Seeker

Teenie weenie Gryffindor Seeker?  Mairead eyed the beater's bat in Harcroft's hand as the Gryffindor beater flew close enough to send the bludger ricocheting in the opposite direction.  Teenie weenie?  Scowling darkly in Sellaphix' direction, Mairead started to reach out to take Harcroft's bat when a flicker of gold distracted her. 

Mairead waved Harcroft off and bent over her broom, ready to take up the chase.  Of course, the snitch was no longer right where it had been when she first caught a glimpse but it had to be somewhere in the vicinity.  She bent lower over the broom, urging it to pick up speed as she raced towards the Slytherin's end of the field. 

Bloody hell, how she loved this game!  Excitement and adrenaline coursed through her when her gaze finally latched on the flittering snitch.  It was just behind the Slytherin goal hoops, darting its way back up towards the sky.  Mairead altered her course, aiming for the space between the two left-hand goal hoops as the game around her faded out of reality.  As she neared the hoops, she aimed her broom skyward, hoping to intersect the snitch as it continued on its path. 

Erin was having a hard time seeing anything this match.  Somehow, their chasers had recovered the quaffles, lost it, and she did not even realize that anybody had taken a shot.  She heard the announcer yell about a goal, but she had a small problem.  Under most circumstances, the Erin favored finesse over physical play.  She rarely had a second year try to body check her though.  The small flyer was quite literally headed straight for her.  She had no idea what the heck the younger player was thinking.  She did not bother to think twice.  She responded in kind.  If she wanted to play chicken with someone two years her senior, she would let her.  If she had a bit more experience, she probably would have just stopped in front of the seeker to draw the foul, but Erin's adrenaline was high and thinking was never her strong suit. Erin attempted to elbow Mairead ó Fearghail since she was kind enough to fly straight at her.

Figaro was suddenly on his feet.

"Snitch is sighted! High up, dead center.  o Fearghail's got an eye on it seems like and Dark's in pursuit.  Could be a feint - not sure.  Twenty minutes in - could be the fastest catch this season!"

In a flurry, Figaro fussed with his notes.  He'd gotten a hold of some of the odds that people were betting on and it had some of the possible outcomes. 

"Slytherin's a sure bet for the finals, Gryffindor's got another matches left! If they catch the snitch tonight and against Ravenclaw, they could well go into the finals ahead of Slytherin.  But if Gryffindor loses tonight it could leave the door open Ravenclaw to knock them out!  No pressure!"[1]

1.

Gryffindor came into this match with 510, and could end regular season with at least 810 if they catch the snitch both times, but losing the snitch could well put them at barely past 500.  Slytherin's a sure bet with 740, so even if they lose tonight, no one can beat them unless there is some unprecedented quaffle action.  Ravenclaw comes in because even though they are last in the league, two snitch catches and decent quaffle work could just sneak them past.  They'd have to beat Hufflepuff, shut out Gryffindor, and score 90 points with the quaffle in the process.  Stranger things have happened.

Josh had sworn briefly at Slant managing to get his Bludger. however, he kept an eye on the game, then noticed thta Dark was trying to bock the snitch! he hit a bludger hard at Dark, making sure it was angled so it couldn't hit Mairead unless she flew straight into it. He had made the mistake of accidentally hitting someone on his own side before, he wasn't going to do it again.

When the Snitch showed up, Erin was too far away. Swooping high over the stands he saw Mairead shoot off and heard Figaro's announcement before he saw the little ball itself. A brief burst of panic lit him, as did adrenaline; he'd caught every Snitch yet, and he let out a stream of curses (at Mairead, at his distance, at the world itself) as he pursued.

His only hope was that the other Erin might knock Mairead off her broom or divert her. If Dark could keep ó Fearghail off it long enough for the Slytherin Seeker to catch up... Erin flattened himself against his broom, a streak of green and silver racing for the end of the pitch where the Snitch had been spotted.

Erin's blood was running hot.  Though she was focused on fouling  O'Fearghail, she knew that someone had sent a bludger her way. Her hyperactive mind tried to make sense of the trajectory, but she knew she had to maneuver a bit. She saw the other Erin making another streamline towards her.  She was popular apparently, with everybody and their bludgers coming to greet her.  She wondered if her reputation already preceded her or something.  Really, it goes from nobody wanting to mess around with half of the gryffindor team ignoring the quaffle and focusing on her.  She wasn't sure what to think about it, but was reminded that there was a bludger headed her way.  Erin cursed.  That trajectory was problematic, there would be no way to take the bludger with her opponent.  Doing her best impersonation of a keeper so far this game Erin violently pulled up, trying to keep herself in the gryffindor's line of flight.  Because of the rather odd angle of the bludger trajectory, she had to maneuver with her back facing the O'Fearghail.  She had no idea if she succeeded or not, but would learn quickly enough.

