Derf was continuing to practice the incantation of the spell, intention to say it until it rolled off his tongue effortlessly - and again he briefly found himself feeling grateful for the speech therapy his parents had pushed him into so he could stop stuttering and other things because there were a lot of sounds here he used to struggle with. But there was something making this process difficult and that simply had to do with imagery.

This spell...was producing a little wisp of light from his wand...like what one would do if one were conjuring a patronus. It was something that the fifth year had been reading up on in light of OWLs and all, and he had become increasingly concerned - or aware, rather - that he may not be ever able to conjure one. Which now meant that there was a bit of a mental block going on with the spell as he combined the incantation with the wand movement.

Producing, to no one's surprise, nothing.

But thankfully his younger housemate was there for a brief distraction. "I'm gonna try to talk to him tomorrow," he nodded. "See if I can figure out why..." Because it was like with creatures, you know? There was always a reason for a provoked attack...even if it was just hunger. "I mean..." he continued, leaning in a little closer so he could whisper the next bit to her. "....I lost a huge chunk of points once for snapping at staff...and slapped a professor's hand away in the heat of a moment." Though, it was over something he considered far more serious than being told not to hold hands with someone, but to each their own. "Just...I'm more concerned about him than I am house points, you know?"

But now...back to this spell, yeah?

Giving his wand another flourish, Derf attempted the incantation and....nothing. Zilch.

Sigh.

Kalen smiled, “You are saying it correctly. ” He said with a nod as he looked at her.

Kalen shrugged a bit. [b]“It’s good for lighting up a dark room or impressing your friends, but no real practical application I’m afraid. It is very pretty though.

Kalen looked at Emmalyn and he shook his head. “There is no need to apologize really, you didn’t do it. He did, and if he wants to earn the points back, he can try, ” He said with a nod. “But Thank you for offering. ” Such a lovely loyal Hufflepuff

Kalen nodded as Derf spoke, “Of course, no I know they meant it as a good thing. Other cultures didn’t though. ” He explained with a smile.

Ahhh Miss Diggory. “The main colors of the Aurora are Green and Pink, but it also comes in Blue, Purple, Red and Yellow. The light is white so as to be a neutral color. It’s not like we can’t change the colors later. ” He explained, in fact that was exactly what they were going to do.. but.. later. “This is different than Lumos. It comes out of the wand, and I doubt it be super effective to light up a whole room with. ” He said with a nod. Did those answers help? Hmmm.. who knew.

Oh! Had he not said that? “Yes! Please cast it! The next part of the lesson is kind of hinging that you can cast the spell. ” He said with a smile.

OOC: Sorry for the delay guys! RL is a thing and it’s not nice at the moment! I’ll be moving on in about 14-16 hours or so! Have fun!

Daisy grabbed her wand and moved her hand and wrist in a backwards and forwards motion, whilst clearly saying, "Fluctus Lux!" Within a few moments, a ribbon of light appeared from the tip of Daisy's wand. She grinned to herself but she certainly wasn't going to get too proud of herself.

Kye hadn't really been paying attention to whether or not they were SUPPOSED to start casting the spell, she had kind of just assumed... Well, now that they had the official say so, she put the wand movement with the incantation, and the white light flourished out from her wand. She smiled at it as it whooshed forward, proud of herself for getting it on the first try. Now she needed to try it non verbally though. Verbal spells weren't going to impress anyone at NEWT level! Fluctus Lux! She tried it a few more times, getting the spell to work after a couple of tries, and doing her best to concentrate and get it to be more powerful.

Alright, alright, she wasn't going to lie. Astronomy was pretty cool. That Aurora Borealis thing was amazing. Even the extended bits of information about the phenomenon were interesting.

Anna stood there, in awe of what she was seeing, and when professor Kennedy said they'd learn a spell that could produce light similar to that, she perked up even more. That meant she could cast that in their dorm and it would be amaaazing and!!!! She already couldn't wait!

Preparing her wand, she watched as the man told them what to do. "Fluctus Lux." She said after him, before trying out the wand movement. She moved her hand and wrist back and forth a few times as if trying to make a ribbon flutter and repeated the words in her head over and over. She accidentally made a few sparks come out from the tip of her wand and blinked a few times. "Oops." Nothing to see here!

The Gryffindor decided to have a go at putting it all together.

"Fluctus Lux!" She exclaimed, moving her wrist in the way she had practiced. Her eyes sparkled when a ribbon of light came out of her wand and she kept creating the movement and watching the lights she was producing.

