Though it has been rainy during the whole day Andy Carver and Briony Wexler have combined to meet at the deserted quidditch pitch after lunch to have a training session, as both of them recently joined the team and want to improve their skill and routine on their proper positions. Andy shuffles along the fairly muddy path towards the stadium, having his battered broom in his right and the broom shed key in his left hand. He cowers a bit as a short wet breeze lashes over him and pulls his collar up to protect his neck. He decides to wait for Briony at the door of the shed, which provides a rather dry and windless place.

“Hullo, Andy,” Briony calls with a rather exhuberant wave. It being muddy as it is, this causes the young Gryffindor to slip, and she falls right onto her rear end in the muck. “Oops,” she says getting up and trying to shake the mud off. Her black robes are well splattered with the dark brown mud, now, and none of her shakery is fixing it. “So, do you want to try to make goals, and I’ll try to block them?” the second year asks, setting her broom down on the ground to tuck her robes. After all, she doesn’t want them to get caught in anything.

Andy just unlocked the broom shed as he notices his housemate coming down to the pitch. “Hello, Bri-” Andy begins to greet, the keyholding hand stuck halfway in the air, and makes a commiserating face as Briony falls down. He would have gone to help her but she was too quick in getting up again, as the rain also contributed its part of holding him back. “Are you alright?” Andy asks, looking at her muddy robes. “At least the inhibition to get dirty is gone now.” he adds with a chuckle. “Sounds good. I think we should do some stretching and then start with me only attempting to score at one particular hoop and then widen the range until I try it on all of the three.” Andy states, sticking his head into the shed to locate the balls case and the backup quaffles.

“Getting dirty is no big deal. After all, clothes come clean again. My mum gets stains out in a jiffy.” Briony giggles and stands out in the rain as she waits for her teammate to get the balls out. “I’m going to fly a little bit so I can get limbered up,” She announces and orders her broom UP! The girl gets onto her broom and is soon on her way around the pitch, doing a couple of laps while she waits for Andy to pull out the supplies that they’ll use for their small practice.

After Andy has collected three quaffles and finished to bring them onto the pitch, just near the middle hoop on one side of the field, he starts with some stretching exercises, watching Briony doing her rounds. A few minutes later, as he thinks that it would be enough and he even did not want to sit and do further exercises on the ground, he commands UP!, mounts his broom and flies towards Briony with a quaffle in his hand.

Finishing her laps, the girl takes her place at the hoops. “Alright, Andy, whenever you’re ready.” She can’t help but be nervous. After all, they would soon have their first game versus Ravenclaw, and she wanted to do her best, of course! “Let’s start out a bit slow, though. Just to make sure.” Of course, Ravenclaw won’t be going slow with her to start, but Briony is not thinking of that just now. She just wants to survive the game.

“Ok, here we go! I’ll try to limber you up first.” Andy accelarates and heads towards Briony, doing slight curves and pondering where to shoot, to let Briony have the chance to save his attempt. Getting into shooting range Andy lifts his arm and throws, not as fast as he wanted to, so that the quaffle’s trajectory bends down and flies towards Briony’s lower left side, a bit under the actual hoop.

“Alright,” She calls back, watching her fellow second year swerve back and forth. When he tosses the ball, Briony dives for it, but it takes her several moments to catch it, and she is almost to the ground before she regains her handle on the ball. She flies back up and tosses the quaffle back to Andy. “Here, go again! I’ll get it faster next time, I promise!” She readies herself a bit more, determined not to depend quite so much on her broom to make the saves. “Go it again!”

“Sorry for this one. It slipped away a bit.” Andy excuses the miss and catches the quaffle sent by Briony. “Ready?” he calls and starts his next attempt. This time he flies straight to Briony’s right, aims at the upper left quarter of the ring, strikes out, fakes a shot into this direction and then quickly tosses the quaffle towards the opposite section of the hoop.

“Uuungrrha!” Briony shouts as she dives for the Quaffle. She misses, and it flies through the hoop. She flies down to catch it and tosses it back to Andy. “Alright, I can do this, I can do this,” she states quietly to herself then glances to Andy. “Alright, I’ll get this one, I swear. Don’t go easy on me!” She grits her teeth and now has both hands off of her broom, though her legs are twisted around it for balance and safety. “Gimme what you got!”

“Woo!” Andy cheers smiling, as he has overcome his housemate. “You almost got it, it was kind of mean.” he animates her and grabs the swooshing quaffle. “I’ll try something.” Andy announces, overestimating his skills. He accelarates again and suddenly leans to the left side to try a roll. “Uaaah!” As he is upside down he cling to his broom with both hands and the quaffle drops towards the ground.

