"That's what I said, isn't it?" she called back to the girl who voiced her doubts (Torii). Listen, Zoryn was actually very unsure of herself, but as far as everyone else was aware she was 100% confident. She'd opted to take the lead and a leader never backed down (not unless their parents took away their badge and sent it back to the school, forcing them to quit the position and suffer the consequences) (but this wasn't the point).

After a little while more of paddling, Zor let out a silent sigh of relief. Their Professor's voice still remained constant and.... now he was SINGING?????

He did remember that he was teaching a lesson right? What exactly was the point of all this?? The Gryffindor literally couldn't remember anymore, she had started tuning the man out, well his words anyway. Because the sound of his voice was really the only clue they had. The lantern thing was WAY too confusing to pay attention to.

Were they almost there yet?

This lesson was interesting in terms of education, but also for the students she was now observing from the back of their boat. Odaline had no intention of helping out properly, but those vocal in the boat had said to continue straight so instead of letting them change their mind on that decision, she joined back in with the oaring to get them there. Did she care if it was the wrong way? Nah. She knew how to stay safe in a capsized boat, could hold her breath under water for almost two minutes and she was sure she could hold someone else under for longer than that.

If needed, obviously.

But she was getting bored quickly. Nothing was happening that she felt she was properly taking in other than she hated everyone at this school with a passion. Even the scream hadn't interested her. Cool. Maybe someone had died in another boat. THAT would make for no homework, right?

It became apparent as they rowed on that they weren't heading the same was as their Headmaster and Odaline was thrilled. No one had immediate eyes on them and she was able to crawl between the others in their boat the the front and look in the direction they were rowing. Or trying to row, because she'd become very aware of the muttering boy not rowing which meant that he needed to go so he got a violent shove out of the way so that she could take his oar and keep them going in the direction they needed to be. The doom they'd chosen.

Straight ahead.

Jackson returned Dorian’s greeting with the nod equivalent, and smiled at Ewan as he began speaking to him. He didn’t know what it was particularly, but Jackson was pretty fond of this kid. He was such a nice kid. Jackson had had a great summer as a matter of fact. “It was really good actually, thanks!” Had he forgotten about last year? Definitely not. Did his summer more than make up for it? Definitely yes. Between his visit to his parents, his mum visiting him at his cousin’s, and DUHHH his new kittyyy!

As the lesson started, Jackson listened as the Headmaster spieled about his attendance policy, but compared to last year, it seemed that nothing could really surprise Jackson anymore. Even this mushy floor was more of an interest than a shock. Jackson considered this professor and had to admit that so far, Jackson liked him. At the first question, Jackson raised his hand. “Well, especially if it’s dark out, it’s hard to see where you’re going or what you’re heading towards or away from… like safety, traps, or yea, a hoard of hinkypunks.” Was it a hoard? A herd? A flock perhaps? He nodded along at some of the other answers, while also ruling out who he would want to be stuck in survival mode with.

Okay… He had lied before. Jackson had thought that there was nothing that could surprise him anymore, but here they were… leaving this lovely bog to go… to a different bog? Jackson had become increasingly hesitant when it came to any ‘field trips.’ He followed the instructions, keeping his wand secure in his pocket. For the next question, Jackson considered the second one more. “If I was out here I wouldn’t trust any light source but my own, and I’d make a shield for those fireballs.”

When they arrived at the water, Jackson shook his head. Seriously? Had no one told the new Headmaster about that one time? Mental shrug. Maybe this will go how the grindylow thing was supposed to. Merlin, it had been quite some time since Jackson had been in one of these boats! He watched as everyone started frantically getting into the boats and he just waited until he saw a vacancy with Drewett, Tessa, and Oda.

No matter the path you’ve taken, once you head far enough down the river it becomes apparent that they all come together again just before ending at a mass of land. It’s an area completely surrounded by the water and as you may imagine, it’s as muddy and bog like as the ground you travelled on to get here.

Once you’ve successfully mastered the river, dismount the boats here. The Headmaster waits on the shoreline.

