Closed Here Comes the Pandemonium

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara had wanted to write a killer last article for the Monthly. Thinking about all the things at school that were important to her, quidditch seemed like the best idea. It allowed her to talk to her friends... and others... about something that brought them all together, even with their rivalries. She had moved the news room around so the chairs were all around a table, with one at the head for her. There were bottles of water in front of each seat, and Elara had a list of questions on the table, a note pad, and quick-quotes quill at the ready. She had made sure to get one of their more recent truthful versions that acutally wrote down what people said in case she missed something during the discussion. As she waited, she tapped her fingers on the table, hoping this would go well.

 

[Rene Tofilau]

Rene tried not to fidget as he entered the HM club room, glancing around to see if the other captains had arrived yet. He'd never been in here before and that felt intimidating enough on its own, but he tried to remind himself he was just as good a captain as the other players; if anything he'd been playing longer than all of them barring Isaiah, and he was a year younger than him. He was going to give a great interview and nothing would go wrong, he assured himself, grabbing a seat and giving Elara a nod hello.

 

[Celia Vu]

When Celia had first heard about the Quidditch captains interview for the Monthly, she'd nearly laughed. There was no way she was going to answer a bunch of questions about Slytherin's dramatic drop in the rankings. She had zero desire to relive that loss and have her thoughts recorded for posterity by some third-rate student "journalist."

The thing that had changed her mind was the Hogwarts Monthly editorship. As far as Celia knew, River hadn't yet chosen a successor, and Celia desperately wanted it to be her. It would look great on a college application, and she really needed a leadership position that did not involve a magical sport or a club that she had co-founded. She had already proven that she had lots of ideas for improving the paper — ideas like doing more and better interviews — and it would be hypocritical of her to refuse to participate in this interview. While Celia didn't necessarily think that participating would make River more likely to give her the editorship, she knew refusing to do so would hurt her chances.

Still, Celia had massive reservations about this. Elara was supposed to be writing the article, which was a major breach of journalistic integrity. There was no doubt in Celia's mind that the Gryffindor seeker would frame things so that she, her team, and her boyfriend came out looking great. Well, Celia was going to do everything she could to mitigate that problem. "Hi Elara!" she greeted brightly as she entered the newsroom and took a seat, completely ignoring René. "I'm surprised River approved this pitch," she chatted amicably as she pulled out her own notes and transcription quill. "I guess that means you'll be disclosing in the article that you're Gryffindor's seeker and that you're dating Isaiah? I mean, it's a pretty big conflict of interest for you to write a story about your own team and interview your own boyfriend without telling readers. I'm sure they'd appreciate the transparency," she said, giving the seeker a poisonous smile.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah had been quite excited about the idea of El doing an interview with the quidditch captains. Even if he might not be too keen on having to spend a generous amount of time in the same room as Celia. From what he had heard about the girl he wasn sure she would have some strong opinions. He grinned at El when he walked into the room, shooting Rene a grin before dropping into the seat next to the other boy just in time to hear Celia mention his name. "Pretty sure anyone who doesn't know might have been living under a rock." He snorted.

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara looked up as Rene entered the room, giving him a smile as she stood up to get her hairband from her bag. "Hi Rene, how are things going?" she asked, waiting for an answer until she heard another voice. She glanced around to smile at Celia as she continued to search through the bottom of her bag, but as she continued to search, for some reason struggling to fine the loan hairband, she listened as Celia continued to talk about her. Not just talk about, but talk down to her. For no reason. It's as if Celia thought she was some sort of backhanded person who would lie to others, and that wasn't in her heart at all. But as the Slytherin kept talking, Elara could feel herself started to become more and more frustrated. As soon as the girl stopped, El summoned the hairband wand and turned swiftly on her heel to look at Celia.

Her mouth was open, but the words coming out were not hers, and she looked over to see Isaiah entering, feeling herself lighten. "Agreed, and if you or anyone feels like they need a disclaimer, I would be glad to provide it," she said with a smile, as she quickly took her seat and pulled her hair up into a bun. "Now, I think Xiuying is on her way, but I also want to give everyone ample time to present their opinions. On Quidditch," she added. "So, I guess we'll start with a general question. I'm taking note on the conversation, and it can be a conversation if everyone would like. But what qualities do you think make a good captain?" Elara presented, feeling a tinge of snark behind her question.

