Easier Watched Than Done Errand Finished

With one quick movement, Ileen bundled her long brown hair into a high ponytail. It constantly fell into her face and took away her view of the "athletes". After all the annoyances in her childhood, it gave her a childish satisfaction to be the one who judged the performance of others - at least once. So she had come here with her friend Dee and leaned against the barrier to watch and, as it seemed, to place bets.
She was a little nervous, though. It was very important to her which opinion Professor Jensen had of her. A small part was ashamed of it. But only a small part, really. Moreover, they were certainly not the only ones who had come to see the event, she justified herself. Nevertheless, she took care not to draw too much attention to herself.
If she was completely honest with herself, then she might find running at such obstacles quite enjoyable. In New Zealand she often had walked difficult paths with her father and climbing has always been her passion - but not because of the sport, but because of the view, which had welcomed her after the effort. So she was not unathletic, but nothing could be further from her mind than to participate in such an event. Especially in front of an audience!
“We both are exactly the audience because of which I would not participate in such an event!” She grinned and pointed at a short guy, probably a first year, who was stretching his arm to get prepared. “I place my bet on this guy. He seems to be too short so he’ll have to jump a lot. Sounds dangerous.”
She gazed at the waiting teams and nodded in the direction of a girl who was also small, but looked like she had some power. “I also bet that she might be one of the fastest. If her team members don’t hold her back.”
The obstacles seemed to be pretty tough. Ileen leaned forward. This would be exciting.

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"Yes, we are exactly why I would not want to participate in this," Dee agreed, blinking at her innocently, before following Ileen's pointing finger with her eyes. She squinted through the bright sun. "I'll take that bet, he looks like he's doing the monkey bars, so it doesn't matter that he's short, he just needs his arms."
It wasn't like they were doing anything bad here, Dee reasoned to herself. They weren't jeering or anything, just watching and talking. And maybe enjoying the participants' misery a tiny little bit.
Scanning the waiting teams and shading her eyes with her hand, Dealla tried to assess the contestants. There were some that looked like they were just hoping to get this over with, some who seemed both determined and worried at the same time, but also some who seemed genuinely pumped up. "There," she said, pointing out a team herself, "I bet those will end up at least top 5." Pondering, she let her gaze trail back over the obstacles. She supposed if she had to do one, she'd go for the rope net. That seemed the most reasonable. "So if someone forced you to pick, which one would you choose? Which obstacle, I mean." she asked her friend the same question.

In that moment, a brunette Slytherin girl headed towards them caught her attention. Dealla blinked in surprise. She hadn't had the impression that Ersa liked her overly much during their first encounter, what with her turning around and leaving after uttering only a few sentences, without ever responding to Dee's invitation to come visit her in summer along with Aida.
However, now she was coming directly towards them, and greeted them, too. She also seemed excited, an energy thrumming through her body that definitely hadn't been there that morning near the forest.
"Hi, Ersa," Dealla greeted her back with a friendly smile, pleased that her nickname had been remembered. Maybe the other girl had just had a bad day last time? She could give her another chance. "Yes, there's a relay race, see?" She gestured over to where another team was currently making their way over the obstacles. "Three people per team, every member gets one obstacle to pass. I think Professor Kibitzer and Professor Jensen are timing the runs, too."
Again, Dee noticed the excited energy that Ersa was emanating today. Was she actually excited about this? Dealla wouldn't have expected that of her, but she liked being surprised. How interesting. "Are you planning to participate?"

Words Count: 855/1000
@Ileen Knight @Ersa Murtaugh

Ileen frowned thoughtfully as she followed Dees arguments. “But his arms are also short, which makes the distance bigger and harder”, she resisted. A thin smile appeared at her lips. “I mean… It’s good that we are having different opinions. Otherwise it would be pretty boring to bet.”
Her gaze returned to the girl she pointed out before. She seemed to be highly motivated while one of her team members, another girl, more looked like she would prefer to somewhere else. why had she decided to participate than? Had she lost a bet or was she here because someone had asked her? Poor girl, Ileen thought pitifully and sighed softly. She herself probably wouldn't even have participated for Dee. Only if she had a really, really good reason. And fun was not one.
When Dee made her aware of the team that she thought would make it at least to the top 5, she also shaded her eyes with her hand and peered over to the three participants. They actually had a very confident and convincing appearance. “In any case, they themselves seem to be convinced that they will deliver a brilliant performance”, she said with a slightly mocking tone and let her gaze wander through the “arena”.

