Sixth and Seventh Years: Class Three

[Azar Salinas]

((OOC: I made an horrendous schedule cock up, planning two lessons in four days. Lesson Three is therefore struck out, this becomes Lesson Three, the next Lesson Four etc. Apologies.))

Pushing the clssroom door open with a swing of his foot, Azar entered the room, a mug of coffee, and a few loose parchments hovering ahead of him. Too lazily he set them on the table, causing his drink to slop onto his work. Cursing quietly, he quickly cast a cleaning charm, which cleared up the spilt coffee, but did nothing for the stain it had made on the parchment. Frowning, he looked at his desk, before giving a resigned shrug and sitting down, ready for class.

They'd made tremendous progress in the last couple of lessons, covering a number of topics, ranging from obscure to commonplace. He hoped to round of the theory today, leaving time to take on a Boggart in the last lesson, if he could find one. Until then, they had things to learn, so hoping for a good, punctual turnout, Azar leaned back in his chair, studying one of his coffee stained sheets of parchment.

[Joe Moon(gone)]

Joe yawned. He had to stay up last night. On the bright side, he atleast had six hours of sleep. It still made him feel tired. Normally people would sleep about eight hours but for him eight still isn't enough for him. Come on Joe, class is going to start soon so WAKE UP DUDE! He shook his head.

The Ravenclaw walked into the classroom of Defence Against the Dart Arts. He looked around the place, there were no one but him and Professor Salinas. "Good Morning Professor," Joe said to him. After that he took a seat in the middle row and took out a quill and his notebook.[/size]

[Jodi Peterson]

DADA had never been one of Jodi's favourite classes. It was weird for her to be looking forward to the lesson. Although Jodi was excited, she wan't her usual perky self. She wasn't sad or feeling gloomy, but not feeling terriably happy either. Too much work had taken its toll on Jodi. She'd spent the last week up ever night, looking over class notes and reading books. Jodi knew she didn't have to put in to much work, but it was habit, and she wanted to be happy with her marks.

Jodi walked into the DADA classroom to find only the professor and Joe in the class. "Hey Professor, hey Joe," Jodi said as the walked to the middle row and sat 3 seats across from Joe. Looking at him from the side, he looked kind of cute. Jodi cut her thought short, and turned to the front of the class, biting her lip. She turned a little red, but keeping her eyes at the front of the class, she took her book from her bag, and fumbled around for a pen or quill in the bottom of her bag.

[Natalia Burana]

<sup>The past few weeks had begun to take its toll of the Slytherin girl. In light of her recent promotion, Natalia had to work much harder than she'd anticipated. This resulted in less sleep and a grumpier young lady. Reluctantly, she entered the classroom, her feet dragging with each step. Her bag hung loosely from one shoulder and she fell down into a seat toward the rear of the classroom. This was quite uncharacteristic for the dark-haired girl to take such a position; she normally found a place to the front.

With a barely audible sigh, Natalia retrieved her parchment and quill for any notetaking. Her wand was placed gently upon her desk. Normally, she would have felt anxious, since she couldn't remember if any homework had been issued for this class the day previous. If so, she'd managed to forget it. She was far too exhausted to care at this time. She just wanted to get her bloody N.E.W.T.S. over and done with.</sup>

[americaneagle14]

Monica walked into the Defense Against the Dark Arts room quietly; very tired and not looking forward to her day of lessons. She liked this class and all, at least when they learned new spells or tactics, but she just wasn't up for learning today. She mentally shrugged off her grudge against school, taking a seat near the center of class. She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms comfortably beneath her chest as well as her legs beneath her desk.

Taking out her wand, she conjured up a small cup of coffee. She hadn't been hungry this morning, and perhaps some coffee might lift her spirits and energy a bit. She didn't feel like socializing, especially with people she'd never really talked to anyway. Seeing that there was no subject on the board, Monica decided to wait until the lesson began before she took out any notes. Maybe they'd actually practice defense today... Fun.

[heartsout]

Jackson yawned, brushing dark hair away from his face as he made his way to his Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. He wasn't looking forward to it, he would much rather, like any other day, lay wrapped up in bed sleeping. Classes didn't hold any bit of excitment for him anymore since everyone was kicked up a year. Not that he'd been going to a lot lately... He missed his friends. Bah.

