So apparently it was her turn to now tease him. Michael didn't mind, he was used to friendly banter. He and Zahra did it all the time and of course with his many cousins. He didn't say anything back to Emma, merely poked his tongue out at her. Well she did think he was immature after all.

Pfft. PFFT..."In your dreams." He scoffed. She could TRY and beat him but he doubted whether she would. "But I look forward to the challenge." He liked nothing better than having someone push him to be better and faster at stuff.

Well he wouldn't say it was for nothing. They'd had fun while they were doing it and he was just about to tell her that too when she started throwing marshmallows at him. "Hey!" He said laughing and ducking out of the way of flying marshmallows. "You didn't read the sign either." So she was just as much to blame as he was.

"Right that's it Emma Smith. I'm throwing you into the water." He gave her a mock menacing look as he got to his feet.

If she wanted to remain dry, she had better start running.

Hearing a familiar voice, Tessa turned to see Lux. She smiled and waved. "Hey there Cucumber!" she called to the girl. She raised her eyebrows and looked out at the lake. "There's a giant squid?" she asked, looking back at Lux. "Tell me more about this," she inquired. It sounded like an adventure too great to miss.

"We were thinking about it- you should definitely join in!" she said, even more excited for the race now. She glanced up at Sander, hoping it was okay that she joined, but honestly, she and Lux had been planning to do this anyway. She doubted he would have a problem with it, after all, they both liked Lux.

"Oh Lux! It's wonderful!" she exclaimed, putting out her hands to see if Lux would let her hold it. "It looks perfect," she praised, as she took a closer look. "Who's Lucas?" she asked, curious. She knew most of Lux's friend, but this one was new. It was nice that Lux was making more friends though.

"All set," she agreed, placing her new boat in the water. She waa happy to see it floating there- it was a shame it didn't have sails. "Oh." She saw a problem with their boat racing idea. "Without sails it will be harder to race them," she said, thoughtfully. "Do you have any ideas as to how we can still race them? We could use Agamenti- but that will only work for a certain distance," she said, thinking aloud.

"Any ideas?" she asked, looking between the two.

Charlotte wasn't actually asleep yet so she didn't understand what in the world the problem was. She was still trying to figure out what the password was, and was conscious enough to talk back to Jun so why did he have to go and pinch her cheeks??? "Juuuuun!" Her eyes shot open and she turned to him and glared. "I was awaaaaake. Pinching my cheeks isn't allowed." You only pinch childrens' cheeks and Charlotte Stylinson was not a child no matter what anyone thought.

Sleep in the Ravenclaw dorms?? ALL THE WAY UP THERE?! She had it easy, being able to just walk down to the dungeons to go to sleep so unless Jun was going to carry her up there and sneak her into the Ravenclaw Common Room, there was no way she'd be going up all those steps. She only ever did it for class and that was more than enough for one girl. "BUT I'M GONNA REMEMBER IT!" She was, she really was. "Give me one more minute!"

Closing her eyes again, not to sleep this time, she sat and just thooouuught about every B word she could think of. Thinking of words in your mental dictionary wasn't as easy as it seemed. Either way, she kept thinking and thinking and for some reason the word 'ridiculous' kept coming back up into her mind, followed by the word 'nonsense,' and she couldn't figure out why until..."BALDERDASH. IT'S BALDERDASH."

Sander waved Lux over. "Sure we were planning on testing our boats by racing them. Of course you can join us? Is Lucas going to join us as well?" Sander asked the younger Puff wondering who he was

Thrn he turned back to Tessa who had now joined them.



How were they going to race their boats? Good question. Sander thought for a moment before suggesting, "We can try the Animation spell, Piertotum Locomotor. Let me see whether it works first."

Sander pointed his wand at his boat and said,"Piertotum Locomotor" and watched as his boat began to move in circles. Next he has to do was to give it a command, "Move fast along the shoreline." Sander watched as the boat raced off. "Finite" Sander yelled after it pointing his wand at it, and the boat stopped and just floated stationary, only moving when the waves of the lake brushed against it.

