Ravenclaw V Slytherin – 690 – 390
And just like that, another year brings us the mid-season of our lovely Hogwarts Quidditch Cup!
Who will be the one to take it this year?
Gryffindor, the old glory that used to have one of the best teams in the castle a few years back, still looking for their opportunity to rise from the ashes?
Hufflepuff, with the likes of Lachlan Stewart -not the pro-Quidditch player, no, that’d be cheating. Right?- and their meticulous ways of training -and working- hard?
Ravenclaw, using all of their mind power -together- to plan the perfect strategy -use the bald chaser in-house, beat the opponent’s best chaser- and get away with the cup?
Or perhaps Slytherin, the current reigning champion, who might or might not have a decent team, but if one of them fails, all fall down?
Well, we certainly do not know the future –we’ve been trying hard lately, the amount of seers we’ve been consulting, and even threatening with a Head Boy badge… But no one predicts well for a good pri- and even if we knew, we would allow you all to wait and see what happens with no spoilers.
Aren’t we nice?
Onto to the matter at hand, now.
Ravenclaw and Slytherin are battling themselves today, and after last year’s beef, we do wonder if the Snakes will behave on the pitch -surely their Captain will see to it, or else… Something about being tied and dragged on their brooms sounds familiar.
With a current victory for Slytherin and a loss for Ravenclaw, let’s see what their rosters look like and what some of their players predict for this match.
RAVENCLAW TEAM ROSTER FOR THIS GAME:
1 – Fraise ‘Sizzle’ Pemberton: Hogwarts’ very own ‘Flower Girl’ is this year’s Ravenclaw Captain. Currently in her fifth year, she’s also the first Chaser of the team, and will do her best to lead the Eagles into victory. Her enemies better not let her floral sweetness fool them, as she will score without mercy, given the opportunity. Something that did not pan out well on their last match up, but that might change with their current strategy.
When asked for a statement before the match, she told us the following:
“Good luck to both teams today. Let’s keep the game fair and exciting. Play hard, stay focused, and may the best team win. Let’s make this a match to remember.” She really is wholesome.
2 – Argyle ‘The Bald Eagle’ Demoray: It is a surprise to us all to see the previous captain of the Ravenclaw team -after maintaining he was retiring for good- back in their roster. An Old Glory with a dangerous flair to make sure his Quaffle scores. Will he be rusty? Will this be his last game?
We approached him for a pre-match statement, and asked if he was feeling confident or nervous about the game. This is what he exactly told us:
“Put this in your article, gorgeous. ‘Ravenclaw is very confident of a win and Argyle Demoray is quoted as saying. I hate Troy and JASPER’.” After a small pause, he added. “No, the pressure is all on Alara and her spaghetti fingers.” Oh, boy.
3 – Feiyan ‘Of Fortune’ Zhu: A new face has arrived to the Ravenclaw roster -it seems that their chasers and beaters are changing after every game, is this part of their mind strategy? Zhu seems collected and calm, and certainly seems to have a knack for ‘riddle-talking’. However, will her prophetic whispers be enough on the pitch?
We asked her if she was nervous on her first match, and if she thought that Demoray looked better in pink rather than blue.
Her answer was as it follows:
“The winds will soon tell.” Which definitely was a yes at Demoray looking better in pink, we gathered.
4 – Violette “Violent” Twiggs: First beater of the roster, and Vice-Captain of the team, Violette Twiggs seems the type of girl to not let anything to chance. Also in her fifth year, she had previous experience in helping to manage the team, as she held the position last season as well. Prepared for everything, she might even land a bludger before anyone can blink.
5 – Denzel Lament: Quiet tall lad that seems not to have broken a bone in his life. However, he’s a beater. What are the chances the previous statement is… Wrong? Something tells us this is also a player to look out for.
6 – Trin ‘Hawk’ Paige: The Keeper of things -well, hoops, in this case- for Ravenclaw is Miss Paige -no, not the Head Girl, the ‘Other’ Miss Paige. Also a veteran of the team, Trin seems to have a special -and ruthless- sixth sense to catch quaffles. Rumour has it that sixth sense has finally paid off and she has finally scored a boy. Ah, and her Quidditch skills are still very much on point. Happy days!
7 – Alwyn ‘the Welsh Wind’ Gwynther: Yet another rookie Seeker -although a rookie Ravenclaw student, this time- takes over the pursuit of the Golden Snitch this year. The “Welsh Wind” seems to be analytical in every aspect of his life. Will this help him conquer the Snitch? Perhaps big brain moves are already in motion! It certainly seemed to help him last match, when, despite the big loss of his team, he did, in fact, catch the snitch.
