PV Avery Gray Sky and Shadows

Interacting with: @Sere Nade Mentioning: N/A Date: 05/31/25

Word Count: 202

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Avery had just finished practice. Her first practice since her team lost the Quidditch match. The first time she had practiced since her attack when she thought she was going to die. It was nice to be in the air again and feel the wind in her hair. It gave her a sense of peace after all the events of the past few days. The practice had gone well. Leaving Avery with a sense of peace and happiness. She was glad that it had gone well and that nothing had backfired. Avery didn't know what she would have done if something bad happened. Avery was walking away from the pitch with her broom gripped between her fingers and her crimson and gold Quidditch robes flying in the breeze. That's when she heard her name. She turned to find a girl she recognized from the Gryffindor Party. She remembered her name possibly being Sere, but she wasn't completely sure. "Hi Sere!" She waved to the older girl. Avery sat down where Sere directed. "Just joined the Quidditch team a couple months ago. It's actually been quite fun. Though our final match of the season didn't go too well. Do you do any sports?"

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Date	:	May 31st, 2025
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

"I see, so you're on the team." Sere nodded in understanding, "Yeah, I heard the result as well..." The girl moved her toes inside the shoes, "It's fine, you guys tried your best and there's still time to make a comeback next year." She wasn't someone who always won when representing her house in duels either. Losing was certainly disappointing, but this was what fueled herself for the next matches. "I'm on duelling right now."

"Quidditch is that fun?" Sere interested to talk more about this topic, "What's your position? Chaser? Seeker? Umm... Beater?" The British-Korean girl wasn't sure about her last guess because Avery didn't look like a beater, and maybe because the practice the first-year did earlier was overall far from the beater actions she had read in the Flying textbook. "How fun is that... being a Quidditch player, doing sports on a broom? I've never flown outside of the class before."

She shared one of her impressions, "I saw some students having fun, flying around the Viaduct about a month ago, and in that very moment I knew that I wanted to try it! Even though it looked dangerous and... umm... probably against school rules..." Sere massaged the back of her neck, sheepishly continued, "...still, looked like so much fun." Then she realized something all of sudden, "Oh my! Don't tell me that you were one of that students flying around the Viaduct that time?" She covered her mouth, tried to hold back her grasp; but her feet swung a little bit too fast, couldn't hide her excitement, "Tell me, how was that? Thrilling? Refreshing?"

Mentioning : @Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Sere Nade Mentioning: N/A Date: 05/31/25

Word Count: 252

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"Dueling? That's so cool! I considered doing Dueling as a sport, but I don't think I would survive long." Avery laughed. She had no real experience dueling someone else, so she knew that she wouldn't do very well with that either, but she didn't voice that. It was a bit embarrassing. Especially for a Gryffindor. "Quidditch has its moments, but overall, it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy soaring through the sky and feeling the wind in my hair. I'm the backup Seeker for our team, by the way." Avery said with a smile at the memory of finally getting to fly in her first match. "Being a Quidditch player is a lot of fun. Especially when a game is high stakes and very fast. It makes the game more interesting. Especially when you have to sit on a bench until the main Seeker gets knocked out. It's a lot different to flying class. Maybe I could show you one day? If you want, of course. I practice here alone a lot of the time, so I wouldn't mind." Avery smiled at the memory of the Viaduct. She had just barely missed the race, but she had kept close and watched the race from her broom. "It was fun. Unfortunately, I barely missed the start to the racing part, but I did follow closely with my own broom. It was a joy to watch. Maybe someday I'll get to experience racing to the finish line against other people. It sounds exhilarating."

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Date	:	May 31st, 2025
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

Sere grimaced as Avery said she wouldn't last long in duelling. The girl totally understood that. Even she, herself, literally couldn't last in her first duels. Sere responded by offering Avery a trial in duelling someday, just in case the first-year felt the interest.

Hearing Avery seem to be enjoying broom sports so much, Sere became even more intrigued and finally agreed to Avery's invitation, "I'd love to! If it doesn't bother your practice, please bring me along sometimes." She hugged the novel that was on her lap as she continued, "Hearing that you enjoy it makes me wanna try it as well." She grinned with a hint of embarrassment laced in her words. The curious first-timer trait was so real at times like this.

Pausing for a moment while observing the glowing orb set down in the west, Sere suddenly got her aha! moment. "About flying..." The girl held up the mystery novel, place it side by side with her face, intended to show it to Avery. "I've been interested in mystery lately. I have one that just popped up in my mind. Would you like to hear it?" The girl also added that Avery could ask for additional details if she wanted to solve it as well as gave her opinion at the end of the story.

Sere cleared her throat, voicing the riddle she had been formulating in her mind.

One cloudy -with high probability of rain- morning, a broom racing team gathered for scheduled practice. Unfortunately, not everyone showed up. Only 3 out of 6 came for this schedule: the captain, the team's ace, and the ace's girlfriend who was also a part of the team. The captain informed them that he found three other members lying in the Hospital Wing with heavy cold caused by the extreme weather.

