Why do you hate me, Prof. Skies? (Team 2) on Cascade Hall

Professor Skies

April 12, 2013 6:59 PM

Challenge Three - Part One by Professor Skies

The final challenge was taking place in the Cascade Hall. The usual furniture had been removed and the room divided into twenty small booths, created by deep velvet curtains hanging from poles. The poles themselves appeared to hang from nothing. The students would find, once ensconced with their teams, that the heavy velvet was surprisingly effective as blocking conversations from the neighbouring teams... They were also spellproof and flameproof. These were usually sensible precautions at the best of times around students, and when emotions were running high it was just asking for trouble not to do so.

“Welcome to this, our final challenge,” Professor Skies greeted the teams as they assembled in the entrance hall. “When you enter, you will find a booth with your team's number and a box of odd and ends. The first part of your challenge this morning is to charm or transfigure everything on your table. Each team member must take responsibility for one item. Your task will therefore be to decide how best to show your range of talents, not to show me five or six pieces of advanced work, all done by your oldest student. There is a sheet for you to note whom has started with each object and what their aim was. I and my assistants,” she nodded to any other staff members and prairie elves whom she had been able to rope in for the morning, “will be wandering around during the tasks. We also have ways of verifying those things which we have not seen so, once again, do not pile all the work onto your advanced students. One piece each please.”

A reminder of these rules was displayed in each booth. There were also several chairs and a table, on which was resting a box of ill assorted objects. Each box contained a button, a pin cushion, a feather, a lemon and a medium sized stick. Those with six members in their team would have to think slightly laterally to work out what their sixth item was.

“You will have an hour from when I blow my whistle to make your decisions and complete all your spell-work. The whistle will sound again at the end of the time period and you will step out of your booths. You may go and make yourselves at home. Do not open your box until the whistle sounds,” she cautioned. She waited until all of the teams had settled in their places and then blew the whistle, which had been charmed to penetrate the otherwise muffling effects of the curtains. As she did this, a luminous clock face appeared, glowing on one of the walls of each team's work area. As the time ticked by, segments of the clock went out, showing the teams how much time remained to them.

After an hour, a second blast of the whistle sounded.

“Well done,” Professor Skies smiled when the students had all stepped out of their booths. “You now have a twenty minute break, during which you may get a drink, run around outside or whatever it is you wish to do to let off steam. After that, you will be back here to face the second and final part of today's challenge. Thank you,” she smiled.

Subthreads:

Challenge Three - Part Two by Professor Skies

Let's start first this time, Thestrals (Team Three). by Kate Bauer with Wendy Canterbury, Jade Owen, Jorge Garcia

Let's show off together one more time, Team Four. by David Wilkes with Francesca Wolseithcrafte, Thad Pierce, Henry Carey

Team Six, let's conquer this. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan with James Owen, Willow Collins

Time to Transfigure, Team 18 by Derry Four with Linus Macaulay, Brianna Japos

Why do you hate me, Prof. Skies? (Team 2) by Sullivan Quincy with Carter Browning

Here's our last dance, Team Seven. by Alicia Bauer with Andrina Thornton, Hope Brockert

Paging team 14 to booth 14 by Annabelle Pierce with Cepheus Princeton, Annette Pierce, Cepheus

Let's go TEAM FIFTEEN!! (15) by Regina Parker with Waverly Canterbury, Effie Arbon

Lets finish with a bang Team Nine! by Clara Abernathy with Aubrielle Thornton, Brielle Thornton

Team 8...be...great? by Julian Babineux with Charlie B-F-R, Marcus Williams

The Beginning of the End for Team 12 by Addison Thornton with Arista Thornton

Challenge Three, Team Ten... (10) by Megan Brownbriar

Yay, Transfiguration! (Team 5) by Ryan O'Malley with Jude Butler, Sally Manger

Here come the girls (Team 16) by Josephine Owen with Melanie Lennox

Let's be charming, Team 1 by Fae Sinclair with Henny B-F-R, Analea Thornton

Team 19 - so close to finishing without embrassment by Michael Grosvenor with Abigail Thornton

0 Professor Skies Challenge Three - Part One 26 Professor Skies 1 5

Professor Skies

April 12, 2013 7:00 PM

Challenge Three - Part Two by Professor Skies

When the students returned from their break, they would find their booths still in place, but the boxes of junk had been removed, along with their notes. Fresh parchment, quills and ink, and six corked bottles replaced them.

“Welcome back,” Professor Skies greeted the assembled students. “You have five potions on your tables. Your task for this part of the challenge will be to work out what each of them is. Clearly we are not going to hand out anything that will kill you or seriously hurt you. Some of the potions, however, may produce unpleasant or undesirable effects. You may use whatever means you wish to identify the potions. The only rule is that all your team members must end the challenge in the same state they begin it in,” she cautioned.

“Once again, this challenge will be completed against the clock. From the time I release you back to your booths, you will have forty minutes to work out the solutions, beginning and ending when I blow my whistle,” she informed them. “Once again, we will be walking around during that time to observe you in the task and we will be examining all team-members at the end of the task to ensure that no ill-effects are being suffered. Therefore when the second whistle sounds please leave your notes and line up at the front of the hall.”

There were a number of techniques available to the students for solving the puzzle before them. Good diagnostics would reveal to them that the potions were a swelling solution, Amortentia, a forgetfulness potion and a memory potion. Each group also had a wildcard, a potion which was not necessarily the same across all groups.

“You may return to your booths,” she instructed, allowing everyone to get comfortably settled before blowing her whistle to begin the challenge.

0 Professor Skies Challenge Three - Part Two 26 Professor Skies 0 5

Kate Bauer

April 13, 2013 3:05 PM

Let's start first this time, Thestrals (Team Three). by Kate Bauer

She was as clueless about what it would be as she had been about every other challenge, and as sure it would be something they would all find, well, challenging, as the first two had been, but Kate’s primary emotion as she entered the Cascade Hall to find out what the third challenge was wasn’t the anticipation and touch of nerves she had felt about the others. Instead, it was mostly just relief. Her professors seemed determined to cram everything there was to know about her subjects into her head before the RATS by any means necessary, she herself was more than a little worried about her RATS since they would kind of dictate the terms, at least for a while, on which independence from her stepfather would happen, and it was hard to focus on much of anything else. Now, in the second half of the year, everything seemed to be happening at once, and it was exhausting to keep up with. She would be glad to cross one thing off her list, even if it was probably the most fun of the many things on it.

As Professor Skies began to speak, Kate was glad to hear that this time, there wouldn’t be a waiting period where the poor, unfortunate souls on Team Twenty had to sit around for so long waiting for their turn. Being on Team Three meant getting through things pretty quickly, but she was glad not to have to wait, too. Plus, the challenge didn’t sound that bad, most people didn’t seem to be good at Charms and Transfiguration but they could do one or the other….

She glanced at Team Four as they all entered booths. Yeah, her team still wasn’t going to win, but they would be okay, anyway, and this time they wouldn’t have to worry about being injured by the wildlife. Probably. Just about the pressure of the clock, and well, they had all taken practical exams in their classes. They could work with it.

Inside, she started taking objects out and spreading them over the table, not noticing there were only five. “Okay, so, should we try to have a theme, or work out who can do the most impressive thing with what?” she asked the group. “I like the second one, but we are the team with a name. I wish we didn’t have to think so fast about it. I’ll take the last pick.” She felt that was a sacrifice she had to make, since she was the seventh year and thus, the one who should have the largest knowledge base and skill set. Creativity had less to do with any of that, but she had the best basis for working with whatever was thrown at her, and she thought she could remember enough to do something with all of these, though pincushion-to-porcupine Transfigurations were probably too overdone to get them much credit. Though it might be difficult enough for Jorge and Jade. What was valued the most? She wished the professor had made that clearer, though the lack of clarity was probably, on second thought, a good part of the point.

16 Kate Bauer Let's start first this time, Thestrals (Team Three). 170 Kate Bauer 0 5

David Wilkes

April 13, 2013 4:27 PM

Let's show off together one more time, Team Four. by David Wilkes

David had no idea what to expect as the team gathered outside the Hall, but he wasn’t too worried about it. After the first and second challenges, he had to admit he had something a lot like a little faith in his ragtag team full of misfits. They were a little eccentric, true, but they got the job done. He had no reason to think whatever they were about to do would be a job they could not do.

He considered sharing this inspiring thought with his teammates, but there wasn’t much time: Professor Skies got right to the point, and they were all going to play this challenge at the same time. Still, as they walked to their assigned booth, he couldn’t help grinning and remarking, “Kind of nice of them to practically design one for us, wasn’t it, guys?”

Their team was, after all, almost all Aladrens, Ayita was weird but nothing he had ever seen had made David think she was dumb, and Henry was a Carey, which practically made him an honorary Aladren by default. The majority of the hour would, he expected, be taken up with deciding what to turn things into or how to charm them, and how to perfectly coordinate their display, and debating over which spells would be the most impressive, not actually wrestling with the magic necessary to pull off whatever they came up with. That part was probably going to be a snap.

Inside the booth, becoming focused and looking at what was in front of them, he was confused for a moment. There were five objects. There were six of them. They were each supposed to be responsible for one object. Yes, Advanced students weren’t supposed to work on all the objects, but they were supposed to work on one object each, just like everyone else. And yet there were six people and five objects, so….

David laughed as he remembered the kind of trick questions they used to ask in those stupid enrichment classes he’d taken in elementary school. His old rival Faith Harper had beaten him in just about everything – AR points, facts memorized, speed in putting them down onto the test, hand-raising races, sucking up to teachers, the lot – but one of the highlights of the first seven years of his education had been how Faith would completely flip out when they had this kind of task in front of them, because Faith could never learn to think the way the people who wrote them thought. Of course, this was a little more concrete than those tasks, so he might be totally off, but he thought there was a good chance that….

“It’s the box,” he finished triumphantly, aloud.

“I think, anyway,” he added, aware as always that he was just the oldest, probably not the smartest. Now that he thought about it, Thad and Faith were a lot alike, it was just that he and Faith had been in the same classes and had had to deal with each other all the time where he and Thad did not, which was probably why David wasn’t wearing a meat cleaver for a hat these days. “Whoever doesn’t get some of the other junk has to do something to the box, right? That’s probably the trick. What do you guys think?” He knew magical culture - okay, culture in general, probably, since half his family maintained that he had no sense of humor and the rest pretty much held that he just had an excruciatingly stupid one - definitely had a different sense of humor from his own sometimes, so he guessed it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility that they would find other things clever as well. Still, he couldn’t see a better solution to the problem lying around.

16 David Wilkes Let's show off together one more time, Team Four. 169 David Wilkes 0 5

Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

April 13, 2013 7:12 PM

Team Six, let's conquer this. by Maximilian Joshua McLachlan

It was very rare that Josh ever felt sentimental about anything, but he did feel a tinge of it when he walked into Cascade Hall for the last challenge. He didn't believe his team would win, but he had grown fond of these younger students. He and James had taken good responsibility of them and James had been a good leader. And then it would be over and he wouldn't speak to any of them again. It was a little depressing, but Josh tried not to let it get the best of him. He should be used to letting people go by now.

It was obvious by the numbered booths that they were to gather with their teammates there, so he went automatically. Professor Skies explained the rules as Josh scanned the things in the box. A button, a pin cushion, a feather, a lemon, and a medium sized stick. These things didn't seem too difficult to play with, but Josh realized there were five things for six people. He frowned for a moment, but then realized they could simply break the stick in half and he or James could transfigure it into something else, like a whistle for one of the younger years to charm.

Once Professor Skies started them off, Josh immediately turned to the others. "Since we have five things and six people, I propose we break the stick in half and turn it into a whistle or a flute for one of you younger years to charm. It's fairly simple to make it a self-sounding whistle if that's what you want to do."

As for his object, he looked down at them, his brain whirring under pressure. From all of the quick-thinking he'd had to do growing up in order to avoid trouble with his hot-headed relatives, he worked well under pressure, maybe even better than not. It helped that he was so practical and clear-headed in these situations.

"I'll take the button if no one else wants it." He looked at each person, making sure they were okay with it before swiping it. After learning that fancy spell in Transfiguration, he had practiced it until he had perfected it and then tried it with other objects, a button being one of them. He was pleased his skill would come in handy now.

19 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan Team Six, let's conquer this. 184 Maximilian Joshua McLachlan 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

April 14, 2013 4:18 PM

So long as it isn't showing off our weaknesses... by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Francesca was looking forward to the third and final challenge but not to it being over. She had come to enjoy the time spent as a team. It did not represent any kind of reality. The time they spent engaged in the tasks briefly united them, taking them out of the usual school order and giving them a purpose to unite It was a good feeling and not one she was keen to relinquish at the end of today.

She listened intently to Professor Skies. Listening attentively to teachers was, as an Aladren, habit but it was something she had focussed, if possible, even more attention on in the challenges. She did not put it past the staff to drop hints or to phrase things ambiguously so as to give them extra puzzles to work around. And, after Henry had questioned her approach in the previous challenge, she was keener than ever to have instructions memorised verbatim, to quote back if necessary.

When Professor Skies had finished explaining the first part of the final challenge she felt something of an anticlimax. Although, as an Aladren, is should probably have seemed like the perfect task – a little reasoning and a pure test of skills – she felt less than inspired about spending the morning around a desk. The previous challenges had required all those things that made her House great – there had been plenty of reasoning and lateral thinking to be done. It had involved applying her magic out in the field. Those things appealed to her. Besides which, she was early on in her training and the idea of a task that purely focussed on her performing her best magic, for no reason other than she was being asked to, and during which she would be being observed was rather daunting. She was sure there would be something she could do in there; after all she had practised every beginner spell until she had it perfected. However, she had never had to do magic for an audience (using her wand for a reason during the challenges, or working in class not counting in her eyes as such) and she couldn't help but think she would be much more comfortable if, when it came to the actual moment, she could ask all of her team mates to develop a sudden interest in examining the floor.

She followed David to their booth, her eyes roving over the objects available to them. Her mind immediately began exploring the possibilities, trying to identify those which she could confidently tackle, those at which she could have a reasonable stab and those for which she had no idea whatsoever. The lemon was particularly uninspiring, unless she could somehow convince it to dance... She had been so busy exploring this tangent of thought that she had failed to notice the flaw that David had. She initially disregarded his comment of 'It's the box as by now she had become so accustomed to David making non-sequiter remarks that she had developed a habit of tuning out anything that did not appear to be relevant to the current situation or to make sense. It was only when he expanded this line of thought, asking for their opinion on the matter, that his mutterings clicked into place. Francesca's eyes swept over the table, taking in the number rather than the form of the objects for the first time.

“Yes, that makes sense,” she agreed, with a smile at David. She thought back to Professor Skies' instructions, trying to replay them exactly in her head. “Charm or Transfigure everything on your table,” she quoted. “The box was on the table.” She felt that David did not need the praise of a first year – a 'good thinking' coming from her would sound patronising – but she was still smiling at him as she gave him an affirmative nod.

“I have to say, I am a firm believer in practise makes perfect. I'd feel more comfortable tackling something that I've studied already, rather than something that's on the same level but unfamiliar,” she stated, having been considering for the last few minutes what the least personally damaging way of expressing that she was rather poor at new spells was. She did not want to lose her team mate's respect – something she felt she had earnt by her contributions to the challenges thus far. “We've done sticks to toasting forks and pins into matches. We did stones into buttons, so I guess the transformation is familiar, just the opposite way round...” she pondered, nodding at the button. She did not voice her opinion that this would be pushing her to the edge of her comfort zone but she sincerely hoped that she did not end up having to do that, or anything beyond it.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte So long as it isn't showing off our weaknesses... 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Derry Four

April 15, 2013 10:55 AM

Time to Transfigure, Team 18 by Derry Four

Derry thought his team was doing very well in the challenges. They had been fifth place after the first one, and while they may not have taken top five in the Obstacle Course, they hadn't done badly, either, so he figured they still had a good shot at the overall top five as well. But even if they didn't make it there, he was sure they would have done the best they could and that made them all winners in his book.

On this day of the final challenge, he was feeling a bit bittersweet about the whole thing. "Hey, guys," he greeted them all as they gathered in front of the Cascade Hall. "The last challenge. We bested the first two and we can beat this one, too. We've had good showings all the way through, so let's go in there, and give it our very best. We are totally in contention for top five.I think we can do it. But regardless of the outcome, I want you to all know I really enjoyed working with all of you this year. I wouldn't trade this team for any other. Let's do team eighteen proud! Go us!"

He wasn't sure if his pre-challenge pep talk pepped up any of the others, but he was feeling charged and ready to start. Professor Skies soon began speaking, telling them some of the particulars for this last challenge. Some of his pep deflated.

He wasn't terrible at Transfiguration. He had even been allowed to continue it at the RATS level (though he was taking advantage of the Transfiguration Clinic that Professor Skies had instituted this year, mostly for theory stuff and help with his essays) but it wasn't his best strength and he was the team's only advanced student. At least they were asking for practical work from him rather than anything more scholarly.

As they arrived at the booth bearing the number 18 on it, he regarded the box dubiously, then the rest of his team. Brianna and Linus would be fine, he thought. They were both smart, and this sort of thing was more in line with their strengths than the previous challenges had been. Anthony was an Aladren and should therefore also be able to handle it. Alan had never struck him as incompetent either, so really, this was probably the challenge where the younger two students would be allowed to shine as much as the older ones, as everyone was responsible for a single Transfiguration. This time, Derry might be the weak link.

He was about to say something encouraging again - for his own sake as much as theirs - but then the whistle sounded and the clock began to count down their remaining time. He skipped the pep in favor of opening the box and pulling out the five items it contained. One for each of them, as promised.

"Well, does anyone have any preferences on what to start with?" he asked practicallly. "Also, we need a volunteer to take the notes about what we're doing. My handwriting will probably lose us points," it was mostly a joke to break any tension the others might have, but Hamlet did still go after him for his penmanship whenever he reviewed Derry's essays. Derry himself thought it was reasonably legible, and his teachers seemed able to read it well enough, but Hamlet insisted it was quite atrocious, so it probably was better to have some else do the writing.

"And does ayone have any bright ideas on how to show our 'range'?" he added, not quite sure how to interpret that. Did it mean they should make five really different things, at the best level of each caster, or was somebody supposed to do something really easy, someone else something really hard, and everyone else fell someplace in between?

1 Derry Four Time to Transfigure, Team 18 189 Derry Four 0 5

Sullivan Quincy

April 15, 2013 11:43 AM

Why do you hate me, Prof. Skies? (Team 2) by Sullivan Quincy

The third challenge was like the first: there had been no information about it beforehand, and nobody had a special title. Sully was kind of relieved about the second part anyway. He'd had far fewer anxiety dreams in the nights leading up to the third challenge than he had for the second. Whatever they were facing, they were facing together and on equal footing.

While he would not put it past Carrie to shove him in front of whatever horror they might come up across this time to save her own skin (even if she wasn't holding a grudge over him getting overseer, he felt reasonably sure his blood status alone would make him an ideal meat sheild if she needed one), at least there was no extra pressure on him to be brilliant and direct the team to victory.

