How long had it even been? Surely the ashwinder was done laying its e--oh! He watched as the long pale grey serpent collapsed into dust in what was almost like a spontaneous puff of it. That was cool. But now he had to work. West checked his gloves again before he got started. Wand at the ready he crawled closer and pushed back the brambles. Some of the grass was already charred and smouldering where it touched the eggs. He could feel the heat in the air from them.

"Immobulus!" West didn't muck around, moving his wand in the zig-zagging shape and then the swish back at the bottom. How was he supposed to tell it was safe to actually grab? What changed? They were all still too close together to reach in yet anyway so West cast on the next egg, same wand movement and concentrating hard. "Immobulus!"

This was pretty intense!

There it went... Theo almost couldn't see it, so he started to follow the ashy trail, still keeping a safe distance, though. A few moments later, he caught a glimpse of the creature which had stopped by the edge of the woods. Did that mean it was ready to do it's business?! Theo got his wand at the ready and waited for these eggs to pop out.

Once they had, the Ashwinder collapsed into dust in front of him. Aw, poor fella. But this was the important part.

Theo waited for an extra long while, until bits of the Ashwinder was blowing away in the wind. Just to make sure this wasn't some sort of illusion. Once he was satisfied, the boy slowly took a few steps forward until he was close enough to cast the Freezing Charm. He was kinda terrified, though. Just remember what Dylan said, he thought as he closed his eyes.

Mountains. Trace the shape of the mountains.

Okay, he was ready... ISH.

Picking a fire should be easy, since it was just picking a pit full of fire but Elise was a bit worried Daichi. He always freaked out around fires but Elise didn't want to ask him why for fear of sounding rude or nosy. Biting her lip and turning to check on him, she decided that it really wasn't her business. Especially since he seemed to be coping with it perfectly well. So it was time to pick a fire.

Deciding on one reasonably near the edge and as far as possible from a certain Slytherin Quidditch Captain, she grabbed a pinchful of Floo Powder and crouched down next to it. After a short while of just staring at the fire and watching the flames lick the air, she stretched her hand out over it and sprinkled the powder in.

It was a fascinating process, watching the fire change from the yellows and oranges to the varied shades of green. It began at the base of the fire, slowly spreading to the tips until it had changed colour completely and released a few green sparks into the air. Now, the ashwinder just had to make an appearance.

Oh... his jar. Before Theo did any spell casting, he placed it on the floor ready to collect up those eggs when he was done. Everything was in place, so he couldn't put it off much longer. He raised his wand and went over the incantation and movement once again in his head. Immobulus... and... mountains. Theo traced the mountains in the air, followed by a finishing swish at the bottom. It was easy enough, so he decided to just do it.

"Immo..." Pause to do the mountain wiggle... "...bulus!" Okay, okay... that was just a practice. Theo frowned hard and cleared his throat to try again.

"Immobulus!" He did an almost perfect mountain, and not forgetting the swish on the end. Theo raised his head and tried to peer over at the eggs... Before going over, he tried to do the same thing on the next egg. It took two attempts, but it was kinda in his brain now. "Immobulus!" There... both of the eggs frozen.

At least he hoped they were. Thank Merlin for the protective gloves.

West kept casting, a few more times actually, so that he was sure all the eggs had been frozen successfully. He pulled the jar close, and not actually wanting to touch the eggs just in case they were still hot (even if he had gloves) West carefully began levitating them, one at a time into the jar. It took a little while but soon enough he had the entire nest in the jar. West double checked there weren't any left and checked the jar too, just to make suresuresure they were all frozen effectively.

Because it'd suck if they spontaneously combusted or something.

West got to his feet with his jar in gloved hand, and headed back to the main class. He got a label and filled his details out on it.

That done, he placed it on the table and went to sit down again. His hand went up since he had a question that he'd been mulling over while doing the work.

"Professor, I was wondering, you said stuff about life cycles before, but are all Ashwinders female? Or is it that the males can lay eggs as well?" Somehow.

Theo stood idly on the spot for about 2 minutes.

He pulled up his protective gloves as far as they would go, until they were hurting the ends of his fingers. He just didn't trust his own magical ability very much, but the eggs did look different to what they did prior to the spell casting. What could go wrong? A few burns on the hands? The healer could whip that right back into shape... :|

The Slytherin picked up the jar off from the ground then set off for the eggs at a steady pace. He stopped just above them to observe them closely.

