"Alright, this is how things are going to work," Bunbury stated, moving to the front of the class as she smirked at the four volunteers rather evilly. "These four are going to be blindfolded."

She flicked her wand over her shoulder, casting Obscuro silently without even looking at Kevin, Herminny, Juliette and Torin. Now they were blindfolded and balancing on the lily pads....if the sudden loss of their sight didn't send them teetering into the pond water.

"Now, your task," she gestured grandly to the barefoot volunteers, "is to guide your blindfolded housemate across the lily pond. ONLY your Housemate though, see, because we'll make it a bit of a race, a competition of sorts between the Houses. Use your voice, use your hands, but do NOT use your wands. And the race ends when every member of your House who chose to participate makes it across."

Bunbury planted her fists on her hips to make the next few points extra clear. "Remember: only one person per lily pad at a time, go SLOWLY, the goal is to get your blindfolded housemate across first, and then you may get to the other side, oh, and one more thing...."

The evil Bunny!Bunz smirk widened into a pointy grin. "I might be blindfolding random other students or changing the rules as we go...just to make it a bit more challenging. Have fun now, because the House showing the most cooperation and balancing skill might just have a nice prize coming their way..."

She stepped off to the side and sat down on her pink bench then. This would make good entertainment to watch, yessssss.



ooc: okay, so, what to do: help your housemate Kevin (Saz Hale), Herminny (Herminny) Juliette (HPHalfBlood) or Torin (Whitterz) across the pond by instructing them verbally, maybe use a little nudging if you can balance your lily pad close to theirs. Obviously not everyone can be online at the same time and you all still have to get onto a leaf of your own, right? (That means, yes, everyone can climb on the lily pads now). Remember that you each have to get across the pond in the end and if you're just joining in, post removing your shoes and then just start helping. Have fun with it, be patient (obviously you won't get across the pond in one post) and remember, no one's perfect. If you fall in.....well...it's only 5-8 feet deep at the center at the most, but who's saying you know that IC? ;D

Abby walks up to the edge of the pond and puts her foot on the lily nearest her house mate. Boy it feels funny. Kind of slick and greeen! Abby now wonders if this was such a good idea. She holds her breath and tries to put her other foot on the lily. Abby waves her arms around trying to steady her self. When she gets her balance, she cries ot to Torin. "Hello Torin, I'm Abby. I'm you your house mate. I'm going to try and help you get to the next lily pad that is if I don't fall off o this one first." Abby tries to stay in the middle of the pad. She thinks Professor Bunbury said that was the safest place to be. Abby hopes that's what Professor Bunbury said.

Dominic had been unnaturally quiet during most of the lesson. Though Herbology had once been a very interesting subject to him, since the departure of Carracio (whom he was taught for one year only), things rapidly declined. Even if he was supposedly on better terms with Bunbury, the sixth year still took a different viewpoint on the subject. The fact that he had borderline passed his OWL exams wasn't any convincing matter either to why he had not dropped the subject, as would have been the smart thing to do.

Hmm? What was this? Try the lily pads? Snapping from his reverie in time to hear responses from four students regarding their experiences on the lily pad, Dom decided it better to pay just a little more attention to the lesson and less on Victoria's secret. How in Merlin's name Victoria's Secret got on his brain, he'll never know . . .

Oh. Tasks. Right. Wait... they were supposed to take their shoes off!??! EWW!! There was absolutely NO way he was taking his shoes off! Not with all the icky feet germs and other stuff to be found on Hogwarts grounds. Not if Professor Bunbury wasn't and her shoes were far more dangerous than his sneakers. Yup yup.

Besides, his sneakers would give him better balance... Of course, if he could use a broom, then he would so win this race hands down. But alas, that was not the case.

Helping the blindfolded person across first? Oh... Uh.. what was his housemate's name? Tony? Talin? Talia? TORIN!!!

