| Details for Teaching |
| Summary: | Claire and Gabriel talk about quidditch in the common room. |
| Date: | 5 October, 1937 |
| Location: | Ravenclaw Common Room |
| Related: | None |
| Characters |
  |
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
Common Room Hogwarts Castle
Sat Oct 06, 1937 ((Sat Oct 06 02:46:29 2012)) (Ravenclaw House)
It is a fall night. The weather is freezing and raining.
The Ravenclaw Common Room is one of the most airy rooms at Hogwarts. This wide, circular room's floor is covered in a deep, midnight blue carpet and the arched windows are hung with soft blue silk curtains. The high, domed ceiling carries a charm similar to the one in the Great Hall making stars glitter and move about on it reflecting the proper placements of the constellations according to the seasons. During the day, the Ravenclaw students have an excellent view of the surrounding mountains. The room is furnished with comfortable tables and chair upholstered in midnight blue with white pinstripes and bookcases stand along the walls.
---—===================(\|/)==================---—
Gabriel is sitting in a chair set against one of the walls, near a window. IN his lap rests a book which he is reading… Most of the time. From time to time he interrupts his reading to toss a white ball with red stiching across the roo where it hits the padded back of a chair and bounces back to get caught absentmindedly. After the toss he reads a few more paragraphs, ball rolling around in his hands, then he tosses it again. And again. And again.
<FS3> Claire rolls Reaction: Failure.
Claire is sitting in that chair and with each thud clenches her jaw tighter and tighter. Thud. Thud. Thud. In a swift motion she sits up and turns, swiping an arm down in the expected arc of the ball in an attempt to catch it. She misjudges, and doesn't catch the ball impressively as she intended, just fumbles it away. Ignoring the failure, Claire fixes the boy with a withering glare. "Cut. It. Out."
Gabriel tumbles out of his own chair, book falling in a tumble to the ground and he dives for the ball. Catching it as he slides for a foot or two along the floor he then gives Clair a big grin from his sprawl on the floor,"Oh! Sorry about that! I thought I was all alone in here. Couldn't see you over the back of the chair." Sitting up he examines the ball, as if to make sure no harm has come to it even though in truth its cover in scuffs, scratches, and ground-in dirt. Once he's satisfied the ball is OK he looks back up, still grinning. "Hey! I've seen you around but haven't had a chance to meet you yet. Claire… Allison? Right?"
Gabriel's book is now clearly visible. Its a rule book on Quidditch writen for beginners.
Claire's look softens into that sort of pitying tolerance look sometimes used upon first years. She nods once, "Claire Cameron." A glance to the book (a traditional Ravenclaw greeting is "what are you reading?") and she adds, "Interested in quidditch?"
Gabriel srcambles back up to his feet only to grab the book back up from the floor then dart over to drop himself back on the floor, sitting crosslegged in front of Claire's chair. "Well, at least I got the first name right! Why's your last name so different from what I thought it was?" Without waiting for an answer he goes on, negligently holds the book up so the cover can be seen as he nods,"Oh yes! I never heard of it before this summer. And it sounds like so much fun. I thought baseball was great and cricket is OK but this game…" the book gets thumped with the ball to emphasize the point,"has so many things you can do! And on brooms! Flying in the air! Without an an aeroplane or a glider or anything, just a broom!"
Claire smiles a little. "One out of two isn't bad. You're, hmmm," Claire makes a show of studying the boy and sizing him up, "Ward, right?" She doesn't quire laugh, but gives a little huff of amusement. "Quidditch is pretty good. I'm a beater for Ravenclaw. I broke two bones last year." No, she's not showing off at /all/.
Gabriel bobs his head up and down,"Yep. But I like Gabriel or Gabe better. People call me Ward all I can think of is being some lil' orphan in the big city." Dropping the book in his lap he leans forward a little bit looking eager,"Oooo. How'd you break them? I broke a finger once, it hurt like blazes. I bet breaking a bigger bones hurts a whole lot more. How long did you have a cast on? Do they let you play with broken bones?" Taking a quick gasp of air he keeps rattling off questions,"Have you ever hit anyone with your bat? Being a beater must be fun but I think I wanna be a chaser. Do you think being small would help a chaser? I can throw pretty good thank to all the baseball my granda' has me play when I visit him. Think I can be a chaser? Can first years play?"
