Grayson Wright
September 21, 2023 4:14 PM
Beginner Charms - Sparkly! by Grayson Wright
The Beginners had all survived anywhere from three and a half to one and a half terms of Charms lessons, and the ratio of days in the week where fires needed extinguishing to days in the week where they did not had, more or less, tipped in the more desirable direction. Between this and how he’d somehow both cleared his in-box of annoying letters and almost caught up on grading over the weekend, Professor Wright was in a good mood as he started his class.“Welcome, everyone! I hope everyone’s ready to start a new unit.” They had taken their unit exams for the last one over the course of two days the previous week, and he’d decided to be merciful and not assign them any reading over the weekend. Hopefully, this would translate into them being slightly better-rested and more ready to learn new things than they might have been otherwise, and not to everything they’d ever learned about charms having leaked out of their heads over the course of forty-eight hours.
“Lumos, as you all know, is the light-creating spell – specifically, causing a small area of visible light to emanate from a focus point. It’s also only the first of a number of charms which involve light manipulation. We’re going to look at another one today – one which creates a small field of semi-random effects, so, more difficult. To demonstrate - “ he held up a plain sheet of paper and tapped it with his wand. “Scintillate!”
The paper began to sparkle brightly, as though it had been encrusted in sequins that threw back the light around it at angles. Examination, however, would reveal that the paper had not changed its appearance or texture; it behaved as thought it had features which should have included glittering as a property, but creating such features would have been a transfiguration. This paper retained all the qualities and properties of paper, but it nevertheless behaved as though it had additional ones, though in this case it was simply an illusion bending light waves near the paper.
“Finite incantatem,” he said after a moment, tapping the paper again to make the glittering stop. He could have performed the spell nonverbally just as easily, but liked to remind the students of that incantation before giving them new ones to attempt. It was his job to solve most of the problems that invariably arose with this age group, but it never hurt to nudge them toward doing it themselves where possible, especially with the second years. In just a few months, they would be in Intermediates and by the end of their third year, they would be casting charms on each other in class; they were, in other words, on the brink of being expected to take real responsibility for what they did with their magic. Finite incantatem was a good contender for the most useful spell taught between the first day of a student’s first year and the point in around fifth year where they started learning complex counter-charms.
“Of course, this spell...is only of limited practical value,” he admitted. “Not many applications outside of decorations. You never know when you might need something mildly decorative, though - “ he suspected there might be a brief fad among the Beginner girls for sparkly pencil cases and the like, and perhaps a few unnaturally shiny objects attached to an attendee or two at the Midsummer Ball – “and it’s a step toward more complex illusions. By the time you take your next set of tests, you should be able to make a surface into a temporary mirror without too much trouble, and by the end of the year, I hope some of you will be able to make a page full of text appear blank to anyone who doesn’t test it magically for enchantments.
“By the time you finish fifth year, you’ll be able to make it appear blank to everyone except yourself, or like it has text from a different piece of paper on it. Among other tricks. But for now – you’ll begin by doing what I just did, which is trying to make an entire sheet of paper appear to sparkle, so that I can’t really tell if there’s writing on it or not. It will probably take several tries to get more than one point of light going at once, especially for first years – experiment with it, see if tapping different areas on the paper gives you a better effect than others. Second years, if you want to challenge yourselves, you can attempt to create different-colored effects from the list of spell modifiers at the beginning of your textbook. Homework’s to read chapter eleven and write a paragraph summary in your own words. Begin.”
There was a chance this could cause fires, of course, but one of the small mercies of Beginner Charms was that students rarely had the skill to create light illusions that could act enough like mirrors for long enough to do that. Nevertheless, he wouldn’t finish grading their tests this class period, but would keep an eye on them for the most part instead. Just in case.
Subthreads: Ooh! by Ursula Arcadius with Alma Brockert
Shiny? by Edu Alamilla with Cecily Welles
Future so bright, I gotta wear shades. by Violet Calhoun with Leo Lyons
Not feeling as such by Charlotte O'Malley with Quillan Arcadius
Twinkle twinkle piece of paper. by Mathias Melcher
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Grayson Wright
Beginner Charms - Sparkly!
