Okay, these people were really going to make Becca snap. "Look at them," she muttered to herself angrily as she continued to fly and keep up with the ones in the lead, "Stupid big-heads think they can do anything. I'll show them. Just when they least expect it and they think they've won-"

Her sentence was cut off when this huge beasty Jack-in-the-box appeared before them, and Becca pulled to a halt. She raised her eyebrows for a moment, then glanced at the other students. There was hesitation on their part, as well - so, she decided to watch the bouncing rhythm of the big springy head for no more than a few seconds before zooming through the open gap as it moved to the opposite side. She leaned forward and took off like a bullet, making sure to not let any Gryffindors get in her way.

Cale, not paying attention to the course but to getting even with Anna, didn't notice the giant Jack-in-the-box until it was too late. He let out a little yelp before jamming to a halt, propelling himself off his broom and landing with a thud on the ground. Groaning, he rubbed his head as he sat up and sighed in defeat. His broom floated back down to the ground to meet up with him and he remounted, going extra fast to catch up with everyone and to try and figure out a way to deal with this new hazard.

Daphne flew through the air, happy to feel the cool wind against her face. She saw a few students in front of her, having a small race of their own. She pushed her broom forward in an attempt to catch up. She saw something big suddenly obstruct their path. It was a Jack-in-the-Box, something that sent chills up her spine. She always had a slight fear of clowns, and this wasn't the time to bring that up. It moved up and down, left and right, making it difficult to just pass through. She pressed forward and deftly banked right and moved through the obstacle. Returning to her racing position, she set her sights on winning.

No sooner had Anna smirked and stuck her tongue out at Cale, she'd turned around to come face to face with...a jack-in-the-box?!?! "Ahhh!" she called out, swerving on her broom just enough to lose her balance. She wobbled slightly at first, and then she felt herself sliding to the right. Knowing what was coming, Anna adjusted her height and lowered her broom enough so that her fall wouldn't seriously hurt her.

"Ow!" she called out, landing on something other than the ground when she fell. She rubbed her head and looked over to see that she'd fallen on none other than Cale Newell. That should teach them both to not be so competitive with each other. "Sorry, Cale," Anna said, giving him an apologetic look right before dashing off into the sky once again.

Allie's eyes widened as she saw the giant, scary-lookingJack-in-hte-box come out of nowhere. She stopped her broom so suddenly, she she almost through herself off of it.Once she caught her balance again, she flew around, and tried to find away around the obstacle.

Astrid was amazed that she was catching up to Allie and the others. In fact, she was almost giddy about it. THEN she saw why. Out of nowhere was an enormous Jack-in-the-box. Astrid pulled up so that she wouldn't crash into the back of Allie and just about slipped off of the back of her broom. She steadied herself the best she could and watched Mr. Box's movements, trying to figure out a way to get past him.

Chriss spun around and dodge the giant jack in the box. He was pulling back up with the lead.

Vindictus was enjoying watching the chaos on the Pitch and flicked his wand to add more craziness.

The Jack-in-the-Box remains blocking the path of a few who have yet to get around it - the clown laughs mockingly. But then a sound sends shivers down your spine. A loud, piercing screeching sound (almost like nails on a chalkboard) is heard coming from behind you. You take a glance and realize its a banshee!

He had hung to the back when the race began, waiting to see what tricks would be up the Professor's sleeves this time. Nicholai flew hard to the right of the jack- in - the- box to get around the thing. The racing was something he preferred since as far as flying went his passion was not to do with Quidditch but actually racing. One of his dreams was to participate in the long distance broom races in Europe once he had finished school. He got around the Jack-in-the-box but lost time by having to swerve far off course to do so. But now that he was past it he bent low over his broom to catch up with the others that had made it around.

Hardly enough time to realize that Rapunzel had been laughing at him over being covered in her snot and boogers, the whistle was blown and Dominic could hear Vindictus calling for them to land. At least the screeching and annoying daisies were gone, which definitely helped the fourth year's focus, as he easily sped down to the ground and landed.

No sooner had Dominic landed when he heard Vindictus speak again, telling them to . . . race!? Ha! Was that a joke!? Dominic Denton was seeker and quite competitive and fast on broomstick, not necessarily in mind though. Unless it dealt with analytical stuff, but that was another story.

