The member 'Salazar Slytherin' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Seekers' : 4

The first quidditch match of the year was always Gryffindor versus Slytherin, and Harry never felt ready for it. This year was the worst of all, though. Harry felt unprepared. He was also captaining his first match of his career. Oh, and as of a day or so ago he was dating the Slytherin seeker, who had been dating the Slytherin captain at this point last week. Nothing complicated or anything.

He hadn’t slept at all. He hadn’t eaten a thing this morning. He had been entirely unable to make a speech to his team. He got into the locker room, changed into his quidditch things, and then stood up and sat back down every few minutes, finally grunting a few times and leading his team out onto the pitch.

He glared at Draco all through Madam Hooch’s usual speech. He knew that Skyler had wanted things to not get bad between them. Based on the look on the blonde’s face, it didn’t work. “The next thing I take from you is gonna be your pride after we steamroll you in this match,” Harry said, smirking as he tried to break all the fingers in Draco’s right hand while they shook.

Draco stood in the locker room with a look of angry determination on his face. How had things gotten so messed up in so little time? And right before the biggest match of the season? He wanted to drown himself in the damned lake rather than mounting his broom and taking on the bane of his existence. It was only fitting that Potter was the one to take the one thing he really loved right out of his arms. He took everything else Draco ever wanted. Why not add one more?

After threatening his team should they manage to lose, the blonde led them onto the field and took his place before Potter. Hooch’s words were lost on him as he glowered at the boy who made him want to kick small creatures. He knew the drill. Knew what she would say anyway. It didn’t matter. He was going to make sure every single bludger he got a hit on was headed straight for the Scarred Wonder.

He reached out his right hand and squeezed as tight as he could, feeling his own fingers nearly crack and knowing he was doing about the same to Potter. ”I’m going to take your pride and whatever shred of dignity you still have and squash it right under my boot. Your own girlfriend is gonna kick your arse, and Slytherin is going to win the cup this year. So prepare yourself for a breakdown.” With that, he broke the shake and swung a leg over his broom, waiting for the whistle to tell him he could start aiming to kill.

The member 'Salazar Slytherin' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Chasers' : 3

The tension in the locker room was at an all time high and it wasn't hard to guess why. The split between their team's seeker and captain meant that everyone dressed in mostly silence. The dark skinned wizard was no exception. Blaise had managed to stay out of confrontations for far too long to end that streak now, and he wanted in no way to be between the witch and wizard if they went at each others throats.

He followed his captain's lead and fell in step behind him as they headed out to the pitch, dark eyes scanning the sky. It seemed the weather might cooperate for a change, not that it mattered even the slightest. Every member on the team was more positive than ever that this year the cup was going to be theirs. Blaise had to admit that he too had Ben skeptical about a girl being in the team, and especially playing seeker, but even he had to admit that Riddle had proven herself time and again during practices and Draco never went easy on her. None of them did.

The younger witch had become a cemented part of the team which was why it was difficult for the rest of them to experience the sudden tension between her and Draco. Both still looked as determined to win and Blaise was reassured by the shake between the two captains. He himself stood opposite of the Weaselette, and he smirked at her. Blaise had played gryffindor enough times to know that this year she was the chaser to watch out for. The red head was a formidable opponent both on and off the field and one would only be a fool not to admit that. The dark skinned wizard was not going to do her the favor of underestimating her.

He swung his leg over his broom and prepared for the blow of the whistle and the release of the balls. Looking to each of the other two chasers he received nods from both and kept his focus until finally there was the quaffle. Blaise wasted no time in weaving into the mass of players and resurfacing with the red ball tucked safely under his arm. The flurry of red and green and the chanting of the crowd had his blood pumping hard with adrenaline and the boy headed down the pitch, streaking towards the gryffindor goal post.

He didn't look back to see who was on his tail but leaned forward to push his broom faster, coming up on the Weasel, Blaise faked a throw to left hoop, dark eyes completely focused on that hoop to throw the gryffindor keeper off and tossing the quaffle towards the right hoop. With any luck Weasley had turned back into the mass of nerves he had been when he first started playing.

The member 'Blaise Zabini' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Chasers' : 5

Nerves were a natural part of quidditch, and always had been especially bad for the gryffindor prefect. However bad they were normally, it seemed to be doubled this day. Ron was only thankful he wasn't the only one. Harry looked as bad as Ron felt at breakfast and that was worrying enough. His best mate was usually all confidence about matches. Needless to say, neither of them had eaten so much as a bite. A first for Ron who was usually shoveling food into his mouth like there was no tomorrow.

