The dueling dwelling is normally a dungeon used to teach those who have been caught fighting or dueling in some cases a few lessons. For the pep rally, the dungeon has been redecorated with two clearly marked starting lines, at the one end of the room, and an enlarged table for people to sprint around at the other end. There are also tables of slightly old but harmless food in front of each starting line.

The foods are a selection of the house ghost’s favourites: Sir Nicholas' two-day old roast beef with extra-soggy Yorkshire pudding; the Grey Lady's cream tea, which includes a cold pot of strong tea, some old and cold scones, slightly fermented strawberry jam and thick, yellow, lumpy clotted cream; the Bloody Baron's bloody beef wellington; and the Fat Friar's favorite stale trifle.

Pick a partner and then you both have to cram down as much of the moldy food items as fast as you. Once you have cleared your table of food, one of you must give the other a piggyback ride to the other side of the room, around the enlarged table, and back to the starting line. The quickest pair wins the glory.

And remember... the name of the game is the VOMIT RELAY. So try not to puke!

Professor Bellaire wasn't sure how she felt about being on vomit watch duty. Her gag reflex was probably going to go into overdrive today or something. Baby vomit she could handle but these kids....they ate a whole lot of disgusting things and there was a whole lot more disgusting things for them to consume, so to see it all in it's churned form..well....yuck.

It was clearly inevitable in a race like this.

In anycase the Tranfiguration's professor reported for duty in the oldest pair of boots she had and the oldest and cheapest bit of clothing that she owned to chaperone.

It was a glorious, glorious day!

Floating through the many castle floors and walls in his excitement to get to the rally as quickly as possible he didn't even stop to talk to the portraits who called after him. The castle was just buzzing with talk of the pep rally.

Coming into the dungeons Sir Nicholas was so keen on getting to his vomit relay station that he floated right through Professor Bellaire. Too late he noticed what he had done.

Turning Sir Nicholas hovered ashamed in front of her. "Sorry Professor Bellaire. I didn't see you there."

Oooh Yuck!

Sophia lost her composure for one second as the ghost of Sir Nearly Headless Nick floated through her. It felt so cold and icky. She flailed briefly causing a shiny silvery grey lock of hair to fall to her face.

Wait what???! She pulled the hair forward and inspected it. She, at almost fifty did not have a single strand of gray hair so where did this come from? It even caused her to forget to be mad at Nick. She waved him on.

"Just don't do it again..that was....creepy." She tugged on the hair a little. "Laura hyde.." She sneered. That girl must have passed on her muggle-born disease.

After casting her vote, Tiara decided to wander amongst the other scary dungeons pep centers. First up was Sophia's station. It appeared that Sir Nicholas was also manning - er... ghosting? - this particular venue.

"Hello all! Sophia, I hope your vanishing spells are in tip-top shape today." And of course they would be, for the professor was excellent in both charms and transfiguration.

A female! A live one.

She doozied over from Sir Nick to her co-worker. She needed to ask her something, something important. Oh right small talk...that was necessary right? People did that in normal conversation, but how normal could the conversation be considering they were manning a vomiting relay in the dungeon!

"Everything I do..I do to perfection Tyner." She got a little closer and gently pulled the woman towards her by her wrist, closing any space before lowering her voice to a whisper..."Is my hair...greying?"

Being down at this ghost slash/human party she decided to look around and then started smelling something absolutely awful. She soon saw it was a large feast of disgusting rancid food and a board nearby that said vomit rally. She read the rules and almost wanted to vomit herself. Sure the ghosts needed the food to be rancid so they could smell it t simulate taste. But who thought it was a good idea to have a competition around eating rancid food and running. The nurse will be having a field day with this. But I will not partake in this nonsense, moving on. Oichi walked around to see what more this gross festival had to offer.

Benjamin peered round the door of the dungeon, intrigued by the thing described as the 'Vomit Relay'. Easily intrigued enough to give it a go, in fact. He'd give pretty much anything a go once, especially if it was likely to push him to the limit. This might be a slightly different sort of limit, but, hey...nothing too bad could happen, right? Not with two Professors and a school ghost in the room.

Hence why he headed towards the start line. He just needed someone else crazy, erm, intrigued enough to join him. Crazy and intrigued enough in the very best of ways, of course. Now, where had Lex gotten too?

