SPOILER!!: Zeke, Brooklyn, Maggie

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I'll have your backs'

........

Maggie had SO MANY THINGS to say in reply to this. But eventually didn't. She didn't want to antagonize Zeke after all. Not yet. Not when he could still be of use to her. So she let it slide, simply lifting her head slightly and grabbing her wand firmly. Right. Let's go. Also let's not die.

Walking next to Brooklyn for now (seeing as the inseparable Zeke and Hady were, well, inseparable), Maggie followed them further into the jungle. Would there be stations? Would someone explain things? Would they be tested individually? Would they-

OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG



Her first reaction to the BUGS was to shriek and try and swat them away with her wand. Which was HIGHLY ineffective. Also she could no longer see the others. "Protego!" Okay. That was a....that was at least a start. Now what? Maggie had read the instructions and was currently trying to remember the spells they were supposed to use.

Being surrounded by water goblets didn't really feel like a good idea.

"WHAT DO WE DO?"

She did have team mates after all. They could at least try and be useful.

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Maggie was definitely the unknown in this situation, possibly even more than whatever was in the jungle ahead of them. Brooklyn knew she and Hady worked well together, and she remembered Zeke last term during the mapmaking. She remembered he’d been the one to get them into the Chamber of Secrets, so that meant she knew he’d be useful. Not to mention she knew he at least meant it when he’d said he’d watch Hady’s back. Brooklyn was hardly offended by the suggestion she needed someone to watch hers. She could take care of herself, but she also knew it was so much easier when she had someone to do it for her. All queens had guards after all, and if he was going to offer…

It was possible she’d had the least response to that sentence, as the four of them had stepped into the jungle after the others who had already done so. All she was doing was listening, to the sounds from the students ahead of them, to the sounds of the jungle. Listening, and mentally complaining about the heat and the humidity. Professor Bellaire hopefully wouldn’t be quite as strict about appearance by the end of this. It would be impossible to look perfect after making it through a rainforest, after all.

She’d stepped away from Maggie as the girl had shrieked, narrowly avoiding being hit by the flailing. Unfortunately, it didn’t mean she avoided the cloud of bugs, but she’d pulled the note she’d gotten earlier out and lifted it over her face moments before she’d gotten a faceful of locusts and mosquitos. Ew, she thought, considering just trying to hex the bugs before she heard Maggie’s shield spell. Followed by the second shriek, and she sighed. This was going to take forever.

“Maybe we need something that’ll eat the bugs?,” she suggested, her voice muffled by the note still held inches from her face. She’d seen the bird spell listed there, and the dragon spell she so wanted to cast again. She wanted to get Balerion back. But that would mean finding a rock, and she’d have to move the note in order to do that. She wasn’t planning on that happening until she knew they’d gotten rid of the bugs.

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Was it something he said?

Between Hady's arched brows and the deafening silence, he was SURE he'd said something wrong... but for the life of him he couldn't think what it was, nor did he really care. Nope.

ADVENTURE!

The buzzing he had heard, very soon turned into a SWARM of bug things... like, a CYCLONE of bug things. Holy crickets.

....

Zeke swatted about at the air in front of him, though bugs wouldn't KILL him, would they?

....

"We freeze them," dduuuhhhh... was Zeke's response, but as was about to cast the charm, realised just that. It was a charm. Were they allowed to use charms? Professor Bellaire hadn't exactly instructed SPECIFICALLY to use transfiguration, after all, her words were to use the BEST WAY to like survive the phases... as far as he could tell so far in his three years of study, was that charms were by far more useful.

But then Brooklyn mentioned something to EAT the bugs??


"What? Like ... lizards? birds?" OOHHH, were there rocks? They could totally turn them into dragons! Dragons were lizards, and they could breathe fire onto the bugs! CRISPY BUGS! "I say we find rocks and use draconifors."

Wrinkling her nose slightly Hady swatted a hand at a bug. Annoying little things really but living where she did when she wasn't here at school she was a bit used to them. However being bitten by them wasn't all that fun. Maggie's shield probably wouldn't help much...nor would freezing them.

What was the talk of dragons? Wouldn't a dragon um destroy everything else along with the bugs? Wiping her face with the sleeve of her shirt she thought over as many spells and charms that she could. That was when she saw what Brooklyn was holding and grinned pulling the folded parchment from her pocket where she'd stuck it earlier and quickly scanning over it.

"You can try to make find rocks and make dragons if you wanna," Hady replied looking at her bestie when he gave the suggestion before nodding towards Brooklyn. "Birds eat bugs though. So I'm gonna give something a try..." The third year knew the bird spell and it's wand movement but it was advanced...she had no idea if it would work or not. Holding her wand firmly in her hand she pointed it towards the bugs stating firmly and clearly, "Avis!" And nothing.

Taking a deep breath she prepared to give it another try picturing the flock of birds in her mind as she repeated the charm, "Avis!" Several brightly colored birds burst from her wand heading towards the bugs. It wasn't like she'd hoped it would be with tons of birds but it was something. Maybe the others in her team could give it a go before the stupid bugs got even more annoying.

