Erin trudged her way up to the attic, coughing profusely as the dust flew up around her even with her slow movements. Her family had just shifted into a new mansion, known for its great history. But it was also infested with a great many creatures such as doxies and boggarts. Since she had learnt the Verdimillious spell during her second lesson at Hogwarts, her parents deemed it safe for her to go up to the attic and categorize the safe objects already present there. Erin found the attic to be pretty well lit by the sunlight streaming in from a skylight. However, the entire space was filled with old trunks full of different objects. Right in the middle of the attic, was a huge, ornately carved chest, filled with manuscripts. The Ravenclaw spirit within Erin was drawn to it at first sight. 

She reached out a hand to touch one of the ancient scrolls and jerked it back suddenly. "Foolish," she muttered to herself. Here she was, reaching out for something with her bare hands which could be cursed! She recalled the spell that she'd learned in class. She took out her beautiful new supple 10 3/4 inch wand, made of larch wood and containing unicorn hair. Holding it in front of her steadily, and with a forward jab, she stated clearly "Verdimillious." Nothing happened. "That can't be right," she thought. The wand was supposed to emit green sparks. She then cleared her head and thought about what she could be doing wrong. "Focus," she told herself. "The movement was correct, so I must be pronouncing it wrong. Ah! That must be it." She then realized that she'd been saying 'Ver-DI-milli-us." She berated herself for making such a mistake. 

Taking a deep breath, she once again focused on building up the magical energy and making it flow through her wand. As she felt the power surge through her, she motioned her wand in a forward jab and enunciated clearly, "Ver-duh-MILL-ee-us." A dazzling stream of green sparks flowed out of her wand, lighting up the area in front of her. She gasped, staggering back. The scrolls were covered with some kind of black, sticky substance that she hadn't been able to see before casting the spell! Relieved that she hadn't touched them impulsively, she moved on to the next chest, making sure to cast the Verdimillious spell before touching anything. She felt proud of herself for focusing her magic and casting such a strong spell during her second try, and was determined never to make such a silly mistake in the pronunciation again.

***

Required for DADA lesson 2: Situational Spellwork