Tryouts, something Chloe always looked forward to. She knew what she wanted and had been training for. With her injury over summer, she was glad she was cleared to start training again before term started. She had worried and worried over not getting enough training in, but the minute she was cleared she was on her broom.

Now it was time and she was ready. She loved this position, she felt she was built for it being so tiny, and she would work her behind off for it. Looking around she was surprised not to see Ness, but it looked like she was one of the first to arrive. Maybe she could get past her star-struck celebrity nerves before they got started because once she saw MacKenzie she stopped for just a moment to stare.

She knew all the quidditch players, she read books upon books about the game, the players, the teams. So obviously she knew who he was and she needed to shake this before she got on a broom to prove herself in front of him.

"Good afternoon sir"

Did her voice sound squeakier? Did it seem like she was nervous about tryouts because she wasn't. It was him, it was all him. Shake it off McCarthy, shake it off!

It was great that tryouts were up now for Taddy. He had been looking forward to this with the summer months of training. Since he had grown during the summer he had to accommodate his flying style. He felt more confident now than ever stepping onto the field. "Hello, Sir MacKenzie." He was more than ready for today's session.


"Hey Chloe." Taddy smiled at her. He liked the friendly rivalry they had going on the pitch. No matter the result he would be content, so long as he got to stay on the team, of course.

Analiese had plenty of time after the chaser tryouts to eat lunch and have a quick shower. She walked onto the flying pitch for the second time that day, holding the exact same school broom. "Good afternoon, Mr Mackenzie." She gave a nod to the other students and waited patiently for the tryouts to start.

He couldn't help himself. Jackson had given thought to the idea of focusing solely on school for his final year at Hogwarts, but.......... he decided to try out. And wow wow wow here he was! He liked the structure change. Last year, he had no idea which position he would like best, so he appreciated the way he was able to go through the stations. THIS year though, he had been able to practice all of the positions over the last year, just to try them all out and whatnot because what else would he do at practice?? Jackson made his way back to the pitch and did a few more stretches. He had learned from experience that even if you knew you were all stretched and ready, if coach didn't see it, you're not stretched! Jackson gave a big smile to his fellow Claw, Chloe... And his fellow Claw Taddy... and a new Claw even! Well... this would be interesting then. A Ravenclaw Seeker for each team, eh? He looked up to the stands to see who he could see, but he couldn't really... Too many people and too far away. He had good vision and all, but... he had other things to focus on right now. "Good afternoon, Professor! Hello everyone!"

Where were all the other houses and why were so many there from her own house? This didn't intimidate her at all though, she enjoyed competition, and she knew some were trying out for many spots, but she also knew seeker was her only spot she cared about. She had been playing in the position since she started the game and her size helped her be quick to find a snitch. She did, however, wonder if they were all trying out because they didn't think she should be in the position. She even played with a few last term on the team.

Knowing they had lost a few games last term she couldn't help but wonder if the new captain was looking for someone new. This wasn't going to get into her mind though, she pushed negative thoughts out and only thought positive. She was the seeker, she was a great seeker, she could do this.


Giving a huge smile to her housemates, "Good Luck everyone, this should be so much fun!"

Quidditch tryouts. Cordelia had been dreaming of this day for almost a whole year since she made the team last year. Last year she had been a reserve player on the Gryffindor team, but this year she was hoping to make seeker. All summer she had been training for quidditch on the pitch at Stemp House. She was agile on a broom, and her slight frame and light weight gave her a good build for a seeker. Cordelia tightly gripped her broom as she approached the tryouts area, squinting a little as the sun shone in her face. As she found a spot to stand where everyone was gathered, Cordelia tested her blood sugar and then pulled out a juice box to sip on while she waited for tryouts to start. Hopefully everyone here could handle the sight of needles and blood. If not, they were getting that anyway. The last thing she wanted would be to pass out from a low while on a broom. Hmm, what were the dummies for? Seeker wasn’t generally a position that had much interaction with other players. In greeting to everyone else, Cordelia gave a simple nod as she sucked her juice through the straw. She bounced on the balls of her feet a little bit in excitement. Looked like Ravenclaw had quite the turnout for seeker tryouts, but so far there wasn’t much competition for the position on her own house team. Maybe she had a decent shot of making seeker.

