It was club day, and Erin Harper had a duty. That duty was to coax students with the sweet sweet siren song of Slytherin Quidditch, and to preferably get it all done today so he didn't have to track people down in the common room later. There hadn't been much interest yet, but he hadn't been there very long. Then again, from his stealth and cunning surveillance of the Great Hall, today might be a bust. The whole place was first-year central.

Still, he had to try. So he'd showed up all blonde and scruffy in his Quidditch robes, grabbed a free table right in the middle of the action, and began a very strict regimen of eavesdropping on people in the other booths and fidgeting. "Sign Up for Try-Outs Today!" the banner above him read in neat and suspiciously bubbly text (girls were good for legible handwriting, and fortunately Erin had a sister). In front of him was a list for the upcoming try-outs, currently set for the following Friday after classes. After long debate, he'd nicked a quaffle from the Quidditch shed and put it on the corner of the table. His goggles perched jauntily atop it, both objects held firmly in place with a sticking charm. This, Erin felt, represented Quidditch. Honestly, a bludger would've probably represented the exciting world of quick thinking and blunt force that was Quidditch much better, but loose bludgers were kind of noticeable. Knowing his luck, the thing'd target some firstie with no motor skills and the professors would think he'd done it on purpose. Very improper behavior for the new captain. But where was Deres with a Weasley bangbomb when a bloke needed him? Sitting around all well-behaved behind a table wasn't gonna put a smile on his face. Erin needed some action before he got desperate enough to recruit students from other houses.

Waverly was many things.  She was a lover of frilly dresses, a hopeless romantic, a closet-poet and a graceful dancer.  One thing that set her above the stereotypical girly girl label was her love of Quidditch.  The Pitch was the one place where she could hang up her silk heels and strap on those big brown boots with matching limb guards.  It was the one time where she would sweat, get rained on, have potential bruises from bludgers and not even care.  Outside of the arena, however, it was a different story.

It was her favorite time of the school year: the beginning of Quidditch.  She thought it was a little pointless to sign up for tryouts like everyone else, since she'd been on the team for years, but it was protocol.  Adorned in the frilliest thing she could find that morning, Waverly walked up to the Ground Floor and into the Great Hall.  She was ecstatic Erin Harper made it as Quidditch Captain for Slytherin.  He was a really great player and leader: he was perfect for the job.  Smiling slyly at Erin as she approached the booth, Waverly was almost giddy with excitement.  Just thinking about playing Quidditch again gave her chills.

"Hey, Erin.  Congrats again on making Captain.  You'll do brilliant." she said lightly, flipping her chocolate waves to the side and looking around the Hall.  Wow.  It was crawling with little firsties.  Her eyes stopped on the Astronomy Club Booth and the Hogwarts Howler booth, making a mental note to go there next.  Waverly refocused on the table.  A quaffle sat at the corner with what was most likely Harper's goggles on top.  It was an attempt, at least.  Sort of cute, really.  "This Hall is ridiculous," she commented dryly with a chuckle, signing her name on the sheet very neatly for the position of Chaser.


Looking back up at him, she offered a small smile.  She was in a tremendously good mood.

Blossom couldn't help but be drawn to the Quidditch booth.  It was, after all Quidditch.  He was too young, too new at flying to expect a spot on the team but there were other things he could do and it would be a foot in the door.  Normally Blossom wasn't much for sports because he'd always been frail but flying was something that didn't require him to be a musclebound brute and maybe, just maybe he could find a position on the Quidditch team that he could fill.  Perhaps it might even win him a little respect. 

"I'm not a good enough flyer yet to try out, but I can help out in other ways," he said.  "I can help take care of the equipment.  Teach me how and I'll keep it so shiny it'll blind anyone you're playing against."  He'd learned that sometimes you had to start at the bottom when there was something you wanted and Blossom was no stranger to getting dirty or to hard work.  It was practically a requirement when your family had large gardens that needed constant tending.

"Of course you can't try out, Blossom, you're a first year. You haven't even passed Flying." Casey, using the least amount of mental facility that he wanted to spare, wondering ever so briefly if he had been this annoying as a kid. Nope. He would never stoop to Blossom's level of suck-up.

"So your remedy is to subject yourself to the conditions of a house elf. Which, ironically, when I'm on the team my elf could do your job better. Not that I need to bribe my way onto the house team." He quickly signed his name with the positions he was interested in, Chaser and Seeker. He sure as hell knew he couldn't pull off a Beater role, and Keeper was the dullest thing ever. If he was playing Quidditch he wanted to fly, not sit on his rear.

