Henry returned Alice's smile. "Oh sure, that'd be great!" He wouldn't mind walking in as a group, figuring he was in good company with her and just being happy to head into the Forbidden Forest. Leaning over a bit to see her at the other end of their little walking group, he gave Nat a smile too as she said hello. "Hey, Nat.. thanks for the welcome," he added with a chuckle.

He was still pretty excited when he turned back to Alice though. Caves were super cool. There were some not too far from his house that he had explored, even if they weren't really fire seed caves. "Can you believe we get to see an actual centaur up close?" he asked her in an excited whisper, emulating her same volume, though he wasn't completely certain why. "Maybe he'll help teach the class too." That would also be pretty amazing, but for now he just kept his focus on the centaur as they followed him into the forest. And it was starting to get even darker.

Henry's eyes searched for Professor Paul when he heard him speak again. Oh yeah, he could totally move seeds from one cave to the next. And they were even learning a new spell? Awesome! The fifteen year old pulled on his gloves glancing up at the teacher again. Disastrous? Hmm, yeah, he didn't want to burn anyone... good idea. And he started practicing as they walked. "Chaw-den-sis," he repeated slowly and emphatically. "Chaudensis!" And then a few quick wrist rotations.

Being surrounded by so many people did eventually start to have a soothing affect on her nerves. The "fight or flight" feeling slowly went away and she found herself breathing more smoothly. Still, a squirrel darting across the path behind them made her reach for her wand before realizing what it was. Another time something snapped in the bushes nearby and she couldn't find out what it was - but at least she didn't draw her wand.

Then at last they arrived at their destination, two creepy caves which Paul believed contained fire seeds. Kitty raised her gloved hand nervously. "Professor, I was wondering how far back these caves went. Are they small caves or do they go back a long way?" Because if they went back a long way then that increased the chances of something sinister luring out of sight.

Then she heard about the chances of getting burned and it wa sback to code red. She had to get the incantation right, no matter what."CHAW-DEN-SIS. Chaw-den-sis. Chaudensis! Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis." She repeated the incantation so many times and flicked her wrist so many times in rapid succession that soon the word got stuck in her head.

Okay, so....for the briefest of moments, Olivia Phillips was panicking. Hardcore panicking. Like, cold sweats and trembling. Answer her this... If they were meant to be practicing this spell...in the darkest parts of the Forbidden Forest...how were they meant to keep this area lit? If they couldn't maintain the Lumos spell...WHILE ALSO CASTING THIS NEW ONE... She absolutely could not be in the dark.

Yes, Olivia was still a Gryffindor and brave, but she was in no way trying to give herself a heartattack.

Withdrawing her own wand, it took less than a second before it blazed to life in her hand. Possibly a fluke on the nonverbal scale, as Liv was unsure if she'd said the incantation without realizing, but she quickly maneuvered it around the clearing; illuminating their group. While this new bit of magic was a Charm and possibly wouldn't have caused her too much grief, Olivia decided to be a good citizen and keep her wandlight up. So that none of them would be in the dark.

...And honestly, with being so relieved that she could properly see everything in her vicinity, Liv didn't mind helping this struggling smol child. Professor Myers would've expected her to do this (or any older student, to be honest). "Hey." Her voice was a bit hushed as she neared where young Carlton was standing nearby. "You're doing really wonderful... but just keep in mind what this spell is intended to do. You're only helping to heat up the bucket. Nothing more." Yes, it was just practice for now, but maybe this could also count as her own practice; given that keeping a light source going was very important and crucial, too. "How about try the wand movement." That was always the most difficult bit for her.

Rooney was a little caught up with keeping an eye on the pack of students and keeping Olivia close that he hadn't listened to most of the answers provided by his peers. He, of course, heard Liv give hers and fought off a grin. His mind flew to surprising her with exactly her idea and would have to visit Professor Myers later that day or week to discuss it in more detail. And to get him on board to keep Olivia from pursuing the creation of her spicy chocolate. Rooney had over half a year until their first anniversary and he had yet to think of the perfect gift. So if he could somehow be working towards THIS...one of her greatest ideas ever...then he would for sure be in the running for a best boyfriend award.

As they walked, he kept the Gryffindor close, swinging their buckets by his side and their hands ever so slightly to remind her that he was here. Because, of course, he knew that her mind would be in overdrive..which was completely understandable, given everything. He had wanted to take her aside and just cuddle, but obviously everything was working against him being able to do that. So hand holding would have to suffice. "That was a good idea, love." He whispered, giving her a supportive smile and following the herd of students behind Professor Myers and Thereos. It was a good thing that they were accompanied by the centaur, because Professor Myers was sure to get them lost when he got distracted after all of that talking he did.

