Artwork! It was weirdly appropriate that they were using a defense spell to create artwork. Not because she thought they shouldn't take defensive skills seriously, but because thinking outside of the box was the real way to stay safe against Dark Creatures and Dark Wizards. Knowing the spells wasn't enough if you couldn't use them on the spot.

So. What should she make? Katy eyed her ice block critically before deciding that she ought to stick with something a little more abstract and full of round lines. Her circular fire may not go where she wanted, and once you lopped the ear off an antelope, there was no putting it back again. A tree. She'd make a great big tree with spreading leaves and branches. Like the Whomping Willow, but cold and frozen and non-murdery.

Katy raised her wand. "Lustro Circulus." The first circle of fire, which was coming along nicely from her practicing. Still a bit fainter than she wanted, and her control was wobbly, but the first few dozen castings were just to lop off unwanted ice anyway. "Lustro Circulus. Lustro Circulus." And even better.

Etta stared at the lake, trying to concentrate. Didn't the professor mention the fact that control was very important? She took deep breaths and tried to focus completely on the spell, eyes on her wand. Flames.. fire.. ring of fire.. her thoughts were solely focused on producing a ring of fire and nothing else. Now that it was time to actually put the incantation to practice.. she said, "Lustro Circulus!" loudly with the correct wand movement. .. and out came fire. Woah! She took a couple of steps back , mildly panicking for a moment before her control slowly set in. Soon enough, there was a ring of fire, Etta's eyes widening with every second but not losing control. Oh.. and wow, she'd managed it quite decently. She put out her fire, suddenly aware that the professor seemed to be talking about something.

She moved closer to listen, still a dazed from what she just did. Kind of unbelievable, yeah? Um, wait. What did they have to do? Her eyes drifted towards the blocks of ice and picked one in random. The one that was closer to the lake. Once the professor was done, she walked over to the ice she had picked, raising her wand once again before closing her eyes. Trying to focus once again, she flicked her wand forward in a whip-like motion before she clearly said, "Lustro Circulus!" .. wait. Did that work?

Vivian practiced a little bit more with the incantation, because doing the whip hand movement thing was too easy. It sort of didn't roll off her tongue as easily as the other spells would, probably due to the amount of S sounds. But it'd take practice, which the Slytherin didn't mind doing. She just wanted this all to be over and done with. Not that she wanted to go and leave Hirsch behind, but because she knew she'd fail at this class. It had CONTROL as one of its golden rules, which was clearly something Vivian lacked obviously.

"Lustro Circulus... Lustro Circulus... Lustro Circulus...." It took her a couple of tries until she had finally produced a circular fire whip thing, which was the aim of this lesson today, right? Vivian was pleased with herself and the result. So now, they were going to move on to the activity! Yay!

Make a sculpture with only the spell? Impossible! Vivian didn't have enough control of her actions. How much more over a fire-y lasso she had conjured? The Slytherin made an alarming look at Professor Hirsch, and then at her block of ice. She wasn't sure she'd be able to finish this without making a mess. Like... ice did melt, yeah? But first thing's first... what sculpture design did she want?

Decisions, decisions...

Where was Tenacius Salander in all this?

He was there, messing about with his fire suit, totally paying attention to the lesson not

Having to pick which undead he'd face? Well to him they're all the same, they're all undead. Just slight variations really. Like the turtles from Super Mario has slight variations and powers depending on the where Mario was at. Although if he was being really honest he'd go where Vi Holden would go because she's pretty and since she picked Inferi, well that's what he'd face too. Least he didnt have to worry about overdoing anything right?

Ok... maybe assumed too soon that he could go all pedal to the metal on this. Professor Hirsch is now saying something about control. Wiiiiince.

But at least he should try. Start small. Really small. Smolllllll..... "Lustro Circulus..." he murmured, and his wand sparked as tongues of flame erupted at the end of it. Aaaakk! Smaller smaller! "Shhhh!" he flailed a bit. Yeah shhushing would help right?

