Uhhh...shooting....arrows?!

Elliot gulped nervously. Where was Max?! Didn't he know how to do this?! And how the HECK did shooting arrows have ANYTHING to do with Divination...had she accidentally signed up for archery lessons this year?! Meeehhh.

She stood up, brushing off her skirt a bit, and retrieved the bow...and stuff...and held it a bit awkwardly in her hands. Yeah. THis was going to be an interesting lesson. Maybe she should position herself so that if an arrow happened to accidentally escape..it wouldn't be a casualty to anyone..where was Minnie? *smirk*

She was preparing for failure here. There was no way Elliot would be any good at this. Like, at all. Ahhhh. She tried to do what the professor said...and she glanced around..so for the MOST part she looked good...for now...it was the shooting part that had her nervous, not this positioning part, anyways.

UGH.

Archery? In Divination? On the grounds?

Addie was a little confused by how this all was going to relate to Divination in the end, but she just went ahead and picked up the bow, she had grabbed one of the smaller ones. It was pretty easy to figure out how to hold it. Her left hand went on the wood part of the bow and her right/wand hand was the one that would pull the string back. Addie had done archery once before when she was younger, so it would be fun.

Addie was just not sure what the Divination part was, but they would probably find out sooner or later.

They were really learning archery? Beezus blinked at the woman. And who will be teaching them? Of course, their lovely Professor, who else? Oh, she did not expect that. She didn't know Elwood knew how to carry a bow. And did she just called by her nickname? More blinking. Most Professors called her Beatrice...being addressed like that during a class just felt..different.

After a little bit of explanation on what type of Belomancy they will be learning, the Divination Professor then conjured bows and arrows. Woot! Time to play then. No shots until she tells them to do so. Copy that. Distance from classmates would be approximately 4 feet. That one too.

Having grabbed a bow and arrow of her own, the Ravenclaw then scuttled off back to resume her place and follow the distancing Professor Elwood had given on her instructions. Then she took a deep breath before holding out the bow as they were going to tackle on how to properly hold it first. She held the wooden part with her left hand and tugged on the bow string with her pointer and index finger on her right hand. Was she doing it properly? Her hands felt a little shaky.

Elwood was going to let them SHOOT THINGS?! Okay before when she said that Elwood was her favorite Professor, she was lying. Elwood was the greatest Professor in the history of Professordom. Seriously, what other Professor in their right mind would let SELINA hold a bow and arrow? Not any that she could think of. Maybe if potions let her have a bow and arrow she would have liked that class better and actually would have stuck it out after her OWLs. Even though, technically, the grade that she received did not let her take the class, but that was all water under the bridge now.

With a spring in her step, she went up to where all of the people were to grab her own bow. A glint in her eye and a smile on her lips she picked what she perceived to be the best bow. It was a simple bow, a little smaller than the average ones, but it had fight in its heart- she could tell that kind of thing. Selina was something short of a character judger and this bow had oodles of character.

Taking the bow back to her place, she tried to suppress a groan when Elwood said that they could NOT shoot anything... yet. The yet gave her hope. But she did as she was told and placed the bow in her non-wand hand, the left one. Then she took her index finger and her pointer finger and put it on the string.

Sarah does stupid things as times...
 

Sarah beamed at the praise. They were using 'bone and arrows' (that is what Sarah still called them anyway... never outgrew it as a kid. Sarah wen and got a bow or was it an arrow, Sarah did not know, she only knew that together they were called 'bone and arrow' (or written bow and arrow), yet she forgotten which was which, anyway she got the the thing that looked like a rainbow shaped with a string/wire thingy and went ot collect the long stick that had the triangle thingy at the end.

She then made sure there was four feet around here and did what the teacher said. She put the wooden part in her hand, her left hand to be precise. She then put her index and pointer fingers on the wire. But there was a MAJOR problem that was the Sarah had the wire away from her, the wooden part closer to her! "What is the bone and what is the arrow?" Sarah asked, examing her grip at the same time... something looked wrong.

And this is why she likes Divination. It was connected to the deep mysterious realms of a human being using unlikely earthly equipment, stones, tea leaves, ARROWS. The girl was simply beaming!smiling as she skipped walked over to the pile of equipment and grabbed some for her own before skipping walking back to her spot. Only this time she took good care of staying out of anyone's arrow, in case one of the kids decided it was funny to shoot one at her bum. She had no faith in the young generation.

Louisa dumped the arrows on the ground at her feet and held the bow. The arched wood was held by her left hand (the non-wand one) and then she...uhh.. what was next? She stared for a minute at her right hand, her fingers wiggling slowly. Pointer and index fingers needed! Right. She held the bow out again, the left arm stretched forward then the two said fingers were positioned on the string.

Mission accomplished but now she was inexplicably standing like a stony statue, afraid of moving. Huh. Weird instinct.

Major catching up >.<
 

Lex had to admit when the woman started asking about words she'd never heard before she was getting set to leave--okay maybe not leave seeing as she could have gotten into some serious trouble for that but she was pretty much gonna start a silent kind of whining that was reserved for situations where she didn't know what the people around her were talking about!