Boy, and people thought that Rooney needed to work on shutting up sometimes.

Their walking days were over and Rooney put down the pair of buckets he was holding as he listened to Professor Myers explain what they were to do right now. Practice. Rooney was good at that and he was good at Charms, or so he had thought he was...until his OWL grades came in. Exceeds Expectations, his backside. ROONEY BRONWYN WAS OUTSTANDING AT CHARMS. OUTSTANDING AT ALMOST EVERYTHING. Except the THREE subjects he had utterly messed up and only exceeding expectations. Heartbreak at it's finest was a Rooney who hadn't gotten an outstanding clean sweep as he had been hoping for since he was ELEVEN.

Letting go of Liv's hand, Rooney smiled at her. "I'm not going anyway, alright? Just..practicing." But she already knew that. She'd heard their class instructions. He just had a habit of telling her what he was doing all of the time now. It was okay though, because she stepped into what she was best at..helping people, and had busied herself with the first year that Rooney had had trying to wash the clothes in the laundry room. Hah! Roo kept close to them, and his eyes on the kid (HEY CARLTON) with his girlfriend. Just being protective, honestly. "Break it down into syllables, first. Work through each one and then blend it together." It sounded strange, but when you got to working on it, it honestly made sense.

Or maybe that was just to him.

Leaving them to it, Rooney slipped on his gloves and gave his fingers a few wiggles to check that the fit was still as good as it had been last time he wore them. All perfect! He started off working on moving only his wrist...which was honestly a lot harder than anyone would think. His elbow did not enjoy staying still when his wrist was doing it's thing... but Roo eventually got it down and moved on to enunciating the incantation perfectly. "Chaw? CHAW. CHAW." Why did that make him want to chomp at something -- hey was Liv okay with him chomping on her? Heheh! "Chaw-den-sis. Chaw.. Chaw...den...sis..." Couldn't these things have easy incantations? Things that were easier to say would obviously be easier to do properly as a whole.

That would be his first order as King. Or whatever he got up to.

Brent could only grin in return. Skylar might be feisty, but her threat definitely didn't scare him. He'd be a big wimp if he got that scared by a girl his age. "Sounds like a party," he said, walking along. "I bet this forest if full of 'em, and from what I hear, you guys got invaded by them a few years back." He had no idea if Skylar had even been here for that or not. Grinning again, he added, "You scared yet?"

-----

Duuuuude. This forest was getting dark. No way was he going to comment about that, but he was noticing. He was noticing big time. He looked down at the light from his wand and tried to focus on that as they ventured further [s]to their deaths[/i] into the forest.

Apparently the professor liked his response, which earned a grin from Brent. "Yes, sir!" he said, when the professor asked if his name was Brent. "I agree! Roasting marshmallows sounds like an awesome idea!" It kind of took his mind off the fact that they were marching straight into danger all in the name of some fire seeds. Speaking of which, they had arrived! As he listened to the professor, Brent pulled out his gloves and slipped them on. He then turned his attention to the professor and followed along as the directions were being given. Mmkay. He had this!

First...the incantation. "CHAW-DEN-SIS!" he exclaimed, getting a feel for the word. "CHAW-DEN-SIS!"

Junia slipped her gloves on, eyeing the caves curiously all the while. She wanted to go IN and patience certainly wasn't her strong suit, but she could try for Professor Myers...also in the name of not burning herself or harming the fire seeds (less concerned about her classmates, obviously). FIRE SEEDS. She got to work with fire seeds. That was seriously cool.

The wand movement was easy enough and so Junia decided to practice that first. She rotated her wrist one way and then the other, practicing keeping the rest of her arm still. This was done several times so that it felt natural to her. That was the way to go with wand movements, you know.

Next came the incantation bit. Chaw-den-sis. Chaudensis. Hm. "Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis." The more she said it, the sillier it sounded and Junia couldn't help but smile a bit to herself. Did no one else find it amusing? "Chaudensis." There, she had it. She did.

Leon smiled kindly down at the younger prefect, he knew what it was like to be scared, and he hated that feeling. The nerves, the feeling of cold panic in your stomach. Limbs weak and shaking.. The 7th year shook his head slightly as he came out of his thoughts. "I can understand being scared of this forest, it's perfectly understandable. The dark makes me a little jumpy as well. " The seventh year confessed to her.

She had confessed something to him and so he let her see him in a slight state of vulnerability. Even ground here, yeah?

"Okay, but I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere. " Leon said with a smile down at her as they walked..

Finally they seemed to have gotten to where they were going and Leon stationed himself clearly in view of Kitty as he turned his eyes to the Professor.. wincing a little as he remembered he forgot to call him Professor in his question..

Oops..

