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No Snitch Sightings Yet
Author: Blossom
Date: 03-26-08 17:28
Since its release prior to the start of the match, Daria hasn't seen the snitch; not even a passing glimpse of it. Unless someone tampered with it, the winged ball has to be around the pitch somewhere. The spells on the snitch keep it from straying beyond the stands.
Daria's concentrating on locating it and locating it first. Because of this she's not payed much attention to what the other players are doing though she has been listening to Freya Abbott's announcing. It seems a little odd not to have Gabrielle Delacour's French accent covering the game.
Daria keeps spotting bits of gold but that's all they are. Bits of gold. Some are pieces of gold foil from either a crisps or sugar biscuit package. Some look like a piece of cloth that has been torn into very small tatters. At least one of those golden specks is the back off an earring. Daria knows this because it's the back of her earring, lost during practice this past week. She couldn't find it then but perhaps she will today since it's always easier to find anything other than the snitch during a match.
Putting her broom into a stationary hover, Daria is high above the other players for the moment. She locates both bludgers to make sure she's safe from them for now then begins studying the pitch, trying to think of where the snitch might be hiding.
Being Watched
Author: Ronan Eastwick
Date: 03-27-08 07:09
Enid Eastwick sat in the visitors section and watched her son prepare himself for the oncoming Ravenclaw chasers, who passed the quaffle to one another with lightning speed. Enid, herself, had never been one for playing the sport, but like many, she enjoyed watching it, especially when one of her own was on the team. Although she knew Ronan didn't care to see her at the match or anywhere else for the matter anymore, she made an effort not to miss any of his games. He may be nothing but a non now, but he was still her son, and after unexpectedly losing the one she had the highest of hopes for Enid refused to turn her back on the only one she had left.
Ronan, of course, knew his mother was at the match. He hadn't intended on looking for her, but couldn't help making a quick glance into the stands to see if she were really there. He hadn't looked for her since that one time and had all but forgotten about her presence. After all, he had much more important things to worry over than keeping tabs on the woman who'd however indirectly led to both his father's and brother's untimely deaths. The quaffle drew ever closer, flitting from hand to hand, but always staying in Ravenclaw possession.
Ronan almost became dizzy, trying to keep up with the quaffle. He didn't want to let another one fly past him and tried to judge which hoop all three of the Ravenclaw chasers would favor. The problem was that with Phin, Deak, and Jack flying together, all three of the goals were fair game. Ronan moved right, left, up and down, trying to cover all of the goals but finding it increasingly difficult to do so, now that Fritz and Alastor had started aiming bludgers at him. Bailey defended Ronan from one, but the other managed to ricochet off one of the goal posts and strike Ronan from behind. The impact buffeted him forward, allowing Jack to easily swoop in and score for Ravenclaw.
Wincing and rubbing his bottom, Ronan retrieved the quaffle and put it back into play via Wiggy.
Looking For An Opening
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 03-27-08 10:31
Phin's close enough to Jack to give him a slap on the back along with a big grin. The score's tied now at twenty points apiece thanks to him.
Ronan puts the quaffle back into play by tossing it to Wiggy. The Gryffindor has flown barely five feet when he's struck by a bludger and drops the quaffle. There's a scramble to retrieve it with Etta being the successful one, taking off in a blur of motion.
The other five chasers are off as well, quickly reaching mid-pitch. Etta passes to Francis who passes to Wiggy who passes back to Etta as they continue working the quaffle away from Ronan and towards Megara. Jared blocks a bludger right before it reaches his sister and Etta then promptly passes back to Wiggy.
Deak and Jack are able to jockey into positions to make it harder for Wiggy to pass back to either Francis or Etta. Phin closes in on his cousin as he continues to try and not dwell on the pain in his swollen hand. When Phin had given Jack that slap on the back he'd nearly done it with his injured hand but thankfully remembered to use his other hand.
A bludger comes close to hitting Phin's already injured hand. He tucks his body in more tightly while still sticking close to Wiggy. Wiggy's looking to pass again but doesn't have the quaffle where Phin can pluck it away. Instead, Wiggy's wisely keeping it secured against his chest until he can find an opening. The opening comes when Bailey sends a bludger into Deak's back causing the Ravenclaw to drop back a little in his coverage of Francis.
Wiggy acts quickly to make the pass but Phin blocks the shot, intercepting the quaffle, diving and rolling to this side before arcing around to head back the other way. With a combination of skill and luck, maybe Phin can put Ravenclaw in the lead for the first time this match.
Assisting With Bludgers (Alastor)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 03-27-08 13:54
Alastor sprints after a bludger, trying to reach it before Bailey does. Thanks to his second year size compared to the seventh year's, Alastor is able to pull ahead, reaching the bludger and giving it a solid hit before Bailey reaches the spot where it had been.