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Ursula Arcadius
September 22, 2023 11:14 PM
Ooh! by Ursula Arcadius
Ursula took a seat in Charms. Professor Wright went back and forth in her estimations, depending on how many unfairly long lectures he’d subjected them to and how many unreasonable nonsense words said lectures had contained. Last week, he had been her least favourite teacher because he had given them a protracted test that went on forever. Whilst Ursula generally enjoyed chances to win at something, she hadn’t enjoyed the last unit or the length of the assessment. But having had a weekend off, she was back to feeling optimistic about his class, especially as it often had the most interesting spells, buried under all the talking.Today went a long way to proving that point, as he demonstrated a very interesting charm, and one that she was very much looking forward to practising. She couldn’t believe it when he called it of ‘limited practical use.’ She could already think of dozens of things she would use it on once she had perfected it! For a man who was very smart and could waffle on at length about all sorts of things that didn’t matter, that comment showed a serious lack of imagination.
She took her sheet of paper, deciding to start by tapping in the middle, as that seemed the easiest point from which to spread sparkles all over, which was not only the task assignment but what she wanted.
“Scintillate!” she cast, tapping the paper like she’d been told to, and doing her best to imagine sparkles spreading from her wand. Visualisation was more a transfiguration thing, but it couldn’t hurt here. She tilted her paper, trying to catch the light, but there was only a very small patch that glittered, right where her wand had touched. Ursula pouted slightly, though she knew it was normal for it to take a few tries. She cancelled the effect with a quick swish of her wand and tried again.
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Ursula Arcadius
Ooh!
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Alma Brockert
September 25, 2023 8:39 AM
Agree! by Alma Brockert
Alma’s day had started off on a good note. She had gotten a letter from her cousin Libby. She often received letters from the three cousins that she was closest to and that always made her happy regardless of the contents. For example, she obviously wasn’t happy to hear that Miles was being plagued by his seasonal allergies, since it was getting to be that time of year, but she still liked that Libby had written.It helped make her feel less lonely as Alma generally missed her cousins a lot,.Even more than she thought that she would. Not that she wasn't trying to participate in classes and activities and make friends, and yes, this far into the year it had occurred to her that by the time she made a good friend, that she’d be going home for the summer and seeing her cousins again, and that Libby would be here with her. However, Alma felt like having an extra friend or two would be in addition to her cousins and not instead of. Like, she could have a friend and still have her cousins to hang out-when they got here-as well. Maybe she and Libby at least could hang out with the same group of friends.
The point was that they weren’t interchangeable to her. Even if Alma made a super close friend this year, she was still going to miss her cousins. Just like even with Libby here next year, she’d still miss Uriah and Miles. She was sure Libby would miss them too and be especially worried about the latter who was her brother. The younger girl was pretty protective of him.
So was Alma really. The three of them all were of the youngest of their quartet, but especially his sister. As it was, the Crotalus was currently worried about how hard it would be for him both when they were all at Sonora, except him, and when they had all graduated from Sonora aside from him. If Alma had missed the others this badly, Miles was going to have an even worse time. He was painfully shy and his allergies made him self-conscious.The first year knew that her cousin was worried that others would make fun of him for them like Uncle Eustace did and that he wouldn’t fit in with his classmates. Miles was a sensitive, creative boy and even without the allergies to most things, a class full of people like their uncle would not be good for him.
Of course, Alma couldn’t imagine that a class full of people like Uncle Eustace would be good for anyone who wasn’t like them. Her uncle took being intolerant to a level that would almost be impressive if it wasn’t so vile. Why, he even made Desmond, who at least didn’t look down on people for having disabilities, look accepting! Alma was lucky that her uncle pretty much ignored her, considering the effect he’d had on her brother, and male cousins. Well, maybe not Olaf so much as he didn’’t care, and Uriah mostly ignored him too-though being constantly fat-shamed could not have had a positive effect on his mental health, though for obvious reasons, Honora was the one she really worried about there, even though she wasn’t overweight at all-but definitely Chris and Jasper and while Uncle Elmer and Aunt Madeleine had protected Miles from the Quidditch…sessions that had so scarred the two older boys, he was still pretty anxious that others would bully him about his allergies the same way.
