This year would be his year. He’d made the reserves last year and he was sooooo happy! It had actually been one of the highlights of the school year for him. But this year, he’d make the team. With his broom over his shoulder, he trudged across the pitch, determination in his eyes, a small smile across his face as the Hoops came into sight, his robes billowing in the wind.

Quidditch was one thing Hanna had been looking forward to, and over the summer she had practiced her flying. Dancing had also helped with her ninja quick reflexes, which she found had come in handy whilst serving as one of the chasers.

With her broom, and flying outfit, she made her excited way down to the pitch. "Hey Ewan," she greeted fellow Ravenclaw. She was EAGER like a beaver to get started!

If there was anything Septimus hoped to keep the same from the previous terms, it was playing quidditch. He had been tentative at first, before the first try-outs, but it had certainly grown on him. Not to mention gave him something besides studying and such to focus on. He decided to investigate the pitch for the new term, broom all set, waiting to see what was to come and it appeared as if he wasn't the only one. "Hey guys," he greeted Hanna and a boy he wasn't too familiar with.

This was nuts! He never thought he'd ever be on this side of try outs in all honesty. Yet after actually working on his flying over the last year... He didn't feel quite so dumb being here. He had his (weeelllll his cousin's, but who knew?) broom with him and he smiled at the Claws already here. "Hi Blues!" He started warming up while they waited for everyone to arrive.

Juniper had already been down to the pitch early that day to set up for tryouts. She really liked the way she had done them last term and was going to do the stations again. She had the plans of coming back earlier but got tied up with some homework already. She had to keep up her studies too this term being her NEWTs year.

When she got finished on her work she took her things back to her dorm and got her broom and bat. Heading down to the pitch, she hoped that she was late. That would be terrible to be late to a tryout that you were hosting. To her relief there were only a few to arrive before her.

Joining them, ”Hello Everyone, it’s great to see you all here.” She checked to see if she would have to go ahead and start an introduction for first years or new students to induce herself to. That was not the case so Juniper was just going to start warm ups and wait for a bit to officially start. ”Well Let’s start with some warm ups while we wait for the others to get down here.” Sitting in the grass she started stretching to her toes doing toe touches. All while looking out for the others to show up.

With a wide monkey like grin across his face, Ewan watched as one by one, his fellow Ravenclaw’s joined him on the pitch, their brooms on their shoulders. Shaking slightly now, partly due to the cold, partly due to his excitement, he greeted Hanna with a cheerful wave “Hey Hanna! You ready for this?”


“Hey man, you ready for today?” even though Ewan wasn’t as familiar with the boy who had arrived next, he could well be his new team mate. “I’m Ewan by the way” holding out his hand now, hoping that he hadn’t forgotten his fellow Ravenclaw’s name.


Jumping up and down now, nimble and swift on his feet, Ewan couldn’t help but be pumped when he saw Juniper arrive. “Hey Juniper, what took you so long?” smiling now, letting her know he was just joking. Without further ado, he placed his broom carefully next to him on the ground and opened his legs as wide as possible and bent down, easily touching his toes.

Time for QUIDDITCH TRYOUTS!

Quidditch had been a huge distraction for her last term, and Nettie was so excited to get back on her Nimbus and start playing again. She'd been doing her summer league, just as she had the past few years since moving to England, so she hoped her skills were still sharp. She smiled as she approached the pitch. "Hi everyone!" she called out.

Warm ups? Sure! Nettie set aside her equipment and began to do some arm stretches. Needed loose arms if you were gonna catch some snitches!

Ewan…that’s who the third year was. “Yep…” he was ready for today’s try-outs, well as ready as he could be. Not like one could practice all that much over the summer. “How about you?” Oh looky, there was a prefect in their midst, one Septimus didn’t remember trying out before. “Hey…” he greeted Jackson in return of his own greeting. Blues, right, as in the team and house of blue and bronze.

And there was the captain making her appearance on the pitch no doubt ready and raring to go. “Hey Captain,” the fourth year greeted the older Ravenclaw before setting his broom down safely on the grass for warm-ups. Twist and stretch to the left…two…three…four. Twist and stretch to the right…two…three…four. And repeat. Twist and stretch to the left…two…three…four. Twist and stretch to the right…two…three…four.

