Lucas smiled snighly as the professor set forth the activity. He knew he could have some fun with this as a master flyer. Lucas took hold of his broom and boarded it. He then kicked off the ground and took off. He sped through the rings almost knocking the more hesitant flyers over. Before long he had the couldron in his hand and he kicked off to head through the rings again but now he was getting a bit too cockey. He attempted to go to the rings at top speed and he knocked his hand against one of the rings causing him to drop his couldron right where the first year flyers were, "LOOK OUT, FALLING CAULDRON", Lucas bellowed frantically. The last thing he wanted was for some poor first year flyer to get hurt. He was as class clown, not a sadist.

It was exhilarating...being this high up in the sky again. To be honest, Olivia found herself to be in a much better temperament as she rode the wind above the others down below. It was peaceful, calming... providing a sense of freedom... A false sense, but one that was much needed at the current moment, all the same. It had been so long since she'd felt anything like it...and instead of immediately going for the hoops, as most everyone else had, the blonde found herself accelerating to a breakneck speed; laying nearly flat against her broom handle as she maneuvered into the curve of the stadium. Crisp, autumn wind was whipping and thrashing at her face and hair, but she didn't trouble herself with any of those details. This was, after all, meant to be about "showing off", right? Well, what better way to demonstrate her skills than to put on a little show all her own? True, Liv probably seemed a bit rusty at first (and she was, GAH), but her mum was funny about her being on a broom at home. And she'd been otherwise preoccupied this summer with getting engaged to the Head Boy and living it up with Althea Kenning. So..... Hoops, what?

Ha! Just kidding Mr. Baldvinsson. She'd be getting to those hoops in just a moment. If the need arose, Olivia would submit a formal apology later on, but it was impossible for her not to do a lap of two just to get the feel of her broom again. It'd been aaages after all....... Well, okay, about six months, but still. That seemed like ages to her. SO MUCH had happened in that measly six months.

ANYWAY, it was time to get down to business. She didn't want to waste too much time zipping around the pitch and not completing the activity. There was a point to make here; concerning her grades and keeping up with them with all that was going on. Also, Liv's speed wasn't for the faint of heart. It probably seemed reckless, stupid, and juvenile to anyone watching, but this girl was in complete control of her broom, just as her father had taught her. In fact, WATCH THIS (famous Gryffindor last words)... Steering the handle in a hard left, Olivia drove into the bend of the stadium stands, keeping her composure in tact as she used the momentum coming out of it to propel herself towards the hoops. Naturally, since said hoops were not stationary, Liv had to pull up to decease her pace....attempting to anticipate the movements of the rings as they completed their vertical, to horizontal, to diagonal drift. Tricksy hoops. Tricksy, indeed.

Not a second later, she shot through the first ring, allowing her body to fall into place as she was forced to coast through the awaiting second one. It'd been too close and had nearly knocked into her broom.... DECEITFUL! Luckily...there seemed to be enough space between it and the third one to allow for some quickness and fancy trickery....which was basically just her avoiding the hoop edges like a recoiling snake. Her mum would've been so proud, right? Also, what made this leagues more challenging was the fact that they were attempting to complete this activity all at the same time. So, there was some consideration from Liv as some of her ickles were up here with her... Well, Abey was, anyway. She was mindful of him and the Montmorency boy... and Derf, and Jessa...all of whom she'd taken a liking to. Actually, the blonde found herself moving at their pace.... sorta. As they neared the stack of cauldrons... the hoops seemed to become more vigorously...or was that just to her own mind? That might've been her imagination acting up...as she was SO CLOSE to finishing... but it definitely seemed to be the truth.

Her imagination could be absolutely insane at times...

Zipping up out of the fray of her smaller peers, Olivia attempted to line align her body with the awaiting rings, so that she could make a straight shot through those remaining... NO, she wasn't going to miss any of them... This was strategy! It would never be her intention to knock anyone off a broom or accidentally push them, and these were aggressive ickles (surprisingly). Ugh, not finishing fast was going to bug her, but that's the risk you ran wen being mindful of others. It was no big deal. She'd collect her cauldron and run it again........ Aaaaaand taaaaking said cauldron in THREE........TWO.....ONE....

Flatting herself against her broom handle again, Olivia raced downward through the remaining rings, effectively cutting in front of the smaller children (WITHOUT HARMING THEM)... whipping out her broom as she neared the cauldron stack. Listen, these things were heavy... and she wasn't about to kill herself transporting a hunk of metal across the sky. What if she dropped one on an smaller child below? She NEVER would've forgiven herself.... NEVER. She had children down there! Carlton, Stasya, Kyle... Needless to say, it was best to charm hers. Mhm. Everyone should've followed suit.

Snatching it up, she sat it atop her head like a makeshift helmet and took off towards the starting point; landing just a moment later. Throwing her leg over the side, the lionlady plopped down on the soft, pitch grass. She run the course again in a bit. That had only been the MINI activity, after all. THERE WAS MORE TO COME!

Text Cut: Individual replies <3

Text Cut: Kyle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zellanna

Kyle smiled at the encouragement he got from the professor. And once he got himself up in the air and back, he had earned two points for his house! He felt ecstatic! He lifted off the ground and cheered from atop his broom and almost lost his balance, quickly placing both hands on the broom again to support himself. He leaned back and landed again, unable to stop smiling. He wasn't sure how he would handle being high up in the air, but he would manage somehow. Flying class may not be so bad after all. He continued practicing taking off and landing, getting more confident each time.

Haraldur watched in silence as the young Mr. Erikson continued practising taking off and landing until he had it down to a tee.

