[QUIDDITCH]: Hufflepuff – Game 4

 
 
 

-          Remember the skill levels of each dummy and RPG according to it, you’ll be judged on it.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Katie groaned as she picked up her broomstick and felt it was ice cold. It did not bode well for her hopes that the weather had improved since she left the Great Hall and come to the changing rooms. Resolving herself to the cold, Katie stepped out onto the field.

Oh for goodness sake, why today??? 

Snow was falling heavily. Not in that romantic, drifting snow kind of way but that watch out you're about to get blown over into a snow pile kind. The wind was howling and it was hard to see more than a few feet in front of her. Katie tightened her ponytail and prayed the conditions would improve soon. It hadn't been anything like this when she'd left the castle this morning!

"Seeker," she called hesitantly, watching the seeker dummy disappear.

Katie knew she never should have agreed to giving the Seeker position a try. She'd been practicing it a lot lately, but was definitely no expert. Katie frowned as she looked up at the sky. Between her frozen fingers and the lack of visibility, it would be hard for anyone to catch the Snitch, let alone someone playing their first game. 

She scouted the sky above her trying to make out the letters on the shadows moving above her, but the snow was just too much.

Guess I'll find out soon enough, she thought to herself before pushing off the hard, frozen ground.

Katie flew up high above the pitch in order to survey what was happening below her but still couldn't make out anything more than shadows.

Hmm..no choice but to get a bit closer to the action.

She pushed her broom downwards and headed into the middle of the pitch, watching a poorly hit bludger sail far to the right. Sure enough, an enemy beater sporting an "A" flew past shortly. Katie was relieved. At least she wouldn't have to worry about bludgers so much. 

I'd be more worried if they try to hit one away from me to be honest.


Katie continued surveying the field around her. The Chasers seemed to be holding their own despite the snowy conditions, and judging by the distant cheers and jeers of the crowd below, they seemed to be performing pretty well against the keepers, too. Even more reason to catch the snitch quickly before the point scoring got too out of hand. 

That and I'll be one step closer to a warm fire.


Katie flew around, circling from low to high, one side of the pitch to the other but had yet to catch sight of the snitch or the opposing seeker. If she could only get close to the other seeker she could at least know they weren't going to become aware of the snitch without her knowing! 

It took another five minutes of hopeless circling around the pitch before she caught sight of the enemy seeker, who appeared out of the white wall of falling snow. Katie's heart sank as she saw the glittering "P" on his chest. This was definitely going to be a challenge.

Katie had no choice but to stick close to the seeker and not let him out of her sight. In these conditions, she was better off waiting for them to make a move and following their lead. After all, they would have the experience necessary to find the snitch in these conditions.

With that in mind, Katie began following behind the opposing seeker. It didn't take long for him to realize what was happening and start trying to shake her. Katie tried to keep up with a series of loops, dives, sudden stops, and quick bursts. She was quickly becoming out of breath from the routine, but she was determined not to lose him.

Katie had lost him.

She let out a frustrated scream no one could hear over the gusty winds accompanying the snow. She couldn't have been following him more than twenty seconds before he managed to goad one of the beaters into hitting one in their direction. Katie had taken her eyes off the opposing seeker for seconds to watch the bludger sail past and had turned around to find him vanished into the snowy blizzard.

Shivering from the cold and her hands turning blue she went back to circling the pitch. The snow didn't seem to be giving any sign of letting up anytime soon. Katie had no idea who was winning, as the wind from the snowstorm was masking any of the announcers statements or cheering from the crowd.

Surely there must be some other method she could use that didn't involve her keeping up with a professional level seeker. But hard as she wracked her brain, no inspiration was coming to her. She sighed to herself. Maybe she'd be best off trying to find the seeker again and do a better just tailing him.

It was on her third lap of the pitch that she saw it--something shiny and glittering just a few feet below her. Could it be the snitch?

Katie dived down after it, reaching her hand out in anticipation. There was no mistaking that golden hue, it had to be the snitch.

