Dot was happy to cuddle her dragon and had no desire to trick it into flying. OR to let it go. Even though the dragon kept chewing on her sleeve, and had singed her second best set of robes.

But the professors never asked them what they wanted, but they always had their own plan in mind. That was no different today, so Dot gave the dragon a little pat on the head before trying to stroke the wing. She'd much rather use the dragon's instincts to stir her into the air, rather than using a spell. Even if she was great at spellcasting.

"You need to... stop that, Angelina. No bites. You need to let me touch the underside of your... stop that. No bites!" Dot raised the dragon to eye level to give her a very SERIOUS look. Angelina tried to nibble her nose. "Wing up! No bites!"

Could they go for another?

There was only one way to find out and Benny knew he needed to move quickly to get the most success. Not because there was sort of a race going on amongst the classmates. Nope...it was because he didn't want Aidan to try and come back to him or get distracted and try and do something else. They could do it...human and dragon...father and son. Maybe this experience would turn out to be something to put on his application. To show how he already was good with the creatures he was applying to work with.

Benny moved under the hanging hoop that his dragon had just flown through."Incendio!" he cast again, aiming for the belly of Aidan once more, his lower backside to be precise. That way he was hoping the ridgeback wouldn't go further up, but instead meerly movef forward like he ultimately wanted his creature companion to go. Aidan flapped his wings in response as he seemingly got used to the motion. Benny could see why this training was needed. More then just directional, their charges were learning more and more how to fly as they grew up.

They were teaching them to be a proper dragon!!

He was being Hiccup to Aidan's Toothless!

"Incendio!" he cast once more nudging him further along the path. Benny once more moved towards the hoop himself, coming beneath it as well. Aiden took the added movement as further guiddance, coming through the hoop as the Gryffindor passed beneath it. Would you look at that...they could play follow-the-leader too!

And that was 2 for 2.

As Astrid leaned and stretched on her forearm, Ilia held herself still and extended. Once the dragonette seemed done and comfortable, Ilia stroked up under her wings again. "Come on little girl, lets fly." Once she had her attention again, she gently lifted her arm to prompt her again, a little more oomph at the last bit of her extension. It might have taken her a moment, but she willingly started to fly. Although......not in the desired direction. Ilia drew her wand as she watched her scaly little charge fly right of the target.

"Incendio." She aimed just behind and under her tail, a little to her right in order to prompt her toward the target. Slowly her dragon child veered, but not quite enough. "Incendio." She did as before, so that the flame did not touch her, simply grace her with its warmth. Now she was heading in the right direction. "Good girl." She said softly, probably not even loud enough for Astrid to hear her. Just a little further and......first hoop cleared!

Finally, Angelina yawned and stretched out her wings, and Dot quickly ran a finger along the underside. Mrrrrrph, little dragon did NOT enjoy that, and the wings tucked closer while Angelina swiveled her snout back around to see who had so heinously violated her space.

"Up," Dot tried to mimic the professor's motion, pointing her arm across the dragon's vision and pointing toward the nearest ring. "You can do it. Wings out and fly... there you go." With the heavy sigh that can only be pulled off by a disgusted baby dragon, Angelina launched herself clumsily in the direction Dot pointed.

"YES. Yes, good. What a good... oh, Incendio." Gotta remember to keep the dragon in flight.

Oooh...training time! "Alright Thumbelina, its time to show what you've got!"he pointed at his dragon excitedly.He put his dragon gently down on the ground and let it familiarise herself with her surroundings. "Okay, Thumbelina...flap your wings...like this,"he instructed, flapping his own arms to show her how it's done. FLAP...FLAP...He was sure he looked rightfully ridiculous right now but ehh...he would do anything for his dragon! Thumbelina was looking at him and seemed to be nodding her head aalong with his movements and not her wings instead.
"No no! Not like that! Like this! Come on you can do it!"he exclaimed, encouraging her but Thumbelina still not opening her wings. Alright, this wouldn't do at all so he traced his finger along the inner lines of her wings and she finally started to stretch her wings a little bit. Nicee! Good job little one!

Gently Lux began stroking the inner lines of Freddy's wings with her finger. Once he turned his head towards her, she stopped. "Good boy!" Now that she had his attention, she slowly held her hand out, raising it towards the sky. After a bit of reluctance, the dragon took off.

Awesome.

Lux smiled. Now it was time to tackle the hoops, and she knew that this could take some time. It was okay, because as much as she would like to come in first place, the most important thing was to have fun. "Okay, Freddy. We are a team." And they were going to ace this activity! Yay.

