On Janelle's command, Mike began to move. Transfigured stone dragons must have an innate knowledge of how to fly because he picked up speed and then took off. Janelle was not quite ready for this and she held onto her dragon for dear life. Once she got accustomed to flying in the air.......on a dragon, Janelle began to relax. It was actually kind of fun. Wheee! They had a job to do though and she tried to focus on the task at hand.

Seeing several hoops up ahead, Janelle held her wand tightly and pointed it in that direction. Making the now familiar incomplete clockwise circle, she shouted, "Engorgio". One of the hoops began to grow larger and Janelle was relieved. "Mike, we need to fly through the big hoop." Did dragons know the difference between big and small? Just in case he was iffy on he matter, she tried to direct Mike toward the larger hoop. At last they reached it and went straight through with no problem. "You did it Mikey. Good job!" And on they flew, in sort of a circle, searching for the next hoop.

Cutty stepped closer to the dragon and it sharply turned it's head spouting it's unique puff of fire that strongly resembled its namesake. A fireball. It did not however do any damage. It merely left some brief smoke and heat. Cutty stopped, froze in place before continuing.

"Engorgio." He said continuing to grow the dog-sized dragon in a move that some might say was closer to mistake and virtue on the scale of moral integers. Thank goodness, though that the boy was medicated, lest he push far too much and far too fast resulting in a Christmas cracker of dragon innards from one swift and merciless POP! He merely grew it enough to carry him. No larger than a horse.

He looked up in time to see Wayniac riding away into the ...well, it wasn't quite sunset. Look at his best mate go!

NOW came the really fun part.

Dude felt like a little kid again with the excitement that had built up inside of him. That didn't stop him from swaggering confidently over towards his dragon, though. Needed to keep the cool factor up, after all. And he needed to show the dragon that HE was in charge otherwise it was probably gonna think that it can do whatever it wanted to and not listen to him. Which was kinda rude, to be honest.

When he reached the dragon -- which was gonna remain unnamed for now because he wanted to give it a brilliant name and couldn't think of one right now -- Grayson gave its neck and back a stroke. "I'm gonna get on your back, mkay? And we're gonna fly up and through those hoops over there," he said, pointing off into the distance where someone was already flying off through a hoop with their own dragon, "And we're gonna be freaking fantastic at it." Uh huh. He was dead sure of that.

Time to hop on!

STAY CALM, WHITTY.

He gave the dragon a pat and nudged it down slightly, which made the dragon bent down after a moment's hesitation. Using a rock as support, the Slytherin climbed up onto the creature's back, wiggling around a bit to find the best place to sit. Had to be comfortable and all, which was kinda hard given the fact that his bottom was seated on a bunch of scales.

"And.......... up!"

They were almost done. Hady could see the last two hoops clearly coming up ahead. However this time there was a large white dragon in front of them. Move, move, move...she thought in her head. If only that would work!

"Klaus to the left!" She commanded leaning that way letting out a sigh of relief as her dragon twisted the way she directed smoothly slipping passed the other dragon. Just in time too cause there was the hoop!

With literally no time to spare Hady did the wand movement calling out, "Engorgio!" with just enough time for the hoop to grow and them to make it through. That was way to close! No time to panic now one more to go.

"Finish through the hoop up ahead Klaus then we land" the small brunette told her faithful companion. There was more then enough time for her to preform the charm for the last time. Without any worries she slid her wand into her pocket as Klaus brought them both through the last hoop.

Done! With a proud smirk she guided her dragon to an empty spot of grass for their landing. The impact with the ground was a bit rougher then she'd expected but at least she didn't topple off. Remaining on the back of her newest friend she turned her attention to the skies watching everyone else.

The activity was done..and she wasn't looking forward to what came next. She wasn't looking forward to doing whatever it was they had to do with their dragons. All she knew was the Professor said the dragons were only here for a day. With a small sigh she leaned against Klaus' neck resting her head there as she lightly rubbed one of her hands against his scales whispering quietly to him.

HOLY FREAKING SNITCH THIS WAS FREAKING FANTASTIC!

His stomach was doing flips at being so high up all of a sudden but MAN did this feel good. Much better than riding around on a broom, even if a broom was more comfortable. The wind was blowing past his hair and if he sweeeeeeeeeeerved in the right way, he would look downright hot. Frankly, Grayson was all up for THAT.

You know what was hard? Figuring out where to hold onto. The sight in front of him was full of scales and it wasn't as if he could get a proper grip on THOSE. He tried, though. It was alright when they were just hovering on the spot. So was commanding and holding onto the scales as tightly as he could the way to go? It looked like it would be.

