Xavier let out a low whistle as Fauna whacked Callum one good. Though having gotten into countless fist fights with his captain over the years he knew that Callum wouldn't shy away from something as simple as a broken nose and turned his attention to the rest of the pitch. Most of the players had stopped, hovering at different altitudes as they waited for Hooch to tell them they could continue playing. The magical game balls had paused as well.

His cool grey blue eyes moved towards the Slyhterin hoops and fell upon the petite hufflepuff hanging upside down. Her tiny body was flush with her broom all safe for a long raven braid that hung like a rope beneath her. With the game on hold until Callum was either replaced or fixed up Xavier casually flew towards the other end of the pitch. His own team mates were distracted by the time out which he gladly took to his advantage. He placed a hand on Ayla's shoulder and gave a quick heave swinging the girl back into an upright position.

Before she got a chance to thank him or question why he was being nice to her again he flew off wanting to be closer to the paused bludgers for when the game started again.

The whistle blew!

Xavier had positioned himself closer to the bludger that the little hufflepuff had shot in the direction of Erin, FIgaro and Razzy. With the game back in play Xavier whacked the ball again causing it to pick up speed and redirecting it only slightly so that it was on a more direct route to Razzy than his seeker.

((OOC: I feel bad for writing this, especially since the game had just unpaused, but I need to pull Razzy out of this game because it's going too fast for me and I'm always at school. So. Sorry. If there's a problem, tell me.))

---

Erin gave him that bad attitude of his and Razzy couldn't help but smile a little too wide. Razzy was interested in winning, of course, but Erin should have known by then that if he was within five hundred feet of Erin and knew it, he would come after him. Beatrix once read a book to Razzy about how a type of Badger was known for eating whatever the hell it wanted. Including snakes. Even if that meant poisoning themselves, they'd eat that snake with no problem. Which was why Hufflepuffs were so much better than Slytherins. Which was why Razzy had to continue asking himself how his house managed to not be morbidly obese.

"So what's the matter, Reynaud? You have so little care for the Quaffle that you've got the time to come over and see me instead?"

Reynaud? That's rich. As if he wasn't formally acquainted with the chaser. Razzy paid no mind to Callum's gushing nose. The game paused and Razzy's face returned blank, eyes gently casting themselves around the pitch before landing back on his partner. "I find you much more interesting than a ball. Apologizes, Harper," he said the latter sarcastically. Like he really cared if he were distracting Erin. Distracting the seeker, out of all people, was fun.

Of course. His own seeker, Sellaphix, had to come flying over. Razzy's lips curved into a slight frown but he said nothing. He turned to go back into play, to leave the seekers to themselves. He knew if he didn't get his butt in soon, Slytherin would be way ahead of them. And that was a big "no-no." Razzy was rather confident in his abilities, and he believed himself to be better than the other team. Kitty Li had the guts, but she was much too stupid. The others were hardly worth mentioning.

But, as Razzy turned to head back, a familiar whistle began to scream toward him. Perhaps it was karma for thinking so highly of himself. Pride was a sin, after all. And Razzy was bursting with pride. His eyes went wide.

Before he could do anything, the bludger smacked right into Razzy, dead on. It got him on his left side, pressing his arm into his body and throwing his body off of his own broom. Lucky, he was close enough to the stands to simply be thrown into them, into the crowd. It was a hell of a hit. Razzy didn't get to catch a glimpse of who got him, but he wanted to congratulate them after the game. Even if Hufflepuff lost. That was one hell of a hit. He had landed on his stomach, using his left arm to shield that pretty face of his.

He heard a distinct crack as soon as he smacked into the wood. He thought it was just the bench beneath him. But then the pain began to erupt...

Like a proper Quidditch player, he pushed himself up. He wish he hadn't done so, but he did. It was agonizing. He even let out a groan, which was a sound he had never heard himself make. This was what he got for being a spoiled rich kid whose nannies never left his side as a child. It was his forearm... He was fairly sure it wasn't supposed to bend like that... He decided to sit back down.