The traditional first match of the season meant they would be flying head to head with their greatest rivals. Slytherin. Both houses were particularly rowdy in the great hall, roars and hisses being thrown across the hall. The red head knew their house was confident in their team and why wouldn't they be? Their team had always been unstoppable. The question now was, could they keep it that way?

The best beaters in the business were gone now, replaced with a couple of gryffindors who Ron thought were just as likely to knock their teammates off their brooms as the other team's players. The chasers weren't bad but they weren't Alicia or Angelina. Ginny was brutal though, but sometimes overconfident. He himself let his nerves get the best of him at times and that usual had him mucking up his saves.

Harry was the only foolproof talent on the team these days, and Ron was confident in his best friend's skills. The only reasons he doubted a win today for the house of boldly lions was the fact that Harry's flying took a nosedive when he was up against a pretty girl on a broom. Riddle was pretty, even Ron would own up to that, but that didn't even begun to cover the whole situation. Not only was the snake pretty, but Harry was apparently dating her, something the red head was still having trouble coming to terms with. Add that to the fact that her talent and skills were unknown to anyone other than the rest of the Slytherin team who looked as confident in their seeker as the gryffindors were in Harry, and the fact that the Ferret looked as if he wanted to beat Harry with his bat, and Ron's confidence in a win today was dwindling.

Sooner than he liked he was marching onto the field along with the rest of the team. He didn't pay much attention to Madame Hooch's speech. It was the same every year, every match. Ron nearly groaned when Harry baited Malfoy, who seriously looked ready to kill his friend. Any other time, ferret baiting was fine. But if Malfoy knocked Harry out with his bat they didn't have a reserve seeker to replace him with. If that was going to happen it looked like it would happen in the air and Ron threw a leg over his broom and the second the whistle blew he was out at the goalposts on the gryffindor end of the field.

He flew back and forth between them, knowing he would be an idiot to sit still or to leave any of them unblocked. It didn't take long for one of the slytherin chasers to steal the quaffle and head his way. Ron did his best to ignore the nerves in his stomach and concentrate and focus on the fact the bloke seemed fully committed to the left hoop. Usually chasers didn't give up which hoop they were going for until the last second which made the red head doubt it would be the left hoop the chaser was going really intending to throw the ball at. He turned out to be right and was glad he hadn't dove to the left, instead moving to the right and stretching his arms out to grab the ball.

The member 'Ron Weasley' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Keepers' : 1

He probably should have been celebrating Weasley’s abundant lack of Keeping skill and his own Chaser’s ability to score, but instead Draco was searching for something to hit. The idea was for that something to be a bludger, but his anger at the world was strong enough that it could be damn near anything at the moment. Hell, let the lion beater try her luck with him. He’d love to have an impromptu sword fight in the air.

Instead of such an entertaining option, the blonde soon spotted a bludger and flashed over to give the ball a great whack. If it hit its mark, Potter would soon find himself in a world of pain. A smirk crossed Draco’s lips at the very thought. Maybe the precious savior of their world would plummet off his broom bruise his giant ego. That would be nice. If Sky was too distracted by his fall to catch the snitch, though, Draco would be beyond mad. She had a job to do and she had better live up to it.

The blonde kept flying, looking for the other bludger in the hopes of hitting another toward the Gryffindor Seeker. At this point it didn’t even matter if his powerful attack hit, since he had a lot more in him still, and they were all saved up for the scarred wonder. Even if they lost, Draco would still celebrate if he managed to get Potter stuck in the hospital wing for a while.

The member 'Draco Malfoy' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Beaters' : 7

This was so not good. Ginny could tell her brother’s nerves were shot even before they sat down at the breakfast table. Then he didn’t eat, and Harry didn’t eat, and Harry didn’t even make a speech. And she caught him looking over at his girlfriend during the little bit of time they’d actually spent in the Great Hall, which was only going to distract him and throw him off his game. If there was one thing the redhead knew, it was that Skyler would never forgive Harry for going easy on her. That meant he needed to get his head in the damn game if he didn’t want an angry girlfriend on his hands.

When they were in the locker room and neither Harry nor is assistant captain took it upon himself to make a speech, she stood up and told the team to get out there and show the snakes just how fierce the lions were. She then followed her captain to the field and took off at the whistle, glaring at Zabini for getting the quaffle first. She followed him down the pitch only to groan as her brother flailed and stuck his hands out only to catch thin air. Leave it to Ron to give into his nerves.

The fiery redhead took the quaffle from her embarrassed brother and shot off toward the Slytherin hoops, noting the cheers from the stands. She was going to make sure this game didn’t go spiraling out of control. ”Go Gryffindor!” she roared as she flew past the stands, spinning in a flashy move and tossing the ball into the air, ending her spin with a whack from the tail of her broom, sending the quaffle hurling toward the center post.

