Heath’s mind was going a million miles an hour, trying to come up with a strategy even before Headmaster Trent uttered the word. His thoughts were so loud, they all but drowned out the headmaster. It took all the resolve he had to quiet them long enough to pay attention. Right, venom, size, intelligence, inability to be reasoned with… got it. A sudden pang of guilt gripped him as the headmaster brought up the kelpie lesson from four terms ago. No, he definitely wouldn’t be trying that strategy again! As of now, his only plan was to protect the girlfriend at all costs. The question was how?

He was still lost in thought as he joined Claudine, Jordyn, Charlie, and Gracelyn. Maybe if they disillusioned themselves, they could take the spiders by surprise. Then if they all cast Arania Exumai at the same time, maybe the combined force would take out more spiders than if they cast separately… or a distraction could work too. He blinked, jerked out of his thoughts by the conversation taking place around him, “That could work,” he said, thinking out loud as he spoke. “How would we produce an imitation of one of those things? Illusion charm?” Now that would be interesting… one illusion against another! Though he doubted any of them could cast an illusion charm strong enough to hold its own to the headmaster’s. “Maybe we could transfigure something to look like a human or dead spider…”

Then an idea suddenly occurred to him! “Wait, I just thought of something!” he said. “I remember reading that acromantulas are afraid of the basilisk, so what if we did an imitation of that? We could conjure a snake, make it look as much like a basilisk as possible, and put an engorgement charm on it. Then while the spiders are frightened, we hit them with everything we’ve got…” He nervously ran a hand through his hair as his voice trailed off. That idea made sense in his head, but it sounded completely mad when he said it out loud!

Now that it was clear that the Headmaster was not going to unleash real acromantulas at them, he felt his unease subside. He felt a little silly for even thinking that a professor would ever put them in harms way intentionally.

Infamous Kelpie lesson? moment of redemption? He was certain that he had not been at Hogwarts yet when that class had taken place but BOY was he curious to know what had happened that day if the Headmaster was bringing it up again.

Working in groups was not his most prefered method but for the sake of the lesson, he guessed he could make an exception. It was still better than going into a giant spiders lair alone even if they were only illusions.

Anyway, rule number one of survival was to go with the most experienced group. That ruled out the group that Victoria Gellar was in.

Without a word, the Hufflepuff moved to the open clearing group with his hands deep in his robe pockets. "I'm joining you guys" he announced without even asking if it was ok. He listened to the strategies that the group suggested before raising his hand out of habit when in class "Can we use the Disillusionment Charm on ourselves first before entering the lair?" he asked. "I think i'll feel much better if they can't see me... or can acromantulas smell humans?" what were they even going to do in the lair? The Headmaster hadn't talked about yet, had he?

PHEW. It wasn’t going to be real acromantulas, although fake ones sounded just as terrifying…

Remy didn’t put much thought into her choosing of paths, more so she focussed on who had lead those paths. She opted to follow Phoebe James and Evan Nam because she imagined they’d know how to handle this situation. Oh! And Ollie and Daniel happened to be here, too.

“They probably can smell humans, we are prey to them,” Remy replied to Daniel as she joined the group. She suddenly wondered if choosing an open clearing was a good idea, because it meant there wasn’t an awful lot of places to hide, which was her first instinct.

She smiled at Evan, “Serpensortia is a great idea… although… I don’t think it’s capable of summoning a basilisk.” Spiders were not likely to be scared of ordinary snakes, right? “Although it could create a small diversion, and then we should attack… all of us taking a corner.” That would work with just one acromantula at a time, that is. Didn’t they often travel in armies?

“Why don’t we use someone as live bait? While the others sneak up behind them?” She nominated… the person in the group that she didn’t know well.

Maya would not have ordinarily chosen the open clearing. There was nothing around to use to protect themselves against flesh-eating spiders. But if Evan wanted to go down this path, who was she to say no? As long as everything was a simulation and no one was actually going to get eaten, a challenge was welcomed. The third year glanced over in Lisa's direction, making sure there was a good number of people joining her before looking back at Evan with a slight nod and smile. He would make better spider bait than Lisa.

