No offense, but this sounded like a LOT of fun!! Who knew that Professor WayOld had it in him! She owed him some more credit, it seemed. Zoryn was quick to follow her Professor into the cave and almost made a LOUD exclamation about how CUTE the bats were before remembering that they were supposed to be quiet. She could do that. Totally.

Looking around at the whole group, she STAGE whispered, "Anyone wanna partner up!?"

'Cause getting 10 bats sounded like a whole lot of work and it'd probably be loads more fun if she could get someone else to help. Maybe someone super smart like Christopher. A Ravenclaw or something.

The professor offered him food? Nice. Dinner wasn't sufficient for him, he needed to eat more for his growing body. "Sure, thanks professor." He grinned. He walked into the cave with the others, lighting his wand in the process. Bats were flying everywhere above them, making him cringed mentally inside. Nathan just didn't like touching animals he wasn't used to. And when the professor asked them to lure the bats down, he couldn't help but frown at the thought. He wondered if anyone else wants to partner with him. He raised his hand, "I'm free, if you want a partner." He looked up at the girl. Zoryn was her name, right?

WHAT INCIDENT IN DEFENCE?

His eyes wide at the professor's words, Daehyun soon forgot all about it when he spoke next.

They were going into the cave! How exciting?!

Nearly skipping the way inside, he did his best to control his enthusiasm to avoid scaring the dozens of bats that were inside. "Whoa," he muttered to himself in awe at the sight that awaited them, almost forgetting to keep his lit wand down, though he remembered just in time.

Turning around to grin at Shera, he asked, "Partners?" Though he was so enthusiastic that he was already breaking a peach in half, one of which he'd handed her, and the other held out in his hand, watching in fascination as one of the bats flew straight at him, and landed on his arm. Grinning at the creature, he gave it the peach and, once sated, the bat swung down to hang upside-down from his hand.

How cute were they?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

By the looks of it, excusing herself wouldn't have been an option, not unless she fancied a meeting with the man tomorrow in regards to said action. Jessa remained silent, watching it all unfold, listening to his further explanations...then he said something about going inside.

...

......

......................

There was no way she was following him in there. As in, it wasn't happening. No amount of counter-reasoning would convince her to step into that cave for the simple reason that the cons vastly outweighed the pros in her mind. A light at the tip of her wand wouldn't erase the Fifth Year's reservations about the cave--about the space itself.

That being the case, Jessa remained standing at the entrance of the cave. The light from those who'd entered and opted to use it was all the illumination she needed to be able to see what took place on the inside. Already being able to see, she was even less convinced there was need for her to enter. She'd just....keep standing here....thanks.

'Sides, the activity was probably completely doable from here. Jessa drew her wand, accio-ing an apple from the bunch of fruits provided. A well cast diffindo cut the fruit in half then she held it up too. There. She was doing the activity.

Natalie was actually, surprisingly, really chill about this activity. Maybe it was Zita being a drama queen and Natalie wanting to ignore her completely and actually learn something that got her into the cave, or maybe it was that Natalie was actually getting used to creatures and... curious? She was definitely curious. Besides, the professor made it seem like the bats were harmless.

She watched the interaction between the professor and the bat and... well, was actually kind of excited to try. She went to go retrieve some fruit when she noticed that Jessa was still standing outside the cave. That was odd.

"Aren't you coming in?" Natalie asked as she approached her, noting that she was indeed holding up an apple... nowhere near the bats. Wasn't Jessa all about entering dark and dangerous places?

Huh?

The Gryffindor hearing the older boy offer his partnership. HMMM. Zoryn gave him a good look up and down. He was older which meant he was probably smart AND he looked kinda goth, so he was probably real into bats. That was Zoryn's assumption anyway. So, yes. He'd be the PERFECT candidate.

"Okay, you've got yourself a deal!" She BEAAAMED his way.

She held up a finger to signal that she'd be back momentarily and when she returned she had two peaches in hand. "One for you and one for me!" Wasn't she soooooo thoughtful?

Come on bat, any bat. Juicy, possibly overripe apple over here for you. Not likely to be tasty anymore but full of juices and anything else. Jessa lifted her hand a little higher, figuring it might help get the smell further into the cave but she herself did not budge by even an inch.

Come on.

Merlin how would she get any out here to the cave’s entrance when everyone on the inside was already enticing them with a closer meal? She’d have to get creative, find some other means of luring them. Were she not absolutely sure the Professor would entirely lose his mind, the Ravenclaw may have accio-ed five bats over. That was one way to go about it. Come to think about it, animalis fidelis might also have been a good bet. Get them to “like” her enough to come over.

