A Few Goals and a Far-Fetched Plan
Author: Sebastian Sjoblom
Date: 03-15-04 22:40

Sebastian meets Arley's midair high five with gusto, grinning broadly.

"Hey, å långt är allt väl," he tells his teammate. "So far so good." He glances up; the Ravenclaw Keeper (it's a seventh year who Sebastian knows has Herbology just before him), having retrieved the Quaffle, has sent it sailing back toward the Ravenclaw Chasers at the other end of the pitch. Sebastian motions to Arley with a broad wave of his arm, his smiling lips evening out into a determined, thin line.

"You follow them," he tells him hurriedly, shouting to be heard over the wind. "I go below." With that, they part, Arley chasing after the Ravenclaws in hopes of intercepting a pass. Trey, looking a little confused, follows him, while Sebastian makes a quick descent, flying just below the Ravenclaw Chasers with his head bent back and both arms skyward, knees clutching the broom for dear life.

Either the presence of one aggressive Hufflepuff Chaser (and one rather bumbling one) distracts the Ravenclaws, or the cold is numbing their fingers. Mitchum (or whatever)'s pass is off, and the Quaffle falls slowly, arcing downward. Before any of the Ravenclaws can retrieve it, Sebastian yanks it out of the air with both hands, tucks it under one arm, and flies across the pitch toward the Ravenclaw hoops, driving past the other team by dodging below them. He reaches the hoops and pulls up hard (the Cleansweep's pretty good at turning abruptly). He winds back his arm and throws the Quaffle at the middle goal, hard. The Ravenclaw Keeper dives for it, but it just barely makes it past his outstretched fingertips and into the hoop.

Sebastian feels no triumphant vindication, no rush of glory--his first real goal!--or pride at the 30th point, oddly enough. He's too consumed in the game, his eye following the scarlet Quaffle at all times. He doesn't even catch the congratulatory smile Arley offers. A rhythm of four syllables has begun to repeat in his head, or maybe that's just the pulse of his blood.

Must. Get. Quaf. Fle.

Ravenclaw's in possession after the goal, with Maison carrying the Quaffle downpitch, but a Bludger's headed straight for her. A blue-haired Beater swoops in just as it's closing in, knocking aside the projectile in one hard, determined swing. Though the Bludger is redirected, it was a little too close, and the tip of the bat hits Maison's right arm, too, knocking the Quaffle out of her grasp.

Sebastian seizes the opportunity, shoots out his arm, and feels his fingertips securing the Quaffle. There's a fierce squabble for the Quaffle; he feels the tug of a Ravenclaw's hand on the Quaffle, another's broom tail smacking into him, and in the end Ravenclaw has the ball again.

It's a hard-won possession, but it's a short-lived one. Trey falls in from above, knocking the ball out of the Ravenclaw captain's hands. Sebastian hears Arley urgently alerting him to, "Catch it, catch it!"

He does. He dives below the falling Quaffle, snatches it out of the air, and pulls up, with a Ravenclaw Chaser on his tail as he soars high, hoping to lose the opponent. He glances down at the crowds, a sea of house colors and distant cheering, and he's glad he's not afraid of heights.

Arley is in position near the hoops, ready and waiting to accept a pass. Naturally, Sebastian takes advantage of the situation, and throws a long overhand pass to him.

Arley fumbles it, and the Ravenclaw Keeper is about to retrieve the Quaffle, a well-aimed Bludger from Vera knocks him aside, and Arley gains possession again.

"He shoots, he scores!" Sebastian hears Bronwyn boom triumphantly. These are the only comments from her that he really listens to: score updates. "Hufflepuff, 40! Ravenclaw, zero!"

The Ravenclaw Keeper tosses the Quaffle back at his team's captain, but Trey is in the right place at the right time, and intercepts it. Sebastian flies within five yards, motioning for Trey to pass. Trey, with the Ravenclaw Chasers approaching and forming up into a lopsided Hawkshead formation, looks wildly around from left to right, and hurls the Quaffle at Sebastian.

Sebastian hears a familiar groan; Trey's hit by another Bludger just as the Quaffle leaves his fingers. There's no time to worry about that now, as the pass was off by about fifty degrees and he has to dash to the left to catch it. When it is safely in his arms, however, the Ravenclaw Chasers have formed an evenly-spaced guard, blocking his chances at a goal. He glances up, sees Lawrence hovering overhead, on the alert for Bludgers, and notices Arley flying near the goals, behind the Ravenclaw Chasers. A Bludger is making time toward Lawrence. For a moment, he pictures measurements and angles and velocities and dotted lines, extending from him to Lawrence to the Bludger to Arley, and as soon, they're gone and his head snaps up. He knows what he's going to do.

