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The crowd was big - larger than Georg had really anticipated. Even though the class was large, he didn't feel this would be difficult to deal with, given what he'd be asking them to do. And the fact Ignan was here made things easier.

He'd led the students outdoors to the fields near the Quidditch Pitch - the wide open area was perfect for his needs. He sat in the center of the group, ignoring the light drizzle that come intermittently from the sky above. He sat on the magic carpet - a gift he and Ignan had recieved years back. On this, he floated just above shoulder level, his wand pressed to his throat as he amplified his voice. Ignan sat next to him, and in the center of the carpet a tea set floated, the kettle steaming gently under a heat charm.

Ingenious gift, really.

"Good afternoon, all of you," he started. "Now then - this is to be a practical lesson! We've spent the past few days in both of your classes covering these spell and it is time to put them to use. 5th years..." He turned to their side of the group.

"The 7th years will be looking for certain groups of you. You will be enchanted in ways that will give them clues; you job is to use every spell at your disposal to evade their search and capture. You are not to attack them with anything, understood? If caught, you much withdraw to the side of the field and wait."

He looked to the 7th years. "You lot will use the Supersensory Charm we've covered. Your eyes will be bound - your job is to use this charm to indentify and catch the group you are assigned to. Removing your blinding charm or cheating in any way will result in a failing grade. Whichever team finishes first gets full marks, and possibly other benefits - we'll see how you do."

He nudged Ignan. "Color their jumpers, would you?" He asked, then looked to the 5th years.

"You will be divided into 3 groups - and likewise so will the 7th years. Hope you don't mind me stealing your idea, Ignan," he added, and pointed his wand to the 5th years. As his wand blasted the younger children, Ignan's hit the 7th years and their their sweaters began to change to 3 different colors.

"Red team - you will chase the 5th years who smell of oranges, and whose footsteps make a bell sound," he said, as the 5th years were enchanted. "Blue team - your targets will smell of pine, and make the sound of a windchime. Orange team, your targets will smell of apples, and make the sound of a tapped wineglass as they move."

As he spoke, both he and Ignan enchanted the listening students, and the 7th years had their eyes bound behind magical blindfolds.

"Right," he said, as they finished up. "Any questions, before we begin?"

Could they ever escape Professor Storm?  It was like he and and this new Professor Kirchlehnor were best friends or something, with their creepy German accents.  Maybe even more than that, Figaro thought rolling his eyes.   Ze German Vizard Brozzers.

But as Professor Kirchlenor described today's game, Figaro brightened.  It was a cross between rugby, tag and The Most Dangerous Game.  As teams started forming, Figaro began animating into action, not able to stand still.  He scoped out who was on his time, who the 7th years were that were going to chase them.  Most of the students were now trained to flinch violently when Professor Storm trained their wands on them, and this was no exception for Figaro, but he immediately held his red sweater to his face and took a deep whiff.

"Yup, oranges alright!" he confirmed loudly, for everyone's information.  As he moved around the group, he was just delighted to hear that his feet were making the proper noises as well.

Ding! Ding! Ding! D-ding! D-ding! D-ding! D-ding! "Ha ha ha!  I have a question!"

"How come the red team smells like oranges and the orange team smells like apples? Also, does this count as attacking them?"

With a wicked grin, Figaro jabbed his fingers under the rib-cage of a blinded seventh year.

outfit (minus the ears and the Jordyn doll... obviously)

"Um, excuse me, Professor?" Neely raised her hand after speaking. "I know you're like new..." He didn't even go here. Weren't Durmstrang alumni supposed to have a sixth sense or something? She'd heard that that one down in the village was hot as burning coal, for all his time in that icy castle. Neely couldn't wait to sneak a peak on the next Hogsmeade trip. But this one was kind of old. And he had... a mustache. Like a hipster mustache, but without the hipster. Neely wanted to help him badly, but she wanted to sort out her Team Situation first.

She took a deep breath, put on her best Cornelia Heloise Woolfolk smile, just like Mummy had taught her, and exhaled the truth of how things were around the hills of Scotland. "I can't be on a team without my BWFs, it's illegal, and I suffer Frequent Exhaustion because my knees are too perfect and fragile for everyday use, so I need to lean on Fergie in five minute intervals, and Jordyn is like built-in compass. We share brainwaves." It was serious. She leaned forward and said the last bit in a carrying whisper to prove it so. "Also, Julian isn't allowed to be on a team unless it's Team Neely."

Nevermind that they were all targets, or that Neely would have the sweet end of the deal (Maeve would never hex her, she was abso-posotively-lutely sure). It was the principle of the matter! For good measure, the teeny Slytherin batted her Hexy Betsey Absurdly Long Lasting Mascara'ed lashes in Nox Noir.

Julian was a well behaved boyfriend. He raised an eyebrow and stood at Neely’s side, leaning on one leg and then the other while holding her hand, listening to the professor go on. So they’d play hide and seek with the seventh years? Glancing around at his group, he figured this could be easier than expected. The spell hit him in the chest, causing a shocked sudden inhale of breath, staring down at his previously beautiful green sweater.

