Jennifer Zucchero
February 05, 2006 12:29 AM
Quidditch Sign Up by Jennifer Zucchero
This is a ridiculous hour to be awake, Jennifer thought to herself as she walked down the girls’ staircase into the Crotalus common room. It wasn’t really even that early, only about 6:30 AM, but she had stayed up much later than usual last night working on a charm’s assignment, and so would much rather have stayed in bed until there was no chance she could escape being tardy. However, she had procrastinated on her duties as quidditch captain long enough, and she had no desire for a late start to be the cause of Crotalus’s downfall in the quidditch cup this year. Jake and Lizzie would never let her live it down.With a sigh, she trudged over to the message board by the back of Gunter’s portrait, and posted a small white piece of paper on it. After taking a step back and inspecting it and deeming it satisfactory, she nodded, a rather pointless gesture since she was the only one in the room, and continued out the portrait hole, hoping fervently that people would actually pay attention to the message and sign up relatively quickly, because now that she had taken the first step, she was anxious to get this show on the road.
Attention all Crotalus Students the sign read. Try-outs for the Crotalus Quidditch team will be held one week from this Saturday. The positions of keeper, beaters, and chasers are open. Please write your name, year, and preferred position on the lines below, so I can get a reckoning on who will be trying out. Also, if you signed up last year, it would be greatly appreciated if you would do so again, since nothing ever really happened with the quidditch team last year.
Thanks!
Your captain,
Jennifer Zucchero
\n\n
Subthreads: Quidditch? What's that? by Lila Gringe with Earl Valentine
oh dear by Geoffrey Spindler with Jennifer, Geoff S.
Signing up by Lily Collins
Alright, might as well by Chrissy Mathers
Feeling...flighty. Pun intended. by Gwen Carey
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Jennifer Zucchero
Quidditch Sign Up
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Jennifer Zucchero
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Quidditch? What's that? by Lila Gringe
It was early for most people. Lila knew that. She also knew that when she was in a strange place- she still wasn't completely accustomed to Sonora- she couldn't sleep for long. So it wasn't surprising to her at least that it was around a quarter to seven and she was already fully dressed and ready to go.When she descended the girls' staircase, however, and saw the sign on the portrait hole, she was surprised.
Quidditch? What could that be? It was obviously a sport of some sort, but Lila couldn't deduce much more than that- except that it was obviously well known. Looking nearly perplexed, she scrutinized the sign, looking for some further hint of what Quidditch was.
There wasn't one. Lila frowned. How was she supposed to figure out what the mysterious Quidditch was when the sign didn't say and there was no one to ask? She crossed her arms, thinking. She could go and wake up her dormmates, which probably wasn't the best idea. Or she could sit down and wait for the first person to come downstairs and ask them.
That sounded like a good idea. So she took a seat, pulled a book out of her bookbag, and began to read.\n\n
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Lila Gringe
Quidditch? What's that?
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Lila Gringe
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Earl Valentine
February 05, 2006 2:52 PM
You can't be serious! by Earl Valentine
Earl groaned. Light hadn't even puntcured his eyelids when he found himself waking up. He bhated when this happened. Every once in awhile, Earl would be up at the crack of dawn for absolutely no reason. He turned over to read the clock on the side of his bed. It was seven. After another groan that no one could hear since he had the second year boy's dorm all to himself, he got out of bed, threw on the first shirt he could find and trudged downstairs in just that and his boxers.He got to the portait hole and stopped. Through the strangly brown hair that now covered his eyes since he refused to cut it over the summer, he saw a blonde girl sitting on the floor reading a book under a sign that wasn't there yesterday.
He ignored the girl momentarily and stared at the parchment until he could read it thouroughly. A grin spread across his sleepy face. Quidditch! He had been waiting for this notice since he arrived on the covered wagon. And from the looks of it no one else has signed up yet. He'd be the first.
Earl quickly walked over, forgetting the girl entirely until he almost stepped on her.
"Oh geez! Sorry..." He around her, eager to write his name on the list and then realized he had nothing to write with. Looking down he noticed the girl had her bag with her.
