More students were joining the purple team but to her secret delight, Phoebe and Gemma joined the orange team. Worry dawned on her when Phoebe voiced something that she had forgotten. ‘’Neither do I,’’ she said and tried to fight off a small wave of anxiety. ‘’What do we do then? I’ve never tried a defensive spell.’’ Sure, she knew incantations and wand movements but that was all. She looked worriedly at Gemma. ‘’Reckon we might have to dodge and hide from the spells.’’ What a giant flaw in this activity for the first years.

The Slytherin found herself looking up into the face of one of her older Housemates. Kaiser? Was that what she had heard him being called? ‘’Finite? Does that end every single spell?’’ This was a very important question to her as this counterspell could be her bff.

Noticing that Kaiser was getting started, Claudine decided she would too. ‘’We can catch them off guard,’’ she whispered to Gemma and Phoebe. She had already selected a target- a sixth year Gryffindor (Rylee). ‘’Colloshoo.’’ The spell too, was whispered.

Those bunnies had been super agile. Cole had worked tirelessly with his cousins to catch those bunnies but by the end of the activity they had just caught one and gotten pretty sweaty in the process. It was probably Headmaster Trent’s aim to really get them to use both body and mind as possible. As for the second question. Cole listened to his peers answers unsure what to say when really they had said everything that he could think of. He disliked staying silent though so he raised his hand and said with a look over at Headmaster Trent "The sticking hex slows down your opponent, but it doesn’t disarm or him/her so they can still attack you with everything they’ve got so that’s bad for your own defense. It seems like a spell best used in your repertoire with other spells for attacking and defense. It’s not so good alone since your opponent can probably get themsleves moving again pretty quickly and still chase you."

Minutes later the main activity got going and Cole chose to head on over to the purple team side. It seemed like a good group of peers that could work together. He first heard Pheobe’s distressed question that Kaiser answered and then next second he had Cece taking cover behind him. Well he wasn’t super tall, but he was taller than all first years. He shot her a smile, before he gripped his wand and turned to pick a target choosing the first year Claudine (FearlessLeader19) that he had met on the carriage to school and cast firmly. "Colloshoo!"

Now, onto to the sticking game! Bernadette bounced with glee toward a side of the room, which, as it turned out, was TEAM PURPLE! Woohoo! "Now don't stick yourself this time," she whispered to Cece as she bounced closer to the wall. But what's this? Their housemate from the ORANGE team was asking Cece not to get her... but Bernadette didn't have to follow that.

"COLLOSHOO!" She shouted, as one does when casting spells, quickly pointing her wand at Phoebe James and then hurrying away.

Ooh, the wall! Maybe someone would stick HER to it!

Gemma wasn't opposed to hiding if it meant her team would win. Her little pack of friends needed to stick together and help each other out of they got into a sticky wink wink situation. She figured she could learn basic spells as the game progressed and older students started showing off.

Her attention was turned to the older Slytherin in their group. Finite. The spell itself sounded familiar but she was uncertain if she'd actually be able to use it.

The game had started.

Claudine said catching them off guard was the key. Gemma scooped out a possible target. Her eyes fixed on a first-year Gryffindor (Bernadette). "Colloshoo." Her voice was barley audible as she cast the spell.

Freyr reacted without thinking and stepped aside, then he realized the sixth-year boy (Kaiser), who has cast colloshoo on him. After shaking off the shock of the moment, he dived in behind one of the desks to take cover. He thought "But it is not fair, they know lots of protection spells.", but then a voice in his head said "It doesn't have to be fair, things won't be fair always." So he decided to act, therefore he came out from his cover and looked for an opponent.

At that moment, he noticed the girl who just cast Sticking Hex on Bernie and then he shouted, "Colloshooo!" at the first-year girl (Gemma). He wondered how the winning team will be determined.

