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Good Thing For Adrenaline (Etta)
Author: Jared
Date: 06-17-13 16:39
Suppressing a yawn while mentally kicking herself for staying up later than she intended on the eve of a match, Etta is glad that the sun is out even if it is a little nippy. If it were overcast and colder her late night studying for NEWTs would have her wanting to be curled up in bed, vegging all afternoon. She has a feeling that if not for her love of Quidditch and the surge of adrenaline that comes with being in a match she'd be having trouble keeping her eyelids up.
Ramona has the quaffle now and looks to be thinking about passing to Alastor. Etta surges forward to get between the two but is still a shade too late. Alastor quickly pulls the quaffle in close to prevent Etta from trying to pluck it from his hand. Undeterred, she stays close, watching for any opening to steal.
The opportunity comes when Edgar smacks a bludger into Alastor. The Ravenclaw's grip loosens on the quaffle and, seizing the moment, Etta plucks it away. Angling sharply around, she sprints back the other direction. An annoyed Alastor, recovering quickly, is right behind.
Etta makes a long pass to Marjani who, in turn, sends the quaffle along to Hunter Rabnott. Ramona nearly runs into Hunter in an effort to intercept. She narrowly misses crashing into him only because of the excellent braking ability of her broom. The relief is evident on both their faces, not only because mid-air crashes can make for some nasty injuries and for broken bones but for Ramona it also means avoiding having a foul called. Such a foul would ensure Gryffindor another goal attempt.
Hunter does take a hit a second later in the form of a bludger from Jade. He doesn't lose hold of the quaffle but he does decide it's a good time for a forward pass. Etta at that point is a few yards in front of him and to one side. He lobs the quaffle to her, Jack trying to get there in time to intercept. The pass is good and Etta would have had it, Jack falling short of getting there but a hard hit to her side from a bludger causes her to lean. That puts her in a bad position to cleanly catch the quaffle. She has a hand on it but the ball slips from her grasp with Jack there to snatch it up.
Once more the action heads in Hunter Green's direction. Grumbling under her breath at being so close to Beatrix and goal range, Etta wheels around in pursuit of Jack.
From One End Of The Pitch To The Other (Alastor & Hunter)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 06-17-13 20:05
Alastor zips ahead, weaving around a beater and a seeker who's moving out of the way of the oncoming onslaught of chasers. As he's doing that Jack is hit by a Gryffindor sent bludger. It doesn't slow him nor does it cause him to lose the quaffle. Etta does try for a steal but has no luck.
Ramona gets in close to Jack, cutting off Marjani coming in from the other side. A bludger from Jade slows Etta, giving Jack a good opening to pass off to Alastor. Cousin Hunter tries to block the pass, intercepting the quaffle in the process but Alastor darts around, almost clipping Hunter's broom in doing so. As he catches the quaffle and brings it in next to his torso, he can't help but wonder how many near misses on fouls that gives Ravenclaw this match. Better near misses though than actual fouls.
Alastor is able to get fairly near to where Hunter Green is on alert, though cousin Hunter doesn't make it easy. Alastor considers taking a goal shot but he doesn't have a clear line of sight. He ends up passing to Ramona. She pushes in closer, letting the quaffle go. Hunter Green smacks the red ball with the knuckles of one fist, turning the ball back.
Jack catches the rebound, throws right away, but Hunter Green again returns it, this time with a flat handed hit. Hunter, Rabnott not Green, catches it this time. He finds himself somewhat boxed in so ends up hurling the quaffle to Marjani. She accelerates away and just like that Hunter is no longer boxed in, the Ravenclaw chasers taking off after Marjani.
Hunter hurries to catch up, curving out of the way when he hears Madoc yelling a warning that he's hitting a bludger that will come close to him. The bludger appears to be meant for Alastor though Madoc could have meant it for Jack as he and Alastor are very near each other at the moment. Whomever it's for, it almost conks Alastor in the head. It gets him on the ear, continuing past even as Alastor is reaching up to rub that ear.
Hunter catches up to his cousin, asking as he passes Alastor by, "You okay?"
"Yeah, just got my ear."
There are beaters who enjoy smacking bludgers into chasers' and seekers' heads. To Hunter's knowledge, none of the current beaters on the four Hogwarts teams are like that but he's heard stories about some in times past. Three names of professional level beaters come to mind. None are beaters Hunter cares for in the slightest. Enough injuries occur in Quidditch without having players who deliberately go for head shots.
By this time Marjani has handed off to Etta. Ramona is being a pain harassing Etta but the Gryffindor team captain never bobbles as she draws nearer to Beatrix. Momentarily free of a Ravenclaw shadow and without a current reason to be targeted by a beater, Hunter is able to rapidly move ahead, getting into a good position to take the quaffle when or if Etta wants to pass. A second later she does just that and Hunter drives in the short distance remaining to throw the quaffle in a goal attempt.
