Okay. OKAY. Derf was aaaactually paying attention this time. Sort of. But his mind was waaaaaandering because of the picture of Valerie Gray on his desk and NOW there were ideas of FOOD and COOKING and...well...there was something else entirely on his mind when he had his hand raised.

Why did he think it was important to use magic in cooking? He honestly DIDN'T think it was important nor better PER SAY - mum was often saying how she preferred to do certain things by hand because it was more satisfactory and such - but he supposed precision would come into play. And he liked the idea of using cooling charms on cookies and such straight out of the oven because that wait was AGONY sometimes.

"Profes-ss-sor?" he began, flailing his arm a bit to release some of his nervous energy as his cheeks gained a biiiiiiiit more of a pinkish hue. "They s-s-say the quickest way to a man's-s heart is through his s-s-stomach...is-s-s it the s-same for the ladie-s-s?"

Katy's mother had extremely specific views about using magic when cooking, to the point that she'd debated forcing Katy and Bast to eat only food sent from home. The rest of the family thought she was crazy. Brilliant, but totally mad. Must be a Bott thing.

But Katy hadn't seen much in the way of magical cooking in her own home. They had a food processor for goodness sake. "I suppose convenience, Professor, and being able to cook beyond your skill level. Like maybe you can't flip a pancake but you know a spell for pancake flipping. Now you're the breakfast king!"

Text Cut: Professor Marchand

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMadamMalfoy

Gaston listened to Miss Potts's answer, patiently waiting for her to provide observations to support her point. He was a little surprised when none came, but maybe the girl just forgot. Or was having trouble wording her ideas. "Very good, Miss Potts," he replied with an encouraging smile. "Any particular reason why you think so?" he gently prompted.



Once the students had finished giving their answers, Gaston turned to address the group again. "Excellent answers, all of you!" he said. "You came up with some clever and creative reasoning to back up your points, and most of you correctly identified the magicked apple. So how exactly does one tell food made by magic from food made by hand?" He flicked his wand at the blackboard, and the following words appeared:



Once he'd finished writing the differences the class had mentioned on the board, he gave his students a few moments to take notes before continuing, "Now, in a few minutes, we'll be using a few simple charms to create a Halloween treat, but first, why do you think it's important to learn to cook with magic? What spells do you think would be most useful in the kitchen?" He couldn't wait to hear the class's thoughts on this. Maybe some of them would be able to guess the charms he'd be teaching!

OOC: You have ABOUT 24 HOURS (10:30 PM EDT May 23) to answer this question, then we'll move on to the main activity!

Why? Oh. "It's perfect," she began, and was just going to leave it there, but something about the look in his eyes made her continue, "...ly smooth. It looks just like that one," she nodded at the apple he'd made moments ago. And that was all the answers he was going to get out of her. She was too distracted today to be anything but short and sweet.

Lucy raised her hand. She was going to ignore the first question, honestly, because she was sure her personal reasons for thinking it was important were irrelevant to her peers anyway. But as for useful spells, "Severing charms....levitating, heating, Incendio..."

Miss Botros’s hand was the first one Gaston saw, and he called on the Slytherin (or should he say Hufflepuff?). He nodded approvingly as he listened to her explanation about focusing on multiple things at once. “Yes, very good, Miss Botros,” he said. “Magic can be a boon to those with too many responsibilities and too little time on their hands.”



Miss Sparkes’s beam did not go unnoticed and earned a beam in return from the professor. Her answer made him smile. It wasn’t an answer he’d expected, but the girl wasn’t wrong. “I suppose to some magicked food would taste better, Good point, Miss Sparkes!” he said. And a good question she posed too! “As a matter of fact, it can. All food spoils eventually, but the rate at which magicked food spoils depends on the type of food – a piece of fruit will spoil before something like a cake or cookie – and the spell used on it. For example, food produced with a duplication charm will spoil more quickly because a magically created copy degrades faster than its original counterpart. Summoned food spoils at its normal rate, as the magic used only changes the food’s location instead of its composition. Food made by magically combining ingredients generally spoils slower because the spells act as a sort of protective barrier. There’s also a preservation charm than can be placed on foods to give them a longer shelf life.”