He was gonna start aiming this at the water, because for him, that would be the safest place to aim this at, the element that would counter fire. "Lustro Circulus..." he repeated again, willing with all his might to keep this no more than the size of his palm. A ring of fire hovered in the air between his wand and the water at his feet, and he could see it glowing ever so menacingly as its image reflected back from the lake. Scary, but very very COOL!

Should he do the lasso effect? Could very well try right?

"Lustro Circulus" he uttered again, this time moving his wand so he can create some kind of spiral flame. And it was working...... and working.... and working.... ok this is getting too long....

--there is a THUDDING. He shifted his gaze momentarily trying to figure out what is going on-- oh! Blocks of ice are they? He flicked the fire lasso against one of them and it hissed against the icy surface into non-existence. Left a curious little engraving too.

Ok so that wasnt too bad of a disaster was it?

Viv was done with her spell practice but she moved on. She could practice later. She walked over to where Professor Hirsch was.

She learned that she wasn't working with a dummy today. She was going to be using the spell she learned and try to melt the ice to create ice sculptures (how was that possible?). She was going to learn how to use control.

She picked a block of ice and stood 2 metres away from it. She pulled out her wand and used the spell to melt the ice away. It was up to Viv what she made out of her ice so she decided on a bird - she loved birds.

"I'm glad we're not using dummies," she said to no one in particular as she selected one large ice block and moved towards it. But she very much doubted her ability to carve a sculpture by using fire. But practice was the key to almost anything, so she'd give it her best shot!

Pointing at the ice cube and slashing her wand in the correct positioning, Kitty said"Lustro Circulus!" A thin line of fire flew out of her wands tip and burned into the ice. Kitty jumped back out of instinct.

It didn't look like she'd carved anything. A large piece of the ice was missing and the part where the fire had hit was melting, but there wasn't a clear sculpture. What she'd been trying to carve was the White Witch's castle. The idea came to her through the book club meeting about Narnia they'd had earlier in the year.

"Can I do another block?" she asked, moving towards another ice block.

Oh…Professor Hirsch wanted to know her reason for picking a mummy. Hmm…um…her exact reasoning? Cassie wasn’t sure there was a simple answer. “I guess it’s part lesser of three evils, part just choosing,” she admitted. As much as mummies had ancient magic imbedded in them like the man had informed another student, they didn’t seem as nasty as the dark-magic-imbedded inferi and brain-eating zombies. She was no coward but that didn’t mean she wanted to deal with the worst of the three, whichever it might be. And she was having her doubts on her strengths after current events.

But they were moving on and Cassie played apt attention to all that was being said. Fire was definitely an important aspect of dealing with the three creatures. She already knew Incendio of course but this lasso of fire being spoken of was going to prove…interesting. And testy. At least Professor Hirsch had thought ahead about that aspect, the man producing suits to protect each of their health. Because all these teenagers and younger learning and practicing with flames could be harmful for both casters and innocent bystanders alike. When dismissed to do said practice, the Ravenclaw got up from her seat and retrieved a suit of her own, putting it on before moving to a spot around the lake, watchful of others.

“Lustro Circulus!” she cast once she had gathered focus, moving her wand in a whip like motion. Nothing but a small spark appeared from the tip of her wand. Alright…need a bit more umph. “Lustro Circulus!” Cass tried again, getting more of a reaction and more of a flame. Getting better there. Realizing something. The fifth year stopped her practicing and tied her ponytail into a messy bun to keep it more out of the way and safe. The last thing she wanted to do, even other than getting hurt, was set her hair on fire. There! Back to working on that ring or whip of fire they needed to get.

“Lustro Circulus!”

AW MAN. Zoryn was SO SURE that they were going to get to play with Zombies and Inferi AND Mummies. But alas, they were only playing with ice. It was a SAD, SAD DAY. Booooooooooooooooooooo !!! Either way, she was excited to play with FIYA!!! Because if anything, that would be fun! PLUS, maybe ice art could be kind of cool?

HAHAHAHAH GET IT? COOL??? HAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Man. She cracked herself up.

Okay, okay.

Tbh, she probably should've done some more practice with the spell. Or... At least try to put the incantation and the movement together... BUT BUT BUT they were already given the task for the main activity and Zoryn was no Ravenclaw. Practice, shmactice. It felt very unnecessary.

