Eino made his way to the Whomping Willow hoping it was having a good day so it would whip its vines and branches at them. This was the Hufflepuff base, right? They sort of had their very personal body guard, the tree, which made things more difficult. The boy carefully made his way around it, silently twisting his wand and tapping his hand. "Presenho," He whispered firmly. He looked behind him to make sure Beatrice was close and then gave her a sharp nod, indicating that it was time to move out. Stealth wasn't really Eino's strength, so brute force would have to do it.

He made a run for it. He ran as fast as he could towards the yellow flag, trying to get the Hufflepuff's attention. "Accio yellow flag!" He shouted from a distance, trying not to get too close to them.

The yellow flag twitched but nothing happened. It appears these flags can't be accio'd!

Annoyed, the willow's whomper swung out.

"HEY!!" Sophie shouted and pointed her wand at him. "IMMOBULUS!!"

Beezus clutched her wand firmly. Eino made a run for it and she stayed a little behind to support him if things suddenly go horribly wrong. They couldn't climb the tree which made retrieving their flag or capturing the yellow flag more difficult.

As she watched him cast the Accio charm, Beezus quickly charmed her hand. "Prehenso," she uttered upon pointing her wand at her right hand.

Just then, a girl casted immobulus. But she was faster. "No. you..Immobulus!" And the girl froze. "Eino, hurry!" she yelled.

Sophie turned around just in time to see the other Ravenclaw casting a spell on her. "PROTEGO!!" she closed her eyes when she cast this spell. She opened them right after it and grinned. It had wooorked!! YEAH!! She then pointed her wand to the same Ravenclaw that had tried to freeze her. "IMMOBULUS!!"


OCC: I did not freeze!! x)

The tree's vine hit Eino right in the gut, sending him flying and a few feet and causing to have a not-so-smooth landing. Thankfully, if any good can come out from falling on your bottom after being hit on the stomach by a huge tree, the Freezing Charm was blocked by one of the tree's branches.

Just in time, Beatrice responded with another Freezing Charm, which gave Eino to stand up and compose himself. After rubbing his aching behind and patting the tree leaves off of his shoulders, he made another run for the flag. He was soooooo cloooooooose!!!

"NO, YOU DON'T" Sophie shouted again and pointed her wand at the ground in front of the boy. "GLISSEO!"

The yellow flag, attached to the whomper was suddenly in the grip of the Ravenclaw. The Whomping branch swung high and began to descend again. Watch out badgers and eagles!

Beezus ducked. She had fast reflexes remember? Then she casted, "Glisseo!" to where she was standing and slided to where Eino was. "Oh, goodness! Stand up!" she mumbled while he did so.

She then faced the girl. "Silencio!" That was what she could think of.. "And...errr..Rictusempra!"

Alyssa realized that the Whomping Willow was getting tired of being climbed on and mistreated. So after Sophie thanked it and it began to continue holding on to the blue flag, Alyssa sat near it and softly sang to it.



Once Alyssa finished singing, she walked around the Whomping Willow checking to see whether it had suffered any damage. She made it a point to ask Professor Bentley what she could do to heal any of it's damaged branches, once the game was over. Alyssa hoped that it was soon because judging from the looks of her fellow housemates and flag protectors, they were feeling the effects of having to duel with the older students and were all feeling tired. She hoped more of the older Hufflepuff students would come and take over protecting the flags so that they could get some rest.

"Expelliarmus!" She yelled, her wild blonde hair streaming out behind her as she ran towards the tree. She remembered the Hufflepuff prefects advice and decided to try out the spell, "Finite!" As she said this she pointed her wand at the Ravenclaw's hand. Hopefully that had worked.

The Whomping Willow seemed to be going nuts again. An older student than herself was singing to it, probably to calm it. She took up the words and sang them as well in a slightly quavering voice. The branches scared her, they could probably probably break bones if the tree wanted to. Her eyes widened as she sang the song, her eyes following the Ravenclaws as she did so.

OH, NOT AGAIN!! Sophie ducked and avoided both spells. "No way I'm going to be laughing like mad again!!" she pointed her wand at both of them. "FINITE!! FINITE!! FINITE!!" she WAS going to make the Gripping Charm disappear!

