"My pleasure, Em," Daisy replied as listened to her friend's request for her design. Daisy then pointed her wand at the lid of Emmalyn's pumpkin and cut a circle around it as she clearly said, "Diffindo." She then used a Cleaning Charm to remove the pumpkin's internal matter before replacing the lid of the pumpkin. The Hufflepuff then concentrated hard on Em's design as she aimed her wand and said, "Diffindo." Within moments, Emmalyn's pumpkin sprouted two triangle-shaped eyes, a circular nose and a toothy grin. "Is that okay?" Daisy asked Em, pushing the pumpkin back towards her friend.

Daisy then concentrated on her own pumpkin. She cut the lid of her pumpkin via the use of the Severing Charm and used "Scourgify" to remove the pumpkin's internal filling. Daisy popped the lid back on and thought about her design which was going to be a cat, in tribute to her maternal aunt. Daisy aimed her wand and moved it in that particular wand movement as she said, "Diffindo!" Soon, a cat appeared on the pumpkin.

She watched intently as Daisy carved the pumpkin for her. Her hand following the movements so she may be able to do it herself the next time. "Oh, it's perfect! Thank you, Daisy." She bounced and lightly clapped her hands with pleasure. The little pumpkin was expertly carved and ready for her to practice. She reached down and slid the pumpkin closer so she could better preform her spell.

You can do this. You can do this. She chanted in her mind. Her laser focus on the pumpkin, imagining it as stone. Wand held in hand and going through the uppercase D motion, being sure to not close the bottom, she stated "Duro!" The little pumpkin lightened in color, but did not turn to stone. "Darn." She mumbled while poking the pumpkin with her wand. Her mini-muffin must have been beginners luck. She wasn't about to give up so quickly, and focused to try again.

"You will turn to stone." Her tone was authoritative. She raised her wand, pointed it at the pumpkin and began the proper movement. "Duro!" Her command was more forceful than the time before. The little pumpkin, unfortunately, was a stubborn little thing and refused to turn to stone. It was the only explanation. Her foot stomped on the floor as her frustration grew. Turning the little muffin into stone hadn't been so hard. The pumpkin was larger, but not that much larger. She hand't chosen one of the giant pumpkins.

She worked quietly and slowly, cutting out dolphins leaping and diving in a ribbon around the pumpkins, leaving enough gaps here and there so the pumpkin could retain its structure. At first it took her three castings of Diffindo to cut out one dolphin. By time she was finished, she was almost down to only requiring one casting per dolphin. The spell still faded just before she connect back up with the start of the cut.

Quinn scooped the chunks of pumpkin into a neat pile and cleaned them away with Scourgify.

Then she examined her work. They weren't perfect, but you could still the practiced hand that went into carving their shape.

She hesitated.

Quinn was determined to get Duro right the first time. This pumpkin was quite a bit bigger than the halves of a wand quill earlier. It was going to require much more focus and will and intent then they did, and while she wasn't at all worried about being able to turn it to stone, please, Quinn's goal was to cast it once; to get it right the first time and turn the pumpkin to perfect stone all at once.

She took a long deep breathe, and closed her eyes, taking a moment to just clear her mind of everything but the pumpkin. The orange, smooth flesh of it, the dolphins leaping and diving across its surface, the little dip it had on the right side just before the stem. She tried to picture the whole thing. To hold it in her mind, perfectly clear and vivid in all three dimensions.

Then, she imagined it grey and hard, cold and smooth like polished stone and held that concept of the pumpkin in her mind for a full minute before opening her eyes again. Before her sat the pumpkin, perfectly orange and soft flesh and Quinn tried to look past its current reality to what she wanted it to be.

She sat there, staring at it for a long time, superimposing the imagined stone pumpkin in her head over the orange, fleshy one in front of her, focusing harder and harder on the stone version until a slight headache began throbbing at her temples and the stone image seemed more like the pumpkin she was looking at and the orange, fleshy one merely a figment of her imagination.

