Raising Support for Broom Racing Errand Open

Of all the things about the wizarding world that her mother had tried to prep her about, Zelda was the least clear about Quidditch and anything related to riding a broom, probably because her mother had had a complete lack of interest on that score during her time in Hogwarts. Even now that she was already eight months into her first year here, Zelda still had trouble imagining a broom as something more than a cleaning equipment. Her flying lessons were middling at best and she stumbled through them with the sense that there was something, some crucial point of flying that her brain hadn’t quite grasped yet.

Still, Zelda appreciated that Quidditch held a deeply special place in the culture of not just Hogwarts but the entire magical community as a whole. She was flabbergasted when she learnt that there was a Quidditch World Cup, and that there were professional Quidditch clubs throughout not just the UK but the world as a whole. It was unbelievable that flying brooms, something that she had for a long time believed to only exist in fairy tales, had engendered a sport that was internationally loved and followed with as much ardour as football. Then again, she guessed that perhaps chasing red and golden balls around on flying brooms wasn’t that much different from football.

Aside from Quidditch, there was also broom racing, which was basically like track and field lessons she had had during Physical Education classes back in her Muggle primary school, except students raced on brooms instead of running on their own two feet. The first time Zelda witnessed it she had been simply blown away at how much control and speed these people could fly brooms with. She hadn’t a lot of experience with flying, but it was just enough to appreciate how difficult it was to even keep one’s own seat on a broomstick while it was going at anything above a snail’s crawl.

Since her eyes were tired from classes and homework, Zelda had decided to pop on down to the Great Hall where apparently there was some sort of broom racing support event happening. As long as they weren’t asking her to actually get on a broom herself, Zelda was happy to snoop out on schoolwide events just to see who she might meet there.

The Great Hall was significantly unrecognisable from the last time she had seen it, and clearly magic had been at work here to effect this transformation. It was the first time she had seen a table cloth spread out on the two long tables in the middle, and on it was arts and craft supplies of every kind that Zelda could imagine. Along with the parch-white posters, banners, and stick flags, the task was clear.

Though Zelda wasn’t particularly gifted at drawing or decorating, she found it therapeutic and enjoyable enough, so she was pleasantly surprised at this development and glad that she had come. Seating herself down beside a group of older students, Zelda helped herself to a blank stick flag and some paints. Since she had been sorted into Ravenclaw, Zelda had found herself being particularly taken with the colour blue and accordingly painted the flag a deep cobalt blue.

When the flag had dried (and in a much shorter time than Zelda would typically expect of Muggle paints), she took some silver markers and began to spell out Ravenclaw in as fancy letterings as she could muster. It wasn’t much, but she didn’t trust her artistic skills enough to want to go overboard on the decoration. At least if she kept things simple, it might not look too bad at the end of the day. She contemplated drawing an eagle but almost immediately dismissed the thought – as if she could recreate anything as complicated as that in drawing.

When her flag was done, Zelda took another flag and splashed the same cobalt blue shade on it. This time, she used the silver marker to write “Rocks!” and completed the sign with the same stars as on its twin. She meant to hold up the two flags, one in each hand, so that together they’d read “Ravenclaw Rocks!” – perhaps the best cheer she could think of at this point as an unartistic eleven year old.

WC: 716 words

@Starlee Kennedy

It had been a while since Opeila participated in an errand organized by professors or prefects, frankly, she couldn't even tell when and what the last time had been about. In her first year, the young Slytherin had been crazy for errands, participated whenever an opportunity presented itself, but now... well, they all got older, didn't they? The third year had four subjects more than last year and keeping almost all of them at average O was an effort that required her to drop some other thing she used to like to do. That included a lot of errands.

But it was different with this one. When Opeila heard of it, she felt a certain sense of obligation to participate. Of course, this was because of her still rather new position as Broom Racing Captain, which she had to admit, she loved even more than she had thought she would. Opeila was rather sure that she would never enjoy flying herself. She had started to practice a while ago, but it was just not for her. She just didn't like the feeling of losing the ground below her feet and despite the charms that were meant to make the broom safe, constantly felt like she was sliding off.

But being Captain was something she enjoyed. Watching a race from the side had its good sides, starting with the ability to detect patterns for which the racers themselves didn't really have time. Yes, It was certainly an advantage, if she thought about it.
Anyway, since she wasn't going to race, it seemed to be her duty to do everything to support her team- A duty she she would of course love to fulfill. Also, it was on a Friday! There was literally nothing stopping her.

And no, she was not going to do it alone. As soon as Opeila had heard of it, she had sent her lovely Co-Captain Starlee a note, asking her if she wanted to join Opeila in creating some tools to cheer on the Basilisks together. Opeila still didn't know her housemate very well, they were in the duelling team together and now also the two Captains of the broom racing team, but that was about it. Since Starlee was a year younger, the two of them didn't have any classes together either, but judging what Opeila had seen and heard of the younger girl so far, she seemed capable and nice.

