As Strong As We Are United
Chapter 15 – Training
After dinner the nine Hogwarts teens gathered in the Scooby Common Room. "I wonder what new things Genevieve will teach us," commented Hermione.
"We do have an awfully lot of practice with defensive magic, don't we?" added Ron.
"Speak for yourself," said Dawn. "Shannon and I always fall back to doing hand-to-hand combat."
Shannon nodded her agreement. Looking down at her wand, she added, "Give me a sharp weapon any day. The only thing I know what to do with a piece of wood is to stake something."
"That's not true," Harry assured his girlfriend. "You were pretty good with the jinxes Giles taught us last year."
"It's not that I can't do them," explained Shannon. "It's just that in the heat of battle, I don't think to pull out my wand."
"Exactly," agreed Dawn. "While you all pull your wands to deflect a curse, we dive out of the way."
"And we don't know anywhere near the amount of spells you do," added Shannon.
"I see your point," said Draco. The others agreed.
"With all of us having differing abilities in magic and hand-to-hand fighting, training together is going to be difficult," mused Ginny.
"Not at all," said a voice from the portrait hole. The teens turned to see that Buffy, Willow, Faith, Genevieve, and Cat had entered the room. "The guys are on their way," explained Buffy. "Charlie's talking to a student, and Wes went to find Spike."
"Oh, and Oz is doing caretaker stuff," added Willow.
"It seems that you all have a lot of questions about how we will be training you," commented Cat. The teens nodded.
"Before we start tonight we'll explain a little more about our overall goals for your training," said Genevieve.
"But first, we have something for all of you," said Cat. Buffy and Faith handed each student a black duffle bag that appeared to be filled to bursting.
"What's this?" asked Dawn, taking a bag from her sister.
The female professors shared a smile before all motioning for Cat to speak. "This is more of that psychological stuff to strengthen the bond between you. First, notice the symbol on the side of each bag." The students looked at the bright purple symbol, a sword crossed with a wand and set within a circle of nine stars. "The sword represents the physical and the wand represents the magical," explained Cat.
"The stars represent each of you," added Willow.
"And, it's purple because that's different than any of the house colors," explained Faith.
"Cool," said Dawn. "But what's inside?"
"That's the best part," replied Buffy excitedly. "We got you training clothes with your new symbol on them. Everyone has three pairs of training pants, three long-sleeve T's, three short-sleeve T's, and a warm-up jacket. The guys also have three muscle T's, and the girls have three sports bras."
"You also each have a pair of combat boots and four leather sheaths with daggers, two for your wrists and two for your ankles," added Faith. "You need something to cause some damage."
The students were all looking excited about their new things. "The only thing is that the clothing and bags cannot leave here. So Neville, Ginny, and Luna will have to change here with the rest of you before training and leave their stuff with the laundry here after training. The clothing is all monogrammed with your initials, so that nothing gets mixed up," explained Willow.
"But you should have all four daggers concealed on you at all times," said Faith. "You don't know when an attack may occur."
"Well, get going," commanded Genevieve. "I would like some training time tonight, and we still need to talk about our goals when you get back." The students looked at Genevieve then grabbed their bags and retreated to their rooms to change. Ginny and Luna followed the other girls, while Neville followed the other boys.
Fifteen minutes later all the teens had returned to the common room. All of the boys were wearing their short-sleeve T-shirts with their training pants and combat boots. Dawn and Shannon were both wearing their sports bras with their warm-up jackets over them. Hermione was wearing her long-sleeve T-shirt, much to Ron's dismay. Ginny and Luna were both wearing their short-sleeve T-shirts.
While the students had been changing, Charlie, Wesley, and Spike had joined the other faculty members. Buffy, Faith, and Spike moved all the furniture against the walls. Charlie and Cat transfigured the large area rug into a thick exercise mat.
"Everyone have a seat," said Genevieve. "I want to take a few minutes to discuss our goals for your training." When the teens were all seated on the exercise mat, Genevieve continued. "You've made a good point about having differing skill and comfort levels with different types of defense. Our purpose is to increase your skill and comfort levels with all types of defense. Though you may prefer one method over another, you will need to employ whatever the situation calls for. For instance, while you may be able to deflect minor curses magically, you will need to be able to get out of the way of an unforgivable that you cannot deflect. More importantly, we want you to learn to fight as a single unit. You need to be able to anticipate each other's moves. Inevitably you will be outnumbered in a battle; so, you'll need every possible advantage."
