Eden Harper Exams (13/13) ~ NEWTs complete! Graded!

[addaellis]

OWLs

CORE
Astronomy ~ E

In first year, Astronomy and History were the only subjects that made any sense. Eden worked extra hard at Astronomy early in fifth year because he knew Callie liked the subject, but he wasn’t otherwise invested in the subject and mostly just tried memorizing whatever was in the textbook. He fell just short of the O.

Charms ~ E

Spell work was one of the hardest things Eden had the misfortune of doing. He struggled with it through his first three years, producing either overly dramatic results or barely anything. However, increased confidence in his third and fourth years from doing well with healing spells paid dividends, not to mention Professor Shoichet’s patience and kindness and his hours of training in strategy and spellwork for Dueling Club.

DADA ~ E

There was something eerily fascinating about the Dark Arts and Eden always thought of DADA as a warning about things he might see out on a mission in the future. He did excellently on the written portion, but overthought and floundered on the practical at the boggart with a few frustrated, unsuccessful tries.

Herbology ~ A

Eden really wanted to like herbology. He thought it would be interesting to learn how the herbs that made up natural remedies, or the best for treating different injuries or diseases. Especially given his ex-girlfriends’ fascination with environments and excellence at herbology, Eden wanted to be better. Generally, if he knew what he was working with he could do okay. It was just...everything seemed to look the same. No matter how he memorized the herbs and studied though, or how much he tried to just...will his plants to do well, Eden seemed to cause more harm than good most of the time. Eden managed a respectable score on the written portion, but the moment it came to looking at actual plants, he floundered and confusion tanked his practical.

History ~ O

In his first few years, History was one of the few subjects Eden could understand and figure out. He hadn’t hated the subject in muggle schooling, and perhaps stuck to Wizard history simply because he knew how to study it. Inspired by a conversation with Rian McLellan, he started looking more into the wizarding wars and conflicts, studying how wizarding warfare happened-- this really captured his attention.

Potions ~ O

Potions theory had been amongst the most strange things Eden encountered, but at least it was understandable and tangible in a way spell theory was not. Moreover, measuring and mashing herbs and mixing them did not require magic--just consistent, honable, technique and attentiveness. Here the herb facts he’d strenuously crammed into his head actually came into use and every plant he wished he could just tableflip was already dead and carefully labeled--he just needed to know how to use them. Potions, at least, Eden knew he could do.

Transfiguration ~ O

Somewhere between potions and charms theory in how much it made sense to him, transfiguration was at least tangible. He had some idea of complex animagus-level transfiguration from Weslyn’s interests, and an actually friendly rivalry with Penelope in early fifth year not only helped him by giving him motivation to study, but also having someone to bounce ideas off and work with.

ELECTIVES
Arithmancy ~ E

Arithmancy was simple, straightforward, with clear protocols that appealed very well to Eden’s obsession with order. He couldn’t always make sense of the interpretations, but did memorize the numerology associations and made a point to look for them everywhere. He had a few ideas for using arithmancy in potions work, but never acted on these experiments and his knowledge remained firmly limited to content covered in class.

Cursebreaking~E

Eden enjoyed the puzzle-solving and analytical side of cursebreaking and always sought to come up with elegant solutions that got the job done in the fewest steps with the least collateral damage. His spellwork sometimes wavered in power, but as his spellcasting got better, so too did his consistency.

Healing ~ O

His mum’s career as an army nurse and his general admiration of all army medics made magical medicine a definite class to take. In part thanks to the propensity of his wand for healing magic, Eden never had trouble with healing spellwork, which bolstered his confidence in the class and encouraged him to work even more. This created a positive self-perpetuating cycle that usually secured him a top grade in Healing.

Muggle Studies ~ O

Eden self-studied for the Muggle Studies exam mostly as a formality. Weslyn, his girlfriend at the time, had wanted to take the exam for whatever reason, and as a muggle-born wizard, Eden figured it wouldn’t be too hard to study with her. It was a good conversation starter anyways. He signed up for the exam mostly because he could and breezed by with minimal glancing over the contents of the course.

Law ~ E

As a muggleborn wizard with no background in the wizarding world prior to Hogwarts, Eden took Wizard Law almost as a way to better understand the wizarding world. He did well enough memorizing facts and policies for the exam—not enough for a top score, but exactly enough for a solid E.

Wandless ~ A

Eden took Wandless magic knowing that it was indispensable in a combat situation and that he might have to rely on it if he was to join the muggle military post-graduation. While he certainly had willpower, Eden lacked a certain calm and peace of mind necessary for wandless magic. For much of his first two years in the class the only successful wandless magic Eden could manage were near-uncontrolled bursts fueled by anger and sheer determination. Due to practices in Dueling he ironically did better on simple shield and knock back spells than everyday charms on the Wandless exam, and generally struggled to accomplish the tasks set.

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Eden spent the first four years of Hogwarts basically buried in studying. He tries very hard, but doesn't have very good emotional balance or understanding of how to study effectively and thus far has refused to seek extra help -- this will start changing in sixth year.  