Digging her wand out of her pocket, Lux pointed it upwards in his direction as he flew around aimlessly. How to get him to go through the hoops? Obviously Incendio would be involved, but she didn't want to blast him needlessly even if it wouldn't hurt him.

Biting her lip, she got into a position she felt was perfect for getting him on the right track. Lux shot Incendio at him. "Sorry, Freddy!" She couldn't help feel bad for shooting flames at the little guy, but at least it made a start, because he was starting to head in the right direction now. "Awesome, keep at it!" She used Incendio again to get him even closer. A few blasts later, and he was through the first hoop. "Yaay! Way to go, Freddy!" She would do a little dance, but this was not the time; it would have to wait.

Knowing that at any moment he could get tired of flying in the direction she wanted him to, Lux decided to blast him again. "Incendio!" There, he was moving towards the second hoop now. With another two blasts of flame, he was through.

Now to tackle the third one.

Freddy must have gotten the hint as to what she wanted him to do, because it only took one go with Incendio to get him through the hoop. "Wow, good boy!" Hopefully he would be able to keep it up for a bit before getting tired or bored.

"That's great Aidan...that's real good," Benny encouraged the dragon as he flew through the rest of the way through the second hoop and nearly halfway towards the third without much coaxing. That really was it. The less times he had to use the fire spell on the creature, the better. At least the better he felt about it. Having an idea, the sixth year turned and fully faced in the direction Aidan was and slowly backed up towards the hoop that was their latest target.

"Come on Aidan...come follow me."

It took a little bit of effort and maybe the swinging of an arm or two towards himself in encouragement, but Aidan followed almost obediantly. This could make things even easier! "Good boy!" Benny praised, moving under the hoop once more as the Norwegian Ridgeback flew through it. Except as the Gryffindor moved further, it appeared as if he must have talked, or rather thought too soon.

Aidan ducked down in his flying, moving directly towards him as if wanting to land on him. The boy stopped in place as he registered it. "No Aiden....gotta keep flying ." Benny didn't want to chance trying to get the dragon moving again if he stopped and rested. "Incendio!" he cast, letting the flames almost embrace the dragon lovingly and nudging him back upwards towards the line of hanging hoops.

He'd have to make it up to his charge later if he could.

"Incendio!" he cast again, using his earlier technigue of aiming at the back underbelly to inch him in the direction he wanted. Before long, Aiden was flying through hoop number four much to Benny's delight.

11 more to go.

The creatures lesson was getting more and more awesome by the second. AJ was going to be able to be a dragon trainer. How cool. She knew Benny had to be loving every minute of this, and AJ was so happy for him. Heck, even she was excited. Sure, unicorns were her favorite, but the lion loved them all. All creatures were amazing in their own ways.

No need to worry about tying her hair back because it was already up in a sloppy bun on the top of her head. The fourth year hardly ever wore her hair down. It was so much easier this way. You didn't have to fight the hair flying in your face every time there was a breeze.

AJ paid close attention to the professor, and her ears perked up even more when he said extra points would be given to those of them that finished first. Ah, she had to be one of those students.

Now all she had to do was get Regina flying. Mama dragon to the rescue. AJ stroked the inner lines her wings. Oh yeah, that definitely got her attention because her eyes were peering into AJ's. She pushed her hand up towards the sky. Regina was airborne! EEP!

Despite the small snafu of trying to completely guide Aidan by his words through the hoops, they seemed to be in the lead of their fellow mates. Both classmates and dragon mates. Not that Benny was trying to pay all that much attention to the others. For now it was just him and Aidan. A man and his dragon. Another cast of the fire spell and continuing to walk in the direction of the hoop afterwards, moving forward this time, got the ridgeback flying through the fifth hoop all in good time.

"Doing good Aidan" he said, keeping up the encouragement and wanting to continue interacting despite them being separated by a few feet. "Incendio!" he cast once more, guiding his creature companion through the sixth hoop with just a little faltering of the flying movement. Benny really hoped Aidan wasn't getting tired already. They still had more than half of the hoops to go. Only one more than half...but still.

Again he hoped they could make it up to the dragons afterwards. These weren't the faux stone dragons that they had raced last year in the join charms/transfiguration lesson...these were REAL dragons....who could get tired. "Incendio!" Could they go back to that fact people....these were REAL DRAGONS.

Oh look...they were through hoop number 7.