Sorry Professor Meyers He mentally apologized as he listened carefully to what they were going to do.. Heat up the buckets with a spell? Can do!

The grey eyed boy pulled on his gloves and slowly moved his wrist the way the Professor had and started to repeat the incantation slowly.. "Chaudensis.. Chaudensis.. Chaw-den-sis.." The seventeen year old slowly got out as he moved his wrist ever so slightly..

Her eyes turned to Henry and she smiled. "Always welcoming students into class." She was of course joking, she wasn't one to welcome people into classes. She wanted to stay back and not really be seen much. "Are you having fun going into the forest?" She figured he probably was. Most of the students seemed very excited to be here.

Her wand out she started working on the wand movement. She didn't want to do it wrong of course. No burning or blowing anything up. She continued to work her wand for a few more minutes. While she did she thought about the words.

Chawdensis... Chawdensis


"Such an odd word." She wasn't really talking to anyone, just herself.

It'd been a bit of walking and finally a cave but nothing of ACTUAL interest. For as much as he could, Blaise listened to the Professor explain the seeds and replanting. Something about no leaves and a second cave just over there etc etc etc. Hopefully the quill had taken it all down.

The Gryffindor's curiosity lasted only long enough to hear the incantation and understand just where the lesson was going. Magic. Casting. Eh. He'd just...stand here and wait for the others to be done their practicing or whatever. Blaise shoved his hands in his pocket, ready to take it easy.

....

........Until he got called out by the Professor.

With noticeably reluctance, the Fifth Year dragged his feet over to where the man stood. As he walked, he mentally prepared himself for what might have turned into a speech on giving magic a try and unlocking his true potential. You'd think after 5 years they'd learn that sort of thing didn't work on him.

"Hi, Kitty!" She replied cheerfully--well, as cheerfully as one could in a a creepy forest. To be honest, though, Charlie wasn't really that scared of the Forbidden Forest. Well. At least she wasn't now. Sure, it was rather dark, and sure, there could be (and most likely were) all sorts of creatures lurking in the shadows. But, she was with the group, and specifically Kitty! So, she felt safe and secure to a degree that was good enough.

And soon enough, they'd made it to the caves! Finally. Charlie's feet were a bit sore. The professor began talking again, and the girl listened intently. So, her initial guess was right. They would be collecting plants! Well, to a certain degree. They would not be taking the entire fire seed bushes, after all; it would only be the seeds. And they'd be planting bushes, too! Wow...how exciting. Her mum did a lot of planning at home, as they had a garden out back, and Charlie liked to help. She bounced on her heels out of excitement for their upcoming task.

But instructions came first, of course. Safety was important, and that largely came from knowing what to do and doing everything correctly. First were the gloves. Charlie could already check that one off the list, as she had put on her gloves back by the hut. Next, they'd be practicing the charm that they'd use to be heating the fire seed collection buckets, as the seeds would extinguish otherwise. This didn't worry her too much--at least until he brought up the risk factors. Doing it even a little bit wrong would be disastrous? Oh boy. She wasn't positive that she could handle this; Her palms got a little sweaty. It would be a good idea for her to watch others practice first.

Chaudensis...chaudensis...chaudensis, she repeated to herself as she watched others practice the charm, paying careful attention to spell pronunciation and hand movement. Okay, she thought. It's nothing more than just a slight wrist rotation. I can do this. Charlie practiced pronouncing the spell first. "Chaw-den-sis...chaw-den-sis...chaw-den-sis." She repeated this until she felt like she had the spell verbally down pat. Then, she'd move on to the wrist movement--just slightly, as said and seen. Keeping an eye on her right wrist (as the right hand was her wand hand), she practiced the movement a good couple times, also until she felt comfortable with it. Her wrist actually ached a little bit; However, it would be worth it when she didn't set anyone on fire. And finally, she'd put the two together. Shaking her wrist out, Charlie did so, saying the spell in time with her wrist motions. "Chaw-den-sis...chaw-den-sis...chaw-den-sis." She only stopped when it felt like her hand would fall off.

It was all in the name of security, right?

Katy lingered over her bucket before finally setting it down. She appreciated being appreciated by the professor, but since she was chock full of questions, she was afraid he'd wander off before she was done picking his brain. And she had lots of picking to do.

Like, would the spell work on one of her pocket phials, or else she wasn't going to be able to hold on to any seeds all the way back to the castle? And could she levitate a few into Blaise's trousers without getting caught?

But mostly... "Thank you, Professor... I want to be an inventor, but I'd like to actually do some good in the world." So no, she wasn't going to go work for the Ministry. She had a real future planned. "Can I ask you something, sir? Or a couple somethings? Do you know why the bushes died off in the other cave? 'Cause, like, if it's the soil or too much water or something, if it hasn't been fixed, these new bushes will never sprout, right? And I was also wondering how you store these seeds long term. If you were inclined to do it." Not that she had any plans.

