So the potion was lasting an hour and a half to two? That seemed to be enough time alright. It wasn't like they would be up there for two whole hours right? RIGHT?!

Daichi nodded his head at the Professor's answer before walking away towards the nearest wall on the right side of the room. He eyed the cup with liquid and after glancing around one last time, he gulped the potion down at once. Immediately , he made a face that showed that the potion tasted disgusting and stuck out his tongue a little. BLEEEH!

But apart from the horrible taste, he didn't feel anything else which was hopefully a good sign. The Slytherin then too placed his gloved hand to the wall and let out a gasp as he seemed to stick on it like a magnet. His other hand went higher and he lifted himself up by putting his right foot on the wall as well.

This....felt weird! REALLY REALLY weird!

He began to climb on the wall with small and careful steps, afraid that something might go wrong and he would fall back on the ground. He was about halfway on the wall when he heard the Professor asking them a question.

Was she testing them to see if they could both concentrate on her question and at the same time could do a task such as climbing? The Snake stopped climbing for a second and thought. "Grindylows are water demons, Professor" he called. "They are also in the Lake here at Hogwarts"

catching up
 

The yogamats were on the roof? WIERD!
James had done what he was told, he had taken the drink, put on the gloves and shoes and had climbed the walls. His mother said that he did that often at home... or maybe Sarah told him that he drove her up the wall.... James could not remember...

Up and up he climbed, gradually he reached the top and after taking a few breaths he took a foot up and climbed onto the ceiling. Rather nervous at first he thought about maybe going down... then he saw that his sister was coming up so he felt encouraged... and there was a net. Things could not be so bad. So he climbed onto the roof, pretending that it was just another wall... and he stood up... WIERD! His world was upside down. Then the teacher asked a question... what where grindylows... James put his hand up.. or was it down?

"It is a small pale green, horned, water demon" James said. He was trying not to look down.

Minerva remembered right away a spell they had learned in COMC before going into the lake a few terms ago. She also remembered doing a project with Ella and Belle about these same creatures just last term.

Placing her hand up or was it down since they were upside down.. Either way she moved her hand over her head or under her head, wow this was confusing. "Professor Grindylows are demons that can be very harmful. They can attack wizards if anywhere near them and they live in the water. There are spells to protect yourself from them."

He started to tug at his sticky shoes until it peeled slowly off the wall, finally managing to move a few inches up from the ground. Just as he was figuring out which of his hands he should peel-lift first he heard the Professor speak again....




Oh boy... here we go asking a question while they're trying not to fall or some other tricky physical activity. Yes he does remember what the purpose of this training was but he's just the kind of guy that wants to do things one thing at a time. "Grindylows were part of the 2nd task of the Tri-Wizard Tournament " he blurted out hastily. Was that right? He didnt really have much chance to think that over since he was a bit more concerned about trying not to fall...

*catches up*
 

Frightening was an understatment.

With her gloves and shoes on, Renesmee climbed her first step up the wall. It felt odd, and weird and oddly unsafe too. She trusted the Professor though, or at least she had no option to now. It was too late and now that she had started she refused to go back.

Up and up she climbed, trying to focus on what The Professor had been saying at the same time. Grindylows? Erm..what could she have said about grindylows. Nothing really came to her, she couldn't focus enough with all the climbling.

One step another step, it took up most of her concentration, especially because it was nerve-racking and scary..there we go! An answer! "Grindylows are scary, Professor." It was true, was it not?

Maxwell was ready for some excitement and climbing the walls in such a way was just that, watching the professor ascend he studied the way she climbed the way preparing to mimic her movements when he was trying it himself.

Seeing the net he felt doubly safe, not that he was worried or didn't think a professor would let them do something unsafe but, now he was sure there'd be no risk in this and yeah that took out a bit of the fun, he stepped toward the wall and started climbing, one foot after the other in a spider-man style...how could he resist?

He followed up, higher, reaching close to the ceiling and let the other students answer the grindylow question, why bother chiming in? He simply listened and soaked up what he could while taking in the height.

Sarah warmed up. She sat on the floor with her legs in front of her and stretch over na dtouched her toes, ehn she stretched her hamstrings and then she got up and stretched. She tehn stretched her arms and ran on teh spot and did jumping jacks.

