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Sick & Love Sick (Hadrian & Jill)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 06-03-11 19:38
Alastor pokes Hadrian with his good hand. "Are you taking a nap? With the match on?"
Hadrian jerks his eyelids up. "Just have a little bit of a headache was closed my eyes for a second."
Alastor takes another look at his cousin. "You sure that's all it is? You look like shit." Even as the word comes out of his mouth, Alastor is looking to see if anyone (Coach Batuti) was near enough to hear. He doesn't want her getting ticked at him for cussing even if it's just a mild word.
"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm going to grab a drink from the cooler," Hadria says, getting up. He wishes he hadn't decided to stand and he's actually not thirsty but he doesn't want Alastor giving away that Hadrian doesn't feel well. His stomach is a churning knot, his head is pounding, and he's sweaty while at the same time cold enough that it's been really difficult not to sit there shivering.
Bad as he feels though, Hadrian does not want to miss the match. He's pretty sure he'll be able to play okay if sent in. His plan is to take possession of the quaffle as little as possible, instead assisting whichever other two chasers are in the match when he is.
Hadrian's not taking more than three steps towards the back of the platform where there are some chests of drinks for the team when he hears, "Hadrian!"
Hadrian backs up those three steps, grabs his broom, and walks on unsteady legs over to Coach Batuti. "Here."
"Go in for . Are you feeling all right?"
"Yes, coach," Hadrian quickly replies but Coach Batuti is already putting a hand to his head.
"You've got a fever."
"I'm fine, really."
"Jill?"
"Yes, ma'am?" Jill asks, hurrying over, looking hopeful.
"Go in for Alexa."
"But I can play," Hadrian protests though even to his own ears his voice sounds week.
Jill doesn't stick around for the coach to change her mind, rocketing off the platform, zooming away, and giving a cheery wave to Alexa as they pass. Coach Batuti turns to Hadrian, "You need to go to hospital. Do you need help getting there?"
Sounding extremely dejected Hadrian replies, "I can make it on my own." He turns and slowly walks to the stairs, dragging his broom as he goes. By the time he reaches the bottom, he's exhausted and sitting down on the bottom steps decides to take a short rest. Within seconds he's nodded off again.
Jill, meanwhile, is reaching the action where Marjani's just taken a pass from Jack. She zips around and ahead, helping to clear the way for Marjani. In the process she nearly knocks brooms with Dartagnan and has the thought that she wouldn't mind knocking brooms with him if she could be sure there wouldn't be a foul called. Sometimes that happens, sometimes it doesn't. It just depends on each specific situation. Still, Dartagnan is extremely cute. So are Luc, Gaston, Fanchon, Didier, Amaury, and Jermone. In the very cute category is Alibert. Maybe Jourdain and Jacques as well. The rest are nice enough she supposes.
Jill doesn't know why her friends insist she's over the top boy crazy. It's not as though that's all the thinks about. There are other important things like Quidditch.
Thinking of Quidditch, it's best she get her mind on the match and off Dartagnan's cute butt. Or as he's French make that derriere.
Marjani calls Jill's name so she looks over her shoulder to see her friend ready to pass. Jill angles more towards Marjani and slows slightly, accepting the quaffle then rapidly accelerating. Jack has made it around them and at the moment is getting between Bernetta and Jill to keep Bernetta from stealing. Dartagnon is right there though, having come even with her again and moved in even closer, every now and then reaching over in hopes of grabbing the quaffle away.
Without any indication she's going to do it, Jill suddenly brakes, letting Dartagnan shoot past her, then climbs while speeding up again, leveling off and rocketing forward again. When she gets nearly to where Marjani now is, Jill starts diving, dropping the quaffle to her teammate along the way.
Marjani shoots the quaffle but Aribert blocks. It's Pierpont who catches it, hurdling down the pitch the other way. Jill does a sharp 180 and jets away after him, wanting more than anything to get the quaffle back and get at least two more goals on the board for Hogwarts so they can be tied again, but three plus goals would be even better.
Excitement (Wiggy & Gus)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 06-04-11 09:01
Standing on the plaform next to Deak, arms crossed, Wiggy tries not to let his frustration show. Hogwarts is trailing by twenty and he's yet to play. He keeps telling himself that it's fair. He was in for long periods in previous matches while others had to stand and watch from the sidelines. If time allows surely he'll get a turn this go around.
As if reading Wiggy's thoughts, Coach Batuti calls out, "Wiggy! In for Alexa! Augustus - Gus - in for Blake!"
Wiggy was already on his broom and taking off when he hears his cousin's name called. Even without turning to look he's sure that Gus is smiling as broadly as he is to finally be sent in. They hear announcer Gabrielle Delacour saying their names, which serves to make Wiggy's smile even bigger. Not far behind him, Gus is just as estatic, his eyes already on the bludger he's first going after.
It's Beauxbatons with the quaffle. Wiggy reaches where Bernetta is holding the quaffle close to her chest, looking indecisively to where Pierpont is off to her right and Dartagnon is more in directly in front. She fakes a throw to Pierpont then actually sends it to Dartagnon. It's not a great pass though and Jack is able to get in there and intercept.
