Come ONNNNN. Ugh. He only had one more target to go and then he was DONE.

"ALARTE ASCENDARE!" Again, the balloon flew right up again. The boy waited with bated breath as it flew........ and flew...........

............... SPLAT!

DEADPAN.

His frustration grew, especially since the balloon that had hit the ceiling -- orange this time -- was now dripping down on him. Drip drip drip. Grayson reached up and ran a hand through his hair like the handsome beast that he was. Except, he wasn't feeling as good looking right about now. Shocking, right?

Second try? Yeah. The Slytherin waited until the highest target was at the perfect point. The target could always change its mind and zoom off wherever it pleased but it looked like it was zooming straight ahead so....... "ALARTE ASCENDARE!"

YES! FREAKING YES! THAT was what he was talking about!

The seventh year let out a whoop and even punched the air in victory. He was DONE. About time, too.

Her pink and blue balloon were still sitting there. Ready to be splatted on the target and come down as pretty little colorful rain droplets. The thought came to her mind that maybe she could hit two balloons back to back and still hit the same target twice. Sure it was possible mostly because she was that good at multi-tasking things that she could hit to balloons at the same target at nearly the same time. hehe.

Turning back to Cutty since she had found the right moment to send the yellow balloon zooming up into the air. She nodded "Yeah, Guess that's a good way of looking at it." She snorted at his wording though. Shaking her head she looked up at the targets deciding which target she was going to aim for. Again she chose one of the higher ones she was going to try to hit that one with the two balloons. That target right there. "Go big or go home,right?" She snorted.

She counted down from three. 3..2..1 "ALARTE ASCENDARE!" Sending the pink balloon zooming straight up toward the target. Hopefully the target was moving as slow as she thought it was because she could still send the blue balloon up and hit it to. Okay she was trying this. "ALARTE ASCENDARE!" Sending the blue balloon up right behind the pink one.

Splat! Splat!

Haha. That worked she did a little victory dance. She stopped dead mid victory dance. "Grayson that's not a very good victory dance you have there." Mocking his little fist pump and laughing. Boy had skill she knew he could do better than some little fist pump.

She really was getting the hang of this now. Granted, the floor around her looked like it had been the scene of a paint explosion, but she was getting her balloons high enough to be in the vicinity of the targets now. HOW EXCITING WAS THAT?

THEY WERE FLYING SO HIGH!

….. And she was so jealous. She wanted to be that tall.

Oh well, short girl wishes.

Looking at the targets for the first time since she had moved into the Charms Annexe, she noted one coming in her direction… ”Alarte Ascendare!” she said, and up it went! … But she was too early and it just skimmed the middle target, the balloon landing on top of the target as it came back down towards her… it SPLATTTED, red paint spraying around the room from where it had collided with the target and Marsha thought it looked a little like rain as it fell off of an umbrella in a rainstorm. Pretttiness.

Well, except for the mess - but she had hit the target at least… right? Maybe? Oh, who knew… she could try again though to make sure that she did hit the target.

Lining up another balloon, she waited a split second more this time before she sent her balloon soaring upwards into the air. ”YES!” she called out, excited as the balloon caught the middle target. She didn’t care that it wasn’t the highest targets - she was simply excited that the charm was working for her and she had managed to time that perfectly. YESYESYESYEYES!!!!!! Hehehehehe.

He LOVED Charms, so it was crazy to be doing his homework so last minute, but alas, here he was, in all his glory.

Setting his bag on the floor just within the entrance to the Annexe, Zeke meandered over to the box that was set aside for them, containing the paintballs he would be practising with. Did he mention he loved paintballs too? It really was CRAZY that he was only just getting around to this now, and he hoped there was still plenty for him to use.

Sure enough, when he lifted the lid to the box, there was plenty, so he started by claiming a handful.

The targets though... there were targets.

He didn't WANT to start with the easier one, cause, boo... so instead he skipped straight to the intermediate one, the middle row. Already the target was moving at an impressive pace, faster than he thought they would be, but still slow enough to make it likely that he could hit them.

FUN!

Setting himself up, Zeke watched his target of choice for a moment, considering where he might position his pain balloon to then launch upward at the target.

