Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw!

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

((Commentary by Ruby Lehane. Commentators, you are welcome to post in the match with your own character - I can cope and it makes things easier for everyone. Besides, we don't want to miss out on your evil pictures. ))

Ruby Lehane smirked out at the crowds of students and adults that made their way to the stands. It was already warm outside and for once it didn’t seem like rain would interrupt this match. Which was a pity. If there was one thing Ruby found boring it was the constant lack of danger facing the Quidditch players. It was always so much more entertaining to see them fighting to see through the rain while still remaining on their broomsticks. Ruby smirked at the thought remembering how a third year had fallen off their broom not long ago due to the slippery wood that the rain had caused.

Nudging her brother with her elbow she nodded toward the field. “What do you think? Want to take bets on who will win the match? I put 5 Galleons on Ravenclaw,” Ruby smirked before the players began entering the field. The roar of the crowd was exactly what Ruby had been waiting for as the cheers began and she picked up the magical microphone. Blue orbs glanced over at her brother and then back to the field as the players swept around the field. “Welcome to another spectacular Hogwarts Quidditch game where noble Gryffindor meets clever Ravenclaw in their last game of the year! Our starting lineup for Gryffindor has Trinity Bleu, Zoey Shay, and Scott Ryder as chasers, Cassandra Fallon (no surprise there) and Melody Bang Bala as beaters, Mikayla Moon reclaims her role as seeker for the Gryffindor team and Oscar Flynn takes up as keeper this game. The Ravenclaw lineup is as follows, Theo Darke, August Reid, and Woodrow Winchester will be your chasers today, Edward Summers and Celia Richmond (in her last game at Hogwarts) will take up as beater, Ruth Hosker-Thornhill will take up brooms against Gryffindor’s Moon as seeker, and Ephraim Eades will try to keep Gryffindor from scoring as your Ravenclaw keeper. Please welcome your Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams!”

The roar of the crowd increased and Ruby leaned over. “I’m so sick of playing nice,” she muttered in his ear before turning back to watch Madam Hooch gather the two starting teams to the center. Putting the microphone back to her lips she smiled wide. “Now the only question is who will take possession of the Quaffle in the toss up?” Ruby waited for the Quaffle to shoot up out of Madam Hooch’s hands and the players scattered. “And here we go! Summers and Bang Bala have already found themselves a couple of Bludgers and have sent them streaking through the sky toward their victims, Ryder and Darke! Bleu moves to block Darke from catching the Quaffle, but Darke must have seen her coming because he’s already moved around her and sure enough gained possession of the Quaffle right out of Ryder’s arms it seems. Ravenclaw is already stepping it up to defeat Gryffindor this year. Hopefully Gryffindor step it up and whoa do you see this Wynd, we’ve already had a change in line up. The first of the game and team captains Blackfire, Fallon, Logton…whatever she’s going by nowadays and Richmond have already decided their prior decisions weren’t good enough. Seems that Mikayla Moon has switched positions with Trinity Bleu, Moon moving in as Chaser and Bleu moving to Seeker, hopefully that switch will work for them, and on the Ravenclaw team Ruth Hosker-Thornhill has already been substituted out of the game and replaced with little Sandy Hart. Not sure if I’d substitute the 7th year out for a 4th year, but we’ll see how Hart does.

“While substitutions take place Darke is already on the move toward the Gryffindor keeper Oscar Flynn. Let’s see if Flynn can hold out against Darke or if Ravenclaw will take the lead in the first few minutes here on this fine June day. Oh but what do we have here? Newbie Zoey Shay is already moving in to try to steal the Quaffle out of Darke’s hands before he scores. Seems a risky move, but we’ll give the third year a chance to really settle into the swing of things. Sometimes aggressive moves like this work out quite well. Now Wynd what on earth do you think Logton is doing now? She’s once again called the referee over. Do you think she could possibly be changing her line up once again? Well have to keep an eye on that one, don’t you think so brother? In the mean time Reid has moved up to try to block little Shay from stealing from Darke, but that seems to have opened up Ryder to attempt to steal. Summers seems to be getting prepared to block the Quaffle if Darke can retain the Quaffle, but what’s this Tiny, I mean Miss Moon has decided to take on Darke head to head. A risky move for the Tiny 7th year…Madam Pomfrey better have the beds ready in the Hospital Wing, because Gryffindor is up to no good this game. Fascinating game already don’t you agree Wynd?”