And she felt instantly better about the decision when the seventh year, Phoebe, joined them. The older student probably knew what she was talking about... being older and all. Maya's confidence in the Gryffindor did waver slightly at the mention of bubbles. "I think the bubbles might irritate the acromantulas... but the explosion sounds like a good idea," Maya said. Besides, it would be much easier to deal with a small group of spiders as opposed to an entire lair of it. That was assuming that some of them went off to investigate the explosion. She nodded as the other girl who had joined them, Valentina, asked if the smaller ones were dangerous.

They were spiders with a taste for human flesh. Maya would say it was safe to assume that they were all dangerous and extremely deadly. Ollie got a small smile from Maya when she joined the group, as did Daniel who Maya recognized as Lisa's friend.

Evan brought up a great point regarding snakes. "But would the snake we summon be large enough? We'd probably have to use the engorgement charm on it for it to even scare them. Then we'd have to worry about dealing with a snake too..." Unless they accidentally exploded the snake when they used the charm to make it bigger... or countered with the snake vanishing charm quickly enough before it bit someone. The idea of using the disillusionment charm on themselves from Daniel was a good idea. "If we disillusion ourselves... we also won't be able to see each other, right?" She frowned. She was unsure if the acromantulas had a sense of smell though she knew that spiders ordinarily did not enjoy the scent of peppermint. Would that help?

Oh they had gained another in their ranks! When the other Gryffindor, Remy, joined them, Maya gave her a slight nod. And STARED at her when she mentioned live bait. "I don't think we should use anyone as live bait." Simulation or not, that was dangerous and would take one very brave and possibly reckless student to take her up on that.

Maya was not a big fan of them splitting up either - there was safety in numbers. So far her favorite idea had been to use an explosion. Or to explode a basilisk looking snake in front of the acromantulas so they knew that these Hogwarts students meant business. "Maybe before we get to the lair, we could cause an explosion a bit away from us, then send some snakes into the lair to scare the acromantulas in there. Then any that are unaffected by both, we can go on the offensive and use the spell the professor told us?"

Morgan had been slightly distracted during this DADA class (which was probably not a good idea), but thoughts of the forbidden forest always made him think of his former cat, Schnitzel, and how he disappeared a year and some months ago. His mind probably shouldn't go there, because it was a much better thought to think that his cat ran off to Hogsmeade where he was adopted by a nice family rather than getting lost on the forbidden forest. Because no matter how cool acromantulas might be, the thought of his cat possibly getting eaten by one was less cool. Best not to think about that.

And then when they broke into groups, Morgan fell into step alongside Phoebe, who... clearly knew where to go and had a plan already. He only caught the tail end of some of the things said by a couple of other randos who joined their group, but she was smart so he had full confidence. "Fires and explosions are always the way to go," he nodded confidently. And he was quite good at those spells, if he'd say so himself. The one Slytherin had said the same things, then something about a conjured snake... sounded good to him. "Plus we know the spider repelling charm." So basically, they had this.

Bella couldn't say that she felt super jazzed to know that she in a few minutes time would be facing real acromantulas head on. They'd choose a path and that path would take them by an acromantula lair. Looking around as her peers started to divide themselves into the groups she unconsiously waited for Apollo to move in some direction. When he didn't move Bella sighed, shook her head at him and went over to join Claudine's group. She knew she could trust Claudine and more seventh years like Heath and Gracelyn was a big plus in a fight. That Jordyn and Charlie were in that group too was cool. "Hi guys," Bella greeted as she joined the growing spindly path group. "I think you've got good ideas going with creating a diversion of either other spiders or a big snake like Heath said." Thoughtfully she added. "Shouldn't we think about applying shield- and protection spells like protego over all of us before we start walking on the path? So we have some protection if the spiders attack without warning?"

Claudine definitely didn’t have to wait long for someone to join her group. Not that she would have cared if she was going to be alone. She bobbed her head in Jordyn’s direction. “They are. The last thing we should do while going into their home is to underestimate them.” Then she smiled a teeny smile. “Hi, Jordyn. Claudine.” The Snakette recognised the Hufflepuff from the most recent Sorting Ceremony. “And yes, you can.” Her attention went to Charlotte. “Not a problem.” Claudine might seem distant but her mind was actually at work, trying to come up with how best they could make a distraction. One of those dummies from the Dueling Arena would be great right now. “Something that looks like a human,’’ came her reply to Gracelyn. “If we can animate it to move like a human, then hopefully the acromantulas would go for it.”