The bludger has a little backspin on it and also is curving slowly to the right just as Alastor hoped it would. The bludger squarely hits the end of Etta's broom, causing her to fishtail back and forth to regain control. It also lets Phin get that much closer to the hoops for a goal attempt.
Alastor's going after the other bludger now but can't get there before Jared does. It's heading for Phin who's just about ready to throw the quaffle. Alastor races after the bludger but slows quickly and starts for the first bludger when Fritz gets between Phin and the bludger Jared just hit.
Alastor reaches the one bludger and bats it on a course for Francis. Bailey intervenes to send it at Jack who's blocking Wiggy and Etta from getting to Phin. Darting forward, Alastor reaches Jack in the knick of time to block the bludger then pursue it away from the thick of chasers where he can safely swing his bat again.
Alastor doesn't see the goal made but he hears the crowd cheering and Freya Abbott announcing, "Goal by Phin Hodfuffer of Ravenclaw! That puts Ravenclaw ahead thirty to twenty!"
Tied Game
Author: Jared
Date: 03-27-08 15:42
Jared pulls a face when Phin scores the third goal for Ravenclaw. He intercepts a bludger just hit by Alastor and sends it at Phin to keep him from stealing the quaffle away from Etta who'd just taken the quaffle from Ronan.
Etta ducks under Phin, passing to Francis as she goes. Francis takes off at full speed, rapidly moving towards the other end of the pitch. Jared stops flying for a moment to locate a bludger then goes after it. When he reaches the hard, black ball, Jared hits it into Deak's flight path.
Deak swerves, narrowly missing the bludger but that's all right. The ball served the purpose Jared intended, to slow Deak in his pursuit of Francis. Slowing but not fully stopping this time, Jared hastily locates another bludger to hit, not knowing if it's the one he just batted or the other one. Not for the first time Jared wishes the two bludgers were each a different color.
Fritz gets to the bludger before Jared so Jared does the next best thing. He cuts across in front of Jack, losing speed as he does so that Jack is forced to lose time going around, up, or under Jared.
Etta gets in close to Francis and for all appearances accepts the quaffle from him, tucking it close to her stomach and bending slightly. Phin moves in to harass her, following closely as Etta weaves her way down the pitch.
Wiggy flies in to wedge himself between Etta and Phin while both Jared sends a bludger at Jack and Bailey sends the other at Deak. Francis acts as though he's trying to both work forward towards Megara and sideways to Etta as though to give Etta a chance to pass back the quaffle.
Getting in close to Megara, Francis slightly turns as if looking to see if Etta will make that pass. Francis then yanks the quaffle out from a fold in his robes and throws it cleanly through the center hoop bringing the score to thirty points apiece.
Snider's Face
Author: Johanna Steele
Date: 03-27-08 16:18
The Ravenclaws free furious exclamations. The match is warming up.
“Go Ravenclaws, go!”
“I’m getting a bit tired of their noise…Next time I’ll choose our seats!”
“Next time who will make the noise we are!” replies Johanna to Felicia. “Slytherin against Hufflepuff! We’ll win for sure!”
Felicia looks through her binoculars: “Watch Snider’s face when a non is with the quaffle!” Johanna takes a look in the binoculars.
Felicia is right, Snider makes a grimace whenever Freya mentions a non name.
Johanna hands over the binoculars to Felicia.
“She could at least pretend that she doesn’t make preference between nons and pures…If I was playing I wouldn’t be capable of concentrate on the match!”
“That’s precisely what she wants Felicia! She want’s to make us feel inferior. You shouldn’t think like that!”
Felica says something but Johanna can’t hear because of the noisy Ravenclaws.
Where, Oh Where Has the Little Snitch Gone?
Author: Oreileah McCoi
Date: 03-27-08 18:20
Orei sat, perched on her broom, barely paying attention to the actual movement of the players for Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. She caught sight of Daria, who was doing pretty much the same thing she was. Flittering of gold candy wrappers and other little things that had escaped the hands of those watching the game. She caught sight of Brett watching, and it brought a smile to her lips, though she missed having Yuri and Aussie there also, but they'd moved to Canada.
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts just as that slippery little gold ball fluttered rapidly right in front of her nose taunting her. Eyes narrowed she darted forward, knowing well that if Daria was paying enough attention she would be following after soon enough.
Orei paid close attention to the little ball's zigging and zagging through the pitch. She listened to the announcer's voice, and somewhat paid attention to the players around her so she wouldn't run into anyone, but she wanted to catch that snitch. Daria was not far behind her as they moved along the pitch toward that glittering golden ball.
Ultimately however, they would loose sight of it for now, and Orei would break away from Daria and rise up over the pitch once more. The score was tied thirty-thirty, now it was hopefully going to be Orei snatching that glittering snitch and winning Gryffindor the game...and not Daria snatching the snitch and Ravenclaw winning.
