This was officially the best birthday of his life. The big 1-7! It had started out perfectly, a huge breakfast with multiple owls sweeping in to drop off presents. Apparently it took becoming an adult for family to finally care about you (though he suspected most of the presents coming from his mum's family had to be redirected since they were all muggles) He had gotten a beautiful watch from his mother and father and had even received an antique pocket watch from Arathorn, which was probably the biggest surprise for him. On top of it all he was in charge of setting up a booth in the Great Hall for club day. He was now officially the new Captain for the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, his greatest dream come true.

Peyton had picked a booth that was more or less in the middle of the mix of booths set up by all the other school activities. A royal blue table cloth was set over the wooden table he had been given and a matching royal blue Banner was softly waving overhead. He had Helena help him with the Banner - Ravenclaw Quidditch Sign Up Now!. It was simple and to the point and Peyton loved it. On top of the table was a scroll of parchment and a self inking quill for those in his house to write their names on. Next to it was a large bowl of sweets that weren't yet found in Honeydukes. He had received them for his birthday but knew he'd never finish them on his own. There were liquorice brooms, pepppermint goal hoops, Gummie Quaffles, popping bludgers (that popped more the harder you sucked on them) and tiny golden snitches that resembled gobstoppers, a rainbow of powerful flavours.

He leaned back in his chair in his royal blue quidditch robes and waited for his house to step up, all the while sucking on a peppermint goal post.

Cyhirae had spend much of the afternoon flitting from booth to booth before heading over to the Ravenclaw Quidditch booth. Hello Peyton." Cyhirae beamed at her housemate. "Happy Birthday." She'd said it once already this morning but on big days like this it didn't hurt to repeat things.

She grabbed the parchment and quickly scribbled her name down all the while continuing to talk. "I'm going to tryout for a chaser." She would rather be a beater but those spots were already taken and she wanted to actually be able to play. "Daddy's really excited. He said he'd get me a really nice broom if I make the team." She set down the pen and pushed the parchment back towards Peyton and grabbed one of the licorice brooms with a enthusiastic thank you and bit off the top. "Ravenclaw is going to have the best team ever this year."

The last thing Sasha needed was more to do.  Most would probably agree that his plate was officially and unequivocally full.  Even if the only thing on it was academics, it would have been officially overflowing.  There really wasn't any need to venture out beyond his own Muggle Appreciation Club table - even if a club looked tantalizing, there wasn't any room for it.  And, he certainly didn't want to run into the SAWS table. 

But ... but the Quidditch team.  Sasha had been on the team since his third year and while he knew he really didn't have time for it, it was really the only bit of non-academic fun on his schedule.  He hadn't gotten to play much last year and ...  oi.  He just didn't know. 

Cyhirae was already at the table and signing up when Sasha approached.  It was, admittedly, a bit strange to think of the girl playing quidditch, especially after spending a good chunk of the summer seeing her in Professor Trishna's muggle-friendly home environment.

"Congratulations on making Captain," Sasha offered his roommate.  Official roommate, at least.  These days, Sasha was more likely to be found asleep in his notes and textbooks in the common room as in his bed.  "I'm probably not the best choice for the team, now, but - you know - if you're desperate."  Or something.   Sasha sighed and offered Peyton then Cyhirae a half grin.

From the traffic that had taken the Great Hall by storm emerged Serenity Lee in what was clearly an old-fashioned dress. As someone inexperienced in the "art" of putting together reasonable outfits, the meek Ravenclaw had no idea that her attire offended many of the older girls. What she did know was that they were talking about her behind her back and, more importantly, that the dress was embarrassing to be in. Summer holidays usually brought new hand-me-downs for school. Her grandfather had paid a visit to the family and, with good intentions, gave his grandchildren entire wardrobes of clothes that he had "collected" from his colleagues. Serenity ended up with a closet full of "Retro" American dresses that someone like Lucille Ball would wear on I Love Lucy (an old television program her and her grandfather used to watch when she was very young). He had also given Serenity a bunch of old jewelry and muggle artifacts to play with, one of the results being worn on her left wrist today.

