Prodigal Charms Learner

Charm: Singing Jinx
Incantation: Cantis
Pronunciation: CAN-tis
Wand Movement: point wand at the target
Word Count: 804/400
Ooc note: Have a permission to godmod @Laxius Remington

Reducio

It was Wednesday afternoon. Zach was seen in the Library with some parchments and a pile of books. Yes. He was working on his homework. He was procrastinating too much until his homeworks was piled up until the due date was near. And here he was, stressed in the Library by all those papers, with some bad handwriting and ink stains in some spots. "I don't want to pile up homeworks again," he said while writing some words on a parchment. His hand was moving fast and his eyes scanning the words he needed to find so quickly. He was so focused on those homeworks that he wouldn't notice if there was a dragon that wanted to attack Hogwarts.

His right hand moved faster and faster until he stopped it immediately then he put his quill in the ink bottle. "I'm done!" he said with a satisfied smile. He stretched his back as it became so stiff after working so hard on the homeworks. He zoned out for some seconds and looked at the outside through the window. "It's not a good day to go outside," he thought. However, the boy also didn't know what to do to fill spend his time. Then he remembered that he had read a third-year charms book. Maybe he could learn some interesting spells again from there. The boy decided to stand up from his seat and looked up the book.

He found the book after searching for it for some minutes. It was not the same book he remembered but the content was the same. He looked at the table of contents and found a spell that it interesting to him, a Singing Jinx. He flipped the papers until he found the Singing Jinx content. He read it slowly but skipped the history part. He was having enough of history that day. "So, the incantation is Cantis," he mumbled. After he read it enough, he started to clear his throat and practised the pronunciation. "Can-tis. Uh... It doesn't sound right. CAN-tis. CAN-tis. I think it's right?" he said and continued to search up another spell he thought he could learn it.

He finished and was satisfied enough by learning two spells. He decided to turn the book back to the shelve and went back to tidy his belongings. He went to the Great Hall to have a dinner. After that, he went to the Ravenclaw's Common Room. When he arrived there, he saw a familiar face. He was Laxius, a first-year he had known not a long time ago. An idea came up to him and made him approach the boy. "Laxius. How are you doing?" he said. They were having some conversation. Then Zach started to ask him, "Uh... So... I actually need your help." He gulped before he continued and said, "The thing is, I learned a spell but I need someone to practise it. Do you mind helping me practise this spell?" And what made him surprised was Laxius was willing to help. "Thank you so much! So let's go to the dorm! We are gonna practise there." Zach pulled Laxius hand.

"Okay. First, I have to tell you the spell." They arrived at Steppe Eagle Dormitory. "It is called Cantis, a Singing Jinx. The book said that it could make the target break a song." He pulled his wand from his bag and put the bag on the basket near the bed. "You just have to sit comfortably. Sit here." Zach directed Laxius to the most comfortable cushion pit. "I will cancel the effect immediately so don't worry. Are you ready?" Zach was looking at Laxius to see if he was ready. Zach could see hesitation on his face and it somewhat made him feel bad. "Uh... It's okay if you're not ready. But it would be great if you help me," Zach said.

Then after he was ready, Zach prepared his wand. He pointed the wand at Laxius and cast, "Cantis!" but nothing happened. "Uh... I think I'm not doing it right." Then he tried second, third, and fourth attempts but the results were the same. "Okay. This is the last time. I think I'm also nervous and needed to look at the book once again," Zach said. He once again pointed his wand towards Laxius again. He thought of a song in mind before he cast it, "Cantis!" Zach waited for some seconds and then he heard Laxius sing Zach's favourite song, "Hoggy Warty Hogwarts" in Laxius's version.

Zach was excited to see the results and he remembered to cancel the spell immediately before he sang for any longer, "Finite Incantatem." Laxius stopped his singing. "Thank you so much for helping me," Zach said with a very bright smile. "So, is there any spell you wanted to practise too? I"m here to help!"

