LESSON TWO
Noel was going over his notes for today's lesson when the first wave of students entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. He left the notes be, as he wanted to get a good look of the first year students and see how they entered class. So he welcomed them with his friendly smile, and stood up from his desk. As he walked towards the door this time, figuring the walking was good for him he saw the last student coming in. And closed the door once they were in.
He than walked back to the front of the classroom and stood before his desk. '' Good morning, everyone.'' He than greeted his class and started off directly what he expected of them. '' I would like you to take out your quills, pen and parchment. We have a lot of material to go over for today.'' He than said to them and gave them an moment to take their writing equipment, if they hadn't already. And contiuned. '' Like Hogwarts, most of the other wizarding schools around the world have made Defence Against the Dark Arts a mandatory subject. But why? From what, or who, do we need to defend ourselves?'' He waved his wand at the blackboard behind him to make a handful of images of infamous witches and wizards appear. The first of them would perhaps be the most infamous of them. On the board appeared a moving picture of a wizard with snake-like features, smiling menacingly.
He let the students look at it for a couple of seconds and then returned their attention to him. Some seemed to be startled by the look of him. ''The man behind me is Lord Voldemort. Your older relatives may still refer to him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or You-Know-Who.'' He glanced around the classroom when he could hear some reactions. ''Back in his time, people had every reason to be afraid of him. Voldemort murdered and tortured countless people and creatures to achieve his goal of taking control of the wizarding community of Great Britain. He used and abused the Dark Arts and eventually transformed into the abomination you see behind me. Take a good look at it because this is what happens when you don't respect the power of the Dark Arts - he was more snake than man in the end.'' He had been reading a lot about this person and still it was an topic people sometimes spoke of. '' Together with a group of loyalists called the Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort worked towards ''cleansing'' the magical world of those they deemed impure and unworthy of wielding magic. They mostly targeted Muggles and Muggle-borns, but also other impure beings such as part creatures. Everyone not sympathetic to their cause would meet the same faith if they weren't careful enough.'' Noel than waved his wand at the blackboard a second time. Another image appeared, this time the students were looking at a witch.
'' Here you see.. Gormlaith Gaunt. An unstable and cruel witch. She believed in pure-blood supremacy and had an intense hatred for anyone with a different view from hers. She used jinxes, hexes and curses to bring living hell to those around her. Her hatred for Muggles and Muggle-born ran so deep that she murdered her own sister and brother-in-law for showing sympathy towards their Muggle neighbours. She kidnapped and manipulated her niece Isolt Sayre and later tried to kill her when she married a Muggle. Those of you who have a knack for history might recognise the name of her niece as one of the founders of the American wizarding school Ilvermorny, a school Isolt founded alongside her Muggle husband.'' And then he waved his wand for the third time and a different person appeared on the blackboard behind him. This time they saw another wizard.
''This is Gellert Grindelwald. Expelled from Durmstrang at a young age for conducting disturbing experiments on his peers, Grindelwald used and abused the Dark Arts as well. He killed, maimed and controlled people through the Dark Arts. His main goal was to end the International Statue of Secrecy, and there's even a rumour going around that he sought a way to cheat death.'' With a final wave, the image of Gellert Grindelwald disappeared too. ''There are dark witches and wizards in every corner of the world, including here in New Zealand. The Scitorari are a nasty bunch of people.'' He didn't faced them before gladly, but ofcourse working beside the Minister closely had been usefull to learn about what was going on around. ''We could go on but there is not enough time in your seven-year education to review every practitioner of the Dark Arts.'' He paused for a moment, waiting for the first years to finish writing everything down. ''The main reason that I have told you about all these people today is that I want all of you to know why we must learn to defend ourselves from dark magic. Perhaps you will never meet people like Lord Voldemort, Gormlaith Gaunt, or Gellert Grindelwald in your life, which I hope you do. But it wouldn't hurt to know how to protect yourself and your loved ones from people who practice the Dark Arts.''
It had been a long lecture, but he was sure interesting for the first years. Some might prefered some wand work, but it was important that they knew. He had an dry throat of talking a lot. He than smiled to the class as they were finishing their writings. '' That was all for today. Next week we will focus on spells, so it will be handy to bring your wands along.'' He than said and winked playfull. And with that he dismissed the class.
Roleplay the lesson, that's all
