As if it had a mind of it's own, it flew in front of a pixie just before the first light could hit it. BAM! The pixie was down, but the bird continued to zoom throughout the arena, going this way and that, up and down, side to side. The only direction it seemed in capable of going was backwards. The second light, however on target it was, missed by a mere inch as the bird sped up it's flight. Cheating much? Maybe. Ducking under another well placed light, it suddenly turned and headed in the opposite direction.

ZOOM ZOOM!

Right into a group of butterflies. Perhaps an accidental path or a smart move for the bird because the fourth light, while it would've no doubt hit it's intended target if it were the only thing in motion in the room, had hit a butterfly in it's place.

The hunt was still afoot!

Missed!! Cris decided to try again. This time he threw all his attention and focus on that one red bird flying in the air. His eyes followed its every direction. This way...that way...this way...up...down...

He took a deep breath and slowly let it out. Raising his wand, he tracked the bird's movements. Come on....Come on...It's going to go there, Cris thought to himself. Focusing all his concentration on directing his spell to where he wanted it to do, Cris flicked his wand horizontally and called out, "Impedimenta" with determination.

A turquoise beam of light burst from his wand and headed towards the red bird. Was the spell going to work this time time? Was he going to capture the bird in mid-flight? Cris watched and waited anxiously.

AH, the bird was STILL going. Zander didn't even have time to feel embarrassed about his failed atempt because he was so focused on those TEN WHOLE POINTS. This was the perfect opportunity to get Gryffindor house even further in the lead. They were way too close to the snakes for his liking. As much as he did like Simon and Ethan, those Slytherins had to go down. Gryffindor is taking the cup this year.

Anyways.

With his eyes still on the flying bird, Zander followed it once more with his wand. Alright. Here. Goes. Nothing. POINT, AIM, FIREE! "IMPEDIMENTAAAA!"

A miss? She bet it wouldn't be a miss if she tried blowing the thing up. Whether it ducked behind a pixie or not, it would have still gotten what was coming to it. Alas, this class wasn't about explosions, only slowing targets down, in this case freezing them. Good thing the cold ones weren't nearly as fast--or were they? Did the Professor ever mention their speed? However fast they went it couldn't have been nearly as fast as this bird right here.

Thinking ahead of it was onviously only half the work. You also had to factor in the environment around the room. All these butterflies and pixies weren't helping. The frogs weren't that bad, on account of her not aiming when it flew too low. It was just them.

As best as she could , Lex waited for it to be not so clustered with them. She didn't want to waste another spell on something that wasn't the target.

Lex squinted, keeping her gaze locked on the bird until she saw what she thought was the most opportune moment before raising her wand again. Focus, concentration, aim, all things she'd need to get this bird. If only she had her kneazle. He'd have caught the damned bird for her ages ago and this hunt could be over...as unfair as that would have been.

Almost there...eyes on the bird..."Impedimenta!"

.........what in the world? Ethan had to stop running after that ugly cornish pixie. There's a bird worth...well, he didn't catch how many points it was worth, but it looked like it was more fun to hit it. Though, it was trickier to immobilize.

Ethan stayed in one place and followed the zooming bird with his eyes, in sync with his wand arm that is now outstretched. The boy waited for the bird to fly towards a space where he could take a clear shot.

As soon as he saw what he was waiting for, he flicked his wand and, "IMPEDIMENTA!"

All thought of catching any other object had left Lux's mind as she watched that bird. This was her new target, and she would try her best to slow it down no matter how hard it would be.

Eyes glued to it as it zoomed about, she flicked her wand in a horizontal motion while calling out, "Impedimenta!"

Aahhhhh! Jasmine had missed the bird and so had the many others who had tried to hit it. With all of the other critters flying around, concentration and a bit of luck would be necessary. And so Jasmine tried to concentrate.

Trailing the red bird with her wand once again, she moved uuuuuup, down and aaaaaaround. She followed the bird for so long that her arm started to get tired. It was now or never. Jasmine moved the wand to the side and flicked it. Then she said, Impedimenta". Just in case that try didn't do it, Jasmine shot the spell off one more time. Flick and "Impedimenta". Did she get him?