Malachi’s stance is casual. If he’s bothered or annoyed that some managed to get lost, it didn’t show (and he genuinely was not). The man was the picture of perfect calm as he waited for everyone to arrive.

The Headmaster patiently stood by and waited for the students to gather around him with the occasional call for them to do so. Once they’d all gathered, he gave them a small moment to take a breather.

“Now we’ll move on to the final part of the lesson, the practical. Using spells that have been covered in your previous charms lessons, you will tackle hinkypunks. First Years and those unfamiliar with the spells, please ask an older student for assistance.” It was the first day back, first years would not have had the opportunity to learn these as yet. ”I am also available to offer assistance should you prefer.” Either way, the spells would not be the difficult sort. “Lumos, the light charm. If you’re able, try a more potent version of the charm—lumos maxima. Follow it up with a knockback jinx once you have successfully solidified the hinkypunks. As was mentioned before our little boat trip, light makes them grow solid. The intensity of the light will determine how soon they solidify.” A “lumos maxima” would obviously get the job done sooner than a regular “lumos”. “Lumos is a simple spell but you’ll have to concentrate then create a loop with your wand, like this.” He took the time to demonstrate and paused in case any wanted to try it then and there. “As for the knockback jinx, you’ll use “flipendo.” And again he demonstrated the wand movement then waited a moment for anyone who wanted to try that out.

“One thing I’d like you all to remember, these are not real hinkypunks, they will not seriously hurt you. The important thing here is to keep calm and concentrate. You may work alone or with others.” Neither spell was difficult and with teamwork, if anyone was having problems with one it could easily be remedied through the aid of others.

At the end of his explanation many lanterns appeared at the edge of the water and began creeping closer.

“Get to work, I’ll be watching.”

OOC: Hey everyone! Thanks for sticking through the lesson so far! We’re on to the final activity. The students will have to defeat the fake!hinkypunks. They can do this alone or with the help of others. You may RP the hinkypunks and have until Monday evening around 9pm EST to get it done <3

Once they were off the boats and the headmaster had spoken Malachi hesitantly turns to Septimus and talks while looking slightly at the ground. "Um if it isn’t to much trouble could you show me how to do the spells?"

Straight. Keep going straight.

Drewett wasn't entirely sure if he should trust the people on this boat, save for their prefect on board, but he didn't have a choice at this moment. He didn't want to cower and just wait for the worst to happen...but he was doing exactly that. However, he didn't know what else to do so he just nodded even if the Gryffindor girl, Tessa, couldn't see her. But before he could get a grip of himself and continue rowing, the Ravenclaw was bumped really hard and sent FALLING OFF HIS SIDE OF THE BOAT.

And hitting some INVISIBLE wall at the side of his head, then back inside the 'safety' of his boat. He was now lying on the board floor like an idiot.

"AGH!" Drewett yelped once he fell back into the boat, letting go of his oar, which was now probably floating away from them. That felt like a concussion and normally, he would panic at such impact. But now, his head hurt and his back hurt and everything hurts and was he going to survive this first day of classes when he awfully slammed his head onto....whatever in Merlin's beard that was? He'd forgotten that he was apparently shoved off by whoever was beside him. Such betrayal. See? Trust. No. One. And he had lost his oar.

As if this day couldn't bring any more bad luck, it started raining fireballs. Drewett was only about to sit back up but...nah, son. Those were fireballs. The fourth year covered himself with his arms, crouching into a fetal position. No no no no NO. NO WAY. He stayed in the same position for a good five minutes, bracing himself for his doom. Please keep rowing please keep rowing I lost my oar I'm sorry.

.............."Is it d-done? Are we....?" He only looked up when they finally reached land and thank MERLIN the headmaster was there. The fourth year hurried out his boat, tripping a little in the process due to the bumping incident. Were they done now? Could he go lie down before his next class? Drewett just wanted the world to stop spinning already. Except they had to defeat the hinkypunks first.

How does one voluntarily faint in class?

Ugh. Mary had been asked to talk to others. She would have to ask other years for assistance. She was too awkward for this. As she exited the boat, she held out her hazel wand and followed the movement for lumos. Then she followed the movement for Flipendo.

