Class was probably almost over, and all Sophie had managed to do was make that purple rope just a little bit longer than it was when she first started. That would still get her credit, right? She looked around the room and tried to count how many dummies were left, but there were just too many people trying to cast at once.

She decided to move on to the next dummy in line, because the first one was obviously at fault for the first two attempts of the spell. It just REFUSED to be seized and pulled, so it was obviously broken.

She positioned herself in front of the next dummy and raised her wand. "Carpe Retractum!" she called out, and then she moved her wand in a whiplike motion.

Jasmine figured she'd give it a go one more time and if she was successful, she could try the spell nonverbally. Taking a deep breath, she faced the practice dummy and tried to focus her mind. She pictured the purple rope wrapping around the dummy and the dummy being pulled back to her.

Ready to try again, Jasmine pointed her wand at the dummy. Then she made the whip-like motion and said, "Carpe Retractum". She watched as the purple light/rope shot from her wand and lassoed the dummy. It was pulled back in the direction of Jasmine and she was very pleased with the results of her work.....so far. Now it was time for the really hard part. She was going to attempt to cast the spell nonverbally.

The feeble tugging was put to an end once Alexa cast a finite to get back to the old drawing board. That last attempt had been something, it really had. Better than the one before and better than not working at all. She just had to work at improving whatever she did just now. Was it possible to be more focused than she already was? Probably not but she could try. This was brilliant exercise for her attention span, truly...and she didn't fancy doing this again any time soon unless the results were painful to the target.

Lex settled before one of the dummies. It was like she could already see the rope tugging the dummy over to her. Was power what it needed? She got the rope to execute, maybe it was the extra oomph that it needed...like with bambarda as she'd come to learn.

Another try then.

Intent with the unspoken incantation. Focus on the outcome....Lex did the whip cracking once more, hearing the incantation clearly in her mind in line with the actions of her wand.

The purple light of rope burst from her wand as it had before but this time when it gripped the dummy it TUGGED and tuuuuuggggeed and and and dummy coming at her!!

Now that she successfully preformed the spell she was feeling more confident about trying and doing it nonverbally. Not to get too confident or cocky though. Whenever that happened she pretty much sucked or made a joke of herself. She was working hard to not do any of those things. She wanted to save face and leave good and nice impressions all over the place. Reputation mattered ok!

Cassia lowered her wand and stepped closer to the dummy straightening it after it fell down due to the successful spell of hers earlier. Stepping back again, she held up her wand pointed it at the dummy and stared. Or people would think she was just staring when in fact she was concentrating, mhhm. Bet no one thought about that.

After a minute passed she decided it was enough sta-- concentrating. Her wand moved in a whip motion as she started, "Carp-," Oopps. Her bad. She wasn't supposed to speak it out. Obviously. that was non-verbally meant and all. No one saw that she was gonna do it again.

Another whip motion like and this time she actually managed to not speak up. But also nothing happened. Oh, well, it wasn't going to happen after the first attempt was it? Wouldn't hurt to try again with doubled concentration.

The seventh-year focused only on the dummy forgetting everything around her and trying as much as possible to suspend herself from her surroundings. Being in that state she whipped her wand and in her head said the spell. And a dummy was coming her way after the rope appeared. It worked!

Trying out the spell: take two.

Grayson put his wand away and rubbed his hands against each other. If he couldn't roll up his sleeves and LOOK like he was ready to fight it out with the dummy with this spell, he could at least act like it. And he needed a bit of inner warmth for this. Really pump himself up for this little task. Confidence and whatnot. And inner willpower. He had a LOT of both of those inside of him.

Ready? READY.

The fifteen year old took out his wand -- with a little bit more flourish than he ought to -- and pointed it over towards the dummy. The rope was going to come out of his wand, wrap itself around the dummy and then the dummy really WAS going to come towards him, mkay? He was going to MAKE it happen. "Carpe Retractum!" he called, moving his wand in a whip-like motion.

AND THERE WAS A ROPE! A ROPE! YEEEEEEEEEEEE--

............... What? WHAT?!

Grayson, who had been ALL too ready to celebrate his victory, deadpanned as the rope flew halfway towards the dummy and then hung limply from the end of his wand. He even tried to bring it back and whip it towards the dummy again but before he could do more than pull his wand back a little, the rope............. went away. Fizzled. Died. It was just GONE and never to be seen again.

This was freaking ridiculous.

"Big fat nothing's aren't that bad. I got a lot of them during my first year and I still do.'' Yep and it was usually frustrating but when he finally got the hang of the spells, the feeling was awesome. "You'll get a whole lot less of nothings as you get older.''

