Lux could not believe that Sander and Tessa had raced their boats without her when they had said she could join them and knew that she was a lot slower than them and would need more time. Now she felt like Tessa was starting to forget her for Sander, and she was not jealous of him or full of resentment that they were close... but she did not want Tessa to forget about her.

Shaking her head, she started walking off with her boat. It was stupid, but she felt forgotten and it made her want to cry because they were her friends.

Botros still had the dragon cane -- Feron Fire-dragon -- as he hobbled down the grassy ground closer to the lake. Students seemed to gather in small groups, working and shouting and angsting, it was intriguing him to come closer and watch the--

Oh the Head Boy was alone. Botros hurried closer to the boy. "Good day, Mr. Summers!" He greeted him, slightly panting. "Busy day for you kids today, isn't it?" He eyed all the preparations. Was that a rope?

"Okay I too will have to think about what I'm going to wish, so let's help out Lux first. Maybe we can make some cucumber sails for her boat," he said jokingly as he picked up his boat and held it with one arm, while he placed his arm around Tessa's shoulder. It seemed like the natural thing to do that Sander didn't even notice he had even done it.



Sander frowned when Lux picked up her boat and began walking away. "Hey where are you going, Lux? We're here to race with you. I promised you I'd help you make your sails. Awww come on. Please come back!" Sander ran after the younger girl and when he had caught up with her, he turned around and began walking backwards so that he could still see her face to face.

"Awww come on Cucumber. I'm really sorry that I misunderstood what you said earlier. I thought you said you wanted to race with your friend, Lucas. Lux if you don't stop, and come back, you're going to make me cry," Sander began pouting at her.

Tessa turned to see Lux walking away and jogged to catch up with the girl. "Lux, hold on a moment," she called, running along beside her. "Will you talk to me please?" she asked, coming to stand in front of the girl so that she would stop walking.

"I'm sorry Sander and I got carried away. We just wanted to finish our homework. Now that we've gotten it out of the way, we're ready for a real race. Would you please join us? It would make me smile again," she said, making the saddest face she could at Lux.

Alec stared down at the rope in his hands in complete disbelief. He was sure he had managed to do this spell properly in class so... what was happening now? Was it the lack of confidence? Because, if so, he was going to have a lot more trouble with his spell than he had initially thought.

And to think he had gotten an O for this OWL.

Mr Summers! That was him! The Head Boy threw the rope one last disgruntled look before looking, and then grinning, at the man who had joined him. "Hey, Professor! Nice cane!" Dragons, you know. ... Busy day? The eighteen year old looked away from him and around at... hey. There were other students here. How had he not noticed that. "Yeah... yeah, we have Transfiguration homework due soon." His gaze fell on the man again and he held up the limp rope. Transfiguration.

... Should he explain? "Reverto!" Simple. Back to a vine. "We're meant to be practising two spells and one of them is transfiguring this vine into..." Intent. Confidence! "Vinea Funiculus!" POINT!

"... into a rope." And there, in his hands, was a rope once again. Stronger looking than the last by a little bit but... not the best.

Lux had a hard time walking back to the castle with Sander in front of her. "No, I asked to join you guys. But I suppose it's okay." She was not going to race with Lucas, because he was not here. She had hoped to race with him later on after she had learned how to make the sail and get the boat moving. "I really want to have a sail for my boat and make it race." She wanted to race her boats with them. "I thought you forgot about me, Tessa." It had made her sad.

"Come on Lux," Tessa said, understanding why the girl felt the way she did. "I'm so sorry, Sander and I just got a bit ahead of ourselves, but I promise you, I never once forgot about you," she said, bending her knees so she could look directly into Lux's eyes. "I would never forget about you... unless someone Obliviated me. However, it would take a very strong witch or wizard to erase you with it," she added with a small smile. "Can I help you make a sail for your boat?" she asked gently.

