Yeees, Miss Ava said good job! Mhm, she'd mastered this spell. Emmeline nodded and backed up as Miss Ava talked about the tree falling on them. She did NOT want to go back to the hospital wing this term. She glanced nervously at both Gemma and Miss Ava's horse to be doubly sure they were out of the tree's way too.

Miss Ava's cuts were way more effective than hers had been, except her second one had been almost to the older girl's level. Still, she didn't want the other tree's cut to get any worse when she cast again; Miss Ava wouldn't be impressed by that at all. Plus, Isa might get even more upset if Emmeline did real damage to a second tree they weren't even using, and the Hufflepuff found out somehow. She didn't really understand the other girl's thing for trees, but she did try to respect people's feelings.

Okay, she was going to be the boss of this spell this time! Emmeline made the now familiar wand movement once again and cried: "Diffindo!" Miss Ava was right, because after she'd cast the spell twice, the tree went...CRASH!


Cool! Christmas tree down, everyone! Emmeline grinned up at Miss Ava: "We did it! Are you sure you don't need help getting it back?" She glanced at her Granian somewhat doubtfully, but she felt bad asking Miss Ava to do it all by herself. Besides, was it really okay to leave someone alone in this forest? "Aren't there...scary things in this forest?", she asked uncertainly. Sure, it looked all bright and snowy and Christmas-y now, but would it stay that way if someone was all alone?

Making sure he glanced down as his pendant thingy every now and then to make sure it was still glowing, Derf let his winged horse be the guide figuring that between the two of them she would know more about the surrounding trees than he. Minus the presence of bowtruckles...but right now it did not seem as though any of those were choosing to show themselves. So when Ambrosia came to a stop in front of a growing tree no bigger than himself, he gently hugged the creature's neck and leeeeaaaaaaned around to take a peek at.

"Brilliant!" he praised as he slowly slid off - making EXTRA sure not to get his shoes or anything caught up in her feathers - and ever so cautiously made his way over to the small tree. Ambrosia seemed to find his approach undignified or something, because her hooves were pounding at the ground and she was tossing her luxurious mane back and forth while making a whining noise at him that cause him a tiiiiiiiny bit of a fright and he jumped in place. "I'm jus-s-st being cautious-s-s!" he retorted defensively with his hands on his hips. "No...of cours-s-se I trus-s-t YOU...it's-s the tree I'm worried about!"

Peeeering at the tree and still not approaching it fully, Derf gave a sudden lung forward when the abraxan nudged him firmly in the back with its nose.
"OoooOOOOI!" he snapped, spinning around in place and once again putting his hands on his hips. "I'm working on it!" Which Ambrosia did not seem to fully believe as she was once again nudging him with her snout.
"Okay. OKAY! S-Sheesh..."

Wand out, he looked around nervously at his classmates and noted the spells they were doing. He...hadn't gotten all that good with that one yet...it wasn't one he had been practicing for dueling purposes THAT was for sure...so his wand quickly went back into his robes' pocket and he knelt down next to the tree instead. "Uh...a little help?" he said, looking up at the winged horse while his hands dug deeeeeeeeeeeeep into the soil to start the digging up process. He was fairly certain that abraxan could not role their stunning red eyes....but if they could that totally was what Ambrosia was doing right now. She was complying anyway though, so that was neat!

Maybe they could have this tree uprooted in...ten minutes? 15?

And one tree had fallen down.

Surely that Penelope's little sister wouldn't be amused for this but well, that's what tree is for. "Yes, we did it!" She grinned and gave Emmeline a high five. And about for dealing with the cut tree by herself, Ava was sure about it ."Yeah, I am good with it." She said to to the young lioness. "Don't worry about the creatures around here. I am sure there's nothing scary and dangerous. Now, you should go back to the barn with your horse."

But then... She decided not to use locomotion charm all the way from here to the barn and use the horse instead. Ava went back to Perseus, chanting the galdr again once more to reactivate the rune since the glow had fainted again. "Hey, boy." She spoke to the horse, stroking its mane. "Would you help me to deliver this tree?" And she could feel Perseus gave a nod. Good boy! The Gryffindor then cast locomotion charm to the tree and direct it to the horse's back. "Locomotor, tree!". Good that she didn't get a bigger tree or Perseus would have a problem to carry this. "Incarcerous!" Ava conjured a rope to bind the tree with the horse's back. Well... that would work, right?

