Mo was ready when the Quaffle came his way, even if he wasn't ideally positioned for it the way that Theo was. He allowed West's fake, sliding into position even as he looked aloof and unprepared, hoping to send Salvatore spinning across the hoops to watch Theo. He was ready, though, and when the Quaffle sailed towards him, Mo dove at it from above, palming it hard and redirecting it through the nearest hoop.

SEE THAT? He wasn't doomed to assisting genius plays. Mo Branxton makes the goaaaaal. He whooped cheerfully as he retrieved the Quaffle, tossing it back out to West again. Time to let Theo do his thing.



Cooper wasn't in dire need of Chasers, although it never hurt to bring on new talent if it appeared. They were generally less expensive than established players, they brought in new fans and had marketing potential left to exploit. And almost no baggage at this point. He didn't need Beaters, though, so his attention didn't stray from the end of the Chaser tryouts as the Beaters took the field.

"Those are my nephews," Cooper noted to Rebecca, finally willing to claim the boys now that they were playing well. "Branxton and Odessa. Reasonably inexperienced, obviously, but imagine the publicity if I recruited family members to the family team." It was a fine line he was walking, wanting Maroon to know those boys were of his bloodline while still dissuading her from recruiting them herself.

To be honest, he couldn't decide which was worse: the suggestion that nepotism was a guiding principal in his recruitment strategy, or the embarrassment of playing (and maybe losing) against lesser known family members. The first, perhaps, since it would devalue his team rather than merely embarrass him.

Yesssssss. West was pretty well pleased with that play actually. He knew Mo could get it in line like that. They could sneak in one more maybe? West figured so. It had been a long tryout, with a ton of plays, some saved, some not. Salvatore was pretty good he supposed. Intuitive and whatnot. But he could be that too. He knew how to read situations....

West snagged the Quaffle, tucked it under his arm, and zoomed back up the pitch, dodging a few bludgers before looping it underhand, under his broom, toward Theo. All yours, bro. All yours.

Hey! Mo DID steal his shot. Theodore pouted and crossed his arms over his chest, but soon shook it off because he had to have his moment. Especially now that both of the other two had scored and he hadn't. He hovered behind the hoops, and just below the keeper as West caught the quaffle. He whizzed into a position to catch and as soon as he got hold of it, he continued moving without stopping.

The quaffle was hardly under his arm for long either. Theo pulled his broom sharply upwards and booted the quaffle straight for the middle goal with his fist. Had to be quick since it was much more difficult these days to fly around unnoticed given his size. Good old days, eh?

ANYWAY, IT WAS A GOAL.

Good job, too, otherwise he would be giving Mo the cold shoulder for the rest of the afternoon.

asdfghjkl;'\.... this was a thing now.

Tryouts.

SHE WAS AT TRYOUTS. YEP.

Derry had arrived early, just in case, her hair long again and pulled back into a ponytail and her hands clutching her broom so tight that her knuckles were going white. She knew she'd be good once she got up there, but right now she was a huge bag of nerves.

What was she supposed to do now..? She stood where she'd apparated and looked around for someone official looking she could ask...

WHY did she have to be so SHY when she was in these kind of situations? Why couldn't she be the more confident person she'd become around friends.

GAH. Nerves...

Beck tried his best to not let the quaffle through any of the hoops but the throw was a pretty fast throw and he didn't see it when it was coming towards the hoop until it was to late. Letting the quaffle in out of all the tries that it took them to even get it away from his line of sight didn't seem like a big deal and man that formation and amazing team work was just brilliant. Beck would have to be sure to tell the three boys that because they really needed to hear it from a pro. Beck clapped for them, maybe one of them would be on the Tornados but Beck didn't see any sign of anyone from the Tornados here except for himself.

Victoria watched as the beaters took off. Wow they were really good. She wished Bart could see them, he would have been excited. Since she knew he recently took up a beater liking. She didn’t like the position knowing it was so dangerous, but it was needed for the sport. Watching as the chasers finished she smiled at them. “Great job all of you. Make sure you go over towards the managers before leaving. Some might want to talk to you.” They weren’t to give out any offers just yet, but they were allowed to talk to them. “Beck thank you again for coming today.” She was thrilled he could make it to help them out.

