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Gryffindor vs Hufflepuff
Author: Viktor Krum
Date: 12-15-09 08:27
As Assistant Head of House for Slytherin, Theodosia spent part of the morning at the first apparition lesson. She did leave about halfway through to come down to the pitch to make sure everything was game ready. She did this despite having checked before breakfast as something could have happened between then and the start of the match such as the charms on bludgers going wonky or someone jokester sneaking in to tamper with those charms.
Theodosia had also wanted to check on Marjani. Her sister wasn't feeling well last night and didn't make it down to breakfast this morning. With Marjani being on the Gryffindor team, Theodosia's concerned that Marjani might not be up to today's match. It's times like this that make her glad she's got another person to help referee the game. Theodosia wouldn't want her concern for her sister to subconsciously affect any rulings she makes on the pitch.
At least Zuberi isn't in trouble for something this morning and serving detention. Then again, if he were in detention, Theodosia would at least know for sure where he was and what he was doing.
Standing now at center pitch, Theodosia waits with the game balls as Gabby Delacour announces the teams, first Gryffindor and then Hufflepuff. There's Wiggersmythe Hodfuffer, Blake Holloway, Ella Harville, Charisma Stone, her sister Marjani Batuti, Ronan Eastwick, and Etta Wynbourne. Next comes Aleydis Vanderbilt, Sophia Hall, Gus Hodfuffer, Caerwyn Valentine, Timothy Gabble, Milo Martin, and Emerald Green.
Team captains Ronan and Emerald step forward and shake hands as Theodosia reminds somewhat unncessarily, "Play a clean game."
Within seconds the balls are in play, the teams and second referee Joey Jenkins of the Chudley Cannons are in the air, and the quaffle is taken by Timothy Gabble for Hufflepuff.
Opening Minutes
Author: Ella
Date: 12-15-09 18:59
As soon as the game began, Ella set her sights on one of the black bludgers. She bounded through the ice-cold air, quite conscious of the stinging against her cheeks and knuckles, but more focused on reaching the ball before one of Hufflepuff's beaters did. She managed only a split second before Caerwyn Valentine would have, and in that moment directed the bludger at Tim Gabble, who'd succeeded in snagging the quaffle first.
Because she'd had to act quickly, her trajectory wasn't perfect. The bludger very nearly hit Milo Martin instead, but Gus Hodfuffer was Johnny-on-the-spot and shielded him from the black ball's collision. He struck the bludger hard with his bat, sending in careening high and wide away from the gaggle of chasers. Ella's fellow beater Blake Holloway charged after it, hoping to reach it before Caerwyn did.
Meanwhile, Tim had passed the quaffle to Emerald. Emerald had passed it overhand to Milo. Milo faked a pass back to Emerald but handed it over to Timothy as he brushed by him. For a moment, Ella and the other Gryffindor were fooled, but luckily everyone caught on when Tim pulled ahead of the pack.
Ella quickly scanned the clear skies for one of the bludgers. She saw one out of the corner of her eye and quickly turned to intercept it. It had been aimed for Etta Wynbourne, who'd snuck up to Tim in a bid to steal the quaffle from him. Ella was near enough to Tim and in excellent position to target him with the bludger. She walloped it powerfully into his back and winced at the sound of the impact. Tim slumped forward and loosened the grip on the ball, which Julietta easily plucked free.
All at once, everyone turned 180 degrees and started racing in the other direction. Even Timothy, who was wincing from the pain between his shoulder blades, coursed forward with the group, determined to reclaim the quaffle before Gryffindor could score.
Ella dashed with them, her eyes open for both bludgers. By chance, her gaze raked over one of the stands, where crowds of guests to Hogwarts stood on their feet and cheered loudly for both teams. For a moment, Ella was stunned to see her father and his girlfriend Delilah there. Dunstan was yelling loudly and waving a scarlet and gold foam finger wildly in the air. Delilah was sitting next to him, looking interested but not nearly as excited as her boyfriend.
Ella forced herself to look away and concentrate on the game. She didn't kow her father was coming, nor the fact that he'd brought her along. Ella hadn't seen either of them since New Year's.
A bludger suddenly sailed before her face, causing her to flinch and pull up the shaft of her broomstick in an effort to brake. She expelled a deep breath and shook herself. That had been a close one! Ella knew that if she let her father's presence, and more importantly that woman's presence distract her, she would not play a good game.
Ella was determined to play well, as Gryffindor's winning streak was on the line. She squared her shoulders and set forth to do her best.