Sander ran over to pick it up and returned to where the others were standing with their boats. "I guess that's one way of doing it or we could use the Wind blowing charm Ventus to blow it along. What do you ladies think?" Sander asked the others for their opinion.

Man it felt just like yesterday when she was worrying about her exams. Something she did for a long time like at the very start of her fifth-year. Though she didn't want to worry Lex and have her stress out like herself. "The theortical part, yeah, but it isn't that hard you know," Cassia nodded knowingly. If she could do it Lex surely could. And she would help of course, just like Lex did! Mhhmm. Besties.

The blond grinned and stepped closer to examine her boat closely. She was quite proud of it if you ask her. And she might have wanted to focus on the bend but she didn't want to risk and do it again. Who knew if it'd be the same. It might get worse or eehh she just couldn't bother. This one will do, she decided.


On the other hand, the lioness seemed to have not decided on a design yet. Cassia arched an eyebrow at her. Picky much? Yet she refused to test it! Psht, talking about odds. "It wouldn't hurt to test it, miss-I-haven't-decided-on-a-design-yet," she replied poking Lex in the arm playfully as she carried the boat and stepped closer to the lake.

She was going to test it, OK?! She'd feel better. Besides they weren't in a rush. Squatting by the water, the sixth-year lowered the boat and placed it on the surface then let go of it. She waited for a bit peering closer and frowned down at it as water started seeping into it. HA! See! That was necessary.

"Reverto," She muttered after dragging it out of the water. Now focusing again and harder hopefully. Same design and without holes. "Lignum Navicula!" There! It was a bit different but had the same general shape. She was satisfied.

What was Lex saying? No change of clothes? "Hopefully his won't get wet and if it happened anyway we could just dry it?" Magic, duh. She actually was worrying about the drowning part more. But that wouldn't happen with them around, right?! Riiiiiiiiiight.

Leaving her boat by the water, the snake walked over to the kid and picked him up from the rock then set him on the ground. "Ready to ride a boat?" she beamed at him pulling at his hand closer to where she left the boat.

Blink.

Blinkblink.

"I'm not anxious,"Tobias found himself saying, looking up at Cutty with a nonplussed expression which then turned to amusement. The foot on the leg that Cutty had more or less held down had stopped, but the other one was still going, as were his tapping fingers. Tobias simply didn't stay still.

But still, homework. That was the point of this meeting, after all. Toby kept himself quiet and listened to what Cutty was saying, but inwardly he kept his mind on the simple rowboats that pulled first years across the lake on their first night at Hogwarts. He'd managed that boat in the lesson, after all. He'd start with that, and maybe work his way up. At least until he could successfully cast the spell even after taking a long break.

Tobias took his block of wood back from Cutty and observed as the boy transfigured another boat. He, of course, didn't realise that Cutty was unhappy with his boat, because Toby thought it looked pretty good. "Nice one."

Aaaaaaand back to his own.

Deciding to repeat the method he used in class, Tobias sat facing the lake and closed his eyes. It was a lot easier to visualise now that they were here, right in front of the water that the boats went across. He held in his mind a picture of what the boats looked like, just as he had in class, focusing on just a single one at the moment; the one he'd ridden in on his first night.

It only took a few moments to get the image firmly in his head, and once it was there, Tobias suddenly snapped his eyes back open and looked at the block of wood again.

"Lignum Navicula!" he cast at once, tapping the wood with his wand.

Almost at once, he knew the spell was going to work out well. The rippling in the block was quicker and more insistent than before, and Toby figured his confidence in the magic was being mirrored by the actions of the spell. Before long, he was left with an all but perfect replica of the rowboat from that first night. Right down to the peculiar nicks all down the left edge. He held it up at eye level.

"This is the one I was practicing in class," he explained, glancing over a Cutty for a second as he turned the boat over in his hands to look at all of it. It was good. Would probably even float. But too simple. He wanted to make a boat that had some kind of shelter in it, and maybe even a mast for a sail. Something impressive. Of course, if he couldn't manage that, then the rowboat would still be sufficient in an emergency.

But this was time for improving.