"Okay, everyone up," Genevieve commanded. "Tonight I want to assess your current fighting ability."
"Are we going to duel?" asked Draco.
Genevieve shook her head. "A battle is not that civilized. Rarely will you be in the situation where you are only fighting a single person, and you never want to trust a true enemy to follow dueling etiquette."
"Everyone stand up. We'll start with Harry, since he has the most magical battle experience. Harry, stand in the middle of the room." Harry stood and walked to the middle of the room, clutching his wand tightly in his hand and wondering what was about to happen.
Genevieve addressed the rest of the teens. "Now, I want the rest of you to spread out around the room and attack Harry with magic. Harry will do whatever he can to keep fighting. Are there any questions?"
"How am I supposed to defend myself against eight people at once?" asked Harry.
Genevieve shrugged. "Do whatever you can. I need to see how you react."
Harry did not look thrilled about Genevieve's response. As his friends pulled out their own wands, he clutched his wand tightly and mentally catalogued several useful curses he could use. Harry scanned the room quickly to take inventory of his friends' positions. They were in a lose circle around him. His one chance was to use their positions against them.
"Everyone ready?" Genevieve asked. The students replied that they were ready. "Willow, would you mind throwing up a protective barrier for us?" Willow smiled and erected an energy shield between the students and the faculty. "And, go," commanded Genevieve.
As the students began to shout curses, Harry dropped to the ground. He knew that Draco had the greatest experience with cursing people. As Harry hit the ground, he aimed his wand at Draco and shouting, "Stupefy." Draco fell to the ground. At the same time, Dawn and Luna, who were standing across from each other, managed to hit each other with the curses they had originally aimed at Harry.
Harry glanced quickly at both girls falling to the ground, as he rolled out of the way of a curse that Ron had hurled at his best friend. Mid-roll, Harry managed to disarm Shannon. He came up beside, Hermione. Before she could turn toward him, Harry grabbed her from behind and used her to shield himself against an attack from Ginny. Just before the curse hit Hermione, Harry was able to Stupefy Ron. Ginny's curse caused Hermione to fall forward, leaving Harry open. He dove out of the way of Ginny's next curse, but Neville had anticipated his move. "Petrificus Totalus," yelled Neville. The curse hit Harry. His whole body went rigid, and he fell to the ground.
Willow dropped the energy shield, and Genevieve rejoined the students, quickly casting counter-curses on those who were incapacitated. "Who got me?" asked Harry, as he regained the ability to move.
"Neville," said Ginny proudly, as she ran over to hug her boyfriend.
Harry rubbed his head, where he had hit the mat hard. "Remind me never to underestimate you, Neville," Harry mumbled.
"Ah, first rule of engagement," said Genevieve to the students. "Never underestimate any enemy." She turned her attention specifically to Harry. "You did really well," she told him. "I didn't expect you to manage to take down more than two or three of your fellow-students. You took down six."
Ron was the next to take his turn. He managed to curse Draco, Harry, and Ginny, before being Stupefied himself. Hermione hit him, when he hesitated to curse her. As she told him, when he was finally revived, "That was so sweet, but so dumb."
Hermione managed to disarm all of the boys, but Ginny, Dawn, and Shannon Stupefied her simultaneously. It took Hermione several minutes to be able to stand on her own, after being Ennervated.
Draco was probably the most vicious in his attacks. He did not just Stupefy the other students, but instead sent out jinxes that would cause maximum humiliation. By the time Ginny Stupefied Draco, Neville and Luna were both dancing crazily, Shannon and Ron were Confunded and bumping into walls, and Dawn and Hermione were silently attempting to yell at him. Genevieve told Draco that he would have done better to be efficient instead of humiliating his fellow students.
Dawn managed to curse Draco, Ginny, and Luna. She also got Shannon to curse Harry by using him as a human shield. However, Shannon hurled a second curse quickly, and several seconds after Harry hit the ground, Dawn followed.
Neville, Ginny, and Luna each managed to curse two other students and take out a few more by dodging friendly fire.
The only person to take out all of her fellow students was Shannon. With her Slayer reflexes, she was able to successfully dodge every curse and cause her fellow students to hit each other. The only person she took out on her own with her wand was Dawn, who after being hit by Luna's curse during Harry's turn was making a point to watch out for friendly fire.