She looked up, not at all wanting to ask for assistance. "Lumos" she said quietly. The affect wasn't bright, but it worked. The tip of her wand illuminated the area around her. She held it close to her, frightened. "Lumos" she said, trying to be as loud as she could, which wasn't very loud for Mary. The tip illuminated a bit brighter and she held it out. No fake Hinkypunks solidified.

Looking over at his boatmates, and noticing the varying degrees of mud splatter on them, Camilus shook his head.

"Yeah, please Septimus, just so we can see how best to do it," Camilus agreed.

Camilus was good at other rarely-used spells, it was just the general every-day ones that got him turned around a bit.

He’d needed to pee BEFORE the whole screeching fiasco. He didn’t need to pee because he was SCARED or anything. Don’t be ridiculous. Haaaaah. Okay, so the whole ordeal didn’t really help things in the bladder department, but obviously he was never going to admit that.

He was the oldest one in the group. He was the a student leader… The Slytherin Prefect. These youngsters obviously looked up to him.

Hah.

Once more, Max pretended to act oblivious when Caolan shoved an oar his way. There was no point of him contributing a bit of muscle, okay? He didn’t HAVE any. And anyways, whatever path they’d taken had apparently got them where they needed to go. Land, FINALLY.

Without a second glance, Max stumbled from the boat and continued his fidgety needtopee dance as the Headmaster rambled on and on and on for what felt like forever.

He was hoping that was it... end of class. But then he spotted all the lanterns creeping their way.

UGHHHHsfskjdfs

The older Gryffindor girl, Zoryn, had given Torii a fairly sarcastic reply, but Torii paid it no extra attention. In this kind of environment, everybody was tense and on edge, and besides, something else had caught Torii's attention. They had taken the right path after all, hadn't they? Torii could see the Headmaster's light up ahead, and she could hear him mumbling on about something or another. It gave her a little bit more hope.

Just up ahead, the Headmaster had docked his boat, and he was waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. GOOD. Getting out of this boat and being able to stand closer to the expert made her feel a whole lot better. Soon enough, their boat had reached the edge, and Torii was climbing out of it and heading toward Trent. She nodded along as the instructions were given. The hinkypunks weren't real, and she was confident about the spells she had to use. So in other words, it was game on!

"Out of the boat, guys," Chloe felt the boat bump against some sort of shore line and she was eager to move away from the ghost fireballs. Or perhaps this was one of those 'out of the fireplace, into the Floo' scenarios, because they might be on dry land, but it wasn't as if they were done with hinkypunks.

Nope, those little devils seemed to be attacking them directly this time.

"If anyone needs a lesson in Lumos, I'm game." Chloe fiddled her wand before casting the little looping motion as instructed (and as well practiced). "Lumos. Lumos maxima." The light was nice and bright, and it did seem to make the approaching figures solidify into something more easily attacked.

WHAT WAS THAT NOISE!!

Chloe put her hands over her ears when the screeching noise started and closed her eyes. She didn't want to be there anymore and she was going to just sit like that until they died or the boat stopped, whichever would come first. She could hear her boatmates talking and deciding but with her hands over her ears, it was all muffled.

With her eyes closed, she wasn't prepared when the boat finally came to a stop and she fell from her seat to the floor of the boat. Eyes opening she looked around, "We stopped?" Chloe got herself back up on her feet and followed everyone up the muddy bank. Her green eyes watched for the ones that joined in her in her boat, maybe they were to stay together.

Once listening to the professor it seemed that it didn't matter, but maybe she would try to hang with them anyway. They were good boatmates so they would be good battlements too, right? Even though this wasn't a battle, but she could pretend it was.

The third-year lifted her wand, "Lumos" That would do to start out, but she knew she would soon need to do more.

It was completely cool with him that someone else make the final decision on which way to go. Gunnar didn't want to be responsible for their demise if he was wrong. And Aaron did have a pretty good point, if no one was actually certain - they were already headed one way, it might be difficult to really veer off drastically different. It was already kind of hard to coordinate their rowing.

