One day later and the winter weather was still the same, except that the ice covering the Pitch was thicker. Bundled in his warmest officiating robes, Professor Vindictus gingerly walked into the stadium and glanced up at the Stands. Compared to yesterday, the Stands weren't as packed but enough fans were there to cheer on the teams. Kids must've read the weather report - don't blame them with a blizzard warning. No wonder Anna had a panic attack in the locker room when half the team refused to go outside the Castle walls.

The minutes ticked on and he realized that he needed to get the game started. "Welcome to today's match between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff!" he exclaimed in his magically amplified voice. "So why don't you warm yourselves up and give a round of applause to your teams!"


At opposite ends of the stadium, the gates slowly creaked open and there was a whoosh as the teams flew onto the Pitch.

Gryffindor
Keeper: Anna Greingoth (Anna Banana) - Captain
Seeker: Jack Fritzera (Miss Lissy Lou)
Chaser: Paris Hill (ginny_first_year_pureblood)
Chaser: Herminny Telerino (Herminny)
Chaser: James Longbottom (sneezinglupin)
Beater: Daniel Kaiser (dan_arjay)


Hufflepuff
Chaser: Miranda BelCanto (Luna Laufghudd)
Chaser: Sarah J. Winchester (liammoiser)
Chaser: Emalyn N. Daniels (SnitCHchASER)
Beater: Melanie F. Lockhart (moonyroxs)
Beater: Kaika I. Lockhart (Lockhartian) - Captain
Keeper: Cyrus P. Andrus (tex)
Seeker: Jakers Upstead (Zoerawrr)

The weather conditions deteriorated rapidly and only Vindictus's eyes revealed what he was thinking as he checked off each of the names on his list. Then he blinked twice. Anna and Jack? Where's the rest of the Gryffindor team?

Two shrill whistles and he motioned for all of the players to land and assemble around him.

Miranda was circling around the pitch, really excited to be able to play again, feeling the cold wind on her face.

As she flew around, Miranda heard two whistles, frowned and looked down to see Professor Vindictus motioning them down. What the...

Miranda shrugged and landed next to her teammates, looking between Karla and the professor.

Huh? What? Well, she couldn't see much..but all she could hear was two whistles...yet, the game didn't start...

Which is why she went over to Vindictus, "Hey, Professor V...what's going on?" she knew she could take the blizzard, but still asked.

Suddenly and without warning the ice on the pitch began to melt... green, murky water was sneaking up from the ground and was breaking and melting the ice...

Sarah was doing some loop the loops in the air as she was getting cold she was just doing her third loop when she heard a whistle blow, first she looked into a stand to see if someone had a whistle and then she realised that it was the quidditch official who was actualy blowing his whistle, this was so weird, she flow down to him "Excuse me, may I ask what is happening?" She asked him as she landed on the pitch next to him.

Cy was already cold, really cold. Then he heard the whistles, and Cy dived to the ground. The first years teeth were chattering as he stepped off his broom. He slid about a foot or do upon standing on ground, the icy surface was tricky.

“What’s goin’ on?” Cy said with a furrowed brow, looking like a gnome in height comparison at the foot of the Professor.

With a disappointed sigh, Anna Greingoth steered her broom towards the ground and took off for landing. She glanced sideways at Jack as she flew. True, he was odd sort of guy, but at least he'd made a brave effort. She shot him an appreciative smile, then landed gracefully on the ground near Professor Vindictus and a few of the Hufflepuffs. Dismounting her broom, Anna walked slowly over to the professor and weakly asked, "So, what's going on, sir?" She was pretty sure she knew, though. Only she and Jack had appeared, and it was game time, for Merlin's sake. Still, she wanted an official word from him. Here it was her seventh and final year at Hogwarts, too. She'd wanted so badly to play Quidditch...

Just as she asked that very question, though, she felt a bit of wetness at her feet, and she glanced down to see...Oh, no. No. No. No.

Jack blinked and felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. Greattttt. He knew exactly what was about to happen, there was no denying that it WASN'T going to happen. He looked at Anna and gave a little shrug like "Ehh, what can we do?" before he landed, glancing over at the castle. So what if it was a little snowy? Once your face got numb from the cold you didn't even notice it anymore!

Just as he landed on the icy ground, he noticed immediately something was wrong. There was a gross feeling on his feet, like a cold, wet, forbidding type of feeling. He looked down and sure enough, there was water seeping up through the ground and through the ice. GROSS! This day couldn't get any better, could it?

Emalyn heard the whistles and lowered herself closer to the ground. Noticing that water was seeping over the now melting ice, she sat hovering on her broomstick. Huh...what was going on? She looked toward the captains and the professor for an explanation. She scratched her cheek, only resulting in yellow and black paint to get caked under her fingernails.

Vindictus felt the ice give way and he was submerged up to his ankles in that foul, disgusting water again. "Gryffindor doesn't have enough players," he said and saw the sky getting darker. "Hufflepuff wins by forfeit." That's when a few snow flakes began to fall. "And the Pitch is flooding - EVERYONE GET OUT!"

Herminny arrived a bit late to see everyone was crowding around Vindictus and she decided to do the same and it was not long before she realized only two of her teamates were on the field and sighed hoping more would show up soon they would not have to forfit, or had they already, she seriously hoped they did'nt.

