’Down we go…’

Brooklyn found herself staring at Professor Quigley as if he’d lost his mind, as soon as he’d announced they were going down into the ravine below the bridge. She’d known from the start that she’d find out what he’d been looking at without asking, but she hadn’t figured it would have involved physical effort. She’d rather not, but then, he’d said they weren’t allowed to stay up on the bridge. That was just stupid. Anything that needed the warning not to break anything was stupid and she didn’t want to do it.

Maybe someone would let her catch a ride? She’d glanced around, at the very least thinking that maybe Benny would let her. Like he’d done when they’d discovered the swamp had filled the corridor during the mapmaking. But no luck. Everyone was just starting to file after the professor, single file as he’d requested. At that, she sighed, grabbing her tie from the railing and draping it around her neck. Apparently nobody realized they shouldn’t make her go through with actually hiking down the ravine on her own. Stupid, she thought, knotting her tie again as she’d walked along the bridge to the point where everyone was starting to descend.

She ignored the Ravenclaw prefect’s suggestion to cast a spell on her shoes, too. It’d be everyone else’s fault if she got hurt. Starting to follow the others, she picked her way around the rocks and brambles, looping around bushes as they showed up in her path. Every step she took was delicate, nearly like a small animal. Maybe even like Tywin, she thought, slipping on a patch of loose pebbles and grabbing onto a tree to right herself. Just because she didn’t want to be doing this didn’t mean she was going to let them see her fail. She’d manage it, if just to be able to guilt people afterward for making her expend the energy.

There was one more near-miss, saved by a bush that caught at her uniform, but she managed to get to the bottom relatively unscathed to join the rest of the class. A small scratch on her arm, and another on the side of her face where she’d been hit by a branch. She ignored those, though. All things she could use to guilt people, after all.

Tie back on, tie back on.... as much a he loathed it... ugh - though he didn't tie it as tight as he might otherwise wear it for class. Ties were awfully constricting of airways, didn't the Professor's know this? It didn't do much for their learning 'environment'.

But as his mind drifting back to thoughts on what they were doing HERE, Professor Quigley made his day. THEY WERE CLIMGING DOWN THE GORGE THING. Epic. Best lesson EVER. By hand, no magic, awesome!

He spared Heather a glance as she tied herself to a rock. HAHAHAH. Funny. Nevertheless, he wanted down, so he got in line and followed.

It was FUN, and also easy, or easier than he would have thought if he'd have tried to do this on a random day by himself. Speaking of, WHY hadn't he done this before? Did he now have permission to do it ALL THE TIME?... Interesting.

One foot, one hand in front of the other, he made his slow descent - held back by those in front of him. But once he was at the bottom, he hopped down, both feet on the ground and dusted off his hands on the back of his pants. What next Professor?

Ohhhh, time to get the ties back on. Well then. Cinna slipped her back over her head loosely. There that was better. It wasn't choking her like before, Nah she just didn't like wearing it. So it was going to wear it just like this.

Cool. They had to go down there? Wayyyyyy down there? Her brown eyes looked then up and around at the others. She wanted to see there reactions as well. Cinna was pretty excited about having a chance to do so rock climbing. Or they were they jumping. Okay so this wasn't one of those fake you're in a harness walls. There wasn't a harness for this was it Quigley?

Lol. No harness. No bungee-cord. No cushioning charm at the bottom.

Grinning the Lioness got into the line. Seriously This was like her definition of fun. FUN. Clearly Quigley was a Gryffindor. Clearly. Only a Gryffindor professor would set such a task. A dangerous task. Climbing down the bridge.

When it was her turn the sixth year slowly slipped down the side of bridge. Carefully she found her footing. Then a place for the other foot. Making sure she was stable before she moved her feet again. Her hands were wrapped tight around a beam. She slid her hands down and started looking for a new spot for her feet. Placing her foot on where she thought was a good place she stepped down. The ground crumbled under her foot and she quickly placed that foot back where it was before.

PHEW! That was a close one. Now she just needed to find another place to put her feet. Finding a spot it seems to be smooth sailing most of the way down, A few slips and replacing feet here and there. Tripping over some of the tree roots, but nothing where she had She was at the bottom on. Flat ground.

She looked up, Dang looking up it looked much much farther than looking down. Sooo What were they going to do down here now that they were here? And how were they going to get back up? Climb back! It was always easier to climb up then climb back down. But this might be the exception to the rules. Maybe. Who even cared about the rules. Rules? What Rules? Yolo....Mmmm Nah, Just kidding.

