Students Currently Attending:

Gryffindor

(BR) Arielle Snark :: 3 (+2)
(BR) Billie Kennedy :: 2
(BR) Chance Ryker :: 6 (+3)
Christopher Collins :: 1
(BL) Eli Park :: 3 (+1)

Hufflepuff

(BR) Dax Fayette :: 6 (+1)
(BL) Dion Fayette :: 7 (+3)
(BR) Eveline Chancelier :: 3 (+1)
(BL) Fauna Blake :: 8 (+2)
(BL) Matty Amherst :: 2
(BR) Razzy Chancelier :: 1 (+1)
(BR) Tae-Song Toko :: 2

Ravenclaw

(BR) Beatrix Dark :: 2 (+2)
(BL) Peyton Wentworth :: 2 (+1)

Slytherin

(BR) Bellatrix Dark :: 2 (+2)
(BR) Demetria Strelnikov :: 4 (+3)
(BL) Erin Harper :: 4 (+2)
(BL) Ferguson Amherst :: 3 (+1)
(BL) Georgiana Trishna :: 2 (+2)
(BL) Neely Woolfolk :: 1
(BL) Trent Travis :: 1
(BR) Xavier Tawse :: 3 (+2)

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NB: All students have arrived on time, and are present at the start of this thread, unless you have a pre-arranged reason for being late, agreed by PM. Late to joining in, in character, just pretend you've been here all along. Thank you everyone!

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The instructions at the end of last Thursday's lesson had been surprising. The advice had been not to turn up in uniform, but to wear something practical, suitable for being outdoors and mobile. They'd also been asked to meet on the steps leading to the front of the castle by Professor Storm at 11 o'clock, when both the 5th and 7th years would normally not have any lessons at all, instead of their usual morning lesson.

Much of this had been forgotten over the weekend with the dance, and then swiftly remembered by housemates, and the rush to change out of uniforms and into something more suitable had been on before hurrying downstairs.

Ignan Storm wore a slightly amused expression as he stood at the bottom of the steps, without his usual long wizard's robes, and instead in a warm looking black wool jumper and his usual black trousers and boots up to his knees. His hands were clasped behind him, and his wand in his fingertips, the wind flicking the odd stray grey hair about his ears. Either side of his feet were two small barrels, light enough to carry on a shoulder, full of liquid.

"Today you get the chance to put into practise the work you have been putting in the past two weeks with your curses, counter jinxes and shields. You may believe you have them refined and down pat, but today you may find yourself surprised." The response of complacency was rife.

"You'll form two equal teams, with both fifth and seventh years in each, which will each be given a barrel to protect, in areas based in the two copses of trees." He turned and pointed to the two small groups of trees in natural dips of the grounds between them and the lake.

"The objective is for the winning team to have these two full barrels in their camp, having captured it from the other. Impeccably simple. The objective is not to kill your fellow classmates, that's my role as you know. Stunning, binding, yes, and more intelligent uses of your magic, all acceptable."

Turning to his right, he twisted his wand and uttered incantations, turning their jumpers black, and to the left to turn them brown. Stepping up the stairs, he sent the two barrels sailing through the air towards the two clumps of trees.

"Oh, one final thing, should neither team achieve the objective, the lesson will end at the end at noon - but should it be achieved, you shall know."

(( You can select which colour you are, or co-operate with other students to decide which you are. Lay traps, disguise yourself, go in all wands blazing, whatever your strategy, don't forget to make mistakes for bonus house points. ))

Xavier was one of the students that was rushing to get changed before meeting Storm at the entrance. The class was going to take place outside which meant he had to be warm but he also needed to be mobile so bundling up wasn't exactly going to be beneficial. Trying not to waste too much time he traded his slacks for a pair of comfortable fitting jeans and threw a hoodie on over his uniform shirt. It was the easiest to move in and it would keep him warm outside. He topped it off with a pair of fur lined leather gloves, perfect for keeping his hands warm while still offering a solid grip.