How beautiful! If only all other lessons were as useful as Astronomy.

Rylee saw Nathan's small smile. "I might be able to do that," she replied with a cheeky little grin all her own. That would really depend on how many more she had in her bag. The flavors that were left of course because she wasn't about to go giving away her favorite flavor. And well if she even remembered at the end of the lesson.

Now back to what she had been doing. Rylee looked out the window watching the green and pinks in the sky blend together for a minute the colors easing her mind. Maybe a small break would be just what she needed before trying the spell once more. It was definitely beautiful to watch but just like before it only held her attention for so long.

With her wand in her hand, she gently waved her wrist back and forth in a flutter like motion. Fluctus Lux was the incantation that she once more went over in her head to remind herself. She could do this. She had tried it several times already.

"Fluctus Lux!" Rylee cast once again moving her wrist in the ribbon flutter like motion, this time managing to produce a small movement of light. It wasn't as bright as Professor Kennedy's had been and it didn't last very long fading away as she tried to move her wand around but it had been there. She smiled ready to give it another try.

Wait. It comes out of the wand? Does lumos not come out of the wand? Skylar felt rather dumb in that moment because here in her near seven years that she's been a wand holder, somehow things weren't quite adding up but she sensed she asked enough questions for the moment, so the Slytherin Captain merely nodded, taking in all the information about the difference between lux and lumos. And changing colors, which the hint at later, maybe indicated that she was a step too early. "Thanks," she simply commented, as she returned to focusing on practicing the spell. A spell with no practical uses, as he'd said to Chloe...

'Fluctus Lux' she cast non-verbally, moving her wrist in the practiced fluid motions from before. And as Kennedy had demonstrated, a white light emitted from her wand, to which she smiled satisfactorily. If only casting that blasted patronus would go as smoothly as other charms.

Kalen looked around as people seemed to be producing the spell and he himself sent about twenty or so wavy ribbon lights into the center of the classroom, hopefully that would help in the set up.

“All right class! Practice time is up and now it is time to play a little game. ” He said with a grin as he started to move around the room and pointed to the kids, “All right Skylar, you are one, Derfael you are two, Rylee you are one, Kye you are two.” He continued to count one and two while pointing to the students until they were all numbered off.

“Now I want the ones over on the left side of the room, and the twos on the right side.” He said as he gestured to the sides.

“Now, here is a little handy thing that I came up with.” He said as he nudged his wand at a ribbon of light and said “Green.” And the light turned green. He nudged another ribbon of light and said “Pink.” and the light turned pink.

“Ones are green, twos are pink. The team with the most of their color at the end of the class wins. You can make as many ribbons as you want, and change them to the color you wish, the ribbons that float in the middle though are up for grabs, anyone can change those to green or pink. The ones on your side are yours alone.” He said with a nod as he looked around.

“Anyone can change any ribbon to any color, it doesn’t have to be yours, just nudge the ribbon with your wand and say green or pink. ” He said as he leaned back on the desk.

“All right! Off you go! Have fun! ”

OOC: Welcome to the main Activity guys! Feel free to put yourself in the one or the two group, aside from the four characters I’ve mentioned, everyone else is free to go where they please. Just please put the team and how many ribbons are what color in the title of your post! Thanks so much! Have fun!

You’ve got about 72 hours for this! If you need Kalen, PLEASE put professor in the post title!

Just as she was about to make another attempt at the spell, the professor stopped them to continue the class. When he got to her, he said two, and she headed to the two side of the room.

"Kye, Derf" She greeted and smiled as the other twos made their way over. She held her wand, hoping to be able to cast the spell and not let her team down. "I'll do my best." Her hand was held out, ready to attempt the spell. "Fluctus Lux!" she commanded with a wavy flick. Once again, nothing. "I don't understand what I'm doing wrong." She looked to the older students in her group, hoping one of them would help her figure it out.

Then she got an idea "I can go to the middle and try to change the floating ribbons to pink. I only need to say pink to do that right."

Oh, okay...well, apparently she was supposed to actually cast the spell during the practice time. Oops. She hadn't, but that didn't matter now, because the professor was starting a game! Maddie loved playing games during class! She fidgeted in excitement as the numbers were rattled off. She ended up being a TWO, which she was excited about, because the two's were pink. Also because Derf was a cutie, and he was the first called out to be a number two, which made him the captain, right?

That was Maddie's logic.

