Having been distracted with the music, and a little late in starting the race, Evelyn could clearly see the balloons up ahead...and what they did to the people nearby. Of course, it wasn't until the last second but she still saw it! And her reflexes had kicked in.

With her wand already in hand, she raised it up to cast a shiel-

WHAAA?!

Feeling something hit her foot, the Slytherin looked down to see a bunch of fluffy white stuff that looked like whip cream on it. WHAT? Did she miss a balloon!? FAIL!

"Protego!" she shouted, putting up her shield before anything else could hit her. Ugh! How could she miss a balloon? Probably snuck up on purpose. Sneak attack! Sounded like something Destiny would do actually. Hmm...Destiny didn't make the balloon pop near her did she?

Glancing around, and since she was passed the balloons already, the Slytherin changed her mind and put all her focus on what was in front of her. She didn't want anything else to ruin her shoes. Or her clothes. She managed to fit the ones from last year and these were the only nice uniform ones she had left. After these, she'd have to start using...

*GASP!*

Normal uniforms with normal material at the normal cost! NUU! Not the Normal!

You know what was evil? Making students use spells from DADA class in Charms class, that's what. Of course, that also meant that Fletcher was evil, since he'd made Kellen paranoid enough to cast a nonverbal shielding spell on his head back in the actual classroom, but Kellen already knew that, didn't he?

"Protego!"

It was the current-day version of Expelliarmus, apparently. Used to deflect everything.




... stupid song.

Salander ambled along on Geronimo when the folksy tune reached his ears "Its like being back at the country fair." he chuckled as he went HooooOOOOOhoohoo!! singing along with the tune.

Then he sees... balloons floating. See... very country fair-ish

Until he realized a rising wall of them will soon blocking his path.

Oh nooo they wont! He readied his wand and took aim just before they got anywhere near him "Locomotor balloon!" he cast on one, flicking it out of the way. He then took aim at another "Locomotor balloon!" and swung it aside. "Locomot--- "

SPLAT!!!

Ok. missed that one.

And is that Shaving Cream? Huh.

He has got to remember that shield charm. And silent casting uh-huh.

With her PINK!GLITTERY!Wooden Horse, Porcelain, in her hand, Lorelai had headed down towards the grounds, following the other students. This was the fun part about being one of the last out of the classroom. You got to see how EVERYONE looked, and what their horsie's were like. Hehe. The lack of pink did depress her though.

Mmmm. Eying the Professor that started to .... FLY! Or you know.. whatever, Lorelai raised an eyebrow and looked across at a few of the other students. Okay. So.... Wearing fairy wings, wasn't the BEST idea, was it? Nope. It was like... not good. With fairy wings, she was going to be expected to do this well, wasn't she? But she was NO fairy.

NO FAIRY, WE TELL YOU!

Oh. Mother. Of. Pink. Merlin. And. His. Shoe. Collection. Including. Flats.

They were going to have to do WHAT?! Oh. NO. No. NO. Porcelain was too pretty for this. Maybe Lori could possibly break a wing, and play dead? She was a good actress, she had to admit that much, hehe.

Sigh.

The 'Puff mounted her horsie, and did the wand movement for the hovering charm, in sync with the chant. "Wingardium Leviosa!" Up. Up. UUUUUUP! And away. Hehe. Five feet. That was juuust a bit smaller than what she was. So when she was sure she could fit another Lorelai underneath Porcelain, she swished her wand again, [pointed at the Horse] and called, "Fixate!" And. Woot. No more up. up. and awaAAAAAYYYYY.

Oh. Moving. Maaaaan. She liked it here. It was pretty. The view was nice. And Porcelain liked it. YES. She and her wooden horse had conversations, don't judge. DON'T JUDGE.

"Locomotor Wooden Horsie!"

O___O JOLT.

DUDE! That wasn't funny. The brunette had only had two fingers laced around the reins, and had almost flown away herself as Porcelain took off. Ruddy horse. -.- Talk about annoying.

Cruuuuiiiising. Cruuuiiiiising. That was what she was doing. And I dare say, glittering the people behind her was fun too. Hehe. BAI PEOPLE! BAI GLITTER!

"Where did you come froooooom, where did you GO, where did you come from COTTTON EYED JOOOOEEEE!" She found herself singing along, mentally cursing herself for even KNOWING the words to this dastardly song.

And next minute? She had seen those balloons like.. ATTTAAAAAACK some of the other students, but hadn't predicted one to COVER her with whatever that was. "ew! MY HAIIIIIR!" She cried, before setting up a quick shield charm, to protect her FAIRY WINGS!
SUPER IMPORTANT FAIRY WINGS. "Protego!"

