Grace beamed at her friend. She was always right. She knew it. But she wasn't going to say anything about it. Because that was rude and she wasn't a rude little girl.

She bit her lip. Grace wasn't used to being nervous. She really did not like it/ She would push it aside though. There was nothing that she could do about it now anyway. "Mmmm. Food" Grace did like her food. She stood up, and brushed the dirt off her butt. Maybe she could get some mashed Potato. She
liked mash.

"Let's go" She beamed, grabbing her friend's hand and tugging her off to the castle.

Ben listened as the older boy attempted the pronunciation, however struggling on the second word. "It's alright," he assured him as Bay appologized for his troubles. It was all a part of helping each other out...right? "I think it would be pronounced Na-ve-kuu-la," the second year mused. At least that was how the spelling made it seem like. Ben didn't remember the professor actually showing them how other than saying each spell once when she explained what they each did.

"Lig-num Na-ve-kuu-la," he repeated, including both words of the incantation this time and mulling over them with his lips and tongue to get a better feel for it.

Emma smiled sheepishly."Nope. Never. It's always good to be able to goof off once in a while.." She laughed as he raised a brow at her. So serious, but he had a mischievous look in his eye.

And then he was playing with her hair. One of her favorite things ever. Except of course she knew that with him her hair wasn't going to be spared from tugging. "We will see soon enough, Michael. Try not to cry if your pride becomes wounded beyond repair."

Emma shrieked in mock terror, darting from tree to tree before finally choosing to hide behind a big one. Perhaps, if she could scare him and catch him off guard she would have a better chance of coming out of the chase unscathed.

And then, another wonderful idea.. tree climbing. Yes. Excellent. She suppressed a giggle, lifting herself onto one of the limbs. Hopefully the branches would hold...

Ella was thinking the same thing, honestly. Perhaps homework was a good way for them to interact outside of the Quidditch. They'd done pretty well on this and really, Lottie was smart. It couldn't hurt to partner up again with her in the future. Maybe. They'd have to see.

And laughter was a good sign, right? I mean the fact that you could joke with someone without worrying they would get mad? That was a step in the right direction, the blonde thought. Look at them, making progress and stuff. A certain hair ruffling seeker would be proud.

"Thanks." The brunette got a smile and then Ella inspected her rope again, making the decision that this one was good enough. Strong, not too scratchy, good length and width, not too heavy to lug around. It was more than she'd hoped for, actually.

Lottie seemed satisfied with her rope now too and the Head Girl took this as a sign that they were done. She sat back a little and let a small smile play on her lips for a moment or two before speaking up. "I think this means we're done, yeah?" Boats and ropes were made and tested so they had to be.

PAUSE.

"Thanks for doing this with me." It had actually been nice. "Are you headed back to the castle now?" Because Ella was. She packed up her things carefully in her bag, arranging them so she'd find them easily when she returned to her dorm. Gummy worms went in last in case she wanted a snack on her walk back and then eyes went back to the Hogwartian.

Did she want to walk back together or?

Curious, Lux watched Tessa and listened to what she had to say. Even though she did not want to use magic to race the boats, this would be a good spell to learn in general; and she could even teach it to Lucas later on for when they had their boat race. Keeping her eyes on the leaves Tessa had her wand pointed at, she saw them stand up and move around as they were instructed to. Wow, she hoped that she would be able to do it as smoothly. Her spell work still was not amazing, but if she put as much concentration into it as she had in her Transfiguration work, maybe she would be able to make leaves dance as well as do many other amazing things.

"So it would be easier to move a boat than a bunch of leaves, right?" That seemed quite logical to her, so it was not really surprising. It was easier to focus ones mind on one thing as opposed to say ten, and Lux was not an amazing mulit-tasker though she was trying to get better at it now that she was at Hogwarts. "I want to try it! I want to make a leaf dance!"

