{ Open to Slytherin }

The Quidditch World Cup was here. It had actually been going on for a few weeks now, people were buzzing about it. Countries had been playing against each other to get into the competition. It finally narrowed down to the top eight teams now. The Quarter Finals. There was so much excitement in the air. It was understandable. This World Cup only happened once every four years. Quidditch fans were always looking forward to supporting their teams and seeing who actually wins the final. Hjørdis was one of the few people who simply did not care. She was so uninterested in the sport that she was not even aware that it was happening until she saw the headlines in one of the Daily Prophets not too long ago.

In previous times, Hjørdis would not even bat an eyelid at the sports section. Nothing of excitement ever really happened there. People played something, they won or lost and that was the end of it. There was nothing important to note or learn from the events, as far as she was concerned. She simply was not interested in Quidditch. At least, that was until she started at Hogwarts and met a man named Barnaby Ryker. The Flying Professor was apparently a former Quidditch player, a famous one at that. Barnaby the Brute, they called him apparently as he excelled in his Beater role. Hjørdis had since started to skim the sports section, at the very least, trying to figure out what it was about the sport that he found so interesting.

His passion was clear. He had played it for years, he was famed for his success in it after all. And even after all of that, he chose to come to the school to teach other students how to play. Essentially, to teach the future Quidditch players. It was nice to see that sort of passion, at the very least. He was not here for himself but rather to create the next generation of brute-like beaters. Hjørdis approved of the passion and ambition, even if she did not understand the game.

She really admired seeing the amount of Professors here at Hogwarts that actually cared about their subject and passing that knowledge onto the students. She understood how important such a thing was. If it wasn't for her own professors, that had taught her back in Uagadou, her life would be very different right now. Her career path and trajectory was heavily influenced by the people who taught her. Without them, perhaps she would not have worked as an Auror or in the Ministry at all. She may not have even been interested in the things that interest her now, such as alchemy - which Uagadou specialises in.

In any case, today's match was South Africa vs. Moldova. Her money and hopes were pinned on South Africa winning. She was biased, for definite. However, the Head of Slytherin had been born and raised there, her ties and bias would always favour South Africa.

The Head of Slytherin guided her house to the stands, along with Professor Risa. She paused as she glanced around the stadium. The atmosphere was buzzing. Everyone had gathered from all over to watch the game between South Africa and Moldova. Hjørdis looked blankly for a moment. No one would see it but there was a hint of sadness in her eyes that quickly disappeared as she turned back to the students, casting her emotions aside for a more professional stance. Her tone of voice was strict, "Right, the game is about to begin. Grab your seats. I'm heading off now but if you need anything, Professor Risa will be here." Hjørdis instructed, waving her hand over to the History of Magic Professor so they all knew where Professor Risa was.

"Now, before I go, does anyone need me for anything?" With that, she paused for a moment, just waiting to see if anyone had any questions. If they did not, she would turn and leave as quickly as she entered. For now, she would leave the event to Aoi Risa and the prefect team. The game was just about to begin, she thought she would quickly make sure everyone settled down. Hjørdis would leave before the game began. She had much more important things to do than watch a quidditch match, sadly. She would find out the results later for definite, however.

{ Aoi Risa will moderate this thread from now, however and has been left in charge IC too. }

[font=Times New Roman]The arrival of the Quidditch World Cup brought a new air of excitement and life into the school. While most her age would of been too young to remember the last Quidditch World Cup, they were placing bets and taking sides as if they had been following their chosen teams for years prior. Of course, for some it was true. A few of the teams had family support that spanned back generations. Much like her own. With her English background, it was obvious what team she would be supporting this year.

That was, until she had heard the sixteen nations that had made the cut. And she had been more than disappointed to find out the team her family had been supporting for years had not made the cut. So, obviously, she had switched her support to the Irish team. After all, if she couldn’t support the English, why shouldn’t she support a team so close to home? Especially with all the relatives from that country.

Evidently, she had actually had a few options to choose from when it came to who to support. Her families new and sudden movement to the Coromandel, at the top of New Zealand, had given her a reason to support the small country. But then again, she hadn’t felt a strong tie to it just yet. So that country had been scratched from the list.

And with Wales being so close to where she used to live, that surely would of been the obvious choice, right? Wrong. Sure, they had won the cup seven times. But this year, she had felt the players just weren’t strong enough to win. And her judgement had proved her right when they crashed out in their match against Kazakhstan, losing 360 to 210.

So Ireland had been her choice this year. It was only temporary, she wasn’t going to go through a World Cup and not support a team, when she was such a big fan of the sport the teams were playing for.

She guessed she could count herself lucky at the opportunities that befell upon her at school. What other schools took their students to Quidditch World Cup matches? None was the answer. Or at least, none that she knew of.

