Jared didn't hear that either.

Really.

Bright lights everywhere. Let's all hope they don't attract giant-sized, poisonous spiders.

"You're both doing great," Jared said.

He'd give the class a few more minutes to practice the charm.

Emily looked up to see Professor Descoteux.
"Thanks Professor", she said. Emily loved recieving attention and possitive feedback from her teachers, she relished it, craved it, seeked it. After all she knew it was the only way she was going to get it. Her parents where far too critical to ever praise her efforts.

Turning back to her lantern Emily continued to practice maximising the light.
*circle, cross* "Luxra Magnifica!" the more she practiced the brighter the light became.

Emily could hardly wait to enter the forbidden forest.

Kurumi hunched her shoulders and looked like a kitten that was being scolded by its angry owner for knocking over a very valuable vase.

"S-S-S-Sorry Professor," she blushed bowing her head several times in apology. She was only in her second year after all and it was an honest mistake. At least there were no scary 8-legged creatures swarming out of the forest towards them, right?

Having bowed nearly a dozen times, Kurumi returned to focusing her attention on her lamp.

Okay, so how to perform this spell without waking up the entire forest?

Repeating the wand motion and pointed her wand at the lamp whose light had already grown dim. All in the concentration and not in the volume, right?

"Luxra Magnifica," she whispered as the light in her lamp grew ten times as bright, then twenty, then spread a good distance into the forest.

Was that...a good thing or a bad thing...o____0

Interesting. So they were going to a Forbidden Forest, huh? Well, they were already at the said forest, at the edge of it, yes. Cedric watched Evelyn and the others as they went bonkers about the mere fact that today's lesson required the need to go to the restricted area of Hogwarts. He had visited the forest before but it was long ago.

Cedric eyed the little lantern with interest, his hand already grasping his vine wand, ready to perform the magnification. Buuuut... he thought trying the spell on the shadows would be far more interesting. Cedric, however, dismissed the thought as quickly as it had sprung to his mind. They weren't instructed to magnify the shadows but the scanty light on the little lantern. Doing another thing might offend the professor and offending the professor was the least he would want to ever do.

"Luxra Magnifica!" he uttered, his wand firmly angled at the lantern as he did the wand movement of a circle and an X. Seeing the barely sufficiently light grew abundant and seemingly boundless, he knew he had succeeded. But perhaps he could do so much more? He must try again.

They were going... in the... Forbidden Forest?

... but it was forbidden.

Anyway, going or not, Helena had to practice. She eyed a small lantern, then pointed her wand at it and made the wand movement. Circle. X. "Luxra magnifica."

The light grew... and grew... Nothing impressing, but she was doing okay, right?

Patroclus didn't understand why everyone was so scared.

The Lion could not have been more excited!


Jumping up from his haybale, the boy started to dance on the spot, his hands in fists, shaking around his head like marakas! "We're going in the forest, We're going in the forest! In the forest!"

Yeah, he was pretty excited.


Gripping his wand tightly, Patroclus was pumped, he wanted to get this spell perfected quickly, so that he could get into the Forest faster!

Circle and X

Circle and X... he had the wand movement down into an artform, it felt really natural to him, perhaps this was to become on the best charms in his arsenal.

Circle and X, "Luxra Magnifica!" he decreed, his enthusiasm blending with his determination, as the spell shot from his wand and reached the light source of the lantern, Patroclus had to sheild his eyes, the light was blinding!


Before he was a second sun, the light from the lantern was so bright he could see the insects in the grass that had come towards the warm of the fire, "Woah!" he whispered shocked by the awesome power of the spell.

Wiping around he directed his wand at the shadows of the forest, and called again "Luxra Magnifica!"

The darkness that clung so heavily to the trees, began to creep beyond the boundary of the treeline, plunging his lantern into darkness, till it was only but a weak flicker in the dark


"This is wicked!"

Patroclus loved this spell!

