She repeated one, two, three times. Merlin why isn't this working?! She angrily thought to herself and kicked a pebble into the lake in frustration, disrupting the surface of the lake, earning a splash from the Giant Squid.

"NOT FUNNY!" she yelled at it, as it returned to the depths of the lake.

Soaking wet and not amused Elsa folded her arms over her chest and huffed in frustration.

She tried again, concentrating on the pronunciation "Carpe Retractum!" whip-like movement and.. something shifted under the water. YEEEEEEEEEY! But nothing came out.

It was expected. Deflating, Jace allowed himself to watch the others, and was surprised that no one hasn’t succeeded yet with the task. There was no stationary target before them, thus making the task more challenging. Squatting still in front of the lake, the small Ravenclaw boy busied himself with perfecting his whip.

Whip. Whip. Whip.

Taking in a deep breath, Jace casted the spell once more with the whip wand movement, “Carpe Retractum!” A faint golden string of some sort came out of his wand and darted toward the water, making a little splash. This made the boy smile, raised his wand once more and was determined to get something out of the water. Something. Anything.

“Carpe Retractum!” Another golden string came out, and this time, was able to retrieve a thing. Hurtling towards the boy, as he made a pulling movement, was an old soggy book. The pull was too hard making the book fly towards him with great speed. “Ohnononono...”

THUD!

Jace fell back on his spot and just laid there for a good while. Who would’ve thought fishing is a peaceful sport?! "Ow..."

Elsa waited a full minute to see if something came out of the water and ended up sighing with resignation. It was just a coincidence since there was no light coming out of her want in that moment, so the spell didn't work, yet. She took another minute to look around and try and mimic someone else's movements to see what was wrong with hers.

She spotted Jace nearby and watched his technique, trying to mimic it.

Whip, whip, whip, ok, I think I've got a handle on the whipping stuff.

She then saw light streaming from the tip of his wand, pulling something from the lake. Merlin!! This was exciting, he was doing it! With great enthusiasm she stood in her toes to see better, water still falling from her robes and then. THUD. He was hit in the face with a muddy book.

Laugher escaped her lips before she could control it and she found herself folding over trying not to laugh. She shouldn't be laughing, but...

"Are you OK?!" she shouted over to him, still laughing. She shook her head and resumed her whipping training.

Ohhh, look at how happy he was! There was no way Azura was going to tell him now!! She would just let him thank that he really taught her the spell. Though he really HAD helped her clear her mind in order to cast it..

So in a way, perhaps he had taught her?

Mmmm, she would go with that! "Thank you again Davie." She said with a warm smile as she turned and attempted to do her next spell..

"Carpe Retractum!! She called out and thankfully,It seemed to work, though.. she only picked up water!!

She was about to try again when she heard Jace's voice near her and she couldn't help it.. She turned to watch him, only to see him get hit in the face with a book!!

"Jace!!! She instantly moved over to him and knelt down next to him..

"Are you okay?" So much for pretending she wasn't here!

"Kelp," Haddie corrected. "It's kelp." What? The ocean was a passion of hers, okay? This wasn't the ocean, but that was still kelp. "Carpe Retractum!" Her golden thread flew out into the water. "I tried to lure the giant squid a few months ago," Haddie admitted. "I was going to convince him to eat Davie."

Where was Melon? She'd appreciate that more than Rachel would. "He never showed," she assured Freckle Face. Haddie shrugged. Her head dropped in frustration and annoyance. She pulled her wand back, bringing in the magically cord, and then aimed her wand at the grass beneath her, casting the Hot-air charm again. Once the ground was warm and dry, she ended the spell and sat down. "Carpe Retractum!" Her golden fishing line flew back into the lake. Haddie sighed and propped her chin up with her fist. "Show me the way to go home," she sang softly. "Ba ba bum. I'm tired and I wanna go to bed. I had a littl..." She trailed off when she caught Rachel' look. "What? It's from JAWS."

Humming softly, Jaemin filled the jar the rest of the way with water. He made sure to leave some space for the seahorses, should he catch any... he carried his jar off a bit away from everyone else and set it aside, patting the rim of it gently. He had some fishing to do!

"Carpe Retractum!" he called as he did the whip thing with his wand. He looked at it questioningly a moment later, because it didn't feel like anything had happened... he pulled his arm back, and indeed he had failed at casting. Frown.

He didn't like when things didn't work on the first try. Rude.