Collision
Author: Kody
Date: 03-27-08 18:45
So far the most serious injury of the game is Phin's bruised, swollen hand. There are other bruises to be sure but until Jack collides with Wiggy, Phin's hand is the worse of the lot.
Jack had gotten the quaffle and Wiggy was trying to steal. A bludger hit Wiggy who then swerved into Jack. No foul was called but as he picked himself up from the ground Jack didn't really care about that.
When they collided, both ended up spiraling down, already too close to the ground and falling too fast for either of the coaches or any adults in the stands to react and slow the fall. Taking tentative steps, one knee threatening to buckle from pain, Jack can't help but wonder which of the professors would have continued sitting there doing nothing even if there'd been time to do something. Both Wiggy and he are Nons afterall.
They'll both a great many more bruises showing up by this evening but luckily the worse of the fall is Jack's knee and one of Wiggy's elbows. Nothing seems fractured or broken, mainly just sprained and strained.
Coach Batuti collects the quaffle from where Jack dropped it. The six chasers gather around like they did at the start of the match for another tip off. The red ball goes up, up, up and six brooms shoot after it.
Despite the pain throbbing in his knee Jack flies after the quaffle more quickly than the others, regaining possession and taking off down the pitch towards Ronan, thoughts of making another goal for Ravenclaw making it easier to get past the pain in his knee.
Supporting the Offense
Author: Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen
Date: 03-28-08 10:03
Fritz is glad that neither Wiggy nor Jack sustained grave injuries from their fall. Both look a little sore if their grimaces are any indication, but they're able to resume participating in the match. Fritz well imagines that Hairy the Snide is disappointed that both nons weren't carted off to the Hospital Wing. He suddenly imagines the Headmistress rounding up all nons for gladiatorial games in a Roman colosseum. Fight to the death! The bloodier, the better! Fritz frowns, hating that nagging feeling that he's expendable, simply because he doens't have pureblood ancestry.
He channels that sense of having to defend his life and the lives of his friends into his position as beater for the Ravenclaw team. Every bludger he meets gets a solid whack, as if it is Fritz's enemy and a constant threat to his freedom.
Since Jack has the quaffle right now, Fritz focuses on protecting him from the Gryffindors who are eager to get the ball back into their possession. He tears after a black ball that Bailey just hit at Jack and easily bats it towards Francis, who has managed to catch up to the Ravenclaw in possession of the quaffle. The bludger sails between Francis' shoulder blades, but a well-timed "Duck!" from Wiggy allows the bludger to fly over Francis' ducked-down head, rather than collide into the back of it.
Fritz, of course, didn't want to cause Francis any severe injury, and feels sort of bad about the close call. He quickly puts it from his mind, as he has a job to do.
Jack, meanwhile, finds an opening and passes to Phin, who passes to Deak, and so on, making it more difficult for the Gryffindor chasers and beaters to have one target. Fritz does his part in clearing the way to the Gryffindor hoops and pumps his fist into the air when Deak's goal attempt is good.
Now it's 40, 30, with Ravenclaw leading.
Near Miss
Author: Bailey
Date: 03-28-08 10:21
Just after Deak makes Ravenclaw's fourth goal, Bailey nearly has his own collision. He's in pursuit of a bludger when Coach Batuti suddenly flies right in front of him, close enough that Bailey could have leaned forward on his broom and touched her. As it is, the tip of Bailey's broom gets tangled with the coach's broomtail but she continues flying forward so ends up just getting jarred.
As soon as she was certain she's clear of Bailey, Coach Batuti pivoted around to make sure he hadn't been hurt in any way. She also told him, "I'm sorry. I was so focused on the chasers that I never saw you."
Bailey shrugs it off with a, "We're both fine and these things happen in matches. No apology is necessary."
With a nod, the coach flies on, paying close attention once more to the chasers, looking for any signs of fouls. Bailey's lost the one bludger he'd been after but he spots the other. Reaching it, Bailey prepares to bat it towards Francis, pausing half a second because the snitch has taken that moment to put itself right in front of the bludger.
Bailey quickly looks around for Orei to alert her but she's clear across the pitch, well above where most of the action is. When he turns his head back, the snitch is gone and the bludger is aiming itself at him. Moving rapidly, Bailey repositions and gives the bludger a good smash with the bat.
Wondering
Author: Marzipan
Date: 03-28-08 11:12
Marzi sat in the very last row of the stands in the staff box and watched the match unfold. She wasn't really a sports fan, but she was a fan of her students and wanted to support them. How she wished she could do what she and Illyria had discussed and smuggle them out of the castle to freedom, but after Professor Miller's arrest, Marzi and Illyria had decided it best if they stay on their best behavior. If they were thrown in Azkaban, too, save for a few remaining professors, the students would have hardly any adult allies left at Hogwarts.
