Hearing her name, Isla ceased the green rainfall she was creating and looked over at Bernie. Huh? What Phoebe was doing? Mmkay, Phoebe, where ya at? The second year finally zoned in on the Gryffindor girl, who was apparently enjoyed death by kelpie. "You want me to do what?" Isla asked, giving Bernie a look. Nah. She'd pass on a second chance at getting killed.

"Uhh...Avalon? I think you're about to get eaten over there," Isla pointed out. Just saying. Then it occurred to Isla that she'd been completely ignored by the kelpie, and she highly doubted it was because the creature was playing nice. "I don't think it likes grass if that little fact helps."

Uhh...uhh...Avalon?

"Isn't this thing supposed to kneel in invitation when it wants somebody to take a ride? Maybe we should distract it by getting it into a kneeling position, and then putting the bridle over it?" she suggested. "Kale? You wanna wade on out there?"

Nina was quite pleased with their plan of action. So much so that she even gave the next Gryffindor to declare themselves part of their team (Phoebe) a small smile. Especially because she knew her place as a distraction, which meant that Nina wouldn’t have to be the one to tell her. People she was not so happy to have join their team? Carsyn Rose and Nemesis Upstead. Could they join another team? Orange was, um, beyond capacity? That could work. She could probably get away with a lie like that.


…… WHAT WAS PHOEBE DOING??? They had a PLAN. A PLAN that involved distracting as a TEAM!!! Sweet Circe, the horse was going to try to actually eat her, wasn’t it?! Did Trent’s promise that no one would get hurt still hold true in this scenario?? Nina turned, nodding to Missa. Now is as good a time as any. She lifted her own wand, only turning to fix Nemesis with a GLARE, before pointing at their bridle and using the duplication charm to acquire another. She held this new one out for Missa to take before looking over to—”NOAH!? What are you doing!” This was a disaster. Had he been paying ANY attention in class???? Other spells wouldn't work on kelpies. Dear Merlin. Trent probably thought they were all incompetent. Which they were. Just not her. She wasn't one of those, okay?

Nina could feel a massive headache coming on. But there was a Gryffindor to save and though she did not like playing hero, her other teammates had proven themselves entirely useless (save for Missa who would hopefully help put an end to this nonsense). With Cecelia, Naya, and Ewan heading up as other distractions, Nina inched closer. If they could just distract well enough to get the horse to release Phoebe... Because trying to fix the bridle now wouldn't do any good.

Blake had all he could do not to jump away .... the kelpie, bird, horse thing whatever you wanted to call it. But it had landed very close to him and appeared to be wanting to come closer and Blake wasn't sure he wanted that. He had hoped his team mates would be cirlcing as they speak. Blake knew he couldn't get up and run .. it would ruin the point of him being injured.

"It's my leg ...... my leeeeggggg......" Blake whined playing the act as best he could without sounding as scared as he felt .. all though sounding scared might help in this situation.

Much like the Headmaster had warned, Noah's "relashio" did absolutely nothing to the water demon imitator. In fact, it didn't notice the boy had cast at all.

Perhaps this was as good a time as any to listen to Nem. Phoebe didn't need that arm. Not if they wanted to have any hope of getting a bridle onto its face. Afterall, there was now a Third Year stuck to its face and it was heading to collect others.

What to do, what to do?

The bridle had gone near invisible, but that didn't solve another problem. Being a bird, its face was now much too small to fit that bridle. In fact, when the bridle got close enough, the bird-horse simply hopped through it and landed itself now on Blake's shoulder.

Now in position and latched onto the boy, it shifted into a much larger, winged animal, a hippogriff to be precise and took to the air with talons attached to either of the Slytherin's shoulders.

To the lake for this one.

That...that might be a problem. Why they'd let the kelpie get so close when it wasn't in any form to be bridled was beyond the man and to the detriment of their teammate.

And to think he thought the orange team was most likely to die.

Huh.

The Headmaster drew his wand, but he'd wait for now, in case they miraculously had a plan.

