Was Jasmine imagining things or was the wind picking up? The leaves seemed to be swirling faster and it was getting even harder to focus on the dummies. Jasmine was determined to successfully cast the Impediment jinx.

Zeroing in on her next target, Jasmine tried to focus on a particular dummy. It was like playing that muggle street game where you had to follow the ball as it moved underneath three cups. The dummy was moving fast and leaves were everywhere. It was so hard to concentrate with all of the visual distractions.

Following the dummy with her wand, Jasmine tried to anticipate the movement. Taking a big guess, Jasmine gave her wand a horizontal flick. "Impedimenta", she shouted. This time it worked. The dummy froze in the air. She would have to move quickly to try to bring it down before the spell wore off. Jasmine looked around for any Ravenclaws who might be able to help her out with the old Seize and Pull.

It was chaos and it was great! It was a battle and Beverly was more than enjoying herself. Good thing she had tied her hair up or the wind would have blown it all over the place including her face. Swaying in the gust and attempting to stay away from that freakish tornado, Beverly grasped her Aspen wand tight.

No way she was losing that. It'd be like losing an arm.

Spotting several dummies up in the air she zeroed in on one and kept her gaze on it. It was hovering away from the tornado, as if it knew it should get away, but it was having difficulty doing so.

It was hers.

With a whip-like motion of her wand she cast, "Carpe Retractum!"

Wait! Was that a second tornado?

Someone shoot this one DOWN!

MERLIN. It’s always the wind, wasn’t it? Ethan held on to his wand as he pulled the dummy away from the approaching tornado. That way there will be a pulling action from both sides that will somehow stabilize the dummy. The only challenge left will be the leaves. “This dummy is still up for blasting!” he said through the deafening sound of the wind. “Sophie!” he shouted, hoping that she’d hear him. “Get behind me and blast this thing. I can’t hold it for long!” At this point, any Slytherin who’s nearby is more than welcome to give it a shot.

And...another tornado?

Merlin.

Points, Mordaunt. Focus.

With her wand raised and at the ready, Sophie tried to look around to focus on her surroundings. That didn't last very long at all, because just when she turned around, she lost her balance again. WHAT was going on?! She tried to get up, but the force was too much. She whipped her head around and saw a SECOND tornado.

Why hadn't they leaned a tornado spell?!

She finally managed to get back on her feet just in time to see Beverly Wayne rope in a dummy. Sophie also needed to help Ethan, but Beverly needed help, too. There were dummies everywhere!

"REDUCTO!" she said, focusing on blasting the dummy to pieces. She whipped her wand to the right then to the left. Would it work?



We hear you, Ethan!

Sophie shuffled her way across the room, because the wind was really picking up now. She finally made it closer to Ethan again, and held her wand as steady as she could get it. She moved behind Ethan and aimed her wand at the dummy he'd roped in. This was her second time casting on it, so maybe it would work this time.

"REDUCTO!" she called out again. She flicked her wand to the right then to the left. Teamwork. They had this. They could do this.

Angel was totally enjoying watching the tornado going around and around, she had no idea why but she actually thought that it was really cool and she really wanted to go and see a real one, one day.

“REDUCTO!” Angel had no idea if the spell worked but well she didn't really care at the minute she was watching the tornado at work, it was so cool.

Good to know that someone had heard her call! Cassia shot a smirky smile back at Grayson. That snake had a very fine head on his shoulders. Witty and smart and all. Snakes had too many good qualities to count. This was not the time though, like he said they needed a plan to protect this dummy. "We try as much as possible to stand back to back with the dummy trapped between us, anyone comes near they face the consequences," Cassia was probably going to hiss like an angry cat since hexing someone was probably not a good idea. And if someone else joined them as they protected it, it would be most appreciated and helpful.

But surely she wasn't going to stand here watching out for those who might steal the dummies. She needed to act more. Like the others were. The snake was glad to hear Romanos shout five points to Slytherin.

With her wand at the ready, the snake fixed her eyes on one of the dummies not far away from her. She made sure she wasn't going to go soaring up in the air neither will her hand shake much then she shouted, "Reducto!" Here's to hoping that worked.

Weren't they meant to be taking prisoners as well? Where was their dummy? It only seemed right that they be allowed to have one. Her eyes lifted to the dummies floating--more like spiraling-- above her head. They needed one. Blasting was all well and done but weren't captured ones worth more in the end. A glance across the room told her the snakes already captured one. ....

...

.......

She leaned closer to Zander and Aubrey, the ones closest to her and yelled against the wind. "We gotta steal that dummy, then we gotta catch some of our own." Romanos said you had to catch it and keep it in your possession. If you weren't fortified against thieves then really, you shouldn't be holding the dummy hostage.

