What where they playing again? Cr--- crea? Creaturefromtheblacklagoon? Anya'd just... call it that.

Why were things SO hard to pronounce? She was pretty sure her face didn't even move that way.

... and she had to do what with this cauldron? Did the Professor realize it was the same weight as a BABY?! And... it wasn't normal to balance such heavy things on your head. ... and there were going to be ROCKS falling at them?

Weirdly enough. Anya didn't care about that part. She did wonder about her neck snapping though. Because once she finally got the cauldron on her head she did notice it was completely heavy. She had to try her hardest just to keep properly balanced.

...

Oh. That featherlight spell thingamadoodle helped out a lot.

And so, little Anya Phillips mounted her broom... climbed up in the air... ...and just hovered near the top of the rock storm. And there she casually hovered with her hands hiding her face. She'd just... wait for the rocks to come to her...

... it sounded much safer.

O_O

She quickly moved her hands to her ears as a rock THUDDED into her cauldron. ... once her head got used to the ringing another rock found it's way into her cauldron.

Maybe she should just go with the brain damage option? It was obvious that she was going to get a headache by the end of this. She might as well give up on the rest of her finals now.

And it was time to go! Jory kicked off from the ground and began swerving around. How hard could this be? But he found out a few moments later how hard it could be. All the rocks seem to be plunking down everywhere but his cauldron. His hands took the most and soon he saw a thin scratch along his left knuckle.

The Puff shook that off of his mind and looked around. He spotted a rock a few feet away and zoomed towards it. He paused in the air and aimed the cauldron as the rock fell. "Got one!''

So. Fly around and catch some rocks on your head. It didn't seem too hard, but Jake wasn't looking forward to the inevitable headache that was staring him in the face.

But. Points, right? This was the final. Might as well make the most of it.

Mounting his broom, Jake looked up just as the rocks began to fall. His eyes widened in momentary panic before his logical side kicked in and he righted his cauldron. Just like that, before he was off the ground, a rock landed in his cauldron. A smirk formed on his lips. Score one for Keller, yeah?

Where was the fun in staying on the ground, though? Jake kicked off the ground and took to the air, successfully failing to catch any more rocks.

His eyes narrowed and he picked up his pace. Things were serious now.

T__________________T

So...no gum drops? Kurumi should probably just be grateful that there were no giant spiders really. That had been a terrifying lesson as well. Light scratches and bruises were fine and she wasn't really too worried about it raining stones...it was the raining stones combined with being on a broom combined with other people on brooms combined with HER on a broom that was the real issue. Mostly the bit about her being on a broom really.

Bending at the knees, Kurumi kicked off the ground and tried to steady her slooooooooow rise into the air as best she could...but her nerves were getting the best of her and she was wobbling quite a bit.

*PING PING PING PING PONG PING*

Oh, of course, the rocks could hit the SIDE of her cauldron but not just fall into it for her...the world was out to get her, she was sure of it.

Pulling up on the handle a bit more, Kurumi rose a little higher up in the air. Eight feet was a good start...right?

T____________T

Jory was keeping an eye out for more of the rocks. Actually, he was keeping such a good eye out, he practically rammed into a Gryffindor whom had just kicked off. Frantically, he swerved and to his relief he managed to avoid a collision. "Sorry!'' he called as he zoomed past the boy.

The boy was so distracted by his near miss, he hadn't noticed he had headed straight under a rock until he heard the loud PLUNK. "Talk about lucky,'' he muttered unable to believe he had gotten a rock without really trying.

On his mission for the next rock, Max stayed where he was in mid-air and watched the rocks fall around him for a few long seconds, planning his next move. He observed the others and their techniques carefully, when... another rock pummeled him square on the shoulder. He jumped when it happened and realized he needed to focus on his game. It didn't matter what anyone else was doing(except Emmaleigh, but he shot a glance at her to make sure she was still okay).

Determined to catch another as skillfully as he had the first one, Max cautiously tilted his head upward to peek at the falling rocks. THAT ONE! There was one that was falling swiftly from the sky; it looked like it was going to fall a few feet behind him from where he was hovering, so he did a quick sweeping motion to turn around.