Hmmm.....

Jessa was about two seconds from drawing her wand when Nat approached....asking about the cave. It was a good thing night had by now fallen and lighting wasn’t as great as it could otherwise have been or Nat would have seen the moment all the colour drained from her face at the question.

Quickly, the Prefect shook her head. ”N-No.” She cleared her throat, trying to add a little more conviction to her tone in an effort to sound less freaked out by the idea. ”No, I’m just gonna stay out here. I don’t mind, I think I can get more done and anyway there’s already so many of us in there....one less won’t do any harm.” Again, Jessa lifted the fruit almost defiantly as if trying to prove she could get the activity done from this spot but again....no bat came.

”Any luck with you?” She asked, choosing to distract from her own shortcomings by talking about the Slytherin.

Derf was finishing up his sketches when Professor Wayland moved things along. Yup yup yup....20 different families with 1,300 species within those families, just like some of his classmates had referenced. His personal favorite was probably Ectophylla alba, the Honduran white bat, that he had been able to observe those while on vacation with Jessa. What was SUPER neat about them, besides the fact that they were a beautiful snow white color unlike most other bats and itty bitty like the bumblebee bat currently in class, they were a tent-making bat and it was SUPER adorable and fascinating to watch them make their roost in leaves and stuff...and like LIKE...their seemingly impractical white fur was actually SUPER effective since helped the reflect the sunlight shining through the leaves of their shelters casts a green light across themselves providing NEAT camouflage from predators.

This was always the danger with creature lessons, it was quite easy for Derf to get off on tangents and become distracted by the present discussion - much like the one currently going on about the future well being of bats in both their world and the muggle one. Chiroptophobia, would have been a large part of his answer and seemed to be the one that most of his classmates had responded as well - when he did eventually come to once the professor was moving things along. Common ignorance often leads to misidentification, you know? But bats, their genetic make up basically, were loads of things that triggered human's primal fear response. Their general appearance of generally being black which made them harder to see and being creatures of the night. They were WICKED stealthy and could fly and swoop in almost out of nowhere. They dwelled in caves which, well....people tended to think were scary. Que a quick glance over towards Jessa. They were unpredictable (in the BEST) way, some (WRONG) people would say they had faces that only a mother could love, and had (CUTE) little sharp teeth that replicate the bared fangs of scary predators, vampires, and flesh eating shrubs. Not to mention that whole thing about ALL BATS CARRY RABIES. "Imperfect understanding is often more dangerous than ignorance," Derf quoted aloud.

Which was for everyone, not just muggles. Or so he would have said had he been fully engaged in the discussion which - shockingly - he was not.

Oh hey wooooooooah they were moving? Grabbing a few things and shoving them in his robe, Derf quickly shuffled along with the rest of his classmates into the cave without much of a second thought. Though perhaps he SHOULD have...and his instincts had his body already moving towards the likes of Abey and Jessa on its own...which also meant he was now standing riiiiiight beside Natalie before he realized it as well (fitting though since she was sorta his official task partner for Creature lessons and he had no intention of letting anything change that if he could manage) ...and happened to overhear part of their conversation. "Maybe you can be our fruit cutter," he suggested with a chirp, doing his best not to bring attention to Jessa's. "She is wicked good with a Severing Charm." Since they didn't have those fancy knives on them like the professor had. "So...Jessa can cut and like...levitate the fruit to us or we can come back out and get it... freeing us up to entice bats to us more effectively!"

Also...where was Bel? Cause he was kinda keen to have her join up with them too because, you know, flying foxes and her enthuasism.

She...seemed too bouncy for his taste as his partner. But if he must....

She came back a few moments later with fruits on her hands. Peaches? "...thanks." Yes...what should he do with it? Nathan stared back at her,"Maybe you should try getting their attention with your voice. We can lure them with the fruits later." He still didn't feel like touching it at all, though. He could cut the fruits in pieces in the meantime with the diffindo spell.

Underneath her parchment, Hanna scribbled down some of the other things Professor Wayland was saying. It was all VERY interesting, some of it was new, some of it she'd already sort of known, some surprising... and some not. But interesting, very.

