Sarah wondered what was going on with the Professor. Why is he talking about dangerous games, they are supposed to be really dangerous weren't they? Now, what did he ask? How? Hm, Creaothceann.. She remembered her Uncle Ben telling her about different games.. she tried to recall them. Ah, right! She raised her hand and said, "Sir, Creaothceann is a Scottish broom game where the players have a broomstick and a cauldron strapped to their head.." she tried hard to remember, "And, yah, hundred rocks are charmed to float considerably high above the ground and they began to fall to the ground." she paused. How horrible. "The players then zoom around the field, trying to catch as many rocks in their cauldrons as possible." she finished. Now with a little scowl on her face.

Mina raised her hand slightly. She remembered this game and it did always strike her as something of a barbaric kind of game. Seriously, it was common for only 1/6th of its players would survive a game. "Creaothceann is play with usually twelve players with cauldrons strapped on their heads. They fly under a hundred rocks charmed to float a hundred feet above ground and try to catch as many rocks as they can as the rocks fall." Yeah, it was definitely a barbaric game.

Carr remained silent, but looked more and more uncomfortable the more people talked about the Scottish game--What was it called again? I have a bad feeling about this...

Rachel had no idea! She grew up in the muggle world so had never done the game, she listened to what other people were saying, so thought about an answer in her own words, she took a few seconds correcting herself, then put her hand up and said, "It's a sort of game where people strap either a bucket or probably a cauldern to their heads and try to catch roks falling down, there are about..." She thought for a bit before saying anything else, "There are about 12 players too I think." She wished at that moment that she had not said a thing it sounded a bit stupid, but she had never really heard of the word, so she expected that her answer would sound at least a bit silly, she hoped that she was right anyway.

See, this was why Sierra liked Flying class. No, not Vinny Boy, the types of questions that were asked. She still hadn't forgiven Vinny Boy for making them service the school brooms and clean the greenhouses in her first year, but she guessed he was slowly redeeming himself.

Maybe.

...but anyway, Sierra was usually in a good mood during this class, because broom games was something she happened to know a lot about. Having Alexander Greingoth for a father would do that to a person. She smiled at the thought and raised her hand, "The players had these huge cauldrons attached to their heads, and their goal was to catch in them as many charmed boulders as they could," she explained. "Oh, and the boulders had been charmed to hover in the air ahead of time, so they were pretty much pouring down on the players."

William waits fore more questions about Quidditch.

Vindictus laughed heartily at each of the descriptions of the game. "I enjoyed all of your answers, so three points to each of you. Creaothceann was a brutal game."


He clapped his hands and rubbed them together. There was a mischievous twinkle in his blue eyes.

"Does anyone know the name of the Irish game that Fingal the Fearless is alleged to have been a champion of?"

Simon raised a slight eyebrow at the reaction given by Vindictus for it raised some questions of its own that he couldn't quite pin down. But he was the leader so he wasn't one to be questioned...much. " That would be the game of Aingingein," he answered speaking up once more.

"I be lieve that game is Aingingein. It is the only Irish broomstick game I know of though I have never heard of Fingal the fearless", Chloe responded with a slight chuckle with her hand raised.

Fingal the Fearless... Irish broom game... What was it...? Oh! But...how was it pronounced? Vashti could see the word in her mind, but its pronunciation... Hmm...

She slooowly raised her hand. "It's...Aingingein, isn't it?"

"It's the one that starts with an A," Ellie said, nodding. She couldn't pronounce it any more than Creaothceann. "Oh, I mean Aiginnigan." Right. There. That.

"No." Nika doesn't know. Well he did asked if anyone knows and Nika was only being honest. He didn't ask for the name.

Fingal the Fearless, Irish, Fingal the Fearless, Irish... The one with the goatbladder, right? Which game was that? He asked himself as he tapped his hand on his lap impatiently waiting for it to come to him. And when it did he could barely pronounce it, again. "Is it, um, Ah-Een-Geen-GAIN?!" He said with his hand raised. He did not speak Irish, and that was his excuse.

"That's correct. A point each for your answers," replied Vindictus. "And how is the game Aingingein played?"

Ariella definitely remembered reading about Aingingein before. But was it the goat's gallbladder? Or pancreas? Ugh. So confusing! She decided to go with her first guess. After raising her hand, she began her answer. "There would be a series of burning barrels." She paused. "And each player would take a goat's gallbladder and fly through the barrels on a broomstick. The gallbladder would be thrown into the last barrel." She knew the gallbladder had a name...she just couldn't put her finger on what it actually was. Oh well. "The player who finished the task in the shortest time without catching on fire would be declared the winner."

