While Sander waited for Tessa to decide whether his suggestion made sense, he decided to test out his rope another way. Only he was going to do it midway in the spell of changing the piece of vine into a rope.

"I'm going to try something different, Tessa. Here's crossing fingers it will work,"Sander informed Tessa.

Grinning mischievously, he pointed his wand at the vine and said,"Reverto"changing the rope back into a vine. He then picked up the piece of vine, and walked a little distance from Tessa.

"Okay let's see whether this spell works with a moving target," Sander thought to himself. He held up the piece of vine in his hand, tied one end of it to to form a shape of a lasso. Then Sander tossed that end up in the air and began twirling it over his head.

As he twirled, he began picturing the image of the rope tied to look like a lasso. He continued to hold that image in his mind even as he kept a close eye on the vine he was twirling overhead. It was time.

Just as he flung the rounded end of the lasso up towards Tessa, Sander pointed his wand at it and said, "Vinea Funiculus!". He watched as vine changed into a rope lasso and flew over Tessa's head, before falling over her shoulders and landing around her waist.

Sander punched the air in jubilation, before pulling on the end of the rope he was still holding in his hand, tightening the rope around Tessa's waist and pulling her towards him.

"Hi there. You have just been captured," he grinned at her.

*Romulus shrugged at her comment about the worm sweets. He had nicked a bag of sour sweets from his older brother when he was 6. He ended up getting very sick. Her next question made him smile.*
"I wouldn't call him nice... Like most of the creatures at this school he is not a tame squid. As for other things to look out for? It would take me all week to tell you half of what to avoid. Just stay away from the dark forest and don't swim in the lake. Unless you have a few friends in it."

Adelaide made her way down to the lake, ready to work on her transfiguration homework done with. She was glad it involved going outside by the lake. She just loved the lake.

Once there, she spotted a younger student having some difficulties. Addi recognized her from around the common room and figured she might as well give her fellow snake a helping hand. Plus, the more points for Slytherin the better.

"Need some help?" Adelaide offered, pulling out her own wand.

She nodded reassuringly as Sander told her that he needed a bit more time. It gave her some time to continue practicing, and make sure it would be right every time. She reverted her vine back, and practiced the spell a few more times "Vinea Funiculus!" she murmured, watching the rope transform even quicker than that few times previous. She took the finished rope and pulled on both ends until it was taut, testing its durability. So far so good, but how would it stand up against more weight or pressure?

At Sander's suggestion, her expression became thoughtful. "That's not a bad idea," she said, turning to look over at the lake's edge. She did love to swing- now it was just a matter of finding the right tree and branch to do it from. She barely heard Sander saying that he was going to try something different, just nodded in acknowledgement of his words. She was still thinking of how best to put Sander's idea into action when...

"Hey!" she exclaimed, looking down to suddenly see thick rope suddenly settling around her. She looked up at Sander making a face at him. "So I have," she said, pulling against the rope slightly to test its strength. "And what do you plan on doing with this captive?" she teased with a wide grin.

Beverly was just about to set the damned stick on fire when someone offered help. Almost as if she'd been caught doing something she shouldn't, Bev turned around so fast she almost slipped. Rain boots. They came in handy. She recognized the chick from the party Slytherin had at the beginning of the term.

Oh gods. This was embarrassing. O__O

She tossed her plaited hair behind her shoulder and tried to act normal. "Um...uh...yeah?" It wasn't a question, though it came off as one. She was still pretty guarded with strangers, but this was a Slytherin. She had Beverly's best interests in mind, right?

Slumping her shoulders, Beverly nodded. "It won't transfigure into a boat." She pointed at the wooden stick with her wand as if it had just done something terrible to her. "I did it in class and now..." She shrugged.

Help? Yeah. She needed that. Sad.

Average? She mulled over that, eyes fixed on him quizzically amused. "I'm not worried about you setting me on fire so much as I'm worried you brewed it wrong and you'll get sick AND set me on fire." Legit reason to worry, she had scares from potions gone wrong. Not from simple ones like these, but still... a scare was a scare.

"Oh, me? I'm excellent." She tried not to sound smug, but really she was. A half smile took hold of her face. "We're not doing this on the rock, are we? I vote right beside the lake."

