Seeing Polly flash him the thumbs up, Adi scooted over to stand next to her. "HI!'' Eager beaver badger here! He also took a break for a second as she tried out the non verbal spell. Woohoo! It was a hit for her too! "Well done, Polly! You earned two biscuits!'' Ehehehe. Oh and how about a high five? Don't leave him hanging there.

Now, Adi returned his attention to the approaching dummies. None of you were getting past here. Nope, not happening. This time around, he opted to switch his spells. "Protego!'' Maybe he was distracted a little? Maybe his intent wasn't strong enough? Whatever it was, that non verbal incantation and vertical movement of his wand failed to protect him from a spell that shot his way. It caught him in the gut but it did nothing to harm him. Of course it wouldn't. Baxter would see to it her students were safe.

Anywho... that was one unsuccessful spell casting on his part.

The benefit of being inside the castle was that he didn't have to worry about the sparks the dummies were shooting. He was protected by the walls. The downside was that he didn't always have a clear range. He had to aim through windows or something. When that older girl whose name he did not remember joined him in the castle, Olly waved and grinned at her before turning his focus back on the fight.

If he could position himself to be able to shoot over the top of the castle, that seemed ideal. So he placed on foot onto a window and lifted himself up so he was at a might higher vantage point. It was easier to see all the dummies. There was one pointing their wands toward the castle. Oliver aimed his wand at it.

"Expelliarmus!" Wish a swish and slick of his wand, the blue jet of the spell was shooting toward the dummy. As it met its mark, the dummy's (fake?) wand flew out of its hand.

Bentley dived down to pick up the wand that his cousin was trying to kick away. He'd just put it back in his back pack for safe keeping, or until Blaise came to his senses. The first year rubbed the wand against the front of his shirt to get whatever dust it picked up on the ground off.

"You're being very silly Blaise." He chided as he stuffed the wand into his book bag. "And you can't prove how awesome you are if you don't have a wand to defend yourself!" Helloooooo, did he see that he wasn't making much sense?

"Then I'd shield shield shield and I'd run and hide. Luckily I've been reading up on stuff though."

Oh they were moving on to an activity? Bentley focused his attention on the professor.

"Time to put your money where your mouth is cousin." Bentley said as he walked towards the Gryffindor castle.

Maggie looked back up when Professor Baxter started talking again. Ooooh, hiiii, Zeke. She smirked at him, even wiggling her fingers in his direction a little. Totally hadn't seen him until now. Nope. What a coincidence he'd chosen to team up with the girl sitting next to her. Good thing Maggie had decided to work on her own. Mhm.

But, whoaaa, wait, CASTLES??? LIKE ACTUAL CASTLES?



CASTLEEEEEEEE!!!!

Getting to her feet and taking out her wand, Maggie quickly moved over to their Slytherin Castle (!!) and got inside too. Like. Obviously. She wasn't going to stand OUTSIDE the castle when she could be INSIDE. Pfft. Who would even choose to be outside? Oh. Hady apparently. Oh well. But that Slytherin first year had had the right idea. As had....Brooklyn. Yup. She got a nod in acknowledgement. They were a team after all.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Maggie, too, cast the spell through one of the castle's windows at the nearest dummy. TAKE THAT FOR TRYING TO INVADE THE CASTLE!

Would you look at that? One dummy down, at least wandless. A point for him for catching it with the offensive spell. And he hadn't even practiced that one as much as the other. Just a tad bit of good luck there which thankfully continued on as he narrowly escaped a spark coming near him. Yeah, he probably should just focus on doing what he needed to do to protect the fort rather then revel in his successes just yet. Celebrating came later after they saw what the houses could do.

As for him, Benny tightened the grip on his wand to prepare himself. "Protego!" he cast, ready when the next spark came near him and his portion of the castle. The red light fizzled as it hit the shield he had created confirming it had certainly been cast right. Even if it didn't seem that powerful. "Protego!" he cast again in an attempt to strengthen the shield as another dummy took aim.

Wait...was that the one he had disarmed?

Dropping her shield charm Hady edged backwards nearer to the castle with her wand still raised. She wasn't letting those dummies get near her team mates! Nope. Nah-uh. Noway!

"Expel-" the brunette began in an attempt to disarm one of them. Ouch! She clearly hadn't taken notice to red sparks close to where she had been stepping, the sparks hitting her forearm that held her wand. Stumbling backwards a step or two she gave her arm to shake to rid herself of the tiny pain that was there. Probably another bruise to add to the long list of injuries she'd gotten this term.

