*Romulus just shrugged at her first comment about the bullying.*
"Right or not it still happens. And I can be mean too, but I try to treat people they way I would want to be treated. I hope that it is all over too."

*Sending out a few more crisps to the squid he listened to what Anna was saying. But it didn't make sense. Romulus was no where near being called a ladies man, that was for sure.*
"I don't know what you mean..."

Potions was cooler, eh? Tehee. Cosgrach couldn't help but smirk. He LOVED compliments. But... Botros? Cosgrach cocked his head backwards and frowned. "Professor Botros isn't that kind of a man..." he muttered, then smirked. "C'mon, what didju do?" He wasn't judging him or anything. He was just curious.

The Potions Master listened to him and laughed softly again.

"Both can be done." He shrugged. Of course he knew how to. He was the master, after all. "But I won't have you blindly experiment. You need to earn my trust." In potions. Made sense, right? Right. How, Cosgrach didn't reveal. He left that to the boy. That was another test. Was he willing to prove himself?

Inner GROAN. This was Gryffindors' problem. They headed into anything without thinking it. However, a professor's job was to lead the students and solve their problems. If Bart kept on insisting being silly and getting in the water without adequate knowledge, it wasn't Cosgrach's responsibility.

"They wouldn't let you go and pull you to the depths of the water," he said without being dramatic. "So, you'd probably die." Was he still willing to go in there?

Seriously. Was he? If he was, he may as well forget about entering the potions classroom, because Cosgrach didn't admit idiots.

Cosgrach sighed. He was thinking, see? Because he couldn't be 100% sure Bart wouldn't get in there the moment he turned his back, so he was trying to come up with a deal suitable for both of them.

"How about we pay a visit to him?" Like, two of them. "Let me do the talking," as he was wiser and a Slytherin, "and I'm sure he'll let you in there." If he didn't, Thompson might as well never try to enter the dungeons too. Cosgrach was territorial, see, when it came to people with... small vision, and Thompson would just prove his worth then.

Thompson. Finally. The man's name occured to him.

He glanced at Culloden and back at the lake would the man even understand what he did, because it seemed like no one else did. Just because the man was old everyone seemed to fall all over him and make Bart out to be rude when he was just questioning things. Huff “You’ll just take his side of things.” He frowned and didn’t want to talk about it anymore. He was avoiding Ancient Runes for good.


There he was laughing again did he think his want was just silly? “I want to do others too, like I want to see if there is a potion that could help protect babies before their born better. I almost lost one of my little sisters from a heart issue.” Yeah it was his own fault for the stress he put on his mother in that letter when he found out his only childness was leaving and she was having more kids with Charely, but he didn’t want his sisters hurt or not born.


Brown eyes snapped up and a grin came, “They can? Awesome I knew there had to be away.” He mumbled to the ground, “dumb professor telling me there wasn’t and I just wanted to blow things up.” He eyed the man curiously, “Alright, but isn’t any experiment blindly done? You don’t know the outcome until it happens. I mean I figured one out at my dad’s the makes the hair on your hands grow superfast but it took a few tries and some very odd outcomes.” Using your step mum as the tester was quite fun at times. He let out a small chuckle at the thought.


He edged closer to the water not that he was going to jump right in he wasn’t he wouldn’t go against a professor that he liked and that actually seemed to not really dislike him. Maybe if this one had a bunny he wouldn’t owl it to Brynny so he couldn’t find it ever again. Now that he thought about it Brynny wouldn’t work anyway since she was at this school with him. Anyway.. he listened at the Professor spoke about the creatures, “Would they really?” He leaned closer trying to see inside the lake without going in. “Anyway to get them to the surface to look at ‘em?” He was now more curious of those than the squid. Dying? Well Bart wasn’t one to think that far or that permanent so he just let the you will die comment roll off of him without commenting.

He still was looking for really any creatures in the lake now. Standing over the edge squinting as the professor went quiet for a bit. Really where was that squid did the Grindylow get him? Maybe they need to go make sure he was safe. “Would the Grindylow get the squid? What if he’s in danger and that’s why he’s not hearing me.” Mhm it was possible.

Turning on his heal and coming really close to slipping right into the lake he waved his arms to catch his balance. “I’m good.. I’m good!” He thought over the professors words, “Fine I’ll go with you if it will help.” He just knew if he went alone the man would shoo him away or think he was just wanting in the lake to cause harm or trouble. “Sure thing Of course he could do the talking and Bart would try his best to sit quietly or well as quiet as Bart could sit. He smiled, “Thanks Professor.” Hey the man was even just still listening to him, “You’re pretty cool.” which he was. Maybe there were others cool here too, but he wasn’t going to hold his breath.

