---

This was it!  The first match of the season where Gryffindor would face off against Slytherin.  It was an old rivalry, nearly ancient by certain reckoning, and it always produced exciting Quidditch.  The stands were filled with students and teachers and it was a sea of crimson and green.    Even students from Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and the visiting schools had donned one or the other to get in on the heated contest. 

Hooch, of course, was in black and white and hovering at the center of the pitch.  Both Gryffindor and Slytherin had won all their matches so far this year and so it was anyone's snitch. 

"I want good clean Quidditch, you two," she instructed captains Erin Harper and Raine Almasy.  "No funny business." 

But she expected no less.  Both teams had been playing well this term and there hadn't been any major problems with fouls or unfairplay. 

Soon, the teams were in position.  She released the bludgers, she released the snitch, and finally, she threw the quaffle into the air.

At the blow of her whistle, the match had begun!

---

The match has begun!  Captains, please post your roster on your first post.  Remember, posting order isn't so important as keeping the thread moving along.  Clearly post your actions and highlight the balls when you interact with them.

Have fun!

---

It was still winter, air still flooded with the bitter sensations of northern cold.

Raine Almasy had strode out with goggles already in-place, her jaw drawn taut with the determination of a general braced to face an old enemy. Yet also an old friend. There were several of those in the team they flew against today, though that would not discourage or soften her resolution.

This was Slytherin. They either won or lost by the skin of their teeth... rather, by the fluttering of golden-laced wings.

"Harper," the redhead shook hands firmly with the other Captain after their usual warnings from Madam Hooch. "Watch out for the Bludgers, won't you?" she grinned at him, friendly but competitive.

There was little time for banter however and, as Keeper, Raine had to be in position quickly. She glanced back at the rest of the team, nodding once as she mounted her broom. Her gaze paused on Mairead briefly. Hopefully the little devil could outrun Harper on a broom.

"Careful up there- but not too careful," she smiled before kicking off vehemently and launching into the air with a graceful leap.

At the blow of the whistle, Raine was on her guard at the hoops.

Tynan had never been particularly adept at broom riding, and so he was hardly a graceful flier. He didn’t need to be, strictly speaking – so long as he held onto the broom with his knees and feet and hit the bludgers as hard as he could, finesse was not a skill highly required of a Beater.

The crowd roared as the game began, and the pulsing, shifting mass of the crowd had once worried him slightly. Now he was used to it, and the distance of the crowd from the players made it easy to cast them from his mind.

The team rose into the air around him, but he kept his one good eye as focused as he could. The lack of depth perception certainly made this a little bit more difficult, but –

He heard the gibbering noise of a bludger off to his left – his bad side. Throwing his weight, he spun his broom into a sliding turn in midair, knuckles white around his beater’s bat. Eye focused on the bludger now, he followed it as it shot off across the field, following after the Chasers.

Slytherin Roster
Captain/Seeker: Erin Harper
Keeper: Erin Dark
Beaters: Waverly Roh-Ballentyne, Gracie Slant
Chasers: Warren Neifion, Demitria Strelnikov, Casey O'Doherty

It was that time again. They had a match against Gryffindor. Erin strode out grinning fiercely onto the field, an expression that didn't fade one bit as he shook hands with Gryffindor Captain Raine Almasy. These matches were always his favorite. They were the most dangerous.... the closest-tied.... the most fun.

"Don't put yourself out worrying on my behalf, Almasy," he assured her, reckless and cocky, as they exchanged a bit of the requisite banter. "I've got a hard head."

He'd never been one for the pre-game pep talk, and so he didn't say anything to his team as he turned away to mount his broom. None of them were new to the game of Quidditch, having all played at some point before, and they knew what was at stake.  They waited on the whistle. It came, and they all shot into the freezing, bleary sky.

Erin did the usual, expected thing - he shot up high to get out of the way of the initial Quaffle scuffle, eyes peeled for that elusive golden glint. It would be a shame to catch the Snitch so early in the game, but that was no excuse to let the little tyke all wrapped up in Gryffindor colors have it. He kept an eye on Mairead too. Cheeky lass was just as likely to try and bite him as ram him off of his broom.

Erin was surprised she somehow managed to return to the keeper position.  She had been away from the team for awhile, but Slytherins were ambitious enough to value winning above all else.  Taking note of the two captains on the pitch, she flew over to her hoops, and lazily did a couple of warm up stretches before positioning herself a few meters in-front of the central hoop.  As she looked over the people on the field, she could not help but notice her sister's absence.  Wondering what exactly had caused her sister to quit quidditch, she sighed.  Whatever her thoughts on her familial relations, she was distracted by the scuffle for the quaffle. 

"Quaffle Live!" Erin yelled, shouting the obvious.  Because sometimes her teammates forgot about her back here.  And she really did not like that.  Still, Slytherin had been undefeated this year and she intended to keep that track up.  Relaxing at the thought, Erin let an easy smile grace her face and focused on the game.  She was going to have fun and forget about academics and modelling until the other Erin caught the snitch. 

