Wand at the ready, Roo measured out 3 inches using a trick that his mother had taught him, before casting a few rounds of "Diffindo!" to get the two lines needed for his handle. He then moved on to use the same spell to shave layers of wood from either end in an attempt to get them relatively the same. It took a while, and he knew that some of his classmates were finishing up already and getting the attention of their Professors, but he tried to keep his concentration so that nothing went wrong. Rooney would hate to have to work harder to make a second bow, all because he let himself get distracted when he hadn't needed to. Off went a few more layers from either end, and the second year sat down with his wood again, checking over both ends with his hands and trying to make sure they were very much so the same. They were, which was a positive. But he was getting annoyed with himself for working a lot slower than his peers unintentionally.

Luckily, he hadn't much longer to go, or so the stone only said that he had two steps more until completion. He hadn't really considered whether they would take a long time or not. But he went to get himself some caterpillar silk from the basket near the original pile of wood and then toddled back, purposely listening in on a conversation that Mister David Truebridge had had with Professor York. It was a helpful conversation to listen in to and he repeated the spell over and over in his head whilst he worked on tying the silk into his bow and making sure it was right.

There was a lot of making sure in this process for him, and although he hated second guessing himself, he found that it only made his work that little bit better.

Now, he gave himself a moments break to consider what he would name his bow and even sat looking at it like before to make sure he chose the perfect one. It HAD to be perfect, for carving it and then deciding on another would be problematic. Problematic to the point where he would need to make another from scratch. He thought to phrases from books he had read recently, and then to characters that he was inspired by and finally to the things his acting coach said to him whenever she wrote him a letter. Docendo discimus. Apparently it meant that you learnt from teaching, and she had been trying to inspire him to get his siblings to come to a class in the summer, but he hadn't had the time to look it up since then.

But, he did trust Mrs Grimaldi with his whole life, so he would name his bow just that. Docendo discimus. It took a while using the spell that he overheard Professor York teaching David, but he practiced a few times on his wood shavings until he figured he had enough control and could get through the curvature of the letters he was carving.

And to keep true to his Professor York streak today, he went over to her to be transfigured. He wiggled nervously, before giving her a smile because she always looked like she was about to tell someone they had won the world. That was good in a teacher, and he liked her very much. The spell though, only made him more nervous as he waited for it to take effect. And th--well, oh... this was... well, it really... Man, he felt weird. "STRANGE." But he did grin, and trot on over to join Thereos and the rest of his class that had already been transfigured.

Maybe he was a little more intrigued by this class now.

Rolling his shoulders and flexing his pectorals, Thereos readied himself for the next task at hand.

"Follow me and bring your bow," he instructed with a fluid wave of his hand as he cantered off away from the group with the basket of arrows balanced perfectly on his back.

He did not expect them all to have mastered the balance and poise it took to move on four limbs instead of two, but with Mercury in Aquarius there was hope for some.

Thereos lead the group towards an open spot on the grounds adorned with 5 targets in a straight line. His back to the display for now, he turned to face the humans.

"The ritual you are about to partake in is a synonymous with the celebration of the blooming of primula vulgaris, a special flower to centaurkind with a sacred name that only centaurs may utter. Both the flowers and leaves are edible and we use the leaves for tea and the young flowers into primrose wine both of which are used in spring time divinationing. This of coming of age ritual was once was a connection to belomancy and the coming of spring, but since has lost that tradition as capnomancy has become the preferred method using a combination of mallowsweet and sage along with primula vulgaris," the centaur explained proudly, his hooves beating against the ground while his tail flicked back and forth. "The arrows used for the ritual are blunt and round-shaped in order to make a louder sound when they strike the target. When an arrow strikes the bull's eye, primula vulgaris seeds and dried flowers burst forth from the tip and fall to the ground to represent new life. The new life that comes with spring and the new life of a centaur becoming an of-age centaur. A true of-age centaur will hit the centaur of the target no less than 4 times out of 5 as they make their way around the course," he continued, gesturing over his shoulder at the targets behind them.

"Like so."



