Of course she was very happy to listen that he's gonna run the dueling club again. Ava didn't mind if he's laughing at her because of her enthusiasm. In fact, she didn't care.

Okay, back to the lessons.

The young lioness listened to the Professor's opinion about her answer. Yeah, she knew that the hand was such a hard place to attack but she had a brown belt in karate and had learned about that. Besides, biting was also an option. Having a hard time in muggle school because her twin brother was often being bullied by the muggle kids (and sometimes her too), makes her very familiar about this situation. And yes, running away wasn't her answer.

And pressure points... Oh!

"Below the belly button is such a perfect spot to be attacked, Professor. Especially for guys." She answered as she raised her hand.

Sam gave Dora an excited wave, before turning her attention back to the professor. She had to admit to be being a little confused, as she thought this was meant to be a defence against the dark arts lesson. So far there had been a complete lack of anything vaguely dark, and a whole load of violent moves suggested by her classmates.

Didn't these people have principles when defending themselves?

She certainly did, and she'd had to defend herself for real in such such situations when a couple of her Pa's er...dodgier... dealings had gone wrong.

"I'd go fa th' knee for disablin', meself," Sam commented. "Fink dere's one of 'em pressah points dere...'n I ain't gonna reach dere temple in 'urry anyways." Because, being as short as she was, most attackers would be taller than her. Otherwise, she'd go for the ribs, but she didn't feel the need to share all of her tactics right now. Especially if in a practical later someone might try and shove her nose through her brain. Gross.

Matt was still thinking - and maybe just maybe doing silent motions as well - about ALL of the stuff he'd do if he ever found himself in that situation when the professor carried on with the class.

The Gryffindor LAUGHED at the answers on the board because they were actually funny and somewhat TRUE. SING! He might take that literally. HAHAHE!

HEY! Their wand was their best friend! Matt AGREED with that, YES! His wand was SUPER AWESOME AND POWERFUL AKJFNSDKJFN!

BUT!

Matt didn't agree when the teacher said they had been relying too much on their wands. Matt had just GOTTEN his wand a few weeks? Months? Not too long ago, and he had spent his entire childhood defending himself andattackingotherssometimestoo without the help of anything like that. And he did that just fine! BUT²!! He did agree that with a wand it was much easier.

'But what happens if you can't use it? Are you going to lay there and say that you give up on life?' Uhh, NO?? Who would ever do THAT?? WUT. Was this guy NUTS? ...YES!! MATT WOULD DO THAT!! He could totally fight the Muggle way. Totally, yas.

MARTIAL ARTS! THAT WAS WHAT MATT DEMONSTRATED!! YEEAH. He got this. This lesson was awesome.

Matt knew of one of these pressure points the professor was talking about. He had seen it on TV a BUNCH of times. "On the shoul--" But a Ravenclaw girl beat him to it. "Yeah, THAT!" He said, pointing at the girl because she was right. "They go like-" And Matt trailled off and he pretended to press some point on his shoulder - he didn't really know where it was, but it was y'know, a general spot - and he pretended to faint forward. See, gone. It WORKED. Point proven.

Text Cut: Eyes

Text Cut: Raven

Quote:

Originally Posted by LestrangeRaven

Raven sits in the back and near wall, leaning his shoulder to wall suddenly change his sitting posistion, he straigthen his back and raise his hand

Oh this is interesting, pressure points..

"I think, the eyes Sir, if they blind a sudden, it would be a great opportunity for us, either to run away or to fight back right? He look at the Proffessor hoping finding approval for his answer, but yet he also want further explanation from the Proffessor

Here Hirsch was talking about how to defend yourself and this kid was sitting there talking about blinding their opponent. Maybe Prefect Wojack had a point. Maybe the students here really were too violent.

Clearing his throat, the man launched into a reply, "The eyes are a good point to attack. It's harder to attack, in fact, but if done right, you can distract them enough to get away from there." Pause. "Please don't blind your opponents unless necessary." He wasn't promoting that kind of violence.

Text Cut: Kitty

Quote:

Originally Posted by Goblinfrog

"I would go straight for their eyes!" Kitty replied enthusiastically. "That would really hurt! If our eyes sting very badly just because a bug flew in them, just imagine what being clawed in the eye would be like? They might even go blind!"

Kitty loved it when the professor wrote down her friend Haddie's answer. She wondered privately if Professor Hirsh had ever been in a fight without his wand. No doubt he had lots of experience with this kind of thing, or he wouldn't be their teacher.

These eye answers were really violent, weren't they? Though, he had to give it to Miss Valentine: this answer wasn't as violent as the previous one he'd had. "The eyes are probably one of the most weakest spots in the body." One of. "So attacking it would do a lot more damage than you'd initially intended, no doubt."

And yes, your professor had been in a fight or two or twenty. Make of that what you will.

Text Cut: Scarlett

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lissy Longbottom

So...this was NOT the lesson Scarlett had thought she'd be having in Defense class. True, it WAS defense, but she thought they'd start off with disarming or something super easy like that. She wasn't sure she was strong enough yet to do any kind of damage to anyone, no matter HOW good her technique was, but hey - it was good to know, she supposed.

Pressure points? She had no idea - she thought about what parts would hurt if she got punched by an attacker and used that to get her answer. "Um...your eyes?" she asked. If someone poked you in the eye that would hurt SOOOO bad.

The eyes. Oh, the eyes. "The eyes are a good spot to attack. Very sensitive and also very hard to attack but it works."

Text Cut: Blaise

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Poor Professor, he had no idea what he was on about--well he did...but not when it came to him. Blaise never had his wand on him. He didn't feel lost without it and he didn't decide his life was over so he might as well lie there and take it. On the contrary, his wand brought pressure; the kind of knowing that you couldn't do a bloody thing with it and would probably have to chuck it off the cliff so it doesn't weigh you down.

Granted, wands couldn't slow a person down by THAT much but that wouldn't stop him. First chance he got that was remotely believable, he was getting rid of the thing.

Nonetheless, he sat there looking as attentive as he could.

"I don't know about pressure points, Sir but I reckon if you jab 'em hard enough in the eyes you'll still be plenty safe ad capable of making a grand escape."

He didn't study pressure points, never thought he needed to but perhaps it was something to look into with his unwillingness to draw his wand.

So many people wanted to hurt the eyes. It was good, really, and he was glad that someone who didn't know about pressure points knew at least that much. "You're absolutely right, Mr Bellaire. A jab to the eyes is helpful, but also hard. Your attacker can easily defend themselves against something like that but if it's done quickly enough, you'll be fine."

Text Cut: Torso/Solar Plexus

Text Cut: Cornelius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

ASLDFKJSDK!!

Inner SQUEEEEE.

Outer COOOOOL HEAD NOD.

Cornelius was unbelievably giddy he couldn't stop wiggling in his spot. Hirsch, a DADA professor, praised his answer. Wait until he told his mum.

'Dear Mum, DADA professor said I had the best answer in the class. Making the family proud. xx Cornelius. P.S. I think the professor fanboyed my answer.'

Adding an extra bit wouldn't hurt. Besides, it was a truth he saw, therefore, he wasn't lying. Technically. And now that Hirsch was speaking again Cornelius' attention zoned back on the man. The boy shook his head to himself. No. There was no way he'd ever lose his wand or his wand would lose him. There was no way. They'd always have each other and that was that. He DID agree with training with mind and body. His mum has invested important Auror training in him so Cornelius found himself nodding at the rest of Hirsch's speech.

HIRSCH WAS LOOKING AT HIM OH MY MERLIN. AND GRINNING.

Cornelius flashed the man his BEST GRIN EVER. We got you, homie. His hand flew into the air at light speed, popping at the elbow from how fast he had reacted to the question. Oops. Pick him, pick him!

"The torso region, sir!" he said a little too excited and giddy. "Otherwise known as the sternum." He pointed at the center of his chest. "If you hit it right and with enough power you can break it and it can be catastrophic." BEAM. His mumma taught him well.

Oh, how he liked this answer. Yes, he did.

"Exactly!" he said, giving the boy a nod of his head, "Though, because of the ribs, that part is a little harder to attack. I'd say the solar plexus, which is a little lower than the sternum and is just under the ribs. It's more sensitive but you're on the right track."

Text Cut: Torrance

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJ ExpelliarMOOSE

So IF the fight took place in a Mattress and Pillow Factory he should use the pillows and cover their faces with them until his attacker passes out from lack of air got it. Tory smiled and nodded at the Mister Professor's answer. That'll help should he ever need to go Bed Shopping and an Enemy attacks him.

"Punch them in the Kidney." Tory said loudly. "A lot, like loads of times, more then you probably should." Kidney punches hurt like hell. Not that he knew, well he knew. Both Uncle Vance, and Uncle Saul have told him stories where they had to punch someone in the Kidney.

Cool stories actually. He would get into them if he wasn't actually fascinated by this class. The Mister Professor had his very hard to obtain attention.

What in the name of?

Roderik was alarmed. This answer........ it made the man look at the kid properly, taking into account the year he'd written down on his tag. First year. This kid was a first year and he was already talking about punching people more than necessary. What was he going to be like when puberty struck?

"Excellent point. A little violent but very good mention of the kidney region, or the solar plexus. It's a good place to hit and is more sensitive than people think." But yes, violent.

Text Cut: Dima

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemon

"But if you can," Dima added helpfully, "it'd come in handy."

After all, that was what set them apart from Muggles, no? The magic coursing through their veins. Might as well put it to some good use, even without a wand to harness its power better. Maybe Hirsch would teach that one day.



Er... well, the neck, temples, ears...... all the other ones had already been said, and Dima had to pick his brain a bit before an answer came to him.