Serenity Lee knew how humiliating it was to be wearing such out-dated, foreign clothes, but she tried her best not to show it. The girl had again, at the suggestion of her Huffle friends Venora and Dahlia, pushed her curtain of dark brown hair out of her face with a headband. People could see her and that was somehow showing more confidence. With a spring in her step, the petite girl hurried across the Great Hall to the first booth that caught her eye: Ravenclaw Quidditch Sign-Ups! By the time she got there, however, there were already two people in line. Two people she knew quite well. The second year beamed up at Sasha, refusing to allow her memory of him severely injured at St. Mungo's during the March 11 attacks.

"'Morning, Sasha!"

The girl's hazel eyes moved to land on Cyhirae. She had promised Cy that she would sign up for Quidditch, namely because she really enjoyed the sport, flying, and she adored Cy and her father, Professor Trishna. Cy was considered to be one of Serenity's best friends since she, too, was a Ravenclaw and sharing a dorm with the girl somehow made her feel...closer. Closer than Dahlia and Venora who were in a completely different house and had their own slumber parties.

"What did you sign up for, Cy?" Serenity walked up to the roster to check and grinned. "Chaser! That's what I'm going to sign-up for, too."

Thus, Serenity printed her name legibly on the parchment by the Chaser position. Then she grinned up at Peyton. While she didn't know him very well, he was one of the older students she looked up to. Handsome, charming, and yet somehow the only girl Serenity saw him with at the library was that other Dark girl, Bea's twin. Serenity was forgetting something about Peyton... What was it? It was an important day for him, yes, but what could it...? Aha!

"Happy birthday, Peyton! And I think I already congratulated you on making Captain, didn't I? I don't remember if I did, but congratulations anyway."

With a glance behind her, the second year realized there were other people lining up and she was delaying the sign-ups. A meek, "Oops! Sorry," was made before she stepped aside and stood by Cyhirae. There was so much going on today that she was absolutely brimming with energy. She tried to stand on her tip-toes to check out the other booths from a distance, but she couldn't see too well over the bigger students.

"Cy, have you seen Philo? He said something about a Game Club the other night in the common room." She smiled at her friend. "What else are you going to sign up for?"

Baxter Fox was not the person anybody would think of when talkign about quidditch or athletics. But he was trying to come out of his shell a bit and participate in more social activities this year. And, opposed to last year when he was tall and lanky, he had begun to beef up over the summer- his frame filling out, and making it more obvious that one day, Baxter Fox was going to resemble his father.

Even so, quidditch had not been on his to-do list. Gaming club, yes. Newspaper, yes. Those two made sense given his personality and his abilities. But Blake had talked him into trying out for quidditch. And when Baxter had owled home to ask his mom and dad their opinions, both had been in full support. Baxter hadn't been able to believe how ecstatic his father was that he was considering the sport as an extra curricular activity. There was no way he could give up on trying out after the enthusiasm his parents had offered. Even Professor Trishna had seemed pleased when Baxter mentioned the possibility of trying out for the team.

When he approached the booth for Ravenclaw Quidditch, there were a few students already milling around. "Hello, Cyhirae," he said. "Sasha, Serenity," he greeted the other two.

"I don't know what position I'd like to try for," Baxter said to Peyton. "But my parents and Professor Trishna think it's a good idea if I give it a go, and Blake thought it would be, too." He didn't know a whole lot about the game to begin with. In the past Baxter had skipped games to study or to work on his homework.

He was confident in his flying ability, though. Over the summer, when he'd spent a lot of time with his father, they'd flown together. His dad insisted it was normal father/son bonding to play a rough version of quidditch together. Baxter had gone along with it only to spend time with his dad, never really considering if it was fun or not. "But I'd like to try out and see where I fit, if that would be okay?" he asked.

Zoe made her way through the booths, knowing where she wanted to go. She had never been part of the club before, but something about the fact that her aunt was restarting Quidditch made her want to be more involved with Ravenclaw's Quidditch. She knew that she wasn't the best flyer and her broom wasn't made for Quidditch, Zoe was hoping for a non-flying part of the team.

