Sander and Odin were almost done completing a second round around the pen. Was the Puffskein tired? It sure didn't look like it....but he was sure was.

Sander began to shorten his steps walking more towards the center of the pen. The shorter distance to cover...that was his idea.

Odin bounced happily along...and as a reward, Sander gave him a tiny bit of cucumber to eat. Yes...nice healthy vegetables.

.....and we're walking...we're walking.

... Shrug. The Puffskein was getting ruffles. Very small ruffles and maybe a pat at the end because of the size of the creature. He didn't know if the Puffskein minded -- or if she liked it in the first place -- but... this was something else that he was just going to assume. Nodnod.

... Wait. There was a time constraint to this, right? Alec glanced down at his watch again. Time was ticking on and he had spent a good part of a minute trying to get the creature to come towards him. Moving on? Sounded like a great idea. Who knows how long the next part would take.

"Okay, Ari," Nicknames. To increase the level of friendliness... in a not so creepy way. "We're going to go for a walk, yeah?" More bouncing. Was this a good sign or...? "It's... it's just going to be around this little pen here. Not too far, see? And... and I'll come with you." Hence the 'we'.

"Come on, then!" he called, smiling at the creature and starting to walk around the pen. Walking... walking... ... while Ari was bounding along at his heels. It wasn't hard to imagine this little ball of fluff as a puppy; they were both overexcited creatures. Unless he had managed to grab one that had a lot of energy.

Glances were made down towards little Arietty every now and then. She wasn't getting tired, right? ... Because he was. She was even bouncing off ahead of him, as if she was the one who had cast the friendly spell on him. Unlike him, though, she was also scavenging around for food, letting her long, thin tongue poke out to grab a juicy worm. ... Erm...? "You hungry there?" Ari bounced, a little higher this time. ... Right.

... How long were they meant to do this for?

It took a few minutes, but eventually Toby was back on his knees. Apollo was staring at him expectantly, and Tobias was still unsure of whether his last attempt at the spell had worked, and if it might still be in effect. Still, what was there to lose by trying again?

"Finite," the boy cast, pointing his wand at the puffskein. There was no change in the creature's expression, and Tobias tilted his head slightly. Okay, here goes.

"Animalis Fidelis!" With a flick of his wand, Tobias cast the spell at Apollo.

The two blinked at each other for a moment, and Tobias thought that, maybe... just maybe... the spell had worked this time.

"C'mon Apollo," Toby said again, and this time turned to walk away, this time slower and with a slight limp.

He couldn't help but notice that Apollo was not behind him... but was instead right by his side. The Hufflepuff beamed widely and carried on circling the playpen. "Nice one, buddy. Good work."

And they kept on going.

Oh, were they meant to be casting the charm on their puff-puffs already? Mo had been sure they were meant to bond FIRST and cast later, but since he spotted most of his classmates already into the magical bonding...

Yeah. "So look, here's the thing." Mo crouched painfully and made a face at the puffskein. "I'm going to cast a spell on you. I think you'll like it, and it'll be good for you, but if you don't, can you like... lick my ear or something? I'll know what you mean." And the spell... "Animalis Fidelis."

He waited a moment, wondering if he'd be able to feel the puffskein suddenly develop an affinity for him. It didn't work that way, although the creature did stop rolling onto its back and staring up at him. That was a good start.

As Alex gave Charlie a little victory pat, she knew that the charm had probably worn off by then. That made her a little sad because by now she felt that she had bonded with the little guy. She really didn't want to leave him in the playpen. "I wish I could take you back to the dorm with me, but I guess you have to stay here with your other puffskein friends."

Alex continued to pet Charlie's fur. I'll be sure to come visit you because we're friends now", Alex said. As Alex took a few steps back, Charlie moved forward. When Alex took several more steps back, Charlie stepped forward again. "Are you following me? Awwwww......you just love me for my cookies, don't you?"

Giving Gryff enough time to relax his little heart before they started to do another lap around the pens. seeing that he was back to his bouncy little self he smiled. "okay how about we try walking together… side by side" Bay of course would have to walk a lot slower then he's used to but it was worth it..

starting to walk again he looked at his little friend "one more time i promise" he gave it a wink like it could understand what that meant.. still watching it slowly moved towards him and once he made it to Bay, they both started their second walk around the play pen.. don't get me wrong they stopped about a dozen times because either it would want to smell something on the ground or just loose its concentration but Bay would ask it to follow him and after a few times of asking it always did..

ending up where they started he bent down "see we did it.." he gave his friend another treat.. "thats all the extra treats i had" holding the bag to show Gryff.. "sorry little dude" but the guy didn't seem to mind.. Bay sat down on the ground with him because his knee was starting to hurt and Gryff played with Bay's shoe laces between his feet… He looked around to see a lot of students walking around and playing with their little fluffy friends… okay.. now to wait to see what else they had to do.

