ACTIVITY CHALLENGE Post 3
 

Daichi was sneaky and really, really fast at dribbling the mock quaffle! Ella wasn't exactly prepared for that but she really liked the competition. It only made her work that much harder as she made her way towards the lake, being mindful of how much time they had. Seven minutes. They had seven minutes to do this.

Dribble. Dribble. Dribble. Breatheeeee.

"Merlin, this is tough." She said to herself as she continued on, the lake in her sights. At least she was getting close.

...Was Daichi still close by or had she passed him yet? She was afraid to break her concentration and look.

Dribbleeeeee.

DADA Post 17
 

"'Course I can. I just did, didn't you hear me?" Alices obviously did do as they pleased. She continued digging around the flowers to get under them, being careful to avoid their roots. Bentley wouldn't be too happy if they ended up harming plants in the process of this activity, would she? The fifth year didn't think so, which is why she was being extra careful with this. At least she was using a hand trowel and not plucking plants out of the ground with her fingers.

Fortunately, the hand trowel had been the only gardening tool she'd brought along, so her bucket was empty now. "We dig out plants, put them in buckets, and carry them all the way to garden. Carry, not levitate, see? And then we have to replant them. And digging is effort. It counts."

If it didn't, that was super unfair, and she'd be at Romanos' door whining in the morning.

extra activity DADA post 3
 

Daichi had passed Ella as he dribbled the quaffle out of the Quidditch Pitch and towards the lake that slowly came to view. He lifted his eyes up as he checked his path and upon seeing the students ahead he took a deep breath.

It was a good thing the Slytherin had been an ex-chaser or else he would have failed this assignment so badly! He dribbled the mock quaffle on the grounds as he speed walked faster.

He wondered where Ella was so his curiousity caused his head to look around and realized that she had just past him. Oh no Captain, this isn't a dribbling match, this is war!

He quickened his pace, quickly catching up thanks to his long legs until....he missed the quaffle with his hand and the thing rolled away from him.

"Noooo! Quaffle come back~!" he shouted as he ran after the quaffle that was rolling further away from him.

DADA - Gardening 2
 

"I'm not sure like I feel like I'm doing any good if I'm not sweating out my eyeballs," Mo complained lightly in the way that Mo's complained, which was to say... without any real teeth to it and meant to be ignored. He tossed the last of the weeds to one side and began to dig around the shrub with his trowel.

He wasn't sweating, Alice. He wasn't.

"I suppose you're right. She put it on the list, but maybe it was meant for people who don't like actual physical effort. Or maybe by gardening she meant underwater gardening, in which case you're actually swimming at the same time." The shrub was free... and took up the entire bucket. What a rubbish idea he'd had in taking something so big.

Sigh. Mo pounced on stump sticking out of the ground, only a few inches across but still deeply rooted enough to put up a fight when Mo grabbed it with both hands.

ACTIVITY CHALLENGE Post 4
 

Ella heard fast paced footsteps and knew right away that she'd passed Daichi but that he was quickly making a comeback. The blonde smiled a little and said, "Ohhh no you don't!" She wasn't going to lose this race, NOPE.

The blonde quickened her pace as fast as she dared, continuing to pay careful attention to dribbling the quaffle. She didn't want to lose control of it because that'd definitely take up precious time and they needed to beat the seven minute mark, yeah? Yeah.

O__o

And then Daichi lost his quaffle causing Ella to lose concentration. Her own quaffle didn't bounce as well as it had previously and she had to bend low to keep the thing from rolling away as her opponent's had. "Quick, Daichi! We don't have much timeeee!" Sure they were racing each other but she wanted them both to do well! They really did need to get back to the pitch!

DADA Post 18
 

"Can eyeballs sweat?" Alice considered cornea perspiration very seriously as she continued digging around the roots of flowers. "I like actual physical effort, but I did that last week and the week before and the week before. We need a break, don't you think?" Underwater gardening wasn't an option for strictly land dwellers like her, but maybe Mo could try that if he wanted.

".. why'd you get a shrub?" she asked him skeptically, eyeing the plant he'd just dumped in her bucket. HER bucket. Where were her flowers going to go now? Alice promptly dumped his shrub out and cast a duplicating charm on the bucket, handing him the extra. "You can use that one for your shrubbery."

She began transferring her dug up flowers into the bucket next, filling it to the brim with dirt and plants. "I'm done. Want to go plant them now? Are you done with.. is that a stump?" Cactus has really weird plant choices, that was for sure.

extra activity DADA post 4
 

Time...right, there was time involved! The seven minute mark...meeep he had nearly forgotten about that! He ran after the mock quaffle as he rolled over the grass and bounced a little when it hit a rock. And when he reached it he quickly stopped it with his foot and picked the item up.

