A Spectacle Hufflepuff v Ravenclaw Finished

Interacting with @Sean Hearth and @Lydia Cooper
Open to Interactions AFTER Their Posts

Today was the day. Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw. The match that would decide if Aaron's beloved Hufflepuff house would claim the Quidditch Cup and celebrate in the dorms tonight, or if there would have to be another match to determine a different victor. As a first-year Quidditch fanatic, Aaron loved that Hufflepuff had crushed all the games he had been to so far. Two landslide victories against Slytherin and Gryffindor, and now Ravenclaw was the only house left to beat. Today would be the most exciting match yet, so he walked towards the pitch with an extra bit of pep in his step. Even though he was still waitlisted for the team, he always showed support.

Aaron had convinced one of his best mates - Sean Hearth - to join him bright and early so they could get the best spots to watch the game from. Anyone who saw the two boys walking to the pitch would be able to tell who they were rooting for. Aaron was decked out in every Hufflepuff-themed item he had been able to find. Although wearing plain black slacks, he made up for the boring bottoms with his festive top: a long-sleeved yellow shirt with a black badger decal that his mother had given to him for Christmas. It was a bit of an embarrassing, cheesy shirt at first glance, but Aaron wore it proudly. And even though it wasn't cold enough to justify it, he was also wearing a black-and-yellow scarf - another Christmas gift - and a black beanie with a yellow puff on top. Thankfully, the cool breeze that blew in the March air would be enough to keep him from sweating.

As he and Sean walked past the training pitch to get to the official Quidditch Pitch, Aaron's thoughts turned to @Willow Anderson. Just this past weekend, Aaron had been on the training pitch with her, practicing on school brooms, talking and sorta becoming friends. That's why last night, Aaron and another of his best mates Lydia had teamed up to make a banner for her. It would show Willow that she was well-supported and hopefully she would be able to see it from where they were.

"I can't wait to introduce you to Lydia," Aaron suddenly said, smiling at Sean as they started climbing up the stands. "I mean, I know I already tell you all about her, but I feel like you guys will really get along," he said, as they got to the top of the stairs. They entered the stands and were easily among the first people there. They got seats right in the first row because they had arrived a solid forty-five minutes before the game was due to start. Aaron didn't care, though, and was happy to just chat with Sean about all the players and their stats so far and his predictions for the game. He was doing way more talking than his cold-faced friend, but he was used to that.

People began filling the stands, and players began entering the field. As more chatter filled the air, Aaron became more and more excited. A couple times he was approached because there was an empty seat beside him in the best row, but he had to tell people that he was saving it for Lydia. They would be able to hold the banner and support the team easily from this spot. With only a few minutes to game time, Aaron finally noticed his strawberry-blonde friend entering the stands and wading through the crowd of people.

"Lydia! We're over here!" he called out, standing up and waving his hand in the hopes that Lydia would see him.

Interacting: @Aaron Jones and @Lydia Cooper

Sean had no idea of what Quidditch was before he arrived at Hogwarts but he learned very fast with his good friend Aaron. Aaron was a big fan of the wizard sport and Sean became a bit of a fan of it himself. Flying wasn't something Sean was particularly good at but watching Quidditch was something he enjoyed came a bit as a surprise to him. Maybe it was also the fact that he was with a friend and felt a part of something he wasn't used to when cheering for his house. When Aaron woke him up that morning early than usual, he felt quite excited about the match of the day Hufflepuff vs Ravenclaw, if Hufflepuff won they would claim the Quidditch Cup. Sean got ready, trying to put some house colors with a mustard colored jacket his parents had sent him.

Once he was ready he joined Aaron in the common room and they made their way to the Qudditch Pitch. They passed threw the training grounds were Sean had mad himself look like a fool multiple times on a broom but for some reason those memories made him feel happy. Aaron had always been there to get him out of trouble and he repaid him by helping him with some of his homework and studies. They were quite the odd pair walking towards the Pitch, one chirpy and visibly excited about the match to come and the other rather tall, emotionless looking. Sean was looking forward to this match but he wasn't as expressive as his friend, once they got to the stands and sat at the very front Sean looked around and couldn't help but smile a bit. They were early which was a good idea from Aaron, there was probably going to be full of people in just a few minutes.

