So it took her a few minutes, but Ophelia finally figured out the spell she would need to get past the first stage. Although the process for the spell went something like this:

What eats bugs. Birds? Okay, so the spell has something to do with birds. Conjuring birds? Transfiguring the bugs into birds? None of those were striking a chord with her. It had to be something else. There was a spell her sister did once when she was being attacked by mosquitoes to make birds come out of nowhere. Maybe there was something about that. Although it couldn't have been nowhere because she was putting away her wand only seconds later. So the birds had to have come out of HER WAND! Okay, so there was a spell that shot birds out of your wand. What words had something to do with birds?

"Bird attack!" Nothing. Because obviously nothing would happen if you yelled bird attack and pointed your wand like that. Good job. There had to be something else. Her sister said once that a lot of the spells were in Latin, and that's why Issac had a lot of trouble reading them, because he hated reading any language that wasn't his own back then.

What was the Latin word for bird. It had something to do with flying, right? Piloting, or like the act of flying. What was that called again?

........

AVIATING! Okay, now what came out of that word. Aviating... aviating.... AVIS! Okay, would they need the second part of that Latin name? Ophelia remembered trying to learn it once and getting confused because the first word was so easy and the second word was just disgustingly hard. So she gave up. Hopefully not. Because here went nothing.

The little blonde pointed her wand at the bugs. "AVIS!" Hopefully that got her somewhere, because this was starting to get annoying, with all the swarming bugs and such.

As much as AJ loved spiders and all creatures, she had to admit she had tons of fun shooting arrows at it. "Thanks. That was the first time I tried that spell out," she responded in reply to her compliment. It was bloody brilliant. AJ had a sudden urge to just aimlessly walk around the jungle and bind random creatures. It would be great practice, but they still had a race to win. Was it even technically a race? That didn't matter in her eyes. It was ALWAYS a race to her. As Lux gave the spider a verbal life lesson, AJ decided on a more physical one. WHACK. Man, this wand sure did come in handy.

Now that the spider had been conquered they could move on. Her tongue was starting to fill like sandpaper in her mouth. That water was not sticking with her now that the sweating had started again. They were so close though. She could literally feel it in her veins. Would they be the first ones to make it through? How awesome would that be if they were?

Bushes and trees seemed to be getting thicker in some parts. Would something be popping out of the bushes? AJ's wand was at the ready in any case. Knowing Bellaire this wasn't over. Surely there was something else they needed to keep their eyes peeled for before they were back on safe land.

Walking side by side to Lux, all AJ could see was jungle. When would this end? Feeling rather than seeing Lux stop, AJ too came to a halt. "Everything okay?" Did something need to be attacked because AJ was on it. Then she saw it.

A cliff. Of course there was something else that had to do with heights since Lux was deathly afraid of them. Leaning over slightly, she squinted her eyes. "Is that Bellaire?" Snort. "And is she sipping some tropical drink as if she's at the beach like... like... like we haven't just narrowly escaped certain death?" Dramatic much? Yes, but AJ was thirsty and whatever Bellaire was sipping on was probably way better than water. Hmph.

Back to her current situation. "You can do this." AJ had faith in her partner. "We just have to figure out how to get across." AJ paced back and forth as she bit her bottom lip. "You don't have any superpowers, do ya?" she asked with a smile. Might as well make light of the conversation and try to get her partner's mind off of them being on the edge of a cliff.

Think. What had they done so far? They conjured birds, they turned a reptile into a water goblet, they shot arrows at a--- Wait. THEY TURNED A REPTILE INTO A WATER GOBLET.

"I have something, but it's totally mental. Do you trust me?" Her own boyfriend was FOREVER going on about wanting to turn Benny into a dragon. Dragon's could fly, and they could obviously transfigure animals into objects so why not the other way around?

AJ was brimming with excitement. In fact, despite of her being SO tired she jumped up and down. "We are going to fly over the bridge on a dragon! How wicked will that be?" EEEEP!!!

