"Ani-mal-is Fid-el-us," Tobias muttered to himself, practicing the incantation for this spell quietly to himself at first, until he'd more or less gotten used to how the words went together, and the inflections, and all the little details. "Ani-mal-is Fid-el-us..."

Once he figured he had the hang of it, Tobias cleared his throat a little and began saying the words a little louder, sort of scrunching up his nose a little as he heard his old-aged croaky voice. Not cool.

"Animalis Fidelis," the Hufflepuff said as clearly as he could. "Animalis Fidelis." And still he kept his attention on the two professors as much as he can, though it was really easy to get distracted by the adorable little puffskeins. "Animalis Fidelis."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mell

"The trust is mutual, is it?" Michael snorted, personally he wouldn't trust Professor Fuller as far as he could throw a Hippogriff. He had that look on his face that said he was enjoying having the other Professor under his thumb. "Well you don't mind if I just see how the charm on Professor Thomson plays out?" Because he was totally not comfortable with this spell at all.

This kid was a stubborn one, wasn’t he? Little punk didn’t want to believe him. ”The only reasonProfessor Thompson,” (it was weird to call him that) ”is acting like a love-struck buffoon is because we’re already BFF’s.” That’s what the kids said these days, right? He was going to explain more, but then he remembered that THIS was the kid who always felt the need to SHOUT during HIS class because he apparently couldn’t HEAR.

”Oi,” he said as he remembered this. ”Did you ears magically get fixed, or what?” He probably liked Thompson better than him, was that it? He better not have been messing with him. Little punk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SlytherinSistah;11576674"[B

Make him eat a puking pastille.[/B]" He said loud 'n clear to his Professors. Oh, he wanted verification that this was actually happening. Or at least a good show. Cutty was a terrible human being. ):

Har har. ”That would be betraying his trust. And that’s not nice.” But he totally would have done it if they weren’t trying to be (kind of) good examples as professors right now, though. But not under the charm, just because he loved messing with Javy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Charely Potter

Javy right now felt like he could get use to this. Life just seemed so much easier. Just do what is asked and then act on it. Simple! How could he possibly be mad at him.

Grinning wide, as he felt an arm wrap around him. What did Piers want him to do? Oh, answer a question! Okay! Certainly he could answer that. Turning to face at the question on free will. "Whatever do you mean? All we need is tender, love, and care. I know Professor Fuller is going to take good care of me as long as needed. I know he would never send me in danger." He was totally sounding non-biased, wasn't he?

"The trust is mutual, because I can feel it and that makes it perfectly okay with me to do whatever he wants, otherwise, I would not feel as comfortable as I do now and would able to stop myself." Right? He did good answering it truthfully didn't he, Piers?

See? It was all good. The trust was mutual. And Piers was grinning like an idiot.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

"Professor?" Sophie asked. Either one of you. Preferably the one who knew the answer. "Going off Beverly's question, will this charm work as self-defense? I mean, I know we're talking about free will..." Which, by the way, was completely unimportant to Sophie. Who cared if they took away an animal's free will? PSH.

"...but could it be used if we need to defend ourself against an animal? Could we use the charm to make it loyal to us instead of...hungry for us?" she asked.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cassirin;11576876"Professor?" Mo raised his hand and looked from one professor to the other before deciding the CoMC professor was the one most likely to answer. If he could. "Are there legal limitations on the use of this spell? I mean... to protect yourself or do something for the good of the creature, like getting it to eat or exercise or whatever, those are all well and good, but it seems like you could also encourage your pet to jump off a bridge. It sorta seems like a version of the [i

Imperius[/i]. It makes me think there must be some sort of limit in place so the spell isn't abused.".

Quote:

Originally Posted by FireboltAvis88

He stopped midway through his last round of incantation practicing and raised his hand,"I agree with Marcus here. Is there a legal limit to what we can ask it to do? Or rather is there a spell limitation as to what we can ask the subject to do? Legal may be fine and dandy but people have been known to break the legal limits of almost everything," Sander shared his opinion.

"Can we control the spell in a way where if we ask the subject to do something that will hurt or cause discomfort to it, the spell won't work and the subject will not be forced to do it?" Sander asked.