Jace rubbed his bigforehead with his non-wand arm and went over his whipping and incantation inside his head. He seriously needed some control. It was always his issue with his magic. Realizing that someone saw his mistake, Jace sighed, waved his hand around signaling that he's fine, "I'm okay!" Pushing himself up, the Ravenclaw rolled over to his side and spotted Elsa. "Are you okay?" he asked, giggling at her laughter.

Oh...it's Azura. She's...not mad at him anymore? "I-I'm okay. Really." Aaaawkwaaard.

Turning his attention back to the soggy book, Jace turned it over to see that it wasn't property of the Library. Well, it was a good waste of galleons, really.

Crouching near the edge of the lake again, Jace raised his wand, uttered the spell with confidence and hoped he'll get at least one flying seahorse! "Carpe Retractum!" The golden string erupted once more, but as Jace whipped the string back, it hooked at the ends of his scarf, completely taking it off from his neck, and straight into the water.

O_O

This...this is not a good day to fish. He could feel it in his bones.

His mama will not be happy about the drenched scarf. Nope.

Laughing at someone was rude, she knew that. But the bewildered look on Jace's face was priceless. She hiccuped a few times before regaining control of herself and waved at him "I'm ok!" she then saw him try the spell again, throwing his scarf into the lake. Merlin that boy is a menace! "I think I should just be worried about you, you're not cut for a life at sea mate" she joked.

She then tried once again using the spell, deliberately being slow in her movements to try and do it right this time: "Carpe Retractum!" a faint yellow/orange light left her wand and hit the water and, excitedly she pulled her wand up celebrating. Big mistake. A tangled ball of underwater plants flew in her direction, she ducked just in time, throwing herself into the muddy shore. It flew past her head, landing (or hitting) somewhere(someone) behind her.

Oh...

Azura bit her lip as Jace said he was okay and then quickly turned away from her.. Right.

"Glad you are all right." She whispered as she noticed him laughing with Elsa.

She bit her lip as she moved away from the boy again, she should have just kept pretending that she wasn't here! Despite the fact that her heart had dropped when she had seen him be hit in the face!!

She moved back to where she had been and sighed softly.."Carpe Retractum." she got out.. As she once again managed to just bring water back to her. She was barely even playing attention to her surroundings..

Only Suddenly she was hit in the side of the face by something that she didn't see coming!

hshakdjfjs!!!!" Was all that she got out before she fell over!!

“...maybe.” Jace grinned and shrugged at Elsa, thinking maybe he’s just not having a good day. She didn’t need to sound final, but Jace took it as a good joke. The Ravenclaw looked at the Lake once more and was determined to get his scarf back. He ought to get it back, or face the wrath of his mama. She didn’t like ruined clothing, even if it can be repaired by magic. Less intervention, the better.

Rolling his small shoulders, Jace eyed his floating scarf, and concentrated well and hard on his spell, intention...and most of all, control. Quieting his mind, Jace lifted his wand arm, made an almost perfect whipping motion, and said the incantation, “Carpe Retractum!” the golden string came out of his wand again, coiled around the scarf, and instinctively, Jace pulled on his wand to get his scarf back to him. The magic rope dragged his very wet scarf on the grass, and the Ravenclaw was quick to snatch it up before the lake dwellers get it. He’d rather have a messed item of clothing than none at all.

“I don’t think I’ll get any flying seahorses today Elsa.” He said moving closer to where the Slytherin and Azura was. As he did so, Jace got hit by a huge ball of kelp, covering his whole head...the ends of it, dripping with lake water.

“I like seaweed, but this...is really...ridiculous.” The Ravenclaw muttered under all of the kelp in Japanese.

Uhm...help?

Ugggghhhh!

Magical fishing was not nearly as much fun as magical hair pulling. Heck, it wasn't even as much fun as muggle fishing. At least then you got put the pole in a holder and do other stuff while you wait. This was just lame. She drew her line back and gave her arm a rest. "Accio flying seahorse!" Nothing. She was still getting the hang of that one, though to be honest, hadn't practiced it that much since that day on the tower patch. "I imagine somewhere in the lake a seahorse just got dragged a few feet." After all, the bag had tumbled a foot or two for her. "It was worth a try." She shrugged.

Was anyone else having luck? Haddie glanced around, her eyes falling on Davie. Too bad he didn't have long enough hair to yank. How obvious would it be if she 'accidentally' carpe retractum'd him into the lake? That idea was way too tempting with how bored she felt. Haddie aimed her wand, smirking, then glanced up at Rachel and sighed. Fine, she'll leave him alone. With a frown Haddie aimed her wand at a different section of the lake. "Carpe Retractum!" She whipped the golden rope out into the water and immediately yanked it back. Anything just to fight the bored at this point.