Uh... okay. Toby didn't quite understand, except he did. He knew that Cutty was probably trying to say that some teachers were better than others, that was obvious. But he didn't understand, nor did he agree. To Tobias, adults were adults, teachers were teachers. He didn't really believe in 'better' or 'worse'. But rather than argue this point, Tobias just responded with a, "Right." All the better to avoid conflict with. Or maybe it was just that Cutty sometimes said things that made Toby's brain hurt. Sometimes it was easier to just listen until he understood fully what Cutty was trying to get at.

He stretched the vine across his knees again and pointed his wand at it, picturing the rope that he wanted clearly in his mind. As though a strong, heavy duty was laying across his knees rather than a shoddy, fragile looking vine.

"Vinea Funiculus!" Point.

This was better. Much better. The robe was decent and fortified and it looked brand new, not weathered or liable to snap unless put under some real tension. Tobias reckoned it had something to do with the wand movement this time, because now he thought about it, it was definitely meant to be a point rather than a wave.

Picking up the rope, Toby checked if it was any good by tugging sharply at both ends, though to be honest, he wasn't exactly strong enough to call it a real test. Maybe the groundskeeper could test it for him... but he was nowhere nearby.

Back to Cutty. "I guess..." Toby replied, and then paused while he thought about it. Maybe the Slytherin had a point. "I guess I do. I've always been around adults and stuff more than kids my age. My mum and dad didn't send me to an actual school until I was about nine." He set the rope down, ready to try it again. "Reverto. I mean I have more friends my age now, but for a while most of them were in the higher years." But they seemed to keep leaving.

Bay was glad that Ben was understanding and so very helpful. "Thanks" he smiled.

alright Na-ve-kuu-la Bay ran it over his head again and said it out loud. "Lignum navicula" it sounded right, he looked over at Ben smiling. "Im going to try it out.. hopefully something will happen." better than his previous boat that looked more like a log of wood that will hold nothing. Taking out his wand he said the spell and pointing his wand….. Bay thought nothing would happen but it did. "Awesome" he said while looking over at Ben again. "The last spell I didn't really have any troubles with.. did you want to give it a go?" he asked hoping that with encouragement they would both do really well.

Right. It was all the boy said. In the absence of words there was always thought for Cutty Mordaunt. "Vinea Funiculus!" He hit the vine again and watched it morph not only it's colour, but all other attributes that made it a vine. The boy picked it up and set to tying a knot around it's middle and in his selfishness took the 'Right.' at face value. Tobias agreed. Good. He had standards and wasn't a total nincompoop. Not that Cutty would be here if he found those things to be supported by strong evidence.

With a nod, Cuthbert agreed. "It was the same for me. Always been around adults." But he stopped himself before disclosing his dislike of other children to listen to Toby go on. He squinted at the next bit of information. He waited for Tobias to finish speaking, before carefully wording his next comment. "You mean you were homeschooled? You must've been so bored...", And that other thing other people sometimes felt. What was it? Oh, yes. "...and lonely!"

"Reverto!" He said, sliding off of the rock and switching positions so that he was in front of, but to the side of Tobias. His vine laying limply there waiting for what next. Then he shrugged very suddenly, his demeanour changing almost completely. "But alorra good talking about the past does us now, right? If you change your vine again and I can help you test the strength. Remember, Professor Bellaire said we'd be going on to bigger, better ropes and boats." In case, Tobias forgot. And, just one more time, he put a hand over Toby's knee, trying to help him sit still and concentrate.

Ben simply nodded in response to the older boy's thanks. The second year watching as he tried out the spell on his wood, watching and waiting to see what type of response he was to get in reaction. In the end it appeared to work well although it would still have to be tested for whether or not it would work on the water. Focus was switched to him and the rope spell and the lion bit the inside of his cheek lightly. "Sure I guess." Benny switched parchment for wand and began practicing the incantation a bit. Bay had seemingly improved when the words where spoken more correctly, perhaps it was his trouble as well.

"Vinea funiculus...vin-e-a fun-ick-cull-us...vinea funiculus."

Finally he decided to actually try it on the vine. The moment of truth in his experiment. "Vinea funiculus!" he cast, pointing at the formerly living material. As he kept the spell on the rope, his magic reacted much as it had before but with a difference. Maybe it was the continuing practice of he finally got the pronounciation better, but the vine changed to rope looking far better than it had in class.