In one mighty powerful dive to catch the falling rock, a THUMP! from the top of Max's head signified his success. Rock #2! Holding the cauldron on his head on both sides, he gave his head a shake back and forth, letting the two rocks shift around. He needed to catch twenty-two more?! But what if one bounced out because the cauldron was so full when he neared the twenty-fourth stone catch?

As he considered this, his eyes were on the sky and- HEYTHEREWASAROCKFALLINGRIGHTTHERE! Max quickly leaned forward on his school broomstick and barely got there in time to catch it, the rocks clanking around in the cauldron at the sudden jolt. "Gotcha!" It had been dangerously close, but he got it! Rock #3!

Just as Jake was picking up his speed, something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention. Another body was coming at him full-speed. He dropped quickly, just as the other boy zoomed by him. "...Good luck!" Jake shouted after him.

Note to self: Watch other players. Taking a quick glance around the pitch, Jake realized just how many people were playing. With a slight frown, he dropped a few meters and looked around. Much better. Sure, there were less rocks that fell all the way down here... but even as he was going down, another rock landed on his head.

Plus, since there were less rocks making their way down further, there was less chaos and more of a chance to actually purposefully catch a rock. Sure, Jake would join the mess higher up in a bit. But for now, there was a rock falling nearby and no one around to catch it. Jake leaned forward on his broom, speeding up, and caught the rock right smack in the middle of the cauldron. He let out a celebratory "Whoop!" and pumped his fist in the air. First purposeful catch. That made... three in total. Not so bad.

they were gonna play a game of what for their final!? and did that poem mention DIEING. enough people have died this term and Ariana was NOT gonna be one of them. No sir not today



grab a cauldron? meh what if she didnt want too what if she thoughht this to be tooo dangerousss huh? what then? meep. but she did so anyway following the group she went and got one putting it on her head



was west alright? it was JUST a cauldron and they weren't THAT heavy boy. then again ariana was older and bigger then him. Odessa was just a little thing yeah. she'd just go with that.. strange boy he was. strange strange.


STARRRRSSSSSSSS!! Ariana looked around and admired them for a moment pretttyyy if only she could catch one.. mehh but she knew it was magic though she knew it was just magic and then POOF they were lighter.. the cauldrons were lighter. heh Cool!points for you professor



And Ariana DID notice that the goal posts were gone for one she just didn't find it really relative or important and now they could start right? yeah? Ariana listen to everyyyword he said... kinda.. heh. she mounted the gross school broom and wished she could have her OWN out here but MEH school rulesss. as much as they stinked she had to obey them and boo. and then the whistle sounded and ariana heard the rocks begin to fall and she pushed off the ground and soaaareddd through the sky but not before a few of those darn rocks knocked on the side of her cauldron and one hit the tip of her broom and almost made her fly forward and off her broom. thank merlin she played quidditch and knew how to save herself from that one. Along her flying route she managed to catch not one but TWO rocks and she wasn't even trying! Awesomesauce!

There goes the whistle-- and here comes the STONES!

There was this instinct within him to just fly AWAY from all this crazy, but the thought of failing Flying classes pretty much rooted him on the spot. He'd already felt a few stones bounce off his shoulders before he realized he has to MOVE, if only to survive long enough till the end of the class.

He pushed off from the ground, low and slow like always, looking at all the zooming players and once again thinking at how he can shadow them and use them as some sort of shield... which of course totally defeats the purpose of this activity.

KLANGG!!

Yeah thats a wake up call Ravenerd. Stop thinking, start catching.

Following his unexpected, spur-of-the-moment catch of his third rock, Max was high on alert, his eyes on the sky above. He waited patiently, calculating his next move - until he caught sight of Vinductus in the stands. He watched the man for a moment, thinking he seemed to be enjoying this game far too much, and decided he was actually surprised that the man wasn't out there with them with a cauldron on his head just for fun. Why wasn't Vindictus giving them competition and showing them all up? He was the professor, of course, but that didn't mean he couldn't have fun, too!

