DADA - Lesson 2 (Years 6 & 7)

Cassidy made sure she was early to class this time, excited for the lesson. She always enjoyed DADA, because it was always a practical lesson, which she excelled at, by her standards. She walked into the classroom, noting that she was the first one in and smiled at Jake "Afternoon," she greeted as she saw what they would be learning written on the board. She knew it'd be a challenge, but she always liked challenges. In her opinion, it made the class interesting.

Lucy walked briskly down the halls to DADA, her book bag slung on her shoulder. She walked into the classroom, bright for the lesson, noticing a Gryffindor girl was already there. "Afternoon Jake," she greeted with a cheerful smile as she entered, noticing the topic for the lesson. She had never before attempted non-verbal spells, so it should prove to be an interesting and challenging lesson.

Jacoby walked into his next class with a bit of a smile on his face, for one it was his favorite course and he was always excited to learn whatever the professor was teaching them. Secondly; Jake was just incredibly nice too look at, which pushed Jacoby even harder to be a good student. He always was more receptive to things when being taught by someone attractive. Walking into the class he flashed a smile over at Jake and gave a small wave as he noted what the lesson was up on the board. 'Non-verbal magic...huh', that wasn't a skill he'd ever considered learning, but if Jake was teaching it then he must have thought it was important. Acknowledging both girls who had arrived before him with a cordial smile JC took his place in the room waiting for the lesson to start.

Rhian walked to class with a bit of pep in her step. Classes were still grueling, and the work load never ended, but a short weekend away from the castle had done her wonders. She knew she should feel bad for sneaking out of the castle, but seeing Conner for the first time in three months...it was worth all the detention they could ever throw at her. Returning, though, no one had mentioned a thing.

Entering the quiet classroom, she noticed only a few students had arrived so far. Interesting, she thought, seeing the desks and chairs around the room. Smiling openly at Jake, she offered a genuine, "Good morning, Professor." She hadn't seen the room set up this way in what felt like years. Since before Teagan had taught it.

Thought of her future stepmom led Rhian's mind to recent events, as her eyes landed on the other seventh year. Pausing for a moment, indecision crept through her mind as that now familiar warmth filled her. It was strange, knowing where it was coming from. Who it was coming from. The Gryffindor was still acclimating to the idea of bringing someone knew into her life, but she wouldn't let herself be afraid.

Taking a seat at the desk next to his, she set her bag down. A small smile pulled at her lips as she looked over to him. "Hey," she mouthed.

Mavis was too exhausted and seriously had to keep herself awake just to go to class. The Slytherin girl walked into DADA and saw a few other students there waiting for Jake to start the stupid class. The Slytherin went off to the side to be away from the others, she didn't like to really be in contact with others, especially the real young ones. Mavis now had to wait. Yay.

Jake's class always seemed to be a popular one for people to be at, Ryan has barely heard a bad thing about DADA being taught by Jake, he had heard how people were disappointed how DADA went from a hot Professor to Jake. Ryan didn't care, he just came to learn and try new things, that is why when he walked in, he wasn't surprised with the turn out. He waited for the class to begin.

The Hufflepuff made her way towards the DADA room and wasn't surprised at the turn up when she arrived. Jake always had a lot of people in his classes and that was because he was a great Professor like every Professor there. Shiva smiled at everyone kindly and nodded in her Professor's direction. "Hi Jake" she greeted before she waited for the class to begin.

Desks. The first thing Joe noticed as he circled into the classroom, his bag already half-slung off his shoulder ready to drop to the floor, was the desks. Theory lessons were probably Joe's preferred ones; anything practical usually involved making a fool of himself at least twice before he got anything right, but with theory- well, Joe wasn't exactly a "coaster" where lessons were concerned, but they were easier on his mind.

The Hufflepuff nodded to his professor in polite acknowledgement, a small smile on his lips as he took a seat. He made sure to subtly isolate himself in his usual manner, one or two free desks on all sides, but he didn't completely put himself away from his classmates this time. It was small, but it was a step in the right direction.

