After hours of learning theory, finally the day had come to start practicing magic! I must admit, I just could not wait for it, finally it was a piece of magic, real magic that was just waiting to be practiced! It had been so long, way too long, since I had gotten my wand, and now I was finally going to be allowed to start using it properly. A dream come true, so to say. And having read the assigned material, I was even more excited in what I would be able to do, hopefully. Even though this little piece of wood was warmer in my hand than I could have ever imagined wood to be, I still could not believe that I would one day be able to practice magic. I mean to say, it's magic, and I am but a little girl.

Excitedly, I waited for the professor to arrive. Today, we should be starting with the first bits of magic at the end of the lesson, lighting and extinguishing our wand tips. It did not seem to be too hard, just looking at the textbook, but nevertheless it should be impossible! I mean to say, the light had to be generated somehow, it did not make any sense from a physics point of view! But that's magic for you, always doing the unexpected.

Looking at my textbook, I had already highlighted the relevant passages, not daring to actually practice anything with my wand for real. I did not want to make my dorm explode on accident, the other girls would kill me for sure! So I had just been practicing in secret, using a pencil that had been carefully sharpened to be of the exact length as my wand. As it appeared, we would be starting with the Wand-Lighting Charm. Quickly, I took out my book, thumbing through post-its to find the relevant passage.

The Wand-Lighting Charm

• Incantation: Lumos (pronounced ‘LOO-mos’)
• Wand Movement: Single counter-clockwise loop
• Focus: None
• Willpower: Low; determines the color of the light
• Concentration: None

No concentration, almost no willpower. Well, that should not be too hard. However, it was everything but easy. Drawing a loop was easy enough, but I had never noticed the importance of timing before. Apparently, everyone knows. But this is a problem that is easily rectified. Just getting the timing right is extremely tricky at the beginning. Not a flicker of light wanted to appear, just to spite me, I'm sure. This light has to work, it will work, why the **** doesn't it work? Wand, light NOW! And with this train of thoughts, it actually lit. Brightly scarlet. As did my face. This was not to happen. But at least, something happened, meaning I could actually do magic!

Having new confidence, I directly wanted to try again. Not remembering the details about the spell, I quickly put down to look up how to work Nox, only to see that the light went out immediately. Nevermind, I will get it to work, again!

The Wand-Extinguishing Charm

• Incantation: Nox (pronounced ‘NOCK-ss’)
• Wand Movement: Swift (fast) flick
• Focus:  None
• Willpower: None
• Concentration: None

So, reading about Nox, I now remember the direction of the flick again. There is none, meaning I did not forget anything. What a relief, but I did not want to risk it. Better safe than sorry! Now, on to Lumos again. This time, it is actually easier to ignite my wand tip. And to my endless relief, it is no longer scarlet, but rather a warm, yellowish light. Phew. And Nox works as well.

But if two colours are possible, why not more? We never heard about any limitations of the spell, mainly that it is red if we put in too much willpower. So other colours should be possible, shouldn't they? Remembering home, one spotlight in my room directly comes to my mind: A white cupboard of mine is illuminated by a brilliantly blue spotlight, highlighting its intricate design. And blue is a cool colour anyways, and not scarlet. So it is certainly worth a try. Thinking hard of the lamp in question, I try to cast Lumos again - yellowish light. A second try - no change. So apparently, I am focussing my willpower in the wrong way. Duh, thinking about it, this should be obvious. It is not the lamp I should be thinking of, but the light. We do not generate a lamp after all. So I spend a couple of seconds remembering the brilliantly blue light, how it is forming a slight aura if I'm dusting my room, how it is hiding some details and emphasising others. And then, finally, I cast again. And it works, somewhat. At least the light is not yellow anymore, but a rather cool, slightly bluish colour. Some baby blue, not the azure I imagined. But this is a matter of practice, without any doubt!

Excerpts about the Charms are taken from Quintessential Magic: An Introduction to Charms (2nd Ed.), Chapter 11.