"Of course not,'' the Hifflepuff replied with a smile. "See? I'm just as good as you are. Finite!'' The rope vanished. Maybe he could try non verbally now? As if he had a chance at that. But that didn't stop Adi. "Carpe Retractum! Carpe Retractum! Carpe Retractum!.'' Nothing. Meh. Back to the regular way then.

"Carpe Retractum!'' Purple rope wound it self around the same dummy AJ had practiced on. "Pull it in together, then?''

Lucy wanted to try again..
This lesson was very interesting and the new spell was awesome..She would like to be able to do well it..
She took a deep breath and she said:" Carpe retractum! "
Another rope flew out from her wand and wrapped around the dummy and... yes...incredible. ..the dummy came at her!

Keeping close to the walls, the professor moved around the classroom, taking note of how well the students were performing the spells and who needed a bit more practice. Although, any words of advice were halted for the time being. Not that she didn't want to. Seeing if they could figure it out on their own was a much better reward.

But after a quick check of the clock, she stood back at the front of the class. "Alright! So far so good. Ve're going to move on to our second activity." Waiting for the spell casting to stop, she tapped each of the dummies, allowing them to rise hover no less than 15 feet in the air. "This activity requires teamvork and remember...ve are only going to be using the Reductor Curse, Impediment Jinx, and the Seize and Pull charm. Now, each dummy is vorth 5 points OR...10 points. If you successfully hit the dummy vith the reductor curse, your house vill receive 5 points. BUT, if you manage to capture one of the dummies and keep it upon the ground AND in your possession for the duration of the activity, your house vill receive 10 points. Once a dummy is on the ground, it is off limits to the reductor curse. Keep that...VERY close to mind." Very close. She wanted no accidents here. "However, other houses are free to steal the dummy."

"Are there any questions before ve begin?"

Alright, she was going to DO this! Maddison Arabella Cooper was READY. She was also wearing quite the determined look as she stared down the nearest practice dummy. Was it ready to be roped 'cause it was GOING to be fairly soon, mhm!

After rolling her neck and swinging her arms MUCH like a prized fighter might before a match, the little brunette trained her wand across the room and focused.

"Carpe Retractum!'' The whip-like movement slashed through the air and the twelve year old's eyes widened as SOMETHING happened. There had definitely been a light! She SAW it and it WAS purple. Only it was too brief for her liking and there had been no rope action. Disappointment, THAT was a thing. She wasn't giving up, though. No way.

...

Or MAYBE she was. Apparently it was time for another activity and while she was jazzed about the idea of getting to blow things up, she STILL wasn't great with THIS spell. Hm.

OH and she had no questions. She'd just be over here mentally practicing the Seize and Pull charm until they got started.

AJ was just about to tell Adi that yes, she did want to pull the dummy in together with the professor interrupted her thoughts. It looked like the first activity was over. Aw man. She was finally getting the hang of the spell and she didn't wanna stop now.

Further explanation from Romanos excited the young lion. Ohh... they were moving on to bigger and better things. AJ was going to be able to blast things. The Reductor Curse blasted things, right? Either way she was eager because this was the perfect opportunity to earn her house some more points, and they really needed to because it was a super close race between the lions and the snakes. ROAR, ROAR, GRYFFINDOR! Ahem.

She nudged Adi in his ribs. EEP! Was he as excited as she was? Too bad they both weren't in the same house. AJ didn't think she had any questions. She was ready to earn her house some points. BRING.IT.ON.

Wait-did Romanos say so far so good!? But the rope hadn't even come out of his wand yet! That wasn't good at all. He could do better than that! Kyroh knew he could. Slightly disappointed as the professor continued to speak he looked around the class and ran up to Maddie. Reaching out he gave her a slight poke to the side. PARTNERS, YEAH!?

Sure he couldn't do the the Seize and Pull charm, BUT he could do the Reductor Curse AND the Impediment Jinx with his eyes closed.

Maybe.

Professor Romanos was speaking again. A mini House competition! Cool. Adi grinned at AJ when she nudged him. One look at her told him she couldn't wait for the activity to start. He couldn't wait either.

"Hufflepuff will win this,'' Adi whispered to AJ. Oh yeah! Go, Badgers! Now, all he had to do was to remember those little rules the Professor was explaining. And nope, no questions here.

Dima hadn't even managed to produce a ROPE yet, so he was kinda surprised when practice time ended so quickly. But he halted his useless attempts to capture on of the dummies anyway. Could they, like, learn easier spells maybe? Yes? Please? Note for next time, Professor Cold One.

He didn't quite understand the activity either, but he shuffled over to Kyroh and Maddie anyway. THEY were smart, they probably got it.

Welp he still hadn't gotten that seize and tug or the tug of pull or the... the whatever spell to work. So much for saving Hogwarts from a Cold One attack. He immediately stopped his practicing, however, once the evil Professor Romanos starting addressing the class again.