Mounting his broom, the fourth year kicked off into the skies again, keeping his body as small and close to the broom as possible to increase his aerodynamics. Zooming quite fast, he paid little attention to Anna off on his left or the other students nearby. Well, almost . . .

A thundering jolt through Dominic's small fourteen year old frame was felt as he collided with something quite large. He had grown overly cocky of his speed and completely lost in the moment of flying, hardly noticing the gigantic Jack-in-the-Box that appeared from nowhere.

Tumbling backwards on his broom, whilst clinging to it for dear life out of fear of falling, it wasn't long before he hit something. That something being another flyer (Allie) . . . Which caused him to finally lose control completely and fall the distance to the ground, landing with a thump. Not long after, his broomstick followed him to the ground and landed with a loud clonk on his head. Ow.

A banshee now? Thats just great, now I really need to find a way around this thing.
Allie zoomed around trying to find some way to get around it. Then an idea came to her, if she was having trouble going around it, why not under it?
She flew down under the jack-in-the-box, and flew as fast as she could, with her eyes closed. When she opened them she was safely on the other side. Quickly she started flying as fast as she could around the pitch again.

Becca, who was barely holding her lead, continued on, ignoring the fact that there were people nearly right with her. Another cackle errupted from the Jack-in-the-box, which actually made her burst into laughter. How ... immature.

But then, a loud, ear-piercing screeching noise came from somewhere behind them. Becca only glanced back for a split second before going into panic mode, and therefore speeding up. "Awww SHOOOOT!" She leaned forward as far as she could, now going what seemed to be double her pace from before, if possible. "That thing better stay away or it'll be SHOWDOWN TIME!" And the odd thing was, she was serious. She would try to take down the banshee.

Suddenly Astrid heard a horrifying sound. She turned around and spotted a Banshee coming straight for her. She was completely petrified and paused for a moment to look back at Jack-in-the-box trying to decide which was the lesser of the two evils. Just then, Astrid saw Nico fly past her and she called out his name in desperation. "Nico, HELP!"

Nicholai heard Astrid yell for him and turned to look over his shoulder, somewhat surprised she called for him and not her prefects. He sighed and turned around, watching in annoyance as others flew past him before he dodged under the jack-in-the-box and saw the banshee. He moved up to Astrid and talked to her in a quiet voice, "Hey, relax it can't be real; banshee screams kill and you are alive and this is an exam, and I'm sure you want to keep your points lead over me, my lovely." he grinned at her and nudged her broom forward with one hand, gesturing with his head to the underside of the jack-in-the-box where it was easiest to get through.

"Come on, Astrid, you can do it." Nicholai tugged at her broom before flying forward slowly, looking over his shoulder as he ducked around the Jack-in-the-box again, to be sure she was following.

Daphne was thrilled with her self for getting away from that clown-faced monster. She needed to slow down, lest her anxiety and speed lead her to a fatal crash. Trying to collect herself quickly, a vile sound assaulted her ears. She was almost afraid to turn around, perhaps she could just ignore it and continue. If her mind continued to be distracted, there was no way she could win this.

She made the decision to just fly as fast as she could, bearing in mind that her nerves and anxiety could affect her precision. As she rounded one end of the pitch, she caught a sight of something terrible shrieking behind her. "No! NO!" she screamed, horrified to see a banshee chasing the racers. She darted around the corner. She hit it with too much speed and she found herself shooting out towards the stands instead of around the bend. Panicking, she pulled up, but overcompensated, shooting up high into the sky. "Oh no!" she cried, trying to lower herself so she could see the pitch again. She hoped Vindictus would realise this wasn't cheating. She eventually found herself hovering over the middle of the pitch, forcing her to quickly get back to the edges and continue on the course. She looked around for the banshee, but she couldn't locate it, despite hearing the wails. With that thing on the loose, Daphne continued to fly somewhat recklessly, taking risks to avoid that beast.

Painfully standing up, Dominic mounted his broom again as quick as possible and kicked off into the skies again. He was not weak and would complete the tasks set for him as much to his ability as possible; after all, he was a badger and a rabid one at that.