Razzy gave him the usual sort of comment he'd come to expect; normally, Erin would have grinned. But he was more focused on the field, more competitive, so he only shook his head (not unkindly) and let Razzy turn to head off.

He caught the whine of the bludger seconds later, and just like the first time without looking he violently changed course, this time dropping ten feet in an attempt to miss it. There was the dull thud of impact, but... it wasn't him. He spared the time for the uncharitable thought that maybe it'd gotten Sellaphix, but when Erin whipped his head around it was just in time to see Razzy hurled into the stands.

"Shit," he blurted, and took after him. He darted to the scene of impact, halfway there remembering to do an uneasy little mid-air turn to see if Hooch had seen - if the game was gonna be paused again - if anyone was coming to help, and spotted Heliotrope dangling half-in and half-out of the front row directly in front of him.

For a moment Erin's brow creased in consternation. He hadn't been paying a lick of attention to the first year who had only minutes before been messing with his Snitch since he'd zoomed away; even when he'd snarled in her face he wasn't really noting features, only warning her off. He'd had no idea she'd fallen out of the stands, had no idea how close she'd been to slipping until Professor Trishna's covert spell had nudged her back up, no idea that this was even the same firstie. Either way, he wouldn't really have cared. But since she was here and there'd been too many pauses in the game already (and it'd take forever for them to clear a body from the Pitch) he leaned over the side of his broomstick, grabbed the back of her shirt with one gloved hand, and, scowling, dropped her none-too-gently back into safer territory... well away from the railings.

"Stay bloody put, would you?" he said with distracted irritation, and then dropped hurriedly off his broom onto the benches with a clomp of heavily booted feet, not minding the students between him and Razzy any more than the first time he'd blazed through these stands. He stood over his boyfriend, broom clutched in one hand, watching uncertainly and unwilling to touch. If only he could pick up Razzy so easily, maybe get him on a broomstick and carry him down to Nadge.... But Razzy, bless him, weighed considerably more than a scrawny little first-year and had what looked like a broken arm. Erin, who'd an arm broken thrice in his life, found himself chewing his lip and wondering rather anxiously if Razzy ever had.

"Razzy?" he said, and crouched. Somewhere in the back of his mind, the place that was still focused on the call and the chase of the Snitch thought grimly that the game damn well better be paused for this.

"WHOA!" 

Figaro jerked wildly away from Erin, who'd been none to hospitable, as the bludger collided with the trio.  But it was Razzy, Figaro's teammate who'd taken the hit from Tawse.  Figaro drifted away from the fray as Razzy careened into the spectators. 

What. Was. Happening.  Figaro could only shake his head in delighted amazement at how truly badass quidditch was. 

Hooch probably should have stayed in retirement.  It wasn't until this match that

She could feel the eyes and ears of the spectators upon her, looking for judgement.  She held her hands open and shrugged, trying not to look defeated.  The match was falling apart, but that was Quidditch! 

"Play on!" she shouted at the players, at Dax Fayette, and at the onlookers. 

"Fair hit!  Substitution for Hufflepuff!" she declared.

Hooch zipped around the pitch to check in on Chancelier - ooh, that didn't look good... "Stay put, young man! Wait for the Healer!"

Quidditch was bloody fantastic!  Mairead had suspected as much since the beginning of the year but with every chaotic and adrenaline-pumping, unpredictable twist and turn, her suspicions became more confirmed.  She hadn't had this much fun at this school since Eirene had splashed in the lake! 

The other Hufflepuff beater was out - Mairead didn't know for how long.  The Slytherin beater was, likewise, out for a short length of time.  While Mairead had been aiming to take out the Slytherin seeker the traditional way (the bludger collides with them and sends them hurling to the ground), she seemed to have achieved that very goal in a rather circumvent manner.  At least for as long as it took for their seeker to stop fawning over the hufflepuff. 

Madam Hooch had instructed them to play on and Mairead glowered at the Huffle's seeker.  "What are ye doin'?" She barked at him, gesturing towards him as he drifted away from his spot.  "The snitch's all yers!  Get after it!"  She turned her broom and hurried off towards the other two Hufflepuff chasers, determined to cover them at least until their other beater returned. 

