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Cuteness Doesn't Count In Quidditch (Alexa)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 10-03-09 17:18
Thrilled at getting the quaffle past Ronan Eastwick, Alexa darts toward center pitch in anticipation of Gryffindor's next move. All in one motion Etta Wynbourne accepts the quaffle from Ronan and spurts forward. The other two Gryffindor chasers, Marjani Batuti and Wiggy Hodfuffer have strung themselves out in the direction of mid-pitch, with Marjani preparing to accept a pass from Etta.
Alexa isn't near enough to intercept or block that pass but she can move in on Wiggy. Cute as he is, Alexa doesn't mind a bit shadowing him, even if he is the opposition. Alexa grins at herself. The past few weeks she's been thinking waaaaaay too much like her cousin Jill when it comes to boys; but then, they all have. Jill, Etta, Olive, Alexa. If Cora were back at Hogwarts, Alexa is certain she'd be just as bad as the rest of them. At least none of them are referring to the guys as sex gods like that Georgia Copperpot does though it wouldn't come as a shock to any of them if Jill started talking that way this very day.
Marjani doesn't do what Alexa had thought she might, which is pass the quaffle on to Wiggy, or try to anyway. Instead, she rockets past where Alexa has practically attached herself to Wiggy at the hip. Marjani is a blur going past her, with Etta right behind. Wiggy keeps trying to get around Alexa but so far he's not been able to shake her. She'd momentarily lost sight of Olive and Griet but now Alexa sees them. Olive was flying low and is now angling up fast to cut Marjani off. Griet arced around and is rapidly approaching where the other chasers are starting to bunch up.
Basil Wynbourne gets a bludger off at Marjani at the same time Blake Holloway sends the other bludger smacking into Olive. Marjani drops the quaffle and a scramble for it ensues. In the space of only a few seconds four different chasers get their hands on it, including Alexa. She doesn't take possession because Ella Harville was able to do a quick turn around with one of the bludgers and send it right back into the pack of chasers.
In the end, it's Marjani who comes up with it again, over almost the same spot of pitch and only a slightly lower altitude than when she dropped it. She quickly scoots her broom into scoring range then Marjani lets the quaffle fly in a goal attempt.
A perfectly timed bludger thanks to Mark Farnon knocks the quaffle off its flight path and slows it so that Zuberi almost causally grabs it out of the air.
Alexa moves to take the quaffle from a still sullen looking Zuberi - such a pity that his cuteness drops nearly to zero because of his surly attitude - and puts the red ball back into play as the announcer loudly exclaims, "Gryffindor still leads with a score of 30 to 20!"
Quaffle tightly in hand and both Olive and Griet positioning themselves to work with Alexa in moving the ball down the pitch, Alexa finds herself more determined than ever to have Slytherin finally take the lead in this match.
Quidditch As An Excuse (Wiggy)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 10-03-09 20:49
As soon as Zuberi hands the Quaffle off to Alexa, putting it back into play, Wiggy moves in to cover Alexa as closely as she'd shadowed him. Having seen a number of Muggle sports now thanks to his friendship with Deak and taking Muggle Studies under Aaron Miller, Phin knows that in theory, closely guarding an opponent can work effectively. In theory, it works in Quidditch. In practice, it works some of the time.
The differences between Quidditch and those Muggle sports, difference which greatly affect how long and how well one Chaser is able to cover another, are the speeds at which Quidditch is played and the area of play from the point above the pitch where a player's feet don't fully touch the ground to the soaring heights above the stadium. From one end of the pitch to the other, the amount of vertical space a truly great Quidditch uses is large. One of those Muggle basketball players guarding another only has to deal with the floor and however high the other person can jump or how long a reach that person has. Or so Wiggy thinks. He still gets confused watching sports such as basketball.
With Quidditch, someone moving at high speed who decides to angle up or down is, in his opinion, much more difficult to shadow. As good a player as he is, and Wiggy knows he's very good for his age even with the enforced break from the game because of the policies of Euphemia Smythe-Jones, Wiggy is having a hard time playing guard on Alexa, keeping her from passing the Quaffle without fouling her.
Alexa persistently works her broom down the pitch, going slower than she would like because of Wiggy staying right with her. She frowns heavily at him several times but he just grins in return, letting her know he's only doing to her what she did to him a short time ago.
