6 Jul 2022, 00:37
The Art of Splitting Spells
@Galton Lansdale | June 25th
It was that time of the year again. Already? Opeila felt like she had only began her third year at Hogwarts and now it was already ending again. Too soon. It was all too soon! The young Slytherin didn't feel ready to leave for London and finally for Finland again, for another month of etiquette and good behavior, Finnish and lessons of her own ancestry that the Virtanens really knew a lot more about than she did.
As always, the last days at Hogwarts made the young Slytherin become more quiet and thoughtful than usual. Perhaps that was just the routine that she needed to prepare herself, get herself into the right mindset to face what the holidays brought. So on this Saturday, the third year did not stick around her dorm and common room to gather some of her things like she had seen some of her fellow housemates do. Instead, she wandered through the castle. She didn't really have a destination she was walking to, but walking helped her clear her thoughts.
Opeila didn't realize where she was walking until she stood before the duelling club. A place of good memories. She had improved her technique, won all of her duels and really felt proud of herself. Yes, most of those duels had been against lower years, but still! In those duels, she had cast many exceedingly good spells. That was accomplishment enough for her.
Carefully, the young seer pushed open the doors.
As expected, not much was happening inside. Most students were elsewhere, there wasn't much of a reason to train her now, the next duelling season being around October.
But wait, there was someone, a boy. Opeila didn't immediately recognize him, but then she realized who that was. One of the two Gryffindors who beat her in a duel in her second year. The guy who had offered her candy after his friend took the dying body of Vladimir Athanatos from her.
The duel against this boy- Galton, she remembered- had stayed present in her mind, mainly because of one thing that she had also admired from her own duelling captain (although she would never give him the satisfaction to hear it): The ability to split spells. Dmitri Jones had done that a lot in their duels this year and it seemed so very useful. In fact, it really triggered the ambitious side of the young Slytherin, the one that made sure that her grades were the best they could be, too.
Opeila didn't leave again, instead she walked towards Galton. Darn, she really was glad that the duelling club wasn't crowded today, or her pride would likely have stopped her from asking someone who was supposed to be an opponent for help. And then there was still the question if he would even be willing to share his knowledge with her. Opeila wouldn't be able to blame her for keeping it to himself as an advantage.
"Hi", she said, clearing her throat, not really knowing where to start, "Erm... You are Galton, right? I- do you have a moment? I wanted to ask you something." Seriously, whenever she addressed one of the upperclass students, she felt like the greatest child. She was a prefect now for god's sake! Perhaps this was something she had simply learned in muggle elementary school, this internalized respect for the upper years. It seemed to be less popular with the younger students from what she had seen, but Opeila was still unable to shake it off.
"Could you show me how you split spells to target multiple people? I've seen you and someone else do it and I don't seem to be able to do it. How does it work?"
