Imagine brazenly using magic in a no magic activity, and a prefect too? Tsk tsk. Nem would never. Not in blatant sight of a professor, at least. And yet, that worked out nicely; good opportunity to see how he dealt with all that, without Nem getting their own hands dirty.

For the record, Nem was in no rush to do this, regardless of if it was being timed. They just ambled alongside the obstacle course, setting down treats along the way for the kneazle (who had been set down at the very start and was now inching through the course, one treat at a time). The slalom was entertaining; waving a treat around and baiting the creature through the poles as though it was hypnotised.

Food as motivation. You could apply to to practically every creature, including humans, and excluding (for example) knarls. Maybe even knarls could be bribed, once used to the owner. Nem didn't know. They'd never checked. And weren't interested in looking it up.

They'd reached a hoop, which was a little more difficult to bribe the kneazle through. If it had any brains, just setting the treat on the floor might make it circumvent the hoop entirely. Refusing to jump through hoops; Nem could relate. But as it was sort of necessary, they stood on the other side and held up the treat. And waited.

This kneazle was getting fuller and fuller, and also slightly nauseous, but was also still hungry. Treats. Who could say no to TREATS? No feline with sense, that's who. And this feline had sense.

So it POUNCED through the hoop to get that next one... and missed... because it was yanked out of the way at the last moment. Before he could make his displeasure known, however, a treat was dropped right in front of his paws, and he gobbled that one up too.

That was easily the hardest part, and it was a cinch. The rest was a breeze, completed in exactly the same way. Sure, Nem hadn't managed the course very quickly at all, but they didn't care about that. Got the kneazle through, didn't they? Hadn't been hissed at and scratched and fled from, had they? It was easily a win.

"Slow and steady." Might not exactly win the race, but got the job done.