Guide through the Dark Arts and Defence Against The Dark Arts

He would usually enter his classroom without anything specific troubling his mind. He would observe the empty seats, prepare himself for another term of teaching, sit down at his desk and, eventually, start teaching his subject. This term was different, very different. Although the Dark Army practically controlled the school last term, Wilson did not have much trouble with keeping everything in line because he had no respect for those idiots and he wold easily both ignore and defeat any possible obstacle that could interfere with his classes. Also, he had the backing of the majority of the staff and the Headmaster. This year was different. William McCoy decided to retire after the devastating battle, witnessing the slaughter of both students and adults, explaining hat he had had enough. He was a strong man, very brave and righteous, but that righteousness cost him his job, or his willpower to do his job. He decided to resign because it was better not to work than to work improperly. If and when he will be back, he did not say, leaving, thus, the possibility of his return sometime in the course of Wilson's tenure at Hogwarts. Edgar Doyle was initially sacked, not officially, but it was obvious to everyone, even Doyle himself, that he would not get another chance after such a catastrophe within the castle. But, to everyone's amazement, the Ministry of Magic has proven itself somewhat worthy by not sacking Doyle and giving him another opportunity this term. He was, though, under surveillance and it was, indirectly, clear that he had no space for a mistake. Also, there was the question of the new eminence that was circling around the country, but that was something he would worry about later. Doyle was his back-up, but he had been visibly weakened. The new staff members also weren't people he could trust, with the exception of his former pupil, who had his trust and thereby Doyle's also, so he was left almost alone in the new situation that would surely escalate in due time.

For now, though, he had to worry about the classes. With a loud sigh, he walked to his desk and sat down. He put his wand on the desk and then, with a flick of his hand wrote the title of today's lesson. He then took a book he kept in hid drawer and started reading it, waiting for his new-old pupils to arrive.

Jennifer had been happy to be back at Hogwarts. She was looking forward to starting her lessons. Especially DADA she was looking forward to. It was her favorite subject. She had been especially skilled with the defensive spells. She walked into the classroom to see Professor Wilson sitting at his desk reading a book. "Hello Professor," she said to him and nodded.

She took a seat in the front row, being sure not to miss anything. Jen took her books out and a custom quill she had gotten at Diagon Alley and wrote today's lesson title down on her parchment. Since the room was empty and class hadn't started yet, she decided to read her book Hogwarts: A History There were many cool facts about the castle in the book that Jennifer found interesting.

“One, two, three, four...five,” The marker pen gave a little squeak as it was forced to part with more ink and stain the pale, delicate skin that belonged to Sevastian Krum. He could be found that morning out in the grounds surrounded by the nature that seemed as drawn to him as he was to it and its inhabitants. Through breakfast, Sevastian had been watching the birds that danced around amongst the trees of the Forbidden Forest. He’d even shared a brief conversation with the Whomping Willow before the irritable tree had decided to take a swipe at him. After that the blonde had decided to return to the birds and he’d been counting them ever since, resulting in the tallies that now covered his calf. Sevastian capped the pen when the last bird disappeared into the woods and he pushed it behind his ear. Clearing his throat he rose to his feet and picked his bag up from where he’d set it down on the grass no more than a few feet away from where he’d chosen to sit after his encounter with the Willow.

A glance at his watch reaffirmed the decision he’d already made. Class was due to begin at any time and Sevastian was little use out in the grounds. He pulled his hair up into a pony tail, using one of the hair bands clasped around his wrist, and checked his watch once more before setting off towards the castle. He’d picked rather a foolish place to go and sit himself but he was sure he’d make good time; he’d certainly left early enough.

Sevastian had almost timed his departure perfectly. When he entered the classroom people were pouring out of the Great Hall and he found himself swept up in the mid-morning rush to get to classes. It was only through a stroke of luck that he managed to pass through the door that took him down the corridor towards the Defence classroom. When Sevastian finally made it he was eternally grateful and he opened the door to find that there was only the professor and one other student-- a Gryffindor from the look of the robes. Sevastian cleared his throat and swallowed before stepping over the threshold and closing the door behind him.

