Annabeth looked at her balloon. Now she had to train the movement. A whip-like movement. She placed her wand in a pocket and tried to visualize a whip in her hand. She moved her hand once, twice as if grabbing a whip. It was funny, indeed. She laughed at herself. She could even hear the sound that her imaginary whip did. Very, very funny!

Now, time to say the words.
"Carpeee Retraaaaaaaactum. No, it's not this way. Let me try again: Caaarpe Retractuuum. Oh, no! I should have to paied attention to the instructions." Then she looked around to hear how the others were saying the incantation.

After listened attentively to the others students, Annabeth took her wand and tried to cast the spell:
"Carpe Retractum!"
No ropes. What was she forgeting? The whip-like movement. She tried again.
"Carpe Retractum!"
No ropes. She looked at her wand and frowned. It had never happened before. She stared at the balloon. The idiot balloon. She didn't want to bring it close to her. "Stay away! I don't want you!", she shouted angrily at the balloon, making the whip-like movement. To her surprise, a tiny purple-rope bursted from the tip of her wand and then vanished. A idea popped in her mind. She doubted it would work, but it would be worth a try.
"It may work..." She looked angrily to the balloon and repeat the incantation. "Carpe Retractum!" A purple-lighted rope came from the tip of her wand as a long tongue and licked the balloon slightly.
"Okay. Nice try, Anna. Do it again." She said to herself, then glared at the balloon as if it was guilty for her unsuccessful attempt. She waved her wand doing the whip-like movement once again, while saying the words. "Carpe Retractum!"
Now the purple-lighted rope bursted from the tip of her wand and looped around the balloon string and tugged the balloon to her. She grabbed the string and grinned.
She tied the string around her wrist and took her notes, copying from the chalk board.
She looked around. She wanted to find a partner to do the second task.

"Carpe Retractum." Alice murmured the incantation one more time as she tugged her wand out of her robes, eyeing the balloon before her. The words were fairly simple, but was the movement as well? She decided to try it once without actually casting the spell, just to make sure that bit was being performed correctly.

Twirling her wand between expert fingers, the sixth year glanced at the board again.

Whip-like motion? Easy enough. Gripping the wood tightly, she executed the described action fluidly. Whip. Whip whip whipppp.

Movement down, too. She was a pro at this, yeah?

WAIT. Fuller said that they could keep the balloons? Really? AWESOME!

And what was even MORE awesome was the fact that they got to use cake for the next activity! CAKE! ... This... made him hungry for cake. Maybe he'd get some afterwards. Or maybe Fuller would let them eat any of the cake that was left untouched? The chances of the latter happening was very close to zero, though. Cake being left untouched, that is.

... Partners. Right. Yeah! Who should he work with...? His eyes scanned the room for a familiar face. Or.. maybe he could work with someone he hadn't worked with before. ... No! Because if he managed to get cake on that person's face, there was every chance that they'll get mad. But if he worked with someone he knew, they wouldn't get mad. Probably just laugh it off, yeah? He scanned... and scanned...

... AHA! Little Miss Beater Strength, we're coming for you! Grinning, the boy headed over towards the blonde girl, clutching onto his balloon. "Want to test out our sibling rivalry, Wheatborn?" ... Calling Minnie 'Wheatborn' was weird. He was far too used to calling her 'Minnie' or something similar. Shrug. While waiting for an answer, Alec started tying the rope of his balloon around his wrist. There. Now he was definitely leaving the room with his balloon!

She spent a bit of time observing how her classmates were retrieving their balloons, and after seeing Min pop hers, Alice knew where not to land her whip. It made more sense to perform the spell as Mo had, around the teeny tiny string protruding from the end of her balloon.

Reassessing her distance away from the green object, so as to make sure she hadn't moved a bit while practicing, the sixth year turned some so she was facing her balloon straight on. As her wand hand extended from her body, Alice flicked her wrist, performing a fluid whipping motion in the direction of her balloon. Focusing her attention on the thin string, she spoke the incantation clearly. "Carpe Retractum."

A strong rope of purple light seemed to stretch out from her wand, elongating itself until it was close enough to wrap around the string of her balloon and draw it towards her.

And that was how it was done, everyone.

