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D Stands For Dilemma (Jack)
Author: Kody
Date: 10-15-10 22:27
The exhibition match between squads A and D has been going on for just under half the time alotted for the timed game. Jack swoops in on Marjani, playing chaser for A to his chaser on D, and grabs the quaffle as she fumbles with it after accepting a pass from Hadrian. Marjani's having none of that and reaches to get it right back, her chest brushing Jack's arm in the process. Normally, such contact during a match or even practice isn't something Jack would think twice about but more and more lately he's been looking at both Marjani and Olive with great interest. Being torn between two girls is hard. Being torn between two girls who are also good friends with each other is harder. Being torn between two girls who are also good friends of his makes things bloody near impossible to Jack's way of thinking. At the touch of Marjani's nicely developed breasts against him, even with that touch being in the midst of fighting for the quaffle during a match, Jack is flushed. At least with this being a match, if his face has gone red, anyone noticing will put it down to him being warm from the exertion of playing.
Marjani and Jack tussle for the quaffle, neither able to fully grip it and race away. Coach Batuti is on the verge of blowing her whistle to have them do another tip off with the ball when a bludger from Mark smacks into Jack's elbow. The elbow of the arm holding the quaffle. The force of the bludger shoves his arm forward and Marjani plucks the quaffle away. The nerves in Jack's elbow take just long enough to recover that in the short time it takes for him to move extend his arm to make another grab for the quaffle, Marjani's pulled away.
Jack goes in pursuit only to slow slightly because Jill, who's on his team, is now on Marjani, going for a steal. Jack gets into a position to assist Jill without hindering her efforts. Marjani's teammates Hadrian and Olive are working equally hard to prevent Jack, Jill, and the third D chaser Etta from taking possession of the ball again. Marjani moves into goal range but Gus, Van Tassel not Hodfuffer, deflects the ball when she throws to her right. Olive gets the rebound off Gus's fingers and immediately throws, aiming for the center hoop. Gus blocks again, this time catching the quaffle. He puts it back into play with a pass to Etta.
Etta tosses to Hadrian who passes to Jack who hands off to Etta. They fly closely together, working to get the quaffle down pitch to where A's keeper Daniel is watching them to figure out which way he'll need to go to stop any goal attempt one of them makes should they get that far.
Three quarters of the way through the timed match, the score stands at 10-10. Jack and the others step up their game trying to make another goal before time runs out. That matter becomes moot though when seekers Cornelia and Christopher race after the snitch. They are so close that each grabs for the winged ball at the same time and it's not until Cornelia triumphantly holds the snitch aloft that anyone watching the seekers knows who succeeded.
Jack can't stop grinning at his team's win. He shakes hands with all the A players after the fourteen players are on the ground again. Squads B and C play next. D plays again after that, taking on B. Jack decides to be a spectator for a little bit so instead of heading to the locker room, he gets some refreshments then goes to join some of his friends in the stands.
Taking One for the Team
Author: Griet
Date: 10-16-10 08:49
Griet entered the locker room a little while before her next match and pulled her light blue and orange uniform back on over her pants and sweater. She strapped her shin guards to her legs and fixed her ponytail. A few stray hairs had come loose during the last match, and Griet just hadn't gotten around to smoothing them back into place.
In the moments before she and the rest of Squad B were called onto the field again, along with their new opponents, Squad C, Griet thought back to this time last year. Back then, she and Oberon still carried on their relationship in secret. It wouldn't be long before the anniversary of their discovery arrived, when everything had blown up around them. At least things had improved vastly since then.
Griet had half expected her parents to be on their guard during this Hogwarts visit, since it wasn't too long ago that they'd visited and been forced to referee their two oldest daughters. Things still weren't quite the way they'd been a year ago between Griet and Cornelia, but they were almost there.
It came time to enter the field again. All of the Quidditch players mounted their brooms and emerged from the locker rooms to cheers. They made a circuit around the Pitch and then took position over center field, where Professor Batuti systematically released the balls. Griet was the first to get her hands on the quaffle. She tucked it close to her body and tried to break free from the pack, but she found herself very much boxed in.
She looked for an opening and let the quaffle fly the exact moment Adina lunged for it. Deak reached for it and quickly brought it in close. He took off like a shot, but the other chasers were right on his tail. Griet urged her broomstick to go faster and wove in between the players, trying to get closer to Deak.
Ella aimed a bludger at Deak in an attempt to force him to move and give up the quaffle. Neither of Squad B's beaters were near enough to block the incoming bludger, so Griet tried to position herself in such a way to take the hit for Deak and not get too seriously injured. She only had a split second to decide where the bludger should hit her. In the nick of time she raised herself slightly, allowing the bludger to strike her in the thigh. The blow stung, but Griet took the pain like a professional. Better her leg than her much needed arms or hands, she thought!
