Aresto Momentum...and Banishing Charm.

Those were too interesting charms to be working on and Benny was all attentive about it. Both were copied into his notes once the second was added onto the board, the information provided no doubt useful for practice and future reference. Not that he was fully unaware of the spells. And the wand movement and incantations were both fairly simple for each of them. However the situation got a touch complicated when Professor Baxter explained what they wanted them each to practice on.

7th year=nonverbal.

Benny so wasn't up to doing much nonverbally. Sure he had worked out scourgify and aquamenti for potions since they were used each and every lesson and quite useful. But still he was always aprehensive of trying another spell without words. Inward sigh. Depulso nonverbally it was. He slipped out his wand and practiced the wand movement first. One sweep of the wand...two sweeps of the wand. Easy enough.

It was the focus without actually speaking that was the trouble.

He took a deep breath and moved a spare bit of parchment to a clear part of his desk as a target. When the lion considered himself ready, he tried out the incantation. 'De--" he started to say aloud before catching himself. *Depulso* SIlent spell. *depulso...depulso...depulso*

Arresto Momentum and the Banishing Charm.

Both were spells which Paulina was familiar with, but she had not tried either non-verbally before. Honestly, she hadn't tried to perform many spells that way, and the results were rather mixed. Naturally the easier the spell the less difficulty she had in casting silently.

Taking out her wand, she started making sweeping motions over and over again. It was nothing new to her, but she wanted to get some more practice in. Honestly, she mostly wanted to stall a little because she wasn't sure how the other part would go. What if the other Seventh Years managed to perform non-verbally and she couldn't?

Sighing, she eventually put her wand down and gave the incantation a shot. Depulso... Depulso... Depulso..." She repeated it over and over again in her head until she was sure she had a good enough grasp on it.

Nonverbal eh?

Awesome she really REALLY liked this professor. She'd been working on nonverbal spells since last term. Although she has some trouble with it she was determine to get better at it this term. So this was going to be a great chance to practice.

Depulso. Depulso. Now all she had to do was practice the wand movement. Just a sweeping movement. Like this sweeping motion with her wand. She repeated the motion a few more times. Then she went back to practicing saying the incantation in her head.
Depulso!

Now she felt like she was ready. She stood up and stood behind her chair just as Professor Baxter had instructed them to when they felt ready. And ready she was!

Noelle took notes. She was excited to go ahead and actually be DOING SPELLS! How exciting was that??? She pulled her wand from the holster and pointed it up. READY AND WILLING! She wanted to yell out but obviously... that was not going to happen in the middle of class.

"Arresto Momentum." Noelle repeated, trying to get the right words out. She swished her wand, trying to get used to the movement. She was only seconds away from making things slow of move faster, people! A big grin etched her face.

It was now or never Noelle. She put the words and the movement together after she threw her parchement paper in the air...... nothing.

Blink.

Okay second try.
Trying again she tried pronouncing the words differently............. nothing.

Third times the charm. Hehe. Charm. Get it? It was punny.
This time, she tried a different swish her of her wrist. The parchment paper slowly just a bit. OMM!! OMYMERLIN! SHE HAD MADE PARCHMENT PAPER SLOW DOWN!

NOELLE THE GREAT! THEY WILL MAKE STATUTES AT HOW GREAT SHE WAS!

Ahem....

Okay maybe not because everyone else was doing it too... but still... it was pretty amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deezerz

Save the eggs, of course. The child had a question, though. Astrid listened and nodded in understanding. "The charm is designed to slow or stop the momentum of an object. Trusting Arresto Momentum to slow down a spell can be a risk that can cost you a duel." A risk that even her daring self wouldn't try. She liked to win. "The charm can be used to slow down the other person." Astrid shot him a quick smile. A handy charm to keep in mind.

---------------

"Wonderful!" Her students were a clever bunch. With a wave of her wand the name of the charm, wand movement and effect was written. "Today we will be studying two charms which will play out for our activity in just a few moments." She had a feeling there were going to be more frowny faces, but that was okay. It was the beginning of the term, the lessons were only going to grow more challenging.