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia resisted the urge to roll her eyes at Isaiah's comment. That wasn't how journalism worked, but she knew better than to try explaining that. Instead, she kept her smile and shrugged. "I don't know about that. Elara's a new seeker, and I doubt anyone outside Gryffindor paid much attention to your team before this season," she said lightly. Elara chimed in, and Celia wondered how someone could write for a newspaper without having a grasp of basic journalistic principles. The problem, she decided, was that the Monthly wasn't more selective with its staff. "I think that would be the right thing to do, journalistically speaking," she said with a nod.

The interview started, and Celia activated her own transcription quill. She wanted her own record of today's conversation in case Elara tried to alter her quotes or present them out of context. At the first question, Celia took a moment to consider her answer. As fun as it would be to insult some of her teammates, she knew that wouldn't reflect well on her. "Skill," she answered, glancing briefly at René. How he'd gotten the captaincy, she had no idea. "And dedication. Quidditch should be your number one priority when you're captain. Your team won't work hard if they don't see you putting in the effort as well." Celia tried not to feel bitter about just how much time and effort she'd put into studying Quidditch strategy and improving her team's practices and equipment — only to have it all go to waste when her teammates had f*cked up spectacularly during the first match.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah bit his tongue at Celia's remark, not willing to respond in any way that might bring her entertainment. Still, he was convinced people would know. He was a seventh year after all, captian of the quidditch team and he liked to believe he was quite populair. Definitely more well-liked than Celia from what he had seen and heard. Plus, anyone who had opened an edition fo Accio in the last few years would've noticed El and him together on multiple occasions. He was glad El took it so well though and kept it professional, which is exactly why he was keeping his mouth shut.

He listened as Celia answered the first question, wondering if that was really all she thought it took to be captain. He knew his team hadn't been doing great, but at least he hadn't lost a serious winning streak during his first year as captain. "It's not just that," Zay added once Celia finished speaking. "I do agree skill and dedication are important, but there's a huge social aspect to it as well. You could be the greatest quidditch player there ever was and still be unable to lead a team if you lack the social skills. It's hard to lead when there's no one willing to follow. As captain you should be able to keep the team together, no matter win or loss. Make them feel like a team rather than a bunch of individuals who just so happen to play for the same side. You're there to motivate them, encourage them to keep trying when they're close to giving up. Trust them and show them that they can trust you. If they don't care for a word you say then you're obviously doing something wrong."

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara took a deep breath as Celia was the first to respond. She did think skill was important, but she also thought, to herself, that people should actually like their captain, and Elara wasn't sure if that was the case with the Slytherin team. Then again, maybe they enjoyed being berated and yelled at during the games. Elara kept a smile on her face while the girl talked, taking some notes. "Don't you think it's important though, since we are in school, to have academics be at the top of your priorities, as well?" she asked Celia before Isaiah jumped in. If she did include that part of what she said, she wouldn't want any first years getting the idea that they should only focus on extracurriculars. And while Elara wasn't exactly the best student, barely taking enough NEWT courses as it was, she still thought it was important to be a productive witch or wizard.

As Zay responded to Celia, she knew she agreed with him pretty much entirely, but she couldn't say that out loud, for fear of certain people's reactions. She looked over at Rene, giving him a smile in case he felt like there was a chance for him to get a word in, and then made some notes of Zay's reply. "I think there are so many ways to be captain, and it makes sense that not everyone in this room would... take the same approach," she added after her boyfriend stopped. "Since everyone here has been captain for more than one year (ooc: I think that's correct, if not feel free to correct her IC), I wonder if there are any defining moments for you as captain, whether it was a great play, a particularly difficult game, some success in practice, things like that."

 

[Celia Vu]

"Of course academics are important," Celia said dismissively. "But like I said, as captain, you set an example. If you don't show that you care about Quidditch, your team won't either. Everyone who joins the Slytherin team knows it's a commitment. If you're not ready to make Quidditch a priority, then you shouldn't try out." Celia did not care if her teammates were failing their classes. Her only concern was whether or not they played well. As for herself, Celia did in fact care more about her grades than Quidditch. But she'd never had issues with balancing the two (and other responsibilities) since the curriculum at Hogwarts was an absolute joke and the teachers here barely taught. That was the consequence when you catered educational requirements to the lowest common denominator.