"Sounds good." That way the healer could know that she wasn't crazy if it was happening to more than one person. "I like money so maybe something that involves that." Truthfully, she used to have her life all planned out, but after the death of her father things changed and she didn't really know which way was up anymore.

"Yup, I must not fail." Sooo these boats better float without any problems or Hannah was going to be one irritated little snake. Hannah watched as her boat floated nicely around the lake. Success was hers! "Nice" Hannah remarked as she saw that Adi's boat too was floating like it should. "I'm glad to have that homework out of the way." She could sure got for a nap right about now.

"Oh come on Sophie!" Caleb chuckled, pushing his sister playfully. "You act like I was making you wait to open Christmas presents or something," he said, sticking his tongue out at her.

Alright, well now they had to practice. No more joking. Sighing, he took the vines out of his bag and decided to do those first. They could put their boats together to make one MEGA boat, right? "Vinea Funiculus!" he exclaimed, tapping the vine as he did so. The vine twisted up to a rope light texture and started to lighten, but it was still a bit too GREEN for his liking.

"I have a hard time believing you could ever be mean... You've been so kind to me..." She nodded and smiled at him, "But even if it happens it's just... It's annoying... So many people bullied Anastasia at the orphanage before I got her out of there... It just wasn't right." She sighed.

She blushed slightly, "Well, like I said... You're kind and sweet... You seem like an amazing guy..." She paused, "And I think you're handsome at least..." Anna gave a weak smile.

NO. WAY.

A fistbump? REALLY? GRINNING like a boy who had just received free sweets, Alec fistbumped the man back. Why? How many times can you say that you've hugged AND fistbumped Botros? Exactly. And he was savouring the moment, too. Going to tell Ells ALL about it later. Nodnod.

Right now... he had to get his food bag? And a rock? Sure. Okay. He picked up a relatively large rock from the ground that was almost as big as the size of his hand before proceeding to pick up his bag. There. Turning back to Botros and the boat, he watched as the cane was placed into the boat. A gasp could be heard coming from the boy when the boat tilted but, luckily, the balancing thing had happened. Awesome. The last thing Alec wanted was for Botros to lose his cane.

The boat could be re-transfigured later. There were more chunks of wood laying around.

And it was his turn? Alec was about to shuffle forwards and place the rock into the boat but, knowing him, something might end up going wrong in that process. Instead, he took out his wand and levitated the rock over towards the boat. Levitate... levitate... and carefully let it settle down into the boat. This was a longer than usual process but, once it was done, the boy let out a sigh of relief. Floating. The boat was still floating.

This was nearly about as stressful as the OWLs had been.

Next was his bag, yeah? The seventh year levitated that up and over towards the boat too. He held his breath and glanced over at Botros quickly. Don't mess this up, Summers. Carefully, he let the bag drop down to the boat, hearing a soft thud as he did so. And the consequence? The boat bobbed from the extra weight. Just a little. But it was--

... Floating!

"WE DID IT!" Too loud? He didn't care. "Professor, we transfigured a BOAT!"

So Penelope had thought about this. Not a whole lot - because it wasn't actually all that much to thing about and wasn't of utmost importance - but she'd considered it since Tag had asked her about it during the summer. This meeting probably would've happened sooner, but things got busy with the start of term and her getting sick and missing tryouts which she was still upset over.

But anyway, she had actually made her decision so here they were. And apparently he was already there by the lake. Eager to get punched, wasn't he? Still seemed weird, but whatever. Friends punched their friends if they asked for it, right? Wasn't there a saying like that? Probably.

"Hey Tag," she greeted as she approached. "So...how's this gonna work?" Might as well get to the point of the meeting, right?

Bay was all for his plan and so far supportive of Ben as he tried it out on his own. The younger boy watching as his companion looked over his work, wondering if he could get an constructive criticizm on the spell. "Thanks." But then he had been the one helping Bay with the spell so perhaps he simply had to try his own advice. Or at least be more confident in himself when he focused his magic and cast the spell on his own.