Happy that she was done and eager to climb, as her big eys shined with excitement and joy and a MASSIVE smile was plastered on her face. She tried to un towards the wall, yet to her dismay she realized that she had left her shoe behind she ran back to get it and slowly she edged her way towards the way.

Once at the wall she looked, up.. she was going to do it. She put her foot on the wall and then put her hands and then pulled up her other foot and placed that too on the wall. She then lifted her one hand and placed it forward and then her other hand, then she moved her feet forward one at a time.

She kept climbing and climbing until... BUMP she had hit her head on something... was that a ceiling? Yes it was! She reached out with her hand and like an agile monkey pulled herself up to the ceiling... she was doing it! She crawled along the ceiling until she found and available mat. And there she stood up.



Sarah raised her hand, her index finger pointed to the ground, "Grindlylows are green visious creatures that live in water. The merpeople sometimes keep them as pets, which is rather strange. They are sometimes called water demons. The lake had some Grindylows in I am sure."

Ugh! Hannah was just kind of in limbo. She couldn't go down now, not after all of the progress she had made. She knew that she needed to go up, but she was starting to freak out a bit. She looked around to see where everybody else was on this climb of doom. She looked to her right and seen that weird mechanical spider thing. Merlin...it was creepy. She looked to her left and seen some other students were pretty much at the same spot as her.

Then she heard the professor say that they needed to proceed to the top. Gulp. She could do it. She was already doing well considering that she attempted it in the first place. One step at a time. She was making progress. The she heard the professor ask about grindylows. "They are evil water creatures." That was it in a nutshell right? Before she knew it she was at the top. Ok now what? Because she didn't want to stand up straight or anything crazy like that.

Cassia wasn't really assured that she would get taller but Romanos didn't deny it so it was satisfying for the twelve years old. She watched how the woman started stretching. Cassia started doing the same. She started drawing circles in the air and bending her knees a bit. Then Professor started climbing. The Slytherin watched her Professor closely. She needed to copy her movements in order not to fall. She wasn't interested in finding out whether the net was bouncy or not. It looked easy, the way the woman was able to climb a couple of feet smoothly. If the woman could do it then Cassia should be able to do so too, right? As she was younger and all that.

Cassia pressed both of her hands to the wall and felt that they stuck. She smiled at that knowing that indeed it was safe and easy. She peeled one of her hands and stuck it higher. Then she pressed her feet as higher as she could and pushed herself up. That should be easy. Cassia soon found a method of sticking her hands and feet in turns then unsticking them. She also kept a method to her breathing. Inhale and exhale.. It wasn't hard but it needed concentration because sometimes her limbs would get a bit tangled and she would find it hard to proceed. But she felt that she was getting better at it.

She paused after covering a couple of feet up. Just to regain her strength. She didn't get tired ,she just need to clear her head because she started to get clumsy and that. Looking around her Cassia saw that good number of students were half the way up. She didn't like that. She wanted to get there fast. So she took a deep breath in and got ready to cover the remaining distance fast. And she didn't hear what Romanos was asking. Climbing over here no time for thinking.

catch up!
 

Ella started stretching as suggested, taking special time to make sure her legs were stretched out. She couldn't imagine how bad it would be if her legs locked up while she was climbing the wall and she was just stuck there, like some fly in a web. Meep! That would be quite embarrassing, actually. After a few minutes of work, she deemed herself ready and headed towards the nearest wall, eyeing Professor Romanos as she watched her start her climb.

Stick. Lift. Stick. Lift. Boy, walking in these shoes wasn't exactly an easy task. The third year made her way quite slowly across the floor, stopping in front of the wall. She then placed her palms up and was surprised when they stuck quite securely to the surface. BEAM. Wicked! When both hands were stuck, the small blonde brought one foot up. STICK. Then the other. STICK. Woah! She was off the floor. COOL!

Ella slowly but surely moved up the wall, inching hands then feet up a little higher each time. Peel. Stick. Peel. Stick. Peel. Stick. She was pretty close to the ceiling when the Professor spoke next.