Text Cut: Emmeline

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

Emmeline smiled gratefully at Stasya as her friend suggested the broom was broken, but she shook her head. "I think it's just stubborn," she told the other young Gryffindor. Despite her own issues, she was really happy when Stasya's broom did what it was supposed to and the blonde girl climbed on. "Good going!" Emmeline grinned at Stasya again, and gave her own broom another try before Mr. Baldvinsson came over. She realized then that Stasya was probably waiting for her, and shot her friend a grateful look, but continued in the small voice: "You can go ahead, I don't want to hold you up." She wanted Stasya to get to hover before time was called after all.

The fact that Mr. Baldvinsson had hovered next to her and didn't seem to be leaving was very reassuring to the young lion, and she relaxed slightly. She listened closely to what he was telling her, and she felt relieved that he didn't say that she didn't have enough magic to fly properly. She reminded herself that she'd flown on her brother's broom, sort of, but that hadn't required showing it anything or trusting really; if it didn't throw her big brother off, why would it throw anyone else off? Still, Mr. Baldvinsson was the flying professor for a reason and she was sure he knew what he was talking about.

Comparing brooms with wands worried her slightly again because her wand had chosen her, and this broom could not have shown that it didn't want to fly for her more clearly. What if it didn't choose her--

But no, Mr. Baldvinsson seemed to think it would work for her. Show it who's boss and trust it. Right. Taking a deeeeep breath, Emmeline moved her hand above the broom once again. She glanced nervously at the professor again, but he still hadn't left. "Up!" More rolling on the ground. She sighed, but she was not going to give up now, not with the teacher and Stasya waiting.

Emmeline tried to recall the wonderful sensation of soaring over the countryside, even if it wasn't proper flying. She really wanted to get in the air again, and surely this broom did. "UP!" And at last, the broom jumped up the hovering position! She grinned broadly at Mr. Baldvinsson and Stasya. "Thanks, sir!" Without waiting long, she eagerly swung her leg over the broomstick and copied Mr. Baldvinsson's grip and position as best as she could. Turning to Stasya, she asked her friend: "Ready?"

And then the broom left the ground and hovered up to Miss Sparkes hand. Haraldur clapped his hands together in a little applaud. "Well done, Miss Sparkes. It trusts you now, you should be good to mount it and kick off now." Should. Heh.

Text Cut: Jessa

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

She needed to relax. The broom had risen into the air like she'd wanted and there was no bucking or other malfunction--just like every other time she'd flown. It was just...the nerves, you know? Of not wanting to be called back to the ground and stuck with the beginners.

The girl would be lying if she said she wasn't jealous of the way Derf and Theo just sped off, Derf yelling things she could only assume were quidditch related. The thing was, flying wasn't the problem, it was keeping focus with literally everything happening around her. It was for this reason that she remained seated on her broom, hovering in the same spot while she watched the others make an attempt at the hoops. Zipping across the pitch was one thing, zipping through hoops that moved of their own accord was another. Some part of her was trying to find a pattern...overthinking as it were. It was the story of her life really.

Her legs kicked idly and her posture was one of someone pensive but relaxed. Up...down....across....down....but none of them seemed to move like the other and none seemed to keep up the pattern she thought she'd made out. Wasn't long til the young girl was subconsciously gnawing away at her lower lip.

Of course she could just rush in, put her hand eye coordination to the test but...there had to be SOME thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

It was another while of just hovering there, watching the others before Jessa came to a conclusion--two actually. 1. She could not sit here indefinitely. 2. A little more time on the pitch couldn't hurt in building some confidence. It shouldn't have been this daunting to throw herself at a bunch of moving hoops, but at any given time there was so much going through the Ravenclaw's brain that the task seemed almost impossible.

Eventually, the young girl took a deep breath, steeling her resolve. She would have to get a move on before those on the ground came to join them; that would have been the true mark of her falling behind.

Jessa leaned forward on her broom, finally willing it into action just as someone zipped by her to enter the obstacle course of hoops. It was next or never, that was what she told herself. Soon the wind was whipping against her face, her hair trailing behind her in the messy braid she'd managed.

The first hoop seemed easy enough but in all honesty she'd just flown into it. A stroke of luck as it were based on it's random movement. Ironically, that was how she'd zipped through the second as well. Weird how that worked, it was almost effortless, like her eyes knew where they wanted to go and the broom fell in sync. In reality it was likely very subtle movements in her own body at the sight of each hoop--no Jessa. Don't think too much about it.

Just let it happen.

As the firsties were getting better and handling their brooms, his eyes drifted over to Miss Cambridge who just set off across the ptich.

"It looks good, Miss Cambridge! Don't rush it." The flying instructor called over to her, still hovering by the first years.

Text Cut: Abraham

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

Just being up in the air was almost actually enough to make Abey forget the whole point of the being in the air thing. The whole 'do this and then that and then the other thing and then come back' or something. Yes, there was a POINT to the flying, and Abey remembered. Barely.

HOOPS FIRST! Easy peasy to get through hoops ESPECIALLY WHEN you were small and thin because that meant there was a lot more margin for error. NOT that Abey needed margin for error because actually he was excellent at flying actually and it was the only thing he was really excellent at at all. AND ACTUALLY even his new wand said that he was a really good flier, so like... that meant it was the law or something.

The yell of Derf reached Abey's ears JUST ABOUT, but it was a little hard to hear properly actually because of the whole FLYING thing. Also, Abey was IMPATIENT TO FLY and he was a liiiiiiittle bit tempted to ignore the yelling and go straight for the hoops... but he didn't because it was his VILLAIN and also they were supposed to be showing their skills and flying in formation was ONE OF THE ULTIMATE SKILLS. Even if it meant it didn't make a WHOLE lot of logical sense in terms of going THROUGH the hoops. The Hawkshead Attack Formation was all about forcing other Quidditch players out of the way while flying TOWARDS the hoo-... Uhh... the goalposts. Usually. But maybe it would work on hoops too!