Wiggy momentarily loses Alexa when she dives sharply down, levels off, puts on a burst of speed and jerks back upwards again. In that gap, Alexa gets off the Quaffle to Olive who very quickly lobs it to Griet. Wiggy now concentrates on keeping Alexa from being in a good position to take the Quaffle back should Griet decide to hand it back off.
Etta is sticking as closely to Griet as she's able and Marjani is doing the same with Olive. In the meantime, Ella and Blake are doing their best to get to Bludgers before Mark and Basil. Ronan is watching the action closely, determining what the best position for him is going to be if Slythering is successful in getting the Quaffle withing a good range for a goal attempt.
Both Gryffindor Beaters hit Bludgers at Griet, each of them probably having the same thought, which would be to get Griet to either drop the Quaffle or throw her off balance enough to allow Etta to grab it from her. One bludger gets her square on the back while the other just grazes Griet's shoulder. The Slytherin chaser doesn't drop the Quaffle nor does Etta manage to steal it but Griet's grip isn't what it had been and with Etta reaching for the ball, she can't readjust her hold. Even though she knows it's not going to be a good pass, Griet tosses the Quaffle to the nearest Slytherin chaser, who happens at that moment to be Alexa.
Wiggy reaches to intercept but his timing is slightly off. The Quaffle brushes past his reaching fingers into Alexa's arms. Problem is, Wiggy's still reaching and the way he's positioned and with Alexa and he in flight, Wiggy ends up grabbing Alexa's breast.
Her eyes widen. His eyes widen. Wiggy can feel his blush from the top of his head all the way to his toes. "Sorry! I'm sor sorry! I didn't mean..."
Alexa suddenly laughs. "We both know it's an accident but I do plan on taunting you for ages about using the middle of a Quidditch match as an excuse to feel me up."
With that she accelerates, leaving a still blushing Wiggy trying to be the nearly pro level player he supposedly is and get his head back into the game. He's able to do just that when mere seconds later Wiggy intercepts Alexa's pass to Olive. He whips around in a one-eighty, jetting off in the opposite direction, his mind fully back in the match. Or mostly back. Wiggy's now finding it very difficult not to think Alexa Wenlock's chest and how nice it and her other body parts are.
Cold
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 10-03-09 22:33
Sitting in the stands with her younger brother and sister, aunt and uncle, and Phin, Emerald openly and freely cheers on Slytherin since her own house, Hufflepuff, is not in this match. When it is a Hufflepuff match, Emerald will be out there on the pitch playing Chaser and, somewhat bizarrely for her, heading the team as captain. Even after all this time since the trials and after at least two practices per week, Emerald still finds it odd to have the other six members of the Hufflepuff team looking to her for direction and leadership. Along with the therapy sessions she's been attending, Emerald strongly feels that accepting the captaincy and all that goes with it, has helped her from curling up in a ball in some dark corner somewhere and staying there.
Clapping loudly when Griet is forced into a poor pass that still successfully reaches its target of Alexa, Emerald doesn't hear Aunt Blythe at first. Her aunt has to repeat, "You aren't being very vocal today, Emmie. You hardly said anything before the match and since it began you've clapped and waved that Slytherin flag, but you've not uttered a peep."
Emerald starts to reply, stops, forces a swallow, then says in a croaky whisper, "I've a little bit of a sore throat."
"You shouldn't be out here in the cold!" Aunt Blythe scolds.
"I'm bundled up and I got a potion from the nurse before meeting up with you guys."
"You should have stayed inside."
"I need to see Gryffindor and Slytherin playing. I also want to support Olive and spend time with all of you."
"Do you have a fever? Are you chilled?"
"No, no fever and right now I'm fairly toasty."
"If you start feeling worse, promise you'll go back to the castle."
"I promise."
Next thing Emerald knows Aunt Blythe is taking drink orders and hurrying off to get a hot chocolate to help soothe Emerald's throat. When Aunt Blythe returns, Emerald gratefully accepts the hot chocolate. She does feel worse than she let on and isn't quite as toasty as she let Aunt Blythe believe but Emerald is determined to stick out the match, if not for gaining Hufflepuff strategy against either of the teams currently playing but at least for Olive's sake.
Olive, meanwhile, wishes she had something like hot chocolate and a roaring fire. S'mores would be nice too. Olive still finds it strange sometimes that alot of these kids she's come into contact with who have been raised in the Wizarding World had no idea what s'mores are. Then again, maybe s'mores are mainly an American thing and if she were around a lot of Brits her age who are Muggles, they'd be just as in the dark about s'mores as her Hogwarts friends.