"Solar plexus, sir?" he offered, hand up. "It's a bundle of nerves behind your stomach. If you hit where someone's ribs join the abdomen, you could cause serious damage to their diaphragm." Among other things which he... either couldn't remember or didn't care to.

Looked like that forcible dueling camp target lesson had actually been useful. Thanks, dad.

Not.

"The solar plexus!" Smart answer. Very smart. "Which, in turn, affects their breathing and with their breathing effected, they're not going to be likely to cause any damage to you. Well done, Mr Toussaint."

Text Cut: Head

Text Cut: Davie

Quote:

Originally Posted by BanaBatGirl

Oh dear, this year really was going to be all about the physical, wasn't it? What about the Dark creature lost Davie had presented to Mr. Hirsch, hmm? Did that mean nothing to the man? At least he had something nice to say about Davie's answer. Respect points, yeah! Violence points, nah! Squirming in his seat, David reluctantly copied down the list from the board and then slowly raised his hand. He knew nothing about pressure points. Nothing. But he knew where he would attack someone, if he had to.

"The back of the head." Yeah, take 'em out by taking out their brain! BAM! Only not really because Davie mostly hated hitting people unless they deserved it or they hit him first.

The back of the head. Roderik nodded slowly, taking this into consideration. "The back of the head is a good spot to attack, but is one that can only be done if the attacker is, in fact, in front of you and facing away from you. That's........ rare but if you find yourself in that kind of arrangement, I'd say yes."

Pause.

"And you can cause a lot of damage that way."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Squishy

Esme blinked. Had she touched a nerve? "But Professor, couldn't I use wandless magic to summon my wand?" She was just saying. Esme wasn't even going to reply to the part about her dad. She'd still call him, tyvm because he was her father and would come to her rescue.

Maybe she needed the dueling club more than she had originally thought. She'd definitely have to work on her abilities with her sister because Juno was more adept at this subject.

Raising her hand, she attempted to answer the second question. "Well, I'm guessing that the head would be one of them. A good thumping on the back of a person's head might do the trick." Right?

Wandless magic? "If you can do wandless magic then yes, but it's very advanced magic." Not even he could do wandless magic and he was at least eleven years older than the oldest students in this class.

"The head is a good place to attack. A sensitive place, because of the brain, and there are parts of the head that are more sensitive than the others." So yes, good point.

Text Cut: Carl

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jean Granger

"Thank you!" Carl grinned back at Yoongi, but could not say much more - like how he liked his new Common Room, or the Puffer Paint Party on the first night at Hogwarts - because the lesson was in progress. He turned his attention again to what Professor Hirsch was saying.

'Interesting approach, Mr Leonard.' Carl smiled at the Professor's reply. Despite his confidence, he was expecting some sort of reprimand at what his primary school teacher would call 'silly answer'. With a warm fuzzy feeling inside his stomach, he jotted down the answers from the board and thought about the question. He had never heard of pressure points, though he could think of several weak spots in the human body.

"The side of the head!" Carl pointed at his cheek. Once he was hit straight in his face (unintentionally, by a basketball) and that did hurt quite a lot. Hmm, all this talk about attacking people was making him feel queasy.

The side of the head? Hm. Hmmmm.

"Not exactly a pressure point but still an area that causes damage if done correctly. You'd need to throw something or give a sharp punch to that area to do anything." Yes, very good point.

Text Cut: Nose

Text Cut: Dot

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

Merlin, they were all so terrifying and VIOLENT. Dot had caught the professor laughing at her answer, and it was comical, but she was also telling the truth. These people were murderous, and she didn't think she wanted to go head to head with them in a dark alley. Dot tried to catch the professor's eye, with a very 'do you see what I'm SAYING?' expression.

She'd taken years of karate before settling on ballet as child, a tiny ginger in oversized pajamas, so Dot had some idea what she was talking about. Maybe she should break out her old moves and see how much she remembered. "The nose, sir. Even a weak strike is extremely painful, because of the number of nerves in it. You have to be careful, though, because if you hit it too hard, you could drive the cartilage back into the brain and kill your opponent."

Hirsch caught that expression and gave her a knowing smile. Yep, he knew what she was saying. He knew exactly what she was saying.

FINALLY, someone said the nose! "YES! The nose is a very weak spot and, like you mentioned, you can easily do quite a bit of damage to your opponent just by giving them a sharp strike to the nose. Very good point, Miss Wojack."

Please don't kill your opponent.

Text Cut: Haddie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

What? He'd liked her answer, and it was even on the board as an example. Haddie didn't expect that, but once the shock wore off, she beamed, and looked proudly over at Rachel.

But now was time for the second question. "Their nose. It's easier to target than eyes, but being part of the sinuses, will still blind them by causing their eyes to water severely. Plus, it really, really hurts, and even without breaking it, bleeds easily and bleeds a lot which can be a very intimidating, which alone gives you a better edge in the fight. But with everything else, it'll take the person a bit to recover from it, and gives you an opening for more attacks."

"That..... is a very smart answer." Also a bit scary that she knew that but still smart, he'd give her that. "The nose is a very sensitive area and, like you mentioned, can blind the opponent. You also have the chance to get out of there quicker and with less likelihood that you'll be attacked again. Good."

Text Cut: Ears

Text Cut: Katherine

Quote:

Originally Posted by StarShine

Clever. He called HER "clever".

Katherine allowed herself to smile brightly, but then she listened to other answers, of course. The whole class had heard that, right? HEH.

She'd write about this to her mum too.

...

The instant those four principals appeared on the board, her hand began flying on the parchment to copy them as quickly as possible. She giggled at the 'family jewel' and shook her head while writing that down. Whoever found the phrase was a genius. Anyway, right, the professor. Luckily, he didn't say anything else that needed to be written down, so she could rest her wand for more note-taking if she had to.

OH. She knew the PERFECT physical weakness spot!

Her hand raised at light speed, she said "The ears, sir. They are the regulator of balance, so if they are hit strongly enough, the person will feel at least dizzy."

She was so clever again, right?

"YES! Yes, exactly!" What a good input. "Throwing them off balance would put you in a good position to intimidate them and get out of that situation as quickly as possible. Well done." Nod.

And she was clever.

Text Cut: Tenacius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

Tenacius nodded his head enthusiastically at first, then started to slow down when he saw the look on the Professor's face. "Well yeah... Theres one near my house and I go there all the time..." pause. Wait not the one in Cumbria "My other house in Santorini I mean. And yeah its an active volcano, but it doesn’t spew out lava or anything." even he knows not to go near things like that "It has cranky days where it would fart really bad and we're told not to go near it and wear protective masks, but on other days its just fine, get to pick out nice glass stones and have a spa." really its awesome.

But yes back to Defense talk. And that list looked like a really awesome list!

Intrinsically Tenacius would know this, even if he wouldnt remember the list word for word. He was a fighter, which is a big reason why he wears the red robes.

And now as for pressure points? What is it about this big scary attacker that an ickle like himself can do to even up the playing field? "Uhm... Ears sir. And you go like this--" he demonstrated, smacking his palms against the side of an attacker's head where the ears would be. "The attacker would lose their sense of balance because its very painful, change of pressure and all that."

Hirsch let out a sigh of relief when the boy went on to mention that the volcano near his house wasn't that active and only, heh, 'farted' every now and then. "Glad to see that you're not in any kind of danger." Or that he was going near super active volcanoes.

Oh, there was a demonstration! Oh, how this made the man happy. Was everyone watching this? "Yes, excellent! If you can reach it, I'd say attack it. One sharp slap, like you demonstrated, is enough to throw them off, giving you the upper hand. Well done."

Text Cut: Throat/Neck/Shoulder

Text Cut: Olly

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir

Olly certainly hoped he would not be getting into any fights anytime soon. People tended to get angry at him though, even when he had no idea why. So maybe it would be a good idea to know how to defend himself. In case he accidentally angered someone way bigger than him. So pretty much anybody older than him. He still thought he could just run away, but if he would be forced to fight it would be good to know how. Also, high five from Ellery. Why? Yay!

He raised his hand, even though he didn't really know the answer. "Uh, you could hit someones neck? That would probably hurt." Among other places. Why was Ellery talking about inducing early labor? He leaned even closer to her. "I don't think you're likely to be attacked by a pregnant lady."

Oh, the neck! "The neck is probably one of the best spots to attack someone! It throws them off completely and puts you in the upper hand," he said, nodding along, "Attacking that area could cause a lot of damage."

.........

'I don't think you're likely to be attacked by a pregnant lady.'

Don't laugh, Hirsch, don't laugh.

Text Cut: Kaylee

Quote:

Originally Posted by BriGranger1990

Kaylee wasn't sure if she would be good with this question, she wasn't really a fighter, but she wanted to try to attempt.

She raised her hand and answered hesitantly. "Umm, I think the throat could be a pressure point." She finished up and listen to her fellow classmates give their answers. She was slightly concerned by one of the answers a Gryffindor girl gave 'Why would you need to do that a pregnant woman?'

Another throat answer! It was making the man proud to know that so many people knew about this area to attack. "The throat is a good pressure point, considering the number of nerves and blood vessels there are there." Yes, good point.

Text Cut: Janelle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daydreamer11

Janelle listened to all of her classmates' answers and the comments that the professor made about them. It was true. They could be waaay too dependent upon their wands for protection. Janelle knew a bit about muggle self defense, but that didn't mean that she was good at it. Hopefully she would learn some good things in this class, things that would make her feel more confident about defending herself.

Professor Hirsch asked a second question and this time Janelle raised her hand right away. "Isn't there a pressure point in the shoulder, close to the neck"? At least seemed to remember people on TV being taken down by a squeeze to that area.