Quote:

Originally Posted by parchment

Bat 1: yellow eyes, green skin, poisonous. Mortis Bat. Magical! Very hostile if awoken during the day (Knockback jinx, Vermillious, and Verdimillious charm). Great Britain.
Bat 2: green eyes, pale blue skin, able to stun humans if disturbed! Spectre Bat. Magical! Great Britain.
Bat 3: black eyes, brown fur, little, ??? Hematophagous (Feeds on blood). Vampire Bat. Sounds magical but surprisingly non-magical. Can carry rabies!
Bat 4: brown eyes and fur, black wings. HUGE! Fruit Bat/Large Flying Fox/Megabat. Non-magical! Very friendly
Bat 5: CUTE and tiny! black eyes, red/brown fur, piggy snout. Bumblebee bat/Kitti's hog-nosed bat. Non-magical! World's smallest mammal! Eats insects, a very vulnerable species. Found in Western Thailand and Southeast Myanmar

Non-magical bats - often used in potions
Magical bats - very rare and dangerous
Nocturnal, crepuscular - most active at twilight
Flying mammals
Food: Insects, fruit, SOMETHING ELSE

Families: 20 (muggle) 1 (magical) = 21 (but don't tell the muggles)
Species: 1,300

It was a lot more information, and it was all going to be filed away for her to look back on. But for now, there was a question. She thought about it with a frown on her face. 'How many different Families and species of bats are there in the entire world not counting the two magical species?' Hanna had absolutely NO idea. She was about to raise her hand to say 'LOTS' but other students were giving similar answers, which she found entertaining. They were pretty much what she was thinking.

The second question was all about treatment of bats, which Hanna didn't have a clue. Were they treated well or poor? Whilst she thought about that, the other people gave very good answers, she thought. Some of them she would have been able to suggest, others were completely new to her. But by the time Professor Wayland started speaking again, she still hadn't thought of a good answer.

Professor Wayland gave her a lot of good information that she soaked up. And then... mentioned something about last year's Defence class in a cave or something? Hanna had no idea what he was talking about, and decided she probably wouldn't think too hard, or she might get scared. Hanna followed everyone else into the cave, but decided to just use other people's wands for light source. She was okay with the darkness how it was. In the cave, she looked around, and up. It was almost a little startling to see some bats up there, being that she hadn't really expected it, but she trusted Hogwarts. Was that silly?




Hanna watched what he did, and it seemed pretty easy. No tricky spells or anything. She didn't have a knife, but she HAD learned how to use diffindo. Although... she didn't want to use it now. She decided to grab a peach, which, upon squeezing it, she thought she could just use her fingers to open it up. Messy stuff, right, but she was okay with that.

They were trying to attract bats now.... Alright. She remained quiet as she listened to Professor Wayland tell them their game plan and even attract said bat with a piece of mango. This couldn't be too tricky right? Attract a bat and then be careful not to scare them. How hard could it be? 10 for a pair and 5 for an individual?

Vi could definitely do this. Professor Wayland had even used muggle methods to accomplish his task. Alright then. Heading over to the bins of fruit, her eyes scanned the options. Mangoes, Peaches, Pawpaw, and Apples..... She reached in and picked up a mango, opting for a softer fruit. Hmm... With her wand, she began cutting them into smaller pieces.... Right now just to attract a bat.... or a partner? Her eyes scanned the crowd, looking for another person who would be interested in partnering up. Any takers?

Bel sure hadn't expected flying foxes to be part of the lesson today. She was excited that they were getting to work with them instead of the magical bat species, because who WOULDN'T be excited about flying foxes? They were SO CUTE. She grinned at the professor eagerly as he explained what they would be doing. Wait. Why would anyone be scared of them? Belatedly Bel looked around, realising that some of her classmates WERE freaked out. Why? What for? These weren't even the scary looking kinds of bats. They were like little puppies with wings! Plus it was honestly hard to be scared of a creature that you had seen wrapped up in a little blanket burrito being bottle fed with teeny tiny bottles.

The only thing she thought there was to be concerned about was that if the bats got frightened they might pee and poop everywhere and all over everyone. That was a thing that happened. That was real. But creatures pooped, and people that had a problem with that shouldn't be working with creatures, should they? All the same, it was automatic for Bel to quietly prepare herself by casting Impervius on her clothing. Just to be sure. And her gloves went into her pockets. Best to have her hands free, especially dealing with the fruit.

Getting the smell of bat urine out of fabric was no easy task, so better just to be prepared. That done she looked around. She spotted Derf, Jessa, and Nat, and happily went over to them. "Isn't this just ripper? Reminds me of home!" And what was this about fruit cutting? "Just tear the fruits with your hands, that way you won't risk accidentally hurting one of the flying foxes." Easy!