Was Cole going to be the only one of chucking rocks duty? It seemed that way since Bernie and Avalon was doing their bits. Kale was screaming and Islay and Isla weren't helping much either. Setting up on position on the rocky bank, Cole kept close eye on the purple coloured kelpie and Avalon. The kelpie suddenly broke into a gallop heading straight for Avalon's hiding place sooner than he thought it would. "Hey kelpie! Look over here!" He shouted as he started to throw rocks in the water near the kelpie hoping that the splashes would distract and stop it's gallop enough for the others to do their thing. While he lunged rock upon rock Cole called over his shoulder to the others "Come on guys get the bridle over it's head. Use the placement charm that we've been practising. We have to stop its gallop."

Was she really surprised that their plan didn't seem to be working at all? No, not really. Avalon had learned that nothing ever went as planned when it came to Defense Against the Dark Arts. Isla was throwing grass, Kale was straight up screaming, Chloe was telling them to just walk over to it calmly (she did have a point there - why did Avalon think that acting like a lunatic was the best way to get its attention?), and a glance over her shoulder revealed that Bernie would probably need some help getting the bridle on. Wait, and now Isla wanted them to just kneel down next do it?! They needed a new plan, and fast. That kelpie was coming at her quickly.

Just as she was about to give up hope, she heard some plunks in the water. Thank Merlin, Cole had gotten to work chucking those rocks. But would it work? Avalon didn't know if it would be enough to the water demon. She needed to draw this kelpie away from her and toward the center of their triangle - which meant turning it around so it was facing toward the lake. But how? The Ravenclaw knew it would be a bad idea to run right now, while the kelpie's attention was totally focused on her. But those gallops were getting closer and closer.

In an act of desperation, just in case Cole's distraction wasn't working, Avalon grabbed her wand. Headmaster Trent said that spells wouldn't work on the kelpies, but he never said they couldn't use magic to help them distract it. "Get ready, Bernie!" Avalon called to the younger Gryffindor. Just in case this insane idea actually worked.

She pointed her wand at a fairly large rock near the water's edge. "BOMBARDA!" With a wave of her wand, the rock was blasted into pieces, with a loud bang. She hoped that the blast, combined with Cole's rock-throwing would be enough to break the kelpie's focus on her, so she could get back over and help Bernie with the bridle. But was that just wishful thinking?

DISASTER.

It was all a disaster. They had too many people in their team, and while it should have been easy to distract the kelpie with so many people in a lot of direction - the entire thing was going the opposite way.

Disaster.

“Listen to Nemesis, Phoebe!” she called out, “Or we’ll end up putting the bridle on YOUR mouth”

They were doomed. So doomed.

”Yeah, it’s life and death because they just jumped in and ignored the plan kid”(Nem). It was like they were getting stupider and stupider every year. Yes, it wouldn’t do them any good arguing about it now though. Now, they just had to somehow turn this disaster into something salvageable without anyone losing an arm although you wouldn’t find him crying if she did. Maybe then she’d actually learn to listen rather than just jumping in.

Between the casting of pointless spells and shouting, it was honestly a wonder that only two of them had been grabbed by the wooden demon. He was done. Honestly done at this point. With the bridle in hand, he cast a quick doubling charm on it so that they now had another and tossed one to the nearest person to him [B]”Here, catch![B/].

He had decided to take matter into his own hands and use the one he had to distract the thing with it! Surely it would be more worried that it would end up getting restrained by the bridle than it was with eating the young’uns?

”Fixate” he shouted, above the noise of everyone else, his wand on the bridle now, guiding it towards the water demon as quick as he could muster. Let’s see if it can still keep the girl without dodging this!

Carsyn hated this. She hated watching her younger housemates so helpless and her dormmate.... Phoebe said the most sensible thing all class though, she had to admit. I hate it, make it go away now. Wait, cut off her sleeve? But truth be told, that actually did make sense.... clothes could be repaired. Phoebes could not. Well technically they could be, unless she was dead and then it was beyond the point of no repair.

Noah's spell did nothing, as did her sparks.

"I think we could do with just cutting off her arm sleeve though.... but even so, the healer could regrow limbs. We need to take that chance. Before it's too late."

So while Ewan was casting the charm to place the bridle on its face, didn't they need to detach Phoebe first?

