DADA: Lesson Two (All Years)

Excitement bubbled up in and seemed like it wanted to explode out of the twelve year who seemed to almost be vibrating. He had received the notice that class would be held outside after the usual class hours. While he had at first been a bit put out, his curiosity won out. Grinning from ear to ear he'd made sure he dressed as he usually did for this time of year. Thermal underclothes were usually present on his person under his usual attire for the winter months. He really didn't like the cold or snow. Sure it was pretty but deadly. And very ugly after it quit falling when it did in Manchester.

Along the trek across the grounds he slipped and nearly took an icy slide a few feet. An exasperated sound came from behind him and the older Ravenclaw that kept him from his tumble. Flashing him a grin and a quick thanks caused the older boy to quickly put distance between them. Patting the snow off himself he continued merrily despite the white powdery substance that was his nemesis. Trying to lure unsuspecting children and adults with how 'magical' it looked. The bluish sheen of pure undisturbed snow calling to them like a siren. Jurian was onto it!

Before he could get turned around he spotted someone ahead and beelined for them. Glad to not be alone in the dark in the snow, the Ravenclaw happily waved to his proffessor and rocked back and forth on his feet humming.

Christmas was right around the corner, and so was the full moon. Mercy didn't like winter - the days were shorter, the nights were longer, and one often had to stay inside - but at least most years she could enjoy the holiday season. This year, the full moon fell on Christmas Eve, and Mercy was not happy.

They had nearly a week to get through before that, but Mercy was already starting to feel a little under the weather. By the time late afternoon rolled around, she'd succumbed to her fatigue and ended up falling asleep halfway through her potions homework, waking up just after dark with a start and feeling disoriented. What time was it? Where was she supposed to be right now? After a few confused moments, she finally remembered she had a class to get to - DADA was in the evening today!

Scrambling for her phone, she checked the time as she hurriedly rubbed the sleep from her eyes and tugged on her snowboots and a coat. She was late, but not too late. She could still get there in time if she ran. Shoving her phone into the pocket of her coat and swinging her bag over her shoulder, she burst through the portrait door (much to the Fat Lady's chagrin) and thundered down the stairs.

She crossed the grounds quickly, kicking up snow as she jogged toward the Forbidden Forest, waking up more and more with each freezing lungful of air. She finally caught sight of her class and approached the edge of the group, scanning for Mimosa. It looked like she'd made it just in time - everyone else was already there, but class hadn't quite gotten started yet. She found Mimosa next to Karan and Gaspard.

"Hey," she panted, coming up behind them. "Sorry I'm late. I fell asleep."

The small gathering soon became much bigger as the minutes ticked by, those arriving first getting the luxury of standing closer to the lanterns which were emitting heat enough to keep those around them warm. They wouldn't be stood still for long, though, Jake knew better than to keep people waiting in the cold.

When it looked like everyone had finally made it, Jake decided to get on with class, any stragglers would soon catch up with what they were doing, of that much he was quite sure. "Good evening everyone. Thank you for coming out this evening, I know it's a little unorthodox of me to ask you to give up your free time, but, you didn't have to get up quite so early this morning, so I hope you can forgive me." Jake quipped, earning a fair few agreements from those who were not so good at getting to his class on time.

"Now, tonight's class is going to be vastly different from normal, because I'm feeling a little bit mean." Jake continued, and the class seemed to quieten with a little bit of excitement at this notion. "All I'm going to tell you is that you're going to choose a lantern -- I would suggest you don't end up alone -- and... follow it."

The professor gave pause, which allowed the rise of the whispers to grow steadily for a few moments before he motioned for people to settle down. "I know, I know, sounds very ominous. Everyone have your wands out at the ready, I promise you will not encounter anything that we haven't previously studied, so you therefore know how to deal with it. This is just... going to require you to think on your feet and remember how to deal with it, when, and if, you find it. Don't stray away from your lantern, and no harm will come to you. I will be keeping an eye on you.

"First team to make it back is the winner." Jake finalised, prompting everyone to start breaking off in to groups and hurrying to follow a lantern each. Jake would ensure everyone was in a group, adding additional people to groups where necessary, nobody would leave the clearing alone.


OOC Note: Hopefully this becomes self-explanatory, the lantern will lead the children down separate paths which will have false targets 'jump' out at them (i.e. enchanted dummies which just need to be knocked back, etc). The lantern will, eventually make it to a dimly lit area (their lantern will disappear) and a Hinkypunk will instead try to lure the group away from their path. How your character and their group deals with it is completely up to you.

