Okay. OKAY...but Derf really just wanted to get back on HIS broom already and go. GO GO GO FLY FLY FLY NOW NOW NOW?

So, he really was only half paying attention to the groundskeeper, no offense meant, with his bright blues UPWARDS at the SKY that was calling to him. Could they maybe fly with owls sometime? Or any bird for that matter. ASH?! COULD THEY FLY WITH ASH?! You know...study birds up close and personal while flying and learn some of their formations and mimic them on their brooms? SORT OF like what he, Abey, and Theo had just been doing?

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

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.

Hugging his broom to himself, Derf shifted his weight between his two feet and waited not-so-patiently for this talk to end. Which naturally meant that his eyes were wandering EVERYWHERE to find something to distract himself...so he noticed Emmeline looking uncertain and did the natural thing of taking her hand in his for comfort. Because friends comforted friends, you know?

But THEN he heard something BRILLIANT said by the Slytherin girl who had GLARED at him all of last term in these lessons. "I REALLY REALLY LIKE HER IDEA!"

Could they do that? Please? His tummy was rumbling.

Etta flushed slightly when the groundskeeper gave her a look. Fine, fine. She cleared her throat and pretended that hadn't happened, instead focused on what he was talking about. Hmm. How to make it less dangerous? Interesting. She gave it some thought, listening to some of the other answers given. Marshmallows, though. That was rather cute but not practical. Also, such a waste of food.

"Like a couple of others have mentioned, I think it would be better to soften the inside of a cauldron? Using a softening charm, maybe?" Since others had already mentioned the cushioning charm. "It would completely soften the inside of the cauldron, making it rather bouncy and soft and therefore.. the rocks would create no impact at all. It would be safe, yes?"

Text Cut: Individual replies <3

Text Cut: Olivia P

Quote:

Originally Posted by Govoni

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.

Haraldur nodded. "Yes. Ouch, neck problems." Eesh. "A feather-light charm is a wonderful suggestion,
Miss Phillips. One that is worth remembering if we were to renew the game." It was actually the charm Haraldur had chosen to use. Great minds think alike.

Text Cut: Jessa

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaniDiNardo

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."

"YES, Miss Cambride. YES. I like the way you think." Haraldur couldn't hide his excitement when an answer like this was put forward. The injuries weren't solely from the weight of the cauldron or the impact of the rocks. Balance in flying was key,
and with a cauldron filled with rocks you were bound to lose it. Collisions and simply falling off the broom wasn't uncommon in creaothceann. Something the instructor would like to avoid in class...

"A cushioning charm is a very interesting suggestion.." He mused as he hovered around on his broom in front of the group of students. "It would certainly reduce the injuries from the rocks hitting the inside of the cauldron. But not if the rocks hit the flyer." Unless the flyer was a very skilled creaothceann player and caught all the rocks. "You'd have to place the cushioning charms on the rocks then maybe..." He was thinking out loud before remembering he was supposed to actually move the lesson forward. Haraldur gave her a nod. "Very interesting suggestion indeed, Miss Cambridge."

Text Cut: Abey

Quote:

Originally Posted by Felixir

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.

"Very good Mr. Botros." Haraldur nodded. "There's actually a cushioning charm in place right now, to reduce injuries if one were to lose their balance. So very good indeed Mr. Botros." This was standard in class though, no matter the lesson. If he had students flying around up in the air then he would have a cushioning charm on the ground. No broken legs in his class. Well, not a lot at least.

Text Cut: Kyle

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zellanna

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."

"To use pebbles is an interesting idea, Mr. Erikson."
Haraldur mused. "The fact that they're small and more difficult to see could be a way to make the game more difficult for the players... Interesting." He didn't have a beard to stroke the same time as he was thinking out loud, but if he had that's what he would have done. "The thought of changing objects to catch the pebbles in is also intriguing. That way we wouldn't have to use the feather-light charm on the cauldrons.. Very good, Mr. Erikson."

Text Cut: Zarina

Quote:

Originally Posted by Expecto-Penguin

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.

Haraldur blinked, watching the young girl for a moment. "Uhm, yes..." He didn't know what 'Tennis' was. He assumed it was a new slang word he hadn't heard before. He was getting old. Foam balls he got though! "I agree that we need to change the rocks to something else. Foam balls is an excellent suggestion. Except I don't have any foam balls... But they would really work in a game, I have to agree with that, Miss Carraro."

Text Cut: Théodore

Quote:

Originally Posted by oh its Erik ok

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.

Haraldur watched Mr. Montomorency fall silent this time around. The instructor glanced his way but decided only to hover past him as the discussion went on. They would soon be flying again...