He lobs off a quick shot to Marjani, who in turn fires off the quaffle to Wiggy. Leaning in close to the handle of his broom, quaffle tucked up against him, Wiggy rapidly accelerates, the thrill of the match fully upon him now as the rush of adrenaline floods his body.
Wiggy has to do a hop of a climb over Cornelia, then dive again as a blouder comes his way. Dartagnon comes on on his right, intense look of concentration on his face as he manuevers ever closer to Wiggy. Wiggy puts on even more speed then without hint he was about to pass, shoots off the quaffle to Jack.
Jack drives in for the goal attempt but Aribert successfully defends the Beauxbatons hoops. Bernetta takes the rebound only to fumble the quaffle. Marjani darts in to grab it and fires off another shot for goal. It looks to be good only to hit the rim and bounce away. Aribert catches it and hands it off to Pierpont.
Gus had just missed out on getting to the fist bludger he'd eyed but got to the other one a fraction of a second before Fanchon. That bludger didn't hit Bernetta but it had come close. As he neared one set of stands to get a hit off he can better make out what some of the yelling and cheering is. There are a bunch of girls' voice calling out, "Gus! Gus!" only he knows they don't mean him, Gus Hodfuffer. They mean Gus Van Tassel. At an age now where he's starting to fancy particular girls it's easy though for him to pretend they are chanting for him.
That particular bludger hit goes to Pierpont who's still got the quaffle and is approaching the mid pitch area. Gus's hit was good and his aim true and as Pierpont doesn't deviate from the trajectory he was on when Gus batted the bludger, the black ball hits the French boy squarely. He loses hold of the quaffle with Marjani there to take hold.
Gus gives a whoop that Hogwarts is back in possession of the quaffle, already halfway to a bludger for another hit. He changes direction when seeing Basil closer to that one, swerving to avoid hitting Didier who's after the same bludger that Gus is now going for. Gus races Didier to the ball, slowing as they come upon it. Didier doesn't slow though, looking as if his plan is to do a tight, fast turn and come at the bludger from another angle and direction. Only problem is that there's part of a wall to one of the stands. Didier smacks right into and luckily for him, hits the wall up high enough that he ends up flipping over the front of his broom to land in the stand itself on some of the spectators.
Didier seems to be shaken but otherwise all right. Gus bets he has some nice bruises in the morning. Didier's broom is another story though. The front of the broom punched a hole in the wall and is hanging oddly from it, not yet succumbing to gravity on the weight of the rest of the broom, which now has a weird bend to it if looking at it from directly behind. It's clearly broken and no longer useable.
Fosetta Valois comes into the match for Didier and while the French coach is at it, he also pulls Pierpont and sends in Camille Prideux as chaser.
One of the referees blows a whistle to signal resumation of the match. The bludger Gus had been racing Didier for has gone on a little distance so he hurries after it, slamming his bat against it as he sends it on a path to hit Dartagnon.
Elated (Daniel)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 06-04-11 10:17
At the same time that Fosetta Valois and Camille Prideux come into the match for Beauxbatons, Daniel tkes over keeping duties from Gus Van Tassel. He watches as the three Hogwarts shasers - Marjani, Jack, and Wiggy - work the quaffle to where Daniel's French counterpart Aribert Cloutier flies sentinel in front of the hoops that mirror the ones Daniel is hovering in front of. The other end of the pitch is far enough away and with the way the light is hitting and all the Beauxbatons and Hogwarts players between Aribert and him, Daniel can't make out the other keeper's specific expression but if it's anything like his would be if being descended upon with half of those doing the descending intent on scoring, then Aribert has his gazed fixed on the quaffle while also trying to take in everything else going on, reading body language, and hopefully spotting any bludgers coming in at him from the side.
Just then a bludger does exactly that. It swooshes in from Aribert's periphery, courtesy of Gus Hodfuffer. Daniel holds his breath hoping that the bludger hits Aribert and is enough to let his team's chasers bring Hogwarts's score to 40. Wiggy's got the quaffle and shoots it but from what Daniel can tell - and now listening to Gabrielle's game commentation - Aribert was able to avoid taking the bludger hit and also bat Wiggy's shot out of the way.
Marjani catches the quaffle only to be hit with a bludger herself. Now Camille has the red ball and she's making a beeline for Daniel's end of the pitch. Along the way she, Dartagnan Lemaître, and Bernetta Chevalier work together, bringing the quaffle ever closer. The Hogwarts beaters are doing their best to use the bludgers to slow or altogether stop Beauxbatons' progress but they are vying with Fosetta and Fanchon Gravois for the two black, very hard balls.
Jack intercepts a pass between Dartagnon and Camille, leaving Daniel with a mix of elation that Hogwarts has the ball again and a little disappointed not to get to actually participate in the match just yet. That mix of feelings quickly changes to one of sadness that Jack has lost the quaffle already, thanks to bludger from FAnchon, and elation that maybe he will get into the thick of the action any moment now.
