It’s Quidditch Time! – By Lumos and Nox
Gryffindor V Ravenclaw – 450 – 840
Ah, so here we are, once again, at the end of the road.
Or at least at the end of the road for the Quidditch Season.
We have seen massive losses, underdog moves, victories that were perhaps not earned sincerely and others that were well deserved.
But for the most part, we’ve seen great plays and players that gave their everything for a chance at the Cup.
No major Red or Green Sparks, yes to some excessive bludgering, but minimal players’ time-outs.
‘All’s well that ends well’.
For us, it has been a pleasure to take you along the ups and downs of this road that shaped this Quidditch Season.
As this is our last article for the Owl Post, we bid you farewell with the latest game, the latest Quidditch rumours, and with the promise that perhaps, we’ll see you again in another light.
But for now, enjoy the last ride of this, our last Quidditch Season.
-Lumos and Nox.
GRYFFINDOR TEAM ROSTER FOR THIS GAME:
1 – Isabella ‘The Menace’ Watson: First Chaser and Captain of the Gryffindor team. A pretty face that hides a fierce confidence that truly seems the backbone of the team. She’s good on her broom, as good as she is shooting her quaffles. Watson could really do with a win, would this be her chance to make her team shine?
2 – Chase ‘Lionheart’ Ashford: Second Chaser, and new blood for the Gryffindor team this season. This lanky lion definitely has some tricks up his sleeve. His performance has been interesting during the previous matches, hopefully we’ll see him grow in the future.
3 – Rory Bourke: The third Chaser for this roster is Rory Bourke, a last call for the team, in the hopes of a lion win. Captain Watson has certainly been playing around with her players like a puzzle. Perhaps this call will be the correct one, as rumour has it, this chaser knows what he’s doing.
4 – Oliver ‘Kfir’ Prescott: First Beater and Co-Captain of the team. Do not let his innocent face confuse you. He will beat you up. Repeatedly. Ask the chasers of any other team. With his last game of the season coming up, he probably will add extra beating to the match.
5 – Timocleia ‘The Welsh Fury’ Gwilym: What can we say about the tiny Welsh girl? Despite her size, she’s a force to reckon with. Rumour has it, she simply enjoys the art of beating. And she’ll beat people up -with bludgers only, allegedly- with a smile on her face. There is no doubt about it; Gwilym levels up on violence with each new match. The joys!
6 – Edith Wainwright: The Keeper of the team for this game, is the enigmatic Edith Wainwright. Another last call for this roster, we wonder whether it is the correct one. Captain Watson seems confident with this change, even though there is little to nothing we could find about Wainwright’s skills as a keeper. Is she perhaps the secret weapon Gryffindor has been waiting for?
7 – Horatio Devante: The Seeker for Gryffindor this game, is once again Mr Horatio Devante. Quiet, shy, hiding behind his glasses… One might think he is not made for the game. But just like others, do not let appearances fool you. This is not Mr Devante’s first rodeo -or Snitchodeo? He will seek until the end, and he will capture the snitch. Or at least, that’s what his previous matches have told us.
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 clearly worked out with their game against Slytherin. Perhaps she can manage to repeat a flawless victory against Gryffindor as well.
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 -indeed, yet again. We all thought he was back only for a game against Slytherin, and yet… He’s up on his broom again. An Old Glory with a dangerous flair to make sure his Quaffle scores. History has proved us he wasn’t as rusty as we thought, and with this being his last game, he surely will try to shine.
3 – Federico Bentancour: A new face is revealed in the Ravenclaw roster. Little is known about this quiet and yet devilishly good looking Eagle who prefers actions to words. Only that both Captain Pemberton and Argyle Demoray have blind confidence in his chasing skills. Will he be the replacement for Demoray when he finally retires? Rumour has it, as much as Demoray detests Jasper Hawksworth’s luscious locks, he’s all about sharing his haircare routine with Bentancour. Interesting, very interesting.
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. Rumour has it, she has been really… Close to her co-beater. Are those sparks flying, or simply Bludgers?
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. In fact, both him and Twiggs really do need to put their bats to good use, as is very well known how violent the Gryffindor Beaters can be.
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. And yet… Her eyes have been seen wandering towards Bentancour. Will there be drama at her hoops, or only quaffles?
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 the last two matches, when he was able to catch the Snitch. Will he go three for three?
And with this, folks, we conclude our players’ stalking insight.
How did the actual game go?
In what historians are already calling ‘The Hottest Day Since A Certain Half-Bird burned a fresher in the Slytherin Commons’, Ravenclaw defeated Gryffindor 840 – 450 in a Quidditch match that featured enough goals, Bludgers, timeouts, referee interventions, exploding Quaffles, and near death by heatstroke incidents to qualify as three separate sporting events.