Was it success? Ben thought so.

Text Cut: ^^

Quote:

Originally Posted by TakemetotheBurrow

Ella was thinking the same thing, honestly. Perhaps homework was a good way for them to interact outside of the Quidditch. They'd done pretty well on this and really, Lottie was smart. It couldn't hurt to partner up again with her in the future. Maybe. They'd have to see.

And laughter was a good sign, right? I mean the fact that you could joke with someone without worrying they would get mad? That was a step in the right direction, the blonde thought. Look at them, making progress and stuff. A certain hair ruffling seeker would be proud.

"Thanks." The brunette got a smile and then Ella inspected her rope again, making the decision that this one was good enough. Strong, not too scratchy, good length and width, not too heavy to lug around. It was more than she'd hoped for, actually.

Lottie seemed satisfied with her rope now too and the Head Girl took this as a sign that they were done. She sat back a little and let a small smile play on her lips for a moment or two before speaking up. "I think this means we're done, yeah?" Boats and ropes were made and tested so they had to be.

PAUSE.

"Thanks for doing this with me." It had actually been nice. "Are you headed back to the castle now?" Because Ella was. She packed up her things carefully in her bag, arranging them so she'd find them easily when she returned to her dorm. Gummy worms went in last in case she wanted a snack on her walk back and then eyes went back to the Hogwartian.

Did she want to walk back together or?

We'll just have to wait and see, wait and see. Today was definitely an example of how the two could actually get along... until Lottie started to skip Quidditch practice because... man, the pitch was so far away sometimes.

Agreed. A certain hair ruffling seeker would be proud. Perhaps a certain leprechaun, too. The delusional one, of course. Because LOL, Hogwarts has so many, no?

"Welcome!" Seriously, though, she should keep that rope, it was a good one. And Lottie had already decided to keep hers. Either she wasn't so picky about the rope, like she was with the boat, or her concentration had improved for the last spell, because she didn't spend as much time with the vine as she had with the wood.

At any rate, their assignment was done, and they could head back to the castle... was Ella going--Oh, yes, she was going back, too. Also, "It was nice, I liked it, so it's no problem at all." The Head Girl didn't have to thank her, really. They could head back together, that won't be an issue either, "I am, we should head back," and her boat and rope were safely put away inside her bag, before she stood up and started to walk towards the castle...

...with Ella, of course.

Bay watched as Ben was doing his spell, watching it transform Bay laughed. "Great Job man" he said while looking at the rope.

"soo.. like what do we do next?" He was unsure of this part and he wanted to make sure that they did everything right. If things were going this well already their boat will be floating away in no time at all.

... would he get kisses for playing hero? Because he was no Gryffindor and needed inspiration, didn't she know? He looked out at her fallen rock!bunny and sighed, then extracted his wand and simply levitated the sodden thing out of the water and back into its boat. It shivered there, one eye rolling back to look at him.

If he'd been more of a bleeding heart, he might have felt like it was accusing him of something. It was just a rock however, currently transfigured as a bunny, and therefore West had no particular sense of concern.

There, done. He gave her a reassuring smile and dragged his lasso back in for another attempt. He could get his before she got hers, definitely.

A half drowned rock!rabbit would likely throw off her Gryffindor sensibilities.

Levitating. Boring. Alice could have done that too, did he know? She'd been hoping he'd dive in there and go save it properly. A much more heroic and noble way of rescuing a rock-gone-bunny, if you asked her. And it had an added entertainment value.

Pity. Her next boyfriend had to be a dumber one.

Winding her lasso up again, she tossed it out to the lake once more and hoped for better results. Her aim was still off a bit, though, and the vine rope looped itself around his boat instead. Did that still count? It could count, right? Alice went about pulling it back in and trying to look like she'd meant to retrieve the wrong one.

"Cheater." West commented. His boat was CLOSER and his bunny was far more amenable apparently, but whatever, he tossed his vine lasso out and over HER boat and tugged... and carefully began pulling it in, careful not to send the bunny overboard again.