This was the year he would do it. No more failed try outs that he left on a stretcher. He was older, healthier, and conditioned to longer plays on his broom. Although he had no idea what sorts of rigors Harper had planned but Casey would rise to meet them.

That would show them all.

Xavier had been aimlessly wandering the Great Hall. There wasn't anything club wise that he was actually interested in. He wasn't socially active in anything, never had been however his previous year on the Quidditch team had caused him to make his way to the sign up booth. Normally the sign ups were left to a sheet on the bulletin board within the common room but he couldn't blame Harper for trying a new approach. Afterall with Callum having gone pro the corner stome of the Slytherin team was gone, though Xavier had no doubt that Harper could pull it back together. The lithe Keeper had been with the team for a long time, if anyone could do it, it'd be him.

Xavier rolled his eyes at Waverly, though her love for Quidditch was well known her attitude off of the pitch was better suited amoungst The Monarchy. It almost made him miss Callum and his policy to keep as many girls off the pitch as possible. When it came down to it she just didn't seem to have the gumption Strelnikov or Dark did. If she did make it on the team he was curious to see how long it would take her to quit.

He approached the booth, "Good on ye mate." He scrawled his name next to the Beater position, it was the one spot on the team he was made for and after finding out his arch rival was now the Captain for the Ravenclaw team he was going to be out for blood this year.

He spun around to look at the younger years, "Save yer insults fer when yer actually on thee team O'Doherty, ye don want'im throwin itall back at ye when ye wash out agin."

Club Day at Hogwarts was the cause of the hustling and bustling of students. By the time Bellatrix got there, the Great Hall was full of people. She almost couldn't walk for all the little people she would step on! One tiny first year actually did get stepped on by Bella's heels.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't see you. No, really, I didn't," she added hastily at the first year rolling his eyes at her.

That kind of hurt, but she tried to watch her step from then on. It was sickening for her to see the Quidditch Captain at the table, smiling and using his charms to get people to try out. The whole thing was disgraceful: Bellatrix Dark getting his say-so to join the team. It had been embarrassing enough to be under Callum Knight, one of Xavier's best mates. But this was worse! This time, it was actually her ex-boyfriend instead of his best mate! Erin Harper was practically her archenemy since their break up in Year 3.

Someone came walking up beside her and she glanced to see who it was, her heart rapidly starting to thump at sight of the back of his head. Xavier Tawse. He probably hadn't recognized her; Bella's visage was completely different. For one thing, she was wearing [color]. Another major thing was that her hair was back to its natural color.. There were some pink and dandelion-yellow streaks, of course, but this year her hair was primarily platinum blond. The blue eyes swept over that handsome face before returning to Erin Harper and the line that was now formed at the table. As little as she was, maybe she wouldn't be noticed standing behind Xavier until he moved. Ahead, she could over hear the comment made by her dorm-mate, Waverly, who congratulated Erin on making Quidditch Captain. Yuck!

Once there was enough room for Bella to move up to the table, she noticed that Waverly and the fourth year had signed up for the position of Chaser while Xavier had signed up for Beater (unsurprisingly). Bellatrix had been suggested by Callum for Chaser the previous year and had even tried out for it, but she had privately explained to Callum after the Christmas Ball that working on a team with Xavier Tawse was impossible. This year, it was different. She had grown up and was no longer a child. Bellatrix lifted her gaze from the roster to smile timidly up at the face of her blond-haired ex-boyfriend.

"Chaos, eh, Erin?" (She wanted to chop off her tongue for calling him by his first name.) Smile! "Ready to win this year?"

Yes, people had congratulated him on making captain and being chosen for the tournament. She pointedly ignored it, feigning that she forgot she hadn't already done so. With mandatory chit-chat out of the way, the darker Dark twin picked up the quill and also signed her name under Waverly's and the kid named Doherty's for Chaser. Casually, she stepped aside to allow someone else to sign their name. It was a wise idea for her to stick around and find out who her "competition" for Chaser was, but she was hesitant. An anxious glance at Erin and then at Xavier was enough to persuade her to stand on the other side of Waverly far from her two ex-boyfriends. Secretly, she hoped and prayed that Xavier would continue to not recognize her or say anything to her. Unfortunately, that seemed somehow improbable.

