Open Extra Quidditch Practice

[Professor Grace Holland]

((See this post for more information on this!))

Last year, a young Gryffindor had organized an unsanctioned first year Quidditch Practice that hadn't gone very well. Thankfully, the consequences hadn't been too bad. Grace had thought the idea was pretty good, though, and so had the Slytherin prefect who had assisted her during the situation. So together they had organized a more official practice, not just for first years, but for anyone who was not already on a Quidditch team. Grace knew that a lot of students were hoping to make it onto various teams at tryouts, and had put up flyers around the school to advertise this event.

She smiled at Sapphire after the two had finished setting up. They had put up a few targets for the would-be beaters, which they could hit enchanted floating tennis balls at with beater bats. It seemed a safer than using actual bludgers. Grace had a snitch prepared, as well as the quaffle. She hoped she could assist whoever needed help. Sapphire would guide the beaters and seekers, and Grace the chasers and keepers. Though she planned to stay alert for anyone else who needed help. There were plenty of brooms and other supplies laid out, for anyone to grab whatever they needed. "Welcome," Grace started as she thought most of the students had arrived. "This is a very open practice, you are free to try different things. I'll be trying to guide the chasers and keepers as much as possible, and Sapphire will be taking the beaters and seekers under her wing. But feel free to switch to a different position if you want to try it out. Keepers, if there are more than two trying to play keeper, please take turns." She started, putting on her teacher voice. "Grab a broom, a bat if you need it, and anything else you might need. Let's get as much practice in as possible." She said, then she turned to Sapphire to give her a turn to talk.

OOC: Please wait with posting until after Sapphire posts, then we go straight into the practice!

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire had really had one hell of a break. She wasn't sure how she felt about- anything, really, and was doing her damndest to keep it together. She didn't really smile, but she wasn't hostile either to the group that had formed. She was a captain- er, co-captain now, and she needed to be a leader. Even if she didn't feel like one. She nodded, arms crossed. "This isn't about seeing who's the best, so no showing off. If you aren't serious about learning and getting better, then you can go." She sounded a little cold maybe, but she wasn't trying to be. "If you need help, just wave one of us down. Let's get in the air, and see what you can do." She uncrossed her arms, taking her broom in hand. "One more thing. This game is dangerous- sometimes deadly. You can and will be hurt playing. If you can't take it, then don't play." She stated, remembering the mess from beauxbatons poor win last year. "Let's go!" She kicked off into the air, waiting to see who would need her first.

 

[Edward Elric]

Edward arrived on the pitch with @Stanislaw Kurek and @Allison Beckett for the extra practice before tryouts took place. He was excited for the chance to fly on his Scarlet Streak that his dad had bought him over the summer since he hadn't had a chance to practice on it much. His 'Uncle' Matthew had been nice enough to let him stay at his farm house with him for a week which had at least given him a chance to try it out. He was still not the best flyer so he hoped the extra chance to practice on it would help his chances of making the team. He was even dressed in his brand new Gryffindor Quidditch gear as he looked at all the other students that had showed up for the same purpose.

He figured he'd start with the basics as he laid his streak on the ground. "Up" he commanded and the broom hopped into his hand as though he were a natural. He mounted it and shot up into the air, he definitely went up higher than he had planned to and quickly lowered himself more. He didn't think he would make a good Chaser, Beater, or Keeper since they required additional skills that he didn't think he possessed but he did think he could be a Seeker as he began flying around the pitch practicing his speed and adjustment. His broom was definitely a lot faster than the school brooms and more than once he thought he was going to fly off it but he was managing to stay on which he thought was a good start. "What do you guys think?" he asked Stan and Allison, curious to know what they thought about his flying.

