Lurking.

Lurking.

Lurking. Yes, his decision was right. The targets were easier to capture now that the people defending their camp was turned towards his camp. Muehehehe. Grinning to himself, he crouched again and slowly picked a random yellow flag as his next target and changed it to greeeeeeeen! “Colovaria!” Yes, yes. He was hitting two birds with one stone with the activity. He gets to practice the spell AND his nonverbal spells, the latter as a precaution of course. He didn’t want the people of Ravenpuff to know that he’s been lurking around their area for a few minutes now.

Oh. OH.

Did someone change the pretty green flag into yellow??? No no no. That’s not right, and that can’t be. “Finite.” And bam. Yellow flag back to green. Uh-HUH.

Now, moving on.

Having giving Zander a PROPER reprimand and hopefully made him realize he should be betraying his own house and turning flags blue for her - ahem - Sophie set her sights on more green and red flags to target. She actually started climbing up the side of the ravine again, taking the outside route to get around to the enemy's side, darting around bushes and trees and ducking down behind them occasionally so the opposition wouldn't see her coming. Totally strategic.

This whole game was about being fast, and taking down the other houses' flags before they got yours. That was all it really came down to, and Slytherin and Gryffindor were incredibly unlucky to not have Sophie on their side because she was TINY AND FAST. They were no match for her.

It was too bad that Ravenclaws were stereotypically not super athletic and competitive in activities like this - same for Hufflepuffs, who were stereotypically too nice and fair to want to seek out a ruthless attack on the other team. On the opposition, Gryffindors and Slytherins were both known to thrive in activities like this, so even more than Slytherin's green flags blending in with the scenery... this activity seemed more and more tilted toward a Slytherdor victory. Pffft to you, Quiggles.

Behind enemy lines now, Sophie peeked out from behind her bush, seeking out more green flags - since those were probably the hardest to spot - and surveyed the battlefield for one that was well-hidden. She didn't see one at first, but as she moved to hide behind a tree now, she spotted one flag behind a nearby tree, and stealthily cast, "Colovaria!" at it, successfully changing the flag from green to blue.

WOOP WOOP. GO TEAM.

He'd SAID that? Norah shot a panicked look at her green tie and whispered "Finite" with her wand aimed at the cloth. Okay. All good. That was less than ten seconds, right? Right. She held on tight to her wand as Professor Quigley explained the activity, her eyes widening when he made the flags appear. MAN, where could she get one of those? Imagine a big Hufflepuff banner for above her bed. Radical.

As soon as Quigley gave the signal, the fourth year took off running after AJ, casting "Colovaria!" on the Yellow flag she'd turned red and turning it back to yellow. The BEST color, obviously. Sticking her arms out like a Hippogriff, she grinned as she ran in the opposite direction. Flag flag flag? FLAG! She came to a bouncing halt in front of a red flag and raised her wand. To yellow with you, flag dude. "Colovaria!" She only paused for a moment to admire her yellow handiwork before turning to run in the opposite direction.

Slowly he could see more and more of them catching their taste for war, crossing enemy lines and getting things done. That was the way it was meant to be. From where he sat, he couldn't quite make out the strategy any of them had up their sleeps but it was all the same to him.

Maddox was waiting for that brilliant moment when he could order three houses to attack one. It would be the highlight of the lesson for him.

For now though, he would watch.

OOC: Remember you can't attack the same house twice guys. Also, when it comes to returning a flag to it's previous colour please consider the logistics. If your charrie is on the other side of the field, it becomes less possible, especially the further they venture into enemy territory. At some point they would have to run back if they want to get a clear shot because there are literally trees everywhere blocking not only the flag, but your shot depending on where you stand. Everything before this post will be counted but not after.

No. No way, Sophie Brown. It was NOT okay to play the friend card in the field of battle. There were no friends, just MIGHTY FOES. And making someone feel bad about playing the game as it was intended was just dirty playing, unworthy of the older Ravenclaw.

