Mike Mulligan heads towards the Quidditch pitch at a trot, his robes flying and his broom held awkwardly at his side. As he nears the pitch, the little second year slows and tries to look a little older than he is. Chest puffed out, elbows out… then he trips, knocks his forehead with the handle of his broom, and slips on the grass, finally falling. Well done. Good start. Nerves? Something like that.

Marie-Anna Greyton makes her way onto the pitch, with a bag of coloured pinnies in one hand, and the other hand carrying a large box, which Ata Keegan’s helping her. “Good Morning, Mike,” she offers to the second year as the box is set down, beside the bag. “Alright, we’ll wait for everyone else to arrive and then we’ll get started,” is stated simply and loudly by Marie-Anna.

Practically bouncing with excitement, Briony skips onto the pitch happily. “Hullo, Mike!” the girl greets and holds onto her new broom, grinning from ear to ear. “Isn’t exciting? I can’t wait to start! I’m hoping to be Keeper, how about you? Do you think you’ll make it? I’m hoping I make it. I’ve been looking forward to this for years!” Two years, to be precise, but she does not mention exactly how long. The girl’s face beams as she looks to Marie. “Hello, Captain!” the girl greets excitedly.

Mike Mulligan recovers slowly, his face nearly matching the red in his Gryffindor scarf. “Oh… hullo,” he replies, quickly brushing grass and mud from his already-stained trousers. “Uh… it’s slippery on the pitch.” Right. “Good thing we use brooms.” Uh huh. The boy jumps at Briony’s greeting and clutches his broom to his chest. “I, uh… I….” It’ll be a wonder if he remembers how to get off the ground at this point.

Making his way onto the pitch, a new Silver Arrow in his hand, Gabriel Goden inwardly reminds himself to breathe. He’d have to put on a good show today if he wanted to make the team again. Clearing his throat as he arrives, a glance to Briony is accompanied with a slight grin. Gabriel walks up to his friend, nervously tapping a finger against his broom. “Remember, just relax and try to be natural,” he advises, though he’d be better just to tell himself that. “And good luck, Bri!”

With her slightly outdated Moonbeam in hand, Nova Harrington takes the field, pushing her way past a few of the bleacher stands and jogging the rest of the way. Her eyes scan the newcomers, but Nova ends up making a beeline for Marie-Anna. “Ready for tryouts!” The fifth year announces, settling next to Marie-Anne with a nervous grin.

Marie-Anna Greyton smiles as she looks at the gathered crowd. “I’m glad to see the turn out. First thing’s first, I need to get a feel for who is trying out for what,” is stated with a nod of her head. “I want Chasers to my right,” she motions to her right. “Keepers to the right of front,” she motions to the front right. “Beaters to my front left, and seekers to the left,” she motions to each place in turn. “There are, of course, no guarantees that you’ll get what position you think your best for, you may be better suited for another, presuming you get put on the team. I’d like to make note, of course, the junior squad is still around, and, as I understand it, other houses will have junior squads, so there may be some games this year,” is noted, with a grin.

Mike Mulligan nervously watches the other Gryffindors show up, some veteran, some new hopefuls like himself. The second year shifts slightly towards Briony. At least she’s a little more familiar. “Did they have a junior squad last year?” he asks in a hush, sounding a little put out. To think, he never noticed! Poor, oblivious boy. At Marie-Anna’s instructions, he pauses, scanning the forming groups, hedging his bets. He heads towards the group with the smallest number of people.

Briony Wexler moves in a leftward fashion to where Marie-Anna has designatied they go. “Sure did!” Briony answers him, perhaps a bit over-exhuberantly. “I was on it.” Her face is still exciting, and she can’t seem to quite stand still as she waits for the next direction. “Hi, Gabe-y,” she whispers to her friend as he strides up. “Lookit my broom! Isn’t it great?” Her broom and his seem to be similar models and Briony stifles a small giggle as she notices this. “We match!”

Nova Harrington grips her broom slightly. The undersized girl nods slightly, but to no one in particular. Her eyes move around at the spots for each position. Her attention is grabbed by Mike. “They did.” She says with a curt nod, before swaggering herself over to the seeker group.