A pressure point close to the neck? "There is! It's right there in between the clavicle, or the bone that connects the shoulder to the neck. Excellent point, Miss Guidry."

Text Cut: Dante

Quote:

Originally Posted by Meizzner

No he did not know wandless magic. But that would be the perfect time to see if you can do it. Dante had laid out his hypothetical and would run away to fight another day. He did say the bigger stronger and everything else. Fighting dirty would not help if that was the case. Because you should always expect them to fight dirty anyway. Real life was not some duel in the Dueling Club. And can you defend yourself against a giant without a wand? Well i would love to see the Professor try. Because Dante did not believe it. He also did not believe that 'The best defence is a good offence' No the best defense is a really good defense and then counter attack when you have the chance.

But whatever, what did he know. Okay Martial Arts, he was seeing where Hirsch was going with this.

"The Throat. Since being able to breath i guess is important to defending yourself"

But the rest of the points on the board he agreed with.

SNOOOORT.

..........

Right. Professor. Okay.

Clearing his throat, he continued, "It's very important so if you knock them there, you're likely to do a lot of damage." Could he laugh again? Yes? Because that answer, that sass. Merlin, he loved it, he did.

Text Cut: Garreth

Quote:

Originally Posted by Compootor

If he had to be perfectly honest, Garreth was a little perplexed by the professor's 'meh' attitude to his answer. 'Avoid conflict type of person'? the boy went over the professor's words a few times in his head. Garreth wasn't the sort of person to seek out conflict, but one thing he most certainly was, was an 11 year old boy. What was the professor expecting? The boy shot a glance over at Azura and almost spoke up at the sight of her watery eyes. Instead, he gave her a sympathetic half-smile, figuring she was thinking the same thing he was. They weren't exactly a battle-hardened warriors. Of course they'd try to hide! And then the professor had even written the words "the best defense is a good offense" on the board! 'What better defense is there than disappearing completely?' the boy thought to himself, rather displeased. Maybe he was just upset that he hadn't manged to impress the professor with his quick thinking.

He took a deep breath and looked up at the professor again. Maybe he'd do better on the second question.

Seizing a silent moment, he raised a hand and spoke his answer. "The jugular, I would assume. If your windpipe is damaged, you might even die." he ran a finger across his adam's apple. "Aren't the temples also pressure points? And the knees, maybe?" the boy genuinely wasn't sure about the last two, but he thought he'd read about pressure points at some point. That, and then there was the fact that he couldn't possibly imagine being struck in any of those places would be comfortable.

Another throat answer! Hirsch smiled and nodded enthusiastically at the boy. "Yes, all three of those mentioned are good pressure points in the body. And, as you said, you can cause a lot of damage by attacking the windpipe, which is good if it's you or them. Well done."

Text Cut: Zeke

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hera

Not pushing people into particular answers, yeaaaaaaaah, but he still didn't like vague, there were TOO MANY answers, and if he couldn't give them man a whole list, then it seemed futile. FUTILE. Because at the end of the day, he looked out only for himself, if his peers knew things, good for them, they wouldn't be sitting his OWL's for him, so he wanted to give the answers, not just one of them.

Unfortunately it was a thing he would simply have to endure. A visit to the man's office was definitely in order post-lesson.

At least though, his answer had been one of the few to make it onto the board.

Zeke understood, of course, the whole point of this lesson so far (which was more than he could say for some of his other subjects). It was perhaps a blessing for him that he'd grown up muggle before realising his magical ability, that, and his challenged background. Every bit helped. He wasn't averse to physical contact, the opposite in fact, he actually preferred it. There was something more raw about it, that had his adrenaline pumping harder than it if he was wielding his wand.

... but pressure points. Weak spots.

Pleased with this question, Zeke's hand rose once again. "Like some of the others, I fancy a good throat jab," he mused, "though the shin's do pretty well."

He fancied a good throat jab. There was something about that phrasing that made Hirsch......... curious. What did he mean by fancy? Was he a fighter or just one to know about this topic? Hm?

"A throat jab works wonders, you're right. A lot of pain can be inflicted from that region, if done correctly. Good point, Mr Browne."

Text Cut: Ailsa

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mirali

Ailsa cringed a little bit as the professor seemed to dislike her answer. She hadn't meant to be sassy, though looking back she had to admit that she kind of was. OK, maybe not "kind of". Still. 'Assess the situation and apply general knowledge to suit the specific circumstances,' which was technically the only universally correct generalized answer, would have been even worse, and that had been what she'd been tempted to answer.

Oh well, press on and all that. She raised her hand for the next answer.

"The side of the neck, sir, where the brachial plexus runs past the hinge of the jaw. That can really disrupt someone for a bit if you position the strike properly."

"Yes! Yes, absolutely!" he said, nodding enthusiastically at the young girl's answer, "While any strike to the throat can cause damage, you mentioned the weakest spot. Well done." Well done, indeed.

Text Cut: Rachel

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Rachel smiled at Hirsch and nodded to acknowledge that she appreciated his complement. She smiled even more when he got to Haddie's answer. Rachel looked over at her best friend to see the girl already glancing at her. "Excellent, Haddie,'' she mouthed. Still smiling, she began to make her notes in her neat handwriting.

Notes done, Rachel looked back up at Hirsch. She liked the way he encouraged them about defending themselves no matter what they may find themselves up against. The man seemed very happy and excited about this lesson, didn't he? The eleven year old had not missed how widely he was smiling.

Oh, pressure points. She knew there were quite a few of those in the human body. She listened to a few responses before raising her hand. "The neck,'' she said, inclining to agree with a Slytherin boy (Dante) and Ailsa. "If air supply is stopped, the person can be rendered unconscious.''

The neck was a very popular answer, wasn't it? "Yes! Yes, exactly as you mentioned it. With a lack of air supply, attacking you isn't going to be their number one priority."

Text Cut: Matt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

Text Cut: Catch up because Mat made me u__u

OOOH MYYY MEEERLEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHNNNNNNNNN DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS!! THE BEST SUBJECT IN THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE and the one he would be AWESOME AT because that lady at the wand shop SAID SO and because he just KNEW he'd be awesome because he was already SO GOOD at fighting BAD, EVIL GUYS because he had clearly done that MANY TIMES BEFORE [size="1"]onlynotreally/size] and YAS, DEFENSE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS, YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAS!!!

Matt proper ran into the classroom like the WIND. SWOOOOSHHSKDJHFSJLKFDK DEFENSE GAKGJENKS YEEEEEEEEES!!!

After greeting the professor and saying hi to some people he knew and some other he didn't know as well, Matt worked on his name tag.



And he slapped himself on the chest so the tag would properly stick to his robes. YAAAAAAAAAAAAS, he was READY!!

...

DUELING CLUB, OFSDHFKSJDSDFFJFSK WAS THAT A THING APPARENTLY IT WAS OFSJDFKJSNFJKSNFK HE WAS READY FOR THAT AS WELL!!! Were tey going to duel TODAY?? HE COULD SO DUEL TODAY eventhoughhedidn'tknowanyusefulspellsbutheywhocare d!!!!!!!!

MAN, this was already his FAVOURITE CLASS EVER. He KNEW it, SEE? YAAAAAAAAA-

Question. Matt EYED the professor intently and wiggled a little as he listened to the question. He was so EXCITED he could hardly be still. His body, HIS MIND, EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE, YES, HE WOULD USE THAT. "I'd use the FORCE!" He said as he did the swiping motion of the mind controlling trick Jedi THING.

If he was ATTACKED?? "I would ATTACK BACK like THAT!" And the boy made some random - and probably very wrong - Martial Arts MOVES. HA! YA!! HAAAH AYAHFA DKSDJKF

Matt was still thinking - and maybe just maybe doing silent motions as well - about ALL of the stuff he'd do if he ever found himself in that situation when the professor carried on with the class.

The Gryffindor LAUGHED at the answers on the board because they were actually funny and somewhat TRUE. SING! He might take that literally. HAHAHE!

HEY! Their wand was their best friend! Matt AGREED with that, YES! His wand was SUPER AWESOME AND POWERFUL AKJFNSDKJFN!

BUT!

Matt didn't agree when the teacher said they had been relying too much on their wands. Matt had just GOTTEN his wand a few weeks? Months? Not too long ago, and he had spent his entire childhood defending himself andattackingotherssometimestoo without the help of anything like that. And he did that just fine! BUT²!! He did agree that with a wand it was much easier.

'But what happens if you can't use it? Are you going to lay there and say that you give up on life?' Uhh, NO?? Who would ever do THAT?? WUT. Was this guy NUTS? ...YES!! MATT WOULD DO THAT!! He could totally fight the Muggle way. Totally, yas.

MARTIAL ARTS! THAT WAS WHAT MATT DEMONSTRATED!! YEEAH. He got this. This lesson was awesome.

Matt knew of one of these pressure points the professor was talking about. He had seen it on TV a BUNCH of times. "On the shoul--" But a Ravenclaw girl beat him to it. "Yeah, THAT!" He said, pointing at the girl because she was right. "They go like-" And Matt trailled off and he pretended to press some point on his shoulder - he didn't really know where it was, but it was y'know, a general spot - and he pretended to faint forward. See, gone. It WORKED. Point proven.

.......................

Oh. Oh Merlin.

He'd been warned about the overenthusiastic kids and the hyperactive ones but this kid....... this kid took the award. Roderik was still smiling at the kid's answer, even giving him an encouraging nod as he went on to......

...................... MERLIN.