As the light had dimmed, Brooklyn’s forward progress had slowed as well. A break had never occurred to her. The only thing she cared about was getting out of the jungle. Eventually they had to get out, right? It wasn’t as if this was a real jungle, even if the itchy bug bites and sweat made it all seem real. The pause wasn’t ignored, though, even though she’d kept moving forward until she’d joined the rest of the group, dabing the murtlap essence on a bit on the side of her neck as she’d walked. Moving was good, considering who knew what was in there with them. Professor Bellaire’s break might not have frozen everything, and she wasn’t planning on getting lost and attacked. There would be no attacking her any time soon, and besides, it was slightly cooler until the break time was over.

She’d rejoined Hady, Zeke and Maggie in time to hear Maggie’s comment. At which point she wished that it was still dark as she’d rolled her eyes. The more important part was that they were in a clearing. A clearing with the need for a bridge in order to keep moving forward. A bridge that…she’d peered forward intently.

“D’you think we could walk across just the ropes?.” she asked. Not that she knew if she had tightrope walking skills, and she didn’t particularly want to test her arm strength and pull herself across. Although, she remembered the note in her pocket too. And dragons, which seemed like that was what Zeke was thinking too. Pulling the parchment out, she glanced at it. The dragon spell was definitely there, but so were a ton of others. “Or are we supposed to duplicate the boards and fix the bridge?” How many bridges were there? Maybe they could just follow the clearing around and find a different one that was already fixed. She knew there were others ahead of them after all.

Yeah, no.

AJ thought Lux could do this, but she wasn't NEARLY as sure. Heights were her second worst fear after losing Bay and she did not want to do this. At least with the bridge there had been something to stand on. Granted it had been shaky footing, but that was still a lot better than nothing.

Taking a few more deep breaths, the redhead sat herself down on the ground and stared out at the other side of the cliff. Of course Bellaire was lounging around enjoying a nice cold drink. LOL, it was almost as if she was rubbing it in their faces while they were both hot and unsure what to do. Lux DID know know thing though: staying right where she was sounded VERY appealing. Maybe AJ could get across on her own and tell her about reaching the finish line later on. As much as Lux liked competing and winning races, she did not want to fly.

Her feet were meant to stay firmly on the ground tyvm.

Brown eyes moved back to AJ as dragons were mentioned. As much as she loved them, that was not in the agenda today. At least not for her. She could still help her partner out though; it was the Hufflepuff way.

Slowly getting back to her feet, Lux began searching the ground around her for any rocks. No luck, so she headed back a little bit to where she was further into the trees. Aha! There was one right by a log. "Okay, I got one for you." Triumphantly she returned to the partner, rock in hand. "How about YOU fly on the dragon and I stay behind? Sound good?" Yeaaaaah, there was no way that was going to happen, but still worth a shot.

Sighing, Lux glanced back towards the cliff. Seriously what did the Professors have against her where they insisted on throwing heights into lesson plans left, right, and center?

Heh. Will you look at that. "So you admit that I'm good looking?" Smirkety smirk smirk. That was definitely something the boy liked the sound of. And ruggedly handsome? LOLOLOL. "Bet Zahra likes it as well." Winks for you, Michael Toussaint.

Mikey was just dragging this out longer than necessary, did he know? The slow walk and slowly getting up. It was as if the dude had planned for his murder. He understood how difficult it must be to keep your jealousy at bay but jeez, Toussaint, the piranha could start moving at any minute.

But it didn't. Thank MERLIN!

Were the ten minutes nearly up or what? Grayson was starting to get seriously nervous about this whole thing as he held the piranha. He was standing as far back as he could but his hands were definitely clutching the piranha for dear life. It was gonna move....... it was gonna move........

.......... any.........

.......... minute........

NOW! "GO GO GO!" he practically yelled as the piranha started writhing in his grip and snapping those teeth ferociously. Jeez, why had hr agreed to this again?