"Uh... Torin?" Dominic inched towards the pond slowly, cautiously. They were to guide their blindfolded housemate first, right? "So...uh... I'm going to help guide you.. uh.... the next lily is just a foot off from the one you're on..." Goodness, as a Prefect, he ought to be better with giving directions? Perhaps he should just get on his own lily and push the younger badger?

Nah... best leave that for another badger to do the pushing... Maybe.

Herminny heard the professor say the 4 volunteers were too be blind folded and thought oh great, and the next seccond she couldn't see anything and she thought, this the last time I volunteer for anything in Herbology. It took all her will power not to freak out and topple over and stayed as still as she could as she listened to the professor explain the game. It seemed her only solace is that others would be blinded randomly throughout the game.

Blindfolds? This woman was evilll, people, EVIILL, I say. Thank God he hadn't volunteered.

Fyo took a rather tentative step backwards when she happily revealed that she might switch students, then decided it wasn't a big deal.

After all, the worst that could happen would be.. Splash, woosh, you're seaweed companion. And how deep was that water, anyway? Professor Bunbury wouldn't - couldn't - let them drown. Riiiigght? Umm, right.

At least, Fyo hoped so.

He had taken off his shoes, now. His thick, comfy sorta shoes. And he kind of missed them, too. His eyes travelled to Herminny for a second or two and, pretty glad he was not the one behind that blindfold, Fyo gingerly stepped on to the giant lily pad he felt was nearest to his house-mate.

That, he hoped, would give him a better chance to help guide her through. He gave Herminny an encouraging sort of smile, the sort of smile that clearly said, "Go, you!"

Now see it was going to be a race! Well, a slow one, and not exactly a boat race, but a race all the same. Mariel was so excited that her idea was actually being put into play that she had a difficult time not jumping right into the lily pad. But she knew she best climb in carefully or she'd end up head first in the pond.

Mariel climbed on to the lily pad directly behind her housemate. Uh, what was her name? The third year had never actually met her so she tried to remember what Bunbury called her... Juliet! "Juliet," the fourteen year old called loudly behind the girl. Of course, she knew that her sight had been affected and not her hearing, but she wanted to make sure she'd hear her over the other people calling orders and know who was talking to her. "This is Mariel... I need you to step onto the lily pad directly in front of you. It's about, uh..." The third year craned her neck to see how far apart the leaves were so the girl wouldn't step into the lake instead of the lily pad, "Two feet away. Stretch your legs a bit." Hopefully she wouldn't misjudge and fall in.

They were blindfolded now. Cool. This seemed like one cool task. Bunz was a great Professor on top of a pretty face. And hopefully he wouldn't make a fool of himself. And let his House down.

Hearing a boy call out to him, he gingerly lifted his right foot off of the pad and moved it out at what he fifured was one foot away. He was relieved when he felt it land on another lily pad.

Now he was juggling on top of two lilies. That was not good.

Quickly - and slightly unsteadily - he moved his left foot until it wason the new lily as well. "There," he then said happily.

"Go where, I can't see anything, you need to tell me what direction the nearest lily pad is cause I don't know which direction to go cause I can't see".

Yes, that was the question. Go where? And other people had already started helping their house-mates. Forgetting his own lily pad for the moment, Fyo scanned his immediate surroundings with wide eyes.

"There's a lily pad to your left," he told Herminny, after a moment's pause. "That one's the nearest to you. Don't take too big a step - it's quite close. Be careful, and you'll definitely be fine," he added, encouragingly.

He really hoped she would do this right. And she certainly seemed like she could.

'Oh great.' Whit thought,completely freaked out. Too late to back out now. She looked over at the other Slytherins and wondered if one of them were gonna go first. Nope. She took a huge breath and slowly stepped onto one of the lily pads, keeping her arms out to keep her balance.