O_______O

Did she say POINTS!?! YES. Okay forget a possible Cold One Invasion, Gryffindor NEEDED the house cup. THEY NEEDED IT, okay!? AND THEY WERE GOING TO GET IT! Cold Ones or not, Zander Adair would not stand to lose. So instead of worrying about the Cold Ones that were probably already on their way, he made a run for Lex. Standing right beside the Prefect in mention he looked up at her and gave her a smile. One of those 'hehehe we will win' smiles... If that was possible to address in a single smile. But yes. One of those. Because Cold Ones were one thing, but getting back their Gryffindor lead, that was a WAY bigger deal.

No. No questions at ALL. Beverly was rather excited for this next activity. Battle Competition was WAY better than simply casting at dummies. What made it even better was that it was against other houses and points were involved.

She eyed the snakes scattered about in the room, ideas formulating in her mind. They were going to have to work together if they wanted to win, because they were in it together.

And winning was the only way.

She'd only JUST gotten the hang of the silent cast when they were ending it for the new activity. Yes! Bring it on! Something more than dummy wrangling. Or well, she didn't mind the dummy wrangling, it was the fact she wanted live moving targets. Those kept her interest longer. That made it no wonder she was pumped for the next activity once the woman explained. Points too? Neat!

Her eyes flickered to the movement in her peripheral until Zander came into view. Oh hey Zander! Quite the wide smile he had and she could only take it to mean he was ready for some proper teamwork--the Professor said they'd need that, yeah?

She gave him a light nudge and a smile too befor turning back to the Professor. Nope. No questions here.

Trying to cast spells nonverbally was a lot harder than it seemed like it should be. Penelope was trying to that, but still hadn't quite managed it when the next activity was apparently gonna start.

And it seemed to be a teamwork with houses kinda activity. Cool. Should be interesting. She looked around to see where all the Gryffindors were. They were totally gonna win this, yeah? Those points were gonna be theirs.

No questions here for now.

No questions? Wonderful.

Pointing her wand towards the dummies, she added a few extra spells here and there until there were twice as many dummies and half the size. "This activity vill become a bit...chaotic, so, if you feel uncomfortable for any reason, please step up tovards me at the front of the classroom. There is a barrier here so you von't be affected by the, erm, elements. Though if you do step behind the barrier, you are essentially out of the activity and are ineligible to continue casting spells until you rejoin your classmates on the other side of the barrier."

Didn't need any fainters in the class. Nor cheaters. Ahem.

"If you're all ready, then....in....3....2....1...BEEEEEEEP!"

With the sound of a horn going off, the dummies began flying around the classroom, zig-zagging, bouncing off the walls, and bouncing into eachother too! Never going below the fifteen feet mark. Not only that, the Professor gave a few subtle waves of her wand. The leaves began to swirl around in unison, quickly building up until they were flying through the air as if...

...Was that a MINI TORNADO??

OOC: Hey y'all! Forgive me, I'd meant to post this activity earlier but things came up. Remember, we're only using the Reductor Curse, Impediment Jinx, and Seize and Pull Charm! And yes, there is a MINI TORNADO! Certainly not enough power to start flying students around all over the place, but you may slide around upon your feet/knees/bum depending on how you're positioned and how close to the tornado you are IC. Could it affect spellwork too, you may ask? Yes. Yes it can. Especially with all those leaves getting in the way *cough* You may post the outcomes of the Impediment Jinx and Seize and Pull charm, however, I will be determining outcomes of the Reductor Curse.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask IC or OOC! This activity should run for about 24-48 hours depending on how far along we are.

It wasn't so much that West was too cool and more just distracted musing over how annoying it was that he no longer was learning anything new. He didn't bother practicing either, mostly because... well, he knew the spell. And was even fine with it non-verbally so... yeah. Yeah.

But he did notice Kyroh having a bit of trouble. And noticed his little friend coming over too.

..... Nigel or Dora should help him out. Y'know. Little Ravenclaw and all.

Ahem.

..... no?

Sigh.

"Did you need a hand with that spell, mate?"



Oh... but now there was an activity yeah? With house teams? Alrighty. He pulled his own wand out and just to prove that he knew the seize and pull charm perfectly thank you very much, West non-verbally shot one at the nearest dummy. Carpe Retractum!

Maybe he'd be able to pull it in so that some other snake could hit it with a reductor yeah?

.... if they could see through the leaves. Merlin. But he had the dummy pulling in toward him now...

Uncomfortable? Why would they feel uncomfortable? Kyroh already couldn't feel his toes, so how more uncomfortable could it get?