Charm: Banishing
Incantation: Depulso
Pronunciation: de-PUHL-so
Wand Movement: sweep of the wand
Word Count: 449/400

Reducio

It was still on the same day as he was doing all his homework in one day. And after he finished, he looked at the book he previously found to learn some new spells. The boy opened the book looking at some spells that are mentioned in the table of contents. "Banishing Charm?" he mumbled. And a memory struck him like lightning. "Ah! It's the opposite spell of Summoning Charm!" he said excitedly. Zach looked at the information of the spell carefully. At the part of incantation and pronunciation, he whispered, "de-PUHL-so" for many times. And without saying the incantation, he made a sweep motion of his wand. "It's pretty easy, I guess," he said until he read a phrase, "specific location".

Then after thought it was enough of learning spells time, he decided to tidy his things up and went to the Great Hall for dinner. He went to the common room after that and met his new friend. He even asked him if he wanted to help him to practise the spell. Luckily the boy agreed and he could successfully cast it. After he finished practising with his new friend, Zach cleaned himself before going to bed. Everyone in the dormitory seemed not sleepy yet but not with Zach. After some seconds, he fell asleep.

The pale boy woke up too early. The sun hadn't raised yet and the room still had dim light. Everyone also seemed still sleep soundly. Zach didn't know what to do. He was awake and alone at the same time. The stars also couldn't be seen. It might be because of the could or maybe the fog. Then he remembered that he had learn that one spell in the Library, Banishing Charm. "But it's not a good idea," he thought. He zoned out again for some minutes and decided to try the new spell he had learnt.

The first thing he did was put his diary on the edge of his bedroom. "Okay, let's try it," he mumbled. The next thing he did was imagine the book was moved to the cushion pit so it wouldn't be so loud. Then he made a sweep motion with his wand and chanted, "Depulso." The diary was suddenly moved to the cushion pit. He gripped his hand excitedly as he saw the spell succeed. Then the boy practised it by summoning his diary and banishing it to the cushion pit for many times until he felt sleepy. Zach decided to sleep after he thought it was enough for him to practise. If anyone ask what happened next, Zach woke up late. He screamed while preparing himself so he wouldn't be too late for his class.

Charm: Slowing Charm
Incantation: Arresto Momentum
Pronunciation: ah-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum
Wand Movement: uppercase 'M'
WC: 706/400

Reducio

Climbing on the roof was not something Morella would approve of. Neither would Hyperion, but at least he’d have a laugh. Morella would likely have a heart attack.

Actually, no. That was a bad joke to make. Scratch that. Morella would just get really, super stressed and have to drink some chamomile tea or something.

The climbing tree was snowy, and there were patches of ice all around, but that would not deter the two littlest Norricks. No sir. It was the day before winter break ended, and the siblings were determined to enjoy it. Astra was ecstatic, on the verge of joyous tears, for it finally seemed she and Roderick were back to normal, back from whatever the heck had been wrong with him as he avoided her during the fall term. But, since the beginning of December, he was doing better. A lot better.

Astra slipped on gloves and a hat. Roderick laced up his boots. “You go up first, so if you fall I can catch you,” the boy explained, glancing up at his sister. “Right?”

“Right. Sounds great,” she answered, wrapping her Slytherin scarf around her neck. She was quick to open the door and slip out, beckoning for Roderick to hurry up. They'd been on the roof a few times before, with their dad, but never by themselves and never without a ladder. But they'd planned, and a right solid plan it was.

Each child raced out the door and to the climbing tree, a tall oak in the backyard with numerous branches perfect for scrambling around on. Astra climbed quickly, Roderick standing ready at the trunk, following her movements so if that fatal slip happened, she would be safely caught.

Hands reached up and up and feet followed, pushing the body of the young child all the way to the roof without issue. Then it was Roderick’s turn.

It must have been his growth spurt, or the way every thirteen year old boy is sort of gangly and floppy and doesn't have all the control of his limbs that he used to when he was younger. But Roderick got halfway up. And slipped.

“RICK!” Astra yelled, lunging toward him with her hand outstretched as if he was close enough to save.

Roderick's blue eyes were wide and panicked as he swiftly descended towards the frozen ground.

“ARRESTO MOMENTUM.” The voice was deep, commanding, capable, and after a flash of blue light that emanated from around the corner of the house, Roderick's fall began to slow. He was floating, gently, like a leaf on the breeze. Hyperion raced around the corner, sliding to a halt and dropping on his knees at his son's side. “That was a bloody stupid thing to do,” he muttered, checking Roderick over for injuries.

