And Caesar said, let there be... {Beginners} on Charms

Professor Light

December 12, 2011 12:58 AM

And Caesar said, let there be... {Beginners} by Professor Light

‘You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack.’ Caesar’s humming filled the vacant classroom, moving the chairs and desks around, setting up for the next period. ‘You may find yourself in another part of the world.’ Though he enjoyed magic, and his mastery over a particular form of it, he thought it important to do simple things without it when he could. 'You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile.’ Every so often pushing back up the rolled sleeves of his white streaked blue robe, he tried to focus and be present with every soft inhale and exhale as he lifted the furniture and set it down. 'You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife.’ He tilted the tables onto their sides, creating a wooden fort in the front of the classroom, with only a few feet space for him to fit between the fort and wall. 'You may ask yourself, well, how did I get here?’ He estimated where the middle of the classroom was and recreated the fort with the rest of the tables, two clearings of space forming in between the forts, and between the second fort and door. 'Letting the days go by, let the water hold me down...’ Reaching the limits of what non-magic could get him, Caesar began walking around the clearing, muttering a few charms.

The floor began to soften, pressured by the magic flowing from Caesar’s wand. Experimentally, he bent his knees and bounced, a grin immediately spreading across his face at the ripples traveling through the floor. He bounced a little more and the floor, instead of only sinking, pushed up a little against him. He rose higher in the air before falling back down again. “Excellent.” His humming continued to fill the room, mingling with the spells that also slipped past his lips. Every so often he would give the floor another little bounce, continuing on until the spring he felt push against him was a little harder.

“Good afternoon.” The first and second years began to trickle in just as he was finishing up. “If any of you chose to do the extra credit assignment,” A creative writing piece and/or comic strip about using the spells Lumos and Nox. “You can hand it to me now or after class.” His father, Antony, had come from a strict Italian-American Pureblood family and so to rebel he’d changed his name from Antony de Luz to Antony Light so that his family wouldn’t be dragged into his new life as a theater actor. Acting was an art that Caesar’s family traditionally enjoyed in the privacy of their own homes (little skits they all gathered to put on once every few years) but looked down upon as a professional occupation. Growing up with an actor for a father, a writer for a mother, and the colorful friends they’d acquired that constantly crashed at their home, Caesar had learned to grow accustomed to different types of creativity and had even begun to seek it out, out of curiosity. He had found himself wondering the other ways besides magic spells and Quidditch his new students expressed themselves.

“Alright, will the first years please step into this clearing here.” He indicated the space between the two forts. “And will the second years please spread out here.” He indicated the space between the door and the second fort. “Spread out, spread out. Extend your arms so you make sure you have enough space.” He waited a beat. “Okay, so your homework for today was to practice lighting your wands. Lumos.” The tip of his wand lit up. “And then throwing that light. Iacio.” As if tossing a Quaffle, his arm pulled back and then thrust forward, the light from the tip of his wand shooting out, streaking just above the head of one second year, before it struck the opposite wall. “It’s a harmless spell of course.” The light simply seeped into the wall before it faded. “At the most, you could temporarily blind someone if you shot the spell directly into their eyes. But, for our purposes, you will be shooting light into these,” He reached into his robe pocket and pulled out a glass sphere, a little bigger than his own fist. “Nox.” The tip of his wand pressed against the glass, and the thick strands of darkness emitted from the wood were slowly absorbed by the glass orb until it was filled with a heavy black fog.

“Okay, first years, the lesson today is accuracy. The floor you're standing on will act as a sort of trampoline for yourselves. If someone else bounces,” He stood with them, bent his knees, and began to bounce, rising a few feet in the air. “It won’t affect anyone else, you won’t feel a thing.” He braced his knees, letting the spring beneath him die down, finally settling on firm floor. “See? Alright then. Wingardium Leviosa!” From behind the first fort, twenty glass orbs (one for each first year student) filled with darkness rose into the air; stationary targets for the students. “Your bouncing will make aim harder, but once you master it, your accuracy will improve tremendously for when you’re standing still. I’ll quickly demonstrate.”

