Now the stand were filling up and Ellie was searching for that familiar boy... him! Ellie grinned when she saw Dallin approach her. Hey, you!" she greeted with a likewise bright smile. Taking his hand, she kissed him on the cheek.

"You ready for an epic game?" Because this was definitely going to be epic. Ravenclaw was GOING to win. Because they needed the house cup. Of course things were a little off since Ellie S. got hit in the head with a bludger the day before. But... Vashti was good. So hopefully things would be good.

Emrys was... not looking forward to being in public today.

He sneaked into the stands, hoping not to be noticed. He'd been practically pushed out of the common room and caught in the crowd of students headed this way. It was his house, after all, and if he ever hoped to make any friends, he should probably at least appear supportive.

But after what happened in that lesson, how could he possibly face Kurumi? Or anyone else who even witnessed it, for that matter. His face burned just thinking about running into any of them, including the little Hufflepuff, who he'd inadvertently attracted to himself.

Not looking around too much - because it would take too long and he'd be spotted - Emrys plopped down in a group of students, not sure whether or not he was near the people he hoped to avoid.

Bentley was on the edge of her seat as the players took to the skies.

"Come on Lions!" she cheered, clapping her hands together, half eaten cookie in one hand.

As the whistle blew, and the players zoomed into action. A blur of red and blue. Two such pretty colours, both of which she loved. Seren crossed the fingers on her free hand, and continued to shove the rest of her cookie in her mouth with the other.

Josephina was slow with making her way out to the stands. Hufflepuff wasn't playing, but that didn't mean she didn't want to support the Ravenclaw and Gryffindor players. After all, one of these teams would be playing Hufflepuff in the Championship.

Eying for a seat in the stands, she noticed Seren sitting there and today decided to join her friend.

As she was making her way along the bleachers, she casually scanned the pitch and blinked in shock when she didn't spot the familiar head of red hair.

"Hey Seren," Fina said, taking a seat, turning back to see Ravenclaws score the first points of the game. "Uh... where's Ellie?" One thing she knew about the sixth year was that even if she would have skived off Arithmancy Lessons or doodled on her desk rather than calculate stuff, the girl would NOT have missed a Quidditch Match, had it been her choice....

Oooh! The match had officially begun!

Evelyn was still a little confused about which team to support but..she finally decided to go with the Ravenclaws. She heard that Ellie wasn't playing today which was a pity but the Claws still had a strong team. So, yeah. Claws, it is.

"Go Eagles!"

Having devoured the rest of the cookie, somewhat like the way in which an ambushing aspen would devour its prey. Carelessly, she wiped the crumbs on her pants.

"Fina, good to see you," she greeted with a smile, then turning to the sea of blurry players, she too realised Miss Stone was out of action. "Good question. I wouldn't have the faintest clue." Hopefully the girl was alright, perhaps just a cold?

Smiling in amusement at Seren and how she had devoured something and wiped at her pants to brush the crumbs off. Herbologists, she mused, they totally didn't mind getting dirty.

She nodded faintly, eyes focused on the pitch as both keepers seemed well attuned to the game. "It's strange. In the six years we've been here," her and Ellie that is, "I've never known Ellie to miss a game. Hope she's alright." Maybe she was studying? Nah, Ellie didn't study ... much.

"So who you rooting for?" Her house she headed or her personal house.

Eeek! Evelyn stood up suddenly when noticed that someone..someone from the Gryffindor team had fallen off their broom. Gosh, she hoped that person was okay.

"Gooo Ravenclaws!" Evelyn cheered, when the Eagles scored again. Wow. They were playing really well.

Evelyn squinted a little when she saw a small golden ball zoom nearby..was that the snitch?

He was late. The game was already started and he was late! He's never late for Quidditch. If its not that stupid letter that his daddy sent him earlier, he won't be this late late.

