Hello... Again

Theory vs. Charms

"The wand chooses the wizard - not an entirely accurate statement. It would be more accurate to say that the magic chooses the wizard."

Agnes glanced again to the clock hanging above the blackboard. There was at least fifteen minutes or so left of class. Agnes looked back to the students before her. Surprisingly, they were all intrigued by the topic of today's lecture.

"Magic chooses us by finding, and then selecting, the wand that allows the clearest communication for that individual witch or wizard. This is determined by a number of traits including personality, the arrangement of stars on the night of the wizards birth, and other bigoted ideas such as various arithmetic ratios that make up one's body. I would go on, but this is not Arithmancy. All in all, when choosing our wands, it is one of the most magically complex occurrences that we will probably ever experience in our lives.

"The movements of one's wand; the pronunciation of the spell; clearly picturing the nature of the spell in one's mind; one's emotions; and the confidence in casting is said to determine how well one communicates their intentions to magic. At least that is what we are taught in Charms. A rather false claim, I must say. Unless we use these principles while learning an entirely new spell."

Agnes paused to allow those who were writing notes to catch up. She scanned over the students. Most of the Ravenclaws were sending her questioning looks. This was Magical Theory. Not their oh-so-beloved Charms class. Agnes shook her head at just the thought. Most of those "charms" that they were learning were nothing more than incorrectly classified hexes or curses. She would have to make a note to go over the correct classification of spells very soon. And she would make sure that she went over the proper classification with every class - even the third years.

"The pronunciation of spells that Flitwick and the other professors are teaching you are nothing more than guidelines. The implication that the pronunciation of the spell is so very important is bogus. There are different variations of different spells with different variations of pronunciation. While some work better than others, it is not proven whether or not these pronunciations are what Magical Theory experts would call a spell's true name. The only real case where pronunciation is of the utmost importance is when we are trying to perform Transfiguration. One wrong move, or one wrong flick, can cause a mouse to be turned into a mutant rather than the preferred tea cup. I'm sure most of you have seen this with Professor McGonagall's exercises."

A wave of chuckles momentarily swept through the class.

"Through various languages, we are slowly working our way towards finding the True Name for magic. This theory, so far, states that Latin is the closest that we have come to the True Language of magic. Whatever the case may be, magic all comes down to how we communicate with it. However, I am afraid that the remainder of this discussion will have to wait for another day."

The class all looked to the clock hanging above the blackboard. It was time for the class to end and for them to enjoy having the rest of the afternoon class free. Those who were writing notes picked up the pace in their scrawling.

"Keep in mind that I will be moving at a faster pace next week to help you prepare for those midterms the other professors keep piping on about!"

Agnes had earned herself a few groans from the students who were still in earshot. The room was quickly emptying. Looking back at the clock herself, Agnes saw that she would easily have enough daylight left after grading the stack of papers on her desk. She had been itching to go to the Black Lake for a while, now. Agnes had found that she enjoyed spending time here and there with Hagrid. Hagrid was one of those people who don't judge you. He was nice to you as long as you were nice to him. Agnes liked that about Hagrid. First thing was first, though. The papers needed to be graded before she could start enjoying any free time.