With only one exception, I think that all the Chasers are Inactive!  Might be best if you all NPC'd that Quaffle a bit to move things along.  If need be, switch up your rosters?

The game had gotten off to a confusingly slow start.  It happened from time to time.  Perhaps the players had the wrong lunch - too much of one thing, not enough of another.  Or a last minute change in the line up had thrown a plan on it's edge and they were scrambling to get in synch. 

Either way, the Chasers bobbled a few missed passes and neither team made much progress with it.  Either way, the quaffle could easily end up in anyone's possession at this point.

It had been a while (read: since the other end of the holiday) for Casey to need to fly so aggressively. Which accounted for some initial slow starts and missed passes from the shrimpy Slytherin. Regardless of having heavy, light, or no lunch he was starting to match the color of his Quidditch robes around the metaphorical gills (as he didn't have any witches that went sleeping with mermen in his family tree).

But, at long last, he was in the right place to catch the quaffle as it tumbled out of a fumble. At least he could hang onto the things now after catching them, as he flew upwards in line with Gryffindor's goalposts.

Careful?  Confusion dominated the smallest Gryffindor's expression as she caught their captain's glance.  An excess of caution was rarely a concern for the Gryffindor.  But, finally, she grinned, mischievously, as she swung up on her broom. 

At the sound of Hooch's whistle, Mairead pointed her broom skyward and sought elevation in the opposite direction from Harper.  Though it was all part of the same commotion, there's was a very different game from the Chasers, Beaters and Keepers.  Below them, a fast paced scrimmage was taking place as quaffles and bludgers raced between the players.  For them, it was more about stealth, patience and, eventually, a ruthless dash for the ultimate prize. 

She was making her initial circuit around the edge of the field when she spotted O'Doherty making a dash for the Gryffindor goals.

"O'Doherty!" Mairead called out.  "Bludger's comin' for yer face!" She taunted, despite having no idea where the bludger was.  It mattered little that it was no more than a ploy - any hesitation would work in their favor.

The Slytherin Chasers, lead by O'Doherty, began to make progress down the pitch with the quaffle, unhindered in any major way by Gryffindor's efforts.  Finally, one of the teams had an advantage. 

But as they neared the goal posts and prepared to take a shot...

As Casey kept towards the goal he tried to keep his eyes peeled around him. In passing the littlest Gryffindor on the opposing team he caught pieces of the jeer, 'bludger' and 'face.'

Which was some kind of folly. If a bludger was coming for his face he'd be able to see it, wouldn't he? Though had the ó Fearghail girl forgone rules again and sneaked in a bludger's bat with her Seeker's gear?[1]

What if the bludger didn't come at his face, but there was one aiming for his head? Casey tried to look in his peripherals but couldn't discern anything at this speed...causing him to not pay attention when he collided sideways with another player.[2]

1.	obscure reference to the May 5th '08 Hufflepuff vs Slytherin match where Mairead pretended to be a Beater
2.	Open for anybody

Quick start to the game, with O'Doherty taking the quaffle and streaking off with it in the direction of the goals. Erin was impressed. The kid had come a far ways from when he'd first started playing...

Though it wasn't any good to sit up high and watch the action below, sometimes he just couldn't help himself. Call it his natural devotion to the game, or the fact that he was the Captain - but in scouring the stadium for the Snitch, sometimes his eyes got stuck on a play. Now he winced as the Chasers behind O'Doherty tried to avoid the high-speed collision, some wheeling away but one or two slamming into the confused cluster and making an even bigger mess.

Speaking of the tiny thing...

Watching closely the collision below, something bright gold sparked at Casey's elbow. The Snitch? Erin started to dive before he'd even confirmed, not wanting to leave it possibly to Mairead's advantage if he was right and didn't move fast enough. But he had no plans for what he'd do when he got down there, where the Chasers were all snarled up in the sudden collision.

Erin could not help but watch the ongoing confusion for two reasons.  One, was because it was like a trainwreck.  On a completely unrelated note, the quaffle was somewhere in that trainwreck, but that was not the main reason Erin was watching.  As if that was not bad enough, it appeared that the other Erin was diving towards the mass of players.  Erin assumed her seeker saw the snitch or something. 

Right now, Erin was debating seeing if she should call a timeout or do something else.  It looked like somebody was going to get hurt.  Not that Erin particularly cared one way or the other but if they did not win this match...she would not be able to live it down until next year.  Not that she could do much from this side of the pitch anyways, besides look pretty (which Erin thought she did quite well). 

Figuring that she should do something at this point to be productive, Erin debated for or against stating the obvious.  In the end, she figured it did not really matter one way or the other so she decided to just fly there and look pretty.  She figured that they would need her soon enough.  Or maybe not if Harper managed to grab the snitch.  Either way, it wasn't like she could be of much from the far hoops.