Eirian pulled her long, thinly carved wand from the holster she had strapped to her hip. She had possessed it for what seemed like forever; pockets were overrated. Fingering the grooves in it slowly, she looked at the lanterns. Eiri wasn't very skilled in charms, but she had used this certain one with her father at least once before. Easy, right? Waving her wand like she had seen Jared demonstrate - and like she could remember her father doing, his back turned to her in the darkness - Eirian recited, "Luxra magnifica," and watched it work. Thank Merlin her accent didn't effect incantations too much... But she shine was too bright for her tired eyes and she winced, shielding herself from it. Were they supposed to keep it on..?

Well see, now she had to come up with a way to explain it.

...."It's like..I think..that you're like..pessimistic about it...I think." Something along those lines. She could totally have her mom explain it better in a letter to him if he wanted.

But she did! "And a muggle wouldn't be able to connect the dots that you moved them after they saw you disappear?" They weren't that naive.

"Oh! But it could be a poltiergeist. I mean, Peeves can make himself invisible AND move things, unlike ghosts." But their very similar to ghosts so muggles wouldn't be too far off.

Luz-ra mag-ni-fi-ka. Luxra Magnifica. Got it.

Unlike Spongify, though, the wand movement didn't make sense to her. But that's not to say it wasn't simple. Circle, X. Easy 'nuff.

'Give it a try'. Right.

...Wait. Forest? They were going into the Forest?! THIS WAS SO EXCITING!! Ellie'd wanted to go into the Forest for the looooongest time.

Her eyes flew in Evelyn's direction, however, when she mentioned 'big spiders'. "H-how big?" Big as in Spike's pet, Matilda's size, right? That she could somewhat handle. She'd survived Matilda after all. And this time they had Little Professor...who would HOPEFULLY protect her.

Any bigger than Matilda, though, and Ellie would NOT put up with it. Nope.

"Luxra Magnifica?" Circle, X. Yeah, she was doubting now, so nothing happened.

[size=2]"Are you sure no one's going to be eaten?" she whisperedish to Little Professor. Like sure, sure?

Looking up from the fire, Jared addressed the students seated around the orange-tinted fire, in general. "Picking up from where we left off, it's not just muggles that sometimes believe in things that aren't, but us, too. As you'll see, shortly." His green gaze shifted, directed at the dark trees in the near distance for a brief moment, before settling back on the class in general. "We're going to have someone that knows some parts of the Forest quite well, for a guide. Can anyone guess who?"

Not a fang-bearing, man-eating spider, unfortunately.

Unfortunately.

... excellent progress?

Helena wasn't expecting that, so she couldn't help but grin.

Okaaay, so there were going in the forest. The Forbidden Forest. "Maybe a ghost?" Helena asked, slightly raising her hand.

Ghosts? Why were they talking about gho...
THEY WERE GOING INTO THE FOREST?!?!
What in the name of Merlins beard where they going in there for? They were... werewolves and... creatures in the forbidden forest! That's why it was forbidden!!!

Biting her lip she moved closer to Nika. They would stick together... or be eaten trying! She hoped she mastered this spell quickly!
"Luz-ra mag-nif-ik-a" she repeated slowly. Then a circle and a quick X.
Right, time to try it for real. She coughed and held tighted onto her wand.
Everyone seemed to be using it on the light.
'Time for some darkness me thinks' she grinned slightly.

"Luxra Magnifica!" she cried while doing the circle and X.
Her shadow seemed to engluf some of the light surrounding her and Nika so it was much darker. Hee hee. Magic.

Someone was showing them around the forest? At least they would be safer in a group... or more food for something to eat.
Anyway, think. Someone who knew the grounds well?
"Um, Mr. Stryker? He is the groundskeeper after all, so I assume he knows them well?" It was a guess, but she could put two and two together.

Luin practiced the charm, making sure to get it perfectly right, ""Luxra Magni fica" circle, X. Ok, looked good. She then sat back and listened to the teacher speak more.