"Reverto."

Tobias turned it back into a block of wood, ready to try and step it up a gear.

"Oh wow. The tongue again? So mature." Emma giggled, raising a brow at him. He was so funny, and the best part was she was starting to feel comfortable around him.

Pfffffffffffft. Boys. "Riiiight. Because you can totally beat me WITHOUT interference!" She rolled her eyes, gifting him with another one of her smirks. He was SO full of it. "And I look forward to winning and all that comes with it.." Now Emma had even more reason to start running in her free time.

She laughed, tossing more marshmallows at him as she ran towards the nearest tree. "Riiiight. Suuuure. I'm so scareeed!" Emma feigned mock terror, flashing him a wink before darting over to the next tree.



There was absolutely NO WAY she was going to allow herself to be caught and thrown into the freezing water.

Nope. No way. Noooooo siree.

*Hearing a scuffle Romulus looked over and saw two other 3rd years playing around. One said something about getting in the water. That wouldn't be a good idea. It was already cold making the lake near freezing. Rom also knew that Barty the squid was in no mood for visitors. He just shrugged and turned back to Anna.*

Marigold nodded and cleared her throat. Ahhhhheemmm. Picturing a boat in her mind, she waved her wand and said confidently, "Lignum Navicula!"

Nothing happened. Taking a deep breath, she tried again. "Lignum Navicula." Again, nothing. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Envisioning the wood turning into a boat, she went through the wand motion one more time. "Lignum Navicula!" she said, opening her eyes. This time, the spell worked! Cheering silently, she turned to Hazel. "Your turn."

Did he hear right? He was going for a boat ride?! Bentley was very excited about this. And by this time too he had decided that he liked this girl better than the chocolate girl even though she gave him cocolit frogs.

He nodded happily to her question. Did she know that he could swim? And his uncle was teaching him to surf as well, so he loved the water.

"Ready!!" He said happily as she took his wand.

As Tessa praised her boat, Lux felt herself start to blush because it was so nice to have one of her role models praise her. She really wanted to be as smart and good at magic as Tessa was one day, because Tessa always knew what to do in any situation and was always prepared. "You and Lucas are why I managed to do that boat." Because she sure wouldn't have been able to do it without their assistance.

"You didn't know about the Giant Squid? Apparently he lives in the lake, and I want to get his attention. I was singing Under the Sea here earlier to try to get him to come up, because I am Ariel now; Lucas gave me that nickname." He was so nice and fun, and she really liked him a lot already. Too bad he wasn't going to be racing with him, because he had left off to do something else. "He isn't going to race with us, but he is my new friend and he is in Gryffindor like you, Tessa!" So he had to be brave even if he felt that he wasn't.

Excited to race boats with them, she began bouncing on her feet even though she had no idea how to actually race them. "Me and Lucas wanted to race ours earlier, but we had no idea how to start them." So she was not able to give in any input, sadly. Sighing, she wished she could be more help, but figured she would be okay going along with anything they decided, since they were so much older than her and also smarter.

Cutty's lip curled when he saw the amused expression Tobias was wearing as if mirroring the boy's amusement, but it made him look a bit disgusted as he added an information-gathering look up and then down on Toby.

He shouldn't have done that.

It only made his life more difficult.


He dismissed it with shut eyes and a shaking of the head, pretending as though he were shaking off the subject. Alright, then. On to Transfiguration. "I'm not entirely happy with that. I think I want something deeper. Reverto!" He said, stealing back the form from the wood. Cutty looked over at Toby's new boat with a smile at first, thinking it's form owing to his own advice. The smile, though quickly morphed into a mocking sort of laughter made worse by his pointing. But he was hardly laughing at Tobias. In fact, he wasn't laughing at Tobias at all. Seeing the first year boat reminded him of Fern Quimbley and how she'd bitten it getting into the boat and ended up with water all over herself.

And those were good times, apparently.

