Alexa threw open the door to the Ancient Runes classroom and looked inside. Huh...empty...would you look at that...She bounced inside and made her way to the desk with her name on it, plopped down and placed the gandr before her. It had come a long way from being a jagged tree branch.

Red pigment, just what she would need. Earlier on she'd been wondering about where she'd get some but it was clear this room had everything so she'd just chill here and get the rest of this gandr thing done.

Lex picked up the brush and dipped it once in the pigment. The excess was wiped off then she set to painting each rune. This took a lot of precision and concentration. She didn't want to mess it up because then the Professor would think she let her kneazle do it--an inspired idea but Felix wouldn't be interested.

She brought the gandr as close as possible while still being able to freely move her hands and stuck her tongue out in concentration.

These had to be perfect.

Upon entering the room, Asher immediately saw the large glass cylinder filled with beeswax. It was a strange yellow looking substance and had an off smell.

He placed his bag on one of the tables near the beeswax and pulled out his Gandr and wand. Checking his instructions once again before heading to the tank, Asher saw that he would need his wand to dry the Gandr after dipping in the beeswax.

Asher picked up his Gandr an headed to the cylinder. With great care, he dipped the Gandr into the beeswax and gently pulled it back out. The Gandr was completely coated in the beeswax. He then took his wand and preformed a drying spell.

Happy with the work he had done, Asher went back to the desk his things were on and check to see what else he needed to do before turning in his Gandr.

Seeing that all he had left was to decorate his Gandr, Asher headed off to the Owlery to collect the feather he wanted.

After she'd gotten red on the last of the runes it was time to get this thing nicely sealed so she could get to decorating it. This was the last lap in her project. Honestly, she thought she would have misplaced her gandr WEEKS ago but that didn't happened. It amazed her that she was actually able to find it and it was still in one piece after such a long time...but then you had to take into account all the effort put into it. If there was one thing she hated it was waste. Starting over would be a waste. A waste of her time as well as Mo's and a waste of everything she did up to this point.

Looking to the side of her desk she found the cylinder of beeswax--just the thing she was looking for!

Maintaining the same level of caution as earlier, she slowly dipped the gandr into the wax until it was completely covered, almost, there was still the tip but she'd take care of that in a bit. For now she cast the drying charm then felt it to be sure it worked.

Next she dipped the untouched end into the beeswax and cast the spell on it as well.

NOW her gandr was all nicely sealed and ready for decorating!!!

Arriving back to the classroom, Asher couldn't believe he had actually finished his project ON TIME. One of the few he had done before it was actually due. An added bonus was he had fun doing it.

Asher picked up a tag and put his information on it.

After filling out his tag, he went over to look at the holsters. He scanned up and down his selections and finally decided on a black leather holster. He liked how it went with the black silk ribbon on his Gandr and that it didn't look girly like some of the others.

He slid his Gandr into the holster and attached the tag. Seeing the area to turn it in, Asher headed that way and placed his Gandr in the proper place.

With a huge sigh of relief, he picked up his bag and headed back toward the door. He looked back one last time at his Gandr, filled with pride over his hard work. Smiling, he headed back to his common room to have some ice cream.

After getting what she needed and getting it decorated the way she wanted Lex re-entered the classroom, this time out of breath. She was DONE and couldn't wait to be rid of the gandr. Think about it, the longer she kept it was the more likely that something would go wrong then she'd have to start over!!!!

She ran to a holster and slipped her gandr into it then gave it a final kiss...in case it had grown attached to her or something, then quickly got to scribbling her name and stuff.

That was everything...yup.

And her project was officially OVEEEER!!

Jory hummed a bit as he walked into the Ancient Runes classroom. He was almost done with his project, just a few more steps left to go. He spotted a few familiar faces when he got there. "Hello!'' he called to them. And there was Alexa! He waved to her. She seemed to be almost done with the project; Jory noticed the tag.