Hazel eyes locked on one of the targets. “Lumos!” Caesar bent his knees and sprang a few feet in the air as the orb fell. “Iacio!” His light struck the orb and the darkness quickly began to glow before it left its place among the other targets, seeking its master, soon caught in Caesar’s hand. “If your hit is accurate, the orb will act as a, well, ball of light. Round lanterns.” He held it up for both first and second years to see. “You can take these back with you at the end of class if you want. The light dims after about a week, depending on how much strength you put into the spell, but these orbs can always be replenished.” He pressed his wand against the orb and began to twist the wood, tugging the light back out, watching the glow dim, the shroud of darkness grow once more. "Once you hit your target, bring it to me so that I can take out the light, and then you may continue practicing." He levitated the orb back up to join the other targets and then stepped back toward the second years. “First years, you can start throwing.” He curved his lips and let out a sharp whistle for them to begin.

“Alright, second years, my favorite year of all.” He grinned at them. “You guys are going to begin practicing your non-verbals.” Silently he held up his wand. ‘Lumos.’ It began to glow. Still silent, he again aimed at the wall, pulled back his arm, and thrust it forward. ‘Iacio!’ The light burst from the wood and seeped into the wall. “Practice lighting your wand. Once you master that non-verbal, start throwing your light. If you feel comfortable, you may join the first years. Just let me know first so that I may add an orb for you. You may talk amongst yourselves, help each other out, just as long as you’re silent when you cast your spells.”

He cleared out of their way, the song that had been stuck in his head all week resuming in his head. ‘Letting the days go by, water flowing underground.’ Being the single guy in a group full of married men had prompted his friends to start setting him up on a series of blind dates. ‘Into the blue again after the money’s gone.’ The one he’d gone on last week hadn’t been so bad. While Lauren sipped her martini and mumbled expletives about her ex-husband (Caesar’s friend who had set them up) he listened peacefully to the radio playing in the bar. ‘Once in a lifetime...’ He appreciated these attempts by his friends. It made teaching at Sonora much more enjoyable. Every time he returned to the school after a weekend away he realized how much easier it was for him to feel confident standing in front of a classroom of forty than it did to sit across from one woman. At first this was a concern, but he realized that as he continued to grow in confidence in the class, he grew a little more confident outside as well. ‘Same as it ever was, same as it ever was, same as it ever was...’ He smiled absently at his students, flashes of light highlighting the room.

Subthreads:

Light in the Darkness. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus with Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

My lips are sealed by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren with Paul Bennett, Crotalus

Light the way by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus with Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

'Let there be Experts' has a much better ring to it. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Breathing: It's a good idea! by Melanie Goodwin, Pecari

0 Professor Light And Caesar said, let there be... {Beginners} 0 Professor Light 1 5

Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

December 12, 2011 8:36 PM

Light in the Darkness. by Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus

Cepheus strode into class, slightly down because he'd only made reserve for the Quidditch team. However, he'd turned his frustration to writing this creative piece for the spells Lumos and Nox, two spells he was very familiar with, and was proud of this little snippet of fiction he'd written himself. It was quite dark, about two friends who were trying to find a mysterious treasure with their Quidditch captain. The Quidditch captain was killed in an "unfortunate accident," and then the friends had to go into a dark, hidden room underneath the pitch. Using Lumos, they lit the room to find the treasure, but had to use Nox in order to keep the werewolf, who was guarding it, from attacking them. It was purely fiction, and only one of the friends succeeded, but Cepheus felt satisfaction from it. And his animosity towards Stephenson and Gareth had lessened considerably.

Cepheus had to make sure he was cleaned up after writing for so long, his fingers stained with ink. Now he entered the classroom with his bright blonde hair combed nicely as usual with immaculate robes. Once the professor indicated, he handed his fiction piece in, not wanting to forget it at the end of class. He'd worked hard on it, after all. When he rejoined the group of first-years, Cepheus learned that the floor was bouncy, and he experimented. He had to stifle a grin of delight. How interesting.

Once they had their assignment, Cepheus began bouncing. "Lumos," he said, and tried to focus on a particular sphere. "Iacio!" He threw his light, but the bouncing did indeed make his usually accurate aim falter. He frowned, and in not paying attention, bumped into someone midair. "Oof." He had half a mind to sneer at them to watch their step, or jump, rather, but instead he looked at the person and cleared his throat. "Sorry," he said, voice stilted. "It's difficult to pay attention to where I'm jumping and aiming at the same time."

His blue eyes looked at the glass spheres again and said, "Lumos. Iacio!" He threw his light again, and did not succeed again. Quidditch loss forgotten with this new frustration, he watched his glass sphere continue to float around with darkness in its centre. "More difficult than real aiming, this is," he said to the neighbor he'd bumped into. He had been practising his aim, not bouncing, of course, and had improved greatly. He'd tried to practise when Gareth wasn't in the room, and had used some of the Quidditch posters in the room to aim at. He'd been able to hit the Seeker for the Falcons right on the head standing still.

