Shay was busy looking at all of the Halloween costumes when her housemate appeared and sat down beside her. She gave Noelle a smile and an approving nod for her awesome costume. Before she could speak though, the class began. Professor Marchand got right down to business and when two candy apples appeared on her desk, she was pleasantly surprised. "Ooh, jelly apples", she said, while admiring the treats.

So they had to determine which apple was handmade and which one was magically made. Shay wondered what exactly made by magic meant. She knew that you could not conjure food from nothing and one of her classmates asked a question to clarify that point. Fortunately the answer was a positive one. Shay had wondered if the apple had been changed into an apple from some less appealing object. It was good to know combining existing foods was involved.

It was time to get to work. Shay began by labeling her apples A and B. She had to make sure not to mix up the order during her testing process. Deciding to use her visual skills first, Shay looked at the two apples side by side. She picked up her quill and began to write down her observations. First the obvious. Apple A was somewhat smaller than the other one. The candy coating on A was lighter in color than the coating on apple B.......not much, but maybe one shade lighter. Shay picked both apples up and looked at the bottoms. With Apple B, their was a flat sheet of candy coating noted. It was as if the Apple had been dipped in the coating and left to sit on its bottom as it dried. Apple A did not have the flat coating on the bottom. Its coating perfectly matched the apples contours. Now Shay had eaten more than a few jelly apples in her day and now she was leaning toward B as the handmade one.

But the evaluation was far from over. Now was the time to touch. Shay used her fingers to feel all around the apples, one at a time. She noticed that apple A felt stickier than the other one. She also felt occasionally bump in the coating. It was very slight, you could not see it, but could feel it. Apple B had a much smoother feel to it and was not really sticky. Shay paused to document her findings so far and then got back to her comparisons.

It was time for the smell test. One at a time, Shay picked up the apples and took a good whiff. A little unsure, she smelled them again. She couldn't quite put her finger on it, but apple B just smelled right. It had that sweet, sugary, red dye number 40 smell that Shay knew and loved. Apple A just smelled........off .......just a tiny bit. It just didn't smell quite right to Shay. She was definitely leaning toward A as the imposter. There was one more test that she hadn't tried though. First, Shay updated her notes. Then it was time.

Being new to Hogwarts, Shay did not yet have the fear of eating random food that any sane Hogwatian would have. Besides, she was dying to sample the goodies in front of her. She had her thoughts as to which apple was which. Now, she just needed to confirm them. With great anticipation, Shay raised apple A and took a bite. It was........good. She didn't really notice anything remarkable about it. Then it was time to taste apple B. Shay took a bite and held it in her mouth, savoring it like a wine taster would. This one was good too. Actually, she really couldn't notice much difference between the two apples. Maybe she needed to taste them again. The only difference Shay found was that the consistency of the coating was a little less smooth on apple A, just as she had felt. They both tasted delicious though.

So, her comparison complete, Shay finalized her notes and made her decision. Apple A was the magic apple and apple B was the handmade one. Work done, she continued to nibble on the apples.