"Let's get back to the barn, Perseus." She said mounting to the horse. Occasionally Ava chanted the galdr to create a bond with the horse so they could travel safely.

Did this young Abraxan foul have a name? Tenacius searched around her and couldnt find any nameplates. Did it fall off? "Should I name you?" he whispered close. The problem with him giving names was that they tend to become permanent members of his ever growing menagerie.

The Abraxan though wasnt messing about with naming conventions-- Wizards and their propensity to label things. Scoffs-- and she prompted him to get riding. She didnt have all day! And she wanted to get in on the action with the rest of the winged horses already engaged in making like team of lumberjacks.

It was a quick mount and before he knew it the Curly Top was already in the air. "Does anybody else need help?--" Hard to see any details from up here.

And as if that Abraxan thought he was talking to her-- she took a dip, gliding gently towards a small clearing. "Oh hey these look good." he said as the swooped by, then slowing down to a trot. He clicked his tongue and pointed at a spruce "That looks good doesnt it girl?"

After the run in with the bowtruckle, the two had found another tree that was hopefully free of any magical creatures. Olivia kept on dying the tree that Vivian was cutting just in case there was something else there. It didn't seem like it. She watched Vivian cut the tree to almost halfway there. When her partner took a step back, Olivia nodded and stepped forward, readying her wand. "Diffindo," she said paired with the wand movement and repeated it over and over and over again until the tree was ready to go. And then the tree fell! Yes! They had done the first part. Now they had to transport the tree back to the barn.

"Now what's the best way to transport this tree back? We could attach it to the horses and have them fly it back or maybe we could shrink it and then bring it back to its full size or something else.... what do you think?" asked Olivia as she glanced at Vivian.

Once Olivia had started finishing off where she had cut, Vivian gave way for the Gryffindor to move. She kept a fair distance so that, in case the Severing Charm made a wrong turn, she wouldn't be leaving class with a bleeding arm. While waiting, the blonde went over to her Aethonan, the lovely chestnut Apollo, and strokes his maine. "Too bad I can't keep you," she told her winged horse. It would have been fun to have him around as a pet, though that would have meant divided attention between her Kneazle Marshmallow and her aunt's dog Prancer.

With their tree finally cut down and no protesting creatures, Vivian beamed at her partner. "We did it!" She exclaimed. But as for the transporting part, she looked at Apollo... and then at Olivia's thestral, Louis. She didn't want to burden them with having to carry the tree. "It'll probably be more convenient for us and our horses if we shrunk it." Right? The Slytherin took her wand out once more and cast a shrinking charm ("Reducio!") at the tree, then watched it as it lessened in size. Pleased with her spell casting, she smiled to herself.

"We should start heading back," Vivian said, about to jump back on Apollo to finish off for the day.

"Please not so high!" the prefect squealed, squeezing her pendant as Lincoln started rising higher and higher as he rapidly jolted forward. Lincoln heeded her plea, folding his wings inward just a little to allow them to descend.

Soon they were flying level at around twenty feet above the ground. Lincoln was incredibly fast (Granians usually were) and even while descending, he managed to keep the same pace. Kitty's hair was thrown backwards and at times she had to squint to avoid having liquid come out of her eyes.

And it was, amazingly, fun! Kitty wondered if this was what a roller coaster felt like, she never thought she would have liked them - but this strange thrilling sensation she felt was very pleasurable.

To her left, she caught sight of several flying horses and their riders scattered around a bunch of trees. We should copy them, she thought silently, but allowed Lincoln to make the decision himself.

Lincoln made a sharp turn then, jolting her a bit unpleasantly (she held on tightly) as he flew towards some of the other flying horses. He came to a graceful landing between two fern trees. "Oof," she grunted, then, heart racing, climbed off. "That was awesome, Lincoln," she informed him, petting him above the nose before turning to face the two ferns.

Nearby she also saw a white winged horse (Ambroise) and her rider (Derf) digging a tree out with their hands and hooves.

