June 2nd (saw it bugged you xD)

Quidditch was an important thing to Dagan. More important than almost anything in his life. He and his sister were both on the team, and he was the captain himself. Dagan approached the sport with an unusually brutal and relentless strategy, and encouraged his team to do the same. He didn't mind a penalty here and there, as long as the job got done. Ravenclaw for the first time in several years had a shot at the cup and he'd be damned if he let it go to waste.

"BLUDGER DRILLS!" He roared across the pitch, releasing not two but six bludgers into the air. He wanted his team to be the best at the evasion of the murderous balls, and he didn't care if someone got hurt in the process as long as they learned from their mistake. The bludgers screamed around the pitch chasing the Ravenclaw players.

"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" He yelled again, smashing a bludger towards one of his chasers. He'd go on with this for about fifteen more minutes, or until someone got hurt. There was a reason a medical wing existed Dagan told himself, a means of justifying his harsh leadership. To be the best, one had to train the hardest.

"We will win this cup! For if I win I can't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead!" Dagan shouted, magic amplifying his voice as it resonated around the playing field. It was pretty clear he was hardcore about the sport. "Remember what you've worked for! All the hours of sweat and pain can come down to a single moment! Don't screw it up!" He continued. Quidditch was his passion. He needed to be the best, should be survive in the wizarding world. Lord knew that Dagan didn't have any other real talent. The Wizards didn't have room for martial arts in their society, and while he might've had the potential to follow other career paths he'd flushed any notion of that down the drain years ago.

After a quarter hour, Dagan decided the drill had been enough. There was a thin line between training hard, and being irresponsible, and he was dancing on it.  He didn't want another talk from the Headmaster. Calling the balls back into their box with a swish of his wand, he commanded the team to form up on him. "Good work, guys." He said, his voice now back to it's usual calmness. "We're doing well. But, we must continue with this pace. Pressure makes diamonds. Remember that. This is not punishment, it's all part of a greater reward." He said, leaning back on his broom. "I believe in you guys, I believe in the team." He said looking at each of them. Dagan rarely, very rarely got this sentimental.

Though she was new to the team, Beatrix Dark was rather enjoying herself today during quidditch practice... Even if the captain was utterly insane. She remembered how Dagan found her and asked, politely enough, to join the team. Why he picked her, no idea. But Beatrix appreciated it and tried her best. One thing was for certain, Dagan would be the death of the whole team.

"BLUDGER DRILLS!"

And he would be the one personally killing them. Beatrix knocked the bludgers out of her way and dodged the ones Dagan was shooting at the chasers. Was he mad!? He had told her she needed to be violent, and he told her the team needed to win... But she couldn't hurt anyone on the team! Even if she envied Delilah, even if it would be funny to see one of her friends fly off their brooms. She just couldn't do it.

"We will win this cup! For if I win I can't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead!"

"Over-dramatic, much?" Beatrix grumbled under her breath. All she wanted to do right now was knock the captain off the broom, which she really was plotting on doing if he didn't calm down. A bludger nearly hit her in the face and she ducked quickly. What was she suppose to do, anyways? Dagan didn't tell her what to do, he just started yelling how much he wanted to win. It was no wonder that Dagan was friends with Mr. Devlin Matthews after watching this predicament.

Another bludger whizzed past her head and she just about had it. The sooner they won the cup, the better. Beatrix, with all her might, hit a bludger away from her and accidentally towards the chasers that were soaring not too far above her. She let out a small squeal of embarrassment and quickly whisked away from yet another speeding ball. Finally, Dagan called them in and she zoomed up towards him.

"We're doing well. But, we must continue with this pace. Pressure makes diamonds. Remember that. This is not punishment, it's all part of a greater reward."

Beatrix gave him a dark scowl and finally nodded. It was true. The pressure did make Beatrix want to bash anyone off a broom using merely her beaters club and her foot. Preferably Dagan, but she didn't say that out loud. If Beatrix were to actually be playing against a separate team, she'd rip them to shreds and then laugh at them when they lose. Adding insult to injuring wasn't big for Beatrix, but she really did want to win. She may be new to this, but she knew Dagan meant what he was saying.

Most that knew Sasha on a casual level - that was, either in the school corridors or watching the back of his head during class (it was now common knowledge that, unless something interfered with the preference, Sasha always sat in the front of the class) that Sasha was hardly one suited for quidditch.  Especially not quidditch as Dagan captained it.  If told that Sasha was a member of the team out of context, most would picture the tall, lanky young man that winced at most jinxes tossed his way in Defense Against the Dark Arts or in the corridors wouldn't have the stomach for the dangerous sport or the rigorous manner in which Dagan coached it.  But, despite being the awkward muggleborn that he was in most scenarios, Sasha had had no problem settling in with either the sport or the firm leadership. 

