Cutty let out a burst of laughter when Marisol mimicked the eyebrow motion. He was beginning to see the joys of having firsties around and why Cassia was so prone to doing it. "Alright, ladies!" He began addressing both Marisol and Beverly....






"You heard the Professor. This is a race and if we're going to win a race, we'll need a fast horse. I vote for a Granian. Any objections? Good." He said not really waiting for an answer. "Beverly?" He pointed in the direction of the closest thing Cutty had to a best-friend since Benzi Rider. "Do you know how to drive this crazy thing? Excellent! We're going to need your skill where we're going." He said shooting a glance at Professor Piersie and all his snowballed glory. "Marisol, I'm going to need your help to clear the obstacle course. If you see a snowball coming at you, use 'Aresto Momentum' to stop that scally from hittin' you or any spell you can think of." He personally thought it might be visually appealing to use a firespell. Steaaaam.

Now to bridle the animal. Cutty confidently approached one of the Granians and patted it on it's side as he'd seen...sorta?...Professor Fuller do with the Thestral a moment ago. The Granian allowed this, but the moment she saw the bridle she seemed to have other ideas. She knew what was coming. And although she'd allow Javier to do this to her all day, this was merely some kid she didn't know. Showing off her speed and agility, the mare grabbed Cutty's wand and threw it with her teeth. That means no. BOYO!


Cutty dove for his wand, realizing the company he was with and how he would like to not have to bargain for what was already his to begin with again. He also realized that this method of bridling was ineffective...and was starting to consider bribery.

They were riding along easily when suddenly things went wrong. Jasmine heard Cris call out a warning right before a barrage of snowballs came their way. Reacting quickly, Jasmine tightened her grip on the reins and steered the carriage to the left. She tried to avoid as many snowballs as she could, but she needn't have worried. Cris and Norah were on the job and blasted the snowballs out of the air. Feeling a shower of snow and ice falling down on her, Jasmine tried to maintain her concentration. She had to stay focused and drive, trusting her protectors to take care of everything else.

Having avoided the first obstacle, Jasmine straightened out the carriage, getting it back on track. She said to the horse, "Nice job, keep up the good work." She allowed herself a quick moment to check on Cris and Norah. "Are you guys OK?" Eyes back on alert, Jasmine gave the reins a shake to encourage the Abraxan to pick up the pace.

OH, it was time to pick a WINGED HORSE!

Maddie slipped her hand into the older boy's and tuuuuuuugged him towards the creatures, a bounce in her step. She wanted a GOOD one, y'know? And the early birds got the winged wor--no, that wasn't right. Well WHATEVZ, she wanted a fast winged horse. A big one too. One that looked like a contender.

Brown eyes spotted a beautiful grey one and she wandered up to it, smiling BIIIIG. "Can we use THIS one?" The first year gave the boys her BEST puppy dog eyes and tilted her head. They COULD, couldn't they? HMM?

ALSO.

"Which job do YOU want?" She'd give him first pick since she'd clearly be good at ANY job at all.

Cris breathed a sigh of relief, when Jasmine ably skirted Abe through the snowballs' debris and towards a clear path again.

"Well done, Jasmine. You too, Norah," Cris called down to the young Hufflepuff. He was sure he heard a couple of Reducto calls coming from the little girl.

He squinted his eyes, as he looked forward, trying to discern what was just snow on the ground and what would be a pending obstacle. Everything was so white out here that landscape just seemed to blend together.

....and that was why he almost didn't see the snow mound until they were almost upon it.

"Snow Mound, Jasmine! Right in front of us," Cris quickly pointed out the danger even as he raised his wand and pointed it at the mound. "REDUCTO!" he called out even as he waved the appropriate wand movements.

Cris watched as a blueish beam of light shot out and headed towards the mound.

Had he cast the spell in time or would they plough right into the snow mound and end the race here?

Declan. Declan was the name of the person he was going to be working with. "Good to meet you, Declan," he said, nodding at the older-looking boy, "The name's Grayson." HELLO. Because they might as well get to know each other if they were going to be working together, as tedious as it sounded.