Back to singing.

Riley ran quickly to stand in the long line of students at the starting line and took his horse between his legs. Finally Professor Carlton gave them the signal to go and he pointed his wand at his horse hastely and shouted, "Wingardium Leviosa!" the horse suddered and he soon felt it pick him up and then levitate and continue to rise. After the appropriate hight, one he was supposed to stop low to the ground and two he didnt want to fall off and get hurt...or dirty, Riley spoke the next spell to stop it. "Fixate"

Now that he was hovering in the middle of a large crowd of people on a fake horse-stick the obvious next step would to be to ride it. "Locomortor Horse!" and he was off. Not too long was he riding before he heard the music, if you could call it that. It sounded more like a hippogriff who had eaten waaaay too many burridos.

As the students began zipping around the track and working to dodge all the shaving cream-filled balloons, Lexi floated around and around, aided by the umbrella she'd charmed to help her travel around and monitor the track.

She found herself softly singing along with the music as she watched the tracks for the next obstacle she'd planned. "Excellent job dodging those balloons--remember, you can also just steer your horse around them, if you'd like," she advised. She'd casted Sonorus and was using her wand as a sort of microphone-type object. "That is, unless you feel a charm or spell might be a bit better."

Swish and flick, "Windgardium Leviosa." Daisy watched as her horse levitated up in the air. She then made sure it was about five-ish feet, if not a little less, from the ground and said, "Fxiate." She then took a deep breath and said, "Locomotor Horse." It was off and she jumped up and down. She feelt ridiculous wearing th plaid dress and cowgirl boots and hat, bu she always loved dress up. She even added her own freckles and put her hair in pig tails.

Louisa picked the wooden stick horse and walked away from the group of students. She placed it on the ground, "Wingardium Leviosa!" It was levitated to the level she wanted, "Fixate." And she swung her legs upon it grinning. She was going to fly not ride a horse.

"Locomotor Sticky horsy" And the horse was moving forwards as she guided it with her wand carefully and slowly because she didn't want to end up in a hospital wing yet. That would be too embarrassing so a little practice won't hurt.

Still zooming slowly and carefull, she heard something suddenly in the space that made her jump off the horse and fell off. On the ground, she got up quickly before somebody saw her and dusted her clothes off swearing under her breath. She listened for a second to realize that it was music! Sniggering at her stupidity she levitated the horse again and got on it zooming again... slowly.

As the balloons continued to inflate, float to eye-level, then burst (spewing shaving cream all over everyone), Professor Carlton floated a bit higher. She now held a small, black bag in her hands, and as she floated above the students, feathers of all shapes, sizes, and colors fell from bag.

So now, not only are the balloons spewing shaving cream all over everyone, feathers are falling--feathers that will likely stick to the shaving cream and turn you into what appears to be a chicken...riding on a wooden stick...with the head of a horse.

Meanwhile...

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

If it hadn't been for Cotton-Eye Joe
I'd been married long time ago
Where did you come from where did you go
Where did you come from Cotton-Eye Joe

You have GOT to be kidding Viky muttered as feathers began to fall from Proffessor Carlton's bag. She had foam all over her! They were going to stick! And she was going to end up looking like a chicken! Trying - unsuccesfully - to avoid the worst of the feather shower, she flew underneath some Ravenclaw firstie, trying not to get too close to the foam-spewing balloooons whilst attempting to wipe off the worst of the shaving foam from her face.

SO not attractive.

Wiping the shaving cream out of her eyes Daisy looked at her dress and bit back the anger. It was a pretty dress but now ruined. Then the feathers fell and began fall from the sky. It seemed like all the teachers planned for this terms to be messy. Grrr. This was no longer a fun race. She however, managed to stay on the track.

FEATHERS?!

"Professor Carlton? THIS. IS. EEEEVIL! My hair is all.. ICKY!" HMPF. Scowling, the brunette moved her horsie out of the way of three balloons intending to burst near her, and squealed as one of the caught the back of her legs.

What was this? PRISON? -____-

And then Professor Carlton was sprouting FEATHERS on them! They weren't FARM animals! And Lori was most CERTAINLY not going to turn into a feathery animal. In the quick few seconds she had, she thought of almost a million possibilities of what to do, and resorted to moving her shield charm to above her head, letting it falter for a second, and then regenerating it. Stronger.

