Frankie knew the moment he read the note on the door and walked into the room that signing up for the charms challenge was a trap, quite possibly one of the biggest mistakes he had made in his entire life. The agonizing cries of an infant filled his hears, and ... what was that awful smell? Memories of when Hattie and Cora were babies suddenly flooded his mind, all of which he had repressed to the deepest, darkest places of his mind until this very moment. The crying, the poopy diapers, the smell of baby food, the lack of sleep, the pain of stepping on baby toys in the middle of the night, everything came back to him – it was pure torture. Why anyone would ever want one of those was a mystery to the prefect. Babies were absolute nightmares.

Sighing, the blond approached the little thing. From a distance it looked like the real deal, but he soon realized that before him was just a doll. Nonetheless, the crying and smell were horrendous. How in the world did they get that to be SO REAL?! Whoever did it sure got that down to a T. Merlin. He gagged loudly as he reached for his wand, his face turning a dark shade of red rather rapidly.

Before even dealing with the fake baby, the first thing the sixteen-year-old boy did was cast a Bubble-Head Charm for himself. Holding his breath, he nonverbally casted the charm, moving his wand in a counter-clockwise motion around his nose and mouth. Frankie knew full well that he would have been destined to pass out otherwise. The bubble that successfully took form was a life-saver. Props to the bloke who invented the spell ages ago.

With a fresh supply of oxygen, the sixth year glanced back at the doll-baby as he recalled all of the things that the note on the door had instructed him to do. Obviously there was the diaper – it made sense to take care of that first. Now, he wasn't quite sure what the universe had accepted as a proper diaper-changing technique. Though he had younger sisters, he sure didn't stick around whenever they left stink bombs in their pants. The blond thought that this was going to be a walk in the park nonetheless. How hard could it be, right? If his ma and pa and Grace, of all people, could do it, then this was going to be a piece of cauldron cake.

Wrong. He was so wrong.

As he was undressing the doll, the thing was crying even louder and flailing her arms and legs about. Immediately the boy regretting not silencing the damn thing, though he was sure doing so would have meant points being docked. So he struggled ... for several minutes ... the buttons of its onesie were undone ... both of her arms were free ... but the legs were proving to be a challenge. Was putting the onesie back on the thing going to be even more difficult? Bloody hell.

"Finally!" he exclaimed once the baby was completely free of the onesie. A few beads of sweat were beginning to form on his forehead, but the prefect paid no attention to them. The hard part was just about to begin. He slowly reached toward the baby, which was making Moaning Myrtle look normal with all the crying it was doing, and began. There went the first strap, and Frankie was beyond grateful for that Bubble-Head Charm once the second was undone and the mess was revealed.

What in Merlin's beard where they feeding her?! Oh ... right. It was a doll.

Careful not to get his hands dirty, Frankie moved the dirty diaper away from the kicking doll and looked around the room. What was he supposed to do now? Why wasn't there a garbage can in here? He panicked for a few moments before hitting himself on the head. Vanish the stinkin' thing, Paton! Duh! Wand at the ready, he moved his wand in a complex motion and said "Evanesco."

Having just gotten rid of the source of the smell, the teen removed the Bubble-Head Charm and returned his attention to the doll. It was still crying for some reason. He tried calming the baby by shushing it and whispering to it over and over as he fought against kicking legs while he put on a clean diaper and got the thing back in its onesie. "Why ... won't ... you ... just ... shut ... the ... hell ... up?" he muttered under his breath, blatantly failing at getting the baby to be quiet. The dirty diaper was no more. What more could she want? What was this baby's deal?

A lightbulb went off when he briefly put himself in the baby's shoes. If its diaper was clean, then there was really only one other reason why she would still be crying: she wanted food. A hand quickly went to his left pocket, and he felt around for something for the doll to nibble on. The only thing that he had to offer was a chocolate frog ... and there was a feeling in his gut that babies didn't get those. So he began his search around the room for anything baby-appropriate to eat.