SPOILER!!: 3 Snakes & a Lion

Quote:

The first reason why Maggie noticed that the ten minutes were over was the noise. That incessant noise of bugs. They were apparently EVERYWHERE. The second reason was the heat had returned. And with it the humidity. She quickly filled her cup again and drank some more water. And there was the third reason. The cup. It was...well, a little scaly.

"EW!" She threw it away from her (luckily Zeke wasn't anywhere close or else it would have probably been directed at him) and shuddered slightly. It seemed like she hadn't previously seen her only half-successful attempt at transfiguring the piranha. Ugh.

But anyway....moving on.

Briefly glancing around and giving Brooklyn a look that meant that she better follow her, Maggie took a few steps in the direction both Zeke and Hady (of course) had disappeared off to. The latter she ran into first. "We need to keep going!" CHOP CHOP! Without checking to see if the other girl was following her order advice, Maggie kept walking until she...saw a bridge. And Zeke.

"It's a bridge." And Zeke.

Quote:

As the light had dimmed, Brooklyn’s forward progress had slowed as well. A break had never occurred to her. The only thing she cared about was getting out of the jungle. Eventually they had to get out, right? It wasn’t as if this was a real jungle, even if the itchy bug bites and sweat made it all seem real. The pause wasn’t ignored, though, even though she’d kept moving forward until she’d joined the rest of the group, dabing the murtlap essence on a bit on the side of her neck as she’d walked. Moving was good, considering who knew what was in there with them. Professor Bellaire’s break might not have frozen everything, and she wasn’t planning on getting lost and attacked. There would be no attacking her any time soon, and besides, it was slightly cooler until the break time was over.

She’d rejoined Hady, Zeke and Maggie in time to hear Maggie’s comment. At which point she wished that it was still dark as she’d rolled her eyes. The more important part was that they were in a clearing. A clearing with the need for a bridge in order to keep moving forward. A bridge that…she’d peered forward intently.

“D’you think we could walk across just the ropes?.” she asked. Not that she knew if she had tightrope walking skills, and she didn’t particularly want to test her arm strength and pull herself across. Although, she remembered the note in her pocket too. And dragons, which seemed like that was what Zeke was thinking too. Pulling the parchment out, she glanced at it. The dragon spell was definitely there, but so were a ton of others. “Or are we supposed to duplicate the boards and fix the bridge?” How many bridges were there? Maybe they could just follow the clearing around and find a different one that was already fixed. She knew there were others ahead of them after all.

Getting to her feet Hady did her best to ignore the sudden increase in heat and the sound of bugs buzzing insistently around them. It wasn't an easy task but one that needed to be done so she could focus on moving forward. Lightly brushing of her the dirt from her pants (not that it mattered much right now) she made her way to where the others were.

Maggie had pretty much stated the obvious that there was a bridge in front of them. A broken messed up bridge if one was to be honest about it. Moving closer to get a better look of the situation she heard Brooklyn ask about walking along the ropes or making more boards. Any other time she'd probably give the tightrope walking a go but not today when they were above a rocky cliff area. "We probably could but given with how far it is to the other side and how high up, I'd say we should give the duplication spell a go."

Mhmm and with that Hady gripped her wand firmly and pulled out the parchment scanning it for the spell before pointing her wand at the plank before an empty space on the bridge, "Gemino!" The board shook slightly before a duplicate was made filling in the empty space. With a small satisfied grin she slowly took a step onto the bridge testing it's durability and seeing how it'd hold up. So far so good.

Walking slowly with her free hand holding onto the rope she continued to inch along casting a quiet "Gemino" on the planks before any empty spaces. It appeared doing what was needed so she glanced over her shoulder at her group before turning her attention back to what she was doing. Right now she needed to focus on this.

Angel was totally now wishing that she wasn't on her own... though she wasn't going to cry no one was going to see her cry. That would just make Professor Bellaire mad and she really didn't want too have a Professor mad with her because it meant it would be no fun anyway she was moving on to the second phase and she wanted this to go well.