[ Beater, Captain ]



With bludgers in the air and the snitch still in action, Gracie never stopped moving. She’d grinned, of course, when her teammate had scored, but that sharp-edged smile had lasted only as long as the goal had sounded, which was brief—and for more reason than one: Dark. Eyes widening incredulously, Gracie watched the Keeper stray from her post with every intent to foul. “What the-”

She didn’t have long to think. She didn’t have long to think; ó Fearghail was just getting closer and closer, and even as another bludger headed their way the bloody fourth year seemed more keen on snagging the second year than doing her job, or even practicing basic self-preservation. Swearing under her breath, Gracie pitched forward, nearly parallel to her broom in a bid for speed. She wasn’t that far from them, really– she was sticking to defense, just as she said she would, but–

Something in her chest eased, as the smarter Erin flattened himself as well; he might have a temper, that one, but at least she could count on him to show some sense while they played.  As the others– well, only time would tell if she could say the same. She’d check on them later, when she didn’t have her hands full with reckless stupidity. “Move!” Gracie snapped, descending on them, Beater’s bat hefted like a sword and ready to swing. “Move, Dark!”

But the captain was already yanking on her broom—rising over the wayward Keeper and cascading downwards to meet the bludger. Pulling on her broom, she began to slow–

And swung, sending it toward the bleachers -oops- and away from Dark. Erin briefly forgotten – Gracie broke out into a breathless grin. “Try again, Harcroft!” she jeered as she circled a hoop.

"Try not comitting a foul, Slant- you aren't allowed to hit a Bludger towards the crowd" Josh said, racing towards the bludger to prevent Slant's action from interrupting the game. Noticing Harper, the Slytherin Seeker was going as fast as possible down the pitch, Josh hit the bludger and hit it at the Slytherin Seeker. Josh had angled the shot carefully- he could only hope it hit.

[Beater]

Xavier was . . . nowhere near the action. He had been weaving around their own Chasers ensuring that the hit taken on the Gryffindor post would make it. He had been playing defense for their Chasers while all the action suddenly exploded on the other side of the pitch. He could have raced over at break neck speed to join in the fray but Slant was already there playing the Bludger between Harcroft and herself (while scolding Dark in the process) and Harper had high tailed it over as well to make sure the little Gryffindor didn't get her hands on the snitch this early.

There was still another bludger out there and Xavier planned on using the commotion to his advantage. For a moment he wished he was a Chaser, opportunities like this don't come along too often. With so much focus on their own end of the Pitch it would be easy enough to score a few goals without many others noticing.

He thwacked the other bludger towards the oncoming Gryffindor chasers trying to keep them away from the Slytherin ones. Slant could cover the snitch and their wayward Keeper (she was Captain after all) he'd try to help them score some goals in the mean time.

Pure adrenaline coursed through her blood; it chased caution from the second year's mind and dulled the pain in her foot.  She'd likely pay for it later but she'd pay for it more if she let a little pain lose her the snitch. 

In front of her, the snitch darted further away and then doubled back, flittering straight overhead but almost a full meter above her.  In her periphery, she saw Dark barreling towards her from one side and Harcroft's bludger charging down Dark from the other side. 

Both friend and rival knew Mairead was quick to ditch common sense in favor of instant gratification.  Without giving the plan a second thought, Mairead resigned herself to the impossibility of avoiding Dark's elbow without speeding past the beater and loosing sight of the snitch. 

Besides, she'd gladly return the blow later, after the game was over.

Mairead threw her weight back, yanking the front of the broom up and around and grimmaced as the elbow met it's mark.  Stars danced through her vision but even that was was negligible for the time being.  The recklessness had paid off; she was right on the tail of the snitch.  Mairead flattened herself against the broom and stretched out, ready to pluck the snitch from the air. 

It was absolute chaos.  Somehow, Erin did manage to foul the opposing seeker, but there were so many things going on that even her hyperactive mind had a hard time keeping track of them.  Her captain was yelling at her not to foul and through whatever aerial insanity had just happened, a couple of bludgers went sailing past Erin and O'Fearghail was clearly tailing the snitch.  She only hoped that whatever she did bought the other Erin enough time to do something.  It seemed like the past 5 seconds had lasted a couple of days.   

"The quaffle's still live!" Erin reminded her chasers, since she could not really see or focus in all that had just happened.  She really couldn't figure out anything else to say at the moment.

Thank you all for participating! I've rolled dice to pad the scores a bit and decide the snitch.  We've just got 2 more matches to go before the Quidditch Cup, so we do need to move along.

The last few minutes of the game were maddening! Mairead o Fearghail was able to tightly pursue the snitch which stayed just barely out of reach!  The crowd flinched and exclaimed as if to influence her quick reactions to a darting snitch who knew its time was limited. 

In the meantime, Slytherin plowed forward to force through as many points as they could in the short amount of time.  Captain Slant commanded all forces to the offensive and they were able to make seven shots on the Gryffindor hoops!  Keeper Almasy blocked four of them, but Slytherin gained 30 points.

As they were ready to charge in for another attempt, the crowd erupted in such cheering that all players knew without looking that the game had ended.  Gryffindor had caught the snitch!