Only then did the determined little Ravenclaw aim her wand and make the proper motion with it. Up and arcing back down. "Duro!"

Beth’s eyes widened in what must have been shock as she watched Daniel’s pumpkin turn to dust…whaaa? ”h-how?” she muttered as she looked down at her own pumpkin – gosh, pumpkinhead was acting like a spaz…didn’t he know about those allergy potions that made you allergy free for a year?

Beth simply believed he didn’t, and gave him a look. ”I’m sure it was a mistake…but do you use the slow release anti-allergen potions? I do, for mushrooms…it removes your allergy for an entire year – if you want I can get you my suppliers name?” she offered just looking at him.

Clearly, Pumpkinhead hadn’t been thinking clearly. ”diffindo” she cast the spell at the inside of her pumpkin carving at the insides, hopefully it would loosen things. ”okay, wingardium leviosa” she smirked soflty as she levitated the insides out of her pumpkin. ”scourgify” she cast again at the rest of the pumpkin making it as clean as she could.

Black dotted her vision, spreading throughout and dimming the parts it hadn't reached yet. A light, airiness had seeped in to her head, chasing everything away, and for a just a few brief seconds Quinn wasn't sure anymore if such a thing as Up even existed, let alone which way it was if it did exist.

Then came the sensation of falling, and the involuntary reaction of trying to grab a hold of something and save herself. When her vision finally cleared, Quinn discovered she was in fact leaning halfway out of her seat, having only stopped herself from completely falling out by hooking the crook of her arm around the back of the chair.

She blinked away the last of the fading black spots.

Maybe...she over did it a bit? Focused too much on the spell; put too much will behind it. Something. Whatever it was, she had clearly pushed much harder than needed with it, and almost, almost but not quite, blacked out because of it.

Then she finally looked up at the pumpkin, sure that if she had put so much into casting that spell, she almost blacked out, Quinn had surely succeeded in her goal. Surely. Moment of truth...Oh.

Succeeded might be a small understatement. It wasn't just stone, but rather, almost looked like it might be polished white granite. Which is still stone, she supposed. Quinn reached out and prodded the stone looking pumpkin, just to be sure. It was hard, cool and smooth to the touch. She did it! She might have overdid it, but she did it!

She could already feel her strength seeping back in, and besides, this was a simple spell. It shouldn't take too much out of her. Besides, her stone pumpkin needed one last finishing touch. Quinn leaned forward and lifted the stone top off the pumpkin and aimed her wand inside. She cast a bluebell flame inside and replaced the top.

A wave of dizziness washed back over her and then faded. It didn't matter. She was done for now, and could let herself recover from turning the pumpkin to stone.

Quinn leaned back in her chair and watched her odd, white polished granite jack-o-lantern with it's blue flickering dolphins and smiled, soft but proud.

Maddie blinked as the professor started going on and on about the letter t and something about variables in Transfiguration. She had no idea what any of that was about, but in the end, it didn't matter. They had moved on to the main activity, and Maddie understood what that was all about. She was actually pretty excited to start turning a carved pumpkin into stone, too! Sounded a little...creepy! In a fun sort of way, though!

Maddie didn't think she was an older student just yet, but she wasn't a first year either. She decided she should select a medium-sized pumpkin, which should be just right for her age and size. Maddie was silently going over all the steps in her mind, when the shrill sound of a whistle startled her out of her thoughts. DEAR MERLIN. Apparently, somebody was allergic to pumpkins. Maddie tried to calm her pounding heart while the situation was put under control.

Sooner or later, she was finally able to get started. Maddie headed up to the selection of pumpkins and began to look them over in her search for the perfect one. Some of them were waaaaay too big for her age and size. Then there were others that were way too small. Finally, Maddie found the perfect pumpkin! It was about medium-sized in comparison to the others, which was just what she had in mind. Pumpkin tucked safely under her arm, she headed back to her work area to get started.

