Had his answer been dark? Yeah. Morgan knew it was too and he had been well aware of his wording. He hadn’t meant it in a tongue-in-cheek way either, but the image from that recent, eventful Potions class had been playing on a loop in his head ever since, especially in his dreams. And it was just so evidently clear to the fifteen year old just how quickly one can vanish in a ~poof!~ that he couldn’t help himself from answering that way.

And he did not appear to react to Professor Carton’s plea for him to raise his hand because, honestly? Who even cared anymore? He had done his best all term to be on his best behavior (and for this Gryffindor, that was really hard sometimes!!), but he had still been locked up. And for what? Morgan was certain his own days were numbered until he was vanished into smoke along with his best bud. So yeah, Professor Carton, it was really hard for him to care about proper classroom decorum at the moment.

When the professor asked conjuration, Morgan perked up noticeably. Conjuration was his favorite part of transfiguration and he was actually halfway decent at it. He'd been practicing the past couple years and could conjure several things - flowers, butterflies, birds. He and Kale even used to have epic bird battle explosions in the dorm with their conjured birds. Right. Back when the world wasn't ending. He deflated a little again, choosing not to contribute to that question.

But it looked like he wouldn't get let off that easy since apparently they were going to be practicing conjuring birds today. Can't go five minutes without being tormented by some memory apparently. Normally Morgan would have relished such a lesson but today it was painful.

He knew this spell fairly well so he didn't have to think much on it. But he cast from his desk and with a bang, watched a solitary, dopey-looking bird fly circles above him in the air.

Violet took a few moments to gather her thoughts, then concentrated harder this time on how magpies looked (not hermagpie, just any magpie), banishing any emotional attachments the the back of her mind. Then she cast the spell again, with its interesting wand movements: "Avis! And lo and behold, this time a swarm of slender, black and white magpies came from her wand and flew about wildly. But Violet was ready for them this time. "Immobulus!" she cast at the disorderly little flock, and watched them all freeze motionless in the air.

One by one, she plucked them out of the air and placed them in the cage, being careful not to let the blackbirds already in there get out whenever she opened the door. Once she had all the new birds lying on the floor of the cage, she pointed her wand down at them and cast: "Finite Incantatum!" But to her dismay, the magpies all disappeared, leaving only the original blackbirds still flying around at the top of the cage.

Oh. Of course, "Finite" ends a spell. Any spell, And the birds were just a spell of her, not real. So, freezing them to get them into the cage was not an option. Well, she'd try again--at least she'd been able to get the birds right this time--and just try her best to get as many of them into the cage as she could.

Conjuring wasn’t her strong suit. it took discipline, concentration and determination- and while Yoyo had these attributes in spades when it came to dancing... applying them to magic was a very different thing. The current state of her mind did not help matters, for Yoyo simply... did not care. Class, before, had felt like a reprieve. a spot of normality in a topsy-turvy world.

She tugged at her robe sleeve, laying flat on her arm so the fabric was without wrinkle. Yoyo otherwise made no movement to complete this new task. she did not reach for her wand. she did not take a deep, steadying breath. she did not look to her classmates to see how their work was coming. Instead, Yoyo focused lazily on the way the light danced across the dark fabric of her sleeve.

There was her answer to her question. And so it seemed that the birds would not vanish eventually {until they died, of course}. Claudine was super pleased that the feathery creatures would be released and she gave Carton a happy smile that had become rare these days.

Right.

Back to the activity.

With practice down and the images of the birds that she wanted to conjure in her head, she hurried off to collect a cage. Once back at her earlier spot, the cage was set down on the bench. Here went nothing. Claudine pictured the exotic, colourful bird in her mind: a black beak as well as talons red and yellow wings, green back, red legs, yellow underbelly and head.

“Avis.’’ As per norm, her incantation was commanding and full of confidence. There was a loud BANG {which made her jump} and some smoke. However, the smoke was so little that it cleared in a second. But was there a macaw anywhere close? No. Claudine was not surprised.

So she tried again. And again and again. Claudine made sure the incantation and wand movement were correct each time. Bangs and a whole lot of smoke later, there was still no macaw around.

Violet had conjured a flock of birds, yet again. This time they were magpies, and this time she managed to lure them into the cage, and keep the caged birds from getting out, by throwing in a handful of crumbs she'd made by tearing up the roll she'd saved from yesterday's lunch. (You never knew when you would be fed down in the Room, so Violet had learned to keep some in reserve, just in case. Though in this case, she'd forgotten about it until it was stale and hard, but that made it excellent for bird food.)