Hugh did not pay attention to ANY of that. Not one little bit. Which was a shame because now that he looked up there were DRAGON things going on. That probably could have used some context or some explanation.

Ah well. None of this mattered anyway because of existence, yo, so he would just wing it (GEDDIT THE PUN) and hope that things went well. Hugh was perceptive too. In his humble opinion and so he would just watch the other people work and copy.

The first thing he saw was people talking at their dragons. Making friends.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL. People who believed that THAT mattered were funny to him. He'd do it too. If only to humour himself.

He approached the dragon without a HINT of worry or caution and started making small talk, "Yo, sup my winged friend? I'm Hugh and you are...?" Ha. Couldn't talk now could it? "Let's, for arguments sake, just call you Jo. You seem like a Jo."

Now what was she supposed to do? Oh yeah, light the baby dragon on fire, no big deal. Knowing good and well that it wasn't going to hurt the dragon, AJ was still reluctant to try it out. A hurt creature literally broke her heart into a million pieces. Suck it up, Valentine. You aren't soft. There was no way she would win this race either if she was so concerned about something she KNEW was't going to hurt her.

"Okay Regina, we are going to fly through all these hoops the fastest because you mama really wants to win." No pressure or anything, but don't let me down. AJ cast a quick "incendio." Her wand was pointed at the underbelly of the dragon, and she was amazed that it was working. It was one thing to be told that it would, and a completely different thing to actually see it working right before your eyes.

"You got it, Regina. Just keep going." AJ's eyes were focused on the dragon. She made sure to keep her eyes on her at all times so she wouldn't veer off course. The first hoop was so close. They were going to make it.

YES! "Awesome job." Her dragon was a natural. AJ was such a proud mama dragon. She couldn't stop beaming. Imagine how she was going to feel once she completed the course.

Hugh liked Jo. He...she...Hugh couldn't be bothered to check Jo's underside was a nice enough dragon. It mostly stared at him, but that suited him FINE. He was good in silence, great even. Hughbert was not by any stretch of the means a conversationalist. He had a knack for inadvertently offending people when he mentioned how DULL they were.

Maybe it was because of the use of the word dull.

.......NAH.

And so Jo was cool. Perfect even. No talking necessary.

He did notice someone petting the underside of their dragon's wing. SO HE DID THAT TOO. Jo just eyed him skeptically and Hugh smiled. CAUSE HECK YES HE DID IT RIGHT. Or at least from what he could tell. Jo was looking at him now and that was progress.

"K," he started, "Me and you...mostly you....are gonna have to fly through those hoops. Understand? Of course not. You can't talk. It's okay, though, I'll guide you." He took a step toward the dragon who only hissed at his attempt to get closer.

So he pet it again. C'mon. Loosen up dra-gon.

Man, AJ usually struggled with things for a while before she got the hang of it, but not this time. This was one of the reasons why she knew creatures was her thing. She was a freaking natural. Not to mention that she had the fire spell down pat since she was a second year, and Regina was really the one doing all the work. You know, if you wanted to get technical. But, she didn't. Ahem.

Regina was still airborne, and she looked a little awkward flying. Almost as if she was still a little baby. It was so cute to watch, and AJ was impressed, proud and just emotional about Regina. "Let's do that again." Because she was still a pro even if she looked rusty.

They were coming up on hoop number two. "Just like earlier. You have nothing to worry about." Positive reinforcement worked wonders, yeah? So close. Soooo close, and they were through!

The third hoop was up next. This was insane how easy it was. It felt off, but good at the same time. AJ was just going to embrace it. "Bloody brilliant," she cooed as Regina went through the third hoop of the course. They had a nice momentum going. No need to stop now.

Annnnnd Regina made it through the fourth hoop. Oh yeah, they had this race in the bag. Watch out other dragons and dragon mamas/daddies... Regina and AJ were coming through.

Ilia heard Henric's voice again and couldn't help but turn her head to see what he was doing. She probably shouldn't have as Astrid kept flying forward, but she did. What met her eyes, she couldn't help herself but to giggle at it. He was trying to show his little girl to flap by doing so himself and the little dragon was just watching him. It was cute, in a silly and sweet sort of way. Sort of like Astrid....whoops.

