"AND dices." He said selling the trimming charm to the new face at Hogwarts. "I lehrned it me first year and lateh used it to give me sister a haircut." And what a disastrous haircut it had been. Harlowe, tearful and enraged, nearly shoved him off of the bow of the boat that summer. Good times. "It's dead easy. Yer joost say 'Flipnsnipwitit' and do a sort of karate chop motion towards the bit yer want cut toff."

"I'll give yer a live demo." He said, reaching into the fruit pile once more and pulling out a red delicious. "Magimus.", he said circling the deep red apple. Once the sparkly halo-like loop had faded away and all that remained was a shining red fruit of enhanced sweetness, Cutty placed the apple onto his desk and karate chopped with his wand down the center of it without actually touching. "Flipnsnipwitit." Tucking his wand between his arm and the torso, he took the halves each in one hand and showed them to Tia. "I'm hoping to attract them quicker with a stronger smell. G'head! Give it a go!" He said enthusiastically.

Since he had a pocketful of sparkly fruits on him, the next step came the rolling of the fruits. Which, lets face it, was the eaaaaaasiest step. And probably the most fun as well.

Grayson glanced around the surrounding area until his eyes locked onto a group of Porlocks way over there. Winged horses were nearby as well, which was gonna make this step that much harder, but the fact that he had a group there meant that the chances of ONE of them heading over to eat one of the sweetened fruits was higher. What a brilliant plan! He was so smart, he almost surprised himself sometimes.

Almost.

Bending down, Grayson took aim and rooooooooooolled an apple over towards the group. The apple rolled and rolled until it came to a stop somewhere close enough to the Porlocks. His blue eyes snapped up to the creatures and he watched as they eyed it curiously. C'moooooon! MOVE. You know you want a piece of the sweet, sweet--

YES.

Smirking, he watched as one brave Porlock -- probably a Gryffindor -- moved forwards and gazed at the apple curiously. Aim....... aim....... aim it right, Whitlock. And quickly too, since there was a winged horse following the Porlock, looking VERY interested in the apple. Rude. "Animalis Fidelis!"

One Porlock now thinking Grayson was friendly? Check!

"'Sup, Porlock, it's good to see you and all." Porlock got the 'sup nod as well. Just because.

Toby wasn't entirely aware of how long it took (he wasn't checking his watch, but it didn't FEEL like very long), but eventually one of those huuuuge Abraxans came clomping over towards the group of fruit that had been Toby's doing. Toby waited, still and silent as one could manage when they had a perpetual case of the fidgets, and cast his eyes down to the horse's feet to try and see if he could spot a Porlock coming out to play.

Yes! There it was, positively dwarfed in comparison to the craaaaazy tall Abraxan, and scurrying out to collect that sweet sweet fruit before the big horse could get to it. Toby had his wand still in hand, and quickly raised it and flicked it towards the Porlock, doing his best not to hit the horse. "Animalis Fidelis."

The spell hit the Porlock and was instantly successful, but Toby figured it might be; this spell had been part of his Charms OWL earlier that year, so now he'd managed it there under stressful conditions, he found it simple enough to do in a class setting. His targeted Porlock, which had just scooped up one of the apples, looked right up and at him and was already heading over as though in a sort of lowkey daze.

It was at that moment that Toby had a sudden hilarious flashback to that class all those terms ago, when Fuller had sent the Animalis Fidelis charm right at Thompson's rear end when giving them a demonstration. The memory of the entire thing made Toby snort to himself in amusement, but he faltered after a moment because it only served to remind him that Fuller wasn't here to teach anymore, so those fun joint lessons were at an end. Sad.

The Hufflepuff's expression had mellowed out considerably and quite quickly then, and he turned his attention back to the horse guardian headed for him, deciding to focus on that rather than any sad thoughts.

Awww, so it didn't make it sweet but healthier? Boooo. Caleb should have known it seemed too good to be true. Ah well, it was interesting though. Something to keep in mind if he was ever missing his artificial sugar while baking a cake.

And now onto the actual practical bit of the lesson, yay! Caleb was excited to practice this sugar spell some more - and of course to see the Porlocks. He went to the basket and picked up a good number of fruits - he ended up with a tomato, a lemon, and an orange. That seemed like a good assortment. He brought them back to his little area and sat down, putting the orange in front of him first.