Genevieve was pleased with everyone's current abilities. "I never would have suspected that sixth and seventh year students could do so well," she told them. "I must admit that I had some concerns, but I think with additional training you will be a formidable force against the Death Eaters."
It was late, when Genevieve dismissed the students. After they had changed into their school robes, Charlie escorted Neville and Ginny back to Gryffindor tower, and Willow escorted Luna back to Ravenclaw.
The six students with quarters off the Scooby Common Room changed into their nightclothes and returned to the common room. "We really need to start thinking about activities for the school," commented Dawn, as she lay back on the sofa with her head in Draco's lap.
"Does anyone have any ideas?" asked Hermione.
"Not really," said Harry, sitting on the floor in front of the chair where Shannon sat. She was gently rubbing his head, where he had hit the floor during training earlier that night.
"How hard can this be?" asked Shannon. "We're pretty creative people, aren't we?"
"Let's brainstorm then," said Ron, pulling a piece of parchment and quill from Hermione's bag. As usual, she had immediately sat at the small table in the corner of the room and opened a book. Ron was seated in his usual seat beside her. "How many activities do we need?" he asked.
"We should do one a month except for June because of exams," said Hermione. Ron listed each month on the sheet of parchment in front of him. She was looking at Ron in amazement. He was truly rising to his position as Head Boy. She never would have expected him to become so responsible and organized.
"The holiday stuff is easy," said Draco. "Everyone loved the Yule Ball for Christmas, and we could have a dance after the Halloween Feast like last year – without the Death Eater attack that is."
"Yeah, but neither of those promotes inter-house unity," said Dawn, looking up into Draco's eyes. "Though I would like at least one school dance that we can go to together."
"What if we do the Yule Ball as usual, but instead of a regular Halloween dance, we have a masked ball where everyone is required to keep their identity a secret. People wouldn't know if they were talking to their friends or someone from a different house," suggested Shannon.
"I like that idea," said Hermione. "I'm sure that Professors Flitwick and McGonagall would be willing to devote a class each to charming and transfiguring one's appearance."
"Okay, so we got October and December," said Ron, noting the two balls beside their respective months.
"What other holidays are there that we can plan things around?" asked Harry.
"Valentine's Day," said all three girls in unison.
"Well, we know what holiday they care about," commented Draco, as Dawn slapped him lightly on the back of the head. Ron and Harry nodded, but were smart enough to keep their mouths shut.
"Why don't we see if Lorne can come the weekend before Valentine's Day," suggested Shannon. "His readings could focus on people's love lives or lack thereof."
"Ooh, and people can sing to their honeys," added Dawn excitedly.
"I think she just wants her honey singing to her again," commented Harry. He looked at Draco and shuddered. "Though I don't know why." Draco ignored the comment.
"Three down, six to go," said Ron, looking up from his piece of parchment.
"Since we can't go to Hogsmeade, why don't we see if we can get merchants to come to Hogwarts sometime in November. We could set up booths for them to sell from," suggested Draco. "I'm sure they'll love to have the opportunity to take the students' money, and it would give the students a chance to do some Christmas shopping."
"That's a great idea," replied Hermione. "Ron, write that down." Ron smiled at his girlfriend, as he put quill to parchment. Hermione returned her attention to the rest of the group. "We really do need to come up with some other activities that will promote inter-house unity," she said matter-of-factly.
Dawn's eyes lit up. "We should have a scavenger hunt. I always wanted to do one of them. And the teams could be made up of people from different years and different houses." Shannon looked equally excited, but Ron and Draco looked completely confused.
"Excuse me, but what exactly is a scavenger hunt?" asked Draco.
Dawn rolled her eyes at Draco, before sitting up beside him. "You get together groups of people, and each group gets a list of things that they have to find and bring back to some designated place. The group that has the most items from the list in the set time period wins."
"What kind of things?" asked Ron.
"Some normal stuff that is easy to come by and a bunch of harder to find things – a lock of a professor's hair for instance," replied Dawn. "The point is that the teams will have to work together to get the more difficult things on the list."
"What do we use as a prize?" asked Harry. "We can't do anything with house points because that would defeat the purpose.
"We can ask Dumbledore for suggestions," said Ron. "Maybe the winners can get out of homework for a week of something. So, when do we want to do this?"
"January," replied Dawn. "It'll give us a chance to plan it out during the holidays." Everyone agreed.
