Up ahead Fred could see something gleaming in the distance and as got closer he saw group of red rings high toward Gryffindor tower. He leaned back and flew upward right at that tower and as he approached he carefully slowed down as not to crash into the roof and grabbed a ring as he slowly made contact and then turned yo where the lights pointed then and could not believe it was the Forbidden Forrest. Before ne got too far the lights thankfully pointed in yet another direction but when he saw where it lead he almost wanted to turn back but he just bit his lip and headed on before he lost the nerve.

After making the sharp right, and narrowly missing a gruesome cut to his arm, Chris began to head towards the Quidditch Pitch, and the castle. His eyes of course did linger towards the pitch and the reminder of the game the previous day. He and the rest of the team had flown so well and was very impressed with their opponets the Hufflepuffs. They had put up a great fight.

Anyways....

Chris turned around, just in time too. While he was day-dreaming about the quidditch match his broom has sunk lower and lower in the sky and he was in danger of hitting the ground had he gone on. He leaned back as his broom sailed higher into the air. Just before he leveled out, the Prefect noticed a red glow just off one of the turrets, after a second of registering this fact, Chris rememebered that he could see the Quidditch pitch from the Gryffindor Common Room and that meant the red glow up there was for the Red rings; making perfect sense for them to be on the Gryffindor Tower.

Continueing to zoom higher and higher, Chris tried again to see how the rings were behaving. Luckily they were still this time; unluckily they were almost attached to the roof, laying flat against it. That made things trickier. Slowing some Chris flew until he was parallel with a particular ring and then came to a hovering stop about 3 feet from the tiled roof.

Reaching out he noticed he would have to scoot in some, because he couldn't reach the red ring. Reching again now that he was closer his fingertips barely brushed it, so he leaned over a little bit more....and he flipped upside down over the broom!!!

He caught himself with his legs and was suspended upside down with his legs crossed, like he was riding it upside down, on the broom. Just to say it plainly, he was panicking. He breathed harder and began to freak out as the blood rushed to his head. He thought of what he could do, trying to not look at the huge distance between him and the ground. He slowly grabbed the broom handle with his right hand, which luckily made the broom scoot closer to the roof. Noticing this, Chris continued to pull until his back was against the roof, reaching behind him the Prefect lifted himself, until he was able to flip himself up right again on the broom. He was safe, but shaking tremendously.

The Gold and red rings on his arm, he turned his broom around and began to follow the bath downwards toward the Forest.

Mina walked up to the white line and knew she was going to like this part of the final before even hearing what was in store for them. If it meant they were going to fly again, she liked it. Listening closely as Professor Vindictus explained the next part, she grinned happily. Yes, she was definitely going to like this. An obstacle course sounded rather fun and following the pink lights didn't seem that hard to her. She was up to the challenge and it wasn't like the thought of scratches and bruises bothered her, she had suffered far worst already this term.

Swinging her leg back over the broom, she kicked off at the sound of the whistle. Her goal was to get one of those golden rings. It would be a challenge for sure, but like that was going to stop her from trying. Goal set and now she just needed to follow through on it.

Following the pink lights, she kept her eyes open for any sign of rings. She was pretty sure they would be obvious, but it never hurts to be on the look out. It was supposed to be a challenge and she expected the unexpected as well.

Seeing the pink path heading toward the Lake, she sped up slightly. She was lagging behind and that just wouldn't do at all. Veering right sharply, she flew toward the Front Gates and noticed the blur before them. The closer she flew, the clearer the blur got. Yes, it was the first ring.

Yellow ring, you will be mine.

Having found the line again, Tiberius again flew toward the castle, finally spotting the red rings on Gryffindor tower.

"Merlin," he muttered under his breath as he realized he had flown right past them. Leaning forward, he accelerated toward the tower, pulling up on th handle sharply when he approached, coming to a stop near the top. No way was he going to attempt grabbing one on the fly.

Reaching over, he grasped a red ring and added it to the yellow on his arm before turning the broom sharply.

As he did so, his leg hit the tower, sending a sharp pain up his side. Despite all the attention he'd been given, he still hadn't completely healed. Anger about the situation festered as he followed the line with his eyes toward the forest. Speeding off that way, he was glad to see it diverge and instead lead to the Whomping Willow.

As you approach the Whomping Willow, you nearly faint at what awaits you - green rings floating between the branches that are constantly whipping about. Fly cautiously and be prepared to take a beating as you attempt to get the ring.

After you retrieve the ring, fly to the right and the pink lights will light your way as you begin to fly over the Lake.



OOC: If you have not gathered the other two rings, please RP retrieving these (individual post for each) before attempting the green ring. Also, please do not RP for the tree - it will let you know if you got the ring or not.