Even as she was climbing the first few, scrabbling steps, Dot glanced over her shoulder at those climbing below her and called out, "Wheeeeeeeeeeee." Just to keep 'em on their toes, y'know? She wasn't falling or free falling or even being uncautious (this girl was no Gryffindor).

But she was interested to see if anyone panicked and tried to jump out of her way. So far... no movement. Apparently, her classmates had a steadier head than she would have anticipated. That was a shame.

Oop, and it was time to pay attention, since Dot's left foot had hit air and she was clinging to some tall grass and tiny pebbles and desperate prayers. No one was going to catch her if she went rolling down into the ravine, and she'd probably actually take someone(s) with her. Bad enough to crush all your limbs, but crushing someone else was unacceptable.

Her foot found the ground, and Dot made like a jarvey and stayed close to the ground. She also thought some unkind thing about the professor, but at least she didn't say them out loud. So not exactly like a jarvey, then. Or like a very private jarvey with a color vocabulary only in her imagination.

Dot felt again for the next step and inched down further into the ravine. Getting out of this place was going to be a beast. Ugh. Terrible. She felt yet again for a step and found that she didn't have any further to go. This was... the bottom of the ravine, and she hadn't died horribly. Or taken anyone with her. Success.

Wait, they were going down there? Why? It sounded fun, yes, but she wondered what stumbling down a rocky, brushy terrain had to do with color-changing charms. Trusting that it would make sense when they got down there (and also just wanting to climb down there for the first time), Evangeline went to the edge and slowly began her descent down the rocky slope.

Her feet slipped occasionally, but she was able to catch herself each time. She DID hear Sophie announce that handy charm, but she was being stubborn and independent and ignoring her advice. The other problem was that she was in a SKIRT and the brush stuff was rubbing against her legs and making them itchy and scratching them up. Regardless, Evie trekked on with the rest of the class.

By the time she got to the bottom she was TIRED. Who knew one could be tired from walking down hill? Clearly, Evie was not one to hike. Or exercise at all in general. She tried that with Eden once and she nearly died. Merlin, how in the world were they going to get back UP?!

Ilia grinned as he chuckled and gave her a thumbs up. She turned her tie back to its original , beautiful green and may as well have gotten a twinkle in her eye at what the professor said next. They were going to march down and play in the ravine? She wondered what he had down there waiting for them.

She didn't balk in the slightest at hiking down the ravine, she lived near deep forests and mountains prior to this and was accustomed to making her way through this sort of terrain. Happily trailing down with the other students she could have walked down as quick as a mountain goat. Henric seemed a bit less comfortable with the idea though......."There are a lot of rocks everywhere. Henric, the rocks won't bite, just don't make eye contact." She smiled back at her best friend. Maybe if he saw how calm she was about it, he would loosen up.

Down ,down, down they went, past trees and shrubs and the concerning rocks. Ilia simply made sure her feet placed soundly and strolled down as easily as if it were a side walk. She did look back frequently to check on Henric though. He seemed to be alright despite his nerves, maybe it looked daunting if you had never done it before. Considering they weren't using protective charms or brooms, it was an indicator that it wasn't that bad as far as she was concerned. They had shot each other in the air through hoops in the last class. Professor Cat might be slightly different in how he did things, but he would still get in trouble if he got them broken.......

Once she made it to the bottom she waited for Henric and stood beside him with a grin. "You made it past the rocks, for a minute I was worried that one would charge and get us by surprise." She teased playfully, smiling at him. Hopefully he wouldn't get mad at her teasing.....

Oh My Gob!

Awesome!

They were going down into the ravine! This was some seriously epic stuff right here. She didn't care why they were doing it really or well not right then but just the idea of getting to go down without the use of magic had her grinning. It reminded her of home and the adventures in the forests she'd have. Without question she was ready to get going not even bothering to preform any spells on her shoes like some of the others had or tie herself to a rock? What? Did someone really just do that? Raising an eyebrow in silent question of that she shook her head, ignored it and got moving.

Having had her tie already placed back around her neck hanging there loosely that was one thing she didn't have to worry about. So making her way over to the Professor she got in line behind him and took the first step downward into the ravine. With one foot in front of the other she edged her way down the large sloop carefully making sure she knew where she'd be placing her feet as she went. It really wasn't all that difficult if she paid attention.

