Patrick was so pumped they had scored. He watched Skylar go for the Quod, but the booming sound of the explosion caught him off guard. He nearly fell off his broom. It wasn't like it was unexpected. You just prayed that it didn't explode in your hands.

He turned at the sound of the Professors voice announcing a new Quod. He swooped in quickly before a purple team member could get to the Quod. He was good at this game, he had only spent his whole life watching the sport, sure his brothers also talked about quidditch but Quod was what he had grown up aspiring to play when he would get to Ilvermorny, and instead he was at a school with quidditch. Just as the Quod was starting to fall back toward the ground he opened his hands and caught it. one... two... three... He chucked the Quod up the field and hoped that Skylar or Emmeline (anyone?) would get there first.

Maisie grabbed the Quod and passed it straight to a purple teammate. She was getting nervous being in the air and didn't want to get caught with an exploding Quod.

She started doing her breathing techniques, trying not to ruin her chances of having a go at the cauldron, if she managed to gain possession of the Quod again.

Okay...okay...okayokayokayokayokayokaaaaaaaaaaaay.

Leaning forward on his broom, Derf opted first to study the game before diving right in (literally because he did rather fancy nose dives) and try to understand how the quod moved in the air opposed to a bludger. But really...just HOW much could he hope to gain just by watching? Not much at all!

Swerving around a few of his teammates and opposing ones, Derf caught sight of Maise winding up to throw the quod and quickly leaned forward on his broom to accelerate aaaaaaaaaaaaaand... "GOT IT!" he grinned, tucking it under his arm as he sped off down the pitch towards the purple cauldron. He was a little further away than was optimal, but adrenaline was pumping in his veins and he may have become a bit too overexcited. Winding up and with a mighty GRUNT, Derf threw the quod towards his team's cauldron.

After that near explosion, Skylar felt herself merely hovering for a moment as she regained her composure, watching the new quod trade hands. Patrick first, but then that first year Maisie had intercepted the quod and Skylar found herself flying fast toward the purple cauldron to protect it from any possible scores.

And her flying was not in vain, because Derf had caught it and was accelerating fast toward the purple cauldron and then he threw....

...

Moments ... but really only seconds in the slow motion, the fifth year watched the quod sail, as she continued to accelerate her broom, grateful for her own broom and not the school brooms, and "Yes!" she exclaimed, catching it moments before it entered the purple cauldron. Or well. Her beater instincts were alive and well, because it was more like, SWATTING it away from the purple cauldron. Help from team orange in snagging that, please?

Patrick hadn't gotten back down the field as far as Skylar, when he watched her swat the Quod away. He watched it go through the air. It didn't seem like he could get there, but he couldn't let the Purple team get the Quod back again.

Just get the quod, don't let purple win He went forward and backward, trying to gauge just how far Skylar had swatted the Quod. He opened his hand and caught the Quod, before turning back toward the Orange cauldron. He was counting in his head and had gotten to 8 when he chucked it toward the Orange Cauldron hoping team orange would either catch it or help it into the cauldron.

NOOOOOOOOOO!

Pulling up sharply on the handle of his broom, Derf made a quick U-turn and took off from the direction he had just come from - swerving and cutting back to avoid hitting other people as he did but stopping for nothing. If nothing else...maybe he could block a shot?

His blue eyes narrowed in on the younger Slytherin as he took aim and the Hufflepuff leaned forward until he was practically pressing his nose to the wooden handle to speed up. Come ooooooooooooooooooooon! YES!

Reaching up with both hands, Derf caught the quod and quickly clutched it to his chest for safe keeping. Yes! Blocked that!

Not thinking much about, well, anything other than getting closer to the purple cauldron...Derf once more leaned forward on his broom and took off down the pitch...completely oblivious to how much time he had been holding on to it.

Which proved to be, well, not a good thing for just as he was about to toss it off to someone else...

*KABOOM*


.........................................

Etta zoomed behind Derf, thinking how well she was flying now. Not even two years ago, she’d hesitate just to get on a broom and now, she was almost a natural. Obviously, she wasn’t as good as Henry but still, she wasn’t bad. Not as bad as she had been earlier, at least.

Back to the game, Derf was doing a pretty great job holding on to the quod.. but the problem was he was holding it for way too long. Shouldn’t he have passed it by now? She was flying right next to him too! She was about to wave and yell at him when the quod exploded.

Awww, well. She paused mid-air, giving Derf a thumbs-up and a grin.. but she was distracted when there was a new quod on the field already. She quickly took off, heading for the quod. The purple team had to score ONE point at least, sheesh. The girl grabbed on to it soon enough, passing it to her nearest teammate.

Well...that was...er...that then....wasn't it?

Wiping his eyes, quickly taking note of the soot covered them which meant that he likely looked like a reverse raccoon given things, the third year SIGHED and guided his broom down towards the pitch while glancing over his shoulder wistfully at Etta as she grabbed the newest quod.

So..he would just spend the rest of the time sitting down here on the pitch.
The lesson would be over soon anyway, yeah? SIGH.

"NICE PASS, ETTA!" he cheered, trying to keep himself useful somehow.