Points will be awarded based upon creativity of each persons adventure in to the forest and NOT upon how successful they are in defeating the entire obstacle.

Good luck, and have fun!

Mercy made it in time just before Jake stated speaking, which was both good and bad. On the one hand, Mimosa was glad her best friend was here but on the other, they couldn't keep on talking as all their attention was supposed to be on the teacher. Oh well, it was a good thing Jake was about the only teacher Mimosa liked giving her attention to. He and Professor Hughes were the only cool teachers holding up the otherwise boring fort in the child's mind. Moving a little to stand beside Mercy and slipping her small hand through the older witches, Mimosa left Gaspard and Karan to shuffle awkwardly closer to fill in the gap. The four of them listened as Jake spoke of a mysterious path and not straying from a lantern and while others could be heard anxiously whispering about what awaited in the dark, Mimosa's bright bole eyes only grew brighter with excitement. An adventure in the forest at night, now that was a lesson she could get behind!

They were supposed to be in groups of twos or threes, os of course Mimosa intended to fully team up with Mercy and dominate the challenge like they always did. Unfortunately it was in that exact moment that Charles chose to speak up, making a comment about the little girls who were afraid of the dark, looking very pointedly at Karan. The comment didn't make sense to Mimosa as Karan was neither little nor a girl but she knew what Charles had meant and so stepped towards the two boys.

"Well, I think they're going to be the first team back," she announced confidently, moving to Gaspard's side and taking his hand in an indication that they were both now on the same team. "You know why? Because they're on my team. So good luck losing Charles, maybe Catherine and Constance will save you in there."

That seemed to shut him up, sadly it also meant that she now had two other people in her team and one of the Gryffindors was short a teammate. In the end, Mercy had to get reassigned to that student by Jake before everyone moved to collect a lantern, Mimosa walking confidently ahead while the two boys shuffled behind her, conscious of all the silent gazes upon their small group.

The gazes didn't last long as the trio melted into the darkness soon after, choosing one of the paths outlined for them through the obstacle course. "Don't worry guys, I got this!" Mimsoa encouraged because she was the best at this subject. Still or some reason both boys didn't believe her and immediately had their wands out. Almost in unison, both murmured "lumos" before moving to either side of her and flanking her, their eyes darting this way and than.

"Creatures or dummies?" Karan murmured towards Gaspard under his breath to which the Ravenclaw repleid "Could be both." Mimosa had no idea why they were so worried, nothing was going to jump out of them.

"You're both being silly, and probably scared of the dark. It's really not scary," the Slytherin witch insisted,holding up her lantern and lighting the path ahead, ehr own wand forgotten somewhere in ehr bag. There wouldn't be any need for it.

"You're right," Gaspard hurriedly replied before Karan could point out that the whole reason they were here was to get jumped at by unknown things. "We're scared, maybe you can tell us a story to distract is?" As he said so, he swished his wand to the right and out of the corner of her eyes, Mimosa thought she saw a shadow jump. It was gone a moment later though so she assumed it wasn't anything bad.

Karan cast a stunned look the other buy's way who only nodded, as if confirming that they were on their own and the most helpful Mimosa would be was if she was completely distracted and not paying attention. It was clear there were at least dummies coming out of the dark and they could both focus on said dummies while Mimosa spoke about whatever it was she chose to tell them. It didn't take long for everyone to fall into a functioning rhythm, Mimosa telling the story of the last Paris Fashion Week where she had headlined the teen section while both boys pretended to listen while on the lookout for more dummies. With both of them working together, it was easy enough to knock back the dummies they were expecting, guarding the chattering girl in between from each side.

"Oh wow, has it been half an hour, I guess the story was longer than I thought. And see, I told you nothing would jump out at us. I hope you two aren't scared anymore."

"What can we say, when you're right, you're right," Karan admitted, having knocked back at least a dozen dummies out of her path at this point. Thankfully the path seem to be coming to an end and the group had still not managed to lose their lantern. The witch nodded happily, liking nothing more than being told she was right.

"Home free?" Karan asked Gaspard much more seriously as they entered a dimly lit area. The taller boy shook his head.

"Dead end, nowhere to go."

Just as he said it, their lantern went dark.

Mimosa would have let out a scream if she understood what had happened. Instead she simply held up the container and looked at it, wondering why it wasn't working. The two boys on either side of her were much more alert, their wands already drawn even as Mimosa herself tapped on the glass, trying to awaken the flame within.

