Dribble a mock quaffle from the quidditch pitch to the lake and back in under seven minutes. That shouldn't be difficult right?

Daichi had his mock quaffle under his arm as he walked on the grass inside the quidditch pitch. He saw that he wasn't the only one deciding to do this DADA activity when he saw the Hufflepuff Captain stretch with another mock quaffle on the ground near her.

"Hey Bishop!" he called as he jogged his way to the fifth year. "You're doing the dribbling as well?" he asked "Want to make it more fun and have a race?" he was now grinning and hoping she would say yes. 'Cause otherwise this would be boring...

Ella had just finished up stretching when she heard someone calling out her name. She always felt a bit funny when people called her 'Bishop' but it seemed to be a thing so she went with it. "Hey there!" Waveeee!

"Yup, I can't say it sounds easy but I'm going to try." Ella hadn't exactly done lots of dribbling in her time but she figured she could handle it. GRIN! "A race sounds brilliant, actually." And the blonde picked up her quaffle, eyeing the Slytherin curiously. "You ready to start now?" Hmmmm?

The sixteen year old then got in what she hoped was a good quaffle dribbling position and smiled to herself. "You can say 'go,' okay?" And when he did, she'd be ready. This was going to be fun!

Daichi was happy that Ella had agreed on the race because now it didn't feel like he was doing homework. He bounced the quaffle on the ground to check it and then held it in his hands again. Checking his watch for the time, the Slytherin turned his head to the Quidditch Captain and nodded.

"I'm ready" he said as he positioned himself in the ready stance, the mock quaffle hovering above the ground. Oh! he could say go? yay~!

"READY? SET...................
..............................................
.................................................. .G.............G..............G......"

muwahahahaha he was evil wasn't he!?

"GO!" The Prefect began to dribble the quaffle as he began to walk towards the entrance of the pitch.

There were a couple of activities Mo tried to do every day or so - running on the path around the lake and through the grounds, eating like he was paid to do it, sleeping, and flying. Sometimes there wasn't time for sleeping, but there needed to always be time for flying. Always.

Mo entered the practice pitch on foot and gazed up at the more-full-than-usual air over his head. It seemed like everyone had a purpose here today, and he was no different. Time to log some more hours on the ol' broomstick.

He hopped onto his broom and took off on a slow first lap, giving himself time to adjust to being on his broom and in the air before he casually picked up some speed. It was a shame there wasn't anyone around today to toss the quaffle with him, but he supposed laps were good exercise too.

He had missed flying. Like really and truly missed the sensation of flying around and trying to catch a tiny golden ball...

The sixteen year old stood there, his eyes scanning the pitch and the skies. It wasn't... a bad day for a bit of flying, actually. Sure, the weather wasn't as perfect as it probably should be looking towards at this time of the year but at least it wasn't raining, yeah? And at least there weren't any Dementors around.

Shudder.

Alec reached up a hand and ruffled his hair with his free hand while his other hand held onto his broom. And speaking of good hair, LOOK! Mo dude was flying around! Smiling at the sudden idea that popped into his head, Alec swung his leg over his broom and kicked off, heading straight towards the younger Ravenclaw who... had REALLY awesome hair! Had they ever had a conversation about hair before? It would be a shame if they hadn't.

"MO! Hey" Waaaaaave! "Wanna race?" Flying. Races. FLYING!

might have had the lead for a short period...but the fact remained that Alice was just too much for him today. That paired with heat from the burning sun, the Slytherin thought he might fall right out of the sky, land face-up on the ground, and just perish...

Drama word, 'perish' was.

He was losing ground...He needed water...They been at this for a while now...Had to have been...and he'd been out here way before Alice had even joined him...The Slytherin Captain tried to push through, though...not breathing through his mouth...but strictly his nose...Anything to make him less thristy...They were neck and neck and he wasn't at all sure how he'd managed that feat...given the circumstances...

Just a little bit more...

The sweat on his face was uncomfortable and boiling...His clothing was sticking to him...and he had this weird taste in his mouth. All things Dylan was noticing...while almost finishing the finish line to this race with Alice...UGH.

A LITTLE MORE...