"OKAAAAAAY! BUT I'M IN FRONT!" Because he'd called dibs. Right then. HE'D CALLED IT. So that all he had to worry about was getting through the hoops, and trying to judge where they would be by the time he reached them.

Speaking of which... FIRST hoop... easy peasy! Well... not easy at all actually, BUT THAT WAS HIS STORY AND HE WAS STICKING TO IT.

Onwards he went, determined and focused. And fast. RESERVE SEEKER SPEED.

Mr. Botros sure was speeding off and Haraldur squinted his eyes to spot the young boy zoom towards the hoops. Should he have set a speed limit? Huh. Crossing his arms across his chest he watched intently the young boys so that their excitement wouldn't knock them off their brooms.

Text Cut: Stasya

Quote:

Originally Posted by SilverTiger

Stasya had given the groundskeeper a grin when he had complimented her, but that hadn’t meant that she was abandoning her plan to wait for Emmeline. Friends didn’t let other friends fail, so for now she was perfectly willing to stay on the ground even if she could sense her broom was maybe getting a little impatient. Besides, even though Emmeline had told her she could go on ahead, there wasn’t anywhere to go. All they were supposed to do was practice hovering and landing. She figured it didn’t matter if she waited or not for that, and right now, she wanted to wait until her friend’s broom had cooperated. Along with the groundskeeper, apparently. They would give her support, the confidence that she was going to manage it. Not to mention, she was not going to go anywhere while her friend was frustrated.

She had grinned again when the stubborn broom had finally risen up to the other girl’s hand, still mounted on her own even though she had yet to push off. Therefore her feet were still, sort of, on the ground. Enough that she thought she could manage to push off once she chose to, anyway. “Yup,” she responded, adding a nod for good measure even as she had pushed off and hovered maybe a foot or so off the ground, watching to make sure the other girl had managed it too. Only then did she lean back a little and feel the broom lowering her back down until her feet were on the ground again. It seemed easy enough.

Young Miss Dalgaard-Volkova perfected her taking off and landing easily. He watched with proud. "Vel gert." He gave her a warm smile.

Text Cut: Etta

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

Etta could see the hoops clearly now, slowing down considerably. She felt the sudden pang of anxiety and nervousness again. See, this is why she needed to practice flying often. The girl hovered mid-air for a little while, watch people fly through the hoops easily enough. It shouldn't be that difficult and yet. The girl sighed, realising that she couldn't just stay here forever.

Instead, taking a deep breath, she focused on the hoops and carefully studied the their movement. It was an easy-enough activity, there really was so need for anxiety. Gosh, Etta. Narrowing her eyes and leaning forward just a little, she zoomed forward. She flew towards one of the hoops in the middle.. concentrating.. concentrating... and found herself right at the other end. Wait. Did she just do it? She turned around to make sure the line of hoops were behind her, the biggest smile appearing on her face. Heh. She did it.

Haraldur saw how the Hufflepuff prefect flew through the hoops never once losing her concentration. That was important, focus was important. He nodded approvingly each time she soared through one of the hoops.

Text Cut: Lucas

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rosa Chispa Princessa

Lucas smiled snighly as the professor set forth the activity. He knew he could have some fun with this as a master flyer. Lucas took hold of his broom and boarded it. He then kicked off the ground and took off. He sped through the rings almost knocking the more hesitant flyers over. Before long he had the couldron in his hand and he kicked off to head through the rings again but now he was getting a bit too cockey. He attempted to go to the rings at top speed and he knocked his hand against one of the rings causing him to drop his couldron right where the first year flyers were, "LOOK OUT, FALLING CAULDRON", Lucas bellowed frantically. The last thing he wanted was for some poor first year flyer to get hurt. He was as class clown, not a sadist.

Haraldur was pleasantly surprised the activity had gone so well. No one shoving another. No one falling off their broom. No one...

Wait. Someone shouted.

The flying instructor looked up at Mr Devolian and noticed one of the cauldrons heading straight towards the small group. And all his the children. Nope.

Seeing Haraldur walking around, one wouldn't think he was particularly swift in his movements. But it was a different thing all together on the broom. In one quick movement he'd rolled around so he was mounted correctly on his broom and zoomed up through the air meeting the falling cauldron and catching it in his arms.

Once retrieved he slowly drifted down to the ground. "Your cauldron Mr. Devolian." He handed it over. "Be careful, flying is dangerous enough as it is without cauldrons flying about." He showed him a small smile.

Text Cut: Olivia P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

It was exhilarating...being this high up in the sky again. To be honest, Olivia found herself to be in a much better temperament as she rode the wind above the others down below. It was peaceful, calming... providing a sense of freedom... A false sense, but one that was much needed at the current moment, all the same. It had been so long since she'd felt anything like it...and instead of immediately going for the hoops, as most everyone else had, the blonde found herself accelerating to a breakneck speed; laying nearly flat against her broom handle as she maneuvered into the curve of the stadium. Crisp, autumn wind was whipping and thrashing at her face and hair, but she didn't trouble herself with any of those details. This was, after all, meant to be about "showing off", right? Well, what better way to demonstrate her skills than to put on a little show all her own? True, Liv probably seemed a bit rusty at first (and she was, GAH), but her mum was funny about her being on a broom at home. And she'd been otherwise preoccupied this summer with getting engaged to the Head Boy and living it up with Althea Kenning. So..... Hoops, what?

Ha! Just kidding Mr. Baldvinsson. She'd be getting to those hoops in just a moment. If the need arose, Olivia would submit a formal apology later on, but it was impossible for her not to do a lap of two just to get the feel of her broom again. It'd been aaages after all....... Well, okay, about six months, but still. That seemed like ages to her. SO MUCH had happened in that measly six months.