“Oh, are you alright?” Briony calls, though he hasn’t fallen to the ground. “Don’t fall! I don’t want to get into trouble or anything. We are allowed to be out here, right?” The girl doesn’t seem really interested in the question, more that her teammate is alright.

Andy struggles back up onto his broom and takes a deep breath. “Yes, nothing to it.” he settles, still being very blushed and adds “I’m not going to try this once more for now.” Having arranged his robes again, Andy starts downwards to pick up the quaffle and rises again to Briony’s level. “Should we proceed with maybe two possible hoops to score at? I could enlarge the distance first, if you want.” he proposes.

“Whatever you like,” Briony answers and makes her distance from the hoops a bit more so that she has more room to guard them. “Come at me whenever you’re ready! I’ll get it this time, I will!” The girl readjusts herself on the broom and watches her teammate carefully, starting to cotton on to how she needs to be on the broom now for the best ease. She’ll learn, of course, though so far, it is slow going for the Gryffindor Keeper.

Andy smiles as he notices the keeper’s determined will. Acting a bit reserved after his almost-drop Andy is on target for the right hoop and sling the quaffle to the central one. Though it describes a slight curve and trundles remarkably Andy thinks, that it should be an easy prey for Briony.

This time, Briony does manage to catch the Quaffle, holding it up joyously and tossing it back. “There we go,” she calls with a laugh and readies herself again, feeling more comfortable in the air than she had been a while earlier. After all, one has to sometimes give it a few moments to gain bearings. “Go again,” she calls and watches Andy as he maneuvers with the Quaffle.

Andy chuckles as Briony catches his shot and calls over. “Well done! Next time I’ll get you.” Curving back to his starting position, Andy throws up the quaffle from time to time to get a better feeling about how to handle, hold and catch it best. Then he performs a narrow turn and rushes towards the hoops again, swerving to get his keeper uncomfortable. This time he delays the toss and throws it hard to the upper part of the right hoop. Andy brakes and watches Briony’s reaction.

Seeing how Andy is swerving does throw Briony off a bit, and she watches carefully as he approaches, trying her best to get up to the top hoop in time to block the shot. Her fingertips knick it, causing it to fly up, and bounce off the top of the hoop. A successful block, if nothing else. “Good one, Andy,” she calls, and begins to look for where the quaffle landed. “I’d better go get my homework done if I’m to have time to practice again later,” she finally admits, shrugging a bit. “Maybe we can practice a couple more times before the game, that way we’re at our best for the Ravenclaw match.”

Smiling and panting Andy admires Briony’s last save. “Oh, nice one, Briony.” he calls over. “Yes I’ve still got to do an essay for Professor Rathe, either. I think we’re getting better, aren’t we?” Andy tries to encourage himself and his friend, while landing on the wet grass near the hoops’ poles, where the quaffles lie.

“I sure hope so. I want to beat Ravenclaw. One of the girls in Ravenclaw house was teasing me in class that their seeker would catch the snitch so fast that we wouldn’t even have a chance to score.” Briony pauses. “I hope Nova’s fast at finding it; I do so want to win!” Sighing, the girl lands on the ground and strides over to the broom shed, quite wet and still covered in mud, Briony‘s first destination is likely a bath. “I’ll see you later, Andy, after I’ve cleaned up a bit. Perhaps we can compare notes. I’m not sure I got all mine down fast enough. She was giving us so much to write!”

Andy nods. “Nah, I don’t think that Ravenclaw has such a superb seeker. Nova will do her best, too.” He opens the shed and lets the quaffles drop into the mud. “Alright, I’ll just clear up the shed a bit, it’s really a mess. See you in the commons, then!” he says with a wave and grins. “I think it would be really appropriate to exchange some ideas this time.”

“But theirs is an excellent flier, so she is rather good. I saw them practice once for a little bit.” Briony shudders a bit and sighs as she returns her broom to its rightful place. “Oh, well, we can do our best. That’s all.” She nods solemnly then peers outside and sighs. “I guess I ought to go cleanup before I catch cold and mum gets angry at me for being so careless.” Yes, there were definitely disadvantages to having your mother at school with you. “I’ll see you later, Andy,” the girl tells him and trots out of the shed, headed for the school, praying that the caretaker doesn’t spot her before she gets to the bathroom.

Other Interesting Logs:

• Quidditch: Gryffindor vs Ravenclaw
• Giving Points for Effort
• And Time for a Race, Too
• Gabriel the Dragon?
• Only A Little Nervous