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?