Quote:
Originally Posted by
Tegz 
"You've got to put some intent into it." Jim answered. "Its Nika, right? Be confident, and even if you don't feel confident, fake it. Think about something that makes you feel strongly and use that to focus your intent. You can't question yourself with offensive magic, or your wand will question you too and nothing will happen. See hexes and jinxes and especially curses, you have to put negative feelings in because after all they aren't benign are they? The point is to either hurt someone or incapacitate them so they can't hurt you. Just keep practicing and be firm with it. You're not gonna let a little spell get the better of you right?" He gave the kid an encouraging grin.
Nika nodded with a small smile.
"Yeah, Nika." So intent, confidence, and negative feelings. Shouldn't be too hard...
Then why is it so hard!? She took a deep breath as she concentrated hard.
"Right." She said strongly. If only she could feel that confident while casting the spell. Jim made it look so easy. She held up her wand once more and looked at the dummy again.
Nika took one last deep breath trying "channel" all of the negitiveness into her spell.
"Er-tick-ate" She said louder than the first time she had tried and a little more confidently. Still nothing happened. She frowned slightly and tried again. She was determined to get this right, even if it took all day.
"Er-tick-ate!" This time a little wisp of something came out of her wand. The spell may have not worked, but she was getting somewhere. Hopefully this little wisp meant improvement and not that she did something wrong.
Then she turned to Aurora just in time to see the first year get it right without even asking for help. She felt a little pink creep up on her cheeks as she burned with embarrassment. Even first year Aurora can do it.