ANYWAY, it was time to get down to business. She didn't want to waste too much time zipping around the pitch and not completing the activity. There was a point to make here; concerning her grades and keeping up with them with all that was going on. Also, Liv's speed wasn't for the faint of heart. It probably seemed reckless, stupid, and juvenile to anyone watching, but this girl was in complete control of her broom, just as her father had taught her. In fact, WATCH THIS (famous Gryffindor last words)... Steering the handle in a hard left, Olivia drove into the bend of the stadium stands, keeping her composure in tact as she used the momentum coming out of it to propel herself towards the hoops. Naturally, since said hoops were not stationary, Liv had to pull up to decease her pace....attempting to anticipate the movements of the rings as they completed their vertical, to horizontal, to diagonal drift. Tricksy hoops. Tricksy, indeed.

Not a second later, she shot through the first ring, allowing her body to fall into place as she was forced to coast through the awaiting second one. It'd been too close and had nearly knocked into her broom.... DECEITFUL! Luckily...there seemed to be enough space between it and the third one to allow for some quickness and fancy trickery....which was basically just her avoiding the hoop edges like a recoiling snake. Her mum would've been so proud, right? Also, what made this leagues more challenging was the fact that they were attempting to complete this activity all at the same time. So, there was some consideration from Liv as some of her ickles were up here with her... Well, Abey was, anyway. She was mindful of him and the Montmorency boy... and Derf, and Jessa...all of whom she'd taken a liking to. Actually, the blonde found herself moving at their pace.... sorta. As they neared the stack of cauldrons... the hoops seemed to become more vigorously...or was that just to her own mind? That might've been her imagination acting up...as she was SO CLOSE to finishing... but it definitely seemed to be the truth.

Her imagination could be absolutely insane at times...

Zipping up out of the fray of her smaller peers, Olivia attempted to line align her body with the awaiting rings, so that she could make a straight shot through those remaining... NO, she wasn't going to miss any of them... This was strategy! It would never be her intention to knock anyone off a broom or accidentally push them, and these were aggressive ickles (surprisingly). Ugh, not finishing fast was going to bug her, but that's the risk you ran wen being mindful of others. It was no big deal. She'd collect her cauldron and run it again........ Aaaaaand taaaaking said cauldron in THREE........TWO.....ONE....

Flatting herself against her broom handle again, Olivia raced downward through the remaining rings, effectively cutting in front of the smaller children (WITHOUT HARMING THEM)... whipping out her broom as she neared the cauldron stack. Listen, these things were heavy... and she wasn't about to kill herself transporting a hunk of metal across the sky. What if she dropped one on an smaller child below? She NEVER would've forgiven herself.... NEVER. She had children down there! Carlton, Stasya, Kyle... Needless to say, it was best to charm hers. Mhm. Everyone should've followed suit.

Snatching it up, she sat it atop her head like a makeshift helmet and took off towards the starting point; landing just a moment later. Throwing her leg over the side, the lionlady plopped down on the soft, pitch grass. She run the course again in a bit. That had only been the MINI activity, after all. THERE WAS MORE TO COME!

This one. This one had it. Haraldur puffed his chest out and watched how Miss Phillips moved with ease up on her broom, flying through the hoops, collecting a cauldron and returning safely.

"Well done, Miss Phillips. Well done!" He exclaimed, pointing wildly to the hoops and then back at her. He obviously liked it.

But it was time to move on with the lesson.

After the last student had touched back down on the ground, Mr. Baldvinsson couldn’t help but show his excitement by levitating up and down in the air in a bouncing manner. ”Yes, yes, well done everybody!” Proud ex-ranger here.

”Please, take a seat everyone.” The soft grass is ever so warm and comfy. But the excitment from being in the air would have to simmer down a bit for now. ”I know Quidditch is no longer practiced at Hogwarts.” The Flying Instructor glared up at the castle at this statement. He wouldn’t mind an evening in the Igloo, discussing how much of an annoyance that was to him. But for now, it was a sore subject for everyone currently on the pitch. Moving on. He flew very close to the students, eyeing each and everyone one of them as he spoke dramatically.

”Since Quidditch is no longer practiced at Hogwarts. I thought we could come up with a new tradition... Something I have played all my life on Svalbard...” Yeah? You getting excited? You’re ready for this? He let go off the broom and flew his hands out. ”Creaothceann!”

Again, no applauds. Although he did like when the sound of clapping hands came spontaneously he might have to actually teach the students when to clap for him. Right now, they could fly and all but the applauding was just terrible. Just terrible.

”It’s fun! It’s fun!” He reassured them. ”Don’t listen to the Ministry. Ministry-Schministry, am I right?” He was right. Haraldur flew back to his original position in front of the class, still levitating, he leaned forward, propping his elbows up on the broomstick to rest his head in them.

”Anyone mind telling me why Creaothceann isn’t played at Hogwarts? Or anywhere? How does one play the game?”

Come, come don't be shy. With a raise of hands, please.

OOC: Alrighty! This one is pretty simple guys, answer Haraldur’s questions:

- Why is Creathceann not played anymore?
- How does the game work?

You have approximately 24 hours to answer the questions. This means class will be moving on tomorrow Sunday 14th of May 9.30 am GMT+2/ 3.30 am EDT.

Daniel had been stood quietly wondering what to say, when suddenly the Professor asked a question and his hand shot into the air. "Professor, is it because according to reports it is one of the most deadly games that is played on a broom?" He had read that somewhere, "Though I would love to see it in action, nothing can be too dangerous surely."

No but...it was his idea so shouldn't he be in front?!

Or could they take turns?

Ultimately decided that it really didn't matter to him whether or not he was in front, Derf sooooooared and sped through the air, easily gliding through the hoops and only clipping the back bristles of his broom once when he tried doing a little additional small corkscrew sort of trick while flying through one of them. Had Daisy seen that? Not the small clipping but the corkscrew? WOULD SHE SIGN HIS FACE?!

Ahem...anyway...

