Audrey raised her hand. "I think it depends, Professor. Unforgivable curses are very powerful, and I think that little can be done to stop them. However, a lot of skill (and desire) is required to bring about the effects of each curse, so if the curse is performed poorly or by an unqualified witch or wizard, it may be easily shielded. Still, the protego charm could possibly lessen the effects of the curse. For example, if it was used against the killing curse, the person could possibly just pass out for several hours instead of actually dying."

Kennedy raised her hand and answered, "I doubt that the shield charm would be very effective against an Unforgiveable. As you mentioned, a good solid curse will probably overcome Protego, although it might be reduced by passing through it. An Unforgiveable is a type of curse that can ONLY be cast effectively if the spell is cast with intention and strength. Such intensity would likely not be repelled by the shield charm. A shield charm can't filter only ' a little amount of death' to hit the caster. With death, it's all or nothing. But that's just my opinion of course."

Anthony looked over at the girl's notes. They were short and to the point, Anthony liked it, some people wrote the entire thing down and lost time on paying attention to what the teacher was teaching. This girl could do both.

Anthony didn't take notes, however, and instead raised his hand and said, "No, because they are too powerful. It would be lucky if it even lessened it,"

Rapunzel raised her hand again to respond. "No, professor I don't really think it would work against an Unforgivable curse. Those three curses are driven by hate and....and... darker forces, aren't they? That's why it's difficult to do a painful Cruciatus curse, correct? I think a particularly strong shield charm may be able to diminsh some of the damaging effects of the Unforgivable Curses, but I don't think it would reflect said curses. Also, it would have little or no effect on Avada Kedavra in my opinion."

Agie raised her hand "I wouln't thing that it would be powerful enough to professor. However If the wizaed was very powerful then i guess so

Jacqui, who was seated to the side of the classroom, listened intently and took note of everthing. She knew the answers to most of the questions but couldn't bring her shy self to raise her hand and talk.

Kerry raises her hand, "I don't think protego will quite work against powerful spells like the unforgivable curses, I mean maybe if the person was lucky it would reduce the effects of the intensity of the cruciatus and imperius curses but not deflect them completely, however... sadly no spell, or any stroke of luck will help with Avada Kedavra." Kerry shuddered.

Taika Ai was taking notes. She paused to think, then raised her hand.

"Well, I don't think it would work on an Unforgivable because those are stronger curses than a simple Jelly-Legs Jinx or Full-Body Bind, aren't they? And the only way to throw off Imperius is through strength of will. I s'ppose it might be able to lessen the will of the caster with the Imerperius curse, but I doubt that the Shield Charm would last long against it, or the other two Unforgivables."

"I want you to remember this, so use a highlighting spell or something in your notes. The Protego is a highly useful spell, and it has saved many lives. But it WILL NOT save you from an Unforgivable. Don't enter a fight feeling cocky that you're impermeable because you know Protego."

She cleared her throat, aware she'd gotten remarkably serious for a bit. "But let's consider those Unforgivables for a moment. Raise your hand, and be perfectly honest, if you think that it should be allowed for a witch or wizard to use one of these spells in order to defend themselves. Be honest."

Jackie looked around the classroom. She wasn't sure what to think; On one hand, she believed that some situations, say if someone was going to use an unforgiveable on you first, then it would most likely be acceptable to use the curses. But if someone was just attacking you with a jinx like, the Jelly Legs Jinx or something like the Impediment Jinx that was easily deflectable, then that would obviously be unreasonable. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand a little over her head.

Rapunzel's hand shot up at once. "Absolutely not, Professor. These curses are illegal for a reason; they are highly dangerous and very difficult to avoid OR defend against. I mean, the only circumstance in which one should use such a curse is PERHAPS if your opponent was sending Avada Kedavra at you left and right. Then, I guess, the only way to stop them would be to either flee or send it back."

Taika Ai sat back, wide-eyed at the Professor's sudden out-burst, though she understood completely the severity. She took notes, pausing every so often to listen and figure out what was most important to write.

She looked up at the Professor's next question slightly shocked. Who would use an Unforgivable to defend? Surely, no one would think to use Cruciatus!

She resolutely kept her hand down, though there was something nagging at the back of her head. She would never want to control or torture anyone... and then the third Unforgivable crept into her mind: The Killing Curse.

Could she actually use that in defense? No, she definately could not. She shook her head, mostly to herself, still keeping her hand down.

Aniri raised her hand with hesitation...She hoped she wouldn't regret it. She looked around to see if anyone else agreed with her. Aniri believed that in an extreme case, and only in defense, should an unforgivable be used. It was life or death, after all.

She put up the hand and she seriously felt like she was going to get stares from many of the students in her class.

