Ugh (Team 11) on Mirage Chamber

Librarian Amelle Nicchi

January 22, 2016 8:36 PM

Challenge Two: Air Time! by Librarian Amelle Nicchi

It was the morning of the second challenge. Notices had gone up that Monday advising everyone to come to the Entrance Hall at 10 in the morning to the portrait where the House Points were calculated just outside of Cascade. They would require their wand and, if they had one, a broom. They were also advised to dress appropriately for physical activity and to split their team into three different groups. But other than that, the notice was rather vague.

Standing on a makeshift stand, Amelle called for everyone’s attention. “Good morning everyone!” Amelle greeted. She was so nervous to be the one hosting the second challenge. As Librarian, she didn’t really have to do much talking when it came to the masses. The only other time she had to do so was when she was substituting for Charms and even then… they were small groups.

“I hope you have all come prepared for today’s event. Behind this portrait of Tavarius Mims is where the magic happens.” Amelle had decided to use the Mirage Chamber to host the challenge because it would allow for the challenge to remain a secret from the students, could transfer into anything she wished it too with a snap of her fingers. “This is an Air challenge and it will run in three different parts. The first and third parts require brooms, so if you do not have one, one will be provided to you. The second part will be on the ground. You will decide amongst your group members which two members will fly in the first part, which two members will stay on the ground in the second part, and which two members will fly in the third part. Any groups with seven members, decide if the third person will be part of the first group or the third group.” Amelle looked around to make sure what she was saying was being understood. “I reiterate, there are not to be three members of your team working the ground level.” They had to provide a part of each challenge that would allow for everyone to participate. Since some people couldn’t physically fly, she thought this was a nice alternative.

“In the Mirage Chamber, you will find a very large maze. Each part of the maze is split based on what group you are in. Those who will be flying will be facing various traps, spells, charms, hexes, and creatures. It will not be easy, so make sure your wand is somewhere that is easily accessible.” Amelle warned them.

“Let’s discuss the jobs of each group.The first group will be on brooms. Your challenge is to get the map that we provide you through the maze and to the door marked with your team number on it. You must remain on your broom at all times until you reach the door. Please note that the maze is charmed to prevent anyone from attempted to fly above it.” Kiva explained. She knew there would be one or two that would attempt to find the easy way around. “When you pass through the door, you will be in a small room with only a table and a door to exit. Place the map on the table and then exit the room. Exiting the room will bring you right to this spot.

“The second group will be planted in the center of the maze and be on the ground. A door will appear, behind the door is the table with the map. The map shows where hidden items are throughout the middle of the maze where the second group will be stationed. Use the map. There are as many items as there are teams, the items are labeled with team numbers, but this does not show on the map. The goal is to find your team’s item. Accio will not work for this challenge, so be creative. Once you have your object, please return to the room where you found the map, place the object on the table, and exit the opposite door. You will find yourself in this spot where your teammates from the first group will be waiting.”

Amelle paused. There was so many different parts to this challenge that she wanted to make sure she explained them all in detail. “Finally, the last group. This group will also be deposited in their section of the maze. Group three will be back on brooms. A door will appear just as it did for the group two and you will find your team item on the table. You must keep the item safe as you fly back through the maze. You will be facing the same challenges as your teammates did, so make sure you keep your wand available. Once you are out of the maze, a door will appear and you will exit the Mirage Chamber and join the rest of your team. If, for whatever reason, you need help, shoot sparks up and myself or another staff member will come to assist.

“This challenge is timed. Each team will go through one at a time. So, until it’s your team’s turn, you are to wait in Cascade Hall. We will call your team number when it’s your turn. Choose your groups wisely. Unless anyone has any questions, let’s get started. Team One, please stay here, everyone else, please head into the Hall.”

OOC: In case the challenge is confusing, here is a summary of what each group will do:

Each team will split into three groups. This can be decided under this post or however you would like to accomplish this.

Group 1: Purpose is to fly through the maze (there are obstacles, such as moving bushes, creatures, hexes, spells, charms, etc) and find your Team Number’s door. You are provided a map in the beginning. You must get this map to the door or else your teammates will not be able to complete their part of the challenge.

Group 2: A door will appear in the center of the maze where you are waiting. You must retrieve the map from the room behind the door. Use the map to find the item hidden in the maze that has your team number on it. Accio will not work. Be creative. Once you have your item, place it on the table behind the door.

Group 3: Purpose is to fly through the maze (there are obstacles, such as moving bushes, creatures, hexes, spells, charms, etc) and find the exit with the item that Group 2 secured.

Points are based on creativity, length, and member posts. Please tag me if your group need adult assistance. This challenge will take 3 weeks OOC and you can post any group at any given time, so please do not feel rushed to get through each section. Have fun!

Subthreads:

I don't think that's a good idea for me.(Team 13) by Owen Brockert with Chloe Jareau

Group One (nm) by Librarian Nicchi with Gabe Valenti - Team Twelve, Gia Donovan, Ben Pierce, Team Four, Jamie Park

Group Two (nm) by Librarian Nicchi with Jax Donovan, Owen, Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Group Three (nm) by Librarian Nicchi with Arnold Manger, Isaac Douglas, John Umland, Chloe Jareau, Scarlett Brockert

(Team Four) Put me in, Coach, I'm ready to fly by Ben Pierce with Arne Reinhardt

(Team 12) Game on! by Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw] with Clark Dill, Isaac Douglas

Let's work this out (Team Three) by Emery Kijewski-Jareau with John Umland, Emilia-Louise Scott

Looking for Guidance (Team Five) by Gia Donovan with Barnaby Pye, Ji-Eun Park, Ji-Eun

Ugh (Team 11) by Angelique Brockert with Ginger, Jake Manger, Diana Carey

Team two, take two! by Arnold Manger with Raine Collindale, Andrew Carey, Jax Donovan, Savannah Brockert

The worst thing (Team one) by Nevaeh Reed with Abigail De La Garza, Serena Brockert, Ava Fletcher, Kyte

Anxious (Team 14) by Chaslyn Brockert with Aiden O'Neil, Theodore Wolseithcrafte

Team six, pick up sticks. by Wu Peizhi with Leonidas Bennett, Liliana Bannister, Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

Taking charge. (Team 10) by Oliver Ferguson II with Dustin Newell, Laila Kennedy, Jack Spencer

Fly, my pretties! Fly! (Team Seven) by Sammy Meeks with Tristan Spaulding

A much better challenge (Team Eight) by Alistair Johnson with Natalie Varth, Tepp, Emrys Lucan, Lionel Layne

Death sounds like a good alternative (Team Nine) by Caelia Lucan with Kira Spaulding, Lena Westley

Come on, Team Fifteen! by Joseph Umland with Araceli Arbon

6 Librarian Amelle Nicchi Challenge Two: Air Time! 32 Librarian Amelle Nicchi 1 5

Owen Brockert

January 23, 2016 6:33 AM

I don't think that's a good idea for me.(Team 13) by Owen Brockert

Owen was nervous about the second challenge. Not so much because his team wasn't in great standing after the first one-he didn't care much, he just hoped that nobody was too upset or blamed him for some reason, not that he could think of one for them to do so-but because the instructions required brooms-which he didn't own- and clothing appropriate for a physical challenge. The very word physical filled him with dread. If Owen had to do anything too physically demanding, he was likely to have an asthma attack. In front of everyone. It would be totally humiliating.

And definitely his fault if they did poorly. Of course, he believed Jemima would still be his friend-and she knew he had asthma anyway-but everyone else would hate him and he'd feel awful letting them down even if they didn't. Not to mention the awful physical aspects. Owen had actually had kind of a some trouble with his condition since the end of midterm and being back at school. He felt okay right at the moment but...he didn't want that to change.

Well, okay, on second thought, never mind...it was changing. He was starting to feel like the air was being sucked out of the room, and his heart rate quickened. The Teppenpaw didn't often have asthma attacks based on stress the way he did with things like activity. That was the big one. More so than cockroaches or mold or cold weather. In fact, even before he'd started feeling bad over break, Owen had only been allowed out of the house to go to Jemima's for their annual charity coffee morning and his grandparents' for holiday dinner because it was so cold. He'd never been allowed to play outside in the snow as a kid. Maybe when he was very very little but he couldn't remember.

Right now he wanted to reach out for Jemima's hand but he didn't quite have the nerve. Owen spent a lot of time thinking about doing thing like that with her. Holding hands or cuddling. He...had a feeling she might not mind but others might talk and say things about her that weren't nice. The kind of things that would ruin a girl's reputation and Owen didn't want that. He cared too much about her. Still, it would be nice to have a little comfort right now, as it was possible he was having an anxiety issue-as he was feeling anxious-and not an asthma attack.

He grabbed for his inhaler instead. Embarrassing, but it wouldn't hurt Jemima in others' eyes. Also, medication might be what he needed. Owen breathed in the potion while Miss Niche began to speak. He'd of course hoped-and kind of assumed-that when they split up into teams that he'd be with Jemima, Chloe should be able to see how obviously well they worked together and that would be good for the team. However, he'd been so worried about the whole physical activity thing that he hadn't thought about it as much.

However, once the librarian mentioned the second, non-flying group, Owen sighed with relief. When the instructions had been given fully, and the teams were released, he spoke up. "Chloe, may I please be one of the ones on the ground?" He looked between her and Jemima, in hopes that the seventh year would be okay with that and Jemima would speak up to join him. It wasn't so much that he'd mind working with one of the others, but he and Jemima made such a good team in so many ways. Plus, he knew she wasn't all that big on flying either.

And considering he'd almost had an asthma attack before anything happened, maybe Chloe could see that Owen on the ground was the best strategy overall anyway. He didn't know that he'd be good at it, but he knew he'd do a lot less damage to either the team standing or his own airway if he remained in the second group.

11 Owen Brockert I don't think that's a good idea for me.(Team 13) 300 Owen Brockert 0 5

Librarian Nicchi

January 23, 2016 8:53 AM

Group One (nm) by Librarian Nicchi

6 Librarian Nicchi Group One (nm) 32 Librarian Nicchi 0 5

Librarian Nicchi

January 23, 2016 8:54 AM

Group Two (nm) by Librarian Nicchi

6 Librarian Nicchi Group Two (nm) 32 Librarian Nicchi 0 5

Librarian Nicchi

January 23, 2016 8:54 AM

Group Three (nm) by Librarian Nicchi

6 Librarian Nicchi Group Three (nm) 32 Librarian Nicchi 0 5

Ben Pierce

January 23, 2016 10:20 PM

(Team Four) Put me in, Coach, I'm ready to fly by Ben Pierce

Hippo was excited about this challenge. Everything he'd heard about it so far suggested this was the one he'd excel at the most. He needed to dress for physical activity and bring a broom. How could it be anything but sporty? And if there was anything Ben was good at, it was sports.

So he arrived at the entrance hall carrying his broom, with his wand tucked into his arm holster (he'd gotten one of those for Christmas so he didn't have as many near misses breaking it in his pocket or bag). As the librarian explained what to expect, he bit his lower lip and tried not to bounce on his heels too noticeably. Mazes didn't sound too bad, especially with a map, but the traps, spells, charms and hexes might pose a problem to him as a first year. With the broom, he hoped he could just outrun or outmaneuver the creatures.

Still, he did not hesitate at all when his group moved into the Cascade Hall to wait their turn before addressing Portia as their defacto leader in order to volunteer, "I can do the flying! I don't care if I'm in the first group or the third, but I'm good on a broom!" Plus, the flying definitely sounded more fun than trying to find stuff on the ground.

"Maybe the first group," he added after a moment of thought on the difference between the two flying options. He was the only first year in the group so his spell work was going to be a weakness if he needed to use it to defend their prize during the exit flight. "I don't know a lot of defense spells yet if we need to actively keep our thing safe."

1 Ben Pierce (Team Four) Put me in, Coach, I'm ready to fly 339 Ben Pierce 0 5

Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]

January 24, 2016 2:40 PM

(Team 12) Game on! by Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw]

Now, normally, Gabe was all about being on a team, and competition. Teamwork, coming together to complete a common goal? Years of little league had given him plenty of experience with that. But the Teppenpaw also liked to feel useful, and this schoolwide competition seemed purposefully designed to make him feel anything but. For the first challenge, he had only been halfway through his first year,and generally useless. He was just a kid from a normal family from New York, he’d never had any experience with magic before a few months ago. Aside from Care of Magical Creatures, the only thing he seemed to be good at when it came to magic was causing unintentional explosions. And flying.

Flying was the closest thing to sports back home that the first year had at Sonora. Quidditch could have replaced little league for him, but that had been canceled in lieu of the Challenges. So instead, Gabe had committed himself to doing everything he could this year to make sure he was on the team next year. It would take a lot of work, being that he hadn’t grown up around the sport and all.

But he applied his commitment and his focus from old sports to new. Instead of baseball practice after school, he went flying after classes, for two hours a day. Sometimes just laps around the Pitch, practicing on his own and trying new stunts, sometimes playing with others. On weekends, he went to MARS, sometimes making a batting cage appear, other times playing basketball. He knew he was supposed to go all-in on this being a wizard thing, but these small reminders of home were so much more fun than being in the library, studying.

On the morning of the second challenge, Gabe was feeling a bit more hopeful than he had before. Yeah, he had a bit more experience with spellwork than he had before, but more importantly, he’d gotten a new broom for Christmas. It was beautiful, and quick, much faster than some of the old school brooms. The eleven year-old carried a Starsweeper XXI, same as the American National Quidditch team. It had been after the big family Christmas dinner, at night, when his parents had given it to him in secret. His parents had researched it, and communicated with Ms. Howard, their magical liaison, just to make him happy. It meant the world to him.

The chubby eleven year-old was dressed in his new Christmas sneakers, black basketball shorts, and a navy blue hoody, under his US Quidditch Gianni Fedele jersey. He wore his favorite New York Mets baseball cap, old and battered as it was, for good luck. He knew this wasn’t very magical of him, but hey, he did have his wand, and this is how he was most comfortable flying. And he had to be his very best today, to make up for his other, erm, weaknesses.

“I’m fast, especially with this,” he held up his brand new broom as evidence, “I can take the first leg. Somebody better at defense and things can be my partner and cover me. Then more experienced fliers can finish it up, like an anchor in a relay,” he flushed slightly as he remembered that he was the youngest member of the team and the older students probably wouldn’t want to hear his suggestions, “I mean, if that’s cool with everyone.”

0 Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw] (Team 12) Game on! 330 Gabe Valenti [Teppenpaw] 0 5

Clark Dill

January 25, 2016 10:14 AM

To victory! by Clark Dill

They had not won the first challenge. It was a new experience for Clark. He had led a fairly charmed life at Sonora so far, what with his apparent innate skill at Quidditch and the staff's preference for him as prefect and Assistant Quidditch Captain. He was good in classes, had an intelligent friend and science partner in John Umland, and he was leading an excellent group in the science club. Really, the only unlucky thing to have happened to him since he arrived at Sonora was getting Oliver Ferguson as his roommate.

He'd kind of just assumed things would continue to go his way.

And to be fair, tied for fourth place really wasn't a bad position to be in going into the second challenge. But he couldn't help the feeling that they needed to do better this time around.

He wasn't quite sure how well suited they were for a physical challenge though. Sure, the boys of their team were all on Quidditch teams (or would have been if Quidditch was happening this year) so that was promising. But as much as he didn't want to sound sexist, he was a bit concerned about the female half of the team in this challenge that required brooms.

He had brought along his broom. It was no longer the newest one on the market and hadn't been top of the line when it was, but it was a good broom and only a year and a half old, so it was in that golden era where it was still almost-new and yet he was comfortable and familiar with it. He was excited to get to fly it in near-competition today, especially since (he assumed) there wouldn't be any bludgers after him this time around.

No bludgers, but as he listened to Ms. Nicchi, there would be plenty of other things to avoid while aloft during the challenge.

He nodded in agreement as Gabe volunteered for the first leg of the relay. Looking to Isaac, he asked, "Want me to go with him, or do you want to?" Isaac was their advanced student, so he should probably take the anchor position in the final leg, but Gabe was just a first year so he definitely needed an older student for defense support. He didn't think the last group's job sounded so more difficult than the first group's that Clark and Isaac both needed to be there.

1 Clark Dill To victory! 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Chloe Jareau

January 25, 2016 8:45 PM

We'll figure something out. by Chloe Jareau

Chloe’s holiday had not been one that her family had been hoping for. The day after Christmas, her brother had finally passed away. It had been one of the most traumatic moments of her life. When her biological mother had passed away, Chloe had felt most anger at the woman for abandoning her and putting her through so much the summer prior to her death. Anger that Chloe had yet to figure out how to let go of. But it was different with Angel. It was like her heart had been ripped from her and crushed. She hadn’t been able to breathe or feel or do much of anything. Ben gave her some relief, but even that had been limited.

His death had ripped a hole through her family and they had needed time to repair it. Her parents had sent notice to the school that Emery and her would be extended their holiday due to the death of their brother. That week they had all spent time together, learning to cope and to grieve. Before she and her brother left to head back to school, they had stopped by the cemetery one last time. The stone wouldn’t be put up for a couple of months, so they laid flower near the marker and said their goodbyes until they could return.

When they finally arrived at Sonora, they decided on a quiet return. Emery went to his dorm and Chloe went to hers. It had been the first Sunday since the Feast, so most people were either finishing their homework or off creating problems. Aside from seeing Ji-Eun, Chloe’s return had felt almost invisible. She hadn’t been too sure on how to feel about it. Even so, it felt good to be around her friends again. Some normalcy was bound to help her through it.

Of course, she wasn’t sure how normal today was considering she had to do a challenge. Chloe didn’t really mind her team. They weren’t in last place, but they certainly were no where near number one. She hoped that no one on this team was all that upset over the rankings. She really didn’t have much of a fight to spare though, but she hoped that they would be understanding of her current state of mind.

She listened to what the challenge would bring about. She hadn’t flown as actively as she once used to, but she was athletic and riding a broom was hard to forget. It was hard to say how exactly the first years would be in either situation. Either they rode brooms or they were good at treasure hunting, but there wasn’t much she could really do about it. Before she could really make any decisions though, Owen spoke up. Chloe gave him a look over. He didn’t seem to be in a mood for this. “Sure, that would be fine.” Chloe agreed. No need to make him do something that he didn’t want to do.

“I’ll take Group Three and I’ll take Cass with me. Group One will be Aislinn and Camden. Jemima, you join Owen in Group Two.” Since Aislinn was the second oldest of the group, she should take on the spells and things that might be lurking in the maze with another. “Unless anyone has objects to their group, we should get started.”

OOC: Since Theodore hasn’t posted since he was in his 2nd year, I’m posting this as though he is no longer there.

6 Chloe Jareau We'll figure something out. 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Chloe Jareau

January 25, 2016 8:50 PM

OOC: CORRECTION by Chloe Jareau

I should have checked the list before posting. I put Camden instead of Cameron, so please forgive me!

6 Chloe Jareau OOC: CORRECTION 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

January 26, 2016 6:48 PM

Let's work this out (Team Three) by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery stood amongst his peers in the Entrance Hall while he listened to the Librarian discuss the day’s event. The challenge, in and of itself, didn’t seem terribly difficult, so long as two of the groups could think on their feet and the third enjoyed treasure hunting, but splitting the groups up to the advantage of the group and to everyone’s pleasure was probably the biggest challenge of them all. Emery knew that Jamie and John were Quidditch Players, so he ruled them both in as flyers. Not together, of course. After the last challenge, their dislike of one another had been evident, however subtle. He didn’t think he had ever seen Lauren out on the field with her friend, Ginger, so he doubted she was all that good on a broom, but he also wasn’t sure about the Emilia-Louise or Arthur either.

It was a good thing that they didn’t have to sit through very many teams because Emery didn’t think his concentration could handle it very well. It had been a hard transition to return to Sonora after his brother’s death. One that he wasn’t sure he had even wanted to make. His parents had given him the option of staying home and finishing his year at home, but both Chloe and him decided that wasn’t the best choice. Being around friends would help distract him from everything else in his life. If he hadn’t been in every class he could be in that weren’t independent studies, Emery would have probably gone mad. Thankfully, all the work had kept him preoccupied, so it was only small moments of quiet where he caught himself thinking about things he didn’t want to think about.

Now, however, that they have been dismissed, the buzz of the other teams was lulling him in a way that he did not like. He wished that he could be on the same team as his friends instead of being pinned against them. He had no idea how a competition was supposed to bring everyone together. It rather seemed more like the opposite. What could he do though? He just had to suck it up and hope that his teammates didn’t kill him in his sleep if they did too poorly. They were eighth ranking, which was basically at the middle of the packed. Not bad, but not good. Maybe with brooms they could do a little better.

Focusing on the actual task set ahead of them, Emery looked around at his team. “So, I was thinking… Jamie and John both play Quidditch. I think the two of you should lead the First and Third groups. I’m not a flyer, so I wouldn’t be all that great of help. Emilia-Louise and Arthur should be either of your partners. I’ll let them decide and Lauren can partner with me for the Second group. Unless any of you know of a reason why that wouldn’t work?” Emery looked around to see if anyone thought that the partnerships wouldn’t work out as well as he was thinking that it should. At least he was certain that John and Jamie would do well on the brooms. The rest was just guesswork. He was mostly just trying to fill the time between sitting in the hall and actually doing the challenge. If he sat doing and saying nothing, his idle mind will work his way back to things he didn’t want to think about.

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau Let's work this out (Team Three) 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Gia Donovan

January 26, 2016 9:20 PM

Looking for Guidance (Team Five) by Gia Donovan

Gia trailed behind her brother as they walked through the halls towards the Entrance where they were expected to meet. Gia was not happy with her brother. He kept abandoning her. First, during midterm, he spent most of his time at the boxing gym, just like summer. Then, when they returned, he spent all his extra time in the sports room of MARS working on his boxing techniques to impress his ‘Coach’. Gia wanted to go out and enjoy the gardens, but he was too busy. She wanted to study together, but he would say that he already did it. Blah, blah, and blah.

She felt a hand land on her head and she looked up to see her brother grinning at her. He gave her head a shake, which caused her to frown at him, but before she could retaliate, he was off in search of his own team. It was weird to Gia how much he had changed. He was much taller now compared to her, which made her feel less like him than ever before. He felt more mature too with his attitude and Gia didn’t like it. She wanted her brother back to being the Jax she always knew. Or, she really needed to find a new hobby.

Of course, that brought her to her next thought. Summer! Her mother said that she was old enough now to go visit her friends! Gia was so excited! The minute she saw Sammy, she told her all about being able to see her over the summer and if it would be okay with her moms if she came and stayed for a few days. Nothing was worked out of course, but as long as the information was out there, that was what kept Gia in such a good mood, even when she was around her annoying brother.

Remembering her mother’s promise was enough to lift her spirits as she made her way over to her team. Even Barnaby couldn’t bring her down. Gia smiled to her teammates, even to her brother’s roommate, in greeting. The challenge discussion was a long one and Gia did her best to follow along. There were specific groups with jobs and two of those groups dealt with brooms. Gia was not necessarily terrified of flying or anything like that, she just didn’t have a lot of practice doing it. She learned when she was young, during the days on training brooms with her dad around. But she didn’t really remember them the way Jax did. The last time she was on a broom was during flying lessons in her first year. That wasn’t all that long ago and she knew it wasn’t terribly difficult, but even so, she wanted to make it clear that despite her magical background, living in Muggle areas prevented broom play.

When Ms. Nicchi had completed her explanation of the challenge and advised everyone but Team One to head into Cascade Hall, Gia spoke up. “I am not a very good Flyer.” She said, mainly to Ji-Eun. “I know how to fly and I passed the lessons, but we don’t get a lot of time back home to practice.” She explained. “I can still do it if you need me too, of course.” She didn’t mind the flying, she just minded the fact that she would have to do it quickly and with obstacles of various nature. Whoever she got stuck with would have to be patient with her. It was that reason alone that had her praying that her partner wasn’t Barnaby.