[Cinnabun Gryffie]

Astronomy - EE
Charms - EE
Defence Against the Dark Arts - EE
Herbology - A
History of Magic - O
Potions - O
Transfiguration - O

Arithmancy - EE
Cursebreaking - EE
Healing - O
Muggle Studies - O
Wandless Magic Practice Class - A
Wizard Law - EE  

[addaellis]

NEWTs

Astronomy~ O

Eden continued Astronomy mostly out of silent rebellion to his parents and curiosity towards his girlfriend, Calliope, loving Astronomy. Weekly visits to the Planetariwm Wales over the breaks certainly helped, and Eden was certainly committed to enjoying what Callie did. For the NEWT he actually started understanding things instead of just memorizing.

Charms ~ O

Insights about his spellcasting from Wandless Magic carried over and helped Eden in Charms as well. He was generally familiar with what Charms could do, how to do them, and sometimes had creative uses of simple charms to do more complex tasks. He missed a single question on advanced charms theory, but still managed to get the O.

DADA ~ O

Years of Dueling and hours of practice finally paid off, but what really secured Eden a top grade on the DADA NEWT was a very thorough understanding of Dark Creatures and the kinds of spells associated with the Dark Arts. For each situation on the exam he had a simple and straightforward answer, tailored to the specific weaknesses of the dark creature in question. His practical exam was cast calmly and excellently.

Herbology ~ E

Eden had been surprised to be allowed to continue on with Herbology and took to NEWT Herbology studies with renewed vigor. He focused on healing and restorative herbs, and found a calm mind did wonders when actually caring for the plants. He was extraordinarily careful in his Herbology studies and while he was never the top student, with his practical actually excelling instead of tanking his grade, he managed to exceed expectations at the NEWT level.

History ~ O

The content of the History NEWTs aligned very well with Eden’s interest into wizarding conflicts and wars, and he eagerly soaked up anything Professor Powell had to teach on the subject and more.

Potions ~ O

Eden continued with potions because he’d done well at the OWL level, and because of its usefulness in healing. He imagined Potions as being prepared and liked keeping a few commonly useful potions--a wiggenweld, common antidote, calming drought on his person just to feel prepared. He didn’t particularly love potions, but more than recognized its value, focused on practical potions and continuing to hone techniques, and preformed outstandingly.

Transfiguration ~ E

By sixth year Eden had figured out how useful transfiguration could be on expeditions: with a bit of clever study and practice, he could transfigure the things around him into whatever he needed. This greatly appealed to him and he did his best continuing forward. He struggled with self-transfiguration on the practical, but his otherwise performed excellently.

ELECTIVES
Arithmancy ~ E

By NEWTs, years of finding and analyzing number patterns in everyday instances had been ingrained in Eden. He found divination by arithmancy as fascinating as it was useful, but still sometimes struggled to make sense of the predictions he came up with. He always wished he had more time to really delve into Arithmancy, but until the day that he actually did that, his Arithmancy was a solid E.

Cursebreaking~E

Eden treated cursebreaking as a practical application of all his spellwork and magic learning-- he focused particularly on how he might encounter these in the wild or how to break past enemy defenses. While he sometimes had elegantly simply solutions with minimal collateral damage, he would resort to just brute-force destroying wards if pressed for time or frustrated.

Healing ~ O

As the only spellcasting subject Eden had never had issue with, Healing was undoubtedly one of the things Eden focused on at the NEWT level. He understood how animal bodies worked better than he did plant bodies, and found healing theory at least useful if not fascinating. Studying muggle biology and medicines over the summer added insights that further bolstered his understanding of magical healing.

Muggle Studies ~ O

As not only a muggleborn wizard who went home to muggle parents and grandparents over the breaks, but also as a teenager very enamored with muggle weaponry, Eden kept close ties with the muggle world. His brief glances through study guides and lived experience was enough to just make the cut for an O.

Law ~ E

Eden continued with Law only because he saw how useful it could be in a ministry or military career. He studied hard to be able to communicate his points and presented his cases clearly, succinctly, and rationally, but missed on details that weren’t directly covered in class.

Wandless ~ O

Despite his frustrations and misgivings with Wandless magic, Eden signed up for the NEWT level class, doggedly insistent he be able to cast magic without the crutch of a wand. Sixth year, Professor Lovette successfully identified and diagnosed the problem as not being any kind of lack of ability, but stemming from a tumultuous mental state--loneliness, fear, and shame. With some work, they were able to pair his learnings from the Namaste club to Wandless practice, and slowly achieve the correct mental state. Finally, in seventh year, 4 years of frustrated extra practices bore fruit as wandless magic went from his worst subject to one of his best skills.

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Eden spent the first four years of Hogwarts basically buried in studying. He tries very hard, and finally in sixth year started changing his attitude towards rivalries as being inherently antagonistic and started asking for help. Insights into his mental health have also bolstered his spellcasting, which was a major hinderance previously.  

[Cinnabun Gryffie]

Astronomy - O
Charms - O
Defence Against the Dark Arts - O
Herbology - EE
History of Magic - O
Potions - O
Transfiguration - EE

Alchemy - EE
Cursebreaking - EE
Healing - O
Muggle Studies - O
Wandless Magic Practice Class - O
Wizard Law - EE