Text Cut: Tenacius

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steelsheen

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?"

The Gryffindor prefect was definitely passionate about flying. And dangerous things, it seemed. But Haraldur could only agree with him. He didn't really want to change the cauldrons to something else. He didn't really want to change the rocks to something else. It took away the thrill. But there was only so much thrill a lesson for all age and skill levels at Hogwarts could take. However the suggestions on how to improve the rocks and the cauldrons impressed the flying instructor.

"Very good, Mr. Salander." He got excited again. "I, like you, think we should first aim to keep as much as possible of the original sport. Keep the cauldrons and keep the rocks, but alter them to reduce injuries. I really like your suggestions." He would be writing those down after class, along with the other ideas from the students.

Text Cut: Emmeline

Quote:

Originally Posted by NifflerFan

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.

Haraldur took note of the quiet first year Miss Sparkes but didn't say anything. He just hoped the talk of people dying in the past hadn't put her off too much...

Text Cut: Skylar

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

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.

Haraldur didn't get sarcasm. He didn't understand the concept of it. Saying one thing but meaning another? Nah.
So when Miss Diggory suggested marshmallows, he furrowed his brow.
"That would be a waste of perfectly good marshmallows, wouldn't it Miss Diggory?" Unless they were catching them with their mouths...

Text Cut: Derf

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpinkpixie

Okay. OKAY...but Derf really just wanted to get back on HIS broom already and go. GO GO GO FLY FLY FLY NOW NOW NOW?

So, he really was only half paying attention to the groundskeeper, no offense meant, with his bright blues UPWARDS at the SKY that was calling to him. Could they maybe fly with owls sometime? Or any bird for that matter. ASH?! COULD THEY FLY WITH ASH?! You know...study birds up close and personal while flying and learn some of their formations and mimic them on their brooms? SORT OF like what he, Abey, and Theo had just been doing?


Hugging his broom to himself, Derf shifted his weight between his two feet and waited not-so-patiently for this talk to end. Which naturally meant that his eyes were wandering EVERYWHERE to find something to distract himself...so he noticed Emmeline looking uncertain and did the natural thing of taking her hand in his for comfort. Because friends comforted friends, you know?

But THEN he heard something BRILLIANT said by the Slytherin girl who had GLARED at him all of last term in these lessons. "I REALLY REALLY LIKE HER IDEA!"

Could they do that? Please? His tummy was rumbling.

Haraldur looked over at Mr. Ashburry-Hawthorne who seemed more excited about Miss Diggory's suggestion than she had. "Maybe we ought to try it in the great hall some time." He mused, imagining flying marshmallows between the house tables.

Text Cut: Etta

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lady of Light

Etta flushed slightly when the groundskeeper gave her a look. Fine, fine. She cleared her throat and pretended that hadn't happened, instead focused on what he was talking about. Hmm. How to make it less dangerous? Interesting. She gave it some thought, listening to some of the other answers given. Marshmallows, though. That was rather cute but not practical. Also, such a waste of food.

"Like a couple of others have mentioned, I think it would be better to soften the inside of a cauldron? Using a softening charm, maybe?" Since others had already mentioned the cushioning charm. "It would completely soften the inside of the cauldron, making it rather bouncy and soft and therefore.. the rocks would create no impact at all. It would be safe, yes?"

Haraldur nodded in agreement. "This would be a safer way to play it, for sure Miss Kramer." He mused. Many great ideas were put forward indeed, but it was now time to move on...

Haraldur was more than pleased with the answers and suggestions provided by the students. Most of them seemed to have the same mindset as him. Now all they had to do was convince the Headmistress about this. He wouldn't do it himself, this was a joint effort.

Yup.

"That's a lot of great suggestions." He nodded, smiling at them. "I'm happy to hear you guys seem so open about this because we're going to try your suggestions. Well, some of them anyway." He pointed little finger guns at them, because he was cool, hip and down with the kids.

"We're going to play creaothceann!" Surprise, wow, so unexpected what a twist of events. "But for that to be possible, we're going to change up some of the rules of the game."

For the second time that lesson, the instructor actually got off his broom. It wasn't often that he was actually walking around on foot, he wasn't comfortable on the ground. It was just so... Solid. But he did this in order to bring out his wand and aim it at the cauldrons, both the ones that some had brought back from across the pitch and the ones in the tall tower that Haraldur had provided before class started.

"We could always use other objects to catch the rocks in, such as baskets or buckets but for the sake of authencity..." He flicked his wand. "I will place a feather-light charm on the cauldrons..." He did so and gave Miss Phillips a glance while he did so. Great minds and all that. "As for the objects we're catching..."