When the last little magpie had entered the cage, Violet slammed shut the door and stood for a moment watching the little mixed flock of blackbirds and magpies eagerly eating crumbs on the bottom of the cage. Eventually, as the food ran out, they all began to fly around the cage again. Violet felt a bit sad at the group of birds that she'd finited away accidentally, because they seemed just like real birds, so she kind of felt like she'd killed them. Though they wouldn't have been alive in the first place if she hadn't conjured them in the first place. But still... Well, there was nothing Violet could do about it now, except file away the experience to keep her from making the same mistake again. And wait until Professor Carton examined their work and called the end of class. Which meant going back to the Room. So Violet sat back and looked up at the sky to see if there were any other birds flying around, and enjoying the day while she could.

Oh cool they were conjuring birds? It wasn't a Wampus or Dragon but he'll take it. Smiling at Lia he nodded his head, this was definitely that they would do, all too well. He was actually excited about this, he couldn't wait to conjure some awesome looking birds. Going to grab a cage he placed back on his desk before taking he started practicing the spell without his wand. Avis... Avis.." Okay... that part was easy but the wand movement was the hardest part.


Taking his wand he pratice the wand movement biting his lip he started thinking of a bird. A rainbow lorikeet*was on his mind, he started picturing the way it looked to the colors. Closing his eyes he did the wand movements and simply said. "Avis" As colorful rainbow feathers shot out of his wans he frowned.


Um... that definitely wasn't it but he was close right? Maybe it was the way he did his wand? Looking at the feathers he brushed them off his desk. He was determined to get this right, he didn't get it on the first try and that was okay.

Fiona was ready to conjure up a raven of her own. She pictured the characteristics of her desired avian creature in her mind, moved her wand as she had done during practice before casting, "Avis!" A rather loud BANG and smoke emitted nearby before the Snakette saw a sleek, dark raven in front of her. It was cawing rather mournfully which did make her slightly uncomfortable, not that anyone would see that.

Fiona opened the door to the birdcage with a non-verbal "Alohomora" before trying to gently persuade the raven to enter its new domain but the bird was having none of it. Fiona folded her arms in slight frustration.

Well, at least she had made a bird appear.

At some point during her own preparations of learning 'Avis', Tadhg had returned to his spot near her. She had blocked out everyone else around her as best she could in order to focus on the task at hand. However as she was about to give the spell a try for the first time, her gaze found his, along with the sight of colorful feathers. "Looks like you almost got it. Try again, you can do it." She flashed him a small encouraging smile before remembering she was supposed to be doing the same.

"Avis, avis," she hummed softly. Pointing her wand at an empty space, clearing her throat she got down to work. Eyes closed, Lia visualized a Starling, shiny purplish black feathers and white almost little triangular spots. Moving her wand in a bird-like motion she spoke nice and clear, "Avis." And nothing. "Avis!," the Ravenclaw tried again, then again, then a few times more. Each time nothing more than smoke or a small bang. No birds. No feathers. No nothing.

Right. She had time to try again. And now that her eyes were open, she remembered she was supposed to get a bird cage. And conjure the birds into there. She went to the front, fetched a bird cage, and returned to her spot.

Barn owl.

She could definitely do this. She closed her eyes, picturing the barn owl again. It had been quite a while since she had seen a barn owl, so she hoped she was picturing it correctly. How awful would it be if she successfully conjured something, but it was unrecognizable because they hadn't let them see any birds? No. Positive thoughts only. Mamie opened her eyes. She knew what a barn owl looked like, she could do this.

"Avis!" she said, making the funky "V" bird shape with her wand and trying to block out all the bird and magic related commotion around her. Barn owl thoughts only.

Mamie flinched and covered her eyes as the bang returned, this time with some smoke that she didn't see. When she opened her eyes again, there was a tiny, awkwardly proportioned but clearly meant to be a barn owl sitting at the bottom of her bird cage and flapping its too-big wings. "Awwwwww," she said, moving closer to take a look at it. "It's so small!"

SPOILER!!: Rearranged for flow, but everybody's in here somewhere ^_^

Norman blinked, slightly taken aback by Miss Blaze’s smile, though he didn’t allow the shock to show on his face. Had he done that? Him, the battle-hardened ex-Auror who had no idea how to relate to children or to emotions in general! Making children happy, especially given the current circumstances, was a somewhat new phenomenon for him, He never knew that something as simple as not making the students vanish their birds could have such an impact! He returned her smile with a slight one of his own and watched her attempts at the spell. “Keep at it, Miss Blaze,” he encouraged.