Luin thought about the question, "Mr Stryker, as said, or perhaps a centaur. They would know the Forest quite well." she put down her hand and glanced towards the forest. She had definitely heard all the rumors about it and knew there were some dangerous things bout it. At least they would have their charm and a guide. Hopefully they would be staying together too.

Well, they were in the Forbidden Forest, and if anyone knew what they were doing, it would be a centauro. That translation was pretty easy, right? A centaur? But... but he had been talking about ghosts, so if everything correlated, the more appropriate answer would be a spirit. With a sigh, she decided that thinking this much was bad and she wouldn't answer. Why give herself the opportunity to be publicly wrong?

Nika smiled at her professor. Gryffindor could use some extra points because some of the houses are starting to catch up. "That's just sick that some wizards try and scare muggles. We are all just human beings." Nika crossed her arms. Why is it that some people made a sport out of messing with muggles? Nika would never do such a thing to her family or any muggle at that. She listened to her professor then repeated the incantation, "Luz-ra mag- ni- fi- ka." She nodded and then took out her wand from her pocket. She repeated the incantation again and did the X movement along with it. Nothing happened. Nika looked over and saw that Emily got it so fast. Nika was a bit frustrated, but no matter she tried again. Nika kept trying and she refused to give up. "Luz-ra Mag-ni-fi-ka." Nothing. Again. "Luz-ra Mag-ni-fi-ka." Nothing. Again. "Luz-ra Mag-ni-fi-ka!" Nika almost yelled it the last time. And then the light spread. She let out a sigh of relief "Finally."
They're going in the forest! EXCITING! Nika jumped up in the air. "A centaur?" She had heard that they lived in the forrest.

Hugo pointed his wand. "Luz-ra Mag-ni-fi-ka!" Ehhh, nothing. Concentrating harder, he tried another one. Circle, X.... "Luxra Magnifica!" And it worked. The light spread.

...

They were GOING TO GO IN THE FOREST? Oh jolly how exciting! Hugo felt confused about his feelings. He wasn't quite scared, but not confident on going in there. Looking at the teacher he said: "The groundskeeper, perhaps?" Seemed like the most logical option.

"Well the grounds keeper would know...but wouldn't something like a centaur know even better?" She asked, tipping her head to the side.

"Luxra Magnifica" she called out again, and "wow" she exclaimed the light was so bright - not blindingly bright but beautiful, warm, and it made her happy. It was so much bigger nearly lighting the whole clearing they were near right there.

And she couldn't help but smile, watching the little kitty playing with the yarn ball. Happy kitty, she thought watching it still. Happy, happy kitty.

THIS seemed like something Alex could handle. Making lanterns brighter seemed simple enough. Except for that wand movement...everything he'd learned so far had just been a jab-like thing--this was a bit more complicated.

Pulling out his wand, he pointed at his lantern and muttered "Luxra Magnifica!" as he moved his wand in a circle, then moved it in an X form. But, he stumbled a bit on the X, causing the light in the lantern to brighten a bit, but return to it's starting form almost instantly.

Drat! He'd have had it if it weren't for that movement!

"Luxra Magnifica!" he muttered again, moving in a circle, then in an X. AHA! The light started to brighten, surrounding the small area with light. Wooooot! It wasn't as bright as some of the older student's lanterns, but it was good enough for him. And on only the second try! He seemed to have a knack for this charms stuff.

Still struggling a little with her lantern, Kurumi felt something hit her shoe and she froze in place as all the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She wanted to scream, or squeak, but nothing came out.

Slooooooooooowly turning her head, Kurumi looked down, prepared for the worst, and felt like she was going to faint when she saw that it was only a ball of yarn. "Thank Merlin," she sighed under her breath.

Bending down and picking up the ball, Kurumi saw the kitten looking at her with the same hungry look that she often saw in Walnut's eyes. A smile appearing on her lips, Kurumi began to tug at the string more than happy to accept the kitty's offer.

Looking up for a moment from her kitty playing, Kurumi pondered the question.

What was it he had been saying all this time, nothing is what it seems...

