Check out the Competition

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace couldn't believe she was here, at Hogwarts. Again. Last year they had only really seen the Quidditch Pitch, but this time there was more time to actually see the castle and meet people here. Her cousins Rose and Phoebe had been waiting for her, and had eagerly dragged her inside to show her around. She felt too nervous to really take anything in, but smiled and nodded at their excited chatter. After a small tour of what really couldn't have been more than a quarter of the castle, Rose had decided it was time for food. She and Phoebe had taken Grace tot he Great Hall, and ended up bickering about where to sit. Remembering Rose was in Gryffindor, which was the house they would be playing again, Grace gave her a smile. "Let's sit at the Gryffindor table now, and we'll sit at the Ravenwing table later." She said, hoping it would give her a chance to scope out the competition. She listened to Phoebe explain that it was Ravenclaw, but at least the girl made no more fuss about sitting at the Gryffindor table. They all sat down, and Grace started looking at the others at the table curiously, wondering who would be on the field later today.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt sat shoulders haunched as he read from a private letter he'd just received from his Healer, unable to shovel in a morsel of food as he read it when he looked over as he felt the bench move and saw that someone he didn't know was sitting beside him. It wasn't that he was bothered by it but he didn't like the idea that he'd be forced to make small talk when he had the game to think about - even if he might be benched for reasons that weren't his fault. Yeah he had trouble getting out of bed for practices and games earlier in the year, it didn't mean he was a bad player. He hoped the captain would get his head out of his *ss... or the girl's anyway to realize that he was a quality player. Wyatt looked over at the girl who had sat by him, at seeing her powder blue uniform he scowled despite himself. She was the competition. He folded his letter tightly and put it into his pocket before deciding to start having a bit of food. He had to ask, "Can you pass the cereal, please?" to the infiltrator, even if he wished he could ignore her entirely.

 

[Rose Holland]

Rose was delighted to have her older cousin sitting with her at the Gryffindor table. She was very proud of her school and how awesome it was, and was happy to share it with Grace. She was extra pleased that her cousin agreed to sit at her table. Even though Grace's team was playing against her own house, she was rooting for her older cousin. So when a member of the Gryffindor quidditch team asked for cereal, she tugged at Grace's sleeve and hissed. "He's on the enemy team." She whispered, while pretending to ignore Phoebe rolling her eyes.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace felt a little bit lost here at this strange school, even with her younger cousins at her side. As odd as the house system was to her, she had to admit there was a nice and friendly atmosphere even with the different houses. Rose seemed to fit into Gryffindor, and she wondered if she had many friends here. When she made the comment about the enemy team, Grace gave her a slightly incredulous look. "Did you forget this is your own house?" She asked with a small laugh, before turning to the boy and handing him cereal. "Here you go, you play as well?" She asked him, curious what his position on the team played.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

While Wyatt waited he heard a young Gryffindor whisper about him being on the team and he arched a brow at her. "Have some school loyalty," he chided her but not harshly after the guest had said something similar to the young girl. One he even recognized from the common room but didn't know the name of. "Yeah, beater," Wyatt answered as he accepted the cereal, thanking her with an additional nod of his head. "Let me guess... Keeper?" he asked. Although Wyatt had watched the game between Hufflepuff and Beauxbatons pitiful team the year prior they had been at a great distance and he could only have pointed out his best mate's girl from the distance because of her coloured hair.

 

[Phoebe Holland]

The Gryffindor table wasn't a place Phoebe usually sat, and as she took her seat there she tried to pay attention to the differences. It seemed a bit louder, but she wasn't sure if that was really the case or just her own confirmation bias, because she expected it to be. She rolled her eyes when Rose referred to a boy at their table as the 'enemy'. She never cared this much about quidditch. "Wrong, actually." She said with a smile as he guessed Keeper, though she didn't tell him what Grace actually played as. She sort of liked saying someone was wrong, regardless of what it was.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace was starting to wonder if her cousins were secretly raised by wolves, they were both being kind of rude. She sighed, shaking her head and giving them both a stern look. "Sorry for my cousins, I think they're excited I'm here. Beater? That's awesome, my best friend is a Beater." She said with a smile. "You'll probably notice her, very bright hair." She shook her head, "not a Keeper, no. Chaser, actually. My boyfriend is the Keeper on the team."

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt shrugged, he didn't care a lick about whether he was wrong or not. As she told him about a beater on her team the boy arched a brow. There was only one bright haired beater he'd heard of. "You mean Jessica?" he asked and then clarified, "My best bud is dating her." Truth told Wyatt actually didn't know if the two were still dating because he and Asaiah hadn't seen each other in months out of class and after the treatment of Amber from his friends he didn't feel like playing nice about some girl playing for a different school's team. As she said that she was chaser he said, "I'll be sure to remember you when I hit the bludger at you." He smirked and grabbed the milk and poured it into his cereal-filled bowl.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace was surprised when this stranger knew Jessica's name, but when he said his friend was dating her it made more sense. She remembered Jessica was seeing some boy from here, though she hadn't heard much about him lately and had been wondering if things were okay between them. "Small world." She commented with a smile. "Yes, I mean Jessica, she's really good." She said proudly, meaning it completely. She raised her eyebrows slightly at his next comment, wondering if it was meant to be a joke or not. "We'll see about that." She said, giving him another smile, with more of a challenge in it this time. "May the best team win."

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt nodded his head at the girl's comment that it was a small world but shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly. While she may be a good player he suspected she wasn't nearly as good as he and Lizzie were individually or together. He suspected it would be like that the entire game. "I did see some of last years game," he told her recalling how short it had been. "I'm not so sure how good your team is," he taunted slightly to challenge her.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace's smile faltered at the boy's comment, and she frowned a little. "Well, it was a short game." She said, her voice a little colder now as she surveyed him. "There wasn't much time to see our talent, besides, our seeker wasn't available during that game so one of our chasers was filling in." She took a bite of her food, deciding not to disclose that this was the case again this year, and an alternate would be filling in. "I'll be sure to show you how good we are during this next match." She told him pleasantly, but with some steel underneath.

 

[Wyatt Finch]

Wyatt arched a brow at the girl and smirked, if only she knew that Hufflepuff had a reputation for being one of the worst teams on the field maybe she'd have a little less nerve to her but he had to admit he liked it. He thought if Jessica had this much feistiness to her he could see why Asaiah liked her - it was such a change from Amber. "I look forward to it," he told her genuinely but didn't seem worried by the threat before he ate a spoonful of his cereal. As he swallowed he looked at the younger girls around them whose conversation he had interrupted and shrugged. They'd survive his attitude - it wasn't like Wyatt was well loved by Gryffindors or Ravenclaws for the stunt he and his best friends had pulled the previous year. "Are you only here for the day or do you get to stay for a bit after?" he asked curiously.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace was glad her younger cousins now seemed distracted and not to be as invested in the conversation she was having with this boy, though she noticed they still seemed to be listening. She gave him a smile when he said he looked forward to it. "Me too. May the best team win," she told him with a grin. "We get to stay a little bit after too, though not very long. Still it's very nice to be able to stay here. I get to see where my cousins go to school." She said, gesturing at both Rose and Phoebe. "It's just interesting to see another school, to be honest. It's fairly different, but there's a lot that is the same too. I'm not sure how I would feel about the house system, though."