Lesson One (Second Years)

Professor Delgado cracked her neck lazily as she waited for the students to arrive. She only had a few students- which meant they were going to have to work harder and she could focus more with them. Lauren didn't particularly feel the need to neither like or dislike her students, but it wouldn't bode well for them if they turned up late to her class. She leaned against the climbing frame they would soon be tackling- along with the rest of the course she had set up.

Kristie walked in, swishing her bubble gum around in her mouth, blowing one solitary bubble as she saw her professor. She flicked her hair and stood lazily in front of her professor, gazing up at the sky chewing on her gum.

Zander simply stood at the back of the room, staring straight through with his hands behind his back. One of his knees were folded back and propped onto the wall and from the way he was yawning, he looked very bored.

Lauren curled her lip slightly in disgust and stepped closer to the girl.

"You will take that gum out of your mouth. Now." she said bluntly, dark eyes glinting.

"Ms Valentine, Mr Blood, I do not appreciate disrespect in my class. You will greet me when you arrive." She gestured for the boy to stand up straight.

"Do it again, and you can crawl 20 laps around the gym." she shrugged with one shoulder, a sly smile tugging at her lips.

"Now, silence while we await the other students, perhaps some stretching." she murmured.

Kristie pulled out a scrap piece of paper from her bag and spat the gum into it, before putting the rubbish into an empty pocket of her bag. "Sorry professor." she said plainly, avoiding being nice, but still not being rude.

"Sorry Miss." Zander made a face as he felt his muscles tighten in strain. He pushed himself off the wall and pushed back the urge to yawn again. He wasn't able to get good enough sleep and he hated having to wake up early in the morning.

He stood up straight and did a salute. "Stretching it is then."

As Gouden walked into the room he paused, he could tell the situation was a bit, tight. But he smiled and said, "Sorry Professor."

He didn't know if he was late or not, but he wasn't taking any chances considering two other students were waiting in the room already.

"Hey, Carell. You're early for the next class." Zander grinned at the Mukli.

"For a change," Gouden smiled, "but I still wasn't able to beat you here of course."

Staz smiled as she reached her class and noticed the lack of the other students. It meant, that obviously, she probably wasn't late. "Good Morning Professor." She greeted with a respectful nod as she waited for the others to show up.

Lauren nodded at the other two students that arrived.

"Carell, Marwolathe, stretches with the rest of them." she said in a mildly bored tone as she waited for the other students to arrive. Now they were late, and it was getting her irritated. She did not tolerate tardiness.

Staz suppressed a yawn as she obeyed and began stretching. It wasn't that the class was boring, okay maybe a little, but Staz wasn't stupid, she knew you must stretch properly before you start any exercise. If you just start like that, cramps can take place and they hurt. A lot.

Zander just cracked his neck before he held his hands up and stretched lightly with a bore look on his face. It wasn't that he wasn't interested in the lesson. He was very interested in fact. He just didn't show his emotions. It wasn't something he did or something he wanted to show. Only a very few people actually know how he feels.

He waited for a few seconds before he started on the track. In all his years of fending for himself in the city, it was easy enough to do some real physical exercises.

It took a while for him to notcie the Vox who was quietly stretching beside him. She was the one from dueling class. He stole a glance and that was it.

Gouden noticed the professor's impatient and decided it wouldn't be the wisest move to be lazy about now. He started running through his basic stretching, trying his best not to look awkward or out of place. He always felt as if he was doing things wrong for some reason, he just never cared, which of course, was probably the reason he always managed to correct himself or no one noticed. He just let himself be lost in his own little world of speculation and thoughts while performing the exercises, somehow it worked for him, he had to be incredibly simple-minded.

Lauren sighed softly to herself impatiently, then walked amid her students.

"It seems our other students are late." she snarled a little.

She rolled her shoulders and stretched her palms outwards.

"This is our first lesson of the year." she began. "Only Merlin knows if you've been actually exercising in the holidays, so I'm whipping you all back into shape." she said sternly.

"Our circuit." she smirked, then waved her wand. Next to the climbing frame appeared a balance beam, another rope that hung from both ends horizontally from the ceiling and then, at the very back of the room, a dark tunnel.

"Climbing frame." she looked it up and down. "Not that hard to understand what you have to do. Go over it, then come back down."



"This rope. Wrap your arms and legs around it, and climb across." Lauren explained briefly.



She walked into the middle of the room. "Then 5 laps of the gym." the woman smirked.

Delgado looked casually to the back of the room into the dark tunnel. "There are two boggarts in there." she smiled at the children. "Get out the fastest, and you'll get bonus points with me. Anyone want to try?" she smirked.

Anyone who would try would definitely be worthy of being her apprentice, she noted mentally.

"Cowards are graciously excused from the challenge, I may add." Lauren smirked.

"Let's get this over with." Zander stepped forward and rolled his shoulders back as he cracked his neck with a blank expression. His mind flashed back to the endless times he had to climb through chained fences, jump over building precipices and grip onto old electric posts back when his life was orbiting around a hell hole of a city and a psychotic mother that didn't recognize him as her own child.

