Spectator Broom Racing Hufflepuff v Slytherin - Spring 2025

Joseph squinted through his binocs, studying the racers’ faces as though they were peculiar books he'd pulled from a shelf on impulse. A handful of them seemed uncertain, while others appeared so confident Joseph briefly wondered if they had been preparing for this day from birth. He spent a little longer observing AF, who was literally bouncing in her spot before making a heart shape with her hands, presumably to the girl with the large banner.

He smiled faintly, lowering the binoculars to give his eyes a break. The wind tousled his hair, as he reached into his pocket for the chocolate bar he had brought along - his sole snack to last him throughout the race. Better not eat it now. That would be a crisis for Future Joseph.

The race kicked off.

Reclining in his seat, Joseph clapped appreciatively, more for public show than genuine admiration. The badgers were doing surprisingly well, surging forward while leaving the Slytherins to take turns falling out of the sky like very unfortunate birds. He chuckled, eyeing the plummeting students with mild interest. He wondered which of them was Colin.

The cheers erupting around him only grew louder, a Slytherin girl sitting near banner-girl belting out names as she shouted out encouragement to the racers, both Hufflepuffs and Slytherins alike.

One name in particular caught his ear.

Ruth? As in- Ruth Ruth? Broom racer?

Joseph fumbled for his binoculars, scanning through the racers zipping through the sky for a familiar face. Then he spotted her. Ruth speeding through the sky, clearly focused, until a lobster-esque creature with very poor manners took a nip at her arm.

“Yeowch.” Joseph muttered, wincing in sympathy. Hopefully it didn’t hurt as much as it looked. He made a mental note to offer her a biscuit or two later.

Turning to his gaze to the other spectators, Joseph noted banner-girl squeezing an older Slytherin girl’s hand, a broad grin etched onto her face. The Slytherin brunette who had been cheering passionately earlier sat close by, probably a part of the friend group. Joseph tore his gaze from the girls, an unprecedented sense of loneliness creeping in. He couldn’t quite explain it. It was like he was always surrounded by people but somehow still always felt… alone.

“Focus on the race,” Joseph whispered to himself, shaking the thought out of his head as his eyes returned to the sky. The fallen Slytherins had clambered back onto their brooms and were pursuing the leading badgers relentlessly, but it seemed the Hufflepuff’s had managed to put some decent distance between them. That was nice. Maybe seeing the badgers triumph would make his day.

Mentioning: @Emily Shephard @AngelFyre McCubbin @Ava Winchect @Kaitlyn Connor @Ruth Fairchild

English | Parseltongue
mentioning: @Linda Ramirez
Soon to meet: @Graci Laren

Della wasn't sure why she had stayed to watch the next game. Maybe walking back to the castle seemed like too much work. Maybe watching someone else lose would make Gryffindor's season this year less demoralizing. Linda had to stay to manage the game—boy, did she get the short end of the stick here—so Della would at least wait for her co-captain before looking her teammates in the eyes in the common room.

Hufflepuff took an early lead over Slytherin. The badgers were usually the outright winners, but the snakes had finally broken their losing streak this year, so there was still hope for them yet. But their oldest player, Wyatt Starkey, was behind the main pack, which didn't bode well for them. Any alley-oop wouldn't hurt to use there.

Hmmm, calculating how another underdog team could win their match was taking Della's mind off spending most of her race on the ground. For better or worse, she loved this sport, but she had not yet had the chance to be bad at it. It was hard to pinpoint what part of her strategy this morning had gone wrong—it seemed like dumb luck for Ravenclaw that her wand didn't work or the waterfall got to her. It was much the same way that dumb luck would decide here if Slytherin or Hufflepuff came out on top. The edge of randomness that was inherent in broom racing was much more exciting as a spectator. But triumphing over it was a million times more satisfying as a racer.

Graci beamed as she watched the race begin. Her first time watching a match. I could get used to this. So enthralling. I really should pay more attention in Flying.