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Thalia was a little nervous about the Quidditch practice that she had signed up for, as she did practice a little during the break but she still wasn’t very confident on a broom, and especially not in front of others. But her sisters had encouraged her to try out for Quidditch, so she had to try her best, and do it for them. Or rather, see if she was into that kind of thing. She took a deep breath as she listened to the flying professor speak, and then the Slytherin girl, although she wondered if she was just having a bad day, or if she was mean. She mounted her broom once they were done speaking, and kicked off from the ground, remembering the first rules of flying. At first, she was a bit unsteady, but eventually, she was flying in a straight line and she tried to challenge herself by flying slightly higher. Her hands weren’t leaving her broom, instead gripping it rather tightly. As she did a few laps, the Ravenclaw considered the four positions, and decided to do a process of elimination. She wasn’t the beater type, she would never hurt anyone intentionally, and seeker was way too much pressure. Chaser, or Keeper, but she doubted she would go for keeper, either. It was a scary thought to have to protect herself from any incoming quaffles - and attempt to block scores. So, chaser. That thought didn’t ease her mind, exactly, but the others didn’t exactly suit her. Thalia wasn’t sure if she was supposed to take a quaffle herself...or how it worked. She waited until she could figure out what happened now.​

 

[Alec Tricity]

Alec didn't ever think she'd be as fortunate to get onto the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, not like Lysander. Not everyone had a professor for a father which was likely a huge influence anyway. Professor Kingsley and Professor Summers were probably friends. That didn't mean though that Alec didn't want to play, so when she'd heard that there was a chance to practise with some of the other kids, she was keen to get involved and hoped that her former best friend wouldn't be there to interfere. She grabbed a beater bat, summoning her broom and mounting it before heading up into the air. As far as she was aware, there hadn't been anything like this before. Her eyes saw a girl eyeing up the Quaffle, and waited to see who would actually take it, because that would be her first target. ​

 

[Christina Holmgaard]

Christina was really glad there was a chance to try and train some skills for Quidditch. She could try out this year in her second year but she was not that confident of her own. The brunette liked the sport and it thought of all the good memories she had with her father, going to games and watch them together. When she came outside she hoped there were many more people who enjoyed this sport. Though Christina had no idea still which position she would like. Everything seemed nice and she hoped to find out what she liked to most so she could try out for the thing she liked most. She spotted the flying professor and a Slytherin girl and listened as they spoke. Christina didn't got a broom of her own yet so she took one from the school and waited to get started. She spotted Edward and waved towards her friend glad to see he was here as well. Chrissy decided to start with a beaters bat perhaps this was fun. Chrissy stepped on the broom. She frowned of the girl from Slytherin for a moment. A deadly game? Was she trying to scare them or something? She shot into the air carefully and flew a few laps first to get used to the feeling again.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace released the snitch and grabbed the quaffle, taking to the air. "Seekers, go seek! Beaters, try to hit the targets with the tennis balls. Chasers and keepers follow me!" She said, smiling. She then tossed the quaffle to one of the people who had flown after her. "We'll start with attempting to pass a few times, then we'll try scoring." She said with a smile.

 

[Lucas Fletcher]

Ever since Lucas had talked to Elliot about this, he knew he only wanted to play one position: seeker. So the boy grabbed a broom, and once the snitch was released, he kicked off into the air to chase it. He had missed flying, he was a bit surprised to find. He grinned and flew forward in the direction the snitch had gone, though he no longer saw it anywhere.

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma had heard about this practice and she knew she had to get into it. She had already practiced a bit with Lysander, which was hopefully going to give her an advantage. Emma had brought her own broom, and raced forward to grab a bat. To her dismay, she saw Alec had also grabbed one, as well as a younger Gryffindor girl. Emma frowned at Alec especially. She was not going to steal Emma's chance to play beater along with her best friend. Professor Holland told them to hit the targets she had put up with the floating tennis balls, and Emma flew up to one with her bat. She hit it hard, and whooped in joy as it hit one of the targets.