Peeking out from behind her tall boy shield, Cecelia crossed her heart and offered Phoebe a grin. "It's a promise. Be careful out there!" Her words were said solemnly, her face serious for all of TWO seconds before she giggled. The DRAMA of all this purple against orange stuff was going to be FUN!

"I won't. Or at least I don't THINK I will," Cece reassured Bernadette, coming out from her hiding place to join her housemate as she skirted the wall. She wouldn't be helpful to her team if she stuck HERSELF, so she was REALLY going to try and stay focused here, not an easy task, 'specially when Bernadette was trying to stick Phoebe to the floor. Cece's eyes widened some, and she felt a LITTLE bad about it, but SHE hadn't done the sticking, so their deal was STILL a deal.

Spotting another first year (Claudine), the small blonde decided they were pretty evenly matched and she scrunched up her forehead in concentration, aiming at the girl's feet. "Colloshoo!" Had it WORKED? She couldn't exactly stay STILL to see, not wanting to be stuck herself, but she kept looking over her shoulder as she ran on and on.

Kaiser just earned himself a fan for life, and Phoebe immediately stopped the dramatics and gave him a huuuuuge grin. At the very least, she knew how to end every spell ever, so that was a pretty powerful second spell to learn. First, she learned to STICK, now she learned to UNSTICK. What else was there, really?

The petite first year took a step toward Kaiser to insist on providing her own PERSON as his human shield right when ol' Bernie hit her feet with a sticking spell. "No! No, I wasn't ready! Nooooooooo." She melted dramatically sideways, although she couldn't slump into a proper tantrum with her feet stuck to the floor. "You... you got me... Villain. I shall be avenged."

C'mon and unstick her, puh-lease.

Nettie couldn't help but smirk to herself as Trent announced the active. She was ALWAYS down for these hands on activities. She hadn't been in her earlier years, to be honest, but now she really appreciated what she could learn from doing actual practice of the spells in class - rather than just questions and answers.

As the class started to get right to it, she crouched down behind her desk and took an opportunity to scope out the enemy. Most people seemed to be overlooking the prefect, which she was totally ok with. Hmmm. Who on the other team was her first target?

Nettie spotted someone from the PURPLE team running by and decided to give it a shot. "Colloshoo!" she cried, aiming at the little blonde girl (Cecilia) who had just run by, hoping her hiding spot had been sufficient enough to conceal her.

Oh, look, that little first year was stuck! Still crouched down, she pointed at her stuck feet from under the desk. "Finite!" she whispered, hoping she was able to get a good angle from her hiding spot to adequately cast the spell and unstick her.

Look at that. A happy first year. Kaiser was responsible for that. Look at him go.

Oh, he'd missed the purple team first year (Freyr). That was a shame. Kaiser was a little tempted to try and aim for the same kid again, over and over until he finally got him, but he preferred to not give himself a reputation for picking on first years, thanks. Maybe if the kid caught his attention again.

One of the members of his own team was talking to him, Kaiser realised, and as he didn't want to be caught unawares even for a moment (he didn't want to get stuck, okay?) he quickly threw up a temporary Shield Charm. "Protego." Then he turned his head to look at the kid (Claudine), who happened to be most-likely-a-first-year from his own house. "Uh... not every single spell. But many of them. Some spells need a-" Specific, specific, what was the word for specific? "... an exact counter-spell." That would have to do.

Because Kaiser felt all kinds of uncomfortable about being the Responsible and Helpful Older Kid™, he decided to go immediately back to sticking some shoes. Turning his attention back to the purple team, he started moving around the room; once his Shield Charm was taken down to cast the next spell, being a moving target was his next line of defence. Unless he ducked behind some cover of course, but that was only helpful if he was near anything that could provide cover.

... But just as he spied another Gryffindor who was pretty much crying out to be stuck in place, the plant-licker made herself known once more, in a very Gryffindor fashion, too. She was already stuck. Tempted as Kaiser was to go ahead with his offensive spell first, they needed as few stuck team members as possible. After a moment's deliberation, he cancelled his shield and turned his wand instead to the first year's feet and cast from a moderate distance. "Finite."