6 Gia Donovan Looking for Guidance (Team Five) 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

John Umland

January 27, 2016 5:16 PM

I'm amenable. by John Umland

Water, Earth, Fire, Air: the corruptible classical elements, and items which lived together about as harmoniously as Team Three. Air dried water and could, if the proportions were right, snuff out fire and wear away earth, water and earth also snuffed out fire, water wore away and displaced earth, earth and water choked out air, fire consumed air and certain categories of earth – hence the magical importance of sulphur, though that was something John had only read a little about in modern works and summaries of older ones. His mother had started him on a selection of the bits of the mountains of ancient Greek material on elemental magical theory which had been translated into English this year and planned to have him work on some of the simpler Latin originals next year, so by his sixth year, he expected he would finally get to read something interesting.

Privately, of course. There was nothing wrong with studying such things – whole magical theories were based around those ideas and at least some familiarity with them was essential to some forms of Divination and, from what he’d seen in Julian’s old textbooks, advanced Charms and Transfiguration – but John suspected he would be at least a little embarrassed if Clark caught him wading backward through even something as modern as Paracelsus before he found a way to frame the information in their shared language, never mind wading through Proclus or Lull or any work of any of the nigh-innumerable Dudes Named Ptolemy. Theodore might be all right for discussing that stuff, but he had the idea that Clark would at best consider him a class traitor. At worst, he feared his friend might just laugh at him.

Things in that category of things he knew felt even more awkward to know than usual when he realized the challenges were evidently following a pattern based on the classical elements. Or rather, avoidance of the classical elements: they had not been allowed to touch water, they were not to fly too high within the maze. John bit his lip, trying to think his way around that one. A charm to prevent them from flying above the maze meant the maze itself didn’t reach the ceiling of whatever hidden room they were entering, which meant there was likely some wriggle room, maybe enough to catch a glimpse ahead, for someone who could make himself small enough and knew how to remember what he only briefly saw….

This would, he thought, normally be a job for a Seeker, but unfortunately, the Seeker on his new team was Park instead of Clark. John had, to his mild irritation, unexpectedly taken a turn toward tall after he turned thirteen, but he was not terribly bulky by Beater standards (he relied more on strategy than brute strength on the Pitch, though he still expected he could hold his own if their team devolved into making decisions via judicial arm-wrestling matches) and Clark managed to Seek very well despite being taller than he was, so he might have some chance, but he guessed he couldn’t know until he saw the legal boundaries.

If Emery was thinking about cheating, though, he didn’t show it. John listened carefully to him, trying to keep his expression politely neutral. Emery had returned to school late this year, which meant he’d either been severely ill or had something horrible happen to him over the holidays, which meant that John had no idea what to do with him at the moment. The last time he’d tried to do something nice for someone who’d just had something horrible happen to her – well, Joanie actually had looked like she felt a bit more like herself in the end, but only after she’d realized that her grandma’s death had inspired John to lose an argument on purpose, which had inspired her to throw a dictionary at him and yell at him for a bit, neither of which had been parts of his original plan. John didn’t know enough personal details about Emery to even have a plan, so he devoutly hoped that everyone was in a strictly-business sort of mood.

“I should probably lead the third group,” he volunteered. One hand was occupied with his broom; the other twisted the button on the pocket of his shirt. He had met the requirement for outdoorsy dress by approximating a scouting uniform, minus the neckerchief because he had no great desire to hang himself by accident or have an opponent (or, this team being rather poorly assembled, nominal ally) to try Transfiguring it into a snake at an inopportune moment. “Between the bats and the Bludgers, I’m used to flying without my hands and carrying something heavy and not getting hit by anything all at the same time.”

16 John Umland I'm amenable. 285 John Umland 0 5

Isaac Douglas

January 27, 2016 5:29 PM

That's the idea. by Isaac Douglas

Isaac was by no means a good Quidditch player – his half-sisters had gotten all the athletic tendencies of the Laynes; Rachel had largely given it up in the name of looking properly ladylike, but Kate had played Seeker for Teppenpaw and Alicia had been a fan of rock climbing, of all things, even before she married into a family which owned a mountain – but he had served on the Crotalus team for several years and, therefore, owned his own broom. He held it carefully by his side as the whole school packed into the area outside the Cascade Hall, hoping proximity would protect it from damage at the hands of his enemies. Broken twigs were probably more likely to be the results of accidental collisions in the crowd than they were to be the products of sabotage, but Isaac preferred not to take any chances, not with equipment he needed to get through this as quickly and easily as possible.

First water, now air. Isaac found himself devoutly hoping that there were only going to be three challenges and that the third one was earth-based. He didn’t like fire, not only because its character was contrary to his nature but also because his sister Alicia favored it. Isaac could remember her doing things with the candles in their playroom when they were little just to scare him and he had not been surprised when, several years after she started school, he’d read that fire was strongly associated with Transfiguration, though its co-association with defensive charms had thrown him at first because Alicia favored the offense and he’d gathered later that she found pure defense somewhat difficult. He had finally decided, based on mentions of Vesta and Jupiter and Vulcan in the same discussion, that that part was somebody’s messed-up religion and therefore not relevant. Or at least not, in the current context, relevant enough to make him want to deal with a fire challenge at all. Earth would be much better. It could be dangerous, too, but it was steadier, usually slower, not as prone to suddenly rising up out of control. At school, the worst thing it was likely to do was cover him in mud, and while Isaac disliked being covered in mud, it was a massive improvement over being covered in ashes.

When Ms. Nicchi finished her speech, their first year Teppenpaw immediately spoke up with a suggestion. Isaac wasn’t sure what a relay was, but the plan sounded okay. Assuming, of course, that the kid was right about how good he was on a broom. It was a good broom, Isaac knew enough to see that, so unless Gabe Valenti had more gold than sense, he probably could at least fly competently….

He thought through the angles as quickly as he could when Clark asked for his input. On one hand, the first leg sounded easier and, being first, would be over with quicker, all of which were things that recommended it to him. However, protecting the first year would be challenging, and there were also status implications. The final leg would be the most noticeable, and while Isaac intensely disliked that kind of thing intrinsically, he knew he should really hold his nose and be impressive now….

“You can go this time,” he agreed. If the object was larger than a Snitch, which was likely since there weren’t many objects smaller than a Snitch, then Clark would probably do better with the map and Isaac with the treasure. If he just could have had a good Beater to watch his back while he did that, he thought they would have had a good chance, but…. “Ah…who’d like to accompany me in the third round?” he asked the girls, looking between the three of them. He expected he would have to do all the work no matter who answered, so he had no real preference. He just hoped he didn’t have to settle a fight between them over who the unlucky girl would be.

16 Isaac Douglas That's the idea. 273 Isaac Douglas 0 5

Barnaby Pye

January 28, 2016 10:41 AM

Let's see what your worst nightmare can do for you. by Barnaby Pye

Barnaby had arrived to the second challenge in his most comfortable clothes. Which, for him, meant that he had forgone his crisp dress-shirts for a more casual cotton button-up and a pair of khaki pants and a sweater that he didn’t particularly like. It didn’t matter that challenge two was supposed to be something which would exhaust physical activity, Barnaby didn’t own a single pair of training pants or a comfortable shirt with which he would be able to really exert himself physically and he neither had the desire nor the relationship to ask his roommates to borrow some clothes. Besides, even leaving his sleeves rolled up and his pants slightly less than pressed was too casual from him and he didn’t really envision ever needing to have different clothes. If he were ever in a situation in which he would need to run, then he’d be wearing his usual clothes, and it only seemed logical that he learn how to run in those and his black dress shoes versus track pants and trainers.

He took the smile Gia gave him when she joined the group as a win and returned it with one of his own, tight sarcastic grins which always made Tarquin laugh. Speaking of which, the break had gone relatively smoothly. The two had only seen each other for a couple of days as Tarquin’s father had decided that Tarquin was needed to attend various functions with him while Barnaby’s father remained more secretive than ever. He had been called into a meeting twice with his father. The first, upon his return, was the usual welcome back appointment that Barnaby had gotten used to over and one that he had seen Alfie participate in a multitude of times over the years. He was asked about his grades, his classmates, then Father had moved on to subtle politic questions which Tarquin and he had been trying to piece together over the years, before finally (finally) casually asking after Alfie’s well-being. And then he was dismissed. Yes, the first meeting had been nothing out of the ordinary.

Yet, the night before New Year’s Eve, Barnaby had been asked back into Father’s office. He had sat there, twiddling his thumbs (grateful no one had been there to watch because Pyes did not twiddle their thumbs) for forty-five minutes, something so unlike Father because normally the elder Pye was always on time. When he’d entered the office, something in the air had felt amiss, it was enough to make his bones hurt and cry for tea (though not just any tea) but he had waited patiently for Father to lead with what he wanted to say. This time, as all times, Father had taken his time to begin. Usually, however, after his slow, deliberate start, he commenced the meetings with a quick, businessman-like manner. Yet, when Barnaby looked closer this time around, he saw the grey hairs that hadn’t been there before, he saw the light bags, the yellowing eyes, the pallid skin and wondered if Father was not alright? He hadn’t had much time for wondering, though, because soon enough Father got to his point (as he always did) and Barnaby had been dismissed with a new set of instructions for the rest of that semester.

Most curious of all, however, had been his inability to tell Tarquin what had happened. Tarquin had known, he’d asked Barnaby very plainly, and when Barnaby hadn’t been able to answer him, Tarquin had gotten frustrated and broke his favourite quill. He had looked quite ashamed after that and asked to borrow one of Barnaby’s before attempting to vanish away the bits of quill and making a fresh pot of tea because they were out. That had been the last time he’d seen Tarquin over the holiday and while it had been most stress free (lounging around, marking up pages in various books they had stolen from their father’s libraries always put a smile on Barnaby’s face), there had been something oddly final about the situation and Barnaby had felt uneasy as though this might be the last time they could do something like this.

He had returned to Sonora, more guarded than before—he was not to show any weakness, his father had instructed him, and he had kept an eye on the Dempsey boy as per request, but other than that he had kept to himself. Taking his meals alone though more often than not he was unable to eat much more than bread and butter or even plain bread, though he did fill his aching stomach with pots of tea late in the night. His fourteenth birthday was fast approaching, in several weeks he would be three years away from legality. The thought was sobering. His childhood had passed by quickly and he was entering that age in which Alfie had fully broken away from the family and become completely reckless and loose with everything, secrets, witches, Quidditch, his entire life, basically. Barnaby didn’t want that for himself and, luckily, had spent most of his own life safeguarding against the hormones that had caused his older brother to act so irrationally.

And then Gia Donovan had opened her mouth and suddenly, without prompting from Tarquin, Barnaby began to question something Father had told him not to do for the first time in his life.

Weakness, or Gia, weakness or Gia. This was the debate that Barnaby was currently trying to settle in his head. He knew that to say he didn’t care for flying either would be to admit a weakness—a weakness he didn’t have, albeit, so that could still work in his favour. His brain churned quickly with all the possible responses he had in this situation. And then, in the most curious of moves that had never happened once before in his life, his mouth opened before he had finished his thinking process. “I’m not the best flyer either,” he heard himself saying. The lie came from his mouth so easily—at least he hadn’t lost his ability to lie smoothly, he thought as he recalled the afternoons he had been forced to spend on a broom because Father thought all young wizards ought to know how to fly properly. Besides, family disappointment that he was, Alfie had been rather handy on a broomstick and Barnaby just hadn’t been able to let his imperfect older brother best him in a test of physical endurance. “Though like Gia I can be flexible so I don’t mind being partnered with her.”

10 Barnaby Pye Let's see what your worst nightmare can do for you. 298 Barnaby Pye 0 5

Angelique Brockert

January 29, 2016 2:01 PM

Ugh (Team 11) by Angelique Brockert

From the instructions given for the second challenge, Angelique had a feeling that it was going to be exactly what she had been dreading the first time. Sports. Yuck.

Naturally, the same problem had come up with clothing. She didn't own the sort of clothing that was appropriate for physical activity. The Crotalus did not do physical activity for the most part. All Angelique had was leotards from ballet lessons and she felt ridiculous wearing them outside of the dance room in MARS. Not that she spent much time on dance anyway, beyond what would be needed for parties, for she had a beautiful voice and her passion was singing. Angelique much preferred to nurture her natural talent than spend time on being good at something that she wasn't as good at.

That included flying. She had to take flying lessons and preferably pass them, but that was all that should have been expected of her in that department. Having to do it in the Challenges was simply unfair. Especially if it was more than just flying and involved a rougher, more brutal sport.

She knew she could not be alone on this. The other pureblood girls had to be just as bothered. Not to mention Owen. Angelique snuck a look at her cousin, he looked a bit ill.

Fortunately some bizarre broom game was not the plan for today, thank Merlin. Just...flying through a maze with obstacles while looking for a map or delivering an item to an exit. That did not really sound much better to her. While Angelique was perfectly magical capable for someone her age, she was still only halfway through her first year and this was on brooms , which made it all the more difficult as well as more likely to mess up her hair and make her sweaty. Yuck.

Her eyes lit up for a moment when Ms. Nicchi mentioned that one of the groups did not have to fly. However, when she glanced over her team members, the Crotalus felt her heart sink again. There were two older girls from good pureblood families. Surely, they'd want the ground roles.

Angelique had to think quick, she didn't want either Diana or Nellie to think badly of her for trying to overstep her bounds with regards to her age versus theirs but at the same time she really did not want to get on a broom if there was another option and it wasn't as if she had a medical condition. There was only one way to go about getting what she wanted. "May I please be in group two?" Angelique asked. "I'm just awful on a broom. Simply dreadful." A bit of an exaggeration, as she'd never really had an issue with things such as broom control, balance-all that ballet had taught her that-or mounting. Still, as it wasn't something she liked much she did not put much effort into it, only enough to get by. The first year continued" And with the limited magic I've learned so far, I wouldn't be much good at getting through the obstacles anyway. We're much more likely to be successful and place higher if I don't fly." A reminder of what was good for them all-or what she wanted them to believe was, and probably was anyway-couldn't hurt.

11 Angelique Brockert Ugh (Team 11) 332 Angelique Brockert 0 5

Ginger

January 29, 2016 7:53 PM

It's not so bad! by Ginger

Ginger felt confident going into the second challenge. She was dressed in comfortable (and colorful) clothes in the form of blue jeans (soft enough to move easily in, yet form-fitting enough that they wouldn't get in the way - plus she looked good in jeans if she did say so herself) and a baby doll t-shirt with a My Little Pony unicorn on it. She didn't have a lot in the way of breasts, but what little she did have was enough to add some roundness to the light cotton fabric. Plus her training bra was new enough that she felt more grown-up than annoyed that the straps were showing through her shirt instead of letting the shoulders rest flat.

Her broom was just as pleasing to her, seeing as it was a gift from Jake, and she had used it all of last year so she was quite comfortable with it. She was totally going to rock this air challenge.

After the instructions were given as to what the three groups would be doing, she wondered if it would be selfish to ask to be in Jake's group. They were both on the Teppenpaw team, but with her being a Keeper and him being a reserve Seeker, she couldn't really argue that they flew well together. Well, they usually did stick pretty close during laps and warm-ups, but it wasn't really the same as working together as Chasers or Beaters, she guessed.

Plus, given who made up the rest of their challenge team, she and Jake were the big names in Quidditch. "I guess me and Jake should take lead on the flying groups," she offered, with an uncertain glance toward Eleanor and Diana, both of whom were older than her, in case they wanted lead in exchange for granting a ground position to Angelique's request. "I'm a good flier, though I may need some higher level spell support if we go up against anything that can't be outflown." That was one of the unfortunate side effects of going into these challenges with only half a year of Intermediate classes under her belt.

1 Ginger It's not so bad! 302 Ginger 0 5

Arnold Manger

January 30, 2016 6:17 AM

Team two, take two! by Arnold Manger

Arnold didn’t care a lot about the first challenge. He’d had a lot more important things on his mind, college applications to fill out, a best friend with whom he was barely speaking. But things were better now. Acceptance letters were starting to come, albeit far too slowly, and things with Emery were back to normal. It was very unfortunate the extreme circumstances were that enabled their friendship to mend, but Arnold was just glad he could be there for Emery (and Chloe) when they really needed it.

So with most of his major anxieties lifted, he found himself better able to focus on the challenges, and by that token, he was more inclined to care about the results. Arnold had no intention to engage in any sort of malicious battle with any other person or team, but he was more readily interested in the sort of friendly competition the challenges were meant to inspire. He could smacktalk--all in obvious jest--his friends with a decent smile, knowing that no matter who won, everything would be okay.

Arnold wasn’t much of an athlete, but he managed to find something in his wardrobe stretchy enough to sufficiently stand in for athletic attire. And he pulled out his broom, unused thus far, from the bottom of his trunk. He never really wanted one, but his father had sent it to him, among other things, the year before. Ross Manger still sometimes sent lavish gifts to his sons at school, each time causing Arnold to lose time to a substantial spiral of conflict. He’d tried to return some of them, particularly the broom, but his father was insistent. “Every wizard ought to own a broom,” he’d said in this instance.

He’d thought a lot about what pairs they would need to divide into. The redhead had been dealt a good hand, so really, almost any combination would work out okay. It was only one that seemed to decisively matter: if at all possible, Raine needed to be with Jax. Arnold himself would be a decent second choice, since hopefully as the oldest student and Head Boy, Raine would be able to trust him enough. But for whatever reason, she seemed to work well with Jax. That was fine by Arnold. They could utilize that.

Discovering the nature of the challenge did little to sway this sentiment. The Aladren thought quickly about which part to have them do; going off his own experience, shyness seemed to coincide with an aversion to flight (maybe that was only Ryan, but it was what he had to go on), so he didn’t expect Raine to be super fond of it. He had no real notion of who else would like or dislike flight, since he didn’t play or really follow Quidditch around the school. He’d gone to games with Ji-Eun in the past, but that was generally when their little brothers’ teams played each other, and then he was a bit distracted by her presence to watch Jake sit the bench.

“Okay, so here’s what I’m thinking,” he said, turning to share with his teammates. “We could start with Savannah and Andrew, then have Raine and Jax on the ground, and finish up with me and Seven. If anybody particularly wants a different part or person, we can probably make that happen, but otherwise, I think this is probably a pretty solid way to go. What do you guys think?”

12 Arnold Manger Team two, take two! 261 Arnold Manger 0 5

Jake Manger

January 30, 2016 6:37 AM

Yeah, don't worry, be happy! by Jake Manger

Midterm had been a strange time for Jake. Usually he loved going home, saddened only by the idea of leaving his second-home, Sonora, but this time, being home had only reminded him of the bad things in his life. He had mostly tucked away his troubles by the time midterm had come, but being home, seeing his family again, just made it all come rushing back. Looking at his mother just made him feel guilty. Visiting his father only made him feel mad.

So he was certainly glad to be back at school, where he could throw himself into a myriad of things to distract himself. Quidditch practice, challenges, schoolwork, prefect duties, and clubs--they were his lifeline. And the good news was that most of those things included Ginger, who was easily the best friend he had here. Plus she made him feel happy in new and exciting ways. Jake found something new to like about her every time he saw her, it seemed. He hoped that never ended.

He couldn’t help but think of her when he’d heard their teams would split into pairs for the next challenge, although that thought was followed by a touch of guilt since Diana was also a friend of his. Jake wanted to be with Ginger, but being grouped with Diana would also have been fun, he was sure.

On his way out of his room this morning, he stopped in front of the mirror and stared at himself. He was looking older these days, taller and a bit more muscular. Apparently his body was changing along with his voice, which had a habit of cracking at the most inopportune times. Jake also looked at his hand, which held the broom his father had sent him. His father. Ross Manger. Who wasn’t what Jake had thought he was. He was starting to look a lot more like him, although his appearance was still predominantly his mother’s. Jake looked his reflection in the eyes--his mother’s eyes--for reassurance before heading out.

He did his best to listen to Ms. Nicchi’s instructions, and it was pretty obvious immediately that he and Ginger would be flying. They were the only two on the team who played Quidditch, and in fact were used to flying together, although only in practice. He worried that their experience would mandate their separation to help out their teammates, and he accidentally tuned out a bit of what was said while he tried to think of how to spin it and get them together.

Angelique said something, he wasn’t sure what, before Ginger made a statement on the flying. It kinda seemed like she too wondered if they should be separated but didn’t really want that. “I think we should fly together,” he stated, directing himself mostly toward Ginger but certain not to close off the rest of their teammates either. “I mean, if you and I do the first part together, we’ll probably be super quick. That’ll give us an early lead over the other teams, and the other two groups would get the most possible time to get through their parts.”

12 Jake Manger Yeah, don't worry, be happy! 280 Jake Manger 0 5

Nevaeh Reed

January 30, 2016 6:56 AM

The worst thing (Team one) by Nevaeh Reed

It was going to be flying. Nevaeh was terrified.

Her experience in flying lessons had been disastrous. She had hated the pure sensation of it, a weightlessness that for most people was probably beautiful and fun but only provided a sense of isolation and abandonment for Nevaeh. With her eyesight so compromised, touch was generally the best way she had to connect to the world around her, and with that removed, she had very little method to tell where she was.

She did her best to contain herself while Ms. Nicchi explained the details. Her fingers tensed around Scout’s harness, her knuckles glowing from the strain and blood loss. She’d had hopes at the first mention of a ground route, but as more information came, the young Aladren felt all of that hope drain away, tinting her face with the distinct look and coloration often worn by someone on the verge of reacquainting with their lunch. It was a scavenger hunt of sorts and relied on a map. Very visual. She would be useless.

Nevaeh felt as if she might cry, but she didn’t want to do that in front of everybody if for no other reason than she had six more years in this school and didn’t want to be known as a cry baby. She had only even gotten through flying lessons because Raine was super wonderful and nice and basically held her hand through it. And while she had Raine’s brother Kyte who was no doubt equally wonderful, it was impractical to pair two first years together. There might be obstacles that their combined year of magic could not handle.

“Ava?” she said weakly, turning to face where she was fairly certain the older girl stood. “I...I think I have an idea.” The first year swallowed. “You know I’d rather keep my feet on the ground, but I don’t know how I could be much help that way. I’d probably just be taking the spot of somebody who could do more. So I thought… well, they didn’t say everybody had to ride on their own broom, so I think the best way to go about this would be, um… if I just ride on the back of somebody else’s.” Nevaeh paused for a moment. “And I’d feel best if I could ride with you.”

12 Nevaeh Reed The worst thing (Team one) 325 Nevaeh Reed 0 5

Chaslyn Brockert

January 30, 2016 12:42 PM

Anxious (Team 14) by Chaslyn Brockert

When Chaslyn had seen the results from the first Challenge, she'd felt a little like throwing up. Well, okay, actually she'd felt a lot like throwing up. They weren't first. It didn't even matter which place they were actually in-which was not great- it wasn't first. That wasn't okay, not at all. That wouldn't be acceptable, not to Mother. Only first place was acceptable to Mother. Her team had to be the best, she had to be the best.

The whole thing was more than just disheartening, it was terrifying, she worried about this every second-even though she had no spare time to really do so. Chaslyn wasn't even able to feel satisfaction about the fact that her team was beating Kira's. (Kira had gotten to go back with Amity and Phillip after their family's get together again this year while she'd had to stay home and study and practice the violin and go to various lessons and have various tutors come to teach her stuff she wasn't learning in school, as well as parties, Chaslyn was that age where parties were more of a thing and she did not enjoy them much. Also, Mother was currently in the process of deciding what Chaslyn would have to take next year as an independent study, along with keeping all five core subjects. ) She was also avoiding Scarlett, whose team was in first. Naturally the Pecari was pleased about this fact, which made her impossible for Chaslyn to be around. Besides, her cousin's general happy enthusiastic personality was starting to get to her a bit in anyway.