Flanking one of the Chasers from a distance as they sped toward the Gryffindor goals, Gracie could only cringe as her teammates blundered. It was a mistake so very easily made, what with everyone flying about and Bludgers being a constant threat to be wary of, but the beater couldn’t help but note how differently they were playing from the match against Hufflepuff with a pang. Dream teams were more often forged than simply made, but… The reminder was still a bitter pill to swallow.

Ah, well. O’Doherty had been doing better up ‘til then. Pursing her lips, Gracie sped up, going faster and faster until she could, at least, catch Casey on the brink. Disguised as a roundabout trip toward another Bludger (that was heading toward another Chaser), she buffered him from a total fall by letting him rebound off of her –another, but far more forgiving collision than, say, the pitch would have offered. Still, the force of it wasn’t anything to scoff at. “Ugh,” she muttered, shouldering the fourth year away. “You’re such a pain, Casey, god.”

She sped off a beat later, getting that Bludger right in the kisser—and off toward one of Gryffindor’s beaters maybe, hopefully catching them by his head. Oops.

Chaser

"Blazin' "  The curse had yet to fly from his lips before Casey realized the extent of the fly mob he was crashing into. There was no hope for recovery, it would have required a tighter turn than even his Comet 470 could make. All he could go was lock his limbs tight and hiss through his teeth. Casey bruised easily and he could just imagine what color his skin was going to be in a few hours.

His broom faltered and Casey pitched sideways until he collided with Slant. "Ugh. You're such a pain Casey, God." He didn't reply for fear of the distant breakfast foods joining whatever retort he could muster, made the worse as the ground switched places with the sky in a sickening fashion.

At least he had...nevermind: Casey had lost the quaffle during that collision.

Demitria had been worried about this game the moment it was announced Kitty would not be playing. How stupid of a decision was that? He couldn't just break up their duo to put in Casey! To repeat: Casey. Casey O'Doherty over Kitty Li. What in Merlin's name had he been thinking? He wasn't half the player the rest of them were, and hell, even though she wasn't very used to playing with Warren, she could deal with it. But no. Playing with Casey was already enough to make her blood boil.

She was even confused about why Erin had chosen her of the duo. Of course, it wasn't well known that she was smack-dab in the middle of a mental breakdown, but was she really the better player? Kitty maybe didn't have the same amount of skill (she didn't have two obsessed brothers after all), but she had twice the amount of vicious that Strellie did. Still, Kitty hadn't been chosen... Maybe Harper didn't want seriously injured and/or maimed Gryffindors? It didn't matter, because Strellie had enough pent-up negative energy that she wasn't above smacking someone in the face with a bludger. And she didn't even play Beater.

Now, they were in the middle of the game and everything was going wrong.

Gracie was managing to keep the bludgers off of them, but just as she had expected, Casey had no ability whatsoever to hold on to the quaffle. And he dropped it. Again. And what was even worse luck? It hadn't come in either her or Warren's directions for practically the entirety of the game! Every time she had been near to getting it, she had either had to duck a bludger or someone would slam into her knocking her off balance. Someone who weighed 87 pounds couldn't be expected to be smashed into and keep a straight course! She was doing a damn good job for how much hell Harper was putting her through.

Casey had collided with Slant and lost the quaffle?? No! That idiot! How? How had that even happened? And he hadn't even considered, maybe, just maybe using his other teammates to avoid the inevitable collision. What a pompous, self centered, stupid-

Before she knew what was happening, Demitria felt a cool calm settling over herself[1]. Everything around her seemed to glow with an internal light. Of course she knew what was happening, but she really couldn't bring herself to care. If all of the brainless humans around her were too imbecilic to think for themselves, she would think for them. It was easier that way anyway. Strellie knew she didn't have much time with her charm at the sheer intensity that it was at... She must have been really angry. It wasn't a problem now, of course. She knew that if she could make her older brother, practically a father figure to her, light their grandmother's house on fire, there would be little resistance from these hormone-driven messes.

"Casey, get the quaffle. I don't care how you get it. Just do it and get it through the hoops" She spoke quiet enough that no one in normal circumstances could have heard her, but she didn't speak to Casey's ears. She spoke to the little light that she could use to compel him. Strange, it was surprisingly dim compared to the other males on the field. Oh well, it didn't matter, he still showed up, and she would control him for all it was worth.

"The rest of you, get the hell out of his way. And Harper, find the damn snitch now." She spoke again. The others males were much easier than Casey to get to stop and the females, well, they weren't going to jump to her bidding, but they would at least have migraines and disorientation from the force of her charm bursting out of her. Silly humans, so weak. It was a shame that she had just enough human blood to knock her out sooner rather than later. 

Demitria sighed slightly and felt her vision begin to waver. Such a shame. The outcome of the match would have been so promising if she had just used less Charm. Human emotions were so volatile. She'd have to talk to Amara about appropriate techniques for not emitting full Compulsion when angry.

Tactless, useless human emotions.

The Russian chaser blacked out and fell from her broom.     

1.	Level 3 Charm: Read about it here