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

((Apologies for the delay in posting.

There have been several changes in the Gryffindor line-up, effective from the end of this round. Cassandra, you have my permission to g-mode Hooch giving Cassie a very dirty look!
Oscar has been substituted out of the game.
Cassandra Fallon G7 replaces Oscar as Keeper.
Zoey Shay G3 replaces Cassandra as Beater.
Rosaliz Hernandez G5 replaces Zoey as Chaser.
Trinity Bleu G5 replaces Melody as Beater.
Melody Bang-Bala G3 replaces Trinity as Seeker.

Scott – as it’s a new move, I’m not sure, but I think the answer is probably no. I need to discuss about teething problems with the ‘Mark Player’ move, actually. Mary, help?!

Cassandra attempts to defend Scott from Edward’s Bludger.
Edward = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 1 + 5 = 6
Cassandra = Defend (D8 + Str) = 7 + 6 = 13
Cassandra defends Scott from the Bludger.

Edward attempts to defend Theo from Melody’s Bludger and deflect it towards Zoey.
Melody = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 4 + 6 = 10
Edward = Defend (D8 + Str) = 1 + 5 = 6
Edward is unable to defend; Melody’s Bludger continues towards Theo.

Theo attempts to dodge the Bludger.
Melody = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 2 + 6 = 8
Theo = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 2 + 6 = 8
Tie! Re-roll.

Melody = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 4 + 6 = 10
Theo = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 8 + 6 = 14
Theo dodges Melody’s Bludger!

August attempts to block Zoey.
August = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 3 + 5 = 8
Zoey = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 3 + 6 = 9
August does not mark Zoey successfully.

Mikayla attempts to block Theo.
Mikayla = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 3 + 2 = 5
Theo = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 1 + 6 = 7
Mikayla does not mark Theo successfully.

Zoey tries to steal the Quaffle from Theo.
Zoey = Steal (D4 + Str) = 4 + 4 = 8
Theo = Defend (D8 + Str) = 7 + 6 = 13
Theo retains the Quaffle.

Theo shoots. Oscar did not post and therefore will not get his stat points for defending.
Theo = Score (D6 + Str) = 4 + 6 = 10
Oscar = Save (D6 + Dex) = 6 + 0 = 6
Theo scores! Oscar has the Quaffle. (NB. As Oscar has been substituted out of the game, Cassandra has the Quaffle.)

Gryffindor 0
Ravenclaw 10

Trinity searches for the Snitch. As she has a Con score of 6, her search roll will automatically be above 5 so I won’t bother rolling it.

Trinity = Search = 8.
8 is not the Snitch number. Trinity does not see the Snitch.))

Sandy searches for the Snitch. She must get a search roll of 5 or above in order to search successfully.
Sandy = Search (D6 + Con) = 1 + 3 = 4
Sandy’s search roll is below 5 and so she is not able to search.))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Hooch shot Cass a very nasty look as she took Oscar's place in front of the goal posts. The girl decided not to test the Matron's patience anymore than she had to this game. Didn't Hooch understand? This was Quidditch!!!! Important decisions had to be made on the spur of the moment, and that included drastic line-up changes. Speaking of which, what in the hell did she ever do to Ruby Lehane? The girl was already jibing at her before the game could get good. Girl must be damaged. She's probably jealous because I'm with the only decent guy in her house. Some girls..., Cass thought smuggly. Cass tossed the quaffle into the air getting used to its weight. The goal scored by Ravenclaw gnawed at her stomach. Gryffindor would recover, and Melody was one of the best damn seekers she had seen in a long time. "Chasers, don't fail me now," she whispered to herself as she threw the ball towards Scott.