Mark came in ready and prepared for tryouts. Over the Summer his Uncle Aegis had put him through rigorous Keeper training. It was a big surprise to hear that he was going to be staying in the U.K. and had even gotten recruited by the Kestrals. Which meant that there was a chance Uncle Aegis could watch him play in a game. More than ever Mark was going to try his hardest to make the team this year.

Uncle Aegis even had purchased him the newest Cleansweep model for his Twelfth birthday, so he was excited to put the broom to use at school. "Hi Captain Juniper." Mark smiled her way as he found a open spot on the pitch to start stretching. "Hi Netti." Hi smiled at the blonde Ravenclaw who was a year ahead of him and gave her a slight wave.

He got right to stretching after saying his hello's to everyone else at the pitch. Making sure also not to over extend himself.

"Hey everyone," Hanna greeted as each of the individual Ravenclaws congregated on the pitch. "Absolutely! My cousins let me practice playing Quidditch with them over the summer, and I got to practice some moves. How about you?" She said, after turning to Ewan.

Her real excitement jumped in her chest at the sight of Juni arriving. This meant things were about to get started. "Hi Juni," Hanna said excitedly. "Have a nice summer?" She hadn't got to talk to her much at the start of term feast.

It was time to do their general warm-ups, which was what Hanna did, placing her broom carefully on the ground. Stretching her shoulders out, her neck out. She did some side bends to stretch out her obliques, and stretched her arms up, trying to lengthen her height. She grabbed her feet from behind her, stretching her quads and practicing her balance, holding one, then swapping. A nice calf stretch, and hamstring stretch, and she felt somewhat warmer and looser in the muscles to get going.

IT WAS TIME!

Chloe was ready for this and she wasn't going to go down without a fight. She wanted her position back and she was going to get it. She headed down to the pitch with her broom in her hand and her practice robes a little more bedazzled this term. She wanted to sparkle and stand out, though she knew her flying could do that for her, it didn't hurt to be sparkly. As she walked onto the pitch she glanced around at everyone that was there. Taking in her friends and her competition. "Hello everyone"

She had come from an awesome quidditch summer and some extra practices with her Uncle Alec when he had the chance. She felt more than ready to get her spot back. She was not going to miss out on it again this year. Her determination kept her practicing extra hard over the summer and she was even more in the zone now that she was on the pitch.

Without being too chatty she set her broom on the ground and bent over her straight legs to start stretching them out. She counted to ten in her head before lifting back up. Her body folding in half yet again to stretch to the right and then the left.

Quidditch Tryouts!

Taddy had been looking forward to this. He had trained enough during the summers and since he got a new broom of his own, there was little reason for him not to do well. When it came time, he got into the robes and walked on out to see everyone on the Pitch. "Hey guys!" He said cheerfully. He knew everybody here and that was a great difference from last year as he stood by them.

When it came time to start the regime, Tad joined the others in the warmups. He started with a couple stretches. First reaching over to touch his toes without bending the knees and then holding each folded leg for a number of seconds each. So far so good.

Ewan was joking right now. What took her so long? She had been by here already, hadn’s she? Sitting up. But she did notice that he was smiling so. Maybe he was joking. ”I was here earlier.” Her Attention now moved to Nettie as she arrived. The captain smiled and nodded to the younger Ravenclaw girl.

Juniper was glad to see that everyone was settling into their own warm up routine. Not everyone warmed up the same way, so it was always best to just let everyone do their own thing. As long as they followed along. Turning to Septimus when she heard his voice. She nodded to him and then to Mark as well. It was great to see the familiar faces around. Equally as it was to see the new faces.


Another familiar face came into focus as well. ”Hello Hannah. I did.” Juni was now jogging around the group of Ravenclaws talking to them and greeting them. Lastly Chloe and Thad had arrived.

She would just give everyone a bit more to warm up and stretch. She moved back to her broom and picked in up. ”Hello Everyone can I have your attention please.” Blowing her whistle to call attention too. ”I’m your Captain Juniper Primeaux.” In case there was someone who didn’t know who she was. ”First off I have a different set up than last year, I’ll explain it more in detail after we do some laps. Let’s go ahead and mount your brooms I want five laps after that touch back down in the middle of the pitch.” There was a start line there. No way anyone would miss it.

