Blue-green eyes sparkled as their Headmistress said the magic word-- MAZE.

Eagerly the leonine lad entered and chose to turn right immediately-- he's gonna see how far he can ride the periphery of the maze before he gets lost. Gotta find out how big the maze is relative to the sun's position and all that direction stuff yeah? He figured this maze has got to be less confusing than the castle with all its hidden and constantly changing passages and pathways right? At least he hopes so.

Ace walked down the path for a bit, the rune in one hand and his wand in the other, opting to take the turn where he could sense is still keeping him not too far from the edge of the maze. It was a good plan as he felt he was now about halfway around the maze from his point of entry, which allowed him to have a rough idea of how big this whole area was.

He made a turn then halted in his tracks. Dead end.

She saw the look. The was that subtle look that spoke to inner skepticism and it had the Ravenclaw clamming up quickly. It was one thing to have Mr. Kennedy up in arms about it...he was the Librarian and occasionally her Astronomy Professor. He couldn't and thankfully hadn't been able to change Professor Hirsch's mind about permitting her to do the study. Headmistress Hawthorne on the other hand.........she could do a lot more than change Hirsch's mind so really, there was no need to give her more cause for concern that what she probably already had.

Deciding it best to fly under the radar, Jessa allowed herself to be tugged along by...Oh! Derf! Even better! She linked arms with him, following him into the maze without hesitation. No protest to walking with him. Between the two of them, they should've been capable of making their way to the end.

'Sides, why dwell on this when she was now quite interested in whatever had just 'caused the rustling from the inside. Something was hiding in there and they were gonna find out. "Right wall. Got it." She never heard that before but then she'd never really needed information on mazes. "Wonder what's hiding on the inside."

Hand along the right wall. This was the right way, yeah?

....

No.

No this was starting to look like a proper dead end if she ever saw one.

Though the footsteps of the sixth year were light, they could still hear her coming closer and closer to Area #4. Clearly their rustling from earlier had lured the humans in, and this one was going to be their first victim. Quiet, high-pitched giggles sounded excitedly as they mischievously grinned at each other. It was time to put their masterplan into action.

All went quiet as several small blue bodies scattered and hid inside the hedge. Come and play, little human!

-----

Not a single sound was made as the Gryffindor prefect approached Area #9. Even after he came to a complete stop, the silence continued. It was as if this dead end was just that: a dead end. However, that was what it wanted the boy to think. It was waiting for the opportune moment to strike.

Very quietly, spikes vines were inching their way closer and closer. Without warning a vine then shot upward and grabbed hold of an arm, ready to drag the human closer to it. The Venomous Tentacula camouflaged inside the hedge was #hangry.

-----

While moving toward Area #10, something was closely following behind in total silence. The foot-tall creature was amusing itself until it was the right time to attack. Its over-sized grey head looked smug, not that the humans would have noticed. They were too busy talking and focusing on what was in front of them to realize that a Pogrebin was trailing them.

It knew that the path they took would soon come to an end. So, as they rounded the corner, it stopped and crouched down so that it resembled a rock. Any moment now...

SPOILER!!: Jessa & the Pogrebin!!!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She saw the look. The was that subtle look that spoke to inner skepticism and it had the Ravenclaw clamming up quickly. It was one thing to have Mr. Kennedy up in arms about it...he was the Librarian and occasionally her Astronomy Professor. He couldn't and thankfully hadn't been able to change Professor Hirsch's mind about permitting her to do the study. Headmistress Hawthorne on the other hand.........she could do a lot more than change Hirsch's mind so really, there was no need to give her more cause for concern that what she probably already had.

Deciding it best to fly under the radar, Jessa allowed herself to be tugged along by...Oh! Derf! Even better! She linked arms with him, following him into the maze without hesitation. No protest to walking with him. Between the two of them, they should've been capable of making their way to the end.

'Sides, why dwell on this when she was now quite interested in whatever had just 'caused the rustling from the inside. Something was hiding in there and they were gonna find out. "Right wall. Got it." She never heard that before but then she'd never really needed information on mazes. "Wonder what's hiding on the inside."

