Althea returned Derf's wave with a smile and a quick wave of her own; the enigma continued to perplex the fifth year. She'd really have to sit down and have a conversation with him. Her eyes dropped down to the newly appeared apples, she cast a curious glance around the room before looking at Professor Manchard. Interesting.

Picking up one the apple on her right, she examined it carefully, and started jotting down some quick descriptions and things that she noticed about it. Tentatively, she took a sniff, jot down the sort of sweetness that exuded from the apple, and then placed it back down. She repeated these steps with the apple to her left, taking a critical look at the overall shape and trying to spot any subtle differences it might have. Manchard was a lot of things, but Althea had to give it to him; he was talented. Her hand moved to write down that the apple to her right was a tad bit rounder than the one to the left. She paused at that, and frowned, picking up both apples and looking at their shapes carefully before amending her notations.