As she stood watching the older girl working at getting the mouse through the maze, Shera joined them. "Hi, Shera, I don't mind if she doesn't." She being the older girl whom's solo group they were invading upon.

The smile on her face grew when both Shera and herself were invited to join her. "I'm Rylee!" she beamed slipping down onto one of the chairs with a nod. "I will! I have a mousy I can use and a piece of cheesecake too." This was basically do to the fact that she had originally planned to work on her own and well now just didn't want to put the mouse back.

Still cupping the purple mouse against her chest she lifted Harriet's mouse out and handed it to her so it could finish it's piece of cake. Putting the piece of cheesecake in the same spot she had seen Harriet put hers she than set her mouse down in a corner of the maze. "Alright, Cheesecake, you got this." Might as well give it a name so she could coax it through the maze somehow and Cheesecake seemed very fitting. At first her mouse did nothing but than it started to move around getting itself stuck in dead-ends. "This way... come on now..." she whispered reaching in to give it a little pet and let it sniff her fingers that had the scent of cheesecake on them.

"Follow the scent, Cheesecake, you can do it..." she giggled moving her finger through the maze with her mouse slowly trailing after it so it could sniff the cheesecake. It took a little bit but she finally got the mouse to the end where it very happily began munching away at the piece of cake that was waiting. "That was fun!"

Patrick looked down at his mouse who was only halfway through the maze, even after dropping a second morsel in order to get him to go further. This stupid mouse was useless. He looked up at the sound of someone calling his name. It was Olivia, he remembered her from last year when they had met once and through some of the other classes.

She was inviting him to join her, that would be smart maybe they had other insights on how to get the stupid mouse to work better. “Sure, want me to bring my mouse over or...” he trailed off looking at the other girl that was with Olivia (Zarina).

Garreth's little green mouse was being slightly more cooperative during this second attempt, but that's not saying much. "Come on, little guy. You're making me look bad here. We talked about this." the boy absentmindedly nudged the mouse with his wand, having some success getting the mouse to move in the right direction, but it seemed far too distracted or frightened to make any progress.

Startled by the sudden presence of the professor, Garreth jumped a little, but tried to play it cool. "Oh, thank you, professor!" his startled expression morphed into a bright smile at the professors recognition of his first attempt. "I know you said not to use magic, professor, don't worry." he knew how his wand-jabbing must have looked. "To be perfectly honest, professor, I'm just kinda.. Poking it." he admitted, clearly embarrassed about his lack of technique. "He doesn't seem to be taking to it very well, and I'm not sure how I can-" the boy began, but stopped himself almost immediately. He'd had an idea.

Leaving the mouse alone for the moment, he reached for the cheesecake and gently pulled off a tiny piece, placing it in the maze where the mouse could see it. Right away, the mouse began hesitantly inching its way towards the morsel, and Garreth's idea seemed to be working. He placed another piece of cheesecake a little closer to the end of the maze, and then another, and then another, until the mouse made it all the way through.

"There we go!" Garreth beamed at the mouse, running a finger across its back, as if to pet it. "Now, professor, if I just run the maze a couple more times, increasing the distance between the cheesecake pieces every time, maybe he'll start to learn the route by heart!" he looked up at Professor Marchand, obviously quite pleased with himself.

Listening to their instructions this seemed rather.. lame, but why would she care if it was, it wasn't like they were stuck just listening to his adorable face or anything. So she looked towards the seventh year as he smiled, smirked, she wasn't even sure but before she could ask he was reaching up and grabbing a mouse. Wow did he act like a creature in a barn. Her smile though never left and she twirled her hair around her finger. If he wanted to to do the work she wasn't going to stop him.

She watched the mouse go in and look around. "Maybe if you weren't so rude to it." She leaned her head a little closer to the maze, "That's it,
you can do it." Z cooed softly to the toy mouse, "Can you sense the cheesecake, it's all yours if you just get around." He seemed to be getting it even if it was slow.

Her eyes darted to Ronan and back to the seventh year as she looked repulsed at him, was he wanting to be a fat lump eating all the cheesecakes,
maybe they should have a human maze for boys. She bet the mice would get through the maze faster than this boy.

Diandra, right.