Playing Keep Away
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 12-16-09 17:51
Etta had barely made progress with the quaffle when Tim stole it back. He then promptly lost it to Marjani. With the aid of a nicely placed, well time bludger, Emerald swooped in and literally lifted the quaffle from Marjani's hand. She skirts around referee Joey Jenkins, who somehow found himself hemmed in by chasers and bludgers instead of on the margins of the action observing it.
Emerald adjusts her course for the three hoops guard by Ronan Eastwick. Wiggy and Marjani are in hot pursuit, Marjani determined to get the quaffle back from Emerald. It's Wiggy though who poses more of a threat. He's a faster flyer and extremely skilled. It's common knowledge that Wiggy's good enough to be one of those few players, like Viktor Krum, to play while still in school. Emerald keeps meaning to ask Phin if Wiggy's too young yet to get offers or if he's had them but his parents had said no to anything at this point.
A spot off to the side is looming larger, on a course to connect with Emerald. Even seeing the bludger coming, Emerald barely reacts in time to avoid taking the hit. The game can move so quickly that from the time she'd registered a bludger on an intercept with her to the time she altered course was hardly more than a blink or two.
Wiggy's caught her up by that time and is flying in as close to Emerald as he can get without deliberately fouling. She knows he's got to be working extremely hard to prevent an unintentional foul as well. As that thought flits through Emerald's mind, one of Wiggy's hands has reached out to attempt very hard finger taps on the quaffle in an effort to dislodge it from her grip.
Reflexively gritting her teeth in an effort to hang on to the ball, Emerald also rolls away from Wiggy. He doggedly sticks with her and it's only a blugder screaming at them head on that has him widening the small gap. That gives Emerald the break she needs ot adjust her hold on the red ball then pass it off to Tim Gabble.
Tim moves quickly, somehow unobstructed, to within goal range, his arm cocking back to let the quaffle fly.
(Aleydis) Seeking
Author: Griet
Date: 12-16-09 18:18
Aleydis began her search for the golden snitch the moment Professor Batuti released it from the Quidditch supply trunk. Her eyes followed it for a few seconds before it seemingly vanished into thin air. Although slightly disappointed to have lost it so quickly, Aleydis felt that she would have a relatively easy time finding it again since the sky was clear and there wasn't any rain or snow to obstruct her field of vision.
She started by sweeping her gaze in wide semicircles, hoping to catch a fleeting glance of gold in the process. When she didn't luck out, she decided to do a more systematic search of the Pitch.
During that time, Hufflepuff had managed to work the quaffle all the way to the Gryffindor hoops. Timothy let the quaffle fly and with the help of a bludger aimed at Ronan, successfully made a goal. Aleydis allowed herself the momentary distraction to cheer on her teammate, but then it was back to business.
Meanwhile, Julietta had gotten the quaffle from Ronan. She pitched it to Marjani, who didn't hold onto the ball for very long. Soon the quaffle was flying from hand to hand, almost too quickly for the eye to follow. At one point, Emerald intercepted the ball but during a pass to Timothy, it was recovered by Gryffindor again. The chasers worked the ball closer and closer to where Sophia hovered before the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Julietta, once again in possession of the quaffle, attempted a goal but it was blocked by the palm of Sophia's hand.
Milo caught the quaffle in the rebound and tucked it securely to the side of his body. He shot forward, making his body as flat as possible to reduce wind resistance and make him all the more faster.
At the same time, Aleydis saw a glint of gold clear across the Pitch. Unfortunately, Charisma saw it too. The Gryffindor seeker was a hair closer and flitted over to the snitch with her hand outstretched. Just as she wiped her arm to grab it, a bludger whooshed by and by pure instinct, Charisma retracted her arm.
Aleydis flew over and scanned her eyes and head this way and that, determined to locate the golden orb that had just disappeared from plain sight again. Beside her, Charisma did the same.
Their eyes locked on the winged ball at the same time, and as if synchronized, they rushed off after it together, shoulder to shoulder. Before either could reach it, another bludger sailed right for them, head on. Aleydis veered left and Charisma veered right and in the process, they both lost sight of the snitch again.
Aleydis shook her head and laughed. This was shaking up to be a busy game!
Momentarily Satisfied (Caerwyn)
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 12-17-09 09:49
Caerwyn allowed himself the momentary pleasure at having kept the Gryffindor seeker from getting the snitch. It's only momentary because he needs to concentrate on preventing the Gryffindor chasers from attempting to score again. Wiggy's setting up a shot with Etta and Marjani flanking him. The only problem for Caerwyn is that the bludger he hit at Charisma is on the other side of the pitch and the second bludger is only marginally closer. Caerwyn didn't see who hit that one so doesn't now if it was intended to stop Aleydis or to stop Charisma.
