Quidditch in the Rain (Ivy)

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

You could always tell whem spring was coming when it started to rain instead of snow. Of cousre, it was still march, so the rain was icy and the wind blue as cold as it had in the months before, but Nokomis went out to the quidditch pitch anyway. It went with out saying that her pratice hadn't gone quite as well as she had hoped. She was still mad at herself for how poorly she had played in the pst two games, and it seemed that her almost venguful solitary pratices weren't doing her much good.

She was exausted, her clothes dripping wet, and her hair, which she had pulled back into pigtails looked as if they had only bairly survived a tornado. She carried her broom behind her, too tried and frustrated to care that the end of it dragged on the stone bath that lead through the courtyard. her head was down, partly because she didn't care enough to lift it and partly to help sheild from the still falling rain. As she walked, she did make out the form of a girl walking towards her.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy sighed as she pushed open the door of the courtyard to find a rather glum scene outisde. The showers had started in earnest now, and she could see that they were being treated to that fine drizzle which would wet you right through, somehow, if you stayed outside in it for any length of time. She stepped outside nevertheless, letting her hair loose, the drizzle making it wet on top and almost slightly silvery. She shook it, enjoying the fact that it was at least warm enough to venture outside without being so wrapped up you couldn't walk.

Ivy made out the faint figure of a rather bedraggled looking life-form in the distance. As she got closer, she became sure that that slight figure, and that Cleansweep, definitely belonged to one person she knew - Nokomis. She looked a bit disgruntled, and almost as though she was unhappy. Why she was out, quite so soaked, on a day like this, Ivy wasn't sure. Maybe she had been caught in a heavier shower. But there was usually one thing that cheered her up, and that was Quidditch. So Ivy conjured up her red, bouncy, ball that she had become so used to making, so much so that the stitching was now coming up with just the right amount of wear to make it perfect, and spun it in her hands before launching it in the direction of Nokomis.
"Catch!" she called, knowing that it at least wouldn't hurt even if Nokomis did miss it, but feeling that it would be better if she did.

((Hope that's all right, I'm not exactly inspired today.))

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

Her focus was not at its best as she walked, and even though she reconized the face in front of her, she bairly glanced up to see who it was. Only when she heard someone yell catch, did she look up, just in time to see a red quaffle coming towards her. It was then that her countless hours of pratice kicked in and instinct took over. She reached her free arm up to bram the quaffle. Her attempt was far from graceful and she had to pull it into her body to keep from droping it, but at least she got it.

She looked forward to see the girl who had thrown it, through she reconized the voice, she smiled when she saw that it was Ivy. Right now she really wanted a friend. Still holding the Quaffle she walked closer to Ivy before tossing it back.

"Perfect quidditch weather, huh?"

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled happily as Nokomis caught the ball. That was what made Nokomis so good at Quidditch, why she was on the team in only her second year - she had the instinct to catch it. Ivy's skill at catching the ball had come only with a lot of trouble and practice, and she was dreading the match against Slytherin. She knew that some of the girls were probably on the team. She wouldn't be able to try to get the Quaffle off them - she'd be afraid to go anywhere near them. Yet if she was to help her team at all, she would have to overcome her fear. She didn't see how though. In the last game she had taken quite bad injuries, hit by Bludgers twice. It had taken her a long time to recover from that, and she only hoped the Slytherin Beaters would not be too aggressive towards her during the course of the coming game.

Ivy was startled out of her reverie by Nokomis' voice, and looked up to find the red ball coming back at her. She extended her hands, catching it fairly neatly, and did a full arm swing before launching it back. She had decided that this might be a better way of avoiding people stealing the Quaffle off her, learning to catch and release in one smooth movement. Not that it would make much difference, if she couldn't get the courage to get the Quaffle in the first place.
"Hardly," she replied, frowning slightly. "Were you practising just now?" She didn't want to be overbearing, and she rarely worried about Nokomis, but if she had been practising in the rain, she must be getting fanatical about winning the next match. In which case Ivy would be letting her down even more.

