It was as though time had slowed down...or stopped...or the world was coming to an end...possibly a combination of all of those things. Kurumi heard no sound at all until there was a loud crunch that was undeniably the sound of her best friend's nose and all the color instantly drained from her face. If what just happened was what she thought it was...then this would be the second time that Kurumi had been directly involved in her best friend's nose breaking.

IT WASN'T BROKEN THOUGH, RIGHT?!

Flailing about a bit, Kurumi ignored where her rocket had bounced off to for the moment and rushed to her friend's side. "SELINAI'MSORRY!" Kurumi had tried to warn her though...and Selina had been sort of...unwise to lean over a rocket that had had air pumped into it...

Good news? Kurumi knew that her spell had worked. Ahem.

Please don't start bleeding...pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tegz

Aspen would be proud of his focus. West was DETERMINED TO LAUNCH HIS ROCKET! He pointed his wand, then traced a circle over the bottle. "Explaeris!"

For the flapping ,West decided that POWER FLAPS were the way to go. FLAPS OF INTENT. He flapped his arm like a pump. UPDOWNUPDOWNUPDOWN. A POWER pump.

UPDOWNUPDOWNUPDOWNUPDOWN...

Aspen WAS proud.

And considering there were some older Gryffindors entirely failing over there, and possibly dead? She was ALL the more proud. Her 2nd year little brother was out-showing them all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RandomRaven

He didn't pay attention too much to the weird Ravenclaw girl since he was too busy with the rocket. After the water had been filled to the bottle rocket then Gary put it to the launcher and time to launch it with those silly spell.

But.. wait.

Suddenly the blonde guy paid attention to the girl. His blue eyes widened as she said that.. she wanted him to vomit? REALLY?

"I don't want to puke." said him cool. Weird girl. Then turned back to his rocket.

"No one wants to puke," Aspen countered. "But you're unique and the contents from your stomach could be useful. It won't take much.... and I'll bring you apples tonight at dinner. And soda, if you want." You know, to fill his stomach back up with all that acid.

"I can help and it'll be quick."

The excitement of launching his own rocket made it so that Logan had a hard time focusing on anyone and anything else. God. Mason was sure missing out on this, which was something he would have to rub in later on.

Smirk on his face, Logan took out his wand and pointed it into the opening of the bottle and said "Aguamenti." Watching as the water filled the bottle, he found he lost his concentration as soon as this crushing sound was heard. Looking to his side, it was clear that Sutton was having some difficulty.

"Everything alright?" he asked her as she raised her hand for the Professor's attention.

Okay, after he had put his rocket to the launcher, all he needed to do is practicing the incantation and the.. *sigh* wand movement.

was FLAPPING like a silly duck a wand movement for this spell?

That's so silly. REALLY

Better to practice the incantation more than the silly wand movement. But this ravenclaw girl had disturbed him more and still forced him to puke.

"Who are you, by the way?" asked him suddenly toward her. Hands were on his pocket, his blue eyes stared at her but his face still looked.. cool.

Hearing Logan's voice nearby, she looked at him, then to her rocket, then to Professor Burbage. Logan, rocket, professor. Logan, rocket, professor. Dropping her hand from the air, she pointed at her rocket as she turned to talk to Logan. "I... it..."

MY BEAUTIFUL ROCKET! she wanted to scream to complete her stammered sentence, but she didn't. She didn't say anything else.

Bending down, she removed her rocket from the launching device, and the water drained out of it. The bottle was crushed and crinkled, and because the wings had been held on with magic, they had been messed up by the air being sucked out, too.

If I had used tape, the wings would have just come off and still be fine... she thought to herself. But no. They had to use magic. Stupid, stupid magic.

Wait... magic...

Quickly turning back to Logan, her wand in one hand and her rocket in another, she asked, "How do I fix it? Can't I fix it with magic??" Her voice sounded desperate, but if that didn't convince him to help her, surely the pleading look in her beautiful green eyes would be enough to make any boy him want to be cause for her to smile again.

Orr finally got the rocket to stay on the rocket launcher and she started to practice the wand movement and the incantation.

first she said, "Explaeris" just to see if she could pronounce it properly. After a few minutes of repeating the incantation she decided to try and practice the wand movement.