"Tobias! That. Is. Brilliant." He said snatching the boat out of the Hufflepuffs hands to have a good look at it, his monkey laugh dying down by now into little breaths. Cutty was looking quite impressed, a bright, genuine, but crooked smile replaced the afore given expressions upon his face as he examined the Puff's work. "You even got the scratches down. You pictured this carefully, didn't you? Nice work, mate!" He handed the boat back planning to keep-way when Tobias would go for it, but ultimately releasing it to him on the third or maybe fourth reach. Just for funsies.

"Well, if you're not nervous, then, what's wrong with you?" His glance darted from Toby's face to the hand fidgeting, and then to his renewed wood hunk. "Lignum Navicula!" The end of Cutty's wand hit the wood and manipulated the form once again, trading it in for the sleek, but detailed design of ancient Greek boatmakers.

"Maybe she'll flood the room or something. Force us to use them when we least expect it." She'd caused a hurricane that one time, hadn't she? Or at least severe wind and rain. If Ella recalled correctly, Ballerina Milton hit his head and needed to be slapped awake. Poor guy. His pretty face probably ached from that slap. "You never know with Professor Bellaire." The truth, that was.

It did look better, her second boat. "Thanks, I think I'll test this one out." She was pleased with the way this one turned out so it was worth a shot. The Head Girl didn't go anywhere just yet, though. She stayed and watched the Brunette work, curious to see what sort of boat she was envisioning. Ella would have commented too but Lottie was already returning it to its original state. Mmkay.

"I'm sure they'll be useful at some point in the activity. I'm going to make sure mine is strong." The rope vine, that is. Just in case. As for working with animals, that's something Ella and Lottie agreed on. "I hate thinking we're hurting them, even if Bellaire says they're fine. It isn't right." At least Ella didn't think it was.

And as Lottie completed her boat yet again, the blonde badger inched towards the water, her own boat in hand. She knelt down by the water's edge and placed it in gingerly, hoping it would float. Luckily it did. "Not bad." But just in case, Ella moved her hand under the water to make tiny waves, wanting to see how the boat fared against them. So far, so good.

Tessa was bouncing on her toes, she was so excited. She loved games, she was much like a little kid in that way. And boat racing was, essentially, a game. She looked over as Sandor asked about Lucas. How come Sander knew about this boy and she didn't? She pouted slightly- but the lure of the boat race was too much to dwell on it long.

"That is another option," she said, nodding in agreement. She watched as Sander successfully sent his boat around on the water, smiling as it circled and sped away. "Looks like that will work well," she said thoughtfully. "Ventus could work, but it may not be super effective without sails," she pointed out. "Would you like to try it anyway?" she asked. She raised her wand and cast "Ventus." The wind burst from her wand, sending her boat careening away from the shore. Eventually, it straightened out and continued forward until Tesa ended the spell. "Not as controlled," she said with a small frown as she summoned the boat back to her.



"But it was your determination and persistence that got it done. What I gave you was just words," she said with a wink. "The rest was you." Words could be very powerful, Tessa knew. The right words motivation, the wrong words crushing. She always wanted to be the former. She was happy that she had been able to do that for Lux.

Tessa shook her head, intrigued. Her smile grew as Lux told her more about the Squid. "Well, I would like to be there if you ever get its attention," she said with a wide smile. She laughed as Lux said her new nickname. "Well, you have many nicknames now!" she said, laughing. She nodded as Lux described the boy. He sounded nice enough, and he was a Gryffindor- so they would probably get along. "I'm glad you've found a new friend," she said with a warm smile.

"Now, onto these boats," she said, returning her attention to the water. "Don't worry Lux, Sander and I will help you," she said with a warm smile. "How would you move the boats, if you knew all of the spells?" she asked the girl. "Even if you don't have the spell knowledge, you can still come up with ideas," she told the girl.

Sophie made her way down to the lake, wand in one hand and her boat in the other. Yes, her boat was in her hand. She'd managed to learn a spell that, if done correctly, would make her boat smaller in order to be carried and then regular size again when she wanted to use it.

She reached the lake and looked around. Nope. No Caleb. She sat down on a rock, but her boat in her lap, and then pushed her wand back into its holster. Any day now, little brother.