Cameron thought she looked familiar but he hadn‘t been able to remember the girl‘s name. “Nice to meet you, too.“ The younger boy who was sitting with them got a polite smile as well. Based on the crests on their robes he appeared to be outnumbered three to one but he didn‘t mind.

Mice, mazes and cheese.

Now if THAT wasn‘t just a typical experiment, he didn‘t know what was. This was going to be fun. Part of him wished they had real mice though. Ah well. For now the toy mice would have to do. „I can get the cheesecake.“ And with that he stood and followed Bel to the front to get a piece of cheesecake. Why not cheese actually? Hm. Because this, this was VERY tempting. Would they be allowed to eat the cheesecake in the end? Maybe the next experiment would be them, the students, going through a maze having to find a slice of cheesecake?!

When he‘d returned, Cameron held up the cheesecake for the others to see then placed it somewhere inside their maze. Now. The experiment was ready.

"Nice to meet you, Harriet," she chirped brightly, giving both Harriet and Rylee huge smiles as she sat down with them. Shera had watched both Harriet and Rylee put their mice into the maze and then coax them through the mazes.

It intrigued her, though she was wondering what the point was. Was it to show them that these fake mice could learn like real mice did, thus showing they were in fact basically like the real thing?

Based on how the little fake one in her own hands was moving, she would say it probably was. And they had probably done things somewhat wrongly considering they were all now holding mice of their own, but that was also fine, wasn't it?

They could always argue they were just enthusiastic about the activity.

Shera waited patiently for Rylee's mouse to finish it's cheesecake, smiling at the other girl as she lifted the purple mouse out of the maze and back in front of Rylee. Then she placed her own cheesecake and mouse in the maze, and slowly began coaxing it along through the maze. It was surprisingly hard, all things considered. But she couldn't help but coo as the little blue mouse finally got to the cheesecake and started eating it.

"Sooo... do we do it again?"

Alessandro spotted the older Slytherin boy enter the classroom out of the corner of his eye. If only for a moment. That particular shade of green always made his eye wander. The could-have-beens of his sorting could be a lot for the twelve year old. Al gave the Slytherin an inch more attention when he saddled up to their Hufflepuff occupied table. And then, the girls—Bel and Diandra—introduced themselves. Or more-like, Bel introduced them both. Al noticed that Cam, that was the Slytherin boy’s name, was polite and had hair as dark as pitch. ”I’m Alessandro,” he dutifully repeated his name for their new table-mate.

The first task was laid out for the room and before Al could do as much as offer his assistance, Bel and Cam both took off to collect the mouse and cheesecake for the experiment. When they returned, Alessandro peaked into the maze on their table and then looked to the mouse. “If we put him in the maze, does he just go?” On his own? Or would they have to coax him toward the cheesecake?

Jessa twisted in her seat at the man's question, her grip still firm enough on the mouse to prevent it from wriggling away but not anywhere near firm enough to crush or otherwise disfigure it. Losing test subjects was always a worst, she would know. Best to keep on them as best you could.

"How" was actually a very easy question to answer.

"We're going to highlight the path it needs to follow using the marker, Sir." She informed him, gesturing to the marker she suspected one of her group mates would by now be using to indicate the way through the maze. "Once we've got it marked it, the rat will follow the wall marking to the other side."

It seemed one of the most natural ways to go about it.

"Kinda like when you animated the rat earlier, your intent allowed it to be able to respond to your nudging, Something it wouldn't otherwise have been able to do. "We've animated it to be able to respond to the nudge of this particular colour." So in place of a hand or gentle words, they were using colour. Nothing more, nothing less. "I thought to charm it more receptive to smells so we could leave little cake droppings but this works too."

The power of intent when animating. It made all the difference between what the object could and couldn't do. She'd intricately studied it during her stint with her undead birds and hoped to get a look at another side of it now with the dolls up in her lab--for comparison, of course. The limitations of the spell in relation to something that had life once versus something that never did. It was pretty interesting stuff...but she didn't suspect he'd be much for it. Not with the way he lost it last Halloween when she'd given a certain response in class...so she'd be keeping it to herself.