Carving Jack-O-Lanterns? Nettie had never been a big fan of that, but it was better than taking notes and sitting in a boring lecture all day, so she would take it!

She walked up and gathered her pumpkin, picking a smaller one so she could carve it quickly and get on to the actual practice part. She decided to go with a simple design, doing just the traditional triangle eyes and nose with a silly grin. She started by taking the top off, carving a hole in the top and then pulling out all the gross pumpkin guts. Didn't people eat these for a snack or something? Hmmm. Maybe she'd ask the house elves to make her some and try it out sometime...

Daisy noticed that Emmalyn was having trouble turning her pumpkin to stone. "Em, you can do this. Just keep concentrating on the fact that you want your pumpkin to turn to stone."

Daisy then focused on her own pumpkin and with her wand moved it in the formation of a "D" which didn't close at the bottom. "Duro," she said firmly and within about five seconds, she now had a stony jack-o-lantern.

Was that all that was required? She raised her hand. "Professor? Do I need to do anything else to this stone jack-o-lantern?"

A frown crossed Celestia's face as she listened to Miss Lovecraft's quiet explanation. The Slytherin's last statement -- about not showing it -- was particularly concerning. This was perhaps exacerbated by the fact that Celestia had been the same way as a Gryffindor here; she had avoided the hospital wing like the plague and never wanted anyone to know that she wasn't strong and brave all the time. So it was with an all-too-knowing expression on her face that she replied just as quietly, "I see. Well, then, I'm certainly sorry for jumping the jinx. Have you had any of your potion today? There's no shame in having a medical condition, you know." She doubted that Miss Lovecraft's perspective would change on that aspect of the situation and would continue to believe that her migraines were a weakness. She had been the same at school, after all, but it was still worth a try in the professor's opinion. She opened her mouth to say a bit more to the Slytherin, when her attention was caught by the many stares in Mr. Carter's direction -- not to mention his words. She sighed and told Miss Lovecraft in the same quiet tone, "If you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask. I'd better go see to him."

She rushed over to the Gryffindor's side and was relieved that he had been able to get to his potion in time, though he still looked very unwell indeed. Perhaps it was a bit harsh on her part, but Celestia couldn't help feeling a slight irritation with the Head Boy. He should have been much quicker about getting his item and getting out into the corridor, or taken some sort of potion as a precaution. She generally held student leaders to a much higher standard than she did the rest of the students, simply because she believed that they should be able to demonstrate a greater degree of responsibility. The professor raised an eyebrow at the boy's hostile tone and replied evenly, "It was an accident, Mr. Carter. Now, are you feeling alright? You still don't look well. Shall I ask someone to take you down to the hospital wing?" Because the Head Boy did not look well at all. Celestia attempted to put a hand on his shoulder and help him sit back down at his desk to prevent any fainting.

As she stayed near the Head Boy's desk and waited for him to answer her, Celestia's eyes were roving frequently around the classroom to check on her other students.

Many of them were working diligently, which brought a smile to Celestia's face. Miss Greyvson had chosen an unconventional method of getting her pumpkin over to her desk, which made the professor smile. The young Slytherin seemed to be getting on okay after a few minutes had passed, so Celestia turned her attention to other students. Fortunately for Mr. Carter, Celestia happened to be seeing to other students when Miss Greyvson made her comments about allergy potions that lasted an entire year -- if she had heard the young Slytherin, he might have been in for a bit of a lecture from the professor. She just didn't believe that kids should take unnecessary risks with their health.

Miss Swann and Miss Walsh also seemed to be progressing well. Miss Swann had successfully carved Miss Walsh's pumpkin for her, which earned the fourth year an approving smile and nod from Celestia. It wasn't long after that that Miss Swann had actually finished her jack-o-lantern! Celestia smiled at her and called out, "You can decorate it if you wish, Miss Swann, or pick a more challenging object to work on next." Miss Walsh seemed to be having a bit more trouble with the spell, which was perfectly normal for a second year. Celestia called over to the younger Hufflepuff girl, "Keep at it, Miss Walsh! Focus and you'll get there!"