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

A soft smile formed when she saw Ivy catch the ball. She always seemed so graceful. While Ivy was only a year ahead of herself, she seemed so much more together, like she always knew exaclty what she was doing. Some part of her envyed that about Ivy. She even caught the quaffle with perfect form.

She nodded in responce to her friends question, looking down at her broom as she realized that she had been letting it drag. Before she didn't care, but now she was sorry she had. Her broom was already one of the lesser quality ones at Hogwarts.

"After how I played the last two games, I can use all the pratice I can get."

She smiled weakly, looking down again. She remembered the conversation she had had a week earlier with Kim and Valerie. Mainly it was Kim who had done all the talking, but now her stomach knotted with the idea of everything they had said. When she looked back up at Ivy she felt guilty. If there was anyone who she should talk to about what they had said, it was Ivy.

"Hey...um...do you think we could talk about the team?"
She paused, glacning up slightly at the still falling rain. She didn't really want to go in, dispite the weather. She never really liked the rain, but she never disliked it either. She wondered if Ivy would want to get out of the rain. She glanced over her shoulder again and saw that they were close to one of the benches, which was under a tree. It was still wet, but at least slightly drier than standing in the middle of the path.
"Do you want to sit...maybe?"

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy frowned, feeling slightly concerned. Her friend didn't look very happy, and that was out of character. She was always quiet, but Ivy hadn't really seen her unhappy. She hastened to give what reassurance she could, but knew that it would probably not be taken to heart. Ivy had told Nokomis how good she was on many occasions, but she never really felt that it was taken properly on board. It was a source of frustration, but she didn't let it show. Nokomis was a good friend.
"You're great, Nokomis. The other teams are just too experienced at the moment. But if we keep on practising, we'll manage a victory sometime." Ivy smiled at her friend, willing her to look as though she believed her. A victory might not come this year, but Ivy was sincere that Hufflepuff would be victorious in at least one match.

Ivy looked at Nokomis seriously as she asked if they could talk about the team. Was it something about the team which was making Nokomis worried? Well, if Nokomis wanted to tell Ivy, she had no objections. She didn't like to see her friend unhappy.
"Sure, of course we can," Ivy said, following Nokomis' gaze up to the grey skies. She sat down on the bench Nokomis indicated, the cold wind ruffling her loose hair so that it became slightly tangled. "Is there a problem?" she asked concernedly, shuffling to make sure she wasn't gazing at Nokomis too much, knowing that having the same thing done to her made her feel uncomfortable.

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She smiled at Ivy's kind words. It did mean a lot of her that Ivy believed in her so much. Knowing that did make her feel a little better, but she still felt like she wasn't good enough to be on the team at times. At least Ivy seemed to think that they would win a game at some point. She really hopped that they would, but she knew they would need a more experianced team, and it was hard because it seemed like one member or anyother always needed to be replaced.

She walked over to the bench and sat down, looking over at Ivy for a moment, then looking down at her feet.

"Its not so much of a problem...just...I don't really know what it is. Valerie and Kim wanted to talk to me a while ago...they asked me to take over the Hufflepuff team."

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy listened carefully to what Nokomis was saying hesitantly. Surely it was a good thing? It shouldn't be making her look so worried, it should have been a boost to her confidence. Nokomis had the natural talent - and Ivy had a lot of respect for that talent and so struggled with herself to see that maybe Nokomis didn't have the confidence at the moment. If she thought she had played badly in the first two games, then she perhaps didn't think she could manage the team.

"Well..." she said quietly, "Do you want to take over the team?" She didn't add what she was thinking - that Nokomis was good enough to captain the team. Most of it was completely dedicated, so the fact that Nokomis was shy wouldn't be an obstacle. That Ivy could see. Valerie seemed shy, but it certainly wasn't an obstacle during Quidditch practices. She didn't add it because she wanted to hear what Nokomis thought. She would tell Nokomis what she honestly thought, but at the end of the day, if Nokomis didn't want to take it over, she didn't want to take it over. Ivy just hoped she did want to take it over.