She traced a circle in the air above the rocket launcher before saying "Explaeris!" with confidence and started to flap her arms furiously. So furiously that she fell backwards on her bum.

She really was beginning to hate this task! So she tried again and again every time she overdid it with the flapping.

Once she felt she knew the incantation, Silvia glanced up at those nearby who were flapping their arms. Did they really have to do that? She began to flap her arms half heartedly, feeling awkward about doing so. FLAP FLAP FLAP….. FLAP FLAP… And then she stopped abruptly. She didn’t really need to practice that part of the spell, did she? Besides, there was no point in tiring out her arms before she actually had to perform it.

She looked around and took a moment to watch as many of her classmates were already releasing their rockets into the air. It was an amazing sight. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any more exploding rockets. But anyways, back to her own rocket. Was she ready to launch? Silvia recited the incantation and performed the circular wand movement – without the flapping – one more time for practice. Then she double-checked that the rocket was securely attached to the launcher. All right, here goes…

After several minutes, way too many in Orr's opinion, she felt confident that as she did the flapping of the wand movement, she wouldn't fall backward.

Shaking her bum just like the professor did, she took a deep breath and draw a circle in the air with her wand over the rocket and said quite clearly, "explaeris!" while doing the correct flapping movement--her rocket bottle started to expand and expand so Orr increased her flapping with excitement until the rocket bottle just exploded up into the air with a great big

*POOOOOOOOOOOOOOP.....SHOOOOOOOOOOOM*

This was it, Faye could feel it in her bones. She knew, she just knew!!! She had done the practice, she had done everything that she needed to make this rocket, go off.

Staring at her decorated rockets she smiled, she had could imagine it flying through the air. ...... Here we go she thought, she pulled out her wand pointed it at her rocket and took a deep breath. "Explaeris!" She shouted flapping her arms as she had practiced to make the rocket go and .............

FLAPFLAPFLAPFLAPFLAPFLAP!!!!!!! Vroom!!!!

There her rocket went and Faye smiled and laughed as she watched it sore into the sky and then start to come back down!

HAHAHA!

Elliot wanted to stick her tongue out at Hannah SOO BAAADLY but hey, that was ruuude. And Elliot sooo wasn't a rude person...*snort*

"Oh, come on, Hannah, dear. Don't be a sore loser...Now...for the best part of our little...competition..." she smirked evilly, and her eyes glinted a bit too nastily.

Heeheee.

"Now, you have to go talk to SOAPY! And tell her how awesome she is...how much you wish you were like her...and how pretty she is. I know...no need to thank me," she bowed very sarcastically...

PAHAHAH!

Elliot was so glad it wasn't heeeerrrr! HA!

Ravenclaw: score.

Terry the Astronaut Rocket Man was definitely getting really stuck into Astronomy, a lot more than he expected to. His rocket was all ready to fly and he kind of wished it was a real rocket. Being an Astronaut would be quite an exciting job but he didn't have the best head for heights. Maybe he should stick with his feet being firmly planted on the ground, you know? He could design rockets, he was quite proud of the one he had made. Who wouldn't want to see a giant red, blue and yellow rocket being launched into space?

The next task was the actual big spell practicing thing that would make it fly. He wanted to get on with it already! Why did they have to practice, surely it couldn't be that hard. He placed his wand back in his holster so that he wouldn't cause any accidental damage to his rocket, anyone elses or himself, because really that could be quite likely.

“Explaeris” he repeated what the Professor had said. “Explaeris, Explaeris, Explaeris” Okay he thought he had it by now. It was a funny sounding word but all the incantations were. They were Latin or something?

What was next? Oh the flapping the arms thing. He practiced with his finger, tracing a circle over the top of the rocket and then flapping his arms, mimicking a duck.

With a deep breath and her concentration on the rocket before her, Silvia casted the spell.