With that she headed into the cave and grabbed a mango and a peach, putting them in her pockets. Were they coming? Because Bel was already in the cave now. She took the peach and ripped a bit off. It was too bad there were no grapes or dates, those were less messy. The main bit of peach went back in her pocket and Bel confidently held onto the smaller piece and started coaxing the flying foxes. She wanted a closer look so she could see what kind they were!

Kye wasn’t very big on superstitions, and had never paid them any mind. The things people came up with were laughable! Like really, a bat signifying the actual devil? Sounded to her as though someone got spooked, and just started blabbing whatever came to mind. Stepping on cracks didn’t break anyone’s back either, by the way. Seeing a black cat and thinking you were doomed? C’mon, Edie was adorable!! As the professor talked, Kye completely agreed at the word ‘irrational.’

And then Professor Wayward had to go on and on about all of the places one might surprise you in. It was good information, she just didn’t like things jumping out and surprising her. As a group though, she had no problem with following into the cave.

“Lumos,” Kye muttered, making sure to light her path, but no higher. Kye decided that the silver lining was that at least these bats were used to people, they hadn’t been found last week in the wild or something. Was he trying to torture them though?? Kye had noticed how many people had gotten super uneasy even just looking at the bats.

Partner up and get 10 or do it alone and do 5? Kye had no idea what the benefit of having an extra person was, unless you were going to use them as bait and cover them in fruit. She wouldn't say no if someone asked, but they needed 5 each either way, so........
She headed over to one of the fruit bins and grabbed... what was this? A big peach it looked like. She took a couple of them, put one in her bag, and aimed her wand so she could see.

"Diffindo," she uttered, cutting the fruit in half.

Here goes... She tucked her wand back under her arm and squeezed one of the peaches a bit.
Her eyes shifted in the cave as everyone around her started doing their own thing. It seemed that the smell of peach had enticed a bat because about 15 seconds later, a bat had come swooping down to attack eat the fruit.

Were you seeing this Professor??? Don't you dare not notice if and when I get all five of my bats because I'm not getting low marks because of this dark cave! Feeling uncomfortable with the bat, she tried not to quiver as she helped the thing onto a branch. She just needed to hurry and get five so she could be done with this.

Rylee beamed at Professor Wayland. Knowing that her sister was really helping the creatures was great and she made a mental note to write her and ask her to put up more bat homes. Right now though she needed to pay attention and that meant taking down lots of notes.

Wait. What? They were going inside the cave just like she had hoped?! Rylee wiggled in excitement getting to her feet and following the professor into cave quietly.. or as quietly as she could manage. She didn't bother using her wand for light having been standing close enough to someone else that had been using their's.

Lifting her gaze up the top of the cave she beamed! BATS! Tons of them! Eeeeee! If she hadn't been warned not to scare them she most likely would have squealed in delight. She was going to get to feed them... kinda. How great was this! WIGGLE!

While she could easily work at this alone... having a partner was much more fun. Getting herself a nice mango from one of the buckets she spotted her own house Prefect. "Miss Vi," she smiled walking over to the older girl careful not to startle her as she was cutting up a piece of fruit. "Can I work with you, please?"

Zoryn wasn't sure that his plan would work, but she shrugged anyways. What did she know about bats anyway? "Okay!" Soooooooo how was she supposed to get them to come with her voice?

The Gryffindor walked deeper into the cave, fully expecting her older partner to follow behind her. "Psssssssssssst baaaaaaaaaaats, we've got fruiiiiiiiiiiiit for youuuuuuuuuuuu," were they looking? Was Nathan gonna throw the peaches to them? Zoryn had SO many questions. "Baaaaaaaaaaaats," she cooed softly. Y'know, maybe this actually was working.

Text Cut: Jessa, Der, Bel

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

Come on bat, any bat. Juicy, possibly overripe apple over here for you. Not likely to be tasty anymore but full of juices and anything else. Jessa lifted her hand a little higher, figuring it might help get the smell further into the cave but she herself did not budge by even an inch.

Come on.

Merlin how would she get any out here to the cave’s entrance when everyone on the inside was already enticing them with a closer meal? She’d have to get creative, find some other means of luring them. Were she not absolutely sure the Professor would entirely lose his mind, the Ravenclaw may have accio-ed five bats over. That was one way to go about it. Come to think about it, animalis fidelis might also have been a good bet. Get them to “like” her enough to come over.

Hmmm.....

