Miranda shrugs. "At least now I know that in theory I can tell wands how much power they can draw. I though they did that all by themselves." She swishes and flicks the pine again. Her feather nudges up ever so gently.
"Well, guess they do," Alli says, pointing at Miranda's feather, "cause if it was us throwing power around, that feather would be on the ceiling just like the last one, yeah?"
"Maybe it's like drinking from a straw, and the pine wand is a skinnier straw so I have to push harder to get more power out."
Her smile is rather mischievous. She didn't get Sorted into Slytherin because she liked to behave.
"But regular wand power is fine for getting everything done," says Karen. "Miranda had the charm right with the pine wand to start out."
Alli shrugs. "If it's as hard as he says, you're not going to be sticking anything else to the ceiling," she points out.
She swishes-and-flicks with the pine and gets a fairly energetic, but not nearly as dramatic as before, upward trajectory.
"Look at that," Alli says, impressed. "Already with the power management."
The eye roll that accompanies this may make her opinion of that particular sentiment rather obvious.
"Doesn't matter," Alli says breezily. "I am an extremely un-Slytherin sort of Slytherin." She looks around at her year mates. A couple of them are glaring at her for chatting with Ravenclaws, but by and large they just look confused. "Betting most of us are, at that."
"I'm sure we match on some level," she amends unwillingly. "I'd give me 'ambitious', I guess." And, in her head, and kind of a bitch, that too. "But all that Dark Magic and pureblood stuff is bloody nonsense. Best guess, the Hat stuck me here because it's still closer than the other three, but I don't think anyone would actually volunteer."
Alli sighs. "Maybe if it stays unappealing long enough, we'll get some actual human beings? Outnumber the snobs?" she says. She does not sound optimistic.
"The snobs have to go somewhere, although I guess they could wind up concentrating someplace else."
"Let's just forbid snobs," Alli suggests whimsically. "Sorry, you're a snob, no Hogwarts for you."
"You're the Ravenclaw," Alli says with a laugh, "so I'm just gonna take your word for it."
"Honestly, we just started. So far all that means is that we're probably better than seventieth percentile intelligence and sleep in a different dorm. It's not like we have advanced technical certifications."
"No Hogwarts for you either then," Alli informs her solemnly. "All Ravenclaws must have at least two degrees before joining."
"Oh no. I'll have to go to the Owly after all. What a disaster. Oh no."