Open Quidditch 101

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander was still disappointed his team hadn't won their final match of the year, after all the work he'd put into trying to hinder Leda before she could catch the snitch. He'd been so sure that Gryffindor would win this year, though the more he thought about it, the more he wondered if the outcome had already been predicted. Zelda had read his tarot and told him winning wasn't everything, and that he'd face some conflict in his competition. That Jasper boy had been a jerk to him right after the match. She'd also said he needed to know when to apologise, but he didn't think he'd been in the wrong by talking to Leda after the game. Jasper should have been the one apologising to him, not the other way around. The loss aside, it had still been a fun game, and he was more motivated than ever to get even more practice in so that he could do better next time. He'd offered to help Emma practice early in the year, and after her Valentines rose had reminded him of the fact, he figured now was the best time to get it started. He really wanted to see her join him on the team so he'd have another friend to rely on, though the longer the year went on, the more he considered his current teammates to be his friends, too.

Having invited Emma and Ajaccio to the pitch, since he'd also offered to help the latter see if Quidditch was for him, and thought it would be more fun with more friends, Lysander sat waiting on the lawn, surrounded by a couple of school-issued brooms, and a trunk of Quidditch balls to practice with, that he'd been lucky enough to borrow. A half-eaten bag of jelly slugs lay in his lap, which he'd been trying to quickly get through before the others arrived and took all of the good colours. This was going to be a lot of fun, and he was looking forward to teaching other people how to be good at something he thought himself to be pretty awesome at. Leda had even said he was a good beater, and that last match had proved it. He'd done the best out of all the beaters, including Jacob, so that meant that he had to be good. He made a note to send an owl to Kida, and thank her for her tips and help during the holidays.
@Emma van Houten @Ajaccio Skey
​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma had enjoyed watching the match, but she thought it was totally unfair how Slytherin had won. She was sure the seeker had cheated somehow, and she wondered if there was any way to prove something like that. The girl was still proud of how Gryffindor had done, especially her best friend Lysander. He had done great, and had nearly knocked out the Slytherin seeker. If he had managed that, Emma was sure there would have been a different outcome. Emma was excited that Lysander was finally going to teach her how to play Quidditch. She had tried out for seeker at the start of the year, but Jacob had given the alternate position to Sierra instead. Emma was convinced she was his girlfriend, so knew better than to think she would get it next time. And seeing Lysander play, Emma realized that playing beater could be a lot of fun. It wasn't as much glory as seeker, but you got to hit people. Emma raced onto the Quidditch pitch eagerly, running over to her friend. She grinned and grabbed a jelly slug out of the bag, putting it in her mouth without asking. Then she grinned at Lysander with some of the gummy pieces stuck between her teeth. "I'm ready!"

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio had since the break decided that for sure he’d try out for the team, he’d been unsure of his choice, saying yes one minute and then no the next, but he thought it would be good for him. He would be more involved in the school and who didn’t love sports. But, it did mean, for him that he needed to decide what exact position he had played. The time with Sapphire had helped him realise he was not cut out for a seeker position. He didn’t think he would enjoy that much either. The keeper position seemed like a doomed thing, guaranteeing nothing but having a lot of weight on it. So it was between beater and chaser. It seemed that his friendship with Lysander was helping too since the boy had invited him to practice with him again. The ravenclaw was pleased that he’d decided to speak to Lysander that time he had, pleased that he had known him a little with Star. He was heading out to the pitch to join him, and possibly someone else. He was very excited for it. The ravenclaw had brought his skateboard with him, and was riding it down to where he could see Lysander at the pitch. ”Hey guys!” he called out, as he got close enough and brought the skateboard to a stop in front of them. He had his hair tied back in two little ponytails, making sure that it wouldn’t get in his eyes as he practiced with him. He didn’t know the girl that was with them, but he knew she was the sister of Iris who was in his house. ”I’m so ready to get started!”​

