"Jule!" Cela pointed and then realised that wasn't going to work. "Take a step about 45 degrees to your left. Make it a big step and keep your knees bent so that your centre of balance stays low and you can keep on your feet better." Celandine told her housemate.

Jule slowly stepped to her left. She took a big step and bent her knees. She wobbled a bit but kept steady. 'Phew' she thought. Hopefully no one would give her the wrong instructions.

"Oh that was perfect, Jule!" Celandine encouraged and took a step out onto the nearest lily pad, wiggling her toes experimentally. She looked down at the lilypads, memorising the best route for herself as she called out to Jule. "Okay, Half turn to your right and there is another lily pad right in front of you, make it a smaller step this time or you will over shoot the centre. Keep your knees bent though, and your feet flat, it will make it easier to balance by spreading your weight."

Jule turned half way to her right. She used her foot to at least have a sense of how far the Lilly was. She took a smaller step like they said. She bent her knees again and kept more balance this time.

"You are doing great!" Cela stepped on to her next lilypad, then another in quick succession. "Okay, take a really BIG step in the direction you are already facing and remember to keep low. Keep your arms out too to help balance. It's about..." Celandine tipped her head and estimated, " A little over a foot to the centre of the next lily pad. You can do it Jule!"

Jule took a big breath and took a big step. She stuck her arms and bent her knees. "Thanks." she said to whoever was guiding her. Jule didn't know who it was but hopefully they won't make her fall into the water.

Shumeeta had taken off her shoes and joined the line of students ready to try the lily pads. She began using them as steppin' stones as quickly as possible, findin' the whole thing amusing an' fun.


She had to say - she was findin' the Jack and Fyo guys humorous. Ov course they weren't intendin' to be humorous but they were still being that. She raised an eyebrow at their antics, shakin' her head as she watched everyone's progress. Seein' that no one was directin' Fyo any longer she decided to help him out.


"Fyohh?" she called not all sure that that wuz his name. "Shumeeta here. I'm going to direct you a little. There's a lily pad to your left at an angle of about thirty degrees." She hoped he got the angle she meant. "The pad isn't that big and you'll haveto take a big step...... Could you hold out your arms or bend a little? I haff heard that helps retain balance."

Melanie frowned at Bunz's response to her answer.....not expected at all. In fact she'd thought he answer was pretty good...

Siiiiiiiigh. Oh well though. She'd try again next time...

Melanie watched as the students began to volunteer to get across the water on lilypads. She was pretty sure she wasn't up to that, she had a fear of water after all, but surely she could help her fellow Huffie out somehow from the sidelines?

The Hufflepuff fourth year was already making his progress across the pond, only having a few more lilypads to go before he reached his destination on the other side of the pond while the Gryffindor had fallen into the water and the Ravenclaw and Slytherin were still making their progress. She didn't miss it as Professer Bunbury blind folded a few of the Gryffindors...which was probably the reason why the one boy had fallen into the pond...Poor guy. At least Bunbury had warned them though, earlier when she said she might be blind folding people.

That was another thing about cheering from the sidelines, she tried to convince herself...there wouldn't be any point in blindfolding her would there? If she wasn't going anywhere being blind wouldn't really disadvantage her...

Set on her plan, Melanie raced to the other side of the lake where the competitors were supposed to land in the end, the finish line. "C'mon, over here! Your doing great Huffies!" she encouraged, grinning over at the Hufflepuff group of students, the fourth year boy who'd volunteered first in the center of there midst. Melanie wasn't so satisfied with just cheering though...Very, very carefully the girl slipped off her shoes, kicking a few lily pads lingering by the side of the pond out to the boy, so he could use them to reach the side of the pond she was on, very very gently so they didn't hit the side of his lily pad to hard....some didn't even reach the side of his lily pad at all. She was careful to keep a few over by the side though so when he needed to come over to the edge and get on land he'd still have some lily pads to hop onto then.

Fyohh? That wasn't exactly his name, but Fyo was pretty certain the new-entry-on-the-scene was addressing him. Because Juliet or Kevin - or whatever the other names were - didn't even remotely sound like Fyohhh.

And my, was he was glad someone was guiding him.

"Thirty degrees?" He repeated, blinking a few times behind the blindfold. How much was thirty degrees again, anyway? Think, he told himself. Ninety degrees was normal or perpendicular, or whatever you called it. Forty five would be... diagonal, right? Which meannttt.. Yup, thirty degrees would be a little behind that.

Still, just to make sure he didn't end up making another huge splash, Fyo stuck out his right leg, and felt his immediate surroundings with a foot. Yes, there were hints of a lily pad there. Satisfied, he sorta hopped-jumped in the direction and, thankfully, landed on the lily pad he had been aiming for, and not somewhere inside the water. Landed without splashing lots of water, too.

He must be nearly done, now....