The Puffer headed over to where all the necessary items were and grabbed a jar of red paint and a paint brush. "Okay, time to paint you red,'' he muttered, dipping the brush into the paint. Carefully, Jory began to run the brush along the Gandr while chanting:

Fehu,Fehu,Fehu,Fehu,Fehu
Ansuz,Ansuz,Ansuz,Ansuz,Ansuz
Nauthiz,Nauthiz,Nauthiz,Nauthiz,Nauthiz
Jera,Jera,Jera,Jera,Jera
Algiz,Algiz,Algiz,Algiz,Algiz

Side to side. Up and down went the brush.

"There!'' he said minutes later. "All done.''

She was very close to finish! Also, this was kinda fun. Like the previous day she painted the branch red. She liked to paint so she had fun. And now they had to seal it? She didn't understand that much but then she found out that they had to do so in the classroom where there was equipment. Made sense. Because what were the odds that students owned beewax. Pretty slim.

Cassia headed towards the classroom and the walk might have taken her a bit of time to get there. She wasn't feeling that energetic. Quite the opposite actually. The fourth-year shuffled in then started looking around. Cool tank! Wow, she had to use that. Pretty cool, huh!

Placing her bag on one of the desks, Cassia retrieved the branch then went to the tank. Doing so she spotted many pieced of equipment. She could've come here to borrow a knife for the smoothing part, it turned out. There was paint as well.

Turning her attention back to the tank, Cassia slowly dipped the gandr into the tank filled with beewax. This should seal it. The snake, waited a bit then pulled it out and with her other hand reached for her wand in the holster. She used her wand to dry the gandr then went and put it back into the bag. She didn't want her gandr to be ruined by anything. Not now after she was almost done and made a lot of effort.

It wasn't easy and she's been working on it for over a month.

Once safely in her bag,she wandered around the classroom watching and snooping.

Jory came back the next day to continue with the project. This time he had to use beeswax. Gandr in hand, he approached the big glass tank that held the wax. Holding the gandr by the tip, the Puffer dipped it into the tank. "Erm. How long is this supposed to be in here?'' he wondered to himself. He was sure he had not read any particular time for which the Gandr was to be submerged. Oh well.

The seventh year held it in the wax for about three minutes then retrieved it. "Seems to be in order.'' It was time to dry the wax! He grabbed his wand for that.

All the way up to the classroom, Cassia had the gandr in her hand. She's working on it for over a month and she got used to its presence. She never thought that she would. The snake didn't know what will become of the gandrs once they turn then in but she hoped that the old man would take care of it. She really worked hard on it. Like for instance she had to sing a couple of times to the tree and cut the branch which had resulted in cutting her hand. Also, working on the surface to smoothen it.
They had gone through a lot.

Here she was, inside the classroom and about to give away her gandr. Will she ever see it again? Nope, she wasn't . totally normal attachment to a branch.

The snake took her time choosing a holster for her gandr, then after finally deciding on one, she reached for a name tag, fished a quill out of her bag and scribbled down.

All done. Now it was up to professor Botros' to make sure it stayed safe.

Now that the Gandr was completely dry, Jory went back to the wooden desk for the materials he would need for decoration purposes. There were loads of beads and ribbons. "I think I'll go with the ribbons first,'' the boy decided. Yellow and Black for the best House ever!

Taking a strip of yellow ribbon, the Puffer tied it around the back end of the Gandr. He followed this up with a black one next. "On second thought, I'll just go along with ribbons,'' he decided. He liked ribbons more than beads. Taking two more pieces of each colour, Jory tied them at the same end as the first. "And done!'' With this step, anyway.

Mo made his way up the stairs to the Ancient Runes classroom. His wand was so nearly close to being done, and he really only had a few easy finishing steps left. In the classroom, Mo checked first to see if Botros or Feo were about. And... no sign of them, which was sad. Feo was his second favorite dog in the whole world.

Mo pulled his gandr from his pocket and approached the beeswax tank that Botros kept here. Since he was using a neutral wand, he figured the most basic of sealing techniques was preferred... not to mention that having easy access to beeswax was ideal for these purposes.

Carefully, Mo dipped his gandr into the tank, and then he extended it upside down over the tank to let any excess drip off. Slowly, he turned the wand around to check that the seal was even and complete over the entire surface... and it was.

Now he just needed to wait for the wax to set, and then he could decorate.