In the time that remained for the activity, he continued his rounds, offering similar words of encouragement to the other struggling students. He watched Mr. O’Neill succeed at conjuring feathers but no bird and said, “Almost there, Mr. O’Neill! Try again.” Elsewhere, he saw Miss Donovan’s multiple failed attempts. That was to be expected. She was only a first year, and this was a very advanced branch of magic! “Don’t give up, Miss Donovan,” he said with an encouraging nod.

Another nod of encouragement went to Miss Luna, though he couldn’t tell if she was struggling or just lost in concentration. He’d leave her to her own devices, but he’d come back to offer help after they moved on. For now, he offered a piece of advice to the class as a whole, “If you’re having trouble, try visualizing a different kind of bird.”

Then there were some students who had succeeded in conjuring a bird but struggled getting it into the cage, and Norman was mentally kicking himself for not suggesting earlier that they aim their spell into the cage. Never mind, too late now… He watched with mild amusement as Miss Jenovick’s bird refused to be caged. “Don’t worry about the cage, Miss Jenovick,” he said, smiling slightly. The cages were more for organizational purposes than anything else. “The important thing is that you did the spell correctly.”

Elsewhere, he saw Miss Blackthorne try and ultimately succeed in conjuring and caging a flock of magpies. “Great job, Miss Blackthorne!” he congratulated. And Miss Turov also had a bird in her cage. Despite its awkward body proportions, it was still very recognizable as an owl. It sort of reminded him of his own owl… whatever happened to it. “You too, Miss Turov!” As he made his way back to the front, he noticed the bird circling above Mr. McCarthy. “Nicely done, Mr. McCarthy!”

A quick check of his watch told Norman that it was time to move on, so he stood beside the blackboard and addressed the class once more. “Eyes here please!” he said, slightly louder than normal so he’d be heard over the bang of any spells going off. After waiting a moment for the students to focus, he continued, ”Great work so far! If you’re still having trouble with Avis, you can come back to that later. For now, we have another spell to learn.”

“Conjuration is useful as a distraction in its own right, but if you want your conjured creatures to attack something, you need a separate spell to do it. That spell is Oppugno.” With a flick of his wand, the information appeared on the board behind him. “To cast, simply point your wand at your intended target.” To demonstrate, Norman nonverbally conjured another flock of blue and red birds and aimed his wand at a nearby tree branch and cast, “Oppugno.” The birds swarmed the tree branch, pecking at it until it fell at the professor’s feet with a soft thud.

One wave of Norman’s wand vanished the birds, and another revealed eight pinata, two of each Hogwarts house mascots, hanging from the trees at the edge of the Forbidden Forest. “You’ll be practicing on these pinatas. Students living in the dorms, your pinatas are on the right. Everyone else, yours are on the left.” Unbeknownst to the students, there was little difference in the pinatas’ contents. All of them contained candy; it was just better hidden in one set than the other.

“Conjure your bird or birds using Avis; then use Oppugno to make them attack the pinata shaped like your house mascot,” he instructed. “If you’re still having trouble with Avis, you can work with a partner, but you must attempt both spells. Don’t go into the Forest, and don’t aim at anything that's NOT a pinata! Either of those things is an automatic detention.” That should go without saying, but one could never know with some of these kids. “Anything that comes out of your house pinata is yours to keep. You have until the end of class, starting… NOW!”

OOC: Sorry for the delay! Daylight savings time put me a bit behind schedule, but we’ve reached the main activity. For this, your character needs to !) conjure bird(s) with Avis 2) make the bird(s) attack a pinata. The rules/logistics are as follows:

Only aim at your house’s pinata (There are 2 of each mascot: lion, badger, eagle, and snake. The pinatas for students living in The Room are on the left; pinatas for those in the dorms are on the right.)

Please title each post to indicate which pinata you’re aiming for (Example: If I were posting Heath, my post title would say “Left Ravenclaw pinata”. This helps me keep track of things.)

You MAY NOT rp the outcome of your Oppugno spell on the pinatas. (I will be posting the spell results periodically throughout the activity. Rping the outcome of your Avis spell is fine.)

Partner/group work is allowed, but each person must attempt both spells for full credit. (As always, spell attempts do not have to succeed to count.)

Once the pinatas break, you may have your character take candy from their house pinata, but taking candy is not an obligation.

You have until 11:30 PM EDT (GMT -4) on March 17 to complete the activity. If anything is unclear, feel free to PM me.

Catherine quietly listened to the next set of instructions from professor Carton. She watched as the piñatas appeared and looked from one set to the other as he explained what they were supposed to do.

"Avis." She said, not wasting any time, yet quite unenthusiastically. She didn't care about sweets and destroying piñatas wasn't really how she liked to spend her time, but that was a class and she was there to learn and practice the things she was learning about.