((pass to Scott))

[Sandy Hart R4]

"ZOOOOMMMM! HAHAHA!" exclaimed Sandy. She was looking for the snitch. She really was, but it was just too darn fun. How could it not be? Flying through the air, winding among the players, and searching for the elusive thing only she could find. It was a treasure hunt to say the least, and she would find it. Oh yes, she would find it before the other's teams seeker. That was her job, wasn't it? To find the snitch? She really didn't think she had to do anything else, but she wondered what it would be like to play the other positions. Was the perspective different? Did the emotion and the feeling of the game flow differently? She didn't know, but she would love to find out. Slowly, her mind began to wander as she wondered how the quaffle might feel in her hands.

((snitch searching))

[August Reid R7]

August sighed in frustration as Zoey seemed to fly right by him as if he wasn't even there. Sometimes he wondered why he even played the damn sport. He didn't seem to be any good at it. His mind fluttered back to when Jasmine was the captain and had asked August to audition for the team. He was hesitant but they needed players so he agreed to do it. He found that he liked it. Flying high above the cheering crowd could be rather intimidating but liberating at the same time. Worries did not seem as worrisome up in the air. Theo had just scored so Ravenclaw was in a good position. The Gryffindor captain seemed to notice this as she switched not just one person but her entire team! That seemed a little ludicrous but whatever, he wasn't a captain. She was in possession of Quaffle so she had all the time in the world to do what she wanted. August had to change that.

((Intercepting Pass))

[Edward Summers R6]

"Oh Shoot!" Edward cried as his bat hit nothing but air and the Bludger soared right past him. Thankfully Theo did an amazing bit of flying and managed to dodge the Bludger, bypass any steal attempts and still get the QUaffle into the goal, ten nothing Ravenclaw! Ed threw his hands up in joy and celebrated, than felt a slight pain on his head as his Beater bat struck him and continued to fall. "Oh no." He quickly dipped into a dive, soaring extremly close to Madame Hooch's side as he caught his falling club. "Sorry." He muttered to the ref before flying off in search of a wayward bludger.

((Attack on Scott))

[Celia Richmond]

Well, this game had gotten off to a good start – Edward had managed to deflect the other bludger away from Ruth (who now seemed fine on the sidelines) towards Scott, and although the bludger Celia had hit towards Scott had been deflected towards Theo, the vice-captain had luckily still managed to catch the quaffle first. Not only that, but he’d also managed to avoid that bludger, and go ahead and acore, easily! Good old Theo, reliable as ever, even with all those attempts to stop him!

As Theo had dodged the bludger that had been heading towards him, and Cass had defended Scott from the other bludger, both of them were free. Cass, now as the keeper after all the lineup changes, had the quaffle and was passing towards Scott. August was intercepting, and Edward had taken the wise decision to hit one of the bludgers towards Scott. In order to aid her chasers as much as possible, she took the same decision and hit the other bludger towards Scott too. It was harsh, but it was the right tactical decision.

((Hitting bludger towards Scott))

[Theo Darke]

And score! Theo whooped as he punched the air triumphantly. Oscar was obviously less than pleased, but that didn't stop the brilliant smile that spread across Theo's face. "Sorry," he yelled apologetically to his boyfriend, back-pedalling on his broom to await Oscar's pass. However, it was then Cassandra decided to practically change the whole Gryffindor team line-up. Theo frowned, a little confused, as several red-clad players switched positions on the field. Finally, when everyone was ready, it was the Captain herself who held the Quaffle. Theo narrowed his eyes; without Oscar as Keeper, or on the field at all, he had to admit his concentration was much better, for Oscar was quite a distracting factor. On the other hand, Theo was a little miffed on Oscar's behalf; his Vice Captain boyfriend deserved better than the substitute bench, however badly he was playing.

