Entry Five

Chapter 5

Today in class we discussed willpower and how it applies to charms such as the Fire-Making Charm. We then revisited the Levitation Charm, and discussed how using more willpower will enable the caster to levitate heavier objects. Then we got into the Sticking Charm. This wand movement took a lot of practice for me. As a right-handed person, I naturally wanted to begin the motion by moving my wand up and to the right, instead of up and to the left. It took many attempts before I felt somewhat comfortable doing it “backwards”. Then I practiced the incantation, before partnering with another student in class to work together. We used two of our books, each contributing one so that it would be fair if we stuck them together forever on accident. Fortunately that didn’t happen, as we both took turns sticking them together and then unlocking each other’s magic using the Unlocking Charm. This went fairly well, though the first couple of attempts by each of us resulted in nothing happening. I surmised this was likely because we were not using enough willpower, and as the trials went on I found myself using more and more willpower, visualizing the books being stuck together and staying stuck for a long time.

After class, I went out to the grounds in search of a rock or boulder, something heavy to attempt to lift using the Levitation Charm and more willpower. I found a medium sized boulder, something I could move using physical strength, but only just barely. I sat next to it, and quickly reminded myself of the swish and flick movement and incantation, Wingardium Leviosa. In my mind I visualized the boulder rising up into the air a few inches. I then performed the incantation, and the boulder did…nothing. I frowned and tried again, with the same result. I took a deep breath, telling myself not to get frustrated and just apply more willpower. I resumed my visualization, this time imagining the boulder flying several feet into the air. Upon performing the incantation, the boulder twitched a few times, as if trying to levitate, but it never left the ground. Now I visualized the boulder shooting into the air. This finally resulted in the rock levitating an inch or two off of the ground. I let it come back down to the ground, marveling at what I needed to think about in order to bring about such a small result by comparison.