The discussion about whether they should continue practicing despite of the weather and the lack of members escalated into a conflict. The team's ace appeared to be refusing the practice session. He insisted that he couldn't possibly perform at his best in these conditions and both of his teammates should already know about this.

Sere covered the orange rays with her palm, leaving only her hand's shadow reached in her vision, and continued,

The ace's girlfriend reassured him, said that everything would be fine, and that any performance issues could be lightened with the usual way. In the end, they decided to keep practicing. The ace changed into his racing outfit in the locker room, applied eye drops, and carefully inspected his broom before stepping on to the track.

Today's track was quite simple: starting line, zooming through the trees and vines, practicing to face every environmental attackers at the outermost part of the forest, then exiting the forest and zooming to the finish line.

Everything went well, pretty smoothly with the captain at the front line, followed by the ace and his girlfriend behind him. Throughout the forest track, the ace seemed anxious, but eventually had no big trouble with anything. When they reached the end of the forest, the team saw a swarm of pigeons flying in the sky. Then the ace suddenly became very excited. His anxiety seemed gone. He even let out a 'woohoo!' before soared up into the sky, confidently taking the captain's front line.

"And the second after that... he screamed in pain and fell off his broom. Permanently injured." Sere lowered her palm, and squinted because of the sudden struck of the sunlight.

"The school then expelled the captain because he was proven to have harmed the ace," Sere looked at Avery, "What do you think the school found that made them took a decision to expel the captain?"

Interacting with : @Avery Gray

Reducio

I hope this is not too boring. I'm trying... And, sorry for the delay!

Interacting with: @Sere Nade Mentioning: N/A Date: 05/31/25

Word Count: 239

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Avery smiled. Glad that she had someone to help her with her dueling. She couldn’t wait to try it someday even though she knew she would probably be knocked out with the first spell. She knew from watching a dueling match earlier in the year that the sport could be intense. “Maybe we could exchange sport lessons sometime? You could show me some dueling skills and I could teach you some Quidditch tricks?” Avery wasn’t sure how the girl would respond, but the idea did sound interesting! “Mystery? I’m always up for a good mystery!” Avery’s eyes brightened as she listened to Sere. Avery had never been great at solving mystery puzzles, but she was hoping that her love for books and mysteries would help in this situation. Avery listened carefully. Making sure to take in every detail and analyze it. When Sere finished, she thought for a moment before saying, “Hmmm. Well, when the ace saw the pigeons he probably became distracted and that’s why he shot ahead. Leaving the chance for the captain to attack. The girlfriend would still be behind, so she would see the whole thing and probably report it to the higher authority. Honestly? I have no other idea of what this could be or if this is even correct.” Avery laughed a little after she finished. She hoped she hadn’t just made a fool out of herself in front of her new friend.

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Date	:	May 31st, 2025
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

The idea of ​​exchanging sports lessons brightened Sere's face. She nodded and immediately agreed. She wanted to learn more about sports at Hogwarts. She would definitely make an appointment with Avery again about this, and maybe watched a Quidditch match Avery was in someday.

This was Sere's first time writing her own mystery, so there would obviously be flaws here and there. "Your scenario would certainly be one-hundred-percent true if I liked something... physical. If I am wholeheartedly interested in fight scenes, for example," Sere turned to Avery, grinning as she massaged the back of her neck, "But that's not me. I don't really like physical fight." A writer's personality dictates their writing. Sere had heard about that somewhere. And because of that, she didn't make the captain directly injure the team's ace.

"One thing we both know is that the captain did it on purpose, and it's been proven that he did." She seemed to think for a while, "Let me give you a clue. The clue is... Belladonna." Sere wasn't sure if this word was familiar to Avery, so she continued, "A plant often used by European women in the Middle Ages to achieve one of their beauty standards back then: large pupils." The girl read that this plant was purposively used to dilate those women's pupils. "This plant is still exist now. I think we also have a few pots of this plant in the senior year's greenhouse..." Sere paused, "...or in the Hospital Wings." She glanced at Avery. This plant is medicinally used to treat digestive ailments and vision problems related to the eyes' inability to absorb light (in, and only in the right doses).

"Well, no one should take this more than the nurse's prescribed dosage because this plant is basically poisonous."