Of course, being all noble Gryffindor rawr, she'd try the honest way first...just in case and squinted in an effort to see through the swirling leaves and up to a dummy...that was being held by Beverley. Hang on.

"Reducto!"

Might as well. She was holding it in place.

Was that a tornado?

Simon blinked. Yes, it was indeed a mini-tornado in the classroom and it was causing all the leaves to fly around panicking. He watched as other Snakes started using the various spells that Romanos mentioned. Meanwhile, Simon was trying to find a spare dummy. Aha! "Carpe Retractum he said as he performed the whip like motion. The purple rope sprung out and quickly grabbed the dummy. "Anyone want to help? Snakes?•

Did the tornado get stronger or what? It appeared to have! Cassia lowered her wand and eyed Romanos for a bit. But then a couple of leaves slapped onto her face. And she looked ridiculous. Cassia brushed them off and immediately raised her wand again looking aroung searching for the best dummy to shoot at. Best as in closest and easier to aim at. Though, it was now hard since someone decided to make ANOTHER tornado. What did the students ever do to you, woman.


Hearing a familiar voice the seventh-year looked around in search for it. Simon! Cassia immediately aimed at the dummy he had and shouted while making a sharp angle with her wand, "Reducto!" Team work was the best thing ever. The blond nodded at Simon. His pull charm was good.And she hoped that hers would work. Oh, and the other houses looked like they were plotting. Cassia took a step back towards the dummy she captured. No one was going near this one. They had to pass her first. Mhhm!

Well it seemed that her fellow Claws were busy so Jasmine figured she was going to have to tackle the dummy herself. She probably had only seconds to snag it while it was still frozen. Preparing her wand, she tried to ignore the leaves and focus only on the dummy. Hoping that she could compensate for the wind, Jasmine pointed her wand in the direction of the frozen dummy. Giving it a whip-like motion, she said, "Carpe Retractum". Bullseye. The purple rope shot out and wrapped itself around the target. With a pull, the dummy started moving toward Jasmine.

She managed to reel it in, but now the question was......how to secure it. Without a better idea in mind, Jasmine laid the dummy on the floor and stood straddling it. With her mobility somewhat limited, she decided that her next try would be the Reductor curse again.

What was HAPPENING?

Maddie didn't have much of a chance to greet Kyroh and Dima as there were leaves flying around and spells shooting overhead in every direction. TALK about unsafe. Didn't Romanos KNOW that there were inexperienced spell casters up in here. *COUGH* DIMA *COUGH* Kid was AWESOME and her FRIEND but he was doing some dangerous stuff with his wand right now, JUST saying.

Also, Maddie had been eyeing a practice dummy when a LARGE shadow loomed over her and her fellow first years. She ALMOST thought it was the tornado of leaves coming to suck them all up to Merlin KNOWS where but NO, it was the Slytherin dude! The TALL one. Tall Slytherin rock star dude with the HAIR. "Hiii West Odessa." 'SUP? She'd HEARD his name from people and stuff. He was in CAHOOTS with her BUDDY, MO, so they were PRACTICALLY allies by association. It was a THING. And look, he was trying to help Kyroh out. The small brunette wasn't sure there were rules about who was allowed to help who so she simply shrugged at Freckles when he questioned it. He KNEW West could stomp on them like they were bugs if he wanted, RIGHT? The kid's feet were HUGE. Or at least MUCH bigger than hers.

Also, she was just going to stick with the spell she knew BEST, okay? She was pretty good at the Reductor Curse by NOW and so she figured if she could lock her eyes on a dummy overhead, she could blast it to pieces easy enough. THAT was the plan!

The twelve year old backed up as more leaves came flying in her direction and she used her arm to brush the hair out of her face. She just needed to find a dummy and she could...oh. OH. OHHH. DUMMY!

Narrowing her eyes, the little Ravenclaw made the sideways V movement with her wand and said clearly, "Reducto!" It FELT strong but Maddie wasn't sure it had hit and so she watched and waited.

...

Also, there was an older claw who SEEMED to be having some success and Maddie glanced at her fellow ickles and motioned towards her (Jasmine) "Bet SHE'D be good to have working with us." Did they think so TOO?

"Hey youuuuu!" Helloooo! Hiiiii! Over here! "If you rope another one, I'll help blast it!"

Sophie hesitated a bit to see if either spell she'd cast had blasted one of the dummies to pieces. She almost hesitated too long, though, because another dummy was quickly approaching, and it looked to be heading her way. She spun around so fast that the wind from the tornadoes caused her to stumble back a little. At least she didn't fall this time, though.