In the trunk next to the wobbly tower of cauldrons were small rubber balls that was earlier hidden by the now levitating hula hoops. Haraldur mounted his broom again in his usual comfortable position and glided over toward the trunk. "There are a lot of details to figure out when it comes to the objects were catching. Should we keep the rocks but enchant them, like Mr.
Salander suggested? Or should we just skip the idea of throwing rocks at each other and use something else?" He reached down and picked up one of the small rubber balls, which just happened to be of a red color. It was a coincidence. It had nothing to do with the fact that it was his favorite color. "I've decided to not throw rocks at you today." Because he cared about their soft heads. And because the board of governors would have him fired. Or something way worse...

"We're going to use these neat little rubber balls instead. There are four colors; green, red, yellow and blue." Alert, this was not a coincidence. Another shocking reveal by Mr Baldvinsson. "Your task is to catch the balls with the color corresponding to your house. Catch the correct ones and you will gain points. Catch a ball that belongs to a different house, and you will lose points." He dropped the little red ball into the trunk again and clasped his hands over his chest. "It's been a while since the Hogwarts quidditch cup was a thing. Today you can play against each other in creaothceann." BEAM.

"I'll be sending the balls towards you, so strap on your now not so heavy cauldron and get ready to play!"

As the students got ready and kicked off into the air, Haraldur grabbed the horn from around his neck, took a deep breath and blew it. Not even a moment after that, the balls of all four colors shot through the air.

OOC: Yeeeeeeeeeee buddy. Let's play creaothceann! *wiggles*

Strap the cauldron to your head and catch the rubber balls that Haraldur fires off towards you. Only catch the ones with the color matching your house (green - Slytherin, red - Gryffindor, yellow - Hufflepuff, blue - Ravenclaw).

+ 5 points for the correct color.
- 5 points for the incorrect color.
You can never get any less than 0 points so no negatives!

My brain would appreciate if you guys labeled your posts with how many points you have. There is no minimum/maximum amount of posts required. Haraldur and I will be here the whole time!

If your character isn't ready to throw themselves into the game, the hula hoops are still in the air and serves as great practice!

You have approximately 58 hours to complete this task. Wednesday the 17th of May 7 pm GMT+2/1 pm EDT.

He liked her idea! Jessa beamed, awfully proud she'd managed to offer up something useful on a topic she knew very little about. From what her classmates had said, she gained enough of an idea of what the sport was actually meant to be like and she agreed with Ace that for the most part, the sport should be preserved.

A few of the suggestions had her wrinkling her nose for the level of change they suggested. To this day, bludgers could still crack open skulls and shatter kneecaps if swung in the wrong--technically right--angle and no one was trying to change that. Compared to that, falling rocks seemed like the least of anyone's problems.

By the sounds of it, falling rocks wouldn't even BE a problem this go around. Rubber balls. Well she couldn't say she wasn't a little relieved despite her own belief. Jessa was still becoming accustomed to flying while things happened around her. It was a certainty she'd suffer at least one injury if the rocks remained. There were pros gathered at the pitch today and she was certainly not one of them. Being able to help yourself on a broom didn't mean you could suddenly maneuvre your way through falling rocks.

At the Professor's prompting, the girl rose from her spot on the grass and remounted her broom. Before pushing off, she accio-ed a cauldron and strapped it to her head, careful to fix it right...as...right as she thought it felt anyway.

With it secured, the Ravenclaw shoved off the ground and took to the air once more. She came to a stop just in time to have a rubber ball miss her cauldron and knock against her forehead. Ugh. So much for starting off strong. It was for the best though. That one had been green.

Derf liked her idea? Had he not realized that she was totally JOKING about the marshmallows because she was making fun of the fact this would no longer be the same sport, so may as well change the sport radically. But then again, judging from the Professor's reply to her suggestion, she guessed he didn't get her sarcasm either. Well, duh, of course it would be a waste of good marshmallows. But the point was it was kind of stupid to change the game; it'd been over three hundred years since it was banned, so if it was going to change, it would have done so long ago.

And they were going to play the game, with incorporating some of their ideas. Which all Professor B had to say was Hogwarts Quidditch Cup and despite the fact that they weren't playing a true version of Creaothceann (which would be ghastly if they were!), the fourth year was stoked enough. Because it resembled quidditch, which was good enough for her.

Without further waiting, she kicked off in the air, after the green balls of all four colors that were being launched. She was actually kind of grateful because green was so easy to spot against the sky. But wait, she had a question ... Flying down low enough for the Professor to hear her, she hovered in air, "Professor? What do we do with the balls after we catch them? Just release them?" Or wait, it was what the cauldrons were for? But eventually, the rubber balls might bounce out? Unless she caught it with her hand and placed it in the cauldron?

