Okay fruit? Check. Now what?... Uh. The Gryffindor looked around at the others and oh wait, they were actually supposed to do something with the fruiiiiiiit! Right. He knew that, totally. Taking his wand out of his bag-- because pft who actually carried their wand on them at all times? Hogwarts was sheltered. Pft. Except for when Romanos came around with her Cold One army and yeaaaah. Good times. Throwback to when.

But incantation. "Maa-Gee-Mus," he could do that. A spell for making fruit sweeter. Huh, magic did just about anything, didn't it? "Maa-Gee-Mus!" He practice saying it a couple of times until the words became fluid. "Magimus... Magimus.... Magimus!" SWEEET (heh, geddit?).

Magimus.

Now for the movement part because that he might forget. Circles, pft he could do that no problem! Circles. He practiced a couple of times without the fruit and then began tracing around the Lemon itself. Easy.

Beverly was more excited at the mention of the winged horses rather than the Porlocks. But she was all for it since it meant she'd get to see her second to dragons favorite creatures.

Watching the professor, Beverly muttered the incantation under her breath, her wrist moving in a circular motion as he did. That seemed simple, as far as the incantation and wand movement went. She suppose she needed a fruit to practice this on. Moving from her place, she went and decided on an apple. She wouldn't mind taking bites from one in case -- Merlin forbid -- she cast the spell incorrectly.

So now it was time to practice the incantation and wand movement alone before actually casting on the fruit. Kate thought about the incantation. "Maa-gee-mus. Maa-gee-mus," she said a few times. That kind of sounded like a person's last name, but that also made it easier to remember. Now to blend everything together. "Magimus. Magimus!" That second time, she'd been a little more confident, obviously.

Kate then turned her wand around in a circle as if it was the circumference of the lemon. Putting everything together didn't seem to be too hard, so Kate didn't think it as necessary to practice anymore. Besides, she doubted they had forever to do this anyway. Kate put the lemon out in front of her then raised her wand toward it. "Magimus!" she called out. As she said this, she circled her wand around the lemon.

Apple in hand, Beverly tossed up in the air and caught it in her left hand. It was a good apple, not mushy or anything. Taking her wand from its holster she traced an invisible circle around it, getting a feel of how she'd do it once she actually cast. Like she thought before, that wasn't the hard part.

Now, to the incantation.

"Maa-gee-mus," she tried out. It sounded like something someone would name a pet. Her, at least. "Magimus," she repeated once more, this time without pausing. "Magimus." More conviction in her voice. "Magimus!"

Sounded proper. Sounded like she had this in the bag. Lets hope the Porlocks enjoy sparkly, sweet apples.

Holding the apple on the flat of her palm, Beverly inhaled, then exhaled. She was ready. "Magimus!" Her wand traced the circumference of the apple, not too fast nor to slow, hand steady...

YUUUUCK. Gaaah.

Kyroh spit out the last bite of the tomato. It wasn't even like the tomato was gross or anything it was the fact that TOMATOES were not meant to be eaten in big chucks. They were meant to be eaten cut up finely mixed with salad or on sandwich or just hidden away somewhere else so you didn't realize you were eating something healthy.

Yuck.

"What did I do wrong?" He had said the charm right, and the wand movement- oooooh.....had he gone ALL the way around the tomato? Like 360 all the way around?

That was probably it.

A slight giggle escaped his lips. That was a silly mistake that even he couldn't be mad about. Feeling a little more daring Kyroh ran back over to the basket and grabbed a lemon.

THIS time he'd get it right or DIE TRYING.

But not really die.

Maybe.

Could taking a bite out of a lemon kill you?

Seemed like a Gryffindor thing to want to find out, but either way the third year raised his wand. "Magimus!" Circling the WHOLE circumference of the lemon with his wand, Kyroh hesitated before carefully pointing his wand at it again. "Diffindo". Once the lemon was cut in two halfs he lifted one to his mouth and sighed happily as the sugary juice landed on his tongue.

Happily sucking on the lemon, Kyroh walked up to Zander and stuck it in his face. HERE SIDEKICK!

Oh, the girl was okay. That was good. And she was trying again, and by the looks of things, succeeding. That gave Amur hope.