"Well this is useless now,' she finally announced, looking to both boys who looked highly alert. Once again, it didn't make sense, they were at the end, there was nothing to fear now. And yet both Gaspard and Karan had moved one step ahead, almost as if they were shielding her with their wands and bodies from an unknown peril. They really were such big worrywarts. "Chill guys," the teen trilled in her cheery tone, "I'm pretty sure we can find out way back from here. We just need to figure out where this path leads to, and we just need another lantern, oh look, there it is, let me go get it!"

A look of pure panic overtook Karan's face as Mimosa broke ranks from the group, moving brazenly ahead to a lantern she spied glowing in the distance. "Mimosa, no!" Gaspard called out but it was too late. The Slytherin witch knew what she wanted, and it was to borrow the lantern from someone up ahead. They must have a source of fire too because Mimosa could see smoke rising from the lantern in the distance.

"Hello, excuse me, may we share your lantern!" the brunette called out as the boys ran after her, exchanging horrified looks at what was happening.

"Hinkypunk,' Gaspard breathed out just as Karan shot back "We're following her and she's following it."

Mimosa of course had no such reservations, having caught up to the smoky creature and trying to negotiate with it. "We just need it for a little while to get back to the castle. then I'll have someone return your lantern to you okay. Here,' she extended an arm, watching the smoke curl towards her. It really was weird but she supposed the forest was home to many weird things. At least this one was helpful.

Just as the smoky limb was about to encircle her slim wrist, a blinding burst of light exploded across the scene. "LUMOS DUO!" Both boys hollered, freezing the Hinkypunk in place. Literally freezing, the witch noticed as the creature seem to turn more solid somehow, its lantern dropping into the mud and its form solidifying in place. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Mimosa quickly picked up the lantern. Unfortunately, the creature had managed to initiate one last defense mechanism before it temporarily froze.

And that defense mechanism now took form of five small fireballs heading straight towards the source of the blinding light charm, the two boys who were still trying to adjust to the flash of light they had cause in a last ditch attempt to save her.

Mimosa watched the fireballs fly to the boys as if in slow motion, her nose wrinkling in displeasure at the attack. "That," she spoke coldly, turning her face to the frozen Hinkypunk. Unbeknownst to her, the fireballs heading towards the blinking boys stopped in their tracks. "Is not nice," Mimosa finished coolly, the fireballs losing heart in the air and extinguishing themselves. The creature itself appeared to shrink from her gaze and tone.

"We will be leaving now,"she informed the creature in a tone that brokered no arguments, taking its lantern and walking back towards the boys, leading the through a narrow path that they had all missed earlier when they had entered the small, dimly lit clearing. And after five minutes of walking, they were right back where they had started, seeing a beaming Jake waiting for them. They were indeed the first group to make it back.

"See, told you nothing would come at us," Mimosa grinned, setting down her lantern and running to Jake to tell him all about their non-adventure. Both boys merely slumped to the ground in defeat, exhausted from the night's education and huddling against each other for warmth in the cold.

Mercy wasn't happy about being separated from Mimosa - DADA was their thing; they always paired up together - but she understood the necessity of it. Charles was being a jerk, so of course Mimosa had to stand up to him. Even if that meant Mercy had to pair up with someone else. She'd just have to complete the challenge as quickly as possible so they could join up again before class ended.

She promised Mimosa that she'd see her in no time, then followed Jake's orders and moved to join her housemate, a second year named Tillie. She let Tillie pick their lantern, and as Jake released them, the two walked side-by-side into the woods. Tillie spoke in a hushed voice as the sounds of the other groups faded away.

"Whaddya think is in here?" she whispered.

Mercy shrugged. "I dunno. Monsters, probably."

"Cor. Do you think they'll eat us?"

"Nah, we can take 'em."

They lapsed into a brief silence, both of them keeping a close eye on the lantern as they moved deeper into the dark. Mercy kept her wand at the ready, watching for any sign of movement in her periphery. At times like these, she was almost grateful for her heightened senses around the full moon - she was sitting in the short sweet spot just after her senses sharpened but just before she felt sick. The silence between the two girls made the woods seem to loom larger, so it wasn't long before Tillie broke it once again.

"I've seen you play Quidditch before. You're really good."

"Thanks."

"Do you think I could make the team? I think I might try out next year."

"You probably could if you want it enough. What position?"