As she got to the booth she noticed several people already there. "Hi Peyton, Sasha, Baxter, uh," There were two other people there she wasn't very familiar with namewise. She knew that they had been in the common room with her before, and Zoe was pretty sure she watch both get sorted, but she hadn't talked to either lately. "I'm sorry, I can't seem to remember your names," Zoe told the two remaining Ravenclaw.

She then turned to Peyton, going to talk about the club, when another thought came to mind. "Oh, and happy birthday Peyton!" She was pretty sure she had to him already, but with all the owls at breakfast Zoe wasn't too sure. She didn't want to not tell him 'Happy Birthday' if she knew it was his birthday, though honestly it would probably more embarrasing to not know in the first place.

Still turned to Peyton Zoe continued. "I was wondering if there was a spot on the team that wasn't about flying. I know that sounds kind of crazy, I mean it is Quidditch, but I just wanted to help out in a way." A way where she wouldn't make a fool of herself. It was true that she liked the sport, but she was more of a wandwork person rather than good with a broom. Now, a sport that involved controling balls with wands while on a broom she might try out.

Club day, club day, club day. So many things Church wanted to sign up for not to mention things people wanted him to do. He knew Jazz wanted him to join up with the theater, and he was somewhat interested with the Dueling Club. And then there was quidditch. There were some high expectations from them this year; Trishna, after all, wanted them to take the cup. And Church had to agree with that sentiment.

So the Ravenclaw quidditch booth was the first stop on the list today. By the time he had gotten there a good amount of others had shown up. Sasha he was sort of surprised to see. He didn't actually think he would be able to play again with all the classes he was taking. Still, if he managed to make it fit he would probably be a benefit to the team. So long as he didn't pass out mid game.

"Salutations little Ravens," Church said calmly as he approached the table. "And happy birthday Peyton, grats one being made captain. I'm sort of in the same boat as Baxter," he added. "Last time I played I was a beater, but that was a few years back now." Plus he really didn't care which spot he got. Church just wanted to play again.

If Alvis were to be completely, totally, 100% honest with himself, he didn't really want to sign up for Quidditch. Actually, make that, 'did not want to sign up at all.' Sure, he knew how to fly. He'd spend a healthy amount of time zipping around the fields on his dad's old broom ever since his acceptance letter to Hogwarts came in the mail. And he knew Quidditch as well as anyone else in Hogwarts, which was to say that he could follow the game while he sat in the stands. And he had some blood for the sport - his dad had been on the team when he was a Ravenclaw.

But he'd never thought of joining, and he never would have wandered away from the astronomy booth to the Ravenclaw Quidditch sign-ups if it hadn't been for Professor Trishna. The Ravenclaw Head of House had been championing all month to get students signed up for the team, and Alvis still felt bad about the trouble he'd put the man through in Egypt.

So he shuffled over to the table and squeezed up to the sign-in sheet with a quiet, "Excuse me," and quickly scribbled his name down. It was only signing up for try-outs, after all. There was no chance of him actually making the team. Probably.

Peyton was almost overwhelmed by the rush of Ravenclaws that came to the booth eager to sign up for the team. Even if the players from the year before didn't return he had a good feeling about this year. He could make this happen no matter what the other teams threw at him. He smiled nodded and gave multiple thanks on the birthday wishes. Though it was a big deal for him he wanted his housemates and soon to be team mates to focus on the game. They could focus on his birthday later that night during the Surprise Party Helena was giving him (the one he wasn't supposed to know about)

He decided to address each potential team member in turn giving them a wide smile and a cheerful attitude towards their respective questions, "Cy I think you'd make a brilliant Chaser, just the perfect build, light and lithe, you'll zoom across the pitch."

"Sasha, mate, you know I'd be thrilled to have you on the team, even I can't catch a snitch as well as you can but let me know when it's too much yeah?" He gave his close friend another encouraging smile. Peyton had helped Ravenclaw win a game the previous year by catching the snitch but he still felt guilty that it should have been Sasha's win, if the studious Ravenclaw hadn't been missing at the time . . .

"I think you already did Serenity but it doesn't hurt to hear again and another perfect fit for Chaser, we'll beef you girls up a little bit, make sure you can handle a quaffle and we'll be good to go." He let the usually shy second year chat with her friend as he moved to the next student to sign up.