Glancing at the five birds now flying above her head, Catherine then eyed the eagle piñata on the right hand-side before pointing her wand at it. "Oppugno."

Oh no.

They were moving on and Claudine hadn’t managed to conjure a single macaw! Not to mention that younger students seemed to be doing better than her. She was not at all pleased with herself. Her spirits further sunk when she silently observed Carton’s latest demonstration. How was Claudine to even manage the second spell when she hadn’t even mastered the first?

But of course the Room students’ pinatas were separated.

As for a partner? Uh… no thanks. The fifth year would continue working by herself; she was best at that. So, Claudine moved to the left side where the Slytherin pinata hung. The images of the macaws she wanted to conjure were still strong in her mind. Here she went again.

“Avis.’’ Cue that bird shaped wand movement.

Nothing. Darn it.

“Avis. Avis. Avis.”

The Snakette was borderlining on frustration now.

Fiona did breathe an internal sigh of relief when Professor Carton reassured her about her stubborn raven that was looking rather smug. As Professor Carton went through the details of the next activity, the Snakette folded her arms as she observed the correct spellwork. Fiona decided to start anew, so she vanished the raven with a smile and a "Finite."

Once again, she pictured the characteristics of a raven in her mind before tracing her wand in an avian shape and saying "Avis!" Soon a loud BANG was heard and smoke emitted from her wand before a slightly smaller raven to her previous attempt made its appearance. Fiona then pointed her wand at the serpent pinata located on the right and said clearly, "Oppugno!"

Violet had kind of wanted to partner up with Claudine again, to continue trying to get to know her a little better--she'd realized recently that the other girl, although two years ahead of her, was actually close to Violet's age, due to the fact that Violet was a year behind her class. But, as usual, Claudine had gone off to work alone. Well, Violet could do that, too.

And what was this nonsense about separate pinatas for the students in the Room. Violet had been thinking and thinking ever since her exile about what she'd done to merit being sent down there, and it had finally dawned on her--she must be stupid for it to have taken so long to sink in--that the reason must have been her half-blood status. And ever since, Violet had been more determined than ever to show she was as good, and often better, than the pureblood students. So if the pinatas on the left were harder to work with than the others, so much the better--Violet was up to the challenge! (she hoped)

Violet thought she had the knack of conjuring birds down, though--besides the concentration aspect, she was pretty sure that her desire to see a magpie had something to do with it, too. And it really helped that she was intimately acquainted with at least one magpie. It would also help that this new assignment was to have the birds attack something rather than be herded into a cage, because magpies were the most mischievous and curious birds ever and would probably attack a pinata just to see what was inside. Though getting them to attack the right pinata might be a trick.

Violet walked over to the area on the left, acting as if she did not at all feel slighted by being separated in this way, found the pinata shaped like a snake, then stopped and gathered her thoughts and feelings. She could see Mack now, his little black and white body, his beak constantly poking into places it should be poking. Okay, then. "Avis!" she exclaimed, waving her wand, and almost on cue this time, the little flock of magpies sprang from her wand tip. Now for the tricky part--getting them to attack the snake pinata (or getting them to do anything except what they wanted to do, for that matter). "Oppugno!" she cried (maybe sounding just a bit more confident than she felt) and pointed her wand from the birds toward the fake snake ahead of them. And then she waited (and crossed the fingers of her other hand, in her pocket where no one could see).

More and more birds were joining the surroundings. They weren’t nature’s birds but birds conjured by her classmates. Was it possible to panic when one was falling behind on their spellwork? Duh. Questions like: what if I never conjure a single bird? What if I never conjure anything in general? ran through her mind.

But persistency was in her blood and so Claudine would continue trying. A deep breath was taken then she brought up the image of a macaw in her head. “Avis.’’ A strong, confident incantation, an accompanying bird/m-shaped wand movement later, a bang and a puff of smoke later, there were two small macaws fluttering around.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Granted, the birds were smaller than she had pictured, but hey, at least Claudine was finally successful. “Oppugno.’’ The wand was directed to the appropriate Slytherin pinata.

Conjuring birds...well, it was no lion, but birds were good too. Especially since there were a lot of different kinds of birds to choose from.

Under better circumstances, she might've considered trying to conjure something ambitious like an eagle, her house's mascot, or even a raven, but conjuration spells weren't her best, and this term made improving even harder than normal. So Ivy decided to stick to small simple birds.

The spell incantation itself didn't seem so bad, though she did mumble it a few times to herself just to get used to it. It was the wand movement along with it, while also trying to keep the perfect picture of a bird in her mind, that made it more difficult.