Just one last step left to complete and he would be all done! Jory had chosen a holster for his Gandr- a simple brown coloured one. Jory figured he had enough fanciness with his decorated Gandr. After slipping it into the holster, he grabbed a quill and a neatly cut piece of parchment and began labeling it:
The badger attached the tag to the holster. Now he was done!

Once the beeswax coating was dry, Mo gave his gandr a careful check to make sure it was ready for the final step. It seemed... totally dry and unlikely to take on any fingerprints from his handling of it. Now that he had the gandr in hand, Mo spent a long moment admiring the work he'd done over the past several months.

It looked quite good.

So decorations? Mo didn't want any distracting frippery dangling from the end of his gandr, nor did he want it to look too fussy or fancy. The polished and smoothed wood grain, the carefully cut and reddened runes, all were much nicer to look at then any number of ribbons, shells, and beads.

But he liked the idea of a polished quartz crystal in the tip of the gandr, and he happened to have just such a stone he'd scrounged during his hunt for red ocher for the reddening pigment. Mo couldn't stick the stone my magical means, but he could do it with a bit of Muggle glue.

It required roughing up the tip of the gandr to better adhere the stone, and then Mo applied the glue and pressed the stone firmly into place. There now... it was perfect. And it was done. HE WAS DONE.

Beeswax.

Ella had made the trip up to the Ancient Runes classroom and was currently regarding the large glass cylinder with great interest. The beeswax was so yellow and in turn, made the blonde think about Hufflepuff and Quidditch and a whole bunch of other stuff unrelated to runes. Funny how the mind could just wander like that. Shaking her head as if to clear her mind, the sixteen year old pulled out her Gandr and smiled down at it. It looked really good. Now it just needed to be sealed.

Carefully, Ella plunged the Gandr into the beeswax, turning it around so that all parts were completely covered. She then slowly pulled it out of the tank again, observing her work. She spotted a small spot at the tip that she'd missed and dipped the Gandr again, making sure that everything was evenly coated this time.

When she was finished, the fifth year allowed the beeswax to set and went to gather some materials for decorating. She pulled out some ribbon and tucked it away, having planned on doing her work in the common room.

...

And the wand was set. Ella picked it up carefully and headed out of the classroom again, ready to finish it up.

So... he needed to redden the Gandr thing. That was why he was actually indoors for some part of this long term project.

Also, long term? That was a very... very appropriate title.

Alec headed into the classroom and over towards an empty desk. He placed his Gandr down on a metal tray before heading over towards the front and Botros's desk. This... was weird. It wasn't as if he was handing something in or in trouble or anything. But still. Fiddling around on the Professor's desk wasn't exactly part of anyone's everyday activity, yeah? So weird. That's what this was.

Mentally apologising to Botros, Alec grabbed a jar and a brush and headed back to his own desk as quickly as possible. The jar was opened and Alec... made the small mistake of looking inside. It smelt... weird. But that might have had something to do with the fact that Alec expected to smell something along the lines of red paint and this... didn't really smell like that.

Moving on...

The sixteen year old picked up the brush, dipped it into the pigment and started painting the Gandr with it. Up and down and loooooooong stroooooooookes... like an artist! ... Which he... wasn't. But it was nice to pretend to be for a minute or two while he painted the surface of the Gandr. Paint paint paint...

It really did seem like Mo had been working on this gandr for the past year. Technically, it had only been a few months, but it felt like much longer. He admired the workmanship on the hazel gandr for another few moments before crossing the classroom in search of the final touch - the holster.

He was definitely going no frills on this whole project, which meant that Mo was looking for something unadorned and sturdy... yes. The simple leather holster was exactly what he was looking for today. He slid the gandr into the holster and placed it on Botros' desk.

One last touch... just in case Ab-Bot didn't recognize his work or something. He added a tag:

And now he was out.

Was this real life? Was Ella actually done with her runes project? Merlin's beard! It was really weird to think about. She'd spent so long working on the Gandr and now that it was completed, she felt a bit sad. Ella had enjoyed herself throughout the process, even if she'd nearly lost her voice from all the chanting and had sore hands from carving runes.