Giggling, and hyper from success, she moved to get herself another handful of balloons to use in her takeover practising. For now she would focus on the middle range - but perhaps she could try and hit the highest set soon? Really, if she missed, the paint would simply add to the collection at her feet… and that …. that purple paint that she was being sprayed with.

Looking around her, she looked at Cutty and silently knew that it was him who had caused this - honestly she had only known him for a little while but she would almost bet that out of the people in the room right now that it had been him… Though maybe that was mean of her, since her balloon had sprayed the room and several people in red paint and SHE hadn’t meant to do it… So maybe he - if it even had been him - hadn’t meant to do it?

Yes, that sounded more like it. Besides - the room and everyone in it was getting covered in paint in one way or another right now… And WHO didn’t like paint? It was like a tame, self-played version of paintball. Hehehe. As much as the Welsh girl liked things being neat and tidy - when it came to playing games and learning, there was never a way to make too much mess.

”Alarte Ascendare!” she called as she watched a target from the top tier coming towards her. She watched as it climbed and climbed and SOARED HIGHER AND HIGHER... and then started to drop. Whoooops!

OH NO!

Cringing slightly, Marsha watched in oddly horrified fascination as the balloon sped fast towards the ground. It had gone higher than any of her previous balloons and as such she was -- yup. The paint spread MUCH further from the high speed impact. Whooops. Sorry everyone!

Oh well, on to take …. oh who was she kidding, Marsha had no idea how many times she had tried to successfully hit the targets now.

After watching... and watching... and watching some more, Zeke felt he understood the targets and their movements. UNPREDICTABLE... though he knew at least how quickly they moved and in what directions. This was going to be FUN, and challenging, but mostly fun.

Setting his paintball down in what he could assume would be the path of the target he was aiming for, he waited... waited... braced himself and, "Alarte ascendare!" he recited as he brandished his wand at the paintball.

Of course, he knew he was proficient with the charm, cause charms were totes his thing... however, what he wasn't yet proficient with, was aiming at targets, THAT was still something he was needing to work on.

He'd missed.

It had SPLAT on the ceiling.

"Darn," he said under his breath. Oh weeeeellll... next shot!

He'd only missed it by an inch, he was sure, just a little late to the party, but THIS time, he would succeed. Yep.

Zeke set up another shot, one paintball down... an unlimited supply to go.

It was a good thing this wasn't Transfiguration homework that Dot was trying to do at the last minute, since she figured there was a lot MORE to figure. Whereas with Charms, Dot had already practiced the spell successfully in class and she was good with her wand. This was going to be easy peasy.

So here she was, wand out and eyes on the targets floating above her head. She'd just do a balloon at a time for now and see where that got her. The first balloon, a pink one, was set on the floor at her feet. Ahem. Easy peasy, right? "Alarte Ascendare," Dot cast the spell and watched the balloon take off.

Ah, oops. She should have made a greater effort to watch the targets. The balloon clipped a low tier target and exploded lopsidedly, sending pink paint spattering everywhere. Oops.

Cutty's eyes reacted and shut rather automatically as the gust of red paint hit him giving him that mass murderer look. He looked around for the guilty party but didn't see anyone readily blameable. He snorted and gave his face a quick wipe down clearing most of it from his face but not from his hair or his clothing.

The second batch of of balloons was poised and ready to go, Cutty was merely waiting for the right direction to send them flying up. If he timed it just right the paint balls would go ripping up the front edge and the back edge of the moving target.

"Circe." Cutty began with a roll of the eye. "Why don'tyer joost throw yerself at him, Cinna? The way yer flirtin'. It's a good thing Bart and Ruby aren't here." He was joshing, but it was only fair if she was mocking the Great Whitlock. "No shame yer 'ave, Bayless. Merlin!"

"Alarte Ascendare." Cutty uttered the spell and pointed his wand at the first paint balloon. Up it went, shredding against the on-coming edge of the target and making it look as if it were turned upon it's side and dip-dyed in a deep shade of jungle teal. "Alarte Ascendare." He followed up his first cast with one immediately after. The second one took to the air, but somewhere in the middle of of it's projection the target changed direction knocking the spurting paint balloon off track.

The little paint-filled blob-u-ell went spinning right for Grayson Whitlock's beautiful face.

He was better prepared for this one, he was sure of it.