So there she sat, at a game that her own house wasn't even playing in. (She had heard they'd had a bad season.) It was a relatively nice game, and the sport had her enraptured. Graci didn't understand why she thought it was so fascinating. It was just dueling on brooms with nature trying to stop you.

Not an easy sport in the least, but ever intriguing to her. The idea of playing the next year had wormed its way into her brain and she couldn't get it out. Earlier she had made up her mind to ask her parents over the summer and just enjoy the match.

In her mind the atmosphere only made it better. Everyone watching with anticipation and the wind slipping in-between the masses.

Her eyes widened every time someone cast a spell or fell off their broom, both which happened with surprising regularity.

Foot tapping to the rhythm of the crowds around her, she watched with rapt attention, trying to figure out why they did what they did. She did that a lot, but usually by herself and with actions that had hurt her. Not sports. It was a nice change, for once.

Jack was neither a natural cook nor a baker, but that didn't mean he hadn't made things before. He had baked dragon-shaped croissants with Ruka before and following recipes was as simple to the perfectionist as following instructions to make potions from his potion book. Thus, when Hanako had asked to use his favor token by having Jack bring him 'something tasty for him to munch on' after his dueling match, the Welsh teen was determined to impress. He had thought that Hanako's favor to him had been worth more than what Hanako had asked for, so he was determined to go above and beyond the simple request to surprise the other Slytherin in the way he had surprised him.

He had wanted to come in his fox form bearing a basket of food, but as he didn't want to distract the broom-racers or the audience members from the races going on, he decided on just going as his normal self instead. So he came with a little basket lined with colorful napkins that also covered the basket contents while he found the seat Hanako had saved for him with his Omniculars. Picking the Omniculars up, he gently and wordlessly set them down closer to their owner before lifting the napkins from the top of the basket and folding the back to expose what was inside.

Arranged as if it were a basket of blossoms were a series of colorful, flower-shaped tarts. There were little rose-shaped apple tarts with petals of extremely thin apple slices, daisy-shaped lemon tarts with lemon-flavored filling centers, and sunflower-shaped cream cheese and jam tarts. Jack had also brought a couple of bottles of rose juice to complete the flower theme for fun. Best of all was that all the tarts and even the juice had been infused with the Invigoration Draught they had been taught in their fourth year in order to revive the energy Hanako had lost during his dueling match. And even Wyatt's energy if Hanako chose to share some later since there were easily more than any one person or even two could finish in one sitting. Jack had made sure of that.

Though he watched Wyatt for a little while, smiling with the pride of a fellow Severus Snape dormmate and Slytherin, he looked back at his basket just in time to keep his little shadow of a stalker from getting her curious paws into it, picking her up and holding her with one arm to keep her out of the food. With his other, he took a cream-cheese-and-jam tart and raised it to Hanako's lips.

"Say 'ahhh'."

@Hanako Tone & @Wyatt Starkey

Ava offered a nod at Kaitlyn, acknowledging the cheering younger Slytherin before returning to her conversation with Emily.

Ava nodded tightly at Emily, happy that the girl was as forgiving as ever. Em reminded Ava of a puppy in the best way possible. She needed more of that happiness in her life. Sometimes Ava wished she could be like that. She released a sigh, knowing it wasn’t to be.

Em squeezed her hand in alarm, but Ava was just grateful for the support and the person to talk to. It was nice to have someone to share these things with rather than just bottling it all up. She merely nodded at Em’s idea, not certain it would help at all. She was so thoroughly behind in her classes, she wasn’t sure there was much that could be done to help her. She dreaded that exams seemed to be creeping up as quickly as ever.

“I hope so as well. I may not be the greatest flier on the team, but I’m certainly not too shabby, either.” Ava grinned and winked, trying to force some enthusiasm into her face. She was at the game to support her former teammates, not to bring the mood down.