"You having trouble too?" he asked, hoping he wasn't the only one. He hated being a first-year sometimes. Especially when they were practising a charm as simple as this. He'd been able to cast Lumos since he'd arrived at this school. He was a little bitter that he wasn't making it, so he tried again. "Lumos. Iacio." Again, he missed. Difficult, why so difficult? He would've been able to hit it straight on if he was standing still!

"Bloody--why do we have to be bouncing?" He cast the Lumos charm again and threw his light once more. He was so concentrated on the lost light that he lost his balance when he came down and fell into his neighbor again. "Good bloody Merlin! Sorry, sorry." He righted himself and shook his head, his combed hair coming out a little from its place. He took a deep breath and looked at the glass spheres again. He cast the charm once more and threw his light, and this time his blue eyes widened in excitement when his spell actually hit a glass sphere, erupting in light. The sphere came to him, and Cepheus nearly crowed. "Finally got it," he said proudly, his failures forgotten.

0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus Light in the Darkness. 0 Cepheus Princeton, Crotalus 0 5

Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

December 16, 2011 1:08 AM

... by Angel Shield - Teppenpaw

Angel stopped in the door way as he took in the strange sight of the normal desks in their new configuration. Sensing people behind him Angel hesitantly stepped into the room, that hesitation only grew as the floor did not remain steady under his bare feet. Instead there was a sort of give to the ground that left him feeling slightly unbalanced. He didn’t know what to make of the sensation but decided to remain silent hoping that it would soon be explained.

Keeping his balance on the strange new floor Angel dug though his bag until he found the sheet of parchment with five carefully drawn boxes. In the first it showed a boy entering a bedroom, the room was dark and the boy used Lumos to light it. The next box shows the boy holding the lit wand under the bed, followed by the third box showing the boy holding the light in the closet. In the forth box the boy climbed into bed and said Nox. And in the fifth…the room is dark and under the bed two bright eyes can be seen. The little comic was drawn in black ink, completely void of color.

After handing in the assignment Angel took his place with the other first years and listened carefully to the task at hand. He’d never tried aiming a spell at something before that wasn’t directly in front of him (like in Transfiguration when changing something from one thing to another). Doing so while bouncing sounded particularly challenging, but if that was the task then he would do so. Angel bent his knees experimentally and gave a very small crow hop.

Before his feet could touch the ground someone bumped into him. Angel stumbled, but managed to catch his balance before he fell over. After he gave the boy a slight nod to accept his apology Angel whispered “Lumos.” The tip of his wand brightened and after a couple more shaky bounces Angel said ”Iacio.” The ball of light streaked forward, angled too far down and hit the ground before it reached the spheres. “Yes.” Angel agreed with the other boy that the task was a difficult one.

Angel gave a small huff at the rather pitiful attempt and was about to try again when the boy bumped into him again. After the first time Angel had shifted over, trying to give the other more room, but over the course of both boys bouncing they’d gotten too close again. This time Angel did go down to one knee before scrambling back to his feet. His next two attempts faired about as well as the first and Angel stopped bouncing for a minute to catch his breath. One of the far away spheres suddenly flared brightly and floated to the boy next to him. Angel gave the boy a small nod of congratulations before saying “Lumos again.

0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw ... 0 Angel Shield - Teppenpaw 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

December 16, 2011 9:00 PM

My lips are sealed by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren

Kitty bounced into the charms classroom and promptly fell flat on her rump as the floor of the room gave her customary springy walk far more bounce than she’d anticipated. The small girl landed in a heap, thankfully the ground which had caused her fall to begin with was pleasantly giving so Kitty giggled as she picked herself back up and bounced over to the rest of the group. Kitty loved trampolines and the floor acted just like one, even when she reached the group she couldn’t quite keep herself still. Instead she bounced in place.

At least until she had to dig the extra credit homework out of her bag. Kitty had tried to do a comic strip but it just wasn’t turning out to her liking so she decided to write a creative piece instead. Her little story was centered around a curious little kitten and her owner, an equally curious little girl. The young girl followed the kitten into the maze gardens and as the sun began to sink (the two had gotten hopelessly turned around) the girl used her wand to light the way. It was only after her best friend had snuck out of his dorm room and found her that she was able to extinguish her light and use his instead as he led them out of the maze.

