Hufflepuff Practice and Tryouts

[Chaz Dimas Ezequiel]

It was late afternoon, perhaps around three pm if anyone was paying much attention to the clock, nearly reaching the natural high of the day and peaking at about seventy four degrees with a subtle breeze. In short, it was near perfect weather for practice, and with the season fast approaching and the first game just around the bend, there was much work that needed to be done and none was more excited that Chaz Dimas Ezequiel, captain of the Hufflepuff team and quidditch enthusiast. Ever since becoming captain, he grew a new love for the game in which molding and shaping a good team was part of his craft, it was an art form in which he studied and catered to. This was his second and final year leading the Hufflepuff team and he wanted to do it better than before, and so he booked the pitch for the afternoon and set everything up for the first practice of the season. He passed the word around about the practice, and there were some kids from his usual entourage already in the stands giving either goofy commentary or words of encouragement if not cat calls coaxing the team leader to do away with his shirt. He grinned, pulling it off only to reveal the sleeveless tee beneath, much to their dismay, which only followed with some requests to do away with the other shirt, which he ignored. He was far too focused for play right now. The usually goofy teen found a certain seriousness when it came to quidditch for he took the game quite seriously.

The quaffles were out of the ball case, but the bludgers and snitch remained. He stood with his broom at his side, a new Firebolt model he got last year when he made captain. He waited for all the team members to gather before he was to address them all.

"Welcome to the first Hufflepuff practice of the season. Today, we will do ball practice by position and then we will all get in the air for a mock game. So, I would first like to have all of my beaters to step forward. As of right now, the chaser positions remain the only thing open. I would also like my seeker to step forward. What I want you to do is get up in the air and fly around. Then, I will release the bludgers. Beaters, I want you to protect the seeker. If he gets hit, you will run ten laps around the pitch." He grinned. "Now, go on." He knelt down by the quivering ball case, his fingers hovering over the latch in which kept the anxious bludgers in their place. He waited until the seeker was up in the air comfortably, then the beaters, before he unfastened the latch and the bludgers when flying into the air, dangerously whizzing over the other's heads.

"Here they come!"

[kyla]

Keela had actually debated trying out for the team this year. While she had inherited both her parents' love of Quidditch, she also knew how much time being truly dedicated to her house team involved. There were the games and practices of course, but there was also working out to stay in shape, and brushing up on new flying techniques as they came to light. Her mother had taken an advanced flying class while at Hogwarts, and had taught her much of what she knew, but Keela understood vividly that there was still as much if not more to learn. In the end, her desire to improve herself won out over her need to expand her artistic horizons. Besides, one never knew when the ability to take pictures in the air might come in handy for a photographer later on. So it was that she had all but bolted from her final class of the day, and had gone up to the sixth year girls' dorm to change into something more suitable for copious amounts of exercise.

She was a bit surprised to be the first to arrive, and wondered if she might appear too eager. Ah well, in this case, since she was vying with several other candidates for one of the remaining chaser positions, eager might not necessarily be a bad thing. She hadn't been able to convince Cern too try out with her. He'd discovered all too quickly how much heavier the workload was for a fourth year versus years past. She had given him a bit of a hard time about it, but in the end she understood, he needed his scores, and they had to come first. Besides, she could still bribe him into practicing with her during the holidays, and that was enough. When she'd made it to the pitch, she offered a smile and a mock salute.

Chaz was a good guy, and he certainly knew his stuff when it came to Quidditch. Keela had a lot of respect for his skills as a player, but the idea of his judging her worthiness as a prospective teammate still made her nervous. "Hi Chaz, got your start of season speech all planned out?" She asked by way of greeting.

[shava4444]

I DREAM OF GARDENS IN THE DESERT SAND

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( I dream of love as time runs through my hand ) [/b][/font]
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With his hair tied into tight rows (a feeling he did not enjoy; hair should be loose and flowing whenever possible) Mukhtar slipped his practice clothes on. If anything, the fifteen year old's muscles had gotten bigger and tougher then last year when the Captain's eyes had about popped the first time he was him with his shirt off. At this moment, if he had known what arm wrestling was, he probably could have arm wrestled and beaten the majority of the older students in the school. It should be pointed out, however, that he was no jock. Mukhtar played Quidditch because it helped with his aim and his House needed a strong beater, not because he worked out for sports. His were a young warriors muscles, build from constant daily exercise since he was age eight and to defend himself with knife fighting in raids by other tribes and military from other nations over the years.

Funny how when you defended your own life and those of your family every summer with weapons you built muscles like mad. Muk had become known last year for hitting bludgers with some serious force.

He didn't see strength as a great big deal though and often wore heavy clothes on during the year because of the Scottish weather. Only his teammates ever had seen him with his shirt off and he did no bragging; to him muscles were a tool for using, something you needed for survival and the lack of them in most wizarding kind he had noticed, a tad jealous maybe that their lands were not in war. He would give up his strength in a second if his people could have peace and their own ways back and not besieged by people trying to enforce their Western rules on them. Once he was dressed (and a thick sweater over it despite the fact the weather was warm outside, the stone felt cold to him) he got his towel and the broomstick his guardian had provided him, a Cleansweep Eleven and headed out of the dorm (grabbing his beater stick shoulder harness in a last moment thought). When he got to the field, and noted everyone gathering around he had hesitated only long enough to slip out of his sweater and drop it on his towel off the sidelines for later and jogged lightly over to the group.

As he listened, Muk leaned his broom against his chest and slipped into the x-shaped harness he had made this summer. It held the black and yellow painted conduit firmly on his back which in turn held his beater's bat firmly with nothing more then gel balls glued to the inside. He had practiced all summer on upside down flying as well as better control and though his speed was nothing great nor was his flying smooth, he could now wield his bat as well upside down as right side up, an advantage he thought would probably help them over all. Certainly, this game would be impossible on his carpet! Testing the bat's fluidity to come out, he pulled it out and replaced it a couple of times, limbering up until he understood the job in front of them. With a nod at his Captain, he tossed his leg over his broom and rose up, circling the seeker as he awaited the bludgers, pulling his bat out and ready to go.

He didn't wait long at all. Not that the possibility of running ten laps bothered him; unfortunately it being the beginning of the year he would be hard pressed to get through three of them before the tryouts was over. In the move they had worked on last year, he circled the seeker vertically as the other did cover the horizontal and more often speedier position requiring more maneuverability, something Mukhtar knew he did not have much of yet. However, his long practice this summer had made it much easier to adjust to this position as now he didn't have to keep turning as he went below the seeker, just flying up side down and ready to bat off the enemy. Since the bludgers were going to be coming from below right off the bat (pun un-intended by Muk, but by his writer) he was the first to come into contact with them both quite literally. The first he wound up for and as he came across the bottom side smacked quite solidly into the other (forcing the first to stop in air for a second hovering which lined it up) going for distance away from the group (and getting a good couple hundred feet on before it regained control) as he spun and smacked the other from the other direction, knocking it down into the ground itself, about a dozen paces away from the onlookers below.

The impact crater as it freed itself and sprang back into the air was a testament to how strong he was getting.

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Words:
Notes: nada
Lyrics: Desert Rose by Sting
Credit: Shava
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