Okay, it was time to get her head in the game and not just in the literal sense. There were rubber balls being tossed all over and by virtue of simply hovering here, she was missing out on them.

Blue eyes locked onto one shortly after it left the Professor's hand. The question was...how did one position oneself in such a way that the ball would fall into the cauldron on her head? Jessa took a dive, trying to get under the ball as it plummeted toward the ground but she'd either not dived far enough or else not dived soon enough. Whichever the case, the ball hit the ground with a few small bounces before coming to a standstill and her cauldron was still empty.

Huff. This was gonna be even harder than she'd first thought.

Rising higher once more, the young girl tried to locate any of the other rubber balls that would fit nicely in her cauldron. Once again she moved in, locking onto her target. She wouldn't miss this one. This one would be it.

Just a little closer.......it was right there.......

And there it went.

Sigh. Could they play Quidditch now?

Honestly, Rula didn't mind that Creaothceann had been banned for so long. It didn't sound all that fun to her, risking death just to win a silly game. The possibility of injuries was one thing - Quidditch obviously had that - but people dying in every single game? No thanks. Original Creaothceann should just remain a thing of the past. Mr. Baldvinsson played it though? Why? Why would anyone actually want to play it like that?

Merlin.

The idea of updating it with a few rules and regulations to make it safer? She was somewhat open to that. She still had absolutely no interest in playing it, but she wasn't against that idea. Some of the suggestions the others provided were pretty good - aside from the marshmallows - and it looked like a few were ones the groundskeeper was using since they were going to be playing the game. Lighter cauldrons and rubber balls made it a little better, at least.

She strapped a cauldron onto her head, mounted her broom, and kicked off into the air, looking around for a green ball to catch...

Aha!

There was a green one falling right next to a red. Rula zoomed forward and down a bit, trying to get the right angle for the green one to fall in the cauldron. Just a little closer...

Plop! Plop!

Wait...did she catch both of them? Merlin's beard, zero points then. Ugh.

Olly was listening quietly. So far he really had nothing to add. If they had stopped being quidditch because of the potential risks and dangers it seemed crazy to try to play something even more dangerous. Though with the modifications he supposed it wouldn't be too bad. Maybe. He could still see it going horribly wrong. Then again, anything could be dangerous if it went wrong enough. Even things like...going to the bathroom.

Anyway. Cauldron strapped to his head? Check. Broom? Check. In the air again? Check. Balls in his cauldron? Uhh....

The rubber balls had been released but now that he was supposed to catch them in his cauldron Olly was not sure what to do. He was bad enough at catching with his hands, how was he supposed to catch with his head? And catch only the green ones, at that. Olly flew threw the mayhem, trying to avoid the yellow and red and blue balls. But the problem was the green ones were all mixed in and he didn't know what to do. Oh! There was one! Olly flew rapidly toward a green rubber ball, hoping to catch it in his cauldron. Instead he ran right into it, hitting it with the outside of the cauldron and sending it flying even further away. Great.

WELL. Etta got up, not really happy about playing this game.. STILL. It's way safer now and less injury-prone but somehow, she felt mildly uncomfortable. She couldn't just walk out of the class though.. or sit out when everyone were playing. Let's just get this over with, yes?

She strapped on her cauldron, mounted her broom and took off into the air again, zooming about for while, looking for a yellow ball to catch. Why could she only see green balls?! Where were the yellow ones? And she had to be careful to not catch the other balls too. --- Oh, WAIT. A falling yellow one! She zoomed over, trying to catch it but... GREAT. It just hit the side of the cauldron and bounced off. Trying not to look too disappointed, she looked for another one, totally immersed in the game at this point.

Kyle watched as the others played, and mounted his broom. Okay, slow, and close to the ground. Oh, but everyone was zooming up to meet the balls, and he was... there. He decided maybe practicing on his broom would be better than going after the flying balls, and instead went back and forth on the pitch, inching a little higher off the ground with each pass.

Olly was trying to think of a strategy but coming up blank. He really had nothing besides fly around randomly and hope a ball falls into the cauldron. Trying to catch the green ones had not worked for him yet, and he did not see him becoming any better at it in the foreseeable future. So option one it was. Olly flew over to where he spotted a bunch of the rubber balls and flew under them. He was hoping one or two would go in, and that he'd get lucky and get green ones, but no. Of course that's not what happened. Instead, a clump of five all fell into his cauldron.