Actually sending a half glare at the dummy Hady gave the charm another go. "Expelliarmus!" A satisfied smirk lifted the corners of her lips upwards when the 'wand' that was in the dummy's hand went flying across the room. YES!

As Adi sidled up beside her, Paulina flashed him a smile. "Heeey. Thanks, Housemate! You haven't done bad yourself." She wondered if she was actually going to get crackers, but now wasn't really the time to dwell on it when they were being assaulted by dummies that were throwing sparks from their wands.

Not cool.

After (slightly grudgingly) giving him the high five that she figured he wanted, Paulina turned her whole attention back to the matter at hand. A dummy was targeting her, but she was not going to let him have the satisfaction of hitting her the way that Adi had been. Knowing that he hadn't been hurt she didn't dwell on it, but instead silently cast Protego!

The spark that came her way ricocheted off of her shield and hit the dummy.

Haha!

Seeing as their was no immediate threat to her own LIFE (or well, threat of being hit with those red sparks anyway), Maggie was in fact watching Hady too. Who, unlike her, had just come into contact with the sparks coming out of the dummies' wands. It probably wasn't THAT bad but it still was probably a little painful. Definitely something she wanted to avoid.

So when the next dummy came close enough to the other Slytherin, Maggie quickly cast "Protego!" towards Hady. Now she'd have her hands free to disarm the dummy.

Team work, right?

OOOOH, Charms mixed with Defense? Caleb could get used to this. He took his wand and ran into the cover of the Slytherin castle, preferring to let his classmates start off the whole shield thing while he did the defending.

Picking out a dummy that was rolling towards them that no one else seemed to be after, he aimed right for the wand that the dummy was carrying and yelled "Expelliarmus!" and watched as it flew right out of it's hand and across the room. BOOM!

He really hoped this was on the practical of his NEWTs, because after SEVEN YEARS of learning this spell, he really was a pro. No wonder that Potter fellow used it so much back in the day...

Castle? Defending? Dummies?

Uh.

Well this sure took an unexpected turn..... And honestly, Zander kind of wished they had some more time to discuss thing s'cause in all honesty... He wasn't ready to fail yet. Surely Professor Baxter was requiring all Seventh Years to do nonverbals again. This class would be the bane of his entire existence. It was already proving to be just that.

Ahem.

But the Gryffindor was quick to get on his feet and make his way towards Gryffindor fort where he'd obviously have to stand guard. Except for the fact that his nonverbals were useless so would they really want his help?

Probably not.

AH. Dummy was making it's way forward, straight ahead!!! Expelliarmus! And nothing. Guess who felt like the real dummy now? Zander Adair, that's who. And also he may have been backing up very quickly because he didn't fancy getting dummy in his face. Ahem.

Well it took him long enough. Blaise thought he was going to have to chuck the wand clear across the classroom for his cousin to take the hint that he wanted nothing to do with it. Bentley was a smart cookie--or he was til he thought to lecture him.

Did he think he was listening? Cause he wasn't. The boy was much too busy listening to the Professor remind him why he'd been skipping class all year long.

Yup, this seemed plenty familiar and the boy sighed heavily. Dejectedly.

And now he was just full on ignoring his cousin as the two headed toward the Gryffindor castle. Why did they have to do this? Why was Charms such a compulsory subject?

Just as he got to the wall of the castle, he caught sight of the dummies inching closer with the sticks in their hands. Ooo, SO scary. The little boy turned on his heel and walked straight up to one of them. "Expelliarmus." While YANKING the stick from it's inanimate hand. Not so tough now, huh? Didn't think so.

Disarmed.

Well, time to start the main activity, and Davie would be working with the Claws. He waved bye to Hady and took shelter behind the Ravenclaw fort. Dun dunnnn. Bring on the dummies. Davie was ready to practice his spells, especially the disarming one. He'd just wished the professor had reviewed the wand movements one more time....

Ah well. Here they went! Was he the only Ravenclaw here? But there were so many dummies, how could he fight them all off?!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

"EXPELLIARMUS!" Davie exlaimed, casting his wand at the first dummy brandishing a spark shooter.

Where were all the snakes at? Brooklyn had wondered that for a while now, seeing as so far there was basically a total of five at their castle. Including her. She’d taken a second to acknowledge the firstie’s notice of her entrance, along with a slight nod when Maggie had followed her inside. That wasn’t too surprising, and after that jungle lesson with professor Bellaire she at least knew they could work together if they had to. Plus, Hady and Caleb were outside. Five snakes, and she knew there were others in the class before now. Except she wasn’t taking it upon herself to drag them over. Not when they were under assault.