Charms was one of Kitty’s favorite classes, not only for the wand waving, but because the Professor always made things fun. The desks had been made into forts and then of course there was the totally awesome floor that Kitty couldn’t get enough of. She stopped bouncing long enough to listen to what they’d be doing today and the idea of learning how to do spells non-verbally appealed to the young girl. We’ll be able to cast spells like ninjas! Kitty thought with an accompanying grin. Saying the spells out loud had always seemed like it would give away the next move in a duel and let the other person react to the casting even before it was finished.

Mk, so first I have to master the silent spells, then I can have fun with the firsties Kitty narrowed her gaze at the tip of her wand and focused. Her eyes almost crossed as she willed the tip of the wand to light up Lumos! Come on….work! Lumos Kitty chanted in her mind, carefully shaping the word and attempting to get the spell to work silently. A gusty breath escaped the girl as it remained stubbornly unlit. “It’s not working!” Kitty pouted.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren My lips are sealed 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy - Aladren 0 5

Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

December 17, 2011 6:59 PM

Light the way by Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus

Gareth was torn. He truly hadn’t thought that a first year would make the team. It just didn’t seem likely, in his mind he thought that if any firstie made it, it would be Cepheus. When it turned out to be him and not his roommate Gareth knew that the easy friendship he’d had with the other boy wouldn’t no longer be as easy. Once the team list was posted things became rather stilted between the two boys and Gareth wished he’d talked to the captain before hand and told her he would rather be an alternate. It was too late now however, he’d made the team and that was that. Gareth swallowed heavily at the thought of the upcoming games.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when the floor unexpectedly shifted when he entered the Charms classroom and Gareth was forced to shift with it to keep from falling. That was…different. Perhaps he could be use to the classrooms changing to fit the lessons but sometimes it was still a surprise. When they were told to bring up their extra credit Gareth slipped it out of his bag to hand in. He wasn’t great at drawing, but he had enough skill to do a simple comic strip. It was of him and his brother, In the first panel he used Lumos to light his wand and began telling a scary story, then he used nox to douse the light and scare his brother. In the last panel the demon cat of his sister’s jumped out of the darkness to scare both brothers.

Lumos wasn’t a particularly hard charm, nor Iacio. But adding the element of bouncing made the task darn near impossible. Being as big as he was, Gareth grew quickly, which left the first year Crotalus less than graceful. It wasn’t so bad when he was walking or doing fairly normal things, but it was put on painful display as he attempted to coordinate his limbs enough to bounce, cast and aim. After picking himself up off the bouncy floor for the fourth time Gareth was beginning to think he’d never actually hit one of the spheres. With a low sigh Gareth started bouncing again. “Lumos” He aimed as carefully as he could without falling. “Iacio! The throwing motion when coupled with the down ward bounce threw Gareth off balance and he fell forward, accidently falling under another student’s bounce.

0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus Light the way 0 Gareth Whitebriar - Crotalus 0 5

Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

December 20, 2011 5:29 AM

Now I know the spells to do so! by Waverly Canterbury - Pecari

Waverly was brimming with excitement when she walked into charms class. She was really curious as to what they were going to learn about today, and she had practiced her spells diligently. Lumos and Nox were pretty easy spells, and she liked them already. They were so much more useful than turning a light on and off manually, or by a switch. Saved the trouble of getting up to do so too. Waverly had also done the extra credit. She was still trying to make up for her horrible potion in potions class by doing extremely well in her other classes. She had drawn a comic very well, trying to be funny.

In the first box was a girl going up the attic in her house where it was pitch black. The second box had the girl use the spell Lumos. She opened a trunk in the third box where a giant cat jumped out in the fourth box, and the girl shouted, in capitalized letters, Nox!. The fifth and sixth boxes showed how adorable the cat was when there was no light, and how vicious it became when the girl used Lumos. It ended with the girl petting the cat in the darkness. She thought the comic was pretty funny, at least the way she drew the girl's comedic scared faces.

When she began walking over to hand her comic in, she realized that the floor seemed less stable than usual. She experimentally skipped back to the first-year group, and found the ground bouncy. She almost laughed, but suppressed it. She listened intently as Professor Light told them what they were going to do, and then she smiled. She hadn't practiced aiming her charms very much, but she could try!