Anyway, answering Libby’s letter was unfortunately going to have to wait. RIght now, it was time for Charms. As Professor Wright introduced the lesson, Alma began to smile. How lovely, a charm that would make things sparkly! Although he seemed to think this lesson was not terribly practical, but, well, maybe it was because he was a middle-aged man who was into much more serious subjects. Alma was a twelve year old girl who liked and excelled at making things pretty. She could definitely use this when it came to decorating for the ball. And yes, maybe, it was only useful for decorating, but decorating was important. Who wanted to live in a place that was plain and boring?
Alma got her sheet of paper and her wand and imagined her paper being full of sparkles. “ Scintillate ” About a quarter of it turned sparkly. She was thrilled until upon closer examination, it appeared that her paper…really had changed to be glittery. She sighed. “I think I accidentally transfigured mine by mistake.” She told her neighbor. “How are you doing?”
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Alma Brockert
Agree!
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Ursula Arcadius
September 29, 2023 10:54 PM
Excellent! by Ursula Arcadius
This Charms lesson kept getting better and better! Not only were they learning shiny things, but Ursula was seated next to Alma Brockert. In spite of the size of their year group, Ursula felt she hadn’t really gotten to know any one person particularly well. Or perhaps that was because of the size of the group… Had there been dozens of them, she would have had to prioritise, and might have sought out the small group of people most like herself. However, with only a handful of people in each year, it did feel like you could and should get to know everyone.What she was finding was that meant she had a superficial acquaintanceship with most people, but had yet to find someone she felt right in prioritising. Except for Quillan and by extension Charlotte… But whilst she wanted to give time to her brother, and be important to the people who were important to him, she also wanted her own social circle. Alma was a good candidate for that. She was in a similar position of having her own network already at school, which had probably absorbed some of her time, but might be looking for someone her own age who could be her own specific friend.“Oh. That’s impressive,” she commented, when Alma mentioned transfiguring the paper. True, it wasn’t what they were supposed to be doing, but transfiguration was always touted as being a more challenging thing, and so to do it on purpose was hard enough, but by accident… The part of Ursula that liked to compete thought that Alma might be a rather interesting friend. The part of her that liked to win wondered if she would be biting off more than she could chew…
“I charmed it, but only in a very small area.” She tilted her paper for Alma to see. “I really hope I can get it working well by the end of the lesson. I think this charm would look great on quills and hair ribbons and just so many things!”
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Ursula Arcadius
Excellent!
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Alma Brockert
October 01, 2023 5:35 AM
Indeed! by Alma Brockert
Alma was pleased to have sat next to Ursula Arcadius for this class period. Of all her classmates, the Teppenpaw seemed to be one of the people that she foresaw herself having the most in common with. Not that she wanted to be picky or a snob or discount those that were different from herself as having nothing to offer, which would be rather Uncle Eustace-like behavior, although her uncle would also bully the person relentlessly like he did her brother and male cousins, but most of the time people did gravitate towards those that they had more in common with because there was more to bond over..So far, Alma hadn’t really had a chance to get to know many people. She had tried to do things like join activities but she still had yet to really bond with someone on a deep level, the way she did with her cousins.One might say it was because they were family and grew up together but…the first year could easily point out that so had her cousins Allegra and Topaz, and obviously, if there was any sort of bond there it was more like a dog had with its chew toy.
Alma was glad that she and Libby did not have that sort of relationship, but then, neither one of them was a complete and total psychopath, so that was likely a big part of it. Even though that didn’t necessarily mean they’d be close like they were. Plenty of people didn’t get along even if they were related, grew up together and none of them were psychopaths.She couldn’t think of an example off the top of her head, but she was sure that happened.
Still, the point was that Alma really did want to make close friends with someone outside her family and, while she was not going to judge people that weren’t like her harshly-and she certainly wasn’t going to bully anyone since she found that behavior as appalling and repugnant as dragon dung- it might be easier to connect with someone who was more like her. Her observations of her classmates had led her to the conclusion that the best candidates were her roommate and Urusla.
“Thanks.” Alma replied. “I mean, it wasn’t as if I was trying to do so since this is Charms and all but I was…visualizing, which is more of a Transfiguration thing and I’m a Brockert….” She trailed off. Aside from those obvious things that were rather gauche to mention, her family was known for two things, a super extensive complex family tree and being good at Transfiguration. “I don’t know if I just used the wrong tactic or what.”