Grinning to Briony after her comment, he nods and replies, “Yep. For some reason my parents keep buying me things this year. Mum wasn’t even going to let me play, remember? Strange, huh?” The boy shrugs. “Well, I’m over here,” he says, pointing. Stepping over to where Marie-Anna has indicated the Chasers to go, Gabriel lowers his broom a little, letting it drag on the ground as he walks. Running a hand through the mess that is his hair, Gabriel looks eagerly towards Marie-Anna after glancing around, quickly assessing his competition.

Marie-Anna Greyton waits for everyone to get out to where they need to be. “Alright, we’re all going to stretch first, I don’t want anyone getting injured due to muscle strains. We’ve all been off for the summer, and injuries are easy to come by right after break,” and with that she starts leading the team in stretches. Hands, legs, torso, if it can be stretched, it probably gets stretched out. Once this is done Marie looks up, at the obstacle course that she set out earlier in the day, after the prefect meeting. “As you can see, we’ve got an obstacle course for you to attend to. seepers are going to go first, they’ll go through the course,” she points at the floating and darting little non-snitch balls, “and then try to get the ‘snitch’,” looks easy, doesn’t it. “Beaters next,” she points at the offensive obstacles. “You all have to go through those, but the beaters will get to hit them with their bats,” she hands bats to the beaters. “The keepers will start and go one for every set of chaser that goes, one keeper going either side, same with everyone else. Once you finish you’ll go in front of the hoops. The chasers will go in groups of three, pass the quaffle between them, complete the course, and aim for a hoop, the keeper will try to stop the quaffle,” she pulls out two quaffles. “Seekers up,” she points at Nova. “You’re first,” is stated with a grin.

Mike Mulligan stares at Marie-Anna and looks more nervous with every word. His gaze keeps shooting towards the obstacle course, and those nearby might notice his hands are shaking just a bit as he takes the offered Beater bat. The boy utters a small word of thanks and settles himself on his broom, waiting for their turn to head up there.

Ready and anxious to begin her own course, Briony watches as Marie-Anna directs Nova to begin the seeker course. The girl is now bouncing from foot to foot, healthily loosened up even more than usual and still rather overly excited for the trials. If the team were decided upon excitement factor, then Briony would likely be the first one chosen. However, it is decided more on skill, and Briony feels ever so slight nerves, hoping that she will be the best candidate for at least one of the positions.

Nova Harrington falls into routine at the stretching, getting back into the rhythm that she was so used to last year. Nova pulls herself up from the exercises, rolling her shoulders. She squints her eyes as she looks on at the coarse. The small girl pushes herself up on her toes, using her broom as a prop to get a good look at it. When the seekers are announced first, Nova glances around the group. She’s not really surprised when Marie calls her first. With a small, hidden nervous gulp, the fifth year steps forward, slinging her broom over her shoulder as she starts for the coarse. Without a look back, Nova pulls her broom into position and mounts it, rising smartly up in the air. Her heels tense and she leans forward, eyes trained at the obstacles and waiting for the ‘go’.

Mounting his broom and rising up into the air a little just to try to calm his nerves, Gabriel sighs as he glances from Briony to Nova and back again. Hoping he’ll be able to out-perform the other Chaser candidates, the boy sighs, biting his lip (which has seemingly become his norm).

Marie-Anna Greyton nods a little, offering a friendly smile to those trying out, knowing what nerves can do. When she see’s that Nova’s ready Marie nods. “Go!” she gives as she flies up on her own broom to watch Nova go through the course, keeping track of how long it takes the vet to go through the course.

Mike Mulligan hovers on his old Moonbeam broom, calming slightly as he gets wrapped up in watching the seekers fly through the course. The bat lies limply in his hands, forgotten.

Taking to the air, Briony flies up a bit higher than originally intended, but she soon re-gains her bearing and is hovering near Gabriel, no longer in the separate areas that Marie-Anna had designated. She watches with interest as Nova makes her way through the course, trying to make up her mind how to handle each of the obstacles when it becomes her turn later.