Hand along the right wall. This was the right way, yeah?

....

No.

No this was starting to look like a proper dead end if she ever saw one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Narrator

While moving toward Area #10, something was closely following behind in total silence. The foot-tall creature was amusing itself until it was the right time to attack. Its over-sized grey head looked smug, not that the humans would have noticed. They were too busy talking and focusing on what was in front of them to realize that a Pogrebin was trailing them.

It knew that the path they took would soon come to an end. So, as they rounded the corner, it stopped and crouched down so that it resembled a rock. Any moment now...

They hadn't been walking all THAT long...certainly not HOURS or anything...but perhaps the influence of the glowing rune in their hands had something to do with the magical influence of the rock demon trailing them. Unknowingly, of course. But then again...didn't they say that all magic came with a sort of price?

Feet starting to drag slightly, Derf's mind began wandering to just how SAD he was about Abey being pulling from Hogwarts. Rightly so...but still. With a heavy sigh he looked over at Jessa, tightening his linked arm with hers just a little. "Jessa?" he asked after a bit. "You're...youre not doing anything that could get you...expelled from Hogwarts, are you?" Because he KNEW what his best friend was up to with her experiments and her keen interest in necromancy and such. He didn't like it, but you didn't have to like EVERYTHING about your best friend and friends and people to still like them. "I..don't know what I would do if you had to leave too..."

And as if to add to that melancholy feeling, the path they were on had reached a dead end.

"Well...guess we just keep following the wall then," he said with a heavy sigh. There had been a spot or two where they COULD have turned but following the right wall made that not really an option so. "We maybe should have used Point Me when we started...so at least we knew where the entrance was," he added as an afterthought while making a sloooooooow U-Turn along the wall with the Ravenclaw. "At least we would know where the start was...."

She didn't really notice the way his feet had began to drag, finding she was a little lost in her own thoughts on what the maze could be hiding. What were the chances they'd find something they'd be able to keep? Last class did have something...even if the woman had said she couldn't keep it. Maybe....maybe they wouldn't ask this time.

"Hmm?" Completely oblivious to anything that may have been following them, Jessa gave Derf her full attention. His question was certainly not one she'd been expecting. Sure, it wasn't a secret that her experiments worried the Hufflepuff but she didn't think he'd think it would get her expelled.

"Of course not!" Jessa unlinked their arms, wrapping hers around his shoulder soothingly. "I mean, I don't think so. I've got permission to do everything I'm doing so they'd at least have to gimme a talking to first, yeah?" That...that was how it worked...right? Like....had to give you a chance to reform your ways before deciding they didn't want you around anymore. "You don't have to worry, I'll be fine. Nothing over the top." Because animating corpses wasn't THAT over the top. It fit somewhere in the middle of the spectrum actually. Things could be so much worse.

And he had a pretty valid point there about the spell. "Yeah.....there's an afterthought. Should be fine. We'll just keep following the wall like you said." No big deal.

To be honest Juniper was surprised that her hand had gone up that fast. But Protego was just a spell that had really been on her mind lately. With all that happened she supposed that was why that spell had stuck with her. It was a really useful one to use though.

She notitced the pause in the Headmistress answer. Was she supposed to go on with that? She blinked and nodded. Duels was just about the only place that the third year had really put protego into practice. Though the first few days after the room of requirement thing had happened, all the Ravenclaw wanted to do was live a one big protego bubble for the rest of her life.

Creating barriers against anything that may be attacking you, when you're facing the unknown within a maze. That was suppose to be a hint at the rest of the lesson, right? She would be fine just as long as no one in the maze would hand her a cursed object.

Sorry not sorry. She would slap it right out of whoevers hand it was. Anyway… she went on listening to the others give their answers.

So it was a maze, interesting. Juni was actually rather excited about this. So far the first lesson that she could had been able to have an interest in since she had been out of the hospital wing. The Ravenclaw held on to her rune stone and her wand as she headed into the maze.