“Explaeris!” she said, and with those words she waved her wand in a circle above the rocket. She stood back at a safe distance and then…

FLAP FLAP FLAP, FLAP FLAP FLAP

The fact that her classmates were doing the same arm flapping motion as she was did not lessen the awkwardness of it, though it wasn’t as embarrassing as it could have been had she been made to do it alone. The rocket seemed to shake slightly as the air pressure inside it began to increase. FLAP FLAP FLAP. The pressure continued to build, until…

SWOOOOOOSHHH!!

The plastic rocket burst forth and soared into the air. At that point Silvia dropped her arms to her sides as her head turned upward, her eyes watching in awe.

That was awesome! The little Eagle wished she had some way of measuring the height of the rocket’s path; she wanted to experiment. What difference would it make if she were to change the wing shape or use a different kind of fuel?

Vivi wished she liked Selina a little less, because then she wouldn't feel so BAD about being happy the girl had taken a rocket to the face and was stealing everyone's attention away. It gave Vivi a moment of semi-privacy to stop with the spell practicing and get to the spell-doing.

"Explaeris," she gave the deep sigh of the martyr and drew a circle over the top of her rocket. And then, because she wanted to blast off and because to not do this activity was more lame than the actual flapping... she flapped.

Flap. Flapflap. Flapflapflap. Flap.

0_______o Was this really her life? Chicken dances around a rocket altar?

The pump flapping was entirely and utterly DETERMINED. West's eyes were on the bottle rocket, watching the water level, watching the bottle pressure. Watching watching waaaaating andddd..... flapping.

FLAPFLAPFLA----WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!! And there it went STRAIGHT up and high. West tipped his head back, ignoring the water and watching his rocket in a successful take off.

The twelve year old was enthralled.

Now to see how well the parachute held up? Yep! He kept his eyes on it and waited for the rocket to start descending- but it was STILL SHOOTING UP!

Dylan was grinning from ear to ear after that rocket explosion that he witnessed, if only they were allowed to do that! Launching rockets was good too but he liked the explosions as well! "I did have fun even though I never got to see it but I heard it! so I guess thats good enough!" he chuckled as he listened to the next part wondering if they would be witnessing another explosion.

He lost a bit of his smile at what he heard but he nodded "I understand, she was quite mad earlier so yeah I can see why you say that" he still smiled a little cause even though they werent going to do it again it was fun that one time. He felt his hair get ruffled, people certainly liked doing that to his hair "You are messing up my hair .. I mean my mane Mr...." it was fun to call his that sometimes even though it was nothing like a lion's mane at all... well maybe the bushy part on top but thats it.. but he didn't even know this guy's name!

"What's your name?" he asked before whispering "So I know who to come to for more rocket explosions or something just as cool!" cause he could tell that this guy was the kind of cool guy that would do awesome stuff like exploding rockets for fun right? he did those for fun too.. he just had to. Riiggghtt?



Now that the explosion was over it was time to do his launching now cause he wanted to see his rocket go up into the air like he had seen many others today. So his rocket was now on its laucher ready to be launched and now he had to say the incantation and flap these arms of his. He so didn't want to look like a fool flapping his arms but everyone else was doing it so that meant that he had to do it too! ok so here we go.. wand out? done! now incantation and wand movement!

Circle over the bottle and now incantation "Explaeris!" and now time to flap the arms like the fool that he will look like.
FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP,

But nothing seemed to happening at all! That was not right! when the professor did hers it went right up into the air after she did her flapping, maybe more flapping is needed so he continued flapping his arms

FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP,

Still nothing much was happening just his bottle rocket filled with water just sitting there on its launcher staring at him, questioning his abilities to flap some air into the bottle! Maybe he needed to flap harder so thats what he did he flapped harder

FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP, FLAP,

Just as he thought that nothing was happening he saw something happening inside the bottle, as if the pressure inside was slowly increasing. So he continued flapping watching the bottle rocket not caring if he looked like a fool now he was going to launch this rocket, just you watch people he was gonna!

As he was flapping he heard someone scream or well it was loud and something, he stopped flapping which started to decrease the pressure in his bottle as he looked round for the source of the scream or yell or whatever it was. As he scanned everyone he noticed that his captain and prefect were busy talking closely but Kurumi seemed upset and his captain Selina wasnt looking too good either!