Gaston nodded as Mr. Salander echoed some of what Miss Botros had said about multitasking and expanded upon it with a reason of his own. The example about separating egg whites earned him a smile. He had a point there! “Excellent, Mr. Salander,” he said. “And you’re right; that can be a particularly difficult task without magic.”



Mr. Severin had been quiet so far but had an answer for this question. Gaston called on him as soon as he saw his hand go up and nodded approvingly as he repeated what some of his classmates had said. “No, waiting an hour for a pastry is never fun, is it?” he said with a slight smile. Then he listened to the boy’s examples of magic’s uses in cooking. “Good examples, Mr. Severin!” It was safe to say the class wouldn’t be learning Incendio from a professor who was terrified of fire, but he was on the right track with his guess.



Gaston saw Miss Sorin-Ward’s hand go up next and called on her. At first, he thought she was just going to repeat what had already been said, but he was pleasantly surprised when she offered a new reason. “An excellent point, Miss Sorin-Ward!” he said, smiling approvingly. “Cleanup does go much faster with magic.” Oh, and now she was giving examples of cooking spells. “Yes, there are charms used for just that.” But more on that later!



Miss Dalgaard-Volkova also decided to speak up after being quiet so far. Good! Gaston was beginning to worry that she might’ve been confused or overwhelmed by all the new information. He smiled. “It sounds like you agree with the others about multitasking. Very good, Miss Dalgaard-Volkova!” he said. “And as a matter of fact, there is a spell to make spoons stir themselves.” Just maybe not one of the spells he’d planned to teach today…



And another student who’d mentioned using magic to save time. That was becoming a very popular answer! Gaston nodded in reply to Miss Morrison, and her examples of spells earned her an approving smile. “Yes, magic can prepare large meals in less than half the time it would take otherwise. Excellent, Miss Morrison,” he said. “And very good guesses! All of those spells would come in handy in the kitchen.”



Gaston had been wondering when someone was going to mention the precision of using magic, and he beamed at Miss Cambridge as she offered her answer. “Excellent, Miss Cambridge! I don’t think I could’ve said it better myself,” he said. “The added precision is one of the most common reasons some wizards prefer to cook with magic.” The comment about house elves’ food got a little smile from him. He’d only ever seen the elves cook by hand, but the girl was certainly right about one thing: their food was amazing!



Miss Burton’s hand was the next one the professor saw, and he called on her next. It seemed she agreed with what others had said about time-saving, but she’d offered some good points about the type of spells used. He nodded his approval. “Excellent example, Miss Burton,” he said. “The summoning charm is just one of our day-to-day spells that translates well to the kitchen.”



Miss Kramer was the next to speak up. Her answer echoed much of what the others had already said but was no less correct. “Very good, Miss Kramer,” the professor said with an approving nod. “And yes, magic would help with stirring.”



So it seemed Mr. Bronwyn had an answer to offer for this question, and a nicely worded answer it was! Gaston nodded. “A very eloquent answer, Mr. Bronwyn!” he said. “And correct, magic is especially useful when preparing multiple courses.” The comment about his aunt making Christmas dinner in no time got a slight smile form the professor. It sounded like the woman was a whiz at spells!



Gaston beamed at Miss Holden as she gave her answer. “Yes! Excellent example, Miss Holden,” he said. “Temperature control is a very important use of magic in the kitchen.” He may or may not have given the girl a knowing smile. There would be more on that soon.



Miss Diggory’s beam was not unnoticed by the professor, and he smiled a little. So it seemed she agreed with what had been previously said about cleanup. And what she said about melting candy came very close to guessing one of the spells they’d be using today. “Very good, Miss Diggory,” he said. “Correct on all counts.”



