Lesson One - Fourth Years

by **Cobalt Smith** Tue Jun 12, 2012 5:29 am

Cobalt sat behind his desk sharpening one of his many, many, knives on a small wet stone. He liked to use traditional means for keeping them sharp because he liked to make them oddly sharp in some areas. Sighing a little bit, he put both the wet stone and the knife away. Today's lesson was all about avoiding violence.

by **Charlotte Smith** Tue Jun 12, 2012 6:01 am

Charlotte had quite a quiet summer holiday but she didn't mind that, she had kept herself busy and there had been occassions where her and her Papa did little things, like going out to the muggle cinema and bowling alley, and to try a new game that she loved called Skeeball, and Deal or No Deal.

With a little smile on her lips she ran up and pecked her Papa on the cheek, before walking back to her desk, wondering what they were going to be doing this lesson, the attack on St. Mungo's had been a shock over the holiday and made the war seem so much more real.

by **Tess McCartney** Tue Jun 12, 2012 7:14 am

Walking into the classroom, she ducked her head avoiding any real contact with the Professor. Yes she was taking this class again, and no she didn't really know why she kept going. It was probably for pride, the fact that she was part of his 'disliked' group, it was obvious by the way he treated some over others.

Still, it was a necessary class, if she decided to be an Auror, but she knew it was likely she was meant to be a Healer more than anything. It didn't matter, for she needed/wanted to excel in as much as she could, to be hopefully a prefect next year.

Taking out her books, she sent a small smile to Charlotte and sat down waiting for Victoria to arrive.

by **Airen Auditoren** Tue Jun 12, 2012 3:05 pm

Airen walked into one of his favorite classes. He liked this class because it was always exciting and one could never know what could happen, plus the professor knew how to teach visually.

He sat next to Charlotte. He was still amazed that she had decided to go out with him. Granted the first year end of term ball probably sped up that decision. He still both hated and loved that night. He sent her a warm smile.

"Good morning, Professor," he said.

by **Victoria Rossmund** Tue Jun 12, 2012 4:01 pm

Victoria walked into class with as much confidence as she could muster, considering that this class had always set her on edge. She'd resigned herself to another year in a class where she never felt quite at home. She knew she'd need all she could get from the professor.

Taking a seat next to Tess, she took out a notebook and the text book. She sent a reassuring smile to her best friend. I'm not the only one.

by **Humphrey Williams** Wed Jun 13, 2012 3:59 am

Infiltration was a class that Humphrey always enjoyed immensely. Professor Smith really wasn't that bad, as long as you didn't irritate him. He definitely knew what he was talking about, and he knew he'd need all the skills he could learn from Professor Smith if he wanted to be an Auror. This was one of the classes he really wanted to excel in. Of course, Humphrey tried to excel in all his classes, but this one especially was important.

Taking a seat at the back of the class, Humphrey prepared himself for the lesson. All of the lessons so far had been interesting, and kept him on his toes. No daydreaming in this class, if your mind was drifting you would pay for it. All of the people in here, Victoria, Airen, Tess, Charlotte, he knew them. But, he didn't feel like he was really friends with any of them any longer. Well, maybe with Charlotte, but he knew Airen, Victoria, and Tess were all a bit awkward around him now. It hurt him to know that, but he had done it to himself with the foolish things he'd done. So, he just sat by himself in the back, and tried to stay unnoticed.

by **Cobalt Smith** Thu Jun 14, 2012 10:52 pm

Cobalt saw that his class had arrived and cracked his knuckles a little bit with a grin. He rather enjoyed teaching this group of kids, they were entertaining if nothing else,

"Morning kiddies!" he greeted them brightly, "Today we're going to learn some information gathering methods! Can anyone give me an example of a potential information gathering method?"

by **Humphrey Williams** Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:37 pm

This was something Humphrey had learned from History classes. Wars were often won or lost by the information gathered. Most people thought it was who had the most soldiers, or the best equipment. Others thought it was the special forces group, and still others thought it was the leaders who won them. while all of those groups certainly played integral roles in a war, information was power.

"Sir, I believe that one way to gather information is by sending a scout. Scouts go to a place by themselves, and they scope out the area. Figure out who's there, and what they are doing. They give you a good firsthand account so you don't have to make a guess. Because there is normally only one person, sometimes with a partner, it is a lot harder to catch them snooping around. As long as they don't get found out and captured, they normally give you pretty good information from what I've read." Humphrey said, explaining a way to gather information. There were numerous others of course, but he knew he should only take one.

by **Charlotte Smith** Thu Jun 14, 2012 11:42 pm

Charlotte raised her hand, after Humphrey had spoken she thought that she would offer up one of her own answers, she did not often speak up in classes because she did not want to be told that she was wrong, but she decided to give it a go now.

"Would another example be using interrogation to get information out of someone that was on the other side of the confrontation to you? Maybe there would be some other things needed too in situations like that, like some bribery to get them to tell you information?"

by **Haley Vilde Smith** Fri Jun 15, 2012 8:39 am

Haley had sent a note earlier that morning that she would be a bit late due to a stomach virus. She had to visit the infirmary to fix it up, and now she was standing outside the door, hoping professor Smith had gotten the note. She opened the door slowly and figured she ought not to disturb the class too much, and sat down in the back next to Humphrey. She threw him a smile before looking at the professor and thinking about his question, having heard it as she walked in through the door.

She raised her hand. "One can also use much more time-demanding collecting of information, like moving to a city and getting close to your target, though this requires extreme emotional control as this can lead to yourself not wanting to break the loyalty to your newfound 'friend'," Haley said softly, using quotationmarks on the word 'friend'.

by **Victoria Rossmund** Fri Jun 15, 2012 3:31 pm

Victoria raised her hand to add to the list of answers.

"You could intercept communications between the enemy and their allies. Muggles are able to do lots of things on computers now, but in the wizarding world it could apply to owls being sent."

She'd smiled back at Haley, happy to see her for the first time since the year started.

by **Tess McCartney** Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:20 am

Is everyone answering?

Tess sighed and knew that if she wanted to pass the class perhaps she needed to answer it in some way. Raising her hand, she meekly answered once given the red light.

"While espionage has already been mentioned, why not...well take advantage of the classes that we've been taught? Transfiguration to blend into society, or even Occlumency once interrogation occurs?"

How was it that no matter how confident she got, it all disappeared in this class?