Being small also helped out a little when it came to all the trees surrounding them on every side. Hady was able to duck under most of the branches and easily slip around the bushes. However that didn't stop anything from occasionally snagging her hair and then her having to stop and untangle it. Then there was also those pesky branches that would scratch her...one evil shrub had managed to leave a thin scratch across her cheek. Not that she'd even noticed.

However despite being scratched by a branch and slipping and sliding over loose pebbles and rock she soon found herself nearing the bottom of the ravine. Keeping her hands out in front of her a little for some balance she jumped down the last little ledge area and onto the flat ground at the bottom. She'd made it! Now what did they Professor?

Given the lack of coordination he'd seen in the first lesson, the whole 'don't break anything' rule needed to be said. The man didn't need a trip to the Healer and wouldn't like a lecture from her either. It was hard work, sure, but it wasn't impossible to make it down the side of the ravine--his agility aside, they were proving this more and more.

Maddox watched the last of them coming down, decidedly not willing to comment on the rope and rock technique or the way Miss Wojack tried freaking everyone else out. Make no mistake, his eyes had shot up in case he needed to do some quick spell work but it was a relief to know that no one was actually falling. No injuries please.

"Now that you're all here, we can put this spell into real practise...but first." Squinting at everyone who hadn't changed their ties back to their original colour. "I do believe I said to practice the spell on your ties then have them return to normal right after. 5 points from anyone still wearing the incorrectly coloured tie in the next 10 seconds." So they'd better move quickly, he was actually counting.

Ten...nine...eight...seven...six....

Tick tock.

Maddox stepped a little further into the clearing at the bottom. It wasn't OVERLY spacious but there was plenty of room with rocks and bushes and trees closing in on all sides. Perfect terrain. "Let's play a little game of 'Capture the Fort'." As he spoke, he did some wand work and had flags popping up on either side. To the left, Gryffindor and Slytherin banners flew, waving in the light breeze that graced them down here. To the right, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff banners seeming to mirror their counterparts. On either side, the flags were not always easily gotten to as some were half hidden behind the natural landscape. Some further into the thick trees. They would need some fort infiltration to get to the ones not easily displayed at the front.

"Don't think I have to tell you how to split up." Hah, no, the flags made that obvious. "Few rules before we begin: Aim at the flags not each other, boundary crossing is allowed," so no, the clearing was not some great divide they were not allowed to cross, "and on that same note, so is returning your flag to it's original colour should you find it's been tampered with." Of course that meant they would have to choose between staying behind to defend their own or go forth attacking and hope for the best but he wouldn't be telling them how to play their game. "Once you have taken out an entire house's banners, that house belongs to your team and will now help you eliminate the one team left. Three on one's hardly fair, I don't recommend you becoming that one." Kinda meant helping your war buddy even if they weren't IN your house, didn't it? Meant mostly for those who wouldn't see a problem with their partner's banners being changed so long as it wasn't THEIRS.

"Split up, wait for my signal, then go." He would be getting out of the way of the cross fire soon enough.

OOC: Final activity guys! SO most of the instructions have already been said above. 5 posts minimum. Pretend Maddox gave the signal once your charrie is in position. Please indicate the colour you are attacking and what colour you changed it to. A few things to keep in mind, you can't aim at the same house consecutively, you must alternate. You can RP Fixing your flag and in the same post attack ONE other flag but you cannot RP attacking more than one 'enemy flag' in your post. You cannot fix a flag twice in a row. I already determined how many of each flag exists and Maddox will announce when a house is to change it's loyalties. You have until Monday around 6 pm GMT -5 to get this done. Unless the flags run out first and the game ends. If something is still unclear, feel free to VM/PM/IM me. Have fun! ^^

Yes, Adi was quite alright despite the near tumbles he had on his way down. He smiled reassuringly at AJ then turned to watch the last of the students make their way down. Right! Everyone had made it safely. Phew! His attention was back on Quigley just as the man started talking about their ties. Adi's was all yellowy. Yep. He absently patted the fabric.

Ohhh! Lookit all the flags! It was pretty obvious Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were a team for this one. The Puffer tried to have a good look at all the flags around the territory as Quigley gave his instructions. It didn't seem too difficult though there seemed to be a few flags among all the trees and bushes.