Of course, his good feelings about equality evaporated as soon as Professor Skies explained what the challenge was, and he immediately dislodged her from the status of Favorite Teacher that she had attained back in September.

Okay, yes, he was significantly better at Transfiguration now than he had been at the beginning of the year, but under no circumstances could he yet be termed good at the subject. The only thing worse would be potions.

Dismay showed clearly on his face, and he shot the professor a look of betrayal as he passed her on his way to his team's booth. She knew he was only barely approaching competence at this and was far below his grade level in her subject. How could she make an entire challenge about nothing but Transfiguration? Okay, yes, she was the Transfiguration teacher, so she had something of a bias, but couldn't she see that this was going to ruin him?

Once they were ensconced in their booth, the whistle blown, and the box opened, he quickly noticed a splendid oversight. "There's six of us and five things. I volunteer to be the one to sit this one out." He probably sounded altogether too eager to do so, and more than a little relieved, but that could not be helped. Offered the unexpected opportunity to opt-out of demonstrating his remedial Transfiguration skills, he was certainly going to jump at it.

1 Sullivan Quincy Why do you hate me, Prof. Skies? (Team 2) 207 Sullivan Quincy 0 5

Alicia Bauer

April 15, 2013 12:57 PM

Here's our last dance, Team Seven. by Alicia Bauer

If she hadn’t known any better, Alicia thought she might have suspected her ability to predict how things would go might actually be a power. It even seemed to work when she didn’t really plan for it to. She had told her friends she wanted them to have a better chance of winning since she didn’t think her team stood a chance, but she hadn’t thought they stood as little of a chance as they actually had. They had her and two Advanced students, for Merlin’s sake. They should have at least had a decent shot at the top ten.

It hadn’t, however, worked out. At first, she had been angry, but then she’d seen all her friends make it to the top five of the first challenge. She had no proof anything she had or had not done had been responsible for that, but she had been so happy for them either way that she’d nearly forgotten her own disappointment and started planning how, if they pulled it off for all three challenges, she was going to have them another party after the third challenge and before the Ball, only this one really would be a purely social occasion to celebrate their successes. The biggest questions she was still debating were whether or not the food should in any way mirror the menu she had presented them with on that first afternoon in the fall and if balloons would or would not be appropriate. She was definitely leaning away from both of those ideas now.

She hadn’t decided what she would do yet if they didn’t do as well in the second and third challenges – perhaps an occasion would be in order anyway, just to formally end the challenge atmosphere? – but she didn’t really expect to have to make that decision. They were going to be brilliant.

For herself, she was genuinely cheerful in spite of the certainty that she was about to be really badly embarrassed in front of the whole school yet again, and it showed as she moved through the entrance hall to find her team, greeting people she barely knew with almost as much enthusiasm as she did her friends when she spotted them. She had been indulging herself all morning, sneaking in an extra half hour of sleep before making herself an almost decent cup of jasmine-scented green tea in her room and then working on Latin exercises until it was time to do her warm-ups and then get dressed for the challenge, and since she had still been able to cram in half an hour of studying before breakfast, she didn’t feel completely guilty about it, with the result that she was instead sharp, focused, and eager to get on with it. In a few hours, no matter what else happened, there would be a whole thing no longer on her to-do list. That almost felt like enough to warrant a celebration by itself, and when she realized the booths meant there was going to be no waiting time, she actually made a kind of excited squeaking noise as she hurried toward Team Four’s.

It didn’t hurt her mood, either, that though they were competing in the same space and others were not in that space, this challenge was a lot more individual than the others. Even with her friends, there was always the struggle to balance group and individual interests, her desire to see them do well competing with her own desire to shine, so the challenges had definitely been challenging in that way at least. Now, she wouldn’t have nearly as much of a problem, though it would be hard not to start Transfigurations for the first years and just let them finish, since she had trouble believing that the professors were as paranoid and goal-oriented as they would need to be (in other words, as paranoid and goal-oriented as she was) to think to check that the first years had pulled off the whole thing on their own as long as it was no more than an early third year level, and she could pull that off if she wanted to. She didn’t much care for it, but she had perfected the art of playing dumb by the time she was eight. Jeremy had caught onto her, but no one since seemed to have seriously disbelieved anything Alicia had ever told them.

It was…kind of weird, really. Enough that sometimes, she almost wondered if she was really getting played, too. But she preferred not to think about it like that.

Inside, she looked over the knick-knacks and saw an immediate problem. “There’s only five,” she said with a frown, looking around and double-counting her group. Nope, still six. “Maybe one of you guys – “ she looked at Valentina and Hope - "are supposed to conjure something? That falls into Transfiguration." She herself could not really conjure yet. She was embarrassed by it, but even she knew that was irrational. She could leave that until the second half of fifth year at least, and she thought it was more probable that she would only pick it up well with formal instruction in Advanced Transfiguration in her sixth and seventh years.

She glanced over the available objects again, thinking, and then added, "Can I have the lemon?" She thought she could turn it into a canary, which would be a pretty impressive piece of transfiguration for a fourth year, especially if she could get it to last a while.

16 Alicia Bauer Here's our last dance, Team Seven. 210 Alicia Bauer 0 5

Annabelle Pierce

April 15, 2013 1:22 PM

Paging team 14 to booth 14 by Annabelle Pierce

After being overseer in the second challenge, Annabelle felt a bit more invested in the team challenges than she had before. Team fourteen was no longer just the team that she was on but her team. She wanted to win, and thought her team had a good chance of doing so. They were all Quidditch players, sort of, so they all had the drive to win. Even Annette had gotten over her snit about being basically useless at the Obstacle Course and was looking eagerly ahead to today's challenge.

Annabelle was aware enough of her status of Second Year that she had no intention of trying to continue overseer-ish behaviour now that the title was no longer applicable, but she still made sure she and her sister made it to the Cascade Hall with plenty of time to spare and looking presentable while still being practical in their clothing choices. No information had been provided concerning the final challenge, so it had seemed prudent to dress in flat shoes and slacks in case they were called upon to do anything where a skirt would prove inconvenient or, worse, get torn or flipped up or dirty.

The ribbons in their hair, she hoped, would offset any non-feminine impression the pants might foster, and of course the lace on their pastel blouses - Annabelle's lavender, Annette's blue - should further that. In short, they would be ill-suited to attend a ball in their current attire, but any other circumstance ought to find them well prepared.

The circumstance in question seemed suspiciously like class, and she couldn't help but feel she was being cheated out of something fun. Of course, the challenges had been billed as, well, challenging, not fun, but the first two had made her expect something a little more exciting than doing a Transfiguration. Briefly, she wondered if the whole challenge thing was just window dressing to disguise a new type of practical exam.

Going through the box of items after the whistle blew to start the challenge, she claimed the button for herself. "I can handle this one," she told the others. "Is a china plate a sufficiently different object to show I have the skill of a second year rather than a first year? Or should I make it a fancy teacup?" She had found over the last two years that her transfiguration talent tended toward delicate items of beauty moreso than more commonplace objects. She was particularly skilled at ceramics.

1 Annabelle Pierce Paging team 14 to booth 14 246 Annabelle Pierce 0 5

Wendy Canterbury

April 15, 2013 3:00 PM

And end first too! by Wendy Canterbury

So far this year had made Wendy feel like a first-year every step of the way. The classes had been harder, and she'd thought she knew what to expect now, but obviously she didn't. Even her sister trying to prepare her for the ever-changing agenda of the school hadn't convinced her till now. But Wendy wasn't opposed to change every now and then, and she was enjoying the challenges. She thought her classes were hard and she was kind of useless with magic when she was with her team, but at least she was a body and could help out when she could. Or if she could.

Wendy had no idea how to prepare for this next challenge, so on the anticipated day she dressed up and went to the hall, curious of what was to come today. She had gotten used to carrying her wand around with her even back home, except an accidental wand mishap last summer had forced her to carry around a twig instead just for practice and so she wouldn't blow her magical cover and get in trouble.

As she listened to the directions of their challenge that day, Wendy was glad she had remembered it and followed her teammates to their booth. She looked at the objects, wondering what she had learned in class that could be useful here, and was tempted to do the easiest thing in her head. Of course, that wouldn't be good if she did a first-year charm as a second-year, so she had to think of something else.

Being a team called the Thestrals, a magical creature Wendy only knew after looking it up, didn't make much sense to her. She thought that having a theme pertaining to Thestrals especially didn't make sense, but Kate was their team leader. She just didn't know what to pick then. "Um, I can charm the lemon to dance," she said, looking at them all. "Do you think that would be okay?" She was much better at Charms than Transfiguration, so she guessed that would be a safe bet to make.

19 Wendy Canterbury And end first too! 245 Wendy Canterbury 0 5

Carter Browning

April 15, 2013 3:51 PM

I don't think its just you by Carter Browning

Carter arrived at the hall about the same time as Sully and nodded hello to the older boy. So far their efforts together hadn’t been too abysmal up to this point. They might not be in first place, but at least they weren’t dead last. At least Carter was pretty sure they weren’t dead last. He almost groaned aloud to himself when he heard the headmistress explain what their challenge was going to be this time. If everyone had to participate then they were definitely in trouble thanks to Carrie. Her refusal to participate at the mud pit forced Carter into behavioral actions that would have made his mother faint if she’d have known about them. He did behave rather ungentlemanly, not that anyone would have blamed him if they had ever had to deal with Miss O’Malley. He glanced helplessly at Sully figuring they were probably worried about the same problem, Carrie O’Malley. Carter sighed lightly as he joined his teammate’s side. He listened as the Headmistress explained further and a partially awful idea crossed Carter’s mind. Since they had the choice of either Charming and item or Transfiguring it, whichever one Carter chose to do could suddenly find Carrie rather interesting and chase after her. He almost laughed aloud at the idea.

He was a little surprised though when he heard Sully volunteer to sit this part of the challenge out. Carter understood why a little better when they heard the whistle blow and they opened the box with the items inside. Since there were only five items and six team members it made sense. Carter leaned as close to Sully as he could without drawing attention to himself and whispered to the older boy. “You and I both know she’s going to be as uncooperative as possible,” he began reaching for the button. “I can at least make it worth the headache it will cause.” He gave Sully a mischievous grin and straightened back up. On the paper they were given he wrote down his name, the item and what he chose to do with it. Carter Browning, the button, Transfiguration

Carter placed himself where he would be as close to Carrie as possible and began prepping his transfig spell. Since he had been able to change his item in class from a button into a stuffed toy and back, he didn’t see why he couldn’t do it again. He glanced up at Carrie briefly, then began his casting. He focused every ounce of energy he had into turning the button into a small stuffed spider as he had done in class. He watched with satisfaction as the button began to round out as a toy would be and the button hole seemed to sprout legs. It was about the size of your palm, but it looked close enough to the toy he made in his first Transfig class that he was sure if nothing else it would at least startle Carrie when he tossed it in her general direction. “Hey Princess,” he called to her. “A present for you!” He tossed the button-sized spider in her direction and grinned playfully at her. If she didn’t scream at the object flying towards her, she was more than likely going to scream at him. Either way it was going to be funny.

0 Carter Browning I don't think its just you 236 Carter Browning 0 5

Cepheus Princeton

April 15, 2013 8:10 PM

I usually prefer handwritten letters. by Cepheus Princeton

Prior to the third challenge, Cepheus had seen the top five teams from the first. He had been pleasantly surprised to see his team at third. The only problem with third was that it wasn't first, so Ceph knew they had to get themselves into gear. However, there was hope. Thad and Evan's team was first; they would be a difficult team to beat, similar to Team Five who had both Ryan O'Malley and Sally Manger, two advanced students who could certainly pull their own weight if not the weight of the entire team. It was a bit unfair, but at least Ceph could see they were doing something right. They just needed to do better.

Knowing that they could have a chance motivated Cepheus to do more and set his competitive streak on fire. Team Fourteen had to win. They just had to or Cepheus would renounce competition altogether. He was tired of losing whether it be Quidditch matches or 'friendly' races. He wanted to win.

After his regular morning exercises, Cepheus dressed sharp. Dressing well made him confident in himself and made him feel proud. He felt like he could conquer the world. He wasn't sure what the challenge was going to be of today, but he dressed how he liked anyway. That meant he was wearing his nice black dragonhide boots, dark blue trousers, a tan blazer and a pale blue shirt underneath. He had even taken extra care to brush his blond hair to look nice today. If he took care of his appearance everyday, he was dressed to kill today. He meant serious business.

Cascade Hall was filled with booths and Cepheus had a feeling he would need his brain during this challenge more than the last two. He hated intellectual challenges, but at the same time it made him feel brilliant when he got something right. He met his team-mates in their booth and listened carefully to Professor Skies as she gave them their instructions. Once the whistle was blown, Ceph turned to the box that one of the Anns was already going through.

The button wasn't all that important for Cepheus to take, so he let her. "If you can do a fancy teacup, I'd suggest that," he replied. "A teacup is more difficult to transfigure from a stone than a plate it." He'd learnt all about tranfiguration theories in his intermediate classes. They were the most boring lessons, but at least they'd stuck. "I'll take the stick, if none of you mind. No one's afraid of snakes here, are they?"

Playing with living creatures in transfiguration always made Cepheus feel extremely uncomfortable. He didn't like it if he mucked it up because he felt really bad for the creature even if it couldn't feel pain. Cepheus felt it for it. However, he was confident in his abilities to do this. After working extensively with that stupid stick insect, he'd worked his way to transfiguring a stick to other things out of boredom one day. And he wasn't bad at it. He just hoped it didn't freak anyone out.

40 Cepheus Princeton I usually prefer handwritten letters. 216 Cepheus Princeton 0 5

Regina Parker

April 15, 2013 9:18 PM

Let's go TEAM FIFTEEN!! (15) by Regina Parker

Reggie was a little concerned about their final challenge, most especially after they entered Cascade Hall. She felt like she was in a Muggle Voting building and they were going to have to do something intense. The first challenge had been all about thinking on your toes while the second one had been all about strength. This one, she knew it would be about ones abilities. She thought she would do fine in her own skill set, but she wasn’t sure how everyone else would fair. It wasn’t that she thought they weren’t capable, she was quite sure Nora would do just fine, and it was possible that the younger ones would do fine too, but Eris and Waverly were iffy at best for her. Oh well, she’d just have to have them play up their strengths.

Reggie walked over to her booth and waited with her teammates. When they were set off, stopping them from doing anything, Reggie smiled at them, blocking the box. “Before we dig in, I just wanted to tell you guys that I’m really proud of you all. Working together and doing these challenges wasn’t easy, but we managed it. We’ll plow right through this last challenge no problem.” She supposed as Captain, she had to give a pep talk, but she really did want them to know she was happy to have worked with them, even with all of their differences, and they deserved to know that.

Reggie looked at each of the items in the box and carefully lined them up on the table. She went to put the box down but paused in thought. She was certain that Professor Skies had said they needed to transfigure everything on the table, which would include the box. That made sense since most people had six to a team. Putting it back on the table, Reggie gave each item a look over. “Ok, everyone pick an item you are comfortable with. I’ll be working on the box.” Reggie stated firmly. She thought the button and pin cushion could be handled by the second years or even the feather, but she didn’t want to force those items on to them. The box was something she could do a bunch of different things with that was both with charms and with transfiguration. “Do you think we are allowed to charm and transfigure the items?” She asked the group as a whole. She wasn’t sure if that was allowed or not, but she really wanted to do both.

“Everyone write your name, the item you are working with, what type of magic you will be doing, and what it is that you will be doing.” Reggie instructed them, marking her own down as she did.

Name: Regina Parker, Item: Box, Form of Magic: Tranfiguration and Charms (if allowed), Result: Music box

“Only do what you feel comfortable doing. If you need help with a spell, let me know and I can show you, but you’ll have to do the work on your own.” Reggie commented, not worried that they will have any real issues. “They want us to prove our range, so I’m thinking that means that they want to see what we are truly capable of and how we can manipulate these items with those skills. I chose a music box and will prove my range by the various ways in which I can turn a cardboard box into something beautiful. Use what you know and be creative. “

6 Regina Parker Let's go TEAM FIFTEEN!! (15) 187 Regina Parker 0 5

Waverly Canterbury

April 16, 2013 6:51 AM

Thinking of exciting ideas by Waverly Canterbury

Waverly was genuinely a positive person. She liked to be optimistic and therefore was happier more often than not. However, it was easy to be discouraged in a team like this where most of her peers didn't respect her either because she was a muggle-born or because they didn't think she was all that smart. Just because she liked being amazed at magic didn't mean she was stupid. Of course, no one had ever said that to her face, but it was clear by the way they treated her and it made her a little angry.

But there was nothing she could do about it except do her best. She had messed up a little in the last challenge, but had worked her butt off on the second part of it. She liked obstacle courses well enough, but she hoped this next one would let her do some more wandwork.

Her wish was granted when Waverly walked into the dining hall to see what looked like elementary school voting booths or state exams. She looked around for her group and then went over to their booth. It was pretty private and she smiled at her teammates in greeting.

Once they got started, Waverly watched Reggie open the box. Her pep talk didn't seem super genuine, but Waverly smiled anyway. Reggie was definitely a good team leader and Waverly still had a couple years to go. She didn't feel the need to prove herself, but she did desperately want to be a good leader too someday.

Using what was in the box seemed a little hard, but the mention of Charms had brightened Waverly up considerably. Charms and Transfiguration were her two best subjects and she couldn't wait to finally put her skill to use. "I'm sure they wouldn't care if you did both," Waverly said. "It's supposed to be a show of our skill, right? I'm going to take the lemon, if that's okay," she said. On a piece of parchment she wrote down her description.

Name: Waverly Canterbury, Item: Lemon, Form of Magic: Charms, Result: Dancing and singing lemon

Waverly really enjoyed entertaining charms and she hoped this would bring a smile to Professor Skies's face. She did think her professors deserved to smile and see that their lessons hadn't failed to make an impact. She was also planning on making her favorite cupcakes for her teammates after all this was over.

"You know," she said after a moment of thought, directing her comment to Reggie, "we could do a joint thing, if that's allowed. Like my lemon could sing and dance along with your music box and someone else could add something too. Maybe having all of our objects work together in a way as a team could win us some brownie points." She looked at the rest of her team, hoping they would all join in with her idea. She thought it would be cool, having a uniform spectacle to show off to their professor.

19 Waverly Canterbury Thinking of exciting ideas 218 Waverly Canterbury 0 5

Thad Pierce

April 16, 2013 2:34 PM

We just need to showcase our talents right. (wotw) by Thad Pierce

Thad was thoroughly pleased with the Challenges and had forgiven them completely for replacing Quidditch for the year. The fact that his team was in first place after the first challenge played a large part in that, of course, but the Challenges themselves were both intellectually and practically challenging as well, which made them downright enjoyable in their own right. Possibly moreso than Quidditch, if that wasn't too sacrilegious a thought.

Now on the brink of the last one, he felt something like the excitement and anticipation he felt prior to a Final Match. This was their only remaining chance to prove that their team really was the best one in the school. Personally, Thad's entirely unbiased opinion on the matter was that they were. They just had to demonstrate that one more time to the powers-that-be.