"Yo! Dragon! Think you can fly around in a circle for a bit for me?" The dragon gave a look of understanding -- whatever it was, it wasn't a sassy look so Grayson wasn't complaining -- before flying arou--

OH MERLIN OH MERLIN OH MERLIN.

Grayson swore under his breath and flopped forward as the dragon fleeeeeeeeeew around in a wide circle. MAN, holding onto the scales was NOT gonna work. No way! Grumbling, he tried to sit up slowly only to flop forward yet again.

This was gonna be hard, wasn't it?

One down, a lot more to go. Janelle gave Mike's back a pat as they flew toward the next hoop. He really was a good dragon and doing an awesome job for his first time.......you know.....as a dragon. Janelle spotted the next set of hoops and tried to focus directly on them. Using words and taps on the dragon's sides, Janelle had managed to make her desires know to Mike......so far.

As the hoops got closer, Janelle shouted out her next set of directions. We're going for that hoop over there, after I make it bigger, that is.. With that, she raised her wand again and repeated the movement she had done before. "Engorgio", she said when they were just close enough. The hoop got bigger, but Janelle didn't think it was big enough for both of them to get through. Once again, Janelle moved her wand in a semi complete circle and said, "Engorgio". This time, the spell worked and the hoop enlarged to the proper size. "Go for it Mikey", Janelle said. And he did it, taking them through the hoop in no time flat. Janelle wondered how many more hoops there were before they reachedthe finish line.

For a good few minutes, Amur forgot about the task. She let Rocky Felix glide around the course, both of them equally unconcerned about the hoops and the spell practicing. She wondered what it would be like to fly away from Hogwarts, over the lake and landscapes. Even over London. Maybe back to the farm. She was sure it would be stunning.

Apparently Felix thought so too, for he banked away from the hoops to start off in the direction the Professor said not to. Startled, Amur sat up straight and tugged on the bone spine that she held. "No, silly dragon. We can't go there. Back to the hoops."

With reluctance, but thankfully without delay, the dragon banked back towards the hoops.

Amur pulled out her wand and focused. Apparently she had to keep this dragon, and herself, entertained lest they fly off into the sunset. The hoops got closer and Amur tightened her grip. What was the charm again?

Engore....No. Engorgio.

Should be pretty simple. She had just preformed it on her dragon after all. Felix sped up, anticipating her casting, speeding right for the first hoop. Amur performed the wand movement and...."Engorgio!"

The hoop enlarged slightly, in that same strange motion that her dragon had, but not enough for them both to get through. Felix could probably get his neck caught in it, but that was about it. The dragon, recognizing the delima banked down at her call of surprise, just in time to avoid the still-small hoop.

It turned its head back and growled at her. Amur nearly put her hands on her hips. "I know! It's different than when I'm standing on solid ground." All bumpy and moving.

Felix seemed to roll his eyes as he turned his head forward, climbing on the air to the next hoop. This time, Amur. This time.

Norah kept holding on tight to one of Phillip's spiky things as the pair of them soared in the direction of another hoop. She held her wand out far enough away from the dragon's head so she had enough space to do the movement and called, "Engorgio!" She moved her wand in an incomplete circle, rapidly though because that hoop was coming towards her FAST. She grinned as it enlarged itself and she guided King Phillip smack dab through its middle. The third year looked back to watch as it shrunk again. WHOOOOA. That was COOL. It'd be funny to charm her door like that so it'd be too small for anyone to come in unless they did the charm, and then it shrunk again so no little brothers! 'Cept she'd have to be of age for that. Stupid rules.

The thirteen year old saw the next set of hoops coming on faster now, and she leaned down to whisper, "Let's go through the one on the right." Norah beamed again as the dragon veered towards the right, because being in control was crazy cool! Her brothers were never this good at follow-the-leader, never ever. She aimed her wand at the golden ring and said, "Engorgio!" Circle-y thing and BOOM, they were through it. Heheheh this was getting EASY PEASY.

With his dragon now a sufficient size, Cutty approached it along it's side. The creature was nuzzling into his side getting at a scratch when it felt the boy mount it. Having a similar temperament to the it's creator, the Chinese Fireball sped forth into the skies headed for oblivion. Cutty skooted forward onto the head and gripped the head with his feet and hands, steering the beast back down.

He needed a vine. Something he could conjure into a vine to Transfigure and use to better control the beast, but no such thing was available. Improvisation it was! Gripping tightly to the creatures many decorative attributes, Cutty gradually brought it down and with his wand in his hand, he made for one of the hoops.