Wiggy makes the throw and Caerwyn, watching over his shoulder as he races Ella to reach one of the bludgers, has another moment of satisfaction as Sophia once again blocks Gryffindor from scoring. For now, the score is 10 to 0 in Hufflepuffs favor.
Caerwyn reaches the bludger a shade ahead of Ella only to find he can't properly hit it because of where she is in relation to him and his bat. Getting hit by a bat accidently is bad enough and can be dangerous so Caerwyn's not about to take his best swing when he knows doing so would mean getting Ella full on in the face. Not only would that be a foul but she'd get her nose broken and probably worse.
What Caerwyn does instead is bunt the bludger while at the same time jerking his broom around so that he can be in a better position to hit the ball. Caerwyn is on the bludger again before Ella can also react to what he's done and beat him out of actually hitting it at another player. His eyes scanned where the chasers are. Seeing Marjani with the quaffle again and looking as though she's working to set up a pass to Etta, Caerwyn sends the bludger at where he thinks Marjani is going to be so that the bludger will intercept her flight path.
Without bothering to see where Ella is now or where she's going, Caerwyn takes off in pursuit of the bludger he just hit so that he'll be in a better position to get to it quickly and hit it into play once more after it's done the current job he's sent it to do.
A Request
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 12-17-09 16:07
Hermione happened to be sitting on the sofa in her living room, reading a few chapters in the textbook she used for her Neurology lecture and review, when the fireplace came to life. In the flames, a face appeared and flicked a few sparks onto the wooden floor.
"Hermione? Are you there?"
She closed her book and slid off the couch, crouching on her knees in front of the hearth.
"What's the matter, Ron?" she asked.
"It's Fleur. She firetalked with Mum, who contacted me at the Ministry. I'm not sure why she didn't ask Charlie or whoever is at Weasleys or Blossom's today, but it doesn't matter now. Fleur's all worked up because Bill had to step out to Gringotts for an hour and promised he'd be back no later than that. It's been longer and she's a bit concerned. Personally, I think she's overreacting, but..." He seemed to shrug, though Hermione couldn't see anything but his head.
"I'll pop over to Gringotts and see if he's delayed, and if so, I'll stop by Fleur's and keep her company until he returns," Hermione said.
"Thanks."
"You're not going to be at work all day, are you?" Hermione questioned, before letting Ron go.
Ron chuckled. "Not if I can help it. Just have some paperwork to take care of. See you later?"
"Yes, see you."
With that, Ron's head disappeared from the fire, and Hermione got up to put on some shoes and grab her jacket. A few minutes later, she stepped outside her flat, cautiously went down the stairs, and then went over to Gringotts. When she got to the door, she pulled on the handle and found it locked. She cupped her hands around her eyes and peered through the frosted glass to see a goblin approaching the front doors with a key dangling from his spindly fingers.
He unlocked the door and peered up at Hermione. "What service do you need today?"
Hermione was surprised to see the bank closed in the middle of the day and started to develop a sinking feeling that Fleur had reason to be concerned about Bill. "None. I'm actually looking for Bill Weasley. Is he here?"
"Mr. Weasley never made it in."
"He didn't?"
"No."
Just then, one of the other bank employees arrived, looking flushed from the cold and a little breathless.
"Oh, what happened here?" she asked, shooting a questioning gaze from Hermione to the goblin.
"Mr. Weasley never arrived," the goblin told her.
Hermione didn't wait around to hear what the woman had to say about that. She took off in the direction of the residential part of the village, hoping to find Bill or what had happened to him along the way.
Somewhat Disappointed
Author: Ronan Eastwick
Date: 12-17-09 16:50
It disappointed Ronan to know that he'd let the quaffle get past him during its only run to the Gryffindor hoops, while Sophia across the Pitch had already blocked two goal attempts from the Gryffindor chasers. He didn't necessarily feel off of his game, though his hands were frozen and his knuckles felt raw from the icy-cold air. Right now, Gryffindor had possession of the quaffle again, so Ronan could relax a little bit, but he tensed up as soon as he saw Caerwyn aim a bludger at Marjani, the carrier.
He wanted to scream at her to look out, not that she would have heard him over the din of the crowd, but luckily Blake spotted the bludger at just the right moment and deflected it from Marjani's path. The quaffle passed hands quickly after that, always staying with Gryffindor though Emerald almost intercepted the ball once. When the group reached the goals, Sophia got ready to block another scoring attempt, but this time the quaffle got past her.
Marjani had the ball again and made as if to aim for the hoops, when she threw it at Wiggy at the very last moment. At the exact same time, Ella aimed a bludger Sophia's way, which neither Caerwyn nor Augustus could reach in time. Sophia ducked, and Wiggy shot the ball into one of the hoops without touching any of the rim.