"Lawrence!" he barks, and Lawrence looks down at the sound of Sebastian's voice. He holds eye contact with him and heaves the Quaffle upward, hoping firstly that Lawrence will get the idea (and is decent at mathematics and spot guesswork), secondly that his plan won't count as a foul, and thirdly that he isn't completely crazy to think of it.

1: Arlington J. Montgomery, Chaser, about 55 feet off the ground
2: Rolan Boyd, Keeper, about 55 feet off the ground
3: Ariana Maison, Chaser, about 50 feet off the ground
4: Kody Reese-Emerson, Chaser, about 45 feet off the ground
5: Alden Mitchell, Chaser, about 50 feet off the ground
6: Sebastian Sjöblom, Chaser, about 40 feet off the ground and in possession of the Quaffle (red dot)
7: Lawrence Masterson, Beater, about 60 feet off the ground, with a Bludger (black dot) coming down at him at shoulder level

---

An Enlightening Piece of Mail
Author: Hermione Granger
Date: 03-16-04 07:40

Situated in a far corner of the library, Hermione tore open a large, white envelope and pulled out its contents, spreading them out on the surface of the table. The uppermost sheet was a letter addressed to "Miss Hermione Granger", which the addressee read with bated breath. When she finished, she read it again, slightly surprised by what was written.

Hermione then jotted down a note to visit Professor McGonagall in the afternoon, knowing the Gryffindor Head of House would likely not be in her office this morning because of the Quidditch match. The post script on the enlightening letter requested Hermione obtain an official transcript from Hogwarts with a letter of recommendation from the Deputy-Headmistress.

Suddenly pleased, Hermione pushed aside the letter and focused on the other materials: a medical form, orientation information and a schedule of entry-test dates, times and locations. One was in late December, shortly before Christmas. This suited Hermione perfectly, so she pulled a pencil from her book-satchel and scribbled in the appropriate registration information for the late December test and added a line to her notes to remind herself to send off the registration form that afternoon.

She busied herself with the remaining items and with a satisfied smile, turned to the pile of books set precariously on the end of the table. NEWTs will be here in nearly half a year! Hermione thought to herself grimly. If only there were more hours in a day! This, of course, got her thinking about the time-turner she borrowed in her third year. How long ago that had been!

Her thoughts drifted away from Potions, Transfiguration and History of Magic and settled on the good old days when Harry, Hermione and Ron were younger and happier. Mr. and Mrs. Granger had still been alive and well. Harry had been on the Quidditch team and not as study/career-oriented as he was now (which both Ron and Hermione started to notice had changed Harry's personally drastically for the worse, even though they rarely spoke with him these days), and Ron--well, he hadn't changed much. He was the only constant in Hermione's life, and for that she was thankful.

Shaking her head, Hermione tried to clear the nostalgic and solemn thoughts from her mind and attempted to return her focus to the task at hand. Remember, time is running out! Hermoine silently reminded herself. NEWTs will be here in only a few months time and then you'll be cast out into the real world.

Determined to get some serious work done, Hermione flipped open her Herbology textbook and started reading and taking notes.