Leaning off of the table, Hirsch made his way there in a few quick strides and bent down in front of the young boy. "Mr Solo?" he asked, shaking his shoulder, "Mr Solo, are you okay?!" They weren't meant to FAINT in his lesson, Merlin.

Text Cut: Temple

Text Cut: Azura

Quote:

Originally Posted by MunchyBubbles

Azura didn't like it when the professor frowned at her!! He said that everyone had it in them to fight, but she didn't think she would be able to manage physical fighting! She was very clusmy! She'd probably just fall over if she tried anything! Stealth was her best option. She looked down at her feet and bit her lip a little. She was clever enough! She was a Ravenclaw after all!

If her life depended on it, she wouldn't make any stupid mistakes. Still, she didn't like the frown!! She tried not to let tears come to her eyes, she felt like she had been chastised!

She also noticed that Garreths perfectly valid run option hadn't been taken well either! She would have mentioned that, but she was terrible at running!

At his question though, she raised slightly watery eyes to look up and raised her hand. "The temples are one sir. A person can even be knocked unconscious if struck there hard enough."

She lowered her eyes back down to her feet again.. biting her lip slightly, she turned her head to look at Garreth and bit her lip again..

Oh Merlin, had he said something?

Roderik furrowed his brows at this girl, trying to think back to what he could have possibly said to get that kind of reaction out of her. "Are you okay, Miss Kennedy?" Because he noticed the eyes. He did.

As for her answer, he nodded at her. "The temples are a VERY good spot to attack someone. Hardly anyone defends that area specifically so a sharp jab there can do a lot of damage. Good point."

Text Cut: Ilia

Quote:

Originally Posted by VRSCIKA

This was a subject that she enjoyed going over with her father. Some of the best bonding time and memories were defense lessons. She smiled at the expression the professor gave her answer. Ah , pressure points.....would they get to spar maybe?

"There are thirty two major pressure points in the body, so we have a lot of options. The one that I would choose to strike would depend upon the size difference between myself and my assailant, their attack pattern, and where I could most quickly strike. My preferred point would be the temple, as it can easily render my opponent unconscious or more. The quicker that I can incapacitate them, the better." They can't hurt you while they are unconscious or you've hurt them so badly that they need medical attention. If they were going to attack her, it was at their own risk and they deserved whatever she gave them. No mercy for scum.

Oh this answer.

This. Answer.

It made Hirsch's chest inflate slightly with pride. Merlin, he couldn't have asked for a better one even if he tried. "You've made some excellent points, Miss Valke. The size difference effects your strategy a lot," he said, nodding along, "And the temple is a great place to attack as well. The quicker you get them to back down, the quicker you can get yourself out of that mess. Very well done."

Text Cut: Chloe

Quote:

Originally Posted by pundantic

That smile? The loving one that he was giving students nearly killed Chloe. Her face got an ugly shade of red and she found herself really angry all of the sudden. Stupid perfect face and rumbly butterflies. How was she going to learn anything in this lesson with Hirsch's perfect...everything.

Sigh. Separating the men from the boys, truly.

The blonde managed to catch on to his next question so she didn't feel as hopeless as his last. Where she missed everything and had to sit there dumbly in utter humiliation. She raised her hand slightly and avoided staring at the professor's face (it was like staring into the sun: dangerous). "The temples, sir. It's the weakest part of the cranium. You can really, really hurt someone by hitting it."

Oh, more silent students piping up?

Roderik smiled at the young girl, who still had a red face for some reason. Could he ask about that? Or was this a natural birth defect? "That's very smart of you. The temples are the weakest part of the cranium. One sharp jab is all it takes to bring your opponent down."

Text Cut: Wrist/Elbow

Text Cut: Colt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

Colt was liking this Professor already. He seemed to be pretty chill, I mean despite wearing the glasses and making him look like a dork. It seemed like some of the students well most of the girl students, look like they have a crush on him. He rolled his eyes and he heard the first question and he heard the answers. He figured he might as well write his name tag for the dude. He began to scribble on....



Then he began to observe what he wrote down on the board. I mean this Winchester knew how to defend himself. He was from Durmstrang, that is what they taught you to do in DADA 101. He knew the basics and he was pretty good in dueling club last year. He was def going to sign up again. He heard the second question about pressure points. Hmm interesting one. He studied his hands and raised his hand,

"Professor..." he began because he forgot his name already. "I know there is a pressure point like on your wrist....well below the wrist actually. It is kind of on your arm..." He kind of demonstrated. He knew about the one because his cousin almost did it before his mother stopped him.

The wrist! Oh, how he'd hoped someone would say that one. It wasn't the most popular of pressure points to mention but it was one. "Yes! It doesn't cause as much damage as some of the others but attacking that area would cause your opponent to back down."

Text Cut: Norah

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sararara

Norah, who was still awfully amused and maybe even glowing a tiny bit at Katherine's dramatic reaction (she'd called her MISS. Didja hear that? This must've been what it was like to be the QUEEN. Or Sophie Brown, which was much more impressive than being the queen. Obviously), took on a slightly more somber expression when class started. She knew it was defense 'n all that, but fighting was not exactly the world's most pleasant topic of conversation. She was a fast runner 'n all that, but that was in races and maybe wouldn't count of there was a meanie face trying to attack her. There probably wasn't much she could do about that, except maybe some shin kicking but that had been covered by the other students, so she concentrated instead on her notes. Yes. Notes were good. Maybe that was one good thing that came out of being finished with OWL's--she knew firsthand now that rubbish notes made for even more rubbishness in the future, which was lame but at least now she knew. Trying her best to keep all her words in straight line instead of diagonally down the page as they usually ended up being, she copied down all the facts Professor Hirsch provided, before setting her quill down to raise her hand for the next question.

Seb had told her about THIS one before, uh huh. Back before she'd gotten too scared of hurting them to keep up with the wrestling games. Not that she could really do much damage with her baby noodle arms, but y'know. If he or Marcel got hurt it might as well be the end of her entire LIFE, and she wasn't entirely sure she was ready for that yet, so safe games it was. "I think there's a spot on the inside part of your elbow. Y'know, if you flip your arm over? Where it bends? If you press really hard there in the right way your opponent will FAINT or something scary like that." Supposedly. She was never ever ever going to test that one out, if she could help it.

THIS ANSWER.

Oh Merlin, help him, he was giddy again. "That is one of the best pressure points! It's hard to reach sometimes because the opponent needs to have their wrist pointing upwards but it works! Oh Merlin, does it work." Good, Miss Kittredge.

Text Cut: Melbourne

Quote:

Originally Posted by Optimist

Melbourne Johanson was mad. Well, not fully mad, she was just irked right now. Tenacius Salander was going to get it…maybe she’d have to hex him later? Maybe she could hex him later the thought just made her grin a bit.

“Tenacius” she hissed at him under her breath…”if I had my pirates black-spot card you’d be getting one.” She hissed at him and nodded. The game was on Salander and he probably didn’t even know what he had done wrong.

Taking her quill and writing things down she slipped he note over to him.

SPOILER!!: ”notes”

Don’t point out the name thing. I was distracted by the Professor’s Face Ace…okay? And if you tell anyone that I will hang you out of the Gryffindor tower by your big toe.

There. Her note was written. Casual threats out of the way. When Professor Hirsch brought up movies she just grinned, “I’ve seen some…but I’m a comedy fan actually” she admitted because really, she was. “but most of the guy’s in my family are either on sports teams or Aurors” she admitted with a big old grin. She had tough guys in her family like Charlotte then eh? “Whatever I want? Really?” She thought of all the weapons she had at home and grinned though right now anything would be a small thing.

“Thank you sir,” she added with a beam her blushing finally getting a bit better but still somewhat there…more because of the smiling and his face and he had complimented her and he was perfect. Oooooh she liked all of those ideas and added them to her notes…her real notes.

Mel raised her hand again, “there’s one on the elbow I think Professor?” She half asked and then took her hands and squeezed lightly on the crevice of her elbow. “but I think its hard to do? The collarbone one is probably more useful” she added a little nod and gave Ace another look.

Her family connections had explained her previous answer. It explained it a lot. "The elbow area can be attacked but, like you mentioned, it's hard to do unless you manage to get them to face their wrist upwards." And the collarbone was a good spot too, if you could reach it. Mhm.

Text Cut: Knees

Text Cut: Katerina

Quote:

Originally Posted by SarcasticStrawberry

Katerina bounced on her mat. The professor liked her throwing things idea? Awesome. She beamed. That's exactly what she was thinking. Throw something to throw them off or knock them out whichever one worked or was more effective.

Wands were amazing right? And she would have not been able to do the magic she'd already without. Yes. She loved her wand and never let it out of her sight. Pressure points? Say what? "There's one behind your knee, it can take anyone down in a matter of seconds."

Oh, here was a mention of the knees! "The knees is a great spot! If you can reach behind their knees and attack that, you can throw them off balance completely, giving you the chance to get away. Well done."

Text Cut: Same

Quote:

Originally Posted by hermygirl

Sam gave Dora an excited wave, before turning her attention back to the professor. She had to admit to be being a little confused, as she thought this was meant to be a defence against the dark arts lesson. So far there had been a complete lack of anything vaguely dark, and a whole load of violent moves suggested by her classmates.

Didn't these people have principles when defending themselves?

She certainly did, and she'd had to defend herself for real in such such situations when a couple of her Pa's er...dodgier... dealings had gone wrong.

"I'd go fa th' knee for disablin', meself," Sam commented. "Fink dere's one of 'em pressah points dere...'n I ain't gonna reach dere temple in 'urry anyways." Because, being as short as she was, most attackers would be taller than her. Otherwise, she'd go for the ribs, but she didn't feel the need to share all of her tactics right now. Especially if in a practical later someone might try and shove her nose through her brain. Gross.

