Second verse, same as the first. on Crotalus Commons

Jennifer Zucchero

September 06, 2007 5:27 PM

Quidditch sign-up by Jennifer Zucchero

For the first time, Jennifer hadn’t plagued with thoughts of being unworthy of being captain while she was preparing for the start of the quidditch season. Winning seemed to have that lovely little side effect, she’d noticed. Now she all she had to do was continue the trend. And the best way to start that would be to get her team together and practicing as soon as possible.

Therefore Jennifer made a stop at her common room before the feast to post her notice. After six years, she should know how to get in and out without missing too much of the feast. In fact, it would be rather sad if she couldn’t. So after getting to the common room, she quickly hung up the piece of parchment with its short message and series of lines for names and positions, and then hurried to Cascade.

QUIDDITCH SIGN-UP

For all those interested in playing on the Crotalus house team in the coming year, please sign your name, year, and position below. While some priority will be given to those on the team last year, try-outs will be held before any final decision is made. The try-outs will be held in one week, and walk-ons are welcome.

If you have any questions, or are new to the sport and aren’t sure what position would work best for you, feel free to see me at any time.

Jennifer Zucchero, Sixth year, Captain and Seeker

Subthreads:

Oh the taunting... by Josh and Renaye Warren

Signing on up, Captain by Geoffrey Spindler

Second verse, same as the first. by Oliver Abbot with Earl and author

Signing up again. by Helena Layne

Signing up...hitting things...blah blah blah by Lily Collins

Might as well. by Gwen Carey

0 Jennifer Zucchero Quidditch sign-up 48 Jennifer Zucchero 1 5

Josh and Renaye Warren

September 06, 2007 8:58 PM

Oh the taunting... by Josh and Renaye Warren

Renaye and Josh entered the common room, their stomachs full from the feast. Renaye was on a full out rant of how much she hated Uncle Damon. Agreed. He couldn't stand the guy, especially after what happened over the summer to Irene. He had put his input into the convorsation once or twice, but not all that much. She was being kind of open about it and he doubted Irene wanted it spread. Suddenly, Raye stopped in her stracks, glaring at something. Josh followed her gaze.

"Oh..." he said darkly. The Quidditch sign-ups stood facing him, laughing in his face. That was the one thing he really wanted to do here at Sonora. Quidditch was something he got. He was the beater on his neighborhood team and he loved that. That was fun.

"How cool would it be to be on the team together? We're a pair of beating machines! This sucks," she said, heading towards her dorm. Josh stood there for a moment more, just looking at the sign-ups. There was always next year. Only 364 more days...

0 Josh and Renaye Warren Oh the taunting... 0 Josh and Renaye Warren 0 5

Geoffrey Spindler

September 06, 2007 11:32 PM

Signing on up, Captain by Geoffrey Spindler

It was a taller Geoffrey who entered the Crotalus commons this year. Not a great deal taller, but there was promise of more growth to come. He had started shooting up over the summer, more so than he had done before, although he had started to grow fairly steadily through the year before. The rapid growth had had further effect on him though. The weight that had so bothered his mother in years past was quickly disappearing as he became more gangly in appearance. But he'd also spent much of the summer running around with Stephen's crowd. He was probably in the best shape he'd ever been in. Perhaps a more detailed description was even in order.

There was a different air to him. Instead of having spent his break hiding away in his room or surrounded by people who either ordered him around or made disparaging comments at every opportunity, he had been hanging out with a group of boys around his own age.

He had particularly got on well with Tim and Ted, to the point where he had spent a good part of the summer down at the field with them discussing baseball strategy, once he'd got the hang of the sport, and having long arguments about baseball bat design. Jimmy, who was one of Stephen's inner crowd had even let him play around with some of the computer programmes that calculated velocity and angle and other details for their games. It was interesting, he wondered if there was a way he could do something similar with magic. It had taken some getting used to, having his opinion listened to and even sought after, being accepted into the group without so much as a raised eyebrow. His curly dark hair had grown a little too; his aunt wasn't half so insistent that it be cut and forced into compliance as his mother tended to be. It surrounded his head in springs and he was quietly pleased with it. It had even got him some compliments from some of the local girls.

He wondered, idly and without much hope, if Jennifer would like it too even as he spotted the waiting sign-up sheet on the house notice board.

Geoffrey Spindler, Fourth year, Chaser

He was fourteen now. Fourteen. And he knew he was a good player and that he had friends. It made it easier to walk tall, although the habitual hunch of years still made it feel unnatural. Fourteen.

This year would be a good year, Geoffrey decided, as he moved on towards the exit.

39 Geoffrey Spindler Signing on up, Captain 79 Geoffrey Spindler 0 5

Oliver Abbot

September 07, 2007 12:32 PM

Second verse, same as the first. by Oliver Abbot

Second year. Somehow it didn’t feel much different than first. So there were at least more familiar faces than unfamiliar at the feast this year, and Oliver didn’t have to worry about losing his way around school, seeing as he had pretty much covered it last year. Still, his old uncertainty about his suitability for attending magic school had followed Oliver back to Sonora for his second year.