"GOT IT!" He shouted and waved the quaffle in the air. It looked like Ella had stopped to wait for him though...how very...hufflepuff of her.

Not wasting any moment, the Slytherin began to dribble the quaffle again. "I'll dribble from here!" he shouted again because he didn't want to get back and start over again.

The lake was getting in sight and as Daichi dribbled the ball he wondered how many minutes had passed. Probably not a lot but it felt like he had been dribbling since this morning. This exercise might seem simple but it was not. It requiered a good hand-eye coordination and physical health to be able to keep dribbling and running at the same time.

Well, at least he was loosing the ice cream weight now.

DADA HW continued from the Pathway. ONWARD TO FIRTH!
 

Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint Sprint pantpantpantpantpant.

Oakey needed to catch his breathe now, he he sprinted about half the Pathways and finally made it to the Lake drenched in sweat, Merlin! The Captain was working them hard for this despite it just being Homework. Speaking of which, where had the Captain and the rest of the team gone? Were they still not behind him after he moved to the Pathways from the Willow? He took a deep swig of his Veggie Drink and capped the lid.

He looked behind him once more...


Nope, still no sign of his Quidditch Team. Maybe he'll head back that way...after he doubled around Firths Hut. Good Plan Oakey!

DADA - Gardening 3
 

"Because it's a really nice shrub," Mo insisted. He was sweating properly now as he fought with the tree stump. Twisting and pulling and ripping his poor ungloved hands to shreds, Mo was really working up a lather as finally resorted to digging around the base of the dead tree to unearth the roots. "Why'd you pick flowers like some average girl instead of picking something amazing like an Alice? I dunno... don't ask questions with no answers."

He stuck his tongue out at her before going back to digging in the dirt like a demented dog. He was a demented dog. Gardening with Alice had made his brain snap, obviously. When he finally loosened the stump enough to pull it loose from the dirt, Mo jumped to his feet and brandished the thing over his head like a victory trophy, leaving dirt from the root ball to rain down on Alices and shrubs and buckets.

"Now I'm done with the stump." He tossed it to the side and picked up the shrub-in-a-bucket. "This is fun, innit?"

Post #4; DADA assignment thingy
 

Post 4
 

Penguin Kace....hmmmm he LIKED it!! "I love that nickname. I mean it is my favorite animal and then to use my name with it. I couldn't be happier." he smiled to Alec.

Kace was glad they were almost there! He could see it in his peripheral vision. He wondered how long this was taking...as long as it wasn't seven minutes. Kace was looking around for Alec and he saw him....

O____O

Uh oh....his quaffle was rolling down towards the lake. "Alec!" Kace yelled after him. He ran with him and reached to him. "Good thing you stopped the Quaffle from going into the water..." he said breathlessly. "Maybe i can help you keep the ball in your hands?" he suggested. He was joking with him and chuckled a little bit.

"Shouldn't we get back now to the Quidditch Pitch?" Kace asked his fellow puff. "By the way i will need to think of a new nickname for you." Kace said to him still smiling.

"Come on let's go to the Quidditch Pitch!" Kace beckoned Alec while dribbling his quaffle. He didn't wanna show off to him while he was dribbling.

DADA Post 19
 

"Because flowers are what go in gardens, along with really nice shrubs. If I could plant a fanged geranium, you can be sure I would. Why are you trying to wrestle with a tree stump?" That was more unusual than Alice digging up flowers, she decided. "I think it won." Once Cactus had finished with his odd choice of bucket fillers, she attempted to lift her own one, which was drowning with buds and blossoms of various sizes.

"We can go plant no- oompf." This thing was heavy, did he know? She tugged and tugged, but lifting just wasn't happening. "I think that I'm more interested in carrying a stump. It looks cooler, you know?" Totally did. That was why, not because she needed help carrying or anything. Obviously. She was a toughie and stuff.

Alice gave Mo earnest looks as she took his shrub-in-a-bucket from him and nudged her flowers toward him with her foot. And then she RAN to the student garden, just in case he was going to try to take his shrub back.

The red head smiled at what he said, happy to know he would use that memory. They were so alike in so many different ways, which helped them be so close with each other. She was lucky to have a guy like her that she could get along with so well and have understand her so perfectly. Then he was asking what her patronus was. "It's a fox!" she told him. "What about yours?" she asked. Huh. She had never asked him that before, and that question was normally what she asked most people. Ronnie loved patronuses, they were so cool and it was fun seeing what other people's were.

She grinned wide, giggling at what he said. "Oh and YOU'RE not?" she teased, playfully (and lightly!) pushing him and laughing. Jory was so fun and goofy! Then she shook her head, her red hair flying as she did so. "YOU are!" she said, poking his chest.