Gliding back down to the pitch - wait...were they supposed to have done something more than just fly through hoops? Oops. Distractions happened again - and dismounting briefly to listen to the flying instructor speak. Derf DID clap, actually, thank you very much, because ANYTHING that meant they could actually use their brooms was a good deal to him!

But nearly as soon as the second year's eyes lit up...they dimmed.

"Becaus-s-se the threat on Hogwarts-s-s was-s-s for all athletics-s-s?" he responded after raising his hand. He remembered mum being SUPER upset about it - still was really - because she loved watching quidditch matches while she worked as a professor. "S-Somefing about how flying was-s-s only for the birds-s-s and everything else unnatural...I think..." So that would include Creaothceann, yeah? They could go look in the archives of the Daily Prophet if necessary to clarify. "But you play by doing what she did," he added, pointing to Olivia and the cauldron!helmet she had. "Only not as a helmet but the other way, opening up, so you can catch rocks-s-s in it."

Etta landed after flying through the hoops for a while, not really wanting to come down at all. Honestly. It felt so good to be up in the air after so long.. that she wondered why she didn't practice that often. Obviously, she wasn't good enough to be playing professional quidditch but it would be nice to fly occasionally. She'd have to keep that in mind.

She settled comfortably on the grass, the excitement still clearly visible on her face... when it turned to one of surprise. WHAT? Creaothceann? What was he even talking about? FUN? She had read about it.. of course so the prefect raised her hand, the look of incredulity still present on her face. How did he call it FUN? Really. Something was very wrong with him. She raised a hand, giving him a very disapproving look.

"Professor, I apologise for disagreeing with you but it's a terrible, terrible sport.. incredibly dangerous. Basically, the players have a cauldron on their heads and they have to catch falling rocks and stones with it.." Her voice trailed off, almost shuddering at how horrible that was. Why were they even discussing it?

Professor long name. It must be a tradition for the motherland because his dad also has a mile long name. He smiled happily as the man continued to speak. He likes this guy mmhm fo sho.

Ohhh so he's just gonna let them strut their stuff? This Curly Top doesnt need to be told twice! Tenacius hopped on his broom and pushed off, making a beeline for the nearest hoop floating in the air. Flying through hoops, zipping this way and that. His dad joked that he learned to zoom first before he could walk. And his adeptness in the air seem to indicate that. Of course as with anyone who moves speedily he was bound to make mistakes-- oops there he goes dinging his shoulder on a hoop...... whoah that was a close one mustve lost a few curls there..... aaaand finally the prize-- a cauldron!

Tenacius zoomed his way back towards the pitch, glided over the ground before letting his broom hover over a spot. Can he just hover-sit over here like the Prof? He's more comfortable chillin like this.

And they ARE gonna talk about Creaothceann! He fist pumped the air on the man's words, ministry schministry indeed! Up goes the hand in reply "Because the game is basically played like catch the falling rocks with your head Professor, with a metal pot as a shock absorber..." the leonine lad laughed "Didnt help of course that it doesnt have that great of a safety track record.... but I think that can be remedied. I mean Quidditch is highly dangerous too, but they got safety procedures and rules, I think Creaothceann can work out as a good sport provided that there are rules and regulations set in place, standardize equipment, things like that."

Olly wasn't going to miss a flying lesson, of course. He was standing quietly, watching this new flying instructor. It seemed that they were going to begin the lesson with a little test. He was not the best flyer in the world, and he didn't play for a youth quidditch team like he knew some of his classmates did. But he enjoyed flying. He was a wizard, after all. Se he headed over to the supply of school brooms, since he did not have one of his own, and mounted it. This test didn't look too hard. Olly kicked off the ground, and then he was flying.

First step, fly through the hoops. He could do that, even if they were moving a bit in air. He didn't try to race anybody, like some of the others were doing. He went slow and steady, veering back and forth as needed to soar through each of the hoops. It was nice. Olly didn't actually fly that much, but when he was up there he wondered why. It was nice. And it was peaceful. It was definitely something he should do more often.

Olly made it through all of the hoops to the other side of the pitch. What was it he had to do again? Right, pick up a cauldron and fly it back to where he had started. That was only a little more difficult. He didn't often fly while holding things. It would be easier for someone who was used to playing quidditch. Someone who caught and threw quaffles while flying all the time. Sure he'd thrown a quaffle back and forth while on a broom before, but not really flown long distances with it. Still, he could do it. He grabbed one of the cauldrons and held it securely in his hands before flying back, under the hoops, to where he had started. He was a bit wobbly but there was no falling or dropping, and he flew back the length of the pitch without much trouble. He made it back to where he started and his feet touched the ground as he landed.

And they were talking. About a sport that he could not ever hope to pronounce and didn't really know anything about. Olly stood quietly off to the side and let the others answer.

Flying, flying, flying. Skylar was in her zone, focused and determined to make it through those moving hoops, that it took a moment before she realized people were touching back down. Were they done already? Squinting down at the ground, it seemed the Professor was continuing on with a discussion, and she zoomed down, having not finished getting through all the hoops, sadly, but in time to hear Professor B shout loudly Creaothceann and address the class with a few questions about the sport.

Why wasn't it played at Hogwarts or anywhere? UH DUH, because it was like the most dangerous broom game ever!

Raising her hand, she spoke of what she knew about the game, "Twelve players, wear cauldrons strapped to their heads. And like ten players will die." Kind of brutal, if you asked her.

Kyle, not really much one for flying in the first place, had no idea about this sport. He listened to the others' answers and his eyes grew wide. Especially as someone mentioned that players died. Brutal! Though, catching falling rocks in a cauldron on their heads didn't seem like a bad thing of the rocks were small enough. But why a cauldron on their heads? Couldn't they just carry the cauldron and catch pebbles?

Don't rush it? Easy for him to say down there hovering with the Firsties while she had to pretend like she belonged up here zooming around like everyone else.