Then her person spoke up. Of course Heath and his big brain came to the rescue with ideas. “Yes! Exactly what I was thinking. Not the whole Basilisk thing though… wouldn’t they be afraid of it enough to remain in hiding? Or scurry into hiding if they saw a ‘basilisk’?” Claudine made little quotation marks around the last word.

The seventh year looked around, on the ground to be exact, for rocks. “If no one has other ideas, we could always shape a human out of rocks, like a snowman, then animate the rocks using Piertotum Locomotor. And Bella? The Shield Charms are a great idea. Guys, don't forget to practice the Arania Exumai Charm if you need to."

No matter the path you take through the forest, you'll end up going by a lair.

Going BY one and not IN one. Not to say that this Gryffindor was not thinking about going IN one or anything (he was) but it was a distinction that needed to be made. Glancing to his side where Remy had once been, his eyes widened slightly and blinded as he saw her heading off without tugging on his sleeve or otherwise trying to take him along with. So, naturally, he followed (and hopefully Atlas would come along too) and sighed a HEAVY sigh when he saw that the group included Daniel of all of the possible peer options. But, still, the Hufflepuff's suggestion was closer to what he had been imagining.

"There is a daydream charm that could make the acromantula think they are seeing a basilisk," he offered thoughtfully while coming to a stop beside Remy. Not that he could ever produce such a potent charm but that was not what they were talking about here. He was actually pretty sure he heard mum talking about that very tactic being used during the acromantula invasion while she had been a professor at Hogwarts. "But...the headmaster said we are going BY a lair...not that we HAVE to go through or in one. So...since we are the invaders of their space, shouldn't we first try to find a way of getting by and through without being detected? They are giant creatures, so their lairs are not exactly conspicuous spaces and have tell tale signs. They probably have constructed a series of intricate webbing with their silk along the ground to alert them when prey or trespassers are nearby...so might be worth casting a Featherlight Charm on ourselves so we don't trip or otherwise disturb the thrust and basically go knocking on their door. Going straight on the offensive with explosions is just going to get the whole colony inside that lair riled up and aggressive. It's DEFENSE Against the Dark Arts, after all. Not OFFENSE Against the Dark Arts."

And Atlas loved a good Bombarda. It was still the only spell he had learned from this class that he had any confidence with and it had, ironically, been taught to him by Rosier. Go figure.

SPOILER!!: Catching up or whatever

It literally took Christian five more minutes to become fully awake. Which in the grand scheme of things wasn’t entirely long. Now maybe if this was one of the classes that the gryffindor deemed “boring” it was a small (not so small) chance that his eyelids would be closing soon. But not this lesson, and not with the cool breeze from the forest.

So if he was to go into the forest, what danger would he think of first. What dangers were even in there? Lots, honestly lots. ”The darkest though that can be fixed with lumos. Another one would be the elements in general. If if was during the day you’d have to worry about the sun and getting too hot or sunburnt even in the shade of the trees. If started to rain, too much rain can cause flooding or mudslides.”

Acromantulas!

Why was he not surprised that they would be covering those spiders today? It wasn’t afraid of them, but he had just remembered what all his mom had told him about being held hostage by them during her sixth year. Or he thought it was her sixth year. Either way. [B]”I wouldn’t want to get wrapped in their web. Their webs are a lot stronger than that of a common normal spider than you’d find. And they are actually very smart creatures.

So leaving was not an option now. That was lovely. Not. Christian waited for a bit, hanging out listening to each of the groups. Seeing who had the best idea and stick with that. When it actually came down to choosing a path, the open clearing seemed the best way to go if he was being honest. He wondered over to the group. ” I think the more distractions the better. Keep them on their toes. Have the distractions come in waves, and not too many of them at a time. “

This could possibly work. ”Confuse them, or put them in a daydream after they have been distracted." Hopefully they would be confused enough by all the distractions that it wouldn't take much to add to that confusion."Maybe start with the smaller ones first, pick them off.” A weird food chain so to speak, knock the weakest ones first. Except no matter the size, these creatures were not weak. What was an acromantula's weakest anyway? A basilisk, but he seriously didn't think that a giant FAKE snake would scare them. They were smart enough to know a fake enemy right?

