Open SDA Y45 S1 - Defending

[Genevieve Fuentes]

Evie was shocked to say the least that she was given the responsibility of SDA president. She was positive Celia wouldn't have had a say in it. There was no way she could've passed it on to her voluntarily. Evie wasn't complaining however. It was nice for her to have something new to focus on, even though it was her last year at the school and she still had other things to keep herself busy. The teen had approached her sister for some help preparing the very first club meeting. Her advice was that they should do 'something fun', and whilst it was barely any advice at all, it was still somewhat helpful.

The Gryffindor made her way down to the dueling chamber well in advanced. She cleared out the room so there was nothing but a row of dueling dummies, each for one member of the club. They were going to get some practice in today, all whilst having fun, and Evie really hoped this would go well. She stood at the side of the room, waiting for everyone to arrive. When they did, she cleared her throat and raised her voice over the small chatter in the room. "Hey! Listen up! If you don't know me, my name is Evie and I'm your president this year." she said, before smiling around at everyone. She needed to look somewhat approachable if she was going to be a good leader. "Today we are going to be using these dummies for practice. Primarily, we are going to be focusing on our defence rather than our offence. Yes, casting protego is easy, however it's important to improve on your reflexes, especially if you want to win the dueling tournament. Try your best not to dodge any spells. These dummies are fast and unpredictable, so you need to be prepared." She hoped they all took her warning seriously and that they also thought this was somewhat fun, whilst still something to learn. After all, these meetings were meant to be educational.

"If you wish to pair up with someone instead, you may do so, but remember we are focusing more on our defence, so nothing crazy. The first group of dummies here are easier than the others, so you can start with those first if you like, or move immediately on to the harder ones. Younger students, I suggest you just stick with the easier ones. You may all begin whenever you are ready." With that, Evie encouraged everyone to begin and kept an eye particularly on the younger students in case they needed some help.

 

[Aurora Archer]

Aurora liked being a part of the SDA club, though she knew it wasn't the sole way to get to the duelling competition but it was a useful club to be a part of for the duelling competition. Aurora arrived to the room, and waited for the girl leading the club, Evie from the quidditch team to get started. It was fairly simple, they were fighting dummies. Focusing on defensiveness, dodging and casting spells. aurora did immediately skip to the more difficult dummies, not seeing much value in sticking to the easy ones.

 

[Leonardo Orr]

Leonardo walked into the SDA room, and was sure that this would be a good meeting. He glanced at Genevieve as the girl got started and then looked between the different dummies. He knew he could probably do the most difficult ones. Leo didn't take part in duelling, but knowing how to defend himself was what he wanted, so he went for a mid-difficulty one. Not wanting to overload himself, or make it too easy. he could get more difficult or less difficult if he needed to.

 

[Savannah Walters]

Savannah walked into the student defence room, and stood in amongst the rest. she only knew the president of the club vaguely because of quidditch, and wasn't sure what to make of her now. She nodded at the instruction, Savannah knew she'd much prefer offensive magic practicing, but she could get behind practicing defensive, occasionally. This was such an occasion. She went to the easy dummies, wanting to see what the scale of difficulty was before she went any more advanced.

 

[Enoch Goldewyn]

Enoch walked into the SDA room pretty keen to just learn how to duel. He was sure that this was what the club would be for. He was surprised therefore when they'd only be focusing on defensive magic, he could dodge and cast Protego, that was simple, but he still took out his wand and faced off with an easy dummy and then got started. Knowing that if this was what the club wanted them to be doing he might as well do it.

 

[Seamus Reid]

Seamus wasn't sure there was much point him attending most of the club meetings. He didn't really care about them, or doing well in them. He did care about trying his hand again at winning duelling, but he wasn't that bothered about the rest of it. The teen walked into the room just as the club leader was finishing up what she was saying and he decided to hang back a little focusing instead on making sure that the younger students weren't getting too hurt.

