Flying High ((Gryffindor Quidditch Team))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

The wind whipped Cassandra's hair as she waited on the ground of the Quidditch pitch. It was a beautiful day for being the middle of winner. Even though there was an inch of snow on the ground, they had clear blue skies for their practice. Cass had let the team rest after their win againt Hufflepuff. Even with all the substitutions, her team did well. She was so proud of them. However, it was now back to work. There was no resting more resting on their laurels. Cass was glad she had made sure to put on her heavier uniform this afternoon after class. While staring out the window during Ancient Runes early this morning, she had noticed clouds rolling in. It had briefly showed after that, but suddenly cleared up nicely. It was almost like the maintenace staff from the Ministry of Magic had come in to fix the weather problem like they did at the Ministry.

The gryffindor captain looked at her watch. "Hmmm...they are all cutting it close today. Where is the rest of the team?" She pursed her lips llike she did whenever she was nervous. Looking over into the stands, several younger Gryffindors who had expressed interest in the team to her earlier in the year had gathered there. Cass had advised them that if they wanted to make the team, they should come to their practices to see what they did. This would sometimes deter the people who didn't want to put as much work into the team as she required. However, these seemed to show some promise. They had even approached Cass in the common room a couple of times asking about some of their plays. She turned her head back to the path leading to the pitch. She saw figures coming over the horizon. Smiling, she knew her team was coming to practice.

[Zara Phoenix]

Zara slipped on her Quidditch robes swiftly, checking the time on her watch – she would be late if she didn’t hurry herself along more. Cursing Professor Snape under her breath for the huge amount of homework she had been set for making a less-than-satisfactory potion, she buckled her boots roughly, grabbed her wand, and tied her laces with her wand. Why was Potions homework so hard? Zara had spent hours slaving over it, and still she hadn’t finished, and now she was going to be late because she had lost track of time. Perhaps it was because of Luke not being around that made Zara frustrated, and coupled with the coincidence of having to attend a Quidditch practice and think about Luke’s flying-related injury put a permanent frown on Zara’s forehead. At least the up side to the practice was a reminder of their victory over the Hufflepuffs from before the winter holidays. Zara had been absolutely ecstatic at that point, screaming her approval, but then when winter rolled round and she saw that blood-curdling newspaper article in the Prophet about Luke’s accident. Suddenly, a different light was set on Quidditch; in a way, it frightened Zara. However, she had overcome the World Cup incident from so many years ago; she had still lived and loved Quidditch after that. Sapphire was proof that it had affected her opinion of flying, but it hadn’t scarred Zara. This was the same. She still loved flying, but she was also very aware of Luke’s situation. Or she would be if he answered any of her owls.

Trying to cast Luke from her mind, Zara jogged past the Common Room, waving greetings to a couple of friends, and zoomed straight for the Grounds, where Cass was most likely already warming up with the others. Frustrated with herself, Zara sped up her jog to a run, aware that some portraits were screaming threats of reporting her to Filch, but ignoring them impertinently. Zara was not a rule-breaker, nor did she get into trouble often, but she hated to be late for anything, and she was the Vice-Captain now! She had to set a good example. Not that running in the corridors was an example of being a good example, but she really needed to be there. Hoping that no teachers would come across her (“Zara Phoenix! You’re a seventh year, you should know better!” – Professor McGonagall), she finally burst into the Grounds, shielding her eyes from a sudden blast of bright light into her irises. She turned to the pitch and ran faster, knowing she couldn’t be penalised for dangerous speeds out here in the open. When she finally drew nearer to the pitch, she could see the flashes of red that indicated the gathering of familiar teammates. Rushing up to Cass at the head of the group, Zara paused beside her Captain, bending down to rest her hands against her knees and breathe in much needed air. “Sorry… sorry…” Zara panted heavily, shaking her loose hair out of her lips. “Not… Not too late… am I?” She proceeded to ask with an apologetic grin, standing up and throwing her hair into a high ponytail.

Zara’s eyes flitted around the group of youngsters that made up the Gryffindor team. Lenora Byers, the only other fellow seventh year and Chaser, was standing close by. Sixth year AJ Murphy was looking his cocky self. Their only fifth year, Scott, was the boy who had won them the match against the Huffles. The team had quite two fourth years, both recently recruited – Rex Carter and Casey Allen. Rex had a lot of potential to be a god Seeker, but Scott held that position, and he made a pretty good first-team Beater as it was. Casey had replaced Maryn in the third Chaser position, and so Lenora and herself would have to become adapted to her movements. Zara knew Casey was a good enough flyer though, and wasn’t worried. Her eyes passed over the substitute team with a grin, before looking at Cass and smiling. “So, what are we doing, Captain?” She joked lightly, leaning on her broom. She was pleased to have been made Vice after Maryn’s departure, but she wasn’t sure what Cass wanted her to do – they hadn’t really discussed it yet.