Celia side-eyed Isaiah as he went on a long rant about the "social aspect." Sure, that was important — if you were coaching pee wee soccer. At Elara's comment, Celia smiled. "I guess it depends on what your team is looking for. Are they playing Quidditch for the 'social aspect'—" she said, doing air quotes, "—or are they there to improve their skills and win?" It wasn't hard to guess what the team from the house known for its ambition wanted. Celia's careful smile faltered, however, when Elara made a blatant mistake. "Actually, Isaiah is the only one who's been captain for more than a year," she said with a sharp look. Had Elara done any research into the other captains, or was this article only supposed to be about her boyfriend? "Since you clearly didn't do your research, would it help if René and I went over some of the basics? I'm a sixth year. Vuong is spelled V-U-O-N-G. I've started for the Slytherin team as a beater for nearly five years now. I took over the team this year, so I've been captain for roughly seven months now, which last time I checked, was less than a year." Part of her was stating the insultingly obvious to, well, insult Elara. But Celia was also genuinely concerned about Elara getting some of this information wrong in the story. It wouldn't be the first time she'd seen her name misspelled in the paper.

((i'm so sorry))

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

Isaiah didn't know much about Celia other than bits and pieces he had caught up on like everyone else. He hadn't wanted to judge her based on rumours, but sitting in the same room and actually seeing what she was like made him realize he was glad he had never had to interact with her before. He could only imagine what it would be like to be on a team with her and even in his imagination it was dreadful. Zay couldn't help but to snort at Celia's response to his answer but tried to keep his mind shut. He wasn't here to butt heads and yet he could already tell that was going to be difficult.

Zay's intention of not getting off track and focussing on the questions El was asking was quickly thrown out of the window when the younger Slytherin responded to the second question. "Maybe add being disrespectful to that mix." He shrugged when the girl finished talking. "And leave René out of it." Isaiah added. He didn't know the Hufflepuff that well either, but he was fairly certain none of them would be glad to get unvoluntarily spoken for by Celia. "I reckon that also means you still have very little idea of what it means being a captain, especially going by your lack of understanding of how there's so much more to quidditch than just skill. If you're not able to motivate your team, how do you expect them to want to be better?" He responded, eyeing El to see if he should shut up before looking back at the Slytherin. "After all, didn't you immediately break the team's winning streak this year?" Zay finished before taking a breath and looking back at El. "Do you still want us to answer that question or should we just quit while we're ahead?" He asked in a far more friendly tone than he had used while talking to Celia. If anything, he didn't want El to have to put up with the other girl's disrespect. Nor did he wish for René and Xiuying to have to endure that.

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia turned to address Isaiah though she kept her gaze on Elara. "No, what's disrespectful is to ask people to give up their time to do you a favor by answering your questions for your article and not even attempt to do basic prep work before the interview." She glanced at Isaiah. "René, Xiuying, and I are all first-year captains, and that's something Elara should have known if she wants to write an article about the Hogwarts captains." She wondered if she should warn River to spend some extra time fact-checking and proofreading Elara's article once she turned it in.

She snorted at his next comment. "I never said that skill is the only quality a captain needs. Obviously there are other qualities that are important, like responsibility, intelligence, understanding, good communication skills, and on and on and on. We could spend an entire day going over what it takes to be a captain. But I do think skill and dedication are two of the most important. If you do not have those two qualities, especially dedication, you will always fail as captain. My team stays motivated because they understand the goal they're working towards, and they understand that my only goal is to lead them towards it." Celia knew some of her teammates didn't like her, but she was pretty sure all of them knew that she was dedicated to Slytherin's success. "I make it very clear what my expectations are for the team and what Slytherin is capable of. So they're willing to play through long practices, grueling injuries, and awful weather conditions. I have no doubt that they are the most hard-working and most motivated team at Hogwarts," Celia said firmly. Her team had a lot of flaws, but she could admit that they always showed up to her (very intense, very long, and very frequent) practices. Whether their motivation came from personal ambition, her bludger hits, or the threat of being benched, she didn't care. She just needed them to show up.