“Good job, Rose!” She encouraged the little pink mouse. The little mouse had made it about half way through the maze. Emmalyn was intently watching its every move. She noted how every few inches of maze, Rose would sand up on her hind legs, sniff the air, and try to peek over the walls. Too bad they were just a bit higher than her eyes could see over.

Then Emmalyn had an idea, she went to the side of the maze with the mini cheesecake, took a deep breath, and blew towards the mouse, across the cheesecake. Rose immediately lifted up, caught a good whiff of the treat, and quickly got through the second half of the maze. “Oh, wow, that seemed to help.” She said to Night and Daisy.

“Who’s next?” she asked the girls. She didn’t want to monopolize the maze and was very curious how they would help the little mouse get to the treat at the end. Emmalyn was sure there were other ways to encourage a faster movement of Rose and expected that since she finished the maze once, her next attempt would be even quicker.

Well, she'd been right about Jessa having a plan, that was for sure. Also, the Ravenclaw really hadn't used any more magic than Marchand had to animate the mouse, so maybe this was okay? The sixth year glanced at the professor, trying to get a read on what he was thinking. Surely they were getting points for originality here, if nothing else. Also, she wasn't going to be the one to draw the line just in case this wasn't going to fly with the man in charge, so she casually pushed the marker towards the middle, hoping Zoryn would go for it, since Abey was probably feeling anxious with the professor standing over them. Here, little Gryffindor, something colorful for you to draw with!

SPOILER!!: Vi and Patrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Watson

Olivia Holden had been having an off day. When she had entered the room prior to the start of the class, she had simply smiled at Professor Marchand and tilted her head in greeting. She was exhausted. So so so exhausted. Anyone could see it from the dark bags under her eyes.

Fortunately she hadn't fallen asleep yet thanks to her filled coffee mug.

Vi saw Zarina speaking to her mouse. Was the Slytherin trying to comfort said creature? wondered Vi as she, intrigued, watched the interaction between the black mouse and the She-snake. Hmm.. She continued to watch the girl for another minute before deciding to join her. "Mind if I join you?" she asked, offering a small smile. She could def help with setting up the maze for Zarina's mouse friend to go through.

Out of the corner of her eye (and past the Ace, Vivi, and Skylar trio), Vi spotted Patrick by himself. She waved to him. "Hey! Want to come join us?" she asked with a grin. Perhaps they three of them could work together?

Quote:

Originally Posted by siriusblackliveson

Patrick looked down at his mouse who was only halfway through the maze, even after dropping a second morsel in order to get him to go further. This stupid mouse was useless. He looked up at the sound of someone calling his name. It was Olivia, he remembered her from last year when they had met once and through some of the other classes.

She was inviting him to join her, that would be smart maybe they had other insights on how to get the stupid mouse to work better. “Sure, want me to bring my mouse over or...” he trailed off looking at the other girl that was with Olivia (Zarina).

After this slytherin was in mid conversation with her mouse she realized she had an audience. Zae jumped a bit and was surprised the gryffindor prefect was speaking to her. Huh..welp time to say something Zae don't leave her standing there. "Oh no not at all. Help yourself." she gestured to her half done maze. Then she saw the gryffindor prefect motion for another slytherin to join them. Ahhh she knew this guy. He was at quidditch try outs. Zae nodded to her fellow housemate and said, "What's up Patrick? Yeah bring your mouse over.." she answered his question. "I think our mice can be friends.." she gestured toward her black mice. "Hope they won't kill each other.." I mean you never know there could be a mean streak somewhere.

Now time for business, "Alright I have the cheesecake already, so I can place it in the maze.." This fourth year offered. "And I'll go first.." She placed the cheesecake near her mouse nose and it took a few seconds for her mouse to get the scent. Once it was confirmed, she placed the cheesecake in the far right of the maze where it was tricky. As her mouse was moving it seemed to be bumping into the sides a lot, "Is it normal for mice to do this.." she asked her group.

Hmm. Well that put all his qualms to rest, then. If the professor was good with it, then so was he. "Right, good plan, Natalie." Maybe the sugar from the cocoa was actually starting to wake him up.