Once she was on, Whit looked up at her fellow Slytherin. 'Kevin right?' If that wasn't it, then she was stuck. "Um, hey Kevin? I'm Whitney, a fellow Slytherin and...I'm gonna try to help you to the next lily pad. Fun right?" No. More like extremely terrifying. What next?!?! "Oookay....so, like, the next lily pad isn't too far away from you. You just need to take one big step about.....um...." HOw was she supposed to know how far left he was supposed to turn? "About....thirty degrees to your left?" 'Oh my gosh, this boy's gonna drown because of me.' If all worked out okay, he could just....take a chance and step on the lily pad.

Whit then raised a hand and turned carefully turned to face the professor. "Erm....wh-what if....one of use like....falls in? Do we just....what do we do then?" She was more scared of her falling in than Kevin. This was the girl who couldn't even balance on solid ground, let alone a huge lily pad in a pond.

Cam's mouth opened wide when the professor just blinded the students that had volunteered before. What the heck was she up to?! He listened to her and then realized how eeeevil she was for making blind people fight against each other. That was MEAAAAAAAN. But then again, those blind people had guide dogs, and those dogs were basically the people from the person's house. OMG what if he accidentally said something wrong and then led Kevin to his death?! What if... HE himself drowned?! ...Nahhhh. He was PRO at this. Because he'd done this before; he'd done this in his mind and his mind was ALWAYS right. That was a fact.

Maybe.

He stepped on one of the lily pads and suddenly, fear went back to his body. The pad was cold and it gave him the shivers. He hesitated for a moment and then eventually stepped on the whole pad with his two feet. OMG OMG IMA DIEEEEEEE. Cam desperately wanted to go back to land but then figured that he wanted Kevin aka his house to win.

'CAUSE HE LAIKED WINNING NO DUHHH. He was near Kevin with his own lily pad now and wondered what to say. "Uhhhh. UHHHH. Um..." He looked if there were any other Slytherins that were willing to help. Bleh. "Uhhh Kevin. You should turn like... like left so you don't hit the other students and all."

RIGHT. He was doing good so far, he hoped. Now he had to just push Kevin a little bit ... which was hard because it was like leading an old blind man across the street. What if he accidentally nudged too hard and then made Kevin fall off and drown to his death?! Heeehuuhheeeehehuuhhh. Hmm... Cam reached his hand out to poke Kevin's back just so he knew where he was. "There's a lily pad riiiiight towards your upper left. It's not far away and I think you should kneel down a bit in case you'd fall off.

He wondered what else to say...

"'Cause if you fall off, you'd die and you'd never be able to get your future and dreams ever again!" Oh yes, Cam was encouraging him. Hopefully that would help! "Soooo yeah you should be careful or else you'd die... and all. Buuuut look at the bright side, if you die, your parents could sue Hogwarts and they could get a looottta money and all."

Errrrrrr. Yeah that could have motivated Kevin a bit more. Concentration and pressure was good at a time like this! ...or so Cam thought.

"Thank you", Herminny said as she proceeded to take as small step to the left onto the center of the next lily pad and then called out, "Now where?".

Biting his lip as he watched Herminny, Fyo moved his eyes over to the centre of his own lily pad. Which was quite a pretty centre, you know. Then, more than just a little gingerly, he took a step forward. A pretty big step. Whoa.

He toppled and nearly fell over, but thankfully managed to retain his balance and not go underwater. So YES! Another lily pad down - only, like, a gazillion more to go.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herminny

"Thank you", Herminny said as she proceeded to take as small step to the left onto the center of the next lily pad and then called out, "Now where?"

She was doing good, yes. Fyo gave her one of his usual small smiles - fully aware that she would not be able to see it - more out of habit, than anything else. Now where? Umm..

"There are people to both your left and right," he told her, his voice clearer than usual, so that she might hear properly. "The nearest lily pad is in front of you. It's close, too, but not as close as the last one was, so be careful."

Anastasia had pulled out a little nail file - presumably from thin air - and was proceeding to file her nails in a bored manner while the students started the Great Lily Task of 2068. If one didn't know her better they might just think she was content to let the children go mad on the lily pads. Hehee.

