May 23, 1891 - Hogwarts Classroom

Sloane Bixby

"No, no!" Sisse rushed to Sloane's side. "It's a gentle swish then a sharp flick." She directed, her hands gently urging Sloane's elbow to the right bend.

She had offered to help Sloane with her box blasting charm and her locking spell over the weekend. Once she would have tutored Sloane and Cameron at the same time, but while things had mended themselves between Sloane and Sisse, Sisse was still wary of Cam. Oh, she was cordial and friendly enough to Cameron around everyone else, but little beyond that. She hadn't quite forgiven him for taking Sloane's side without even looking at it from her side. She could forgive that she was with Sloane, could understand it even, but she wasn't ready to allow herself to fully trust him again.

"Try again." Sisse directed with a smile as she stepped back. Finals were quickly approaching and Sisse had found over the last few years that helping her friends study was one of the better ways for her to study. Which mean she welcomed this practice with Sloane even if it took away from her own time with her nose bent over her books studying.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Merlin-forsaken charms.

It was so closely relate to Transfiguration that Sloane should have been able to handle it relatively easily, but no, the class continued to elude her even at a basic satisfactory level. "I thought that was levitation." She whined impatiently. Swish and flick. Why were they all some variation of the same movements? Where was the originality, the flair?

Making another noise of clear disdain, Sloane scowled and aimed her wand at the cupboard they were trying to open. "Cistem Aperio!" She cast trying to mimic Sisse's wand movements exactly.

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This time the spell worked. Sisse grinned at Sloane's success (ignoring her grumblings to get there). "Perfect! Now try locking it." Sisse encouraged excitedly, a grin spread on her lips. She certainly was not one to begrudge a friend success, in fact it made Sisse that much happier. There was something rewarding about being able to help a friend and to see them succeed.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Oh finally, some success. Why did she need to know this? What good was this really going to do her in real life? Trying not to grumble too much, as she did need Sisse's help to practice all of this nonsense, at least for exams, Sloane readjusted her wand and aimed it at the cupboard.

"Colloportus," She called firmly. This movement was at least not a swish and flick, a little more complicated however and so therefore harder for her to concentrate on. Sloane was not always all that exact in her wand movements, a bad, somewhat lazy habit, but she struggled to remember just how far or how curt to move the wand in the pattern. Ugh.

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Sisse watched smoke come from the lock, there may have been a click of it locking, but she was so surprised by the smoke that she forgot to listen for the sound of success from the spell. That wasn't good. Quickly she rushed forward to try and grab it from the wooden chest before anything caught fire. Surprised as she was, she had helped Sloane and Cameron enough of the years that this was not the first time something had started to smoke before her eyes.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Ahh that was more on par for Sloane's performance in Charms. She needed to start doing well in these classes if she was going to go for Magizoology. Maybe next year she should look into getting some tutoring from a 7th year. Her friends weren't responsible for her education and though she appreciated their help, she rather thought that they should take the time to focus on themselves.

At least she was used to this. "Aqua eructo." She cast at the lock, assuming something had caught fire. The water spell should work. If it didn't maybe she could try the freezing spell they had learned in that same Defense class; she wasn't totally useless, even if she wasn't very good at things like this in general.

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Halfway toward the chest a burst of water hit the lock, it hissed and streams of steam flowed around it, curling upwards almost elegantly. "Well at least we know you'll be fine when we learn water charms." Sisse joked, heading back to Sloane. "Perhaps you will be helping me then." Although that was mainly to make Sloane smile, both girls knew that wasn't exactly likely to happen.

"Alright, let's try that again." Again Sisse moved toward her friend, but this time she gently touched her wrist leading her in the moments before stepping backward. "Now you try it." She encouraged again.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

At least she had managed to put the fire out. That was something, able to preform under pressure, but apparently not normal charms. "I highly doubt that." The Defense class had been fun to practice those, which is probably why she'd done alright with them. She was not good a practicing the normal, boring way. Maybe that was the trick.