To his left was a tiny crib, and to his right was a radio. The blond continued his search, shushing the doll as he searched high and low for baby food or something the screeching thing could eat. Diapers were a no ... baby toys were definitely a no ... alas, a bottle with milk in it! Frankie quickly snatched the bottle and ran over to the doll. She seemed to have recognized the bottle in his hands and stopped crying for a moment to make grabby hands at him. He was about to place the silicone part in the doll's mouth, but stopped himself. Didn't babies like warm milk? It said he was supposed to warm the milk first, right? Now that he thought about it, the prefect couldn't recall drinking cold milk as an infant, and he was quite certain his mum never gave Hattie and Cora cold milk to drink.

Being quick with his hands, for the doll-baby looked like it was on the verge of starting up another fit, he gave his wand a little wave and muttered the incantation for the Hot-Air Charm. Hot air steadily emitted from the tip of his wand. He could feel the bottle getting warmer. Just as the doll let out a loud cry, he carefully placed the end of the bottle in her mouth.

Are you happy now? Hmm?

She seemed happy guzzling the milk away, which made Frankie sigh with relief. The nightmare was almost over. Soon he could return to his baby-less life, which was fun and low on the responsibility scale in comparison to all of this nonsense. His blue eyes flickered over to the crib and then back at the doll. It needed to go in there next, but he wasn't so sure that the crib was even big enough for the drama queen baby. He rose up to his feet and strode over to the crib for closer examination. It certainly wasn't big enough for that little monster. "Engorgio," he murmured, flicking his wand at the tiny crib. An icy blue light emanated from the tip of his wand, making the crib grow in size immensely. Frankie ended the spell when he deemed the crib big enough and looked back down at the doll, which had knocked the bottle away and started crying once more.

Deciding that there was no way he was going to go across the room again to fetch the thing, he remained were he stood. Pointing his wand at the baby, he moved his wand in a sideways motion and uttered, "Wingardium Leviosa." Shortly thereafter, the doll began to hover in the hair, the bottle and blanket trailing behind it. The blond carefully navigated everything over toward the crib, steadily placing them down – the baby and blanket in the crib and the bottle on a nearby stand.

Its cries were more painful and annoying than ever. He couldn't take it much longer, so he quickly made a mad dash for the radio and tinkered with the dials. Celestina Warbeck's voice loudly filled the room, which the baby did not seem to like at all. Another turn revealed The Dead Kneazles, which made the baby cry even harder. The third turn of the dial, however, was the charm: peaceful classical music. If that did not get the thing to fall asleep, then he didn't know what would.

The music seemed to be working as the cries got quieter when he approached the crib. The teenaged boy reached for the bottle and put the end back in the doll's mouth. Gently, he then tucked the blanket closer to the baby and watched as its eyes slowly began to close. Come on ... fall asleep already ... please ... come on, he thought as its eyes opened less and less with each blink. After a few minutes, the eyes of the doll-baby remained shut. PRAISE MERLIN!

"Night, flobberworm," Frankie whispered, silently creeping toward the door and his freedom.

Echo walked into the Charms Practice room and stopped in her tracks!

A BABY!!! Whaaaa????

Did the Professors not understand that she didn’t want to get dirty what so ever and this happened to be one of the messiest things she could think of? Picking up the parchment while still eyeballing the kid she looked down. Glancing over what she needed to do she made a mental list in her head. ”get gross diaper away, warm the bottle thing, make the crib bigger, turn on the radio……… shouldn’t be to hard right?” she spoke to her self, suddenly wondering if the Professors heard her talking to herself. ”ughhhh… I don’t want to touch this smelly baby”.

Placing the parchment down she slowly started to walk towards the thing.

And great it instantly started to cry. ”shhhhhhh”

Echo quickly glanced around the room, mentally apologizing, but she could sense that the kid didn’t like her, and she did like it either. ”your going to lose me points kid” why did she have to do the worst part first.. Shivering all over and shaking the goose bumps away Echo rolled up her sleeve and took out her wand.

Holding her wand in her hand she tried to figure out what she wanted to do with the diaper, she could just use the levitation spell and put it in the rubbish bin, but then she would still have to smell it, and that was defiantly not an option. The best thing for her to do would be to get rid of it all together. Doing the proper wand movements she said ”Evanesco” the diaper went away, but then she realized she was left with another problem, that the Professors didn’t tell her about.. ”the baby needs a new one of these doesn’t it?” again speaking aloud.