Well, they weren't smoking or anything.

He bent down, gave them a little poke with his gloved finger, then picked one up and placed it in his jar. See? He had done that spell like a BOSS. And now he was grinning at himself. With no problems at all, Theo put the next egg into his jar, then took off back to the table with the rest of the class. He labelled it messily with his name, house and year and placed it on the table. Writing stuff on a jar was kinda difficult, you know.

After they were called over, Harvey listened to the instructions looking a little bored even though he wasnt, he just wasnt into classes anymore but points were needed. He played around with a rock in the ground before he heard the professor let them get on with the task. Harvey went round looking to see which fire he would want, but first he needed his stuff so he went to the table that the professor had pointed at and collected his floo powder, his gloves and jar for that egg that they needed. He then went fire hunting to see which one was the coolest looking. He then noticed one that caught his eye and made him think that it was the fire for him. He went over to it and he watched as others sprinkled their floo powder, he wondered what would happen of they were to add more than just a sprinkle, would it blow up? He wondered before he decided not to take the risk and sprinkled a bit of floo powder and noticed the change in the fire.. he then stepped back ready for his Ashwinder to rise from the depths of the magical fire ready to give him what he had been ordered to collect. He continued watching it wondering when that Ashwinder would rise, or was there no Ashwinder here? Was that part of the test to choose one that had an Ashwinder. But he decided to wait patiently as he saw Ashwinders rise out of the other fires, hoping that one would rise here too.

Still stunned by what she had just witnessed, Minerva stood looking at the place where the Ashwinder had just turned to dust. How quickly it all happened. Not days, or years, but just in the time of one class and not even a full class length.

Finally snapping out of her trance of thoughts she had been in, Minerva turned to the two eggs now sitting alone where the Ashwinder had previously been. Walking closer to them she could feel how hot they were without needing to touch them.

Gripping her wand tightly, she did the wiggle up/down, straight, wiggle up/down movement "Immobulus". Starting the wand movement again, "Immobulus", now that both eggs were frozen she began to walk right next to them.

With her gloves on the young girl walked careful toward the two eggs, afraid that she perhaps had done something wrong and that the eggs weren’t fully frozen and checked if everything was okay. When she saw no signs that the eggs weren’t fully frozen she opened her jar and grabbed one egg. The egg was really cold, she could feel it through the gloves she wore and quick she put them in the jar. She did the same thing with the second egg and closed the lid from the jar.

Now she needed to do just one thing before she was done with this task and wrote a label,

With the jar in her hands and with the label already on it, she walked back toward the desk and placed the jar on it. She was finally done!

Elise was starting to worry about not having the ashwinder come out of the fire since it had been almost a solid 5 minutes since the fire had turned completely green. Not that she was staring at her watch and timing it or anything of the sort, she was just stating a fact. It was taking a long time and Elise was never good at waiting for things.

Tick tock, Ashwinder!

Oh, look! There it was, all smouldering red and entirely on fire. The scaled creature rose slowly from the fire and started to move away from the heart of it. A little startled, Elise jumped away from it just in time for it to walk right past the spot she'd only just vacated, the glowing red creature leaving a thick trail of ash behind as it did.

Was she supposed to follow it? She was? Okay, she would. Just as soon as she got off her butt.

Harvey was now getting bored, when would this darn Ashwinder make its appearance, he sat down and waited fsce in his hands as he watched the others go after their Ashwinders. He started shaking his head and played with that for a while until he looked up and saw an Ashwinder running away from his fire pit. When did that get out? He quickly grabbed his stuff and ran out after it following its trail. He wondered when this Ashwinder would tire out and let him actually get those eggs so he could get outta here. He continued to follow it well its trail at least since he couldnt see the Ashwinder, he went on and on for what seemed a billion years!

After following the ashwinder slither to the edge of the woods (like wow, they were allowed in this place finally?) Kat crossed her arms while waiting for it to lay eggs and collapse to dust like what it is supposed to do, you know. She was a patient girl, but everyone in the right mind would know that nobody wanted to be kept waiting for something they were asked to do. It was their job and they even accepted whatever 'offer' it was, and extending their patience didn't seem to be part of the 'job description'.

What, now she was speaking all business-like. PFFT. The ashwinder was really testing her patience. No doubt.

Suddenly it just collapsed without any notice. Into dust. Oh finally, did it find a place in its heart for this feeling called 'pity'? Because it was about time for the ashwinder to notice it. So... time to freeze things up, yo.