"The next charm we'll be looking at is the Banishing Charm." Her gaze roamed around the room as the spell was written by an invisible entity behind her. "I'm sure you're all tired of sitting down so I will go over it and then we can jump into the next step." Eyes to you quiet ones. "The Banishing Charm does exactly what the name says; it banishes things, sends them away." Clear? Clear. "While Arresto Momentum is the incantation for its spell, the Banishing Charm has its own. Depulso." She paused as it was written on the board. "Everyone repeat after me, de-puhl-so."

Astrid waited for them to do so, and after they did she continued. "It's wand movement is a simple sweep of your wand." She demonstrated, casting the charm silently and sweeping her wand at the quill on her desk, sending it away to her office.



"Listen clearly now, we don't have much class time, so we will take a moment to practice." And then fun! "First through third years will practice Arresto Momentum. Fourth and fifth years will practice the Banishing Charm, sixth and seventh years will as well, but non-verbally." Not a peep from them. "You will only be practicing, not casting, yet. Once you feel confident, please stand up, push in your chair and wait for further instructions." And GO.


OOC: I apologize for rushing the last bit. School starts tomorrow so I'll have a busy week, and I would also like to give you guys enough time for next activity. You only require one post to practice both incantation and wand movement. Thanks!

So he should only use this spell on an object, got it. Davie nodded to show he understood, and made a note of it on his... well, notes. He was disappointed, slightly, as the professor explained the next part of the lesson and informed them that only the fourth years and up would be practicing the Banishing Charm. He could really use that spell, so he wrote down de-puhl-so on his parchment anyway.

Now, to practice. "Arresto momentum, ah-rest-oh-mo-men-tum, arresto momentum! Arresto momentum! Arresto momentum, arresto momentum, arrestomomentumarrestomomentumarrestomomentum!" Okay, he'd said it enough times now. Davie waved his wand, too, though he was OBVIOUSLY not casting anything. He was just waving it, because it was a wand and it was cool.

When he was done, he pushed in his chair and quietly stood behind it, pushing his glasses up his nose further with one fingertip.

Text Cut: Zander

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArianaBlack

..... SIXTH AND SEVENTH YEARS WERE DOING WHAT NOW????

Zander's eyes may have widened just a bit. NONVERBALLY? As in like, no talking??? As in not saying anything verbally??? As in WHAT THE HECK??? He attempted to shoot a look over to Sophie Brown, which was quite hard seeing as they weren't able to sit next to each other. Hmph. How did Professor Baxter just expect them to do nonverbals???

Zander Adair had never even attempted a nonverbal spell ever in his life. What made anyone think he could do it right now in the middle of a lesson with everyone sitting around him to distract??? No he couldn't possibly. There was no way he'd get it. And that's what made him sink a little lower into his chair. A nonverbal? For real? 'Depulso' he thought. 'Depulso' and again 'Depulso'. The wand movement was easy enough. But this whole thinking the spell instead of saying it...

'Depulso,' what if it didn't work? He kept repeating the incantation over and over in his mind. He didn't even know the technicalities that went into casting a nonverbal. What was the method? How was he even supposed to go about it? So Zander didn't stand up after practicing. Because he didn't feel confident yet. 'Depulso, depulso, depulso'.

There were some that didn't take nonverbal casting as a terrifying thing, which Astrid had expected. She had also expected seventh years to be used to casting nonverbally by now. It was something they should have started by sixth year. She was...wrong?

Head tilt at the Head Boy. He looked a bit spooked. So as students practiced, Astrid wandered over to his table. "It might sound a bit terrifying," she said understandingly. "But this is just practice. You're not going to be graded on it. Besides, I am here if you need help. " Nothing serious and nothing to overly stress about. She was simply getting an idea at what learning level they were at.

"Please stand, the next activity will be fun," she encouraged. Lots of fun!

Text Cut: Candice

Quote:

Originally Posted by Poolicious

A lot of lives could be spared. Yes that too.

They're going to study two charms? Cool.

Huh? Banishing Charms? To send away an object. So this spell was like the counter-charm to the Summoning Charm? But she had a question for the Professor. "Professor, how about people or other living creatures? Does this charms works on them? Or just inanimate objects only?"

