Quote:
Originally Posted by
BanaBatGirl 
"Boys, Quidditch has been cancelled at Hogwarts this school year. We have had a very serious threat on the school and on the youth playing the sport, so I am saddened to report that we no longer require your services as House Captains. I have to respectfully request that you turn your badges in to your Heads of House upon your arrival to the school."
There was a pause, during which the Headmistress reached into her pocket and produced a shiny, golden Hufflepuff Prefect badge. "Mr. Yarborough, we did have an opening in leadership in your House," since his Prefect and Head Boy had graduated, "and Professor Hadley has requested that I give you this. If you will accept, of course. My sincerest apologies to you, Mr. Odessa, and you, Mr. Branxton, that we do not have positions for you as well."
Mo was still smiling pleasantly, stupidly really, at the Headmistress as he took his seat and turned his attention to whatever news it was she had to share. And he was still smiling as the blood seemed to drain from his face and then continue right on out of his body. No Quidditch. No team at all? No practice sessions where they were all so tired by the end the team ended up in a smelly sleepy pile in the common room afterward? No courtyard yoga sessions to get everyone in shape? No watching proud little second years polishing their equipment carefully the morning of the game? No games where they pulled out the win at the last minute and came together in ways Mo couldn't have even dreamed of prior to seeing it? No... captaincy?
'Cause if Mo wasn't the Ravenclaw captain, that made him nothing, right? A seventh year nobody.
Mo furrowed his brow and looked to West to make it right. West always knew what to say, and Mo waited for him to tell Truebridge why they needed Quidditch. But West just asked to keep his badge, and since Mo found that incredibly unhelpful (although maybe West didn't care, since he already had a Quidditch future), it fell to Mo to make it right.
Gryffinclaw. "You can't cancel Quidditch, Headmistress. I mean... if you give in to threats like that, then it means that anyone with a grudge and an owl can shut you down. What if they object to Potions next? It's unconscionable to negotiate with terrorists, 'cause all they learn is that they can keep bullying us. Plus... plus Quidditch isn't just a game, Professor." Nothing from his compatriots? Mo pushed on. "It's how we build house unity. Every other way we earn points and do things is just ONE person doing one thing at a time, but this is us pulling together for a common goal. How will we do that without Quidditch? How will you do that without a person in the house devoted to it? The prefects can't add more to their loads. They barely have time to prefect properly." And most didn't. Just saying.
Was he talking to himself here? Maybe. "And... and Headmistress... for some of us, this is our last chance to get scouted. If we don't play this year, then... then it's... we won't get to play professionally after Hogwarts. It's not just a game. It's our futures. It's everything." She could keep the badge, but she should give back Quidditch.