Did no one else think it was interesting that there was a kitten that magically appeared in class? When Kurumi had seen that class was being held at the edge of the Forbidden Forest, Kurumi had practically locked Walnut up in her trunk to make sure he hadn't followed her.

"Professor...is he our guide?" she asked pointing to the kitten that was continuing to roll around batting at the string. "You, um, you did say that nothing is what it seems." To quote.

She was sure that some people were going to give her weird looks...especially the two Cookie!Haters...

Belle whispered to Jania, "Well april is my birthday month anyways." she winked at her and continued to roast her marshmallow.
Belle looked at the latern in front of her eyes. She jolted first and then took out her wand. She loved her wand, it was a part of her and she always felt connected to it. As most wands should. She tried the incantation.."luxra magnifica...luxra magnifica..luxra magnifica!" she said over and over again. It was a cool charm. She next practiced the wand movements, the little circle and brought it down twice to make it a quick X in the air. She tried it and thought she got it down. She used the wand movements and incantation luxra magnifica! but nothing happened..."Professor, can you help me on the wand movements? i am kind of confused on them." she asked raising her hand.

Emily's eyes lit up, raising her hand she answered, "Ooohh Professor is our guide a Centaur?" she asked. She know that logially is was probably going to be the Groundskeeper, and he was a very nice man, though a Centaur would be far more exciting!

Savannah beamed but trying not to show proudness as she followed her classmates in to the forbidden forest. "Right," she said, "What are we doing again Professor?"

"Professor? Wouldn't the Care of Magical Creatures know alot about the Forrest? So shouldn's they be our guide?"

Benjamin glared at his lantern and waved his wand in the circle cross motion, and said powerfully,"Luxra Magnifica!" and the lantern lit up quite brightly. "Nice," he said. He noticed some people doing the spell more than one time and thought, "This is bright enough for me."

"About the fact that the kitty follows you and likes you and that you have to keep it." Had he really gotten that lost in the discussion. Tsk, tsk.

Ohhhh. So the muggle wouldn't have known what made it move. "Okay. That makes sense now." Totally.

Ellie nodded. It didn't have to be. She got that point more easily.

HE WASN'T SURE?! Cue the 'deer-in-headlights' look. There will be a LOT of clinging, Little Professor. A LOT.

Oh great. So he was purposefully taking them into the Forest to possibly get eaten, just to prove to them that everything wasn't always as it seemed? He'd just said so. Lesson learned. Her Forest adventure could wait until the Ellie-eating creatures were dead and gone.

"Mr. Stryker?" It was sort of in his job description to know the Forest, wasn't it? "Or one of the ghosts?" They most likely wandered in there. After all, now that they were dead, nothing in there could hurt them.

Right. Still, no matter WHO brought them into the Forest, Ellie definitely wanted to master this light-go-big spell.

"Luxra Magnifica," Circle, X.

No.

Big light please? "Luxra Magnifica!" Circle, X.

Thank you.

Kyle looked up to Kurumi, when she asked if the kitten was the guide. That would be utterly adorable she smiled.

"I hope so, this little guy is a sweety" she smiled, remembering the line the Professor had said, Nothing is What is Seams - what if kitty wasn't even a kitty? She pondered, putting the thought on the back burner for a moment.

Harper bit her lip. Serrrrrriously? The Forbidden Forest? INSIDE IT?

She suddenly grinned from ear to ear.

THEY WERE GOING INTO THE FORBIDDEN FOREST!!! YEEHAWW!!

But she kept her giddiness (YAYYY DANGER!) in tact, at least for now. Some of the students were acting like they were going to die. Harper had full confidence (or at least a little hope) that Jared the professor would keep them safe. Maybe.

As she continued to practice the spell, she asked:

"Is a centaur going to guide us, Professor?" she asked this quite hopefully. She had heard there were some there. Wasn't there pretty much...everything besides dragons? Yes? No? Nevermind.

Then she heard a lot of students asking if it was the caretaker. That seemed a little more likely, but that didn't stop her from getting her hopes up.