D.A.D.A., Class 2

[Gage Oliver]

"Oh Oh Oh!" Gage said eagerly. He pulled out his wand and pointed it at Seth. "I'll get the gum off!"

[Seth Inophen]

"NO!" Seth said a little too loudly. Gage was one of his best friends, yes. But when Gage was overly excited... Well, Seth really liked to keep his body in one piece.

[Rebecca "Bek" Caldwell]

"Gage, breathe kiddo," Bek said calmly. She loved Gage like a little brother, but, knowing his history of backfiring spells, Gage should probably calm down first.

She waited until Gage was back to his normal quiet self. "Okay, now you may remove the gum." She looked over to Maxi, who was still having a giggle fit, and Seth, who looked like he thought he was about to die.

"Relax Seth, Gage can do it."

[Gage Oliver]

Gage took a deep breath and focused like Bek taught him.

"Scourgify!" He said the charm and the gum disapeared. Even better, was that Seth was intact.

"Awesome," Gage whispered. He stuck his tongue out at Seth. "Ha ha!"

[Bellatrix Black]

The level of noise seemed to dim even the slightest as the Professor announced the beginning of class. If she wasn't standing right next to Professor Rothschild, and in front of the entire class, she would have laughed. Instead, she smiled, playing it off as a friendly smile to the entire class. This was certainly going to be interesting. It seemed the professor had no more control over her students than over a pack of wild dogs.

[Rita Skeeter]

Rita sat in the back of the class and watched the commotion making notes for later and none of them were related to her studies. Mostly bits of interesting things that would be the makings of a nice gossip column later. She smirked inwardly at what people would think of such a professor who couldn't control her own students... she was already thinking of a title... Hogwarts Students defend against Professor Control... or even Gummy Situations Cause Chaos in School Classes... hrm she'd have to work on that one but it was a start.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha raced through the hallways when no one was looking. Defense of the Dark Arts. Oh it was calling her, racing through her veins with excitment, she had to get to that class, and she did not want to be late. "Oh merciful Zeus," she begged," Please..."

Samantha didn't beg, not for anything, but she was willing to bleed for this class, she had bled for defending herself, but that was a different story. Here is where she excelled, though she didn't know how she would do in Dueling since her mother had forbade her learning anything that would make her a more adept player in their little "games". It seemed in fighting she had a natural mien...who was she kidding, natural? She was just a girl, a pretty girl whose head should've been filled with boys, and ponies, she shouldn'tve cared about being able to defend herself and instead be frivolous enough to depend on some "strong man" to take care of her, but that wasn't her life, that would never be her life. Those dreams had been crushed, stepped on, spit on, and wiped away with the rest of her tears for a childhood lost.

Speaking of lost, she was in such a hurry and now that her mind had taken her somewhere else she wasn't completely sure she was going to find the class.

"Blessed Hell." she cursed viciously as her eyes shot green sparks. Taking a few deep breaths she closed her eyes and reached for her wand, when she had her hand around it she opened her eyes and cast a spell to "light the way". A spark flew from the tip of her wand and formed a butterfly. Sam smiled as the butterfly flew in a direction which Sam was eager to follow.

The butterfly entered the classroom before Sam did. She took a quick glance around looking for the professor. Her note...oh Merlin, where was her note? She pressed her lips together, did she leave it in her dorm? She was never this clumsy!

No, her note was there in her cloak where she had put it the night before. Thank Merlin. Now, who did she give it to?

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella stood up, having finished checking the roster to ensure all of her students were present. It was quite a crowded classroom, and she was again glad to have Bellatrix there to help out. "OK, class, settle down. We're going to begin. Now, as you may recall, last term, we left off talking about curses and countercurses...."

She stopped abruptly as a girl burst into the room, looking a bit lost. "Yes, may I help you?" she inquired.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Sam didn't burst...oh Merlin...had she burst? She bit the inside of her lip so fiercely it drew blood, that startled her awake and she gave the teacher one of her best apologetic looks, she was surprise to say it, sincerely sorry. She didn't want to mess up in this class at all. Tentatively she stepped towards her and handed the note over, "I'm...I...I got lost." she was studdering? Merlin someone shoot her.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella took the note from the girl and unfolded it. Scanning it quickly, she nodded. "I see. You're a transfer student. Well, Miss Montgomery, welcome to Hogwarts. Please take a seat. We're going to begin class." She gave the girl a kind smile, hoping to set her at ease. She seemed unusually nervous about something, but she didn't look like the type that was used to being nervous about things. She was almost tempted to have the girl sent to the hospital wing.

