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(Aleydis) Accident
Author: Griet
Date: 12-19-09 05:55
Heedless of what the current score might be, Aleydis zoomed around the Pitch in search of the snitch. She had seen it more than once since the game began, and at every turn, Charisma had seen it too. It seemed that neither would outfox the other. Everytime the golden ball revealed itself, they both spotted it at more or less the same time.
Then all at once, things started to change. Charisma saw the snitch and started to creep towards it. Aleydis never noticed, but luckily she didn't have to because Caerwyn did. He charged after the nearest bludger and used it to deflect Charisma's attention elsewhere for the briefest of moments. It was enough for her to lose sight of the elusive snitch again.
Later on, there was another exception to what had become the norm. Aleydis was scouring the edge of the Pitch while Charisma was clear across the way doing the same when Aleydis caught sight of a glint of gold. A better look confirmed that she had once again spotted the snitch. She took off after it, following the path the gold ball took around the edge of the stadium.
Faster and faster Aleydis went, focusing on nothing but the snitch. She didn't even notice Charisma take note of what was going on and come around the other side, though the Gryffindor seeker was still pretty far away. Everything around Aleydis became a blur as she sped around the edge of the Pitch, chasing after the winged ball that seemed to move faster and faster itself.
For a while it didn't seem like she was closing in on it, just following behind at the same distance. No matter how much faster she went, the snitch seemed to match her speed. Then, when it appeared Aleydis had gained an inch, she stretched out her hand, only to slam her shoulder into something hard. Aleydis spun wildly and crashed into the side of the stands. The impact stopped her from spinning anymore, and luckily she didn't lose grip of her broom and get thrown off to the ground far below.
She heard the shrill tones of two whistles and opened her eyes to see spots. Both of her shoulders ached, as did her head which had hit the stands. She could hear people above her, the fans looking down at her, and then a voice was at her side.
"Are you all right, Aleydis?" asked Professor Batuti.
Aleydis blinked in an attempt to clear the spots from her eyes.
"You're bleeding."
"What?" Aleydis touched the side of her head, where a thin trickle of blood emerged from her hairline. "Oh."
"You need to go to Madam Pomfrey's," Professor Batuti concluded.
"No, I'm fine." Aleydis shook her head slightly. Her vision had cleared, and now she could see Blake Holloway hovering nearby, rubbing his shoulder and looking a little dazed. Joey Jenkins was talking to him.
She focused back on Professor Batuti. "I'm not ready to quit the game." She was aching all over but the pain had already started subsiding a little bit. Plus, she could see clearly again.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Aleydis must have looked confident, because Professor Batuti nodded, flew over to Joey to confer for a moment and check on Blake, and then she blew her whistle and initiated the game. Aleydis immediately started looking for the snitch. She flew only so far before her vision clouded over again. She hovered in place, squeezing the handle of her broom, willing the dizziness to go away.
The whistle blew again.
Aleydis knew now that she didn't have any choice. She would have to go to Madam Pomfrey's and forgo the rest of the match. Charisma would undoubtedly catch the snitch, though with any luck, Hufflepuff will have scored enough times to still come out ahead in the end.
When she touched down to the ground with Professor Batuti's assistance, her oldest sister Griet was already running across the field to meet her.
"I'll take her," Griet said.
"Thank you, Griet," Professor Batuti replied. With that, she took off again to resume the match.
Aleydis was too out of it to feel too down or to feel like she'd disappointed her teammates. She let Griet help her to the castle and then to the Hospital Wing, where Madam Pomfrey fussed over her injuries and put her to bed.
Beater, Bludger, Broken Ribs (Blake)
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 12-19-09 06:23
Whatever had happened, he wasn't even sure, but he knew his shoulder ached something fierce - and he'd ended up sending Aleydis to the hospital wing, which meant that the Hufflepuff team was without its Seeker.
He'd been alright when Professor Batuti and Joey Jenkins had checked on him, but if the match didn't end soon he would be ending up in the Hospital Wing also most likely for a strained muscle in his shoulder - or something else he didn't know what, but it hurt.