She turned her attention back to her own lemon and steeled herself. She would get this.

Letting out a slow, shallow breath, Amur brought her wand back up and slowly went around the lemon. Again and again and again. Sweet. Sweet sweet sweet. She liked sweet. But that wasn't the point. It wasn't for her. It was for the horse guardians. It was to show them they were good people. That they could be trusted.

"Magimus." She stated it simply. A fact. A need for it to work. A determination that it would work. Small sparks, slightly brighter than before, came from the circle her wand was tracing, and settled onto the lemon skin, giving it a faint sheen.

She gave way to hope, and finishing the last pass of her wand, rested it across her knees. Bringing the lemon up to her lips with both hands, Amur hesitated before taking a small bite. It was sweet. Deliciously so, and this time her toes curled in a good way. This was candy!

Boy did she love that spell!

Nooooo waaaay.

BREAKING NEWS. A TOMATO WAS A FRUIT!?!??!?!?!?? Whuuuuut???? BUT THN WHY WAS IT ALL VEGETABLE-Y??? She looked DISTRUSTFULLY at the vegevillain fruuuuit and took an apple. Nope. She was never going to eat a tomato again, after it LIED to her for so long.

Kate looked down at the lemon. So she was supposed to actually taste it now? She didn't like lemons at all, but this spell was supposed to make it tastier, right? Kate inwardly shrugged and peeled away a bit of the peeling to reveal the (hopefully) goodness inside. She took an experimental bite, swallowed, and then promptly made a face. The lemon's taste had improved, but it was still very sour to her, so she doubted a Porlock wanted it.

Back to the drawing board.

Kate put the lemon in front of her once again. "Magimus!" she said, using a bit more force and intent. She traced her wand around the circumference of the lemon. Alright, taste test time again! Kate picked up the lemon and raised it to her mouth. Ohhh, it had worked, she thought! It wasn't disgusting anymore, so she bet a Porlock would be interested!

Time to magic it up in HERE!

Still oozing with enough confidence to fill the lake, Grayson took out his wand from inside his robes. Confidence was key to spell casting, he knew that. Couldn't do anything if you didn't believe in yourself either. Needed that drive and all. And you needed to stand in front of the mirror and tell yourself that you're freaking awesome and no one can mess with you and then YOU DON'T LET ANYONE MESS WITH YOU.

............

Jeez, he wasn't turning into a sap, was he?

Seeing as that wasn't something he should be worrying about NOW, the Slytherin turned his attention towards his fruit instead. He took a moment to draw a few invisible circles around the fruit. Why? Because he felt like it. "Magimus!" he called, drawing a circle around the fruit.

LOL. Nothing. Alright then.

"Magimus!"

................ Was it SPARKLING or what? Slightly sceptical, Grayson held the fruit up and examined it closely. The problem with this fruit was that apples were generally quite shiny already, weren't they? How in the name of Merlin was he meant to tell whether it was SPARKLING?! Was there gonna be a definite sign of this or was the apple just gonna look shinier than it did already?

Man, talk about confusing.

Deciding to go again just in case, Grayson said in a much clearer and louder voice, "Magimus!" And it was SPARKLING. Freaking YES. That HAD to be it, surely.

And to test it out, he was gonna start munching on the fruit, mkay? NOM NOM NOM.

Mmmmm......... talk about sweet. He was well chuffed with this.

Okay now that was quite enough practice. Merlin, after saying that incantation so many times it didn't even sound like a spell anymore. Or even like words. Or letters??? What was even going on anymore?! This wasn't Runes. He should be able to understand!? AHEM. Making the lemon edible. That's what he was trying to do here.

Holding the fruit up in his palm, the Gryffindor gave it a good long stare before lifting his wand. He did the circling thing AND the "Maa-Gee-Mus," thing too. And...... Did it work? Well it, uh, looked a little bit shinier? Maybe?? Well okay yes it did look like it was glistening. But maybe picking a lemon wasn't the best choice?

Everyone was testing their fruit out, but you can't just take a bite out of a lemon, you know? It has thick skin. Thick skin that does NOT taste good at all. Maybe he'd just pass on the whole testing the lemon thing all together because if he did the spell wrong then a lemon wouldn't be too pleasant and-- O___________O

Lemon in face????