"That looks extraordinarily messy," she informed them, watching curiously. "But I like it, because that's what Muggles would do to. That, or chop it down with an axe." Well, actually, she didn't want to do THIS thing the Muggle way, as there was no way she'd be getting her hands dirty. But she didn't know any spells either, so that really limited her.

Yes! They had done it. And they hadn't been attacked by an army of bowtruckles. Olivia grinned and turned to Louis, giving him a nice pat. "Thanks for the support," she teased the thestral. To that comment, she received a slight nudge at her shoulder which made her chuckle.

She nodded at Vivian's suggestion to shrink the tree. That seemed like the best idea to her and would stress out their horses far less. Olivia watched as Vivian took the lead with shrinking the tree and she smiled. Yes! They were good to go. "Beautiful." They were so close to accomplishing their task. And when Vivian suggested that they ought to head back, Olivia nodded. "Sounds like a plan to me. I'm glad that an army of bowtruckles didn't come after us," she said with a small laugh as she got on to Louis. Briefly glancing at Vivian to make sure that she was okay, she patted Louis and then the two took off into the air. This was the only type of flying she enjoyed. She felt safer on a thestral than on a broomstick.

Olivia and Louis landed back where Etta was. "Well done, Louis," she said as she slid off of the thestral's back, readying herself to help Vivian with the tree.

The mother and foal continued to not move. Slowly but surely, the bigger horse stepped out, leading her and her baby outward step by step. There was something about the two humans that assured her that they meant them no harm. It was like there was some sort of connection between them, some unexplainable bond of trust.

But then a tree nearby crashed onto the snowy ground not terribly far away. The mother unicorn's head shot over in that direction. The foal jumped, scared. Then another crash sounded.

Within another moment, the unicorns ran off, back into the forest where they could not be seen.

As the boy dug up the soil (a challenging task considering it was winter), an old gnome awoke from its slumber. There was a hole at the base of the tree that had inches of snow that was protecting it from the winter wind, but it was now exposed. It shivered, cold and grumpy. Whoever was doing this was going to get a piece of its mind.

Potato-like head peeking out of the hole, it saw the source of the sudden chill in its tree burrow. There was another human there too, but she wasn't actually doing anything. So that made the boy its primary target.

It did not hesitate to jump out at the boy, hoping to sink its sharp teeth into him before he did anything about it.

With all the commotion going on, considering a few trees had been dropping left and right, a duo of nifflers made their way to the edges of the forest. They knew why trees were falling. Humans. Possibly humans with shinies!

Going their own ways they approached two of the humans, sniffing like crazy. One climbed up the younger one, whereas the other rolled over beside the chanting girl looking cute. Did they have anything they wanted to donate to the niffler cause?

*SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF SNIFF*

They wanted shinies!

She watched as each student bonded with their selected horse and gave them each a small wave as they flew off to retrieve their tree that would be used to decorate the castle. So far, things were going really well. Squinting, she could even see how those that had starred fairly close to the creature barn were doing. Soon enough, the sound of a few trees falling echoed.

As minutes passed by, Regina chanted the Ehwaz galdr and gave Philippe a pat on the head before climbing on top of his back. After some trotting, they were in the air, flying around the grounds. The woman was checking in on everyone's status and making sure none of the forest animals were causing any difficulty. She had been worried about the bowtruckles, but it appeared like they all were getting on just fine.

Taking note that there were a few students already heading back to the barn, the headmistress quickly glanced down at her watch as she made her way back. Once Philippe touched the ground, she took out her wand, shooting green sparks high into the air. It was time for them all to head back, whether they had a tree with them or not.

OOC: There is still some time left to get your main activity post(s) in. Please do so as soon as possible. The lesson will continue in roughly 6 hours.

"I think Diffindo would do it, right?" she asked more to herself than to Derf, turning to regard her two small fern trees.

But before he could answer her question, something jumped out form under the tree and went straight for him!

It was a gnome, she realized - and a very unhappy one at that. This tree must have been his home, and he was unhappy that humans were taking it.

"Immobulus!" she shouted, pointing her wand straight at the gnome and hoping she didn't accidentally hit Derf.