"Umm, you got a quill I can borrow?"\n\n
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Earl Valentine
You can't be serious!
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Earl Valentine
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5
Well, I won't have to be if you'll explain what it is. by Lila Gringe
Lila squeaked slightly as the boy nearly stepped on her. Was she really that inconspicuous? Hopefully not. Then again, it couldn't be too bad to be invisible- it might actually be an advantage. Of course, the key word in that sentence was might.She stood quickly and managed a faint, albeit nervous smile. If people were that inattentive, she probably couldn't sit on the floor any more. Or sit anywhere, really. "It's all right," she told him, as calmly as she could manage.
"I do, actually." Lila took off her bag and rummaged around in it, eventually pulling out a quill and a bottle of ink. "Here you are," she said, handing it to him.
Again, she looked at the sign, for just a hint that she hadn't caught before. For a moment, she debated asking, but then realized that she might as well. After taking a deep breath, the girl asked "Would you mind explaining what Quidditch is? I read the sign, but I simply couldn't figure it out."\n\n
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Lila Gringe
Well, I won't have to be if you'll explain what it is.
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Lila Gringe
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5
Good point. by Earl
Earl smiled gratefully at the first year and accepted the quill and ink. He quickly wrote Earl Valentine 2nd year Keeper, but messed it up with a large ink spot at the end when the girl asked him what Quidditch was."You don't know what Quidditch is?" He stared at her incredulously. She must have been joking. Then he realized, she must be a muggle.
"Ohhh...you're a Muggle...and I guess you don't got many magical friends yet. Umm..." Earl paused. Did he really want to spend time with the weird firstie? Not really, but it was a shame for anyone in the world to go around and not know the wonders of Quidditch, so he sat on the floor next to her and handed back her quill and ink.
"I'm Earl- second year." Earl cleared his throat dramatically and continued. "Quidditch is the most famous wizarding sport in the world. It's like the Muggle equivalent of soccer, but it's played on brooms. There are seven players on each team: three chasers, two beaters, the keeper, and the seeker. Am I going too fast?" Not that he cared, but Earl really didn't feel like having to repeat himself this early in the morning.\n\n
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Earl
Good point.
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Earl
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Re: Good point. by Lila Gringe
"I'm Lila Gringe," she said in reply to his own introduction, then listened attentively. There wasn't, she knew, much else to do.Wasn't it a bit obvious that she didn't know what this Quidditch thing was? She wouldn't have asked if she knew. Lila wasn't exactly comfortable just asking something of a person she didn't know, out of the blue. Maybe it had something to do with near-total social isolation until three years ago. Maybe not. Whatever. It didn't matter. The point was, she was- she cringed internally to even think it- absolutely socially maladjusted. She was overly polite and formal, she was more timid than a mouse, and a deer was less skittish than she.
At least she knew and admitted her faults- to herself, at any rate.
"Brooms?" Lila asked with a slightly confused knitting of her eyebrows, not quite answering the second year's question, but not leaving it unanswered, either. "How is that possible?" Brooms weren't exactly vehicles, as far as she knew. Given, she hadn't exactly known about the existence of Sonora- or magic, for that matter- before, but still . . . \n\n
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Lila Gringe
Re: Good point.
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Lila Gringe
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Geoffrey Spindler
February 11, 2006 5:35 PM
oh dear by Geoffrey Spindler
It was much later that Geoffrey emerged from his dorm room. There hadn't been much of an urge to try and talk to his room-mate - it was weird enough having to share a room. Eleven years of living in a massive house, where the person sleeping nearest to him had been at the other end of the wing for the past three years hadn't prepared him for this - other than a nervous introduction before turning in for bed, and in the morning, he had remained in bed until he was sure that breakfast would have to be being served in the Cascade Hall.After getting out of bed and getting himself ready to face the day - meal times were a formal affair at the Spindler residence, and he had no reason to think it would be any different here - he had been trotting through the commonroom when he had noticed the noticeboard. Quidditch.
Oh.