Jessa was about two seconds from drawing her wand when Nat approached....asking about the cave. It was a good thing night had by now fallen and lighting wasn’t as great as it could otherwise have been or Nat would have seen the moment all the colour drained from her face at the question.

Quickly, the Prefect shook her head. ”N-No.” She cleared her throat, trying to add a little more conviction to her tone in an effort to sound less freaked out by the idea. ”No, I’m just gonna stay out here. I don’t mind, I think I can get more done and anyway there’s already so many of us in there....one less won’t do any harm.” Again, Jessa lifted the fruit almost defiantly as if trying to prove she could get the activity done from this spot but again....no bat came.

”Any luck with you?” She asked, choosing to distract from her own shortcomings by talking about the Slytherin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Derf was finishing up his sketches when Professor Wayland moved things along. Yup yup yup....20 different families with 1,300 species within those families, just like some of his classmates had referenced. His personal favorite was probably Ectophylla alba, the Honduran white bat, that he had been able to observe those while on vacation with Jessa. What was SUPER neat about them, besides the fact that they were a beautiful snow white color unlike most other bats and itty bitty like the bumblebee bat currently in class, they were a tent-making bat and it was SUPER adorable and fascinating to watch them make their roost in leaves and stuff...and like LIKE...their seemingly impractical white fur was actually SUPER effective since helped the reflect the sunlight shining through the leaves of their shelters casts a green light across themselves providing NEAT camouflage from predators.

This was always the danger with creature lessons, it was quite easy for Derf to get off on tangents and become distracted by the present discussion - much like the one currently going on about the future well being of bats in both their world and the muggle one. Chiroptophobia, would have been a large part of his answer and seemed to be the one that most of his classmates had responded as well - when he did eventually come to once the professor was moving things along. Common ignorance often leads to misidentification, you know? But bats, their genetic make up basically, were loads of things that triggered human's primal fear response. Their general appearance of generally being black which made them harder to see and being creatures of the night. They were WICKED stealthy and could fly and swoop in almost out of nowhere. They dwelled in caves which, well....people tended to think were scary. Que a quick glance over towards Jessa. They were unpredictable (in the BEST) way, some (WRONG) people would say they had faces that only a mother could love, and had (CUTE) little sharp teeth that replicate the bared fangs of scary predators, vampires, and flesh eating shrubs. Not to mention that whole thing about ALL BATS CARRY RABIES. "Imperfect understanding is often more dangerous than ignorance," Derf quoted aloud.

Which was for everyone, not just muggles. Or so he would have said had he been fully engaged in the discussion which - shockingly - he was not.

Oh hey wooooooooah they were moving? Grabbing a few things and shoving them in his robe, Derf quickly shuffled along with the rest of his classmates into the cave without much of a second thought. Though perhaps he SHOULD have...and his instincts had his body already moving towards the likes of Abey and Jessa on its own...which also meant he was now standing riiiiiight beside Natalie before he realized it as well (fitting though since she was sorta his official task partner for Creature lessons and he had no intention of letting anything change that if he could manage) ...and happened to overhear part of their conversation. "Maybe you can be our fruit cutter," he suggested with a chirp, doing his best not to bring attention to Jessa's. "She is wicked good with a Severing Charm." Since they didn't have those fancy knives on them like the professor had. "So...Jessa can cut and like...levitate the fruit to us or we can come back out and get it... freeing us up to entice bats to us more effectively!"

Also...where was Bel? Cause he was kinda keen to have her join up with them too because, you know, flying foxes and her enthuasism.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

Bel sure hadn't expected flying foxes to be part of the lesson today. She was excited that they were getting to work with them instead of the magical bat species, because who WOULDN'T be excited about flying foxes? They were SO CUTE. She grinned at the professor eagerly as he explained what they would be doing. Wait. Why would anyone be scared of them? Belatedly Bel looked around, realising that some of her classmates WERE freaked out. Why? What for? These weren't even the scary looking kinds of bats. They were like little puppies with wings! Plus it was honestly hard to be scared of a creature that you had seen wrapped up in a little blanket burrito being bottle fed with teeny tiny bottles.

The only thing she thought there was to be concerned about was that if the bats got frightened they might pee and poop everywhere and all over everyone. That was a thing that happened. That was real. But creatures pooped, and people that had a problem with that shouldn't be working with creatures, should they? All the same, it was automatic for Bel to quietly prepare herself by casting Impervius on her clothing. Just to be sure. And her gloves went into her pockets. Best to have her hands free, especially dealing with the fruit.