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She was sielnt for a while, looking down at her feet as she scuffed them into the muddy ground. To her, being Quidditch Captin was a serious issue. Out of everything in her life, Quiddich was fast becoming the most important thing, no matter how much her mum objected.

"Yeah....I want to."
She smiled slightly, heistating one more moent before she looked over at Ivy.

"Quidditch is the only thing I have ever been really good it. I'm mean, I know I'm not bad at other things...but its like quidditch is the only thing that makes sense to me. But I'm the youngest one on the team...I have only been playing for a few months, what if I'm not ready...or if I don't do a good job?"

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled as Nokomis said she wanted to be the Quidditch Captain, before listening to the doubts that Nokomis was letting out. But if Nokomis wanted to do it, she could do it. It might well be stressful at times, but if it was, Nokomis did have a small circle of friends to fall back upon. Ivy was one of those friends.
"Well," Ivy said, "if you want to do it, then go for it." She hesitated, looking at her friend to see that she was all right before continuing.

"I'll tell you now that you're good enough. You're a natural at Quidditch. You're right, you're good at other things too, but your eyes always light up when you talk about Quidditch." Ivy grinned at her friend. It was true. Every time they met, they seemed to end up talking about Quidditch. It was one of their main common interests. Ivy had ended up throwing herself into her Quidditch after the death of her father because it was one way in which she could feel she belonged somewhere. She belonged to the Hufflepuff Quidditch team and she belonged to her group of friends.
"And age isn't a factor. You're good enough, you won't mess up. There's no one else who'd do it better, Nokomis." Ivy watched her friend carefully. She wanted to see what she hoped - that she had encouraged Nokomis and assured her that she was good enough. Nokomis put herself down too much of the time. Being Quidditch Captain would give her so much more confidence, Ivy was sure of that.

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She smiled softly at Ivy. Her older friend had an amazing way of making her feel better, not matter what the problem was. It had been Ivy who soothed her when she struggled with seeing her father over winter Holiday, and it was Ivy who soothed her now over this. With slightly hesitations he leaned towards her friend to give her a big hug, perhaps more for herself than anything, but it was to thank Ivy too.

"I couldn't do it with out you."

After the hug, when she pulled away slightly, she glanced down, noticing that her dripping clotching had managed to soak the front of Ivy's at least somewhat dry outfit. She looked up, a smile somewhere between sorry and laughing.

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy smiled, happy that Nokomis seemed reassured by what she had said, and hugged her back, slightly surprised at the gesture. She smiled at her friend brightly, and followed her gaze to her top, which was now rather wet. Well, what could you expect when both of them had been out in the rain for at least half an hour, Nokomis probably for a lot more.
"I'm always there for you if you need me," Ivy told her, in response to what Nokomis had said. That was true only with a few people, only the people who Ivy considered her friends. There weren't very many of those people, but Nokomis was certainly one of them.

Ivy pondered for a moment, before she noticed just how wet Nokomis was by now. How could she stand that? Other than by having some sort of plastic waterproof on beneath her clothes, which she certainly didn't have, judging by the fact that the clothes were clinging to Nokomis' slight frame. Ivy cursed herself for not having got Nokomis inside and dry before now, and stood up immediately.
"Look at you, you're soaking!" Ivy said. "Come on, back inside, back inside." She grinned at her friend, wondering whether if Nokomis stayed stationary any longer she would have to drag her back to the Common Room. "I'll make you some hot chocolate or a Butterbeer once you've got something dry on."

[Nokomis Astarra H5]

She smiled at Ivy's comment. It was nice to know that she always had someone there for her. It was actually the first time she could ever remember someone saying that to her. It was then that Ivy's expression seemed to change and the topic drifted from support to her being wet. Truthfully, she had forgotten about her frustrating quidditch pratice and the fact that she was still driffing wet. She glanced down again, then back at Ivy before smiling and pushing herself back up to her feet.

"Okay, you win. We can go back, and I will change, and I think a cup of hot chocolate sounds wonderful."