The surface of the ground was now smooth, and there was a huge branch coming own on him. There was only thing he could do. Eino threw himself on the ground and slid off the tree's hitting range. Best. Escape. EVER! He dodged a thick branch by a mere few inches. With the yellow flag in his hand, Eino got up and made a run for it. Out of the hufflepuffs sight, and out of the tree's sight! The only thing he wanted to see right now were his fellow Ravenclaws.

WHAT??? Sophie ran after him, pointing her wand at him. "IMMOBULUS!! FINITE!!" she kept on running. "YOU'RE WELCOME!!" she had saved him from getting hit by the Whomping Willow after all.

Two badgers casting finite on her? HAHA! Well.. their bad. She did not have the flag. Eino had ..They should have aimed for him. Well..she did bait and she had rather done it good. The girl missed the Expelliarmus and she managed to get away.

She grinned like mad when the Willow swung its branches around for Eino and her had managed to avoid its vicious strength. Once it swung its branch up, she stood up and followed the running Eino. they had to get out of there, now! As for the badgers.. Another charm.. "Rictusempra!" her favorite. She did not care though if it hit any of them.

Sophie looked back at the two Hufflepuff girls. "You stay here and watch the last flag! I'm going to get them!!" and she ran off behind those Ravenclaws.

Glenn saw the flag before she saw the Ravenclaw. The bright yellow wasn't hard to miss. She turned away from the other Ravenclaw and turned her attention to this one. "Finite!!" She yelled, pointing her wand at the Ravenclaws hands.

She was about to run off after the Ravenclaw when she heard Sophie. If anything, she trusted Sophie. As much as it pained her, she stayed behind. Ignoring her fear of the Willow's branches, she circled back to their flags.They could use a little better defence around here.


Totally forgetting the fact that she could cast a Protego charm, Glenn launched herself out of the way from the spell. Rolling across the ground, to avoid the spell.

Merlin! How could she let herself look away for even a second? She rubbed her knee that she had bruised as she rolled. Glenn stood up, limping slightly.

The blue flag cheerfully started to wave from its branch, like it was reminding the Badgers, hey! you've still got me!

Glenn looked up at the blue flag waving in the tree. Yes, she thought a little miserably, I guess we still do have you. She walked over to the other Hufflepuffs, with no threat now, there was no use being like a hawk by the flags. "I guess we're at the bottom again guys." Hufflepuff could never win could they?

The situation was surreal situation to be in. Here she was hiding with a snake and the boy who she almost couldn't stand to be next to despite their mutual role. And now what were they here to do? Capture a flag together. It was...ridiculous.

Quickly twisting and tapping her hand, Kurumi performed the Gripping Charm on both hands just to be safe and then looked at the two. Here goes nothing, right? Seeing that the willow was stationary, Kurumi took off at a fast sprint, her hand reaching out for the flag as it blew gently in the breeze.

Kennedy ran toward the Willow, not sure why he had gotten himself into this, but somehow it felt...right.

He saw Kurumi attempt to reach for the flag and he stood guard. "Climb up higher," he suggested.

Inter house unity? Heck yeah!

CLIMB?! Was he insane? Climb the Whomping Willow? Kurumi looked up, the flag just out of her reached and knew that he was right. "What if I ask the Whomping Willow nicely to lower its branches instead?" she squeaked, jumping up and down trying to catch it. Or...she could stand on his shoulders. That would work too.

"Um, excuse me, Mr. Willow...or, erm, Ms. Willow...would you mind lowering your branches so I could take that pesky flag off your...twigs?"

Diplomacy. It worked more often than not, right?

Kurumi was having trouble getting to the flag but she was almost there. "Don't climb it, you'll hurt yourself." Pointing out the obvious, much? "Use Wingardium Leviosa..You have a better chance with that, won't you." Hopefully that was good advice. Since Kennedy seemed to be trying to help Kurumi Adam kept in their area going around in a small circle looking off from all angles.

Two Gryffindors, actually, two lions who weren't on good terms an a slytherin. Yeah, that was awesome teamwork.

The blue flag dangles on the branch as the gryffindor tries to plead with the Whomping willow. The willow is not listening and instead starts to swing the branch around wildly. WATCH OUT!

Okay, climbing the Willow was probably a bad idea. What if he...

Hmm. Did she trust him enought?

"Do you need a boost?" he asked. With his height and her's they'll definitely be able to reach the flag. He thought about Adam's suggestion, but what if they got distracted and dropped Kurumi.

That wouldn't end too well.