He felt a nervous thrill go through his entire body. Just a few weeks before, when his Father had taken him to get his very first proper wand they had stopped in at the quidditch shop and looked at brooms. It was something else, for a boy who obsessed over the things, but had never really been allowed to have his own because of Mother's disapproval, and because, secretly, he wondered if she might be right, and if he was to sit on one it would break in two.
But that wasn't enough to stop him. With a shaking hand he pulled out a self-inking quill and scratched out some words on the parchment.
But what position to play? Of course, Geoffrey read all the magazines and idolised all sorts of players - even Rosaline Penn when he didn't think his mother was around; the Ashwinder's Keeper was a brilliant player, despite, apparently, being Greek - and, like most young people, dreamed of playing Seeker simply because it was a glorious position (although he knew that they had to be small and speedy, and he was fat and plodding - his mother had told him on numerous occasions) or Chaser and scoring goals (except his mother liked to tell him that he definitely didn't have what it took to do that, that he would have the quaffle stolen in seconds if he possessed it) or Keeper and guarding the goals ('that, you might be able to do', his mother had conceeded one time, but that had been followed up with 'you're big enough to block them all without trying' which was really a bit unfair, as Geoffrey knew he wasn't thin, but really, he wasn't the size of a bus either) or Beater. Except, Geoffrey wasn't really an agressive person, which kind of defeated the point.
He frowned at the parchment, undecided, and then sighed.
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Geoffrey Spindler
oh dear
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Geoffrey Spindler
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...not just for Cinderella by Earl
Earl cocked an eyebrow. This girl was weird. She didn't even knew brooms flew? She got here by riding a flying covered wagon and a broom isn't possible?Even though Earl had grown up in a very muggle way- his dad being muggle and his mom a Squib- he had magical relatives and his mother had told him everything she knew before she died. So someone not knowing that brooms could fly was inconceivable. They had witches on flying brooms in muggle movies! She couldn't be that recluse.
Still staring at Lila as though she had just sprouted wings from her nose, Earl tried to explain.
"Yeah, brooms. They fly by putting a charm on them; you know...with magic. You do know that magic exists, right? It's why you're here."\n\n
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Earl
...not just for Cinderella
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Earl
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Or what's-her-name, from the Wizard of Oz. by Lila Gringe
"Of course I know magic exists," Lila defended herself with as much dignity as she could muster. "The thought that brooms would fly just never occurred to me." And why would it? She read plenty, certainly, but she didn't prefer fantasy- well, except for Tolkein. She didn't watch television. There was nothing, really, that could hint to her that maybe brooms would fly.Not that, now that she knew, it wasn't painfully obvious. After all, one didn't just run around holding onto a broom; the broom would of course have some sort of way to move. And after that wagon, flying made more sense than anything else, really.
She felt herself going pink slightly, but once she was aware of it, it was easy to keep the blush from her cheeks. Embarrassed wasn't a good way to look, even with this second year staring at her as if she were an idiot. Especially with this second year staring at her as if she were an idiot.
In any situation, she knew, it was best not to look embarrassed. It was never pleasant to be humiliated. Here and now was no exception.\n\n
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Lila Gringe
Or what's-her-name, from the Wizard of Oz.
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Lila Gringe
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Silly firsties, always concerned about something by Jennifer
Jennifer had told herself firmly that she was not going to rush back and check to see who had signed up every five minutes. It would make her look like she was worried (which, in truth, she was), and she would probably drive herself completely mad. She had resolved to not bother to go look at the sign up for a least a couple of days.It wasn’t even an hour before she cracked.
Because she had gotten up so disgustingly early, she had finished breakfast more than an hour and a half before her first class was scheduled to begin. She had decided to head to the library to work on a care of magical creatures essay. The fact that she would have to pass by her common room was an unavoidable consequence, and once she was at Gunter’s portrait, she had realized that her book was still in her dorm room, so she would have to go in and get it. It was rather sick, the way she was attempting to justify coming back and checking within an hour of putting the sheet up.
