In the Crotalus Common room, a piece of parchment was posted by the entrance for all to see. Neatly printed letters in a navy blue ink, a message was written at the top of the paper, with extra space at the bottom for responses. It read as follows:
Attention all Crotalus students: Try outs for Quidditch House teams will be taking place shortly. All positions for chasers, beaters, seeker, and keeper are open, students of all ages and experience levels may apply. Brooms and other equipment will be supplied for you, although you may use your own broom if you have one. If you are interested please send in your name, year, and position that you would like to play. Good luck!
Sincerely, Coach Cooper \n\n
Subthreads:
Interesting by Jennifer
I'm so in by Earl Valentine
Pretty sign... by Skyla Howard with
defying your parental units is good for you by Jenna Howard
New racing broom, here I come! by Laura Keaton
Finally, something to do. by Chrissy Mathers
Yet another good deed. by Lily Collins
Relunctant, yet determined by Asher Tallow
0A NoticeCrotalus Quidditch Team Tryouts0A Notice15
Jennifer didn't notice the notice by her common room door the first time she had started to leave. Actually, she did notice it, but it didn't register immediately. However, within a few seconds, she backtracked, and took a good, long look at the sign.
Quidditch auditions, she thought to herself. Should be interesting to say the least. I hope no one else here is a seeker. That could cause things to be a bit...difficult.
She grinned rather evilly, completely out of character for her, when she thought of another person trying to take her position. Glancing at the list, she noticed that no one else had signed up yet. She pulled a quill out of her bag, and wrote "Jennifer Zucchero, second year, seeker." After she wrote it, she once again headed out the door after giving hte notice one last glance. This was going to make the year even more interesting then it had been, she could swear to it.\n\n
Earl was running late for class...again. He had only few minutes to get everything together and rush to his next class. He ran towards the exit and came to a sudden halt as the new piece of fluttering parchment caught his eyes. Well, it was actually the words Quidditch Tryouts that cought his attention, noty the paper itself.
He read it over quickly. He had time for this. It only takes a second to write down your name.
He hastily grabbed a pencil (you gotta love the pencil) and wrote his name right under the first person's.
Earl Valentine, First year, anything I can get
He shoved the pencil inside his book bag and continued his race against time.\n\n
She was going downstairs to get get some breakfast and write her paretns for more hairspray. Skyla walked by a sign that caught her attention. The ink was blue. She liked the color blue. "Ohh pretty colors," Skyla looked at it and decided to join the quiddtich team. It seemed interesting and the writing was in blue.
"I wanna be my very best, like no one ever was..." Skyla started to break into a stupid song she heard from a geek when she had to go to the muggle hospital (long story). She realized that she was in a public area and had to stop singing no matter how hard it was.
"I'll try out to be a chaser," she thought. "Oh my gosh i forgot to put on mascara!" she ran upstairs to go fix her dilema.
BIC:She was going downstairs to get get some breakfast and write her paretns for more hairspray. Skyla walked by a sign that caught her attention. The ink was blue. She liked the color blue. "Ohh pretty colors," Skyla looked at it and decided to join the quiddtich team. It seemed interesting and the writing was in blue.
"I wanna be my very best, like no one ever was..." Skyla started to break into a stupid song she heard from a geek when she had to go to the muggle hospital (long story). She realized that she was in a public area and had to stop singing no matter how hard it was.
"I'll try out to be a chaser," she thought. "Oh my gosh i forgot to put on mascara!" Sklya signed it quickyl saying she wanted to be a chaser and ran upstairs to go fix her dilema. \n\n
defying your parental units is good for you
by Jenna Howard
Jenna sat on the couch in deep thought. She wasn't really thinking about anything in particular, just her whole life in general. About how she always said she was different from the rest of her family, and about how she wa trying to rebel against them and their ideas. Looking back through her entire twelve-and-a-half years, she realized that she really had done nothing at all to really go against the grain. There were small things, yes, but that was only to bug her parents. She needed to do something to really go against their ideas. Something to really shock them.
It was then that her cat, Thornmallow, enterred the common room. He was a tailless black cat, very independent. He always seemed to know what was going on around Sonora. She watched him enter the room and walk over to her. It was then that she noticed the piece of parchment by the entry way.
She got up from her position on her couch to read it. Suddenly she knew her prayers were answered, she'd play Quidditch. Her parents would just hate it if she played for the house Quidditch team. Perfect.She looked at the three names already on the list. Skyla? Jenna wondered if her cousin realized that this was actual Quidditch, brooms and all. Probably not.
Jenna thought about what position she would want to play. Jen was already signed for seeker, and Jenna didn't want to compete for a position. She didn't want to be a beater, the bludgers scared her enough as it was, she didn't want to actually go looking for them. She didn't want to be chaser either, she didn't want to go flying up and down the field like last time, which was chaotic. So that left Keeper. Keeper didn't seem to bad, she'd go for that position. She pulled out a white quill and wrote:
Jenna Howard, Second Year, Keeper
Thornmallow brushed up against her legs, and she smiled, "You'll do anything for a treat, won't you Thorny." Smiling because she had done the first big thing to defy her parents, she went up to her dormitory, followed by her cat, to get a treat. She'd really have to go practice on the Pitch later. After all, she wanted to get on the team.\n\n
0Jenna Howarddefying your parental units is good for you46Jenna Howard05
Laura, still yawning and stretching, descended the staircase from the girls’ dormitory about as gracefully as a three legged cat. During the summer she had often gotten up early to go jogging, but now at Sonora, her days were jam packed, leaving her exhausted and much too lazy to get up an extra hour early. It was hard enough getting up in time for class, never mind exercise.
