Sophie kicked the cotton ball aside as Bellaire walked by, trying to hide the evidence that she had just tried and failed, and went back to practicing the wand movement and incantation until the woman was elsewhere. MADE HER NERVOUS, MAN.

"Stiricidium Nubila!" she quickly tried again before she lost her nerve, focusing hard and twirling her wand in a counter-clockwise motion at the cloud - much to her surprise, it started to grow and darken a little, and this time multiple cotton balls began to fall from the cloud. It was cute and all, but Sophie's face fell in disappointment, and she muttered a bitter, "Finite."

Okay. So... maybe she needed to work on visualizing it better. The cotton balls were in her mind's eye, but she focused hard on the cloud in front of her, imagining it growing and darkening again and producing gently-falling snowflakes - twirl, twirl, twirl - "Stiricidium Nubila!" The cloud grew more rapidly, but this time her cloud produced raindrops.

Well.

At least it was a proper form of precipitation this time, yeah? "Finite."

"Stiricidium Nubila!" He repeated the spell again wand motion and all. Cutty's cloud responded by doing a bit of vertical expansion. In no time it was looking rather dark, and ominous and angry. Alas! Only rain came of it in a heavy downpour over Mordaunt. He seemed, however unperturbed as he raised his wand again and remembered the Professor's word to keep a steady wrist. "Finite!"

"Stiricidium Nubila!" he fired off from his now soaked position. All he needed was the cold. A density brought on by frigidity.

Transforming cloud into darker snow cloud. That bit was easy to understand. But the incantation? What? Say that again? Stiricidium Nubila. That was a mouthful.

"Sti-ri-ci-di-um Nu-bi-la." Leah said slowly. This was her usual strategy to practicing difficult spells. "Steeericidiumum Nooooobila" she said again. "Stiricidium Nubila." she managed to say the incantation out loud successfully this time. Drinking a gulp of water, the second year continued to practice saying the spell. How would she perform the spell if she could not even say the incantation?

Okay, okay. Focus. Stiricidium Nubila is the incantation, and a counter-clockwise wand movement. Easy? It should be. First years were able to produce snow at this point. Ethan watched as the others successfully produced snow out of their clouds. Kicking the last few hails on the floor, the Slytherin cleared his throat and pointed his wand at his fluffy, innocent looking cloud. “Stiricidium Nubila!” Come onnn. Snow already!

His cloud grew bigger and darker, and this made Ethan grin. “Come on…snow…” And just when he thought he succeeded, rain poured over his head and uniform and all that the boy could do was stare at his cloud. He commanded himself to keep his cool and that he will get it the next round. “…♫ I’m singing in the rain…just singing in the rain…♫…” Realizing that he was already making a mess, the Slytherin stopped singing and pointed at his cloud again. “Finite.” Nothing. “FINITE!” The rain stopped, and the drenched boy pointed at the puddle he made. “Evanesco.” The puddle of water vanished at his command and the floor instead reflected his fluffy cloud. “You will snow…for me!” Oh yes, it will.

Ice...garden? Marisol didn't understand the task. Other students already had mounds of snow around them. Now, was it really necessary to make the room colder than it already was? Where the Spaniard resided, it never got this cold in the winter.

"Steereeceedeeum Nubeela!" Marisol shouted. She had no clue what she was saying, but she supposed that if the other students were doing it, so should she. And right then, a hazy cloud formed. Well, it was more like fog than a cloud. It rained down little droplets of...ice-cold rain. Not quite enough.

"Finite!" the first year copied once again, which caused the cloud to stop raining. She ought to try again. "Stereeceedeum Nubeela!" This time, it was pronounced more like the English kids' incantations. A cloud appeared. It was one of those fat puffy ones that probably had a name which Marisol didn't care to know. The gray cloud rained down hail. Said hail hit the ground and shattered into snow. Weird, as naturally-caused hail wouldn't do that. "Finite," Mari said at last when she was satisfied.

Her cloud seemed to expand and puff like a startled kitten, but other than that nothing else occurred. Beverly had expected this, but couldn't help feel disappointed...in the cloud. Clearly it had issues and this had nothing to do with her magic. Keeping her wrist firm, a clock-wise swirl of her wand, Beverly cast again, "Stiricidium Nubila!"

This time her focus was more genuine. She didn't analyze the chances of malfunction or anything else. Full attention and focus on casting. Yes. This should work!

The cloud expanded some more, looking as if someone had poked it and it had puffed out to retaliate, then--

Something!

It was snowing-- O__O...