She’d seen Hady get grazed by the sparks, just as Maggie had and sent a shield over the smaller fourth year. It meant she could focus on another vantage point, just as she saw another dummy heading straight toward the window she was peering out of. Oh no you don’t, she thought, aiming her wand out the window opening. “Protego!,” she cast, watching the sparks fizzle as they hit her shield. Effectively blocking her little area of the castle, of course, and she glanced over to check on Hady. They were all a team, after all. That meant helping each other, and helping to keep their castle intact.

Maybe he needed a new strategy because clearly this whole spell thing wasn't working out for him. Y'know, maybe he just needed to Blaise Bellaire the entire situation and yank the wand out of the dummies hands. Yes, he saw that. Except no, no. Zander Adair was DETERMINED. He was going to get it right. Just had to have the proper intent or whatever.

And clearly a bunch of dummies coming towards you for a full on attack didn't quite make his intention clear enough or something. Sweet Merlin, what more could it possibly take?

EXPELLIARMUS!

He thought again, aiming towards the oncoming dummy. Still nothing AND NOW THE DUMMY WAS GETTING CLOSER AND AAAAAAAH. He couldn't just run away! That'd make him look like the biggest idiot. No he would not, "expelliarmus!!"

What? He panicked, okay?

At least the dummy couldn't do anything to him now.

Ahem. Just had to work on the silent part of the whole silent spell thing.

Woooooooah. Norah watched with wide eyes as the big forts were created. How did professors even know all the spells to do these things? She'd been here for over four entire years and they'd never learned to make forts like that. It was a shame, really. She and Hayden could've made all the cool pillow forts in their dormitory if the professors had bothered to teach that one. With a salute in Oliver's direction, she picked up her bag and stationed herself near the yellow fort with her wand raised. DEFENSE TIME. Oh yeah.

She paused to watch the others casting their spells. They all seemed to remember the wand movement she'd forgotten. With her wand aimed at the floor, she tried out the movements once or twice until she had them all down pat. Alrighty. It was showtime. But before she could look up properly, she was stumbling sideways as if shoved by some invisible force. Uh. What? Norah's eyes snapped back to front, but all there was was the back of a dummy moving away from her. Okay then. That was weird. With a little shake of her head, she positioned herself in a defensive stance and scanned the space in front of the yellow fort.

When a dummy approached her from the left, and before it could raise its wand she cast, "Expelliarmus!" And nothing happened. A few sparks flew from the end of its wand and she stumbled backwards a few steps as if pushed over. Um. Excuse YOU, dummy. That wasn't very nice. She took a step forward and cast "Expelliarmus!"with more force this time, watching triumphantly as the dummy's wand was sent spinning backwards. Take THAT. That's what you got when you were rude like that.

A high five and yet another wand less dummy thanks to Polly. Woohoo! Now it was Adi's turn to make himself useful again by defending this yellow castle. He decided to go with the Shield Charm again because hello... Failure was NOT an option here!

The bespectacled Hufflepuff raised his wand hand, focusing with as much intent as possible on yet another approachi. dummy. He watched it intently, waiting for the moment the thing would shoot off its spell. Annnnd there it went! Adi was ready, yo! "Protego!" He thought in his head as he made the vertical like movement. Aha! No spell hit him this time!

Too bad, dummy! Another win for him!

It was time for the main activity and Henric couldn't wait to face the dummies. Let just say he was eager to use his wand, he needed to brush up on his DADA skills too. He stood in front of his yellow fort and waited for the dummies to come alive. He gave a thumbs up to Rooney for good luck."Yo man...don't let them past you, I got your back,"he smiled before returning his attention towards the now advancing dummies. He ducked, avoiding the spell the dummy cast at him. He quickly took aim and fired,"Expelliarmus!" He watched in excitement as the dummy's wand flew out of his hand. Take that you dummy!

Well, as far as she could tell, her shield spell had worked. As Brooklyn had turned back to her window, after checking on Hady, she saw it starting to fade away. Or more accurately, she saw even more dummies heading their way, and still there was a serious lack of snakes protecting their castle. Caleb and Hady still held the outside, but there were way too many dummies for just the five of them to hold off. It was frustrating, but she refused to fail. She’d just have to keep casting her spells. At least she had the confidence that she wouldn’t fail to cast the two they’d been tasked to use. It wasn’t like Transfiguration when she’d ended up with the fuzzy bunny mushroom.

Pointing her wand back out the window opening, she wondered if it was possible to disarm more than one dummy at once. That would definitely make things easier, but so far it seemed like Expelliarmus was more of a one on one thing. So she’d just have to be quick. “Expelliarmus!,” she yelled out, tracing out the movement yet again as she aimed for the dummy nearest to her window. One by one, she was determined to defeat the dummies before they swarmed their castle. She just had to hope their group would share that determination. She knew Maggie would, anyway. Neither one of them were willing to give up a castle.

