[QUIDDITCH]: Gryffindor – Game 1

[Beater]

Amber stepped onto the field with hesitation. It'd been far too long since she'd played Qudditich and she wasn't sure that her skills were up to par. However, as she mounted her broom she knew that she had to put those feelings aside. A quick survey of the dummies in play let her know what she was dealing with, having mixed feelings about the letters placed on the chests of various players. Once the whistle blew and the bludgers were released though, she put her mind singularly on the task at hand.

She took off after one, with speed that the dummy beaters didn't seem to possess as they were slow to get started. That was good, in terms of opponents, not so good in terms of getting help from her teammate. Catching up to one, she aimed for the chaser of the opposing team who currently held the quaffle and swung hard. Unfortunately, time away from the game had gotten her a bit off of her edge and instead of hitting the bludger square on like she'd wanted, she hit the edge.

The projection was altered as a result and the bludger went flying straight toward the crowd.

"Oh Merlin," she groaned, hearing the whistle blow ring through the stadium.

"Gryffindor foul! Bumphing!" the ref said, her voice amplified by a speaking spell.

"It was an accident!" Amber replied, screaming toward the crowd which had erupted in boos and cheers depending on their inclination.

"The opposing team will have superior numbers for three minutes and the beater in question will be off the field."

Grumbling, she flew down to the penalty box and waited, hoping nothing too exciting would happen during the next three minutes.

[Beater]

The entirely of Amber's penalty seemed to drag out a lifetime and she watched anxiously as the game play progressed. The dummies on her team managed to take a shot at the goals but the professional level opposing keeper easily managed to stop it and throw the quaffle back toward the dummies of the same team.

She noticed her fellow beater did manage to send a bludger toward one of the chasers on the opposite team, but said chaser had just passed on the quaffle before the bludger came to knock it off course. Likewise, the opposing beaters did manage to send bludgers flying toward her own teammates but even one dummy's was hit, it managed to (just barely) keep itself from falling off even if it did mean dropping the quaffle.

Once her penalty was up, she took off into the sky, catching sight of the glittering snitch along the way but not bothering to try and point it out to either of the seeker dummies who seemed to be flying around the field in search of it. By the time they'd hear her it'd be gone, and she didn't want to help the opposition.

The first thing she did was fly over to the beater dummy of her team. She wasn't sure if it would be able to understand her, but she figured that it was worth a shot anyway. "Know how to do a dopplebeater defense?" she questioned, keeping her eyes on her players to try and make sure none of them were under attack at the moment.

The dummy didn't answer, but when she looked toward it, it was nodding. With a wicked grin she waved a hand. "Come on then, next time one gets close to a chaser we'll give it a shot."

They didn't have to wait too long for that to happen, within a few minutes a bludger was flying toward one of their chasers. She motioned for the dummy to follow her and they raced over, each bringing their bat back at the same time. The dummy was a second too slow so she did most of the hitting on the bludger, but it did go flying with quite impressive force in the general direction of one of the opposing chasers.

[Beater]

For the next few minutes, Amber sped around trying to keep the bludgers away from her team. Nothing too exciting happening. Then the dummies managed to score on the Gryffindor team keeper by pulling a last minute pass from one to the other and sending the quaffle through an open goal.

That was pretty frustrating, especially because she hadn't even been able to find a bludger to send their way before it happened. Nonetheless, the game continued with the dummies having a lead on the Gryffies. At one point, both seeker dummies seemed to have caught sight of the snitch at the same time and that had the crowd cheering although Amber didn't take the time to spare more than a glance so that she could continue on with her job; beating away a bludger from one of her chasers.

Since the game wasn't called, she assumed the snitch hadn't been caught and continued on. Using a backhanded swing to send a bludger flying into an opposing chaser, who then dropped the quaffle. One of the Gryffindor chasers swooped in to grab it and speed toward the goals, hurling it just under the broom of the opposing dummy keeper who - despite its best effort - just had the tips of its fingers brush along it as the quaffle sailed through, evening up the score.