Theo watched as Cassandra threw the Quaffle to Scott. Before he could react, August was already there. Seeing a free moment, Theo's eyes scanned the skies for other activity. The Seekers - now Sandy versus little Melody Bang-Bala - had not spotted anything as of yet, hovering patiently around the pitch. E, at the other end of the pitch - just a speck of blue - was obviously doing nothing more but waiting for action - which Theo hoped he wouldn't get, but if Scott managed to receive the Quaffle from Cassandra, that would certainly be the case. The Beaters seemed to be getting the most action as usual, besides the Chasers; Theo watched as Edward and Celia hit a Bludger towards Scott. Theo immediately felt a pang of sympathy for his friend. To face two Beaters was not a fun or easy challenge, coupled with August's intercept. Theo sat still and waited for the outcome.

[zoeyshay]

Zoey smiled in relief when she was changed from Chaser to Beater. She was more comfortable with her hands gripping the bat then her hands trying to get the large Quaffle. She quickly and silently prayed that there wouldn’t be another line-up change Cass made that switched her to anther position before she zipped away from the Gryffindor hoops. She glanced where the commentators stood, and she looked at the girl, Ruby Lehane with some anger in her eyes. She had called her little and a newbie. Those were true, there was no doubting that, but that seemed to fuel her with the urge to make a name of her, a good one, and to show that being small and petite wouldn’t make her a feeble Quidditch player. She turned her attention away from the annoying commentators and back to the field, where her attention was most needed. She looked around the field at all her fellow teammates, and she gave a small smile as she saw none of them in danger.

She smirked to herself, looked around the field again. “Bludger, Bludger, da-da-dum-da-da.” She sang quietly to herself. She looked at the Ravenclaw players, glaring at Theo with the tearing of frustration slashing at her stomach. She knew she shouldn’t have been beating herself up about failing at stealing the Quaffle since he had been playing longer than her, he was older, stronger, than her, and he was overall better than her, but she still felt the anger burning. She took a quick hand and lifted it to her cheek. They were hot and probably red from the unforgiving sun blaring down at them. She tugged on the scarlet and gold robes she wore proudly and looked around the field again. She rolled her eyes and shot off toward Scott when she saw not one, but two Bludgers sent to him. "Trinity, Bludgers toward Scott!" she called to Trinity as she passed her. She gulped, appearing next to Scot and gripping the bat as she swung.

((Defending Scott from Edward's Bludger))

[Trinity Bleu]

"Again?" Trinity flew up to the Captain, evidently annoyed. "I haven't played for five minutes and you've switched me around twice already. I'm grateful to play, Captain, but if you don't stop switching I won't be able to do my job!" With that frustration vented on Cassandra, Trinity grabbed her Beater's bat off of her and flew away. She did not in the least mind playing Beater - it wasn't like she enjoyed Seeking anymore than Beating, or that she wanted the glory of being a Seeker - but Trinity wanted to play Quidditch; she didn't want to play a stupid game of switching positions. "C'mon, Zoey!" she yelled to the younger new recruit of the Gryffindor team as she passed her, "Let's show them what we're made of!" A competitive grin rising, Trinity immediately began scouting for Bludgers the moment the whistle blew, signalling the game beginning once more. Immediately she and Zoey had their work cut out; both Ravenclaw Beaters were on the ball today (literally), and had hit both Bludgers at Scott, who Trinity noticed was about to receive the Quaffle from Cass. "Scott, heads up!" Trinity yelled in warning as she shot towards him. "Zoey, take that one!" she hollered at her teammate as she zipped towards the Ravenclaw Captain's Bludger. Trinity threw her bat out and put all her strength into it. "I don't think so!"

((Defending Scott from Celia's Bludger.))

[Mikayla Moon]

Another line up change!? Mikayla thought as she glanced over at her friend. Cassie was already releaving Oscar. This was just getting to be too crazy and...Mikayla's thoughts dropped off as she heard the commentators make a comment. Ruby and Wynd Lehane...the two twins of Slytherin. Oddly enough though they didn't seem all that bad. She'd had a run in with Ruby not long ago and actually found her to be quite pleasant despite the rumors about her mother. But calling Cassie...Logton instead of Fallon was a low blow...especially since that whole Logton/Blackfire thing had happened years ago, back when Ruby was probably only a 2nd or 3rd year.