No it wasn't. Tiny pieces of ice pelted onto the ground. It was...it was HAILING. That wasn't supposed to happen. Then it all got crazy. It started to hail sideways...toward Beverly...pelting her pretty face. Her hands flew up to protect herself at once. Noooo. This wasn't supposed to happen! Her cloud was attacking her.

"Finite!" The hailing stopped, her hands fell at her sides. That...was actually pretty cool. It meant she was closer to getting the real thing. AGAIN!

"Stiricidium Nubila"

So he would be trying again, that was for sure. Judging by how the professor was stressing it, there had been quite an importance in the project. Benny took a deep breath and worked on strengthening his focus in hopes it would impact his spell work results. He wanted it bigger, darker and dropping snow like it was supposed to be. "Stiricidium Nubila...Stiricidium Nubila...Stiricidium Nubila....Stiricidium Nubila." Benny repeated the incantation over and over before trying again.

"Stiricidium Nubila!" he cast, his wand pointed at the grayish cloud above him and turned it around counterclockwise. The cloud darkened even more and as the Gryffindor watched and waited, precipitation came down. Slush. Not quite snow...but not really rain.

Sigh.

"Stiricidium Nubila!" he repeated, envisioning standing out in a snow storm as he reworked the spell. The slush hardening to a more snowy consistency.

As simple as he thought the spell was............. it just wasn't. This was proven when the boy finally decided to try out the spell and try to make it snow.

Grayson had done what he had done back in the Defence lesson on zombies and rolled up the sleeves of his robes. It made him feel powerful, in a sense. As if he meant business against a dumb, old marshmallow cloud. Which he DID, by the way. This cloud looked far too happy, if such a thing was possible. Something needed to be done about that.

Soooo, the boy had pointed his wand up at it, pausing only to take a deep breath and shoot it a dark look. Maybe that would give the cotton-like cloud some inspiration on turning darker and snowing. "Stiricidium Nubila!" he cried, moving his wand in a counter clockwise swirling motion.

And the result?

................. Nothing. Not even a little bit of a grey tinge anywhere in the cloud..

Freaking stupid cloud.

Phew! Well, it looked like AJ wasn't mad at him for wanting to laugh. But he did grin about her "this year" comment. "I've got my fingers crossed, AJ,'' he said and raised his right had to show that his index and middle fingers were interlocked.

"I did,'' Adi said, still finding it hard to believe the spell had worked so quickly for him. He supposed it was due to proper concentration. Now if he could only duplicate the results from here on. "Rain, rain, go away,'' he began singing as AJ's cloud started to rain.

"My turn again! Finite!'' Snow stopped falling. "Stiricidium Nubila!" Counter clockwise swirly motion while pointing at the cloud with the wand plus loads of concentration equals...Snow Fall! Awesome! He had done it again.

Before the storm started she'd convince herself that charms in transfig were a bad idea but see, now there was a puddle of water beneath her feet and her desk was soaked too. A little further over and she'd have gotten her bag soaked too. This was officially one of those desperate times call for desperate measures kinda moment that had the Gryffindor tergeo-ing the floor, her desk and even her robes for as much as that could do. Had to feel comfy while casting otherwise you'd be distracted and these types of spells called for all kinds of concentration.

Once again she fixed her attention on the cloud. It'd gone back to its original colour and she was sure she was back at square 1.

"Stiricidium Nubila!"

Aaaand the swishing motion too. Something had to give. Lex watched the cloud, noted the way the colour started blending and changing again until it'd gone grey once more. Was it darker than the first cloud? She couldn't really tell but there was no thunder so she was willing to cut her losses, even if nothing more happened--

THWACK!

"Ow!" What the kneazle was that? Lex blinked, looking to see what'd just bounced off her and hit the ground. Just then there was another thunk, this one hitting her head. Owowowowowowwow. This wasn't snow either. NOPE. "Finite! Stop! Enough!"

STILL no snow over here. Maddie had been trying for what FELT like a BAZILLION years but she just couldn't get that cloud to produce snow and it was sad. SAD DAYS. It didn't help that the Professor person was wandering around and watching them. The small brunette was feeling ALL SORTS of pressure to perform but she just couldn't do it, no matter how steady her wrist was.

"Listen, Cloud." Maddie looked around to make sure no one was listening and then continued on. "I need you to not do this playing hard to get thing or whatever it is you're doing. I know change is hard but just give in. You might even like it, yeah? So change. For me. PLEASE?" Ahem. Yeah, that should do it.

