Mariel stepped into the observatory for Astronomy class, immediately noticing a change in the room. Appearing to be set up for some sort of practical lesson, she thought as she noted how interesting today's class would probably be. Glancing up at the instructions on the board as she made her to find a seat, the 14 year old gave Forrester a grin and cheerful wave - as the board said no talking - and she took her seat next to Nancy who was also given an identical grin and wave.

And now to get to work. She looked down at the materials on her table then looked back up at the instructions again. Cut open one garbage bag and use it to line your mixing bowl. Mariel looked around for the mixing bowl, which she grabbed and slid over so it was infront of her, then picked up a garbage bag. Cut it open? She looked over at Nancy with a quizzical expression on her face. Oh, her Slytherin friend was using Diffindo, which was a good thing because that's what she was going to do as well. She figured that wouldn't count as talking anyway and she didn't see a knife around nor any of those Muggle skissor things. Pulling out her wand and casting a quick Diffindo, Mariel then used the cut-open bag as a liner for her mixing bowl.

What next? After a quick look back up at the instructions, the third year dumped the measuring cup of water, then the spoonfuls of sand into her bowl. Now stir. The Ravenclaw girl picked up the wooden spoon from her table and started the monotonous task of stiring the gritty water while her green eyes scanned the room to see how the rest of the class was faring.

Just like Potions... Mariel smiled to herself as she finished her stirring and looked over the next step. Ammonia... That was the really smelly one. The Ravenclawgirl looked around a bit before finding the ammonia on her table a dash of that and a dash of... organic material? Oh, that must be this dark, liquidy stuff. She quickly scanned the other ingredients on the table and glanced around to see others adding it before deciding that it was correct. Mariel proceeded to stir the mixture further until she was satisified with the blend.

Mariel carefully pulled on the gloves set out for her and began putting the garbage bags inside each other until there were three together. Pulling the dry ice out of the ice chest, she carefully put it inside the garbage bags which she then set onto the table. Oooh, now she got to use a hammer? A smug smirk crept up the sides of the young girl's mouth as she began pounding out her frustrations onto the bagged ice. This was somewhat reminiscent as her short time playing Beater... hitting bludgers, pounding ice - both were somewhat and strangely relaxing to the Ravenclaw.

Figuring it was pulverized enough, she dumped the contents of her bag into the bowl and began to stir - yet again. And just like in Potions class, her arm was starting to hurt from the repetitive motion, but just like in Potions class, she felt it worth it as she was eager to see the usually-exciting result.

Okay, what was next? Green eyes scanned the board for the next set of instructions. Mariel looked back down in her mixing bowl as she continued to stir to see that the mixture was indeed almost frozen - or as frozen as she thought it was supposed to be per instruction.

Using the bag, she lifted the frozen concoction and shaped it into a ball. Holding it there for a few minutes until she thought it was frozen enough to hold its shape, the Ravenclaw girl unwrapped it and nodded to herself upon seeing the finished result. Cool. Still wearing her gloves, she picked up the frozen ball and set it upon the paper plate, then tidied up the table a bit as she waited to see what would happen next in class.