Time to tackle that homework. Cassia decided. Or actually she and Lex had decided to meet at that certain time by the lake to tackle it together. Because really, although it was a practical homework and wasn't a boring one, it'd still be more fun if company was available. Good company such as Lex's.

The sixth-year got dressed casually making sure the clothes she had one weren't too precious to get wet. Who knew what could happen.

She slipped out of the common room hoping no one was gonna punch anyone while she was gone and headed to the lake.

Taking her time she allowed herself to wander around having come early. The walk from the Gryffindor tower probably took longer. Not that she was in a rush. The boat can wait.

As got near the lake, the blond lowered herself to the ground and crossed her legs while keeping an eye our for a certain fellow prefect blond.

Adelaide gave the girl a knowing smile. It was not fun getting caught not knowing something. At least it was for her.

She listened and looked over at the piece of wood that the girl was trying to transfigure. Smiling again, she stepped closer to the girl. "It's all right. Same thing happens to me sometimes." Practice, practice, practice. That's all it took.

"I'm Adelaide by the way." She bent down. "Let me try." Addi pointed her wand at the piece of wood. "Lignum Navicula." She said somewhat forcefully, tapping the wood...and nothing. Sigh. "See. We'll get this."

What was wrong with being average? It wasn't like he was bad! He was perfectly capable of brewing a potion, he just wasn't amazing at it. It took him a small amount of time to do and he followed the instructions to the letter. There was no chance of her getting burnt.

"I'm glad to see you have so much faith in me" he raised his eyebrow and smirked. "I followed the instructions exactly how they were supposed to be, like I was making a cake and you know they always come out amazing." So he was fairly certain that there would be no issue. He hoped.

"I wouldn't have guessed" he responded sarcastically, a grin taking over his face. It was obvious that she would be the one to get everything right. She was a Ravenclaw after all. "So you have access to water if it all goes wrong?" he asked laughing. He stepped off the rock and headed down towards the waters edge, making sure he was a far enough distance away to not get himself wet.

No weird looks. Good.

"I'm Beverly," the third year mumbled. She was still somewhat embarrassed she'd been caught on her way to slaughtering the piece of wood. But she did feel a tinsy bit better when Adelaide mentioned these things happened to her. She looked older, and if it happened to older people then there was still hope for Beverly, yeah?

Watching as the older girl cast the transfiguration spell, Bev blinked at the wood when it remained the same. Then she glanced up at Adelaide and blinked at her.

They'll get this?

"But nothing happened," Beverly said. It was sort of amusing that nothing happened and Adelaide was positive they'd get it. It relieved some of the tension.

She pointed her wand at the piece of wood and tapped it, saying, "Lignum Navicula!" and focused on the wobbling piece of wood. It was SO taunting her 'cause nothing happened besides a small twitch.

"D-Do you think...maybe...it'd be better to do it out of the water?" Maybe the moving in the water was somehow hindering her aim or focus.

Honestly, looking at the water all she wanted to do was swim. Mellow.

Adi skipped towards the rocks where he had been sitting days ago when he dropped Gus down the back of Hannah's robes. Where was she anyway? They were supposed to be partnering up for this homework. Deciding that the Meanie Queen was going to be fashionably late, he decided to get started on his own.Setting down his back on a rock, he pulled out the vine and wood. He'd get started with the rope because that was easier for him. Hannah could help him with the boat when she got there. If she wanted to. He was unsure if they were even friends.

The second year was about to start his practice when loud croaking emitted from the depths of one of his pockets. Gus! Right! He hastily revived the toad and held him up to eye level. "Meanie Queen will be here soon. Stay out of her way, okay? We don't want her to stomp on you. And above all, don't try to kiss her again.'' Grinning, Adi set the toad on the sand and watched him hop in the opposite direction.

He focused on the vine and pictured the rope he had transfigured in class. "Vinea Funiculus!" He pointed his wand and stared in shock. It had actually worked? On his first try? Oh this was awesome! He examined the rope. There seemed to be no flaws what so ever. It looked quite sturdy and exactly as the one from class. The bright yellow colour and all. Excellent!

