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Defense against Dark Magic
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You decide to go to the Defense Against Dark Magic class next. With Slumblebore warning of danger lurking in the dungeon, you want to be prepared.
Professor Madame Blavatsky's classroom is tucked away in an inconspicuous side passage and you almost miss it as you walk past. The inside is much more impressive though, with the floor and walls covered in inky black runes and pictograms, protecting the room against baleful influences.
The professor herself is sitting cross-legged on a little platform at the front of the classroom with her eyes closed while the children file in.
She is a short lady, wearing black robes and, because she is sitting with her legs crossed, looks a little like a large black frog. Her face is pale, almost white, and you can see networks of blue veins under the skin near her temples, like a river draining into a swamp.
As the last child sits down, she opens her eyes.
Her eyeballs gleam white, her irises a brilliant blue.
"Welcome children, to Defence Against Dark Magic. The most important lesson you will learn today is..." Blavatsky's melodious, soothing voice pauses for a moment.
"...control over your own mind. Because it is only when you have full control over yourself that you can hope to resist the control that dark forces may wish to exercise upon you."
"And what is the path to self control?"
There is silence in the room.
"It is self awareness. It is only by knowing yourself that you can control yourself."
You look over at Aaron and raise your eyebrows. You were hoping for some good magic spells straight away, not this mumbo jumbo.
"But..." continues Madame Blavatsky, "I sense a doubter in the room. You!" She turns her blue eyes on yours and fixes you in her gaze.
"Have you already mastered yourself young man," she says to you. "Do you really know who you are?"
The blue eyes bore into you and you reply:
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1. "Yes I know I'm Arthur Otley. I know what I'm thinking too, which is that I want to learn some real spells. ~ Go to number 159
2. "Well, I'm not sure. I know my name - it's Arthur Otley - but is that who I am or just what I others call me?" ~ Go to number 129