Okay, after that embarrassing scene Margo was determined to not make anymore mistakes. So patting Hugo on his back just one more so pulled he wand up "Engorgio" Margo said and watched as the hoop the had just crashed into enlarged and they flew through with no problems.

Margo smiled and flew through the remainder of the hoops, enlarging them as she went with no problem. It was a perfect lesson, minus the one mishap Margo was pretty proud of herself. She gave Hugo one more pat on the back. "You did great Hugo, can you take us done." Margo said smiling as Hugo landed on the ground.

Margo slide off the back of her dragon and looked around to see who else had complete the course.

One hoop was down, and there was umm... she wasn't sure how many hoops there was. Not that it really mattered because she was flying a dragon. WHEEE. Her and Zelda still had their momentum up, and hoop number two was fast approaching. "Zelda, up ahead." AJ was technically in control of the dragon, but still thought it was good manners to let it know what was about to happen. He could be his own dragon with her.

It was coming. It was coming. AJ's heart started to beat a little faster. She wasn't scared or anything. She was mostly pumped and ready and she really hoped that the hoop would get bigger. The lion had already decided that no matter what she would NOT be veering of course just yet. Either the hoop was going to get bigger and the two of them would be flying through it OR AJ had a long drop to the ground. She was NOT going to bow down to some stupid hoop.

"Engorgio." Noooo. Her butt would really be hurting if she fell off now. The hoop was RIGHT in front of them. She literally had seconds to react. "Engorgio!" A half circle motion thing was happening, and SUCCESS! Her and Zelda went flying through the hoop without any issues. YES!!!

That last circle had worked - but he had still almost taken his head off by not making the circle large enough. Time to try again! "Let's double back, Spike," he told his dragon. The stone dragon stretched its wings and made a deep turn, headed back to the same row of circles that Caleb had first attempted flying through. Time to do this again...

"Engorgio!" he exclaimed, pointing at the circle and moving his wand in an incomplete clockwise circle. This time, the circle got a LOT larger and he was able to clear it with Spike easily.

"Engorgio!" he exclaimed again, performing the same spell and wand movement on the next circle. Again he was successful and he soared through the large circle easily. This was getting easier!

With the creature under control and Cutty far from considering it's needs or wants (for he did sort of still see it as the small rock it once was thus the lack of fear of it), it was easy for him to hold on to it's lengthy golden fringe of spikes with one hand and take his wand into the other.

"Hut-hut." He guided the Liondragon straight for one of the hoops and fired the enlargement spell at it. "Engorgio." Together, boy and magically manufactured dragon sewed through.

Benny went with the flow or rather they way Elliot seemed to prefer to go for a while. It wasn't like they were really going off course. In fact the dragon might have been trying to follow the others of its kind along the way rather then need personal guiddance from him the rider. "This is fun!" he admitted aloud though he wasn't sure anyone could hear him, other than his dragon companion beneath him as they flew. The transfigured companion that only cemented his desire to work with the creatures when he was finished with school.

Majestic and free-flowing and all-around wonderful.

All of a sudden Elliot jerked, driving them to the side once more and directly towards a hoop that they might have simply slipped past had the dragon not moved. "WOAH!" he said, trying to guide them away but they didn't have a chance. "Engorgio!" he cast on the hoop but it wasn't as big as he might have wanted and Benny ducked close to his dragon friend to avoid the top of the hoop while Elliot's wings clipped the sides of the hoop in the process.

"Sorry..."

This was a breeze. AJ couldn't understand why she was having so many problems with this spell to begin with because she had definitely gotten used to it now. Now, if she had to go long periods of time without using the spell she would most likely be all rusty. That wasn't anything to worry herself over now because dragons.

While Zelda was flying straight AJ lowered head head down on his shoulders and gave him a big ol dragon hug. "I love you." Those weren't words that she just said to anybody too, so the dragon her better be all thrilled and stuff.

Another hoop was coming up, and AJ straightened herself up. She was ready. There was no doubt in her mind that the spell would work for her just fine. "Engorgio." She made sure to rotate her wand in circular direction. When the circle was almost complete, she stopped... because that was what she was supposed to do. The pair had flown through yet another hoop.

Like clockwork another one was upon them. "Engorgio!" The flew through another one. It seemed like Zelda was even pumped about AJ's success because they were really flying through this obstacle course. And another. "Engorgio." Incomplete circular motion happened and they were off.

They had successfully completed the obstacle course. Wow. AJ had SO much fun, and she definitely didn't want to stop flying. She didn't have to, did she? Nope. AJ held on to her dragon as they stayed airborne a little bit longer.