It had felt like quite a while that she had gone into the maze. She felt like she was making some head way to the center of the maze that she was confident that she was getting closer. To her surprise she had not ran into anyone else yet…. Unless they were following her. She turned around for a moment to see it anyone was there. Facing back the way she was headed her brown eyes were moving from wall to wall, ceiling to floor and quietly peeking around corners.

Turning a corner, moving forward the path she was on led to a dead end…Ha and she thought that she was almost done.

SPOILER!!: ho hum

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She didn't really notice the way his feet had began to drag, finding she was a little lost in her own thoughts on what the maze could be hiding. What were the chances they'd find something they'd be able to keep? Last class did have something...even if the woman had said she couldn't keep it. Maybe....maybe they wouldn't ask this time.

"Hmm?" Completely oblivious to anything that may have been following them, Jessa gave Derf her full attention. His question was certainly not one she'd been expecting. Sure, it wasn't a secret that her experiments worried the Hufflepuff but she didn't think he'd think it would get her expelled.

"Of course not!" Jessa unlinked their arms, wrapping hers around his shoulder soothingly. "I mean, I don't think so. I've got permission to do everything I'm doing so they'd at least have to gimme a talking to first, yeah?" That...that was how it worked...right? Like....had to give you a chance to reform your ways before deciding they didn't want you around anymore. "You don't have to worry, I'll be fine. Nothing over the top." Because animating corpses wasn't THAT over the top. It fit somewhere in the middle of the spectrum actually. Things could be so much worse.

And he had a pretty valid point there about the spell. "Yeah.....there's an afterthought. Should be fine. We'll just keep following the wall like you said." No big deal.

While his little Hufflepuff heart skipped a few beats from relief, he found his steps heavier and almost more hollow as they made the turn. Maybe it was just this term wearing him down. It HAD been a lot of emotional relapse for the blonde and he had been feeling the emotional strain as everything he had experienced his first year came back and resonated in the uncertainties and anxieties that this term had enlisted. Needless to say, Derfael Mitchell Ashburry-Hawthorne was one vulnerable young Hufflepuff at the moment.

Which was probably why the still unnoticed rock demon was having such an immediate and profound impact on the boy. Along with perhaps the amplified influence of his still glowing rune. Although it was beginning to fade as his concentration and willpower wavered.

"Do you think we'll EVER get out of here?" he asked a bit gloomily, his feet dragging even more and knees bending in such a way he was now semi hunched over. "I think I need a break," he sighed, much unlike the exuberant young man to be tired THIS quickly...but there he was. Crawling to a standstill and laying down flat on the ground with his face to the dirt.

Another maze? These professors were maze crazy that was it,
he couldn't help but think they were all working together to annoy and harm the students this term. He just watched as the others went. He did not want to do this and he wasn't going to be the first experimental test subject either. So he stood watching the others until he had to go or just walk away.

Heading into the maze he started to just walk around. He didn't know where to go nor did he really care if he was going wrong. His wand was out and he had the rune though he decided already he would use his wand more than that to get through this thing.

She gave the headmistress a smile as that woman responded on her question. Her answer might be predictable since Ava often used disarming charm on her duel but yeah.... It was the first thing that came up on her mind. Also Hawthorne seemed agree on her answers too, though. Moving on.

The Gryffindor watched something at the other side of the hedge was revealed. A maze? So today their going to do the practical portion of the lesson by exploring the maze, huh? Cool! She was like one of those triwizard tournament participant because they once had to walked into the maze with obstacles and stuffs. Taking her wand and runestone, Ava stepped into the maze and... Okay, where should she headed to? Hmmm.... Following her instinct, she chose the right track and walked to the first path that she had seen. Too much thinking inside the maze could make confussion, right? So Ava had to make a quick decision because either way there would be obstacles ahead.

She kept chanting the galdr and looked around the surroundings in case... You know, something happened.