So instead, she picked out a block of ice and went at it. "Lustro Circulus!!!" WAAAAAA NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!! TOO MUCH MELTED. TOO MUCH. WAS THERE AN UNDO BUTTON ON THIS THING??????????? She searched her wand, with no avail. Well this sucked. What the heck was she supposed to do with this??? This... THIS... THIS... This uneven piece of ice that was supposed to turn into an Oscar trophy.

Dude.

This was bogus.

She stood in front of her wonky, sloppy work in DEEP THOUGHT. Maybe she could come up with something to turn it into... Even after that disastrous first attempt.

Skylar hadn't been terribly concerned with the wand movement. Whip-like movement, yea, no need to practice that, right?! Surely not. But the incantation was where she struggled, because she had to carefully articulate lest she say something and inappropriately cast something. Not that Hirsch couldn't fix it, but she also didn't care to set the grounds on fire, as she was fairly sure the groundskeeper would not be pleased about that. Which also meant he'd probably bar her from practicing on the pitch as punishment.

"Lustro Circulus," she said again. And now with the wand movement. Adding a small wand movement, she whispered, "Lustro Circulus," but perhaps because her focus was on not destroying the grounds, rather than on creating a fire circle, there was a small fire, which quickly extinguished. Welp. It was a start, wasn't it?

Swallowing, she glanced back around as Hirsch was talking and explaining the main activity. No zombies, for which the fourth year found herself INCREDIBLY grateful for, but something WAY COOL. Ice sculptures!? Which made her wonder; had Hirsch helped the groundskeeper with those ice sculptures in the igloo? She was going to have to convene with Brent later about that. Because for now, she had to figure out what shape ice sculpture she wanted to make and she guessed she wasn't going to making no swan or elephant.

Something simple, for sure... since she hadn't even managed a full lasso, before it extinguishing, so this control thing was going to tough. Maybe a wand? Then would just have to shave the big block into a thin pick and it wouldn't exercise too much control? Or a broomstick? Slightly more complicated than just a wand, but not that intricate either.

Yes, a broomstick. Clearly focusing on a broomstick in her mind, she figured she might as well get started, "Lustro Circulus," she cast, this time the fire!lasso held for a bit longer as some of the ice melted from the corner. Perhaps because she had a goal in mind rather than just practicing, and yet.... it still extinguished after only a small corner had melted off. Well, this was going to take way longer than fifteen minutes.

Rings of fire.
Holy Merlin.

Noelle had seen Hirsch's display of fire power at the end of last year when he did a lasso of fire at the monster. It was IMPRESSIVE. Noelle thought back on that. Even insanely scared as she'd been, once Hirsch had pulled that lasso of fire out, she knew they'd be okay.

Pulling on a fire suit, Noelle didn't really care how she looked in it. She was ready to practice the spell. She was no Dora Umbridge with fire, but she would try! Pulling her hair up, she made sure it was in a tight bun. She made sure to join Ava by the lake, but far enough away that she wouldn't get her with her ring of fire. Also, less distractions that way.

Grabbing her wand, Noelle squared her shoulders. She said the incantation a few times to get the feel of saying it. "Lustro Circulus. Lustro Circulus. Lustro Circulus. Lustro Circulus" She moved her mouth, hopefully saying it correctly. Next, she would try it out. She was eager to do the spell. It was an incredibly cool one.

First she took a look around the classroom, seeing if anyone was able to create it yet. Some seemed to be having troubles but signs of the incantation working for others.

Okay, now to try. Whipping her wand in the movement that Hirsch showed them, she said, "Lustro Circulus" with it. Only... it didn't come out right. She'd stuttered on one of the S's. Nothing happened. Okay. Trying again, she worked more on the pronunciation rather than the movement, so her movement was off. Nothing happened. Squaring her shoulders, she took a deep breath and tried again. Still, something was off.

Okay. Noelle Grace Summers. You can do this!!