The centaur walked along the side of the class. The students were a funny sort. Not the laughter funny, the odd kind of funny. Humans in general were odd to Thereos. He kept his senses peeled for any movement, sounds, or shadows that seemed to be ominous.

So far, there was nothing.



Students kept talking to him, which was fine, but Thereos turned to look at this small one. “It isn’t supposed to be nice; it’s supposed to be a way for centaurs to protect themselves, to honor our culture...I would hope there is nothing ‘nice’ about it.” He commented shortly.

He supposed the human had been trying to compliment him, but it was no compliment to a centaur.



He nodded at those who told him hello. The ‘sir’ was polite for humans, wasn’t it? He supposed he wouldn’t comment on it. The walk through the forest was proving quite dull, but a good dull. He would hate to have anything come at them right now, not with all the innocent, small humans.

He gave them all bows.



...Great Andromeda in the sky. Why was a human child screaming? The centaur immediately thought something was wrong until he saw the child was only fearful of the professor’s face.

He didn’t understand humans as well as he would have liked, but he knew he was displeased with the screaming. “You will attract unwanted attention that way, child,” he said in a serious tone. “Your distress will be taken as vulnerability.”

The centaur children all knew this.

"Why can't it be both though?" Charlotte asked curiously. "If its nice, then isn't that a way of showing how important the culture stuff is too? If someon is willing to make a nice-looking bow, and put some time into it and craft it and everything, isn't that showing respect? Like.... when its pretty as WELL as superduperawesomely buttkicking?" LIKE HER. She was BOTH THOSE THINGS. ANYWAYS. "That's just what I think. Anyway, I like your bow."

What was this class for again? She was thoroughly distracted. AAAaaand an idea was brewing.

Olivia smiled as Brent came over. She lowered her wand ever so slightly away from her face for a brief moment to hide her blush. Ahem. Cute boys approaching her made her blush. Yeah, she could definitely see what he was saying. Her eyes glanced to the other girl near him (Skylar) and she looked back at Brent, smirking momentarily. He had quite the group of girls around him. "I'm sure. Though hopefully it won't be too lame soon. We're almost there. Truth be told, I'm a little nervous about going into the cave. At least, we'll all be close together." Or he'll be close. She paused about to add on something else but the Professor spoke up again. They would practicing a charm, now would they? Then they could enter the cave, right?

CHAW-DEN-SIS.

That was how to pronounce it. She repeated it a few times in her head. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. Chaw-den-sis. "Chaw-den-sis," she said with a small smile. Yes, that sounded right. Her eyes widened at a particular thought and a smirk played on her lips. Hehehe. She leaned over to Brent (on her tip-toes as he was taller than she) and whispered, "I bet you can't say Chawdensis three times fast."

Now how did the motion go?

Very light wrist movement. Don't move arm. Right. She tried to move her wrist ever so slightly as if she was trying to turn a key in a door very, very slowly. Was that the right motion? Hmmm... She wasn't so sure. Fine tune motion. She saw out of the corner of her eye little Carlton working on the spell. Olivia waved him over to their group. It'd be better for him to be in a bigger group. Plus maybe he'd feel safer around Brent as they were in the same house? Perhaps they would. She took a risk. "Carlton. How's the charm coming along? Do you need any help?"

James took out the gloves from the bucket and wore them. He didn't want to burn his precious gaming hands for anything. Also, they were going into the caves and he found that really cool. He wondered if there were creatures living in the cave? Bet there would be. So right now they would need to heat the bucket with a charm. Chawdensis? Sounds easy enough. He muttered a few times as he began with his wrist movements. After he was confident, saying it. He took out his wand and try it non-verbally.It would be nice to start learning it from now. Of course not pointing it to anyone, just practicing the spell motion on his own.

At least Mr Cool Centaur knew how to notify people of his presence.

"I'm sorry!" he apologised, bowing a few times to the centaur. However, his curiousity urged him to ask for more. "By unwanted attention... Did you mean like... Werewolves?" If it is, then they're doomed!

Now, he can truely concentrate on practicing the spell... Not.

Carlton looked at his wand in disbelief. Was he really doing wonderful? Because he was just standing repeating a word over and over. But he was extremely grateful an older student (Olivia) had offered to help him.

"Wand movement. Ok, ok, ok..." He glanced at the other students around him and moved his wrist in the manner they were.

Now he just looked silly standing in silence and moving his wand around.

"Chaudensis!" He exclaimed with what he hoped was the right wand movement.

And nothing happened. Not even a little explosion. Just nothing.