Eino was familiar with some aspects of it but the rest he would unconsciously make up. He raised his hand. "The players each had a goat's gallbladder and they would apply the deadly fluid from erumptent horn on them to make it explosive. Then they would have to fly through hoops of fire! And if the goat's gallbladder exploded then they lost!" Or they die. "But if they succeeded they would have to shoot the gallbladder through the final hoop without letting it explode, of course!" There you go a partially correct answer. He felt confident.

So that was better? Pshh. Ellie barely tried pronouncing it then. But how it's played, "They take a Dom," No need to explain what that was, right? Ellie was NOT describing it, at least. It was...gross..and cruel. "And they fly through burning barrels and throw it into a barrel. Fastest time wins."

This was one of those games that, minus the gallbladder, sounded pretty fun. Especially the flying through burning barrels. That sounded exciting.

Big barrels, of course, with fireproof robes and stuff. And fireproof broom. Safety first and all.

Nika arched an eyebrow. If this Ar-whatever game was played with a dragon bladder.... Why does everyone know things that Nika doesn't!? She doesn't belong in this lesson. Do you think Vindictus would notice if she just picked up her stuff and left? No. She needed to stay. Maybe she would learn something. So Nika kept her quill in hand and scribbled down notes as others gave answers.

Relieved to have the pronunciation of the name out of the way, Vashti took a couple moments to remember what she had read about the actual game then raised her hand. "The player had to fly with a goat's gallbladder - called the Dom - and they had to go through a bunch of burning barrels and shoot the Dom into the last one. Whoever got through all the barrels the fastest and didn't catch on fire won." Not an entirely horrible game, in her opinion. Better than Creaothceann anyway. She would much rather fly through fiery barrels than try catching rocks with a cauldron on her head any day.

Oh Mina knew this one as well and raised her hand. "Players take a Dom and fly on their brooms through burning barrels. Then they have to throw the Dom through the last barrel. The winner is the one that does it the fastest and doesn't be burnt." Really, she did hope that she wouldn't have to explain what exactly the dom was. Just the thought of it kind of made her a bit uneasy.

Kurumi continued to grib her broom tighter and tighter. Burning...BARRELS?! And people thought that sports like American football and red rover were violent in the non-magical world. Her head snapped around to Vashti when she explained the sport. The person who didn't catch on fire...

o______________________O

Her eyes snapped back to Professor Vindictus. The sinking feeling in her stomach was growing evern more unsettling with each passing moment. She wouldn't put it past the man to have come up with some INSANE combination of all the games they were discussing as a sort of Olympic trial for them all to go through. A real crash course in flying as it were.

Kurumi hugged her knees to her chest, nearly whacking herself in the face with her broom as she did.

Janice's hand shot upwards and she answered.
"They take a goat's gall bladder and fly through lighted barrels. Then, they have to put the gall bladder inside the last barrel. The winner is the player who didn't datch on fire AND could finish it in the shortest time."
Now, she didn't regret reading Quidditch through the Ages.

Oops.

Sierra had sort of, maybe spaced out a little and missed about two of the questions. Trying desperately to catch up, she raised her hand. "The players hold a ball in one hand and fly through burning barrels," she said. "The barrels were set up as a course, and in the end, players had to throw the ball through a goal."

Sounded sort of fun, actually.

"They used the gallbladder of a goat as the ball and then flew through barrels that had been set on fire... And... they had to try not to catch fire. And then throw the ball through the final barrel. Whoever didn't catch fire and was the quickest won," Lexi said with a raised hand. Mhm.

A goat's gallbladder sounded DISGUSTING. The fire part... not so bad. She DID enjoy a good fire.

"Everyone who answered is correct. Three points to each of you for your spot-on answers," replied a very generous Vindictus and he pulled out his wand.

He pointed it at spot only ten feet away from where he was standing, and gave it a swish. Suddenly, a rack of robes and two boxes appeared. One box contained goggles and the other, gloves.

"I want each of you to don a robe, a pair of goggles, and the gloves - these will immediately conform to your size so there's no need for anyone to be flopping about in equipment that's too big. If you chose not to wear this specialized equipment, I'm afraid that you won't survive this lesson."

Vindictus clapped his hands together excitedly. "We're playing a modified form of Aingingein today! So after you're in your fire-proof equipment, grab a school broom that's also been given a special fire-protection charm."