"Good to see you signing up Baxter, getting your head out of a book once in a while might do you some good." He gave the younger year a charming smile, "And no worries mate, we'll find you a good fit, filling out like you have you might do well as a beater or even Keeper."

Peyton smile softly and hoped his internal sigh wasn't visible in his cool grey blue eyes. He appreciated the enthusiasm and he certainly wasn't going to turn the girl away nor was he going to be the kind of guy to suggest she'd be best suited as a cheerleader, even if they actually had a squad, "Professor Trishna was talking about putting together a strategic team. Those that get the inner workings of the game, that sort of thing. They'd help me out with new moves and plays we could try out in practice. You could always talk to him about it but I'd be happy to have you on board." There was also equipment manager but he didn't think she'd take kindly to him telling her she could polish brooms and make sure the locker room didn't smell.

Peyton nodded to Church, they had been on the team together once in the past but like Church had said that was a few years back now, "From what I remember you had a killer arm. We can try you out there again, or anywhere else you think you might do well."

"Good to see you Norling."

Baxter gave an awkward grin. "Yeah- that's what everyone seems to think," he responded. So apparently it wasn't just the adults in his life who thought he needed to do more with his time than studying and working on his academics. But at least Peyton seemed to think they could find him a good fit on the team. "I'll play where ever you need me," he told Peyton, "if I'm good enough at it." Even if he wasn't any good, at least he had tried, right?

He perked a little when Peyton mentioned that Tapendra was planning to put together a strategic team. That sounded really interesting. Why hadn't he known about that before he'd offered to try out for quidditch? That sounded a lot safer, probably more to his liking. But he'd already told Blake he'd try out, and owled his dad about it- so he didn't have much of an option at this point but to get his bum on a broom and try to impress the captain.

"Are you going to have a first and second string?" Baxter asked. It seemed there were a lot of people interested in playing, and Baxter wouldn't mind taking second string so that those who were more skilled and more enthusiastic about the game could take the main positions.

More Ravenclaws came to the table. "Hi Alvis, Church," Zoe said, greeting the two boys. She was excited to see so much of Ravenclaw want to be part of Quidditch. Surely this season they'd be amazing. After all, their house animal was an eagle, an animal meant to fly and rule the sky. She had confidence that her housemembers would be able to do the same. Hopefully.

Seeing Peyton turn towards her, the young witch turned her complete attention to him. His suggestion made her smile. "A strategic team? Sounds great! I'll talk to Professor Trishna about it, thank you!" Surely she'd have a great place there. After seeing so many professional Quidditch games since age seven and with her aunt's constant talking of Quidditch (honestly it was Zoe's prefered subject, anything else and it might not end well), Zoe knew the game well. Not to say she was good at any of it.

Giving a slight bow of her head to Peyton as a thank you, Zoe tried to get out of the group of Ravenclaws. More would probably come, and she didn't want to get flattened against the booth. After getting around her housemembers, Zoe walked away. She'd finish her club signing-up, then look for Professor Trishna. It was decided.

Blake was excited for the new season of House Quidditch to start. In the previous year, he had been content to simply be a reserve because he had been new and wasn't as experienced as the likes of Leon or Edmund. But this year, he felt that he had grown so much, both physically and also in his abilities to play the game. This had been helped tremendously by his relationship with Callum, now a professional beater for the Falcons. While many of his classmates had been off on the Egypt trip or dabbling in internships, Blake had been at the Quidditch Camp.

Of course, learning from pro players did not guarantee that the impact of puberty - namely growing several inches and having one's limbs feel like they were operating on their own accord - would be curbed. Blake had already experienced difficulties in doing simple things like chase a COMC book*.

Blake tried to take such experiences in stride and did his best to work with those challenges.

Seeing the group of Ravenclaws crowded around the table, Blake felt his excitement grow. He had a good feeling about the team this year.

Gently nudging his way to the sign up sheet, he picked up the quill and scrawled his name down for the beater post. Then he turned, and seeing his dormmate, Baxter, he exclaimed, "B is for Beater!"

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* Referencing this class as if he were there even though I wasn't able to post him into it.