Wand still pointing at the gnome, trying to get her aim correctly Josie tried to wait for the perfect moment. She took a breath before casting, I"Immobulus!", watching it shoot out of her wand spiraling towards the garden gnome. It edged closer & closer, but unfortunately she'd JUST missed it by mere inches. Instead of it hitting her target, the charm hit a small patch of grass that would probably be frozen in time now.

Perhaps she should try again?

Okay, she totally wasn't aiming at the head. For only one reason, that if the injury turned out to be serious she might have to take the injured person to the healer aka her head of house. A visit she wasn't keen on making especially if there were any eye witnesses. But from corner of her eye she didn't see Olly collapse which she had mixed feelings about but yeah, it probably was for the better. Did Theo just see what she just did? It'd be too risky to gesture to him now so it'd have to wait.

And mind her she was feeling too cocky about what she just did, the art of not being caught, by Cassia Somerlad was to be published very soon it seemed. Mhhmm.. after one successful prank since a long time. Talk about self-confidence.

Now that she was in a better mood, not that she was in a bad one which made her really cheerful now, she was back on the de-gnoming. Hmm.. which one to chase after. THAT ONE!

Which was a bit far so she had to run. Without further ado, the seventh-year started running after the gnome enthusiastically. She was gonna catch the thing and throw it over the fence. YUP!


She hadn't even run that far when she found herself nearing the ground so fast until she was facedown on the ground. Luckily she managed to not break her nose as one of her hands reached the ground before her face. No broken nose but sore hand joint and forehead. Pushing herself up, her head immediately swung to Olly's direction. WHO else would dare? Looked like she did get caught after all. But the hufflepuff had the decency not to tell the professor. Which would have made her look like a tattling child. And maybe Cassia was grateful for that but would she ever confess. Heck no! Rising to her feet, Cassia started brushing off anything that got stuck to her robes while squinting at the other seventh-year.

Right...lets try again..

Josie took a few more steps before she actually decided to stop running dead in her tracks. She lifted her wand & narrowed her eyes as she steadied her stance. She knew that she had to do this right, especially before the gnome got out range & before she lost her opportunity. Otherwise, she'd probably be chasing after that thing for whomever knows how long.

Breathe. Relax. Steady. Aim.

Taking another deep breath, "IMMOBULUS!" Still steadying her arm, she couldn't help but close her eyes afterwards fearing that she most likely missed it again. She probably did, if she hadn't done it the first time, what were the chances of getting again? Only one way to find out..and when she'd opened her eyes, she smiled almost instantly.

She'd hit her target..

Her hand and forehead weren't sore anymore meaning it wasn't anything serious. Which was very good because it meant that her record of spending seven year in Hogwarts without being physically hurt was still a thing. She needed to touch wood or something, but walking the way over to the fence would look really weird so she would have to delay it. She really now was going to catch a gnome withOUT magic and then spin it around to throw it over the fence where it ought to hit a pen or the ground. If this was an easy task it didn't mean that she could neglect it and not do her best. What kind of an example would she set, then? Though, luckily no one seemed to be watching her and copying her moves. That wouldn't be good at all. Good for Hogwartians. And anyway, people seemed to have finished already. Not all of them but a good number.

At the corner of her eye she saw a gnome and without thinking she dashed towards it. The gnome of course started running and Cassia was on its tail. Well, not literally. Fighting the urge not to reach for her wand, Cassia bent down and tried to snatch the the gnome but that didn't work. Picking up her pace she throw her leg before her until her foot landed on the ground with a stump. GULP! Please tell her she didn't just crush the gnome.

Gulping, the snake squinted to get a better look only to find the gnome clinging to her ankle. Very funny. At least it was still alive. For now. Slowly the blond reached out and grabbed it or attempted to as the gnome was about to bit her finger but thanks to Cassia's reflexes it ended up tearing her robes sleeves. Not much better. It better have bit on her gloved finger than her robes. Eeh. She could fix those later anyway.

With the other hand she finally managed to grab it by the feet and pick it up triumphantly. HA! At last!

She wasn't going to start spinning just yet. Why not stand here with a dangling gnome in hand. Her catch.

Now. Where did her gnome go after it splatted into the fence? Walking through the grass near the fence, Kate looked for it. Surely it couldn't have gotten far. She'd made it very dizzy, and it had hit the fencepost pretty hard. Maybe it was still lying next to the fence? Nope, no gnome at the foot of the fencepost.

Oh! But there was one!

Kate bounded after the gnome, hoping it was the one she'd already flung. That would make it easier to catch, right? It was running in a weird zigzag pattern. Was it trying to escape, or was that a result of its concussion? Kate didn't know, but she watched it zig and anticipated the zag and - THERE! She'd caught it. Must've been her gnome from before, because that was easier than catching the previous gnomes.