Taking off at a fierce gallop, dropping the basket of arrows to the ground and selecting 5 for himself that he placed in a rabbit skin satchel on his flank, the centaur drew his bow and wove through the course with a terrifying elegance - hitting every single target such confidence it was as though Thereos could do so in his sleep.

The centaur galloped back to the group and removed his rabbit satchel to hand to the next student .

"Were I a young centaur, I would have passed the ritual and received my first drink of primrose wine and joined the rest of my herd in watching the remaining hopefuls. However, should a centaur fail in this ritual by striking the bull's eyes less than 4 times, their bow will be broken and burned in a cleansing fire, therefore repeating the ceremony again the next year."

The same would be expected of them as well, but they could learn of that harsh reality after trying.

"One at a time on the course and you may use my old satchel to carry your arrows. 5 each," he instructed as he offered the satchel again to the closest student.

OOC instructions:
It should be VERY difficult for students IC to hit targets as they are also adjusting to their new legs. You are to use a random number generator (https://www.random.org/) where only multiples of 5 indicate a bulls eye and multiples of 3 are a hit elsewhere on the target with everything else being a miss entirely (keep the default setting of between 1 and 100). There are 5 targets on the course, therefore requiring a 5 post minimum for full credit. Posts stumbling and adjusting to centaur legs are encouraged and count for participation. You do not need to wait to post and should simply assume that the person in front of you has finished and handed you the satchel.

Catch up for creating your bow is still allowed and will still count towards full participation.

You have at least 48 hours.

Zander Adair did not want to be a centaur.

He wanted to have legs so that when things came out from the forrest to attack he could jump right in front of the first years and help save the day. The centaur body would just hold him back. Who knew how hard balancing would be in those legs?

But seeing as he didn't have much of a choice, he reluctantly walked to the end of the line formed in front of Professor Culloden. Waiting rather patiently until it was his turn at the front of the queue. And TADA centaur. He had a centaur body. How.......... Great.

Except how the heck was he meant to walk around in this thing without *FALLING*, he was falling.

Tumbling more like it. These legs were weird. Ahem.

And after a good five minute struggle the Gryffindor was back on his four legs again. Ahem. That was embarrassing. And the group was already moving towards those targets off over there and WAIT A MINUTE, ZANDER ADAIR WAS COMING TOO!!! He did NOT want to be left by the forrest by himself THANKS.

Ahem.

Except getting over there might take a while...

A really, really long while. Because he wasn't used to this. Uh, who the heck said four legs were better than two? Because they were wrong. Clearly.

Adi grinned at Beatrice when the transfiguration process was done. This woman was awesome at Human Transfiguration, yo!( Bellaire, you're still the best <3) "Thanks, Professor! It feels... weird.'' What? It was the truth. Having gone from two legs to four hoofy ones was not a thing easy to adjust to... just look at Adi wobbling about there. LOL. One would have thought four legs would have made balancing easier, yeah? Not in his case.

As best as he could the Hufflepuff follow Thereos when the time came. Merlin help him and these four legs! However, he was distracted from worrying about falling over at the sight of the five targets and then as the ritual explanation began. So much interesting information! Too bad they couldn't exactly take notes. Ah, well.

That demonstration though... impressive! Adi could bet he wouldn't even hit one of those targets, especially with these legs. Yep, his confidence and usual positive attitude was really broken for now. Cue le sigh!

Annnd the satchel was handed to him. Uh... ''Thanks,'' he mumbled before collecting five arrows. Greeeat. Clumsy Adi was first up apparently. Here goes nothing. He stumbled on his front legs as he approached the target. How was THAT for a good start? Ugh! Anyway... He fitted the first arrow against Silver Dragon. There was no way he could run that fast as Thereos so he settled for some more stumbling. Gosh, he was going to fall flat on his face in a few seconds, wasn't he? The first target was approaching so Adi raised the bow and took aim.

ZIIIING!

The arrow was released and went flying towards the target, piercing the outer red circle of the target. Waaaah?! That wasn't too bad for a beginner!

Cosgrach rolled his eyes at her in good humour. "Why, you already look good with that face," he said. He was dying to make her anything but a centaur. Sadly, this wasn't his class and respect came before the urge to punish her smug and demanding tone.

