Closed Worm Charming

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan had spent most of the holiday break reading up on various invertebrates, in particular, worms. He'd mostly started looking into them for their potential as bait for whatever was lurking in the school lake, but the more he read, the most interested he became. After discovering the art of worm charming, there was no doubt Ryan had to try it. He'd hoped maybe there would be more magically charged worms about at Hogwarts than there had been in his backyard at home, plus with the winter, he hadn't had much success anyway yet, if any. Now that the Spring sun was out and the ground was soft and muddy he was definitely thinking it was bound to work better.

Dragging Augustus down to be his assistant, he'd found a likely looking patch out on the lawn and brought one of his books down with him along with his notebook for notes. After taking a good scan of the environment before handing Augustus the notebook, Ryan commenced his worm charming technique, which so far mostly consisted of humming close to the mud before slapping it with the book rhythmically.

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy had decided the weather was agreeable enough and that she wanted to study outside. She also knew that she would probably get distracted and start doodling in her notebook but for now she was going to pretend she was going to try and study. But as she made it to the great lawn that plan fell apart even quicker than she expected as she saw Nicole’s little brother, Ryan, and his friend Augustus doing something strange. It wasn’t unexpected for them but she was curious what it was this time. She approached quietly, not wanting to disturb whatever was happening. “What are we doing here?” she asked softly as she crouched down next to them. It looked like they were doing something to the dirt. “I don’t think that’s very good for the book.” she pointed out.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus usually followed Ryan whenever he asked him to. Ryan always had interesting ideas, and Augustus enjoyed being part of them. But the worm charming was something he was a bit uncertain about, and as he held the notebook and watched Ryan hum and slap the mud, he was starting to doubt this whole thing even more. Still, he held his quill poised for any notes he could take that might be interesting or relevant, as soon as something happened. He jumped a bit as a girl crouched with them, and he looked at her with wide eyes. He remembered her as one of the friends of Ryan's sister, but had forgotten her name. "Worm charming." He mumbled, glancing at Ryan in the hopes that he would give her a better explanation. Augustus felt nervous around older students, particularly girls. He bit his lip and looked back down at the empty notebook.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Ryan was just starting to feel like he was getting a good rhythm in place when someone interrupted them. He frowned, looking up as Augustus answered the girl's question, recognizing her as one of Nicole's friends from his house. He glanced down at the book he'd been using, turning it over to inspect some of the mud as it slid off the book's cover and shrugging. "It's for a good cause," He said simply, not really considering that he might have just made his Charms book unreadable for the near future. "The worms respond to the vibrations, and if we do it right, they should come out of the ground," He explained, taking the pause in his humming and book slapping to inspect the spot of ground for worms. "Nothing yet, do you think we should try more humming? Or maybe stamping like birds do," Ryan asked Augustus, prodding the ground experimentally.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander had been on his way to the gardens, carrying with him a small house he'd painted and glued shoddily together out of paddle-pop sticks, in the hopes of attracting more fairies from the forest, when the sight of Nicole's little brother just casually hitting the ground with a book forced him to pause and do a double-take. That wasn't really a normal thing to do, even by wizarding standards, and he had to know what was going on. He wandered curiously over, coming to a standstill to peer over the boys shoulder and see what it was he was squashing, though it only appeared to be a book-shaped spot of flattened dirt. Right. "What's he doing?" He mouthed slowly to Poppy, wondering if she was also in on this random bout of dirt bashing, or was as confused as he was.​

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy tilted her head to the side as Augustus spoke up first. “Worm charming?” she repeated as Ryan inspected the mud on his book. “So like snake charming? When you get the creature to follow your commands?” she asked, trying to understand their mission a little more clearly. “Do they?” she asked, curiously. She didn’t know much about worms if she was honest. Her father used them sometimes for his plants but she never really helped with that too much. “Wouldn’t acting like birds cause them to hide? Being their predators and all?” Poppy asked, trying to think of what would cause a worm to come to the surface. “But I know water can cause them to come to the surface sometimes. Like after it rains.” she pointed out, not sure how helpful this suggestion really was. Poppy was quickly becoming invested in this science experiment, but glanced up as Lysander joined their odd little circle and mouthed her a question. “Worm charming...apparently.” she explained, in a hushed whisper. “What’s that?” she asked and nodded toward the tiny house made out of sticks.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus scribbled down what happened when Ryan hit the ground with his book, which was... nothing. But that might be an important thing to remember, so he noted it down. "Maybe stamping? Though you're a lot heavier than a bird." He said hesitantly. "Maybe use your hands?" He asked quietly, though he wasn't entirely sure what would work. He felt shy with the two older students there, and glanced at them nervously. He shook his head when the girl questioned if acting like birds wouldn't make the worms hide. "Birds are smart." He mumbled. "They stomp on the ground to make the worms think its raining... so they come up." He said softly, then ducked his head as he realized he'd spoken to the older girl. He should let Ryan handle that part.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