Did… Acromantulas like kettlecorn? Kizzy would have asked if it weren’t for the fact that they were starting on an activity now. Thus, she tried to pay close attention as the Headmaster demonstrated the spider repelling spell, but sometimes it was hard to focus when she knew she wouldn’t be able to perform it anyway. Her magic never worked, so what’s the point of even trying? There was none. So um. Instead, she turned to Ph—

Wait!!! Hold on!!! It’s not fair!!!

Everyone had started forming groups and Phoebe’s group already looked full… Which meant that Kinsay had to find another group. This was the worst case scenario. So without many other options left, she reluctantly joined the group consisting of Claudine, Jordyn, Gracelyn, Heath, and Bella. Also not fair?! They had already started talking strategy!! But Kizzy couldn’t do spells to conjure snakes or make things big and her protego was pretty lousy and she couldn’t animate rocks either.

But she also didn’t want to be useless and risk being left behind and stranded in the middle of a dark forest aLL BY HERSELF! ”I can be the distraction!” She announced, stepping forward. It’ll be easier than making a rock human and I taste like kettle corn.” Because otherwise. Otherwise her group would just leave her behind because she couldn’t do magic right. Being left behind was the very thing she wanted to avoid. So um. Yes. Could this be the plan? Pretty, pretty please with a big cherry on top?

There were a lot of ideas and opinions being thrown around and to be honest, it was a bit overwhelming for Ollie to keep up. But she did her best nonetheless. Although she loved Remy her whole ‘live bait’ idea wasn’t sitting well with her. Though if they went along with the plan to use the basilisk, that would be considered live bait… kinda. She was glad that Maya shut down the idea fairly quickly. Ollie didn’t want to be the one used as live bait. But she highly doubted hat Remy would suggest her anyway.

“Well, what if we split up into pairs of two? We could have a series of explosions go off in different areas. Then they would be running between all of us. And the pairs can keep moving without worrying about the spiders being drawn to them because another explosion will be going off somewhere else.” Did that make sense? Hopefully. ”Also, if the spiders come close to any of the pairs then we could use the spell Professor Trent gave us. We could also have one group that goes into their lair, a larger group of 3 or 4, and they could use the featherlight spell that Atlas suggested and the spell from Trent.” Sounded like a solid plan to Ollie, she was sure the rest of the group would have something to say about it.

Their group had expanded pretty dramatically, which made sneaking past a group of acromantulas more and more difficult. Phoebe had confidence that the professor-man wouldn't let them be in any real danger, but it would be nice to be wildly successful and actually impress the man for once. Or at least not put any of the littles into semi-mortal danger.

"First, we're not offering up any human sacrifices today, so no live bait. None. And we're not PICKING OFF BABY SPIDERS." Breathe, woman, breathe. She was glad that Morgan had joined them, and Phoebe took his hand. "Atlas is right. We only have to get past the den. So let's do distractions... pair off like Ollie said and try to slip a few past the den at a time. And... we should get going."

So many good ideas, which made Apollo feel a little better on this acromantula lesson, even if he wasn't sure he fully trusted the abilities of his peers. No matter the path they take, they were going to have to face a lair. Okay, so it didn't really matter and Apollo almost started walking toward the direction of the open clearing, because the older lion Phoebe was that direction and he trusted his older housemate. But he changed direction when he saw in his periphery that Bella was headed toward a different group. And well, he wasn't about to leave her behind. It was bad enough that they had to leave each other behind for the main feasts and whatnot. So heading to quickly catch up with Claudine, Jordyn, Gracelyn, Heath, Bella, and Kinsay hey, he still got one James he arrived at the group in time to hear Kinsay sacrificing herself as the distraction!??

"NO!!!!" Apollo interjected. "No... you can't.. We can't sacrifice any REAL humans!" Also. Wait, could they step back a minute?? She tasted like kettlecorn? Uh what... ? How did she know that? But also, they had three seventh years in this group, who surely would be skilled enough to navigate them through and out of the lair. So Apollo was going to place his faith on them, cause he had pretty much zero ideas and may as well just blindly follow? Why not?