And Mother was bound to find out. The fifth year had an awful lot of first cousins here, one or more of them-inevitably Scarlett at least-was certain to write home about their own team placements and while she trusted all of them, even Scarlett and Kira, not to tell how she was doing. (Although Kira might tell Amity because Amity might want to know specifically how Chaslyn was doing, Amity would never talk to Mother. The Aladren alumna ignored Mother at family functions and only gave small pleasantries at public events for appearances' sake.)

However, she was even more worried that she'd let it out herself. The Crotalus had never ever been able to lie to anyone at but especially not Mother. It was almost as if the woman could read Chaslyn's mind, or that she was somehow able to see what Chaslyn was doing at all times or that she was able to make her act as if under veritaserum whenever they spoke although if she was at Sonora while Mother was at home, that was impossible. Still, she knew that Mother would ask and she'd answer honestly. She always did.

And she blamed nobody but herself for their spot either. Chaslyn needed to put more effort into this. She was tired all the time and had so many other things, so she'd probably not given the Challenges the attention they deserved. Sometimes, it was hard to know what deserved the most attention. She tended to gravitate towards ballet and school success as well as studying so she could get perfect CATS scores, the latter because they were just that Important and everyone worried about them and the former because she loved it. However, Chaslyn had been taught that everything was Important and that she was to be the model of accomplishment and perfection.

She usually found out what area she was lacking in when she went home for break, this year being no exception. Lots of violin this time as well as in increase in watercolor practice and Spanish. Now there was also the Challenges and they were doing dreadfully. Even if she had had inherently deficient teammates,it would have still been her fault. She knew that she was not holding up her end of what she was supposed to do, which would have been picking up the slack.

And today's event did not play to her strengths at all. Chaslyn didn't know what precisely her specific strengths were, as they'd gotten lost in the myriad of activities, but she knew flying was not one of them. Based on how society currently was, that was one thing that she'd never been pressured to do much. Nor was it something she enjoyed much or had time for. Not to mention that when she was a first year, the staff had disappeared for half a year because of the incident with the experimental charms facility so she'd not even had a whole year of proper flying lessons. Much as Chaslyn wasn't supposed to have any deficiencies, she had to admit flying was one.

This provided her with another problem though, while society had discouraged flying and Quidditch due to WAIL, the Wolseithcraftes disagreed. They had an organization of their own which was pro-girls playing Quidditch. Theodore's older sister had played as did one of his younger sisters. He might expect Chaslyn to want the ground option that Ms. Nicchi had mentioned, but he'd likely be disgusted with her for it. Plus, he was the leader and she could not usurp his authority.

Still, winning was the most important thing and they were more likely to do that if she didn't fly. Maybe if she volunteered. Maybe it would sound like she was being helpful. Chaslyn spoke up. "I'd like to be on the ground. I mean, it would make sense if we balanced out people by age." Something other teams seemed to be doing. "And Mr. Wolseithcrafte is almost certainly a better flyer than I am." Complimenting Theodore's abilities couldn't hurt. She just hoped that providing an idea wasn't speaking out of turn. If he told her to fly-which he might in retaliation for her offering a strategical bit-she would.

Her stomach twisted as she waited for Theodore-or anyone else-to say something. Chaslyn really could have gone for another dose of Draught of Peace right now, despite that her breakfast having been primarily that along with the Endurance Potion.

11 Chaslyn Brockert Anxious (Team 14) 281 Chaslyn Brockert 0 5

Wu Peizhi

January 31, 2016 6:09 AM

Team six, pick up sticks. by Wu Peizhi

Wu was glad to find how quickly she could readjust to Sonora. Each time it was a bit easier, a bit more of a relief as it became more home than her home was. No one here demanded much of her; there were assignments for classes of course, but they were generally pretty reasonable. Not like her father, who--it pained her to think such thoughts of heresy--was just about the opposite. She was naturally nervous, but he made her so much more so with his constant disapproving pressure. Nothing was ever enough for him.

But here, all she had to do was go to class, participate in the challenges, and sometimes spend time with her peers. And even that was starting to get a little more pleasant. Wu had somehow stumbled into solid association with some of her classmates, which, she was surprised to admit, was actually better than being alone all the time. Undoubtedly an introvert, she still enjoyed her alone time, but it was actually quite nice to have people around once in awhile, especially people who seemed to honestly like her.

She still wished some of them could have been on her team, although she’d never had a bad experience with any of those with whom she was assigned. Fabian Brockert and Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, both pureblood Pecari in her year, had never been particularly obtrusive in her mind, nor had any of the older students, all of whom were also all purebloods. In that regard, she had been dealt both excellently and regrettably; it would be more easily mentioned when Father asked her the barrage of questions he always had for her, but their status made them figures of authority or at least a possible source of information for her father. There were more Expectations with them than with, for example, Laila Kennedy.

The Teppenpaw was once more reunited with the members of team six, whose performance of the first challenge had landed them in fourth place. Fourth was pretty good, although she had the nagging feeling that it could have been better if she had been more helpful, but she’d been so nervous that she’d hardly managed to get her mandatory spell out, let alone offer any creative input. This time she would do better. She hoped.

Still, she couldn’t help but tug nervously at her clothes, twisting the edge of the purple, long-sleeved shirt, the sleeves draping a bit longer than they ought to. The shirt, as well as the baggy, misfitting sweatpants she wore, were borrowed from Sammy Meeks, who was someone Wu had gotten better acquainted with recently through their mutual peers, and who, as an athlete, had a plethora of clothes befitting physical activity, whereas Peizhi had none of her own. She wasn’t sure if she even owned any pants.

The instructions provided by Ms. Nicchi did serve to calm her to an extent. She had been nervous to hear pairwork and extra nervous about flying, but the good news here was that two people would be on the ground. Given the general athleticism of the rest of her teammates, Wu felt she had no chance but to be on the ground. Which was fine with her.

“We would do more if I am on the ground,” she forced herself to say, glancing between her teammates but never really making eye contact. “Most of you play Quidditch, yes? So you are more skilled at brooms. B-but who will stay on the ground with me?” She somewhat hoped for Uzume Shinohara, who at least might understand her trouble with the language barrier and commiserate on the experience of being thrown into a different culture than one’s own. But Shinohara was a good flier, since she played Seeker, so it seemed a bit unlikely.

12 Wu Peizhi Team six, pick up sticks. 316 Wu Peizhi 0 5

Raine Collindale

January 31, 2016 8:34 AM

Two by two by Raine Collindale

Raine wanted to be enthused about the physical challenge. She was agile, had good balance, spent most of her time doing gymnastics. However, the instruction to bring brooms suggested that her regular exercises might not be what the school had in mind. She was a competent enough flyer, being unable to remember a time when she hadn’t been required to ride a broom in some fashion, even if it was just clinging on behind one of her parents or an older family member. Flying for her was a practical means of getting from A to B though, rather than something she really enjoyed.

The second challenge sounded rather complicated, and again she was forced to wonder how well she, as a first year, would be able to participate. Hopefully they wouldn’t throw anything too nasty at them seeing as they couldn’t know how the teams would be divided, and there might be first years alone in the maze. She could throw off most simple jinxes and repel mildly bothersome creatures. She doubted she would come off better against a Manticore but it seemed very unlikely the school would put one in there. Still, Defence was by far and away her least favourite subject, and she thought she might be reasonably good at helping to find things, as hers was the kind of family that was prone to misplacing things.

Arnold decided to put her in the ground group, which suited her perfectly well. She wasn’t really sure whether the rest of her team were ace fliers and on their house Quidditch teams, or whether Arnold just thought that, as a first year, she might not have much experience on a broom. Or some other reason.

“That’s fine with me, thank you,” she replied. Sometimes - often in fact - when grown ups asked if something was ok with everyone they just meant that you had to be ok with that, whether you liked it or not, but Arnold seemed to be a bit softer than that and to really want to check with them. “I don’t mind which job I have to do,” she added, just in case anyone else wasn’t happy. She preferred the ground work because it didn’t involve dodging nasty hexes but she could swap if she had to. She didn’t volunteer the fact that she’d done a lot of flying in her life because she thought that was more or less covered by saying she didn’t mind. True, it didn’t really give Arnold an impression of her skill, just her willingness, but Raine didn’t really like to speak up about her own abilities, and especially about something which to her was rather mundane - she wasn’t in any way a skilled flier, weathering a few sharp winds aside, just a competent one who did it to get about.

13 Raine Collindale Two by two 327 Raine Collindale 0 5

Oliver Ferguson II

January 31, 2016 1:13 PM

Taking charge. (Team 10) by Oliver Ferguson II

While Oliver cared little about the Challenges generally speaking and thought they were a waste of his valuable time-especially during his CATS year-it hurt his pride for them to be placed so low. Yes, they were beating Portia, which was immensely satisfying especially given she was her team's leader, but Oliver did not want to give anyone any reason to think themselves superior to him . Especially not Clark who was the most uppity nobody he'd ever met, except maybe that Umland boy whom Oliver had only really seen around and not ever felt the need to speak to. Clark, on the other hand, was his roommate whom he had to deal with on a daily basis. Whom beaten for out for prefect. Whose team was beating his, even though they were not in first either.

Who really needed be knocked down a few pegs. The other Aladren had not only gotten prefect over him but had a stellar record in Quidditch. It was time that Clark got put in his place. It was time for Oliver to show his superiority. He wanted to be the one to take his roommate down, not Duncan or Ji-Eun or Arnold.

Unfortunately for the fifth year, this particular challenge did not lend itself to Oliver showing his inherent superiority over Clark. The one thing he was willing to grant his roommate over him was Quidditch and flying skill. Not that Oliver was bad at flying-he even owned his own seldom used broom-but he found sports to be trivial, a waste of time. He was certain he could have been great at it had it been at all important, but Oliver had better things to do.

Like find a way to change someone's behavior through mental magic, but with more finesse, admittedly, than Grandfather had used on Grandmother. Well, okay, Grandfather probably had meant to drive Grandmother insane, but from what Oliver had figured out so far, it took much more precision to change one specific behavior of Father's that he personally found repugnant than to make someone completely crazy. Something admittedly, one could likely do without mental magic.

So far though, all Oliver had managed to do was make zombie squirrels out in the gardens which had led to him having to take care of the evidence. He didn't get any true joy out of having to do so, but it was all for the greater good. The greater good of there not being another suspicious incident at school that could lead back to him and get him expelled. As well as the even greater good of making his father be attracted to women.

Once Oliver heard the instructions though, he knew precisely what to do. The spot they were in was due to no fault of his own as he was doubting Leo Princeton's competence as a leader after the last time, not to mention the two useless little girls. He needed to take some control. "I will take the ground." He stated in a voice that suggested there would be no arguments. The ground seemed an option better suited to his intellectual abilities, which as far as he was concerned was always preferably to the athletic. The Aladren scanned his group for whom he found to the most well suited to work with him. "Mr. Newell will work with me." Jack played Quidditch so he was sure to be better in the air than Dustin and the other two were sure to be only a hindrance to him.

11 Oliver Ferguson II Taking charge. (Team 10) 278 Oliver Ferguson II 0 5

Dustin Newell

January 31, 2016 3:44 PM

Okay, but... by Dustin Newell

Dustin surveyed the Mirage Chamber with a touch of hesitation. While competition of this nature was not really his thing, he felt inclined to perform well in these challenges, but physical activity was not a strength of his. He was an academic, something he had never really known about himself prior to Sonora and particularly his Sorting into Aladren, although he’d always been a know-it-all. He was quite clever, really, or at least by standards of book smarts. Somehow, that didn’t seem like it would be terribly helpful here.

He did his best to quiet these worries, repeating the mantra of an heir is always in control to himself, an echo playing in his mind beneath the librarian’s speech. At least it didn’t seem like this flying challenge (featuring a desireable ground portion) was too terribly athletic, really just requiring a basic handling of a broom to dodge some obstacles. Nothing he couldn’t handle, although he didn’t particularly care to.

The second year felt that he would be of the most help on the ground, realistically, but as Oliver Ferguson stated that the two of them would take that part (although it was more of a demand than even just a statement), another thought occurred to him. “But what about Laila?” Despite his intense pureblood upbringing, Dustin had a touch of a soft spot for the Muggleborn, mostly because she was the first person he had met upon arriving at Sonora, increased slightly by the fact that she was really quite cute. He could not recall how she had performed in their flying lessons, and he hadn’t kept up with her to know her skills by report, but at least he had been on one prior to school. That gave him a bit more experience, and logically, even though he would be an asset on the ground, Laila might be a detriment in the air.

He generally knew his place; he was an heir, yes, but he was young and perhaps a little naive. He knew that boys above him in class had more authority. So as much as Dustin hated to contradict an older student, particularly one of good standing, he still found himself turning toward Miss Kennedy to ask her female opinion. “What do you think? How are you on a broom?”

12 Dustin Newell Okay, but... 312 Dustin Newell 0 5

Sammy Meeks

January 31, 2016 4:04 PM

Fly, my pretties! Fly! (Team Seven) by Sammy Meeks

Despite their position tied for second to last, Sammy walked in today pretty excited. She loved flying. It was so much fun, everything she had hoped that magic would be. You got to soar in the air with no restrictions, no one telling you to stop or slow down, the wind blowing in your face, tickling your skin with its happy touch. It was awesome.

But when she got there and looked around, the Pecari was completely distracted by her smallish friend, Wu. Like it hadn’t been cute enough when she asked to borrow some clothes, shy little thing she was, but seeing Wu actually wearing Sammy’s clothes was just too darn adorable. Sammy wasn’t particularly large, although puberty was starting to lengthen her out a touch, but Wu was just teeny. The sleeves were so long she could’ve tied a knot in them and left Wu trapped, and the sweat pants were bunched up so badly that they had more rolls than a Vegas tourist. Sammy loved it.

She did her best to break her amused gaze and pay more attention Ms. Nicchi’s instructions, only able to focus as each new shred of information served to further hype her. This was gonna be awesome, and she really just wanted to get going. It sucked that every team was going in one at a time, although she guessed it made sense so that the obstacles only had to account for two people and not, like, a bunch. Sammy felt incredibly jealous of team one for getting to go first. Once again, numbers had thwarted her.

When the librarian had concluded, Sammy turned eagerly to face her teammates. She didn’t know any of them particularly well, but she was optimistic that they would let her do what she wanted. “I wanna do the flying part cos I like flying,” she announced. “And I wanna go first cos I’m impatient. Is that cool with you guys?”

12 Sammy Meeks Fly, my pretties! Fly! (Team Seven) 310 Sammy Meeks 0 5

Arne Reinhardt

January 31, 2016 5:34 PM

Yeah, what he said. by Arne Reinhardt

It seemed that Sonora was always coming up with new ways to surprise and challenge Arne. No matter how much he sometimes wished to be back home stirring up all kinds of mischief with the Mills brothers and their friends, he knew that life without magic, without Quidditch, was close to meaningless. So he had been upset, at first, that Quidditch had been canceled but excited next when he’d seen that Quidditch was being replaced by another sort of competition and that neither his brother nor his cousin were to be on his team. He had since gotten over his weird, immature rivalry with the two and felt that now, as a very mature twelve year old, he could put that sort of thing behind him, but he still liked his space. Besides, being angry all the time was exhausting.

However, that didn’t mean that Arne didn’t want to beat the pants off his relatives and everybody else at that school and so he had come to the Quidditch Pitch with his game face on. However, his team hadn’t done nearly as well as Tobi’s team, it had seemed, and on top of that Liac’s team had also appeared to do better. So Arne had gone home with a feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. Not even getting up to his usual holiday mischief with Rogan Cain and Greg Petersen had cheered him up and he had spent most of the break wondering why the girls in town around his age looked so different, if only because he needed some sort of distraction to keep his mind off the golden brother.

Headmaster Brockert’s announcement of Tobi’s team having tied for first place with Laila’s friend’s team irritated him. It was like no matter how hard he tried, he could never measure up. Laila had already made it perfectly clear to him that she preferred the company of the Donovans to him, and on top of that had even invited Tobi to accompany her to the Gardens a couple times—something he had only found out about because he had run into them coming back inside while listlessly wandering around the school, looking for something to do. Laila’s team had placed higher than his as well, but he didn’t really mind that, since he had found her obviously rather upset about something sometime after the first challenge and, in a rare moment of true bonding, she had confided that her team really wasn’t that fun. So he was glad that at least she wasn’t in last place in addition to being on a team of staunch purebloods.

The physical portion of this challenge in which he was needed to bring a broom if he had one did not appeal to Arne as much as he thought it would either, because he knew that both Tobi and Liac would out fly him and that wasn’t something that he was looking forward to. It wasn’t that his family would ever rub it in his face, but they were older, they were stronger, they were exemplary examples that he could never live up to. Yet, there was still hope. Their team had three Quidditch players on it plus there was that odd little first year who liked to haul around athletic equipment with him, which meant that they would likely do alright in that department, at the very least. He wanted to suggest this idea to the group, but his gums felt stuck together, his mouth suddenly dry as he caught something out of the corner of his eye, something that did not please him in the slightest, and so instead, he let his face become sullen and scowled instead, his shoulders hunched. Letting the disagreeable expression leave his face as he realized someone in his group was talking. He didn’t want to have a bad attitude on the team. When it came to teamwork, independent problems were supposed to be left off the field, it was what was best for the whole.

Baby Pierce had a good point. And his words had given Arne enough distraction that he felt his mouth unsticking, the corners of his lips hurting a little as he opened his mouth and pried them apart. “Perhaps I can go with him in the first group,” he added. “I can fly but I’m sure Joella and Atlas know more defensive spells than me so that might be best for coming back if defending our item is what’s needed.”

10 Arne Reinhardt Yeah, what he said. 319 Arne Reinhardt 0 5

Aiden O'Neil

January 31, 2016 8:47 PM

Excited! by Aiden O'Neil

Aiden’s midterm was full of Society parties and holiday shenanigans with some of his older cousins. His mother and father were being more uptight about things and it was starting to become an issue. Aiden was so used to being able to do as he pleased without much of a consequence, but lately, whenever he did something that might be frowned upon (which was usually something to do with him speaking out of turn around his grandparents or extended family), it was actually frowned upon! His parents said that he was coming to that age where he had to start acting properly. His Great Father on his Maternal side (the Mathers’ current Heir) was beginning to watch him more closely. If he were to continue on as a representative of the name and Heir to their fortune (not as large as some families but being as it was just Aiden, his mother, and his Grandfather that had to split it, he could live comfortably for the majority of his life), Aiden had to start behaving. On top of that, within the next couple of years, they wanted to secure a betrothal in case Aiden wasn’t successful on his own.

Girls.

That was another issue entirely. Aiden thought that there were plenty of pretty girls at school and several were from good families, but he was certain that none of them looked at him that way. He had been overweight the first couple of years at Sonora (thankfully, the baby fat had melted off) and he didn’t have the greatest of smiles (thankfully, his parents were getting that fixed for him over the summer), and he knew he wasn’t very charming like his roommate or handsome the way some girls prefer (there was nothing he could do about any of that), so he was sort of at a loss as to how to comply to his great grandfather. It was all so confusing and he didn’t really want the added pressure of that. He wasn’t quite 15 yet!

Now was not the time to think about it though because they had the next challenge to deal with and Aiden had to be on his game. They weren’t doing as well as he had hoped, but maybe they could ace this one! Aiden listened rather impatiently as Ms. Nicchi described the challenge ahead of them. It just sounded like a mix of a relay race and a treasure hunt. But, brooms were involved and Aiden enjoyed flying. Last year he helped Virginia Bellrose learn how to properly fly a broom. He was pretty sure she did it because her boyfriend was the Captain of the Pecari team, but he didn’t really care for her reason. She was a pretty girl and she was grateful for his help.

After the instructions were given, Aiden felt a little downtrodden because he was the second to last team that would be going into the maze. He would have to wait ages for his turn in there! Chaslyn, or rather, Ms. Brockert, was the first to speak up. He wasn’t surprised that she would want to stay on the ground. For some reason, proper ladies felt that flying was beneath them. Oh well, maybe she would do better at the hunt than the maze. “I’m a pretty good flyer.” Aiden said after a moment’s pause. “I can be in the first or third group and maybe take Wren or Theresa with me?” Aiden offered to Theodore.

6 Aiden O'Neil Excited! 287 Aiden O'Neil 0 5

Diana Carey

January 31, 2016 10:46 PM

But not silly about it by Diana Carey

Diana wanted desperately to frown as she approached the second challenge, but a lady did not show her emotions in public and especially did not show them when one of the ways they wanted to manifest was as a jinx directed straight at the director of the event she was at. She could have very easily gotten her hands on both proper attire and a broom, but there had not been time to have them sent to her from South Carolina, so she’d had to Charm one of her skirts into a pair of wide-legged shorts, an adaptation she could only hope was as sturdy as she thought it was, and turn up without a broom at all.

That last part was the most irritating, and not just because Brandon was acting like a goody-two-shoes Crotalus. A lot of people would have said that not having a broom was a perfectly ladylike thing to do, but not only did Diana just hate not having all the tools she might need to hand, she was also the first cousin of a reasonably famous Quidditch player, who was most likely still just a little bit more famous than usual at Sonora. It just seemed wrong that she of all people should not have that tool when she needed it. Almost like she was not representing the family properly.

She had consoled herself by matching her temporary shorts with a pretty pale pink blouse and spending a very long time on the arrangement of her brown curls – boys and people with straight hair would never know the effort it took to be just pinned up enough – but it hadn’t worked too well. She was still annoyed as she listened to Ms. Nicchi talk, and her temper was in no way helped by Angelique Brockert declaring herself, as far as Diana could tell, completely useless for anything but carrying the item while someone else watched her back and her front at the same time. Reasonably she knew it wasn’t the first year’s fault that she was only a first year, but when Diana didn’t have what she needed and could not even be completely sure her clothes were going to stay the right shape from minute to minute, reasoning with herself became even less fun than usual.

Diana bit her lip when Jake said he and Ginger should go together. “I can fly okay if I can get a broom before it’s our turn,” she said matter-of-factly. “If the rest of us are still in this spot when team one comes out, I can borrow one from one of you if I need to, or I can run down to the Pitch and find out if we're allowed to take them other places - " or possibly how good a thief Diana was without a Disillusionment Charm, though she chose not to mention that; it didn't seem appropriate for the ears of sweethearts like Jake and Ginger - "before it’s our turn if we’re not sure about that.” Diana had listened to the exact words the librarian used, which hadn’t been clear about that. She’d defer to the opinion of the group about that. “Being super quick in the either of the first rounds won’t help us, though, if the third team gets in a really sticky spot. Everyone needs at least one someone who’s good with Defense. I can do that for one of the teams.” Diana wasn’t as good as Brandon when they had practical classes with Professor Pye, but she thought she was at least decent. Defense skills were the kind her family strongly approved of everyone, girls and boys alike, making the effort to develop at school. Charms and Defense were the most important subjects to her family, followed closely by Potions.

0 Diana Carey But not silly about it 294 Diana Carey 0 5

Leonidas Bennett

February 01, 2016 12:15 AM

Not candle ones now, though by Leonidas Bennett

The time for his brother’s wedding was drawing nearer and nearer, and to listen to Leonidas’s mother talk, every day over the holidays might have been the day before it. It hadn’t been as bad for Leonidas as it had been for Paul and the girls, but he had still had to listen to it all and that had been before Nicole Bennett had insisted he undergo a whole set of fittings, even though they both knew they would just have to repeat the whole tedious process the next time he was at home. Someone who did not know the details was not someone Leo thought he’d consider unreasonable for getting the idea that Paul was marrying the sole heiress to the greatest fortune in the land, and what was worse, the family had never seen it coming. Their mother had not been nearly so excited about his sister Eliza’s wedding a few years ago….

Of course, Paul’s marriage did look like it was going to start off on a better foot than Eliza’s had. He was not in love with Arabella – Leonidas honestly couldn’t imagine his brother in love with anyone – but he got along with her and did at least consider her physically attractive. If he could just get along with Fabian Brockert better than he did with Bill Wilson once Fabian grew up, Leonidas thought his brother might make it work. Or at least he hoped Paul could do that now that the preparations were no longer ruining Leonidas’s own life. His thoughts had not been as charitable over the holidays, but that was all over now.

