"Engorgio."

Toby still had his wand arm stretched out before him, pointed at the next hoop on the agenda in his and Ella's lap around the track. He moved his wand in that clockwise almost-circle, and just like that the hoop stretched out wide, enough for them both to fit through. Ella did her job well and the pair soared through, Toby spying the next hoop not too far off.

This one would be tricky. It was on a bend, so he'd be casting from an angle and then have to turn. Luckily the dragon was pretty receptive to his directions, so it shouldn't be too difficult. They approached, bobbing up and down slightly with the beat of the Opaleye's wings.

"Engorgio," Toby cast again, vaguely wondering how many times he'd cast today. He traced the incomplete circle and the hoop grew and Toby allowed himself a little smile.......... as they flew right on past it.

He'd forgotten to direct Ella into the turn.

"Here Ella, this way," Toby encouraged the dragon, and veered right, rather than left. The dragon did as told and looped back around until the big hoop was back in front of them. The pair went through and Toby watched it shrink back down again thanks to a slight head turn and his peripheral vision.

So technically he'd not missed that hoop, and they were still doing a lap. All was fine.

Angel looked at Firestorm as they continued to fly around, this wasn't as bad as she thought it would be and if Benny ever transformed into one, she totally wanted to find one but at the minute, she was going to concentrate on the lesson and speak to Benny later to find out his plan.

"Engorgio." Angel did the circular wand movement and smiled as the circle grew, this was totally amazing and very fun, she watched as they both went through the hoop, she wished that she could continue flying all day now. Even though she was afraid at the beginning of the class now she was interested in flying all the time.

Toby didn't really have very many hoops to go before he'd finished a lap, and he'd already managed to sort of get into the swing of things, despite the almost-unfortunate moment with the whole 'forgot to turn' thing. But he'd recovered from that, even, sooooo... things looked fine.

"Engor-... Engorgio," the Hufflepuff cast once more, making the wand movement he'd already become accustomed to. He'd faltered at first as Ella dropped down in the air a little too rapidly for his liking. Oh, the dragon had very quickly recovered, but now Toby was trying to work out what the cause for that had been. As they flew through the hoop he could only really come to the conclusion that maybe she was becoming a little distracted by the dragons down on the ground, or the ones still in the air. They were neat to look at.

"C'mon girl, stay focused. I know it's difficult," Toby said cajolingly, reaching forward to pat the dragon as far up the neck as he could reach. The dragon, in turn, let out what Toby interpreted as an obliging snort, and they flew towards the next hoop.

"Engorgio."

THEY GOT TO RIDE A DRAGON? Dima was going to IMPLODE.

Quigley was the BEST LESSON PLANNER EVER, okay? And maybe also Bellaire, but this was the Charms part, so it probably wasn't her doing. The third year grabbed excitedly for his dragon's cage, swing open the latched door and letting his lil' Chinese Fireball out. Not going to be little anymore, was he?

"Engorgio!" Dima already knew his spell, so the incomplete clockwise circle came easily to him. Since he'd IMAGINED an eight foot tall dragon, that was what he got.

Oh my Merlin. Ramsey II was SO COOL. AND SO BIG NOW. COULD. NOT. BREATHE.

"Another hoop at 12:00", Janelle said to Mike. As he headed straight for it, she waited until she was close enough to cast the spell. "Engorgio", she said, as she waved her wand in that circular motion that was now becoming automatic. This time she had no problem, as the hoop expanded to accommodate the first year and her dragon friend.

"Go Mikey go! I think we're getting close to the end of the course. The dragon obediently took them through the hoop with plenty of room to spare. Janelle was really enjoying her ride and she realized that it would soon come to an end. That made her sad. The thought that Mike might soon be turned back into a rock made her even sadder.

