Welcome to Gaia! ::

CORE
Astronomy~ O
Early on, August’s biggest problem was Astronomy was translating what he already knew from muggle physics and learning to English. Once this was solved in first year, Astronomy became easier and easier to study. Inspired by Vespera cross-referencing muggle healing texts, August read through Astronomy texts while summering with muggle relatives. It was one of the few subjects he could safely study around them, after all.

Charms ~ O
August loved Charms...Theory. When confused about casting in first year, he read up on spell theory and struggled with it until his spells worked. The written portion was a breeze, and thanks to some good advice and practice with Aldrick and Lizzie, August was able to do preform the spells proficiently.

Defense Against the Dark Arts~ O
August held a deep respect for Professor Cohen and her class and adopted the philosophy that magic was more about making good choices rather than casting flashy spells. His Spell Theory reading and tutoring came in handy here as well, and he found some of the DADA spells quite practical for other purposes.

Herbology ~ O
Herbology had always been August’s academic weakness, not because he didn’t know the plants or write coherently about them, but because he tended to follow recommendations and instructions to the letter when it came to actually taking care of the plants. Despite constant practical failings, he diligently sought help from Professor Hill throughout the years and read up on supplementary texts. He spent two summers (summer following 3rd and 4th years) helping his aunt restructure her garden of magical herbs, which also helped him get more comfortable with the plants. Combined with a thorough knowledge of how gathered plant parts worked in potions, this was a simple written exam and nerve-wracking practical, but ultimately he was very proud to receive the O.

History of Magic ~ O
History--both English and Chinese--had been a favorite subject for August even in muggle elementary. Being introduced to Wizarding History was like unlocking yet another layer of his favorite story. He read voraciously in every subject, and background information for everything helped build not only a more thorough understanding of the subject, but also always fed back into a thorough understanding of the historical context. History also always seemed like the only subject they were both good at that Aldrick didn't feel like competing over, and they enjoyed many a fruitful conversation over.

Potions ~ O
Potions for August was simply a matter of following instructions directly and precisely, which was August’s preferred method. As with other classes, he was quite concerned with the theory of how different ingredients worked together as well as the rationale behind particular procedures. So while he had to rush a little towards the end of the practical, the most of the exam August knew exactly what he was doing and why.

Transfiguration ~ O
Transfiguration theory August had zero problem in. He was well read on transfiguration theory, and his cousin and mentee, Sonora and Rhea, taking an interest in animagus studies meant that he could always turn to them for questions or help practicing. He can admirably perform the required spells and thoroughly explain the theory behind more advanced ones, but it was not his favorite or best course by any means.


ELECTIVES
Ancient Runes ~ O
Five years in the language club has helped August pick up tricks for learning new languages and gave him an interest in the ancient runic scripts. He adopted very quickly to Professor Powell’s attitude that Runes were an extension of history, another favorite class, and gladly spent time practicing translations, writing in the scripts just for practice or debating with Aldrick or Sonora about some translation.

Arithmancy~ O
Arithmancy quickly became one of August’s favorite subjects in third year and he enjoyed not only his usual assignments, but doing “challenge problems” taken from his older friends’ textbooks. By year four he was tutoring for the year ahead, and happily read theory explanations as part of “light reading”.

Ghouls and Ghosts ~ O
Inspired by the ghost in his bedroom back in Taiwan, August’s interest in Ghouls and Ghosts often fed into his short stories, and as a result of doing extensive research into these stories he’d also end up reading extra for the class.

Muggle Studies ~ O
August self-studied for Muggle Studies, thinking it would be useful as a muggleborn wizard to know wizarding perspectives of muggles. He had first hand experience from growing up a muggleborn and visiting his muggle maternal grandparents over the vacations.

Mythology ~ O
At the recommendation of his mentors, August took Mythology and took easily to the subject. It was like History 2.0 for him, and he took to reading both wizarding and muggle myths. He may have tried writing his own wizarding style myths, but those attempts remain unseen under the bed.

Wizard Law~ O
August had accepted before he even knew about magic that he was going to be doing something law or hospitality. From age 11 onwards, it was decided to be wizarding law. He dotted his original stories with legal proceedings, studied the rules and histories associated with wizarding law. In his second year he made friends with Slytherin Prefect Jeremy Travers over their mutual interest in law and kept in regular contact after Jeremy’s graduation, discussing via letter legal concepts he couldn’t quite grasp yet.

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Petition for higher than average grades:
Fueled in part by a fear of failure and by high expectations for himself and from his parents, August has always been a very diligent and prepared student on top of his other responsibilities. His academic rivalry with the very competitive Aldrick Knapp was yet another push to expecting only the highest marks of himself. He’s stated as pre-reading all subjects before September and started studying for OWLs specifically before his fourth year/ NEWTs since his sixth. He is known for reading voraciously in any subject, referencing details and specifics brought up in reference notes only, readily recommending books in magic theory when tutoring students, and-- to a small subset of folks--weaving theoretical and factual descriptions in with his short stories. Theory, and anything that can be studied from a book, is definitively his strong suit and he uses this very thorough knowledge of theory to hone spell work.

NEWTS

CORE
Charms ~ O

Spell theory was one of August’s favorite things to study, right up there with Potions and Arithmancy theory. His written portion was thus flawless. NEWT-level charms also introduced nonverbal spells, and while casting wandlessly was more difficult, August made use of simple, everyday charms, and practiced any practical spells to perfection.