Mikayla had to shake her head to get the thoughts away so she could concentrate. Ravenclaw had already scored and that was bad...very bad! She caught sight of Cassie attempting to pass to Scott, but someone was trying to intercept! That wasn't going to happen if Mikayla could stop it. She shot off toward the Ravenclaw chaser in an attempt to block him from intercepting the pass.

((Attempting to mark August so he can't intercept))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

Melody frowned a little at the change in lineup that put Trinity into the position of Seeker. The newcomer to the team had an aura that made her feel uncomfortable: she was the sort of person that Melody preferred to stay out of the way of because she sensed that otherwise she might be shoved aside by the more dominant personality. Anyway, Melody couldn't help but feel a little resentful that Trinity was being put in as Seeker in her very first game. It had been a risk when Melody had first been put in as Seeker of course, but at least she'd proved herself as Beater first. It was essential to get the choice of Seeker right.

Whether or not Cassandra realised what Melody was thinking about - most likely not - the next, major change in line-up put Melody in the position that she had been idly coveting only just a moment before. She handed her Beater's bat over to Zoey with a grin. "Good luck!" she told her fellow third year. "Show 'em what you're made of!"

She adopted her favourite Seeker altitude almost immediately, rising up above the main gameplay to give her a less hectic setting for her search. Now that she was here, she'd better do a good job!

((Searchin' fer t'Snitch!))

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

((I appreciate that this post is a little early, but I hope it won't be an issue as I think everyone's posted who needed to.

Edward hits a Bludger at Scott; Zoey attempts to defend Scott.
Edward = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 1 + 5 = 6
Zoey = Defend (D8 + Str) = 1 + 4 = 5
Zoey fails to defend Scott from the Bludger.

It is assumed that Zoey would warn Scott to dodge the Bludger.
Edward = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 3 + 5 = 8
Scott = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 8 + 6 = 14
Scott dodges the Bludger!

Celia hits a Bludger at Scott; Trinity attempts to defend him.
Celia = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 6 + 6 = 12
Trinity = Defend (D8 + Str) = 2 + 2 = 4
Trinity fails to defend Scott from the Bludger.

It is assumed that Trinity would warn Scott to dodge the Bludger.
Celia = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 4 + 6 = 10
Scott = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 6 + 6 = 12
Scott dodges the Bludger!

Mikayla attempts to mark August.
Mikayla = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 3 + 2 = 5
August = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 8 + 5 = 13
Mikayla does not mark August successfully.

Cassandra passes to Scott; August attempts to intercept.
Cassandra = Pass (D6 + Dex) = 1 + 5 = 6
August = Intercept (D4 + Dex) = 4 + 5 = 9
August intercepts the pass! August has the Quaffle.

Sandy searches for the Snitch. She must get a search roll of 5 or more in order to search successfully.
Sandy = Search (D6 + Con) = 1 + 3 = 4
Sandy is unable to search successfully.

Melody searches for the Snitch. She has a Con score of 6 and so will automatically have a search roll of 5 or more.

Melody = Search = 10
10 is not the Snitch number. Melody does not see the Snitch.))

[Trinity Bleu]

"Dang!" Trinity swore as her bat missed the Bludger, allowing it to swerve past her towards Scott. "Watch out, Scott!" she yelled at the older boy. For a moment Trinity remembered the little game she'd made for the two of them a few weeks ago, when she'd joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Scott had won that Seeker match then, but now they were on the same side, and it was Trinity's responsibility to keep him and her other teammates safe. "Dammit," she muttered irritatedly. All she could do was watch as Scott attempted to avoid the Bludger. When he did, Trinity allowed relief to flood her senses, but they were soon gone when she realised Scott was not in possession of the Quaffle - August had intercepted! With a repeat of "Dammit!" Trinity flew towards her classmate. Bludger in sight, she extracted her bat once more. "Sorry, mate," she said to herself as her bat made contact with the Bludger at last, "but you're going down."