And speaking of introductions, another one was due to the horse they were working with, too. "'Sup, Granian! You feeling fast and ready to beat out the others?" he asked, rubbing the grey winged horse while Declan fixed a bridle on him, "You have nothing to worry about, mkay? We," Motions to him and the other boy. "We're brilliant. We will LEAD you to victory." Uh huh. He was dead sure about this.

Oh look! The other boy wasn't incompetent. That was good to know.

Being a protector fitted VERY WELL in Grayson's mind. He was giving up the chance to charge a horse to victory but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make. Especially since it meant that he had someone's life to defend. "Looks like your life is in my hands." SMIRK. Oh he liked this VERY MUCH. Very much an ego-boosting activity, this was.

"Come on, we can't waste any more time." Giving the horse one more pat on its neck, Grayson climbed up on the horse, making sure to leave a bit of space in front of him for Declan. Taking out his wand, he shot the boy a small smirk and sat up straight. Ready, he was. And the boy had better be too.

................. Sweet Merlin, were those freaking snowballs?!

Now which horse to choose... They all seemed pretty cool and Simon would have been fine with either one. However, this was a race and Simon had to make his mind up quickly. Power or speed? Power. The horse was going to be pulling them both in a chariot. "Let's go for the Abraxan. They're powerful enough to carry us at a good speed.," he said as he pointed towards one of the gray ones. Before Simon could say something else, Zander had asked if he could do the driving. Feeling slightly relieved that Zander had asked to do that, Simon chuckled. "Sure, I was actually hoping that you wanted to do that," he admitted with a friendly grin. Yes, Simon preferred protecting. Spells were fun.

He approached one of the Abraxan horses slowly in order not to spook it out. "Easy there, buddy. Easy there," he spoke in a soothing voice, stroking it gently with his right hand in his left he held his wand. He gently hovered his wand over the side of the Abraxan's face from under the ears to the corner of its mouth just like Professor Thompson had done.

Success!

After the bridle was placed on the Abraxan, he turned around to face Zander. "Ready to race?" he offered with a grin and hopped into the carriage, ready to protect them from incoming obstacles. Squinting his eyes, he saw something being thrown around in the distance. Where those snowballs? Probably.

Look at that eyebrow raise. Beverly stifled a laugh and nudged Cutty, shooting him a look that said something along the lines of, "I like this firstie." Marisol didn't seem like one of those prissy little ones. If push came to shove, Beverly bet Marisol could take a punch.

Gaze following Cutty, Beverly squinted at him as he gave orders. What, did he think was Minister of Magic all of a sudden? It was okay though, had it been someone else Beverly would have gladly brought them back to Earth. With her wand or fist, either one.

"You can also use Protego," Beverly suggested to Marisol. Maybe she'd even deflect snowballs at other teams. Two in one shot.

Turning to Cutty just as he lost his wand, Beverly smirked. Remember that one time you lost your wand, Cutty Mordaunt? Beverly did. But he was in borderline of upsetting the Granian and Beverly couldn't have it. She'd protect the creature from anyone. And she wanted to pet it.

Stepping closer, she got an idea. "I'll distract her," she muttered to Cutty. She'll pet the Granian while he placed the bridle on. It was perfect. Beverly had experience in this--well, with horses. How much different can a winged horse be? She approached the creature in a manner in which she let her know she was no enemy or danger. Beverly out stretched her arm, her fingers gracing over the side of its neck gently. Midnight her horse enjoyed when she did that.

"You like that, don't you," she cooed a bit. Everyone ignore this. It was all for the Granian. "What a good girl." The winged horse gave a jerk nod as if it agreed with Beverly.

Any moment now, Cutty.

They had barely averted one disaster when Jasmine noticed something straight in front of them and getting closer, fast. Squinting her eyes to see, she realized that it was a large mound of snow and they were heading right for it. At the same moment she heard Cris warn her of the snow mound. This time she was about to steer to the right, but her new best friend must have seen it too. Without her prompting, the horse veered to the right to try to avoid the wall of snow. Her protectors had her back because Jasmine heard spells flying left and right.