Inhaling a deep breath, he released it slowly to calm himself, steady hands and clear heads hit their targets -- or so said Elijah at least, though he was sure the man was only making it up to appease him. Whatever, he'd try.

He worked on his breathing, slowing his heart rate, and focused on the targets. He didn't want to get one of the easy one, he wanted to get one of the harder ones. Why? Because he knew he was good at charms, so surely he was capable of demonstrating that with THIS task.

The target he'd been watching slipped left to where it had been, putting him off his game as he launched his paint ballon anyway. "Alert Ascendare!" he'd recited as he brandished his wand for the second time. With the unexpected move he had missed his target, however, he successfully hit another. It wasn't a solid hit, but it was a hit nonetheless, not dead centre, but it wasn't painted on the ceiling. This was progress... he would simply claim that as intentional.

So, Toby's face was a little cleaner now. He'd wiped the paint away from his eyes, spat out the not-so-small amount that had found its way into his mouth, and went to get himself another balloon. A glance down at his uniform, now completely and utterly covered in various hues of paint, had him suppressing a laugh. Well, nobody could accuse him of not getting really stuck into his assignments.

Once again, Toby stood beneath the targets that were worth the highest points, looking between balloon and ceiling. He was still kinda bouncy, except this time he was forcing himself to be AS CHILL AS POSSIBLE so he didn't simply blow up this next paint balloon. Not that that hadn't been FUN. It was just that he was very quickly losing the kind of focus needed for spellwork, and as he didn't intend to leave this room 'til he hit one of these fastest targets, he needed to utilise the concentration he had right NOW.

Again, Toby tracked the movements of the target, but not for very long this time. He didn't want to overthink it, because he didn't think he had the mental energy. Instead, he'd just... go for it and hope for the best.

"Alarte Ascendare!" Once again, Toby brandished his wand at the balloon and sent it skyrocketing upwards. He watched it's progress, in time to see a target moving juuuust about into the right place... almost...

SPLAT!

Toby threw his arms UP INTO THE AIR, hands balled into FISTS because VICTORY! It wasn't a bullseye, had only really just caught the edge again, but it HAD hit, and there was hardly any orange paint on the ceiling from the weird... rebound splash! FIFTEEN POINTS!

He stood there for a moment, victory pose, right there in the rain of orange paint, and grinned. Nice. Job well done? SURE. His Charms homework was DONE, which meant Toby could get on out of here, and show off his new paint job. Stowing his wand away back into its holster, he strolled on out of the room.

"You're gonna get us all in big trouble, Cutty Custard," Dot wasn't going to pay him any mind, but then he went and made trouble. She was trying to FOCUS here, okay? Not get paint on other people, or chat when they were meant to be working, or really have any fun at ALL.

Homework was not meant to be fun, okay?

See how serious she was about her work? Dot retrieved another balloon, this one yellow like the sun and like badger robes, and she placed it on the ground at her feet. Very focused. Very prepared. Very ready to hit one of those targets way up in the top tier. She was that good. Yes.

Timing it just right, or as right as she could without really knowing what the timing should be, Dot pointed her wand at her balloon. "Alarte Ascendare." Again, the balloon shot straight up, just as she intended and with sufficient force. Again, she messed up her targets, and this one zipped through all three tiers and hit the middle tier on the way back down.

Did that count? It hit the total wrong side.

Totally intentional, and now he was totally intending on hitting a target legit. Totally legit. That was the plan.

Setting down another paintball, Zeke looked up at the moving targets. So many different ones, different layers and all... but decided he didn't much care WHICH layer/level one he was going to hit, so long as he actually hit it by design. But which one.

He wasn't the indecisive type, but being spoilt for choice didn't help the matters. In the end he chose to aim for one of the lower level targets, the ones closes to him and his paintball. NEXT, he squat down by his paintball and looked UP. The targets were moving, and HIS target was approaching his airspace.

He decided to count it down, partly to test the speed, but also because by counting down it made him feel as if he knew what he was doing, when really, he was guessing.

...

One...

Two...

Three...

Four...

"Alarte Ascendare!" he stated strongly, brandishing his wand to fire his paintball to the target...

AND SPLAT!!!!!

IT HIT!!!

SUCESSS!

