Practicing

[Fred McElroy]

It was Thursday, for first year Ravenclaws it was a free day. An entire day that could be spent doing whatever one pleased, Fred knew how to use the time. First, he/she would need to find somewhere a bit private. He/She didn’t want to disturb or injure anyone, or make a total fool out of him-/herself. After what happened in Charms class yesterday, whatever came out of Fred’s wand when he/she tried to do magic was anyone’s guess. But as the old saying goes curiosity killed the cat, and Fred was curious. He/She wanted to try more magic.

Fred took the long up the steps to the top of the tower. With him/her were two books, the average first year’s Charms text book and the book he/she received from Professor Lloyd, and, of course, his/her wand. Fred moved quickly despite the length of the journey. He/She was excited at the prospect of doing magic on his/her own.

Finally, at the top, Fred took a look around. The spot would do nicely for his/her work. It was an open area and the only property to damage was the stone ramparts. Fred took a seat, cross-legged on the hard stone floor. He opened his/her textbook to the section which instructed on the Leviosa spell. Simple enough, Fred thought. It’s just making an object levitate. It’s not like I’m going to make a laser cannon like I did with the Lumos spell. What could go wrong?

Fred untied the ribbon in his/her hair and placed it in front of him. He/She prepared his/her wand for casting, holding it firmly around the center. The size of the wand made it a bit unwieldy in such close quarters. “Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred pronounced the words awkwardly. His/Her mouth didn’t feel comfortable with the sounds just yet. As the words came out of his/her mouth he/she realized that the spell would fail. And fail it did. Nothing happened.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred said this time forcing the words out his/her mouth. They were still too awkward for the spell to take shape. Yet again, nothing happened. Fred frowned; he/she was disappointed but not beaten. Fred was determined to master this spell on his/her own by the time the sun set.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred’s rendition of the spell was more fluid now. He/She pictured a bird taking flight and lifting his/her ribbon into the air. This time something happened. A light blue mist poured out of Fred’s wand and condensed into gaseous, glittering blue sphere just above him/her. In the sphere a form began to take shape. Specks of white formed pure white feathers and those feathers pulled together to form wings, such as the kind one find on a dove. Fred stared on in awe. Then the spell suddenly stopped, the cloud dissipated instantly and the wings fell to the ground in a bloody heap in front Fred. Fred’s eyes followed the lifeless wings all the way down to the ground. His/Her lips pursed together and his/her eyes grew wide, Fred was shocked.

“Aw crap!” Fred shouted. It looked like the wings were torn off the bird. Fred sighed and gingerly picked up the wings, walked over to the ramparts and tossed them off. He/She had nowhere else to put them, and wasn’t sure if magically summoned severed limbs would decompose, or smell bad like normal things did, like Fred saw on the cop shows on tv. Fred realized that maybe he/she should have brought work gloves, and wondered if he/she could catch some kind of a disease from magically summoned severed limbs. It’s going to be a long day, Fred thought as he/she sat back down a prepared to try the spell again.

 

[Fred McElroy]

After hours practice Fred was no closer to mastering the spell. He/She wasn’t sure what the groundskeeper would do with pile of severed bird wings, which due to their color, Fred assumed came from doves. Fred wondered where all these wings were coming from, which is how he/she spent the last hour. He/She debated with him-/herself over whether or not he/she was actually ripping the wings off of real birds somewhere on the planet or he/she was creating them out of thin air. Either way it was not a philosophical quandary for an eleven-year-old. Someone more mature should be dealing with this issue.

Fred decided to lose the bird motif as he visualized the spell because it just wasn’t working. Doves, pigeons, hawks, eagles, falcons, ospreys, seagulls, swans, ravens, crows, and kakapos all gave him the same effect. Though, admittedly the last was a joke.

Fred was also no longer sitting. He/She was standing, his/her hair was tussled, and he/she had a very concerned look on her face. Fred wondered if he/she even had the talent to perform this spell. There had to be something he/she was doing wrong. Fred consulted his/her textbook. But, of course! Fred had forgotten about the proper flourish of his/her wand. He/She felt rather silly having wasted all this time only to realize he/she was performing a major component of it completely wrong. It was a mistake that was easily rectifiable.

“Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred said, this time with the proper flourish. Lo and behold! His/Her ribbon did rise into the air. With a flick of his/her wand Fred controlled the movement of the ribbon as it danced about in the breeze. He/She moved the ribbon into his/her hand and tucked it away. Fred didn’t feel like wearing it. The ribbon had been on the ground for awhile and severed bird wings fell on it, even though there didn’t seem to be a trace of blood on it.

Fred wanted to practice the spell on something heavier. He/She spotted a loose rock on the rampart. It looked like it would do. “Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred called out again. And again, sure enough, the rock did rise and Fred could control its movement with his wand. After some fun with the rock, Fred put back in its place. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as well balanced as he/she had initially thought. The rock went tumbling down the side of the building. Fred didn’t hear it the ground. He/She ran over to the edge to see where the rock had landed. Fred breathed sigh of relief to find out that the rock had not hit anyone.

Suddenly, Fred wondered aloud, “If I can lift singular objects, can I lift objects with separate pieces?” Fred took of one his/her shoes. He/She performed the spell with ease and the shoe lifted into the air. He/She put the shoe down. Fred performed the spell again, this time focusing on the shoe’s laces instead of the whole itself. It took a bit of cajoling but the laces lifted and took the shoe with it. Fred smiled. He/She put the shoe down and stepped back into it. Fred has expected it to feel different, but it didn’t.

“What can I lift next?” He/She thought aloud. Fred had been on the tower all in the sun without food or water, so his internal monologue was basically out-the-window. “I don’t want to push it with anything organic, too many parts.” Fred said as imagined lifting something by its skin only to have the rest of the body be torn out of it by gravity. “I could lift myself up by my clothes!” Fred shouted enthusiastically, like some mad scientist on the verge of a breakthrough. “But, what? I’d slip out of just about everything if it wasn’t on tight enough.” He/She paused for a while and thought hard. “That’s perfect my belt!”

Fred took in a deep breath. His/Her heart was pounding, he/she tried to steady it but it was no use. In his/her head, he/she could hear “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. “Wingardium Leviosa,” Fred proclaimed. He/She waited a second, looking around anxiously. Fred sighed, maybe he just weighed too much for the spell. Besides he/she was hungry and tired. So, he/she gathered up his/her things and went back inside, down the long spiral case of the tower.