Avalon made her way onto the pitch for the second time of the day. She was feeling significantly less nervous after chaser tryouts. Thankfully, the weather was still beautiful. Perhaps the bright sun could make it easier to find the snitch. If it was positioned at just the right angle, the snitch might reflect some light. As a first year, she knew she didn't have much of a shot at getting such a coveted position as seeker. But she would take any excuse to play some Quidditch and improve her skills, and she thought attending tryouts would be a good way to meet some more students. She usually played chaser when she played with her cousins, but she had dabbled with the seeker position and that her broomstick agility was pretty helpful for matching the erratic movements of the snitch. Avalon gripped her broom and approached the group of students, noticing quite a few familiar faces from chaser tryouts. "Hey again, Professor MacKenzie," she said to the flying instructor. She gave the other students a friendly nod.

It certainly had been a long day, and Colin was more than ready to bring the tryouts to a close and let his Captains mull over everything they saw before they had to submit rosters for their respective teams to him. But, of course, there were the Seekers that still needed to have their moment in the spotlight.

The man, watching them all approach, was a but surprised at the number of Ravenclaws that were showing up. Poor Freya was going to have a tough time narrowing her options down to one, wasn't she?

A smile was being worn when they all gathered around him and the Captains. "Good afternoon," he responded to McCarthy and Potter. Allanach-Senchuri, Thomas, and Sinclair also received the same greeting in addition to some head nods -- bless their souls for trying out for multiple positions. As for Winklebleck, she did received a polite head nod from the Flying instructor.

"Last but not least, our Seekers," Colin addressed them all the instant his watch showed that it was three o'clock. "I trust that ye all are ready to catch some Snitches, yes?" They did have all day to prepare themselves, so it was now or never.

"All of ye are going t' be trying out at the same time. A Golden Snitch has already been released, so it is, quite literally, a race to see who will catch the little bugger first. Once someone catches the Snitch, the catcher will need to release it so the process starts all over again. Yer goal is to get your hands on that Snitch as many times as possible within the hour. Sounds easy, right?"

"But, of course," he continued, "there are just a couple wee things ye need to know about. These dummies here will soon be flying out on the pitch as well. Now, they aren't going to be joining you on the race to catch the Snitch, but they will be providing you with some obstacles. Some will be aiming Bludgers yer way, others will be passing the Quaffle to each other and ye'll need to avoid getting in their way, and there will be some daring ones that'll randomly flying toward ye to throw ye off your path. This is all to test your speed, how sharp ye eye is, and whether or not ye are capable of makin' quick adjustments to avoid any obstacle that gets between ye and that Snitch on the fly."

Were there any questions? Colin sure hoped that the Seekers were all just as quick mentally as they were on a broom.

"If ye don't have any questions, hop on yer broom and start looking for that Snitch."

OOC: Hello, Seeker candidates! Welcome to your tryout session, and thank you for joining us! Colin and I are so pleased that you are here. For those of you who are interested in tryout out but have yet to post, feel free to join us at your earliest convenience. Don't forget to fill out the Quidditch Tryout form. This does need to be completed before tryouts end on May 18th in order to be considered for the House Quidditch team.

For the Seeker tryouts, your character will need to 1) race your fellow Seeker hopefuls to capture the Golden Snitch as many times as possible during the tryout and 2) avoid the dummies as they aim Bludgers, throw Quaffles, and attempt to get in your character's path. Throughout the tryout, you will be interacting with each other and The Narrator account. The Narrator will inform you if the Snitch is nearby, when a dummy is attempting to get in your character's way, and the outcome of your character's efforts. This is all very open-ended, so let's have some fun with this! ^___^

If there are any questions or concerns, please feel free to address them to Colin IC or myself OOC.

When the others arrived, Taddy smiled and waved with a 'hello' to them all. It was kind of funny to see his housemates join in on taking Seeker position. He knew this would make an interesting event. He gripped his broom a bit tighter in anticipation as the rules were explained. This would be the time for doubts to slowly creep in, but the tighter his grip, the more determined he became. He trained for this for ages, studied techniques and tried them out back home until he got it right. Now it was time to fly off.

Taddy steadied his broom, with a soft smile in content, he zoomed off. That snitch was going to be his. As many times as possible. His eyes gazed throughout the pitch as he searched in mid-flight.

She saw more Ravenclaws coming onto the pitch and seriously if they thought she was such a bad seeker she wished they would have said something to her, but maybe they were just trying to do something new, there were some first years. She tried to push any self-doubt that this was bringing away from her thoughts and gripped her broom tighter.

