Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin!

[Stephen Donahue S7]

A stream of very inappropriate curse words fell from Stephen's lips as his attempt to avoid the bludger ended in a collision with the bludger instead. Pain flared in his side, the side that had been holding the quaffle, which now was falling. He had to force the pain away, clear his mind, and remember what he had to do, which was to regain possession of the quaffle. It was a must. Dropping down he dove for the quaffle reaching out with the arm on the side of his body that hadn't just suffered damage. He was determined to get that quaffle no matter the cost, just so long as it didn't result in another injury of course.

((attempting to regain possession))

[Finn Miles H7]

Finn couldn't help but find Trinity's commentary amusing as he watched Wynd get pummeled with a Bludger from both himself and Sydney. "Good job, Syd!" he hollered as the two of them crossed paths. She truly was showing great potential as a Beater, and he wouldn't be surprised if Ivy suggested that she stick to the spot when the next season came around. Granted, Ivy would no longer be captain, but maybe it would be Sydney herself, seeing that both Ivy and Chace graduated. That was a thought for a later time though, as Finn saw a Bludger just ahead.

He flew forward, unable to be distracted momentarily by both the Chaser and Seeker action. Apparently the Quaffle was now loose and Sita had attempted a feint. Finn kept his eye on the Bludger though. Seeing how their last double attack had worked nicely, Finn figured that he'd take Syd's lead and send a Quaffle toward Josephine. Perhaps she'd have to take the brunt of both hits as well?

((Attack on Josephine!))

[Kailyn Valak S6]

Damn those Hufflepuff Beaters. And damn that Trinity Purple, or whatever her name was. She was growingly getting on Kailyn's last nerve. Why one of the professors hadn't put an end to her less than tactful commentary, Kailyn couldn't say. But, what she did know was that she wasn't going to sit around idly and let it continue. Something needed to be done.

In a fit of anger, she flew forward toward Josephine, where there seemed to be two Bludgers headed as well. It made her sick how well the two Hufflepuff Beaters were working together. She was prepared to put a stop to that as well.

Lining up just right, she placed her body between Josephine and the two oncoming Bludgers. They were far enough apart that she could only defend one though, plus, she'd only one bat. Taking the first of the two, she swung hard, with the intent of sending the Bludger away from Josephine and directly toward the commentator's perch. "Let's see what you have to say about this," she growled, hoping that the Bludger would smack right into that annoying Gryffindor.

((Defending Josephine and deflecting toward Trinity.))

[kael]

How fortunate, and how very careless of the other Chaser to drop the Quaffle. It probably wouldn’t be very beneficial for the Slytherin team but Kael was pretty sure that no one clad in yellow minded. For a moment, the commentator’s observations of the game distracted him and Kael spared a hasty glance towards Sita as he wondered whether the game would be over that quickly then shook his head and aimed his broomstick in the direction of the falling Quaffle. If he didn’t stop getting distracted so easily then Ivy would be relocating him back to the bench. What an enjoyable post-game talk that would be.

((Focusing on getting the Quaffle.))

[Sophia Hallington H7]

Awwww no, Sophia's shot missed, for which she had to blame Stephen for marking her...argh! Drake then passed the quaffle to the same boy, but then thankfully Sydney managed to hit him with a bludger, causing him to drop it, so it was now free, with Kael and Stephen fighting over it. She hoped that Ivy would successfully mark Kael so he could get the quaffle, but Sophia decided to go and mark Adalia to avoid the younger girl trying to get the quaffle to or something of the sort. Bludgers were still flying everywhere but luckily none at her, and the seekers seemed nowhere near close to finding the snitch, but there was still an air of excitement around as there was in every game. She willed Kael on as she flew past him towards Adalia and took her position in front of the girl.

((Marking Adalia))

[Seth Wright]

When Seth's attention returned once more to the ongoing game, he was extremely confused to why Stephen no longer had the Quaffle. Instead, the large red ball was falling through the sky, and it was being pursued by Kael and Stephen. "Go on, Kael!" Seth yelled, wondering what had caused Stephen to lose the Quaffle in the first place. Maybe this was a sign that Hufflepuff were going to make it ten-all.

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

((Josephine, your focus didn’t need to be used this round so it hasn’t been counted towards your total of 5.