Entering the classroom, he slid into a seat in the back. With another yawn, he propped his elbow up on the surface of the desk, resting his chin in the palm of his hand.

[Éowyn Lovegood]

Éowyn walked into the DADA classroom. She was overwhelmed at the amount of homework that the teachers had given her. Éowyn was hoping to get this spell done quickly in this class so she wouldn't have to practice it, adding another thing to her mountain of homework. Éowyn sat down in the middle row of seats and waited for the lesson to begin.

[Alexander W. Black]

The day was completely horrendous to Alexander Black. He could barely keep up with classes, having try-outs taking place, his proposal soon to be done, and so much more. But yet he still manages to go to Defense Against the Dark Arts. This is what you might call dedication. Alexander was a brilliant boy when it came to this subject.

Stepping into the room, looking lifeless, he looked up to see only Jackson. "Stupid..." He softly said, sounding extremely miserable. Alexander had been begging Jackson to join the team. But of course, Jackson his too proud of himself so it meant nothing to him. Alexander clenched his hands, sitting in front of the professor, and crossed his arm.

"Stupid little kids..." He said once more. Alexander had dark circles around his eyes, looking pretty much half dead. His skin looked dull and etc. What a sight eh?

[Alessa Gillespie]

Walking down the halls, bumping into first years by mistake. Alessa sighed heavily, wondering if she would make it on time for class today. She had told herself no more being late. She shook her head to herself as she made her way to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. One of her favorite classes for some reason.

Walking threw the door of the classroom. She smiled as she seen that she might of actually made it in on time. Making her way threw, she found herself a seat next to a guy named Alexander. Giving him a small smile, her piercing blue eyes trying to catch his eyes. "Hello" she said nodding her head as she got out her things for class. Wondering what was going to happen today in class.

[Joe Moon(gone)]

"hey Joe,"

A familiar voise appeared. It was Jodi. He didn't see her until she said something. "Hey Jodi," Joe replied. Jodi was three seats away from him. After that there were more people coming mainly seventh years but a couple of sixth years that showed up for the lesson. Normally the lesson would start about now but Joe continued waiting for the lesson to start.[/size]

[Azar Salinas]

"Okay, let's get this little show on the road," said Azar, after what had been a rather long patient wait for the mere handful of students that had turned up. He stood up, and after a quick head count, frowned in disapprovement. Eight, a shocking figure. Hoping dearly it wasnt his teaching that had scared them into non-attendance, he sighed, and waved his wand at the board, causing a title to appear.

Acromantula

It was a rather niche subject, and one he'd been driven t out of sheer lack of ideas, but still Azar harboured hope someone would know about them. "Who can tell me about this creature?" he asked, looking around the class.

[Alexander W. Black]

Alexander looked at the professor. He couldn't believe his ears. Acromantulas, what were so special about those fury little creatures? Well at least most of them aren't known to be small nowadays. With a great sigh, his eyes closed his head facing the table, Alex simply answered "Acromantulas are huge spiders with a poisonous bite. They like us are capable of talking, due to the fact that it was wizard-bred. Well that's all I know. It's good enough." He shrugged. Trying to take a little nap thought unconciously answering.

Is that even possible? With that Alex nearly smiled.

[Jodi Peterson]

Spiders. Huge giant hairy spiders. That was the topic for today's class. Joy, Jodi thought to herself as the headed the top of her page. When the Professor asked students to tell him about the creature, Jodi decided to give other students a chance to answer. After Alex's poor attempt, seeming very sleepy. Jodi raised her hand, but didn't wait for her to be asked.

"As Alex said, the Acromantula are massive venomous spiders. They can grow to have a leg span on over 4.5 meters. I believe they are native to Asia, possibly in the south, but don't quote me on that. I rememvber the female is bigger then the male, which i thought was very cool. They lay eggs the size of a beach ball, and there was huge fines for people who trade the eggs. The venom is very valuable, but for what reason I can't tell you," Jodi said on a fast tone. Jodi took a breath and continued to speak.

These spiders are wizard bred, and possess the power of human speech and human like intelligence. And the Basilisk is it's moral enemy. Thats all I've got," Jodi said, slumping back onto her chair, and picking up her pen ready for note taking.

[Jasmine Taylor]

Jas skipped down the hall thinking that she was right on time only to find out that she was indeed late. Walking in she took a seat in the back and got out her things. Has she did that she listened to the students answering the professor.

