Closed Tell Me Everything

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan was a bit dazed. He had gone to the quidditch pitch to get a look at tryouts but he hadn’t realized that if he had just wanted to watch he should have gone to the stands. Somehow he had ended up with a broom in his hand and actually trying out for the team. It was nerve wracking, but fun and he was glad it was over with. Until he realized that if he actually made the team he would actually have to play. Which wouldn’t end well for him since he didn’t know any of the rules. There was still time right? It would be fine. There was also a chance he wouldn’t even make the team. That thought brought him comfort for a moment until he remembered…he might also make the team. Ethan groaned as he took a seat at the Ravenclaw table next to one of his new roommates. Michael had also been at tryouts and had tons of books about sports all over his corner of the dorm. He turned quickly. “Michael, what do you know about quidditch?” he asked seriously,

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael wasn't sure what had possessed him to try out for the quidditch team. It had been his intention to stay and watch and make notes this year and not get involved until next year, but they'd opened the floor to first years and before he even realized it he had had a broom in his hand and was in the air, flying around. Very much unlike him, but the allure of getting to play something was far too great for him to avoid. He didn't expect to make the team by any means, but he'd had fun and had something of a goal to work towards.

"Oh, I know everything about Quidditch," Michael responded to Ethan, who had sat next to him, trying to look serious and immediately breaking in to a rueful smile. "I mean, I haven't actually seen a game or anything. I know stuff in theory, if that helps?" He suspected it wouldn't.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan bounced his leg nervously as he waited for Michael's answer. When the other boy said he knew everything he lot out a sigh of relief. At least one of them wasn't totally lost. "Great!" he said quickly but hesitated when Michael continued. Ethan considered what the other boy had said and decided that theory was good enough for him. "That's fine." he added and waved his hand dismissively. "So what are the rules?" he asked. "Like how does the game actually work?"

 

[Michael Watson]

((that feel when you lose muse for a character completely i am so so sorry!!!))

Michael paused for a second. Quidditch was pretty hard to explain, and he was someone who enjoyed and played cricket. It did sometimes seem like it was several different games going on at once. He almost wished that there were more types of wizarding sports around but it really did just seem like there was quidditch and then there were board games like gobstones and wizard chess. Maybe there was some ground based wizarding sports out there he could try getting into. He'd have to do a bit of research. "Uh. It's kind of like...there's the chasers and keepers playing one game, where the three chasers have the ball, uh, quaffle, and try to get it past the keeper, kind of like soccer but with vertical basketball hoops. Then there's the two beaters who are trying to either attack the opposition and defend their team. And then...none of that actually matters most of the time because it all comes down to the seeker finding a tiny golden ball which ends the game and gives them 150 points." Michael shrugged. "I mean, there's precedent for the seeker not winning the game with that alone but it's highly unlikely. It's a weird game."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan unintentionally held his breath as Michael began to explain the game. He did his best to keep up and follow along but it was more complicated than he had first thought. “And that’s the snitch right?” he asked when the other boy mentioned a gold ball. "That's a weird name for a ball. Why would they call it that?" he wondered out loud. "So there are chasers, beaters, a keeper, and a seeker?" Ethan asked, sounding unsure. He listed all of the positions he could remember on his fingers but he felt like he was missing something.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael was even mildly confusing himself trying to explain it. Quidditch really had a lot going on at once. "Yeah, three kinds of ball with weird names. I guess they probably can't just call them all 'ball'." He guessed it was to differentiate them but boy was it easier when there was just a ball, singular to work with. He held up his own hands, counting the players out on his fingers. "Three chasers, trying to get the quaffle past the keeper. Two beaters, who hit bludgers around. And one seeker, catching the snitch, to make seven." He shook his head. "I thought keeping up with cricket was hard. If there's a position someone takes also called a silly mid-on I'm throwing the rulebook out the tower window."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan had never been that interested in sports. He had tried to watch baseball, football, and basketball before but he found it hard to follow and wasn’t sure why people cared so much about it. One of his mom’s boyfriends had taken him to an actual baseball game once which had been fun but mostly because he was able to eat as many hot dogs and cotton candy as he wanted. “Right, the balls have different names too.” he said slowly. His head was really starting to swim with all of this new information. Ethan nodded along as Michael listed off all the different players on the team again. He was at least relieved that the other boy seemed just as lost. “A what?” he asked, suddenly feeling like the other boy was speaking in a different language. “What’s cricket? Like the bug?”

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael had a tendency to get lost in his own trains of thought when it came to sports. It mostly all made sense to him, though the mashup of styles in Quidditch was confusing to say the least. And how it all came down to the snitch being caught. Which would be fine in a really long game, but from what he'd read the snitch could appear really quickly which made...everything else pretty useless. He'd tried out as chaser but if the snitch appeared that fast it really didn't matter. Still, he hoped it would be fun. The accent gave away that Ethan wasn't from New Zealand, though, and he'd gone on a confusing tangent. "It's a weird muggle sport that's kinda more confusing than Quidditch, sometimes. I love it, though." He shrugged. "They said I was too short for rugby so I had to play cricket instead. Now Quidditch is the only team sport choice we've got. You'd think they could come up with some others, hey."

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan nodded along as Michael spoke but wasn't any less confused about cricket than. But he continued to nod like it all made perfect sense. Maybe he could look it up on his own later. "Right, rugby." he said even though he wasn't really sure what kind of sport that was either. He had heard on of his mom's old bosses mention it and he had been British. He had thought it was like soccer or football. But if height was an issue maybe it was more like basketball. Ethan hadn't realized how little he knew about sports until he started talking to Michael but he could sympathize with the lack of options. "Yeah, my old school had a basketball and soccer team at least." he added. Most of the schools he had gone to back home had more options than this and some of them had been really small.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael knew he could get wrapped up in his own thing and kind of obsessive about his interests. He just found so much about it interesting. And he had to keep up with the statistics at the very least since he couldn't really play anymore. Which hurt. He would've at least been down to play soccer since a lot of the kids at Hogwarts seemed to be down for it. "Think we should see if people want to play a game of soccer or something, sometime?" he asked, idly. It would probably be tough to organize but it could be kind of fun, especially since not everyone was going to be playing quidditch. And this could be far less formal. He paused for a moment, looking at Ethan. "Hey...do you ever miss your old school?" he asked, casually. He was curious as to how the other boys felt and Ethan was probably the most approachable of his dormmates. Michael himself liked Hogwarts well enough, and wouldn't have traded being a wizard, he thought, but sometimes he couldn't help but wish he could have stayed on and kept going to a muggle school with his friends.

 

[Ethan Alexander]

Ethan wasn't sure how they had suddenly started talking about soccer but he nodded. "Yeah that could be fun." he said earnestly. He didn't really know the rules to soccer either but he had seen people play that before. It just looked like a lot of running around which seemed like something he could handle. He also remembered how hungry he was and started to load his plate up with food. Ethan hesitated as he reached for a pitcher of juice when Michael asked if he missed his old school. He had to think for a moment but shook his head. "Uhh, not really." he said and poured his drink. There was a lot he missed about home but the schools he went to weren't one of them. He had hardly spent more than a year at one school before they had to move again, so it wasn't like he had gotten attached. Even the nice schools hadn't made much of an impression. "But I went to a lot of different schools." he added as he put down the pitcher, trying to explain himself a bit.