Gryffindor Practice III

B

Bruin Dumbledez

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Ebony Wand 15" - Dragon's Heartstring Core
Bruin walked out onto the pitch, tossed the equipment down on the grass and commanded "Up!". His Scarlet Streak responded immediately and settled into his grasp. Bruin slung his leg over the broom and kicked off with an unusually forceful launch. The Gryffindor Team had been informed of their practice, but it wasn't set to begin for a half hour or so giving Bruin some time to simply fly before he had the pressure of the team looking to him for direction.

Bruin knew that a victory over Slytherin in their final game of the season would put them in good shape for the playoffs, but a loss could eliminate them from playing for the Quidditch Cup entirely. He did not want that to happen and besides, he couldn't bare the thought of losing to Ford, Sophia, Kale, Zoe and the rest of the Slytherins. It was time for Gryffindor to salvage some pride.

Bruin leaned forward over the handle of his broom and headed directly towards the hoops at the north end of the pitch, admiring the Gryffindor colors of Scarlet and Gold blurring together on his right. He knew the others would arrive soon, but for now it felt good to simply be flying.
 
Hilary had been excited for a Quidditch practice, especially the prospects of making plays and such. She felt it would bring them together as a team better. Being a bit of a keaner she ate breakfast quickly and ran down to the pitch. She was only a quarter of an hour early but when she arrived she saw only Bruin flying high above the pitch near the Gryffindor bleachers. Placing her stuff onto the ground she got on her broom and flew upwards over to the other side of the pitch by where Bruin was. "Hiya' Capt'n" she called in an almost southern accent. "How' yall doin'"
 
Kat sauntered down to the quidditch pitch, not really in a big hurry seeing as how she was slightly early for practice. She was hoping to redeem herself after the last practice, which had been a complete catastrophic event for her and she still had the knot in the back of her head to prove it. More importantly, she wanted to redeem herself after the last match, in which she hadn't been a very active member of the team. Kat was determined to show her team mates, as well as prove to herself that she belonged in Gryffindor, or even at Hogwarts for that matter.

As she arrived at the pitch, Kat saw Bruin flying around on his Scarlet Streak. She herself had just recently purchased a Nimbus 2000 and was quite excited to try it out for the first time. She yelled out at Bruin saying, "What's up captain? I mean besides you obviously." Kat too saw Hilary and said, "Hey Hilary! I'm determined to keep my clumsy little self airborne today!"

Kat mounted her broom and took off to join her fellow team mates. She loved the way the cool air felt against her face and the way it blew through her hair.
 
Bruin smiled a little, his first in quite awhile when he heard Hilary's southern twang. "Better now, I 'spose", he replied back. How about you? Did you have a good break?"

Bruin had barely asked Hilary the question when Kat arrived. He was glad to see her enthusiasm and determination. Definitely a true Gryffindor, he thought to himself. "Hey Kat!!! Nice broom!", he shouted to her.
 
"Why thank you kindly! This was my Christmas present to myself!" Kat said jokingly. "So what's on the schedule for today's practice?" she asked eagerly.
 
"Hmmm, good question. I'd like everyone to have a chance to get some practice time at their actual playing position and we need to decide who's going to be our Keeper against Slytherin now that Alex has gone AWOL again.", Bruin replied.
 
"I vote not me, I can't catch anything bigger than my hand, I'd likely lose the game. Though Alex is certainly MIA... I always felt pretty lonely in classes, I actually spent more time with Ravenclaws first term than with Gryffindors... maybe that's why they have so many house points!" Hilary smiled trying not to think too hard. "And it's great to see you smiling again Bruin..."
 
Mark ran to the pitch with his broom in his hand to see three of his comrades present already. ' Hi guys had a good vacation?' he said after getting his broom into the air. ' So what are we planning to do today.' After a second pause Mark said to Bruin, ' I had been thinking about the position of the keeper and I think I can lend a hand at that one. I will be the keeper if you guys want me to be for the next game.'
 
Bruin noted Hilary's comment about him smiling and recognized how true it was, giveing her a quick "Thanks." It was nice to be smiling again, he thought to himself. First term had ended well academically, but not socially and the holidays that followed had been horrible. Bruin looked around at the early arrivals and couldn't help but get caught up in the enthusiasm and comraderie that they displayed.

"That would be great Mark. Let's get you some practice at Keeper then. Maybe the four of us can fire the quaffle at you for a bit to warm you up while we wait for Grande and Kiera to arrive? Who knows maybe we'll even have surprise guest or two?", Bruin said hopefully as he flew down to the new Quidditch Set he had bought to get a Quaffle.
 
Kat was a bit relieved that she wouldn't have to play keeper, she wasn't exactly too keen on having balls flying at her at high speeds that she was supposed to catch, but would have been more than willing to suck it up for her team. She said jokingly, "I'm game for throwing stuff at him!" Kat readied herself for practice, tying her hair back. She was going to prove, to herself and her team mates, today and at the next game that she was supposed to be in Gryffindor and a part of this team. "Let's get started captain!" she added excitedly.
 