Aaron had told Sean that Lydia one of Aaron's other friends was going to join them. Sean had heard about the girl that helped Aaron with his homework when Sean wasn't around, she seemed rather nice from what he had heard. Aaron was looking forward to introduce them to each other, Sean couldn't help but be a little nervous but a part of him was also looking forward to meeting somebody new and if that person was a friend of Aaron's she could only be nice. "I'm looking forward to meeting her too" Sean had gotten very comfortable with is friend and didn't have the normal problems he had socializing with others. He was looking at a few students that were sitting down on the other stands when he heard Aaron call at someone. It was Lydia, she was pretty he thought with her strawberry blonde hair and green eyes, which of course just made him more nervous. But he was determined to make a new friend and to watch Hufflepuff win !

Open to interactions 

Interacting with @Aaron Jones and @Sean Hearth 

Mentioning @Willow Anderson , @Rafael D'Spacito  , @Alan Vanes

When Aaron had asked her to go with him and Sean, one of his friends, to the Quidditch game, Lydia was a little hesitant, not because of the company, she loved spending time with Aaron and she really wanted to finally meet Sean, but because of the sport. From the start the red headed girl had a difficult relationship with it, not really understanding it and making her confused, but she knew that Aaron really loved it, so she had accepted. 

And when the previous night Aaron had suggested that they'd make a banner for Willow, the keeper of the Hufflepuff team and first year student, Lydia felt excited about the game. They stayed up late to finish their project, and they had decided that Lydia would have kept it in her dorm and brought it to the match. Of course, between deciding what to wear - after various thought she had decided to wear a yellow jumper, light blue jeans, a pair of yellow converse that she had got for Christmas together with a knitted hat in the Hufflepuff colours, and her Hufflepuff scarf, all of that together with her black trench coat - and the marzipan decoration she had done, she ended up being late to her appointment with Aaron since she needed to take the banner from her dorm. 

So after an exhausting run through the castle and the grounds, that made her regret wearing the trench coat, Lydia had finally reached the Quidditch Pitch, the banner safe in her hands. It was such a beautiful day and she was really glad she was spending it outside and with her friends. As she walked through the stands looking for Aaron, Lydia spotted a couple of known faces, Rafael and Alan, before she finally saw her friend, right in the first row.

"Hi Aaron! I'm so sorry I'm late!" she said as she finally reached him, her face flushed red from the running, and her hat hanging weirdly on her head since she had almost lost it a couple of times on her way there. She looked over at Sean and smiled brightly at him, "You must be Sean, hi I'm Lydia!" she greeted him, hoping to make a good impression on him. 

With a big grin, Lydia opened the banner and showed it to the fellow Hufflepuffs. It said "GO WILLOW, GO TEAM" with the letters in the Hufflepuff colours and other little drawings to decorate it some more. Lydia was really satisfied with what her and Aaron had done, it looked really nice, and hopefully Willow would have seen it from where she was. "I can't wait to see Willow's face when she'll see it!" 

Once the match finally started, Lydia tried to remember everything that she had read on Quidditch and all that Aaron had told her as well, and she found it not too difficult to follow after all; it probably helped that she was at a proper match and she had the possibility to properly see what was happening instead of just reading about it. From the start the Ravenclaw team looked incredibly determined to win, with one of the chaser grabbing the Quaffle and going straight for Willow. 

Lydia held her breath as the Ravenclaw player shoot the Quaffle towards Willow, and she yelled with full lungs, the banner up in the air to support Willow, when her friend blocked the goal, taking possession of the Quaffle.

"YES!! GO WILLOW!!" she screamed, her bright smile on her face, as she clapped along her friends. 

