Lucy at the beginning did not see any sparkle go out of her wand but did not give up .. She said to herself: "Focus on the target!".
She tried to free her mind of all thoughts and concentrate: "Reducto!"
"It's fantastic!", Lucy had managed to break the first barrier.
Well done .. Lucy was excited to see the blue sparkles..
Raising her wand again, Lucy was now ready to continue. "Reducto" and she did a shot to the right and then another left and attacked the second shield protecting the pinata!
Lucy said:"I have got it!"

The shower of blue sparkles that had come from the failure of the first layer of shield had been almost pretty. It had been a far cry from dealing with the zombies in Peru, honestly, yet Lily had really only ran from those. There hadn’t been enough time between her notice of them and having to run for the portkeys to escape. The zombie piñata was easier in that way. A few well-placed Reductor curses and it was vulnerable. She almost wished it was that easy with actual zombies, let alone the Cold Ones. Avoiding any type of creature like that was going to be her goal for at least a while, yet she didn’t turn down the knowledge. She’d rather be prepared next time, if there was a next time. She had the sneaking suspicion that wasn’t really as slim a chance as she would have expected, what with Hogwarts having the knack of throwing all sorts of random dangers at them around every corner.

There was still another shield to get through, though, and she brandished her wand again. “Reducto!,” she cast, flicking her wand in the sideways V formation upward at the funny little piñata. Eventually the shield was going to fall and then they’d be able to get at the little zombie itself. That was going to be the really fun part, even if whatever was inside wasn’t anything she’d want. If anything, she was just going to pretend it was one of the Peru zombies. “Reducto!” Take that zombie!

OHHHH. Look at that Pretty SPARKS. SO PRETTY.

Focus Candice, its not the time to admire the pretty sparks. Ehem. The first year pointed her wand at the zombie pinata, she flicked her wand sharply to the right and left "Reducto!" Nothing happened. Ugh. Maybe she didn't say the incantation clear enough. She flicked her wand once again sharply to the right and left "Reducto!" Still nothing. Ugh. "Come on wand. Work!"

Sideways V and "REDUCTO!"

A blue beam of light shot out from her wand and it collided with the zombie. SHE DID IT! Well, its not as powerful as the older students' spell but at least she managed to hit the target, no?

Adi was just about to send another Reductor spell at the barrier after Professor Romanos encouraged him to keep going but there was no need for after a loud BOOM! the barrier went bye-bye. Finally! Now onto the second one.

"Reducto!" Two swipes that formed the sideways V. Blue light from his wand flew towards the barrier. Would they take down this barrier faster than the first one?

You daydream for a couple seconds and look at what you miss. You miss blue sparkles. Not that amazing. But was definitely worth a view. Well that was the first shield from what Romanos said.

So continue what we were doing. Yeah. Nigel cast Reducto again. Seeing the blue light leave the tip of his wand and hit the shield. Well there injured it a fraction of whatever strength it had.

Angel was totally enjoying herself now and she was getting pretty good with this spell, she wondered what else she could use the spell on, like would it open treasure chests and things like that. "Reducto! Angel smiled as she aimed her wand and then did the wand movement and out came some more sparks from her wand, this was so awesome.

awesome Bay looked at the piñata and saw sparks coming off the first layer. "cool" he said as he thought it was best for him to start to help out..

everyone was trying their best to get rid of the second layer, so he took out his wand again and moved it in the air constantly and saying over and over again "Reducto…….Reducto……Reducto" seeing it hit the piñata he hoped that his contribution was helping..

One shield down, one to go. Tobias raised his wand and tried to center himself, you know, focus his energy on this spell. When he'd sort of stood there looking like a fool for long enough, Toby decided he was ready to cast the spell.

Swish. Swish.

"Reducto!"

Would candy fall out at the end!? Would they get candy!? LOTS OF CANDY!? It's not a reaaal pinata unless there's candy. Raising his wand once more Zander yelled "REDUCTO!" Oof. He must have done the movement wrong in all this candy excitement because nothing seemed to happen. He looked around the classroom a little embarrassed. He looks like such a firstie. Third years are supposed to get things right.

"REDUCTO!" .... Still nothing. Focus, Zander. Focus. Third time's the charm? Please? "REDUCTO!" YES A HIT! They needs some target practice or something out side of lessons.

