Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin

[Claire]

The crowds were cheering as loudly as ever as the players took their positions and Claire stood over the chest that contained the most important items of the game.

One flick of her wand and the bludgers released themselves from their straps, flew up and disappeared. The Golden Snitch popped out from its hole and went off to its hiding place and the Quaffle rose slowly to Claires hands.

Blowing her whistle, Claire threw the Quaffle skywards. It was caught by.......

[Lottie]

So, it was her second game. Lottie had spent the whole morning panicking over it, because even though she had scored last time, this time could possibly be very different.

Taking a deep breath and doing up her Quidditch robes quickly, Lottie grabbed her broom and set out with the rest of her Hufflepuff family to the pitch and waited for the signal to go. As it was given, the small brunette girl shivered and mounted her broom before heading out onto the pitch.

The day was cold, and the snow on the ground had yet to melt, but it was also fresh. Taking another deep breath Lottie listened as the whistle blew, forgot everything else and concentrated on the red orb she was supposed to be chasing.

As it was thrown in the air, the brunette Hufflepuff darted forwards and grabbed it before heading down to the opposite end of the pitch. She had to score, she just had to.

[Carmen]

That morning, the girl, full of nerves, had to force herself to eat at the great hall. Being so anxious out of her mind did things to her that had never happened, like the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her hands and arms were shaking beyond belief. At the Hufflepuff table, she had spilt that many glasses of orange juice onto the bench that the amount of times she had used the cleaning spell had begun a tune in her head.

With a chunk of strawberry jam toast popping out of her mouth, and her -finally arrived- Nimbus 2003 shoved over her shoulder, the jittering girl shook-walked out of the great hall over the grounds. What if Hufflepuff lost? They couldn’t lose their winning streak? What if it was all her fault? Carmen let out a belated groan and changed her walk from a shuffle to a trudge in the matter of a few steps. Hopefully the whole school wouldn’t be out there, like the others had said about previous matches.

But, despite all her hoping in the world, Wyl and the others who had played before were right. There were people surrounding the pitch, but that wasn’t where she was heading first. Her chiding steps raced around a corner to run into the change-rooms, where they would be heading out. Just as she got to her position, and mounted her broom, the ref had announced their team.

Zooming onto the pitch, Carmen flew straight for the middle-left, and shook there until the deputy headmistress blew her whistle. The girl leant forward on her broom, and could have almost fallen off, had she not fully had a grip with her gloved hands on the neck of the wood. In all the madness of the beginning game, her broom took her just a few metres forward, heading with her head lowered straight for the zipping bludger, with her arm out, ready to strike it with her bat. Ohoho, she loved the bat.

Glancing around, the girl eyed up the opponents and began to decide which to aim for… it was probably best to aim for their chasers, or their seeker. Either was good, but it was probably better if she struck down the seeker. What to do, what to do.

[Wyl]

It had been a good return to the school, to get back on his broomstick and play some Quidditch amongst his fellow Hufflepuffs and his good mates. Wyl grinned at Carmy as he pulled on his robes and ran a hand pointlessly through his hair. After he launched himself into the air, he’d have destroyed any neatness that he may have on the off chance created once the wind had attacked it. He pulled off his glasses and polished them on his canary yellow robes, wondering whether or not he should put a spell on them to keep his vision clear. After racking his brain for a few seconds, he realised that he couldn’t think of any spell that would cover all possible conditions so he just decided to wing it.

Putting his still unbroken (almost a record for Wyl) glasses back over his nose, he turned around and surveyed the team. It was a good bunch this year – not that it hadn’t been for the last two – but it seemed that he was still the only one around from the first Cup win. On the verge of reminiscing, he was jolted out of his daydream by his broom making an awful scraping noise as it slid down the wall. With a yelp, Wyl leapt forward to catch it before it hit the ground and spent the next ten minutes going over every centimetre of the wood and trying to find any evidence of injury.