"We could..." he responded, thinking it would be fun. "It would only be a small one though I guess. The professor never actually said what would make it any bigger." Unless the other boy knew how to do so already. He was a few years older than Ben after all with a handful more years of class under his belt. Surely there was plenty he had been taught that the second year wasn't aware of. Awaiting Bay's own thoughts on the matter, Ben tried the boat spell again on the log, pointing at the wood and focusing intently as he spoke the incantation once more.

"Lig-num Na-ve-kuu-la."

*Anna hadn't seen him be rude to Rhodes at the Kings Cross platform. But she was right, for the most part he tried to be nice. Her next comments still confused him. She was the one being nice, giving him such kind compliments. He smiled and nodded to her in thanks.*
"Thanks, you sound like my mum or cousin Cece. You are very pretty and sweet as well."
*He was completely oblivious to her blushing. Maybe she was getting cold? It was very cold out here.*

Wasn't Tobias perfect? I mean, just the epitome of perfection. "You mean you can control your emotions?" Sure, Cutty heard every word Tobias had said, but each one meant something entirely different to each boy. And the sort of impression that this little disclosure left upon the younger of the two went something like this...

'Yeah. I tried feeling sadness once. But I didn't like it. I thought it was for the weak. Then I tried unhappiness in general and you know, it kinda tickled somewhat. So I knew it wasn't for me either. Most of these emotion things aren't nearly manly enough for me. So I just started making up my own emotions and feeling them whenever I wanted.'

COULD Tobias be anymore PERFECT?! The thought nearly brought tears to Cutty's eyes, but given that they had just had the talk about emotions, Cutty wasn't about to let Tobias see him a hot mess whether happy or sad. Yes. It was official. He decided that he had to be exactly like Tobias. Possess the things that Tempus valued most. His confused little mind put 2 + 2 together and got: MECHAULTIMATEMENTOOOOR! Realizing no other viable options.

Cutty was watching as his hand bounced along with Toby's knee, a soft, but curious smile upon his face. He found it both interesting and unique how Toby's body did these things. Like a trick of sorts. Still wearing the bright smile, he took his vine and laid it out perfectly straight before casting. "Vinea Funiculus!" and watching the change occur calmly as he knew it would. "Right. So it looks like you've really gotten the hang of this. One more go and then we'll watch you lose tug of war." It was official. How strong was Tobias?

"No, I don't think I'll do that." She offered a short shrug. "If you think I'm good enough to have me on the team, then... I'll keep going and fight and do my best and make you proud till it kills me." Sophie felt that dedication strongly, but... part of her still hoped Mo would reassure her some more or demand that she should take a morning off. Or all the mornings off till she regained her strength. Regardless, she plastered on a smile, not wanting him to know how under the weather she felt. No need to worry him.

Even though her clear frustration with the spellwork was slightly out of character. But. Meh. Mo was being nice about it, so that made her feel a little better.

"Oh. That is it? Okay. Yeah, 'course I remember it. Probably one of the easiest wand movements I've encountered yet. So I should be able to get it." She sighed a little, her gaze focused on the vine in front of her, not looking at Mo at all. She was glad he was there with her, though, and would have probably been embarrassed about messing up in front of anyone else. Mo was her captain, though, and saw her mess up all the time.

Well, not all the time. She had a pretty good arm.

Scooping her wand back into her palm, she hesitated for a moment this time, concentrating hard on envisioning the vine changing into a rope. She had done it a bunch of times in class, and the second year tried to channel her energy from that day - point, tap, "Vinea Funiculus!" Swiftly, the vine transformed into a rope identical to the one she had created last time in class.

"Whew." A wave of relief washed over her and she smiled up at Mo, seeking his praise. "See? Easy peasy. Your turn."

Circle circle circle. Tag stopped walking around in his circles when he heard Penelope greet him. He turned to face her, a bright smile plastered on him as he looked at her. Was it so bad that he wanted this to happen? " Hey, Penelope!" He greeted her cheerfully.

Right. Now that was something that told Tag this would be happening. Excellent. "You're just gonna punch me! However many times you want. Just two rules, no blood should come out of me and the face is off limits." The face was meant more for Lottie's sanity. Imagine if she knew Tag had asked for this and had to deal with Tag's face being broken a second time. Onto more important matters, he knew Penelope wouldn't actually punch him till he bled. "Whenever you're ready!"

Sophie might one day grow up to be a good liar, but at the moment, exhaustion and pain were written more clearly on her little face and frame than any amount of good intention could overcome. So yeah, Mo wanted to respect her wishes not to be coddled, but he also didn't want to burn her out or have her start doubting herself just because she was tired. Merlin knew HE was exhausted.