Blink, blink. Now that an answer Gaston hadn’t been expecting to hear! To say he was a little caught off guard by it would be a huge understatement, but still he replied calmly, “Noted. Thank you for sharing your opinion, Miss Phillips. Personally, I believe both methods of cooking are worth learning. There is a certain art to cooking by hand, but magic come in handy for those who lack the skill or the means to cook the traditional way. Say if you find yourself in a situation where you have food but no way to prepare it…”



And here was another answer – or more accurately, question – that took the professor by surprise. At first he wondered if Mr. Botros was joking but then reasoned that the boy was probably just unfamiliar with the muggle way of life. “I’m afraid not, Mr. Botros,” Gaston said gently. “People who are unable to use magic must prepare their food by hand, and even some wizards prefer to cook without magic.”



If the last two responses shocked Gaston, this one had him completely floored. He didn’t know what was more surprising, the sight of Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne’s arm flailing or what he actually said. Now how was he supposed to answer that question? “I don’t know,” he replied with a slight chuckle. “I think that would depend on the person, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne.”



Gaston was just about to move on when Miss Toussaint spoke up. Her answer earned an approving smile, but that smile turned into a laugh when she mentioned someone who couldn’t flip pancakes becoming the breakfast king. “Very true, Miss Toussaint!” he said. “Some of us would probably starve if we didn’t use magic to cook.” Like him, for example.



Then Miss Potts spoke up. Gaston nodded, smiling slightly as she explained her reasoning behind the apple she picked. "Excellent observation, Miss Potts," he said. Then she gave some examples of spells used in cooking. "And nice examples! All are spells commonly used in cooking."

Gaston turned to address his class again. “Very good! All of you provided excellent answers, but Miss Sorin-Ward and Miss Holden came closest to guessing which spells we’ll be using today, those spells being used to control food temperature – or more specifically, the Heating and Cooling charms. Three points to each of you ladies for your guesses!”

“Today, we’ll be making popcorn balls using magic. You’ll be given a recipe card momentarily, but I thought a practical demonstration would be more effective in teaching these spells,” he continued. With a wave of his wand, the apples on his desk from earlier vanished, and two bowls appeared in their place. Those who looked closely would notice that one bowl contained unpopped corn kernels; the other contained a gooey substance. “To cast a heating charm, draw a flame shape over your target with your wand like so-“ He traced a flame with his wand over the bowl of kernels. “-and repeat the incantation Calefacio . Gently move your wand over the entire area you wish to heat; this spread the heat evenly.” There were rapid popping sounds as he moved his wand, and soon the kernels became popcorn. “You’ll use this spell to pop your popcorn and to heat the candy mixture that goes over it – though for the purposes of this demonstration, I have some already mixed and ready to use.”

He picked up the other bowl and poured the candy mixture over the popcorn. “Stir the ingredients – you may do this by hand or with a spell – and shape sections of the mix into balls, or any other kind of shape you like. “ He grabbed a handful of the candy/popcorn mix and clumsily shaped it into a ball-like shape, a task made harder by the hook covering one of his hands. “There is a charm to do this, but I thought it might be more fun to do this part by hand.” Sidelong glance at Miss Phillips. “If you like, you may decorate your popcorn balls with bits of candy.” He stuck a couple pieces of candy corn on top of the ball, two gumdrop eyes and a nose in the middle, and a few bits of licorice “whiskers” on each side of the nose to make a cat face… though maybe a crocodile would’ve been more appropriate given his costume.

“Once you’re satisfied with how your popcorn ball looks, you’ll use the Cooling Charm to cool them. Trace your wand in an M-shape and say the incantation Frigidus-“ He aimed his wand at the popcorn ball, made the wand movement, and repeated the incantation; the decorated ball instantly solidified.

He just had a few last-minute instructions to give. “You’ll be working in pairs for his activity. It’s important that you take turns using the spells! The combined effects of more than one spell on the same target could cause your ingredients to burn or your popcorn balls to turn to ice. All your supplies are contained in boxes up here-“ He waved his wand to remove the disillusionment charm he’d placed on the stack of boxes at front of the room. “You may come and get your equipment now; you have the rest of the class to work.”