"Right, it is," he confirmed after Abra, and he picked up his oar to start rowing again. Hopefully they were right. And singing? Yes, he was almost definitely sure he heard singing now, especially the further they were rowing their boat. "Either the headmaster is singing.. or... hinkypunks don't sing, do they?" He was 99% sure they didn't.

And it wasn't much longer till what soon became apparent was a land mass came into view. Once they reached land, Gunnar laid his oar down inside the boat and stepped out, heading towards their professor.

Lumos was easy and he knew the knockback jinx fairly well, but Gunnar wasn't as well-versed in Lumos Maxima. Might be a good one to practice now if it made defeating hinkypunks easier. "Lumos Maxima," he uttered to himself while making the loopy wand movements, consumed enough with his practice that he didn't immediately notice the approaching lanterns.

It was somewhat of a relief when the boat eventually came to a stop and the team arrived on the shoreline. Despite enjoying rowing and the chance to be active (it beat sitting at a desk after all), he wasn’t impressed with certain members of his team not pulling their weight and therefore immediately distanced himself from that someone as he stepped off the boat and steadied it for the younger students with his foot. He didn’t want them to lose balance and fall in.

He listened to the Headmaster spiel on only this time he had stopped going on about the curriculum or singing show tunes or whatever he was doing and was actually talking about something relevant to the listen. Mr Prefect was practically doing a pee dance and Caolan was finding it hard to keep a smirk from gracing his face.

Now onto what they were supposed to be doing.

He took his wand out of his pocket excited about using his Da’s wand for the first time at school. He flicked his wand around in a loop. “Lumos” he spoke clearly, a grin slowly gracing his face as the top of his wand lit up with a luminous glow. His grandparents had taught him well.

It was a huge relief when their small boat came to a larger area of the river, other boats joining them. This meant they'd gotten through the first part of the lesson, yes? Her major takeaway from her time on the water was that she was rubbish at rowing and hopefully if she was ever stuck out on a boat in the real world, she'd be lucky enough to have an experienced oarsman with her.

As soon as they struck dry land, the sixth year was up and out of the boat, any anxieties she'd been feeling quickly dissipating. While hinkypunks were what they were supposed to be worrying about, she'd been more focused on her lack of swimming ability before, even if the headmaster had insisted they were safe out there. Now she could take back some of the control and do what she enjoyed most, charms.

"If anyone needs help, let me know." This was mostly directed towards Vita's boat mates, as they were close by, but she'd be willing to extend her offer to other younger students, too.

Movement in the distance alerted her to the arrival of the hinkypunks and she lifted her wand, allowing memory to guide her movements as she uttered, "Lumos maxima." The light was strong and bright and she watched with a satisfied smile as it seemed to change the hinkypunks in her vicinity. This was better. She had this.

Patrick had listened to the others in his boat. He had learned a long time ago it was sometimes easier to just go along and listen than to argue. He wasn’t going to pick a choice because the last time he had he was dangling by a cliff.... but he was pretty sure he was the only person who remembered that.

THEY PICKED THE RIGHT WAY! He was so amped. Following Zoryns directions he felt the sass come through and as she responded to Torii. He paid them no mind as he continued rowing until they were docked next to the head master. He got out and listened intently.

DRAWING OUT THE HINKYPUNKS?!?!

No thank you. But he knew he was going to have to do it anyways. He heard a few others start saying the spell. He was not ready for this. He figured since he had practiced Maxima last year he could go ahead and try it this term. Getting his wand ready, “Lumos Maxima!” making the correct wand movement he waited for the wispy create to come out.

So far so good. Everything appeared nice and calm as she helped her team row their boat to the left as agreed upon. The light from the lantern they had chosen to follow was still remaining steady. Perhaps they had went the cor-

WHOA!

What was that?! FIRE BALLS were raining down around their boat! They had gone the wrong way! Don't panic. Don't panic. It was hard not to panic when they were told NOT to use their wands! She wasn't alone in the boat either, she had others that needed to be kept safe. "What do we do?" she asked quickly glancing at her team. Her fingers were inching towards her wand when their boat was hit in the side with a fire ball! Rylee jumped in surprise a small startled yelp escaping her lips.