To her dismay however Ashley did become dust. It made Sarah sad, even thought he was a snake yet he had lived for so short. And now there was nothing left of him but-- the eggs. At least he had continuation in the world, that is why Sarah thought it was important to have a lot of children, one needed continuation.

Then Sarah jumpted, there was movement around her. She was scared it was another snake, as that would not be so good, as Sarah was petrified of snakes, and rats. She used to be scared of dogs too until her parents got one and now she was not that bad around them. She wondered whether she should bury Ashley's dust, and make a marking for him. Mind before heart she told herself. She had a job on hand and that was to take care of the eggs.

Luckily her gloves were already on and she began to approach the eggs

Harvey followed that Ashwinders trail for so long he had gotten tired and was almost about to give up and head back empty handed since he was not gonna follow this darn thing for hours and hours. He stopped and was about to turn back when he heard a rustling nearby, so he continued onwards and followed the trail to where an Ashwinder was with 2eggs nearby. Not a bad number! He thought as he watched the Ashwinder, just as it turned to dust he noticed it gave a third. He looked at his jar hoping it was big enough for all those eggs, or would he have to go back and get another jar.

Then Sarah took out her wand, "Immobulus' she said making the wand movement of a mountain. Sarah knew the wandmovement as mountains were cold and this was the freezing charm after all.

Overly Cautious, Sarah did the spell again, in fact she took the spell to another level by applying the spell to each egg individually. After a few time of the blue light emitting from the wand Sarah was okay

Then she walked forward and with her gloved hand touched an egg. It did not burn her. She put the eggs in her jar, hoping they were safe with her.

It took her a while to work back to the table as Sarah was lost in thought, she had a question for the professor

Ethan felt himself drifting off to sleep and his eyes became unfocused on the green flames and he sat up straight, blinking a few times to wake himself up. He glanced at his watch. It had been a while and he was starting to grow impatient, which, from past experience, told him the Ashwinder would be coming soon.

He stared and stared at that fire until finally the thin, grey serpent slithered out of his fire. The Ravenclaw stood from his spot and followed after it as it slithered faster and faster away. Walking briskly, he kept his eyes on the ashy trail along the wood's edge until it came to a stop. He had his jar and wand ready, but the boy knew there would be quite a bit more waiting in store for him and his mind began to wander again as he kept his eyes on the creature.

She walked back to the table and she used the surface to work on the lable. She had to try make it as legible as possible.

She wrote on the lable
.

She could not resist and she added a little doodle on the side, a picture of Ashley in the midst of the green flames, she even labled him on the drawing wiht a RIP Ashley.

She put her jar on the table. Now she had another question for the professor. "We don't want the egg to hatch, yet usually in order to hatch, an egg needs warmth, so if one casts the immobulous charm on it will the eggs not hatch, or could one reverse the spell by warming the egg up?"

Nigel almost forgot he had to casting the freezing charm on his new eggs. He wouldn't want them to die and him to fail at the lesson. That would be bad.

"Immobulus" Nigel cast using the wand movement. He then watched in amazement as the eggs slowed down. It was a pretty awesome thing to see.

Nigel walked away fro a minute to get his glass jar. Nigel had no idea how he forgot to take it. Maybe he was a little scatter brained today.

Once he came back with the jar. He was ready to collect them.

So he had to watch this thing for an hour.. Ethan stood at the wooded edge as he kept his eyes on the Ashwinder. An hour was sort of a long time to keep his eyes on one spot but he knew it was necessary to get the eggs. His mind drifted as the Ashwinder slowly coiled around and slithered a bit, obviously in preparation of laying eggs.

His mind turned to Quidditch, the homework that was due tomorrow, the course catalog that came in the post yesterday for him which reminded him that he should get his application out soon, the fact that he was growing increasingly hungry, and remembering that he still had a chocolate frog in his pocket. He thought about eating it now and reached into his pocket to get it when he saw the Ashwinder starting to disintegrate. Once it turned to ash, he saw that it left behind three eggs.

With her Ashwinder collapsed and turned to dust, the next thing Kat was supposed to do was cast the freezing charm on its eggs. It was not a very difficult task to do, besides Kat was already in a hurry because she wanted to have dinner at the Great Hall. Despite having a lumpy meat thing and more porridge everyday, she was looking forward to eating. Hungry, you know. A growing girl needs her energy and food.

Ahem, anyway...