Her eyes were next drawn by Mr. Yoon -- who had managed to turn his pumpkin into dust. Celestia cast a worried glance at Mr. Carter, but she simply had to go and make sure that the second year was okay! She dashed over to the younger boy's desk and scanned him for injuries. He didn't seem to be hurt, but he did look quite shocked. Celestia gave him a reassuring smile and told him, "It's alright, Mr. Yoon. That's an...unusual mistake, but there's no harm done." Except for to the pumpkin, but Mr. Yoon had plenty of time to start again. She paused and went on, "Perhaps you should start over. I'm afraid there's no saving this" -- she gestured at the dust before drawing her wand and Vanishing the lot of the dust -- "and ask an older student to help you with your carving if you'd like. That will help you get back to where you were faster. Next time you attempt the spell, try to focus exclusively on the pumpkin, yes?" She made sure to keep her tone even and light throughout this little speech; Mr. Yoon had enough confidence problems as it was, there was no need for her to add to them. Once he responded to her, she hurried back to Mr. Carter.

"Good choices, girls!", she said to Miss Kemp and Miss Gladin as she passed each of them in turn on her way back to Mr. Carter's desk. She thought that both girls had chosen an age-appropriate pumpkin that would hopefully present enough of a challenge.

Her attention was drawn to Miss Dalgaard-Volkova and Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne when the latter asked Mr. Carter about chocolate frogs. Both of them had made a good start on their pumpkins and she called over to them, "Very good use of the Cutting Charm, Miss Dalgaard-Volkova! It's coming along nicely! And it's very kind of you to offer a chocolate frog, Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne." She gave both prefects approving smiles as she addressed them. If Mr. Carter told the Hufflepuff prefect that he did want the chocolate frog, she'd go over and get it from the boy herself to prevent more allergens spreading around. She didn't have any chocolate on hand or she'd have rejected Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne's offer on Mr. Carter's behalf. Celestia made a mental note to get the Hufflepuff prefect a new Frog before she went back to scanning the room for signs of trouble or praise-worthy events.

Then something happened that fell into both of those categories. Celestia had noticed Miss Kevelle working quietly and concentrating hard over at her desk, but she hadn't realized that the young Ravenclaw was overextending herself until she almost fell out of her chair. Celestia murmured to Mr. Carter that she'd be right back, and then rushed over to Miss Kevelle's desk. She was so busy looking the girl over for signs of further injury that she didn't notice her pumpkin at first. Once she'd ruled out an actual collapse on the floor when she hadn't been looking, the granite pumpkin caught her eye and her mouth fell open in shock. This was a first year's work! She had noted the dolphin carvings -- which were also rather excellent -- and the blue flames burning inside the jack-o-lantern as well. It was a moment before Celestia could speak.
"This is...outstanding work, Miss Kevelle. Truly incredible," Celestia told the Ravenclaw in a hushed voice. She soon tore her eyes away from the object and settled them on the girl's face before continuing, "Are you alright, Miss Kevelle? You must have used quite a lot of magic to produce this. You should have some chocolate at the very least. Is that okay?" Hopefully Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne had two chocolate frogs in his bag that she could repay him for later. The young Ravenclaw really shouldn't go without it, and Celestia was even mentally debating whether to insist that Miss Kevelle go down to the hospital wing or not. Some of Celestia's attention was still focused on monitoring Mr. Carter, of course -- but it now seemed like she had possibly three students in need of a Healer.

OOC: Great job, guys! You all have such fun posts to read! This is a friendly reminder that you have about 48 hours left before class ends. I rearranged the timing a bit here so that Celestia could respond to everyone.
Hufflepuffs: I changed your name color to black because the yellow really doesn't show up very well.