Maybe The Fourth Time Is The Charm
Author: Christopher Chant
Date: 06-18-13 15:01
Stretching out down the length of his broom, working out a kink, Christopher continues searching the immediate area for the snitch. He's seen it three times since the match began. The first time was less than three minutes into the game. No one else saw it and the small ball vanished from sight so quickly, even before he'd had a chance to start in the snitch's direction, Christopher still wonders if he'd actually seen it or just imagined he had.
The second time Christopher had spotted the winged ball was just as Ravenclaw was in the process of scoring. Cai saw the snitch as well but with everyone watching Jack scoring that goal no one was paying much attention as Cai and he gave a short chase before the snitch did its vanishing act, disappearing so quickly that not for the first time Christopher wondered if snitches can apparate.
The third time was perhaps ten minutes after the second sighting. Christopher had seen it and, somehow, once again Cai had not noticed. He'd attempted to slowly sneak up on it, trying not to draw attention as that would immediately alert Cai. Christopher had gotten within a finger's reach of the snitch, lunging for it, missing it but in the process somehow pulling a muscle in his back. It's not bad but sitting on this broom with a limited range of positions makes it stiffen, hence the stretching.
No sooner has Christopher resumed a more upright posture when he has to dodge out of the way of three of the chasers. Less than a minute ago Hunter Rabnott had made a goal attempt but Beatrix had blocked it. Ramona caught the rebound and she zooms past Christopher with Etta and Hunter Rabnott hot on her tail.
Ramona goes to pass to Alastor but Etta's able to intercept, whipping around to speed the short distance back to Beatrix. She shoots, the quaffle going to her right. Sitting a little high to block it with her hands or torso, Beatrix kicks the ball back. Marjani beats Jack for the rebound, though a scuffle nearly ensues. It's quickly halted when a bludger comes screaming at them, forcing them apart, Marjani triumphant with the quaffle. She throws, bluffing like she's going center but pushes the ball to the far left. Beatrix is a shade shy of being able to reach it in time.
Gryffindor finally gets points on the scoreboard, bringing the tally to a tie of 10 points each.
Christopher stays where he is a few seconds longer, wanting to make sure the snitch isn't hiding in among all those chasers and beaters and Beatrix before moving on to scout out another section of the pitch for any hints of glimmering gold.
Breaking The Tie (Jack)
Author: Kody
Date: 06-18-13 16:19
Rolling both shoulders to help work out the sting of a bludger from half a minute before, Jack studies the trio of hoops in a row behind Hunter Green. He shifts the quaffle from one hand to the other as he decides where this foul shot will go.
The foul by Gryffindor came about when the bludger took him between the shoulder blades. It had been intended for Marjani and as she moved out if its way, she inadvertently rammed into Jack. As she had the quaffle when it happened, Jack isn't overly sorry to have been rammed, causing the turnover, putting the quaffle in Ravenclaw's hands while Jack takes the foul shot.
Hunter watches Jack intently, ready to shift whichever direction is needed to block the shot. The other chasers hover at various positions around, ready to pounce on the quaffle should Hunter knock it back. The beaters are sitting where they can each track a bludger, waiting to spring back into action after one of the black balls as soon as regular play is on again.
Decision made, Jack lets the quaffle fly, sending it far to his left. Hunter springs for the block, stretching, reaching, fingers making contact. The throw is hard enough with enough momentum behind the ball that Hunter's fingers alone can't stop the quaffle's forward movement. If he'd been able to get his whole hand behind it, that would have been a different story. The quaffle shoves past Hunter's fingers, glances off the hoop's rim, then continues through.
Scoring on a foul shot isn't as thrilling as scoring in the midst of action created by chasers vying for the quaffle and beaters sending bludgers into the fray but ten point is ten points. Those ten points also put Ravenclaw back into the lead. The current score now stands at 20 Ravenclaw, 10 Gryffindor.
Tied Again (Jade)
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 06-18-13 19:47
Though fraternal twins Jade and Hunter often have a sense about each other that some refer to as "that twin thing." Because of this, Jade had known something was bothering Hunter when she trailed behind him on their way to the pitch this morning. He was going a good job of covering, not slouching or walking slope shouldered, not shuffling. Jade just knew. She wasn't going to go up to him just then and ask what was wrong, however, because some of her Ravenclaw teammates were within earshot and much as Jade wants to win today, she isn't going to out a possible weakness in her brother on the opposing team to help get the win.
Jade's opportunity did not come until they were in the air and the match had been underway for approximately an hour. Everything had come to a stop when the quaffle went out of bounds and one of the referees retrieved it. Jade found herself near enough to Hunter to ask, "What's wrong?" without anyone else near enough to hear.