Her hair was her priority here. It was already covered in shaving foam. NO FEATHERS, CARLTON. NO FEATHERRRSSS!

"Protego!" EH. Not fun. She was no animal.

OH. DODGE HORSIE DODGE!

"Porcelain! Ruddy move out the way of the BALLOONS!" Heck. Lori couldn't MULTI-TASK!

Louisa was staring to the right at a bunch of students on their stick-horses and feel rather happy with the scene....... till something SPLASHED in her face that made her gasp and held the horse with one hand and wipe the thing off her eyes with the other. She kept her balance this time. What the hell was that? She looked carefully and recognized the balloons.. Man! And she thought those were untouchable. Meh.

With a challenging grin on her face (And shaving cream on all over her) she re-positioned herself on her stick-horse and leant a slightly forward as in a car race and started to dodge those nasty balloons letting a giggle every time she succeeded.

But that was just the beginning. The Professor obviously was a Pijama-party fan for feathers started to fall everywhere. Wha..? UGH! How do they dodge those now? With the cream on Louisa's clothes and hair, the feathers stuck all over her and made her look like a ch--- a queen of feathers! Heheehe. Yeah that what she called bright side.

Eli had been in class the entire time. Sure had. He had been listening! Well, he meant to listen. He really had.

But the professor was ..erm... distracting. She had dimples, you see, and her hair was weird and she in some weird way kind of reminded him of Gold Laksh. Ah, Gold. It filled Eli's normally studious head with lovely thoughts of the redheaded former prefect, and then, just when he was almost able to focus... Oh look! There was the professor again. With dimples.

And so he had missed some crucial bits of information. Mostly the charms.

Nevertheless, he was determined to try his best. He had grabbed a golden cowboy hat and a stick pony and followed them out to the track. He mounted it and tried:

"Locomotor Stick Pony!"

Perhaps he should have levitated the thing first. Whups. The pony shot forward in herky-jerky, bucking motions, digging into the soft earth.

"Win-wingardium! Lemmingosa!" He immediately felt stupid. He knew that one, too! The pony began bobbing up and down as it jerked forward in spurts. It was rather like a cross between a carousel pony and a bucking bronco. He might've reflected on that fact, had he not run face-first into a big balloon full of white foam.

UGH!

This class was not going well. He certainly wasn't giving off the suave, intelligent impression he'd hoped to make on Professor Cuteness Carlton. Damn. He yanked on the horse, tryin to get it to cooperate, not knowing any other charms to get it to stop bucking and listing.

Oh, feathers. Just perfect. Eli groaned and yanked harder on his stick pony, but to no avail. The thing had a mind of its own. Yay magic. Meh.

Marie was happily making her way around the track trying to block out the music when...

Whoa!

Balloons were everywhere... and they were popping. Not only were they popping but they had stuff coming out of them when they popped. Well that was not something Marie wanted to run into. Pulling on the left rope that was attached to her horsestick she smiled when she avoided being hit with the white goo.

Yes, She could do this.

Simon noticed Viky had edged past him in the process of the race, getting hit by the feathers first and had to keep himself from chuckling at her appearance. It wouldn't do to make her feel self-conscious.

"Depulso!" he cast trying his best to keep as many feathers as he could away from him though he was sure a few had probably managed to attach themselves to his hair and clothes as he made his way through the second obstacle.

So far, so good. Vashti was doing fairly well dodging the shaving cream-spewing balloons even after her shield had disappeared. She had a couple splotches of shaving cream on her, but she wasn't covered in it like others might be. That was until she suddenly felt something drop on her head. Reaching up her wand hand, she grabbed the very light thing with her ring and pinkie finger and brought it in front of her face.

A feather?

That distraction was all she needed to briefly forget that she was still trying to dodge the balloons, causing her to run right through one.

AGGGHH!

Now her entire front was basically covered in shaving cream and she had only a second or two to try to wipe some of it off before the falling feathers stuck to it. Great, now she looked like a bird!

Wait. That was a good thing, wasn't it? She was an Eagle. Literally now. That was a good thing!

Caw caw!

Louisa was still zooming around and trying to dodge balloons and students. In the meantime more and more feathers went down on her which made her uncomfortable. She held on to the stick-horse with one hand and started pulling them off quickly. No need for 'the queen of feathers' to show off while in class right? Heh.

Taking the last feathers from her face, ANOTHER balloon came from her right side making her to fall off her stick-horse. Instead of swearing, this time she giggles giving up to the balloon and being on shaving cream all over again.

