DADA, Yrs.5/6

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas stood at the front of the class as the students filed into their seats, swapping greetings with the professor. He spoke to a few of the more eager students who'd arrived, mostly Gryffindors but some Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws as well. The fifth years seemed excited and nervous to make it to the next level of the class, whereas the sixth years seemed anxious to learn more about the second half of the DADA course load.

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall walked in with a purposeful stride, not giving any notice to the other students already in the classroom.

Taking a seat toward the back of the class, Don looked over at the professor, giving him a curt nod in greeting. He then opened his carry on bag in search of a piece of parchment a quill. Pulling out a parchment, he quickly began doodling, waiting for class to start.

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas offered a warm smile and nod of his head towards Donall before he saw the young man disappear into his doodling as he would often do. After a few more minutes and greetings, he decided to start.

"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to Hogwarts and to the 5/6th year module of Defence Against Dark Arts. You sixth years already know whats to be expected, so yet again, my explanation will be brief so you won't suffer too long." he began in a casual manner.

"This year, for those of you who don't know, will be devoted to the study of the history and origins of the Dark Arts. I know we've skimmed the surface in third and fourth, when we studied curses and jinxes. We also studied the Wizarding superiority complex, as well as the ethics and mindset of Death Eater and common dark arts practitioners. This year, we you will find out their roots and origins. We'll be reading books such as Confronting the Faceless, Once More Unto The Breach, and The Dark Arts Outsmarted. The reading will be divvied up into three sections and in that order, alright?" he finished.

He turned to look at a few members of the older students, his eyes resting on Donall for a few moments, speaking sincerely and with gratitude. "For you sixth years, I'm very happy to see that all of you have not only passed last years test, but decided to continue your study in this field. It isn't as easy as people think, nor is it as pleasant. But I'm happy that you're furthering your education in something as important as this. To have made it this far, makes me proud of you all to no end."

He looked to everyone else and clapped his hands together. "So, before we start, does anyone have any questions? You guys always do."

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall made brief eye contact with the knight before dropping his eyes as soon as the man's words got too emotional for him. He said he was proud of those who had continued on his class. 'Ha, proud...'

Lifting his eyes once more to look around the room, Don realized that there were no questions. however, he knew the professor well enough to know he wouldn't continue without one.

Raising his hand, and not waiting to be acknowledged, Dónall spoke. "Yes, professor, when exactly will be beginning the section on recent Dark Arts history?"

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas looked to the Slytherin student with a measure of patience and smiled warmly as he explained.

"We'll be looking into the more recent Dark Arts history with Once More Unto The Breach, and The Dark Arts Outsmarted. Once More is the study of the second War of Voldemort, and Outsmarted is about the measures to which we wizards have adapted our ways to defend ourselves against these new tactics. Once More will be studied before and after Christmas, with most of the reading done on the break, and Outsmarted will be finishing up the the rest of the year afterwards. Does that answer your question, Master Kennedy?" he asked sincerely.

[Dónall Kennedy]

Don nodded in agreement; he just wanted the class to move on to something interesting. He was taking the class for a reason, one which he didn't fully know yet, but he wanted to at least get something out of his wasted time.

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas walked to the head of the class and kept his hands clasped behind his back. "So, I'd like everyone to take out their copies of Confronting the Faceless please. We'll begin taking a look at it. This book was a compilation of information and essays that have been written over the passed several hundred years. Digging through folklore, literature and as well as muggle history, these facts have been brought to light in this book, explaining the origins of the Dark Arts."

He began to pace around the room, looking to students as they began to pull out their text books. "As I've explained beforehand, from the greatest ideals of good can be born the strongest evil. What you will read has been proven true and will enforce this statement like no other."

He stopped and looked to the students, pulling the book from his own desk as he passed by. He opened the book and found the proper page. "Now, I'd like everyone to turn to Chapter one. Would anyone like to begin?"

There were a few moments of silence until one of the students, a cherub faced sixth year Hufflepuff girl by the name Angelina Warwick, lifted her hand. "I will, Professor."

Nicholas smiled to her. "Be my guest Lady Warwick."