SLYTHERIN TEAM ROSTER FOR THIS GAME:
1 – Jasper Hawksworth: With Troy Mercer out of the picture -pygmyflu, some said-, the pressure of being the first chaser falls on our favourite Golden Silent Boy. Whilst he works with precision, -at least when he chases alongside Mercer- will his mindset be on point when he’s the one to lead?
When asked about pressure and leadership, he answered flatly:
“Leading doesn’t change anything. Same job. Same air.” Of course Hawksworth, we know now you prefer to read instead of speaking.
2 – Noelle ‘Sweetest Penguin’ O’Brien: As positions switched around on this roster, the Darkhorse of the team must be ready to shine as a Second Chaser. To fall for her demure demeanour and soft ways would be the biggest mistake anyone in an opposing team could do. When she chases, she does so to win; there is no doubt she will slither in through those hoops.
She left us with her pre-match impressions:
“Me? Nervous…? Nope. The only thing I fear is our Head of House’s response if we don’t kick Ravenclaw’s butt.” After a soft huff, she told us more. “Nope, we’re going to do our best and that’s all anyone can expect from us other than that.” O’Brien surely has a way with words.
3 – Xaden Ryder: Troy… Wait. No, this is not Troy! -Excuse us, old habits. We’ve got yet another quiet -but blondier- boy in his place instead. Will he be up for the task? Only the pressure against the Eagles will reveal the end to this mystery.
4 – Zenith ‘Firebird’ Kovalainen: Co-Captain and the seasoned -just for one year- beater of the team. When Kovalainen goes up in the sky, she has only one thing in mind: violence. Violence that she needs to control in order to prevent the pitch ends up in flames. This is perhaps the reason why the Half-veela tends to play on the defensive side, allowing her chasers to score easily. Will we be seeing a more ‘uncontrolled’ fire this year?
5 – Phoebe ‘Cry About it’ Peyroux: Peyroux certainly proved her worth last match against Gryffindor. Just as we mentioned before, she might speak bluntly, but her bat speaks even louder. If you’re in the way, she’ll beat you down. And she will enjoy seeing you cry about it, all whilst she checks her fit is still on point. Simply as that.
6 – Alara ‘Dainty Hands’ Ravenhurst: Captain of the Slytherin team, and the young woman responsible to keep those defenses up for her players. Her icy gaze shows her cold and precise demeanour. She’s all about hard work, statistics and results.
When asked about how confident she was about facing Ravenclaw after the fiasco from last season, she confided:
“I am very confident in my team. Win or lose, we are going to go out there and give it our all. I know they got us last year, but I was not in that game, and neither was half of my team this year. We have worked hard, and I have my utmost confidence in us.” Let’s see what the game brings for the snakes.
7 – Beaumont ‘Shine Star’ Yorke: Rookie Slytherin Seeker -and rookie Slytherin student, we might add- has been training ever since the year started. Rumour has it, he has been missing a fair amount of practices since a few months back. And school. Did the Head Boy finally lose his patience and… Gently throw him into the Loch for a while? Character building among Slytherins, right?
And this concludes our players’ stalking insight.
How did the actual game go?
The match began the way all great disasters do; by being nagged by a bubbly Slytherin, or by what realistically happened: overnight frost that had turned the pitch into a lovely ice skating rink. The cold air was sharp enough to bite through robes, gloves and socks -oh, those poor toesies.
Spectators huddled together on the stands, while players stepped onto the pitch with the cautious grace of a baby deer on ice -sequel coming soon. Jasper Hawksworth, the cold, calm, collective… Clumsiest man on earth, of course, slipped pulling Zenith the fire chicken -patent pending- down with him. Well… Worse things have happened in life.
Despite the chaos potential, surprisingly, the match started with a fast and yet confused pace. No fouls occurred during the entire game. Not one. The referees were stunned. Historians were confused. Everyone else was a little too cold to question anything.
Holding Ravenclaw together was none other than Trin ‘Hawk’ Paige, the undisputed backbone of the team. She put on an absolute nightmare for the Slytherin chasers, blocking thirty of Jasper Hawksworth’s shots alone. That’s right, thirty. At some point, this stopped being Quidditch and started looking like target practice, except she was the one winning end every round.
