As Sophie waited to see if the vine would turn into the rope she needed, she quickly glanced behind her. The Acromantula was gaining on her, and she'd dropped that Shield Charm she'd produced earlier. If the vine spell didn't work, she'd be left unprotected.

Turning back around, she watched as the vine strengthened into a rope. She reached up and tugged on it a bit to make sure it wouldn't snap on her. It seemed sturdy enough, so she grabbed on to it, stepped back to gain some speed, then ran forward. When she reached the ravine, she lifted her legs off the ground and let the rope carry her across.

She only panicked briefly, but as the other side came into close view, she released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding in.

The ravine LIED!

It was most certainly not as close as she'd thought it was when she bounded the acromantula and made a mad dash toward it. Never before had she felt so lied to, seriously. No matter how many tree branches she'd bumped into and how many roots sticking from the ground she'd nearly tripped over, there seemed NO RAVINE.

Another couple metres and she would have given up. Legit. Just stopped running and sent off some sparks, or maybe tried a different direction even if the ravine was clearly in this direction.

Alexa drew immediate breaks as she came up to it and realized what the Professor had been on about when she mentioned vines. Swinging across this thing? She would need to be SWINGING?? With her feeble old people floppy arms?? Seriously?? There were so many things that could go wrong here and she almost turned to find another way across the ravine when she remembered this was all an illusion.

...It probably couldn't really hurt her and even if it could she wouldn't think about that right now.

Lex reached for the closest vine. "Vinea Funiculus!"

Getting a sudden adrenalin rush at the thought of completing the tasks, Alex paddled as fast as she could (which probably wasn't very fast given the circumstances). At last she felt the boat hit solid ground. All she could think about was getting away from the stinky swamp and breathing some fresh air.

When Alex was certain that she had directed the boat far enough out of the water to get out safely, she climbed out of it. She had reached the beach. She had completed the tasks. Alex was too exhausted to be happy. She just started walking away from the swamp. She could not wait to get back to her dormitory, take a very hot shower and sleep. She would be smelling the swamp in her dreams.

Deep breaths, Summers. Deep breaths.

Wheezing, the boy bent over, his hands gripping onto his knees a little tighter than normal. This final really was a test of endurance, wasn't it? And to think he still had two main sections to get through before he was done. Thoughts about what he was going to do after he was done with this flooded his mind as he continued to catch his breath back. Pancakes sounded like a good idea. And maybe sprawling out on a sofa in front of the fireplace. Merlin knows he wouldn't be able to go out to fly as soon as he was done.

But to do any of that, he needed to be done with this final, yeah? Needed to pass with a decent grade. Taking a deep breath, Alec stood up and looked over at the ravine, his grey eyes taking in everything from the many vines hanging here and there to the length of the ravine. ... Yeah. The sight of the vines was helpful but the length was not. What if he didn't make it across? What if he fell in instead? Frown.

Alec took out his wand and glanced back at the Acromantula. The stone had held it up but he knew that it wouldn't hold the creature off for long. Ropes. He needed ropes. Looking back, the boy pointed his wand over at the nearest vine and cried "Vinea Funiculus!" with so much conviction, he even surprised himself. A smallest hint of a smile spread across his face when the vine changed itself into, thankfully, a rope.

Right. Time to be Tarzan.

This wasn't the time to panic. The Spider was still a good distance away. Adi tried to clear his mind as best as he could but of course that was a difficult thing to do when there was a monster after you. He concentrated on the vine in front of him and pointed his wand at it. "Vinea Funiculus!"

Aha! Success! Not even bothering to look back at the arachnid that was lumbering after him, Adi grabbed on to the rope and with a huge effort kicked off from the ravine's edge.

Weeeeeee! This was fun! As long as he held on tight he was safe. Come to think of it, as long as his rope decided to stay intact. Suppose he had made a bad rope? Eep! But there was no time to think of that for he was approaching the other side of the ravine. He needed to concentrate on making a good landing.