Getting the smell of bat urine out of fabric was no easy task, so better just to be prepared. That done she looked around. She spotted Derf, Jessa, and Nat, and happily went over to them. "Isn't this just ripper? Reminds me of home!" And what was this about fruit cutting? "Just tear the fruits with your hands, that way you won't risk accidentally hurting one of the flying foxes." Easy!

With that she headed into the cave and grabbed a mango and a peach, putting them in her pockets. Were they coming? Because Bel was already in the cave now. She took the peach and ripped a bit off. It was too bad there were no grapes or dates, those were less messy. The main bit of peach went back in her pocket and Bel confidently held onto the smaller piece and started coaxing the flying foxes. She wanted a closer look so she could see what kind they were!

Natalie immediately knew something was wrong when Jessa replied. She may not have seen her face in the clearest of light, but she heard the stutter and the hesitation. Her voice was missing the excitement and conviction that the Gryffindor usually had about things that normally excited Gryffindors.

"But... all the bats are inside," she added carefully, glancing toward the cave. She wasn't sure how Jessa expected to get more work done out here when the bats were in THERE.

To answer question, no, she hadn't had any luck yet because she was now concerned about her, but Natalie didn't voice that aloud. Soon, she saw Derf standing beside her and offered him a shy smile. She wondered if they were still going to be Creature buddies. He was the one that always helped her find interest and succeed in the activities...

Derf's idea of having Jessa be their fruit cutter only made Natalie more suspicious, but she decided not to poke the subject any longer. "Yeah, if you'd like to," she added to Jessa helpfully.

Then Bel was there, with all the excitement that she would have expected in Jessa. She smiled at her and her enthusiasm. She supposed that tearing the fruit with her hands would work on the softer fruit, but it would certainly be messy. Maybe Jessa would like the job of fruit cutter after all?

Abra knew when he could feel eyes boring into him. He did. Sure, sometimes he thought people were staring at him when really they weren't - an anxiety thing, you know - but that prickly sort of sensation when you could feel a specific person's specific eyes specifically on you, that was real.

He did his best not to look over at Junia.

Instead, Abra kept his eyes on Professor Wayland, and actually he wasn't an idiot actually, he could see perfectly well when someone wasn't very pleased with him and when they were angry. But Wayland had said 'Fine' and that meant they could go, it was permission and everything, and even though the tone he'd said it in had made Abra kind of mentally shriek in alarm, he was also perfectly happy with taking advantage of it and dealing with the consequences later.

As soon as tomorrow, apparently. Yikes.

As Abra thought as he shouldered his own bag and then picked up Zita's for her, he would rather face off against a legion of angry professors than go into a cave or anything even remotely like one. No hesitation. And when it became clear, from hearing the rest of what he was saying to everyone else, that Wayland thought his reluctance had something to do with a class activity from last year, Abra found it easy to reassure himself that he had made the right decision. He didn't much feel like correcting the professor in front of everyone else, and would rather wait until they could talk in private, if he really had to explain things.

Nodding but not saying anything else to Wayland, Abra stood and turned away and started back in the direction of the castle, but not before casting Zita a look that said, quite clearly, 'Let's get out of here, ASAP.'

”I can do that, yeah.” She tried to remain very casual about jumping at the opportunity to remain out here but be included, keeping her tone even. Internally, she was very grateful for Derf’s input and the way it deflected from her own reluctance to head inside. She would just....pretend Nat didn’t totally have a point about it being much harder to get to the bats with them being in there.

But then Bel walked over with an equally logical alternative before walking into the cave and somehow the girl’s heart sank.

”Right. Yeah. Could just rip them open with your hands.” So....not that relevant standing out here afterall. The Ravenclaw did a small, one shouldered shrug. ”It’s fine. I’ll keep cutting since I’m out here and can’t hurt the flying foxes anyway,” Not that she would’ve. By this point, she couldn’t make a mistake with the severing charm even in her sleep. ”you guys can head in and get to winning over those bats with the fruits.”

At that, the Ravenclaw lifted the apple in her hand again, in the vain hope of luring anything out of the cave from this distance. Much like the other times, it didn’t work but she wouldn’t stop on that account. Nope. Just gonna stand here and pretend she actually believed she was achieving something from her spot at the entrance.

Again, she considered casting but didn’t want the Professor blowing it out of proportion with grand ideas of her somehow harming a student in the process. Sometimes his imagination could be more active than hers when it came to what ifs—which said a lot.

