Nathan Xavier
December 28, 2019 3:55 PM
Intermediates: Wand Woods by Nathan Xavier
As was his habit, Professor Nathan Xavier stood at the door to his greenhouse and greeted each student as they arrived and returned the graded homework assignment they had turned in last week. For a change, not a one of them had crayon scribbles on them. Once everyone had arrived and taken seats around the central worktable, he greeted them as a group. "Welcome back, today we'll be starting our unit on wand woods. Wands can be make from nearly any kind of wood, but similar to how only a minority of people can produce magic, only a minority of trees have wood that can conduct magic. It is very difficult to tell the difference between a mundane tree and a magical tree, as they are outwardly very much alike, just as wizards and muggles are very much outwardly alike, but there are a few clues wand makers can use. The easiest is bowtruckles. If there's a bowtruckle nest in a tree, it's a wand quality tree. They don't nest in mundane trees. Other markers are much more subtle and take years of experience to really learn to recognize with consistency. Unless you go into wand-making, nobody is going to expect you to learn those methods.""What you will be expected to know are some of the characteristics of wands made from most of the common wood types. But first, I want you each to consider your own wand. How long is it? Is it springy or unyielding? Do you know what wood it is made from? Please write a short paragraph describing it and note what kinds of spells it seems to do best with and which kinds it has trouble casting. For a wand to choose you, you probably have similar strengths and weaknesses in spell casting. Note this is for practical spell casting, not the understanding of theory. Some people are just naturally intuitive with some branches of magic, and your wand will more reflect your practical talent than your ability to write essays explaining what's happening, and even then individual wands vary. This isn't for a grade, just a quick write up before you're influenced by what should-be."
He gave them some time to write that up, and then collected the papers before continuing. "Now we're going to go over what the different wand woods are known for and you can check to see if your wand matches up to its hype or if your wand chose you for a different reason than your natural spellcrafting talents. Wand cores can have just as much influence as the wood, so that may have been your more compatible match if your strengths are different from those of your wood."
"There are a lot of different woods used by wandmakers around the world, so I'm going to pass around a handout with a quick explanation of each type." He waved his own wand, and a pile of papers flew around the room, one sheet landing in front of each student. "I want you to spend some time reading these over, especially the one corresponding to your own wand. If you don't know your wand wood, raise your hand and I'll try to identify it, or you can try to figure it out yourself based on these descriptions. For homework, I expect a research report using your text and the library to get more information about your wand's wood. Your essay should cover the common traits for your wand's wood and how well you feel your wand meets - or doesn't meet - those expectations."
"For today, though, I want you look to see which other woods on this list you think might be compatible with you. If a witch or wizard has to replace their wand for any reason, their second one is not always the same wood as their first, so you do not have to consider the one you currently have as the only one appropriate for you. You may talk amongst yourselves, considering the possibilities presented by all of these wood types. On Thursday, we'll start talking about the properties of each wood more individually and comprehensively. Today is just for familiarizing yourself with the ones most likely to be drawn to you."
"On the side tables, I have some retired wands made from many of these different wood types. You may try casting some simple spells with them, to see how they might different from each other and the wand you normally use. Don't be too concerned if some of them don't work for you at all, as some wands remain loyal to their past owner, and others simply won't work for people they find too different from their ideal owner." Each wand was labeled with a small adhesive tag wrapped around its base so it was easily identifiable.
As the students began reading and then moving toward the sample wands, Nathan took a position near where he'd placed the more volatile woods that were likely to protest the wrong handler with fire or other disasters, his own wand ready to set his greenhouse back to rights or protect the other students if necessary.
OOC: Most information used in this lesson comes from the hp wiki: http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Wand_wood
In the case of sparks or other violent reaction to a mismatched wand, you have permission to have Nathan step in and avert a disaster, or you can tag me.
Subthreads: You're telling me this now?! by Evelyn Stones with Julius Astley
This turned out to be a loaded assignment. by Jessica Hayles with Felipe De Matteo
Languages cause the weirdest problems. by Katerina Vorontsov
The scientific method by Ness McLeod with Johana Leonie Zauberhexen
Of luck and longing. by Nathaniel Mordue
1
Nathan Xavier
Intermediates: Wand Woods
28
1
5
Evelyn Stones
December 28, 2019 11:50 PM
You're telling me this now?! by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn tried really hard not to glare at Professor Xavier. On the whole, she liked the new father, and Herbology was one of her favorite subjects by far. But today they were talking about all the wand stuff that Evelyn hated so much about all of her other classes. Beyond that, she had a hawthorn wand, and this information sheet made the whole thing seem like a cosmic joke. Why the heck had this been the wand she'd been paired with? Professor Xavier asked the class to write about their wands generally seemed good or bad at, but how could they tell the difference between what they were good at vs what their wands were good at? Or bad at, as the case may be? Her wand hardly managed any magic at all; most of what Evelyn had done over the course of her life would be best described as "leaking," or else as some sort of magical conduit version of a stove top. She was a burner.She'd gone shopping for her wand with her parents. But . . . well, she'd gone shopping the summer before she was supposed to have gone to Sonora, not the summer before she actually had. Things were less terrible then. At least, less terrible than they were the next summer. She went wand shopping before everything in her life blew up at once, a thought that made her skin crawl, and she couldn't help wondering whether her magic had just broken. It was a theory she'd been considering more and more since talking with Kir over the summer, and it was a theory that she suspected she needed to talk to Professor Wright about. If that was the case, should she have had a different wand? She stared at the piece of wood, wondering whether it was a friggin' traitor.