So now that he and Spike were all bonded, Mo really ought to try this walking thing again. Maybe it would go better for him this time around. He took a few hesitant steps and then paused, glancing back at where Spike was giddily licking a rock. "Come on, Spike."

The puffskein waved his tongue at Mo happily before rolling along after him, eager to catch up. "That's the spirit, Champ. Let's do the whole perimeter and see how you feel." He took another few steps before adjusting his stride to the speed at which Spike followed. It wasn't perfect, since the puffskein wanted to taste and look at everything along the way. It was exhausting.

Halfway 'round, Mo crouched and gave Spike a good rubdown. "You're a curious little guy, aren't you? D'you know... you're kind of cool, even if you can't tear anyone apart with your mighty teeth or whatever."

Sometimes she wished she wasn't so observant. But her eyes and mind tended to notice small things, big things, things people usually wouldn't second glance or, in this instance, Cutty Mordaunt. He didn't just -- Yes he did.

EWWW.

She loved creatures, she really did, but...that was dedication, man. Blinking away the image that was surely engraved in her head, Beverly turned back to Wiggin. "I like you, I really do, but...I'm not doing that," she told the creature. Just in case it was wondering--

Hey! Where was it's face? OH. Wiggin did not just...turn its back on HER. WELL. It was LUCKY it wasn't a wizard or a thump in the head it'd get. But Beverly did not harm creatures. So, painfully, she stood up and went to stand in front of it.

"You just need to get used to me, is all." Charm time. Following the wand movement, she cast, "Animalis Fidelis."

And so the initiation of world domination began.

Sophie blinked, waiting to see if the Puffskein was going to suddenly bolt or something. It didn't, so she stood up and looked down at it. It was still sitting there, no longer rolling around or being playful like it had been before. It was sort of sad, really. Sophie had chosen this one, because it had been so playful.

Meh.

"Okay, so I'm supposed to walk you, so...if you'd just follow along and not roll away, that'd be cool," she told it. "This only lasts two minutes, so don't worry. I don't plan on keeping you unless the professor makes me. So, ...ready? We're just going to make a loop. Follow along."

The puffskeins did not seem like Alice's type of animal, but she tried. The hopeless seventh year crouched down near the creatures, a blank expression on her face despite the fact that her knees were screaming in pain. No wonder the elderly spent their whole lives in chairs. It was more understandable now.

She scoured the cluster of little hairballs, wanting to claim the largest one. Would those be less annoying? Unfortunately, the first to catch her eyes was a tiny, titchy thing. Maybe it'd still be less effort to claim one who'd already noticed her, so the captain began channeling her efforts into luring it closer. "C'mere, little guy. Want to be attached to a human who has absolutely no idea about how to handle you? I'm your gal." Yep. Alice crooked a finger and began beckoning the thing closer.

.... mission accomplished! "Gonna call you... Custard." Yeah. 'Cause he was the color of it.

And she was hungry.

With one more glance toward You the Puffskein, Sophie turned and began to walk away. Well, not away, but around in a little circle just like she told You they would do. She took a few steps then stopped abruptly. Turning around, she saw that You had been rolling after her. Ha! It had worked!

"Cool, You," she said to it.

With that, she turned and continued the walk. Every once in a while, she'd turn around and just glance at You. The puffskein was still following her, rolling around like a little loyal ball of fur.

The two continued walking, waiting on either the professor to stop them or the charm to wear off.

Wiggin ruffled his fur when the charm hit his coat (she decided it was a him for the moment), and she wondered if that was normal. He wasn't dead, so it couldn't be bad either. "You okay there, buddy?" she asked, resting her hands on her knees. The puffskein blinked at her in, what she understood, a new light. He no longer seemed to want to turn his back on her.

YES. A step closer to world domination.

Beverly reached out to pet him, but Wiggin shrunk his head in. Okay. Apparently they needed to work on this bonding thing. "It's okay," she said, retreating her hand. "You'll like me in no time." The puffskein blinked at her.

Was it judging her? No. Creatures didn't do that...did they? She didn't know and she didn't want to find out. Straightening up once more, Beverly took a few steps away from Wiggin and clapped her hands on her lap. "Wiggin, here. Come here."

A bit apprehensively at first the puffskein bounced once in her direction, then more and more. By the time he was a few inches from her shoes, Wiggin gazed up at her.

He listened to her!