"Immobulus!" Kat casted the spell on the ashwinder eggs with the up-down-up-down-swipe to the left motion. Tada! All frozen. Free and safe to pick up now. Just gotta get some protective gloves on, you know.

Eliza was still up, down, up, down, swish to the lefting when Professor Barlow was moving them along. Oh, so we're done practicing? She followed her to the side of the barn where she saw a row of fires burning unattended. She had these going the whole time and no one was watching them?! They're right by the barn! And the edge of the treeline! What if the wind had changed? This whole place would be going down! She tried to hide her disapproval as she approached a small fire to practice with. Maybe she cast some sort of containment spell, who knows.

She had repeated the steps in her mind a few times, so she was pretty she had them down, but just in case, she added the steps to her notes.

SPOILER!!: Steps

1. Choose a fire and add a few sprinkles of floo powder to it. This will create a magical fire. You may watch your fire but don't tend to it (unless you absolutely have to).

2. Once the Ashwinder has risen from your fire, follow its ashy trail to the EDGE of the woods.

3. Wait for the Ashwinder to collapse to dust.

4. Cast the Freezing Charm on the eggs BEFORE touching or collecting them. You should wear protective gloves as an added precaution.

5. Collect your eggs and place them in a glass jar. Label the glass jar with your name, house, and year and place it back on the table.

She hoped Daichi would be all right with this activity. It sure did seem like there were a lot of fire related lessons that he'd had to endure the past few years. Maybe it's making him less afraid? She could hope anyway. For now though she stood near her fire and reached into a little bag of floo powder set out for the class. She tossed a pinch of it into the fire and watched the flames turn green.

Taking a place Mack watched fixated on her own Ashwinder, she knew others had already collected their eggs, she could hear their excitement in their voices. Suddenly the Ashwinder began to move slightly again, not in a way of movement necessarily but in an odd manner, taking a step closer to see what was happening Mack had a look of concern on her face. Then as if her movement caused it to realize it's time was up the Ashwinder was gone, all that remained was a cloud of dust.

How long had it been? Could Alice look back yet? Her eyes flickered back to the pale gray serpent just as it collapsed into dust. She silently wrote a eulogy for it in her mind (a very brilliant one, if she did say so herself) as she checked her gloves again before stepping closer to the pile of eggs. Wand out, she used her other hand to place the open jar at her shoes, ready to drop the frozen ones in when needed.

She could feel the heat of them without needing to come too close, just by standing in the air near them. Alice pointed her wand, not apprehensive at all, moving it as she murmured the incantation. Up, down, up, down, swipe to the left. "Immobulus." Was it okay to touch them now? She carefully extended a gloved hand, but then thought better of it and went on to cast the spell on the next few eggs, maneuvering her wand in the zig-zagging shape once more as she spoke. "Immobulus!"

Was that it, then? She carefully nudged the eggs with the edge of her shoe.

Harvey looked at the three eggs that were in front of him moving around a little and he knew that he had to get them into the jar and get outta as fast as he could! So he went to pick up the eggs and suddenly felt the heat from a distance and remembered the gloves he had to wear as well as the spell that he had to cast on the eggs. So he put on his gloves and practiced the wand movement that they were taught. He then practiced the charm "Immobulus...Immobulus...Immobulus...Immobulus" he then looked at the eggs "Right eggers time to be frozen and be stuffed into this jar" he said to them as he did the wand movement and said the incantation "Immobulus...Immobulus" he said as he pointed at the first egg to freeze it. He then froze the next with a wand movement and the incantation "Immobulus...Immobulus" he said freezing the second. He then noticed the third had moved along and so he grabbed the first two and ran after the third. Once he caught up with the third and put the first two down as he froze the third. Wand movement...check! Incantation...check! "Immobulus...Immobulus" he said freezing the thirs and final egg. He now had three frozen eggs...score!!

Ethan already had on the protective gloves since he had picked them up.. why, he wasn't exactly sure since it had been a while, but it was probably more that he didn't feel like carrying around something extra and it seemed easier that way.

Pulling his wand, he swiped it at each of the eggs. "Immobulus.. Immobulus.. Immobulus!" He really didn't question if they were frozen enough to touch them or handle them.. He had done the spell enough times to be sure it had worked. And he stepped towards them to collect them.

Thankfully the lesson was almost over, he thought as he became acutely aware of his growling stomach.. he was really getting hungry and dinner was just around the corner.