Alexa was still looking around the dungeons. Pep Rally in the dungeon? Brilliant idea. Now she could freely walk around without the added luggage of being in trouble!! That was probably the best part. Of course she wasn't walking aimlessly, just curiously. The girl was well acquainted with the dungeons thanks.

While walking around she saw a particular Ravenclaw enter the dueling dwelling. Ah, the memories. She had one of her first detentions in there. That was all the reason she needed to see what they'd done with in there so the Gryffindor headed in that direction.

Once inside she settled next to her friend, a glint in her eye saying she was ready for whatever this was...and before she forgot. "Hello Professors...Sir Nicholas." They got polite nods and smiles. What kind of Prefect would she be if she had no manners about her? "Alright, what's this all about?" Lex asked, looking around....wait....wait why was the food rotting?.........????

It was only now that Benjy realised that the food...well, wasn't food. Or, at least, it didn't look it. He shrugged. Same arguments applied either way. Bellaire certainly wouldn't want him being too ill in her vicinity, knowing what she was like. Speaking of which, he should probably say hello. Politeness probably came into school spirit too somewhere along the lines. "Hi Professors, Sir Nicholas..." he said, toe scuffing along the start line.

And then, as if she'd read his mind, Lex appeared. Awesome. Benjy flashed her a grin, the glint in her eye returned by one of his own. And the Gryffie Prefect actually had the sense to ask what it was all about. He'd just gone by what he'd overheard in the corridor. Shrug.

"Whatever it is, I'm in," he said eagerly. And he definitely meant it.

Tiara was relieved to hear that. After all.. if she was going to be in a room with potential projectile sick, she was going to need some good wandwork. And a large bottle of Mrs. Skower's, I would imagine. A small shudder went through her just at the thought.

But then suddenly Sophia's wrist was grasping hers. Startled into a sharp intake of breath, Tiara almost didn't hear what her colleague had said. She simply STARED at the woman. And kept on STARING...

..even when two distinctly student voices greeted the two women. Ignoring this, Tiara kept her eyes locked onto the Transfiguration professor's. "I.. I beg your pardon?" she managed. Goodness, the woman was acting strangely.

The grinning took her mind off the not so tip top shaped food laid out on the tables. She was curious about them but figured they would be explained either by Benjy or one of the people in charge here. For now Lex returned his grin.

Her grinned widened and she gave a short laugh. "How very Gryffindor of you. Are you sure the hat sorted you right?" It was a legit question. The boy had very few Ravenclaw moments--which wasn't a bad thing. Not at all, rather it made him more tolerable than most. Merlin knew how insufferable Ravenclaws could get from time to time. "Reckon we should ask though...." The obvious response was eating all this stuff--duh, it was set out on the table--but the LOGICAL response was still being worked on. No way was this stuff edible.

Lex tilted her head and looked to some extra thick looking Jam. "Ten galleons says that hasn't been edible for at least a year." Just LOOK at it. Seriously. And were they just going to stand here? Lex needed answers.

NO she wasn't allowed to beg any pardons because Sophia was not granting pardons. Especially when she had a full thick lock of silver hair. It must be stress...maybe...maybe the whole thing with Rhea was starting to affect her..maybe she was worried about how Tyler would do in his NEWTs ( that boy was so easily side tracked) or maybe it was the rotten children she had to deal with day in and day out.


"Yes yes Cambridge..hi.." She waved her off impatiently.
"My hair Tiara..It's greying! How does it look? Is it a fetching kind of classic greying or does it just make me look old? Speak!" Sh wanted to shake the woman.

After having seen the announcement on the Slytherin notice board, Terry was curious to see exactly what it involved. It took less than 5 minutes for him to enter Dungeon five and it sent a shiver down his spine. He had never had the misfortune to end up in detention and he never planned on. This place was entirely brand new to him and it sure was creepy.

Still, he entered one of the rooms and his eyes fell immediately upon the table. Err.. What was this?

Soggy Yorkshire puddings?! That was an abomination!

He glanced briefly at the two professors in conversation not wanting to interrupt what looked like a heated conversation. Instead, he turned to a pair of students within the room. One he was familiar with, Alexa, the other he was sure he'd seen around at some point but never properly introduced himself.