Kingsley's Entertainment Service
Author: Harry Potter
Date: 10-16-10 09:41
Harry had very much wanted to attend the exhibition matches at Hogwarts today but despite the fact that the attacker hasn't done anything that they know of since the bomb blast at Harry's house, he didn't want to show up and risk something happening in the crowd of people sure to be in attendance. When he'd expressed frustration at the lack of progress they've made in discovering who the attacker is and how the magical security around his house had been breached enough to allow the attacker to waltz right up to the front door, Harry had let some of his other frustrations spill over. The normal vigilence an Auror has when going about with life away from work isn't enough. Harry no longer feels as though he can go out to eat or to something like Hogwarts Homecoming without endangering everyone around him. He doesn't even feel like he's effectively doing his job anymore. In short, Harry is feeling decidedly hobbled.
Kingsley, knowing how much Harry's gone through in his life, had taken what could only be pity on his work underling and friend. Some important Ministry documents needed hand delivering to Moscow, not a job normally done by an Auror. Harry figured Kingsley was doing it to give Harry some breathing room and where better than in the middle of a foreign Ministry on business Harry wouldn't normally do and assigned very last minute. Unless the attacker has excellent divination powers, which is always a possibility, Harry shouldn't encounter any problems while at the main Russian Ministry office.
Along with the file to be delivered, Kingley included to notes that he'd jotted down on the spot after deciding to send Harry. One envelope had Harry's name with the instruction not to open it until he had turned the file over to Moscow. With nothing marked on the second envelope, Harry rightly presumed that instructions regarding it were in the note for him. Harry's note instructed him to ask for Andrei Vasilovitch and to give Andrei Vasilovitch the second envelope. Harry did just that. He was directed to a tiny office with a view of the Muggle's famous St. Basil's Cathedral, though whether that was the actual view or whether the windows were charmed like those at the British Ministry Harry doesn't know. The man in the office was equally tiny and extremely old.
Andrei Vasilovitch had accepted the letter, read it, then got up from his desk and led Harry to another room. He'd gestured to a stool and had Harry sit on it then began working on Harry to transform his appearance. When the ancient wizard was done he waved his wand at one section of wall and a mirror much like those found in shoppe dressing rooms appeared. Harry walked over to check himself out and if he hadn't know it was him, he wouldn't have recognized himself. He appeared much shorter and though not identical to Andrei Vasilovitch, he looked very similar.
"My brother, Vadim," the other man explained in his lightly accented English. "Our mother, she was English. Our father, Russian. We lived both places and when time came for school they compromised on where we should attend. I attended our father's school; Vadim, out mother's. Hogwarts."
Understanding dawned on Harry. "Why didn't you just give me Polyjuice or something along those lines?"
"The combination of magic and Muggle disguise tricks I used will last for hours without you having to take sips of potion throughout the day. As you do not need to sound identical to Vadim it also was not necessary to use Polyjuice to transform your vocal cords."
Harry was so happy he'd ended up bearing hugging the diminutive man. "Thank you! I don't know how to repay you."
"When the time is right and I am in need of a favor, your Kingsley Shacklebolt will oblige."
"Still, I'd like to do something for you, even if it's only a nice bottle of wine or an evening out somewhere."
"An evening out? Yes. That might do. My wife is very much wanting to see some Muggle musical at London's West End but I find dealing with the Muggle ticketing agent dreadful."
"I'll be happy to get you tickets."
When Harry left a short time after that, the image of Vadim Vasilovitch, he had the necessary information to get tickets for the play. Because of the time difference when he got back to England, the Hogwarts Homecoming & Exhibition Matches were just getting under way so Harry had gone straight to Hogsmeade then caught one of the thestral pulled wagons waiting to take anyone who wanted to the school grounds. Arriving at Hogwarts in such a disguise seemed odd to Harry yet strangely liberating. The only drawback has been that because he hadn't thought to be attending Ginny, Ron, and a few others he would have liked to spend the day with are here without him and he doesn't dare go sit with them. Harry forced himself not to even it near them as it would be too tempting to reveal himself to them and if the attacker is here today as well, it might not take much to see some old man hanging out for an extended time with strangers who happen to be good friends with Harry Potter. Harry doesn't know if Hermione made it today or not. He knows she was working part of today but doesn't know if she was coming here afterwards. He's looked a few times to where he'd spotted familiar faces in the crowd but with the way people are coming and going, as there are a number of booths to visit as well, Harry hasn't been able to determine if everyone's shown up who said they were coming or not.