Concentrating? YUP. Wrist steady? OF COURSE. OKAY.

"Stiricidium Nubila!" The first year performed the wand movement as carefully as she could and then STAREDDDD at her cloud, willing it to snow. Her eyes were growing big and sad-like when she felt a DROP. A DROP. Something wet had TOUCHED her eye! WAS THAT SNO--

Drip. Drip. Drip.

BLINK!

It was raining! The first year grooooaned and looked up at the cloud, her expression unreadable. "You're messing with me aren't you, cloud?"

How'd she STOP the rain, again?

"Looks like I am going to need you to cross more than just your fingers." Like maybe some toes too. AJ was getting frustrated even though she knew it was ridiculous to think that she would catch on to an advanced spell so quickly.

She shot him a grin when he started singing. "If only it were that easy." Then she would be all set. It was his turn again, and sure enough he had managed to do it perfectly. "Show off." She lightly and playfully shoved his arm. "Here goes nothing." With full concentration, she once again pointed her wand up at the cloud. "Stiricidium Nubila!" Cue the swirly wand movement. She saw white blobs coming down. Could it really be snow? Before she could investigate further though it had stopped. Now she would never know.

She was now practicing the wand movement. A counter-clockwise swiirrling motion. Leah pointed her wand at her cloud and swirled it, counter-clockwise. Niice.

On her second try however, the second year was too close to the cloud and ended up poking her wand into the cloud. Oopsie. Smoothing down the little cloud, Leah tried again, this time gracefully swirling her wand. She saw something come out of the wand but probably it was her imagination.

Clearly her cloud didn't want to cooperate with her, so Lux sent it the stink eye. Stupid mean cloud. At least she wouldn't have to end the spell since her last attempt hadn't done anything.

Pointing her wand at her cloud, she made the counter-clockwise swirls while focusing all her energy on creating a snow cloud. "Stiricidium Nubila!" Watching it grow and get darker, this was a good sign because it was doing something. That something turned out to be rain. "Ah crap!" Frowning slightly, Lux ended the spell. What she needed to do was not get frustrated; that wouldn't make things any easier for her.

The formerly puffy white cloud was now QUITE large and QUITE ferocious looking, and yet it still wasn't producing any snow. It wasn't producing anything, actually, and Mo frowned at it as he continued to crank his wand. "Stiricidium Nubila" ...? Say it more? Snow, please?

Mo growled as he cast, swiping at the angry cloud with one hand and feeling a little tingle in his fingers as he did so. Cold and damp. "SNOW," Mo ordered the cloud, and it did. Almost on cue, actually. First a few small flakes, and then they came more quickly, until Mo had fat clumps of flakes littering his square of floor. "I MADE SNOW."

After a really short water break, Leah held her wand up again. Stiricidium Nubila. Swirling motion. Got it. She was ready. Her fluffy white cloud floating in front of her, the second year did a swirling motion counter-clockwise with her wand and said, "Stiricidium Nubila." The cloud got darker, and she was excited.

Then, nothing. No wait, it was snowing! Delighted, Leah approached the cloud when she realized that it was not snow, but COTTON! Groan. But practice makes perfect, and she needed practice.

When Cris saw the snow cloud begin to deflate just a little, he raised his wand again. Remembering how he cast the spell the last time, Cris concentrated as hard as he could, first visualizing the image of a grey swollen snow cloud and then snow flakes falling from it.

Keeping his wrist steady, Cris pointed his wand at his cloud and waved his wand, swirling it in a counter clockwise direction, while saying the words to the incantation, clearly and as precisely as possible. "Stiricidium Nubila!!"

The cloud above began to darken once more, swelling and growing vertically upwards...and then it began to snow again. This time the flurries were larger and coming down faster. Cris looked down at his feet and saw a pile of snow forming. Would that be enough for Professor Bellaire's Ice Menagerie?

Okay Arista had the wand movement and the incantation down, so now she could actually start practicing. Should be fun right??!! She raised her wand and turned it in a counter-clockwise swirling motion. and said "Stiricidium Nubila!" nothing. Dang!! Maybe she didn't concentrate enough.

She closed her eyes and concentrated snow snow snow snow snow. Raised her wand and gave it a counter-clockwise turn and said "Stiricidium Nubila!" However it was not snow that came down instead it was rain.

What!!! This was so not snow!!!!

She huffed and concentrated even harder, she wanted snow!!! SNOW! SNOW! SNOW! Raising her wand she gave it another counter-clockwise turn and said "Stiricidium Nubila!". This time it was hail that came down.