He looked back up at her with puppy eyes. Lip wibble.

Carlton heard his name mentioned and saw Olivia. Did he need help? Yes. Always. "It just..." He glared at his wand. "It won't do the thing! It does nothing!!"

Stopid useless wand-thing.

Etta quietly listened to the professor's directions, her eyes still occasionally flicking towards the centaur. A CENTAUR. How unbelievably exiting! And apparently someone else had joined their little group and Olivia seemed to know him? She suddenly felt a little weird, wondering whether she should introduce herself or not. She did tend to feel a little awkward around people she didn't know.

.. Oh, wait. The professor was explaining the wand movement for a new spell. Ooh. Okay. That seemed easy enough, kind of. "Chaw-den-sis." Etta muttered to herself a few times, hoping she was pronouncing it properly enough. And then, she proceeded to practice the wand movement, carefully rotating her wrist a few times. That was enough practice, yes?

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

…...more metal clanging? What the hell was Tenacius doing? Paul had whipped around to tell him off when he noticed….

Derf.

Derfael Ashburry-Hawthorne. “SIR DERF. I assure you, if anything comes after us in the forest, you will be the slowest student if we have to run away,” he said, a slight smirk crossing his face. He was only teasing. “We won’t have to worry about any dangers approaching us in the forest because all your banging and clanging will scare away any threats!” and Paul Myers laughed heartily. Oh Meeeeerlin, these kids!

...............................pardon?

...............................what?

...............................HUH!?!?

This man had just called him plant food, RIGHT?! Because THAT was all Derf got out of that first statement. That there were plants..that were MOBILE...and would CHASE AFTER THEM ALL.

But then in the next moment was saying the complete opposite of these flesh eating mobile terrors...that his armour would scare them away.

YOU CAN'T HAVE YOUR CAKE AND EAT IT TOO, PROFESSOR! SO WHICH WAS IT?!

Although...why COULDN'T he have cake and eat it too? Wouldn't it be terrible wasteful to put a plate of cake in front of someone and then tell them they couldn't eat it? Where did this expression even come from? Maybe he should ask Jessa..she knew things...

Aaaaanyway...now about ten seconds away from his own secretions, Derf just STARED at the Herbology professor and ever so sloooooooowly lowered the lid on his helmet. No more direct eye contact. Nope.

And he certainly was NOT thinking about the mobile POSSESSED PLANT that had EATEN TWO HOGWARTS PROFESSORS. NOPE. NOT AT ALL.

Why had his mum told him that story? He really needed to stop asking questions...

......except when they came to THIS man because he was more shady than a graphorn's underbelly!

SPOILER!!: Professor Dark Lord and the First Instructions

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

He glanced at his watch and then cleared his throat. “OKAY EVERYONE!” he called out loudly to quiet them down. “We are HEADING INTO THE FOREST!’ he said. “Before we go you all must make sure you have your GLOVES for you WILL be needing them-and TWO, each of you needs to pick up one of those buckets!” he gestured at them. “THREE--I need all first years to stick CLOSE to either a prefect OR myself. NO ONE IS ALLOWED TO WANDER OFF. Or else...Thereos won’t be too happy to have to go find any LOST SOULS in there…” he said with a twinkle in his eye.

“Now...we are going to walk and talk! Pick up your buckets, let’s go let’s go!” he smiled and turned for the forest. “If you would like to light your wand, you may do so!” Paul certainly would be! He muttered LUMOS under his breath as he began to walk. His voice was positively BOOMING so he knew they would all be able to hear him.

“NONE OF YOU spoke about the plant we’re actually going to see today!” He chuckled a little. “We’re headed for some….FIRE SEED CAVES,” VOILA! “It’s a bit of a trek, so keep up!” And Paul ducked his head to avoid a low hanging branch as the class OFFICIALLY headed into the Forbidden Forest.

The crunch underneath all their little feets was actually quite relaxing to the white-haired professor. But he would have to BOOM over it shortly. “There are many uses of fire seeds...and there is much to SAY about fire seed bushes.” However, instead of asking a BORING question, Paul decided he would give them an INTERESTING one. “Fire seed bushes are sometimes used in potions...they are very EXPLOSIVE sometimes, too.” Ha. Hahaha. Did that make them nervous? Paul wasn’t too worried. “Taking what you all know about fire seed bushes--” which Paul expected to be more than he had just told them, but wouldn’t exactly BLAME them if they didn’t. “If you could create SOMETHING--ANYTHING--” Potion? Candy? SOMETHING ELSE? “What do you think you’d make? ANd what properties of the bush would contribute to what you’d make? CALL out your answers, discuss with each other, I don’t care, I’ll be listening!” Plus the murmur of the class might keep unwanted attention away.