Xavier waited off to the left of the class listening the the teacher. It took him only a moment to realize that they had been grouped in with the seventh years. At least it was a nice change of pace. He didn't think he could handle another class with the stupid third years. His eyes flickered to both Kit and then Bella. He had royally screwed up things with both of them and supposed it was just best to forget about the ball and all the craziness that had happened and focus on his studies. Afterall he only had a few months left before OWLs and the end of the year then came the bigger challenge: figuring out where to live over the summer.

Xavier shrugged as his hoodie was turned to brown. Glancing around at the rest of his team mates he took hold of the barrel and headed off to the base ready to defend it during this messed game of capture the flag.

Not having gone to the Valentine's dance - thus having nothing to distract himself with - Erin had remembered the instructions to dress warmly just fine. Now he stood with Storm and the rest of the two classes dressed in the works - jacket, scarf, gloves, jeans, and boots. No silly little hat, though. He'd be plenty warm without it. Especially - he listened to the instructions with growing enthusiasm - if they were going to be running and ducking about. The more Storm explained, the more excited Erin got. He might be a hard arse, but he came up with all the best ideas.

He glanced down as his jacket turned black, then cast a long glance at the barrel on the ground and the rest of his fellow teammates. He wouldn't be hiding the thing. No, Erin thought he'd much rather be on the offensive front than staying at the copse guarding. He was good at running, really good, much better than with defensive spells - best leave that to someone else, and make a go for the enemy's barrel himself. Good thing most of the snow was gone now, nothing to leave footprints, although the trees were all bare and wouldn't provide much cover. Still, maybe he could get up in one, drop down on somebody -

Well, he'd figure something out. This was going to be bloody brilliant.

Dressing warmly was for sissies - at least, that would be Dax's excuse for forgetting to. At least he'd picked the right lesson to only wear his inside uniform to.

Storm's explanation made him eye Erin thoughtfully - but also in a way that was very unlike Dax. He smiled, or at least showed his teeth. When Storm's spell hit him, his jumper turned brown - awesome.

He'd been stewing since the ball since Toko and he had talked, since...since he'd been told Erin was the source of Toko's unease and...well, not to put to fine of a point on it: Dax hadn't scored on Valentine's day for the first time in two years and it was obviously Erin's fault.

He turned to stomp off to the brown team's barrel, pausing for a moment to look at Erin again. Well, Storm had said they were supposed to defend their barrels...

Outfit

Unfortunatley, Demitria hadn’t forgotten about changing before Defense. Now, she was standing outside, the first one to arrive (aside from Storm himself) and bored. At least if she had forgotten, she would’ve had something to do rather than standing in the cold.

Looking at the doll-like Russian, one would think she would be freezing in what she was wearing, but years of experience had taught her what was good when she needed to be warm and mobile. Two pairs of tights (both with waterproofing and warming charms on them) under a pair of skin tight, waterproof flat boots covered her legs. Her upper body was in a grey- longsleeve shirt and a darker grey sweater. She was completely mobile with everything and almost nothing that anyone could pull on, other than a hood on her sweater.

She stood quietly as everyone else filtered in. She wasn’t in a very talkative mood anyway. She listened to and absorbed Storm’s instructions, running through the various spells she knew and organizing them in her head. She decided she’s go on the defensive. She was good at finding hiding places and at climbing trees, so if she stayed high in the woods around the barrel…

Her thoughts were cut off as Storm’s spell hit her. When she looked down, she saw her sweater had drastically changed colors to a dark brown. Since she would have to be hiding, she astutely changed the colors of the circles on her upper pair of tights to black.

She moved over to where Xavier and Dax were. “Good afternoon, boys. So, what’s the plan?”

(On Team Black!)

Fauna listened to the instructions moodily, resembling an angry bumblebee in her puffy yellow jacket and black floppy hat. Since her breakup with Devlin, her moods had shifted quickly from despair, to sadness, to anger, and combinations of each, and this morning, anger won out. 

On any other day, she might have been excited by this lesson, since she'd had a small hand in helping to organize the infamous Wizarding Paintball tournament last June. Fauna had guarded the flag from the other team by hiding in a tree (and snogging Devlin), and she didn't want to think about that right now.