Rolling her neck, she wiggled her fingers and wrists. She could do this! "Lustro Circulus!!" She said with a clear intent on what she wanted. This time, a spark of a flame came through her wand. She beamed. Of course, it was only a flash of spark... nothing fancy.. but it was a start. Trying again, she said with more confidence from seeing a spark, she worked her wand movement more precisely. This time, a ring of fire did show up from her wand. She beamed. She knew she could do it! It wasn't big, it wasn't the best. But it was there!

Hearing the professor, Noelle looked to see the blocks of ice had been moved in front of each student. So they were to carve blocks of ice using the ring of fire? Did Hirsch not realize that Noelle had no creative bone in her body? She did get the hint of control though. So she would have to do something simple. But what?

Looking at Ava, she tried to use her for inspiration. What she thought of was tea. .... so.... a tea cup? Seemed easier than most things. First, she moved 2 meters away from the ice block, then she did the incantation a few more times (more like 5 more times) before she was somewhat comfortable enough with it, and a ring of fire was produced regularly.

Now for her block of ice.

Noelle did the incantation again, 'Lustro Circulus" and a thin ring of fire appeared. Thinking about her control and her intent, she aimed the fire towards her block. it melted and cut through a piece of it. Whoops.... too big of a piece knocked off.

They were going to... what? Ice sculpture?

Oh, Merlin.

Ava was not that kind of artistic person, unlike Olly who was very talented when it comes to fine art, sighs. But the purpose here was to work on their spell control, right? That, maybe she could do a little. The Gryffindor chose an ice block that wasn't very far from her standing point and examined it. Hmmm... What should she do with this ice block? Mean, what shape would she take for sculpting?

She wanted to do lion since she's a Gryffindor but it seemed very difficult (and predictable) so... Let's just do caterpillar one because it's easier. Ava took a few steps back from the ice block and start casting the spell. "Lustro Circulus" The fire lasso happened and she tried to control and aimed it to the ice. It did work, melting some parts of the ice but it didn't seem making any shape at all? Maybe she should do another try. "Lustro Circulus!" She cried the incantation as she made a whip-shape motion with her wand. Ava managed to create a better lasso fire and aimed it to the ice block, try to control it so it could make a caterpillar shape.

But instead, she just melted most part of the block. Oops?

Noelle glanced over at Ava whose ring of fire looked pretty good!! The girl got an encouraging smile.

Now to focus back on the task at hand.

Noelle still had her ring of fire going. a rather large chunk had been taken out of her ice block on accident... but she could work with it. Control. Intent. Control. Intent. She thought to herself as she whipped her ring of fire towards the ice block again. She pictured her intent for the fire to carve her mug.

She was rather surprised when the fire curved and did a rather nice cut rather than a off the wall cut. She could work with that. She rolled her shoulders because she was putting too much tension on them. Then she recast her incantation and a larger ring appeared. She grinned because it was what she needed. She sent it towards her block again. Control. Intent. she thought again. She shapped her mug it was probably the ugliest mug alive but you could tell it was starting to resemble a mug.

It took several more tries, even past Professor Hirsch’s moving them on, before Cassie felt comfortable to move on herself. Her whip of fire had become more steady and not as random and small as it had been when she had first started which was definitely a plus. Now to carve something out of one of the available ice blocks? That was still going to be a challenge, but the Ravenclaw was up for it. It wasn’t like they were being asked to make anything in particular to replicate. Open creativity allowed more freedom even if the one had to be careful to control the fire.

And she wasn’t a naughty teenage boy.

Cassie claimed one of the ice blocks, standing 2 meters away from it as directed. She briefly circled it to try and get an idea of what to aim for, however loosely. She then stopped in place and raised her wand once more, taking aim at one of the top corners of the ice block. "Lustro Circulus," she cast, the conjured flames licking the ice as the fifth year kept hold of her wand and tried guiding it over the area over and over again. Her intent was to attempt to round the block into a more fluidic shape. It definitely wasn’t pointed any more at least. Cass moved around, casting and fire-carving on all three of the other corners.

"Lustro Circulus… Lustro Circulus… Lustro Circulus.” The last whip dragged down with her direction and towards the center creating sort of a neck. “Cool…” And not just the temperature of the ice. This too she attempted to duplicate all around her block, her actions not turning out to be perfectly even but she wasn’t caring much.