Welp. So much for that plan. Seeing has he didn't have much of a choice, the Gryffindor opened his mouth and oooh? It... It tasted quite nice actually? Using his non-lemon holding hand, to take hold of the inface!lemon, Zander took hold of the wedge and... Kyroh? "Uh, it tastes nice Kyroh? I think you did it right?" Is that what the purpose of face!lemon was?

The apple did not sparkle with such radiance the Slytherin had expected it to. She accepted that it at least didn't explode right there on her hand, but still...expectations. Sparkly expectations were not met.

Tilting her head, she brought the apple to her lips and gave it a quick sniff. It smelled like...apple. So that hadn't changed. Warily, the Prefect sunk her teeth into it, enjoying the crunchy sound. Definitely not mushy and it tasted good. Still like a apple but a bit more sweet.

Not sweet enough, though.

Taking another bite of it, she poised her wand over it again, tracing the fruit's shape as she cast, "Magimus!"

Oh! Sparkles!

Not the white blinding kind, but visible ones. More than before. Finishing the spell without breaking concentration--which was harder said than done-- Beverly stared at it. Bitten but it still looked grand, that apple did. Biting into it once more, she unintentionally closed her eyes. Yep. Sweetest apple she's ever tasted. And she was eating it all.

Paloma looked down at her fruit. Because now, tomatoes for her are fruit, not vegetables. Heheh. She kinda knew that, they were more like citruses, than all the others combined.

So, she took her wand, and slowly made it twirl around the tomato's circumference, "Magimus..." And awww, a bunch of sparkles just glew from the tomato, making it look like a little red diamond, or a glowing red apple, like that one from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs story. Would it taste as sweet as one though?

"Let's...have...a taste...just one." She said, dramatically quoting one of the lines she once said in the Snow White play when she was little, as she bit it slowly, and hoping it would all work.

EUGH. It was more like a poisioned apple. The seeds, and the little babbling thing were not sweet yet. She pouted...this wasn't working.

Maybe it WAS supposed to sparkle? Other people's fruits were sparkling. Possibly even Grayson's. Dima needed to STOP looking at him so much, okay?

It just made him feel like he was WRONG. Merlin.

"Diffindo!" Lemon now in two halves, Dima raised one to his lips and gave a little lick to catch some stray juice dribbling out if the pulpy part. THAT was definitely not sour, alright? Which meant... he had done it RIGHT? ALL BY HIMSELF?

Ch'yeah, he had. Totally didn't need Grayson Whitlock.

Okay, that was a lie.

So she had her apple now but for some reason Tia felt distracted as she observed her classmates casting the spells on their own fruits. And the Professor had either not heard her or ignored her question about tomatoes being a vegetable. Siigh.

Ah better quit wasting time. Holding the apple in one hand, the fourth year muttered Magimus, several times as she tried to get the enunciation correctly. Encircling the fruit with her wand, the Ravenclaw muttered "Magimus" and waited. And waited. And frowned. No sparks? Maybe it still got sweet though. Biting into the apple, Tia chewed thoughtfully. It was definitely sweeter than normal, but it didn't really taste extra sweet.

"Magimus" Tia cast again, drawing a circle around the apple once more. Maybe casting the spell twice would be more effective.

Adi eyed AJ. "Fair point, Ms Valentine. I'll let you have that win.'' If she wanted to think he followed her, he'd let her think that. But in reality, they just thought so much alike.

Since he was all done with making the usually sour fruit sweet, Adi looked around at his classmates all working on their own fruits. So of course he failed to notice AJ's antics. He would have stopped her if he had seen what she had been up to.

"You did what?" the Puffer asked. Did she just say what he thought she said? O__O Oh, yeah. AJ held no lemon in her hand. And she wanted him to give her half of his? In amusement he shook his head. "I'm not going to spoil you. There's still fruit in the basket. You can go start all over again. Serves you right for liking sweets more than porlocks.'' Hehe. The only help the girlfriend would be getting from him is help with the spell if she needed it.