OOOOH SPARKLES! Norah stared up at the shimmering blue remains of the first shield and allowed herself a twirl or four in her excitement. She turned back to the second, smaller shield and pointed her wand at it. "Reducto!" she exclaimed, giving her wand a sharp flick. She flicked it back in the v-shaped motion, but her eyes had wandered again to the traces of blue shimmery sparks. She looked back at her wand when she realized nothing had happened. Stupid sparks, ruining her concentration with their darn PRETTINESS. Hmph. Norah have her head a small shake and focused sternly on the shield. Screwing up her face in concentration, she gave her wand two more decisive flicks and yelled, ”REDUCTO" in a voice imitating her mother's when Norah had forgotten to brush her hair yet again. A jet of light shot from her wand and hit the shimmering shield. YEAH!

Sophie was just abut to take aim again, when something unexpected happened. In the blink of an eye, there were blue sparkles everywhere, and at first, Sophie didn't know if that was something good, or if they'd been attacked by this thing hanging from the arena. Just in case, she kept her wand raised, because who lowered their wand during a possible attack?

Everything cleared then, and the professor's voice could be heard over the commotion of the class. Oh, shield one down! Shield two to go! Sophie flicked her wand to the right then to the left and said, "Reducto!" Then she was moving again. She'd caught the professor's comment earlier--the one that verified Sophie was doing a good job.

PRETTYYYYY.

But Marigold only got distracted for a second, because something in her mind had kicked in and reminded her she was in potential danger. So she raised her wand again and again.
"Reducto." Flick flick. "Reducto." Flick flick. "Reducto." Flick flick. "Reducto." Flick flick. Muscle memory, y'know?

There was no word from the professor, nor were there anymore blue sparkles, so Sophie took that as a sign to keep going. She circled the zombie, her wand raised and at the ready just in case, and finally came to a stop on the opposite side she'd been on. With a flick to the right then to the left, she said, "Reducto!"

She didn't waste any time but repeated the same exact wand movement. "Reducto!" she said again. Had this been a real zombie, Sophie would have never stopped, but as it was, this was a piñata, and she wanted to cast a quick look at the professor to see what sort of progress they were making.

None, it seemed. Not yet, at least.

Oh jeez. Oh JEEZ. The Professor had seen?!

Oh sweet MERLIN. This was EMBARRASSING. She was practically telling him that he was channelling his confidence in the wrong way.

Though, the fourth year was a little grateful that she hadn't said this out loud or in a stern way. Maybe that was why he ended up smiling a tiny bit at her and nodded. Inner willpower. Feel it through his head, heart and arm. This sounded like the namby pamby thing that was for soft people. All he really wanted to do was fight, not concentrate on feelings. "Thanks, Professor. I'll keep that in mind."

Oh look! They'd gotten through the first shield. YES. Grayson rolled up his sleeves, a small smirk playing across his face. He hadn't done MUCH to help with bursting that shield but he did like to think that he had something to do with that. In a way. His small, weak, lame-o blue light had helped, mkay?

Okay. FEELINGS. The inner willpower. The Slytherin narrowed his eyes some more, trying to pretend that the zombie piñata up there was a real-life zombie and was going to turn him into one of them if he wasn't careful. "Reducto!" FLICK! FLICK!

Heh. Willpower WORKED. Who'd have thought it.

Hayden beamed at Professor Romanos' remark. "Thanks professor," she said before returning her concentration to her spellwork. She practiced the movement a few more times, just to be sure she'd get it right. It had worked the first time, but that didn't mean it would continue to work. It could have just been beginner's luck. When Hayden felt ready, she raised her wand arm toward the zombie again. "Recucto," she said as she moved her wrist in a tight sideways V motion. Nope, nothing happened. "Reducto!" Hayden tried it again, hoping something would happen. Unfortunately nothing did. She paused for a moment and really concentrated on what she wanted to happen. "Reducto," she said accompanied by the sideways V, and a blue light shot out of her wand as it had before. Whether it was very strong or not, Hayden didn't know, but it was something.

Beverly wondered if the second shield was more stubborn than the first. Or was it weaker? Did the Cold Ones' work the same way? She'd leave those questions for later, though. Right now there was blasting to do and keeping vigilant on the spells flying around.