As more people filed into the stands, everyone found their places and started their revelry. Flash was interested to see three more students who also decided to make a banner for Willow. It lifted his spirits to see it. He already knew she attracted friendship naturally, she had walked into his life as though she belonged there the entire time.

Watching Willow, he saw her blow a kiss to the stands and instinctively turned to hide his face, tucking it behind Alan’s shoulder. Have I really… brought Alan along… to use as cover? Flash felt a bit ridiculous, but Alan had never failed him in the past.

Flash sat back up as normal, but his expression was sheepish, knowing he had done something unbefitting of his stature. He could only rely on Alan being discreet and polite for so long, before he started asking more questions. All Flash could think to do was move on from it, trying to distract from it.

”Quidditch, yes, one of my brothers played it a bit… he would talk about his matches a lot at home.” He didn’t think he could expect this diversion to seriously work, he was acting like a mess.

But then, the game started. Flash didn’t recognize everyone on each Quidditch team, he hadn’t gone through the effort of looking through the rosters even though that would have been a perfectly smart thing to do. The announcer did some of the work for him, naming the Ravenclaw chaser who caught the quaffle. Once again forgetting that he had a face to keep around Alan, Flash leaned forward anxiously as Cecily gunned for the goalposts. With the speed the brooms traveled, it was no time as all before a shot was made. Making it seem effortless, Willow snatched it out of the air like a seasoned professional, a smile on her face. Flash stood up reflexively, as if trying to get a better look.

You did it! You’re amazing! Flash’s heart trilled and skipped, his hands clasped together as if to keep each other under control. Flash slowly sat back down, allowing the rest of the stands to cheer for her properly. Even though he had no right to put himself in such a position, he felt so proud.

Interacting with @Alan Vanes
Mentioning @Willow Anderson

@Evelynn Decipio

[font=Segoe Print]“Morning.”

Evelynn held herself in a particularly poised sort of way, her voice polite and business-like as she made her presence known, ceremoniously setting herself down on the bench beside the young Captain. Strangely enough, it seemed as if the moment she had set herself down, the entire environment of the game had been drained of all fun, instead humorlessness settling over the first year’s being like a suffocating blanket. He loathed it. As he did Evelynn’s presence, as she was a sickening girl, egotistical and pompous. There was a difference in the space between them, a small fact that the boy picked up on almost immediately – she was keeping her distance. Good, that they knew each other’s places. “You’re late, you know,” he muttered, a bit sharply, his gaze focused on his notebook as he opened it upon his lap, scratching down the names if the players he had previously seen on the roster. “Whatever happened to being here, bright and early?” Not bothering to look up, he raised his eyebrow, biting his lip for a short moment as he attempted to remember the name of one of the Hufflepuff chasers. Then, pushing the thought aside for a moment, he continued on, his voice was surprisingly bitter as he attempted to test the patience of the girl in his presence. “Got a watch, do you? Or a bloody concept of time? It would be useful in a leadership setting, I’d think, but to each their own.”

It was right then, that his mind could fully process the statement that she had previously made – ‘I will admit, I was a bit surprised to get your note’, she had said, drawing her notebook out in the midst of his own researching. Well, that was a real thought. The mere idea put an abrupt end to Rafael’s train of thought, his pen stopping almost immediately, his shoulders tense. “Surprised, yeah?” he muttered, glancing over at her for a quick moment, a false smile falling over his features as eyes, bitter and grating, bored into her head. Was she joking now, being funny? No, the tone of her voice seemed honest, sincere even. Pity. And Rafael had actually considered her an intelligent person. He couldn’t help but wonder for a short moment, how much she actually knew about leading a team. “Here’s a thought. You think I picked you for any bloody reason?” he asked her, nothing about his tone cordial or friendly as he faced her. “I’ll give you a hint –“ he lowered his voice, “it definitely wasn’t because I liked you.” Then, shaking his head, he returned his gaze to the papers, his hand scratching fiercely. “No, I chose you because you supposed to be bright. A good thinker, yeah? Now, how about you use that brain of yours. You’re a bloody captain, now, Evelynn, so start acting the part.”

