Memories of a Seventh Year
Made by Winnie Athanatos
@Ripley Cunning @Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams @Tatiana Contraire @Camille De Varenne
October 15th
This year felt different. It had already felt different when Opeila entered the Hogwarts Express a few weeks back. The last time buying school supplies, the last time getting a new school uniform, the last time... Was this the last time Lysander would have traveled to London with her? The last goodbye in the entrance hall of Virtanen Manor?
The bittersweet feelings had quickly faded and left an anxiety behind that she had been unable to place at first. Until it had clicked at the ball, finally. Only one more ball, she had realized, watching the new first years enjoying their night with no care for anything out of the ordinary. No care was maybe the wrong word, but why would they expect anything going wrong, unless they had older students to warn them?
Only one more ball where she could try to keep the new children safe, an arsenal of spells at her disposal.
So what else was there to do but share some of the knowledge she had? Uncertain if her offer would land with anyone, Opeila had put up a sign up sheet. A few of the higher year students had agreed to help tutoring, but a lot of the younger kids would probably prefer to use their wednesday afternoons differently, clear their heads after class, Quidditch practice or what not.
Opeila was proven wrong. Only a day later, she quickly collected the sheets, before too many kids could sign up.
A few days later, they all assembled in the duelling club, divided into four groups. Opeila's preparation consisted of reviewing her notes from first year and only when she was already standing in front of her group, she realized that maybe she should have also brought something to write. Alright, well, she would just improvise.
"Hi!", she greeted the first years with a smile and cleared her throat. She really was a little nervous. "If you don't know me yet, I am Opeila Winters, a seventh year from Slytherin." There was a time when her name was no secret to anyone. Prefect, several sports positions, hexwizard team as well as a couple of mentions in the school paper had made her pretty popular. And of course... the curses, secret blossom ball and other not so good events. Well, luckily those happened before most of the current students came to Hogwarts, so Opeila got a clean slate with them.
"Every group in here will be looking at a different basic spell that can be very useful in your everyday life. The one we focus on in this group is one I use all the time: Lumos, the wandlighting charm. Yes, you can use your wand like a flashlight." A memory flashed before her eyes, of shadows and injured kids... and Dan Palmer's Lumos. "Someone has saved my life with it a few years back, so even if this isn't technically a spell for combat, I recommend you never underestimate it."
A little more confidently, she continued. "Now, before we get to the actual casting, there's some things to go over. I'll make it quick, but please listen or you may end up destroying your wand." She let the words sink in for a second and continued when she was certain she had her students' attention. "I'm very sure that Professor Fresnel wouldn't have let you cast a single spell without going over the basic rules of Charms first. Can you remember them?"
She would let the first years name them (Feel free to have your characters answer them, one each) and nodded. "That is correct, incantation, wand movement and concentration. If the wand movement or incantation aren't right, you will either not make anything happen or potentially get a result you don't want. If you don't concentrate enough, nothing will happen. Lumos has an extra challenge, because concentrating too much can be as disastrous as wrong wand movement. Don't worry, you will be able to tell if you got it right or not. Yellow light is good, if you have a red light, not so good, that one might set your wand on fire if you maintain it. Please don't hold the yellow light close to anything inflammable either though, if you hold your hand close to it, you will notice that it's pretty warm. Just stop concentrating to end the spell. If there's a fire, I'll be here for damage control."
Opeila waited for a few seconds, so the kids could ask questions.
"Now that the safety matter is covered, we'll get to the casting part. Ummm..." Why didn't she bring anything to write, dammit? She drew her wand. "Flagrate." A spell she hadn't used since the class she learned it in, but fortunately she remembered most of her spells. Opeila started moving her wand, leaving fiery lines in the air.
LUMOS (LOO-moss)
"This is the incantation. Please remember or write it down, this will disappear in a couple of seconds. And the wand movement..." Opeila drew a shape in the air next to the words.
"It's a quite simple one. Just like this: Lumos!" Opeila drew a circle with her wand as slowly as possible without messing up the spell and a yellow light appeared at the tip of her wand. Carefully she pushed a little, concentrated more until the light turned more orange, nearly red, then quickly extinguished the light again. "You try now. Experiment a little, see how far you can go, but please don't be reckless with red light. Oh, and if you have any questions, please ask!"