Astra slowly shrunk back on the roof. She sensed the extreme displeasure of her father and knew any minute now it would be directed at her.

“You,” her father said without looking up, “Astra, are also in big trouble, hear?”

“I hear,” she squeaked. Hyperion, after a proper scolding which was half spent looking down at Roderick (who looked like a dejected puppy, especially with how Hyperion held his collar) and half spent glaring up at Astra, who wished there were hiding places on the roof, lifted his daughter down with another Arresto Momentum, not without letting her fall a good terrifying way first. That day would not be forgotten by either.
--
Back at Hogwarts now, Astra decided it would be a good move to learn. Keep herself or maybe even Renelle from falling if ever they needed it, which they likely would. She snooped in the textbook to find the wand motion, which was just an uppercase M. Simple. She already knew the pronunciation of the incantation, courtesy of dear ol’ Dad, to be a-REST-oh mo-MEN-tum.

And so, with five minutes at her disposal between classes (she had spent far too long just reading through all the spells and daydreaming about using them), she cast her first Arresto Momentum. First, she climbed halfway up the stairs to the Astronomy Tower, since they were stationary, took off her shoe, and dropped it. “Arresto Momentum!” she cast, pointing her wand dramatically. The shoe floated like an autumn leaf falling. Astra grinned. Brilliant.

Charm: Shrinking Charm
Incantation: Reducio
Pronunciation: ruh-DOO-see-oh
Wand Movement: uppercase 'V'
WC: 445/400

Reducio

It was a tragedy. Someone, call the press! For once in her eleven years of living, Astra Norrick could not fit all her books in the trunk. A heartbreaking event surely to move the masses to tears.

No matter how many times she rearranged her clothing and toiletries, there was simply not enough room for five hardcovers, two paperbacks, and three comic collection books. Could it be the Christmas gifts? That must be it.

Technically, couldn't she just get more books from home? Yes, yes she could, if Morella hadn't decided on that horrible no good very bad library policy. Ten at a time, strictly, with no exceptions, she said. Oh, the pain! Oh, the misery!

Astra scrambled over to her desk, Hermes watching her with curious eyes. Magical Drafts and Potions. Nope. She set it haphazardly on the edge of the desk. A History of Magic. Yeah, no. Added to the stack it was. Hermes mewled a warning. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Definitely not! Oh, where was it!?

She flipped open her satchel. Notebooks, pens, quills, scraps of paper, chocolate wrappers- aha! Book of Spells. Exactly what she was looking for.

The pages of the book were already quite well worn anyone could see. Astra, fascinated with spells, often thumbed through it while she was supposed to be doing homework.

The shrinking spell, the shrinking spell should work. Should be perfect for this! Astra's eyes flicked to and fro with lightning speed as she flipped the pages mercilessly in search of the Shrinking Spell. Hermes hopped down from the bed and began climbing in her lap. "Not now, lad," she chastised, untangling her arms from his stupidly flexible cat body. Seriously, how was he wrapped around her arm and now climbing to her shoulder?

There! Reducio, the Shrinking Spell. Used to shrink stuff. Perfect.

"Ruh-DOO-see-oh? That's it, innit?" she muttered. Her hand mindlessly felt around the area for her wand, dipping in and out of pockets and poking around the floor incessantly till she located the beloved magic stick. "Better be."

She stacked her books in a pile, hoping to shrink them all at once. The action was simple: wand in an uppercase 'V' shape while you said reducio. Cakewalk, easy peasy.

Astra took a deep breath. Hermes' tail twitched, hitting her in the neck. She swatted him lightly. "Stop that. I've got to focus now." She took another deep breath, focusing all her attention on the books.

A crisp angle with near-perfect lines and a call of "Reducio" had a purple light emenating from her wand tip and her books shrinking to half their original size. Astra grinned. You are so bloody smart sometimes, brain.

