Oh good on Charms

Grayson Wright

September 18, 2021 12:59 AM

Step by step (Beginners) by Grayson Wright

"Good morning, everyone," said Professor Wright, looking amiably enough around the room at the Beginner's class. Considering that it was eight in the morning on a Monday, he thought that was about as much as anyone could reasonably ask even of a wizard who had not spent the better part of the weekend attempting to force some semblance of order onto the filing cabinets he'd been throwing things into more or less at random for almost ten years.

A reasonable person would, having established that semblance of order, have been tidy in future. Professor Wright somehow suspected he was going to have a mess on his hands again by the end of the month. For now, though, he leaned on a lectern placed at an angle so that the sunlight coming through the windows lining one wall could help him read during lessons that he needed notes for instead of blinding him by turning the edges of his glasses into prisms. Technically, he was a bit taller than average, but his demeanor suggested this was more or less an accident that he expected would be resolved at any time. His robes were even plainer than the school uniforms and almost seemed incongruous beside the nondescript glasses, sensible (and secretly despised) shoes, and overall aura of being a misplaced accountant.

"So. Last week, we went over what a charm is - definition, anyone?" He looked around for a volunteer, got the answer. "Very good. We discussed what a charm is and what a charm isn't, and we started going over basic wand movements. Not the most compelling lesson I know," he acknowledged, "but one of the most important, whether you've seen people using wands your whole life or only found out they existed last month. Either way, though, there's a world of difference between seeing someone else cast spells and doing so yourself, as our friends in first year will probably find out today.

"Creating fire was possibly the first charm, but if it wasn't, then a good contender is one of the basic charms of motion. As we discussed last time, the most basic uses of magic are driven by a strong desire for something to happen. Ancient wizards often would have found themselves in situations where they wanted that fruit that was too high to reach, or wanted to move those rocks which had just fallen, and so on and so forth. Now, in our more advanced times, I expect most of you do not think of moving this beanbag across your desk - " he picked up such a bag and tossed it up and caught it - "as one of your heart's desires, which is why we're fortunate we eventually learned first that wands help us direct magic where we want it to go more efficiently, and later that we could include cores that work with the wood to increase the effectiveness of any given spell. One of the most characteristic traits of humanity, magical and Muggle alike, is the ability to make natural forces work to our advantage - be that using a wand to cast better spells, or using these lenses - " he took off his glasses for a moment, which turned the neat rows of desks and the people sitting in them into an amorphous blob of nothing in particular - "to help me tell you all apart." He put his glasses back on quickly, before he could start to develop a headache.

"This, everyone, is why we put so much attention on wand movements in the Beginner classes. To cast successful charms, you need to have as much of yourself as possible concentrated on what you're doing, which means that when you try a new spell, you should always first practice until the correct movements can be made without sparing attention for them, and so your wand feels like a natural extension of your arm as you make them. It will take time for that to happen - just as it takes time to get used to wearing glasses, or balancing on a broomstick, or performing a dance. So - everyone take your wands out, and together, we'll start practicing the wand movement for today's charm."

It was a straightforward one - a simple loop followed by a straight line in the direction the student wanted the object to move. The class repeated it several times before he nodded, lowering his own wand. "Very good. The incantation is Mobilius. It's a spell for moving something short distances, very practical. Practice the incantatio and wand movement as long as you feel you need to before attempting them together, raise your hands if you need help," he instructed them, finishing the sentence just in time to stifle a yawn. "Begin."

16 Grayson Wright Step by step (Beginners) 113 1 5

Iris Cobb

September 18, 2021 12:04 PM

Oh good by Iris Cobb

Overall Iris was having a much improved year so far than last year. Mainly because her brother, Billy, wasn't in classes with her anymore. He had moved up to the intermediate level and she was still a beginner. It was much easier to focus on the lessons now that she didn't have to worry about having anything thrown at her in the middle of class. It wouldn't last, next year she would move up and then they would be together again. But maybe he would mature a bit by then? She doubted it, but was hopeful. She would at least have three years like this; this year, fifth year and seventh year. Almost half of the time, not quite though. If they had only been one more year apart, then she would only have to put with him in her third year. Oh well, such was life. She decided to enjoy this year as much as she could while it lasted.

As such, she listened intently to Professor Wright and took a few notes as she was supposed to do. When he finally got around to talking about what they were doing in class today, she was doubly glad that Billy had moved up to intermediate. She could just imagine how many beanbags might have 'accidentally' flown her direction.