He'd only managed one full lap, but Mo was already eager to add some variety to his routine. Still... was he glutton for punishment enough to let that variety be racing a Seeker? And not just any Seeker, but probably the fastest Seeker in the school?

It was good that Mo had a healthy sense of self and wasn't really all that fussed about winning things, because it only took him a moment longer to nod and turn his broom toward Alec.

"Sure. What do you say... from here to the hoops and back again? I'll even let you start." Alec was a decent chap, even if he would hands-down beat Mo in a race. Then again, they didn't have to catch anything, so maybe Mo could hold his own.

Alice wanted water TOO. And a cold shower. And jelly slugs. And other various foods. And she wanted to win, but that was the only thing on that list within her reach right now, so she tried to maintain focus and keep going. Peeking back for a moment to see Dylan next to her, neck and neck once more. Really? Again?

His speed was getting irritating, how was he that fast?

But she could tell how badly he needed rest. He'd been out here a while before her, and it was too hot to do anything right now. Trying to take advantage of his tiredness, she flattened herself and managed to maintain most of her speed around the last bend, cutting in front of him again and stopping once she'd finished her last lap. Where was Dylan? Had he finished in front of her? Taking a moment to catch her breath here..

HAH. She'd just beaten Dylan Montmorency in a race. Totally had.

Grinning extra wide at him, Alice offered a thumbs up to the Slytherin. "I can go grab some water out of the locker room if you need it, Captain." Because she needed it, too.

This was like... male bonding time. Or so the sixteen year old liked to think. He was sure that flying helped to bring people together in one way or another. They had played in the same team during the All-Star game earlier this term, after all. AND they had been the only two boys in that team too! See? Male bonding time. This was legit.

Here to the hoops and back again? Alec looked over towards the hoops and nodded. "Sounds great!" And he was up against a Chaser for this? Was that even fair since Chasers were used to flying back and forth between hoops while he just flew... sort of... everywhere. "First one to get back wins?"

Letting him start though... that made the boy shake his head. "How about... on the count of three?" Fairness and all. "I hope you're ready to lose..." Cheeky!GRIN.

"I'm fully ready to lose," Mo informed Alec in all seriousness, although it was immediately followed by a little grin of his own. "But you're going to have to work for it anyway." And in the spirit of BEAGLE fairness, Mo counted off for them... "On three. One... two... three."

He'd already been leaning low over his broom, and Mo shot forward on the count. Part of him wanted to watch for Alec, to see where the other boy was and how they were comparing as they raced, but the logical Ravenclaw part of his brain knew that any efforts to watch would slow him down. If Alec pulled ahead enough, Mo would see him, and when he turned at the posts, he would know for sure where the two of them stood. As it was, he assumed the other boy was right beside him, bent low over his own broomstick.

The wind was whipping past Mo's ears, stripping away any other sounds and leaving him alone in a bubble of air. Now this was flying. Chasers didn't get to fly flat out very often, and never got to ignore what else was happening around them. Did flying always feel like this to Alec?

BLINK. He... was ready to lose? Really? Against Alec or all people? "Nothing like a bit of healthy competition!" GRIN. ... Oh. Count. That meant that he should be ready too, yeah? He ruffled his hair again for good measure, because this was something he'd have done a billion times if this was a match. Nerves, you know.

And Mo was off! Alec leant down on his broomstick and sped off after the Ravenclaw. A slow grin started spreading across his face as the wind whipped right through his hair, almost touching its roots at the front. This was an AWESOME feeling! Really and truly. And he had no Snitch to chase after this time so the pressure of trying to catch a tiny golden ball was off of his shoulders.

He bent lower over his broomstick, taking note of the fact that he was right on Mo's heels. The hoops were drawing ever nearer and they still needed to fly around it and head back so... anything could happen, yeah? It was still early in this race. His competitiveness, however, seemed to be urging his broom to go faster so that he could outstrip Mo in the same way that he was outstripping some passing butterflies.

... This... was actually bad. Mo was good people. Nodnod.

The fact that he hadn't seen Alec pass him yet - hadn't even seen him in his periphery, although Mo wasn't willing to turn his head - gave Mo such a surge of confidence that he pressed even further forward against his broom. Arms outstretched down the length of the broomstick and body tightly coiled, Mo had never felt so fast. Never in his whole life.