At first he was considering to bring his maracas and sombrero to today's match but since Ellie is not playing so he decided to leave them in his dorm. Now he need to find himself an empty seat, Messer scanned the bleachers hoping to see his roommate since his girlfriend is playing today so Alec was supposed to be here, right? But instead of seeing Alec, the young badger saw his head of house talking with Professor Bentley.

"Hello, Professor Hadley, Professor Bentley." he greeted them with a polite nod. "Who are you rooting today, Professor?" He was pretty sure that Bentley is rooting for Gryffindor since she's their Head of House but who's Mummy Badger rooting for?

COME ON! Was this another nuts and bolts moment?! Seren was beginning to think so. "Come on Lions! Come on August!" she cheered, competing with the crowd.

So this wasn't normal for Ellie. Another one of those Quidditch fanatics thaat wouldn't miss a game if their life depended on it? "I hope so too."
Again, she was following the play, fingers tensing and flexing nervously. "Honestly... I haven't figured that out yet. But I am cheering for my Lions... so I suppose.. the Lions." But that wasn't to say she didn't care about the Eagles anymore. She was one for Merlins sake. "You?"

Suddenly there was a voice from nearby. Peering around Fina, Seren's eyes landed on the young Edvard Messer. "Hello Edvard dear," she greeted, before turning back to the game.

Before Seren could respond about who she was rooting for, someone approached them. A young first year Badger; Edvard. Sweet boy, he was. "Hello, ... Messer." She smiled. "Uh... good question..." Ordinarily if Hufflepuff wasn't playing, then she'd go for specific players. But Ellie wasn't playing. She supposed she was hoping Vashti got the snitch in that case, but she hadn't really been sure.

Looking sideways over at Seren, she noticed her fingers and whole body seemed to tense about the sport. Fina glanced back to the pitch in time to see the seekers go into a dive and then Gideon scored!

"Partial to both houses then?" heh. Understood. She liked Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. "Um... " Her gaze flickered from Edvard to Seren and then out to the pitch. "I guess... I should pick then. Well in that case, I'm rooting for Gryffindor to score more goals, but Vashti to get the snitch." Mmhm. Nice support of both. And of course she'd be rooting for Hufflepuff in the Championship.

****

"Go Vashti!!! You can do it!!" The girl was a fabulous chaser, but seeking ... new territory for her...

Taryn wondered if it was marginally possible that Auggie might see her cheering for him? Hehe. Probably not, but she wanted him to know that she was THERE and CHEERING. Her thoughts were interrupted when she noticed a slightly shifty looking, slightly nervous looking boy plop beside her.

"Who are you rooting for?" She asked, leaning just a little closer so he could actually hear her over the sound of everyone ELSE cheering.

Evelyn looked around and noticed that she was the only one cheering for the Claws. Honestly, where were all the eagles? Being a huffie, she was supporting them but she couldn't see even one claw who was cheering for their team. So weird.

The sixth year sat down again, feeling a little awkward. She pushed her hair back from her face, her eyes on the pitch. Yeah, it would be better if she didn't yell for a while. Heh.

Emrys nearly jumped out of his skin as he turned to the voice as saw the girl leaning in at him.

He stared at her mutely for several moments, trying to figure out why she was talking to him, not really having registered what she said. When it finally dawned on him, he bumbled over himself, stringing together a few sounds that didn't really make a word before finally spitting it out.. "RavenclawIguess," he mushed together.

He turned back to the match, before it occurred to him that social protocol dictated he inquire. He turned back to her, not meeting her eyes. "Y-you?"

Seren had only partially heard Fina's response, because soon.. she was seeing red. REALLY seeing red. What in the blazes was going on?! THIS GAME WAS RIGGED!

There's no way her Lions could be performing so ... non-spectacularly. Did the quaffle have wings? was the snitch entranced?
"This is the biggest load dragon dung!" she hissed loudly. "Someone check the quaffle for chicken scratches! that there has been tampered with!"