Lex would have arrived by the lake MUCH sooner but on the way down she ran right into a little...er...problem. No one mentioned that she should have come off at the sixth floor and take a different route to avoid Ickle!Bellaire and boy was she shocked when he bumped into her and started trailing her ALL THE WAY here!! His love of candy was worrying! Worrying because he kept wanting from HER stash! It was so bad she was getting gray hairs over it!!!

...

.....No legit...she was getting gray hairs and she was attributing them to this little boy here and all the stress of knowing what would happen once the term was over.

Deciding there was nothing to be done and no point in bothering Bellaire, Lex handed him a chocolate frog and let him follow behind her. As she approached the lake she spotted Cassia seated and waiting. Lex grinned at her. "Would have gotten her sooner but...eh." She gave a nod toward the 4 year old, not wanting to say much in case he was like Jessa and repeated EVERYTHING. Could they just get this started?

"You ready to get this thing over with?"

Sander laughed. "Oh I have plenty of ideas, but if I get started on any of them, we'll never finish our homework assignment. So I'm going to get a rain check on that. One that I will definitely claim when we're done here. For now let me release you from your bondage right." Sander winked mischievously at her.

"I see you haven't decided how to test your rope, so while you're doing it, I'm going to practice on the other spell." Sander informed Tessa as he walked over to where he had left his piece of wood. Sitting back down on the grass, he first practiced the incantation to making the wood transform into a boat.

"Lignum Navicula....Lignum Navicula.....Lignum Navicula....Lignum Navicula" Sander practiced the incantation over and over again until the words rolled off his tongue easily.

"How are you doing at your end, Tessa?"Sander called out to Tessa.

Well, it probably would have been smarter if she had chosen a tree and sit in the shadow. Direct contact with sunlight could only end up in her skin .... damaged or whatever. She really needed to memorize whole beauty facts. And it was getting harder to squint and focus on people's faces. Some were looking funny at her. WHAT? She had a badge she could squint alright.

Eventually she decided that Lex would be able to find her, hopefully and she just downcast her eyes hoping to get rid of the glowing spots that had been caused to her vision by the sun.

She heard the lioness approaching and wondered why not so fast. She looked up with a huge smile pulling at her lips and that only got bigger seeing the company Lex had. D'awwwww. The kid. Professor Bellaire's grandson. "Aww... Hi there," Cassia beamed at the kid and approved that Lex had obviously given him a chocolate frog. That's how she raised her..... errr.. not really.

Hopping up, Cassia brushed off whatever got stuck to her clothes then nodded at Lex as she started unzipping her bag to retrieve the required stuffs. "Yup, totally ready," Then benting down closer to the kid she cooed, "What's your name?" could he speak? "What's his name Lex?" First things first.

Tessa continued to make silly faces at Sander the entire time the lasso was around her. However, she was also testing how well it was holding up against her struggles, and she had to admit, she was impressed. "Very well," she replied, raising an eyebrow. She didn't push further- she figured the ideas would be quite mischievous.

"Alright, I already have an idea," she said, and walked over to one of the nearer trees. Instead of trying to swing over the lake, and risk getting wet, she was just going to swing. She cast a spell that lengthened the rope/vine and then tossed one end up and over a sturdy looking branch. Once it had dropped down, she took the two ends and made a large knot. With a grin, she grabbed the rope and hopped up- her feet on the knot and her hands holding the rope. Using her body's momentum she swung. "Sander, you have to try this!" she called out, partially forgetting that this was for homework. At least the rope had passed its test.

Soon, she hopped off and, after cleaning up the vine, she knew it was time to work on the wood. "Lignum Navicula," she murmured the spell name over and over as she approached the wood. She was ready.

Why she chose to sit out in the sun was beyond Lex but she didn't question Cassia often and the sun would be appreciated while it was still capable of keeping them warm without them needing additional coats. Who knew, maybe the sun would get her feeling better too. Lex had been feeling a bit under the weather and sluggish of lately.

Glancing down at the little boy once more--who might we add was devouring one of HER chocolate frogs--she tried thinking what they'd do with him while they worked. Make no mistake, she was NOT about to feed him her entire bag while they got this thing done.

