DADA 2.1/3.1

[Lianna Maylorn]

"Drew...you scare me." Lianna claimed, making a face at the creature as well. It looked hideous and how Drew could take having the thing clamped to his hand was beyond him. Then again, she hadn't had Care of Magical creatues yet either, nor had she ever heard of a...Grindylow?

Never the less the girl grinned at Abi with the notion of cookies coming into the playing theatre. A tasteful reward, much better in her view than points. But then again, she was also hungry, so she was kinda bias to the fact.

[Drew Thornton]

"So you don't get cookies," Drew answered, grinning at the young Huffle. He made a mental note to actually get Abby a cookie if he could.

"Okay, so Dark Arts. What makes them different from just regular magic?" he asked the girls. It was the million galleon question and of course the whole basis to the subject they were covering.

[mark]

Oh joy. Defense against the Dark Arts. Luckily for Mark, he wasn't going to have a panic attack because Raynor wasn't there. Her meer presense made students shake in their socks, and it was indifferent for Mark. Quite glad that he had some fifth year (his name he did not know) as his teacher and a desk to sit at rather then purple squishy mats, he sat back in his seat. As if ignoring his question, the only second year male bit his top lip.

[thewriter21]

Pushing open the door with a grunt, Michelle stumbled into class. Deep breaths....
Squinting at the disgustingly dirty tank, and then looking at the subsitute Professor, she smiled. YES! No Raynor! It wasn't that the girl hated the Professor, sitting on mats everyday was kinda fun, but she needed a break from teachers, silly really, only a couple of classes in, and she was already thinking of holidays.
A pointed look at a desk showed her dipleasure. Something interesting needed to happen to the plain wooden desks, and not carvings of grafitti, or of who loves who. Some colour. Some life.
But obviously, that wouldn't happen, not today anyway. So Michelle dragged her feet towards a desk in the middle of the class, and plonked herself down.
She placed her bag neatly on the floor, then wiggled in her seat a little. She had yet to look at anyone, or even pay attention, but that would come later. Testing these hardly used seats had to come first, they were kind of old, and slightly brittle, the one she had was anyway.
Testing done, she looked up at the sub. Her eyes lit up, it was Drew! Class would surely be more fun with him as a sub!

[Drew Thornton]

Well this wasn't going well. "Hey! Littlebird! See me after class," Drew boomed at the Ravenclaw girl. He didn't really care what the Huffle kid did, but if this girl insisted on coming in late, she was going to lose a heck of a whole lot of points for the house and Drew was going to have something to say about it.

Dang, he was turning into his sister.

He looked back over the class, frustrated and wondering how the heck Raynor put up with it. "Come on you guys! This is first year stuff." He looked at the Huffle girls, who at the moment seemed to be the brightest in the bunch. "What makes dark magic different from regular magic?"

[abigailbennett]

Abigail glanced back at the newcomer though she didn't pay much attention to her because usually at least one person was late to class each day. Looking back at Drew and seeing as no one else was answering the question, Abby decided to put forth her two knuts. "The Dark Arks involves the spell caster's intention to cause harm to another person," she said confidently (despite the fact that it took her a couple of moments to remember the definition from last year). "Regular magic is usually neutral, neither good nor bad."

For once Abby didn't blush or shrink back into her seat but rather looked at her fifth year professor expectantly (maybe hoping for another cookie, as well).

[Lianna Maylorn]

Drew's seemingly sudden voice knocked her out of whatever lost-in-thought reverie she had been in. Bloody Merlin how long had she been staring off in a stupor? The better half of five minutes? The Hufflepuff couldn't even tell herself what she'd been thinking about as it certainly hadn't been the question which Drew had conveniently decided to repeat.

"Because of the intentions behind them, you have to be determined to perform the spell or jinx in order to make it work, So in order to hurt someone you have to want to..." Her answer probably didn't make much sense but that was what she got for not really thinking it soundly through (and for spacing out completely) but she put something on the table at least. The Hufflepuff girl only then realized Abby's voiced had been mixed with her own, providing pretty much two versions of the same answer.

The girl glanced silently at her friend for a moment before actually laughing (though one could argue it to be more of a weak giggle) and allowing a sheepish grin to come to her face. "Sorry..." She mumbled awkwardly, feeling her cheeks flush tot he slightest of noticeable pink tinges.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew could have kissed the two girls, as thankful as he was that someone was awake. "And the lovely ladies from Hufflepuff win all the cookies!" he cried out. Okay, the basics were covered, so they could move on now.

"Exactly, it's all the intention of the magic that makes it Dark. Okay, so the problem with Dark Creatures is that they only have one intention and that's to do harm," Drew said. "Okay, like this guy here... " and he tapped on the tank to get the Grindylow to show his horned face again. "He's actually more like the pit bull of dark creatures. Most will insist that he's evil... that it's in his blood, but merfolks have actually tamed and bred them as pets for ages."