"This looks disgusting" he wrinkled his nose. "How could anyone leave a trifle this long it goes stale?!" If that was his, he would've consumed it so quickly that it wouldn't even have the opportunity.

Having seen the flyer about the Pep Rally on the noticeboard Ana had decided that it seemed interesting. Especially the vomit relay thing. Mainly because she was curious what would be involved in it. She really hoped it wouldn't be a competition to see who could be sick the most. Because that would be gross. She'd also figured it would be great because Ana was generally full of pep, even if she was sometimes a little less peppy these days, and it was being held in the Dungeons, so she figured she couldn't get too lost.

Luckily she'd been right and had found the right dungeon pretty easily. Maybe it was just her but it didn't really look very peppy. Ana hung back around the door as she adjusted her beret so that it covered her hair better, it was going increasingly grey to her consternation and despite her best efforts a few locks of grey were still visible, as she took in everything around her. Including the strange food and the other people in the room, none of who she recognised immediately, until she heard Terry's voice at least.

A small smile formed on her lips as she headed over to the group of students, moving so that she'd be standing next to Terry. "So this isn't normal food then?" she asked curiously, slightly relieved. Because if it was she'd be greatly concerned about the English. Although, it wasn't that relieving because she had a sinking feeling that the food was meant to be consumed.

Creepy? Did she mean him?

Sir Nicholas detected some anger towards him from Professor Bellaire for his little mistake but she didn’t lash out at him. She just asked him not to do that again. "I shall take care not to."

And why was she tugging at her hair?

His head almost fell off as he spun towards the flying instructor. "Good day madam Tyner!" Sir Nicholas quipped happily. It was a glorious day.

Catching sight of Prefect Alexa he quickly floated over to her. "Good day Alexa." Yep it was a fine choice too even if the girl was a little too obsessed with candy things.

Gesturing around them Sir Nicholas said to Alexa just as much as the other student’s present. "This is a vomit relay. You have to participate I promise its fun!"

With a brief glance over at Tyner and Bellaire he said with a wink to the student’s "Maybe you can even race against your professor’s if you convince them to play too." Sir Nicholas said with a gesture to Tyner and Bellaire. They were there to supervise but they should play with the student’s to it would be fun.

Kirby wasn't late. No, He was just enjoying his 3rd Breakfast before coming down to watch more kids stuff their faces with almost bad food, then hurl it all over the place. He moved in and stood beside Sophia and Tiara. "Ladies." He greeted them both, more so to be nice to Bellaire who was caught in the act of asking about Grey Hairs. He crosses his arms, "Sir Nick. Having a good time at the Rally? Food here looks...well, edible."

He did like the idea of involving himself some in this relay. Maybe, he could do the Piggy-back portion of the race for some of the kids. They'd enjoy that wouldn't they? For now he'll just hang back, and enjoy the sight of kids loosing their breakfasts...Was that weird. That was weird....He'll enjoy the company. Yeah that was better.

Terry was just about to speak when he heard a familiar voice behind him. He spun, finding that Ana had also entered and stood next to him. He smiled briefly, glad for some other company within the room. It still looked a little empty right now, compared with the rest of the school anyway.

His nose wrinkled at her question as he turned to look back down at the odd banquet. "It's days old. The trifle is awful" Honestly. It was a waste of a good pudding. "These Yorkshire puddings are barely worth it and this beef looks completely raw." Who ate this sort of stuff?

The next voice he heard was explanation enough. The ghosts of course.

He nodded his head at Sir Nicholas politely. It was quite cool having them around the school and it was something he was used to. His mother was Head of Department of Magical Creatures once, beasts, beings and spirits were pretty much the norm.

"Vomit relay?!" he questioned looking down at the food once more. And he wanted them to compete? "I don't do being sick" he protested. It certainly didn't sound like fun to him.

As for the professors, they looked far too engrossed in conversation to even notice what on earth was going on with the students. Were they supposed to be supervising? The groundskeeper walked in which was kind of a relief. A male staff member, might stop the two from chattering on and make sure no one dies from food poisoning!