He tried to extend these charitable feelings to his challenge team. Fourth out of fifteen wasn’t bad, objectively, but he thought it would have felt a lot better if he had not been used to being in the first team. He was never first personally, but he was the guy who kept the guy who was first from getting his brains knocked in, so Leonidas did not feel any shame in claiming some credit for the Quidditch team’s success. His status as one of the oldest people on the team made him likewise feel at least half accountable for how Team Six did. Hearing that the second challenge required brooms was enough to elevate his mood for almost an entire morning, until he’d remembered that the sixes were only tied for fourth place with the twelves….

It had not really occurred to him during the first challenge, but now, he was in direct, real competition with Clark and it felt – there was no other word for it – weird. Usually, it was his job to prevent other people from beating Clark in any sense of that word, not to set out to do it himself outside of practice. He was so used to it now that he didn’t even think often about how backward it was for a member of society to act as the bodyguard for a non-member, as that was just part of Quidditch and Quidditch existed mostly outside the normal social structure.

Ms. Nicchi explained the rules and Leonidas felt almost traitorous as he considered how Clark was Bludger-shy on his own and might not do well without the knowledge that Leonidas was there to protect him. Team three would have problems with that, too, he expected; Leonidas had to smile thinly at the memory of chasing Park around the Pitch even as he felt a little sorry for John, who, as the only Beater on that team, was bound to get stuck being Park’s nanny. He didn’t envy Theodore his assignment, either, and poor Jack had gotten stuck with Oliver Ferguson, whose habit of being outshone by Clark reflected poorly on the whole social order….

Eleven and twelve, he decided, were the teams he was going to worry about, though four might put up a good fight, too. At the very least, though, Leonidas didn’t expect his team’s ranking to fall when the next set of results was posted, which he had to admit was a relief.

Miss Wu fidgeting with poorly-fitting clothes was not. “Most of us do play Quidditch, yes,” he said, looking around at the others. “Hm. Since our numbers are distributed well, it might be wise to pair up older and younger students,” he offered, indifferent to which group he got and thinking of the obstacles like a Seeker’s Beater. The younger students had had a lot of problems in the first challenge because of their lack of magical knowledge, like a Seeker without a bat, so an older student who was better with a wand would be useful. Admittedly, that did leave Peizhi, Fabian, or Ingrid with only a fourth year, but Leonidas guessed he thought highly enough of John to not consider that a huge problem with his scheme by itself. He trusted Ingrid was a strong flier, so if those two were paired for a flight mission, they might balance out.

0 Leonidas Bennett Not candle ones now, though 269 Leonidas Bennett 0 5

Andrew Carey

February 01, 2016 12:36 AM

I'm on board, too by Andrew Carey

With his broom in one hand and his wand in the other, Andrew felt a lot more ready for the second challenge than he had for the first. The notice that had gone up on Monday had been vague, but it had said to bring his broom, which meant it had to involve flying. That was a lot more information than he felt had been shared before the first challenge, so he thought it would have made him feel better even if flying hadn’t been one of his strengths at school.

Since flying was one of his strengths, though, it was even better. He smiled cheerfully at the rest of team two – which really needed a better name – without any effort at all as he found them among the crowd of other students. One thing the first challenge had really had going for it, in retrospect, was the wide-open space of the Pitch. The entrance hall was big enough to hold everybody, but Andrew felt a lot more claustrophobic with the rest of the school milling around in it at the same time than he had when they had all been more spread out on the Pitch.

“Hi, guys,” he said, slipping into the ranks. “What do you think this one’s going to be? Something with the chandeliers in the Hall?” He used the end of his broom to point toward the doors of the Cascade Hall. He had never really thought about flying in there before, but now that he had, he had to admit that it sounded like a fun thing to do. It was possibly a suicidal one to do if too many groups packed in there at once, but it sounded more a fun thing to do. Maybe they would even get to do something with the waterfalls!

That idea went away when the librarian announced that the magic would happen behind the picture of the grumpy old pointskeeper. Andrew was a little worried by that, as it was hard to imagine Professor Mims being at all related to anything even remotely fun. That worry faded quickly, though, as the librarian started telling them about groups and obstacles and maps and –

- Well, Andrew couldn’t really keep track of it all, but it sounded a lot better than anything he had ever expected Professor Mims to be associated with. He wondered if the portrait resented the association now that it had happened. Merlin knew Mims never seemed to like anything else. He was living - or at least existing and talking - proof that spending too much time hunched over books of numbers was not good for anyone's brain, even someone whose brain didn't technically, Andrew thought, even exist anymore....

Arnold Manger kindly distracted him from wondering too much about how paintings thought. Andrew didn’t know if the head boy got special information privileges or if Arnold was just really good at coming up with a plan, but team two’s leader quickly presented a plan. Andrew nodded after Arnold presented his plan and Raine said she didn’t mind her assignment. “That’s fine with me, too, if it’s all right with you,” he said, looking at Savannah Brockert with a smile during the last part of his speech.

0 Andrew Carey I'm on board, too 0 Andrew Carey 0 5

Emilia-Louise Scott

February 01, 2016 2:07 PM

It's all decided. by Emilia-Louise Scott

Emmy-Lou had enjoyed the first challenge but had not found the following results had to be quite so pleasing. She wasn’t all about making it a competition and only caring about winning or anything like that, thoroughly understanding and appreciating the value of teamwork, but Team Three was currently just a little too far down the scoreboard for her liking. She mostly had a pretty great team so was sure that challenge two was going to go a whole lot better for them. Although much more of a leader than a follower, Emmy was happy to let the team’s older student take the lead to a certain degree, provided he would listen to everyone’s individual ideas as she didn’t doubt he’d continue to do.

After listening intently to the Librarian explain the challenge to the entire student body, the young Aladren wasn’t exactly thrilled at what lay ahead. It was exciting to be in the Mirage Chamber but Emmy had also been rather anxious from the moment they’d been instructed to bring a broom (or borrow one from the school, as it was in her case). She was therefore quite relieved when it became apparent that not everyone would have to fly. Unfortunately, however, before she had the chance to state her preference Emery was already putting his plans forward. She wasn’t quite sure why he had to pick Lauren to partner him in the non-flying group but assumed this was either because she wasn’t very good in the air or it had just been a random pick that hadn’t worked in her favour.

The twelve year old was most certainly not known one to keep concerns to herself and she didn’t care who knew about her fear of heights but for some reason she chose not to step forward about it now. In the back of her mind, she knew that her team probably wouldn’t have had an issue with her making a request to stay on solid ground and would all understand but Emmy-Lou didn’t want her input to be of a remotely negative kind. Just because she didn’t like flying, it didn’t mean she was particularly bad at it. She was generally an athletic kid and had that control and agility that was need for good manoeuvring of a broom and since she’d never seen Lauren take an interest in it there was no reason to suggest Emmy wasn’t better at it. And they had been told that they couldn’t fly too high after all, so surely it wouldn’t be too bad, would it? The young blonde had a great sense of adventure and, flying aside, the first and third groups sounded like they were going to be the most fun, in her opinion, since they had the most action and she wanted to be right in the centre of all that.

“I’ll go in the third group with John.” Emmy-Lou piped up rather quickly when John Umland put his suggestion forward. She directed the proposition at Emery but slid a glance John’s way, hoping her eagerness hadn’t given the wrong impression, and gave a little half-smile in the hope that he wouldn’t dislike the idea of partnering with her too much. John definitely had his interesting qualities but the main reason for her decision to go in his group was because she didn’t want to be with Jamie Park, who was a rather obnoxious boy as far as she was concerned and therefore a much less appealing option. Emmy was aware that she should probably give Jamie the benefit of the doubt but his performance during the first challenge hadn’t been one that inspired much confidence. It was probably best to go with someone she felt more secure with considering she may have to overcome her fear during the day’s challenge.She and John may have also had their differences and he certainly didn’t symbolize security for her either but it wasn’t like she was going to need her hand holding the whole way around the maze or anything. Emmy-Lou did have an inkling that rather rubbed him up the wrong way, ever since their first meeting last year but surely they could let go of that suspicion-filled conversation now that the Satori had been exposed?

The biggest downside to being in the third group was that she’d have to go last and the anticipation could well kill her but at least that meant she could be fully involved in the planning stages. Only now it came down to it, she wasn’t sure if you could really plan for the unknown that they’d have to tackle in the maze. “Is there any planning we can do for this?” Emmy voiced her thoughts aloud. She hoped she wouldn’t be shot down by one of her teammates for asking such a question because try as she might, she honestly couldn’t think of how they could plan for the task in hand much more than divide into pairs as instructed which they seemed to have pretty much sorted.

8 Emilia-Louise Scott It's all decided. 313 Emilia-Louise Scott 0 5

Abigail De La Garza

February 01, 2016 5:06 PM

Simply making a suggestion. by Abigail De La Garza

The thing about the challenges was that they essentially forced students to work together and with people they might not otherwise get the chance to mix with so Abigail De La Garza was in her element, or as far as the teamwork part went. The last problem-solving task had certainly not been her forte so she could only hope this one might go a little better for her. Abby’s team weren’t doing too badly in the rankings and she really wanted to contribute fully to their progress.

Abby arrived at the Mirage Chamber with her Varela Escobas broom in hand. She didn’t use her broom much at school since they didn’t have flying lessons in second year and it flyinf had never been a hobby of hers, but she brought it anyway so that her father might at least think she used it, which she knew would make him happy, and not only because it was his company that actually made the Spanish brooms. The plump Teppenpaw girl only hoped that the challenge wouldn’t involve any high level flying skills. She was more than competent with the basics of flying but anything more than that she just wasn’t interested in taking the time to perfect. Great speeds were not her thing either, hence she did not have a racing broom.

It seemed she need not have worried, however, as the Librarian explained the whole process of challenge two. It sounded quite complex, with every group splitting up into three, but Abby thought she just about got the gist of it. This second challenge was definitely going to be fun but there were parts to it that sounded somewhat scary - traps, hexes and creatures?

The second year waited for Ava Fletcher to take charge, not having any particular preference as to which group she went in. The second group intrigued her, admittedly partly because it didn’t involve potentially dangerous obstacles but also because she valued creativity very highly. It was the first year Nevaeh Reed who spoke first, however, and Abby listened despite the suggestion not being directed at her.

“You should ride with Liac if we’re going to do that,” Abigail spoke out. She was rather surprised by herself for being so bold but her next sentence gave indication as to what exactly made her act so out of character. “He is Quidditch Captain after all so he’s more skilled on a broom.” She threw Liac Reinhardt an admiring look which instantly made her blush. She hadn’t said that just because…? No, she’d said it because as far as Abby was aware, Ava Fletcher had never shown any particular skill on a broom so it was only logical to point out that Liac would probably be able to handle flying with a passenger better. It didn’t mean anything. She could only hope the rest of the team would see her point as a reasonable one. Abby most certainly didn’t mean to call the younger girl out, especially since Nevaeh had specifically said she’d prefer to go with Ava. Just because Abby would jump at the chance to partner up with Liac it didn’t mean that everyone would feel confident doing so.

“I can be in one of the flying groups too,” Abby hurried, realizing that she might just have scuppered any chances of pairing into the same group as the handsome Teppenpaw Quidditch Captain. She brandished her broom briefly and added rather shyly for fear of not sounding modest enough, “I know what I’m doing.” Even if she didn’t end up with Liac, she really didn’t mind - she’d be happy with any of her teammates.

8 Abigail De La Garza Simply making a suggestion. 315 Abigail De La Garza 0 5

Alistair Johnson

February 01, 2016 5:35 PM

A much better challenge (Team Eight) by Alistair Johnson

In all honesty, there were only two people in his team that Alistair really cared about. They were Emrys Lucan, simply because he was Caelia’s brother, and Kelsey Atwater, because she was Kelsey and that was a good enough reason in itself. Besides the aforementioned pair, Alistair had no desires to form friendships with his teammates. Of course he had a strong competitive nature that compelled him to dislike seeing Team Seven almost at the very bottom of the team rankings but at the same time he liked to think that he was above some stupid school games anyway. If it wasn’t for the challenges, he could be winning Quidditch matches right now. It had conveniently escaped his mind that if Quidditch had not been cancelled, he may still find himself unable to play due to his lack of team members.

When he was informed that he should bring his broom along to the second challenge, he was inspired with a little more confidence that this challenge should be better than the last. He listened to the instructions given, thinking it sounded quite exciting (the first and third groups anyway) but not allowing himself to show so much interest.

“Obviously I will be in one of the flying groups,” Alistair spoke instantly once it was time to determine who was doing what. He glanced around at his team member, a little disappointed that he had no fellow Quidditch players but also glad that he was undisputably superior in this area. He was aware that the younger two members might have had some involvement in the sport but they could only have had insignificant roles and wouldn’t dare to challenge him for the most difficult flying task.

“Perhaps I should go in the third group as I can carry the item and fly at the same time,” he added after more thought on the subject. He knew better than to overestimate the abilities of the non-Quidditch player students when it came to flying. “It should be just like carrying a Quaffle.” He wasn’t actually sure how Quaffle-like the item would be considering it was completely unknown what it was but Alistair doubted it would be a great size.

It was now that he found himself wishing Kelsey was a little less ladylike so she would be keen to fly with him. Of course, he knew he would never really want such a thing. Just because she didn’t play Quidditch, it didn’t mean she couldn’t handle a broom so he made the suggestion all the same. “Miss Atwater, I couldn’t tempt you to join me in group three?” Alistair smiled at her, although thinking in the back of his mind that he probably wouldn’t want her if she was a hopeless flyer. It wasn’t going to be a laidback social ride once in the maze but Kelsey had the benefit of being skilled with a wand so could combat whatever obstacles they may meet.

He looked at the two older boys in his team, considering that either of them might join him if Kelsey declined and said she wanted to remain on the ground. All he knew was that he did not want either of the younger members with, although there was still a chance he might end up with one of them.

8 Alistair Johnson A much better challenge (Team Eight) 306 Alistair Johnson 0 5

Serena Brockert

February 02, 2016 3:46 PM

A good one at that. by Serena Brockert

Serena's midterm had been amazing. Better than amazing. The kind of amazing that went beyond amazing and that she had no words for. That kind of amazing.

Now though, she was back at school. Back to angst over Transfiguration and the Challenges. They were doing okay, but not great. Her brother, the twins and Duncan were all beating her team but she really didn't mind that much. The Challenges weren't really something that mattered to her, the way they did to Tristan and Chaslyn.(Or more accurately, Aunt Jillian who was determined that her daughters always be the best and expected way more than was humanly possible. She couldn't really fault Amity for wanting nothing to do with her.)

What did matter, what she did mind, was the nature of the next challenge. The mere mention of brooms filled Serena with dread. She'd never liked flying at all, having nothing but a thin piece of wood beneath her for support. Not to mention she tended to get motion sickness. Throwing up all over the place wasn't something that really befit either a Brockert or a future princess. Also, it was gross.

Besides, what about Nevaeh? She'd gotten the impression the first year did not want to fly due to her disability. Serena assumed that it was even harder for someone who was blind than it would be for her.

Her heart only sank further when she found what precisely they were going to do. Flying through the maze also seemed like it was going to incorporate Defense Against the Dark Arts. Serena had always hated that class, hence dropping it after CATS. Which she hadn't even done that well on. She was an incredibly skittish person and didn't do well in high pressure situations like when there was something potentially dangerous around. That combined with flying would surely be a disaster for her.

However, the ground option sounded good. She could obviously do magic and she was about to suggest that she and Nevaeh take that option when the younger girl spoke up.

“Ava? I...I think I have an idea.You know I’d rather keep my feet on the ground, but I don’t know how I could be much help that way. I’d probably just be taking the spot of somebody who could do more. So I thought… well, they didn’t say everybody had to ride on their own broom, so I think the best way to go about this would be, um… if I just ride on the back of somebody else’s. And I’d feel best if I could ride with you.”

Serena blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected that but she supposed Nevaeh had a point. After all who would know better than Nevaeh herself what she was comfortable with? The sixth year couldn't help but feel bad for the Aladren though. This whole event was unfair to her.

Abby's suggestion seemed like a reasonable one, as Liac was bound to be the best flyer of them all and he was such a nice person too. "I think that's a good idea. I mean Nevaeh riding with Liac" Serena agreed. "I would like to be on the ground myself. I'm not too good on a broom or at Defense, which sounds like it's also going to be a factor." She thought Ava might still be taking it and Kyte was bound to want to fly as he'd suggested flying and even went so far as to open the broom shed the last time around.

11 Serena Brockert A good one at that. 272 Serena Brockert 0 5

Natalie Varth, Tepp

February 02, 2016 5:30 PM

It could be by Natalie Varth, Tepp

Perhaps it was being unable to try out for Quidditch this year, or not being confident in being able to use enchantments properly to ward off the unknown in this new challenge, but most likely it was this upper classman that was the cause for her irritability. These challenges stunk. She didn’t often feel like this, but she didn’t like having no control over team situations and this Alistair seemed quite pompous, stating things instead of asking. Wasn’t it important to make things fun for your fellow team members? Sure, Natalie loved winning, but she loved winning with her team and all of them having fun.

She was definitely not having fun. Alistair gave a pretty upperclassman a winning smile, one that Nat found a little revolting, and she refrained from scrunching her face in disgust. Flirting was gross. She also refrained from speaking up, being willing to do whatever other people didn’t want to do, and saying that she’d like to be on a flying part. Apparently winning was more important than fun, so being an amateur at flying she supposed it might be better for her team’s chances if she were in fact on the ground. Wherever she wound up she’d be fine. Except in part three but Alistair seemed to prefer other teammates over the younger students here. This seemed absurd because he was obviously not the oldest here.

Natalie wished, not for the first time, that she’d had a Teppenpaw in her team. Her team had two Pecaris and two Crotalus, perfect for planning, taking charge, and ready for surprises. The Aladren, Emrys Lucan, was a prefect so he was probably good to have as a teammate. Again, though, it wasn’t fun. She couldn’t talk to anyone, this wasn’t a social event, and even though she was used to sport teams she wasn’t used to the magical component. Had she been she might’ve been more like Alistair and taken charge too. She doubted she’d have made it seem so uninviting, though.

She decided it was best to wait until everyone decided what they were going to do themselves, and waited for Kelsey’s reply to Alistair’s question, and then listen to the upperclassmen Alistair looked at before she’d speak up.

7 Natalie Varth, Tepp It could be 331 Natalie Varth, Tepp 0 5

Jax Donovan

February 02, 2016 6:45 PM

This is fine with me. by Jax Donovan

Jax’s holiday at home had gone pretty well, all things considered. His last turn had been just a couple of days before he had to depart for home, so he didn’t have to deal with any of that back in Seattle. He spent as much time with his coach as his mother would allow (which was basically only while she was working) and the rest of his time was spent with his family or doing his school work. Gia seemed upset about his time with his coach, but she didn’t seem to understand that he was getting stronger so that he could protect her and their mother. Some day, she would appreciate his dedication.

When he returned to school, he noticed the absence of the blonde, Chloe, who had been a companion in the MARS sports room with him on most occasions. He had admired her persistence in her routine more and more as time went on within the shared room. Jax found himself silently competing with her whenever he was doing rounds in the ring or against the bag. She had been a fast learner, so she had easily matched his pace and it had aggravated him to no end. But her presence was enough to encourage him to keep going, even if she was completely unaware of his silent competition. He wanted to keep going because she was still going. She would go until she collapsed on the ground and needed his help to stand up and walk again. He wanted that sort of strength. But it wasn’t long before she returned and he was back to competing silently with her.

It wasn’t long into the new term that they had to complete another team challenge. The notice said to bring a broom (Jax didn’t have one, but assumed the school would provide one if needed) and to wear active clothes (he had plenty of those) but it didn’t really give up detail other than that. He complied with the clothing and met his sister in the library to walk to the hall together. Being almost a full year older than his sister and most of their friends, Jax felt a bit like an outsider amongst a group of people he was most comfortable with. It was strange since he took class with most of them, but he should have been a fourth year rather than a third. He was already dealing with voice changing and growing spurts, making him taller, broader, and semi-deeper range of voice, so he felt a little weird walking around with twelve and thirteen year olds. He knew it upset Gia when he didn’t spend as much time with her or with their friends, but he was the odd man out and he was beginning to realize that as time went on.

Seeing the frown on Gia’s face, Jax, dropped his hand on her head to get her attention. They had reached the hall and everyone was milling about with their groups. With a smile and a shake of her head, Jax left her to join his group. Jax gave a head bob of a greeting to Andrew, who starting asking thoughts on the challenge, but offered no thoughts of his own regarding it. He didn’t think one way or another about his group. They were all okay and none of them seemed necessary aggressive, so that was always a bonus. He still worried about Gia being with Barnaby, but he didn’t think his roommate would do anything to her whereas, he might go at Jax until he snapped.

Jax gave a head bob of a greeting to Andrew, who starting asking thoughts on the challenge, but offered no thoughts of his own regarding it. This challenge had much more involved with it than the last one simply because there were three separate challenges with different goals that all had to intertwine. He didn’t really care what group he was in or who he worked with. Although he wasn’t the best flyer, he could at least manage to stay on the broom and deal with a maze. It was the obstacles that were more of a threat, but his defensive spells were decent enough that he thought he could manage that. As for the second group, the ground group, he wasn’t really sure how he would go about actually finding hidden items, but he was sure there were spells he could think of if he had to when the time came.

Lecture done, Jax turned his attention from the Librarian to the Head Boy as he named the groups he thought would work best together. On impulse, Jax looked at Raine to see her reaction to working with him but as she did not indicate anything, he figured she was okay with it. Jax only knew the girl from their extra class and from the challenges. She was quieter than her brother and he was often reminded of Peizhi when he was around her. That was probably the main reason why he sort a little obligated to look out for her. Deciding the ground option was best then for the two of them, Jax gave no objection to his group or the person he was partnered with. “I’m fine with the choices.” He stated, giving Raine a polite curve of his lips in a smile.

6 Jax Donovan This is fine with me. 296 Jax Donovan 0 5

Gabe Valenti - Team Twelve

February 03, 2016 1:58 AM

Follow the butterflies by Gabe Valenti - Team Twelve

One thing Gabe knew for sure was that being a wizard wasn’t very easy. Two scorch marks on his pewter cauldron sitting by his bed in Teppenpaw house were clear proof of that. He’d been the cause of three classroom explosions just since spring semester had started, which students from all four houses had seen.

But five days a week, Gabe rose above all that - quite literally - as he found his way to the Pitch and up in the air on his broom after school. The Cleansweep Sixes that he’d learned on at school had taught him well, and he was sure that he and Nat would be among the seven starting flyers for Teppenpaw Quidditch come next year. Practicing spirals and double eights in the sky was beginning to feel as natural to him as breathing, although just nine months earlier he hadn’t even known he was a wizard at all. He tightened his dark gray flying gloves around ten pudgy fingers as he waited his turn. Soon it would finally be the eleven year-old’s chance to take his shot.

The librarian called team twelve.

Bouncing up from his seat on the ground, he grabbed white ski goggles from his pocket and slid them over his eyes. Maybe next Christmas he would get real flying goggles, but for now he didn’t mind, the goggles reminded him of home. His stomach was filled with butterflies, not the nervous kind, more filled with excitement and anticipation. It was like going up a ski lift, and seeing the mountain below you. It was like going right up to the edge of the mountain, and looking down. He loved the idea of a new physical challenge. Plus on a broom, he could go even faster, turn even sharper than he ever could on plain old skis.

“Ready?” he looked up at Clark, not bothering to hide his excitement from his older teammate. It would be so cool to fly with an older student, maybe Gabe would learn something new. Given his general ability with spellwork, the first year figured he had three options. He could rely on his speed, rely on his partner, or just rely on the inevitable truth that if he pointed his wand at something, it would probably explode.

Broom in his right hand, wand in his left, he walked passed the portrait in Cascade Hall and into the Mirage Chamber. It was pitch black when he entered, he couldn’t see a thing. Well then, maybe he would have to do a little spellwork after all.