Uh. So it was hard to understand the girl?

The accent. It was that accent.

The German man, who wasn't used to a lot of English accents, was stumped. He recognised what she said about the knee and pressure points and......... dere temple? 'Urry? Uh.

Okay, he was just going to have to concentrate on the other parts, then. "The knee is a good point of attack. You can get them to lose balance, giving you enough time to get away." Yep, good choice.

Text Cut: Family jewels

Text Cut: Ava

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

Of course she was very happy to listen that he's gonna run the dueling club again. Ava didn't mind if he's laughing at her because of her enthusiasm. In fact, she didn't care.

Okay, back to the lessons.

The young lioness listened to the Professor's opinion about her answer. Yeah, she knew that the hand was such a hard place to attack but she had a brown belt in karate and had learned about that. Besides, biting was also an option. Having a hard time in muggle school because her twin brother was often being bullied by the muggle kids (and sometimes her too), makes her very familiar about this situation. And yes, running away wasn't her answer.

And pressure points... Oh!

"Below the belly button is such a perfect spot to be attacked, Professor. Especially for guys." She answered as she raised her hand.

How was it that only ONE person in the entire class mentioned the groin region? It was one of the most common and yet, there weren't many answers about that. "That is one of the best places to attack, especially for a guy. Thank you for bringing it up, Miss Burton."

Text Cut: Feet

Text Cut: Ellery

Quote:

Originally Posted by Casey O

Ellery was loving this. First off, she TOTALLY high-fived Olly because they were INSIDE EACH OTHER'S BRAINS, but also - self-defense??? She TOTALLY needed this. She was so pumped for this. She was a pacifist in theory…but she would totally punch someone if need be.

"I think there's one in your foot? But you shouldn't press it with a pregnant woman because it could induce early labor."

David talking about heads. Wouldn't it hurt to punch the skull??

Induce labour? Roderik blinked, not entirely sure how to process that piece of information. He'd been thinking so much of how they could get out of a physical confrontation with no wand on their possession that this.........

.......... Merlin, okay. Let's be the good kind of Professor that gives out useful pieces of information, shall we? "Please don't attack pregnant women. They're going through enough already, they don't need that."

There. Nailed it.

"But yes, the foot is a good spot to attack, especially if you happen to be wearing sharp shoes or heels."

Text Cut: Olivia

Quote:

Originally Posted by Holmesian Feline

Well her answer got the approval of the professor which was a good start. "Thank you," she remarked quietly as he moved onto other students and their own answers. There was certainly a diverse array of them, from running to fighting to how to go about doing either to the best of their respective abilities. And even at least one person suggested playing 'dead'. Now that was a unique thought.

And then they were moving on. To talking of having the ability to defend oneself and being best friend's with your wand. Olivia absently reached into the pocket where she stashed her wand just to let her fingers wrap around the growingly familiar wood. She could see how people could grow attached to it, but she wasn't. Not really. Her hand slipping back out to rest back on her lap. She'd already had much more of her life without a wand as she had with it.

At the mention of martial arts, she thought back to her visit to the defense training room. That had to be the connection to what she had found...what Zeke had been working on when she and Arista had joined him. Now for physical weak spots. She was about to say eyes, but older Slytherin beat her to it, followed by a housemate. Head and neck certainly seemed like they got a lot of attention from the suggestions.

"How about the feet? Jab or step on them to cause a distraction by the discomfort, or trip a person up." That seemed like an acceptable alternative option.

Feet! "Yes yes, the feet is a good spot to attack! Hard shoes and heels can do wonders to that area." Which meant that anyone wearing heels didn't need to worry. "And it gives you enough time to get away." Mhm! Good point made.

Text Cut: Other

Text Cut: Oliver

Quote:

Originally Posted by itsgisselx3

Oliver had been writing down notes the entire time, since he wasn't quite sure what to say about the whole defending himself thing. His anger issues insisted fighting a person but Ollie had never been in a fight before so he figured it would be best to keep his mouth shut on the topic.

Noooow, about pressure points. Oliver didn't know much other than the basics. Raising his hand, he said, "Well...it's a point...on your body...and you put pressure on it and then you faint." The boy wasn't quite sure if putting pressure on the point was painful, so he left that out. And as far as where they were, he didn't have answer for that either.

He liked seeing a quiet person piping up. It meant that they hadn't dozed off in his lesson because they thought it was that boring. Besides, it'd be their loss, at the end of the day.

So when this kid piped up his answer, Roderik turned his pull attention to him, evening smiling a little. "Couldn't have put it better myself."

Text Cut: Ariadne

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

OHHH, Ariadne got a reply of hand clapping for her answer. THANK YOU. THANK YOU VERY MUCH. But the hand clapping was followed with a question about something she hadn't really thought about. Would she hide, or would she be tactical? Hmm. Tacti--...NO, hide! She would definitely hide! Why run out and put yourself in danger when you just don't have to?

At first, she had no idea why they were considering an unarmed attack. Why would she NOT have her wand? She'd waited for eleven years for it! It was pretty much stuck with her! But...the Muggle world! Ohhh, yeah! She couldn't exactly whip out her wand in the Muggle world, could she? Point made, Professor!

She followed along the best she could until the question was asked. What in the world was a pressure point?! A weak point was all she picked up on. She shrugged and raised her hand. "I'm honestly not really sure, Professor, but what about the jaw? I know in all the Muggle fights I've ever heard of, people just reach out and punch their appointment in the jaw," she explained. She reached out an made a punching motion with her fists. "They really let 'em have it!"

The jaw? Hm. Hmmmm.

"It's not......" Merlin, how was he going to phrase this. "It's not exactly a pressure point but yes, most people do attack the jaw. It's one of the easiest places to attack, I'll give you that."

Text Cut: Trixie

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

MERLIN!

This was turning out to be a very violent class. Would they be learning how to exploit each other's weaknesses during the lesson? And some of the students answers were rather graphic. Trixie had no idea where the Professor was going with this, but she raised her hand to give her answer.

"The ribs, Sir. Break a person's ribs and you render them in a weakened state." She imagined that it would probably hurt like hell.

"The ribs are a hard spot to attack but, like you mentioned, if done correctly, you can really weaken your opponent. They're not going to be likely to attack you if they're busy trying to tend to a hurting rib." So, he understood where she was coming from.

Text Cut: Silent ones

Text Cut: Henric

Quote:

Originally Posted by Symphora

Henric shook his head when she came to remark about him earlier." Its fine." He chuckled back a response. He didn't think it was necessary to tell her what was on his mind lately...not now when the class was in session. Then little Bella came over to them and waved back a greeting to her too. Small wave and a smile, yeah...his prefect smile as they called it. Soon, his thoughts wandered as he listened to his classmates answers. Oh...llia's level of participation was top-notch today! He had to give her that. So admirable...as he watched her silently by her side. Henric didn't feel like answering and was rather content to just listen. Honestly, his answer would be simple. Pressure points. llia was right.He learnt martial arts before. Strike them at the most vulnerable places so they could gain ad advantage over them.

Did this kid know that the Professor can practically see him shooting heart eyes at Miss Valke? It wasn't his business what happened in the students' personal lives but as long as the boy wasn't planning on snogging the girl in front of him, he was fine.

That was all.

Text Cut: Jaemin

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ameh

He'd had every intention of answering this question too. Honest, he had. Jaemin had been prepared to throw his hand up in the air to mention, as others had, that the temple was a great thing to hit to make someone go down really fast. It had been the reason that he'd been disinvited to his karate class after two lessons, though he hadn't been at all bothered about that at the time.

He'd been all set to mention this, but the thing that came out of the girl prefect from his house had the little boy stunned before he could manage it. Jaemin turned himself around to look at her, a rather audible "What?!" escaping him as one small hand covered his own nose as if to protect it. You could kill someone with their own nose?! You could push their nose into their brain?!

Jaemin looked at the professor, torn between absolute horror and the need for confirmation. Surely that wasn't a real thing that could be done!

................. ??

The startled what had caught Roderik's attention and he found himself looking at Mr Song. What? Why was he looking at him like that? In complete, if he had to guess, disbelief? "It's true. You need a hard jab to do something like that but your nose gets pushed inwards and........ it causes damage, let's say." So protect your noses, kids.

Text Cut: Yoongi

Quote:

Originally Posted by DuckyLinJi

The new Professor didn't seem too excited about his answer but he didn't care. Not everyone liked fighting and there was a big difference between a duel and fight. The part where he said that he WILL find out how his insticts worked made him shuffle on the mat a bit uneasily. Had he just threatened him? Did he have to go through the year looking over his shoulder AGAIN? Because the previous Professor had also hinted about surprise attacks to keep them sharp. It had never happened but he had no clue if this new one would actually go through with it.

He was brought back to the classroom when students around him started to answer where and how they would hit someone. Yoongi looked around in shock. So many of them had such violent imagination and he started to feel uncomfortable again. Were they really capable of...breaking someones ribs or...hitting someone's throat?

The Head Boy sat there, looking around to see who had said what before he turned back to face the front again. Not saying a word and writing things down in his notebook.

Was the Head Boy okay? He seemed to have gotten very quiet after the previous answer and was now just looking around. It was........ well, it wasn't bad, so to say, but it was a little alarming. Maybe he was just the quiet type of Head Boy. Maybe.

Hm. At least he was jotting things down, which would be helpful.

Text Cut: Daxton

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

One thing Daxton had not been expecting out of the suggestions from everyone else had been the mention of his own name. He blinked the moment he heard it, proving that he still paying attention to everyone in the room.