She bee-lined to the right side of the room, while the professor continued to give the directions. She didn't exactly understand what she was supposed to do, so she kind of hovered on the right side of the room while she waited for somebody else to make a move. Emmalyn didn't seem to know what she was doing either, though, so at least Maddie was in good company. She watched the girl cast the spell. "It might be that flick you're doing," she said. "You just move it back and forth like a ribbon fluttering. No flicking at all."

"Fluctus Lux!" Maddie said, and she waved her wand in just the way she'd told Emmalyn to. Wonder of all wonders, for the first time since they'd been taught the spell, Maddie actually succeeded. "I...I did it!" Now...about the rules of that game...

There was nothing wrong with spells that were intended only for beauty. In fact, there were lots of things that only seemed useful because they were pretty, but beauty made life worthwhile. Sunsets and rainbows and flowers that were useless in potions, all still important.

She missed the introduction of the game, and nearly missed getting her number and joining a team. So they were to make the ribbons of light and then turn them pink or green based on their team. Green, since Chloe was team ONE. She held up her wand and waved it back and forth. "Fluctus Lux." It was the first time she actually managed the ribbon of light, and although it was a little weak and ratty, it was still quite pretty. Ahem. "Green."

Still without much luck with the spell - his mental block with little wisps of light having the most to do with that - Derf looked up and over at the librarian when things were moving along to an activity. Involving colors. Though at least these two were distinct enough, even to his eye, that he could tell them apart rather easily.

Eyes focusing on the blue-ish hued wiggly lights floating in the air for a moment before drifting over to the murky yellow looking lights. Just a point and command the color? Derf reckoned he could manage THAT much.

"Keep at it, Emmalyn," he encouraged his housemate - being a bit of a hypocrite himself since he was somewhat abandoning that spell for the moment and going to focus on changing some of the lights to their team's color. "Visualize like what we do with quidditch. Just this time the floating ribbon of light is the hoops and your spell the quaffle!"

He then offered Maddie an enthusiastic thumbs up at her little bit of coaching - he had entirely missed the wand movement there - and grinned as she performed the spell. "Great job! Keep making those!"

Turning his own attention back towards one of the floating lights - the one Maddie had just produced actually - he thrust his wand up at it. "Pink!" And sure enough, the light did change colors - though whether or not it was the correct shade of the color was something he could not tell. Though the reality was that it was a bit of a murky and muted pink color compared to the vibrant ones cast by his classmates, Mr. Kennedy, and otherwise.

"ALRIGHT PINK PORLOCKS!" Because they needed a team name, obviously. "Let's have some of us pair off! One produce the lights and the other changing them to our team's color as they are released from the caster's wand!" And he gestured towards some of the group as a suggestion for that. "I'm going to be a floater in the middle, turning any green ribbons of light I see pink, so you lot," and he gestured towards another section of the team. "Come with me!"

Her eyes were glued to Maddie as she demonstrated the spell. It looked like her housemate was right, she had been flicking her wand when she should have been more of a gentle, flutter, movement. "Thanks! I'll try again."

Her wand was out and moving in a fluttery motion as she commanded "Fluctus Lux!" A small whisper of a white ribbon formed at the tip of her wand. It was almost long enough to be called a real ribbon and that was good enough for her. Before it could float away, she pointed her wand at it and said "Pink!"

Her heart warmed at her prefects encouragement. "Thanks, Derf." He always had her back. She paired off with a ribbon producer and held her wand at the ready. As soon as a ribbon was formed she claimed it "Pink!" and waited for the next one to be produced.

Eh? Honestly, for some reason, the instructions for this activity were making zero sense to his poor brain. But it seemed that he was the only one that was having this particular problem. So, Ronan simply joined group one, just to even the groups up a bit and watched what the others were doing for awhile. Once he had a feel for what was going on, he poked at a ribbon of light floating by that was still white and changed it first blue, just for the heck of it, then quickly changed it green.

Next?

One and two and one and two and... he was in group one. Something that he was soon happy about as they received their next instructions, because he didn't want to be a pink porlock, as cool as it sounded. Pink was just not his colour.

Watching as some in his group had already started turning ribbons green, he repeated the wand movement he'd practiced just earlier, and said, "Fluctus Lux," to create another ribbon of white light, which he'd then poked with his wand and said "Green!" The light was no longer white, but a bright green, glowing softly. How beautiful was that? He wasn't sure there were any practical uses for the spell, but it was beyond pretty. And he would totally cast a couple of those back in the dormitory.