“Lumos!” he exclaimed, and a bright scarlet light emanated from his wand. It worked - amazing! He was always slightly surprised when spells went his way. In the red light, he saw a small, oval room, with nothing but a black dragon leather skinned trunk in the center. The map that he and Clark needed to get through the maze sat on top.

The map! Lucky thing it was just sitting right there for him to take. Feeling confident from successfully lighting his wand just a moment ago, he put the wand in the pocket of his basketball shorts, quickly darted forward, grabbed the map and -

He was midair. Suddenly the first year felt weightless, only, he wasn’t on his broom, his broom was in his hand, the floor was mysteriously missing. Who knew where that trunk had gone. There were many small creatures fluttering all about him, they seemed red in the light from his wand, and soon he was falling, falling…

“Argh!” he grunted as he threw the right side of his body over the broom, left hand still holding tightly to the map, now slightly crumpled. With all his might, he thrusted himself on top of the broom and began to get his bearings in the maze. He laughed a bit to himself, the floor and walls had been transfigured into butterflies. Plain old, normal, non-magic butterflies. Were they real, or were they sugared butterfly wings? He blinked several times to rid the idea from his head. Now was not the time to think with his stomach.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he smiled sheepishly at Clark, flying towards the older boy to hand him the map, “You okay?”

0 Gabe Valenti - Team Twelve Follow the butterflies 330 Gabe Valenti - Team Twelve 0 5

Laila Kennedy

February 03, 2016 4:19 AM

Oh no, go ahead, do your male thing, don't worry about me. by Laila Kennedy

Laila did not like Oliver Ferguson. At all. Which kind of astonished her because she really hadn’t felt this sort of dislike towards someone…well, ever. But what frustrated her more than anything was that in addition to being a particularly nasty person, he was also rather good looking. These looks were not what had kept her biting her tongue the last time they had interacted, during the last challenge, however. Something inside her had flared up, she had wanted to say something equally as mean back. She had wanted to let her voice drip with condensation, she had wanted to make him feel as small as humanely possible, like how he had made her feel for a hot minute. This realization that she had such a big desire to be mean shocked Laila and she had needed to take a moment, keeping her retort of “Well, he should have phrased it better then,” to herself since poor Jack Spencer didn’t deserve to be included in her attack.

After that, she had kept relatively silent, always listening to what the others told her to do in an almost robotic fashion, but making sure that when Oliver asked her to do something that she always did it just slightly differently. She knew that wasn’t completely turning the other cheek as God would have wanted her to do, but Laila had just felt so awfully small when he spoke to her that she’d felt the need to at least fight back a little, even if it was in a rather passive-aggressive manner. If only Mamma had been able to see her…the stern woman surely would not have been proud. Never mind that shortly afterwards Arne had encountered her in the Gardens, searching for Mr. Xavier blindly in order to meet him to garden, and had asked her what was wrong, resulting in Laila nearly breaking down and crying and not making it to the gardening session at all.

And now, he was trying to take away the one person on the team she felt comfortable with. It was true that Dustin had not acted in that shining knight manner to stand up for her against Oliver, but she thought she had seen a reassuring smile from him, and that was better than nothing, so she supposed that meant they were still on friendly terms and he didn’t think she was as idiotic as Oliver clearly did. It was entirely possible, too, that no one else had heard the way in which Oliver had spoken, that perhaps she had just taken offense too easily, two things that she had thought of later that night as she tried to fall asleep, still fretting over the events of challenge one.

This time around, however, his empirical voice (though it did not yet hold any disdain) put her on edge and so she was getting prepared to ask him what he thought she ought to do then, seeing as she had next to no experience on a broom (though she would never admit to him her slight fear of heights), when Dustin asked her for her opinion. She had two options in that moment. She could either lie and say that she was fine on a broom, thanks for asking—something that might be considered a little rude since Dustin had never done anything of offense to her, but would likely excuse her from having to work with Oliver and would also shove it in the rude, older boy’s face that she wasn’t some idiotic little girl. Her other option, of course, would be to answer Dustin honestly that she had passed flying lessons by some miracle of fate, that while she was perfectly stable on a broom, she actually didn’t care for heights that much and so the idea of dodging obstacles while however many feet up in the air made her sick to her stomach.

“I’m fine,” she lied, wondering just when she had become this comfortable not telling the truth, the thought allowing a small red flush to rise in her cheeks. She accompanied this with a little smile so that the others wouldn’t catch her in the lie, so that they might think it was a side effect of her smile or that she was pleased someone had taken her feelings on the matter into account. “If what's best for the team means I have to fly then I’ll fly.” Her tone only held a small hint of malice, barely noticeable to anyone who didn’t know her well, whose only impression of Laila so far was a quiet, obedient muggleborn. But her brother would have picked up on it, and maybe Katy Lomer since it was the same tone of voice she’d used when casually dismissing Harvey Mills’ invitation to have ice cream (because really did he think she’d go out for ice cream with him in December after his brother had crushed her heart?)

10 Laila Kennedy Oh no, go ahead, do your male thing, don't worry about me. 318 Laila Kennedy 0 5

Emrys Lucan

February 03, 2016 4:54 AM

It all depends on how we divide and... by Emrys Lucan

The more Emrys hung around his sister’s friends, the more and more worried he got for her. It wasn’t that he didn’t think they treated her well—on the contrary, he was very aware that his sister had good relationships with each of the three people that made up her inner circle. But he really didn’t like the pompous tone of Alistair Johnson and he especially didn’t like that it was him who Caelia seemed to have picked to help her out with her schoolwork once Emrys himself graduated. However, he bit his tongue, waiting for the twelve year old (or was he thirteen now? Emrys wasn’t sure) to finish. It was kind of smarmy behavior, Emrys thought as he took into consideration the way Alistair was smiling at Caelia’s roommate and best friend, though he was glad it wasn’t directed at his sister. He didn’t quite know what he would do if he found out someone was behaving that was with his perfectly innocent, rather naive little sister.

“I think that’s a good idea for you to carry the item, Alistair,” Emrys began in his careful, considering manner. It made sense too, since Alistair was had the most experience carrying things on brooms, and the Teppalus team had come rather close to winning a few times, but he still wasn’t an Aladren champion like some of the other teams had and Emrys worried about sending two third years together on the last leg of the course if they had to defend themselves against things. It made much more sense for Alistair and himself (or preferably Lionel Layne) to go together. Yes, Alistair and Lionel would work much better and then he could go with the first year, it seemed safer that way, more responsible.

He looked around the team, thinking about what roles they all ought to fill the best. He vaguely recalled Joey Thompson making the Pecari Quidditch team last year which probably meant he was rather decent on a broom. However, he had to take into consideration something else—if Kelsey did not want to fly then Emrys would not make her fly, which meant that he was sending Natalie either with a second year or a third year. It seemed, he was quickly realizing, that no matter how their team was divided, they would have an imbalance of talent, and Emrys wasn’t about to send two underclassmen alone into a maze where they had to deal with obstacles, especially since the younger two were muggleborns and therefore had less experience in the magical world.

“We can divide the team up into a couple different ways, I think,” he continued, making sure each member was listening. “I want everyone to be comfortable with their group’s task, so I do want to hear input. The way I see it Lionel and I can be put with Joey and Natalie, to balance out the number of spells that we know so that we’re not sending either of them into the lion’s den, this would mean then that our item is being defended by Kelsey while Alistair flies back with it. We could also send Lionel with Alistair so that we have a sixth year defending while I stay with Natalie and then that leaves Joey and Kelsey together. But Joey was on the Pecari Quidditch team last year and I don’t know if you want to fly or not, Kelsey, so that’s up to you.”

It was, too. He knew for a fact that his little sister likely would not be pleased with the idea of having to be on a broom and since Kelsey was her best friend he was inclined to believe that she felt the same way. He glanced in the first year’s direction and that finalized what group he thought he ought to be in. “Either way,” he concluded. “I really ought to be with Natalie if that’s alright with you,” he smiled kindly in her direction. Her blonde hair and the quiet way she was letting the others talk reminded him slightly of Caelia—when his little sister was feeling shy, that was…

10 Emrys Lucan It all depends on how we divide and... 260 Emrys Lucan 0 5

Ava Fletcher

February 03, 2016 7:16 AM

In one hundred percent agreement. by Ava Fletcher

When little Nevaeh Reed suggested she ride on the back of Ava’s broomstick, the seventh year blanched. The idea was quite sickening. She could just see the disaster that lay ahead for all of them if that were to occur. Ava had never been one for sports or athletics. When she had started Sonora, she had been happy to keep both feet on the ground as much as possible and her first flying lesson still flashed before her eyes as she remembered how T.L. had crashed into her, how he’d then left her on her own to deal with her balance issues. She closed her eyes briefly, trying to keep that particular memory from resurfacing. Though she had a nice group of friends now, it was sometimes sad for her to think of the friends she might have had—innocent, little T.L. who had left after that first year, adorably funny Dimitri who had once been her best friend…

She was about to tell Nevaeh that them on the same broom was a bad idea when Abigail De La Garza spoke up and Serena Brockert seconded the idea. “Yes, I agree,” she said, feeling bad that she had to tell the younger girl no. “But I really am truly awful with a broom. I could barely keep myself upright on the ground until I was thirteen,” she admitted, thinking of her more clumsy days with shame. She had a better handle on her balance now and had forced herself to pass Flying Lessons since she didn’t want to fail even her most miserable class, but she just had a feeling that if she were put into the air with someone else on her broomstick even her meager flying abilities wouldn’t save them from utter catastrophe.

But Liac was only a fourth year. The idea of putting a blind first year on the back of a fourth year’s broom did not appeal to Ava at all. Abigail, on the other hand, was enthusiastic about riding. Obviously Liac enjoyed it, and one would have to be absolutely crazy to think that Kyte disliked riding, especially after the way he had leapt to ride in the last challenge. Ava didn’t let it show, but she was very nervous for this challenge. It seemed that their group had more handicaps than others—about half of their team couldn’t fly, and they had one member who would have a difficult time with either portion. She wanted to scream and pull her hair out or something, but she didn’t because she was supposed to be the team leader.

And, as a leader, that meant she could not assign herself the best parts. Papa had always told her that a true leader took the worst, left-over bits. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a leader by choice, she was the oldest and therefore, by default, had to let the younger members of their group choose what they wanted to do first. “So, Abigail wants to fly,” she looked to the two boys, both of whom had demonstrated an eagerness to fly in the past whether that be as co-Captain of a Quidditch team or jail breaking a set of school brooms in the first task. “I’m assuming you two want to as well?” She waited for confirmation before moving on.

“Serena doesn’t and Nevaeh, you want to be on someone else’s broom? Would you be okay with riding on Liac’s?” She was hesitant to let this happen, but she wasn’t about to put Nevaeh on her broom as she didn’t want to kill the poor girl, and she wasn’t putting two first years on the same broom either. Liac seemed to be the only option as by nominating him instead of herself, Abigail had ruled herself out for sharing—which Ava was fine with since ‘I know what I’m doing’ wasn’t as consoling as a fourteen year old Quidditch Captain. “That puts Abigail and Kyte together and then Serena and I on the ground but…” Ava trailed off, worried again. She was decent at Defense, having taken it all the way through her seventh year, but were Kyte and Abigail? She didn’t know.

“Spell wise, is this the strongest arrangement?” As the first team to start the challenges, they didn’t have a lot of time to make a decision. They had to split up quickly and go. “If this is what we’re going to do then I want Liac and Nevaeh to go first. Two people on one broom plus our object is just a recipe for disaster.”

10 Ava Fletcher In one hundred percent agreement. 258 Ava Fletcher 0 5

Liliana Bannister

February 03, 2016 8:08 AM

Who says a Pecari can't strategise? by Liliana Bannister

Beating Theodore’s team was something that Liliana desperately wanted to do. Despite their truce of sorts that they had mutually called in some aspects of their lives, she was very aware that in other aspects they were still very much at odds. She had only been worried for a short amount of time that Ingrid would not be interested in so soundly crushing her brother’s team (after all, having lost at Quidditch to them through no fault of her own but simply because the Aladren team had a better Seeker, she did have a score to even) but the youngest Wolseithcrafte had quickly assuaged those worries when during the previous challenge she assured Liliana in, quite frankly, a completely adorable way that they would destroy (so perhaps Liliana had altered her word choice a little) the competition (but especially Theodore).

And now, as she looked around her team for the second challenge she was excited. Two Quidditch Captains, a Seeker, and a Chaser. It boded well for them. Looking at Peizhi in her over-sized clothes, however, was a bit worrying. As she looked around at their team members she wondered the same thing that Peizhi asked. They did have to play to their strengths, which meant that as the most experienced flyers she and Leonidas should be separated and each take one of the younger flyers with them. She and Ingrid being on the same team made sense for them to be paired since they were used to flying together. This would mean that Fabian and Peizhi stayed on the ground. Her brain was thinking quickly. They had a little bit of time since they would be the sixth team to go but she was sure that the time would pass quickly.

Luckily they had no first years, she thought to herself as she mentally went over all the possible pairings. Three second years, one fourth year and two sixth years wasn’t too bad though if they broke off in terms of best fliers then there would be two second years stuck doing the ground portion together. “If we pair older students up with younger students then we won’t be utilizing all of our strongest fliers, but what was that Nicchi said earlier about the ground part? Did anyone hear any mention of anything else the ground group has to do other than navigate a map?” If it was just walking around a maze with a map then she was sure that the second years could handle it. Peizhi had already volunteered for that and Fabian was a nice enough kid she was certain that there would be no conflict there.

“Leonidas is a Beater,” she said absentmindedly. “Shinohara is a Seeker, those are usually paired together… Task one is to find a door, that’s perfect for a Seeker. Ingrid is a Chaser, Chasers hold objects, okay, perfect…” She smiled, if Fabian and Peizhi were okay with doing the maze then she really thought they could complete this task without much worry. She and Leonidas both had five years of Defense under their belts plus more than that many years of flying, she was certain that paired with Ingrid and Shinohara’s Quidditch specified talents navigating this challenge would not be an issue. The trick here would just to not get over confident. Over confidence sometimes lead to one’s downfall, she had learned from an exciting Muggle tale about two racing animals.

“Does anyone have any objections to Leonidas and Shinohara in group one, then Fabian and Peizhi, then Ingrid and I?” It was the pairing that made the most strategic sense, she thought, even if she was worried about the two second years on their own. “Or Fabian could switch with either Leonidas or I.” While she knew that she and Leonidas were more experienced fliers than either Shinohara or Ingrid, the younger witches’ Quidditch talents were more of use than either his beating or her keeping.

10 Liliana Bannister Who says a Pecari can't strategise? 274 Liliana Bannister 0 5

Caelia Lucan

February 03, 2016 8:36 AM

Death sounds like a good alternative (Team Nine) by Caelia Lucan

Their team was in last place. And not just tied for last place like teams seven and four were for second to last, but full on last place. Caelia felt awful. How was she supposed to prove to her older brother that she was grown up and could take care of herself if her challenge team couldn’t budge from the last ranking? It was for that reason that she was not her normal, bubbly self as she walked to the Mirage Chamber for the second task. She owned comfortable clothes, and took pleasure in wearing the leggings and loose tunic her mother had given her since they were much more aesthetically appealing than some of the other athletic clothes she had seen some of the other witches in. Though the dark green was not as floral as she normally wore, she thought the color offset her light skin and blonde curls nicely.

She, of course, did not have her own broom, and she highly doubted that anyone else on her team did either. Every single member was a proper, pureblood witch and the only non-witch was Chuck Fintoc who didn’t particularly strike her as the athletic-broom type. But she tried to think of a creative way to solve the problem. She was not a problem solver, that was to be sure, but her brother was and she had to prove herself to him. As she took a left out of the Crotalus common room on her way to breakfast, however, she remembered something that had happened during the first task and so instead of going to breakfast (she wasn’t particularly hungry anyway), she turned back around and walked quickly to the Quidditch Pitch. Did she dare? She wasn’t sure if this qualified as stealing or not, but it was better than having their whole team show up without any brooms and look even more ridiculous than they already did, she thought. And so, like that horrendously unpolished first year who had alohomora’d the broom shed last term, Caelia Lucan performed the first theft of her life.

When she got into the shed, however, she quickly realized that she knew absolutely nothing about flying at all, nor what type of broom was the best. To her, they all looked the same, ugly, ratty looking things that she had no business sitting on. But if they were supposed to bring brooms then, well, they were supposed to bring brooms and so she wandered in until she could find some brooms that looked less dusty, less banged up, and altogether better quality than the others (though for all she knew the nicer looking ones were worse off models, but how could anything that looked nice be defunct?) and grabbed one. She hesitated, before taking a second and, realizing that was all she could carry, decided that would have to do. The whole school didn’t own brooms, that was for sure, and so she hoped that meant they wouldn’t all have to be on a broom at the same time. How ridiculous that would be!

By the time she arrived to the Mirage Chamber, she nearly late because she was not at all used to carrying such awkwardly shaped objects, her curls were a little bit messy from brushing across the end of the brooms unfavorably and she had a bit of dirt smudged on her right cheekbone, but she had done it. She found Kira and passed her friend one of them. “I had to get these from the Quidditch Pitch shed,” she whispered, her eyes wide in earnest. “I know they’re not very pretty or ladylike but the instructions did say to bring a broom and a lady is always prepared. Bringing them up here was a hassle though, I don’t know how the Quidditch players do it.”

After the explanation of the tasks, though, Caelia was worried that coming to the challenge prepared would label both her and Kira as people who could fly. Quite honestly, she didn’t want to have to do it, but growing up with Emrys and Wesley and (loathe as she was to admit it, Matthew) she had spent some time on a broom before Grandmother Viviane had caught her and taught her the right way to live. She was by no means fantastic, but she could stay on it and she could fly straight. So instead, she tried to hide the broom behind her back and bit her lip to stay quiet. ~~Maybe, hopefully,~~ most likely not, some of the others would volunteer to fly and then she wouldn’t have to. Caelia held her thumbs and waited to see.

10 Caelia Lucan Death sounds like a good alternative (Team Nine) 307 Caelia Lucan 0 5

Savannah Brockert

February 03, 2016 12:15 PM

Such an agreeable bunch by Savannah Brockert

As far as teams went, Savannah felt she was pretty lucky. Hers seemed to get along pretty decently which made things go a lot better in general. The fact that there were only two teams ranked ahead of theirs probably was a testament to this fact.

Nor was she too bothered about the second challenge involving brooms. Natually Savannah didn't fly that much, but she wasn't all that terrible at it nor did she hate it all that much. Mostly she was indifferent about having to do so. She just hoped that whatever they were doing didn't make the other teams crazy the way some people got about Quidditch, especially if it was something that was going to involve actual contact with other teams. She really didn't want anyone to get hurt.

"Hmm..." The fourth year thought in response to Andrew's question. It was an interesting one. "I have a hard time believing the Headmaster would want us messing things up so much in here. The chandeliers are most likely expensive antiques and he's probably the sort that very much cares about things like that." The Headmaster was her father's first cousin but they weren't close both because of a pretty big age difference and because Headmaster Brockert wasn't the sort people got close to. "Still, that does make me wonder what it could possibly be...oh." She said when the librarian mentioned the portrait and the Mirage Chamber opened up. Wow, an opportunity to see inside there, this didn't happen every day. The Teppenpaw glanced at her twin. Scarlett looked ecstatic.

She was a bit relieved to hear the instructions. While Savannah didn't care about flying itself, she didn't want to engage in physical combat with the rest of the school. Especially considering that she was related to a good many of them. Going up against them in such a direct way bothered her quite a bit, even if they were all competition as it was. It was a lot easier to have her team go faster through a maze than to have to knock them off a broom or something. There was even a ground option for those who couldn't or didn't want to fly. Savannah was certain a good many of her cousins were going to try to get that.

It was a good thing, however, that she personally didn't care, because Arnold wanted her to go with Andrew in Group One. Savannah didn't mind this one little bit. She didn't know the younger Teppenpaw very well, but he was definitely a pleasant person-most Teppenpaws were-and she wouldn't mind spending time with him. Besides, he was the one Quidditch player among them so that was always a plus. "Sounds good to me." She smiled back.

11 Savannah Brockert Such an agreeable bunch 286 Savannah Brockert 0 5

Kira Spaulding

February 03, 2016 2:48 PM

...I think you might be right. by Kira Spaulding

Kira did not like flying at all. Not only was it not considered ladylike and proper-which she tried so hard to be-but it was yet another thing she was just so bad at. People who flew had to be somewhat agile and that was not an adjective that anyone would ever apply to her. Plus, if she had to fly,she was under extra pressure to look graceful because ladies were supposed to be graceful, even if they were doing something that wasn't considered appropriate and Kira was awkward enough normally, let alone when she was in the air.

Which meant that there wasn't just the possibility of embarrassment-or rather the absolute utter certainty of it-there was also the fact that she'd most likely cost them and be blamed when they remained in last place because it was sure to be a total catastrophe.

She just wanted this all to be over. Not just this Challenge but the whole thing. Kira really didn't like to compete. It just reminded her of all the ways she was inferior. A flying challenge in particular was just going to make her feel worse, even if she didn't fall off a broom. In fact, she was more worried about her teammates-maybe even Caelia, the only non-related friend she had-would hate her than she was about any possible physical pain.

Kira might have been really good at magic, but apparently, that was the only thing she was good at.

The second year was so nervous that she kind of zoned out until Caelia was at her side handing her a broom. "Thank you." It was nice of her friend to bring a broom for her too. Of course, Kira didn't have her own. She'd used her brother's for flying lessons but he needed it today himself obviously. However, so worried was she about this Challenge that it didn't occur to her to wonder why her friend had two, because certainly Caelia couldn't borrow one from her brother either. Nor had it occurred to her what would happen when she showed up without one, as she was assuming there would be school brooms for them there, just like there had been for flying lessons.

Not even the mention of a ground option lifted her spirits. With the team Kira had, she was bound to get stuck flying anyway. She doubted anyone else was going to want to do it and she was the youngest person on the team other than Artemis. Never mind that she could do as much magic as Chuck or Caelia could and was a lousy flyer.

Still, she didn't speak up. They were bound to just be irritated with her if she took what was probably one of the coveted roles for this group anyway. Briefly, Kira wished she could trade a few people with her brother, who had an abundance of people that he claimed would be ecstatic about flying. It even things out a little and she'd get to be on the ground where she wouldn't be the reason they lost again. It wasn't her fault last time but it surely would be this time.

Quietly, she stood back next to Caelia and waited for someone else to speak up.She certainly wasn't going to.

11 Kira Spaulding ...I think you might be right. 320 Kira Spaulding 0 5

Cameron Dempsey

February 03, 2016 3:33 PM

Whatever . . . you say by Cameron Dempsey

“That’s fine with me” Cameron said. He wasn’t much of a walker, or a runner, really anything involving his legs. If he’d thought about it he would have said that legs were the absolute worst limb but he was definitely biased. Being physically abused by two large, older brothers who left him with boot shaped bruises would do that to you. Flying, though relatively new to him, was more tempting. Going first was even better. Get it out of the way and rest ‘til the challenge was over instead of getting worked up over having to wait for slow pokes.

Cameron was more than willing to start now. He had his broom, he was properly attired, and he didn’t want to wait around much longer. They still had some time to plan so he wouldn’t be able to head to the start line right away. He was tempted to shuffle about but the idea of kicking dust around was less appealing than going last. God, this was exasperating. Why did he need to be here? He didn’t care about people, he didn’t need to make friends. No one was going to be useful to him. These school spirit raising challenges were bogus.

7 Cameron Dempsey Whatever . . . you say 336 Cameron Dempsey 0 5

Lena Westley

February 03, 2016 4:41 PM

Offering an out by Lena Westley

The challenges were not exactly Lena’s cup of tea. She preferred more leisurely things, things like reading, walks in Labyrinth Garden- even archery could be done at your own pace. The challenges were all races, granted this time teams weren’t going at the same time, but the overall times would be compared. Speed was not in Lena’s vocabulary, not even when it came to things like tests. Everything, in her opinion, should be done with careful deliberation or at least some awareness. How could you take notice of things if you were in a rush?