Sydney hits a Bludger at Josephine; Kailyn attempts to deflect it towards Trinity!
Sydney = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 2 + 6 = 8
Kailyn = Defend (D8 + Str) = 6 + 3 = 9
Kailyn deflects the Bludger successfully. There is a Bludger flying at Trinity!
NB. Since hitting a Bludger at the crowd (or commentator) is a foul, this has been dealt with and so this should be regarded as a free Bludger.

Finn hits a Bludger at Josephine. There is a Bludger flying at Josephine.

Ivy attempts to mark Stephen.
Ivy = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 1 + 6 = 7
Stephen = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 7 + 5 = 12
Ivy fails to mark Stephen.

Sophia attempts to mark Adalia.
Sophia = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 3 + 2 = 5
Adalia = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 4 + 0 = 4
Sophia marks Adalia successfully!

Stephen and Kael attempt to catch the Quaffle; Kael focuses.
Stephen = Catch (D6 + Dex) = 6 + 5 = 11
Kael = Focus Catch (D6 + Dex + Con) = 2 + 5 + 4 = 11
Tie! Re-roll.

Stephen = Catch (D6 + Dex) = 3 + 5 = 8
Kael = Focus Catch (D6 + Dex + Con) = 6 + 5 + 4 = 15
Kael catches the Quaffle! Kael has the Quaffle.

Sita searches for the Snitch. She must get a search roll of 5 or more in order to search successfully.
Sita = Search (D6 + Con) = 3 + 3 = 6
Sita is able to search.

Sita = Search = 8
8 is not the Snitch number. Sita does not see the Snitch.

Josephine searches for the Snitch.
Josephine = Search = 4
4 is not the Snitch number. Josephine does not see the Snitch.))

[Trinity Bleu]

((Trinity and Hardy's posts were written with each other, so read both posts together to understand what Trinity is referring / replying to!))

Trinity was delighted when Kael Collins snatched the Quaffle from Stephen. "And Hufflepuff are finally in possession," she qualified to the audience in good spirit. "Collins is redeeming himself after his crap save before. Perhaps he will score the next ten points that'll put both teams neck in neck. God I hope that'll be the case." However, something much more urgent and certainly ten times more alarming had caught Trinity's eye. "Valak defends Bowman - or some other green snake, can't really tell the difference, but it probably is since the two of them are 'best friends' and spend more time seducing the disgusting male neanderthals of their house than working-- Valak seems to have lost it and is sending a Bludger at me," Trinity mused out loud, still smug. "She's one to watch out for, boys. She may look sweet and innocent and cute, but no girl her size plays Beater, she's probably a man in disguise."

The Bludger was now definitely flying straight towards Trinity. Valak had one deadly aim, Trinity would give her that. "B****," Trinity muttered under her breath, unaware that her voice had been Sonorused, although there was no fear of the entire School hearing her expletive because the especial spell one of the professors had placed on Trinity's Sonorused voice caused her word to be replaced by a loud 'BEEP'. Trinity felt no need to apologise for her profanity. Instead, she took out her wand and with some interest pointed it at the oncoming Bludger. "I didn't know you disliked me so much, Kailyn," she said jovially for someone about to be attacked by a big black Bludger. "But this is really uncalled for. I think you need anger management, maybe some therapy. I would hex you right now if I could, but I've more self-control than that. Doesn't mean I won't be seeing you outside of School," she began to rant in growing anger. Trinity was amused but she was also very annoyed at Kailyn's attempt to punch her lights out and send her to Madam Pomfrey. Trinity hated the Hospital Wing and she hated being ill or broken in half. It'd happened before and she'd be damned to spend more than ten hours in bed at one time again. Kailyn Valak was not going to touch a single hair on Trinity.

However, the few spells Trinity could utter were hardly effective on a Bludger. Growling under her breath, Trinity began to swear - and ignored the both restless and ecstatic crowd. "BEEP Bludger, get the BEEP away from me!" she yelled angrily. With the Bludger seconds from her face, Trinity decided not to risk injury and dived under the stands, lying flat on the floor. "Valak, if even a cut is made on my body," she began to warn threateningly in a muffled voice across the wood pressed to her face, "I will BEEP kill you, I swear! My name's not Trinity Bleu for nothing, BEEP!" Trinity had nothing to worry about, though. With an expert flurry, Professor Hardy, the regulator of commentating, took out her wand and broke the Bludger into clean pieces, like a bomb exploding. Trinity immediately jumped up again without thinking of danger, looking a little hassled and with bits of white-blonde hair in her mouth, but her eyes were bright and excited. "That was bloody great, Professor!" she grinned in delight. After, Trinity couldn't help to add, "Serves you right, Valak," under her breath, knowing very well her Sonorus was still 'on', as Hardy gave Kailyn detention, along with the deduction of house points from Slytherin thanks to Hooch. This was going even better than Trinity had expected; worth every second of peril she had been placed in.