Even so, she was lucky to be able to attend a match during the school year. Even if it wasn’t one with a team she was supporting. C’mon, where the heck even was Moldova? Let’s just say, she needed to brush up on her geography.

She was still looking forward to this match though, even if she had no idea where Moldova was. How often do you get to watch professional players anyway? Professional Quidditch matches had been sparse through out her young childhood, and had become practically non existent when her father died.

Arriving at the stadium, she could barely contain her excitement. It was apparent in the smile that stretched across her face, and in the way she kept twitching and moving. It was an odd thing that she did when she was excited or stressed, but it was her way of showing when her emotions began to overflow.

She barely listened throughout the short speech one of her professors gave. She had no family here, and no friends outside of school. Shrugging and assuming most would be going off to join family, she found an unoccupied seat and took it. Settling down to watch her first Quidditch match in years.[/font]

Interaction with @Elena Jones

[font=Times New Roman]The voice that came from next to her surprised her, making her jump in her seat. Looking up and smiling at the owner of the voice, she replied - her excitement breaking through and becoming clear in her voice.

“Hi! I’m Isabella, Isabella Hills. But you can call me Bella. Isabella sounds too old and sensible to fit me. So it’s just Bella.” Patting the seat next to her, she indicated for the girl - Elena - to sit down.

She guessed Elena must be a First Year - as she hadn’t seen her around at all last year. She hadn’t seen a lot of people around last year, but she would of noticed one of her own. Other houses, she didn’t really care about them. But her sneks, her family, she did. And she would of noticed.

They were 2 and a half months into the new schooling year, so she could forgive herself for not knowing the newcomer. It took a while to know and remember all the new faces around the Common Room and Dorms, even if there weren’t a lot of them.

“You’re a First Year, aren’t you Elena? I didn’t see you around last year. I’m a Second Year, as you could probably guess. If you ever need anything, I know pretty much everything in and about the school. Except the entry to the kitchens, I can’t help with that. So you’re midnight feasts will have to wait until I’ve figured that out.”

Smiling at younger girl, she turned back to the field - waiting for the game to start. “Who are you supporting? I was meant to be supporting England, but they didn’t make it through so I switched to Ireland instead. But in this match I’m rooting for South Africa to win.”[/font]

Interaction with @Elena Jones

[font=Times New Roman]“Gryffindor Politics? The heck is that?” She couldn’t even began to imagine what this ‘Gryffindor Politics’ is. To be entirely honest, she didn’t even want to know. She’d had her fair share of gossip, and heard her fair share of rumours. Plus, she wasn’t really one for politics anyway.

“You’ve slept in a tree? I’ve never slept in a tree. Although, before I left for school, me and my brother used to sleep outside on the grass. It was awesome. The moon is so beautiful at night.”

The mention of her brother brought back a lot of memories for her - a mix of both good and bad. The bad stretching to his death only two months ago. Pushing a sob back down her throat, and blinking back tears, she shook her head - trying to somehow shake the memories from her brain.

“You brought a banner? Sure, why not? It’ll be fun.”

This Elena girl sounded like fun. She’d met too many goody two shoes throughout her First Year, everyone trying to be prefect material. Even when she was a prefect, she wasn’t exactly the perfect example of one. She still remembered the time she lit the Common Room alight trying to burn her Herbology homework. It was nice to find someone who liked a little bit of fun.

And risk was her favorite type of fun.

Because, surely, she was the type of person who liked a little risk. Sleeping in a tree? How many people could say they’ve done that before. Her judges of character were usually spot on, so she hoped she was right about this. After all, she liked her ‘prefect material’ friends. But everyone needs that friend they could get into trouble with.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]

Interaction with @Elena Jones

[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]"Yea, I want to try out but I don't know if I'll be right for the team." She gave a nervous laugh at the end of the sentence.

"I was a chaser last year for the team for a bit. So if I was to try out again I'd be going for chaser. So you're a seeker, hm?" While she was usually confident, on the field nerves seemed to get the better of her. What if she dropped the quaffle? Or flew into one of her own players?

But still, all nerves aside, she would love to be on the team again.

"Do you like the professors here? Specifically in our house? I think they're quite cool personally. And I'm happy we got a women as our head of house - not that I don't like guy professors or head of houses. I just like that we've got a girl, especially when all the other houses have guys. It makes us kind of special. I haven't really spoken to Professor Sky that much yet. But I've spoken to Professor Jensen and Professor Pendrast a bit and they seem pretty cool."

The stadium was starting to get louder as the seats filled up, people beginning to start their own conversations while they waited for the match to start. And she had to raise her voice slightly so she could be heard over the chattering coming from every part of the stadium.[/font]