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander looked up as a hand dove into his bag of lollies and retrieved one, thankful that he'd been smart enough to already get the best pieces. "Hey!" He greeted, getting to his feet and wiping flecks of grass from his pants. "Awesome! This is going to be so fun. By the way, I invited-" He began, pausing when Ajaccio showed up on his skateboard. In his excitement to get a practice started, he'd neglected to tell Emma that he'd invited somebody else. He knew it would be fun with more people, so surely she wouldn't mind. It was Ajax, after all. He was totally cool. Anyone who rode skateboards was. "Hi Ajax!" He called out, grinning between the two of his friends. This was going to be so great! He held out his bag of gummy slugs toward Ajaccio in case he wanted some, before turning his attention to the chest at his feet. "I've got a quaffle, bludgers, a snitch, and brooms! What positions do you guys want to try out?" He asked. He knew Emma had wanted to try out for seeker originally, so he'd brought the snitch along especially, but he wasn't too sure if Ajax had decided on anything after he'd made his suggestions.​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma was excited to get started, but her excitement waned a little as another boy showed up. Apparently, Lysander had invited someone else too. Emma frowned a little, looking at the Ravenclaw boy for a moment before looking at Lysander. "You promised me ages ago." She muttered to him, crossing her arms. She didn't really know Ajaccio well. He was the boy that had taken Nicole to the Valentine's dance, and she knew Iris was friendly with him. For a moment, she wondered if it wasn't a betrayal to Gryffindor to help a Ravenclaw learn to play Quidditch too. But then she realized that at least Ajaccio wouldn't be competition for her at the tryouts, and she relaxed a little. She grinned, realizing it could now be turned into a competition between them. "I'm ready too, I bet I can hit more things than you!" She told the boy, her earlier irritation almost forgotten. She looked at Lysander as he told them what he had prepared, then asked what positions they wanted to try out for. "Beater!" She told him. "You make it look fun! And we know Jacob is going to pick his girlfriend for seeker anyway."

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio smiled as Lysander greeted him, and then to the girl, who didn’t seem as happy in that moment to see him. Perhaps it was because Lysander hadn’t told her he would be there, or just because she didn’t like him. He didn’t know which it could be and he hoped it wasn’t the latter, he wasn’t even sure what he had done. Ajaccio took a little gummy slug as it was offered to him and then thanked Lysander before putting it in his mouth. He was pleased as Lysander declared they get started that the girl, Emma, or something said that she could hit more things that him, he laughed lightly. He didn’t particularly want to hit things, beater seemed dangerous and perhaps not as worth it to him. ”I wouldn’t mind chaser!” he said, but he figured if both of them wanted to be beaters he might have to do something else, ”But I’m flexible! Nothing wrong with learning all of it!” he really didn’t mind it. He was always keen to learn as much as he could and he could certainly stretch this to quidditch. He’d be happy to practice with them and just do whatever each of them wanted. ​

 

[Lysander Summers]

Lysander offered Emma a toothy, apologetic smile, not wanting to let on that there were any issues. He hadn't thought there would be. "It'll be fun." He whispered back reassuringly. He was happy when she seemed to let it go, and he fidgeted around with unlocking the Quidditch chest to get them started. Emma might not have wanted more company, but a part of him wished he'd brought more friends to fill out the roles. He lifted the lid, and chuckled at Emma's comment about Sierra. "Beater is the best one anyway. If you were a seeker, you'd have all the bludgers aimed at you like all the time." He said. He'd been so close to taking Leda out before she won, and after taking a bludger hit during his last practice, he didn't fancy how she would have felt after two strikes. Seeker was the same as painting a giant target on your back. Once Jacob graduated, he would have liked Emma as his new beater buddy too. "Okay, so you can have this one. Catch!" Lysander continued, tossing a quaffle towards Ajax. "And Emma, you can take this." He said, offering her one of the beaters bats. He shoved his bag of lollies into his pocket and picked up his own bat, and prepared to mount a broom laying on the grass. "We can play two beaters and a chaser. Ajax can fly the quaffle to the hoops and try to score. Emma, you can hit bludgers at him, and I'll fly around him to defend against them!" He suggested. He figured it was a good way for them all to practice, even without a keeper to defend, and out of himself and Emma, he knew he could trust himself better to keep Ajax safe.​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma was actually a little disappointed when Ajaccio said he wanted to play chaser instead. She had looked forward to beating him and being able to rub it in. But maybe she could hit a bludger at him instead. Would that hurt a lot? She considered asking Lysander, but she didn't want to sound scared. She nodded when Lysander said that beater was the best one anyway. That is what Emma tried to tell herself now. "Right! And as beater I can aim all the bludgers." She said with a grin. She let out a little cheer as Lysander gave her his bat, and resisted the urge to immediately swing it. Instead, she listened as Lysander told them what to do. It sounded easy enough, and Emma got on her broom. The first challenge was to lift off while holding the beater's bat. Emma was not bad on a broom, but it was a little different when you had to hold a heavy bat in one hand. Emma managed it after a bit, and practiced swinging the bat at nothing. She figured that was safe to do before attempting to go after a bludger. But she got impatient quickly, and finally zoomed after a bludger. "GOTCHA!" She yelled, swinging at it. But unfortunately, she had been a little too enthusiastic. She missed her swing, and in her enthusiasm nearly fell off her broom from the force of her swing. She yelped, and the beater's bat dropped from her hand. She managed to right herself, but the bat landed on the grass with a thump. Emma scowled at it.