She allowed herself to wonder about all the former professors of Hogwarts who'd been arrested in recent months. Were they all right? Would they ever see freedom again? Marzi certainly hoped so. She wished they could resume their old positions at Hogwarts, but she knew it unlikely. Professor Snider was extremely pleased with her new acquisitions, especially the Carrows and Professor Parkinson. They were her model employees, and she would likely seek to replace all others with more like them.
Marzi sank back against the wooden wall behind her and leaned her head against it, gazing well over the Pitch at nothing but the few clouds the speckled the otherwise blue sky. There was something she had been pondering for quite some time. Why hasn't the RAC come to collect her? Why haven't the children been carted away, too? Nons outside of Hogwarts had been missing for as long as nearly two months now. Was Hogwarts immune to the Ministry of Magic's plan to relocate nons for their supposed betterment? Or had Hogwarts simply been forgotten?
She bit her lip, wondering what would become of her, and when.
Tied Again
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 03-28-08 12:10
Francis steals the quaffle from Deak who'd just stolen it from Etta. He then hurls the quaffle at Wiggy, who's ahead and open. Phin ducks under Francis, puts on speed, and closes the gap to Wiggy. Etta climbs and curves around going to Wiggy's other side in case her teammate needs to hand off the quaffle. Wiggy looks as though might be thinking just that but Jack darts in between the two Gryffindors, effectively blocking any pass attempt.
Jared slows Jack up with a solid hit with a bludger, allowing Etta to get in position again to take the quaffle. A bludger from Fritz connects with Wiggy from the back and side but doesn't phase him enough to ruin the pass for Phin or Jack to get in there and steal.
Etta soon passes back off to Francis and Francis in turn, a few seconds later, sends the quaffle back to Wiggy. He tucks the quaffle against his stomach and leans over his broom handle, both to protect the quaffle and so he can put on a burst of speed. The tail of Wiggy's broom wobbles from a bludger but not enough to slow him down or affect his flying.
Phin suddenly swoops into Wiggy's path. Knowing Phin plays fair, Wiggy's undaunted, merely swerving and rolling, aiming his broom in Megara's direction. Phin stays with him, trying to steal and block Wiggy's goal attempt. Finding an opening, Wiggy grabs the quaffle and throws it.
Megara blocks the shot with one hand, the force causing the quaffle to bounce back Wiggy's direction. He snatches it before anyone else can and immediately throws again. This time Megara only manages to get her fingertips on it, not enough to dislodge the ball from its path.
Wiggy grins when he hears Freya proclaim, "Gryffindor scores! The game's now tied at 40 points apiece!"
Snitch or No Snitch
Author: Oreileah McCoi
Date: 03-28-08 18:41
Orei wishes she hadn't missed Bailey's cue that the snitch had been like right in front of him. Eyes slipped closed for a moment as she listened to the announcer's voice ringing out the plays and the score. It was now tied 40-40, so either one would end up with 190 if either she or Daria caught the snitch.
Where in the heck was that damned golden ball? Seekers by far had the hardest job of all quidditch players...true they were not taking the bulk of the hits in the game, but seriously, you try finding a little flying golden ball, in the sunlight before someone else does!
There!
She darted forward, not yet seeing if Daria had saw her lunging for the snitch. She zigged when it zigged and zagged when it zagged. She lost it once, and that was when it had launched itself upwards along the wall and she'd had to stop so she wouldn't crash into it. She headed back up over the players darting over the pitch, muttering lightly beneath her breath. "Damn it." She cast a glance toward Brett, and there it was hovering between she and her boyfriend. She would dart forward, and the snitch went upwards.
This time, Daria saw it too, and she and Orei were now in hot persuit of the glimmering, glittering ball that would ultimately end the game between the two teams.
Getting The Snitch
Author: Blossom
Date: 03-28-08 19:07
Daria dodges a bludger hit his way by Bailey only to nearly fly into the path of the other bludger sent by Jared. She rolls, avoiding Orei, and pulls into a climb. Daria keeps her eyes on that golden sparkle, wondering how it is that it's not been seen more this match.
The snitch is stops, hovering as if waiting for Orei or Daria to reach it. Before either can reach it, the ball takes off again. Her broom shooting forward, Daria's path twists and turns as she follows the little winged ball. Daria's so close now that when she reaches for the snitch, its wings brush against her fingers. The snitch surges forward, wings beating harder. Daria lunges for it, aware in her side vision that Orei is doing the same.
That's it! Daria's got it! The wings tickle her palm before they flutter to a stop. Daria raises her hand in triumph, holding the snitch for all to see. Freya Abbott announces, "That's Daria Matthews with the snitch! Ravenclaw wins 190 to Gryffindor's 40!"
Daria aims for the ground, glad that Ravenclaw won and that the match is over.