Almost there...just a bit further...annnnd let go of the rope! Adi released it and landed with a soft thump on his butt. Owww. Well, it could have certainly been worse. At least he had gotten away from the Acromantula.

Head Boy Tarzan, he was. ... Or would try to be.

Alec grabbed hold of a part of the rope and took a couple of steps backwards. When he had come to terms with the idea of running some more, he sent know. All he knew was that to cover the most area and increase the chances of being able to reach the next vine, he needed to run up to the edge and jump off as high as he could. The plan sounded like a great one to him and, with the giant beast back there, he knew he had no time to try and think of something else. The sooner he put as much distance between himself and the creature, the better, right?

Taking a deep breath, the eighteen year old placed his wand between his teeth and tugged on the rope a couple of times. Good. It seemed sturdy enough to take his weight. Another deep breath was taken as Alec ran up to the edge of the ravine and jumped off, his legs bent up and around the rope. His hands were clenched around the rope so tightly that his knuckles were starting to turn white. Not that he noticed since his eyes were focused on the next vine that he was swinging towards.

... Vine!

Taking out his wand from between his teeth, Alec pointed it over towards the oncoming vine. "Vinea Funiculus!" The speed in which the next couple of things happened seemed to be similar to something out of an action movie. A rope hung in the place where a vine had been previously, the Acromantula had reached the edge of the ravine and started clicking its pincers in a menacing and defeated sort of way, and Alec had managed to jump off of the first rope and onto the newly transfigured one.

He deserved pancakes after this.

Once Adi had picked himself up, he looked across the ravine. He could vaguely make out the outline of the Acromantula. He pumped a triumphant fist in it's direction, though he wasn't sure if the thing could see that far. He had done it! Woohoo!

Say! What was that DISGUSTING smell? Ugh! Securing his nose with his hands, Adi turned, took a few steps and came across the swamp Professor Bellaire had told them about. Man, this thing gave off a nasty smell. It was only going to get so much worse when he got into his boat to cross it.

Adi retrieved his boat, trying his best not to breathe too much. But that was not a very good idea. Hoping, he won't hurl, the Puffer pushed his boat towards the swamp.

The sixth year luckily had some length on his legs, so running was such a winded and stressful issue for him. The real stresser was the bigger, long legged acromantula on his feet that didn't seem to have a relenting bone in its body. This was supposed to be a helpful class, not a see how in shape you were type of thing. 'Cause if that was the case, Ascanius was always going to win hand over foot. Look at him.

He was a fan of looking at himself. He knew what he looked like.

Deciding once more that he just by the sheer strength of his legs was not going to make it to the ravine faster then the acromantula, Ascanius had to make another offensive move. The best defense after all was a very strong offense. He rattled his head for something, anything that would work in the realm of strictly transfiguration when he settled on something simple.

Ascanius turned around on his heel, pointed at the ugly mug of a spider's feet and shouted, "Epoximise!" The ground of the jungle suddenly became a sticky substance that held the spider in place, or at least would do so long enough to let Ascanius get away.

And so he did.

Alec was trying his hardest not to look over at the two terrifying things that would make him fall off of the rope he was hanging on to: the bottom of the ravine and the acromantula that looked like it was ready to devour him the moment he fell. His grip on the rope tightened. He didn't know which one of those he'd prefer; ... except... if the acromantula was an illusion, the only thing he'd need to worry about was... falling, right?

Deep breaths... deep breaths...

It was probably a good thing he had done that long run up from before to swing onto the rope. It was helping him to cover a greater distance and swing much closer towards the next vine. A vine that he still needed to change into a rope, once he was close enough or could aim properly from where he was swinging. Or when he was comfortable enough to only hold onto the rope with one hand.

He didn't have to wait long for this to happen and, when it did, Alec took hold of his wand and aimed at the closest, and last, vine. "Vinea Funiculus!" The vine started changing into a rope, while the rope that Alec was clinging onto swung backwards again. He didn't even register the sound of the pincers from the acromantula behind him on the bank of the ravine as let go of the middle rope and grabbed onto the newly transfigured one.