As she crossed the common room, aiming for the entrance, she rubbed her eyes, futilely trying to remove the sleep and wake up some more. However, the problem with trying to wake up by rubbing your eyes is that you don’t always see where you are going. Hence, Laura walked smack into the wall beside the entrance way.
Shaking her head to clear her now fuzzy vision and rubbing her sore nose, Laura noticed a parchment pinned to the wall she had just collided with. Sleep finally forgotten, she read with great interest the announcement of Quidditch tryouts. Fumbling around in her bag for a few seconds, Laura finally managed to find her quill and ink. She dipped the tip of the quill into the black ink and then paused before writing, trying to decide whether she wanted to try out for chaser or beater. She was good at both, she knew, especially since she played Baseball as well as Quidditch at home. Finally, she put the quill to the parchment, ignoring the few drops of dark ink that had fallen to the common room carpet. “Laura Keaton, first year, chaser and beater,” she wrote, deciding the notice had said nothing about trying out for two positions.
Contently tucking away her things, Laura successfully exited the room and walked happily down to breakfast. As she walked she pondered her slim chances of getting her parents to buy her a new broom if she made the team. She could always hope. \n\n
0Laura KeatonNew racing broom, here I come!0Laura Keaton05
Chrissy walked the halls of the school alone with her cat, Midnight, trailing behind her. She absently wandered (her usual habit) corridor after corridor until she came upon the entrance of the commonroom. She said the password automatically, her eyes on the Zombie, but not really seeing it. When she had first seen the painting, Chrissy had had great delight in the Zombie. It was so disgustingly different that she absolutely loved it. But recently, her mind was on her mother. The recent letter from her had been a somewhat hurtful one and Chrissy couldn't help the anger and shame that came after reading it.
Chrysanthemum,
Love, I know that transitioning from home-life to school-life can be very emotional and a bit confusing. I've been there once upon a time long before you were ever conceived. However, I must say that I have dealt with the stressers of life in a much different way than you seem to be able to do.
When I always have something on my mind, I learn to relax by doing healthy things. Whether it's listening to the Witches and Wizards wireless radio or exercising. Each of these things have been able to reduce my stress without worry of any sort of consequence.
My reasons for writing this is because I have been keeping a close watch on your recent behaviors. I understand that adolescents can be stressful, but eating away the stress and pains of growing up will only make life worse for you. Your weight gain has been very disappointing and I can only assume you will head my advice and do something about it.
Sending mine and your father's love, Mother
Chrissy walked into the common room and almost bypassed everyone, if the notice hadn't caught her attention. She had been waiting for this moment. A reason to do something...anything...to make her mother happy. She quickly grabbed a quill and walked to the board. Looking down at her cat, Chrissy brushed her blonde curls from her face and smiled. Writing her name and her position, she replaced her quill and took off for the dorms, only briefly glancing back to see her name on the list.
Chrissy Mathers ~ 2nd Year ~ Chaser\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
0Chrissy MathersFinally, something to do.0Chrissy Mathers05
Lily hadn't played much Quidditch. She'd gone to a Muggle elementary school, of course and had mostly stuck to herself at Pittsburgh. Sometimes, she'd talked to Marshall but that was about it.
She looked over the sign-ups, noticing that both Chrissy and Jennifer had signed up. Lily might as well, too.
Lily added her name to the list.
Lily Collins, 2nd year, Chaser.\n\n
11Lily CollinsYet another good deed.45Lily Collins05
She had seen the notice for a while now. She had ignored it just as regularly as she had seen it. Asher Tallow was not meant to be flying about on broom, and no, she certainly was NOT scared. She just preferred to be on the ground, that was all. However.
Yes, however. There had been that letter. A letter that had screamed with laughter- literally. Even now, her ears burned with embarrassment at how her older brother's laughter had echoed in her dorm room when she had opened that letter. Only seven words long, not including the signature, it had read as follows:
Figures- you are a girl after all.
Jamie had written back in response to her description of her first lesson in flying. He, of course, was a natural when it came to flying. All her brothers were, actually; Asher just had never gone for it as they had. While the four of them would play scrimmage games of Quidditch in the back yard, she would be doing something important. Something like helping her dad with his mandrake roots or spraying down the Vulcanis Vulvas before they melted.
Flying was just not her thing, and she certainly did not give a knut's worth about Quidditch. She did, however, not like being laughed at. Especially by Jamie.
She stalked up to the notice, ignoring its words as was her habit and instead stared at the other names already down. Immediately, her eyes focused in on Laura's name and the positions she had written down: chaser and beater. Like any proper witch, Asher knew all about the game- it was impossible not to really, considering how her brothers were about it, even Michael found it tolerable. A chaser, she knew, had the job of getting the quaffle past the keeper and into one of the three nets that the keeper guarded. She tossed the position out straight away, mostly because it seemed to involve some sort of finesse with the broom.
That left beater. A beater got to hit the bludgers around with a bat. Asher perked up at the thought. She had pretty decent aim, her prowess with the paper ball fight certainly proved that. All she would really need to overcome with her unease with the broom.
Decided, she put her name down on the list.
Asher Tallow, first year. Applying for the position of beater.
She finished it off with a great blot of her quill and gave a mental crow. She'd show Jamie, all right. Let's see him laugh at her now.\n\n