Now what would it be?

*EEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*

Angel suddenly saw the water and then she saw the Piranhas. "Okay, right time to think." Angel was speaking to herself, okay if anyone asked she was just thinking out loud at least the Professor wasn't here to hear her right?

Angel now had to figure this out how would one get rid of all these nasty creatures because they would bite her hand if she used that to try and get them out of the water.

Norah watched as Puck but the boards into place, trying to make a mental note to learn the 'incarcerous' spell but by the time she'd started to think of it she forgot the incantation. Dangit. She'd have to as the prefect later though 'cause they could CROSS now, yeah? "We can cross, right?" She turned to step on the bridge without waiting for an answer. She was getting antsy to move on, okay? And the faster they got out the faster she could get to the loo because jeez louise apparently drinking all that water had side effects. She took a tentative step, then two more, shooting a glance back with what she hoped was a reassuring grin. TOTALLY fine. Not rickety or ANYTHING. She wasn't scared, no way. Fourteen year olds didn't get scared of bridges. The bridge gave a wobble and she held her breath. Okay fine. Maybe she was scared. Biiiiiig deal. Her next two steps came faster until finally she was onto the other side.

The fourth year turned to face Kace and Puck and called, "It's okay, I think!" But then there was a noise. She turned around slowly, still holding her breath, but then her mouth flew open. ALERT ALERT IT WAS NOT OKAY. SPIDER ALERT PEOPLES CODE READ THIS WAS THE END. "HELP!" she shrieked, shrinking down into a tiny little Norah ball on the floor. Norah kittredge did not do spiders, okay. It was a LAW.

Lux was sitting on the ground. This was good. Yes? AJ hoped so. Most likely she just needed a moment to gather herself. Being closer to the ground probably made the Hufflepuff feel better, and who was AJ to stop her. Not that she would actually stop her. Deciding it was better to let her gather herself rather than push her, AJ continued to pace back and forth.

Epicness was about to go down, and it was hard not to be too overly excited because she knew that Lux was really struggling with this part of the course. She had handled the bridge like a champ too. It was looking like the cliff was putting her over the edge... literally.

Lux was getting up. This was a good sign. She had to be coming to her senses. AJ beamed and imagined the wind blowing through her sweat soaked hair. Imagine how lovely that would feel. The fourth year might even take down her ponytail to fully enjoy the ride.

But, wait. Where was she going? Erm. Lux? She hadn't completely lost it over the heat and cliff thing, had she? Nope. AJ refused to believe that. Look. She was back and she had a rock. Thoughts of Airey and his pet rock came to mind and she couldn't help but to snort. "Umm... thanks?" Live creatures were what she had in mind when it came to pets, but this was a judgement free zone.

Ohh... they could use a rock to practice their dragon transfiguring skills. Magic was so freaking cool. It just never ceased to amaze her.

Oh no.

This was NOT the plan. "There's no way I could leave you behind. We are a team." And she would feel bad leaving her friend in a time of need. Yeah, they were really in a classroom, but that didn't change anything. "How about if I climb on to the dragon and all you have to do is climb on behind me, close your eyes and hang on." Sounded like an okay plan to her. "You can just pretend you are sticking your head out of a moving car." Dogs seemed to like that sort of thing.

Kace rolled his eyes at Puck's reaction and I mean they were just sharing a water cup. It wasn't a big deal. I mean she did all the work to get the cup, I mean why repeat it and use his energy. He saw Puck getting to work on the bridge and also Norah which was nice. She made other copies of the planks and now they had more than enough. He saw Puck use the spell to attach them together. Nice work Lion Prefect. Nice work. He smiled in amusement and of course he was helping her levitate the planks of wood. As he handed them to her and they were all finished, he noticed Norah was being the brave one and crossing the bridge.