"Bad luck, Derf!" Sam shouted as she saw him retire to the ground. "You did great!"

She'd barely torn her eyes off the ground when Etta had caught the new quod. Aware she was going to be looking for the pass before she lost possession, Sam leant forward on her school broom, urging it to catch up with the Hufflepuff Prefect. She made it just in time, taking the pass and holding the quod close to her body as she continued down the pitch.

Could she make the shot from here? She highly doubted it, being outside the scoring circle, but the clock was counting down and team mates were nearby to chase it down and nudge it in the right direction. With as much welly as she could muster, Sam slung the quod towards the cauldron.

It was swerving. Definitely swerving. But in the right direction...she didn't have the eye to know.

"Someone go knock it in!"

Team purple was all having a comeback and stuff. Emmeline wasn't really surprised, 'cause they had loads of good fliers on that team. There were good fliers on team orange, too, of course -- she just had totally thought from the beginning of the match that team purple would be all over this game and stuff. As her eyes tracked the quod (and then the new quods when they were released), Emmeline frowned slightly 'cause one exploded in Derf's possession and got him knocked out of the game. She felt bad for her friend 'cause sitting out was NO fun, and she had thought about trying to say something to him, but her eyes were still mostly glued on the quod and then the moment had passed.

The twelve-year-old held her breath as Miss Etta and then Miss Sam approached the purple cauldron with loads of determination. Without even really thinking about it too much, Emmeline put on a burst of speed and took off for their end of the field. She forced her school broom to speed up even more as she reached the purple players, weaving in and out around them in wiiide gaps 'cause she wasn't skilled enough to be super close to them and stuff. Her eyes stayed super glued to the quod, though, as she forced her broom to go even FASTER and finally managed to duck under the ball as it went swerving kinda away from the purple cauldron. She reached up for the Quod and a biiiig grin spread across her face as she caught it with the tips of her fingers--

And watched it slip right through them and towards the purple players grouped around. NOOOOOO!!! Emmeline wasn't good enough at diving at ALL to try a steep enough dive to retrieve the Quod from her position; it was plummeting straight down and stuff. The second year let out a biiig sigh and flew back to the orange end of the field, her shoulders slightly slumped in disappointment.

The Quod was moving fast between the players on the field, more than once did it approach the purple cauldron but Team Orange was always there to knock it away. As Haraldur released another Quod, he realized it was the last one, which meant it was time to wrap up the game. When Emmeline intercepted the shot from Sam, the Quod exploded on its way down to the ground. The instructor then put the horn to his lips and blew to signal the game was over.

"Well done, everyone!" He gestured for them to follow him down to the ground again, where Derf was standing.

The students landed one by one around him, patting each other on the back and shaking hands with the opposing team. Haraldur placed the broom he'd been using the very boring, non-decorated school broom on the trunk whilst he waited for them to settle down.

"I'm very proud of all of you." He began. "Today, you showed great sportmanship and teamwork. With a little practice, we can arrange a game of Quodpot between Hogwarts and Ilvermorny." And he didn't even have to rig the game in order for Hogwarts to win. "A congratulation to Team Orange for winning the game today, with the most players on the field and with the final score of 1 - 0. Well done!" He clapped his hands for the winning team, with Team Purple joining in.

"That is all we have time for, children." He said as the applauds died down. "Please leave the borrowed brooms where you took them and go get changed for your next class." He glanced over at Derf. "Or washed up." Because you know... Soot.


"Class dismissed!"

Now, shoo children, so he could clean the Pathways from all the snow.


OOC: Congrats to Team Orange! *shoots orange confetti* Thank you everyone for coming and thank you to those who participated in the match. I really do hope you enjoyed it!

I'll leave this thread open for 5 more hours if you want to post your character celebrating leaving.

That's all and enjoy the rest of the weekend! I heart you all.

- Josie

Between the last interception and now, Skylar had been stunned - because well, another quod exploded, only this time the player hadn't been so lucky. And even though he was on the opposing team, Skylar did feel slightly bad for him. But also, knew he'd be okay; she'd done worse last summer with her bat then what a little soot could do. What she really felt bad about was the fact that he'd been eliminated from playing.

No time to worry about that, because a new quod was in the air and the purple team had it again with Sam making a supppperrrr long distance shot, which even though it didn't quite make it, Skylar had to admire how close it had come. And even Emmeline's attempt to catch it, but watching it slip through her fingers, in just the right position for herself dive for it. Until, it exploded again. Oops, well, it was a good thing she hadn't dove for it?

Class was over though and team orange had won, which if Skylar was being honest, she was optimistic for her team winning. Not just because she was on it, but because Henry too. Two of England's Under-17 players? Of course, the other players had been awesome too, and the fifth year was all smiles when she landed on the frosty pitch. "Thanks Professor B!" Actually, what was cool, was that he didn't bribe them with anything for winning, except bragging rights, which was kind of cool. No jumbo chocolate bar. "Nice job," she said first to her orange teammates and then, because sportsmanship was proper, she said it to the purple opponents as well.

And she was off.