Still, she was trying not to be so negative about this stuff, and she couldn't just grump her way through class, even if she wanted to. Plus the idea of trying out other wands - particularly when her own wand was apparently ill-suited as heck. But she didn't exactly want to do that alone, so she looked around to see whether anyone else would like to work with her. She looked naturally toward Ness and Heinrich, but she also looked toward others in her class. There were lots of faces here now, especially since the Intermediate classes had three years of students, and she was pretty well resigned to the fact that her classmates were aware of her lack of magical proficiency.
Normally, she might have been tempted to work up the nerve and approach someone. In this case, with a cosmic joke on the table in front of her, she decided it would be best to let fate decide for her. She looked around for another moment before returning to study the table the professor had passed out, reading about the other wands listed there.
22
Evelyn Stones
You're telling me this now?!
1422
0
5
Julius Astley
January 08, 2020 2:15 PM
Telling you how boring this is? by Julius Astley
Julius was not a fan of Herbology. The plants of the magical word held no interest for him, unless he was throwing them into a potion but even then, he felt that in that instance, he only really needed to know their magical properties. He certainly did not need to know how to grow them or cultivate them. If he needed a plant, he could go to an apothecary. That's what they were there for. So, Herbology was written off as boring and uninteresting and useless and Julius was going to make sure he dropped the subject as soon as he possibly could. Today's lesson only further solidified that decision.Wand woods. Something else Julius had little interest in. Why on earth would Julius Astley need to know about wand woods? He had a wand. He had a very good wand. He liked his wand. He had no intentions of losing, breaking or having his wand stolen from him and even if any of those things happened, he could go to a wand shop and get a new one. Again, proving Herbology was utterly useless.
With a grudging sigh, he quickly scribbled down the characteristics of his wand, muttering about what a useless exercise all of this was.
Unyielding, darkly coloured and elegantly carved, unicorn hair core, made of rosewood, twelve inches.
He had no interest in using any of the other wands that had been laid out as an experiment. What a foolish thing to do. Why risk causing an accident, practicing with a wand that wasn't his own when he had one that was perfect for him. That seemed irresponsible on Professor Xavier's part.
"Isn't this just a complete waste of time?" he complained to Evelyn, hoping that she would share in his annoyance and boredom.
20
Julius Astley
Telling you how boring this is?
1425
0
5
Evelyn Stones
January 08, 2020 10:25 PM
I'd love if that were the worst of it. by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn was snapped out of her mid-grade panicking by Julius complaining. To be fair, he did this fairly often and she normally didn't mind because it was just how Julius approached the world as a whole. It certainly wasn't her favorite trait about him, but she figured she could osmosis some good into him rather than trying to confront it directly. When she was feeling so completely off kilter, though, it was harder to understand where he was coming from. Plus this didn't feel like a waste of time if it meant she found out she was better suited to a different wand."I don't know," she replied noncommittally, shrugging as she looked up at him. When had he gotten so tall? When did all the boys in her class suddenly get so tall? "I mean, maybe we'll learn something really interesting." And completely life altering. She resisted the urge to tell him what a toad he was for calling her saving grace a waste of time. Unless of course it turned out that she was a lost cause, in which case she was inclined to agree.
"For example, I've just learned that my wand - it's hawthorn - thinks I have 'proven talent,' and we both know that's not true. Or is it true and my wand is smarter than we are? Isn't that crazy to think about?" She dismissed the part about conflicted nature and turmoil because that was not a conversation she wanted to have with Julius, no matter how close they'd gotten over the years (and they hadn't gotten very close). "It seems like this stuff is getting at some next level magic theory." Okay, maybe she'd spent too much time with Professor Wright's books.
22
Evelyn Stones
I'd love if that were the worst of it.
1422
0
5
Julius Astley
January 09, 2020 1:35 PM
If only one could escape this hell. by Julius Astley
Julius looked down on Evelyn as she talked. Literally. Had she grown at all or was he growing too much? It was true that men in the Astley family were all tall, imposing figures. Forgetting that for a moment, he frowned when Evelyn didn't agree with him on his boredom. Why was she interested in this rubbish? Did she have a desire to become a wandmaker or something? An odd choice of profession but then in all fairness, Julius had always considered Evelyn to be somewhat eccentric so he wouldn't really be too surprised if that turned out to be the case."I doubt we'll learn anything," he muttered, rolling his eyes. He'd much rather be in the library, drafting the layout for the next issue of The Aronos. It was due out soon and would be a much better use of his time. Or he could be getting further ahead on his homework for Charms or Defence Against the Dark Arts. They would also be a much better way of spending his time. This lesson was just tedious.
"It'd be strange for your wand to be ill-suited to you..." he commented. "If it is wrong for you, then the wandmaker you purchased it from is an idiot. Perhaps consider shopping elsewhere and getting a new wand."
Julius didn't always remember that not everybody had the same wealth that his family did and could buy new wands at the drop of a hat.
"You must have a talent in something or you wouldn't be here at Sonora."
He also wasn't the best at offering words of comfort either.
20
Julius Astley
If only one could escape this hell.
1425
0
5