If she had known that her method of bringing her pumpkin over was entertaining Professor Grimsbane so much, chances were that Beth would have tried to be more entertaining…y’know, just for her sake. She had, of course, heard that it was often tough keeping everything right and steady when children were involved…really, the fact her own mother had given her that lecture was probably more so for their benefits - she obviously, didn’t want letters home complaining about antics.

Looking over Beth glanced at Nettie for a moment, ”do you want to work together with the carving?” Beth asked looking over at Daniel, her lion-friend, after all, he had loads more work to do right? She asked this, of course, just as she reached over and grabbed the carving knife and proceeded to stab it into the flesh of her pumpkin.

staaaab this…was hard, really hard. Pumpkins weren’t easily stabbed or carved and she could feel that something was going wrong from the way the knive’s blade seemed to bend. squeak – squeak – wobble it was like a musical instrument, a deadly musical instrument. ”this…isn’t fun,” she muttered shaking her head as she looked at the very bent blade. Giving it a few more tries she’d managed to carve out a shape – it wasn’t decent but it was a face for the most part. A rather forlorn and depressed looking face, but it would manage.

She smiled at the professor’s, and Daisy’s, encouraging words. She knew in her heart that they were right. She just needed to focus more and keep trying. It was just a small pumpkin. Her eyes closed as she took in a deep, relaxing breath.

“Turn to stone, little pumpkin. It’s all you need to do.” She whispered as she fiddled the her ponytail. Her fingers twirled her hair around, as she imagined the pumpkin being made of stone. Once again, she practiced the wand movement and incantation. When she was sure she had it down, she took a few more deep breaths.

Her mind was focused. She raised her wand and commanded “Duro!” Much to her surprise, the pumpkin had turned to stone. “It worked, It worked!” She bounced up and down, pointing to the pumpkin. “Daisy, it worked.” She leaned over and said to her friend.

"Well done, Em!" Daisy congratulated her friend. Daisy had now selected some paint and paintbrushes. She had a midnight blue and a yellow so that she could paint her pumpkin to represent the midnight sky. She dipped her large paintbrush into the midnight blue paint and carefully painted the stone pumpkin until the surface was covered. As she waited for the paint to dry, Daisy aimed her wand at the used paintbrush and cleaned it using, "Scourgify." The paint had now dried so Daisy picked up a smaller brush and dipped it in the yellow paint. She went around the pumpkin and painted random stars so that her final result resembled a cat sitting in front of a starry midnight sky. She once again used a Cleaning Charm on her paintbrush whilst waiting for the stars to dry.

It was simultaneously disconcerting and somewhat awkwardly familiar when Professor Grimsbane fawned over her, checking if she was alright. She's been through similar before with healers and parents that weren't her own..., so Quinn knew the drill. Best to let them do it, no matter how awkward it is, then answer them. "I'm fine. Really. I just really wanted to get it on my first try, and I think I...over did it a little." Or a lot.

Quinn was actually more concerned with the idea that perhaps Professor Grimsbane would be worried enough to send her to the hospital wing, and it was even more likely that'd happen if Quinn tried to stand up at any point in the next few minutes, but thankfully, no. Instead, Professor Grimsbane suggested chocolate. Quinn nodded, and instantly regretted doing so. "A chocolate frog would be great!" Any chocolate would do, but she did have her favorite, and that was chocolate frogs.

Quinn watched the blue flames flicker within the granite jack-o-lantern with a bit of pride. Of course she almost passed out doing it, but still, it was something to be proud of, right? Just...one thing...

"Is it okay if I leave it with you for today and pick it up tomorrow when I'm more rested?" A stone jack-o-lantern was definitely going to be too heavy for her to carry out of here, and trying to levitate it right now would DEFINITELY get her sent to the hospital wing.

All he wanted right now was to be left alone. But, this being Hogwarts, that wasn't going to happen. Of course, he knew they meant well. For the most part.

