OOOOOOOOOOOF!

Yep, she had run into something...and it wasn't the wall. Or, if it was the wall, then the wall could speak. Although, that really wouldn't surprise her considering that this WAS Hogwarts and anything was possible. However, the ouch that came from whatever it was she had hit was more certainly Kennedy.

FUDGECICLE! She had been crawling in the opposite direction. Now blind and at least ten feet away from her own wand, Kurumi felt utterly ridiculous. What was next? Were her and Kennedy going to blow up the Dueling Arena? That seemed entirely possible the way things were going.

"K-Kennedy?" she squeaked, fumbling around with her hands and *smack* oh...oh...that was definately a face just now. "S-S-S-Sorry..." "Kennedy...it's Kurumi...I...um...I dropped my wand..." she stammered. Could he Accio it towards him? That might work... Worse case would be that it would smack into one of them, poke an eye out, and then drop to the floor. BUT, the sound of it dropping to the floor would tell her where it was and then she would have her wand back! Perfect!

"Do you...um...do you mind casting Accio on my wand?"

Or...he could crawl around on the floor pawing at everything with her.

Minerva smiled as he frowned and then she saw his wand move. "Pretego" she moved her wand quickly. Did he think if he didn't move his lips she wouldn't know. She couldn't hear anyway.

Jen looked at her
"I'M so serry! didn't men to!"

Drat! She still was able to block him. Now it was personal and Justin put on his game face. " Expelliamus." He waited for her to block him again and once he saw her arm lower , " Expelliamus". There that should do it! he smiled to himself as he shot her a little grin knowing there was no way she could've blocked his second attempt.

Minerva saw his wand "Pretego" she blocked his shot again. She smiled, but that smile didn't last very long, because her wand was out of her hand. She looked at him and stuck out her tongue as she went to pick up her wand.

Being overly observant wasnt one of Olivias most valuable traits, so she had to pay extra attension to everything going on in the moment and not daydream! Olivia was ready this time, it was all planned out. Olivia turned her partner arround so she would cast expelliarmus right at her face, that way Olivias protego charm wouldnt have to last as long. Protego! she blocked the spell. Now Olivia had two options, step back or push her partner forward. What would be the most Slytherin thing to do, push! She pushed her partner forward ,but not that hard.Expelliarmus! said Olivia.

Ya Sierra I think you were supposed to aim at me! Olivia joked. Oh rightOlivia thought, Sierra couldnt see or hear her. Olivia could be as annoying as she wanted. Whoever did try to understand what Olivia was saying would have to be a good lip reader. Professer, Is it OK if we keep the same Partner, or do we have to find one in the same group?

Again Vashti waited, listening carefully for Amelia's spell. There were a lot of Disarming Spells being cast though, so it was getting harder for her to listen for her partner. She held her breath, hoping that might help as she listened...

Suddenly, she thought she heard Amelia, but all she caught was the "...armus" part. MEEP. "Pro-" But before she could finish the Shield Charm's incantation, she felt her wand fly from her hand.

"Oh Merlin!" Where did it go?!

Justin could only laugh as he saw Minerva stick her tongue out at him. Then he made a sacarcastic poutting face and put his finger up and motioned with his index finger as to say " bring it on." Then he stood ready with his wand waiting for her to really let him have it. He stood silently waiting for her next barage.... Nope she was taking far too long, " Expelliamus."

Amelia was curious as to whether or not Vashti was successful in her shield charm or nor. She knew how hard it was to do this task, and she had been lucky not have lost her wand. She waited to hear if her partner wanted to do it again for more practice, but she didn't hear anything. She was puzzled now. "Did you manage to do it?" she asked curiously.

Kennedy propped himself on his elbows when he heard Kurumi's voice, which sounded too close for a strange reason, and then...

*SMACK*

The boy was back on his back. What'd he do to get smacked? He was just an innocent bystander that just got run over. He rubbed his cheek and propped himself on one elbow. It was Kurumi that smacked him? BUT WHY? He thought they were friends.

"I...know who you are," he said, scooting backward just in case. Kennedy was good at remembering people's voices. His eyebrows rose at her statement. "You lost it?" Now, that's what he had been fearing would happen to him.

The prefect got on all fours, his wand still tightly grasped. "Okay," he said, gulping. "But...um, I've only tried it twice." The first time the object had gone the wrong way, and the second time it... kind of summoned the item to him at a really fast speed.

Kennedy raised his arm and pointed straight ahead. That's where Kurumi had come from, right? Well, they'd find out. "Accio Kurumi's wand!"