Another question, how lovely. No really, since it showed interest. "Health wise this spell is no different than using typical artificial sweeteners so that is up to the individual if they decide to use this over regular sugar. The spell essentially fills the item with sweet tasting particles, with the sparks that emit from the food is actually the original taste floating away." Magic was wonderful like that. "It can even work on vegetables and other food items, but of course at the price of removing some those important nutrients."

After a while, it seemed to be nearly time to move on as Professor Thompson looked around seeing just about everyone being successful or at least getting the concept to it. "Alright everyone, you can stop what you are doing." Now then, "With these remaining fruits we will be taking them out to where the Winged Horses are. You may buddy up with someone if you wish, but it is not necessary in order to be successful." And with that, he took up the large basket before saying, "Let's go." It was a fairly short walk compared to the trek from the castle.

---

All they had to do was keep following the Professor who was walking straight into the barnyard to the other end where the double set of doors were already open showcasing the wide open grass area. Eventually stopping to where there was plenty of distance between the herd of Winged Horses. Turning back to as he waited on the others, he continued "Now the plan is to take the remaining fruits and use the "Magimus" spell on them. After it is successful on at least three fruits you can set them down on the grass close to the horses. This will get some of the Winged Horses attention to where the Porlocks will have no choice to follow."

However, "Since we will want to speed up the process on seeing the Porlocks we will also be using another spell on them." Now what spell was it? "Animalis Fidelis." The older students who were present during his first year of teaching were more likely to remember it. "It is essentially the friendship spell for creatures to be more obedient to the caster. Unlike the dark Impervius curse, this will eliminate their fear of humans and allow them to be more trusting enough to happily approach us. As long as we don't have cruel intentions with them, they will happily come over so we can pet and talk with them." Sounded fair, yes? "Like so.."

Professor Thompson then took a random fruit from the basket. It was a yellow apple. "Magimus." Doing the moving his wand in the circle motion around the circumference of the apple, the sparks started to form. He didn't need to taste it to know what it would be. Carefully he rolled the apple on the ground as if it were a bowling ball with enough force to be sent out a distance without hitting any of the horses. "Now the waiting.. it shouldn't take long. It's much quicker when more are rolled out." Just so they knew ahead of time.

It took half a minute roughly, before one of the Winged Horses.. a Granian, curiously left its friends to walk by the apple before stopping halfway. The sparkles from the apple were very entrancing. Below the legs of the horse, one could see what resembled a moving thick layer of brunette shaggy locks. It was definitely a Porlock. The Professor's voice went softer, but still audible, "Carefully aim at them with a sharp flick towards them- Animalis Fidelis!" The spell shot right at the Porlock, who had just picked up the apple to eat. Rather than drop the apple from its barely visible stubby fingers, it proceeded to slink across the grass up to the class.

The Porlock was quite small compared to the Professor even when he crouched to one bended knee to pet him. It made a distinct cooing noise in enjoyment before it fit the apple through its hair to eat. "See, it is just fine." Nothing dangerous from the looks of things. "Now you all can try. Take as many fruits as you feel necessary since the basket is charmed to fill itself up. Send a few rolling after it has been sweetened then use the Animal friendship charm on them."

---
OOC: As explained you will be performing the following tasks in at least four labeled posts. Whether you choose to be partnered or not is up to you since it can be done either way.
- Take at least three fruit. Charm them with Magimus to sweeten them.
- Roll the fruits, individually or all at once keeping a certain distance and making sure not to hit the Winged Horses.
- Keep still without moving, once you see a horse approach the fruit(s) get ready to use the Animal Friendship charm on the expected Porlock.
- Use Animalis Fidelis on the Porlock. If you miss, just send another fruit and try again as they'll come back for more.
- Interact (pet, talk, etc) with them when they approach you.

You will have until February 4th 11:59 pm EST to complete this. Feel free to poke, VM, PM me if you have any questions. =)

So now that they had the hang of things -- or at least, HE thought he had the hang of things, it seemed it was time to get moving and onto the proper task. Weeeee! Zeke gladly followed the Professor through the barn and over to the other side... still munching on his lemon. It was a GREAT lemon.