Duck dodge zoom WAM!

Was it possible? Was the bird really dodging all the spells headed it's way? Some looked to have even skimmed it's tail from the direction the professor was looking at it, but even so, the spell would hit the wall behind it or one of the frogs, pixies, or butterflies would find itself immobilized. However, just as Lux's spell was inches away from making contact with the bird...

A pixie tumbled right into it, catching it in it's grasp. It's high pitched taunting laugh filled the room as the spells zoomed past the two of them.

Oh dear! There has been a twist in this story!

This was unbelievable. The bird must have nine lives or be extremely lucky. Did Jasmine have to hit the bird and the pixie now? Would that be worth double points? She didn't know, but she was willing to give it a try. Back to concentrating again. Jasmine inured that it was best to just focus on the bird whether or not he was being held by the pixie.

Jasmine followed the routine again. Aim wand, follow bird, focus and shoot. She gave the wand the horizontal flick and said, "Impedimenta". Please, please, please hit it.

DRAT! Her spell had missed by mere inches and now the bird was being held by a pixie. Well, Lux was not going to let that stop her. She could be competitive when she wanted to be, and there were points riding on this. Maybe points weren't everything, but she wanted to gain something else for Hufflpuff.

Keeping her eyes still glued to her target, she flicked her wand again. "Impedimenta!"

Dumb bird. Dodging all the spells. Dumb. Hmph.

Zander was starting to get reeeaaal annoyed with this dumb bird. Real annoyed real fast. Hmphhhh. GAH. Lifting his wand once more and pointing towards the bird. He practically shouted this time, "IMPEDIMENTA!" Hopefully he'd at least get close this time.

Because this bird was insufferable. And Zander just wanted to see it freeze.

Seriously?? Seriously?? Tracking the bird was already hard enough, now this pesky Pixie had to get into the picture too? Cris mumbled softly to himself, calling the pixie all kinds of names...none of which could be said out loud, as he refocused on the task at hand.

Just as long as the Pixie didn't let go of the bird, he had only one target to aim for. Practically catching two birds...if one was to call a Pixie one...with one stone..in this case...a spell.

Cris shook his head, emptying all thought from his mind.

The Pixie...focus on the Pixie..

....Cris could see the Pixie's wings fluttering, its mischievous head darting this way and that as it looked for places to cause more mischief. Cris tried focusing on the Pixie's eyes, squinting to see where its eyeballs were facing. Because unless it looked that way but flew in the opposite direction, chances are it would be flying where its eyes were looking at. At least, that was Cris' logic.

The fact that it wasn't an easy feat looking at a minuscule Pixie's eyes, Cris voted to look at its head instead. Same logic. Where the head was facing, was where it was going to head towards. So he kept watch and waited patiently, despite knowing that his fellow students were by now targeting the Pixie too.

It was no longer just about earning points for his house. For Cris, it was now about understanding how one could anticipate a creature's movements for maximum spell accuracy.

After studying the Pixie's flight pattern for some time, Cris raised his wand and aimed it at the Pixie, anticipating where it would move to next. Concentrating on what he wanted the spell to do, Cris waited for the right moment to cast his spell again.

....and there it was. Keeping his eyes on the Cornish Pixie, with a horizontal flick of his wand, Cris cast the spell, calling out "Impedimenta...Impedimenta" and did another horizontal flick with his wand.

Come on...come on...come on...Cris whispered as he watched the turquoise light beam burst from his wand and head towards the Pixie....the second beam, for the bird in its hand. He had anticipated where the Pixie would move to next....hopefully, with the red bird still in tow.

A bird worth ...how many points? Kevin hadn't heard it but he did know it was worth SOMETHING or else half of the class wouldn't have gone after it right? And that was the same thing Kevin was doing. He followed the bird with his mismatched colored eyes as it flew around it was hard enough to get a good aim let alone actually hit it!

What on earth was that pixie doing though? holding the bird? Did that mean that a PIXIE was better at catching a bird than a whole class of students? Well...he was offended!