And then there were the worry warts. Understandable, of course, so perhaps he should have been more explanatory in the introduction to the charm. But one question at a time.

Self-defense. ”Ah, good question, Miss Newell. To an extent, yes the charm could potentially could be used to defend yourself from an attacking animal. Like a mentioned before, it would depend on the strength of the animal versus the strength of your ability. There is also a time limit on the effectiveness of the charm...” Which led him to answer the next two questions that were posed.

”Yes, to answer your questions and to settle your nerves, just like most spells, there are limitations. The charm will wear off within two minutes. The point of this charm is to show the animal that you mean them no harm and that you can be trusted. Once it wears off, they usually come to realize that you are in fact a friend, not foe.

”Let me assure you that this is not the Imperius curse, nor is it near as dangerous. This charm essentially breaks down any fear or hesitation the animal may feel towards you, allowing them to be more trusting in you. This charm will not make you jump off a bridge. This charm will not allow you to make someone jump off a bridge. It’s not an obedience charm. If I told Professor Thompson to go run naked into the Forbidden Forest, he wouldn’t do it unless he was naturally stupid.” He hoped that scarring visual was helpful.

The little charm should have worn off of dear Javy now, so Piers took his arm back and adjusted the sleeve on his jacket. ”If we don’t have anymore questions, I think it’s about time to move on to testing this charm out on our little puffskein friends.” Piers waited for any more hands to raise and then looked over to his friend so he could take over the show again. Once he recovered from being in love with him. Ha.

Javy could hear the little worries from the children, but he was remaining his innocent feeling. What? How could they think that? Didn't they see how trusting we already are? Nodding vigorously as Piers mentioned that they were already BFFs.. Friiiiiieeeeends.

Then again, it did sound concerning on how being controlling can be taken advantage of. Like.. Hmm.. Did it suddenly get dull in here or what? His grin faded into blank state as he turned to Piers to see-

Oh.. yeah.. Now he remembered. His brows nearly knotted together. Oh how he wanted to tell him that a warning would've been nice. But hey, it wasn't like he was on the Imperius curse.. and that he hadn't been used for that 'lovely' example of him going into the forest. Yikes. "...That is correct." So yeah, back to continuing the lesson at hand as he moved away from Piers towards the Puffskeins.

"Naturally, since Professor Fuller is our master of charms, his performance on another human was fairly simple. It'll be a little challenging for yourselves to get it on a creature you're not already familiar with personally."

"So now that you had gotten visual sample earlier on what will happen, you're going to use the charm on these Puffskeins." Grinning, as they continued sleeping.. for now. "Now you might want to think up a name for the one you choose, you'll be getting even more close with them." For starters, "Once you've managed to get them to actually come to you, have them walk around the pen a few times. Enough to be familiar with your new Puffskein."

---
OOC: Make sure to label and complete the task in four complete posts minimum. You have 24 hours from this post to do this. =)

As Professor Fuller stepped forward to reply to their questions. Sander stopped practicing and listened to what he had to say. He had to admit that once Professor Fuller explained the full extent of the charm, Sander actually felt relieved.

So the spell was only to help the creature understand that you meant it no harm...Well that was definitely good to know.

Then it was Professor Thompson's turn to give instructions. It was time to test the charm on their furry puffy friends. Sander walked closer to the puffy group and looked around until he found a nice bright purple one. He picked it up and cuddled it in his arms while he determined the gender. A male? "Okay, you're a male, so I'm going to name you, Odin, after our Norse God." Sander whispered to his new found friend.

"Alright big guy, I'm going to cast this spell on you. I assure you that it won't hurt a bit," Sander tried to reassure the Puffskein as he knelt down and placed it back on the ground. He unholstered his wand and concentrated on the intent of the spell.

Once he was ready, Sander rolled his wand between his fingers ending with an upward flick and said, "Animalis Fidelis."

Holstering his wand, he spoke to Odin. "Okay Odin, let's go for a walk," before standing up and taking a few step in front of the Puffskein, hoping that Odin would follow him. However, Odin had his own agenda and continued to squeak and bounce around with his other Puffskein friends.

'Hmmmm.....maybe I should get Odin to know me better first before I cast the spell on it," Sander decided as he walked back to Odin and waited for the spell to wear off.