"Who's got good precision for the severing charm?" She could do it, but as her prefect and older housemate, she wasn't sure Phoebe would take well to it? Or maybe the girl would think it was super cool?

Claudine spied the kelpie approaching Blake as as much as she resented him, she edged closer to him too. Her aim was to protect him [s]unfortunately[/i]. Islay had already taken care of working on the bridle, which Claudine appreciated. If a group of them worked on the bridle while the ones who were free at the moment worked to protect the ones on the frontlines should the bridle mission fail.

“Immobulus.’’ This Charm worked before once, maybe it would work again. ”Someone should work on getting Blake to the ground safely if he falls.’’ Honestly, would it really matter if Blake died got injured?

Alright. Yeah. He'd seen enough. Blaze was possibly the straw that broke the hippocampus's back. Hearing someone mention a severing charm when he was sure as Merlin that James was now attached to that kelpie was a dangerously close second and he'd seen all about he cared to of students carelessly throwing explosions while there were other students running around.

This class had become a lawsuit waiting to happen.

With a flick of his wand, the purple, orange and green kelpie all disappeared. James was released, Ryan was dropped a short distance to the floor and the one charging at Sinclair was no more. He waited a moment for them to turn their attention back to him, his most unimpressed look in place and a scowl to accentuate the look.

"Let's stop. It's very very very clear many of you do not listen when I speak and that some of you will keep refusing to use common sense and sound strategy." If he saw just one more student casting useless spells, they would all end up in detention. So yes, this was as good a time as any to call this off. "We'll be reviewing kelpies again in your individual years." Next week, when they were separated. He would try to drill this in again and hope it worked. "For now, go get some parchment and your quills. Everyone, hurry up. Take a seat in semi-circular fashion here." He gestured with his hands in the spot he wanted.

"You'll write "I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense". We've got some time until the end of the lesson. I don't suggest you have any less than 100 lines by the time we wrap up unless you'd like to continue this in detention." That seminar was definitely happening.

OOC: So it looks like the activity is ending a day early But class actually ends on May 13th so thiiiiisss is the final leg. I'll wrap up some time on the 13th. <3

"You are not cutting off my arm," Phoebe kept trying to grab for anything to hold onto, but her teammates seemed keen on staying as far from her grip as possible. And offering to cut off her arm... so unhelpful. What kind of brainstorming started and ended at unplanned surgery?

She was getting closer and closer to that water, and while Phoebe believed that Headmaster Trent wouldn't let her die... mostly believed that... nope. She didn't believe it anymore. Everything bad was happening, and it was happening so fast. "Someone cast a bubblehead charm on meeeeee."

And then the kelpie was just... gone. So MAYBE the Headman was trustworthy after all. Phoebe went limp in relief.

Well, the GOOD NEWS was that the kelpie seemed eager to come after her and Naya now, which meant she could lead it AWAY from the lake and maybe buy some time. "Hang in there, Feebs!" Hang in there. Hang. 'Cause she was hanging from the kelpie's mouth. GEDDIT? The blonde giggled to herself as she ran, quick as a flash, away from the creature. ...No, no laughing, this was serious. Cecelia hoped the headmaster hadn't seen that. The man already looked pretty stressed over the performances going on.

Also, what WERE the older kids in their group DOING aside from being judgy and barking orders about cutting off arms? They were ONLY live bait out here while the lot of them chatted away. Less talking, more magic, people!

Could they have a do over?

...apparently not.

Cecelia skidded to a halt, her hands on her knees, pausing to catch her breath as the headmaster stopped the activity. This wasn't HER fault, you know. She blamed Nem. She didn't really know WHY she blamed Nem, but he'd been the least help in all this, so it was clearly his fault.

Wilting some, the third year slowly made her way over to help Phoebe up. "You okay?"

Tom was about to say something about just running away and calling a professional in, seriously that would have been the best thing to do, but before he could the headmaster was telling them to sit in a semi-circle and to write down something.

Tom took out some parchment and then he started to write down what the headmaster had told them to... seriously hopefully everyone was okay, he looked around to see what he could see, before getting back on with the parchment.

Okay, umm...nothing was working. The kelpies were literally about to kill them all, and nobody knew the secret to getting the bridle on. She still thought they should trick the kelpie into a kneeling position, but nobody seemed to hear her over the sound of the loud blast made by Avalon's spell.