Teehe. Lily Pads. This was fun. And feeling rather immature for her age, Vanessa wanted to have a go too, although she wasn't too fond about leaving her very pretty metallic shoes alone. Nobody better steal them! She would be very disappointed, she loved her shoes. Slipping them off, she eyed her shoes, as if telling them not to disappear or something.
After this, she joined the line of Hufflepuff's and began to guide the puff that was on the lily pads along.

"Yup...You're nearly done." The prefect nodded, smiling. And then the next one of them could go. Yey.

Plymouth had big interests in getting his classmate across the pond - but his lily pad interests were so much greater. And besides, why would his classmate want to rush across??? Stay and savor the lillies!!!

So, Plymouth eased onto his - a BIG ONE - and immediately got down on his knees to further inspect it. He put his nose to it to smell it. Mmmm. Then he laid his cheek against the cool surface. With his bum in the air and everyone bouncing around on the pond, Plymouth could reeeeally see the waves moving. COOL. Plymouth nuzzled his lily for probably far longer than necessary... but that was only the sunny-side up side!!!!

Plymouth next laid his WHOLE BODY down on the lily next - his knees were kind of off in the water, and ... well.... he ducked his head under so he could see the prickly underside. "CoOOOoOOOooOOoOoOOL!!!" Plymouth squeeed from under water, sending up a long train of bubbles. Seeing the underside from under the water just gave new perspective.... Plymouth came up for air a few more times and went dunked his head to get a better look and feel of the prickles.

When he looked back up for the final time - the class was already partially across the pond, and those Gryffindors were waaaaaaay ahead. Clearly, they didn't love plants though. Clearly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Celandine

"You are doing great!" Cela stepped on to her next lilypad, then another in quick succession. "Okay, take a really BIG step in the direction you are already facing and remember to keep low. Keep your arms out too to help balance. It's about..." Celandine tipped her head and estimated, " A little over a foot to the centre of the next lily pad. You can do it Jule!"

Plymouth caught up to his CellBell, noting her cute little toenails. Cuuuuuute.... He was distracted by those for a while. Pink. His girl loved pink. Hmm.... hehe.... Finally though - he snapped out of his .. moment .. and got to WORK. Had Cela gotten Juliette this far..? "CellBell - you..," Plymouth paused to shake his dripping wet head and shoulders," You HAVE to see the undersides! Stick your head under - you have to. They're AWESOME." Plymouth gave her a big-eyed look. They were awesome.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HPHalfBlood

Jule took a big breath and took a big step. She stuck her arms and bent her knees. "Thanks." she said to whoever was guiding her. Jule didn't know who it was but hopefully they won't make her fall into the water.

"OKAY JULIETTE. This is ROMEO." HEHEHE "And... you're standing on a lily pad that is DIRECTLY to the right of the one you need. Sooo you need to sidestep to your left, okay? Like... not big step, but not a small step. A MEDIUM step to your direct left. You can DO IT JULIETTE!"

Kevin listened to the voice and put his right foot out and stepped on the pad that was closest to him and brought his left foot in line and shouted "Where do i go next" Kevin hated not being able to see where he was going

While Fyodor Balouch waited for further instructions on how to reach THE destination, several things happened in quick succession.

Someone "rushed" past him.

The giant lily pad supporting him wobbled dangerously.

Wobbled more.

And he fell over. Right into the water.


Splutter. Flailing his arms, Fyo swiped a sleeve at his mouth. - And then he realized exactly what was happening.

He was in the water. The water! Ohmygosh, THE WATER! The only love of his life [other than Lissy and Arithmancy, mind you], one of the things he loved best when not blindfolded. Slowly, his arms and legs relaxed, no longer kicking, no longer acting like they had gone crazy, and were ready to detach themselves and run off at the speed of a million miles per second.

And he was swimming, now. Fyo felt the cold of the water, and he loved it the way he always did. Because it reminded him of home, of all the streams and rivers back there that he loved so much. YAYCOOLDUUDE!

His hands found a lily pad up front, and he held it. He could feel the underbelly, and it sure was prickly. Spiny, sorta. Slowly, savouring the water, he climbed on top of the lily paid, and gently moved into a standing position.

Why, oh why, hadn't he fallen in fifteen minutes earlier? If only that had happened, Fyo could have gotten ride of his blindfold-horror sooner.

Bunbury was rather amused that a few students had, in fact, fallen in and taken to swimming. Hehehee, they must all be really short or else ignoring the depth of the pond...honestly, only about two of them were in the zone where their feet wouldn't be scraping against the bottom of it. No matter, one Gryffindor was done!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herminny

Herminny walked foward onto the next lily pad and heard a splash just as she was making her final jump to the left diagonally at an angle and didn't quite make it falling into the water but from what she had heard she was close so she decided to just swim straight and ended up hitting land and swiftly climbed out. She was so happy to have made it to the otherside but all the splashing was not a good sign. She hoped now that she had made it on land her vision would soon be restored and mabe she could help whomever the professor wanted to blind within her house. She called out, "I made it, thank you both".