Stupefy, AJ? Really? Stupefy? Okay, it was true. For a moment there her brain had shut off and the only spell the came to mind was the stunning spell. Yeah, it hadn't exactly worked for her during the defense class either. Whoops. Hopefully Lux wasn't already wishing she hadn't agreed to be her partner? No way. AJ was still awesome no matter what. She just had to be better focused next time.

"Good thinking!" Thank Merlin for Lux and her being able to keep her head on. It was sometimes hard to think like a witch instead of a muggle even though this was her fourth year at Hogwarts. Old habits were hard to kick apparently. Not wanting to be a complete waste of a partner, AJ too conjuring some bug eating birds.

"Avis." It didn't work on her first attempt. Of course it didn't. "Avis!" Her birds joined Lux's and ate up all the pesky insects. "I hate being itchy." Because of course she had several bites on her, but she would live.

"Let's keep moving." Incase more came from somewhere else, or their birds got a full belly and got lazy on them. As the lion trekked on, she started to notice how very hot she was. In fact sweat was dripping down her neck. "I could really use some water right about now." Maybe they could use the aguamenti charm and shoot water in each other's mouths? It sounded like a really good idea to her. Before she could speak her plan, she spotted a pond in the distance.

Now, this should have been a curious thing to see JUST when she was starting to get thirsty. Somebody that didn't jump right into things would have taken the time to think this through, but not AJ. That just wasn't her style.

"A pond, Lux." AJ ran over to it and barely had her fingertips in the water when she saw something underneath the surface swimming at her at full speed. With her quick reflexes she was able to pull back just in time. "What is that?" Her face moved closer to the pond. "I think those might be piranhas." Was Bellaire trying to have them eaten alive? Jealous that SHE couldn't be the one to eat the students?

'Maybe we need something that’ll eat the bugs'

Maggie barely heard Brooklyn suggestion through the loud buzzing of the bugs. Wasn't there a spell that would make them SHUT UP. Or you know, stop...making that noise. With their wings?? Bugs weren't exactly Maggie's area of expertise so she wasn't sure HOW they were making that noise but it was definitely annoying. At least it seemed that they were all close enough to each other to communicate.

Which, when Zeke spoke up, Maggie sort of regretted.

"How is a bunch of dragons going to help us????" Like, really? They weren't being attacked by deer. Or...you know, other BIGGER things. Like, actual animals. These were bugs. Dragons didn't eat bugs. Did they?

Wait....but something else he'd said....she mentally went through the list of spells again when.....

Ah yes. See? That was a more useful spell. If only the CASTER was a bit more useful too. Gosh, Hady. Had she not been practicing? Maggie rolled her eyes and quickly moved her wand in a way that it resembled a (poorly drawn) bird. "AVIS!" Ah. See. THAT'S HOW YOU DID THE MAGIC. Thank you, thank you. Yes.

Only by then her birds had also been joined by someone else's. Good.

"Quickly! Let's go!" Actually by now she wasn't even sure if she NEEDED the others (pfft she was the queen of magic clearly) so Maggie didn't turn around again to see if the others were following (they better) and instead just moved forward, further into the jungle. The birds had gotten rid of enough of the bugs that it was safe to pass through. Not without a few stings though.

OMG LOOK WATER THANK GOD!

Maggie was dehydrated. Like, big time. Which was why she immediately moved forward and towards the pond. Wait...was it clean though? "Is there a water cleaning spell?" What if it had been poisoned?

The Ravenclaw was panting just as much as Toby, and she was as thankful as EVER for this beautiful pond. And she was about to lean over to dip her hand in when--

Toby SCREAMED, and Eden almost FELL INTO THE POND. FROM FEAR. BECAUSE TOBY SCREAMED. But she grabbed a hold of his shoulder and clutched, tightly, to keep from rolling in. Well.

Hogwarts' students DIE? EDEN HAD JUST ALMOST DIED. DEATH BY BITEY FISH, APPARENTLY.

"....well. That sucks. Piranhas. Whooh. OF COURSE there's FLIPPING PIRANHAS!" she flailed in frustration and let go of Toby now that she had her footing, rubbing her forehead in thought. "We obviously need to do a bit of magic in order to get the water." That's what this class was. Testing their quick-thinking AND magical abilities. "So I think We need to...summon a goblet? Or rather....conjure a goblet? Can't we turn something into a goblet? I don't remember the spell..." That seemed to be Eden's MAIN problem. She could PERFORM well under the pressure--uh, yeah--but she couldn't REMEMBER the BLOODY SPELLS.

She flopped next to Toby and rolled on her back. "If I die out here, tell Phoenix I love him. And Cole Upstead. Oh--and Clara--also you should tell Evie, too--maybe you should owl my cousin, Iwin, as well--and my parents--" And Eden could have gone on, but she just...pretended to die, tongue stuck out and all.

Well.

Now was not the time for playing, McGee, but okay.