Seeing a new face she just assumed it was the seeker. “Hello, are you the seeker?” What was her name again? She looked at her clipboard, ah yes. “I’m going to go ahead and let the snitch go, we are going to have you search for it around the beaters. Show off your skills a bit.” She smiled encouragingly towards the young lady before going over to the trunk an letting the snitch loose.

His nephews? Rebecca turned her head with wider eyes and then back to the clipboard. Oh this changed a few things. Having coopers nephews or even just one on the team. Her brain started to go in over drive thinking of the possibilities and how it could help her. Everything had to help her of course. “Your nephews. Hmmm it might look bad if you hire them then. Only giving them a spot on the team because they are family not for their talent.” People would talk, she certainly would. “They aren’t terrible though, so you could have potential for later years.” Lots for him to think about, but even more for her.

Seeing them coming down she got up, “Cooper you don’t mind if I slip away for a moment?” Of course she didn’t care, but she would play it up that his thoughts were important. She wanted a word with Beck before he left as well as those potential chasers. Keeping her eyes on the beaters. She had one of the best, but maybe a reserved one would be good.

That was amazing!

Beck smoothly landed to the ground and smiled brightly. He was very proud not only of himself but also of the kids up there that had gotten the opportunity to tryout here today. They were brilliant, by far the best he had seen from teenagers in a long time, maybe even since he was at Hogwarts. He had to remind himself to go to one of the matches at Hogwarts and root for his house. He knew that things would be different at Hogwarts, with new people in the staff positions and new faces in the stands but what the heck it was Quidditch. As soon as he gets home he would have to mark it down on a piece of paper.

The Frenchman had his broom in hand and walked over to Victoria because he had a feeling that he would have to speak with her. Beck knew that he wanted to do something like this again because it was so much fun. Why hadn't the Ministry done something like this and the Meet and Greets before? "It was an honor to be here. I had a lot of fun." He smiled at her.

As Beck walked away from Ms. Maroon he noticed a woman was following him. What was up with that? She looked like she was an important person on one of the Quidditch teams. Maybe he had seen her before but honestly who knows. As much as the Frenchman tried to talk to almost every important person in Quidditch he just failed because he was more interested in the match than any of the owners that might want to swipe him away from the Tornadoes.

The twenty-eight year old stopped in his tracks for the woman to catch up to him. He rested his broomstick on the ground and just stood there. He flashed her his movie star smile. "Bonjour, Madame." The Frenchie greeted her. No flirting just charming.

He had his breath back now, recovered and everything. That Salvatore put them through their paces a bit, but West felt pretty good about what he and and Mo and Theo had accomplished, both together and individually. The chasers might have been done but obviously West had reason to stay and watch the other tryouts given two of his own teammates from Slytherin were trying out. He had to support them and he had helped them both with training so he was invested. Friends. Supporting them. Yeah. So West found a spot to sit and kept his eyes on the sky.

So like... it'd be real nice if you could stop beating so fast, heart... Derry mentally lectured her body for being so jittery, it took her mind off the nerves, and then someone spoke to her. Derry nodded, "Yes, Derry Ferrier." she confirmed, then nodded again as she listened to the lady. Right, search around the beaters, she could do that. Yep. Right.

She mounted her broom and kicked off, flying straight upwards so she was juuust above the beaters. Right. She could think clearly here. Thank goodness for brooms. She scanned the pitch anything golden and shiny, but nothing immediately made itself known, so she flew down a little, and started weaving in and out of the beaters, dodging a bludger... She silently thanked her time as a beater for the awareness of the things, and then cleared her mind as she saw something gold twinkle by the ankle of one of the other flyers.

Without hesitation, Derry took off in its direction, her mind focused for once as she neared the little ball, then it flitted away behind another player and had disappeared when she managed to circle them. Right... WAIT! THERE! She flattened herself against her broom, determined not to miss it this time, and sped towards the snitch that was flying in the direction of the opposite goalposts...

Adelaide whacked a bludger nailing a target in the gut. She smiled, quite proud of herself at the moment. And was that a snitch? Oh. It was. That meant Derry must be here now. And yep. There was her ginger twin. GO DERRY!