Mysti was about ready to crawl into a hole and stay there.  They were now down in score, and down a beater. She couldn’t blame Fauna for her flying skills. She should just be glad she had Fauna join the team for her.  Ayla was all right, and back up on her broom the way she should be. This must be the most ridiculous game in the history of Hufflepuff quidditch.  Everyone was supposed to want to play quidditch. So how was it she was barely able to fill the team? So when Razzy got taken out, she had no choice but continue like they had been.  She made sure he was ok, and knew the healer would take care of him. But Mysti knew she had to keep going for her team.

“I’ve got no subs, unless someone wants to come out of the stands.” She called to Hooch.

“Sellaphix! Keep looking for the snitch. Focus on that.” Mysti yelled out to Fig, hoping he could catch the snitch and save them soon. “Everyone else, keep your head in the game. We can’t count ourselves out. Let’s show them true Hufflepuff spirit!”

Quickly, she made her way towards Dion, and got the quaffle back. With the game still going, she couldn’t allow for distractions.  Mysti decided to take advantage of the other team’s lack of attention as Razzy was down and sped as fast as she could towards the Slytherin hoops. When she was close enough, she threw the quaffle towards the left hoop.

Ball thrown back to Mysti and not slammed full-force into Li's teeth (somehow), Dion's own teeth were gritted so hard he was in real danger of chipping them.

Razzy was down. Blake was out for another minute. What could they do? As he'd told Fauna - Callum's chivalrous outcry or not - Strelnikov and Li needed to be eliminated, somehow. The other chasers were following them like a helpful trail, but it was really those two that were their biggest problem.

At least Razzy's crash had distracted Harper for a bit - a mixed blessing, perhaps. And of course they didn't even get a break in the game to get a substitute in. Wonderful ruling. Dion rubbed the bridge of his nose as Mysti took off to the other side of the pitch.

He looked over at Figaro. Could they have gotten a worse Seeker? Probably. But Sellaphix wasn't that far from the bottom of the list.

Not for the first time this game, Dion wished he wasn't tied to the Hoops. Leading might have been Mysti's job, but in the heat and blood and anger of the moment his urge to bellow orders was rising quickly.

---

In a way, aside from the considerable personal investment and fits of rage on behalf of his friends and housemates, this game was awesome. It made Dax really, truly wish he could play without wigging out and fainting or something equally horrible.

"Off they go!" He was doing his best to start the commentary flow again, watching as everyone got back up to speed, and then -

"Raz- Chancelier is down! Into the stands!" He, like a few of the nearby staff, stood up to get a better look at the fallen boy far below. "He's in the crowd! He's - looks like he's moving! Harper's being actually nice for once. Good on yer, Harper! You're free to go make out with your boyfriend in the Hospital Hut all you want! Promise not to tell!"

Yet again a teacher told him to quit it. And, yet again, he ignored them.

"No timeout for that injury! Looks like Hufflepuff is down a Chaser and a Beater, now! Fun times had by all indeed, ladies and gents! Maybe if we're lucky someone one will live through this match!"

Erin was not the brightest arithmetician in the group, but she figured that Slytherin should be winning just by numbers at this point.  Somehow though, Kitteridge had managed to sprint by everyone.  She then remembered that technically, they had been playing without Spleen for a while and that the odds were actually closer to even now.  If Erin had been more snide, she would have made a couple of snarky comments on the badgers skill.  As it was though, she was rather distracted with everything that was going on.  Still, she would have liked Spleen to show up.  Erin could have used him.  She was getting sick and tired of guarding shots by herself, but Strelikinov and Li were doing a good job of harassing Fayette.  As the quaffle came towards her right hoop, Erin managed to guess successfully and get a hand on the quaffle , but she was unsuccessful in clearing or making a clean save.  Kitteridge's shot had too much power, and the quaffle went on a lazy parabolic arc in front of her other goal. 

