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Graduated
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 10-16-09 08:48
Bronwyn rolled over, turning her face to the sun that streamed in through the gap in the curtains of her room. Next to her, Toby stirred, and then rolled toward her and propped himself up on his elbow.
"Morning," he greeted, kissing her cheek.
"Morning," she replied. She rolled onto her back so that she was looking up at him.
"How does it feel to be a graduate of the only wizarding university in the country?" Toby asked, smiling.
Bronwyn couldn't help but smile in return. "It feels good. Now I just need to get a job."
"You do have that interview on Monday, don't you?"
"Yeah. Hopefully the experience I have at the university's WWN station will be enough to get me the position."
Toby kissed her. "I'm sure it will be and that you'll win them over during that interview. You can be pretty persuasive."
"Oh, can I?" Bronwyn teased. "Speaking of persuasion, I've been thinking... My mum seems to have adjusted to life after having her mind wiped and everything that followed. I don't feel like I have to constantly make sure she's okay. I don't feel like we all need to be under our noses anymore, you know what I mean?"
"I think I know where you're going with this."
Bronwyn nodded. "Let's move out and find a place of our own."
"Okay. We can start looking today, or do you want to go to the Quidditch match? Hufflepuff is playing today. Ariella will be there, I'm sure. We can see who else wants to come along. Maybe Desi?"
"Will we make it on time?" Bronwyn asked, turning her head to check the time.
"If you don't take forever figuring out what to wear," Toby joked. "I don't think it will matter if we miss the beginning of the match, unless the snitch is caught right away."
Bronwyn stretched. "Okay. Let's get ready."
They extricated themselves from the warmth of the bed and gradually got ready for the day.
Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw
Author: Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen
Date: 10-16-09 12:06
When the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams exit their respective locker rooms to the commentary of the Quidditch announcer, Fritz is glad to see that the sun is still shining. It's quite cold, but the weather is actually better than what one could expect on game day in the middle of winter. Everyone in the stands is bundled up, of course, but no one looks terribly miserable.
Fritz flies several circuits around the pitch before flying into position in the half-circle at mid-field, below which Theodosia Batuti stands with Quidditch captains Emerald Green and Coco Nutt. The girls shake hands and then mount their brooms, joining their teammates in the sky. A moment later, Theodosia has set the bludgers and snitch free. She launches the quaffle straight up, where it is snatched by Timothy Gabble of Hufflepuff.
Timothy darts towards the Ravenclaw hoops, but not without encountering several obstacles along the way. First, Deak Bennett almost steals the quaffle from Timothy's arms, only to veer away suddenly when a bludger sent via Caerwyn Valentine nearly nails him in the face. The same bludger is redirected towards Timothy by Fritz himself, but Caerwyn is close enough to block the attempted hit.
Jack Emerson swoops in front of Timothy, forcing him to swerve suddenly. He almost collides with Deak, who's come alongside him again. For a moment, it seems like Timothy might lose control of his broom or be distracted enough for someone to steal the quaffle, but in half a second, he's on track again with a fresh burst of speed.
Keeper Daniel Gelson braces himself for Timothy's arrival. Meanwhile, Fritz changes course to cut Gus Hodfuffer off from reaching one of the bludgers. He aims it at Timothy, but once again, Caerwyn is right where he needs to be and bats the black ball away.
Timothy lets the quaffle fly, but Daniel prevents it from going through the hoop by smacking it away with the palm of his hand. Deak scoops it up and turns in the opposite direction. He sprints through the air, weaving through players and balls. The other Ravenclaw chasers form a protective flank on either side of him, and Fritz takes up the rear, batting away any of the bludgers that try to stop Deak from getting to the other side of the field.
Deak lobs the quaffle at the middle hoop, just as Coco tries to distract Sophia Hall with the other bludger. Sophia manages to avoid the bludger and deflect the quaffle. It free falls through the air for half a second before it's scooped up by Emerald.
Finally
Author: Lysander Stratford
Date: 10-16-09 12:41
Lysander stood at the counter at Twice Told Tales and looked out the window in his never-ending quest to lay eyes on Astrid. He'd seen her off and on since their kiss in the graveyard, but she'd always been in the company of her boyfriend Varus. Lysander desperately wanted to get her alone so that he could figure out where they stood. He also longed to kiss her again.
By chance, Lysander saw her walk by the window, and this time she was alone. For a moment, he thought Astrid might enter the shoppe, but she didn't stop.
Lysander wanted to step outside and meet up with her, but Julian had gone to Hogwarts to see Caerwyn play his first Quidditch match. He'd taken Grace and Charlotte with him and left Lysander to keep the bookstore open. Lysander could easily put a sign in the door saying he'd be back in a few, except there was a customer in the building and he couldn't well kick her out. Of he could, but then she probably wouldn't come back to do business again.