Adi once again was feeling SUPER pleased with himself. Did everyone see that? This was how you recovered from a failed attempt at spell casting- by slaying the next attempt. There was no way those dummies could put this Badger and his swollen head down! But right now it was best he move on, yes? Dummies were still approaching after all.

His brown eyes locked into another one of the things which had just raised its wand. Oh no you did not! "Expelliarmus!" The spell was cast non verbally as usual and with the numeral six- like movement. The dummy barely had a chance to points the wand at him and the Hufflepuff castle before bye bye wand! WOOT! Another successful attempt at saving the yellow castle!

He caught Maggie's finger wiggling - owing to the fact that he was still looking at her more frequently than was normal. Ugh. He should have squeezed himself between the two girls instead, that was he could... hold her hand or something. Or not. Professor's were stupid sometimes.

BUT...

Apparently the prep work stuff was done. And there were castles. And dummies.

Awesome... he supposed.

Rallying with the Gryffindor's, Zeke took position in front of the castle - he had no interest in confining himself to its walls.

When the dummies were given the command to advance, he was quick to perform the disarming charm before he got get zapped by the sparks that would apparently follow. "Expelliarmus!"

The 'wand' to the dummy he'd directed it at, flew from its grip.

Success.

Bring. It. On. Dummies.

One dummy down..... More to go.

There were SOOOOOO many dummies that wanted to attack their castle. EEEEPPPP!!! Ava felt like she's one of the guard knight in the movie, but minus the shiny armor suit and plus the wand. Yup, and of course using wand is better. Hehehe. Her heart pumped faster than usual and she felt the adrenaline rush. Woooppp!!! Maybe this was just another activity in a lesson but it seemed like a real war. THIS IS WAR!!!

The young lioness eyed a big fat giant dummy came toward the castle and it almost wanted to break the door!!! She pointed her wand to that dummy and cast the disarming charm. "Expelliarmus!"

If only he could do a kungfu move on one of those dummies....man...how insane would that be?! "HAI-YAAK!" and a "KAPOWW!" here, there and everywheree! Henric would love to even slide and do his special underkick move too! Woo! But he didn't want to land himself into trouble of course. He pointed to one of the incoming enemy dummy-man which was heading towards his house's fort,"You there with an oddly-shape head! Come at me bro!!"Henric chuckled before ducking again from the attack. He-hehh! This was quite fun actually! Oh wait..weren't they supposed to be at war? Right, time to get seriousssss...Henric! "PROTEGO!"He deflected another one of their lightning fast sparks before running for cover again.

This whole team work thing was working.

Or at least sort of.

Brooklyn, too, was now trying to help out Hady with shield charms. Good. The other girl got another nod in approval. They were a team. And they were going to defend this castle with everything they had. "Expelliarmus!" She yelled while finishing up the wand movement with the appropriate little swirl, aiming for one of the dummies who had gotten pretty close to the castle.

"Someone should go help Hady!" Looking at you there, Mr. Prefect! He was a seventh year after all. Shouldn't he be all over standing in between the castle and the dummies? No? What was he wearing that badge for then?

Sparks, sparks, chaos and sparks. Was it just him? Or were there lots of charms flying around and lots of sparks too?

On the one hand, he found 'games' increasingly annoying, but he had to admit... this... wasn't too bad. 'Defending' against an 'army' was pretty neat, even if the threat wasn't real. And it was because he knew the threat wasn't real, that he didn't encounter any difficulties under 'pressure'.

A sting ran up his elbow as he was hit by a spark from his left hand side.

Swiftly turning on his heal he targeted the dummy and was about to disarm it when instead he cast, "Protego!" effectively shielding himself from in in-coming hit from the dummy behind the one he had been looking at. Sheesh.

They were ganging up on them too? Nice. Real nice.

Holy Canaries!

These dummies were coming at them from left and right and just everywhere! Where was the rest of the snakes at? Seriously there had to be more then just the five of them defending their castle.

Hady quickly scanned the area around them as the dummies began to close in her wand trained fully on them. When shield spells were cast close to where she was standing she cast a quick look over her shoulder at her team. Both Maggie and Brooklyn were helping her out on this. Nice work ladies! She sent them both a firm nod of appreciation for their help. Snakes worked together and that's just what they were doing.

As one of the dummies came closer Hady fixed her wand at it, "Expelliarmus!" It's 'wand' went flying the other way. One more down and still way to many more to go.