Now it was awkward. Was she supposed to make conversation with Waverly? What was she supposed to say?

'Course, just as soon as Erin'd had the audacity to think this could be boring all sorts of people came crawling out the woodwork. Well, that was good, that was brilliant! He'd wouldn't have to worry about tracking down players.

"Thanks," he said with a grin, warming to Waverly's compliment and obvious good mood; she was easy to get along with, and a good player despite her delicate looks (not as merciless as Kitty, but then, who was?). Waverly could've been great, big, and burly, but then maybe Erin wouldn't like talking to her so much. "Merlin, tell me about it. Too bloody noisy; maybe I should've enchanted the banner to move, yeah? That would've stood out."

One of the ickles came up behind her, too small to be anything more than a first or second year. Erin listened as the boy made his request, scratching his neck as he considered. People were just queuing now; he'd barely had time to take it in before O'Doherty stepped in with a smug reply.

"He's right, y'know," he told the boy, not unkindly. "We've got house elves to do stuff like that." But the offer was obviously out of enthusiasm, and Merlin knows Erin'd have done anything as a first-year to get on the team. Besides, he'd liked the idea of equipment that blinded his enemies. "I'll see if we've got anything for you to do. Don't hold your breath though, kid, you'll have plenty of time next year to get in the game."

As for O'Doherty... Erin scanned the list to see what he'd signed up for. Bit of a wilting lily for the Quidditch team, wasn't he? Always sweeping about looking pale, determined, and consumptive, sweating on couches in the common room and stuff. Well, whatever. If he was any good he'd make the team. And if he was really good, if he could outfly Erin.... then he could be Seeker. Though Erin was still up in the air about that. Surely being Captain had some perks, and Erin didn't really want to go back to playing Chaser. Being Seeker was still teamwork, sure, but it was a more solitary sort of teamwork. He didn't have to worry about other people being in the right place at the right time; all he had to do was be quick and nimble and have really good eyesight.

'Course, the whole point of having everyone try out again instead of keeping slots from last year was so he'd have the best player in their best position... Erin'd have to mull on that.

"Cheers, mate," he offered Xavier, smiling as he saw the other boy'd signed up for Beater again. Okay, so maybe the winners of some of those slots weren't gonna be such a mystery. Xavier had a hit that could stun a dragon.

And waiting behind him (hiding, Erin thought, ready to spring out at him with claws sharpened! ...nevermind her diminutive stature) was Bellatrix Dark. Even if she'd changed her hair color he'd have recognized her; Erin'd never had much trouble telling twins apart, especially ones that he'd, uh, known a little better than most. Surprisely, all she offered him was a smile and an over-cheery welcome. Erin watched her warily. He'd kind of been expecting something a little more painful. Even last year when she'd been his date to Mysti's party she hadn't been this nice to him.

He hoped it wasn't because of anything awful like that she'd heard what happened with him and Razzy and felt sorry for him. He really preferred it when she wanted to vivisect him. That at least was familiar; he knew where he stood with that. Surprise pity from one of the Darks would be just too much. Shouldn't they be off comforting their cousin with spoonfuls of mashed potatoes or something?

"Ready to win this year?"

"Always," he said, after a suitable moment of waiting to see if she had anything (sharper! pointier! more hex-like!) to add.

Several jinxes, a few hexes, and one or two curses later, they had finally, finally made it to the booth. The sight of the small, but swiftly growing crowd ahead of them, however, had Gracie shooting the fourth year beside her a scowl. “See?” she grumbled under her breath, annoyance threatening to pull her lips into a pout. It wasn’t an expression all that familiar on her—a discontented glare was more up her alley, really—but around Naomi it was easier to be immature, even in public. “If you hadn’t been making such a fuss, we could’ve been done with this by now!”

For one reason or another, the younger girl hadn’t wanted to, had claimed she had other, better things to do. The sixth year, of course, hadn’t bought it—this was Quidditch they were talking about—and true to their stubborn streaks the girls had duked it out in a quick, vicious duel, both eager to one-up the other before an adult stepped in. Now, both bore ‘rewards’ for their efforts—like a burned lock of hair here and a botched helm line there—by the time they had actually reached their destination. 

Frowning, Gracie gently but firmly nudged someone to the side as she made her way towards it, occasionally flashing a grin at those friendly faces she saw there (Waverly being one, Erin another, even if they weren’t all that close). When Bellatrix moved to the side, she moved in, letting the exchange fly over her head. She was much more interested in that one sheet of paper on the table. Xavier, she saw, had gone and added his name under ‘Beater’.