"What about this month?" asked Harry. "We only have a couple of weeks to come up with something and get it together."
"How about a lock-in," suggested Shannon.
"A what?" asked the others.
Shannon sighed exasperatedly. "Don't you guys know about anything?" The group shook their heads. "A lock-in is basically a coed slumber party. We all get locked in somewhere for the night. There's food and stupid games. Everyone wears their pj's and eventually sacks out in sleeping bags." Everyone looked skeptical. "Come on. It'll promote inter-house unity and isn't too difficult to set up."
"So, you're saying that everyone should spend the night in the Great Hall?" asked Hermione.
"I was thinking that first through fourth years could do it on say a Friday, and then fifth through seventh years could have theirs on a Saturday," explained Shannon.
"That works for me," said Hermione. "I'm exhausted. Let's call it a night."
"We still don't have anything for March, April, or May," said Ron.
Hermione shrugged. "We have months to worry about it, and maybe some of the prefects will have more ideas." Hermione yawned, which caused everyone else in the room to begin yawning as well.
Dawn stood and stretched. "I'm liking the idea of my bed."
"Me too," agreed Shannon. "I don't think I'll make it up for breakfast tomorrow."
"I'm so glad quidditch practice hasn't started yet," commented Draco, as he too stood.
The teens all said their goodnights and retired to their rooms for some much deserved sleep.
****************
Saturday seemed to fly by quickly. All of the teens slept in until just before lunch. After lunch the Head Boy and Girl and their staff worked on the plans for the lock-in. Hermione and Ron got permission from Professor Dumbledore, who thought it was a very good idea. They scheduled the event for the last weekend of the month and planned to inform the school after the next prefect meeting.
Saturday night found the teens sitting around the Scooby Common Room and working on their homework. They all knew that they would not feel like dealing with it after their next training session the following afternoon.
After lunch on Sunday, the nine teens dressed in their training clothes and met in the Scooby Common Room. Today the boys were all wearing their muscle T's, and the girls were all wearing their sports bras, though all the teens had their warm-up jackets covering their bare arms.
Willow was sitting in a chair, reading a large old book. She looked up and smiled. "Buffy and Faith should be here soon. I'll just get out of your way." Willow stood and quickly left the room.
"She didn't have to go," commented Dawn.
"She probably didn't want to accidentally get kicked while we're training," said Shannon.
"Why don't we set up the room, while we're waiting," suggested Hermione. Everyone agreed. Hermione and Draco worked on transfiguring the area rug, while the others moved the furniture out of the way.
"Now what?" asked Neville, when they had finished.
"Why don't we warm up; so, we can get right to it, when Buffy and Faith get here," suggested Dawn. Everyone agreed.
Buffy and Faith entered the common room fifteen minutes later to find all nine students in the process of stretching. "Buff, were you ever on time for a training session?" Faith asked, staring at the students.
"No," replied Buffy. "It used to drive Giles nuts. Look at them. Not only are they ready, but they're already warming-up."
Dawn was the first to notice that the two Slayers had entered the common room. She waved to her sister. "We're almost ready to start training," she called.
"Take your time," replied Buffy. "I need to go throw on some training clothes." Buffy ran up to her quarters, while Faith took off her jacket and joined the students in their warm-up.
When Buffy returned, the students were ready to start training. Buffy addressed them. "In class we spend most of our time on hand-to-hand and weapons training, but we don't do anything with magic."
"So today, we're going to focus on the best methods to physically disarm a wizard," finished Faith.
"Those two have been teaching together way too long," mumbled Dawn. Shannon and Draco, who were standing closest to her, laughed softly.
Buffy and Faith both heard Dawn's comment but chose to ignore it. "Okay, so watch and learn," said Buffy, as she pulled a wand on Faith. Buffy yelled a curse. Faith dove under it, coming up in front of Buffy and knocking her wand from her hand.
"Pair up," said Buffy. "Shannon, since you have Slayer speed, I want you to work with Faith. Harry with Ron. Dawn with Draco. Hermione with Luna. And, Ginny with Neville." The students shrugged off their warm-up jackets and got into pairs. They spent nearly an hour disarming each other.
Eventually, Buffy and Faith agreed that the students were ready to try disarming multiple attackers. "Okay, now we're going to work in groups of three," said Faith. "Harry, Ron, and Draco together. Dawn, Shannon, and Hermione as another group. And that leaves Neville, Ginny, and Luna together. Now, I want you to take turns attacking two on one. Let's see if you can disarm two opponents without the use of magic."