Just look at the cute little half bounces little Vicious was doing. Clearly he liked his name...was he a he? Did they have to check before naming them because she hadn't and didn't think she could tell the difference anyway, not unless you could just do a standard check but she remembered how different it was with the firecrabs, making it so not her fault when she accidentally gave hers a boy name.

"I'll need you to do what I say even if the spell doesn't work, got it?" Laying down the law for the puffskein beforehand so it wouldn't act all surprized when she started laying on the orders later. "If you can make this look convincing I might find you a Firstie with tasty boogers you can sample. Sound good right? Right. We're not questioning this, it's going to happen."

Lex flicked her wand toward the ball of fluff. "Animalis Fidelis!"

Did it work? Did it work? Did it work?

To be sure, she dropped Vicious to the ground and waited. So far, he wasn't making very many movements, just in turn, watching her. Okay....so....that might have been a good sign. "Remember our deal, okay?" She just had to be sure before talking a few hesitant steps away. After a moment's pause, she saw Vicious hopping toward her.

Er....success?

Assuming that the puffskein was alright with being called Custard for the next several minutes of its life- it/he/she/whatever was humming a lot, so she'd go with a yes- Alice decided she could go ahead and cast the spell. First, though, she had to get him away from the other furry guys and to his own little corner. And Custard the hairball seemed very content to just loll about in its/his/her/whatever corner of the pen.

"Oi. You. Get a move on it." She nudged it/him/her/whatever a tiny bit with her shoe, and her experiment began bouncing in the direction she'd indicated almost immediately. It/he/she/whatever was already so compliant; why were they performing THIS charm, again?

Once they'd found their own area to work in, she set her shoe in front of the creature as a little barricade to keep him from rolling any further. Reaching into her robes, the lioness pulled out her wand, then eyed it/he/she/whatever up. "You ready, Custard?"

'Course he was.

Bart was still walking around with his puffskein. Moving about slowly when he saw it moving it's head to eat something. "You no.. don't you do that." Did the charm wear off already? If it did then it wasn't very strong. No he couldn't have a weak charm. Especially one that controlled things. He had to control things such as his frogs. He could have an awesome frog army. It would be sweet and him and Luc could make them do things.

Pulling out his wand, "Animalis Fidelis" You stopped ad moved closer, "Good obedient You, want a treat?" Bart got into his pocket and pulled out some jelly beans. Could he share? Why not. He handed it to the creature before starting to walk again. "Come you" The puffskein followed as Bart turned and headed back to the group. This was getting a bit boring could they make the creatures do flips or something now?

Was he still following? Lex had turned her back on him for a moment to make sure she didn't run into anyone and half her mind freaked that she'd lost her puffskein and would have to go stealing one from someone else when they weren't looking, charm it (see that she was learning) then say it was hers and she didn't know what they were on about. Luckily Vicious was still there keeping in step with her and doing it in such a cute way too!

Could she keep him? For reals?...No...not with the kneazle she had. Felix would have been a nightmare for poor Vicious and his name wouldn't have been enough to scare the kneazle away.

Heyyyyy, what was all this extra bouncing that was going on? She didn't remember giving it permission to be on like this. "Cut that out before you hurt somebody, can't you see we've got the elderly amongst us?" And of course she was included and didn't plan to break a hip on account of this thing going all over so...yeah, it needed to not be doing that.

Oh sweet Merlin would she have to say it a second time?? Don't tell her the charm was wearing off already!! Lex sighed in relief as the Puffskein obediently stopped the hyperactive bouncing it'd been caught up in only a minute ago. Good good. There was hope for him yet.

Right then, time to give this charm a go. She would have cast it just then if not for Mr. Custard apparently working up an appetite with all that bouncing. No. No, that was not what this was for. But the furball seemed to think otherwise, because its/his/her/whatever long, thin tongue kept nearing her face. And Alice kept smacking it away. Far away.

"Cut it out, little guy." Oi. Stoppit.

Maybe THIS was why she needed that spell.

Uh huh. He deserved it now. "Animalis Fidelis!" Flicking her wand at the puffskein just as Professor Fuller had done to Thompson, she spoke the incantation clearly. Her mind and her voice, as well as her spell, were all full of the intention of desiring to control the creature. Merlin. Anything to get his weird looking slobbery bits at a distance from her nose.

That last incident with Vicious got her remembering that this spell wouldn't last forever. If there was anything else she'd need this little guy doing, she'd have to make it quick. Merlin knew he was likely to get all kinds of unruly again at any minute. It wasn't like her kneazle, who's trust she'd legit earned. He followed her everywhere without a spell. Impressive huh?--Not that we're comparing....no...animals could sense when you did that and little Vicious needed to feel loved.