While waiting for the Professor to answer her question, Candice started practice to pronounce the Banishing Spell incantation. "Depulso.....de-PUHL-so...de-PUHL-so...de-PUHL-so...." She repeated the incantation over and over again in her head. The wand movement was kinda easy she just need to sweep her wand. Okay she's ready. The Gryffindor stood up from her chair and pushed it in.

Use this charm on people or living creatures, Astrid sure hoped they wouldn't try that. "It works on living things, but it'd be rather rude to have them tossed around." Including innocent creatures.

Text Cut: Candice

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChanceCoeur

Noelle took notes. She was excited to go ahead and actually be DOING SPELLS! How exciting was that??? She pulled her wand from the holster and pointed it up. READY AND WILLING! She wanted to yell out but obviously... that was not going to happen in the middle of class.

"Arresto Momentum." Noelle repeated, trying to get the right words out. She swished her wand, trying to get used to the movement. She was only seconds away from making things slow of move faster, people! A big grin etched her face.

It was now or never Noelle. She put the words and the movement together after she threw her parchement paper in the air...... nothing.

Blink.

Okay second try.
Trying again she tried pronouncing the words differently............. nothing.

Third times the charm. Hehe. Charm. Get it? It was punny.
This time, she tried a different swish her of her wrist. The parchment paper slowly just a bit. OMM!! OMYMERLIN! SHE HAD MADE PARCHMENT PAPER SLOW DOWN!

NOELLE THE GREAT! THEY WILL MAKE STATUTES AT HOW GREAT SHE WAS!

Ahem....

Okay maybe not because everyone else was doing it too... but still... it was pretty amazing.

"A point from Gryffindor, Miss Summers," Astrid announced, making her way back to the front of the room. "While I appreciate your enthusiasm and energy to work, we will not cast until instructed to do so." It was more of a safety precaution than anything else. She couldn't have spell casting happening when her back was turned. If a student got hurt she'd be responsible.



They were so precious! Just look at the smiley and beamy ones and eager to learn. Goodness. Scanning the room again, Astrid made sure there were no more questions. Good.

"Everyone stand up, please." Her tone, yet gentle, held a firmness to it. It was time to get up and sitting down was not an option. Giving them a quick moment she waited for them to stand, then waved her wand, banishing the desks and chairs. In exchange four large bins appeared at the center of the room. "We are going to play a game!" Were they listening? She hoped so. It was a challenging game.

"Above us." Another wave of her wand, this time at the ceiling, lifted the Disillusionment Charm she had cast earlier. "Are foam balls." Red, blue, green and yellow. "The goal for today's activity will be to work as a team and capture as many house-colored balls into your appropriate bin." As well as exercising their wand and eye coordination, along with focus. "The younger students will slow or stop the descent of the falling ball, grab them from the air and deposit them into their bin. Whereas the upper classmen will banish them into their bin." Pause. "For each ball caught your house will earn a point. There is a special gift for the winning house." Mhm.

"A few things I would like you to keep in mind before we start. It is not about whether you pronounce the incantation or wave your wand perfectly--which does play an important role--but on your intent. Intent is key." Very crucial. "Secondly, there are no rules against teammates helping each other. If you see them struggling, help them. If a ball is going to hit them, stop it before it does. Even if it's impossible to get hurt by these balls."

Got it? Good!

"On your marks...get set...wands at the ready!" With yet another wave of her wand blue, green, red and yellow balls unglued themselves from the ceiling and descended upon the students.


OOC: Game time!
Goal: Catch as many balls of your house color using the charms directed.
- 1st - 3rd years will use Arresto Momentum to stop or slow a falling ball and then deposit it into their house-colored bin.
- 4th & 5th years will use the Banishing Charm and banish the balls into the bin.
- 6th & 7th years will nonverbally cast the Banishing Charm and banish the balls into their house bin.
- You will need four posts in order to get full credit for the activity (include mention of incantation and wand movement).
- One ball caught/banished per post.
- Remember the level of ability of your character and have fun. They're not meant to be perfect on their first lesson of the term. (;
- Injuries; the balls are made of foam and I'm sure Professor Baxter has charmed them to be even softer so none of her lovely students would get hurt. So please, no broken bones or busted anything. (:
- You'll have until 12 PM Thursday, GMT -6.
- Have fun!