More deep breathing was happening.

The smell was foul and Ella skirted the edge of the water, nose wrinkled and in search of a branch to use for her boat. The glasses helped because without them, the eighteen year old would be sunk. Literally, she'd probably sink to the bottom of the swamp because she found a weird branch or something. Speaking of branches, there was one near the waters edge off to her left and so she carefully headed in that direction, not wanting to trip and find herself in the gross water beside her. Could she even swim anymore with these old bones? Merlin.

Bending down, the Head Girl ignored the shooting pain that was traveling up her back and focused on the wood in front of her. Though damp, the branch was still quite sturdy and thick as well. She did wonder if it would float, though. If it didn't, she'd have to work with something else. And so Ella carefully guided it deeper into the water, keeping it from floating away by leaving her fingers resting on the top lightly so she could get a grip quickly if anything went wrong. Luckily for her, it did indeed float. Looked like this was the branch she'd be using. She carefully guided it out of the water again and placed it down on the ground at her feet, stepping back so she could get a good look at it. Now she needed to change it into a boat.

The incantation was one she'd practiced lots and so she didn't have much trouble remembering it. Lignum Navicula...Lignum Navicula...Lignum Navicula. And the movement was simply tapping the wood, yeah? So with those things figured out, all that was left was for her to visualize her boat. The eighteen year old shut out any of the distractions around her and focused all her energy on creating a boat big enough to hold her but also buoyant and without leaks. She needed to make sure the thing would float and make it across to the beach where she'd be done. When the vision was crystal clear and only then, Ella bent down and tapped the wooden branch with her wand.

"Lignum Navicula!"

Adi jumped into his boat and sat there holding his breath without realising his boat was not even drifting. Ugh! He needed to paddle. He wasn't going to get anywhere without doing that. He jumped out of his boat and looked around on the ground for something he could paddle with. He was sure there was a spell that transfigured a paddle but he wasn't sure of the incantation.

Oh well. He'd just have to work with what he could find. Moments after searching, Adi located a sturdy piece of wood with a flattish bottom. Hmmm. This could work. He jumped into his boat again and paddled off. Yes! It was working!

Humming Row, Row, Row your boat, the Puffer happily paddled down the swamp. He'd have been much happier if it weren't so smelly.

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

Finally, he arrived back at the beach. He had done it!

Bank!

Alec let out a small sigh of relief at the sight of the bank. He was still clinging onto the rope, sure, but all he had to do was try and land on the bank and he'd be a little safer than he was before. One more large swing and a jump and he'd be away from that acromantula, who was still clicking its pincers menacingly on the other side of the ravine.

... This was easier said than done, as Alec soon found out.

As much as he had thought that he had given himself a good head start with the jump onto the first wrong, the rope wasn't swinging as far and landing on the bank was starting to seem impossible. A small frown formed across his lips. Was there anything he could do to make the rope swing further? Or should he risk it and try and jump off before the rope slowed down even more? Both sounded... hard.

To make matters worse, the eighteen year old made the slight error of looking down at the depth of the ravine below. ... No! No no. He wasn't brave enough to risk jumping just yet but he was going to try and make the rope swing further. This would be exactly like the times when he had been sitting on the swings in the park near his house and he wanted the swing to swing further. You had to put all your weight into it, right?

Nodding to himself, Alec started swinging, where he tried to put all his weight into swinging further when the rope swung forwards. Swing... swing...

... jump...

... and LAND! Right on his belly and... right near the edge of the ravine too.

Breathing deeply, the boy rolled over onto his back and stared up at the sky. Or the ceiling. He was going to ignore the pain that was shooting up and down his body from his belly and legs and instead concentrate on the fact that... he had made it! And the slowly dying clicking of the acromantula meant that it was, hopefully, walking away. Good.

Oh hey, boat!