She was actually rather glad she had, though. It appeared one of the first years was having a difficult time deciding what to do about quidditch, judging from the fact that he had just written his name, waited a few seconds, then crossed off his name. While second thoughts were completely normal, Jennifer was still too worried about not getting a whole team, no matter how improbably that was, to let someone interested enough to sign up slip away. One had to pity the poor first year.
“So, are you normally this indecisive, or is there something special about quidditch?” She asked bluntly with a kind, if slightly amused, grin. “Seriously, though. If you’re not signing up because you’re worried about not being good enough, or something ridiculous like that, don’t be. At the beginning of the year, that doesn’t really matter as much.”
She walked over to join the boy by the notice board. After a moment of two of a somewhat awkward silence, she looked up from the (rather short) list of names and winced. “Oh, Merlin, you must think I’m completely daft. Sorry for not introducing myself before I started on my rant. I’m the captain, Jennifer Zucchero, though I generally answer to almost every variation and nickname. So, what position do you play?”
\n\n
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Jennifer
Silly firsties, always concerned about something
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Jennifer
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5
Exactly. by Earl
Earl could tell she was embarrassed. Should I apologize? he thought when he noticed her pink cheeks. Nah... he concluded. I didn't do anything wrong."All right. I was just checking. You seemed a bit...unsure." He stared at his hands for a moment in silence, and then realized he was still in his boxers. Maybe he should change...or maybe he could just finish the conversation with the first year.
"So, ummm...you gunna sign up for the team, or are you still not sure?"\n\n
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Earl
Exactly.
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Earl
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One last question . . . by Lila Gringe
Unsure. Well, that was true enough. She ought to be unsure about something she was only just learning about. Right? It would be odd, wouldn't it, if she were confident about knowledge she'd only just received? Yes, she supposed it would.Hmm, should she sign up? On the one hand, she had no idea if she would be any good, let alone what position she ought to sign up for- all she knew was the names of the positions, really. On the other, she'd never know the answer to the first question at the very least. So maybe she should try it.
After a slight hesitation, she answered the second year. "I will, I think. But how will I know what position to sign up for? Or whether I'm any good at all?" she asked, the second question mostly rhetorical, but the first absolutely serious.\n\n
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Lila Gringe
One last question . . .
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Lila Gringe
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One last answer... by Earl
She was going to sign up after all. Earl had done it; he'd shown the art of Quidditch to a firstie. He felt good. But Lila's question stumped him.He looked at the girl for a moment, slightly perplexed. Which position should someone play who had never polayed before? When he first started playing with his cousins, they always made him play keeper so they could practice throwing the quaffles. But Earl wanted to be Keeper now that he knew his favorite positiomn of seeker was already taken by the team captain. That wouldn't work. Beaters neede to be good aimers and strong, which required a lot of practice, and chasers needed the ability to catch and throw accurately.
"Maybe you should learn how to fly first," Earl finally said. "There should be a lesson for that soon. You could figure it out then. But until you figure it out, just write 'anything', so you got an open playing field. Jenny should be okay with that." He stopped a minute and then remembered something.
"Oh, by Jenny, I mean Jenny Zuccero, a third year. She's the captain." He grinned at Lila and turned to go back up to his room.
"I'm gunna go get dressed now, I'll be back down in a minute for breakfast, if you need anything else!" With that, he rushed up the stairs, the early morning air starting to make him shiver.\n\n
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Earl
One last answer...
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Earl
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Merci! by Lila Gringe
Learning to fly first. Now that was a good idea. Why hadn't she thought of that? Lila felt herself starting to go red, but this time she was prepared, and quelled the instinct quickly. Blushing all the time just because she was new to something was a bit stupid- after all, this was a whole new world. It was honestly to be expected that she knew only what she'd been told so far. Anything else would be . . . well, humanly impossible."Thank you!" she called after Earl as he went upstairs. She hoped he'd heard her. Otherwise she'd seem ungrateful, which was just as bad as blushing all the time. Well, almost.
She stood, then retrieved her quill and inkpot from her bag again. Carefully, she wrote a neat addition to the short list:
Lila Gringe, first year. Will play any position.
She put away the writing materials for the second time, and then smiled at her name on the paper for a moment before leaving the common room for breakfast.\n\n
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Lila Gringe
Merci!