No? No takers on the dragons? To be perfectly honest he was a little disappointed, cause dragons were AWESOME, and so by extension they would be too. Maggie just didn't seem to understand. Tsk tsk tsk. "Dragons fly, and breathe fire, and if we transfigure them, we have control over them... could easily burn these bugs to crispy treats, and who knows what else they might be handy for." Obviously.

But... considering he couldn't see much in the way of rocks around, he decided to just go with whatever the girls were doing. Sigh.

"Avis!" he commanded from his wand, to no avail.... .... ahem, now was not the time to FAIL him, wand!!!! "Avis!" he repeated, and with his focus trained on producing birds they did indeed erupt from his wand tip and flocked with the others to devour the bugs. Bye bye buzzzzzzards.

He was only just beginning to notice that a part of his neck was itching, itching like it was on fire... no doubt he'd been bitten by something. Were these bugs poisonous? Did anyone have a bezoar on their person? Ahem...

Nevertheless, Zeke continued along their way silently, that was, until they came to a stop at a dirty pond thing. Was Maggie really that desperate?

Admittedly, he could really go for a drink. He was sure that half of his body's water somehow managed to extract itself from him and was currently condensing on his back along his spine, around his hair line and was even dripping off the end of his nose. "Why bother cleaning it when you can charm it?" he asked as if what Maggie was suggesting was the silliest idea ever. Non-verbally he cast a short burst of the Aguamenti Charm in Maggie's direction. Hehe. A spritzing did sound pretty good though.

But wait, did that water just move?

"I think there's something in there," Zeke observed.

Angel was scared as she entered the obstacle course on her own but she knew that it would be worth it if she could make it to the end. Angel looked around as she stepped under the canopying trees and suddenly she heard some buzzing noises, she was a bit scared because she had a feeling she knew what they were and she now had to figure out how to get rid of them. She went to ask someone if they knew when she stopped and giggled when she remembered this was all down to her, now she needed to figure this out she had a feeling that they would be easy for someone to eat but what could she used to eat these mean things.

Piranhas. Right. Bitey Fish, pirahnas. Tomayto, tomahto. THE POINT WAS, THEY WERE BITEY.

'... Need to do a bit of magic in order to get the water...' Well, yes. But what? Toby wasn't sure if he was meant to transfigure the bitey fish into something, or perhaps change the water somehow? But... the fish would still be an issue. "Summoning is a charm, that's not what she wants us to do." Soooo... conjure a goblet? Was there a spell for that?

But Toby was disturbed from his musings by Eden McGee... losing her mind. He looked around from where he'd been staring longingly at the water in the pond, and stared at the Ravenclaw with THE WIDEST OF EYES. WHAT. DYING. UM. NO.

Toby wasn't actually sure if Eden really WAS dead, because he wasn't paying a lot of attention. He was still thinking about how he only knew a few of the people she'd mentioned in her 'last words' and HOW he could communicate the news of her passing to the others. And then he realised what she was doing and shook her shoulder roughly. "SNAP OUT OF IT, MCGEE! Don't you dare DIE on me."

More rough shaking, which then very abruptly STOPPED, because Toby had an idea. He'd seen a little froggy friend chilling out nearby and watching their interaction. At first he'd been worried it was going to jump into the pond and get EATEN, when was what made him hurriedly pick the little thing up.

"Hey buddy." Easily distracted. Yes. "... Wait, hold on."

...

"Eden... EDEN. We can transfigure them! Animals to water goblets, remember?" He looked at her. "And... and then change them back after. C'mon, find a frog or something so you can drink from it."

Toby still had his wand out from the locusts and mosquitos, and he wasted no time in pointing it at the frog. "Sorry little guy. This is temporary though, I promise." Then he tapped thrice and, thinking and producing a WATER GOBLET and scooping up WATER to QUENCH HIS THIRST he cast the spell. "Vera Verto!"

Lux smiled as AJ said she hated being itchy; that was something they felt completely mutual about. Soon enough all the gross bugs were gone and they could move on. Good job, partner!" HIGH FIVE.

Continuing on, she wiped her hand across her brow. She liked the heat, but humidity like this killed her. Spotting the pond up ahead caused the redhead to squeal. Glorious water!! If only there was a tree with Chocolate Frogs and cucumber sandwiches. Then they could also have a bite to eat.

Looking into the water, Lux saw the piranhas AJ had mentioned. "I think you're right." She gave a shudder because the fish creeped her out. "Okay, we need something to drink from so that we don't get bitten..." Would Bellaire even let that happen? Honestly she wasn't too sure when it came to that woman...

Spotting a frog hopping towards the pond, Lux picked it up. "We can turn this into a water goblet." It was one of the spells she had practiced last term for OWLs, and while it was pretty difficult she was sure she could still do it. "Sorry, little froggy..." All her focus went into what she wanted the spell to do. With her wand, she tapped the animal three times sharply then pointed directly at it. "Vera Verto!"

Tada! Water goblet!