This whole thing was turning into an even bigger disaster, and thank Merlin Trent finally had mercy on them. When the kelpies finally disappeared for good, Isla released a breath she'd been holding in. She started to thank him for coming to their rescue, but he seemed really mad, so she didn't dare tickle a sleeping dragon. Well, so to speak, since Trent wasn't sleeping or anything weird like that.

So the class wasn't over yet? Now he was going to try and kill them by note-taking! Isla went and grabbed the necessary materials then returned to the semi-circle. There were little blades of grass all in her hair, but there was nothing to be done about that right now. WAIT. They were writing lines?! BUT WHYYYYYY?!

Whatever had gone on, she hadn't done it! Whatever it was.

Also, would this be a bad time to tell him she was out of ink?

Blake was more than happy to see the Professor call it quits, when he was being lifting into the air he was totally starting to begin to actually panic. Thankfully he fell only a little way and collected himself and began to write their headmasters lines on parchment ... even though he had nothing to do with this spell casting nonsense.

Avalon was about to give up, merely accepting the fact that she was about to be either trampled or bitten (or both) by the purple kelpie barreling toward her, when it suddenly vanished out of thin air. She cautiously peered up over the bush she was hiding behind, only to see Headmaster Trent glaring at them. Ohhhh, he was definitely disappointed.

She glanced at her team members, checking to make sure nobody had sustained any injuries. Thankfully, everyone looked to be in one piece. But to make things worse, the headmaster wasn't just ending the lesson there. He was going to make them write lines?! Ugh.

Straightening her uniform, Avalon reluctantly made her way over to the circle and grabbed a piece of parchment. She honestly didn't think she had ever seen Headmaster Trent look so irritated with them. But why did they have to write lines about it? Wasn't the safety seminar punishment enough? She sighed, scribbling out her first line. One down, only ninety-nine more to go....

Well team Orange... It had been a real time. Noah was... meh. His team had such a promising start and then turned into a downward spiral... He glanced over at Phoebe and offered her a sad smile. Hopefully she hadn't been roughed up too much. She had started the distraction and then ben carried away by the kelpie.... and then everything else happened.

Noah joined the others and listened to the Headmaster's words. After the commotion caused, he could only nod. It made sense for them to have to received such a punishment after today's lesson. He figured that was directed to his team.. Team Orange.. wooo....

He made his way to the circle, grabbed a piece of parchment, and began writing the phrase over and over and over and over and over and over and....

Scribble, scribble.

He sighed before continuing. He had a long way to go.

Okay, so the kelpie stayed as a bird and didn't transform back into a horse. Obviously not what they expected, but it was okay! They could totally figure it-

Huh?

Wait, they were stopping? And...the Headmaster was clearly not happy with whatever had happened. Ivy had been focusing on her group and their kelpie, so she hadn't been paying attention to what the other groups were doing, and now she wished she had! If she'd known they weren't going to get to finish, she would've at least been watching the shenanigans her other classmates were getting up to.

S i g h.

Glancing at her fellow Team Green members with a disappointed frown, she hurried over to grab her parchment and quill from her bag then brought it with her to a spot in the semi-circle they were forming.

I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense, she wrote glumly. Over and over and over...

Merlin, this was NOT how she pictured her first lesson at Hogwarts to go.

Well this had totally gone south very fast. Just when Naya thought that it couldn’t be any worse than her solo attempt, it had become much, much worse. The whole scene was chaotic and nothing positive was being accomplished. Waving her robe around had gotten the horse’s attention, but he was no closer to releasing Phoebe. Spells were flying here and there and crazy ideas were being suggested.

Mercifully, the horses disappeared when the Headmaster called the whole thing off. Fortunately, Phoebe appeared to be ok. Unfortunately, Naya and Team Orange had failed. Apparently so had the other groups because now they were all going to have to write lines. Looking rather defeated, she went to retrieve her parchment and quill. No Headmaster, Naya would not like to be in detention thank you. So she began to write the assigned message.

I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.
Only 99 more lines to go.