He cleared his throat and started to move his wand in a circle over the fruit. "Magimus," he muttered, watching as a few sparks starting to bounce around the orange. After a few seconds of that, he stopped and tasted it with the very tip of his tongue. The skin tasted like it had been dipped in pure sugar, which was obviously the desired effect.

One down, two more to go!

Dot poked at her first apple, which had managed to take on the magical sheen, before she moved on to the second two. Were they all successfully charmed, or did she need to cast again? The middle one looked much more impressive than the other two, but it looked like success all the way around.

Dot straightened with the apples in her hands and edged away from the crowd. If she got a porlock, she didn't want someone else to steal it before she had her chance to pet it. Using the least shiny apple, she took a practice lob in the direction of one of the Abraxans. It rolled and bounced half way across the pen... and managed to catch no one's attention. Dot threw the second and then the third apple, each progressively closer to the gathering of winged horses. Comeoncomeoncomeon. Someone take the bait, because Dot had run out of apples.

Amur was doing her best not to breathe, at all. She was terrified that doing so would scare the Porlock away. It was coming closer, and closer and closer, until it was right there. Close enough to touch.

She didn't know what to do. Should she pet it? Speak to it? Offer it more food? Or just stare at it? The later seemed the safest option, but then how was she supposed to show this creature that she could be trusted? She certainly wouldn't trust someone, or something, that had beckoned her over just to stare. No, that was just weird.

Hesitantly, Amur leaned forward and picked up one of the remaining lemons. She held it out to the creature, seeing as he was all done his. "Here. Help yourself. There's lots."

From somewhere under those shaggy locks, Amur could tell the creature was considering the offering. After a moment it made a gurgling noise, took the food and brought it to its nose. She could hear it sniffing it, and surmised that somewhere beneath all that hair, it had a really big nose. Like the horses.

Sitting back, she picked up her own treat and nibbled on it, showing the Porlock it was the same. The creature was still for a moment, before it too began nibbling on the treat. A gurgle escaped it, making Amur wonder if that was a form of communication or a stomach rumble.

She giggled in response, the excitement finally surpassing the nervousness. "Help yourself. I made them all for you. Well, except this one. This one I already started eating." It wasn't polite to share food that already had a big chomp in it.

Whether or not the Porlock understood what she was saying, Amur didn't know. What she did know was that they both seemed to be getting a little bit more comfortable. She wasn't as afraid of it running away, and it didn't seem as inclined to do so as when it had first made its way to her. She watched it nibble on its treat as she nibbled on her own, sharing in the silence of their common ground. Food.

It took a great deal of effort not to reach out and touch it though. She was curious as to whether the shags were soft and smooth, or more like knotted hair, but she didn't think it would appreciate being touched. The Porlock seemed to have a sensible head on its shoulders, and like most things with sensible heads she didn't think it would appreciate a stranger randomly touching it. It would be like a new acquaintance playing with her hair, and that was just strange.

So, she settled for watching it as it watched her, eventually sitting down on the ground in front of her.

Kate collected the sparkling fruit and headed off in the direction of the winged horses. She stopped about where everyone else had and watched as a few pieces of fruit began rolling around nearby. Kate was pretty sure she could do this without hitting a horse. Somebody would have to have a really bad aim or a really heavy arm to hit a horse with a piece of rolling fruit.

She adjusted the fruit to where she had two pieces in her left hand and one, the apple, in her right. Kate rolled the apple forward, and it stopped a little ways away from the horse. Kate then moved the lemon to her right hand and rolled it in the same direction. It bumped against the apple, causing the apple to roll forward a little more. Kate decided to roll the tomato a little ways to the left. There. With everything spread out, she was bound to get the attention of something out there.

...and then she stood perfectly still while keeping a watchful eye on the horses.

