Marisol rubbed her hands together, partly because she was mischievously excited, but mostly because she was freezing. A slow and painful death. Could she sue her professors for that?

The first year noted the blonde teacher present. Professor Morgan, no? She seemed kind of ditzy, and Mari was less enthusiastic at the prospect of her upcoming Divination lesson. Other people asked questions which the teachers answered. Nothing interesting quite yet.

But a charm, you say? This changed everything. Marisol's mother, Raquel Martínez de Cruz, was a famous Healer. Her daughter grudgingly understood how important a simple incantation could be to your life. Mari was actually okay(ish) at Charms. Better than Potions, anyway.

The spell "fixate"? Marisol hadn't heard of it, but Professor Fuller claimed it was easy to pronounce. Well, possibly, if English was your native language. But in Spanish, the letter X wasn't all that common, and sometimes it was pronounced like an English H, as in México. Don't get Mari started on those crazy silent Es.

"Fíjate," Mari tried. She knew it wasn't right, though the Spanish word probably shared the same root. "Feeksaty. Feeksayt? Feeksayt! Feeksayt!" Yeah, that sounded weird. And Marisol loved it!