Finn watched the mouse struggle. What did he expect, perfection on the first run? "Do we need to do it ag--?" Oh never mind, Maxton was right. The mouse was starting to get it! The mouse took the first left like he supposed to, but then it looked stuck. Finn stuck his hand in and nudged it in the right direction. "This way, bud. Next turn to the right.."

There. That should be enough to be going on for now.

OOC: I think I said left, right, left, straight when I typed it up if you guys want to follow that?

It was nice to know they were on the right track, especially with the professor there grinning at them all goofy like. Katy was more than willing to sit back as Finn took over cheesecake duty and Max positioned the mouse. She could supervise unless they needed her, but it seemed like this wasn't one of those tasks where being old and experienced actually helped...

Oh, hello, what? She leaned forward as their mouse picked up speed following Finn's nudging, taking another left, then edging along a long straightaway. Not exactly the path Katy would have chosen for him, but he seemed well on his way to the goal.

"You'll have to pick a spot to settle the cheesecake. Try not to cross your own path if you can help it." Katy reached in and prompted the mouse left when it paused at a crossroad.

Text Cut: GROUP

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin

"That's a clever thought," Katy came up on her knees as well, leaning in over the maze to see if she could spot the path through it for herself. How could they expect a mouse to do it if they couldn't do it themselves? Finally, she spotted the path she thought they should direct the mouse.

But who would do it? "If you set up the mouse, Max, and you drag the cheesecake, Natalie, I'll do the nudging along." Since she had a clear path in mind. "I'm Katy, by the way, and I'm sorry if I seem bossy." But it was just that she knew how she thought things ought to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Waterloo

Moving the cheesecake through the maze seemed to be a good plan of action. Even the Professor agreed! Maxton leaned forward in his seat so he could get a better view as he watched Finn manoeuvre the dessert through the maze, creating a scent trail.

The fourth year looked up and sent the hint of a smile in Katy's direction when she apologised for being bossy. Someone had to be the boss when it came to group work, and it certainly wasn't going to be him so he didn't mind.

The mouse was walking around in circles near the start of the maze so Max picked him up and moved him a little further ahead. "I'm not sure if he's got the scent..." It wasn't a real mouse. Did it even have a sense of smell?

But then...! "There he goes!" The pink mouse started following the little path they had created for him. "Get ready to nudge him along!" Ooooh, this was fun!

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpluvr037

Take on the world? No way. "Too tired for the whole world, Katy." That was the best reply he could muster, unfortunately. He sipped some of his cocoa. Maybe the sugar would kick in and wake him up.

Well that was nice of Maxton, because Finn totally wasn't going to put the effort in to actually get up and walk to those places. He was going to Summon them or bust. "Thanks, dude," he said to Maxton's back. And did he want to go first? Eh.. not really? But actually, Natalie had a decent idea. "Er... is that cheating? I mean I think it's a great idea.. does that count as guiding the mouse through? I vote it's fine." And of course he didn't wait for the others' opinions.

He grabbed the cheesecake bite and started sliding it around the maze. Left, right, left again, straight... until finally it came to rest on the other side. He left it there and looked at the others. "Mouse time, I reckon." He grabbed the pink toy and set it in the place where he'd started the cheesecake, then sat back in his chair. Your turn, guys.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpluvr037

Hmm. Well that put all his qualms to rest, then. If the professor was good with it, then so was he. "Right, good plan, Natalie." Maybe the sugar from the cocoa was actually starting to wake him up.


Finn watched the mouse struggle. What did he expect, perfection on the first run? "Do we need to do it ag--?" Oh never mind, Maxton was right. The mouse was starting to get it! The mouse took the first left like he supposed to, but then it looked stuck. Finn stuck his hand in and nudged it in the right direction. "This way, bud. Next turn to the right.."

There. That should be enough to be going on for now.

OOC: I think I said left, right, left, straight when I typed it up if you guys want to follow that?

Katy didn't seem that bossy. Either way, Natalie didn't mind. She usually wasn't the type to take charge in group situations anyway, so it didn't matter to her. She was just glad that she had a good idea to use the cheesecake and that the group members and professor approved of it.

NICE.

Finn was already doing the cheesecake maneuvering, so now they just had to watch the mouse and hope for the best. "There he goes," Natalie said softly peering into the maze as he went around. "Good job, fake mousey..."