Cake tug of war. Mo absently tied his balloon to Cat's wrist before holding out his wrist for her balloon. In the entire room, Mo was probably best matched strength wise with West or Alec... but if he was going to get into a food fight with someone in the room, it had to be Cat or Alice. Especially with cake.

Mo tugged Cat's hair before leaving her side to retrieve a cake. A cake for Cat and Mo ('cause he obviously wasn't working with Alice for so many reasons). Chocolate with chocolate icing. The only kind of cake worth having. "Be my partner, and I promise I won't get any cake in your hair when I beat you."

Because he would.

Holy Kneazle...

*_____*

CHOCOLATE cake. Sweet delicious chocolate goodness!!! Lex wasn't really listening to anything outside of the fact that they'd be working with chocolate cake. There were other cakes too but CHOCOLATE!!! Like the Professor asked, she tied her balloon to her hand before focusing on her next source of sugar. So close but--wait what?? WHAT?? Partners and tug of war and falling cake and only the WINNER got cake????

This wouldn't do, it wouldn't do at all. She couldn't afford to NOT win, there was chocolate cake on the line!!

Er....she looked around. "Tag!" He would do just fine. Yes, with him she could possibly even strike up a compromise of some kind?? Yes? No?? She liked yes better, it told her she would get what she wanted so she meandered through the others until she was standing by him. "So you're gonna be working with me, okay? Good. Here's the thing, I want the cake. You can win if you want but the cake's mine. I'll probably share if you help me make it look real convincing. Sounds good? I knew it would, now go grab us a chocolate cake okay???" BEAM.

Smiles helped to sell the idea. DUH.

Balloons weren't exactly something Alice wanted or needed, and tying hers to her wrist would probably just get in the way of her wand movements. Instead, she held it out to West. Offering. Partner offering.

"You can get the cake. Red velvet? I wanna eat the good stuff when I beat you." Because he was going to work with her. And she was going to win.

Right? Right.

Another activity! Awesome! Adi watched as Professor Fuller hover cakes out from a closet. Oooh! Mini cakes! First balloons and now cake! Fuller knew how to keep his students interested. Adi happily tied his balloon to his wrist of his right hand so that it won't affect him when he was ready to use his left hand for the tug of war. He looked around. He'd be needing a partner, correct?

The firstie spotted his buddy not far from him so he made his way over, yellow balloon trailing at the side of him. "Kace! Partners?''

What, was he supposed to do this cake thing holding two balloons? West took her balloon and tied it to his own. Two green balloons. Matching. He let them go again, so they floated up above them. If they needed them later then they could just catch them again, no problems right?

"Any cake you want." West was amicable. And he was going to let her win because cake-filled Alices were only going to benefit him, even if he wouldn't mind cake himself.

He chose Alice over cake, see? West went and got the red velvet cake. Hovering red velvet. Yes. He put it between them.

"Ready when you are. Wanna count us down from three?"

So, they needed a partner. Tag looked around himself. Who should he team up with? Anyone? Anyone at all. Before his eyes could start wandering around Lex was already standing to him.

When she started talking the boy merely blinked at her. He had no choice but to work with Lex. Ok. Well, it was cake, not explosives so he was fine with this one way deal. Tag wasn't going to argue with Lex.... This time. "I lose if I win, either way." HMPH. But, he wasn't going to get into any hairy details with this. "But you might give me some, so there's that." He hastily added in before she could give him a glare.

He quickly tied the balloon around his hand, gosh he felt like a little kid. The boy wanted to start hitting it but resisted all urge. Then he went over to grab a chocolate cake as Lex had said and placed it in the middle of the room, walked over to the opposite end because Lex would probably be defiant and not move from her spot and waited for Lex to get ready to do this!

It was times like this that she could really appreciate Tag. When his life wasn't directly on the line he was a rather obedient pet. He earned himself another beam even as he went to get to cake they would be using. Not even a small protest. She would DEFINITELY share the cake with him for not making such a fuss about the whole thing.

Once he brought it back to them it was all she could focus on. Could she taste it before they began? Was that allowed, please?? Her eyes shot to the leprechaun as a thought hit her. "No matter what, we protect the cake. If it's gonna fall, forget the Carpe Retractum rubbish! Wingardium Leviosa, MMKAY???" Getting the practice of TWO spells in during one class, if anything they'd be classified as overachievers or highly productive students and in the end would still have their cake. Good enough for her!