The member 'Ginny Weasley' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Chasers' : 5

Orion had smirked all through breakfast in the great hall, sitting with his teammates at the center of the table as was traditional on game days. The tension between their captain and their seeker could be cut with a knife, but like the other members on the team, he ignored it. The boy had been the first to doubt Malfoy when he had put the girl on the time, and in his previous position no less, but after the first few practices it was clear that Riddle definitely earned her place amongst the talented bunch of male snakes.

He had smirked in the locker rooms, when Malfoy had told them to win or die trying. The Ice Prince seemed to be back with a vengeance, and everyone knew without a doubt just who he would be pitting those bludgers against. If Potter survived the game, Orion would be surprised. The Gryffindors seemed a little on edge, and who could blame them. This was always the match of the year, and this year Slytherin had secrets up their sleeves. Not to mention a Seeker who's talents were unknown to anyone except them.

The whistle blew and he steered his broom to the goalposts, circling them like hawk would circle it's pray. The boy's eyes watched with something akin to amusement as Blaise tore down the field with chasers on his tail and scored the first goal, setting a good tone for Slytherin. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Malfoy take a swing with his bat to aim a bludger at Potter, but Orion didn't watch long enough to see if it hit it's mark, because the Weaselette was flying full speed his way.

The crowd roared after her, but he didn't pay attention much, his sole focus on the chaser who was attempting to get the ball through one of his posts. He watched, concentrating enough to move on a seconds' notice as she hit the ball with the end of her broom, sending it to the middle hoop. Orion, swooped down as soon as he saw its direction, and answering her flashy move, spun his own broom, hoping to catch the ball with it's tail and send it flying toward his waiting chaser.

The member 'Orion Ramellien' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Keepers' : 5

Unlike the rest of the team, Aimee had been far more excited than nervous. Today she was going to be able to hit things without getting in trouble. Even better, she was going to be encouraged to hurt people, as long as they were wearing the green color she associated with home. This was going to possibly be the best day of her young life.

She ate a hearty breakfast, and then practically bounced out to the locker room on the cheers of her housemates. She was quite proud of herself as she changed into house quidditch robes for the first time. When the teams lined up she stood across from the Slytherin seeker, as her actual counterpart was the Gryffindor captain and Aimee’s was the Slytherin one. She smirked at the small girl, wondering just what it was that Captain Potter saw in the girl and how mad he would be if the Irish girl caught her in the face with a bludger and made her less pretty.

Then the whistle sounded, and that idea was momentarily put aside as she shot into the air, looking for something fun to hit. She did in fact get to the first bludger of the match, but in her excitement she swung far too hard and wildly, launching it at the Gryffindor side of the stands at about a hundred miles an hour instead of at the Slytherin keeper, where she had wanted to send it.

The next several minutes were spent flying in angry circles and looking unsuccessfully for something to hit. First Zabini managed to make the boy Weasley look incredibly bad and Aimee swore loudly, remembering last year all too well. Soon after this, Captain Potter was caught in the stomach with a bludger that might have been hit even harder than Aimee’s. Then Ramellien made a stunning save on the girl Weasley and tossed the quaffle back into play.

Luckily, at that point the Irish girl spied another bludger and sped off to it, hitting it towards the Slytherin hoops as hard as she could. With any luck, it would take Zabini out before he could grab the quaffle again. Or it would hit the quaffle and knock it away. Or she would miss, but her backswing would catch Malfoy in the head, as he had been after the same bludger. As long as someone got hit with something, she would really be okay. The best result for the team would be hitting Zabini in his arrogant little head, though.

The member 'Aimee McGregor' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Beaters' : 8

Being a captain was hell. From the moment the match began, Harry had to not only do his normal routine of looking for the snitch and keeping an eye on the other seeker, he also had to follow the match much better than normal so that he would know if he needed to do any captain things. This was made even more difficult by the fact that every time he glanced at Skyler to make sure she hadn’t seen the snitch he found himself staring for a few seconds and forgot what else he was supposed to be doing.

It had already backfired once, as while he was distracted by Ron missing a relatively straightforward save, he had lost sight of Malfoy and been caught straight in the stomach by possibly the hardest bludger he had ever taken. The next several minutes were spent trying to catch his breath and stay on his room, and the next thing he was aware of was McGregor putting a perfect bludger on Zabini to pay him back for scoring that first goal of the match.

