20 October, 2009
Tuesday, 1:00pm

---

The students had been reminded last week, and then again by a notice in their Common Rooms that class would be held not in the green open space near the courtyard as usual, but on the Quidditch Pitch instead.  It was Quidditch Day! 

"Today is Quidditch Day!" she announced to the students who she'd directed to line up in the two rows as usual.  "We'll go over the basics and play a bit."

By now, the students had been practicing for seven weeks and their flying was getting there.  Almost all of them could fly in a straight line and make good clean turns.  The drama of the first day was no doubt long forgotten.

"You'll be expected to follow my instructions and remember your safe flying rules."

Playing a bit of Quidditch served a few different goals.  Of course, it was a fun reprieve; by now the Hogwarts Quidditch season had begun and no doubt some of the First Years would be green with envy at not being able to even try out.  This should let them blow off some steam.  But perhaps more importantly, Quidditch would give the students practice being aware of their surroundings and handling a ball or bat even while flying with only one hand on the stock.

"Now, who can tell me about Quidditch?"

She looked over the class and raised her eyebrows. 

"Just speak up, now.  No hands."

Finally the first years were on the Quidditch pitch. Today was the day that they were going to learn the basics of the sport that was so widely played in the world of wizardry. Being the little firsties they were, they couldn't try out for their house's Quidditch teams. It doesn't mean it didn't stop Lexi and some others from sitting in the stands while housemates tried out.
 
"Now, who can tell me about Quidditch?" Madam Hooch asked, Lexi was about to raise her hand when she added, "Just speak up, now.  No hands."

"Quidditch is a rough, semi-contact sport. Matches are played between two teams of seven players each. There is the Quaffle, a bright red ball. Two bludgers, the small black balls. And the Golden Snitch, which is the little golden sphere with wings. Basically the whole point of the game is to catch it, but it's hard because it's so small and it's really fast." Lexi said confidently. Her grandfather had taken her to many Quidditch matches, he was a bit of a fanatic. So naturally, Lexi was as well.

"Quite accurate.  Three points,"[1] Hooch said.  Miss McGee was square on. 

"Any one else? What else can you tell me about Quidditch?"  Even though Alexandra's answer was good, Hooch was sure this chatty bunch would have more to say.  She shifted her weight and crossed her arms, looking from student to student. She could tell that some were eager to get aloft and see what awaited them in the large trunk at Hooch's feet. 

But they'd have to answer her questions before she let them!

1.	+3 Gryffindor

"Whoever catches the snitch ends the match automatically!" Dessa added. "And a lot of the times, that team wins, since you get one hundred and fifty points for it." It wasn't easy to be obsessed with a sport you weren't allowed to play, but Dessa had done the next best thing to hopping on a broomstick: finding out as much as she possibly could about Quidditch.

 "Hogwarts is really big on Quidditch...although first years aren't allowed to play, for some reason I couldn't possibly fathom," Dessa answered, laughing a little. "I think I read somewhere that it's the best school for Quidditch--you know, if not just generally the best--in the world. Oh, and also, I'm really excited to play today, thank you so much!"

Dessa shot wide grin at Lexi, who shared her enthusiasm for the sport. She knew they'd be having a lot of fun today. Her hands were itching to wrap around the broom, and she couldn't wait to feel the wind on her face. Just the thought made her antsy.

"It's possible to win without catching the snitch but it's difficult,"  Blossom chimed in.  "Each team of seven is broken up into four positions, Keeper, who protects the goal rings, Beaters, who use bats to knock the bludgers around both to protect their team and to throw the opposition off balance, Chasers, who score with the Quaffle and Seekers, who are the only ones permitted to catch the Snitch."

Blossom wasn't really that keen on Quidditch, especially given the welcome he'd received at the hands of the Slytherin team during the Club Day in the Great Hall.  He'd almost given up on his plan to create a Slytherin mascot as well.  He hadn't gotten the help he'd hoped for and the project was just too ambitious for him to pull off alone.