"There you go," he said as her lower body became like a horse's. She could thank Thereos for the transfiguration.
So, when it came down to business, Zander put aside all his fears and feelings, eh?

Hehehe... good. Cosgrach transfigured the boy and smiled at him in an attempt to make him look better. He was the only one who didn't want this transfiguration! It was cool though, Zander, c'mon!
Enthusiastic, Blaise was, wasn't he? Hehehe, Cosgrach liked the change after Zander's 'dead' looks. He transfigured the boy happily and... waited for more people to come.

...

The show was starting? COOL! He watched Thereos curiously and - wow, no wonder he was a grown up centaur. The way he hit those targets - it was his talent, of course, but it was still very impressive.

Now the question was: would ANY of the students hit?

After receiving his transformation from Professor B’York, Ethan thanked the woman, and turned to see that half of his body was now of a horse. It looked prettier than a donkey’s to be honest, because his lower half now compliments his buffed chest and arms. The Slytherin tried to swish his tail, and oops, had hit a student in the face with it.

Ahahaha. Meep!

Giving the student a sheepish smile, he started to walk, trying to coordinate both left front and hind feet forward first, then the right ones next. Ethan’s face contorted in a funny manner as he struggled to walk with four legs.

Merlin’s beard. It will take him at least a year to perfect this walk.

Even if he struggled, he managed to catch up with the rest, and was able to hear what Thereos had to say. Seriously, he could use a chair right now so he could take down notes, but alas, his notebook and pencil got transformed too, so he was left with no choice but to memorize the information given. Seriously, all those ‘mancies’. Thereos could’ve just merged this lesson with Professor Cassie so she could explain it better, yeah?

And wait, what? If they get less than 4 bulls eye, their bows will be broken?

Talk about luck! Hopefully, he won’t be so unlucky today. He’d like to keep his bow, thank you very much.

As soon as the satchel was passed to him, he placed 5 blunt arrows inside it and carried the bag on his back. Ethan sauntered towards the first target with great difficulty, and positioned himself in front of the first board. The Slytherin drew his bow, taking in deep breaths to calm his nerves, as he aimed for the red dot in the middle.

The young man pulled back the arrow, released it and...

*Swoooshh THUD*

A hit! Ethan’s face was flushed, quite surprised with his first try.

Hopefully, his luck won’t change on the next target. Exhaling, Ethan kept his game face on, and moved to the next target. If only walking wasn’t a problem...

She grinned sheepishly when Culloden called her Ava of Chelsea. Merlin, she should've named her bow 'Chelsea' but it didn't mean that she didn't like Blue Bird. Hehehe. "Thanks, Professor." The young lioness smiled at that man. Now she had four legs and a tail. EEEEEEPPPPPP!!! This felt weird, especially that now she had tail and big butt. Ava tried to adjusting herself with her two additional legs and followed the real centaur with her bow. She listened to his explanation and.... Merlin, this activity didn't seem easy.

But would she give up? No way.

She grabbed a satchel and put five arrows in it. Then she walked to the first target and TRIED not to fall. Merlin, walking with four legs wasn't easy. Taking a very deep breath, she squinted and aimed the arrow to the red dot in the middle. On the count of three, Ava pulled back her arrow, released it and......

THUD!!!

Argh, her arrow just hit at the outer circle of the target.

Getting a bull’s eye the first time was kind of scary. That hit got into his nerves, and Ethan couldn’t concentrate anymore. Breathing in an out again to calm himself, he got another arrow from the satchel, and took his time to steady his hands and arms.

“Hit the target like a true centaur.” Well, he wanted to keep the bow okay? Wait, what was he doing? Ethan berated himself for putting more pressure on the task at hand.

Drawing his bow this time, Ethan took aim, and released the arrow only to side step as he did so.

*Swoosh THUD*

Sadljflasjfdklsfjskljfasjflk

The Slytherin closed his eyes in disgust as he missed his target by just a centimetre. Well, it looked like he wasn’t going to keep his bow after all. He was sure about that he won’t be able to get another bull’s eye on his third, fourth, and fifth targets.