Her coat turned black, matching her hat (and her mood), and she noticed Erin Harper's had turned the same color. Fauna didn't say a word to him, however, and tromped over to their side of the trees, thinking she might as well attempt to guard the black team's barrel, unless her team had other plans.

(Team Black)

Eli could tell from the moment Professor Storm had told them the suggested dress code at the end of the last lesson he wasn't going to be too thrilled with whatever the old bloke had planned.  He was right, very right.  Standing in the gathering of students outside, Eli frowned with his arms crossed over his chest.  It was quite obvious that Eli wasn't much of an outdoors person, so just being out in the cold was enough to kick his cheery mood to the gutter.  With that, he wasn't too thrilled to be anywhere near Erin Harper.  Ever since he had found out about Razzy kissing the Slytherin, Eli had been quite tied up as to what his actions should be toward the younger boy.  Part of him wanted to go crazy ninja on Erin, while another part wanted to continue where they had left off those seemingly many months ago.  Not only would Eli enjoy that, but it would also be like getting revenge on Razzy at the same time. 

As Storm proceeded to explain the objective of today's lesson, Eli's premonition that he wasn't going to like today was locked, sealed, and cemented in concrete.  This was a game, basically.  A game that would require not only magical talent but some athletic ability as well.  The magic part Eli had absolutely no problem with... It was the other part.  He wasn't an athlete.  He hated the idea.  Sweating?  Ew!  Not to mention he would thrash whoever dirtied his favorite pair of pink slacks.  They were imported!  From Japan!  And quite expensive at that.

When Eli's jacket turned black, he reluctantly looked around to see who else would be on his team.  He instantly spotted Harper and he couldn't help but smirk a little.  Eli wasn't Erin's biggest fan at the moment, but he would rather be on the boy's team than not.  No doubt he would be a possible target otherwise.    His eyes then glanced over at Fauna, who looked like she had already given herself a job.  Smart choice.  Eli was still debating whether to be on the offensive or defensive.  Despite everything, Eli was actually quite quick on his feet due to his small size.  Instead of muscle, Eli had a brain and a wand, both of which he knew how to use. 

Putting on a half-assed smile, Eli strolled on over to Harper.  "Well, why am I not surprised to see you looking all excited?  This is right up your alley, isn't it.  Got anything good up your sleeves I, as your comitted teammate should be aware of?"

-- Team Brown --

---

Of course Razzy forgot to dress "warmly". Like he ever really paid much attention to Storm's stupid rantings. Perhaps that was why Razzy was awful at spellwork. He almost felt sorry for the people who would be on his team... But he was a born serial killer athlete. Despite being ridiculously tall and skinny, he managed to be rather impressive when it came to running and beating things. Joining the Quidditch team just made Razzy even more likely to be competitive and brutal.

The Hufflepuff stood in the back as Storm gave directions. Razzy reluctantly listened, knowing something good must be coming out of being outside. While he was indeed simply wearing his regular uniform, he wasn't wearing a jumper. So, as Storm's spell went flying around to each of the students, Razzy's white collared shirt turned a nasty dark brown. He frowned, slightly, hating the contrast between the brown and his yellow striped tie. However, he shrugged it off and turned to see who was on his team.

Much to his disappointment, his two favorite people (Erin and Eli, of course) were on the opposite team. He realized it would be great fun to battle the two of them, he simply didn't like the fact that he wasn't there to stop them from mingling. It was like having two girlfriends who were oblivious of the other. The difference being that Eli already knew about Erin... He just didn't know that Razzy had been spending a lot more time with Erin, even when he promised Eli he would drop him.

Hopefully... There wouldn't be an issue.

Razzy joined his team, eying them over and seeing if he was happy with this. There was Dax, who Razzy really didn't know all too well (since he hadn't heard word of the whole Erin/Dax/Toko triangle yet). But Razzy thought he was rather attractive... Mainly because he reminded him slightly of Erin... Only taller and more muscular. Oddly, this didn't make Razzy more fond of him. Then there was Xavier, who Razzy was, like, totally suppose to hate because he broke up with Bella for no apparent reason. But Razzy didn't hate him... Since Xavier was kinda/sorta the reason Razzy was able to drag Payton away from the crowd and have a nice snog session. And then there was Demetria, who Razzy knew absolutely nothing about besides that she had a name and a pretty face. And then there were others, but Razzy's laziness got the best of him... So he stopped looking.

