Junior Athletics Errand Closed

The third year was wearing black shorts that reached down to his knees, paired with red worn down running sneakers and a wine red shirt as he made his way towards the Quidditch Training Pitch. He was looking forward to seeing George and Jack again, especially with the promise of doing some outdoor activities. Those were great, everything outside was great and it certainly would do his mind some good to leave school behind for a while. With summer break slowly but steadily approaching the school work they got must have at least doubled and the amount of free time had been drastically shortened. So this small break was very much welcomed and he was curious to see the new professor of divination. Alan has never talked to the previous one and sometimes he regretted that, so he was determined to have at least one conversation with the new Divination professor as long as it wasn't about fortune telling. Alan was a strong believer of making his own destiny, so any talk that went against that was awkward. He knew about Seers, of course but he also knew that they weren't always right which was probably the reason Alan would never be taking that class.

As he slowly got closer to the training pitch, he could already see the obstacles from afar and his smile grew while the pace of his walk quickened. He could see George standing by the monkey bars and raised his hand to wave the kid. He was sure that George standing in front of the monkey bars had been on purpose to signal the desire of choosing that obstacle, so with a quiet hum he eyed the two that were still left to choose from: the rope net and the hurdle run. Knowing his own clumsiness he would instantly favor the rope net over the hurdles.

Once he got closer to George who was wearing an odd amount of sweat bands, one on each of his wrists and another one that forcefully pushed the hair out of his fore-head, making it stick into the air instead. "H-Hey, George, mind if I t-take the net? Jack will be th-there soon, right?", he asked the Hufflepuff who was but slightly smaller than the third year in height. Probably not long and the younger badger would grow to be taller, so Alan had to enjoy the little time left that he was actually taller than one of his friends. Well there was Jake, but he did not really count since he just was extremely short. It was like comparing a moke to a dragon or something.

From the corner of his eyes he could see the divination professor who looked like an old lady. He was confused, at least a little, as he wouldn't have expected a old divination professor to come up with an errand that would involve training one's health and physical activity. But this just showed Alan once again to never judge a book by it's cover since one would never know the story behind. His gaze shifted back to George, awaiting his answer with a soft smile.

Jack was pleasantly surprised when George had mentioned doing something athletic. So even without a moment's hesitation, Jack, of course, agreed! With everything that had transpired after the Hufflepuff incident, a good sweat was the exact thing that Jack needed to blow off some steam. He was whisked away and basically was sent away into a miserable quarantine. However, that was over, and Jack was now as healthy as an ox! The air was fresh, and the sun was out! What else could be better in the world? A pleasant smile was worn warmly on his face as he approached his friend's @Alan Vanes and @George Henry. There was no surprise that Jack was the last one on the quidditch pitch, seeing as tardiness was now apart of his personality.

His attire was entirely apt for a good workout! A sky blue beach style tank top, and black athletic shorts(Nike of course!). He knew he could work out and look good doing it too! The shorts were perfectly placed just above his knees. Jack hated when shorts went below his knees because they just got in the way! Plus, it made him feel small, which he absolutely could not stand for. Jack wore a blue Los Angeles Dodgers Baseball cap atop his head. Jack had the hat on backward, which was rather useless, seeing as people use hats to shade their eyes from the sun. Finally, to add as a finishing piece, Jack donned his black converse All-Star hightops.

Running up to the two other boys, he could hear Alan talking. About what exactly? Jack couldn't tell. As he reached his relay race teammates, Jack planted his hands on George's shoulders. With a muscular heft, Jack launched himself over his friend. The boy's excitement was palpable! "Hope you guys didn't miss me too much!" Only the idea of running around like a maniac excited the boy this much! Well, maybe exploring came first, but this was a close second! "]Well, Boys. Who's ready to beat the crap out of this course! This stuff ain't got nothin' on us!" He flashed a brilliant smile at the older Divination professor as if saying, 'Your challenge doesn't scare me!' He even windmilled his arm around into an overdramatic thumbs up!

Glancing at the obstacles in front of the team, Jack quickly deduced that the rope wall was going to be the toughest would either be the monkey bars or the rope net. "Alright, so the way I see it, I'm the strongest- right?" The boy's color commentary wasn't far off, "So I think I should take the hardest obstacle. I heard that Alan wanted the rope net, right? So I could take the monkey bars if you wanted me too. How does that sound?"