Having gotten the "practice" done and seeing no point in prolonging the action, Jessa had leaned herself against one of the windowsills looking up and out at the northern lights again. It wasn't so much that she was particularly interested in them but rather....she was more interested in them than she was with whatever was going on in the classroom...by default.

She may have continued looking out at the sky too, figuring if she zoned out long enough she'd come to and the Professor would be ending the lesson but then he started a demonstration..........and proceeded to put them in groups.

The fact she was number 1 meant very little to her given the activity and the lack of applicability to absolutely anything in her daily life.

Jessa deadpanned as the man explained, her expression growing all the more stoic when Derf began yelling and naming his group. Skylar hadn't done the same (thankfully) but it still didn't make her anymore inclined to lift her wand and say a colour. Honestly. The Ravenclaw didn't have a competitive bone in her body. She'd never been a fighter.....and a game as basic as this one wouldn't turn her into one.

Having decided she wasn't tremendously eager to join, Jessa remained by the window. From there, she spotted Ronan turning a ribbon of light to blue before correctly going green--the most eventful part of the activity thus far.

This....this was what she left her lab for. This right here. The under-stimulation was real.

`Kye was getting better at the non-verbal side of the spell when Professor Kennedy called them to attention. A game, eh? She went over to the right side of the room as instructed and smiled at Emmalyn as she approached. “Hey Em!” she returned the greeting, also smiling at Derf. She watched as Emmalyn practiced and was about to say something to help, but Maddie and Derf beat her to it. “Nice job!” she smiled at Maddie. When Emmalyn tried again, Kye did a little golf clap for her to show encouragement. Hey, it was already better than she had done before! “Keep at it, Em!”

When Derf decided that they should team up, Kye shrugged. It was fine with her, but she wanted people to be able to practice Fluctus Lux if they needed to. It looked like they needed light makers though. Kye flicked her wand, and watched proudly as the white ribbon appeared from the tip of her wand and began floating towards where Derf and Emmalyn were standing. She went for another one, and as it disconnected from her wand she called out to her fellow... Porlocks, was it? "Come and get em!" she teased, giving her teammates s moment to turn them pink.

Practice time was over. They were splitting up into teams, green and pink. Green wasn't at all purple but it was okay. Rylee got to her feet and moved to joining her group. "Hey!" she smiled brightly. "Are we all doing our own thing or should some of us focus on creating more of the glowing white light while others change them all to green?" Thinks that it might be easier if they had some sort of plan or something.

While waiting to see what her team thought of the suggest, Rylee wasted no time in getting started. "Fluctus Lux" she cast moving her wand in a flutter ribbon like motion. A white light fluttered though the area in front of her at eye level making the second year smile. "Green," she whispered lightly poking at the white ribbon of light with her wand watching in fascination as it changed from white to brilliant shining green. It was simply beautiful.

"Thanks, Kye!" her spirits were further lifted by her encouragement. She watched at the seventh year made ribbon after ribbon and raced turn as many as she could pink. She poked each of the ribbons and commanded "Pink! Pink! Pink!" She was really enjoying herself.

Derf's idea seemed to be a great one. With one from each pair focusing on making the ribbons and one changing them, plus any others floating about, pink, they were making quick work of the task.

"Pink!" she sort of giggle commanded as she spotted a green ribbon floating her way. She was on her tip toes to reach the green ribbon, but was able to just barely hit it with the tip of her wand.

Maddie's blue eyes flickered up at Captain Derf, who'd just encouraged her to make more ribbons of light. "Aye, Captain!" she said, both pleased and surprised that she'd gotten herself on the right track. She'd even managed to help Emmalyn, too! Derf had a plan, too, which consisted of one person making the light and another person changing its color. He'd also given them a name. Porlocks? Did it have to be THAT? She made a face. "Did he just call us a bunch of pigs?" she asked, her voice trailing off.

Maddie's job was to cast the light, not change its color, so she gave the spell another go. "Fluctus Lux!" she exclaimed. With a ribbon-like wave of her wand, she'd produced another beam of light. "I've got some more light for someone to change!" Oops. Maybe she said that too loud! "Not for team one, though! I'm talking to one of these pigs over here!" Porlocks. Whatever. Why couldn't they be the pixies?

Emmalyn really was going ace, you know? She was really getting the handle of the spell and maybe...just maybe Derf should slow down and work on it himself, but the changing of colors (shades aside) was giving him a bit of a confidence boost he needed with spell casting so he would be sticking to it. "Pink!" he commanded, changing another light ribbon to his side's color.