"Honestly professor, I believe to a point you should. If you life is at utt most risk then I believe you should be able to defend yourself. If the person harming you have intentions on killing you, then it is obvious they are not a good person and you should be able to protect yourself. I would rather have someone who was at risk waundering the streets who killed someone than a mass murderer."

suzy Raised her hand, "personally i dont think anyone should be allowed to use them unless they are in grave danger. Other then that they shouldnt be used, especially the killing curse." she quivered at the thought of someone using a curse on her.

Protego will NOT protect you from and Unforgivable curses.

She wrote the point down.

Kerry thought about it a minute, and raised her hand, "I'm not sure I agree... I mean there are so many other spells that you can use such as Petrificus totalus or something like that ... that would put a person in a full body bind unable to move. This would allow you to get away and would be just as effective if not more than any of the unforgivable curses... wouldn't they? At least that's what I would think."

Taika Ai, who had kept her hand down as she'd intended, nodded vigorously.

"I agree with what she said," she replied, motioning towards the girl. She'd accidentally forgotten her name, having only ever spoken to her the one time at the opening feast.

Emily had seated herself next to Rapunzel. When the teacher began talking she quickly leaned over to apologize, "Sorry I didn't see you earlier. I was concentrating really hard on my bows.". Then she returned her attention to class, not wanting to get in trouble for talking. When the teacher asked whether or not she believed an unforgivable should be used for defense, Emily thought very hard. The question was tough, but, after a few moments of thought, the answer was obvious to her. She raised her hand and stated "I believe so. To be in such a situation that you should feel the need to use something so..." She paused, trying to come up the appropriate word "vile, your situation must be desparate. It must be the only way you could possibly survive or get away. Obviously you should try simple spells such as Expelliarmus, Stuptefy, Potrificus Totalus (ooc: sorry, horribly misspelled, I know =D); but really, if we are able to use a spell such as the Protego spell, I do believe your attacker would be able to also. If they couldn't, then obviously you would have no need to fear for your life as that spell is rather elementary." Emily stopped there, going rather red in the face. She was not accustumed to answering questions out loud and couldn't believed she had voiced her opinion so easily, especially since the opinion she voiced was probably not one of the majority.

Rapunzel nodded in agreement with Emily, and then whispered out of the side of her mouth, "That's okay. You're the only person I know here!"

Taika Ai had a sudden thought.

"Professor, I wonder, let's say you are in a particularly sticky situation where your life is in jeopordy; how does the Ministry know that you were only defending yourself? And couldn't those who were intending on killing you use that same excuse? 'Well, I was defending myself, so let me go.' It seems that would be an easy way to get out of trouble," she said.

"I s'posse one could always use truth serum to get the truth out of a person, but that would cause a lot more work to be done and wouldn't it be more likely that the Ministry would just chuck you in Azkaban. Put a 'Dark Wizard' stamp on you and be done with you! Give you to the," she shivered, "Dementors and not think on it again."

"You are all most certainly entitled to your opinions, but let me remind you that no one in this room could perform Dark magic to that degree. Not now, and hopefully not ever. But if you consider that you may someday be an Auror and legally be allowed to use an Unforgivable..."

She shook her head. "It is certainly possible, but to what end? Will you have need of torturing someone? Will you need to possess someone in order to have them do your will? Will either of those things be necessary to save your life? So that leaves the Killing Curse. Is it easier to kill someone than it is to stun them? Either way leaves them incapacitated. As I said... no one is wrong, but we must look at the entire issue."


OOC: I'm going to bed, but you are welcom to respond to what was said. You may not change the topic, chat amongst yourselves, or cast spells.

James scribbled down all the notes the professor had given them. He had been oddly quiet the whole class. He lowered his eagle quill and raised his hand solemnly.
"I don't think any of the unforgiveable curses could be used in self-defense manner, professor," he said. "The Imperius Curse couldn't possibly work. Unless you'd make them run away from you. And the Cruciatus Curse could give you a chance to book it." he paused, clearly thinking over what he had just said. "But the Killing Curse could be a self-defense manner. Although its the worst of them, if you're defending yourself from a potentionaly dangerous person, then you could consider the Killing Curse as a use of defense." He smiled and put his hand down.

"Now that you put it that way professor, I think it is impossible to say whether it is acceptable to use Unforgiveable curses as defense." Jackie said. "I think each situation is unique. One life threathening situation may make an unforgiveable curse acceptable, and another may not. It all depends on the situation at hand, really."

Emily sat and listened to her fellow classmates before raising her hand again. "I kind of think Ai (hpoenixrose13star) has a point, too. How would they know the difference between who was attacking and who was defending? Is there a way to find out?" She asked the professor. Then she added, "I hadn't really thought of that. That would be quite a dilemna, outside of the entire moral thing you'd have going on."