The next thing that he was aware of was a glint of gold in the same direction, though not as far as where the action was happening. He moved down slowly, hoping that Sky wouldn’t notice and would just think he was dipping down to shout advice or coaching of some kind to his chasers. As if Harry was qualified to give advice. He was the captain, but Ron was in charge of all strategy.

When it was too late to keep pretending, Harry shot straight at the speck of gold like a rocket, hoping that he could avoid bludgers, outrace Sky, and grab the snitch before his best mate’s nerves and Ramellien’s sure hands combined to make the score terrible. His hand was out as he flew full force, just waiting to close around the snitch.

The member 'Harry Potter' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Seekers' : 1

Skyler had really been excited for the match, up until the Gryffindor team captain replaced the Slytherin captain as her boyfriend. At that point, her main concern had become that her now ex boyfriend might kill her current one during the game. The obvious tension between her and Draco was straining, and at an all time high that morning as the team sat together. The brunette made sure to place herself well away from the blonde, who had made it perfectly clear that he had nothing to say to her and wanted even less to do with her.

All in all, it wasn't exactly the start she had hoped for on the day of what everyone around Hogwarts was saying was the biggest match of the year. The teen didn't eat anything, doubting she could stomach much, but refused to allow everything happening outside of Quidditch effect her to the point that she couldn't do what her team entrusted her to do. The Slytherin team was the one place she actually felt she belonged, and she wasn't prepared to give it up without a fight.

There was also the large part of her that didn't want to let Draco down. She knew it hurt him to lose her to Harry, and the brunette was determined to not allow him to lose this to her Gryffindor boyfriend as well. It was an incredibly hard line to walk between the two boys, but she would do it, because she loved them both. Sky would figure out a way.

So when she marched onto the pitch, strutting behind the others and into the cheering of the crowd, the Slytherin's vibrant colored eyes took a moment to appreciate it. Sure, she had played before, but this was her very first game at Hogwarts. She promised to make it count.

Lining up opposite the Gryffindors, Skyler faced one of the beaters on their team, and noted how she looked as if she would enjoy knocking her off her broom. The teen quirked a brow, a slow smirk curling her lips as she mounted her broom with ease. Inside, she winced at the words exchanged between the two captains, and shot a glare at Harry. Was it necessary to rub it in Draco's face like that? Shaking her head, the teen focused solely on the game. Forget the bloody idiot boys. If they were going to rip each other to shreds and ignore the fact that the only one who would hurt in that case was her, then let them. She probably deserved it anyways.

When the balls were released Sky's eyes followed the snitch, but the clever little golden ball was lost in the frenzy of chasers, beaters, and bludgers. The small witch weaved through them until she could break for higher air, directing her broom with ease. She had gotten used to how it practically read her mind, and flying had never felt so weightless and natural as it did on that broom.

She circled above the others, searching for the snitch and only looking out for bludgers. The rest she didn't pay attention too. Her job was to get to the golden ball before Harry did, the famed Gryffindor Seeker of Hogwarts, and Sky was determined to do it. Every once in a while her purple gaze would find Harry, but only long enough to make sure he hadn't spotted it first. In the game, he wasn't her boyfriend. He was her competitor. Plain and simple. She only hoped he could see it the same way.

Having dropped down and circling the stands in her search, the Slytherin seeker was just rounding the end where Gryffindor's goal posts were when she spotted him shooting off. It only took a half a second for her to spot the same glint of gold Harry was now shooting towards, and Sky turned her broom sharply, grinning as she laid flat on in and burst forward like a bullet, shooting straight through the rest of the players, making them scatter on her way.

Harry was fast, but Sky's broom was faster, and she caught up to him just as he stretched his arm out to try and catch the little ball. In all fairness, he might have caught it, the only problem was the snitch decided to change directions and head straight down. The brunette didn't bother so much as glancing at Harry, instead immediately following the ball in a dive. The speed was incredible, but the ball had a bit of a head start in the dive.

So she did what Draco had told her never to do again. She tilted her broom just a tad bit back, and it shot forward as she leaned further against the handle, now in a complete nose dive. It was the same one she had used at her try out, and the blonde had made her ears bleed with his lecture. In her defense, he had said in the locker room to win or die trying. The ground however wouldn't be so forgiving if she hit it at this speed, and it was coming up fast.

The devil of a ball chose to veer off to the right, and Sky wrapped her legs around her broom and pulled up out her dive moments before she would've splattered on the ground. The brunette was so focused on the snitch that it didn't phase her, and the girl continued in her chase. The ball led her halfway across the pitch again and this time it was well within reach. She stretched her hand out, hoping to close her fist around the gold ball.

The member 'Skyler Riddle' has done the following action : Quidditch

'Seekers' : 8