Soon enough with Ilia and Henric replicating boards and him and Adi lashing them together and vice versa, the old bridge was in much better shape than it had been. Or at least it looked that way. Benny held his position where he was, inspecting it as he debated in his mind whether or not it was ready to try and cross. However it was the Slytherin who spoke up first with the choice in hand.

"Alright," he said with a nod as Ilia volunteered to take the first chance to go across the rebuilt bridge. Her reasoning was sound, she had to be relatively light conpared to him and the other two, though that didn't mean he'd be cautious and intentive while she went. The sixth year ready to help as soon as there was trouble. That was even before she suggested a ready levitation charm to assist if it did. His wand was already out and ready for whatever it was to come.

The fourth year was doing well and the bridge was handling it all. So far so good for the outcome of the next leg of their journey. "Sounds like a plan," he agreed as Adi laid out the line-up for crossing. He himself wanted to make sure the others were taken care of before him cause there were other ways over if needed. When the Slytherin girl was nearing the end, Benny motioned for Henric in the direction of the bridge.

"After you..."

Did he think she hadn’t thought about the dragon spell? Brooklyn had thought about the dragon spell practically ever y day since they’d learned it, but between the four of them, the bugs and the jungle surroundings, she felt like they’d get squished if they transfigured dragons here. That spell had to be on the list for another reason, but soon enough Hady and, surprisingly, Maggie had conjured some birds and started to run. Followed by Zeke after he’d conjured some as well, and she’d sighed. It had been her idea, people. Don’t all take credit for it.

Just to make sure she didn’t get bit or stung or whatever, she traced the bird shape with her wand. “Avis!,” she cast, turning and following the others deeper into the jungle before she’d even noticed if the spell had produced any birds. The important part was that she wasn’t hurt at all, or itchy.

The note had done a good job of keeping them out of her mouth anyway, but she’d stuck it back in her pocket as she’d broken through a patch of ferns to see the other three near a pond. She realized exactly how thirsty she was at the same time she saw the jet of water shoot toward Maggie, but walked nearer to the pond anyway. Professor Bellaire wouldn’t poison them, would she? It was probably as clean as the water they’d had during the summer trip, anyway. But her eyes went to the surface of the water as Zeke had suggested something was in there.

It was too much to ask for it to be a baby Nessie. She knew that, but she still wanted to find out. Breaking off a frond from the fern she’d stepped through, she reached over to poke at the water with it. She wasn’t dumb enough to use her wand, or worse, her hand. It was better the fern get eaten than her, especially as she saw the fish chomp off three inches of green.

“Are there normally piranhas in a pond?”

Angel was now trying to figure out what spell she was going to use... well she knew what it was she wanted but she couldn't remember the name. "Avad!" or something like that... she was sure that wasn't right but what was it really called.

Angel tried to figure out the name. "Avas!!" Now that sounded nearly right but she was sure that wasn't right... she wanted to find it out now because otherwise these creatures would get her and she didn't want that to happen.

"Avis!" Angel suddenly remembered the spell... now though she really needed to get this right first time or things were going to get dicey and that was something she really didn't want to happen... she really wished her sister, her boyfriend or her fake brother was with her. That would have made her totally happy instead of how she was feeling now.

"Avis!" Angel did the wand movement and smiled as some birds came out and suddenly the birds were eating the annoying stuff... Angel was totally happy about that and it served them right, normally she would feel sorry for them but today she didn't.

llia seemed to be doing well, she was almost at the end.Good...she did it! Henric still kept an eye on her for any unstability in her movements. There was none, thankfully.Now it was his turn next. He gave a firm nod to Benny and a sign to Adi that he was ready to cross the bridge.Henric carefully stepped onto the first plank. It was a little wobbly at first but he kept his composture steady and balanced, he was not going to fall...not today...nope! He kept his head up and continued moving a few more steps. He was holding the ropes so tightly at the sides, he feared he would probably get ropeburns later.

"Don't look down...don't look down..."he muttered, trying to reassure himself that it was going to be fine. However, he did look down and was caught by surprise by the sheer drop it would be if he was to missed a step. Gonners....that was for sure. He knew it was only a projection, but that didn't mean he wasn't affected by it. Henric made his resolution to conquer his fear of falling and made his way to the foot of the bridge.

"Nicely done," he grinned, and went to join llia. He then stood in position, holding out his wand towards Benny who was next to cross.

Did he hear something rustling behind those tress? Henric turned his head to the side and had his eyes widened for what he had discovered.
"Guys, there are like tons of spider webs hanging on those trees!"Henric warned them. And they were massive! He didn't feel good about this...nope...not at all. Was that four pairs of eyes blinking at them behind those thick underlying bushes?!!

SPOILER!!: Maggie/Zeke/Brooklyn

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'Maybe we need something that’ll eat the bugs'

Maggie barely heard Brooklyn suggestion through the loud buzzing of the bugs. Wasn't there a spell that would make them SHUT UP. Or you know, stop...making that noise. With their wings?? Bugs weren't exactly Maggie's area of expertise so she wasn't sure HOW they were making that noise but it was definitely annoying. At least it seemed that they were all close enough to each other to communicate.

