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[Dave] Spelling Bee
Author: S Snape
Date: 05-26-17 18:57
As the first group for the Scholastic Aptitude Tournament's Spelling Bee take their assigned spots on the raised platform being used as a stage Dave wishes Dad and Gran could be here to watch. Unless he does poorly that is. Even then he thinks they'd love seeing Watling's Wizarding Academy. Gran loves the mountains and is always saying they should take a trip to see part of the Alps or those ones that go through Italy. Apeynines or something like that. He thinks she'd be overly chuffed to see the Rockies.
Dave looks down the short distance down the line to where Emily Ellis waits. He wishes they could have been lined up together but the judge, Emma Lim who is being called a moderator rather than judge, Dave gives a mental shrug, has not put anyone from the same school side-by-side.
Ms. Lim waits a few moments before officially beginning. Dave doesn't know if she's waiting for everyone to settle or if she's waiting to begin spot on the time given as the start. When she does begin, to Dave's surprise she doesn't start at one end of the line and go down it to the other. She appears to be consulting a sheet of paper, or as he's learned it's generally called in the Wizarding World, a sheet of parchment.
This is a single elimination competition. One mistake, no matter how tiny, and you're out. As first years or like being a Hogwarts first years, Dave wonders if those from the other schools have learned the same number of Charms up to this point or even if the same number if they're the same set of Charms. He should have thought to ask some of them earlier or last night. He reminds himself to ask when this is over.
Another surprise soon comes when the second contestant is asked to perform the same charm as the first one had been. A simple Lumos. And so it goes down the line.
Second is Wingardium Leviosa of a textbook. Third they are all asked to perform Alohomora. Ms. Lim has a padlock and each of them must open it using the charm. So far no one's been eliminated.
Fourth round Ms. Lim switches things up on them. The first person and second contestants, Armide Voisin and Jon Falconer are asked to do the reverse of Alohomora on the same lock. The third, Varys Cassel is asked to do something different. By the time the round is over half have performed one charm and half have done the other. It also brings the first elimination, Brent Farmer of Watling's. He had to lock the padlock but couldn't quite manage to get the piece to lock in place and stay there.
Dave feels bad for Brent. Brent and Dave became friends between last night and this morning but Dave is also relieved he is still in the competition.
Emily at the Spelling Bee
Author: Ellis
Date: 05-27-17 13:53
Emily's part in the Spelling Bee had ended when she'd failed at mending a broken quill. The Mending Charm or Repairing Charm was a first year charm and one she had recently mastered. She attributed her failure to nervousness, though she'd never before tried repairing a broken quill. If only she'd thought to practice on one!
Emily had been the fifth one booted from her round of the competition. Fortunately, her classmate Dave made it all the way to the end. That was five points earned for Hogwarts and an excellent start to the Spelling Bee competition.
The second group included Hogwarts students Maud Montgomery and Bertie Nutcombe. Emily watched them with fingers crossed, hoping that one or both would make it to the final three and thereby earn more points for their school.
Emily's big sister Alys was in the audience watching the competition, too. She wasn't taking part in the Spelling Bee, but she had been selected for the Astronomy Event, which took place after dark tonight. Alys sat next to Blakeney, who had put her name in for the Broom Racing event on a lark, only to get chosen for the Sprint.
Conrad sat next to Blakeney. He would compete in tomorrow's Long Distance Broom Racing event. Emily's twin, Daphne, sat on Conrad's other side. She would also be competing in tomorrow's Obstacle 1 Broom Racing event.
The trip to Colorado had unexpectedly turned into a family affair for the Ellis clan. Then again, with three different events taking place and the Broom Racing having four races in one, the Hogwarts contingent was larger as a whole. Emily was surprised everybody fit in the RV, but then it was magical.
Excited And Nervous [Bertie]
Author: Georgia Copperpot
Date: 05-27-17 18:54
Maud Montgomery and Bertie take their places along with the others in the second group of the Spelling Bee. He's both excited and nervous, not only for the Spelling Bee but he's also in tomorrow's Sprint event of the Broom Racing competition.