Defense Against the Dark Arts ~ O

As with Charms, August’s understanding of spell theory was eloquently expressed in the written portion. His practical spellcasting was honed diligently due to its importance to both legal professions and auror professions. He and Lizzie spent many hours working out precise and effective spellcasting to any creatures she might encounter as an auror, and practicing with her encouraged him to keep up with the practical aspects of DADA. Despite his usual straight-laced demeanor, self-imposed pressure on himself, and his awkwardness with creatures, August found plenty to laugh about and treasure over the years which made for effective boggart and patronus fodder.

Herbology ~ E

Despite his struggles with Herbology throughout his Hogwarts career, August received a lot of help regarding Herbology from not only Professor Hill, but also family and other students. This combination of efforts encouraged him to continue Herbology at the NEWT level. While his performance through much of sixth year was up and down due to other emotional issues, his theoretical and academic knowledge of the subject has never faltered, and his practical care has improved greatly from continued diligence. In sixth year Mallaidh offered the insight that his plants mirrored his emotions and stress-- and while seventh year was definitely his busiest year, it was made possible and infinitely better by his relationship with Rhea and meaningful mentoring relationships. He was much calmer, and his plant care and work reflected that faithfully. Professor Hill had predicted he would receive an E in sixth year, and he worked very hard to do better than that -- indeed, by the seventh year his plants were thriving. But on the day of the exam, August couldn’t stop insisting that an E was unacceptable; ironically, if he had accepted that an E wouldn’t be the end of the world, his plants in the exam would have felt the pressure off and he would have received the O.

History of Magic ~ O

From reading biographies of notable arithmancers to accounts of how ghosts had influenced the development of wizarding law, History was August’s best and favorite subject. It helped that Mallaidh and Aldrick, his close friends, were also diligent historians. History on any subject was always worth exploring, and reading up on the history of everything was standard supplemental reading that always contributed back to his understanding of History.

Potions ~ O

Potions Theory was as fascinating as Spell Theory, and potions work had always been a matter of precision and practice following instructions rather than intuition. Following Potions recipes had always been easier for August than casting spells, and his patience for studying potions was apparent in his confidence on the exam.

ELECTIVES
Ancient Runes ~ O

Learning Ancient Runes as a language was fun to begin with, but learning to use magic with it was even more powerful. With more free time to explore and experiment, August might have even preferred runic magic where available. He didn’t get as much time as he would have liked to explore use and integration of runic magic, but the studying he did was more than enough to earn him an Outstanding at the NEWT level.

Arithmancy~ O

Like History, Arithmancy was another subject which August was very excited about. He was tutoring the subject for almost as long as he was taking it, and his penchant for using more complicated problems to destress or avoid his feelings gave him early exposure to NEWTs content. Despite the high-stakes nature of the exam, this was one of the more relaxing exams he took, and a good exam to close off the week with.

Ghouls and Ghosts ~ O

Ghouls and ghosts had fed August's short story writing in previous years, and in some cases looking up story material exposed him to details from more advanced studies. While he had less time to write in the upper years, this fascination for looking things up—or just a friendly conversation with the Hogwarts ghosts—persisted. Even if he couldn’t write a full story, he could make notes or outlines of plots. Over the summer before 7th year he reconnected with the ghost in his childhood bedroom and of course leveraged their help in understanding ghosts from Chinese perspectives.

Muggle Studies ~ O

While August spent more time with wizarding relatives over the breaks in upper years, he did maintain regular contact and always at least visited with non-magical family. This was a self-study exam, taken because he wanted to be familiar with wizarding perspectives on muggles for his legal work.

Mythology ~ O

With less time to do his own short story writing, August used Mythology as his creative fix over the week. He looked up the historical contexts to different myths, reading and making notes to capture the themes and details as they changed over time; sometimes he would simply rewrite scenes as they might be told in more modern times and submit these as homework. Inspired by Professor Harlowe‘s openness to non-traditional homework formats, he encouraged younger students to use Mythology as a creative outlet as well, and found great insight in how the same content he preferred to use creative writing for could be expressed in short monologues or character clothing.

Wizard Law~ O

Law was decidedly August’s future career, and thankfully countless hours of reading extensively on the subject gave him enough to enjoy about it. He had a good mentor in business law from Jeremy, and inspired by Vespera’s cross-referencing muggle medical texts for Healing, August started referencing international documents for wizarding law as early as in his OWL studies. It gave him insight into the worldwide context of wizarding law, put his language club studies to good use, and kept him well informed of the activities of the International Confederation of Wizards.

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Petition for higher than average grades:
Fueled in part by a fear of failure and by high expectations for himself and from his parents, August has always been a very diligent and prepared student on top of his other responsibilities. His mentoring interests and other leadership positions have given him less time to relax and write, but also put him in the position of having to not only understand something enough for an exam, but enough to tutor. He’s stated as pre-reading all subjects before September and started studying for NEWTs almost immediately after OWLs ended. Among mentees (or anyone who he might encounter as part of prefect or head boy duties) he's known for reading voraciously in any subject, referencing details and specifics brought up in reference notes only, emphasizing historical contexts of any subject, and readily recommending books in magic theory. While Theory, and anything that can be studied from a book, is definitively still his strong suit, for the most part August has made use of this knowledge and theory to make honing practical work more efficient and effective.