Holster first, yeah? Ella wandered over to check out the different options, eyes taking in the colors and textures of each. Her Gandr was pretty colorful as it was with her ribbons so she wanted something plain for the holster. Black would do, she thought. The fifth year selected one from the bunch and gently placed her Gandr inside, smiling a little as she did. One more step to go and she was done.

Picking out a tag, the blonde began to write neatly. Scribble Scribble. Scribble.

She then made sure the tag was secured on the holster and left her work for Botros to look over. Celebration gummy worms time? YUP.

Oakey came into the the Ancient Runes Classroom and found a nice quiet spot to take a seat at. he went through his bag and retrieved the gandr-in-making from it. Oakey had really taken a liking to this particular piece of wood, and it wasn't because at every chance he got Oakey would twirl it in his hand. No it was because it was from THE Whomping Willow. With in the last few Months at Hogwarts Oakey had been going down to the Tree with Gryffindor Alexa in tow. Bonding with it, and by now Oakey felt more comfortable around the Deadliest Tree, more than he did walking through Bentley's Greenhouses. Ironic yes, but maybe it was the first giant bound of a step for Oakey to overcome his idiotic fear of man-eating plants.

The point was, Oakey befriended a sentient Tree, and if befriending it was good, then could you imagine the power this gandr may have!? It could even possibly be sentient itself, although he hasn't woken up at night to the piece of Willow Smashing itself out the bag and attacking him so...It was the thought that counts.

Oakey looked over the runeless gandr, and tried to 'sense' where the best places would be to place the runes he'll be engraving on it would be. What exactly did Botros mean by Sense? Was it like a gut feeling. Should he run his hands over it, and close his eyes until he felt the best possible spots to put the Runes? Maybe he could take it to Professor Elwood and ask her to predict the best possible spots to place them? That's how Divination worked right?

Nope, instead Oakey sat at his normal desk during class and had his eyes closed and running his hand across the Gandr looking like a bafoon. Maybe he should hum something and look just as ridiculous.

Everything else was almost done...Dylan had painstakingly went above and beyond for this assignment...just because it was Botros...Well, not just because it was his favorite professor. The Slytherin Captain maintained a level of excellence untouched by most others. He couldn't very well allow one of his last assignments to ever be handed in at Hogwarts be sub par. Absolutely not.

Entering the the classroom, he dropped his bag into a seat and went about fishing out the runic wand he'd been working on all month. Finally finding it and pulling it out, wrapped up snugly in parchment paper, Dylan set it down on the desk....and then he got out his notes. Rechecking stuff just to make sure about things...He'd come a LONG way...All things would be checked and RE-checked...because there was NO WAY he was starting over. Not at this stage of the assignment...

Yep. All looked to be in order.

As a note, Dylan did notice that he could've used other things to seal his galdr...but seen they could only use beeswax. Most likely because it was meant to be a neutral wand and all that. Hmm. Something to think about as he got down to it. Maybe the Slytherin could create one for himself sometime...

Slowly and carefully peeling off the parchment paper, Dylan carried it towards the tank that held all the beeswax. Lifting it's lid, he even more slowly and carefully inched the runic wand down into the substance...waiting several moments before tugging it back out again. He didn't move it from over the tank...It'd drip and stuff on the floor if he did...So, Dylan intended to stand there for a few moments...and then magically dry it. Yep, totally was the plan...

Waiting.....waiting.....waiting.....

Right...Pulling his wand, Dylan cast and dried the runic wand...Took a few times...but it finally dried or whatever. Then he moved it back towards the desk and wrapped it back up in the parchment. The Slytherin would've died had it somehow gotten damaged in his bag...Yep...Time to decorate...he guessed.

So that Gandr stuff was done. She had finished all of the carving and the thanksgiving stuff, which were always the weird and tiring parts of the process. Oh well... good thing THAT was all done right? Kat made her way to the Ancient Runes classroom because she was going to apply all that beeswax and reddening stuff on her runic wand now. Uhmm okay.

Kat painted each of the runes carefully with a big amount of concentration. She didn't want this to turn out ugly, okay? She had spent lots of time on this and she was just squinting at the gandr so that nothing happened... like random paint splatters and that stuff. That would RUIN her Gandr, okay?