As Professor Skies explained how they were meant to do that, he had to work hard to surpress something that might have erupted from him as an entirely undignified giggle. It rethreatened to emerge when David remarked on the very same thought that had induced it the initially. The challenge staff could not have designed a challenge better suited for a team made up mostly of Aladrens. If they did not take first place after this, he did not know how badly he would take it. The teachers were all but handing them the win. If they mucked it up now...

Best not to get too overconfident, or they would.

He focused on the objects from the box, not noticing the discrepancy until David pointed it out. He would have liked to believe he would have come up with the solution as quickly as David had - he'd gotten that the sphinx's riddle was talking about a river right away - but couldn't help but feel slightly impressed. "Yeah, I think so, too," he chimed in after Francesca, seconding her confirmation of David's conclusion that the box had to be the sixth object.

As the first year summarized some of her talents, Thad nodded slowly, looking over the assortment of items they had to work with. "Nobody is going to expect incredible feats of sorcery out of Francesca or Henry, as they're beginners, but we're supposed to demonstrate a range of talent. Do you think we should split half of us to do charms, and the other half Transfiguration, splitting with one beginner, one intermediate, and one advanced student in each set? Or should we do mostly Transfiguration since that's generally considered harder, with one or two fancy charms to show we can do that, too?"

It occurred to him that maybe the best way to decide was to go with each individual's strength, so he added, "And does anyone have a strong preference on which they do? Personally, I'm decent at either," which was the humble, socially acceptable euphemism for 'I'm brilliant and can show up most of my classmates in every subject because I am an overachiever who can't stomach the thought of letting anyone know more than I do, especially my cousin who is two years older than me.'

"I can do more visually impressive things with charms than with Transfigurations, though," he added, to indicate his preference on how he should make his contribution to the group, which had been the whole point of asking for strengths. If everyone said they were comfortable with either, they wouldn't have any better idea of how to proceed than they did now.

1 Thad Pierce We just need to showcase our talents right. (wotw) 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 16, 2013 5:01 PM

Lets finish with a bang Team Nine! by Clara Abernathy

Up until this point her team seemed to be making it through each challenge alright. Granted there had been a few hiccups, but for the most part they were doing pretty good. They all seemed to be getting along alright and everyone was participating which helped. Clara was pretty sure that while they weren’t in the top five teams they weren’t in last five either so that made her feel pretty good. They had gotten through the first challenge in one piece, made their way through the second challenge without losing anyone and now she was certain they would do the same for the third challenge. This would be the challenge where everyone tried their hardest. At least that’s what she was hoping for. She wouldn’t know how it would go until they got there and began it.

She walked into Cascade Hall and was a little surprised at the layout. The professors had managed to squeeze what looked like 20 voting booths into the hall using heavy-ish curtains. She nodded in silent approval and headed for the booth marked with their number. She waited for everyone to arrive before heading inside. She listened as intently as possible to the rules for this challenge and then realized they had a small problem as the Headmistress explained what they would be doing. Inside the box before them they were told would be five items. The problem she noticed was that there were six team members to five items. They would either have to have someone sit this part out or add an item to the list from what they carried amongst them. She figured she would ask the team’s opinion on what they wanted to do as a whole.

‘Okay everybody,” she began diplomatically. “We have ourselves a small problem. There are only five items and six of us. So should we opt to have someone sit this part out or do we surprise the professors by pulling out another item from our pockets and using it with the others?” She looked to each of them in turn. “I vote we surprise them and add an item…what do you guys think?” she asked her teammates. She heard the Headmistress blow the whistle for them to begin and hoped that their team could make a decision and finish their task before the hour was up. She had faith in them. They would succeed!

0 Clara Abernathy Lets finish with a bang Team Nine! 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Julian Babineux

April 17, 2013 3:39 PM

Team 8...be...great? by Julian Babineux

The last challenge seemed to have come around quickly to Julian. He was still keen to prove himself to his team and his school in any competition, but as one of the youngest felt disadvantaged in the challenges.

However, he knew that his father would say that that was a poor excuse, and that there was always opportunity to be more creative, to know more and to think of something faster than someone else. Julian had no doubt that he could do any or all of these things, but the pressure of such self-expectation was a little more than he could be bothered with on what had the promise to be a nice day.

It was also a bit of a comfort to Julian to think that as a less experienced member of the team he could not be expected to lead the team or to be the best at magic, so he could relax a bit and enjoy the excited atmosphere of the Hall.

Julian thought about the items that he might transfigure, and had already decided that he would let the more advanced students choose first to give the team the best chance. However, he also realised that if he were the overseer of the team, he would consider giving the least advanced students first choice to ensure that the task was completed, so he wanted to have an answer ready so that discussion could be productive and creative. He looked forward to seeing what the more advanced students would be able to do - and what he could expect to be able to do in the future. He particularly hoped that they could produce at least one animal...that would really be something!

"What do you fancy?" he asked the student next to him. "And what do you think our sixth item is? I can't decide. Maybe the table or the air inside the booth with us. Perhaps we should vote!"

0 Julian Babineux Team 8...be...great? 0 Julian Babineux 0 5

Jade Owen

April 17, 2013 3:55 PM

Go Thestrals! by Jade Owen

In some ways it was sad to have the last of the challenges, knowing that the year's extra activity would be over after this, but at the same time Jade wasn't complaining that they would be over. She just didn't have the energy to be competetive all the time (and Quidditch rivalry was residua even without the games this year), and teamwork didn't necessarily come naturally to her. She had been lucky with her team members for the most part, so it hadn't been a bad experience for her by any means, but neither would she miss it. She was ever hopeful that they might have given some of the other teams a run for their money, but the realist in her admitted that they hadn't done anything spectacular that was likely to put them ahead of the running. She didn't really care either way.

The final task was set up in the Cascade Hall, and didn't look as immediately interesting as the two previous challenges. In fact, as the instructions became clear, the fourth year's heart sank. This just seemed ike an extra exam, and nowhere near as cool as the challenges that had come before it. The Pecari's disappointment was probably evident in her expression as she joined her teammates in contemplating the generic objects that lay before them.

Only Kate's suggestion about working to a theme could perk Jade's interest. "Oh, cool," she enthused. "We could make things fly. Or, like something to do with death," she tried to link everything she knew about thestrals to some random household items. "Oh!" She exclaimed as she was struck with a chord of inspiration. "We could make them invisible!"

It was only after she'd exclaimed this genius realisation that Jade processed Wendy's offer to charm the lemon to dance. "Oh, well that would be cool, too," she gave a half-hearted attempt to retain the value of Wendy's charmwork. Jade was, in truth, impressed that the youngest among them had been first to make a legitimate suggestion, and that Little W could pull off that spell. "We should all stick to her strengths," she suggested, for once thinking of the benefit to the team over her own personal preferences, which involved cool thestral-themed transfigurations. The additional downside to this was that, aside from Seeking, Jade wasn't sure what her strengths were.

0 Jade Owen Go Thestrals! 221 Jade Owen 0 5

James Owen

April 17, 2013 4:09 PM

Seconded by James Owen

While the haunted house challenge had been creative, and the obstacle course had combined brains with brawn, neither of them enabled James' talents to truly shine like the final event. He felt a rush of thanks towards Professor Skies as she explained the rules for what could only be described as a test of academia. Admitedly, skill was bein tested over knowledge, but James wouldn't quibble about semantics on this particular occasion. He appraised the others of team six with an air of quiet satisfaction, an expression that only faltered for a moment when it transpired there were only five items in the box, and six team members.

"Since we have five things and six people, I propose we break the stick in half and turn it into a whistle or a flute for one of you younger years to charm. It's fairly simple to make it a self-sounding whistle if that's what you want to do," Josh forwarded his opinion.

"No," James answered instantly and with authority, but not unpleasantly. "It's good creative thinking, and that's obviously key here, but the instructions were clearly to charm or transfigure six items." He was a stickler for details, and so he'd taken Professor Skies' words to heart. "We could break the stick in half," he acquiesced, "although I propose using the box in which the items were originally contained."

As the oldest and most magically expreienced member of the group (not to mention, arguably the most intelligent), James was content to let the others choose their items first, and so he invited them to do so. "Does anyone else have any preference on which item they would like to work with?"

0 James Owen Seconded 168 James Owen 0 5

Linus Macaulay

April 17, 2013 4:36 PM

Excellent use of a comma by Linus Macaulay

Peculiarly for one who was always so focused on the reason behind any activity, Linus thought he might actually miss these apparently pointless challenges. He had even become accustomed to Derwent's empty but enthusiastic team pep-talks, each one having made him increasingly glad that he did not have to endure any such encouragement before a Quidditch match, as next year's Teppenpaw team were so doomed. While he would be pleased to return his concentration to preparations for his examinations, Linus couldn't deny that the occasional break from the norm had been refreshing; nor would he ever lament any plot that enabled him to spend more time with Brianna.

He wasn't sure what his feelings were on the specifics of the third challenge. While he was pleased to see a spellwork skills focused task, the narrow scope for exhibition was mildly disappointing, yet removed a vast degree of doubt concerning the marking stratergies. Linus perceived that Derwent was comparatively lack-lustre, too, although this wasn't saying much, as the peppy Tepp nevertheless led his team with cheer.

While the whole group considered the selection of objects before them, Linus tried to think of some change he could make to each of them, enabling some of the other team members to choose first without leaving the team at a disadvantage (though they would have to decide quickly; the clock was laready ticking). When Derwent mentioned handwriting, Linus looked up with an almost quizzical expression on his face; he had already pushed the notepaper and quill gently over to rest in front of Brianna. He knew she had neat handwriting from their years of being in the same class, but he supposed he hadn't given any consideration as to whether she would be happy to take charge; or, indeed, whether either of the younger boys would like to do so, either, so he offered no words, prefering to let the others sort it out between them.

0 Linus Macaulay Excellent use of a comma 205 Linus Macaulay 0 5

Henry Carey

April 17, 2013 10:45 PM

What could possibly go wrong? by Henry Carey

As he joined the rest of his team, Henry remembered to smile as he said “hello.” He knew there was a slight chance they might take this as an invitation to try to have a conversation about something other than what they were going to do today and how they were going to do it best, but he didn’t think so, and anyway, it was the last time. He guessed he was feeling a little sentimental.

His good mood lasted exactly as long as it took Professor Skies to say what they were doing today. Then he bit down hard on the inside of his cheek, focusing on doing so hard enough for it to just hurt him, so he didn’t think about how this was likely to go. He felt a little like he was going to be sick.

No matter how used to it he got – classes involved doing magic in front of people, exams meant doing magic on his own in front of people, going home meant being asked delicate leading questions about doing magic in front of people, and so on, and it never got significantly better that he could tell – anxiety about casting spells while being watched wasn’t something he had ever figured out how to shrug off, or just not have in the first place. It wasn’t even because of Grandmother, either; he had always hated it when his sister and cousins would show off, trying to move rocks without touching them and stuff at home, years before any of that had ever happened. He just didn’t like doing things in front of other people, and this was even worse than the usual, because not only would he be embarrassed if he was the worst in the group, but the others would all suffer for his incompetence as well. Henry didn’t know that he actually liked any of them, but he thought they were as close to friends as he was likely to get, and he liked winning for once anyway. With Arthur and Anthony on one side, smarter than him, and Arnold on the other, charming everyone where Henry had always been as charming as rocks, and even Jay being the reasonable, dependable one, he had never really gotten to do that in any arena before.

He was white around the mouth as Wilkes commented on how the challenge had been made for them and they entered their booth, and he barely followed as the team seventh year deduced what their sixth object was. He did, though, catch it when Pierce said no one expected much from Henry or Wolseithcrafte, and his eyebrows dropped into a glare for the few seconds it took him to catch up far enough to realize Pierce was speaking about him being a second year, not about him being incompetent in general.

Right. The only person here who had classes with him was Wolseithcrafte, and she likely didn’t pay him much attention. That was why they were optimistic. One way or another, he had usually avoided having to engage with his…his problem through the challenges.

“I’m better at Transfiguration,” he said finally, when something he could answer bluntly and without embarrassment came up. Pierce had said some other stuff, as had Wolseithcrafte, but he hadn’t really followed. “I can take the box – make you a hat,” he added to Wolseithcrafte, looking at her to indicate who he was speaking about. He would call them by their given names if he had to, but just as he didn’t think of them by those, he usually preferred to not call people by any names at all. It just felt strange.

0 Henry Carey What could possibly go wrong? 239 Henry Carey 0 5

Aubrielle Thornton

April 18, 2013 1:07 PM

POP! by Aubrielle Thornton

Aubrielle had no care either way the last of their Challenges could go. If they did well, great. If they didn’t, oh well. They’d tried and that was what mattered. If they all had fun they won and that was what she wanted. The last Challenge being that day, she dressed in her now normal traditional dress, that of Eponine, both for luck and comfortability and she walked down to Cascade Hall for it. Spotting Clara, she walked over to her cousin and stood there with her, waiting for the others to join them at the little cubicle marked Team Nine. “Looks like voting booths in here!” she whispered to Clara as the others joined them and Professor Skies started to speak. She wasn’t sure if Clara had heard her, but if she had she’d surely get a response.

Charm or Transfigure everything in the box… Right. she thought as she wondered what was in the box. They were given their directions and their time limit and then sent off into their little cubicles. The whistle sounded and the box opened and looked into. Clara said that there were only five items to six people. Bri thought of what was in her pocket, nothing (she had no pockets), but then realized that she was wearing something that could be used…

“I think we should add an item too, Clara. I’ve got my hat, we can surely think of something to do with that… Right?” she looked around at the others to see if they agreed with her. She peeked into the box and saw a button, a pin cushion, a feather, a lemon and a stick. Her mind was moving at her normal quick speed, just thinking of what they could do…

0 Aubrielle Thornton POP! 0 Aubrielle Thornton 0 5

Addison Thornton

April 18, 2013 5:02 PM

The Beginning of the End for Team 12 by Addison Thornton

Addi wasn’t thrilled to have a third challenge on top of the other two. The mud pit, wall and lake in the second challenge did her in almost as bad as the boggart in the first. The second Challenge was too physical for her, though she had to say that she was glad that she had her inhaler in her pocket…

The mud wasn’t so bad, sure it was gross, but it was the easiest of it all. The wall was hard, hardest of all. Addi didn’t even want to think about it all anymore. She shivered as she walked into Cascade Hall. Arista had said she was going to go down earlier than the others, Addi didn’t know why, but her thoughts ran much faster than she ever could have herself. Her eyes glanced around the room and found her sister. She walked over to her and as the others from Team 12 trickled in behind them, they joined the sisters there.

Professor Skies greeted them and told them they would have to charm or transfigure what was in the box. Each of them would have to work on one item to boot. Uh oh… she thought to herself as she tried to tell herself that she can do this, she can do anything. “Anything…” she said softly, not sure or caring if anyone heard her say it. This was all a part of her journey. “Its all in the journey…” she repeated, both in her head and aloud. Her anxiety was coming back, maybe not as bad as it had been, but it was there…

She looked at Arista, panic in her eyes.

“It’s alright…” Ris said to her, showing her both with her words and her face that she meant it.

Addi nodded to her, biting her lip a little bit, trying and wanting to believe what her older sister was saying. She really wanted to believe it, she did… Addi stood next to her sister as the directions finished and they entered their little booth. The whistle went off and Addi looked into it.

“A button, a pin cushion, a feather, a lemon and a stick?” Addi said, thinking, as she looked around at the others on their team. “That’s five items… Didn’t Professor Skies say that we each had do have one item? I know there are some teams with five teammates, but we have six… Maybe we’re supposed to double up on an item? Or use something from our pockets?” she said, trying to think positive about the whole Challenge thing.

0 Addison Thornton The Beginning of the End for Team 12 190 Addison Thornton 0 5

Megan Brownbriar

April 18, 2013 7:36 PM

Challenge Three, Team Ten... (10) by Megan Brownbriar

Megan knew that the Challenges were something mandatory for all of the students. Her group, Team Ten, had managed, somehow, not to kill each other or themselves in the first two challenges. Of course, it didn’t hurt that one of the five students on her team was her little cousin. That made Meggie want to be sure he was safe. The Teppenpaw was sure her aunt wouldn’t let her live it down if she let him get hurt on her watch.

Sophie, as their team captain (if that’s what the oldest student was going to be called) and a seventh year, Kitty as a fifth year then came her as a fourth before Alex and Enion (both second years) made up their team. They didn’t have a team name, persay, but she liked to think they at least had a little bit of team spirit.

The last Challenge was taking place in Cascade Hall, which told Meg that it wouldn’t be too dangerous. At least she hoped it wouldn’t be, anyway. From the Boggart, mirrors, the slide, sphinx of the first challenge to the mud pit, the wall and lake of the second now brought her team to the Hall. I mean, how hard could it be after all of that, to have a challenge inside the dining hall, right? she thought to herself as she made her way through the large doors. The fourth year had to do a double take when she walked in. The room did not look like her normal Cascade Hall at all. Instead, it sort of looked like a bunch of tiny little rooms surrounded by curtains. When Professor Skies welcomed them to the last challenge and described what they’d be doing, Meggie listened carefully and wondered what would happen when their group was able to perform the charms or transfigurations. “One item each person.” she started when the teams were told to begin.

“Right.” she added. “Well, I guess we each need to pick an item to be responsible for. Anyone have any particular item they’d like to use?” Meggie asked. She didn’t really care herself which one she’d use, but her mind ran through her hamster wheel to decide what she could do with each of the items.

0 Megan Brownbriar Challenge Three, Team Ten... (10) 0 Megan Brownbriar 0 5

Brianna Japos

April 18, 2013 8:01 PM

Otherwise, this would be a different type of challenge. by Brianna Japos

Brianna thought that it was a miracle she has managed to come as far as she had. It helped, of course, that she hadn’t actually been a part of the actual physical challenge. Instead, she was a fan on the sidelines cheering them on and trying to be as helpful as possible. She wasn’t sure if it had helped or hindered them, but they had managed to get through the course with their heads still attached, so she’ll claim it as a win.

Since the start of the challenges, Brianna thought that her team would hate having her on it. For one, she walked with crutches. For another, she was the only girl and most guys found girls to be physically inferior. Even if she had the full use of her legs, Brianna probably would have still been considered inferior to the rest of the team based on her gender and physical attributes. She used to be skinny and boney before her body began to really fill out a bit, mostly due to the water work she had been doing all year. Even so, she wasn’t someone a person would find threatening or strong. But none of them seemed to really dislike her and they seemed to be doing pretty well all things considered, so she really shouldn’t feel so bad.

Brianna listened with patience while Derry gave his speech. It amused her a little and she had to wonder if all Teppenpaws were like this or if Derry was just special. Part of her thought it was a Teppenpaw thing from her encounters with them from time to time. This challenge seemed to be about skill level with their wand. As long as Brianna stuck to what she was learning in her study sessions, she thought she would do pretty well with all of this. Or, at least, not be the reason they failed.

She was looking over the items that had been in the box but looked around when Derry asked about what they wanted and their thoughts on the task at hand. Looking down, Brianna was surprised to find the parchment in front of her and wondered if it had been there the whole time or if it magically appeared in front of her because she was the girl, but she shrugged it off and volunteered for that position anyway. “I’ll take notes. Also, I’ll take the lemon.” She added, already filling out the parchment to show that she would be transfiguring it into a small bird. She just had to decide if she wanted it to be a little chick, canary, or something entirely different.