She grinned as she watched Derry zoom off after the snitch. Addi went back on the look out for the bludgers and the other beater. He was off over following his own bludger but where was the other one...

Then Adelaide spotted it. It was heading right towards Derry's path. She zoned in on it, leaned down against her broom, and darted off towards it. Did not need an injured ginger twin. She went at it from an angle and positioned herself behind it. WHACK. She lobbed it towards the other goal posts, away from Derry.

It was beautiful out and given that the petite blonde had the day off, she was taking advantage by wandering around London. She'd met her family for breakfast in the morning but couldn't quite bring herself to apparate home after. Instead she continued exploring, that is until she found herself just beside the Quidditch pitch.

The sight of the hoops brought her back to her captaining days and she smiled to herself, feeling the familiar tug at her heartstrings. She missed it. Life without Quidditch was definitely different and it took some adjusting.

Deciding she needed a few minutes to soak it all in, the twenty year old took a seat on the outskirts of the pitch and relaxed.

This was nice.

Recently, Penelope had suddenly had this really strong feeling of missing Quidditch. She'd grown used to not playing, considering it had been a few years now, but for some reason, she missed it all over again.

Of course, usually that feeling hit her once she had already gone home for the night, so she never really felt like going out and playing then. But one day when she was wandering around London, that feeling hit her again, so even though she didn't have a broom, she headed for the recreational pitch that she'd found out about recently.

Merlin, it looked so nice. A little too peaceful though. Needed some people flying around, throwing quaffles, hitting bludgers, chasing a snitch.

Oh, but there was someone else here, actually. Someone Penelope knew even.

"Hey, Ella," she said with a smile, heading over to where the other girl sat. "Came here to play Quidditch too?"

"Penelope, hey." It'd been a while and Ella smiled at the younger girl, noting how much more grown up the brunette looked. Did Ella look that grown up now too? She'd always felt she had that whole looking like a twelve year old forever thing going on. "Actually just came by to hang out for a bit. I miss it, though." Playing.

"Have you been playing a lot outside of work? I've been thinking I might want to get onto a recreational team but I'm not sure I'm any good still." She had the fear that she'd get on a broom and forget everything she'd ever learned about the sport, embarrassing herself completely. Unlikely but still. The thought was there.

Plopping down on the ground to sit next to Ella, Penelope nodded. "Me too. It still feels weird not playing it like we used to." And it was also sometimes weird that it did still feel weird.

She shook her head to answer the 'have you been playing' question, though perked up just a little at the mention of joining a recreational team. She'd never thought of that. "I bet you're still loads good at it, actually. Maybe even better than some people on a recreational team." Ella had been a captain and had played for her whole time at Hogwarts, after all. At least Penelope assumed that second part. So she was probably still good at it.

It was funny to hear Penelope so confident about Ella's skills considering the blonde had always felt she paled in comparison to the others playing at Hogwarts. She appreciated her words, though. It made her smile at the former Gryffindor. "Maybe. You think there are lots of those around?" Recreational leagues, she meant. "If so, you should join too. We'd be really competitive with you on the team." Just saying.

Quidditch aside, the twenty year old was curious about what Penelope had been up to. She'd always liked the younger girl but she hadn't seen much her since graduating which was sad. "How are things with you? Besides the whole missing Quidditch thing."

Were there a lot of recreational Quidditch leagues? Hmm... "Dunno. Might be? Maybe not as many as there are in pro Quidditch though." Which made sense, there probably weren't tons and tons of people that were up for playing Quidditch just for fun outside of school. "Yeah, I might join. M'probably really rusty by now though." Merlin, she didn't even want to think how bad her Seeking ability had gotten over the past few years. She was probably awful now.

As for things outside of Quidditch, she shrugged. "Pretty okay, I guess." Better than things used to be at least, so that was something. "I joined the YATI program at the Ministry." And she was still pretty proud of that even after a few months there. "What about you? How're things?"

