Jennifer Zucchero

February 05, 2006 12:29 AM
This is a ridiculous hour to be awake, Jennifer thought to herself as she walked down the girls’ staircase into the Crotalus common room. It wasn’t really even that early, only about 6:30 AM, but she had stayed up much later than usual last night working on a charm’s assignment, and so would much rather have stayed in bed until there was no chance she could escape being tardy. However, she had procrastinated on her duties as quidditch captain long enough, and she had no desire for a late start to be the cause of Crotalus’s downfall in the quidditch cup this year. Jake and Lizzie would never let her live it down.

With a sigh, she trudged over to the message board by the back of Gunter’s portrait, and posted a small white piece of paper on it. After taking a step back and inspecting it and deeming it satisfactory, she nodded, a rather pointless gesture since she was the only one in the room, and continued out the portrait hole, hoping fervently that people would actually pay attention to the message and sign up relatively quickly, because now that she had taken the first step, she was anxious to get this show on the road.

Attention all Crotalus Students the sign read. Try-outs for the Crotalus Quidditch team will be held one week from this Saturday. The positions of keeper, beaters, and chasers are open. Please write your name, year, and preferred position on the lines below, so I can get a reckoning on who will be trying out. Also, if you signed up last year, it would be greatly appreciated if you would do so again, since nothing ever really happened with the quidditch team last year.

Thanks!

Your captain,
Jennifer Zucchero


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Subthreads:
0 Jennifer Zucchero Quidditch Sign Up 48 Jennifer Zucchero 1 5


Lila Gringe

February 05, 2006 12:38 AM
It was early for most people. Lila knew that. She also knew that when she was in a strange place- she still wasn't completely accustomed to Sonora- she couldn't sleep for long. So it wasn't surprising to her at least that it was around a quarter to seven and she was already fully dressed and ready to go.

When she descended the girls' staircase, however, and saw the sign on the portrait hole, she was surprised.

Quidditch? What could that be? It was obviously a sport of some sort, but Lila couldn't deduce much more than that- except that it was obviously well known. Looking nearly perplexed, she scrutinized the sign, looking for some further hint of what Quidditch was.

There wasn't one. Lila frowned. How was she supposed to figure out what the mysterious Quidditch was when the sign didn't say and there was no one to ask? She crossed her arms, thinking. She could go and wake up her dormmates, which probably wasn't the best idea. Or she could sit down and wait for the first person to come downstairs and ask them.

That sounded like a good idea. So she took a seat, pulled a book out of her bookbag, and began to read.\n\n
0 Lila Gringe Quidditch? What's that? 0 Lila Gringe 0 5


Earl Valentine

February 05, 2006 2:52 PM
Earl groaned. Light hadn't even puntcured his eyelids when he found himself waking up. He bhated when this happened. Every once in awhile, Earl would be up at the crack of dawn for absolutely no reason. He turned over to read the clock on the side of his bed. It was seven. After another groan that no one could hear since he had the second year boy's dorm all to himself, he got out of bed, threw on the first shirt he could find and trudged downstairs in just that and his boxers.

He got to the portait hole and stopped. Through the strangly brown hair that now covered his eyes since he refused to cut it over the summer, he saw a blonde girl sitting on the floor reading a book under a sign that wasn't there yesterday.

He ignored the girl momentarily and stared at the parchment until he could read it thouroughly. A grin spread across his sleepy face. Quidditch! He had been waiting for this notice since he arrived on the covered wagon. And from the looks of it no one else has signed up yet. He'd be the first.

Earl quickly walked over, forgetting the girl entirely until he almost stepped on her.

"Oh geez! Sorry..." He around her, eager to write his name on the list and then realized he had nothing to write with. Looking down he noticed the girl had her bag with her.

"Umm, you got a quill I can borrow?"\n\n
0 Earl Valentine You can't be serious! 67 Earl Valentine 0 5


Lila Gringe

February 06, 2006 5:02 PM
Lila squeaked slightly as the boy nearly stepped on her. Was she really that inconspicuous? Hopefully not. Then again, it couldn't be too bad to be invisible- it might actually be an advantage. Of course, the key word in that sentence was might.