Everyone was back in the game - who was well enough to play - and Blake sent a bludger that was screaming towards him back toward the Chaser with the quaffle, thankfully he'd timed it just right so that it flew into her trajectory and kissed the quaffle hard enough to send it tumbling from her grasp without actually injuring her.
This let Wiggy catch it and turn on a dime it seemed to head toward the Hufflepuff hoops guarded by Sophia. He cast a glance at Isma, she'd managed to not get caught in the fray because she was just a bit behind Aleydis when the accident occured. She did however check on the other seeker before Aleydis finally headed off the pitch to the hospital wing with the aid of her sister Griet.
Momentarily distracted Blake hadn't seen nor heard the bludger coming at him, to deflect it back in the opposite direction for someone else to hit it. By the time he'd heard Isma and Etta calling his name it was too late - he took the screaming black ball to the stomach - hard. It came with a sickening crack and Blake saw stars and nearly lost his grip on his broom - which would have no doubt caused further injury when he hit the ground far below.
The shrill sound of the whistle cut through the haze that settled over Blake and Joey Jenkins and Professor Batuti were once again checking on him. Blake was doubled over on his broom, and sitting up hurt, Professor Batuti and Joey Jenkins deemed that he was no longer allowed to play in this particular game. So for the second time in as many minutes the game had been stopped and now both teams would be down a player.
Eric was coming to meet Blake when he and Professor Batuti touched down on the pitch. "I'll get him to the hospital wing Professor." Professor Batuti nodded and then was back in the air, the game once more getting underway.
Blake cast one more glance at the pitch, the players high above it, and hoped that Isma would catch the snitch soon.
Can We At Least Tie?
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 12-19-09 09:43
The first time the game stopped, Emerald huddled up with Hufflepuff players, all of them watching to see what the outcome on Aleydis would be. Caerwyn and they were concerned for Blake as well but Aleydis is not only their teammate but their seeker. Without her, Hufflepuff has to score no less than 15 more goals and keep Gryffindor from scoring a single one more just to have a tie game whenever Charisma caught the snitch. To win, Hufflepuff would need 16 goals and Gryffindor no others. That's at the minimum. For ever goal Gryffindor were to make, that's one more goal added to Hufflepuff's own tally to either tie or win.
Just seconds after Aleydis re-entered the match, she had to stop again. Hufflepuff's worst fears were realized as they dejectedly watched their seeker being taken from the field of play. When a very short time late, after a second accident, Blake is also removed from the game, Caerwyn takes little solace in the fact that Gryffindor is now down a player as well. Like him, Blake is a beater. Having a beater out of the game is not nearly as traumatic to a team's chance of winning as having the seeker removed. About the only thing worse would have been if it were the keeper because that means not only are a team's hoops unguarded but the other players on that team end up doing their own jobs less effectively because of trying to cover their hoops from having one goal after another made against them.
While they waited for Blake to reach the ground, Emerald went from Hufflepuff to Hufflepuff telling each determinedly, "We can still do this!"
Caerwyn's going to give it everything he's got to help his team pull out at least a tie. The second the whistle signals the game back into action, Caerwyn is on a bludger. Tim has the quaffle though Caerwyn was so focused on keeping track of the nearest bludger then getting to it to see how it was that Tim came to be in possession of it. Caerwyn sends the bludger to assist Tim in keeping it as Marjani moves in to jerk the quaffle from his hands. The bludger catches the edge of Marjani's hand and wrist, not hitting in a way to do any real damage to the bones there but enough to sting like heck.
With Marjani's interference gone for the moment, Tim makes a successful pass to Emerald. She darts forward, sloping slightly downward at the same time so that she's dropping below where Gryffindor's lone beater, Ella, is reaching the bludger recently hit by Caerwyn. Gus, being closer than Caerwyn to Ella, whips around other players to put himself between Ella and the bludger and Emerald with the quaffle.
Caerwyn spots the second bludger and goes after it, reaching it about the same time that Gus is batting Ella's bludger away from Emerald and towards Wiggy. Caerwyn, meanwhile, sends the other bludger at Etta as the Gryffindor moves in on Emerald. By that time Emerald's closed in on Ronan. The Gryffindor keeper is ready for her and easily deflects the shot. Tim reaches to caught it on the rebound but Marjani snags it out of his hands before he's got a grip on the ball.