BUT everything was nicely explained and she was pleasantly surprized to know that they'd be playing with bows and arrows. :evil:

She eagerly hurried over and got her set. Really she never used them before but in muggle movies they always seemed so easy and the people never missed--like NEVER which meant that it would be fun.

While the others were grabbing them she attached the arrow like she'd seen people do it a million times but just before she could take aim she heard the Professor saying that they couldn't go shooting 'til she gave the go ahead. Darn it! Lex grumbled a bit but lowered her bow and arrow. The time for shooting would, she just had to be patient...

This wouldn't go well.

Sarah smiled sheepishly. "I now I remember" she said. She knew that it was like that, it had just slipped her mind.
Oh and she holding the bone and arrow wrong? Sarah looked, indeed she was holding it differently from everyone else.
She turned the bow around and readjusted her grip.
"Thanks" she said. "Blonde moment, sorry"

no arrows post
 

Professor question..
 

Minerva went over to get into line. Making sure she was in a different line then certain people she moved off to the side. She didn't know if she could do this. Putting the arrows on her back she put the bow back up. Now to shoot you just put an arrow here.. She pretended to take an arrow out and fake put it on the bow. Hold it like so, she thought and pull the string back. Pulling on the string she looked forward where her make believe target was. Then she let go of the string. The string snapped forward and scared Minerva a bit. That was odd to see and try. She wondered if she would ever be able to make the shot. What question would she even ask. Then she turned toward the professor, "Is there where the muggles magic eight ball came to be? Something along these type of lines?" She wasn't sure if the professor would know the answer or not, but it made her wonder if a wizard had something to do with this item.

No arrows.
 

Yaaay! Now came the fun part, shooting stuff with arrows!! She took aim like the Professor had instructed but was once again deflated when the woman said they would be practising without the arrows first. Honestly. Would they never actually get to puncture people things with their arrows like in those cool movies???

Now that targets were set out she could just see herself shooting a bunch of easy-ins but of course, she had to listen to the Professor so she began making funny hand movements and little arrow noises to go with her actions.

And YES arrows did make little arrow noises while they were being shot so what she was doing was PERFECTLY natural. Yup.

Man, she had to be like Robin Hood or something. In her mind all her invisible arrows were hitting their target quite nicely. BEAM.

Laura pretended to load an arrow into the bow and then she started to shot the pretend one letting go of the bow and fake arrow at the same time, she looked down at it and sighed, something had surely gone wrong, if the Professor wanted her to use more arrows wouldn't she need another bow? "Professor can I have another bow? This one doesn't work, it must be faulty." Laura sighed, seriously it hadn't gone anywhere near the target.

nuuuuuuuu arrows
 

Kurumi sort of found the target ironic. When one would usually hope to hit the bull's eye the answer was no instead of yes. Usually whenever people were asking a question in this sort of thing they were hoping that the answer was 'yes' - at least this was the case for the first three questions that popped into the Gryffindor's head at present.

Picking up her bow again and taking the proper stance, Kurumi pulled back on the string and released it. It whipped forwarded - threatening to take the bow with it - but she held firm with her other hand and felt a crisp wind cut across her pale features. She practice a few more times before lowing her bow again and gazing at the target. Now...which question to ask? She didn't want to be one of those girls only thinking about her boyfriend - which thankfully was not the case right now. Despite the month, the Gryffindor's thoughts were solely set on one thing: university and the results that would be owled to her any day now.

Bending down, Kurumi picked up an arrow and began to set it in her bow.

No arrows. :p
 

They were all doing a good job? That included her, right? Her fingers hurt a bit because the strings seemed to dig into her skin. Or was she holding it tighter than she needed to? Professor Elwood did not correct her stance, so she might be doing the right thing. Perhaps it was because she wasn't used to it yet? Yep, probably.

Now, to shoot as if there was an invisible arrow.

Resuming her position earlier, she pulled on the string...narrowing her eyes on the target..adjusting her aim...and released it.

Did it hit?!

PFFT. As if..there was really no arrow, remember?

Sierra heard the name Greingoth, but she had no idea whether that meant her or her brother. Because it was a good compliment, though, she was just going to assume it was meant for her. Alex could have all the negative comments. Heh.

She stood with her posture as straight as possible and then used the two fingers she had on the string to pull back and...SHOOT! Well, she would have shot had she had an actual arrow. The professor had said to practice without any arrows first.

She thought she had a good feel for it. It didn't seem too hard after all. Sort of like aiming with a wand only...more Muggle. She just hoped her arrow didn't fly off in the wrong direction.

Imagining an arrow set against the bow, Jory practiced. It didn't seem too hard except he was sort of nervous that his actual arrow might shoot off in the wrong direction.

He stared hard at the target and pretended that his arrows were at first missing the target all together and the they began to hit it. He didn't know why he did that.

After a few more "practice" shots, the Puff set a real arrow and took aim.

Arrow! we got 65.
 

When Elwood announced that they were going to start, Beezus quickly paced towards her and took an arrow. And then headed to position herself in front of a target. First on the line!