Which, when Zeke spoke up, Maggie sort of regretted.

"How is a bunch of dragons going to help us????" Like, really? They weren't being attacked by deer. Or...you know, other BIGGER things. Like, actual animals. These were bugs. Dragons didn't eat bugs. Did they?

Wait....but something else he'd said....she mentally went through the list of spells again when.....

Ah yes. See? That was a more useful spell. If only the CASTER was a bit more useful too. Gosh, Hady. Had she not been practicing? Maggie rolled her eyes and quickly moved her wand in a way that it resembled a (poorly drawn) bird. "AVIS!" Ah. See. THAT'S HOW YOU DID THE MAGIC. Thank you, thank you. Yes.

Only by then her birds had also been joined by someone else's. Good.

"Quickly! Let's go!" Actually by now she wasn't even sure if she NEEDED the others (pfft she was the queen of magic clearly) so Maggie didn't turn around again to see if the others were following (they better) and instead just moved forward, further into the jungle. The birds had gotten rid of enough of the bugs that it was safe to pass through. Not without a few stings though.

OMG LOOK WATER THANK GOD!

Maggie was dehydrated. Like, big time. Which was why she immediately moved forward and towards the pond. Wait...was it clean though? "Is there a water cleaning spell?" What if it had been poisoned?

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No? No takers on the dragons? To be perfectly honest he was a little disappointed, cause dragons were AWESOME, and so by extension they would be too. Maggie just didn't seem to understand. Tsk tsk tsk. "Dragons fly, and breathe fire, and if we transfigure them, we have control over them... could easily burn these bugs to crispy treats, and who knows what else they might be handy for." Obviously.

But... considering he couldn't see much in the way of rocks around, he decided to just go with whatever the girls were doing. Sigh.

"Avis!" he commanded from his wand, to no avail.... .... ahem, now was not the time to FAIL him, wand!!!! "Avis!" he repeated, and with his focus trained on producing birds they did indeed erupt from his wand tip and flocked with the others to devour the bugs. Bye bye buzzzzzzards.

He was only just beginning to notice that a part of his neck was itching, itching like it was on fire... no doubt he'd been bitten by something. Were these bugs poisonous? Did anyone have a bezoar on their person? Ahem...

Nevertheless, Zeke continued along their way silently, that was, until they came to a stop at a dirty pond thing. Was Maggie really that desperate?

Admittedly, he could really go for a drink. He was sure that half of his body's water somehow managed to extract itself from him and was currently condensing on his back along his spine, around his hair line and was even dripping off the end of his nose. "Why bother cleaning it when you can charm it?" he asked as if what Maggie was suggesting was the silliest idea ever. Non-verbally he cast a short burst of the Aguamenti Charm in Maggie's direction. Hehe. A spritzing did sound pretty good though.

But wait, did that water just move?

"I think there's something in there," Zeke observed.

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Did he think she hadn’t thought about the dragon spell? Brooklyn had thought about the dragon spell practically ever y day since they’d learned it, but between the four of them, the bugs and the jungle surroundings, she felt like they’d get squished if they transfigured dragons here. That spell had to be on the list for another reason, but soon enough Hady and, surprisingly, Maggie had conjured some birds and started to run. Followed by Zeke after he’d conjured some as well, and she’d sighed. It had been her idea, people. Don’t all take credit for it.

Just to make sure she didn’t get bit or stung or whatever, she traced the bird shape with her wand. “Avis!,” she cast, turning and following the others deeper into the jungle before she’d even noticed if the spell had produced any birds. The important part was that she wasn’t hurt at all, or itchy.

The note had done a good job of keeping them out of her mouth anyway, but she’d stuck it back in her pocket as she’d broken through a patch of ferns to see the other three near a pond. She realized exactly how thirsty she was at the same time she saw the jet of water shoot toward Maggie, but walked nearer to the pond anyway. Professor Bellaire wouldn’t poison them, would she? It was probably as clean as the water they’d had during the summer trip, anyway. But her eyes went to the surface of the water as Zeke had suggested something was in there.

It was too much to ask for it to be a baby Nessie. She knew that, but she still wanted to find out. Breaking off a frond from the fern she’d stepped through, she reached over to poke at the water with it. She wasn’t dumb enough to use her wand, or worse, her hand. It was better the fern get eaten than her, especially as she saw the fish chomp off three inches of green.

“Are there normally piranhas in a pond?”

After she had cast the charm for the birds not just a moment later had Maggie then done the same. Hady didn't miss the roll of the other girls eyes aimed in her direction...what was up with that? Tightening her fingers around her wand a little she kept her mouth shut about it. What was important was getting rid of the pesky bugs which they'd done and moving on.

Following Zeke further through the brush and trees she whispered softly to him, "I'm sure we'll get to use dragons at some point, otherwise they wouldn't be on the list right?" She gave him a small grin hoping to cheer him up a bit before she took notice to the pond.

