Well, at least Thornton hadn't missed the instructions for the practical. As he went forward to select a bouncy ball, several thoughts crossed his mind. The first was whether the tree, if he was successful, would revert at some point and leave a little ball buried in the dirt. The second was that he hoped a bouncy ball wouldn't be too small a target. And the third was that his spellwork would be much better - it was average now - if he still practiced on a regular basis.

He.. missed his study buddy.

Sitting in his chair, the third year set the ball very carefully on the surface of his desk, hoping it would not roll. Muttering the incantation to himself to practice the pronunciation, Thornton tried to visualize a tree.

Double jab. It was a double jab. The Ravenclaws held his wand and took a steadying breath. "Immutare Arbore!" jab jab.

Thornton looked at the place the bouncy ball had once sat. That was... sorta a tree. The misshapen red shape resembled a poorly cut topiary, if one wanted to be technical about it.