Buuuuuut... what was this? Their boat was on fire and no one was hurt? Huh? This was... fake. Of course. It was meant to scare them. "Keep rowing! We're okay, just keep rowing!" As long as they kept moving they would be okay. No sense in remaining where they were like sitting ducks. With that being said Ry gripped her oar more firmly and returned to rowing down the river as quickly as she could with the help of her team.

Finally after what felt like ages they came to the shoreline where the Headmaster was standing. YES! Breathing out a sigh of relief she docked the boat up against the shore and quickly got out, offering a hand to her team mates to help them as well. "We made it." They were all in one piece.

Only they weren't done. Not yet anyway. Here come the Hinkypunks. Fake ones that wouldn't harm them but they were still there. "If you two (Isla & Charlie) need any help let me know." Or Stasya, Rylee knew the older lioness would always help too.

Finally pulling out her wand she aimed it at one of the 'Hinkypunks'. "Lumos Maxima!" she cast preforming the wand movement that went along with it. Might as well practice the stronger version of Lumos while she had the chance.

Indigo's guess had proved to be right - in assuming that they wouldn't know how to turn even if they have wanted to, not about which way was the right way. Continuing straight had turned out to be the wrong course to take. He'd become aware of that fact based on the headmaster's voice floating farther away. Just seconds later came the fireballs. Indigo gripped the side of the boat even harder, but relaxed slightly when he felt more of a chill than the heat one would expect from a fireball.

They didn't continue floating for much longer before their boat hit the edge of the river. Luckily they were back with the headmaster even after taking a wrong turn (or rather, failing to take the right turn). Indigo quickly climbed out of the boat, relieved that this portion of the lesson was over. Bring on the hinkypunks, as long as he didn't have to get back into a stupid boat. It hadn't even crossed his mind yet to wonder whether they would have to cross back over the river to get out of the classroom.

Lumos maxima and flipendo were both simply spells. At least, in his opinion they were. He'd just gotten an O on this Charms OWL thank you very much. Helping small children was not something Indigo did often so he was going to let others help out the first years. Like Vita, who was already offering help if anyone needed it. He did glance at the younger girl who'd been on their boat - whose name he'd forgotten, and wasn't positive he'd ever actually heard - who was using lumos instead of lumos maxima. He didn't offer help but he did stick around there. In his mind they were teammates now, and it only made sense to work together.

Vita was close by too, and he watched as she solidified a hinkypunk. Should he flipendo it for her? Would that be good teamwork or would that be stealing her thunder? While he was anxiously considering both options the movement of a second hinkypunk caught his eye. "Lumos maxima." He watched as that hinkypunk solidified not far from Vita's. Problem solved.

Honestly - these practical bits of the lessons were starting to grow on Nettie. In primary school she'd been such a book learner, preferring to just keep reading and then practicing on her own time. That had changed dramatically in the last year or so. Smiling to herself, she listened to the Headmaster go over their next assignment and she twirled her wand in her hands eagerly. This was gonna be FUN!

Once they were dismissed to get started, she scurried off, wand at the ready as she waited for a hinkypunk to descend on her. It didn't take long before one of the creatures hopped out, waving it's lantern at her and trying to lure her in with the light. She could see why it would be so tempting to follow it if she were lost. She decided to try an aggressive approach to start.

"Flipendo!" she exclaimed, flicking her wand directly in front of her at the little creature. She watched as it stumbled back a bit, but wasn't thrown dramatically like she had been hoping. Boooo.

Rowing was starting to get harder and harder the more he tried. Was he listening to whatever it is the Headmaster was talking about? No. It wasn't that he was trying NOT to listen, it was just....... well, he was concentrating on rowing. They were on a boat, after all. And even if the Headmaster had said that they won't fall into the bog, he just wanted to get this done as quickly as possible and then he could LEAVE.

No offence, Head-

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

What? WHAT?! WHAT WAS THAT?!