She managed to get a good balance on her feet then quickly aimed her wand toward the approaching dummy. "CARPE RETRACTUM!" she said. She whipped her wand forward and drew in the dummy. Now if another Slytherin was nearby and able to blast the dummy to pieces, that'd be awesome.

Moving in closer to the target gave a better chance of hitting it, no?

Well it certainly worked this time around. In a matter of seconds, the spell connected with the dummy!

"FIVE POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!"

It was as good as spell as any to connect with the dummy, however, a second spell zoomed forth just in time to collide with the first, leaving the dummy free to be targeted by anyone else.

Where did THAT come from?

Second time the charm? Or was the wind going to move the dummy just in the knick of time?

Perhaps a pile of leaves could fly in front of the spell? Perhaps...

Perhaps it was a combination of both. With the tornadoes moving, a gust of wind brought a large load of leaves into the area, brushing in front of the dummy. As perfect of a hit as it would've been, it connected with a group of floating plant life, bursting them into smaller pieces.

Concentration was indeed needed to cast a spell. Though while the spell worked...

It fizzled out before it could connect with anything.

No leaves were in the way this time around, however, the wind increased the zig-zag motion of the dummy had it moving out of the way far before the spell had come near it.

Perhaps it was better to...

Did the students know that...

Maybe they should look at...

The tornado switched directions, moving towards the slytherins. On purpose? Nooo, it was a force of nature doing it's natural nature thing. Though the sudden turn of wind current had the dummy blowing out of the way of the oncoming spell.

So so close!

A strong spell for a strong first year!

Though not strong enough for this dummy. It zig-zagged around the spell, randomly moving in closer to the tornado.



Oh dear, was the wind and leaves starting to get in the way of things? There were far less hits than just a minute ago. Speaking of numbers..."There are only a few targets left!" she called, trying to get her voice over the wind and shouting of spells. Hopefully they heard her? Either way, they'd know when the activity would end.

Should she add in another tornado?

Jasmine was just about to take aim at another dummy when she heard someone calling out to her. Looking in the direction of the voice she saw one of the first year Claws (Maddie) offering to to help her. It was the girl who had also received a potion from Professor Culloden. Ravenclaw to the rescue.

Change of plans.......Jasmine would rope and the firstie would blast. It sounded good to her. Waving the younger girl over, Jasmine agreed to her plan. "Maddison right? Your plan sounds like a good one. I'll try to rope one and then you take over. Oh and I'm Jasmine by the way."

Turning her attention back to the dummies, Jasmine tried to concentrate amid the chaos. Now she had a partner and she couldn't let her down. Looking for her next target, Jasmine's eyes locked on a nearby dummy. She followed it and tried to gauge where it was going next. Raising her wand, she made a whip-like motion and said,"Carpe Retractum". Once again the purple rope appeared and found its way to the dummy. As it wrapped around the target, Jasmine turned to Maddison. "It's all yours. Go for it." Keeping her eyes on the dummy, Jasmine waited for the younger girl to make her move.

Her spell had been a dud. BUMMER. The little Ravenclaw didn't like failing, not one bit.

Maddie waited only a second before weaving her way through the crowd of students to the older claw. "Just Maddie, please. Or Coop." She HATED being called Maddison. HATED it. And of course her plan sounded liked a good one. She WAS a mastermind, after all. No biggy. "Nice to meet you Jasmine." Like the movie with the flying carpet or? Not that it mattered. She would forever be Jazzy in Maddie's mind now, though. Nicknames were just more fun.

WOW. Jazzy was GOOD at the Seize and Pull spell thing. Maddie watched intently, taking in the motion and the way her housemate said the incantation so she could practice it later. And when a dummy had been roped, the small brunette gave a little nod and shuffled forward.

Staring down at the dummy, the first year carefully made the sideways v shape with her wand and said, "Reducto!"

Cassia had come to the rescue! AWESOME! Simon beamed but the spell missed and the tornado was heading towards him. Uh. Uh. Uh. HELP. PANIC MODE WAS ACTIVATED! "Anyone? More people send spells. I can't hold onto this anymore!" he cried. Then the dummy got out of his charm and Simon fell onto his butt. Great. He was about to attack that dummy again when he heard a voice call out. WAS THAT SOPHIE? Whipping his head around (not too quickly otherwise, he'd get whiplash), he ran over towards her and quickly cast with a sideways v-motion, "[b]Reducto!!!"