The word ‘go’ has barely left Marie’s mouth before Nova Harrington is off like an arrow, leaning forward on her broom as she zips right into the coarse. She drops in altitude, avoiding some of the obstacles, her eyes narrowing in on the snitch-like ball. Her Moonbeam gives a little spurt of speed, allowing Nova to just miss one of the bludger-like things. Her head jerks in want to look behind her, but her eyes still hone in on her target. She is forced to break contact with it for a moment, having to loop around on of the obstacles. As Nova rounds it, the ‘snitch’ is no where to be found. With a small curse the girl scans her surroundings. Then, without warning, Nova shoots almost straight up in the air, taking the floating ball by surprise. It zips away towards the end of the coarse, with Nova right on its’ tail. After a few unsuccessful grabs, the fifth year is sent into a barrel roll as one of the ‘bludgers’ catches the front of her broom. Breathing heavily now, Nova pulls out of the roll by yanking on the front of the broom. Soon she’s angling towards the ground, landing and tumbling off her broom. Somehow she manages to keep her balance and stands up straight, holding up the little ball. “Got it on the roll, it didn’t expect that.” Nova calls, still not sounding very pleased with herself. “I could have done better.” She grumbles to herself as she stalks back towards the groups.

Laughing nervously at nothing in particular, Gabriel moves over, closer to Briony before commenting on the course, “Doesn’t look to bad, does it?” Gabriel‘s trembling hands might disagree, but the boy’s shaking isn’t noticeable for the wind and natural hovering of his broom.

Marie-Anna Greyton chuckles quietly as she watches, before pointing to the seeker closest to her. Once all the seekers are through, veteran Ata Keegan goes through the obstacle course before Marie turns towards rookie Mike Mulligan. “Alright, Mister Mulligan. You’re up,” she states with a nod of her head.

Mike Mulligan jumps, clutching the bat to his chest and barely missing nicking his chin with it. He gathers himself quickly however and takes to the air in a spastic rush, flying headlong towards the very first obstacle. Not a moment too late, he remembers to hit the first bludger-like ball, though not really aiming it at anything in particular, as long as it’s away from him. It might be noted it was a rather good hit, aside from that. Then he’s weaving, diving and rising through the other hovering devices. Now and then, a rather girly “eek!” or similar can be heard. Finally, he’s near the end, takes a swing at the last bludger… and only nicks it. The thing clocks him in the ear. He loses the bat, which hits his broomstick and pitches him over the front, right into the central hoop with a clang. Hugging the golden metal, the boy slides down to the sand, the screech of flesh against metal clearly heard.

Briony Wexler lets out a shriek as Mike falls into the sand, her hand covering her mouth in shock. “Is he alright?” the girl breathes, holding onto her broom tight and eyeing the obstacle course with a leery look. “Oh, my…” The girl knew the sport was dangerous, but she had never expected the trials themselves to be so.

Nova Harrington lets her broom perch just over her left shoulder, her left hand gripping at the handle. She goes to stand just behind and to the right of Marie-Anne, looking concerned even before Mike falls. Her brow quirks slightly, but she doesn’t seem to react beyond that.

Gabriel Goden‘s eyes widen as he watches Mike. Taking a firmer grip on his own broom, Gabriel swallows hard. “Eeee,” is his only comment to Briony, as he’s unsure whether or not he is alright.

Marie-Anna Greyton cringes slightly and beckons to a couple of the seekers. “Perhaps you should assist Mister Mulligan to the hospital wing?” she questions of them. With a nod the Seeker wannabes make their way over to Mike to assist him up and take him off, if he’ll let them. That done Marie watches the rest of the beaters go through. “Alright, Miss Wexler, I believe it’s your turn,” is offered to the keeper wannabe. With that she turns to set of three chasers, including Gabriel. “And you three will be the first to go that way, the next keeper will go next,” she points to another keeper. “And the next set of three chasers will follow.” Of course, she hears Briony’s question. “He’ll be fine, the nurse is very good at what she does,” trust me,” and with that she quiets to let Briony get to her turn at the course.

Mike Mulligan groans softly and gets to his feet, a little wobbly at first. Then he notices his poor, damaged brook with another “eek!” An older house mate from the stands rushes down to help him away, promising they can fix the broom… right after visiting the school nurse. At least he’s walking. As the seekers join them, Mike’s face goes from pale white to bright red again. “I’m okay,” he tells them lamely and keeps walking.

