5 Minute Freewrite - Prompt: mason jar

The child stepped forward and placed the mason jar on the counter. The toad inside appeared to be breathing quite rapidly, but otherwise it looked fine.

"You catch this yourself?"

The boy looked chagrined, staring at his feet and drawing a line in the dust with his toe. He obviously didn't want to meet the lead instructor's gaze.

"I don't understand, what's the problem with a boy catching a toad?" The question dangled in the air between the lead instructor and the proctor.

"Well, uh, sir," this time the proctor didn't want to meet his eyes.

"Someone had better start talking. And where is this student's partner?"

"Uh, you see, sir-" the proctor was cut off before he could finish the sentence.

"No, I don't see, and that's a problem. But the bigger problem is that I don't enjoy my time being wasted. Take this student, find his partner, and see that he gets back to the assignment."

"Sir, it is his partner," the proctor blurted out.

"What?" Then, eyes wide, staring at the toad, "Which student is this?"

"Alexander, fourth class-"

"WHAT? You allowed the dean's son to be transformed into a toad? Douse him in salt water already!"

"But, sir, I tried that! The spell didn't break. I would have tried a few textbook reversals but when salt water didn't work, and given who he is-"

"Stop talking," this time he sounded more calm. He eyed the child, the child looked embarrassed, but not afraid. "And what do you have to say for yourself?"

"He started it." It came out as almost a mumble.

"Speak up!"

"He started it! He wanted to substitute fern for moss because we couldn't find it, and I told him that as a temporal binding agent it would extend the spell if it did work-"

"How did he get turned into a toad?!"

"He said if I didn't do the spell anyway that he'd turn me into a frog. I told him that because of the way he dug up the fern instead of cutting it that any amphibious cast would end up being more prone to land, so it would only work for a lizard or toad, but then he said-"

"How did he get turned into a toad?!" This time the question was punctuated with long pauses between each word.

The boy shrugged, "He tried it anyway."

"That boy can barely light a candle, how could he have possibly pulled this off?"

"It was going to fail, and I was pretty sure it would hurt, so I stabilized it. I already reflected it so I had to fix it before it landed, or it might have killed him."

The instructor closed his eyes and held the bridge of his nose as he listened to the explanation. Then after a moment of silence and then a sigh, he knew the student was right. Maybe the situation could still be corrected.

"Turn him back or you and your new lab partner for the semester both fail the assignment."