 

[Thalia Pourroulis]

Thalia was still a bit nervous, there were a couple older students and everyone else seemed much more confident than she was, but she was still going to try. She was relieved the flying professor was the one she had to follow and practice with, and she sent the woman a small smile as she flew next to her and caught the quaffle that was passed to her, and looked to the next player, and threw the quaffle to them. She hoped she wouldn't be hit by a bludger any time soon, it didn't look any fun.​

 

[Edward Elric]

Edward heard Professor Holland shout for the seekers to do their thing and feeling better about his control over his broom began to circle the pitch. His eyes darted around the other students trying out different positions as he looked for something shiny. There was a flash of light that moved from the corner of his left eye, it was from the top left area of the Quidditch Pitch and without thinking Edward quickly turned his broom to fly in that direction. He had to stop himself suddenly to avoid crashing into one of the other flyers.

It turned out, the flash had been from someone's watch. "Why would they wear that now" Edward mumbled to himself. It would have been really lucky for him to have found the Snitch so quickly but he hadn't even thought about other people's clothing as being a challenge. Edward turned back around and began scanning the pitch once more, he didn't know if anyone else was trying to find the small golden ball but he did know that he wanted to find it first.

 

[Stan Beckett]

Now that they were back at Hogwarts, and he didn't have to worry as much anymore about hurting people on accident, Stan's mind was focused on one thing. Quidditch. Thinking that the position of Keeper was the position which suited him the most since he was used to that position already in the Muggle sports football, he made his way to the pitch alongside Allie and Edward. After listening to both Professor Holland and the older girl, Stanislaw mounted the broom given to him by the school for this particular practice and joined Professor Holland and the others in the air, flying over towards the woman and the girl who wanted to practice the Chaser position. He caught the Quaffle from the girl and threw it towards the professor, trying to keep himself steady by keeping one hand on his broom. He would need to have to work on keeping himself steady on a broom if he was going to try out for real. It'd be really unfortunate if he were to fall off of his broom in the middle of a match just because he couldn't keep balance.

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander was looking forward to watching the Quidditch practice that Professor Holland was hosting. He figured she must have heard about the help he'd given his friends the previous year, and been so impressed that she'd decided to copy him. He took a seat on the stands to watch Emma fly around, and cheered her on. "Go Emma!" He shouted, clapping obnoxiously in support when she managed to hit one of the targets. There was no way she wasn't getting on the team this year. He loved being partners with Jacob, but he wasn't one of his best friends like Emma was.​

 

[Allison Jusantrea]

Allison was definitely eager for this quidditch practice. After a fun break trying to convince Stanis everything was fine, she was eager to get going on their plans for the year. Stanis was a keeper, Ed was a seeker, and that left her. After that blow to the ribs, there was really only one thing she wanted to do. She flashed Edward a thumbs up, testing the bat in her arms. She was strong, sure, but was she strong enough for this? She tossed the bat around in her hand a bit, getting a good feel for it. She approached the Slytherin that was supposed to be helping her, asking if there were any good techniques she needed. She paused, glancing over to see Stanis and Ed at work, smiling. They were doing well, she thought.

 

[Sapphire Michaels]

Sapphire kept an eye on the game, watching as three beaters and two seekers emerged. She kept tabs on the girls, noticing both boys going out for seeker. She knew that one of them was Edward, the one that had tried to start that practice last year. His two friends were here, too. The girl was trying to be a beater, which didn't surprise her. It did surprise her when the blond approached her. "Alright," She readjusted Allison's hand on the bat, helping her find a comfortable swing before leaning in. "Know where your target is going so you can intercept it," She guided the blond, watching as she set off after a bludger tennis ball. Sapphire turned back to the game, looking to see if anyone else needed help.

 

[Edward Elric]

Edward continued to fly around trying to avoid flying into other players "Hi @Christina Holmgaard " He called out as he narrowly avoided crashing into her. He hoped she would think he was just trying to get close enough to say something rather than notice he was still trying to get a better grip on flying his broom. Overall the experience fun if not a bit daunting considering he still wasn't having much luck finding the snitch that was released. He checked to make sure that nobody else had found it hoping that it was still in play and that he was just not finding it as quickly as he would've liked.

