"I hope not..." She sighed and smiled, nodding. "Okay..." Melek looked at him and tilted her head, "It is a bit fun... and I can see how it can relieve stress." Mel nodded and giggled. She bounced on her heels and watched him for a little bit.

"Yay! You are a good teacher, Kace." She beamed at her and then her beam grew and she laughed. "So I did improve! That is great!" Melek giggled and looked at him before falling down on purpose and looking up at the sky.

Text Cut: Ella! ^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

The sun was shining as Ella spread out a blanket by the lake, the breeze blowing her hair gently off of her shoulders. The autumn air was a bit chilly but Ella was going to take advantage of being outside as much as she could before winter creeped its way onto the grounds. And why not multitask while she was enjoying fresh air, yeah?

After flopping down on the blanket, the eighteen year old pulled her bag over and rifled through, removing the small wooden block and vine she'd been using in Transfiguration. Bellaire wanted them to master the spells they'd used in class and Ella was determined to not only have a sturdy boat, but a sturdy rope as well.

Now if she could just find the gummy worms she'd brought along for a snack...

Whatever Bellaire wanted, she got. Except working on animals. We've established that was a big NO for Lottie. But the woman wanted them to master what they learned in class, she could do this, and so could Ella, hence why they were meeting by the lake, yeah? Made sense. Plus, they were both on their exam year, albeit different exams, so practice was always necessary.

With her piece of wood and the vine, she joined Ella on the blanket folding her legs and resting on them. "Hey, Head Girl," she gave the blonde a smile before gesturing to their class souvenirs. Bellaire always gave them stuff. Great psychological approach, by the way, because then you did NOT forget you were meant to practice outside of lessons. "You ready?" What was she looking for, by the way?

Her Transfiguration notes were on her bag, she'd take those out if she needed them. So far... she didn't. Probably should, though.

"Maybe I'll tag along,'' Adi suggested casually. Yep. He would do that if Hannah went to the Healer so he could hear what the woman would have to say about these strange happenings.

Strange. He would have expected the Slytherin to know what she wanted to get into. Hmmm. "What jobs have you thought about?'' Surely she must have thought about one or two in particular.

Adi grinned. "Just making sure, huh?'' Alright! It was time to get these boats in the water! He laughed when Hannah said she wasn't lifting the boat. "Neither am I!'' He quickly Reverted his boat. Jogging slower than usual, he made his way towards the water. Hannah's boat beat him to it. The Puffer placed the wood a bit of distance away from the other boat. "Lignum Navicula!'' Tap! There! His boat was all set to be tested. He pushed it out a bit more into the water. So far so good. No water seemed to be escaping into the boat. Awesomeee! His boat was as good as ever! Success!

Hazel took out her wand and cleared her throat. She practiced the light tapping of the Lignum Navicula and muttered the incantation. She closed her eyes for a moment and imagined her boat, just like Sander said. Now she was ready. "Are you ready to try it?" Mari could go first.

"Hey, Lottie." The Head girl was distracted as she was still rummaging through her bag but she spared a smile and a randomly directed finger wiggle, hoping she didn't poke the Hogwartian's eye out by mistake or anything. "Just...a sec." They had to be in here somewhere. She never went anywhere witho-"Ah-ha!" Triumphant Ella was triumphant as she removed the package of gummy worms and opened them up, a small smile playing on her lips. "Can't homework without snacks." Just in case the brunette was confused.

Green gummy worm in one hand, wand in the other, the blonde finally focused on the younger girl. "Boats first, then?" Since they'd need to test them on the water and everything, best to get started on them. But first, gummy worm.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

Alright, she was just going to move the small piece of wood in front of her and, "Lignum Navicula is for the wood, yeah?" More of a rhetorical question but still. "Lignum Navicula!" TAP!

Lame boat was lame. Not particularly sturdy looking either but at least it was a boat. Shrug. "Reverto." She'd do better next time.

Alright so the man didn’t want to play Flame Tag that well stunk really, but whatever it was fine. He would find others to play with. What Bart was excited about was the fact that the professor liked his idea of Flame Tag that to him meant something which should be a big deal to a professor, because not much meant things to him from them.