So arresto momentum didn't seem like a very difficult thing to practice. The incantation was simple and the wand movement was even simpler, so Brian decided to test out the incantation on his tongue and experiment with the different ways he could accent it. Where was the emphasis, did you say it fluidly or one word distinct from the other word?

"Arresto Momentum," he said, not getting up from his seat. "Arresto momentum. Arresto Momentum. Arresto momentum. Arresto momentum. Arresto momentum." He didn't put the emphasis on the last syllable of a double-worded charm because sounded wrong in his head and never worked. "Arresto momentum." Yeah, that one was his favourite. Sounded natural. That was the easy part. The hard part was actually getting the magic to WORK.

That was it, so he got up and pushed his chair in. YAY. Activity time!

So this Astrid Baxter was NOT Quigley, which right off the bat had Tia feeling saddened and abandoned. Quigley. Who was her inspiration to become an animagus and now she might never achieve that goal. Who was totally gorgeous and smart and cunning. And she would never see him again. Learn from him again. To make matters worse, she didn't even know he was leaving, so Tia spent the first portion of the class feeling rather empty at seeing this new figure at the head of the class.

It was when this Baxter lady said something that made the sixth year sit up straighter. NON VERBALS. The first time she'd been introduced to that was last term when she'd been working on a homework assignment with Adi and he attempted it, which made her want to attempt it though she failed miserably. She shot him a look before paying attention to the Professor. She got to practice it for REALS this time.

It wasn't going to be easy, but Tia felt confident in her charm abilities and she suddenly felt the need to look good - for this Baxter lady's predecessor if nothing else. "Depulso" she muttered to herself. Focus.

A sweeping wand movement was simple enough. It was a matter of focusing on sending an object away. On saying the incantation, only not really saying anything at all. Could she do it? Hopefully.

A game? That meant competition. Which meant Oliver was so going to win. He jumped up from his desk and brandished his wand in front of him, eager to start. The first year glanced around at his competition, eyes narrowed slightly. He hoped they knew they were going down. Ahem.

And START! Olly looked uuuup to where the foam balls were. The game didn't sound too hard. All he had to do was make a ball fall slowly so he could catch it and put it into his bin. Easy peazy lemon squeazy. He held his wand up, aiming right at a ball.

"Arresto Momento!" He said confidently, giving his wand a wave. But nothing happened. Hmph. He tried again, making sure to point right at the ball he was trying to stop. "Arrest Momento." Again, nothing. He almost cried out in frustration before reminding himself that he had only tried twice. He just had to be patient and focus and he would get it. Olly could be patient. He could do this.

Intent. That was key, apparently. Well he intended to stop the foam ball. He intended really hard. "Arresto Momentum!" That time, when he waved his wand, one of the foam balls above slowed. Olly grinned triumphantly and jumped up, snatching it out of the air. He scampered over to the Slytherin bin and tossed it in.

Norah gave the happy sticker on her forehead a little poke just for luck. Game time was the BEST time, but there was no telling if she'd be any good at the spell in the first place. It was hard to love a game too much if you were rubbish at it, but that only seemed to bother her with classroom games, not real games. Real games could be fun to lose sometimes, but this was just embarrassing. Well, it wasn't embarrassing yet but she was almost positive it would be eventually. That was what her mum would call a bad attitude, but her mum ALSO said she was supposed to always tell the truth, so really who knew how she was supposed to approach the whole thing.

She didn't let that get in the way of smiling at Professor Baxter though, 'cause it really was a very nice first class and that meant smiles for sure. After an attempt to catch the Professor's eye, she held her wand tight and aimed at a yellow ball that was coming down in front of her. "Depulso!" With a sweeping wave of her wand, she stared at the ball in the how that it'd help banish it into the bin. TO THE BIN! The ball was pushed away from her, going about half the distance before falling to the floor. It was a start, yeah? At least it'd MOVED.