Sigh. Adi was against the two Houses he liked best after Hufflepuff. Buuuut Ravenclaw did have some awesome people too! Mhmm! "You're going down, AJ!'' he whispered to her before scrambling off to join the other Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws. LET'S GO, TEAM! WOOT!

Annnnd now, the wait! Oh, there went Catman's signal! Wasting no time, Adi raised his wand and took aim by pointing his wand at a green flag. ''Colovaria!'' It was a HIIIIT! In that flag's space, now stood a blue one, fluttering proudly in the breeze. YEAH! Adi pumped the fist with his hand. Of course it was just the beginning but here's to a great start. To his team mates, he managed to say rather loudly, "I can stay and defend if some of you want to go out to get closer to the other team!'' Obviously, he would need others to help him defend too.

Go down? Not a problem really, but he’d let the eager beavers go first. That way the rest of the class will make the soil more compact, and easier to step on. Also, since he’s one of the tallest in class, he’d stay behind and look after the smaller Snakes—to freeze them in case they trip or something. Way to save a face, you know? Ethan then descended down the ravine and held on to thick branches and boulders for support. True enough, the terrain was already more stable and defined as he went down, making his descent accident free. Good!

Ethan joined the rest of the class, and crossed his arms across his chest as he listened to the professor’s instruction. Capture the Fort? What...fort? The Slytherin looked on as flags suddenly appeared. Oh...oh. Of course. Gryffindor and Slytherin’s banners were on the same side, and the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs on the other side. That too was no brainer. The splitting of houses was pretty obvious, but he was quite surprised that they are to work with the lions. Based on Ethan’s observation, other professors liked their house being partnered with another house, except Gryffindor. The scene before him looked odd for some reason.

Okay, so positions? Ethan jogged and stayed behind a Slytherin banner away from the first layer just like a good senior student. The Slytherin already had formulated a plan inside his head as he stood by one of his house’s banners that were half covered by a tree. He’d let the junior kiddos attack the other side of the clearing because they were smaller, and were much quicker.

Oh and for the record...he’d wait for the enemy to attack, so he can fix a flag right away then attack.

...

See? It pays to wait. Ethan grinned, his eyes sparkled with excitement as he pointed his own wand at the tampered banner, and turned it back to Green. “Colovaria!” And now to counter-attack. The Slytherin moved forward a bit to get the right angle, and aimed for a banner that was beyond the enemy’s first line of flags. “Colovaria!” he said as he turned a Yellow banner into Green. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth was the theme of the day.

Adi had suggested himself as one of the defenders, right? So just WHY was he inching towards the side of the Gryffindors and Slytherins? Hehe. EEEP! A spell zoomed by narrowly missing his head. Gosh, if it had hit he might have had a yellow or blue head. LOL. In his haste to duck out of the way of the 'enemy' spell, alsmost lost his footing -__- That was definitely not happening for the last time in this class.

Adi looked around at his team's flags. Oh, yeah. There were already a few that had changed colours. Hehe. Not bad. Both teams had gotten off to a great start. Anyway, it was time to turn his attention to the red flags! The Puffer clung to one of the flag poles. He was securing his balance, yo!

He pointed his wand at one of his honourary House's flags, his mind firmly focused on the bright yellow of his beloved Hufflepuff House. ''Colovaria!'' Another round of red light shot from his wand straight towards the red flag he had aimed at.

Now there was a yellow one standing in it's place. AWESOMEEE!

”Colovaria!” The lion said, aiming to change her currently blue tie to the golden yellow of her Aunt Alyssa’s tie. The same as Adi’s. On the first try this time, it changed colour to the gold. GRRIIIN. Yeass. OKay, now to add stripes. ”Colovaria!”. Nope. No. Never. SIGGGGGH. She just wanted to add the houses black stripes. Why was that so hard?

SIGH.

Looking over at Cutty as he called on her, she grinned at the sight of his red tie. ”I don’t know, could suit you… But it looks really weird!” She giggled at him, as she once again looked back at her tie. Gosh, how was she supposed to get her tie back to the right thing. Gosh.

”Colovaria!” Hi red tie. But sigh. No stripes. ”Colorvaria!” She tried again, and again… but nothing. No stripes. Sighing, she put her tie back on, figuring that she would talk to the Professor when he had a second.