Then, just to set her on edge, “Lesson One, specifically for amateur captains: The game always comes first. There’s no friendship on the pitch. Therefore, stop making everything personal.”

[While the boy had never been a Captain before, he was quite familiar with how the system worked. Having once been on a rather successful soccer team in his youth, he’d learned that feelings always messed with one’s focus, leading to biased passes and ruddy plays. Captains never got jaded by their feelings towards fellow players, no matter how immense.]

His eyes turned towards the field, just as the game had begun. It seemed as if Ravenclaw seeker Cecily Quinn had gotten possession of the ball – however, her success had been short-lived, as the new Hufflepuff keeper quickly had quickly blocked her attempt to score. Rafael could vaguely remember the girl’s name from the Hufflepuff roster sheet – Willow, something. Though his original expectations regarding the girl’s skill had been skeptic, his new perceptions of her playing was duly noted, scrawled in the pages of his mind – and written down in his notebook, to be stored for later use.

“She’s a rather good keeper, don’t you think?” he muttered, biting his lip as he stared at her analytically from across the field. “An impressive save, really. Can’t help but wonder if she’s played before.” Of course, he knew she had never played for the Hufflepuff team before now – for, if she had, there was a good chance that his score would have been foiled those many months ago.

It wasn’t long before players began falling out of the sky. Rafael winced as impact had been made with Jorah – ouch – didn’t the boy get hit with enough projectiles? Serena Towers, Hufflepuff Seeker, had been hit, too, but it seemed as if she had fared better, as she continued to search for something…“Hey, Evelynn? Doesn’t it look like Serena’s found the snitch?” he asked aloud. He himself couldn’t see the glint of gold – his eyes were hardly trained – yet, the third-year’s gaze seemed to be focused on something in the distance. Bloody hell, he thought will a bitter smile. Hufflepuff’s already winning. [/font]

Alan had been glancing over to the field, as he watched the Quidditch players get into position. His eyes were fixed on one player in particular, Willow. It was going to be her first match or so and he would be here to cheer her on. He watched as he interacted with the spectators, but his attention was quickly pulled away to Flash. The Slytherin his his face behind him, so that he was possibly hidden from sight by the girl. Was Willow the person? The person he mentioned? He lightly turned his head to glance at the Slytherin boy with questioning eyes, wondering if the other kid was okay and what had caused him to hide. He knew the girl and that meant the.. girl knew him? Alan lightly shook his head, not knowing whether the girl knew him, but did she? Alan had not heard the girl mention Flash, but then again that was also easily excused. But Flash had been unwilling to talk about the matter... Alan glanced over to the field, where he saw the Hufflepuff girl in question. Alan also caught glimpses of the players and the quaffles being thrown around and it made him wonder how exactly the players were able to concentrate both of flying and the game. He also was quite sure that those bludger things were way too dangerous, especially so high up in the air. What was the thrill in playing Quidditch? Was it the danger? He had heard of stuff like that before, that some people just liked to dodge danger.

"... his matches a lot at home.”, he heard as he was suddenly pulled out of his thoughts, blinking as he stared at the Slytherin boy, "U-Uhm... C-Can you repeat that, p-please?", he wondered, tilting his head apologetically. He had been so distracted, that he had even lost the red thread of his original thought, on how the boy knew the girl. He clearly was here for her, Alan was sure of that. Would it be too insensitive of him to prod the topic?

Before the Gryffindor could get lost in his thoughts again, his attention was drawn to the start of the game and he tried to keep his gaze on the player he had promised to cheer for. And he was sure she did well, she caught one of the quaffles thrown and what a catch it was! It was amazing with how much ease she seemed to effortlessly pick the quaffle out of the air. The third years features melted into a bright grin, as he thought about how incredible she was doing. And Alan was not the only one amazed, a lot of students cheered, but it was Flash right next to him, who caught his eye yet again. The boy had been so secretive about who he was here for, but it was undeniable who he was cheering for.

