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 Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2022 3:15 pm
OWLsCORE Astronomy ~ A Galen loved the night sky. He had a tendency to say things like “Humans are so cute! We study the sky through glass tubes!” as he waxed philosophical about things. He had some trouble keeping all the planets and facts straight, but his real struggle was any calculations. He put in a solid effort, but was a little overwhelmed by other classes at OWLs. Despite many “Astronomy study sessions” with the Metafecta, Galen was mostly around for the fun banter and kind gossip, and this showed in his relationships, but also unfortunately in his Astronomy grade. Charms ~ ECharms were useful and helpful, and Galen always kept a healthy respect for how charms made everyday chores easier. He worked charms practice into an everyday kind of thing, and made sure to appreciate how life was changed by even the simpler spells. Such respect led to a thorough understanding of each charm. Defense Against the Dark Arts ~ A Ever the optimist, Galen wanted to befriend most of the dark creatures encountered in Defense. This strategy didn’t quite work in practice, but it served him well on any theoretical examinations. Ironically, perhaps if he had failed once or twice he would have actually dived deeper into DADA and considered continuing it. Herbology ~ E Galen might not have remembered his birthmother working in a flower shop and his birthfather operating a greenhouse, but he had his own fond memories of working in the gardens and orchards of the Saylor farm with his parents. His sister, Vera, worked at an apothecary for many years and would harp on him for mixing up ingredients, which --while annoying--was effective at making sure he kept things straight even over the summers. And after he got better at herbology, Galen found he quite enjoyed it. History of Magic ~ AHistory was great inspiration for DnD campaigns, comic strips, and art appreciation! And that was about it. Galen was always an exactly adequate student of history. He knew the broad strokes of events, always did the homework, and always did acceptably on exams, but really he cared more about what people wanted to be than what had happened before. Potions ~ EMagical Soup Class had so many uses and was where he got to do lots of mixing, mashing, and sticking things in a stew. Learning about Soup properties—potions theory— helped with cooking, and cooking helped with potions. It was great! Transfiguration ~ A As a meta, Galen had a lifetime of anecdotal experience with transfiguration. Galen struggled with the mathematical aspects of transfiguration, but understanding transfiguration theory helped him better understand his own abilities and how to control them.
After a discussion with his friends in the Metafecta and his parents, Galen went to Professor Drage to request permission to continue Transfiguration. He wanted to do better. Even if he wasn't mastering the more complex Transfiguration, it was useful for his metamorphmagus control. ELECTIVES Art ~ OGalen learned to read from comic books and the Dungeons and Dragons Player Handbook. Before he was writing campaigns, he was doodling his ideas. After being adopted by Aileas, an artist, he took art much more seriously-- art was suddenly everywhere, and it was the connective tissue that made everything else make sense. Even if he wasn’t the best artist himself, Galen very much appreciated art and enjoyed it. This passion and in-depth knowledge of artistic history and techniques and the associated magic earned him the O despite not being as conventionally as skilled an artist as others in his class. Care of Magical Creatures~ E Galen took Creatures because, as he explained, “Hogwarts doesn’t have draconic studies” and this was the closest he had. Through the class he grew to be interested in more than just dragons and found he enjoyed the whimsicalness of magical creatures—and all animals—very much. He learned a lot about caring for his puffle—aptly named Dragon— and for the most part had a good grasp of all creatures. His “befriend all creatures” attitude from DADA actually worked when it came to CoMC! Healing ~ A Galen initially thought healing sounded useful and his parent Nova agreed healing was a practical skill. He also thought everything else sounded super fun and that he should have at least one serious elective. The theory and specifics of healing sometimes went over Galen’s head. He wasn’t the best student to begin with, and Healing tended to get very complicated very fast. But resilient as always, Galen put his best effort into understanding the practical aspects and being able to administer first aid. His potions were adequate, and his spellcasting was careful at least. Ultimately, it was his fantastic bedside manner–able to explain things kindly and comfortingly with good cheer, which secured him the A.
After a discussion with his parents, Galen decided against continuing healing. He was satisfied with what he had learned, and could realistically diagnose if an injury was something he could mend or something that required professional attention. That would be enough. Muggle Studies ~ EGalen had never had a chance to experience everyday life in muggle society as his uncontrolled meta changes didn’t fit in unless he was bundled to the point of lunacy. He took Muggle Studies out of interest but found the ideas presented disconnected from the bits of reality he saw. Mythology ~ O Galen took Mythology because everything he heard about the class sounded like something he’d read in a comic book and he thought Comic Class would be rad. The class was not exactly comic class, but he was intrigued anyways, and always piped up with a reference to a comic. He found plenty of opportunities for crossovers with Art and indeed did some of his best work as part of a Mythology crossover. Wizard Law~ EGalen took Wizard law because his parent, Nova, was a lawyer and owned their own firm. Galen was determined to do well at Wizard law, and loved being able to go to the Saylor Firm and understand at least a little of what was being said. He wasn’t quite great at the details, but he studied and practiced doggedly: the summer after third year, he followed Nova around, taking notes so at the end of the day he could ask for explanations and look things up in his textbooks. While he wasn’t always the best at the specifics, he did adopt and focus on Professor Li’s core skills of understanding legal concepts, adapting to arguments, and communicating clearly.