Angel was way behind, she had totally got confused about what she was doing and this lesson seemed to be flying by, maybe she should stop getting distracted, she had no idea why but she was totally daydreaming about a few things lately. Maybe she would try and figure out what it meant later.

Angel selected her wood and then she placed one end of the wood on the ground and then she placed one hand on top and the other hand lightly against the middle.

Angel then used her wand to cut her wood in the middle. "Diffindo!" Angel did the wand movement and smiled as a cut appeared in the middle of the wood, she then moved about 3 inches higher, well she didn't have a ruler on her to measure correctly unfortunately. "Diffindo!" Angel was totally enjoying doing this as another cut appeared.

Angel now realised that she had to do more cutting, how awesome was this, though she wished she was like Robin Hood and was making it the muggle way, that would be fun... she had heard about all her old primary school friends making bows that way and she thought that it was fun and she was going to try it one day, she was at the minute missing those friends who thought she went to a school for gifted soccer players since she had been the best player on the school team that is what she had told them. She couldn't wait to see them in the summer.

Angel hadn't realised that she had nearly finished cutting until she saw that the curves were perfect and she was sure that Robin Hood himself would be proud to use this to make his bow. She made sure that the strongest part was the handhold because everything would go wrong if that was weak.

Angel then took one of the caterpillar silk and tied it to her bow, now hopefully she was going to be able to continue and this would work because she thought it would be bad if it didn't though she was liking the bow that she had made, what was next.

Oh yeah she had to carve a name onto the bow and this was going to be easy to decide. "Intaglio!" Angel wanted to type the name Hood but nothing was happing then she remembered the wand movement. "Intaglio!" Now she carved the name on the bow, this was just so awesome.

Angel then went and stood next to Professor York, since she trusted her a lot, especially after the homework that she helped with, and she hadn't taken points for the vase situation, she had been afraid of that but it was cool and now she was hopefully going to walk like a centaur right.

Angel waited until it was her turn and then she smiled as the Professor transformed her legs from her human one's to four centaur ones, now how did that happen, seriously she wanted to know, could you do any animal? Angel would totally ask the Professor later on, but for no she had to do something, but what she had to remember.

Okay, maybe he shouldn’t be too attached with his bow like he did with his wand. Eleven year old witches and wizards didn’t have to go through such rite of passage. All they had to do was to stand in the middle of the shop, get their measurements, and try out a bunch of wands. Boring, but convenient. Now this, this practice was quite disheartening. What if a young centaur wasn’t so blessed like his brothers and sisters? What if he’s just...bad at archery?

Well, right now, he wanted to prove something to himself. He may not be a centaur, but the simple exercise they were having made him realize things. He’s flawed, and there’s nothing else he can do but to be better. He may not win his bow today, but he will do his very best nonetheless.

Learning from his mistake, Ethan took the time to stand firmly on all fours, steadied his breathing as he drew his bow and aimed his third arrow on the third target. He could feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead even if the weather was a bit nippy. Pursing his lips in concentration, he eyed his target, took aim, and fired.

*Swoooosh THUD*

Huh? A hit? Really? The stars must be playing with his luck right now. The activity was getting more and more unpredictable by the minute. Should he stay hopeful,or...?

First chance: not that really good. But at least her arrow didn't go out anywhere else, still on the target board. Then she moved to the next target for her second chance. Ava took a very deep breath to calm herself down because she's getting really nervous now. Inhale... Exhale... and... Time for the second shoot.

The young lioness slightly squinted her eyes and aimed her arrow to the target. Hopefully that she could hit RIGHT at the center of the red circle or... What's the term again? Bull's eye, right. She counted on three, pulled her arrow backwards and then released it.

......

THUD!!!

It hit! Well, good job huh?

Seriously... how did centaurs do this? How did they?!

Cantering around on four legs was... craaaazy! But Adi couldn't lie. He just had to admit to himself that he felt awesome about having to hit at least one of the targets on his first try. Here's to hoping he could keep it up or maybe even improve a bit.