The errand was organized by the new Flying Professor, Professor Stube, whom Opeila didn't know well either, but, based on the way she taught her classes, developed a positive respect for. The Slytherin had also noticed that the woman seemed rather enthusiastic about broom racing.
Opeila was there to witness her little welcome speech as she arrived rather early and so there were still a lot of options. The third year decided to take a banner as well as a few stick flags, all in green, to decorate, grabbed some normal pens, paint and also a few glitter pens.

She would take a spot at the Slytherin table- because why not, both her and her hopefully soon arriving partner were Slytherins- and spread out the crafting supplies in front of her. Even if Starlee wasn't there yet, Opeila decided to brainstorm on her own a little, so the first tool she used was a pencil. Carefully, Opeila began to sketch something on the banner that roughly resembled a snake. Hopefully Starlee was better at drawing than her, Opeila was not quite sure yet, how she would manage to actually make this look like a basilisk and not a normal snake. The third year had never been good at drawing or creating things with her hands, shaping candles being an exception.

625/600 Words

Edme had a very inconsistent style of art. This didn't mean painting or drawing, she was terrible at that, but when it came to the kind of art that didn't always require a steady hand and a good eye, the Ravenclaw went a little crazy.

As they arrived a little later than most, she took note of the fact that the Great Hall was yet again redecorated, just as it was for most of these kinds of events. Tablecloths were set nicely on each house tables, arts and crafts supplies clearly having been neatly placed before the students had arrived and began their projects.

Edme didn't really want to be on the Broom Racing team. It seemed cool, sure, and it was quite fun to watch, though they couldn't help but feel a spike of anxiety at the thought of participating in such a violent sport, one that required a bit more physicality, that of which Edme didn't quite have. Still, she was all for supporting the Hogwarts sports teams when it came up. And who didn't have fun playing a bit of arts and crafts?

Taking a seat at the Ravenclaw table, as familiarity was what she craved when in these kinds of settings, they laid out an array of art supplies they had taken from the center of the table. A blank white poster board, a few colored paints, markers, and pencils, and a bit of glitter just for the fun of it. Uncapping a blue marker, she began writing out the words "Go Ravenclaw!"

Obviously they were cheering for their own house, as it was the only one she really paid attention to the scores of. So maybe they weren't a big sports gal, but she really did have a good time watching the other Ravenclaws zoom around on their brooms. It was nice to just enjoy the scene rather than try to understand what was happening.

The rest of the board was a boring white, something Edme would have to cover. Grabbing a bronze colored pen, she began working on little swirls here and there like little gusts of wind flying around the board. They were very unpredictable, some crossing the corners and some curling around the letters. Once she put the cap back on the pen, the board looked much more lively. But there could be more.

The glitter looked quite alluring, and Edme hesitantly grabbed a vial of it and screwed the top off slowly. After lining a bit of glue out in similar swirls to the pens, they carefully sprinkled golden glitter on top, blowing away any excess that may have strayed from the glue. It looked nice, and so she placed it off to the side to work on another. This was fun.

After grabbing a blank flag, they stopped to think for a moment. Something of more pattern might be nice, an admirable organization of stripes. Grabbing the blue and bronze paint, she squirted a bit onto a paper plate snagged from the middle. A large paintbrush caught their eye, and Edme grabbed that as well. After dipping it into the paint, she began stroking it against the fabric and watching the paint stain the previously white flag. It slowly covered the length of the flag until it was all bronze and blue stripes.

As they waited for the paint to dry enough, Edme gnawed on the end of the paintbrush absentmindedly and studied her previous work. She hated to brag, but they had done a pretty neat job on the artistic bit of this.

After a bit of time had passed, the flag was dry enough to add the words "You got this Ravenclaw!" in light gray pen to stand out against the darker background colors. It looked pretty neat.

Standing up slowly, Edme looked at their work once more before leaving to let it dry.

WC: 654

Edme has left the thread

Sylvie Hawthorne
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Date: 8/Apr/2022 | Time: 16:20 | Mood: Curious | Location: Great Hall
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───── Sylvie was in love with broom racing. While she was nowhere near the level necessary to join either the dueling team or the broom racing team, in her heart she was constantly debating where she belonged and what she would sign up for if she got the chance. Flying her broom was all the best parts of riding her pony without having to worry if it was overheating or going to sprain its leg in a gofer hole. When she’d heard about the upcoming race, she made sure her daybook was clear on the Saturday so she could be amongst the Huffles out watching the race. She’d begged Zelda to come along as well, even though Zelda didn’t really like flying or broom racing. Time would tell whether Zelda would be out in the chilly spring morning to watch the race.

