Charley's confidence wavered just a little to learn the spell would take more than her basic swish and flick. If Mrs. Mann didn't keep holding her back from the really useful spells, or had Hogwarts had just let her attend one more year, there was no telling how powerful she would be by now. There was still plenty for her to learn, but the urchin was a witch just like the rest of them, too. All she needed was someone to show her how to be one.

Her eyes perked up when the professor stepped right through the gate, a giddiness welling right behind her tongue. They went up and up, until Charley realized just how tall the man was. To her great relief, he didn't step so close as to make her crane her neck back too far. She might have grinned at that, but the professor's voice shifted to that unmistakeable timbre that could fill the corners of a classroom. All the sudden, he was the teacher and she the student.

"Like this?" Charley asked, stomping each of her shoes down in a stance deliberately wider than before. It wasn't right, sitting so heavy on her heels. "Feels a bit off, innit?" The urchin shifted back to the balls of her feet, standing like she preferred, "This way I can dodge or dash if the spell goes off!"

Charley rocked back onto her heels, following the movements of his wand with her eyes. It seemed simple enough, just a squiggle in the air. Her hand traced the pattern in front of her, taking care not to shower the professor with sparks this time. He was sure to appreciate that, and then he'd see her wisdom in how her feet were poised.

The urchin didn't notice her weight moving back towards her toes as she waved her wand a few more times to get the motion down. At the last squiggle, she flicked her eyes up to the flowers wound around the iron bars. Now that she really looked, their sore need for a bit of tonic or some sort. "Right then," Charley said with the weight of finality in her words, not her feet, "I'm all set, what's the big word?"

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