Caleb, unlike his sister, had just completely un-transfigured his boat so it was just some vines and pieces of lumber that he could carry in his bag. He walked down to the lake, a few minutes late because he'd accidentally taken a nap. Aha, there was Sophie! Waiting for him just as he thought she would be.

"Yo yo yo sis!" he called with a grin. Why had he said that?? He sounded like a muggle rapper. Ah well. It was just Sophie.

OH! The boy noticed his cane! Botros beamed, a tad childishly, at the Head Boy and raised his dragon cane for more examination if needed. Oh. No examination was needed,the boy had a homework to attend to. Right. No problem. Cane back on the ground and Botros looked around at the vines and the one rope, what was that bag for?

Oh wait, Summers just did it! Botros clapped lightly, as if the seventeen years old standing in front of him was merely a ten year old boy with a candy cane. "Bravo bravo. The rope looks good to me from here." He touched the rope and tugged a few times to make sure the texture was good. "It's fine. What are you going to do with those ropes then?" Botros hands were back on his cane, even though he didn't really need it.

Also. "What's in the bag?" He was a curious old man. Actually... he was a curious young lad back in the day, a bit odd it surfaced again.

"You live near the coast? I thought you lived in the woods with your grandmother?" Or was that just something he told to Botros? What a clever boy was Tobias, he even had Cutty going there with that one.

Cutty shook his head, wand in hand. "Reverto! I shouldn't have asked that. I have no business knowing. And, you're right. There's nothing wrong with you." But it depended on what one meant by 'wrong', according to the Slytherin boy and he now, more than ever, would be making it a point to study that sweetest of little Puff boys the school knew as Tobias Tempus regarding this exchange. It was SO curious. Why did Tobias live in the woods, near the shore with his recently widowed grandmother? Whatta dreamboat! Whattan absolute puzzle box! Could this go on forever? This being near him, yet so far away? Cutty liked it. For now.

"Lignum Navicula!" Cutty again tapped his wand to the wood and brought into being that familiar boat, but this time with more detail. Getting the front bow to scroll inward towards the deck. He was becoming more satisfied with the work. His eyes focused downward searching for other pieces of wood, wanting to build a fleet. Then set fire to them. Because as long as they were out there, why not?

Sander felt horrible and guilty. He had been taking up a lot of Tessa's time. Lux knew her even before he had met Tessa. It was his fault that they had raced without Lux. "I'm so so sorry, Lux. It wasn't Tessa's fault, it was mine. I'm always so competitive and I was just eager to see how fast my boat could go. " Sander tried explaining to the younger Puff.

"I can help you make the sail if you want or we both could. But if you'd rather Tessa do it, I'll go back to the castle and let you spend time together." Sander offered as an apology, even though he really didn't want to return to the castle without either of them. He stopped walking and waited to see what Lux wanted him to do.

He felt deflated and sad. All the joy he had gotten out of the race, was now gone. Especially now that he had made one of his best friends sad.

Lux was feeling totally sad until Tessa reassured her that she hadn't been forgotten about. Starting to feel better, she gave her friend a smile then hugged her. "Okay, Tessa." Just as long as she wouldn't be forgotten about, she was happy. Noticing that Sander seemed sad, she hugged him next. "It's not your fault, you misunderstood. Show me how to make a sail." He needed to stop feeing bad.

Sander stood there and watched Lux smile and hug Tessa. He breathed a sigh of relief. All was well between Tessa and her. But what about him? Then Lux surprised him by coming over to where he stood. He quickly got on his knees and smiled a great big smile when Lux hugged him too. He was feeling a lot better now.

"Okay great let's make the sail. Do either of you have a small napkin or handkerchief? That's going to be our sail. I'll go look for a piece of wood I can attach the handkerchief to," Sander told both girls as he walked back to the shoreline and looked around until he found a short thin branch...not too thin though because it needed to be able to hold up the sail and not break when the wind blew against it.

Then he walked back to join the others. "Any luck with the cloth?"