"FINITE," Dot turned the flag that Sophie had turned right back to green and gave the girl her evil-pirate-glare. "All is fair in love and war, and this is war, Sophie-daisy. You gotta be strong enough not to take war personally."

Oh, and also? There was a yellow flag right next to the one that Dot had just reverted back. "Colovaria." And now it was green.

BEHIND ENEMY LINES AND TAKING ON THE WORLD. Yeah, Sophie Brown was feeling PRETTY GOOD. It seemed that the majority of the Slytherins and Gryffindors were back attacking the blue and yellow flags, which meant... SHE NEEDED TO MOVE QUICKLY AND GET THEM ALL. OR... TRY TO.

AS THE CURRENT LONE RAVENCLAW BEHIND ENEMY LINES.

Seriously, WHERE WERE HER BLUE TEAMMATES?

It didn't matter, though. No. She was a one girl revolution. So she pressed on, sneaking further and further into the ravine, darting behind trees and bushes with swift agility--

THEN SHE SAW IT. A flash of crimson caught her eye directly to her right behind the tree she'd just ran past, and Sophie pointed her wand at it in close proximity and cast, "Colovaria!" with great enthusiasm. If no one had been guarding that flag, they were just ASKING for her to change it, weren't they? The flag changed from red to blue in a brilliant flash of color, and Sophie let out a cackle of victory.

Feeling PUMPED, she continued her sneaky trek further behind enemy lines - how far could she even go back, until there were no more flags? SHE WOULD FIND OUT.

Ethan moved further back, determined to get ALL yellow and blue flags way behind the enemy’s camp. There were still a few of them left of course, and he would love to get more of his comrades to the other side to speed things up. They’ve got a house to crush, whether it was the ‘Claws’ or the Badgers’. Upon observation, it was rather easy to spot the yellow and blue flags. They very well stand out against the greens and browns of their environment.

Ah. Right there, a blue flag just behind a big boulder.

Pointing his wand at it, the Slytherin changed it to green. “Colovaria.” See, green and gray look good together. Totally complements that big old rock. Grinning himself, he looked over his shoulder to assess if he should go back to his camp now.

He probably should, seeing that he’s got the enemy’s back area partially covered. He’d leave some enemy flags for his teammates.

That done, Lux decided that she would hit another Slytherin flag. She was going to make it yellow. This activity was fun, and either the Snakes or the Lions were going down even if she didn't really want the Lions to.

SHE WAS BEHIND ENEMY LINES.

It was a little hard to spot some of the flags with all the obstacles in the way, and a lot of the ones she DID see were red. That added to the challenge, and nature was pretty so she was not complaining. Give her an outside activity any day so long as it wasn't cold and heights weren't involved.

Moving through the trees, she spotted a green flag. Yessss. This was what she wanted. Smiling to herself, Lux pointed her wand at it. "COLOVARIA!" There. Now it was yellow.

Clara had been observing silently for a few minutes, taking in the game of Capture the Flag Fort. This ........ heh, was better than it could have been. It didn't involved anything too dangerous, that was for sure, and it also answered the question of why they had needed to learn the colour changing charm ..... but it did involve exercise. Minus points for that.

Nevertheless, she decided to dive straight in.

Especially as nobody seemed to be doing any planning or strategy.

The redhead winked at Eden before sprinting - if you could call it that - across the clearing, avoiding tripping as best she could, into enemy territory. One could say she was going into the lions' den. Haha. She aimed her wand at a red flag, envisioned it turning blue, and muttered the incantation. "Colovaria." The flag immediately changed colour before her eyes. Perfect.

She head back across the clearing to guard her own flags. The excitement of using charms 'practically' was gradually wearing down her grumpiness, as was the exercise she was doing. Thank you very much, endorphins.