O__O The mechanical spider was climbing the wall too? Shudder. Okay so maybe it was silly for Ella to be afraid of a fake spider but still, it looked so real. The third year wasn't a fan of spiders, not even mechanical ones. She made sure to stay away from it as she continued on, stopping when she got to the tippity top.

Grindylows? Ella knew quite a lot about them, actually. She had done her report on them last term. "A Grindylow is a water demon that uses their long fingers to grip on to prey and strangle them. They're quite aggressive little things." Mhm. Wouldn't want to bump into one of those in the Black Lake.

Awar looked at the professor, her hair obeying gravity. "Grindylows are mean aren't they? Don't they lure you in and cause you to drown or get lost or something?" She swung her hair back and forth.

Max, Hanny, and Professor !
 

So Elliot was caught up by Max....and his recklessness. She wanted to tell him NOT to DARE go on the ceiling...but...alas, she couldn't be a hypocrite. She wouldn't want HIM telling HER what to do. Hmmm.

So she just watched with mild amusement as everyone began to...crawl...onto the ceiling...until she was one of the few left on the ground. She craned her neck to look upward...it was very weird. VERY weird. She turned to Hannah and saw her friend getting ready to go up as well...

No.

Elliot reFUSED to go! NEVER!

Grindylows! Elliot raised her hand almost instantly. "Water demons, professor. They're known for their sharp horns...and they have really long fingers. They strangle their victims," she said, with a hint of smirk on her face. hehehe. How she wouldn't like to set a Grindylow on some of the people in HERE....hehe...

She pulled out her notebook and quill and had it posed....ready to write...like a madwoman...as usual...

Lex did a small BEAM when the Professor told her that she was right. Of course she was right, she was always right even on those off occasions where she was wrong O__O Duh.

After the Professor stood straight she figured it would be okay to do the same...though really...falling wouldn't have been a problem. By the end of the class she had to find a good way of falling that made it look like a complete accident. How would this work? She pondered it for a moment but was pulled out of her thoughts by the woman asking another question.

Ahem. She knew the answer to this too. "I'd say so! Without my grip my wand would fall out of my hand and the chocolate frogs would get away!!" Then she'd be a sad child. Who wouldn't be sad when they kept losing their chocolate frogs? "But I guess I rely on it for other stuff too--like yanking flowers from my step-mother's garden just to hear her scream...and choking my neighbour." William needed to be kept in line and the best way to do that was with an iron fist grip.

Vivi watched her classmates fling themselves at the wall willy-nilly, but she was just as aware that once they got to the top, they'd be upside down. She tucked her shirt into her trousers and rebraided her hair into a coronet around her head to avoid getting it in her eyes once she was on the ceiling.

And then, just like a tailless blond squirrel, Vivi raced up the wall just like it was one of the trees in the orchard back home. True, it was very different from a tree, in that she didn't have to find something to hold on to... she stuck regardless. The difficult part was getting leverage to pull her feet and hands free without pulling something else free, but she reached the ceiling rather sooner than she would have expected.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn (Post 11239891) But totally worth it in her opinion. Oh look, her mechanical spider decided to climb the wall with the students. "Well done. Looks like you're getting the hang of it." she nodded approvingly. Counting how many students decided to sit it out, Medea took a deep breath before continuing on. "Keep climbing if you aren't to the top yet and as you do so..." "Can anyone tell me something they know about grindylows?" People on the ground included!

Oh, grindylows? Were they going to do upside down grindylow ceiling attacks again today? Vivi grinned as she eased her way out onto the ceiling.

"Grindylows eat small water creatures. It's hard to imagine they're Dark creatures, because having a meal seems like part of a normal life cycle. They don't just hurt things for the sake of hurting them."

Quote:

Originally Posted by Roselyn (Post 11240223) A variety of answers. Good. Medea nodded after each spoke. "Yes, they are water demons. Pale green with green teeth, pointy little horns, and most importantly, long brittle fingers that they use to grip their prey and strangle them. Very dangerous when they get their grip on you though not impossible to break. There are indeed grindylows here in our black lake, most inconvenient for the Triwizard Champions in the tournament of 1994." She nodded to Vickers. "And yes, Miss Cambridge, the merpeople do keep these creatures as pets." After making sure the students who were going to the ceiling were up and off the floor, Medea returned to climbing once again. Stretching out and planting her feet on the ceiling, she stood straight. There we go. "So it's safe to assume that their grip, or their fingers in other words, is what they rely on most. Would it be safe to assume that we're the same way? Do we rely on our grip, or fingers, the most?"