Lex nodded toward a further spot along the fence before starting off in that direction. Naturally she expected him to follow suit and if he didn't...guess who wouldn't be casting another spell. THIS GIRL.

"You know Vicious, I'm liking this little bond we have going for us. This I lead and you follow sort of thing where I know I can count on you to be bouncing along behind me--" Except the soft thuds weren't there anymore....what?

Slowly, Lex turned and found Vicious a few feet behind, rolling around along the floor like he had a mind of his own or something. Seriously? Really? That was it? Did that even count? There was barely any loyalty time before he went back to doing his own thing. This was a rip off, she wanted her galleons back. Except, you know, she didn't actually pay to attend this lesson.

"Alright you, that's enough." She said, going over and scooping him up. Didn't wanna lose him in case they weren't done with them yet.

Wiggin started out brilliantly, but the more Beverly walked and called to him, the more he'd take his sweet time to follow her; almost as if considering if she was worth following--which she totally was! Thinking up another strategy, Beverly walked farther away from Wiggin, the farthest she's done during their time together.

The distance seemed to disorient the puffskein as he gazed all around him. She could tell Wiggin was getting antsy because he kept turning directions...almost as if he had lost something and was desperately searching for it. This round goes to Beverly Wayne. Oh yeah.

"Wiggin! Here, buddy. I'm over here." She patted her knees and encouraged him to come to her. When Wiggin's eyes connected to her, his tiny tongue peeked out and he bounced toward Bev at a speed she didn't know he possessed. Catching him mid-air, she snuggled him into her chest. "Aw, were you scared? I wouldn't leave you." SNUGS.

The result of her plan was evident. Wiggin snuggled up to her while his wormy-tongue poked her cheek. She'd learn this tactic from her brother. When you have something, it makes you confident it'll always be there, but once it's gone and you find it again, you don't ever want to lose it again. SUCCESS.

As the students were finishing up bonding with their puffskeins and practicing that new spell, Piers decided it was time to start getting ready for the next and final portion of their lesson. He patted Javy on the shoulder as he passed by.

On his way past the little puffskein closure, he got out his wand and muttered little enlargement charms at the bushes nearby. Each doubled in size, as did the berries on them. He continued to do this for quite a distance. In fact, he stopped right at 100 yards away from where the students and their puffskeins were, a place where he had measured before. When he was there and once all the berry bushes along that way had been enlarged, Piers drew a sparkling white line in the air, about waist-high that resembled something like a finish line.

"Ready when you are, captain!" he called across the wide distance to Thompson, waiting. Juuuuust waiting.

So Javy had been observing the behaviors going on. His eyes were especially on some individuals, in case they tried to test the limits with the charm. Luckily for everyone, none of that happened. He felt a soft pat on his shoulder from Piers before nodding. Yep, it was time.

"Excellent, everyone." Waiting for their full attention before smiling, "You now have a little tool that will also bring your own pet even closer to you.. Perhaps even a friend once you've fully mastered it." So what was next? "Now that your new Puffskein friends are awaken, they're bound to be quite famished. We're going to fix that.."

Cue them looking past the play pen's gate where Professor Fuller was getting the area situated. "Now in an effort to keep them active, we're going to be having a race to the end." It was a little difficult for Javy's eyes to determine the exact length from here, but it was decent enough to give everyone their exercise for the day. "Using only the charm, you will now have to guide them through the many berry bushes to the finish line. They eat fairly slow, enough to require another cast afterward. They will also get heavier along the way, so be mindful of that. Since we're wearing colours as bright as fruits, they should be a little more willing to follow you." What? You didn't think he wanted everyone in pink this whole time for the fun of it, did you? Heh. "There will be rewards.. but which one of you will get the better one first?" Grinning as he was called Captain, ready to see what will unfold from here.

"Ready..." Flicking his wand towards the gate to open. "Go!"

---
OOC: As instructed, you will need to guide your puffskein with the charm. Make sure to RP them eating the bushes along the way. The amount of time it should take to cross the 100 yards is six complete posts. Feel free to pm/twitter/msn me or sarah for any questions. You have until Friday evening EST to complete =)

Were she and Custard all bonded now or whatever? Alice decided that they were, and the first order of business was to get it/his/her/whatever tongue far, far away from her nose. "We don't stick our tongue up our beloved human's nose, k, lil' guy?" Yeah. But it seemed like it/he/her/whatever got it, so all was well. Meant they could move on to the real exercise.

