Crotalus Quidditch Try-Outs on Quidditch Pitch

Helena Layne

June 13, 2009 6:19 PM

Crotalus Quidditch Try-Outs by Helena Layne

She hated this. She really, really, hated this. She hated it that Geoff was gone, and she hated it that she was his successor on the team. Merlin zap her if she ever thought her brother was pathetic for still seeming to expect Anne to come back again, because she now fully understood what he would give to see that happen, and Anne had been crazy obsessive and had probably been locked up over the summer like her crazy obsessive parents before her. Geoffrey had actually been a good captain.

Helena didn't think she would be a good captain. She still didn't know what on Earth or in the universe the person or persons who had named her Assistant Captain a year ago had been thinking, but if it hadn't been 'hey, let's make sure that Crotalus fails!', it had been wrong. She wasn't tough or commanding as a rule, she was usually in a state of 'my father is going to kill me if I fail' when she became kind of bossy anyway, and she wasn't even really that good with her broom. It was not a recipe for a stunning success.

Since the job had been dropped in her lap, though, she was determined to do the best that she could, for herself, the House, and (once she'd gotten past the part where she very much wanted to have her brother beat him up) for Geoffrey. Helena had never given any job less than a hundred and ten percent in her life, and she didn't intend to start now.

So she had sent out little notes to everyone who'd signed up, telling them that she would be taking over as Captain and that tryouts would still be held on schedule. She had dug her Quidditch robes and broom out and arrived down at the Pitch ahead of schedule, to check out the four balls, make sure everything was in order with them, and be there to greet everyone else as they arrived. She had even made it to standing up in front of the group...before she got to the part where she realized she didn't really know what to say.

She wet her lips with the tip of her tongue, fumbling for a few lines from the various start-of-season speeches she had heard over the years. Think, Helena. Think... "Um... I mean..." Merlin, she sounded like a moron. "Hi."

That was a good place to start. "As much as I'd like to say that the notes you got yesterday were a joke...there's not. I mean, as far as I know they're not. If Geoff show up here in a few minutes and says it was, I'll be the first in line to welcome him back. Once I finish beating him up." And she did have a talent: lame jokes. Hopefully, they would get it had been a joke. She was a small-boned, five-foot-two girl. Beating people up was not one of her skills. Besides, if he took the job and all associated pressure back, she would be more inclined to kiss him than kill him.

"But...short of that, I'm going to be the captain now. I'm not sure who my Assistant will be; you'll all know as soon as I do. Since there's only seven of us and there was no - er - overlaps in positions with different people, we're in more of a practice thing now than a tryout. So...Alexis is the Seeker, Josh and Renaye are the Beaters, I guess Ethan is Keeper, and Oliver, Charlie, and I are the Chasers."

That could have gone much worse. She thought it helped that she knew all of them at least a little. With the captainacy thing and the Concert thing, Geoffrey had been the teammate she'd felt closest to, but she did at least know them all a little. Everyone except Charlotte had played last year, and Charlie had been their Professor Powell in the Act of Doom. If there had been a bunch of strangers present...Not good.

"So, practice. Most of us have already worked together for a year or two, now, so the big thing is to get our new set of Chasers working well together." In other words, she had to figure out if the Crotalus dream team - they had all been good together - could function with her as second instead of third, and if Oliver could work with his sister effectively, but it didn't seem polite to put it that way. Charlotte was part of the team now. "So we're going to get something like a game going here. It's not really like the real thing, but...Ethan, you'll be guarding the goalposts. Oliver, Charlotte, and I will try to beat you."

That didn't come out quite right. Images of the mess at the Aladren goals the year before popped into her head. "Since, as you know, the ball usually goes up and down the Pitch in a real game, I'll be The Enemy after each attempt at a goal and take it back down the Pitch. It's up to y'all, Abbotts, to steal it back before I score." She gave Charlotte a small smile. "Don't worry, I'm notoriously easy to steal from. I swear the other teams have me marked or something. If you get it back, then I rejoin the Crotalus team and we run it back down the Pitch, pretending that people are trying to steal it from us.

"Meanwhile, Josh and Renaye are always The Enemy. You guys are trying to take me, Alexis, Ethan, and the Abbotts out. Alexis, you're, well, being the Seeker. You don't have any other Seekers to watch or shadow, now, but you know how it goes in a game, and you should be busy enough avoiding the Warrens, getting the Snitch, and not running into the rest of us."