He's not responsible for any injuries or loss of eyes.

Vashti went down on her hands and knees immediately when she managed to hear a small thunk! She searched blindly yet carefully around her, searching for her wand. As she did, she heard Amelia ask whether she'd managed to cast the Shield Charm properly. "No, I...think I lost my wand," she said. Then, suddenly, her hand touched a stick-like object...

"Aha!" Her wand! Thank Merlin.

Vashti stood carefully. Now...which direction was Amelia again? "I've got my wand now. You ready?"

Oakey grabbed his wand in disappointment that he was disarmed. If he wasn't currently deaf he would have heard Alyssa's spell coming. Taking it in his right hand this time he pointed it at his partner. Expelliarmus!

The stream of light zipped past Alyssa completely missing her and hit one of the dummies she was standing in front of. Really! Oakey thought rather aggravated that he missed his target completely. I'm not even Blind folded! EXPELLIARMUS! He shouted this one now. He wasn't happy with his last one and didn't care if everyone in the room (who wasn't deaf) could hear him. This stream of light came directly at Alyssa.

Alyssa ducked when she saw Oakey's first spell zip by her. Now that was close. Before she knew it he had sent another spell at her. She quickly perfomed the shield charm swishing her wand in an arcing flick followed quickly by a horizonal arch and said the words to the spell...or at least what she hoped were to words to the spell since she couldn't hear herself say it. "Proteeeguh". Nothing streamed out from her wand. 'Blast it' she thought to herself as she felt Oakey's disarming charm hit her wand hand.

Her wand went flying and Alyssa followed closely after it....not looking where she was going until she bounced off....Oakey...and fell backwards to the floor right next to where her wand had landed. She started to giggle. Now this was really awkward.

"Uh - stripes, rainbow stripes. They were all over your face." Glenn smiled apologetically at Janice. She had mispronounced "Expelliarmus" she realised.

Janice hit her with her disarming charm before Glenn could remember the incantation for the Shield charm. Proteega or something. Wait, no. Protego, that's it!

Bam!

Glenn fell on her butt two metres from where she had been standing before. She moved gingerly and pulled herself upright, locating her wand near another groups feet. Glenn jumped almost manically towards it, picking it up and replacing it safely in her pocket before it could get broken.

The professor came around and tapped her wand on Glenn's head, almost immediately, all the sound in the room was cut out. She probably gasped loudly as it happened but she couldn't hear her own voice.

Was Kennedy...annoyed? He certainly sounded like it. Was it because she had smacked him twice? She hadn't meant to...she was currently blind as a bat. Not that bats were actually blind. It was quite the opposite really. Their eyes, while small and sometimes poorly developed, are also completely functional, not to mention the fact that they have excellent hearing and sense of smell. Perhaps the saying should be changed to "Keen as a Bat"? Yep, Kurumi was going to try and use that one more often she decided.

She nodded, not that he could see, and then sort of pushed herself off the ground. She then tried to use her keen cat-like senses to somehow HEAR her wand zooming through the air towards her, but had no such luck and heard nothing at all.

"OUCH!" she squeaked as she felt something jab her in the sides and then heard the soft clanging as something fell to the floor. HER WAND! It was near by... Back on all fours again, Kurumi searched around until she found her wand and jumped back to her feet. "I got it!" she chirped, turning to face the direction she THOUGHT Kennedy was, but she was really facing an entirely different one (in the direction of a CERTAIN Slytherin girl)

Now, where were here and Kennedy? "Was it your turn to cast the Disarming Spell?" she shouted over the other students in the arena.

It seemed they would still be working together afterall. When the professor came around to tap his ear he almost laughed, that was funny since he was already deaf and nothing she could do would undo that. Holding his hand up to stop her he turned his hearing aid off and turned to Tayla and nodded to her. Too bad she couldn't sign because that would help them out perfectly. His speech was already a bit off and he had had years of practicing without hearing himself so it was probably unfair. Giving her a thumbs up -everyone understood that- he prepared himself. She would go first, he saw from her stance, she was in attack mode but knowing how to read body language he'd let her disarm him seeing that it might have been a shock if he magically could defend without hearing.

With his wand on the floor he gave a nod then went to get it. With it in his hand he gave her a nod and raised his brows before getting in position. With his left hand extended he used the right to sign ok to her, his index and thumb making an "O" while the other three fingers stuck up in the air. He wouldnt fire until she gave the go ahead and when she did he waved his right hand hoping to catch her attention then flicked the left saying "Expelliarmus!"