...Unless he thought it was more fun to watch them all get pummeled with rocks?

Probably.

It was kind of sick, really, especially because he had acknowledged that the game was illegal. Max supposed he couldn't complain about it too much, though - the man had taken certain precautions and modified the game for safety purposes. So that was nice.

Reaching out with his hand, Max caught a falling rock to examine it(even though he could have easily caught it in his cauldron, but he was confident in his ability to catch others later). He knocked on it with his knuckle, trying to determine the likelihood that any of the rocks were going to bounce out of the cauldron at any point; he needed to know if he should anticipate a separate lunge forward after the initial catch. Deciding that anything was possible and he should stay on his toes, Max leaned his broomstick downward, flew a few feet above the ground, and released the rock as a preventative measure. He didn't want to drop the rock from high up and have anyone accuse him of cheating if it just happened to land in someone else's cauldron.

Back to business.

Max started his rise into the air again, tilting his head upward slightly to see the rocks falling above so that he didn't get blasted in the face with one unexpectedly as he flew parallel to the ground. Suddenly, he spotted a rock that was destined to fall within his path about ten feet away; without hesitation, Max leaned forward and shot toward it(as fast as the school broom would let him). He came to a quick halt and positioned his head where he thought the rock was going to land... and he got it! Rock #4!

ZOOOOOOOMMMMM

WHOOOOOOSHHHHH

Ariana soared through the sky avoiding all the larger looking rocks and going for the smaller ones hehe CLING!CLANG a few rocks hit the side of her cauldron and the rocks she had IN her cauldron were spinning around like crazy and she had a headache already MERLINMAKEITSTOP! she shook her head a bit and as she did she veered off the straight forward path she was on and was heading straight for someone! She pulled UP UP UP on her broom handle and hoped that they weren't thinking the same thing or else that'd be bad bad bad Pulling UPPP she closed her eyes and waited for impact.. but it didnt come. she opened her eyes just in time to see the person zoom off just below her.. PHEW that was close. she let out a Deep breath when

CLANK

a rock landed in her cauldron! how AWESOME and she didnt even have to work for it. she flew around some more on the outskirts away from others after that nearby collusion. she zoomed up to a few hoping to catch them buut she had either missed them or they hit the side with a rather loud CLANK or CLONK. then after zooming forward at a fun speed she decided maybe if she slowed down she could catch ano..CLANK... a rock landen in her couldran. bringing her total to FOUR already. See What'd she tell you! Ariana was a GENIUS

That clanging was still RINGING in his ears, and Vickers gripped the side of his head. That sound made him wish he was deaf on both ears. He tried to feel the inside of the pot and realized there was as rock inside rolling about at the bottom. Well at least theres something he got from this grief.

He slowly made his way across the pitch, wincing and flinching as stones fell and flew back to the sky. Just when he cleared out of someone’s robes his pot was ringing again.

Did he unwittingly catch another stone?

The game had started, so what the heck was she still doing on the ground? No no. This wouldn't do. The 11 year old straddled her broom and quickly took the sky--but not before fixing the cauldron the correct way on her head.

As she soared higher she could hear clanking noises just above her but scowled when the realized the stones were all bouncing of the rim off the cauldron and hitting the floor.

Man...

She hover on her broom for a moment, trying to think of the best way to go stone catching when out of nowhere...Logan...Logan headed towards her on a speeding brown and she was out to end her life before she could have a chance to enjoy the game. "What the--are you out of your mind??" She swerved just beyond the reach of the girl and her broom, just frowning in indignation. Bloody girl. Didn't she see her trying to fly here. Just what did she think she was doing anyway? If Lex wasn't so good at flying that couldn't cost her her neck or something!

Older kids.

While she was still getting over that little scene she heard an especially loud CLANK and squealed a bit. A stone! Her very first one!!!