Emmylou knelt down and stuck her hand out towards the Porlock to see if she was able to bet him or her. He was so cute! Unless it was a she. Emmylou beamed when she was able to pet him. She wanted one now. She wondered if she could name him or her. If she named the Porlock then that means that it would be hers, right? The fifth year shrugged and looked over at Kace while petting the Porlock as Kace spoke. "Thank you, I think he likes me too." If it was a he. She really had to stop assuming that the Porlock was a boy. The Gryffindor took a few steps back towards Kace and watched to see if the spell worked for him, she beamed when it worked. Aww, the Porlock really loved him. "He loves you."

Onto the tomato and the lemon! Caleb decided to charm all the fruits first so he could really concentrate on the Porlocks after that...he didn't want to get distracted and fail horribly at that part. No matter how much fun he was having charming fruits to be all sweet, he was pretty sure that was NOT the defining lesson Thompson wanted them to take away from all this.

"Magimus," he muttered, circling the tomato with his wand and watching for the sparks. There they were...just as he had practiced. Now he had a nice sweet tomato, yes? OH WAIT. THAT WAS WHY THOMPSON WAS EATING A TOMATO WASN'T IT? Ok, he got it now.

He tasted the skin with the tip of his tongue and was pleased to see that that spell was also successful. Now onto the lemon...

"Magimus," he muttered once more, doing the same circling movement he had practically perfected at this point. This time there were a LOT of sparks - which was good since he needed more sugar to make the sour lemon sweet - and when he taste tested it once again, he found that it was the SWEETEST of all of his fruits. How had someone not gotten RICH off of this idea? Candied fruits?

Oh wait, no, that was totally a thing. Darnit. Caleb was sure he had a million dollar idea there for a second!

It was an intense moment; Prefect and porlock stare down. Or at least it seemed like one until the creature tilted its head, taking a huge bite off the apple. It didn't make any anxious moves, more as if it was comfortable in her presence.

Yes! This meant her skills at casting the [i]Animalis Fidelis[/s] spell was improving and getting stronger. Practicing was paying off. Maybe one day she'll be the first dragon tamer to gain a dragon's trust with this and lead to a solid bond. It was an exciting goal.

Snapping from those lovely thoughts, Beverly blinked back at the porlock and approached it cautiously. It kept nomming away, regarding with ease.

"Hello," she chirped as she flopped down next to it and bit into one of the apples she'd charmed. "So you like horses." It made a happy little sound -- sounded like one anyway -- and glanced at the third apple in her other hand. "You want it?" It took it without a reply but it nuzzled into her arm.

Heh. Endearing, scruffy thing.

Reaching out, her hand hovered over its head, and when she noted it didn't mind, Beverly petted it. Porlocks weren't so bad.

SPOILER!!: Angel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel smiled as she looked at Benny and realised that he wasn't up for arguing. "You are totally cool Benny." Angel smiled as she looked around to see what she could see. "Though I still blame you." Angel stuck her tongue out at him quickly hoping that the Professor wouldn't see him because she didn't want to get into trouble.

Angel watched as Benny sorted things out and told her that she had to wait about. "I don't like waiting." Angel pouted, but she didn't mind standing next to Benny and watching to see what happened next. "Oh look." Angel smiled as she saw something moving towards them and Benny had his wand out already, she did as well but she wasn't sure if they both needed to do the spell or not, and anyway she was going to let Benny do the spell first... that way she couldn't go wrong.

"Unfortunately...can't do anything until they appear," he mused as Angel pouted about the conditions. Hence the reason they had to wait for any length of time. And now they were simply watching and waiting, following the younger lion's gaze when she spoke out again, calling his attention. Sure enough, among the legs of the horse was another furry creature that fit the professor's description of a porlock.

Cautiously, his wand was moved out into the open. First discretely at his side and then eventually raised up a bit once he felt ready to take aim. "Animalis Fidelis!" he cast, saying the incantation aloud and clear and hoping it worked the first time around and didn't scare the creature off. Once the spell was done, Benny did his best to remain otherwise still as he awaited a reaction from the porlock in question.

Come on...come on.

We're only trying to be nice.

Now he only had three more fruits to roll out towards the Porlocks.

Except, his blue eyes studied that one winged horse over there as he pulled out another sparkly apple. The creature had come to a spot close to where his last apple had stopped when he'd rolled it. Huh. It was gonna play like that, was it? If only he could send mental vibes to the Porlocks or something similar. Get them to come right over to another spot for the new apple. It would probably work out better and all.