When she reached 'Claw territory, she immediately noticed a green flag amongst the blue. Ew. She had better rectify that quickly. "Colovaria," she said, wand pointed at the flag and with the colour Ravenclaw blue in her mind. Once again, the colour of a flag changed, and it was now its rightful blue colour. All was as it should be.

Now, should she stay and switch more flags back or strike a counter attack?

TACTICS, PEOPLE. They were important.

"Har..har...very funny llia,"Henric replied to her teasing. She was enjoying it, he could tell. He shook his head and crossed his arms at her. He pretended to be mad at her but not for long when he heard the professor's voice called for attention. Henric immediately glanced down to check on the colour of his tie, fuu...it was still yellow.He wouldn't want to lose 5 points again for not properly listening to instruction...nope.

Woots! It was time for war, this time protecting their fort banners from incoming capture. The Hufflepuffs were on the offensive now, giving their all in attacking. The last time they played a somewhat similar fort war activity game was in Astronomy class and the Gryffindors won.No...not this time....he should help out the Slytherins, because they were the first to be eliminated at the end. He would made an alliance with them for now,time for some payback reds!

He spotted a lone red banner behind a tree, he aimed his wand right at it and shouted,"Colovaria!" He saw the red banner changed to green in a matter of seconds. Brilliant!

Zander was super proud about changing the blue to the red, but then he heard Sophie yelling his name and OOPS. Sorry? But he HAD TO. The flag was RIGHT THERE. It was calling to him. It was asking for it, y'know? He couldn't just NOT do anything! And then she was gaining on him. UH OH. "BUT SOPHIE," he gave her a saaaaad look. Heh. "HOUSE LOYALITY IS IN MY NATURE!" Ahem. Nevermind the fact that he was technically in class and yelling at the top of his lungs while running in the other direction to get another flag.

Had he not been so focused on winning this thing, he would've probably had more shame. Ahem. So it's a good thing that his mind was else where. And speaking of else where... YELLOW. This one's for GRYFFINDOR.

"Colovaria!!" he pointed straight at it, and BOOM. Heh. It's a good thing he got the hang of things before this game started, huh? If anything Sophie Brown should've been PROUD of his color changing abilities. 'Cause Zander was making some progress, okay?

Good thing his tie was a proper red once more.

Benny certainly didn't want to get into trouble or lose points and he would have had to rushed to fix it. He doubted the rush would help him get the spell right, regardless of his previous success. His magic didn't work that way. The ten seconds were soon up and Professor Quigley moved on this time explaining what their final activity for the lesson was.

Capture the flag.

Slytherin and Gryffindor...

...versus Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw.

Why was it Adi was almost never paired with him, AJ amd Angel? Gotta loved forced friendly competition between friends. And he heard the yell Sophie gave to Zander. If only it were true, but it was clear the Hufflepuff was after Gryffindor House as much as Slytherin. He wasn't sure of how it was all going to turn out, but the one thing he was sure of was...he was going to be a defender. Stay safe in his home territory rather then venture to the other side.

Oi...Henric was after them too.

"Nice try..." he mused as he moved closer to the switched flag and took aim, preparing himself to cast. Green back to red...Green back to red. "Colovaria!!" Yes, he was successful and the younger Hufflepuff's change was reverted. The red flag was back to normal.

For good measure, he looked around for the nearest yellow flag. Time to fight back too. "Colovaria!!" Yellow flag turned to red to support the lions now. Take that guys!

Ohh nice, another red banner discovered not far from where he stood. This time slightly hidden from view behind a huge boulder, nope...sorry Mr.RedBanner, time to change your loyalties to one of Ravenclaws.He thought of the colour blue, again his favourite colour of all time..."Colorvaria!" Wohoo! He was having fun avenging for his other housemates, time to run back to his fort and play defensive again.

Henric was stunned to find his yellow banners were almost diminishing in front of his eyes. Noooooo! He rush to the scene, but he accidentally tripped on a rock while running. Thankfully, he broke his fall by putting his arms in front of his face. Oww...