Well it wasn't over yet and Janelle was going to enjoy every remaining minute of her ride. As she had expected, she saw the last set of hoops up ahead. "Alright Mikey, we're going to do this one more time. Let's make this one the best." Circling her wand one last time, Janelle said, "Engorgio". The old saying must have been true. Practice makes perfect. Janelle had gotten better and better at casting the spell as she moved through the course. Giving Mike a pat, the two new friends went through the last hoop without a hitch. "We did it Mikey! We finished the course. You are so awesome."

Janelle didn't want the ride to end, but she knew that they would have to land sooner or later. Sadly, she gave Mike his directions. "I guess we'd better head back now. You can take us down."

AND NOW HE GOT TO GET ON IT. Internally freaking out a little, Dima climbed onto the Chinese Fireball's tail and then scampered up his back using the jutting-out spikes as hand and footholds. THIS WAS SO COOL. HE WAS ON A DRAGON. A transfigured one, but a dragon nonetheless, right?

"YOU READY, Ramsey II? Go, boy, go!" The dragon flew up, and Dima felt his breath catch in his throat. Awe. Some.

There came a hoop, though! Time to put his skills to the test, yeah? "Engorgio!" The incomplete circle was made in a clockwise direction.

Ramsey II and the lil' Ravenclaw he was toting around on his back passed through the obstacle seconds after it grew. Close call, but CHYEAH.

Whooosh, through that hoop, and it looked like there was only one to go before he was back where he started. Then they could both get back on the ground and watch the other dragons.

And Toby could continue making the effort to not get attached to his Ella dragon because soon class was over and he'd never see her again. Because she was a rock.

The Hufflepuff frowned just a little, though thankfully being up in the air made it impossible for anyone else to tell. He pointed his wand at that last hoop and repeated the spell one more time.

"Engorgio." With the correct wand movement, the weird not-quite-circle thing, the hoop grew and grew, and by this point Toby had managed to get the timing more or less spot on. They soared through the hop just as it got wide enough for the dragon's wingspan, which was an unnecessary but cool touch. Toby patted Ella on the neck again and directed her towards the ground.

"C'mon girl, time to land," he said, a tinge of sadness in his voice. The Antipodean Opaleye stone!dragon was again obliging, and brought them in for a gentle landing a short way away from the main body of the group. Toby slid off his dragon and moved around to give her on the head. "Thanks Ella, you were awesome."

Dante and Doom were ready for their adventure. Sure it was not a giant adventure like you see in movies or books. But Dante was going to fly on a dragon and go through hoops. He would so do this on his bike. If he had it here. But a dragon was an awesome substitute. Plus he trusted Professor Q and Bellaire if he fell. He did not want the label of hurting students on his person.

Maybe, Dante hoped not.

"Let's Go Doom"

THIS WAS SO WICKED. And Dante did not use that world lightly. He was flying on a dragon that was perfect for his size. This is like something he would dream about.

"Okay Doom. To those hoops"

And don't worry Doom, Dante had his wand and was ready to spell those hoops for this.

"Engorgio!"

See.

It was possible that Dot was still occasionally shrieking for no reason, mostly when she thought to look down or she swallowed a bug or someone got too close to her on their dragons. Also when she remembered that she was flying around on a rock. That was pretty alarming.

Dot spotted another ring that was kind of sort of in their direction, and even though she had NOTHING TO PROVE ANYMORE, OKAY? Even though that was true, she was going to make another go at one of the rings. Lazybones got a kick to the side, and he lethargically moved toward the ring. Just as they reached it, Dot drew a half circle thing, and said, "Engorgio!"

And nothing happened. It grew a bit but only just a BIT, and there was no way they were going to fit through the hoop. OH NO OH NO OH NO. DIVE DIVE DIVE! They hadn't worked out a direction for that, so Dot opted for sitting extra hard and shrieking. Shrieking always helped, really.

Why was Dot screaming? Or, well, it LOOKED like she was screaming. But Dima honestly couldn't hear much of anything over the whoosh of air as he flew Ramsey II around. The dragon wing flaps were all that reached his ears, but he couldn't think of any other reason her mouth would be open.

