Open Blast and Boom

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe was delighted to be back at Hogwarts, partly because it meant she could use magic again. It was really annoying, not quite being of age yet. Rose was seventeen now, which meant she could use magic at home without getting in trouble. But Phoebe, being a year younger, still had to wait. She had spent the time she had been bored at home writing down new ideas to do with the spells she had learned in her sixth year, and picked the first sunny day of the new semester to try it out. She had gathered the biggest stones from around the lake that she could find, and had placed them all in a line. She then stepped back enough to make it a challenge to aim for them, before looking around. She had tried to pick a secluded part of the grounds for this, and hoped no one would get any pieces of rock against their head. But if they did, Phoebe figured they would be fine. It wasn't like they were huge. She grinned as she took aim, then fired the first spell at the first stone she had lined up. "Confringo!" She cast, and she laughed with delight as the stone exploded into dust and gravel. Target practice with this spell was definitely fun.

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

One of Sully's favourite parts of the castle was probably the grounds. As cool as it was to actually straight up live in a castle, it was a bit stuffy inside, and Sully had quickly taken advantage of having any break time spent outside. Hearing what honestly sounded like a mini-explosion and knowing there was no way he wasn't finding out what that was, Sully quickly started looking for the source. Tucked a bit out of sight, he found an older girl, doing what looked like some seriously cool magic, and Sully cheered when another of her rock collection exploded. "Oh mean, this is the sort of magic I wanna go to school for," He chirped, poking at a pile of rubble with his toe and grinning at the girl. "Could you teach me how to do that?" Being able to blow things up would be definitely make him one of the cooler kids in his year, and Sully spent a quick moment imaging the look on his dormmates' faces if he exploded their pillows. "Oh oh, or I know, what if I levitated them? Could you hit a moving target? That's way cooler." He said, already starting to draw his wand.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe enjoyed the result of her explosion for a moment, then aimed her wand at the next stone. She made it explode with a bit more force, a grin never leaving her face. She was only distracted once a boy started cheering, and she looked to see a little first year looking at what she was doing. He seemed to be impressed, which made like him a bit more. "I can't." She told him with a shrug. "It's a sixth year spell." She herself would have wanted to learn it at that age too, but not even she had been smart enough to do a sixth year spell in her first year. There was no way this boy was smarter than her. "Sorry, you gotta wait." She said, not sounding very sorry. But his next suggestion actually gave her pause. "That... wouldn't be a bad idea. Of course I can hit a moving target." She told him, her pride demanding her to insist that she could. "Fine, you can levitate one but stay at the distance you are now, I don't want you to get hurt and me to get blamed for it." She told him.

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully groaned when the girl said blowing stuff up was a sixth year spell. He'd have to wait 5 more years to get to do it? That was dumb, he could probably pull it off if he really wanted to, but at least right now he got to help her blow up rocks instead. Letting out a quick victory cheer when the girl agreed to let him levitate some rocks, Sully quickly readied his wand. He was eager to see what this girl could do, since she was apparently so smart. "I won't get hurt," He said simply, but listened to what she said. Last thing he needed to do was mess with someone clearly capable of exploding his face off. Aiming for a mid-sized rock nearby, Sully levitated it carefully, poking a tongue out as he concentrated. Charms had come pretty easily to him, but it still took a decent amount of focus to keep the rock steady, since it seemed to have the inclination to drop like, well, like a stone. He moved it in a wobbly circle, sparing a brief moment to grin at the girl before quickly returning his concentration to keep the rock aloft.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

It was a relief when the boy didn't insist on trying to learn the spell, and instead seemed happy to get the job of levitating the rocks. She grinned a bit as he said he wont'get hurt. "I'll keep you to that. "She warned him. She waited for the boy to levitate a rock. It didn't go smoothly, but Phoebe tried her best to be patient. Even she hadn't gotten the hang of this spell right away, and she decided not to comment on the rock wobbling around. She returned his grin, then aimed her wand at the rock. "Here it comes," she warned, "confringo!"

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully let out a cheer when the girl caused the rock to explode, reveling in the spray of dust and debris. "Now this is what learning magic should be like, aye," He said with a grin, peering at the rocks she'd collected for their next target. "Oh, you know what'd be way more cooler?" He asked, picking up a rock to size it up. "What if I launch it with a banishing charm instead, like a clay pigeon?" Sully mimed the rock arcing over head with his free hand, grinning at the girl challengingly. Anyone could hit some hovering rock, this would be way more fun if she agreed.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe grinned at the boy's cheer. He wasn't doing much to improve her experiment, but being cheered on by someone was pretty encouraging. She laughed a bit at his comment. "I agree. I'm sorry you have to suffer through so many boring spells until you learn stuff like this." She told him, though she wasn't that sorry. She'd gone through the same thing. It would be unfair if they changed the curriculum now. His next suggestion really wasn't a bad one, though Phoebe paused before she agreed. It would definitely be more challenging, but Phoebe Holland wasn't one to back down from a challenge. "That's a good idea, if you can do a decent banishing charm." She told the boy, giving him a challenge too. "Let's try it."