Yellow Ring
Red Ring

Mina slowed down slightly as she approached the yellow rings. Watching them bounce around, she tried to figure her plan of attack to get one. She wanted to get one on the first try and move on to the next, falling behind would hinder her from getting to a possible golden ring later.

After watching the rings for a minute, she sped over and reached out to grab a ring. As she wrapped her fingers around the ring, she felt is pull away. Not wanting to loses it, she leaned forward to get a better grip on it. She wasn't about to lose the ring, no that wasn't going to happen! Having a firm grip on the ring, she quickly turned back, flying just below the rings. After a few yards, she acsended back up and placed the ring on her arm. It really did look like a bracelet, a slightly large one, but a bracelet none the less. Not really her style, but whatever.

Looking back ahead of her, she followed the pink path back toward the castle. One ring down and three more to go.

Torin was getting nearer to the Whomping Willow now. And he was afraid he knew what was waiting for him when he approached the tree.

And judging by the green glow that he now saw from among the tree's branches, he was right about it. He had to get a ring from among the branches of the Whomping Willow.

Was Vindi crazy?

He stalled the broom while he was still far enough from the tree to get hurt, and started to think of how he could move and dart so that he could get a ring without falling off of his broom.

Marie continued to follow the pink lights towards the castle when she noticed the students in front of her flying higher and higher. She looked up and was instantly blinded by the sun. Looking away quickly she noticed the empty Quidditch pitch. She thought about the game from the previous day and how she had been cheering as loud as she could for Carter and Gryffindor. Yeah, that was a different experience for her that's for sure.

Snapping out of it she realized she was heading straight for the castle. Looking back up while shading her eyes this time she seen what appeared to be a red roof and several students around it. Right, red roof equals red rings she thought. Must be Gryffindor tower.

She flies towards the roof getting her broom as close as she can without actually hitting anything. She reaches out to grab a ring but scrapes her hand on the roof tiles as she does it. Pulling her hand back....with the ring in it, she notices that she is bleeding. Not wanting to give up she pushes the ring over her other hand onto her arm. She then wipes the blood on her robes and heads off in the direction of the lights.

This time she is flying over the castle towards the........Forbidden Forest? No, the professor wouldn't make them go in there would he? The closer she gets to the forest the more nervous she gets. Finally the lights turn off to the right....away from the forerst.

Feeling better that she is flying away from the forest now she relaxes just a little bit.....until she realizes they are now heading toward the Whomping Willow.

Oh Merlin!

Rings in the tree? Say it isn't so.

OOOOOO! A yellow birdie!

Suddenly, the Whomping Willow lashed out a long branch like a whip and it curled around the ankle of the Hufflepuff student.

The closer that kay got to the Whomping Willow the easier it was to see the green rings. 'What the rings were in the tree.' She thought. Out loud. "Well this is going to hurt." She said was she pulled to a stop. 'Maybe if she flew fast enough she could grab a ring and not get hit.' "Yeah right." She said "Well here goes nothing." Pulling her broom to circle the tree, Kay turned quickly and flow right at the tree. "Have to get the ring." She said reaching out to grab a ring......

Miles flew closer and closer toward the Whomping Willow and stopped just short of it's branches reach. Seeing Torin try and get knocked out of the way he swallowed hard. Oh dear lord. His eyes searched for what he was looking for and spotted them amongst the branches of the tree...green rings. Merlin.

Gripping his broom tightly he gathered up all of his courage which, considering his hyper state at the moment, really wasn't that hard, and moved toward the tree. "Come on tree! You bloody thing!" Lowering himself almost flat to the broom he gripped the handle tightly and got ready to swerve out of the way of the branches.

delete post, put it at a later time labeled that hasbetter chance og getting noticed.

OUCH!

Apparently he had been wrong to think that he was safe from the branches. And now his eyes were watering from pain where his ankle had been hit. That had really really hurt.

He reversed his broom a bit more and shifted over to the side a bit, trying to see if he could find some kind of opening in the branches that would make the hits not so bad.

Of course. Of course! The green rings HAD to be by the whomping willow. 'Please don't remember me.' she thought, wincing as she watched the branches going after someone already.

Perhaps, since it was distracted by everyone else, she could sneak one? It wasn't that hard for her to be dodging a few things at once, but dodging the whomping willow branches? Definitely a lot tougher, if not impossible. Okay...okay okay. She could totally do this.

Inching around the tree to the other side, she found a green ring that wasn't so stuck in the tree and decided to go for that one. Now to just...reach out to get it... ehhh....

ANOTHER YELLOW BIRDIE! YAYYYYY!!!!

The Whomping Willow lashed out another of its branches and grabbed the Hufflepuff girl by the ankle, and started thrashing her about gently.

NO HURT THE BIRDIE!