Red was such a… Gryffindor color. Making a face, he noticed only a moment later that Neely had a very cute blue (it shown against her eyes and fair complexion). Neely started to talk, obviously noticing something before Julian had a chance. Glancing towards Fergie and Jordyn, he merely smirked. Leaning slightly into his girlfriend, he took a faint sniff, unsure if he liked the smell of pine and apples mingling. Even if the color did look nice on her.

He quickly added his own opinion. “That’s right, Professor. I have a big invisible, well-known ‘N’ on my shirt.” He held their hands up as if that made a difference.

Glancing over at the ring-around-the-idiot, he shrugged and pointed towards the ever excitable Hufflepuff. “I’m sure Figaro would enjoy smelling of… pine? And running around like a windchime. A different experience, right mate?” He gave a smile to the mischievous fellow fifth year.

George had his arm around Grace’s shoulders, no matter they were about the same height (he wasn’t about to acknowledge she might have been a fourth an inch taller or so). He’d steered them away from Waker, keeping Lou near as well. It hadn’t been that long since he’d had the deep conversation with Eddy, and if anything he just wanted to be her support (well, kind of. She was supporting him as well).

Watching the spectacle that was the professor(s), he snickered and made a few side comments to his mates, moving a foot out and kicking the back of Lou’s leg, laughing at her reaction. He was feeling like a third year, misbehaving and acting out. He just didn’t want to seem too into the lesson, lest Miss Head Girl think she had some sort of impact on his study habits.

As soon as he heard they were being split up into teams, George nudged Lou again. “This’ll be cake. Just use our latest plays-”  Wait, did he hear something about eye coverage? Grinning wickedly, he nodded to Eddy. “Easy as taking test answers from a Ravenclaw.” His nose could be good for something, then. Of course his excitement was short lived as his jumper changed to an orange, and his friend’s went to red. “Now, wait a minute-” And then he saw she also was red. His mouth shut and he frowned, listening to the concerns voiced.

“What am I supposed to be smelling for?” Glancing around, he noticed a couple other orange jumpers. Pulling away from Grace, he was momentarily disorientated as the enchanted blindfold slid into place. His hands went out, accidentally hitting someone-“Sorry”-and then getting a jab in his side, causing a yell to escape him and his hand to reach out and attempt to grab on to the little nuisance. “Sellaphix! You better be glad you don’t sound like a wineglass!”

At least Ruby didn't hate apples. She looked alright in the color orange too, not that it mattered much. Of course she was paired off with Dion - but she was quite pleased to hear Toko's name called as well. She covered her mouth with one hand to keep from laughing outright at Neely's antics. Oh Slytherin Princess how cruel the real world would be; and yet even as Ruby thought that she knew it wasn't true. Neely would go on being Neely and getting her adorable way until she died. Ruby couldn't even hate her for it; she was that adorable.

When everything went dark Ruby felt herself panic for a moment, her heart leaping into her chest. She hated the dark. She hated the dark in ways that were probably psychologically unhealthy. She locked her knees and clenched her fists and forced herself to take three deep breaths. She was terrified of going blind - she had to have the bed closest to the window so the moon could shine in; or she simply couldn't sleep. At home she left her light on and then Ramona or Duncan would turn it down before going to bed.

She wasn't totally sure; but she vaguely remember John locking her in a closet once as a joke and then forgetting about her. Then poof there she was when Daddy came home and she flung herself around his needs and cried for hours. It was quite possibly the first time John had ever gotten a spanking in his life. So she was blinded - but she could smell and she could hear. She was fair enough with Charms that once everyone stopped complaining about their teams this wouldn't be such a disaster. She rather wished she was chasing after her sister though - she had a sixth sense when it came to where Sophie Flickwick was.

Figaro kind of hated Neely and all her fancypants performances about BWF (bestest-westest fweinds?), weak knees and sore dimples.  But Figaro didn't care what team he was on, and said as much in response to Julian.  "What the hell ever, Julian, I-"

But he had to dodge out of reach of Gryffindor's giant George Carter. Ding d-ding, as he took a few steps away from the lurching sportsman, hissing out a snicker.  The game was already on as far as these two were concerned, Figaro already playing the taunting prey.  There wasn't much room to maneuver though, so his ringling-dingling side-step evasion from George caused him to roughly jostle into Ruby Flickwick, Sophie's big sister. 

"Because, Sellaphix -" Georg started,  but the students seemed determined to hammer he and Ignan with questions and ridiculousness.

"Miss Woolfolk, the teams will remain as-is. Consider it a life lesson," He told her, wondering what had happened to the fine breed of ladies who had graced Durmstang - these certainly did not echo them. It wasn't like the 5th year groups were in competition with each other, so he conceded a bit. "Stick with your friends, however - the mix of smell and sound will make properly targeting more difficult for your pursuers..." As for her knees being too perfect, well. "And 5 points from Slytherin for your lack of proper uniform, young lady. As well as your frankly silly choice of footwear, considering you lot knew of this activity beforehand..."