The piñata was being pushed around by the force of all the spells, forcing Beverly to move from her spot once more. Her bulls-eye, she didn't want to lose track of that. Standing in a bit of stance - which she was completely unaware of - she took aim, and sideways-V flicked her wand.

"Reducto!"

The fact that this shield was weaker meant that they wouldn't need to work as hard to shatter it. Happily, Lux kept shooting off the Reducto spell, her arm in constant motion as she slashed through the air. This piñata was going down. They would not be running out of time.

The shield had to be getting weaker. It was being hit with a continuous stream of of spells. The piñata had to be coming down soon. Jasmine continued her right than left sideways V's followed by a barrage if "Reducto's". She thought it best to try to hit on or near the same spot.......better to weaken it, yeah? Jasmine felt like she was trying to hit the bullseye on a dart board. She just tried to keep the spells coming.

The shield was still up...but not for long. Not if he could help it!! Cris watched as the others bombarded the last shield over and over again with their reductor spells. With Professor Romanos' reminder still fresh in his mind, Cris took the time to prepare himself before launching another assault on the shield.

Taking a deep breath and slowly releasing it, he closed his eyes and emptied his mind of everything except the image of the shied splintering into tiny pieces. So he concentrated.

He concentrated on keeping that image in his head. This is what he wanted his spell to do. Bringing down that last shield. His intentions were clear. His mind just focussed on pooling all his energy into that one burst of blueish light. He was ready!

Opening his eyes, Cris moved a little to the right and then raised his wand, pointing up at the pinata's shield. With gritted teeth, he slashed his wand first to the right and then to the left in a sideways V formation, and with determination, called out loudly and clearly, the incantion, "REDUCTO!!".

A blueish beam of light burst forth from his wand and hit the shield right in the center.

Angel was totally enjoying herself now and was watching the magic sparks shoot out of her wand. "Professor does each spell make different colour sparks fly out of my magic stick?" Angel asked, she was confused about how you told the different between spells if you couldn't hear the person shouting the spell.

This thing was still shielded and protected?! The entire class had been casting for a good while now, and the zombie STILL had a protective shield around it? Conclusion: they'd all be dead meat if one, they encountered this thing while alone, and two, if this thing was real.

Sophie sighed, starting to feel a little tired. She flicked her wand in the air, moved it sharply to the right then to the left, and called out, "Reducto!" She didn't waste any time but darted to the side and tried the spell again. "Reducto!" she said, slashing her wand in that sideways v formation.

Was the zombie dead yet?

Why not have another go at the barrier? Adi wondered. Others were doing that so he figured he would too. He raised his wand and made the appropriate wand movement. "Reducto!'' Blue light left his wand and headed towards the barrier.

Without wasting any time, he cast the spell again. "Reducto!'' More blue light went towards the barrier. How long more before it hung in there?

Brushing a few of the sparkles off that seemed to linger on her shoulder, she moved the iced zombie arm to a further location near the double doors. A reminder to not forget it. Not that it'd be hard to forget. "Good, Mister Strand." she nodded, passing by the sixth year to restart her trek around the arena.

Although, she was still surprised the first years were doing remarkably well, managing the spell in the first place. "Keep it up, Miss Kittredge." Smiling to the youngster, her gaze was stolen away momentarily by the fourth year Slytherin nearby. "Good, Mister Whitlock. Better."

They were all doing much better in fact. Unfortunately, the shield was a bit stronger than normal. Few more hits should do it in.

FLICK!FLICKER! FIZZLE FLICK! FLI-FLICK...FLI...CK.

Okay, so it seemed the shield wasn't ready just yet to break. Adi watched as it flickered. This one was definitely stronger than the first. He raised his wand once again. "Reducto!'' he called out as he swiped his wand in the sideways V.

Wasting no more time again, Adi sent more blue light towards the barrier in the form of the spell. "Reducto!''

Having heard the girl's question, she waited until she was closer by before giving an answer, not wanting to be shouting over everyone's head. "Yes...and no." she grinned a little, keeping an eye on things. "Some can be the same. It depends on quite a few factors."

Which she may or may not want to know? The activity seemed like it'd trump a theory lesson any day.