Miss Kenning’s hand was the first Gaston saw, and he called on her. “Excellent guess, Miss Kenning!” he said with a slight smile. And very nearly correct too! “You’re on the right track.”

Not long after, Miss Kramer spoke up and echoed Miss Kenning’s answer. The professor nodded, listening as she explained her reasoning. “Very sound reasoning, Miss Kramer,” he replied.

And it seemed Mr. Westwood was thinking along the same lines, though he also mentioned valentines. The answer earned a smile and a nod from the professor. “We are,” he said, “but not just any valentines…” But more on that soon… He flicked his wand at the bowl on his desk and levitated a revealer toward each of the Hufflepuffs.




Now here was an answer Gaston hadn’t been expecting! He couldn’t help but chuckle a bit as Miss Spinnet mentioned paper airplanes. He could always count on her to think outside the box! And the idea made sense, he had to give her that. “Not exactly, Miss Spinnet,” he said, “but that’s a very fun idea!” And a fun idea like that deserved a reward! He levitated a revealer toward the girl.



Here was another outside-the-box idea! Gaston blinked in slight confusion and shook his head. “No, no word searches today, Miss Cambridge,” he replied. The activity he had in mind was a bit more hands-on than a word search, and hopefully more fun too!



Miss Awning was being awfully quiet. Oh well, that was okay. Gaston reasoned she probably didn’t have a guess that hadn’t already been said… either that or she was too distracted by the things around her.

Come to think of it, Miss Umbridge seemed a little distracted too. The professor noticed her shrug. Maybe she’d have something to say later?



Here was an answer Gaston hadn’t heard yet! He listened intently as Miss Morrison mentioned color-changing valentines and invisible messages. He smiled. “Both are very good guesses, Miss Morrison!” he said. Not quite what they were doing today, but still great ideas! Another flick of his wand sent a revealer to the Gryffindor girl.

Miss Holden also mentioned invisible messages but also added a few ideas of her own, and what creative ideas she had too! “Now that would be a very creative use of magic indeed!” he said with a smile, levitating another revealer toward her.



Miss Summers very nearly guessed the activity, and her answer earned her a smile from the professor and a revealer sent her way. “Not exactly like a Howler, Miss Summers,” he replied, “but you’re on to something!”

And it seemed Miss Swynford was thinking along the same lines. “Not quite, Miss Swynford, but the thing we’re making today is similar to a Howler,” Gaston said, levitating another revealer toward the girl.

Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne also mentioned Howlers; that was turning into quite a popular answer! Gaston smiled. A nice Howler? Now that was an oxymoron, wasn’t it? “Good guess, Mr. Ashbury-Hawthorne; you’re on the right track!” he said, and another flick of his wand sent a revealer to the Hufflepuff.

And another one for Howlers. Gaston listened to Miss Sorin-Ward’s answer and smiled a bit at the mention of notes flying to their recipients. Now that was a fun idea! “Excellent guess, Miss Sorin-Ward,” he said, levitating a revealer to her.



Now they were getting somewhere! So far Miss Swann had come closest to guessing the activity (well, part of it anyway), and her answer got a beam from the professor. “Almost right, Miss Swann,” he said as he levitated a revealer to her desk. “Good guess!”

Another beam and another revealer for Miss Fairfield. Gaston nodded in reply to her answer. “Yes! We will be making valentines that sing or make noise, Miss Fairfield,” he said, “but that’ll be a bit later on. We have to make the valentines themselves before we can make them sing.” The students had figured out the effects but still hadn’t guessed the type of valentine he had in mind.



Finally someone guessed it! Gaston nodded, flashing the Gryffindor prefect a big smile. “That is exactly what we’re doing, Mr. Salander!” he exclaimed. “Well done!” Needless to say, a correct guess earned the boy a revealer.

Miss Diggory had the same correct guess, and not only that but she’d also guessed one of the shapes they’d be practicing. Gaston beamed as he levitated a revealer toward her. “Yes! Excellent guess, Miss Diggory!” he said.

Miss Sparkes also appeared to be on the right track based on what she said about swans… or was Gaston misunderstanding her line of thought. “I believe you mean origami, Miss Sparkes?” he said. “Good guess!” And with one last flick of his wand, he levitated a revealer to the girl.

Gaston smiled. "No offense taken, Miss Phillips," he replied. His smile grew slightly wider when the girl also correctly guessed the activity. "That is correct. Excellent guess!"


Gaston cleared his throat and waited a moment for the students' attention before he spoke, "Great answers, everyone! As some of you correctly guessed, today we'll be making origami valentines with sound effects. The spell we'll be using to add sound is similar to the spells used to make a Howler shout, but we'll cover that in more detail a bit later. Before we can add the sound effects, we must have something to add sound to..."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Origami can be a time-consuming activity, so today we'll be using a simple folding charm...." He picked up a red square paper. "To cast, point your wand at the area you want to fold and move it in the direction of the intended fold; the incantation is Plico." He repeated the incantation and traced his wand in a diagonal line from one corner of the paper to the other; the paper folded in half. He repeated the process a few more times until the paper had formed a heart.

"I'm passing out instructions for a few origami shapes; you may choose one of these or create one of your own," he went on. "It doesn't have to be a valentine..." Because he knew some people didn't like Valentine's Day. "You can make a paper airplane-" Sidelong glance at Miss Spinnet. "-a lantern or a fan, anything you can come up with. The point of this exercise is to practice the folding charm. I'll give you a few minutes to experiment; let's see what you can make!"

Gaston aimed his wand at a stack of papers on his desk. The stack levitated and traveled around the room, dropping a sheet of paper with detailed instructions on each student's desk. They read:









OOC: Mini activity time! As Gaston said, all you have to do is use the folding charm to create something. Use the instructions provided or come up with your own design, your choice. Try as many shapes as you like! There is no minimum post requirement, but you must make at least one thing to get full credit. If you have a question, please indicate in the title of your post. You have 30-36 HOURS to do this activity!