In fact, much of Sasha's muggle upbringing had left him rather well prepared for the sport in its own way.  Outside of the wizarding world (and frequently within it), Sasha had been an avid football player and, before he'd come to Hogwarts, and during the summers when he was back home, Sasha frequently played goalie.  The experience with the sport had developed the athleticism and eye-hand coordination that had come in handy as chaser - or even keeper, when there was a need to fill the post durng practices.  Avoiding bludgers had been, Sasha had found, old hat as well.  The hours spent working around the horses and cows on his step-father's farm had left his reflexes quite well-honed when it came to heavy objects hurling towards his head. 

And, while Dagan's dedication and driving enthusiasm had a familiar ruthlessness to it, he'd come across plenty of that from his step-father and the nuns that had been his teachers during his years in Catholic school.  In fact, the normally flinchy and awkward boy took Dagan's method of teaching very much in stride and, quite often, far more quietly than many of his teammates.  As Beatrix' mutterings had already illustrated. 

Bludger drills.  The tag-like exercise that had grown so common in their practices that they'd actually been named.  With an eager nod, Sasha began flying around the field, looking straight ahead, though his ears straining for any familiar whooshing sound and his eyes unfocused, watching the periphery for any sudden movements that indicated an oncoming bludger. 

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw it.  A flash of reddish brown and, without hesitation, he leaned forward and flattened himself on his Cleansweep Aero and let the broom dip slightly, just in time for the ball to fly over his head.  The bludger had moved on and Sasha continued on his course. 

With his focus trained so rigorously on his surroundings, Sasha hadn't noticed Dagan putting the bludgers back in the crate on the ground below him.  Most of the team had already gathered by the time he pulled up his broom and flew back towards them.  "Sorry," he panted.  "Lost track."  Accustomed to Dagan's bold enthusiasm, his pressuring didn't bother him as it did Beatrix.  Taking the encouragement with the same seriousness he took most things, he nodded eagerly, taking in every word as if it were class.

Back as a first year, Meg had been intrigued by Qudditch when she first read about it, and when she first watched it being played. She had committed herself to learn how to fly, and play the game correctly. It was a part of her drive to attempt to fit in correctly when she first came to Hogwarts after living her life as a muggle-born. Thus, she had trained herself hard enough to learn how to play the game, and to be able to actually know what she was doing. As a muggle, she did sometimes practice sports with her friends, which helped her a bit. But, she wanted to know what she was actually doing in Qudditch. Thus, she had to learn the entire game.

Meg liked Qudditch, and she had the determination to win. Make that, she was just downright competitive. Sure, it was about to be the last match of the year, thus determining the winner. However, even she didn't go over the top in her determination, unlike their captain. Despite her love for Qudditch, Dagan seemed to love it even more, being incredibly fierce during practices. She was never a fan of the intensive practices, but she would comply, and keep her comments to herself.

Meg braced herself as she heard Dagan roar about bludger drills. As a chaser, she would be one of the first targets in the match, which she knew all to well. But, that would be with two bludgers, not six. She shook her head as she heard Dagan yell about winning. She hoped never to get that way herself. Flying around a bit, she spotted several bludgers coming at her at the same time. Twisting herself around on her broom, she was successful in dodging them.

After dodging that round of bludgers, Meg was nostalgic, as she thought about her very first practice with Dagan as their captain. She had suffered a broken wrist on her first incredibly intensive training session. It was meant to teach the team lessons, and hopefully each one of them could learn from their mistakes. As she was coming back into consciousness from her thoughts, she had to quickly duck her head from a bludger that was practically in her face. 'Close call,' she thought to herself.

Regaining her composure from almost being hit by one of the bludgers, Meg noticed that Dagan recalled the bludgers, and brought the team over to him. She flew down to where the rest of the team was about to gather. She heard every one of his words, and nodded to his encouragement. Believing was the first step to success.

To be honest, Saffron was afraid of Dagan Maddox. It wasn't the drills he made them do or the unrelenting practice or that one time when he'd made them practice for five hours in cold, showering rain until a teacher ran out and said they really had to come in. It was the ferocity of his affair with Quidditch. And she was the Seeker in a game where you could be top of your game and it wouldn't matter if the other team's Seeker got the snitch first. Saffron felt especially pressured. She would have felt especially pressured even if she didn't have Dagan breathing down her neck.

But this was what Saffron felt good at, what she loved. Competition in the air where it didn't matter if you were tall or short, skinny or fat, if you couldn't brew a potion to save your life or you were a master - all were equal in the air. Well, sort of. None of that stuff mattered, but control, hand-eye coordination...that was the important stuff. And anyways, she liked her team. Even if Dagan scared her, Meg was one of her best friends and Beatrix was alright (Saffron admired her daring, even if she was somewhat afraid of her, too. Saffron was easily frightened by people. Was that so bad? Probably, but, oh well...), Delilah was nice but also related to Dagan which meant scary by default, Sasha was alright…he didn’t scare her too much. But boys were scary anyways – Saffron hadn’t a clue how to talk to them at all.