She was watching and just not even sure what to say next to her group. She didn't think causing so much chaos was a good thing, it would spoke and attack, but they were already getting started and throwing rocks. This was not going to end well and Chloe decided to just lift her wand and be ready to burn the thing if she needed to save a teammate. She was a bit away and just watching when it disappeared. Her eyes moved around to see if the others were gone too and seeing that they were she stashed her wand and headed to her bag.

Getting her parchment out she began to write the words he said. All in all she hoped the rest of her classes would get better because if this was how the first day was going to go she was fearful to see the rest.

"READY," Bernie had JUST called out to Avalon, getting all excited again to show off her wand work in like her BEST subject (besides Muggle Studies, which didn't count as a subject since she was the TA), when ALL OF A SUDDEN......

Their kelpie disappeared. And no one had even gotten to ride it.

"Awww, MAN!" Bernie pouted, putting her wand back in her boot as she stomped over to the semi-circle. She threw herself down in the dramatic, floppy way that only a teen could and sighed LOUDLY at him after he explained the last activity.

I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense. Bernie wrote it, just once, before popping her hand in the air.

"Sir, since I already wrote you fifty inches of parchment on this topic last year, can I be excused from this activity?"

Oh wait, that had been BEFORE the incident in the Forbidden Forest........ hadn't it? Bernie blinked and looked back down at her parchment.

"Never mind, sir."

She'd just be using a duplication charm on this sentence, then. Bernie subtly squirmed around like she was looking for something she'd dropped when really she was just shaking her wand out of her boot again so that she could cast that spell on her parchment. Hang on, Headmasterprofessorsir, nothing to see here, nothing at all.

Except Grantham's question HAD gotten the man's attention. Given his mood, he thought her rather bold to be trying to test his patience and the raise of his brow spoke volumes. Thankfully, she'd retracted the statement without him needing to answer--not that she needed one. The way his jaw clenched would've been enough.

Her squirming rather than writing, that was easily noticed thanks to her initial action of drawing attention to herself. "I don't see that quill moving, Grantham. I'd hate your first day to be your last." Given she and Blaze were no longer eligible for detention.

Even that outburst could've seen her gone but the man was composed. He would not let his temper get the better of him.

He simply stood by her, waiting for her to continue writing.

......... Did Carsyn Rose actually suggest that someone cut Phoebe's arms off?? What kind of prefect was she!? Nina was about to say as much when Headmaster Trent went ahead and put a stop to the entire activity. Nina Castillo was........ Not surprised. Things had obviously gone very south. Nina blamed the younger years in her group. Except for Cecelia, she was trying. Everyone else though? Horrible.

Also horrible? That sinking feeling in her stomach. Not only did her first attempt to bridle the wooden horse fail, but she had also let down the only Professor she really cared about in this entire school. With that in mind, she wasted no time moving to retrieve a quill and some parchment before joining everyone in the semi-circle.

Unlike some of her peers (Bernadette), Nina very diligently began writing her lines.

I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.
I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.
I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.

She didn't mind writing lines, but she did not like knowing that their Headmaster was disappointed in her. Maybe she'd go apologize after class. Though she was also afraid of wasting his time. He was a Head of House now on top of everything else he did. She tucked a her hair behind her ear and continued with the lines.

I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.
I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.
I will listen to the professor and exercise common sense.

Bernie huffed yet again when the Headmaster just...got all grumpy and broody instead of answering her but dang he had an impressive jawline. UM. She tried not to stare at him and went back to her squirming.

She almost had it, she could feel her wand in her fingertips, but suddenly a shadow fell over her. She gulped, looking up at the looming Headmasterman himself, and may or may not have let an expletive escape from under her breath. NEVER MIND NEVER MIND, ABORT! MISSION! ABORT! Considering the man was like literally breathing down her neck now, she'd be REAL dumb to try any magic in this moment.

Also, um, why was he STILL threatening expulsion for her? Didn't she get a reset on second chances yet? Bernie blew her bangs out of her face with another moody huff and got back to work, her quill scratching extra loud on her parchment so that the professor could see that she was writing. And not talking. And DEFINITELY not eyeballing her own foot where she still stored her wand.

Maybe she'd get a wrist holster for next year....