Was she trying to be a frog and eat flies or something?

Oh, look, hoop! Dima raised his wand and cast again. "Engorgio!" One clockwise partial circle later, and innnn they went.

Ezra was already settled on the back of Wallace the Welsh Green as he listened to Professor Quigley give their instructions for the final activity. So they were free to start flying now? YAY!

Ezra looked around and waited for some others to take flight first to see how they did it. Once a decent number of students had taken to the air on the back of their dragons, the third year shouted to his dragon, "FLY WALLACE!" Nothing happened. "WALLACE FLY!" Still nothing. "GO GO DRAGON FLY!" No good. "GO GO WINGS?"

Hmmm.....

Maybe he had to get him started like a horse. Ezra had ridden a horse a few time before so he used he squeezed his thighs around the dragon and kicked his ankles into it's side lightly. Wallace raised his head and spread his wings, beating against the air and the two of them shot into the sky.

Was Opal trembling? Why was it doing that? It was suppose to keep her safe and--

Wait...she was doing the trembling, not the dragon. Welp.

An honest mistake.

Petting the dragon's neck, she practiced breathing exercises again. It was sort of hard to when all she could hear was the thumping of her heart in her ears. Why did she, Beverly Juniper Wayne, have to be afraid of heights? Blasted fears. Blast them all. It wasn't so bad, though. Just as she had instructed, Opal did not go unsteady it kept them balanced in the air, waiting for further instruction.

"Listen here, I'm not happy about this so keep me safe." It was a request and she wasn't even threatening. A first. Moving toward one of the hoops, she directed her wand at it. "Engorgio!"

Her hand was trembling so it made sense when the hoop grew, but not enough for her and her beast.

"Engorgio!" This time she willed her arm to stop shaking, and while it did, the hoop popped as it widened enough for the Wayne team. "Thank Merlin. Let's go, Opal."

So, yeah, flying. Still seemed like a bad idea to Heather, but she hopped on the back of Snoopy anyway. "Okay, you know what to do now, Snoopy. Take off!" Not that he needed much encouragement on that front, as he started flapping his wings the moment she was settled. Still, she wanted to maintain control if possible.

After a few moments of flapping, both she and Snoopy were in the air and damn did it feel good. She had the urge to guide Snoopy on a free fly, but Quigley had said something about not doing so, so she refrained. Instead, she made her way towards the first hoop, raising her wand as she got closer. "Engorgio!" And hoop large enough to fly though. "Now, through the hoop Snoopy!"

First hoop done. Next!

"Engorgio!" The hoop popped as it absorbed the spell, and to Beverly's relief it stretched out, enlarging enough to fit the Antipodean Opaleye. "Let's go before it shrinks back," she mumbled, tapping her heels against the dragon. As the professor said, the dragon obeyed her immediately.

There was some comfort in knowing her dragon would do as she says. It meant if she didn't want to be dropped she wouldn't be dropped. And so far they were making great progress. If half the course meant great progress.

Considering her dilemma at hand, it was.

Nearing another hoop, Beverly sighed more annoyed than anything else. She wanted to be done and over with this already.

"Engorgio!"

Three. Two. One... "Engorgiooooo!!"

And she waved her wand like she was getting ready to toss a lasso. Somehow it worked, and the hoop widened just enough for them to fit through. A good thing too, for this time Rocky had shown no indication of altering course or banking to avoid the hoop if it hadn't enlarged. It seemed he had adopted the do, or this-is-going-to-hurt style.

Amur ducked low on his neck as they soared through the hoop, chancing a glance back over her shoulder to see it shrink just as Rocky's tail passed through.

"WOOOO RRROOOO!!" Not only was she flying a dragon, but she was casting spells while flying on a dragon. Best. Day. Ever.

Except that apparently 'woo roo' in dragon tongue meant, 'go faster'. Rocky put the peddle to the metal, and Amur's cry of excitment was shoved back in her throat with the gust of air that came with the increased speed. Peering over her dragons head, she was alarmed to see the next hoop almost upon them.

