be done, the girl walked to the front of a dummy while repeating the incantation in a low voice over and over again. Once she was in front of a dummy, she took a quill and practiced the wand flick a few times before actually trying with her wand.

Once she thought she had the wand flick and the incantation right, Gillian stood firmly in front of the dummy, with her legs a bit apart and one foot slightly in front of the other; taking a deep breath, she concentrated on pushing the dummy back and flicked her wand towards the dummy as she said "Flipendo!" out loud just as she had trained. Even though she did everything as she had practiced, and she could have sworn that she felt some sort of energy leave her, from her wand left some light and the dummy only swayed a bit, but didn't move an inch. Gillian blushed a deep crimson and looked around hoping that no one saw that epic fail.

Being as stubborn as she was, Gillian stood again and concentrated more before trying once again the spell. She was intent on doing it until she got it right, and send the dummy all the way to the wall.

Brayden was glad he got points for Belladonna, he walked over to a dummy and raised his wand. He knew or at least had a feeling that he would need at least two spells to knock the dummy over, so that meant the knockback jinx had to be performed twice for it to actually work. Brayden raised his wand at the dummy. "Flipendo" like Brayden thought, it didn't fall like he wanted the first time, he knew he needed to perform it again. "Flipendo" and just like that it was on the ground.

Ares watched as Gillian and Brayden both began their spells on their dummies. Ares walked over to one and stood away a bit before pointing his wand at the dummy in front of him. The young Wormwood didn't know how successful he would be with this spell but he was going to try. "Flipendo" the light came out of his wand and hit the dummy. It waddled a bit but that was about it. "Flipendo" he said again. The dummy moved back a bit but didn't fall on the floor. "Flipendo" this time the dummy fell to the floor and he hoped that he didn't need to do this three times just to get opponent on the ground.

Ares felt like an idiot for completely zoning out in the class. He really needed to stop doing that so he could learn to pay attention better. No wonder why he could knock the dummy back, he performed the spell wrong because he zoned out like usual. "Sorry" he said to Jake. Ares picked his dummy up before going back to his previous spot. He pointed his wand at the dummy and performed the spell correctly... well he hope he did. "Flipendo" he watched as the dummy get knocked back by his jinx. "I may have done this right" he wasn't sure.

Huffing away her disappointment, Gillian took a deep breath and frowned a bit after her rather pathetic excuse of a knock back spell. She started wondering what she had done wrong, and looked around to see her classmates knock over their respective dummies with the force of their spells, asking herself if there was something wrong either with her, or the way she cast her spell.

But then, she noticed prof. Newbury approaching; He encouraged her after teaching her some tricks to improve her technique and getting her to cast her spell better, so she could actually get it right and well done on next times.

She nodded at his instructions and beamed at him, "thanks Prof. Newbury" she said; and with a smile and renewed spirits, she faced the dummy, trying to make it right this time around. From what the professor said, this specific spell was all about intent; picturing the results in her mind and transmitting them to the magic core and the wand.

Assuming again the steady position, Gillian took in a deep breath and blocking everything else from around her, she focused on imagining how the dummy would be knocked back with the spell; Once she had it pictured, the girl flicked her wand and said out loud and firmly "flipendo!". This time, the dummy swayed and backed a few centimeters away from her. With a small yelp of excitement, she turned to look at prof. Newbury, beaming, wondering if he had seen it, and waiting for his approval.

After that, she tried it again and again, finding it both harder to move, hence, requiring more strength and concentration, but at the same time easier to concentrate and channel her force and her magic into the wand and the spell.