He was a bit so-so with his team. He never really interacted with these people... But that would simply make the game more fun.

Xavier had taken hold of the barrel and settled it at their base. The girl spoke, but Razzy simply stared around at the view. Mainly he was spotting out the quickest escape routes... Razzy couldn't fight worth a damn with his wand, all he truly knew was "protego". So, that basically settled what Razzy was going to do.

"I believe... What we should do... Is while one of you-- Or more than one of you-- goes after their barrel... I'll distract them," he turned his gaze back towards his team, "I think we should send Demetria out to go get it... They won't suspect her. Me, on the other hand, I'm a chaser. Of course they'd suspect me..." He smiled, lightly, "We can catch them off guard".

Brown team

Dress warmly, yes that was something she knew how to do and with style. Arielle made sure to dress warmly because the last thing she wanted to do was freeze outside. What was with the professors and sending them outside these days? At least it was not late at night much like the Professor Trishna’s class had been last evening. There was a spot of civility in this, even if she could feel herself shivering despite the warm sweater and coat she wore. Perhaps she should have gone with a thicker pair of tights.

As the class gathered round and clothing turned either brown or black Arielle sighed hoping however this lesson turned out that she would at least warm up once the action started. Arielle looked down as she realized her coat had turned brown. How ghastly! She was not pleased with the colour but there was little she could do about the shade, this was a lesson after all. She simply started to pull her curls back off her face into a pony tail as she walked over to the rest of her group. Despite the cooling effect pulling her hair back had on her ears she knew it was best to keep her hair out of her face if she was going to be actively flinging hexes left, right and center. Admittedly Arielle was at tad excited at the challenge Professor Storm had proposed.

Stepping in beside Demitria she smiled. Thankfully there was at least one friendly face to out way Tawse. Arielle knew the boy didn’t like her, yet here they were finally stuck together on a time. “I love your tights Demitria.” She said casually before turning her focus to the group. “Yes what is the plan?” Arielle felt her eyes drifting to Dax as if hoping the older boy would have some sort of game plan. As she did so she registered the fact he was barely wearing any layers and he ought to be freezing. Arielle hadn’t quite realized she was staring at the older Hufflepuff when Razzy started speaking. Her attention snapped towards her fellow year mate and she raised an eyebrow. Well wasn’t he cocky and definitely thought highly of his quidditch skill.

“I might agree,” Arielle said about catching them off guard. “We could try and make them think Demitria was going to get it, or anyone for that matter. I also think we might want to look at what we want to do as defensive matters.” Arielle didn’t want to be thinking too much about how to get the barrel and completely forget they also had to protect their own. “We could go the route of bodyguards around the barrel.” Arielle paused, “Or we could even disassemble it and separate the pieces leaving them to have to find the pieces and assemble again.” Shockingly Arielle had been listening to the instructions and she had heard Professor Storm mention it was two full barrels. Arielle simply shrugged her shoulders after she spoke, she gave her two cents and now she figured it was time for the manly boys to buttheads with ideas.

Team Black

---

Giving Dax a guarded look as his brother stalked off, Dion headed off to join the rest of his group, nudging Erin Harper on the shoulder. "You may have a problem, Harper," he said. "Watch out for Dax. He's is a foul mood. Don't ask me why - I don't know. But watch your back."

 Looking to Fauna, he frowned - she'd been down since the ball, not that he knew why. He said nothing, not much much of a reassuring mood - but made a note to mention it to Ruby.

Tactfully.

"Right. I'll defend, if you would prefer to go on offense," he said to the rest of the team, leaning on the barrel as well. "We can hide it, I suppose - I'll think of something. Fauna - you look in the mood to hex someone anyway. Would you like to help me defend, or would you prefer to hex people's faces off?" He said it jokingly, in a vague attempt to cheer her up.