Please stand? Adi was doing just that already and he could hardly wait for everything to get started! He followed with his eyes, the direction up where Baxter was pointing her wand. Look at all the coloured balls!

Yup, yup, Professor! This badger understood the instructions quite well. Annnd there went the balls! Adi's focus zoomed in on the first yellow ball his eyes caught sight of. Intent, rang clear in his head as he focused on the Hufflepuff bin. ''Depulso!'' With as much focus as intent he could muster, he made the sweeping movement with his wand and as the incantation was silently cast .

The brown eyes flashed in the direction of the bin just in time to see a yellow ball drop into it. That's how to get things done, yo!

After talking about the Arresto Momentum spell, the Professor spoke of and demonstrated the banishing Charm. After adding this one and it's wand motion and incantation to his notes, he was kind of disappointed he wasn't going to get to practice that one like the older students who had, no doubt, already mastered the first one.

But he at least got to learn one. Pulling out his wand, Milo focussed on the words of the incantation. Arrest-o Mo-ment-um. He imagined himself catching a snowball flying towards his face, a book dropping from his desk, his baby cousin being saved from his fall in the kitchen. "Arresto Momentum," he said aloud and completed the swish of his wand.

Once he felt like he was finished, he stood up and pushed his chair in.

------------

Activity time!

Milo was ready to help Ravenclaw win this lesson's activity unlike in Astronomy when they and the Hufflepuffs lost. He raised his wand as soon as she had finished giving the directions and had it pointed at the classroom ceiling. He moved away from his desk and heading to stand below a blue, foam ball. He waited for a few seconds and there it went.

It fell. "Arresto Momentum!" He said loudly, waving his wand at the ball. It slowed a tiny, tiny bit but it did work some. Milo caught it before it hit his face and ran to toss it into the Ravenclaw basket.

Neither of these spells were totally NEW to Dottie G., but she kind of liked it that way. She was good at Charms, and so being giving old hat spells sort of meant that she got to play around with perfecting them instead of stressing over trying something totally new. She kind of wished she was practicing them non-verbally too, even though that wasn't something she'd really tried in earnest before. Just accidentally, like when she'd been doing something by rote and didn't even realize she'd stopped saying the incantation.

She was feeling so good that she only tried the incantation twice, pushing hard on the 'puh' sound and lingering on the 'oh'. It felt like blowing the object away when you said it like that. "Depulso. Depulsooooo." She was going to rock this.

Dot popped to her feet, and the professor revealed their task only a few moments later. Ooooh, they were banishing into a pretty finite container? That was really tricky and would take actual-for-real talent. Yaaaay. Bring on the falling balls of destiny. The ginger Slytherin brandished her wand and watched for a green ball to begin its descent.

UuuuumTHEREWASONE! RIGHTTHERE! "DEPULSO," one very excited fifth cast her spell, sending the ball spinning away from her. Way too hard, though, and with zero precision. That ball had no chill. Neither did Dottie G.

Neat! They were having a game of which house bin had the most foam balls? "Let's do this!" he thought with great determination.He got himself ready, and focused on the yellow balls that were falling down on them. His intent clearly was to put as many of them into his house bin. He could do this!

He aimed and used the sweeping motion with his wand,"Depulso!" Come on...work...work. The ball moved! But it sort of fly towards the corner instead and not straight to his house bin. Hmph.

Try again,Henric! No way he was going to miss this time. His younger housemates need to help the older students here, the balls were falling too fast! Arresto Momentum would do the trick nicely.

GAAAAAME TIME!

Internal flail. Game times were always fun. Hogwarts was full of fun even though some students were too depressing, Owen decided. He was so game for all the games. When the Professor gave them the instructions, Owen listened attentively. Hah! Foam balls! They will be catching foam balls. Well, them first, second and third years, at least. He kind of envied the older students for being able to do non-verbals. But one step at a time. You will get there, he told himself and got ready.

Time to catch some falling balls!

Here we go. They were descending and Owen might have screeched a bit before finding his footing. Determined, he raised his wand and concentrated. Intention was the key. "Arresto Momentum!" Waaaaaaaaaave.