Until his flying was halted once more but not by any collisions this time. Rather it was the loud, blood-curling scream that caused him to direct his attention behind him towards . . . holy canaries! What was that gorgeous woman with long black hair doing hear!! Until suddenly it occurred to him that she wasn't an ordinary woman... For one, her face was green-tinged and for two, she appeared sort of mythical and almost fake.

Blinking at the strangeness of this new appearance, Dominic wondered what he should do. Though for some reason, his senses were tingling all over from just the mere sight of her, not even counting her screams...

Astrid was filled with relief when she saw that Nico had stopped and was returning to help her. As he spoke to her, she nodded her head, already feeling herself calm down considerably with him beside her. Like always, she thought to herself and then she followed his lead under the jack-in-the-box and through to the other side. "Thanks so much Nico." she said, before shooting off past him.

Just as Anna had gotten herself good and going again, she heard the oddest sound coming from behind her. She wrinkled up her eyebrows, maneuvered her broom around so she could see who or what was causing the sound, and came face to face with a banshee! "A banshee?!?!? You have got to be kidding me" Anna thought to herseld, her eyes wide with disbelief. It was currently a no-win situation. She could either fly straight ahead and come face to face with a long, skeletal woman whose scream could end her very life; or she could turn around and attempt to get past the Jack-in-the-Box.

Not seeing any way past the Jack-in-the-Box, Anna flew straight forward, in the same flow the race was going on, and headed towards the banshee. At least the banshee was smaller and easier to move around. Anna continued to fly faster and faster, hoping that if she could move fast enough, she'd be past the banshee in no time at all. Or, at least, that was what she hoped.

Nicholai laughed, great; he had had a Gryffindor moment and was now paying for it. He leaned low over his broom and urged himself forward, slowly making up ground. He still wanted to be careful not to go too fast though; in case another obstacle popped up.

The Banshee and the Jack-in-the-Box disappear.

Becca continued to fly as fast as she could forward, trying to block out the noise of the banshee which was, no doubt, impossible. But then without warning, the screeching came to an end. The high-pitched tone continued to ring in her ears, slightly disorienting her for a few moments. Yeah, it was a bit distracting - but, Becca realized after glancing behind her briefly, that the obstacles seemed to have tripped up many of the other students and put some of the early leaders behind.

Oh yeah... she definitely felt that she had this thing in the bag. She had great momentum going now that the banshee scared her to the point of boosting her adrenaline and causing her to pick up her speed. "Piece of cake," she muttered proudly to herself once again, keeping an eye out for any new obstacles that could occur and completely throw off her game. This was so intense.

A faint sigh of relief emitted from Dominic as the loud screeching disappeared, as did the woman with the longish hair and green-tinged face. Turning his broomstick back around, the fourth year decided he would attempt once more to fly around the jack-in-the-box. Except the next thing he noticed was that the gigantic box thingy with the clown had vanished as well!

Sweet! Clear flying!

Taking advantage of his clear path, Dominic zoomed forward as fast as possible down the pitch and around the bend. He had to make up for lost time . . . stupid banshee and box.

Realizing quickly that there was no way she could get past the banshee or the Jack-in-the-Box, Anna came to a sudden hault mid-air. What in the world was she to do now? She watched her fellow students fly around and around, most of them seeming to be just as confused as she was.

Just when she was starting to grow really concerned about what she could possibly do, the banshee and the Jack-in-the-Box disappeared, and the pitch seemed to be clear again. Anna dashed back in the line of racers and continued to zoom around the pitch. Anna had lost a great deal of time trying to battle that Jack-in-the-Box and banshee, so she'd need to fly faster and faster to make up for it. Increasing her speed, Anna flew past a few Ravenclaws who'd slowed down to maneuver around someone else.

Now that the pitch was once again free of distractions, Astrid had a newfound sense of determination. Feeling slightly elated (like always when Nicholai Toussaint was nearby) Astrid started to gain some speed. She whizzed past Allie and smiled, enjoying the breeze whipping through her hair.

Slow and steady was working for him, Nicholai was in the front half now and still not going fast enough to be caught off guard if something appeared in front of him. He only noticed the jack-in-the-box and banshee disappearing because suddenly other students were calmer and catching up. But he wasn't going to let that make him rush. Instead he stayed behind a few others and let them be a wind break for him to make his flying easier.