The entirety of the practice was spent doing just that, failed attempt after failed attempt after failed attempt. A few of the later tries a few grey feathers were conjured which...was disappointing. A little bit of progress.

But, despite everything, Ivy was stubborn, and at least with this it was easy to not give up.

It wasn't until after the instructions for the main activity and the attack spell were given that she finally, finally made actual progress.

"Avis." Stick figure bird movement. Smoke. BANG. Two little blue-grey birds flying around her.

Finally. Thank Merlin.

Now at least she could still participate. The third year pointed her wand at the Ravenclaw pinata on the left and cast, "Oppugno!", hoping one of the birds would attack it.

There was still no luck to be had from this first year the entire time that was meant for practicing Avis. Occasional smoke, a small bang or what appeared to be a couple of downy feathers was it. As if that wasn't discouraging enough, Carton was moving the lesson along. She wasn't ready to move on. There hadn't been enough time to practice. Only being allowed her wand for lessons there was noway for her to practice outside of class. How was she supposed to manage learning all of these spells without more time to work on them?

Pinatas.

Just great. She couldn't even manage to get birds to appear, how was she supposed to direct them to attack a pinata? SIGH.

Flexing her fingers around the wand still held in her hand, Lia closed her eyes once more. Slow even breaths. All she needed to do was visualize the bird better, really picture it in her mind. When she could clearly see the Starling in her head, Dahlia opened her eyes, moved her wand in a birdy figure through the air and cast, "Avis!"

Still nothing. What was she doing wrong?!

SPOILER!!: Pinata people ^_^

Text Cut: Mordaunt

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hey Ju

Catherine quietly listened to the next set of instructions from professor Carton. She watched as the piñatas appeared and looked from one set to the other as he explained what they were supposed to do.

"Avis." She said, not wasting any time, yet quite unenthusiastically. She didn't care about sweets and destroying piñatas wasn't really how she liked to spend her time, but that was a class and she was there to learn and practice the things she was learning about.

Glancing at the five birds now flying above her head, Catherine then eyed the eagle piñata on the right hand-side before pointing her wand at it. "Oppugno."

The five birds sailed through the air and began pecking and nipping at the right eagle-shaped pinata. Soon a rip appeared in one of the eagle’s wings, and a few pieces of candy spilled out. It wouldn’t be long now...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Fiona did breathe an internal sigh of relief when Professor Carton reassured her about her stubborn raven that was looking rather smug. As Professor Carton went through the details of the next activity, the Snakette folded her arms as she observed the correct spellwork. Fiona decided to start anew, so she vanished the raven with a smile and a "Finite."

Once again, she pictured the characteristics of a raven in her mind before tracing her wand in an avian shape and saying "Avis!" Soon a loud BANG was heard and smoke emitted from her wand before a slightly smaller raven to her previous attempt made its appearance. Fiona then pointed her wand at the serpent pinata located on the right and said clearly, "Oppugno!"

The small raven coasted lazily through the air, pausing in front of the right snake pinata as if it wasn’t sure whether it wanted to attack or not. It perched atop the pinata’s head and gave it a little peck, then another. This was going to take a while. Perhaps it would take two birds to kill one [s]stone]/s] pinata.

Text Cut: Blackthorne

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadAlice

Violet had kind of wanted to partner up with Claudine again, to continue trying to get to know her a little better--she'd realized recently that the other girl, although two years ahead of her, was actually close to Violet's age, due to the fact that Violet was a year behind her class. But, as usual, Claudine had gone off to work alone. Well, Violet could do that, too.

And what was this nonsense about separate pinatas for the students in the Room. Violet had been thinking and thinking ever since her exile about what she'd done to merit being sent down there, and it had finally dawned on her--she must be stupid for it to have taken so long to sink in--that the reason must have been her half-blood status. And ever since, Violet had been more determined than ever to show she was as good, and often better, than the pureblood students. So if the pinatas on the left were harder to work with than the others, so much the better--Violet was up to the challenge! (she hoped)

Violet thought she had the knack of conjuring birds down, though--besides the concentration aspect, she was pretty sure that her desire to see a magpie had something to do with it, too. And it really helped that she was intimately acquainted with at least one magpie. It would also help that this new assignment was to have the birds attack something rather than be herded into a cage, because magpies were the most mischievous and curious birds ever and would probably attack a pinata just to see what was inside. Though getting them to attack the right pinata might be a trick.

