Open It's Brutal Out Here

[Celia Vuong]

((Open after Daphne posts with Louis Alcott))

After spending the last semester keeping to herself, Celia was ready to reenter the Hogwarts social scene and make a name for herself. Or rather, she needed to revise the name she'd already made for herself. She winced every time she thought about the fact that she'd been nominated "Most Likely to Enter the Forbidden Forest" last year. Clearly her troublemaking hadn't gone unnoticed, and she needed to do something before it defined her reputation at the school.

Celia had it all planned out. First, she would join the Slytherin Quidditch team — a surefire way to boost her popularity. Yes, she was only a second year. And yes, she had never played before, unlike some of her more magical peers. But after Slytherin's rather pathetic performance at the game against Ilvermorny (and the graduation of half its starters), she figured she at least had a chance. She could fly, was in decent shape, and even had quite a bit of tennis experience from her years before Hogwarts. How hard could playing beater be?

The answer, it turned out, was much harder than she'd expected. But Celia had persisted, and today was her fourth time out at the pitch this week. Broom and bat tucked under one arm, she levitated the school's heavy trunk of Quidditch supplies to the middle of the pitch before kneeling to work open the clasps. At the sound of footsteps, she sighed, not entirely sure she was prepared for an audience while she practiced. "You should leave if you don't want to get hit by a bludger," Celia said matter-of-factly, not even bothering to look up as she opened the trunk. It wasn't a threat, just a realistic warning. Bludgers had proved more unpredictable than she'd expected, and she still had a couple bruises from her last few practice sessions.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Now that he was in his second year, Louis was ready to make a difference at Hogwarts. He was no longer a little firstie everyone would look down on. Louis was going to join the Quidditch team and make a name for himself. It frustrated him that the Gryffindor team had been so bad last year. If they'd had better players, surely they would have done better. Louis knew he could be the player that could make a difference. He had trained during the break and was confident in his abilities.

But Louis also knew it would be good to train a bit more. He knew positions on the Gryffindor team were very competitive, and the odds of getting a spot were fairly slim. He headed to the Quidditch Pitch, thinking at first that it was empty. But then he saw the girl handling the trunk with Quidditch supplies. Louis smiled a bit as he recognized Celia. "Nah, I think I'll stay." He said. "I was going to train for practice, so a few bludgers would just make it more realistic. I guess that's what you're doing as well?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia's frown deepened slightly when she realized it was Louis who had joined her. She'd found him a bit irritating, but he was also the one who had helped her break into the broomshed last year and actually learn to fly. There was worse company out there, she supposed. Celia turned around and arched an eyebrow. "Are you volunteering to be target practice then?" Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if he stuck around. So far, she had only practiced by herself, trying to hit bludgers through the hoops. A moving target would be much better.

Celia hesitated before nodding. She hadn't wanted to tell anyone that she planned on trying out. Celia much preferred securing her successes first and then bragging about them. But people would find out anyway once she showed up to try-outs, so she supposed it didn't really matter. "Yeah, I'm trying out this year. What position are you going out for?" He didn't have a bat with him, so she assumed he wasn't interested in being a beater like her.

 

[Rene Tofilau]

René had done a lot of thinking about Quidditch over the holidays. It was hard not to with how much Sully tended to talk about it too, though bringing up his goal against Gryffindor in their one match did quieten it down some, which René enjoyed. But as much as René had loved learning to fly and actually getting to play on the team last year, he couldn't shake the feel that chaser wasn't right for him. It'd made sense to try, since he'd gotten enough practice throwing basketballs around like quaffles at home with Sully, but René couldn't help but feel he'd be better at something else. He'd spoken about it to Charlie and now Tilly and, with his mind made up, René had borrowed a beaters bat and headed down to the pitch to put his new plan into action. It felt risky, chancing losing his spot on the team already, but René figured it was worth a shot.

Reaching the pitch though, René hesitated, seeing Louis and Celia Vuong already out on the field. Louis was cool but Celia kinda scared René. She didn't seem to care what other people think, and he was sure the story about her trying to run away from school last year was at least mostly true. He didn't want to have to compete with people like that, especially not trying something new, but time was running out before try-outs and Celia had all the school balls already in the trunk. "Oh, hey. You two are trying out too?" he said, straightening up and approaching the pair with what he hoped was a totally casual way, though he had to resist the urge to hide his beater's bat behind his bat when he saw Celia had one too.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis couldn't the laugh that escaped him as Celia asked if he was volunteering to be target practice. He grinned at her. "As if you could hit me." He teased. "But sure, might be good practice for the real deal." He said with a shrug, sure it wouldn't be that bad if she actually did hit him. She was a second year like him and a girl to boot, how hard would she be able to hit? "I'm trying to decide between seeker and chaser." He said when she asked him about positions. "I suppose chaser makes more sense." He said with a small shrug. Seeker was a long shot if Louis was honest.