Emily cheered for her friends, while Ava leaned back on her hands and took a deep breath. This wasn’t so bad, afterall. Although she did feel as though she had already done a damage to the atmosphere between the two for the day, that didn’t mean she couldn’t help it bounce back into its usual rhythm of energetic enthusiasm.

The stands continued to fill, mainly with Slytherins and Hufflepuffs, although she did notice a few other houses as well. She nodded at what Emily said about cheering for both teams, although her enthusiasm was reserved for her own house. She watched intently as the race continued, the usual dance of fouls and dodging that accompanied any good broomrace.

@Emily Shephard

May 3rd 2025
Speech: #cfa120
Thoughts: Italics
@Ava Winchect

"I don't think shabby describes you at all. Not that I'm trying to inflate your ego or anything, but I always considered you and Colin the All-Stars of the Slytherin broom racing team! Colin is rash and goes in without thinking too far ahead, but provides spirit and energy. You on the other hand are careful and sneaky, perfect for gaining the upper hand in races!"

Emily wouldn't have raced with them if she didn't think they had even the slightest braincell to keep her up in the air without her going splat on the ground later on. Emily would never be a broom racer herself, neither casually nor professionally but she knew broom talent when she saw it, and she definitely knew Ava had it.

"I'm sure that if and when you decide to return to the team, they'd be lucky to have you back," the Huffie said brightly. "It'd be nice to see you compete again! I do kind of miss watching you race..."

She wrapped a buddy arm around Ava as they watched the race together. Emily had an itch inside that Ava wasn't telling her exactly everything. At the same time, Emily couldn't complain when she was right here after so long with the radio silence between them. And if she was welcome to some "study time" with her, then good for her! She grinned and smooshed her cheek against Ava's shoulder.

"Welcome back, Ava...!"

_{Word Count: 239}

Stats: Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 7 | Strength: 7 | Wisdom: 9 | Arc Power: 8 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities: Non-Human Enthusiast |Cat's Grace

English | Parseltongue
interacting: @Graci Laren

A small Gryffindor had taken a seat on the bench not far from Della. The racing captain didn't recognize her except for a vague sense I've-seen-you-in-the-common-room-or-at-meal-time-ness that was applied to basically every fellow lion. At first, Della didn't think much of her appearance here—sure, not many Gryffindor students were here to watch the other teams play, but maybe the girl was upset with the abysmal performance by their house this year. Della sighed. She was supposed to be enjoying the game, supporting Linda, not rotting in her own self-pity.

She turned her attention back toward the game: The badgers were being ruthless as ever, and Wyatt was still making a mad dash for the finish line. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the same Gryffindor's head move in sync with the racers; she seemed to be watching attentively. Almost as attentively as Della was.

The older Gryffindor wasn't sure what possessed her in that moment, but she felt the urge to scoot closer. And so she did.

She found herself saying aloud, "Broom racing is amazing, isn't it?" In case the girl didn't realize that Della was speaking to her—was that what Della was trying to do?—she added, "You know the team always does tryouts at the beginning of the year. Maybe Gryffindor needs some new blood on the team."

Graci was a little bit surprised when the older girl had started speaking. Not for any particular reason, just because Graci wasn't expecting it in the slightest. Then again, she hadn't really attended many games, so she wouldn't know normal from odd. She had watched some of the other broom racing matches/games/whatever they were called, but usually just sat there... observing.

"Oh, it's quite wonderful, it was kind of confusing to understand at first, but after watching for a bit I realized it was just because they were going so fast and I was getting the people mixed up." Graci laughed a little, remembering the times she was confused out of her mind because 'oh my gosh how did they get there'. "And when you say 'new blood' it sounds like it's a cult. But who knows, maybe I will try."

Some sports back at Muggle school did seem rather cult-ish. Like they all had adapted the same style and personality, then again, all the older kids seemed to just be following trend after trend. Graci, personally, didn't understand why, but she had an inkling she would get it after a while. Wanting to fit in, be liked, that made sense, but at Hogwarts everyone was so individual, and they never seemed to mind.