On the Bench

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

(( Players who are not in the game may post here cheering or doing whatever else you would do on the bench ))

[Pyro Blackfire S5]

Pyro trudged through the snow slowly easily eating a muffin with one hand while the other held his firebolt across his shoulders. Pyro wasn’t playing in today’s game, at least not as a starter. There was always a chance of a stray bludger knocking someone senseless though, so chances are Pyro might still get some playing time in. Pyro entered the stadium and made it to the locker room with the rest of the team as he changed into his Quidditch uniform. He listened to the speech that Kennedy gave before heading out onto the field.

While the other players took their positions on the field Pyro headed over to the bench and sat down. He really wanted to play, but then again, had he been in Kennedy’s shoes he would have done the same thing. Still, the players that Kennedy had used to fill his position were hardly worth it. Not to mention Kennedy was taking the Keeper position even though his strength lay in Chaser. Pyro sighed at the line up and merely shrugged. Oh well, let them loose a few games and then Kennedy would put him back into the starting lineup.

With Madam Hooch’s whistle the match was under way. Pyro had planned on only watching silently, but it didn’t take long for the match to go badly for Slytherin. One of the Ravenclaw Chasers got hold of the quaffle and made a bee line for the goal posts. “Somebody stop her!” Pyro yelled. “Bludger her, block her, freaking knock her off her broom!” He shouted, even standing up from his seat as the Chaser closed in on the goal. One Chaser, Caleb, did attempt to steal the Quaffle back but failed in his attempt. Pyro groaned, not trusting Kennedy to do a great job at his new position. Sure enough a few seconds later, ten points went on the board for Ravenclaw.

Pyro wanted into the match now more than ever. He growled and grinded his teeth as he watched the game continue. Suddenly the Ravenclaw Seeker went into a dive and Pyro groaned. She spotted the Snitch already? “Somebody bloody her noise with a Bludger!” Pyro shouted, hoping one of the Slytherin beaters would hear him. “Or skip the whole Bludger phase and use your bat!”

[Weetzie O'Keeffe H7]

It was a delicate procedure. You had to grab one, then the other, and then pull ever so gently so as not to break it. Then you were stuck with a loose piece of hair and the one attached to your head. Split ends. Weetzie hadn't really ever cared about split ends before, but then again, Weetzie had always done crazy things to her hair. Ever since she had gotten back from the tour, she had calmed down quite a bit – her hair was one colour and it was rather natural. Except, now there were split ends. Well, that's what Quidditch games were for, especially when she was a reserve. She didn't blame anyone but herself for being put on reserve. She had left in the middle of the term. Weetzie lifted her blue eyes and looked up at the game flying above her head. She could see Ashley, her newly cut brown hair pulled back into a small pony-tail, flying around with her bat securely in hand. Bryce was elsewhere, doing the same thing – looking for bludgers. Weetzie chewed on her bottom lip. She hadn't talked to either of them yet, and she had been back for a month and a half. She didn't know how she felt about that: happy or slightly disappointed.

She had really changed since they had last seen her. They probably didn't recognize her. Of course, she was in their classes – but she wasn't the happy and rambunctious Weetz she had been in sixth year, and she wasn't the dark and depressed one she had been before she left with Chris. She was mellow, quiet, someone completely new. She spent her nights in empty classrooms or out in the grounds, writing new songs, singing old ones, and thinking. She didn't seek out Bryce, who she really wanted to reconnect with, and she sure as hell didn't seek out Ashley, who she felt she really owed an apology to. Yes, Weetzie had really grown up – what a shocker. Her hands dropped from her hair and she pushed her pony-tail over her shoulder and looked up at the game again. Hufflepuff currently had the Quaffle, and Weetzie was pleased – she smiled but she didn't cheer. She didn't want to cheer, she felt quiet today. She wanted to get in the game, a little, but she didn't mind sitting on the bench.

Weetzie sat on the bench leisurely, sitting on her hands, as her Quidditch boots scraped against the grass. She had a new melody running through her head that she had fit to some lyrics she had written on the road. Rae, her manager/producer/new friend, had contacted her last weekend at Hogsmeade and shown her the new studio – filling Weetzie with so much inspiration she couldn't handle it. Of course, Rae was rather busy: what with helping her best friend, Dixie Greene, wife of Professor Greene, through her pregnancy. Apparently things weren't going as planned- not that it was really planned. You're on top of the world, and I'm just waiting, making up your excuse. You say that love's tough, are you sure? Ain't it just a piece of cake to make me look like a fool? You're on top of the world and if you're thinking I've been blinking while you're breaking the rules, don't that make you the fool? Oh, you're on top of the world. Most of her songs on this album that she was recording with Arc Records were about one person. Christopher Crawford.

Chris had been the one guy that Weetzie had really ever fallen for. Sure, she had crushed on Bryce very lightly for a little while, but then something happened and she realized she cared about him as a brother. Chris, however, had been something entirely different. Weetzie's heart had skipped a beat whenever he was around, and while it had taken her longer to figure out that she felt something for him than it had taken him to realize it – they had made a cute couple: whenever Chris allowed them to be one. He didn't let anyone else know that they were together, and this meant that he had to keep up appearances. Each night he would flirt with every girl he could, and then swear to Weetzie that he loved her and only her. She couldn't understand…how he could love her but not be willing to tell everyone else. When they had reached London again, she had broken it off with him…and she hadn't talked to him since. She rarely saw him at school, and with this new record label… she had no reason to ever talk to him.

Good. She didn't want to talk to him either. Only, she did. She wanted to. He was her best friend. He knew everything about her. And yet at the same time she hated him. She wished she had someone else to talk to… but there was no one. Weetzie sighed slightly and pulled herself out of the slight slump of depression that had settled over her. She looked up at the game, summoned all of her strength, and shouted up at the game, "GO HUFFLEPUFF!" She doubted anyone could hear her. Since when did Weetzie become invisible?