Jessa did slow it down a little, finding it was easier to maneuvre her way through the hoops when she did. Pretty soon, it didn't seem so hard, in fact at some point the girl had begun to speed back up. It was a gradual process, hardly noticeable unless you compared the initial speed with the end result but she could tell. As her confidence going through the hoops grew, so did her accuracy at getting through them.

At the Professor's instruction, Jessa descending, coming to a bit of a running...jog....then walk into a more stationary position. Her landings were improving, she'd noticed that too.

Much like some of her classmates had opted to do, the young girl took a seat on the soft grass. She hardly knew much about Quidditch, suffice to say she knew even less about Creaothceann. Consequently, she remained silent, taking it all in. The Professor said it was fun, but listening to her classmates, she couldn't help thinking she would prefer to play Quidditch--even if she wasn't entirely good at that either.

Zarina heard the Professor greet her and she couldn't help but give a warm smile in return. He seemed to be a bubbly fellow. She gave him credit for his personality. As she waited eagerly to fly on her broom, she heard him give his greeting. Wait...wait a minute. His name was whatt? Zae didn't quite catch that. Is there a shortened form of it? She will call him Professor B for short. Yeah that would work. Well she already got the school broom already so she was ahead of the game. Ooohoo so he was giving the experienced flyers a challenge? Well this could go horribly wrong or Zae could be amazing. She didn't really have any experience flying before. Her family never really taught her. She would sit this one out.

Zae went with the group similar to hers. She went with the first and second years and she was waiting for instructions. Once she heard Professor B tell them what to do it was a piece of cake. Once the horn was blown, she raised her hand over the broom handle and commanded, "UP!" Hmm nothing happened. Maybe her broom was a dud? Zarina rolled her eyes and wished it worked the first time. She held out her hand and said, "UP!" a little more forceful this time. It came up to her hand in seconds. "WOAH!" she couldn't help it. It was so cool it worked. Now time to mount her broom. She hastily put her leg around the broom handle and sat down on it. This wasn't really that comfortable that's for sure. She began to lean forward and kicked off and felt herself begin to float. Woooahh she was doing it! She was ACTUALLY doing it! She beamed with delight and then she felt herself getting a little higher for her liking and then she leaned back and went to the ground. Zae didn't need the cushioning charm after all!

Once Zae felt comfortable and the Professor called the lesson to a halt, she sat down and listened to Professor B's lecture. Wait Quidditch wasn't practiced here anymore? Sayyy whaatt? Zarina was looking forward to it! Aw man. She heard his term and just stared at him like he was dumb. That didn't even sound like English. That sounded like gibberish. She smirked and wondered how many teachers listened to the ministry. The ministry always were uptight. Never let them have any fun. So Professor B wanted to know what Creaothceann was? Zarina had no clue.

She could offer a random thought though, "I am guessing that game of Creaothceann dealt with creatures and they attacked people on brooms?" She shrugged and waited for his reaction.

Hah. Rooney Bronwyn was not as graceful on a broom as others would expect him to be, given his graceful presence on a stage. He wasn't awful, but it certainly wasn't something he would be urged to continue on with after Hogwarts. Cauldron collected, he joined the rest of the students for the next portion of their class. Head tilted, the boy looked confused at the answer given by Zarina. There was a weird imagination on that one, for sure. He did think the chat about quidditch at Hogwarts was interesting though. He, for one, did not have an opinion about it. He hadn't had it as a hobby and it was nothing for him to 'miss' being here at school without it.

Not having quidditch for those that played quidditch was just the same as him not having the stage when here.

EITHAH WAY... Roo put his hand up in the air. "It's not played because heaven forbid we get hurt playing a game, when we actually just get hurt by things that spawn in the castle." He didn't want to, you know, cause problems...but....hey, it was a real thing. There was this whole 'noooooo' aspect about sports, but how many kids had almost died last year just by being in the castle????? "But yeah, like Tenacius said, it could be easily adapted with safety regulations."

Okay now it was time to get to business. Théo angled his broom towards the first enchanted hoop and sped towards it. He was not thinking of racing anyone or even looking at what his friends were doing because he got distracted. Flying was all that mattered right now. This summer really paided off and not hitting anyone or anything odd happening he made his ways through the hoops and made it to the cauldrons. Soo far so good. He picked on up and sped back along the side of the pitch and ended up back where he was landing as well as he could. Eh he still had to work on perfecting his landings.

Well, a seat it not really what he wants to do just after flying. Really all he wants to do is get back in the air. But he listened and took a seat.

Uhh how do you even say that?

Théo tried in his head and well it still was not working out for him.

Welp Théodore had no idea what this thing was so he was going to be quiet and learn something hopefully fun since the Ministry did not like it and Professor...Groundkeepr Bald liked it.

As she lay there on the grass, the blonde took stock of those around her. Everyone else who'd been up in the air with her seemed to have survived. So, that was great. Flying wasn't meant to be a point of stress. It was supposed to be fun. So, this made her happy. Yay for NO DEATHS or INJURIES. Mr. Baldvinsson was probably very pleased with the lot of them... and he'd even praised her own skill. YAS!!!! Though she was still lying down, Olivia waved in his direction. "THANK YOU, SIR!" The words were shouted because she was comfy and didn't feel like sitting up just yet.

Lazy daisy!

....

AND HA! TOLD. YOU.

C r e a o t h c e a n n!