Or attract it, depending.

Under usual circumstances the first year would have been SUPER excited for this little adventure because he KNEW what sorts of things lived in the forest...but he was VERY hesitant in going in with THIS man who was giving him conflicting information about his safety. WHAT had the school COME TO putting a man who would CONFUSE a POOR INNOCENT first year like himself as to whether or not he was about to be massacred by a demonic mobile plant?!

Dragon dung, apparently. That was what it had come to and he was SO going to write home and tell dad about this!

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

ORMAYBENOTBECAUSENOWITLOOKEDLIKETHEPROFESSOROFTERR ORWASFRIENDSWITHACENTAUR!?!

Derf's eyes widened and, in all honesty, he missed EVERYTHING else that Professor Myers was saying because there was a CENTAUR and he KNEW about this centaur from mom!

Walking in a bit of a daze, the small blonde approached the perfect being and did his BEST not to let his mouth hang open. HOW was it possible that SO EARLY on in his life at Hogwarts he had accomplished TWO of his life's ambitions already? Clearly...he needed to dream BIGGER!

But before he could properly introduce himself...they were moving...and Derf didn't really know WHERE they were going because he was too awestruck being in the presence of another Hogwarts LEGEND.

BUT HE WAS NOT STARING. Mum had told him that Thereos HATED it when people stared.

SPOILER!!: Professor Dark Lord and the Second Instructions

Quote:

Originally Posted by kayquilz

Deep breath. More directions. “Everyone LISTEN carefully to your instructions. I don’t want any burn injuries, please!” Because it was important they PAY ATTENTION or else they’d do it ALLLLL wrong. But Paul had a trick up his sleeve.

“First step! Wearing gloves! Everyone should NOW put on your gloves!” Paul even did so, but he gave his wand a wave and his words began appearing in fiery letters in midair. “Before we can put the seeds in the buckets..we need to HEAT the buckets or else they’ll extinguish. There is a very specific charm that will heat your bucket for you called the Chaudensis Charm!” he grinned. “It is pronounced CHAW-DEN-SIS...and the movement is a rotation with VERY light wrist movement, do NOT move your entire arm.” Very important.”

“Before we actually go IN and I give you steps. We are going to PRACTICE the charm, understand? Doing this charm even slightly wrong can be disastrous. I want you all to practice wand movement AND saying it. Not at the same time. It WILL burn you or others if you do it WRONG.” He wanted them VERY much to be aware of it. “I will be on hand if anything goes awry.” Like exploding.......buckets or something.

Now. To figure out what to do about BLAISE. "Bellaire, come here!" Paul called out.

Following along, flanking the centaur and doing his best NOT to stare - hooves were okay to stare at though, yeah? - it took a few people mentioning fire seeds before things actually started clicking in his head.

Fire seeds...YOU COULD USE THOSE TO HELP INCUBATE DRAGON EGGS!

...............which meant that the first year was now oh-so-innocently hatching a plan.........

He was only half listening when they were instructed put on their gloves (although he did manage to pay enough attention to actually do that himself) and was instead focusing on once again oh-so-casually sauntering up to his new best friend for life.

"Um...excuse me...Fereoes..." Derf whispered, suddenly feeling as though he were in the presence of huuuuuuuuuuuuuge celebrity and about to ask for an autograph. "My name is-s-s Derfael Mitchell Ashburry-Hawthorne...but friends-s-s call me Derf." Therefore he should TOO! "Mum told me loads-s-s about you and and...Iamreallyexcitedandhonoredtomeetyou!"

And then he did something incredibly...well...perhaps there was no words for it. In his eagerness and mystified state...the 11-year-old threw his arms around the waist of the centaur.

HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUG.

Charm practice could and would happen later.

Paul turned to Oliver. "Well..they don't just EXPLODE if you touch them or drop them. You really have to mess with them...or...you know, if you add them to explosives or fire, they make it all happen more quickly," so his previous statement had been DRAMATIC.

But he didn't want people to NOT take this seriously, so.

Ahem.



Paul saw Kimi standing around looking confused, so he gently approached the boy. "M'boy, do you need help?" he smiled. He gave his wrist a twist, circulating it. "That's the motion..." and then he cleared his throat. "CHAW-DEN-SIS is how you saw it..eh?' he nudged him. He was a badger so...Paul knew Kimi pretty well. "Got it?"

If he needed anything else Paul was always there to answer questions!



Paul turned to see Kitty practicing. "They are small caves. Not the ones that go far back," he smiled. "I would be too afraid to go into those in THIS forest." Never knew what might lurk in the shadows...



Oh good, he had gotten his name right. That was nice. And now he wanted roasted marshmallows.....