Night decided to take her turn with Rose and the maze next. Apparently, just putting the piece of cheesecake at the end didn't get the mice to notice as much, so she thought of something else. Professor Marchand hadn't said anything about breaking the cheesecake up into pieces, right? So, Night decided to put little pieces of cheesecake every few steps, and then the biggest piece at the end.

The mouse navigated the maze easily with Night's little trick of cheesecake at different intervals. Next time, Night would space them out more. She passed the mouse and maze to Daisy.

Zoryn was an excellent person to have sat with; she'd already gathered all that cheesecake (Abra assumed it was initially for herself, but that didn't really matter) which meant that there was no need to get up and go fetch more. Then Junia had the mouse situation under control, so things were going swimmingly mostly because Abra didn't have to move from his spot and move his tired limbs anymore than was necessary. Group work, it turned out, was a-okay when you were working with people who made you feel comfortable.

Different degrees of comfort, sure. But comfort all the same.

"So... do we just sort of... nudge him along?" The mouse was somehow automatically a him, though Abra couldn't say for sure why he'd decided that. "Or her." He supposed it didn't matter, considering they weren't actual real mice.

His actual question didn't matter either actually, because Jessa had an idea. A better one. Or at least one that sounded smarter, which automatically made it better in any case.

When Marchand then suddenly spoke up right beside them, Abra gave a sudden start of surprise. He'd not been expecting him to be there, and had been so focused on what Jessa was saying that he'd not given the rest of the room much thought. The small shock and the spike in his heart rate were both unpleasant reminders to not let his guard down, no matter where he was, but neither prevented him from politely smiling up at his head of house.

As for the actual question, Abra was unsure at first how best to answer, figuring that being entirely truthful would make it sound like they were using magic to complete the task, which, of course, they were. He had been fine with this plan, though he was unsure how Marchand would respond, but then Jessa went ahead and told him what they were doing anyway. Abra accompanied this explanation with his own comment which may or may not have been totally unhelpful. "Because technically we need magic to get them through the maze no matter what... right?" Meaning that maybe it didn't matter so much that Jessa had uncharmed and then recharmed their mouse if all the same enchantments were still at work. It was a loophole that Abra had taken a moment to see in the same way that Jessa had, but, once he did, he found it kind of... entertaining. In a way.

Nobody had picked up the marker to do that part. Abra eyed it for a moment, as thought he was expecting someone else to go for it. When nobody did, he reached out - almost cautiously at first - and took it for himself. Then he stood, and leaned over the top of the maze to get a good view of it, and tried to work out the route. This, thankfully, didn't take long at all, and so Abra did his best to draw the line through it like Jessa had said to do, keeping it bold and thick all the way to the cheesecake.

He tried not to look at Marchand again, in case this was the wrong thing to do and was a method that broke the rules, even despite the technicality. Mostly he opted to draw the line just in case they were being fixed with a look of reproach or disappointment or - Merlin forbid - anger, because at least then he would have a reason for not noticing or making eye contact or anything that would be even remotely uncomfortable. At the same time... he was curious to know whether Marchand - lenient and encouraging as he generally was - would accept Jessa's idea.

"Okay." The route through the maze was all marked up. Abra sat back down in his seat but kept hold of the marker and fidgeted with it, turning it over in his hands. Still keeping his eyes down at student-level, he glanced across at Junia and gave her a small smile before rubbing at his eyes and trying to yawn away the tiredness that still plagued him, and would continue to plague him until lunch time.

Hanna couldn't help but giving the mouse, and Daniel, a little clap. Not loud, though. Tiny creatures had tiny ears, but were VERY good of hearing (weren't they?). She didn't want to frighten the little mouse. "Good job," she joined in. It was so cute eating the cheesecake. Hanna was starting to wish she'd brought a rat, too. She didn't think having a pet mouse would be as appropriate, considering it wasn't on the list, but rats were close enough to mice.

Hanna heard Daniel speaking quietly, she glanced up at Gaston super quickly, and then pretended to be fiddling in the maze. Very important fiddling. "No, I shouldn't think so. There's a lot there..." she whispered back. "I mean, the mouse is TINY, and... well, how does it digest food once it gets back into its toy form? We'd be doing it a favour. We can still give it a little bit of ours." That would still work, wouldn't it?