Sander was going to ask who Lucas was when Tessa asked Lux herself. It was only then did he realized Lucas was someone new. He grinned over at Lux. Maybe it as his turn now to tease her. But that he could do later. Now it was time for him to race his boat with Tessa.

"Yes Lux, we'll help you with the spells when both you and Lucas are ready to race your boats. As for us, Tessa, let's get the show on the road. From what I've figured out about the spell, we have to keep shouting directions to our boats once we have animated them, just to keep them going where we want them too. Like for example move straight ahead, curve to the right," Sander suggested to Tessa.

"Alright let's first cast the spell on the boat." Sander told Tessa as he lifted his wand over the boat and while concentrating on what he wanted the spell to do, he said, "Piertotum Locomotor. He could immediately a change in the behavior of the boat. It looked like it now possessed some form of intelligence.

"Tessa get your's ready and when you are, I'll count down and then we'll send our boats off. First boat to reach the other end of this shoreline wins. Its that okay with you? Winner get to make one wish," Sander winked at Tessa.

Tessa nodded and returned her attention to the boats. "Okay, down the shoreline it is," she said to Sander, looking toward where the finish line would be. "Hey Lux, would you like to be the one to determine the winner? Then you can race the winner," she reasoned, smiling. She raised her wand and quickly she cast the spell on the boat: "Piertotum Locomotor."

The boat suddenly straightened up, like a soldier at attention. She grinned, calling out a few instructions to make sure it was ready and listening. "One wish, huh?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at the boy. She had no idea what that would be.

"Ready? 3, 2, 1... Go boat go!" she called. "Go straight, as fast as you can!" she called, grinning as her boat sped toward their finish line. However, there was an obstacle- a floating log. "Turn left, turn right! Straight again," she called in rapid succession, the little boat easily maneuvering around in the water. "Come on slow poke!" she called to Sander.

Transfiguration Homework.

After grabbing some snacks -- necessary step, this was -- Alec FINALLY made his way down towards the Lake to do some practising. Slowly. Slow walking. Ambling, even. He had set out early enough so he didn't need to worry about being here past curfew, right? Unless he happened to be that bad at these spells that he ended up staying out for the majority of the day.

With the items placed in his bag, the boy stopped by the lake and took a DEEP breath. There. Not that tiring, that was. It didn't stop him from rubbing his lower back as he looked out at the lake. He was meant to try and make his boat float too, yeah? Because if he was in the jungle and needed a boat and the boat didn't happen to float... ... he would be in deep trouble. And he'd panic. And clutch his hair.

Speaking of hair... hair!ruffle.

NOW he was ready to start. Alec sat down slowly and took out the vine and the chunk of wood from inside his bag. The items were set down right in front of him and his wand was drawn. ... Ropes first? Because that was... much easier than the boat spell. Vinea Funiculus... Vinea Funiculus... "Vinea Funiculus!" POINT!

...

Picking up the newly transfigured, and really lame, length of rope, Alec STARED at it. This... wouldn't hold up anything. Frown.

Sander immediately shouted commands to his boat,"Go straight as fast as you can," and immediately his boat reared up on its back before racing forward as fast as possible. He grinned over at Tessa, "Slow Poke huh? My boat will be waiting for yours at the other end of the finishing line," he taunted her....and then it was back on concentrating on where his boat was going.

"Move faster through the water!" his boat was now bow to bow with Tessa's. "Yes that's it. Pass the other boat. Go straight now until I tell you to stop."

Sander could tell that this was going to be a close fight. He was running along the shore as the boats moved along in the water. The shoreline was coming nearer....and nearer...and nearer...and both boats beached on the water's edge at the same time!!

As both both were still under the animation spell, they continued to still move along, up on to the sand and then on to the grass. "Whoa...whoa!! Stop!, Sander called out, quickly pointed his wand at both boats and ended the spells, by chanting,"Finite Incantatem!

Sander bent over, winded from his running. He was noticing that was happening alot. He was moving slower than he used to. He hoped that he wasn't running low on iron. He reminded to increase his daily vitamins.