”BLUDGER DRILLS!” Well, the few peaceful moments she’d had flying in the sky were gone, replaced by the terror of Dagan’s voice and um, bludgers! Saffron twisted and flew away from them. Bludgers were her least favorite part of Quidditch. Not that big, hard objects attacking you was anyone’s favorite (or at least Saffron hoped not) thing. Saffron would be happy if Bludgers just went away. But she supposed it wouldn’t be the bloodthirsty sport it was without Bludgers, would it? Hm, it’d be nice if Quidditch was like muggle figure-skating. She could see herself dancing on her broom on thin air in a leotard. It sounded like fun! Saffron opened her eyes with a start and jolted to the left sharply, her shoulder narrowly avoiding a Bludger. A little squeal burst up in her throat and she flushed. Hopefully nobody had heard it. Fifteen minutes passed and Saffron was panting, adrenaline racing in her veins, and feeling like she could run fifteen miles without pausing or breaking a sweat.

Finally Dagan recalled the Bludgers and the team swooped down and landed. Looking around, Saffron felt small and unimportant but she bit her lip. Quidditch was fun. That was what she was going to focus on. Not the fact that Dagan was scary and if he started screaming at her, she just might cry. Because he was scary. And she wasn’t a first year, so she couldn’t do that. Even if she really hated shouting and Dagan was…scary.

Bludger drills! Dagan had to be kidding! Delilah knew what bludger drills entailed when Dagan did them and that was not what she was at all up for today. She had been in a fabulous mood thanks to Atticus and just like that Dagan could snap it away with his captain duties. Being bossed around by your twin was no Delilah’s idea of having run or enjoying quidditch. Dagan as captain had been bothersome all year and to think there was still next year to go. Her bones ached thinking about it, or was it because she was dodging bludgers?

"We will win this cup! For if I win I can't be stopped! If I lose I shall be dead!"

“Don’t tempt me to let in enough goals to lose Dag.” Delilah yelled in a huff as she dodged a bludger before continuing in the way she had moved away from the flying bludgers that one could call torture or a pelting range rather than a drill. Delilah was not going to just stand around while her brother got the joy of sending bludgers her way by naming it a drill. She was so sure that it was all just a ploy to have a reason to hit bludgers at her.

As she sat her butt on the ground she watched as the rest of the team continued to dance around the bludgers like their lifes depended on it, rather than their limbs. She had to admit they were an agile bunch and made up quite a strong team, she had to hand it to her brother for selecting well. Still this exercise was a tad extreme, but now she was sitting down it was much more pleasant.

"We're doing well. But, we must continue with this pace. Pressure makes diamonds. Remember that. This is not punishment, it's all part of a greater reward."

“I don’t need to hear something like dad sermon!” She yelled from her comfortable spot of ground. Of course now that mean that Dagan was aware that she had ducked out of the drill and she knew she would pay for it. “What greater reward do you speak of? Ice cream?” Delilah wouldn’t mind some ice cream come to think of it but she would much rather her be let of practice early to see Atticus or Waker. The likelihood of that happening were slim to none, especially for her pulling a stunt as s he had.

The drills went well, but it was time to move on. Dagan kept his practices fast paced, and he doubted any of his rhetoric inspired any of his six players. Each of his players had a unique personality which he needed to pay attention too, should there be rebellion. Dark generally just went along with things, but it wasn't hard to tell that she didn't like his leadership style. Schlagenweit, now that boy was a worker. On and off the field. Dagan found himself being able to depend on him. Ruiz handled things as well as any good quidditch player, and Dagan was thankful for that. Padmore was an odd girl, and Dagan sensed that she was afraid of him. While he was a monster on the field, and liked to beat trees up by the forest the public didn't think of him as a menace. That girl had issues.

Maddox, in other terms his sister was usually a good player and teammate but this time she was putting up trouble. Dagan had trouble handling situations like this, as few ever rebelled against him. The brother sister relationship was tough, but she was too good a Keeper to let go. "Damnit -- DELILAH! Get up! Get with the team!" He said, following up almost instantly as he filled with rage "No -- KEEPER DRILLS!" He bellowed, zipping down to the ground to release two bludgers, and three quaffles. The goal of this drill was to make the Keeper's life hell. Things coming at her from all sides.

Dagan loved his sister but when she acted like this, he needed to crack down to show there was no favoritism. "Dark!" He called the other beater as he flew up next to her as the drill began. "Don't uh... kill er okay? She's insolent but we need her for the champs." He said as he veered off, hitting a beater in Del's general direction.