He had successfully hit an intended target - granted it was a lower level target - BUT it was a target nonetheless, and it was a proud and pleasing moment. Now he could do at least one more, if not two.. and he was going to aim for one of the harder two from now on. That was his plan.

He still had upon his person a great many paint filled balloons and was still feeling up to the challenge of trying to test momentum and the charm. Perhaps, though, he would simply try his hand at just hitting the targets. Just to see how many he could get and improve on accounting for their lack of standard pattern.

Taking a step into the target area, Cutty put down a few of the balloons, placing them here and there as if he were planting a paint balloon garden. Then he heard a tiny voice and sprang up.

"Said the guiltiest party I know." He laughed a bit at Dot Wojack-Gusey. Still he had to hand it to her, she'd never been caught either. His face was still full of smeared red paint and in combination with his laughter it gave him this I've just hidden the bodies kind of a look.

"'Sides I'm not doin' a thing booht me wehrk." Dot was a bad girl. Oh, yeah! Baby-Badgirl in training, if not already giving her expertise to the masses. He hoped they've make this one prefect. "Alarte Ascendare." He sent sailing a balloon filled with inky black paint high up where it smacked the target. Cutty kept his eye on Dot as he stepped into the inky black mess and then rain in a circle making a footprint track in the circular formation.

"Aaah ha..ah ha...so funny." She SNORTED at her friend and crossed her arms to WATCH. HMPH. And to think Eden had been SOOOO lovely to Clara recently, eh? She didn't want Clara to FAIL, no. But she did want her friend to get covered in paint. KARMA.

And....it seemed Clara didn't care about the paint, because she just LET it fall on her. "Okay, Christmas Clara." Because now Clara was both red AND green...merlin.

"I think I'll try the top target, but if I don't get it--I won't sweat it." She said with a shrug. She went to grab a blue balloon and she set it on the ground. She was beginning to tire of this activity, so she didn't want to sent up the balloon with timing...but she wanted to just...RANDOMLY shoot it up and hope of the best. So...here she went.

She looked up at the targets, and then back at the balloon. OKAY. "Alarte Ascendare!" she cried, and the blue balloon shot up! RIGHT UP--the lowest target veered out of the way--and it hit, right square in the middle, the second target. Well then. Blue paint splattered all over the target, and only a few drops sprinkled down on Eden. She smiled over at Clara. "Want give it one more go?" she asked.

Well.

"I like how I did better when I didn't time it. Just great."

Marsha had tried a further four balloons and had managed to get one to hit a medium heighted target and one of them had even managed to hit the highest target… but the other two had been a shamble. They hadn’t hit a single thing instead coming straight back to the ground to spread paint even further around the floor. She was beginning to feel very conscious of the fact that she was failing more often than she was succeeding… was that normal?

She looked around trying to figure out the answer to that when she got splatted with yet more paint from someone else’s failed attempt. Perhaps she should just write this whole thing off as a game where the objective is to make as much mess as possible WHILE hitting the targets. The targets were important - but they had minds of their own; obviously, they were magical after all. Which Marsha had already decided about fifteen minutes ago made it MUCH more fun but as a result MUCH MUCH more annoying.

She didn’t like failing at all, and this made her feel like she couldn’t get it right.

One more time and then she was going to think about going for a snack… she had heard Puck mentioning some new sweetie stashes in the common room last night and she heard them calling to her. Sugar and a shower. Yup, then more studying . All of the S’es, but one more try before she moved on.

Taking the last red balloon that she had already taken from the box, she placed it on the floor. Okay, come on Marsha. Head in the game and concentrate! You can do this. Rolling her shoulders a little, she pointed her wand at the balloon and waited. Three… two… one… “ALARTE ASCENDARE!!” She said firmly.

And then she waited on baited breath as she watched. Up. Up. Up. Up. The target seemed to be going in slow motion as she waited to see if her timing was good enough. Up. Up. Past the middle range. Up Up.

…..

YEEEEEEEEESSS!!!!!!!!!

A WIDE beaming smile moved over Marsha’s face as she stared WAY up at where her balloon had just hit one of the top targets. HOW AMAZING WAS THAT? Okay, so she didn’t have a good track record - but she was getting there… but now she was hungry and tired and covered in paint… and her hair was no longer a pretty colour; especially with the orange, red, purple, yellow and blue paint that had splattered all over her. However - regardless, she felt like she was getting somewhere and she had had fun.

