#durmstrang response

[milo-ryan-blog]

breathless || milo and dominik

CONTENT WARNING: asphyxiation (in the last paragraph)

Milo sighed, looking at the nasty tangle of what looked like green worms in the palm of his hand, grimacing.  The gillyweed looked and felt disgusting, and he really didn't want to have to eat it, but he'd lost one of his bracelets in the water of the Grotto earlier that day, and was absolutely determined to get it back somehow.  And after some (extremely) quick research, he'd decided on using some gillyweed so it'd be easier for him to dive under the water and search without having to come up for air every couple minutes.  

So it was that, after wading into the freezing waters of the Grotto, Milo choked down the gillyweed and dived in, watching in fascination as webbing grew between his fingers and feeling the gills open along his neck.  Once the changes had settled down, he opened his mouth slowly, a little nervous in letting the water stream into his mouth.  When he didn't choke and found out he could breathe underwater, Milo couldn't help but grin before diving deeper to find his bracelet.

Surprisingly it didn't take long; he spotted the woven bracelet snagged on a rock outcropping a few feet down and grabbed it, immediately putting it back on his wrist before heading for the surface.  

He broke the surface near the edge of the water, and somehow made it a few steps onto land before he realized he couldn't breathe.  Milo could tell he was sucking air in through his mouth, but it wasn't reaching his lungs for some reason.  The muggleborn panicked, still-webbed hands flying to his throat as he fell to his knees, eyes flickering around to see if there was someone nearby he could flag down for help.  He could hear his gasps for air, but couldn't feel them, and the only sound he could get out past the gasps was a quiet, strained, "Help..."

[corvinbaines]

 Corvin's wardrobe consists entirely of wizarding clothing, and the finer stuff at that - he absolutely would not be caught dead in muggle apparel. As such, when he's not in his uniform, he can be seen lounging about in various states of undress (inclement weather notwithstanding) in the sort of particularly stylish and form-fitting clothing the young wizarding elite might buy. Or at least the sort their mothers might send the House Elves to buy for them.

 If he's going outside, he will typically don a cloak made from jet-black Jarvey pelts – a gift given to him by his aunt Calpernia on his sixteenth birthday. Whilst he is quite fond of the cloak, it does have a tendency to enrage living Jarveys that see him wearing it, which has resulted in him being attacked by them more than once.

 Corvin is never without his dragonskin wand sheath, which he wears strapped to his right arm – either inside loose-fitting sleeves (such as robes) or on top of tighter fitting clothing. Frequent lectures from his grandfather, and the example of Great-Uncle Eadric, have made sure that he'll never stick his wand inside a pocket – he's quite attached to that particular organ, thank you very much.

 Finally, Corvin wouldn't be Corvin if he didn't have some piece of Dark Arts contraband on his person at all times – whether it's an cloak pin that sets fire to anyone other than the owner who touches it, or a belt that gives a bit of a magical boost to curses and hexes. He tends to cycle through them quite quickly, since they're forever being confiscated and either posted back to his parents, or quietly destroyed in an attempt to prevent scandal.

[corvinbaines]

 All right, let's see what we've got here:

 Advanced Dark Arts I'm glad I can finally drop the ridiculous 'Defence' nonsense and get right to the meat of it. Though I expect that the prohibition against actually trying the more unsavoury spells will still persist. But then that's what the Forest is for, isn't it?

 Post Mortem Studies Naturally. Although the insistent terminology is beginning to grate a little – why not just come out and say Necromancy? Yes, yes there's forensics and burial ritual as well, but it's pretty much an open secret at this point that you get at least a basic overview of the practical side of things.

 ...I suppose hoping that Professor Burton's gotten less odd over the summer would be wishful thinking, no? Must be the muggle blood.

 Cursework I do like a good curse – hours of fun with friends and enemies alike. Mostly the latter.

 Potions And the class that I'm definitely going to fail rears its head. Not that I mind: I'm only taking it for the Poisons and Toxins.

 Magical Theory: the Dark Arts Obvious – next!

 Ghoul Studies A good place to catch up on sleep and an easy pass – which is why a lot of students take it.

[timoshenk]

PROMPT #2 "The final time I need to look at this -- unless I fail, which really wouldn't be so alarming, would it? --- Why are there seven courses here? Oh, Bozhe Moy. I am going to die this term, aren't I?"

  Timetable:

Xylomancy: "I still find it near impossible to believe that Ignacio and I spent the summer writing. Now that I've found my things, we should get along fine this term. I think he is excited to break away from the usual curriculum. His may, actually, be my favourite course."

Ancient Runes: "Shipway convinced me to take the course. Said that it would help in my interpretations. 'The future is as much tied to the past as it is the present.'"

Herbology: "I've picked most of the ingredients I will need already, but it never hurts to be given access to the store rooms."

Potions: "Another excuse for ingredients. And Xing is a professor I would like to know better. I think her connections would be useful."

Astronomy: "Shipway convinced me of this, as well. She was tired of seeing me take only the bare minimum. People have been using the celestial bodies as means of divining for thousands of years. Now I need to stay up until midnights."

Divination / Independent Study: "There isn't much more she can teach me, but I could not imagine a term without Professor Shipway cackling at my predictions for the weather. Perhaps we will get a volcanic eruption this year? 'Til then, I am very much excited about where the course will go. It may not end where it is expected to, but it will be an exciting journey."

Arithmancy: "...I'm not sure why this is here. I've completed arithmancy already, fully, high grades. Is this Towers' way of saying she wants to talk? If so, she had better have a way to get me out of the class."

[corvinbaines]

What does your character smell when presented with the potion Amortentia?