Team Brown

---

Joining his team, Dax cocked his head to the side, glancing back at the other team. He had better - and more important things - to do now that guard some stupid barrel, class or not.

The thought this could cause him issues with trying to get a job with the Aurors never crossed his mind. On a better day he'd have been revealing in the excitement of it, and the fact his team had most of the hot girls so far.

"I'm going on offense," he said, in a tone that indicated he was dead serious and arguing with him would be very foolish. He gripped his wand tightly. "Defend the barrel however you can; if Dion's on offense, transfigure him into something before he does the same to you."

It was excruciating waiting for everyone to figure out their teams. Erin wanted to go. He fidgeted as Fauna Blake stomped past him to stand moodily over their barrel; he cast a long look after her retreating back, and then returned his gaze just in time to see Eli Park's jacket turn black.

It'd been several months since their dangerous little interactions and Erin, who was blessed (or cursed) with the attention span of a much younger boy, rarely held grudges. Eli approached him, seemed friendly enough, so Erin smiled at him, reacting more to his words than his tone. It helped that he was just as excited as Eli claimed, all traces of his usual sullen behavior completely obliterated.

"Well, why am I not surprised to see you looking all excited?  This is right up your alley, isn't it.  Got anything good up your sleeves I, as your comitted teammate should be aware of?"

"Yup," he said happily, and, with a shrug, "Not particularly." Erin was only okay at spell-casting, and even now was racking his mind to remember all the things they'd learned in class. Unsurprisingly, he remembered the more aggressive spells better - he found them more real-world applicable. He supposed the number of hexes and curses he'd learned over the years at the wand of his brother were probably not school-appropriate, though. Such a pity; there were some really nasty ones. Then again, Storm might not care as much as other professors would... "I guess it goes without saying to play di - "

Dion Fayette nudged his shoulder and Erin, who had a rather automatic reaction to blonde boys the size of houses jostling him, stopped mid-sentence. Fortunately Dion spoke, preventing him from having to awkwardly figure out exactly which Fayette twin had graced their team. Lucky that they had at least one of them, though.

"You may have a problem, Harper. Watch out for Dax. He's is a foul mood. Don't ask me why - I don't know. But watch your back."

Erin frowned, turning this over. "But why would he - " flash of the past weeks events, Toko as Yumi dancing against him in the club and then the subsequent investigation - "oh. Er. Thanks for the heads-up." Dax and Toko were in the same house, weren't they? Merlin knows he'd seen them together. Erin supposed there was some dim possibility of Dax being irate over the way he'd hounded Toko - either that, or the bloke just really liked being irate. It didn't make much sense to Erin, for whom that chapter was over, closed, done; he and Toko were even now, deception for confrontation, and Erin hadn't thought about him since before the dance. But that was the only reason he could think of - he'd never even talked to Dax. Well, it was worth the warning.

Dion went off into tactics, which was the sensible person thing to do, while Erin continued puzzling over why he could have anything to do with Dax's bad mood.

"I'll take offense," he said vaguely. Then, focusing a little more: "I'm a fast runner, a good hider. I can get to the other side pretty quick."

Black Team // Outfit

---

Georgiana didn’t bother with the usual shit-chat that everyone else seemed to get up to at the beginning of classes. Georgiana told herself this was because she was so matured past the adolescent need for cutesy small talk, but in reality it was much more mundane:

Gigi Trishna didn’t like lots of people, and lots of people didn’t like her.

She went about listening to talk of tactic and temperament, all the while wrapped in a feigned aloofness examining her fingernails. Let the boys run about like the ticking testosterone time bombs they were (with the huge exception of Eli Park, mind you), hexing and cursing and being generally splendid things. Best case scenario, the lot of them would be pink, sweat-sticky, and soaked in mud / snowmelt by the end of this fiasco.

Georgiana cast a sweet eye to Harper and Fayette, and let a slow, private smile creep across her plump lips. Hell, for Eli too. Why not? A bit of dirt and brawling might render him suitably masculine. Maybe. Probably not.

Shame, not being paired up with that Tawse boy, who was by far the prettiest. Or the other Fayette, who wasn’t much of a gentleman. Or Chancilier, who...was mentally imbalanced and pouf to boot, if rumor was to be believed. Tragic loss, Gigi thought.