"You're probably right." She'd always thought about jumping into a pick up game at uni but lack of practice and studying always seemed to get in her way. It was hard being an adult. Ella wished there was more time in the day, that was for sure. "We could be rusty together. We're getting old!" The blonde cracked a smile, only half serious about that. They weren't that old.

She guessed. Ella knew what that meant but she wouldn't pry. She always wanted to hear people were doing excellent, especially people she thought deserved to be really happy, but she knew life could be crazy and so she understood. "YATI, really?" That definitely caught Ella's attention. "Penelope, that's brilliant! Is the training intense?" She could only imagine but it was the kind of area she could picture the former Gryffindor excelling in. "Things with me are busy but good. I've moved in with Alec and I'm going to uni in Edinburgh."

A genuine laugh escaped her lips at the getting old comment. And it felt kinda nice since she felt like she didn't laugh very much very often. "Yeah, we're gonna have to buy ourselves a cane soon," she said with a smile. "And something to help us stay on our brooms." 'Cause they were so very old obviously.

Penelope smiled a little more. "Yeah, s'pretty intense. Keeps me busy. But I like it." Kept her mind off of things most of the time while she was working, which was nice. She was glad though that Ella was doing good. Though she always felt a bit...weird or something when people mentioned their romantic relationships, even if only briefly or indirectly, and she always got annoyed with herself when that happened. At least there was still something else she could ask about. "How're you liking uni? Got to work with any dragons yet?" Because that would be awesome.

Ella grinned when Penelope laughed, happy that the younger girl found what she'd said amusing. She hadn't really considered that she already knew what it felt like to be old thanks to Hogwarts and it was nice to joke around now that she had her youth back. Thank Merlin. "Orthopedic shoes, too. Meant to be good for our feet." The twenty year old glanced down at her own shoes and smiled sheepishly. She'd stop now before the joke got old, promise. ...OLD though. Ehehehe.

"I'm glad! And that means once you complete the program, you'll have a proper Auror position at the ministry, yeah?" Which was really exciting and something to be proud of, obviously. Any weirdness about the mention of relationship thing was missed by the blonde and so she simply continued on the conversation without a second though and happily so. It was nice to catch up with the brunette, especially since it'd been a while. "I love uni! I mean, it's stressful and I complain about the work sometimes but it's worth it." Truly. "I actually did this program at Gringotts and we worked with their dragons." Ella grinned, tucking a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "Williamson was there too." Casual blushing was happening, no biggy.

Penelope wasn't even thinking about that being old thing from that one term, and it was probably good that she wasn't. It was a lot easier to joke about this without remembering all that. "Yeah, those too. And some prune juice." Which she hadn't ever tried, though maybe it tasted good whether you were old or not. Why was that a stereotype anyway? She wondered about that.

"Hopefully, yeah. If I'm good enough to pass all the subjects and stuff, at least." She often worried about that, because what in the world would she do if she didn't get accepted afterwards? She didn't really have a plan B. "Ooo, that sounds cool. What were their dragons like?" Probably really cool and dangerous. Williamson? "He was? That's cool. Did he recognize you from Hogwarts?"

Mariel really wanted to bring Regina out today to watch the Seeker tryouts, but even she had to admit that she was too young to get anything out of it. She did want to expose her daughter to the sport, even if she decided one day to not play. She wanted her to at least have an appreciation for it. But there would be plenty of time for that and she had plenty opportunity to take her to a real game.

So she left the baby with Jorge for the day and walked through the pitch with her folder tucked under her arm. The Department Head knew she didn't have to be here and that Victoria could handle the proceedings just fine, but she still liked having the contact with Quidditch that she maintained and she was happy to oversee things from a distance. Taking a seat in the stands, she noted that she was still rather early and so opened up the folder to view some information on the hopefuls as she waited for things to begin.

Kieran was rather annoyed that there was still no Quidditch at the biggest magical school in Britain, which made it difficult for him to find the best new talent for his team. Of course he knew that it was the fault of the Magical Games and Sports Department and he was somewhat thankful that they held tryouts specifically for the League, but it really wasn't the same as seeing how they'd play in an actual game. His internal annoyance didn't affect his laid back demeanor or charming smile, however.