Henric examined the small scratches on his arms. It was not bad, just a little red...he hoped it wasn't bleeding too.Henric reached for his handkerchief in his pockets and started dabbing on it. He hoped nobody saw his embarrassing fall, he got up onto his feet again and walked this time. It would be no good to run in this terrain.Nope...no good at all.

He was going into enemy territory... because, WHY THE HECK NOT!?

Wand in hand, and grinning, Zeke proceeded forward away from his teams fort - he wasn't much in the mood for defending, he was totes in a mood for attacking. ATTTAAAACCCKKK!!! He could have gone for the Slytherin fort, leaving him close enough to return should they need back up, HOWEVER, the lure of TWO enemies over the way was just too appealing.

So with that, Zeke made a bee-line for camp Hufflepuff.

When he was close enough to get his target, he pointed his wand and called out, "Colovaria!" his intent focused on changing the nasty yellow to a brilliant red... and so he did.

BAHA! Gryffindor strikes again!

It was nice that both sides had ventured deep into each other's territory, because it meant that Dot could keep an eye out for people turning green flags. It was a little dash to make it back across the line, and perhaps not worth it, since she could just stay over here and keep turning flags rather than flying back and forth.

Also, Sophie Brown was ignoring her. That was rude.

Dot crept the perimeter further, pleased to see a Ravenclaw blue flag flapping in the wind just a few feet away. It was a cheerful thing, but green was even MORE cheerful. Just ask trees and grass and hopping frogs. Those were cheerful things. More importantly, this was war, and that flag had to go.

"Colovaria." One blue flag was now green.

The second he saw he succeeded, he was off and running again. Gotta keep moving, gotta keep attacking, ATTACK! ATTACK ATTACK!!!!... ahem. Obviously stealth was not something that was going to be happening here, because, it just wasn't going to happen, and as he moved toward the Ravenclaw fort, he watched as others moved around him. He watched as Dot captured one of their flags also, and it amused him. Bye bye Ravenclaws!

"Colo-" he'd started as he aimed his wand at one of their flags... however he wasn't able to get out the rest of the incantation because his toe had snagged a rock and sent him crashing to the ground.

...

"Ow." Yeah, something like that.

He didn't stay down for long, his wand was fine, he wasn't dead, all was well.

Back to attacking!

Rising from his feet, he pointed his wand at the blue flag and cast the charm. "Colovaria!" thus turning it the bright and handsome shade of red he had imagined. Excellent.

Norah, who had slowed to a halt by now, narrowed her eyes at the surrounding trees. She wasn't even sure whose territory she'd ventured into, 'cause apparently trees had a horrible tendency to start looking the same after a while. Rude. After all she'd admired the trees on the grounds this is what they did for her? Maybe it was an under the bridge thing.

As she marched past a particularly green tree, she caught a flash of blue between the branches. She marched backwards three paces and squinted hard at the tree again. Nothin'. She took another step back and caught a gnarled root with the back of her trainer, and landed flat on her bottom on the hard earth. Strike two on the meanie under the bridge trees. The fourth year looked up from her spot on the ground as she wiggled her bum to make the ache-y stuff go away. There it was again! The blue! Real live Ravenclaw blue from between the branches.

Norah pushed herself up from the ground and brushed the dirt off her clothes, pulling her wand out to point it at the flashes of blue on the other side of the tree. "Colovaria!" There was no sign of a color change. Aw man. She started up her running again, making her way to the other side of the big tree to get a better shot at the big Ravenclaw banner. "Colovaria!" A few precisely chosen images of yellowness and TA DA! Pretty Hufflepuff flag. THAT only took several centuries.

Was it just her or was Hufflepuff and Gryffindor always going up against each other? It made AJ think the professors liked seeing her and Adi always going up against each other. Most likely that didn't have a thing to do with it, but it made sense in her eyes. So far she had only managed to turn one yellow flag to red, and that one had been changed back. She needed a better strategy. Everybody was kinda doing their own thing. Normally AJ was all for this, but right now it was pure chaos and this wasn't how to win the competition.