She wouldn't let any of this get to her and she was going to have fun. She was so happy to get to be at tryouts and glad her training was back on track. She had goals after all that she was determined to keep. Just a small pang of nerves hit her with the word bludger, but she had been hit by them and survived, she'd be fine, plus she was tiny and fast, they could do their best.

She loved a challenge and she was going to rock this. She was the seeker and she knew she was, so it was time to show everyone. Taking a deep breath she mounted her broom and got into the air.

Seeing Tad go flying off she bit down on her lip as she headed a different way. Her eyes open and her mind fully on the snitch, she was in her element up here and she would be finding that golden yellow ball with wings.

You know what? What the heck. Nettie decided to go for Seeker too. Might as well! Chaser tryouts had gone well, of course, but in her heart, she always favored the Seeker position over the others. She smiled at Chloe as she entered in to the group just as MacKenzie was getting underway with instructions.

The more she listened to the man talk, the more she started to understand the fascination every female in this school seemed to have with him. That Scottish accent WAS nice.

She listened to him explain what they would be doing as she played with the snitch necklace Eiji had given her for her birthday. Seemed pretty straightforward! Once he was done explaining things, she got on her broom and kicked off in to the sky, watching as everyone else took their positions. Time to get started!

Avalon's eyes snapped up immediately when MacKenzie said he had already released the snitch. She squinted toward the sky, trying to judge where the snitch may have flown off to. It was a little too hard to spot from the ground, though. Nodding as the instructor finished relaying the directions, Avalon gripped her broom and swung her leg over one side. She definitely should be more nervous for this tryout since she didn't have quite as much experience playing seeker, but for some reason, she was just as excited as she was before chaser tryouts began. The only thing bothering her was a slight ache in her left wrist from gripping her broomstick too tightly. She flexed her fingers to loosen her muscles up before kicking off into the air. Luckily, she had already adapted to the school's broom during chaser tryouts, so she was relatively accustomed to the feel of it. She was ready to get started.

Ready? Of course she was. She was born ready for this. Cordelia listened intently as the professor explained how the seeker tryouts would work. Oh, interesting. Dummies throwing bludgers at her was not something that Cordelia had been expecting. She wasn’t worried; it seemed like the Ravenclaws would probably be more competition against each other than to her. At the flying professor’s signal, Cordelia mounted her broom and kicked off. She ascended quickly and kept an eye out for anything small and golden. After reaching what she deemed a good height, she dove sharply down towards the ground as if she had seen something, then pulled up again before reaching the ground. Perhaps some of the other seeker candidates would follow her into the dive. Moving up again, Cordelia wove her way around some dummies that were near her. Now, where was that snitch?

There was nothing like the air in your face when you were up on a broom. Chloe was so happy to be flying that anything that was on her mind before was not there now. Taking a few laps to get warmed up she kept her green eyes open for any chance of a snitch. She watched the first years that had come out, proud of them for not being afraid to give it all they could. She had been like that and made it, so it was possible, but they would have to beat her out of the spot and she wasn't going to go down without a fight, seeker was the only spot she ever wanted and it was the only spot she knew really how to play. Yes, she had gone to camps and been forced to play in other spots at a young age, but for a few years now all she had done was seeker on her little league and U17 team.

Catching something out of the corner of her eye she stopped her broom to get a better look and realized it was the reflection of something in the stands, probably someone's watch, but that was okay she was on high alert for a snitch and she would be the one to get it when it come.

The instant the Seekers all were in the air, all of the dummies, twelve in total, started flying around the pitch. Four had bats in their hands, whereas the others had their own agenda. Four were fighting over a Quaffle and four were (seemingly) flying aimlessly around the pitch.

But where was that Snitch? So far, not in plain sight.

The four dummies that were fighting over the Quaffle were quick to head toward where Thadius had gone. Two passing the Quaffle back and forth zoomed by him, but the other that was trying to intercept was heading straight for him with no signs of stopping...

Seeing Chloe head in another direction, one of the batted dummies followed after her from a distance. Was it up to something? At the moment it seemed harmless...

Beside Trinetta a rogue dummy flew. This last for several moments, making it seem as if the dummy's sole purpose there was just to fly around. But then, out of no where, the dummy swerved in an attempt to knock the girl off her course...

Not long after Avalon was in the air, two dummies trailed behind her. At first they seemed to be flying at a much slower pace, but eventually they sped up, one on the girl's left and one on her right. They gradually began inching inward toward each other, as if they were going to make an Avalon sandwich...