The seventh year joined the rest of the Ravenclaws in the air to do her laps as well. She wasn’t going to let them have all of the time. She blow her whistle again.

”GO!”


OOC:Hello Ravenclaws. Thank you for coming to the Ravenclaw quidditch tryouts. First thing first don't forget to fill out this survey here. I'll keep things progressing over the next two weeks. As always you can jump on in where it's at or catch on up and play with us. If you have questions PM me or Phoenixrising Don't forget to fill out the survey before posting in the tryouts.

Nettie smiled and waved at Mark as he approached. "Hey Mark!" she said with a grin as he joined the group. Then, her friend and dorm mate Chloe showed up, and she showed up with a BANG. Her robes were all bedazzled, and Nettie wished that she had been that clever. She grinned at her fellow third year. "Cool robes, Chloe!" she called out. She knew that things had been a bit tense after she'd been named Seeker last term, but she hoped her dorm mate knew it was nothing personal. They just both happened to be good at the same thing!

Alright, awesome! LAP TIME! Smiling, she hopped on her Nimbus and kicked off the ground. After a year with her broom, she felt like it was an extension of herself now. Every turn, every dip - it was all natural now. She loved it. Closing her eyes as the slight breeze started to hit her face, she headed off and began her laps.

Still touching his toes, he looked up at Septimus and smiled, “I was born ready! Ready to hit some bludgers!” a wide grin appearing across his face now.

Ewan watched now as more students arrived, giving them a nod each as they arrived. Standing up straight now, he moved his arms around in a circle, pulling them in different directions to warm them up. “I’m ready” he replied to Hanna, “I’ve had a little practice hitting things this summer” a small chuckle escaping his mouth now.

Juniper did not seem to appreciate his little joke. Ooops. I guess she did not see the clear smile across his face. “I was just kidding Juniper” not wanting to fall out with her when he could well be on the team this year.

Dropping all humour from his face now, he listened intently to her instructions. Grabbing his broom from the floor next to him, he shot off instantly without looking back to see if anyone was following. There was once a time where this would have scared him but not anymore. Not now. It was almost like riding a muggle push bike now as he soared through the air, his mind wandering towards the beaters bat that would soon be in his hand. Leaning closer to his broom, he picked up speed, ready to finish his five laps.

Taddy finished up the last bit of his stretches when it came time to start the warm-up laps. What did he think of everything going on? Well, it was early to tell, but he seemed confident. He replayed over the practices he did with flying, and even managed to learn some tricks. Maybe he could show it off now? Naaaah, maybe later.

Tad took hold of his broom getting in the proper position. Grinning with a mock salute towards the nearest flyer, he kicked off and was zooming ahead. Ah this was great, feeling the wind flowing past his ears waving his curls about while he zoomed around the pitch. Now these were the kind of laps Taddy was into. Flying around, no running around early every morning. Each time he thought about that he willed himself to go faster. But this was still a warm up, yes? Well, he used that energy to make sure his moves went as smooth as possible instead. These five laps should be a snap.

Valencia stayed mostly in the back while everyone was gathering. She was just curious if she was any good at this quidditch thing. Both of her parents played -- her dad, professionally, and her mum while she was in school.

This sort of thing was genetic right? She figured she might have potential if she tried. She just needed a little guidance.

She looked over the spare school brooms before picking one. She did know a thing or two about brooms having helped her dad care for his before. She kicked off when she was told it was lap time. Giggling, she sped her way across the pitch. This was wayyy faster than her dad ever let her fly. Maybe she could try weaving between people as well? She was smaller than most of them.

Bend and stretch down towards the ground and roll up again to reach towards the sky. Septimus was just about to straighten up when Juni was moving them on after introducing herself. Right…last time. He remembered her tryouts being quite fun. But that was to be just a little later, the fourth year bending down briefly once more to pick up his broom. Time for laps first. He brought himself away from the group a little to spread out, mounted and kicked off into the air.

Awhoooo!

It felt awesome to be back up in the air! At the whistle the fourth year let himself go, quickly flying off along the first straightaway of the lap, turning around before the goal hoops to move around to the other side. And then the next set of goal posts on the opposite end before he was reaching the spot where they all began. One lap down…four more to go. Not that he even paused a second as he moved on to the next.