As soon as he was in position (so nice of him to know she wouldn't be the one moving) she measured the distance, almost even...Lex took just a few steps back, allowing for the same amount of distance between them both. "We'll cast on three. One....two...THREE!" And a second's hesitation just to keep inline with Tag. "Carpe Retractum!" Here's to hoping he'd cast at exactly the same time. They had to make it look like they were actually trying afterall.

Even as she cast, she silently prayed that no harm would come to her the lovely cake.

Red velvet was what she wanted, and Alice was patient while he went and fetched the cake.

But it was her cake now.

She spent a moment or two examining the hovering dessert between them before readying her wand. Her count? He wasn't going to say his spell early, right? Right. "One." Whip. Whip whip whip. "Two." No longer a mere sixth year, she was like Wonder Woman and that cake was her captive. Lasso of Truth at the ready. "Three." Three GO.

"Carpe Retractum!" The strong purple rope of light that had disappeared when she'd captured her balloon snaked out of the tip of Alice's wand again, going for the cake. Her cake. Hers.

More orders. But Tag liked this one. Sugary deliciousness could not fall right at their hand. Nope. An, Tag liked his sweets, but Lex seemed really intent on not letting the cake go to waste. He wouldn't allow it to happen. Wingardium Leviosa was now in the back of his mind. The boy simply saluted at Lex's words, telling her that he was paying attention and new his possible job if it came down to it. "Protect the cake! Got it!"

See, and she barely moved from her spot, as Tag had suspected. He was learning more and more about Lex the longer he was her pet. Setting his feet a few inches apart a face of determination etched over Tag and he whipped up his wand and said, "Carpe Retractum!" the same second Lex did. Good thing he was paying attention. It seemed to be working as Tag gave the cake a gently tug after he saw a little rope tie itself around it. Go fight forth Lex!

Would Lex put up a good fight? Of course she would. She wasn't going to let it simply fall or anything.

One. Two. Three. West kept it simple and waited for the count. "Carpe Retractum!" He had the whipping motion down now, and his wand flicked out, the purple rope sliced out and snagged the cake.

He pulled, but not too hard. Because he was, y'know, being a gentleman, and letting his pretty girlfriend win and stuff. 'cept he had to LOOK like he was trying. He could do that. He put his focused face on.

West might not have been trying his hardest to tug at that cake, but Alice sure was. It surprised her how easy it was to pull at her wand and have the red velvet come flying towards her, landing in her hands. Like a prize.

... except not. Because it shouldn't have been that easy.

Her noodle arms weren't quite strong enough to beat his, were they? As her purple rope vanished, she fixed him with an analytic stare that slowly morphed into a scowl. Did he not know her at all? Winning was no fun if it wasn't an actual win. Alice set it back in between them, still giving him looks. "Try that again." Key word was try.

Without giving him a heads up, she cast her spell again. "Carpe Retractum."

West gave her an entirely innocent look. What? She didn't want cake? But he didn't mind trying again. West would've done a few pre-game stretches but apparently there wasn't any time to do so. He whipped his wand out instead.

"Carpe Retractum!" He WAS trying.... purple rope thing on cake... mostly trying... maybe not PULLING as hard as he could but, well the rope thing was ON there pretty good.

Oookay. Tug of war with cakes. And since Lex decided to partner up with Tag, the natural thing was for Aidan to partner up with Lottie, yes?

Well, somehow that's what happened.

Too bad Schuyler wasn't here.

"I'll get the cake." Since he wasn't playing with Lex, he wasn't sure which kind he should get. The obvious choice of chocolate chocolate chocolatey chocolate wasn't a must have. And Lottie never seemed like...Lex in that way. So Aidan claimed a white cake with chocolate frosting. A little of both.

"On three? You can count." Ladies first. He was a gentleman. A very careful gentleman with Lotus.

Blue eyes snapped up when she heard her last name. Not something she was use to. Professor would say it but usually it was Miss Wheatborn not just Wheatborn, so to her surprise it was Alec saying it. She couldn't help but smirk at him, no smile huge at him. It made her feel good to hear sibling in the same sentence as her. She knew he wasn't truly her sibling, but in her eyes he was as close as she'd ever get again. "Are you sure you can handle it balloon boy?" Yes we saw that kid move Alec putting the balloon around your wrist.