There was a deep-seated desire in Mr. Warren to win. Losing never sat right with him. Jumping up and down, Jack pulled his knees up to his chest as he left the ground. "Let's do this!" the boy shouted. He was getting pumped up!

505/1000

George stood up and adjusted the sweatband around his forehead, pulling it down to let his hair fall down over it. Now it was nestled uncomfortably over part of his eyebrows, but that seemed like a sensible place to put it. The alleged purpose of the band was to keep sweat out of your eyes (or something like that), and although George had never sweat enough in his life to have it start pouring into his eyes, the possibility of it nauseated him. He wore the sweatband whenever it came time to exercise at home, and Hogwarts would not be an exception to the rule, even if wizards rarely had to exert themselves more than flicking their wrists. The sound of Alan's voice pulled George out of his thoughts, springing upright out of a deep stretch as the other boy arrived and began to speak.

"Hello, Alan!" George turned to look at the net, then back to Alan again, eyes lingering on the older boy's arms and the parts of his legs that were showing past where his shorts ended. Not exactly the strongest specimen in Gryffindor, he thought to himself. He remembered the giant he saw at the Masquerade before everything went downhill - pausing to note Professor Jensen's presence nearby - and wondered why he didn't invite him for this challenge instead. He could just step over the hurdles and the rope wall like they were cracks in the sidewalk. Instead, he recruited the tiniest third year in the school. Oh well, Alan was nice, bought him hot chocolate, and didn't try to take his monkey bars, so he could have the rope wall if it was what he really wanted. If he couldn't make it over, that was nothing a little magic couldn't fix. "He should be here soon, I think. I told him to meet us around now."

George leaned over again, twisting to try and get another good stretch in before Jack's arrival. He didn't notice the sound of Jack's rapidly approaching footsteps, realizing that the older Hufflepuff had arrived when he suddenly launched himself over George. Despite the miraculous improvement in George's attitude since the horrors of the Blossom Ball, he couldn't match Jack's undaunted energy. But it was contagious, and George quickly joined the other boy in bouncing around and grinning, hopping from sneaker to sneaker in the grass as he examined the course. The other Hufflepuff, unfortunately, had eyes for George's obstacle - and that wouldn't do. Looking to present a reasonable argument before things devolved into a wrestling match, George pointed over to the hurdles.

"You literally just jumped OVER me and you're going to make me do the hurdles?" said George, aghast. He gave another wave of his arms toward the hurdles as Jack jumped again, showing just how high he could take off the ground. George tried to demonstrate his own athletics by jumping as well - it was true, he couldn't match Jack. Maybe it had to do with their height or how long their legs were or something. Admittedly, Jack likely would be able to kick his butt at any obstacle... but he didn't need to mention that.

"And yeah, Alan's doing the rope net. That should be fine," George said, with a nod. He stretched his arms out high and made grasping motions in the air. The greatest benefit of age - not wisdom, but height. "'Cause he's got reach."

1000/1000 WORDS

George would tell the third year that Jack should be there at any minute and Alan in response to that would nod absentmindedly as he let his gaze wander over the parkour. He was slightly nervous about how he would perform, even though he should technically have nothing to worry about. He would climb trees and stuff like that all the time. He even had a secret hide out back at home in a tree that was grounded deeply in the garden back at home. Up in the tree branches there was the perfect place to hide, not only himself but also certain objects.

While he was letting his gaze drift, he spotted some sudden yet fast movement from the corner of his eyes and the third year shifted his focus of attention towards the approaching student. Like he would have assumed it was Jack and George would happen to be correct about the taller Hufflepuff's arrival within a narrow time frame to their conversation. The approach of how he entered the scene had an immediate contagious effect, his lightened and carefree mood carrying over to Alan, making a bright smile tug at the corners of his mouth as a hint of mischief began to sparkle within his bright green eyes.

He zoomed in on the conversation and confirmed with a nod when Jack mentioned that he had chosen the climbing net. It sounded like the most fun and Alan assumed out of the tree options he would do best with this one since it was something he was used to doing all the time. He would listen to Jack going further and suggesting that George could do the hurdle run which made Alan glance over to George as the third year full and well knew that the slightly smaller Hufflepuff had planned to do the monkey bars rather than the hurdle run. "I th-think you would do great with th-the hurdles, Jack," he would agree with George, confirming his statement with a confident nod. "You are t-tall and got th-the jump down," he proceeded to explain his reasoning, hoping that this way he could steer the taller kid towards the hurdles rather than the monkey bars and therefore giving George the opportunity of working on his favored obstacle.