Mark hopped off the ground from where he was stretching as soon as Juniper called everyone over. He summoned his broom from the ground to his grip and went to listen to her. He was curious to know what she was planning to differently from last year as he found tryouts pretty fine last term.

He turned just as soon as he saw Tad give a salute and uh...he saluted back to his dorm mate.

Then a second later with his new broom Mark was off the ground and just as quickly his broom picked up it's speed and he was taking his laps around the Pitch with the rest of the Tryoutees.

As Chloe finished warming up and stretching she stood up and waited for the next instruction. Giving a look at everyone that was there. Her eyes fell on Ewan and she grinned. He was ready for tryouts and she was sure he'd get a spot on the team this year. He deserved it after all the work he had been doing. Then there was Semptius she gave him a quick wave as well.

Hanna got a small smile and wave as she waited as well and then she locked eyes with [COLOR="green"]Nettie[/COLOR giving a cheerful smile and small wave, "Thanks, I have more in the dorm if you'd like to do it too.", she knew they would be competing against each other this year again and she was determined to win. She enjoyed her friend, but this was something she wanted and she was going to fight for it.

Seeing Tad her smile grew and she waved at her friend. "Feeling better Mark?" She wasn't going to let him live down what happened at the feast, at least not for a while. It was a true sibling move, but he'd probably do the same. Seeing a first year there she nodded, "Good Luck today" it was going to be tough competition for everyone.

But this wasn't the time to think about the competition because Juniper gave them instructions and she was on her broom and in the air faster then someone could say Kneazles. Laps were easy and Chloe leaned forward and headed straight down the side of the pitch. She was in her element and smiled a little. She loved being on her broom and she loved being in the air. The wind moving her hair back she glanced around with ease to see where everyone was. Noticing she smiled "Come Ewan let's have some fun."

Making a slight turn to head the other way once she hit the end of the pitch she started up the other side to complete the first lap and move on to the next.

After she had completed her own laps. Not that she had completed all of hers but she wanted to make sure she was the first one back on the ground. So she would be ready to lead them in to the activity. She waited for them to join her there.

She blow her whistle when their were just a few still flying their laps. Giving them just a few more minutes to either finish up or come down and join the others. ”Alright guys, now this is where it gets really fun. I’ve set up a kind of obstacle course for tryouts today.” She paused giving them time to let it sink in. ”First stop as you can see there three blue hoops here in the middle of the pitch. Take one of the bats, to be able to move to the next station you have to hit one of these soft bludgers through one of the hoops.” She picked up one of the soft bludgers and tossed it into the air and caught it with one hand. Couldn’t do that with a real bludger now could she?

”After that you will have to dodge some bludgers to get to that end of the pitch to try to save three goals.” She pointed down at that end of pitch they would be at. ”Now to get to that end.” Pointing to the opposite side now. ”You will have to toss the quaffle to the others as you make your way down the down. Now these quaffles will warm up if you keep them in your possession for too long. That’s when you need to toss them off to someone else.” She paused again. She was almost finished explaining what to do but maybe someone was cofused or had a question. Good time to ask if they did.

”Once you are at the goalpost to finish up you need to make two goals. But there will be a pretty good keeper defending his goal post.” Sure it was one of dummies that professors used for lessons but still he was pretty good. ”After you do that you are free to start looking for the snitch. I’ll release it when the first few start to get to the end.” She paused one last time.

”If no one has any questions, we can get started. When I blow the whistle next you are free to take a bat and get started.” She waited just to make sure there was no questions. She put the whistle to her lips and blew it.





OOC:Hello Ravenclaws. Thank you for coming to the Ravenclaw quidditch tryouts. First thing first don't forget to fill out this survey here. I'll keep things progressing over the next two weeks. As always you can jump on in where it's at or catch on up and play with us. If you have questions PM me or Phoenixrising Don't forget to fill out the survey before posting in the tryouts.

Taddy was in bliss when he reached into the final lap, it was amazing how good it felt to be in the air flying. Back at home he had a restriction and time on when to fly and always chaperones. Here... well, there was still restrictions but look at the size of this pitch! This was the life.