The team trudged out onto the Pitch, low murmurs as the ‘veterans’ reassured the ‘newbies’ that everything would be fine. They walked out one by one, coming to rest in a line in front of the Slytherins. Before the whistle was blown, Wyl took the opportunity to glance down the line and grin lopsidedly at the team standing next to him. The familiar sharp piercing sound of the whistle filled the air and Wyl shot into the sky, his hair immediately falling every which way but neat and began looking for the elusive Golden Snitch.

[Faerlain]

When it feels like
The world is on your shoulders
And all of the madness
Has got you goin crazy
It's time to get out...

And get out she did. Practice last week felt too short to her and the rest of her classes just flew by, leading up to the day of the game. Butterflies jumped around in the prefect's stomach- would anyone be able to tell that it was her very first game? That might seem unusual to some, but she'd always been busy or sick. She'd even missed going to the last game of last year due to a sudden bout of the pygmy puff flu. She suspected that it might have had something to do with Lottie, but she didn't mind too much.

But now... she was actually out on the field. She could feel the dirt beneath her feet and the robes on her face as the wind whipped them slightly. The roar of the crowd was absolutely ear-shattering. Honesty, she didn't know how Wyl had survived so many games. She didn't know the first thing about winning a Quidditch match. But she did know that they had a dynasty to defend. This was the very first match, and while the Cup games were quite far away, they were placed right in the front of her mind. Any show of weakness from the team and it would be like destroying a legend. She had to do her part. As for everybody else, they had all attended practice. All she could do was hope that they would all come together perfectly, and that they had not worked for nothing.

The crowd screamed again as she mounted her broom and took off, right as the whistle sounded. The butterflies in her stomach were all but gone as she soared through the air, doing a circular turn mostly just to show off. A small grin appeared on her face- this might actually turn out to be more fun that she thought it would.

Zooming along, she followed close behind Lottie after dodging a few bludgers. She would protect her and make sure that she got the chance to score- if not, she'd be there for her to pass it to.

To the beat of the rhythm of the night
Dance until the morning light
Forget about the worries on your mind
We can leave them all behind...

[Forgoil Halifirien]

Today was the day; just like a passage from the books that he used to read in his days in the Edinburgh library. Two opposing forces of titanic proportions preparing to clash over some peaceful green plain; where one would emerge victorious and the other would plummet into ruin. But the fallen of the two forces would not litter the field in the grotesque positions of Death; it was rare enough that any would fall in this game, but even if that was the possibility; they would receive immediate assistance. Yet they would not be met by the endless volley of arrows; they would instead by called in by roaring applause. This was not war of the Old world; this was Quidditch.

Today was the also the first game that Forgoil would be playing in. Yellow and black house uniform; fingerless, black leather gloves; goggles; and lastly his broom. He had a lot to live up to though and that was added pressure. Hufflepuff was almost always a victor on the Quidditch field. They had won last year and it was in the not so distant past that the once Hufflepuff-now-professor, Ace, had always lead the team to victory. Now this year; now that he was part of the team, Forgoil Halifirien nervously began to walk down to the door, but not before pausing to scoop up one last addition. Every team needed a mascot, and who was a better mascot for this team than Rawnblade the Badger? Taking on last look around the Common Room one last time; taking in all the greatness that Hufflepuff represented, Forgoil smiled fondly just as Rawnblade licked his friend’s face and turned on his heel to begin the long walk to the pitch.

And just as he thought it would be; the Quidditch Pitch was just like from a dream. Spectators in the stands all moving about to try and get a better spot; the heads in their box, but what called out most to the grey-haired Scot was unfurling of the team banners. That magnificent flag that he was proud to call his own; it created such a feeling of pride inside the boy that he quickened his pace to where the team was supposed to assemble. Gently setting down Rawnblade on the bench, Forgoil tightened the straps on his gloves one final time and mounted his broom; with a push from the ground; he was airborne. Even as he ascended into the Heavens, Rawnblade stood clumsily on his hind legs and with one paw mimicked what humans called “waving” before turning his attention to the spectators; now HIS spectators and started to perform his usual tricks from the Common Room, growling with pleasure all the while.