Hanna took another of the mini cheesecakes, edging it closer and closer... and took a bit. She quickly shoved it in her mouth and ate it. "Mmm," she said with a giggle. "Okay, purple mouse, time for another go." Hanna placed a little piece of the cheesecake she was eating (she was SHARING) in the same spot in the maze, and moved the mouse to the start.

Kye kept on the increasingly daunting task of booping the mouse's nose with cheesecake, getting it to go in the right direction. About eight wrong turns later, the mouse finally found the cheesecake!

"Yes!" Kye cheered, letting him take a bite of cheesecake before picking him up again. "Way to go there buck-o... nnnow do it again please."

"Do you want to try this time?" Kye offered the mouse to Cassie.

Gaston listened intently as Miss Cambridge explained her group's strategy for getting the mouse through the maze, unsure what to make of it at first. He liked that she had come up with an original solution, but he was a little conflicted about the use of magic. The explanation of the spell used put his mind more at ease, and he even smiled a bit at Mr. Botros's words. "Yes, that's true, Mr. Botros," he replied.

He turned his attention back to the Ravenclaw. "Thank you for telling me the truth about the spell you used," he said. He wasn't exactly happy about the use of magic, but he would allow it since it only changed the animation process. "I suppose that's fair, as long as you don't use magic to help the mouse inside the maze. I like your idea to lead the mouse with color: very original!" He gave each member of the group (Jessa, Abra, Junia, & Zoryn) a smile before leaving to check on the others.

He was pleased and relieved to learn that Mr. Kenway hadn't been using his wand the way he'd originally suspected. He nodded, smiling slightly. Poking was a reasonable method, though not necessarily the kindest one. He was about to suggest using something other than a wand for poking, but the boy suddenly came up with a much more effective plan. "Great idea, Mr. Kenway!" he sa8d, beaming as he watched the mouse follow the cheesecake trail.

Gaston continued his rounds around the room, offering praise and words of encouragement as he went. One group (Hattie, Rylee, & Shera) was making great progress with their mice. "Nice job, ladies!" he said, beaming as he passed. Mr. Yoon and Miss Newton also earned a beam from the professor. "Well done, you two!"

He almost laughed as he overheard Miss Walsh talking to her mouse. "Yes, good job, Rose!" he said, "and good job, all of you!"" Each of the three girls (Emmalyn, Night, & Daisy) got a smile from the professor before he moved on.

Miss Atwater and Miss McNally appeared to be on the right track; so did the group of Miss Toussaint, Mr. Muir, Mr. Carden & Miss McKinley. Both groups received a beam and a "Great work!" as praise. An approving nod was given to the group of Miss Salim, Miss Macindoe, Mr. Toussaint & Mr. Tamesis, who weren't far behind. "Nice start, you four!"

Gaston was pleased to see that only a couple of groups appeared to be struggling. He overheard Miss Cararro's question as he approached her, Miss Holden & Mr. Dooley; he nodded. "It'll catch on soon. Maybe there's something you can do to help it along?" he said.

Miss Valla, Mr Meriwether, & Mr. Carter appeared to be making some progress, and each earned a small smile. "Now it's getting it! Keep at it!" he encouraged.

Gaston glanced at his watch and saw that it was almost time to move on. "YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT!" he informed the class.

OOC: You have ABOUT 24 HOURS LEFT (6 AM EST Jan. 25) for this activity!

"Thank you, Bel." Diandra said as the younger puff offered to get the mice from them. Okay, maybe she should do something too like... grabbing the cheesecake? But before she spoke up, Cameron had offered to do that so... The badger just sat there waiting for those two students grabbing the mice and cheesecake. "Also... Thanks, Cam. For getting the cheesecake, I mean." Once both Bel and Cameron went back to their desk, now they're ready to try the activity.