“Good morning, Professor!” Sevastian greeted the man cheerfully. Sevastian took his bag off of his shoulder and set it down underneath a table to the left of the classroom, somewhere in the middle of them all. He shrugged his robes off and hung them on the back of the chair before pulling it out and taking a seat. He looked about the classroom, taking in the familiar sight, before letting his eyes fall to the girl in the front row. Sevastian smiled and tipped his head to the side to see her book of choice and his smile broadened when he found the title. Content, Sevastian sat back and decided it best to wait for the others to turn up. He had great confidence in the fact that they would.

Roxi liked carrying candy with her everywhere- especially to classes. She was the kid that sat in the back, slowly opening her candy wrapper. Every time someone would look back, she would freeze and suck in her lips, her eyes wide with innocence until they turned back. Once she finally got the infernal wrapper open, she would chew her candy.. and thus began the same drill.

And yet, she never learned. She brought candy.

She did not want to be late for Wilson's class, because he was strict and she wanted Gryffindor to kick ass this year, so she had to be careful. She skipped to the classroom, as it was a much quicker mode of transportation, and whisked into the classroom, allowing for a twirl, before ever so gracefully knocking into a chair.

"Ow," she said, straightening up and fixing her hair. "Morning, sir!" She turned and caught sight of a blonde head of hair. She gasped."Sevvy!" She flounced her way over to him and grabbed his face, plopping a kiss on his cheek. She grinned and sat down, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a lollipop for him. "Lollie?"

*

“It wasn’t my fault!”

“Yes it was!”

“No it wasn’t!”

“Then whose fault was it, Millie?!”

“...Trent’s!”

And with that argument over and done with, Millie scrambled out of the Gryffindor common room before her brother had a chance to start on her about Trent’s involvement in the small-scale fire that had taken place and had resulted in her dear brother’s bedding being charred. Though it had been Millie’s fault, she wasn’t quite ready to admit that part way through a cigarette she’d gotten vaguely interested in the contents of her brother’s trunk and things had...escalated...from there. He knew as well as she did that she was to blame for the burnt bed he had to lay in and though there were only a few holes in the bedding and though the mattress was still soaked through due to the hastily cast spell, it really wasn’t that bad. But then again, that was her opinion and she didn’t have to sleep in a bed both wet and burnt at the same time. It was quite a contrast, really. Unique, interesting. Too bad he didn’t see her talents with fire quite the same way she did.

So Millie set off for Defence against the Dark Arts after successfully landing their friend in a world of shit with Elliot. Millie knew she’d have to pay Trent dearly for dealing with her brother’s wrath she figured it was better when it concerned his sleeping arrangements than anything else that Elliot could have yelled at Trent for. She was still confused by how relaxed Elliot was about her sleeping in Trent’s bed nine times out of ten. She supposed he must have figured there she wouldn’t get up to any mischief regarding explosions and fire. Now speaking of explosions, Millie was really, really hoping he didn’t decided to open his trunk...at least for a few days. Now that, unfortunately, could not be Trent’s fault in any shape or form. Nope, she’d have to deal with that one. It was fine though. At least she’d be blamed for something she intended on doing and not an accident. That was something.

Opening the door of the Defence classroom, Millie proceeded to trip over her own feet. She was wiped out and hit the floor with an audible smack. Groaning, Millie rolled over onto her back and kicked the door shut, thankful the floor was at least vaguely soft. She looked up and grinned at the Professor as she began to press her hands against her face to check for injuries. “Hi sir!” she called, grinning at him. “How’re you today?” She rolled onto her front again and jumped back up onto her feet, pleased to find she hadn’t hurt herself on the way down. She hadn’t actually hit her face...it was more of an awkward keel over and roll. Not that hitting her face was such a bad thing necessarily. It would probably knock some sense into her - unlikely. “Right. Good. Great. Ah -- friends!”

Millie grinned and made her way over to where Roxi was sat with Sevastian. She wandered down the aisle in front of their desk and grabbed the chair out from the desk in front of theirs. She turned it around and dumped her bag down underneath the desk before sitting down and placing her hands either side of her nose. Millie laughed a little and wriggled her nose before looking at the pair. “How are we both? You missed it, Rox, Ell was accusing me of arson. It was fabulous! Not that he was necessarily wrong mind you but he could give me more credit than that. Actually no...no he couldn’t. Ah well!” Millie shrugged her shoulders and grinned widely again.