[Azar Salinas]

Azar raised his eyebrows, genuinely surprised his students knew so much about such a rare creature. It pleased him though, and he wondered if their knowledge would know stretch to combatting it, "That's exactly what an Acromantula is, you two. Take five points for each of your houses. Now, would either of you, or anyone else, have any idea how to take on an Acromantula? How to defend yourself from one?". Looking around again, Azar was now rather confident. The pupils had shown in the past their knowledge and ideas, and he expected it again with the next answer.

[Joe Moon(gone)]

Joe raised his hand. "You would defend yourself by using the spell Arania Exumi. The spell pushes spiders on their back for little time so you could run away then after that they would be back on their eight legs. Hopefully that is a good time to run away from them," he explained. Joe read that when he was in his second year or so about the spell againsts Acromantulas but that was long ago but he remembered it.[/size]

[Jodi Peterson]

Jodi was unsure about how to answer the Professor's question. After turning over ideas in her head, and listening to Joe speak, she decided to ask a question. After all, it didn't hurt to try.

"That of course would only throw back one or two spiders at once. I don't like that spell if strong enough to push back many spiders. If there a spell that is stronger?" Jodi asked both Joe and Azar.

[Azar Salinas]

Nodding after the answer from the ever-knowledgable Head Boy, Azar listened to the input from Jodi, and thought for a moment before giving a careful answer. "There are times in life, when you are overrun, and there is nothing you can really do but to try and flee. Being faced with a number of Acromantula would be one of these situations. The best any normal wizard could hope to do would be to apparate away, as really Arania Exumi is the best spell for use against the creatures. Even with this spell, it just knocks them back, the spell caster still needs to escape somehow, the spell simply buys time.".

Hoping the students understood where he was coming from, Azar turned to the board to give them some written notes. As he wrote them, he thought about how they had covered the Acromantula, and what they could do next. Really, covering the creature was little practical use, as the students would be highly unlikely to ever meet one, but in learning about it and defence against it, he had tried to drum into them the idea that magic can't defend against everything. That sometimes you had to flee, and sometimes your number might simply be up.

Acromantula
The Acromantula is a venomous giant spider (its leg span can reach up to 5 metres) found in parts of Southern Asia. Highly aggressive, for a single wizard alone, defeating just one is exceedingly difficult. When faced with Acromantula, the most useful spell, Arania Exumi can be used to knock back a small amount, however this will simply buy time, with which to flee. The best way to survive an encounter with one or more Acromantula is to apparate away on spying them

Turning from his now completed paragraph, he brought his mind back to teaching. "Are there any questions?" he asked.

[Alexander W. Black]

As Alexander questioned himself the same thing about how they can probably be defeated, he had something in mind but didn't think it was the exact and answer. And it wasn't. But asking to see if this might just be a solution wouldn't hurt right? Alexander looked at the professor, well of course right after Alexander finished writing things up, he said, "Wouldn't summoning a snake would help as well? I mean, their afraid of basilisks and well why can't we just summon one or either summon any kind of snake and well enlarge them or any of that sort? Just something in mind I had. Because sometimes there isn't just one solution to one problem...." He sighed heavidly. Hopefully he didn't look stupid asking that question, even though it was kinda stupid to begin with.

[Azar Salinas]

Azar listened as a question came in, and was impressed at the lateral thinking and inventiveness behind it. He had to quash it though, but tried to convey his appreciation of the thought. "Well, that's a clever idea," he said, "But you have to first appreciate, that a Basilisk is more than just a large snake, in the same way, a giant isn't just a tall human. Now for the Acromantula, a Basilisk is required, and I must admit I don't know, and I'm not sure anyone does, how to conjure one of them. Even if you did, you have to then face up to a Basilisk, possibly more frightening than an Acromantula and you're back to square one. So all in all, that's a fail, sorry.".

After answering the question, Azar glanced ot his watch quickly, ready to press on. To his surprise, he found their discussion had taken longer than he'd anticipated. With just five minutes left of class, it seemed pointless to move onto a topic they clearly wouldn't finish, so he chose to wind up early. "And if you have no more further questions," he told them. "I'll see you next lesson, try to bring more people.". With a smile he opened the door wide with a wave of his wand, and in case there were any more queries he'd missed, waited around the front ready to answer them.