The fact Ronan had earned points for guessing a spell that she’d known as well didn’t bother Stasya at all. Especially since it benefited Gryffindor more than either of them personally, plus she’d gotten distracted by the professor’s message to her. Even if, deep down, she felt like it was nearly the same as Professor Noble’s distrust of her in Potions because of her love for creatures. At least the Transfiguration professor seemed like she was respecting her beliefs. Plus, there was always that little voice in her head that kept saying she might need the professor’s help to actually accomplish her Animagus goal, not that she didn’t trust Ollie and Emmeline. Maybe not Théo, because he really sort of was just in their group to round out the numbers and she could always try and replace him with Tempest if it seemed a better idea.

The fact the lesson had started by mentioning duels had definitely piqued her interest, though. Gotten her mind away from her other mission anyway and her attention back on the lesson. “There’s Avifors. It would definitely be a bit difficult for an opponent to continue dueling if they were turned into a bird,” she offered, raising her hand. Dueling was nearly as much of her thing as creatures were, really. Plus, turning a Dark creature into a sparrow or something would make it way less scary too.

Rylee set her full attention onto Grimsbane as she rose to her feet and made her way to stand before them all. They would be learning new spells. Not one but at least two from the sound of it. Ones that could be used in duels. It was likely she would find herself working on perfecting these spells during her practices with Hirsch.

Pulling out some parchment and her quill she quickly began to take notes. Raising her hand she was ready to give an answer, "There's always Incarcifors. It transfigures something into a cage to capture the opponent or creature. If they're inside a cage they might pose a little less of a threat." Might being the chosen word there. It would always depend on what it was you were trying to capture.

Transfiguration was one of those subjects that Bel found elusive, but also? Really interesting. She LIKED it, she just wasn't great at it. She had to work a billion times harder than most just to get a spell to a basic level. It was okay though, Bel knew it wasn't her strength, and at least it was cool fun to learn about.

Transfiguration spells that could be used in duels? Bel mused on the question. The questions, actually, since she wanted an example. That was harder since Bel had actually never dueled before, but she'd try. So....

... um.

Wait a second.

She put her hand up.

"Professor? If you knew stuff about your opponent, and what their weaknesses were, you could use that to your advantage even if it wasn't a spell that typically would be any good in a duel. Like if someone had bad hayfever? And was allergic to flowers? You could conjure flowers with Orchideous and then while they're sneezing and stuff at all the pollen you could attack. Or even use like.... um... whats it called... the wind one... oh yeah! Ventus! You could use that to blow the pollen from the bunch of flowers at them." Bel paused. "Actually, maybe.... when you conjure flowers, can you conjure specific kinds of flowers? Cos you could maybe use Orchideous to conjure a flower that has like.... paralytic or sleepy effects or something like that, and then blow that pollen on them and... yeah. Something like that." So that was a spell and also a scenario, wasn't it? Hopefully it counted as a good answer.

Listening to a few more answers, Bel couldn't help but put her hand back up, a question on her lips. "Professor, why do so many transfiguration spells have -fors on the end of the incantations?" Did it MEAN something? Hopefully her question wasn't too off topic.

Yep. A lot of hoping going on for Bel in this class.

Ooh duelling. Hattie liked duelling. She was part of the club. She had known it would come in handy, even if she wasn't intending on going down that career path. So the seventh year totally knew this question. Now though, she wanted to think of a good answer. Harriet liked having unique answers, ones that her class mates were not likely to repeat. So, that was why she was doing some good thinking. She had to make sure it was good, and unique, and that nobody would repeat it. The blonde thought back to her duels, trying to work out what transfiguration spells she tended to use. Finally, a few minutes later, she put her hand up into the air to answer.

"You could use the Ears to Kumquats spell, which would transform the opponents ears into Kumquats. This prevents them hearing the spells that are cast against them. For people who can't cast non-verbally, this would really help, and give you an momentary advantage." Once she had finished she put her hand down and smiled. She was happy with that answer.

When the door closed, Dorian sat up right in his red cushion and even straightened his Ravenclaw tie to show that he was ready to learn. Since there was no desk, the third year pulled out his notebook and muggle pen and placed it in his lap to make notes.