Did it work? "Plant-..." Nooooo. "Hey you." Better. "Try moving."

Momentarily distracted? You bet.

Rylee could feel the spell hit the shield charm she had tossed up only moments earlier. See? That was why she had wasted no time in taking up the defense while she had, had the chance. While she wasn't entirely sure who had cast it in her direction (Claudine), she knew enough about games such as this than to not be standing around. The more she moved around the better.

Time to get moving! Being on the smaller side for her age was helpful in times such as this. First she went left, than quickly circled around to go right. Forwards, backwards and around slides and swings. It didn't matter where she went as long as she wasn't standing
still.

Spotting someone from the opposite team from her current position ducked down behind a slide, she aimed her wand at their feet. The fellow sixth year appeared to be distracted so maybe she would get lucky with this. "Colloshoo" she spoke clearly in a hushed whisper. Sorry, not sorry, Kaiser.

Teehehehe, this was fun! Bernadette was enjoying sliding along the wall and evading spells... until, of course, she couldn't slide anymore.

"Heyyyyyyy," she whinged, looking down at her feet grumpily, "who did that?!" Was it Phoebe? WAS IT? Just because she was stuck didn't mean she couldn't cast spells, right? And speaking of Phoebe, she was pretty sure she had stuck in her place but now she was free again thanks to an older student...

NOT FAIR. "HEY PURPLE TEAM!" Bernadette yelped, knowing that at least her mouth wasn't stuck shut, "SOMEONE UNSTICK ME PLEASE!" She wanted to play some more!!!

Juuust as Cecelia was about to cast a spell at ANOTHER orange team member, she found that she was stopped mid-run, feet COMPLETELY stuck to the floor. "Nooo," She called out dramatically, wiggling all sorts of ways to try and free herself while FULLY aware she would need magic to get out of this one.

Spotting Bernadette nearby, the blonde got a VERY brilliant idea. "Hey! I'll unstick you if you unstick me!" Because the RULE was, you only couldn't unstick yourself. "I think the spell was...wait...I know I know this." She DID know this. She'd just heard another kid say it, in fact. Wand pointed and thinking REALLY hard, she murmured a, "Finite!"

..."Can you move yet?!"

He got an excellent point?

Lucas grinned, a little awkwardly but there was a grin. He was hardly listening to whatever else Trent had to say - sorry, Headmaster - as he just smiled at himself and started wondering what this scene would look like. It reminded him of an action sequence, really. He didn't know when else you'd start firing spells over your shoulder. While you were running. Away from the person chasing you.

Yeaaaaaah, this sounded impossible.

Right. Activity. Which included a game of tag, but with magic. So there was..... nothing dangerous here? Nothing at all? An odd feeling settled into his stomach at that realisation. He was relieved, yeah, but he was also a little..... embarrassed. He expected there to be something dangerous here. Something to run from or hide from or internally scream at. But this was just a game?

Shrugging, Lucas went and joined the orange team. Which, on second thought, was a pretty bad idea given the fact that he knew NO ONE on this team. Not a single person. There were some first years (Caludine, Phoebe, and Gemma) and an older Slytherin that he did recognise but not on a name basis (Kaiser) and the Ravenclaw Prefect and-

Oh. Carys! Better. Much better. Maybe.

He moved backwards and then over towards her. Hey. Hi. She wouldn't mind if he stuck with her, right? Uh, no pun intended. It wasn't as though he had much option and he didn't want to be standing out on his own. Not that he was planning on using her as a human shield but they could work together on this.

This activity was pure mild chaos, something the fourth year was already feeling uncomfortable about. But through all the spells flying in the air, he noticed one aimed at someone on his team and decided to fire back. Action came before logic and before he knew it, his wand was aimed at a familiar face. "Colloshoo!"