O_O

But.. but he was laughing at Bart and this got a scowl because he didn’t liked to be laughed out. “What’s so funny?” Did he think blowing up potion labs was funny? Even Bart couldn’t not smile thinking about that. Even though he was sure the professor didn’t know about the blowing up part of his old school.

Oh he was glad he came the second year grinned at this, “I am too for some things.” Like meeting this guy, he understood how Bart’s visions worked it seemed and now he was talking the great language saying he would enhance his vision. YES!! That would be awesome so he could do experiments in that lab. This was going to be wicked. Then when he said he would consider it that was even more epic did he know, because that meant he was going to let him experiment. He just knew it would come to that. “That would be great. There are a few things I’d love to try out and mix together.” The sky was the limit in his mind when it came to potions he could use. His newest thought was a facial hair one for a girls prank. Yep that would be fun.

His grin and excitement turned to a frown, “No? but.. but why not.” No he had to find that squid today he wanted to see that squid. Bartholomew needed to come out of the water. WHERE ARE YOU SQUID!! He was screaming in his head. “What if he doesn’t like me? What if he doesn’t get me like you do? None of the professors get me like you do. I was kicked out of class because the man didn’t want to teach.”

Huff this wasn’t going the way he wanted at all.

Text Cut: ^_^

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"Hey, Lottie." The Head girl was distracted as she was still rummaging through her bag but she spared a smile and a randomly directed finger wiggle, hoping she didn't poke the Hogwartian's eye out by mistake or anything. "Just...a sec." They had to be in here somewhere. She never went anywhere witho-"Ah-ha!" Triumphant Ella was triumphant as she removed the package of gummy worms and opened them up, a small smile playing on her lips. "Can't homework without snacks." Just in case the brunette was confused.

Green gummy worm in one hand, wand in the other, the blonde finally focused on the younger girl. "Boats first, then?" Since they'd need to test them on the water and everything, best to get started on them. But first, gummy worm.

Nom. Nom. Nom.

Alright, she was just going to move the small piece of wood in front of her and, "Lignum Navicula is for the wood, yeah?" More of a rhetorical question but still. "Lignum Navicula!" TAP!

Lame boat was lame. Not particularly sturdy looking either but at least it was a boat. Shrug. "Reverto." She'd do better next time.

Thankfully, Lottie wasn't in any rush. Wherever she needed to be after this could totally wait a while longer. And as far as rushing magic... she didn't particularly enjoy it, so, "No problem," just how important was what she was looking fooooor? OH. Heh. Snacks. Well, as a matter of fact, Lottie could do homework without any snacks, so she failed to understand this. Didn't mean she had to, so she just nodded. "Of course." Raspberries were a good snack, you knooooow, better than gummy worms. Much better.

Another nod. Yes, boats.

The fifth year was about to take out her notes because she sort of forgot the second part of the spell when... no need. That was the one. Why, thank you, Ella Bishop. "Lignum Navicula, yes." Navicula, that's the word she was forgetting about.

And she watched, for a moment. "Intent." She spoke once Ella's boat was on sight. Lottie thought it was okay, but Bellaire probs wanted a better boat, yes? Yes.

So, it was Lottie's turn. And she was focusing on the piece of wood, her eyes almost piercing it. Intent. Sooooo, "Lignum Navicula!" A hard tap on the wood made way to a... well, the boat did look sturdy enough, but she was mostly looking for one that the Giant Squid wouldn't turn to pieces, you know?

A sort of unbreakable one. And smoother in appearance. She'll have to think about that next time she waves her wand at the wood, but for now..., "Reverto!" Mmmhmmm. Hey, there, wood.

"Any clues as to what the next lesson will be about?" Or the second part of it, or whatever.

Kace smiled when she gave him the compliment. He could tell she was starting to have a crush on him but he didn't wanna say anything. That would make things awkward between them. He didn't want that.

Kace saw her falling onto the ground on purpose, he shrugged and decided why not do it too? He fell on the ground beside her and looked at the clouds. He was looking intently and saw one cloud that looked like a elephant. "Hey do you see that cloud that looks like an elephant?" he said pointing towards it.

Intent.

