The spells in class are definitely starting to become more difficult. I found myself nearly failing my charms test today, even though when I reviewed my answers some I had known. I need to pay more attention during class and test so I can avoid mishaps like this in the future.

At least I've been getting better with my spell work. Now that I'm starting to understand the words, I find that its easier to perform the spells. The teacher seems to put a lot of effort into pronunciation, but it really seems to be the most important part.

My friends and I had decided to practice in an open field. This way if we caught any fires, it would be easy enough to put out. We each had candles to practice on. We wanted to all try the spell at the same time (as to help my social anxiety) so once we all practiced our wand movements and pronunciations, we performed the spell. Incendio, I said as I flicked my wand up and down. I was very careful to end my wand where the candle tip was and not on the grass. My energy flowed through the wand as a puff of smoke came from my wand. I could feel the heat coming off of it, but my magic wasn't yet strong enough to light the candle. Only one of my friend's magic actually was. We all let the magic stop flowing and the smoke puffs went out.

Next, we had to practice the locomotion charm. This one was a little harder to pronounce, but I had already practiced saying it in my dorm with my textbook early on in the week. I was third to go in our group and both my friends had had trouble getting the object to move like they wanted. I said the charm while ending my wand motions on the candle. Locomotion Candle. I then flicked my wand to the right and the candle flew into my friend David. I blushed and apologized. But, he was still very impressed. So, I spent the day helping my friends to pronounce the words, while David helped them get the wand movements right. It was a great day playing around with our candles in the field.

I'm so proud of my progress so far in the class. With every lesson and charm I learn, I can feel myself getting closer to the roots my father passed down to me in magic. I may be halfblood, but that doesn't mean I can't be any less successful then anyone else. I just need to keep working as hard as I can.