Relief flooded her as Lux hugged her. "I'm sorry again Lux," she said quietly as she hugged the girl back. "Now, let's get to work on that boat," she said with a nod. SHe looked up at Sander and shot him a relieved smile. It seemed everything would be alright, and she couldn't even say how happy she was.

And then, he started to leave. She opened her mouth to protest, but Lux had already stopped him. Another small sigh of relief and everything seemed to be back to normal. "Well, Lux, do you want to help me look through my bag? See what we can find for a sail?" she asked, indicating where her bag and her boat were still sitting. THey had just gotten to the bag when Sander joined them. "We were just about to look," she said, hoping that there was something in there that would work.

Everything was okay again and Lux was happy about that, but she was starting to feel bad about the way she had acted over the whole thing. "I'm really sorry I got upset." She could be such a baby sometimes, and clearly this had been one of those times. Wow, she had managed to upset both Tessa and Sander because she was immature.

Nodding at Sander, she went to help look for something that could be used as a sail with Tessa's help, as he went about getting a branch for it.

"Uh-huh," Toby nodded. But then grinned and nudged Cutty. "I live near the woods. There are woods near beaches. Reverto." This last part was Toby undoing the spell and turning the boat back into a block of wood, before continuing with what he was saying. "I mean, technically the woods are part of a nature park or something, but it's massive."

Leaving the other comment, about what was wrong with him, alone for the time being, Tobias put his focus solely on this Transfiguration. He pictured a PIRATE SHIP in his head, like the kind that you saw in toy shops. The one he was picturing in his head even had writing down the side, like when boats had names. Surprisingly, the more details he could picture, the more confident Tobias felt about this spell. When a full formed image was in his mind, Tobias wasted no time in raising his wand and tapping the wood again.

"Lignum Navicula!"

That had done the trick. After only a second, Tobias found that his block of wood had transformed into a fancy little sailboat. He was most pleased with the fact that he'd gotten the inscription nailed. There, on the side of the boat was a shallow, but still visible, etching: Toby.

"Check it out," he said enthusiastically, holding it out to show Cutty. Lookit, even a little captain's wheel and everything.

But was it seaworthy?

"Shall we test 'em in the lake now?"

What?! How had that attempt at manipulation failed to produce the result Cutty was looking for. The 'Oh, no, it's alright. Lemme explain further.' result that would've helped Cutty dive into his questions about Tobias. Though, he was able to gain some insight however vague and it was thus: Tobias had an unusual brain. The tricks which worked on others, may not work on him.

Cutty reached a ...how did he even get it dirty between the library and here?...finger into Toby's ship admiringly and touched the wheel lightly to see if it would turn. "Let's!" The Slytherin boy concurred with the idea of trying to get them afloat. He hopped off the boulder and carried his Greecian battle ship to the water, bent down and pushed it into the Black Lake, watching it get carried out by the momentum.

His eyes fell upon the waterline and widened at something which was revealed to be a coin that was promptly brushed off and tucked away into the boy's pocket. Beside it, though was a long shred of wood that Cutty hit with the spell imagining it to be a canoe. He put a small pebble into it for weight and some leaves before launching it out after his war vessel. "Incendio!" He hissed directing his spell towards the leaves that caught and burned until sinking the little canoe. What a lovely and destructive sight. He waited until Tobias had finished launching his boat before getting to the vines, soon-to-be-ropes.

Tessa ruffled the girl's head with a smile. "Don't worry, Lux- you're allowed to get upset every now and then," she teased with a warm smile.

"Alright, let's see what we have," she said, digging around in her bag. "I have some spare parchment," she said, laying that down on the grass. "Which we can make impervious to water, so that's not a problem," she said, digging around more. "I have a napkin too," she said, taking that out. "Or, we can take duplicate some fabric from the bag," she suggested. "What do you guys think?"

So, three time's the lucky charm? Hazel hoped it would be the same for her. "Lignum Navicula!" she said, picturing a boat in her head. Well, what did she expect? "Lignum Navicula!" Now she expected a little more. "Lignum Navicula!" Come on, that one was supposed to work! She stopped and took a breath. "Lignum Navicula," she said calmly. It wasn't as great as the boat in her mind, but at least it was something. She couldn't help but grin. "Now what?"