Zhenya accidentally did the wrong spell... "Expelliarmus!" she called at the same time as Raven. She felt like a big gust of wind was pushing her and she fell backwards onto her backside.

She looked around, confused at what had just happened.

"Raven, what happened?" she said, but she couldn't hear herself. Oh NO! She shrugged up at Raven, with a sheepish look on her face. She was silly!

She stood up again and rolled her shoulders out.

It honestly was hard adjusting right after Professor Romanos had obscured her vision, but Stella was finding that the more she focused, she coudl keep herself from panicking. Oddly enough, closing her eyes helped as well, even if it didn't particularly matter at the moment. All it did was trick her into thinking the darkness was her own choice. She heard the chuckle, too, and used it to turn her head toward João's voice, even as he'd spoken in another language. Of course, she thought. In a way she'd asked for that, but it didn't matter. She could decipher his intent, at least, even though she had no clue what he'd said.

And it seemed like he wasn't going to back down, which meant she needed to be on her guard. Continuing to focus, listening for his voice amongst all the others casting around them, she tilted her head to one side as nothing happened. She didn't hear him cast anything, which made her curious. Especially as he hadn't said anything. Beyond the earlier unknown comment, which had presumably not been anything giving her permission to start. She knew the professor had, however, so after another moment, she flicked her wand up in the d-shaped movement from earlier. "Expelliarmus!," she cast, hoping that she at least was still aiming at her partner. She hadn't turned from when she'd located him earlier, but the fact he was quiet was more startling than anything else.

Gideon was prepared for the upcoming spell and while he had debated just letting it happen or not to make things fair, he reacted in defense of himself. "Protego!" he cast, his shield raising just as the spell went to hit it having him give an inward sigh of relief. Especially when it seemed Vickers' nerves had gotten the better of him and the disarming spell hit off kilter.

That was close...he hadn't really wanted to be magically shoved.

"That was good," he commented, letting Vicker's know it wasn't a big deal in case he reacted and picked up on his own mistake. Turning his attention back to the Professor as she spoke, the 5th year shifted as directed almost without thinking. His thoughts not quite processing her detail about their senses being effected until a few moments after it probably should have.

Blind-folded...Taking away their sense of sight.

Gideon wasn't too sure he was keen on that idea, swallowing at the prospect yet not backing out for want of pushing past it. It would be fine, he told himself. Just a little bit of a challenge and he took a deep breath before he moved the last bit to allow them more space as suggested by the professor, thinking his partner was following.

However as he was moving, the spell took hold and he actually froze in the process. The feeling was familiar...way too familiar and he couldn't bring himself to raise his wand hand or even speak at first as thoughts raced through his mind. Not in the least of which was of himself going to cast and hurting someone, either his partner or another student, because his spell went wonky. "I'm... here," he finally answered back as the Ravenclaw called his name, his eyes wanting to look in Vicker's direction even without the ability to see him.

Maybe he should have opted out after all.

Panic. Sheer panic.

Vickers was this close to ripping off the blindfold, the thought screaming in his head that it wasnt fair to him-- that he effectively lost two senses, without his sight, he had better chances of smelling a spell than hearing its incantation. And truthfully he has no idea what any spell would smell like as its flying through the air.

Amidst the disarming and shield spells being yelled around he thought he heard something else..... was that Gideon? Or was that just his imagination? Shakily he held his wand out, trying to aim it at the sound of where he thought it came from. "Gideon.... are you there?" he squeaked out, facing, not Gideon, but the dummies with the wall behind them.

Then another thought entered his head which really couldnt have come at a worse time-- what if some errant spell from other students come hurtling towards them-- towards him? He cant see it, and if he could ever hear it coming which he cant it would be too late.

He had an extraordinary desire to back up against the wall and throw a shield spell up until the Professor says class dismissed.

Thing is he has absolutely no clue where the wall is, or any notion that it was directly in front of him.

So many people yelling protego.... was that Gideon? In the cacophony of voices and his poor hearing it was near impossible for Vickers to discernibly pick Gideon's voice out from the crowd. Assuming mistakenly that the Gryffindor has taken up the defensive position first Vickers stuttered out "O-Okay.... s-s-so I go and do the disarming spell again right?

Pause.... did Gideon respond? Perhaps the better question would be, would Vickers have heard it?

"O-Okay... here goes...." pause again. Oi today would've been a good day to bring along his hearing-aid....