"D-Do you know h-her? I-Is she the one y-you mentioned?", he wondered, as the Slytherin boy sat back down into his seat. Alan's curiosity got the better of him and he asked the question. Now he could only wait and see what the Slytherin had to say about it. It was a harmless question, so he was sure that no harm was done.

Flash had done a remarkably terrible job at keeping his emotions to himself. While around Alan, he felt a sense of comfort that made him forget to keep his defenses up. After all, he was so naturally kind and helpful, he rarely had to do anything in order to have a nice conversation, or get something done. That, and because of his politeness he never questioned Flash’s motives. The veil had been lifted however in Flash’s current state of disarray. He couldn’t play off his actions up until that point any longer, at least not to Alan.

”I… yes. There’s no point in hiding it further. I only ask that you don’t pry. I have my reasons for not wanting to make a public display, so I hope you’ll respect that.” Flash colored his word heavily with the responsibility of refinement.

When he thought about it, he had never learned where that part of Alan had come from. In reality, they had only ever had one real conversation, the two of them always seemed to be thrust into the middle of some unrelated conflict when they were together. Flash was suddenly curious, though in no little part because it worked as a convenient diversion.

”Actually, Alan, I have been meaning to ask… now, don’t feel pressured to answer this, but do you come from a well-to-do family?” Flash looked at him openly now, the knot in his brow gone as he tried to forget his embarrassing display only moments prior. ”I only ask because you seem, well, you remind me of myself a bit in that regard.”

Quidditch was a fast-paced game, but there were moments to talk, such as when the quaffle was only just caught by the Keeper.

@Alan Vanes

Mentioning [sort of interacting]: @Saskia Nicholson | @Evelynn Decipio

To say that Thora was simply anxious for the game to commence would be inaccurate. No, she was full-on nervous and frothing on the bit to see the leather quaffle tossed into the air and the game begun. This would be evident to one who cared enough to glance at her, seeing that her right foot was tapping at an unnaturally quick pace, and small hands were folded tightly enough to turn her knuckles white. But the girl couldn't help but let a enthusiastic smile tug across the tense corners of her mouth as Saskia turned, grinning and giving her a thumbs-up.

Thora's fingers curled into her own thumbs-up, which was then thrusted out in return to the Hufflepuff captain. As green eyes finally lowered to glance at the large crowd that was gathering, she noticed a small redhead wrapped in a scarf--much like Thora herself--crossing the benches just near her. Evelynn Decipio, Gryffindor co-captain. It wasn't surprising that she'd turned up to spectate this match, as this was where other teams' strategy could be observed. Thora returned her wave, smile widening.

Even though she was still sitting alone like always, it felt good to know that people knew her. No, Thora didn't want popularity, nor did she want to be that one girl that literally everyone knew for one reason or another, but simply being recognised was nice and something that was a pleasant change from being practically invisible.

And then finally, at long last, the brooms were urged into action and the balls released. The beginning was fast, as with all of the others past, and one not ready for the lightning speed of the young students might be taken by surprise with how fast the quaffle was snatched up by a blonde Ravenclaw and taken to the hoops. Thora, though, was ready, green eyes following the leather ball's every movement. Even if she wasn't playing, it was good practice to keep an eye on the quaffle so it'd come easily during a game.

Then came the bludgers. The iron balls were whacked again and again, each sound of contact sending a shiver through Thora. All of the beaters on the field were very strong, as she'd seen during Slytherin's matches against their teams, and to be hit would be utterly painful. As for the scene above, player after player went down as if automated. But thankfully, nobody was tumbling through thin air, making their way towards inevitable impact. It seemed that the teams were pretty even, both knowing exactly what they were doing.