She took a deep breath. It was so strange, giving orders to a group instead of suggestions. "So, if everyone's good, we can get started. I'll be Coach Fox and The Enemy at first." She lead them all out to the central circle on the Pitch as if they were starting a real game and released the Bludgers and Snitch while tucking the Quaffle under her arm. "Oliver and Charlotte, you're trying to steal the ball from me, and then I'm back with you once you do. Warrens, you're trying to stop the Abbotts. Let's go." With that, Helena kicked off hard from the ground, hoping to forget her new set of responsibilities in the air for a while and just be another Chaser.

16 Helena Layne Crotalus Quidditch Try-Outs 88 Helena Layne 1 5

The Abbotts

June 26, 2009 8:25 AM

This could go two ways... by The Abbotts

Charlie was pumped. She was way excited for this. Oliver had already shown her the ropes on the broom because her flying lessons from last year felt a whole world away. Flying wasn't the easiest thing in the world, nor the most comfortable, but she could go this way and that without falling off which she figured was a good start. Charlotte liked to believe that her dancing career had given her good balance which ought to help when she was in the air.

Oliver, on the other hand, was concerned. Crotalus had been at its peak last year, no doubt of it. Now suddenly Helena was looking lost, trying to pull the team back together. Oliver didn't envy her one bit, and he tried to smile encouragingly whenever she caught his eye. With no Geoff and no Earl, Oliver suddenly found himself the man of the tema (no offense meant to Helena, of course), not to mention the tallest. Besides that, his older brother instincts had kicked into high gear on discovering the second years both automatically got spots on the team. Just great; now he was going to have to explain to his parents exactly how his sister got her elbow factured/kneecap shattered/skull crushed, etc.

Charlie almost squealed with excitement to learn she had just become a chaser on the house team. How perfect! Instead she just smiled a whole lot and bounced a little on the balls of her feet. She didn't really know anyone on the team except her brother. She'd seen Ethan around a lot but hadn't really spoken to him all that much - it would be nice to get to know him better now. But most of all, Charlotte was eager to work with Oliver - he'd always been nicer to her than Julian had, and it was some sort of grim satisfaction that the oldest Abbott was the only one of them not to be playing a sport on the same team. Julian was a sport fanatic, but was too anti-magic for his own stupid big head. Serves him right, missing stuff like Quidditch.

Mounting his broom, Oliver tried to discreetly watch Charlotte mount hers. It was a school broom, of course, but he'd helped her pick out a good one. Maybe Uncle Raymond could be persuaded to help them out with new equipment around midterm. For now, though, she seemed to be managing just fine - in fact she looked confident. Had that gene just skipped past him or something? As Helena prepared to start the game, Oliver hoevered closer to his sister, and said quietly, "Pretend the Quaffle is an Oreo."

Charlotte kicked off from the ground hard, the way Oliver had shown her. She gripped the handle tighter than was necessary as she felt her stomach get left behind on the ground. That was one heck of a feeling, and honestly she might try going a bit slower next time. That enthusiasm would be the death of her. She looked up to see Oliver take after Helena, as Charlotte kne he would do. The tidbit of advice he'd given her was more like a game plan - the way they used to steal Oreo cookies from Julian. Oliver would distract their older brother by rushing towards him, with the clear intent of taking the treat - much like Oliver was doing right now to Helena. Charlie would simply sneak up the side and yoink. She batted the Quaffle upwards, sending it soaring from Helena's hands as the captain was presumably distracted due to the almost-collision Oliver was staging. With her eye on the ball, Charlie moved to catch it. "Woah!" she shouted out in surprise and she caught the ball, but let her broom's nose drop so she lunged forward and down before regaining control.

In the meantime, Oliver had circled full round Helena, now back on their 'side', and came up alongside Charlotte. "Great steal," he told her, almost feeling proud. "Now pass it," he shouted across the stretch of sky between them. For his trouble he got a ball to the face. Funny, he'd always thought Charlie would throw like a girl. Oliver swung out a hand to catch the Quaffle as it ricocheted off his nose, and scooped it back in towardshis chest. It had stung but not enough to cause any damage. He supposed that was the price for not paying attention. Trying to redeem himself, Oliver moved fast up the pitch and thought he'd give the new Keeper something to be concerned about. Raising the ball to shoulder height, Oliver threw it straight and fast towards the right hoop. no messing about with feinting this earlier in their first practise.

0 The Abbotts This could go two ways... 0 The Abbotts 0 5