It all happened so fast that Jasmine wasn't sure which happened first. The snow mound exploded and her horse managed to pass just to the right of it. If jasmine could have high fived Cris, Norah and the horse, she would have. They were quite a team. They were still in the race and they were in it to win it. "Way to go guys!", she yelled. Eyes back to the front, Jasmine drove on.

H'mm...


And Beverly Wayne had a way with beasts.


He'd have to remember that. However, now that the creature was distracted, Cutty wasted no precious time. He wiped his hand to free it of snow and coming in from the side, slowly approaching the animal. The charm required getting a bit close to it's face, so he figured he'd better do it quick. "Fixate!", he almost whispered the incantation so as not to startle their Granian as he moved his wand from up toward the head toward the mouth area. At least, that's where it seemed Professor Thompson was aiming with the Thestral. The bridle was slipped on, if even a bit clumsily for his imprecise application. Nonetheless, it worked.

"Alright, ladies, all aboard." Normally selfish Cutty would've just boarded, but his impulse control potion caused him to think it over. So he waited by the step offering a hand to Marisol & Beverly allowing them to board first.

Grayson? He returned the nod and turned to pat the horse. They should name it Grayson Jr. since it was a nice shade of gray. Oh, look at that he said WE are brilliant. More like himself, but in this case he'll let the 'we' pass. And victorious they will be! The boy felt like this would be a good moment for a super high five, but wasn't sure if this kid was worthy of one his high fives yet. Maybe later if he does a good job of being the protector.

Speaking of, look at him being all smug. Ugh. -______-

Declan shuddered a bit as Grayson stated that his life was in his hands. Merlin, today might be the day he dies. His only dying wish was that his gravestone stated how awesome he was. Okay, let's do this.

He hopped up on the horse and settled in front of his teammate, side-eyeing him. Don't get too excited, kiddo. Taking a hold of the reins, he returned the smirk with one that was even better.

Now, this was majestic. He only wished that "Knights of Cydonia" was playing in the background to add to the atmosphere. LOOK, SNOWBALLS! A determined smirk formed on his lips as he narrowed his eyes and leaned over closer to the horse. Now, Grayson would have a better shot and he, he would look cool as heck. Gently kicking the horse to get it moving, he let a battle cry because it was very highly needed.

Even as Cris watched his spell head towards the snow mound, he could feel the carriage veer to the right. A quick glance to the left told him all he needed to know. Jasmine had competently and most efficiently, steered Abe and the carriage away from the looming snow mound, just in the nick of time too.

......because his spell hit the mound at the same time and blew it apart!! If Jasmine hadn't moved their carriage away, they would have been hit by the snow debris much of which contained hard ice, stone and dead tree branches. All possible projectiles.

"You saved us, Jasmine," Cris quickly glanced over at Jasmine and bumped shoulders with her. He could see the determination and deep concentration on Jasmine's face. Not only was determined to bring them to safety, she sure looked like she wanted to win too.

Then the carriage started bumping up and down crazily. Holding on tightly to the seat, Cris glanced down to see what was causing it and to dismay, quickly discovered what it was.

The wheels of their carriage were running over large stones of ice. Large enough that if he didn't help clear them away, Abe would either get hurt stumbling over the icy stones...or worse yet, they would looks a wheel!

"Keep driving ahead, Jasmine," Cris directed Jasmine as he called down to Norah. "Norah, those stones of ice. We need to clear a path for the carriage to get through. Use the same spell," Cris told Norah, as he did exactly what he told his fellow protector.

Leaning forward, he stood up and aimed his wand down at the ground in front of them. Even though it was hard to focus his aim on the ice stones on the ground, Cris cast the spell.

Waving his wand in a sideways V formation over and over again as he pointed at each of the stones, Cris cast the Reductor Curse. "Reducto....Reducto....Reducto," and watched as the stones blew apart as the spell he cast repeatedly, hit them one at a time, clearing a path for them.

