Brianna was very grateful as she went to Professor Cooper’s office and knocked on the door. Her head of house had been gracious enough to agree to teach her the Releasing Charm after a particularly worrisome incident in the greenhouses. Bri had been on her way out of the room when one of the plants grabbed a hold of her and started pulling her back. Luckily, one of the other students had alerted Professor Cooper to her plight and she’d gotten out of there relatively quickly, but it had left her with a slight sense of dread that she wasn’t safe in Herbology since she obviously couldn’t defend herself.
She knocked on the door and was told to enter. Professor Cooper was sitting behind the desk, presumably waiting for her. She took out her wand upon entering, completely ready to give the spell a shot so that she wouldn’t feel so completely useless if it happened again. Something about meeting her end via plant didn’t sound very pleasant. It sounded more embarrassing than anything.
The professor took out her own wand to demonstrate how to do it. Instead of performing it on Bri, however, or Bri performing it on Professor Cooper, they were using a small dummy that was holding a little book. If the spell was performed correctly, the figure would drop the book. If not, it would stay where it was. Professor Cooper showed her how to hold her wand in her hand, as well as what way to wave it, before showing her how it was actually done.
When the spell was cast, the book dropped, and Professor Cooper reset it so that Bri could give it a try. “Relashio, relashio, relashio,” Bri repeated under her breath. She didn’t want to get the pronunciation wrong and then end up with a pile of fish raining down on them (which had been known to happen from time to time).
After repeating the spell without her wand several times, Bri thought she was ready to give it a try. She lifted her wand and held it out, doing her best to imitate the stance that Professor Cooper had taken. With her feet shoulder width apart, her knees slightly bent, and her wand held aloft, she gave it a wave while reciting the incantation. “Relashio!”
Behind her, something fell to the floor. Professor Cooper told her to ignore it and to try again, which Bri did, to no effect. She was starting to wonder what she was doing wrong, but the Professor corrected her stance and showed her how to wave her wand again. She realized that she’d been trying to do the wave backwards, and nodded.
“Relashio!” she tried again with gusto. The book reluctantly shook in the dummy’s hand, then dropped to the floor. It was a small victory, but a victory nonetheless. With practice, she would improve and soon she would be able to free herself from the plant if it ever decided to attack her again (and perhaps she would be able to put it to some other use as well).