It had been a good day for Sam. The House Elves has given him his favourite breakfast, his teachers had been... well, not too heavy... with their allocation of homework, and most of all - he was finally back at school. Oh the relief in that.

So it was disappointing, to say the least, that the good run he'd been having ended at around the same time he arrived at the DADA classroom... in fact, as soon as he'd crossed the threshold to the DADA classroom...

See, it wasn't that he didn't like DADA, quite the opposite in fact, it was one of his favourite classes, it was more the fact that he had entered just after Millie.

Like, the moment after her, close enough for him to see her lying on the ground, but not fast enough to realise that the door was closing, and thus his good run ended rather abruptly, with a very sore nose.

Emitting a loud yelp of pain he pushed the door open and, hand on nose, walked into the DADA classroom.

"Good one Millie," he said with a dark tone, before winking at her and taking his seat. "Good..." he said, frowning as he checked his wand, "Afternoon professor," he said, pulling out his books and quill as he prepared for the lesson to begin.

''This is not a bloody brothel, so please, stop acting like idiots'', Wilson warned the circus consisting of the Hufflepuff boy and a girl from his house. He then saw a rather interesting fall, or a chained reaction to be precise. He laughed. ''Greetings, Grigori... I see that you failed at improving your balance this summer, brilliant'', he said. He then stood up and observed the whole class, well, the five of them, at least. Attendance was becoming a large problem. ''Now, if you've all decided not to die during the course of this class, we can begin. Dark Arts and this subject are like two sides of the same medallion, they depend on each other and one of them would not exist without the other one, although they are staunch enemies. This, you may have already known or deduced, but during the course of your education, you will learn how to detect and defend yourselves against the Dark Arts, you will learn the quickest and most effective ways to secure your own life and the life of others. This is, probably, the most important subject you will listen too during your education at Hogwarts, so I shall require diligence and dedication from you, as this is not only A subject, this is THE subject. I shall try and do my best to prepare you for what awaits you in your future, but I shan't trouble with gloomy speeches yet, that will await you on your N.E.W.T. classes. For now, try to enjoy yourselves and the spells you learn here. Now, to start, could anyone name some spells you might be able to use in self-defence?'', he asked.

Sam split into a grin as the professor spoke about him and threw a quick, haphazard salute to the man, pleased that if one thing was going to remain the same in Hogwarts, it would be the attitude of Professor Wilson.

Giving the consideration to the idea of objecting to Wilson's assumption that they weren't planning on being dead by the end of the lesson, Sam just about rose his hand before thinking the better of the move. A joke was a joke until it went to far, and that was just the sort of action that could land Gryffindor into the negative point area.

"Protego, sir, is one I know of," Sam said with his hand raised, knowing it was a fairly common spell, but a defensive one nonetheless, "And the erm... the patronum charm," he said, his brow furrowing as he realised how wrong his words sounded. "y'know the one for dementors," he said, trying to make a quick recovery.

Beck ran through the corridor, shoulder bag jostling from side to side as it persistantly tried to trip him up or, at the very least, slow him down. He didn't wish to be late for his first Defence Against the Dark Arts class. It wouldn't be a great impression to make to one of the more higher positioned teachers of the school if he was late on his first day of lessons at Hogwarts. The fifth year was beginning to find his way around the school a little easier now, though it was still a complicated maze and he'd taken a wrong turn multiple times.

Dark brown hair hung to his shoulders and a floppy side fringe threatened to block his view of the corridor ahead completely as he slowed to a walk. He could see the door he was meant to be heading too. Hopefully he wasn't too late. Reaching up his left hand, the teen brushed his hair lightly with pale fingers to smooth it back down into place. One of his usual expressions was set on his face, this time a scowl rather than a smirk, as he reached out for the door. Opening it, he stepped inside and realised that lessons had indeed already begun.

"I..err...got lost," he drawled, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck as he stood awkwardly in the doorway. His dark brown gaze was directed to the professor at the front of class and he sent a half grin in that direction, trying to compensate for disrupting the lesson.