It had been David Truebridge's voice; of course Daxton recognised it, what with them being in the same house and year, and essentially living in the same room together. However, he did not turn to look at dormmate, preferring to avoid any kind of accidental eye contact seeing as the other boy was almost certainly looking right at him, but kept his eyes trained on the professor. The downside of this, of course, was that Hirsch took it upon himself to presumably follow David Truebridge's line of sight, and ended up looking right at Daxton, discovering his real name in the process (not that it would have remained a mystery for very long, of this Daxton was quite certain).

To Daxton's relief, there was no further mention of his name, nor any looks or gestures towards him, as far as he could tell. Still the Ravenclaw remained silent as the lesson progressed, privately judging and mentally filing away the answers his classmates gave, but providing none of his own. But when it started to sound more and more like there might be some sort of physical practice component to the whole 'self defence' topic, Daxton's comfort began to grow once more. Would they be fighting each other? Practicing? He was wary, and not just because of his utter hatred for physical contact.

Predictably, he offered no answer to the next question, and instead just kept his calculating gaze on Hirsch. This time, however, he looked the man up and down, almost as though he was sizing him up, but in actuality Daxton was pinpointing the weak spots he himself found most advantageous in a physical fight. Eyes, temples, adam's apple, lower stomach, knees, feet... always depended on who you were up against, of course. Some were more likely to know how to defend themselves than others, and if they were not the type to know where to strike, they would not be the type to know where to defend, and would only attempt to defend the most obvious targets. If the opponent knew what they were doing, it was a case of being much faster, and much smarter, than them.

Even as he thought through it all, Daxton felt his discomfort grow. The probability of having to put all this into practice seemed to him to be growing too, and if that were the case then he would have no part in it. How soon was too soon to begin feigning illness? It was difficult to tell, as they might yet be moving onto an activity that could be slightly less like a personal torture, and maybe even interesting - this was Defence Against the Dark Arts after all. For now, Daxton simply frowned ever so slightly, and kept his eyes mainly fixed on Hirsch, though sparing glances around the room every so often.

Ah, Daxton Prince. Not Your Name. He was going to remember that, and mentally thank Davie for bringing it up.

At this point, he didn't even expect Mr Prince to be saying much so, when he didn't, the man didn't even bat an eyelash. He did, however, look towards that area to make sure that the boy was paying attention.

Moving on? Good idea!

"So, a lot of you have mentioned some excellent points about pressure points. It seems like you all know a lot about these points." Something that made the man happy because it meant that they weren't completely clueless.

"The eyes, neck, nose, temple, ears, groin, knees and the solar plexus are all some of the most sensitive areas in the body. As Miss Valke mentioned, there are thirty two pressure points in the body but these are the ones we're going to concentrate on today. Attacking any of these areas is going to bring your victim down, or at least get them to back down enough for you to get out of there." Prevention was a good technique, after all.

"Something you need to know about these pressure points, in the magical sense, is that attacking these areas in a duel is likely to do more damage than attacking another part. It's hard, it's very hard, and you have to target your wand in the right place but if you get it right, the force of the spell in a sensitive area, on top of the effect of the spell, will do more damage." Just something they should keep in mind.

"Now. I know that not everyone in this class is good at fighting, or even wants to fight, but no one goes through their life without some sort of confrontation and the sooner you learn how to defend yourselves, the better. So, if everyone can get up onto their feet, I've set up a little activity for you guys to practice attacking these pressure points." And not everyone was going to love it.

Eh.

With a flick of his wand, the man let go of a disillusionment charm that had been in place to reveal a bunch of dummies standing behind his desk. They were your average dummies that you'd find in gyms where you can practice boxing on, and they looked, more or less, harmless.

Looked.

Turning to the rest of the class, he smiled, "Pair up with an animated dummy, pick out one or two of the pressure points you want to concentrate on, and try and defend yourselves against the oncoming threat." Of a dummy. Yes, very scary, wasn't it?

/sarcasm

"Keep in mind that, like these dummies, if anyone's going to attack you, they're going to do so at close proximity. Use that to your advantage. And your elbow is a SHARP place of the body: a sharp strike using this will make your dummy go down. In fact, attack ANY of the pressure points properly and your dummy will go down. SPEED and PRECISION is key. Be fast, be precise, and use your body to your advantage."

"And, of course, you're going to need this." A flick of his wand and some of the words the students had mentioned appeared on the board.

Quote:

Pressure points:
- Eyes: gouging, poking, scratching attacker’s eyes with fingers or knuckles: anything to impair their vision or distract them
- Temple: hard to reach but a sharp jab is all you need
- Nose: use heel of your palm (bottom curve near the wrist) to strike up and under the attacker’s nose; if they’re behind you, the elbow works as well
- Neck: HUGE target (probably biggest because of the blood vessels flowing there): - can stun your attacker using this method: hold your dominant hand out with the fingers straight and held tightly together and the thumb bent inwards slightly: like a karate chop motion but palm facing upwards; simply strike the side of the neck
- Solar plexus: Punch, kick, do whatever it takes to target this specific area and bring the person down
- Groin: well, that’s obvious
- Knee: kicking the back of the knee is the best option because, with enough force, it’ll make them stumble and fall and give you enough chance to run off; can kick front of the knee for more injury but is less likely to cause an imbalance

That looked good enough, right? Good. "Because this is a non-magical based activity, I want everyone to put their wands AWAY, either in their bags or in the box in front."

"Oh, and one last thing: good luck."

And with that, the dummies moved forward.



OOC: MINI ACTIVITY TIME! YAY!

Okay so let me explain: the dummies are going to be coming at your charries. They might reach up a hand to your charrie but what your charrie has to do is to protect themselves by attacking the pressure points. If done correctly, the dummy will stop moving.

You CAN RP for the dummies if you want but the dummies will NOT cause a lot of damage, if at all. If they don't manage to attack the pressure points in time, their dummy with simply wrap their arms around your charrie, that is all. There should be NO serious injuries, please. My Hufflepuff heart says no.

Be as creative and outgoing as you want but please make sure to adhere to the site and Hirsch's rules.

You have roughly 24 hours to make at least 2 posts. I'm looking for effort, so even if your charrie doesn't get it right, they'll still get points for effort ^^

Goodness! Thirty two pressure points? That was quite a lot, wasn't it? Rachel made notes as Hirsch answered her peers. This was all so very interesting. She had not thought that directing a spell to one of these areas would be a huge advantage even though it could be difficult as Hirsch said. This was a rather informative class.

Hirsch was right. Rachel didn't know if she could fight because she never tried and never wanted to. She didn't care for violence of any kind but she knew he was right. They had to be prepared because these kind of situations can happen at any time. She watched as the dummies were revealed, instantly understanding what they were to do.

Rachel jotted down the notes from the board then packed her things neatly on one side of her desk and wand in her bag. It was time for her to select a dummy. She stood up to randomly select a moving dummy.

Maggie was TRYING to pay attention like a good student. She totally was. But like...it was hard focusing on what Professor Hirsch was saying when you could also just...watch him speak. Of course she totally masked it as paying attention. Like, she was even taking notes.

Or like...doodling on her piece of parchment but she COULD'VE been taking notes.

......oh look dummies.

Maggie got up immediately when the professor told them to. Brushing down her skirt and making sure her hair was PERFECT (as always, like, lol, when was it not?), she quickly put her wand back into her bag and made her way over to one of the dummies. Now. The real question was...should she be like really awesome at this exercise to impress Professor Hirsch or...?

Maybe if she got it right on the second try it would be even more impressive.

So when the dummy got ready to 'attack', instead of defending herself Maggie just kind of...froze. Until the dummy had gotten as close as possible and had...wrapped its arms around her. Dummy-hugs were almost as bad as Hufflepuff-hugs, pass it on. Then she let out a shriek. "Professor?!?!? Help!?!? It got me!" She even managed to look extremely SCARED and WORRIED. "It just...it was scary." Mhm. Totes.

Damsel in distress over here? Sniff.

It had been a baaaaaad idea to sit in the front. Jaemin realised this when the dummies started moving; he was still a bit horrified at the idea of someone smashing a nose into a brain, had tuned out a bit while trying to wrap his head around that, and it took him a moment to properly react. Or improperly react, as his first instinct was to abandon his cushion and back away, because noooooooope. He was definitely not ready to fight a big moving dummy thingy.

One of the dummies continued to follow after him though, and Jaemin blinked at it as it came closer. Baaaaaack off dummy! He'd karate chop you in the throat he couldn't quite reach!!! The boy held his hands up threateningly (though the effect was probably more 'angry kitten' than 'karate master', considering), but the dummy did not stop. It was supposed to stop! It should have known better than to keep coming, didn't it know he'd taken two karate lessons when he was eight?! He frowned and, as the thing's arms stretched out to wrap around him, he did the only thing he could do.

He jumped up into it and smashed his little fist right into the middle of its throat, sending it wheeling back a bit and away from him. It didn't fully stop the thing from moving about, but it temporarily stopped the dummy from getting ahold of him. HAH.

"Bad dummy!" he called accusingly at it, as it seemed to attempt to reorient itself to come toward him again. Since it didn't want to stop, Jaemin thought it was time for him to mooooove again. Back back back.

Automated sparring? Haddie was going to think this was exceptionally cool. Ailsa, on the other hand, mostly just worried about how she'd do. She was reasonably quick, yes, but she was small. And the dummies, while (probably) safe, she'd decided, were large. If she went for their neck, they'd likely be able to block her easily. Why did all the really good pressure points have to be so high up on the body anyway?

Ailsa had just gotten her wand into her bag when the dummy started its advance. Before she could really think though, she noticed one of her neighbors (Maggie) had already been wrapped up by her dummy and was shrieking to the professor for help.