He retrieved another arrow from the satchel to fit against the bow as he approached target number two. Adi took aim at the bulls eye but at that moment he chose to stumble AGAIN which sent the arrow flying off to the right side of the the target, zooming past it and embedding itself in a tree trunk with a smart THWOCK!

Hmph.

#Fail

...so thank Merlin only one student had wanted HIS help for the transfiguration stuff. It wasn't that Paul was bad at that kind of magic--actually, he was fairly exemplary. But Beatrice was here and he felt so....inferior in his skills right now; so a bit self-conscious was all.

"Right--" he waved his wand and did the transformation on Hadleigh. That was so.....odd.

Odd indeed.

Now it was time for PAUL to be transformed--he very well didn't trust himself to do it on himself. So he went to Beatrice and had HER do it---SEEE? Paul now had FOUR LEGS. Well...this was--

Oh dear.

Paul resembled Bambi the day that poor deer was born. He was just --HOW DO YOU STAND? Merlin MERLIN. HELP. His bow--Archie--was going to BREAK at this point. But Paul eventually was able to stand without his legs shaking and...tried to take a step....ALL of his legs wanted to take this step at ONCE--"LEGS come ON--" he grumbled and...slowly walked to where Thereos wanted him to go.

MERLIN.

He needed to get the hang of 'trotting' here....so he just...walked around for a bit...picking up his pace here and there...he still stumbled a LOT and...almost nose-dived 3.5 times, but.....he was okay.



Oh dear.

Paul had no faith in himself to hit even one target.

Firstly, he wasn't even SURE how to use a bow. GAH. Well...here went.......something. He was NERVOUS to start because he was GOING to make a fool out of himself in front of all of his students. However, he thought maybe it was important for the young ones to see someone of good standing...fall every once awhile. And on this occasion, it would be...probably quite literally.

"Great job, everyone!" he clapped a little and smiled at all of the students who had just gone. This took a lot of courage!

So it was his turn. He trotted towards the front of the line...and...began to go faster, more like what Thereos had shown them, and aimed for the first target--but before he pulled back the arrow, he knew he had missed it--when he let go, the arrow zoomed past the target completely and landed in the grass...some ways out.

Well.

Paul strung up the next arrow in preparation. He wanted to get at least ONE arrow to make it on a target--it didn't even NEED to be a bullseye!

Third target approaching!

Adi fitted another arrow against the caterpillar silk and thus against the bow. So far he had gotten one hit (kinda) and an EPIC miss. He was actually starting to like archery though the slow galloping was still awkwaaaard.

The Hufflepuff took aim at the target with the bow and his left eye. Here goes nothing! Off went the arrow after he pulled back the string.

ZIIIIIIING!

Awesomeee! NOT!

His arrow had once again missed by miles to sail through some trees, disappearing from view. And it hadn't even been caused by stumbling this time. Hmph.

Zander Adair wasn't all that into the lesson today, if it wasn't already clear enough. So of course his head wasn't in the game and he'd mostly get 0/5 bullseyes. He was already planning on that fate to be quite honest. But he'd play along, keep an eye on the forrest at all times, and do what he had to do to get this lesson over with. Then he'd have to find old man Botros and complain or something.

Also. Walking in these legs was quite the mystery. How the heck could they be expected to pass the centaur ritual if they just got used to galloping around like this?

Raising his bow in the air, the Gryffindor picked an arrow from his satchel and lazily released it towards the target.

A miss?

Not even surprised.

Benny saw the look of realization in Adi's eyes as he read the name. Yep, they both named their bows in part on the other. "Thanks," he said with a small smile before returning his attention back to Thereos as he spoke up once more to bring them back to him and move them on to whatever came next.

Mimicing centaurs...human transfiguration.

Woah it had just gotten majorly interesting. Very interesting indeed. As for the professor, Benny couldn't help nodding at Adi's comment. "Me too." No offense to the other two, but he was preferring the transfiguration professor. The one whom he knew knew a lot on the subject matter from their lessons on it. He followed along with his boyfriend to the woman, greeting her with a smile and awaiting his turn.

