It wasn't long after Gaston had finished speaking that he saw Miss Toussaint's hand go up. He listened to her answer and nodded approvingly. "Very good, Miss Toussaint," he said, "and you're correct. No even coating like that could be done by hand."



Miss Sparkes's hand was the next one Gaston saw. Her question was a bit unexpected, but it made him smile nonetheless. "Indeed it does, Miss Sparkes," he said. "It's called a Summoning Charm. If you like, I can teach it to you later." But for now, they needed to get back to the subject at hand. He nodded in reply to the girl's answer. "Right! Bumps and bruises will rarely appear on magicked food."



Now this was an answer the professor hadn't been expecting, but he had to admit it made sense. "That's a very good theory, Mr. Blaze," he said, "but in most cases, the reverse is true. Magicked items will generally have better proportions than their natural counterparts. The spell helps disguise any flaws that might be there."



Miss Sorin-Ward was the next to speak, and Gaston listen intently to her answer. He was impressed! "A very observant and logical conclusion, Miss Sorin-Ward," he said, smiling slightly. "Air bubbles are a telltale sign of a handmade apple."



Gaston nodded approvingly at Mr. Salander's answer. So it seemed he agreed with the others about the magicked apple being free of imperfections, but then he mentioned the apples tasting different. The compliment earned the Gryffindor prefect a smile from the professor. "Thank you, Mr. Salander," he replied. "And I'm impressed! Magicked foods do have s subtle difference in taste, but it's almost impossible to detect."



Gaston saw Miss Kramer's hand (and apple) go up next and called on the Hufflepuff prefect. Her answer was along the same lines of what others had said bu no less correct. "Excellent, Miss Kramer! You're correct," he said. "Differences in smell, like taste, are almost impossible to detect, but magicked items will sometimes have a weaker smell."



Miss Summers was being awfully quiet. Oh well, no matter! Gaston glanced in the prefect's direction and saw her looking at and sniffing her apples. Maybe she just needed more time to finish her examination. Then he saw her raise one f=of her apples slightly higher and took that to mean it was the one she thought was made with magic.



Miss Holden was the next to offer an answer, and Gaston listened carefully, nodding every so often. At first he thought she was going to just repeat what had been said about the magic apple being smoother and more perfect, but then she brought up the combination of flavors. "Interesting observation, Miss Holden!" he said, giving the girl a small smile. "An even balance flavors is a good indication of magic."



Now here was a unique answer! Most people seemed to think the magicked apple had a better taste, but Miss Cambridge had the opposite thought. "Very good, Miss Cambridge," the professor said, nodding slightly. "Interesting conclusion. Usually the magicked food is thought to have a better quality of taste and texture, but magic can sometimes create a more artificial flavor."



Next to speak was Miss Burton. The professor nodded approvingly in reply to her answer, It sounded like she and Miss Cambridge were thinking along the same lines in terms of the magic apples seeming more artificial. "Excellent, Miss Burton," he said. "In addition to artificial flavor, magicked food can also have an artificial smell or color."



Gaston wasn't sure how Miss Diggory would react to him summoning her apple, but he was glad she didn't' seem annoyed by it. Really, he'd just picked one at random. The professor's eyes widened slightly at the girl's answer; this was the most outside-the-box response he'd heard yet! "I'm impressed, Miss Diggory. Five points to Slytherin for your astute answer!" he said with a smile. "It's fairly common to use magic to create imperfections in foods. It makes it harder to distinguish between its natural counterpart, though in this case, the imperfections were caused by nature instead of magic." He didn't want to make it too difficult for the students to find the magicked apple! He nodded slightly as she went on. "Revelio on its own could be used to return a magicked item to its original state, but depending upon the spell used could be messy. While useful on a food that has been duplicated or transfigured, food created by magically combining existing ingredients would separate into its individual components, like so..."

He aimed his wand at the duplicated apple on his desk. "Revelio." It vanished. Then he cast the same spell on the banana, and it turned back into an apple. Finally he turned his wand to the candy apple he'd made by combining ingredients. The candy melted away, leaving just a plain apple and red candy goo covering his desk. Then he turned back to Miss Diggory. "But you're on the right track; there is a charm that reveals magic itself without affecting the object. May I?" He pointed his wand at her apple again. "Revelio incantatem." An orange glow appeared around the magicked apple.



And here was another student who'd picked up on the magicked apple's unnaturally perfect appearance, and... Blink, blink. It didn't smell right? That caught the professor slightly off guard, and for a moment, he wondered if someone had tampered with the apples. It started to make more sense the more Miss Morrison explained her points, though. He nodded. "Very good, Miss Morrison," he said. "So you've noticed a difference in smell too."



Another quiet student. Gaston watched as Mr. Bronwyn - or should he say Princess Rapunzel - stopped juggling the apples and examined them rather intently. Was it just him or did the head boy-turned-princess look a bit confused? Had he really made the magicked candy apples that hard to spot?



Gaston listened to Miss Potts's answer, patiently waiting for her to provide observations to support her point. He was a little surprised when none came, but maybe the girl just forgot. Or was having trouble wording her ideas. "Very good, Miss Potts," he replied with an encouraging smile. "Any particular reason why you think so?" he gently prompted.



Mr. Botros's answer got a little chuckle from the professor. "A very unique observation, Mr. Botros," he said with a smile. He never would've thought to test the apples by smashing them together, but the boy had arrived at the correct conclusion nonetheless. "And you're right. A smooth, even coating is more often than not a sign of magic."



The witchy cackling did not escape Gaston's notice, but he let it slide. After all, it was Halloween... well, almost. The thing that caught him off guard was when Miss Phillips said she thought he could be tricking them. What was it with some of these kids assuming the worst of him? "I assure you there was no trickery involved, Miss Phillips," he said, but the smile he gave her was a little forced and the sad look in his eyes more pronounced. If anything, he'd tried to make it easier for them to guess!

He nodded in reply to her answer. She had a fair point about the smell, but what she said about the flawed apple was a little unexpected. "Excellent guess, Miss Phillips," he said. "Magic can create flaws, though unless a spell was used specifically to mimic said flaws - which was not the case here - the more perfect object will be the magicked one."



Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne was still drumming his apples on his desk. Gaston smiled a little; he didn't have the heart to tell him to stop. Then he saw one of the boy's apples go up and called on him. Talk about an outside-the-box answer! "Interesting theory, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne - and a creative testing method if I do say so myself!" he said. "That's a good point you made. Depending on the spell used, some magic can cause an object to feel less solid. This is most often the case when duplicating or transforming something." The bit about combining apples and sponge cake made him laugh a little. "I'm afraid it wasn't, though that's a very good idea!" He'd have to see if he could come up with an apple sponge cake recipe!

Once the students had finished giving their answers, Gaston turned to address the group again. "Excellent answers, all of you!" he said. "You came up with some clever and creative reasoning to back up your points, and most of you correctly identified the magicked apple. So how exactly does one tell food made by magic from food made by hand?" He flicked his wand at the blackboard, and the following words appeared:

Once he'd finished writing the differences the class had mentioned on the board, he gave his students a few moments to take notes before continuing, "Now, in a few minutes, we'll be using a few simple charms to create a Halloween treat, but first, why do you think it's important to learn to cook with magic? What spells do you think would be most useful in the kitchen?" He couldn't wait to hear the class's thoughts on this. Maybe some of them would be able to guess the charms he'd be teaching!

OOC: You have ABOUT 24 HOURS (10:30 PM EDT May 23) to answer this question, then we'll move on to the main activity!