After he ended his fifth and final lap around the pitch, Tad settled his broom to land near Captain Juni. He was still in a flying motion so his legs went a bit shaky at first before recovering quickly. He rested his broom right side up and sort of leaned onto it as he listened to the rules. An obstacle course, okay. And he'll get to try out the other positions while doing so. He could work with that then.

Tad nodded right before the whistle blew and he went over to grab a bat from the beater's station. He gave some a light swish and swing to test it's weight to his hand. He definitely needed a lighter weight one so it didn't make his arm sore carrying it for a while. It only took three bat testing before he found the one. Now that that was settled he could take off. He flew up slowly to get adjusted to flying one handed with the bat in hand having to dodge a few bludgers along the way.

"Phew!"

Okay, now he had to hit at one. He circled around keeping his eye focused on some zooming by. Aha! Tad lightly bit his own lip before taking the swing.

POW!

Annnnnd it went a different direction to the nearest hoop. Taddy didn't let that stop him though. It meant that he had to think this over. Okay, so that type of swing and power forced it to angle off in that direction. So maybe now he could try angling himself a different position before hitting it. That seemed promising.. Another option was to just hit them all and hope for the best.

Well, he didn't get a chance to choose because he saw two zooming his way! Tad gasped and out of reflex swung twice at them both with all his might, watching to see where they zoomed off to after.

With more Ravenclaws coming, Hanna greeted them all, excited to be seeing them all again.

Just as she was about to finish her stretching, Juni called their attention and Hanna immediately gave it to the captain. At mention of a different setup, she was even more excited. But of course, first off, was laps. Hanna mounted her broom, kicked off, and soared into the air. Her hair was pulled back into a bun with a headband to keep all the flyaways out of her face. That was a bit irritation, hairs tickling her nose. But not anymore. She could fly into the wind without any tickling. She did her five laps, warming up on the broom now, and warming up the broom itself. With all that done, she joined Juni and the others back on the ground.

Nodding along as she took mental note of the instructions for their obstacle course, Hanna felt ready. This would be fun! Even though she was chaser last year, she had a lot of fun playing beater and being that it was the first activity meant she got to really give those bludgers a whack.

Following Taddy, she grabbed a bat that felt good, gave her shoulder a few rotations to warm it up, and re-mounted her broom. She side swiped away from the other bludgers flying around, and readied her arm. Her non-dominant hand gripping her broom, her dominant one around the handle of the bat. She watched as Taddy sent a bludger zooming off, giving him a "Good one!" as he did so.

After a quick mental countdown, working out the position of the bludger and its course towards her head. Of course it was aiming for her head.

WHACK!

She gave it all of her might, connected hard with the bludger. It went one way, and she drifted the other way. Was it too much power? She watched it as it flew towards one of the blue hoops and hit it, bouncing back and coming straight for her again. Her eyes wide, having unexpected that. She re-readied both of her grips, kept her eyes on the bludger, powered her arm for the hit and...

WHACK!

Sent it flying back towards the same hoop. This time, she watched with a grin as it went through!

Was his hair windswept? Most likely. Did he care? Nope. Not one bit because he was actually happy! He’d missed flying over the summer but it was good to see he hadn’t lost any of his skill. Landing carefully, he dismounted his broom before listening carefully to Juni. Huh. This was slightly different. Excitement built in the pit of his stomach as he heard the first task involved using the beaters bats and a few inanimate balls. Pfft…this would be easy.

Briefly, he watched the Taddy and Hanna, eying up their technique and how well they did. After all, it wouldn’t hurt to see what the competition did. He had to give it to them, they were pretty good, and both of them connecting well to the soft bludgers “Good one guys!” he called over, his voice echoing around the pitch.

With one last deep breath, he quickly walked over to one to the bats and picked it up enthusiastically. The bat, which once felt heavy was now an extended part of his arm. Swinging it swiftly for practice quickly he finally mounted his broom, taking off with ease whilst holding his bat. After a quick loop around, he turned back ready to face the soft bludgers that would be coming his way soon.

“Okay, get your head in the game Jones”.

Following it carefully now, his eyes adjusting for any adjustments, he watched it barrelling towards him before finally pulling his right arm back.

BAMMM!

He’d connected with it and boy did he send it flying. Flying. Flying! Straight…off at the rim of the hoop and through. With a small sigh, he grinned. This was his position and he may be a little rusty but if he tried his best, he knew he could do it!