Goodness, the flopping head was.. less than desirable. "And a good day yourself. A wonderful day for a pep rally as well." She purposefully avoided using the term 'school spirit' in front of the ghost. That would be... Heartless of me. She grimaced internally at her poor pun.


Tiara grimaced as Sophia's hand continued to grasp her wrist like a pair of vice grips. But when her colleague clarified that she did indeed need to talk to Tiara about hair.. The official's left eyebrow raised slightly. Tiara Tyner was not one to readily enter into discussions about beauty or fashion. But as Sophia looked so earnest, she decided she had no choice.

But sensitivity was also not her strong suit. "Is it? I.. I hadn't noticed," she finished lamely and most likely unconvincingly. "I'm sure it looks quite sophisticated, Sophia," she said with a return to her businesslike demeanor. "And really, if it bothers you so much, there are plenty of potions or spells that can remedy the situation." The woman was the transfiguration professor, after all. Surely that type of magic was not above her skill level.

She attempted to change the subject to get Sophia's mind off of it. "So are you going to get the relay going, then?"


Ah, and here was another distraction for Sophia. "Mr. Kirby. You have excellent timing. I was just wondering if perhaps we should get the relay started."

"What exactly is involved in the vomit relay?" Ana asked, turning to Sir Nick. She was quite interested in participating, although she was unsure why. Maybe she was just weird?

Ana returned Terry's smile with a bright one of her own before turning to look at the food he was speaking about. It certainly didn't look the most appetising but surely it couldn't be that bad. The school wouldn't let them do anything that could be any serious danger to their health. Right?

"Can Trifle ever be bad? Also, what is Yorkshire Pudding?" Ana asked curiously. She should probably attempt to get used to English food but she had no idea what most of it was. She'd been shocked around Christmas to learn that mince pies didn't actually include meat. Slightly relieved as well since it had seemed strange that anyone would want to eat a pie straight from the packet without cooking it if it had of contained meat products.

"I want to participate," Ana said, nodding decisively at the same time to show how serious she was. Only, she didn't want to participate with a professor. That would be too strange for her.

Benjy raised an eyebrow, and shrugged. "No idea," Benjy replied with a chuckle. "Never tried to ask it." Though he had certainly wondered at times. It wasn't that he wasn't clever...just, well, preferred to take a few risks now and then. Sometimes calculated. Sometimes not. "I guess I should be honoured that you think I belong in your house though." And actually, it was sad that he wasn't, because then he'd get to spend more time with her.

Ask? Hmm...well, yeah. Though the professors didn't seem very eager to get them involved, did they? Bellaire seemed far more preoccupied with her (grey?) hair. But then he saw Lex eying the jam, and he picked one of the scones up and smothered it with the thick strawberry goo. "Fifteen, and you're on..." he challenged back, holding his creation up to his mouth ready to take a bite.


"That," Benjy replied to the Slytherin, who he'd just notice arrive. "Is a very good question." Who could leave trifle to go that stale? Really, it was a travesty. But this was a school spirit event thing, so he wasn't going to question it. Nu-uh.

He was feeling a little reckless today. What of it?

Oh, and the girl didn't know what Yorkshire puddings were? Benjy grinned. "They're awesome, that's what they are. Light and airy, perfect equally with a good ol' roast or maple syrup." Nodnod.

And then the Gryffie ghost got Benjy's FULL attention. "Where does the vomit come into it?" He could see start and finish lines, and food...but, "are we meant to vom...or not?" Important question. Mhmm. He need to know whether he was allowed to be messy in Bellaire's presence.

Making sure not to turn too quickly to make his head wobble to the side Sir Nicholas turned his head only marginally to the side to greet the groundskeeper with a polite nod. "Mr Kirby, its nice to see you here. Going to take part in the rally?"

Beaming broadly Sir Nicholas clapped his hands together excitedly. "I'm enjoying myself yes. It will be even better when we get the relay started." Looking over at the food selection fondly he commented. "It's all our favourite foods. Mine and the Barons and the Friars and the lady's you should try some. It’s delicious."

Floating over towards the boy Sir Nicholas shook his head as he reached out to pat the boy’s shoulder reassuringly. Forgetting of course that he couldn’t touch anyone living and thus his hand went right through the boy’s shoulder and out on the other side. Pulling it back he murmured "Sorry."