The dummies that Cordelia had woven past were the ones that were still passing the Quaffle to each other. They didn't seem to pay any attention to her as they carried on. But, as she was looking for the Snitch, a dummy that was flying some distance away smacked its bat and sent a Bludger heading straight toward her...

The dummy carrying the bat stopped when Chloe stopped, but it raised its bat and struck an oncoming Bludger, aiming right at the girl. It flew away in the opposite direction as the Bludger soared closer and closer at a dangerous speed...

Avalon narrowed her eyes as the twelve dummies took off flying around the pitch. She had to keep a close eye on them - she had a feeling MacKenzie had enchanted them to act as both offenders and defenders. Scanning her eyes around the pitch for the glint of gold, she heard a bit of a scuffle behind her. She whipped her head around to find two dummies gaining on her. Avalon leaned her head forward and sped up, relishing the feeling of the wind in her hair. But the dummies seemed to gain speed as well, and before long, they were moving closer and closer to each other, and to her. Yikes! She had to think fast. Should she fake them out? They were getting pretty close to her -- maybe they'd fall for a trick. Avalon gulped in anticipation as she tilted the nose of her broom downward for a split second. As soon as she felt herself descending, she jerked her broom back up and zoomed in the direction of the sky, mentally crossing her fingers that she'd lost the dummies.

Nettie already felt like something was up as soon as the dummy started flying next to her. Whether it was a dummy or a real player, if they were tailing along next to her, SOMETHING was up. That was why when the dummy swerved and tried to knock her off course, her first instinct was to push down on her broom. She managed to get out of its way by ducking underneath it, flying under its path so it wasn't colliding in to her.

Her eyes immediately started scanning the pitch as the action started, looking for a glimmer of gold somewhere amongst the chaos. So far, nothing. Still, her eyes continued to move up and down, left to right, while also trying to put as much distance as she could between herself and the dummy who seemed out for her blood.

Taddy on one hand was glad it wasn't too bright out, since the glare of the sun would no doubt make sighting the snitch more difficult. It was afternoon though so it was no where near showing signs of darkening.

Come on... He glanced in every direction, noticing the dummies flying about with all the balls in the air. Things were getting interesting now. He noticed two with the Quaffle passing back and forth. He took a moment to check other directions to see the snitch before hearing the passing of the Quaffle get louder...

"Woah!" Taddy could see one of them not showing any signs of stopping or flying elsewhere. So Tad steered his broom upward to fly over the dummy. They weren't too close enough for him to make it difficult to avoid, but at the same time it was getting there. He sighed. He had a feeling this wouldn't be the first time he'll need to keep an extra watch out for others.

Helllllllooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Dummies!

It wasn't long after she was in the air that she saw them and some of them really seemed to be getting aggressive quick. Seeing one that she wasn't sure if it was following her or not she decided she would keep an eye on it, but not enough that it distracted her from her goal, the snitch. She would get the snitch and she would her spot.

After she realized what she thought might be a snitch wasn't she glanced over and saw the ones going after Tad, "Watch out TAD!" Even if he was after her spot he was still her friend and still her teammate, she couldn't have him hurt. What would his dad think if she just let him get it by these things.

Green eyes open she looked for the snitch, come on, come on, where was it? Her eyes fell on the first years a little worried about them, but if they were trying out they had to be ready for anything. Those bludgers were quite hard at times.

Something caught her eye, but it wasn't a good thing. Chloe's eyes grew wide ad she felt a chill as she saw the bludger coming at her. Flashbacks were a thing at the moment and she didn't have time for it. Shaking her head she pointed her broom down word and started falling fast and took a hard left before lifting her handle to shoot up away from the bludger.

Not today dummy, not today.

So far, so good. Cordelia was of course primarily focused on finding the snitch, but the actions of the dummies did not go unnoticed. At all times she was aware of her surroundings. It seemed that the dummies were replicating opposing teams in a quidditch match, some on her team who were just going about their business trying to get the quaffle, and some on the opposing team who were trying to get in her way or distract her. Occasionally, Cordelia glanced over her shoulder to make sure she didn’t miss anything behind her. There was one dummy in particular that seemed to be out to get her right now. Oh no, incoming bludger! As soon as she noticed the bludger coming up behind her, Cordelia immediately began evasive maneuvers. She zig zagged to try to get away from it and then twirled around on her broomstick. Hopefully that was enough to lose the bludger.