She straightened only for a second to throw the cast out. "ENGORGIO!" It expanded to twice their size, letting them pass easily through. But there was no time for celebration. The next hoop was upon them already. "YEESH ROCKY SLO-ENGORGIO! SLOW DOWN BEFORE YOU GET A HO-ENGORGIO! HOOP AS A NECKLA-ENGORGIO!"

She could see the light at the end of the tunnel. So so very close to finishing the course. It hadn't been a tough as she had assumed at first. The real work had been on overpowering her fear and making it through without a panic attack. Thank the gods for that. Otherwise it would have been embarrassing.

Nearing the last hoop, Beverly released a bit of her hold on the dragon. Had it been a person she was sure blood circulation might have stopped. Oops. Opal was strong and sturdy, though. It would occasionally let out a roar that Beverly pinned it down to success every time they went through a hoop.

"Engorgio!" She shot at at the last hoop, feeling a mixture of the old accustomed anxiety and a bit of relief. The hoop expanded and Opal rushed forward, as feeling Beverly's readiness to get this over.

SWOOSH!

They were done! They made it through course without falling or too much turbulence. "Down, Opal, take me to the ground." HURRY, please.

And up came hoop number two. "Engorgio!" This hoop expanded too, and Heather guided Snoopy through. But there was a ripple in the plan this time. They made it through the alright, but Snoopy was trying to circle back around and do it again. "No, Snoopy! Bad Snoopy! You're supposed to go to the next hoop, not go back through the last one!" She dug her heels into Snoopy's sides and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to turn him back around. Didn't work, at first. But eventually, she got her dragon turned around and headed the right direction.

Woah. This was really different than riding a broom, Ezra had decided. Once in the air and his hair was blowing in the wind he did a quick twist around and then tried to locate where the first of the hoops was.

Getting oriented was the hardest part but there it was.

Kicking his left foot into the Wallace's side, he felt the scaly body below him twist and turn left and head for the tiny hoop ahead of him. Someone on a dragon had just flown through it and it was shrunken once more so it was his turn now. Ezra pulled his wand from his pocket and pointed at the hoop as it came closer and closer.

"Engorgio!" The Gryffindor shouted over the wind and did the correct movement. The hoop grew MUCH larger and the two of them sailed safely through. "Yahhoooooo!"

"Engorgio!" Hoop growing, Heather and Snoopy going through, natch. The repetitiveness of the activity was starting to bore the Gryffindor now, however. She wondered what would happen if she and Snoopy just landed and joined those watching. She figured that Quigley wouldn't care. But Bellaire? Then again, this was the charms portion of the lesson and fifth years should really already have a handle on Engorgio. The thought of just landing was incredibly inviting.....

Norah was SO getting the hang of this heh. And so was Phillip, even though APPARENTLY he just knew how to do things without being taught which was so totally unfair. Maybe she should be a dragon when she grew up instead of a Sparkly Plant Complimenter. Or she could be BOTH, YEAH.

WHOA THERE HOOP ALERT. APPARENTLY thinking about grown up things was a very bad idea, 'cause Norah cast a hurried "Engorgio!" only just in time to get through the hoop without breaking her face into a bazillion pieces. Phew. The third year patted Phillip because he hadn't even panicked or ANYTHING, before putting her arm out so she'd be all ready for the next hoops without even having to worry about being decapitated, which was always good. "Engorgio!" Circle-y thing and ta da! She peered around King Phillip's head at the remaining bits of the lap. Only a couple more hoops left. COOL. Except not cool because that meant she and Phillip'd have to go back down again. But mostly COOL.

One hoop down and just the rest of the circuit to go. Ezra squinted his eyes against the wind as it tore at his face, hair, and robes. Wallace was roaring excitedly below him as he coaxed him into flying towards the next, upcoming hoop.

Another tiny hoop.