Yes he would first play and feed Odin just so the Puffskein would be more familiar with him because as both Professors had told them it would be challenging for them to get the charm to work on a creature who wasn't familiar with the caster. So patience was required here.

The incantation practice stopped the moment Professor Fuller had managed to gain her attention. He was going to be trying it out on Professor Thompson? That sounded all kinds of promising and the puffskeins could wait. Of course no one had to tell her this was no imperius curse, that was easy enough to deduce on account of it creating trust and all that jazz but that didn't mean it wouldn't have been just as entertaining, so long as Professor Fuller could come up with some good stuff but really it turned out to not be that interesting and in fact she was sure it'd worn off.

Eh.

That didn't mean she'd stop listening though. Had to wait for the instructions...which were easy enough. Again, she could get her kneazle to do all this without a spell but none of these were her kneazles.

Lex scanned around looking for the perfect one. It couldn't be dumb looking, or the spell might not have worked right. As it were, she caught one mid bounce. This was where they got to name it, yes? "Think I'll call you Vicious. Yes, that is your name now and you will be loved." See that? Building trust even before the spell was cast. She so had this.

Still wary, Lux listened as Professor Fuller explained the spell to them. So it wasn't the exact same thing as the Imperius Curse, and the effects only lasted for a few minutes. Reassured that everything would be okay and nothing bad would happen to the poor Puffskeins, the girl relaxed a little. Her respect for Fuller wouldn't be going down after all.

Scanning the creatures bouncing around her, Lux spotted a blue one. Blue was her favourite colour, so a blue Pufskein was perfect. It was bouncing around and being adorable.

Awwww.

"I am going to call you Bilbo." Because if she couldn't have a Hobbit, a Puffskein named after one was the next best thing. Hopefully it wasn't actually a girl, because things would be awkward then.

Bay was relieved that no one was in danger.. phew.. okay now was time to go pick up a Puffskein and use his spell to see if it would come to him.. moving around the pen he spotted a few huddled together… he kept stepping.. moving further and further away from the big groups of Puffskeins, until he spotted a lonely one in the corner…

"This is my type of Puffskein" he thought while he pulled out his wand and crept down and walked closer to it.. "hey little…errrr.. buddy" yeah buddy worked for he didn't know if it was a boy or a girl… "why don't you come over to me.. i have some treats" which was true he had treats from Ziggy in his cloak… he didn't know if this Puffskein would like it but it was worth a try..

He saw the little creature kind of respond and thats when Bay decided to act.. his wand already out he flicked it up and said "Animalis Fidelis" seeing the creature now totally liked Bay it slowly came to him..

he bent down and gave a quick light pat on the head.. "hmmm what should I name you" he thought while seeing it was red.. "I don't know if your a girl or a boy so i'll just name you Gryff… short for Gryffindor, because your red" that was a good idea right..

Alrighteee. It was time to work with the puffskeins. Alex went over to the animals and observed them for a moment. She wanted to be careful in her selection. There were so many to choose from. Which puffskein would make a good partner?

At last, Alex spotted the perfect little critter. He was super cute, but seemed to have a little feistiness that set him apart from the others. That may or may not have been a good thing in this situation. Getting down on her hands and knees Alex addressed her puffskein. "Hi little guy. My name is Alex and you and I are going to be good friends. What should I call you? You look like a Charlie to me. That's a good name for you, I think.". Now, if she could only pull off the charm correctly.

Now that her Puffskein had a name, Lux supposed it was time for her to perform the spell on it. Or him rather; she was going to pretend it was a boy even if it really wasn't.

Reaching into her pockets, she wondered if she should offer Bilbo some Pigmy Puff treats. He would probably like those. Unfortunately, they seemed to be in her dorm. Bay might have some on him, but she was too lazy to ask him so instead she took out a Chocolate Frog.

It really did pay off carrying them everywhere. And thanks to Cutty, she had even more.

Unwrapping it, she quickly ripped it in half so that it wouldn't hop off on her. Tempted to eat some, Lux figured it was probably not the best idea since it was still class. Pocketing some of the chocolate, she offered a piece to Bilbo.

