Astronomy ~ A ← usually E
- Astronomy was the only class Aidene could really share with her father, a squib, over the breaks. She knew he loved stargazing and would eagerly share everything with him. Turns out it also served as a great review over the summer months. But given that Astronomy was also one of the few classes she could see her friends, her focus was more on her friend list than the lessons.
Charms ~ E
- Charms was like DADA for Non-combat mode. And as far as Aidene was concerned, it was the best class to pick up spells and spellcasting technique in. With much fewer waking hours, Aidene started incorporating more spells for more efficiency in her everyday vernacular. It wasn’t quite enough to boost her from her usual Charms performance, but it did help with review. Plus even if she couldn’t attend class, she had to try extra hard for sweet Professor Shoichet!
DADA ~ O
- Aidene was impressed by Professor Cohen from day one and thereafter sought to always make what Professor Cohen might approve of as “good choices”. It was no secret that for much of her first three years she wanted to join whatever faction Professor Cohen was surely a boss of. Inciting a combination of paying attention, extra studying, and fangirl enthusiasm, DADA was undoubtedly Aidene’s strongest class throughout her time at Hogwarts. It also helped that DADA spells also fit well into her combat interests.
Herbology ~ P ← usually A
- Aidene had mixed feelings about Herbology: Herbology could be useful for cooking, but it was also a mess and she hated any bugs or creatures that might hang out around the plants. Professor Hill couldn't compare with Professor Cohen or Professor Shoichet, but Aidene thought he was a very effective and fair instructor and put in solid effort to pass his class and not be a distraction. Unfortunately, while she was usually pretty decent at working with plants and understanding what the plants could be used for, missing the last half year of class didn’t do any favors for her written exam or practical. She was very disappointed to not be able to continue Herbology at the NEWT level.
History ~ D ← usually A or P
- Aidene would usually work on embroidery or some unobtrusive art project as she listened to Professor Powell’s storytelling. History hardly felt like a class so much as a fun story time, and usually her papers captured the rough narrative of the lesson. But Aidene also tended to make up or remember superfluous details about the history they talked about. While they made for creative essays, they did not help her marks on exams. Without Professor Powell’s classes, studying History was as frustrating as it was dull and confusing. Aidene put some effort into it on her own, but kept mixing information up, and her imagination took over more than usual. She was, though, more upset about disappointing Professor Powell or even August and the tutoring table than not being able to continue History.
Potions ~ A ← usually E or A
- Potions were just like cooking, right? Aidene liked potions, but she also had a tendency to wonder how something might change the recipe and either intentionally or accidentally experiment. She learned a lot, and in a pinch she could do what was asked of her, but her answers weren’t always coherently expressed for exams. Given Professor Whitethorne’s class was one of the few she could actually attend for the last part of the fifth year though, Aidene managed to put a good foot forward in Potions, even though her practical still carried her grade.
Transfiguration ~ D
- For half of her first year Aidene somehow still called Transfiguration “Transmogrification” or “Transformation”, which just about summarized her relationship with this class. While usually her imagination helped fuel her spells, in this case her imagined transfigurations were always a little off: hedgehogs were blue, mice were yellow with long ears, etc. She felt really bad for Professor Drage, having to teach her not only how to do the transfiguration, but how to properly imagine the desired animal and not a Pokemon. She didn’t fail completely because she could proficiently perform any transfiguration spells so long as they didn’t involve animals. Starting third year she started drawing memes for her homework, which at least gave her motivation to complete said homework. This greatly helped, but drawing memes on her OWL exam probably did not meet the same approval or understanding.
ELECTIVES
Cursebreaking ~ A
- Although she only took the class because Professor Cohen recommended it, Aidene grew to think of Cursebreaking as a puzzle game-- and she loved games. Generally better at breaking things than she was at breaking curses, Aidene was determined to be able to take the NEWT and put many an hour into practicing and controlling the spells and devising strategies for identifying and countering curses. Unfortunately she just wasn’t very articulate about writing about them.
Healing ~ A ← usually A or E depending on assignment
- Another elective Professor Cohen recommended, Healing was something Aidene had a very inconsistent relationship with. In general, her spellwork was precise and practiced with as much effort as she put into her Charms or Cursebreaking. But her studying and her understanding of theory and healing knowledge depended heavily on what unit they were studying. Not having the class to learn in greatly hurt her written examination. But Healing was also Vespera’s best subject, and after seeing how hard Ves worked at her DADA NEWT for her, Aidene started trying harder in Healing; this effort doubled again following her death in winter. While this newfound dedication might have paid off if there was more time, Aidene wasn’t quite able to get the E she wanted in time for OWLs.
Mythology ~ A ← probably O in understanding
- While Aidene had the same problem with History in making up details to fill in the myths, she had a miraculously better time keeping details in line with the existing myths--perhaps due to growing up with a fascination with mythology in art and gaming. Before her vampirification, she frequently acted out scenes with her dolls for younger students. Aidene found Professor Harlowe’s classroom very calming, and was actually always on top of her homework, especially once she found out Professor Harlowe was fine with memes, illustrations or even the occasional outfit design or recipe as her homework submissions. Early fifth year she got obsessed with the Founders of Hogwarts and started a whole project around that on top of writing a Celtic mythology DnD campaign. While definitely engaged and always learning from the class, Aidene wasn’t the most traditional student, and having to sit down to take a quill-and-parchment test never helped. Furthermore, due to how much less waking time she had as a vampire, Aidene couldn't afford the same abandon and focus on her artistic projects, which particularly hurt her in the spring semester.
Wandless ~ E
- While her wand was great for detailed charms, Aidene took Wandless as an extra perk in her combat arsenal. The fact that Professor Cohen recommended it meant she was extra motivated to do well, and the fact that it might have saved her life in winter meant she didn’t slack on her practice afterwards. She kept up practice by working it into her training at Fite Club, but with all the other OWLs to self-study, she slacked on studying theory for the written section.
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Note: Aidene was turned into a vampire over the winter break. Spring semester was a lot of recovering into her new life and testing new boundaries. For reference and NEWT-level considerations I’ve included what her usual grades probably would have been based on her effort and performance in classes. She would have to request for teacher approval to continue with Potions, Cursebreaking and Healing at the NEWT level.