“I suppose range would mean that she wants to see skills at each level, a Beginner, Intermediate, and Advance.” Brianna suggested. “Or maybe she wants a range of half being charmed items and the other transfigured?” Again, with the instructions so vague, it was hard to tell what exactly it was that was expected from them. She wasn’t sure how the rest of them would fair, but she knew Linus was smart and Anthony was an Aladren, so she figured they’d manage it pretty okay either way. Even if they didn’t understand the directions totally.

6 Brianna Japos Otherwise, this would be a different type of challenge. 203 Brianna Japos 0 5

Ryan O'Malley

April 19, 2013 2:59 AM

Yay, Transfiguration! (Team 5) by Ryan O'Malley

Ryan wasn't sure how they'd done on the second challenge, but they seemed to have made it through okay. The worst part had been the wall, as far as he was concerned. They'd lengthened the rope all right but he'd never been really allowed to run and play outside and climb trees and stuff. Not so much being expressly forbidden, but because he knew he'd track mud in,his mother would throw a fit and very bad things would happen to him. Of course, then she would berate him for not being a normal boy. Whatever Ryan did was wrong no matter what, and he eventually became very withdrawn and tried his best to stay out of her way. Except that she would hunt him down just to torment him-and the word hunting was not really much of an exaggeration, he really had felt like her prey.

He wasn't sure what to expect for the last challenge, but he did know that he would be sort of glad when it was all over. The worries about whether or not his team respected him was a little much, though it did, at least, have the benefit of keeping Ryan's mind off things like RATS and graduation. He had one idea of what he'd do afterwards, but that wasn't really a career. He'd probably work in his family's whiskey distillery, or something with transfiguration. The Crotalus was pretty sure that he'd do all right on that part of his RATS, the rest he wasn't quite as sure about. He was never confident about other things at all, even though his grades weren't at all bad. There was always the possibility of anxiety getting to him though. Even though Ryan didn't take DADA and there was no chance of having to deal with a boggart.

Once the whole team was there, Ryan faced them. It was time to give Ridiculous Uninspiring Pep Talk Number Three, which would be similar to Ridiculous Uninspiring Pep Talks One and Two, given he really had nothing new to add. It wasn't so much that he found all pep talks to be that way, just the ones he himself gave. There was nothing inspiring about him and he couldn't instill confidence in himself let alone others. "Okay, we have done wonderful so far. After the first challenge we were in second place and while the second one didn't exactly play to our strengths, we did all right and made it through without any real mishaps. As we got the athletic one out of the way, this couldn't possibly be worse." Nor was it real likely to involve boggarts. They'd already had to do that and it was unlikely that they'd have to go through it again. Based on the way the room was set up, flying was also unlikely. Ryan would be fine. They all would be. "It's been a pleasure working with you all."

When they found out what the first part of the challenge was actually going to be, he figured that he, at least, was going to be better than fine and the normally very reserved boy actually had to restrain himself cheering out loud. He could use transfiguration and surprisingly, Ryan had never found much in the subject which took him too long to do. In fact,this seemed like a challenge that they'd absolutely do well on. Lucrezia had expressed that she was pretty good at Transfiguration too and Sally was of course brilliant and magically potent. Angel's savant like talent for being able to do any spell perfectly after seeing it once was an excellent one to have on a challenge like this. He was just a tiny bit worried about the two first years. They were younger and hadn't really expressed that they had much talent in magic, though Rory had said she picked up on things quickly, so maybe she was better now that her first year was almost up.

"I should take the most difficult object." Ryan stated. He wasn't trying to show off. He was the oldest, a seventh year. It would make sense that he should be the one who knew how to do transfiguration-or for that matter, charms-the best, even though he was obviously going with the former. Of course, from his perspective it was hard to figure out what precisely was the most difficult object. He was pretty sure he could do anything with any of them just about. He thought organic objects might be more difficult than non organic ones. Living ones were, but then, Ryan couldn't really consider a lemon or a stick living anymore when they were no longer. He supposed the real issue would be having to make it into something as unsimilar from the original object as he possibly could. Possibly using animal transfiguration given his age and skill level. "I'll take the lemon." Turning it into a bird would probably not be too difficult. A canary would be the obvious choice because they were both yellow, but Ryan felt he might be able to handle maybe a cardinal or something. A parrot or a peacock might be a little much.

There was also the slight problem that there were six of them and five objects. He doubted one of them was supposed to sit out. Ryan thought for a moment."Do you think the sixth item is supposed to be the box?" He asked.

11 Ryan O'Malley Yay, Transfiguration! (Team 5) 176 Ryan O'Malley 0 5

Annette Pierce

April 19, 2013 11:56 AM

They lack the same sense of urgency by Annette Pierce

Though still not happy with her performance during the second challenge, Annette had resumed sitting with and dressing like her sister during the week leading up to the third challenge. They had not sorted out their dependancy issues in the previous months, so they were unlikely to during this last week either, and they needed to be in good form for the last challenge.

The wisdom of this became very clear as Professor Skies explained the rules of the final challenge. Annette exchanged a glance with her sister as they headed over to their allocated booth, just to share the mutual gratefulness that whoever had devised the teams had seen fit to put them together, else they would have been utterly useless at this challenge.

It also made her wonder if perhaps the teachers already suspected their magical handicap and had made allowances for them. Maybe it wouldn't be an absolutely horrible idea to ask one of them for help with their problem soon.

In the meantime, there were spells to cast, not for a grade, but for glory and honor. It was perhaps not the most exciting or fun challenge they had faced, but Annette was determined to do as well as she possibly could.

Annabelle claimed the button and confirmed to Cepheus that she could indeed turn it into a fancy teacup, and Annette nodded agreement. She'd seen her twin's talent for several varieties of fine china. However, when he claimed the stick and asked if they were afraid of snakes, both girls looked at him in alarm.

"Um," Annette answered for them both, getting an odd sense that this was some sort of test of their feminine propriety, and they should absolutely answer yes, and yet their Pecari bravery was being questioned as well, so the answer was equally clearly supposed to be no. Without an obvious priority between the opposite political answers, she opted for the truth. "We don't like snakes, but we won't scream and cry at the sight of one that isn't too big and doesn't have fangs." She let the implication hang that they would scream and cry at a large or fanged snake, and hoped that was good enough for propriety. Besides, Annabelle probably would. Maybe not cry, but definitely scream.

She regarded the remaining objects, keeping in mind that Annabelle and Cepheus had both put dibs on Transfigurations, so she should probably go for a charm. "If nobody else minds, I can take the pincushion and make it dance." It was one of the trickier charms they had learned since the second challenge, and she wasn't quite sure how well a pincushion could dance in comparison to a doll, but she thought she could at least get a dance-like movement out of it. It was lighter than the lemon anyway and more challenging than making a feather flit about. "Unless someone has a better idea," she added, in case there was something cleverer she could do that she was overlooking.

1 Annette Pierce They lack the same sense of urgency 247 Annette Pierce 0 5

Derry Four

April 19, 2013 12:39 PM

Eats, shoots, and leaves. by Derry Four

Derry nodded in approval as Brianna claimed both the note paper and the lemon. Leaning forward to squint at what she was writing already, he discovered her plan to use transfiguration on the fruit. Sitting back again, he nodded in agreement to her interpretation of what the staff were looking for. It made more sense than anything he could come up with. "Okay, so you can do the intermediate transfiguration, and Linus can do the intermediate charm. Anthony and Alan, I guess you guys can decide between yourselves who does a beginner charm and who does a beginner transfiguration."

Which left just him in the advanced category. "So do I need to do one of each at the advanced level, or just pick one? She said every one should do their own item, but if I'm the only advanced student we have, and we're down a team member from some of the other groups, does that mean I need to do two? But they only gave us five things."

He frowned at the array of items left, not quite sure how to proceed, given the seemingly contradictory information. "Maybe I should just do a transfiguration since it's Professor Skies who seems to be running this one. Does anyone mind if I take the feather? We just learned part-to-whole transfigurations this week, so that's probably the most advanced thing I can do. I can make it into a feathered cap."

With Reggie having his tricorn, maybe the staff would let him wear his creation for the remainder of the challenge. Feathered caps weren't quite the same era as the rest of his colonial outfit, but they were cool headgear anyway.

1 Derry Four Eats, shoots, and leaves. 189 Derry Four 0 5

Josephine Owen

April 19, 2013 2:56 PM

Here come the girls (Team 16) by Josephine Owen

Tackling the challenges hadn't always been Josephine's idea of a good time, but actually she'd very much enjoyed getting to know the other girls in Team Sixteen, and couldn't imagine that they would return to being strangers at the end of them. Therefore, although it was the last time they would officially be grouped together to demonstrate their skills and abilities, she was certain it wouldn't be their last meeting. On the other hand, she did feel oddly sentimental as they gathered to hear Professor Skies detail the last challenge. She smiled at her team with no small amount of relief as it became obvious there would be nothing heinous in their relatively simple task of charming or transfiguring items. In fact, as she led the way to booth sixteen, Josephine couldn't help but feel like they might make up for some lost ground during this final challenge.

"Gather 'round, girls," the sixth year said, allowing the curtain to close behind the last of them. Today she had on a lightweight purple dress with flowers embroidered on it that came to her knees; it might not have been practical for a physcial challenge, but Josephine had hedged her bets and been rewarded. Besides, she was hoping for an after party for this challenge, too, and this particular flowing number emphasised her waist whilst concealing her thighs. A firm favourite, the dress was coupled with threadbare (but comfortable) tennis shoes, and Josephine's hair (a dark shade of brown since she had neglected to keep up the charms that had dyed it black at the beginning of the year) was braided in two pigtails that hung past her shoulders. "At least there's no mud pit in this challenge," she said with a smile, although she was certain her team was aware she was only part-joking.

The whistle had not yet blown, so Josephine didn't yet touch the box, but figured it would be acceptable to offer soem advice before the timer started. "Just so we're clear, I heard that we need to charm or transfigure one item each, and we should record who has done what." She paused to allow anyone to disagree. "I think it would be acceptable for us to help each other out, in terms of ideas or technique, so long as only one person is doing the spellwork on her own item." They were, after all, supposed to be working as a team, and Josephine couldn't imagine any better way of demonstrating this quality.

Before she could delve into further detail, the whistle sounded, and Josephine hastily opened the box that sat atop their table. "Okay, we have," she listed the objects as she withdrew them one by one, "a lemon, a stick, a feather, a pin-cushion, a button, and... oh. That's all. There are only five objects." She frowned, wondering whether they were missing an object. The number definitely said sixteen, so this was the right booth. "Oh well," she shrugged, "I'll just duplicate one of them." She couldn't see how this would be a problem, as there would be six items and technically they'd all come out of the box. "Who wants what?"

0 Josephine Owen Here come the girls (Team 16) 196 Josephine Owen 0 5

Fae Sinclair

April 21, 2013 8:51 PM

Let's be charming, Team 1 by Fae Sinclair

Fae was growing tired of the challenges and was glad that this was the final one. The first one had been nerve-wracking but exciting because it was different and new. They had no idea what they were expecting. The second one, they had sort of been given a hint at it, so they were better prepared, but it had been so exhausting, phyisically, mentally, and emotionally for Fae that by the end of it, she didn’t even want to stay at the party, she just wanted to go back to her dorm room and rest awhile. But, she couldn’t do that. It would have looked poor on her. It had been her entire strength to not raise her voice or hex Analea, a feeling that had never come over her before that moment, and the entire team had seen what had transpired between them. Fae had felt obligated to show that she was above all of that. She still didn’t understand the younger girl’s sudden attitude and rage and could only allude to it being that there was a personality flaw in how the girl functioned. But, it was because of her that Fae was not looking forward to this challenge and would be rather happy when it was finally over.

Fae waited with the rest of the team by the booth with their number on it. She could only guess what this challenge would be about and it worried it. Even more so when it was Professor Skies who addressed them. Listening to the instructions lessoned her worries a bit, Fae was pretty decent when it came to Charms and on occasion, Transfiguration. As long as it wasn’t Defense Against the Dark Arts or Care of Magical Creatures, she thought she’d be alright. She had never been very good at defensive spells or protecting herself and she had animals tended to frighten her. She was better about them now, but she didn’t necessarily enjoy being around anything more than a cat, dog, or riding horse.

When they were set free to work on their assignment, Fae looked at the box full of items. She knew each lesson, both for Charms and for Transfiguration, where these types of items were used. The problem was, how would they divvy them up between levels so that someone who was a beginner didn’t get stuck with an item they may not know what to use. “Alright, there are only five items, so we will have to figure out what the sixth item is supposed to be before we can even get started.” Fae commented after she did an assessment. “But we also have to be fair with the type of item each person gets so that someone from a certain level doesn’t end up with an item that they might not be able to work with.” Fae figured that this would mean the Beginners would choose first and her and Sara would choose last, but she’d wait a little bit for that suggestion.

“First things first. Can anyone see an item that would be used for the sixth one?” She asked the group as a whole.

6 Fae Sinclair Let's be charming, Team 1 194 Fae Sinclair 0 5

Cepheus

April 22, 2013 2:45 PM

But pagers are so... by Cepheus

Snakes didn't seem to be a big problem and the Anns agreed to it. "It'll be harmless, I promise." He had done his research with what the poisonous sorts of snakes were. That meant none of the really cool-looking ones, but that was fine. He didn't think their professor would appreciate being bitten and killed by a snake bite anyway.

The other twin offered to take the pincushion and Cepheus shrugged. He had his object. "Go ahead," he told her. If they knew what they wanted, they might as well go for it and produce their best work. It would have been nicer if they had a wider array of choices, but that would defeat the purpose of this being a challenging competition.

All these spells that Cepheus was learning would be completely useless when he went back home. He hated not being able to practise his magic at home and he missed carrying his wand around with him everywhere. When he was out of school, he didn't ever really need it, and his dad had advised him not to carry it. Just in case he expelled uncontrolled magic, at least they wouldn't be able to condemn him completely if he didn't have his wand with him. Still, Ceph thought it would be helpful even for his academics if they could use their magic at home. He was going to throw a big party for his birthday the year he was no longer considered an underage wizard. In England, it would be seventeen. He didn't know what it was here, but either way he was going to celebrate. Being able to do magic every day would make life so much easier.

He didn't think he would ever need to turn a stick into a snake unless he was planning on pulling a prank on someone, but it was helpful at least while he was at school. He laid the stick out on the table. It wasn't very long, but if he concentrated hard enough, he could produce a five-foot long ball python. He had tried a boa constricter once and it hadn't worked out very well. Better safe than sorry.

"What colour do you think I ought to make it?" he asked, smirking at his team-mates. "Maybe I'll show some house pride." A red and silver snake was doable and would look pretty. He cast the spell, watching the boring stick transform before their eyes into a five-foot long, thick ball python. The snake was completely scarlet with silver markings on its muscular body. Even its completely black eyes were beautiful and Cepheus picked it up just in case the first year was nervous around it. He could feel the python's muscles in his hands and he grinned. He would have to ask his parents for a pet snake when he got home. The python stuck its tongue out, getting used to its surroundings, and Ceph stepped away, allowing others to use the table if they wanted.

0 Cepheus But pagers are so... 0 Cepheus 0 5

Andrina Thornton

April 22, 2013 7:06 PM

Last chance... by Andrina Thornton

Andri had been hoping that the staff would forget about the last Challenge. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Challenge 3 popped up and right on cue. The fourth year groaned inwardly. I wish this day was over… she thought to herself as she walked to Cascade Hall and over to her teammates. “Hello.” she said to the group of them before shutting her mouth again. Its like little voting booths? she thought to herself as Professor Skies spoke.

She welcomed them and explained what they were supposed to do in the little cubicles. Andri listened carefully, not saying anything, just sensing that it wouldn’t matter if her oldest two sister’s roommates were in her group or if it was Ghandi in there. Alicia was going to make her life miserable and it was then that she realized it. Merlin I wish I was home right now… Andri thought as Alicia looked inside the box. Alicia mentioned that there was only five items and then looked around the little room, seemingly counting their group. Andri guessed that Alicia was hoping that she’d just disappeared, that way there was only five of them.

And not for nothing, Andri almost hoped the same thing.

Alicia mentioned that maybe Valentina or Hope were supposed to conjure something, still Andri stayed quiet. She had a few suggestions, but she wasn’t going to say anything only to be shot down. She felt off enough just being in her room with Alicia, feeling that she was disliked for something as stupid as the yearbook the year before. It wasn’t as if she’d made up the lists or the winners of Biggest Brain on her own! She had nothing to do with it, but suddenly it seemed as if regardless of that fact, she was hated all the more for it. Next her roommate asked if she could have the lemon. Andri didn’t care what she’d used, what anyone used in all actuality. What she wanted most of all was for this challenge to be done.

The button, pin cushion, feather, lemon and stick were in the box, sure. The button, pin cushion and feather would be the easiest things in there to transfigure. That Andri knew, but she was a fourth year and as much as she guessed that she could do whatever item there was, she wasn’t going to come right out and say what she wanted to use. She would let the first years and the older students choose first. Alicia could have what she wanted and worst come to worst, she just disappeared, just like she knew Alicia would have wanted.

0 Andrina Thornton Last chance... 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Arista Thornton

April 22, 2013 7:28 PM

It is just that... the beginning of the end. by Arista Thornton

Arista knew that her slightly younger sister wasn’t happy about the Challenges. To her, they didn’t bother her much, she just sort of wished she had a better chance of winning something. It was almost like the staff had something against her, Sophie too, when they put together their groups. Sure, Sophie was her opponent on the Pitch, but the two seventh years had grown to have a lot in common.

What Ris wasn’t so thrilled about was the fact that not only were her RATs coming up, but so was graduation and that meant that she’d have to be a grown up with a job and everything of her own. That scared her. And there has never been too much that scared the oldest of the Thornton 16, with the exception of her family dying (which is ultimately something that would scare anyone!) but this fact scared her…

Arista had told Addison that she was going to go downstairs earlier than everyone else, the only reason was to give herself some alone time. She’d gone outside and walked through the gardens for a few minutes to try to reset her brain. The night before she had a nightmare (first one in a long time) and she really wanted to clear her head before going in and trying to lead her team. She’d seen what had happened with the Boggart last term and the Teppenpaw didn’t want to see a repeat. Breathing in the air of the outdoors, the seventh year tried to calm her nerves. She wondered if the other 7th years were thinking the same as she was. They were, after all, about to close one chapter of their lives and open another and that could be scary to anyone!

She walked into the Hall just before Addison and the other students did and she looked at the rest of Team 12. “Alright. This is the last Challenge. It’s our last chance-” she started, sort of getting a little bit choked up at the term she had chosen to use. “It’s our last chance to show this school what we can do. For us seventh years, its our last chance to do much before our tests, same goes for the fifth years. In any case, I expect us to do our best and I know we will.” she said, she had more to say, but Professor Skies started to speak and Ris wouldn’t interrupt her.