With no possible course of action but to stay put, Lysander slouched onto the stool behind the counter and put his head in his hands. He forced himself to think about other things, like how he recently approached Bill Weasley about the threatening notes he'd been receiving.
A moment later, the bell over the front door tinkled. Astrid came inside and approached the counter.
"Hi, Lysander," she greeted. She looked happy to see him but at the same time he couldn't read her expression.
Nevertheless, he perked up immediately. "Astrid. It's been a while."
It hadn't really been, but he was really referring to their encounter in the cemetery than any more recent meetings between them.
"I know." She opened her mouth to say something further, but at that moment, the customer approached the counter with a load of books in her arms.
Astrid stepped out of the way, and Lysander checked out the customer quickly.
With her gone, only Lysander and Astrid were left in the building. They were both very conscious of the lack of supervision. All that separated them now was the counter between them.
"So... still with Varus?" were the first words to come out of Lysander's mouth.
Astrid looked down. "He's a good man."
"Do you love him?"
Astrid looked up again. "I'm very comfortable with him."
"I'm not sure that answers my question."
She shook her head. "He and I have been together a long time. I can't end things with him easily."
Lysander felt himself begin to get frustrated. "Do you want to stay with him?"
"I don't know," Astrid admitted. "When I look at you, I tend to forget about him, but then I remember how good he's been to me. I can't hurt him. I just can't."
"It would hurt him to know what we did in the graveyard."
Astrid looked shocked. "Are you threatening to tell him?"
Lysander realized what he said came out wrong and shook his head. He came around the counter so that he and Astrid were standing before one another. "No. I just meant it's hurtful for him if you want to be with us both. It's hurtful to me too. You do want to be with me, don't you?"
"So much." Astrid sighed. "I know it seems like I've been avoiding you, and in a way I have been, but not because I don't want to see you. It's because I don't trust myself to be around you."
Lysander felt relief wash over him. Now if only he could get her to want to be with him and only him.
"I should go have a talk with Varus," she said, before Lysander could tell her to break things off with him.
"You do that," he said.
Her hand found his. For a long moment they looked at each other and held hands. Lysander's thumb circled over Astrid's soft skin, and before either one could control the other, they were in each other arms again, kissing passionately. Lysander turned Astrid and pressed her against the counter, then he lifted her up and set her on it. She wrapped her legs around him and buried her fingers in his thick curly hair, all the while kissing him deeply.
They were interrupted by the tinkle of the door bell and discovered by none other than Astrid's boyfriend Varus.
Off To A Good Start (Theodosia)
Author: Viktor Krum
Date: 10-16-09 14:00
The day has that bright yet diffused light of late fall-early winter. If seen through a window, there would be an illusion of warmth outside. It's anything but. The air is crisp and very chill, and in for the flyers above the Hoggwarts Quidditch pitch, it's downright cold, numbingly so.
That's Theodosia Batuti's take, anyway. She's been in Great Britain, in Scotland, awhile now but being raised in Africa, on days like this she can't imagine being able to get properly warmed up. She would have thought that she'd be more immune after those two years of increasingly bad weather, with long spells of freezing, of an increase in blizzards as the Dementor population grew and went about the countryside more freely.
Viktor Krum, on the other hand, seems quite comfortable; but then, the man has been known to take dips in ice covered bodies of water while snow is knee deep on the ground. Theodosia wonders who he'd hold up for a long period in the intense heat known throughout Africa.
Theodosia had had someone else lined up to serve as a second referee in today's Hufflepuff v Ravenclaw match. When Umberto Rutigliano's wife went into labor three weeks early, he understandably had to beg off. Theodosia's not feeling all that well today, possibly having a touch of flu, so thought it best to have a second referee. She'd sent Viktor an owl if he knew if one of the Humbatas would be free to help with the match. He'd promptly sent a reply that he could, and would, do it, showing up shortly after sending Theodosia an answer.
The game's gotten off to a good start and Theodosia expects it to be quite a good match. The sun is expected to be out all day, with only a few clouds around to obscure it from time to time. There's only an occassional, light wind. Gusts could happen but the players aren't going to be buffetted around during the entire match.
Theodosia moves out of the way of oncoming players. Emerald Green of Hufflepuff has the Quaffle. Jack Emerson of Ravenclaw is keeping himself between Emerald and Hufflepuff Chaser Milo Martin, who keeps waving to Emerald for her to pass the Quaffle. The third Hufflepuff Chaser Timothy Gabble is behind as both Deak Bennett and Hadrian Rabnott block his progress.
The impasse is broken when Augustus Hodfuffer - Gus - successfully smacks a Bludger into Jack, creating enough of a diversion for Emerald to get the Quaffle to Milo, who then sprints towards Ravenclaw Keeper Daniel Gelson. His momentum is curbed when the other Bludger, hit by Fritz Schnackenpfefferhausen, has Milo losing his grip on the Quaffle. Milo quickly retrieves it but the delay still gives some of the other players a chance to catch up.