Even without being able to sit with friends, Harry's greatly enjoying himself. Without the Gryffindor team to support, or Hufflepuff as that was Vadim Vasilovitch's team, Harry's cheering for each squad in the air during each match. He applauds and cheers for excellent plays and can't help wishing that when he was playing Quidditch at Hogwarts there had been a tournament that allowed the team to visit other schools. As the match-up between teams B and C gets underway, Harry as Vadim sits back, as he's at the very top of the stands he's in and so has a supporting wall at his back and not another person, and munching on a freshly roasted ear of corn dripping with butter, cheers as team C player Mason Jeffers intercepts a pass and shoots off towards the team B hoops.
Big Distraction
Author: Ella
Date: 10-16-10 10:50
Although Ella was glad to have hit someone with her bludger, she was nonetheless annoyed that the hit had done little to slow Deak down as he drew ever nearer to the Squad C goals. She went off in search of another bludger to use to her advantage, and as she did, her eyes inadvertently raked over some of the faces in the crowd watching the match.
Her mother had come to visit for Homecoming, but not her father or that woman he called his girlfriend. Ella had heard that he had unexpectedly whisked Delilah to a B&B in France for the weekend, either having forgotten that today was Homecoming or not caring enough to visit Ella at Hogwarts. As a result, Ella was quite annoyed, which in some ways played to her advantage because she hit each bludger harder and with even more intent than usual to hinder somebody.
She saw a reachable bludger and tore after it, but Jade got to it first and sent it flying at Mason as he tried to steal the quaffle from Deak. Deak got within scoring range and feigned a goal attempt, only to pass to Wiggy at the last second. Wiggy's throw was good, giving Squad B the first points of this exhibition match.
Ella scowled and turned in a 180 to follow the action in the other direction. She went after a bludger soaring dangerously close to another set of stands and hurled back her arm to strike it, when her eyes locked on a set of dark eyes directly opposite her. Ella's breath caught in her throat. Zane was there, watching her play, and he really didn't look very happy to see her.
She remembered the very last words he'd said to her: "We will talk about this." She wondered if he planned on making good on those words today at Homecoming. As far as she knew, Professor McGonagall hadn't written to her mum about anything that had happened in Hogsmeade. As far as she knew, her mum was still clueless about Zane.
Ella hoped to keep it that way. She missed her chance with the bludger and scowled again, going after the other one instead. Unfortunately, knowing Zane was there and could possibly make trouble distracted her the rest of the match.
It's a Funny Thing
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 10-16-10 13:36
Lysander had had very good memories of Hogwarts but despite those, he'd opted to stay behind on the day of Homecoming to work at Twice Told Tales. He knew that Julian wanted to see the exhibition matches since Caerwyn had made the Interscholastic Quidditch Tournament team this year. Julian had left earlier that day with Grace and Charlotte in tow.
Business hadn't been slow so far today. The influx of parents and other family members and friends to Hogwarts had brought more visitors to the village as well. Lysander stayed busy, but not so much that he felt overwhelmed.
There were a number of people in the shoppe at the moment, perusing the stacks or just sitting in the reading area with a good book, but none were ready to check out yet. Lysander used the break from helping someone to snack on some cookies he'd gotten from Briar earlier that day. He had his back to the door when it chimed.
Lysander turned, wiping crumbs from the corner of his mouth, and then nearly choked. Standing in the doorway was Aralyn.
She hadn't come back following her last visit, which had surprised Lysander since he'd been sure she would try seeing Chyler again. Lysander had told Astrid what Julian had suggested, and not surprisingly, she had agreed to pose as her dead cousin if necessary.
As far as Lysander knew, Astrid was in Sweden at the moment visiting her family, so getting her here in time to convince Aralyn she was actually Chyler might be tricky. Lysander wondered if he could stick his head in the floo really quickly and call Astrid over.
"It's a funny thing," Aralyn said, walking to the counter where Lysander stood.
"What is?" Lysander reluctantly asked.
"An owl I sent with a message for Chyler came back to me with the message unread."
"What's so funny about that?" Lysander asked. He could feel himself start to get annoyed.
"The first time I just figured the message was undeliverable for some reason. The second time, which was just a few minutes ago, I definitely decided something strange is going on."
At Lysander's blank and increasingly furious look, Aralyn went on. "I went over to the Owl Post office and sent off a note to Chyler. I watched the owl, followed it on foot. Do you know where it went?"
She didn't wait for Lysander to hazard a guess.
"It flew past Twice Told Tales and went to the graveyard. It circled there a few times and then went back to the Owl Post. Funny, isn't it?"
Lysander was just about to retort one way or another when the door chimed again. In swept Astrid, who immediately set eyes on Aralyn and smiled.
"Oh. My. Merlin. Is that you, Aralyn?"
Lysander's jaw dropped. Even Aralyn turned and looked at Astrid in surprise.
"It's me. Chyler? You do remember, don't you?"
Aralyn had been sure that the new arrival was Astrid, not Chyler, but now she wasn't so sure. The resemblance was striking.