Considering Vivi was very carefully prying her hands off the ceiling, it was hard to argue that fingers weren't vital. She stood carefully... but without her hair swinging in her face or the blood rushing to her head, it didn't feel all that strange.

"Professor, some say that opposable thumbs are what distinguish us from other creatures. If that's truly the case, then our grip is a vital part of our evolution. I don't know if I rely on them the most, but I would find it nearly impossible to do most tasks without them." It was hard to put her fingers above her eyes or ears or other senses, or above her big ol' 'Claw brain, but it was high on the list.

As she climbed the wall, Sierra made a face about the thought of green teeth to make green skin. Ewww. She shrugged it off (on the inside, since actually doing so would cause her to fall to the floor) and then climbed even further. She was pretty much neck and neck with the others now.

...and then a question was asked. She'd raise her hand, but...yeah. She was a little tied up at the moment. "Why can't both be equally important?" she asked. Merlin, that sounded so Hufflepuff. "It'd be sort of difficult and pointless to be able to grip if you had no fingers..."

Was it just him or did the higher he go the stronger is the pull to fall off?

He was still making his way up towards the ceiling-- just a liiiitle bit more-- when the Professor posed another question...



He had started to nod, obviously they were rather dependent on the tactile sense from their hands. But he paused for a moment, mulling over the question-- they relied on their fingers as opposed to.... what? Their feet? The other five sense? He remembered lessons from the past conducted in the same room. "Uhm Professor, I think the sense of touch would be pretty important for people who have other senses compromised, such as the blind... they use their hands to read books and instructions."

She did not want to stand up straight. Nope...nope, nope, nope. She looked down at the people below her and noticed that Elliot was still refusing to go up the wall. She didn't really blame her. She still kind of wondered why she was up here. Still there was no truning back so she tried to pay attention to what the professor was going on about in an attempt to distract her mind about what was really going on.

Do we rely on our grip? "In our current situation I would say that yes we are relying on our fingers to grip this wall." so we don't fall to our death. She couldn't think of anything else to add to that because frankly she had a hard enough time tryin to remind herslef to breathe.

Grindylows. There was a lot that Kurumi could say about the creatures, especially since they had encountered them during a joint lesson with Professor Scabior and *wibble* Professor Williamson. There were not many dark creatures that Kurumi had encountered during her years at Hogwarts - even fewer that she felt she could handle - but these little water demons were among them. They lived in weed beds at the bottom of lakes in Great Britain and Ireland primarily - inhabiting the Black Lake at Hogwarts as well. They had green teeth, pointy horns and long fingers that they used to strangle their victims. The good news was that those fingers were very brittle and therefore somewhat easy to fend off. They were classified as dark creatures but that was mainly because they were known to have eaten a witch or wizard. They mostly fed on fish, algae, and small sea creatures...not really all THAT dark.

Kurumi was about to raise her hand to voice some of these thoughts when she realized that she had been off in her own creature land for a little too long and class had already moved on. Oops.

Her raised hand quickly went back down to her side and she instead continued to climb and move around on the ceiling of the room. She was going to need to head back to the wall soon because all the blood was rushing to her head and making her dizzy.
Back to talking about the senses? Sort of seemed that way. It was certainly a theme with Professor Romanos when it came to Defense Against the Dark Arts. They had been blindfolded and made deaf in previous lessons...now it seemed that there was some special emphasis being placed on touch

Kurumi ended up nodding her head towards Vivi and her comment about thumbs. Took the words right out of her mouth. "Well, without our fingers none of us would be able to hold a wand," Kurumi said with a small shrug, stating the obvious. "Intentional wandless magic is something that only very powerful and disciplined wizards and witches are able to accomplish."

Yaiks! Grindylows? I wonder why Professor wants to talk about these vicious creatures?. Befelda answered, "Professor, aren't they the water demons that lurk about the Black lake? Aargghh! They're considered one of the darkest creatures as they eat humans. Professor, have they still invaded the Black lake until now? Are they not going to eat us?", asked the scared Befelda. She can feel her knees shaking while standing upside down to the ceiling.