With the wand stroke he cast "Expelliarmus"

And the spell flew out of his wand.... which may or may not have rebounded against the dummies. Eep!

One second, Professor Romanos was holding over her wand above her head and the next second, there was complete silence.

O____O She was deaf! OMGSHECOULDNOTHEARATHING!

Beezus swallowed as she looked around. She started shaking so bad that she thought she was going to fall on the floor. Why was she so scared? Merlin, she was indeed scared. She was shivering and her hands were sweating cold. She had never felt so helpless like this before. Well..the last time she felt like that was on the day her sister died in fact.

She blinked and stared at her feet. No, she just can't do it. She just can't walk around without hearing anything. It scared the hell out of her and made her very uncomfortable. Beezus felt like everything was closing in on her and suddenly, it became hard to breathe.

"P-p-professor," she stuttered as her eyes searched for Professor Romanos. But she couldn't find her. "PROFESSOR!" Beezus bit her lower lip and tried to suppress tears. WHY WAS SHE CRYING?! "Professor..Professor.." she continued biting her lip and she held her hands forcibly together.

...

For the love of all things shiny!

Jumping a little as the Slytherin girl suddenly spun back around to face her, wand pointed at her and all, she was a bit taken aback to really...do anything but...DUCK AND COVER!

Flailing to the side, she reached over and pulled down the blindfold from Sierra's face. "Wrong...person...Miss Greingoth. Didn't you hear?" Didn't she???

Glancing past Sierra towards Olivia, she stood up a little more straight after that small-ish attack was over. Hmmm? Halfway to opening her mouth, she snapped it shut. Right. She wouldn't be able to hear her. Yet as someone else was calling out for her, she held up her finger to indicate she'd get back to that topic.

Glancing towards Laura and her partner, her eyes widened a bit at the sight of the spots. Uh huuuuh. Yet before she could lift the spell from the Hufflepuff girl so she could hear her speak, Medea heard yet another person calling for help.

This one sounded a bit more urgent though. "HERE!" she said, spinning around and holding up her hand. Wait. Who was the one calling for her? A blindfolded student or one who wouldn't be able to hear her?

Finally though, she did spot someone who looked just a bit more upset than she'd expected. Oh Merlin. Yet on her way over to the girl, she'd passed two students practically on the floor, one who had a squeak in their voice, and a buuuunch of people who were having a hard time pronouncing the spells. Okaaay...

With a glance at her watch as she stopped next to the girl, Medea ran sighed and tapped the girl on both sides of her head near her ears to counter the deafening spell. "Are you alright, Miss Castell?" She wasn't hurt was she?




Looking out across the chaotic room, she was actually rather pleased with the results. A few mishaps, but all in all, they all did get a taste of what it was like not having one of their senses. Which was the point of it all. They practically failed altogether, but still, Medea was pleased. Especially in the conditions they were in. "ALRIGHT! Every...one..." Wait. Half the class couldn't hear a word she was saying.

Shaking her head to herself, she hopped up onto the dueling platform and made a sweep of her wand over the class. The blindfolds on the older students were vanished, and the spells effecting the younger students hearing was countered instantly. "Alright! Everyone. Stop! Hold your spells!" Stop stop stop.

No, she was not alright! She wanted to burst out crying! Hearing nothing but silence was just too loud for her and she did not like that. When Professor Romanos tapped her head, she knew she'd be able to hear again. And when she did. "I'm sorry Professor!" all she could do was hug their DADA teacher. "I just can't do it," Well..forgive her for being such a scaredy cat please?

And with the next move that the Professor did, she felt so relieved. All blindfolds and deafening silence was gone now. Beezus sighed deeply. Now that it was over, she was not shaking too much anymore. Oh, thank you Merlin for that.

Jen finnaly was able to hear again. She put her wand back in her pocket and stared at the professor waiting for more instructions

There was a strong itching to remove the spell that had her temporarily blind. Why couldn't she just have been silenced? That was so much easier to work with, but not challenging enough she supposed. "I will be alarmed, but I won't panic." Really she should ALWAYS be alarmed if something she can't see goes flying past her head, not that she didn't trust the captain, just that they weren't the only ones blindfolded, so who's to say she won't get hit with someone else's spell?

His voice wasn't too far from her, and she figured that they'd were no longer standing directly in front of each other, especially since after he cast, she felt nothing, not even a breeze. How far away were they?

Oh.

She could see again.

The prefect blinked at the suddenness that her blindfold was removed and looked over at the professor.