She could have sworn she heard giggling, but as she turned the corner it all fell quiet. Still following the hedge on the left side of her, Sam frowned. Giving the rustling the maze had made behind the Headmistress before they'd been allowed in, it seemed suspiciously quiet. She glanced down to check her rune was still glowing - amazingly, it still was - her wand arm raised in full alert. They was something here, she was sure of it, she just didn't know what.

She was tempted to try disillusionment, a spell she'd somewhat conquered last year, but she wasn't sure the effect Uruz might have on it. So something safer was in order...a non-verbal protego.

Better to be safe than sorry, right?

A maze. Well, this was going to fun.

Etta firmly held her wand in one hand and her still-glowing Uruz in the other as she entered the maze, the excitement clearly visible on her face. She really enjoyed activities like there. She walked slowly, wondering what kind of obstacles the Headmistress was going to come up with. But then again, after IMPS the previous term, she could handle almost anything scary. Heh.

She kept wandering about, hoping she was close to the centre.. somewhat but she really doubted it.

Ah so heres where this path ends then. the Curly Top nonchalantly nodded to himself as he made a mental note about where this particular section was in the grand scheme of the maze.

He had just turned on his heel when his arm was seized all of a sudden, and his spun his head in alarm. Blue-green eyes grew wide as he realized that a plant-y tentacle was wrapped around his arm, and said vine was extending from the hedge he thought was a harmless dead end. "Arrgh leggo! he rumbled as he struggled to take his arm back, and out of reflex, sent a stupefying spell towards the hedge in the effort of wriggling his arm free.

She'd thought the melancholy that her friend had fallen into would subside with her assurance but for one reason or another...he was just getting worse.

Jessa raised a brow at him when he released her arm. A break? "If we can't get out on our own, we'll send up red sparks." She promised, trying to get him back to his feet but for all her effort, Derfael was now lying face first in the dirt in a pitiful sort of crawl. Er...

"It's not that bad, honest. We'll only just started." The Ravenclaw got into a stooping position before him, trying to soothe him by gently patting and rubbing at his head. "And when we get to the centre, we'll find something absolutely wicked." Somehow, she had to get him out of this funk because his melancholy was starting to affect her--funny how she didn't think it worked that way...but there was a feeling creeping up on her and she didn't like it one bit.

"Come on, what'd you say we get walking again?"

For now, the rock demon continued to go unnoticed, in fact he was even less a thought now that she had a bestie to cheer up and get through the maze.

Patrick glanced around. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to participate, but after the DADA lesson where he was hanging from a ledge, he wasn’t too sure that he wanted to chance going into the maze. He looked around at the students heading into the maze and figured he was on his own if he was going to enter.

He started into the maze, “you need only to send red sparks in the air Patrick” he mumbled under his breath, his rune in his left hand and his wand in his right.

Use with caution. Right. Didn't want to bring down the castle walls or anything.

So, the maze. Ronan entered and immediately made a right, following the twists and turns of the hedge wall, occasionally running into small dead ends. He walked for quite a while, turning back when he met one of the aforementioned dead ends. He was starting to wonder if he had somehow turned himself around and was heading back to the maze's enterance when he found himself in a wide dead end that he hadn't ended up in before. Okay, so he hadn't been turned around then. But, he did have to stop and get his brain straight on which way to go after leaving this particular dead end, and that required some mental picturing from the Gryffindor. Picturing that had him coming to a complete stop.

At the sight of the girl in Area #4, one of the Pixies darted out of the hedge and ... SMACK! The poor thing hit her invisible shield and fell to the floor of the maze, unconscious.

The others, however, were more cautious and more intelligent than their fallen friend. In pairs, they scattered. The leaves in the hedges rustled as they moved into position. All went quiet for a moment, and then they all dashed out in different directions right behind the curly-haired girl, bypassing the invisible shield. Some latched onto her hair, others were kicking at her legs, and one was too busy laughing hysterically to do much else.

-----

Unlike most of the maze, Area #5 was much darker, and the ground was something one would expect to see if they were in a bog. Though, turning around the bend, a warm light could be seen in the distance. Someone as holding a lantern up ahead.