Lucas's eyes widened and he froze mid-row to just..... stare. He looked around wildly, silently hoping he could see what was making that noise but it happened so suddenly and it was so dark in here that he didn't know where to look. All he knew was that something had screamed and he did NOT like the sound of that.

Could he scream? No?

His breathing was starting to become incredibly shallow and he gripped his oar as tightly as he could. It was probably a good thing that the voice of one of the older boys had broken out and disturbed his thoughts. Go faster? He looked down at where he assumed the oar in his hand was and, as his brain caught up with everything, he...... slowly........ started rowing.

Lucas was..... vaguely picking up some conversation - was Stella saying something about going right? - but he was still breathing too heavily to really notice what it was so..... he just nodded. Agreed. And if they faced any kind of danger, then, well.......

....... he didn't want to think about that.

But it looked like he didn't need to worry about that. Eventually, it looked like they were approaching....... land? Was that land?! His breathing finally calmed down enough for the second year to let out a small sigh of relief as he clambered out of the boat as best as he could with the help of Caolan. Was this it? Could they leave?

The answer was no. He'd hardly gathered around the place where the Headmaster's voice was coming from when the man had started talking about Hinkypunks and the spells they needed to use. Lucas felt deflated. These kind of activities were never easy and he knew that this was going to be the same. Maybe they were fun but he wasn't very good at these kind of activities the last time they had done them soo......

The message about them not being real Hinkypunks practically flew over the young Gryffindor's head because look! There were lanterns coming towards them which could only mean one thing: HINKYPUNKS!

Could he scream now?!

He bit down on his lip, his heart going THUMP THUMP THUMP and blocking out everything else that was being said. Instead, he took out his wand and, taking a deep breath, cast a "L-Lumos?" No. "Lu....... mos!" Still no. "LUMOS!" ...... This will do.

Now to defeat some Hinkypunks.

Don't whimper, Dakest.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malachi

Once they were off the boats and the headmaster had spoken Malachi hesitantly turns to Septimus and talks while looking slightly at the ground. "Um if it isn’t to much trouble could you show me how to do the spells?"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mar

Looking over at his boatmates, and noticing the varying degrees of mud splatter on them, Camilus shook his head.

"Yeah, please Septimus, just so we can see how best to do it," Camilus agreed.

Camilus was good at other rarely-used spells, it was just the general every-day ones that got him turned around a bit.

So straight ahead was the direction they were continuing to go along the river which was just fine by Septimus. He rowed with the rest to guide their boat the way they were heading, the light the were following either the headmaster’s or it wasn’t. In the end it turned out it really didn’t matter as the lights all came together as the opposite shore was revealed to them through the fog once they came to the spot for their next base of operations. He helped ease their boat out of the water so they could all get out back on land.

Practical…dealing with hinkypunks.

As an older student, he knew the spells. But Septimus was reminded most of his boatmates were younger as first Malachi and then Camilus asked him for his assistance. “Sure,” he added, taking out his wand from the secure pocket where it had been stashed. “Let’s start with a lumos to light things up,” he said, echoing the headmaster’s demonstration slowly and as precise and clear as he could make it with his own “Lumos!” to light his wand tip and show his companions so they could hopefully copy.

"No, I don't think they do..." Abra replied, his tone somewhat bemused. If the situation weren't so tense, what with expecting hinkypunks to leap out of them at any moment and start walloping them with their lanterns, he might have cracked an amused smile at the thought of following the headmaster's singing. All the same, he felt he'd have a good chuckle about it later; not a mean chuckle, though.

Before long, the boat bumped against something, and Abra felt his heart leap into his throat for just a brief second, before he realised what they'd hit was a mass of land. The end of the route. Seeing that the headmaster was out of his own boat, Abra followed suit and stood by, awaiting instructions and wandering what kind of state his shoes and clothes would be in by the time he got to see them by the light of day.

Oh boy. The practical.

... Well, at least they weren't real hinkypunks. Abra appreciated that that had been made clear beforehand; he had been feeling a little on edge since that screech, and had been expecting bad, bad things to happen, but what the headmaster had described wasn't so terrible at all. He drew his wand, squelched away a short distance through the mud so that he wasn't going to get in anyone's way, and braced himself for action.

