First Years, Lesson Two

LESSON TWO
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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.

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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.

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'' 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.

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''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.

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Roleplay the lesson, that's all

 

[Finley Mackintosh Baros]

"Sorry! I lost track of time!" Finley skidded into the room, his bag half on his shoulder, half dragging behind him. He dropped into an empty seat, having already missed half of the lecture and picking up from Gormlaith Gaunt. The name Gaunt was kind of icky if he was honest because what kind of a name was Gaunt. For that fact, what kind of a name was Gormlaith even? Did people back then not have normal names? As the professor continued speaking about the infamous Dark wizards, Finley leaned forward, practically vibrating with energy. Needless to say Finley didn't think he would want to run into her in a dark alley, or Grindelwald for that matter - though he did wonder why they were learning about these wizards and witches and not something more modern. Weren't there dark witches and wizards in New Zealand? Or even just Oceania. He'd heard about the haunted mansion, surely Borely Manor would be something more relevant? He would like to learn more about that honestly. He practically bounced in his seat as the professor continued, blurting out questions or exclamations as the mood struck him. "Did Grindelwald ever duel Dumbledore? Oh, wait, I read they did - did they really destroy a whole building?!" His loud enthusiasm didn’t seem to wane, even as the lecture came to a close. He was surprised this was a history lesson though and not a spell lesson, but he supposed it could have been worse. When the lesson ended, he quickly left.​

 

[Miles Flynn]

Miles had been hoping to learn some magic or something, but it appeared as though he wasn't in luck, as it was simply going to be a lecture. As they were told to bring out their parchment and quills, the boy couldn't help but huff a little as he rather reluctantly pulled them out of his satchel. The first year supposed what they were learning about was at least a little interesting, leaning forward in his seat as the Professor started showing them pictures of different wizards and witches and talking about how they had used the Dark Arts for their own evil goals. Frankly, they all sounded like absolutely horrible people, and Miles hopes he never bumped into someone like that. And if he did, he hoped they at least moved onto learning some proper magic in this class sooner rather than later. So, while he suffered through a long and almost-interesting-enough lecture, he did brighten as they were told to bring their wands to the next lesson. Finally, he had something to look forward to, unable to stop himself from grinning as he grabbed his stuff and left the classroom once they had been dismissed. He couldn't help but wonder what spell they were going to end up learning first.

 

[Christa Langley]

Christa had been looking forward to this class all week. She entered the classroom with her bag slung over her shoulder, taking a seat near the middle of the room. She greeted a few of her classmates with a quick smile but mostly kept to herself, pulling out her notebook and quill to be ready when class began. When the professor began his lecture, her eyes immediately locked onto the moving image of Lord Voldemort on the blackboard. Her quill hovered above her parchment as she took in the snake-like features of the man. She wrote hurriedly, making sure to capture the professor’s words:​

"Lord Voldemort - used Dark Arts for power. Tortured and killed many. Wanted control of wizarding Britain. Abused magic and became snake-like."​

Her handwriting got messier as she tried to keep up, but she paused to take a closer look at the image of Gormlaith Gaunt. It was then that Finley another Gryffindor raced into the room and she laughed lightly at him. He seemed to always be late to class, and she wondered if maybe someone should give him a watch. Or maybe an alarm clock?​

"Gormlaith Gaunt - Pure-blood fanatic. Murdered family for Muggle sympathy. Tried to kill Isolt Sayre (Ilvermorny founder)."​

She didn't know any of these people and wondered if the people with a magical background had a better understanding of this, because most of it was confusing, she didn't really know a lot about these people or what they had possibly done except for what was being said here. The image of Grindelwald especially made her shiver. She'd seen his name come up a couple of times, but this was even more than that.​

"Gellert Grindelwald - expelled from Durmstrang. Wanted to break the Statue of Secrecy. Used Dark Arts to harm and control people. Rumored to cheat death."​

When the teacher mentioned the Scitorari, Christa felt a pang of curiosity. She made a mental note to read more about them later, writing:​

"Scitorari - dark group in New Zealand. Dangerous practitioners of the Dark Arts."​

She hoped she never met a Scitorari. By the time the class was dismissed, Christa’s wrist was sore from all the writing, but her parchment was full of notes. The lesson had been intense but also fascinating, giving her a greater understanding of the dangers lurking in the wizarding world. She did find herself wondering though, how she was supposed to navigate such dangers if she barely even understood the world itself.​

 

[Hachiro Kaster]

Hachiro strolled into the defence class, with an air of indifference. He chose a seat near the middle - not too close to the action, but not far enough to seem like he was avoiding it either. As the professor greeted the class, he leaned back, balancing his chair precariously on its hind legs, and twirled his quill between his fingers, an amused smirk playing at his lips. As Professor Waldgrave began the lecture, Hachiro alternated between twirling his quill and sketching exaggerated caricatures of the infamous dark wizards displayed on the board. When Voldemort's snake-like visage appeared, he muttered a sly comment about the aesthetic choice, earning a few quiet snickers from nearby classmates. The the professor recounted the tales of Gormlaith Gaunt and Grindelwald and Hachiro kept u phis running commentary, punctuated by more sarcastic comments about Ilvermorny's founders and Grindelwald’s penchant for theatrics, while his parchment filled with doodles instead of notes.​

 

[Sage Misaki]

Sage was mildly more or less impressed with the school than she'd been before. At least, she was sure at least some people had a little sense of humor. A small one at least. And that made the school slightly- slightly more manageable. It just meant she had a good target. Her mind was racing with thoughts on it, but for now she had to get back to class. She took her usual seat in the back. She didn't know where Henri got the kind of energy he had, but it didn't help her opinions of him. She made a mental note to avoid him in class where she could. She propped her chin in her hand, watching and listening idly to the Professor. Eventually they finished with their lecture so Sage slipped out of class, ignoring the rest of the students.