There was something especially magical about the Quidditch pitch today, even compared to Hogwarts as a whole. It was in the air, in the wind. It was anticipation. It was delight. It was...it was...

Well, partially, it was the record player that had been following Ted around since Sunday afternoon[1], which hummed a cheery fanfare in anticipation of their Qudditch lessons. Ted had spent most of the previous day trying to get rid of the thing but, since it seemed he was stuck with it for now, he'd decided to enjoy it a bit, especially when its accompaniment fit so perfectly to his mood.

Even without the music, there was no hiding that he loved flying class, and he especially loved Quidditch. He'd been flying since he was old enough to balance the broom. Harry'd shown him the basics, but it'd been Ginny -- easily the best player the Harpies'd ever seen -- who'd taught him to play. In tribute to her, he wore his hair long and red today, loosely braided with a thin green streak.

Holding his broom, he bounced in time with the music and chimed in at the end of his classmates' words. "And! The first recorded game was held in Queerditch March in 1050. And they used to use a certain kind of bird instead of a Snitch, until it got too rare for it. And the world record for longest game ever is six full months!"

1.	When he fell into Deus Deres's trap.

Alice lingered towards the back of the pack, notebook out, scribbling down notes. She didn't know much about Quidditch. It didn't interest her like the others. They loved this. The freedom, the danger. Alice would rather stay in the stands, or better, watch from the castle. She noticed Ted had a sort of record player following him. It was odd, but she didn't mind.

Alice wanted to gain the courage to talk to him. She really did. Just to say hi or something, but, alas, it seemed her nervousness and shyness got the better of her. She waited back, as the kids spoke up about Quidditch. She saw how these things made sense, and she knew some of the terms from Mark, but she couldn't recall them from memory like she could with other subjects.

What in the world was that?  Hooch stepped to the side one pace so she could see more clearly what was hovering about Ted Lupin's head.  It was playing music, a light cheery tone that wafted away in the breeze.

"Is that a -?  What is that, Mr. Lupin? Best send it away, whatever it is."

It looked like a record player, but the fact that it was floating around Ted Lupin's head made Hooch suspect there was something more to it.

"Is that a -?  What is that, Mr. Lupin?"

"To be honest, Professor, I don't have a fuzzy clue." Ted followed the gramophone with his eyes. The thing tended to turn up in the weirdest places. Normally it'd be full-sized, rolling along behind him or appearing in the classroom as he walked in the door. It'd even wait for him outside the showers. But today, it seemed to sense the need for mobility, and had shrunk down appropriately.

"I'm not sure where it came from. It showed up a couple of days ago and won't leave me alone. Tried charming it off, but it just hexed me. Think I'm stuck with it. Someone's idea of a prank I suppose." He shrugged and waved the thing off before it could hit him in the face. "Don't worry. It never gets loud enough to drown the class out, so long as no one starts throwing hexes around. It won't bother anyone, I swear.

"Can we start flying now?" Unconsciously, his eyes grew slightly wider and his face went a wee bit heart-shaped with excitement. "Please? Maybe a bludger'll knock it off!"

Dessa spent a few moments surveying the floating music-maker before she realized what it reminded her of. "It's like the soundtrack in a movie!" she exclaimed. "It's like you've got your own theme music following you around."

She grinned at Ted Lupin, until she realized that it was quite possible that wizarding kids such as himself had no idea what a "movie" was, or why it would have a "soundtrack" or "theme music". "It's like...you're a superhero." She finally said. "How did you get it? Why would you want to get rid of it?"

Dessa realized too late that her focus on something non-flying related could possibly be delaying the class, and while the gramophone was fascinating, time in the air was about a million times more scintillating. "Sorry, Madam Hooch. I just think it's cool."

"So that's where the music keeps coming from," said Dilly. "I've been wondering..."

She looked at the box that had all the assorted Quidditch gear, not realizing what was in it. "Um...Madame Hooch...if we need to get rid of that noise for class...do you think we might shut it up in that box?"