Ploink! Haddie glanced over at her jar, noted the little seahorse in it without enthusiasm and went back to watching the lake, bored out of her mind. "Carpe Re--" Haddie did a double take. She got one! She actually got one! "Over there," she told Rachel, pointing where she'd last aimed her wand. "Aim there!"

He was gonna try it again. It needed to work, he had seahorses to catch! He wasn't going to be the only one today that didn't catch one. The small boy frowned with determination and whipped his wand again, calling out the spell once more. "Carpe Retractum!"

It worked this time, and he wasn't sure why it hadn't in the first place. He'd done it exactly the same! The boy looked at the little golden stringy thing that had come from his wand, and he tugged his wand back gently; there was tension, like a real fishing rod. He pulled back hard, and a little clump of green came flying out of the water toward him.

"That is not a seahorse," he mumbled, frowning as the ball of lake plantlife landed at his feet. He picked it up and examined it a bit before setting it aside. He... he would keep that. For later.

With her enlarged jar ready to go, Tia observed her classmates a moment before deciding the water spell would probably be okay. None of them seemed concerned about magic water versus lake water.

Wand still out, the seventh year mentally considered the incantation as she prepared herself for another non-verbal spell. Because the more she practiced non-verbals, the better she would be at them. And the water spell was a simple enough one to cast too.

Raising her wand, Tia mentally cast aguamenti, flicking her wand, she watched as water streamed from her wand tip. Waiting until the jar was two-thirds full, she then cast, finite, and the water stream stopped.

Elsa pulled herself up from the mud with an annoyed grunt. She was covered in mud! She heard some commotion behind her and turn around to see the most awkward scene ever. Apparently someone had been hit by whatever she managed to pull and (not) seize from the lake. Azura had been hit first, straight in the cheek followed by Jace. That ball of seaweed was unstoppable!

She didn't want to laugh but this was an hilarious scene. Jace's face was covered in it, and Azura's cheek was left with a green impression that made her look somewhat a fairy-mermaid mix. Thankfully it was quite harmless and soft, just a big mushy ball.

She giggled, approaching Azura and helping her up "Didn't know you were into cosplaying!" Elsa joked, patting her friend's clothes clean. She then walked up to Jace and pulled the seaweed with two disgusted fingers. SO SQUISHY.

"Today is not your day" she added with another chuckle, stepping back and looking at both of them "I'm sorry"I mean, getting hit in the face two times in a row, aw man? She added "It just sort of...I got a little carried away I guess" she was still chuckling when she returned to her spot on the shore and tried the spell again.

This time a constant stream of gold/orange came shooting out of her want and into the lake, immediately making contact with something. Elsa pulled it carefully, aware that too much excitement could end up badly, and another mush of seaweed came and landed peacefully on her hand. Nop. How was she supposed to try and hit something as small as a Flying Seahorse?

She sighed looking down at her muddy clothes and, from the corner of her eyes to where Jace and Azura were. They had been acting all sorts of awkward around each other. Maybe all they needed was a little laugh. She threw the seaweed their way, watching as it landed partially on Azura's shoulder and then ended up falling on Jace's feet. She spun around trying to look innocent. Not meeeeeee. Her voice sang in her head with amusement. Let the seaweed games begin.

Alright, enough practice - time for the fun part! Scarlett put down her wand and went to go grab one of the jars Draper had laid out. She went back and grabbed her wand, stowing it safely in her pocket, and then walked to the edge of the lake and found herself a nice spot to settle down. She pointed her wand at the jar and muttered "Aguamenti!" and watched as it filled up with water.

She then turned to the water. So...how was she supposed to go about finding the seahorses? Just reach forward and do the spell and hope you got something? Hmm...

SPOILER!!: Hads! <3

Quote:

Originally Posted by Callie

Ugggghhhh!

Magical fishing was not nearly as much fun as magical hair pulling. Heck, it wasn't even as much fun as muggle fishing. At least then you got put the pole in a holder and do other stuff while you wait. This was just lame. She drew her line back and gave her arm a rest. "Accio flying seahorse!" Nothing. She was still getting the hang of that one, though to be honest, hadn't practiced it that much since that day on the tower patch. "I imagine somewhere in the lake a seahorse just got dragged a few feet." After all, the bag had tumbled a foot or two for her. "It was worth a try." She shrugged.