The hoops were just up ahead, and Mo tried to plan the best way to turn without losing any momentum. Probably, he would do a simple turn right at the bottom of the hoop around the post itself, keeping the turn as tight and controlled as possible. Probably.

It was weird, but a noise was coming through into Mo's wind bubble. Like someone was laughing quietly, only quiet noises shouldn't be able to reach his ears... Oh. The laughter was coming from Mo himself, which was a weird and ridiculous thing and he was glad no one could see the big smile plastered to his face. This was fun, and he was laughing.

Dylan brought the broom down and landed...pulling his wand and accio'ing a towel. He was pouring sweat...and he felt gross...but before he went in and took a nice shower...he wanted to do warm down yoga stuff he'd been reading about....but not right were they sun could bake them both...With a towel landing in his hands...the Captain wiped at his face, neck...hair...

While he did this, he casually walked to a nearby tree and quickly flopped relishing in the shade. "Can I please have water...." He didn't really feel like walking to his own locker room...Nope. He wanted to relax his muscles...

So...doing just that...he went ahead and started getting into the first yoga pose...Yep, the Slytherin had done his homework. Standing up with both feet planted firmly on the ground, he spread them out a bit and then bent over...maneuvering his hands and arms to twist and fold behind his back...Dylan didn't know what the pose was called...but he'd seen it was good for cool down after a vigorous workout.

He just held the pose....

Alec could see Mo. ... That... was a bit creepy but it was true. Alec could SEE the dude and so, he could see what the dude was doing to be so fast. And what exactly was the Ravenclaw doing? Pressing down on his broom. Right. Okay. This wasn't going to be classified as cheating, yeah?

Nodding a little to himself, Alec pressed himself further down on his broom. Time was practically ticking down an the end of the line was drawing nearer. He HAD to pass the guy sometime between now and the turn around the hoops. Especially if he wanted to win this race which the Quidditch player in him really wanted to do.

Concentrate... pretend there's a Snitch up there... ignore the... was that laughter?

Whatever. That would be ignored.

Nearing the hoops, the sixteen year old pressed down on his broom a little bit more until he was aaaaaaalmost neck and neck with Mo. Come on, Summers! It was almost... almost time to turn around and head back.

Landing right after Dylan, Alice got off her broom immediately and ran into her locker room, grabbing two bottles of water. It was surprising that she still had energy left after those laps, but then again, she liked to think she had a lot of endurance.

She left her broom in there and jogged back out with the water, scanning the area for the Slytherin before she located him under a tree in.. a kind of odd pose. Was he doing yoga? Better than cool down laps right now, she supposed, especially because there was shade. Alice set down a water bottle next to his leg and kept the other for herself, taking a long sip before setting it down too and trying to mimic his pose.

What? The last time she'd thought he was being weird, Dylan had been doing two assignments at once and virtually making for less work.

So it couldn't hurt to copy him now, too, right?

Oh Merlin! This was really getting down to the wire and Ella almost regretted waiting for Daichi to get his rogue quaffle under control. She was still doing well, though. They had under a minute left but the blonde was headed right towards the pitch as she dribbled as fast as she dared. She could hear Daichi nearby but she wasn't sure how close he was and she definitely didn't dare look. Any lack on concentration right now could cost her the race and she couldn't chance that!

Dribble. Dribble. Dribble.

This was totally not easy. Not even a little bit. Ella had heard her Dad talk about Basketball before and how he'd dribbled a basketball when he lived in the states but she'd never imagined how tiring it could be. Now she knew.

Dribble. Dribble. Dribble.

She was there, at the entrance of the pitch and she hadn't lost the quaffle yet! The blonde picked up her pace a little bit more as she stepped on to the grass, wondering how close Daichi was.

Just..a little....bit....further...

"TIME!"

Dylan lunged forward when a bottle of water landed in front of his face. THIRST. INTENSE THIRST...He unscrewed the cap and drank deeply from the bottle...Ahhhhhhhhhh. It was cool and just want he'd needed....Oh, that hit the spot....Totally good stuff.

