OWL Name: LEO RUTHERFORDYear: 5
Defense Against the Dark Arts The subject was always worrying for Leo, who wasn't able to see which threats were coming at him and usually relied on visual cues. He was thankful that the examiner was at the very least mindful of the fact that he was blind and had stood in one spot and then called out so that Leo knew which direction to send the spell in. It was nerve-wracking to do something like this, especially since it was his OWLs--he didn't want to do poorly on any of them, just in case!
At least it wasn't NEWTs. He was thankful that he still had a little ways to go before he had that much to worry about, even if it was just one more thing to add to the stresses of getting older.
Leo prepared himself by gripping his wand tightly and attempting to remember any and all of Professor Da Costa's advice about casting this spell. Maybe he should've taken some initiative and practiced a little more outside of class, but practical magic was a little more difficult. It wasn't like he wanted his friends to start hurling spells at him so that he could practice, even if it probably would've been fun.
Shield Charm. That was doable. All he needed to do was stand his ground and hope that his shield would be able to stand up to enough of the examiner's spells.
"Protego!" Leo said, and he felt the shield forming in front of him. It didn't surround him completely--he'd never managed something like that, and apparently that was common for even adult wizards. Hopefully the examiner wouldn't expect him to be on his guard for things happening behind him.
He felt the resistance of the examiner's first spell at the same time he heard her calling out the name. It was unfamiliar to him--maybe a spell he would learn later, as a NEWT student? Regardless, his shield held up, although he was pushed back a little bit.
Leo kept it up, waiting for the examiner's next spell or for her to tell him that they were done with this. This time, Leo was familiar with the spell she cast. It was Expelliarmus, which was quite famous. Leo had even studied that one, in case it would be useful for this exam. Well, it turned out it was, even if it was because he was blocking it.
Leo grinned when he realized that he had done it successfully, but he was still waiting for the instructor to tell him they were done with this and that he could move on to his other exams. However, another spell came, this time non-verbal, which Leo admittedly hadn't thought about, and so he was caught a little off guard. A few seconds, and then his shield shattered and he was knocked down.
"Oof!" Leo said, stunned for a second. The examiner walked closer, clearing her throat. She offered her hand, which Leo gratefully accepted.
"You can move on to your next exam, now." Leo smiled sheepishly. He could hear the examiner writing something down on her clipboard or parchment, whatever she had. Hopefully it wasn't so bad.
Potions Leo's ingredients all had braille labels somewhere on them, and so did his weights. It was easy to be organized when you knew where everything was, and so Leo did his best to do that, familiarizing himself with the various things provided to him for whatever potion he was supposed to be making in the given time.
He wasn't sure how he would do. Honestly, potions wasn't his best subject, since he usually got frustrated with it somewhere along the line or forgot a little thing. But this was an exam, and he was determined not to do that. He'd been going over various potions, trying to remember what was necessary for many of the potions he had learned over the years. It was all a bit much, but probably necessary, given that these were OWLs.
The examiner announced that Leo was to prepare an Antidote to Uncommon Poisons. Leo wished that he would never have to encounter any uncommon poisons, but at least this was something that he had done somewhat recently, instead of being something in the back of his brain that he thought he would remember and didn't.
He filled up the cauldron with water, mentally going over the recipe for the potion in his head. He could do this. For sure, he could do this. No mistakes.
Leo carefully shook out a few fire seeds, holding his breath to avoid smelling the spiciness of the seeds. He counted out four and put the rest back into the jar. The four went into the cauldron, followed by a couple of very carefully handled Billywig Stings. Then he set to bringing it to a boil. He used his ears to hear when the cauldron was bubbling, then added in five more fire seeds. He started stirring clockwise, although keeping track of time was difficult.
Usually Leo relied on one of the other students to tell him, as they could see hourglasses or whatever else they used to keep time. He'd heard that one of the younger students used something called an 'egg timer,' whatever that was. He set an hourglass, but didn't really keep too much track of it until he thought it was done. The sand sounded like it was all in the bottom, so he moved on to the next step.
6 ounces of powdered graphorn. Leo measured it out carefully. The needle on his scale felt centered, so he added in what he hoped was 6 ounces, then stirred counter-clockwise. This time, he just counted to 120, even if a few numbers were repeated or skipped due to the monotony of it all.
"Perdisco pigmentum" Leo said, casting the spell to find out what color the potion was.
"Blue!" announced the wand in Leo's voice.
Great! Leo added the 2 Chizpurfle Carapaces and let it simmer for around 15 minutes, this time going off of the hourglasses. He didn't really care to count that high. Then he started stirring clockwise for about 4 minutes, again aided by an hourglass. His arms were getting a little tired by the end. Potions was a lot of work!
"Perdisco pigmentum" Leo said, casting the spell again.
"Teal!" announced the wand, so in went another carefully handled billywig sting. Ugh, more stirring. Leo tried not to groan as he remembered that there would be even more stirring after this. 2 minutes, so Leo counted to 120 again, then added 2 billywig stings and repeated the counter-clockwise stirring and counting to 120.
"Perdisco pigmentum" Leo said, casting the spell a final time.
"Green!" announced the wand. Leo hoped that it was a good green and that he hadn't accidentally made anything poisonous. He heard the examiner scratching down notes before he was told to move on to the next exam.
Transfiguration One more practical exam, and then Leo would be done with his practical OWLs. He tried not to be too nervous. He liked Transfiguration, honestly! Sometimes it was difficult, but he thought it was probably a subject people complained a bit too much about. Not like Charms. Leo liked Charms. Everyone seemed to like Charms. But now he needed to focus. What if he needed to conjure something?
As it turned out, Leo was to do the exact opposite. The examiner explained that there was a large beach ball in front of Leo, and his goal was to make it vanish in a timely manner. For a second, Leo thought about popping it. That was a silly answer to the task, though. He knew what the examiner wanted: the Vanishing Spell.
It should have been easy enough. Leo really wanted it to be easy, otherwise he would start questioning his performance in the other subjects. He really, really did not want to earn a 'T' for troll in any of these. He didn't know anyone who did, but he was sure it was possible. He focused on the spot where he had felt the beach ball, and gripped his wand.
It was simple. Leo knew the incantation, had heard it whenever one of his dads was cleaning up and needed something to disappear.
"Evanesco!"" Leo heard the sound of the spell leaving his wand, as well as the force it generated. He reached out in front of him, hoping not to feel the light, airy ball. Then, when he didn't feel it, he checked the floor, just in case he had knocked it over. To his mild surprise, he didn't find it anywhere.
The beach ball had really vanished! And on his first try! Leo had practiced and practiced, hoping he would be able to do it with something like that instead of something small, like one of his socks (though he was pretty sure that those had their own vanishing magic anyways, the way he ended up with half a pair).
"Thank you, Mr. Rutherford. You can go now." The examiner told him, and again he heard the scratching of a quill on a writing surface. Leo let out a deep breath. Whatever happened, he was done!
