Amira had a lot on her mind. There was a lot going on over the Summer in her family and the fact that she was now a sixth year and Captain for her Quidditch Team with Jade as her Assistant. I can do this, I’m mature and responsible… she thought, thinking of how she’d taken over a lot of things at home over the summer with the help of Addison and Andri while their mother was dealing with everything. Sure, they spent most of their time in England over the summer, which was interesting in itself.
Mira actually, along with her sisters, mother and aunt, met a boy who was almost exactly like her. Marston loved Quidditch, even played Beater himself in the Junior League. Uncle Bryan had actually even gotten her a seat to go with him to see Marston play for her birthday! She’d immersed herself in Quidditch when she wasn’t spending all of her time with Marston and her siblings. Alexander had been moping, as had Ariel that they couldn’t be with their father, but Mir suspected that their mother and Uncle Bryan, not to mention any of her other Aunts and Uncle or even the Abernathy grandparents would have let their father take them after the things he’d done to Alora and the girls.
After the Feast, she’d gone up to her room and took out the nice poster she’d made for Pecari signups. It was gold with brown lettering and in a bubbly bold print welcoming the house to join them for Pecari Tryouts, naming the time and date, with her name starting off the list.
Amira Thornton, 6th year, Captain. She didn’t put Seeker or Beater or anything on it, as she would see where she would end up as the Tryouts progressed. She was not going to put herself automatically into any position until she saw what tryouts would bring.
Subthreads:
Extremely Interested. by Rupert Princeton
Avtively Establishing Quidditch Interest by Jade Owen
I must be out of my mind, but I'm in by Clara Abernathy
All summer Rupert had been annoyed with Cepheus. His older brother had been mooning over a witch he wasn't even betrothed to and it bothered him. Rup didn't think it would bother him nearly as much if he wasn't being used as a distraction. The ball had been fun with Megan, but he had wanted to spend more time with Aria. He felt terrible for leaving her, but Cepheus hadn't shown him any mercy and ended up getting what he wanted. It was disgusting.
But Rupert could do nothing but watch from the sidelines. At least with Quidditch he could bash his brother's head in without feeling completely guilty about it. Cepheus deserved a bit of head-bashing.
Quidditch was back on and Rupert could not be more excited about it. He had been training to be a professional Beater for most of his life and he was aiming to be a part of an English professional league one day. He just needed to play real matches and win some real trophies. Last year had been a bore, though the challenges had been entertaining enough, but it hadn't been the same without Rupert's favourite activity.
Rup hoped this year would bring both the House Cup and the Quidditch Cup once again. His house had received both his first and second year and he was aiming for a third. It could be a record for his house and Rup wanted to be a part of that. He signed his name without wasting a moment, hoping that there would be others that would sign on after him.
Avtively Establishing Quidditch Interest
by Jade Owen
When she had signed up for Quidditch in her first year, Jade had been blase about being part of the team, and her position therein. As the years progressed, however, she had become increasingly attached to her Seeker status, and was ever more reluctant to give it up, to anyone.
She had been voted Most Quidditch Obsessed in the yearbook for the second year running, but then she'd also been voted most likely to become a crimnial both years too, which, admittedly, had the potential to be true (she was no Seer; the fifth year couldn't divine what the future would bring) but wasn't really something she wanted authority figures to associate her with, if she could help it. It hadn't yet caused an issue, as her shiny Assistant Quidditch Captain badge demonstrated, but it might be worthwhile nipping that character flaw in the bud before it presented any problems.
Regardless of her other accolades, there was nothing that would prevent Jade from playing Quidditch this year, short of unexpected Headmistress announcements. She was stronger than ever, as fearless as she had always been, and more determined than she would admit to beat Arnold Carey again. She'd tasted success and she wanted a second bite.
The only fly in the ointment was Amira. To say that the girls didn't get on was an understatement; to say that they were friends was a downright lie. Jade hoped they could effectively manage the team together, she really did, but as their animosity was such that the school had seen fir to vote them worst enenmies in the yearbook, Jade was notably apprehensive about the coming year. Only time would tell, so with a deep breath, she added her name to the so-far short list:
Jade Owen, fifth year, Seeker.
She was relatively certain that being Assistant Captain guaranteed her a place on the team, but jade wouldn't put anything past Amira, so it was just as well to sign up as not. Besides, she needed to set a good example to her team, now, and signing up herself was surely the most basic first step.
Clara stared at the sign-up sheet her cousin had posted for the longest time. She kept bouncing back and forth between wanting to sign-up for the house team and abandoning the idea all together. She was all for trying new things, but she wasn’t certain that she was willing to try and break her neck again with the whole flying thing. She had just barely managed to start doing it without hurting herself or anyone else. She was rather proud of that factor and it was all thanks to Lucian’s help and encouragement. Her cousins had done their best to help her, but to no avail. Now she could fly around her grandparents property without even batting much of an eyelid. She somehow kept mentally talking herself into signing up and then just as quickly talked herself out of it. She couldn’t believe that she was being such a coward about this. For crying out loud, if she could tell Lucian that she liked him and give him a kiss on the cheek, then darn it she could sign up for Quidditch. Clara summed up all of her courage and pulled out a self inking quill pen. She could not believe she was about to do this. Amira would be proud of her…she thought she was crazier than normal, but she found herself scrawling her name on the sheet.
Clara Abernathy, Fourth Year, Keeper/Alternate
She just hoped she had what it took not to kill herself or fail the team. She guessed they would find out soon enough.
0Clara AbernathyI must be out of my mind, but I'm in232Clara Abernathy05
It had been a long and terrible debate. Annette had taken Pro, Annabelle had argued Con, but neither had really been fully convinced either way when they started. The debate had taken place deep in the woods of Mt. Pierce, far from where Mother might accidentally overhear. It had gone on for almost the entire summer, though not continuously. Only when they were sure they were alone.
Even once it had concluded, neither girl felt they had achieved ataraxia. There were too many consequences of what must follow that both remained anxious and unsettled. Even Mother had noticed and seemed genuinely concerned when she asked them what was wrong. They had lied of course. There was no sense in telling her they intended to join the Quidditch Team again this year. She would find out all too soon anyway.
As Bettina Pierce was a card-carrying member of WAIL, her daughters felt they would far rather be two time zones away when she discovered their continued involvement in the sport.
When they packed for school, they made sure they brought everything with them that they might ever want to see again. Mother had made it perfectly clear that if either of them did something like this, neither were welcome home again. So they left nothing there that they would miss.
Just Mother. And Father. And the forest. And Duesius' Animal Respite Care Shelter. And little Winston and the baby Caitlin. And Grandmother. And the ghosts. And, well, everyone else living on the mountain.
That had been Annabelle's strongest argument on the Con side of the debate. Her only one, really. It had almost been enough to swing the vote her way.
Almost, but not quite.
In the end, they just couldn't accept that being girls was a good enough reason to deny themselves the most interesting and exciting activity Sonora had to offer now that the Challenges were over. Annette had also borrowed heavily from the Heritage Society pamphlet they had found in the library to make her case, and bolstered it with the argument that Thaddeus backed up the facts cited in it, if not the philosophy.
And, she had concluded, according to the yearbook, everybody already thought they were (or at least Annabelle was) Quidditch Obsessed anyway, so it wasn't like they weren't already marked in Society for this particular crime.
So really, it was just their living arrangements at stake when they signed their names to the list under Clara's.
Ann Pierce, 3rd Year, Chaser The Other Ann Pierce, 3rd Year, Chaser
They were perfectly aware it was ridiculous, but they felt using the name 'Ann' continued to provide them with some protection of anonymity.