That was enough to have her sitting up and regarding those gathered. Yes, because TOLD YOU....whoever she'd been speaking to about it. Her brain was fuzzy from the joy of flying still.... "Sir, you are mental if you think this is considered fun." A good mental, of course. Liv wasn't in the habit of disrespecting her professors as so many others were. "I suppose it could be a good practice for working out one's evasive maneuvering, but as a sport, it couldn't have been too much fun for spectators." Also, the blonde still had her cauldron perched atop her curls. She pointed to it. "They wore cauldrons on their heads.... I'm guessing they were most likely equipped with charms to make them lighter. As I have done to this one." Though, Liv wasn't wearing it in the proper way. It'd have to be upside down to collect any falling rocks. In fact... "Much like with quidditch, they could simply use magic to improve the game." Kinda like a magical object was used to replace the snidget, since those were nearly extinct from the brutality of their role in the game. Having to be caught and all and rough treatment by seekers. "Make the rocks softer....or something. Depending on how many one player caught, the weight on his or her neck could be enough to cause a lot of problems, too"

Of course, Olivia wasn't a ministry game developer and it wasn't her job to fuss and worry about it. Save that for the Ravenclaws present.

...And we see you pointing, Derf-bean! Huzzah, kid.

Text Cut: Individual replies <3

Text Cut: Daniel

Quote:

Originally Posted by Weasley174

Daniel had been stood quietly wondering what to say, when suddenly the Professor asked a question and his hand shot into the air. "Professor, is it because according to reports it is one of the most deadly games that is played on a broom?" He had read that somewhere, "Though I would love to see it in action, nothing can be too dangerous surely."

Haraldur stopped his hovering in front of the class and clapped his hands together once to get everyone's attention. "Well done everyone. As most of you said, it's a dangerous sport. Or used to be, when it was practiced. It was actually made illegal in 1762." Ahem, let's move on quickly now. "But as Miss Phillips pointed out, so was quidditch back in the day."

He leaned back on his broom, clasped his hands over his chest and just briefly wished he had some snacks to nibble on before he continued. "Both Mr. Salander and Mr. Bronwyn mentioned the dangerous aspect of the game would be avoided by just having the right regulations. I am a strong believer in this. Nothing can improve if we don't try. Quidditch wouldn't be such a beloved sport as it is today if people that came before us hadn't improved it. Who knows, even quidditch might have been against the law." Dramatic gasp. Or he would have done a dramatic gasp if he wasn't in such a comfortable position.

"SO, kids." Yes, kids. Even those older kids were still kids. "It's our duty for the generations to come to actually think about this." Was he being overdramatic? Eh...

"What could be done to improve the game? What could be done to make it less dangerous?" He shot Miss Kramer a look here. "What changes could be made for it to be allowed again?" Directly translated this meant: How could he persuade the headmistress to allow it?

OOC: Okidoki! Answer Haraldur's questions on how to improve creaothceann. What safety measures, rules or regulations could be enforced? Any changes to the rules of the game to make it less dangerous? Do you think there's any chance of it ever being legal again? Why? Why not?

Creativityy! *jazz hands*

Class will be moving on in approximately 24 hours. At Monday 15th of May 9 am GMT +2/3 am EDT

Resting her hands in her lap, because she very much liked the Groundskeeper and having a go at him, Liv beamed at the raised brow. SAME TEAM, MR. BALDVINSSON! And she 100% agreed that nothing was too dangerous that couldn't be tweaked. Besides, one of her mother's biggest gripes was how the Ministry regulated everything. ALSO, it was puzzling how they pushed to make quidditch work, but hadn't afforded the same honor to other sports. She supposed from a public standpoint, quidditch was simply more marketable. Better PR. Good for their economy and everything...on an international level?

Money, money, money...

"As I was saying before, they could probably use a charm to make the rocks softer, or perhaps even use a different object other than rocks." Rocks to the head... sounded like a lawsuit waiting to happen, to be quite honest. To her, it didn't even sound that entertaining. Maybe they could catch rubber balls? Snowflakes? Bird poop? All of those things sounded leagues more hilarious. "....and maybe something besides a hunk of metal on top of the head could be used. If I hadn't put a feather-light charm on this cauldron, my neck would be seriously strained." Strained and in pain.
Ho-de-hum.

Eh, she wasn't a Ravenclaw... Go ahead, Rooney. This was all you.

This was the sort of question that got the Ravenclaw's brain working at hyper speed. It was possibly no secret that the young girl liked to pull things a part, not only to see how they worked but also to see how they could. In this case, they'd already done the deconstructing leaving the process of building it back up in such a way that it was no longer in the same predicament as before. Like...like hypothesizing. Merlin knew the girl spent hours on that when she could.

The thing was, the world was full of infinite possibilities and Jessa was one of those believers in their being more than one way to skin a kneazle. Take creaothceann for instance. There had to be a way of changing it while preserving the things that made the game enjoyable.

No one liked watered down sports. They were plain disappointing, rules and new procedures however could sometimes be welcomed.

"I think Olivia's on to something with the featherlight charm on the cauldron, Sir. It would allow for more agile movement on the pitch and I reckon it could even reduce collisions." Because surely balancing something like a cauldron--especially one filled with large rocks--would throw out anyone's balance while flying at top speed. Jessa found it hard to believe that injuries came solely from the falling of the rocks on metal above your head.

"But instead of making the rocks softer necessarily or changing rocks to something else, why not place a cushioning charm on the inside of the cauldron? The rocks certainly wouldn't go crashing into it as hard and it could prevent half the concussions I imagine must happen during play."

SPOILER!!: catching uuuuuup

Abey had made mega easy work of the hoops actually, and in fact he quite liked the warm up. Practicing agility was one of his favourite things to do; all the sharp turns and sudden stops or dives or feints. It was fun!

Grabbing the cauldron and then carrying it back had been a little less fun. Abey, though he would have denied to to anyone and everyone, was, essentially, a weakling. He didn't have big Beater's muscles like Hassan did (which made sense as Hassan WAS a Beater, AND a boxer), instead Abey was cursed blessed with long, noodle-y limbs with no real muscle to them. So, while at first holding onto the cauldron felt doable, by the time Abey was halfway back, his carrying arm had begun to ache and cramp.