A yellow ball slowed and Owen stepped up in time to catch it. Into the yellow bin you go, first ball!

Since his arrival at Hogwarts Sabbath had been practically dying to sink his teeth into something concrete and here was his first chance “Lets see what you’re made of” he challenged himself. He held his wand in his hand, briefly contemplating its Hungarian Horntail core. He was about to cast his first ever spell… the definitive moment of his magical journey. He’d practiced the incantation in his mind, practiced the hand movement, too, all the while watching the Professor's instructions diligently. The game was about to begin, Sabbath waited for the foam balls to fall away. Deep breath in…GO!

“Arresto momentum” sabbath chanted while waving his wand…. Ugh! Nothing had happened! How frustrating! “Get back on the horse, Gitano” he thought to himself, gritting his teeth. Try again.

Sabbath focussed his determination, intent on mastering the spell. “Arresto momentum” he stated, waving his wand with more force this time… Oh! His heart leapt, the ball had slowed. Sabbath grinned widely, snitched the ball from mid air and shunted it quickly over to the Ravenclaw basket ‘Hell, yeah!'

Whoa where did those balls come from??

Blaise was listening to the Professor...of course he was...just...suddenly the ceiling wasn't what he thought it was cause there were like 3826489362398 balls up there and did she know how distracting they were? 'Cause right now his head was thrown back and he was just STARING. Were they gonna learn how to do that too? It would come in real handy when he had to hide his quill and notepad.

Speaking of....Blaise waved his hand lazily toward the floating instruments. "That's enough." He didn't want them getting crushed during the activity. While the Professor said THEY couldn't get hurt, she made no promises about their stationery. It wasn't a risk the boy was willing to take, not at this point in his life.

Something in him hoped really badly that the second and third years were gonna be good at this charm otherwise they were looking at being pelted by the great number of them falling at a time--like now, right now his hands were firmly held over his head while one ball then another then ANOTHER bounced off his head and fell to the floor. How was he meant to concentrate like this with them falling ALL the time and how was he meant to take aim?

Blaise waved his wand, trying to quickly get out the incantation but all he got was "Arresto mo--" Before another ball came crashing down on him. In a bid to escape another that was hurtling toward him, he shuffled forward, nearly tripping on one that had already fallen. This was gonna be harder than he thought. Somehow he actually needed to get the words 'Arresto momentum' out even if it took all day.

This was hard. The foam balls were falling ALL AT ONCE. Slowing and picking them up to deposit them into their house bins were just taking too much time. Owen looked around him and saw that the older students doing the Banishing charm and then he got an idea. What if...what if....them first to third years do the slowing down of the foam balls while their older badgers took care of banishing them into the bins as the balls descended slowly. That way, he could cover more. And anyway, they could still catch some of the foam balls they just Arresto momentum'd.

That wasn't against the rules, right? Riiiiiiiight?

But he had to tell an older badger first, someone like...Henric! "Hey, mate! Maybe we can cover more balls faster if I slow them down and you do the banishing?"

Yes, yes? "Arresto Momentum!" Owen waved his wand, downtempo-ing some balls. And some more.

Look at Norah, Henric and Owen go! "Go, go, go, guys!'' cheerleaded Adi, briefly pausing to give his Housemates a thumbs up. But then it was time to get back into the game! Wheeeeere were you, second yellow ball? AHA! THERE you were.

The Hufflepuff zoomed in on the targeted ball, barely feeling as one bounced off of his head. Hoping to have another ball in the bin, he fixated his intent on it. Over the years, it had become obvious that concentration was key. He had realised that with the help of Tessa Hart during one Transfiguration lesson back in his first year.

''Depulso!'' Cue the sweeping wand movement! The targeted ball vanished... and BOOYAH! Into the Hufflepuff bin it was deposited.

YEAH!

Finally, something to start the blood pumping. Crossing his arms across his chest, the seventh year listened to the instructions, and watched as bins appeared before them, as well as balls in house colours suspended above them. Based on the task given, it seems that the seventh years will have no time to slow things down, and get to the banishing action right away. That in itself would require great concentration and coordination.