Before the interview, Celia had prepared what she would say when the topic of Slytherin's streak inevitably came up. "First of all, I didn't break the streak." Technically speaking, Slytherin's win streak had ended under Liusaidh's tenure, when they'd lost to Ilvermorny last year. "If you're referring to the game against Hufflepuff, we lost that match because Felix got lucky," she said calmly. "I can't control the fact that the snitch decided to show up next to him. The only thing I can do is play well and prepare my team as best I can. I've never hurt my team by, say, bludgering my already injured seeker," she said, giving Isaiah a pointed look. "It's pretty obvious that your team won that game in spite of your captaining." Meanwhile, her team had lost a game in spite of her captaining. They were not at all the same.

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara tried to keep up with Celia and Zay, keeping track of the important things, but it was becoming difficult. She was, first off all, astounded by what was coming out of Celia's mouth. How had a girl like her been chosen to be a prefect and she hadn't? At least she was nice to other people and didn't attack them over a simple mistake. Celia wouldn't even let her get a word in, and Elara tried to rifle through her notes, hoping she had actually been correct. But it seemed she had made one simple mistake, and Celia found a way in. It didn't help that Zay tried to.. be helpful, and Elara just put her face in her hands, looking back and forth at the two like she were at a tennis match.

It wasn't until Celia brought up Zay hitting her with a bludger that Elara actually felt angry. It was an accident, and Elara was fine now. She still caught the snitch in spite of the hit, no matter who it came from. When things finally came to a standstill for a moment, Elara straightened up, looking over to Rene and hoping he wasn't as astounded by this interview as she was. Seeing as she wasn't talking, she had a feeling they were on a similar page. "We are going to pause," she stated clearly, trying to choose her words carefully. She figured that interviewing people older than 16 wouldn't turn into a blood bath, but apprently she was wrong. "There will be no more personal attack, insinuated or direct, towards anybody in or out of this room. We are here to discuss quidditch and enlighten the whole school about what it means to be a captain. So far, it's not looking great," she said, looking at everyone in the room, including her boyfriend. She wasn't frustrated with Isaiah necessarily, but she knew singleing out anyone would not go over well with Celia. This was also a great opportunity to practice how she would handle a situation like this with the family business in the future; although, she hoped this kind of insanity would not happen among adults. "I had a whole list of questions, and I'd love to get your answers, but there's no way I can write an article if you all aren't willing to be mature. Now, we're going to keep going. I will try to pull out what I can from whatever was just said. My next question is... what do you think is the most essential position and why," she asked cautiously, leaning back to take a drink of her water and stopping the urge to throw the bottle at Celia's head.

 

[Isaiah Thompson]

As soon as Celia opened her mouth again Isaiah wished he had just kept his shut. There was no way he was going to way up someone like her. He was used to being the fun, friendly guy. Definitely didn't have snarky comebacks ready as quickly as she did. Plus, he was certain he wasn't exactly helping El right now. So, he clenched his jaw as the younger girl spoke and fought the urge to roll his eyes when she spoke about her team's motivation. If anything, it sounded like a story about what she wished her team to be. He didn't fully believe that was how things were when the Slytherin team took to the pitch. Dedicated to not making the situation escalte anymore Zay kept his mouth shut, which was a difficult thing to do when Celia started mentioning how Felix had gotten lucky and then continued by personally attacking him. He was about to say he was done with the conversation and move on to answering El's question when his girlfriend stepped in, doing it for him. Although it did make him wonder whether he had royally messed up.

"I believe all positions are esential." He responded, feeling the urge to speak before Celia did just so he wouldn't have to listen to her answer first. What she did with his he was going to try and not care about. If only for the sake of his girlfriend's article. "It's easy to say the seeker is the most important because they catch the snitch, end the game and I've more than once heard the argument that chasers are only there for entertainment but I disagree. Everyone needs each other. Seekers need beaters to defend them or to up their chances of finding the snitch by knocking out the opponent. Keepers need chasers to keep the quaffle away from their hoops yet chasers also need a solid keeper to make sure they stay ahead in points. Everyone needs the seeker to end the game, but chasers scoring points could definitely mess with the overall ranking. It's a team sport and each and every player out on that pitch is important."