He poured himself a cup of tea as he spoke. "The rest of you, get with your groups. 7th years - cast your Suspersensory charm, for Merlin's sake. Anyone who tries to do this activity without it active can look forward to detention for foolishness."

"Right! 5th years to one end of the field, 7ths to the other! 7th years, let your charm guide you to find the post you're starting from."

These kinds of classes just spelled disaster. Fauna let out a big sigh when Figaro and Neely piped up, wishing they'd jingle and jangle into the Forbidden Forest for this lesson.

Their jumpers changed colors, and Fauna grabbed onto the nearest seventh-year wearing red, thinking that it would be best to work with someone to catch the Red fifth-years. She casted the supersensory charm on herself as Kirchlehner began scolding the students, repeating 'orange and bells' in her head just so she'd remember what she was looking for.

But not many were taking this too seriously, and Fauna was no exception. She turned to the person she'd grabbed a hold of and whispered, "Are we just supposed to wander about, arms outstretched, zombie style?"

Fauna let out a chuckle. "Grr, argh," she lurched foward, playing the part.

Of course, sniffing people and making 'grr' sounds wouldn't help the werewolf rumors, but at this point Fauna just wanted to forget about it and have some fun.

Sophie did not want to do this; not today or any other. She was grumpy; she'd been grumpy since Fauna's party. Well; there had been that bit of a reprieve with Chane - but the next morning when everyone was humming with the rumors it got her all mad again. She wasn't sleeping well either - but that was probably because she was trying too hard. She kept thinking if she could get to that point in sleep where the visions came she might be able to make sense out of this feeling in her skin. She didn't like it. She felt like she was turning into a ruddy werewolf; all snappin' at people and such.

Still, it might be fun. At least Ruby wasn't chasing her - and she got to smell like oranges. She did find herself grinning at Fig's questions and rolled her eyes. She also got to be with Fergie! Then of course Princess Neely had to speak. While Sophie did mostly like the other girl, quite a bit actually, she often felt left out of this little trio that was Slytherin royalty. It hurt her feelings in a stupid way and she felt almost smug when Professor Kirchlehner told her no. Served her right; Gordic's Garters! What had Sophie so sour lately? Whatever it was she simply dismissed it and jogged lazily toward the other end of the field, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Maeve wrinkled her nose as the professor explained the "game" they were going to be playing for this class lesson. It was her preference to not do anything strenuous during her classes, but clearly this professor didn't subscribe to such thinking. But Maeve didn't know why she was surprised considering he hung around with the anachronism that was Professor Storm. The Slytherin had heard her cousin, Melanthe, praise him enough but nothing the man taught interested Maeve. The jury was still out on the Charms professor and if he continued in this manner, she wondered if there would be any classes besides History of Magic that she actually enjoyed attending.

When her sweater was changed into blue, she considered that at least it wasn't orange or red. And when she saw that Grace and Fauna were not on her team, that was also a consolation. But her optimism waned when she noticed that the sweater of one of their cohorts, Chance Ryker, also turned blue.

She rolled her eyes and then turned to see who some of her targets would be. Even before the blindfold was in place, she decided that she was going to focus on finding Demetria, Kitty and Neely. They shouldn't be that hard to find. Afterall, being fabulous just naturally attracted others who were fabulous, right?

She had already glossed over the fact that it wasn't fabulousness that she was trying to find but the (dingy) smell of pine and the sound of windchime.

Grace lightly hugged herself close to George in the beginning of class as they listened to the Charms professor outline the goals for the day's class. She was glad to feel close to George again and to have his  comfort in light of recent events. She was also happy to provide a similar comforting presence for him, even as he pretended that the break up with Waker meant nothing to him. Grace cast a saddened look in the Head Girl's direction, wondering what the Ravenclaw had done to make her friend so closed off with his heart.

The athlete and competitor in her turned away from that thinking and perked up at the idea that this was not to be a chalk and talk kind of lesson.

But she barely had time to construct a strategy for this game when her jumper changed color and George moved away from her. Grace panicked for a moment but seeing Fauna and Emily's jumpers change red along with hers calmed her down. She looped her arms through theirs just as she became blindfolded. She exclaimed, "Our team is awesome!" She was clearly excited and added, "Girl power!" Then, remembering that she had seen Fir's jumper turn red too, she felt her face burn. But she quickly realized he wouldn't be able to see her and said, "Uh...yeah."

She also remembered that Maeve's jumper had turned blue along with Chance's and Grace felt sorry for him that he even had to be associated with her. Grace tried to lean closer to Fauna and hoped that she didn't whack her in the face with her forehead. "So what do you think? Could we get away with ditching the task altogether and instead of finding our 5th years we find Maeve to torture her again with the face melt curse?"

Those who weren't blindfolded could see a hopeful expression on Grace's face. But it slowly turned into a more thoughtful one. "On second thought...Storm is watching...and I don't think I want to end up in another poison detention...."