...

DONE. Reddening was done. PHEW. Then... time to apply beeswax. The name sounded funny.

Oakey this was feeling rather weird just having his eyes closed and feeling around his gandr.. Sensing it's energy, he wasn't getting any feeling from it, except the feeling of being dumb doing this. "Okay" Oakey said to himself. He'd probably have a better chance of sensing energy from an Oak Tree.

But he didn't have an Oak Tree he had a Willow of sorts.


Alright gut feelings were just as good as Energy, and Oakey trusted his gut, just as his gut trusted him for keeping it nice and Healthy all these year. He twirled the gandr-to-be and used his gut-senses to decided where the best spots for each rune would be.

Next... beeswax. To seal the Gandr. And he had to go up to the front again.

Gathering up his Gandr in his hand, Alec got up and headed over toward the Professor's desk and, more specifically, the large glass cylinder at the side of his desk. Beeswax. The label said so. And the substance inside was yellowy so... yeah. This was it.

He bent down and carefully dipped the Gandr into the beeswax, submerging it as far as he could without getting any beeswax on his fingers. The other tiny little bit will be sealed afterwards, yeah? Once he had left the Gandr in the solution for a good amount of time and dried it off. And... speaking of... how long was he meant to keep the Gandr submerged for? A minute? Or two? Or twenty?

Frowning slightly, he looked down at his watch and watched as the seconds ticked by. Once the second hand had moved around for a whole minute, he carefully took the Gandr out of the beeswax, taking out his wand as he did so. The drying spell was cast, the Gandr was flipped over and the process was repeated with the unsealed end until...

There. Now the whole thing was sealed and dry. And THIS meant... that he was very nearly done!

Toby entered the Ancient runes class looking SUPER pleased with himself. He was nearly finished with the assignment and even if he didn't do it brilliantly or if he got things wrong that was OKAY because he'd TRIED and put a lot of devotion into it. His named tutor at his old school had always told him, as long as you TRY for your work to be the best it can be, then you've already accomplished it.

So yeah, given the amount of time this was taking, this was clearly THE MOST effort he'd every put into doing homework and that was awesome. He really wanted to impress Botros, though he wasn't entirely sure why. Maybe because the man was so nice or because Tobias was a fan of the shoulder pats.

It didn't matter. What mattered was that Toby was TRYING SUPER SUPER HARD.

He eyed the things that had been set out, such as the red pigments for reddening the runes. But Tobias had already done that part with the Tiver his grandfather had sent (who had in turn procured it from a friend who owned a farm... it was good to have connections). But the stuff for personalising the wands looked pretty neat, and Tobias wandered over to have a gander.

After a moment's distraction, the Hufflepuff kind of shook his head like a dog trying to rid its ears of water, and moved over to the beeswax tank on the floor. He just went ahead and dipped the wand in sideways, making sure he walk!rolled it between his fingers so it would also be sealed on the parts where he was holding it.

Once he'd made sure the Gandr was completely covered, Tobias set it aside to dry, which he hoped wouldn't take too long, and looked back to the desk with the pretty things on it.

Just as he was about to pick a bead, and a ribbon, Toby gently smacked his palm against his head in a kind of 'duhhhhh' way as he remembered something. Leaving the Gandr where it was so it would dry, Toby dashed out of the classroom and headed towards the kitchen level corridor. He would be back to personalise the Gandr but first he had to retrieve something from his dorm which was kind of perfect for this.

After applying the red liquid and letting it dry for a moment on the runes on her Gandr, Kat finally made her way over to the tank filled with that weird looking oily liquid thing. Apparently it was called beeswax and Kat inwardly lol'd at the name of it. Beeswax. Made her have a mental picture of a bee with ear wax. HAHA. Okay that was unnecessary. She had a project to finish.

Slowly, Kat dipped her Gandr inside the tank which covered her runic wand with beeswax. Haha ew. Then Kat slowly pulled it back up and examined it for a bit. Gross. Really gross. Kat took her wand out with the clean hand and sent a drying spell or charm at the Gandr. SEE? All dry now.

What it needed was accessories now.