After being narrowly saved from the bludger, Demitria shot off in pursuit of Kitteridge. There was no time out, which meant no time to loose. Using her speed, the tiny Slytherin caught up quickly to the Hufflepuff captain. The other girl had already thrown the ball, but that wasn’t what had caught her attention. Dark could deflect the quaffle but with the speed it was thrown at, there was no way she could catch it. So Mimi dove under the other two and went around behind Dark. She snatched the deflected quaffle and sped down the field.

No time to loose. The red ball clutched to her, she kept one eye out for that tiny beater and her bludgers. She sped up the eastern edge of the feild, hoping that the Hufflepuff chasers were sufficiently distracted with Razzy going down.   

As Mairead drew closer to the Hufflepuff's chaser and captain, she heard the girl's peptalk.  She got the keep your head in the game bit - that much seemed obvious.  But, she didn't have the faintest idea what 'true Hufflepuff spirit' was.  She knew what the Gryffindors said about Hufflepuffs but wasn't entirely sure how that was going to help them win a game.  So, she was going to have to improvise.  Especially as she was, currently, the only beater on the Hufflepuff team. 

She fell in beside the chaser as the girl made a sprint for the Hufflepuff goal, keeping both an eye and ear out for the bludger.  Mystique made an effort for the goal and the quaffle was recovered by a Slytherin.  The Slytherin made a beeline for the Hufflepuff's end of the pitch and Mairead resumed her flanking of the Hufflepuff chaser as they made their way back up the field. 

Mairead broke position just long enough to fly out to intercept a bludger and whacked it in the Slytherin chaser's direction, hoping to give Mystique a chance to intercept the quaffle.  She twisted on her broom towards the Hufflepuff chaser and shouted towards him: "Ye wanna trade?"  She had no idea if he'd be any better at beater or if that was even allowed, but Grace was a seeker and that was who Mairead had been practicing with.  It was worth offering.

Demitria knew the sound the moment that she heard it. Another Bludger being whacked in her direction. She took a deep breath and pushed her older broom forward, feeling the wood strain under the sheer speeds it was reaching. That beater was really small? Was she a third year? A second year?

She didn't have time to think about it. She crossed the field in a matter of seconds, whipping once around Dion and the Hufflepuff goals to slow herself for a resonable shot. Hopefully the air from her wake would throw him off slightly, also. If it wasn't too much to ask. They were only one goal ahead and that made Mimi nervous. So she took the quaffle and threw it at the right hoop. She was only a few feet away from it, as she had come from behind the ring in the air, but it was an awkward angle.

A whir came from behind her and she spun around and tensed her shoulders, getting ready for the bludger's impact. 

He wasn't sure how he managed it - maybe by sheer luck. And while later he'd claim it was skill, luck had everything to do with it.

With Strelnikov deciding to join Li in zooming as close to the hoops as possible before throwing the ball, Dion shot after her, teeth gritted. Just a little hex, it wouldn't hurt anyone, would it?

She threw the Quaffle, and the awkward angle saved him; he couldn't catch it, even laid out across the length of his broom, but the end of his broom did. The Quaffle shot on towards the hoop and struck the outside rim, bouncing away and tumbling towards the ground. Breathing a sigh of relief, Dion dove down and caught it, hugging the ball to his chest protectively.

He turned out to be glad he'd ducked down, as it helped him dodge the bludger that shot only a foot over his head.

Xavier had been hot on the trail of the bludger the little Beater had sent off after Demetria. If he didn't get there in time he wouldn't be able to keep the Bludger from actually hitting Demetria this time.

He had picked up enough speed to get there in time, but without much space to allow himself to redirect his broom. He swung his bat as hard as he could keeping the bludger from whacking his best friend and sending it zooming across the pitch towards the remaining Hufflepuff chasers. After all they were still playing a game despite how he might feel about one of his opponents.

With Demetria safe from the bludger Xavier now found himself on a collision course with the tiny Russian. At the last minute he kicked off his broom sending it careening down towards the gravel and threw his own body at the back of Demetria's broom. In a quick scuffle he was soon riding behind his best friend in an attempt to keep both of them from crashing, "Sorry bout this luv." He whispered in her ear glancing down at the pitch to watch his broom steady itself in time to avoid it's own crash. Now he just had to figure out how to get back on it.