Well, that was interesting

[alt_pansy]

I wonder how long it'll take someone to actually land something that will properly hit Professor Desai? It was interesting to see who tried for it, and when, and who was holding back, or only taking shots at fellow students.

Linus, you should make a chart or something.

And go Milli! That was quite bold of you. Too bad Ron got your wand. I hope the counter hexes kicked in properly.

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[alt_pansy]

The look on Megan's face. Merlin. Desai's really not fiddling around, is she?

Nev, the devil's snare was brill. And what'd you do to make Crabbe misspeak, Justin? Was it the tongue curse, or something else? Whatever it was, it worked pretty well. And Katrina, that was really brave of you, too.

Did you see how red Finnigan was getting? I think you showed well, Ron.

It figures Patil would hold back.

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[alt_pansy]

I hope Katrina isn't too hacked off.

Trying to score some points?

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[alt_ron]

Yeah. I talked to Kat. She's tough, y'know. And I was counting on you lot covering for her as much as possible without it being obvious, but yeah.

Scoring points with Desai. That's what I've got to do.

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[alt_pansy]

Good. It helps to know it's for a good reason.

And yeah, I figured you were. It's sort of obvious? I'm wondering if that's the best way to go. I bet she's expecting obvious from you, though. And you can certainly back it up. I mean, you were dead impressive against Finnigan.

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[alt_pansy]

How's she been handling things? I really haven't had the chance to talk to her about any of it, and we don't normally talk much anyways.

Maybe we should do a meet up or something?

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[alt_sally_anne]

How's who doing? Bundy? I saw her a little while ago and she was fine.

She knows Ron's trying to get into the Aurors, and why.

A meetup's not a bad idea. We could do some planning for the next time Desai does this.

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[alt_sally_anne]

What I'm really not looking forward to is Desai hounding those of us who'd rather not make ourselves marks for our classmates. Next time I should probably try for her right before the end of class. (I mean, I expect nearly everyone else will, so...)

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[alt_ron]

Kat, you mean? She was worrying a bit how she'd contribute, but I told her the thing is that when something comes up, we all do what's needed and it's not like we each have specific roles or duties or anything. I told something will come up soon enough. No sense worrying about it til it does.

And I told her to talk to Sue and you if she has a chance, because you've probably got things you could share about how it feels fitting in.

So, yeah, it'd be a good idea to get together sometime soon and just talk. I mean, Kat's close to Ev, too, but I think those of us who are just a year from leaving school have a different set of things to work out than the ones who've got longer, y'know?

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[alt_justin]

Pansy,

It's 'Lexicomalorum,' what, and induces a form of dyslexia in the victim.

I say, next time I might wait even longer. Defending for forty minutes was more troublesome than I'd expected.

-Justin

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[alt_pansy]

That's a mouthful. I suppose it would be, though.

Crabbe was an utter idiot for starting as early as he did. Well. He's an idiot regardless. I wonder if he actually thought he was good enough, or just didn't think through what it'd be like to have a giant target on him for the rest of class.

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[alt_ron]

Well, it's not as if he listens or pays attention much. So having to fend off attacks probably just made time pass faster for him.

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[alt_terry]

Lexicomalorum? Never heard of that one (and what's dyslexia?).

Does it need a particular wand movement when you use it?

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[alt_justin]

Terry,

It's out of the Arcanum Incantatoribus Insolitae, one of the volumes I borrowed from Headmaster Dolohov over the summer.

Dyslexia is a condition in which one mixes up one's letters, or in Crabbe's case, one's sounds. Frequently one actually changes the orientation of letters or rearranges them, making it difficult to read or comprehend what one's reading.

As for wand movement, it's a simple slashing motion right to left, but it's a non-verbal spell. To answer your other question, I've been casting almost exclusively non-verbal for a few months, now. Duelling against the likes of Professor Dolohov and Auror Crouch will sharpen the necessity to not telegraph one's moves, what.

-F-F

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[alt_neville]

Merlin...I've never heard of dyslexia before. But now I'm wondering if that's something I have.

I've always been a slow reader, because yeah, sometimes the letters look weird to me. And when I started learning to write, Gran often said I was putting down my letters backwards.

Huh.

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[alt_justin]

Well, writing certain letters backward is common, or so I was told, when one starts out. But one usually grows out of it with practice.

I say, I'd bally well no idea you had any sort of trouble like that. So sorry to have hit a nerve, old man. Perhaps Matron could perform some sort of...evaluation? I'm not sure how it would be diagnosed by wizards.

-F-F

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[alt_neville]

I don't know either. I guess I can ask her.

I wonder...is it something you learned about in France? Or maybe muggles know about it and most wizards don't? Because I would have thought Gran would have known about it, or learned about it, when she was trying to do anything she could think of to get me to learn how to read and write.

In the end she just threw up her hands and told me to try harder. That didn't help very much.

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[alt_justin]

It's rather common among Muggles, yes. No offence intended to Matron or your grandmother, what, but on the whole it does seem that Muggle medicine has a better grasp of this sort of thing.

Then again, it was Muggle doctors who thought I had some unheard of ailment, when it was merely magical ability. And come to think of it, Muggles can't do things like regrow bones or heal broken ones in half a second, what! So perhaps they each have advantages and drawbacks.

-F-F

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[alt_neville]

I actually had to stop myself from casting a spell to help Jones clean herself up after class ended. I don't think I've ever seen her face so red before, and I think she was crying when she left for the hospital wing. (Not that I'm blaming you, Ron, since the Professor ordered you to do it. I guess it shows how Salazer's Rules gets us started turning on each other, all us students, I mean.)

Yeah, the Devil's Snare. There aren't many Herbology-related hexes, so I figured at least I'd get points for doing something unexpected. Which I did, so it worked. But it isn't as aggressive as some of the other curses that were flying around, so I hope people will figure I'm not as much of a threat.

My wand hand was still stinging an hour later where Zacharias Smith tagged me. But at least I managed to land one on Dunstan.

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[alt_justin]

Neville,

Yes, I say, it was jolly well done! Not something I'd have thought of at all, old man. I shall have to remember it in future.

-F-F

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[alt_ron]

It was brilliant, really. Think it might've been the only thing that surprised her all lesson.

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[alt_neville]

Thanks.

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[alt_terry]

Of course Ron would show well. Always has good speed whenever we're in practise together, from what I can tell.

Did any of you try nonverbal spells? I've been drilling on those endlessly, because we need to be as quiet as possible whenever we're in the field. I can manage casting nonverbally only about forty percent of the time, though.

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[alt_sally_anne]

I hit Finnigan with a stinging hex and I'm pretty sure I landed it (because I saw him jerk). Stinging hexes are easy to cast, though. I can pull off the little spells silently, not the big ones.

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[alt_ron]

It's a funny thing in an exercise like the one today. There's a good reason to go verbal once the hexes start getting thick in the air: if you want credit for the ones you land, it helps if the teacher heard you cast it.

But, yeah, I spent a lot of time this summer practising nonverbal casting. You don't get accepted to the programme if you can't already do it at a high level--complex spells under challenging conditions.

[alt_linus]

A chart is an excellent idea! If it were within my purview to award House Points, you would certainly have earned some with that suggestion.

[alt_pansy]

If you let me look at it, that'll be enough reward, thanks.

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[alt_rachel]

I got her once. Seventh year. Took a bit of planning and cooperation.

She gave me fifty House points. And ten to my confederate, she realised once I'd scored on her that she'd drawn fire deliberately.