Marjani jerks around, heading the opposite direction. Caerwyn's already on one of the bludgers again and with a new target, sends the hard, black ball screaming towards Marjani with the quaffle. Even before it reaches her, Milo's caught up and is working to both slow her down and to steal the quaffle. Marjani passes off to Etta who goes to pass to Wiggy but a bludger from Gus messes up the pass, allowing Emerald to intercept.
Emerald rockets back around and with bludger assists from both Caerwyn and Gus, and with Milo and Tim helping keep the Gryffindor chasers from getting on top of her, Emerald quickly reaches the goals tended by Ronan. She fakes a shot, fakes a second, then lets the quaffle fly on the third time. Ronan hadn't been fooled by the first fake but was on the second so he's late reacting to the real throw. The quaffle brushes past his outstretched fingers to sail cleanly through the hoop.
Caerwyn allows himself a big grin though he quickly loses it. The score is now 40 for Hufflepuff, 30 for Gryffindor, but Hufflepuff has a looooooong way to go before they can even think of ending this with at least a tie.
Keeping Hufflepuff From Running Up The Score (Etta)
Author: Jared
Date: 12-19-09 11:20
Etta reaches with one hand to massage the shoulder that's just collided with Milo. She'd had the quaffle and lost her grip on it. When dropping down fast to get it back, she and Milo had knocked into each other. Nothing serious though the initial sting does feel almost like a solid bludger hit and, worse, Milo got the quaffle.
In the time since Emerald scored Hufflepuff's fourth goal, Ronan's blocked three more shots, two of them by Emerald and and another by Timothy. In that same time period, Sophia blocked two attempts by Gryffindor, with one of them being Etta's. She finds she's not so concerned about not getting that goal, or any others in this match if that's how it works out, because as long as they can keep Hufflepuff from running up their own tally, Gryffindor just has to bide its time for Charisma to get the snitch.
Etta realizes there is one drawback to that plan. The fewer points Gryffindor scores, the less points the team has going up today on the house count towards the end of year House Cup.
With that in mind, Etta lets go of her shoulder, leans low over her broom, and darts in between Milo and Tim as Milo's passing off to the other boy. She intercepts, arcs around in a sharp turn and dashes back the other way, both boys in rapid pursuit. Something thuds into her thigh but while uncomfortable, it's not anything bad for what it could be. Etta doesn't look around to see whether the bludger came from Gus or from Caerwyn, since it doesn't really matter, even if she would sort of like to know how come it was a very light hit for a bludger. Maybe whichever one sent it didn't get a good connection or was sending it from a longer than usual distance and the ball lost it's momentum. Whatever the reason, Etta is not at all sad that she won't have a bigger than a bludger bruise by nightfall on her thigh. Well, not unless she takes another, harder, hit in that same spot.
Straighting from the sharp turn she'd made, Etta hands off to Wiggy. He jets ahead at such a speed that Etta isn't sure anyone else will be able to catch him. Caerwyn does slow him with a bludger but it's not enough to make Wiggy lose the quaffle. It does let others catch up, with Emerald trying to get close enough in to lift the quaffle away from Wiggy. Ella helps by sending a bludger at Emerald and both Etta and Marjani close in to give assistance however Wiggy needs, be it to help stave off the other chasers or to accept a pass.
Wiggy continues on at breakneck speed, which means so does everyone else if they want to stay with him. He approachs Sophia at a fast clip, braking and turning sharply at the same time so that his side is to her. The quaffle whips across the gap between Wiggy and the goals, but even with the speed he'd had and looking as though he was nearly going to collide with Sophia, the Hufflepuff keeper comes through once more, much to Etta's chagrin, and blocks Wiggy's attempt.
It's Tim who grabs it on the rebound. He starts back the other way with Etta and her teammates right there with him to, hopefully, stop him from getting the quaffle anywhere near Ronan and a chance at scoring.
Are We Done Yet?