He gives Edwina in the audience a wave. She's in tonight's Astronomy competition. Libby was not pleased that both Edwina and Bertie get to come to the United States to Watling's Wizarding Academy but it's not like they had any say in who got picked for the two events today and the four Broom Racing ones tomorrow. Come to think of it, Libby probably isn't happy about Sylvestor also getting to come as a Broom Racing participant, while she's stuck back at Hogwarts.
As Moderator Lim welcomes Bertie's group and goes over the rules with them - as if they didn't already know and as if most if not all hadn't watched the first group compete - Bertie is reminded of how that first group was required to do the Lumos charm. That's one that's in his current textbook, The Standard Book Of Spells, Grade 2 but everyone, everyone learns it early on as it's useful for reading late into the night or playing a card game with bed curtains closed so as not to disturbed any sleeping roommates. Maybe at some of the other schools it's taught first year or maybe it's not but all the professors agreed it's something every first year knows by this point in the school year. Whatever the reason he hopes he isn't expected to know any third year charms because he can't think of any he's learned out of class on his own or from someone else.
Bertie is so deep in thought on this that he almost misses Emma Lim telling Thalia Wang a charm to do. It's the Severing Charm and as Thalia focuses on a dangling piece of rope to sever Bertie's wonders if as with the first group, everyone in his will be asked to do the same charm for the few two or three rounds.
Thalia successfully performs the charm, cutting the rope in half. Bertie's questioned is answered quickly when Pedro Loya is asked to stick the two halves back together. Moderator Lim alternates going down the line between having contenders either cut the rope or put it back together. For round two those who severed the rope must but it back together and those who put it back together the first time must show their Severing Charm skills.
Bertie breaths a sigh of relief after successfully performing both charms satisfactorily. As Emma Lim takes a drink of water, Bertie wonders what round three will bring.
(Tessa) Among the Top Three
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 05-28-17 08:04
Tessa and Margaret were among the half of the third group competing in the Spelling Bee not yet removed from the stage. The longer the competition stretched out, the more nervous Tessa became. It also seemed as if the charms were gradually becoming more difficult.
Now it was Tessa's turn again, and she was asked by Moderator Lim to freeze water in a clear, glass tumbler. Tessa tried to ignore the fact that everybody was watching her––not just her fellow competitors but much of Watling's Wizarding Academy and those students competing in the other two SAT events taking place over the weekend. She pointed her wand at the glass and clearly enunciated, "Glacius!"
The water in the glass turned solid. Fortunately, the glass didn't freeze over or crack in the process. Tessa breathed a sigh of relief.
She would not be participating in tonight's Astronomy Event, but she was scheduled to race in the Long Distance event during tomorrow's Broom Racing. Tessa had gotten a lot of practice in at the Quidditch Pitch at Hogwarts. The Long Distance race involved fifty laps around a circuit. Tessa thought she was a fast flyer, but she'd find out how she compared to others tomorrow.
The Spelling Bee continued. William Nesbitt got booted, followed by Kirsty Vincennes, who forgot how to cast the Fire-Making Spell. Tina Tomate fell next, followed by Sandor Fonseca. With only three remaining, one thing was for certain: Tessa and Margaret would both place, but where would they end up?
(Arielle) Achoo
Author: Jolyon
Date: 05-29-17 07:59
Hogwarts had earned 12 points in the Spelling Bee so far. Not only was this an excellent showing for the British school, but Hogwarts was also in the lead. Hopefully, it would stay that way!
The fifth group was currently competing. Arielle and Lauren were among the Hogwarts students taking part. They'd already gone through a few rounds without anyone missing a charm. The first to make a mistake turned out to be Emilio Espargos from La Escuela de Hechiceria, who had trouble banishing a boot.
Arielle ended up being the fifth student removed from the competition. She couldn't believe she'd messed up something as simple as a summoning charm, but the tickling in her nose couldn't be ignored or controlled and she ended up saying, "Achoo!" instead of "Accio!"
She would not be earning any points for Hogwarts, but maybe Lauren still had a chance. Arielle was not yet done competing at Watling's, though. She was set to compete in the Obstacle 1 broom race, which would involve flying through rings. Her brother Asher and boyfriend Malden also had roles in tomorrow's races.