Jory was not kidding. He would definitely use that memory to fight off the evil, annoying dementors. Such a happy memory. One of his best. That memory would make the dementors run away in no time. Hehe. "How cool!'' he said. He liked foxes. "Mine is a tiger.'' Jory happened to really liked tigers. They were so beautiful and graceful.

''Nuh uh! I'm not!'' Big grin. And then she pushed him and even though it wasn't hard, Jory pretended it was, stumbling back a few steps before putting on an indignant look. ''Hey! That hurt!'' But he was grinning; Ronnie had to figure he was kidding. "And you are more!''

Post #5
 

He liked the nickname? Alec grinned as he started dribbling down towards the lake, his eyes on the Quaffle but his ears listening out for Kace's words. "Yeah? Well... it looks like it's going to be your new nickname then," There. Now he didn't need to feel bad for not having a nickname for the little dude.

Boy, could the first year yell! Alec let out a small chuckle as he dribbled round a bend and faced the way the direction the two had come from. "That doesn't sound like a bad idea, actually," he said, finally looking up, "You seem to be doing better at the dribbling!" LOTS better!

"Nickname... not much can be said from the name Alec," That's why most of his nicknames were linked with things he liked or... things he liked to do. Apart from Tag's nicknames for him which were just random.

Shaking his head, he looked back at Kace who was... dribbling off? Look at the dude go! "Wait for me!" he called, following the younger Puff's lead. ... Dribble... dribble... dribble...

Bag of candy? Check. Kneazle? Check. Optimism? It was waning but still a check! Lex marched down to the lake, kneazle in tow, candy bag flung over her shoulder and eyes darting everywhere. It seemed like no matter how many times she walked down here she could never run into that one bloody Giant Squid. Seriously. She tried throwing rocks in the water, blowing stuff up nearby, yelling at it, sending bottled messages down there--but he probably didn't have a bottle opener so she wouldn't blame him for ignoring that one--jumping off the dock--MERLIN! What hadn't she tried?

One day she'd see him, like legit, she would then she'd tackle him and ask for a ride across the lake be happy for the longest while.

The term would be ending soon. Lex felt like she'd spent so much time searching but that didn't mean she wouldn't continue. NOPE. She was determined.

Lex stopped by the edge of the lake and cleared her throat then cast the sonoros charm.

"Mr. Giant Squid??? You down there???? I brought cookies we can share--no milk though!!!" Giant Squids probably didn't like milk anyway. "Hellooooooo????" And now to wait. She cast a finite on her throat then plopped down.

"Don't gimme that look." She said to Felix who'd flopped next to her. "He'll come one day, we'll just have to keep looking til then. Cookie?" She asked, extending one to the creature who in turn turned up his nose. "Fine, more for me and the squid."

Um... PRE-toppings party? *cough*
 

Merlin. What on earth..?

Alistaire was down by the lake pulling some weeds when a magically magnified voice seemed to bludgeon his ear drums. Who...?

Oh.

He should have known.

He made his way over to her. "I couldn' help bu' overhear that yeh want ter see Mr. Henry." That was certainly one way of putting it. "But yeh're goin' about it all wrong. Bartholomew Henry doesn' eat cookies. Whenever I want ter speak with him, I have ter call him, see." He looked down at the spot beside her. "Budge on up, now," he said to the feline before plunking himself down next to the Gryffindor.

"Outta curiosity, why did yeh want ter see our resident giant squid?"

Waiting wasn't her thing. See, if she'd met the squid before she could have told him that then she wouldn't find herself in this current situation. Lex munched on a cookie and stared out at the lake for any signs of movement in the water. If no squid showed up then at the very least she wanted to see a Monster rise up, thrashing about and possibly endangering her life. This trip couldn't be a waste, it just couldn't.

Lex jumped at the new voice to join her before twisting to see the Grounds Keeper. Lottie told her she should stay away from him, just in case and she would have been QUICK to take this advice and simply come back another day to see the squid but 'cept...he was giving advice on how to do just that.

He'd seen the squid. He knew how to call him. She'd wait a while before making a run for it.

Felix, looking a bit disgruntled at having to move, crawled into her lap instead. "No cookies? He doesn't even like the chocolate chip ones?" That seemed strange but that wasn't the part she was interested in. "You call him? What'd you mean? Like a special call? Special whistle?? Something I've been missing?" And then there was a question for her. She shrugged, trying not to give off signals that could trigger instant point loss.

"I've heard stuff about him, he seems interesting." A safe answer right there. "And in my first year there was a new Grounds Keeper, he said we'd go looking for the squid together. He left and I've never run into the squid...like ever." It just didn't seem fair.