Ella glanced over at the younger girl and then back at her piece of wood. Whether Lottie was reminding herself of this little factor or correcting the blonde, Ella wasn't sure. She simply nodded her head instead of commenting, though. She already knew her boat had been lame. She knew.

And then it was Lottie's turn and the head girl watched curiously, wondering if she was trying to transfigure a boat or burn a hole in the wood. That would have been a neat parlor trick, wouldn't it? The eighteen year old almost wished for it to happen but no such luck. "Nice." The boat. It looked strong enough. Apparently it wasn't to Lottie's liking, though.

"Probably bigger boats. Maybe we'll be making some we can float in." If they were learning survival spells or whatever, it made sense that they'd eventually use them in a real life survival situation. Plus Bellaire seemed the sort to want to put them in harms way just to watch them squirm. Best way to separate the weak from the strong. Fabulous but evil, that's what she was. Ella was sticking with that.

After snacking on another gummy worm, a red one this time, the blonde focused again on the little square of wood in front of her.

Intent.

Strong, sturdy, and buoyant. All those things were in her mind as she eyed the wood. "Lignum Navicula!" TAP! It wasn't bad, the boat. Markedly better than her first attempt, actually. The blonde picked it up and weighed it in the palm of her hand, observing the sides and then turning it over to see the bottom. It looked like it might float well, that was for sure.

"What do you s'pose we'll need the rope for?" Vine...vine rope...rope vine. That thing. What would they need it for? Ella's hopes for a rope swing were surely wrong.

Melek smiled as he fell next to her. She looked up at the one that he pointed to and nodded, "Yeah... it does!" Mel glanced around at the other clouds and pointed to one. "A duse!" Melek laughed then realized how stupid she would sound if he asked her to explain what a duse was. A blush spread and she coughed, "I mean... a funny shaped one..." That was a less embarrassing thing then explaining duse. Melek glanced at the clouds and watch them drift by so slow.

"I can... but I don't care for it." That could probably be put to the fact that she did grow up in Russia where most the time it was a bad idea to go swimming, unless you wanted to freeze to death.

"Busy can be good," She nodded, "I've been kinda busy too." With quidditch tryouts being the main thing that kept her busy. Anna smiled and nodded to his question, "I have been... It's really nice around here, and so far everyone's been really welcoming."

"I sure hope I won't!" Lex said, pleased with the newer boat she'd only just transfigured. It wasn't to say the subject was easy, Merlin knew she used to be one of the last ones to ever actually transfigure anything during the lessons. Those were dark times before her wand started doing what she wanted it to. Good they found an agreement before she hit Fifth Year. A Prefect who couldn't even transfigure stuff? Did she look like Theo? "There's always the written paper though. I'm not looking forward to it."

Lex glanced over at Cassia's boat when she'd transfigured it. "Whoa! Neat design." and NO she didn't care how comfy it was for Bentley. She'd given him chocolate frogs, he was no longer in a position to refuse them his help. "Sure...comfy...uh-huh." That response should have been enough of a hint for Cassia that Lex wasn't at all concerned about the little boy.

Deciding to give the boat yet another try for good measure, Lex raised her wand, "Reverto." The Professor never specified how much practice they needed but a little extra couldn't hurt.

Just as she was about to cast again, Cassia gave a ridiculous idea. "Test it? What? Nooooo, it'll be fine. What are the odds we've been transfiguring boats with holes in them? Besides....we're right here in case something happens. He is the test."..............Just one problem. "He's got no change of clothes." She noted after a moment's pause. "It's kinda chilly, you don't suppose he'll get sick if we get him wet, do you?" Because THEN Bellaire would kill them.

And another flick of her wand. "Lignum Navicula!" This one, yes, this was her final boat for sure....maybe....

Sander smiled appreciatively at Tessa's second boat. "That's equally magnificent. You are so creative,"Sander complimented her.

Then he grinned when Tessa told him that Lux had agreed to race her boat with Tessa's. "Now that is an awesome idea . A boat race. Yes we can definitely do that. Trial run? I guess we should just in care mine sinks before it even starts," Sander laughed at the thought.