As Dima appeared beside them the first year grinned and poked HIM at the side too. HI DIMA! Did Dima know the Spiderman spell cause Kyroh didn't and someone needed to know it right?

Kyroh gripped his wand, waiting, waiting, waiting and-oh. How was he suppose to hit stuff that were FLYING ALL AROUND. And leaves-wait the leaves were flying too? Was the Professor going to turn into a FULL tree now? Or was this a wind storm? Or a-"It's a Tornado!" He couldn't attack the dummies with a tornado and while they were flying and when he DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE SPELL!"Reducto!" He tried instead.

As soon as the spell had left his mouth, a familiar voice caught his attention. West! Hi! Again. Mate? The first year beamed. "It's really hard. See-Carpe Retractum" WHIP WAND OUT- but nothing. "But I don't know if you can help us 'cause you aren't a Ravenclaw." And this was about POINTS okay? Maddie liked being a WINNER and Dima...well Dima liked hugs too so even if they lost Dima could be comforted with a hug but WINNING West.

And before he knew it, Zander started feeling a mild tugging. OHMYGOSHTORNADO! He was slowly being pulled in, but no! The Gryffindor opened his eyes wide with a look of panic and quickly started walking back towards his house prefect again. He couldn't let it keep pulling like that! GAH. Forget an impending Cold One attack! First he had to get through this disaster!

Zander held out his wand and tried the "Carpe Retractum!" spell once again, but he still couldn't get it to work! So instead, he reverted back to the past two lessons and went with a simple "Impedimenta!" Yet, instead of doing anything to the dummies he just managed to freeze a few leaves in the air.

IF ONLY THE LEAVES WOULD JUST STOP SPINNING EVERYWHERE O___O "Impedimenta!!" Nope. Just some more leaves. The Gryffindor was so confused. This place was utter chaos. Dummies flying around, leaves flying too, and they could use only three spells!? Plus, the possibility of a Cold One attack at any minute. Things were just bad. But points. They were talking about points here!

Before Lux even had time to try practicing the Seize and Pull Charm non-verbally Professor Romanos was announcing the instructions for the next activity.

This one sounded like it would be a lot more fun. And challenging to boot. House points were on the line, and as a competitive person this was important. Even though Gryffindor was her favourite, she would gladly work to help Hufflepuff get more points.

Trying her best to avoid the mini tornado, Lux attempted to hit one of the dummies with the Reductor Curse.

Did she hit something?

It was hard to tell with all those leaves blowing around.

Chaos. Sweet MERLIN. And the fact that there were no windows in this room??! Holy cow. Ethan just stood there as he watched the dummies fly…and the leaves were swirling quite violently as the wind picked up. Whaaaaaaaat??! Was that a…? “No, no! FOCUS Mordaunt! Remember what you learned in the practice room! Focus and forget about the elements. Eyes on the dummy!” Ethan wore his game-face on and carefully walked towards a spot wherein he could get a better view.

He saw a purple rope coil on one of the dummies just when he was about to pull one for himself. He followed the line of the purple rope to see West. Oh good, a Slytherin! With eyes fixed on the dummy, Ethan inched closer towards the older boy to get the best spot and blast it. The foul mood was definitely helping, as his brows furrowed and got his wand out, concentrating very hard on the captured dummy, and “REDUCTO!” Did he get it?

Hopefully his not-so-cheery mood will earn the Snakes house points.

So, capture the defense dummies, your own and other people's. Sounded fun, actually. Or mildly enjoyable if you were amongst the those who would call themselves under-stimulated. The boy's black hair began to whip about by Medea's casted spell and between it and the tornado of leaves, Cutty found it hard to see. Until,...

He didn't hear it, but for the lucky fact that it was made of light he could see it. Someone had sent a colourful glow toward one of the flying dummies and seized it from it's mid-air animation. The luminescence given off by the spell was brief, but enough that Cutty was able to detect the point of contact. Just where the dummy might be. And find another gliding nearby.

He gripped tightly to his Aspen buddy and moved it in a sharp angle toward the dummy. "Impedimenta!" His voice doing the opposite of trying that spell out non-verbally. Loud Cutty.

Ethan had to remind himself over, and over again to focus on the dummies and let himself get lost with the elements. The blond boy stopped fighting the leaves, and instead moved with the wind gracefully. “Imagine this to be a real battlefield, Mordaunt. Dummies are the enemies. Show them who is boss even with the strong wind.” Ethan was able to formulate a plan, and decided to wait for another captured dummy, and help his fellow Snakes blast it.

There. Cutty.

With difficulty of course, the blond Mordaunt made his way towards the caster. It seems that it is easier to target the captured dummy from where the caster was standing, and Ethan took this opportunity to blast it. “REDUCTO!” There goes nothing.