SPOILER!!: Adi

Quote:

Originally Posted by FearlessLeader19

Help? Whereee? Adi hurriedly looked around. Just in time, he spotted it. A snowball. “Reducto!’’ The snowball disintegrated. Whew! Close call. Who threw that anyway? Or had the Professors enchanted snowballs to randomly target the students? “Keep an eye out for more snowballs, Benny.’’ To warn him just in case he missed them, yeah?

Adi trained his eyes back ahead. So far they had only encountered one snow obstacle and that wasn’t suiting him at all. He wanted to blast more snow away. Hehe. The carriage rolled on some more and with it came a towering mound of snow! This one was a lot bigger than the first one. It stood maybe about seven feet but it took up a lot more width. Awesome!

The Hufflepuff readied his wand. “Reducto!’’ Blue light shot from his wand and rapidly towards the snow. It hit the pile and sent the snow flying.

Close call evaded.

Adi had gotten the snowball before it had hit and the snow had fallen harmlessly to the ground. Whew. "Will do..." he mused, now on the look out for snowballs and snow mounds. Hopefully there weren't any more types of surprises. Those two were enough to give them challenges along the way to the target finish line all the teams were headed for.

Sounds from the abraxon pulling their sled alerted him to more trouble and that was when he noticed the taller snow mound that blended well with the rest of the soundings. Benny worked on the reins, trying for a better angle and that was when there was a shot over his shoulder and hitting the mound just like the previous one. Except this one blasted snow all over them causing the Gryffindor to shiver and try and brush it off.

"Nice job, Hippogriff..." he remarked as he navigated the remnants, unconsciously using his best friend's nickname for the first time since their fight.

It was about time the bridle was on! Beverly wanted to ride like the wind and race. So when Cutty finished with the bridle and ACTUALLY waited for the girls to get on, Beverly didn't hesitate. She hopped on as if it was the most natural thing next to eating cereal.

Once on board, she tilted her head at Cutty. Just now she realized he waited for her and Marisol to get on. Did he have a gentleman side she didn't know of? Has it been hidden all this time? Or was this some sort of prank? Whatever it was, Marisol was sitting in the middle. She was going to be sandwiched between them so she wouldn't fall off.

Still, eyes on you, Mordaunt.

Adi was feeling pretty confident about this activity by now. Benny was doing an awesome job with the carriage and he himself wasn't doing too bad. They could actually win this, couldn't they? Hmmm. Seems possible. Anyway... back to playing look out!

Come on out snow piles! Or snowballs. Adi didn't care if both appeared at the same time. He was game to blast them out of his and Benny's way. But all seemed clear right about now. How boring.

Adi grinned when Benny called him by the nickname of his favourite Magical Creature. "Good job yourself, Dragon.'' Things seemed to be returning to normal between them now, much to his relief.

Of course he was going to be sitting looking SMUG. He was the PROTECTOR. There was responsibility and whatnot down to him to make sure that they weren't too injured by the time they reached the finish line but he had the POWER to decide whether this one got hit by one of those flying snowballs or not. So be nice or whatever, mkay?

But not TOO nice. That was just weird.

It was probably a good thing that they were sitting in carriages and not the horse's back because there was NO WAY that he was going to be holding onto Declan's waist or whatever. He wasn't a damsel in distress that this one was saving from the top of a tower guarded by--

"WATCH OUT FOR THOSE ROCKS!" As in, somehow guide the horse to jump over the pile over there otherwise it was going to crash and he was going to fall to his death. Which wasn't going to happen, mkay? This was NOT how he had planned to die, thank you very much.

.............. Wait.

Merlin.

He was meant to CLEAR the path, wasn't he? Oh Merlin. Now it was his time to RISE AND SHINE.

Which he went on to do. Standing up and all so that the winged horse didn't get hurt. "CONFRINGO!"

Awesome! They were racing the horses on the ground, so there was no need for her to worry about heights. Sighing in relief, she watched as Professor Thompson did a demonstration on a Thestral. Okay, that looked really weird because he was putting a bridle on thin air. Freaky.