She stood quickly and managed a faint, albeit nervous smile. If people were that inattentive, she probably couldn't sit on the floor any more. Or sit anywhere, really. "It's all right," she told him, as calmly as she could manage.

"I do, actually." Lila took off her bag and rummaged around in it, eventually pulling out a quill and a bottle of ink. "Here you are," she said, handing it to him.

Again, she looked at the sign, for just a hint that she hadn't caught before. For a moment, she debated asking, but then realized that she might as well. After taking a deep breath, the girl asked "Would you mind explaining what Quidditch is? I read the sign, but I simply couldn't figure it out."\n\n
0 Lila Gringe Well, I won't have to be if you'll explain what it is. 0 Lila Gringe 0 5


Earl

February 08, 2006 8:43 PM
Earl smiled gratefully at the first year and accepted the quill and ink. He quickly wrote Earl Valentine 2nd year Keeper, but messed it up with a large ink spot at the end when the girl asked him what Quidditch was.

"You don't know what Quidditch is?" He stared at her incredulously. She must have been joking. Then he realized, she must be a muggle.

"Ohhh...you're a Muggle...and I guess you don't got many magical friends yet. Umm..." Earl paused. Did he really want to spend time with the weird firstie? Not really, but it was a shame for anyone in the world to go around and not know the wonders of Quidditch, so he sat on the floor next to her and handed back her quill and ink.

"I'm Earl- second year." Earl cleared his throat dramatically and continued. "Quidditch is the most famous wizarding sport in the world. It's like the Muggle equivalent of soccer, but it's played on brooms. There are seven players on each team: three chasers, two beaters, the keeper, and the seeker. Am I going too fast?" Not that he cared, but Earl really didn't feel like having to repeat himself this early in the morning.\n\n
0 Earl Good point. 0 Earl 0 5


Lila Gringe

February 11, 2006 12:32 AM
"I'm Lila Gringe," she said in reply to his own introduction, then listened attentively. There wasn't, she knew, much else to do.

Wasn't it a bit obvious that she didn't know what this Quidditch thing was? She wouldn't have asked if she knew. Lila wasn't exactly comfortable just asking something of a person she didn't know, out of the blue. Maybe it had something to do with near-total social isolation until three years ago. Maybe not. Whatever. It didn't matter. The point was, she was- she cringed internally to even think it- absolutely socially maladjusted. She was overly polite and formal, she was more timid than a mouse, and a deer was less skittish than she.

At least she knew and admitted her faults- to herself, at any rate.

"Brooms?" Lila asked with a slightly confused knitting of her eyebrows, not quite answering the second year's question, but not leaving it unanswered, either. "How is that possible?" Brooms weren't exactly vehicles, as far as she knew. Given, she hadn't exactly known about the existence of Sonora- or magic, for that matter- before, but still . . . \n\n
0 Lila Gringe Re: Good point. 0 Lila Gringe 0 5


Earl

February 11, 2006 6:09 PM
Earl cocked an eyebrow. This girl was weird. She didn't even knew brooms flew? She got here by riding a flying covered wagon and a broom isn't possible?

Even though Earl had grown up in a very muggle way- his dad being muggle and his mom a Squib- he had magical relatives and his mother had told him everything she knew before she died. So someone not knowing that brooms could fly was inconceivable. They had witches on flying brooms in muggle movies! She couldn't be that recluse.

Still staring at Lila as though she had just sprouted wings from her nose, Earl tried to explain.

"Yeah, brooms. They fly by putting a charm on them; you know...with magic. You do know that magic exists, right? It's why you're here."\n\n
0 Earl ...not just for Cinderella 0 Earl 0 5


Lila Gringe

February 11, 2006 7:31 PM
"Of course I know magic exists," Lila defended herself with as much dignity as she could muster. "The thought that brooms would fly just never occurred to me." And why would it? She read plenty, certainly, but she didn't prefer fantasy- well, except for Tolkein. She didn't watch television. There was nothing, really, that could hint to her that maybe brooms would fly.