Violet walked over to the area on the left, acting as if she did not at all feel slighted by being separated in this way, found the pinata shaped like a snake, then stopped and gathered her thoughts and feelings. She could see Mack now, his little black and white body, his beak constantly poking into places it should be poking. Okay, then. "Avis!" she exclaimed, waving her wand, and almost on cue this time, the little flock of magpies sprang from her wand tip. Now for the tricky part--getting them to attack the snake pinata (or getting them to do anything except what they wanted to do, for that matter). "Oppugno!" she cried (maybe sounding just a bit more confident than she felt) and pointed her wand from the birds toward the fake snake ahead of them. And then she waited (and crossed the fingers of her other hand, in her pocket where no one could see).

Only about half of the magpie flock responded to the Oppugno spell. The other half circled through the air nonchalantly, making happy little magpie sounds. But some was better than none. The birds that did respond to the spell made quick work of pecking and tearing at the left snake pinata. Soon a large hole appeared at the top of the snake’s head, but no candy fell out yet.

Text Cut: Blaze

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

More and more birds were joining the surroundings. They weren’t nature’s birds but birds conjured by her classmates. Was it possible to panic when one was falling behind on their spellwork? Duh. Questions like: what if I never conjure a single bird? What if I never conjure anything in general? ran through her mind.

But persistency was in her blood and so Claudine would continue trying. A deep breath was taken then she brought up the image of a macaw in her head. “Avis.’’ A strong, confident incantation, an accompanying bird/m-shaped wand movement later, a bang and a puff of smoke later, there were two small macaws fluttering around.

Her eyes widened in surprise. Granted, the birds were smaller than she had pictured, but hey, at least Claudine was finally successful. “Oppugno.’’ The wand was directed to the appropriate Slytherin pinata.

The two macaws circled the air for a moment, then split off in different directions. One drifted lazily toward the girl, perching on her shoulder with a loud SQUAWK! The other beelined for the left snake pinata and gave its head a decisive bite. That bite did the job.

The pinata broke, sending its contents spilling out. On first glance, it might appear that the pinata was filled with nothing more than discarded papers and scraps of parchment, but what was that hidden among the papers? Was that a chocolate frog? Were those jelly slugs?

Text Cut: Grimm

Quote:

Originally Posted by AlwaysSnapesGirl

Conjuring birds...well, it was no lion, but birds were good too. Especially since there were a lot of different kinds of birds to choose from.

Under better circumstances, she might've considered trying to conjure something ambitious like an eagle, her house's mascot, or even a raven, but conjuration spells weren't her best, and this term made improving even harder than normal. So Ivy decided to stick to small simple birds.

The spell incantation itself didn't seem so bad, though she did mumble it a few times to herself just to get used to it. It was the wand movement along with it, while also trying to keep the perfect picture of a bird in her mind, that made it more difficult.

The entirety of the practice was spent doing just that, failed attempt after failed attempt after failed attempt. A few of the later tries a few grey feathers were conjured which...was disappointing. A little bit of progress.

But, despite everything, Ivy was stubborn, and at least with this it was easy to not give up.

It wasn't until after the instructions for the main activity and the attack spell were given that she finally, finally made actual progress.

"Avis." Stick figure bird movement. Smoke. BANG. Two little blue-grey birds flying around her.

Finally. Thank Merlin.

Now at least she could still participate. The third year pointed her wand at the Ravenclaw pinata on the left and cast, "Oppugno!", hoping one of the birds would attack it.

The two blue-grey birds fluttered about, singing sweetly. Just when it looked like they weren’t going to respond to the Oppugno spell, one bird drifted toward the left eagle pinata, and the other followed, as if playing a game of follow the leader. Still singing their sweet song, they began to scratch and peck at the eagle pinata’s belly. Two tiny holes appeared, but they were too small for any candy to fall out.

Norman roamed the area as the students worked, taking care to stand behind the students so as not to wander into the path of any attacking birds. He liked what he saw so far… students on task and not giving up. His blue-green eyes landed on Miss Donovan and her failed spell attempts as he made his rounds and sidled over to her. “As a matter of interest, Miss Donovan ,what kind of bird are you visualizing?” he asked. Depending on her answer, she might have better luck conjuring a smaller, simpler type of bird, but he was already formulating a plan B in case that didn’t work. If all else failed, he could conjure some birds for her to practice Oppugno on.

He also noticed Miss Blaze’s initial failures, but before he could step in to help, she got it right on her own. A faint smile appeared on his face at the sight of the squawking macaw, but he was distracted as one of the pinatas burst.

With a flick of his wand, Norman conjured a gentle breeze that blew the papers away to reveal the candy hidden among them. There was a wide assortment of exclusively wizarding candies to choose from: chocolate frogs, jelly slugs, peppermint humbugs, sugar quills, and licorice wands, just to name a few. “Good job! One pinata down, seven to go,” he addressed the class. “Slytherins living in The Room, you may collect your reward. I’ll reassemble the pinata for those who need more practice.” He waved his wand at the broken snake pinata, and seconds later, it was intact and hanging from the tree branch once more.