Ella let out a relieved sigh and wasted no time inspecting her work. She trailed her hands along the sides of the small boat, looking for cracks or holes which she luckily didn't find. The blonde then looked at the bottom in search of any signs of trouble. Ultimately, her boat seemed smooth and solid, something that wouldn't leave her stuck in the muck. This was definitely something to smile about and she let the corners of her lips tug upward slightly, knowing she was that much closer to finishing this task. The only thing left was to get herself across the swamp in this thing but that was going to be hard. She knew it would and especially given how tired she was. If there was a transfiguration spell to make a motor for her boat, she didn't know it. So she left the boat for a moment and searched for a long enough stick so she could paddle herself across.

Stick in hand, the Head Girl returned to the boat and raised her eyebrows slightly. She was ready to go now but how was she meant to get into the boat once it was in the water? Maybe she could...no. But what if she....no. This was probably going to be harder than she thought.

Eventually she moved the boat into the shallow water and held it there with one hand while she kept the other wrapped around the long stick that she'd pushed into the ground. This would be her anchor, yeah? She'd just sort of push off the stick and hoist herself into the boat in one fluid motion or something. Hey, yeah! That could work! And taking a deep breath, that's exactly what Ella tried to do. TRIED.

The small badger got one leg into the boat when she realized she hadn't thought this plan through. As she moved that leg into the boat, the boat moved a bit further away from the shore and now she was streeeeetched, one arm and leg still outside the boat. She let out a little squeak and sort of threw all her weight towards the boat, pulling the stick out of the ground in the process and landing in a tangled mess at the bottom of the boat. She groaned and rubbed her side but at least she'd got inside. That was something to be proud about...y'know later, when she wasn't feeling so sore.

When she'd finally managed to get into a seated position, Ella once again focused on the task at hand. She was going to get across this water and to the other side right now. YUP. And so she used the long stick to paddle as best she could, beginning her slow journey across the water.

This...wasn't going to be a quick trip. Just saying.

He didn't know how long he had been laying there in an attempt to catch his breath back but, before long, a sudden realisation came crashing in, making him feel somewhat saddened. He still had one more task left. And if any of the last two were anything to go by, the eighteen year old knew that this one would be just as... difficult. More endurance-based. Something his feeble, old bones was crying out against.

Finally getting up, Alec brushed himself off before looking around at the other end of the ravine. Sure, the acromantula was gone now. There was that bright side. The clicking of pincers wouldn't be a constant reminder that he was likely to be eaten or that he was taking a really long time with this final. Shrug.

A foul smell reached his nose, making his facial expression contort while his hand slapped over his nose and mouth. Was that... was that the swamp?! Bellaire did mention that it would smell foul, right? Slowly, he let his hand drop to his side again and started following the scent. Something inside of him was hoping against hope that the scent of the swamp was the worst feature about it. Was this false hope? Optimistic nature? He didn't know.

He did find out when he reached the edge of the swamp. The smell only became worse now that he was actually here and one look at its murky depths told the Head Boy that he didn't want to fall inside. Imagine getting this muck on his hair?! And what did he have to do here? Reach the other side? Okay. For that... he needed a boat. And for a boat, he needed...

... wood!

Spotting a fairly large piece of wood not too far away, Alec made his slow and careful way over towards it. He really did not want to fall inside. The wood, on close examination, seemed to be good enough. Now he just needed to concentrate, yeah? Try to transfigure this chunk of wood into the largest boat he could muster. Or a boat large enough to fit his long limbs.

Taking a deep breath, Alec tapped the wood with his wand and cried, "Lignum Navicula!"

The trouble with having to swing across the ravine on the vines was that now Ella's arms felt like noodles and it was taking everything in her to push the stick through the swampy water to get some kind of movement going. She was feeling extremely frustrated now and any trace of hope was long gone. How on earth was she meant to get across this thing? She was weak and old and probably dying and this was torture. Mood officially killed, Bellaire. Thank you for this.