Maybe she could make a diamond ring? That would be easy enough since it consisted of two shapes primarily, ones that would work well with the circular flames produced by the spell. Yeah, a diamond ring. It could be symbolic of the things happening in her big sister's life as of late and maybe earn her a few more points in the race towards being a maid of honor! Yes, she liked this plan. A diamond ring was her choice.

"Lustro Circulus!"

To say the flames were hard to control would be an understatement. Maybe it was because Junia wanted things to be perfect and she couldn't ensure that her ice ring would be, not when she couldn't get the fire to do what she wanted. It was frustrating and she tried not to glance around too much, knowing that seeing others succeed would only add fuel to her fire. The ice was melting, at least. She managed to get the fire focused on the right side of the ice block first, rounding the bottom half out as much as she could. She repeated this with the left side after casting the spell again, her brow furrowed in concentration. The two sides weren't even by any means, but they were looking a bit more circular by this point. That was something she could be proud of, at least.

...Yeah.

Hirsch, personally, found it a little weird to include something creative in his lessons. He was much more used to something action-packed, as if the students were going to wage war on the dummies that had been charmed to look like some kind of dark creature or another. So this was very... new. And different. And it was something to consider for the future.

It was hard to make out who was who in those firesuits so he couldn't tell exactly who was doing a good job or not. All he knew was that there were some who were obviously very creative in what they went on to sculpt and others who just wanted to break off chunks of ice, it seemed.

And yes, those firesuits did look ridiculous, didn't they?

The man wandered between them, a small shield held up in case some student decided that today was a good day to burn the man alive. Constant vigilance, eh? Some got a smile for their effort and others got a helpful nudge or two about their spellcasting. A small nod was given to one Kitty Valentine when she asked a question, along with, "There's plenty to go around, I don't see why not." But she was limited on time, did she know that?

And speaking of time.... "Five minutes left, everyone! Just the five!" And then maybe he could see what Haraldur made of them.


OOC: You're all doing wonderfully!

This is just a note to remind you that you have roughly TWO HOURS LEFT! Just the two!

Thank you and keep it up! *thumbs up*

Professor Hirsch had them out here doing all these notes...and Liv was just...gah. What a time to be in possession of a Quick Quotes Quill, amright? Because surely, by now, her wand hand would've been about ready to fall clean off. AND THEN WHERE WOULD SHE BE!? In a terrible situation, was the correct answer...because um, she wasn't ambidextrous. Like others were? Either way, she watched in amusement as the quill went to town against her parchment page, surely coloring the passage with exaggerations and dramatic words. Really, it was just like if she'd been copying the notes down herself.

But also...the blonde could've melted on the spot.. They... were... learning the fire... lasso... Oh...Yas...yassssss, yas... Just allow her to run, not walk, to collect a firesuit for herself. And really, Olivia had to commend Professor Hirsch on this foresight. Spells and charms only went so far, and it was always best to have some real protection against something of this nature. Besides, not everyone could charm themselves up to snuff. Better to be safe than sorry any day. And while Liv would've loved seeing Healer Reed, they had to stop meeting like that.

Silently, she moved forward, rooting around for one of the suits that would best suit her size. She was a twig, but her legs were...very long. So, she picked one a bit bigger, shuffling off to the side to set her wand down and get into it. As expected, it was a bit bigger on her body, baggy in some areas, but it fit her legs. So, she was all set. Mobility was still ace. Now, for this spell. Truly, Liv had been curious about this spell ever sense she'd heard of Professor Hirsch's use of it in the portal. Apparently, it had been an impressive sight, and she was loathed to have missed it. But age...and her own terror....getting in the way.

Right, so...Lustro Circulus, which...was easier to say than some of the other spells they were expected to learn. Lus...tro cir...cu...lus. Two syllables and then three. Lus-tro cir-cu-lus. Lustro circulus. Lustro circulus. Lustro circulus.....

Lustro circulus...