He was now all excited now. "Race you to the water's edge," he called out to her as he immediately took off carrying his boat with him. He kneeled down on the sand, and placed it gently on the water, and then released his hold on it. With abated breath, he waited for his boat to start filling up with water and sink. But when nothing happened, he released the breath he held and turned to Tessa.

"It's floating. Quick bring your's over slow poke,"he teased her, as he waited for Tessa to join him at the water's edge.

*Romulus smiled glad to know that she could at least swim. Sadly a lot of people did not know how to swim. His brother vey unkindly taught him how to swim. He figured that her not wanting to swim had to do with living in Russia. When it wasn't mind numbingly cold that was major pollution. At least that was what he had read.*
"That is good that you have been welcomed so warmly."
*Romulus had not been welcomed so nicely. That was because of his brother and other people picking on him.*
"How about the classes? Have you been able to keep up and all?"

She nodded in agreement, "Yeah... It's been really nice." Anna gave a small smile, "It's nice to know there's more people out there who don't just see me as the freak." That's how it was at the orphanage... She was always locked away from the others, and her caretakers cringed from her in fear.

"But classes have been good... I'm shocked I've been able to keep up with them all honestly..." She gave a small laugh, "And on top of that all of the tryouts I've had for quidditch have been insane... Now just waiting to find out if I made the team or not..."

"Tempus." He greeted back real casual-like, but inside his mind was all like...




He skooted a bit atop the rock, but not to make room for the Hufflepuff boy. Instead, he skooted closer. Craving the warmth, perhaps? "Bloody cold as hell out." He agreed to what he thought was sarcasm and realizing he'd rather be in the Irie room. Why didn't Bellaire just have them do their homework in there? It had a beach. Or at least it did the last time he was in there. With Tora Gallaway. He couldn't help but smile at the blackmail he pulled for that one.

Cutty didn't so much as nod at the suggestion to get started, bit he did concur with it as was demonstrated by his mouth uttering, "Lignum Navicula!" and his wand hitting the chunk of wood with the spell. His wooden clipper as before manifested like undetectable hands were performing origami on the solid wood chunk. "Let's see what you got, Tempus." Cutty was willing to bet that the Hufflepuff wasn't bad at Transfiguration at all.

Tessa laughed and shrugged. "Well, I knew you were going to come up with something fantastic, so I decided to do a little bit of improvement- as well as practice," she said with a shrug. All practice helped, and it was easier and quicker each time.

"Well, thank you- that was the first thing I thought of when I saw the boat," she told him, laughing. She nodded in agreement. "Yes, I concur. A sinking boat definitely loses the race!" She gave him a look. "My boat is just as likely to sink as yours," she told him.

"You're on!" She ran after him, pulling up next to him as they ran. She tried to pull ahead, but she felt herself tiring. She arrived at the lake edge at the same time as him, and watched as his boat successfully floated in the water. "Excellent!" she said, kneeling down next to him. "I am not a slow poke," she retorted, sticking her tongue out at him. "My turn..."

She gently placed her boat in the water and held her breath as she waited to see what would happen. It was alright at first, but then slowly listed to one side. SHe waited, but it remained tilted- although it never fully fell over either. "The balance must be off," she said, lifting it from the water. She quickly reverted it back, and with more focus on balance, she turned it back into a boat. "Take two..." she said, placing it back in the water. This time, it was perfect. "Okay, set to go!" she exclaimed, grinning at Sander.

Still full after her cucumber sandwiches she had shared with Lucas, Lux had decided to head back to the lake and see if she could get the Giant Squid's attention. Book bag hung over her shoulder, she made her way towards the bank when she spotted her friends Tessa and Sander with their boats in the water. "Hey, guys!" she called out as she approached them. It looked like they had just been finishing up their homework, and she was eager to show Tessa the boat she had made.

Tobias watched as Cutty preformed his spell, unable to keep from noticing that the boat the Slytherin managed to transfigure the wood into was a lot more complicated and fancy than the simple rowboat he'd managed.

When Cutty prompted him to start, Toby's eyes lingered on the clipper and he glanced up at Cutty, and then back at the boat again. He was pretty sure he'd not be able to get his boat perfect on the first attempt; how many days had passed since the lesson? A lot. And that was the last time he'd managed the spell. But still, what was homework for?