Okay. So nobody was claiming him. He decided to take the clearing.nooooow what thoigh? Ha. Maube it wasn’t the best choice tjough. He’d be exposed!!

There was Atlas. Good, because honestly, she fully expected him to follow her.

She felt… embarrassed that everyone was dismissing her live bait idea, especially that it was in front of people who she’d rather impress. It was a GOOD idea, and it should have at least been considered. Remy bowed her head a bit and stayed quiet, not even listening to most of the discussion from that moment on.

So apparently Phoebe James was in charge and Remy immediately turned to Atlas and linked her arm with his when she suggested going in pairs, before he could try and partner up with the older James. Trapping him, you could say.

Okay.

Claudine had not been expecting that: a real live volunteer. She turned to stare at Kinsay. “Certainly not. Even if you taste like kettlecorn.” What even? The seventh year rubbed her forehead, wondering why it was that Gryffindors always seem to be ready to jump into action without a promising, calculating and well thought out plan first. “Apollo’s right. We’re not about to let you or anyone else become acromantula chow.’’ Regardless of the fact that there would be fake acromantulas. They were fake, right? Oh, Merlin. Just the thought of their hairy scurrying legs made Claudine feel as though she was going to throw up.

Claudine looked towards Heath. He knew how terrified she was of acromantulas, he knew the creature was her boggart. For those reasons, she wasn’t afraid to admit to herself that she was glad he had chosen to be in this group.

Heath blinked at Claudine's words. He… didn't think of that. When he came up with the basilisk idea, he was thinking of something that would be fairly easy to conjure and make it look authentic enough to fool the acromantulas, but she had a point. If it looked too much like a real basilisk, he supposed the spiders would be frightened into hiding! He smiled, nodding his approval at her idea. He should've guessed that she had a plan all along! "Okay, that works too," he said.

Two more people (Kinsay and Apollo) had joined their group, and - Uhh… what? Heath had no idea what that comment was about or what to make of it, but Apollo and Claudine were right. They would not be offering anybody up as bait! The only way a human sacrifice would happen was if Claudine or one of the younger students needed protection, and in that case, he would be the one making it, not some kettle corn-tasting fourth year! "Right," he said. "You-" Meaning the younger students. "-weren't here for the kelpie lesson Headmaster Trent mentioned. We tried the bait idea then, and it nearly got someone hurt…" He stopped short of saying it had been his idea and looked away to hide the guilt in his eyes.

Then an idea dawned on him. "What if we build the rock person ahead of time and make it small enough to carry with us?" he said. "That way, we save time and don't make the builders an easy target as we approach the lair. If we have it ready to go, we could use an engorgement charm to make it the size of a real person when we get close. Then one person could hide and animate it while the rest of us take on the spiders."

He caught Claudine looking at him and looked back at her with a resolute gaze. "Want to do the honors?" He asked quietly. It was her idea, after all, and maybe then she wouldn't have to fight the spiders.

The younger Slytherin's (Bella) idea hadn't gone ignored. Protection spells could be useful in a situation like this! "Good idea," he said, nodding. Then to the group as a whole, he said, "Does anyone need help with shield charms?" There were a few younger students here, so he couldn't be sure. Maybe they should have each older student buddy up with a younger one, just in case?

They had quite a good little crew right about now! V was pleased with all who had joined them. They had Ash, Ivy, Eden Lisa __!

V listened to Ivy and nodded. "That's good and all, but we'll need a plan in case the river isn't strong. Do acromentulas not like water? And being close to the water could halt our fire plans," she said with a sigh, scratching her head slightly in thought. Edenwanted to make the ground sticky, and she shook her head. "I don't know how to do that. We could make a RING of fire and use the spell he taught us to encase them in the circle. And make a run for it?"

Lisa's plan was a good one unless the river was shallow and calm, but she managed to smile gently at her friend. "I'm hoping Trent will give us some guidance on the river situation...and who cares if they're real?" she shivered at both Eden and Lisa CARING about that. As if she wouldn't kill a giant spider if she was in danger. "Plus, I really don't think Trent would send us to face real giant spiders. That'd be a lawsuit waiting to happen."