As the first question came, the Ravenclaw wrote down some of the answers he heard the other students say cause they sounded like good ideas to use but he stopped writing when the Hufflepuff Prefect mentioned a spell he had never heard before. Ears in to Kumquats? Dorian scratched the back of his head "What are Kumquats?" he asked.

Of course, he too had an answer to provide and he raised his hand in the air after writing down his notes. "I'd use incarcerous like Swann and Livingston mentioned. Mainly because its funny to see someone fall over...." thats it...just funny... "Oh wait, i should probably add that i'd use that opportunity to run away" he was good at that. "And can you change the color of the ropes when you cast it? Like, what if you said "Incarcerous Purple" would purple ropes appear?" He asked, genuinely curious.

OH good, her essay was fine. At least something was going alright, which was a good thing if Skylar wanted to study advanced transfigurations next year. Which was a strong possibility assuming she got accepted. Small smile at the professor and then the lesson was starting and they were learning defense against dark creatures or dueling? She dropped dueling club two years ago in pursuit of other activities, but that didn't mean she didn't have theoretical knowledge. And considering she wanted a combination career with auror, it wasn't as if this knowledge would be wasted.

"Perhaps a switching spell?" Skylar suggested, after raising hand, since she had said to name a transfiguration spell. "It can be used to switch an object from something that might be in your pocket like lint or something... to something more useful in a duel." Super generic, but it was a super generic question.

Celestia favored the class with a smile, as she had been pleased with their answers. Many of them were thinking outside the box and this was obviously a good habbit for the students to fall into. Once the class had fallen silent again, Celestia prepared to begin her lecture, ”Well done, class! Some of you had rather interesting ideas.”

”Now, today’s spells are both difficult and dangerous. If I see anyone messing around in this lesson, they will be asked to leave and will not be returning,” Celestia began sternly. ”Today, we will be studying some advanced spells that will allow you to get the upper hand in a duel, to distract your opponent, or at the very least to cause a diversion that would last long enough for you to get away.” Celestia peered into all of the students’ faces to ensure that they were taking her seriously.

”The first spell that you will practice conjures a rope made of fire. Like so,” Celestia said before pulling her wand out of its holster. She waved her wand as though she was brandishing a whip, and cast, ”Ignisio funem!” A thin stream of fire curled its way out of her wand tip and slowly wove in a rope-like shape around and around Celestia’s body. She held the spell for a moment before ending it abruptly; the fire died away instantly without leaving even a trace of smoke in the air. ”As you may have noticed, the fire that you conjure using this spell is magical in nature -- it does not give off smoke nor should it burn unless the caster wills it to do so. It is a more...interesting cousin of the spell that creates bluebell flames. The caster likewise controls how ‘thick’ the fire is once it forms a rope shape, and should direct where the rope will come into existence. This can be accomplished through will alone, or the caster can wave his wand along the path he wants the ‘rope’ to follow. Now, this spell can be cast with real, non magical flames by changing the incantation -- and we’ll be doing that in N.E.W.T. classes.” Celestia paused once again to gauge her students’ reactions. Some of them wore expressions of alarm on their faces, while others looked excited or intrigued by the spell. Celestia shot the latter group of students a small smile.

”The lesson will not end with that rope of fire, however. Although it would make a good distraction and can detain an opponent on its own -- if the caster wills the fire to truly burn -- we will now see a means of countering the spell!” Celestia silently conjured the fire in its rope shape once again, but this time she directed the flames to lay in a straight line about two feet off of the classroom floor. It was far enough away that there was still a good distance between the line of fire and the cushions nearest to the front of the room; the professor didn’t want to spook anyone with this next spell. She drew an ‘S’ shape with her wand slowly and precisely before shouting, ”Anguisfors!” The line of flames that floated off the fire was quickly replaced by a large, black snake.

”No need to panic,” Celestia said quickly. ”This is not an actual, living snake; it is merely a conjuration that is completely under the caster’s control. With enough will, focus and force behind the spell, the caster should be able to command the conjured snake to attack or wrap itself around an opponent.” Celestia Vanished the snake almost lazily before turning a slightly guilty look on Miss Dalgaard-Volkova and the other creature lovers in the room; she had completely forgotten that some of them still seemed to find it difficult to accept that conjured animals were not truly living creatures. Her assurances from before class still held, for they would not be using any living animals in class today.