She cleared her throat and began to read."Hogwarts was founded over a thousand years ago - the precise date is uncertain - by the four greatest witches and wizards of the age. The four school houses were named after them: Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff, Rowena Ravenclaw, and Salazar Slytherin. They built this castle together, far from prying Muggle eyes, for it was an age when magic was feared by common people, and witches and wizards suffered much persecution.

The castle symbolizes what the four founders were feeling at the time - defensive. It was built to shield its occupants from the persecution that witches and wizards were suffering from Muggles, as well as to educate them.

A rift began to grow between Slytherin and the others; Salazar did not trust Muggle-borns, and his fears were not unfounded, considering that the Magical world was suffering at the hands of Muggles during his time. He most likely believed that Muggle-borns would stay true to their ancestry, working as spies inside Hogwarts, crumbling the foundations of the castle from within. Salazar realized that he was fighting a losing battle, as none of the other three founders agreed with him, so he left.

Where did he go? What became of one of the greatest wizards of the age after that?"

Nicholas raised his hand, telling her to stop. "I'll take it from here, thank you, Lady Warwick.

It is possible that Salazar Slytherin, after leaving Hogwarts rounded up other witches and wizards who shared his ideals, and banded them together to form the Knights of Walpurgis.

The Knights of Walpurgis were founded to protect witches and wizards from Muggle persecution. However, after 200 years, the Wizarding society managed to convince Muggles that magic did not exist, and the services of the Knights were no longer required until a manticore, in the year 1296, caused the deaths of an entire German village. It was then, in the early 14th century that muggles began their purging of convicted witches through public executions, usually burning them alive at the stake. The wizarding community decided to hide their existence.

The Knights did not share this belief, and feeling bitter and rejected by their community, decided to continue their work by cleansing the Wizarding world of Muggle-borns, whom they did not trust, believing that Muggle-borns might still betray them.

The secret war raged on for roughly four centuries until the Knights of Walpurgis were summarily dismissed, when the The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy was established in 1692."

Nicholas closed the book, keeping his forefinger in between the pages. "And so my question is this; during that 400 years of Muggle-Wizard fighting, with the witch burnings and muggle racism, what do you believe was created? What methods were introduced?"

[Dónall Kennedy]

Dónall shifted uncomfortably in his seat, not wanting to be called upon to read, nor offer his services on his own accord. He'd be fine just listening, maybe even taking notes if he felt like it.

He pulled out his text book from his carry on bag, and opened it to the first chapter. He didn't follow along very much, until they got the really interesting part about The Knights of Walpurgis. He had heard the name before, vaguely, at his parents' dinner table, though he couldn't quite remember the context. It had been many years ago, as a small child, and he hadn't even known anything about Dark Arts or history.

While he listened, Don twirled his quill in his fingers. He was paying attention, though giving off an air of disinterest in the process.

As the professor finished speaking, Don scribbled quickly with his quill, marking down the knights, their purpose, and the years of the Wizard/Muggle fighting. He had no need to note the Hogwarts founding, as he had already learned that from his readings of Hogwarts: A History.

Not looking up from his quill and parchment, Don quipped, "Of course, with all that hatred going on we'd need to find methods to hide our magic and our communities."

"Lot of good that did," he mumbled to no one in particular, "Those Muggle-Borns still found there way in."
A fellow Slytherin student to his right had heard that little remark, and sniggered at the thought.

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Donall's sixth year Slytherin compatriot spoke soon after without raising his hand. "Also, all that hatred and fighting must of had those Knights using other means to fight back."

Nicholas looked to the two chuckling boys with a look of patience. "That would be true, Master Delsius. There are two methods to keep your opponents from knowing about you; either by sneaking around and not letting your presence be known, or to eliminate the other. And I would ask you, Master Delsius, to share the joke next time instead of keeping it secret with the rest of the peanut gallery and to raise your hand. They're called manners, I think you should know them by now. You're not the only one who can be snarky."

Some of the class sniggered as the Slytherin student shrunk back in his seat. One of the fifth year Gryffindor boys, Alexander Perkin, raised his hand until he was permitted to speak.

"Do you mean that's where some of the Dark Arts were originally from Sir Nicholas?"