V eyed her older Slytherin classmate's drawing in the dirt. "That sounds easy, Kayne, but you know it won't be THAT easy. And I'm only a second year, so I'm absolutely rubbish at charms compared to you all. And sometimes my wand doesn't even work..." she trailed off, rubbing her arm and looking at her shoes. She would feel useless if she couldn't perform under the pressure, and for some reason, to the second year, she felt SUCH big pressure to do well in this. It would the ABSOLUTE end of the world if she did poorly.

"OH!" she cried suddenly. "What if we SANDWICH them between FIRE and the river?! They'd have nowhere to go!"

Of course they would be encountering acromentulas.

Of course they wouldn't be allowed to nope out of the situation and head back towards the door.

Of course there was no way out but to go forward and Dahlia was as always.. here for it. She was here for it and about as ready as a third year could be to head off towards a laid of acromentulas. It sounds like insanity but that was basically Hogwarts in a nutshell.

Letting out a slow breath, Lia gave Tadhg's fingers a soft squeeze before glancing around as everyone began breaking off into groups. Her wand still in her hand, she considered her options only briefly before joining those that would be heading towards the Riverside. Without wasting anymore time she walked over towards the group just in time to hear what V was saying. "They fear fear basilisks.. we can't conjure one of those buuuut maybe we can enlarge a regular snake and control it to make them fear it?" It was just a thought and maybe not the best thought but it was something.

Their group really had grown exponentially, and this wouldn't be a problem except while they were all being strategic as Professor had requested, they were anything but organized with all the ideas floating around. He liked Atlas' idea of the featherlight charm and the daydream charm as well though he wasn’t sure if he could cast it, and he still thought serpents were a good idea since acromantulas were so scared of even saying the basilisks name, something told him they weren't going to stick around to confirm whether it was or was not the actual thing they were scared of. He certainly wouldn’t have.

But explosions, splitting up and... sacrifice?? Personally, he thought these were terrible ideas. Especially the last ones. But arguing between the group was just going to draw the Headmaster's attention and probably not in a good way. Maybe more like in a way of 'you all are sitting out this lesson' way. And he didn't really do well with failure.

So he kept quiet, just intending to at least make sure his sister was safe (even though he was sure the Headmaster was not going to let any of them get injured) and he'd do what he needed if they did draw the attention of the acromantulas. Which... they definitely would consider that seemed to be part of the plan.

So instead, he decided he'd better use his time to practice the wand movements and the incantation for the spell Headmaster Trent had given them, just listening at this point - though he did feel the need to at least pipe up at one point, “No one should go into the lair unless absolutely necessary. Like Atlas said, we need to get by it.” Otherwise, he'd follow the plans that were decided, which at this point sounded like splitting up, setting off different explosions and distractions in different places so that spiders scattered and … walking softly. Was it too late to join a different group?

Back to practicing "Arania Exumai", repeating the word under his breath until satisfied, and then moving on to the wand movements. He was hoping anyone else who might not feel confident or used it yet would also give practice a try before they set off.

Yessss. Jordyn officially had a group because Claudine said she could join her. “Thanks”, she said, hoping that she could come up with good ideas to contribute to the group. It didn’t take long for their group of two to grow.

Charlie came next and Jordyn responded to her question. “Sure, you can join us. The more, the merrier.”. She was followed by Gracelyn, Heath, Bella, Kinsay and Apollo. Once their group took shape, the ideas were flying around like crazy. Some were good, some not so much. Jordyn was taking it all in, trying to think of something that would be helpful to the plan.

The Hufflepuff was turning from one group mate to the other as everyone gave their input. Animated fake human, disillusionment, shield charms. Yes. Definite yes to the shield charm. In case something went wrong, at least they would have some protection. When Kinsay offered herself as tribute, Jordyn gave a big “Noooo” That got a big thumbs down.

Heath suggested the mini rock person and Jordyn nodded. ”Yes, that sounds like a good idea. It would definitely save time and maybe help us get the jump on the acromantulas.” Sadly, Jordyn had yet to add anything of use to the conversation. She kept thinking while she kept one ear on the conversation.