Ris watched their professor, and also the rest of the team. Addi seemed to be getting worried, Ris could see it in her eyes. Panic had set into her sister once more and that made Ris all the more determined to make it go away and to help them to win.

“It’s alright.” Ris whispered to her sister. Arista meant it too. It would be alright. Everything would be alright…

Addison nodded to her and Ris watched her bite her lip and stood closer. When the whistle went off Addi looked into the box and said what was in there, then mentioned the fact that there was only five items for the six of them. Ris looked at her sister and smiled. Maybe she IS taking my advice to heart? Ris thought to herself, suddenly proud of her sister and glad that she was on her team.

“Maybe, what do the rest of you think?” Ris asked the others. She wouldn’t make a group decision without the others giving their fare share of thoughts.

0 Arista Thornton It is just that... the beginning of the end. 0 Arista Thornton 0 5

Jude Butler

April 22, 2013 8:16 PM

Yay? Not for me... by Jude Butler

Jude had one thought on the day of the Third Challenge. This is it… The only thing that she was worried about (other than the Challenge itself) was that perhaps Angel wouldn’t want her help with his homework anymore once the Challenges were over. Of course he was older than she was, much older, but she’d come to enjoy her time with him. She feared that he wouldn’t want to spend time with a stupid little first year anymore once the Challenges were over and was almost brought to tears by the thought.

Almost.

Then she thought better of crying over it and hoped that it wouldn’t be like that at all. Crying would make everyone think that she was a big baby, and she’d done enough of that over the Boggart in the First Challenge, she didn’t need any more of it.

She walked into the Hall, nervously glancing around at all the little compartments in the room. She spotted Angel and made her way to him. When she got to him, she spoke. “Hey… We still meeting tonight for homework after the Challenge?” she asked, before the others made their way to them.

When Ryan and the others made their way to them, he spoke and Jude listened to him say that they’d done wonderfully so far and though Jude disagreed, she wouldn’t interrupt to say so. It couldn’t possibly be worse? Jude thought, betting it could be.

Professor Skies welcomed them and explained what this Challenge was. Jude looked to Angel in horror. She was going to have to charm or transfigure something? “But…” she said to him, heart thudding. She knew Angel wouldn’t quite get what she was thinking emotion-wise, but she hoped he’d understand that she was scared of failing and ruining Ryan’s chance at winning because she was a stupid muggleborn first year. The rest of them at least had prior knowledge of magic before the beginning of the year, even Rory’s knowledge was more than hers, she’d discovered. Jude felt like she’d be a failure if she did anything and she didn’t want to do that to Ryan or any of the others.

Ryan said that he should take the most difficult object and Jude didn’t say anything against that. She sure wasn’t going to take the hardest one! When Ryan asked if they thought the sixth item was supposed to be the box, Jude thought about it and wondered if he could be right.

“Could be…” she said softly, biting down on her lip in thought. “Or what if one of the older students were supposed to bring another item to the group? Or if we’re supposed to use something in our pockets as the last one?” she added to his suggestion.

“I’m not trying to take over the group, trust me, but I thought maybe those could be viable options too?” she added, ending tone as if it was a question as well as a hope that the others would know that she hadn’t been trying to screw them up or anything, just that she was trying to help. She took the chance to glance at Sally, fearful at her reaction to the stupid first year’s speaking aloud in front of more worthy people and shyed back against Angel once more.

0 Jude Butler Yay? Not for me... 0 Jude Butler 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 23, 2013 8:24 PM

So much for the bang by Clara Abernathy

Clara figured Bri of all people would be the first to agree with her suggestion. She and her cousin did have the tendency to think a lot alike at times. Could explain why they got alone so well. She grinned at her cousin’s agreement and found herself partially nodding at Bri’s idea. She hadn’t quite considered her cousin’s hat as an item they could use until Bri asked about it. “Ya know Bri,” she began. “That’s really not a bad idea. I think maybe we could use it for something. The only question is what?” She wasn’t really sure just what, if anything, they could do with it though. She figured Levitation was a logical choice, but couldn’t help wondering if there was something else. Maybe they could turn it into something, but again the question becomes what? Or maybe they could make it do something funny. She really didn’t know what options they had to work with to be honest. Being a third year stunk sometimes.

“I like the idea of using your hat, maybe, for a sixth item,” she told her cousin. “But I’m not entirely certain what we could make it do or turn it into,” she admitted, scratching her head slightly. “Sometimes I wish my skills were better than they are,” she half-joked. “About the best I could do with it would be maybe to make it twitch or something…unless you want it or someone else to be a different color?” Suddenly a strangely interesting thought crossed the Pecari’s funky little mind. Why did the final object have to be an actual object per say? Why couldn’t it be a person? She and Bri had turned each other a different color before…why couldn’t they do it now? A wicked little smile spread on Clara’s face. “What if the last object wasn’t actually an object?” she asked everyone. “What if we were to use someone from the group to act as the sixth object?” She knew she was suggesting something highly unprecedented, but why not?

She turned to her cousin, already having a pretty good idea of Bri’s answer, and asked “Hey Bri…how would you like to be Elphaba again for a while? Hat and all?” She knew if anyone knew what she was referring to it would be Bri. She also knew her cousin would probably dig the idea and let her do it again, only this time it would be on purpose.

0 Clara Abernathy So much for the bang 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Brielle Thornton

April 23, 2013 10:19 PM

It was a Big Bang... in theory... by Brielle Thornton

Aubrielle looked at the others after she made her suggestion to see what their reactions would be. Clara, of course, spoke first agreeing with her cousin, but then spoke about the hat and the idea. Clara scratched her head and Bri turned hers sideways to think. She wasn’t sure what was going through her cousin’s mind at the time, but the look on Clara’s face told her that something was about to happen, something big. When Clara mentioned changing its color Bri’s face fell. She liked her hat just the color it was. That was the color of Eponine’s hat and it would be the color of her too. She didn’t want to change that or anything about her hat or outfit. That was Ponine and that was what her Marius liked. Bri wanted to be what her Marius wanted, even though they could not see each other.

But then when Clara asked if the object had to be an item or if it could be a person Bri suddenly knew EXACTLY what Clara was thinking. Her mind flipped back to Charms class when they did the color changing charm on those teddy bears, except for the minor (yet slightly major hiccup) where the pair of them turned each other different colors instead of their bears.

Her mouth turned into a grin and nodded emphatically at her cousin. “YES! YES! YES!” she exclaimed, dancing in place (more like hopping up and down). “Make me Elphaba! Come on Clara, do it! Just like I made you into a Smurf!” Her grin got even bigger at the thoughts that ran through her mind and her face lit up their little cubicle.

She knew the rest of their group would think that the pair of them were crazy, but she didn’t care. Bri knew Clara would think it was funny and wonderful and that was what mattered to her. Family was key, and they were family. Though Bri couldn’t help but wonder what Professor Olivers and the other staff members would think of them and their group. Their idea was out of the ordinary, just like Bri and Clara were. It worked just perfectly in her own mind. All she could do now was wait to see what the rest of the group or Clara said next.

0 Brielle Thornton It was a Big Bang... in theory... 0 Brielle Thornton 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

April 24, 2013 1:11 PM

Last one, let's have fun! by Charlie B-F-R

Charlie was super excited about the final challenge. So far, he'd found them to be great fun. Ok, they hadn't started off on the best note, what with the huge pile of snakes scaring the bejesus out of him, but he could look back on that and laugh now. The challenges so far had all been kind of like big team games. He wasn't really naturally inclined towards sport, and this natural non-inclinication had been further un-nurtured by the fact that no one wanted to pick him for their team at his previous school. But here, it had all been different. They'd worked together, and the older kids had helped them when they hadn't been able to do things but without making them feel like they were useless. And, even though they were kind of competing against everyone else, no one had been putting pressure on about that and sucking the fun out. No one had mentioned winning being everything, or letting the side down. They had let the games be... well, games.

He was a bit disappointed to learn that the first part of the final challenge would involve just sitting around a table. It sounded rather like class but he guessed if they tried to make it fun, and worked hard together as a team, it would still be good.

He surveyed the contents of their box, trying hard to think what he could do. They'd used a couple of the items in Transfiguration, so he knew he could do those but they didn't seem very exciting. By far and away the best thing they'd done so far was the dancing charm but he couldn't see anything that he could really use it on. The dance, as far as he'd managed to get it, was rather loose and free form. It had mostly looked like dancing purely because the doll was person shaped. He was fairly sure if he tried it on the lemon, or any of the other things on their table, it would produce a pattern of movements indistinguishable from it appearing to have hiccups or being about to explode.

“I'm not sure...” he whispered back, in response to both of Julian's questions. “One of the older students could possibly conjure something, I guess,” he suggested, although using any of the other items around in the booth seemed equally viable. He turned to the older students, confident that they would be able to lead them. Marcus had never let them down so far on a challenge and Charlie absolutely idolised him. If the older boy told him to turn cartwheels, Charlie would have done it without a second's hesitation. Or he would have tried to, anyway. His cartwheels tended to be a bit wonky.

“I...I've been practising a charm with my sister,” he ventured. The Charm was definitely the flashiest thing he knew and he thought he might get bonus points for it being extra curricular, even though it was pretty simple. “It makes things leave a trail of sparkles when you move them. I was planning on making Julian a corsage for the ball,” he explained. “Girl Julian,” he hurriedly added, quickly realising how odd it might sound. It was a small school but that didn't mean the seventh years knew all the first years, and people's minds were bound to jump to the other Julian right in front of them. “There are two Julians in our year and the other one's a girl and it's her I'm making a corsage for,” he explained. He didn't really think there was anything wrong with the idea that he might be making it for the Julian on their team but it just wasn't factually accurate. “So, um... I could try that, cos it's quite a nice looking one. But I'm still a bit wobbly on it – it doesn't always last very long – so I might be better doing something a bit safer but more boring looking. What do you think?” he asked the older members of the team.

13 Charlie B-F-R Last one, let's have fun! 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Michael Grosvenor

April 24, 2013 1:36 PM

Team 19 - so close to finishing without embrassment by Michael Grosvenor

Michael thought the challenges, thus far, had been okay. His criteria for this was the fact that they hadn't caused him to make a massive tit of himself. This was his general approach to real life too; so long as no one was pointing and laughing (and, in the case of the magical world, so long as nothing was exploding) you were generally getting on alright. Anything else was a bonus. He let out a very slight groan when they were given the instructions for the final challenge.

“Does this sound like a CATS dry run to you too?” he muttered to Mellie, as they made their way over to their booth, right at the back of the hall. Professor Skies had talked about range of talents and stuff but basically each of them was expected to do the best they could do and then they'd be graded on it.

When the whistle sounded, he opened the box of objects. As they had a five person team, the presence of five objects didn't throw him. Some back part of his brain that wasn't busy doing something else vaguely guessed the six person teams must have something else and wondered, briefly, what it was. Nothing looked particularly breakable, so he upended the box onto the table, so they'd be able to see the things better, deftly catching the lemon as it made a bid for freedom off the edge.

Mentally dividing up the objects was tricky, given that he didn't know what the older students could do, not having yet done it. He wasn't even sure, of course, whether Russell took the advanced classes in either of the relevant subjects, which might impact what he could offer. And, hopefully, what was expected of them. He strained his brain to remember what he'd done in first year but it was a bit too full of CATS stuff. Planning for all of them was not really his strength, so he just decided to speak up about what he could do.

“I should be able to do an inanimate to animate,” he stated, hoping that 'should' really wasn't an operative word there. He was fairly sure he needed to be able to do that by the end of the term, when his exams rolled around. “So like... pin cushion hedgehog, or a stick insect stick,” he suggested. So far he was managing a solid 'average' in Transfiguration. He was occasionally a little better in Charms, and wracked his brain for appropriately fancy things he could show off.

“What have we done lately except summoning?” he asked Mellie. He'd been revising the Charm and it was currently the only thing coming to his mind. Seeing as they were meant to do the work and leave it there, he couldn't really do a Summoning Charm. Unless he somehow pinched someone else's stick and made it clear that he had done so, but he didn't think that was very sporting.

13 Michael Grosvenor Team 19 - so close to finishing without embrassment 199 Michael Grosvenor 0 5

Effie Arbon

April 24, 2013 2:14 PM

That's one word for them... by Effie Arbon

The challenges hadn't been wholly unpleasant. She had got to spend lots of time with Isabel and no one else had done anything horrible or forced her into a situation with which she was uncomfortable, other than the general fact of having to see and speak to the rest of the team. She still felt mildly guilty that Isabel had been put through the physical rigours of the obstacle course but both her friend and their friendship were, as far as she could tell, unscathed. After today, the challenges could be put behind them and she could focus on more pleasant things, such as the up-coming ball. Rumours of dates were flying around, to which she was avidly listening. She hoped to be asked but was trying not be unduly concerned about thus far not being. She would assume, unless it was proven to be dramatically not the case, that the majority of people in her year would not be taking dates, but might ask each other to dance at the event itself. If she was asked by an appropriate young man, then so much the better, but she expected the evening to be pleasant either way.

She gave a little smile and nod of acknowledgement to Regina's words, although they made her feel rather awkward. She knew that Regina was trying to be kind and the part of her that enjoyed being flattered was pleased that the captain was pleased with them. However, she wasn't really sure 'co-operates nicely with Muggleborns' was an accolade of which to be proud. Her father would certainly throw a fit if he heard her accused of such behaviour. However, as Regina was not contributing to her school report, Effie could be fairly confident that this news would not travel home. Within the strange altered social rules of Sonora, and this smaller, stranger world of team fifteen's work area, it was a positive thing.

She was a little taken aback when Regina claimed the box but then quickly took in the number of items and realised that the captain had got one step ahead of her. She also thought her idea sounded rather impressive.

“It does say charm or transfigure,” she mentioned, nodding to the notice on the wall, adding the emphasis herself. “However, she might not have really thought that deeply about the wording, and might be happy with both.” She surveyed the objects as Waverley spoke, trying not to wince at the idea of a singing, dancing lemon. Regina's idea had sounded rather tasteful and, for all that Waverley claimed that hers would be along a common theme, Effie felt it would rather lower the tone. She tried to think what she might do to raise it again but the image of a vociferous and agitated citrus fruit was difficult to balance out.

“I might be able to make a hair pin from a feather,” she suggested. “Or a brooch from the button. It could sit in the music box.” She felt these ideas were rather weak alongside her team's, in terms of how impressive they were magically and how much they contributed to the group theme (even if they won in terms of good taste). She managed not to trail off into mumbling but it was only through years of rigorous training in maintaining an air of confidence, especially if faced with people of lower classes. She did not want Waverley to think that she was intimidated by her wonderful idea. “I am open to ideas though,” she said, steadily looking at Reggie rather than the Muggleborn.

13 Effie Arbon That's one word for them... 238 Effie Arbon 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

April 24, 2013 2:43 PM

Everything will be fine. by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Henry's 'hello' had received one in return from Francesca. She was not generally one for small-talk, as it was usually incredibly banal, but it may have been followed up with an enquiry as to how he was (after all, social niceties were, just about, a different thing and needed to observed) had there been time before Professor Skies began talking. Although Francesca expected the illusory bonds of friendship to dissolve with the team, Henry was the one person with whom she thought she might reasonably still associate. He was nearest to her in age and was in her social class, although he would be moving out of her school class next year, which would probably strain things somewhat. She expected to pass smiles and hellos with the others in the common room but she did not imagine them wanting her friendship in much more depth than that. They were already well enough established with their own year groups.

“I would lean more to Transfiguration, both for the group and personally,” Francesca stated. “I think Professor Skies won't be duped by flashy magic over substantial magic, especially as Transfiguration is her own subject. So even if it's not very visually stunning at the end, I don't feel that we would lose marks for that, provided an appropriate amount of effort has gone into it. That's not to say I'd vote against doing any charms – just that I feel we will be scored on the difficulty of what is done, rather than a final effect, thus everyone should do what they feel shows the greatest skill,” she reasoned. It was quite possibly the thing she liked best about the challenges and about her team. She could reason. She could look at a situation, work it out and share that, and it was welcome. It baffled her that such behaviour was rarely welcome in the world at large. People didn't expect you to analyse everything. As far as she was concerned, that was merely thinking and she had never understood why it was so offensive to so many people that someone should wish to think but unfortunately that seemed to be the case.

“I feel I'm slightly better at Transfiguration,” she added, to confirm her answer to Thad's other question. She knew this was an oddity, and was curious to note that Henry seemed to share it. Transfiguration was supposed to be harder but she felt there was more method to it. There was more analysing to be done and that brought more of the magic into the realm of things that she was good at and thus under her control. She wondered whether it was the same for him...

“That sounds reasonable,” she nodded at Henry, mostly because he was looking at her. She did not really feel that she had the authority within the group to confer a particular object on him. She supposed he must only be speaking to her because he had a particularly small or particularly feminine hat in mind.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Everything will be fine. 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Henny B-F-R

April 24, 2013 4:25 PM

Or... Transfiguring? by Henny B-F-R

OOC – first part was consulted on and given permission for by the Thornton's author.

IC
Henny had been more nervous about this challenge than any other, mostly because of what had happened on the last one. She hadn't told Andri any details of Ana's behaviour but she had asked her room-mate's advice. She had said that she had noticed Ana lisped and seemed a bit self-conscious within the group (a statement that was, perhaps, stretching understatement to the limits of truthfulness) and whether she had any advice for making her comfortable. Andri had just said to be a friend to the younger girl. Henny had tried to be friendly anyway and, given Ana's behaviour last time, the first year obviously still felt insecure. Henny also didn't want Fae to think that, if Henny started being extra nice to Ana, it was any kind of judgement on her. That she was sticking up for Ana against her or something. Henny hoped that Fae was better than that – better than thinking that niceness to one person had to mean something against another – but people could be ridiculous when it came to things like this. Henny was doing her best to act like nothing was different to when they had started their last challenge. She was being just as nice and just as friendly to all of them as she ever had been, and was just mentally crossing her fingers that this would all go smoothly.

As they received their instructions, she felt a smile breaking over her face. They were being told up front what to expect, which was her preferred way of doing things, and it was a task that she was confident that she could do. In fact, it was a task that she was confident everyone could do.

“This seems good,” she commented, as the team made their way along to their booth. “Everyone gets something at their level,” she added, with an encouraging smile at Ana. Her main insight into how the first years were getting on was from Charlie, who mostly seemed to jabber on about how Marcus was awesome. Whilst she was glad her brother was having a good time, and being well supported by his team captain, it didn't really sound like he had been doing a lot. He seemed perfectly happy with this, and with the minor contributions that he had made – he had told her at least twice about his accidental discovery of the Devil's Snare – but she wasn't sure all the first years would be feeling so happy about not having been able to do much to help. However, this challenge seemed to be geared towards everyone being able to show their best.

“Let's just check...” Henny suggested, when Fae asked if anyone could see what the sixth item was. There was always the chance it was very small or was underneath something else. Henny unpacked the contents of the box onto the table. When this didn't yield a miniscule sixth object, she picked up the box and turned it upside down, even though she was already sure nothing more was hiding. “Well...” she said, setting the box back down. Then it clicked. It was somewhat in her nature anyway to be a puzzle solver. Then there were all the additional ones she'd been doing with Alicia and Thad of an evening. Plus something about the box, now that it was empty and sat alongside the other things that just made it look more... object like. “The box,” she said, a little questioningly, looking to her team mates for verification, even though she was ninety-nine-point-nine-nine percent certain she was right.