((Hitting Bludger at August!))

[Theo Darke]

"Yes!" Theo yelled in triumph as he watched the Quaffle land in August's arms. "Way to go, August!" Despite his delight, Theo wasn't going to let that get to his head or distract him. Immediately he was shooting off to tail his younger teammate. Travelling alongside him, Theo made sure he was kept in August's sight in case the Fifth Year needed his assitance. No doubt the Gryffindor Chasers and Beaters would be onto August in a snap of his fingers. Already Trinity Bleu, now playing Beater, was streaking towards them determinedly. "August, watch it! Beater, 9 'clock!" Theo yelled warningly. "Pass if you need to, I'm free!"

((Ready when you are, August!))

[Scott Ryder G7]

Well, it hadn't taken long, and it seemed that Ravenclaw was already on top of things. After Theo scored, August put the power back in the hands of the blues whenever he sniped Cass' pass in mid-air. They were too close to the Gryffindor hoops for Scott's liking. Hoping to have more success against August than he did against Theo, Scott zoomed in for the steal as he tried to claim the Quaffle for Gryffindor.

((Stealing.))

[Edward Summers R6]

"Hey! You can't do that!" Edward yelled at Scott as the boy dodged the bludger he had sent at him. Ed frowned as he scanned the field for more oppurtunities. Ravenclaw was still ahead and August had managed to intercept the Quaffle, there! Ed spotted his oppurtunity as one of the Gryffindor Beaters aimed a Bludger in August's direction. "August look out!" Ed cried and flew foreword to defend him. His approach was a little to determined though and Ed was late in applying the breaks and wound up crashing heavily into Augusts side.."Sorry." He muttered and hoped he hadn't caused too much damage and quickly spun around to defend against the bludger.

((Defending August and redirecting at Melody))

[Celia Richmond]

Well, that was a bit of a disappointment – unfortunately Scott had managed to dodge BOTH of the bludgers heading towards him, although both of the beaters had failed to defend him. However, August had luckily managed to intercept the pass from Cass to Scott, and now had the quaffle. Now, Trinity was hitting one of the bludgers towards August – an understandable move, really, and Edward had taken his place in defending the younger boy. This meant that the other bludger was free for Celia to hit, and she decided to once again hit it towards Scott to hopefully prevent him from stealing the quaffle from August, who was probably going to pass to Theo. She was so proud of how well her team were doing so far, and only hoped that Sandy would pick up her seeking skills and see the snitch soon enough.

((Hitting other bludger at Scott))

[Mikayla Moon]

Another failed attempt to block the Ravenclaw chaser. Seemed that Mikayla was not doing the best this game. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was the last time she'd get to play Quidditch or maybe that it was the end of her schooling affair. Whatever it was Mikayla was not at the best of her game and it was getting far more frustrating than it should have been. She grumbled to herself as she turned the broom around and took off in an attempt to intercept a pass from the Ravenclaw chaser.

((intercepting pass if one is made))

[Melody Bang-Bala G6]

As of yet, there was no sign of the Snitch, but the first few minutes of searching did allow Melody assess the searching conditions. They weren't the best. There weren't any clouds for the Snitch to hide in, but the sun was blindingly bright, making it necessary to squint when looking upwards. To add to that, there was still a tiny amount of haze left which took away the clarity of the blue sky, making it harder to notice a little golden dot. The sunshine also glinted on the watches, necklaces and bracelets of people in the crowd, and off the top of the goalposts. Light reflected glaringly off the windows of the castle and, closer to, the changing rooms. No doubt it would also reflect off the tiny Golden Snitch, but that wasn't much help on a day like this where light was everywhere.

Melody decided to increase her altitude still further - it was easier to see looking downwards and around her than it was to look up, so she could see a greater area when she was higher up. She looked around simply at the level of her head as she rose up. There was no reason why the Snitch might not just be up here, amongst the fierce sunlight that it hurt her eyes to look into.

((Searchin' fer t'Snitch.))