Louisa got up still chuckling and charmed the stick-horse to ride on it. She clutched her wand tightly in her hand and zoomed away once again more feathers are sticking on her.. and she didn't even bother to take them off. They were fine and she didn't know the right spells to use anyways.

Sophia was already covered in shaving cream and now there were feathers falling all over the place. She screamed a little bit as the feathers fell down near her. "Protego!" she shouted, not wanting to get covered in feathers. She was NOT about to be covered in ickyness.

Where did you come from.....?

Trix was FAR too lost in the music to have realised that people were getting showered in feathers and shaving foam and what not. "Onwards horsey" she spoke to herself, bobbing her head to the music and singing along. But it wasn't long until Trixie got a shower of her own. A shower of brightly coloured feathers. Large ones as well. Large colourful fluffy things.

She looked like..... A PARROT!

Okay she was NOT impressed. Still the music kept her going as she dodged the attack from the other feathers. The Blonde blew a feather away from in front of her face.

Now Vashti's nickname worked for her again. Slytherdove... Except this time, well it was Slytherparrot wasn't it?

Eli's stick pony continued to wobble and buck and jerk like a bucking bronco. He struggled to control it, though his hands were slick with white foam and so the attempts were futile. He pulled back on the rein again, jerking upward and to the left, sideswiping some girl and crashing into her.

"Oof!" he cried, glancing up to apologize. But --

Oh dear.

It was the she-snake. UGH! Eli wrinkled his nose. "Watch where you're going!" he snarled at her. The stick pony smacked down onto the ground and then boing! bounced up again and BACK into her again.

This was just not Eli's day.

Concentrating so hard while staring forwards to dodge any on-coming balloons Louisa glances someone who almost looked like herself. Wha..? She lost focus and stared back at the white feathered creatured on that stick-horse.

"Vashti? Is that y--" But the poor girl didn't get the chance to continue for a balloon hit her right in the face and now her face and MOUTH was full of shaving cream again.

Luckily, Louisa didn't fall this time (Became an expert!) but clung to her stick-horse. She started spitting the cream away while suppressing her giggles or else she'd swallow it, she had no intention of tasting this thing just now.

Frowning at the feathers, Evelyn looked up to see a mass amount of them, all colors imaginable, floating down towards them.

ACK!

WHYYY must the professor do such a thing? They were already ridiculous looking enough to be flying these face wooden horse thing, and what with the shaving cre-

....

Must she make them look like chickens?! She KNEW the professor could have resisted such a horrible thought and play of action but no, she had to go and do it didn't she. Having been totally distracted with the feathers, she didn't see one of the balloons pop right in front of her, covering her shield white shaving cream. She couldn't SEE!!

And NEEDING to be able to see, she flicked her wand to the side, dropping the shield and letting all that shaving cream go flying elsewhere, not paying attention to where it landed or who it hit.

'FLICK!'

Of course, she didn't do it on purpose to distract anyone else, it was just instinct! She needed to be able to see!

Louisa was still spitting the shaving cream out of her mouth and wiping what she could wipe off her eyes and face. She looked around quickly looking for Vashti but she lost the girl. Typical. Who would find whom in this chaos of cream and feathers? Many students looked the same right now... except for her! Although she was in cream & feathers she will never be like others. Heh.

She refocused on her path as she doubled back towards the place where she met Vashti not long ago. She dodged this balloon! And this! And this one... not dodging feathers or sending them away they can stick if they want to. She lost hope.

"Now where Vashti could be?" She talked to herself barely moving her lips, she didn't want to have another balloon-meal so soon. Hehehe. Her focus was divided between balloons and finding Vashti which was Mission Impossible. The girl looked like a bird just like dozens of students did. Yet, Louisa could identify her from her general structure. Grin. That was exciting!

Ugh, like this could get any worse. Now she'd just flown right past Simon and HE COULD SEE HER LOOKING LIKE A CHICKEN. 'So not cool, Carlton' Viky muttered under her breath as she tried to keep the wooden horse straight. Blech, she hoped this stuff would wash off easily... oh yeah. Magic. But as she got hit with yet another blast of shaving foam, she gave up trying to see without magical aid 'Protego!' she yelled, springing up a shield round her 'Scourgify!' she added, pointing the wand at herself.

Which turned out to be a REALLY bad idea. Because whilst she was doing that, she forgot all about her Hover Charm, which was NOT GOOD. She let out a tiny little scream as she fell, though it wasn't reeally tooo far to the ground. 'Ouch!' she cried as she the floor, landing heavily on her right shoulder.

That was gonna leave a mark