Not that, now that she knew, it wasn't painfully obvious. After all, one didn't just run around holding onto a broom; the broom would of course have some sort of way to move. And after that wagon, flying made more sense than anything else, really.

She felt herself going pink slightly, but once she was aware of it, it was easy to keep the blush from her cheeks. Embarrassed wasn't a good way to look, even with this second year staring at her as if she were an idiot. Especially with this second year staring at her as if she were an idiot.

In any situation, she knew, it was best not to look embarrassed. It was never pleasant to be humiliated. Here and now was no exception.\n\n
0 Lila Gringe Or what's-her-name, from the Wizard of Oz. 0 Lila Gringe 0 5


Earl

February 13, 2006 7:08 PM
Earl could tell she was embarrassed. Should I apologize? he thought when he noticed her pink cheeks. Nah... he concluded. I didn't do anything wrong.

"All right. I was just checking. You seemed a bit...unsure." He stared at his hands for a moment in silence, and then realized he was still in his boxers. Maybe he should change...or maybe he could just finish the conversation with the first year.

"So, ummm...you gunna sign up for the team, or are you still not sure?"\n\n
0 Earl Exactly. 0 Earl 0 5


Lila Gringe

February 13, 2006 7:34 PM
Unsure. Well, that was true enough. She ought to be unsure about something she was only just learning about. Right? It would be odd, wouldn't it, if she were confident about knowledge she'd only just received? Yes, she supposed it would.

Hmm, should she sign up? On the one hand, she had no idea if she would be any good, let alone what position she ought to sign up for- all she knew was the names of the positions, really. On the other, she'd never know the answer to the first question at the very least. So maybe she should try it.

After a slight hesitation, she answered the second year. "I will, I think. But how will I know what position to sign up for? Or whether I'm any good at all?" she asked, the second question mostly rhetorical, but the first absolutely serious.\n\n
0 Lila Gringe One last question . . . 0 Lila Gringe 0 5


Earl

February 16, 2006 9:27 PM
She was going to sign up after all. Earl had done it; he'd shown the art of Quidditch to a firstie. He felt good. But Lila's question stumped him.

He looked at the girl for a moment, slightly perplexed. Which position should someone play who had never polayed before? When he first started playing with his cousins, they always made him play keeper so they could practice throwing the quaffles. But Earl wanted to be Keeper now that he knew his favorite positiomn of seeker was already taken by the team captain. That wouldn't work. Beaters neede to be good aimers and strong, which required a lot of practice, and chasers needed the ability to catch and throw accurately.

"Maybe you should learn how to fly first," Earl finally said. "There should be a lesson for that soon. You could figure it out then. But until you figure it out, just write 'anything', so you got an open playing field. Jenny should be okay with that." He stopped a minute and then remembered something.

"Oh, by Jenny, I mean Jenny Zuccero, a third year. She's the captain." He grinned at Lila and turned to go back up to his room.

"I'm gunna go get dressed now, I'll be back down in a minute for breakfast, if you need anything else!" With that, he rushed up the stairs, the early morning air starting to make him shiver.\n\n
0 Earl One last answer... 0 Earl 0 5


Lila Gringe

February 16, 2006 10:54 PM
Learning to fly first. Now that was a good idea. Why hadn't she thought of that? Lila felt herself starting to go red, but this time she was prepared, and quelled the instinct quickly. Blushing all the time just because she was new to something was a bit stupid- after all, this was a whole new world. It was honestly to be expected that she knew only what she'd been told so far. Anything else would be . . . well, humanly impossible.

"Thank you!" she called after Earl as he went upstairs. She hoped he'd heard her. Otherwise she'd seem ungrateful, which was just as bad as blushing all the time. Well, almost.

She stood, then retrieved her quill and inkpot from her bag again. Carefully, she wrote a neat addition to the short list:

Lila Gringe, first year. Will play any position.

She put away the writing materials for the second time, and then smiled at her name on the paper for a moment before leaving the common room for breakfast.\n\n
0 Lila Gringe Merci! 0 Lila Gringe 0 5