He pulled back the sleeves of his shirt to his shoulders and he tapped his combat boot-clad feet onto the gym floor before he sprinted off to the climbing frame. He could tell there were some soft spots wherein you'd hold onto nothing if you weren't careful. And he was. He jumped over the rest of the way after the half point and he gave the rope a glance before he unclenched his fists and held lightly onto the rope to check it's material.

Crafty. It was the type of twine that was hard to grip. He made sure he was secure before he let himself drop down, swinging his legs over the rope in the same maneuver and he made his way to the other side efficiently with his jaws clenched. He jumped off and he felt his palms burn.

"Crap." He hissed under his breath. Forget about it.

He was panting slightly but he did what he always did; take in three short breaths and exhale slowly. His heart rate relaxed even as he started the laps and his eyes shifted to the tunnel every time his was close to it.

Staz had been perfectly fine with excusing herself from this exercise until the Professor hinted that those who did so would be cowards. Then it became a sort of pride issue and she stood up straight and decided to give it a shot. She jogged in her place for a second before she began, and that caused her to be the second person to begin the track.

The first part was familiar, she had climbed up on this type of a frame a million times whenever she had gone to the park with her babysitter. The familiarity put her at ease and that made her slightly over confident as she almost dropped twice when she had trusted her weight on unsecured parts. "Shit." She cursed and made it a point from the on to test each part of the frame before she trusted her weight on it.

She groaned when she finally made it to the rope, wincing as she realized that she had no gloves. Gritting her teeth and shaking her head, she took a deep breath and began, doing some sort of precarious jig type thing to make sure that she reached the other side with minimal damage to her palms. Sadly, even with her care, her palms burned badly and she blew on them, hoping that they would get alright soon.

She was tired and panting when she reached her favorite part of the course but she still smiled before she began. Jogging for a few seconds in her place just like she had done before she began the course, she began the laps, ignoring the dark tunnel and focusing on maintaining a consistent rhythm while running.

Zander tried to see through the darkness as he stood in front of the tunnel. At this angle, the light of the gym would have flashed through to reveal some of its secrets but the tunnel stayed dark. It's enchanted. He thought with a roll of his eyes. He was starting to get that tingle at the base of his skin that signaled it was high time he acted.

He fingered the wand in his pocket idly before he sauntered inside. He waited for his eyes to adjust to the dark and he blinked several times only to come face to face with one of the only things that could illicit a gasp from him. No, she couldn't be his worst fear. He was over this years ago. Two years ago to be exact. He was only eleven. What could an eleven year old do? You could have tried...

He could feel the boggart's desperation to escape and it's will to spread fear and it was almost working except Zander had an advantage. He knew that the figure who stood in front of him--the little girl whose eyes were a frozen picture of betrayal with her bloodied hands clasping at her matted shirt stained with tears--wasn't real.

I was a coward once. Zander worked his jaw as he stared eye to eye and the guilt that was pushing into his consciousness. He watched as the girl's lips parted into a silent plea for help and he closed his eyes tightly and imagined a pair of clown shoeas as he shouted, "Riddikulus!"

He knew before he opened his eyes that the girl in front of him would be gone. But that wasn't the end of it. From behind him, he felt two small bloodied arms encircle his waist. Crap.

Staz was on her third lap when the boy went inside the dark tunnel. She shrugged, knowing that there was nothing she could really do, but for her own sake, she hoped that the boy finished with the boggarts pretty soon. When she finished, she stopped and caught her breath, playing with her wand, unsure of what to do. She didn't know if it was allowed for people to go into the tunnel when someone else was already inside and she had heard some pretty bad tales about Professor Delgado. She didn't want to risk displeasing this particular professor.

She waited for a few minutes, before she got bored, debating on whether she should go in or not. I could just enter, the boggarts would obviously be deep inside, I will just stick to the entrance. She decided finally, entering the pitch black tunnel and frowning when everything around her got swallowed by darkness. Unlike most people though, Staz didn't fear darkness, she loved it and it loved her back. She could tell that the boggarts weren't really close to her, and she could make a guess from the darkness they were pushing by the space they were occupying, the boy seemed to be a girl, not really very big.

Even though Staz could make her way perfectly in the darkness, and in fact, felt better and more secure in it, there was something disturbing about being confronted by your most paralyzing fears in complete darkness. "Lumos." She whispered, satisfied by the light her wand now emitted, until she saw the sight in front of her, that is.

Zander was barely able to raise a brow at the sudden light to see the Vox girl when he pivoted around and pointed the wand directly onto the girl's..no, the boggart's chest. Her lips spread into a silent scream of pain and it took every bit of Zander's control to make himself speak. "Riddikulus!" There was a bright light and the boggart had flashed into dancing clown before it disappeared deeper into the tunnel.

Zander took in a few deep breaths, wiping the sweat from his forehead before he finally turned to the Vox. "Come on. Keep up before they come back for seconds." He started sprinting at a steady pace towards the other side of the tunnel. He could feel it. Fear and guilt and something else he couldn't name were steering inside of him.