Once they stopped near enough to the horses, Zeke payed attention as the Professor demonstrated their task. He made it look so easy. It was easy, wasn't it? Right? RIGHT?!

As soon as they were given the command that THEY could give it a go, Zeke bounced forward to snag himself some fruit. He grabbed whatever his hands could get a hold of, which happened to be two apples (a red and a green), a tomato and another lemon. Now the only thing that remained to be seen, was whether he was working with someone, or by himself. He wasn't fazed either way.

Full attention on the Professor the small brunette listened carefully to his instructions. Take a few of the fruits, use 'Magimus' on them all. Roll them across the field to the winged horses with hitting them. Wait for a Porlock then cast 'Animalis Fidelis' on it. When it comes over interact with it.

Check. Check. Check and check.

Hady could do this. She would do this. With or without a partner by her side she'd accomplish the task at hand. Following the Professor through the gates she stood off to the side watching as he easily demonstrated what needed to be done. He'd made it look very very easy.

When told to she made her way forward to the basket and picked up whatever was on top. Two lemons, a tomato and a green apple. These should hopefully be enough for her...if not she'd return and get more. Having what she needed she moved away from everyone else to her own area and knelt down in the grass to prepare herself.

Deciding to take his business away from the business of being close to everyone else, Zeke took his fruits and walked a short distance before settling himself down on the grass. Warm robes were a good thing, yep.

He was confident with the spell they'd learned, so without hesitation, wand in hand, he traced a circle around his tomato first all the while stating the incantation with strong intention, "Magimus." The sparks that formed around it briefly was a good indication that it had worked, and the crystallised shine it took on was also a good indication... 'suppose it meant he didn't need to do a taste test on this one. Boo.

Zeke repeated the spell on his remaining apples and lemon. "Magimus... magimus... magimus..." Success! Success! Success!! ... he was seriously going to be using this spell more often. Wait, was it a SPELL? Or a CHARM?....

Happy with his work, the Gryffindor propped himself up onto his knees, and slowly rolled one fruit after the other toward one of the winged horses, a pretty chestnut one.

Let her have that win? Let her? "You didn't let me win anything." Just saying. Then again when did this become a competition. For a moment AJ forgot about what it was they were talking about. Oh yeah, choosing the lemon. Yeah, she totally won that. Heh

Yeah, she was not going to repeat the fact that she had snarfed her lemon down in record time. Adi most likely just needed a moment to let that sink in. Just when she thought none of her antics would be surprising anymore. Adi was processing, and then-- What? "It would take a lot more than a lemon to spoil me." Do it herself? RUUUUDE! "I would give you half of my lemon if you needed it." Was her prefect getting a little big for his britches? Lucky for Adi, the professor spoke up and told them that they were moving on.

Oh, so they needed to charm more fruit anyways, so it was totally cool that her first lemon was all snug in her belly now. She shot her boyfriend a look. And they could work in pairs. "Wanna work together? Or will that be helping me out too much?" Okay, that was the last snarky comment.

Now she needed some more fruit. AJ walked over to the basket and picked out two of each fruit and brought them back to where her and Adi were standing. "I figured we could change it up a bit."

After rolling the first couple, he paused for a brief moment, having caught the attention of the chestnut horsey - it's head turned to look at the fruit before turning back to he patch of grass it was grazing on. Almost. Almost. Was the Porlock still interested? Heeeerrreee Porlock, Porlock, Porlock!

He rolled another of his fruits again, keeping the other in his possession just in case. The one he rolled come to a halt just short of the horses hind legs. Gobstones was really good for developing his aim.

Remaining perfectly still, Zeke waited... waited.... and waited some more. All in all it wasn't THAT long, but he wasn't the most patient of people. A small pile of shag was soon seen as it came out from behind the horse. SUCCESS!!! HE SNARED HIS PORLOCK!... almost. Now he just had to befriend it right? RIGHT? Easy. The Professor made it look easy. But, what was that spell he used? Animalia Fidalia? No. That wasn't it.

He paused, watching as the Porlock paced around the apple that was there. He had to think quick. WHAT WAS THE SPELL?!?!...

And then he remembered, or, at least he thought he remembered.