Rushing into the Great Hall, she made a bee-line for the Hufflepuff table. Strewn across it were all the supplies for making flags, banners, and posters. All around her, other Hufflepuffs were busy at work—cutting, gluing, drawing, painting, and giving unsolicited advice. They talked and laughed and jostled each other as they worked, some complaining that they were more than ready for the craft supplies to disappear and for the evening meal to spread itself out.

She wasn’t much of an artist, but that wouldn’t stop her! Her brown hair was pulled into braids on either side of her head, and she pulled them together behind her and loosely tied them together with a scrunchie. Narrowing her eyes, sticking out her tongue, and rolling up the sleeves of her robe, she got to work.

It was hard to decide between flags and posters, but she decided that she could always make more than one thing if she had time. Grabbing a white poster board, she started to sketch out her best impression of a badger, its eyes sparkling with excitement. Both paws in the air, its body cut off by the end of the poster, it smiled its quirky little smile. Over it she wrote, “GO BADGERS GO!” Originally she had thought to write, “HUFFLE THAT PUFF” but even she wasn’t sure what that would mean in the context of broom racing.

Next to her, upper year Huffles began to gossip about their crushes. How handsome so-and-so was, and how dreamy so-and-so was. Sylvie did her best to appear fully zoned in on her work, even as she craned to hear every juicy detail. She didn’t feel any particular thump-thumps when she looked at any of the boys or girls she knew. There were people she admired, and there were friends she couldn’t do without, but she didn’t understand the longing, the heartache these upper years seemed to be experiencing.

She coloured in the black and white of the badger, added colour to the words so they were a bold black against the stark white background. Stepping back, she realized it needed some colour—a lot more colour, so she put a rainbow behind it all. Perfection!

Content with the state of her poster, Sylvie pushed it aside and dragged flag materials toward herself. On the yellow fabric she did her best to recreate the Hufflepuff crest with… a certain… amount of success. It was a Hufflepuff crest in heart, and that’s what counted! Around the dowel of the flag she wrapped and glued strips of black and yellow paper that she had cut into narrow strips. It made a very handy grip! And it didn’t look too shabby!

After she finished, she tidied her materials a little—she had a feeling it’d be swept away with magic in the end, anyway—gathered her finished products, and took a slow walk along the table and looked at the projects of everyone else. Some of them were so good! Maybe when she was an upper year she’d be make something just as nice.

Content, she rushed away to go put things away in her dorm so she could come back for supper.

In the muggle world, the worst any sports player could get was suffering some manner of injury by bumping into another player, falling, or getting hit and that was all giggles and fun for someone so rowdy like Enrico. He had never really cried or whined about bruising a knee and the accidents became so common, that wearing sticks to cover up the scratches became a fashion. In the magical world, however, sports had a different dynamic, and Enrico loved it more than anything. The concept of flying in the air was already magnificent in itself, broomsticks and all. Creating a game out of it was even more fascinating, and the short boy loved nothing more than to shove his pink little nose into everything he enjoyed.

Now that Hogwarts had inducted a new form of event in regards to flying, the teams required some manner of support and advertisement, so Enrico wanted to help, especially after hearing that the creative process of equipment was up to the students to make. The Hufflepuff liked to think that he was creative enough to live up to such standards and he hadn’t let out such an inspiring burst in quite a long time. So without further ado, he barged into the Great Hall with a grin on his face stuck like one of the many stickers he adorned on his face whenever he felt like it.

He quickly found a seat, but before he began to work on what he had in mind, he observed some of his peers and inspected what they were creating. He didn’t intend to copy, of course, that was only a viable method when it came to homework or tests, he was only seeking inspiration and maybe evolve a concept from somebody else’s work. Naturally, the boy was going to create something in support of his own House. So he grabbed anything that was yellow and black. He disliked black, and at often times refused to work with it, wishing that his house instead adorned a red like Gryffindor or perhaps a loud orange. But under these circumstances, he had no other option, but that didn’t mean he was not allowed to add that extra flair or sparkle to make sure it was uniquely his creation and make black look like a pretty colour.

So he grabbed a white poster, clean and blank, painted one side yellow and the other black. That was the first basic step as he wiped the entire canvas, wishing his hands were less clumsy as he began to notice edges looking messy. But nothing a bit of glitter couldn’t help. While at it, he remembered how teachers used to hate the usage of glitters, and how often he would make some of his educators almost shed a tear at the mess he used to create. If one was to observe him at that moment and time as he went at it with the glitters, they’d probably be concerned about the cheeky grin his face wore.