Brilliant.

With a tiny smirk, the girl wrote her name under his and made room for Naomi to do the same.

   

Getting Naomi's attention was sometime akin to pulling dragon teeth. If she didn't want to pay attention she would do an excellent job of ignoring someone up until they finally gave up, or she would sit there and dully answer others with her Caribbean lilt without ever budging or making eye contact. Picking a fight with her was the only guaranteed method of getting any sort of reaction out of her and that was just the tactic Gracie Slant had used to get her off her rear and off to Quidditch Tryouts.

She was still twirling a singed bang in her fingers as Gracie had hauled her over to the booth, pouting her lips in slight disappointment at the turn of events for the day. "I still don't see what th' point of all 'dis is, I t'ink you just want an excuse to smile during a hit n' run--but you don't really need one." At least not most of the time. Especially not in a muggle vehicle, they had too many rules for the road.

They finally got to the booth and Gracie elbowed her way to the piece of paper as Naomi just stood there inspecting her hair and clothes before looking around at everyone else. Then Gracie moved aside for the younger Slytherin and rather than write down her name, due to seeing Xavier had also written his name under beater, Naomi kept hold of one of the quills as she leisurely let her gaze linger on the list.

She then decided voice her ideas on the matter with a hidden hint of glee, "So if I put my name down here, and 'dere's t'ree of us, are we knocking bludgers at each other all day..." she then let her voice trail off as her brows furrowed together, but with a quick nod at nothing in particular she bemusedly added, "Which is pretty interesting if you add a Quod in there," then she tapped the tip of the quill below Gracie's and began to write her name, and in a dreamy whisper added, "Wit'out telling anyone..." Obviously, she was the end product of four brothers.

Of course, a fourth year being chosen over two sixth years, for beater, didn't seem to be something that was going to happen anytime soon, at least not in Naomi's opinion, even if she was the baby sister of a Falmouth Falcon; Chaser was more likely. But she currently felt more like picking on Gracie than bothering to fret over who would be what on the Quidditch team.

Naomi rubbed a black smudge of ash off her cheek, as she put the quill down and looked at Gracie, "So if I'm not a beater at 'di end of th' day or don't make th' team, can I practice with you for kindly dragging me out here?"

There was no need for an equipment tender but that wasn't about to stop him.  There were other things he could do to help the team.  With an expression of grim determination, he picked up the quill Naomi had set down.  "You can't use me in the equipment room and I'm too young to play.  That doesn't mean you can't use me."

In a fine, bold hand, he wrote his name and year on the list, along with the position he wanted.



"Let's see how long it is before the other houses all want one.  I'll have the crowd whipped up into a frenzy before the game even starts," he said, with far more enthusiasm than he actually felt.  Let Casey O'Doherty try out for the team.  Given the crowd around the table, he probably wouldn't make the team because of the number of upperclassmen interested in the same position but he'd win or lose the position on his own merit or lack of it.  Blossom might just end up with the role he wanted because nobody else had thought of it.

Mercedes headed to the only booth she was interested in, besides her own, the Slytherin Quidditch team. Although she was only a first year she was amazing on a broom, she loved to ride her broom. She rode it around with the young hippogriffs when they were taking flight for the first time, like a cloud Sheppard.

She saw Blossom and paid him no mind, he was probably just joining the team to duel everyone, that seemed like the only thing he did. Addressing Erin Mercedes asked. "Are first years allowed on the team, because if not, I'm wasting my time." Sadie didn't like to waste anytime, she had to get back to her booth ASAP.

She was going to sign up for seeker or chaser, she was fast and agile on a broom and had great coordination. Beaters were too brutal and keeping was okay, but not really worth her time. And time was valuable.

Joining the Quidditch team the year before had not been a spur of the moment decision. Even though she had been flying since she could sit on a broom, she had never given much thought to the sport. After all, both her mother and her father would have had a heart attack to see her going out for a male driven sport. It wasn't classy, lady-like, or safe. Good for the 5 foot Slytherin that she had been well trained by her brothers and cousins on how to avoid being all three when she wanted to. Thus, she had deliberated on all the positives and negatives and come out with more positives in the end, especially once Kitty had decided to join with her. Together on the pitch, they were brutal.