Echo swished and flicked her wand and said ”Wingardium Leviosa” and as soon as the words were finished she guided her diaper across the room to her hand? Was there a spell to put this on the baby because she didn’t want to do it by hand but she didn’t know of a spell off the top of her head so she would have to do it the “ole muggle way”.

Wishing badly that she had latex gloves Echo was right next to the baby, good thing that the mess had been away but this was the closest she’s been to a small being. ”don’t get mad at me kid” eyeballing it she hoped she had this the correct way. Holding it up it seemed quite easy, the sticky parts needed to stick to the front of the baby to hold it on. Closing her eyes and sliding the diaper under the kid she then slid back and opened her eyes, okay it seemed like it was doable. Pulling up the front of it she smirked at stuck it together! ”yes” she shouted while realizing her mistake, she scared the messy kid.

”greatttttttttt” here we go again…..

Guess it was time to feed it. Rolling her wand in her hand she tried to think of the best way to heat up this bottle, and a lot of what she was thinking about resulted in burning it completely, except for Ventus. This would send hot air to the object that she was pointing at and even though it would take a while she thought it was the best way. ”alright alright, stop crying” could you tell she didn’t like kids.

Filling the bottle with milk, Echo closed the lid and pointed her wand at the bottle while doing the movements. ”Ventus” she knew this was going to take a few minutes and she also kind of figured out that the baby didn’t want to burn its mouth off so it only needed to be a bit warmer. 5 minutes had passed and she stopped the charm by saying ”Finite Incantatem” Moving her way to the bottle she touched it, it was a bit warm but she could leave it for one or two minutes to cool down before giving it to the baby.

So while she waited she might as well make that bed bigger for it to take a nap. ”could she join it? Echo could go for a nap right about now” Looking at the small crib she took her wand out again and did a more rounded horse shoe movement and said ”Engorgio” Watching it grow bigger and bigger she thought that she might as well stop, it was about the size of a coffee table and the kid wasn’t too big so it would be okay. ”Finite Incantatem” she said again to stop her spell. ”Please don’t bite me” she said while back at the babys side.

Picking it up quickly and carefully she placed it in the new crib while noticing it might need a blanket. Walking back to fetch the now perfectly temperature bottle she handed it to the baby who gladly held on to it by its self and started to suck, Echo glanced around the room for a blanket. ”Accio Blanket” she said while it zoomed over to her. Might as well take the teddy bear that was near it as well, maybe it would give her bonus points? ”Accio Teddy bear” that zoomed over to her as well. Placing both objects in the bed with the kid her last task was awaiting her.

Rolling up her sleeves she was ready for this to be over and her to go back to her dorm and have her own nap. Echo had only done this once before but its best to give it a try now. Hoping that it worked Echo pointed her want to the radio and said ”Sonorus” hearing it turn on quietly she stood back and admired her handy work and also realized that she didn’t want to be here in this room any more. Turning around she smiled ”All done” she placed the parchment down on the table for the next victim student to use and headed for the door way and out into the hall, on her way to the Slytherin dorm.

From the very second Hady stepped up to the door to find nothing but a small paper explaining the challenge to her she knew it was going to be nothing shorter then entertaining. Like honestly, was this challenge made just for her? Not only would she be scored by the Professors on how well she completed the challenge at hand but she would also be mentally scoring herself on this one. Cause if she couldn't handle a crying doll then how was she ever supposed to handle being home this upcoming holiday with a set of infant twins in the house?

Rereading the directions once again and making a mental list of each step she needed to take Hady reached out and set her hand on the door. Only forty-five minutes to complete all five steps. She knew she could do this. It was just a doll. Just. A. Doll.

Pushing the door open the sixth year entered the room allowing the door to close shut behind her which she instantly regretted. The smell that filled the room hitting her like a ton of bricks to the face making her wrinkle her nose in displeasure. Oh. My. Gosh! What the heck did they do to this thing? If one little baby doll could stink so badly what would two babies in her home do to her? And that noise it had to be amplified or something. Nothing could sound that much in distress, could it? How did the entire school not hear this thing?