The time she took to watch Henric , her little dragonette took to perch herself upon the second hoop. "No no little girl, this isn't rest time yet." Ilia frowned a little and cast the fire spell again, aiming just below the tip of her tail. "Incendio" It didn't seem to be enough motivation for her girl this time however. She sat there perching, seemingly ignoring the flames. Ilia sighed and rose to her full height, walking over to her scaly child. "What is wrong Astrid?" She lightly stroked up under her wings again and got her to stretch, once she did her balance was out of order and she tumbled. For a moment Ilia was worried that she would be catching her baby and was in position. Thankfully, however, she flapped and righted herself into flight.

Second hoop cleared, despite the awkwardness of it. Time for number three. She seemed to know that she was supposed to go to them now, but she wanted to perch on them rather than fly through. "Incendio." She warmed just below her cute little tail again, to give her the idea that they were not done yet. She cleared the third hoop without an issue maybe beginning to get the idea of what was being asked of her. The same went for the fourth and fifth hoops, only one flame nudge per each hoop had seemed necessary. Rounding the sixth hoop however, she balked and veered to the side. What was that about?

She could understand it, after all she was a dragon. Why would she care about hoops or understand what this meant? She seemed to get the idea before, had that simply been coincidence with the steering?

Aidan may or may not be getting a little tired, but he also appeared to be getting into a grove. Him and Benny...Benny and Him. The two of them working as a team to get through the challenge placed before them by Professor Thompson. They could do this....they were doing this. The Gryffindor being the guide, occasionally casting the fire spell and overing encouragement as he walked along the ground beneath the obstacle course. The Norwegian Ridgeback, emphatically flapping his training dragon wings and following his new buddy.

Hoop 8

Another silver hoop passed or passed through by the duo. Benny was begining to loose basic track of his counting of the hoops but it didn't matter much as he could still see what uktimately remained in front of them. How did what lay behind them, all successfully accomplished, really matter in the grand scheme of things. "Doing good little buddy," the Gryffindor remarked as they neared the latest hoop, the boy raising his wand once more to cast a guiding nudge.

"Incendio!"

Hoop 9

That was the pattern. Fire....inhuman nudge...encouragement. Even a little bit of old-fashioned guiding by moving along himself beneath the hoops. It was the best Benny could do given he couldn't fly through the hoops himself and Aidan couldn't really play follow-the-leader the way it was supposed to be played. Oh if only the sixth year still had his broom around and could have done it. Alas....maybe when he got to visit over the summer...IF he got the chance to visit over the summer.

Here's hoping.

"Incendio!"

Hoop 10

Five more hoops to go and they all could relax. Well once Aidan was in the tank that resided at the end of the race.

Her and Regina... what a team, right? They were flying through these hoops, literally. Sh hoped her little dragon baby was having as much fun as she was. Benny was going to have lots of fun with his job when he grows up. Of course there would be way more to it than getting a mini dragon to fly through a hoop, but what an awesome job. How was Angel going to deal with it all? Hopefully she will have warmed up to the idea by then.

"Who's a pretty girl?" Because, um, she was running out of compliments, and she was pretty sure that was what was keeping Regina airborne, and like, she really wanted to win at all costs. Extra points were awesome, but getting to visit her dragon over the summer... did it get any better than that?

AJ was still standing directly underneath the dragon when all of a sudden Regina started to lose momentum. Noooo. What was wrong?

"Incendio." Please be it. Please be it. Thankfully, Regina started to get back to where she was. Phew. Then AJ guided her through two more hoops. That was six total hoops down!

Train 'em, Thompson said? Adi immediately thought of the movies How to Train Your Dragon. Hehe. He ADORED those movies! Anywayyy, yesh! Let's help the baby dragons exercise their wings! Adi was READY for this! He listened to his Professor all the while Reptar kept trampling about on his head. Incendio, hoops, guiding the dragon. Yup, he had this.

With great difficulty, the Hufflepuff got Reptar down from his head. After MUCH tugging on his hair and even nips at his fingers, the dragon was finally set on the ground. PHEW! What a work out! But now the REAL work began. He opted to use the more natural way to get Reptar up in the air.

Stroke, stroke, stroke!


Adi did was instructed. "Tickles for you, little dude.'' Reptar gazed at him with supposedly fierce eyes and immediately he ceased with the action to hold his had out, in the direction of the pretty blue sky. WHEEE! Looky! Reptar had taken off! YAAAY!

Oh, Merlin! Reptar wasn't going towards the hoops!

They weren't even halfway through the course yet, and AJ was trying not to freak out, but it was looking like she wasn't in first place. Not that she HAD to be in first place. As long as she came in the top three it would be a success for her. No worries. She was still in the race. First and foremost she should just enjoy herself. And she was, but this whole competition thing had her pumped.