"Okay."

Toby was pretty glad that the wand movement only required a tap, because he and Cutty were sat close enough together than any extravagent wand movements could be difficult to execute. Still, it was warmer than sitting alone, so no complaints here. Toby only hope his non-stop fidgeting wasn't bothering his friend.

"Lignum Navicula," the Hufflepuff cast, tapping the end of his wand on the chunk of wood that still balanced on his knee. The block began to change and morph, and Toby reached out to steady it as the bottom rounded out slightly. When the spell had finished, Tobias was left with a kind of... middle product. No longer a block of wood, sure, but not really a boat either. Sure, it LOOKED boat-ish, and you could tell that that was what it was supposed to be, but the shape was so crude it didn't really count in Toby's mind. The point was, if this was on a larger scale and Tobias was stranded on a desert island, he wouldn't count on this 'boat' to take him back home.

"...... I probably need to do the visualising thing first," he said, almost apologetically, as he used the tip of his wand to scratch at his temple. "I dunno why I didn't, to be honest."

But it was okay. Because that's what practice was for.

"It helps me." He confirmed the idea of visualization first, realizing that he'd done that to his own practice wood. He wouldn't have given that as a tip if Tobias hadn't brought that to his attention. Was Tobias the observant type? "You know what else would help, Tempus? For you not to be so anxious." His glance carried down towards the tapping foot, and his hand reached out and pressed against Toby's knee in an effort to stop the leg and thus the foot.

No, Toby wasn't observant. Not overly so, anyway. He would've noticed this manifestation of his own nervousness and tried to stop it. Or so Cutty thought. Why would anyone want to let anyone know what one was really feeling?

He slowly removed his hand from Toby's knee and picked up the boy's boat. "It's not bad, really. It's not. Reverto!" He changed the boat back into it's original form and held it up examining it this way and that, looking for the most boat-like shape in it. "Think of a boat you know really, really well. Noah's ark, maybe? Picture it! Hold the image in your head and use the heavier part of your wood as the bottom half of the boat. Work with what you have and make it what you want. That's a big part of Transfiguration." At least it was for Cutty.


"Reverto!" He said hitting his own boat with the spell and started again. "I think you might be on the right track with this, though. Keep it more simple." Cutty re-examined his wood and pictured a Greecian war boat. "Lignum Navicula!" He tried again and his wood stretched and formed the single-masted ship in miniature. But it was not that detailed and so Cutty was unhappy with it.

Kace saw her smiling and knew she loved his company. Then he gave her a quizzical look and asked, "A duse? What is that?" He chuckled at that word. He saw her blushing and laughed even more. "It is fine...you just need to inform me is all."

He squinted in the clouds some more and saw one that looked like a dog. "Oh look a dog cloud..." he said pointing. He closed his eyes and was loving hearing the birds chirping and the whistling of the trees.

Text Cut: Well, it's going well. ^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Intent.

Ella glanced over at the younger girl and then back at her piece of wood. Whether Lottie was reminding herself of this little factor or correcting the blonde, Ella wasn't sure. She simply nodded her head instead of commenting, though. She already knew her boat had been lame. She knew.

And then it was Lottie's turn and the head girl watched curiously, wondering if she was trying to transfigure a boat or burn a hole in the wood. That would have been a neat parlor trick, wouldn't it? The eighteen year old almost wished for it to happen but no such luck. "Nice." The boat. It looked strong enough. Apparently it wasn't to Lottie's liking, though.

"Probably bigger boats. Maybe we'll be making some we can float in." If they were learning survival spells or whatever, it made sense that they'd eventually use them in a real life survival situation. Plus Bellaire seemed the sort to want to put them in harms way just to watch them squirm. Best way to separate the weak from the strong. Fabulous but evil, that's what she was. Ella was sticking with that.

After snacking on another gummy worm, a red one this time, the blonde focused again on the little square of wood in front of her.

Intent.

Strong, sturdy, and buoyant. All those things were in her mind as she eyed the wood. "Lignum Navicula!" TAP! It wasn't bad, the boat. Markedly better than her first attempt, actually. The blonde picked it up and weighed it in the palm of her hand, observing the sides and then turning it over to see the bottom. It looked like it might float well, that was for sure.