The horse seemed to be picking at the ground with it's hoof, almost expecting there to be bits of apple left behind. Grayson took this opportunity to roll the apple riiiiight off towards another empty space that was in the view of the Porlocks. He watched as a Porlock rushed forwards -- an eager beaver one too -- and grabbed the apple before the horse could get to it. With the way it was clutching it to itself, Grayson half expected it to be saying 'MINE!' Lulz. He liked that one.

Oh right. Spell. "Animalis Fidelis!"

The aiming technique had been used again and seemed to have worked too, given the fact that this one was coming closer to him as well. "Heeeeey! Good catch back there." Definitely liked this one.

And the horse did not. Lulz.

Grayson: 2, Horse: 0

She couldn't help but smile at him being as stubborn as she was. It was like they had to show each other up in every aspect. Aww. He was actually flattening his hair. AJ grabbed his hand and pulled it to his side. "Don't do that." No need to get all drastic on her there. More laughing. "I'm sure I'm a girl." Adi had jokes. "I think I would make a better boy though." She was practically a boy anyways.

How did she know that he would bring that up? "It doesn't have anything to do with how many porlocks show up." Speaking of them it didn't seem like anymore were going to show up for her or Adi so they were officially tied up on this part of the competition. So technically Adi won because he beat her at the spells, but there was no need to bring that up.

Her boyfriend was enjoying the creatures as much as she was. She shot him a huge grin. "Totally awesome." There was only thing that could make this better. "Too bad they aren't unicorns." AJ was still waiting for that to happen. She wouldn't lose hope.

Following suit, she plopped herself down on the ground and started to talk to the two porlocks that came to her. "Aren't you cute." Oh yes he was, oh yes he was. She continued to pet him slowly so she wouldn't scare him. These were pretty awesome creatures.

Standing still wasn't something that Dot did naturally, and she actually had to cross her arms AND her legs to keep from bouncing in place as she waited for SOMETHING to happen. Oh please please please let one of those horses come over to look at her apples. She crossed her fingers and let just that hand bounce behind her back.

Finally, just when she thought she'd have to get another apple to charm, Dot saw one of the Abraxans perk up its ears in the direction of her fruit. It meandered from the group, and there beside it was a porlock. Brown, furry, adorable. INTERNAL SQUEALING COMMENCING.

Enough of the sweet fruit, time to get down to actual business. Caleb gathered his now super sweet fruit in his arms and walked over to the area where all the horses had gathered. He picked a spot away from most of his classmates where he could concentrate and then picked a horse to use as his first target. There was a really nice white one nearby, just doin it's own thing and eating the grass...he would work.

"Come hereeee, horsey!" he called, taking the tomato and rolling it towards the horse. The horse looked up and took a few steps towards him, then decided better of it and went back to eating grass.

The Porlock, however, took the bait. Caleb didn't blame him - a sweet tomato was a really intriguing thing!

"Animalis Fidelis!" he muttered, pointing his wand at the hairy little beast as it crept towards the tomato. It stopped, and Caleb THOUGHT it had worked, since it took the tomato and looked at him. He took a few steps closer, looking like it was going to allow him to pet it. Nice! Success on the first tr--

CLUNK!

Instead, it took the tomato and threw it RIGHT at his face. With a little squeak, it turned on it's cloved heels and ran back at the horse, and Caleb had lost it. And now he had tomato guts all over his face.

At last, here was the Porlock, right in front of him looking at Toby with no signs of mistrust as it munched away at the super sweet apple. Toby, who was still knelt down, moved so he was sat cross-legged on the floor again, and held out his hand (palm up, like you'd do to show a dog you were friendly and to be trusted) to the creature. His Porlock instantly leaned forward and nuzzled Toby's hand, and the sixth year grinned behind his scarf.

"Hi buddy," he said gently, keeping his voice low as though he might startle the small creature, though that seemed unlikely. "My name's Toby. You like that apple?" The Porlock only went on nuzzling and munching on the fruit, and Toby found himself laughing again, softly this time. He pet the Porlock's shaggy-yet-soft hair, and watched it each and become more accustomed to him. "It's been magicked so it's super sweet. I hope you like that."