She cast her eyes over the objects, trying to work out who would fit what best. There were so many permutations.... She supposed Ana had the fewest things in her arsenal of spells so it might make sense to get her to choose first. But she didn't want to put too much pressure on her by making her first to answer. Also lots of charms could be applied to any of the objects, whereas an impressive transfiguration might require a specific one.

“Why don't we try to think in general terms to start with? For example, what's the most complex type of transfiguration anyone can do? Like, I can manage inanimate to animate. Or think about what your best charm is. Then we can work out whether people need a specific object or whether any object would do. That strikes me as being the best way round to approach it in order to match everyone with a good object,” she ventured.

13 Henny B-F-R Or... Transfiguring? 211 Henny B-F-R 0 5

Clara Abernathy

April 24, 2013 9:40 PM

Well now its a Green Bang! by Clara Abernathy

Clara had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing at the dance her cousin was doing inside their cubicle. Bri was just too much sometimes, but if Elphaba is what she wanted then Elphaba she would be. Clara took the piece of parchment they gave the teams and she wrote down on it Clara Abernathy, My Cousin, Charms She knew that while technically her cousin wasn’t one of the objects from the box, there wasn’t any rule spoken or written that said she couldn’t use her if Bri allowed it and allow it Bri did. Clara pulled back her sleeves as it were and raised her wand. “Here we go cuz,” she grinned. She closed her eyes for a second, mentally searching for the color changing charm and when she found it she slowly opened her eyes.

She made sure that when she cast this spell she was going to make it do exactly what she meant it to this time. Her first time with it she goofed by accident, turning her cousin green. This time she was doing it on purpose. “Multicorfors!” she commanded, gesturing with the wand the way they had been instructed to. She envisioned the color she wanted and thrust everything she had into making sure she aimed it right the first time and that the end result was what she wanted. She saw the spark of power jump from her wand and aim itself straight for Bri. Clara hoped that when the spell hit her Bri didn’t twitch. She watched closely as Bri’s skin began to change from its normal freckled complexion to an earthy green. She was rather impressed with herself that she had come as close to Elphaba green as possible. She would have held up a mirror to show Bri if she had one. Clara glanced at her cousin in awe. “Holy Crackers Bri! I did it!” she exclaimed excitedly. She had actually managed to make a spell work right the first time and she was ecstatic. She could only imagine what the staff would say about it.

0 Clara Abernathy Well now its a Green Bang! 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Marcus Williams

April 24, 2013 9:43 PM

I agree with that. by Marcus Williams

Marcus had no real idea of what to think about the final challenge. Over all, he had enjoyed them. His team was not what he was expecting, but they had pulled it all together and worked as well as anyone could expect. Truthfully, Marcus never would have given these other students a moments thought if he hadn’t been forced to work with them. It was nothing against them or anything; he was just older and didn’t really run in any sort of circle the way others tended to. But he was glad that he had gotten to know them at least in a small way. Even Theresa, who was the exact opposite of any girl he had known back home. He didn’t understand those who thought the way she and her kind did, but he had fun watching her (and the rest of them) react to the situations they were placed in.

Marcus stood, towering over most people save for maybe a handful of guys who were equal in height, and listened as the final challenge was announced. So, they were having a brain challenge after all. He supposed that had to be fair. Marcus was average at his academics. Neither good nor bad. He did well enough to feel comfortable and confident in his work, most especially in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He even managed to grab a small scholarship for a Magical University close to home. What the scholarship didn’t cover, he could get financial aid for. How he had been accepted, he wasn’t sure, but he was grateful for the opportunity. Had he not come to Sonora, Marcus wasn’t sure he would have made it this far in life. Not with the lives he had seen his Muggle friends fall victims to.

Marcus looked over their options to see what they had available. They were pretty ordinary things and every item in front of him, they had worked on in classes, so he knew that they should all be able to contribute something. Since Marcus figured he could transfigure or charm everything in front of him, he thought it best for everyone else to go first, except than he’d have to figure out a final item. Marcus frowned. It couldn’t be the table since they needed their items displayed there… Unless he make the table into something fancier, but he wasn’t sure if he could do that…

His thoughts were interrupted by Charlie. He thought of him like a kid brother… who was completely opposite from him in both looks and personality. It was amusing to Marcus to see how he worked things out. He thought the boy to be flamboyant and rather feminine, but he had no trouble diving into the physical challenge with gusto. The same went for really, everyone on the team. They were surprising.

At the mention of Julian, Marcus’s gaze went to the other boy in curiosity as he wasn’t sure why he needed a corsage, but figured they were roommates and did weird things for fun. However, Charlie corrected himself immediately and Marcus felt a little let down (though, how crazy was it that there was a female Julian??). “Hey, if that’ what you want to do, by all means, I’m for it.” Marcus stated. He had no real desire to win these challenges. He thought they were fun and distracting from the stress of the RATS exams coming up. He didn’t want them to have unnecessary anxiety over this. “We have time, so it’s not like you can only do it once. Pick an object to do. You too, Julian. You pick what you want and what you want to do with it.” Marcus looked around for a moment. “What should I use for the 6th item? The table or the box or something else? I don’t have anything on me to use.”

6 Marcus Williams I agree with that. 180 Marcus Williams 0 5

Sally Manger

April 24, 2013 10:35 PM

Cue inspiration by Sally Manger

The penultimate challenge was finally upon them. Sally was not altogether sad to see the challenges ending, but she would miss certain aspects. Being on the same team as her brother—while merrily being separated from Carrie, who she never intended to claim as a sister—was an excellent way to spend time. Sometimes it seemed only Ryan understood her, which was convenient, since she hardly understood herself. He knew what she was feeling before she did.

Other times, she was certain Angel could have identified. Neither of them was particularly emotionally driven, so their correspondence was perhaps the easiest the brunette had ever experienced. It was helpful to have him, a comrade of sorts. As she grew more and more familiar with her emotions, feeling alone seemed inevitable, but somehow, in his simplistic manners, Angel eliminated that reality. She wished to remain friends with him after these challenges, but she was unsure if that would occur. Angel would likely want to spend time alone, maxed out on socialization.

In theory, she liked the rest of her teammates well enough. They all seemed like fairly nice students. The fact of the matter was just that she had not bonded very much with them. Such bonds were difficult for her, so to see that she had formed one connection—no matter how limited, no matter how shaky its future—was already an impressive feat. Sally was content to one new friendship, for it was one more than she anticipated.

Despite this, she was not sure if she would go so far as to call it a “pleasure” to work with this team, as Ryan phrased it in the conclusion of his mini-speech. Pleasure implied too strong of happiness, and the Aladren hardly ever managed to rise beyond contentedness. Her emotions were still oddly controlled and small-scale, at least usually. Occasionally something stirred within her, something potent and dramatic, and it instilled a flicker of fear.

Perhaps, she hypothesized, this emotional diverges between what she knew and what she was experiencing was the culprit behind her magical deficiencies exhibited this year. The fifth year had managed to return to her grades to their proper standings through intensive studying, acing theoretical tests to compensate for her lack of practical performance. Still, the grades meant nothing to her now; what considered her was that she did not know what her own body was doing. Sally had, until this year, exhibited a rather potent magical talent. This year, that was gone.

Now, however, was not the time for evaluation of her personal dilemmas. Now was time to master this challenge. Ryan suggested the sixth object—for their team was more numerous—could be the box in which the items were held, though a moment later Jude offered other alternatives. “I support Ryan’s theory,” she stated predictably. She tended to agree with her brother; he was well-educated as he neared graduation, and much smarter than he realized. “We should use the box. Who would like it? I think I’ll take that feather, myself.” Her mind hatched an unfathomable idea, or at least, one so to her. “Would turning the feather into a replica of the covered wagons be a desirable plan? I could then enchant it to skirt around.”

“What do you intend to do with the lemon, Ryan?” she inquired in his direction. Sally felt oddly creative, inspired to change what was before them, to transfigure or to charm. “You should certainly induce life. What about a small version of Scruffy? That is his dog,” she added to the other group members, alleviating any confusion that could have risen. “If possible, I suggest we all make our objects reflect our school.” She smiled without intent or realization of the action, feeling both oddly satisfied and continuously engaged. In a most unusual way, all she wanted to do… was do.

12 Sally Manger Cue inspiration 198 Sally Manger 0 5

Brielle Thornton

April 25, 2013 12:07 AM

Filled with Elphaba magic... by Brielle Thornton

Brielle was so excited with Clara’s idea that she couldn’t stop grinning. When Clara covered her mouth watching Bri, the Teppenpaw knew that her cousin was trying not to laugh at her. “Laugh if you want to. It’s okay.” Bri said to her cousin, grinning. “It won’t hurt my feelings..“ she added as Clara picked up the piece of parchment and wrote on it. Bri took the paper from her cousin and looked at the others.

“Is it okay if I take the feather?” she asked them, knowing Clara already had decided on which one to use and the stick and lemon would be the hardest two items to change. Brielle figured she’d leave those to the oldest two, Jordan and Arnold, and she’d take the next hardest one. Adding her name to the paper: Aubrielle Thornton, the feather, transfiguration into a flock of birds using Avifors she wrote as she decided that the others could decide which ones they’d use around her. Clara pulled up her sleeves and raised her wand as she spoke, grinned, closed her eyes then opened them again. Saying the word ‘Multicorfors’ Bri stood stock still, being sure not to distract Clara and Bri looked down at her hands as her skin turned from her pale and freckled norm to an earthy green.

Aubrielle grinned even wider both at Clara’s reaction of having actually done it and at the color of her skin. “Yes, Clara, you did!” Bri joined her excited cousin with happiness about that fact. “Now, are we ready for some Elphaba magic?” Bri asked her, half smirking and half smiling with what she’d decided to do with the feather.

Sure, the third year could have done ‘Wingardium Leviosa’ but that was too easy. “AVIFORS!” she said, happily as the feather in front of her sort of bent and grew. It didn’t look like a bird right away, which was the goal, but it seemed to be trying to decide if it wanted to listen to her or not. She put all the strength she had into saying it again. “AVIFORS!” she meant it this time and the bent feather actually turned into not only one bird that flew in the air around her head, but there were three in the place of the feather!

Grinning even larger than before, Brielle danced around the room as the three birds flew around her head. “Look Clara! I did it too!”

0 Brielle Thornton Filled with Elphaba magic... 0 Brielle Thornton 0 5

Jude Butler

April 25, 2013 12:35 AM

Cue fear by Jude Butler

Jude knew as soon as she’d said something that she shouldn’t have. I should have quit while I was ahead… she thought as Sally mentioned that she agreed with Ryan. She should have known that would have happened. I should have known… she thought as she moved even closer to Angel. Glancing towards Rory as well, she hoped that Angel or Rory would understand what she was going through and would at least say something to her defense.

Sally went into what she would do with the feather and asked Ryan what his plan with the lemon was, talking about making it into a miniature version of his dog. After that she spoke about how each of them should make their objects reflect their school and when Sally smiled, Jude realized that she had no way of doing what Sally wanted.

Jude was useless and she knew it. She wished that the floor would swallow her up or that she was not picked for Noah’s Arc or something like that.

She looked to Angel, who’s side she surely didn’t want to leave and whispered into his ear, “I can’t do what Sally wants… I know that… I know I’m still little, still learning, but I can’t do it… And they’re all going to laugh at me…” She looked to him in almost a begging look. She couldn’t make a fool of herself again. It was bad enough that she tried to help and got shot down, AGAIN…

0 Jude Butler Cue fear 0 Jude Butler 0 5

Charlie B-F-R

April 25, 2013 6:10 PM

You need to make a rhyme that's phat by Charlie B-F-R

“Awesome! Thanks!” Charlie grinned when Marcus gave him the go-ahead to try his sparkle charm, taking it as a vote of confidence. The older boy then mentioned that he would be able to have more than one go. Charlie nodded.

“I'll have a go now until I can make it seem to stick, then I'll try topping it up just before the end. Then hopefully it will last long enough,” he explained. He cast his eyes over the choice of objects.

“It could really be anything... I guess it'll be easier with a smaller thing but most of the things are pretty small. So I don't mind if other people want to choose first.

“Oh, the box – that's clever,” Charlie nodded when Marcus asked about the sixth object. “I mean, it has to be something already in here, otherwise it's not very fair on people with empty pockets. And if you did the table we'd have to leave everything on the floor, which doesn't seem right.”

Once the objects had been divided out, Charlie focussed on his, trying his best to think the most sparkly of thoughts. Luckily, this was something that came naturally to him, and as he found the challenges exciting rather than intimidating, his naturally bouncy nature was not in any way being subdued by the situation. He needed to make a light sprinkling motion over his object, as though using a flour duster. This was probably the hardest part as it required a very delicate bounce from the wrist. Charlie had been practising doing everything with a loose wrist (something which probably wasn't helping the general perception of his masculinity) for the last few weeks, and had been steadily improving at the wand motion. He locked his fingers, stretching them out and giving his hands a little shake out. He had no idea whether this really helped but it made him feel loose and relaxed, and neither of those things could harm.

“Scimerian,” he cast, gently fluttering his wand above his assigned object. Little sparkles of light fell from his wand, seeming to settle for a moment on the object before being absorbed. Charlie waited a moment before picking it up. It seemed to shed a glittery light like the one that had fallen from the wand towards it. He moved it experimentally from side to side, watching the trail of sparkles continue to fall. It was a little on the thin side, and he wasn't sure it would keep it up but it was a good start. He bounced once onto the balls of his feet, smiling to himself and glancing up at the rest of his team. He didn't want to be too exuberant and to distract them if they were concentrating but he was pleased with what he had so far.

13 Charlie B-F-R You need to make a rhyme that's phat 252 Charlie B-F-R 0 5

Abigail Thornton

April 25, 2013 9:42 PM

Thank goodness for that! by Abigail Thornton

Abigail, at the start of the Challenges, didn’t really love them, or even hate them. At the first one she thought she was going to have a heart attack or something when the bunny slippers popped out of nowhere. She was glad that she hadn’t reacted hugely to them or anything, cause the whole first Challenge could have been so much worse. The second one started off alright. The mud pit was sort of fun, for her at least. The only thing that would have made it better for her was if there really was little animals or something in there. Yeah, that would have been cool… she thought to herself as she walked over to Cascade Hall for the third and last challenge.

She walked into the room through the doors and glanced around in surprise at what she saw there. “Little cubicles?” she wondered. She wasn’t sure if there was anyone nearby her to hear her say it, but she didn’t care either. It wasn’t the people she wanted to learn about, it was the animals that lived all around them. In both the magical and the muggle world, animals were much more her friends than people. In all honesty other than her siblings, Clara and their other cousins, Abi didn’t care for any other people until she got to Sonora.

When she’d been introduced to Wendy, Waverly’s little sister, Abi had finally met someone who didn’t crawl under her skin like a small icky bug and she loved the fact that Wendy was so different from any other person she’d ever met! Okay, maybe not everyone was bad there at school, but none were like Wendy, that was for sure! Abi had actually found a best friend, and as odd as it seemed, she actually cared about her almost like a sister. That was saying something and she knew it.

Professor Skies welcomed them to the last challenge and told them what would be happening in it. Michael groaned and Abi wondered what was said between him and Mellie, but didn’t ask or brooch the subject. Professor Skies went on speaking about how long they had time-wise and set them on their way.

The whistle sounded and Michael opened the box, turning it over onto the table. The older boy caught the lemon as it rolled almost off the table. “It was diving for freedom!” she said to the group, chuckling sort of and almost feeling bad for the lemon. Michael mentioned that he could probably do inanimate to animate before asking Mellie what else they’d done recently.

Abi waited till she answered him and then asked, “Wait, does Wingardium Leviosa count? Like if I were to levitate something?” she asked, remembering that lesson with fondness. She’d actually been able to do that right the first time and she loved that!

0 Abigail Thornton Thank goodness for that! 242 Abigail Thornton 0 5

Analea Thornton

April 25, 2013 10:46 PM

Or standing stuck to the steps of the palace... by Analea Thornton

Analea was walking into the third and thankfully last challenge and she was hating every second of that walk. The last person in the world she’d rather see right then was Fae. Fae had made her feel worse than her father had her whole life, and that wasn’t so pretty either. Fae had made her feel as if she was the smallest little peon in the whole world and that was the worst thing that she could feel. Ana already had a very bad self esteem and that certainly did not help her in the least.

She walked into the Hall and stopped right inside the door. Ana wasn’t expecting what she saw so she had to do a double take. It looked like the room had been made into a bunch of little voting booths. Maybe the challenge is to vote for something? she thought, without saying anything out loud. There were too many letters in that phrase for her lisp and that would only make things worse.

Professor Skies welcomed the students and explained what they were supposed to do in this challenge. Ana swallowed a bit of saliva and coughed from it having gone down the wrong pipe. Her cheeks turned bright red from a mix of the coughing and embarrassment and she just wanted to run away, but she knew better. She stood there, stock still, with the rest of her group, not saying a word to anyone about anything. Professor Skies told them they had an hour to work on this challenge and Ana turned to Henny, pale, terror in her eyes. Her sister’s roommate had been trying to help her, trying to be nice and she didn’t have anything against Henny. She never had, in all honesty, had anything against anyone from Sonora before Fae had spoken to her like that.

When Fae said there was only five items and they needed to figure out what the sixth item was, Ana kept her mouth shut. She wasn’t planning on saying anything until she had to and even then she didn’t want to… Fae asked if anyone saw anything they could use as their sixth item and Ana still said nothing. She had no suggestions, nothing she wanted to say, knowing it wouldn’t go over well, whatever it was. She had nothing to give her team, and even if she did, she was only a first year and they wouldn’t care.

Henny spoke about everyone getting something on their level and smiled at Analea. Ana tried to smile back to the older Aladren, but smiling seemed to be out of the question currently. Henny took every item out of the box, Analea was guessing the reason for that was to find the seemingly missing item, but there was nothing in there. The fourth year turned the box over to try something else and then when nothing was found she turned it back over onto the table again. Ana looked at Henny when she said something about the box and wondered if that was what their sixth item was supposed to be?

When Henny brought up the fact that they should think in general first and find out exactly what the group was capable of, Ana nodded in agreement with her but still stayed quiet. However, Analea knew better than to think that she’d be able to do anything with any of these items. If she remembered right, at least most if not all of the items would need the letter ‘s’ which she so desperately hated more than anything else in the world and she knew better than to think she’d be able to do anything about any of the items in front of them…

0 Analea Thornton Or standing stuck to the steps of the palace... 0 Analea Thornton 0 5

Annabelle Pierce

April 26, 2013 12:28 PM

Completely out of character for all of us? by Annabelle Pierce

As far as snakes went, five feet long was not enormous, but when Annette had specified 'not very big and no fangs' and Annabelle had nodded reluctant agreement, she had been imaging a tiny little harmless garter snake like they sometimes found sunning themselves on the stone walls around their home. Or at least something comparable in size to the original stick. Cepheus, however, seemed to have bigger and better plans.