At this rate, she wouldn’t need to be cutting anything else. It was proving impossible to get rid of what she’d already cut.

Tristan was enjoying a relaxing moment with his bat friend when he heard the voice that he reallllly didn't want to here. He sighed. "Be right back, friend." He stood and strode over to the young Gryffindor and her Slytherin partner.

"Why, exactly, are you calling out to the bat when I showed you exactly what to do? Your voice will not work. You will only scare them. So, use the fruit or you'll be sent to sit on the hay bales the rest of class." He looked at both Zoryn and Nathan for this. He was pretty sure it was a mutual idea. Zoryn was typically pretty good about following tasks steps...usually....Sometimes....When she wanted to....he sighed internally before giving them a warning look and walking away.

Tristan watched as Natalie, Derfael, and Bel all spoke to Jessa from the entrance of the cave. The cave. That was the problem. She was scared of the cave. He could see they were making the best of it by having Jessa cut the fruit but he could also see that this issue wasn't going to solve itself, so he made his way over to Jessa while the other three were out of earshot.

He leaned against the cave wall next to where Jessa was standing. "Everything okay over here? I take it the reason you have been... lackadaisical in the lesson today is because you are letting your fear of the cave over come you?" He could tell she clearly wanted to interact with the bats, which was why she was trying so hard to lure one to her without any positive results.

"Wanna tell me what happened to make you so scared of caves?" He was sure she wouldn't want to, but sometimes talking it out made it easier to get over. He only wanted to help.


Tristan could tell that almost everyone was either partnered up or going at the task alone. In a very calm and normal tone that he knew would carry across the cave he said, "You have about 30 minutes to complete your task. Take your time and remember to be calm and quiet." He smiled to himself at the excited faces. He was sure Bel was internally screaming at getting to help bats again. He couldn't blame her...they were adorable!

OOC: Y'all are doing great! You have about 48 hours to get this task done! Have fun!

If her gaze hadn't been fixed on the bats along the top of the cave, Jessa may have noticed the Professor's approach and took measures to ensure she wasn't still standing there by the time he got there. Something left back at her bale of hay. Something lost that she had to go look for. There were several excuses that could've been played off.

Unfortunately, she hadn't seen the man coming until he was leaned against the wall next to her.

....

.......

When he put it like that, it sounded almost silly; nonsensical; childish; pathetic. She took a deep breath. "I'm not afraid of caves." It was barely audible unless he was really listening. Try as she might, there was nothing she could do about the hollow way in which her voice carried. The idea of a cave wasn't scary. Talking about caves didn't scare her. Activities in caves didn't scare her. It was the enclosed space............which...caves were--but it wasn't the cave itself that scared her.

"I just...don't like closed spaces, is all." She tried, attempting a more casual tone. Especially ones with only one exit. Just the thought was enough to make chest contract in uncomfortable ways. Why did he think she never visited him INSIDE his hut? Always outside on the bench. Always. Same with every other Professor's office save Hirsch's that time and frequency had left her desensitized enough so that sometimes she even closed the door behind her. Not wanting to turn this into a whole issue, the Ravenclaw forced on a smile. "I'm fine, really. Everything's fine. I just thought I'd stay out here is all and anyway it's so crowded in there. Nothing to worry about." He could go back into the cave and leave her be. Nothing to see here, just a girl with some fruit.

The cave was beautiful. It was dark, cool, and full of bats. She had no fear of bats and was looking forward to the task at hand. After listening to the professor give detailed instructions, she slowly walked to the fruit and selected a small, perfectly ripe, peach. Unlike Professor Wayland, she did not carry a knife around with her. Plus, her diffindo spell was a disaster. Which she proved to be true in potions class.

Without a sharp object in hand, she figured taking a bite out of the fruit would work just as well. She took a small bite off the side of the peach, letting the chunk fall into her hand, and held it out for a bat to have. Then, she waited...and waited. Wondering if she was doing it correctly or not, she glanced around the dark room to the nearest point of light. Just as her head was turned, a small bat landed on her wrist.

It took everything in her to not jump when the bat landed. Her eyes focused in on her new little friend, hoping it would allow her to place it on one of the floating branches. The bat grabbed the peach chunk and held steady as Emmalyn slowly lifted her arm and gently guided the bat on to the branch.

After breaking off another piece of peach, she began again. This time she was ready. Not long after another bat found its way to her and before she could move towards the branches, a third bat landed on her head. Relieved to have attracted two bats at once, she gently offered both bats a limb to stand on.