"Why don't you scale back the runs to every other day for a while and work on strength training instead? Maybe throw the Quaffle around with Josey and Brynn after dinner. You'd be doing me a favor by improving their reflexes, and we don't get to spend as much time working on upper body strength as we should," Mo offered in an overly casual way. Not obvious at all, Mr. Branxton.

He nodded in approval as she successfully turned her vine into a rope, and then Mo followed suit. With a point and a tap of the wand, Mo cast the spell using the incantation, "Vinea Funiculus." He held his breath, remembering the failed spell in class, but the vine successfully toughened from frail foliage into hefty rope just as he'd intended. "Easy peasy," he agreed, reaching across to shove Sophie playfully.

Bay smiled and listened to Ben "I could make it a little bit bigger if you'd like" he thought of the spell his mother taught him.. Gorgio… no that didn't sound right… maybe he was missing something.. "I believe its engorgio." yeah that totally sounded better.

Bay took out his wand and said both incantations and pointed it at both of his items. they both transformed into their intended objects. Alright time to make this boat a little bigger. "Engorgio" he said while watching it grow in size.

"Okay.. so as far as I can remember we just need to make sure it floats?" he said while picking up his boat.

"Did you want to do the honours?" he asked Ben.

That was a good question, and an interesting way of looking at things. Tobias paused for a moment before finally answering with a "......... Kind of." He preferred to think of it as regulating them, or filtering them, but yes. "Usually, anyway."

Ahem. Yes.

"Reverto," Tobias cast at the rope again, and soon enough he was left with a vine. Yup. Once more and then- "I probably will lose, actually. Vinea Funiculus!" And point annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd ROPE!

Toby was being serious. He was a Quidditch player and... technically an athlete, what with his extra running and stuff, but he had shockingly little upper body strength. Once he managed three push-ups in a row.......... but that was after consuming a lot of sugar. Still, he did seem to have a slight edge in that he was a little bigger than his Slytherin friend.

The boy picked up his robe by its end between his two fingers and let it dangle. "C'mon then, you grab the other end." And he stood.

The rope wasn't as long as a normal tug of war rope should be, in Tobias' opinion anyway. But it was long enough that they could both grab it and tug and not end up kicking each other. For a moment, Tobias considered tying his and Cutty's ropes together, but they'd probably become untied. Another idea was fusing the ropes together, but Cutty didn't know a spell for that.

So this would have to do.

Incapable of hiding her relief, Sophie reached over and ruffled Mo's hair annoyingly, but she had a big grin on her face that totally made her action all better. "You're too nice to me. That sounds fun. Yeah, I can do that." She NEEDED to build strength, she knew for certain, especially considering how heavy her puny log had felt just carrying it through the school and down to the lake.

While Mo made the spell look plenty easy, Sophie set her rope off to the side and shifted the log in front of her. "Look at you. You are a pro." She shoved him back, giggling quietly, and pointed to his log. "You're gonna have to show me how to do this one properly, though. It's... Lignum Navicula, right? I think during class I was saying something like Navicala, and it's a wonder I got the log to morph at all. But Navicula? Is it like... Naaahh-vihhh-cueeee-luh?" Maybe? "Y'wanna show me how it's done?" He WAS the pro, after all.

Sophie was busy waving around her wand and practicing the first spell. She didn't bother looking around her. There were waaaaaaay too many people here at the lake today. She knew they were all doing their homework assignment, but really. The place was packed.

She suddenly backed up and felt herself bump into somebody. "Oh, I'm sorry," she said, then turned around. Oh, great. She'd hit a pig. Again, there were waaaaaaay too many people here at the lake today.



So, back to what she was supposed to be doing anyway--practicing the next charm. Also, talking to Caleb... "You've probably done that, too," she said with a grin. She had him pegged to be the one likely to sleep in on Christmas morning. She pegged herself as the one to sneak down and open presents in the middle of the night.

She watched him practice then did the same. "Vinea Funiculus!" she said. "Vinea Funiculus!" She then put the wand movement with it. "Vinea Funiculus!" She followed that last incantation with a point of her wand.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grrr..Meow

Bay smiled and listened to Ben "I could make it a little bit bigger if you'd like" he thought of the spell his mother taught him.. Gorgio… no that didn't sound right… maybe he was missing something.. "I believe its engorgio." yeah that totally sounded better.