BLUEBIRD! I LIKE BLUEBIRDS!

A branch lashed out and wrapped around the waist of the Ravenclaw boy and flipped him upside down as it gently rocked him back and forth.

Marie was right, her worst fears were coming true. They had to get a green ring out of the Willow tree.

She got as close to the tree as she thought was safe and then hovered there. Maybe she would get lucky and the tree would be nice to her. After all she was a Slytherin in green robes and they were going for a green ring.

She slowly started to inch her way towards the tree thinking maybe she would just be able to sneak in a grab the ring before it noticed. It did seem a little pre-occupied with some Hufflepuff right now.

Oooh! PINK lights.

Such a fun, fun colour!

Gold hummed a little song under her breath, as she swung a leg over her broomstick, and shot off, into the air, leaning forward slightly to propel herself forward.

You can stand under my umbrella,
You can stand under my...

The pink light took a turn to the right and, following their lead, so did Gold. Looking down, as she came to a momentary halt, she saw that she was right above the pathway, and memories associated to that particular path rose within her, warm and fuzzy and nice.

Smiling to herself, she focused her attention back on to the final, and looked right ahead, only to notice a sunny, quite yellow haze. Were those rings? Why, yes they were, closer inspection confirmed!

Gold zoomed in, grinning at the way the rings bounced in all different directions. Then she pushed herself forward, and extended an arm. A yellow ring hit it, and bounced off, and she frowned, before slipping her arm right through the next, pretty!yellow ring.

There.

Now to head back, before the ring slipped off, or some other ring hit her - she had already been hit twice or thrice, because the rings were bouncing so merrily. Not hit hard, though.

Rawrr for that!

Hehe.

PLAY, BIRDIE, PLAY!

The Whomping Willow smacked the Hufflepuff again, but this time on the rear and sent him hurtling head first towards a shiny gold object lying on the grass next to the trunk.

GREEN BIRDIE! YOU LOOK LIKE A LEAF!

And the Whomping Willow batted the Slytherin girl around.

Arya began to slow when she neared the tree, her eyes wide. How in the world was she suppose to get the rings from the crazy tree!? It had already grabed one student and she was sure he would get more.

Taking a deep breath, she leaned into her broom and speed into the broom determind to get the first green ring she spoted. Atleast she only needed one.

Miles's grip on his broom was the tightest it's ever been. Now was about the time he wished he had his other broom...the faster one. He didn't see any branches coming his way as his classmates got taken out right and left. Keeping himself low he flew closer and closer until.... NO!!!! He felt something slide around his waist and found himself turned upside down. Keeping his hands and feet locked around the broom tightly he grimaced as it was shook him back and forth.

"Let! Me! Go!" He yelled and struggled against the branch around his waist, letting go of the broom just enough to be able to try and pry the branch from around his waist.

Fred flew closer and closer toward the willow but was not uite so sure about it. When he saw something glistening from the branches of the tree he really was not sure about it but he was gonna try. He took a deep breathe and headed for the willow. Once within the branches the rings were in sight and he reached out for one, his heart pounding because he knew there was danger all around him.

Merlin's oversized stuffed kangaroo. The rings were IN THE WILLOW?!

Tiberius came to a halt just out of reach of the Willows branches as he considered how best to find a ring. The pain in his leg throbbed dully as he swayed in the air.

Proceeding forward, quite terrified, Tiberius held an arm up in front of him to protect his face, hoping to also grab a green ring with it. Dodging swinging branches, Tiberius leaned forward, racing as fast as he could toward a ring that had caught his eye.

Kay saw the branch coming and could get out of the way fast enough. "Grap." she yelled when the branch caught her ankle. Kay grabbed hold of her broom and didn't let go. Being thrashed about was making her a little sick. "Oh, got..to..get..the..ring." Reaching out her arm she tried to grab one as she went back and forth with the branch.

YAYY!!

They got to fly SOME MORRE!

Candy was so HAPPY so she BEAMED at her broomstick as she mounted it again and was in the air. Up, up and abovvvveee........ until she saw that yellow blur right ahead!

Candy closed in on it and CHUCKLED to herself when she saw the bouncy rings. BOUNCEHHH!!

She came closer to all the BOUNCEH rings, and slipped the nearest one on to her arm like a BRACELETTT and then she was offfff. Now to get the next ring and just DO THIIS!

WOOTT!!

Oh no. Oh no.

Not only did getting hit hurt like crazy, Torin was finding himself hurtling to the ground. And if he didn't straighten himself out soon, he was going to hit the ground.

Just before he made contact with the ground, he managed to straighten himself out. He was still in the air even though he was almost touching the grass.

But he was still in a very dangerous place, so he quickly moved away from the tree trunk before giving himself height again.