"What do you s'pose we'll need the rope for?" Vine...vine rope...rope vine. That thing. What would they need it for? Ella's hopes for a rope swing were surely wrong.

BOTH. It was both. She was encouraging Ella to use more intent while casting, and reminding herself to do the same. Two birds, one stone. But mostly a bird called Ella.

And nice? Lottie smiled at her, "Thanks," but no, she wasn't satisfied with it and she will not take mediocrity on her behalf. None. She will not have it. It was just like with that umbrella she transfigured that time. Or the shoelaces into the umbrella, rather. She didn't stop until she thought it was perfect, which was the same for this.

Hmmmmm, bigger boats? "That's what Bellaire said, but I'm more interested in the what for part." Was she planning a boat race of sorts? That was so muggle. If that was the case... don't worry, she won't be pushing anyone off of it this time around.

"That looks better." Ella's mini-boat. It was far more better than the last one. Could be a keeper. It was up to her.

Next thing, Lottie was doing it again, transfiguring that piece of wood into a boat. "Lignum Navicula!" she said, tapping the wood again. And a much sturdier-looking boat appeared, but she was still not satisfied with it, never mind how perfect and unsinkable it looked. The Giant Squid wouldn't break it or anything. (Really doesn't matter than one of its tentacles could actually sink it, but shhhhh.) So, "Reverto!" happened.

That was more interesting. The vine/rope thing. "I'm extremely lost about the ropes, though." Like, it could be for ANYTHING and everything, sooooo.... no clue. "At least we're not working with animals, which is good." A random thought as she eyed the wood once more and performed the spell again.

This time she was satisfied with her perfect boat. Inspections were made, not a single hole in it. Perfect.

Sander grinned when Tessa finally caught up and stuck out her tongue at him. Then he watched as she tested her boat. Unfortunately, it began listing to one side, so she had no choice but to revert her boat back into a piece of wood. He waited patiently for her to cast the spell again. Once she had successfully transformed her piece of wood, she brought her boat over.

Sander clapped his hands, "Bravo. Okay set to go." Then he heard someone call out their names.



Sander glanced quickly over and waved over to Lux. "Hey there Lux, what are you up to? Tessa and I are going to test our boats by racing them." Sander explained to Lux what he and Tessa were doing. "See that's mine out there right now." Sander pointed to his boat that was floating on the water.

Lux grinned at Sander. She really liked him, because he was so nice and she was going to miss him a lot when he left her at the end of term. "I was just going to try to get the attention of the Giant Squid!" Maybe if she belted out Under the Sea again, he would come up to the surface and see her. If that did not work, she would have to try other methods.

"You are going to race? Can I join in?" If this was something that they wanted to do alone, that was totally fine because she knew that they liked each other a lot and she did not want to be a third wheel or anything if they decided to kiss at some point. Besides, she did not particularly want to throw up her cucumber sandwiches.

Taking her bag off of her shoulder and placing it on the ground, she unzipped it and pulled out the boat that she had managed to make earlier on. "Look! I did it and it even floats! Tessa and Lucas really helped me." It was Tessa who told her to relax and concentrate really hard, and it was Lucas who had suggested she annunciate more.

"I knew once you learned more about magic you would see the brighter side. Another reason that you were meant to be here at Hogwarts. Magic is a bit of you that was always there but can now grow properly."
*That was how his grandfather had put it anyway. By the sound of it she was fitting in better then he ever had. A part of him felt a little bad about that but he just attributed it to the fact that she was a girl and pretty. Where as Romulus was awkward, smarter than most, and had big ears. The good looking always seemed to do better.*

"Quidditch? Wow! You really do have natural magical talents. I've never really done much with sports, that was always Jacens area."
*His brother Jacen was the good looking jock super star that everyone wanted to be around. Where as Romulus was the book worm. For the most part Rom didn't mind. Jacen had taught him Quidditch and tried to get him to play. The times he had played Rom had done very well. But Jacen said that was due to Rom reading up so much on the sport before hand. Still playing the actual game seemed a bit dull to Romulus.*
"What did you tryout for?"