"I'm not sure yet. Maybe Seeker. Do you think you'll need a Seeker next year?"

"We might. You got any experience?"

"Not a lot."

Mercy hummed, scanning the woods around them. Everything seemed too still. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. Something was out there. She tensed, gripping her wand as she prepared herself for a jump scare.

Tillie seemed to pick up on the atmosphere, and both girls stopped in their tracks, listening for any sign of movement. The silence weighed heavy all around them as they waited with bated breath. Nothing happened.

Mercy drew a breath to say something when suddenly a crash sounded from behind them and they both whirled around with their wands raised. The knockback jinx was already on Mercy's lips as she caught sight of the shadowy figure emerging from the undergrowth, and the dummy fell backwards before she even processed what it was. Her heart hammered wildly, but gradually slowed down as she realized the danger had passed.

She took a slow breath, scanned the area one last time, then turned back around to follow the lantern once more.

"You ought to practise some on the pitch when you've got the time," she advised the younger witch, continuing their earlier conversation as if nothing had happened. "You can use the school's equipment if you haven't got any."

"Oh, cor. Will do," Tillie's voice wavered a little, but the younger girl forced a cheerful tone and followed Mercy's lead as the Chaser acted as casual as possible. Mercy felt the other girl's nervousness and compensated for it by assuming a confident and self-assured air, hoping to make the younger witch feel a little better. She continued with the conversation to distract her from her fear.

"Do you have a broom?"

"No, but my dad said he'd get me one if I made the team. It's just that we live in the city so it's a little hard to practise any flying outside of school."

"Make sense. Any reason you want to be a Seeker?"

Mercy heard a faint rustling and a shadow moved in her periphery. She spun, shooting a hex into the woods. Tillie yelped at the sudden movement, reflexively grabbing onto Mercy's free arm. They both watched carefully for any response to Mercy's spell, but the woods were still once again. After a moment, Tillie cleared her throat awkwardly and let go of Mercy's arm as they continued onward. After a moment of silence, the younger girl took a deep, slightly shuddery breath.

"Um, well, I really like Fiona MacNamara, and..."

Mercy's eyes lit up. "Yes! Oh my god, I met her at the World Cup this past summer; she's amazing!"

"Really?!" Tillie's fear vanished, replaced by excitement. "What was she like? I wanted to go to the World Cup sooo badly but we couldn't get tickets. Was she nice?"

"So nice! I got her autograph and we had a full conversation and I took a bunch of photos with her - I'll show you when we get back. I-"

Mercy's heart stopped as something vaguely humanoid leapt out of the woods in front of them. "Merlin's muddy trousers!" she swore, pushing Tillie behind her. "Diffindo!"

The dummy collapsed in two pieces on the path, and Mercy gave it a solid kick for good measure, berating herself for not paying attention. She heard Tillie's voice exclaim from behind her: "Flipendo!"

Mercy spun around to see a second dummy get blasted backwards into a nearby tree. "Nice one!"

Tillie grinned up at her. "Not so scary after all," she started to say.

Just then, the light went out, plunging the two girls into utter darkness.

Silence, for a split second, and then: "Um, was that supposed to happen?" Tillie asked, voice pitched up an octave.

Mercy lit her wand with a quick "Lumos," illuminating the other girl's pale face. She held out a hand and Tillie took it gratefully, staying close to Mercy's side. They both looked around, wondering what to do without their lantern to guide them.

Something flickered in the distance. A light emerged from between the trees, moving steadily away from them. Mercy raised her wand higher to light their path, calling out to the mysterious lantern.

"Hello?"

The light paused. It began moving toward them, though it remained within the treeline away from their path. Mercy took a small step closer. "Who's out there?"

The light gave no response and Mercy frowned. Was it another student? Was it someone playing a prank and trying to scare them? "Hey, you! I can see you! This isn't funny!"

There still was no response. The light began to move back through the woods, and Mercy made to follow before a sudden realization stopped her in her tracks. Tillie kept walking, but Mercy tugged her back.

"Wait, shhh," she hushed, seeing Tillie's confusion. She put a finger to her lips and Tillie nodded, staying silent. Mercy listened carefully and Tillie followed suit with a small frown.

"I don't hear anything," she whispered after a moment.

Mercy nodded. "Exactly. If someone were walking through the woods, they'd be making noise."

And Mercy knew that with her heightened senses, she should be able to hear that from here. The dried leaves, twigs, and patches of ice and snow would be impossible to avoid for anyone walking off the path. Anyone with feet would be rustling, crackling, and crunching their way through the woods.