Okay to much concentration, she closed her eyes and focused a little bit she wanted snow.

And she tried it again.

Taking deep breaths, Lux closed her eyes and tried her best to be a totally calm and collected Badger. One who wasn't worried that she would never get this snow cloud formed and thus would be unable to complete this project. Okay, that wasn't positive thinking. Snap out of it, you are a positive person, she scolded herself. Sheesh, this Professor did a lot to make her nervous!

Focusing her hardest on snow clouds and snow flakes and anything snow related, she swirled her wand around in the counter-clockwise movements. "Stiricidium Nubila!" BAM! The cloud became bigger and darker, this time... raining down more rocks? Wait, what?!

Quickly getting out of the way of the hailstorm, she realized it was exactly that: hail. Sweet, one step closer to show. With a small smile, she ended the spell so that her little cumulus was back.

The incantation was finite. She could make the birds and rocks stop. Remembering to speak clearly, Penelope cast the spell, "Finite!" The rocks and birds dissappeared. There were still feathers on her uniform, but at least there weren't rocks and birds everywhere.

She was ready to practice making snow with her cloud again. "Stiricidium Nubila!" This time, rain came out of her cloud. It was not snow, but it was better than the birds and rocks. Now she knew how to stop it, "Finite!" Great, now her uniform was wet and had feathers on it. This was not fun, and was probably a violation of the clean uniform rule or something. "I think I've almost got it. Are you getting any better Angel?"

Still soaking wet from his last attempt, Ethan wiped his face as water trickled down from his wet hair and pointed at his cloud once more. Transfiguration isn’t his best subject and this was starting to frustrate the young boy. He made an audible growl at his cloud and was about to try again, but got distracted with the sound of rain hitting the floor. He looked around and saw Coop getting drenched. “What are you doing?” the Slytherin asked, amused at the Ravenclaw. Why was she just standing there and looking at her cloud? It dawned on him that the tiny person didn’t know how to end the spell. Ethan pointed at her cloud, and said: “FINITE!” The Slytherin looked at the drenched little Claw and gave her a grin. “The incantation is ‘Finite’ if you wanna stop or end a spell.” Helpful incantation if you ask him.

Turning back to his cloud, he pointed at it and started all over again. “Stiricidium Nubila!” The cloud grew bigger and darker again…but this time it started to produce leaves and twigs. “WHAT!?” The boy frowned and swatted the falling leaves and twigs on top of his head. “Finite!” His cloud turned fluffy and happy looking again, while the boy—now with leaves and twigs sticking out of his hair and uniform, gave it a stink eye.

Angel was about to us Finite when someone did it for her. "Thanks!" Angel could stop hiding now and try the spell again. " "Stiricidium Nubila!" Angel did the wand movement and then she waited and prayed hopefully she had done it right.

O__________o

Instead of snow coming out she was being pelted with rain, how had she made the cloud so bad, it was like it was raining cats and dogs, she was getting very wet, very quickly. "Finite!" Angel was glad when the rain had stopped but alas she was wet and her hair was now a mess, that just wasn't cool. "I'm getting there." Angel beamed.

"Finite!" Leah yelled, and the cotton stopped falling. Great spell, finite was. Exhaling, the second year tried once more. "Stiricidium Nubila!" Swirling motion pointing directly at the cloud, but she stammered a bit on the words. Dang, this would not work. Frowning, the girl waited for something to happen.

BIRDS. It was raining birds. Leah immediately started swatting the birds away. "Aargh, go away! Finite!" The cloud turned to its normal state.

"I don't show off,'' Adi said as he poked AJ gently in her arm. He watched again as she tried the spell. It looked like snow was falling from her cloud! "Hey, AJ! It looks like crossing fingers really does work.'' It really was snow right?

Adi decided he would continue practicing on his cloud, so he stopped the snow fall before starting again. "Stiricidium Nubila!'' He did the wand movement and watched happily as his cloud darkened and expanded. Snow started again. It seemed as if he had gotten the hang of this spell after all.

"I'm only messing with you." Don't go and get soft on her now. Of course the two of them had an unspoken understanding that they could tease each other without getting upset or taking it seriously. "It looks like it. Maybe you should keep doing that for me." Maybe he was her lucky charm.

"Look at you. You've really got the hang of it now." She was anxious to see if she could get her cloud to snow again... if that really was snow. "Stiricidium Nubila!'' This time it was snowing and there was no denying it. "I think I've got it." AJ couldn't wipe the smile off of her face. This was an advanced spell, the professor even said so, and she had mastered it.