The water was most likely clean but yeah something was certainly swimming about and it didn't look friendly. Hady watched as Brooklyn poked at the water with something only for the water thing to eat it.... that wasn't a good sign. "I really don't think so..." she muttered with a shake of her head replying to Brooklyn's question/statement. Using the sleeve of her shirt she wiped her face and then pushed her damp hair back off her forehead. This humidity was gross and her throat was dry making her really thirsty. Think Hady...

"We need cups or something..." She muttered to herself mostly as she once more unfolded the parchment from earlier her eyes scanning of it's contents.

”I don’t know if it would work – it seems that they got through someone’s protection spell that they cast on their skin earlier” Puck frowned and then grinned whens he heard him bringing up the idea of immobilizing the bugs. “good lets try that and maybe…” hey, look Norah was already trying it.

Look at her go! Puck grinned as she watched her change her skirt into a pair of pants and even trying to immobilize the bugs! “Good job Norah!” Puck grinned and really, who cared if her pants were baggy in places it probably made it so she had more of an ability to move and dash if she needed to…no fear of her pants tearing if she bent over or anything like that.

“Good idea,” Puck grinned and, “Avis” Puck cast “should we make them attack the bugs?” She muttered to herself more than anything before pointing her wand at one of the larger locusts. “Oppungo” her wand pointed directly at the insect she watched as the birds she had conjured swooped forward and attacked the bugs…really, all of the birds were swooping and seemed to be quite hungry. “Alright, Marsha, Norah…Kace lets see what come’s next” she grinned as she walked to the path ahead of them.

“I think I hear water,” she exclaimed as she felt her tongue begin to grow heady and dry in her mouth…ugh, humidity. Why hadn’t she brought her water bottle in her backpack like she normally did? “we might have to purify the water when we come to it,” she explained and nervously waited for them. What lay ahead? She didn’t know that is…until she noticed the vine above her had was sticking a long forked tongue down at her. Pointing her wand at the snake as it unfurled its body from the vine. Waving her wand in the direction of the snake she cast “Vipera Evanesca” seriously? Had someone left their conjured snake in the trees waiting to attack? Or was it one of Trollaire’s creations.

The hot, sweaty, thirsty Zhenya plodded through the jungle, and kept wiping her face with her scrunched up robes, which she was holding. UGH it was awful. She would need a shower and a change of clothing before her next lesson. Lucky it was a free period. But her thirstiness was taking over, she couldn't think of ANYTHING but DRINKING! And incredibly so, just as she walked a few steps forward - there it was. A POND! She ran up to it, knelt down in front of it, and her hands were centimetres away from entering the water when she saw it. A giant, ugly, snarling (okay, maybe not snarling) PIRANHA. She slumped down, knowing this was going to be impossible. She couldn't put her hands or face into the water without being eaten by a piranha. She didn't want that. She brought her knees to her chest and rested her head down on her knees, thinking. As much as she could when being parched.

And then it came! Transfiguration! What could she do? Her head popped up and she looked around, thinking. Um... ummmmm.... she could make a goblet from something. As long as she didn't put her fingers or any limb into the water, it should be fine. And if a piranha snapped at the cup and she dropped it? Well, she'd transfigure another cup! But what should she use? How good if she could use a piranha as a goblet.

ASSFDDJFSKDLFJEKLSFJLKEJFLDSKJF

Maggie was too slow to react - not expecting it after all - to get out of the way of the water sent her way. Which was how she ended up DRENCHED. Or, you know, somewhat wet at least. DID ZEKE HAVE A DEATHWISH???????? If not he'd just done a very VERY stupid thing.

"Rictusempra!" She shouted without thinking, pointing her wand at the Gryffindor.

HOW DARE HE?????

Grayson could slap himself. Really. Dude had a reputation to maintain but there was something about the jungle that just FREAKED HIM OUT. Jeez, what in the name of Merlin?!

And setting fire to the bugs wasn't possible? MAN, there went his plan. But Mikey had a better plan. Thank MERLIN. Why hadn't he thought of that before, eh? On the one hand, it made him look like a freaking idiot but on the other hand, at least they were gonna get out of this freaking place.

Spell time? YOU BET. "Avis!" he exclaimed. A flock of birds flew out of his wand and--

Hold the freaking phone.

"OPPUGNO!" There. Now they were darting at the bugs. Good. Eat them alive, mkay? "C'mon, let's go and get out of this place."

Well she could see piranhas in the water. Some of them looked pretty big. In fact, if she could make one of those into a goblet, it would make a decent sized one. But how could she get one? She couldn't just transform a piranha into a goblet, reach into the water and pick it out, nor could she pick the piranha out and transform it outside the water. She had to be able to actually GET the piranha OUT of the water. She had a think. She didn't want to retrieve a live piranha, as it was likely to eat her face. So... so she pulled out her wand, pointed it at a rather large piranha and said "Inflecto Telum," but the arrow missed. She pointed it at the same piranha "Inflecto Telum," she repeated, and the arrow lodged itself through the piranha's open mouth, killing it.

