(Herbology) Class II

[understanding]

Already, Oscar can feel himself blushing. He's thinking the incantation when Elijah brings the wand to his lips and that's how, for a moment, Oscar imagines himself to be before the charms whirrs in to life. There's a gush of cold, crisp air and he means to speak, but he breathes instead and then, as they say, the bubble is burst. The older boy walks off in to the lake, clear water eddying about his ankles with Oscar watching.

He stands there stunned, starring dumbly out across the vast lake and barely managing a distracted wave at the late coming Jhudora before shucking off his robe, shirt and shoes. He thinks briefly of Erich but pushes the thought aside. Now more determined than before, he takes hold of his wand and a single, slow gulp of air. Once he's sure Elijah won't see, Oscar, taking Zerrubabelfs example, casts a quick succession of charms for sealing, insulation and tightening over his remaining clothes. He kneels, letting a few fingers test the water, running it over the surface of his legs and watches, pleased with himself, to see it run off the slick material. Oscar rises in a daze, even this small trick of magic seems to bring him worlds away from where hefd been days ago. The wand seems to tremor in his hand, something in him urging him toward more complicated spells, things he couldn't begin to pronounce. By now most of the other students have dived and Oscar inches in slowly, welcoming the sharp cold after all this worry. He shakes.

When Elijah comes floating past, Oscar shakes his head amusedly, smiling. "And leave you to fend for yourself? I may not have known bubblehead, but I do know--" he levels his wand at the edge of the floating gryffindorfs mouth and then, embarrassed, aims instead at the boys chest. "I do know this. Feforaet." The word opens warmth like a wing and spreads across the skin like the beginnings of a fever, travels in on a soft blue light. Oscar casts again, spelling himself much less gently and reels, febrile eyes wide. He kneels in to the water, crawling forward on his knees and lets it rise around him like curtains of sleep. "And I do feel lucky," he answers matter-of-factly, glad to be near him, under the sun and hot enough to swim deeper than he should. Oscar lets his head go under. "What magic?" he seems to murmur. Mermaid echoes again.

[Elijah Ellerby]

Elijah closed his eyes as Oscar pointed his wand at him, his eyebrows raising restfully as the tranquil blue light slowly passed over, absorbing into his skin and infusing him with a happy warmth. It reminded him of waking up in a perfectly cosy bed, and he sunk under the surfaces, enjoying the sensation.

‘Thank you, Oscar.’ He said, although he would’ve passed out of sight from Oscar now. Opening his eyes, Elijah looked around to see the shore’s decline was so steep that if Jhudora, Oscar and Emily took a few more steps, they would be startled by the ground dropping from under their feet. It was exhilarating how quickly the light filtering through the surface was swallowed up by the shadows below, and frowning into the gloom Elijah could make out a vast, lonely forest of monstrous weeds swaying hypnotically beneath him. It was as though the water was the sky and he was floating over dark and ghostly trees.

With his robes and hair fluttering about him in slow motion, Elijah did a lazy somersault, coming to drift limply, watching the underside of the world. He had a strong urge to grab everyone’s ankles as they kicked about and waded, to get some of the ropes of weed and lasso them around Oscar’s arms to scar him. The Ravenclaw was sumerged now, saying something, but it came out as blobs of air. Could he see Elijah in the gloom?

He listened to the slow rumble of water pressed against his ears, everyone’s laughter was far off and dull, and realised it would’ve been nice to be a mereperson.

Smiling, Elijah pulled out his wand. ‘Descendio.’

[Alexis Heart]

Alexis watched as some of the other students walked into the lake. She felt all uncomfortable now. She was so self-conscious and had half a mind to go in there fully dressed but she knew that would be silly. The thought of her classmates seeing her in a swimsuit was almost unbearable but failing a class was even worse. So with trembling fingers she pulled off her jeans, t-shirt, socks, and shoes. Placing the slimy Gillyweed into her mouth she began to run flat out into the lake. It was so cold she dunked her whole body in hoping to get over the initial shock but when she broke the surface once more she began to shiver uncontrollably. She really hated the cold but class was class. The plant started to take it's effect the water became much more enjoyable to her. Getting used to it she began to swim around actually having fun, this class might not be so bad after all.