Time for them to get started! Eagerly she turned to Bay. "You want to drive while I shoot spells?" It sounded like fun, plus would give her a chance to work on her spell casting a little more. "Which horse do you want to choose? I kind of like the Abraxans." Heading over to one, she began petting it. "Such a pretty horse."

"Sure!" Kyroh beamed at the girl, since that was what he had wanted anyways. He already knew she was awesome since she gavd hugs and everything! "I don't remember your name though." Kyroh admitted still smiling. "I'm Kyroh!" In case she didn't remember HIS. Looking over at the professors as they spoke again the first year started to jump in excitement. HE WAS RIGHT! But they were going to be doing something cooler than just riding. They would be driving and attacking and COOL STUFF!

"Cani be the driver?" He asked turning to bis partner still jumping. "I can drive REALLY well!" .....Maybe. He was good with brooms so this was no difference right? "Oh we also need a horse." Because yeah that was important too.

They had dodged a bullet with that one and Jasmine was almost afraid to imagine what else was in store for them. The driving was straight and easy for a moment and then the ride began to get bumpy. The carriage started to shake rattle and roll and Jasmine held onto the reins for dear life. The path was littered with large chunks of ice that were making the drive extremely difficult. Following Cris' directions, Jasmine drove straight ahead, hoping that he and Norah would be able to clear a path in time.

As Jasmine saw the ice stones explode in front of them, she urged the horse to slow a little bit. She hoped that this would give the others time to get the stones of ice out of the way. It was working so far. If only they could get past this and onto smooth ground again. On and on they went. After what seemed like an eternity, all of the ice stones had been cleared and they were riding smoothly again, for now. Feeling that it was safe tondo so, Jasmine encouraged the hirse to pick up speed again. She knew that Cris and Norah had to be tired by now from casting spells nonstop during the ride. Trying to encourage her teammates, Jasmine said, ""Hang in there you two.". "You're doing great." "You too handsome", she said to the Abraxan who had been working the hardest. Jasmine wondered how much farther they had to go and what obstacle they would face next.

After the girls had boarded, Cutty hoisted his own backside up on the carriage. He looked over at Bev and was pretty certain she'd know what she was doing where it came to steering the horse if her methods of calming the animal earlier were anything to go by. Very good. This should be easy. He'd shared enough classes with Marisol to know her wandwork was competent enough to keep their way clear.


Cutty's head jerked back with the force of Beverly's start. His hand silently gripped the side of the carriage for support, whilst his other tightened around the hilt of his wand. They were so gonna win this. "Faster, Wayne! Faster!" He said, putting his chin up and letting the breeze hit him in his best mimicry of a passenger-side girlfriend on a fast broom.

...and on that note, it seemed like they were ready to go. The professor had thrown out a ton of directions at once, so Sophie kind of glanced at her partner out of the corner of her eye to see if he'd gotten all that. What was his name again? She didn't think he'd ever said.

"Did you get all that?" Sophie asked. "I think I did. We need to decide on which type of winged horse we're going to work with and..." What else had there been? Oh, yeah--"...and which one of us will ride while the other does the protecting." How old was this kid again? First year? Now Sophie wasn't perfect with charms, but she thought she might have a little more experience being a third year. "You can ride the horse if you want," she added. Also, she'd let him decide what kind of winged horse they were going to work with.

She glanced ahead at how quickly the others seemed to be progressing. Ugh. They may not be the first to cross the finish line, but they'd do this. She turned back to the boy, whatever his name was, while she waited for him to seal the deal with what type of horse they'd have. He'd want to ride the horse, wouldn't he?

Powerful? Wicked. "Brilliant, Abraxan it is!" Zander was actually kind of excited for this race. Hopefully his driving wouldn't lead the two to there utter doom... Hopefully. Then he saw Simon approaching the horse and decided to hang back until they became friendly and all. He didn't want to disturb the poor guy. Woah. Simon was good at this. Had he done this before?