The 12th of February 2024
Late Morning
Learning Reverte

Words: 406
@Zoë Fresnel

CHARM | Amplifying Charm
INCANTATION | Sonorus
PRONUNCIATION | soh-NOHR-us
WAND MOVEMENT | point wand at the target
WORD COUNT | 528/400
RP:

Reducio

Raizel’s quest for spells continues and this time, her eyes are on a couple of spells that seem useful in their own way. They weren’t anything combat oriented, surprisingly enough considering that Raizel’s advance spell researches were always leaning more to those that are mostly used as ways to attack or perhaps to defend in certain occasion.This time though, is different. No, it’s not a healing spell either. She’ll be saving that for later after she has done more research about it. Today is the day she’ll be doing some practice with Sonorus, the Amplifying Charm. What’s so special about a spell that could amplify your voice? Well, nothing I guess but to those working as announcers, it sure is useful.

Which is why this time, she called in a helper. One of her best friends and one that turned out to be her cousin, Alyssea Brown. Being a broom racing captain, she’s mostly overseeing races and announcing whatever is happening in the tracks and upon mentioning that she was gonna practice Sonorus, the Hufflepuff jumped in to be a test subject as it was getting tiring yelling what was going on during the race. Not to mention, it also hurts her. Raizel figured that perhaps she could try and learn it and maybe use it to help Alyssea during her races if she wanted to anyway. Compared to the other advance spells she had tried learning, this one seems easy enough. She just needs to point her wand at her target and say the incantation, Sonorus (soh-NOHR-us).

“Trust me on this.” She said to her cousin, trying to assure her that this will work but with how nervous Raizel kind of looks right now, that might not be too assuring. When was the last time she asked someone to help her during spell practice? Especially advance spells. Bea was the last one she asked. She casted that Singing Jinx on her. That turned out well so surely, this one will too… or so she hopes. Practicing new spells on others is kind of scary, there’s the risk of her putting them in danger which is why she doesn’t like doing it. What if she couldn’t reverse it? Thoughts were getting in her head and it was Alyssea’s voice that snapped her out of it.

“You got it.” She said and that swept away any cloud of doubt in her mind. Right, she can’t let that kind of thinking scare her or she’ll indeed fail and Alyssea trusts her on this. She’ll get this right. The Gryffindor took a deep breath, pointing her wand at her cousin, eyes filled with focus. “Sonorus!”

The spell hit and she waited until Alyssea could try it out and soon enough, the Hufflepuff girl started her singing. For a moment, Raizel was stunned, with this being the first time she actually heard Alyssea singing and it was beautiful. It was amplified and sure enough, they could probably hold some sort of concert here. Her cousin looked delighted as well, perhaps surprised by the sudden loudness but she simply laughed it off before asking for the reversing spell. “Alright, you got it.”

CHARM | Quieting Charm
INCANTATION | Quietus
PRONUNCIATION | KWIY-uh-tus
WAND MOVEMENT | point wand at the target
WORD COUNT | 502/400
RP:

Reducio

While it would’ve been easier to just cast the general counterspell, this is kind of the perfect opportunity to try out the other spell that she found along with Sonorus. It’s the Quieting Charm, Quietus was it? Based on what she had read, this charm can be used to counter the Amplifying Charm, that is, if she could cast it. Raizel reached into her enchanted satchel, pulling out an old looking leather notebook, one of her treasured items as that’s where she usually takes notes of the spells that she stumbled upon and those that her father had showed her.

“Just… give me a second…” she said to Alyssea in which she nodded and waited patiently while waddling a bit. Raizel went through each page, only stopping upon reaching the one that said ‘Quietus’ (KWIY-uh-tus). Younger her needed to improve her writing because it was a bit hard to read, squinting her eyes even to get what those squiggly lines mean. Okay, guess she had the name right and its incantation. Only thing left would be the wand movement which her notebook kind of doesn’t say. She closed it, crossing her arms as she went into deep thoughts, recalling what she had read before. She knows the wand movement wasn’t that complicated… oh, yes, it was the same as Sonorus. She snapped her finger upon that realization.

All she had to do was point it towards her target. “Okay.” she muttered as she turned her attention back to her cousin. “Sorry for keeping you waiting.” she apologized before pointing her wand. “Quietus!” And she waited but when Alyssea tried it, her voice was still loud. Oh dear. Raizel scratched her head, looking back at her notes to see if she missed something like perhaps younger her wrote the pronunciation wrong or something. There was nothing there, however, aside from her original notes. Then perhaps she wasn’t just clear earlier with her incantation as she is sure there was no wand movement with this one aside from pointing.