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia nearly laughed when Elara tried to scold them, as if she were a kindergarten teacher and not a journalist. It was like she wanted the most dull story possible. Celia had entered the room, expecting to be grilled about Slytherin's loss, but perhaps her fears were overblown. Elara seemed much more interested in a bunch of drivel about how captains were supposed to be fRieNdlY and sOciAL. But what Celia found much more egregious was how Elara was trying to escape accountability for her mistake under the guise of "personal attacks." "So correcting errors and stating facts are considered personal attacks?" If anyone was slinging personal attacks, it was Isaiah. He was the one who'd made assumptions about her ability to captain her team. "Noted." This whole interview was a farce.

While Celia couldn't say Elara's next question was the most absurd thing she'd heard so far during this "interview," it was pretty high up there. Had the seeker just asked that so she could fish for compliments? Celia was a little surprised Isaiah didn't take his girlfriend's bait. Instead, he gave an incredibly boring breakdown of how the different positions worked. When it was Celia turn to answer, she smiled and looked Elara in the eye. "Some seekers like to believe that their position is the only one that matters or is the most important. It's a very arrogant mindset and one that shows a complete lack of understanding of the game." Even if Elara didn't think her position was the most important, Celia knew of a certain seeker who did think that way. "Every position is important. As Isaiah said, Quidditch is a team sport, and every person contributes to the outcome of a match." Personally, Celia believed that some positions contributed a lot more than others, but she knew better than to express that opinion publicly. However, even if seekers were more important than chasers or keepers, that didn't mean they were any better. If anything, Celia thought seeker was the position that was least dependent on skill. It was a shame she respected Avery because she would've loved to tell Elara (and any other seekers who happened to read this interview) what she really thought of their position. "He did get one thing wrong, though. Seekers are not the only ones who can end a game. Beaters have forced forfeits before, which also ends the game."

 

[Elara Chatelain]

Elara ignored Celia, knowing at this point, no matter what she said, it would make difference? Why did the Slytherin even agree to join the interview if she was going to be so mean to everyone? Elara could have easily interviewed the other captains or even just two. Either way, they were here now, and El would just have to use this as a chance to learn from her mistakes.

Her boyfriend gave a rather diplomatic answer to the question, while Celia gave a... what seemed like maybe a targeted answer. The Gryffindor hoped to have never given off the idea that she thought her position was important. She worked to be encouraging of every member on her team, and she supported Flynn for three years, even if he didn't necessarily like her. Elara nodded and did have to agree with Celia's comment. "You're right, Celia," she said, giving her a smile and hoping that would satiate the Slytherin for a moment. "Next question, do you follow professional quidditch, and if so, who is your favorite team? And/or are there any notable players you're watching this season?" Especially for muggleborn students, she though this question might be particularly helpful if they were interested in learning more about the sport. She just hoped Celia didn't find someway to start things up again.

OOC: I have one more question after this, thank you so much doing this!

 

[Celia Vu]

Celia had wondered if Elara would take her response as a "personal attack" and end the interview. But the seeker only gave her a smile, which Celia returned with a smirk. For all of Elara's posturing, it was pretty clear she had no backbone, though Celia supposed the seeker couldn't really do anything even if she wanted to. It wasn't like Elara could kick her out, not if she wanted an interesting article that wasn't just filled with her boyfriend's dumb clichés. Elara needed her.

"Of course," Celia said, scoffing slightly. What kind of captain would she be if she didn't study the professionals? She considered saying as much, but she didn't want to tip any of the other captains off in the off-chance that they weren't following professional Quidditch. "My favorite team is the Fitchburg Finches." There was no real reason for it other than an intense homesickness for and loyalty to her home state. "But I've also been following the Macaws closely. Over half the team are Slytherin alumni. In fact, most of the pro teams in the region have at least one former Slytherin on their starting lineup, which I think is a testament to the strength of the Slytherin program," she said, knowing that it was part of her job as captain to promote her team and its legacy. "As a beater, I'm always interested in what Odette Madison and AJ Ari are doing." AJ wasn't a former Slytherin, but he'd nearly wiped out the Slytherin team during her first year, which was almost better. That game had been the inspiration for her brutal approach to the beater position. "Rory Fergusson is also very talented and fun to watch," Celia said, figuring she should toss in Rory's name since he'd agreed to donate to the Slytherin team.