So far the wind hasn't been all that bad but every now and then there's a gust that turns the cold air downright arctic. Even with the layers of her Quidditch uniform on, Olive is feels like she's one big icicle. Moving can warm a person up but when the moving is on a broom racing through frigid air, Olive has found that there's very little warming about it. She's getting sweaty from the match but combined with the freezing tempature, what little warmth she has to generate the sweat doesn't linger. In fact, being damp with sweat just makes her feel colder.
To help take her mind off how cold she is, Olive thinks up ways to creatively torture Zuberi. He's been okay in practice though at times his temper and sour attitude would get in the way. During the exhibition Hogwarts had a few weeks back, Zuberi was surly but it didn't seem to hinder his ability to play the game. Olive wonders what happened today to change that. She thinks there must be more to it than simply not agreeing with Referee Dafina's call against him of flacking. Maybe that's all there is, but if so, he definitely overreacted to the detriment of the team.
Olive also wonders what had Alexa laughing so mischievously at Wiggy about. She's GOT to remember to ask first chance she gets. That chance won't be anytime soon as Alexa passes Olive the Quaffle.
Olive ducks to avoid a Bludger coming in from the side that must have come from Ella because she can see Blake up ahead of her, going after the other black ball. She immediately does a near barrel roll the other direction when Marjani gets in closely enough to touch the Quaffle. The sudden roll pulls it out of Marjani's reach, preventing her from touching it enough to possibly grab it away from Olive.
Not fully coming out of the roll, Olive climbs and banks, avoiding first Wiggy and then another Bludger. In her odd position, she comes up over Griet and passes off the Quaffle.
Griet dives under Etta then pulls back up on the level that's best for making goal attempts. Alexa gets in close to Griet and they fake a handoff, with Wiggy and Marjani momentarily falling for it, taking off in hot pursuit of Alexa while Griet does a real handoff to Olive. At that same time, Etta's come up on Griet's other side, having realized there was no pass between Griet and Alexa. She tries to interfere with the pass to Olive, but being on the opposite side makes it harder to stop and makes it impossible to intercept or block it unless she were to deliberately foul Griet and Etta just isn't that type of player.
Quaffle in hand, Olive grimaces as her body jerks and flairs with the pain of a Bludger hit. Luckily, it wasn't a full on hit, coming in at an angle from behind that takes the top of her left shoulder but misses her head and neck.
The other two Gryffindor chasers have long realized there was no pass from Griet to Alexa and are back now to try and keep Olive from flying the Quaffle closer to where Ronan is on guard in front of one set of three hoops.
Olive dodges around Wiggy, avoids yet another Bludger, and catches sight of the Snitch. She quickly scans for Cornelia but doesn't see her. She does see Charisma but no way is Olive going to alert the other team's seeker to the Snitch when her own team is trailing. The only way it wouldn't matter if Gryffindor got the winged ball right this second would be for Slytherin to have at least 190 points on the board ending the game at 180 Gryffindor to 190 Slytherin. With the score as it is now though, if Charisma were to get the Snitch right now, the match would end with 180 Gryffindor, 20 Slytherin. Only 170 points less than what they need for Gryffindor to get the Snitch this very moment, ending the match but with a Slytherin win.
Tearing her eyes from the Snitch, wishing very much that she had the ability to send thoughts to individuals of her choosing, Olive starts to pass the Quaffle back to Griet but sees that Griet isn't in a good position to accept the ball. Eyes darting to the right shows her that Alexa isn't where she could take a pass either. With a mental shrug, Olive sets up for a goal shot, hoping that from this distance she's got enough muscle power to get the Quaffle through one of the hoops.
Playing Hard (Marjani)
Author: Viktor Krum
Date: 10-04-09 10:04
"Green scores for Slytherin!" rings out across the Quidditch pitch.
This is followed by the announcement that the score is now tied at 30 points apiece. Marjani, accepting the quaffle from Ronan, frowns at hearing the score. She knew without the announcement that Olive Green just tied the game but hearing it put into words is still distasteful.
Passing off to Wiggy, Marjani's eyes go past her teammate all the way to the other end of the pitch. From this distance, Zuberi's details are more blurred but Marjani can still see the antagonistic set of his shoulders and can easily picture the hard set of his jaw and contempt filled eyes. Marjani understands all too well the base fuel of Zuberi's anger. Since their parents died she's felt it too. When Dosie left them to come work at Hogwarts, just like Zuberi, Marjani got even angrier. The difference has been in how they've handled expressing that anger and in how they channel that energy.