And, of course, he overheard Maddie and had a bit of a chuckle about it. "Porlocks, not pigs," he grinned as he scampered over to her side to change one of her lights pink as well. "They're a horse guardian. 'Bout two feet in height and capable of standing on their hind legs. Why they used to be classified as Beings rather than Beasts, cause I reckon the emulation of human behavior had witches and wizards feeling some sort of way, you know? But they guards horses and are super shy." And in his head it had either been them or Pink Plimpies...so there was that. "And...dunno. Had been thinking about Norse mythology in the lesson and there are some real neat ones connecting to horses so...seemed fitting?"

Okay so the last bit he had just thought of on the spot but it was still true!

And yes, there was an impromptu creature lesson in Astronomy.

Feeling a bit bad for focusing all of her efforts on turning the ribbons others had made into their team color, she decided to focus for a bit on actually making a ribbon. Not wanting to somehow blast another student with her spell, she moved closer to the side of the room, keeping her teammates out of harm's way.

Her wand was raised, her mind was focused, her heart was ready. “Fluctus Lux!” She commanded and eyed the end of her wand. Nothing. She was about to stomp her feet in frustration until she realized she didn’t flutter the end of her wand. She took a deep breath to refocus, just in time to over hear Maddie and Derf talking about their team being pigs? “What? We are the Pink Pigs?”

Her attention was pulled back to the spell before she could overhear Derf telling Maddie what Porlocks really meant. Wand raised and ready to flutter she commanded “Fluctus Lux!” A small, white ribbon appeared at the tip of her wand. She smiled brightly and spun around to face her team. “Would someone please change my ribbon pink?” She was afraid to move lest her ribbon disappear.

Next thing they were doing was moving on to a little activity and honestly, Skylar was feeling bored with the activity. Okay, so she understood that there were first years present in the lesson and she also didn't really care too much about her grade for the subject (lies. She cared even though it had nothing to do with future studies).

She guessed the activity was supposed to be fun, but when Derf named his group the 'Pink Porlocks' Skylar blinked. Uh. Yea, no, she wasn't naming their team. They can just be the Green Team because she wasn't wasting the brain power to come up with something more creative. Even if this activity didn't require a whole lot of brain power.

She did smile a little at Ronan showing off with his blue and then green. "I wonder, if there's a way to make these colors stick. So they..." she inclined her head at the other team, "Can't steal our ribbons. Maybe casting a shield charm around them?? But anyway, just make as many as possible. If you're not able to make the ribbon, let me or one of the other know and we can make it and you can turn it green." But it seemed like everyone was able to make it on their own, so go green team. "Go Green!" she said, trying to motivate herself.

And with that, two non-verbal fluctus lux casts later and two more 'Green' ribbons were formed.

She was content to stay at the window. She was content to stay at the window and not keep repeating the word "green" over and over to to win an intangible prize that she had no need for so on she went leaning, most of her attention remaining outside of the classroom.....until Skylar said that.

Regardless of it she actually meant it or not, the Ravenclaw's wheels were now turning in her head. "There's a way." She said.

The thing with Jessa was....she absolutely enjoyed tinkering with anything she could get her hands on. Constantly modifying or otherwise altering things just to see how much she could. This was a more intriguing concept to her than simply changing the colour of ribbons.

"It's a bit complex....so I'm not sure the younger ones can but the idea's to charm the ribbons to repel any colour but green--so even if they go pink, they just go green again after." She explained, looking to both Ronan and Chloe too. They...they were as likely to be able to get such a thing done. "Change the behaviour of the light patterns and everything else will fall into place. Animation might work if you've got the concentration specifically for light molecules." If they wanted to work at that, she would, but she wasn't gonna walk around changing light to green, thanks.

Rylee was just about to create another ribbon of light when she heard Skylar talking about somehow shielding the ones they were creating so the color couldn't be changed. Now that got her attention right away. A shield charm was something she could cast but it was Jessa's idea that really interested the second year. It sounded really cool but a little out of her rage of ability right now, not that it wouldn't keep her from looking into that and figuring out how it worked. That would have to wait until later though.

So all she had to do was create as many as she could and turn them green. "Okay," she nodded at Skylar to show she agreed with the plan. It was simple. "Fluctus Lux!," she cast once and then once more, "Fluctus Lux!" floating gently through the air right in front of her was two ribbons of white light.

"Green, green." Gently nudging each of the ribbons of light with the tip of her wand she turned them to her teams color. Two more for Team Green!