Lena was glad that teams were going separately. She and Olivier had been divided into different groups, relief most prayed for, so she wasn’t in much danger of seeing him but this challenge removed all possibility. Having realized her feelings she had continued avoiding him, this time more pained and each time she saw him her heart swelled with emotion, bringing her to the brink of tears before she’d slip away. She was aware of him, Olivier occupying her thoughts constantly even when he wasn’t physically present, even now and she sighed.

Her teammates might have interpreted the sigh as resignation, but Lena was merely brought out of her reverie by the exhalation. “I don’t mind flying. I’ll be in the last group if no one else feels comfortable with it, but I don’t mind any position. It’s all the same to me.” Soft spoken Lena tried to offer an out to the younger members of her team. She was used to flying, although she usually rode “side-saddle.” She could go pretty fast, so that wouldn’t be a problem, and she was steady on it. She didn’t do it all that often, she preferred walking, but she was beyond proficient. In all honesty, if speed was a requirement, a broom would be better because goodness knew that if Lena were left on the ground she’d take her sweet old time. She rode brooms, she did not run.

Lena left the decision to her teammates and waited for their input. She wasn't a good judge of people or their abilities so she couldn't have come up with a good plan for dividing them even had she been the type to take control like that. Her input was made and now she'd wait.

7 Lena Westley Offering an out 279 Lena Westley 0 5

Joseph Umland

February 05, 2016 1:00 PM

Come on, Team Fifteen! by Joseph Umland

Joe had realized at the time that his team had done well, but in all the chaos – people running, packages flying, no clear line of sight on anything – he had not realized that it had tied Team Five for first place until Brockert announced it at the Returning Feast. Once he decided that the Headmaster was probably physically incapable of making a joke, though, he had been unreservedly delighted. Even finding out just how badly they had beaten his brother had not fazed him much, as he suspected Team Three’s loss was at least a little John’s fault (John was wonderful at teamwork…when everyone on the team was of his own tribe, left all personal relationships at the door, and had a blindingly clear hierarchy headed by people who’d established intellectual dominance. So basically, John was not that great at teamwork) and besides, beating John was like getting all the toppings on his frozen yogurt on Mardi Gras: yes, it was technically a little iffy in terms of right and wrong, a little indulgent, but since he was less than twenty-four hours away from spending more than a month living off the kinds of dishes that gave perfectly respectable vegetarians bad names and considering milk in his tea on Sundays a real treat, he enjoyed every single sprinkle on that fro-yo and didn’t feel a twinge of guilt about doing it.

When he heard they should bring brooms to the second challenge, though, Joe thought he might just get more frozen yogurt (so to speak) a little sooner than he had expected. His team had two guys, Tobias and Joe himself, who Joe knew could fly on it, and while Arnold wasn’t on the Aladren Quidditch team, there was a big difference between not being on the Winningest Team Ever and not actually being able to fly. John’s team also had two known, and known strong, fliers on it, but they were natural enemies – John and Jamie might well have been literally trained to regard the sight of the other as a Bad Thing – and had quickly established last time that they didn’t like each other personally, either. They weren’t going to work together as well as his team did. The only potential problem was that Joe’s team had Araceli, whose capabilities Joe was a little skeptical of and not just because she’d kind of talked down to him at the first challenge. Apparently, some rich American wizards thought that flying turned girls gay, and while he had gathered that an awful lot of people seemed to think everything that existed had the potential to turn someone gay, people who would Read Something Into the fact that Joe knew how to set a table properly weren’t currently posing a threat to his team’s chances in a flight challenge. If Araceli hadn’t flown since her first year, then Emilia-Louise Scott might outmatch her in the air.

He wasn’t sanguine enough in any case to expect another first place finish, but he did feel good about their chances of not suffering a completely humiliating fall from grace, especially once he heard that not everyone was going to fly for the challenge. That solved the potential problem, if it even was a problem, so he thought it should be easy going from here…except for maybe the maze part. Following a wall would probably work, but might be time-consuming and wouldn’t work if the maze wasn’t a perfect maze. He thought he had once heard a rule about always taking left-hand turns if keeping one hand on the wall wasn’t feasible….

“I can fly or stay on the ground,” he volunteered. He had realized last time that if he didn’t say his bit, as enthusiastically as possible, right away, the others would just talk over him, and while he didn’t think there had been a lot of detailed analysis of individual participation in the last challenge, it was better safe than sorry. “And I’ve done a few mazes before.” Unfortunately, a lot more of them had been mazes on paper, where he could see everything, than had been corn mazes, but still, he had some applicable experience here. Maybe more importantly, he also didn’t want them just making decisions over his head based on their assumptions about him.

16 Joseph Umland Come on, Team Fifteen! 329 Joseph Umland 0 5

Joe Umland

February 06, 2016 3:17 PM

OOC Correction by Joe Umland

Despite having the team lists open in another tab while writing, I somehow failed to notice that Joe's team is led by Duncan Brockert, not Arnold Manger. Not sure where my head was. I think the rest of the post, minus the line referring to Arnold which should be ignored, is okay. Sorry, guys!

16 Joe Umland OOC Correction 329 Joe Umland 0 5

Clark Dill

February 08, 2016 3:45 PM

Following! by Clark Dill

"Ready," Clark confirmed and followed Gabe through the portal into the (very dark) room with the map. Gabe used his wand to light the way, and Clark nodded in approval.

Over the past fifteen years or so, Clark had led a life that could only rarely be described as 'normal'. Zack Dill was a pretty great dad in Clark's biased opinion, but in no way could the former Aladren and current astrophysicist be described as anything close to a typical parent even had he actually been Clark's biological dad and the whole half-alien thing wasn't an issue.

Dad had his obsessions. Astronomy. Star Trek. Science in general. Science fiction in general. Computers. Electronics. The ways magic and wizards could benefit from science and technology. The usual things, Clark supposed, a self-described tech and science geek who was also a wizard would obsess over.

So between his personal familiarity with the actual use of portkeys, his extensive exposure to science fiction effects in movies and television particularly those resulting from protagonists touching 'magical' (or items so technologically advanced that they might as well have been magic) artifacts, and a basic understanding of what the Mirage Chamber was capable of, Clark was . . . less surprised by the floor disappearing out from underneath him when Gabe grabbed the map than he could have been.

That did not mean he was ready for it. It was a map, after all, not the final treasure. Maybe, if he'd been in the second group, he might have expected a booby trap before grabbing a thing, but this was the precursor leg of the treasure hunting and even that had hardly begun.

So Clark yelped a bit and scrambled to get his broom under him, but managed to successfully abort his fall long before he risked an impact with the ground below. He flew over to assist his younger teammate, but Gabe had already gotten himself seated on his broom as well. The first year did shove the map at him, and Clark took it, because, clearly, the challenge was not going to be kind to its holder if the last few seconds were any indicator and Clark was better suited to defending himself from the unexpected.

He glanced around to make sure they weren't under imminent attack (he wouldn't put it past the challenge makers after that start) but all he saw were the butterflies that had once been the room containing them. Not perceiving those as a threat, he took a moment to look at the map.

There was no safe route through the place. Neither did it have their current location marked. Fabulous. It did have the dangers labeled, ord at least some of the ones that wouldn't move around too much, and the doors, but not which door was the one designated for team twelve.

With a growl of irritation, he rolled it up and tucked it safely inside his shirt. He hadn't brought a bag and, even if he had, a bag could be stolen away or dropped. Between the layers of his clothing was the safest place for it (he'd worn multiple layers in case they were outside again). So anything attempting to destroy the map would have to get through his Doctor Who sweatshirt and nearly get to his heart first. Clark had no intention of letting anything get that close. He liked this sweatshirt.

"Pick a direction," he suggested to Gabe. "We need to figure out where we are and orient ourselves on the map." He looked around them and pointed toward a red haze in the direction he was arbitrarily deciding was north, "But maybe not that way unless you really like fire."

1 Clark Dill Following! 277 Clark Dill 0 5

Arnold Manger

February 08, 2016 5:12 PM

Off t(w)o victory! by Arnold Manger

The good part about being team two was that they didn’t have to wait long to do the challenge. The numbers were generally insignificant, mostly just a way to organize the different teams without having to come up with complex names, but when the challenge required teams to go one at a time, it was convenient to just go in order, since they were basically already randomized for fairness. Less waiting around was far more favorable to Arnold; he was fairly impatient, even for a seventeen-year-old boy, and waiting around gave him far too much time to stress out about things.

Less fortunately, his team had determined that he would be in the third part of the challenge, which meant a touch more waiting, although he supposed he couldn’t really complain since it was his idea to do it this way, his logic being that as the oldest person on the team, it would be best to have him as an anchor.

But when it was finally time, he felt little relief. Now things got interesting, sure, but he had no way of knowing what exactly was ahead of them. “You take the item,” he suggested to Seven. “That way, I can defend you.” Arnold got himself into the air well enough, wobbling slightly as he removed one hand from the broom handle to get out his wand. He wasn’t a great flier, but he had some obvious potential, his lack of skill stemming not from a natural deficiency but rather little experience. After flying lessons, he’d mostly tucked away the notion, given that he was not one for Quidditch or especially Quodpot. “You ready?” he asked. “Let’s go.”

Arnold was diligent as they moved through the air, keeping his eyes peeled, ready for all danger, glancing about their surroundings, letting Seven go a bit in front of him so he could protect his blind spot. “Protego horribilis,” he cast preemptively. It was the strongest level of Shield Charm he could manage, and he figured the barrier against dark magic would be helpful, not that he expected there to be much of that sort of thing--this was a school, after all. Nonetheless, having that level of repulsion seemed like a smart thing to provide, as the spell ranged a decent size, and he figured he could just do it again when they flew out of its area.

“What do you think, Seven?” said Arnold cheerily. “So far, so good, right?” But as he spoke, he heard a somewhat familiar sound, the grumbling “voice” intrinsic to a particular malicious sporting item. “I think we’re near some Bludgers or something,” he stated worriedly. He wasn’t an athlete, but a bat might have been helpful here. Without it, he was left with one option: destroy them. Juliet, forgive me. “I’ll try to--Reducto!--take out the ones I can, but be ready to dodge in case--Reducto!--I miss some, okay?”

12 Arnold Manger Off t(w)o victory! 261 Arnold Manger 0 5

Gia Donovan

February 08, 2016 9:54 PM

Off we go (Team Five - Barnaby) by Gia Donovan

Gia stood at the portrait with one of the school brooms in her hand as she waited for them to go through. She was really rather grateful that they were higher up on the team list than some of her friends. She didn’t think she would be able to handle waiting all day for other teams to finish. Her imagination would get the better of her and she would think of all kinds of terrible things that would be awaiting her.

Her blue eyes looked sideways at her partner for this challenge. One Mr. Barnaby Pye. She didn’t know what he was playing at. This was their opportunity to not work together and he spoiled it by saying he didn’t mind working with her. She also didn’t really believe him when he said that he didn’t know how to fly very well. Someone from his family who didn’t know how to do everything and to do it well? Seemed unlikely. She couldn’t really recall their flying lessons to know for sure if he had stayed behind and wobbled or not the way that she had, but she could have sworn he flew around with all the others who loved to fly. Of course, she could be easily mistaking her memory for someone else. Either way, she did not like working alone with him. Most especially because her safety was in his hands and she didn’t think Barnaby was all that encouraging of a human being. “You can hold the map, if you want.” Gia said. “I’m not very good with directing a broom and I’ll have to hold my wand too.”

They were let into the room and Gia stared at the entrance to the maze. Somewhere in there was the rest of her team and she needed to get this map to the room. “Here we go!” Gia stated with a weak smile to Barnaby. She held her wand tightly in her hand and mounted her broom. She wasn’t sure how she was going to manage to protect herself from anything and remain stable on her broom, but she had to do the best that she could for her team.

With hesitant legs, Gia pushed off the ground and headed into the labyrinth. Usually, being a Pecari, this would be a whole new adventure of fun for her, but the idea of hexes coming at her and possible creatures attacking her while she was flying scared her just a little bit. Plus, she wasn’t fully trusting of her partner and that only made her all the more anxious. She looked around to see where Barnaby was to make sure she wasn’t going to run into him. With her attention on Barnaby, Gia missed the sudden movement of the hedges and nearly collided with a wall. She gave a rather girlish scream and jerked her broom to the right to avoid it. She hit hedges and scratched her cheek, but she was able to right herself again. “Well then, eyes forward.” Gia joked.

6 Gia Donovan Off we go (Team Five - Barnaby) 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

Ji-Eun Park

February 09, 2016 3:18 AM

How about go away? by Ji-Eun Park

Her team was doing well. Really well. In fact, they were in first place whilst Jamie languished mid-table. She had seen him pouting the day the rankings had gone up and, whilst he would have taken every opportunity to rub it in her face had their standings been reversed, she avoided him. She didn’t want to hear him whine about how it was everyone’s fault but his. It was a little tempting to lord it over him, just for once, and several times she came close to giving in, but when the announcement for the next challenge went up, she was glad she hadn’t. Jamie had plenty of flyers on his team. She maybe had one. Their places could easily reverse after this challenge. She had intended to practise - the notice having gone up on the Monday - although between Head Girl duties and all her homework it was very easy to put off a task that she didn’t really want to do. Finally, the evening before the challenge, sheer panic at the impending embarrassment had forced her onto a broom. It had been pretty shaky at first, but… well, she guessed that was why they had that phrase “it’s like riding a broom.” She remembered how, she just took a few laps to get her confidence up and not wobble.

“Great work on the first challenge,” she smiled at them all as they assembled. She didn’t really care about winning but she thought they deserved a pat on the back nonetheless for working hard.

She returned Gia’s smile and noticed that Barnaby Pye did so with a tight smirk. Funny, she had thought they were friends… Although now she thought about it, she didn’t know where she’d got that impression, other than they were the same age. The way he smirked at her reminded her very much of the way Jamie looked at people, and she resolved to keep a closer eye on Barnaby, especially with regard as to how he treated Gia. Which was going to be a challenge here…

“Thanks, that’s useful to know,” she nodded, when both Gia and Barnaby spoke up about their abilities. “I think we’re not a team that has many flyers, so this could be tough for us. But we’ve clearly got some great problem solvers, based off the last challenge, and thinking on our feet is going to be as much a part of this too,” or rather off their feet, as they would have to be doing it in mid-air, where hardly any of them felt particularly great. “So let’s focus on that, and on pairing up based on abilities that will compliment each other. Those who get a flying job, take it at a pace you’re comfortable with and just do your best. I’m not going to be mad if we slip down the rankings.

“Louis, you play on your house team, right? Does anyone else feel especially confident as a flyer?” she asked, waiting for a show of hands, “And is there anyone who is totally unwilling or unable to do it?” she asked, checking for any hands that went up. Overall it seemed that, whilst the team might not be particularly skilled in this area, it was at least flexible.

“Ok…. I’m going to partner with Louis and we’ll take stage one. He’s a good flyer and I should be able to tackle the obstacles. I think having mixed aged pairs makes the most sense, so I’m going to have Scarlet and Barnaby tackle the way out. Gia and Jessica can take the ground work. Sorry that it’s not everyone’s first choice but I think those combinations will help us get through this the best. Is that ok with everyone?”

*

They didn’t have a long wait before starting, and she and Louis were first up in their team. The first obstacle as far as she was concerned was the maze itself, with its tight corners. She tried not to slow Louis down, or to wince or show it when she scraped her legs on the hedges. She managed not to do anything totally shameful like crashing or unseating herself, and her flying was functional if not the most elegant or efficient. She had offered Louis the map, on the grounds that he could fly well and possibly read directions at the same time, leaving her able to concentrate on flying and fending off dangers, although if he wasn’t confident with finding directions, she was happy to take over. However, as they skidded to a halt due to a brick wall, she felt it was much more likely to be one of the aforementioned obstacles than a wrong turn, especially as the rest of the maze was made of hedges.

“Stand back,” she warned, “Reducto!” The curse neatly blew the wall out of their way, and feeling much more useful than she had until this point, Ji-Eun flew on.

13 Ji-Eun Park How about go away? 268 Ji-Eun Park 0 5

Jemima Wolseithcrafte

February 09, 2016 3:22 AM

Go team! by Jemima Wolseithcrafte

‘Physical challenge.’ The description worried Jemima, though more for Owen than herself. She didn’t really like sports but they had been an unavoidable part of being home with Ingrid once everyone else had already left for school. Sure, now she was in her teens she was becoming less and less convinced that her round face and dimply knees were ‘just baby fat,’ and that as well as getting the odd nose out in the family, she also wasn’t quite built like the rest of them, but she could run and swim and fly if she had to without dropping down dead. Owen possibly couldn’t. The school had to know he had asthma, and she hoped they’d make some kind of allowance but she was anxious and she knew Owen well enough to know he would be too. He worried about bothering Andrew at night when his breathing was bad. If he was singled out, or the rest of the team had to make up for him somehow, he’d feel totally humiliated. Or he’d try to avoid it happening and then hurt himself. If the school did that, she was going to protest. She might have been the odd duck in most ways but she was a Wolseithcrafte; she knew how to protest.

He seemed worried whilst they waited for the instructions, even having to take his inhaler. Jemima swallowed. There was a non-flying option, which sounded better, but it still sounded potentially exerting. Owen though, seemed confident he could do that, and requested Chloe to place him in that group. Jemima really wanted to go with him, but she knew it made sense to mix up ages, and that she might have to go into one of the flying groups. It wasn’t her first choice but she’d do if it she had to. Being the middle beans though seemed to work in their favour; they weren’t small enough to need protecting, nor big enough to be able to protect someone else.

“Sounds good to me!” she grinned happily at Chloe.

Once they were waiting in the Cascade Hall, she slipped her hand into Owen’s under the table to give it a reassuring squeeze. It felt a little on the late side but she knew this still wouldn’t be his favourite thing in the world to be doing. She only wished she could show support so simply to Chloe. Jemima had heard that she’d been late back to school because someone in her family had died - and not someone old, but like… her step brother or something. Jemima didn’t know what that felt like. The only people she’d known to die had been elderly aunts whom she hardly knew. Most of the time, although everyone said proper things and looked sad, it felt somewhat natural, and not really all that bad. This was different. She was sure Chloe had a hole in her heart right now but Jemima didn’t know her well enough to say or do anything about it. She’d tried to think of nice things she could bring to the challenges to show some kind of support but had drawn a blank, with everything either seeming to vague and along the lines of ‘yay, team-mateship’ for Chloe to understand the gesture, or - if it had the clarity required - seemed too weird and overly personal for someone she hardly knew. Jemima hated knowing someone was hurting but not knowing what to do about it.

“Maybe we should brainstorm ideas?” she suggested whilst they waited. “Like, what different ways they might have hidden the objects, and what spells would come in handy.”

Once the challenge begun, she and Owen had more waiting to do, until the first part of the team had retrieved the map. Whilst they’d been waiting, she had tried to decide a strategy - whether it was better to go to the furthest object and work their way back towards the centre, or to work outwards. She thought the latter would be slightly more efficient, as they wouldn’t go out further than they needed, although she supposed ultimately it depended whether their object was past the midline or not, which she currently had no way of knowing.

“That’s the nearest,” she pointed to one on the map. “I doubt they’d be so kind but we can hope….” She made a note to talk to Ingrid afterwards to find out whether the objects were staying in the same places between groups or moving around so that each group had an equal level of distance to cover in order to find theirs. She held her wand, even though their group wasn’t facing any of the booby traps - the overly still atmosphere of the maze, and the knowledge that things had been leaping out at her team-mates, was enough to put her on edge.

They arrived at the first hidden object. The space was quite large, a square boxed off by hedges. The object could be physically hidden in the bushes, or magically hidden in mid-air. She deployed the first spell from their list - in all her craft ventures with Ginger and Lauren, she had discovered a spell to shed glitter from the end of her wand. Her first attempt had memorably been a bit over-enthusiastic, more like a glitter-splosion that had left their possessions coated. She tried to focus the same force now, sending a cloud of sparkling gold dust over the area. Most of it fell to floor but near one corner it had settled in the shape of a cauldron.

“Finite incantatem,” she cast, tapping the cauldron. It popped into existence, black, still glittery and bearing a large number fourteen. “Urgh, I really hope they move them between each group, otherwise Theodore’s team gets it practically left on the doorstep!” Jemima didn’t really care about winning or about beating her siblings, but she cared about it being a fair fight. “Ok, what next?” she asked Owen, as it was his turn to choose both a direction and a spell.

13 Jemima Wolseithcrafte Go team! 304 Jemima Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

February 09, 2016 3:57 AM

Not can't so much as can't be bothered to by Ingrid Wolseithcrafte

They weren’t quite winning, and winning was a thing Ingrid would be hard pushed to deny that she wanted and enjoyed. However, she was the first placed Wolseithcrafte and given that they had been told to show up to the next challenge with brooms, she was sure things could only get better. She smiled at the rest of her team, even Leonidas, when they assembled. Normally, Leonidas was the enemy but at the moment he was helping her to beat Theodore instead of lose to him, so for now he was an ally. He’d also been pretty decent to all of them during the ice challenge even though they were normally rivals - Ingrid could see why he’d gotten the assistant captaincy over Theodore, as he was way, way nicer than her brother, a point which she had been sure to mention to him (whilst she was rather competitive, Ingrid was also either kind by nature or had spent sufficient time around Jemima for some of her tendencies to have rubbed off - either way, she tended to give credit where credit was due).

Wu was the first to speak up on their team, which was a surprise because she wasn’t sure Wu had really spoken at all up until now, except maybe to say a spell. However, it was to request to be left on the ground, as she wasn’t much good at flying, which wasn’t exactly a bold and outgoing assertion. Looking at the rest of the team, it seemed pretty likely she’d get her wish. She listened as the older two figured out strategy. She was more of an action person than a planning person. Strategy was something she associated with Theodore and his chess set. She knew that it was important for Quidditch but it wasn’t a responsibility that had ever really fallen to her yet, leaving her to just do once she was put in place, and which suited her better.

“That makes sense to me,” she nodded to Liliana’s plan. She hadn’t really listened to the detail of what the second group would be doing because it hadn’t involved flying and had therefore sounded boring. Plus Liliana’s plan meant she was paired with the captain, which would have been her first choice anyway. Leonidas was nice and all, but he wasn’t Liliana. The only downside, she realised, as they sent the others off, was that their group had the most waiting to do. Images of them bursting triumphantly through the end of the maze, prize in hands, helped with that, but Ingrid still paced about a bit, checking the time every few minutes and pondering on what the others might be doing and when they might be done, and what the rest of them might come up against.

“If there’s a use in there for curse of the bogies, I’m good to help out. We did that before Christmas. But it seems unlikely….” she mused.

13 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte Not can't so much as can't be bothered to 322 Ingrid Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Ji-Eun

February 10, 2016 5:16 AM

OOC - edit by Ji-Eun

I failed to notice that Gia had already posted later in the challenge with Barnaby, so let's say that Jess is working with Scarlett on the final leg. If I have time, I will edit some IC reasoning into the post. Sorry!

0 Ji-Eun OOC - edit 0 Ji-Eun 0 5

Kyte

February 10, 2016 5:46 AM

Fight or flight by Kyte

Midterm had been the best, being back home where he felt he belonged, and doing Christmas shows - luckily these tended to be old familiar favourites, and still being little their parts weren’t too strenuous, so it had been easy enough to slip back into their circus routines. It was a bit cold out for practising broom stunts, and the frosty ground hurt when you fell on it, but he’d made as much use as possible of his flying lessons at school for that, so didn’t feel too behind, and instead his cousins had taught him a couple of cool new juggling catches. On top of that, there were all the other things that he hadn’t even realised he missed, like singing around the fire in the evening.