[Samantha Montgomery]

It was the familiar anticipation and she couldn't help it. She wasn't afraid...she was just anxious, and she couldn't make it go away.

Palefaced she nodded to her teacher, "Thank you professor." she said in almost a whisper before curtsying and turning to find a seat, she sat in the front, and didn't care who she was sitting by.

Images assaulted her from different angles and she clenched her fists underneath her desk as she tried to regulate her breathing.

She needed to go to Diagon's alley and pick up supplies, she hated being without a book in this class, even if she knew most of the spells that would be in the book for her year, she wanted to pour over the words and study them as she had done most of her first, second, third, and fourth year before. It brought her a strange sense of comfort...being prepared...for whatever came her way.

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella waited until Samantha had taken her seat, then began to speak again. "OK, as I was saying, we were discussing curses and counter curses. In a little while, I'm going to have you break up in to pairs to try a few of them out, but first, can anyone name me a common curse and its counter-curse?"

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha's hand shot in the air like lightning, but her face was serene. She could control that much, unfortunately she couldn't control her anxiety or the way her heart was pounding something fierce. She wanted to answer the question, but what was more, she wanted to split into a pair, she wanted to "practice".

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella saw the new girl's hand shoot up in the air and raised her eyebrow curiously. That sort of enthusiasm was usually reserved for Ravenclaws. But, she reminded herself, it wasn't fair to pin such expectations on students. There was certainly no law that Slytherins were disinterested in school. "Yes, Miss Montgomery," she said, nodding at the girl.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha wondered what answer would be the best answer, should she be impressive with what she knew? Should she stick to the basics. Now that she was called on she wasn't quite sure so she said the first curse her mother ever used on her, "Comburo," she swallowed, " It's used to burn one's opponent internally." she blinked...why had she used *that* curse as an example, she continued quickly," You can counter this several ways, the first suggested is by having an intial barrier, Protego, secondly if you have no barrier, Expelliarmus is most useful in de-wanding your opponent, third if your opponent doesn't know silent curses, Langlock can halt the attack, Otherwise Finite will end the attack quickly."

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella raised her eyebrows in surprise. While it was important to know what such a severe spell was capable of doing and how to protect against it, this was certainly not a spell the students could practice in class. "Yes... well, that is an example, Miss Montgomery," she said. "It's certainly important to know how to guard against such a severe spell. Five points to Slytherin. Any other examples?" She looked around the room quickly.

[Samantha Montgomery]

Samantha refused to blush, but speaking of burning up inside, whereas her face had been pale before she went another shade whiter before flushing to a normal hue. That wasn't what she wanted to do, she had to get in control again. Summoning a sheet of paper to her she removed her quill and began to write out the different spells she knew, she didn't know why she was doing this, but it was something to focus on, something that would get her mind off of repressed memories.

In the end at least she had earned points for her house.

[Lily Evans]

Lily raised her hand, feeling pretty positive that she had come up with a good curse and counter curse. "How about the Jelly fingers curse... phalangus wigglus? And as a counter curse, the gripping charm--agrippo. The curse would cause the victim to lose their grip on an object, like their wand, but the counter curse, if said quickly enough, could help them to hold on."

[Samantha Montgomery]

There, now that was a sensible curse and counter curse, it was a good curse to practice in class, it was sensible dang it! Sam bit the inside of her lip unconsciously, but it didn't pucker her lips so no one else needed to notice that she wasn't happy with her answer, or the fact that someone else had a better one, no she wished, Merlin, how she wished she could take back what she said.

But then, why would she? Her curse might not be "classroom appropriate" but in the real world...yes in the real world parents didn't curse their children for wanting to go to the park. That asside, the real world, the war! Certainly, her curse was a perfect example of something someone might come up against in the midst of this war, so...was it so ridiculous then?

[Isabella Rothschild]

Isabella nodded at the pretty redhead. "Yes, Miss Evans. That is a perfect example. It's not generally a spell that causes a lot of trouble, but as you mentioned, it could cause you to drop your wand, which you certainly don't want to do when you're being attacked. That countercurse would work perfectly, as well. Five points to Gryffindor. Now, then, if you turn to page 23 in your text books, you'll see some more examples of curses and countercurses. Remember that there are certain spells which will work as countercurses for just about any curse that may hit you. Spells like Finite Incantatem or just Finite will stop the effects of most curses. Can you think of any examples of spells that won't be able to be counteracted using Finite?"