Annabelle couldn't help a squeak of surprised terror at the unexpected red and silver monster, but it was fangless, and Cepheus had promised 'harmless' so she kept her reaction to a mere recoil instead of outright flight from their booth. Annette, she was irritated to note, had not squeaked or jumped. She did seem uneager to get too close and appeared as relieved as Annabelle felt when Cepheus stepped away from the work table, though, which made her feel a little less like a big ole baby.

Deciding her best option at this point was to pretend the snake did not exist by distracting herself with her transfiguration, Annabelle picked up the button she had claimed and placed it in front of her. She glanced over at Annette, received the nod to proceed, and cast the spell to change the unremarkable button into a delicate teacup.

The sewing holes fused closed and the raised edging extended and curved. A curlicued handle emerged and the dull brown surface turned into gleaming ceramic glaze that protected a flowery design in purple and blue hand-painted over a white base. It looked very much like a piece from Mother's best tea set, as she found it easier to replicate items she had seen before rather than design new ones. Despite that minor shortcut, which most people wouldn't know about anyway, she felt she had done a very good job with the transfiguration.

When she turned it over, the bottom still looked as though it were made of whatever the button had been crafted from rather than fine china, but when it was just sitting on the table it looked just about perfect. Maybe Professor Skies wouldn't pick it up? She had an awful lot of items to examine, perhaps the inspections would not be very thorough.

"Button to teacup transfiguration," she declared placing it back down on the table. "Done." She claimed the note paper for recording their accomplishments, and wrote out her contribution and Cepheus's in her best penmanship. "How do you spell your snake incantation?" she asked, not quite sure how detailed this was supposed to be, but figuring spelling the Latin correctly stood a remote chance of earning them bonus points.

1 Annabelle Pierce Completely out of character for all of us? 246 Annabelle Pierce 0 5

Ryan

April 27, 2013 4:13 AM

The only thing we have to fear is...my sister. by Ryan

Ryan knew quite well that Jude wasn't trying to take over the group, even though he wasn't too sure she had much respect for his ideas. It wasn't her fault, he was only respectable in the pureblood sense. People might respect the O'Malley name and especially the fact that his mother-horrid as she was and as lousy as she treated him and the fact that she hadn't been much of a mother to him at all-had been a Brockert, but Ryan didn't find himself personally as someone who commanded much respect at all and Jude was not one who would recognize his name and respect him simply for being from the family he was. Plus, he never really was one to expect that either. He'd never been so entitled,not like Carrie. That might be the one advantage to the fact that his mother didn't like him. Ryan didn't have any self-esteem but at least he hadn't turned out to be a spoiled little brat like his younger sister.

The thing about these challenges were, that while everyone had a right to make suggestions-he didn't want to be a bossy tyrant, for one thing he wasn't good at it, like so many other things that weren't transfiguration and for another he genuinely didn't enjoy it, who was he to tell others what to do? Ryan had difficulty bossing around house elves-but it still...hurt when someone did. And it seemed it was always Jude doing so, not any of the others. He'd quite clearly had done something to put her off. Possibly she'd had a run in with Carrie and just assumed they were alike. Or because Ryan was simply off putting. He'd certainly always believed himself so. That was probably it.

Either way, Jude clearly thought his ideas were dumb and for someone who seemed to think herself useless and not have much self esteem-feelings that the Crotalus could totally relate to-she didn't seem at all shy about sharing her ideas with the rest of the team. It was probably a good thing for her, to grow through these challenges enough to speak up. Merlin knew that Ryan had never been able to and the only reason he'd been expressing them during these challenges was because he was the team leader and every suggestion that he made had him worried about being shot down by the others. It was much more stressful than the upcoming RATS, but possibly not as much so as knowing that when he went home this summer, that he'd have to be around Carrie. Honestly, without the third year, Ryan's home life would be so perfect and peaceful.

He gave Sally a grateful look. Thank Merlin that she was on his team. The Aladren always backed Ryan up, making him feel like his ideas weren't as stupid as he felt when Jude suggested something. Especially given that, well, he actually didn't have anything in his pocket. He had not been told to bring anything, he had not been told all that much about this challenge at all and if one of the older students was supposed to bring something, they would have been told to. Otherwise, that would be setting people up to fail and the challenges were, at least in theory, supposed to have everyone on an even playing field. As far as Ryan knew, nobody was a Leglimens, and thus able to read the minds of the staff members if that was the case. Granted, there was the possibility that people with relatives on staff-such as himself or Angel-could have been told that, but Ryan, at least, had not been and as far as he knew neither had Arabella or Amity. Plus, there was the liklihood that Uncle Seth wouldn't know anyway. According to him, he never did and nothing they found unpleasant was his fault. At least that was what he'd told Amity when she'd complained about her teammates.

"That's a really cool idea." Ryan replied to Sally's about representing the school. "I mean, making a mini-Scruffy would be awesome, but not really representing Sonora. Maybe I could do a prairie dog instead, to represent Teppenpaw. I mean, it would be easier than making it a snake for Crotalus from a lemon." It was certainly more creative than the lemon into a bird though. He looked at his sister for a moment. "Maybe you could do a snake out of the stick or a bird out of the feather. " Okay, so Sally or the others might want to do a charm, but with Ryan, it was habitual to think of Transfiguration first. It was not only the one and only thing in the entire world that he was remotely good at but he'd grown up in a family where it was rather a big thing.

He wasn't even sure what people could do with the other things. "Or stuffed animals might be all right if someone doesn't have the skill for live ones. To make a wild boar for Pecari and whichever Sally doesn't do. I'm not entirely sure what else could be done to represent the school. Someone could also go with the covered wagon idea. Oh! And the button could be a replica of the plates we eat off of for meals." Ryan felt a little proud of that last one actually.

Jude seemed unhappy though and the Crotalus wasn't entirely sure why. Was it because they hadn't gone with her idea? It wasn't his fault or Sally's that they hadn't been told to bring stuff to the challenges and he honestly didn't have anything in his pockets. She also hadn't seemed to like it when his sister suggested they use his transfiguring the mud idea instead of wading through it like Jude wanted. It sort of surprised Ryan, she didn't seem like a spoiled brat that had to have everything her own way like Carrie did. Maybe she was just embarrassed like he had been. "Jude, you don't have to go with our ideas for what to do. If you want to come with your own idea of what to do on your object, that you are capable of and feel more comfortable with, feel free to do so, even if it doesn't fit the theme Sally came up with."

He turned to his sister. "Sally, I like your theme a lot, and think it would be really cool if we all could do it, it was very original thinking but if people can't do it and would have an easier time with something else, I want everyone to do their best so we can succeed in this challenge." He hoped she would understand and not be hurt by what he'd told Jude. Besides, it was better than what would happen if someone went above their skill level and failed. They were in second place-well, after the first challenge, he didn't know if they'd taken a fall during the second one-and maybe they could overcome the first place team and actually win. It was something Ryan actually really needed , he needed to feel like a winner for once in his life.

And if they weren't in second any more they had ground to make up for and it would be for the best if people did what they were capable of.

11 Ryan The only thing we have to fear is...my sister. 176 Ryan 0 5

David Wilkes

April 27, 2013 12:07 PM

You guys jinxed it. Why did you do that? by David Wilkes

David grinned when the others seemed to agree with him about the box, preferring not to look further out of touch with reality than normal under circumstances where the rest of them – good little overachievers that he thought they were; he was so glad his family neither knew nor cared much of what he did anymore, because otherwise, he would have been just like them – likely to be a bit…tense.

He blinked, though, when Fran brought up something he hadn’t thought of. “Good point,” he said when she mentioned it being on the table. “Hey, even if I’m wrong, we can use that to argue for getting credit for it.”

The mental image which accompanied that brilliant plan was amusing, enough that he almost wished it might come to pass. It was, he had discovered since Christmas, almost as much easier to imagine doing ridiculous things and imagining the looks on people’s, specifically teachers’, faces now that he wouldn’t have to deal with the practical consequences next year as he’d thought it would be. He kept the impulse in check, since they could still arrange for him to get the RATS examiner from hell or mess with his college applications or something, but if Quidditch had been on, the school definitely would have been treated to the closest thing to the Imperial March he could charm up, and he was just sorry he hadn’t thought of adapting the plan for this team until now.

Thad began discussing trying to be both technicians and performers and David raised an eyebrow at Henry’s offer to make – he thought – Francesca a hat. Was he still trying to redeem himself for the whole human shield incident at Halloween? And why did he have a problem with – whatever the sub-category of nouns involving names was? And was there a name for that, anyway? He had sort of halfheartedly been taught some grammar and stuff in elementary, but the formal study of language and punctuation was a sixth grade thing, and he hadn’t made it to sixth grade, so if he had ever heard in passing if there was a specific name for people-nouns instead of thing-nouns, such as ‘hat,’ he didn’t remember it.

Could one have an entire conversation without nouns? He thought he remembered his older sister telling him some guy had once written a book without the letter ‘e,’ which was pretty hard, so surely a conversation could be had without nouns. Was ‘conversation’ itself a noun – meeting the ‘thing’ criteria?

He bit his tongue just before he asked the group its opinion of this issue. For one thing, it was not relevant, and for another, Hal could take it the wrong way.

“Hey, Charms is a subject with its own integrity,” he said instead, objecting mildly to the comments which offered tenuous links between Transfiguration and substance. “That I myself am a Charms man has nothing to do with my stance on that issue,” he added. “Is Skies the only one who’ll judge us? If she is, Transfiguration might be the way to go - unless that doesn't show enough variety of talent.” He grimaced a little, knowing he was not being astonishingly helpful. He didn't know what the best way to go around things would be; David found finding problems a lot easier than finding solutions. He was an Aladren, so looking for solutions could be entertaining for him, but he preferred it when the exercise was abstract and he stood nothing to lose if the solution he came up with was unworkable or if he just failed to find one.

16 David Wilkes You guys jinxed it. Why did you do that? 169 David Wilkes 0 5

Jorge Garcia

April 27, 2013 3:03 PM

Yeah... go...whatever, you get the point. by Jorge Garcia

Jorge was a little sad to see the Challenges ending. This wasn’t because he had found himself so enthralled with winning or enjoying working with this team so much that he would miss it. It was more of the fact that it had given him something to do all year and look forward too. He was aware of the ball at the end of term, but he wasn’t planning on staying at it for very long. He probably could have asked someone, but there weren’t many options, which was a funny though to have considering the school was overrun with girls.

He tended to break them down in his head as logically as he could, or at least, in a way that made sense to him. There were those who were in that massive ‘I’m better than everyone’ clique, which encompassed Cepheus, Gareth, Thad, Evan, Alicia, Henny, and by association, Theresa. Jorge didn’t think that Evan and Henny thought themselves above anyone, per se, but they were in that group and therefore, Jorge didn’t want to deal with them. Andrina was a Thornton and they were too overwhelming for him to want to be around. Ephanie was way too pretty and Jorge wasn’t sure he could talk around her let alone dance. Meghan was Gareth’s cousin, so she was also out. Eris was attached to Michael’s hip and he was not going to get into the middle of that one.

This left Arabella, Waverly, Alex, and Jade. Jorge didn’t know Arabella, but she seemed okay. Still, awkward weird ball date with someone was not on his fun list. He supposed Alex was someone he could have gone with. She seemed really nice, but she was in the same boat as Arabella. Waverly was dating Brandon and he did not want to listen to her whine about him all night. And then there was Monster Mouth. That was out of the question.

And, if he were being honest, he thought the third years were kind of crazy. He didn’t know any of them and didn’t really care too. But, they were either really loud or rude and he wasn’t about to spend an evening with that.

Anyway, that was his thoughts on the girls and why the ball didn’t really interest him all that much. So, the challenges had kept him occupied for the year and with this one being their last, all he had coming up were tests and that darn ball. Next year he had his CATS, which was not something enjoyable to look forward too. He wasn’t sure what would keep his attention for the majority of the year.

Now with the rest of his teammates, Jorge had listened to the challenge as instructed by Professor Skies and frowned. This was going to be a boring one. What a lame way to end them. He looked over the items as the girls talked and frowned. There were only five items. Was he the only one who noticed that? Before he made any reference to that though, Jorge gave Jade a weird look when she brought up the theme of death and then about making them invisible. He thought a theme of death was morbid and making everything invisible wouldn’t really showcase their strengths. But she took back her suggestions, so he left them without comment.

“Um, before we begin, shouldn’t we figure out the 6th item?” He asked Kate. Since she would pick last, it was probably better if she actually had an item to pick.

6 Jorge Garcia Yeah... go...whatever, you get the point. 220 Jorge Garcia 0 5

Thad Pierce

April 27, 2013 3:48 PM

This is not supposed to be DADA challenge. by Thad Pierce

Henry and Francesca were both good at Transfiguration, and Francesca thought they could err on the side of high quality and difficulty rather than showmanship or equal distribution of Charm work and Transfiguration work. Thad hadn't exactly meant that he wanted to go in for flashy, but his Charms work was better, in general, than his Transfiguration work. Evan invariably did better in that subject than he did, so Evan was surely better suited to demonstrate it for their challenge at the intermediate level if only one of them was going to be practicing that subject.

David came in on Thad's side by claiming to be a Charms man himself, which made him feel a little better that he was in good company and not some kind of overachiever-anomaly where the traditionally 'easier' subject really was easier for him as well.

"Okay, well, since you both are more skilled at Transfiguration, you should probably both do Transfiguration," he suggested to the two younger students. "Evan? I assume you also want Transfiguration?" His roommate's whole family had a seemingly genetic affinity toward the subject, and the group should all be playing to their best strengths here today.

"David and I will do charms, so we're not entirely disregarding that whole branch of magic. Ayita," he turned to the their last group member who had not yet expressed a preference. "If you can do an advanced transfiguration, that would be awesome, but if you're better at charms, I think we want quality and skill over high difficulty, so do whatever is best for you."

He looked over the remaining objects - Francesca had expressed a mild interest in the stick or the button, if he was interpreting her account of previous experience correctly, and Henry put dibs on the box. They were all inanimate, so any mood enhancing charms were out of the question, and summoning didn't seem permanent enough to bother with and could be done on any of them with equal ease anyway. He felt something more specific to the item should be used to show off his best charm work.

"I could give the lemon legs and let it walk around the tables," he suggestion dubiously as his contribution. That was one of the most difficult intermediate level charms they'd covered so far. Though it had been practiced on teacups in class, he thought it should still work on a lemon; they had similar shapes to get the balance right. "Or I could just freeze it." Temperature manipulation was fairly advanced as far as charms went as well. "Either way, I think I'd like to use the lemon," he added, since freezing wouldn't have as significant an effect on the less organic items that made up the rest of their options.

OOC: According to HP-Lexicon the charm to create legs on teacups was one of the Charms learned in Harry's fifth year, so I'm going to pretend Sonora covered it as well.

1 Thad Pierce This is not supposed to be DADA challenge. 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Henry Carey

April 27, 2013 11:35 PM

Things change quickly around here by Henry Carey

Quietly, more through his nose than his mouth, Henry chuckled once as Wilkes claimed a personal affinity for Charms had nothing to do with his championing of it. It was fascinating, how people tried to make humor by saying things which were blatantly precisely opposite of the true situation in a way where they could not be mistaken for really trying to lie. Wilkes was calling attention to his own biases and flaws, but it was meant to be funny, he thought. Laughing things off instead of trying to hide or deny them; Brandon did that, sometimes. Arnold was better at it. Henry couldn’t pull it off to save his life.

He had decided what he was going to do, but couldn’t tune out the others as they began discussing what would look best, a conversation which made him feel anxious, even after Pierce confirmed he could do what he had planned to. Carefully, he put his hands over his eyes under his glasses, pressing down on his face, hoping that would help. He had to focus; he was making a hat. He could do that. That might be less accomplished than putting legs on a lemon, but it would be hard for it to look more stupid.

Tall hat. Not too tall, but not flat. Burgundy, though it wasn’t really Wolseithcrafte’s color. Fake fruits and feathers on it. All suspiciously similar to one Grandmother Macomber used to have, but not many people here would know that, and even those who might have seen her before wouldn’t, he thought, think of her immediately. It wasn’t that distinctive, she didn’t wear it constantly, and, of course, the average person wasn’t going to realize he was Abraham and Elizabeth Macomber’s grandson. He had noticed before that while people intellectually knew that the Carey woman with all the children in South Carolina was also the Macomber girl who had married a Carey for no good reason, they didn’t seem to attach this idea to actual interactions with them very often. He would probably get away with it.

I can do this. Just do the job. Don’t worry about being impressive, just about doing the job –

“Legs, definitely,” he advised Pierce, for whatever his opinion was worth, as he sat down cross-legged in what passed for a corner, feeling uncomfortable with only having a curtain at his back. He glanced at the space beneath table, but didn't move again. He was going to give it at least half an hour before he seriously considered anything as blatantly odd as sitting under the table to work. Being seated while he did magic was excusable, since that was the position most students used their wand most often in. Sitting under the table, he was quite sure, was less easy to not need to explain, if you wanted people to think you were at least more normal than Brockert or Wilkes.

0 Henry Carey Things change quickly around here 239 Henry Carey 0 5

Jude

April 28, 2013 9:59 AM

Maybe, yes, but also failure... by Jude

Jude watched Ryan and Sally from the hopeful comfort of the others and felt as if she really should have kept her mouth shut. Why did I even answer his question? It only made things worse… she thought. She’d respected the older student enough to the point where when he’d asked for their thoughts, she’d done just that. If she had no respect for him she would have just kept her mouth shut. She wanted to win just as much as the next kid, but this was Ryan’s last real chance and she wanted it so badly for him…

Jude never thought that anyone other than herself was dumb, and the majority of the team’s reaction to her showed that she indeed was, just that… Dumb… Ryan had asked for imput and Jude had given hers, as stupid as they (and she) was, it apparently was a bad idea to have given her imput.

Ryan agreed with Sally’s idea to represent the school and Jude sighed silently. It wasn’t that she was entirely unhappy, however, she wasn’t in the mood to fail again… She’d been hoping that this wouldn’t be too hard, that’s why she’d suggested things that were slightly easier. It was certainly not because she thought anyone else was stupid, she just knew that she was…

When Ryan spoke to her, she looked up at him. “It’s not that I don’t want to go along with your ideas, I’m just not capable of it and was only trying to help… You’d asked for ideas, that’s all I was trying to do.” she said softly. “And if I don’t follow with you all I’ll feel more stupid than I already do cause I’ll be so different…” she finished, even softer.

She knew she’d fail if she even so much as attempted what they’d wanted to do. Jude didn’t want to fail in the least, specifically Ryan and Angel. Angel had been so nice to her and Ryan, well, he was a seventh year and this was it for him. Jude felt like they’d hate her if she didn’t do their plan, it hadn’t helped when she’d tried to make suggestions in the challenges past. She was going to fail, and she would fail hardcore. Then when Ryan spoke to Sally, telling her that it would be cool if everyone could do it, but it may not work for everyone and it would be better if they’d all succeed at this task and the challenge. There was something inside of Jude that told her that he just wished that he didn’t have her on their team. Even Rory would have probably been able to do what Sally wanted, she had magic in her family. Jude, did not.