Quote:

Originally Posted by HG_forever

Whit then raised a hand and turned carefully turned to face the professor. "Erm....wh-what if....one of use like....falls in? Do we just....what do we do then?" She was more scared of her falling in than Kevin. This was the girl who couldn't even balance on solid ground, let alone a huge lily pad in a pond.

She looked up though, when a polite Slytherin voiced a nervous-sounding query. "I would suggest....swimming?"

Bunbury cackled chuckled to herself and went back to filing her nails. Surely the kids weren't afraid of a bit of water? The dungeons had been deeper than this, right? And yet the girl asking was a Slytherin. Mmhmm.

Hearing the next lily pad was not as close as the lase she fretted a little realizing it would probably be best to hop for it. She took a deep breath and and made a smal jump foward landing a bit wtoward the side of the lily and felt it start to tip, she rushed toward the center and the lily pad balanced and she breathed a sigh of relief. She then called out again, "Now where?".

She was - - filing her nails? Fyo blinked, giant lily pads absolutely forgotten as his eyes caught sight of their oh-so-awesome Herbology professor.

This had to be a dream.

OK. No giving attention to nail-filing teachers, anymore. He had to concentrate. Yes. That was it. Concentrate. He squinted ahead - the water was rippling, and there was something sorta shiny about it. Waiittt - Shiny? He LIKED shiny things. WhoaShinyCOOL,DUUDE!

There was a lily pad, not too far off. Not too far off, but still far enough. He'd have to make a jump for it, though.

- He did, and fell flat on his face, his legs in the water.

Spluttering, Fyo attempted to stand up, managing it, but not without some difficulty. His robes were wet, now, and that reminded him of.. Lissy. He shook his head, rather alarmed. He couldn't possibly be thinking of Lissy now. Wait, when was he not thinking of Lissy?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Herminny

Hearing the next lily pad was not as close as the lase she fretted a little realizing it would probably be best to hop for it. She took a deep breath and and made a smal jump foward landing a bit wtoward the side of the lily and felt it start to tip, she rushed toward the center and the lily pad balanced and she breathed a sigh of relief. She then called out again, "Now where?".

Fyo's already wide eyes widened even further as, for a moment, Herminny looked all set to go underwater. Thank God she didn't! He looked around carefully, choosing his next set of instructions with caution.

"There's a lily pad to your upper right that you need to go for, now," he told her. "Because there's another student right in front of you. You might have to sort of jump, but if you sit down once you're on the next lily pad, I'm certain you won't lose your balance."

Oh good!! The younger puff had made it unsteadily onto a new lily. Um... Where was the next one? Next closest unoccupied was... Dear CANARIES!! It was a good two feet from the boy! He was going to need to either chance rowing blindly or Dom was going to have to board a lily and push him!

Reluctantly, the sixth year chose the latter of the two options.

Not before hearing the Professor cackling chuckling in the back of him though. Presumably at them! Narrowing his eyes, Dominic turned around to see her FILING HER NAILS!?!? UGH! This is exactly the reason why he liked Carracio better; at least he didn't FILE HIS NAILS while they were all struggling with the lilies!

And the sarcasm. Pfft! Completely irate now, Dominic turned his focus back on the water and climbed onto the lily - shoes still on and he didn't even care anymore! If she wanted his shoes on, then she would have to come out onto a lily and take them off herself!

Once out on his own lily, he carefully but aggressively (from his mood change over the stupid nail files) stepped onto another lily closer to Torin.

"Almost Torin... I'm gonna give you a little push towards the next one for you to leap, it's just a foot or two away..." Dom told the boy encouragingly, as he shifted his weight to allow his lily to drift towards the boy's until it bumped it gently...