Before she could answer Dees question about the obstacles, someone was calling Dees name. Ileen turned and saw a brunette Slytherin girl heading towards them. Ileen knew that the girl was a Slytherin as well, but they never had any contact or interaction so far. They were not in the same dorm, so there hadn't been much opportunity to introduce yourself.
But Dee and the girl, who introduced herself as Ersa, seemed to know each other. Ileen nodded greeting in her direction. “Hi, I’m Ileen.”
She took a closer look at the newcomer while Dee was explaining to her what was going on. Ersa was wearing sneakers and seemed kind of anxious. iIeen quickly peered over her shoulder to see if Ersa was followed by other team mates. But no one appeared.
“We do not participate”, she explained superfluously and turned back to parkour. “If I had to pick an obstacle, I would go for the monkey bars, I guess. Or the rope net. Something with climbing.” She looked critically at her hands. “Although it's been a while since I've climbed. And I wouldn't really want to make an true monkey of myself!”

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"No, but don't you see? Being short is his advantage," Dee argued, getting more invested in the discussion by the second, her blue eyes sparkling animatedly. "It means that he has less weight to carry and less body length to swing around. It's like a pendulum, the longer it is, the more force it has, and that makes it harder to control." She waved her hands to demonstrate and almost hit Ileen in the face by accident. "Oops, sorry." At least she thought it was something like that. Hadn't there been some weird science project in Muggle school about this?
"But you're on," she said, grinning, and held out a hand for Ileen to shake. "I bet he won't be the worst in his team, and that the other team over there is going to make top five. If I'm right about both, I get a Chocolate frog, if I'm wrong about both, you get one. Deal?"

With growing amusement, Dealla listened to Ileen's rather vehement statement that the two of them were not going to participate in the race, then grinned at the mental image of an Ileen-monkey. "Oh, but you'd make such a cute monkey," she announced mock-seriously. "Maybe we'll learn to turn people into monkeys in Transfiguration at some point, so we can try it out, what do you think?"
Ersa's reply to her question, however, gave her a pause, and she drew her eyebrows together in confusion. "Um... I am almost completely certain that you need a team to do the race," Dee offered with the tentative upwards lilt of a question. "It's a relay, see? One person does the first obstacle, then the second one does the second, and then the third one does the last. I don't think you can do it alone?" She shrugged a bit helplessly. "But if you want to, go for it, I guess."

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Ileen flinched as Dee's hand whizzed past her nose, but then she had to grin. She was far from giving up in that argument. It was way too much fun arguing with Dee. Also she thought that she was right.
“But that depends on his height and weight. Sure, if he were too tall, that could be a disadvantage. He might be shorter, but he has to stretch his arm very far, which puts a lot of strain on the other one.” At least that's what her father had explained to her once - or something like that. Whatever!
She shortly gazed at the other team members of the boy. They all looked motivated but not that athletic. But her pride didn’t allow her to take a step back, so she took Dees hand and shook it. Also, he still might be the worst. She really believed in her argument. “Deal! I hope the chocolate frog comes with a rare collection card.” Ileen didn’t even collect them - at least not yet. But who knew? If there was a rare card, she could still start.

Ileen snorted at Dee's monkey joke. “Cuter than you, I bet.” Then she jokingly poked her friend in the side. “And if we learn it in Transfiguration, I will be faster and turn you into a monkey first.” She smiled widely and was about to stick her tongue out at Dee. “Into a fluffy, small one. Then you can sit on my shoulder and support me in the Potions exam.”

Finished with the monkey business, Ileen followed the conversation between Dee and Ersa. “With these shoes you look like a runner. Maybe you should pick two others and go ahead,” she suggested and looked around to point someone out. But unfortunately, no one was around who looked teamless. Today she was in a good mood so she added with a twinkle in her eye, “If you come across that short boy while he’s doing the obstacle, could you tickle him, if he’s doing too well?”

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Dee's mouth dropped open as the other girl called her Dealla with the obvious intent of provoking her. She might have taken the comments in more of a joking manner, as they maybe had been intended judging from the laugh in the Slytherin's voice, but Ersa using her full name and very nearly insulting her when she had just been trying to help immediately got her hackles to rise.
She narrowed her eyes at Ersa and glared. "Do you see a practice course anywhere?" she shot back, gesturing towards the field. "I only see teams, competing in the race and getting timed. What was I supposed to think when you said you were going to try it alone?"

Dealla straightened up from where she had been leaning against the barrier, squaring her shoulders and crossing her arms. "Also," she added, her voice cutting, "why would you practice for something like this anyway? It's not important, and watching you go over the same small obstacle five times is boring and steals time from everyone waiting to do the race."
Her rant had gained a lot of momentum at that point, and the next parts were a typical case of her mouth running away from her before her brain had caught up. Her? Not up for a challenge? This girl did not know who she was talking to. "And of course we can do the race if we want to! Who do you take us for? You'll see!"

Before she had even finished talking, or wasted half a thought to asking Ileen whether she was okay with Dee volunteering both of them for this stupid race that they had been making fun of only five minutes ago, Dealla was climbing over the barrier and following Ersa towards the obstacle race. Her temper was still flaring high. "I'll take the rope net," she announced. "Have fun breaking your legs while you stumble over the dumb hurdles."

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