OOC: You have AT LEAST 40 HOURS to complete this activity! There is no minumum post requirement, but both partners must attempt the heating charm and the cooling charm for full credit. If you have a question, please indicate int he title of your post. Gaston and I will be checking back in periodically. Each box contains all the dishes, utensils, and ingredients you need, plus a cop of this recipe card:

Emmeline's face broke into another HUGE smile, because Professor Marchand had said she'd made a good point! She scribbled some more notes down when he answered her question, too. She figured this would be good information to know if she ever tried her hand at cooking. At home, of course, their house-elf and Nanny did all of the cooking -- but maybe she could help when she was 17 (in like a million years)?

She shoved her candy apples into a corner of her desk so they'd be out of the way and watched Professor Marchand's demonstration avidly. So they were learning two new spells today! She loved it when that happened! Emmeline bounced up to the front of her room to pick up one of the containers with all of the equipment and the recipe card in it, and walked more carefully back to her seat. It would be just her luck to spill something.

Now..to find a partner. Turning to the usual people she worked with in lessons (Derf, Stasya, Abey, Jessa), she asked loudly enough for them all to hear her: "Anyone wanna be my partner? She didn't mind partnering up with someone else if they didn't, though the thought of asking a stranger did make her feel rather shy...

Most of the comment had just been about how she’d agreed with the others, but Stasya had still grinned when Professor Marchand had still acted like she’d said something right. Plus, he’d said there was a spoon-stirring spell, which made her that much more curious. Except, before she could ask if he’d teach her what that was, he’d moved on with the lesson and they weren’t going to learn that. Or a lot of the other spells that people had mentioned, but as he’d mentioned heating charms she’d started to wonder if they were going to be using Incendio. She knew that one already, so it would have disappointed her if she didn’t get to learn something new. She still paid attention to the demonstration, though, getting a bit more excited gain when he didn’t use Incendio. New spells were always interesting, and she made sure to write down the information about the two spells before she forgot what they were.

When they’d been told to choose partners, she had completely frozen for a second. There were just too many people to choose from. Except she kind of thought Liv might work with Rooney, but there were still other older students she could learn from. Or Derf, and she had actually looked over at him quickly before she’d heard Emmeline. “I’ll work with you if you want,” she said after another second, moving the few feet to join her at her table. There’d be plenty of other times she could work with everyone else she wanted to work with, she thought. Maybe. Working with Emmeline would be fun too, and they were making popcorn balls. That had to be fun.

Mhm, Olivia Phillips saw that look, Professor Marchand, but she stood by what she'd said. And she respected his explanation of a person needed to feed themselves if they didn't have other means, but that seemed like a special circumstance to her. Anyway, they could agree to disagree. It wasn't like she had much of a choice in the matter, anyway, as they were going to be preparing something with magic today.

Roopunzel, you're with us. A no-brainer, really.

...but she'd glimpsed her young Lion squad and gave pause. Stasya was going to work with Emmeline, so that took care of her... but just to be safe, Olphaba offered her a small, questioning smile. As if to say 'Do you need me? I'll ditch Mr. Head Boy for you.' Roopunzel would survive working with someone else, but apparently....that wouldn't be necessary. Good. She wasn't in the mood to share him right now. Best for all involved, to be honest.

To save time, Olphaba moved towards the front of the classroom, already collecting the materials they'll need for this activity. Okay, admittedly, it was pretty cool seeing popcorn popped in this way...outside of the bag! She'd file this under another special circumstance. Snacks were different from actual meals.....Now, what was this candy sludge made from? Leaning down, Olphie gave it a quick sniff.

Hmm. Caramel? Was that caramel she detected?!

Depends on the person. Right. That sounded like an adult sort of response to this sort of thing. Merlin...this was why he was sticking with creatures. Their behaviors made more sense and were typically more predictable than people. If he held a worm out for Scamander, the warty newt gleefully devoured it. If he did the same with people he got mixed results.