She felt bad about killing an animal, if it actually was dead, but she needed to drink and wash her face down, AND get through the jungle. She couldn't go on without water. But the end of the arrow, which was slightly protruding from the water, fell... So she couldn't pick it up by the end of the arrow. How could she get it out? She didn't feel comfortable with the summoning charm, so she thought she could use the seize and pull charm. Remembering it was a whip like hand action, she said "Carpe Retractum," whipping her wand carefully and directly at the arrowed piranha. Magically, obviously, it whipped back from the water, over Zhenya's head, and landed about a metre behind her.

Eden suddenly broke out into laughter. Was it the THIRST? WAS SHE GOING CRAZY BECAUSE SHE WAS DYING OF THIRST? THIRST MADNESS. She flopped around a bit before getting to her knees and sighing.

"I'm NOT dead yet, Fuller-Thompson--" she said, using his full surname that he liked. Eden then wondered....WAS IT THOMPSON FULLER? Oh no. What if she had gotten it mixed up?! She flushed and tried to pretend that she perfectly well KNEW the preferred surname. MHMMH. She watched his neat wandwork with that frog and LEAPT up. "YAAAAS!" she said, looking around for another frog...

She couldn't see another frog...but...."Serpensortia--" she said, quickly another snake erupting from her wand. She smirked. "I do enjoy that one, as you can probably guess." She then leaned down to pick up the snake, doing what she KNEW how to do from all those handling classes she had taken. Snakes were like...second nature to the Ravenclaw now.

"Vera VERTO!" she cried(somewhat dramatically, too, because she was dying of thirst) and the snake morphed into a goblet......she grinned and held it up. "HUZZZZAH! Does this work?" she asked Toby, head tilting a little. "I'm afraid of the little...bitey fishies BITING us as we scoop up the water..." she didn't want to lose fingers. NOT TODAY.

"Thanks." She didn't know how far along the other teams/students were, but she felt like her and Lux were making some pretty good time. AJ met Lux's hand for a well deserved high five. Nothing was going to hold them back.

Brow wiping from her partner only meant that she wasn't the only one dying of a heat stroke. AJ loved summertime and the outdoors, but this heat was take your breath away kind of hot. For a moment she thought it would be pretty funny if the pond her eyes landed on was only a mirage. In a sick and twisted sort of way. You know, the kind of thing Bellaire would probably get a few giggles in at. But it couldn't be because Lux saw the same thing she did.

AJ looked up at the older girl. She wasn't scared was she? The lion would totally protect her. Turning a frog into a water goblet... wicked! Lux was able to get it to work for her on her first try. "Wicked spell work." Her mouth was so dry. She needed her own critter to make the spell work on.

Picking up a cute little lizard, she decided it would do. "You're so cute!" she gushed. This little guy would do as well as any other critter. "Vera Verto." BOOM! AJ had her own water goblet to drink from. Quickly she scooped up as much water as her container could hold and gulped it down. Once she had her fill, she wiped her mouth off with the back of her hand. "So refreshing." Time to move on?

Toby couldn't quite help the snort of laughter that escaped due to Eden's exclamation, and he wasn't surprised when she conjured up a snake for the task at hand. "Yeah, I figured," he replied, giving a goofy grin which made him feel like his lips were gonna crack open given that he was so PARCHED. Water... need... water...

He looked back at the frog he'd been holding, knowing already that the spell had worked, because he'd felt it morph into a completely different shape in his hand. The result was something not unlike the goblets found on the tables in the Great Hall, a glass or crystal kind of affair, though Toby noted that it still had much the same of the green colouring of the frog. But no matter. It would serve its function, at the very least.

Eden was talking again, and Toby, now grinning wider at the thought of an imminent drink, glanced at her.

"Well," he said, talking in a raspy voice as he set the goblet down on the ground in front of him. "I figured... magic might help. Wingardium Leviosa."

It wasn't a Transfiguration spell, but Bellaire (or her... patronus) had mentioned not using the muggle methods to do things. So... maybe this counted? Toby swished and flicked his wand at the goblet, levitating it over the water, dipping it under and disturbing the BITEY FISH, and finally lifting it back out now full of the precious precious liquid. Too eager to drink to wait much longer, the Hufflepuff snatched the goblet from the air and downed the contents. OH SWEET WATER. NECTAR OF LIFE.

Finally, he stopped, gasping and grinning. "So much BETTER!" And repeated the process to get himself another drink.

BAHAHAHAHAH.. the look on her...... whoa!

Zeke, wand still in hand had enough time to cast a quick shield charm, "Protego," to save his live from being tickled to death in a deadly forest, cause really... the irony of it all. Of course, just because he was able to produce the charm it hadn't stopped him from diving for cover too, allowing himself to crash to the hot and moist ground where he had just been standing. Gross. THIS was pretty gross.

"You over it yet?" he asked, looking up at Maggie, grinning. Hehehehe.