Celestia strode back to the blackboard and tapped it with her wand. Lines of text spread out from that spot and summarized the information for these new spells at once.

SPOILER!!: The Board

Spell: Conjures a fiery rope
Incantation: Ignisio funem
Wand movement: Whip-like movement tracing the path that the flames should follow

Spell: Fire to Snake
Incantation: Anguisfors
Wand movement: S-shape

Once the information that the class needed was on the board, some of the students seemed eager to begin. Celestia waved her wand once again and removed concealing spells that had covered two areas of the room. In the back corner behind her desk, a clothes rack holding various cloaks and supporting a stack of hats in many colors was revealed. As she gestured towards this clothes rack, Celestia explained, ”As you might expect, you’ll be getting some dueling practice in a minute. These cloaks and hats are infused with some basic Shield Charms. First, second and third years are required to wear a cloak and a hat at all times today. I would highly recommend that everyone pick a hat at the very least, but I will not force older students to do so.”

”Before you pair up and begin dueling -- practicing only Transfiguration spells, please -- you will practice the spells on the board on these for about 15 minutes,” Celestia continued as she waved toward a line of stone mannequins with a target painted on each chest. The statues were lined up along the back wall, where Celestia’s cloaking spells could keep them out of the students’ way. ”Off you go!” The red cushions on the floor would disappear as soon as each student left his/her seat. [/color]

OOC: You guys had such great answers! Sorry for the long post. You guys have 48 hours to practice the 2 spells from today by aiming them at the mannequins. These are like the things that Dumbledore’s Army used to practice on in the Room of Requirement. Feel free to control their fates. The kids would have to wait in short lines, but you don’t need to wait OOC -- just pretend that it’s your kid’s turn. Remember that the fire can only burn things if the caster wills it to, and the same goes for the snake attacking. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t have these things happen by accident; perhaps your kid imagines the snake lunging just as he conjures it and thus causes it to strike. There are hats and cloaks with Shield Charms for the students to put on -- you guys can make up what the hats look like, what color the cloaks are, etc. In other words, total creative freedom here . We’ll move on to the main activity at 12 AM CDT on July 22.

Skyler blinked away a few more tears. Of course, she had caught her crying. Skyler nodded though and let the professor continue on with the lesson until she said for them to practise the spells. Before she started to practice, she walked up to her desk before she started to practice.

Ooc:Jeez I hope that is worded right))

Celestia leaned back against her desk as she watched students getting ready to practice. It wasn't long before Miss Queen came up to her as she'd asked, and Celestia's frown only grew. The poor girl was obviously still crying, or at the very least, far too teary-eyed for the professor's taste. Being careful to keep her voice soothing and even, she asked concernedly, "Now, what's wrong, Miss Queen?" She hoped that her tone also sufficiently conveyed that staying silent was not an option for the Slytherin.

She listened to Professor Grimsbane lecture and almost fell off her cushion. It was some sort of charms meets transfiguration meets DADA nightmare. She wondered if the entire castle knew she had set Derf’s foot on fire in charms class and now she was going to have to relive that moment by needing to produce fire in every subsequent course? Plus, advanced and spell should never be used in the same sentence when she was involved.

Nevertheless, it was the day’s lesson and she knew she would have to at least give it a try. She turned to a fresh sheet of parchment and began taking notes, marking down the wand movements and incantations for the new spells. Things were going fairly well, until she saw the snake. Fire, plus creatures, was a double no for her. It hurt her heart to think of them using a poor creature, real or conjured, to attack another person. Not wanting to cause a disruption, she swallowed back her feelings and plowed forward with her task.

As soon as Professor Grimsbane finished speaking, she headed towards the protective gear. There was a wide variety of hats and cloaks available to choose from. She picked out a simple black cloak that was a bit too large for her, hoping it would offer more protection. Then, she chose the most vibrant canary yellow hat adorned with large black feathers. It was the perfect hat for the young Hufflepuff.

Satisfied with her safety attire, she headed towards the line to practice. Once in line, she let the incantation of the first spell run through her mind before saying it out loud. “Ignisio funem. Ignisio funem” She repeated until she was at the front of the line.