Jude was incapable and she knew it. She’d make them lose, and it was then that she knew it. It hurt her that she would be the reason for her team to lose.

0 Jude Maybe, yes, but also failure... 0 Jude 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

April 28, 2013 4:58 PM

Like sticks... by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

“It depends,” Francesca mused, in response to Thad's question. She presumed that he was suggesting two charms of equal complexity, and therefore the reason why he was having difficulty in choosing was more to do with taste or preference, “whether the lemon has any concept of when to stop walking. We need it to still be present by the time Professor Skies comes to mark our work. We are to leave it on the table and step outside at the end of the challenge,” she reminded them. It would be noted on the sheet, of course, and she was quite sure that the Professor would be capable of finding the errant citrus fruit but she was not sure that it would put her in a good mood. The idea that less skilled teams might claim they had performed this, or a vanishing spell, whilst smuggling objects out occurred to her and she could not help but smile at the thought, quite sure that they would fool no one. “Unless David or Ayita could cast a barrier around the desk, or do something else to keep it captive.” If she got the stick and turned it into a toasting fork that presented a rather barbaric solution to the problem, and one which somewhat negated the point of making a jolly little lemon that could scamper about.

She tried not to watch Henry taking up residence under the table. There were two possible categories of reasons which could explain this. The first was that it was something entirely reasonable, such as conserving his energy (although why he should choose to sit under the table rather than at it, she could not fathom).The other category of reason concerned some kind of emotional melt-down, such as the performance anxiety that she was currently feeling (but appeared to be doing a better job of managing). She was ill-equipped to deal with people having emotional crises and therefore thought it best not to be the one to open that particular can of worms. She tried not to think too hard about who might be as, if Henry's recovery was contingent on one of them having suitable counselling skills, he might not be leaving the corner for some time. Perhaps Ayita could deal with it.

Having not met objection to taking the stick, she turned her attention to this. She was almost tempted to note her wand type next to her work, as the spell was better suited to those with springier wands, as they could compensate for the caster having failed to perfect flicking from their wrist. The fact that her own elm wand was incredibly unyielding showed that she had worked hard to get the motion stemming correctly from herself, rather than her wand, which was something of a point of pride with her.

With the objects actually assigned, she felt an upswing in her nerves. The part of the task that was her particular strength – the discussion, the analysis – was past, and now it was time to do the practical element. It was a spell she had done before and thus logic dictated that she could do it again now. She tried to focus on that, rather than their excellent position in the rankings and that now, as the range of skill was supposed to be demonstrated, she personally had the possibility of jeopardising that.

She assessed the stick, noting each little nubule, each lump or twig which did not belong. The diameter of the stick itself needed to shrink down, but the whole thing needed to become sleek and smooth, bifurcating at the end and honing to points. She took a deep breath, doing her best to ignore the fact that the air seemed to tremble on the way in. She watched it happening again and again in her mind's eye until she was sure that it was a single, smooth action.

“Furcia,” she cast, firmly flicking her wand, casting the movement which she had practised until her hand ached after the class on this spell. The stick writhed and twisted as she had imagined, shrinking in on itself, rippling as it turned to silver. Once it had become sleek and slender, the end branched, forming two even length and evenly spaced prongs. Hardly daring to believe it, even though she had perfected her performance of this spell in her study time, she picked it up, weighing it, testing the texture. She reached down and struck it against the metal leg of the table. It clunked like wood. Francesca dropped the fork back onto the table as if it had burnt her, cursing her nerves, or the weeks that had elapsed since her initial practise. She looked furious with herself and her cheeks glowed vermilion. She waved her wand over the fork, removing the spell. It was, perhaps, a foolish decision, as she had been so nearly there. A nervousness skipped about in her stomach as she wondered how bad she would feel if she could not get any of her subsequent attempts even that good but she quashed them. She would do it from scratch. Because she could. And she wanted to be sure that everyone knew that.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Like sticks... 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Hope Brockert

April 28, 2013 8:36 PM

To not finish dead last., by Hope Brockert

Hope's team did not seem to be doing all that well in the challenges. She didn't really care that much. She wasn't really that competitive of a person and truthfully, she'd felt a tad bit guilty for thinking her team would beat Russell's because he was down a person. It sort of served her right for thinking that way.The Teppenpaw would be just as glad to see her friend do well, just as she had when prefects were announced and would if he got Head Boy and she didn't get Head Girl. Hope was every bit as happy for her brother, whose team had been in first place after the first challenge

Still, she'd hoped that her team would have been doing a bit better than it was. The Teppenpaw especially felt bad for Alicia who really seemed to want it more than any of the rest of them including Valentina who was technically the team captain. Evan had sort of said that while a nice enough person, Alicia was kind of intense. He also thought that made her a perfect match for his roommate despite her blood status. Hope honestly wished the two fourth years the best of luck in that, because she knew what it was like to really want to be with someone not in her social class.

And quite honestly, Hope didn't really understand why they weren't doing as well. They were a group of perfectly strong competent wizards, no truly deficient people among them. Yes, Andri hadn't made the best first impression on her but that didn't mean there was anything wrong with her intelligence-despite what Amity thought about the lot of them-or magical ability. There must be some reason that she was sorted into Aladren, though the sixth year thought that Alicia was smarter and probably had deserved Biggest Brain last year. Hope and Valentina were both advanced students and while Hope's athletic abilities were limited to riding horses and ballroom dancing, she had been the overseer for that part of the challenge and thus couldn't possibly have held them back.

Mostly though, she'd just had a good time. The first challenge been really interesting with the haunted school theme, minus the part where her boggart had changed into a basilik. Snakes of any kind made Hope want to scream for her dad or one of her brothers. The rest had been pretty fun though. As long as they didn't come in dead last, things would be okay. Or at least not completely humiliating and even if they did finish poorly, which was likely at this point, it wouldn't be Hope's fault.

She joined the rest of her team in the booth after listening to Professor Skies' instructions. Charm or Transfigure one of the items on the table, that was not at all hard. The sixth year was pretty good with a wand. Unfortunately, there were only five items and six of them. Before she even had the chance to think of a solution to this problem, Alicia suggested that either Hope or Valentina could conjure something. She had a feeling that she was the one that should. She didn't know how good the older girl was at Transfiguration but she knew that she was. It was in her blood for Merlin's sake even if there were people in her own family who were better than her like Marshall or Ryan O'Malley, she was still excellent at the subject. "I'll do the conjuring." Hope offered.

Now what to conjure? Her great-great-grandmother had this exquisite antique broach she always wore to parties that had belonged to her grandmother, that had one big sapphire set in gold with four smaller sapphires surrounding it. It was absolutely beautiful. That was what Hope would make, a replica of that. She drew her wand, did the motion and said the incantation, imagining the broach she had seen so many times, perfectly. When it materialized in front of her, she smiled, pleased with her results. Although she doubted that she had actually managed to conjure a broach with real sapphires within it,they looked pretty good.

11 Hope Brockert To not finish dead last., 186 Hope Brockert 0 5

Ryan

April 28, 2013 11:29 PM

Trust me, I've experienced both. She's scarier. by Ryan

The seventh year blinked. He had not expected Jude to express how she felt. Though he certainly never would have been able to say something at her age to an older student-and probably would not have been able to make a suggestion to someone now that he wasn't comfortable with, his cousins or Sophie were one thing, but the rest of his yearmates, not so much. Maybe not even James. Honestly, Ryan felt a certain amount of pride that the Aladren was his friend, because he didn't seem to like all that many people and out of all the people at Sonora, he'd chosen Ryan as someone he liked.

And of course, there were certainly younger students not shy about expressing their feelings. In fact, Amity hadn't stopped doing so all year. Come to think of it, aside from Kira and Chaslyn, the latter of whom seemed to be a bit scared of her mother, just as he was of his though not to the same level, none of his first cousins seemed to have that problem. Valerie was quite shy though and Ryan couldn't imagine the fifth year speaking up to give suggestions for her team either. Though she had been her team's overseer and from what he understood, it sounded like she'd done a pretty good job. He was really proud of her for doing so well in that. Also of Amity for not going off on her teammates, though he suspected Arnold Carey's presence was a factor in that, as his younger brother was in Amity's year and she wouldn't want Arnold to say bad things about her to his brother, who could be a potential betrothal for her someday.

He was proud of his own team too. They had done so well so far, and this had to be the easiest challenge of them all. Ryan rather excelled at transfiguration, even compared to some of his relatives, at least the ones he'd had classes with-and especially important was that he knew full well that he was better at it than Carrie was. Though, back before the divorce, when Ryan would come home with Os in Transfig, his mother claimed that it was only because of the genetics inherited from her side of the family, and that he was nothing compared to the rest of them. Which had not proven to be true, but then neither was a lot of stuff that she said.

For some odd reason, these challenges had brought up a lot of stuff about his childhood within his own mind. For the part with the boggart, that had made sense. It had turned into her and she had berated him until Sally and Jude had stepped forward and it had changed into what they were afraid of instead. While the first year had freaked out and began crying-a perfectly understandable reaction to someone's worst fear, he'd been shaking himself and he was an adult -his sister had handled it admirably and admittedly, the Crotalus had immensely enjoyed seeing Ross Manger as a clown.

In fact, Sally had been a huge asset to the team and he was so happy to have her with him. Ryan didn't think he could have managed these challenges without her and they definitely would not have been in second place after the first challenge. He was also thrilled that Jamie and his father had regained custody and that he would have Sally, their brothers and especially Peyton back with them. Unfortunately, they'd have Carrie to contend with, but when he'd asked Uncle Seth a long time ago about how they survived life with his mother, his uncle had remarked that there was safety in numbers and that there were seven of them against one of her. Plus, his grandparents were both decent people. Grandmother Enid was so kind and loving, and even though Grandfather Otis came across gruff, cranky and miserly, he was great too and seemingly even had a soft spot for the seventh year.

Aside from that, well, perhaps it was just that Ryan needed to prove to himself that he wasn't worthless, maybe even prove it to her , to them . It was very possible that Carrie would whine to his mother if his team beat hers which would likely lead to contacting Uncle Seth and accusing him of helping Ryan cheat. Or Uncle Seth or one of his other aunts or uncles would contact his mother to throw it in her face about how wonderful he'd done. Of course, that meant that he...would actually have to do wonderful.

Of course, nothing Ryan would ever do would ever impress his mother and make her think he was anything but dirt. He could contribute something great to the magical world, be someone amazing and be important beyond his family name-which was unlikely-she'd still hate him and not recognize anything he managed to accomplish, would minimize it at best. It was probably best that he just try to feel good for himself, though Ryan had his doubts about that happening too. At least he'd realized he was never get his mother's approval and while that hurt immensely, it was probably good and healthy that he'd accepted it.

Now he had to handle Jude though and show her that he didn't really think she was stupid. He thought she had low self-esteem. Maybe one of her parents had treated her like dung too. Ryan faced the first year."It wasn't that I don't appreciate your help. The fact is, I just...know more about magic. Even if you were from a magical background, I'm still a lot older than you. I've learned more. I don't always think my ideas are very good either." He admitted. "And I'm sure that even if you can't go with the theme Sally suggested, you've probably learned something in class this year. Professor Olivers and Professor Skies are both excellent teachers and I'm sure they've taught you something . Do what you're most comfortable with. Nobody expects anything really advanced from a first year, including Professor Skies."

With that, he turned to the lemon and began to think of all the similarities between it and a prairie dog. Really, Ryan had always rather wished he'd been in Teppenpaw, because it was the one house that Carrie never would have been sorted into. As it was, they were stuck in the same house and as far as he was concerned one of the best things about graduating was that she'd be at school most of the year and he wouldn't be. Briefly he debated the merits of spending part of his summer with Sophie or Arabella or his grandparents just to be away from the little monster.

In his mind he pictured a cute little prairie dog. Teppenpaw had a cuter mascot than the snake that represented Crotalus, a thought Ryan kept to himself because 18 year old boys were not supposed to be into cute things that weren't girls, but it was a statement of fact that prairie dogs were cuter than snakes, just like it was a statement of fact that Carrie and his mother and Ross Manger were terrible human beings.

Ryan did the spell and in place of the lemon was a perfect prairie dog. He had wanted to give it an imperfection, honestly, but he was afraid of getting marked down for it and he really did want to do the best he could. Maybe this time that would be enough.

11 Ryan Trust me, I've experienced both. She's scarier. 176 Ryan 0 5

Willow Collins

April 29, 2013 12:23 AM

Thirded by Willow Collins

Lately, Willow had been much happier. Not only had she been asked to the ball -and by a pureblood no less so there wasn't anything that complicated about it, even though Keme wasn't the exact same sort of pureblood that she was-but Autumn was home and eating somewhat willingly. At the time of the last challenge, she had still been in the hospital. No matter what happened with the challenges themselves, it wouldn't get Willow down. All she really had wanted all year was her sister to be well and having a date to the ball was just a bonus.

This was the last of the challenges, and she was feeling more enthusiastic than she had for the first two. She'd been so distracted and worried during them, and quite honestly, allowed James and Josh to do most of the work, making it through without screwing up or making a fool of herself, which was a good thing as that might reflect poorly on her family name. Families like hers were very much more in the public eye and under pressure to look good. This had affected Autumn terribly and probably contributed in a major way to her getting sick. Willow's sister didn't have much for self esteem, had always been shy and from what she'd picked up here and there from the rest of her family, quite delicate, needing more protection than she herself, even before all this. The older girl had always been a perfectionist and often anxious that she wouldn't do things exactly right. She'd always had the personality traits associated with people who got the disorder that she had.

Sometimes, Willow wondered if she was going to put under additional pressure, to really be the golden girl of the family, to shine and show them all how good the Collinses were, how important, to make up for Autumn being sick, Lily being illegitmate and their second cousin Olympia just being strange. Willow didn't really want this. Not because it would be difficult on her personally, she felt that she honestly could handle it well enough, but because it would hurt Autumn who would compare herself and feel like a failure-and the first year didn't want that, she wanted her sister to stay happy and feel good mentally so she wouldn't get so sick again. Despite her parents telling her very little, Willow knew how bad it had to have been given the length of time her sister had spent in the hospital. She might not have been an Aladren but she wasn't stupid .

As for the challenges , she felt just a tiny bit bad about not being able to contribute more to her team. She was so young and didn't know a lot of magic yet. Plus, the two older boys were extremely intelligent, downright brilliant. The Teppenpaw trusted them completely to know what they were doing, despite the reputation of Josh's family, something Nora seemed pretty interested in from an intellectual perspective. To Willow, he seemed like a perfectly nice person, someone who really cared about her and the other younger students on the team. Of course, she very much doubted she'd be spending any time with anyone on her team other than Gemma after this, though she hoped they'd at least say hi when they ran into each other around school. As far as her roommate was concerned, she hoped that the other girl considered this a bonding experience and that they'd become closer friends now, even though she'd hate to leave Julian out.

Willow listened as Josh and James discussed what they were to do about the sixth object. Quite honestly, she didn't really understand why there weren't six objects in the first place. Most teams had six people and for the ones that had five, they could simply take away one of the objects from those boxes. That all would have made so much more sense to her.

Josh claimed the button after suggesting they break the stick in half-a really creative idea but James didn't seem to want to do that-and claimed the button, which honestly, was what Willow would have wanted. She'd have to choose something else though."I'll take the pin cushion." She could turn it into a stuffed animal of some kind, maybe an octopus. Taking out her wand and doing the required steps, the tomato shaped pin cushion grew legs-all but one of the required eight- and its left eye, though the right one was missing. It's cloth skin turned into fuzzy plush material, only looked quite well worn, as if a child had been carrying it around and taking it to bed every night. Like it was a much loved toy. It was adorable, and Willow hoped it would be good enough for Professor Skies.

11 Willow Collins Thirded 253 Willow Collins 0 5

Melanie Lennox

April 29, 2013 1:19 AM

At the last possible moment... by Melanie Lennox

In a way, Melanie was a tiny bit sad about the end of the challenges, however, in another way she was quite glad. They'd really been stressing Valerie out and she'd ended up getting sick from all of it and coming down with the flu, though she was better now. She'd only been out of classes for a week, though she'd still been taking it easy the rest of the time. Melanie felt that it would have been so much better if these challenges had not taken place during her sister's CATS year. The Teppenpaw knew it was so important to Valerie to do well on them and that she needed to focus on them without all this challenge nonsense. At least though, she was well now and would hopefully stay that way for the tests.

However, for herself, they'd gone all right. Melanie hadn't had to do what would have been the worst for her which was the second challenge with the mud pit. She could have handled it if she'd had to, but she was simply not an outdoorsy athletic girl-though nobody on their team really seemed to be-and probably honestly would not have been much of an asset. Melanie was definitely more brains than brawn. So far this year, she'd been making straight Os. Anything she might have been less strong on-like the physical parts of DADA, just because she wasn't sick, didn't mean she was great at those things-she more than made up for on theoretical work. Theory came so incredibly easy to her and she understood the vast majority of it right away. It had probably been for the best that she'd been overseer since Melanie was much stronger at intellectual tasks than physical ones. She didn't like to brag or be egotistical, but she felt that academically was where she shined and certainly, she wasn't magically weak either.

Also,fortunately, Lucille had not been the least bit angry at Melanie for being overseer and that had been a tremendous relief. She really didn't want to fight about something that was really trivial in the grand scheme of things. She really didn't like conflict all that much and only really got angry when someone hurt her sister-and then, of course, there was the overly frustrating fact that there was nothing she could do to avenge Valerie so to speak. Melanie simply couldn't think of horrible ways to get revenge and even if she could have, probably wouldn't have been able to go through with them on a moral or propriety level. She neither really wanted to hurt someone nor appear improper.

Today was the end of it all, and though she didn't think they were necessarily going to finish all that great, she still felt her team had done the best job they could and really worked well together. Part of her naturally wanted Valerie's team to win more than her own because her sister needed that more than she did, to feel she hadn't failed her team, hadn't been a burden to them whereas Melanie knew that she herself had not failed hers. The Teppenpaw had more confidence than her sister. Of course, Ryan's team had been in second place after the first challenge, and given how good he'd been to Valerie, she wanted him to do well too.

Melanie grinned when the last challenge was explained. This would test her magical abilities That was something she wasn't in the least bit worried about and she knew it was something that Valerie could handle too without possibly harming herself. That was key, her sister had already had the flu recently and the third year didn't want her to wear herself out and possibly get sick again. She wanted the Crotalus to stay at Sonora. If Valerie had to leave, she herself would have to make a very difficult decision about what she'd do. Of course, Mother would likely insist she stay there.

Josephine decided to duplicate one of the items, which in itself qualified for what they were supposed to do in this challenge. "I'll take the feather." Melanie volunteered. Perhaps she should have let Lucille have first pick after last time, but truthfully, she had an idea for it. She would make a beautiful fan. The Teppenpaw supposed if her roommate-or anyone else for that matter-wanted it too, it could be what Josephine duplicated.

11 Melanie Lennox At the last possible moment... 226 Melanie Lennox 0 5