She then placed the arrow over her shoulder, as they were told to do and thought of a question that was answerable by yes or no. As her hands aimed, her mind wandered off. Hmm..Question? There were a lot of question in her mind that she needed answers to. But, which one should she risk for this chance shot?

Would her Aunt name her cousin after her? Was she going to have a corporeal patronus soon? Would she be able to get over her chocolate allergy? Gah, there were lots!

But..they only needed one.

After a little bit more thinking, the Ravenclaw decided that she'd go with her the a question came into her mind earlier --- Would the Headmistress get tired of pink?

Pull on the string, firm hold on the bow...and SHOOT!

She lowered the bow after she'd released the arrow and eyes immediately darted to where it hit. Beezus snorted...it went right into the yellow "NO". So Headmistress Truebridge won't EVER get tired of pink?

Heh.

Got a 4
 

It was Minerva's time. She moved up to the front and pointed the bow, hen put it back down. Shew as so nervous her hands were shaking. What if she totally missed and made a idiot of herself, what if it slipped and hit someone. This was just a bit much, she might have lived as a muggle for sometime, but weapons were not something she dealt with, so an arrow was scary to her. She felt more confident with her wand then this.

Taking a deep breath she thought of her question and even whispered it, "Will Ethan end up liking..liking me?" Yes she was a teenage girl so of course one of her biggest worries was boys. She shut her eyes again and when she opened them she took the arrow and put it in place. Taking one last breath she pulled back and let go.

The arrow sailed a bit high and Minerva thought it was going to over shoot the target, but it stated to fall. A big smile pushed across her face when she saw the arrow land on the yes. Now hoping that this was really a good source to predict what was going to happen, that would be the best thing of all.

Slight Catch up. :D
 

So they were for real going to be shooting arrows? Ugh! Hannah had a bad feeling about this. She didn't care how much they were spaced out, she just didn't trust her peers all that much. She grabbed her equipment and stood just like the professor asked them too and waited for the next part of the activity which would be the whole shooting of the arrow thing. Gulp.


She was glad that they were going to practice without arrows first not only because she didn't want to get shot, but she knew that she would not be so hot at this either. So without an arrow she practiced a few times. She stood up straight with the back of the bow in her left hand and she moved her fingers on her right hand on the string like she would if they had been an arrow there. She practiced this many times until she felt somewhat comfortable, but who could truly be comfortable with what was about to take place?

ARROW! [ generator gave us 22 ]
 

Setting her arrow, Kurumi rolled and relaxed her shoulders before taking on a proper ready position and pulling back firmly on the string once more. Moving her front foot to the side just a little to give herself a more open position, Kurumi breathed in and out a few times to calm her tense muscles. There were still a lot of questions swimming around her mind right now, but the one that had been on her mind ever since it had become February was this - university results.

She had applied early action to a university in Romania that had the best dragonology program and the best hatchery & breeding program that the wizarding world had to offer. It was also close to the reservation that Professor Williamson was at with Roro and the university offered internships there for its students. It was, in a word, perfect. Her results would be owled to her this month...and Kurumi had been waiting eagerly and nervously ever since she had first sent in the application back in November.

Breathing in and out again slowly, Kurumi closed her eyes for a moment and whispered her question to herself as she released her arrow and...gasped softly when she saw it hit the white area. The area that meant yes. The area that meant the owl that was coming soon would tell her that she was accepted.

Then again...look at the class she was in. Divination. Ruddy guesswork and speculation.

No arrows
 

So they did have to practice. Kat thought maybe a flick of a wand would be good enough to make all the students good in Archery / Belomancy. Too bad it wasn't. But Kat wasn't hesitant to do it anyway. She wasn't that rebellious, honestly.

Kat placed an imaginary on her bow to begin shooting. Yes, she knew how to use a bow. But she wasn't anything good in it. She just knows, common knowledge. Then she pretends to aim her arrow and then... keep still..... Release! Yey, an imaginary hit! Ok...

Training without arrows
 

Louisa's body posture relaxed when Elwood started explaining the process of shooting an arrow. Louisa even dropped her bow and tilted her head, listening intently. In a few minutes, there were thirteen year olds shooting arrows and she needed to be at the ready in case something wrong happened to her hair to anyone. She moved to take position in front of the target with two more people. The target in front of them was big enough, although the smaller circles were going to be a challenge. Hmm. She spent a long thoughtful moment tilting her head and staring at the target before snapping back to the here and now.

Okay, first she had to try it without arrows. Louisa left the quiver of arrows at her feet and repositioned her hands on the bow just like they did before. Her wand hand holding the string, and very slowly she started pulling it back.. the bow shaping itself along with her pulling. When she thought the string felt tight enough, her two fingers let go of it while her non-wand hand still clung to the bow.

Invisible arrow shot successfully. Louisa repeated the process a couple of times to get the 'feel of things' well.

No arrows
 

Laura looked down at the bow that was still on the floor and then she suddenly realise something. "PROFESSOR!!!!!!" Laura sighed, this was getting scary. "Is my bow suppost to come back to me because if it is then it's not and if it's not how am I suppost to fire another arrow?" Laura was starting to freak out now this was totally weird and her bow wasn't working.