Author: Viktor Krum
Date: 12-19-09 14:39
Theodosia had hated having to take Aleydis Vanderbilt from the match but despite the Hufflepuff Seeker initially indicating she was fine, it became very apparent, very quickly that the girl was concussed. Through the ages, players the world over have played Quidditch with sprained and strained muscles, ripped muscles, cracked and broken bones, but very few with obvious concussions have ever been allowed to remain in a game.
A short time after that, Theodosia and Joey Jenkins made another judgement call and sent a second injured player off the pitch. Joey and Theodosia both have played with cracked and broken ribs but when a boy Blake Holloway's age can barely sit upright on his broom, then as the adults responsible for that boy's welfare while in the match, the best recourse was to send him to hospital. The big difference in removing Blake from the match versus Aleydis is that Aleydis's absence all but assures Gryffindor of the win unless Gryffindor loses even more players or they become hurt enough to start playing horribly but not hurt so badly as to have to leave the game. Hufflepuff's got a very good team but with Gryffindor being an evenly matched opponent, it's not as if Hufflepuff is going to suddenly start scoring unchecked goal after unchecked goal.
A quarter of the way down the pitch from where Theodosia observes the action, ready to stop the game for foul or injury, her sister is feeling a little envious of Blake's and Aleydis's removals from the match. Marjani is certain her fever has spiked in the last hour, making her alternately overly hot and sweaty and even more chilled than she would have been without the fever. Her head is pounding and having to breath through her mouth this whole time has insured her throat, despite popping lozange after lozange, is extremely dry, very scratchy, and really sore.
As she's felt more and more sick, ick, and blah, her playing has increasingly suffered. Marjani's flying slower and her reactions to things around her have dulled. What happened just now is a good example. Wiggy needed to pass the Quaffle and with Caerwyn, Milo, Gus, and Emerald between Etta and him, he'd sought out Marjani. Tim was flying nearly parallel with Marjani but on the side away from Wiggy. Wiggy made an excellent toss that should have been an easy catch. Marjani being slower to react and also not putting on the proper amount of speed needed to get the Quaffle as it was thrown, the nice, easy pass went right past her and was scooped up by Tim.
Tim, Milo, and Emerald steadly move the ball closer to Ronan. It's times like this that give Hufflepuff the advantage of having both its Beaters in the game. Ella is keeping up as best she can but there's only so much a single Beater can do against two Beaters in a fast moving match.
Marjani's nearly even with Emerald, who now has the Quaffle, when she's hit with a severe coughing spell that nearly doubles her over in its sudden, surprise onset. Popping another lozange, she does her best to not let the cough get the best of her as she increases her speed, wincing at the pain in her head that causes, and gets back into the fray just in time to block a pass between Emerald and Milo. Marjani promptly hands the Quaffle off to Etta, thinking that Etta and Wiggy will do a much better job at this point of working the ball back down to where Sophia waits.
Game Over
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 12-19-09 15:20
Isma soared above the pitch - Blake was out of the game, Aleydis was out, which all but put victory in the hands of Gryffindor this game because unless goal after goal was allowed to soar past Ronan's hands - Hufflepuff didn't really have a chance to catch up. They were indeed evenly matched and it was a good game, before two players were removed from the game for injuries.
Isma finally caught sight of the snitch - hovering in front of the stands where students from the two houses not playing in this match - Ravenclaw and Slytherin. She darted toward it - she wasn't that far from it at the moment. Beneath most of the action she listened to the sounds of beaters hitting the bludgers, the connection of the quaffle into the hands of another chaser.
She darted along - attempting to capture the glimmering, bouncing golden ball that seemed to mock her at every turn. Ultimately, she would close in on it - zig and zag with it as best she could. She'd lost it once, but it resurfaced quickly.
She didn't take her eyes off it - even as the crowd cheered as Ronan blocked another score attempt by one of the Hufflepuff chasers. It took only a few more minutes before she followed the snitch lower to the ground, and with a triumphant cry she closed her hand around the snitch and soared up holding the fluttering golden bal tightly in her palm. She then presented the glimmering ball to Professor Batuti and Ref. Joey Jenkins to show that indeed, Gryffindor had one the match.