Paul just chuckled. Inventors did plenty good sometimes, but he supposed he wouldn't say anything. Plus she had questions for him, and professors loved questions all the time ever.

Not really, but Katy usually asked interesting ones, so he didn't mind.

"Oh, no, something...took them out," he shot a glance at Thereos. "I know there were caves in here...and I had Thereos take me out here. They apparently used to both had the bushes but...yeah." Paul was pretty ominous sounding with that answer, but...it really hadn't been the conditions of the caves that had wiped them out.



As soon as Blaise approached, Paul CLAPPED a hand on his shoulder. "You..." he smirked. "I know you won't do any magic I ask the class to do..." he said softly. So basically Blaise was...well...ahem. "You can still do the harvesting but you need to ask someone to do the charm for you. And we'll be using aquamenti later as well," he said. "And I'd at least like you to PRACTICE the wand movements, Blaise. Merlin." He let go. He wondered how Blaise would pass any of his OWLs....with not doing magic whatsoever.

Hmm.

Blaise was smart, at least?

But for now, moving on!



"Okay, wrap up practicing! We're moving into the caves shortly!" Paul called out. He would let the students continuing practicing if they pleased but...yeah. We're going to do the FIRST few steps a part of harvesting fire seeds!" He got his own wand ready for WRITING in the air and stuff. "EVERYONE NEEDS TO WEAR THEIR GLOVES."

"It is important to note that the fire seed bushes do not actually have LEAVES...but fire. The seeds are in the branches. We have to make sure we do NOT put them out while we handle them...these seeds won't survive that." Sadness. "So...before we PUT them in our buckets, we must cast that heating charm on our buckets. The one we JUUUUST practiced? Yes, we'll do that on the metal buckets first."

Pause. Any questions? Paul peered around. Had Derf just HUGGED Thereos?! He almost wanted to grab popcorn to see THAT reaction.

"AFTER you have placed the charm on your bucket, you can pluck seeds from the bushes. I only want you all to pluck up to THREE," he clarified. "NOW...there is no special way of plucking the seeds besides making sure you wear your gloves and doing it QUICKLY." The flames weren't like...crazy big, they weren't going to engulf anyone's clothes or anything. "However, I know sticking your hand into a fire even with wearing gloves might be scary! I want everyone to try." Perhaps taking the first years on this expedition had been a bad idea. Heh.

"SOOO everyone, we're going to go in this first cave right here--" and he gestured them inside the one with the glowing fire seed bushes. They looked remarkable in the darkness...and they lit up the cave beautifully. They didn't need to fear the dark in here, at least. There were dancing flames all about. "As you can see...MANY bushes to choose from!"

First, he demonstrated himself how to pluck a seed. He had his gloves on already, and he just reached for a branch, wrapped his fingers around the seed (which was VERY warm to the touch) and then gently placed it in his bucket. No harm!


And Paul then waved his wand in the air, and words emitted from his wand in fiery, flame-y letters:

And he'd move them on accordingly. When they were ready. He didn't want to give too many steps at once because...yeah...

"Thereos, if you could just stand over there at the mouth of the cave and make sure nothing comes along, please?" he asked, trying to sound as PATHETIC as possible in order to gain the centaur's sympathy about being a big, stupid human.



OOC: You've all got about 24 hours to get these steps done! Additional practicing is accepted; catching up is accepted. As many posts as you want/no post requirement. <3 Your posts have all been a joy to read.

They got to actually get the fire seeds from the bushes now? oh wow! That was so cool. Okay so Hattie would admit that she was a little worried. She was going to put her hand into flames, which was a little scary. But she knew that Professor Myers wouldn't make them do anything that was bad for them, and they had their gloves too. So Hattie knew that they would be safe. Still she carefully watched the professor as he plucked a seed from the bush. she wanted to make sure she did it right, so that she wouldn't get burnt. She couldn't have burnt fingers. Then she wouldn't be able to do her art work.

Now it was her turn! She carefully carried her bucket a little closer to one of the bushes and set it down on the floor. First she needed to heat up the bucket, so that the three fire seeds that she plucked wouldn't go out! That would be quite bad. She got her wand out, and performed the wand movement, being careful to make sure she only moved her wrist. she combined that with the incantation "Chaw-den-sis" and she had nice warm bucket.

Now to approach the bush. Biting her lip, and concentrating, Hattie stepped closer. it was now and or never!

So it legitimately sounded like they were going to get to roast some marshmallows, which was completely awesome! Brent missed Ilvermorny, but Hogwarts was certainly becoming cool in its own way! Brent practiced the and movement, too, which was a very light wrist movement WITHOUT moving his whole arm...just like the professor had said. "CHAW-DEN-SIS!" he said, separately from the wand movement.