Soon enough the spell was being cast on him and taking hold, the familiar sensation of changing by spell taking place. When it was done he was standing on all fours but still perfectly upright. That was definitely a new feeling. "Thanks Professor" he remarked before trying to move away, his behavior much like every time Adi transfigured him where he nearly waddled and weaved on his new feet...hooves. It always took getting used to no matter how many times he had happened.

Cautiously walking , he eventually made his way towards the group lined up to go through the course. The dragon-centaur watching his boyfriend go first and not doing too bad for someone knew at all the aspects of this little activity.

Seriously? Hady honestly couldn't believe that she was the ONLY one that had went over to Professor Myers. Sure he was a plants guy but the fourth year had complete faith in the man to transform her into a Centaur. Everything would be just fine. Mhm.

She grinned up at the Professor watching both him and the wandarkness that was pointed at her. She could feel the transformation happening but it was very different then when she had taken the potion to become a fox. This was much quicker and not as painful.

One thing was the same however. Hady instantly found herself stumbling and nearly falling. Wobbly!

Wobbly!

"Thanks Professor." She cast him a fast smile as she attempted to remain on her feet. This was soooo not the same as being a fox. Not even remotely close. It took her some time to adjust making her trot very slowly over towards Theroes and everyone else. One step. Two step

Whoa! Stumble. And legs going every which way but where she wanted. Eep!!!

Hady had to will herself to keep upright and still hold onto her bow (Silent Whispers). Nothing would be allowed to happen to it. She followed everyone else listening closely to what they needed to do. Alright she would certainly give this her best.

Watching those before her showed her how to hold the bow and then the arrows if nothing else. When it was her turn she accepted the bag thing and lined up a arrow in the center of the along the string and pulled back counting down in her head she let go on one.

The arrow went sailing off to the left and right passed the target completely landing somewhere in the distance. Oops. That wasn't very good at all. It was only her first time though so maybe she would get better.

As soon as he was done making his bow, Olly hurried over to professor York. This was the most exciting thing he had ever done. He was going to be transformed into a CENTAUR! Who else could say they'd had that happen to them? He waited in line eagerly for his transformation.

Woah. It felt so weird to have legs like a centaur. It wasn't anything like when he'd transformed into a fox earlier in the year. He still had the top part of his human body, but the bottom of his body was long and he had four feet. Hooves. He took a step forward and stumbled. So he walked slowly as he followed the centaur professor toward the archery stuff. It was hard to get used to having so many more legs than usual.

When it was his turn to go, Olly took the satchel from the student who went before him. He'd never done archery before. That fact, combined with his still unfamiliar body, meant he probably would not be very good. Olly readied his first arrow in his bow and aimed at the first target. He released, and watched as the arrow flew toward the target. It hit around the outer circle. He was actually pretty impressed that he managed to hit it at all.

Alright, so he was finally getting used to the whole walking thing. You'd think more legs would mean more balance right? Well clearly that wasn't the case. It was just kinda difficult to readjust when he had been on two legs his entire life. Honestly, this was really weird. But what was even weirder was having a lesson right near the forbidden forrest.

Just sayin'.

Again.

But anyways, there were still people queueing up after him, so it meant he had to make his move and continue on to the rest of the course. So target number two it was. Merlin, when this was over they'd be allowed to leave right?

So he went to grab for another arrow, pulling it back against the bow and shooting towards the target. Uuuuuum. Miss. Completely miss. Merlin. Was his aim really this bad or? He could just blame it on the fact that his mind was elsewhere, right? Because that was exactly what he was planning on doing here. La la la. Ahem.

Moving on.

Olly was still impressed about his previous success. True, he had not been able to hit the target in the center, but it was pretty impressive that he had been able to hit the target at all. Now he was moving on, but he was still moving pretty slow. He was still not used to his centaur legs - he didn't think he ever would be. But at least he hadn't completely fallen over yet.

Time for the next target. He finally made it there and loaded another arrow into his bow. He aimed. It would have been a lot easier if their centaur professor had perhaps explained how to use a bow and arrow.

...or had Olly missed that part.