Taking a breath he said "Its not certain you'll get sick. But one part of the relay is to eat ghost food."

Making sure his head didn’t wobble Sir Nick turned his attention to Madam Tyner. "Yes a glorious day for a rally. Will you compete in the relay?" It was a sound question after all. The staff should interact with the student’s on this glorious rally day. He could supervise.

Scratching his head Sir Nicholas racked his brain for the best way to explain the race. With a glance at the three staffers present he turned to respond to the student’s questions both Anas and Benjy’s. "Vomit is a poor word for it but essentially it's a relay race with a partner where you first have to stuff your tummy's full of a tray of tasty ghost food and then catch a piggyback ride on your partner’s back from the starting line, around the table to the other side and back."

Pausing to look over at Professor Bellaire the Gryffindor house ghost murmured softly "Isn’t that just how the vomit relay goes Professor?"

It didn't cross his excited mind that eating ghost food could make the living vomit it up.

As much as Terry admired the ghosts, being touched or rather their bodies going straight through him was not a pleasant experience. The sixth year shuddered as Sir Nick's hand passed through his shoulder. "Its okay" he shrugged it off. Ghosts were cool, he wasn't one to hold a grudge with the dead.

He listened to the explanation of the rules and wrinkled his nose at the thought. "You want us to eat this?" he asked glancing at the food and then back up at the Gryffindor House Ghost. "Is this even safe for living consumption?" Ghosts maybe but they were already dead. Terry wasn't willing to join their ranks quite yet.

"What do we get if we win?" he asked. Because that could be the incentive to participate. Right now Terry wasn't willing.

Any food could be bad if it was left long enough. This stuff looked like it had been around for a while. Still, at least it wasn't completely moldy or smelly. It was probably edible, it just might make you sick after a while. Quite a short while.

"The jelly should be fine. But the sponge is probably stale and the custard and cream have probably turned." Though it might not be too bad, if he could eat around all the horrible bits. Wait, she didn't know what a Yorkshire Pudding is? He nodded in agreement to Benjy's description and then continued to explain. "Its basically batter, in a sort of cup shape. They're amazing when they're just crisp." Not soggy like these ones.

His eyes widened when she claimed she wanted to participate. Did that mean she wanted him to too? "You want to eat this stuff?" he asked her. "I can do the piggybacking but I'm not sure about the eating." Urgh. No vomiting for him.

Ha! See? Another person who clearly loved their food as much as him. "If that was mine, it wouldn't have even seen the dish." Seriously, he'd eat it straight out the bowl it was set in. All of it. Puddings were the best part of the meal.

"I'm Terry by the way" he introduced himself casually. Might as well if they were sticking around.

"Hi," Ana said, looking around Terry to the other boy in the room. "That sounds nice," she added hesitantly, not really getting much from his explanation about what Yorkshire Puddings were. Maybe Terry would be nice enough to explain them better.

Ana turned her attention back to the ghost as he began his explanation, flinching slightly as she noticed him put his hand through Terry. She hoped the ghost wouldn't try to touch her. She had nothing against them but she didn't like the feeling. Despite that she listened intently as he described the relay.

"So, only one person has to eat the food and get a piggy back ride?" she asked, hoping she was getting the explanation correct. It sounded easy enough but she wasn't so sure how the piggy back ride would go. Obviously Ana would be light enough for someone to give her a piggy back ride, but she wasn't sure she'd be able to give someone, one without dying herself. Unless it was a firstie or something, but considering the person she wanted to attempt to persuade to participate with her the answer to the question would be an important one.

"Isn't the sponge in a trifle already stale?" she asked Terry, genuinely curious. At least he'd provided her a better explanation about what Yorkshire Pudding was. It actually sounded like it would be quite nice.

She nodded along to his questions, ones she'd like the answers to as well before turning her gaze back to him. As soon as he turned to her she broke out her best puppy eyes and stared back up at him. "I promise I'll do all the eating of the food and that I wont throw up on you," Ana promised, tone begging. "Also, I'm sure I've had worse," she'd had to eat some terrible local delicacies before. "I really want to try and do this," she added, turning up the begging factor with her eyes and voice. Sure she normally wouldn't in front of people she didn't know but it was probably the only way she'd be able to participate in the relay race.