And just look at Cassia now, getting completely distracted by him when they were meant to be focusing. She snapped her hands to get the girl's attention but all that got her was questions about his name??? SERIOUSLY???? Lex deadpanned at her bestfriend, wondering briefly if she was being serious about this whole thing. His NAME? "Bentley. It's Bentley." She should know, she'd had enough run ins with him. "And HE is going to be a good boy and NOT get in the way." Lex shot him a look to make sure he understood, fished another three chocolate frogs from her bag and handed them to him then picked him up and put him on one of the nearby rocks to sit on. Nice and out of the way.

"I reckon he's small enough to fit into the boats so we'll use him to try them out when we're done...and hope we don't owe Bellaire a new grandson after." Wouldn't that suck. Yikes.

Lex reached into her bag for her wood and dropped it before her...giving another look to the kid. "Lignum Navicula!"

Something at the back of Cassia's mind told her that she knew the kid's name. And it probably did pop up in her mind but she might have thought that she just confused their professor's last name. Herbology. Good riddance! She wasn't taking that anymore. Anyway, back to the kid who was nibbling on the chocolate frog so cute-like. And which Lex seemed to not notice. Though to the Gryffindor's credit she gave him others. Maybe that was her way of saying that it was cute keep doing it. And maybe probably not.

Use him? Did she say.

"You mean he's gonna help us," Cassia grinned some more at the kid mostly to tease Lex. The snake liked kids alright and found them cute that until they got annoying and did something that affected her negatively. As long as they amused her and entertained her she was okay. And so far, the kid was cute and ... on a rock. Cassia casually stepped up to the kid and made sure the rock was stable. Let's not injure the kid and have to go to the healer who so happened to be HER head of house.

But the rock was stable and good, the kid should be ok, the sixth-year decided. Unless the kid like flailed or moved a lot. Which what kids probably do. Should they freeze him or something? Naah, how'd that make them look like.

Oh, Lex had already started without her. Might as well she did.

Following suite, Cassia placed the wood on the ground then pulled out her wand. ""You know, I kind have hoped the boats would be bigger enough for us to fit in....Lignum Navicula," ...Yeah, she probably should have focused and not said the incantation like that while she was expressing her thoughts.

Oh, well... he got her there. "It would be like your own Siren call." Except he would make people love him, not cause ships to crash into rocks. Hearing him start to hum along to Under the Sea, she started to belt it out as if she was giving a professional concert in front of a huge audience. Well... she had to make sure that the Giant Squid heard after all. As she sang, she made sure to do dance moves, and even added a few kicks.

When he told her he was broke, she shook her head, "Sorry." Then a big grin formed on her face because she was totally joking and would still be friends with him even if he was broke at the moment. Who was to say that he could not stock up on cucumber sandwiches from the kitchen later on.

"We so are, we are both really smart!" Fist bumping him, she thought of how nice it was to have a friend in the same Year as her because it meant she was not alone in being more limited in her magical education and that he would be Graduating at the same time as her.

Hearing his stomach make a sound, she nodded. "I think that can be arranged. And if you do not like it, I will eat yours for you." Since she had already eaten Bay's she would gladly do the same for Lucas as well.

Lucas' jaw dropped. He even thought he heard a little gasp escape him. WHAT? He tried to figure out if Lux was improvising her whole routine or if she happened to have a Little Mermaid dance memorised for this very moment. He gaped the whole time she sang because well. It was GOOD.

And apparently Henry Bartholomew thought so too because just as Lux was nearing the end, a tentacle rose up from the surface. Lucas grabbed Lux's hand, a little too stunned to say anything and turned her to face the water.
"Lux, look!" The tentacle came crashing down, spraying them with a fine watery mist. Whether it was a sign of pleasure or pain, Lucas was not well-versed in Squidian.

He rolled his eyes and teased back, "Meanie. No singing for you then, ever." Such a serious punishment, now really.
It was kind of awesome, he thought. SHE was kind of awesome. "Uh huh. Just wait.. when we're seventh years and SUPERRRRR smart and can do all this stuff by ourselves." Like make maps and race boats and do all the cool stuff.

YAY KITCHENS. YAY FOOD. He laughed and nudged her playfully. "Not if I get there and eat it first!" he said, running to grab his bag and boat.

"I'll raaaaaace you!"