Flicking her wrist sharply her wand slid into her hand from the holster strapped at her wrist. Sorry little one but you would be waiting one more second. If she didn't take care of the smell first she wouldn't be able to help you. The only thing that came to mind right then was the Bubble-Head charm. Holding her breath and aiming her wand at her mouth and nose she moved her wand in a counter-clockwise motion, "Viseo Ebullio," she recited letting out a breath through her mouth. Had it worked?

There was only one way to find out. Slowly inhaling through her nose she smelt nothing that had to do with the stench the baby gave off. Now she could get on with the rest of the task. If only the kid wasn't so loud. Were they allowed to cast a silencing charm on the thing? Probably not.

Hady made her way over to where the doll was laying taking in it's appearance. Wow. It was actually really quite cute. Even if it was shrieking loud enough to shatter the windows. "Shh, it's alright. I'll fix you up in no time.." she whispered winching when the doll screamed even louder as if just to spite her.

It was best to start with the diaper. Get the dirty work out of the way. Mhmm. Only she didn't know of a magical way to change a diaper. Chewing on her lip she went about it the muggle way. Laying her left hand on the dolls stomach to keep it from wiggling all over the place she laid her wand down right beside her. With her right hand she pulled open the sticky strip on the diaper all the while humming random songs under her breath hoping to sooth the doll even a little. That crying was getting nerve-wracking! Pulling the other strip open on the diaper she looked around for a trash bin but unable to find one she groaned inwardly. Reaching for her wand at her side she aimed it at the disgusting diaper and preformed a complex wand movement. "Evanesco!" Vanishing the stinky thing was much better then having it still in the room with her anyhow.

Now to put on a clean diaper. Shifting her eyes around the area where the doll was laid on with it's little blanket she soon enough found the one diaper laying right there. Picking it up she did her best to get it opened and wiggled it under the still squirming baby. Hady had to move her hand from the babies stomach in order to fully get the diaper up under the doll. Once she had it in place she pulled the front up and quickly stuck the tabs closed to hold it on. There prefect.

With a small grin she took hold of the pink blanket and opened it up. Picking up Rose, yes she had decided to call the baby girl Rose since she had pretty flowers on her dress and head band, she laid her carefully onto the blanket folding it up and around her nicely. Lifting the baby into her arms she cradled her close to her chest humming once more under her breath, this time one of the many songs the band had been working on.

Crossing the room to where the small radio was she looked it over a second. Fiddling first with the nobs on it to get it to turn on and then fumbling with them to find the correct station. Whatever had come blasting on caused Hady to flinch and little Rose to scream at an even more impossibly unrealistic level. "I don't blame you kid, I don't like this either," she muttered with a small laugh tapping the radio with her wand to change the station more easily. The next song she knew and found it quiet enough to leave one. "Quietus," she cast pointing her wand directly at the radio lowering the volume to a more soothing volume sighing in relief as the dolls shrieks paused for a brief second. She must've done something right at least.

What else did she had to do? She had changed the baby and turned on the music...what else was there? Oh yeah! Dangit Hady...focus girl! The bottle. Where was it? As if on cue with her thoughts the baby began to cry again so hard this time that it appeared to be gasping between breaths. The pure look of distress on the dolls face was enough to break her heart as she looked down at it for the slightest second. If only this thing looked like a doll and not like a true baby! Gripping her wand still she made a sideways 'c' shape it at the bottle. "Accio bottle!" There wasn't anytime to waste messing around anymore.

As the bottle flew across the room at her she caught it in the hand her wand was in nearly dropping her wand. Rather drop the wand then the baby whom was cradled in her other arm safely though. Why was this bottle so cold? Hady frowned a bit looking around the room again. How did they expect her to feed the baby a cold bottle?! That wasn't going to happen. There had to be a way to- the Hot Air Charm! If she could use it to dry herself off after swimming in the lake then it should be able to warm up a bottle. Looking at the bottle she signed setting it at her feet on the floor.

Pausing in the gentle rocking of the doll the brunette preformed yet another complicated wand movement this time casting, "Ventus." Instantly a stream of hot air erupted from the tip of her wand directed at the bottle at her feet. It might take a few moments but it was the best she could do. Keeping her wand and the hot air fixed on the bottle she looked down at the doll wrapped up in it's pink blanket in her arms. "I know, shh I know just another minute..." Please stop crying...please...