Hmm...this discussion is an exercise, Befelda thought. She somehow thought it could relate to the grindylows. She answered.

"Professor, I can say that we rely NOT on our fingers but on the shoes and gloves that we are using. Without them, we won't able to climb and stick here up the ceiling. Well, that is my analytical thinking, Professor. I mean if we're not using these special gloves and shoes then I don't think we're safe at all hanging up here. But Grindylows, they're very confident and safe and could rely on their grip cause they're made with that ability and it's their nature. Befelda was slightly nervous but she couldn't think of any practical answer than that.

Right, she...she was just going to pretend she didn't hear that last part. "Yes..."

Erm...

Moving on!

Mmhmmm... "Did you know, that even if you didn't have fingers, or arms for that matter, you can still learn to do almost all the usual daily tasks with the use of your...feet?" Medea smiled. "But yes, our grip is important, though we don't rely on it the most. Most people at least."

"A very good point, Mister Vanderbilt. The importance of certain senses do change if you have one or two compromised." As some of them should remember from a past lesson.

Oh, two different opinions on the matter. "I'm going to have to side with Miss Solster on this one, because..." Medea paused for a moment, frowning as she noticed her mechanical spider joining them on the ceiling. "Because if you stood up, Miss Lockwood, you wouldn't be relying on your hands, would you? But your feet. And technically, yes, we aren't relying on our fingers, but the shoes and gloves we wear. In this current situation that is. Though I do see what you're saying, Miss Lockwood. Yes. Good thinking, both of you."


ooc: a little side note, the potion drank helps keep the blood from rushing to one's head. (:

Perhaps Sierra had misunderstood her, but nevertheless, her point was something she was looking. Along with Kurumi's. "Exactly." she nodded happily. "Our fingers and grip are rather important for wizards and witches, due to the need of hold a wand."


Medea paused to address the rest of the class as well.


"Would be quite useful for someone confronted with a dark witch or wizard, wouldn't it? If the said dark witch or wizard had no fingers or grip?" Did they see where she was going with this? 'Course it wouldn't be so great for themselves either if they couldn't use their wand. "Today we will be learning two spells. One being a jinx, and one being a curse. Both relating to that of the fingers. The finger removing jinx and the jelly fingers curse. Never fear...you're fingers will be fine after today's lesson."

Hehe.

"Does anyone know the incantations or wand movements for either of these spells? Or what they do exactly?"

Erm... was that a trick question? Vivi wobbled a bit as she lifted each foot quite deliberately in an attempt to get further from the wall where other climbing students were steadily approaching the ceiling.

"I believe both spells impact the ability of the opponent to successfully hold a wand, whether through actually removing the caster's fingers or turning them boneless and unable to grasp." She hoped it didn't sound smart-alecky, but those were the nice sort of spells that did what the name said they did.

Catching upp!
 

Alexa was practically bouncing off the wall when she heard they'd be learning BOTH a jinx AND a curse. Double score!!! And here she thought she'd never learn anything useful in this class! The Professor should have done this in the first class--it would have made DADA her favourite subject much sooner!

She took a few more steps up the wall while the Professor explained. There was a wide smile across her face. Enthusiasm at its best.

It was spells like these that made a young witch glad to learn. Now when could they start--

WHAAA?

That didn't sound so fun...There was no way she was going to allow anyone in the class to cast at her--especially with such a terrible jinx and curse! Nope. No way. Nuh uh. Not gonna happen. Knowing these guys something would go wrong then she'd probably end up being permanently damaged.

She raised her hand slowly. "They emotional and mentally scar a kid for life." O___O .That's the only thing she could think of them doing; no need to state the obvious.

As another question was posed it caught him at the odd moment between trying to move from the wall to the ceiling, distracting him completely, making him move his hand and sticking it to the wrong part of the ceiling when he should\'ve been moving his feet first. Now he\'s at an odd, stretchy and can-get-sore-quickly position "Their names says it all...." he blurted out quickly. Now lets try not to fall off yes? Yes.