Once the bridle was on, Zander made his way towards the horse. "You bet! Let's do this," he replied to the boy. Horse chosen, bridle placed, all that was left was to get on and start the race! Zander hopped on right behind Simon and got ahold of the reigns. Giving them a light yank, he set the horse into motion. "Let's go!" And with that, the pair began to move forward. The horse started at a steady pace, but soon enough it's power allowed it to pull hard and they were going pretty far.

Zander could see some... whizzing snowballs!? in the distance. Uh-oh. But wait, that wasn't his job! He was supposed to be keeping his eyes on the road? Or in this case on the path to the finish line! "WOOOOAAAAAHHH, he's really going fast!"

The sudden yell from Grayson in his ear made him accidentally jerk on the reins and veer dangerously close to other carriages. LUCKILY, he reacted quickly and steered them back on course.

His heart was pounding super fast as he shielded himself from the blast of the spell his partner had just casted. "OY." Declan yelled back, not taking his eyes off the road, "MIND NOT YELLING IN MY EAR NEXT TIME?" Geez! This kid was going to make him deaf before they made it the finish line.

She was FINALLY going to have the honor of riding a winged horse. Her dad never let her because it was too dangerous, less a Granian, who were SUPER fast. PFFFT, Daddy. She was ready! More than ready. She hoped Cutty and Marisol were too.

Working the reins, leaning forward, a grin stretched her lips. "You want faster?" she called back. "You better hold on tight then, Mordaunt!" That was pretty much it that was said before Beverly URGED the Granian to move faster. Run you beautiful beast, RUN.

Glancing down to ensure that Norah was doing alright inside the carriage, proud that she was adapt at casting the spells that helped clear the pathway from the ice stones. He gave her an okay sign with his fingers before turning back to look ahead. Catching Jasmine call out your too handsome, and mistakenly thinking she was referring to him, he grinned back at her and said,"And you're too beautiful too," before turning his full attention to the ground ahead.

....and just in a nick of time. MERLIN!! where did that humungous snow mound come up from.

"LOOK OUT, JASMINE!! NORAH HOLD ON TIGHT!!," Cris called out a warning as he pointed at the mound quickly approaching in front of them. Cris gauged their odds. Abe was an Abraxan. Strong and powerful. They could possibly plough through the mound without getting seriously hurt, but Cris didn't want to risk it.

Then of course there was the mound. If it had been there the last few weeks, the mound would most likely be compacted with snow. With the rain and the wind, that snow could turn to ice. As he squinted at the mound, Cris could see that parts of it was glistening. He had been right. Before them, stood an icy rock hard snow mound, which was not something to laugh about. Cris know that for a fact, having seen a snow plough once crash into one.

Making a decision, Cris whipped out his wand and pointed it straight at the middle of the mound. "Confringo!!" he called out. An orange fire-like beam of light immediately shot out from his wand and headed towards the icy snow mound. Would it be enough to blow the mound apart?

Cris watched with abated breath.

BOOM!! the beam impacted the snow mound right in the middle and it immediately blew apart!! Cris quickly stood up and brought up a shield to protect both Abe and all of them from the small bits of quickly melting ice flying past them. Flicking up his wand in a slow arc before slowly extending it in a horizontal line, he called out, "Protego" and watched as the ice bounced off the shield before he ended it.

"All clear now!" he turned to Jasmine as he continued to keep watch for more obstacles.

Arista was to be the controller, the one she wanted yay! "Sounds good to me!" She smiled and walked over to the golden Aethonan it was a beauty. "Ready to win with us?" She started to pet him. Okay so bridle time, she grabbed her wand and hovered her wand right over this side of the Aethonan's face and began drawing a line straight from under the horse's ears all the way down to the corners of it mouth and said, "Fixate."

And the bridle was up and over the head. Yay!

Turning to Candice she gave a smile and said "Well Messer, lets do this!" That sounded weird definitely Candice. Giving the horse another pat, she climbed up, once Candice was on she took hold of the reins and sent a smirk back towards Candice. She better not kill them..