Ethan was lost in his thoughts as he calculated his movements, and missed the moment when the professor lifted the charm that kept the balls suspended. In a second, the Slytherin had retrieved his wand from his sleeve and concentrated on a green ball that was falling. Wand following the decent of the green sphere, Ethan waited for the right moment, and banished the ball into the Slytherin bin without saying the incantation out loud. "Depulso!" a grand sweeping movement of his wand arm and the ball went inside the bin with a dull thud.

Shortly after that, he saw Oliver dump his captured green ball into the same bin, and gave the first year a thumbs up. That kid's a fast learner. Ethan approves.

Henric heard his name being called and turned around. He wanted to join team? Excellent! "Yeah! Great idea mate!! You help slow down the balls,Owen!" He aimed and used the spell again, this time with more intent!
"DEPULSO!" With that, the ball that Owen helped slow down using the spell managed to banish into his house bin. NICE!

Henric put up a high-five hand towards the big guy."UP high mate! We made a great team! Let's catch all the yellow foam balls yea?!" He grinned broadly, excited that this game was going well on the Hufflepuff team.

He flashed a wide smile at Adi,"Yeah!! Let's do this! Hufflepuff need to win!"

Owen nodded and grinned. He could do that. He was intent on slowing those foam balls. "Arresto Momentum!" Wand!wave. Slow down, foam ball! And another, and another foam ball! Here, Henric...and Adi...and Miss Prefect Norah!

HIGH-FIVE! Owen obliged. Of course. Why wouldn't he? They were having fun and they were making HUGE progress. "Sure! Let's go!" They were going to win this one. Then he was back to plodding foam balls. He also took the liberty of picking some that the older badgers missed and threw it into the bin. He goes to the left, no to the right...escaping a ball from hitting his head. It's a fake shot! And in it went!

WOOH!

Ellery TOTALLY saw King Ethan give her brother a thumbs up which made her glow with pride. TWO OF HER FAVORITE PEOPLE EEEE.

Okay. Ahh restohhh moh MEN tom. Arresto Momentum.

"Arresto Momentum." She practiced the wand movement, then gave it a shot. "Arresto Momentum."

Hey, the ball made a slight twitch in midair, was that HER!?!?

A lost point from Gryffindor and it was a good thing he himself hadn't tried it all together just yet like he had originally thought to with the parchment. No need for two of them to get get ahead of things. Not that Benny would have likely gotten it on the absolute first try, at least non-verbally. This was going to take him some time...which was what they were getting with the activity. The seventh year moving to his feet as directed, doing his best to prepare for the task at hand as he listened to the professor explain things.

Intent...all about intent.

Taking stock of the situation with wand at the ready just moments before the foam balls were released, Benny tried for that intent and focus. *Depulso* followed by swish of wand in the air from pointing at the nearest falling red ball and then towards the Gryffindor bin. Nothing happened beside the ball continuing to fall. *Depulso* The seventh year tried again to no avail, missing the second time as well.

Bugger.

There might have been a flicker of smugness on Brooklyn’s face as the tiny Gryffindor lost a point for her house just for not following the instructions. Nobody got hurt by the parchment, yet it showed her something about Professor Baxter. Something she could very well use in her favor, and she filed that away as the discussion turned to the actual activity they were going to be doing. In a weird way, it reminded her of her first year and the planets in Astronomy, and she’d glanced toward Ethan as she wondered if he’d had the same thoughts. Likely not, but then she figured he didn’t know that was why she actually was decent toward him. They weren’t creating the foam balls, anyway, so it wasn‘t exactly the same. They weren’t destroying anything either, but it was still a House competition.

Except there was a serious lack of green balls landing in the Slytherin bin. That was disappointing, especially since she refused to give it to the Hufflepuffs without a fair fight. At least Ethan had gotten one in, and that little firstie whose sister was a Lion. She readied her wand as a cluster of green balls dropped near her, flicking it away from her in the sweeping motion. “Depulso,” she cast, concentrating on sending at least one ball into their bin. More would have been better, just so they could catch up, but she still smirked a little as a third green ball landed in the bin to join Ethan’s and the firstie’s. Nobody could say she wasn’t helping now.