Without really thinking the little redhead jumped onto the back of the dummy that was bear hugging the older girl and reached around to where the dummy's eyes would have been. She definitely wouldn't have been able to pull off such a move if the dummy had been attacking her, but since it seemed very preoccupied with the other girl she'd managed to at least jump on it without too much resistance. Now f for the finish...

"I've got you!" Ailsa told the Slytherin girl as she hung from the dummy's back and pressed her fingers into the dummy's eye sockets.

What Ailsa failed to notice in her effort to aid her classmate was that Ailsa's own dummy had not stopped advancing.

They had to fight dummies now? And no wands? Wow. This was NOT how Garreth had imagined this class would go. Wasn't this Defense against the DARK ARTS? Last time he checked, Kung-Fu wasn't a dark art. At least the Professor had been a little more open to his second answer.

Well, it was no use arguing with the professor. He probably knew what he was doing, even if Garreth wasn't thrilled about the whole "no magic" thing. The first-year gave Azura a sympathetic look before he stepped up to one of the dummies. Best to get this over with. Looking up at the dummy, he waited for it do make a move. As weird a thing as that was to expect of a dummy, he didn't have to wait long. As the synthetic man suddenly sprang into life and reached out for him, Garreth jumped back and gave a - quite frankly pathetic - yelp.

It was now or never! The boy had to act quickly or risk being.. hugged? His first thought was to go for the jugular or the temples like he had suggested in his earlier answer, but the dummy was rather tall compared to him, and he'd need a stepladder to reach! He'd need to aim for something else. What were the other pressure points he had mentioned? Oh, yes! The knees! Summoning all the disappointment over the first few days of school into one hard chop, the boy slammed his elbow into the dummy's kneecap as hard as he could. "Take that!" he grunted angrily. In what Garreth found to be quite an underwhelming response, the dummy simply stopped its onslaught and returned to its original position. Was that a success? He hoped so. Maybe he had to strike it again?

............. Oh Merlin.

It was like watching some sort of slow motion action scene in which someone was being attacked and he could do nothing about it. He wouldn't even have been surprised if a long and dramatic 'NOOOOOOO' had escaped his lips while he looked on in horror.

Regardless, Hirsch had heard the calls of Miss Traulton and had been on his way to help her out when, out of nowhere, Miss Denaker seemed to show up. While she was busy attacking the eyes - impressive and also, violent - the man moved over so that he was in front of the dummy and gently pried the fingers apart before pulling Miss Traulton out. Bending down a little, he lowered his voice so that only she could hear, "Are you okay? Do you need a shock blanket?" Was she in shock? "You're fine, the dummies aren't going to hurt you." Apart from hug you.

See? Not even remotely scary.

Oh, and Miss Denaker over there.... "You might want to watch out, Miss Denaker," he said a little louder, nodding at the looming threat behind her. Let's see how she fared with a second threat, eh?

So the professor agreed that the feet would be a good choice. Not for attacking pregnant woman like the classmate had mentioned apparently, but still good. Her first idea, the eyes had gotten an acceptable response but those supplying it had been reminded it was both harder and could do serious damage like blinding. Oops. Olivia would remember that if she ever went in that direction.

She also took notes on the list of points the professor listed as some of the most sensitive parts of the human body, including the eyes. He did say that was where they were focusing on so they would be needed for quick reference anyway. The others out of the thirty two possible would have to wait. The mention of the fact that they were attackable by force and magic made things interesting but she'd be sticking for the muggle way. Better learn one way before moving on to another.

And now there was an activity.

Time to see what she could do with no training.

Olivia wrote down the added information from the board, taking note of certain actions that she might consider using. She then got up from her seat on her cushion like a couple of other classmates already had, including Rachel, and tentatively claimed a dummy that she moved in front of. The dummy that supposedly would react to her presence or something that would make it move against her.

She was ready.

Ailsa dropped off the back of Maggie's dummy feeling pretty good about herself. That had gone pretty well, she told herself as the she brushed herself off and straightened her robes.

She looked up as the professor called out to her. "Huh? Oh!" Her own dummy! She turned around just in time to...

Be wrapped up in a hug just like Maggie had been. "On second thought, that's not gone well." The girl struggled a bit before remembering that she'd seen the professor pry the fingers apart. Well, maybe. Couldn't hurt to try. As grandpa had always said, 'Never stop flying the plane.' He'd never flown a plane in his life, and Ailsa certainly hadn't, but she'd taken it to mean that she shouldn't just close her eyes and give up. So she grabbed her dummy's pinky finger and put her full strength into attempting to bend it backwards.

No one goes through their life without some sort of confrontation? What kind of a statement was that? Was this professor saying that they were all going to be attacked at some point in their life? Why? Olly certainly hoped that nobody ever tried to attack him. But, well, if it did happen he supposed he should know what to do. Fine Mr. Handsome Professor.

He left his wand tucked safely away in his bag. He was not going to put it in a box up front thank you very much. Olly was so easily distracted that he very well might mix up his wand and accidentally take a different one. So he was not going to be taking any chances. With that taken care of, he moved out of his seat and to the front of the room. He stood in front of a dummy and narrowed his eyes at it. Like alright buddy, give me your best shot.

It started to advance. Olly wasted no time in performing his counterattack. He was shorter than the dummy, so he did not go for the face. He went for something easier for him to reach. With his knee. He thrust his knee up as hard as he could right into the dummy's groin. Whether or not the dummy was supposed to be a girl or a boy didn't matter. Either way, it stopped its attack and backed up a few paces. Oliver readied himself for a second attack.

Ellery was itching to try this out, when all of a sudden - voilà, Hirsch had removed some sort of spell (disillusionment charm?) and there were DUMMIES. Like, mannequins, not just people who read those yellow books about how to scramble eggs if you didn't already know how.

Anyway, she sprang up and locked her eyes on one of the dummies. She was going to start for the eyes, because with her reasoning if she went for the eyes, then the dummy would buckle over, giving her access to its neck, or maybe even the knees. She cracked her knuckles and prepared for it to come towards her.

She wasn't expecting the dummy to be so FAST, though. She ducked out of the way the first time, because she was not ready in time and her heart was beating out of her chest. Nervously watching the dummy whirl around, she pressed five fingers on each hand together, making a strengthened flower-shaped point. When the dummy veered close enough, she rapidly darted both hands into its eyes twice, quickly administering a shock.

Would it be enough??

She knew he was looking at her when he responded to her question but Chloe couldn't bring herself to politely look back. She knew she would oogle at him and that made her feel dumb she opted for rudeness. Not even a glance in his direction. No matter how much she wanted to. And, SIGH, she really, really wanted to.

When the physical portion of the lesson started, Chloe kept her eyes glued to the ground until she partnered up with a dummy.

SPEAKING of dummies, she heard a shriek from a nearby older person. Chloe snuck a glance in her direction and nearly killed herself from the epic eye roll that went her way. Dumb, older girl stealing Professor Hirsch's attention. Not that Chloe wanted it anyway. She did. He wasn't worth the violent blush he caused her. Lies. He was.

She focused instead on her dummy and tried not to sneak glances at the professor.

Pressure points. Right. She could do that. The dummy began to advance.

NO!

Maggie made sure to tilt her head away from the professor when she sent a GLARE the little girl's way. Who did she even think she was??? Like. She'd SPECIFICALLY asked for Professor Hirsch. She wanted HIS help. Not some random Ravenclaw's. Pfft. They were the clever ones usually.

THIS ONE APPARENTLY WASN'T.

What she also wasn't was good at rescuing people apparently. Maggie made a mental note NOT to include her in any rescue party she might lead in the future. Ha! As if she was ever going to do that. Okay. Maybe if certain people needed rescuing. Like PROFESSOR HIRSCH AND her friends.

And Zeke of course.

But enough about Zeke, PROFESSOR HIRSCH WAS HERE!

Hi. Gosh. He didn't need to BEND DOWN. She was all tall and grown up, did he see? Once she'd been RESCUED Maggie straightened up a little and concluded her moment of FEAR with one last sniff. She took a small step closer to the professor. Like. No, she didn't need a shock blanket. A hug maybe. "No. It's fine. Thanks to you." She managed to put on a sheepish smile. "I'm sorry. I guess I just kind of...panicked." Yes. That. She bowed her head, looking embarrassed with herself.

EXCUSE U DONT BE LOOKING OVER TO THE ANNOYING RAVENCLAW!

She ran a hair through her hair and glanced back at the dummy again. "I guess I should...try...again..." Her voice seemed to suggest that she didn't actually want to do that. That she was still a little scared. Like. The dummies looked SCARY. Mhm. Was Professor Hirsch looking at her again? Was he?

He better be.

Cornelius was totally smirking to himself. Look. At. Him. Go. He was on top of things. Like a muggle boxer person in his corner of the ring, ready to throw blows. Left, right! Head, stomach! BAM BAM BAM! Settling back on his elbows, the first year didn't dare lift his attention from the professor. He was saying all kinds of things Cornelius was interested in learning, and his ability too soak up and retain information was hard at work.

Not good at fighting? He wasn't the king of the playground back in primary school for no reason.

Wants to fight? He was ready. Bring. It. On.

Standing up and shrugging off his dark robe, Cornelius rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. His eyes momentarily drifted in Yoongi's direction. If they were going to practice then Cornelius wanted him. They had gone through a pretty traumatic experience back in Knockturn Alley but made it out alive and victorious. At least, that's what he tells himself. HI YOONGI.