Milo doesn't seemed the slightest bit perturbed at not being able to get within scoring range unchallenged. He just grins, finds an opening to pass to the now caught up Timothy. Timothy immediately hands off to Emerald who darts in close as though going to for a goal attempt only she does lobs the ball backwards straight back to Milo.
Milo, with Deak and Hadrian moving in to flank with hopes of stopping the Hufflepuff, isn't in what is generall thought of as scoring range but with a good, solid throw a long shot through one of the three hoops is a possibility.
First Sighting
Author: Griet
Date: 10-17-09 09:56
Aleydis tried to focus only on her job––to find the snitch––but she couldn't help but show interest in Milo, since he had possession of the quaffle at the moment and drew ever nearer to the Ravenclaw goal hoops. So far, neither team had managed to score, though both had tried.
A flash of gold out of the corner of her eye pulled Aleydis's attention from Milo and his quest to score for Hufflepuff to the snitch, which had just zipped by and continued on a zig zag path away from Aleydis. She charged after it, extending a hand as she went with the hope of scooping it up before rival seeker Christopher Chant could.
It took only a second for him to realize Aleydis had spotted the snitch. He joined in the chase, and both sets of beaters turned their attentions on the seekers too. Aleydis stretched out her hand as far as her shoulder would allow, but quickly retracted it when a bludger nearly made impact with her wrist. Christopher veered sharply away when the other bludger almost hit his thigh. The snitch darted away and seemingly disappeared from sight.
Meanwhile, with only the opposing chasers to distract him, Milo reached scoring range. He made to throw for one of the hoops but at the last second threw the quaffle at Emerald. Daniel caught on a moment too slowly and couldn't stop Emerald from scoring.
The scoreboard read Hufflepuff 10, Ravenclaw 0.
Aleydis grinned but she was angry with herself for not catching the snitch. She'd been so close. She briefly wondered what would have happened, had she allowed the bludger to strike her. Would she still have managed to catch up to the snitch, even with the injury, or would it have totally ruined her chances of ever catching it?
She tried not to berate herself too much. It was still early in the game and she would probably get another chance at the snitch.
(Cornelia) Bad Behavior
Author: Griet
Date: 10-17-09 10:28
Cornelia sat in the stands––not because she wanted to watch her sister Aleydis play, but because she knew Griet would be there. Griet sat in the stands with Oberon. The two had gone public with their relationship, which had come as a complete surprise to just about everybody since all Griet and Oberon had ever done publicly was fight.
Cornelia sat with Gervaise, who had distanced himself from Oberon and Griet but had remained close to Cornelia. Gerviase still seemed oblivious to Cornelia's feelings for him, probably because he hadn't thought of anything other than his broken heart since Halloween. Cornelia hadn't yet enlightened him, if only because she wanted him to develop feelings for her on his own. She didn't like it that he still cared for Griet and she certainly wouldn't appreciate it if he still thought of Griet while considering whether Cornelia might make a suitable substitute.
She could wait for him, even though she really didn't want to. In the meantime, she would occupy herself with making Griet's life miserable.
A smile spread over her lips. She had already set something into motion and was waiting for it to take effect.
She kept her eyes on Griet instead of the game. Beside her, Gervaise did the same, though he had no idea what was about to happen.
After a little while, Griet's forehead started to wrinkle. She scratched at it, feeling a tingle spread across her skin. The itching became more severe, so she scratched at it harder. Oberon started to ask what was the matter, but he only got half of the sentence out when his features hardened.
By then, Griet had stopped itching and noticed the expression on his face.
Even from where Cornelia sat, she could see the large bold words that had appeared on Griet's forehead.
SLUT
She smiled deviously. Earlier that morning, she'd tampered with Griet's face cream.
Griet slapped a hand to her forehead, when Oberon told her what was written there. Both turned their gazes to Cornelia.
"Did you do that?" Gervaise asked her quietly.
Cornelia feigned innocence. "Me?"
Gervaise didn't argue. He was just as upset with Griet for choosing Oberon over him, though he would never stoop to Cornelia's level. It didn't give him the same satisfaction to see Griet embarrassed as it did Cornelia, but a small part of him felt better.
Griet and Oberon were leaving the game.
Cornelia turned to Gervaise. "Want to stay or head back to the castle?"
"Everyone is here. I don't want to go back and run into them."
Cornelia shrugged. "They're probably going to the Hospital Wing. The common room will be all ours, I bet."
Gervaise shrugged. "I don't want to take the risk. Let's stay."
Cornelia was kind of disappointed not to get Gervaise to herself, but she knew she should be satisfied that he was seated next to her at the game. She didn't protest and turned her attention to the match, though she hardly paid attention.