It was taking to long. Much longer then heating it up on the stove or something. Why didn't she know a stronger more effective charm? Quietly casting 'Finite' to end the charm she pocketed her wand. Bending down carefully, holding the baby closer to herself she picked up the bottle. It felt warmish on the outside but was it really warm enough...

Hadleigh gave it a few good shakes all the while softly shushing the baby. She tipped the bottle upside down letting a few tiny drops of the milk inside drip onto the back of her other hand. It felt warmish. It was by no means at all hot but it also wasn't cold. Figuring that to be good enough she offered the bottle to the baby how opened her mouth and made to grip at it with her tiny hands. The action alone was enough to make her smile but it was the fact that the screams had stopped that had her grinning more then anything.

With the doll contently drinking from her bottle now and the crying at a halt, Hady was able to direct her focus on the last step. Making the crib large enough to comfortably hold the baby inside. Pointing her wand at the crib she slowly made what looked like a horse shoe shaped motion, "Engorgio." The icy blue ring of light from the charm shone around the small crib making it shiver as it grew and grew in size. When it had reached the size of maybe double that of the doll she canceled it with 'finite' and pocketed her wand.

Nearly finished.

Lowering her gaze onto the baby she gave just a tiny laugh to see it's eyes already drooping as it neared the end of it's feeding. With the bottle almost empty there wasn't much more for Hady to do but gently lay Rose down into the center of the crib making sure her little blanket was still wrapped nicely around her. While the doll finished drinking it's bottle Hady had another thought just a little something to make the baby more comfortable. Aiming her wand at the little mattress on which the baby was laying she made the wand movement of a slightly slanted 'S' shape while giving the incantation, "Spongify." Nothing at all wrong with allowing the doll to be comfortable even if it were just that...a doll.

A very soft 'thud' was heard as the empty bottle slipped from the now sleeping dolls mouth to roll against the side of the crib. Picking it up Hady set the bottle down on the floor near the crib instead. The baby was silent and her task was complete. Or was it? With a slight smirk playing on her lips she aimed her wand one more time only this time her target was that of the little pink blanket the baby was wrapped it. "Colovaria," she cast softly effectively changing the blanket from pink to emerald green and silver stripes. It was just her little way of leaving her mark behind even if just for a moment.

"Sleep well Rose," Hadleigh whispered casting one last look at the doll before turning and heading for the door all the while slipping her wand back into the holster on her wrist. Opening the door and stepping out into the hall she couldn't help but wonder if she could speak to one of the Professors about getting one of these dolls for herself for a little while. Call her insane but the cuteness of the baby itself made everything in the challenge insignificant even with the screaming it had done for nearly the entire time.

Walking up to the practice room on the day of the challenge, Brooklyn knew she ought to feel more nervous. There was a part of her, though, that felt like this couldn’t be any more difficult than OWLs had been, and she’d managed to make it through those unscathed. Besides, confidence in her casting ability was just as important as the determination and focus that she always remembered. She just was going to have faith in that, in her ability. She didn’t feel as if she could be marked down for confidence anyhow, and the challenge was on her. She wasn’t working with anyone else, not this time anyway. Nobody was going to make her fail, and she wasn’t required to help anyone.

Well, upon reading the notice tacked up on the door, her theory in that regard had to shift slightly. Babies. There was a reason she had avoided having to babysit her cousins when they had been tiny, and she was looking forward to not babysitting for her sister’s as well. Hogwarts wasn’t there to teach them how to be parents. At least, she hadn’t thought it was, but then here was something making her take a second guess. Both at her belief and her confidence that the challenge wouldn’t be difficult. Instead of turning and leaving, however, she simply turned her wand on herself. If she was going to do this, she wasn’t about to let any of the mess get on herself. Tapping her body, she quietly spoke. “Impervius.” Once that was done, she moved her wand in a counterclockwise circle around her head. “Viseo Ebullio,” she cast, aloud only to prove to anyone watching, had they been watching her in the corridor, that she knew the incantations.