Well BOOOO. They were going to practice on dummies. Cornelius shrugged it off. This meant he could practice and grow to be great then he could show his moves to Yoongi. Perfect idea! The comment about putting their wand away, like away-away from his body, went in through one ear and out the ear. The boy successfully managed to play the part of being too focus to have listened, so his wand stayed in its holster where it was supposed to be forever and ever. He promised on his granddad's grave he wouldn't use it for this activity so there was nothing to worry about, really.

Rubbing his hands together, Cornelius crouched slightly, turning his palms up at a dummy and waving his fingers towards him, inviting it to have a go at him. "Come at me, bro." SMIRK.

HE WAS SO READY.

It hadn't gone exactly to plan, because the dummy, instead of buckling over, had promptly stepped forward and wrapped its arms around Ellery, effectively paralyzing her. She exhaled, to make her stomach smaller and managed to twist her way around, so her back was to the dummy. Okay. How to get out of this without calling for help, like those girls over there - desperate for Hirsch's attention. Duh, the way to get his attention was to impress him, and if she could JUST urg get OUT of this tight grip maybe she could do just that.

The dummy had its arms around her upper arms and was slowly crushing her chest in the process. She took even, deliberate breaths as to not hyperventilate, then strained at the neck and tried to wriggle her way out. It didn't work. She tried to stomp on the dummy's feet, but the dummy was leaning forward, and when she tried to reach its feet she topped forward, with the dummy still standing tall.

She straightened her back as tall as she could. Wait, if the dummy held her upper arms…that meant that the lower arm, below the elbow, still had mobility. Not pausing to thing, she brought her right fist down as hard as she could, directly between the dummy's legs. It worked - the dummy let go of her and bent to the ground, and Ellery delivered a quick kick behind the knees and watched the dummy crumble to the floor.

YES.

So the note passing hadn’t been noticed by Professor Hirsch? This was a good day for Melbourne Johanson, heck, she could tell it would be a good day from the start. It was good, great even because of this class alone now. THEY were going to beat up dummies…maybe she could hurt people for things…really unfortunate things.

Turning to look at certain people she just huffed and got off of her little cushion and got ready for the showdown. For now, the attacker wasn’t an attacker. It was a big dummy.

A big mean pile of stupid things…and feelings and ugh why was this happening to her she was better than this. She had decided NEVER to go through what she had…why did she have to have butterflies and clamy hands and and and emotions? Emotions were gross. They were aliens.

“You! Dummy you are going DOWN!” she yelled at the approaching dummy that was reaching for her as it approached.

Hehe. Hehehe. HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!

The professor was calling him 'Mr Solo.' VICTORY!! Maybe that teacher actually thought his name was Solo!!! YEEES, YES YES, THIS WAS THE BEST CLASS EVER for yet another reason. The Gryffindor shot his head up, a MASSIVE GRIN splattered across his face. "I'm fine! I was just demonstrating." Was he such a GOOD actor like that? BOOYAH, Matt thought he was. Maybe it was in his blood.

'...but if you get it right, the force of the spell in a sensitive area, on top of the effect of the spell, will do more damage.' The FORCE!!! MATT KNEW IT!! Hahahahaha, this lesson, man. Total awesomeness. Matt lifted BOTH HIS HANDS UP and bounced up and down because the FORCE and he was so powerful, LOOK AT HIM, RAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!! POWEEEEEEEEEEEEERFUUUUUUUUUUULLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!

Matt GASPED once the dummies were revealed. He wanted to learn THAT spell!! Imagine the look on people's faces when they saw some crazy stuff that was once invisible appear OUT OF NOWHERE right in front of them?? LOL!! The boy took a mental note to ask the professor to teach him that spell later on. It would come in very handy, yas.

The eleven year-old jumped up at once when they were told what to do. In fact, Matt didn't even wait for the professor to finish the instructions and he was already facing a DUMMEH.

He. Was. READY!! "COME AT ME, YOU DUMMY!!!" HEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!

sdkfjnskljfndsjkfndsjkndskfjdsnfkljdnfjkdsnfsdjkns

It DID!! WHOA, LOOK AT THAT! The thing was actually moving. "WICKED!!" Matt bounced some more before randomly holding his arms up in front of his face and body in a non-existent defense position he just invented. "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" Ohwait, wasn't that the sound you did when you were attacking? "YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" Matt repeated, now lauching himself forward and onto the dummy. "READYSETGOYAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! YOU GOING DOWN, DUMMY!!" He said as he clung to it and climbed onto it because HEY, why not? He could totally make it fall over and then cut its HEAD OFF OR SOMETHING. Or maybe something less dramatic, but JUST AS COOL.

Like...

He pointed his blaster!fingers down at the dummy's head. "PEW PEW PEW PEW!!!" He poked his blaster!fingers all over the thing's scalp multiple times until he was happy enough to make the dummy stop advancing forward. "EAR ATTACK!!" Poke.

... That clearly wasn't one of the pressure points.

Elliot tucked his wand away clearly excited about Professor Hirsch's activity. DADA had been one of his favorite things for as long as he could remember. Ever since his father had told him about it from when he had been a student at Hogwarts.

He shuffled into position eyeing the dummy trying to figure out what the best way would be to go about the exercise. He was pretty tall for his age and his limbs were long so he figured he'd take the teacher's advice and use that to his advantage. Strike while he had the distance and the reach! The dummy came at him and he swiveled kicking out as his foot made hard contact with the solar plexus area.

One. Two. Two kicks in succession and the dummy stopped moving altogether. Elliot gave a quiet cheer to himself, happy his long legs were actually good for something but the smile quickly went away as the dummy went back into position ready to strike again. This was going to be interesting.

Oh no!!!

Dear Merlin NO NO NO! She had to fight now? Oh this wasn't going to end well for anyone involved..

Just please don't let me break my nose again.. please don't let me break my nose again." She thought to herself as she scrambled to her feet, fell over and then got up once more.. She cleared the tears out of her eyes and cast a half smile over at Garreth.. Here's hoping they could do this..

If not, she knew how to heal noses!

It took all of Azura's might not to back up from the advancing dummy, and she bit her lip a little as she held her position until it got close enough so she could hit it!

EEK! It was tall.. and big.. and.. Merlin help!! It was moving too! She wanted to cry for REAL now!! The purple eyed little Ravenclaw held her ground while trying to decide what pressure point to go for!

The nose! It seemed rather fitting!! She ducked a bit as it tried to "Hit" her and then she pushed her hand up, palm first into it's nose..

And that force made her feet skid out from under her and she fell over!

She sighed softly as she sat on the mat... At least it wasn't her nose!

EEEK!! Dummy Still moving!

The sparkly eyed admiration? That was just Blaise's way of letting the Professor know how VERY MUCH he appreciated those words. Wands away. This was a dream come true. He wouldn't have to fake his participation this hour, it would be legit, as seen by the way he had been one of the first to jump up from his seat.. So ready for this. The Professor had already confirmed the eyes being a good spot--if not difficult and now the idea of elbows wasn't half bad either.

Compared to casting, this would be cake.

Before he got started, the boy took the time to stretch a bit. It would do him no good pulling something while he proved how wonderful he was when his wand wasn't around. On the contrary, it would have just the opposite effect.

"Okay. Get ready." Fair warning to the dummy. With some reluctance, Blaise placed his quill and notepad on the mat, sighing at the fact they wouldn't be able to record his attack and make it far more heroic than it would ever hope to be. It....was weird.

A hand swung at him and though he knew he should have countered, all the boy could do in the moment was duck--like in all his duels last year. Look at that. It worked just as well now.

So basically they just had to beat up on these dummies? That sounded easy enough! Stowing her wand away in her bag, Scarlett jumped to her feet as her classmates did the same and picked out the dummy she was going to fight. At first it remained still, but when it realized that it had someone watching it, it seemed to kick in to gear and started to come towards her. It got faster and faster and faster, and Scarlett put up her fists in preparation. WAIT. WHAT WAS SHE GOING TO TRY AND HIT?! SHE HADN'T THOUGHT THIS THROUGH!

Right before it made contact with her, Scarlett thought about her answer in class. EYES. Yes, she'd poke it in the eyes! Uncurling her fists, she held out all her fingers, which thankfully were armed with somewhat long nails, and the dummy made contact.

It had been moving faster than she expected and she fell over, and now her fingers hurt and she was pretty sure she'd jammed her ring finger. OUCH. But it seemed to at least do SOMETHING as the dummy also stumbled.

Right, note to self - not the first place to attack in real life. Go for something more...effective.

Awwww mannn! They had to get up and fight dummies now? And not dummies as in all those kids who came to Hogwarts without reading Hogwarts, a History first. They had to fight ACTUAL dummies? Ugh. Physical violence was so overrated.

...or was it? A lot of girls seemed really interested in this class for no reason. After copying down the notes word for word, David had tucked his wand away and moved to the front of the room, whereupon he had witnessed a strange sort of... girl-on-dummy-on-girl interaction? Had that first year ferret-lover just saved like a.. a fifth year? A fifth year who had been calling for the professor's help? HAHAHA look at her just pounce on the dummy like that! Classic! So it wasn't just him who Alisa Defearless liked to help. She was just a ferocious little firstie, wasn't she?

He found himself suddenly considering pulling a dude-in-distress routine, and then calling out for a girl's help. Did that sort of thing work for his gender too? Could he get an older girl to help him, though, and not a firstie? Where was Amur Neverwinter when you needed her? As he stood there thinking about it some more, a dummy came up OUT OF NOWHERE and abruptly hugged him from behind.

How ironic.

Should he struggle? Wait, he couldn't see the board! He hadn't memorized all the pressure points yet! PROFESSSSSSOR... why couldn't they use their wands again?

"Cockroach clusters!" Davie grumbled from within the tall dummy's grasp.