Bruin noticed Kat's enthusiasm and tossed the Quaffle at her. "Alright then Kat, why don't you get us started!", he said with a smile, hoping that Mark would hustle off to a set of hoops and that the others would pass the quaffle around a little before taking a shot.
 
Kat caught the quaffle that Bruin threw to her almost effortlessly. She looked at him with a bright smile and said, "Thank you very much!" As she waited for Mark to take his place near the hoops she thought to herself, Come on Kat, you can do this, show 'em what you've got.
 
Kiera skipped onto the pitch with her broom in hand. However wehn she saw everyone else on brooms she hoped on hers and flew into the air. "HEY YAll!!" she called cheerfully. Kiera was in a really really good mood today.
 
"Hey Kiera!" said Kat brightly with a big smile, quaffle still in hand.

((should i go ahead aim for mark's head :p , or should i wait till he posts that he's at the hoops?))
 
Mark got into position and took the place at the centre of the three hoops. ' Hey Kat hurry up already I haven't got all day >:) ' Mark said in a mischievous voice. ' You can aim for any part of my body you want to.' He laughed slightly.
 
Kat gave a goofy grin to Mark and said, "Okay okay keep your pants on for all our sakes!! And just remember that you are the one who has given me permission to give you a slight concussion, but I think i'll take it easy on you this time!" Kat gripped tightly to the quaffle and started flying towards the hoops at Mark. When she had reached the postition that she wanted to be at she launched the quaffle through the air, hoping that it would not be intercepted.
 
"We are randomly firing quaffles at Mark!" Hilary said in response to Kiera "He's going to play Keeper for us in our game against Slytherin"

Hilary then noticed the quaffle flying out of Kats hand and she caught it flying in the other direction to give Mark a challenge she shot at him from the other corner.
 
((Ha no problem Kat )))

Mark launched himself forwards as the quaffle was fired and caught it with ease. 'No problem try it again' Mark said as he threw the quaffle back to his team mates.
 
Kat swore under her breath, but then looked at Mark and said with a bright smile, "Nice catch there!" She flew back around to where the others were and waited on what to do next.
 
Grande ran on to the pitch. He was running a bit late. He got on his broom and flew into the air. He mouthed sorry in Bruin direction. "What are we doing?" Grande asked Katie
 
Bruin's spirits lifted slightly as he saw that the team had all arrived and were already actively practicing or eager to get started. He signaled for them to gather in for a moment and waited patiently for them to do so before addressing the group. (sorry for the god mod, but you are now all hovering around me in a sort of semi-circle, thanks! :D )

"Alright everyone, I just wanted to say welcome back and that I hope everyone had a good break." Bruin smiled at them all. "I also wanted to say thanks for all of the enthusiasm you've shown all year towards the team. It's been a great season so far, but I don't want our game against Slytherin to be our last. So, I'd like to have at least two good practices before we meet them and I need your help with a few things and your feedback on a few others."

Bruin enjoyed these little chats and was determined to make this one a good one. "I've been thinking a little bit about the team and wanted to spread the responsibility around a little bit. So, I've decided to name one or maybe even two Assistant Captains for each game we play. In case anything happens to me, I'd like to know that you knew who would speak for the team. I'd also like those people to take on some leadership in running some of our practice activities so that I can watch some things closer and work on parts of my own game as well. Depending on who is interested in this, the person may stay the same or we may spread it around a little bit. I've spoken about this with Hilary and she's agreed to take on the Assistant Captain responsiblity for our match with Slytherin and I'm hoping she'll lead some of the activities at the next practice. If anyone else is interested, just let me know."

Bruin looked around to see their reactions and then continued. "Secondly, I'm working on our playbook and it's starting to take shape, but as I mentioned to you I'd love for some input on the things you'd like included. I, of course, don't want any of the stuff to get into the wrong hands so we'll have a team meeting back at Gryffindor between practices to put some things together before our next practice. Slytherins are cunning remember, but we're going to beat them at their own game!", Bruin said with a determined grin.

"For today's practice, I'd like to see the three chasers, Kat, Kiera and Grande work on some passing plays and testing our new keeper Mark out with some good shots. Mark will defend the North Hoops and I'd like the three chasers to start with the Quaffle at the South Hoops and pass it as you move up the pitch together. Get comfortable with each other first, just the basics and then when you think you're ready, try out some trick passes or misdirection plays, alright?" Bruin looked at the four of them and sensed they knew what he meant.

"In the meantime, I'm going to release a Bludger and the Snitch. I'm going to try and disrupt Hilary catching the Snitch by aiming the Bludger at her and Katie's going to try and protect her. So the rest of you, keep your heads up because you never know when a Bludger might get lose and take aim at you. Any questions?", Bruin asked as he settled down next to the Quidditch Set he had just purchased and prepared to release the Snitch and a Bludger.
 
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