[abigailbennett]

Abby grimaced again as the Grindylow made its appearance once more. "Well, merfolk aren't exactly the nicest creatures, or people...whatever they are, in the world, are they?" Saying that merfolk could tame grindylows was like saying Scarface could tame rottwheilers. It didn't seem very difficult. Than again, she had only ever read not-so-nice things about merpeople and never read those things from actual textbooks or other credential sources.

"What can a Grindylow do?" Abigail asked. "I mean, is it good for anything?"

[Drew Thornton]

"Eh, the merfolks aren't all bad," Drew answered with a shrug. he had never met any, but knew a couple of surfers who had. Of course, those were the ones that lived in the ocean.

"But weren't you listening woman? Of course they aren't good for anything!" Drew answered back with a tease. "That's what makes them dark creatures! So unless you consider getting pulled under water and drowned as being good for something, no. Not good for much."

[abigailbennett]

Abigail narrowed her eyes. "Of course I was listening, man. Maybe I wasn't clear. I mean, I know they can't do anything good themselves, but can wizards use them for anything? Are they useful at all?" Wow, this was the most Abby had ever talked in class before. Way to get her going, Professor! "You know, like the Runespoor for intance. It's a very dangerous creature, but wizards can use its venom for medical purposes and its eggs for certain potions." The Huffle had by now completely surprised herself. She actually remembered that random information her grandfather had insisted on imparting to her the last time he visited, and she was enjoying proving her point despite the fact that she knew Runespoors were not Dark creatures and so could be considered a completely different topic.

The second year was now leaning a bit too far over her desk. She inched forward ever so slightly, but alas, the chair slipped out from under her and she dropped to the ground (fortunately releasing the desk just in time so it did not come crashing down with her). The blush, as always, colored her cheeks as she picked up her chair and slid back into her seat with her face growing hotter. Way to go, she thought, more scolded herself as she pulled up to the desk and slowly looked back at Professor Thornton. "So yeah, that's my point," she shrugged.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew jumped up off of his perch on the table, causing the water in the tank to slosh and the grindylow to get excited at the anticipation of freedom. The bugger would have been in for a surpise if he actually had escaped, considering its gills would have been useless.

"You okay?" Drew asked Abby, trying hard not to laugh at her mishap too much. Seeing her pull herself up, he answered her question. "Good point, but like I said, they aren't good for anything except drowning people. They grab you with those long fingers and pull you down. They're a lot stronger than they look, but if you give them a good kick, you can usually break their hold."

"So who wants a try?" he asked with a devilish grin as he stuck his hand back into the tank.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty had been sitting silently at her desk since the beginning of class, listening to Drew talk about grindylows. She had been quiet since the start, prefering to watch on, rather than join in just yet.
Matty had been scribbling down what drew had said but not yet taken it in. But when Drew asked for a volunteer, Matty thought for a second, then raised her hand. "I'll give it a go," she said. Matty supposed that this was going to be the time to lift her spirits then any other time today.

[Drew Thornton]

Drew pointed at the Huffle who volunteered and in his best Price is Right voice called out, "Matty Wentworth, COME ON DOWN!" As she made her way to the front, he gave her directions. "Okay, his goal is to try and pull you in and drown you. Of course, he can't do that in just a tank so we have an advantage," he told her, pulling the grindylow out.

"His pull is really strong, but his grip can be broken easily," Drew continued, squeezing on the creature's brittle fingers and breaking it's grip. The grindylow fell back into the tank with a splash and once again could be seen sulking against the walls of the tank. "Keep him in there and yell out if you're having trouble. We have the advantage, but he can still pull you into the tank if you aren't careful." he finished, offering the girl a boost up onto the table where she would have a better angle.

[Matilda Wentworth]

Matty took his offer and was helped up onto the desk. She looked at the grindylow and frownd a bit. 'no matter' she thought as she looked back at drew and smiled. Matty built up her courage for about a second then.... SPLASH, she dunked her hand into the tank and grabed the grindylow. It snarled and started slashing its fingers around to try and get hold of Matty and pull her to the 'debths' of the tank. It stared to squirm harder and was snapping quite a bit and just then... A second splash and the grindylow let out a little cry, a got one of its fingers to slighty slashed Mattys wrist. But while it was focusing on getting its whole hand around her, Matty wiped out her other hand a tightly squeezed its other fingers as Drew had shown her. The creature let out a cry and lost its grip, falling back into its tank prison. Matty turned to Drew and smiled "Did i do it ok?" then she turned bavck down to her wrist where there was a cut that was about 6cm long.

"I think ill go to the hospital wing just to make sure its ok, Dont worry about it anyway, its the creatures nature to pull me down into water!" she said with a slight smile and Matty hope off the desk.