Deciding that maybe it would be a good idea to stand guard of her own flags instead of charging after the others, AJ made her way back to where the red flags stood. She doubted anybody was really paying any attention to her, but she hid behind bushes every so often as she made her way back.

There still seemed to be several red flags left, and she jumped behind another bush to keep her eyes peeled. That way when somebody did come over here to attack, she would be ready.

Sure enough Ravenclaw's very own prefect made her way over and turned one of the lion's flags blue. Now that simply wasn't okay. AJ popped out from behind the bushes and ran over to the newly blue flag...

"Colovaria!" It was back to its rightful color, red. Much better.

He did it, and now he could move again. Zeke took a few paces back in the direction he came from, but paused after a few moments and leant against a tree. He needed to catch his breathe, assess the condition of his knees, and then decide is he was going to double back to the Hufflepuff Camp of if he was going to go farther than that and cross back over to his camp, or the Slytherins.

...

Firstly, he had his breath back. Secondly, his knees were fine, and his pants while dirty were not damaged wither. And thirdly... he would walk, and see where his legs would take him. Granted he wasn't 100% sure on WHERE in all of this he was, but if he walked in one direction he'd find something sooner or later.

His steps were quick, so he wasn't at all taking his time - this was a competition after all, but it wasn't so fast that he was going to trip up again.

Weaving between the trees, Zeke was sure he'd have reached the Hufflepuff camp by now if he was heading in the right direction, so he concluded that he must be heading back to base.. or, with any luck, Camp Slytherin.

A flash of colour caught his eye as he realised he had neared the Slytherin Fort after all. Now all he had to do, was capture the flag - or well - change it's colour. WEEEE!

Walking closer, and closer, and closer still, he pointed his wand at the flag-ish.

"Colovaria," he said clearly his mind on Gryffindor red.

The charm was successful, but the hit was not... instead of his intended target, he managed to change a few of the leaves of the tree. Whoops.

"Colovaria!" he tried again after moving more into view.

Second time was a charm, as the green flag changed to a striking red.

Zhenya was a bit confused as to why they were now leaving the bridge. What was the point of being there just to practice changing colours of their ties? But... ahh, they weren't going back inside, they were going DOWN. Zhenya looked down with slight excitement. She wasn't scared of heights, and she loved to go on hikes, and this was as close to hiking as she had come during her time here. She followed Professor Quigley and everyone else down, down, down. She took it very slowly and carefully, like she usually did when she hiked down a ravine. All the trees, rocks, bushes, grass and dirt. Slippery and rough. She made sure to plant her foot and make sure nothing was going to collapse or slip from under her as she slowly made her way further down to where Professor Quigley now stood. Not much further. There were a few sticks she had to step over, and rocks she was able to use as stepping stones, and finally she reached the spot where Professor Quigley was. What would they be doing here?

Zhenya stood and listened to Professor Quigley's instructions. Capture the flag! But... colour the flags. AWESOME! Zhenya listened to the rules and watched as lots of flags popped up, for each house. Zhenya thought she might like to try a bit of both, changing things back to green and changing other flags to green. But first she went to stand at the Slytherin end, with all the green flags. She watched as some of them turned different colours, and watched as some of them were changed back to green. Wicked job snakes!

After a while of watching and figuring out others strategies, she went for a flag just as another of her housemates did, and watched as they fixed it back to green. Never mind. She turned around to try and go after another house's flags, but came face to face with a RED flag. OH NO! Zhenya marched up to the red intruder flag and pointed her wand at it. "Colovaria!" She said, picturing the familiar green and silver Slytherin colours, and smiled with delight as she saw the flag change back to green.