Caleb had just a few more hoops to fly through and then he'd be done. As sad as he would be to stop flying Spike, he was kind of relieved - it was COLDDDDD up here! He should have brought his cashmere sweater...

"Alright, go for that one!" he said to Spike, pointing to a row of really small hoops nearby. He was confident he could do this one, yes he was!

"Engorgio!" he exclaimed, doing the incomplete circle once again, going clockwise of course. This time the circle increased in size extremely quickly so he was able to fly through it with ease. Awesome!

Alright, now he was pretty sure he could land...he couldn't feel his hands anymore, they were so cold...

Alright. Whatever. He was just gonna have to deal with this weird sensation and the fact that he couldn't grip onto anything properly which made him feel like he was gonna fall over.

"Alright, STOP!" Because he was starting to feel kinda dizzy from flying around in circles all the time. And he was dead certain that Quigley was watching them from down below so not flying through the hoops was outta the question. "Mkay, dragon," He really needed a name for this little beast. "Fly towards those hoops over there. THAT one." The one closest to them, obviously. The dragon seemed to hesitate and almost looked over its shoulder -- did dragons have shoulders or what? -- at him to which Grayson called, "Trust me on this, man."

...........................

And............ THEY WERE OFF!

The Chinese Fireball seemed to fly effortlessly through the air towards the hoops, as if it was an actual dragon and not one transfigured from stone. The Slytherin tried not to let his excitement get the better of him -- which was freaking hard, by the way -- as he led the dragon towards the closest hoop. Boy and dragon swerved this way and that, dodging some of the other dragons and their owners.

Once he was close enough, Grayson took out his wand and aimed it at the hoop they were nearing. "ENGORGIO!" he cried, circling his wand around in an incomplete circle in the clockwise direction. Yeah, hoop, you'd BETTER enlarge yourself because this magnificent pair were coming right atchu.

SMIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRK.

"WE DID IT! ATTA BOY!"

.............. Cough.

Flying a dragon through some hoops. You know, your everyday life. No big deal.

They managed to get through two hoops now a few more. He grinned and Jeffrey seemed to be into the game. He was prepared and they were gonna go through a hoop when one student went through and it got smaller. Also a bird almost flew in his face and he panicked and tensed up and steered Jeffrey in a wrong direction. "JEFFREY LOOK OUT!!" Kace called out almost crashing into another student.

WHEWW!!!!!

THAT was a close one. He gulped and felt his heart beating in his throat. Bloody Merlin he needed to pay attention. Now he needed to find another course. He flew Jeffrey around and found one that was semi empty. He steered Jeffrey there and he understood. He yelled, "ENGORGIO" with a circular motion and made it through. He also saw others that had not been touched yet and Jeffrey was a natural. "Good boy Jeffrey.." he praised him. He wanted to land but he knew Jeffrey was having an awesome time so he let him fly a bit more.

Flying again. That felt weird. It brought back memories of that time he'd tried out for Quidditch. The wrecklessness had come so natural to him as if he'd inherited it. Passed down from mother to son. Although Soheir was far more polished in her execution for at the time she'd been to the school, she'd had the benefit of a flying instructor. Cutty liked to think he still had one and he sorta did although she was teaching another subject she at least had the knowledge that she could impart if the opportunity arose. It was better than having no one at the Castle who knew anything about it.

The liondragon headed for another hoop, this one higher up. Cutty had his wand at the ready and fired off the enlargement spell. "Engorgrio." Boy and dragon went through once more and then the dragon flew downward, spiraling at a severe incline. The boy considered it a worthy effort to stay on. But not for the obvious reasons.

Alright Jeffrey it is time to land. But first let's go through hoops. "Come on Jeffrey let's go one last time..." he said with a smile. He faced the hoop and flew right through. Man this was amazing. As the wind chill began to set in he forgot to put on gloves and Kace was becoming really cold flying through the crisp cold air. He patted his feet to let him know to land but Jeffrey meant to fly higher.

Jeffrey began to increase his height and that is NOT what he wanted. "NO JEFFREY!" he called out. "LAND ON THE GROUND!!" he called out and he wondered if he knew what the meant. Jeffrey must have knew that because he felt himself getting closer to the ground. Okay they were getting somewhere. He saw all the students instead of the clouds.

Jeffrey must have seemed tired because he felt him getting weak. Good thing it was time to land. Once they reached the ground, he noticed the dragon was doing a belly flop formation. Kace pulled over his leg and slide off of him. "Good boy.." he patted him and he wondered if there were any treats around.

Well chuffed, he was. Look at them flying around and making it through a that hoop back there. Teamwork, this was. Grayson even reached over and patted the dragon's neck, just as a way of saying well done. Dude needed some encourage--

ROAAAAAAAAAR!