Only that someone was a something. Short and stout in appearance and wispy white, the creature remained still. But then it, noticing the human, made a loud squelching noise and propelled a fireball from its lamp.

-----

An interesting (or perhaps odd) feature of Area #8 was that it was covered in holes, which were big enough for a small child to crawl through. That said, if one weren't watching where they were going, their foot very easily could have fallen inside the hole. The same could be said of those who were trying to run away, as the holes were dug in no clear pattern.

But to the red-eyed creature that lived underground, the holes and the tunnels that connected them were perfect for easily getting to one place to the other. That is how the Red Cap had found the human so quickly. A green hand holding onto a thick bone came out of the hole and struck the back of the girl's leg.

-----

The Venomous Tentacula in Area #9 was very much looking forward to its snack. As the prefect struggled, it started tugging him toward the hedge. It did not loosen its grip one bit as the spell hit the hedge. Leaves were flying everywhere, and now the toothsome plant was exposed.

It didn't seem to care though. Instead another vine shot out at the boy's other arm. The plant tugged the vines toward itself again, all in an effort to get its meal closer to its mouth. It wanted to make quick work of this as it could sense that more meals were getting closer.

-----

The Pogrebin remaining still as ever in Area #10 was starting to get impatient with the two it had been trailing. If only time would move faster, so that despair and futility would overtake them. For a moment it contemplated letting them continue, without it following after them. Surely a much smaller target, by their lonesome, would come around.

The demon tilted its head up a bit because it could hear another human approaching. But then it caught sight of the blond boy with his face planted into the ground. The human girl was stooping beside him. Wasting no time, it attacked, jumping onto the girl's back.

With her glowing rune in hand, Skylar quietly whispered the galdr again to strengthen it some more before entering the maze. If there was only a spell that could guide her in the direction she was meant to go. She hated not being able to see if she was going the correct direction. But following along the perimeter seemed to be going well, at least in that she hadn't run into any obstacles...

Yet.

Just as she kept hitting dead end after dead end, quietly and quickly turning around to keep trudging along forward, when she saw it. At first, she thought it was Devil's Snare in the way it was gripping and snatching at the boy she recognized as the male Gryffindor prefect, aka Olivia's other half, but then closer inspection just before casting lumos, Skylar recognized the leaves as something else.

"Diffindo," she cast on the plant, hoping that the strength from her uruz rune would be enough to aid her severing spell in freeing the gryffindor. Also, this was not the right direction towards the center.

His stunning spell had just flown out of his wand when a split second later he remembered what this class was about. Gah he should've invoked the rune first! But the spell did clear the hedges enough to reveal his attacker, and in the split second it took for him to realize what it was, it seized his other arm.

Dont panic, dont panic, DON'T PANIC!

He dug in his heels as the plant started to drag him in. Thoughts of spells flying through his head at a hundred miles per hour. He could bombarda that thing to thy kingdom come, but that would kill it, and for some reason, given that he is in Hogwarts, he didnt want to do that. Dont kill plants because Professor Myers would be very unhappy. Waitaminute why is he thinking about what the Herbology Professor would feel he's about to be this plant's lunch!

He chanted the gladr through gritted teeth as he gripped the Uruz rune tightly in his hand, and the rune began to glow so bright it was shining through his clenched fist. A spell flew out from nowhere and he made a dodging motion out of reflex. "Dont hit me..." he hollered aloud, unable to look who it was because well the hungry plant had all his attention as of the moment.

He didnt want to kill it, but he also didnt want to be killed. So he decided to use this spell instead "Glacius!" he aimed at the Venomous Tentacula at point blank range, fully intending to turn it into a plantsicle.

Her gaze had been on the hedges, but the force reverberating through her shield from that smack caught her attention. A groan escaped her as she looked at the small creatures. A pixie. And if there was one...that probably mean a whole load more of the tricksters close behind.

Very close behind, apparently, as she barely had time to check her rune before several more got around her shield and started climbing all over her.