Hunter had first said, "Nothing," but Jade persisted and he admitted, "I have a God awful headache. I took something for it before the match but it only cut the pain a little."
"You think you're coming down with something?"
"Maybe, but I don't know. Right now the only problem is this headache."
Further conversation would have to wait because by then the quaffle was back in play and Jade had a bludger to reach. A little later, when Ravenclaw was driving in for a goal attempt, Jade had hit a bludger at Hunter, feeling a twinge of guilt over it but bludger hits are part of the game and one of her jobs is to try and stop a keeper from blocking the quaffle from going through one of the hoops. She had made sure she aimed it towards his torso and not his head but, then, Jade never deliberately tries to hit someone in the head. It does happen but it's never her intent.
Right now, hitting her not feeling that great brother with a bludger isn't a concern. Hitting the other Gryffindor Hunter is. Shame too because he's cute. Many of the guys on the two teams are. If she's honest, she'd admit to many of them on all four teams as being cute. Jade really hates how squishy she gets these days just looking at a cute boy. It can be distracting. Like now.
Jade reaches the bludger, her bat cracking loudly against the hard, black surface of the ball. Her trajectory is right and her timing looks good. That's why she makes a face with Edgar gets between Hunter R and the bludger. Nothing to do now but speed ahead and try to do the same for him. She'd go after the second bludger but it's clear across the other side of the pitch where Madoc is redirecting it back into the fray.
By the time Jade gets to that one bludger she'd hit and Edgar appropriated and sent towards Ramona, Hunter R has passed off to Etta. The seventh year Gryffindor charges ahead, brushing off Alastor trying to steal the ball from her. Closing in on Beatrix, Etta lets the quaffle fly. It goes straight ahead, towards the center. Beatrix blocks with Hunter R getting the rebound.
Hunter R gets clipped by a bludger from Aderyn but he's already let the quaffle go when he's hit. Beatrix jerks her broom to the side, throwing herself at the quaffle. It skims across her outstretch hand to pass through the hoop behind her. With the game once again tied, now at 20 to 20, Ravenclaw takes possession of the quaffle, determined to regain the lead.
Snitch Snatched!
Author: Cai Pembroke Carter
Date: 06-19-13 09:46
That damned winged ball was maddening in its ability to hide and be scarce when it wanted to be. At this point in time, Cai was eager to find the thing and get off her broom. About half way through the match her head had started pounding, and she wasn't sure if it was a migraine or if it was from when she'd collided with Aderyn a little earlier.
She didn't know how many times Christopher had sighted the snitch, but as of right now, he had not found it yet, and the score was currently tied at twenty for both teams. She shifted slightly on her broom, gaze flicking over the expanse of the pitch, hunting and searching for that petite winged golden ball. Hand flexed on the handle of her broom as she worked in a loose pattern over the expanse of the pitch as the groups of chasers and beaters continued to battle back and forth over the bright red quaffle.
"The faster I can find the snitch the faster I can go grab a headache potion and hopefully nip this in the bud before it gets any worse from Madame Pomfrey." She muttered to herself before shifting slightly on her broom and flicking her gaze out over the stands.
Eric was sitting, watching, cheering for her as always, Isma and Blake were in the stands as well. She'd gotten a lot of tips and tricks from the former Gryffindor Seeker when she'd gotten the position this year, and Blake had been awesome and giving some tips to Aderyn as well because he'd been a Beater for Gryffindor as well.
Her eyes slid closed after a moment, before she once more turned her attention over the expanse of the pitch, turning her eyes toward the Ravenclaw hoops, she smiled, seeing the snitch over Keeper Beatrix Vanderbilt's head. Christopher hadn't seen it yet, and slowly Cai began moving toward the location, which wasn't too far where she was currently. She was hoping that she could get it, grab it before Christopher noticed that she was close to it and had seen it.
However, she wouldn't be so lucky. She was a little bit away from it, when she heard, felt movement next to her. Quick turn of her head and there was Christopher closing in. He'd seen it too.
"Damn it."
She muttered, and added some speed. Though, the winged ball, as if knowing that the pair of seekers were closing in on it, sped up. Cai added some more speed, and despite the boost, Christopher caught up to her and they were flying side by side, both attempting to reach the winged ball before the other. Sharp banked turn, kept the pair of them together, despite the fact that Cai was trying to pull ahead of the Ravenclaw seeker.
It would be a bludger that Cai managed to miss, that clipped the tail end of Christopher's broom and he fell behind, allowing Cai to reach forward and with a quick movement wrapped her hand around the snitch with a triumphant cry.
"And Cai Carter has caught the snitch for Gryffindor! Gryffindor wins 170-20!" The announcer's voice soon filled the pitch, and the students in the Gryffindor section were cheering wildly.