SIGH.

Keeping his opinions to himself on this FOOD business so as not to further upset the professor, Derf looked around the room for someone to work with. Dora? Maybe he should ask Dora...but then he was also thinking MAYBE she should work with her friend who had sort of sat on him. Fair trade and all, you know? He got to sit next to her and she got to work with her.

UUUUUUUUUUUH....making no decision in the end, Derf sat in his seat like a little lost cruppy. Someone come claim him?

Having completely forgottten about her embarrassment earlier, Etta listened to the professor's instructions.. which seemed more complicated than she'd initially assumed. Or maybe she just had zero experience with cooking before and found this rather intimidating. But, definitely exciting at the same time. She carefully noted down the instructions first, making sure she didn't miss anything before setting her quill down. Now, to look for a partner.

Etta looked around for a while before she spotted little brother a Derf. DERF. It didn't seem like he had a partner anyway.. it would be fun to team up with him. She grinned and walked up to his desk, ruffling his hair a little. "Hey, there! Be my partner, please?" Etta gave him the sweetest of smiles, raising her eyebrow. Yes? Was he interested?

Now this was an assignment that Noelle could have fun with. Making popcorn balls using charms.

She'd have to train a little harder this afternoon to get off those extra calories. She could hear Professor Stewarts voice in her head about that. But popcorn balls were worth it!

Noelle gathered her ingredients before looking for a partner. She figured most would look for a partner first and then get ingredients, which freed some space up for her to snag the ingredients she needed before having to wait.

Now for a partner.

Oooh, cooking time!

Ava somewhat seemed enthusiast with the activity because well... She loved cooking and baking. Making those popcorn balls sounded fun and not that difficult. But they're going to work in pairs. Hmmm....

"Noelle." She called the Gryffindor prefect. "You're working with me."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

Having completely forgottten about her embarrassment earlier, Etta listened to the professor's instructions.. which seemed more complicated than she'd initially assumed. Or maybe she just had zero experience with cooking before and found this rather intimidating. But, definitely exciting at the same time. She carefully noted down the instructions first, making sure she didn't miss anything before setting her quill down. Now, to look for a partner.

Etta looked around for a while before she spotted little brother a Derf. DERF. It didn't seem like he had a partner anyway.. it would be fun to team up with him. She grinned and walked up to his desk, ruffling his hair a little. "Hey, there! Be my partner, please?" Etta gave him the sweetest of smiles, raising her eyebrow. Yes? Was he interested?

If he had a tail, forked or not, it would be wagging right now! And maybe doing that kick twitch thing crups and dogs in general did when you were rubbing a sweet spot - Etta ruffling his hair had that sort of effect.

"Yes-s-s pleas-s-se!" he chirped with a grin as he jumped to his feet. "I'll go get our ingredients-s-s!" Bounding over to the table, Derf managed to carry everything with relative ease using just his arms back over to where the Hufflepuff Champion was waiting for him and tried to neatly arrange the things on the desk. "Etta...can....can I...um..." he started, ruffling his hair a bit himself and shifting his weight back and forth between both his feet. "Willyous-s-signthes-s-shirtwithyourfaceonitforme?!"

Since Noelle already had the ingredients together, she grinned when Ava didn't ask to work with her but told her she was going to work with her. "Get your bum over here then" She told her wifey and arranged everything by the order that they'd need them.



"Okay, ill put the kernels in the bowl. You cast the heating charm on it?" Noelle said and asked as she grabbed the bowl and put the popcorn into it. The heating charm should pop the kernels.

And just like that, she didn't have a partner. It all happened so quickly; one minute she was scribbling down notes to ensure she had them for revision later and the next, Derf was working with Etta and the others had partnered up as well. Jessa's first thought was to ask her Prefect to be her partner--because he wouldn't mind, right?--but then he was probably working with Olivia and she wasn't gonna try to change that.

With a huff, Jessa twisted in her seat trying to find anyone else that may have been in need of a work buddy. They kept getting snatched up. Every time she thought to ask someone, that someone ended up having someone else swoop in.