If only the eighteen year old knew another Transfiguration spell that'd help her. Something that would... ... ...O______O She. Was. So. Dumb. Sometimes! They'd done a boat lesson in Transfiguration before. With Professor Magnus, right? They'd raced or something in those roundish boat things? There had been a paddle spell during that. She was sure of it. If she could just remember how to do it, that would save her. Ugh. She really needed to figure it out. Why...did she want to say it was tea leaves? That definitely wasn't the incantation. SIGH.

Think, Ella...Just think.

She was just sort of floating in the middle of the swamp by this point, an annoyed expression on her face as she searched her foggy mind for the correct incantation. She'd worked out that it started with Ta- but that was it at this point. Maybe if she could remember the wand movement too? Maybe. It was...something to do with food. It was... ...Oh! Like a spoon! The movement had reminded her of a spoon. A horizontal line with the circle at the end. Thank Merlin she was so obsessed with ice cream because that had been a lovely mnemonic for her. She made the movement with her hand and willed herself to think of the incantation, hoping the muscle memory would help.

Come one, think!

"Ta-lea." O.o YES! That was it, that was the spell! Yes, yes, yes!!!! The blonde nearly lost the stick she was holding because of her excitement but she stopped herself from fist pumping just in time. She was going to be okay now, yeah? She was going to make a proper paddle.

The smell was almost enough to make her gag, but she preferred it to the ravine a million times more. It was now time to test out her transfiguration skill. As she shuffled through her back-pack for the piece of wood she'd turned back to its original state, she wondered how deep the swamp was. If she were to fall in, would it swallow her up complete? She didn't want to find out, so her boat better work.

Finding the piece of wood and setting it down, Beverly pointed her wand at, and with a tap she said, "Lignum Navicula!" Fortunately the piece of wood expanded like a muggle umbrella, forming a boat big enough for the Slytherin.

She wasn't done there, she glanced around for a stick or branch she could use as a paddle. There was no way she was using her hands to row. Besides her bones creaking with every move she did, Beverly was NOT sticking her hands into that filthy, smelly swamp water.

Finding a tree branch that looked strong enough to row, Beverly hopped into the boat and set off toward the beach. Please don't sink, little boat.

Ella had managed to lug the now quite smelly stick into the boat and was looking at it thoughtfully, nose wrinkled. Pungent swamp was pungent, ugh. Too bad sense of smell didn't go when you were old because she could have benefited from that right about now. JUST saying. At least she had a proper plan now. She just needed to get it done and then she could relax. Yeah.

Making a paddle shouldn't be too hard. Ella envisioned what she wanted it to look like and then went over the incantation several more times in her head so she'd definitely get it right. She probably didn't have too much time left, yeah? Slow moving Head Girl was slow.

"Ta-lea!" Ella drew the spoon-like shape and said the incantation clearly, concentrating as she did. She nearly wept at the sight of a paddle where the stick had been. This was definitely good news. Front page news, in fact. She was excited.

Dipping her paddle into the water, the eighteen year old mustered up what was left of her energy and started her way across the water. She was still moving slowly but the shape of the paddle helped her cross more ground with each stroke and the Ella was pretty used to the pain at this point so it was only a matter of time before she was done.

...And then there was ground. THERE WAS GROUND! Ella felt the paddle hit and her eyes widened because this was definitely a good sign. It meant that she didn't have to worry about sinking any longer AND that she was nearly done. She waited until she felt the bottom of the boat slide up onto the shore before she very clumsily got out. Her legs gave way because of how tired they were and she hit the ground rather lamely, feeling exhausted. The triumphant feeling was stronger though. And so she forced herself to her feet and stood, smoothing her pants and trying to somehow look presentable for when she saw Bellaire. Did she see? Ella had done it.

A small grin spread across the boy's face as he saw the chunk of wood transform into a boat that seemed big enough to fit his long limbs. He couldn't help but walk around the boat and inspect his work, momentarily forgetting where he was and what it was he was meant to be doing. It was as if he had gotten himself a shiny new broom and was spending more time marvelling at it than testing it out. ... This was something that was bound to happen.