"I will be, once this potion has fully kicked in," he replied to Derfael. At least, it sounded like Derfael. In his current state he couldn't really tell. "Non, but thanks anyway." Did chocolate frogs help in a case like this? It seemed too risky to try, though.

Then, some young Slytherin was asking about time-release potions? Which, yeah, he did know about those. But he didn't even like relying on these potions. "Hate to burst your bubble, kid, potions are easily tampered with. I only have the ones I have because my mum swore up and down she trusted the maker with her life." And that was a BIG deal to his mum, as she didn't trust lightly.

Could he stop talking yet? "I'll be okay," he replied to the professor. The dizziness was fading slightly, anyway.

Maddie gave the professor a smile when it was confirmed that she did indeed choose a pumpkin that was just right for her age and size. Maddie was ambitious, but she wanted her pumpkin to look the right way, too. What was the point in choosing a super huge pumpkin if it'd just end up looking like a blob or something?

Since she was a third year, Maddie already knew Diffindo, so she decided to go that route. It seemed a lot easier than using a carving knife. But first, she needed to come up with a design. Did it have to be a pumpkin face? She could carve a badger's face, but...who really knew how to do that? In the end, Maddie decided to just go ahead and do a pumpkin face, because at least if she messed up a little, it'd probably still look like a jack-o-lantern. They always had crooked teeth and the such.

So with a plan in mind, Maddie began on the eyes. She decided to make them friendly, because wasn't that what being a Hufflepuff was all about. She didn't really know what 'friendly eyes' looked like, but she just didn't want to make her pumpkin look mad. "Diffindo!" she said, and she began tracing with her wand. Pretty soon, she had two ovals and even a pair of eyebrows on her pumpkin. One eye was a little bigger than the other, but she was no artist.

Jessa focused on the task at hand, driving the carving knife into the pumpkin several times with varying degrees of force depending on the line she was trying to create.

It was perhaps the fourth or fifth rise of her knife when the young girl was interrupted by the Professor's question. Again, Jessa drove the knife down into the pumpkin but kept it there as she looked up at her. "Yes, of course Professor." Her voice was dull, detached. It was her least favourite question in truth. Nothing made her skin crawl more. "I'm in good health and on top of my school work, my hair is dandruff free and my sleeping pattern's regularized."

What else constituted being alright? She could provide the woman with an entire list.

"Are you alright?" The Sixth Year continued politely, removing the knife and placing it on her desk.

This would do, she was done carving. To most, it wouldn't resemble anything but the Ravenclaw had actually carved a set of wards onto the pumpkin that she was looking forward to invoking. Just hard to turn this into stone first.

Maddie was pretty satisfied with the way her pumpkin's eyes had turned out. She was almost sure that if she tried to correct the size of the eyes and make them perfectly even, she'd end up really messing up things. So this pumpkin was just going to have eyes that weren't exactly the same size. Besides, you could really only tell they were different if you were being very picky about things.

Maddie decided not to try and get overly creative with the pumpkin's nose. She didn't even know how to draw a nose with quill and parchment, much less with wand and a pumpkin. A triangular nose it would be! "Diffindo!" she cast again. Maddie began making the shape of a triangle with the point facing upward. That seemed to be the best shape for a pumpkin's nose, and it was the shape she saw most often. When she was finished carving, she withdrew her wand and took a good look at the nose. Heyyyy. It was actually pretty straight!

Next up was the mouth. She could draw it the traditional way with all the missing teeth, or she could get creative with things. A creative mouth didn't seem too hard. Hmmm... In the end, she decided for a big, wide-open grin. The kind that looked like a banana turned over on its side. She was even going to try and put two little curved marks on the ends of the smile. "Diffindo!" she said. It probably took her about ten solid minutes, but she was done. She thought she'd done a pretty good job, too. The only two times she'd messed up were with the eyes and a bit of the smile, which was a little crooked.

Smiling at Stasya (because that was a relief that his own folly hadn't ruined something he had spent a GOOD LONG TIME making, you know?) Derf rolled his shoulders a bit impishly. "And now we know what happens with a full D shape movement." Wait, hadn't he already said that?