Ugh, she hated partner work. Sure, she usually worked with Derf when he wasn't working with Abey or someone else but those were usually by choice. The specific instruction to partner up changed the whole game as you could see.

Somewhat disenchanted with this whole process, the young girl moved to get the ingredients she would need. Might as well be productive. Maybe the Professor would even let her work on her own if he didn't notice she didn't have a partner. To be sure, she would cover all her bases first. "Anyone wanna partner with me?" There, she'd asked, now if needed, she would find a corner and get this done herself.

Shay was listening to the students give their answers and the professor commenting about them. Then she heard the magic words.......popcorn balls. They would be making popcorn balls. Well this class was just getting better and better. The professor began to give instructions and talk about the spell that they would be using. Shay began to take notes. There was a lot to remember and she certainly didn't want to mess up some perfectly good popcorn balls.

Now all Shay needed was a partner. Unfortunately, she had taken a little too long writing. Many of the students had already paired up. Noelle and Ava were working together. So they were not options. Then Shay heard a voice asking for a partner. Seeing the younger Ravenclaw (Jessa) who made the request, she approached her. "Hi, I'm Shay. Do you want to be partners?" Hopefully the Claw wouldn't mind working with her.

"Aye, ma'am!" A pirate and burglar worked together. Hehehe, that was funny. Ava grabbed her stuffs (with the money bag that she carried just to support her costume today!) and moved to Noelle's desk today. "Good that you've grabbed the ingredients and equipment." With the Gryffindor prefect working with her, she was pretty lucky because this girl right here had much experience with cooking. Hehehe.

Pop the corn using the heating charm. Ah, that was easy. She drew a flame shape over the popcorn bowl with her wand and cast the spell. "Calefacio!" But well.... nothing happened. Okay, one more try. "Calefacio!" She said as she drew a flame shape over with the wand. The corn started to pop which meant she did the heating charm. Coool! "Your turn." Ava said to her partner.

As it turned out, Jessa wouldn't be needing to find a corner for her work afterall. Just as she'd gotten the last of her things and headed back to her seat, there was a partner there waiting for her. "I know." She replied, setting the things down. "We've got classes together." By means of an explanation for her earlier statement. In her experience, most older students didn't tend to notice their younger counterparts. It was ironic given how keenly attuned to the younger ones seemed to be. She herself was well aware of the others in her classes, older and younger but that was because she was always making a conscious effort to know everything happening around her--including the people.

"We can be partners, I don't mind at all." Jessa poured the unpopped popcorn into the bowl she'd collected before sliding it over to her.

"Wanna do the heating charm? The Professor says we gotta take turns doing the spells." Which.....did he mean each did one spell or they both took turns doing the same spell each time or.......? Hopefully the older girl would know. At this point Jessa was fine with following her lead for the less clear parts. The Ravenclaw glanced down at the instructions she'd scribbled down, trying to see if there was anything she could do in the mean time.

"Looks like we'll both need to be hands on for the next part so....hmmmm." How to split this....? Maybe she would just....do this....then have Shay do the charm on the butter next. That was alternating....right? "On second thought...." She pulled the bowl back toward her. "I'll do the first bit..." Drawing her wand, Jessa made out the shape of a flame as the Professor had instructed. "Calefacio!" It took a few movements of moving the wand over the pop corn before she realized the spell was in fact....ineffective. Huh. "Calefacio!" Again she did the flame movement and shifted her wand across the pop corn. When nothing happened a second time, the Ravenclaw took a deep breath, willing herself not to become frustrated. Sometimes new spells just took time.

"Calefacio!" NOW we're talking! Jessa watched the corn pop to life, revealing the white, puffy insides. Finally. Thank Merlin.

She grabbed the second bowl and dropped the butter in it. "You can melt the butter with the same charm. It says here.....you gotta do it evenly for 5 minutes while I add the other things." Yeah, best let the older student be the one to cast the spell for longer. Five minutes was a lot to keep up with and she could hardly get the spell going just now!