Stepping forward, she pulled her wand out, moved it in the proper whip like motion and commanded “ Ignisio funem!” A small sort of spark came out of the tip of her wand then nothing. “Ignisio funem!” She commanded again, picturing the rope of fire streaming from the tip of her wand. Once again, sparks. Although, more than the first try. Slightly frustrated, she stepped out of the way and moved to the back of the line to let the next person have a try. It would soon enough be her turn again to practice.

Kumquats are fruits? Well that was something he had not expected. In his mind, he had already visualized two tiny garden gnomes squeezing the ears of the opponent shut. He did not know how his brain worked ok. But when he learned that Kumquats were actually fruit he felt....mildly dissapointed. "Can we eat it? Or is it poisonious?" he asked before mumbling an apology that he was probably holding up the lesson with questions he could find out himself.

His enthusiasm came back though when the Professor answered his rope color question and this time he was not dissapointed. So it WAS possible to change the color? That was so cool! He could already imagine pranking someone at home, he knew a certain neighbourhood kid who was not that friendly towards him and his few friends. But then his face fell again when he realised that he was only fourteen and he wasn't allowed to use magic away from Hogwarts. Dumb rules. He lived for rules, rules were there to follow, but this one was dumb. "I'll try in the practise room sometimes, to see if it works" not that he was doubting her but now that he knew that it was possible he wanted to learn it.

When it was time for them to practice, Dorian was more than glad that they were provided with shield charm cloaks and hats. Every class should do this in his opinion. Kudos to the Professor. He went over to grab a cloak and unbuttoned his own Ravenclaw one before putting the shield on. He did not wear a hat so he could just put on a purple one right away.

He was ready!

Standing line behind a Hufflepuff, Dorian mumbled the incantations without the use of his wand as a practice. And when it was his turn, the third year moved his wand like a whip in the direction of the training dummy and said "Ignisio Funem!" He pictured a fiery rope going towards the dummy but the only thing that actually happened were a few sparks. He wasn't surprised really....

Maybe he was better at the snake spell? So he moved back to the line to practice that incantation.

Max straightened up on his cushion, all thoughts of this morning’s scrambled eggs poofed away. He was a bit gutted that they weren’t going to learn the bat-bogey hex, but fiery and snakey ropes? COOOL.

He wasn’t quite as thrilled about actually having to pair up and practice dueling though. Maybe Professor Grimsbane wouldn’t mind if he just practiced on the dummies for the duration of the lesson…. Or maybe Bel would be down for partnering up seeing as they were sort of pro at practicing now…

Anyway. He figured he’d cross that bridge when he got to it.

For now, he made his way to the mannequins, tugging a charmed hat snug on his head as he went. He didn’t care if he looked silly or if the Professor said only the younger kids needed to wear them. He’d already suffered pink hair this term, he didn’t need a rogue spell accidentally making him bald or something.

The Slytherin noted that a couple of the younger kids in front of him had so far only managed to produce sparks so the pressure was really on when it got to his turn. Uh ohhhh.

Max took his stance and whipped his wand in the direction of the dummy. Please work, please work. “Ignisio Funem!”

It worked! At least…… the fiery ropes formed. They didn’t quite wrap around the dummy as he’d hoped though and sort of just flopped comically on the floor and then fizzled out.

“Heh. Tougher than it looks….” He mumbled to whoever was waiting behind him before shimmying to the back of the queue.

Slowly her gaze turned from the window.

The spells mentioned, while not new to her were interesting enough that she wouldn’t fall asleep casting them. They weren’t the sort she cast on a daily basis which meant something of a challenge casting them nonverbally. At this point, she’d accept any sort of challenge she could get, even if they weren’t the sort she tried to expose herself to.

She pulled her face at the idea of a duel, wondering just how many rules would be implemented and what spells she would actually be able to use. Most of her choices, were she in a real duel with real consequences, were not the sort the Professor would allow in class....and she wouldn’t have felt right using some of them on her classmates.

Patiently, she waited for all the explanations to be handed out and she watched the demonstrations with a detached level of interest before finally raising her hand. “What’s to prevent the opponent from animating or otherwise taking control of the snake you’ve just used their fire rope to create? Vanishing too?”

Jessa got in line, just behind Max who’d made a comment about something being tough.