"So we just have to rope the cake and I need to get it away from you?" She shrugged, "Easy enough" Another smirk crossed her face jokingly at Alec. This was going to be fun. Fun to play the game with him, but also fun because if one got cake on them who cared it was cake. "Alright cowboy are you ready?" She chuckled before lifting her wand. "Count of three, what do you say?"

He was being so annoying. Was it really that hard to pull more? Really? Alice had to put in a bit more effort on her part to keep the rope centered this time, but if West had been using his full strength, she knew that cake would have been long gone now.

Suddenly dropping her focus, she watched as the purple on her side of the cake vanished, and the red velvet went hurtling towards him.

His cake now. Alice hoped it hit him in the face. Hmph.

Flying cake! West dropped his rope too, and put one hand out. It was as close to CATCHING it as he possibly could have gotten really, and involved his hand going through the middle of it so that there was suddenly a cake literally hanging off his wrist.

Cake bracelet.

"Want a bite?"

"Hmm, something's wrong here..." Henric thought. His casting didn't work as he imagined it would be. He stopped and looked around at the other students to find out his mistake in his wand movements. One of the students managed to do it right so he went to observe him for a moment.

Oh, he didn't do the whip-like motion with his wand properly. He aimed at his balloon again, determined this time. He did the whip like motion for several times but he still didn't get it right.


Henric sighed, trying to figure out what went wrong again. He watched and listened to the incantation from the other students with sheer attentiveness. He looked up and frowned at his balloon target as if it was mocking him for his lack of skill in capturing it.
"Alright...this time, balloon old boy ..I'm going to get you,you're mine this time.." he muttered. He reassessed his standing posture and called out,"CARPE RETRACTUM!" while doing the whip-like movement yet again. He watched amazed when a string of purple ray of light came out from the tip of his wand,encircling the balloon and slowly dragged towards his direction.
Yes,it worked!

Kace was listening to the professor's instructions. Wait so they were playing tug o war with cakes? AWESOME! He loved the sound of it. Plus they look so delicious he couldn't pass them off. He tried to decide which cake he would want. Which one was his favorite. Hmm...he really LOVED chocolate cake. Wait NO! Double chocolate cake with vanilla frosting and he saw it in his reach.

But he needed a partner first, he walked around and heard a familiar voice. He turned around and Adi was there. He chuckled and smiled. "Hey Adi! Yeah of course i will be your partner! Aren't i always?" he joked with him on that.

As they made there way to an open space, Kace said, "I already picked my cake and it is double chocolate with vanilla frosting!" he told him while his mouth was watering. "Which cake did you pick?" he asked curiously.

Then he said, "Alright let's count down to three to perform the spells at the same time?" he suggested.

Awesome! Adi liked being partners with Kace. Kace always helped him when he found a spell difficult. Mmmm. That cake sounded quite yummy! "We only need one cake, right?'' Adi asked, just to be sure. "And I'll win the tug of war so I'll have that cake for myself!'' Adi grinned. He was kidding of course. If he won he'd share and he knew if Kace won, he'd do the same.

When the cake was set between them, the first year began the countdown. "One...two...three! Carpe Retractum!" Purple ropes erupted from his wand and wound around the cake.

Within a blink everyone seemed to have a partner... leaving Tora alone and off to the side. Oh. Ahem. Raising her voice, because she could be rather loud when she wanted to, she yelled out across the room, "Anyone need a partner? Partnerless person for the taking! Partner, partner, get your partner here!" She started to rove the room hawking for anyone to join her currently partnerless group and start the activity. She wanted some cake.

"Yeah we only need one cake!" he said. "So next round you can pick the next cake." he promised the little guy. "Oh you are so on!" he said readying himself for this task. He really wanted to win this task. He could use all his concentration because if he didn't then it would smack him in the face.

"ONE....TWO....THREE...!" he said and he heard Adi do the same thing. He did the whip like motion and said "Carpe Retractum!" and light blue ropes appeared out his wand and wrapped around his cake. He remembered the professor saying he needed to stay still. He did not need to move his feet. He used his strength from soccer and football to pull the cake closer to him.

It was almost in his reach......he could see it coming closer....!