Almost there....just a little bit farther...

THWACK.

Something very solid had collided with Katie, and her hand grasped on empty air. One of the opposing beaters, whether by accident or because of the lack of visibility she wasn't sure, had rammed into her mid-air.

Katie angrily looked around for the referee. Surely that counted as blatching! However, Madam Hooch was nowhere to be found, and certainly wouldn't have seen the hit through all of the snow.

Fuming, Katie restarted her fruitless circling of the pitch.

HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER

Katie was cold, wet and miserable. Any remaining confidence she had was quickly being depleted as she shivered in her desperate search for the snitch. The only comfort for her was the the enemy seeker hadn't yet found the snitch either; the conditions were obviously extreme even for professionals.

Several times Katie had thought she had seen the snitch again, only to rush over to its general direction and realise it was just gold reflecting from a dummy's robes, for the gold from a spectators watch reflecting off the snowy sky.

Katie couldn't tell if it was her imagination or not, but the visibility on the field seemed to only be getting worse. While before she could see shadows moving against the white falling snow, now it was hard to see players or bludgers until they were nearly upon her. It was definitely giving her an exercise in dodging and fast reflexes.

She had decided the best thing to do would be to go back to following the opposing seeker, as Katie really couldn't think of anything else that could possibly help her catch the snitch. The cold was making it hard to concentrate on anything but how miserable she was, so at least if she was following the seeker she'd have something to do that wouldn't let her mind wander.

The only problem was actually finding the other seeker.

Katie weaved around the field, passing (or more realistically, dodging as they suddenly appeared directly in front of her) dummies along the way. It looked like Hufflepuff had the Quaffle (for now) but it was impossible to tell what the score was, as she could neither see the scoreboard or hear the announcer.

Normally Katie would keep an eye on the score when playing seeker, to ensure that she didn't catch the snitch too soon if Hufflepuff was too far behind in points.

Today, however, Katie could care less. The sooner anyone caught the snitch would still be one hour too late for her.

Katie pulled her broomstick to a stop as she saw goalposts in sight. She sighed. Another lap complete and she still hadn't found the other seeker. Gathering up her resolves, she put her hands back on the icy broomstick and flew back off towards the center of the pitch.

HUFFLEPUFF SEEKER

Katie had finally found the opposing seeker. She was following him through the low visibility, practically right on his tail. If she ventured any further back, he'd vanish into the snow. The good thing was he wasn't moving very fast, which Katie attributed to the fact moving too quickly in this weather was a good way to make sure you either collided with another player, hit a bludger full on, or ended up outside the pitch before you knew it.

Katie was tiring, not because any of the seeker's maneuvers she was following were anything special at the moment, but from the pure exhaustion of gripping an ice cold broom with fingers she couldn't feel, and constantly squinting to see through the snow.

God, I wish snitchnipping wasn't a thing. Katie thought to herself. If everyone could just give up on their positions and look for the snitch, I wouldn't even care who grabbed it. Alas, a penalty was a penalty and only the designated seeker could catch the snitch.

Katie swerved left and down with the seeker, her mind now wandering to whether or not there was precedent or a Quidditch game to be called off because of weather. No matter how hard she wracked her brain, she couldn't think of one.

Katie mimicked the opposing seeker's loop de loop above her, scanning the sky for a sign of anything golden, but all she found was a white wall.

The seeker suddenly banked to the right, and Katie quickly followed, wondering if he'd spotted something at last. As she turned, she saw a black shape come out of the darkness, colliding square on with the other seeker. Katie didn't have time to stop, she was too close to the tail of the seeker. She held on tighter to her broom and pulled back, trying to slow as she rammed into the two wooden dummies. One of her hands slipped off the broom because of the impact and she slid sideways off the broom, clinging to the broomstick with her other hands and legs. Heart pounding, she used all her strength to right herself on the broom.

This game was moving from difficult to downright dangerous.