As more and more of her classmates were leaving the ground, Felicity ceased petting the horse and hesitantly mounted her. "Alright, Corena," she muttered softly, patting the animals side to indicate that she was ready to move. They plodded into a clear space, gathering speed until Corena unfurled her wings and they were in the air.

Felicity had never felt anything like it: the wind whipping through her hair was cold, and she pulled her scarf closer around her neck. She felt safer than she did on a broom, although she enjoyed flying on them, and wound her fingers into its mane before gazing down. "Okay... Over then." It didn't take much encouragement for the horse to begin its descent, and once they'd landed Felicity directed her in a trot closer to the trees. "What do you reckon? This one?"

She knew that Aethonian's, despite their size, were ridiculously strong, but nevertheless the tree she had picked out wasn't incredibly big, a nice sized pine. Sliding off the horses back, she contemplated the tree before her and then pulled her wand from an inside pocket. "Here goes... Defodio," she muttered, drawing her wand at the base of the tree and gouging out a section of trunk. It took a few goes, but eventually, about half of the wood from the base had been removed, and she could see the trunk was balanced rather precariously.

Rather than continuing with the gouging spell, Felicity had an idea. "Carpe retractum," she muttered, watching ropes of light come from her wand. With a quick tug (that actually took far more energy than it looked, and left her with beads of sweat across her brow), the tree fell towards her, it's weight causing it to break off the remaining part of the trunk. She quickly wiped her brow with the back of her hand, before turning to the horse. "That went better than expected." Only, now was she debating the strength of the animal, and just felt cruel to have the tree dragging it down. Biting her lip, she turned back to the tree, casting the Feather-light Charm. Of course, her spellmanship wasn't incredibly strong, and so she doubted the tree was actually feather-light, but the her casting was usually enough to at least lift some of the weight.

Conjouring was a branch of magic that she hadn't attempted yet, so she knew that Incarcerous would be well beyond the scope of her abilities, and frowned as she thought of another way to transport the tree. With the feather light charm on it, she supposed that if she shrunk it, she might have a chance at carrying it... But how many shrinking charms would that take?

"Reducio. Reducio. Reducio." Concentration was evident on Felicity's face as she moved her wand multiple times in a V shape. It took a few attempts, her spell getting stronger with each cast, until the tree (minus a few branches that had fallen off in the process, but she didn't notice the scruffiness) was small enough that she could cradle it in her arms. As she'd expected, it wasn't feather light, but it was no longer heavy, and she clutched it to her chest as green sparks shone in the overcast afternoon sky.

"Time to go back." Still clutching the tree in one aching arm, Felicity awkwardly clambered back onto the horse and squeezed its flanks between her knees. Within mere minutes, she was in the air and heading back over to the Headmistress.

Cassie had gotten close enough to touch the Granian, her hand raised to allow the winged horse to sniff before chancing a rub of the creature forehead. She looked her four-legged companion over a little bit better, trying to remember a name from her time at the barn taking care of the creatures. “Would you be Corena?” she chanced, seeming to remember a certain mark of her coat, the filly giving a playful snort in response. “I’ll take that as I yes, I suppose.” Cue playful nudge into her hand and a laugh from the girl.

Definitely a yes.

“How about we go for a ride?” she suggested, moving them along as Cassie noticed more and more of her classmates moving onto the tree-hunting portion of the activity. Corena seemed to agree to it as she answered by lowering herself forward slightly to allow the Ravenclaw aboard. The pendant was certainly helping the barrier between human and horse be a lesser issue than it normally would be between them. “Thank you…” Cass remarked as she moved to climb aboard, the Granian straightening up to her full height once she was settled.

Woah…high…thank Merlin she hadn’t been attracted to a Abraxan.

Those creatures were HUGE.

“Alright…let’s go find a tree, Corena” she added, urging her ride out towards where the others were, the winged horse needing no further urging. Corena racing off in response and Cassie having to quickly take hold to avoid taking off.

Digging and digging some more, Derf had now taken on a position like a dog digging in the dirt after something. Like those dogs that would dig in hole looking for foxes and such. Bum in the air and head down focused on his work, the Hufflepuff began making his way arooooooound the tree in a counterclockwise fashion - clockwise could have worked too, but Ambrosia had nudged him this way and he was inclined to listen to his abraxan, you know? Which was why he gave a bit of a jump when Kitty spoke to him. "Or if you are the s-s-sort who is-sn't practiced with a S-Severing Charm," he replied with a sheepish shrug. Not an exclusively muggle method. "Or a canine."