He then proceeded to paint the word ‘Hufflepuff’ as large as he possibly could, first with a black on the yellow, and the other way round on the remaining bits of the canvas. He was sorry for anyone who might have gotten a seizure from such a sign, but he liked how it looked. To give it more life, he glued some pictures of flowers, rainbows, suns, bees and badgers on it, hoping they would not fall off if he lifted it up. Once he realized that quality over quantity was a true statement, Enrico stopped.

For a second, he asked himself whether or not he was supposed to take it back to the common room with him, but he was quick to notice the many flags and banners that remained on the table unaccompanied, suddenly realizing that it would be ideal to let it dry first things first. Though his impatience almost urged him to just take it away immediately. But he restrained himself and made his way out of the Great Hall, hoping to eventually remember to come back at a later hour.

Word Count: 688/600

Enrico leaves the thread.

As it turned out, Broom Racing wasn't the only thing on everyone's minds; and April 9th wouldn't only be hosting the broom racing events. The last Quidditch games of the season would also be held on the 9th, creating something of a disparity as far as who would be watching which event. Evelynn would have loved to have born witness to the races, but depending on how long her own games ran, she might not get the opportunity. Of course, that did not at all mean that she couldn't throw her lot into the fire and participate in a bit of crafting to support her house. Or others, as the case may be. Even if she couldn't necessarily watch the broom racing event, broom sports were—as far as she was concerned—of the same family, and a generic poster for one could easily be used for the other.

When she arrived in the Great Hall, she was still garbed in her school uniform. Black robes had been pressed and cleaned that morning, touched up as needed during the day. Prefect and Quidditch Captain badges shone with a crystal polish upon her lapel, precisely pinned. Her hair had been twisted up to a knot on the back of her neck, and her eyes sported a tasteful wing of black eyeliner and touch of mascara. How easy it was to maintain one's appearance with a little bit of mascara. A sweep of her gaze about those present yielded no significantly familiar faces, and so she allowed her steps to walk themselves until she found a seat next to no one in particular. She had a very specific goal in mind and hadn't really paid much mind to her surroundings.

Permission to claim that Evelynn sat next to your character.

Reams of yellow were the first thing she collected to herself. That, and black. She would need scissors as well, and perhaps some paint. In fact, perhaps paint would be easier than dealing with paper cut-outs and glue... Yes, scrap the scissors and glue. Yellow reams of paper and black paint ought to serve her nicely, she decided. Simple was often better, after all.

Taking pencil to hand, she started out simple. Already, she had an idea in mind, unfortunately she didn't really know how to draw it off the top of her head. Fortunately, they were in the Great Hall, and a glance up to the hanging banners of the four houses would give her exactly the reference she needed. Like a cat, she supposed. But with a longer face and squatter ears. A larger nose as well. And exaggerated claws. The pencil drew the creature out, its face a profile for ease, looking back across the banner towards where the writing would soon be. It didn't have to be perfect, of course. Nobody on their brooms would be stopping close enough to get a good look, and few from the crowd would be able to see it. As long as it had the basic elements, the black and white of the fur, she was fairly confident that she would be able to passably recreate the image of a badger.

The paintbrush would take its turn, then, going over the lines in thick, black paint. She took her time, careful not to smudge the still wet paint with her hand. And once the badger was thoroughly filled in, she moved on to the written portion. Or... tried to. She stared at the paper for a good while trying to decide what message she wanted to portray. She knew exactly what the banner would be for: Hufflepuff vs. Slytherin. While she had a number of acquaintances on Slytherin's team, however, it was for Hufflepuff that she would be cheering. Her relationship with Ami had been more than a little turbulent of late. In fact, the two really hadn't spoken properly since the train back to King's Cross at the end of last school year.

It still hurt, to think of how easily their friendship had been discarded, and the routine she had managed to cultivate had been shredded into something entirely unrecognizable. No practices alongside the badgers; no shared runs around the lake; no evening flights. They'd ceased to share meals or to discuss season projections. Yet again, Evelynn had been left to the wind. She didn't know what to do about it. But when this activity had been brought to her attention, she felt compelled to put in effort to show her support for her friend's Ami's team in a way she hadn't done even for her own before.

None of that helped her to decide on what to write, however. In the end, she elected to focus on the qualities that defined the house. Qualities that easily characterized every member of the Hufflepuff team: strong, loyal, and hard-working. And when she was done, she exchanged her paintbrush for her wand, quietly chanting, "Aer calidus." Hot air spewed from its tip as she waved the wand systematically back and forth across the banner, expiditing its drying process. There would be no need for sparkles or glitter, no sequins or ornamentation. She didn't want it to distract the players in play, nor to be mistaken for the snitch if the sun should reflect off its surface just so. No, this would be enough. Well... hopefully.

Words: 863 / 600