Sierra had carefully chosen the time of day to complete this task. It was mid-afternoon, just after all her classes had ended for the day, and she knew none of the other second years would be in the dorm. She looked around just in case, and not seeing anyone, she stepped up to the floor-length mirror near her bed.

So what now?

She'd never done karate before. Wasn't this a Muggle way of defending yourself? She remembered two things, and two things only, about karate: it involved chopping, and it involved kicking. She could do that, ...yup. She raised her hands into a chopping motion and then turned around and around, facing all different directions, as she chopped through the air.

*chop, chop, chop, chop, chop*

When she was starting to get dizzy, she stopped and decided it was now time to kick. She kept her hands in the chopping position. All the pictures she'd seen of people doing karate had them with their hands in that position. She started kicking the air all around the room. Once, she almost kicked the floor-length mirror, but she dodged it just in time.

*kick, kick, kick, kick, kick*

Not really knowing anymore moves, and feeling idiotic as it was, she came to a stop. She looked around the room again, checking to make sure no one had come in while she'd been chopping and kicking. They hadn't, so she was safe. She brushed off her hands and then left the room.