Stop it, AJ. Focus on Regina and keeping her flying. That was all she needed to do. Still a little scared that what happened earlier would happen again, AJ cast the spell once more. "Incendio." Just some of mama's fire breath on you, baby dragon. Keep on course. Everything is just fine.

"Just think... we are almost halfway through." Maybe Regina didn't want to be done so soon. Erm. No. Surely not. She was little and maybe her dragon wings were getting tired. That was a possibility. AJ wasn't going to accept that, but it could be the case.

They were through the seventh hoop, and the eight hoop flew by in a flash. So close and yet so far. They were back in their groove. AJ was directing the dragon just right, and Regina was being such a champ. Really, she was true MVP of this whole operation. Swoosh! They were through the ninth hoop too. Now they were more than halfway done.

The next part of the training was to get her up in the air."Thumbelina,I'm going to help you warm up,okay?"Henric told her, already pointing his wand on her belly. Thumbelina seemed to agree with him on this one too. He believed she was a fast learner, she could master her flying skills in no time."Incendio!" He watched her breathed fire,probably gaining momentum on her set of wings as they moved up and down unsteadily. Henric thought it be a good lesson for her to lift by her own and he was determined to get her flying too!"Come on, that's it...get your wings flapping and your body moving," he thought,gleefully. Henric flailed his arms and showed her how to leap as well. They needed a live demonstration, it would help them learn faster,right?

Thrilled, he could see Thumbelina trying her best to gain more power on her wings."You're almost there Thumbelina!"praising his little dragonette as he watched her fluttering above the ground on her own. Soon, his little girl was flying and zooming past his head. Henric made a fist bump in the air,"Alright!" he shouted in joy for successfully teaching her how to fly on her own.

Another dip and Aidan seemed to be faultering a bit. Come on...come on. Benny slowed in his movements to allow a rest but was also watchful that he didn't let Aidan get complacent and want to stay that way. As it was the little dragon wanted to come closer to him like they had been back when this was all started, but they were so close. "Almost there," he said, reaching up and giving Aidan a playful scratch on his underbelly as he swooped down a little close to the human. That seemed to be enough encouragement for the ridgeback to gte back into the game.

Hoop 11

The latest hoop was passed through once Aidan took himself back up to hoop level with a few flaps of his reptilian dragon wings. Oh they were so majestic to watch, especially from underneath. Benny was still very much in his element around them and the others. Dragons were so very cool and he challenged anyone who thought otherwise. Even Angel, whom he knew he was going to have to work with to get her used to the creatures. You can't be afraid of your boyfriend's future co-workers.

"Incendio!"

Hoop 12

Hoop 13

Hoop 14

They had fallen back into the routine and passed the last three with ease. Now there was only one silver hoop between them and the tank and Benny knew he was ready for it. He just had to hope Aidan was ready as well. "Alright Aidan...this is it," he informed his partner in the endevour currently running. "This is the last one and then you can rest all cozy and snug and know that you did it." It was all HIM. Benny was just a sideliner and the Gryffindor was happy with that.

"Incendio!"

The spell shot out and up towards the dragon, half-craddling it and half-nudging it towards its final target. Aiden obligued and Benny couldn't feel prouder when his companion flew through Hoop 15.

It seemed as though her little girl might be getting bored with the training exercise. She used the flame from her wand to start guiding her back and she went through the sixth hoop on the second try. Though, it almost seemed that she only did so begrudgingly. That made Ilia rather unhappy, she didn't want to force the beautiful little being above her into anything she disliked.

Astrid flew a little higher as she exited the seventh hoop, but then gradually a little lower and perched herself upon the eighth hoop. Temperamental and bored, a teenage dragon. Oh dear, what to do now? She watched her little girl stretch out and puff a plume of smoke from her jaws.

Ilia watched what the older Gryffindor, who she called a friend was doing. Benny was leading his little friend through the hoops by walking by them himself and that only seemed fair and proper. He was going to be a great dragon handler / keeper some day and was inspiring some thoughts in Ilia's mind. His dragon seemed to be one of more stable temper, but then it was a boy so that wasn't very surprising. It also probably spoke more of Benny's connection with the being than anything though. She took a page from his play book and walked under the ninth hoop herself, rather than following Astrid as she had been doing.