"Sure thing, Professor," Trinity nodded in surprising obedience. Hardy had just blown a Bludger with such ease and composure out of the sky, thus earning Trinity's respect, and so she respected her wishes. Plus, Trinity knew if she pushed anymore she would get detention too, and that would be a dampener on things going so well. Anyway, Lehane wasn't even on the pitch anymore. Even if he came back on it didn't mean Trinity couldn't do something just to irritate him, she thought with a mischievous smirk. "And after a Bludger is blown to pieces and I escape near death at said Bludger's hands, back to the game!" Trinity declared with mirth. This had been an eventful first match to commentate indeed.

[Professor Amaryllis Hardy]

Amaryllis was fairly sure that she didn’t take her job of regulating the school’s commentators nearly as seriously as she should do. When Minnie had been in charge of it, she had taken a rather more… proactive… role, but Amaryllis was rarely annoyed by the commentators, so long as they didn’t swear and didn’t say anything non-PC. Perhaps this game, she would have been a bit concerned at some of Miss Bleu’s specific-people-targeting, save for the fact that Bleu’s primary targets happened to be people who were well known in the staff room as bullies. She reckoned they could take it, and if they couldn’t, perhaps they might think a bit more before picking on their next victim. That was perhaps a little bit too optimistic.

One Slytherin Beater obviously couldn’t take it, though, and aimed a Bludger straight at the commentary box. Amaryllis sighed and drew her wand, not at all perturbed; she knew that armed in such a fashion, she was far more of a threat to the Bludger than it was to them. Miss Bleu appeared to be a little more alarmed: Amaryllis gave her a warning glare, privately pleased with herself for having taken the precaution with this commentator of modifying her Sonorus charm. Deciding that the encroaching Bludger was perhaps beginning to pose rather more of a threat than she would like, Amaryllis calmly blasted the Bludger into bits with a well-aimed hex. Not for nothing had she been Duelling Professor for a few years (or feared by her enemies at school).

“I rather enjoyed that,” she confessed absentmindedly to Miss Bleu, before casting ‘Sonorus’ on herself and announcing to everyone: “Miss Valak has just earned herself a week of detention.” It was rather unfortunate for the Slytherin fifth year that Madam Hooch was also reprimanding her, probably annoyed at having to pause the game while she went and replaced the missing Bludger. “Why, thank you, Miss Bleu,” she replied, almost modestly, to the girl’s coarsely expressed admiration. “Please do the players the courtesy of using their correct surnames,” she added sternly. Minnie could have warned her how difficult it was to keep one’s amusement out of one’s tone in situations such as these. No doubt she’d been laughing about it to herself for months.

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

Xiomara’s eyes narrowed as the words coming from the commentary box alerted her to the foul-in-progress. Her frustration increased ten-fold as Amaryllis Hardy blasted the Bludger to bits. Regardless of the fact it had been self-preservation, she was sure the Head of Gryffindor was good enough with a wand that, rather than showing off, she could have simply deflected it. It would have been far preferable to destroying an expensive piece of equipment and making Xiomara herself go to the trouble of stopping the game and going to fetch a replacement Bludger. Xiomara was really rather annoyed, but of course she couldn’t vent her frustration at Hardy so she took it out on the Slytherin Beater instead.

“FOUL!” she shrieked in a voice as shrill as the long blow on her whistle that she’d just used to stop the game. “FIVE points from Slytherin for bumphing, utterly despicable!” She stormed off to get another Bludger. With that released (she used a spare Beater’s bat to whack it as far away from Valak as possible), she blew her whistle to signal that play could restart.

((Bumphing is the technical term for hitting a Bludger towards the crowd (or in this case, the commentator.))

[Sydney Rawson H6]

Sydney watched in awe, all of the commotion from the commentator box. How could one NOT notice all of the rumble. Watching Kailyn blast Syd's bludger that was directed to the Slytherin seeker to Trinity, the Gryffindor commentator; Sydney was kind of excited that the bludger has changed direction. Not because it was drected at Trinity, absolutely not, but because Slytherin now lost 5 points and (not like it made a difference, though) because since when do you ever see interaction with wands. If only Syd could use her's.... this game would be prime for the huffies. Smiling, Syd followed the bludger Hooch shot across the pitch.