Feeling confident with the incantation, at least, Liv moved towards the lake's edge, peering out into the expanse of dark water. Now for this whiplike motion. The thing about that is that...when in tournament duels, she sorta whipped her wand a lot, anyway. So, it was easier now to train her arm to do as it was commanded. Raising her hand, she brought it down with a severe flick of her wrist, pleased that it felt more natural to her body than something that would need to be retaught. No doubt, intent and control would be the real test...as her control with most spells was okay, but this was a more complex piece of magic. Olivia was prepared to struggle with it.

She wanted a fire whip. GIVE HER A FIRE WHIP... Deep breaths, concentration face...Liv whipped her wand point out across the dark, watery surface. "Lustro Circulus!".......

And.....nothing. If anyone glimpsed the slightly betrayed look she was dishing out at her wand, they weren't seeing things. What in the world...This was...a charm, right? Or....actually....damnit. This was conjuring fire. This was a seemingly harmless charm in Transfiguration's clothing. GAH!....

Looking to her Puffer friend, she hoped he was fairing better.

A firesuit? Hirsch HAD to be kidding.

500% sure he would be fairing better in Muggle school, where there was much less danger and room for third degree burns, Nicholas Tate got in line for the protective gear. Which, mind you, took a bloody long time, considering every Gryffindor and overexcited child had rushed to the front of the line.

He had much of the same problem as Liv when choosing a size, as his waist was about as thick as a sheet of paper, but the sixteen year old had just about cleared six feet. So he chose a larger suit to complement his birch-like frame, and then it was down to business.

Of course, Nicky couldn't skip steps (the horror!), so he had to go through all of the essentials first. That entailed painfully slow enunciation of the incantation and wand movements that dragged on so slowly, people might have thought he was a hundred year old man trapped in a teen's lanky body. But never mind the onlookers, yes? HIS spell casting would be unparalleled.

Hah. That was a good one, really.

"Lus-tro CIR-cu-lus. Luuusssstrooo Ciiiiir-queue-lusssss." His 'cir's came out as 'suuuuh's, thanks to the heavy Welsh accent he'd acquired over the years, but he'd be fine. And, obviously, he had the whipping down. Like a million other spells didn't require THAT one. Thank Merlin, right?

So um. Her block of ice now looked like a giant cone? Which was SO not what she meant to do. The first year let out a LOUD, DRAMATIC GROAN in frustration, throwing her hands into the air.

See, half the time her spell didn't work. And the other half of the time it just melted things and didn't make the shape she wanted!!!!!! This was SO not fair. Her spell was defective!!!!!!!! "Lustro Circulus!!" She tried again, with little success. She got some dancing sparks if that counted? Which they DIDN'T of course, 'cause they didn't actually DO ANYTHING.

This was terrible. Zoryn didn't like this anymore. She was ready to give up.

"Lustro Circulus," she tried again, aaaaaaaaaaand nothing.

WITH TOTAL CONCENTRATION THIS TIME, she gave her lop-sided ice-point a dirty look. "Lustro Circulus," HAHAHAAAA YEEEEEEEEEEEES!!!! Fiya!!! FINALLY.

Except.

With the little control she had, she wasn't exactly able to shape the block into what she wanted.... And she may have melted off a little too much from the other side this time. "Lustro Circulus," she had to balance it out, y'know?

"Lustro Circulus..... Lustro Circulus ..... Lustro Circulus ..... Lustro Circulus........ Lustro Circulus......."

And before she knew it...

She was left with a puddle.

Uh.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

Here came the moment of truth! The real-life casting! The big shebang! "Lustro Circulus!" Whip.

... that had to be the most disappointing circus trick ever. Nothing. Really?

Nicky was quite uncertain of which element he was missing. His articulation was precise, his wand movement elegant, and his control immeasurable (considering there were no flames TO control). Perhaps it was the intent, then? He very much didn't want to be producing fire right now. Even though Transfiguration, and thereby conjuring, was his one and only school specialty, it was much easier for him to provide will to his magical channels when the spell didn't emulate danger warnings.

Really, he was sure this was a hazard. Could he sit out yet?

