Talk:Ileana's Stuff/@comment-4423292-20141024212622

  Ileana is a witch. She's of fully human heritage. Her father is muggle-born, and her paternal family muggles. Her mother is half-blood, and while Ileana's maternal family is less than pure-blood, most of relatives are, themselves, wizarding.

When Ileana was young, her grandparents began teaching her potions as it does not require a wand. They never let her skimp out on any parts of the process; they'd make her learn the herbology, tend and gather the plants. She had to learn any words in the recipe that she didn't already know. She had to prepare the ingredients, no matter how gross or creepy they were. And she had to wash the cauldron out properly when it was done. At the time she would complain, and do it solely because it was her only chance to do magic at that age. But it lead to greater skill in potions, and now she's grateful for it.

When Ileana was 11 and about to start school, she finally got her own wand. When Ileana first saw it, she thought it was beautiful, and she still does, although the novelty has worn off. It's made of aspen wood, populus tremula, 30 centimeters long, containing a piece of the glittering golden horn of a dragon, a Romanian Longhorn.

With five years of wizarding schooling, Ileana has a decent grip on magic. She is most skilled at spellwork, charms in particular. She finds practicing spellwork to be less frustrating than practicing other branches of magic, and this practice has made her better at it. When she first started school, she was so thrilled to have her own wand that she would practice just for an excuse to use it. And later on, she would practice because she liked seeing what weird things other than the intended effect of the spell, she might make happen before she got the spell right.