the light had slipped through the window

[cleverness]

One of the aspects that Hermione best enjoyed about starting school at Hogwarts was all of the structure. Knowing exactly which textbooks and materials were needed to get her through the first year — at least, up until the philosopher's stone came into play — and having a schedule to get through day to day helped ground her and drew a clear road towards success.

In her goal of starting some type of magical institution in Darrow, one of the things Hermione has had the most trouble with is figuring out how to organize a curriculum that can be valuable to people with a wide range of different abilities.

But being unable to conceptualize the model doesn't mean she shouldn't try.

"Okay," she declares as she steps into The Lamplight, holding the door open for Lafayette and heading directly towards the widened back room. "I want for this session to be one where I understand what the inherent powers you have are. Consider it a stress test of a sort. All of the abilities that you've described to me are very situational, very contextual, and it becomes hard for me to assess which principles I should share with you or how you should practice."

Hermione sweeps her wand sharply across the room, drawing a curtain in front of the few cauldrons simmering at the perimeter of the room.

She glances sheepishly over her shoulder. "Does that sound okay?"

Comments

[cleverness]

"I've always been a fan of theory," admits Hermione with a slight nod. Even though she wants to provide Lafayette with the learning that he's most interested in, she's also most familiar with classes that outline at least a few guiding principles and theories before diving into application.

She knows where she would have Lafayette start learning, were he not set on performing the spell right away.

"We can still keep to defensive magic. I don't think that's a problem. But it might help to learn some of the foundation between what distinguishes defensive magic from other techniques, and maybe for you to at least see a few practical applications, before we set on trying to design a spell that works for you specifically. I would also love to simply see you exert some of your magic, no matter for what purpose. Seeing it might help me to understand it."