When they reached the water, Tobias watched Cutty pushed his out. Like OUT. Out THERE. Toby wasn't gonna do that, because he didn't know the Summoning Charm yet. Instead, he crouched close right at the edge of the shore and held his boat out at arm's length, gripping the very top of the mast, or whatever it was. Tobias wasn't all that sure that the boat would stay afloat, so he was going about this with a lot more caution than others might.

Carefully, Toby lowered the boat onto the water. He hestitated, but then gradually released hold of the boat-

... which then immediately began to sink.

"Oh shoot," the boy muttered, almost frantic, and hurriedly rescued his boat. Tobias stayed crouched where he was and set the boat on his knee again, ignoring the way the lake water seeped through his trouser fabric to his leg. "Reverto."

With a wave of his wand, it was back to a boat again, and then Toby was back to visualising exactly the same boat as last time, except that this one would float and not be so heavy.

"Lignum Navicula!" the Hufflepuff cast, tapping the block of wood with his wand, and watching it morph straight back into the boat shape once more.

Once again, Toby found himself repeating the cautious steps wherein he tried to see if his boat would float, maybe even with a little more hesitation this time. But float it did, and Tobias stood up, beaming at the boats proudly.

Which was when he saw the extra boat. On fire.

Tobias blinked, and looked around to try and find the extra person who must be nearby and had had a boat mishap, because both his and Cutty's boat were still on the water. But there wasn't another soul nearby them, what with the lake being big enough that they had a quiet spot to themselves. That left Cutty, and Tobias blinked at the younger boy, and then looked back to the now sinking boat.

............................. "Okay." Okay. Sure. Fireboats, that's cool.

Leaving his boat bobbing along close to the shoreline, Tobias returned to the rock for the next spell.

She smiled slightly and nodded to what he said, “Well… I never thought magic was bad… I just wanted to learn about it… Just learn how to control it so I don’t change something every time I get a little upset.” Anna gave a weak laugh, “And you know, maybe not be locked away in a room for the rest of my time in the orphanage…” She looked at him and gave a small smile, “But you were still the first one to make me feel welcomed… And I really do appreciate it.” She looked at him and almost went forward to hug him until she remember he said he didn’t care for hugs.

And again she gave a small nod and laughed, “Actually it seemed to go really roughly for me…” She shrugged, “But I tried my best, and had fun… That’s all that matters to me.” Annalee looked at him as he said a name she didn’t recognize, “Jacen? You’re older brother I’m guessing?” She remembered him mentioning an older brother at the feast once or twice, “Well, I tried out for catcher… And I think that might have been where I made a mistake… Seeing how it’s one of the most active roles.” She paused, “But next year, I’ll probably tryout for beater.”

Marigold smiled at Hazel's attempts. You go, girl! She was strangely fond of the other girl, though she had just met her that year. She reminded her a bit of herself. When Hazel finally got the charm right, she clapped and cheered. "Well, we COULD do the other spell. But we should check to make sure our boats float first, right?" That WAS part of the homework. So Marigold skipped closer to the lake's edge and placed the boat in. Holding her breath and crossing her fingers, she was relieved when the little wooden boat stayed afloat. Beam.

Sander joined the others breaking off the twigs from the branch he had picked up, which he then snapped it into so that he now had two equal length sticks. Then he sat down on the grass next to Tessa and Lux. "A napkin will do. We can reduce it to fit the size of the boat." Sander suggested taking the napkin from Tessa. But first he tied one corner of the napkin to the top end of one stick and the other corner to the bottom of the stick. Then he stretched out the napkin and tied the other corners to the top and bottom ends of the second stick. He was now holding up the sail.

"Now we can use the shrinking spell to reduce the size of this contraption." Leaning forward, he waved his wand in a V shaped and said the words to the incantion, "Reducio". A purple beam of light streamed out of wand and over the makeshift sail and right before their eyes it began to shrink.