Marsha was just finishing tying her tie when they got told to put them back on again. With a smile she listened to the Professor before grinning. SO COOL. This would be amazing. Looking down at her sensible clothing, like asked for she smiled. As far as she could see, Quiggley seemed to like everyone in trousers with sensible footwear and that was perfect as far as Marsha was concerned.

It didn’t take her much effort to follow behind the line of students to the bottom of the ravine. She was pretty light on her feet, with pretty good balance. She thought that was all from her Tad personally, but horseriding had helped with her balance in the past. Slipping past some trees and large prickly bushes, the first year was glad for her trousers. THANKS PROFESSOR.


Wheeee. Next!

Oh no! She didn’t want to loose points. ”Professor?” She asked, her hand shooting into the air. I couldn’t get my tie to change two colours… I can’t get my stripes back.”[/b] She was frowning, something that didn’t happen to the Welsh girl very often, and she didn’t really like it. She wanted her smile back but she REALLY didn’t want to loose points for Gryffindor.

However, she figured the Professor (or one of the older students) would help her out. So she listened to the task and looked around the hills at the two split sides. Gryffindor and Slytherin. Awesome. At least the flags were a single colour. That was good. As she moved back towards the others in her team, she hoped that she would be able to keep up - but regardless, this was going to be fun! It made her think of the first astronomy lesson she had had with the sandcastles. Hehe, Gryffindor had won that, maybe they could win this too!.

Oi! Adi! Don't be mean! Hehehee. "Colovaria!" She said, pointing to the very flag that the Hufflepuff prefect had just converted to gold.

Oh griffin. Where was the fun in staying behind? Besides, it was payback time. Hehehehehe.

Grinning, she moved towards the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff side of the ravine. Once she was close enough that she thought her spell would work, she pointed at a Hufflepuff flag and said the charm. ”Colovaria!”. With a wide grin, she watched the flag turn red. AWESOME.

He was all set to be out of the way, far far out of the way when one of the smaller voices caught his attention. One of the tie offenders...or in this case not such an offender as she was merely having problems getting the dual colour back in.

"Not a Problem, Miss Hanover." Mostly because she'd bothered to say something instead of keeping quiet til he got annoyed.

Instead of re-colouring the tie once more, he simply cast a finite to end the charm completely and return the tie to its normal colour. Might have told her to run along but she'd already gotten that part covered, just look at her go! The first of the set with the idea to leave her base. Perhaps the war would really get started.

Maddox stepped further away, this time staying human (just in case) but plopping down on a large rock to watch.

You know, thankfully Zander had gotten a hang of this whole color change thing because he was a highly competitive person. Which meant, Gryffindor COULDN’T lose. So he had to put in as much work as he could to get everything red. That was the point of the game, right? Not to lose their own flags and to change all the others to theirs? … Maybe? Zander sort of missed that part of the explanation, but no matter!

The show must go on, right? Plus WOAH was it already time to start?!?? Zander contemplated staying back and defending Gryffindor flags, but there NAH he wanted to switch some other colors up. Speaking of which… He was going to get going now. Ahem. And no offense, Sophie Brown, but he was going for the BLUE.

Zander ran all the way over to the other side, pointing his wand straight at the flag straight ahead, ”Colovaria!” BEAMING at the fact that it changed right away! First try and everything. See, this was what you’ve gotta call improvement. Zander was getting there.

Ethan wasn’t sure if Quigley was wise to partner them up with Gryffindor, or he was trolling them big time. The Slytherin found it hard to focus on the enemy’s flags because some of the yellow and blue ones would turn into red, and it’s as if Ethan’s brain was wired to fire on the red ones too automatically. He figured, it’s either because of the house rivalry, or the fact that Slytherins are simply born to be individualists, and that they should always win.

Shooing away the thought and theories, Ethan moved to where the Gryffindors are, and aimed at a blue flag from where he stood. He needed to get a good angle to get that pesky blue flag turn green. “Colovaria!” And just like that, the blue turned to green.

Next target?

With two successful spells, Adi was all set to toss another one back at Gryffindor House. But not before he noticed the pole he was clinging to to save himself from had been changed to green. Oh no, you didn't Gryffindor or Slytherin! "Finite!'' The Colour Changing Charm ended and he was now looking at a yellow flag. WOOT!

Anyway. Back to the task at hand! Adi took aim at another green flag that was still somewhat at the front of the Lion/Snake side. ''Colovaria!'' He focused, as he had done with the very first spell, on blue. He was gonna get a Snakey flag!