The students worked in groups of three for the next hour. At first, Shannon was the only one able to physically disarm two opponents. However, after some practice, all of the students were able to do it at least once.
Finally after training for three hours straight, Buffy and Faith excused the students. Faith flooed home from the fireplace in the common room, and Buffy retired to her quarters to take a shower. The students, tired and sweaty, returned the room to its usual state before collapsing on the sofas and chairs.
"That was tiring," commented Harry.
"Just leave me here," said Ron.
Ginny turned to Hermione. "Would you mind if I took a quick shower before changing back into my robes?" Ginny asked.
"Go ahead," said Hermione with a wave. She had no intention of moving anytime soon. "Luna, you're welcome to use the shower after Ginny if you want," Hermione added.
"And, Neville feel free to use our shower," said Harry, who deciding that there wasn't enough room on the sofa slid down to lie flat on the floor.
"That was way more tiring than any of our Fighting Techniques classes," moaned Draco.
"That was worse than Oliver's quidditch practices," moaned Harry. "I didn't think anything could be more tiring than that."
"And we have to do this every weekend," moaned Ron. "Someone remind me why we're doing this?"
"I think it had something to do with fighting evil," replied Dawn.
Shannon, who was the only one not feeling the effects of the training, shook her head exasperatedly at her friends. "That wasn't so bad," she commented. Several cushions were hurled at her in reply.
"Some of us don't have Slayer endurance," moaned Hermione.
"It's not because of being a Slayer," argued Shannon. "I'm not so winded because I've been training for years. Trust me. You'll all get used to it." A few more cushions were hurled at her.
"You should all take showers, you'll feel better," said Ginny, as she returned to the common room dressed in her robes. "Though you have to wait for Luna to finish." Neville came up the stairs from the boys' quarters a few minutes later, and he and Ginny returned to Gryffindor. Fifteen minutes later, Luna left as well.
"I think I'll take Ginny's advice," said Hermione, pulling herself to her feet. "I really need a shower."
"Want any help?" asked Ron, flashing a lopsided grin at his girlfriend. Hermione winked and smiled at him, before turning away without a word and ascending the stairs to the girls' quarters.
"Was that a yes or a no?" Ron asked his friends. They shrugged in reply. "How sad is this? I'm too tired to even go find out."
****************
Fortunately the teens had all recovered in time for classes on Monday, though neither Ginny nor Luna were looking forward to their sixth year Fighting Techniques class that afternoon. All of the students having a free period first thing in the morning definitely helped.
The first class of the day for the seventh years was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Genevieve and Spike explained what they were planning on covering during the year. "I'm sure that you have all noticed just how old one of your texts is," said Genevieve. The students had noticed – most likely because after some of their previous professors, it was always a good idea to scrutinize the book selection. After all, Lockhart had assigned all of his own books, and Umbridge had assigned a book on theory only.
"This is the book my Watcher used to teach me basic defensive magic, when I was your age. Now, I know that you are more advanced than this." She held up the book. "But surprisingly, some very powerful jinxes have simply been forgotten over time. Knowing jinxes that no one else knows could give you an advantage, when defending yourself."
"Everyone turn to page 23. We are going to work on the Reflectus jinx today. I honestly don't know why wizards stopped using this very useful jinx. However, in the eighteenth century it was banned from use in duels, which may be part of the reason that it was eventually forgotten."
"The Reflectus jinx reflects minor curses back on the caster. You swirl your wand in front of you like this." Genevieve circled her wand in front of her. "And you say the incantation, 'Reflecto.'"
"Okay, who wants to jinx the professor?" Genevieve asked. No one raised their hand. "Oh, come on. I know someone must want a chance to jinx a professor without repercussions."
"I'll do it," said Draco, raising his hand in the air.
Genevieve indicated for him to come forward. "Throw whatever jinx you like," she said smiling.
Draco sneered. He raised his wand and said "Rictus Sempra."
"Reflecto," said Genevieve, swirling her wand in front of her. The light from the curse stopped in front of her and reflected back at Draco, who began laughing hysterically.
Genevieve left Draco standing there in fits of laughter and turned her attention back to the class. "Now, I would like all of you to pair up and practice the spell. I would recommend that none of you use a jinx that you don't want to experience the effects of yourself." She turned back to Draco. "Finite Incantum."
