Okay, so things were coming along fairly well now. She listened to the professor talk about trace amounts of DNA on the swab and made mental notes of that. Right. Not-so-free-flowing resin. Got it.

Sophie picked up her own scalpel so as to follow along with the professor. Sophie eyed the column as she brought her scalpel closer. She probably wouldn't have cut into it, but since the professor brought it up and told them not to, Sophie was extra careful about it.

She ran her scalpel through the resin just as the professor had demonstrated. She watched with wide eyes as a cut formed. She thought she was doing everything okay, but then again, she didn't always have perfect grades in Herbology either. This looked like what the professor had done, though. Mmkay--all ready for the next step.