((Attack Josephine & focusing. ))

[Josephine Bowman S7]

Josephine didn't even have to worry about dodging the bludger as Kailyn came to her rescue...if you would call it a rescue. Either way Jo was just satisfied that she only had the snitch to worry about. Of course that would once again disrupted by a pesky bludger. Seemed the Hufflepuff team was getting tired of losing, well that was going to stop them from losing again. Josephine quirked her brow at the newest bludger as she attempted to dodge that one, her eyes still flicking up to the sky and the rest of her surroundings in her search for the ever elusive snitch.

((focus on avoiding bludger from Sydney + snitch searching))

[Stephen Donahue S7]

Stephen couldn't believe he'd lost out on the quaffle. The Hufflepuff's were doing things that usually the Slytherins only pulled, well it was about time they start playing dirty. Stephen was getting sick of the niceties. It was going to be such a better game now that they were all going to be playing at the same dirty level...well okay maybe not so much the Hufflepuff's but they were much closer to playing that way than they'd been in the previous years. Quidditch always brought out the worst in people. His eyes focused on Kael and his possession of the quaffle, without another thought he took off after Kael, hoping to get the quaffle back.

((focus steal))

[kael]

He had the quaffle. This was good; this was very good. It put Hufflepuff in possession! On the other hand, it also meant that Slytherin would be trying to steal, and Chaser wasn’t exactly Kael’s chosen position. Still, he could do this. He had done it before, and quite successfully too. He might be having a bad day for actual concentration but that didn’t mean that he was going to fumble the pass. Lips still quirked upwards from the entertaining incident involving the bludger and the commentator (nothing so exciting had ever occurred when he had been acting as commentator), Kael checked that Ivy was ready for his pass and took careful aim.

((Focusing on defending, and passing to Ivy.))

[Sita Mehadi H7]

Sita couldn't help but be distracted by all the kerfuffle from the commentary box, and she was laughing openly by the time Madam Hooch paused play. She silently rose to a level above the players again while they were waiting. There was more of a breeze up here, very welcome when the sun was so strong and relentless.

When play restarted she was very pleased to see that there were now two Bludgers heading at Josephine. You couldn't fault Sydney and Finn as a team - they were certainly the dominant side out of the two pairs of Beaters. It might even have been worth Ivy's questionable decision to put Sita as Seeker, just to get Finn playing with Sydney since they seemed to work together so well. Suddenly realising that it was no use that Josephine was being distracted with Bludgers unless she herself was searching for the Snitch during that time, Sita began to move slowly in zig-zags across the pitch, her eyes scanning the sky as she tried to catch a glimpse of the Snitch.

((Searching for the Snitch.))

[Mary Evans]

So now it was a real game, the Hufflepuff beaters were unfortunately realising the best way to play is to take out the seeker. Any player on the Slytherin team, or any professional team, no matter their position could have told you that but these are Hufflepuffs and their ignorance works in Slytherin’s advantage. Sadly they seemed to be catching on, the seeker usually wins the game. So now it was time to defend Josephine. Stick to her like glue and hope not to impede her search.

As Mary passed Hooch and Kailyn she smirked at the young girl. Sure, the foul wasn’t something she should be encouraging in her team but really… The girl had spirit and was totally in the right, blooming Gryffindor who thinks she knows anything about quidditch. Really, if the other houses couldn’t keep control of their jealous impulses it was not Slytherin’s faults if they got annoyed. Of course Mary would have to tell the girl off later, she jeopardized Slytherin’s position, could have been worse, Hooch could have given Hufflepuff a penalty out of spite or something.

((Focusing on defending Josephine from Sydney’s bludger and deflecting to Sita.))

[Adalia St John S5]

The game slunk on as Adalia flew from side to side to side to side chasing that blooming red ball with all her might. There was so much going on all around her, this is why she preferred to keep or seek, less people to worry about getting in your way. Adalia really didn’t do this “team work” or “sharing responsibilities” thing, it just didn’t work for her. She was an only child, her entire household bent over backwards for her, and now she was expected to play along with others, hope they’ll back off and let her do her job when it’s their job too. Whatever, it’s just one game. Next year, if all goes well, she will get to be starting keeper and never have to do this again. In the meantime Adalia watched as Stephan tried to regain the quaffle from the Hufflepuff who was also trying to get it out of his hands in a pass. ‘Now or never really’ thought Adalia as she lined herself up between the two Hufflepuffs.