Marjani's had some behavior issues but she also tries to keep the bad attitude somewhat in check. She knows she's still bratty for too often but she also knows that Dosie is doing her best, taking the job here because it was a good opportunity for financial stability. Bringing Zuberi and Marjani to Hogwarts was spurred by the problems they had been causing, most of them on Zuberi's part, and while Marjani got even brattier for a bit, she's settled in, made some friends, still is in contact with her old friends, and sees now that Dosie was doing what Zuberi and she wanted: keeping them all together.
Marjani's made it a third of the way down the pitch without paying much atttention to what's going on around her. She's been so engrossed in watching Zuberi that it takes a bludger literally bouncing off her head to get her mind back on what she's doing. Since bludgers to actually bounce so much as richochet, the jolt to her head is worse than it might have been with a softer, more pliable ball.
Swerving around Ella, making sure to steer clear of the bat Ella is wielding in preparation of getting the bludger that just hit Marjani, then swerving again to avoid Mark Farnon, Marjani catches up to Wiggy and Etta who have been doing a series of rapid passes as they work the quaffle down pitch.
Alexa Wenlock steals it from Etta then Marjani intercepts a pass from Alexa to Griet Vanderbilt. Before Marjani gets far with it, Dosie blows her whistle then calls out, "Snitchnip by Marjani Batuti!"
Marjani frowns, not at having the foul called as she's sure Dosie wouldn't call that particular one by mistake. The frown is over the fact that Marjani had not even seen the snitch much less been aware she'd had contact with it. She hands off the quaffle to Dosie who in turn gives it over to Griet. At first Marjani thinks it's going to simply be a change of possession but then Dosie indicates Griet should go towards the Gryffindor tended goals.
All the players get in position to each dash for the quaffle if Ronan blocks the shot but doesn't catch the ball. That's exactly what happens when Griet makes a pretty toss, giving the quaffle a nice loft with a little bit of a spin only to have Ronan do an almost body like check of the goal attempt. The way the quaffle hits him sends it flying away at a slight upward angle and slight to Ronan's right, which is Marjani's left, before starting to drop nearly straight down.
A melee ensures with chasers converging on the red ball and the two black balls sent into the thick of it courtesy of beaters, though which two beaters Marjani doesn't know. With the chasers in a tight ball, there's a confusion of hands reaching for the quaffle, made all the more confusing by the fact that their brooms do tend to get in the way at such times. Marjani's always surprised when someone gets away with the quaffle without a foul such as cobbing or blurting, especially cobbing since it's an excessive use of elbows. When everyone converges like that, blurting is possible even by accident, it being the locking of broom handles and pulling the other person off course. Blagging, which involves grabbing another player's broom tail, could easily be gotten away with and Marjani has seen it happen in other matches.
By some miracle, it's Marjani who pulls away from the pack with the quaffle tucked against her torso. Zipping away from Alexa, the nearest Slytherin to her, Marjani also has to zig to avoid a bludger sent by Basil Wynbourne then zag to avoid colliding with her own teammate Wiggy. As she zags, Marjani passes off the quaffle to him then climbing slightly and curving to the right to go around Blake, she tries to get herself into a position to either accept the quaffle back from Wiggy or help him or Etta work it further down the pitch to where Zuberi is giving them all the evil eye.
(Mark) Improvements
Author: Isolde
Date: 10-04-09 10:27
For a while, Mark felt down in the dumps. Slytherin was losing the game, thanks mostly to stupidity on Zuberi's part. Luckily, the tables had turned and now Gryffindor and Slytherin were tied at 30 points apiece.
With Gryffindor currently in possession of the quaffle, Mark directed all his attention on offense. He skidded to one of the bludgers and whacked it hard at Wiggy, who'd just accepted the quaffle from Marjani. Wiggy let the quaffle fly a moment before the bludger struck him in the arm. Etta plucked the red ball from the sky instantly and tucked it securely against her side.
She darted forward, while Mark sought out another bludger. He and Ella both went for it, and she reached it first, aiming it for Griet. Griet was closing in on Etta and had already begun to reach out her hand to steal the ball. The bludger struck the bristles of Griet's broom and caused her to swerve out of control.
Meanwhile, Mark zoomed ahead to intercept the bludger as it spiraled away from the tail end of Griet's broom. He met it before Ella could reach it again and put a lot of weight behind his arm, striking it so that it would meet its mark this time. The black ball clipped Etta in the shoulder, loosening her grip on the ball. This time Alexa swooped in for the steal.