Nicholas nodded. "Although, it isn't proven specifically when or where most of the curses and other forms of Dark Arts came from, it is arguably from this period of strife where most of them were created. Think of it this way; you're a Knight of Walpurgis. it is a time where wizards can no longer trust muggles. There are no real safe havens or other such buildings aside from schools like Hogwarts that are very few and far between. Witches and wizards must live side by side with muggles, who for the most part, are as paranoid as the wizards. What curses come to mind that could prove effective to fight back against muggles, to keep the wizarding world a secret." he said a little more ominously.

[Dónall Kennedy]

'To keep the Wizarding world a secret... Dark methods... I wonder; could it be...?' Don's mind raced through the possibilities.

Coming to a possible conclusion, and still absnetmindedly twirling his quill, Dónall questioned the knight, "The Unforgivables?" He raised his hand, this time.

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas smiled and nodded at Donall. "I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. That's correct. The Unforgivables. The Cruciatus, Imperius and Killing curses."

He walked over to the board and began to write them down. "My next question being this; how could they be used for good?"

Cruciatus -
Imperius -
Killing -

[Dónall Kennedy]

Don glared at the blackboard. He wasn't about to offer up some 'good' information. He might not ever think to use the unforgivables, for that was just a stupid idea, but he wasn't about to answer this sort of question, especially with his fellow Slytherins around.

His Slytherin peers stayed quiet as well, following his example, but a Ravenclaw 5th year, sitting in the front of the classroom raised her hand politely to give the answer.

"Yes, professor Lannsmann, these curses can be used for good when good people use them in order to stop those who would use them for bad. Thus, this renders the curses themselves neutral, and rather, the spell-casters are deemed good or bad."

Dónall peered down at his parchment, and thought to himself, 'Yeah, that was what I thought, exactly...'

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

"That is true, but I was asking how someone could use say, the Imperius curse and justify it as a good spell to use on a muggle?" he asked, looking to the students, trying to challenge their ways of thought.

Alexander raised his hand again. "You mean like using it to control a muggle into spying on others?"

"Yes! What else? Come now, if you were using the Imperius Curse for the good of Wizard kind, what would you do? How would you do it? Remember what you read in Magic Is Might, if you were a pureblood intent on keeping those muggles from threatening our kind." Nicholas asked, a little more encouraging and excited at the prospect of his students getting close to the answer.

[Dónall Kennedy]

Without thinking, Don rattled off an answer as his hand raised to the air. "Personally, I'd just Imperius their leaders, maybe the religious leaders, to spread the word that magic doesn't exist. Or maybe their Muggle scientists to disprove any sort of magic by simple logic and science..."

'Oh boy, am I in for it now. These boys of mine will never forgive me for offering up so much knowledge in class!'

Dónall's face flushed in emabarrasmnet; he didn't know what had gotten into him today. This was not like him at all, especially in the knight's class. 'Why did I continue with this class, again?'

[Nicholas Gawain Lannsman]

Nicholas gave an approving look to Donall, nodding. "Precisely! Factor this into the equation. The Fighting between both worlds erupted in the 1300's. Say during that 400 years of fighting they began implementing the Imperius Curse on the religious leaders, philosophers, and scientists and make them start spreading the word that magic does not exist.

The muggle scientific revolution finally began in the 1550's, roughly 150 years before the Knights of Walpurgis were finally disbanded with The International Statute of Wizarding Secrecy in effect. Without much communication, it would take time for muggles to change their views, as well as a few generations to come by and be changed. Tell me, do any of you think it plausible that the Knights of Walpurgis used used the Imperius curse for those self same reason to protect the wizarding world, with thos facts brought to light?" he asked, seriously testing his students for an answer. Many seemed to be grinding through ideas with animosity to answer first and correctly.

Jason Finchly, a 5th year Ravenclaw raised his hand after a few moments. "I think he might be right Nicholas. If the revolution took some time to get going to persuade the muggles, and to let them relax enough for the Statute to be placed, it points to a yes. Things take time. And with the right amount of Imperius spells, it could have changed the attention of muggles from wizards to science, which inevitably brought the revolution."

Nicholas nodded. "Congratulations. One curse down, two to go. Now, what of the Cruciatus curse?" he said, somewhat more apprehensively. Most of the students knew of Nicholas' near death experience with that altered curse, and so tried to keep away from it as much as possible. Nicholas seemed to steel himself for the conversation.