He figured it would be a miracle if he and his friends actually made the team but the practice would surely help their chances. He thought about the Gryffindor Seeker, it was a seventh year girl named Willow. Perhaps if she had time between studying for her N.E.W.T.S. she might be able to give him some extra pointers. There was a good chance that as a third year he might actually play the position of Seeker and he wanted to be ready if that became the case. Edward saw a glint of gold from the corner of his eye towards the ground and quickly began to fly towards it only to find it had vanished simply by him blinking. "Fuddlesticks!" he scolded himself for his loss of concentration.

 

[Luxen Silverback II]

Luxen walked out onto the stands and looked at all the pathetic hopefuls trying to hold on to their brooms and actually play. He wasn't going to interfere with the Prefect and the Professor hanging around but figured after the last little practice that had been held, his mere presence might be enough to knock a few of them off their game. In a way he was actually helping them since they couldn't stop him from attending the matches if he chose too. The Dogboy and his girlfriend seemed particularly unable to control their tempers and Saint Elric always had trouble performing spells. He was sure that being around would effect their ability to properly learn the sport which gave Luxen a satisfying smirk as he waved a tiny Slytherin flag. Nobody from his own house seemed to be practicing with the others that he could see but at least he could pretend to be supportive. "Let's go Slytherin!" he called out to guarantee he could get their attention. It wasn't like he was the only student merely watching after all.

 

[Christina Holmgaard]

Chrissy saw more people were taking an beaters bat. They had to hit the targets with tennisballs. Chrissy actually thought they could use bludgers but that seemed a bit dangerous perhaps. So she flew to the place almost running into Edward who greeted her. And she smiled back. '' Hey!'' The brunette said as she avoided flying towards someone. Chrissy than flew towards the targets and tried to hit an tennisball towards it but she missed completly. Groaning a bit she wanted to give up already to try something else. But she wanted to hit an target. The lion tried again and managed to hit an tennisball to an target. '' YES!'' She said happy and almost dropped her bat but managed to get it in time. Hoping that, that Slytherin girl had seen.

@Edward Elric @Sapphire Michaels

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace watched in approval as the young girl passed the quaffle to another player, she caught it as he tossed it back to her. "Very good." She told them with a smile. She ignored the boy in the stands who was cheering for Slytherins, as there were no Slytherins on the field as far as she could see. She remembered him from last year, and figured she could keep an eye on him. She passed the quaffle back to the Gryffindor boy with a smile. "Try flying a circle with it, then pass it back to her." She said, nodding to the girl who was also practicing for chaser.

@Stanislaw Kurek @Thalia Pourroulis

 

[Edward Elric]

Edward was still looking for the Snitch when he heard a voice from the stands, looking over at it, he noticed that it was the Silverback kid and wondered what he was up too. He looked around and noticed there weren't any Slytherins in the air which only confused him more. Edward didn't want the practice to turn our like the last one but figured the boy was smart enough to not cause any trouble while a Professor was around. He kept his eyes open and noticed that the Snitch was actually flying around him or at least above him and decided to give the Slytherin a good scare as he raced forwards towards it. Before Edward could reach the stands however it flew upwards and towards the left so that he needed to fly towards it and away from Luxen.

He put pressure on his broom so that it could fly forwards and began to reach his hands out towards the small gold ball. Luckily it decided to fly down just as Edward noticed his own concentration was beginning to lapse and his broom was veering downwards on it's own. He would have to try and balance flight with trying to catch it better in the future. In this moment however it had worked out for him and he was quickly able to apply more pressure and reach forwards, grabbing the snitch and slowing down. The only downside was that he ended up crashing into the ground unable to stop himself. The force didn't do any damage to his broom but certainly damaged his pride a little as he heard loud laughter coming from the stands. He didn't mind a few scrapes and bruises however as he still held on to his prize. The Golden Snitch.