Pointing his wand at the purple balloon, he uttered the incantation one final time, "Alarte Ascendare!" The balloon flew straight up into the air almost at a 90 degree angle and propelled itself towards the target. In a matter of a few minutes, the balloon burst open, splatting red paint right in the centre of the target.

YES! HE HAD GOTTEN IT. RIGHT IN THE CENTRE FOR A SECOND TIME!!

Mission accomplished. He had completed the homework!

Hooray!

Clara grimaced. "It was funny. Don't deny it."

They both knew that, had the situation been reversed, Eden would have laughed at her, too.

It would seem that Eden got her wish as Clara now looked rather .... Christmasy, as Eden pointed out. It was all in good spirits, though, and she grinned at her best friend. "Maybe I should add some white paint next, then?" She suggested and twirled a lock of her hair around her finger thoughtfully, smirking. They didn't seem to be taking this task seriously any more, but ...... how could they? Every time they actually tried they missed the targets. Not aiming seemed to be resulting in hits and aiming didn't. It was illogical .... and after watching Eden's shot, it was further supported.

"I don't like this task." ...... And that was saying something because Clara loved charms.

"I think.....one more try?"

As Eden had said, she'd try and hit the top target, but she wouldn't be overly bothered if she couldn't ......... Actually, that was lie. She would be annoyed with herself, but perhaps not as much as she normally would if she failed at something.

Clara picked out a white balloon and placed it on the ground, wasting no time with detailed thinking and calculations. She just glanced at where the targets were and observed their directions and made an estimation of where they'd end up. "ALARTE ASCENDARE!" She cried, going all out, and watched as the balloon zipped past the lower and middle targets aaaaaaaaaand ...... hit the ceiling.

......... "Oooops."

Eden snorted. "White, green, and red? Then you'll REALLY resemble Christmas--" but that was Clara's point. She almost DIED laughing when her friend actually got a WHITE balloon. HA. Clara was funny.

"Why not? Don't be stupid--" she frowned. "Just because it's not an exact kind of thing....you're performing the spell perfectly fine, Clara. It's just our aims that are off." She said with a shrug. "It's supposed to be fun. Do you know what FUN in?" she teased, only MILDLY...

She watched as Clara sent this balloon up into the air and..she was SO close--

It hit the ceiling.

ooops.

Eden snorted. "You hit the highest point, at least?" Bright side?

Brian rushed into the Charms Annexe with his hair a mess and his scarf askew, tie loose and generally out of breath. He'd accidentally taken a nap by the lake while he'd been reading and he was almost going to miss the homework game. Good gosh, that was close.

In an attempt to catch his breath, Brian sat himself on the floor and decided to watch the movement of the targets. Hmm. Maybe they would be easier to hit if he timed it right. And maybe he should fix his tie because it was looking incredibly messy and that was very unhealthy, should a professor come in to check on them. Mmhmm. He was just going to fix his general appearance.

He was going to shoot for glory. Forget the lower tier and the middle tier, he wanted to get the targets that were closest to the ceiling, and the furthest away from him. The ones that were harder to keep track of, and the ones that had the most amount of interference.

A challenge.

That was what he loved.

With his last paintball, Zeke lay down on the floor beneath the moving targets, the paintball balanced on the back of his hand which rest on his torso. From HERE, he could see things better, he'd get a better read of the targets, and wouldn't have to take his eyes off them either.

His chance was coming...

Coming...

Coming...

"Alarte Ascendare!" he chanted, brandishing his wand and watching at his paintball pelted straight upward with force, HITTING the target!

HE HIT THE TARGET!

Huzzah!

Zeke barely blinked as it made impact, splattering blue paint over the target and showering a few drops down to him, landing on his sweater. Success.

Deciding that a celebration with a slice of apple pie might be nice, Zeke got himself up from the floor and retrieved his bag. That was enough for one day, he didn't have any trouble performing the charm, so, that was all that mattered. Once ready, Zeke left the Annexe.

Once Brian decided he'd done enough sitting around and fixing his tie - he meant done enough observing of the targets, he decided that it was time to try the spell. It was one that he still thought was remarkably pointless. Why would they even inflict such a charm on students? Weren't they supposed to learn useful things here?