Welcome! The Lumos class has begun
Please provide the wordcount at the bottom of your posts. Upon meeting 500 words, you will be eligible for the spell reward. The deadline for you to complete the event is one calendar month after the timestamp of this post.
Enjoy
Last edited by Opeila Winters on 10 Oct 2025, 21:25, edited 1 time in total.
Memories of a Seventh Year
| C | date: 15/10/2025 location: Duelling Club |
abilities: lovely creature dialogue: #0a2a28 mentioned: @Maisie Fenwick Rose Williams @Opeila Winters |
C |
| CV | On October 15th, Camille searched through several floors in search of the Duelling Club, where a few older students would help tutor first years like himself, with a few handy spells. He’d seen the flyers earlier that week, and signed up on a whim to escape the dreadful routine of the castle. Advancing himself, in this case by learning a new spell, was also something he looked forward to. Finally finding the right room on the fourth floor, he immediately recognised the corridor, realizing he’d been in the same corridor several times before, with the rehearsal room just down the hall. Annoyed, he thought that had he known earlier, this would have been a much shorter trip to make. Either way, now he was here, still willing to learn the damn spell he signed up for, albeit in a less pleasant mood than twenty minutes ago. First rearranging his hair that lay in disarray across his forehead, Camille strode into the room, keenly— and cautiously– eyeing his surroundings for any other participants, to see who was there, and most importantly, to make sure certain people weren’t. Camille recognised Maisie Williams, of course. Somehow due to coincidence, that girl tended to be at a lot of the same extracurriculars as he was. Realistically, they’d probably only ran into each other twice that wasn’t class related, but considering he could count the amount of positive interactions he’d had on less than five fingers, they’d spent a significant amount of time together. Thankfully, none of his dorm-mates— and worse, bunk mate— were in sight. At least, none whose faces he cared to memorise; that was all that mattered. Giving his friend a polite nod and smile in acknowledgement, he continued ahead, localizing what he assumed to be the “gathering” in the center of the room where a pair of older students were waiting. As soon as everyone had arrived, they were divided into four groups. Among the ones in his group was Maisie, the rest were unfamiliar to him. To avoid risking having to answer any questions aloud, he lingered behind the main crowd at a close enough distance to hear the instructions, but far enough behind to not draw too much attention. The lighting spell was one of the simpler spells he’d learn, in terms of incantation and wand-movement, though he still listened to the whole instruction, looking mildly interested. The risk of utter failure on his end, was next to none. But he was not stupid enough to trust that there weren’t others, more incompetent, in this room that would manage to set the whole room on fire. Merlin forbade his luxurious cashmere jumper from getting burned to a crisp, or smelled like smoke, so when they were dismissed to experiment, Camille drew himself back a few steps. Pulling out his wand in front of him and focusing on the task at hand, he ignored how most of the others were doing until he’d solved his own shit. “Lumos.” Camille said the incantation calmly, sounding completely unfazed and confident in his abilities, as Opeila had pronounced it, eyes and mind focused on his wand and the little loop it made in the air to conjure the light. Expectedly, but still pleased with the result nevertheless, a light yellow light appeared at the tip. “That wasn’t very hard,” Camille commented with obviousness in his statement, and then glanced to his right where Maisie was to see how she was faring. “How’s it going for you?” In terms of the others, the only thing concerning him was that no one had set the place on fire yet. |
CV |
wc: 604
ooc: got permission by Maisie
Ilias Lahlou | Ilvermorny
Memories of a Seventh Year
October 15, 2025 | Duelling Club
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Ripley strode through the ornate wooden doors into the hall reserved for duelling. The design of the room reminded him of an old athletics club with it's functional decor, practice dummies, duelling stripe, and portraits of the greats overlooking proceedings. Everything but the floating candles was firmly positioned and strictly organized. If anything was supposed to disrupt the room's ordered form, it was the chaos adolescent upstarts and their wildly flailing wands bring anywhere they go. A harmony existed in this room that Ripley appreciated, and for some reason, also a faint scent of leather.
Ripley had signed up for this endeavor on a whim. Learn a new spell? Why not? It was all the more tempting because they would get down to it. No chapters or reading and parchment pushing, just straight spellcraft. If there was anything Ripley felt ambivalent about a month and a half into his first year, it was the academic activities -- he didn't mind reading or writing as a concept, but why so much? Quidditch practice and the being outside by the Great Lake were what kept him sane. He hadn't realized how much he needed to move until he had to stay put in class all day. This was different, here there were groups of students broken out by spell and they were standing. Excitement!