He gave his wand a few more whips, paired with half-hearted incantations and efforts, which of course didn't work. The Hufflepuff was just about to give up and slip his wand back into his robes when Hirsch started speaking again. Ice sculptures? That definitely wasn't their usual material.

And, considering this was a lesson involving no violence, physical abilities, or dummies at all... well, that was perfectly up Nicholas' alley. Especially with the introduced element of creating things rather than destroying them, which was the main theme of this class.

Suddenly rejuvenated (and a little bit frightened by the time limit of fifteen minutes), Nicky looked to Liv. "I'm going to start on the ice." Despite not having had any success with the spell yet.

No one said he was a Ravenclaw, Olivia.

Kitty hurried over to another ice block (just as soon as she got permission!) and stood back a few steps. Then she pointed her arms out in front of her and aimed her wand at the top of the ice block. Her intention was to melt the top off, but not completely off so hopefully the new top would be jagged and uneven. That would represent the towers of the White Witch's castle.

"Lustro Circulus!"

Some of the fire shot right over the ice block and hit another block behind it. Thankfully that other block hadn't belonged to anyone (Kitty was smart enough to know not to practice shooting fire in the direction of another person), and the fire burned harmlessly through it.

The remaining fire hit the top of her ice, burning the tops nearly as good as she had intended. "Wicked," she said, beaming at her display. It was lopsided and stuck out at random angles, but she was still proud of it.

Stoopid frustrating conjuration. GRR.

Several deep breaths later and Olivia was ready to give it a second go, but not before shooting Nicholas another look. The look that said 'please don't be better at this than I am because my ego is a fragile one'. He hadn't actually preformed it yet, so it was impossible for her to know how she'd compare. She hated herself for seeing everything as a competition, but it couldn't be helped at this point. She'd been raised in that type of environment.

To be honest...it wouldn't have mattered if she'd had ten minutes to practice or an hour. At the end of the day, she was still standing there, frustrated with her lack of success at whipping out any sign of fire. Like, sure, the incantation and wand motion had been perfected, but those things weren't what made this spell a spell. It was her intention, which was only fracturing beneath the weight of her frustration.

Suddenly, Olivia heard Nicky say something about working on the block of ice. Thank the goddesses for him, because she'd need a partner-in-crime with this....ice formation. Creation was fun, so hopefully it would inspire her to concentrate harder? Improve her intention, but....there was already a level of defeat taking root. This. Was. NOT. A. Charm. This. Was. Transfiguration. That awful subject. AWFUL...

With attitude, the blonde huffed in her approach of the ice and Hufflepuff. No one expected you to be a Ravenclaw, Nicholas, but...."I'm disappointed in myself." It was mumbled, because she didn't want everyone all up in her business...."What did you want to make?"

A puddle.

Zoryn was MEGA embarrassed of what her sculpture ended up as. Because a puddle hardly counted as an ice-sculpture. And she was not about to be seen with this pile of sopping wet nothing.

Soooooooooooooo as innocently and quietly as possible, she tip-toed away from her "nothing" and side-stepped towards a better one. While Kitty's sculpture wasn't exactly perfect... It was the closest one that sort of looked like something or another?

So she casually walked up behind Kitty, without making so much as eye-contact with the girl. La la la la. Nothing to see here. The first year was suuuuuuuper careful to look away whenever Kitty looked anywhere near her and then when the older girl would turn away, Zoryn would smile proudly as if she had anything to do with the work.

If anyone asked, they were partners and Zoryn helped make this sculpture. She did NOT make a puddle. But if Kitty asked, Zoryn was just here admiring her work.

It was called, using your resources.

Mhm.

What was that look for? "Don't be. It's just a spell. And you're best at all the ones that aren't conjuring." Liv knew that if this was a real offensive or self-defense spell, she'd be the first one in the class to master it, didn't she? It was only the Transfiguration bit that had her struggling.

And, possibly, that was also the bit that had Nicky convinced he could quit practicing before even producing a fire.

"A building!" That was possibly the most boring word that could have left his mouth to describe an ice sculpture, but the fifth year's eyes had positively lit up. Architecture! And Transfiguration! And an entire DADA lesson passed without him having to hide behind a dummy even once!

