Defense Lesson 2

Lesson 2 was not going any better. Ayame quietly despaired. This was a terrible idea. She just knew it. Eastern and Western teachings clearly didn't mix (or at least everything she was taught as a child just didn't apply here.) How, by Inari-sama, did these wizards and witches expect their children to learn anything without the even most basic foundation?!

"You'll need anywhere from 40-60 SP to actually cast this spell. It depends on-," Ayame explained.

Instantly several hands went up, interrupting her.

"Yes Mr. Zabini?" Ayame asked, already dreading the question.

"What is SP?" he asked.

Ayame paused, staring at him.

"Professor?" Blaise asked.

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "I'm trying to figure out if you're actually serious about that question," she finally said.

The blank looks on her students told her, yes they were indeed serious.

"You've never heard of SP before?" Ayame asked. By Inari-sama, what were they teaching these kids?!

She snapped her book shut and pinched the bridge of her nose. This was such a terrible, terrible idea. "Alright, books away. We're going to go back to some basic foundations before we proceed anywhere," she said. (How was this her life? How? She was going to teach something five year old children learned back home. Or in the case of her kids, this was normally the first serious lesson they got.)

"What is magic?" Ayame asked.

"Magic is a supernatural force that can alter the fabric of reality at fundamental levels," Hermione answered her.

"Okay," Ayame said. That was an acceptable answer. "But define it. How is it measured, what kind of force is it?"

"Hahi!" Haru said. "Magic is a form of spirit energy which is an organic energy produced by our soul. Because it's a form of spirit energy, it can be measured with SP. SP stands for spirit point."

Had she mentioned how much she loved her kids? Because they were awesome.

"Spirit Energy?" Harry asked.

"Spirit Energy is the type of energy your soul produces," Ayame explained. "It manifests differently for many people. For example, there are people who can see into the future, others who can talk to ghosts in the afterlife, or in everyone's case here, use magic."

"What about Divination?" Ron asked.

Ayame had heard about Divination. She had been horrified to learn that it was opened to everyone who wanted to take it and not only to those actually had the ability. What did they expect to learn? Unless you had the ability in the first place, the odds of successfully looking into the future were null. She supposed anyone could learn to read omens and cast fortunes; after all, she wasn't a seer but a cracked cup still told her that someone was in immediate danger.

However, if the goal was actual visions/dreams… True seers were rare, dreamseers were a bit more common and there were a few people running around with the ability to see into the immediate future for just a few seconds to minutes ahead.

"Can you see into the future, Mr. Weasley?" she asked.

At his negative answer, Ayame continued. "Not everyone can. However, there are a few muggles who can, but don't have the ability to cast magic at all."

"Muggles who can see the future?" Draco scoffed.

"The ability to see the future is not something restricted just to magic," Ayame said. "We're digressing from the topic. The point here is that Magic is a form of Spirit Energy. Like any energy, you do have a limit of how much you can produce before you tire out. Your wands are amplifiers. The reason why many witches and wizards can rapidly cast spell after spell is because their wands amplify your magic, which reduces the amount of SP you are require to use."

Looking at the lost faces on her students, Ayame paused. Ah, that was right, no one really learned 'wandless' magic here.

How to explain this?

Ayame drew a box on the chalkboard and divided it into eight sections. "Look, imagine each section is worth 1 SP. You want to produce one teacup. To produce one teacup with your wand, it will cost you 1 SP. How many teacups can you make?"

"Eight," Pansy said.

"Correct," Ayame agreed. "Now your wand boosts your magic. So, your wand has a multiplier of 2, how many teacups can you produce?"

"Sixteen," Harry answered.

"Correct. Now each wand is made differently. Some are more powerful than others, some are better for different type of spells. So, the multiplier for everyone's wand is different. When I say you need 40-60SP this is because everyone's wand is different. Someone with a high multiplier for their wand will only need 40SP. Someone with a low multiplier will need more, hence the 60SP," Ayame explained.

"But why do we need to know about SP?" Dean asked.

"It's always good to know your limits," Ayame explained. "Some spells, especially high cost ones, can backfire on you because you don't have enough magic. They can permanently drain you for example or feed on your lifeforce to power the spell. But you can also take it a step further. If I have a shield that is rated at 40SP, a spell that only cost 30SP will just bounce off it. If I threw a spell that was 50SP at it, there's a good chance the shield will crack as a result."

"How do we know what the multiplier for our wands are?" Tsuna asked.

"There's a couple equations. Someone researched it a while back. What your wand is made out of and the length all factor into the multiplier. I'll provide the calculations for anyone who wants to figure it out," Ayame said. Well truthfully, the calculations were made for staves and other weapons, not wands, but it should still hold true.

This was such a mess. How was she supposed to teach these kids anything when they were missing things she considered to be basics?

Poor Ayame, having to deal with all of this. See Goddamn Namimori (chapter 6) for more information on SP. See Chapter 14 of WWBtF for an example cracked cups and bad omens.

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