Well, now the match was tied, and Ronan felt slightly better about his position. He readied himself for the oncoming Hufflepuff chasers, however, who passed the ball to each other with lightning speed. All of a sudden, Julietta had the ball again, but Gryffindor's possession didn't last long at all. Milo stole it back and charged toward where Ronan hovered. The ball exchanged hands again, only to wind up in Etta's arms once more. Again, she didn't have it for long, and Emerald emerged with the ball in her own hands.
The closer she got, the more alert Ronan made himself. Once within scoring range, Emerald let the ball fly. Ronan batted it away with a smack of his hand, only to find Emerald reclaim it just as quickly. She made for another shot, which Ronan caught hard against his chest, but not so hard that the breath was knocked from him. He pitched the ball to Julietta, who started to race away from the hoops.
Back And Forth (Wiggy)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 12-17-09 17:24
Wiggy moves in to take a pass from Etta only to have to jerk his hand back when a bludger comes whizzing by giving off that odd, screaming sound the black balls make. Because of this, he's a fraction late in his timing when reaching once more for the in-mid-pass quaffle. Hufflepuff has it now with Tim taking a hand-off from Milo then zipping ahead of the pack.
Wiggy is determined to get back the quaffle so puts his broom into high gear and is quickly on Milo's tail. Ella helps the matter with a bludger to Milo's elbow. It's not necessarily the hardest impact a bludger can have but it clearly hits Milo just right, getting the funny bone. Wiggy winces in sympathy but that doesn't keep him from popping the quaffle from the crook of Milo's arm, doing a 180 and shooting back the other direction.
Wiggy dodges a bludger sent with a wave and a grin by his cousin Augustus then jerks a sharp curve around Emerald to keep from smashing into her when she gets directly into the path he was on. Marjani comes up behind Wiggy then moves parallel to him, easily reaching out to take the quaffle from him in a clean hand off. Marjani doesn't more than twenty meters when she takes a hit to her shoulder that's hard enough to nearly unbalance her and to drop the quaffle in the process.
It's Tim who snags the ball before it's dropped very far but he promptly loses it to Etta before he's gained any ground. Etta charges around Milo, easily avoiding his effort to steal the quaffle back, only to nearly fly head-on with Caerwyn. Etta swings wide around the Hufflepuff beater, ducks a bludger from Gus. Now within goal range, Etta shoots. The quaffle gets past Sophia but bounces off the rim of the right most hoop. Wiggy catches it on the rebound, immediately throws off a shot only to have Sophia bat it away with her broom.
Emerald swoops in to snag the rebound this time, taking off for the opposite end of the pitch. Wiggy goes in hot pursuit, really wishing that Gryffindor had gotten ten points just then.
Friendly Family Rivalry (Gus)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 12-17-09 18:50
Augustus reaches a bludger just in time to send it into Wiggersmythe's path as Wiggy is reaching to take the quaffle away from Emerald. Gus has a good rapport with his cousin but he's finding in this first real match against Wiggy that like with the friendly games they've played over the years he's not letting the fact that they are family stand in the way of giving the match his all. It's a great tragedy in Gus's opinion that Wiggy wasn't at Hogwarts. It would have been fun playing against him then as it is now.
Gus reaches the other quaffle about the same time Caerwyn does. They decide to hit it together, thus being able to send it further, thwacking the black ball well down the pitch to connect with Julietta, who by then had the quaffle in hand. In flying to the bludger Gus missed seeing how Etta came to have it. No matter though because the bludger, while just missing Etta by a hair's breadth, causes enough of a distraction to allow Milo to hit the quaffle free of her hold.
Milo, Etta, and the two chasers nearest, Marjani and Timothy, dive for the free falling quaffle with Tim coming up victorious. His possession of the ball is short lived when a bludger from Blake once more sends the quaffle spiraling down to the pitch below. Gus hits a bludger at Marjani while Ella gets to the other before Caerwyn can and sends it at Milo. Gus is chasing after the bludger he's just hit the instant after he hit it. In the meantime it's Wiggy with the quaffle so when Gus reaches the bludger again, he sents the black ball at his cousin.
The bludger hits Wiggy's hand and the quaffle but Wiggy had the ball firmly held against his body and doesn't lose his grip despite the fact that the hit must have stung something fierce. Wiggy reaches the outer edge of the area they all think of as being scoring range. Not wanting Gryffindor to pull ahead, the match being currently tied 10-10, Gus hauls arse to get to a bludger quickly enough to have an effect on Wiggy's goal effort.