When it got down to the size that fit Lux's boat, Sander ended the shrinking spell. Now all he had to do was attach the sticks to the boat. Tapping the bottom end of one stick to the boat, Sander said the incantation to the Sticking Charm,"Adhaero" and lo and behold the stick was now attached to the boat. He repeated the steps with the second stick before sitting back.

"Here's your sail boat, Lux," Sander handed the boat back to Lux.

Text Cut: ^__^

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

"My thoughts exactly." Ella had learned to be prepared for anything during classes here. Since her first year, she'd seen her fair share of amazing and slightly puzzling things and it was all good experience. Taught her to always be on her toes. Constant vigilance and all that. Yeah.

And who knew Lottie was such an animal activist? Ella was surprised though her expression remained neutral. It seemed they had more similarities than she'd thought. "I think so too. It's not as if we're doing spells on each other so there has to be some kind of negative effects." Though transfiguring Lottie into a hat did sound sort of amusing to her. She couldn't help but wonder what kind of hat the girl would be. Why she had the image of a cocked Navy-style hat in mind, the blonde wasn't sure.

And look! Their boats were weathering Ella's waves quite well. The Head Girl smiled, glad her ship hadn't sunk. Something told her that the brunette wouldn't forget it if it had. "Thanks. Same to you, Wisteria." The older girl then picked her boat up out of the water and gave the younger badger a nod. "Ropes."

Back at the blanket now, the blonde flopped down gently and pulled her wand towards her. Then, after drying off her small boat with the use of a drying charm, the seventh year set it down off to the side and pulled the vine in front of her. Now if only she could remember the incantation.

"It's...Vinea Fun-something." Fun what, though? "Do you remember?" Help?

Ever since Bellaire used to teach Charms, Lottie was more than prepared for anything that may occur during her lessons. Remember that shoe, Aidan Stone? Precisely. That was a warning.

It seemed that way. The Hogwartian wasn't remotely surprised by Ella's words, she definitely looked like the kind who cared about animals. What with the dogs and the turtle, and her love of elephants. Yup. Not surprising at all. There was a smile on Lottie's face for the Head Girl, though, "Yes, I agree wholeheartedly. Not to mention that you're technically forcing the transformation onto them, and since most of them can't talk...," a language that humans understood, unlike the Giant Squid, "...then you don't have their permission." She disliked to be forced into things, can't you tell? Reason number one why she'd rather Clover not to have fancy hats or anything similar. And no transfiguration on Lottie, ever.

We still like Bellaire, though.

"Thanks!" They did a wonderful job, clearly. And should totally team up for Transfiguration in the future.

Now, back to the boat, hers was safely on the blanket, out of harm and water's way. And the vine was in her hand when Ella spoke next. Right. The spell. She remembered this one, actually. "It's Vinea Funiculus," nothing fun here, this is practice, "And pointing instead of tapping." In case Ella also needed help with that.

"Vinea Funiculus!" she said, pointing at the vine and... she probably did a terrible job at focusing because that rope seemed like it could be cut with the edge of a piece of parchment. "Like that... only much, much better." Disgusting example of magic. Mediocrity at its best. She touched the rope and wrinkled her nose before returning it to its former state.

He felt at peace as he climbed the rock once more to be near the warmth of Tobias. His hand reached into his pocket and pulled out the cut of rope Professor Bellaire had given to them that day in class. He swished it around before whipping it onto the surface of the boulder. "Vinea Funiculus." Quietly and calmly he spoke the incantation before touching the tip of his wand to the vine. He had gotten as far as changing the colour of the vine from the still fairly vibrant green to a dry, yellowy colour. The vine also seemed to braid itself and perhaps, it could've been used for rope, but it hadn't been what Cutty was going for. "Reverto!"

"Do you like most of your Professors, Toby?" Cause he seemed to from what he'd seen of their interactions. "I mean, except for McCormack, because he's new 'n all."