Now back to the other dummy. He frowned and quickly cast another one. Whip like motion in tandem with the incantation. "Carpe Retractum!" he said, pulling it out of the way of the incoming tornado.

"Anyone?" he cried. Fellow house mates, hello?

Oooops. From the look on her face, it was clear that Maddie was not fond of being called Maddison. "OK, just Maddie it is", Jasmine said. She would not make that mistake twice. Jasmine watched as Maddie sent the Reductor curse toward the lassoed dummy. It looked good from the start. Hopefully it would reach the target and take it out.

When Pofessor Romanos announced that there were only a few targets left, Jasmine knew she had to hurry. If they wanted to get any last minute points for Ravenclaw, time was of the essence. She had things down to a routine now. Choose the dummy, focus, track its path, account for wind and leaves, aim, whip- like wand movement and "Carpe Retractum". Once she had done all of these things Jasmine mentally crossed her fingers and was happy to see the familiar purple rope. Would it catch the dummy? Yesssss, barely.

"Maddie, can you give it one more go?, Jasmine asked. She hoped the Ravenclaw had another good Reducto in her.

The tornado hated them. It was so obvious. Cassia would have glared or something but you can't just glare at a tornado. It was wind! Bloody strong wind that ruined her hair, robes and she could even feel her eyelashes TANGLED! How did that even happen. It was hard now look at the dummies even. Leaves kept flying her way! Stupid leaves. The leaves should leave. See what she did there?

However, her first thought when it appeared they were attacked by freaking nature, was to protect the dummy! The one you captured you know. Cassia simply just stepped on it. That should keep it on the ground. Unless she went soaring up in the air. Something this wind couldn't do but who knew if a THIRD tornado was approaching. Romanos looked like she was enjoying it. After all those years, we let you make up lastnames for us!

As much as she liked to be dramatic and make a scene with her shielding herself from the tornado she knew that they were supposed to do something else. Was that a snake;s voice?! Indeed it was.

Another snake. Good to know they were still alive and on the ground. Not to mention they had the ability to actually spot a dummy and shoot at it. How impressive. A few years earlier or even now if she didn't have a badge she would probably flee and run for her life or hide behind an older student. Totally joking. Sort of. With her wand she drew a v looking shape and shouted, "Reducto!" Come on, one of those had to work. Or it would be better if no one saw her failing. Yeah that would help. And in case it didn't work it was the wind not helping and just ruining Cassia's effort. Totally the tornado's fault. It wasn't like Cassia had no experience of how one blew things up. Surely not like Lex but she wasn't bad herself.

Toby figured that the best idea for him right now was to struggle around this weird mini-tornado - actually, make that TWO mini-tornadoes, wow - and get to the edge of the area. Maybe that we he'd have better visibility of the activity zone and be able to find a good target.

So that was what he did. Keeping one arm up in an attempt to keep as many leaves off of his face as possible, Toby managed to make his way right off to the side so he was close to the boundaries before turning and looking back.

Uhh... okay. It was pretty hard to see in here. Tobias thought for a moment, wondering Professor Romanos wouldn't mind TOO much if he used another spell on his own face just to help him out. It was worth a shot, so the fourth year held up his wand with it pointed to his face.

"Impervius," he cast, and though his voice was drowned out by the wind that didn't stop the spell from working. It was something.

Okay, so now... dummies.

For a while, Toby stayed where he was, sort of edging from side to wide along the boundaries of the activity area just to keep moving. His waiting soon paid off though, as suddenly he saw one heading around the outskirts. He wasted no time in pointing his wand straight at it and making his move.

"Impedimenta!" the Hufflepuff cast, almost feeling the need to hold onto the wand with both hands as the wind made aiming just that little bit harder.

The spell seemed to work, which was, y'know, GOOD. Toby didn't waste even a second before doing the sideways V shape with his wand (again, something of a feat with this wind) and going straight for the next spell.

"Reducto!"

Yep, hi little claw. West would have been willing to do more than just smile at her but things started getting a ton more interesting and it took all his focus.

West WOULD have helped Cassia, honestly, but he was too busy trying to wrangle the dummy that he'd first grabbed with the Seize and Pull charm, since Ethan had missed that one (Even if he had hit the next one he'd aimed for). He pulled the Dummy in instead, having to strain against the tornado winds trying to pull it away again. Finally he managed it and threw his body wait on the thing. It wasn't very comfortable but he had it on the ground at least. Merlin. What was this activity even?

Alright another five to Gryffindor! Finally they were making some good ol' progress! WOHOOOOO! Alright. There were only a few more dummies left. That meant that they were getting this much closer to the Cold One invasion. Unless Romanos was saving that for the grand finally? Hm. Wouldn't doubt her actually. Anyways, this meant that he needed to finish off the rest of these dummies so he had time to prepare!