---

Knock It Out of the Ballpark
Author: Coco Nutt
Date: 03-16-04 12:57

Coco's cheeks still burn with embarrassment over accidentally sending a bludger straight on a throng of spectators. She's thankful Professor Krum stopped the bludger before it hit anyone and grateful he knows she didn't bumph on purpose. It's been a little hard to get her game face back in full but Coco thinks she's just about there. Getting a bludger in her line of sight, Coco zooms after it, intent on knocking the thing up the Kybers* of the Hufflepuff chasers.

~~~

Kyber = Kyber Pass = arse

---

A Healthy Push
Author: Riku
Date: 03-16-04 14:02

Riku had followed his friends to the game even though he still had a ton of work to do. He didn't really watch the game, instead his mind on the work. He kept half an eye on the game just in case something Sora found exciting happened. Since Sora's enthusiasm almost had bad consequences last game, Riku had decided that he would have to play a little defense of his own.

Riku had chosen to sit behind Sora instead of next to him. Sora didn't think much of it, and just went along. Sora did have a problem when the first goal of the game was scored and he jumped up. Riku grabbed Sora on the shoulders and pushed him back down into the chair.

"Hey!" Sora yelled as he turned around to face Riku, "What's the big idea?"

"Just making sure you're not going to go anywhere you're not supposed to," Riku replied.

"I'm not!" yelled Sora.

"You almost did last time."

"Oh, yeah, but that was last time."

"Are you going to watch the game or not?" Riku asked.

"Oh! Right!" Sora said as he spun around just in time to see the second goal scored. He jumped up, and again, Riku grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back into the chair.

"Hey! Will you knock that off?" Sora asked.

"Not until you demonstrate some maturity," Riku replied.

"That could take a while," Kairi piped in.

---

Synchronized Seeking
Author: Bronwyn Dewhurst
Date: 03-16-04 14:02

Hannah hovered high in the air, searching for the snitch the way a hawk searches for prey. Her eyes scanned every inch of the Pitch, from the ground to beneath the clouds and everywhere in between. She also kept a watchful eye on the other seeker, Emma Crusher of Ravenclaw, who lacked the experience Hannah had but seemed a talented player nonetheless.

Suddenly, a glint of gold came into view near Bronwyn in the staff box, who was too busy watching the Ravenclaw chasers to take any notice of the tiny orb. Hannah saw it and made a dash for it, with Emma quickly on her tail. The winged snitch teased them both, flitting here and there near a few yards in front of the Quidditch commentator, who finally took note of it.

"Abbott and Crusher have seen the snitch!" Bronwyn cried out, watching with growing interest as both seekers neared the staff box at an alarming speed. Right before Hannah's hand cold enclose over the golden ball, it evaded her and flew away, disappearing from sight.

Bronwyn, McGonagall and the others in the seekers' paths ducked to avoid contact with Hannah and Emma, who hadn't the dexterity to turn around without flying into the stands because of their close proximity to the staff box. They soared over the spectators' heads and one by one pulled their broomsticks up so that they looped up-side-down, and twisted to right themselves again.

The impressive, almost synchronized flying from both seekers drew applause and whistles from many of the guests in the stands, including Bronwyn who remarked over the loud speaker, "That's the graceful side of Quidditch, folks."

The seekers resumed their positions in the air, keeping an eye out for the snitch which had gone into hiding again, while a cluster of chasers made way for the Hufflepuff goal hoops. Bronwyn could see that some kind of communication was occurring between Sebastian and Lawrence, but she couldn't make out their signals.

She and everyone else waited for what would happen next.

---

Just a Tad Bored
Author: Desdemona Diamond
Date: 03-16-04 14:26

I sat there hovering on my broom in front of the hoops. Everything was all on the other side of the field. I still kept an eye on it all, but I couldn’t help but be bored. There was nothing to do but wait for something to head my way. I couldn’t really make out what was going on the other side of the field; it was hard to see most of what was going on because the other players were blocking the view.

I stifled a yawn and found the strand of hair that I had dyed pink and started to twirl it around my finger as I watched and waited for something to come over here. Suddenly I caught movement and saw that the seekers were both diving towards the staff box. Only a tiny glint of gold told me what they were both up to. As one they both pulled up and looped. They caused a few people to duck with their low flying, and the crowd to go hysterical. They started looking again as if nothing had ever happened.

I found the small orange strand in my hair and started to twirl it around my finger as I focused again to the other side of the field. All I could see was Sebastian looking at Lawrence, but I was too far away, and at a bad angle, to really see anything. So, I just waited to see what would happen, and if anyone would come my way again.

---

An Invitation
Author: Jared
Date: 03-16-04 15:05

Jared, sitting next to Orie who is sandwiched between Brett and him, jumps up to cheer and call out encouragement. As he sits back down, Orie leans close enough for him to hear over the din and laughingly asks, "Who are you so enthusiastically supporting?"

An ear to ear grin on his face, Jared loudly replies, "I can't decide so both."

The right in her ear, loud enough for Orie to hear but not Brett, he asks, "Remember us talking about Christmas plans the other night?"

A huge roar issues just then from the assembled crowd so Orie just nods in response. Jared waits a split second so he can be heard again. "If you end up not joining your parents, how about Brett, his sister, and you come to my house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day? Longer if you wish. Mum loves having lots of people over, especially if they're friends of Etta's and mine and has already told me I can bring a few people home for the holiday. I just need to let her know how many."

Another loud cheer goes up so Jared waits for things to die down again to hear Orie's reply.

---

Happy Landings
Author: Captain Electron
Date: 03-16-04 17:39

The Captain had just decided, now that the Toms had been shoved over to the other side of him and *weren't* dancing in his line of vision anymore, that he was going to support the guy with the socks, as he privately called him, having missed his name, and was making sure he knew which team that was, when he was unexpectedly landed on by a latecomer. He had his wand out in his hand before he realised - just an accident, not a crazy fan, no need to panic... so he gave an obliging shove and went back to the game.

Seconds later, a thought occurred to him, and he sneaked another glance at the man. And his wife, who was over the other side.

Shit, he thought, I know them... He froze, wondering if they recognised him, and if they did, were they going to - loudly - say anything about it? Deciding to take matters into his own hands, he waited until someone scored and there was a brief pause while the quaffle went back into play, and then turned to his neighbours with a friendly smile.

"Hi, I'm John. Nice to meet you."