He went over to them being curious as he was to see what was happening, now that he and Selina were on talking terms and kind of like friends.. right? he decided to see what was up "Is everything ok? heard a big noise from here, like a yelling or something." he said softly since his captain was obviously not too happy and he knew that she could snap if provoked.

It had really only been seconds but West felt like it was an awesome forever. and there it went falling.... the parachute didn't seem to help THAT much, it certainly didn't drift gently to the ground. So maybe there were better ways to make a parachute than just use a bag? West didn't care enough about parachutes to spend more than a second wondering about that though. He let out a whoop of excitement and ran over to collect his rocket.

YUSSSSSSSSSSSSSSs. He was the rocket MAN!

Logan actually felt really bad for Sutton as she seemed rather upset about her rocket. How tragic it would be if she wasn't able to launch her rocket into space with him. They would have had an awesome joint mission. He nodded when she asked if she could fix it with magic. "Try reparo. If that doesn't work, maybe the Professor knows another spell." It was worth a try after all.

Now taking his partially filled bottle, he carefully attached it to the launcher. The next thing he would have to do is practice the spell.

UGH. This was so exciting. Picking his wand up again, he tried to remember what the exact incantation was. Time to consult his notes.

Sutton nodded in understanding as Logan turned back to his work. "Reparo, Reparo, Reparo..." she muttered under her breath to practice the incantation before she tried it on her rocket. With her luck, she's probably incinerate it or something. She took another glance at Logan, but he had busied himself with his rocket now.

Just breathe. Sutton told herself.

Holding her wand firmly in her hand, she pointed it at her crunched up rocket and quietly said, "Reparo..." The rocket filled out slightly, but it was nowhere near fixed. Sutton thought she might cry, but she figured that the Professor had seen quite enough tears for one class. Biting her lip, she looked around before regaining her determination to fix her rocket. Clearing her throat, she pointed her wand again and said, much more confidently this time, "Reparo!"

Sutton's eyes grew in astonishment as right there in her hand, the damage done to her rocket was reversed as filled back out, the crinkles disappearing, the wings flattening out, and the surface becoming smooth again. "Logan! Logan! I did it!" she said in an excited voice before she ran back to the fountain and filled her rocket about halfway full of water.

Racing back to the launching pad, she put her rocket back on it very gently and then she froze. Well, her rocket was fixed and ready to go again, but she had no idea WHY her bottle had collapsed under the spell. Maybe if she just watched Logan go first, she'd figure it out. Turning to look at him, she smiled and said, "You go ahead... Don't want them to run into each other or something..."

Apparently the flapping, no matter how half-hearted, did its work. Vivi added in some chicken scratching and head bobbing, as well as some tail-feather-shaking, although she seemed to loose steam whenever she paused to check on the progress of her rocket. Sigh.

Finally... FINALLY... the rocket expanded slightly as the air compressed the water, and Vivi redoubled her flapping. She only stopped when her rocket suddenly EXPLODED upward in a rush of air and water and sound. The blue and bronze rocket spiraled as it rose, and the stripes made the spiraling even more distinct. Coooooool.

Awesomest rocket ever. At the point where the rocket started to fall, the top slid off and the parachute popped free. It was a shame she hadn't attached something cool to the parachute, rather than the bottle. Hm... did she have time to shoot it off again?

Consulting his notes, Logan quickly found the spell that he needed in order to launch his rocket. Closing his eyes, he started saying the spell in his mind:

Explaeris... Explaeris... Explaeris... Explaeris...

Over and over again until he felt ready to try speaking it aloud. "Explaeris... Explaeris... Explaerissss." Not too complicated, and neither was the wand movement; so theoretically it would be a piece of cake getting the bottle in the air as long as he wasn't interrupted in his arm flapping.

Pointing his wand towards the bottle, he drew a circle around it while saying "Explaeris." Immediately after, his arms started flapping in the air like mad.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP.

Bigger flaps followed that as he really got into the swing of things.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

The bottle was swelling with air. He was on a roll and so sure things were going to go smoothly.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FL---

Out of nowhere he heard his name being called, and his concentration broke. Flapping stopped, the air escaped. "Yeah, that will be totally fine, Sutton. Glad you fixed your rocket." He beamed at her now.