She gave the dummy an objective once over as she stepped up to be next. No need to practice first, she’d already learned them. Not one for verbal magic once she’d gone cold turkey to learn non-verbals, the 6th Year took a deep breath and concentrated on the fiery rope she intended to conjure. Intent and focus in line, Jessa drew her wand and did the whipping motion in the direction of the dummy. The fiery rope appeared and wrapped itself around the dummy but to her disappointment, that was all it did.

Huh.

Perhaps more focus then. More power behind the cast. Jessa ended the incantation and opted to try again despite technically getting it right. Once again she took a breath and focused her mind....her intent. She had the image of what she wanted planted firmly in her mind. Once again, she whipped her wand. It didn’t surprise her to see the line of fire burst free of her wand, but this time the dummy combusted upon contact with her rope.

Her intent had been very clear. She intended for the flames to be real and for them to be fatal. What was the point otherwise? They weren’t learning this spell to amuse a real life threat. They were learning it for real defense.

Jessa watched it burn for only a few moments before putting out the flames and returning the dummy to its normal state. She would try again with the second spell and needed an intact dummy for that.

Before she new it, she was back to the front of the line. Ready or not, she was going to have to attempt the spell again. Her wand hand flexed then wrapped around the handle of her wand. Holding it out and standing firmly on both feet, she moved the wand in a whip like fashion towards the dummy and commanded "Ignisio funem!"

Her wand started to spit and sputter, throwing sparks out like a holiday sparkler. Orange, yellow, and red balls of flame shot every which way, causing her to shield her face with her free hand. "Stop!" She yelled at her wand, but it kept up it's sparkler like pattern, shooting balls first left, then right, and all around. She could not get it to stop and she was starting to panic, just a bit. She knew they were all well protected. At least the students wise enough to put on the protective cloaks and hats were protected, and she wasn't going to hurt the dummy. She just needed to figure out a way to get the sparks to stop.

In her search for help, she spun around, shooting sparks at the next student in line, then immediately realized her error and spun back around to face the dummy. "Think, Emmalyn, think" she whispered to herself. With fire balls still flying, now turning blue, green, and even purple, as if her wand was trying to mess with her, she racked her brain for the spell she was looking for.

Just as the sparks starting coming out in the full rainbow of colors, it came to her. She stood tall, took a deep breath, and commanded "fi-NEE-tay!" Making extra sure her incantation was as precise as possible. The sparks came to a sudden halt. It had stopped! She was so excited that she bounced and clapped her hands like a young child seeing a pile of gifts on Christmas morning.

Thankful the ordeal was over, she scurried to the back of the line and holstered her wand. It would be a good five minutes before she would make it back to the front of the line again and she needed every one of those minutes to figure out what she had done wrong.

Maddie wasn't sure what happened. Maybe she was too busy thinking. Or maybe she was too busy listening. Either way, she missed a whole question and didn't realize it until the lesson had moved on. Oops. She took a few notes on a spare piece of parchment, though, so just in case the professor walked by and checked on each student, she'd at least know Maddie was participating.

Whooooa. They were going to conjure a rope made of fire?! That was awesome! She watched in awe as the professor demonstrated the spell. That was just too cool! She noted how this spell was different than the one learned at the NEWT level. At least if she didn't get the spell right off the bat today, she wouldn't get burned! And then...SUPER WHOA! Look at that snake! Maddie drew a few happy faces on her parchment to show how excited she was about today's lesson.



She did frown a little when she was lumped in with the little kids and required to wear a cloak and hat. It made her feel like "Ickle Maddie" instead of the fourteen year old she would soon become. Nevertheless, she put on a cloak and a hat in order to get started. First--incantations! "Ignisio Funem!" she called out. "Ignisio Funem!" Then... "Anguisfors! Anguisfors!" Next, she practiced the wand movements. Pretending that she had flames, she made whip-like movements with her wand. Then she practiced an S-shape which wasn't that hard at all.

They were getting to work with the big kid spells today. Something that Ronan was glad for since he wa-, well technically he was an adult now in both the wizarding and muggle worlds since he was eighteen. Anyway, he'd been studying the spells in his free time ever since he'd found them in his Transfiguration book on a boring weekend day and was now looking forward to showing off. And it looked like Jessa had had the same idea, which, the fact that she knew the spell already didn't really surprise him.