SPOILER!!: Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups unpopped popcorn
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Pour unpopped popcorn into one bowl. Pop corn using a heating charm (Calefacio).
   
2. In the other bowl, melt butter using a heating charm. While one partner is doing this, the other stirs in the sugar, molasses, and salt. Continue to heat by moving wand evenly over the entire surface of the mixture. This process should take about 5 minutes.
   
3. Pour mixture over corn, while stirring popcorn thoroughly. Butter hands lightly. Shape popcorn into 12 to 14 balls, and decorate with candy bits if desired.
   
4. Cool finished popcorn balls with a cooling charm (Frigidus), and enjoy!

Lucy's stomach dropped at the thought of having to perform the charm in order to be successful in class today. She much preferred it when attempts alone would suffice because that was usually as far as she gets. It took her lots of outside practice before the charm actually worked the way it was supposed to. But, thankfully, they got a partner. So even if her wandwork was awful, she'd at least be saved by them.

First thing to do was to find who that would be. She tried to make eye contact with friends and usual partners. But anyone would do.

First things first, Felicity made her way to the front of the room, dodging and weaving between people searching for partners in order to grab the supplies. It was much easier to sort that out than search the room for one of the few people she knew. Upon returning to her seat, though, she noticed someone.

Library girl was sat directly in front of her, and so Felicity stood up, leaning forward to tap the girl on the back. "Wanna work together?" she managed with a small smile, indicating that she already had all of the things they'd need. Apart from, you know, spells.

Annnnd Shay had a partner. She was a little surprised when her newly found partner said she knew who she was. Of course Shay knew they had classes together, but she never assumed that people automatically knew who she was. Shay actually knew her partner's name, but thought it was polite to introduce herself......just in case. Anyway, she was glad that the younger girl had agreed to be her partner. "Great", she said in reply.

Shay smiled as Jessa immediately took charge and designated their roles. She had already gotten the box of supplies, so they were ready to go. When Jessa suggested that she could start, and Shay could do the next part, Shay agreed. "That sounds like a good plan to me." As long as they both got a chance to do each spell, everything would be fine.

Jessa seemed to have the popcorn popping under control, so Shay took the bowl of butter and pulled out her wand. She positioned it above the butter and made a flame shape. "Calefacio", she said, while moving her wand over the butter. After a second or two, she could see the butter begin to melt. She tried hard to concentrate, so she could keep the spell going. "Ok, it's melting. You can start adding the other ingredients now."

Shay kept her wand moving over the butter, making sure to keep the heat even. "Once we get the "sauce" finished, we can both make the popcorn balls and then each cool half of them." Made sense, yeah? Hopefully they would get to sample their work before the class was over.

Excuse us, Olivia Phillips, there would be no ditching of the HEAD BOY especially when he was a PRINCESS for the day! And a lot of his clothing today belonged to her so she had to be nice to him if she wanted them back. Or maybe he just wouldn't give them back, because he wanted the attention for himself. No word had been traded with his girlfriend about them pairing together, but he just assumed as always that they would, because that was how they worked best. Together, right? Therefore, Roopunzel stayed seated whilst Olphaba went to collect their box of items. Ooooooooooh.

When she returned, he did what he would have done straight away had he been working alone and took the recipe card out of the box and gave it a read over. Once, then twice, then a third time to be certain. "Okay, so do you want to do the popping or me? The other one of us can melt the butter when that's done and we'll go from there?" She could choose. He didn't have a preferred way of doing it. She clearly was just sniffing all the stuff going on in the box.

Strange green witch.

Could he pretend to hit her with his frying pan after they'd done all of this?
For fun?

To say Skylar was surprised by Olivia Phillips response about cooking using mundane methods, well, that was quite the opinion. And yet, Skylar found herself interested by the rant, hanging on to every word. The older girl had a boy who was infatuated with her, so perhaps, she knew a thing or two from experience? Or the said boy was just unique? But yes, as the Professor said, both methods would be beneficial to learn.