This year, the decision had required no pondering whatsoever. She wasn't yet sure if Kitty was going to join, but she knew that Waverly and Gracie were considering it. As she walked up to the table, she saw both of the girls in question along with Bellatrix Dark. The latter had changed considerably since the end of the previous year and the gossip mongering Slytherin was eager to know why... Nevertheless, it was neither the time nor place for politics. Unless it got her on the team.

She gave Harper a bright smile as she pulled a quill out of her bag to sign with. "Captain huh? Surprise, surprise." Her playful comment was followed by a wink. There was no reason to show the inner turmoil that was plauging her at the moment. No one needed to know the trouble she was going through trying to atone for the things that had happened that summer. In her curling script, she wrote her name under chaser. It had been the position she had played the year before and she wasn't about to give it up easily.

She then realized Xavier was there. In her assessment of Waverly's skills of the social ladder, she hadn't seen her best friend standing there. Oh Merlin. She hadn't thought about that. Xav had saved her ass on the pitch more than a hundred times the season before, but with how things were between them... Correction: for him. She was trying not to completely freak out about it, but he was not being helpful. She missed him. She wanted her best friend back. The new scars that ran down her arms began to ache.

Strellie was distracted by a few unfamiliar faces that had just signed their names. There was no way that these were second years. she knew all of the Slytherins. Thus, she concluded they were first years. She looked questioningly at Erin. Why waste paper even letting first years near the booth if they couldn't try out?

Erin leaned back in his chair, presiding over his scrap of parchment and homemade banner as Gracie and Foley sauntered up. A scrawl under Beater, a pointed question, and Erin leaned forward again, the front two legs of his chair meeting the ground. He shrugged.

"Best Beaters get the spot. The extras will be back-up, but I'll rotate them out so you'll get a chance to play."

He cast a skeptical look down at Blossom. Mascot, huh? He was no dancing Veela, that was for sure. To a certain extent Erin didn't care which firsties trailed googly-eyed after the team - hero worship and annoying earnestness were all part of the first-year experience. But giving them official positions went beyond apathy and into the realm of unfair. Everyone else had to wait 'til their second year, didn't they? And he'd already told the kid that once. Besides, Quidditch was a hard sport. He already had to babysit his own little sister, and that was without worrying stray bludgers would smack her in the side of the head. He'd never hear the end of it if this kid got hurt while dancing along the sidelines. It'd be like last year's match, except now he was captain and he couldn't go about kicking firsties in the head even on accident.

Probably he should be a good example, but Erin was shite at those. His position-induced amount of patience and diplomacy (never very great to begin with), dwindled.

"If I wanted a mascot, I'd tie a ribbon on my cat and shove 'er into the stands," he said. "Now sod off." His gaze rose to include the other first-year. "You too. Both of you can try out next year, and you can come watch the practices if you want."

The approach of one-half of Slytherin's dream team was a godsend. And by "dream team," Erin meant "kickarse scary murder squad." The gentler half, but still. He grinned at Strellie as she walked up. "I'm surprised it wasn't Kitty," he confided, eyebrows raising expressively. "If that's what you mean."

Blossom's face flamed crimson both from embarrassment and anger.  "Do that and we'll see if your cat can fly," he muttered more to himself than to anyone as he turned away.  He immediately felt badly about it.  He wasn't malicious enough to take out his frustrations on an innocent animal. 

The Quidditch captain would learn that Blossom was not so easily put off.  "Mercedes, do you know where your brother went?  I just thought of another team project that Morgan might like."  He wasn't sure when he'd stopped referring to the school staff as professors but it had been almost a week, he was sure, which meant they'd kept their titles for a little over a week.  He wondered if that was a record.

"You too. Both of you can try out next year, and you can come watch the practices if you want."

Mercedes turned away with a twirl of her now blue hair. Even though she really wanted to pick a fight with this guy, but he was the Slytherin Champion so she didn't want her house to lose any glory because of her.  She was wasting her time here. She would try out next year and be the best. Blossom's voice interrupted her silent plotting to hide crickets under Erin's pillow without getting in trouble. "Mercedes, do you know where your brother went?  I just thought of another team project that Morgan might like." Mercedes had no clue what he was talking about. "I don't know what you mean, and if you know what's good for you, you would leave my brother and I alone. And I have no clue where he is, probably off strumming that idiot instrument of his. "

What was the deal with Professor Morgan. She had to talk to her twin about this.