She looked at Dessa a bit apologetically. "Not that it isn't cool, but maybe just till class gets over? Because if somebody's trying to knock you off your broomstick, a sound track might be...well, distracting."

Thinking for a moment, she said, "And while we're on the subject, Madame Hooch...haven't people disappeared for a month or two, while playing this game?"

Now that might be really cool...if there was a way to pick who did the disappearing.

Given the expression on her face, Blossom thought it was likely that Dilly was hoping that he'd be the one to pull the disappearing act.  "It would certainly be an advantage when playing Quidditch,"  he said, looking at Teddy's phonograph.  "If it can follow you at flying speed, it would act like a rear guard, keeping people from getting too close and getting in the way of the bludgers, not to mention the affects of stirring music."

It would be interesting to see what would happen if a bludger hit the floating music system.  Would it shatter?  Would the bludger pass right through?  Would it burst into dozens of tiny copies of itself, which would either reassemble, continue following like a dozen tinier versions of itself or spread out and select their own targets to follow? 

Rico reached his fingers above the other's. He began spitting Quidditch facts like a copy machine

 "There are 700 ways to commit a Quidditch foul, all of which happened in the 1473 World Cup Match. Some of these fouls include: blagging- grabbing another players broom; blatching- flying to collide with another player; and cobbing- excessive use of elbows. "

He took a deep breath

"There 6 hoops, 3 on each end, and Chasers score 10 points per each quaffle made through a hoop. And the current Snitch was invented by Bowman Wright of Godric's Hallow."

"And..."

 "The American version of Quidditch is called Quodpot in which 11 players  throw the Quod (a sort of Quaffle that is charmed to explode if it is handled too long) and try to put it into the pot before it explodes!"

"Also..."

"The Seeker was originally called the Hunter, makes sense how the snitch was originally a bird"

Rico looked at Alice, scribbling down on her note book. He knew a whole lot more about Quidditch that he was going to share, but he cut himself off to keep from embarrassing himself.

Sadie nodded in her brother's direction and started adding more facts onto what he had previously stated. "The Golden Snitch originated in the middle of the 14th century, the idea for the Snitch came when it's predecessor, the Golden Snidget, was hunted to near extinction for Quidditch purposes. The Snidget is now a protected species and the Snitch was used instead."

The Golden Snitch was Mercedes' favorite part of Quiddith and a group of unregistered Snidgets lived in the fir trees near the estate. She some times fed them bits of Irish soadbread she would snag from the cook in the kitchen.

The students' excited, interested, curious chatter was thriving.  Lots of talk about the solution to Ted's musical malady, as well as ever more encyclopedic facts about Quidditch.  Children could be such funny creatures, getting interested in some topic and then absorbing facts and trivia like sponges only to blurt them all out at once at the next convenient opportunity.  It certainly wasn't a habit, Hooch cared to quash!

She smiled lightly as the class clamored on, and she shook her head slowly, tolerantly.  Their excitement was always catching, this lot.

Quietly, she placed her whistle between her lips and then gave a short twip!.  She let the whistle drop to her chest, and brought the class round to task.

"Bravo, both Posadas - well recited.  Three points each. [1]Seems that you all well get the idea of our most ancient and noble sport.  Good.  There will be much to learn for years to come, but today we'll get the basics down.  Oh, and Mr. Lupin,"

She paused and gave the coy little boy an arched eyebrow, "seems no need at the moment to anger whatever you've unleashed upon yourself.  Be careful, as it is."

With that, she clapped her hands.  "Everyone, brooms up and mount!  One warm up lap around the west goal posts and back - no higher than three meters.  And you there, take this with you."

Hooch had slipped a large red ball with deep divots in three sides from the chest - it was a quaffle!  She handed it off to a nearby student.  "Use one hand to carry it, and then toss it to someone else.  Be sure to call out a name and make a good clean throw.  Make sure everyone has a chance."

Tweeeeet!

1.	+3 Posada, +3 Posada