He flicked his wand horizontal and shouted "Impedimenta!" a bright turquoise light shot out of it and flew towards the place where the bird and pixie was. 'come on..pleeeaase'

Adi had been following the bird with his eyes as everyone tried to take a shot at it. He was amused when a pixie caught it. Gosh, what mischievous little creatures they were! Adi decided to join in the fray and try his luck at rescuing the bird.

"Impedimenta!" the third year said as he did the horizontal flick. Come on, spell! Let's get 'em!

From what Maddie could see, Ethan was winning their little game. This made her extremely annoyed and the first year shifted into attack mode, trying to put a stop to any pixie in her way. She was going to be victorious, MHM!

"Impedimenta!" There was a pixie a foot or so from her, it's high pitched squeaking (from what she could tell) hurt the brunette's ears and she had aimed her wand at it, watching as the jet of light streamed towards it. It dodged at the last minute though, causing her to sigh. DUMB PIXIE.

She wasn't giving up, oh no. Coopers didn't quit and so the twelve year old continued on, looking for the next pixie to practice on. Unfortunately there were butterflies and chocolate frogs as far as her eye could currently see and if she could just-"Ow!"

Apparently the pixies were hungry because one had just bitten her leg! "You little menace," She said quietly, eyes narrowed. "Impedimenta!" The pixie was making a retreat but Maddie had been faster, the spell slowing the creature down on contact. "Yes." YES!

But that bird? Yeah, Maddie wanted it! There was something about the way it moved, avoiding spells and causing other items to get slowed in the process, that made the first year smile. Clever little bird. She could identify, obviously. And she could try and stop it, mhm.

Creeping forward, she firmly fixed her feet and trained her wand on the bird. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration and she followed its movements carefully, watching the pixie with equal interest. She really disliked pixies, did they KNOW? But she was going to get that bird, she WAS.

This was just like shooting her spell at the pixie and not at Ethan, yeah? She had to be careful and focused and have good aim. She could DO this! And so she took a deep breath and went for it as soon as the air was clear enough around the pixie/bird duo. Looking down the tip of her wand, she found the bird and with a flick of her wand horizontally as intstructed, she said quite clearly, "Impedimenta!" And the light burst forth from the tip and... ...

The bird was still at large.

She just...didn't know anymore. How worth it was that bird? Surely there was an easier way of earning 10 points for Gryffindor and this thing, it obviously wasn't in the mood nor the mindset to be caught and she fully agreed. Freedom was a beautiful thing and right now it was enjoying it--or trying to. See all the wands pointed at it? Hers included? There had to be some kind of deeper irony in this situation but she wasn't a Ravenclaw and wasn't interested in looking for it.

After this class, she was taking her kneazle and they were going bird hunting, just to blow off the frustration this bird was causing. Not real birds of course, they did nothing to her and that would be mean. Conjured ones that Felix enjoyed chasing.

Once again, Lex locked on to the bird, watching it taunting them, telling them they didn't have a proper shot at it no matter how many of them took aim. It was a little insulting if you thought about it. Right now the bird got what it wanted. She continued tracing the birds movement with her wand, always trying to keep the wand pointed ahead of the bird until she figured she'd gotten another chance at a good shot.

"Impedimenta!"

There was just so much going on. Bay couldn't figure out what he wanted to go for next. Looking left and right he still saw a bunch more pixies. Taking out his and he hoped he can get another one.

"impedimenta" he said a few times actually really hoping to hit something, anything.

Lucy decided to try again.
She thought:" Focus Lucy!"
Lucy grabbed her wand trying to take good aim..
She flicked her wand horizontally and said:"Impedimenta"!
Come on..come on...did I hit it?

Whaaaat was going on? The room was in complete chaos, and Sophie was starting to wonder if ten points was even worth it. A mad dash to the door and into a calm corridor sounded a lot better than this. Nevertheless, Sophie wanted to see this bird go down, and so she stayed with her wand raised and ready for action.

