Violet came running down the path to the gazebo, chasing furiously after Lewis, her egg from Charms class, which had slipped out of her hand once again when she had only been taking it out of her pocket to check that it was all right. What was with the dratted thing--it was as squirmy as a worm! Drawing close to it at last, she leapt forward in a last desperate measure and flung herself on top of the shiny, silver egg just before it could slip beneath the floor of the gazebo and disappear, maybe forever!

Panting and heaving herself off of the muddy ground, she didn't even notice the mud spattered onto her robes; all her concern was for her egg, on which depended probably most of her Charms grade for the term. Lewis was very dirty, but seemed otherwise unharmed. Violet got shakily to her feet, taking out a handkerchief and starting to wipe the dirt off of her egg, when suddenly she caught herself--was she a witch, or what? She put back the handkerchief, sat down on the edge of the gazebo, took out her wand, pointed it at Lewis, and said, "Scourgify! She watched with satisfaction as all the dirty disppeared from her egg--like magic! (ha, ha...).

Violet looked down at the front of her robes and thought she had better use the same spell on herself, but just then she noticed that Lewis was feeling a bit damp, probably from rolling around in all that mud. Holding the egg firmly between her knees and steadying it with her left hand, she took her wand, twirled and pointed it at Lewis, and said, "Argentum Siccus!". Immediately she felt Lewis return to normal--the charm had worked! Smiling, she carefully tucked the egg deep within her inner pocket where it wouldn't get away again, ignoring the impulse to sit staring at the colored swirls that were constantly moving within the silver sphere.