HOLY FREAKING MERLIN!

Fumbling around slightly, the Slytherin aimed his wand at the hoop that was approaching them a little too quickly for his taste. The dragon, not trusting his owner at this rate -- which was freaking rude, by the way -- started to slow down but Grayson wasn't taking too much notice of this. He was determined. There was no WAY that they were gonna smash into that hoop over there.

"ENGORGIO!"

Yeah........ he needed to stop shouting these spells out. Luckily for him and the creature, the spell seemed to work and so, the two flew through the enlarged hoop with ease, but at a slower pace than before. "Phew! That was a close one, wasn't it?" Nope, hie dragon was not impressed in the slightest bit. It even let out something that sounded like a dragon version of a grumble.

WELL then.

Determined to show this little dude up, the sixth year bent closer towards the dragon's neck, making it speed up its flight. A swerve came up before them in the imaginary path of their course and he clenched his right calf to make the creature turn round towards the right. Heh. This wasn't SO bad. Not that he doubted it -- because HELLO?! A dragon! -- but there were doubts about grip and whatnot.

"Engorgio!"

Swoooooooooooosh! Right through the hoop.

Clinging to the dragon with his feet and his legs as he'd subconsciously noted his mother did in her moving photographs, he was able to stay atop the rolling beast as it did it's midair slither. Sharply he turned the beats head upways to get it to fly in that direction and forming a sort of V-like shape, Cutty and his dragon were heading to the heights.

"Engorgio." He said, hitting the first suspended loop with the charm, which the dragon flew through promptly.

"Engorgio." He fired the spell again at the next loop noting the amount of time it took for the entirely of the dragons body to fit through.

H'mmm.

Neaaaaaarly there. Nearly towards the end.

"C'mooooooon......"

His eyes narrowed a bit more. Some more hoops had been enlarged and swooshed through and now the to were nearing the very last hoop that would complete their lap around this course or whatever it was. The last couple of metres seemed to drag on forever but the boy was UBER determined. He WAS a Slytherin, after all. One who fitted into his house very well and was very proud of it too.

So, channelling enough determination to make even Salazar Slytherin proud, Grayson raised his wand up and aimed at the hoop in front of them. "ENGORGIO!" This hoop, like the others, enlarged as well and the two flew riiiiiiiiiiiiight through it, his dragon's wings brushing against the edges of the hoops as they went by. That didn't matter though because guess what?

THEY WERE FREAKING DONE.

YEEEEEEEEEEEEES!

"We did it! We freaking well did it!" Dead proud he was!

................... Wait. If he was done, then that meant one thing and one thing only. Grayson leaned over slightly and glanced down at the ground. What if he wasn't ready to dismount? Flying up on a dragon was pretty epic and he wasn't planning on letting go of that feeling just yet.

Just saying.

"Oi Whitty!" He called to fellow Slytherin. "Watch this!" Famous last words.

Cutty placed his wand in his mouth and using his hands and his legs to grip tightly to his Chinese Fireball he inched downward on it's serpentine-like body. Once he'd found a comfortable place he lowered himself so that his chest was against it's scales and headed for one of the hoops. "Engorgio." He said, aiming the spell for the hoop immediately ahead. The bright gold and red creature flew through the hoop curving it's direction immediately to go through again.

"Engorgio." Cutty re-applied the spell to the shrinking hoop just before the dragon could go through again. "Engorgio." And again this process was repeated as the liondragon effectively did donuts using the hollow space of the hoop to ring around.

It wasn’t exactly comfortable up there on Balerion’s back, but Brooklyn was hoping it’d be better once they took to the air. They kind of had to, after all. She wasn’t about to waste her dragon’s time, not when they finally seemed to understand each other. “Okay, time to fly,” she said, leaning forward carefully to hopefully find the dragon’s ear. And not get impaled on spikes. That wouldn’t be nice at all, but she didn’t regret her dragon choice. She knew she had the most awesome dragon there.

She held onto a couple of the spikes as Balerion had stretched his wings, grasping tight as next thing she knew the dragon had taken off after the other dragons. Apparently there was a little jealousy, but she could use that. She loosened her grip with one hand as they’d leveled off, going back to retrieve her wand from her pocket. That was going to be needed soon enough. Really soon, as she saw the first hoop in the ring approaching. “Engorgio!,” she said, pointing her wand toward it and making the circle that was needed for the spell. Nothing happened, so she tried again. And again. She was not going to run her dragon into a tiny circle. She just kept casting until they slid through, leaning forward as the hoop passed over her head. Okay. One down, she didn’t know how many to go.