Annnnnnd yes he did!

There went ANOTHER green being replaced with blue!

Oh, oh, oh! THIS WAS WAR, right? Dot tucked her long hair into her collar and shoved up her sleeves before darting towards the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff flags. There needed to be some strategy to this game, right? Like maybe if they tried really hard to get out one team first, that team would have to help them.

"Mordaunt." Related to Cutty Custard, right? Dot trailed the older boy and gave his sleeve a tug. "If we get out the Ravenclaws first, they'll help us take out the Puffers. We should all work on just blue at first." Just a thought. Not that she was good at strategy or anything, but it just made sense.

She left him then, darting toward the nearest Ravenclaw flag. Um um um. "Colovaria," she focused her attention on making the flag turn to vibrant green.

Madness. This is madness! Where are his foot soldiers!? And why was he holding on to a blue banner?! No no no. This can’t be. Letting out a low grunt, Ethan retaliated quickly by shooting the spell at a nearby yellow flag, "Colovaria!" and turned it into green. He then quickly turned the tampered green flag back from its blue shade. "Finite!" Rah rah rah!!!

Take that Ravenpuffs / Huffleclaw!

He was in the zone to let out a battle cry, mouth open and all, when somebody tugged on his sleeve. “Eh?” Ethan had to look down to see who it was and recognized her immediately. “...uh, sure.” The older boy watched her walk away to do her thing.

It was clear what his next target was. Ethan moved back and switched places to see if he can get a nice, good spot to get a blue banner to green, as requested by...what’s her name again? Dot, right? Right...

Awww.

Lux had really wanted to keep her Gryffindor tie. Didn't Quigley know that she was an Honorary Lion? Somehow she got the idea that he wouldn't care if she told him, so her mouth was staying shut on the matter. Sadly, she reverted the tie back to yellow and gold before the ten seconds were up. Oh well, she still had the Gryffindor uniform that Puck had given her.

AND ACTIVITY TIME.

This game sounded fuuuuuuun. And an added bonus was that there was no flying or being propelled into the air involved. YAY. Besides potentially falling to her death, this lesson was turning out to be pretty cool. She still didn't want to think about how they would be returning to the top of that ravine unless Quigley had a safer alternative up his sleeve.

Anywho...it was time to change some flag colours. Why was Hufflepuff ALWAYS pitted against Gryffindor? No offense to Ravenclaw, but that was her other House. Oh well. The Lions knew that she loved them.

As Quigley gave the signal, Lux pointed at one of the Slytherin flags. She wouldn't be attacking Gryffindor right off the bat. "COLOVARIA!" There. Now it was all pretty and yellow. Hehe.

That Mordaunt kid wasn't much of a strategist, and that was saying something, CONSIDERING. Dot grunted in his direction, since he had done as she'd asked, even if he wasn't showing much enthusiasm for it. Maybe they needed a battle cry or something? Some way to rally the spirits or whatever.

What would the Slytherin rally cry be? Hissing at each other? Not very invigorating.

She hissed quietly as she inched along toward another Ravenclaw flag. "AND NOW YOU ARE MINE," she pointed her wand at it and took a moment to enjoy her vicotry before casting the spell. "Colovaria." Just like that, the flag turned green. She was a pro at this by now.

WHAT WAS THAT HUFFLEPUFF DOING?

Whoops. AJ was one of the students that still had their tie the wrong color. It wasn't her fault. That blame was completely put on the fact that professors insisted on having early morning classes. Was he really counting down? Nothing like pressure of losing precious house points. He was already on 5... Merlin. "Colovaria!" There, she was a lion again.

Another awesome activity was about to go down! There was nothing better than a competition. The lions had come out on top during the activity in Astro, and AJ had total faith that they would be able to bring another victory to the lion pack.

Somebody seemed pretty confident. "I'm pretty sure I'll be kicking your butt again!" Yup, again because this wouldn't be the first time, and it definitely wouldn't be the last time either.

For the first time during this lesson AJ was fully listening because this was the important part. Other houses were going down... got it! Could they go now? AJ was chomping at the bit. She watched as all of the flags appeared and when Quigley gave them the okay she shot off in the direction of the flags that didn't belong to her house.

Since Adi was so sure he was going to win it was tie to show him exactly why that dream was far fetched. Seeing a yellow flag AJ made her way over to it. The only thing on her mind was red. "Colovaria!" Hit! Oh yeah, she was definitely in the zone. A once yellow flag was now red.