Er...awkward? Nah, he wasn't awkward at all.

Buuuuuut back to his pumpkin, yeah?

Satisfied with the carving, Derf cleared his throat and gave his wand a wave - making absolutely SURE this time that he did not close the D. "Duro!"

And then he shut his eyes tight and waited for something to explode. Or melt. Or break the table. Basically any sort of disaster that USUALLY came with his spell casting...but then nothing seemed to happen at all. Had his spell...not worked? That was a possibility as well. Nothing happening at all. So Derf peeeeeked out through one eye and....OH LOOK AT THAT!

LOOK. AT. THAT!

HE HAD A PROPER STONE PUMPKIN!

Though his bright blues quickly returned to Ronan and he simply offered the Head Boy a nod. "Well...if you change your mind...I'm packing." As he always did. Which meant he now had a chocolate frog in his hand that was not needed. OR WAS IT? Swirling around in his seat, the Hufflepuff looked over at the professor who was speaking to Quinn and then the first year mentioned chocolate frogs. HUZZAH! "Got one right here," he offered as he strolled out of his seat and offered it to her. Hopefully...the chocolate frog card inside wasn't one he needed. He sorta felt weird going through his usual methodology of informing the recipient that they had to hand the card to him and could just keep the chocolate. He didn't know this Ravenclaw all that well, you know?

Quinnlin smiled, warm and appreciative, and with just a hint of her dimples showing, to Derf. "Thank you." And honestly, a chocolate frog was always something she appreciated fully. She opened the lid, eyes already locked onto the frog before it was even visible. The frog sprang up and out of the box, and she caught it with the practiced hands of someone who has opened a lot of chocolate frogs in her eleven years; namely by quickly getting a hand in position for the frog to land on.

She waited quietly for the enchantment on it to fade more, til the frog was mostly stationary and unmoving before taking the first bite. It had always seemed a bit grotesque to start eating them when they were still fairly animated.

Quinn smiled again. Chocolate frogs always did have a way of making her feel better, even if it was just slightly, and even if it was just in her head. Today was neither really. She felt loads better already, and was fairly confident it was more than just in her head. Finally Quinn took out the card, and examined it. "Circe," she announced, looking up at Derf. "Do you want it?" It was, after all, his chocolate frog. And while she didn't necessarily ever set out to collect chocolate frog cards, and didn't exactly think of herself as a collector, you really can't be an avid consumer of chocolate frogs and not wind up with your own collection of cards. She didn't have Circe yet, and quite admired the witch so extraordinary with transfiguration that she became a legend so completely that even Muggles apparently knew about her. To them, however, she was a myth, but still. That's quite an achievement. So if Derf didn't want it, or already had her, she would quite like to keep this one.

Okay... So this is what it boiled down to for Reese.. He didn't have much of an attention span... At least not at the present moment anyway.. Lately, his thought tended to wander beyond the borders of scholastic or practical learning.. Instead his mind and his eyes often wandered to the same thing.. The same person..

Ugh! Why do things always change?.. Always changing.. Not for the bad.. Hopefully for the better maybe?.. Maybe at some point, but for now he'd steal glances or listen and learn.. It wasn't like he would actually admit it anyway.. Not out loud.. Not where anyone would hear..

So, there he sat stone still and stuck in the newest of his daydreams.

The chocolate frog already helping her feel better, Quinn glanced at Reese next to her. He was staring off into space as if not really seeing anything going on around him, just lost to himself. She watched him for a bit. It was such a quiet, almost serene moment for him, and she found it intriguing.

Finally she nudged him gently. "What are you thinking about?" It had to be something curious or fascinating to hold his attention so thoroughly for so long, yeah? Then, Quinn nodded to his pumpkin. "Do you want help?" She could at least walk him through what to do, right? She knew she really didn't have it in her to cast anything else at the moment, but Reese was talented. She was sure she wouldn't need to cast anything for him, nor would he let her, most likely. She could, however, help by giving him suggestion and points about wand movements and all.