15 meters....10 meters...

"Engorgio!" The hoop grew to an immense size and Ezra turned Wallace until he was perpendicular to the ground and grabbed tightly again with his thighs so he didn't fall off. He needed a couple more yes?

Somehow, they just managed to clip the hoop without running full into it, but Dot was completely stressed out about the flying through hoops business now. Her heart was racing and her poor dragon was getting strangled. She was alive, though, and not the only one having trouble getting hoops to enlarge in time. That Gryffindor girl was having issues too.

Was it time to be done with this yet? Dot didn't want to come around and try the hoops again. What if she ran into the hoops for REAL this time?

But she saw Dima having a BLAST, and Dot kinda felt like she was letting him down. Fine. Fine, Dima. She was gonna turn around and try again. "C'mon, Lazybones. We'll get it for real this time."

They somehow made it through the hoop, miraculously. With the speed they had been going at, Amur was sure they were going to end up caught in it.

Rocky slowed considerably as he left the hoop, doing a gentle barrel roll in the air that had Amur clinging onto his back with all four appendages. By the time they righted, her chirps of surprise had turned into giggles. The creature turned its head about to look at her with an expression that almost said don't blame me, you know you wanted to.

And he was right. Amur had wanted to go faster. She had wanted to do barrel rolls. She did want to see what else a dragon was capable of. She had just forgotten that her will was the dragon's will. It just seemed so life-like and real.

Relaxing on the dragon's back, Amur calmed her excitement and focused on simply enjoying flying. In response, Rocky slowed and leveled his pace, his wings beating every now and then with a resounding, strong snap, snap, snap. When they came upon the last few hoops, Amur cast, enlarging them for the pair to sail through.

As thrilling as the fast rush had been, this was better. Less terrifying.

As they sailed through the last hoop, completing the circuit, Amur took a moment to look about. The girl she had spoken to prior seemed to be doing well despite her previous reservations, many students were already on the ground and some were still having a blast.

Amur caught sight of Zeke down below and waved to him. There was a sudden, overwhelming urge to test the speed of her dragon in a race against the boy's. Her eyes skipped from him to the hoops and back again. Maybe? Even if didn't understand the eager expression she was giving him, she wasn't coming back down to ground level just yet. Not until she absolutely had to.

Norah let out another loud "Woooooh!" as she and King Phillip approached the last set of hoops. What what, they were on a ROLL. She got her wand ready and held out, still holding on to the dragon's spikes with her other hand for not-falling-off reasons. Okay. Time to bigify the last hoop, YEAH. The third year guided her dragon in the direction of the middle hoop as she performed one last "Engorgio!" with the most awesomest incomplete circle with her wand EVER. And the hoop grew just like it was supposed to, and Phillip flew right through just like it was supposed to. And Norah's hair all ended up in her face, just like it wasn't supposed to, according to her mum, but the thirteen year old liked it better that way so HA.

She hovered on the side of the big circuit once she and Phillip pulled out of the lap, chancing a glance down but looking up immediately because it still made her stomach do its funny-feeling thins. She didn't have to go down just yet, right? RIIIGHT?

AW YEAH. Ramsey II was the best acrobat Dima had ever witnessed, okay? Even though those circus performers and stuff were pretty cool, none of 'em compared.

But obviously they had to heat things up. "We're gonna do a spin on this one, okay, bud?" He patted the dragon's head again, then grabbed a spike in front of him as if it was a steering wheel. Ramsey II started forward on the Ravenclaw's cue, and then it was his turn to pull a trick. Tiny hoop fast approaching at 12:00 here.

"Engorgio!" He traced an incomplete circle in a clockwise direction before the hoop, simultaneously nudging the spike on Ramsey's back. And as the hoop stretched, Dima and his dragon literally SPUN through it. He.... was upside down. In midair.

HE WAS UPSIDE DOWN IN MIDAIR.

Dima Toussaint was GOING TO DIE. Dying. Dead. Done.