The battle was starting to intensify, therefore, staying behind was slowly becoming NOT an option. Given that most of the students were attacking the front, Ethan figured it would be effective if he could infiltrate the other camp without treading the crossfire. Er, no, he’s not a Gryffindor to pull that kind of act.

The Slytherin may or may not have stuck some broken small branches in his hair to help him camouflage with the foliage around them, crouching; he silently crossed the boundaries through the side and went further back the enemy’s camp. Seeing that the coast was clear, he aimed his wand at a blue flag and changed it to green, "Colovaria!" non-verbally of course. He didn't want to attract attention to himself.

Teehee. They will NOT be able to see it because he’s at the far back. Little do those Ravenpuffs know that they have a green flag amongst them now.

Now THAT, is strategy. Besides, Slytherins are great when it comes to attacking from behind, eh? Yep. Winning.

CAPTURE THE FLAG! ... FORT!

Quiggles was AWESOME for this activity, did he know? Sophie was SUPER into this and was even MORE pleased when it turned out RAVENCLAW AND HUFFLEPUFF WERE A TEAM. THAT MEANT SOPH AND TOBES WERE ALLIES.

Gryffindor and Slytherin, prepare to meet your DOOM.

When they were all set to split up, Sophie actually deviated from the group to find the nearest patch of dirt or mud - there was slightly damp soil right there, and Soph cast a quick "Aguamenti" at it to turn it muddy. Then the prefect promptly took a fingerful of mud and traced a horizontal line under one eye, then the other.

WAR PAINT. ALL SET TO GO NOW.

Sophie got into a battle stance, waiting for the professor's signal, and when he let them go, Sophie didn't even have to think - she RAN for the opposition's flags, freely and uninhibitedly because Quiggles said they couldn't aim at each other, which meant NOTHING COULD STOP HER. She only had to worry about the Slytherins and Gryffindors changing her chosen flag back, but there were ways of getting around that. Probably.

There were plenty of green and red flags in plain sight, but Sophie thought everyone on her team would go for those instinctively, so Soph kept her eyes peeled for a splash of green or red anywhere on the landscape - Slytherin actually had the advantage here because the green flags blended in with the landscape, didn't they? IT WAS RIGGED - but she caught sight of the green fabric sticking out from behind a tree and targeted that one. "Colovaria!" she cast, changing the green flag to blue, then she RAN back toward her home base to check on her team's flags.

Her daily running came in handy here - she could play BOTH SIDES and RUN BACK AND FORTH. She had plenty of stamina for this. And as she returned to her side, she saw ZANDER TARGET A BLUE FLAG AND CHANGE IT TO RED.

HOW.

RUDE.

"ZANDER ADAIR," Sophie scolded her best friend and WAGGED A FINGER AT HIM. "FRIENDS BEFORE CLASS ACTIVITIES." She was just kidding - well, mostly - and she pointed her wand at the blue-turned-red flag to change it BACK to blue, "Colovaria!" Aaand her house's flag was restored to its original color.

Ian watched the intensity of the initial flurries. It appeared that the gryfferins had a bit of advantage in speed and numbers. It was time to help out his buddy Adi and the others at were around. Fortunately he'd not used his tie, so it was the proper colors.

He looked at the opposing flags and found. A green one and decided to start there. He lifted his wand and aimed, Colovaria! focus in in the yellow of his own house. He watched with satisfaction to see the flag change to his house color. He hoped he'd be able to handle a flag change for his own house. He looked up just in time to see one of the ravine flags change to green. He pointed at it and then yelled COLOVARIA at it thinking of the blue shade of Ravenclaw.

Wow, her first flag!

Lux was excited to change another one. These were the activities she liked the most; the ones where there was friendly competition going on between her and her friends.

For instance right now, when AJ had just changed one of the yellow flags to red. As much as she loved seeing the red, they were going against each other so it couldn't exactly stay. Pointing her wand at the flag, she reverted it back to yellow. Maybe someone would change its colour again, but for now everything was as it should be.

On to changing another flag!! Once again she pointed to a red one, but this flag was on the Gryffindor/Slytherin side, not her own. As much as Lux didn't want to get rid of Gryffindor flags, this was a game. "COLOVARIA!" Now it was a pretty Ravenclaw blue.

Yay for her favourite colour!