The bouncing Puffskein really seemed to like chocolate, and that was a good thing. Taking an opportunity when it presented itself to her, Lux grabbed her wand and flicked it upwards while saying, "Animalis Fidelis."

Head pat, because Bilbo was a very good boy.

Casting the charm again would come in awhile but for now, Sander wanted to establish some kind of rapport with Odin, to the point that the Puffskein would be more familiar and trusting with him.

....and the only way Sander knew to establish familiarity was to feed the creature. Knowing that Puffskeins were basically the animal kingdom's version of a mobile garbage disposal unit, Sander pulled open his backpack and dug inside it for some scraps of food.

Wah-lah...half a cucumber sandwich that he was keeping for later. Well Odin here you go. Sander lay belly down on the grass next to Odin, broke off small bits of the sandwich and began feeding Odin slowly. Sander chuckled every time Odin's tongue unrolled from his mouth, felt around the tidbit he was holding in his hand, before curling his tongue around the morsel and pulling the tidbit back into his mouth.

After lying on the grass for a couple of minutes, Sander sat back and placed the food on his lap and waited to see whether Odin would come towards him to get the food. Initially he continued to stick out his tongue from where he was sitting, grabbing the food before inserting into its mouth. But after a few minutes, Odin began to inch closer and then closer to Sander, until he finally crawled on to his lap and ate the food right from his hand.

Sander smiled. Could this mean that Odin now trusted him? He must have or he wouldn't have voluntarily moved closer to sit on his lap. Sander picked up Odin and cuddled him, tickling him on his belly and stroking his fur, while cooing nonsensical things to the Puffskein.

Was familiarity and trust now established? Sander decided to put it to the test. Still holding Odin close to him, Sander whispered in the Puffskein's ear.

"I'm going to cast this spell on you. I won't make you do anything you wouldn't do yourself," Sander said to Odin as he continued to calm and stroke the Puffskein.

"Okay here goes."

Sander unholstered his wand, rolled it between his fingers ending in an upward flick at Odin and said, "Animalis Fidelis,"

Did the charm work? It was time to test it.

Alex continued to talk soothingly to her new friend. Taking out her wand, she pointed it at Charlie and gave it a little flick. "Animalis Fidelis", she said while watching him closely. Alex hoped that she had done everything correctly and now it was time to see whether or not the charm had worked.

"Charlie, come here Charlie", Alex called out to her puffskein friend. She waited, hoping that he would come to her immediately. When he didn't come right away, Alex was unsure. Had she done the charm incorrectly or was Charlie's feistiness making him a bit resistant? Alex decided that he would try one more time before attempting to repeat the spell. After all, time was of the essence.

Situating herself a few feet away, Alex tried again. "Charlie, come here baby." Unfotunately, Charlie still had a mind of his own and did not seem interested in coming to Alex.......not right then anyway.

Mo listened very solemnly as the professor spoke, taking into careful consideration whether or not he thought the spell was abusive to the magical creatures. It sounded like someone who had bad intentions wouldn't even really be able to bond and create that trust with the creature, and the spell just enhanced something that should already be there... given time.

Or so he hoped.

Mo took a step toward the waiting puffskeins and knelt, holding out a hand for the nearest one to sniff. It rolled onto its back in disinterest, the long tongue snaking out toward Mo's nose. He batted it away. "Okay... Spike. We're gonna be best friends now, okay? So... no picking my nose, and I'll make sure I don't over exercise you." Seemed a reasonable deal to him.

Adi continued to watch Professor Thompson amusement. Funny spell this was. And now they were able to move on! Pick a Puffskein? Alrightey, then! He scooted off, eager to find the perfect creature.

His eyes caught a light blue one which seemed to be standing still. Adi approached it cautiously. "Hi, Lil Buddy!'' he said enthusiastically but careful not to startle you. "I'm Adi. Is it okay if I call you Homer?'' The Puffer didn't know why but he always liked that name. So Homer would be his new Puffskein friend's name.

Continuing to pet her little Puffskein, Lux began cooing to him because maybe they liked being talked to like they were babies. "You are such a good boy, Bilbo. Yes, you are." Beam. What a pretty little guy he was, all fluffy and blue.

Taking some more chocolate, she fed him a little more because who doesn't love chocolate. Bilbo sure loved it!