Great.

She grimaced at the ones pulling on her curls. As much as it was an annoyance, she figured it was probably best to deal with the one not on her first of all. Impedimenta would be a good choice, but since she was dealing with creatures and there was a lot of greenery around, Sam opted for the Ensnarement Charm that Hirsch had taught them earlier in the year. Hopefully Uruz would make the vines stronger, and better directed toward the creatures she was hoping to hold in place.

"Irretio!" She circled her wand over the ground by the laughing pixie, before flicking her wrist in the direction of the creature. Two more spells followed, aimed at the ones by her legs.

...

....

What in Merlin's beard? o_____O

Jessa twisted the moment she felt something latch onto her back, trying her best to catch a glimpse of whatever it might have been. Curious, wasn't it? One minute she was stooping there and the next something was--"Ow!" Had it just...did it just bite her or were those simply claws?

The Ravenclaw spared a glance at her gloomy friend before reaching her hands back to grab whatever it was by the neck and pulling it around to get a good look. As it so happened, a glimpse was all she needed for her eyes to widen with delight.

"Derf! Derf look!" She enthused, holding it up for him to have a look too. "Look! It's a pogrebin!" Jessa began nudging him, unwilling to release the creature. "Help me get this thing subdued. We're taking it back with us."

WHAT LUCK!

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Narrator

An interesting (or perhaps odd) feature of Area #8 was that it was covered in holes, which were big enough for a small child to crawl through. That said, if one weren't watching where they were going, their foot very easily could have fallen inside the hole. The same could be said of those who were trying to run away, as the holes were dug in no clear pattern.

But to the red-eyed creature that lived underground, the holes and the tunnels that connected them were perfect for easily getting to one place to the other. That is how the Red Cap had found the human so quickly. A green hand holding onto a thick bone came out of the hole and struck the back of the girl's leg.

Juni tilted her head slightly at all the holes, so many holes. Was this part of the maze? Like was she suppose to pick the right hole to go down. She was pretty sure she could fit down inside the hole. Wondering what would happening to her if she picked the wrong hole. She was about to stick her head down in a nearby hole.

”OW.” Something had just hit her on the back of the leg. ”That kind of hurt. Or more or less surprised her. She turned around and looked down. A RED CAP?!?! She looked at her rune to make sure it was still glowing which it was but she wanted to made sure it was as powerful as she could get it.

Reciting the galdr again. Once she was ready she had a spell in mind. ”Carpe Retractum!” Making a whipping motion at the red cap’s bone in its hand. If she could disarm the creature of the bone then there was a low chance of being bludgeoned to death. Hopefully this would be enough to get her where she could get back to going through the maze...

Sure there were bound to be plenty of ideas on spells that could be strengthened by the Uruz rune. But at the moment, Cassie was having a brain freeze. At least to the point that she wasn’t coming up with the one’s already practiced or already being mentioned by her fellow classmates before the headmistress professor was moving them on. And yes she was paying attention so the woman didn’t have to worry about her in that case. She just now had to deal with a maze that the professor had apparently decided to use for her activity.

Cass awaited her turn to follow the others into said maze, wand at the ready in her grasp as she moved on her own. It would only be more time if she tried to find a partner when most were either paired up already or also seemingly opting to go it alone. The sixth year started out heading relatively straight before turning left at the second opening and then right as the hedge guided her that way with its passageways and blockages. And then there was even more bends and the Ravenclaw debated if she had made the right choice as she tentatively followed her limited options.

Patrick had stumbled upon Derf and some Ravenclaw girl that he had yet to meet. He was pretty certain that something happened to one of them since they were on the ground.

A thing latched onto her back and he got nervous. He was beginning to freak out a bit. He was almost going to shoot red sparks in the air when he heard the girl say she wanted to take it back, ”Take it back? Why? What is that thing other than a pogrebin?” He figured his question was way too simple, but he was a bit scared and could barely remember his name.