Only she still didn't understand how the toy mouse could follow the maze and find the cheesecake. "Well.... I think we still need to coax it but I don't know..." Diandra scratched her head as Alessandro asked them how it worked. "Why don't we.... just try it first? I'll go first." She offered. Taking one of the mouse, she placed it at the opposite end of the maze and observed where the little mouse go. Uh.... see? It didn't seem like the toy mouse followed the right path and bumped into the sides a lot. "Come on, mouse.." Well, this looked more difficult than the instructions, huh? "Do we need to do something so... the mouse won't get lost?"

Maxton leaned back and adjusted his glasses, watching as his deskmates encouraged the fake mouse on his way. The plan seemed to be working albeit a few minor hiccups, but a nudge in the right direction was all it took for the mouse to get back on track.

But then Professor Marchand informed them they had five minutes left. Five minutes!?

Why had he picked the slowest mouse??

He decided to leave the cheesecake maneuvering to Finn, the mouse nudging to Katy and instead joined Natalie with words of encouragement. They could be the mouse cheerleaders...

"Come on, Mousey. You're nearly there."

Hattie was glad to have some others to work with. It was always a little bit boring to work on her own. This was also a good opportunity to make some new friends. She tended to always work with her friends, so it was a change to work with people she didn't really know. Hopefully they'd be friends for life. Although the two girls were a little younger than her, so probably not that close friends. She already had enough best friends to think about. But new friends were good.

The two girls were getting on pretty fine with how they were getting their mice through the maze. That made her happy. she liked when they could get stuff done good. "Well done you two!" The sixth year beamed. She was happy that they had all got their mice to get through the maze. "Ooh yes. Let's go again!" She nodded, stepping back to the maze and letting her mice go back in.

This time she stuck a little bit of the cheesecake onto her finger, and used that to guide her mouse around. It seemed to work, since the mouse was moving around more quickly now. She beamed, clapping her hands as in around 3 minutes the mouse had found its way to the cheesecake. "That worked better!" She beamed, as she took her mouse out of the maze so one of the other girls could have a go.

Oh, how he liked having a partner in crime. "My thoughts, exactly." He'd learned a long time ago not to question magic, but the same thing had crossed his mind - what would happen to the food once the mice were turned back into toys? So following Hanna, he broke the other piece she'd brought in two and, with a glance around to make sure professor Marchand wasn't paying attention to them, popped one half in his mouth. Half a cheesecake piece should suffice for one more run in the maze, and then he'd sneak more pieces for them to eat.

As Hanna moved the mouse at the entrance of the maze, he watched it go on the right path for a while, and blocked it when it wanted to make a wrong turn a couple of times to guide the purple mouse on the right way towards the cheesy delicacy. "Almost there..." he muttered to himself, his eyes closely following the mouse that was nearing the cheesecake.

Wanting Rose to have as much practice time as possible, she picked up the little mouse to give her another try. Emmalyn placed the mouse in the palm of her hand and leaned in close. “Now, Rose, you are doing brilliantly. We only have a few more minutes of practice, so keep up the hard work.”

She gently placed Rose at the start of the maze and nudged her little rump in the right direction. There was still a little bit of cheesecake residue left over along the trail that Night made, and a fresh chunk of cheesecake at the end. Rose sniffed and licked her way through the maze, much faster than the two times before. “You’re almost there. Keep going.” She encouraged.

Rose finished the maze in record time. “Look how fast she was!” she exclaimed to Night and Daisy. “She gets better every time.” She was proud of her little mouse. Little Rose was pink and perfect. Then her heart sank. She realized that soon Professor Marchand would turn her back into nothing more than a toy. Emmalyn’s eyes filled with tears at the thought of losing her new little friend.

The professor was pleased with his result? Yes! Success! Garreth couldn't help himself from swelling with a little teensy bit of pride at the professor's acknowledgement of his efforts. Ah, but he couldn't let it get to his head. There were still mazes to be run, mice to be guided and house points to be won! If he was going to keep up his contribution streak the way he had the previous terms, he was going to have to be on his A-game, especially with NEWTs coming up.

Anyway, with only five minutes left, it was time to press on! The boy hurriedly set up the maze again, this time with more space between his cheesecake bits. Lo and behold, his plan seemed to be working, and the mouse quickly made its way through the maze, even when it couldn't see the next cheesecake piece. This was turning out to be a great success! Now all that remained was to continue running the maze and wait until the professor announced the next part of the lesson.