Marsha had tried a further four balloons and had managed to get one to hit a medium heighted target and one of them had even managed to hit the highest target… but the other two had been a shamble. They hadn’t hit a single thing instead coming straight back to the ground to spread paint even further around the floor. She was beginning to feel very conscious of the fact that she was failing more often than she was succeeding… was that normal?

She looked around trying to figure out the answer to that when she got splatted with yet more paint from someone else’s failed attempt. Perhaps she should just write this whole thing off as a game where the objective is to make as much mess as possible WHILE hitting the targets. The targets were important - but they had minds of their own; obviously, they were magical after all. Which Marsha had already decided about fifteen minutes ago made it MUCH more fun but as a result MUCH MUCH more annoying.

She didn’t like failing at all, and this made her feel like she couldn’t get it right.

One more time and then she was going to think about going for a snack… she had heard Puck mentioning some new sweetie stashes in the common room last night and she heard them calling to her. Sugar and a shower. Yup, then more studying . All of the S’es, but one more try before she moved on.

Taking the last red balloon that she had already taken from the box, she placed it on the floor. Okay, come on Marsha. Head in the game and concentrate! You can do this. Rolling her shoulders a little, she pointed her wand at the balloon and waited. Three… two… one… “ALARTE ASCENDARE!!” She said firmly.

And then she waited on baited breath as she watched. Up. Up. Up. Up. The target seemed to be going in slow motion as she waited to see if her timing was good enough. Up. Up. Past the middle range. Up Up.

…..

YEEEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!!!

A WIDE beaming smile moved over Marsha’s face as she stared WAY up at where her balloon had just hit one of the top targets. HOW AMAZING WAS THAT? Okay, so she didn’t have a good track record - but she was getting there… but now she was hungry and tired and covered in paint… and her hair was no longer a pretty colour; especially with the orange, red, purple, yellow and blue paint that had splattered all over her. However - regardless, she felt like she was getting somewhere and she had had fun.