Twisting the cap back on, he got back into position and tiredly smirked over at Alice, who was TOTALLY copying him. It was cool..."I heard this...helped with cooling the muscles down....after working out." He had. Not a lie.

After holding that post for about 15 minutes....he switched it up...carefully moving himself to sit on the ground...Because he was a boy, this would be a little difficult for him...Dylan knew it was called the butterfly pose. The one he was doing now...Putting his feet together with the soles, he spread his knees, immediately feeling some resistance and his hamstrings especially tensing up...

Yes, muscles....CRY....

Daichi concentrated on his mock quaffle as he dribbled it back towards the Quidditch Pitch. He was behind Ella thanks to his mistake earlier and he did not like that. The Slytherin always wanted to win in things which the people he knew had told him was a bad thing but he couldn't help it.

He dribbled behind the Captain as he began to walk faster. Nearly losing the quaffle again in the process and he slowed down a little bit. Nearly there! he wondered if he could make it under the seven minute mark...

Entering the entrance of the pitch, Daichi saw how ella was dribbling the quaffle on the grass and heard her say TIME.

DID THAT MEAN HE LOST?! *wibble!pout!*

Dribbling faster, the Slytherin walked over the grass as well and a few moments later he was beside the Hufflepuff. "I'm never doing that again" he said as he sat down on the grass and checked his watch.

He had to beat seven minutes or under and the time read....7 minutes and 4 seconds. "Aw man! just 4 seconds!" should he cheat and say he got it under 7? there was no way in knowing right?

"Congrats Bishop" he smiled at her from where he was seated before standing up. "I'll see you around , good luck with your OWLs!" because he knew she was a fifth year. Waving his hand, the Prefect marched back to the castle with the mock quaffle in his hand.

Laura watched as Sarah caught the ball, it was amazing to see, but then it was her turn, okay she could do this right, she set of slowly at first because it had been a diving catch that had meant that she hadn't flown for so long, but soon she was gaining speed.

Laura raced off and watched as Sarah threw the ball really far, she went for it with all her might but she had misjudged it, now she would have to dive, but could she, she decided she could, she raced off towards the ground and pulled off a great one handed catch, she raced towards Sarah. "I forgot how much fun this was." Laura knew they had to race towards the lake now. "Lets race now." Laura smiled.

Kace was dribbling and running ahead of Alec a little bit. He wanted to get some good dribbles and tricks in. He was having too much fun with this. He threw his quaffle and did a cartwheel and then caught it. That was quite impressive. He noticed Alec was behind him a little bit.

"Come on Alec! We are almost to the Practice Pitch!" he said encouraging his friend. Kace ran a little faster, nervous about the time strain.

He was dribbling and dribbling and he was almost there. Maybe he could make it before 7 minutes were up. He was sooooo close!!!!

Then he tripped over his shoes. OMFFFFHHHHHH! *slides into the grass* He didn't pay attention that his shoes were untied. He got some grass into his mouth.....*bleghh!* That tasted nasty. He spit some out and even saw his elbows got some burns on it.

He got up and managed to sprint with dribbling his quaffle to the practice pitch. Once he got there and caught his breath while tasting the dirt in his mouth, he asked Alec...."What's the time Alec?? Did we make it in 7 minutes?"

Just as they reached the hoops, Mo spotted Alec out of the corner of his eye. The dude was catching up. It was bad. This was the moment, and Mo was about to get passed. By the Hufflepuff Seeker.

Which, okay, if Mo was being honest with himself, if he was going to lose to anyone... he'd prefer it to be to a Seeker. He'd prefer to lose to Aidan, actually, but Alec was his second choice.

Mo stretched forward again and began to barrel roll away from Alec, tucking into the turn around the post and shooting back the way they'd come. He didn't see Alec at the moment... where was he?? Was this going to be one of those things where Alec appeared out of nowhere and beat him by a mile?

Dylan attacked that water like he was a zebra.. and zebras were really, really vicious. So he must have been really, really thirsty. Alice held her previous yoga pose for fifteen minutes before he started doing a new one, mimicking that as well. She didn't pay too much attention to the yoga in class, so she had no idea what the positions he was doing were called, but went along with them anyway. "Yeah. Like stretching. Or something." Romanos thought yoga helped with everything.