It was turning out to be a good day, huh? Nicky thought so. "I was thinking we go the whole meter. Big Greek columns. And, like, an awning." HECK YES. AWNINGS WERE SO COOL! AW(YEAH)NINGS!

"Lustro Circulus!" This time, as Nicholas whipped his arm, the thinnest lasso of bright red and gold flames protruded from his wand tip.

Just how he'd wanted. Thank Ignotus.

Jessa lowered her wand at the Professor's call. That was the end of practising and time for the main event.

Personally, she was hoping a whole storm of mummies or inferi or zombies would come out of the snow and make them have to battle for their lives--not because she wanted to fight zombies and inferi and mummies but because...well...think of the harvesting possibilities. Like a field of daisies waiting to be picked and pocketed and admired....under a microscope.

Merlin's beard she couldn't wait.

The Ravenclaw's expression dimmed however when she heard they would be sculpting rather than harvesting...er....battling.

Well, she supposed Hirsch was right. When faced with that type of situation, she WOULD be needing all the control possible. Too much fire and she would roast them to a crisp making them utterly useless when it came to studying them later....unless.....unless there was a way around that. Oh Merlin what an idea! Bringing back charred corpses to somewhat proper functioning. Could they add that to their list of experiments??? She would have to ask.

For now, Jessa drew her wand again as she made her way over to a block of ice. Don't ask her what she was making, the Ravenclaw was far more wrapped in her previous idea and how she could make it happen.

"Lustro Circulus!" A blast of fire shot from her wand, startling even her before she caught herself. It took out a decent chunk of the ice but..you know what....? It probably looked better this way anyway....yeah....it was fine. She would just continue with whatever ....this was.

"Lustro Circulus!" She cast again, seeing with some amount of accuracy, the form of an inferi in her mind. Granted that wasn't at all anything like this sculpture was turning out to be but consider this multi-tasking. Thinking of one thing while doing another. Totally efficient. Her Head of House should be proud. It took special skills to see one thing and create something entirely different. Either that or an exceptional amount of lacking skills.

Anyway. She sized up the sculpture once more, now fully coming back to focus. Had she had a plan for this? Er.....she couldn't remember making one before she started. Glancing around, she could see the others hard at work but all she managed was a misshapen block of ice.

Circe.

Trying to play it down, the Ravenclaw just went on casting, hoping the Professor wouldn't pay too much attention to the shape of her creation....or the lack thereof. "I'll need a word with you in your office before curfew, Professor?" She informed him, casually melting her sculpture down to nothing in her bid to fit in with the hardworking others.

It was only when she got set to cast again that she realized she had no ice left. Oh. Well. How unfortunate.

Did this mean she was done?

Well, like.....yes, obviously Olivia did know that when it came down to actually preforming defensive magic, she was one of Professor Hirsch's best students, but it REALLY burned her backside to fail so spectacularly at a spell in this specific class. Defense Against the Dark Arts was always a safe haven. Just like Herbology. She always succeeded, no matter what they were doing. And in turn, that made her feel pretty great about herself, you know? Affirmations were so important to her lately...

...but that was okay, too. It would be okay. For the sake of her friend finding success when he usually didn't. She'd just need to suck it up and stop being so ridiculous... Working on it...in 3....2....1....

Right. Nicky was taking the lead on this...and she'd just need to assist in whatever way he required. "That's pretty intricate." Not that that surprised her when it came to this particular boy. He was like an elderly gentleman, with a mind full of detail and innovation. Man, Liv sure did appreciate him being her friend. "Okay, I'll clear away some of the top part." If he was thinking Greek, that would mean pointed arches and ridiculously defined entrances. Those Greeks. Psh......but secretly she loved it. Hush.

Taking a breath, she refocused herself to conform to his vision of what the ice needed to be. She didn't need a blaze of glory type fire whip...just enough to reach out and lick the top of the ice.... Not intense. Subtle. SUBTLE, please....

......."Lustro Circulus!" With a ton of effort on her part, the fire finally made an appearance and she rewarded herself with a quick victory dance. A small one... but enthusiastic, nonetheless. "I DID IT!".....