If he wanted, of course.

Yup.. Lost in himself alright.. He was off in a land and time all his own and everything was wonderful.. And then Quinn nudged him.. She might've done it lightly enough, but Reese nearly hit the ceiling.. " Hmm? ", he said.. " Oh... Yeah.. Would ya mind goin' through it with me again?", he asked with a funny little smile.. Is pink because .. Yeah.

That goofy, endearing little smile of his caught her off guard. And for just a moment, Quinn found herself suddenly devoid of anything intelligible to say, which was quite unlike her. "Um..." It was probably due to how much exertion she had put into her own pumpkin. The bluebell flames flickering inside the white granite pumpkin accented her is soft, dancing blue light. Yeah, it was most assuredly the effort used on the assignment.

Quinn glanced away a moment, watching the flickering blue flames and collected herself. "Sure. I mean yes. First thing you want to do is carve your pumpkin. Like a jack-o-lantern..." Only she'd made a ring of dolphins on hers instead. "Do you know the cutting charm?" Because, Professor Grimsbane was standing right there, and had previously forbade them from trying it if they hadn't known it to begin with...And Quinn hadn't known it, and practiced it anyway, but there wasn't any point letting on to that. "So you either want to use that charm, or a carving knife to carve a pattern. And you can use 'scourgify,' to clean up all the innards." She demonstrated the wand movement for it, just in case. "And then use 'Duro,' to turn it to stone, like so," again she demonstrated the wand movement, the almost closed capital D, even though it was on the board for him. And of course he knew he had to visualize it clearly. Reese was plenty smart when he wasn't distracted by something that clearly made him blush. Just don't focus too hard and pass out like she almost did. "I can watch if you want and give you pointers." She just couldn't demonstrate it herself presently.

Reese noticed she looked a smidge off balance.. Maybe it was all the charms and things they were having to use to complete their tasks?.. Maybe not, but he couldn't help but think she look like an angel the way the blue-flickering candle-light painted across her face..

It was new for Reese.. To look at a girl as maybe more than just a friend, but if he was going to have a crush on anyone, at least it was Schmebulock? His mind was running a kilometer a second and the fact that she was so very close to his in the physical sense was somewhat of a distraction, but ONWARD!
"Yeah.. That was one of our first lessons.. 'Member? ", he nodded as he took his wand and started to cut into the pumpkins top using .. " Diffindo... ", Reese said softly as he held his wand above the top of the pumpkin and moved it around as he focused on the simple enough for him charm. Once the top had been cut-out he set down his wand and worked to remove and clean the lid. Next he just scooped the innards of the pumpkin out with his hand then took up his wand again to complete the next step in the activity... " Scourgify.." Satisfied he set the empty, topless gourd on the table and thought on what design he'd like to carve into it's side.


" Hey, Schmebby?.. What do ya think I should put on the side of my pumpkin?", Reese asked. After all... Quinn's opinion mattered more than most.

His face turning a deep shade of red, Daehyun could only nod at professor Grimsbane. "Sorry about the mess." He would have cleaned it first, but he'd been too stunned by his own mishap to think clearly... or think, at all. When she focused her attention on someone else, he could finally let out the breath he'd been holding as he thought he'd be scolded, but it turned out he hadn't.

Sighing dejectedly, he fetched another pumpkin and wasted not a moment longer to carve the same lion once again using Diffindo, now moving on auto-pilot, as he'd already done this once. When he finished carving, he cast a quick Scourgify to clean the remnants that he'd carved out, and it was finally time.

Turn it to stone, not dust. Solid thoughts.

He pointed his wand at the newly carved pumpkin, traced the wand movement with immense care this time, mindful not to close the D shape, and said, "Duro!" He was almost too afraid to look at the pumpkin as he cast the spell, but he succeeded this time around.

Phew.