Uh, sorry, Rylee? Sorry.

Claudine didn’t have time to wonder if her spell hit Rylee. There was already one being directed to her and she recognised whom had sent it: Cole, the boy she had shared the carriage ride with. She did her best, springing out of the way by jumping backward. It was not a moment too soon for the spell struck the floor a split second later exactly at the spot where she had been standing. Claudine threw Cole a glare then returned the favour. “Colloshoo.’’ There. She hoped he would be stuck to the ground.

“Gemma, look out.’’ That other first year (Freyr) was trying to get her fellow Snakette. And was Phoebe always that dramatic? The warning to the other girl had come at a price. Claudine soon found her feet stuck in one place thanks to the spell sent by Cecelia. “Finite,’’ she said in a tone that suggested she was demanding that the spell work. Well, in a way, she was but it wasn’t working. “Finite. Finite.’’ Nothing. She stared up at Kaiser; he’d been the one who suggested the spell. “Help. Please.’’ Or maybe some older student could do so... like Lucas.

Thank Meeeeeeerlin for good team mates. Phoebe air-high-fived the older girl (Nettie) who so kindly set her free. It was so important to loudly make her needs known.

As soon as she was unstuck, Phoebe exploded into motion, her wand out and ready for action. She had every intention of finally attempting the sticking spell for real this time, but her new best friend/cushion was stuck. She slid to a stop and pointed her wand at Claudine's feet. "F... finite!"

And hopefully it worked, because it wasnt like this first year was a pro or anything. "Maybe we need to be the bait so the older kids can take people out all slick-like."

Given that a lot of people were casting spells at the same time, Kaiser probably could have been forgiven for not noticing there was one headed right for him. He did notice though. Or... not really notice, but he suspected.

When he caught a glimpse of the flash of light out of the corner of his eye, Kaiser instinctively tried to leap out of the way. Too late though; he only got one foot off the ground before the spell hit him and stuck his left foot firmly to the floor.

It probably made for an amusing sight, because Kaiser was still in the process of trying to dive out of the way. Most of his body made the attempt, but his foot stayed right where it was, so all he did was sort of jerk and flail.

Okay. Not going anywhere then.

Could he... still cast at the other team? Or free his own teammates? He couldn't remember if Trent had said so. That Slytherin kid (Claudine) sounded like she needed his help... but luckily the plant-licker got there first.

"Stuck," Kaiser said out loud, in case nobody had noticed, just on the off chance that a teammate was passing and could quickly unstick him.

Brilliant! They were BOTH stuck now! But Cece knew the UNstcking spell! "OKAY!" She agreed eagerly, also secretly hoping that Cecelia knew the spell because she sure didn't.

She watched carefully as her housemate pointed her wand at her feet and SUCCESSFULY unstuck her! "YAAAAAAAAY!" Bernadette cheered, literally jumping up and down in celebration. "Now your turn!" How did the spell go again? Bernie balanced up on her tippie toes and aimed her wand at Cece's feet. "FINITE!"

Did it work? Did it work? Did it?!?

They...sure were a dramatic bunch...weren't they?

Malachi watched, openly amused as his students dived and screamed and precious bean #4 had an entire meltdown about being stuck. He'd have liked to say it was outside of the expected but he'd spent enough years with the general Hogwarts population to be used to it.

"TIME!" The Headmaster bellowed, calling the activities to a halt. "Time. Good job everyone, gather 'round." Er...once the few that were stuck got themselves unstuck. "I'd have liked to congratulate the orange team on their victory but thanks to a little rule breaker, the victory goes to the purple team."

He'd SAID they couldn't unstick themselves. The fact the first year (Claudine) tried to anyway--regardless of it not working--disqualified the team. This was not one of the times rules were meant to be broken.

"Orange team, you'll find the homework on the noticeboard. Purple team, enjoy the rest of your day. You can all collect your things to head for your next lesson."