Was Slytherin and Gryffindor supposed to be on a team? It seemed like some people were teaming up, and despite everything that she thought only moments ago, this was a bad idea. Perhaps a free for all was the best bet. Total chaos was bound to confuse some people, and confusion could definitely work to her benefit.

Deciding it was best to switch up between guarding flags and attacking, AJ came out from her hiding spot and decided to go forth in destroying any flag that wasn't red. The lions were her only allies, mkay? Hopping behind tree after tree she spotted a green flag. Well, well, well. IF they were allies earlier, they weren't now. "Colovaria!" All was fair in love and war, yes?

She needed to get deeper. All of the houses had to go down. Getting a tad bit ahead of herself, she slipped and totally ate it. Were talking feet to her head kind of body slam on to the rough terrain. Picking herself up she decided there wasn't any damage. A quick pat of her hands to wipe the dirt off and she was good to go.

Once reached to his side again, he didn't think he could go out in the field again. His best decision was to stay put and make sure their flags colour stay unchanged, if it did he would simply turned it back to his own house colour.

"No you don't! I'm changing it back,Benny!"Henric called to his Gryffindor friend. "Colovaria!" he casted. Wait...he forgotten the Slytherins were on the same side as the Gryffindors! He realised he was unintentionally helping the opposite teams win by changing one of the red flags to green earlier!Whattt! Darn it Henric...oh well...it was very confusing...you know..everyone was running everywhere, it was chaotic and when you at war,we didn't have time to stop and think. Moral of the story...he really should think before it act rashly.

Everyone was just waiting on an opportunity to revert their own flags, weren't they? Adi didn't really see the sense in it. At some point ALL the flags for one House or the other would have to be changed so... yeah. Reverting the colours just prolonged the game. Shrug. Oh well!

Back to taking aim. More flags on the front line for Slytherin and Gryffindor were being changed to either blue or yellow so it was kind of difficult for Adi to actually find a target. Ducking to avoid flying red light, he side stepped rocks and bushes to inch closer to the other side.

Excellent! There was a red flag nice to a HUGEEE tree. Point! "Colovaria!" The Puffer focused on yellow, causing red light to shoot for the red flag. It hit and promptly turned into a yellow flag. WOOT!

Having fixed one flag back to green, Zhenya decided to be offensive. She snuck across the middle, trying to act casual. Yeah, with her green tie and green robes and all. She snuck to the side and took cover behind a tree, then poked her head out the side, trying to catch a look at what was going on in the Ravenclaw side. She felt a bit bad turning yellow flags green, because some of her good good friends were in that house. Still, if it came to it... she would choose Slytherin first, obviously.

Once the coast was clear, she popped out, stealthily sneaking up to a flag, where she squatted to try and keep clear. Obviously she could be seen, but her head would be low. Hopefully. She pulled her wand up, pointed it at the blue flag, having the green flag colours in her mind, then "Colovaria!" She changed the blue flag to green.

She snuck back behind the tree then darted back to the Slytherin side to see what mess awaited her there.

Having all the trees was both good and bad. It was nice to have some cover if you wanted to go the sneak attack route, but it really sucked when you were trying to aim from a distance. It was really disheartening when you were busy taking down another house and you turn to see one of your own flags being tampered with. A girl can't even change her own flag back to the original color. For the most part she didn't have a clue what was going on with her own houses flags because she was now deep in enemy territory. There was no turning back for her just yet.

Her current game plan was to take out as many flags as she could before she worried about her own flags. If the lions go down... well, all of the others houses were going to go down with them. How did they like them apples, eh?

A yellow flag was in her line of vision. Zig zagging around the trees that seemed to pop out of nowhere when she was on her "take down Hufflepuff mission, AJ finally was close enough to turn that bad boy red.

"Colovaria!" BOOM! Just like magic the yellow turned into a much nicer looking red. Was Quigley ever going to clue them in on the house standings? A girl needed to know that sort of information. Did she need to attack a certain house more than another? Answers! She needed them.