Once it was his turn, he stepped up to the front of the line and brandished his wand as if he were holding a whip, nonverbally casting 'Ignisio funem'. The rope of fire quickly slithered across the floor to wrap itself around the dummy's waist, leaving a burn mark as he had willed it to, before twirling around and up the rest of the dummy and diving back towards the floor. When the fire rope hit the floor again, Ronan quickly made an 'S' shape with his wand while nonverbally casting 'Anguisfors' and smirked when the fire rope changed into a large black snake shortly before reaching the line of students, the 'creature' raising its and head giving what could only be described as a raspberry before disappearing as he cancelled the spell.

Let's see those uppity fourth years try that!' was his thought as he returned to the back of the line to go again.

Still a few students back, Emmalyn caught sight of Ronan taking his turn. The Head Boy seemed rather over confident and a bit of a show off, but she was thoroughly impressed by his nonverbal wand skills. She tried to mimic his wand motion as she waited for her turn and she watched as his rope of fire become a snake and headed right towards the line of students. Instinctively, she jumped back, but there was no need for worry. The snake simply blew a raspberry at them before Ronan ended his turn.

She blushed as her eyes fell upon the seventh years face. She had never really noticed how handsome he was. Too bad it was his last year at Hogwarts just as she was thinking she'd like to get to know him better.

Either way, she was now at least holding the wand and moving it in a better way than before she watched him. She glanced in front of her, only two more students to go before she would be able to try again, with her improved moves.

Slate watched the demonstrations with interest. Fire transfiguration; that was simultaneously terrifying and really, really cool. He stood in line and waited his turn to give the spells a go.

He wasn't sure when this would ever come in handy. He also was still weirded out by the floor. Despite all this, he cast ”Ignisio funem.” Erupting from his wand came a rope of fire. Slate watched with a half grin. It looked just like rope he'd used while camping -- except on fire (which, it usually wasn't on fire, that only happened that one time).

He cleared the fiery ropes after another free seconds of just staring at them with mild amusement. He was curious how well they'd work for date night. Could he twist them around like a balloon animal and make shapes with them?

Jessa waited for the dummy to right itself and return to full form. It only took a few seconds then she was ready to cast again.

The intent of this cast was to achieve the results of the first; a rope of fire without actual damage. Again she would have to adjust her intent and the power behind the spell. It was the subtle things like this that kept her even marginally interested. Modulating the levels of control for her magic. It was good practice for her more important spells.

Jessa took aim and performed the whipping motion to produce the fiery rope again. It rushed from her wand, wrapping around it delicately, like the lights on a Christmas tree. One might even say the rope of fire now laid delicately on the dummy’s frame.

Refocusing her mind, the Ravenclaw set herself to just what she wanted from the snake she was about to create.

Much like the second dose of fire, she intended for it to actually be effective. Once she felt she was ready, Jessa silently drew the S shape with her wand, her gaze locked on the rope. A second later, the rope turned black. It wiggled this way and that, a head forming at the top. Fangs, sharp fangs were bared. The snake pulled away just enough for it to square up before savagely biting down on the dummy and wrangling it to the floor.

Jessa watched, fascinated by her latest creation and what she’d gotten it to do. Intent was an interesting thing that produced the most interesting results.

Daisy quickly grabbed her quill and notebook and wrote down her notes.

Daisy then grabbed her wand and a "Shield Hat". She moved her wand just like a whip before changing the motion to an S-shape. Daisy then put her wand back in her pocket and practised each of the incantations in her mind until she was pronouncing them correctly.

Daisy then lined up until it was her turn. After a few moments, Daisy was standing opposite one of the dummies. She firmly said, "Ignisio funem," as she manoeuvred her wand like a whip towards the dummy. The fiery ropes wrapped in a coil around the bottom of the mannequin which did disappointment her. She then moved her wand in an S-shape and quickly said, "Anguisfors," which caused the fiery ropes to turn into a slithering black serpent.

"Nothing major," Skyler tried to assure her.s. she blinked the remaining tears away, trying to anyway, leaving herself with mostly dry eyes.
"Just spose I've been home sick lately." She said quietly.
Her face turned a bit pink. She was a second year, why was she homesick?

The thought that her response would have surprised the professor hadn’t actually occurred to Stasya when she’d said it. The idea of transfiguring someone into a bird was oddly fascinating, actually. If just because maybe then people would realize that birds, or creatures in general, deserved to be treated the same as people. Not killed just for the usefulness of their parts, but then, this wasn’t potions. She didn’t have any reason to worry in Transfiguration, especially since she’d been assured that they weren’t going to be doing anything involving creatures today.