T_______________________________T

Okay....so she was hovering somewhere around 10 feet in the air now which was progress for the Gryffindor. Really GOOD progress at that all things considered. Kurumi veered to the right just a little, more to help herself get adjusting to being on a broom again than to actually give flying a go when more stones back to hit her cauldron and cause it to ring and clank and make all sorts of noises that were distracting and not what she needed right now.

FIRST....she was going to get comfortable on her broom again.

SECOND....she would move a little higher.

THIRD...we would see about these stones.

Okay...yeah, we were going to have to avoid this rocks for now. Veering even more to the right, Kurumi THOUGHT she could breathe more easily until green robes went SHOOTING past her. "KYAAAAAA!" Lunging forward, Kurumi clutched desperately to her broom's handle. UUUUUUUUUUUG... and she thought rocks were the only thing she was going to have to worry about.

Laura couldn't believe that the Professor wanted them to catch rocks, this was going to hurt, she set off on her broom looking around to see if she could catch one, she looked up and.

O_______________o

Laura hadn't realised that she was hovering underneath one, okay then two choices try and catch it or run, well she wanted to run but she was on the broom and she might not be able to out run it in time.

"I'm going to do this." Laura smiled hopefully she was right and she would be able to do it and not get knocked out by the thing, raising her hand, she caught the rock.

"DING DING!!! Round one goes to me." Laura giggled this was going to be awesome, she was going to show the rocks who was boss around here.

Just as Pao shot Alec a smile back, he heard a cry from the cool older dude. Is he okay?!?! Yeah, he was okay. He gave the boy a thumbs up. But he'd definitely learned not to look up to far. That could only spell trouble.

So it looked like he was going to have to just... get lucky? That sounded like it would take a long time. Maybe if I--

CRASH.

"Ooooooohhhhhh."

He had been flying too low to the ground. Pao's feet had hit a rock on the ground, which sent him flying off his broom and into the ground. "Great. I lost my rock." Sure enough, it went zooming up into the sky as he watched. He groaned once more as he stood, not wanting to get pelted with any rocks.

Taylor was just starting to fly again, to go over to make sure that Ella was okay, she was headed to where the girl was... while still trying to catch a rock or two since it is the final after all... when out of no where someone almost collided with her! The girl went up so Tay went down a little and evened herself up just in time to caught a glimpse of the person. Tay snarled when she recongized that it just HAD to be Ariana Logan. Taylor seemed to never be able to get away from her. Good thing Damon wasnt here or else Ariana might try to attack her if she got too close. Tay glanced back at Ella and started to go over to her again when all of a sudden...CLANG! Yes! I got one again! Now to see if Ella is okay. Taylor finally got over to Ella, since Tay had spun away from her a little bit when she crashed into her earlier. She made a loop around Ella, mot wanting to be hit again since people are flying everywhere. "Are you okay, Ella?" She looked concern when all of a sudden a rock fell right down, Tay's face scratching it a little. It stung and she grimaced for one second before looking concerned for Ella again.

Great. He even wanted to kill them. Not just Kat, ALL of them. The Slytherin sighed. It was for her finals and she was going to be doing good. So she kicked off from the ground and flied around the pitch. The cauldron WILL NOT fall off, right? But if it did, it better hit Vindictus flat on the face.

The girl stayed there and was oblivious when a rock fell inside her cauldron. Brilliant. That's one stone down and... errr... twenty three more to go. The blonde thought of staying on the spot but she won't let those Puffer the others get her stones. NUH UH.

Jory had slowed down after his near miss with the Gryffindor student. He wasn't flying as high now and was flying slower. This time he made sure to keep an eye out for other students. The boy was doing just that when he happened to hear the crash that sent little Pao crashing to the ground.

Jory hurriedly landed beside his Housemate. "Are you okay?'' he asked concerned as the boy's rocks rose up back into the air. Pao's feet had hit a rock and Jory looked at them. "You need to go to the Hospital Wing or anything?''