"Are you here for Homecoming? Lysander didn't want to go, but I was just up there with Julian and the girls. Charlotte's still there. Didn't want to leave," she said with a playful roll of her eyes. "That girl can't wait to go to Hogwarts and be a Slytherin just like we were."
How Astrid even knew Julian, Grace and Charlotte were at Hogwarts was beyond Lysander, but he went with it and smiled.
"Luckily she's got a few more years before she'll even get her letter. I'm not ready to send her to a boarding school just yet."
Aralyn, deciding Astrid really was Chyler after all, smiled wide.
"Wow. You look good. So... young, even. I have to say, I was starting to think that you didn't even exist anymore because everytime I asked to see you, Lysander said you weren't here. Though... I do have a suspicion as to why that might be," she added, looking at Lysander pointedly.
He shrugged and said, "It was just a coincidence each time."
"Right, well," Aralyn said, turning back to Astrid. "Do you want to get some tea? I would love to talk to you about some things."
Astrid nodded. "Sure. Let's go to Madam Puddifoot's."
She blew Lysander a kiss and then linked arms with Aralyn, leading her out of the shoppe. Lysander watched them go and then shook his head. He really hoped that Astrid could convince Aralyn that she was Chyler and that Aralyn would finally get out of their lives once and for all.
First Game - Exhibition Or Not
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 10-16-10 14:19
Adina slid a hand through her hair, the match had been fairly active so far, and currently the Quaffle was in the hands of Squad C Chaser Mason Jeffers, and he was looking for a way to pass it to either Adina or Alexa. Ella was doing a fantastic job, when she didn't seem distracted of keeping the chasers of Squad B from getting the quaffle, and ensuring that the pair of beaters from Squad B busy trying to return the quaffle.
Mason finally got his opening, and the brilliant red quaffle would be sent sailing from his fingertips and passing a scant second in front of the bludger that had been aimed to divert it into the hands of Squad B chaser Deak Bennett and landed deftly in Adina's grasp. Adina took no longer than a split second to continue heading toward the hoops guarded by Squad B's Light Blue and Orange clad Keeper, Hunter Green.
There was a brief moment when it was thought that Adina would loose the quaffle to the hands of Wiggy Hodfuffer, but she managed to somehow out maneuver the slightly superior player that was Wiggy Hodfuffer.
She shifted her broom to a hault, and she would send the quaffle sailing from her fingertips toward the middle hoop, after attempting a fake to send it to the hoop on the right. She let out a cry as she was successful, and looked toward the stands, smiling as her Mum, Aunt, and even her Dad had come. They were cheering her on.
The quaffle got tossed back into play and was currently in the hands of Squad B chaser Griet Vanderbuilt, and the clump of players was moving now toward the Squad C hoops with an attempt to score by the Squad B players.
Squad B vs. Squad C - Exhibition Match
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 10-16-10 18:39
Charisma was perched on her broom, tongue dancing against her lips as she looked over the others. She was seeker for Squad B, and Aleydis Vanderbilt was seeker for Squad C. She was watching the action currently, Squad C had scored at least once that Isma could remember. She wasn't playing with Blake on her squad, he was on squad A.
She thought she caught a glimmer of golden, gilded snitch, and darted forward, narrowly missing a bludger that had been sent sailing on a wild shot when Jade Green had gotten the wrong angle on the brutal ball when attempting to interrupt the pass of the quaffle from Adina Blackwood to Mason Jeffers. It had clipped her right foot and she hissed, shifting lightly and altering her course. However, by that point in time, Aleydis had realized what Isma had found and was heading in that direction.
Charisma reached the spot where she'd seen the glimmer, and sighed, shaking her head. It had been a sweet wrapper..."Bloody hell..I'm not keeping count this season, I am simply not, it will drive me mad." She said to herself, and wheeled about, moving away from the location, flying up a bit to get a quick overview of the pitch.
She watched as the quaffle and series of six chasers weaved up and down the pitch, the four beaters were aiming the bludgers in an attempt to dislodge the quaffle from whoever had possession of it, as the chasers also tried to steal it from those on the other squad.
Isma blinked, shifted as she caught sight of the timer, it was quickly running down, faster than she expected. The score was currently tied 20-20, and with the rest of time slipping away Isma fought to find the snitch before Adeylis did and propell their score to 170 with the large point count the snitch gave.
She caught sight of it, it had just zipped scant inches over Ella Harville's head. Isma was surprised it hadn't actually buzzed the other player in the flyover it had just done. She zipped around Ella, with Adeylis hot on her trail.
They spent the next few moments neck and neck, getting closer and closer, chasing that glimmering, rapidly flying ball. Hand out streched, fingertips reaching, hoping to touch the glimmering golden ball and bring the match to an end. They reached at the same time for the ball, one of them caught it, but they'd collided just as the whistle blew calling the time for the match that was being played. Who won was the question now posed (not that it mattered!).