"Oh no, it wasn't me. /I/ broke /their/ bones," Claire says with a predatory grin. "Nurse Spleen can fix a broken bone in a second. They were out for the game, but back to practice the next day." She lets him rattle on, and when he next pauses for breath slips in an answer to what she deems the most pressing question. "First years never make the teams; getting a broom off the ground is hard enough for you lot."
Gabriel's eyes widen when Claire mentions breaking other people's bones, the rolling of the ball in his hands increasing in speed,"Not on purpose, right!?" then his expression changes as is saying that first years can't fly a broom was a personal offence before changing to a look of definance,"HAH! Shows what you know! I bet I was flying first class out. Only took three tries. And I bet I can…" And now his expression droops and his hands fall to his lap,"Awwww… I forgot. I missed tryouts for this year. Anyway! I bet I'll make the team, first try, next year!"
"Mmmm, it wasn't on accident," Claire says casually, marking something off on the star chart she has spread on the table before her. "Quidditch is a dangerous game. It's my job to take out players of the other team. That's what beaters are for. Try out next year, goals are good…" her voice drifts off as she notices a mistake on her chart.
Gabriel looks a little dubious at this then shakes his head,"Nah… Beaters aren't supposed to take out other players." Riffling through his book he quickly finds the page describing the positions then holds it up for you, pointing at a paragraph that reads 'The Beater's job is to keep the Bludgers away from their team and at the same time try and aim the Bludgers towards the opposite team.' so that its easy for Claire to read,"See? Says so right there. You shouldn't be hitting players, you should only hit the Bludggers!"
<OOC> Gabriel says, "And yes, Bludgers was intentionally misspelled. ;)"
Claire says, "What do you think happens when a speeding iron ball hits someone sitting on a piece of household cleaning equipment?"
Gabriel thinks about this for a moment then goes,"OOoooooohhhh. I thought you were hitting them with your *bat* on purpose. I guess if you're good enough to actually hit them with the Blugger then its OK. So you think we can win this year? Who's going to he Ravenclaw's toughest competition? We're at least going to beat the Slytherines, right? I hear they're the bad guys around here."
Claire laughs. "Slytherin's not as evil as they'd like you to think. They aren't nearly so subtle as they fancy themselves. You're a Ravenclaw, so you can get the better of them by asking yourself a single question. D'you know what it is?" After a beat, she adds, "But yes, Slytherin traditionally fields a very strong team. Their seeker is brand new, though, which is never a boon."
Gabriel leans forward again with his eyes widen open. Oooooo, the wisdom of the ancient, his expression almost seem to shout out,"No. What's the question?" Seems this is an interesting enough snippet of information that it merits its own, lonely question/
Claire grins and winks at Gabe. "Oh come now, you're a better Ravenclaw than that. What should you ask yourself if you want to predict your opponent's move? I'll give you a hint, since you're such an ickle firstie, it's one word."
Gabriel tilts his head a bit to the side as he thinks for a moment, then frowns slightly,"Well… There's a lot of one word questions that could fit. Where? When? How? Why? Who?" Almost as soon as he starts thinking the ball in his hand starts moving again, this time bouncing up and down a few inches in his right hand.
"Oh no," Claire chides. "Blurting out every thing you can think of might work on the door knocker, but it's not going to work on me. You're on the right track, I'll give you that. When you've got an answer, and can tell me /whyyy/," Claire draws out the word, dropping another hint, "I'll give you a practical lesson in quidditch, alright?"
Gabriel laughs as the hint becomes a bit too obvious,"Why! The question is why." He opens his mouth to say something else when one of the other first year Ravenclaws pokes his head into the room and hisses,"Gabe! IF they catch you out of bed after hours again you'll be in soooo much trouble!" In response to that Gabe pops to his feet, book clutched in one hand and the baseball in the other and given Claire and unrepentant grin,"Lesson another day?" then dashes off to boy's dormitory without even waiting for a good night.