Iris followed the professor's instructions, took out her wand and copied his motions. She thought her wandwork was acceptable as she had worked on it all last year as well, but understood that good foundations were necessary to achieve greater things. Practicing the motion a few times to make sure she had it down as perfectly as she could, she then focused on the beanbag in front of her. It was actually one of the more familiar objects at the school, as making them to play with wasn't terribly difficult back home. "Beanbag," she addressed it to make sure she was focused entirely upon it as the Professor had said they should be. Then while executing the wand motion, she simply stated, "Mobilius."

The beanbag shifted slightly in the direction she had indicated, but she couldn't really call it actual 'movement'. She sighed immediately knowing what the problem was. Again. She had worked hard last year to get past her accent and southern drawl for these spell words. They were quite picky, and over the summer she'd relapsed again. She would need to start all over again. Instead of immediately trying again she turned to her neighbor, "How are you doing?"

2 Iris Cobb Oh good 1526 0 5

Phil Carson

October 03, 2021 10:03 PM

This is all a bit new for me. by Phil Carson

It was still too early in the year for Phil Carson to be able to say which classes he liked best, or which came easiest to him, but he already liked Charms, and it was mostly because it was the one taught by his own Head of House, the professor he'd had the most contact with on the first day of his arrival. The man already seemed more familiar than the other professors and that helped Phil feel like this class was somehow more comfortable, too.

Of course, he was one of the people who had only found out wands existed last month, so nothing in the school was exactly comfortable or familiar. As a case in point, one of his subjects had spent an entire week going over how to move a stick of wood, instead of making him read classic literature or solve word problems. It was just kind of absurd that he was going to get graded on this.

Even Xavier's School had still taught math and history. As best as he could tell, Sonora didn't. All his report cards for the next seven years were going to be about how well he did magic.

It looked like today was going to be the day to find out what his aptitude for that really was.

His heart's desire was perhaps not to move this beanbag across this desk specifically, but he had enough strong desires at play that did require that to happen as a prerequisite for (a) proving he actually had a superpower like people kept telling him he did, and (b) doing well in school, that he didn't think it was completely impossible that his magical wish fulfillment might give him some aid in this.

He took out his wand and practiced the loop with the directing line, just as he had practiced the swishes and flick from last week. Once he felt comfortable with the way his wand was moving, once he felt he could manage the motion without thinking about it overmuch, as was instructed, he added the spellword.

"Mobilius," he said, his wand tracing the loop and directing his beanbag to the side.

Nothing happened.

Well, drat.

He glanced over as his neighbor cast her first attempt to only slightly better results. Her beanbag at least shifted a little bit. She must have noticed him watching because she then asked how he was doing.

Phil shook his head. "Not so well. I think I need a training montage." It had been his first try ever to do something like this. Peter Parker had been awful at getting his powers to work on command right away, too, though, and he was fictional. Obviously, practice was going to be necessary before he figured this out. He just needed inspirational music and camera cuts, and it would be next month, and Phil would be great at this.

Sadly, this was real life, and he couldn't just skip over all of the tedious hard work.

"Is there a trick to it, or do you just need to keep at it with persistence and determination until it works?"

1 Phil Carson This is all a bit new for me. 1536 0 5

Iris Cobb

October 04, 2021 8:30 PM

I wish I had that excuse by Iris Cobb

Iris understood the 'Not so well' portion of the first year's response, the rest of it was lost to her though. The word training she got, that part made some sense, she could use some more training as well. She had no idea what a 'montage' was and what it had to do with training. Well, if it turned out to be important she could figure it out or ask if all else failed. Fortunately, he continued on so she didn't have to worry about it to much. Unfortunately, he was looking at her for help. She liked to help people when she could, but she wasn't really much of an expert as her own beanbag had revealed. Although... she did know what some of her own problem was, maybe it was his as well. She could at least offer that much.

"Well, from what I've learned so far is that some of these spells are really particular with wand motions and pronunciation." Ugh, she could practically feel her own voice fighting against the nice clear words she wanted to say. I had to fight my accent all last year, an' now I think I relapsed a bit." She glared at her beanbag again for a moment. "I'm not sure if that's helpful at all, but that's probably the best suggestion I got." She grimaced, "I mean that I have for you." Word choice was important as well. Making sure she said the proper words helped make sure she said them correctly.

"As for persistence and determination," she continued a little to help him and a little just to keep practicing speaking right again until she didn't have to think about it so much, "They certainly help. There is some level of..." she bobbled a bit searching for the right word, "authority? That can really help if you can get it." In order to attempt to demonstrate, she glared at her beanbag again, and this time trying to focus better on her pronunciation, cast the spell again. "Mobililus! this time as she slashed the air with her wand and spoke, the beanbag scooted across the table a few inches. She smiled, success! "Your turn."

2 Iris Cobb I wish I had that excuse 1526 0 5