He needed a new reserve Seeker and so the manager of the Kenmare Kestrals made it a point to come to the open tryouts today. And even if he didn't find someone worthy of his team, it was always still interesting to know the abilities of their opponents. Grey eyes lifted to the stadium seating as he crossed the pitch, noticing one lone figure there. Was he that early or would it be a slim showing today?

Offering the Department Head one of his signature grins as he saw it was her when he grew nearer, he took a seat next to her. "Hello, Mariel. Always nice to see you." Now, who were they expecting to see? He pulled out his own folder of paperwork, noticing the woman had hers open as well, his eyes skimming over the contents.

Things were more and more hectic, with a month before the election and quidditch season fast approaching Victoria was starting to know which end was up, but she would never show that on the outside. No she was as calm and cool as she always looked walking into the quidditch pitch. Her clip boards already in order, it was a shame there wasn't any beaters, keepers, or chasers, but she was excited to see the seekers. The position always impressed her.

Walking onto the pitch first, she checked around to make sure everything was in order. Happy at what she saw, the blonde headed up in the stands to check the seating for the managers. "Hello Mariel." She smiled as she made her way closer to her boss. "Everything looks in order." Though she figured it would be. She had just been over the other day to check on things.

Noticing another person there she smiled, "Hello Kieran." Pulling out the files on the players she noticed he already had one. Oh had she sent them over before hand? Of course she probably did how could she forget. "I brought some extra forms on the players we will see today incase anyone has forgotten theirs." Making her way towards the table with coffee and tea she set them down.


This pitch again. Seriously why wasn't in condemned. Honestly what was the point of even coming today Rebecca thought as she made her way into the pitch. Two seekers that was all they could find? Was Victoria not doing her job? Obviously she wasn't being able to handle leadership roles and she wanted to be Minister of Magic, pathetic.

As she made her way to the little group that had formed she glanced at the unimportant first without really acknowledging them. "Kieran looking to replace your seeker this year?" She smirked a bit before waving her wand to clean the awful seat that she was expected to sit in. She pulled out the files that she brought, though she already had looked over them, no need to look anymore. "Talent seems to be vanishing around here. Possibly not organized well enough to bring out the talent." Of course if they were doing their jobs it would be back at school or the department would be having their own youth league.

Tabby was stressed, but she was doing her best. nervous as she'd ever been. This was it, it was real. Quidditch, Pro quidditch. She was sure her Mum would be proud, Max and Kim too. She had to write them both to know how tryouts went.

What was she supposed to do now?

This no quidditch at the school was really slimming down the prospects for everyone. It made it, hard For Cameron, to find new players for the For tornados. But it was what it was. Only two people at the tryouts?

Seekers?

Not like he needed one. He had Alec Summers. He was the best. So he really didn't need another one. Still looking for a more permanent third chaser to fill his old spot. Hopefully, some chasers would show up last minute. Or maybe he'd see some prospects for a position switch.

Making his way to the pitch, he headed over to the group that was already there, other managers and department people. "Hello, Mariel, Victoria, Kieran, Rebecca." three managers here so far. Two seekers trying out. Maybe he could use a reserve seeker Merlin for bid something happens to Summers.

If there was a day that Tristan was going to be sick, then this was it. He was probably going to be mid-flight and upchuck his entire weeks worth of food over the pitch. Of course, that would get him a job offer or a swift kick to the shins. Hell, he'd spend the rest of his life wishing to lose his legs in some sort of horrible accident in reaction to acting like an absolute dinkydonk in front of professionals. His life would be over and he'd have no actual way to rectify it without going into hiding. Would he be able to take Charlie and Turner with him? He wasn't sure he'd be able to last without them both.

Those were actually the only two people he had told about today.

If he told Little Rob, Nova or his family they'd have freaked out and been here watching and screaming and he's never live it down.

After making sure he had his lucky underwear on, he had made his way to where he needed to be, and made sure that there were no urges of sick, tummy bugs or whatever else could go wrong with his bodily functions. He had this. Tristan knew he was talented on a broom. He hadn't been Captain or even scouted to attend the British Quidditch Academy for no reason. He was a seeker. The best that had attended the Academy. He was going to do fine and whether this got him an offer or not, it didn't matter.