Coming back to his sense with a shake of his head, Alec glanced around at the area instead. If he had a boat, that meant that he needed something to paddle with it, yeah? There was also that spell that would have driven the boat forwards but he was pretty sure that wasn't a transfiguration spell so... he was going with something else. Something... that had come up in another one of their Transfiguration lesson. And one he was sure he had looked over when he was studying for his NEWTs the other day.

Frowning a little, the Head Boy looked down at the ground for something that might jog his memory about the spell he needed. A rock? ... No... no that wasn't it. A branch? A stick? ... He paused. A stick. Bending down slowly, Alec picked it up and turned it over. A stick didn't seem like a bad object to use, especially since it was made out of wood too. Something about a lake came back to him. A lesson by the lake, maybe? Where they had those boats and something about ribb--

... OH! Of course!

"Ta-lea!" he cried, drawing a horizontal line in the air and ending it with a loop. He had to change his grip on the stick as it started growing in length and width until it was, without a doubt, paddle-shaped. Proud of his work, Alec headed over towards the edge of the boat and glanced down at the inside once more. This wasn't the same mesmerising look from before. A vague and distant memory of practising this charm near the lake with Botros came back to him; one where he had stepped onto a boat he, himself, had transfigured and... yeah.

Just like that time, Alec winced as he stretched out his right leg and placed it firmly inside the boat. The boat gave a small wobble at the added weight, something that made Alec hesitate. It would be able to take the rest of his weight, right? ... Right. Yeah. Of course. As long as he moved slowly. He slowly shifted his weight onto the right leg and, trying not to wobble, moved his left leg up and over so that it was in the boat as well. There. He was standing. In his boat.

Deep breaths...

Alec sat down somewhere close to the front of the boat, the paddle clutched tightly in his hand. He dug the paddle into the shore of the bank beneath the water and pushed as hard as he could. The boat inched forward and, before he knew it, he was off! Into open water he went, paddling at his own, slow pace. His muscles ached, the more and more he paddled but, once again, he tried his hardest to ignore it. It was a lot easier to do that when... look! Was that the shoreline?

After what seemed like forever, the boat nudged gently against the shore of the beach. A grin spread across the Hufflepuff's face as he dropped the paddle in the boat, clambered out of the boat and collapsed on the beach. Yeah... pancakes sounded like a really great idea right about now. And sleep.

Not even a few feet away from the shore on the side of the ravine Beverly's arms were already groaning in protest. Was this how people in the wild did it? Did people even live in the jungle? Well, she didn't enjoy it ONE BIT. Maybe if she were younger, then maybe... Maybe.

It was a good thing she had a make-shift paddle to push her boat forward. She doubted she would have gotten any further paddling with her bare hands. The third year struggled through it. At some point she wanted to shoot sparks because she was in that much pain, but no. A Wayne doesn't quit when they are so close to the finish line. Or ever, as a matter of fact.

Mentally pushing herself, Beverly reached a sudden stop, almost toppling over her boat. LAND. It was precious, precious LAND. Scurrying out of her boat and flopping onto the sand, Beverly was too relieved to mind the muscle aches so much. It hurt, but relief won for a few seconds.

Merlin. She really did DO IT. SUCCESS. Gingerly standing up Beverly made a list of what she needed after this final. A hug. Food. And a really LONG nap.

After walking a few feet, Lux was still feeling shaky and sad because she was unable to continue and Bay wasn't there to help her. But she also was starting to feel a little more clear headed. Stopping, she wondered if she should send out sparks. Maybe Bay would come and help her then? Or if not him, someone else....though she really did hope it would be him.

Using the spell that she had overheard Sander teach Bev, she sent out sparks. Into her air. Hopefully they would be seen.

