May 12th, 1894; Afternoon — Empty Classroom

"Like this, then?" she asked, a bit more sharply than was strictly polite, as she made a grand show of correcting her wand position.

Examinations were on the horizon. While Philippa Rowle was confident she would do well in her written tests, she had been dreading any sort of practical testing for the better part of a month. And who could blame her? She had, after all, been notoriously bad at wandwork all year. Indeed, the Gryffindor often pretended she was above casting in class, in front of others; anything to hide the fact that in truth, Pippa was embarrassed.

That was why they were here, in a classroom, rather than at the organized study event. An older student, one generally successful at [transfig, charms, or DADA; dealer's choice!] had been enlisted for a bit of pre-examination tuteledge, and at first, Pippa had genuinely been grateful, wanted to get the most out of the chance for improvement.

But as even the handling of her wand was critiqued, she found herself still embarrassed, decidedly frustrated, and vaguely resentful towards the brave soul with whom she had spent the last half hour.

Why was this so difficult?!

Open to a vaguely helpful student in year 3+!

  

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Emma watched Philippa's frustrated attempts at wandwork, wincing as the spell went ary. Philippa's discomfort was clear to see, her nerves reflecting in the tension of her shoulders.

"Let's try it again," Emma said gently, her voice a counterpoint to Philippa's sharpness. "But this time, try to relax your grip on the wand a bit. You're holding it like you're trying to wrestle a Hungarian Horntail!" With a small smile, Emma demonstrated the proper wand grip, her movements fluid and precise. "Like this!" she offered the wand to Philippa.

"Remember, it's okay to make mistakes. That's how we learn." she said kindly.

  

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MJ Did Beautiful things!

"We learn by succeeding," the Gryffindor muttered under her breath. And then, more clearly, "is a wand not a tool to be wielded? I should think my grip would not matter!"

That it was Pippa's own failings the Gryffindor was frutrated at, rather than the wand, the spell, or Miss Flitwick herself, was not about to be voiced aloud.

Emma Flitwick

  

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