The demonstration. She had watched that intently. It didn't seem so difficult, did it? Although she desperately hoped she wouldn't end up like the Hufflepuff captain. Poor girl.

The wand movement was nothing overly complicated. Ari practised it for a while, but she got the hang of it pretty quickly, in her opinion. Clock-wise motion and steady flick. Easy breezy. The incantation, however, proved to be somewhat trickier. Instead of Protego Caelum, the girl kept saying 'Protego Caleum!' for some unknown reason.

After a few moments of being completely oblivious of her mistake, Ariadne heard students around her saying the incantation in a slightly different way. Ooops. 'Protego Caelum, I mean.' She proceeded to say it a few more times, until she finally felt prepared. All she needed to do was stand under a cloud now. 'Re-' she started, but then spotted Sir Nicholas.

'Hello, Sir Nicholas! What are you doing here? Interested in a tropical vacation?' she asked, mildly surprised. The ghosts were everywhere this term. It was fun!

'Ready as I'll ever be.' the girl spoke again, waiting for further instructions.