CORE
Astronomy ~ A
- Sparrow mostly enjoyed Astronomy for having something to talk about in summer and winter while stargazing with her grandparents. Astronomy was not Sparrow’s best subject, but memorizing constellation names and planet facts was amongst the easier things she had to study for.
Charms ~ A
- Charms work was great for set building or just everyday doing things: Sparrow got plenty of practice from the sonorous charm for quidditch announcing to hot air spell for drying her hair. She practiced the movements diligently, fitting the way she cast them to fit whatever character she was playing. She did however, rely very heavily on memorization, and beyond basic spell theory, her written sections left something to be desired. There were dramatic differences in the quality of her practical, from weak versions of some spells to perfect control with others. Overall Sparrow just missed the mark for an E but was eager to continue.
Defense Against the Dark Arts ~ A
- Protecting herself and friends from dark creatures was definitely admirable but would have to be left for someone more proficient. Sparrow knew enough about the various dark creatures to know roughly what each did, but not enough as to immediately be able to identify and repel one. She had a few fundamental spells mastered, like lumos, flipendo, and riddikulus but struggled with the more complex or advanced spells.
Herbology ~ A
- Sparrow was pretty terrible at Herbology, confusing everything with everything else and mixing up care and uses and everything. But between her good friend Willow's help, BigSis Aspen’s explanations, her aunt Verine’s tutoring, and even Wren’s reluctant advice, Sparrow had the support she needed to at least make (mostly) comprehensible answers for the OWL. Her practical skills were better--even if she didn’t always know what needed to be done, she could perform an action competently. And no matter what, Sparrow conversed with the plants, feeding them gossip and good vibes like she would any other friend.
History of Magic ~ O
- Sparrow loved listening to stories, and history provided great context for stories--it was the story of stories! She appreciated how Professor Powell explained things and while she struggled a little to memorize everything her first two years, her cousin August would occasionally take something that was difficult for her to understand and imagine it as a scene, which she would gleefully memorize to perform. Since then, whenever Sparrow had trouble with something in History she would employ this technique and make a short scene to understand what was going on that led to events happening. Sometimes her scene-writing required extra reading or research into an event or character, and her efforts to gain thorough understandings of characters of scenes never went unrewarded. With each part she played, Sparrow also found learning the historical context extraordinarily informative which only further motivated her to learn more.
Potions ~ P
- P was for Potions, so that worked, right? Potions had never been Sparrow’s strongest subject. She improved greatly from being sent to her aunt’s potioneer office for “boot camp” for a few hours every weekend over summer break, but she mostly liked watching Wren or Aunt Verine do their work. Sparrow never had a problem with memorizing procedures, but she had a tendency for just adding a little extra of everything or assuming anything that looked alike functioned alike. Once they got to the more advanced potions, she stopped really knowing what she was doing. For the OWL she did admirably on the written portion, and managed to make a potion. It was not the potion she was supposed to make, and it may have been poisonous, but at least it didn’t melt her cauldron!
Transfiguration ~ A
- Sparrow always struggled with Transfiguration. She could never quite keep up with the mathematical aspects of the subject, even if she very much wanted to learn the subject so she could transfigure herself. She was though, excellent at self-transfiguring her hair different colors and had memorized a bunch of facts about edge cases in transfiguration and animagus facts. Unfortunately, everything else was a wash.
After receiving only an A, she pleaded with Professor Drage and Professor Harlowe to continue Transfiguration: self-transfiguration and possibly even an animagus form were dreams of hers! She promised to review everything on the exam and show up to at least an hour of extra tutoring sixth and seventh year but the powers of transfiguration in theatre and just general theatrics were too important for her to give up now!
ELECTIVES
Art~ A
- Sparrow was not a visual artist but performing arts were her entire life. She took art mostly for the art history and art theory, and to better understand aesthetics that might go into period pieces or costume work. Her blob-people sketches were nothing admirable but she did take the magic behind them seriously.
Care of Magical Creatures ~ E
- Taken because it sounded fun (and because Wren said for her owl’s sake) Care of Magical Creatures helped Sparrow learn not only about magical creatures but how to better care for herself. Sparrow considered herself a friend to everything, and Creatures was one of those rare classes where instead of relying on brute-force memorizing, she just had fun and learned a bunch somewhere along the way. While her work the first few years was hit and miss, she stuck with it, liked it even more after learning of all the uses of animal ingredients in potions or wandlore, and got much better.
Ghoul and Ghost Studies ~ P
- Taken initially because Sparrow thought it would be an opportunity to listen to ghost stories and talk to ghosts, Ghouls and Ghosts was a hard subject for Sparrow that she made work. She gained an appreciation for ghost stories from the class, but often her attention wandered. After her best friend died just before fifth year, everything suddenly had Aria’s face and suddenly every kind of dead they reviewed was a little too personal. Studying was painful this year and she showed up a little tipsy to the exam and ended up missing the mark for a passing grade.
Healing Class ~ E
- Sparrow’s recklessness had a tendency to get her in scrapes. She took healing thinking she could learn enough to do first aid at least. Sparrow’s spellcasting was fine, but her potions were usually hazardous, and much of the intricacies of healing theory eluded her. She barely passed the first year and hung in there only because Aria, her neighbor and childhood friend--excelled in the class and wanted to be a healer. Sparrow continued the subject after Aria’s death out of honor for her friend, affection for Professor Ivers, and a sheer determination to be able to be useful if any of her friends or family were in danger again. She did only decently well on the written and actual healing, but what landed her the solid E was her ability to comfort and communicate during the practical, quickly reading their emotions, anticipating their questions, and working as she chatted.
Muggle Studies ~ O
- Inspired by her love of muggle musicals and film and a childhood spent in muggle theatre camps, Sparrow took Muggle Studies thinking that she might want to spend a career in the Muggle world. By her fifth year she knew firmly that she enjoyed and wanted to be in magical musical theatre, but still put in effort for the class. Her compassion and eagerness to understand alternate reasonings helped greatly and gave everything her 1129%, even on simple, seemingly obvious assignments.
Music ~ O
- There was no way Sparrow was not taking music. If the constant humming or singing wasn’t enough indication, Sparrow was always doing something musical. Music theory had been a nontrivial part of her elementary education, and by the time they discussed it at Hogwarts, Sparrow had matured enough to take it seriously. She was only a beginner at the piano, but her vocal range and control was impressive, and she eagerly embraced any new or different styles of music.
Mythology ~ E
- Even more stories! As with History and Music, Sparrow found every opportunity possible to infuse little references and nods to mythological stories wherever she could. She did tend to remember the most dramatic or exciting version of stories, and sometimes added her own flair or detail. Overall Sparrow did wonderfully on the exam, but she lost a few points for analyses that were sometimes a little too optimistic or were just shy of complete.
Wandless Magic Practice Class~ E
- As much as Sparrow loved her fwooper feather wand, she recognized the importance of being able to cast magic without a wand, especially if she wanted to do so during more complicated dance sets or scenes. She found it an excellent skill to weave into dance practice and got plenty of practice.
Wandlore Studies ~ A
- Sparrow initially took Wandlore for the sole reason that her then-beloved Chadwick aspired to be a wandmaker. Sparrow really struggled with Wandlore the first year and nearly dropped it after breaking up with Chadwick, but found the connections to her Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology knowledge fascinating. She also liked being able to talk to Wren about his work, and found memorizing the different properties simple if not particularly fascinating. Sparrow astutely decided that she would not be continuing past the OWL level and with minimal studying, she managed a solidly acceptable grade.
