Closed The Pressure's on Me and I Don’t Want to Break

[Celia Vuong]

Celia had been restless ever since the match against Hufflepuff. The forfeit had ensured that Hufflepuff's run as Quidditch champions was over and that Slytherin had a place in the championship match, but it had also opened up a new can of worms. First, it meant that she was only guaranteed one more opportunity to win a game via bludger hits. If she ended the year having only played one game — or worse, having only played one game while simultaneously failing to knock anyone out — she was going to scream. The other major problem was that a third place finish was all but assured if they somehow lost against Ravenclaw. Celia knew it didn't really matter since she was graduating, but she'd still rather not finish in third again.

It was clear, Slytherin had to win the next game, if only so she'd get a chance to wreak some havoc with the bludgers during the international match. Celia wasn't one to catastrophize — it wasn't necessary, not when life could present scenarios far worse than anything she could imagine — but she was a pessimist. And she wasn't thrilled about the idea of either Ivelisse or Seamus going up against Hamish. The only thing Celia could do was ensure that the team got as much practice as possible going into the next match. Today she was supposed to meet with Xiuying to figure out practice times leading up to the championship match. Celia had already drawn up her own version of a schedule, one that heavily favored Slytherin. Hopefully she could get the Ravenclaw captain to agree to it without too much trouble (though she certainly wasn't above intimidating the girl into agreeing if necessary). Schedule in hand, Celia arrived to the Student Lounge early and waited for the other girl to show up.

 

[Xiuying Huang]

Ever since the game with Gryffindor, Xiuying had been very surprised with the win that they had received and was quite proud of her team. She had hoped that they would be able to win their next game coming. Which meant that she was going to want her team to practice as much as they could handle. Xiuying had plans to meet up with the Slytherin captain, Celia on sorting out practice schedules. She had a rough idea of when she wanted her practices to be, but she was okay to move bits around if she needed to. However, she was going to see how this went before making any sort of decision. Xiuying made her way to the student lounge, as that was their plan for where to meet. When Xiuying entered the room, she instantly saw Celia and made her way towards her. "Hey, shall we get started?"

 

[Celia Vuong]

As Celia waited, she kept an eye on her watch. She didn't generally enjoy it when people wasted her time, but she hoped Xiuying would be late. Then she could either guilt the Ravenclaw into acceding to her planned schedule or use the tardiness or a moral cudgel during negotiations. Unfortunately, Xiuying was right on time. Celia gave her a polite smile, which faltered ever so slightly when Xiuying jumped straight to business. Where was the girl's manners? But two could play that game, and Celia's smile only widened. "Sure thing. I actually drew up a schedule, so hopefully this won't take too long." Since it's clear you're too busy to bother with pleasantries, she thought but didn't say. She pretended to rifle through her bag before pulling out a marked up calendar. "Here it is. If it looks good to you, we can go ahead and start booking practices," Celia said, sliding the calendar towards Xiuying. On it, she'd blocked off all the best dates and times for Slytherin, leaving mealtimes, late nights, and popular class times for Ravenclaw. However, she'd tried to be strategic about it so that at first glance, it looked like time was split evenly between the two teams. "Congratulations on the victory against Gryffindor, by the way," she said as she waited for Xiuying to finish reviewing the schedule. "You guys played well." That was a lie, but she was hoping to both distract Xiuying and butter her up