So I'm back in the library again. The rest of classes were pretty boring given I was stuck to just taking notes and theoretical learning. I was pretty sad since Spellcasting looked so cool, Professor Hofferson showed how to shoot fire and water out of her wand which was like well, magic, if you'll excuse the pun. Everything else was pretty dull.
Well not that dull, but I spent most of my time trying to think of ways to get around my problem. I refuse to let a simple control problem limit my practicing of magic. I've been trying to come up with excuses to give Professor Lyness to maybe let me get access to more magic books in the library. Hopefully more from the Belshatzzar guy. I've been contemplating taking a compromise or pitiful look. Probably pitiful would work better since I'm still young.
I sat waiting for my tutor to arrive. I didn't have much to do other then go over a book of spells we would supposedly learn this year. Everything I'd be missing out on if I didn't manage to turn this disadvantage into a benefit. The only thing I can think of is access to books. While I did intend to self-study at some point I didn't think it'd be this soon. I wanted to experience the wonders of magic.
The Headmaster did imply that focusless magic is a benefit but he was so cryptic it was a little annoying. Professor Snowhawk did say that Wandless magic only meant an decrease in magic control so maybe my original Idea was correct? That it's more dependable to not rely on a wand?
"Excuse me? Mr. Peverall? I heard you have tutoring with me?" With a soft voice and a tap on my shoulder I flinch.
"Ah-yes I do. Are you Professor Lyness?" I look up at the lady behind me.
With a soft round face, bright blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, Professor Lyness looked normal, wearing the classic professor robes and hat.
"I hear you didn't take a focus. You're quite the talk between the teachers at this moment. Normal children are excited to get a wand, even the first gen magicals who don't know what a wand is other then something magical. Some people do learn to do wandless magic but it's usually in their 6th year and only for getting their wand back, like the retrieval spell. A first year with no wand but can still cast some spells is already highly skilled. Take what I say with a grain of salt, since uncontrolled magic is not always a positive." She pulls a seat across from me.
"So, we'll be going through basic control exercises. The Levitation Charm and The Light Charm are two perfectly simple spells that are learned in the first year and give a general basis of how long you'll be in this tutoring. Both are simple to cast, you choose a keyword or phrase to cast it with, some find that a longer phrase helps them focus more. For example the castings in Europe is usually Lumos for Light and Wingardium Leviosa for Levitation. On a topic you'll learn in another class, in basic spellcasting you'll learn the requirements for spells." She takes a breath.
"Cast your phrase with a strong intent. It should work as you've imagined. Magic is a finicky thing, so set a phrase that feels right. Just because you don't want to say something ridiculous doesn't mean you have to shorten what you say, it might backfire. Demonstrate each spell to me." She says, placing a coin on the table, and putting sunglasses on.
"Why are you putting sunglasses on?"
"Well your magic right now is uncontrolled I have no clue to how bright it'll be, if your going to be levitating please try on the coin."
I am still planning on the Light Charm but From her reaction I'm a little frightened, how bright could it get? I mean yeah, 'light' is a vague topic but can't I just use a lightbulb for reference?
"LUMOS" with a strong command like she advised, my hand started brightened instantly like flicking a switch, I had to start to look away and aim my palm at the wall trying to lessen the effect as I pretty much blinded myself.
I hear a quiet, "Nox" the light on my hand goes out abruptly. I turn back to Miss Lyness who is taking off her glasses.
"Very good, Your magic power is strong, but a little slow, try the Levitation." With that she slowly scooted her chair away from me.
I don't know if that was a positive reaction but I suppose the whole 'uncontrolled' aspect was concerning. I ready my hand about a foot above the coin and with the same strong words, "LEVIOSA"
The coin wiggled and then floated a few centimeters in the air. It wobbled back and forth and looked like it was going to fall. Seconds after that thought it did, dropping with a a clack.