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Lila Gringe
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but there's so much to <i>be</i> concerned about! by Geoff S.
“So, are you normally this indecisive, or is there something special about quidditch?”Geoffrey jumped, having not realised he was being watched until now. "What, oh, well..." he trailed off as the older girl continued on, already starting the unconscious reaction of trying to make himself smaller by scrunching his shoulders up even more. "No, no, I-ah..."
“Oh, Merlin, you must think I’m completely daft. Sorry for not introducing myself before I started on my rant. I’m the captain, Jennifer Zucchero, though I generally answer to almost every variation and nickname. So, what position do you play?”
"Geoffrey Spindler, I am, that is. And, I, don't really play... as such. Well, not yet, anyhow. Um, I just." He frowned. "I know the theory, and I've watched countless games, and read all the magazines. I just... I'm not really allowed to fly. I'm too..." he trailed off again, embarrassed. The final word 'fat' barely audible.\n\n
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Geoff S.
but there's so much to <i>be</i> concerned about!
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Geoff S.
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Lily Collins
February 20, 2006 10:32 PM
Signing up by Lily Collins
Lily walked back into the Crotalus Common Room following dinner. As she walked by the notice board, the sign for Quidditch caught her eye. There only seemed to be about three people signed upShe walked over to it. Lily figured she probably should put herself down for it. There was very little chance that some of the stuck-up prissy second year girls were going to play and she really didn't want Crotalus to lose because their team was full of the type who were afraid to break a nail. The fewer of those kind who had to play, the better.
Lily wrote her name on the list,
Lily Collins, Third year, Chaser
\n\n
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Lily Collins
Signing up
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Lily Collins
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Worrying gives you wrinkles by Jennifer
Jennifer gave the first year (Geoffrey, she inwardly corrected) a slightly bemused look. She couldn't imagine not being allowed to fly, not if you were brought up in a magical family. She assumed that had to be the case, since he knew that people did fly. Even her mother, although most likely sorely tempted at times, had not crossed that line."Well, if you know the theory, you're probably ahead of most people here, and there should be flying lessons soon for the first years," she began brightly, inwardly trying to think of some other arguments. She had had someone interested in playing last year who hadn't been allowed to fly, Gwen, but that seemed different somehow. All Gwen had needed were the basic lessons in flying. Geoffrey obviously had a few self-confidence issues, as shown by his almost inaudible final statement.
"And who told you that you were too fat to play quidditch?" She asked after a few seconds of frantic thinking, though, to her credit, she appeared completely composed outwardly. "I mean, yeah, it helps to be really small if you're a seeker, or something," she glanced down at herself, and shrugged.
"But that really is about it concerning build. I mean, I spent a few years living in Egypt, and one of the other kids there, the son of the Italian Ministry of Magic's embassador to Egypt, was literally as wide as he was tall, or almost. That aside, he was still the best beater I've ever seen. And if you wanted to be a chaser, all that matters is that you have enough hand-eye coordination to catch the ball and enough aim to shoot it."
She gave Geoffrey another look. While he was rather plump, he wasn't anywhere near as obese as he seemed to think of himself as being. Decidng one last point, she added. "Also, if your weight really is that big of a deal for you, playing quidditch might be the best way to slim up a little. Whatever happens, trying won't hurt. So what do you say? You want to give it a shot?"\n\n
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Jennifer
Worrying gives you wrinkles
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Jennifer
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5
Alright, might as well by Chrissy Mathers
Chrissy had been insanely busy...being lazy and avoiding her mother's constant owls. The woman just would not give her a break. It was always one thing or another but it was always something and that was what was irking Chrissy so much. When she wasn't in class, Chrissy was up in her room avoiding everything or down in the Hall stuffing her face with comfort food. Her one close friend was gone and everything seemed to be going so wrongly this year.She even neglected to notice the Quidditch sign up sheet. She only happened to notice it when she was checking the board for any information on cancellations or homework assignments. She stared at it for the longest time as well. She had gained a bit of weight and wasn't sure if she was skilled enough to play chaser anymore. Sure she loved to play the sport, but would she be a valuable player?