Coming back to school had been a drag. When they first left home, he’d been suspicious, doubting that the whole experience could be any fun, but there had still been the hope, the slim possibility, and the fact that it was a new place. Now he knew for sure he hated it, hated staying stuck in one place all the time, and there was nothing new or interesting to entice him back. He was pleased to see Ben, but that was about it. At least, until the poster for the second challenge went up.

Kyte was pretty excited for the broom challenge. Or rather, the official broom challenge since, for him, the last challenge had been about brooms too. He’d been bouncing along in a happy little bubble about it until he noticed Raine seemed anxious, which was odd cos Raine was pretty good on a broom - she didn’t do stunts, but they decamped often enough for it to be second nature. However, when Raine didn’t have something to worry about for herself, she usually managed to find something to worry about on someone else’s behalf. Sometimes he found it kinda sweet that she was so caring and other times he wished she’d just give herself a day off worrying for once. This time, she was worried over Nevaeh, who didn’t like flying one little bit. Kyte had promised to do his best to take care of Neveah, but as he listened to the challenge description, it became apparent that he might not have a chance. Excited as he was about the idea of riding through a booby-trapped maze, he remembered to do what Raine would, and turned to check how Neveah was taking the news. She looked pretty sick about it, so he reached out and gave her hand a quick squeeze, with a murmured “it’ll be ok,” which was what he would have done if it had been Raine looking so bothered.

Nevaeh seemed to get herself together and come up with a pretty clever plan, managing to do that trick of thinking what the teachers hadn’t said, as much as what they had, which seemed to be what they wanted from you here (but not in class, where if you tried to take that kind of initiative you were “bending rules” or “being cheeky”).

“It ain’t great,” he answered frankly when Ava asked if their spell pairings were strong, “But if we can’t fight it, we can probably outride it, and maybe that’ll be as good as people who know their spells but who’ll fall off. I’ve stayed on through some pretty hairy storms, so I reckon I can take what we’ve got coming.”

13 Kyte Fight or flight 335 Kyte 0 5

Ben Pierce, Team Four

February 10, 2016 11:36 AM

Flying Flamingos, Batman! (Arne) by Ben Pierce, Team Four

Ben clutched his broom in hand and bounced on his feet while he waited for his turn to go into the challenge maze. He wasn't anxious exactly; well, he was. He was anxious to get started, but not nervous or anything. It was probably entirely psychological due to his increasing anticipation for his own turn, but it seemed to him that it took Team Three forever to finish up so Team Four could be called. He was super thankful that his team wasn't the unlucky group numbered fifteen.

Finally, eventually, Team Four was up and Ben and Arne went through the portal into the Mirage Chamber. Mounting his broom as soon as they were through, Ben flew toward the prominently placed map they were supposed to transport for this first part.

He picked it up and as soon as he did, there was a shrieking racket and something covered with bright colors was flying right at him. Ben shrieked right back and took off flying in a random direction. The bird-creature-thing whatever it was chased after and Ben used every flying trick he knew to stay ahead of it and out of its clutches.

"Arne!" he yelled, "What is that?! Make it stop!" So far, he was managing to outfly it, but he wasn't sure what would happen if he jinked when he should have juked and it got close enough to make an attack. The sooner it was incapacitated, restrained, or somehow directed elsewhere, the happier Ben would be.

Spotting Arne out of the corner of his eye, Ben changed direction again to give the older student the best possible shot at the thing as he could manage while fleeing for his life. The map remained clutched tight but largely forgotten and now a bit crumpled between Ben's hand and the broomstick.

OOC: I have no specific creature in mind, so feel free to make it whatever you'd like Arne to go up against.

1 Ben Pierce, Team Four Flying Flamingos, Batman! (Arne) 339 Ben Pierce, Team Four 0 5

Jack Spencer

February 10, 2016 2:19 PM

I'm just here for the competition. by Jack Spencer

Jack was thoroughly enjoying the challenges. Though he considered himself an academic of sorts, he also loved being physically active and taking part in competitions. It was strange to him, however, to cancel Quidditch in order to have these sorts of team challenges, but as long as Jack was able to fly around on a broom and use his brain at the same time he was fine with it. The only bad thing about this was being stuck with his cousin as their leader. Leo didn't seem to be used to the leadership role and Jack tried not to blame him. He didn't seem very competitive in the first place, not to mention he was the youngest of three brothers. After seeing how low their team ranked (it was nothing compared to Charlotte's team), Jack felt motivated to get his team to do something. It was ridiculous, their ranking, and embarrassing.

The Mirage Chamber was fascinating, but Jack didn't spend useless time staring around in awe. Of course schools ought to have chambers like these, being magical. As he listened to the librarian explain today's challenge, he started growing excited. He would get to ride on a broom! That is, if no one else wanted to. The first bit sounded most appealing to him. It consisted of two of his favourite activities: flying and puzzles. The last group consisted of flying as well, but Jack didn't enjoy obstacle courses like that, especially when he was supposed to dodge things and find an exit in a maze.

Jack scoped out his team-mates, wondering if any of them could fly well. Each group would need two members, and since they still needed to incorporate Vendela, their first year, it would be best to include her in the easiest section. If they were going to win, or at least garner enough points, they needed to exercise all of their strengths.

Oliver Ferguson took charge quickly and Jack wondered if Leo would mind. Probably not. He listened to their self-declared 'leader' who called the ground and immediately called Newell on his team. Either Ferguson took a fancy to Newell or he had the same idea of a winning team. It didn't matter which at the moment as long as the two of them could complete their section of the challenge quickly. Newell didn't seem completely convinced, however, and Jack watched his interaction with Kennedy.

Jack still didn't understand why one didn't simply share their preferences. If Kennedy wanted to fly, then she should say she wanted to. If she didn't, then she should say she didn't. His brother was like that too, and Jack had learnt to try to see beyond Adam's words to figure out what he really wanted. With Laila's statement, he didn't know her well enough to know if she really wanted to fly and was just being passive-aggressive or if she really didn't want to fly and was just putting up a front to stand strong against Ferguson's blatant favouritism.

"I'd like to be a part of the first group, the flying one. Vendela, if you can fly all right you could come with me. It's less... intimidating than the last group. Unless you'd like to be in the first group, Kennedy, I'm easy." That, of course, was a partial lie. If his team-mates forced him to fly in the last group, he had no choice. He could do it if no one else was able, but he'd rather avoid it even if it meant sacrificing his cousin to the obstacle course.

40 Jack Spencer I'm just here for the competition. 299 Jack Spencer 0 5

John Umland

February 10, 2016 7:39 PM

...It is? by John Umland

”I’ll go in the third group with John,” a voice piped up at once. It was not the one John had expected. Arthur Leithan probably had no reason to think too highly of his roommate's brother (somehow, John seriously doubted that Joe regularly regaled the other first years with tales of how awesome his only school-bound sibling was), but he almost certainly had greater reason to think that John would be a good fellow to work with than the person who'd just piped up did.

John saw Emmy-Lou half-smile at him, but he could only manage a surprised look in return. Emmy-Lou had just volunteered to work with him, apparently of her own free will. Well, that took even attempting to bend the rules off the table. The second year had assumed he was up to no good last year when he’d been performing perfectly honest (at that point, anyway; it had gotten more complicated later, but John had gone to some effort to make sure they didn’t cross paths at that point) detective work, so if he did anything even remotely crooked, she’d probably catch it at once. Or else get it backward again and think that he was Galahad come again – maybe she just read everything backward – but he thought that was rather less likely than the unpleasant alternative.

“We can go over the basics until it’s our turn,” he suggested when she asked if there was any planning they could do for this. Her manner made it easy to forget, but she was a lot closer to Joe’s size than she was to his. He assumed she knew a little more magic than his brother first because she was an Aladren and second because she was a second year, but if she was the kind who read novels or even studied mostly theoretical subjects on her own time a lot more often than she taught herself extra spells (it occurred to him that he knew almost nothing about her except that she had been able to provoke him when he’d already been in a temper, which was...really not a lot to know about a person), she might not have a large magical advantage over her peers. John himself had not really hit his stride magically until last year, either, so even having the desire to learn more magic didn’t necessarily translate into the ability to perform more magic, at least not reliably. “We can probably count on needing shield charms – being able to create lights, maybe fire, finite incantatem,, Knockback Jinx could come in handy if there’s things in the air – can you do all those?”

16 John Umland ...It is? 285 John Umland 0 5

Theodore Wolseithcrafte

February 11, 2016 4:00 AM

Fed up by Theodore Wolseithcrafte

Theodore was less than thrilled about their current ranking in the team challenges. He didn’t really care about such things, but Francesca had won when she was here and, much as he loved her, he didn’t like to be bettered by her. On top of that, Ingrid and Liliana’s team was placed above his, which made both of them insufferable. He’d done his best to shrug it off as if the whole thing didn’t really matter to him but he really wanted his team to move up on the next challenge. Fate, however, did not seem to be on his side in this matter, as the challenge was to be flying based, according to the posters issued on the Monday before, and Liliana had almost an entire team of Quidditch players.

He listened to the long list of instructions, wondering why it all had to be so complicated. He didn’t mind complicated when it was something like chess, which was intricate and where the complication was a necessity, but this just seemed convoluted, all in the name of “fun” or “team building” or whatever brand the school was trying to sell to them this week. He would much rather have dedicated his time to activities he actually enjoyed, rather than having to shepherd a bunch of little children through a maze.

Ms. Brockert was the first to speak up, asking for one of the ground positions - hardly a surprise, since her family seemed to have something against flying. In fact, he wondered whether the Headmaster had insisted upon the ground clause for the sake of his relatives, as Theodore couldn’t really see the point of it otherwise. Sure, not everyone was good at flying, but that was why it was called a challenge - the last one had involved lateral thinking, and they hadn’t made an allowance for the fact that some people were idiots, so why this? He had spent a long time trying to figure out the Brockert stance on flying. They seemed to try to make the right sort of noises to everyone… They didn’t snub his family nor reject their invitations - Owen Brockert was practically joined at the hip to Jemima - but no one in the family flew. No one. Barely even the boys, which suggested some weird obsession other than WAIL-politics. He had wondered whether it was simply nurture over nature - no one in the older generations had taken to sport, and so hadn’t raised their children with an enthusiasm for it. But surely, surely somewhere along the line, someone would have got curious and picked up a broom. He still tended to assume that they were erring on the side of caution, trying to make sure they appeased all parties, which was rather a strange tactic given that they had enough status and power to set the rules themselves, and expect others to follow. Luckily, he had other volunteers to fly, and the ever chirpy Teppenpaw didn’t seem put off by babysitting one of the first years either.Certainly, that seems to make sense," he nodded to Chaslyn.

“Excellent, take your pick,” he offered Aiden, “Unless any of you has a particularly strong feeling about keeping your feet on the ground?” he asked the first years. “I’ll take whoever’s left, along with Mr. Markov.” As they were a team of seven, one group had to contain three, and it seemed to him to be a fair trade that whoever had the extra person at least had the most experienced younger student, as well as a total beginner. It also felt like his responsibility as captain to take that extra burden.

“Perhaps the group of three should go first? Given that we’re hunting for something, the more eyes the better,” just about, although it was barely an advantage given that they were following a map, not just hunting randomly, and the amount of time it would take to protect the novice students would probably far outweigh any useful contributions they made - they would have been better off keeping as many of them away from the obstacles as possible, but having them join the second group hadn’t been an option, “whereas on the way out, it’s purely dodging obstacles, so the fewer targets they have, the better.”

13 Theodore Wolseithcrafte Fed up 270 Theodore Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Jamie Park

February 11, 2016 8:47 AM

For team three (with Arthur) by Jamie Park

Ji-Eun’s team was winning. Not just beating his but actually over-all winning. The fact had put a pout on Jamie’s face for most of the week. The news that the next challenge involved flying helped to improve his mood a little, as that what his favourite thing to do, but he wasn’t sure it would translate into a better standing, as the whole problem with the last challenge hadn’t been him but the bunch of geeks and losers he had to work with. If a group of Aladrens couldn’t excel at the logic challenge, they weren’t likely to do much better at athletics. John would, he grudgingly admitted, probably do alright because he wasn’t really half bad on a broom, but the rest were probably going to drag him down. As Ms Nicchi explained her lame ass little treasure hunt, things picked up a little, in that at least two of the idiots got to keep their feet on the ground.

He shrugged nonchalantly to Emery’s plan. It made sense - of course it made sense to have him on a broom, he was Jamie Park - but it wasn’t exactly worth fawning over the exalted leader for. John then grabbed for the glory role of being the one to finish the whole thing, getting to zip across the finish line. Jamie wasn’t going to let him just take that, although if it got into a squabble over who would do what, Emery would be bound to side with his housemate.

“I’m sure I can manage any of the roles, so if that’s the only one you’re comfortable with, I’ll take the first leg,” he said casually. It dented his pride a little bit that the girl was clamouring to go with John instead of him (not that he was into first years because that would be gross, but it was the principle of the thing, given that he was way more good looking and charismatic) but he supposed it was the Aladren thing again. They were such snobs when it came to people from other houses.

“Couldn’t get a girl in your own year, Umland? Fine by me” he smirked, as if he’d rather not have her anyway. In truth, he didn’t know a blind bit of difference between her and the first year. The first year was at least a boy, and they tended to be less whiny, so it was probably in his favour that she was in luuuurve with John.

He tuned out their little chit chat about tactics whilst they waited to go in. He gave their map a cursory glance, sure his natural sense of direction would be no match for what the staff had come up with.

“This way first,” he nodded to Arthur as they entered the maze. It was weird flying with a little shadow. He was used to having a Beater, which could frankly be a little annoying at times, but at least they were doing something for him. He didn’t like playing babysitter. The first obstacle was a wall of fire, which he put out with a lazy flick of his wand, without thinking to negotiate with the first year as to whether it was within his ability. Speed was of the essence.

13 Jamie Park For team three (with Arthur) 284 Jamie Park 0 5

Lionel Layne

February 11, 2016 11:28 AM

Conquer! by Lionel Layne

Lionel was not particularly fussed about his team’s standing in the game, but he couldn’t say he was overjoyed with it, either. He guessed there were people who actually wanted to lose – there was one of everything, his granddad always said – but he though they were pretty rare and he wasn’t one of them. He just was acknowledged that everyone failed sometimes. Even his cousin Alicia had lost twice, when prefects had been selected for her year and when she’d had to work with people outside of her clique for the first version of these challenges, though to hear her talk (never outright saying it, of course, but the implication was pretty clear), she had actually just chessmastered everything so her now-husband’s team could win in the challenges.

If she had made second place, he thought there was a chance he would have actually believed it. Luckily for his sanity, though, if she had pulled that off, he was sure she would have at least mentioned it. It was more likely that for once, she’d just lost, fair and square. Death, taxes, and occasionally losing were just three inevitable things in life. Probably.

Alistair Johnson’s use of the word Obviously annoyed Lionel a little bit, but he couldn’t say the guy’s plan was a bad one. He could have been a bit petty and pointed out that for all they knew, the object could be too large for one person to lift, requiring magic from both students to move, or as small as a Snitch, but since they didn’t have a Seeker to account for the second possibility, Lionel chose to leave it alone. Starting rivalries and tensions in his own team was not something that was going to help anyone in any way. It would just slow them down.

The flirting with Kelsey, though, was enough to make him start to roll his eyes before he caught himself. Really. Lionel was willing to allow that she could surprise him – she had surprised him a lot by agreeing with him in the last challenge – but he doubted she was very good on a broom, which, along with the smile, made it more likely that this was some junior Crotalus romance getting in the way of getting the job done. Or just simple snobbery on Alistair’s part, not wanting to lower himself to working with the rest of them. Whatever. Either way, he wished Alistair would do his courting on his own time. The rest of them didn’t want to see that.

“I’m good with either plan,” said Lionel, trying not to sound too reluctant at the thought of working with Alistair. The guy kind of reminded him of some of his something-less-than-favorite relatives, which was not, Lionel thought, a compliment to Alistair no matter how one sliced it. Even Alistair himself, whatever he thought of Lionel as a person, would have probably been offended by the comparison, as those relatives were the way they were because they were social climbers.

16 Lionel Layne Conquer! 283 Lionel Layne 0 5

Ginger

February 11, 2016 7:42 PM

Un-silliness it is then! by Ginger

Ginger couldn't help a bit of a smile when Jake said they should be together. Diana didn't seem entirely convinced by the idea though, or at least, not by the position he'd chosen for them to take. "Well, I'm sure we can find you a broom in the time it takes for ten other teams to go," she assured Diana. She'd seen Mr. Xavier wandering about the Cascade Hall supervising the students still waiting their turn, and she figured she could ask him if not anyone else and he'd always seemed super helpful in the past, even when giving her chores to do for defacing school property last year.

"Do you think that Jake and I should go last then?" she asked, "Since we've got the flying experience and he's a fifth year? And I shouldn't be too much of a liability in the final stretch, either. I'm good on the broom and I've got my defense basics down solid." She might only be a third year, but DADA was one of her better classes, and she was better off than the two beginners who hadn't attended any intermediate lessons yet. She wouldn't be much use against anything high level, but she could probably hold her own against most things using the protego and stupify charms. "Then we can finish off strong."

At the risk of telling an advanced student what to do, she summarized, "So Diana and Darrien take the first leg to get the map in, Eleanor helps Angelique find our item on the ground, and me and Jake fly it clear? Does that work for everyone? And unless anyone has a better idea for finding brooms, I can go ask Mr. Xavier for however many we need." She looked a question at Darrien to see if he needed one, too.

1 Ginger Un-silliness it is then! 302 Ginger 0 5

Araceli Arbon

February 12, 2016 8:46 AM

But the world is ending by Araceli Arbon

The world seemed not to be ending. She, Araceli and their school associates had all been in the same place at the same time. She had had nightmares in the run up to the ball, of Araceli showing up as herself instead of Amelia and everyone turning on her - blaming her for the lies, or thinking she’d been the one keeping her sister under lock and key for her own gain. Sometimes her dreams were more abstract - fire, destruction, panic…. It had truly felt like the fact of having everyone in the same place at the same time might be a destructive force in itself that would just rip a hole in the world, even without anyone saying or doing the wrong thing. But it hadn’t happened. The evening had been more or less pleasant and successful. Araceli was on cloud nine over Makenzie knowing and forgiving her.

All of which was why how she was feeling made no sense. Things had gone as smoothly as could be expected but it still felt like the world around her was falling apart. She thought she knew why too…. She had always known this wasn’t forever - Merlin, she had never wanted it to be. She wanted Araceli to have her life back. But that didn’t mean she wanted to give it up. She had no real world to go back to. She’d been in a fictional version of France for the last two and a half years. She had no connections, no life of her own to return to. This was what she knew now, and it was going to be ripped away. She had as little as half a term left.

Her initial reaction to being placed first in the challenges had been panic. Had she over-impressed, done something uncharacteristically outstanding for a fourth year? She didn’t think so, as she’d had time to plan, and as no one else seemed suspicious of her, she had stopped worrying. Perhaps their ideas had simply been good. The second challenge presented more and more problems the more she learnt about it… Father had never been particularly against them flying, as it was a traditional part of witchcraft and he didn’t believe in all that WAIL nonsense. He did, however, believe in politics, and the Brockerts’ position remained frustratingly unclear. They didn’t outright condemn WAIL, but nor did anyone in the family fly. Conveniently, beyond first year flying (which even the Brockerts diligently attended), flying at the school was limited to Quidditch - something it was impossible to imagine a girl of Araceli’s temperament doing, thus making whether a girl of her blood status should do it a moot point. Until now. Those on brooms were also going to have obstacles thrown at them. That meant thinking fast. That meant gut reactions. That meant the risk of firing off spells that a girl of her age shouldn’t know. The salvation lay in the ground option. Whatever Duncan’s opinion on flying, he almost certainly wouldn’t think less of her for taking that, and it sounded like it had more space for thinking.

“I think I’d be most help on the ground,” she offered, “I don’t mind who I take with me.” Whilst she would have been happiest with Duncan’s company, followed by Brandon because at least he was proper, she sensed that these challenges were one of those situations where you were allowed to fraternise a little without incurring judgement - she was not being improper, she was being a good team player. And, even if she wasn’t so likely to be caught off her guard on the ground, the younger and Muggleborn students might not be such good judges of what magic was appropriate to her age.

13 Araceli Arbon But the world is ending 290 Araceli Arbon 0 5

Jax Donovan

February 12, 2016 12:00 PM

Scavenging (Team Two - Raine) by Jax Donovan

Jax stood around waiting for their time to go in. He really didn’t mind working with Raine as she wasn’t likely going to do anything that would upset him during their time together. He only hoped that she was good at hunting hidden objects or reading a map. The last time Jax had to find anything was during their Potions lesson last year and he had somehow ended up working with Ingrid Wolseithcrafte. Jax had the impression that she didn’t much care for him after that experience. It was better that way though. He was already tied to too many people and he didn’t even know how that happened. He really needed to stop interacting so much with people, especially the girls of this school. It was mostly Gia’s fault. His sister had a knack for making friends and usually when that happened, those people suddenly were his friends too.

When they entered the room and were deposited into the middle of the maze, Jax looked around their general surroundings to see if he could see anything without the map. Nothing was really calling out to him, so instead of looking, he decided to go through a list of spells in his head that would be helpful to working on finding hidden objects. His list wasn’t very long at all. Maybe it would have been better to have an older student work this part of the challenge with Raine instead of him.

Before he could really work anything out further with himself, the door appeared nearby. Jax gave a shrug to Raine before entering the room and finding the map waiting for them. Their Group One counterparts had managed to get the map to them alright. “I guess we’re up now.” Jax commented as he picked up the map and returned to the maze. He showed Raine the map so that they could both see where the hidden objects were waiting for them. There wasn’t one too far from them, only just passed the first turn. Other than that, they seemed spread out and vast. It was definitely going to take some time to get to them all and he really hoped that their item wasn’t the last one waiting. Jax handed her the map to hold on to. If nothing else, maybe holding on to it would make her feel better.

“We can use the Point Me spell while we are wandering through the maze so that we always know where North is.” Jax suggested. “This way, we could find out way back to the door without losing too much time. Or, we can leave a trail to follow back. Although, if the bushes move to make new paths, that wouldn’t really be much of help to us…” Jax said, more as a thought to himself rather than an actual suggestion to Raine. Sometimes talking out loud was how he worked out problems. Hearing it made easier connections than to simply run things in his thoughts alone.

At the spot where the map marked the first item, Jax looked around for some indication of where it might be. He spotted what looked to be a newly filled hole. “Oh, maybe this is it?” Jax said, dropping to his knees. Pushing the dirt out of the way, the found a small pouch. Written on the pouch was the Team number Twelve. It wasn’t their item. Dropping it back into the hole and covering it back up, Jax dusted off his hands and stood back up.

“Okay, well, I guess it’s on to the next one.” He stated, giving Raine a smile. “Where do we go from here?” He asked her.

6 Jax Donovan Scavenging (Team Two - Raine) 296 Jax Donovan 0 5

Isaac Douglas

February 12, 2016 12:56 PM

Paranoia doesn't mean they're not out get you, Team Twelve. by Isaac Douglas

Once the teams were decided, the only thing to do was wait.

While they did that, Isaac occupied himself by trying to figure out if he could make a convincing argument that later teams (like, for instance, his) should receive a few bonus points when the points were all counted because of the psychological disadvantage that having to wait imposed upon them. Team One might qualify for bonus points, too, since Isaac was pretty sure that everyone hated going first, but Ten through Fifteen really had it bad. Normally time was a Crotalus’ friend, but the task was one it was virtually impossible to plan for. All he knew was that he was going to have to face ‘obstacles.’ That was it. That could mean anything from walls of fire to corridors with sheets of paper he had to break through stretched across them – though the more he thought about it, the surer he was that those sheets of paper could be deadly, too, if hit too quickly with a broom. It was impossible for the time to be anything but a burden.

