Closed Crown on the Ground

[Celia Vuong]

As much as Celia loved city life, there was one major drawback: There was simply no room to fly. Or, if her mom knew of a secret Quidditch pitch tucked somewhere in the middle of Hanoi and away from from the eyes of muggles, she wasn't telling. As a result, Celia had spent the entire break grounded, and by the start of the year, she was itching to take to the skies once more. She knew that a lot of her classmates had likely spent the break practicing, and she was determined to shake off the rust as quickly as possible.

This year, Celia had decided, would be her year. With the former seventh years gone, she wanted to establish herself as the best beater at Hogwarts. She thought she had a pretty good shot at securing that distinction even if her record last year had been less than perfect. Celia still wasn't sure why things had gone so wrong last year, which concerned her. But there wasn't much she could do except practice until she could dodge and hit bludgers effortlessly.

The pitch was usually quite crowded in the days leading up to tryouts, but thankfully, it was empty today. Celia planned on working with both bludgers, and she didn't want to have to worry about sharing the pitch. Broom and bat tucked under one arm, she guided the school trunk of Quidditch balls to the middle of the pitch with a simple levitation spell. The lid popped open, and the chains holding back the bludgers rattled menacingly. Smiling to herself, Celia set to work undoing the chains.

 

[Ares Kuya-Tine]

Ares had enjoyed his break more than any other one this year. He really liked Hogwarts, but spending time with Jordie without having to worry about classes was definitely better than he imagined. The only downside was that he couldn't really practice Quidditch, even though he desperately wanted to. One of the first things Ares decided to do when he came back to Hogwarts for the new year was head to the Quidditch Pitch. He knew that the team would have their own practice soon, but he wanted to practice by himself for a little, mostly to avoid the embarrassment if he did happen to be a little rusty.

As Ares headed onto the pitch with his broom in hand, he spotted Celia already steps ahead of him with the school trunk of Quidditch balls levitated in the air as she unbuckled the chains. Ares considered turning around, as he knew Celia probably didn't want a distraction, however he wasn't bothered walking all the way back down to the castle when he was just itching to get onto his broom. He took a few steps forward. "Would you mind sharing?" Ares asked, ready to run in the opposite direction if she wasn't in a good mood.

 

[Celia Vuong]

At the sound of footsteps, Celia sighed. She should have known better than to expect she would get the pitch to herself, but she'd still hoped she would get some time alone. Hopefully, it was just a first year who she could scare off. Celia stood up and turned around, frowning when she saw that it was Ares. Ivelisse aside, he was probably her least favorite teammate. "Finally realized you need extra practice?" she asked, arching an eyebrow. While Celia was glad that she'd cemented herself as the best beater on the Slytherin team, she wished her partner could at least be a little useful. He was never much help during games, and in practice, Seamus usually outperformed him.

Celia was tempted to say no, but she also knew there was a good chance Ares would be back on the team as a starter this year. And denying him a chance to practice would only hurt herself in the long run. Plus, he'd always struck her as someone with a bit of a temper, and Celia was a little wary of getting on his bad side (even though she was pretty sure she'd be fine considering how terrible his aim was). So she relented. "Do you have your bat with you? I'm using both bludgers," she warned.

 

[Ares Kuya-Tine]

Ares couldn't help but roll his eyes at her snide question. He had been practicing a lot, but clearly Celia was always too focused on herself to notice that. He should have expected her reaction, but he tried not to let it get the best of him, despite feeling the urge to start an argument with her there and then. He needed to practice some Quidditch and that was what he was there for.

"Yeah, I've got it here." Ares said, holding up his beater's bat. It would've been stupid to try to practice without it. "Use all the bludgers, I don't care." The Slytherin just shrugged as he mounted his broom and took position, ready to hit any that came his way.