“O-oh, me?” the girl blinks a moment and starts flying through the obstacle course. “You can do it, you can do it, you can do it,” the girl breathes to herself as she starts her flight through the course towards the goals, ahead of the chasers who are soon to follow. She gets hit by only a few of the bludgers, flying remarkably well, given her nerves. However, the final one manages to catch the tail of her broom and the broom starts to swerve a bit. “Aa-aaa-aaah!” Briony yells as she tries to get the broom into control again. Coming to the hoops, she does a rather unsteady loop around them and finally manages to get in front of the hoops, her arms both out and her ankles crossed and hooked in the stand to keep her balance.

Nodding to Marie-Anna, Gabriel glances to the other chasers, who have come up on either side of him. “Okay,” he says with a determined nod. As Briony takes off, Gabriel is slightly distracted by keeping an eye on her before he realizes that the two chasers beside him have started to go. “Gah!” the boy emits as he follows, a bit behind. Fighting to catch up, Gabe lowers his head and urges the broom on, doing his best to avoid obstacles. Narrowly missing a bludger, the boy ducks and swerves right, bumping into another chaser who is just in the process of passing the Quaffle to the chaser on Gabe’s left. The throw is a little botched thanks to Gabriel, and the left chaser has to dive to catch it. Once accomplished, Gabe is thrown the ball as the three approach the goals. Gabriel has not time to register the relative importance of the shot– shoot easy so Briony can defend it, or shoot well so it has a good chance of scoring. The boy just whips the thing for all he’s worth in the general direction it ought to go.

Nova Harrington takes a few deep breaths, glancing over to help with Mike, but some of the others already have done just that. The girl instead settles herself to watch the rest of the trials, a slightly grumpy face planted on her features.

Three balls come at Briony at once, and it is not something she has expected. Diving in the direction of two of the balls, she manages to deflect two of them, while one flies through the middle hoop with a loud DING! “Hah!” She yells exhuberantly, then covers her mouth as she smiles widely at Gabriel. A twinge of sadness flows through her as she realizes that one of those shots was Gabriel’s, but she quickly forgets this in light of her own successful block. She flies back to the crowd as the three chasers have finished and are also flying back. The girl smiles happily as she flies back and forth to quell her still-excited energy.

Marie-Anna Greyton nods quietly as Briony stops two thirds of the quaffles before the other keepers and chasers go about their tasks. Due to an uneven amount of chasers groupings get mixed up a bit to allow everyone to go at least once. When all is said and done Marie nods. “Alright, everyone back on the ground for stretches,” she gives as she moves herself back to the ground and starts leading the group in stretches. “I’ll announce the team in a few days time, along with the assistant captain,” she stated in a loud enough voice to be heard while she keeps stretching. “Remember, if you didn’t make the team there’s still the junior squad that, presuming you tried out for this team or your a first year, you’re welcome to join it,” she nods her head, looking at every player, trying not to give anyone an idea as to whether or not they’ve made the team. “I admit, this is more of a turn out than I had expected to see, thank you all for your attendance,” she states, smiling to the Gryffindors.

Wiping his forehead with his sleeve despite it being nearly dry of perspiration, Gabriel lowers his broom to the ground, stepping off it as his feet alight on terra firma once more. “I guess that went okay,” he says out loud, hoping Briony is within earshot. Gabe is feeling a little dizzy, which may explain his drunken-like walking.

Briony Wexler flies down to the ground and participates in the stretches as the captain makes her closing announcements. “Alright,” she tells the woman, unable, even still, to stand still. It seems as if Bri has more energy than perhaps even the Quidditch trials could rid her of. “I can’t wait to see the list,” Briony answers as she runs to catch up to Gabriel, both of them heading slowly towards the broom closet. “I really hope I make it. It would be ever so much more fun than being on the Junior Squad.” She giggles a bit and switches her broom to the other arm.

Nova Harrington falls right back into the stretches. Her broom lays in front of her as she works, her eyes set to a blade of grass before her. She still looks rather annoyed at herself, her movements clunky and untimed as a result of that.

Other Interesting Logs:

• Quidditch: Gryffindor vs Hufflepuf
• Gabriel the Dragon?
• Only A Little Nervous
• Sorting Day: Olivia’s Perspective
• Sorting Day: Briony’s Perspective