He was perhaps a little taller than this time last year, but not by an especially noticeable degree, and his hair was about an inch shorter, enough to stop it falling into his face so frequently (yet the old habit of pushing it back when he was nervous had remained). Oliver had new glasses, too – his Uncle Raymond had taken him to a wizarding opticians over the summer; they had been able to provide much thinner lenses than the Muggle opticians had, and Oliver had picked out some smart black frames. Julian had even said they looked okay, which was impressive in itself.

Yet another thing than hadn’t changed since last year was Oliver’s desire to play Quidditch. When he noticed the sign up sheet in the common room, he headed straight over. He had been a reserve last year, and consequently not played in a single match. However, the team had played excellently all year, so Oliver certainly wasn’t put off signing up again. Perhaps he would simply be a reserve all through school; it would still be better than not being on the team at all – at least he got to go to practices. Taking a quill from his schoolbag, Oliver added his name to the list:

Oliver Abbott, second year, chaser/seeker

0 Oliver Abbot Second verse, same as the first. 0 Oliver Abbot 0 5

Earl and author

September 07, 2007 5:29 PM

Third gets the treasure chest, right? by Earl and author

Earl was a fifth year. He had grown (if possible) taller and after a heated argument with his father, had been able to let his hair grow over the summer, and it now fell to cover almost cover his eyes. He hated hair cuts.

After spending every year at Sonora on the Crotalus tea, he now had the utmost confidence that despite any "try-outs" or younger students vying for his position, he was completely confident in keeping his position. So the morning after the feast he hopped down into the common room as soon as he had woken up and, with quill ready in hand, he walked happily up to the sign-up sheet and jotted his name down.

Earl Valentine, fifth year, Keeper

0 Earl and author Third gets the treasure chest, right? 0 Earl and author 0 5

Helena Layne

September 08, 2007 8:04 PM

Signing up again. by Helena Layne

Helena bit down on her already-raw lower lip as she looked at the Quidditch sign-up sheet. She had been just as happy as the rest to win the Championship the previous year, but she was also fully aware of just how useless she had been. Maybe part of it was due to age and inexperience - she had only been a second year - but she still felt she should've done better, somehow. Others had, after all. She'd seen it herself.

None of that, however, could quite cancel out the lure of the sport. Its attraction for her had, if anything, grown stronger. It was hard to think about "it all" - that term had somehow established itself in her family's collective vocabulary to refer to Lavinia's "condition" and all that was associated with it - while she was rocketing around a field, trying to catch or throw one ball while preventing two more balls from breaking her ribs. It was the busiest form of being busy she'd ever seen.

What finally made up her mind was the line about try-outs. It wouldn't hurt anything to put her name down. Her House, its population being so largely comprised of prissy girls, had experienced recruiting problems in the past, and she'd been on the team for two years. If Jennifer took her back, all well and good and she wasn't as bad as she thought she was. If she was replaced, Oliver would no doubt do her job much better than she'd ever thought about and it would all still be well and good, at least for the team.

Helena Layne, Third Year, Chaser

16 Helena Layne Signing up again. 88 Helena Layne 0 5

Lily Collins

September 09, 2007 2:23 PM

Signing up...hitting things...blah blah blah by Lily Collins

It was weird, Lily had always figured that she'd end up hating the school athletes, even though she always expected to go to magical school. It was what playing on a sports team represented. It represented the popular kids who looked down on everyone and expected others to kiss their behinds because they were good at sports.

That was something Lily had never wanted to be associated with.

However, she had started playing Quidditch due to lack of enthusiasm among the general population of her house and now Lily felt not just a sense of obligation, but had really grown to love the game. She just really liked the satisfaction of hurting the other team.

She signed her name,

Lily Collins, Sixth year, Beater

11 Lily Collins Signing up...hitting things...blah blah blah 45 Lily Collins 0 5

Gwen Carey

September 13, 2007 9:54 PM

Might as well. by Gwen Carey

Music - rapid, nervous, almost cheerful notes flying over a lower, darker, more regular foundation - was running around Gwen's head in circles as she gave Günter the password, one hand tapping out the beat on her skirt. Ignoring the groans of the animated corpse's portrait, she walked in the common room, beginning to hum without noticing. Of everything that she could have retained about her first party in about five years, it would be something like a song they'd played, and not even one she'd particularly liked.

Brushing aside a mental debate over whether or not Andy was crazy and doing her best not to think about her roommates - between Jordanna, Cate, and CATS, it was quite possible the usual histrionics would be shoved aside by more interesting material - she glanced around the common room to check that it was free of people she wished to see or avoid. That much didn't take long to verify, but the paper on the board took a bit longer to identify. She actually had to go over to it to read the new Quidditch notice.

An involuntary smile pulled up the corners of her mouth as she read. Winning the Cup the previous year had been among the best things to happen since her wagon wreck of a first year, when Crotalus had come in first for the House points competition. She hesitated, thinking of how displeased the family would be if it got back to them - and it always did seem to get back to them, sooner or later - but pulled out a quill in the end, anyway. The summer had made it obvious enough to her that she should go ahead and get used to not being a Savannah Carey, and the North Carolinians had such a bad history that one more scandal could hardly hurt.

Gwenhwyfar Carey, fifth year, Beater

0 Gwen Carey Might as well. 63 Gwen Carey 0 5