Something clicked. "It's a will-o'-the-wisp," she realized.

"A hinkypunk," Tillie gasped.

"Yeah, that."

"Good thing we didn't follow it," Tillie remarked, wide-eyed. Mercy smirked as she had a thought.

"I bet Charles would have."

Tillie giggled, releasing some of the tension in the air. Mercy held her wand aloft, making the executive decision to keep following the path they were currently on, since that was the way their lantern had been leading them. Tillie followed, lighting her own wand as well so they could see all around them. It wasn't long before they found themselves back at the edge of the woods where Jake was waiting - with Mimosa.

"Second place!" Mercy hollered as they emerged from the woods, extinguishing their wands. "And no sign of Charles," she grinned, running to Mimosa. Tillie lagged awkwardly behind as the two older girls reunited. Mercy turned back toward her, holding out a hand for a high five. Tillie returned it enthusiastically.

"Nice job in there," Mercy encouraged her. "If you ever want to practise flying sometime, hit me up."

"I will!" Tillie grinned, positively glowing as they settled in to wait for the other groups to arrive.

When the professor stated he was feeling a bit mean, Jurian paid extra attention not knowing how this would turn out but his curiosity was piqued nonetheless. Leaning forward slightly as he was drawn in, he blinked. Follow a lantern? Glancing at his fellow classmates he could see some of them didn't know what to make of it either. Pulling his wand as instructed, he licked his lips equal parts excited as he was anxious. At least the professor wasn't abandoning them completely. With the final words spoken and the rest of the class choosing teams, Jurian almost felt like when he was back in primary except he couldn't latch onto Jasper as a teammate. Shrugging, he spotted one of his roommates and hurried over to ask the dark haired boy, "Partners?"

Seeing the relief in the other's face, he grinned back and saw that they were joined by a Gryffinor boy with curly hair that reminded him of Frodo. The trio seeing that some of the older students were already moving, followed their example. "I love magic!" Jurian couldn't help but exclaim seeing the lantern that was for their group navigating down the designated path after he'd touched it. The not Frodo gave him a look. "Let's see if you still say that at the end of the trail."

In return Jurian gave him the only logical and mature response one could give. He stuck his tongue out at him but then grinned as he turned back to the lantern and followed the trail wondering what lay in wait for them. Looking around he couldn't see the other students' lanterns so he thought maybe there was a spell or something to be sure that the students wouldn't cheat and just follow after another group. Excitement bubbled up in the boy and is lips stayed in a grin as they walked along the path likening what he was feeling to when he and Jasper went to a haunted house before. It was the same thrill and expectation knowing there was something waiting to scare you but you didn't mind. It seemed that his roommate and fellow Ravenclaw Thomas, was a bit more jumpy then Jurian but not as much as not Frodo. He head was moving so fast back and forth and his eyes squinting trying to see in the dark that Jurian thought the Gryffindor would hurt himself.

There was a high piercing shriek that had both Ravenclaws jump spinning towards the sound with their drawn wands only to see that the not Frodo had reacted to a rabbit. Thomas started laughing while the Gryffindor boy tried to defend himself and just before Jurian could open his mouth to contribute, he let out his own startled yell and cast, "Glacius!" at the thing. Thankfully it wasn't a poor defenseless rabbit but one of the training dummies their professor had talked about. Unfortunately, his aim had been off but Thomas had quickly cast a few seconds behind his roommate and so knocked the thing back. "Guess, the rabbit was reacting to the dummy?" Thomas wondered.

Jurian shrugged, while not Frodo was marching ahead as if to prove that he really wasn't scared and could take on the next challenge. The two Ravenclaws looked at each other before shrugging and jogging to catch up with him as he was in the lead so their lantern was in front of him. "What else do you think Professor Newbury put in here?"

Thomas shrugged. "Said it was things we've already studied, didn't he?"

Chewing on his lip, Jurian felt a bit nervous like when he'd lied to his mother's face the first time. His stomach was in knots because if the professor had added things they'd already studied...He shuddered. There were a few things he'd rather not run into. Unconsciously he found himself walking closer to Thomas. Not Frodo got a dummy but then he hadn't continued to move forward the Ravenclaws wondered if he was waiting for them until they heard something. When they drew even with him they could see what froze him in his tracks. There in the path was what appeared to be a miniature storm. Both boys were puzzled and Jurian moved forward a bit, memorized by the flashes of lightning. It flickered like it was out of focus and then he realized just as Thomas whispered, "Boggart."