The tree was rather loose now and he SUPPOSED that if he had a firm enough grip and upper body strength that he COULD probably pull it free? He was going to give it a try. Unfussed by all the dirt under his fingernails, the second year set to do just that when SOMETHING lept out from the ground AT him.

"AAAAAAAAAH!"

Speaking of canines, you know?

Flailing about a bit, it did not take Derf long to figure out just WHAT was on him and for WHY. Which made every muscle in his face DROP and the GUILT that ate away at his insides like he did chocolate frogs was unreal. Deciding to just let the gnome bite his shoulder with a noticeable WINCE because the beast had SHARP teeth - he deserved it for being a home wrecker - he shoved his dirty hands into his enchanted trouser pocket for the small box of worms he kept with him for Scamander. "Was-s-s that your home?!" he squeaked. Under the tree? "I'm s-sorry I didn't mean to...but I reckon thes-s-se worms will tas-ste better than my s-should---"

But then Kitty was raising her wand AT the gnome. NO NO NO NOOOOOOOOO! THE GNOME WAS JUST TRYING TO COMMUNICATE ITS UPSET! NO NEED TO ATTACK HIM FOR TRYING TO COMMUNICATE!

Spinning at the last second - after the deer in Lumos look had faded - Derf spun and took the spell himself while sufficiently dropping the box of worms he had collected earlier that day to the ground, allowing them to spill out of the box liking wiggling living pasta.

Needless to say, the green sparks sent up by the Headmistress had gone completely unnoticed. The second year couldn't turn his head in that direction to see, you see.

Shay was waiting for a great idea to pop into her head, when she saw some green sparks go up in the distance. "Uh oh", she said to her horse. "Looks like time is up. We need to head back." Not without their tree though. Shay was going to make this happen. Suddenly, a thought came to her. She wondered why she hadn't thought of it earlier. She looked at her buddy and smiled. "Good idea."

Shay went back to the tree, unholstered her wand and concentrated. Pointing at the tree, she said, "Diminuendo." Thank Merlin, the tree began to shrink in size. Soon it was small enough for Shay to lift it. She carried it over to her Aethonan, lifted it onto his back and climbed aboard. They were actually going to do this. Holding things steady, she said, "All set. Let's go back now." With her free hand,, she gave the horse a pat and they were off. Happy that they had accomplished their mission, Shay focused on enjoying the ride.

All too soon, it was over. Buddy boy came in for a smooth landing.......and they were back. Shay climbed down and put the tree on the ground. She then focused her attention on her horse. "You did a great job. Thank you for helping me. I couldn't have done it without you." Shay wrapped her arms around the Aethonan's neck and gave him a hug. She was definitely going to have to come and visit him when she came to see Coco. They had bonded now.

Now there was the tree to attend to. Shay got her wand, pointed it at the mini tree and said, "Engorgio." The tree grew back to its normal size and all was well. After Shay finished saying goodbye to her newest, bestest friend, she would rejoin her classmates.

Ava saw a green sparks on the sky and assumed that it was from the headmistress. Ah, it looked like their time was over already. Just moment before she and Perseus about to take off, suddenly she felt like there was something... sniffing her. Huh?

A niffler!

Shoot, please don't steal the pendant you little cute thief. But the sniffing and wanting the attention though just... Ugh, how could something (besides her boyfriend) being adorable and annoying at the same time? Ava couldn't use her wand to make this creature stunned, that was somehow not a right thing to do. Lucky that she didn't wear any jewelry today but the rune pendant. But if the niffler took this from her, there's a possibility that she wouldn't fly with the horse very well. Merlin!

Reaching into her pocket, the Gryffindor found a knut. Hmmm.... Alright, it's only a knut anyway. "Do you want this? Catch it if you can!" She said as she tossed the knut away. Pretty sure the niffler could find it because it was its nature, finding the shiny things.

The niffler laying on its back in the snow noticed the shiny around her neck. It continued to look cute for her, hoping that she would bend over so that it could snatch the pretty. Its tactic was simple: look cute, reap the rewards.