Once reaching an acceptable altitude, the grey-haired boy halted his ascent and hovered in place but that hiatus was short lived as Lottie was the first one to reach the quaffle. Speeding off to her right, Forgoil made himself open should she need to pass. And now did the games truly begin.

[Artemis]

Artemis' eyes and broom shot up with the quaffle. She stretched out her hand... it was so close...

Right as she was about to grab it, a Hufflepuff chaser closed in and grasped the quaffle at last second and zoomed off toward the goal hoops. Cursing herself for not being faster, Artemis made an abrupt u-turn and streaked for the goal.

ooc: If no one else comes, I'll be acting as seeker.

[Silver]

Silver strode onto the Pitch, broom in hand, ready to give it her all. She had been waiting for this moment for so long she could hardly breathe - dressed from top to toe in bright sunshine yellow trimmed with black piping, she searched the crowd for the Hufflepuff fans - there weren't many. Most of the school were getting bored with the Hufflepuff's glory, and would be happy to see them finally lose a match.

You'll be waiting a long while for that to happen... thought Silver with a grin as she kicked off the ground at the sound of Claire's whistle.

She was playing Keeper today, something she had never done before and wasn't too sure about - but with the adrenaline rushing through her now, she figured it'd be a long while before the Quaffle went through her golden hoops. She gave her customary thumbs up to her team-mates before taking her position before the three hoops, flying from side to side, keeping a fierce eye on the game that was ravaging the Pitch.

[Lottie]

And she did indeed pass. As a bludger hit the back of her broom, it was only the quick movement which allowed her to aim the quaffle towards Forgoil before she lost control.

"Oh no... not today!" she told herself with determination, hopimg her friend had receieved the ball.

[Carmen]

There. The chaser of SLytherin team had begun to watch out for Lottie, and chase after her for the quaffle. With one well-enough aimed smack of her bat to the bludger which was sailing straight for her, Carmen hoped to the gods that it would strike the Slytherin chaser down.

It was now or never. She would not let her team down.

[Artemis]

Artemis saw the pass and dove toward the ball, broom accelerating to full speed. Try as she might, she couldn't keep down the panic engulfing her. Where is everyone! She was mentally screaming to herself as made her way to the free ball. Her hand closed on the ball and she instantly became a green and silver streak headed for the other side of the pitch.

[Silver]

Silver cheered at the plucky Beater who whacked a Bludger at the evil Slytherin girl, and did a loop-the-loop for joy.

"Go us!" she said, mostly to herself, ignoring the boos and hisses of the Slytherins coming from the other end of the Pitch.

[Faerlain]

She held her breath and sped up, going from following Lottie to then following Forgoil. Would he be able to score? She hadn't be able to practice with him, but hopefully he would be a good enough chaser. She had faith in him. C'mon, c'mon.... Her entire energy, all her mentality was focused on the little quaffle. He had to score.

"C'mon Forgoil!" She couldn't help but call out, darting back and forth from behind him and side to side.

[Carmen]

"Shoot!" Carmen cursed as the Slytherin chaser dodged the feisty bludger. (ooc: I assume you did because you didn't post that you had been hit, Artemis) Soaring quickly around, looping and zig-zagging across the pitch, Carmen noticed another bludger heading straight for Faerlain.

Scooping down, she slipped straight between the chaser and the bludger, forcing the thing straight at the slytherin chaser again, hopefully hitting. At least it didn't hit Faye. That was the last thing she wanted. In her mind, she screamed a 'YES!' for Lottie, who had scored, but didn't say anything aloud other than a smile.

[Artemis]

Artemis, giving into the panic now, swerved the approaching bludger as best she could, but couldn't avoid it entirely. the heavy ball hit her left arm at a crazy speed, and for a second, she saw spots before her eyes. She recovered quickly and kept streaking toward the goal. Just a little farther... I'm almost halfway...