Now for the Halloween treat, which it seemed they wouldn't be learning candy apples. Thank Merlin! Not that Skylar didn't like fruit, but she didn't really care for candy apples. They always got stuck in her teeth and made her teeth feel all icky. Popcorn balls were okay, though not really her preferred choice of sweetness.

Jotting down the heating and cooling charms in her notes, along with the recipe on the board, it seemed when she glanced around, everyone was already partnered up. So she was going to be the person without a partner? She was never that person. Maybe she could just work by herself?

SPOILER!!: Notes

Ingredients
2 cups unpopped popcorn
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

Pour unpopped popcorn into one bowl. Pop corn using a heating charm (Calefacio).

In the other bowl, melt butter using a heating charm. While one partner is doing this, the other stirs in the sugar, molasses, and salt. Continue to heat by moving wand evenly over the entire surface of the mixture. This process should take about 5 minutes.

Pour mixture over corn, while stirring popcorn thoroughly. Butter hands lightly. Shape popcorn into 12 to 14 balls, and decorate with candy bits if desired.

Cool finished popcorn balls with a cooling charm (Frigidus), and enjoy!

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Heating charm: Calefacio. Draw a flame shape over your target and repeat the incantation. Gently move your wand over the entire area you wish to heat; this spread the heat evenly

Cooling Charm: Frigidus. Trace your wand in an M-shape and say the incantation

Rooney Bronwyn, don't get too big for your britches. Or...her britches... He was wearing HER britches right now. Yes, so don't get too big for HER britches. In jest of not, no threatening to harm her.

....and she was NOT a strange green witch. She was OLPHABA THROPP-PHILLIPS. Beautifully tragic...ahem. Foolish Roopunzel. Foolish GIRL!

"I don't mind, but I think we're supposed to both do these spells evenly." Unless she'd misunderstood? "So you can pop half, and then I'll do the rest!" Er, that was too excited for her Wicked Witch persona. Eh, whatever. "Let's split them in half." Not waiting for his agreement in the matter, because it was a great plan, she set out another bowl and poured an even amount of corn kernels into it. Sure, she could've practiced the heating charm with the molasses and other ingredients, but the actual popping looked like fun. So, hmph. Rooney would have to share the honor.

Taking a deep breath, Olphie focused her wand on her own bowl of corn and thought warm thoughts. WARM THOUGHTS. Visualize and attack... Or visualize and cook? Yes, the latter. Carefully tracing a flame shape above the uncooked food item, which was exactly like the Incendio! spell (don't think we didn't notice, Gaston), she said, "Calefacio!" Note her enthusiasm. It was aplenty.

Olivia's guess was close to what they would be doing? Sweet. And Mel's answer was also close! Yay Gryffindor. She smiled at the Professor before resuming her note taking.

After copying down the recipes and both cooling and heating charm, Olivia glanced around the room, looking for someone to work with. Etta and Derf had teamed up which was super adorable. She didn't know what her other friends were up to- they looked busy. So she continued looking.

Her eyes landed on a girl that she had met during Herbology last year with Brent and Etta. Wasn't her name Sky... Skylar! That was it. She approached the girl with a smile. "Hey Skylar, right? Want to team up together?"

Just when she was maybe about to resort to working by herself, she glanced up at someone who addressed her. Gryffindor Olivia. Oh wait, that didn't work because there were two Gryffindor Olivias. Merlin, that must have been confusing in the common room. Well the other one she knew as Olivia Phillips, and while she didn't know this one's last name, that was okay. Too much thought though, because they had popcorn balls to make. "Yes, and you're Olivia? And yes, sure." Maybe any Gryffindor girl she didn't know she could 'Olivia'. The odds might be good that's her name.

Scanning her notes again, she glanced back up at the fifth year. "So I guess we're supposed to practice both of the charms. Maybe, since we have two things to heat, I can pop the popcorn and you can melt the butter?" Then they could both get their practice in on that charm and hopefully nothing blows up.