Before they could start, they were joined by René. Louis grinned at the Hufflepuff and waved at him. "Hey, if it isn't star chaser Tofilau." He joked though he was honestly a little jealous of the Hufflepuff's position on the team. "Or... star beater?" He asked him, glancing at the beater's bat pointedly. "You're changing?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia bristled at Louis' laughter. She knew it was probably just a joke, but she couldn't help but feel that he didn't take her seriously. That no one took her seriously. She plastered on a fake smile. "Shouldn't be hard. Your head's so big, I'd barely have to aim," she said though she knew her tone was a bit too aggressive. Between him, Zachariah, and Max, she was starting to think she'd gotten stuck in the year with the most arrogant boys. "Chaser seems kind of useless," she commented, handing him the quaffle. She herself had considered going out for seeker before deciding her flying skills probably weren't up to snuff. Besides, she'd rather hit people with bludgers than get hit herself.

Another person joined them, and Celia held back a sigh. Tryouts were close, so she supposed she couldn't really expect to have the pitch to herself. She was about to ask René if he wanted his own bludger to practice with when she heard Louis' comment. "You made the team as a first year?" she asked, turning sharply toward René. Celia hadn't paid much attention to the teams until the end of last year, but that had clearly been a mistake. "How?" She hadn't even realized that was possible.

 

[Rene Tofilau]

René ducked his head at Louis’ teasing, trying not to let it show how pleased he was to get called a star player, even if Louis was probably joking. “Yeah, I dunno. Might be a mistake but I wanna give it a try,” René said, trying to hold onto the confidence he’d felt after speaking to Tilly. “Chaser isn’t useless,” he said to Celia, trying not to falter as he spoke. “My brother’s a chaser and he kicks ass,” he added defensively, aware that it didn’t sound as convincing considering he was giving up on being a chaser himself.

He flinched as Celia turned to look at him, making a complicated shrugging motion at her question. “I got a lot of practice with my brother last year, he’s on the Gryffindor team,” he said, trying to stand up straighter so he’d sound more confident. “He’s really good so I guess it worked out for me. I even got to play a game,” he added, unable to resist the urge to show off a little. “You gonna try out for beater too this year?” He asked, hoping to change the subject off himself and back to the other two. Despite being so tall, people like Celia still intimidated him, more so if he knew she’d be flying around with a bat soon too.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis frowned when Celia said something about his head being big, reaching up to touch his hair. Was it? He simply shrugged, getting the feeling something was getting lost in translation. Louis was pretty good at English, but sometimes they said very weird things. Louis scowled and opened his mouth to defend the chaser position, but René beat him to it. "Yeah!" He said. "He's great. Chasers are awesome." He added, finally making the connection between the Hufflepuff in his year and one of the chasers he wanted to be like. He should ask René for some tips later, when Celia was gone.

As the girl asked René how he'd made the team as a first year, Louis couldn't help joking a bit. "By being a Hufflepuff." He teased. "Their team isn't as in demand." Perhaps it was a bit mean to say, but it was true. Louis had seen the Gryffindor tryouts last year, they seemed to be twice as busy as any other. The subject changed to the two of them trying out as beaters, and Louis frowned. "Look, I'm fine practicing with you both but you have to try hitting each other too. If you're both just hitting me it's not fair."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia frowned when René tried to object. She supposed she couldn't fault him for trying to defend his brother, but he was still wrong. "Unless your brother's scoring 15 goals a game, he's not going to have much effect on whether his team wins or loses," she said dismissively. Everyone knew that the chasers and keeper were just a sideshow designed to keep spectators from getting bored. Their roles — and really, Quidditch as a whole — had never made much sense to Celia, but it didn't matter. Quidditch was the most popular magical sport this side of the world and when in Rome...

From René's telling of it, he'd made the Hufflepuff team due to sheer talent. Celia tried to conceal her growing worry. She'd known that she would be at a disadvantage going into tryouts due to her non-magical upbringing, but she hadn't thought she'd be this far behind. At Louis' explanation, she relaxed and smirked slightly. That made a lot more sense. She was very familiar with Hufflepuff's reputation. As much as she disliked Slytherin, she would forever be grateful she wasn't in the reject house. "Obviously," she answered when René asked her if she'd be trying out for beater. Why else would she be holding a bat? She shrugged at Louis' comment. "That's fine with me." It would be good practice to have someone else target her. Celia moved towards the trunk. "One bludger or two?" Though she definitely would have preferred to just use one bludger, she didn't want to come off as weak. Hopefully one of the others would insist on just using one.