Turning his attention back to the tornado, Zander squinted trying to find a mass among all the leaves. AHA! Got it. Pulling his wand into the air the Gryffindor aimed and "IMPEDIMENTA!" Right on point.

Now, was there a Gryffindor around to help finish this one off because it could only stay put for so long. "Hey guys, I've got one here!" he yelled looking back at his group of lions. Someone? Anyoneeee? He couldn't just wait with this thing all day! He had an invasion to prepare for!

Never give up is our motto here!

Those few extra steps towards the dummy made a big difference. In no time, her spell...CONNECTED!

"FIVE POINTS TO RAVENCLAW!" Medea called out, watching the dummy explode in a POOF.

Quick reactions were great advantages. Keep that in mind kids! In a matter of seconds, the spell hit the dummy square in the chest!

"FIVE POINTS TO SLYTHERIN!" Things were picking up now!

Failing? Trying was never failing!

However, with the amount of obstacles flying through the air as it were, both large and small pieces combined, it'd be a triumph to even get close. The spell zoomed straight into a group of leaves, and they exploded in a loud BOOM. Itty bitty pieces of leaves scattered around like plant snow!

Smelled earthy didn't it?

Waste time you shouldn't, for the spell zoomed straight through a pile of leaves, and hit the dummy straight on!

"FIVE POINTS TO HUFFLEPUFF!" Medea called out again. Thank the wind for making it difficult for her to hear the impervius charm being cast.

OOC: Hey everyone! We're going to be ending the lesson in about an hour

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anna Banana

Sophie hesitated a bit to see if either spell she'd cast had blasted one of the dummies to pieces. She almost hesitated too long, though, because another dummy was quickly approaching, and it looked to be heading her way. She spun around so fast that the wind from the tornadoes caused her to stumble back a little. At least she didn't fall this time, though.

She managed to get a good balance on her feet then quickly aimed her wand toward the approaching dummy. "CARPE RETRACTUM!" she said. She whipped her wand forward and drew in the dummy. Now if another Slytherin was nearby and able to blast the dummy to pieces, that'd be awesome.

Caleb had been a bit slow today - after he failed horribly in the practice part, he hadn't been on his game all lesson - but now he was back in the race. He was going to get a dummy for them, he knew it! Sure enough, a moment later, his twin had pulled a dummy directly in front of him. He wasn't sure if it was on purpose or not, but it was awfully convenient!

"Reducto!" he cried, pointing right at the dummy as it flew in front of him on the way to Sophie's wand.

HE EXPLODED SOMETHING! But it was only a pile of leaves which made MORE leaves. Yeah. Exploding did not help at all. Kyroh was ALL READY to learn cool wand stuff from West!!! But then West sort of attacked a dummy which sort of attacked him back and well, it was pretty hard to teach when you were being attacked by a dummy and all. So they'd have to figure it out WITHOUT him.

"At anything that's a dummy." The boy replied oh so helpfully over the roaring tornado..

....Too bad he couldn't spot Cutty.

OH MAYBE DIMA HAD HIT HIM!? Ah. Nope. "There up THERE" Kyroh pointed somewhere. The dummies where. In the mix of leaves and tornados and spells and.....

Sigh. Why couldn't they be hanging out with butterflies again?

MADDIE had figured out where they were though! Maddie with that Jasmine girl! "DIMA look! They know!"Kyroh started to run toward them but with the mini tornados blowing he could only feel himself being pushed back. How was he even suppose to get points and get a dummy with this WIND?

"Impedimenta!!! Impedimenta! Impedimenta! Impedimenta!" The first year yelled with a FLICK, FLICK, FLICK AND AND ANOTHER FLICK aiming his wand at the TORNADO and not the dummy nearby at all. That thing needed to STOP so he could get the dummy OKAY? Although...."Reducto!!!" He added as an after thought, v motion and all at the dummy.

Ohh, hey! Thank you, Caleb!

Sophie didn't stop long enough to see if the spell had worked. There was yet ANOTHER dummy coming her way, and she didn't have time to wait. She darted to the left but skid across the floor as the wind from the tornado basically blew her away. Well, it didn't blow her away, but it had her slipping and sliding across the floor.

By this time, the second dummy was gaining on her. She could either let it get her, or she could try and pull this one in, too, and hope somebody else blasted it. She pointed her wand toward it then whipped forward.

"CARPE RETRACTUM!" she said. She now had the dummy in her possession, but...would another Snake help her out?