Walking over to his small group, Ripley had the unusual experience of feeling cowed by the tall, self-possessed girlwoman leading his group. Even though he had seen her in passing around the Slytherin Common Room, she had blended in there, in motion among her peers. Here, she was amid a gaggle of first years and it stood out all the more that she was practically an adult! Moreover, while Ripley and most of the other learners scanned the room, and each other, with roving eyes, Opeila Winters appeared totally at home in the duelling club. This changed not at all when the lesson began.
It passed in a flash -- background, incantation, wand movement, and demo -- and then they were freed to light things up. Ripley could laugh with the pleasure of this straightforward approach. It was the no-nonsense attitude he appreciated from Professor Sauber but with, dare one say it, a little warmth. The boy brought out his wand.
Though it was fairly new, it was beginning to feel like the long, richly-hued cherry wood wand truly belonged to Ripley; pulling it from it's holster gave him a sense of comfort, like finding the hand of a loved one. Likewise, the experience of casting, only recently so foreign to the boy was becoming second nature -- he was at the earliest stages of grasping the enchanting symbiosis between word, movement, and focus.
Intently, Ripley held his wand aloft aiming his eyes at its tip. Simultaneously, he whispered "lumos" and made a small loop with his wand. A tiny yellow halo appeared around his wand end. Keeping close watch, Ripley took a few steps around the hall, almost as if he was keeping a ping-pong ball volleying on his racket. Satisfied, he let it go out.
The boy surveyed the hall -- all around objects were floating, flipping, and flaming! And in his group, flickering! This was Hogwarts! He beamed and took a mental picture. He'd definitely have to describe the circus-like scene to his sister Darren, she'd love it!
Break over, Ripley swiftly cast another wand light. Yellow, like the primrose begonia in his grandma's garden. Concentrating harder, the light shifted to an orange resembling the Chudley Cannon robes (lovely color, crummy team). The boy poured more focus onto the end of his wand, and the red tip were like the eyes of a demon peering from a pitch black forest. More, more...fire, pyre, the crackle of burning wood, the floosh and hiss of Bunsen burner, turning and turning, a pig roasting at a luau. Everything had fallen away and Ripley was free-associating with the color of his little lumos dome...the heat reached his wand hand, the crisp heat of a sweltering Swedish sauna, the deep red ball is #7 in billiards and the crack of it going into the corner pocket, and the crackle of autumn leaves underfoot and the pile of leaves on fire, a conflagration, smoke. The smell of smoke hit Ripley's nose and his synesthesiac mind flashed onto a concrete circle turning and turning.
He snapped to and he was in front of one of the dummies, a flame passing from the tip of his now-smoking wand to the faux wizard. The panic was brief. "Extinguo" Ripley said sternly, a little louder than even he expected, forming a tight curly w with his wand as he'd been practicing. Immediately, a silver mist punched through the smoke and knocked down the small flame.
Lowering his wand, he examined the scorch mark on the dummy and the very slightly darkened tip of his wand. That was so cool, he thought, considering the possibilities the new spell and it's property of nascent heat. Ripley looked around the room at the other students practicing, inside, however, his brain was barreling down the tracks of an idea: How awesome (and dangerous) it would be to conjure a blue lumos?
One could say his eyes already shined with it.
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Word Count: 881. Wasn't expecting to write so much but once I got started, the scene unfolded without my help.
Word Count: 881. Wasn't expecting to write so much but once I got started, the scene unfolded without my help.
Memories of a Seventh Year
October 15th
Duelling club,
Hogwarts
Duelling club,
Hogwarts
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When Maisie saw the sign up sheet for the chance to learn a new spell, she jotted her name down at once, glad she had a quill in her pocket at the time.
She had forgotten writing her name on such a piece of paper, as quickly as she had written it, and resumed her life of going to classes and fantisizing about quidditch. She only remembering the action a few days later, when walking past the same place the parchment had been stuck. The date, which she then remembered happened to be today.
Upon the realization she could be late, Maisie had ran to the fourth floor, her legs painfully tired and numb, and all the while out of breath, a painful stitch on her side.