But then he got sick of waiting, since it was clearly working and the vine!rope was effective and all that, so West used Carpe Retractum to pull it in the rest of the way.

"I win."

Winner. Did he get kisses or did he have to revert all the transfigured things first?

"Yeah, I'm the cheater." Alice saw him using charms that had absolutely nothing to do with their homework. Saw it.

It was a stretch to assume that a Slytherin would play fair the whole time anyway, really.

She continued to pull his boat in the way they were supposed to be retrieving them, slowly drawing it back as to not upset the more cooperative bunny. Once it was out of the lake still safe and sound, she turned back to West.

He could revert those now.

"Well its good that you're admitting you have a problem." He smiled at her. Cheater.

He went ahead and reverted bunnies back to rocks then started coiling up the vines. She could get the boats. Did they need to revert those back to wood again? Yeah probably.

He did the vines in silence, not even really registering that he'd done it non-verbally.

Reverting was easy anyways.

"Do you want your rock?"

She would have thought up some clever retort- more clever than his, anyway- if West hadn't distracted her. Had he said the words to those spells?

"Didn't know you could cast nonverbally." Could she do that? Alice attempted to revert the boats back without voicing any incantation, but after a few tries with no results, she gave up and said the words.

Hmph. Still smarter.

"Yeah. Yours too." Rocks. Give 'em here.

Huh?

Blink.

Oh.

"I only.. I don't know, sort of can. If I don't think about it. If I try and do it intentionally I can't ever do it. Was going to go and talk to one of the professors... probably Bellaire." Even though he wasn't exactly a FAN and all, she'd be the one to ask.

He gave her both rocks, figuring she'd put them in her box or something and not minding.

"I think we're done with this.... so we can go do more fun things maybe?" Hopefully? Yes? Rewards for hard work and all that? Benefits of doing homework with the girlfriend? Yes?

He picked up his bit of wood and vine and stuffed them back in her bag. Ready. And all the spells mastered. Not bad for an afternoon's work.

Hm. That was... weird. "Why Bellaire?"

Alice took both rocks and slipped them inside the bag too, along with her own piece of wood and vine. All done. Spells mastered and stuff.

But they had been before anyway. Or so she liked to think.

Fun things. "Like?" That was a really vague statement. Couldn't go agreeing to just anything, now could she?

"Because I don't trust Romanos anymore, and I don't know Fuller well enough." West answered reasonably. He'd go to Fuller if it didn't work out good with Bellaire, and if nothing worked out as needed he'd go to Botros of course.

But fun things. He just grinned at her. She really had no thoughts? No ideas? No things what she thought might be fun that they could do together? Privately? Or even not so privately, he didn't mind.

"Why don't you trust her?" It sounded rather unlike him not to go to Botros first anyway, but Alice didn't question that bit.

Fun things though? She wrinkled her nose at him. "You could feed me."

Yeah. Food. That was fun.

"The dementor thing." He didn't want to go into it again. But really, she'd let him down with all THAT whole thing so yeah. At least with Bellaire he EXPECTED to be let down, so it'd be a nice surprise if she did help him out.

"I could.... or you could feed me." He gave her innocent looks. Well what? Only fair, right?

Dementor thing? "What dementor thing?" She had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, considering the fact that she'd been loopy that whole year. Spiked ice cream and all, you know? Essentially a waste of her life. Alice still wouldn't go near that stuff.

..... "..... no. My cooking is awful." That was all he was getting. Smug git.

"We can talk about it later. I'm not in the mood for talking about near death experiences." Noooo he'd rather talk about other things. He put his arm around her.

"I don't know about that, I like what you serve up. Its my favourite even." Except when it was actually food. Then not so much. No. But he wasn't meaning food anyways. West leaned in and kissed her cheek, then whispered something in her ear.

Yes? No?

"I think near death experiences would be perfect to discuss right now." Mhm. He definitely needed something to dampen his mood a little. Happy boyfriends were far too complacent for her liking.

Apparently that came along with contentedness these days.

"You've never even tried my cooking," she insisted, pulling away and wiping the West residue off her cheek. "Maybe. If you answer my question first." Maybe.