He read the board, then, his eyes somewhat exhaustedly scanning the words written there. He felt his gut tighten; nonverbal magic. That couldn't go well at all - hell, verbal magic was hard enough for him to get his head around, let alone anything else.

Alyson walked into DADA and saw that there was a lot of people here, well not a lot lot but enough to make this class not boring. It never was but still. The Gryffindor looked at the board and saw their lesson for the day, she was glad to know that, that was the spell they'd be going over for that lesson. The blonde waited for Jake to further the instructions for them.

DADA was a good class for him as well, the Gryffindor didn't mind coming to this class one bit, it was a good class to be in and he was just glad that in his last year at Hogwarts he'd be learning about a lot of more things he probably hasn't read about, but being related to his older sister Hermione was kind of hard because she practically scowled him to read all of her books she got while she was in Hogwarts and would quiz him on it all the time.

Having been caught up in a conversation with a friend, Brooke had not realized the time until she saw some younger years running past her in an obvious panic. Glancing at her watch, her eyes went wide and she hurriedly ended the conversation and took off for the second floor. Knocking gently on the door, she entered and, to her surprise, found chairs and desks in the DADA class room. "I'm so sorry, Jake," she apologized, not able to believe she had been late to her favourite class.

Sliding into a seat next to Joe, she removed her parchment and her quil, wondering what the lesson was for this class. The last time they had desks, it had been a theoretical lesson, which was interesting, but Brooke loved practical work. Looking to the board, she couldn't help but grin as she saw the topic; non-verbal magic was something she enjoyed, mostly because it proved as a challenge for her. Unsure if their Professor had asked any question or given any instructions yet, she wrote the title on her parchment and waited to see what the other students did.

Jake began the class, and Lucy began to ponder the question as a Gryffindor entered the classroom. After sifting through the obvious, she decided to answer "Well, sometimes because a spell isn't spoken, it could potentially be less effective. I mean, depending on the situation. In something high-stress, or fast paced, while it's a lot more convenient, it could be slightly weaker," she answered.

Mavis wasn't sure if she could Non-verbally lift the quill up into the air but she was a Slytherin and they weren't weak, so Mavis was stuck trying to get the quill in the air. She took her wand out of her bag and pointed the tip at the quill and concentrated on lifting the feather up into the air. When nothing happened Mavis tried to get the magic to flow through her body and out the tip of the wand, but even when she tried, nothing happened. The quill stayed firmly on the desk and she was stuck trying again.

Rhian looked around the class, feeling a sad pang in her chest. The lesson was interesting, she wouldn't deny that. But the fact that she was surrounded by practically strangers prevented her from enjoying it fully, something she usually had no issue with. Maybe it was senioritis, maybe more. But as she got ready to try the spell, she couldn't shake this feeling of longing for something else. Anything else.

The Gryffindor had never tried wordless magic before, but the spell was one she knew well. Tuning out the rest of the class, she pointed her wand at the feather and followed the familiar motions, speaking the word in her mind. Wingardium Leviosa.

No movement.

Her brow creased at the object, as if it was a misbehaving child. Yes, non-verbal magic was known to be extremely difficult to learn, but it was frustrating, not being able to do a spell she knew so well. A few more tries with similar methods were met with similar failure. Her lips pursed, she set her wand down to take a breather.

What does Teagan always say...something about... The young witch tried to remember their talks over the years. The Headmistress had always made it a point to leave certain things to Rhian's professors, believing in letting them educate as they were hired to, but they'd definitely discussed her previous and current lessons. Closing her eyes, she tried to recall a discussion that was floating at the back of her mind.

Magical core. Of course! They'd practiced Occlumency and other spells that relied more heavily on inward reflection that outward force. In all of those times, she'd been told to tap into her inner core of magic, the source of her power.

Keeping her eyes closed in an attempt to focus, pointing her wand at the feather was easy. Her lips moved in the motion of the words, though she didn't give voice to them. As her wand moved fluidly through the air, she could picture a small ball of energy, green and fluid in motion, pulsing and shooting the magic through her wand. She felt it then, a burst of power as if it was flowing through her fingertips. A soft gasp left her as her eyes shot open, landing on the floating feather before her. She grinned slowly at the dancing object.