When George agreed that Alan would be good for the rope net because of his reach, the third year would snort slightly amused and nod. That would be one reason, he assumed. But it also felt a bit like the Hufflepuff was underestimating him in that very moment and it filled the third year with some determination to proof the other two that he could do good. Exercise was after all not solely based on muscle strength and Alan was sure that he could not complain agility wise. "Does th-that sound good?;" he would ask the others.

WC: 1000/1000

Getting pumped up was a specialty of the Hufflepuff prefect! The jumping and jiving was his pregame ritual for almost anything athletic. Jack was pretty proud of his athletic prowess demonstration. As he continued to stretch and jump around to get himself limber, George replied to Jack's general assessment. The boy had to stop for a moment to ponder the possibilities. Considering that he was pretty much good at everything, Jack could easily conquer the entire course if he wanted to. Yet, it didn't occur to the prefect, until just that moment in time, that George most likely couldn't get over the hurdles in a timely fashion. Just imagining George trying to climb over the moderately low barriers made Jack grin a bit. This was only exaggerated by George illustrating how poor his jumping ability was. The boy tried to seel his lips together, attempting to keep himself from bursting out loud.

Jack tried to hide his laughter by turning his head away from his friends. Only moments passed before turning back. Jack was hoping that it wasn't evident that he was avoiding laughing at George's apparent lack of athleticism. "I mean... you have a good point, I'm pretty awesome." Jack turned to his elder, Alan Vanes. He is tall, and he does have the jump down! "If you think you can do the monkey bars, I'm all for it. You got this!" With the most overdramatic thumbs up he could muster, Jack stuck his thumb up towards the sky, and punched it out towards George. He couldn't fight George and Alan's logic. He did just leap over his fellow Scammander Squad member. "Okay, then. I guess we have everything figured out. George is on the monkey bars, Alan on the rope net, and I'm gonna be on the hurdles." He nods as if confirming it to himself. "That sounds like a winning combination!" Jack's voice was confident, but he was most definitely faking at least sixty percent of it if he was frank with himself.

Jack had never done hurdles before, but how terrible could it be? There wasn't much that Jack felt like he couldn't do. Maybe Mr. Warren couldn't grow wings and fly away, but Jack was sure with magic, it was only a matter of time. The boy knew what he could do, but there was a slight pang of nervousness. Jack knew that George was better with books than he was with... most everything else, and he honestly didn't know Alan terribly well outside of him, holding Willow back from attacking him during a particular event. If Alan was strong enough to hold back a raging Willow, Jack had confidence in the boy. However, his faith in George was just about as strong as George's fashion sense. So to be terribly precise, it wasn't faith-inspiring. He glanced at the waiting professors; he was curious about what they were thinking. Obviously, Jack would impress them, but he was worried about George. That boy was going to make a fool of himself.

1000/1000

And then some

George returned the gesture for Jack, putting both thumbs up and striking an unstylish pose to show off his enthusiasm for his friend. Unlike Jack, George had full confidence in both of his partners, and a reasonable level of faith in himself about the monkey bars. There was some lingering stage fright, however. He could feel sweat gathering on his palms, which couldn't be helpful when one was about to dive onto the monkey bars. But worrying about that made him sweat more, which made him worry more in a vicious cycle of monkey bar anxiety.

Looking to Alan, George gave him a show of confidence as well, sticking both thumbs up as he walked over to his place in the line of obstacles, readying himself for a quick swing across the monkey bars. He jumped up and took a practice swing, gracefully flinging himself back and forth before going in reverse back to his starting position. He wasn't bad at it when he had all the time in the world, but under a timer, it could be a different story. He'd never really excelled in gym class or anything, but like Alan, he'd had enough time to swing off of tree branches to know a thing or two about the monkey bars.

He glanced back at Jack, then looked to Alan again, then backward to Jack once more. "I guess we just go?" he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Once Alan's ready, Jack - you start running. I'll be ready once you tag me in." He'd be so, so ready. He started to jog in place, getting himself all ready for his big moment. It would go just fine. and if it didn't, well... nobody would get hurt from him, and it had been a while since he talked to the nurse, anyhow.