Jack was not at all pleased about having to get onto a lily pad himself. Gulp. He had horrible balance that was not at all helped by his long, lanky limbs, and he had a feeling, a HORRIBLE feeling, that he would fall in the water. And did he mention he wasn't the best swimmer in the world? After all, this WAS the boy who had run like a little girl from the dungeon when it started filling with water.

Taking off his shoes nervously (he was both scared of the water AND of embarrassing himself with his stinky feet) he stepped on the lily pad and caught his balance, holding his arms out in front of him.

Maybe, while he got used to being on the pad, he could help Herminny? Yes, that seemed like a plan--once she was safely across, he could then cross the lake himself. He needed time to get used to this weird feeling of being supported by something that was...not very stable.

He gulped again as he watched a younger student--what was his name? He tried to think back to his classes...wasn't it Fyo or something odd like that?--attempt to help Herminny. JUMP blindfolded to the next lily pad? Oh good lord...he hoped this wouldn't end badly.

"Erm...yeah, just do what he said!" Jack cried, trying to give her some sort of encouragement--after all, they were the ONLY Gryffies in there right now.

Preparing to find another lily pad for his own self, Fyo caught the look on Jack's face. A sort of - - um, scared look? No, scared wasn't the word. More.. horrified.

He wondered if the horror was over Jack's own terror of the whole thing, or at the instructions he - Fyo - was giving Herminny. Couldn't be over the latter, right? Because the lily pad wasn't too far off. She'd be fine. Totally fine.

- At least Fyo hoped so, you know.

Alright this was certainly a nightmare, now she was gonna have to really jump and beat aother student to it, wonderful. She took another deep breath and braed herself as she bent her knees and jumpedto the right landing her stomach on the lower end of the lily pad and started to feel it tip again and squirmed toward the center sat. Once the lily was balanced again she stood up and called out yet again, "Now where?"

"Youre doing well, Torin!" Hayleen called out to her fellow huffie. "You should probably try moving forward, now. Dont ya worry we got yer back!"

Thank God she had made it. Fyo was beginning to feel pretty nervous, mostly because of Jack's look of.. well, sheer horror, you know.

And he had just realized something else: if Herminny ended up somewhere - well, you know. Somewhere not good - because of him, it would be all his fault. Which was not cool.

Not cool at all.

"You're doing awesome, but the next pad is really far away," he said, biting his lip before coming to a quick decision. "Herminny, I'm going to give your lily pad a little push. That way you'll be closer to the next one. Wait please, alright?"

He half jumped, half stepped over to the next lily pad, in an attempt to move closer to hers. Yes, this was pretty much perfectt. As perfect as it was going to get, anyway. Then he gave her lily pad a gentle shove and, once it had come to a halt, beamed internally. Great!

"You can move, now - There's a lily pad in front of you," he called out. "It's pretty close - this one will be easy to make."

Hearing more encouragement, he smiled at the girl he couldn't see"Thank you," he called out to her as yet again he moved forward one lily pad. This time he moved a little easier.

Anastasia briefly looked up from her bench for a moment, watching the Gryffindor's progress with narrowed eyes. Hufflepuffs were inching forward too, Slytherins were being stagnant, and the Ravenclaws hadn't done much.

"Mhmm," she mumbled to herself. "But that's progress."

She flicked her wand and now the uh....the helper boy...Fy...Fyo! That was his name! Fyo was now blindfolded as well as Herminny. Looks like Clumsy Jack would have to do some work now, eh?

Bunbury smiled like she was in on some hi-larious joke and went back to casually filing her nails. "Remember, you're to be standing on the lily pads, not really...paddling them, as that might damage them," Bunbury called out loudly, not looking up from her nails. Oh yes I saw you, Dominio Denton. As if he was going to get away with anything. Hmmph.

Herminny was about to hypervenalate as she heard the next lily pad was really far way but breathed a sigh of relief hearing her housemate had managed to get the lily pad closer. She took a step foward right onto the center of the lily pad right in front of her and exclaimed, "Good job, nice teamwork, now where?".