With the vine now a rope, Lex tied it around her waist and secured it with a wrap around her thigh just to be sure that even if her hands failed her, she wouldn't be in any danger of falling in or anything. Merlin knows how deep that thing was and she didn't care to be the one to figure it out. No thanks. There was an end of the class that needed getting to...alive.

Alexa took one last look behind her, drew a deep breath then lunged off the edge of the ravine feeling the air whip at her face as she soared across the large gap.

The feeling was actually quite liberating and for a moment, she forgot she was gliding across an empty space with the possibility of falling. Somehow that part didn't matter...until her arms started burning and she realized she'd missed her stop causing her to drift right back across the ravine. "Wait what? No no no no. Staaaahp, no." Her feeble legs kicked beneath her as she tried to rectify this. Somehow she got them back on the first ledge, clinging to the rope for dear life. One more time then.

Lex pushed off once again. This time, keeping her eyes on the otherside. Visualizing the touchdown that came in three...two...one...SAFE!! Safe and away from that swinging death trap that she'd love to give another try once her bones were functional again.

Now where was that swamp? By the looks of it, she would actually survive this thing.

Sophie landed safely on the opposite of the ravine and came upon the swamp the professor had mentioned. Eww. It smelled terrible, which even further convinced Sophie that this wasn't the time to fail. If she did, that'd mean she would fall IN to the nasty, smelly swamp with Merlin only knew what inside.

She made a face but then decided to get a move on. She didn't want to fall in on account of her just standing there doing nothing, after all. Before the lesson, she had used a transfiguration spell to turn her boat into a pencil, that way she could carry it around the course without it weighting her down. She quickly opened her bag and removed the pencil. With a flick of her wand toward the pencil, she transfigured it back into a boat.

The boat was somewhat heavy, but Sophie pulled it toward the edge of the swamp then guided it in. Wait--she needed oars. Looking around, Sophie grabbed two thick sticks then stepped into her boat.

Running away from an acromantula was a crazy, terrible task when running was no longer possible. As soon as the assignment was given, Mo did a double take and a deep internal groan that would NOT be welcomed out loud. But the groaning was necessary because Mo just ACHED today, and there was the professor asking them to run.

He tried running. He really did try, but mostly it was hop-hobbling, ending when he spotted the Acromantula and made the decision that he was gonna have to distract it instead of simply running away. Distract... with a Transfiguration spell.

Um. UM UM UM. "Ducklifors!" Mo pointed his wand at the spider and shouted the FIRST spell that came to mind. And... turned the spider into a very cranky duck, wobbling after him on eight webbed feet. Okay, that hadn't gone as he'd intended. Mo screamed in frustration and redoubled his efforts to make it to the ravine on time. He was SO slow.

Now sitting in her boat, Sophie was left holding her wand and the two thick sticks she'd picked up. Aiming her wand at the first stick, she again casted the transfiguration spell and changed the stick into an oar. She turned her wand on the other stick and did the same. Now she had two oars and could paddle her boat across the swamp.

From the moment the oars touched the water, Sophie was sure her old, wrinkled arms couldn't hold up to this challenge. Her mind was telling the oars to move, but her body was protesting. She began focusing mostly on her intent and willing her body to move. Slowly, she started to feel the oars moving in the water, and then her boat started moving forward, too.

She was doing this! She looked forward to the other side and focused on how much further she needed to go to get to the other side.

He could see the ravine ahead, and some of the urgency had drained out of the situation now that he was being chased by a partially transfigured duck, rather than by a giant spider, but Mo was feeling exhausted. Already. His legs were wobbling rather violently, and he had to stop twice to catch his breath.

Angry quacking from right behind him had Mo moving again, until he could finally slide to a halt right at the edge of the promised ravine. And holy guacamole... this was some impressive Transfiguration work the professor had done. The room was expanded endlessly, it seemed, and this fall looked like it could kill him. The running would kill him first, but the fall COULD kill him too.

"Very impressive spellwork, Professor." Y'know... in case she was wondering if he noticed.