Olly was not lucky enough that they would all five be green, of course. The problem was that he didn't know what color any of them were. The cauldron was strapped to his head so it wasn't like he could see inside it. Uh. He flew lower, down closer to the professor.

"Professor, if I didn't see what color the ball was how do I know if I got points?" Was there any simpler way to do it short of stopping completely, unstrapping the cauldron, and checking? That seemed like way too much work.

Emmeline stared at Professor B as he said they were going to play the crazy-rocks game. What?! As he continued to explain, she let out a breath of relief; they were playing with rubber balls instead. The House colors thing made it feel a competition and Emmeline was always ready to play games that didn't involve certain death. So she was super new to flying correctly; when had that ever stopped her before? Besides, several kids were already playing. Getting excited now, she rushed over to the teetering tower of cauldrons, but she couldn't reach the top one. She could fix that!

"UP!" She mounted her hovering broom and flew to the top of the tower so she could grab two cauldrons off the top; one for her and one for Stasya. She'd seen the Cambridge girl use a spell to get her cauldron, so hopefully the older kids she and Stasya had been sitting with could get their own? 'Cause she couldn't carry more than two of these things. Leaning forward like Professor B had taught them, she managed to land normally. It was harder to go back to where she'd been sitting with two cauldrons AND a broom, but she managed it. As she plopped back down with the group, she handed a cauldron to Stasya. If her friend didn't want to play, one of the other kids could have it.

Still... She glanced up at Miss Olivia and Mr. Ace and the other older kids still on the ground, "Are you guys going to play? How do we only catch red ones in these biig cauldrons?" Because she was small for her age, these seemed just a bit big for her head.

Watching her peers for a moment, Skylar finally understood what she was meant to do, but truthfully, she wasn't quite sure really was fond of the idea of blindly trying to catch green balls into her cauldron. Cauldron back strapped to her head, the fourth year flew up towards where Oliver was flying, as she squinting into the distance. This was definitely good seeker training, if nothing more because she had to catch only the green balls.

Seeing a cluster, she reached out and snatched a green one from the air, reaching up with it to plop it in her cauldron.

Only problem was ...

Plop, Plop

Was that ... two pings she felt? Paused in midair, the fourth year reached up again to feel around, as she plucked one ball out. Green. And the second one that had just fallen. Blue. Darn. Tossing it aside, she shoved the blue one back into play, and the green one back into her cauldron, as she zoomed off again.

The flying instructor stood behind the trunk and sent the rubber balls flying in every direction for the students to catch in their cauldrons.

"Whoopsie daisy!" He felt more alive than the volcano Eyjafjallajökull last rupture. "Here they come!" YUP. They were everywhere.

Text Cut: Skylar

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhoenixRising

Derf liked her idea? Had he not realized that she was totally JOKING about the marshmallows because she was making fun of the fact this would no longer be the same sport, so may as well change the sport radically. But then again, judging from the Professor's reply to her suggestion, she guessed he didn't get her sarcasm either. Well, duh, of course it would be a waste of good marshmallows. But the point was it was kind of stupid to change the game; it'd been over three hundred years since it was banned, so if it was going to change, it would have done so long ago.

And they were going to play the game, with incorporating some of their ideas. Which all Professor B had to say was Hogwarts Quidditch Cup and despite the fact that they weren't playing a true version of Creaothceann (which would be ghastly if they were!), the fourth year was stoked enough. Because it resembled quidditch, which was good enough for her.

Without further waiting, she kicked off in the air, after the green balls of all four colors that were being launched. She was actually kind of grateful because green was so easy to spot against the sky. But wait, she had a question ... Flying down low enough for the Professor to hear her, she hovered in air, "Professor? What do we do with the balls after we catch them? Just release them?" Or wait, it was what the cauldrons were for? But eventually, the rubber balls might bounce out? Unless she caught it with her hand and placed it in the cauldron?

Haraldur was enjoying himself. Sure it probably more fun to play but shooting off rubber balls towards the students and watching them catch them sure was a sight.

"You could release them, Miss Diggory." He replied, not taking his eye off the students in the air. But then she'd lose time by landing and placing the balls on the ground. "There's little chance they'll bounce out but of course there is always the risk of that." He couldn't make it too easy for them. He waved his wand and set off another batch of balls up into the air.

"OH and, try to catch the balls just using your cauldron Miss Diggory. You're a skilled flyer, you got this." He never doubted her for a second.