But now it was time for him to congratulate the winner. "They both reached at the same time, Tessa. So it looks like both our boats are seaworthy and passed the Transfiguration making spell," Sander smiled over at Tessa as she joined him.

"Okay, so being the graceful winner I am, I'll let you claim your prize. Make your wish, my lady," Sander bowed to Tessa.

Lux beamed at Tessa for her praise, then nodded. She was definitely going to try and make sure her friend was there if the Giant Squid showed up. "I am making so many friends, Tessa! And you can meet him at some point, Sander too," she added addressing him as well because he was also one of her good friends. But at the moment there were more pressing matters at hand, like the racing.

"Wait, guys. You are going too fast!" They were talking about using a spell that she did not understand, and she was worried that she was going to be left behind. "I want to give my boat a sail so that it will move with the wind, because I don't think I can make a motor for it." Though, she had no idea how to make a sail with magic...

Pout. They were racing without her.

Sander turned around to see Lux pouting. Had he misunderstood her. Hadn't she wanted to race her boats with her friend Lucas? "I'm so sorry, Lux. That was just a test race run. We'll race our boats with you when you're ready." he winked down at her.

"You want to make a sail? I unfortunately have no idea how to enchant a sail on your boat. It could be you just need to think of your boat having one and it will. Or I can fashion out a sail for you if you want? All I need is a small piece of cloth and a spell, of which I have the second and you will have your sail. Will that do?" Sander suggested to Lux hoping that would work for her.

Well, Cutty certainly seemed impressed with Toby's boat skills, and that of course made Toby as cheerful as ever. "Thanks," he grinned. In Toby's opinion, that was high praise indeed, coming from the Slytherin who was producing some really cool boats. "That's the only boat I really remember well enough to picture. You'd think I'd have been in more boats, what with living so near the coast."

He'd just raised his wand and opened his mouth, ready to try the spell again, when Cutty's unexpected question caught Tobias by surprise.

The Hufflepuff looked around, just in time to see Cutty's hunk of wood turn into a Grecian ship. He was impressed (again) but not distracted from the question.

"I..." Tobias began, squinted eeeeeever so slightly at Cutty, and paused for just a moment. "There's nothing wrong with me," the boy said simply, and turned back to his block of wood again.

He had an image of a boat all ready, one that was pretty much ingrained into his minds from all the postcards and memorabilia that was sold on the pier where he lived. With that vague idea firmly in his mind, Tobias finally tried again.

"Lignum Navicula!" Tap.

The detail wasn't as good as the last boat, that was for sure, but now Tobias had in front of him a pretty decent version of a sailboat, sails and all. Much more useful than a simple rowboat, if you know what you were doing. "I reckon one or two more tries at getting this right, then we can see how they float," Toby said outloud, half to Cutty and half just talking out loud to himself. "Then there's still the other spell to try out."

Text Cut: Same here!

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"Maybe she'll flood the room or something. Force us to use them when we least expect it." She'd caused a hurricane that one time, hadn't she? Or at least severe wind and rain. If Ella recalled correctly, Ballerina Milton hit his head and needed to be slapped awake. Poor guy. His pretty face probably ached from that slap. "You never know with Professor Bellaire." The truth, that was.

It did look better, her second boat. "Thanks, I think I'll test this one out." She was pleased with the way this one turned out so it was worth a shot. The Head Girl didn't go anywhere just yet, though. She stayed and watched the Brunette work, curious to see what sort of boat she was envisioning. Ella would have commented too but Lottie was already returning it to its original state. Mmkay.

"I'm sure they'll be useful at some point in the activity. I'm going to make sure mine is strong." The rope vine, that is. Just in case. As for working with animals, that's something Ella and Lottie agreed on. "I hate thinking we're hurting them, even if Bellaire says they're fine. It isn't right." At least Ella didn't think it was.

And as Lottie completed her boat yet again, the blonde badger inched towards the water, her own boat in hand. She knelt down by the water's edge and placed it in gingerly, hoping it would float. Luckily it did. "Not bad." But just in case, Ella moved her hand under the water to make tiny waves, wanting to see how the boat fared against them. So far, so good.