Dang, people were finished already???! Theo was soon extremely distracted with trying to sneak a peak at the reward, but they were in little bags that he couldn't see through. A wizard with no x-ray vision... psshtt... so lame. Ah yes, the activity. His procrastinating appeared to have lost him a gnome, as it wriggled, giggled and made CHOMPY faces for his hand.

"Argh!" Theodore let go of the creature and grumbled as it ran off. May as well let that one escape.

Kicking a tiny stone on the floor, Theo was soon getting bored of this activity. It kinda reminded him of Herbology for some reason, which was all the more reason to be annoyed. Since his wizarding skills did the trick before, he pulled out his wand and gave it another go. It didn't take long for a target to be in sight.

"Confundo!" That really was the only spell he could think of.

Right, not letting this one go. Theo quickly surveyed his surroundings and prepared himself for the spin.

Angel was still struggling to find another Gnome to throw, she had been playing possum with them for the past five minutes but no one was coming near her which she thought was such a shame. "GRR!!" Angel snapped as another gnome went past her, this was no fun, no fun at all and she wished Benny was around because she could sure use some of that guys good looks to get the gnomes to come near her. "I'm not giving in though." Angel thought to herself as she looked around for a Gnome.

Theo swung dat gnome!!!

The rage he was feeling towards the activity, the gnomes, the class, and the school was definitely helping. After three speedy spins, Theo let go and lobbed the creature flying over the fence. And OOOOF - it had landed even further than the first!!! Theodore pumped a subtle fist in the air and muttered a, "Yessssss..."

Sooo... he had swung two gnomes over the fence. That meant he was finished, right? Theo lingered on the spot a bit and eyed the professor with the bag of rewards. He just had to have one, so for that reason, Theo quickly scoped out yet another gnome for throwing.

They seemed to be hiding, humm...

This gnome was trying to come near her, which was good because she had been wanting one to come, she was just about to pick it up when another gnome came near her, now this was bad very bad how was she to be able to stop one from attacking her whilst she was swinging the other gnome, she decided to leave them both and search for another gnome.

She was searching a few moments before she saw one on it's own and she tapped it gently with her feet and then pick it up and started swinging it but whilst doing that she decided it was time for a little song. "'round round baby round round' Angel giggled she totally loved the song and it was so appropriate for what was going on at the minute. "This is awesome." Angel smiled as she threw the gnome as hard as she could. "FOUR!!!!!!!!!!" Angel wanted it to land somewhere cool, surely they should have a lake and a mud pound and then have points for who could get it in the mud pond or the lake.

There was something creepy about the way Theo was bent low and tiptoeing around the place. Around every bush he searched, and every obstacle... but it seemed like the majority of the gnomes had already been tossed over the fence. Darn you, other students getting there first. Just as Theo was taking a break from... creeping... he spotted a lone gnome that was sitting.

Sitting?! Really? Stupid creature.

Theo resumed his tiptoeing technique as he went up behind it. He was getting closer... closer... CLOSER AND...

BOOM - HE HAD IT BY THE ANKLE.

Didn't even need to send a confusion spell its way, since it looked pretty confused from being sneaked up on. Theo knew he didn't have long before it got its teeth out, so he spread his legs apart and readied himself for the throw. He really was glad that these things were statues in the muggle world.

She'd done it! She successfully stopped that pesky thing from running any further. Finally. Anyways, there it was, practically frozen in time. Just standing there in place unable to make a move at all. Josette slowly made her approach towards the garden gnome, with her wand still at the ready just in case the charm hadn't worked & the gnome was simply pretending to be frozen. Would it try to bite her when she tried to pick it up?

...

She stood a few inches away from it, just staring at it, afraid to do anything. Too afraid to poke it with her own finger, she slowly pointed her wand out reaching down to verify if it was actually frozen. She poked it's side once ever so slightly, before poking the back of its head. It seemed like it was frozen. It didn't look like it wasn't going to bite her. The second year poked the back of it's head once again causing it to fall forward. It was at that moment that she was sure that her charm had worked.

Sticking her wand in the pocket of her robe, she knelt down to take hold of the gnome's feet like she had done with her first gnome. (which hadn't been as much of a problem as this one) Making sure it wasn't facing her, she soon began twirling around multiple times. It would be a couple more twirls before she'd finally release the garden gnome from her grasp as it flew off into the distance, straight over the fence. Josie stopped herself and couldn't help but smile again feeling very proud of herself.

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!!!

Theo managed an impressive four swings before letting the animal go shooting into the air. It was a bit of a wobbly release, and it didn't go half as far as his first two but it DID make it over the fence. That'll teach the buggers!!