Text Cut: Olly

Quote:

Originally Posted by littledhampir

Olly was trying to think of a strategy but coming up blank. He really had nothing besides fly around randomly and hope a ball falls into the cauldron. Trying to catch the green ones had not worked for him yet, and he did not see him becoming any better at it in the foreseeable future. So option one it was. Olly flew over to where he spotted a bunch of the rubber balls and flew under them. He was hoping one or two would go in, and that he'd get lucky and get green ones, but no. Of course that's not what happened. Instead, a clump of five all fell into his cauldron.

Olly was not lucky enough that they would all five be green, of course. The problem was that he didn't know what color any of them were. The cauldron was strapped to his head so it wasn't like he could see inside it. Uh. He flew lower, down closer to the professor.

"Professor, if I didn't see what color the ball was how do I know if I got points?" Was there any simpler way to do it short of stopping completely, unstrapping the cauldron, and checking? That seemed like way too much work.

Haraldur smiled at the young prefect. "I would save as much time as I could. Aim for the green ones, Mr. Borzekowski-Thomas and when the activity is over, you can count how many of the correct color you managed to catch in your cauldron." The flying instructor flicked his wand and set off more rubber balls towards the students.

OOC: *wiggles* You still have approximately 25 hours to complete this task!

Oh hey! LOOK! HE GOT IT RIGHT! ... Somehow.....

To celebrate, Abey did a double fist pump of victory - only made slightly more difficult by the fact that he was also still holding a broom - yesssssss.

ANN. THEY WERE GOING BACK IN THE AIR. Okayokayokay - (this was Abey half-listening to the instructions) - okayokayokay LET'S GO! Abey grabbed one of those cauldrons, and even though he had just been told it was made featherlight, he still overestimated how much strength he needed to pick it up and sort of surprised himself. Once the cauldron was strapped on, he mounted his broom once again and kicked off into the air. WHEEEEEEEE!

... Wait, hold on... what was he meant to be catching? The re balls that matched the colour of his house (Gryffindor, siGH), or any colour BUT red?

GREAT MINDS, INDEED, MR. BALDVINSSON

Pleased as a cucumber at the response to her answer, Liv sat up fully. They'd be starting soon. She could feel it in her bones... That, and he'd just started reciting instructions.....which could ONLY mean that said instructions were about to be put to use. Or, at least, the Professor would expect them to be. Whether or not everyone participated, that wasn't up for her to decide.

Either way, this sounded like it was going to be VERY fun...and the Gryffindor hastily righted the cauldron atop her own head, strapping it in place, as most others were. Nah son, she was with the majority that WOULD be taking part. A few things.... 1) she was a fantastic flyer and her House needed her.... 2) she enjoyed being up in the air, anyway, and never turned her nose up at an opportunity....and 3) had she ever been known to back down from a challenge. Most certainly NOT.

Also, rubber balls? Nice, but possibly tricky. They had the capability of bouncing right back out of the cauldrons upon impact. Tricksy, Mr. B. Tricksy, indeed. Liv saw you, sir. Yes, she did. Alas, the greater the challenge, the greater the reward. #GRYFFINDOR.....or was that #SLYTHERIN?.... Nah, #GRYFFINDOR... She was bravely facing down the newness of this task. Not that Slytherins couldn't be brave... but...

#GRYFFERIN? #SLYTHERDOR?

Oh, she was being asked a question... Halt on the taking off just yet, then. Hai, little Emmeline! "I'm about to join the others now.... but I think there'll be a lot of catching of other people's houses at first until we get the hang of it. The trick...will probably be to avoid clusters of colors and single out lone red ones..." Or, at least, that's what Liv planned to do. It was easier said than done, absolutely, but she wasn't ready to give up. Besides, it was hard to pass judgment without being up there, testing out her own theories... "See you up there!"

Throwing her leg back over the side of her broom, Olivia gathered her full strength and kicked off from the ground with an O O M P H!. Soaring into the fray at once, she tore away from the cluster of her peers, eyes darting to and fro for any lone red balls. They were mostly in groups of all four house colors, which made all this seem nigh impossible (now that she thought about it further)... Not thinking much about where she was flying, she drifted into a patch of falling colorful balls.

Perhaps they were meant to hope for the best? Rely on luck? Sell their souls to unmentionables?.... Oh, buddy.

OH. THERE WAS A RED ONE...with a BLUE ONE... Nevermind...... Suddenly, the blonde felt (more than heard) a THUNK! atop her head... Had she just caught something??? How was she meant to know if it was the right house color, though?!!??!?

She could release them? But wait, what? No hands? Why hadn't the Professor said that before? Skylar did grin though when he said she was a skilled flyer and had got this. Except, how would she know if she was getting only the green balls? And if they bounced out? But she guessed that was part of the risk and challenge of it.