The students enjoyed the class. As they were leaving, Hermione caught up with Dawn. "I've been thinking," said Hermione. "Maybe we should research some other lost spells. We might find something that could help fight the Death Eaters."
"Or something that could help protect us," added Dawn. "It really is a good idea. We should try to get in some library time tonight after dinner."
"Sounds good," replied Hermione.
"You two are way too into the research," commented Shannon, coming up behind her friends.
Dawn shrugged. "I'm going to be a Watcher someday. Research will be my life."
"I prefer just kicking evil's ass," said Shannon, causing Hermione to giggle.
****************
Tuesday night was the teens' first foray into the world of wandless magic. Of all of their training, this was what everyone besides Dawn dreaded the most. They again met in the Scooby Common Room. Willow was waiting for them.
"Are you sure we can do this?" asked Draco.
Willow smiled at the teens and indicated for them to take seats. "I am absolutely sure that every one of you can do wandless magic. I want you to each think back to a time when you were younger and you made something happen without a wand." As the teens thought back, Willow noticed that everyone with the exception of Dawn and Shannon began to smile.
"Okay, why don't you each tell me something you did without a wand," said Willow.
Harry began, "Well, I blew up my Aunt Marge because she was insulting my parents."
"I made all of Fred's hair fall out, when he played one of his stupid pranks on me," said Ron.
"I accidentally made two of my schoolmates fly up and get stuck on the roof, when they were teasing me," said Hermione quietly.
"When my uncle accidentally dropped me out of a window, I bounced," said Neville.
"I kind of disillusioned myself, when I saw Harry's reaction to my singing Valentine in second year," mumbled Ginny obviously embarrassed.
First year, I caused the entire Ravenclaw common room to lose their voices, when some people were teasing me." Luna too sounded embarrassed.
Draco spoke very softly. "I apparated from my father's study to my bedroom to avoid a beating for breaking a bottle of poison on his desk."
Willow turned to Dawn and Shannon. "Did anything like that ever happen to either of you?"
"I think there were a couple of times that I might have summoned a weapon to me. I would need it, and it would be closer than I thought it had fallen. But, I'm not sure," said Shannon.
"Well I didn't use a wand when that demon-ghost thing was in our house and preventing mom from speaking to me. I did light some candles and stuff, but I pretty much just used my own power to get rid of it," said Dawn. "I don't know if that counts."
"It counts," said Willow. "Now what do all of these wandless magical acts have in common?"
"High emotion," replied Hermione.
Willow smiled. "Right. To do wandless magic you need to pull from your own power. When you are emotional, this is very easy to do without realizing it. What I am going to train you to do is to pull from your own power without your emotions getting in the way. Today we are just going to do some meditation techniques to help you draw from your power."
"I want you to all get comfortable. Lie on the couch or the floor or lean back in one of the overstuffed chairs. Feel free to put a cushion under your head or whatever you need to do to get comfortable." The students scrambled to find comfortable positions around the room.
"Now close your eyes," said Willow softly. "I want you to listen to the sound of my voice and do as I say. Relax your bodies. Feel yourself sinking back. Use your mind and focus on relaxing your feet, then your calves, then your thighs. Feel the relaxations wash over you."
Willow gave them a few minutes to fully relax. "Now I want you to feel your magical power. Delve into yourself and feel the power there. Feel it begin to wash over you. Now focus your power at your fingertips. Feel it moving to your fingertips – the power strengthening. Hold onto that power. On the count of three, I want you to release it. One. Two. Three."
The candles flickered and any loose papers flew around the room. Willow closed her eyes and felt nine separate energies wash over her. She smiled, knowing that they had all succeeded.
"When you feel up to it, you can sit up." Five minutes later, all of the students were seated again.
"That was really cool," said Draco. "I didn't know that I could do that."
"It was hard at first though, trying to find and pull from the magic," Ginny confessed. "With a wand, you don't need that kind of concentration."
"That's because your wand focuses your magic," said Willow. "It is much more difficult to focus it with your mind. But as you see, it can be done. Do you have any questions?" No one spoke.
Willow smiled. "I know that was a bit draining for you. We're going to end early tonight. I want you all to promise me that you will practice the exercise we just did every night this next week. The more easily you can call your powers, the more easily you will be able to use them."
Everyone promised to practice. The teens then went their separate ways to work on homework before bed.