Plus, the dueling aspect intrigued her. At least, it made her wonder if they’d be learning spells that could actually be used in the dueling arena, sanctioned by Professor Hirsch. It was enough to at least partially distract herself, as the demonstration of said spells had happened, from the fact there technically was a creature involved. Even if technically the snake was just a magical construct and therefore wasn’t really any different from her Avifors suggestion aside from the fact they weren’t turning a person into a snake. Plus, the guilty look from the professor hadn’t gone unnoticed.

She still wasn’t going to protest. Instead, she queued up behind the others after noting down the information on the board, quickly braiding her hair out of her face in place of bothering with a hat. Besides, she was confident enough in her dueling ability to trust she could keep herself safe. Even if there was the thought that others might think she was being overly confident. She had seen that little trick of Ronan’s, after all, and oddly, the blush that had appeared on Emmalyn’s face. No, she wasn’t going to consider that. At all.

Nope. She was just going to focus on the dummy she was facing. “Ignisio funem,” she cast, making a whip-like movement toward the dummy and feeling proud of herself as a rope of fire curled out toward the dummy and barely curled around its waist before flopping to the ground.

It took a bit more willpower to convince herself to try the second spell just because of the snake thing, but she’d traced out the S-shape before he could second-guess her decision. “Anguisfors!” The resulting snake wasn’t half as impressive as the few others’ had been. It had just sort of existed for a few moments before she’d let it vanish. Off to wherever conjured snakes vanished to. Maybe there was an alternate reality or something?

Max readied himself for his next try, suuuper determined to get it right this time around. He was gonna show that mannequin who was boss.

"Ignisio funem!" He whipped his wand again, every ounce of focus on the fiery ropes and the direction he wanted them to go. Okay... maybe not every ounce of focus because he was still partly thinking about breakfast and how particularly yum it had been today but yeah. Most of his focus.

And apparently it was enough!

This time the conjured fiery ropes wrapped around the dummy. Kind of loosely, but it was better than the first attempt!

Time to try the second spell. He moved his wand in the S-shape Professor Grimsbane had demonstrated. "Anguisfors!" The rope did indeed transform into a snake.... if you could call it a snake. It wasn't exactly an intimidating snake that would scare an opponent though. It looked more like a baby worm.

Okay, that was embarrassing.

Maddie had only felt comfortable enough to practice the incantations and wand movements separately, so as of right now, she'd actually conjured a whole bunch of nothing from her wand. Now she felt like she could at least give it a try, even if she still didn't manage to conjure anything. She stepped back up to face the statues.

She stared at the first statue and tried to picture a fiery rope springing from her wand. She made a whip-like motion with her wand. "Ignisio Funem!" she called out. A think stream of fire made its way out her wand tip, but the fire died down shortly afterward. Maddie frowned. Thank goodness this hadn't been a real duel! That would have allowed way too much room for her opponent to defeat her!

Facing the same statue, who was still unharmed, Maddie tried the spell a second time. If she even wanted some kind of success with the second spell, she had to get the first spell down pat beforehand. She pictured that same fiery rope coming from her wand. "Ignisio Funem!" she said again, making the whip-like motion a second time. Another stream of fire made its way out her wand again. This stream was longer and looked more like a rope of fire. She even managed to hold it for a few seconds before it went away.

Awesome!

He'd noticed that blush of Emmalyn's as he walked by, but pretended not to. After all, she was a bit too young for him. Maybe if she were a bit older....

Anyway, once he'd reached the front of the line again, he took up the same whip-like motion with his wand as before, only this time when he cast the nonverbal 'Ignisio funem', the flame rope took up the shape of a bowling ball rolling right towards the dummy, only to unfurl when it reached the dummy's feet and twirl around them like a dog chasing its tail. After it had done that a few times, it shot up the dummy's legs, where, with a silent 'Anguisfors', turned into a black snake around its knees and continued snaking up and around the dummy into it reached the shoulder. Once it was at the shoulder, it snaked down the arm before disappearing as Ronan canceled the spell.

His turn done, he walked back to rejoin the back of the line again, satisfied with his work.