Norman was secretly glad it had been one of the left pinatas to break first so the students could see early on that they all contained candy. When he planned this lesson months ago, the plan was for only the pureblood pinatas to contain candy. At the time he thought falling in line was the best thing he could do to protect the students, but recent events had brought about a change of heart and a change in tactics. These kids needed a morale boost. More than that, they needed someone to show them that they could bounce back from this, and if that got him imprisoned or worse, so be it.

OOC: So far, only the left snake pinata has been busted. Keep in mind that this pinata, like all the others, contains only wizarding world candies. If you have a Slytherin in The Room and were unable to post before the pinata broke, don’t worry! That pinata has been reassembled and rehung (sans candy) for those who still need to practice Oppugno, so you can still complete the activity. You have ABOUT 34 HOURS left.

Violet wished she had never heard of magpies! Next time she tried something like this, she was going to pick a more cooperative bird. Half of her flock were flying around doing whatever they felt like doing and not obeying her at all (pretty much like her pet magpie, Mack, come to think of it). But the other half, filled with magpie curiosity, made an attempt at the pinata and poked a big hole in it. Not big enough for anything to fall out yet--that honor fell to the next student--only one of her birds took care of business, but that one was enough (though Violet like to think her magpies had softened the pinata up a bit for Claudine's macaw). Anyway, Violet felt she had done her bit and was not going to make a try at the new pinata.

And---what was the professor saying? And what was she seeing? Candy!! Violet scooped a handful and stuffed it in her pocket before someone could take it away from her, and without looking at it too carefully. Later in the Room she would discover that it was good old Wizarding candy, including some of her favorites. That would make a much better backup food stash than a stale bun from breakfast.

Kinsay hated when their professors separated them like this. It wasn't fair. Class time was just about the only chance she ever got to see friends who weren't stuck in the room. Fortunately, most of her friends were in there with her but... but. She missed Teddy and Tavie endlessly. Coralee, Benjee, Noah, Aries, Karleigh, Christianna, Valentina... It was just hard, okay? It was already hard enough to participate in lessons, but it was even harder when she had to seperate from the people she hardly ever got to see.

Kinsay didn't want any trouble though. Not after what happened to...

She couldn't even bring herself to think about it. Um. Anyway. Left side of the space. That's where she was walking. Still unable to conjure her birds, Kinsay made work of practicing some more. "Avis," she tried flatly, moving her wand without any real oomph. "Avis," it was better than nothing, okay?

"Avis."

Oh no.

One of the macaws was coming back her way. “Shoo. Back that way,’’ came the words out of her mouth before she knew what was happening. That is, her mouth worked faster than her brain in that instant. It didn’t matter. The first macaw landed on her shoulder. Despite herself, Claudine smiled. “Hi there.’’ This was a typical behaviour of hers, talking to animals.

Eyes back on the second macaw, she watched with her breath held as the tropical bird bit the head of the pinata. Said pinata broke which left the girl shocked. Talk about her luck changing during the course of the lesson. And among the parchment, she spotted the sweets. Sugar quills!

Claudine scooped up a few of the Quills and some jelly slugs for Heath. “You don’t eat any of these by chance?’’ she asked the macaw on her shoulder. The girl didn’t expect that it did.

Fiona witnessed a Serpent pinata break and she gave a small smile, knowing that her friends that were not sharing a dorm with her got to hopefully enjoy some treats. However, she was a tad disappointed that her spell seemingly didn't work so she was determined to rectify that.

It was time to try a smaller species of bird so in her mind Fiona pictured a swallow. When the characteristics were vivid in her mind, the Snakette moved her wand in the form of a bird before casting, "Avis!" After a BANG and puff of smoke, a quintet of swallows circled her head.

Aiming at the pinata, Fiona concentrated and said loudly, "Oppugno!"

Dahlia heard loud and clear when Carton announced that one of the pinata's were busted open. Being it wasn't a Ravenclaw one, it didn't matter to her. Her attention remained on trying to cast Avis successfully. That was all that mattered in this moment of time.

Try as she might and believe it, she was trying, Lia wasn't having any luck yet. She felt she was getting closer though with each try. More often than not her results were producing feathers which were now scattered across the ground at her feet.

Once more her attention was broken but this time it was because she was being directly spoke to. "A starling. I'm getting better at it but I haven't managed an actual bird yet..." The pronunciation and wand movement were correct and she thought her focus was spot on. "Am I doing something wrong?" Lia tilted her head at Carton in question.