This all was so very strange and... well, strange! Louisa liked challenges yes but not up in the air really. It didn't sound that bad thought as Vindictus explained the game and pointed out there was no goal hoops. She took a deep breath, made her hands into fists seconds before the man announced the start of this strange ancient game. But she didn't move right away, her eyes scanned the closest people around her (mostly younger students), she needed older ones to be near. Mounting the broom at last the Ravenclaw leaned forward and it lunged underneath her way much faster than she intended it to do (like always) and ended up shooting up and in the center of the pitch the stones hitting the cauldron with loud clanks but nothing fell inside.

Louisa didn't realize she squeezed her eyes shut and her shoulders were tensed this much until she felt something was wrong... like, the broom was suspended in midair and the stones were bumping against the cauldron and Louisa's body from all directions. Nothing hurt, she just felt like a piñata. She ignored the ground Merlin-knows-how-far-is and veeeeeery gently moved the broom around. And it moved!! Louisa's mouth would curl in a smile if she wasn't so stressed out about gravity.

With the speed of a crawling turtle she started her journey of collecting stones, which insisted on hitting her or the side of the cauldron rather than falling into it.

Back in the air again, Jory kept one eye on the look out for rocks and the other for any potential accidents. He saw some of the students catching rocks while others were having no luck. Just then, something struck his shoulder. "A rock,'' he though and at that same moment he spotted two rocks together.

He sped up and quickly positioned himself underneath them. "Come on, both of you,'' he said. CLUNK! One fell into the badger's cauldron. A few moments later, THUMP! There goes the second. He turned and sped off again.

Laura was looking around the sky trying to figure out which rock to go for next, she wasn't looking where she was going until it was too late.

*CRASH* *BANG* *CRASH*

Laura hadn't realised that a rock was above her head and it had crashed and hurt her. "That really hurt." Laura sighed, why were they trying to catch rocks anyway, it was really a stupid thing to do.

Okay...even Kurumi knew she was being more than a little ridiculous right now in actively trying to avoid all the raining rocks when she should be flying at them head first. Literally. So, the Gryffindor swallowed up SOME of her fear, tugged on the straps holding the cauldron in place, and then lean forward on her broom a little to proper herself forward and back into the thick of things as it were.

Okay...NOW the goal was to just avoid students and the the stones fall on her...which was sort of hard when every once in a while one would land right on her hand and knock her knuckles, causing small scratch marks to appear.

*DING*

Wait...Kurumi felt her cauldron vibrate that time! Shaking her head back and forth in mild disbelief, Kurumi heard was was very clearly the sound of a stone IN her cauldron. Hey, look at that! She had one! YAY!

Her side started to throb, the sound of all the clanking and the whooshing made her extra uneasy and wanted to snap at someone. Ughh. The broom was still crawling in the air, moving a few centimeters every now and then. She glanced around and saw someone familiar nearby, and she was about to speak and ask for a gentle push from behind coz this is like a car when a stone hit her temple making her fliiiiip and hanging upside down to the broom, the cauldron stuck between her chest and the stick. This position was so familiar to her that she didn't even bother yelling, but she yelped when the rock hit her temple out of surprise more than pain.

Louisa had to close her eyes, her broom-hugging body served as a tray to the falling rocks and she ached for not being brave enough to untangle one arm and collect all of them in her cauldron before they zoomed back to where they came from. Sigh.

She started shifting on the broom, her legs flailing a bit before they were wrapped tightly around the end of it and then she took one deep breath, shut her eyes tight again and pulled herself up, her hands aiming for the handle. The broom swaaaaaaaaayed and shooooot forward by the great push Louisa's hands unintentionally gave.

CLANK CLANK CLANK!

OH! LOOK! Three stones fell into her cauldron and the broom kept going forward.. and lower than before.

More stone fell on Jory, some bouncing off of the sides of his cauldron. When this happened, the cauldron vibrated a bit so now he could feel a vague headache. "Can't get a headache now,'' he thought as he swerved away from the Head Girl.

The boy paused in mid air, rubbing his forehead. He wasn't even concentrating on rocks when he heard and felt two clunk into his cauldron. He groaned because at first he thought they were jut bouncing off the cauldron but then he realised they had actually fallen into it. "And without even trying,'' he muttered, pleased.