Post #17; AR assignment
 

Well technically he IS still alive... :P
 

A bit jumpy are we, young Gryffindor? Smirk. He recognized that posture. He'd seen it many times over his seven years in the House.

"Nope. No cookies," he said, shaking his head. Was she about to go into shock? He watched her for a few seconds to make sure, then continued. "I know i's hard ter believe, but cookies aren't really all tha' good fer creatures, generally speakin'. Jus' humans... though too many cookies aren' good fer us, either." A small wink graced his left eye. Yes, the whole castle knew about your thing for chocolate and sweets, Alexa Cambridge.

"I call him. As in... whip out my wand, send 'im a message, an' wait fer him ter come a' his convenience. Sometimes it takes awhile if he's at th' other side of the Lake a' the time." But that was alright. He had the patience of a Hufflepuff.

Hmmm. What kinds of things does one hear about a giant squid? He was sure legends must have sprung up amongst the students. Gross misrepresentations and exaggerations, most likely. But... a broken promise? Firth didn't like that. "Well tha's just not right. It may be a little bit late, bu' I'll help yeh find him." He had the chivalry of a Gryffindor.

He took out his wand, focused for a moment, and then cast his charm. "Expecto Patronum!" The stag burst forth from his wand and immediately disappeared into the watery depths.

Post #18; AR assignment
 

*rejects this completely*
 

Okay, so she was still planning to make a run for it...there was no other way...but first, she would sit and listen because he was saying things she wanted to hear--minus the cookies being bad for you bit. That was blasphemy!!!

"Not all cookies are bad. I mean...double chocolate chip cookies...er...promote brain health and...er...good digestion--yeah! Mhm! It's been proven." By her, but shhhh.

Enough about cookies though!! hsdbfkgkfg!! Seriously???? How unfair was THAT??? She would have never thought of that!! She can't even DO a patronus. Nope. No no no. Mr. Giant Squid needed to have a easier system of communication. One that was Alexa Cambridge friendly, jeeeeez. "A patronus? For real? Is that the only way because I can't do one of those." Which sucked, especially now with dementors popping up every where.

Wait.

...

Not Shiny Ground's Keeper say what???? Her eyes grew wide with excitement. "You will?!?!?! NEAT!!" GRIN. It took every ounce of control to not start bouncing around.

"Look Felix!! The patronus is gonna go get the squid!!!!!!"

Post #19; AR assignment
 

He eyed her. He wasn't going to attempt to correct her on the cookie thing. Mostly because he wanted some cookies himself and didn't want to feel badly about eating them.

"Fer real. An' i's the only polite way, yes. Bu' he only answers fer the staff, so sorry." Otherwise he'd be seriously annoyed all the time. "But hey, i' doesn' matter tha' yeh can't do one now, a' least." Silver lining?"An' I don' normally share tha' infermation with studen's, so I'm trustin' yeh with it, alright?" It was a sign of good faith between him and Alexa. He felt like they had just gotten off on the wrong foot from day one.

He nodded. "I will an' I did!" he said once he'd sent off the messenger. "Now all tha's left ter do is wait. But I warn yeh, it might be awhile." And speaking of which... He checked his watch. Yes, they were done. "So I reckon we're going ter be needin' some o' the shortbread cookies tha' I have cooling back at my hut." Taking out his wand, he summoned a few. "The cookies are from last night, but I jus' dipped 'em in chocolate this mornin' and sprinkled the nuts on top." He offered her one. "No better way ter pass the time."

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

Hearing his confirmation actually didn't make her feel any worse because the partonus had disappeared and she was prepared to sit her for days waiting. This was the closest she'd ever come to seeing the squid, she wasn't about to blow it. Classes could wait, she probably wouldn't pass her exams either way. It wasn't every day you met the Giant Squid.

Oh? She tilted her head and gave him a curious look. "How come? Doesn't he like students too?" only answering staff seemed kinda mean. She wasn't staff but that didn't mean she wanted to see him any less. Double!Oh, a secret? She was particularly good at keeping those....kinda, but in this case, definitely. Lex grinned up at him. "You won't have to worry about me saying anything Sir." It was actually a nice thought knowing he trusted her with something, especially given ALL their previous encounters. No one would know.

Mooooore waiting. After hearing that Felix curled up in her lap and gave a big yawn. He'd be sleeping soon and she'd still be waiting. Bliiink. Did he just offer her cookies??? Was this the same Grounds Keeper????

...

"Those look delicious!" And meant she could save hers for later. Lex took one and bit into it. "Taste good too. I didn't figure you for someone who bakes." She didn't mean it in a bad way. It was a pleasant surprize. "Can we," throw stuff at the lake "skip rocks while we wait?"