More head pats and more chocolate. Lux wanted to make sure that she had built up a lot of trust before trying to walk around the pen with her. Maybe a test to see how things were coming along could be to step away a little and see if he would come towards her.

Making sure not to bump into anything, Lux moved backwards a few feet until she figured she was a good distance from Bilbo. Getting down on her knees, she started beckoning him over. "Come here, Bilbo. Who is a good boy."

....

"Please come, Bilbo?" Mer.

All that mattered about this charm was what it could do. Beverly didn't really care about the rest. It wasn't like she'd just accept and get charmed. Obviously whoever dare try that would get hexed where it hurts the most.

After hearing out both professors Beverly proceeded to find a Puffskein. She didn't mind what the creature looked like. ALL creatures were lovely. Sure they weren't dragons, but still cute.

Approaching a furry one who seemed to be trying to lick its eye, Bev knelt next to it. It was lilac and whether it was a girl or a boy, she didn't know. "I choose you," she said, reaching out to pat its tiny head. "Wiggin. Yeah, that's you now. Wiggin."

Adi eyed Homer. The little guy was eyeing him back. Clearly he did not trust the boy. Hmph! That was so wrong, yo! Adi was a lover of animals and he thought the animals should love him back. Uh huh.

"Come on over, Homer,'' Adi said with a smile. See? There was no need to be afraid. This was a friendly kid. He took a cautious step towards the Puffskein which stood rooted to where it stood. Adi stretched out his hand. "Come on. I won't hurt you.''

Still Homer stood his ground and eyed Adi. Ah well. Time to use that spell, yes?

'Please trust me enough to follow me, Odin," Sander thought to himself as he got on his knees and began moving backwards...still on knees..which wasn't a wise thing to do considering his knees were aching like the rest of his body.

....oh the things we do, to get a task completed...

Moving backwards on his knees, arms stretched towards the Puffskein, Sander began coaxing Odin to follow him.

"Odin, let's go for a walk. Just a short one.....around the pen." Sander told the Puffskein as he continued to walk backwards on his knees.

....well the Professors didn't say how they were supposed to walk their Puffskeins. Just that they had to get them to walk around the pen. Sander would have preferred to take that walk with his feet, but right now, he just wanted Odin to trust him enough to follow him.

..."Come on, Odin. Walkey time," Sander continued to coax his Puffskein.

...and what happened next made Sander laugh...

Marigold just was BEAMING AT THE LITTLE ADORABLE CREATUREEEE. HAAAAI. Looking up when professor people were talking, she got even MOAR excited. Wheeeeeeee. Little animal buddies. Thinking up a name in a second, she crouched near the fuzzball.

"Helllllllooooooooo Ploffy," she said in a baby-talk voice. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a BIT. Animalis Fidelis," she said, just practicing.

Readyyyyy Ploffers?

Did this Puffskein want Lux to beg on her hands and knees? Because the girl was willing to do that if it was necessary.

Not giving up, she continued to beckon him over. "Bilbo, my pretty boy. Come here to me." She even whistled a little, wondering if he would respond to it like Coco did. Lux really missed her puppy...

Pulling out some more chocolate, she held it towards him. "Lookie, I have some nice choccie for a good Puffskein who listennnnnns." Nommy nom.

Yummy chocolate.

Still on his knees, Sander laughed when Odin started bouncing excitedly, squeaking up and down....and bouncing after him.

....was the Puffskein actually following him? Sander moved back a couple of knee steps and Odin continued to bounce after him. Despite his knees protesting the fact that they would rather be not touching the ground, Sander scooted back a couple more inches.

....and Odin did a giant bounce and landed on his lap.

Sander picked up Odin in his hands, bringing the Puffskein up to his face. "You did well, Odin. Would you like to go for a walk now?" Sander whispered to Odin while stroking him at the same time.

Gently placing Odin down on the ground, Sander groaned as he slowly got off his now numb knees and back on his feet. Making sure no one was standing behind him, Sander began taking small steps backwards.

"Come along, Odin. Let's go walkey again," Sander leaned down to coax the Puffskein.

...."and we're walking...walking...walking," Sander motioned Odin to follow him.

Was he following?