With a "Lumos," Abra lit his wand, so that he was prepared and could, you know, see, and focused his attention on the lanterns approaching from the gloom.

She still felt her legs shaking, but Chloe was finally feeling a bit more confident the longer she was on land and no one was screeching like they were off to their death in a row of boats. Walking and looking around for the hinkypunks she didn't have to squint in the dark anymore, everyone else's wands were so bright it was lighting the entire area enough she didn't realize she only had a small light. Hearing Vita she looked up at the sixth year and then to Indigo, she was very grateful she had them with her.

Where was Ewan though?

She looked around for Ewan and the fourth year they had in their boat too. Were they still right by them? Glancing back once more before she heard a noise. "Is that them?" She moved her wand to get ready and looked at it curiously.

Why was it so dim compared to the older students near her?

Oh

"Lumos Maximus"

With her light brighter she got ready to do the next spell.

So Torii was off to a slow start. It kind of took her a minute or two to start breathing normally again. The boat ride had scared her just a little bit, whether she was going to admit it or not. Being lured off into a bog, as part of a class or not, was kind of unsettling to say the least. Once she was mentally ready, she turned, waiting for one of the creatures to attempt an attack on her.

Once one of them came by, Torii raised her wand toward it. "Lumos Maxima!" she called out. Being a fourth year, she was pretty confident of that charm. Had she been just a little younger, she probably wouldn't have attempted it. The light burst from her wand and directed itself toward the hinkypunk. It wasn't long before the creature solidified, and Torii took that moment to change charms.

"Flipendo!" she shouted, directing a second charm to the creature. The creature was knocked backward, and Torii felt a sense of encouragement swell inside of her. Now she was ready. REALLY ready. Bring it on, punks!

It’s like flying…

Rylee’s words to Isla had echoed in Stasya’s mind as they’d continued rowing, turning to the left as they’d agreed. With the fog and everything it really was kind of like flying, even if Stasya had really only gone flying during flying lessons. Everything was just generally eerie, and there had been a few moments where she’d kept expecting to hear another screech as they’d proceeded further own the river. That and she had the feeling that not everyone had turned the same way they had decided to go, which was giving her the feeling that maybe she’d made the wrong decision.

At which point she resolved to protect her boatmates to her best efforts, no matter what. If they came out of the fog to see the headmaster right in front of them, that would be better, but she knew she was capable. Even so, she’d slipped her wand out to hold it against the oar as she kept rowing. Just in case she’d been wrong…and as the first fireball appeared, she knew she had been. It didn’t matter that Rylee and Charlie had agreed with her. She was the oldest and she was a prefect, so that made this all her fault.

The yelp from the redhead elicited a murmured shield charm from the blonde, but otherwise she had kept rowing as if they could outrun the fireballs. It was entirely possible, but then she’d been startled to realize that there hadn’t been any heading their way since the one that had startled Rylee, and her earlier thoughts about how the headmaster couldn’t be actually putting them in harm’s way came back into her mind. “They can’t hurt us,” she said, keeping her voice confident but also still convincing herself she was right as they kept rowing until they bumped up against the shoreline and she saw the headmaster standing there amongst the other students.

Part of her had been tempted to ask what they’d already faced if the hinkypunks were only going to be around now, but she stayed quiet as the instructions were given. She could manage both of those spells. Neither were nearly as hard as some of the others she’d practiced over the years for dueling purposes. “Or me,” she added as Rylee had offered her help. Of course she’d help if anyone needed it.

But first she needed to prepare herself for a fake!hinkypunk onslaught, as she saw the lanterns come at them with full force. She had a bone to pick with them anyhow. “Lumos maxima!,” she called out, letting the tip of her wand trace out the looping movement as she focused all of her intent on the lanterns. She was ready, and as the first fake!hinkypunk came into the reach of her lighted wand she changed tactics. “Flipendo!”

One fake!hinkypunk down, who knew how many to go.