Waverly began bouncing, and after a couple failures, she managed to bounce high enough that she could throw her light before she actually hit the ground. And she made it! Unfortunately, she also almost stepped on another boy and in trying to avoid him, managed to fall to the side and land on her ankle, twisting it. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, and dropped her wand. Her face twisted in pain and she examined her left ankle, not sure how to tell if it was broken or not. It really hurt.

Belatedly, she realized that her glass orb now full of light was bumping into her arm, and she grabbed it. She looked at the boy she had almost stepped on from her spot on the ground. "Are you okay? I didn't step on you, did I?"

0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari Now I know the spells to do so! 0 Waverly Canterbury - Pecari 0 5

Paul Bennett, Crotalus

December 21, 2011 5:35 PM

Fantastic. I'll tell everything for you. by Paul Bennett, Crotalus

As soon as he heard that the second years were to be separated from the first year, Paul began to have a bad feeling about this lesson.

When he heard what the first years were to do, he was quite sure he’d misunderstood some of the fine details, since a lot of it didn’t make any sense at least on the first hearing, but he was still torn between being glad he wasn’t in it and being wary about what, exactly, he was in.

When the professor called the second years his favorite class ever, Paul closed his eyes and shook his head once, firmly, to resign himself to his doom. This was going to be a very bad day.

Then, though, it wasn’t so bad as he’d expected. True, his parents seldom even bothered with non-verbal magic, it was a little showoffy for most who weren’t in the business of fighting for their life on a daily basis, but he had seen his grandparents do it sometimes in a less showoffy way and he didn’t mind showoffy too much anyway so long as it didn’t take too much effort on his part and if it was difficult, well, at least he wouldn’t be in the position of trying to do anything while bouncing around. That was way more physical movement and stuff than he wanted to get into. Paul didn’t really get into that kind of thing. He would rather have something which took some mental effort but no physical movement than something where he had to bounce around the class and lose his footing and fall on the floor and all of that.

He removed a piece of hard candy from his pocket and debated for a second whether he wanted it before unwrapping it, popping it in his mouth, and squinting at his wand, focusing on the thing being alight. Not much appeared to be happening, but this was not exactly a surprise, all things considered. He had done stuff, like everyone did, without saying an incantation when he was little, or chanting some nonsense incantation, but it was a jump from doing that to doing something deliberately with a wand, and then another to doing it with a wand with no focus word. He wasn’t too upset about it not clicking right away. It would have made him happy if it had, but it hadn’t.

He glanced over at Kitty McLevy as it didn’t work for her and she spoke about this. “Yeah,” he said, his voice slightly muffled by his candy. “Me, either.” He gestured with his free hand to his light-less wand. “Did you get them both down with the words? I had trouble with the throwing things one.” He guessed it was well enough to get him a passing grade, which was all he was really concerned with, but it still didn’t fly well. That was the difficulty. There was no way he’d be able to master throwing it into something while bouncing.

0 Paul Bennett, Crotalus Fantastic. I'll tell everything for you. 201 Paul Bennett, Crotalus 0 5

Alicia Bauer, Aladren

December 22, 2011 2:12 PM

'Let there be Experts' has a much better ring to it. by Alicia Bauer, Aladren

Sometimes, classes could be a source of pure joy for Alicia. There were moments, whole strings of moments, where she loved everything about her situation: the seat under her, the layout of the classrooms, the feel of her mind working as she recounted information or joined a discussion or just learned something new. In these moments, she felt as though something were expanding in her chest, making her, for a few moments, moments which had been rare in her life for as long as she could remember, feel content, even happy.

Other times, they were something that she just had to blank her mind and endure, imagining her body as a wood carving which couldn’t alter from its agreeable lines and so therefore couldn’t offer any hints about what lay underneath its prettily-carved – or at least pleasantly; Merlin knew she was not pretty, would never be pretty; the best she could hope for was that people would not notice if she developed the ability to catch them with charm – surface. She tried to be a talking statue during those lessons, the shell everyone saw and interacted with as divorced from her as she could manage, which was still more divorced that she thought her parents had yet to manage, so she thought it should be good enough to fool the other first years and the fleet of basically unimportant adults that existed here. Momma, after all, was so divorced she’d managed to remarry and have a child with her second husband.

Today, Alicia forced her mind to be as blank as she could make it as she listened to the professor’s garbled instructions for the first years. She was perfectly good at hitting what she wanted to hit standing still, thank you very much, and while being able to hit things while moving was a useful skill, she had bounced on her bed enough to know that was an utterly uncontrolled kind of movement, and most of her energy was going to be in reacting quickly as she came back down, with her knees and feet and throwing her hands out, to make sure she didn’t hurt herself coming down. There wouldn’t be much left over for aiming at anything.