BUT... Hady was right, they'd get a chance for dragons eventually, for now he'd have to live without.

And as for Brooklyn, she voiced interesting thoughts.

Piranhas? And Hady wanted a cup?

"I know this one!" he exclaimed, putting the pieces together, even if he was still laying on the floor, wand aimed defensively at Maggie. "We need to use Vera Verto!"

Zhenya turned around and looked at the piranha for a few moments. Was it dead? No! It was still moving, even though it was a fish out of water. Surely it would shrivel up soon? Before she had a chance to do anything, she decided to try and transform the piranha into a goblet. She wasn't sure if it would work, but as she looked down closer, she saw that the arrow was lose. She grabbed the end of the arrow, picked it up, with the piranha on the end of it, and shook it a few times. The piranha moved, but wasn't coming OFF. So she started shaking it a bit more vigorously, and eventually the piranha plodded from the end of the arrow and onto the ground. Good, no arrow. Surely the spell would work, then. She remembered the spell from ages ago, not that she had found much practical use for it... YET. But here it was, a chance to use it. She bent close to the piranha, which seemed to be more interested in trying to fill up with water than attacking the slytherin. With her wand, she tapped the piranha 3 times, then waved it towards it, saying "Vera Verto," and she watched as the piranha transformed itself into a goblet. "OH THANK MERLIN," she exhaled, picking up the absolutely non-piranha looking goblet, and walking over to the water.

BUT.

Oh, she didn't want to do all that again. What if she dropped the goblet? Sure she could pull it towards her, but surely there was an easier way? She had a think. What could she do? Couldn't summon the water into the goblet, but how could she get the goblet into the water without using her hands?

AHA!

She placed it near the edge of the water, "Wingardium Leviosa," she said, swishing and flicking her wand, and the goblet levitated from the ground. She moved her wand, directing the goblet to the edge of the water, where she allowed it to dip in, filling up with beautiful, clear water, and she slowly and carefully directed the goblet back up and towards her. She reached her other hand out to collect the goblet, and skulled the water in three gulps. OH THAT WAS GOOD! She held it in one palm, pointed her wand at it and said "Wingardium Leviosa," again, swishing and flicking. She directed it back to fill it up with more water, then when she collected the goblet, she turned it upside down over her face. OH THAT WAS SO REFRESHING! She did it for a third time, but this time she sipped it a bit slower.

Ewwwww it was gross and hot all of a sudden. Although Caleb would rather be hot than cold...he would ALWAYS rather be hot after that horrible winter that one term. That had been just awful, it still made his fingertips hurt as he remembered the constant feeling of impending frostbite he experienced that year...

Wow, his brain post-OWLs seriously wandered like ALL the time. How was he ever going to focus on NEWTs next year??

Forget NEWTs, he had a bigger task at hand...he needed to figure out how to get a drink from the water in front of him. The first thing he noticed, of course, were the GIANT piranhas in the water. What could he do to safely get the water? Besides just pointing his wand into his mouth and using Aguamenti? He had a feeling Bellaire wouldn't appreciate that little shortcut.

Hmmm...he wondered....

The fish would make a good goblet, but he knew he had to tap the fish three times, and that might be tricky when it was trying to bite his fingers off. So instead, he spotted a nearby turtle...which was slowly walking AWAY from the water, which he didn't blame him for, those fish would make a quick meal of him...and picked the little guy up, bringing him in front of him and placing him on the ground.

"Sorry man," he told him before taking his wand and tapping him three times. "Vera Verto!" he exclaimed, and the turtle twisted and turned into a dark green goblet. Perfect for getting water...although he had to try and ignore the fact that he was drinking out of a glass made of TURTLE...

He plopped the goblet in the water and was able to scoop up some water before the fish knew what the crazy contraption was he had concocted and took a sip. MMMMMM. Refreshing.

Awww, AJ was complimenting her spell work. That made Lux smile. "Thanks! Yours is great too." Look at her turn that lizard into a water goblet! Poor little creatures. She felt bad for using them in that way, but it was necessary for them to be able to get a drink.

Following her partner's lead, Lux dipped her goblet into the pond, filling it with water. Honestly she was so thirsty that she didn't even care how clean it was. Fortunately it looked pretty pure. Tasted good too!! "Aaaah, much better!" Now they were ready to head further into the 'jungle'. Too bad they couldn't rest under a tree and get some shade from the humidity. This couldn't be good for her hair...

Walking further along the path, Lux was surprised when she eventually reached a rickety old bridge. Okay, this wasn't going to be good with her fear of heights... What was it with Professors and wanting to terrify her?

Feeling slightly faint, she averted her eyes. "We need to fix the bridge so we can cross..." The only question was HOW. Racking her brains, Lux considered somehow using the trees nearby...but that seemed like a lot of work. There had to be a way to do it that was much simpler. Suddenly it hit her!! "Oooh, I know!!!" But instead of sharing her idea, she decided to let AJ do it this time. Her partner was smart and could come to the same conclusion as her.