((Intercepting the pass.))

[Ivy Tunstall]

Ivy whooped loudly as she saw Kael come out of his dive holding the Quaffle. It was about time that Hufflepuff had it back in their possession - the Slytherins had already had possession for far too long in this game. Ivy set off in the direction of the Slytherin goals, keeping level with Kael's position without too much effort but not making much of a move. Finally she saw that, with Donahue threatening him from the other side, Kael was making ready to pass to her and she waited patiently, wanting to take the pass as quickly as she could. However, the female Slytherin not-a-Chaser suddenly swooped in between the two Hufflepuffs, forcing Ivy to change her plans a bit. She shifted her position, trying to get in front of the younger girl and block her from getting a chance to intercept a pass that wasn't meant for her.

((Marking Adalia and ready to receive pass.))

[Seth Wright]

Seth watched the commotion unfold like a scene from a movie unable to choose its genre between horror and comedy. In fact, he could hardly believe his eyes. Kailyn had just sent a Bludger at Trinity, the commentator. Yes, the commentator! Seth's eyes widened in amazement as Trinity began shouting obscenities (or rather, loud 'BEEP's) as the Bludger neared her. Professor Hardy, the Muggle Studies teacher, stepped in smartly, though, and blasted the Bludger to pieces. It was an extremely entertaining show. Seth found himself clapping along in amusement with everyone else. As long as no one was hurt, that was definitely amusing. Even better, Madam Hooch had deducted pointed from Slytherin!

[Madam Xiomara Hooch]

((Josephine, your focus could not be used this round so it hasn't been counted towards your total of 5.

Focuses so far: Ivy 2, Wynd 2, Sophia 3, Sydney 3, Stephen 3, Adalia 1, Drake 2, Sita 1, Kael 2, Mary 1.

--------------------------

Josephine attempts to dodge Finn’s Bludger.
Finn = Bludger (D6 + Str) = 3 + 6 = 9
Josephine = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 2 + 6 = 8
Josephine is hit by Finn’s Bludger!

Josephine must roll concentration in order to maintain her actions.
Finn = Bludger (D8 + Str) = 8 + 6 = 14
Josephine = Concentrate (D4 + Str) = 4 + 6 = 10
Josephine is unable to concentrate and will not be able to search this round.

Sydney hits a Bludger at Josephine; Mary attempts to deflect it towards Sita. Both focus.
Sydney = Focus Bludger (D6 + Str + Con) = 1 + 6 + 6 = 13
Mary = Focus Defend (D8 + Str + Con) = 4 + 6 + 3 = 13
Tie! Re-roll.

Sydney = Focus Bludger (D6 + Str + Con) = 3 + 6 + 6 = 15
Mary = Focus Defend (D8 + Str + Con) = 5 + 6 + 3 = 14
Mary fails to deflect the Bludger. Josephine is unable to concentrate to dodge it, so Sydney’s Bludger hits Josephine.

Ivy attempts to mark Adalia.
Ivy = Mark (D4 + Dex) = 4 + 6 = 10
Adalia = Avoid (D8 + Dex) = 6 + 2 = 8
Ivy marks Adalia successfully! Adalia will suffer a –2 penalty on her moves this round.

Stephen attempts to steal the Quaffle from Kael, who attempts to defend it. Both focus.
Stephen = Focus Steal (D4 + Str + Con) = 2 + 3 + 3 = 8
Kael = Focus Defend (D8 + Str + Con) = 8 + 5 + 4 = 17
Kael retains the Quaffle.

Kael attempts to pass to Ivy; Adalia attempts to intercept the pass.
Kael = Pass (D6 + Dex) = 4 + 5 = 9
Adalia = Intercept (D4 + Dex – Pen) = 1 + 2 – 2 = 1
Kael passes successfully! Ivy has the Quaffle.

Sita searches for the Snitch. She must get a search roll of 5 or more in order to search successfully.
Sita = Search (D6 + Con) = 4 + 3 = 7
Sita is able to search.

Sita = Search = 22
22 is not the Snitch number. Sita does not see the Snitch.))