He then looked at the girl and Derf, hoping that they would let him stay and work through the maze with him, but honestly he figured they’d leave him right in the dust as he continued through the maze. He really wanted this girl to take care of the creature so he wouldn’t feel so gross.

"What the......" was Ronan's rather intelligent response to the spell flying past him. Obviously he had been too focused on his mental picturing and not enough on his surroundings as Tenacius had been being pulled right towards a Venomous Tentacula right in front of him! He did have to wonder, though, why the prefect hadn't said anything when he'd first come onto the scene. But if neither Tenacius nor his savior, whom he now recognised as Skylar had noticed him, he wasn't going to say anything else that would call attention to his potentially fatal mistake.

He would, however, stick around to make sure the plant was actually dead.

Derf felt teeeeeeeeeeerrible. Really, he just wanted to sleep away some of this terrible and since he was already on the ground like this it seemed like a very plausible idea. Or, well, it WAS one until Jessa started shouting exuberants about...WAIT DID SHE SAY?????

"....p-p-pogrebin?" THAT was enough, even in his state, to get the third year to life his head and take a peek. Sure enough, there was Jessa Cambridge being attacked by a pogrebin...and he was surprisingly calm about it. Although his mind was working into overdrive. THIS accounted for his sudden change in his mood and, well, Derf was honestly a little relieved that he had not sunk to THAT level of pathetic just yet. Sluggishly rolling on to his back, Derf held up the rune that...yup...was NOT glowing any more. "Gimme...a second..." he nodded lazily to Jessa, just trying to find the strength to get the process going so he could actually DO something. "Uruz uruz uruz, u u u u u u u u u, u u u u u u r r r r r r, u u u u u u u u u...Uruz uruz uruz, u u u u u u u u u, u u u u u u r r r r r r, u u u u u u u u u...Uruz uruz uruz, u u u u u u u u u, u u u u u u r r r r r r, u u u u u u u u u..." It was quicker than before, and again he couldn't be entiiiiiiiiiirely sure that it was ORANGE but it WAS glowing, so he was pretty sure he had done things right.

Still laying on his back, because he just didn't have the energy yet, he held the rune in his wand hand and pointed the fwooper core to himself. "...gaudeo..." he said, somewhat half-heartedly. He felt all warm and tingly, like coming in a sitting by the fire in the common room after spending the entire day out on the grounds in winter, and soon even the tips of his fingers were tingling. His eyes WIDENED and suddenly there was almost a freakishly WIDE toothy grin on the Hufflepuff's face. "HAVE YOU EVER SEEN SUCH LUSH GREENERY?!" he suddenly exclaimed as he looked at the hedge. "JUST LOOK AT THOSE LEAVES. AAAAH CLASSIC HEDGE!"

JUMPING to his feet now, Derf spun around to look at Jessa again. "YOU KNOW! WHAT A BLESSING AND WONDER IT IS THAT YOU GET TO HAVE SUCH A MAGNIFICENT CREATURE ATTACKING YOU! I WOULD BE JEALOUS IF I WERE NOT SO HAPPY FOR YOU!" Oh and LOOK! Patrick was joining them as well! HOW WONDERFUL!

In his JOY over there being THREE of them together now - because EVERYTHING was better with more people and odd numbers always got the short end of the stick - the Hufflepuff nearly forgot what he was meant to be doing. "PATRICK! YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD BE WOOOONDROUS?! IF YOU GOT YOUR RUNE GLOWING AGAIN AND THEN HELPED ME BECAUSE TWO STUNNING SPELLS ARE BETTER THAN ONE!" EVERYTHING was better when it was more than one! Even pogrebins!

His own wand at the ready still, Derf flourished it and the rune in Jessa's direction. "JESSA! HERE I GO! I AM GOING TO TRY NOT TO HIT YOU BUT IF I DO I KNOW YOU'LL FORGIVE ME BECAUSE YOU'RE ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS, MY FIRST FRIEND, AND JUST A WONDROUS PERSON OVERALL!" he griiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinned.

"STUPEFY!"

Right at the little adorable rock demon. In theory at least!