The quaffle is worked in closer to where Daniel expectently waits. It's Bernetta with it, firing off a shot aimed at the middle hoop, dead center after first acting as though she would send it to Daniel's left. He's able to recover from having moved to the left, throwing his torso back towards center. The quaffle hits his shoulder and Daniel's elation grows from having successfully block the first shot made against Hogwarsts since he entered the match. Wiggy's got the quaffle now and Daniel, though wishing a tiny bith that the action would stay here with him a little longer, watches on as Wiggy, Jack, and Marjani begin moving the spot of red that is the quaffle back in the other direction.
New Friends (Jade)
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 06-04-11 14:26
At the same time Daniel went into the match Jade came in, replacing Basil. Jack's got the quaffle but that could change any second, though Jade hopes the turnover won't be until after Hogwarts scores again. Her attention shifts from the six chaser to Amarante Bessette, the current seeker in for Beauxbatons. Amarante appears to have spotted the quaffle.
"Can't have that now can we?" Jade mutters, speeding even faster to get to a bludger before beater Fosette Gravois. Jade has become friends with Fosette in the time since the French team arrived in what they refer to as the enchanted carriage. Fosette and Jade have exchanged addressed and have promised to write each other plus Aunt Blythe and Uncle Woody had said they might visit Paris and Rouen this summer and it's Rouen where Fosette lives. That means Jade might get to visit with her new friend in person for a little once school is out. New friend or not though it's important for Jade to beat Fosette to that bludger so she can bat it at Amarante.
Fosette sees that Jade will reach the bludger first so turns to backtrack some so that she can intercept the bludger from hitting a Beauxbatons chaser and hit it at a Hogwarts chaser instead. Only as Jade isn't targeting a chaser at the moment, Fosette realizes too late that she's in the wrong place to stop the bludger from its intended path. The other Beauxbatons beater on the pitch, Fanchon, is clear on the other side of the pack of chaser so isn't of any help right then.
Jade hits the bludger hard, sending it straight at Amarante. The Beauxbatons seeker has indeed spotted the snitch but the Hogwarts seekers hasn't yet. Jade can barely stand to breath as she watches the bludger, willing it to hit Amarante as intended. The bludger hits Amarante in the back, causing Amarante to recoil forward, which in turn causes her to take her eyes off the snitch. When she pops back upright her head swivels from side to side as she scans for the snitch. Not spotting it, she frowns deeply and goes back to searching. Pleased with herself, Jade goes in pursuit of that very same bludger, one eye on Amarante in case the other girl does quickly relocate the snitch.
Totally Worth It
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 06-04-11 16:21
Shortly after Wiggy, Gus, Daniel, and Jade enter the match Coach Batuti decided to also send Christopher in. Cornelia looked none too happy to be pulled, shooting a glare at Christopher as if he were personally responsible for the substituion. He doesn't let her surly expression bother him. That's just Cornelia.
When Amarante spots the snitch but misses catching up to it and grabbing it because of Jade's bludger. Christopher hadn't even been aware that Amaranta had sighted the golded winged ball. He'd been going the other direction and wasn't even in the vicinity. Hearing from the commentator that Amarante had been thwarted from ending the match right then, Christopher's had swivele his entire body around on his broom, searching for wherever Amarante was, almost as if hoping the snitch would still be in that same general area but without her finding it again.
Not even a hint of a glimmer of gold.
Turning back around, Christopher continues looking all around turning to fly a parallel track when he reaches the sidelines. He's on his twelfth or thirteenth such ciruit when there's a glint that draws his eyes to one of the stands. He immediately dismisses it as being an item of jewelry or something shiny someone's holding such as the rim of a metal thermos. The snitch can be near the stands but not in them if it's properly charmed.
A bludger crossing his path has Christopher slowing and then he has to slow again when chasers Wiggy, Marjani, and Camille go whizzing by. A climb to go over Gus Hodfuffer then a duck down to avoid the feet of French chaser Dartangan and then it's the sidelines again and time to turn around once more.
As Christopher's turning, he sees it. The snitch is over about five feet and down about two, slowly flying just inside the sidelines along where he'd been a sort time ago. Having no idea where Amarante is and not wanting to alert her, Christopher eases his broom down slightly while also moving to the side.
Nearly...
Nearly...
Bludger!
Chrstopher jerks back and avoids the hit and miracle of miracles, stills see the smitch. It's only moved a little further on. With at least one person alerted he's onto the covered little ball and with the possibility of Amarante reaching there same area at any moment to fight to reach the snitch first, Christpher drops all pretense of trying to sneak up on the pesky thing. He jumps his broom forward, arm outstretch, picking up speed as the snitch does.
He can see from the corner of his eye that Amarante is indeed racing over to where Christopher is. He increases his speed and stretches even more. A bludger is heading for him straight on but if Christopher can get the snitch then the hit would be worth it. Leaning forward as far as he can, using his broom for extra leverage, Christopher's fingers fold around the snitch.
He swerves to avoid the bludger, managing not to get hit in the face but does take it on the shoulder. It stings and he'll probably have a bruise there by morning but Christopher doesn't care. He's got the snitch and Hogwarts wins 180 to 50 for Beauxbatons.