Defense Against the Dark Arts

by ESP

J.K. never did go into enough detail about Snape as the DADA teacher for my tastes... I was insatiably curious. So I've made it up. A collection of assignments, incidents, and essays. Warning: may include gratuitous melodrama.

1. Resisting the Imperius

Timed Essay #3: Resisting the Imperius Curse

By Harry J. Potter

April 14th

The Imperius Curse is the only one of the three Unforgivable curses that can be defied or averted, but studies show that only a tiny fraction of the wizarding population (about 2.24) are even capable of the ability, and an even smaller percentage of that group can actually resist the curse. It requires a "strong disposition towards mental control and magical potency" (pg 32, Magical Defense). Thus, the skill cannot be taught if the inner capability is not already present in the subject. However, some witches and wizards have, with enough practice, cultivated the inner aptitude to a full ability for ignoring the Imperius curse. They go about this process in a variety of ways, but all focus on the ability to channel inner magic.

The experience of the curse itself has been described as a pleasant, floating sensation, similar to being inebriated, and it is this 'good feeling' that often ensures the subject's docile cooperation. Evading the curse first requires the strength to "force out the intoxicating feeling with a rush of magical power" (pg 39), before any voluntary actions can be taken to evade further danger. In the event that

Actually, throwing off Imperio has little to do with any of that 'power' rubbish- when you're under Imperius, there's this voice that rises out of somewhere strange, and starts whispering suggestions, orders, commands in your ear, and it seeps into the back of your fuzzy mind. And since you feel so dazed, you almost don't notice it's not your usual consciousness, don't notice that you've stopped moving your body voluntarily. After a moment, if you hold still long enough to listen, you realize the voice in the back of your head clearly isn't your own, and your mind is confused, battling with the command but also the knowledge that that's what it is- a command. From there all you have to do is delay it from manifesting long enough to listen to your own voice, the one whispering 'but why?' over and over. You ask 'why?' when you're moving to murder your best friend, and you think it long enough and hard enough to stop your body, to hold still. Because you know that you would never do that, you still have all your memories and feelings, and you know you could never slash the knife across. All it takes is that one push to move your own limbs away from his throat and you're free. All it takes is that sudden burst of logic, or of a simple knowing that you could never in your life rip out your friend's throat, that you could never bow to a Dark Lord. If you can realize that, you can resist the curse.

Potter- a dismal attempt at using personal anecdote in a formal essay. You clearly ran out of time and scrambled for some drivel to spiel off. This reads like a twelve-year-old wrote it.

D-dreadful.

I'd give you a Troll but I've already read Weasley's paper.