Slowly, VERRRYYYY slowly, he slipped his wand into his hand, and then flicked it in the direction of the shag-pile creature. "Animals Fiddlus," he tried. Nothing. "Animalis Fidelus," he tried AGAIN... still nothing.

"Animalis Fidelis," he tried for the third time, flicking his wand aim toward the porlock.

And the third time was a CHARM. So. Did that mean he could like, approach the thing? Could he kneel down and pat it too?

Placing her fruit down in front of her and sitting on her knees in the grass it was time to get started. Pulling out her wand she picked up the first lemon looking it over. Hopefully it'd work this time and she wouldn't have much trouble with it like she had earlier.

Here's to hoping...

Waving her wand in the circular motion around her lemon she spoke the proper charm. "Magimus." Watching closely nothing happened. No shininess or anything. What was wrong with her today?

Feeling frustrated with herself already she lifted her head to look at the winged horses for a few moments. Unsurprisingly to her watching the animals helped relax her again so she could focus. Looking back to the lemon in her hand she was ready to try again.

This time with much more clear intent she gave the charm "Magimus!" along with the circular movement of her wand around the lemon. Right away there was a shine to her fruit and she knew it had worked. Yay!

With a tiny grin Hady repeated the charm several more times with great success on her remaining lemon, tomato and apple. If she saw the difference she didn't have to taste them right? She didn't think she did.

Adi simply raised an eyebrow at AJ. His look said it all. He LET her win. Yep and she better believe it. "Not quite what I meant,'' he told her, referring to the lemon situation. "I meant that it would also be good for you to start over since you could better your spell work.'' She had better be thankful that he cared about that much than to just give into all of her demands and that he wanted her to become a better witch.

Oh... so they didn't need the first charmed fruits? Cool! The Puff looked at AJ. "Lucky. Greedy girl.'' He added that last bit playfully. "And yes, it would be helping you too much.'' He kept a serious expression on his face for most of the time but then he had to grin. "Kidding. Of course I want to work with you,'' he told her before she went to grab them fruits.

One of each fruit for the two of them! O__O Here it was again she had been thinking the same as he. It was so cool the way they thought. It never ceased to surprise him. "Ready to charm them? Let's see who gets all three done first.'' Competition mode, initiate!

Still pleased that she had done she spell right on her first go, Lux curiously watched as Professor Thompson demonstrated the next activity. Awww, look at that little Porlock. It was her turn to try and get one to come over, fingers crossed it would work!

If Bay was here she would do the activity with him, but since he wasn't she'd work on her own.

Making her way back over to the basket, she sifted through the fruit and in the end selected two of each. The tomatoes weren't too bad so long as SHE didn't have to eat them, and maybe the Porlocks actually enjoyed really sweet tomatoes. The apples on the other hand looked delicious and she wished she could eat one but figured that was probably not a good idea. It just was the lemon had been TOO sweet and something more tart would have made the taste in her mouth better.

Heading back to her spot, Lux took her seat then placed the fruit in her lap.

Whether or not that was what he meant to say, that was how she took it. AJ won at life, and that was that. "Either way..." It was her idea first, and Adi may have had the same thought process as she did, but she got there first. That made her the winner. There was no use in harping on that though. Adi knew how she was. "I didn't want to start all over." The lesson was about to move on, and she didn't have time to do it again. Come to find out it didn't even matter. AJ really did understand that Adi was just trying to look out for her, but sometimes just lending a hand would be nice.

Greedy was something that AJ was not. Did she love to scarf sweet treats? Duh, but that didn't mean she wouldn't share them. He was kidding though so she let that little comment slide. Oh really now? "Fine, I can go find a more helpful partner." Had to call his bluff. "That's better," she said with a huge smile on her face. She loved that they could tease each other this way without anyone getting mad over it.

Competition time. "It's going to be me, but let's do it." It was nice for it to be all official. AJ picked up and apple first. "Magimus!" The circle was drawn. There weren't any sparks and the apple looked normal. This was a competition AJ. You have to get your head in the game.

"Magimus." She traced a circle over the fruit again. This time sparks were happening, and she was looking at a bright and shiny apple. "You are so going down."