Was anyone else having luck? Haddie glanced around, her eyes falling on Davie. Too bad he didn't have long enough hair to yank. How obvious would it be if she 'accidentally' carpe retractum'd him into the lake? That idea was way too tempting with how bored she felt. Haddie aimed her wand, smirking, then glanced up at Rachel and sighed. Fine, she'll leave him alone. With a frown Haddie aimed her wand at a different section of the lake. "Carpe Retractum!" She whipped the golden rope out into the water and immediately yanked it back. Anything just to fight the bored at this point.

Ploink! Haddie glanced over at her jar, noted the little seahorse in it without enthusiasm and went back to watching the lake, bored out of her mind. "Carpe Re--" Haddie did a double take. She got one! She actually got one! "Over there," she told Rachel, pointing where she'd last aimed her wand. "Aim there!"

"Alright, kelp is what I shall call it.'' Rachel smiled, knowing that Haddie had been bound to correct her since her friend was obsessed about oceans and so forth. "What?'' Rachel looked questioningly at Haddie. "I don't think it would have worked, anyway. The Squid doesn't harm students.'' Which was a relief because even if David had arrived at the Lake at the time Haddie was speaking about, it would not have eaten him.

Summoning the Seahorse as the other Eagle was trying to do was enough to send Rachel into peels of giggles again. "That poor, poor seahorse. I think you had better leave them be because that would defeat the purpose of learning the Seize and Pull Charm.'' But now it was back to seahorse fishing. "Carpe Retractum.'' She did the whip like movement and had no hitch this time. While waiting for a seahorse to take a nip of her line, she watched Haddie. "You're not thinking of pranking him, are you?'' Yes, Haddie. She saw you watching David.

What's that? Rachel looked down at their jars and sure enough there was a seahorse snugly in Haddie's. "Oh, excellently done, Haddie!'' She retracted her own rope to aim over at the spot her best friend had indicated. ''Carpe Retractum.'' With the whip like movement done, the rope was back in. Just as the other girl had done, Rachel pulled back it almost immediately. Attached to the end was on Flying Seahorse. "I've got one!'' Excitedly, she gently worked to set it in her jar. "That's our lucky spot.'' She pointed at the place where they had snatched their Horses in the Lake.

Bringing her arm back in a whip-like motion the rope that had been attached to her wand seemed to vanish. Whatever had been hooked to it though plopped down at her feet. Hady nudged it with her shoe to see it was just a bit of plant life from the lake. Bending down and picking it up the smallish girl tossed it back into the water. It was surely serve the creatures there better then it would her.

"Carpe Retractum!" Spoken clearly and firmly once more while doing the exact same wand movement as earlier. With her eyes fixed on where her line landed in the water all she had to do was wait again. It was sort of boring just standing there alone and waiting for a tug or some form of movement but it was what it was. Like most things it was all about patience and that she usually had.

While standing there Hadleigh took to rocking back and forth on her heels and maybe sort of possibly humming ever so quietly under her breath to keep her attention focused. Nothing wrong with keeping herself entertained while she waited.

Well, the spell had definitely worked and that was something that Esme was rather pleased about because if nothing else it meant that she had mastered ANOTHER spell that could prove to be rather useful in the future.

The end of the rope of light reached the water and submerged into its depths. Time to see if she had managed to catch anything beyond a bit of seaweed (chances were that she hadn't). Her arm was brought back in another whip-like motion and whatever she had managed to snag from the lake was plopped at her feet. Rather ungracefully at that. Clearly she needed more practice with the spell but that was part of being in class; they were here to learn after all. Life would be boring if she had the ability to master everything right off the bat.

With a smile she toed the bit of plant life at her feet. It had been as she had suspected all a long: nothing but seaweed.

Time for try two and see if she had any better luck even though she wished she wouldn't because poor seahorses in that case. Swim far away little guys, she thought to herself as she prepared herself to recast the spell. "CARPE RETRACTUM!"

It seemed like the only way to do this was to just...blindly aim at the water. No wonder he'd said it was so hard - and wouldn't all these orange spell ropes hitting the water scare off all the seahorses?? Or make them fly away? If she had been one, she would have certainly turned tail and flown away AGES ago.

Alright, time to just DO it. "Carpe Retractum!" she cried, whipping her wand forward like she had practiced and watching as the orange rope of magic flew from her wand and loudly hit the water. She pulled back right away, and...there was nothing there. BUT at least she'd done it! That was a success! And Draper HAD said to not get too discouraged if you don't get any seahorses...

After doing the practicing of the charm and wand movement, it was time to put his skills to the test. He saw the Professor call them over and they were going to do a main activity. The slytherin heard the explanation and they needed to pull jars back that were filled with water? Sounded simple enough. I mean it sounded stupid but I guess the Professor has gotta do what he's gotta do. He went over to the supply table and got a jar. Now he needed to fill his jar with water. He went down by the lake and put it into the water and got a jar full of lake water.