Bentley... was.... not... impressed.

Whoops.

Taryn settled herself back into her proper spot and nodded. Ravenclaw, right. She should have guessed that much, he sort of reminded her a bit of Aspen. Aspen = Ravenclaw.

She smiled at him. Maybe that would make him feel better? Like... she wasn't a creeper, he just happened to sit next to her. "Gryffindor." Apparently. Though she'd RATHER be cheering for her own house. "My boyfriend is the keeper." YEP.

Emrys saw her smile and returned it, though it was awkward and strained. "That's cool," he replied. He wasn't terribly invested in the game and he'd realized that the guy he almost got into that fight with in class was the keeper.

His cheeks flushed as he realized that the boy had been fawning over, well, not his girlfriend. But it was the spell, but oh merlin this was awkard.

"Should be a good match," he said, refusing to meet her eyes. Did she know?

Attempting to warp a negative into a possitive, Seren rose from her seat.
"Who're we fighting for Gryffindor?! We're a force you can't ignore!" ... because clearly they were a force, a strong force, an intimidating force, which is why there was so much injustice! Seren was dead set certain something wasn't right.

Something was fishy. And it smelled terrible.

"Don't give in Anya!"
That girl had speed, had strength AND courage. There was still hope.

Hearing Bentley through her gaze on the game, Fina tore her eyes away from the pitch and stared at her friend. Er.... dragon dung? Chicken scratches?

"Maybe it was the ducks. The new groundskeeper put in a duck pond and all." Mmhm.

Nope, she really had no idea though.

Snapping out of her thoughts an out of her 'rage' for a brief moment, she stared at Fina.

"What the..." she started, her expression clearly puzzled. Ducks? Oh no, these were definitely chickens.

"... Fina, you're a dear friend. But I know what I meant, and I meant chickens."
Cowardly chickens indeed.

Lily was focused on the game, though managed to see someone waving at her. It was the girl from one of the other games... "Hello... Do you mind if I join you?" The claw wasn't really sitting with anyone since there were not many other ravies in the crowd. "I'm Lily, first year..." Lily smiled before turning back to the game. Two snitch captures already... Ravenclaw was doing amazing!

Evelyn started to cheer again when she saw how well Ravenclaw was playing. Their seeker was so good. Woah. If Ravenclaw ended up winning the match, Hufflepuff had better watch out.

Evelyn tore her eyes away from the match and stared at Bentley. Chicken scratches? Quaffle had been tampered with? Dragin dung? Oh, jeez. She was definitely losing it.

Anyway.. "Go Eagles! WOOOOOOT!"

...

What?

Was this a metaphor or something? She understood complicated strands of numbers and curses and that stuff, but metaphors?!? REALLY, Seren?

But at the same time she wasn't about to dispute with Seren. Not in the middle of the stands when her house wasn't doing so well.

"Oh, okay." She said, turning back to the pitch and mumbling under her breath, "istillblametheducks."

Uuuh. This was so weird. Where were all the CLAWS!? Evelyn looked around the stands once more and she did spot a few claws here and there but none of them were cheering. Uh. Not good. Not good at all.

Evelyn looked up when the young ravenclaw girl asked if she could join her. "Oh. Not at all." Evelyn smiled at the girl. She turned to watch the match again when the girl introduced herself. "It's nice to meet you, Lily. I'm Evelyn Wellington, a sixth year."

Even though Fina's lack of understanding on the topic of match fixing in quidditch was highly amusing, the situation was NOT.

And even as Vashti closed in on the snitch, she could not stop seeing red.

"Nuts and bolts, nuts and bolts! We got screwed!" ... once more.
What an enormously epic waste of time. Vindictus may as well have handed the Eagles the trophy before the match even started. Heck, why not give it to them now. It's not to say they didn't deserve it, but did they earn it?

Game over, she wanted to go and lick her wounds. "Good day Fina," she said curtly before standing to leave.