But if she aimed towards single lone green ones and flew slow enough below it, surely she could do it. Professor B even seemed to believe in her.

Squinting off into the distance, the fourth year found a cluster of rubber balls, but it was a mix of colors, which meant too risky. Zooming off away, she spotted a stray green ball, and took a deep breath. She could do this, no hands. No hands.

Flying, flying, flying, until she was right underneath it... she jerked up just a bit, and nothing. Glancing around bewildered, she frowned when she saw it slightly off. Well, that was poor judgment.

Spotting the green one again, she hovered just underneath it, as she aimed her head forward at just the right angle and plop. She felt it. And hopefully it was a green one and not another colored one that had strayed in...

Etta was starting to think that this sport was totally pointless. Catching a yellow ball seemed more difficult than she had anticipated, really. She flew about carefully, making sure she didn't end up catching the other coloured ones. She almost considered giving up but.. that wasn't an option. She sighed to herself and looked up, just in time to see a flash of yellow.

HEY. Yes. She could do this. She zoomed forward, making sure she was at the right place.. and waited, when the yellow ball plonked right into the cauldron. YAY. But, she didn't waste too much time hovering about.. she started to fly once again, glancing at her classmates every now and then. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought.. maybe.

She squinted up at the air once again.. wait. Was that a yellow? No.. she quickly flew out of the way before the blue ball fell into her cauldron. Oooookay, that was a narrow escape. She heaved a small sigh of relief. Phew.

So...no marshmallows then? That was kind of disappointing...but any lingers sads on the subject were soon gone as they were given the signal to take to the skies. Well, you did not have to tell this Hufflepuff twice! Strapping a cauldron to his head, Derf quickly mounted his broom and took off. Which only naturally meant that he zoomed right on by Abey with a bit of a giddy grin. Oh! And there was Emmeline and Jessa and holy flaming salamanders it felt gooooooooood being up here.

But right...there was a task at hand! He could focus. Sort of.

But there was a serious flaw in this activity for the Hufflepuff and his eyes squinted at the falling balls trying to differentiate the different shades of similar hues and was instantly brought back to the start of term feast as a first year where he had found himself at the Gryffindor table rather than Hufflepuff.

Once he felt certain he had the right color, only he so so sooooo did not, Derf leaned forward on his broom and went into a bit of a nose dive until he heard the PING of something landing in his cauldron. SCORE! He had one! Blue eyes darting around once again, he went into a bit of a loopty loop until he heard another fall into his cauldron, and yet he speed on, with several more balls landing ceremoniously in his cauldron.

Still just proud of herself for both managing to hover and also proving that she was a good friend because she’d waited for Emmeline to succeed too, Stasya had stayed quiet all during the discussion about Creaothceann. Actually, it had more just been because she hadn’t really heard about it, but she’d been distracted too. She’d wanted to fly again, even if it was more hovering, but instead she’d stayed on the ground, listening as she just kept hearing all sorts of bad things and getting herself all sorts of worked up over the idea they would be playing it. Because she really didn’t want to die the first time she’d ever managed to fly, and it really seemed like Mr. Baldvinsson was planning on them playing. She couldn’t ignore the presence of the cauldrons after all.

But then it was established that there weren’t any rocks involved and she’d relaxed a little. Only a little, but enough that she’d given Emmeline a smile when she had brought a cauldron over for her. She’d managed to strap it onto her head, a little awkwardly even though it had been made lightweight just because size, and mounted her broom again even as she heard Liv answer the question her friend had asked. Single out the red ones. She could try to do that. Mhm. Awkward nod.

She pushed off and hovered for a moment before leaning forward and nearly zooming forward faster than she’d wanted. She was trying to find the red balls, but first she had to control her flight. And keep the cauldron strapped onto her head, which was proving hard to balance. It was easier to just close her eyes and hope that any balls landed in her cauldron. Preferably red ones but the main part was she didn’t want to fail. Not now that she’d managed to fly.

Lone red ones. Sounded like a good idea to Emmeline and besides, everyone was in the air now. She didn't want to be left out of the game so she awkwardly strapped the cauldron onto her head. It felt weird trying to balance the silly thing on her head, because as she'd discovered when she'd gotten the cauldrons down, carrying or balancing them was awkward because they were big and unwieldy. She was delighted to discover that this school broom seemed to like her better now, because it didn't hesitate anymore when she said "up!" to it. Mounting the broom, Emmeline rose into a hover first and then gradually gained some height. She had been pretty much at hover-level or close to it when she'd flown off for the cauldrons, but this would be fun because she could go higher now.