Still though, they seemed to be pathetic with the sign ups and so, Chrissy pulled out a quill and scribbled her name on the parchment. At least she could tell her mom she was exercising.
Chrissy Mathers, Chaser\n\n
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Chrissy Mathers
Alright, might as well
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Chrissy Mathers
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just what I need! by Geoff
"Mother," Geoffrey replied quietly, a few moments after Jennifer had finished speaking. "She said-" he cut off, embarrassed, and then shook his head, changing the subject. He didn't really want to talk about his mother. "Is it true about the Italian boy? Is he really that-" he cut off again, even further embarrassed about wanting to know about someone even fatter than he was. The truth of the matter was that Geoff wasn't hugely fat, he was more a little on the pudgy side, but years of being told how fat he was, and how it was unattractive, and he wasn't worthy of being his father's son... well, everything has an effect.And this girl was right, he did know the theory. He'd read enough magazines about quidditch, about broom models and manufacture, about areodynamics. He'd even ammased a quite substancial collection of model brooms which he'd spent hours of painstaking work building and occasionally improving upon. He knew all the moves, and had seen them executed in pictures in his books and magazines. And... well, she wasn't laughing at him yet... she seemed to be taking him seriously even.
Was there really any harm in trying?
Hesitantly, with a small smile at the older girl, he took out his quill again and lifted it to the parchment.
-and paused again. He obviously wasn't seeker material, and anyhow, that was the captain's position. He wasn't agressive, which scratched Beater off the list. He didn't really want to be left on his own, defending the goals, particularly if he proved entirely inept at it. Well, that left one thing.
He looked at Jennifer again, a small hopeful smile still on his face, hoping he'd prove himself worthy.\n\n
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Geoff
just what I need!
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Geoff
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5
Feeling...flighty. Pun intended. by Gwen Carey
When the Quidditch notice had first gone up, Gwen hadn't given a second thought to signing up. She was, after all, neither especially good on a broom nor suicidal. Oh, Jennifer and Lizzie had taught her some basic moves the previous year, but she still seriously doubted she'd ever be good enough to actually play, especially not on the House team. The point, after all, was to win both the game and honor for the House. Though it hadn't been an issue at her lessons, this year the fact that being on the Quidditch team meant interacting with other people had come into play. Gwen had discovered she almost liked being alone, even got a kind of satisfaction out of her own loneliness. It was easier getting used to the solitude than to get used to wanting company. She thought the dorm might be down to her, Cate, and Nicoletta, now. What a merry trio.Weeks had passed, though, and seven people had failed to sign up. Midterm had come, and seven people had still failed to sign up. The thought of signing up had darted through her head a time or two before the holiday, but she'd laughed it off. The point was to win, and she would be a liability no matter what.
Christmas with Aunt Rosamund, however, had paired up with the anniversary of her fall from grace and left her feeling shaken, nervous, a little reckless. She'd terrified what those letters at the end of the term had been about out of poor Allie, whose expression had made her feel almost guilty about it until she remembered that it was the only way she'd ever know, and that had sealed the deal. She, one of the worst candidates for the job in the school, was going to sign up for the Quidditch team. It seemed entirely possible she'd be so abysmal that Jen would decide they stood a better chance with only six anyway, and it was one more pointless gesture to the family. Morgaine would hit the roof when she heard, and Alasdair...well, she didn't think he'd actually come barging into the mansion to give her a piece of his mind, but she did think there was a chance he'd make a jack-fool of himself in front of the Family Council. Again.
She felt the corners of her mouth jerk upwards as she read the list. By the looks of things, she and Lila Gringe were going to be playing Beater. She’d wanted to manipulate the younger girl, not get killed with her, but whatever. It wasn’t as if it particularly mattered. She just would have botched the job anyway. She kept her sign-up general just in case. No need to seem that openly suicidal.
Gwen Carey – Will play as needed\n\n
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Gwen Carey
Feeling...flighty. Pun intended.
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Gwen Carey
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5