Only ... its plan wasn't really working. All the girl produced as a knut.

Beady eyes followed the knut as it was thrown in the air. Instinct told it to chase after it, and so it did. Sniff, sniff, sniff. Be right back. Looking for that coin now. It would come back after getting the coin if the girl was still there.

It wasted no time digging its teeth into the boy's shoulder. It served the kid right for disturbing it and trying to take its home. No matter how much flailing the human did, he was not going to let go until the message was clear.

Loud grunting sounded as the boy started squeaking. The gnome didn't care what he said. It was not happy one bit.

And then the boy stopped moving. The gnome took the opportunity to release its bite, dropped to the ground, and retreat back to its home. A handful of worms were snatched before it disappeared into the tree.

With the green flare in the air, the American dismounted and touched her feet back into the snowy ground. Two pats were given on Philippe's chin and another on his muzzle. When she heard the flapping of wings, her head moved to the side to see who the first arrivals were. Smiles was given their way, impressed with the techniques that they used to transport the tree from where they found it to the barn. Feather-light charms, shrinking charms, and locomotion charms were cleverly utilized.

With the arrival of each student, she internally listed them off in her head. Cambridge, Harrington, Morrison...

"Please leave the trees along the fence over there," Regina stated, pointing in the general direction near the gate on the outer part of the fence. She would get Wayland and Baldvinsson to help her bring them up to the castle later. "Once you have deposited your tree, go ahead and bring the horses back inside the fence and dismount. Make sure you thank them for their assistance before gathering around me."

A few minutes went by to give them all time to get everything where it needed to be. She stood there, waiting patiently, with watchful eyes. Philippe whinnied and his head against her, resulting in him getting more pets and even a carrot to munch on.

"To bring our lesson to a close," the headmistress spoke once everyone was ready, "I have a set of questions for each of you to answer. Today you all invoked the energy of Ehwaz to form bonds with horses and then encourage teamwork to successfully bring back a tree that will be used to decorate the castle. It is my hope that this lesson has helped you develop a deeper understanding of Ehwaz. At this time, I would like for you all to respond to these questions: What was something you learned during class today? How can you personally use Ehwaz in the future? Please provide specific examples in your responses."

OOC: We are at the final part of our lesson! Please feel free to wrap up wherever you are at with the main activity and then respond to Regina's questions. The lesson will conclude in roughly 24 hours.

With their tree free of bowtruckle armies and finally shrunk into the size of a medium pencil box, Vivian looked over as Olivia got on her Thestral. The sight was quite weird, considering the Slytherin couldn't see the horse since she had never really seen death. It looked as if the Gryffindor was riding and sitting on nothing. Vivian would have normally laughed, but she didn't want to seem rude so she just smiled. She stuffed the tiny version of their tree inside her pocket, and then off she and Apollo went. Oh Merlin, she had wished this would last longer. She'd love it to just keep flying and flying and...

THUD.

Oh, they were here already? That was fast. Vivian blinked, trying to register the fact that Apollo had landed nearby Olivia and Louis. The Slytherin hopped off the Aethonan and stroked his maine again. "We did a great job today, don't you think?" She told her horse, to which she received a neigh from. N'aaaw, she adored her lovely hoofed pal. Onto her new friend, Vivian smiled. "And we make a great Slytherin-Gryffindor team!" No bad blood from their houses, whatsoever. The ancient house rivalry meant nothing to Vivian because this obviously was the new age.

The Slytherin took the shrunken tree out of her pocket, and then placed it on the ground. With a flick of her wand, Vivian sent an "Engorgio!" at it, resulting to the tree growing back to its original size. Today, her usually terrible Charms skills weren't failing her so far. The blonde was quite thankful for that. Otherwise, she would have made a fool of herself in front of a new friend and the Headmistress.

Finally, she turned back to Olivia. "Thanks for partnering up with me," the Slytherin said with a beam on her face. Much appreciated.