She peered across the green, eyeing up little Snarky and Strellie, a small cat-like sneer replacing the warmth she’d shown for the boys. Cursing them cross-eyed would be a pleasure...even though she barely knew Snark from Eve. Wealthy pureblood brats deserved to be stomped, for some reason or another. She didn’t need a specific excuse to gun for them.

All that said, her clunky boots didn’t warrant much chasing. They were better for kicking people in the head than running. Oh well. Georgie would make them come to her. She turned and slinked back through the ranks until she sidled up beside Fauna, acknowledging the other girl with a curt nod. With all these baby fifth years running around, sevens had to hang tight. Fauna didn’t look her usual cutesy self, more like a storm cloud had settled over her.

Good, thought Georgie. It suited her.

Georgiana sat primly atop the barrel, and smoothed down her skirt.

“We’ll be on defense, boys!” she called across the way. “You all can run around and bash things until you feel manly.” There was a coy warmth in his voice that completely drained the second she turned her attention on Fauna.

“How good are you at protection charms, Blake?” she asked, brow arching delicately. “They can’t take what they can’t touch, after all." Already her wand was out, and she was tracing curious symbols in the cold February air. Georgie’s eyes fluttered closed and her brows knit in concentration.

“Protego totalum.”

Team Black

Peyton looked a little worse for wear when he joined the rest of his classmates (and the seventh years) for their outdoors Defense Against the Dark Arts class. Despite everything that had happened at the Valentine's Ball he had managed to the remember to dress warmly, boots, gloves, hat, a pair of thick slacks and his favourite Ravenclaw Hoodie. He stifled a yawn as he rubbed at his eyes. He hadn't been sleeping well over the last few nights ever since the dance. His mind was still reeling from the fact that he had finally gotten an answer to his question and now he didn't know what to do with himself.

He watched as his royal blue hoodie turned black and headed off to join the rest of his team. He was thankful to notice that not only was his brother not on his team but neither was Razzy. It had been the maniacal Frenchman that had helped Peyton answer the burning question he had about himself. While he didn't really find Razzy all that attractive their little snog session during the ball was enough to secure in his mind that yes he did like boys. At least now he understood all the weird stomach aches he got around Edmund and Professor Frasier.

Shaking the thoughts of Razzy's lips pressed against his own he turned to his team and smirked at the dark skinned Slytherin, "I don't think we need to bash things to feel manly." He glanced around at the other guys on their team - Erin, Eli, Dion - with the exception of maybe Eli the boys were pretty manly all on their own. Normally he wasn't the one to work out strategy but he figured he might as well put his years of quidditch to good use.

"Anyone know a good invisibility spell or disillusionment charm?" He looked over to the other team, squirming for a moment when he spotted Razzy then turned back to the others, "I figure we have three teams, one for keeping the barrel safe, one for working offensively against the incoming team and the third can be a stealth team, get in to steal their barrel before they even notice we're there."

Black Team // Outfit

---

Fergie was not exactly looking forward to this. Be sure to wear something suitable for outdoor activity? Those words, in conjunction with 'Defense class', never lead to happy fun times. Fergie wasn't exactly athletic. He didn't play sports, and he didn't even run to the bathroom. Away from people (like Callum) who had a tendency to try to kill him, yes. But other than that - no. No way.

And he had no intention of running today. He was grumpy and cold and he missed his boyfriend and he just didn't want to. Instead, he trudged over to where the black team's barrell was stowed, hands in his pockets. "I'm not bashing anything," he informed Georgiana Trishna (who seriously had to be freezing in that tiny skirt). He still didn't understand how other boys his age found running around trying to kill each other to be a viable form of entertainment. They were nutters, absolute nutters.

"Can't I help you two or something?" Because if he had to participate, he was going to do it with the least amount of effort. He figured most of the action would be happening away from the barrels, with everyone trying to keep everyone else from crossing to the other side. "I can stand over there and make sure no one sneaks around and attacks us from behind." By which he meant he would hide behind a tree and read a magazine until the lesson was over.