She nodded. “That’s not a bad approach. I mean, it would be a bit difficult to do it all at once, you know?” Alma doubted that anyone ever got everything perfect on the first try as a first year, like making a whole paper sparkly regardless of whether they were using Charms or Transfiguration. Making small changes at a time had a better chance of being successful.Although she supposed that by the time you got to the end, what you did earlier might revert back to its original state
‘“I know!” Alma agreed. “I have no idea why Professor Wright thinks this has a limited use. Decoration is very important.” True, when it came to people, what was inside mattered more but she still preferred pretty clothing and accessories and nicely decorated rooms. “I think he has a very different view of what's useful than we do.”
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Alma Brockert
Indeed!
1580
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Ursula Arcadius
October 10, 2023 5:31 AM
So very many plans by Ursula Arcadius
“It’s still an achievement, even if it’s not the one you were aiming for. Some people can’t get spells started at all, at least not at first. I don’t know,” she added regarding visualising. “I mean, we’ve never been told to only use it for Transfiguration. And a lot of Charms is quite visual too—at least, the effects of the ones we’re learning are.“Thanks, but that also wasn’t on purpose,” Ursula admitted, as Alma credited her approach with more intention than she’d had. It only seemed fair to admit it, seeing as Alma had owned up to doing things unintentionally. Ursula liked to win, but only in fair fights, so accepting a compliment for something she hadn’t really done didn’t feel right. “Maybe I could try it more intentionally going forward though.
She mentally divided her paper into quarters, trying to focus on the top one. She wondered whether it was a good idea to limit her intended reach in this way, but once she got confident with a quarter, she could move up to a half. She tapped her wand at the centre of her imagined quarter, pleased with the sparkles that radiated a substantial way across it when she cast the spell.
“What things do you want to use it on once you’re good at it?” she asked Alma.
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Ursula Arcadius
So very many plans
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Alma Brockert
October 10, 2023 11:53 AM
Those are good ones by Alma Brockert
“Thank you.” Alma replied. “And that’s a good point.” It had never been an issue for her. Maybe it didn’t do exactly what she wanted or was supposed to but she was pretty sure it was rare for things to work perfectly on the first try for all but the most talented magical users. Even then, not all eleven year olds had necessarily had control and precision. In fact, if you were super powerful magically, it might even be harder to control the amount of power used.Though Alma still would have preferred to be super talented and make a mess by being too powerful or- as she had done just now-do the wrong kind of magic than to not be at all good at magic and not having any result at all.This was taking into consideration that she would rather be precise than over the top. It was more elegant, less flashy.
The irony of that thought was not lost on her when talking about making things sparkly. Still that was about things being pretty . Maybe sparkly things were a bit more…obtrusive than things that were not. However, it was not as if they were out of the realm of good taste, at least not given Alma’s age. Of course, that was part of why using this spell with precision was more important. A touch of sparkle was an improvement. Sometimes a little went a long way.
Still, while the Crotalus would hate to make a spectacle of herself in any form, being good at magic was preferable to lacking any talent in it at all. Not producing any result at all would be far more shameful than making a mess or drawing attention to oneself. While not everyone in her family was a prodigy, not even in Transfiguration, nor were any of them magically weak. Nobody in her mother’s family was either. There were no Squibs anywhere on either side of the family. Although, obviously, if Alma were one, she wouldn’t be here. Still, if she struggled that way, she would feel bad about it, so she was really glad that it had never been an issue.
And she wasn’t worried that any of the cousins that she was close to were Squibs either, all three of them had displayed accidental magic. Not only would it have been awful for any of them not to be able to come to Sonora but it would have been awful for Alma too. Even if she made other friends.
“You’re right about that too.” She added. “I guess it works for a lot of things that involve appearances. I mean like if you’re doing some sort of artwork or designing anything you’d also want to visualize how you would want to look. And being intentional does also help with making magic do what you want it to do. Although I guess at this point it doesn’t always as both of our results suggest, but someday we’ll have more control over it. Like, once we have more experience with magic.”
Alma thought for a moment. “Hair ribbons and quills are both good ideas. I would like to use it to accessorize and embellish. And in artwork.”
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Alma Brockert
Those are good ones
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