He stood still to settle the dizziness down a bit, checked his surroundings for any gnomes that could come at his shoes, and then he caught sight the professor who was still dishing out the rewards. It had better be good after all these injuries. Grazed nose and TWO bite marks?!?!

This was worse than Quidditch.

With one of the required gnomes taken care of, Benny turned to find his next target. It wasn't an easy thing this time around probably given how many had already been thrown out of the garden by his fellow students. A downfall to him being a bit slower then the rest of his classmates including Adi it seemed. Yet still supposedly there were enough for everyone, given the ground work laid by the professor for the assignment so the third year wasn't about to just give up.

Focusing his search on a given area, the third year squatted down a bit to get a closer look. Perhaps a better angle to which to spot the object of his attention so he could grab ahold of his next target.

Finally she could catch her breath. Did this mean that she was finished? Could she be dismissed now? Josette began to take off the gloves that the Professor had lent to the entire class. She slowly approached him and smiled softly. Placing them back where the other gloves were being collected, she said, "Thank you very much for today's lesson Professor..And the work out.." With all of that running, it sort of reminded her as if she were with her team practicing for a match or scrimmage.

Angel was dizzy after the last throw, she had been spinning round for what felt like ages and so she didn't realise that she was near anyone until she tripped up and started to fall straight in the direct of Benny who she had just realised was at the class, this was not good, not good at all.

Hi, professor, yes, he was here and ready to claim.

Theo was beaming bright, even though the sight of his grazed nose was making itself known in the corners of his eyes. He put his hand into the bag and pulled out... a coin. A weird coin that lit up. Was that it? Was this valuable? What even was that picture on the coin? A spider?

He tried his best but the disappointment was kinda obvious.

"Thanks, sir." Theo said a bit more appreciatively. He stuffed the coin into his pocket and left the garden to go back to the castle and do whatever he usually did after CoMC. Sleep, hopefully.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Harry174

Angel was dizzy after the last throw, she had been spinning round for what felt like ages and so she didn't realise that she was near anyone until she tripped up and started to fall straight in the direct of Benny who she had just realised was at the class, this was not good, not good at all.

"There you are..." Ben mused quietly once he spotted movement again. Now he just had to get closer and stun, capture and grab the gnome to begin his removal. Easier said then done and the Gryffindor wasn't going to assume it was going to be as smooth as his last attempts. However he wasn't expecting the creature to have help in the form of a classmate in getting away from him, the third year being bumped into as he went to straighten up from his smaller form to go after the gnome.

"Umph...." He fell the rest of the way down to the ground as the momentum pushed him from his feet while still crouched. The boy spralled half-hazardly for a moment in surprise.

Angel blushed as the boy fell over. "I'm soo.........." Angel stopped and blushed like crazy as she realised that it was Benny who she had accidently squashed. "I'm so sorry Benny." Angel had a feeling that the boy was going to think that she was nuts and that he didn't want anything to do with her now she had cause all this problem with him. "I really am sorry Benny." Angel gave her best puppy dog eyes impression so that he wouldn't be cross with her, well she hoped it would work. "What can I do to make it up?" Angel didn't want cutie being cross with her.

Enough standing like that with a gnome dangling. Cassia's grip tightened on the gnome's feet ignoring the sounds the creature was doing. What was that even? Laughter or digestive problems? She couldn't tell and didn't want to know really. She just hoped the the gnome hadn't eaten recently because it was going to be spun and thrown into the air very soon. Did gnomes eat, by the way? Of course they did but she doubted that their digestive system resembled humans' so she shrugged, took a step to the side to give herself space and started spinning.

Spiiiiin, spiin...

She was too focused on that and she was insisted on throwing the gnome over the fence and onto the pens successfully. She seriously did it without trouble with her brother, why should it be any different here. Except maybe the fact that the field was bigger and all the distractions.

But she willed herself to only concentrate on the spinning, she had to make sure not to get dizzy by increasing her speed too much where she couldn't stop without toppling over.

When she felt that it was enough spinning, she did a mental calculation of when to release the gnome so it'd go over the fence and no where else. Hoping she calculated correctly, she finally released it and took a step to the side to brace herself. It was hard to keep her eyes on the gnome after she just stopped spinning but she managed to. And yes! Gnome successfully landed over the fence and right where they needed them to be.

Was it him or did that voice sound familiar? The voice that seemed to appologize for hitting him and knocking him over and breaking off....before repeating and continuing on including his name. Moving back up to his knees, he looked over to see Angel standing there. Her eyes adding to the emotion behind her appology. No, he wasn't mad, just slightly bothered by the happening but it certainly appeared as if it was an accident.