 

[Ajaccio Skey]

Ajaccio was pleased that the girl didn’t seem too disappointed by him being there, though the fact they’d be gathering to do quidditch was probably why. He nodded in agreement as Lysander said that seekers always got hit, ”being a seeker seems pretty dangerous,” he said in agreement, Ajax liked to do dangerous things, he liked to do things that perhaps weren’t the best advised but that didn’t mean that he actively put himself in danger, and really the continued exposure to bludgers that he could be under if he was the seeker was exceedingly not worth it. He took the quaffle as it was passed to him, he was pretty pleased to have caught it. It would’ve been a pretty poor show had he not. Ajaccio got on the broom and flew up into the air. He was a little unsteady, trying to balance himself on the broom while holding the quaffle, but he felt he was managing fine. He looked towards the girl as she let out a loud yell, knowing he probably shouldn’t look away like this, but he had and he couldn’t help but smile a little as the bat flew to the ground. ”Now’s my chance!” he joked, focusing and racing as quickly as he could towards the hoops. He threw it, but his aim was pretty off, perhaps a little distracted by what Emma had done. He didn’t mind though, he needed to not only get better at his balance, at not getting distracted and at aiming, those were all very doable things. He raced after the ball he’d thrown and went to get it. ​

 

[Lysander Summers]

Half the fun of the practice for Lysander was watching his friends take off from the pitch and get used to not just gripping the broom with both hands. It was easy to forget that he had more experience from playing with the team, when he'd just assumed it was something everyone in his year could do naturally. He followed after Ajax, keeping an eye on Emma all the while to defend him, but had to stop and laugh when she dropped her bat instead of hitting a bludger. "Come on, Emma!" He shouted through his laughter. That bat wasn't going to pick itself up off the grass, as great of an idea as that was for an enchanted bat. The mjolnir, for beaters. He could already picture himself tossing his bat at an out of reach bludger and having it fly back, Thor style. He didn't know why Quidditch didn't use magically returning bats for them. Was it a million galleon idea? More likely it was just another thing that was against the rules for a really dumb reason. Sander turned back to follow Ajax and watched him try to score. "Nice try!" He commended him. "Do you guys know about any of the fouls and stuff?" He called out, looking back at Emma to see how she was doing too. He'd completely forgotten to tell them any of the rules, and was glad Ajax hadn't haversacked through the hoop. He didn't know if he knew that he wasn't allowed, or had just watched enough games.​

 

[Emma van Houten]

Emma flew down to grab the bat again, and scowled at Lysander. She was trying her best! At least Ajaccio wasn't doing any better, that was somewhat of a consolation. Emma sighed when he asked about fouls. "I wanna hit something before I learn that stuff!" She yelled in his direction as she flew off again, hoping to catch the bludger now. She knew the rules were important in Quidditch, but this wasn't the time she wanted to learn about them. Emma flew up to one of the bludgers, and tried her best to hit it. To her surprise, she actually made contact, though she hardly seemed to have altered the course of the bludger. "I DID IT!" She yelled, even as the bludger flew away from her almost in the same direction it had before. "I HIT IT!"