She had two options: she could point this out to him, and rail against him for being so disagreeable, which seldom worked since adults were full of themselves beyond all belief and would just spoil her image as sweet and cheerful, or she could find a way to cheat. She decided the second option was far more practical and began, as soon as he turned to the second years, to make her way to a spot where she was not so close to the front and was more concealed by people, so he wouldn’t be able to see her easily. Sometimes, it was good to be short.

Looking at the orb, she got a good mental picture of its position, then bent her knees and raised them again without allowing her feet to leave the floor. Even so, the light soaring from the end of her wand missed the mark and soared past the orb it was supposed to be aimed at.

She glared at it for a moment, willing herself not to stamp her foot, and then tried again, trying an even smaller bounce this time. When that failed two times in a row, she even tried to do it properly. That, though, only went even worse; she lost her footing, dropped her wand, and still ended up flat on her back, then bouncing up again and coming down again, adding insult to injury, from the impact on the charmed surface.

She did not, Alicia decided firmly, like Professor Light, and if she got half a chance, she swore to herself as she pushed herself back into a sitting position and looked around for her wand in the devout hope that no one had stepped on it after she dropped it, she was going to pay him back for this. Yes, she was. Alicia did not like it when she was made to look like a fool for the whole year, if not the whole age group, to see.

For now, though, her wand. She had to have it back. She’d have to take failures in at least two days of classes if it was broken, and plus, the little she’d read about the subject made her think that it would be hard to start over with a new wand. Seeing hers, she crawled toward it and, without thinking, snapped at the nearest person to “watch out!” as she reached for it, wanting just a finger to get on it so she could get it started back toward her, but knowing someone could still fall on it that way.

16 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 'Let there be Experts' has a much better ring to it. 210 Alicia Bauer, Aladren 0 5

Melanie Goodwin, Pecari

December 22, 2011 6:00 PM

Breathing: It's a good idea! by Melanie Goodwin, Pecari

Mellie’s eyebrows rose in surprise when the second years were gestured to a different part of the room than the first years, but she went along quietly, smiling a little as she was confused but good-natured about it, wondering what the catch was going to be. There was a good chance that something interesting would happen soon; she just hoped it was something that she could handle. It didn’t bother her too much, she could handle it, but it was kind of embarrassing when the lesson went on…and on…and on and she couldn’t keep up.

She took her wand out when the professor did and lit it as he lit his, showing she’d practiced for homework as she’d been told to. Lighting it itself wasn’t hard, she already knew how to do that, and the light-throwing spell had surprised her by not being very hard for her, either, even though she hadn’t yet figured out a way on her own that she would use it. She didn’t throw the light right now, though, just waited to see what would happen. Was the lesson going to be built on that one, or was it just to confirm that they were supposed to have done that for homework, and see if they now showed evidence of that?

Her eyes widened as she heard exactly how her class was supposed to build on the previous lesson. Non-verbal? Holy smokes, she thought she might be in some trouble here. She wasn’t that great at spells even the normal way, to the occasional bafflement of her parents, both of whom were quite good with a wand. She hadn’t expected to see this for…years and years. Alison hadn’t even been able to do it before she stopped living with them, and Mellie had passed the point of even resenting Ali for being so much better than her and settled for just admiring her instead of trying to be her a long time before that ever happened.

Still, she’d give it her best shot. There wasn’t much else she could do. Just do her best, hope for the best, brazen it out if it didn’t happen and wait for better days to come and be glad she’d done the extra credit assignment. She smiled at her wand, then closed her eyes and concentrated hard on the spell working, not even noticing she was holding her breath in the attempt until she suddenly noticed her chest hurt and gasped for air, shattering her concentration beyond all repair.

“Well, that could have gone better,” she muttered, then looked up. “Breathing really helps with making the spells work, you know?” she added to someone who was looking at her, no doubt wondering what the theatrics of sounding like she was trying not to drown a moment earlier had been about. That really hadn’t, she thought glumly, been one of her better moments at Sonora Academy. She’d have to spare some concentration for remembering to breathe next time, in a minute.

0 Melanie Goodwin, Pecari Breathing: It's a good idea! 0 Melanie Goodwin, Pecari 0 5