She better work on it fast though, thinking that she starts getting funny looks from Alyssea or even worry her that her voice won’t return to normal but that doesn't seem to be the case as the Hufflepuff went back to waddling and staring at the wall. She can’t have that. “I can fix this.” Raizel once more assured her and this time, she was more confident, that determined look in her eyes that is usually seen during her duels was present. She took a breath and then released it, wand still pointed towards Alyssea. “Quietus!” This time, her pronunciation was clearer, more confident sounding than earlier and the Gryffindor girl looked more focused than before.

She waited for the response, hand gripping tight on her wand as she hoped that this time, it worked, that Alyssea’s voice would turn back to its usual volume. And it did, indeed. The Hufflepuff smiled, clapping happily for her success, offering a high five in which Raizel accepted.

Note: Permission from @Alyssea Brown's writer for slight godmodding had been granted. All responses by the character had been discussed.

CHARM | Minor Explosion Charm
INCANTATION | Bombarda
PRONUNCIATION | bom-BAR-da
WAND MOVEMENT | moving the wand in order of left downward, right downward, straight left and upward right.
WORD COUNT | 658/400
RP:

Reducio

Raizel wants to get better with her spellcasting, get stronger spells. Those goals of hers had been the reason why she was so keen on learning more of the destructive ones than the supportive ones. She is the type of person who would rather fight in the front lines than stay back on the defensive side or support side. She is feeling restless due to her constant failures in duelling, like she’s falling behind already when it comes to magical prowess compared to other people, even quitting duelling as she can’t help but feel like a burden to her team.

That kind of thought is what’s making her so desperate to get her hands on new spells as fast as possible, especially those that she could use in dangerous situations. When she was supposed to be having fun Raizel used those times to practice and practice, even pushing her limit sometimes as what she is doing now. She had been standing there for quite some time now, far away as possible from areas that could get caught up with stray spells. She has her wand in hand and a couple of target practice just in front of her.

She couldn’t ask others to be one for this certain spell as this one isn’t supposed to be used on humans as it can be dangerous. The spell was Bombarda. Her eyes had been set on this certain spell the moment she found out about it and while she was disappointed that it’s not as strong as Confringo, it was better than nothing. Her aim was to destroy this makeshift target practice that she created but since it remained intact, that means her training isn’t going well and it frustrates her so much.

Raizel frowned, kicking some dirt off of the ground before she started pacing.She had been doing this for a while now, trying to figure how to do the spell as she can’t seem to get it right. She was doing something wrong or perhaps magic is just not cooperating with her as always. She keeps checking her notebook, reading the incantation ‘Bombarda’ over and over again while trying to get the pronunciation right (bom-BAR-da). The wand movement was tricky as it has a lot of directional movement and that’s what she’s been struggling at. Taking it slow is not an option either as she is too impatient to do that and not even the cold weather could cool her down.

She needs to be fast after all in casting spells, not too slow to let her opponents catch their breath, surprising them with speed and precision just as what she learned in duelling. While she isn’t in the team anymore, it’s still a part of her that she cannot discard, even if she moves on to other sports. “Come on, you can do this.” The Gryffindor uttered as she closed her notebook, turning her head towards the target practice and getting into a fighting stance, something that she hasn’t done in a while ever since she stopped visiting the duelling club.

Hand gripped tight onto her wand, eyes filled with focus and mind clear from any thoughts other than casting that spell that she’s been trying so hard to do. Fast and precise, focus. Downward left, downward right, straight left and then upward right, quickly followed by the incantation: “Bombarda!”

She was expecting nothing to happen until a loud ‘bang’ was heard, the target in front of her taking damage as it was affected by her spell. Shock turned into a smile of relief, finally knowing that she’s getting somewhere. Now, rinse and repeat until there was nothing in front of her but the remnants of the wooden target that she made. It was satisfying but at the same time, so tiring as it took a lot of her using that spell continuously but it was the only way she could get used to it quickly.