Nomnomnom went the Porlock, and Toby heard the cooing that Thompson's Porlock had done earlier, but that he'd not been able to hear from so far away. That was so cute, like a cat purring, or a happy little baby or something.

"You're cute." Toby went on petting the Porlock and inanely chattered away to it, in a completely one-sided conversation.

Alright, time to try this again...

Caleb took the orange, since his tomato was now RUINED and all over his face (and now his sleeve, since he'd used that as a napkin to get all the grossness off) and watched it bounce through the grass as he rolled it to the horse. The horse wanted nothing to do with the orange...but the Porlock did. It seemed to have forgotten the mishap with the tomato and was all about that orange. It ran forward with excitement and Caleb took his change.

"Animalis Fidelis!" he exclaimed as he pointed his wand at the creature. This time, he was SURE the spell had stuck. Sucking on the orange, the little thing hobbled over to him and plopped down happily at his side as it began to peel the skin and break into the actual fruit.

"There, that wasn't so bad, was it little guy?" he asked, patting it gently on the head. It just happily gnawed at the orange, while also eyeing the lemon. Caleb nudged it over to him. "That's for you too, if you want," he told him. The Porlock didn't do much in response, but it did grab the little lemon and pull it close to him...just in case.

D'awwww. It was kind of cute!

Cutty drew one last time from the basket pulling up another apple, this time a green one. Using the circling motion with his wand around the fruit, he casted, "Magimus." and again, watched as the magic took hold of the object turning it all the sweeter.

He gathered his fruit and stuffed it into his robes pockets. "I'm goin' in." He told the girl (Tia), taking his leave of the area nearest the fruit basket and further out into the grassy knoll.

Cutty ventured far and when he reached an uncrowded spot, not too far from Dot, he crouched down tossing the sliced apples out first and furthest. He remained like a lioness. Tossing again, this time the lemon midway between him and sliced apple, he held perfectly still, wand at the ready holding the last piece of fruit close to him.

UGH WHY WAS EVERYTHING TAKING SO LONG? Dot wiggled her way toward the enclosure as the porlock picked up one of the apples and took a nibble of it. The little guy wasn't running off, and she took advantage of her clear shot by pointing her wand. Oh, Merlin, no, what was the spell? Wide-eyed, the Slytherin girl glanced at her neighbors until she finally overheard the incantation again.

OH RIGHT. "Animalis Fidelis!." Did it work, though? Was there a way to tell if she and the porlock were now best friends forever and ever? Dot took one step toward it, and then another. Step step step. Anything.

"Best friendssssss!"

Cutty waited impatiently as a shaggy tuft approached from the distance following after an Aethonan who came to suss out the scent of apples. Over the tallish grass, Cutty could heard it better than he could see it, the shaggy hair of the porlock flopping this way and that as it protectively bit into the apple slices. From his 8 o'clock another Aethonan approached, only to be stopped by another porlock. They had found the other half of the sliced apple.

"Stupe...!" Nar. "Animalis Fidelis." Cutty fired at one of the porlocks, the one furthest away but instead hit the Aethonan clear in the leg. The chestnut coloured creature stretched and then folded it's wings well taking one step and then another straight for the Slytherin boy until it was looking down at him and neighing affectionately. The porlocks had, in the meanwhile, scattered.

The winged chestnut creature was rubbing her head against Cuthbert's unobliging one. "Gerroff me!" His cranky reply as she took the last of his charmed fruit.

Bleu patiently waited as the Porlock walked towards her. It was very timid. She could relate to that. When it finally got to her, she handed it one of the lemon's she had enhanced earlier. It took it from her and took a bite. It coo'ed with satisfaction, and she giggled. "Can I hold you?" She asked the creature. It quickly climbed into her lap.

She giggled as the creature snuggled into her arms. It was so sweet and gentle. She loved animals like this. "You are too sweet. You remind me of Dylan." She giggled at the thought. She would definitely have to tell him about that. He would enjoy it. She gently rubbed the porlock behind its ears. It coo'ed happily in her arms.

Eh. He was starting to get a little tired now. Or was this just his usual bought of laziness flooding him again?

