DADA - Lesson 1 (Years 3, 4, & 5)

Callum generally enjoyed Defence Against the Dark Arts. He found the practical lessons amusing, and certainly useful, given the current circumstances. He'd heard that Professor Finn was no longer teaching, and that the new teacher would be Professor Newbury, who he knew (not personally) due to quidditch.

He was pleased to see, when he entered the classroom, that he had kept Professor Finn's layout of no desks or chairs, which meant that there'd definitely a lot of spell work, his favourite.

"Hello Sir, I'm Callum," he introduced himself, giving a polite nod of his head as he made his way, with an air of confidence, across the spacious classroom, "Victoria," he added, acknowledging the witch who was there before him. He looked over to the board, noting the subject for today "Boggarts? Wicked," a smile touched his lips.

Walking into the first class of the day, Janique was happy to see Callum was already there. They had written the rest of the summer, and she had made excuses to not meet up with him, her strategy being to make him want her more.

"Callum!" she called out, her voice excited. "How have you been?" Quickly making her way over, she gave him a huge hug, and when she felt him hug her back, knew that her strategy had worked. She parted almost immediately, so that the hug had only lasted less than a second.

Noticing that the other student present was Victoria, Janique turned to her. "Victoria! How nice to see you again."

Realizing she had forgotten to greet Jake, she then faced the front of the class. "Morning, Professor," she said politely. Had Victoria passed on her message as she had said she would? Janique certainly hoped so. If Jake had heard of her and said as much, that would certainly give her some points in Callum's eyes.

"How about one of you gives me a description of a boggart, someone give me the spell we need to learn, and the third person give me the one main defence against a Boggart? Just one answer each, please."

Turning her attention away from Callum and facing the front, Janique waited for Victoria to answer before giving her own. "Laughter, Professor. A boggart cannot be defeated by the spell itself, but rather the laughter the spell causes. This is because a boggart is meant to bring fear and not a sense of humour to a person."

She had seen a boggart before in her house a year ago, and she shuddered at the thought. Luckily for her, her mother had been nearby and had quickly taken care of it. If they were going to be facing a real one today, she honestly wasn't sure if she could handle it.

Isabelle had made it just in the nick of time, it seemed, to her Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Apparently, when there were students bustling through the halls that she needed to go down, skipping wasn't really the most efficient means of getting around. Still, she had arrived, and that was good enough for her. The layout of the room confused her a little; no desks and no chairs, though she assumed that made it easier for practical work.

Introducing herself softly, the girl resumed her place in amongst the rest of the students and listened to the question. The description was taken by a girl from her own house, which brough a smile to Isabelle's face, and the defense was said by another girl in a Nightshade uniform. "Riddikulus," the brunette answered, smiling proudly to herself at having answered.

She smiled at the five points she had gained for her house. Her face fell, however, when Jake began to talk about actually facing one.

"Now, I will show you how this works, and then you can each have a go at protecting yourself from the creature."

Watching silently, she noted with some curiosity their Herbology Professor appear, with a suitcase in her hands. She could read the expression on Azalea's face all too well, knowing instantly that this was a break-up - Janique herself had used the same look on one of her games after spending a night at his place. That would mean that they were dating, she realized, amazed at this fact. How very interesting. She wondered what the boggart would say as Azalea, but before it had a chance to speak, Jake had turned it into a rocking horse, and it had soon disappeared back into the wardrobe.

"Now... who would like to go first?"

Knowing that there were only four students currently in class, Janique's mind ran at top speed, trying to figure a way out of this. She knew exactly what her worst fear was: a game finding out they were a game. In this case, Callum. And said person was seated next to her. If the boggart took his shape, and if she couldn't get rid of it fast enough (and she didn't think she could) the real Callum would quickly find out her true intentions, and the entirety of her plans would be spoilt. There was no way she was going to let that happen, not after all the work she had put in.

A plan formulated itself and soon she knew exactly what she had to do. Thinking of a sad scene in a book, she let a few tears form in her eyes before she turned to face their Professor. "Jake," she said softly. "I... This... I mean..." she paused and let one of the tears leak slowly out and trickle down her cheek. "I can't..."

Taking a deep breath and quickly wiping at her eyes, she straightened. "I don't think I can do this." To add effect to this performance, she dropped her voice to a hoarse whisper. "Please, please don't make me."

She glanced at Callum and then back to their Professor. "But if I have to," she continued, louder, her voice quivering slightly, "I will." Taking out her wand, she gripped it firmly, as she took a step forward. Her entire plan counted on the fact that Callum, like all other boys, wanted to be seen as a protector, a knight-in-shining-armour for needy girls. If he didn't, she had a backup plan involving lots of tears and running out of class. It would not be pretty, and she did not want to have to resolve to that.

"How have you been?"

Jani was taking DADA. Perfect! He hugged her back when she hugged him "I've been pretty good, yourself?" he asked her, grinning. She pulled back too quickly though, and Callum supposed that perhaps she waan't exactly comfortable with public displays of affection. Not to worry though, he understood.

"Nice to meet you, Callum. Welcome to class, I hope you enjoy it."

"Good to meet you too, Sir," Callum replied "I'm sure I'll definitely enjoy it,"

"Hi Callum!"

"Hey Victoria," he smiled a little "Good holiday?" he asked her politely.

He listened as the class started. The lesson was about boggarts. Callum found them frustrating, because he would never, ever know their true form, and he was really, really curious for it. He heard Victoria, then Janique, and then Isabelle put forth their answers, and then have Jake explain and give a demonstration as to what to do. He saw that Jake's worst fear seemed to be his Herbology teacher leaving him. Understandable, she was probably the nicest teacher he'd had. And then, when he cast the spell, it turned into a rocking horse. Callum let out a small chuckle at it.

