With OWLs swiftly approaching, Apollonia tended to spend as much time as possible brushing up on her spell knowledge and brushing up her theory for the classes that she was taking; it never hurt anyone to be over-prepared for the approaching exams.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Apollonia looked at the notes in front of her tiredly; for the past few weeks she had been brushing up on her spells and her theory and the handful of scrolls that were littered around her desk spoke to her dedication in learning as much as she was able to earn as high of a grade as she could.
It was only February and the OWLs were not until June but her sister had cautioned her that slowly starting to study months ahead of the exam instead of the week or two that others did were better in the long run - she'd be able to retain more of her knowledge for the exams if she studied over the coming months at her own pace instead of trying to cram as much as possible days before the exam.
Sparing a look at the list of spells she had to learn for the exams, Apollonia turned away from them and focused on the 'Advanced Defense I' tome in front of her. It had been gifted to her by her brother for her fifteenth birthday and it was one of a series of five though the other four Damon was keeping under lock as they were strictly for witches and wizards with fully developed magical cores and Apollonia still had two years to go before she would be at that stage.
Focusing back on the book in front of her, Apollonia grunted as she slowly read through the spell that she was hung up on learning for her extra credit in the DADA exam, it wasn't needed to pass the OWL but it would give Apollonia those extra points and she wanted them and that was why she chose that specific spell to learn; the Patronus Charm. It was advanced magic and quite possibly the hardest spell to master as one needed to be able to bring up happy memories to even be able to conjure a Patronus and that was not even mentioning the sheer magical drain that came with such a spell.
In theory, it sounded easy enough to do however Apollonia knew as well as anyone else that being able to bring up a happy memory took time and to do so on the spot was even harder. Even if she wasn't able to conjure up a Corporeal Patronus in time for the exam an Incorporeal one would, quite possibly, also do the trick.
However, she was hung up on learning the Patronus charm and that meant learning to conjure up a Corporeal one. It would take time to learn it, it would take even more time just trying to think of a happy enough memory to be able to conjure up even a mist but she was going to do it.
From what Ariande told her it couldn't be just a random happy memory, it had to be one that actually invoked happiness within her which meant that she had to dig deep into her memories to find such a memory. This, she knew, would take time, she had many happy memories but finding a specific one was hard even for the seasoned of witches and wizards.
Breathing deeply, Apollonia stood in her corner of the room, with her arms relaxed by her sides and her eyes closed, tuning out the hustle and bustle of other students around her. Inhaling and exhaling, the fifth year Slytherin rose her hand and with slow, deliberate movements she began drawing circles in the air.
"Expecto Patronum." The charm was softly whispered as brown eyes slowly opened and Apollonia curiously looked at the silvery mist that escaped her wand; clearly, it would take more than just that but she was happy with her first try at the spell. For now, she would focus on trying to find a specific memory that would give her a bigger and brighter silvery mist.
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