She high-tailed it in the opposite direction, and Mark shifted gears to defend her at all costs. Ella and Blake worked to dislodge the ball from Alexa's grasp but to no avail. Mark was on her the entire time, determined for her to reach Ronan and the Gryffindor goals and to finally put Slytherin ahead of Gryffindor.
He batted away a bludger aimed for Alexa's head and looked every which way when she reached scoring range. She was clear to shoot, and only had to get past Ronan to score. She let the quaffle fly, but a sudden gust of wind carried the ball away from its intended target. Even Ronan didn't anticipate the shift, having gauged Alexa's body language to determine where she would throw. Luckily for her, the wind merely redirected the quaffle to another hoop, and Ronan didn't react quick enough to stop it from going through.
Mark pumped his fist in the air. Finally, Slytherin had pulled ahead.
A Different Form Of Cold (Etta)
Author: Jared
Date: 10-04-09 11:37
Julietta Wynbourne had gotten up this morning with a stuffy head, stopped up ears, and a sore throat. She really should have gone to the hospital wing for a potion or draught of some kind. Doing so though would have meant Madam Pomfrey most likely insisting Etta not play in today's Quidditch match. Etta was not about to chance being grounded for the first official match of the term. Those exhibition matches were fun and definitely good experience for this new team to be more cohesive in actual game play but fun exhibition matches and great practices aside, the only real way to guage if a players are jelling as a team is to put them in a real match together.
So far, Gryffindor seems to be doing really well together.
So far, Slytherin looks like it could use some work.
Etta can't help but wonder if Zuberi Batuti will still be on the Slytherin team once this match ends. A Slytherin win would probably benefit him a great deal. The others would be so happy about winning they'd be more inclined to forget his having said something nasty enough to visiting ref Raawiya Dafina that a second foul was added on top of his first one, which everyone knows was an accident.
Alexa scores, putting Slytherin ahead for the first time in the game. Etta notices her friend winking at Wiggy, eliciting a deep blush. He'd blushed a dark red earlier in the game after something with Alexa. Etta is going to have to find out what that's all about.
His face flushed, though Etta supposes if Wiggy were the once asked he'd say it's from the chapping effect of the wind and what feels like sub-zero temperatures, Wiggy puts the quaffle back into play, smoothly passing to Marjani. Marjani arcs around where Mark and Ella are once again vying for the same bludger, then pulls in closely to Etta to hand off the ball.
Etta holds the quaffle in close to her body, lays low over her broom, and accelerates down the pitch. A gust of wind buffets her. It grows in intensity, enough so that her forward motion is slowed. By the time the gust dies down, even though she's had her face near her broom handle to help cut down on the wind resistance, Etta's sure that her face is as ruddy as Wiggy's has been.
Her nose, which is so stuffed up she can't breath through it, has been running a steady stream through the game. Having the blast of even colder air just now causes the flow to increase. It's damned hard to carry tissue during a Quidditch match so Etta has, much to her distaste, had to use her sleeve. How can a nose this stopped up run at the same time? Etta's never understood that about colds. It really is a shame that no one's come up with a cure for the common cold potion yet.
Etta passes off to Wiggy, just in time too because she has several huge sneezes in a row, making it hard for her to pay attention, which in turn earns her a bludger to the side. If she'd still had the quaffle, she surely would have dropped it between the racking sneezes and the bludger hit.
Running her sleeve across her nose again, Etta slows to a stop, effectively blocking the direct path Basil's taking to get to a bludger. He swears at her as he swerves to avoid a collision, the says something back over his shoulder that she can't make out when Blake gets to the bludger instead. Putting her broom in motion again, Etta circles around to offer herself up for a pass from Wiggy. Griet gets between Wiggy and Etta. Olive and Mark are a barriet between Wiggy and Marjani so he shoots between them all, sprinting for the hoops.
Wiggy does a sharp turn, putting him on a sideways trajectory. As he flies past Zuberi, Wiggy lets the quaffle go. Zuberi darts to block, intent on plucking the quaffle from its flight but only getting a few fingers on it. It's still enough to prevent the ball from going through one of the hoops.
With Griet now in possession, the play starts back in Ronan's direction once more, Etta trying to stay in the thick of it as she yet again wipes her stuffy nose on her sleeve and has another sneezing fit.