He picked it up and put it eye level to examine what was inside it. Huh...he managed to catch a fish in there. Woopsies. He emptied his jar and put the fish back into the lake. He scooped his jar again and filled it. There fishless. Now time to put his spell to the test.

After casting a non-verbal 'finite' on the aguamenti spell to fill the jar with water, Yoongi was momentarily distracted by a young Ravenclaw boy (Jace) getting hit in the face by an old soggy book that he had pulled out of the water. He didn't seemed injured though and after noticing that some of his friends 'helping' him out already the Head Boy turned back to his own fishing.

He placed his jar down on the ground and faced the Lake water. His non-verbals were pretty good. Pretty good? no pretty excellent ha! But he had never tried this kind of spell non-verbally so he would see how it went. Yoongi pointed his wand at the water and visualized the spell in his mind. Then, while making a whipping motion with his wand, he thought; 'Carpe Retractum!' and a satisfied grin appeared on his face when an orange rope flew out of his wand.

OI Professor Jerkface! Did you see that huh?!

But the grin on his face disappeared eventually and was replaced by look of boredom. So far, he hadn't felt any tugs and he looked around to his fellow students. Hady seemed to be experiencing the same boredom as him.

Mweh come on horsies ...bite...

Finally she had picked a spot and placed down her jar to claim it. Then reclaiming her wand from her pocket, Olivia was ready for the water. And yes, she knew the appropriate spell as it had been one of the first things she learned in potions classes. Goodie she wasn’t poisoned and impaired in any way this time around so it should be no problem. “Aquamenti…”she cast, aiming the tip of her wand into the mouth of the jar. However it was but a trickle that she was greeted with and didn’t last.

What had she done wrong?

Usually she could get a better stream with that spell and it stayed until she ended it. Maybe she had spoken too soon about it being easy. Jinxed herself which was never a good thing. Biting her lip, Olivia gathered her focus, figuring maybe she wasn’t clear on her attention. “Aquamenti!” she cast again, thi time water coming out in a rush with some of it splashing back out and onto her. The Ravenclaw stepped back to avoid the errant drops, ending it with a “Finite,” just before the jar overflowed.'

“Woah…that was close.”

Kitty moved to the table and selected one of the empty jars. Then she went to the lake and bent down to fill it with lake water. She could have used magic to fill it instead (having learned it after the potions lesson) but she thought the seahorses might prefer to be in familiar water from their own lake.

Haddie held her jar with the little seahorse in it, up at eye level and tapped the outside of the glass. The seahorse was hovering in the middle of the jar like he was chilling. Or bored. "I think Jimmy's lonely." Haddie inspected the seahorse a moment more and then set the jar back down. She stood up, because the ground under her was getting cold again. "I'm gonna get him a buddy."

"Carpe Retractum!" The golden thread shot out over the water, landing in their lucky spot. "Got one!" She yanked it back and the little seahorse when soaring, over the water right into the waiting mouth of a large fish that leapt out of the water. GULP! Haddie's eyes grew wide with horror, her hands covering her mouth in shock. It was the exact same expression she had had when magically pulling Ilia's hair, only this time it wasn't an act. "Oh, no. Oh my god." Haddie didn't know whether to laugh or cry... it was just so random. She looked at Rachel, her face a mixture of guilt, pity, and just a dash of tragic amusement. "Poor Casper. I feel so bad. We should... We finished I think... let's,uh, yeah..." She trudged her way back to Captain Sourpuss.

"We're done." That was it. Just two words, to get it over with faster. She held up the jar with the her seahorse in it so that Good ol' Drapey could see it.

He had to get a seahorse... he just had to. Jaemin wrinkled his nose and shuffled himself around a little before picking a different spot to cast his spell out to. The small boy gripped his wand tightly and moved his wand in the whip motion again, calling out the spell. "Carpe Retractum!"

Another rope-like thing happened, landing in a different part of the lake this time. He hummed and left it out there for a moment before tugging at it; it gave him some resistance, and he bounced on his tiptoes before giving it a harder tug.

It didn't want to come out... "What's wrong with this... come back!" he mumbled, pulling harder. The light string popped out of the water and flew back toward him, this time with a creature attached... but it wasn't a seahorse. It was a big, fat fish.

The boy shrieked and ducked, and the thing flew over his head.

"Merlin," he whispered, turning to look at the thing as it flopped around.