OOC: Thanks for coming everyone! Hope you had as much fun as I had stalking. Gonna close this thread in a few hours in case anyone wants to post leaving.

Cole remained still while he had Pheobe behind his back. She used him as a shield so he couldn't exactly just dart off to avoid a spell. He noted though inwardly smug that his spell had stuck Claudine to the ground. One point to him. This purple/orange battle was FUN! Cole didn't see or feel himself getting hit by Claudine's return spell before he tried to move and literally couldn't. He was stuck. Looking around he shouted around at his teammates "Can someone unstick me please?" before he yelled over at Claudine. "I'm getting you back for that!" He couldn't move so he watched the action waiting for someone to unstick him, choosing his next target.

It turned out that Claudine didn’t need any older student’s help but rather, all she needed was one Phoebe. She tried moving her feet and found out that she was free. For that, the Gryffindor received a smile. “Thanks. Look at you getting that spell done, Phoebe.’’ It was a compliment and it was added gruffly because Claudine didn’t always give them; she couldn’t help it. Phoebe was very likable. It was her turn to try to help. “Finite.’’ The wand was pointed at Kaiser’s feet and her focus was heightened. Hopefully, she proved capable of helping her Housemate.

Claudine shrugged over at Cole, very pleased that he was going to try to get her back. She couldn’t care less what he did. Oddly enough, his challenge put her in a good mood though her face reflected none of that; she was back to being serious. She didn’t even care that her team had lost (and hadn’t realised that they had lost because of her [OOC: I am so sorry for her, #TeamOrange :/ ]) because all she wanted to do now was to go finish off her earlier sketch.

Without a further word, Claudine collected her belongings before exiting the room.

Gather... uhhhhh...

Kaiser blinked and looked down at his feet, specifically his one stuck foot, and gave it a good tug even though he knew there was no way brute force would undo magic. He did wonder, vaguely, if his actual foot inside the shoe was also stuck down, or if he could slip out of the battered boot what was half of what served as his school shoes, when he felt the tension lessen and his foot suddenly shifted. Unstuck.

He looked up to see that one Slytherin first year lowering her wand, and shot her a grateful, encouraging smile. "Thanks. Good job." Maybe talking to first years wasn't so difficult after all? But also actually maybe it was. The only kids he'd ever really known, including himself, had been incredibly worldly and rather lacking the wide-eyed innocence of a lot of these first years, which was what made it all so tricky.

Finally free, Kaiser joined the gathered students around Trent. So, had they done it? No homework? They...

... nope. Someone had broken the rules, huh? Kaiser looked around at those he knew for sure have been on the orange team, trying to figure out who it had been. When none of them jumped out at him as an obvious possibility, he wondered suddenly if that meant he had broken a rule. Quelle horreur.

Except not really. It didn't actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Just a bit of homework, and that was basically optional anyway.

Well, okay, no. No, it technically wasn't even remotely optional. But in Kaiser's world, it was, so...

He went to gather his things along with everyone else. "I will enjoy the rest of my day also, Headmaster," Kaiser quipped to Trent as he did, apparently emboldened by exhaustion; the Headmaster had only wished such a thing to the purple team, probably because homework really was considered that much of a downer. Would Kaiser enjoy his day? The jury was still out, but it was doubtful just because of who he was as a person. Still, he said it all the same.

With that, he went on his way.

Wait... they'd won? TEAM PURPLE WON!?!

"We won we won we won we won we won!" Bernadette cheered for herself with her hands in the air. "YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" She felt like doing a celebration dance, but the orange team did look pretty down... and one of her own peers was currently still stuck.

So she'd help him. "Finite!" Bernie cast, pointing her wand at Cole's feet. Hopefully that worked, because she was picking up her bag and saying bye to her friends and, "THANK YOU FOR A FUN CLASS!" to the Headprofessor and all that.

No homework, huzzah!