Emmeline zoomed off across the pitch, searching everywhere for lone red balls. They didn't seem to exist and to be honest, she was having fun just flying around. A few balls PLOPPED into her cauldron but she couldn't see what colors they were. Flying at this height was so much more fun than hovering (although that had been good too) that she tried to do some zig zags and go even faster. More balls plopped into her cauldron entirely by chance; she thought maybe zig zags were too much, because was she controlling the broom now or was it controlling her?

Oops. Not anything to worry about unless you crash, she told herself sternly. Gryffindor was the House for brave people after all.

They're actually gonna play Creaothceann??? Hooyah!

But these are not actual rocks, instead its colored balls, and they had to be specific about them balls to be caught. Ok now thats an added challenge in itself that didnt exist in the original Creaothceann game.

He could hear someone calling out his name-- ah yes young Emmeline, and he waved at her. He's will be joining her soon, he just needed to figure out his strategy..... And boy has he got it.

With all the students up in the air catching and not catching the right colors of their houses, the Curly Top used them to filter out the balls that he didnt need. Because those are deductions see? With lesser balls falling through now he kicked off the ground, the cauldron secured on his head, and flew under the hail of balls that are more red than anything else-- bcz those have been avoided by the other houses yeah? Awwyea.

*plunk!* *plunk!*

SCORE!

Watching everyone else in order to work out what to do was... actually a little more difficult than Abey had thought. Some people were catching balls all in their own house colour, others were catching anything but, and some were catching both. For a moment the thought struck Abey that perhaps it didn't matter which ones they were aiming for, but........ no, no, he DEFINITELY remembered there being a specific instruction.

... Well, it didn't really matter after all. It WAS only a game and only for this class, sooooooo he made a guess, and decided to do what HE thought was the most likely thing.

Red baaaaaaaaalls, here were come!

Decision made, he ZOOMED AHEAD AND INTO THE FRAY... and very quickly found that this game was much easier said than done. All of the red balls he aimed for? He ended up missing them entirely. The temptation to use his hands to catch them was sooooo stroooooong.

THUNK!

At last! Abey had - totally by accident but shhhhhhh - caught one! Nice!

Except one problem was that he couldn't see it so didn't know what colour it was.

And another problem was that, if he had managed to get a look at it, he would have seen that it was yellow, not red.

#HufflepuffPride

Given how well his strategy went, he was sticking with it, flying pretty much under the radar and around the periphery. He had to take care of the two red balls in his cauldron now, because a wrong one or two would wipe out his efforts completely. Which will be a TOTAL bummer.

he is eyeing fellow Gryffindors too, because he knew they would be aiming for reds, and in the event that they miss, he's there for the rebound. Like Abey over there, valiant effort, missed reds by mere inches. So there goes Ace as he swooshes beneath their feet and *plunk* in goes the 3rd red ball.

At first she thought that with time she would get the hang of this, as she was slowly getting the hang of quidditch but as it turned out, getting to the right angle...avoiding the wrong colour....avoiding collision with your classmates, keeping balance with the cauldron and listening to the occasional shouts of the Professor happened to be too much in one go. As it so happened, at some point her brain would have to start tuning some of it out if she planned for any of it to start making sense.

Once again the girl slowed to a stationary position, watching the others zip about the pitch in their own little games of catch.

The sudden rattling in her cauldron told her that a ball had flown inside without much help from her, a green one as it were, but she didn't know that as she hadn't seen the moment it fell in there, she'd only heard and felt it.

Thing is, she knew sitting around wasn't the answer but at the same time...moving had gotten her nothing. Suddenly she was dormant an--CLUNK! Merlin, another one!!! What colour had that one been? Circe the least she could do was pay attention if she was going to be hovering here like this. For all she knew she could have been at 10 pts or down to nothing because neither colour happened to match her house.

Watching the balls being thrown all about, it occurred to her--and was proven--that statistically speaking...just sitting here...she would inevitably catch a ball or two, even if only by accident or happenstance. The results didn't lie and though she knew it wasn't how the game was meant to be played, Jessa moved into something of a wait game. Rather than zip around trying to dodge the wrong ones and aim for the right ones, the young girl sat perfectly still. When a ball came in close enough that she felt she could catch it, she would lean forward or backward on her broom in an attempt to make a successful catch.

This method, of course, was not without its faults. Sometimes she miscalculated and ended up dropping the ball completely. Not to mention her theory being proven right in that whether she did something or not, inevitably a stray ball or two would land itself in her cauldron.

There might have been 6 or 7 of them in there by now and despite the fact she knew they weren't all blue, she was pleased she had caught any at all.