He shook them off and slowed down to a walk as he reached of the tunnel. He looked over his shoulder to see if the Vox was following but he saw nothing but darkness. And he couldn't get a read on her emotions.

"Oh, for heaven's sake." He held a hand up to the rest of the class as a signal that he got out fine before he walked back into the darkness.

Gouden was behind, he had struggled to climb the first obstacle but that was only because his shoes had failed to help him find proper holdings on the rope. He was just getting off the role and blowing on his hands, he has played guitar without his pick but it was nothing like that. He noticed the others were nowhere in sight. He smiled and began to sprint around the gym, his first mistake.

By the time he had finished his 5 laps he was tired; he jogged into the dark tunnel aware of what lurked inside, his eye seemed to shine in the darkness. He was breathing heavy and loudly, if the two before him hadn't finished the boggarts then well, he was pretty much defeated. He didn't think he had the energy to face fear now.

He cursed himself as he kept running blindly through the tunnel, his courage was such a fool hardy thing, he can no real Idea where he was going at all. He instantly regret his decision; but no it was his responsibility. He continued keeping watch of his surroundings all the while.

Ash slipped in to the throng of people without being noticed. He had a simple back v-neck shirt on and a silver chain dangled down the side of his ripped jeans. His army boots barely made a sound as he moved into the class with his hands in his pockets. He was a transferee from some other school so he knew the teachers wouldn't bug him about being late.

He did just found out he was moved hear after he woke up. He kept his eyes on what was happening and he wordlessly walked towards the obstacle course with a sigh. He pulled his hand off from his pockets, adjusted the laces of his shoes before he hopped up on the climbing frame. He let out a string of choice swear words when his hand held onto nothing but air and he bit at the inside of his cheek in frustration. With a small grunt, he heaved himself over the ropes easily and slid down the rest of the way through the iron railing that kept the whole structure up.

He glared at the sliver of rope that was now in front of him and pulled a pair of leather gloves from his pocket.

Staz was curious about why the bloody girl was the Nula boy's boggart but she refrained from asking questions. After all, if she was facing her deepest, most paralyzing fear in utter, pitch darkness - obviously not with her power and comfort in darkness - she wouldn't want to talk much later. Of course, more than sympathy or empathy or even basic kindness, annoyance was what she felt at the moment, annoyed by the fact that now she would have to go deeper into the stupid tunnel to find the boggart and that the boy actually thought she was going to follow him. Staz wasn't much of a follow kind of girl, she preferred breaking rules and orders to following them. "Did you miss the entire point of the assignment?" She called out to him in mock concern, doubting he even heard her, before she turned and walked deeper inside the tunnel, trying to radiate fear to attract the boggart and be done with it. Not that it was easy, it was hard for her to feel scared in darkness, it was after all, the place where she was the strongest.

She turned when she heard the heavy footsteps and soft cursing that came from behind her, and cautiously held her wand higher above her head, hoping that the light would shine over to whoever was running and comfort them slightly. She stood this way for about a second, before practically won over her minute of kindness. Well they can't be very smart if they are running straight into a deep, dark tunnel with two confirmed boggarts in it, let them find their own light, she thought to herself, shrugging and turning back. The sight that awaited her however, was enough to make her forget about the person who was running. She let out a scream which she quickly stifled, swallowing as she tried to re-focus her thoughts.

The boggart had taken shape of a girl, with pale, painfully white skin and dark grey eyes that shimmered with malice. Her hair swirled around her as did the darkness and with her amused, cold smirk the girl radiated fear and power. The girl was her. Her biggest fear was that one day she would end up like this, alone, corrupted beyond recognition by darkness. "Ri-riddikulus." She stammered ineffectively, making the boggart's features more amused. The amusement made something inside her snap, and instead of fear anger rushed through her. She wasn't going to let this pathetic and sort of cruel caricature of herself push her around. I am so not going to end up like this, she promised herself firmly, gritting her teeth and repeating, "Riddikulus." with a lot more surity and conviction.

She smirked in satisfaction as the boggart tripped over the darkness and started disappearing in a shower of multicolored sparkles. "After effect of reading too many of Brielle's bed time tales." She muttered to herself, rolling her eyes and walking back towards the entrance.

The moment Zander stepped back into the tunnel, he felt almost everyone's emotions. Someone was nervous, annoyed and someone was almost smug. He could almost tell it was the Vox girl and he rolled his eyes as he stepped back away from the tunnel so that he was suddenly drenched in light. The sight from his past still shook him but he jogged lightly towards the professor with a sigh.

"The ropes were a nice touch." He said a little dryly but a half smile was in place. He shook his damp hair and walked towards the end of the room, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.

Kristie slipped past the other students and out of the course. She pulled a brush out of her pocket and ran it through her hair. She had always had a skill of nipping through unnoticed, something she learnt when trying to avoid her parents when she was in trouble.
"Could you do me a favour," she said to her professor. "Could you make it more of a challenge next time?" She slipped away behind her professor before she was noticed. She continued brushing her hair and smiled inwardly.