Woah. Val felt like over half of the class were in their group now. She listened to people give their opinions as she was busy trying to practice the spider spell, arania exumai along with the appropriate wand movement. Wait, was she even pronouncing it right?? She turned to ask Evan but --

Um, wow. This group discussion was super confusing at this point. She simply nodded when Atlas suggested that they simply go by a lair instead of just going into one. Which made a lot of sense. But, featherlight charm?? She didn't remember the incantation oh no... and then someone suggested splitting off in groups and that was not the best idea. WHY, though? It was much better to go in a large group, there was a better chance of protecting themselves right?? or not. She was just going to go with what the others have planned and be done with this lesson.

For the record, IF anyone was going to be offered as live bait...it was going to be Atlas. Yes, self preservation checked itself at the door when it came to some of his favorite creatures. Not to mention that this was a class and they were not actually real acromantulas, so the risk factor was all an illusion. So...getting up close and personal in a controlled environment? It had its appeal.

But, real talk, Atlas' head was absolutely going to spin off into orbit if the plan to go in wands blazing kept being pushed. But then...the Gryffindor Goddess also known as Phoebe James spoke and called him RIGHT. He felt his heart go all a flutter and it was almost like his pupils turned into little hearts as he looked at her...until he noticed that she was taking the hand of THAT GUY and the third year's face was super quick to turn into a proper stink eye. THAT GUY. STINK EYE.

His chest still puffed out, because Phoebe James had called him RIGHT and SMART and BRILLIANT, he made no real attempt to hide his MEH until Remy was suddenly by his side and with her arm around his. He didn't think much of the gesture, or how tightly she was doing so, because he knew how she felt about creatures with too many legs. Clearly she was terrified and since he, a professional, was not terrified...it made sense she would stick with him. Consider his chest puffing out a bit more. "I'm going to be needing my arm, you know," he chuckled while leaning over towards her just a bit. "Don't worry though, I got you. Put myself between the acromantula and you if have to." Not as a chivalrous gesture so much as it would naturally put himself closer to them, for science.

"I'm still not sure I get why we are trying to provoke them out of their lairs," he shrugged while looking around at the rest of the group. "Sounds like we are just trying to tickle the sleeping dragon and THEN try to get by the nest."

But he had his walking buddy all sorted out so...away they went?

The boyfriend was right, of course. The younger ones - or any recent transfers- hadn’t been here for that disastrous Kelpie lesson. Even Jordyn was wise enough to dismiss the bait idea.That was actually the lesson where her anxiety first got the best of her. Okay, Claudine did not want to think about that particular time any more. She thought over Heath’s suggestion and bobbed her head. “I can do that.” To the others, she added, “Everyone’s welcome to help too but if you need to practice Shield and Spider Repelling Charm, go ahead.” She was fairly decent with both - Charms happened to be one of her strengths, anyway.

Claudine set about looking for rocks, small sized ones since they’d be enlarged later. “Hey, Kinsay.’’ She didn’t realise it but she was speaking quietly, as though fearing an acromantula would hear and come after her. Well, that was exactly her fear. “Do you smell like kettlecorn too? That way you could rub your scent on the rock person to make this ruse seem even more convincing? Does anyone have anything, actually? Food? Perfume?”

Bella was glad that she was in the group with Claudine, Gracelyn and Heath. The 7th year's had experience and skills that'd be important to count on to get them all safe to the other side of the spider path. Bella was confident in her shield charm casting, but the spider repelling charm was new. Taking some minutes to herself Bella practiced both the wand movement and incantion 'Arania Exumai' until she felt sure she could cast it successfully.

By the time she turned back to the group Apollo had joined it, as well as Kinsey that was offering herself up as bait. Before Bella could say anything in protest Apollo did as well as everyone else. Shooting Kinsay a look Bella asked. "Why do you want to risk your life Kinsay? This is just a lesson. We don't want you to get hurt or anyone of us." She was glad when Heath suggested a mini rock person, which distracted her from thinking about why Apollo had chosen to be in her group. Emptying her robepocket's all Bella had in terms of food and perfume we're a couple of sweets and a sample of some shampoo from Primps. Unsure if any of it would be of any use Bella held it out to the others. "I've got some pumpkin pastees and jelly slugs and I've got a sample of some new shampoo that smells like mint and milk. I'm not sure if it'd help attract any spiders though."