magic variety

Actually, Harry first uses a veil in “The Warrior.”
And there’s a big difference between magic done by sitting down in a lotus position, concentrating for ten minutes, maybe using props and/or circles to augment the process, and magic that you know well enough to do nownownow.  It’s the difference between shooting arrows at a target in your back yard, talking to friends, and shooting arrows at a running target through the cover of the forest.  Theory and application are in different worlds.
Harry’s always been able to do a perfect veil.  He just had to be sitting in a circle, set up specifically for the purpose, sitting down, and he couldn’t be doing anything else while he did that.  Which makes it minimally useful.
By the time he was teaching Molly, Harry had been forced to sit down and practice his veils, working them into his regular routine.  His veils suck, compared to Molly’s–but he can toss up a veil that’s not even as good as Predator camo, and at least retain enough awareness to walk or run around, and maybe pull off a couple of little tricks while he does it.  But it’s not something he was born good at.  He’s had to work for it.
Besides.  He keeps making Molly practice things she isn’t good at–like shields and kinetic strikes–because, he says, it’s good for her (and it is).  But if he sits around not practicing things /he/ isn’t good at, how does that look to the grasshopper?
It’s an ongoing process.


Quote from: jimbutcher on March 17, 2010, 06:32:58 PM (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,16165.msg745889.html#msg745889)