Many Muggle children have a talent for wizardry, but don't
know it. This little levitation test sometimes brings it out of
them. On a long table, I have five wooden wands. I ask which
children would like to be tested for wizardry or witchcraft and
select five of them. I always try to choose a very little child
as one of the five. The first test is to have each child select a
wand, or rather, see if the wands will select them. One by one,
each child goes up to the wand table and holds out his hand over
the various wands. If a wand is attracted to the child, it will
jump or wiggle about. Soon each wand has selected a child except
for the very littlest child. I help the smallest child hold out
his or her hand over the wands, maybe even by lowering the table
down to the child's height. When the child holds out a hand over
the last remaining wand, it leaps into the air.
Now the children are each given a feather. I usually ask them
if they have seen the first Harry Potter movie and if they know
the magic words to levitate a feather. Many of the children will
answer "yes," and they usually know the words
"Wingardium Leviosa!" They all use their wands to try
to levitate their feathers, without much success. However, the
youngest child manages to make the feather flutter up into the
air, and suddenly it takes off and flies right off the stage,
where an apprentice grabs it and returns it to the child as a
souvenir of the experience.