The world was never gonna find out,

Shrugging, Grayson grabbed both of the apples and rolled them out again towards the direction of the Porlocks. Did this take longer? Yeah. Probably because they seemed kinda wary of the apples and then of the horse and, most likely, of him. Eh. He wasn't surprised, to be honest. If someone rolled random fruit out to him, he would be a little skeptical about picking it up as well. Wouldn't want to in the first place. Would get someone else -- a Gryffindor, no doubt -- to go ahead and try out the fruit first. Wasn't gonna risk his own neck for something like that.

ANYWAYS. Were the creatures gonna eat the apples or what? Because he wanted to get this over and done with thank you very--

BOOM! There we go!

Smiling wide, Grayson held up his wand and aimed his wand over at one Porlock first. The closest one because lol lazy boy over here. "Animalis Fidelis!" Another successful attempt was a major boost to his ego.

While a Porlock walking away was not.

Er. What? WHAT?! Hello?! It wasn't meant to do THAT. Come BACK, Porlock. Follow your mate over here that was currently walking towards him. Grayson held up his wand to cast a spell over at the creature that was walking away but, before he could do more than aim, the creature had disappeared amongst some horses.

Rude. Jeez. Give 'em free food and they start taking liberties.

Yeah, whatever, he was done.

She'd restyled his hair.



The Aethonan had with her barrage of licks upon Cutty's head as if he were a foal. His ape-like face bent into a scowl of disapproval. Getting to his feet, Cutty took a few steps back and casted, "Finite!" Then turned to run at just the same time the Aethonan had done herself. And like all females who depart from Cutty's side she too was probably left wondering what on Earth she'd been thinking.

His hair holding the swept up and around style in which the winged horse had licked it, Cutty headed for the basket. This time, he pulled out the brightly coloured tomato. "Magimus." He threw the incantation at it along with the wand motion before stuffing his pockets with two or three more tomatoes just in case he needed them and heading back to the grassy area.

He ventured out and found a rock behind which he could crouch and flung out the shimmery tomato. He again waited impatiently. This time, no strange locomotion of the porlocks would throw off his name. He'd studied them.

The spell MUST have worked, 'cause Dot had managed not to drive her porlock away. She was practically close enough to braid its hair, and the creature was nomming the charmed apple and occasionally throwing curious glances her way, but was NOT leaving.

"Hi." As soon as Dot was close enough, she sat down hard in the grass and leaned in to whisper to her porlock. "I'm Dot. I'm very safe and I promise to never ever hurt you. Can I pet you please?" She held out a hand, just to test the waters, and when the porlock didn't react, she settled her fingers lightly on the course coat. "Such a very nice, pretty porlock. You don't hafta be scared, okay?"

Not that it was scared, but she felt like she had to say it. Would it actually be okay to braid its hair? She was gonna give it a try unless the professor made her stop.

From behind his rock, Cutty picked up the sounds of the class. Repeated castings, the sound of wind, some exuberance from successes, and small moans of failures paired with the far off sound of hooves, whipping wings, whinnies and the occasional crunching of crisp, sweet fruits. Time passed slowly for Cutty and were it not for the impulse control potion he'd been prescribed by his healer it would've felt like an eternity and he might've darted out at the creatures.


He heard the clompish footsteps of the large Abraxan approaching. And almost immediately after, the skittish rustling of the porlock guardian. What followed next was the sound of wet nibbling, sounding almost like drinking. The porlock was in firing range now and it had taken the bait.

"Animalis Fidelis." He fired without hesitation hitting the little nibbling creature square on the rear end. It froze, and at first Cutty thought he hadn't hit it at all. That he'd merely startled it and it was looking up for signs of danger. Instead, it's head tilted and it took in the sight of the boy with the unkempt hair and slowly, slooowly crept ever closer.

Cutty stood again to his full height, no longer crouching behind the large rocks. He extended his hand out until eventually the creature was coasting right beneath it succumbing to the touch with a sort of bashful will. Gently, Cutty stroked the creatures messy...uh, mane? He then wondered what porlocks looked like beneath all of their shag. Would Professor Thompson let him shave the creature down? In the name of Magizoology?