Tea Leaves, Sandalwood and Oranges – the tea he can understand: his mother's habit of drinking twenty-or-so cups a day means that the smell always reminds him of home. As for the sandalwood and oranges, he doesn't have a clue beyond them being generally pleasant scents.

What is your character’s wand made of?

Corvin's wand measures in at Twelve and a Quarter Inches and is made from a Very Flexible piece of Spruce with a Unicorn Heartstring core.

This wand isn't his original – which was a Ten Inch, Swishy Dogwood with a Dragon Heartstring core – but when his paternal grandfather gave him his new wand as a gift for passing Durmstrang's first tests he discarded his old wand in favour of the new.

The wand itself has a long history in his family – its original owner, Heremann Bánwærc, was a powerful wizard and warlord who in the 6th century AD ruled lands in what is now Yorkshire. After his death, the wand passed to his youngest daughter Sunniva Hræfnsweartu, who is infamous for killing Godwine Greatbeard. Since then it has passed to any witch or wizard in the Baines line who shows an aptitude for the Dark Arts.

What would your character see in the Mirror of Erised?

If you asked him, Corvin would probably say a wealthy, successful version of himself surrounded by beautiful witches and handsome wizards all fawning over him.

In reality, however, he'd see a kinder version of his parents who actually love him and are proud of him, rather than seeing him as a means to gain prestige for, and carry on their bloodlines.

What would your character see if they encountered a boggart?

His future bride – or rather an ugly, warty old witch in a bride's robes. Corvin knows that his parents will eventually arrange him a marriage worthy of their bloodlines, and whilst he has (for the most part) accepted it, he still fears being tied down and loosing his freedom.

Does your character have a pet?

Corvin doesn't have a pet – not even an owl for the post. He'd rather hire one from the post office than have to take care of his own. Besides, he doesn't really get along well with animals.

What subjects do they excel at? What about the opposite?

Corvin only truly excels in the Dark Arts – particularly Cursework and Post Mortem Studies, and this is the only area of his school-work where he puts in more than the barest amount of effort required to pass the class. His exhaustive study of the Dark Arts section at Durmstrang Library has left him with an extensive knowledge of Curses and Poisons, and a particular obsession with Necromancy.

The rest of his academics are mostly average at best, but his weakest areas are Divination, which he has no talent for; Care of Magical Creatures, the classes for which typically ended with him being attacked by whatever animal they were studying; and Muggle Appreciation, a subject for which he has nothing but contempt and therefore made absolutely no effort to pass.

Quidditch!

Quidditch holds no interest for Corvin beyond an excuse to ogle handsome, athletic wizards – and since when has he needed an excuse? He lays the occasional bet with other students, but since he knows almost nothing about the sport it's entirely due to luck whether he wins them or not.

[timoshenk]

WAND → Stas' wand is a 9½" wand made from brittle-grained Russian pine, with the core of augurey feather. Though the wand was not made specifically for himself, it might as well have been: an artisan wandmaker of Irish Pavee descent came to his village when he was just barely younger than ten. He had gone, as had all the other children, to see his wares and play with the wands (much to the poor man's chagrin). He grew immediately attached to the wand, though after being told of its value and the rarity of its core, he knew better than to want for it. He considered it a great surprise, one well-kept, when the wand was presented to him two months later on his eleventh birthday, a gift given to him by the entirety of his family. It is most adept at the delicate spellwork in his chosen trade, but requires some finagling to make it work properly. As such, he tends to have to cross-language his spells, between the traditional latin spellforms with the native Russian and baltic languages that he has picked up over the years. 

AMORTENTIA → The very first time he smelled a love potion, he was eight years old and walking through a market bazaar in Turkey with his dedushka and babushka. He smelled home in a single waft, something that, after the fact, he attributed to his own homesickness, but after smelling it again for a Potions instruction and sensing several of the same scents: the smoked meats, the jellies, the tea, all of it, he's come to associate it as a general feeling of security, rather than a longing for a specific place. His amortentia is, quite actually, a safety net.

BOGGART → Though he's been fortunate to only have encountered a boggart once, in very much contained circumstances, Stas' basic fear is of the dark. His boggart realizes in the guise of an encroaching blackness, slowly feeling as though it's sucking the life out of the room.

ERISED → Stas' reflection in the Mirror of Erised would be mostly unchanged -- in effect, it would be an almost exact duplication, with the sole exception being that he would have a smile on his face.

QUIDDITCH → Stas' decision not to play Quidditch is more of practicality than for reason of talent. He is, all things considered, fairly adept on a broomstick. Not quite talented enough to be a seeker, not quite strong enough to be a beater, not quite daring enough to be a keeper, but when pressed to play, he makes an adequate chaser. His biggest flaw is not having any will to win -- if he could get past that, he might make a half-decent player. For now, though, he tends to help with the hedging of bets on the sidelines, known for a streak of accurate predictions in called games a few years back.

PETS → For his first few years at Durmstrang, Stas owned a small canary that he refused to bring to school on the grounds that somebody would harm the poor bird. It passed away when he was fourteen, and has since not owned another pet, though he's been known to make friends with the worms in the greenhouses.

STRENGTHS & WEAKNESSES → As one might expect, Stas' strengths lie within his core competency courses: herbology, divination (and its off-shoots), as well as potions. He excels at theoretical courses, and practical courses not requiring heavy wandwork (ancient runes & studies, history courses, etc). He was never particularly good at charms or transfiguration, due to the complex nature of the spellwork required. Dueling and defensive magic, as an extension, are not his prime subjects. The nature of his wand plays a part in this, as it's more of the improvisational style than learned skill. He's fought his way out of a couple brawls with a unique cast, but those days are few and far between.