Still poking at the dirt, Ryan tried not to get too frustrated when Nicole's friend interrupted again while he was trying to focus. "Not really like that," Ryan muttered, admittedly not knowing enough about snake charming methods to really comment. "We're charming in that we're tricking them to surface," He explained, happy when Augustus explained the fact about the birds mimicking the vibrations from the rain. "Hands might be good," He agreed, giving the ground an experimental slap. "You can try too if you want," He offered to both Augustus and Poppy, double-taking when he realized there was also another boy who must have joined them at some point. But they were more likely to be successful with more hands, so Ryan just shrugged, moving to rhythmically slapping the mud in front of him, alternating each hand like he'd seen birds do with their feet. The ground was still damp enough that he could feel mud coming away on his palms, but the wet slapping sound was still rather satisfying.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander opened his mouth in a small 'o' of understanding as Poppy explained the situation, before shaking his head and realising he still totally didn't understand at all. "I haven't heard of worm charming. Is it wandless magic?" He responded just as quietly, though the more he listened the more he understood that it didn't seem like a magical endeavour at all. He looked down at the paddle-pop house under his arm and shifted it around to show Poppy. "This is a fairy house! I made it to try keep some of the fairies hanging around the gardens. It's even got beds." He said, pointing out the piles of leaves and petals he'd shoved inside. He lowered the house to the ground and got to his knees, more interested in what the boys were doing for the time being. He didn't think he'd miss the fairies if he stuck around for longer. "What do you guys need worms for?" He asked, joining them in slapping at the ground to try and entice the worms to the surface, for whatever reason. He did wonder if they could just try accioing the worms up instead, or something easier.​

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy considered what Ryan said as he explained what he was doing. “Wouldn’t digging be more efficient? The soil is already quite damp and worms are probably all over and not too hard to find.” she asked. She knew her questions were probably getting annoying but she really was just curious. “But I assume the ‘tricking them’ part is the point, not the actual worms.” she continued, speaking more to herself than anyone else. She nearly jumped as Augustus spoke again. He was such a quiet boy she found it hard to keep track of him. “I agree. Hands might be better.” she said with a nod. Hands would be lighter on the ground then feet and would probably mimic birds better as well. “Oh guess I hadn’t thought of it like that.” she said with a smile, as Augustus explained the experiment some more. Poppy pushed up her sleeves and was about to try her own hand at this whole worm charming thing when she took a better look at Lysander’s fairy house. “Oh wow! That looks incredible. If I were a fairy I would want to live there.” she said cheerfully and paused again when he asked about what the worms would be used for. “That is a good question. Are you going to use them for something? You could always put them in the garden? Worms are great for plants.” she pointed out.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus nodded along with Ryan's explanation, but shook his head at Ryan's offer for him and Poppy to try as well. "I'm taking notes." He reminded him quietly. He couldn't take good notes if he was also hitting the ground. He watched as Ryan hit at the dirt with his palms, but didn't see any worms yet. But Augustus was also distracted by the conversation about the fairy house. He watched curiously as the older Gryffindor explained it, and looked at it for a moment. He wondered if fairies really used it. At the next question, Augustus frowned a bit. He wasn't... exactly sure. Augustus bit his lip and looked at Ryan for an answer, quill still dripping ink onto the page where he was supposed to be taking notes.

 

[Ryan Fisk]

"It's more efficient to charm them actually, if we can do it right," Ryan said matter-of-factly, though his patience was wearing thinner when no worms seemed to be coming to the surface yet. "If you go digging, you'll probably only get however many were hanging out in that spot, and you risk cutting them up with your tools. If we can charm them out, we get as many worms that might be in the surrounding area without ripping up the ground," He said, pausing his slapping on the ground to catch his breath. "I don't think slapping is working," Ryan said, ignoring whatever pointless conversation the older kids were having about a fairy house and looking to Augustus to note that down before moving to take off his shoes and socks. Feet bare, Ryan straighten from the crouch he'd been, wiggling his toes in the mud a little before stamping up and down, trying to find a decent rhythm like he'd seen seagulls do at the beach sometimes.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander paused his hand slapping as Poppy complimented his fairy house. He sat back on his haunches and grinned. "Thanks! I spent ages on it. I hope they like it too, I think they're good for gardens, like butterflies, or the worms." He said, glancing back at the dirt, where there were definitely no worms to be seen. He had his doubts that whatever kind of charms the boys thought they were doing was going to work, but he was excited to see if it did. "Sooo." He continued loudly, watching Ryan switch to stamping his feet instead. "How long is this supposed to take? Are you sure you shouldn't be using a wand instead?" He asked. He wasn't a smart Ravenclaw, and all the others were, as far as he knew, but it seemed to him like the most obvious way to get them out of the ground.​

 

[Poppy Perkins]

Poppy sighed and decided that she was better off just observing whatever the younger boys were deciding to do. Their charming, however inefficient it seemed, was the goal and it didn’t look like they were willing to change that any time soon. She made a face as Ryan took off his shoes and socks and wondered if he would just walk all the way up the towers with no shoes or if he would attempt to put them back on. Both options seemed back but the thought of putting socks on to damp muddy feet made her shiver uncomfortably. Poppy couldn’t help but stifle a smile as Lysander interrupted the silence quite loudly. “I imagine it could take a while. It’s not like worms are particularly fast creatures.” she offered, as an explanation for why it might be taking so long.

 

[Augustus Westwick]

Augustus was litening to the conversation about fairies with interest. It was a subject he didn't know much about, but was curious about. He frowned a little as the Gryffindor boy asked how long it was supposed to take. He wasn't... sure. "I think he wants to try it this way." He said quietly, though he half hoped the boy didn't hear him. He got the eeling it wasn't so much about the end result of having many worms, as the process of getting them to come up through the earth. He nodded in agreement with the Ravenclaw girl, then turned his attention back to Ryan. He still had his quill ready for note taking, though so far nothing had happened that needed notes.