The two dummies on Avalon's tail only in closer and closer, both awaiting an opportune time to merge together. However, just as they were about to do collide, there was nothing to collide into besides themselves. For a moment their movements seemed to give off the vibe that they were perplexed. But soon their brooms jerked upward and they made their ascent. They weren't going to be shaken off so easily.

Ducking under the dummy seemed to have worked out in Trinetta's favour... for a little while. As she looks around for the Snitch, the dummy makes a sudden movement downward as something gold flutters nearby for a moment... it flies above the dummy for a split second before zipping off down the pitch... the dummy, unfazed, continues to move down...

Three dummies proved to not be problematic. The fourth, however, was testing Thadius. Fortunately, the boy moves just in the nick of time... only the three dummies from before had changed their course when another gained possession of the Quaffle. The fourth dummy collides with the dummy with the Quaffle, causing the red ball to leave its fingertips... the ball quickly falls... nearly hitting the back of Thadius' head... two dummies zoom forward with only one thing on their metallic minds...

The movement downward happens just in time, causing the Bludger to continue moving down the pitch. However, it soon loops back, courtesy of a batted dummy, this time with a vengeance. This one wouldn't be so easy to avoid. The batted dummy chasing after was going to make sure of that. It knew that Chloe, as well as the others, wanted the gold ball that was now flying near its head...

The smack of the Bludger caused the dummy that hit it to be rather satisfied with its work. It didn't follow, though the black ball wasn't easily shaken. For a while it followed, repeating the zigzagging movements. But the twirl Cordelia made was not something that it could predict. It soared right past, moving toward the other batted dummy that was trailing after Chloe... its bat still brandished,... the Snitch still fluttering by its head...

Cordelia could feel the rush of wind off the bludger as it zoomed by her while she was twirling. Phew, that was a close one. Cordelia was confident enough in her quidditch skills that she hadn’t been too worried that the bludger would hit her, but you always had to be careful. As the bludger continued on its way down the pitch, Cordelia kept an eye on it to make sure it wasn’t about to loop back around and come after her again. It seemed to be headed over to the other beater dummy. What Cordelia noticed over there by the dummy, however, was of much more interest to her than what the beater dummies were doing. As soon as she caught sight of the glinting gold ball, Cordelia pushed forward to full speed and raced to get there before anyone else could get the snitch. All the while she was still keeping an eye out for what that dummy was doing and where the bludger was. As she got closer to the dummy, Cordelia made agile movements around it. She stretched out her arm as far as she could with her hand open, and made a grab for the snitch.

She was very aware that the dummy wasn't leaving and as she straightened out she noticed the gold, but she knew it wasn't going to be easy because the bludger was after her again. This was exhausting and unlike normal matches, she didn't have beaters helping her. She wasn't fully sure if the point was to exhaust them to find their weakness, but she wasn't going to give up. She was the seeker and she was going to prove it.

Doing another quick turn left, then right, then upward she zoomed as fast as possible away from the bludger, but kept her eye on the thing near the dummies head. Chloe knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she also knew she had to put on her best moves and things she was taught in her lessons with Uncle Alec.

With determination, she took a turn left and head straight for the dummy to play a game of chicken. Her eyes set on the snitch she kept moving quickly towards him as fast as she could. At the last second, she pulled her broom up hoping that was enough time she needed to reach the snitch, not hit the dummy (or hit it with the back of her broom), and have the bludger plow into the dummy and not her.

When that second arrived she pulled up on her broom with one hand to start upwards over the dummy, she leaned sideways with her other hand outstretched and trying to grab the snitch, and hoped for the best that the bludger would hit the dummy and not her.

Avalon whipped her head around at the clatter as the dummies collided. Yes! Her move had worked! But as quickly as they had crashed, the dummies had recovered and were racing toward her again. Goodness, these things didn't give up! But at least she wasn't battling a bludger - yet. She tightened her grip on her broom and dipped downward, speeding toward the opposite end of the pitch. Her eyes narrowed as she caught a glint of gold. Two other girls seemed to notice it at the same time, and before long, all three of them were racing toward it - dummies still in tow. Avalon knew she was the underdog in this situation, being only a first year. But she was determined to show her classmates that she was at least capable. She just had to outfly those dummies and make that grab. The snitch was unpredictable, though. It had a mind of its own. As soon as the snitch was in grabbing distance, Avalon outstretched her arm, flexing her fingers in preparation.