Something had happened with Selina and Kurumi, that much was sure and Gideon was distracted by it. Was it serious? Would either of them be alright? Could you tell Gideon wasn't too into the task at hand that he managed to be completely lost in one of, if not his favorite class? Sighing he realized he probably couldn't do anything anyway and either girl was capable of helping the other as well as the fact that the professor and others were around. That would mean he should probably do something then stand around and be antsy. Sigh again.

Time to set a good example and continue on despite what was happening elsewhere.

Taking a deep breath,(or one or two more) the prefect strived to get his attention back on track. Explaeris...Explaeris....Explaeris...Explaeris. Gideon repeated the incantation over and over in his head to get the feel for the word before speaking it outloud a few times as he took out his wand knowing that was the next step in the whole process: adding incantation and wand movement.

"Explaeris...Explaeris...Explaeris."

Orr let out an excited "Wow" as she kept on flapping and watching the rocket go higher and higher. This was so much fun despite the problems that she had trying to get the thing up in the air.

Seeing others walk around flapping and directing their rockets in different directions, she decided that she wanted to do that as well.

Continuously flapping her hands she took a step forward and to her amazement, the rocket bottle did the same.

Orr spent the next several moments dancing around the courtyard, flapping her arms while watching the rocket follow her.

Right. This time Logan wasn't going to get distracted from launching his rocket. Pointing his wand at the bottle again, he repeated the circular wand movement, saying "Explaeris." Immediately after the spell was uttered, he started flapping his arms all over again.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

The bottle was filling with air, but he wanted to put more force into it.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

Getting even closer to lift off.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

Closer still...

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

Logan's arms were really starting to hurt by now, but he had a feeling that it would take off really really soon. Just needed a little more flapping.

FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP FLAP

Wait...what was the wand movement. Well besides the flapping of the wings of course. Gideon had to stop and try and watch any of the other students around him to figure out what was to come before the flapping. It was a circle over the top of the rocket...simple enough. One just had to get past how silly the rest of it was bound to make one feel, especially when the supposed fun of the activity wasn't entirely on one's mind.

His wand already in hand, Gideon traced a circle over his rocket a few times. No magic yet but again to practice and get a feel for it. The seventh year moved onto practicing the entire wand movement from beginning to end to get ready to put it all together when he finally tried casting the spell upon the bottle rocket and its launcher. Now circle...flap, flap, flap like a bird. Circle...flap, flap, flap, flap, flap,flap. The wings of any type of flying creature. Circle...flap, flap, flap, flap, flap, flap,flap.

Was he done looking silly?

Nope. Probably not. He still had to do it for real and try to get his makeshift rocket up off the ground.

Cora's excitement doubled at the news of Elliot's win. "Great job, Elliot! I guess we make quite a team." Cora didn't really think she was quite at Elliot's level to be on her team, but right now Cora's successful rocket overshadowed her doubts. A bit.

"Well, are you surprised, really?" Cora said with a joking confidence. "Of course our rockets would be great. They had us to make them." Cora giggled a bit.



Cora could see that Eliza was having a bit of difficulty with the rocket, and was hopeful that this would distract her enough from the uncomfortable conversation topic. Nope.

Cora squirmed a bit as she answered. "It was my mom, actually. Ever since my dad, um, died, she's been a bit paranoid and out of nowhere forbid me and my sister from going to Hogwarts and forced us to stay in the house for two years. Then, out of nowhere, she just went back to normal and let us come back." WOW. This story was getting easier to tell. It was harder at first, before Elliot.

"I hated not being here. I read a lot. And it was worse since Mom was paranoid about owls, too, so I couldn't hear from anyone." Changing moods, she added, "But I'm back now, so it's good." Cora smiled.

Cora watched as Eliza's rocket flew into the air. Getting up off the ground (finally), Cora congratulated her. "You did it! Hooray!" And then, "Oh, I'm fine, no worries." Cora was always this clumsy, and was too excited to care. They both did it.