Finally stepping into the room, she momentarily took a moment to wish that she could have cast a Muffliato charm on the bubble. The crying seemed like it was nearing a decibel that only dogs might hear, though, and she had to force herself to approach the blanket that the faux baby was on. The noise only got louder as she got closer. It was irritating, but just like the lack of Muffliato, she doubted anyone would appreciate her silencing the baby. Anyone other than herself, but then there was always the possibility that the doll had been charmed that they couldn’t silence it anyhow. She wasn’t about to test that, no matter how tempting it was.

Instead, she made a quiet shh-ing sound, stroking the baby softly to try and calm her down like she’d seen others do in the past. When she’d been avoiding babysitting. It had worked then, but not so much now, so that meant going ahead with the tasks set out in the notice. She had to change its diaper. She took a deep breath, thankfully of relatively fresh air, before she began to gently undress the baby to get at the diaper. Once that was done, she peeled away the fasteners and took the diaper off. It was quickly rolled up to avoid transferring the mess inside. “Evanesco,” she cast, training her wand on the rolled up diaper and following the appropriate wand movements before she turned away to deal with the baby again.

Finding the clean diaper left for her, she picked it up with the hand not holding her wand. Before setting it down, she pointed her wand at the baby. “Tergeo,” she said clearly, ignoring the fact the incantation was likely muffled by the screaming. It had made sure she wasn’t putting a clean diaper on top of icky residue, anyhow, and she quickly slid the diaper in question under the baby’s backside and fastened it around it before anything else could happen. She certainly didn’t trust the faux baby not to go to the bathroom again just to spite her, after all. There was no reason why she should.

Instead, she paused a moment, halfway through re-dressing the baby. It almost seemed like the4 screaming had quieted a little, even if the change was tiny. She was slightly grateful for that, even if she was just imagining it. If anything, she just hoped that she could still hear after this was finished. Going back to softly rubbing the crying faux-baby’s stomach, she let her blue eyes go around the room. Soon her gaze landed on the waiting bottle, and with another soft murmur, she stopped rubbing its belly to go retrieve it. Of course it wasn’t warmed, and she doubted that anyone wanted her to light a fire in the room to heat it up. There wasn’t a good place to do so, in any case, so a Hot-Air charm would have to work instead.

Fire would have worked so much better. There was a reason why they used it in Potions, after all, but then babies didn’t want boiling hot milk. Just warm milk, and she performed the complicated little wave of her wand as she walked back to the blanket. “Ventus,” she cast, training the spell on the bottle until she felt it warm in her hand. Turning back to the faux baby, she carefully wrapped it up into the blanket before picking it up like she’d seen her family members do with her baby cousins, delicately tucking it into the crook of one arm as she moved the bottle to its mouth, feeling it begin feeding almost instantaneously. That was one way to get relief from the screaming, anyhow.

Walking over to the tiny crib, only setting the bottle down once it was empty and preparing herself for more screaming, she started rocking back and forth slightly. She was nearly finished, and the faux baby ought to know that. The whimpers were quieter, but still there. “Shhh,” she mumbled, still rocking as she got her wand out again. Flicking it at the mini-crib, her shh-ing was followed by “Evanesco.” The enlarging charm was followed by a “Finite” after a few moments. They didn’t need a giant crib, just one big enough for the tiny baby. Rocking her for a few more seconds, she regarded the crib. It seemed good enough. The faux baby was set down inside, on the little mattress, still all wrapped up in its blanket.

The crying was definitely softer by now, but she took a moment to eye the faux baby as it defied her attempts to calm it completely. She just wanted it to go to sleep, and if she’d had her violin, she would have played something to calm both of them down. She didn’t have it, but she remembered the radio that had been mentioned. That would have to do, and she glanced around until she saw it in a corner. Going over, she switched it on, momentarily making a face as it blared wrock music. A few turns of the knob, some fiddling around, and she found a station that at least played classical music. It was still much too loud, however. “Quietus,” she murmured, pointing her wand at the radio and sighing as the music softened to nearly white noise. That was much better.

Moving back to the crib, she set the radio down before glancing at the faux baby. It definitely looked calmer, nearly asleep. Rubbing its belly again gently, she waited until its eyes closed entirely and then made her escape. Just to be safe, she didn’t end the bubble-head charm until she was back out in the corridor, however. She just hoped that she wasn’t going to be expected to do anything like that again for a while.