Ema's eyes widened as she realized the pitch was getting deeper and deeper immersed in the disgusting water that had melted the ice. Her heart leapt at hearing Professor Vindictus's voice and she hovered a bit higher, waiting. She was fine with the thought of water, or even landing in water from her height, but the thought of that water, and the thought that the beloved Quidditch pitch was flooding, made her a tiny bit nervous.

*Sigh*. First the common room, now this. How much more was mother nature gonna wash away?

Forfeit! He looked behind himself and saw only two Gryffindors. TWO. “I knew they’d be scared of me.” Cy said conversationally up to the Vindictus.

That’s when the first year felt his feet getting wet. And good GOSH that water was cold. It was coming up fast too… this wasn’t good.

He was just going to fly up to the Ravenclaw/Hufflepuff tower, and no one would stop him. He made a sprint for his broom when WHAM. He tripped and hit an overgrown shear of ice HARD on the side of his head. He was now completely knocked out, face down in the rising water.

Jack sighed as Vindictus announced the Hufflepuff win. His first match, and he didn't even get to play? How bogus! He looked down at his broom and felt the strong urge to chuck it at the ground out of anger--gah, if only the ground weren't all gross and watery.

Just as he thought this, his mind snapped back to reality as he realized how fast the water was rising. It was now ankle deep, and would probably get higher with each passing second. EEP!

Without a second thought, Jack bolted for the locker room, nearly knocking down Anna in the process.

Sarah felt the water and oh no she panicked she heared the Professor telling them to get out but she couldn't do it she couldn't move.She shouted. "Professor I can't swim." She looked around ."Were doomed, doomed I tell you." she screamed. "Everyone in the stand is doomed." She had no idea why she said that but she did.

Once again, Anna sighed, clearly disappointed that she hadn't gotten to play. She glared at the disgusting, nasty, icky water at her feet, then promptly stuck her tongue out at it. "Party pooper," she spat at it. Even if the icky water hadn't come, though, they'd still have lost. Forfeited. She refused to say that they lost. She and Jack had put up an honest effort, after all. "Congratulations, Hufflepuff," she said, then grabbed her broom so that she could make her leave. "Come on, Jack. Butterbeer on me in Hogsmeade. No, I take that back. Butterbeer on you. I'm the lady in this situation."

Absentmindedly swooping down to land, Jake blinked at all the others. He heard something about a forfeit juuuuuust as his feet hit water.

Cold water.

Oh dear.

"Errr," he... said?, before raising one eyebrow at the others.

Miranda was standing besides Kaika, trying to figure out what was going on. Supporting herself on her broom, Miranda looked up towards the sky, hoping to get back up there again, but as soon as the professor said that the Huffies had won, her jaw fell in surprise and then she almost toppled over as she noticed the weird water coming through the ice.

Her hands lost the grip on her broom as she started to shriek, wanting to run away from there as soon as possible, as the broom started to fall towards the icy ground. With a start, Miranda groped after her wand, shrieking some more, got a hold of her broomstick and started to lift her feet up as the water soaked her shoes.
"Omgosh whatisgoingooooooon!?"

Awww. WHAT?! Wait...back up a second.

Not enough players? But she'd seen...ooooooohhhhh....yes, she'd seen Anna and that other fellow Gryffindor....but she never saw anyone else. Weird.

And...how awful. Well, this was not how she wanted to advance to Championship. Grrreeeeaaaat. "Er, okay" because, really, what else was there to say?

Nonetheless, Vindictus suddenly screamed for them to get out. So, the Pitch was an open area...how could it get flooded? Besides, they have brooms, no need to freak out over...

WAIT..

What if the Pitch was no good after the water started rising? This will mean...no Quidditch?! A world with no Quidditch was a world she had no interest in...What if by standing here they were already ruining the Pitch's luck for survival?!

"Thanks, Anna, I guess" she said, and looked nervously around her players..."Yes, everyone do as Professor V says and GET OUT" she said, looking at Sarah as she said so, "Come on! There's no need to swim, get on your broom and fly out safely" but if she panicked, then she couldn't do much about it, right?

Herminny scowled as she heard the news that Gryffindor had lost by forfit, thus was just aweful, she sighed as she left the mucky pitch, her first game and this happens, great.

Emalyn gasped in surprise as she witnessed Cyrus being knocked out. Oh gosh, the little firstie was going to drown.
What to do what to do? She didn't want to get wet.

Oh well. The price we pay to make sure someone isn't dead.
Emalyn dove down onto the seeping ground and flung her broom off to the side. "Cyrus?!" she kneeled down in the now knee deep water. She tugged on the boy's robes.

Well, he was quite heavy for an eleven year old...
She looked around urgently, shivering. Man, this water was cold. She tugged on his robes again, this time getting a better grip.
"Oh gosh..." she paniced.

The snow was now coming down harder and the foul water . . . yuck! A blizzard and flooding - in one day. Can I get a break?

"EVERYONE - PLEASE EVACUATE THE STADIUM IN AN ORDERLY FASHION AND REPORT BACK TO THE CASTLE!" Vindictus announced as calmly as he possibly could.


And then he noticed one of the Hufflepuff players lying in the cold and mucky water. "Sarah Winchester! Get off the ground before you turn into an ice cube or worse, your captain whacks you with her broom all the way back to the common room!" He looked at the others. "It's only four inches of water! Calm down!"