He would let her go of course and then she noticed a spider coming towards to her. He lept in action and got out his wand and yelled, "Arania Exumai!" and he saw the spider being blasted away but it only worked a little bit. He needed three people for more power. "Alright Norah cast the spell I just said, I am gonna need more power.." he said honestly. He nodded towards Puck to let her know he needed help.

Henric didn't realised he was mispronouncing the spell until his friends point out his mistake. Ohhh...oops...he was too engrossed in making the rock transformed, no wonder he didn't get it right the first few trys. He rectified by saying "DRACONIFORS!"

---------------------------

The rock now transformed into one of his favourite species of all time, a swedish short snout dragon! Henric excitedly lifted his leg over the width of the it's massive back and pulled himself up. As soon as he settled himself, his dragon suddenly took off with such great speed, it almost threw him back for a moment.

"Woaahh!"he yelled as he held on for his dear life. Henric and his dragon followed behind them as they all flew across towards the cliff. "Fly dragon! Fly!!"he shouted gleefully. Henric felt so exhilarated, he raised both his hands up,"Look no hands!! Woohoo!" Best ride of his life!

"Hi Professor!! We made it!!"he waved down as they circled around the top of the cliff where Professor Bellaire was proudly waiting for them below.

Clearly AJ was confused about the rock at first, but Lux was pleased to see her piece it together so quickly.

Using a rock was perfect, because it was how they had created dragons in class last term. That had been fun but this wasn't so much. Maybe her contribution could be creating the dragon and her partner could do the rest.

...Or not.

Of course she hadn't really expected anything different, but still. She wasn't happy her idea had been rejected. Lux wanted to keep both feet on the ground and Professor Bellaire and AJ were making it very hard. Still, she DID appreciate her friend being so thoughtful and understanding as well as patient. Another person might have ditched her and continued on, but not AJ. She was a good person.

Sigh.

Looked like it would be flying on a dragon for her. Something that would have filled Adi with glee had Lux terrified. Kind of funny in a way. "Okay, I'll do it. But I think it's best if I blindfold myself." That way there was no chance of her opening her eyes mid-flight. But what to use??? Lux wasn't exactly going to rip her clothes or anything...

Amanda thought for a moment and then pulled her thermos out from her bag. It was one of those small pink plastic ones that came in cheap lunch boxes. "Would this help?"

She eyed Zander again. "Can I have a chocolate frog? I'm kinda hungry." She gave him her best little adorable puppy dog eyes that had always worked on everyone. "Please?"

She wasn't a fan of the idea of needing to get closer to the mean fishies. Wasn't that what they had a guy around for? She looked at the water again. It didn't look like it held evil demon fish. Maybe they were gone now? She wasn't going to test it.

She tried not to let her fear show through but she was only 11, not really quite fierce so she turned her face away from them and started crying. She wanted her mom and her blankie and a big slice of pie. But here she was in a scary jungle with two people that seemed just as confused as she was.

Oh for the love of Merlin. "Oh yes Whitlock, you're absolutely dreamy." Michael gave the Slytherin a withering look. "You seem quite concerned whether I think you're good looking or not. Something you're not telling me." Hmmm?? Mikey blew him a kiss before bursting into laughter. As for Zahra. "Of course she does. Who wouldn't love this awesomeness." He waved his hands over himself and this time it was his turn to do the winking.

And it appeared that break time was over if Grayson's yelling was anything to go by. Merlin he was such a girl!!

"OKAY! OKAY! Don't get your knickers in a twist Whitlock." Michael had it totally under control. He tapped the wriggling piranha three times before pointing his wand at it and saying. "VERA VERTO!"

The piranha wriggled and snapped at Grayson for a couple of seconds before suddenly turning into a shiny silver water goblet. His spell wasn't entirely perfect though, instead of handles the goblet had a pair of fins. Eh it was still functional though.

"Rather brave of you Grayson to take on that piranha." Michael was rather impressed. Maybe he should have been placed in Gryffindor. "You should probably have the first drink." He was so generous.