Jake then asked for volunteers, and he heard Janique begin to speak, without her usual confidence. She had even begun to cry a little. Callum was, not shocked, just sort of surprised. Because he couldn't fathom Janique ever having a fear so strong that she wouldn't be able to face a boggart.

"I don't think I can do this...Please, please don't make me." the last part, she whispered. He hated to see her like this, so different, she was almost foreign. He just hadn't seen her so vulnerable before.

"But if I have to," she continued, louder, her voice quivering slightly, "I will."

"Jani," Callum placed a hand on her shoulder "You don't have to if you don't want to," he looked to Jake "Right? I mean you can't force her. Fear's a personal thing,"

Isabelle smiled proudly to herself at the awarding of house points to her name and stood taller than before, listening intently to their professor's instruction. She watched him face his boggart oh-so bravely, and couldn't help but feel her heart melt at just how cute it was that his biggest fear was someone evidently very close to him leaving. I hope I can feel that way about someone some day she thought.

But the scene that one of her classmates put on for the group was a little bewildering, to say the least. Of course, her empathic powers allowed her to feel that there was genuine fear in the other girl's body but it didn't feel the way that it was being let on; fear of facing a boggart as opposed to a fear of facing fear. She silently giggled at this, the feeble attempt to get out of the lesson was amusing even though it shouldn't have been, and she instantly shushed herself, feeling slightly remorseful at the involuntary show of the amused emotion.

"I'll go, Professor Newbury," she volunteered herself, stepping forward slightly from the rest of the group and holidng her wand out before her. Isabelle didn't really know what her fears were, yet. Well, there was being disliked, but she wasn't sure that it counted for much. She thought of the happiest thought she could; that she was a survivor; and then nodded for Jake to open the wardrobe.

The boggart made a noise like wind attacking from all directions, and took shape after a matter of seconds. Before her, Isabelle saw a figure lying on a hospital bed, a mess of brown hair around their head and a machine at her side not making any noise. She closed her eyes to get away from the dying figure, and when she re-opened them she realised exactly who it was.

Herself.

Isabelle Dimonté was afraid of dying.

She reminded herself that she was a survivor and that she was not going to die any time soon, saying "Riddikulus!" a little louder than was necessary and doing Jake's wand action. The whipping noise that she heard was soon followed by the boggart changing. The pretend-Isabelle stood and transformed into a skeleton wearing a top hat and a monocle and the odd creature started to dance around merrily before her. She giggled at the sight, lowering her wand. "Did I do it right?" she asked through her giggles.

Callum watched as one by one, the students stepped up to to face their worst fears, turning them into humorous things. He stepped up to a boggart, his wand drawn and a smirk gracing his lips, he was ready for anything. He wasn't entirely sure his true worst fear. He'd never really bothered to delve deep enough into his subconsciousness to look where all the dirty, nasty fears lurked in the dark corners. He'd never had to until now.

And now, he was feeling a rare emotion to him, nervousness. He licked his dry lips as he waited it to transform, what form it'd take, unknown. The boggart emerged from the cupboard as a clown. Not an ordinary clown. It was disgusting, with yellow, rotting teeth, and the face paint was cracked. In it's hand was a large, sleek, silver knife, dripping with crimson blood. Its eyes had no irises, and were completely black, including what should have been the whits of the eyes. Callum didn't know what this thing stemmed from. He figured it was because its expression was hidden, or mixed. Because clearly his lips were turned into a smile, though the red paint around its mouth was downturned into a frown.

He raised his wand, swallowing nervously as it walked slowly, menacingly, towards him, raising the knife.

"R-Riddikulus" he cast at it. He managed to turn the gruesome clown into a small pug dog, grinning widely with obviously false human teeth. Callum couldn't help but laugh, but of course, that was the point.

She watched as, one by one, her classmates took their turns with the boggart, her interest spiking when Callum took his turn, adding to her existing knowledge his absolute fear of clowns. How very interesting, she thought, and it would make for interesting conversation later on. Their professor had then released class, and she purposely remained behind. As much as she had enjoyed Callum's reaction to her little outburst earlier, she knew she wasted to try the spell. After all, she didn't come to Salem for games alone; she took her studies very seriously.

Making sure everybody else had left, she removed her wand and approached the trunk. Kicking it open, she prepared herself as the boggart came drifting out, landing a few feet in front of her before taking the shape of, as she had expected, Callum.

"How dumb do you think I am?" the figure spoke, and Jani stood there, pointing her wand at it, but too drawn to its words to do anything. "I talked to Darian and the others. I know about you, Janique. I know-"

Not wanting to hear anymore she had tried the spell, but it didn't work, and she saw the figure roll its eyes. "Do you really think that will stop me?" 'Callum' took a step forward. "No more games, Janique. You lose. I will tell everyone what you are and you will never again-"

"Shut up!" she cried, her voice shrill and loud. It was just a boggart, she reminded herself. It wasn't real. She still has Callum under her thumb and he had no idea he was her game. Quickly thinking back to him standing up for her when she had pretended to be too scared to face the boggart, she took a deep breath to compose herself. Yes, Callum was right where she wanted him. "Ridikulus," she stated, more firmly, and watched the boggart twist and turn into a harmless mannequin, rocking back and forth on a spring. It brought a smirk to her lips and as she chucked to herself, it retreated back into the trunk.

Grabbing her bag, she quickly left the room, not wanting anyone to know what she had done and made her way back to her common room.