"Owwwwwwww," he had complained, before putting on a BURST OF SPEED so he could reach the starting point again, land, and finally put down the cauldron.

But all done now!

Now they were back on the ground, though, Abey was having trouble staying focused again. He rubbed at his arms and half listened to what was going on, but otherwise found his attention wandering to the goal hoops and the stands around the pitch, and he was having ALL THE FANTASIES about playing Quidditch and being in the starting team (AKA #THEDREAM) and Seeking that snitch!

Not that he would have had much to contribute to the discussion anyway. Abey was a QUIDKID, not a CreaothceannChild; he wouldn't have known anything about anything to do with any other broom sports, because there was no reason for him to know about them.

Abey's attention did EVENTUALLY return to the class happening in front of and all around him, so that his MIND was as present as his BODY. Still massaging his arms, one at a time, he blinked around at everyone gathered around, suddenly realising that once again (why did this keep happening in his classes?) he had missed some vital class discussion and had not the slightest clue what anyone was talking about.

Something about danger? How to make things safer? Uhhhh... was there a not-stupid answer that Abey could give that might apply to LOADS of things? Make it more likely to have a right answer.

He could have just stayed quiet, but what if then he got called out for not paying attention OR participating?

Quick, just... guess!

"Uhhhhm... cushioning charms?" Abey piped up, forgetting about that hand-raising thing again and actually having never got into the habit of it in the first place. But yes, cushioning charms... surely they made EVERYTHING safer ALL THE TIME. "In case you... fall?"

Jessa and Liv were talking about rocks and cauldrons and heads, and just having listened to them made Abey go just a bit wide-eyed, whether out of fear or intrigue he was not exactly certain.

Kyle raised his hand, thinking. "What about if we caught pebbles. They'd be harder to see and catch, but it wouldn't do much damage. Or if we caught little bean bags. And instead of a cauldron, we could use a basket."

Zarina shrugged when the Professor commented on her answer. Least she tried and gave her creative input. I mean Zae really thought it had to do with creatures. It would be fun though. She smirked at the thought and listened to Professor B's speech to the class. So now he wanted to know what could be done to improve this so called game of Creaothceann. Like Zae couldn't even pronounce that word. She could call it game C. Now onto the task at hand.

Zae saw that the game was played with cauldrons on their heads? Well that was plain difficult. Cauldrons were heavy. They also used rocks to throw at each other. Well that was ermm...ouch? Zae could just imagine it. She could imagine the pelting and bruising they encountered. Zae listened in on the class and their answers. One of them seemed to be the brainiac of the class. She pursed her lips and decided not to say anything. I mean they covered all the basics.

"Personally instead of using rocks why don't we use like foam balls or like tennis balls or something..?" There was her muggle side coming out but hopefully someone knew what she was talking out.

Théo was going to say like rubber or foam balls but it was already said and he was not that creative so he had nothing. The original game just sounded like death and Théo eyes went wide when he heard what they originally did because it was crazy insane. Rocks falling down on you and you just had a cauldron tied to your head.

It was dumb.

Maybe that was why it was outlawed.

Made sense to Théodore.

As a natural reflex the Gryffindor leaned back as the Flying Man literally zoomed in on his response. Still beaming though, because hey looks like he #NailedIt eh?

He listened to the others give their suggestions. Some are actually suggesting they avoid using rocks entirely "Oh but... that would take the fun outta that...." Sad face. Part of what made Creaothceann appealing for certain people was the risk of getting pummeled by a rock. Thats what made the game exciting. "Maybe we can still use rocks, but we have to regulate the size, weight, shape and material of the rocks? Also any magic thats applied to them should be regulated as well. Maybe they're magic'd to avoid the face, maybe they should fall only under a certain max velocity, maybe they're magic'd to not shatter on impact, maybe if they collide with a player's body, it wont be strong enough to break bones, just give a really good bruising." So far thats what he can think of right now.

Oh but Jessa also spoke about the caulderons "I agree with Jessa. Lets also regulate the magic applied to cauldrons. Also i think we can improve the design of the cauldrons themselves, how they're worn on players' heads. Maybe some magic can also be applied to them that in case they become a liability to the player's safety, they could maybe transform into something else? Or maybe fall off easily instead of taking the player down with it?"

After Emmeline mounted her broom, she and Stasya hovered together. Emmeline even managed to learn forward slightly and touch back down without semi-crashing for the first time ever! Clearly, this professor knew what he was doing. "Thanks for hovering with me, Stasya!"

She was kind of sad that almost everyone was getting off their brooms and sitting on the ground at this point. Hovering was nice and all, but were they going to do any real flying today? She hoped so.

Emmeline blinked in confusion as the professor asked them questions about some apparently ancient sport that started with a C. Rocks going into cauldrons on heads? On brooms?! Sounded pretty crazy-reckless to her, and she wasn't opposed to some recklessness in general. Her eyes widened the more she heard about this sport; were they going to actually do this C thing? Because it sounded barbaric!

It was true that her parents were forever complaining about how meddlesome the Ministry had become, but Emmeline thought that maybe they had a point on this.

Skylar was listening, but honestly, the speculations of improvements the fourth year had to admit would be rather feeble attempts to reinstate the game. The game had been illegal for over 300 years and well, Skylar was sure if changes could be made to the sport to make it allowed, surely they would have happened by now.

Because she hated to say this, but adding cushioning charms and featherlight charms, or changing the rocks to something smaller (pebbles still hurt at high speeds, she was sure!), well, the game wouldn't be Creaothceann any longer. Improvements made to the game to make it less dangerous would make it different sport, a different variation, and it wouldn't necessarily be the same thing.

"Why don't we just use marshmallows instead of rocks?" Skylar suggested, somewhat sarcastically. Because seriously, if they were going to be changing it to tennis balls, just change the whole set up. It was no longer Creaothceann anymore anyway.