By the time it was Team Twelve, Group One’s turn, Isaac was sure the tension could get no worse. It promptly proved him wrong when Dill and Valenti were called up.

“Good luck,” he said to them, and meant it. For one thing, whatever he thought of Dill, their success was essential to his success at the moment. For another thing, he hoped that if he was nice, it would somehow karmically reflect right away so that the obstacles he had to face were not so bad.

Clark was good on a broom, nobody could deny that, but Isaac wondered how he would do without Beater support. Isaac didn’t like flying without it, but the fact was that Chasers had to look after themselves a lot. There were usually three of them to one Beater, not the one-to-one ratio Clark enjoyed as Aladren Seeker…though Chasers did also have pack immunity to help them out. Often, it was risky for anyone to take a shot at an opposing Chaser for fear of hitting one of his own Chasers before the Bludger could be brought back under control. He’d heard that the first rule of Beating was to take any shot at the Seeker which could be taken. Maybe it all equaled out somehow.

It took a significant effort of will to sit still during the first two portions, but it turned out that a lifetime of learning etiquette meant for a social class half a step above his own had its advantages. As it usually was before Quidditch matches, he looked a lot more composed than he remotely was as he took up his broom.

“Here we go,” he said to his partner.

The item on the table looked harmless enough, but Isaac still raised a hand in warning to his partner and performed a quick check for hexes and other dark spells on it before he decided it was safe for either of them to touch it. Then he picked it up. It settled awkwardly under his arm, not as much like a Quaffle as he’d expected, and his other hand was occupied with his wand. He could fly without his hands, but he was not used to spending the whole match without the ability to touch a broom. “Are you okay with taking turns carrying it if we have to?” he asked, just as the door appeared.

He flew through it, feeling supremely stupid (who flew through a door?) and almost immediately ducked as an arc of red light shot toward his head. Cursing fluently in his head, he cast a Shield Charm and glanced back at his partner, hoping she also had good reflexes and an instinct for self-preservation. He had not expected the obstacles to appear that fast and cursed himself for that. He'd thought he was so wired up that he was ready for anything within the realm of reason, but the lack of immediate opposition when he'd picked up the item had lulled him into a false sense of security.

16 Isaac Douglas Paranoia doesn't mean they're not out get you, Team Twelve. 273 Isaac Douglas 0 5

John Umland

February 12, 2016 1:51 PM

It's so <i>shiny!</i> (Emilia, Team Three) by John Umland

On a list of thoughts John had never thought he would have, hm, not bad, Park, was right up there with hm, think I’ll run naked through this tangled mass of briars and poison ivy in terms of improbability, but Jamie’s response to John volunteering for group three made hm, not bad, Park, a reality, though he was quick to qualify it with an ‘at least for you.’ He wouldn’t have thought Park was bright enough to go that underhanded. It was still childish and stupid, of course, but in an advanced enough way to surprise as well as annoy.

“I think that’s best,” said John gravely. “You’ll do a lot better with something we're pretty sure is lightweight and won't be able to move.”

He had a much more complex thought, complete with a snide reference to how well Park had managed to catch the smaller, fast-moving Snitch the time he’d gotten off the bench, but experience in the playgrounds and campgrounds of Calgary made John think he’d be pushing it if he tried to get that thought out in full. If Park had had a gang, it would have just been a matter of how much he had time to say before somebody kicked him, but under these circumstances, when John thought he might actually have a chance of winning a physical fight if it came to that, it was just a matter of speed. He could probably get the whole thought out before Emery told them to knock it off, but he’d have to talk so fast that it would lose all its punch even if, by some miracle, he didn’t trip over his own tongue and commit acts of wanton cruelty to English syntax. Long was accurate, but short was effective. That, Mom said, was politics in a nutshell.

The first two thoughts which occurred to him after Park’s jibe about Emmy-Lou both had the benefit of being short right away, but since one would lose him all the moral high ground and both had some chance of starting a duel right on the spot, he bit his tongue, settling for a glare before he started talking tactics. Hopefully, that would convey you’re pathetic as well as the actual words could have.

New hypothesis, he thought as they talked. Park is smarter than he looks. Evidence: tries to use enthusiasm and skill (which he lacks) against me, tries to make my partnership with Scott uncomfortable and further lower other opinions of me. Why?

That was the real question. John cursed the fact that even when he recognized those patterns, he could almost never understand the motives behind them. Was this really just about a Quidditch rivalry and a shock from a bag buckle? Park was arrogant, showy, and had all the maturity of a six-year-old who’d just found out the birthday pony was only a rental from the petting zoo, but that still seemed…small. It was indisputable, though, that he seemed to have a problem with John specifically, more than he did with the entire rest of the sane planet. He could have framed that last remark to imply that Scott had a hopeless crush just as easily if all he wanted was to make trouble. So what was his problem? What did he want?

He’d work on that one later. Right now, he had bigger problems, such as not allowing Park’s grudge to derail the competition.

I am not good enough to conjure plate armor from thin air, and even if I was, it would be a bad idea, John reminded himself when he and Emmy found themselves in the maze. He had known it was going to happen, but it was still disorienting to realize that they had just casually participated in what he thought was a fairly impressive distortion of space to get from There to Here in one move. I am not good enough – yet – to conjure armor from thin air, and even if I was, it would be a bad idea. It would be heavy and slow me down.

At least the first part of the task looked pretty straightforward. “Do you want it or do you want me to carry it?” he asked his partner.

Outside, he decided to risk hovering long enough to try the Point Me spell. He grinned when he found North, but then had another thought.

“If we accept that we know what direction the door out faces,” said John, who had figured that out which direction it normally pointed in the hallway, “then we know what direction to go, anyway. Except this is a magic maze. What do you think? Do we accept that we know which direction to go? I can’t think of anywhere else to start, anyway.”

When they rounded a corner, there was a blast of fire. John wheeled around sharply in the air, dodging it like a Bludger that would be even more fatal than usual for the twigs of his broom. He saw a bright glitter on the ground. “Fire crab. Stupefy!” He winced a little as he cast the spell, but assured himself that the member of an endangered species he’d just Stunned wasn’t real. This also helped him suppress the natural desire to get down and examine it more closely while it was out. Fire crabs were fascinating creatures, almost as good as his birds and more interesting than some of those. He’d give a pretty to analyze the stones in the shell and the digestive tract and the shell-body relationship….

“Fair warning,” he added to Emmy-Lou. “The obstacles might be designed…or designing themselves for us, what would distract us.”

16 John Umland It's so <i>shiny!</i> (Emilia, Team Three) 285 John Umland 0 5

Chloe Jareau

February 12, 2016 2:30 PM

Flying from the nest (Team 13 - Cass Riker) by Chloe Jareau

Chloe was more than relieved that no one on the team seemed upset by her thought process. It might have made more sense to separate the third years, but Owen seemed sickly and Chloe thought it would be better for him to have his friend than to be with someone he wasn’t necessarily comfortable with. Considering how Chloe was whenever she wasn’t feeling well, she believed that others felt similarly. Lately, that hasn’t really been the case for her. Mostly, she wanted to be alone or with family but that was about it. She faked her way through everything else. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy spending time with her friends, she just wasn’t in a place where she could talk to them about her feelings without feeling overwhelmed and angry. Every time someone asked her how she was feeling or that they were sorry to hear of her loss, she immediately tensed up while she emotionally shut down. The only people this didn’t happen around was Emery, for obvious reasons, and Arnold, which she assumed because he was there in their grief back home.

They had a long time to wait before they could go through the challenge. Chloe had nervous energy running through her. She wanted to go for a run, but she knew that wasting her energy wasn’t going to be a good idea. She thought about pacing to relieve some of it, but then she thought that might make her team nervous, so she opted not to do that either. Instead, she sat at the table with her legs working like crazy beneath the table. As long as no one looked under the table, they wouldn’t notice her excess nerves making their way with limbs.

Being in their position and having to wait was really the worst. She had no idea why she chose to go in Group Three other than the fact that she felt responsible for the item and wanted to make sure it got to the end safely. She knew nothing about Cassius other than his year and house. She supposed she should have tried to get to know her members better and then maybe she could have known if he enjoyed flying or Quidditch or whatever, but she didn’t have the mind capacity for small talk or friendly banter.

Chloe nearly sighed in relief when the door appeared, allowing her to no longer worry about whether or not she should try to become best buds with the first year or not. Grabbing the item from the table and sizing it to fit into a pocket. She handed it to Cassius. “Keep it safe. I’ll defend us against whatever they throw at us while you keep it safe.” She advised. With that, she hopped on her borrowed broom and indicated for her teammate to do the same.

Taking off, they started almost immediately with being flanked by doxies. Chloe threw up a shield charm to prevent the things from biting them, those that crashed the shield, fell, and after a couple of turns, the remaining doxies lost interest. Chloe shook her head and focused once again on the matter at hand. This was definitely not going to be a boring ride.

6 Chloe Jareau Flying from the nest (Team 13 - Cass Riker) 267 Chloe Jareau 0 5

Tristan Spaulding

February 12, 2016 7:19 PM

Yes, also my uglies and my averages. by Tristan Spaulding

Tristan was feeling pretty good about today, pretty confident. They were doing horribly but this challenge was theirs . He'd noticed that the teams were not exactly all equal in terms of skills, like his was strong in flying while Kira's, for example....not so much. He felt a little sorry for her and there were certainly other teams that Tristan would not mind Kira's beating such as Leo's-his kid sister beating his roommate would be immensely satisfying and kind of funny- or one of the teams he didn't have any close relatives on. However, his team was more important.

Unfortunately, the team his was tied with, Portia Dobson's, was also athletically strong even though Portia herself was not. Tristan was not unrealistic enough to assume they were going to go up to first place-even though it would be nice-and well, pulling ahead of them was the first step.

Then again, maybe they'd both climb up in the rankings, but his team more so. Tristan didn't really care that much about any of the other teams and where they placed in the end, just so long as it was behind his and Nellie didn't get upset about wherever hers ended up.

And if he had to lose to someone else, he'd rather it be her at least.

He joined the rest of his team, broom in hand. Every chance Tristan got, he rode it even though he didn't play Quidditch. And now he had a brand new one that he'd been breaking in, the old ones borrowed by many of his cousins. Scarlett had totally gone over his head with that and written to his mother to send them. He'd almost refused to let her have one because of that and because her team was tied for first. Instead, he'd given her one of the older ones.Then Tristan had lent Chaslyn and Kira his better ones, though Kira appeared to have forgotten it. Silly girl, he was trying to help her and she forgot the blasted broom! The seventh year shook his head.

When Tristan heard the day's challenge instructions, he felt slightly irritated. It was not what he'd been expecting, not what he'd had them practice for-naturally requesting practice for the upcoming to -focusing mostly on the theory of it being a relay race that he'd been so certain about. He loathed being wrong almost as much as losing.

Still, this was not something that they couldn't do. In fact, that they'd use Defense made it even better for them, because it was something Tristan excelled at personally.

Before he could say anything, Sammy spoke up, as she had a tendency to do. He had to admit that he rather liked her as a teammate despite her background, lack of manners and propriety. Those were qualities he wanted in a girl he married, but here it was all about winning and she...had that desire and that was a total plus. "Sounds good, why don't you take Mr. Miller with you and I'll take Mr. Fintoc with me, and then Mr. Westley and Miss Cooper-Fleming will work together on the ground?"

OOC-The title is not commentary about what Tristan or I thinks of anyone's looks.

11 Tristan Spaulding Yes, also my uglies and my averages. 264 Tristan Spaulding 0 5

Scarlett Brockert

February 12, 2016 9:26 PM

Team Five!!! by Scarlett Brockert

Scarlett was totally enjoying the Challenges and the fact that they were tied for first had her totally pumped! She didn't even care if she had to fly, she wasn't bad at it though it was not something girls were encouraged to do, even though pretty much her general impression of family's beliefs with regards to WAIL itself was that the logic behind it was flawed and that making sports a political issue was a waste of time when there were so many more important things to worry about. She didn't know what those specific things were but sports certainly seemed a trivial enough thing to her. It would be like making being any other hobby a political issue.

Besides, even if it had been encouraged, Scarlett would never have had the patience to get good at it anyway. She lacked any sort of real drive in life and found herself losing interest in things. She got the urge to try something, did, and then went on to the next thing. Everything was a new experience and Scarlett loved new experiences and that's how she was approaching the Challenges. Winning was just icing on the cake.

Of course, she didn't have her own broom. For flying lessons, she had, as had Savannah and most of her cousins,borrowed one of Tristan's. As Scarlett knew that he wouldn't keep so many here and had gotten a new one for the holidays, she'd written to Aunt Alice and asked to please send them so they could borrow them. Her aunt had obliged though Tristan had been none too pleased about Scarlett not asking him first and insisted on deciding who got to borrow what broom himself. He was probably just jealous that they were all beating him other than Kira and that Scarlett's team was tied for first.

As a result, she had his oldest broom from like, his first year or something. Still, that made it only like six years old and Tristan was the sort of person who kept all his brooms serviceable and in good condition.

Anyway, her cousin's old broom in hand, Scarlett fairly bounced down to the portrait of Tauvarius Mims, the old grump who kept track of house points whom she usually tried her best to avoid when she was sneaking around. She had no clue what they'd be doing but she was up for anything.

And when the Mirage Chamber opened, she could barely contain herself. It was a room that seemed impenetrable by any ordinary means and only got opened once in a great while. What an amazing opportunity! This seemed like a once in a lifetime thing.

Then she saw the maze inside. Cool! What fun this would be! She wasn't even at all disappointed when Gia and Barnaby asked for the ground option. Flying through a maze with obstacles in the Mirage Chamber was likely one of those things Scarlett would never have another chance to do.

She nodded in agreement with Ji-Eun's instructions and waited with Jessica until it was their turn. When it came, the fourth year turned to her teammate and said with a big smile on her face. "Let's go!"

Scarlett mounted her broom, daring to even ride it astride rather than the more ladylike way. It was quite frankly easier. She rode for a bit with Jessica wondering when exactly she was going to get to an actual obstacle. That's when they came to a group of colorful flowers, full of patterns and designs. An interesting change in scenery but how could it be an obstacle?

Splat!

A putrid smelling gob of green slime came flying at her from an orange flower with yellow polka dots. She just narrowly avoided it only for an ice cold blue blob to hit her square in the back. "Ahh!" Scarlett squealed. It was so cold that it was actually painful like being hit with a little bit of Antartica. To make matters worse it was impossible to warm up as it meant turning around and while she wasn't the worst flyer she certainly wasn't one of the best. She certainly fall. She didn't think Jessica necessarily knew warming charms either being that the Aladren was only a first year.

She could only hope to be hit with an excedingly warm blob in approximately the same place and looked around for a flower that happened to be spitting red ooze....

11 Scarlett Brockert Team Five!!! 293 Scarlett Brockert 0 5

Owen

February 12, 2016 10:35 PM

I think the Puberty Monster is trying to attack. (Team 13) by Owen

Owen felt tremendous relief when Chloe not only agreed to let him stay on the ground but paired him with Jemima as well. Honestly, it would be nice to win, but when it came down to it, he cared far more about not getting sick and being with his friend. Both of which would actually help them as well.

As they sat in the hall, Jemima squeezed his hand and Owen's face flooded with happiness. He wished they could keep doing that because it felt really nice not just to have the comfort and reassurance but just..in general. He very badly wanted to hang on.

But at least they got to be together the whole way through and that was definitely nice. Owen really did cherish every second they spent together, no matter what they were doing or who else. Even in flying lessons when they'd first met and neither was that enthusiastic about the class, it had been wonderful.

"Sounds great." Owen replied. They worked very very well together on creative endeavors and one might have to get creative in this situation. Plus it would keep him on task and keep him from daydreaming about finding a spot in the maze for cuddling. Or hand holding. Maybe they could do more hand holding if they were going to be alone together.

Once it was their turn to go, he went into the maze with Jemima and they came across the first object which his fellow Teppenpaw revealed in a shower of glitter. Owen shook it off his head, having no desire to be sparkly, but relived to have not accidentally inhaled any. Unfortunately, it wasn't their object.

"I hope they would be in different positions, it wouldn't be fair otherwise." Owen replied. "I would think the best way to do it is to like, move each group's object to the same place to make it equal for everyone. Why don't we use Point Me to go towards the next one?" He cast the spell "Left." He turned in the appropriate direction, subconsciously reaching for Jemima's hand...

11 Owen I think the Puberty Monster is trying to attack. (Team 13) 300 Owen 0 5

Duncan Brockert

February 12, 2016 11:17 PM

It's not that bad. by Duncan Brockert

Duncan was, once again, somehow blessed with good luck, with his team being tied for first place. He was beginning to feel sort of bad about it actually. While he had to study the same as anyone else and probably didn't do more or less that most people, minus Aladrens who really adored studying, things seemed to fall into his lap without him honestly caring enough about getting them. Except the friends part, which was quite nice but happened in quite a lackadaisical manner. While he genuinely was happy with things, Duncan sometimes worried about people who tried hard for them resenting him. It was probably a good thing that nobody seemed to notice this and that he'd never beaten out anyone who cared about being beaten. Okay, yea, if someone really wanted to win, they might be displeased but they had to resent his teammates and Ji-Eun and hers just as much. Or at least Ji-Eun as much.

He didn't feel bad about having to fly himself. Yeah, Duncan disliked pain so he never really wanted to do anything with potential to cause it. However, he was an okay flyer, though he figured Tobias and possibly Brandon were better at it. He was more concerned for others in this situation than himself. Particularly girls like Araceli and Serena who seemed to not be the sort to enjoy that sort of thing.

So Duncan was less than surprised when the former spoke up to mention she'd be more help on the ground after Joe mentioned being willing to basically do whatever. "All right, well then, I'll stay on the ground with you." This totally had little to do with strategy and more to do with his preference for Araceli's company. "And Brandon, why don't you take Joe and Izzy while Sylvetta goes with Tobi." That would work out the best.

"However,"Duncan went on,"if someone else really has a strong opinion on not flying I'm all right switching." Since his current plan to go on the ground was based purely on his friendship with Araceli and not a distaste for flying, he could be in one of the other groups if he had to. He didn't want to force anyone to fly if they had a fear of heights or some medical issue he didn't know about or just plain were completely unathletic and disliked sports or bad at DADA or had skills better used on the ground. Not because it would be a better way to achieve their goal or maintain their lead-that would only be a bonus-but because he really didn't want people to feel bad.

11 Duncan Brockert It's not that bad. 271 Duncan Brockert 0 5

Emery Kijewski-Jareau

February 13, 2016 12:55 AM

Just walking along. (Team Three - Laura Song) by Emery Kijewski-Jareau

Emery had no idea what he had done that had put him as the lead of this team. It was clear that Jamie and John did not like each other and their little digs at one another under their breaths or the roll of their eyes or whatever reaction they did towards one another was growing rather tiresome to Emery. They didn’t have to like one another, Emery didn’t care about that, but they could be more mature and set their differences aside for each challenge. After that, they could do whatever it was that they wanted. Emery didn’t know either of them well enough to know what the underlying issue was. If it was Quidditch, that was just ridiculous considering it was an off season and they were now on the same team. He half wondered if it was about some girl that they were fighting over, but Emery had no idea who that could be. He wasn’t really on the up and up regarding Fourth and Fifth years.

He was glad though that Emilia seemed okay with working with John. If she had objected, Emery would have simply taken her place. He wasn’t great on brooms, but he was great at Defense, so that would have been enough to get them through. He didn’t want her to feel absolutely obligated to fly if she really didn’t want to. But since she made no objections to his pairing, Emery took that to mean that flying was fine by her. On top of that, he trusted her more with John than with Jamie. That wasn’t because of John’s house or anything, but because of the rumors he had heard about the Pecari. That he was arrogant and a hot head. Emery worried that Jamie’s self preservation would lead to injury of whoever he was partnered with and he was less likely to be a gentlemen then John would be. Or, so Emery hoped.

On the ground, Emery grabbed the map from the room as soon as the door appeared. Lauren was his partner, so he hoped she enjoyed games like this. “It looks like the first item isn’t too far from here.” Emery indicated on the map. He used his wand for the ‘point me’ spell so that he knew which way North would be. He nodded his head to Lauren and began the trek to the first item.

The item ended up being a small box suspended in midair. It was too high for him to reach just by standing on his tip toes and they were already told that accio wouldn’t work on these items. Finite incantantem seemed to work though and the box dropped from the sky and straight into his hands. Wanting to make sure that they were partners instead of him simply taking the lead and leaving her out, Emery held out the box to her. “Do you want to do the honors?” He highly doubted that the first item they found would be the item with their team number on it, but if the rest of them were as easy as this one was, maybe it wouldn’t take forever until they finally did stumble upon their specific item… At least, he could dream, anyway.

6 Emery Kijewski-Jareau Just walking along. (Team Three - Laura Song) 259 Emery Kijewski-Jareau 0 5

Gabe Valenti

February 14, 2016 10:53 PM

Towards the light? by Gabe Valenti

Gabe was glad for the red light emitting from his wand - it was the perfect cover for the blush that flashed across his face. This was supposed to be his moment - and here he was barely crawling on his broom and making things hard for his teammate. Luckily, Clark was good on a broom and didn’t seem fazed by the first year’s error.

His eyes lit up and he was about to open his mouth and ask Clark if he thought that the mysterious light could possibly come from a dragon when he decided that that was probably not the Grown Up thing to do. Internally Gabe sighed. He had wanted to see a dragon since he’d gotten his wand with dragon heartstring and discovered that they were real in the first place. He bet that by fifth year, dragons were a commonplace, like squirrels in the normal world, or something. Clark was probably very unimpressed with dragons by now, and by proxy would be unimpressed with anyone over-excited to see them.

“Guess we should explore, and quick,” he agreed. Leaning forward on his broom, he darted in the opposite direction of The Ominous Light. He held his body inches above the broom, knees slightly bent, eyes facing forward behind his ski goggles. The air rushed against his cheeks as he gained speed, faster, faster. A smile began to grow on his face, this was his favorite part of flying.

Pulling his broom up and to the right, he came to an abrupt halt. There was a fork in the maze, and Yogi Berra’s famous words to “take it” didn’t do Gabe much good right now. To the left was a dark path, he didn’t see much down there. To the right he saw some flashing light, and - could it be? - a door! Was it theirs? How awesome would it be to find it so quickly?

“Hey Clark!” he exclaimed to the older boy, “Wanna go left? Even if it’s not ours, maybe it will help us get oriented, and - woah!” he exclaimed as a small, jewel-shelled creature crawled out of said path, and promptly shot fire at him. Gabe only narrowly dodged the shot as he jutted his broom left. The fire blast was small, and wouldn’t severely roast him, he didn’t think. It was certainly a smaller light than The Ominous Light they had encountered before. Which was good, because there wasn’t much room to move around in the path, and Gabe didn’t think he was about to learn any extinguishing charms anytime soon. He’d just have to be fast enough to dodge the little pests, or hope Clark had his back.

Gritting his teeth he moved forward - speed was of the essence. He was pretty sure his broom had been charmed not to be flammable, but he certainly wasn’t. The jeweled shells of the crabs shone brightly in the ruby light from his wand as he weaved between the pests. He practiced his Woollongong Shimmy, zig-zagging left and right, up and down as fast as he could, so as to throw off the aim of the creatures below. All of the practicing, all the hours on his broom had led to this moment. The passageway was warm from the heat, drops of sweat forming on his brown between the brim of his lucky baseball cap and his white ski goggles. What Gabe wouldn’t do for an ice cream sundae in a moment like this.

“Woo!” he pumped a fist in the air as he made it through the living obstacle course, and approached the door. Only now did he notice his heart pounding against his chest, his knuckles white and tightly wrapped around his wand. The chubby boy, who ambled about on the ground, had made it with just a small scorch on his gym shorts. This. Was so. Awesome.

Emma and Mattie were never going to believe this. And Ma was definitely never going to hear about this. Maybe he’d tell Dad. One day. Years from now.

“So?” he asked Clark breathlessly and filled with excitement, “This us?”

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