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Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2023 11:37 am
Astronomy - A
Charms - EE
Defence Against the Dark Arts - A
Herbology - EE
History of Magic - A
Potions - EE
Transfiguration - A
Art - O
Care of Magical Creatures - EE
Healing - A
Muggle Studies - EE
Mythology - O
Wizard Law - EE
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Cinnabun Gryffie Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Aug 04, 2023 1:39 am
N.E.W.T.sCORE Charms ~ E Galen tended to do well in Charms in part due to how often he used simple charms in everyday life. According to him, the important things in life were all things that magic couldn’t quite do for you–like making friends and relationships, like feeling and expressing feelings in art. Magic and charms were there to make everything else easier or enhance the experience of life. While Galen struggled to really explain the more complex and abstract elements of spell theory, he could practically cast anything presented. Even with nonverbal spells, while difficult at first, Galen slowly found understanding by seeing how it helped everyday life and then practicing to proficiency. Herbology ~ A Galen’s ceaseless optimism and resilience continued to serve as a metaphorical sun in his practical work with Herbology. He found he quite liked taking care of plants–especially in the context of making a healthy and natural home for magical creatures. However, NEWT level Herbology introduced details and complexities and exceptions in specialized plant care that Galen’s mental models just couldn’t quite keep straight. With more time he probably could have figured things out better, but with a full schedule of classes and more than a couple of clubs, Galen simply didn’t have the time. Potions ~ A At the NEWT level, Magical Soup Class suddenly seemed more like a Dangerous Soup class. Galen still did excellently at practical potion brewing, and could keep a level enough head to discern what the more complex potions did and how they roughly worked in effect. He did however, struggle to keep up with complex potions theory and some of of the more complicated techniques. Galen barely scraped an acceptable score on the written portion, and it was only sheer luck that he managed to remember the correct procedures for the practical. Transfiguration ~ EDespite his average scores at the OWL, Galen had decided to continue transfiguration. His determination to do better led, as he’d hoped, to better insights in not only his meta abilities, but also other forms of transfiguration–like Nora’s animagus–. He’d credit his metamorphmagus abilities as saving his practical–and any transfiguration he did–but it was, undoubtedly, his dogged efforts that kept him caught up at the NEWT level and gave him the extra couple points that tipped his score into exceeding expectations. ELECTIVES Art ~ OAt the NEWT level, Galen continued to expand his understanding and appreciation of art and magic as used in art. He fancied himself a canvas, often using his metamorphmagus abilities to reflect what he beheld. Although not the most traditionally skilled artist, he was undoubtedly knowledgeable and capable regarding art.
For his final project, he had carefully prepared a crossover project with Mythology: An original fan chapter of Hellboy in which Hellboy investigates a war-torn city, confronts Shiva about the destruction, learns that not all destruction is not all bad, and teams up with Shiva to destroy the billionaires exploiting the city. His NEWT exam piece was a sketch of the penultimate couple of pages, with magic animating a sketchy drawing delivering an explosive punch that broke through the borders of the frame. Care of Magical Creatures~ E With the newly-formed Creatures Appreciation Club, Galen found an added appreciated for creatures that they didn’t always get to interact with so closely. His attitude of befriending all creatures continued to serve him well, and where sometimes his academic knowledge about a particular creature might fail him, Galen had developed a good sense of what was creature-appropriate for a wide variety of creatures. The experience–and a couple of extra cram sessions– ensured his EE even at the more difficult NEWT level. Muggle Studies ~ EDespite his skepticism about what they learned in Muggle Studies, Galen continued the class because it was still an insight into a world he didn’t know growing up. He found that the ideas in advanced muggle studies and the topics of discussion made more sense and had more purpose, and he actually did remarkably well despite the jump in complexity. Mythology ~ O Galen continued to enjoy mythology at the NEWT level, and he approached mythology with the overt intention of using it in DnD campaigns. The mentality certainly helped his storytelling, and he was careful to note where his game ideas deviated and were inspired from the original mythology. For the NEWT, he mocked quick figurines and character sheets for all the examiners and convinced them to sit and roll a few dice with him, retelling of Theseus in the Labyrinth, action packed with cameos from other myths and references to other mythologies. Wizard Law~ AGalen continued at Wizard Law despite his struggles out of sheer determination to be helpful to his parent Nova– it was quickly apparent that he was not cut out for lawyering. He was surprisingly well-versed in magical law around Quidditch and games, but the technicalities eluded him even in those topics and the best he could hope for in a legal atmosphere was probably receptionist help.
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Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2023 12:29 pm
Charms - EE
Herbology - A
Potions - A
Transfiguration - EE
Art - O
Care of Magical Creatures - EE
Muggle Studies - EE
Mythology - O
Wizard Law - A
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Cinnabun Gryffie Vice Captain
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