Just when he thought he might have it all down pat, the professor spoke up again. Brent already had his gloves on, but he was definitely in awe over all the writing in the air. Pretty cool stuff there. He turned his attention toward Olivia, who'd momentarily lowered her wand for some reason. "You'll be okay," he reassured her. "If it makes you feel better, I know some pretty awesome defense spells. It's kind of my thing next to sports." Granted he had never actually been in battle with a real dangerous creature, so who knew what would happen if that time ever came?

Now it was time to actually heat his bucket. Brent turned his wand toward the bucket. "CHAW-DEN-SIS!" he exclaimed, just as he had before. Only this time, he did the wand movement, too. Back in his first year, he would have probably failed his first real go at this. Seeing as he was a fourth year, though, he wasn't surprised when it actually worked. "Alright," he told Olivia and Skylar, "let's go get some seeds!"

Zara alternated practicing the correct wand movement and saying the incantation aloud for a few more minutes until her attention was brought back to Professor Myers. Giving him all her attention, she nodded as she listened to all the things. They NEEDED to have their gloves on and she again glanced down at her hands, checking to make absolutely sure they were on securely and were not going anywhere any time soon!

Gloves, Check!

Reaching for her wand, in the corner of her eyesight she noticed Derf and his hug with Thereos. It made her giggle a little. Refocusing on her task, she stood in front of the bucket and pointed at the bucket. First, she quietly recited the incantation to herself as she rotated her wrist. She was a bit nervous about getting it right! Practising it a few more times, she finally felt ready and took a deep breath. Casting with a firm and confident voice, she rotated her wrist at the bucket. "CHAW-DEN-SIS"

Looking at her bucket, she examined it with her eyes for a moment before she took it with her to the cave. The moment she entered the cave, her eyes grew larger. All the bushes were glowing and she stared in awe for a moment before stepping forward toward one. It glowed brightly and she admire it for a bit before reaching forward with her gloved hands. "Hello, Mr or Mrs fire seed bush. I’m Zara and I hope it’s okay if I pluck some of your seeds." she voiced quietly to the bush. She didn’t want to offend the bush and even if the bush didn’t understand her, she felt better asking. With much care, she plucked one seed from the bush and placed the seed in her charmed bucket.

Turning back to the bush, she nodded to it. "I only need two more and that is all. Thank you for allow me to have them," she smiled as she reached for another seed with care. She could feel the warmth through her gloves as she set the second seed in the bucket. Reaching for the last seed, she bowed her head slightly to the bush. "Thank you again for allow me to pluck these seed. It is greatly appreciated." Her parents always taught her to be polite to all things and she felt it was right to gave the bush that respect as well. “You glow so pretty. All of you are pretty,” she added with a small giggle as she stepped away.

Harriet was nervous, but she knew that nerves got you no where in life, and so she was going to do this. She was going to stick her hand in that flaming bush, and she was going to get that seed! Sure she was going to have a glove on her hand, so she wouldn't get burnt. But that was just the logistics. But she could do this! She was a strong, independent, Hufflepuff. She totally got this. And anyway. They were witches and wizards. If she got burnt they could just use magic to make her hand better. So that was fine!

But she needed to stop letting her thoughts distract her, and get to it. She stepped closer, and carefully put her hand into the bush. She could feel the heat through her glove, but she wasn't getting burnt. That was good! But she figured she should carefully get the seeds out, before it started getting burnt, and making her worse.

She smiled, carefully wrapping her fingers around one of the seeds, and she gently pulled. It took a few seconds of pulling, but it came off. "Yaay" The third year beamed, and carefully stepped back towards her bucket, and placing the seed into it. Feeling more confident now, she headed towards the bush, and repeated the process twice more, until she had her three seeds. She stepped away from the bush, with her bucket, so that another student could have a go.

She had loved that actually! It had been so cool.

These plants had fire instead of leaves? That was the coolest thing Olly had ever heard. He wanted one of these plants in his room. Okay no maybe not. That sounded a bit dangerous. He was looking forward to actually seeing them though, which they were doing soon. It was time for him to actually perform the spell on his bucket. He felt pretty confident after practicing and turned his attention toward the bucket. Olly concentrated on the spell as he said it. "Chaudensis." And a slight rotation of the wrist like he had practiced. Olly reached out a gloved hand to feel the bucket. It felt warm to him and he took that as a sign that the charm had worked.

He turned toward the caves but stopped for a moment and looked back toward where Professor Myers was talking to Blaise. He wasn't eavesdropping, per say, he just happened to be standing close enough to overhear part of the conversation. Especially the last part. But it wouldn't have been hard to figure out anywhere. He knew Blaise never actually did magic. "Want me to charm your bucket?" He asked.