From where he was standing, the headmaster could see the few students who were smart enough to conjure their own water. At least their education hadn't been wasted on them thus far, he thought. It was actually a relief to see that some of them had some common sense.
Even the ones that had figured out that they could go back and forth between walking and running had instilled in him an inkling of hope for the future.
See? Doing these laps weren't all that bad, were they? And some important learning moments and character building was already taking place! He hoped those that were skeptical or were grumbling earlier about the now daily morning exercises were beginning to see reason.
But that pleasant moment was soon distracted by the sight of the Arithmancy professor conjuring a stretcher and putting one of the children on it. His icy blue eyes, narrowing ever so slightly, followed the man. What was the meaning of this? A boy who was clearly older than most students required a healer? Weak. And the professor, who had shown promise earlier, bought the bait. What a shame. The old man was certainly going to be paying a visit to his new colleague's office for a discussion about not letting students take advantage of him.
Honestly, though, how hard was it to run, or even simply walk, laps around a Quidditch pitch? These 'injuries' — the falling, the nosebleeds, the cries of pain — were about as ridiculous as a boggart, in his opinion.
Endurance. That is what these students needed. Without it, they wouldn't be able to survive the real world.
And they needed to listen to directions when he gave them the first time. His eyes fell upon the Hufflepuff prefect, the one who had commented on his eyes earlier. He blinked at her. "I believe the instructions I gave earlier were quite clear. Make your laps. Clean up. Go to the Great Hall for breakfast."
Scrimgeour then took note of the sun's place in the sky, which was steadily beginning to rise higher and higher. Time was passing, which meant some needed to quicken their pace. His was about to take out his wand so he could amplify his voice and bark at the students who were still running, but the sight of the poltergeist stopped him. He wasn't pleased that food had been taken out of the Great Hall, but the poltergeist was being of some use. The man continued to just stand in his place and watch in silence.
__________________
 |