[Lenora Byers]

Lenora had woken up that day with one thought on her mind ‘quidditch!’. Today would be their first practice since their game against Hufflepuff, which they had won by the way. Of course they had to go to class first. Lenora went out into the grounds for her normal early morning run, there was a layer of snow but the sky looked clear. Frankly, Lenora didn’t care what the ground looked like as she would be in the air. She just cared that the sky was clear otherwise she may end up cursing Cass for inflicting practice on them. Of course Lenora understood they had to practice in all conditions just because they could well play in all conditions. Didn’t mean Lenora had to like it, though.

The day was then pretty uneventful. Though for a short time Lenora worried about the weather as she looked out the window and it seemed to be getting dark midday. Thankfully there was nothing to fear as class let out and the sky was lovely again. Lenora went up to her room and got into her gear, nothing like physical activity to make an evening enjoyable. She felt a little bad about not getting to her homework or studying for her NEWTs but… she did that often enough to not worry about it every night.

Lenora tried, she really did. She realised that she was a prefect and that came with certain expectations. Such as doing her homework early and studying as much as physically possible. But she was a physical creature and being cooped up in the common room or library all the time really didn’t work for her. Especially when it took away from her time to be creative and to act. She really did want to do well in school, she really tried, she even managed to get pretty good grades too with the work she put in. But there were just some things that couldn’t be sacrificed in the name of academics. And quidditch was one of those things.

After getting strapped into her gear Lenora made her way down to the pitch to find Cassandra was the only one there ((because Zara has already said Lenora was there it means Lenora will be the first to arrive)). “Hey there Cap’n. How’re you? What’re we doing today?” Lenora said as she approached, excited for the practice to come.

[rex]

Rex always found it difficult to concentrate in class. That was why he was friends with Billy and Stacey. They would take the notes in class that Rex had just overlooked. No they wouldn't. They were just as bad in class as he was. Okay, maybe not AS bad... Maybe the reason that Rex did so poorly in classes was that he didn't care. Rex found himself apathetic toward many things. One of those things was magic. Not that magic wasn't cool. It was neat to see all the things one could do with magic. No, it wasn't magic that Rex found boring. It was life. Day to day, as a student you went to the same classes, you ate at the same table, you saw the same people. BORING! Or maybe it was Rex that was boring. Maybe Rex had become so far removed from the world that his idea of reality was askew. Rex admitted that when Raph left him, he took a part of Rex with him. Rex tried to find that part of himself that seemed to disappear along with his twin that fateful day. But he didn't have it, Billy didn't have it, and Stace didn't have it. The closet thing to what he was searching for was in Harmony. Maybe that's why he was drawn to her like a moth to a flame...

"Mr. Carter!" Professor's Flitwick squeaky voice broke Rex's concentration. "Perhaps you would do better in your Charms lessons if you would pay more attention to me and less attention to the window!" Rex hadn't even realised that he was staring out the window until the professor reminded him of it. "Sorry Professor," Rex mumbled. There was a reason that Rex was staring out the window however. He had Quidditch practice later that day. He had been watching the clouds slowly roll in and wondered whether they would clear out before practice that evening. This would be the first practice with the team that Rex had attended. He had been thinking about trying out for the Quidditch house team for a while now and after watching the Gryffindor team win against the Hufflepuff team, Rex knew that he wanted to be on it. He didn't know much about Cass except that she was a sixth year. Rex didn't know whether she would cancel practice if there was poor weather. Rex wanted to watch the clouds as he hoped they would blow over but he did his best to pay attention to his Charms lesson.

Finally the end of the day came and Rex hurried to the Gryffindor tower to change into his Quidditch uniform. He decided for warmer clothes as he thought it looked cold outside. It was clear outside, as the clouds had blown over, but that didn't make it warm outside. Hurrying down to the pitch, Rex wondered whether the Gryffindor team would be able to play the victor of the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin game. If not that meant that Rex had to wait until next year to play in a House game. He hoped that the school would be able to play that final game before the year was over though. As he approached the pitch he saw the captain, Cass, waiting for the rest of the team. A thought struck Rex as he neared his teammates, if he had tried out before the Hufflepuff game, he would have been able to play against Harmony. Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.