"You can help me get another gnome," he suggested as he moved to stand up once more. It would certainly work better two against one, or at least he hoped it would. Speaking of which his target had run in reaction to his fall but it was now more out in the open by his own movements. "Like that one over there," Ben remarked with a point.

"You take one side and I take the other...sound good?"

Angel smiled at Benny, she was glad he wasn't cross with her, even though she seemed to get nervous around him and 9 times out of 10 she lands either in his arms or on him which wasn't good, she was sure he thought that she was very clumsy even though she wasn't. She just got these strange feelings when they were together and she had no idea why.

"Okay I can do that." Angel smiled as she watched as Ben went one way and she went to other, this gnome wouldn't know what had hit it when they both pounced on it like a tiger, but for now they had to be very quiet because they were in hawk mode.

Unlike Cassia (if it HAD been her, though Olly was starting to think that of course it had been her) Olly HADN'T turned around and was instead watching the Head Girl to see if her spell had hit its target. And it had. BAM TAKE THAT! Ahem. Err, no, she usually didn't use those kinds of spells ever or did anything as silly as that but...somehow the Slytherin brought out the worst in her sometimes. Sometimes.

Usually she was above that but getting a gnome to the head was different.

Which still hurt by the way, thanks for not asking.

She offered the other girl a smirk before finally turning her head again to look for the...ah yes, ha, the gnome that Cassia had tossed at her was still there. Currently trying to get back on its feet. So the collision with her head hadn't been too pleasant for the creature either.

Quickly reaching down to grab the gnome by its feet, Olly turned on the spot (only a few times though because dizzy...and additional dizzy because gnome-to-the-head) before finally releasing it. Aaaaand yes it went over the fence. Nice. She should probably thank Cassia.

Yes, she was going to do that, actually.

"Thanks for the gnome." She said quite loudly as she passed the Slytherin, sending another smirk her way. Yes. Saved her the trouble of catching another one of those little creatures.

Okay, so now for the spinning.

Toby still felt slightly uneasy about doing this, but he still figured that Thompson wouldn't lie to him. Well, wouldn't lie to any of them, hopefully, considering this type of stuff could come up in their exams eventually. Point was, he believed the professor that the gnomes would be fine.

Once he'd made sure that there was nobody nearby that was likely to get hit bit a flailing gnome, Tobias held it out at arms length with both hands and span around and around on the spot. The hardest thing was to not spin for too long, and to keep an eye out for the right time to stop and let go of the gnome, seeing as it didn't seem like a good idea to fling it at Professor T's head.

But he timed it reasonably well for his first try, and the gnome went flying off diagonally through the air. Toby watched it go, wincing slightly as it hit the ground. He watched anxiously for a few moments before seeing the creature's head reappear before it went staggering and weaving around the long grass it had landed in.

Breathing a tiny sigh of relief, Toby looked around for another gnome. Within seconds he had spotted his next target and was off after it.

Hayden was too easily distracted. There were a lot of people around her having fun spinning the gnomes and performing helpful spells. She needed to stop watching them and look for her own gnome to throw. She just needed one more. If she could just find one.

Finally, she spotted an unusually small gnome wandering around the edge of the garden not far from her. He didn't seem to be walking with any particular purpose, maybe mourning the loss of his friends and family who had been thrown over the fence. Well, he was about to join them. Hayden crept forward slowly, on her hands and knees, until she was as close as she could get to the gnome without being seen. Then, in one swift motion, she raised herself into a crouching position and pounced on top of the gnome.

She misjudged the distance so she didn't quite land on top of the gnome's body, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. She was aiming for the feet anyway. So when she fell right next to him, she grabbed his feet and stood up triumphantly. Then she spun and spun like she had all those other times and released the gnome so he went flying over the fence. Maybe he'd be happier over there, instead of being alone on her side.

So that was it, huh? Simple and fun activity. The little kids around seemed to have had fun, too. Cassia wasn't a kid and she still found it enjoyable. And might even have squealed at the whole thing had she been a firstie. But no one had to know that, it took her lots of time to drop the squeaking habit. And it threatened to surface at times when feeling super excited.

And there were prizes, too?! Nice. Cassia wondered what she'd get.

She was about to head to where the prizes were but then Olly neared her and Cassia stopped wondering what was the Hufflepuff going to do, in public. Did she just thank her? Cassia was pretty sure she heard right. And that was actually good for a cover story in case someone later on asked why did she throw a gnome at Olly. "You looked like you needed help," the snake replied shrugging a shoulder. Did Olly know that she was like indebted to her now?! heh. Bet she didn't.

Once the other girl passed her, Cassia herself grabbed her stuffs and prepared to leave. "Thanks for the fun lesson, Professor, see you," she offered a smile at the professor before setting off to the castle.