The third year listened to the exchange of words from the two badgers one of who was his friend whereas he was sure that he could call the taller one a good acquaintance. He was happy to get to know him better through this task and was sure they could end up being friends if this relay went well. He would nod at the short recap Jack gave about each of their chosen tasks and grinned at George. "Th-That means I go after you!", he resumed when he had mentioned that he would conquer the monkey bars once Jack went through the hurdle parkour.

Alan was excited and lightly stretched as he watched George get warmed up for his turn. He would then to Jack and gave him a thumbs up for good luck. Now it was the tall boys time to shine in front of the professors watching them whereas Alan and George got ready for their turn. Alan was not too worried about all of this and had enough confidence to not lose his head over this. He was sure the three of them would be able to do just fine and he was looking forward to climbing that net. He should thank George for asking him to join.

This was it, and Jack knew his place on the athletic spectrum. Compared to the two others on his team, the boy was at least eighty percent positive he could burst through the first obstacle to give George and Alan a considerable headstart. Maybe it would be enough to get in the top five of the other participants. Of course, Jack knew that would probably not be enough, but hope inspires victory.

Advancing towards the start of the hurdles, Jack glimpsed back at his fellow compatriots. "If you mess this up, I'll make you guys run for ages!" His call carried a witty tone, and the boy's grin matched his affable attitude! Finally, at his spot, Jack looked forward towards his newest opponent. The dreaded hurdles spanned several meters in front of him. He had never actually done hurdles before, but he was sure it was easy as counting peas. The objective was simple. Just go over the barriers.

"You all ready?!" Another shout from Jack. Giving himself enough room to sprint up, Jack gauged the distance. Three meters should be enough for him to reach his maximum speed. Bending his knees slightly, Jack assumed a sprinter's stance. Left foot roughly shoulder-width away from his right and his position leaned forward. His first step was going to have to be a strong one. Without a good start, there was no way that Jack would do anything worthwhile. He had to look up to make sure the other sixty-six percent of the trio was ready.

They were ready to WIN! Like a whip, Jack stomped forward. Pressing all of his pressure down on his right foot, the boy bounded. There would be no stopping him now! "I've got this!" It was the perfect start!

Roll for Hurdles:
1D20[1] + Acc[5] = Total [6]

The closest hurdle flew closer, and with an agile deftness, the boy bounded over the first hurdle! He could do this! Jack knew he was going to look so cool! That's when the second barrier slammed directly into his stomach. The expulsion of the air from his lungs was swift and violent. Icarus flew too close to the sun, and Jack flew too high and found himself directly in the company of a none too forgiving hurdle. Gasping for air, the Hufflepuff prefect glared at his newest enemy. Weakened by the sudden arrival of a stationary object, Jack slowly crawled over the remaining barriers and slowly reached out to tag his next relay partner.

"If you mess this up, I'll make you-" George's witty retort was cut off by the sound of Jack's big leap into the very first barrier, slamming his belly into it. He couldn't help but wince, forgetting his snarky comment in a moment of genuine sympathy for his partner. Watching the poor boy struggle the rest of the way was more painful for George and Alan than it was for Jack, surely. "If... if you want to restart, it was only the first obstacle," George offered, reaching his hand out to try and minimize the distance that Jack would have to walk in agony.

It was clear from the defiant way that Jack had crawled over and tagged him that restarting was not an option. With their delay in mind, he hit the monkey bars with fresh vigour, leaping up to begin a...

Roll for Monkey Bars:
1D20[6] + Str[3] = Total [9]

Tragic performance. He started off strong, swinging from bar to bar like a monkey sailing through the branches in the rain forest, or the regular forest. Wherever monkeys lived, that's where George was. But it was only a fleeting moment. Suddenly, it was like his sweaty palms were covered in glue, binding him onto the bar where he was hanging. He struggled to get his grip again. His fingers slipped, like he might fall... but he carried on. It wasn't a spectacular failure like Jack's, but he had lost them time, so it certainly was no success.

He landed with a thud, stumbling his way to Alan and giving him a hard slap on the arm to indicate that it was his turn to run. "Go, go, go!" he shouted, starting Alan off right with a shove on the back and a point in the direction of his obstacle. The eldest boy needed to make up for some serious losses if the group wanted even an adequate time.