Meanwhile, her team’s Beaters appeared to have reached a silent agreement: ‘Slytherin’s Noelle O’Brien is just too damn cute not to beat up’; bludgers followed her with unsettling dedication. Beater Denzel Lament seemed to have an unhealthy obsession as he chased her like a mad niffler after shinies with his bat. However, even with all that, she still survived through it, with just a couple of broken bones. She was lucky Ravenclaw’s other beater, Violette ‘Violent’ Twiggs, was not living up to her name, as she was trying a more defensive approach.
Argyle ‘The Bald Eagle’ Demoray -uggh-, unfortunately for everyone else, decided this was his game -and maybe his season, you see, he’s about to graduate. He stole the show when it came to the chasers, flying circles around the pitch, even taunting the Slytherin keeper by blowing her a kiss right before he scored. And just before, he was clearly flirting with his co-chaser Feiyan ‘Of Fortune’ Zhu. Scandalous! Perhaps this is why he was so distracted that he went out of bounds on one occasion and got grounded for a whole minute by the Referees.
Their Captain Fraise ‘Sizzle’ Pemberton followed suit on Demoray’s performance. She certainly made that Quaffle go through Slytherin’s hoops a fair number of times.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Slytherin’s Jasper Hawksworth had…… a game. Not a good one, but definitely a game did happen. Quaffles stolen, constant shots blocked, and overall it was the kind of performance best described as “It’s okay, little buddy, just wait till the Head Boy gets his hand on you.” -I mean, allegedly, of course, the handsome, very funny, fantastic Head Boy would never do anything horrible.
In front of their hoops, Keeper and Captain Alara Ravenhurst had a rough showing. Shots were taken. Shots were missed….many of them. One particularly observant student noted that Alara seemed to be glancing toward the stands far more than the goalposts, possibly searching for her honeybun, Jaelen Ashworth, or possibly her next target -dramatic drum roll here. Another student, claimed later on to have witnessed the horror, even breaking down crying in the fetal position, when their favourite keeper was doomed from the start, tragic.
Their Seeker Beaumont ‘Shine Star’ Yorke, too, seemed off his rhythm; this is likely due to being out of practice after spending far too much time indoors, avoiding the cold, and perfecting the art of snack consumption -or so this is our theory.
At least Slytherin’s Beaters performed with the violence they were supposed to. Both Zenith ‘Firebird’ Kovalainen and Phoebe ‘Cry about it’ Peyroux seemed to be on point, defending and putting Ravenclaw’s Chasers -and Seeker- down as much as it was legally possible. And yet, their efforts were not enough to overcome Ravenclaw’s masterplan.
The long-awaited salvation from the nightmare in the form of the Eagles’ Seeker Alwyn ‘The Welsh Wind’ Gwynther, who caught the snitch cleanly and decisively, ending the match before frostbite took a claim on them all, with a final score of 690-390 for his team.
Slytherin… You had one job!
But… Better luck next time!
At least now Ravenclaw has one win too!
“Ravenclaw was confident of a win and we followed through. Slytherin couldn’t keep up with our chasers’ movements nor our beaters’ ferocity. They were outmatched.. But they still played well. All of our players did well, from both sides. A real clean match, two teams wanting the glory! But at the end of the day, Fraise our captain led us to victory, leading by example.”
-Argyle Demoray, Ravenclaw Chaser who looks good in pink.
“Well, Slytherin played a fair and clean game! And Beau was on the snitch right there with me. But the two biggest difference makers have to be with our keeper and beaters. Beaters dominated control over the bludgers, and Trin made outstanding saves. They brought their A-game and it showed as we were allowed to play ours. This game snitch had been extra evasive, and could have gone just as easily towards Beau. I hope he is not beating himself up about it, or getting a hard time from the other Slytherins…”
-Alwyn Gwynther, Ravenclaw Seeker who didn’t feel enough pain from the Slytherin Beaters.
“I was having a rough match, it’s no lie, everyone could see it. But, I am proud of my team. Win or lose, they are brilliant. All the teams are really great this year. As far as strategy moving forward, I am going to run some new plays with the team and use our strengths in our favor.”
-Alara Ravenhurst, Slytherin Keeper and Captain who allegedly got hexed mid-play by the Ravenclaw’s Captain and Co-captain.
“I kinda beat Agile a lot… Hah… Maybe he ain’t that agile, ya feel me?”
-Zenith Kovalainen, Slytherin Beater and Co-Captain who’s not very good at making jokes.
