A New Year, A New Team ((Scott))

[Cassandra Blackfire G7]

Cass dropped the heavy notebook on the wooden table in the common room. This huge book held every quidditch play that Cassandra Blackfire had come up with in her quidditch career. It held everything that she expected her new Vice-Captain to learn in a little over a week. With Zara graduating, Scott had stepped into the coveted role as Cassandra's right hand on the team. She knew Scott fairly well, but she wouldn't describe their relationship as close. In fact, they hardly communicated outside of the quidditch pitch. However, she did know that he was a fine quidditch player, and she needed to groom someone to take over for her after she graduated this year. The one and only Harry Potter had appointed Cassandra to captain after he had left school. She had taken the position timidly at first, but she soon found herself taking it with the upmost seriousness. She had won the Quidditch cup every year of her captaincy. She wasn't about to let it go in her last year at Hogwarts.

Cass sat in the hard wooden chair in the Common Room impatiently. She knew that Scott had a late class, but he seemed to be taking his time getting back to the Common Room. She twirled her wedding set around her finger nervously as she waited for him. Didn't he know that Quidditch was serious business? She checked the watch that Pyro had given her for her seventeeth birthday. Okay, Scott wasn't late, but didn't he know that arriving early would score him brownie points? She only hoped that he remembered to bring the play book she had sent to him earlier in the summer. Honestly, Cass would be surprised if he had it with him. It was heavy, and even the sizable owl she had sent with it had a hard time under the heavy load. Sighing, she decided to relax a bit. She sat back in her chair, still twirling her wedding set on her hand.

[Scott Ryder G7]

((The school boards aren't technically open yet for this upcoming school year, so this thread is a bit future-oriented. Anyways, it takes place during the first week of school, I presume. )

Scott flipped his Astronomy book shut, happy that class was finally over. He much rather would have been up in the Astronomy Tower, actually getting to use the viewing tools to examine the stars and planets and such. But, instead, they had spent the entire class listening to a lecture about the different gaseous forms which made the stars shine with different brightnesses. Packing his things into his rucksack, he threw it over his shoulder and rushed toward the Gryffindor common room. Cass had asked him to meet her there after class, and he didn't want to be late. They would be discussing the upcoming year for Gryffindor Quidditch, and he knew that she took this quite seriously. Scott took it seriously too, being appointed vice-captain and all, but he lacked some of the experience that Cass had. Sometimes he wondered if he really was the best choice as her successor, but then again, in his first match the previous year, he did catch the Snitch and ensure a Gryffindor victory. Much to his pleasure though, he'd recently been swapped to play Chaser, a position much more suited to his abilities.

Walking into the common room just seconds before the minute hand on the clock ticked forward to the time he was supposed to meet Cass, Scott found her at a table, the familiar large Quidditch book resting beside her. He plopped his bag down at the seat across from her, the weight from his own copy of the book causing quite the loud thud. "If you expected me to read the entire book, you're crazy," he said, a joking smile crossed his face as he took a seat. The truth was, Scott didn't mind reading, and he found the book quite useful for learning a lot about Quidditch that he hadn't realized before. With being a fairly new player and all, Scott was eager to learn what he could. His flying skills were as good as they might get, but his knowledge of the game itself could always be bettered by a bit of studying, and of course plenty of practice to go along. "When will our first practice be?" he questioned, once the thought of practicing came to mind. "I was watching a Ballycastle Bats game just this past summer, and I saw this drill that they did before the match. I thought it might be useful for the Chasers. I could lead it up if you'd like." Scott had an unusual sense of confidence when it came to the talk of Quidditch all the sudden. He was eager to help though, and quite excited to be leading the team alongside Cass.

Scott's mind instinctively began to wander, despite his excitement for the meeting itself. He thought of Theo, Lori, and all that had transpired over the summer. His thoughts of Theo though lead him to thoughts of the Ravenclaw team, which them had him thinking about all the other house teams and then his mind was back on track to continue talking with Cass. "Do you think we have a lot of rebuilding to do in comparison to the other teams?" he questioned. Scott knew that all of the teams lost at least one or two players. Key losses from the Gryffindor team came from losing Lenora and Zara, both experienced players who had been influential in Scott's learning to fulfill the role of Chaser. What worried Scott most was that Gryffindor had the youngest Seeker. Then again, Rex had often done well to hold his own in the few times Scott watched him play. Quidditch was always full of surprises too. The biggest, oldest, and most experienced players were not always the best. Scott showed that last year being a new, rather small, and not so old addition to the Gryffindor team. Then again, he wasn't amazing or anything, merely capable of doing what needed to be done.

"I suppose we ought to set a date for tryouts," he continued, knowing that with the people they had returning, there were seven exactly. That left no extra players to fulfill any voids that might occur because of accidents or whatnot. Surely, they'd need a good two or three more players to add to the roster, enough to give them a comfortable amount of substitutes to add to their team. "I'm available most evenings," he added. Scott sat back and watched Cass, hoping she didn't find him too assertive or forceful. He simply wanted her to see him as useful and knowledgeable. What good would he be if he just sat there like a toad and did nothing to contribute to the meeting. He stopped talking for a moment though, allowing Cass to perhaps gather her thoughts and fill him in on some of the things she had intended to discuss during their meeting.