Brian took out his wand, and recalling the incantation very carefully he pointed his wand at a random yellow balloon he'd picked. "Alarte Ascendare," he enunciated firmly, hoping for the best. There was no such luck, however. The balloon gave a miserable flop and then refused to budge. How helpful. And here he was, thinking he could get it over with quickly and then resume his nap. A good lesson from this would probably be to never go into anything with expectations.

Stupid balloon.

"Alarte ascendare!" he said, a little crossly. Will it just go up already? It stretched towards the ceiling lazily before rolling over like a lazy cat. Brian might be grumbling. Help might be needed.

Clara had known, even when she'd just entered the room, that she wouldn't have good aim. She may have been slowly getting more athletic, better she was still clumsy and possessed terrible hand-eye coordination. Plus .... recent things ... yeah, they'd affected things, too. Heh. The entertainment factor and laughter she'd had earlier were now wearing off, leaving her feeling frustrated.

She didn't like failing, and she certainly didn't like Eden's use of the word 'stupid'.

"Of course I know what fun is," she replied, trying to lighten up a little. This task was sending her mood all over the place; she'd been doubtful at first, then amused, now she was just annoyed. She gritted her teeth. "That's definitely one way to look at it." Ignoring the paint in her hair, she once again scrapped her hair back into a ponytail. "I will get it," she said, mostly to herself. She didn't even wait to see if Eden wanted another go, she just went over to the box of balloons, grabbed the first one she saw - a blue one - and set up her next shot.

This time she watched the targets carefully, imagining how Gabriel would tackle the situation. He was good with numbers and calculations .... Clara, on the other hand, just couldn't wrap her head around them. It was one of the few things she couldn't easily do. The target she was aiming for was moving in a circular motion, and was periodically blocked by the lowest target, which was moving horizontally ..... so, she'd need to time it to go up at the moment it would pass the lowest one but hit the top one. She knew that the trajectory of the balloon was 90 degrees, that was simple, but ... all the numbers and timings all together seemed overly complicated to her. Deep breaths, Wilde, she reminded herself, and lined up her shot.


"ALARTE ASCENDARE!" She cried, a little quieter than she had last time, and watched the balloon.

It went up and passed the lower target - a small victory - before finally making contact with the highest target.

........... !!!!!! .... Granted, it only hit the side of the target, she'd still got it.

............... And now she was covered in blue paint, too.

Aiming for the same target, Tora wound up to try again. Common, common! She positioned herself right underneath where the target would float over and
"Alarte Ascendare!"

Brandish.

A blue paint balloon shot up and SMACK! Hit the target dead center. That's more like it! Obviously she had just needed a little warm up but now this Ravenclaw was about to knock out those targets.

She ran over to the paint and grabbed all the purple balloons she could find. Purple was her favorite color of course. Soon the whole room...er... all the targets would be purple. Perfect.

It had been a busy morning, and Gabriel found himself needing to destress for a bit. Clara had mentioned that she and Eden were planning to do the Charms homework today...and decided to go down and watch; completely normal. Of course, he still needed to do his own, as it was due soon...but watching and observing first was preferred.

Entering the Charms Annexe, he glimpsed the two girls hard at it...and dropped his bag by the door; placing a spell just in case anyone decided they wanted to attempt stealing from it.

.

.

...and they were both covered in paint.

"..........Hello." So, he'd be watching from a comfortable distance away...

Brian pouted, staring at the potted plant. Then he chided himself mentally, straightening up and taking a deep breath in. He was not going to sulk because he couldn't manage a ridiculous charm. It wasn't worth sulking over. He would get it eventually. He'd just have to work at it until he was good enough at it, just like he did on all his other spells. It wasn't a big deal at all.

Pointing his wand at the balloon, he said firmly, "Alarte ascendare." The balloon proceeded to lift itself quickly off the ground and Brian smiled. But he spoke - or thought - too soon. The balloon had barely gone half a foot off the ground before it fell back down, bursting on the floor and coating his shoes and trousers in yellow paint. Brian rolled his eyes. These were his nice trousers. Couldn't he have gone and changed his pants before he got there? Pointless. Now he'd have to sit and scrub it out or even worse, ask the house elves to do it. He appreciated the help, but it was a bit creepy how much work they were willing to do.