Despite Ravenclaw’s commanding victory, the Quidditch Cup ultimately flew North to Hufflepuff, proving once again that life is unfair, Mathematics is cruel, and you can never trust a Badger totally unbiased opinion -they’re not as friendly as they might seem.
Leading Ravenclaw’s aerial assault was Argyle Demoray, who appeared determined to personally score enough goals to buy himself a professional contract by the end of the afternoon. Joining him were Fraise Pemberton and Federico Bentancour, who collectively treated Gryffindor’s hoops as if they were accepting charitable donations for the school.
At several points, spectators reported seeing the Gryffindor Keeper Edith Wainwright with a neck brace after the game due to the whiplash she received. An anonymous Slytherin, even mentioned the Keeper looked so lost, that they could swear for a minute she thought she was a beater and began going after the Bludgers. Madness.
Just speculation of course, you know how ruthless fans are. Especially if they’re not happy with the results.
Ravenclaw’s Seeker Alwyn Gwynther spent most of the match engaged in what can only be described as ‘an emotionally unstable relationship with the Golden Snitch’.
He loves it, it doesn’t love him back. A tragic story really.
For a moment, it seemed as if this love story wouldn’t end well, as he almost caught the object of his affection, but just like a sassy lady who doesn’t take no man’s issues… The Golden Snitch disappeared in a blink of an eye. Some even said that, before it vanished into thin air, there was some sort of sound they could only identify as ‘Nuh huh sister’; a clear sign their story was to be continued.
On the Gryffindor Seeking side, things weren’t better. The relationship between Horatio Devante and the Golden Snitch was worse than any Niffler’s obsession with shiny things. He tried, but the Snitch barely looked back at him -at least Gwynther got some reactions out of it.
Meanwhile the beaters on the other hand -oh, praise Merlin-, those…..creatures spent the entire afternoon proving that diplomacy remains overrated.
Denzel Lament and Violette Twiggs repeatedly launched Bludgers into anything, walking, crawling, crying or even thinking about crying.
And yet, it was nothing compared to what Gryffindor’s Oliver Prescott and Timocleia Gwilym could do -and did.
How can such a tiny girl have so much violence in her? Certainly a case study for future references.
Whilst Gryffindor’s Beaters enhanced their violence protocol, their Chasers tried their best with Ravenclaw’s dominance on the Quaffle. Captain Isabella Watson was on the case -or the Quaffle- constantly, and both Chase Ashford and Rory Bourke had plays that were good enough to be remembered.
Unfortunately for them, Ravenclaw’s Keeper Trin Paige was only distracted by Bentancour’s good looks 40% of the match, so for most of it, she was defending her hoops with her life.
With everyone’s nerves on high alert, temperatures rising the chances to faint and a score of 690 to 450 to Ravenclaw, the Snitch decided to make it all about itself, once again.
Both Horatio Devante and Alwyn Gwynther dived for it, but the mini Eagle seemed to be ahead of the Lion.
A quick movement, an arm extended, and his mission was accomplished, as the Snitch rested in his hand.
But… Was it the right moment to catch it?
The maths were mathing, and the final score was clear: 840-450 for his team, and the bittersweet realisation that, once again, they had fallen short to win the Cup.
Congratulations, Hufflepuff!
Perhaps next year will be Ravenclaw’s.
Or Gryffindor’s…
Or Slytherin’s…
Until then, good luck everyone and have a great summer!
“I’ll miss it, aye. I’ll miss my team, and the lovely reporter who knows how to ask fake news questions like JASPER HAWKSWORTH?! He wishes he had my locks.” He adds in quickly. “That Federico Bentancour fella though, he will carry the flame into next year and beyond.” He needed a brief pause, as he continued. “Let me tell you something about Federico Bentancour. He is the kindest, sweetest, most handsome, charming, totally real Ravenclaw and he WILL be the future of the quidditch scene.. As for me..” He clears his throat and wraps things up. “I’ll take my time to assess my offers, if I have any.. And perhaps you’ll see more of Agile.”
-Argyle Demoray, Ravenclaw Chaser, as he gave us his last words. Ever.
“The Lions gave it their all, and it’s more experience to improve from here on out.”
-Denzel Lament, Ravenclaw Beater’s match statement, as he was in a rush to take the Co-Captain Twiggs away for… Reasons?
“We play fair. We always play fair. We hit Bludgers, grab quaffles and score, we do not need to hit opponents with illegal hexes.“ With a shake of her head and a sigh with disbelief, she added. “Am I disappointed about the Cup? Obviously. We just won a match 840 to 450. That’s not exactly what I’d call a tragic afternoon. We caught the Snitch, we outscored Gryffindor, and we gave the spectators several opportunities to spill their pumpkin juice in excitement. If you’re asking whether I’d have liked a giant shiny trophy at the end of it all, well, yes. I am a Ravenclaw, not a saint.”
-Violette Twiggs, Ravenclaw Beater and Vice-Captain who, indeed, rushed out of the party with Mr Lament.