Which was... walking. Really, it would be an extremely menial task if her joints weren't so ridiculously stiff. But even as she moved the slightest bit, Custard rolled along beside her. That was enough to prove her spell had worked, yeah? Not quite keen on recasting, Alice only wandered around a bit before she and her puffskein came to a halt. That was enough exercise for a day, most definitely. And maybe she could even find it/him/her/whatever a snotty kid's nose out of which to slurp bogeys.

If not, she'd feed it some hay or something.

These things sure were easy to please.

Bay smiled as he listened to the Professors.. a race.. this sounded totally cool and little Gryff would be able to much on some yummy things..Barries who wouldn't be excited to eat them… lucky little dude..

Taking his wand out again he jabbed it upward and said "Animalis Fidelis" because thats the spell they were only allowed to use right… seeing little Gryff respond made him smile.

"alright little dude.. lets head to that first bush" moving slowly he watched his little Puffskein follow him.. finally they made it to the first bush and he could just see the excitement in Gryffs little eyes.. he wanted those berries..

since the bush was rather large Bay picked up the little guy and held his face right in front of a berry.. watching him sniff it and then took a big bite the little thing just kept chewing.. such a slow chew and he wasn't even done his first berry yet..

this went on for several minutes.. because wasn't this race about feeding them and exercising them… yup.. thats what he was going to do. placing Gryff on the ground he slowly started to walk again, knowing that Gryff would be slower now than normal because he had some food they slowly like a turtle made their way to the second bush.

A race? Seriously? Ella tried not to groan at this because she wasn't exactly in racing condition. Maybe if she had a broom or something but yeah, she wasn't at her best. Especially not after that power walking she'd just done. She should have took it easier but she'd never have guessed they'd be racing to the end. SIGH. Oh well, she could do this. Alfredo really did deserve treats for his earlier efforts too so she'd try her best for him. When Thompson gave them the go ahead, Ella turned her attention to her little companion and tried to get his attention.

"Okay Alfredo, we're going to go get you some food." Grin! "You hungry, boy? You must be. I'm going to use the spell to help get you there faster so just follow me and we'll be there in no time." She bent down painfully and gave the little guy a nice pat on the fur before standing again. CRACK! "Ow." She was okay...mostly.

"Animalis Fidelis!" Ella followed the direction of her wand and watched Alfredo curiously. Had it worked? "Alright boy, let's get to that bush!"

Sander hadn't been expecting another task after the one they just had and so when both Professors came forward, Sander looked expectantly at them. He wondered why Professor Fuller was enlarging the berry bushes but had suspicion that it had to do with the Puffskeins.

Then Professor Thompson spoke up and Sander's suspicions were verified. They, the students, were supposed to guide their Puffskeins through the bushes, let them feed on the berries, until they crossed the finishing line.

Say what? Odin had had a fair amount of exercise already and he was now being rewarded with as many berries he wanted to eat. That was fine and dandy but why couldn't he, Sander, feed it to Odin instead of making him work to get it. Guess the Professors wanted to reward the Puffskeins but at the same time work off what they had eaten.

It wasn't for him to question why, so Sander got down on his knees and picked up Odin in his arms. "So hey Odin. Are you still hungry? I have a whole bunch of berries you can eat. All we need to do is get you to those bushes over there." Sander whispered what his intentions were to Odin as he stroked his puffy furry friend.

"Are you ready? Now remember take your time to eat. I don't want you getting indigestion," Sander stroked Odin one last time before putting him down on the ground.

Rolling his wand between his fingers and with an upward flick, Sander said the incantations, "Animalis Fidelis," and waited for the spell to take effect. To make sure, Sander took a few steps forward and smiled when Odin bounced over right next to him.

With Odin following next to him, Sander headed for the nearest berry bush. "Here you go, Odin. Here's some berries for you. Remember don't eat too much because there's plenty more where that came from," Sander reminded Odin. He then waited patiently as Odin flicked his tongue out, grabbed one berry, pulled it backk into his mouth and began chomping on it slowly. Once he had swallowed he flicked his tongue out again and grabbed another one.

....after a couple of minutes, Sander knelt down to get Odin's attention which was hard to do, since his eyes were only on the berries in front of him. Putting his hand out to block Odin's view of the berries, Sander spoke to Odin again.

"Hey Odin. We need to leave some berries on these bushes for the other Puffskeins. Why don't we head on to the next bush?"

Standing up, Sander rolled his wand between his fingers and with an upward flick, cast the spell again. "Animalis Fidelis" and began walking away from the berry bush. He felt something brush his pant legs and was glad to see Odin had now discarded the berry bush he was eating at and was now following him.

Okay...next bush come bare your fruits for the Mighty Odin.