He didn't think so. He was pretty sure that nobody had ever tried to teach him how to shoot a bow and arrow. But he was going to do his best. How hard could it be to point his arrow toward the target and let it go? He did just that, watching as the arrow flew toward the target. He hoped that it would hit the target somewhere, like it had last time.

To his complete and utter surprise, the arrow not only hit the target, but hit right on the bullseye. What? How had he managed to do that?

Target number four!

Wheee!

Here came SUPER DUPER clumsy Adi for ya!

Another arrow was already fitted and ready to go. All he needed to do was aim and fireee! And it felt like deja vu all over again with this shot and one from a previously. One of the back hooves gave an awkward twist and he momentarily lost his balance at almost the same second as he released the arrow.

This time, however, the arrow went flying and ended up sticking in the forest floor a few feet away, its point embedded in the ground.

Woops.

So the next target was.....coming up. He missed his first one. He expected to miss them all at this point. This was so hard. SO so hard. But Paul wouldn't quit...nope NOPE. He had to be a good role model and stuff. So he was...making the round behind the first target and passing in front of the second one when he TRIPPED on a ROCK.

SWEET MERLIN. HOLY MERLIN. That HUUUUURT his poor little hoof ;_____;

He tumbled into a pile of centaur and did his best to hop right back up. He...should probably trot back and start up again so that he could shoot while in motion...that's the only way it counted, right? He glanced quickly at Thereos and felt...so self conscious, but he had to keep going...

So he did. He trotted back to where the first target was and...began to go at a steady speed past the second target, aiming his bow once more, pulling back the arrow, and letting it go again. It zoomed--It was SO CLOSE--

But it missed the target completely.

Well.

He tried.

It took Olly a while longer than it should have to move on to the next target. He was still standing at the second one, staring at it. His arrow had gotten right in the center? But he couldn't stay there forever, he had to go on to the next target. He was still distracted right away, and stumbled when he started to move. Luckily he was able to regain his balance before he fell completely to the ground. That seemed like it would be a problem, considering he was still carrying three of the arrows.

He took one of the arrows and loaded it into his bow. There were only three more targets left. He took aim at the third of five. He watched as it flew closer and closer and bullseye.

Again. What? How had that happened? AGAIN?

Once the transformation was complete, Paulina smiled at Professor York and thanked her. Now she needed to get used to her new Centaurian body...and that would be easier said than done.

HOW did the Centaurs manage this? Sometimes she had a hard time walking on two legs, and they had to get by on FOUR. Sweet Merlin, she had more respect than ever for these beasts because they moved rather gracefully.

"Whoa!" she called out as she hit a bit of uneven ground and stumbled, holding her hands out for balance. If she toppled over that wouldn't be a good thing since she couldn't even walk properly. She had no idea how she would manage to get up without help... She wasn't even going to try and do the next task until she was sure she could walk at least somewhat steadily, so Paulina began moving in some rather shaky circles. She only stopped when she realized that she probably wasn't going to get any better at this.

Thereos had done a wonderful demonstration and it was time to see if she could do as good of a job - though she obviously wouldn't. With a 'thank you' she took the satchel and was off to a VERY bumpy start. Right off the bat she stumbled but managed to regain herself...before stumbling again.

THIS WAS HARD!

Awkwardly she readied an arrow and aimed it at the first target...

...and watched it plummet straight into the ground.

They had to use CENTAUR LEGS? Ok, Caleb was convinced this centaur dude was using this lesson to get back at wizards for their complicated past with these creatures. He didn't WANT to be a centaur! UGH. This was not going to be easy, but he had to focus on the bow first. THAT was the important thing right now. In fact, he was kind of excited for it. Bows were COOL!

He decided to pick one of the darker pieces of wood that was at the edge of the pile - he figured the way his eye was drawn to it right away was the wood "speaking" to him or whatever. He then propped it up as instructed, with one hand holding it in place at the top, and lightly pushed on the middle of his board. It began to slightly curve - actually, it curved a LOT more than he had expected - towards him, and then he took his wand and muttered "Diffindo!" as he made two lines, carving out the middle of his bow with approximately 3 inches in diameter as instructed. No wonder everyone in the old days had these - these were easy to make!