"Good good, Great work!" Professor Lyness looked both relieved and complimentary. "While that coin was exceedingly light, it often takes a few tries for most people, well your magic is a decent bit strong for someone of your age but getting it on your first try is impressive. Take these." She hands over a bag. Inside is a bunch of coins. "They are all the same weight, And you'll have to learn to control at least 3 of them at once before the month is over. When practicing Lumos the counter spell is Nox. It's the same way as Lumos just intend to put out the light instead of make it." She stood up and started walking away.
"Wait! What about tutoring? I thought I was going to be meeting with you everyday."
"Well no, I was going to see what you can do, and then we'd set up times. If you couldn't get any of the spells to activate then I'd be meeting you everyday. If you only got one of the spells to work then we'd meet once a week. Since you got both spells activated we're meeting once at the end of each month. You already have skills in magic you just need practice. I recommend reading; Where Magic Comes From, an Introductory Text by Lillian Cornelius, and How Magic Works by Aric Lovell. I've given you Level 2 access to the books here, so you can do research on your own whenever." She quickly turned around and left the library leaving me to think about what to do.
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It's Halloween now and I can say I've been making progress but not as much as I would like. While everyone else is celebrating the holiday I've just bee sitting in the library for the past month thinking about how I'm supposed to continue. Classes are the worst, I'm basically exempt from then so if I go I can only sit and watch. After the first week I stopped showing up for most of them. History of Magic is still interesting, but everything else is usually something practical and It's bumming me out.
On the bright side I've been making steady progress with my own training, As I did manage to control my light spell to have the same brightness of a lamp, and my levitation spell I can hover 5 coins a few inches off a flat surface. Imagination and intent is key for it I've found, since identity changes the way your magic works. If you think that levitation is like flying if will look similar, which is uneven floating. I like to do levitation like magnets, so I need to have my hand above or below the coin to get it to float.
My current task is to get them to spin while in the air. Thankfully I'm back down to one coin for this but so far I haven't figured it out. I've tried to do to forces, one hand to hover and another to push it in another direction, but it ends up just shooting the coin right out of my hands. On the other hand my task for light has been mastered as I can now make the light separate from my body, though it's like an invisible flashlight, just a point and there's a wide beam wherever I aim.
These books have been helpful, but a lot of the time the instructions are vague, all about feeling and imagination. Which is nice but the way they describe it is not helpful to me at least. Trying to figure out the light one was a lucky guess, the books all said something along the lines of 'imagine sunlight pouring into being' like thanks but how? I thought along the lines of sun light->sun beam->Beam of a flashlight. So it did help me but I can still be annoyed about it.
The levitation spell is just as bad, nobody really goes farther then 'imagine the object is so light it floats up into the air.' and then how to imagine heavier items are lighter by tricking yourself that magic is omnipotent in that regard. Which doesn't help me at all since I use magnets to imagine the spell. I got inspiration this morning as the mail flew in and one of the older years playing with each other blew the letters out of each others hands with gusts of wind.
Now I can't learn any spells to help with this, but witnessing stuff helps wonders with imagining stuff. I had to see how it was possible to be able to recreate it. So now I can step by step it.
Step one, make coin float.
"Levios" the coin floats a good 3 inches off the palm of my right hand.
I shortened the chant again since I got so familiar with the spell. While shortening the chant does weaken it that's the point for me to learn control. I've found that adding the 'a' in levios'a' makes it hover an inch higher and with wingardium nothing happens. I assume if you imagine the coin with invisible wings you'd have a better time with that part of the chant. Doesn't help me though.
Step two, hold left hand at an 95 degree angle from the coin.
Step three, add a pulse of magic instead of maintaining a stream.
Well it worked like I intended which was a success, the coin wobbled a little but the pulse managed to catch the side and spin it. Now with the way magic is I could maintain the spin for as long as I wanted or stop it whenever I wanted.Which I tested too. I could continue to hold the spinning coin for a little less that I can hold a normal levitation, which is about 2 and a half minutes. Once I stop the coin I can get it spinning again with another pulse.
What a great way to celebrate Halloween. With a magical breakthrough.