"Absolutely!" She was actually one hundred percent sure of the opposite of hardly ever annoying people and Jun knew that but she just wanted to let her have this one. He was bound to call her annoying by the end of the day anyhow. Charlotte was sure the only reason she liked people playing with her hair so much was because that's how her parents used to get her to go to bed -- back when she had all the energy in the world and was way too hyper and energetic. The hyperness disappeared but she still loved to have her hair played with. "You could say that." Her eyes were closed now and she smiled sleepily.

Was a word from the wizarding world? She continued thinking, her eyes still closed but she was sure it wasn't specifically magical or anything. "Mmm. Nope." YAWN. "It's ridiculous." And something about that word struck with her but she could not figure out how the word ridiculous was a hint to any word that started with a b. "Like, really ridiculous."

Bizarre? Bosh? Bull? No...bull is an animal. Maybe it was...YAWN. Nope.

Adelaide smiled. Beverly. She was going to have to try and remember that. She was getting better with names though. Even if it was just a bit.

"True...but it will eventually." Practice. Just practice. Addi knew not everyone shared her optimism on things, but that was all she ever really had was her optimism that things would work out in the end.

She gave Beverly a reassuring smile when it didn't work. She bit her lip, musing over her question. "We can try it." They had practiced it out of water before hadn't they?

Addi bent down and plucked the wood out of the water. She pointed her wand at the wood once more. "Lignum Navicula." She tapped it...and voilá. A boat. The transfiguration didn't last for long, but at least she did. "You try now." You know, since it was a hunk of wood again.

"I don't know about that. I've found things can get messy when you're in the kitchens." She teased, cocking her head to the side and grinning.

She shrugged. If there was anything Dora was better at than using her wand, it was making a potion. More than half a lifetime of practice can do that. "No, I have a wand if I need water, but throwing you in is an idea." More fun than just putting out the fire. She sat down beside him, even if she preferred to be closer to the water than this, and pulled out a small purple pouch. "Want to try out your potion first then?"

"But why? We could get other professors I bet. I know the one that would play with us. Professor Flamedude he would really cool this summer and he likes water balloons. I bet he would love flame tag. So Kevin, other students, you, him we could all play." Maybe it could be part of their next class. Extension to the breathing fire flame tag.

Wow this professor really did get him, yep so maybe he'd inform him on what really went down at his old school.. maybe. He nodded and looked out at the lake. "It was good I loved it there, but some of the professors had it out for me. They didn't like my visions." That's what his mum called them at least. "The last straw was my vision to make the firework potion bigger and louder." He was still trying to figure that one out.

"Professor what do you think of experimental potions in your lab?" Were they allowed because he had a few he wanted to try if that was a possibility plus the one for him and Luc that needed done before next summer.

A BUBBLEHEAD CHARM INTO THE LAKE!! These were words that excited the boy even more and his eyes widen. "But I have supervision right here. You could be my supervision, you could do the charm for me so it works and you could even go. Let's go find the squid sir. Pllllllleeeeeaase!!" It really wasn't often he knew the word please but he wanted to find this squid and like now. Plus going into the lake mermaids and other creatures how cool would that be.

She looked at him and then towards the lake, "Not something to worry about with me." She gave a laugh, "Only time I'm near water is when it's frozen." Anna nodded and fought her nervous look at him basically saying that there was a lot to avoid.

"But... How've you been?" She looked at him with a small curious smile, she hadn't seen him since the feast after all, it would be nice to catch up, right? At least she thought it would be, "I mean... How's the year been so far?"

Jun laughed at how easy Lolli could fall asleep by anyone just touching her hair. Sure, it wasn't always a good thing because he could use it against her if she needed to stop talking. But either way, it was an easy way to fall asleep. It would suck if she had no hair, or not enough hair to be played with. Maybe a wig could help? Jun pinched her cheeks to keep Lolli from falling asleep. He would probably pushed her into the lake to do that. But pinching her cheeks was a lot safer than drowning in the lake.

"Well, then. I guess you're gonna end up sleeping in the 'Claw dorms tonight," Plus, Lolli would have to climb all those stairs to sleep. Too bad Jun was already used to it because of all those years he had no other choice. Though, they should really get them a lift or something.