Interacting with : @Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Sere Nade Mentioning: N/A Date: 05/31/25

Word Count: 380

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Avery listened intently. Not even realizing how she had missed Belladonna. Her aunt had told her about the plant, yet she had told Avery very little. All Avery knew about it was that it could be used to treat digestive issues if given the correct dose, but the fact that it was poisonous in an overdose surprised Avery. That's when she realized a clue she had possibly been missing. The eye drops? The ace had taken some eye drops right before he flew. Was that the missing piece? Had the captain placed an overdose of Belladonna to mess up the ace and permanently hurt him? "Wait. Does this have to do with the eye drops? I know this seems crazy, but what if the ace dumped an overdose of Belladonna in the eye drops he knew the ace would use before he flew so that the ace would get hurt?" Avery frowned. Thinking deeply about her response. Unsure of whether or not it was logical. She had never been very good at riddles, yet the idea was amazing. She couldn't wait to hear Sere's response. That's when it registered to Avery that Sere seemed excited to exchange sports lessons. That alone added to Avery's excitement. She couldn't believe she was going to be learning dueling someday as well as teaching the older girl Quidditch. She couldn't believe that. All her life she had wanted to learn Quidditch, and now that she was on the team and had learned about the sport, she would now be sharing her passion with others. A thing that Avery had never expected herself ever doing. It made her happy. Excited. Ready to focus hard and solve the riddle. Maybe the reason Avery hadn't thought deeper into the riddle was because she was so focused on the physical side of it. Being in a broom sport, she was always used to the physical side of things. The physical injuries that were obvious that people could cause. Then there was the subtle side. The small things like an overdose of a poisonous plant or even a way to jeopardize an opponent without anyone else noticing. Those were the things that she guessed others would look into, though she wasn't sure. It was only a guess, of course.

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Date	:	May 31st, 2025
Color code	:	Written|Thought|Said

"Correct!"

Sere clapped her hands while swinging her legs excitedly. She'd read some information about plants and its probable poisonus effect in the Herbology and Potions collections in the library. That was when she'd got the idea for this case. This wasn't a particularly complicated case to solve, but -indeed- required some amount of background knowledge. Luckily, Sere chose to tell her riddle to Avery, and as the first one to hear it, Avery immediately picked up on the hint and figured everything out fastly.

Sere then explained some details about her riddle. First, the team's ace had a severe dry eye condition that resulted in nyctalopia (night blindness). The ace couldn't perform optimally in low light conditions, including the cloudy -almost raining- day that became the setting of this story. The captain and the ace's girlfriend were already aware of this condition, but the captain still requested a practice session that day. The fact that the captain came to the Hospital Wings and found the other three sick racers raised suspicions.

These suspicions were further supported by the discovery of Belladonna, a substance that could be find in the Hospital Wings, in the eye drops the ace used in the locker room before practice session. The only one who could do all three things simultaneously: force a training schedule in unfavorable weather conditions, steal Belladonna from the Hospital Wings, and put it into the eye drops in an excessively large dosage in the locker room right before the ace used it; was only the captain.

"But the irony is... the sun was shining brightly as they were nearing the end of the practice, and the ace was so happy that the clouds gone and the sky became clear, too happy that he took the lead and soared up to the sky..." Sere cleared her throat, "a painful coincidence considering the captain was initially jealous of the ace and only wanted to teach him a little lesson by blurring his vision during the practice session." Belladonna's effect was supposed to paralyze the ace's focusing muscles, blurring his vision for several hours. The fact that the captain had led the session by taking the lead position to create a 'save' little lesson forthe ace, "but the happiness of meeting the sun clearly ruined the captain's plan. Everything went wrong."

Sere stood up, "The point is, we shouldn't play such risky tricks to others. What do you think of the riddle? You're the first to hear it, and I'll take any input you have. Who knows, I might even write something else better in the future." She gave a sign to Avery, offered her for a together walk-back-into-the-castle bedore the sun completely set and the sky went dark. Sere had no condition related to the dark, but walking in the dark was still a dangerous thing no matter how good one's eyesight was. "Speaking of tricks... Do you have a favorite trick in Quidditch? I read that there are some interesting team strategies you can use in Quidditch. Is that true? And have you seen or done some of it?"

Interacting with : @Avery Gray

Interacting with: @Sere Nade Mentioning: N/A Date: 05/31/25

Word Count: 251

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Avery's eyes widened in surprise. "I got it correct?" She was shocked. How had she gotten the answer to the riddle so quickly? She was never quick about these kinds of things! Avery listened intently as Sere explained the scenario. Everything started to fit together and connect. Like the pieces of a puzzle. It made sense why the ace didn't perform well. With the captain knowing the condition, he was just setting the ace up for failure. But why? Why did the captain want to ruin his team? Was there a alterior motive? Avery had to know more, so she listened ever more carefully to what Sere was saying. That's when she found out the truth. The captain was jealous. Jealousy only led to bad things. And in this case, it did. Instead of teaching the ace a lesson, the captain had caused permanent damage to the ace. Causing to lose all chances at going professional. Wow. "Wow. I love this riddle! The story is so well thought out! I love even the subtle details like the sun mixed with the Belladonna! You should show this to others!" Avery grinned widely. A favorite trick? What was her favorite trick? Avery had seen many a trick in her last game and had even participated in a couple. "My favorite trick? Well, that's a tough one though flying upside down is quite fun. And yes! There are some interesting strategies! Though I haven't seen too many yet. None that stand out, at least."

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