Like.. like laughter yoga. Which did absolutely nothing. She'd been attacked by dementors enough to tell, okay?

"Do you know what these poses are called?" she asked conversationally, doing what he did and putting her feet together at the soles and spreading her knees. This one stretched out her muscles more than the last, so she'd hold it for longer. Alice did this one before Quidditch sometimes, but had no idea what it was named.. something about insects?

Like the Ant or whatever.

Did it matter? It could have been the Headlight Elater, for all she knew.

"I'm not sure about the first one....but this one is called the butterfly something or another..." Dylan was a dude...It was perfectly acceptable...but he wasn't staying in the butterfly position for long. It was hurting things in the wrong places...So, yea...switching it up...

"Just one more stance I guess and we'll call it a day..."...Dylan stayed sitting on the ground but this time...he brought his calves to rest under his bum, his back rigidly straight as he placed both hands into his lap....and then he was closing his eyes and stuff....

HUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMM.

Before she could ask, he was giving information about the pose. "This is called the Thunderbolt...I think."...He continued to sit there...breathing in and out deeply...He felt so relaxed and calm. All that craziness from the flying and race had melted away. Now...he was just so totally zen...and comfortable...The sweaty robes weren't even bothering him that much, anymore..

"I feel calm." Dylan shared...

How in the name of Superman's super senses was the first year able to do THAT?! Alec was hardly able to keep the quaffle from rolling away from him and yet, Kace was doing cartwheels and catching the quaffle and breathing fire out of his nose!

... Okay... the last bit was false. But everything else was true!

But they were almost at the practice pitch! This brightened up Alec's mood considerably and he tried to dribble the quaffle faster. They did have a time limit, after all, and he had probably spent a lot of time fumbling around at the beginning. And he couldn't just leave Kace to go off ahead! Which... speaking of... Kace was FAST, did he know?

O_O

"Kace, are you--" ... Well... he was getting up again and SPRINTING to the pitch. Deciding to ask him about his well-being later, the older Puff picked up his pace by also sprinting down to the pitch, dribbling the quaffle as best as he could. His best would be good enough, yeah?

After running after the quaffle which seemed to run off track quite a number of times -- his quaffle had a mind of its own! -- he finally reached up to a spot right next to Kace and stopped the quaffle with his foot. There. "Erm..." He glanced down at his watch and smiled a little, "I say we made it just under seven minutes!" They actually only had a couple of seconds to spare so... close shave? YEAH.

"That was some awesome dribbling skills, mate. And you okay?"

________________________________



TIME TO TURN!

And Mo was... rolling away from him? No! How was he meant to compare their distances properly if they weren't side by side? Chaser and Seeker? Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff? Good hair and... good hair?

Thinking about all of this made the boy forget about the turn he was meant to make and... he... flew off into the sunset. Blinking, the Hufflepuff turned around sharply and looked over at where the Ravenclaw was. Man, he was FAST! And if this wasn't a race, Alec could have been really proud of the dude.

But this WAS a race and so, the sixteen year old flew forwards, his body now flat against the handle of his broom. The wind was whipping past him and everything else was forgotten for a moment or two. It felt as if he was making a speedy chase after the Snitch which made the boy hold out his hand in front of him for a minute or two.

And Mo was coming nearer... so was the point they had started off from... and they were close... and...

WHOOSH!

He flew to a stop and grinned, his breathing a little faster than normal. "That was FUN!" ... Also... who won?

Laura did not fare so badly for someone who had been off the broom for a while. But then again, Sarah had been improving her 'good eye' so she had found it hard to be critical of people lately. Unless that person was the usual- Vineren, the Headmistress, Bellaire and Lafay. She still had some way to go when it came to them.

Sarah caught the ball Laura sent her way. Then she looked at her watch, "oopsies, I forgot we were meant to be timing this, I think we have used two minutes already, so it means we have five more minutes to dribble it to the lake and back! We can so do this! Catch!"Then the ball was in the air again, in the direction of the lake. Sarah flew after it, so she would be in her place when Laura threw it back to her.

It was wierd flying out of a pitch in Hogwarts. She did it at home, yet in Hogwarts they were only meant to fly in a pitch. THankfully she had permission to fly off the pitch though.