Watching Dagan yell at Delilah was utter joy to little Beatrix, but she didn't say anything. She was always jealous of the Maddox girl for being keeper, and not Bea. Though, she didn't really care much anymore since she was a Beater... But Delilah got what she deserved in Bea's eyes and she was more than welcome to watch her get yelled at by her own brother. Then, as Dagan yelled 'Keeper Drills' a malicious smile spread across the pink-haired-girl's lips. As if Dagan had read Bea's mind, he came swooping towards her.

"Don't uh... kill er okay? She's insolent but we need her for the champs."

Her smile faded and she nodded. HOW UNDELIGHTFULLY DROLL! She wanted to beat every fiber of Delilah's being into the ground. Well, not really... Beatrix wasn't THAT crude. "Whatever you say, Maddox." Beatrix grumbled before readying her club. If it were up to her, she'd let everyone have a club or two to swing at Dagan. A bludger flew towards her and she... Well... Hit it towards Dagan. All her anger was suppose to being thrown at Delilah, but she wasn't even up and flying yet. And her dumb little taunts were, well... Dumb.

"Woops." Beatrix said half-heartedly before glaring down at their keeper. What a useless fool... A baboon. A smuck. Beatrix of course noticed everyone else sucking up to Dagan and didn't understand... Well, she understood why Sasha would. He was a PREP. After the other bludger whisked towards Bea, she knocked it over towards Dagan's not-so-lovely sister. And why was Saffron so afraid of Beatrix? She thought as she grinded her teeth and clutch her beater's club. She was a LOVELY person.

Sasha brushed the hair back from his forehead as his Cleansweep Aero hovered just above the ground.  He watched quietly as the other teammates exchanged comments of frustration and eagerness (the various emotions coming from different sources - the former being the more prevalent one).  He looked at Megan and gave his fellow chaser an encouraging grin before turning his attention back to Dagan.

He was glad that Dagan's outburst was directed at someone else; it was on par with many of his more exuberant ones.  Though, Sasha avoided giving the beater any reason to put him on the receiving end. 

When the balls were released, Sasha sped forward and grabbed one of the quaffles as it started falling back to the ground.  He made a wide circle around the ptich, letting his fellow chasers take the forefront on the goal hoops.  He leaned over the broom, the quaffle held easily in the fingers of his large hands.  He flew straight at the highest hoop, pushing the broom to its top speeds and, just before reaching the goal, aimed carefully and hurled the ball at the lowest loop.  Without hesitation, he weaved around the poles in hopes of catching the ball before it began to fall.

Meg took a glance over to where Delilah was sitting. It made her wonder what type of relationship her and Dagan had together. After all, the arguments that the two shared seemed to indicate hostility, but she had no idea. Furthermore, that was never a question that she would ever ask anyway, considering how stupid that would probably sound. It was times like that, that she wondered how she would act towards a sibling, if she even had one. But, she was thankful that she didn't have one, for the fact that she wouldn't be arguing with them. Yes, that was the most important thing.

Turning her attention to Sasha, Meg grinned back at him. The two of them, the chasers for their team, managed to escape that brutal drill relatively alright. They both needed to be in good condition for the Qudditch match. She looked back over at Dagan as he now announced that they were doing keeper drills. She silently hoped that Dagan wasn't going to pull Chaser drills afterwards. After all, those drills would focus around her and Sasha, just like the keeper drills was going to focus around Delilah.

Meg looked over at Beatrix after Dagan announced the new drills. She was considering if she should say anything to her, since she knew that Beatrix wanted to be a keeper more than anything. But, she decided against it when Dagan seemed to warn Beatrix against it. Besides, she needed to worry about what she had to do, namely attempt to score through the hoops. She flew over to where the Quaffles were released and grabbed one of them. After she got a hold of the quaffle, she flew over to where the hoops were, and started to zigzag near the hoops. After a few seconds of zigzagging, she threw the quaffle at the left-most hoop.

Saffron watched with amusement as they began the Keeper drills. At first confined to the ground, it wasn't long before she decided to get back up on her broom and drift upward to the top. She loved this. Flying, it was like floating. And even if this was practice, there really wasn't much for her to do. The beaters were attacking the chasers, sure, and the chasers were passing and Delilah was supposed to be guarding and...

Supposed to be. Only she wasn't. Saffron scowled, glaring at the older Ravenclaw. What was her problem? Yeah, so her twin was the captain and maybe that wasn't the easiest. But so what? They all had to work hard, as a team, if they wanted to win the Quidditch cup this year. And Saffron knew she did, if not Delilah. And probably 3/4 of the school wanted them to win as well. Gryffindor and Hufflepuff almost always sided with Ravenclaw versus Slytherin.