"Good work, Gryffindor, Herminny," Bunbunz called out in a cool tone. "However, I saw you attempting to dry your robes off with magic earlier and I distinctly recalling saying no magic....which means you should have left your wand behind." She tsked and shook her head slowly. "For that, you will stay blindfolded until the rest of your classmates reach the side of the pond safely.

She narrowed her eyes at the girl and glanced out to see the progress of the others. Fyo...helper boy kid...he was about three small hops away from the ground and that Hufflepuff, well, he was just going in a completely wacky path and might have been making circles. He was going to need some more help yet. Meanwhile, at least Ravenclaw had picked up the pace and Slytherin was starting to get somewhere.

Hmmhmm. They had time yet...time...was Plymouth Morgan dunking his head in the pond?! DISGUSTING! Bunbunz had to wince and turn her head away at the sight. Ewwwww that is SO not bath water!

Dani was wobbly on her lily, but she wasn't blindfolded, so she needed to guide the girl that was. "Ok... Juliet, you need to take another step about the same size. The direction that your facing. You'll be in the center of the next pad." She was horrible at direction giving but she was trying. "You can do it!"

Lily pads were nice, sure, and fun, certainly. BUT, everyone else was bothering with the lily pads and standing on them and directing their classmates that Varius did not see how he could POSSIBLY be needed. Instead he eyed the shoesss. Oh the pretty, pretty shoes!!! He ran over to where people had removed their footwear and smuggled a couple of pairs, shoving them up his shirt. He quickly, and stealthily ran to behind puffapod and flutterby rows.

He dropped all the shoes he managed to take onto the ground before him, before sitting his backside beside them. He grabbed a couple and began to tap them on the grass, moving them about as if they were action figures. "HAAAYAAA! Take that Ms Heel! Nuuu uhhhh! You take THAT Sir Suede Slip-On!" He began bashing the shoes together in the mock shoe battle that it was! Bwhahahahaha! "But it is truly the wellington that rules da worrrrrrrrrlddd," he said raising the green rubber boot and stomping it on all of the others , "NOMNOMNOMNOM."

Jane was so excited at all the splashing around in water. She sorta didn't mind falling in the water, seeing that it was so fun! She hoped she could dip her finger in the water. She was a little weird. She had a habit of dipping her finger in ponds, despite knowing whether or not carnivorous beings occupy them. She wanted to walk on lilies too!!

You can do it!She thought. Apparently, Gryffindor had showed really good teamwork despite the bug attack. She smiled.

Jule got a bit confused. The first person said to take a medium side step. Jule carefully stepped to her left and felt the Lilly under her feet. Second, she had to step forward to the center. She got on one leg and stretched the other to the Lilly. Once she got on, she stood still.

"Sorry Jule!" Dani said, realizing she had caused a moments confusion. "Okay, now you need to take another step to the right but a little forward at the same time. It's sort of a diagonal from where you are. So forward a half-step and right a full step." She was leaning forward as she spoke, so when she finished she was a little off balance. Wobbling once more, she watched Jule.

"You are doing SO GOOD! You're like the best... blind folded lily jumper! WOO HOO! THree cheers for Juleeee!" Plymouth clapped for her something ridiculous, then he took a few lily hops himself. "The next one is... well you're legs are shorter than mine... ERmmm.... I'll say a BIG step. A big step, it's in front of you and just a hair to the left. Just a hair though, okay?" Plymouth wasn't Mr. Coordinated, so he took a few wobbly steps to get in front of her. "RIGHT HERE," he yelled back at her. "FOLLOW MY VOICE." Hehe

Oh. "NO. Do what she said!" Plymouth pointed - even though Jule couldn't see - at Dani. "I don't know my left from right!" Plymouth laughed and took a seat on his lily to wait for Cela to catch up.

Hearing that there was only one more to go, he laughed and reached out yet again with his right foot. When he found the lily, he steadied himself upon it before following with his left foot.

Feeling a bit unstable this time, he almost fell off of the plant, but managed to regain his balance.

"Your doing great" Ash called "Just move forward slighlty and put you foot on the ground, you're nearly there" Ash said sittng on the ground, not wanting to try the lily pads out

With the final words of encouragement, he gathered al his strength together and leapt off of the lily pad and onto the grass outside of the pond.

He took off his blindfold, and yelled, "I did it!".

He ten ran over to Vannie and gave her a happy squeeze. hehehe.

Brant standing on the bank waiting for everyone else to cross the lily pads he started to shout encouragemnt to the other students in different houses to get their confindence up.

"Thats it guys you are almost their just a couple more steps


dont worry you are doing great"

Brant kept shouting.

Victoria watched her best friend being guided over the lily pads, "Come on Jules!"