So remained the small Slytherin, alone on the benches, a quiet spectator among a roaring crowd. She didn't know which team to cheer for, but having hopefully boosted her friends' morale, she was content with simply sitting there. Anyways, the game wasn't won yet, was it? There'd be a later time to scream and yell.

As a quaffle zoomed towards the Hufflepuff goals and was blocked by the mighty Willow Anderson, a little badger stood up and hopped and waved its arms in celebration.

Jake wasn't really a badger of course, he was just pretending, but when he put on the costume and entered the stands he really did feel like something much more than just little Jake Morris. He was Hufflepuff, through and through, more badger than boy.

There were actually two victories that had come to Jake, here in this third Quidditch game of the season.

The first was that he had finally gotten less shy in his mascot costume. Sure, it had been embarrassing at first...But he had come to really appreciate that nobody could see him. He wasn't Jake anymore, he was just the badger - and he bet that a lot of students didn't even know for sure who he was (never mind the fact that he was one of the only kids who could fit in the costume). He had thought they were laughing at him at first, so sure was he of what those types of smiles meant, but he soon realized that he'd been wrong. They weren't smiling because they were making fun of him, they were smiling they were happy. And even crazier, it was him who had made them happy. They even cheered. Jake never wanted attention, and to get cheers should have been a nightmare...but...well...from the safety of the costume they felt kind of nice and nobody could see him blush.

The second victory was that he had actually started to learn how Quidditch worked. The lucky part about having Quidditch-playing friends was being able to ask for a bit of help learning all of the rules. He was starting to get the hang of it, though he'd never before watched sports. Red balls go in goals, little gold ones have to be caught for lots of points, you have to avoid the brown ones - which is obvious because they hurt. He sometimes forgot the amount of points everything gave you, and he still didn't get how come it was fun (how could you play and not be terrified of being hit by a bludger, or of falling off your broom?) but he at least could tell when Hufflepuff was doing well and when a cheer was called for.

There hadn't been any goals yet, but he thought maybe Hufflepuff needed some cheering on anyway to help it happen, so he did what all good mascots do (or so he thought, though he hadn't been totally clear on what a mascot was before having been given the costume). The badger turned to face the stands and waved his hands in the air and hopped. Sure enough, they started to cheer. Cheering for one team almost felt mean to friends on the other team. The problem was Jake had friends on EVERY team. The only fair thing to do then was to cheer for his own house, and after all, as he had once been told, the badger society was depending on him.

Go Hufflepuff Go!

George shot out of his seat like a firework as Willow blocked the quaffle, following along the movements of the crowd with a roaring cheer. His arms were held high in triumph. He did not understand the rules of quidditch, but it was still quite a ride to be in the stands during a game. A lack of understanding did not mean a lack of spirit, most certainly.

Settling back into his seat beside the costumed Jake, George took a moment to reach into his pocket and pull out the makeup he had stolen from Professor Bercegeay. Thick black paint was smudged on his fingers, but he scooped up just a bit more from the palette and smeared it up his face around his nose and eyes. He looked horrific, but the more creative spectators might notice that he was intending to resemble a badger as well. He spared nothing in the pursuit of Hufflepuff pride, wrapped in his yellow tie and scarf at the same time.

"GO, WILLOW!" he shouted from the stands, leaning over forward so far he'd be liable to get sideswiped by an errant player. He couldn't believe he had once seen her fly so terribly. She really did seem like a celebrity when she was flying in front of all the spectators like this, blocking quaffles like it was nothing. "Show those birds what a badger can do, aye!"

When Jake - the masked badger - began to wave and cheer, George couldn't help but join in. Not simply because he knew the secret - but because it was so lovely to see Jake out and energetic for once, the centre of the party and not clamming up. Maybe it was easy for him when he didn't have anything to say. Must be why he liked George so much.

George took a moment to survey the crowd - mentally counting who was cheering along and who was not, for future grudges to hold - and spotted Alan Vanes. He spared a second to wave at him before turning to watch the game again. "Hello, Alan!"