Even though Tia was decent with regards to charms, one thing she did not expect was a jungle in Transfiguration class. Was this some sort of trap for Bellaire to kill off most of her students before Christmas? Send them off into the wild; only the strongest survive.

Upon seeing the blazing sign, Tia was nearly convinced it WAS a trick to have them all killed. Or at least the ones who didn't know their spells, to which Tia froze feeling bad for the first years who knew only like two spells. Of course it wasn't what you knew, but how you used it, right?

All of a sudden, the fifth year heard the buzzing overhead and her heart started pounding. She wasn't afraid of mosquitoes or locusts though; sure they could attack her and bite her and transmit diseases, but they were pests. They were barely the size of her fingernail ... swarming at her!

"Avis!" Tia shouted, pointing her wand above her, hoping it'd be enough to thwart the pesty creatures.

Zhenya was stuck in a rut.

No she wasn't, she was sitting on a rock.

Trying to decide how to fling herself over the cliff...

If only the rock she was sitting on could fly her over, then she'd be able to get from the side she was on to the side Professor Bellaire, the House Elf, and freedom/safety was.

BUT OF COURSE!

"Oh you silly old thing," she said to herself, smiling goofily at the 'aha' moment.

She could transform the rock into something that would fly her over. She couldn't turn it into a broomstick, not that she was aware of. Such a spell didn't exist, did it? That would be amazingly awesome though. She couldn't transform it into a magic carpet, not that she'd want to ride on one of those anyway. What about an animal? She tapped her chin with her fingers to think of a way to fly over... then it came to her immediately.

Draconifors.

Henric was clearly enjoying the flight just as he had his first ride on the dragon. Not that this time was that much different and he was still pleased with the activity. Benny couldn't help chuckling as he played along with, releasing his hands from the rock creature to show off. Nah, the Gryffindor kept them in place as the four dragons flew off closer to the area where Bellaire sat.

Taking a bit more control of his mount since he had been giving the rock dragon a fair bit of freedom, Benny guided them closer to the ground. When they were just about there, they landed with a soft thump as the dragon's hind legs and feet contacted what was beneath them. But they were down and if he was not mistaken...done with the obstacle course they had been set on.

Hehe. Adi laughed in Henric's direction. He knew the boy was not in any real danger. Bellaire wouldn't let anyone one die, he was sure. That sign earlier was meant to trick them. Besides, if Henric did accidentally fall, Adi was all set to levitate him onto his own dragon. Levitating Henric would surely become a thing between the two boys.

Anywayyyy, closer, closer, closer they were going towards Bellaire and her elf. Annnnd his dragon settled neatly on the ground so smoothly that Adi hardly felt it. "Hi, Professor!'' He grinned at Bellaire. Yes! They had made it! Safely too.. all four of them thanks to OFF THE HOOK teamwork!

"Hi!'' That greeting was for the house elf. Such interesting creatures they were. "That was a fun activity you set up there for us, Professor,'' Adi continued as he settled more comfortably onto the dragon's back. Nah, he didn't want to get off.

Zhenya jumped off the rock she was sitting on, and a smile crept up her face. She would turn the rock into a dragon. It was big enough, and she hoped it would work on something that big, because she thought it would support her weight nicely. The rock wasn't massive, but would make a nice sized dragon. It didn't look too big to transform either.

So, she pulled her hair up into a messy ponytail, got her wand out of her robes, pointed it at the rock, and said "Draconifors," whilst slashing her wand. And seemingly immediately, the rock spurted a head, a tail, stretched out wings, and pulled itself off the ground. Zhenya stared at it with her mouth wide open. Oh wow it was actually a dragon. Of course not a real dragon, but a transfigured one. A Rock Dragon. And it was under her control.