Certainly, the girl knew it would not reflect greatly on her if she were to arrive in time to learn Lumos looking windswept, so, before entering she re-tucked her shirt and touched up her jumper, then rearranged her tie, which was now hanging on her back. Goodness knows what a sight she was, going up the flights of stairs, clothes in a mess. Anyone would have thought she was running from a troll in the dungeons.
When she entered, there were four groups. She knew which spell she was going to learn, also who was going to be her instructor, so she headed to one of the groups. She was surprised, but reassured there would be one face she knew, Camille De Varenne, her grandfather and father's business partner, and her childhood friend. She smiled at him. "Hi again! Didn't expect you here!"" She said brightly.
The older girl, their instructor, or teacher, or whatever she would be called, cleared her throat, and Maisie turned her attention to her. Maisie knew who she was, after all, who wouldn't? Not only had she seen Opelia Winters many times around the castle, she had also heard about her from her brothers, when they were recounting quidditch matches and how their pranks would fail miserably at the hands of the older girl.
She was surprised by the means of it being a spell that could save one's life.
That was more the reason for her to learn it.
When Maisie had used a crumpled quill to write on a scrap of parchment that was her old astronomy essay from a week back, it was time to practice.
Pulling out her wand, she mimicked the wand motion, kind of like a loop. "Lumos!" A small bulb of light appeared at the tip of her wand, as she put all her focus onto making that little light stay a light. She observed the light in awe, surprised she had produced a light. Before Hogwarts, she'd been given a basic rundown of her first year by her graduated brother, but she had not been permitted to touch anything. Now, with her own wand, she could perform all the spells she'd seen her brother do. Raising a hand closer to the tip, she could feel a small bit of warmth. This would be useful should she be stranded in the wild, not that she wanted to be.
She glanced at Camille, having forgotten he-- or any other person existed for the few moments of wonder in which she casted the spell. "I did it! You did it! Look at that!" Laughter bubbled from her, still excited from being able to make light. Light, fire, one of the five elements was in her hands! She was glad she hadn't forgotten she signed up for this, had she done so, this moment would have never happened, and it would be much later she learnt the useful spell.
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word count: 615
Memories of a Seventh Year
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Learning a new spell taught by a senior was definitely not in Tatiana's bucket list, but, still how could she not pass out such an opportunity? Maybe this could be the time where she could finally shine and perhaps get noticed. Now that was definitely in her bucket list.
Once she saw the poster plastered in the common room billboard, she knew that she immediately needed to sign. So, with a quick rummage in the drawers, she hastily wrote her name on the list on her way to Transfiguration class, where she was thankfully not late to. Tatiana knew that they were to be taught by the graduating students, so she knew that she had to look presentable once she arrived there. Before going to the duelling rooms, she made sure to wake up early and took a long time cleaning up herself to be, possibly, used a an exemplary example by the older students.
Tatiana wandered the duelling room for a few minutes before finally arriving at the correct room in which they were to be taught in. She was informally invited to this private lesson with a departing seventh-year student to learn a new spell.
She watched as the other students scurried off to their assigned rooms, but to her, unfortunately, she had not read the parchment clearly and found herself going from room to room in order to find her name, possibly looking like a wandering fool in the process. Frustrated, she decided to go to the lavatory for a while to clear things up, possibly taking a little more longer than expected.
Once she arrived, thankfully not late, she noticed that there were a few familiar faces that were in the room with her, some from her house, and some she merely just saw whenever they crossed paths in corridors.
But instead of conversing for now, her only focus was to effectively learn this new spell. Her gaze shifted from her peers to the blonde girl that confidently stood in the middle of the room, addressing the younger students. She introduced herself first as Opelia Winters, Tatiana knew her because she held quite a reputation in school; and she definitely didn't want to cross with her.
Opelia said that they were to be learning Lumos with her, the wand lighting spell. Tatiana was a bit disappointed, but they were, after all, still first years so why would she expect so much? Though Opelia did say that this charm had saved her life, Tatiana still doubted that it would have much effect.
Once Opelia had started instructing them on what to do, Tatiana was following on and brought out a piece of parchment from her pockets, together with a slightly crumpled quill, taking notes as the older student talked on. Once Opelia was ready to let the first years give it a try, Tatiana immediately went to her wand and started.
She mimicked the older student's wand movement, a small loop, cleared her throat and said clearly, “Lumos”. The tip of her wand shining slightly, then, a small ray of light shot from her wand, leaving the dark-haired girl smiling at herself.
~ WC: 525 ~
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