There was a smile on Lottie's face, "Wouldn't be the first time," Bellaire did these things. Honestly? Lottie thought it was kind of cool to manipulate the entire classroom like that, only to learn spells. It was cool. Airey has done that as well. Anti-gravity, remember? She never learned the spell... she should try.

A nod was given to the Head Girl as a way of saying 'Welcome', they were both happy with the boat now, might as well try it out, no? Because it'd be of no use if they were going to sink and fall into despair to the bottom of... well, whatever Bellaire has planned.

"Makes sense. Same as the boat." Strong ropes, strong boats. Only the boat needed to stay afloat, the rope... we don't know. Either way, she shook her head, "I still don't buy it. The transformation may not hurt them, but something has to happen to them somehow." Those poor bunnies. Which Bellaire disliked very much, Lottie would never forget.

You know you can still levitate your boat if it doesn't float? To give the illusion that it is? This was the thought that came to her mind when her boat touched the water and she let it go slowly, watching it NOT sink. It was a success! But seriously, levitating was an option, one she wouldn't try because she had issues with pretending to be something you're not, but an option nonetheless. "Good job, Head Girl," both their boats were safely floating.

No need for Lottie to make waves or anything, she was taking advantage of Ella's and testing the boat with those.

"Shall we move to the ropes, then?" Mmmhmmm.

"Yes, slow poke," she said, grinning. However, that dodge around the log had put her back slightly. "Come on, faster!" she urged, watching as the boat sped up, fighting the lake water. "Only because mine got there first and decided to go for a celebratory doughnut run," she retorted with a grin.

She ran along side the shore, and Sander, as their boats sped through the water. They were nearing the finish line, and she kept calling out commands for speed as they got closer... closer... TIE! She thought it was over, but the boats were persistent in their race. She was laughing so hard, she was unable to cast the spell- and was glad that Sander was able to do it for them. "Thank you," she gasped out, both because of her laughing and because of the run.

She smiled at Sander, and nodded. "I agree- both boats were more than adequate in their floating... and racing," she said, grinning as she went over to pick up and cradle her boat. It was a winner in her eyes. "It's alright Sander, it was a tie- we both get to make a wish..." she told him. "I'll need time to think of mine though," she added, her mind already spinning with possibilities. "However, we have another opponent to race with," she said, indicating Lux, who they had left behind.

"That's the fun of school, Lux," she said with a grin. "You never know what's going to happen!" Suddenly she and Sander were off and racing, and she had to shift her focus.

"So, that was an example of the Piertotum Locomotor spell," she explained, slightly breathless. "What do you think? Would you like to learn that? Or a different one?" she asked, smiling at the younger girl. She hoped that Lux wasn't upset that they had run away with their race, but she had a feeling it was just the opposite. "Okay, you ready?" she asked, readying her wand.

"My thoughts exactly." Ella had learned to be prepared for anything during classes here. Since her first year, she'd seen her fair share of amazing and slightly puzzling things and it was all good experience. Taught her to always be on her toes. Constant vigilance and all that. Yeah.

And who knew Lottie was such an animal activist? Ella was surprised though her expression remained neutral. It seemed they had more similarities than she'd thought. "I think so too. It's not as if we're doing spells on each other so there has to be some kind of negative effects." Though transfiguring Lottie into a hat did sound sort of amusing to her. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of hat the girl would be. Why she had the image of a cocked Navy-style hat in mind, the blonde wasn't sure.

And look! Their boats were weathering Ella's waves quite well. The Head Girl smiled, glad her ship hadn't sunk. Something told her that the brunette wouldn't forget it if it had. "Thanks. Same to you, Wisteria." The older girl then picked her boat up out of the water and gave the younger badger a nod. "Ropes."

Back at the blanket now, the blonde flopped down gently and pulled her wand towards her. Then, after drying off her small boat with the use of a drying charm, the seventh year set it down off to the side and pulled the vine in front of her. Now if only she could remember the incantation.

"It's...Vinea Fun-something." Fun what, though? "Do you remember?" Help?