SPOILER!!: Pinata person & macaw

Text Cut: Jenovick

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ginevra

Fiona witnessed a Serpent pinata break and she gave a small smile, knowing that her friends that were not sharing a dorm with her got to hopefully enjoy some treats. However, she was a tad disappointed that her spell seemingly didn't work so she was determined to rectify that.

It was time to try a smaller species of bird so in her mind Fiona pictured a swallow. When the characteristics were vivid in her mind, the Snakette moved her wand in the form of a bird before casting, "Avis!" After a BANG and puff of smoke, a quintet of swallows circled her head.

Aiming at the pinata, Fiona concentrated and said loudly, "Oppugno!"

The five swallows abruptly stopped circling their caster’s head at the sound of the Oppugno spell and sped toward the right snake pinata. They flanked it from all sides, pecking and tearing into it. Soon the snake pinata broke in half, sending candy spilling out.

Text Cut: Blaze

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Oh no.

One of the macaws was coming back her way. “Shoo. Back that way,’’ came the words out of her mouth before she knew what was happening. That is, her mouth worked faster than her brain in that instant. It didn’t matter. The first macaw landed on her shoulder. Despite herself, Claudine smiled. “Hi there.’’ This was a typical behaviour of hers, talking to animals.

Eyes back on the second macaw, she watched with her breath held as the tropical bird bit the head of the pinata. Said pinata broke which left the girl shocked. Talk about her luck changing during the course of the lesson. And among the parchment, she spotted the sweets. Sugar quills!

Claudine scooped up a few of the Quills and some jelly slugs for Heath. “You don’t eat any of these by chance?’’ she asked the macaw on her shoulder. The girl didn’t expect that it did.

The macaw shook its head, answering the girl’s question with a loud SQUAWK! No, it didn’t eat candy. It was content with the attention it was getting from the girl. It gave her a gentle peck as if to say, pet me, hooman!

Norman silently considered Miss Donovan’s answer for a moment. He half-expected her to say something like a falcon or peacock - big or showy types of birds that were more difficult to conjure, especially for beginners - but she said a starling. Not a huge bird, but not a tiny one either. He shook his head. “No, not at all,” he replied. “Just sometimes when you’re having trouble, a change of pace helps. Try visualizing a different, smaller kind of bird next time, and if you still can’t do it, you can practice Oppugno on these…” He cast a nonverbal Avis, and a flock of blue and red birds appeared.

Elsewhere, he saw Miss James also struggling and said, “Same goes for you, Miss James. Try visualizing a different kind of bird, and if you still have trouble, you can use the birds I’ve conjured to practice Oppugno.” With a wave of his wand, more birds appeared near the girl.

Norman watched as the Slytherins from The Room grabbed their candy with a strange mixture of triumph and apprehension, his blue-green eyes constantly scanning the area for any signs of the hooded horrors. So far, he saw none, but he wasn’t letting his guard down. He instinctively gripped his wand, ready to react at any moment. What if they caught him by surprise? What if he didn’t act fast enough? He mentally shook himself. Self doubt wouldn’t accomplish anything!

The sound of another pinata breaking caught his attention, and he turned to see the right Slytherin pinata on the ground. “That’s two down. Nice work!” he said, flicking his wand at the broken snake pinata to reassemble it. “All other Slytherins, come get your candy.” He was slightly less worried about this group. Even if there were hoods lurking unseen, surely they wouldn’t care about purebloods being rewarded.

Norman glanced at his watch. Merlin, was that the time?! They’d have to wrap up soon, so the kids would have time to get their candy before the hoods came back to escort the prisoners! “YOU HAVE FIVE MINUTES LEFT!” he announced.

OOC: As of now, 2 pinatas (both of the Slytherin ones) have been busted. Both pinatas have been reassembled (sans candy) for those who still need to complete the activity. You have JUST UNDER 11 HOURS left.

Claudine took the squawk to mean that the macaw did not like sweets. That made sense. Her attention was diverted for a bit as she looked around for the other macaw. She spotted him easily, thanks to his bright combination of colours, flitting about in the air obviously enjoying himself. A second later, the macaw on her shoulder had her full attention when nipped her. It startled her, yes, but the fifth year was more delighted which might come across as weird to others. Giggling, she nudged her head against the macaw’s.

Five minutes left? Perhaps one more practice could be snuck in.

“Get ready to help wreck that pinata this time, okay?’’ Claudine told the bird. She readied herself and her wand. “Oppugno.” The birds were hopefully going to go after that left Snakey pinata that had been aimed at.