 

[Friday Weeks]

Friday wanted to be good at something, quidditch wasn't for her, her classes were dull. But there was a chance she could be good at duelling, so of course she'd signed up for the Student defence club, and would sign up for duelling. She arrived at the club room, curious as to what they would do, but it wasnt too bad a thing. They'd be able to just do some spell work, some dodging, even if it wasn't casting good fighting spells it was still very much something.

 

[Aroha Blenheim]

Aroha had joined the SDA for one thing and one thing only - the dueling tournament. She knew in order to win she had to put in some practice, so she wasn't opposed to doing some defensive magic. She hadn't learned a whole heap yet and was still starting out, so she went for the easier dummies and practiced protego. Her wand still wasn't responding as well as Aroha would have liked, but she was managing. She even felt herself getting better, like her wand was finally starting to trust her. She wasn't sure if that was all in her head or not, but it certainly felt like true.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey was super excited about the SDA. This year, she'd actually get to enter the duelling tournament, and she'd get to show off some of the jinxes she'd been learning in class. She hadn't quite mastered the knee-reversing hex yet, but she knew she was getting close. A little more practice, and by the time the tournament rolled around she'd have them down. Making someone vomit slugs would be gross but at the same time, hilarious. Unfortunately for Audrey, it seemed that this meeting was not the time to practice the harder spells. Instead, they were just focusing on defending themselves. That was nowhere near as fun, but having good reflexes was important. She stood near one of the easier levelled dummies, planning to try harder ones once she knew the patterns, and cast a shield charm as the dummy eventually hit her. It ended up a bit like a game or a workout, the dummy gradually getting a little faster and her reactions needing to be quicker. That made Audrey enjoy it a lot more - she was more at risk of failing when it was slower and not challenging her.

 

[Teddy Pirrip]

SDA was as an opportunity to refine his skills ahead of the dueling competition that Teddy fully intended to win. He had to work extra hard, particularly since he was at a disadvantage, having not taken Charms or DADA since his first term at Hogwarts. Teddy began practicing on an entry level dummy, sneakily keeping an eye on Audrey to check that he was outperforming her in the task. Not staying entirely focused on the task resulted in a direct hit that sent him sprawling. Undeterred, he quickly picked himself up, brushed off the mishap, and hoped that no one had seen. He carried on practicing on the dummy until he started to get a good rhythm and confident enough to make it harder.

 

[Leah Thorne]

Leah was looking forward to the SDA meeting and was excited to see what was in store for them. Capture the flag last year had been so fun and she wasn't sure it would be possible to top that. She was a little disappointed to just see practice dummies waiting for her when she entered the duelling chamber. But as the new present explained their activity she could hardly argue it wouldn't be worth her time. She hadn't done as well as she would have liked during the tournament last year so getting a bit better at blocking would do her some good. She took out her wand once they began and found a dummy and got to work. It wasn't long before she was breaking a sweat. By the end she could feel her reaction time getting faster and hopefully she could keep up the skill before the tournament next semester.

 

[June Davenport]

June liked being in SDA, but she wondered who would follow Celia in the position of president. It was hard to fill in her shoes she figured, for someone else. Not June, she would be better obviously. But she was too young. June liked being a leader, she was not an follower but could act like she was if neccesary. But it was not that she liked doing that. Once she was inside the clubroom she noticed an gryffindor in front. One who was also an prefect. They would be training on dummies, and that was an bit boring the blonde figured. But she didn't mind practice, she wanted to do better in duelling this year she had too. But mostly important were the classes, so this was all extra. June spotted some familliar faces around, but no Tempest yet. June wondered who she ment with younger students, becausw June didn't want easy. But she sighted and went to the easy to just start with. And took out her wand to practice some blocking, reflexes wouldn't be bad to practice. She casted the shielding charm a few times and it went better how longer she was training. But she was really pleased, she would show others how good she was.