He can venture a guess at what Professor Rammsteiner is setting up, but what he's more interested in are the movements of his hands and the way he positions his body. It's nothing he can't imitate, Jade decides.

Which just means that all this is less a problem with his technique and more a problem with his control. He remembers his first year, watching his fellow students struggle to so much as lift a feather even when their wandwork and pronunciation had been perfect. Their difficulty had stemmed from their inability to tap into their magic, to channel it.

It's not a problem he had faced before. Magic had always came naturally to him. But it's a problem he's facing now.

The first projectile hits him, even as he snaps out a quick "Depulso!", trying to channel his will through his fingers. A second projectile glances off his ribs, and he lets out a little grunt of pain. Again, he repeats his incantation, and while the third projectile wobbles in the air, it doesn't stop. A spot of pain blooms in his left shoulder.

It's not working. As the fourth projectile soars towards him, Jade raises both arms: "Protego!"

His mounting frustration, the odd excitement of meeting a new challenge, his will and his determination - all of that he channels into the air in front of him.

The projectile hits an invisible barrier, then falls to the ground like a stone.