She let Sisse try and show her the correct movements, but it still felt odd to do smoothly. Bless Sisse's patience because her second attempt blasted the doors open, never mind just locking the lock. This is pointless, why do I need thisss?" She sighed dramatically and pouted.

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"I wouldn't be so su-" Bam! Sisse jumped at the noise as the doors flew open. She quickly schooled her features as Sloane looked positively mutinous. "Well..." Sisse started, a million reasons why Charms would be useful floating to her mind. But then something occured to her. "Will Cameron write you this summer, do you think?" Perhaps there was a way to give Sloane a reason to learn the spell.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Sloane had reached her boiling point with this nonsense. Why in the name of Merlin's left ear did she need some of these spells? Use a damn key to lock something! "I appreciate your help, but I think I'm done." Really, she did appreciate when her friends took extra time to help her, but now she was frustrated and that wasn't going to get them anyway.

The question about Cam caught her a little off guard, but she had told herself that she wasn't going to really talk about things with Cam. They were in some sort of weird limbo anyway, things were better, but not great and she honestly didn't think anyone would understand or even want to try. "Probably," She shrugged, trying to keep it casual. "Wasn't worried about it." Really though, a little space this summer might not be bad for them.

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As if Sloane's words proved her point, Sisse nodded. "And would you want your brothers to find the letters?" She added, already knowing the answer but waiting patiently for Sloane to get there too. And if Sloane started to understand the usefulness of the charm perhaps she would be more willing for another go at the box.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

"My brothers know that if I ever found them going through my things, I would haunt their every waking moment and it wouldn't be fun." Besides only Wally was dumb enough to try and even then she doubted he would care very much. "Plus there's nothing incriminating in there anyway." Generally. Harry had been the one to help her charm the Howler one time to send to Cam, but even he hadn't asked why. Maybe she was lucky in the brother department or they feared her. Either way she ran with it.

"Besides if they really wanted in, what's to stop them from using alohomora anyway?" Another charm she struggled with.

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Sloane had some valid points. "You know," Sisse tapped her cheek slightly as she thought, "I'd rather think you'd like blasting charms rather than alohamora." Sisse's teasing was always gentle but she smiled at her friend to soften it just in case.

"Either way, I think you probably need a break. Practicing when you are frustrated is only tempting more time." Sisse was wise enough to know that after having tutored Sloane for four years now.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom

Sloane cast a wry smile in Sisse's direction; blasting charms were more her style, but she appreciated more that Sisse wasn't going to push to keep practicing. It was nice having friends that read her pretty well. They were finally back on mostly-normal terms too, so Sloane would have hated for anything to upset that.

She packed up her things, tossing her textbook haphazardly into a stack and tying it off to carry back upstairs. "Snack time?" Sloane raised an eyebrow at her friend. School was almost done for the year, she had to soak up as much friend time as she could. Not that she wouldn't see them this summer, but Sisse wasn't quite as easy as Calla or Hatch sometimes.

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"Definitely." Sisse agreed as she gathered her few books and placed them neatly into her bag. "Perhaps some biscuits?" For all the dainty lady that Sisse was supposed to be she was generally a very hungry person and almost never turned food down. Her mother always worried that she would gain weight, but Sisse only seemed to get taller rather than wider. Likely she'd have to pay attention to that in the next few years, she had to stop herself from sighing at that.

"Then I should probably get to work on studying for potions." Now that truly was a reason to sigh. She worked hard at potions, unlike Charms it didn't come as naturally, but she did work at it. She asked Ned and Alice for help and had spent countless hours over the course of the past four years studying and practicing to maintain a good grade in the course. It was finally starting to feel like it was paying off, but not enough for her to even remotely consider not studying every extra moment she had for her exam in it.

  

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Thank you Bee <3 Your magic has made Sisse bloom