Swallowing, Jurian backpedaled not keen on being so close to the creature and trying to reecall what Professor Newbury had told them about Boggarts. There wasn't really a way to make a storm nonthreatening was there? Glancing over to his fellow Ravenclaw he saw that he too had on his 'thinking face' trying to come up with a solution. Thomas sighed. "Someone has to take one for the team."

Stepping forward and past not Frodo to let the boggart focus on him, Thomas flinched horribly when there was the loud whip-cracking sound and in the place of the mini storm was a clown? Knowing it was wrong, but unable to stop himself, Jurian giggled but quickly sobered when the clown focused on him. Blue eyes going wide, he realized he might end up with a fear of clowns after this. That wasn't an ordinary clown! The face was all wrong! Thankfully not Frodo seemed to have gotten over his paralysis and using the charm taught to them forced the clown to be pied and then have a seltzer bottle come out of nowhere that caused all three boys to wince in sympathy. "Right, let's get out of here," Thomas said and began to run followed closely by Jurian and the Gryffindor. They all stumbled to a halt when their lantern vanished.

"Do you think it was supposed to do that?" Jurian wondered he saw Thomas shrug and not Frodo did as well. The Gryffindor bemoaned, "The professor told us not to leave it..."

"Well, we didn't leave it!" Snapped Thomas. "It was the one doing the leaving!"

"There it is!" Not Frodo yelled pointing at where in the distance they could make out the light of a lantern. Both Ravenclaws hesitated and latched onto the Gryffindor's cloak to keep him from rushing off. "What?" He angrily rounded on them trying to pull it from their grasp.

"It might be a trap!" Thomas told him squinting at the light. Jurian chewed on his lip as he battled with himself. His instincts were to follow the lamp, while his brain was telling him to stay put.

"It could be another group," the other argued.

"Right, because we've seen them before now," Thomas retorted.

"Listen," Jurian interrupted. "I thought I heard something."

"Another group!" Not Frodo stated sure that he was right.

"I don't think so," Thomas argued right back. Neither he nor Jurian believed that it would have been that easy. Not when they'd had a boggart. Jurian was just happy they didn't have any of the acromantulas. Spiders were on his list now after having had one crawl on him. Just the memory of the feeling of the tiny legs on him, had him shudder.

"Then what is it?"

Jurian shrugged and cast a lumos so they would have some light while Thomas tried to think and the Gryffindor was smirking in triumph. Eyes sliding past his two companions, Jurian noted that the lantern seemed to be waiting for them. Not Frodo not waiting started to head for the lantern which finally began to move, but it was weird. It didn't move like it should. Sure that they were supposed to stick together and not leave each other to whatever else lay in wait for them, the two Ravenclaw followed. It was as they heard a squelch and a muffled curse from not Frodo that had the other two boys stop. That was when he recalled what it might be in front of them. Glancing at Thomas to see if he had figured it out, he saw that he was already mumbling a spell. Seeing that a colored smoke was leaving the boy's wand, Jurian quickly let the lumos go and cast a tripping jinx at not Frodo causing the Gryffindor to fall on the ground. He angrily jumped to his feet and turned on the two Ravenclaws when the smoke obscured the lantern.

"Why'd you do that for?"

"It was going to try and drown you wasn't it?" Thomas argued back.

"What?" Clearly the Gryffindor hadn't realized that he had been following a hinkypunk even when said creature had started to lure him into a bog that Jurian was sure that Professor Newbury probably transfigured or bought from the joke shop.

"It was a hinkypunk," Jurian told not Frodo.

With the smoke blocking the lantern light, Thomas lit his wand followed by the other two so they had pretty decent lighting. Turning around looking at the area they were in, they tried to find which way they were supposed to go. Jurian admitted to having no sense of direction so hadn't any idea where they were in location to where they had started from. Not Frodo was just as bad while Thomas sighed. The Gryffindor then had the brilliant idea to use a spell invented by one of the Gryffindor alumni. Using the spell that would have not Frodo's wand act like a compass the trio followed it and found the Ravenclaws having to knock back dummies since it seemed their trail looped back around somehow. They had encountered a small acromantula much to Jurian's distress, but with Thomas' help to work in tandem they were able to overcome it and took the last part of the path at a run and were thankful even if out of breath to see that their professor and the other students.