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

"Pft, can I," Sully said, picking another rock. He'd do better than decent, he was sure, flicking a banishing charm at the rock and frowning as he watched it skip across the ground for a few meters."Oops," He said flatly.
After a beat of disappointed silence, Sully began fussing with some rocks and his wand trying to work out an angle. "I got it, hold on," It would probably just be like kicking a rugby ball, he figured, teeing up the rock a bit on the grass before getting behind it. He was definitely trying to show off a little bit, feigning composed poise as he readied his wand, but Sully still let out a gleeful whoop when his next banishing charm sent the rock tumbling in an upward arc in front of them. "Yes!! Get it, get it!"

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe gripped her wand and focused on the rock, ready to blast it from the air and impress this younger student. She had honestly no idea if she would be able to do this or not, but no one would be able to tell from her stance or expression. Seemingly confident, Phoebe waited for the boy to do the spell. When he did, she sighed. Maybe he couldn't do a decent banishing charm. That would be pretty disappointing after she had gotten used to the idea of doing this. But then the boy tried again, and Phoebe remained on her guard. Which was lucky, as this time the rock shot into the air. Phoebe didn't listen to the boy, focusing only on the tumbling rock. She shot off a spell but missed it by inches, blasting a tree branch behind it instead. She cursed. "Again!" She shouted, wanting to try it again until she got it.

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully had been so intent on keeping an eye on the rock he'd managed to launch that he was completely caught off guard when a nearby tree branch exploded instead. "Woah, you wrecked that tree, awesome," He managed between giggles, responding to the surprise from the noise with a peel of laughter. He wished harder than ever now that he could learn the spell she was using too, it'd be way more fun if they could trade off turns blowing things up if one of them missed, but at least it was still pretty fun to launch the rocks. "Okay, round two, ding ding," He said, grabbing another rock so he could angle his wand right, launching it in a wobbly arc in front of them again. "You know, this would make a pretty sweet sport or something, kinda like pigeon shooting, but explodey-er." Sully had already been trying to come up with a way to play games using more spells, and this was definitely good inspiration.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

it was a little gratifying that the boy seemed to think her failure was as impressive as a success would be, but it wasn't good enough for Phoebe. She wanted to do this again, and had no patience for the boy's laughter. "C'mon!" She said, giving him an impatient glance. The boy grabbed another rock and launched it into the air again. This time, Phoebe focused on the rock, blocking out the boy's words. She managed to hit it with her spell and grinned as it exploded. Then she looked at the boy again. "Yeah, good idea. But if you keep talking while I'm trying to focus I can't really do well, so keep it in your head and tell me later, okay?"

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully cheered when they managed to explode the rock this time. As a team, they were doing a pretty good job of it. Grabbing another rock, Sully frowned at the girl when she asked him to stop talking too. First he's not able to learn the spell, now he can't even talk. It felt a lot like when his big sister wouldn't let him hang out when she had friends over and Sully had to resist the urge to act like a kid and pout. "Aw, but what's a good sport with commentators, right?" He said hopefully instead. "Watch," He said, pausing to line up his spell before narrating in his best Sports Voice. It was a little harder to cast the spell and talk at the same time, so the rock went a bit wonky, but he hoped it wasn't too noticeable. "And they're launching the next rock, there it goes, excellent arc on that one, and now it's uh-" Sully paused, realizing he didn't know the girl's name "Ravenclaw girl with the assist, she's had an excellent season so far, let's see if she can continue that streak."

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe was focused on getting this right, but the boy seemed more interested in having fun. She didn't hide her groan when he suggested doing commentary. That wasn't what she wanted at all. But the kid still managed to banish the rock, and because he was busy trying to commentate, it was slightly easier to hit. Phoebe laughed as it exploded, then smiled at the boy. His commentary was pretty funny, she had to admit. "I'm Phoebe. You?" She asked him, even as she was getting ready for another rock. "Go on." She added, urging him on.

 

[Solomon Tofilau]

Sully let out another cheer when the girl nailed the next rock, beaming at her. "See? Commentary totally helps," He thought so anyway. It had been an excellent joke.
"I'm Sully, rock flinging expert," He said, flexing a few times with his wand to play it up a little bit. They both knew it sucked Sully couldn't blow things up, but he didn't want it to be obvious that he was bothered, so he might as well make the most of it. "Why are you blowing them up anyway?" He asked, poking through the collected rock pile for a good one. "Hey, this one kinda looks like Styx's nose, aye?" Sully asked with a sly grin, holding up near his face.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

Phoebe sighed as the boy insisted his commentary had helped, but couldn't help smiling a bit too. He was pretty funny, for a kid. "Fine, it didn't hurt at least." She conceded. "Expert, really?" She grinned. "Aren't I lucky." She shrugged when he asked why she was blowing them up. "Why not?" It's fun." She said simply. His comment about Styx' nose made her laugh and shake her head. "Maybe that's enough target practice for now." She mostly said it because she didn't feel like she was likely to hit a target so well again. "Thanks for helping."