Nathan followed her inside and watched her called out to the bats at the top of her voice. Apparently, her attempt spooked them even more, causing them to fly over their heads in a frenzy. Nathan ducked for cover. Urgh, it was hard not to flinch when their furry little bodies and wings came into contact with him. Then the professor suddenly issued them a warning for not following his instructions. Guess he missed the part of not making loud noises. Sorry, Zor. For a brief second, he thought about sitting out on the hay. It wasn't all too bad. Better there than in here...

Nathan looked at Zoryn and shrugged. "That didn't work, we have to find another way."

He didn't want to feed them with his hand or have them poop on his shoulders or something. Oh...a brilliant idea came into his mind! He cut the peach into pieces and scatter them onto the tree limbs.

A moment later, two bats came swooping in and hung themselves on the tree limbs. He grinned when they started licking the fruit by themselves.

Vi turned her attention away from cutting up her chosen fruit to see Rylee beside her and asking her if she wanted to pair up. But of course! That sounded like a wonderful plan to her. “Sure! I’d love to!” The two of them could definetly persuade a couple of bats to come visit. With a grin, Vi held out a small portion of cut up mango to the first year. “Some mango?”

Before she cold pass the mango, a bat swooped by and perched on her hand. Said bat began hungrily devouring the fresh mango and then flitted away. Well wasn’t he eager? With a chuckle, Vi handed some more mango towards Rylee. “Take two?”

Shera had barely cast a lumos in preparation before she realised that Daehyun was already basically in the cave. She launched herself after him, only slowing at the entrance of the cave and leaving her wand down to be nice to the bats. It was a good thing that Daehyun was amazed by the sight above him because otherwise Shera was certain that she didn't have a chance at catching up to him anymore.

But once she was behind him and took in the sight of the bats all around she was equally in awe and uncertain of what to say. So instead, she just took the offered peach half that Daehyun offered her assuming that that was answer enough to the question of being partners.

She held a hand out and waited, smiling as a bat came over and landed on her hand to grab the fruit she was offering. She couldn't help but turn to Daehyun, beaming at him as she tried her hardest to keep all the excess energy under control so she wouldn't scare it. She knew that even without words he'd probably understand the ridiculously overwhelming emotions running through her.

He had after all seen the impact that the Augureys had on her....

Honestly attracting bats was the last thing she really wanted to do. She didn't really get how this was ever going to help her in the real world, and now that she was onto her NEWT studies, that was all she cared about. She was not going to be doing this when she graduated, and so she didn't see the point of it. Sure, maybe it was a bit fun not really but she'd rather be doing something else. It was kind of to the point that she was considering dropping the subject. She knew she liked it, but she did want to be spending her time doing useful things, instead of wasting her time and then regretting it in the future. But she was here now, and so she may as well join in. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.

The girl took some mango, and carefully cut it up. She really hoped these bats wouldn't bite. Not exactly wanting to get the bat right up close, she stuck her hand out, as far as her arm would extend. Bats obviously liked mango though, since one swooped down and got it straight away. Okay. So that wasn't so bad but she still wasn't that happy. Shaking head head, she went to cut herself some more mango. Four more to go right?

Yay! Rylee did a little excited wiggle in celebration... she wasn't about to scream and frighten those bats now. "Great! I bet we can get lots of bats to come down and take the fruit." She smiled brightly up at Vi. "Thanks, I picked out a mango too... do you want to cut it up for us?" She asked holding out the mango she had picked from the bucket while reaching for the sliced up one with her other hand.

Only before she could get the piece a bat swooped down and took it. Rylee giggled. "I think he was hungry." Poor bats. It was a good thing they were feeding them!

Nodding her head of ginger hair she took the offered pieces of cut up fruit. One piece in each hand. Giving the fresh mango's a gentle squeeze the juice ran through her fingers to drip on the ground beneath her feet. Holding her hands out in front of her she waited. It was put a few seconds before a bat flew down to land on her arm near her wrist. Another following suit to land on her shoulder. It was with nothing less than happy giggles that she gave each bat a piece of fruit. "Here you go."

"Now I have to get them onto the tree limbs, right, Miss Vi?" she looked over her partner. How was she supposed to get them up there again? "I just walk them over to one?" As she spoke she headed for the lowest tree limb she could find in hopes that the bats knew what to do. And they did! Or well the one that was on her arm did, with it's piece of fruit it flew up to land on a perch. The other... didn't move at all still happily eating the mango slice.

Ummm...?