Asher and Malden sat next to each other with the other visitors not participating in the Spelling Bee. They weren't friends by any stretch of the imagination, but they shared a common interest nowadays. The secret group of which they were both members had met a few times in the Room of Requirement since that first meeting in Hogsmeade back in February.
Both were disappointed that Arielle had not made it to the final three in her group. Asher didn't care if Arielle earned personal glory, but he did want Hogwarts to win.
He was glad to be away from Hogwarts for the weekend because that meant he didn't have to see his parents or think about the fact that he would soon have baby siblings. He couldn't believe that his parents were having more children. Weren't they too old to start over again with babies?
He felt himself growing annoyed and tried not to think about his parents or future siblings anymore. Lauren was still in the running to earn points for Hogwarts, so Asher concentrated on the Spelling Bee and hoped for the best.
The Finch Sisters
Author: Saffron
Date: 05-29-17 19:03
Katheryn purses her lips, watching as Lillian Lewis perfectly performs the Aguamenti charm. Her own effort was enough to carry her through this round but compared to the stream of water that's about the size of Katheryn's thumb in circumference her own was a twine sized trickle. She's performed the charm much better prior to today so Katheryn jots today down to the nerves of competition. With six left in her group the required charms have become increasingly difficult, such as Aguamenti, which can take some weeks or even months to fully master.
Her group is soon reduced to five when Jon Greyjoy of Sydney's is eliminated. His Aquamenti resulted in a slow drip of drops having a strange brownish color. Though he was able to produce liquid from his wand it's not the clear water from the source provided.
Katheryn makes it through the following round as do the other four, her fellow Hogwartian Franciscus Vanderbilt as well as host school Watling's Lillian Lewis, Durmstrang's Drogo Fyodorov, and Gregoire Groseille from Beauxbatons. She makes a mistake in the round after that. A small mistake but a mistake enough to be eliminated. She said the charm correctly but with a tiny incorrect wand and hand movement resulting in the spell being a little wonky.
Fifth isn't a horrible finish but Katheryn would have liked to do better. Fingers crossed she'll place higher, in the points rankings, in tomorrow's Rings obstacle course of the Broom Racing.
Sitting in the audience Estella joins everyone clapping when the round ends. She was in the Spelling Bee earlier and like her sister is in tomorrow's Broom Racing, though in the Long Distance event. The younger Finch sister finished the Spelling Bee slightly higher than her sister, though still out of the points, with a fourth place rank. Like her sister, she's hoping to have a better showing on Sunday. She also hopes this group's turn is completely over soon. She wants a snack but doesn't want to get up and miss anything as long as Hogwarts still has someone to cheer on.
(Franciscus) Feeling Good
Author: Griet
Date: 05-30-17 19:02
Franciscus was feeling pretty good about himself. Sure, he'd only earned one point for Hogwarts, but one point was better than none. He'd lost out second place to Lillian Lewis of the home school and first place to Gregoire Groseille from Beauxbatons.
The final Spelling Bee group was currently on stage. Group 7 included Eden Jenkins and Evinrude Walthorp. Franciscus watched them compete, relieved his part was over already and glad he could relax for the rest of his weekend in Colorado.
His cousin Paton was also at Watling's and was set to compete in this evening's Astronomy Event. Paton had done a lot of preparation for the competition but he worried that he might not do as well as he otherwise might, since he was in a different part of the world. He'd checked out the sky last night, though, and realized it really wasn't all that different from back home. It was probably a good thing they weren't in Australia or Chile right now, since the Southern Hemisphere was most certainly different.
Neither Franciscus nor Paton had been selected for the Broom Racing, which was unfortunately, since both had thrown their names into the goblet. Their chances should have been good, considering the different races, but it just wasn't meant to be.
Evinrude was excused from the competition early on, and Eden bowed out soon after. It looked like Hogwarts would only earn 13 points during the Spelling Bee, but it would turn out to be more than the other schools. Sydney's School of Wizardry would finish close behind with 12.
Now onto the Astronomy Event.