She stepped over to it, where it stood almost motionless. She swung a leg over it and felt quite comfortable on its hard back. Not quite as hard as the rock, but not soft like an armchair. She just couldn't wait to be able to sit down with relief that she had completed the jungle course without dying. She pointed her wand towards the other side of the cliff and said "Fly me to the other side, over the cliff," and felt the wings expand beneath her. She tucked her legs up a big higher, not wanting them to get in the way. If that happened, who knew if she would fall off... to her death. Her wand guiding them, the dragon lifted off from the ground, flapping its wings to get them higher and higher, and flew over the cliff. "WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE" Zhenya said, ecstatic. With one arm holding on, and the other controlling the dragon, she didn't want to raise both hands out like she was flying. Nope.

The dragon neared the other side, and Zhenya directed it down where it landed with a soft bump. She smiled up at Professor Bellaire, scooted off the dragon, and transformed it back into a rock. "Hello Professor, that was some amazing transfiguring spell work you did. The jungle was soooooo realistic," she said in awe.

Then she turned and waved at Adi and some of the others who had finished. "That was... fun... and a little scary, wasn't it?" she asked, joining them.

Ilia had to admit that this was probably the most fun she had ever had in a lesson. Jungle trek and now golem dragonet riding over a cliff and across a ravine. How many students could say stuff like this was almost normal for their school? And to think her mother was a little concerned about sending her here. Riding beside her friends and her bestie.......when had she had this much fun and been so happy? Strange wasn't it?

She was soaring high, stretching her arms out and holding onto her mount with her legs. She whooped and listened to her echo bounce as she grinned. There was no denying how happy she was at this moment. She was almost sad to land next to her friends, she really didn't want to stop.

As her dragonet alighted at their destination , she bowed her head in respect to the professor. She remained mounted beside her team, waiting for their professors instruction and trying not to grin at Henric.

Angel was still trying to figure out what she was going to do with there biting fish... there was a spell that she could use but she just couldn't remember what it was at the minute.

"I think I'm alone now... doesn't seem to be anyone around." Angel sighed as she started to sing about being alone, she was missing all her friends now seriously why did she decide to be all independent and do this on her own... Now what was that spell called, she was getting really worried about what was going on with these piranha.

He could hear someone join him, and it was easy to assume it was Hady, so without saying anything, he too lay back and stared up at the sky in silence. The ten minutes was taking too long. Far too long.

BUT!!

It was over. The air grew warm and sticky again, the noise returned and it grew light. Huzzah!

"About time," he mused as he pushed himself up and dusted the dirt off his bum and back.

He had hoped that the other girls would catch up quick, cause he wasn't really into leaving people behind, but if they couldn't keep up, well... .... yeah... awkward. Thankfully they caught up in no time, and HA! Maggie was funny, stating the obvious and sorts. Brooklyn though, was smarter... which made this group thing worth his while. Hady was on the ball, getting them started.

Shrugging, Zeke was about to say 'ladies first', but decided it would be best if he was the second test subject for the planks.

"Let's keep close," he said, an eye on Maggie before he followed after Hady. "I can do some too," he said as he held his wand out in front of them. How hard could it be?

"Geminio,".... nothing. Uuuhhh, OH! WAIT! "Gemino," he corrected, wand pointed at the plank before the next gap. This time it too vibrated and shook before it seemed to split in two. The gap filled with a duplicate.

Norah stayed curled up in her little ball even when she hears Kace shout a spell. Nope nope nope no need to see the spider again nooooope. She squeezed her eyes tight, wishing it'd just go away but then Kace was yelling HER name too. Cast a spell? He really thought she could do that? Yeah, no. She shook her head, not paying attention to the fact that her boy probably couldn't even see her head shaking, and pulled her knees tighter to her chest. "I can't!" Why oh why did there have to be a spider? She was doing SO WELL before this, she was kicking butt. Fourteen never felt so good. Except for now because she may as well have been five or something, and it was all he spider's fault. "Puck! Puck cast the spell please please please." She could do it, right? Two seventh years casting a spell had to be powerful enough. It had to.