For some reason, the bird couldn't fly backwards, so Sophie decided a good hit from behind might take the bird by surprise. So while a few others around her were trying to hit the bird from other angles, Sophie went behind it and aimed for the back of the bird. She focused on that angle and put all her thoughts into slowing down this creature. Metal creature. Heh.

"IMPEDIMENTA!" she called out, flicking her wand horizontally.

Angel was totally having fun. "IMPEDIMENTA" Angel did the incantation on her wand and she made sure she said the spell properly and she beamed as she hit another hit. "This is awesome." Angel said to no one in particular, she was totally loving it at the minute.

That pixie took her prey the bird!

Beverly hissed under her breath a not so very pleasant word, then aimed her wand at the pixie with her bird. Where did it think it was going? Well, guess what, she was going to zap it. And zap it good.

With a horizontal flick of her wand, her gaze locked and loaded on the Cornish Pixie she hollered, "Impedimenta!"

Give that bird back!

Whilst other were focused on Sonya, Professor Romanos's bird, Cutty was eying the pixies. How smart were they? "Im-pedA-menta." He uttered out slowly and gave his wand a flick sideways once and then twice for practice. He had a plan. He was going to start a war with those pixies. Because few things were as satisfying as tiny Pixie frustration. "Impedimenta!" Had the chocolate frogs been charmed somehow to have such super speed. He missed nipping one, but aimed again. "Impedimenta!" This time hitting the one beside it.

"Carpe Retractum!" He said giving the whip-like motion with his wand toward the little frozen frog and gripped it in his hand. He tossed the little chocolate body up into the air and caught it several times as though it were a ball. And when he saw a pixie coming in to rest and perch he let her have it. She tumbled over with a high-pitched squeal laced with anger. HOW DARE THAT ARROGANT, WAND-DEPENDENT BIT OF GIANTS DROOL HIT HER WITH ONE OF HIS DISGUSTING FOOD PIECES!

It was on.

The attack towards the pixie had alerted his fellow pixie-mates. They zoomed and swooped around the captured bird, making it incredibly difficult to aim for, though still dodging the spells all the same. It wasn't until there were too many being cast at one time did they veer off in another direction, leaving the one pixie in clear line of sight and CONFUSED. His pixie mates abandoned him!

That split second hesitation was all the students needed. A handful of spells had been launched towards the pixie, hitting it and the bird square on. Instead of being immobilized however, the force of the spells knocked them both back. Losing grip of the bird, the mechanical creature flew towards the wall, landing with a loud-

CRASH!

Bits and pieces of the bird landed upon the floor.

"Oh dear." Medea muttered, itching to go see how much damage had been made, but, decided to compose herself at the last second. "Vell, I can't deny that there was some great team effort there." Even if they all individually wanted it. "10 points for each house, vhich concludes our lesson for today. Keep an eye out for the homevork. It should be posted very soon."

Her birdie. T_T

Poof!! O_o maybe the onslaught of spells had been an overkill...well maybe not maybe, since it was pretty obvious that the red bird had seen its last flight. Holstering his wand, Cris was happy that all houses had been awarded house points and although he would have been happier that Hufflepuff had four instead of 2 points, Cris was just glad that they still had managed to win some. Hopefully with the points earned answering questions in this class, would make a small dent in the points leaderboard.

Cris returned to his backpack and packed everything up before slinging the bag over his shoulder. Making his way over to Professor Romanos, Cris smiled as he spoke to the Professor.

"That was another interesting lesson, Professor. I hope your mechanical creatures will be salvageable. I've always been interested in that form of art. Would you be willing to teach me how to make them, Professor?" Cris asked his Defense Against the Dark Arts Professor. He hoped she didn't mind him approaching her with that request right now after class was over.

As he waited for her to reply, he kept a look out for Jasmine.

MERLIN.

Ethan winced as he saw the bird crash against the wall and fell into pieces. It can still be repaired, yeah? Because it was a cool toy. Mechanical and all. Ethan tucked away his wand and gathered his things.

But then wait! What about the chocolate frogs? "Thanks for the awesome class professor! Er...can we now eat the remaining chocolate frogs?" Because...you know...food. And all the running and chasing made him hungry.

Heh.