So Cutty approached the little Puffskeins wearing an expression of complete disgust as the image of nekkid Professor Thompson in the Forbidden Forest flashed through his mind thanks to Professor Fuller. Professor Piers 'Emotional Scars' Fuller.

Merlin. They all looked the same, didn't they? They were all relatively the same size, give or take a few inches from the diameter. Were it not for their colours, Cutty would not have been able to tell them apart. No, wait. That was birds, and also a generalization about human beings and the fashion they chose. Cutty chose a puffskein somewhere between a yellow and green shade and decided that he did not care at all what gender it was, but if anyone asked it was to be called Desiree.

"Animalis Fidelis!" He fired off the charm energetically toward little Desiree and watched to see the effect. She/He/It zigged to the right and appeared to sniff, then zagged to the left and repeated this motion slowly inching over toward Cutty's shoes. "Yes, YES! Seek me out!". And Cutty spent the next two minutes positively drunk with power as he lead little Desiree out of her sleeping lull toward him.

Honestly, Lux was not sure what made Bilbo suddenly look towards her and come hopping over. Either it was the chocolate, or the cooing starting to pay off. Whatever it was, all the girl cared about was the fact that the Puffskein was bouncing right towards her.

"What a good boy," she said happily as she petted him some more. He was such a good boy. And since he was now being obedient for whatever reason, it was time for Lux to take him on a walk.

After giving Bilbo the piece of chocolate, she got to her feet. Time to burn those calories from chocolate! "Let's go on a walkie."

Stepping away a little, she paused after a few steps then summoned Bilbo to follow her. She beamed when he bounced along towards her. Awesome, it was still working.

Continuing in this way at a slow pace, Lux and Bilbo made a full circuit of the pen. Maybe one or two more, and she would be satisfied.

OK, this clearly was not working. She was going to have to try the charm again........but first, she would try plan B and C if necessary. Sitting down next to the puffskein, Alex began to talk to him. "You are the cutest little boy ever.. We are going to be such great friends." She began to stroke his fur as she spoke.

Noticing that some of her classmates were offering their animals treats bribing them, Alex wished she had something to offer Charlie. Oh wait. She reached into her jacket pocket and found two leftover cookies that she had forgotten. Did puffskeins like cookies? Well she'd soon find out the answer to that question. Breaking the cookies into smaller pieces, Alex offered a portion to Charlie. "Here boy. Are you hungry? Go ahead, take a nibble." She was relieved when Charlie cautiously took a bite of the cookie. He must have liked it because soon he was sniffing for more.

"OK buddy, we're going to try a little something now. I won't hurt you, I promise." Alex directed her wand at Charlie, gave it a flick and said, "Animalis Fidelis". Backing up a bit, she said, "Alright Charlie, come here". "Come to Alex.". Slowly the little ball of fur started to walk toward her. When he reached her, she gave him a big pat. "Good boy Charlie! You did it. I'm so proud of you.". Alex was happy that her charm had worked. Now she had to move on to the next step before it wore off.

It was amazing how her little Puffskein was really starting to trust her. It made Lux really happy. Beaming, she kept walking around with Bilbo, knowing full well that the spell had worn off a little while before. That meant he totally trusted her!

Some of that probably had to do with the chocolate. Cough.

After she had made a few rounds with her little Puffskein, Lux stopped and picked him up. "You are such a good boy, and I hope you liked your exercise."

It was time to take her puff for a walk. "Charlieeee, are you ready to have a little fun? It's time to take a little walkie poo.". Why was she talking like this? Alex had no idea. The puffskein must think he had a crazy person trying to take him for a walk.

Alex started walking backward slowly while beckoning Charlie to follow. After a few moments of uncertainty, the fluffy puffskein began to follow her. "Yay Charlie! You are doing great.......keeeep walking. That's right come to Mama." As Alex took a slow lap around the pen, Charlie followed her like a good little puffskein. Alex was happy, but not sure whether this was a result of her extraordinary magic or Charlie's ability to smell cookie crumbs in her pocket. Either way, she considered her trial a success. "Come on Charlie, let's go one more time." Alex led her new friend around the pen one more time before giving him hugs and pats for his good work. "You're the best little puffskein ever Charlie", Alex said while smiling brightly.