She sat in her spot, peeking up for a moment before putting her head right back down again. Maybe it couldn't see her. Or something. Hopefully? Maybe this spider wasn't very good at seeing and you couldn't get glasses for all eight of its eyes so it just couldn't see. YES. That was good wishing. She could pretend that. Norah let out a long breath and slowly brought her wand up to point...somewhere. Where the big spider had BEEN anyway, because there was a zero percent chance she was going to look up again. "Arania Exumai?" Her voice came out all small and weak, but she didn't open her eyes to see if it worked. "Arania Exumai!" C'mon c'mon c'mon. Norah's voice was stronger as she tried one more time. "Arania Exumai!" Get AWAY dumb spider. Away away away. She brought her wand down. Yeah no more spell casting for her on this spider dude. It was up to her groupmates if her spells hadn't worked.

Clara hated the idea of leaving Rooney behind, but .... this wasn't real and there was no real danger. At least, that was what she was telling herself. She probably couldn't have found him if she tried, there was no telling how big this place was ... it was clearly made out to be bigger than the classroom, that was for sure.

Her focus now was on the piranhas and her need for water.

She took it in as many details as she could: the piranhas themselves, the water, and her surroundings. There was a chance that the water in the pond wasn't even safe to drink, in which case .... she needed something to drink from that could hold fresh water. She knew what spell she needed to do, but it would be difficult ... the piranhas were moving fast, there was no way she could tap the same one three times ... especially not without getting her arm chewed up. She would need to catch one. The redhead, while trying to shrug off the heat that was becoming increasingly difficult to ignore, tried to rack her brain for the required spell. Rooney had mentioned it earlier, she was sure ............... caught? Caught! Of of course it was.

Shuffling closer to the pond, Clara took out her wand again. She needed to get as close to the water as possible without being in danger of being bitten ... at that thought, she scratched at her skin, reminded of all the bites on her hands and neck. Ugh. Boldly, she decided just to go for it. "Caught," she cried, aiming at one piranha that was leaping out of the water. Missed. "Caught," she repeated, but failed again. Well ... third time's a charm. "Caught," she cried once more, focusing as best she could ... and A-HAH, the fish became bound and Clara's hands shot out to catch it, narrowly avoiding being caught herself by the teeth of another piranha ...... She watched as the fish tried to flop free, but she held it down ... tapping it trice with her wand, she muttered the spell. "Vera verto." The spell meant 'truly exchange' in Latin, she remembered as she observed the fish transform into a water goblet before her eyes.

Now for the water.

"Aguamenti," she said, resulting in a jet of water from her wand filling up the water goblet. Without a moment of pause, she downed the water. After refilling the goblet once more and downing that, she removed the charms she had placed on the piranha and tossed it, actually, pretty much hurled it, back into the pond.

Thank Merlin that was over.

Clara leant back against the jungle floor, feeling cool and refreshed, as a voice echoed around the classroom/place/jungle. They were having a break? A well deserved one, that was for sure.

It wasn't any cause for concern at first. Just a slight shaking of the bough on which he sat. A rustling of the leaves of the tree. Nothing major. After he'd put away the murtlap essence, Cutty looked down at the darkness, but he could not see the spiders climbing their way up to where he was. He could only hear them. "Lumos." He fired the spell above him and let it cut through the darkness to reveal the giant and possibly man-eating and or venomous arachnids.

Awww! Look at 'em. Trying to climb their way up to eat him. Too presh! "Glisseo." He said, aiming for the tree trunk and smoothing the textured surface. The spiders paused, but did not slide as far down as Cutty had hoped they would. Meanwhile another group of giant and possibly man-eating spiders drew down from the canopy. The light from his spell highlighting their many eyes and sharp fangs, Cutty could see his options were none too good. At least, for running. The object was not to run anyway. "Arania Exumai!", he aimed for the descending group, throwing their giant asterisk like bodies into the air and away. The ascending group wasn't having that, and one bold member was close enough to grab the snake and get him into raveling position. "Arania Exumai." The spell came out intensely when finally did utter it. For coming so close to death, Cutty had never felt so alive.