It seemed like all the ashwinders had been found, their eggs mostly collected, and class time was nearly over. Mia clapped her hands. "Okay, everyone, thanks for all your help today! Once you've collected your ashwinder eggs, you can return the jars to the front, I'll be delivering them to Professor Hernandez for potions supplies," she said. "For next class, I'd like you all to write an essay on pest prevention, for the magical household pest of your choice--and let's not consider siblings in that category for this assignment, please." She preferred not to read any essays about how to get rid of younger siblings.

"Other than that you can go, have an excellent rest of your afternoon!"

OOC: I'll leave the thread open for another 18-24 hours for anyone to finish up with the ashwinder egg collecting. You can assume any ashwinders have laid their eggs & dissolved.

Violet was glad her Ashwinder moved slowly so she didn't have to run very hard to keep up with it. In fact, she had to slow down and go into stealth mode in order not to frighten it off, as it seemed to be a very cautious one. Finally, hiding as best she could behind a corner of the maze, she gazed in wonder down at the end of the path and watched the little being lay its eggs. She almost ran forward after the second one, but was glad she waited, because, what do you know, there was a third one, too. And then, the Ashwinder was gone as if it had never been.

Violet thought it rather a bad deal to only get to live long enough to lay a few eggs and then, POOF! But she had no time for thinking, because there were eggs to collect. She came forward at last, pointed her wand at each of the eggs, and exclaimed, "Glacius!" "Glacius!" "Glacius!" Then, pocketing her wand, she bent down and gently picked up each of the eggs and put them in her jar. They were really cold, too! Satisfied with her accomplishment, Violet turned and started walking back out of the maze in what she hoped was the right direction.

asdfjkl!!! Attempting to catch up
 

Heath listened intently as the professor gave the directions for the next activity. Oh, that explained the maze. He’d been wondering how that was going to fit into things. He was just glad it wasn’t a human-sized maze! Ever since encountering Lucien Rosier’s hooded goons during that disastrous cockatrice lesson a couple of terms ago, he had a thing about mazes. He shook his head to distract himself from that memory. Never mind, ashwinder egg collecting time!

He retrieved a jar from the box, shivering slightly at the coldness as he touched it. His dark eyes scanned the paddock, darting from the firepits to the maze in search of any ashwinders that may have gone unattended. Just when he was starting to worry that he wouldn’t fine one, he spotted a particularly small one slither past. He followed it to the maze, watching with a strange sense of melancholy as it laid its eggs and dissolved. He rather liked that ashwinder. It reminded him of himself in a way, but now wasn’t the time for sentimentality. There was a job to do!

Tucking the jar under his left arm, Heath aimed his wand at the nearest egg and cast, “Glacius!” The egg froze, and he picked it up to place it in his jar. A thought occurred to him as he turned his attention to the next egg. Maybe he could try the spell nonverbally this time. A look of intense concentration crossed his face as he pointed his wand. Glacius, he thought. This egg also froze, but only partially. “Glacius!” he cast again to finish the job and deposited the egg into the jar with the other one. He tried again on the next egg, and this time the nonverbal Glacius worked.

When all of the eggs had been collected, Heath made his way back to the front to hand in his jar full of eggs. “Bye, Professor,” he said on his way out. “Thank you for the lesson!”