"Astrid, how about this one little girl?" She called to her disenchanted little friend. Sure, she could have used the magic charm to get her going again, but Ilia wanted to be certain of their connection rather than rely on magic for it. She wanted to earn her girl's trust and friendship, rather than simply charm it out of her. The dragon reluctantly turned to face her handler and stretched her wings just a little, then slowly glided her way over and through the ninth hoop.

"Incendio!''

Yep, making Reptar go in the right direction as they were advised by aiming the fire at the tail part. Or somewhere around there. That's what Thompson had done, riiiiiiight? And he HAD said that they wouldn't be hurt... yeah. Reptar didn't seem to be affected. In fact he seemed to be enjoying it. He sent Adi some weird sounds... grumbles? and did some loopy things.

Adi laughed. "You've got talent, buddy!'' Cue the thumbs up from him before he continue to use the Fire Making Charm to guide his latest creature friend to the hoops. He clambered to his feet and took off. Had to guide the ickle baby! Reptar continued flapping it's beautiful wings. Closer and closer to the first hoop...

Annnnnnd through he went!

WOOT!

"AWESOME JOB, BUD!''

Benny knew HE was tired and he hadn't had to move all that much or exert nearly as much energy as the little fella who took the Gryffindor's long pause to perch back on his shoulder. Thsi time he wasn't going to shoo his dragon companion away. At least not just yet. "Good job Aidan. I'm proud of you," he said, true to his words and feelings as he reached up once more and gave the dragon scratched and cuddles with his fingers. The dragon reciprocated, playfully rubbing and nudging against him and his head.

All too soon, he knew he had to do the final thing...the last piece of the assignment. The sixth year sighed just a tad dejected at the thought of leaving his little buddy. Hiccup had been hard enough, but Aidan was ten times harder to let go of...at least. But finally he made himself take hold of the ridgeback, carefully under his wings and balance him in one hand while his other was raised once more. "Good bye Aidan," he wished as he set about tucking him in.

"Wingardium Leviosa!" he cast, doing the required swish-and flick movement as he did so. Benny then watched as the dragon was levitated, the creature most curious as to what was happening since he wasn't moving anything of his own. The Gryffindor then moved closer to the tank, still holding the spell in place before lowering his charge and companion into the tank. "There little guy...all set."

Adi and Reptar had made it through one, two, three hoops so far! The Hufflepuff was sort of relieved he didn't have to keep throwing the spell at his friend even though he knew it enjoyed it. It didn't stop him from worrying that he might burn the baby or something. Heh. He was a creatures lover so what was he going to do?

Woopsie!

Reptar was about to fly off course again. "Incendio!'' The sixth year focused entirely on getting his dragon back to the vicinity of the hoops and through the fourth one. Guide, guide, guide! They could do this!

Adi held his breath as Reptar soaaaaared throw hoop four without any problem. WHEEEE! They were on a roll! Onto hoop five! After that, they only had ten to go!

Astrid seemed to keep gliding lower even after passing hoop nine. She wouldn't clear hoop ten like that , she would need to start gaining altitude again. As she flew by, Ilia reached up to tickle the Ridgeback's belly with her fingertips. Her underside was smooth and warm to the touch as it passed over the snakettes pale fingertips. The gentle touch of positive reinforcement seemed to work thankfully and her little friend raised her path higher. She just barely cleared hoop number ten and Ilia made her way to the other side of eleven with her charge following.

She gave an encouraging nudge of flame , barely gracing her shimmering bronze underside with its warmth. Astrid rose a little higher again and cleared number eleven but seemed to be curious as to what the other dragons were doing while Ilia was trying to lead her to number twelve. Uh oh, more distractions.

Ilia began to think, the flame worked but she seemed bored with the idea and calling her name and walking by the hoops held about the same amount of interest for her dragon. What else could she do to get her attention? She was swinging and intrigued with her handler/ partner at the start of class. What was she doing any different?

Then it dawned on her......Henric was teasing her for it, but Astrid seemed very curious about her singing. Maybe even to the point of enjoying the sound. She blushed shyly and looked only at her scaly little friend as she began to vocalize softly again. The dragon had been turning towards some of the other dragons until she heard the sounds again. It was enough to turn her back in the right direction, looking for the source.

Back in business, Astrid could do this! She was a little embarrassed but she sang a little louder, saying that she could do it. She wasn't sure if the dragon preferred her singing in Norwegian to English, but that is what she did. It made Ilia feel more secure in herself to think that her classmates didn't understand her. It was a little more private and less embarrassing that way perhaps. Annnddd number twelve cleared!