Bay took out his wand and said both incantations and pointed it at both of his items. they both transformed into their intended objects. Alright time to make this boat a little bigger. "Engorgio" he said while watching it grow in size.

"Okay.. so as far as I can remember we just need to make sure it floats?" he said while picking up his boat.

"Did you want to do the honours?" he asked Ben.

The spell worked a bit better this time, the half-log/half-boat changing more and more under the effects of the magic. Ben would certainly accept the results in favor of their assignment, their practice having been going on long enough. He looked over at the older boy when he responded, a small smile gracing his face. So he did know how to enlarge the boat. Perfect! Boat and rope were created and then Bay cast the charm to make them bigger. Engorgio...he'd certainly have to remember that for later. Might come in handy for another lesson or maybe even personal use sometime later on.

Ben nodded in agreement as he was reminded of the last thing they had to do for the homework assignment... making sure the boat actually floated. The main reason why the lake was to play a part in their starting location for the practice. "Alright..." he said agreeing to the honor. "If you want me to." Taking the enlarged boat from his partner, he stumbled slightly under the weight, his hands brushing against him as he moved.

"Ooops..." he mused before managing to move it properly towards the water's edge. The younger lion placed it down upon the water before straightening up with a small moan. It looked good so far.

"Reverto!" Kiddo prepped to start again. Not taking his eyes off of his vine. Yes, Tobias was COLD, and in such a way that it could've made Cutty envious if he wasn't sure he could master it himself. "Vinea Funiculus!" The end of Cutty's wand hit the vine and sent it into a rapid transformation.

He found the older boy's comment confusing. Was it false modesty as he had thought many of Tobias's remarks were in the past? It didn't sound all that put-on to Cutty, but there again, it didn't in other cases either. Deciding to file this away for future analysis, Cutty took up the offer proposed by his hairy-hearted friend and latched on to the other end of Toby's rope. Immediately he began to cheat by swatting Toby's hands trying to get him to let go of the transfigured rope. Mischevious little laughter accompanying this act.

And the blush seemed to deepen, "You... think I'm..." She paused and looked down, "I... I'm not that pretty... Really, I'm nothing compared to Anastasia... She was the cute one between us..." She gave a small nod thinking about her younger sister. She looked at him again though and gave a weak smile.

"Thank you though..." Anna nodded to him, "But I really do like you..." She paused and if possible the blush deepened more, "I... I mean I really like speaking to you and..." She looked down again feeling like an idiot...

Bay watched as Ben took the boat and started to walk to the water. "its okay… nothing to worry about" he said while finally reaching the lakes edge.

The boat was in the water and it gave a little moan… oh no… he hoped that everything was going to go okay with the boat. Bay didn't mean to hold his breath but he did… how long pasted, 20 seconds, 40 seconds he didn't know.

"Yeah looks like its floating." smiling Bay held up his hand for a high five for him and his partner defiantly deserved it. "We did a great job i think" he said with his hand still held up.

"Yes it would," Tessa affirmed to Lux's question. "One thing is easier because you only have to concentrate on that. Try thinking about your boat... and me... and Sander... and that tree over there. It spreads out your thoughts and makes it more difficult," she explained. "However, it just takes practice, and starting with simple commands."

"Okay, you ready?" She demonstrated the wand movement, and repeated the spell a few more times so that Lux would hear the correct pronunciation. "Okay, your turn," she said, indicating some leaves. Lux could pick the one she wanted.

Why the little...

"Hey!" Tobias called out in reproach, but he was grinning all the same. All he did was move his hands slightly further back along the rope in vain, and leeeeeeeeaned backwards. Because really, they were testing the strength of the rope after all. If it held with both of them pulling, it was a job well done.

Heeeeeeeeeeave.

Caleb chuckled as he watched Sophie walk into Cutty. Surprisingly, that guy hadn't been as annoying this term as he was last term. Maybe he was maturing, like Caleb was. You never know.

"I have. You know I like waiting to open presents - makes it more special," he said with a grin. Speaking of Christmas, it was coming up soon! He had to get Baldwin a sweater or something to celebrate.

Right, focusing on the task at hand! "Vinea Funiculus!" he exclaimed, pointing at the ropes again. Aha, there we go! Much better than before. He just needed to focus, and now he had a beautiful rope in front of him, ready to be added to the boat.