It was good that they had arrived just in time for the Headmistress to move on with the lesson proper. Well, this was quite a reflective activity. But Vivian couldn't deny that this lesson had been really fun and educational. Such a mixture would make the Slytherin even more interested and excited to come back for their next Ancient Runes class tomorrow. Vivian brought Apollo back to where she first got him, from inside the fence. One last time, the Slytherin patted her winged horse and smile. "Thanks a lot, Apollo. Until next time." She hoped there would be a next time. With that, she went back to join her classmates and the Headmistress.

The blonde raised her hand to answer the Headmistress' questions. "I learned that you don't only have to gain trust of the people around you and your friends, but you also have to earn the trust of other creatures. In this case, Ehwaz helped me earn the trust of Apollo...." Vivian said, and then looked her Aethonan with a grin. "And personally, I would use Ehwaz in terms of teamwork, like for an activity similar to what we just had or for strengthened camaraderie among house mates to be able to win the House Cup. Two or more heads are better than one." The Slytherin looked at her partner, Olivia, and gave her a thumbs up because they had totally did well on the teamwork aspect of the lesson. Also, yes... House Cup. She still wanted it.

Well!

Now that was unexpected, thought Kitty as Derf allowed the gnome to bite him - and then spun to take her spell. The gnome quickly retreated, and she was left staring at Derf's stunned body.

"I'm sorry! That spell doesn't HURT anyone, you know," she said, a little reproachfully, because honestly. "I was only going to stun it to prevent it from biting you. Well, hold still so I can heal you." Of course he couldn't move, what was she thinking? She pointed her wand at where the gnome bit, and uttered, "Episkey!"

Then she turned to regard the nearly uprooted tree, along with her two ferns. "You won't want to take the tree you were taking then, I assume. You could take one of these ferns instead," she said, gesturing to the fern trees. (Lincoln was just standing by, grazing.) "You'll be able to move in a few moments. I'll cut the tree for you."

She pointed her wand at both fern trees and shouted: "Diffindo!" Then she got back on Lincoln and chanted the rune while clutching her pendant. Lincoln bent down and they managed to get the fern in his mouth. (The tree was just three feet tall and not very wide.)

Then they flew back towards the barn, and the only thing bothering her was a nagging sense of guilt.

Merlin's beard.

Unicorns. Noelle was looking at UNICORNS. Right in front of her. She held on to her rune, keeping hold of that energy she felt. She wanted to let the unicorns know that they didnt mean any harm. Stasya was doing the same thing, only saying the words. And ... there was a baby with the unicorn. Their rune seemed to be working as the unicorns stepped closer.

Merlin's
Beard

Then reality struck. Trees fell and scared the unicorns. "Wait wait wait" Noelle said as the energy seemed to fade when her attention was brought back to the task at hand of knocking down the tree and getting it back. The unicorns retreated. Noelle sighed and looked back at Stasya. "Okay.. did you say diffindo?? because thats correct! Why dont we do it together? On the count of three??

1...
2...
3...

Diffindo!" Noelle said, pointing her wand at the tree, giving a glance at Stasya. Didnt seem like they had that much time left. They still needed to tie the tree up and get it back to the others.

And Vivian made it. She watched as the other girl cast the spell to enlarge the tree trunk back to its full size. Terrific. "Definitely. An unbeatable team for sure," beamed Olivia. So much for the Gryffindor-Slytherin rivalry, huh? She liked Vivian and would definitely want to get to know her more. She seemed pretty nice and friendly. Given the chance, she'd work with her again. "Thanks for partnering up with me too, Vivian. We did make a great team!" Even Apollo and Louis had been terrific at helping them.

She turned to Louis and gave him one more pat before the Headmistress was gathering all of their attention again. Olivia paused as she thought of a way to answer the question. At Vivian's smile and thumb's, she turned to give the other girl a smile and a thumb's up too. Two heads were better than one. Two people made a process more efficient than one for sure. Well.. in this case at least.

"As Vivian mentioned, Ehwaz helped strengthen the bonds of trust and create a strong partnership between a horse and ourselves. It enabled us to work towards a common goal. I think this would be helpful for the application of horse racing. The horse jockey and the horse can have an improved relationship which can allow them to better understand their goal as well as each other." She paused. That made sense, right? She went for a muggle example because that was the best she could think of. Finally, she finished with, "I think Ehwaz can help us even with learning how to work with people who are not like us. You learn their strengths and weaknesses and they learn yours."