Paper Basketball Prodigal Finished

The 17th of September, 2019
Afternoon

Meenauh practised every day. Books and theory moved to lesser priority for her as her spell inventory increased during her first year at Hogwarts and the summer after it. Her mother was more than intrigued to test the edges of Meenauh's abilities. Back at home, her mother transfigured multiple sponges for practice, so that Meenauh wouldn't hurt anyone in the process. And also her mother tended to make the basic tasks a bit more challenging for Meenauh even if the purpose was just learning, not mastering. So, sponges were much harder to hit with a spell due to the size. Pillows would be much easier, but no... Mother said why not practising the aiming along the way. She could have regretted that if Meenauh would be an inaccurate caster, which she was if she was disturbed, but not when she concentrated on her routines.

The classroom was emptier than usually, which was even better, due to the lower risk of sending a random heavy object at someone. There were multiple crumpled up balls of paper lying on the floor, which were the perfect targets for Meenauh. And another opportunity to practise her aiming skills.

"Depulso!" she said targeting at the closest paper ball and with a sweep of her wand she sent it forward to hit the wall. What she didn't practise before was trying to send an object to a specific location, which required a bit more concentration as she would have to not only aim perfectly but to sweep her wand to a certain location. She thought she could try some paper basketball.

After a quick overview of the classroom, she located sort of a black bin, not quite understanding what purpose it served. It was empty, therefore a perfect choice for the improvised game of hers. It took a bit more than concentration, because she had no control over the ball flight trajectory, unlike with levitation. So it took physics calculation, which meant using a different part of her brain.

"Depulso!" she said targeting a ball, it flew all the way to the bin and hit it in the side.

"Depulso!" she said targeting another ball and swept her wand in a different way. The ball jumped up a bit and flew over the bin, hitting the wall behind it.
The next three balls missed as well, but she started to grasp the subtle differences in her wand movements and how they affected the applied power to the paper balls.

Finally, a ball was sent in an arch right into the bin.

"10 points for Gryffindor!" she exclaimed to herself, imagining she could play the game with her fellow students. She kept trying it with more balls until she achieved the success rate of at least 75 per cent — enough to grant herself a feeling of satisfaction of that day's practise session.

Professor Comment: Great job, Miss Silmataurea! You've successfully learned the spell!