"I will send a curse out at you right now."

Shiloh Adlar
Writer, Ravenclaw

Welcome back to the second installment of Tales from the Pitch. We have had a lot of fun on the pitch this past month of January, and I am excited to tell you all about it. Let’s start with our last practice before our first game.

It was during this practice that we experienced what our very own Kendra Givens called a soap opera. This is how it happened.

​Elena Galatas showed up to practice telling me how she predicted she was going to get very ill before our first game. Something she had apparently picked up during her last Divination class. From my own Divination studies, knowing that Shadow Gaunt was not going to be able to come as well due to an accident from the previous practice where she flew and tumbled into one of the stands, I was very concerned that we would end up being a player short.

Our conversation went a little like this. Elena told me her prediction, and I said, “Elena, I will send a curse out at you right now.” Then she replied that she did not choose when she got sick, so without any feeling at all, meaning it did not work, I may or may not have cast an unforgiveable at her. Elena proceeded to say, “I’m dead. Oh wait, that’s the wrong curse.” Then Elena had some sort of epiphany and added, “Oh wait! I didn’t mean the game tomorrow. I meant the game next Saturday!”

Gail Allen, beater extraordinaire, then said, “You’re going to give Shiloh a heart attack.” Elena apologized, but then Gail told her not to because she had been “cursed.” To which I said, “Blame Will Lestrange. He’s the one who taught me how to use those curses.” It was to that comment that Kendra admitted, “This sounds like such a soap opera.”

The things we do in practice. Let’s move on to our first game, shall we?

Our first game was played January 14th against Slytherin with Pavel Lagrange, Kendra Givens and Alexander Brighton as chasers, Gail Allen and Vanessa Tilley as beaters, Arielle as keeper, and myself as seeker. Elena did show up eventually but she actually did get slightly sick and had to sneak out of the hospital wing to make it down to the pitch to at least support her team. Shadow unfortunately was not so lucky and got caught while trying to sneak away and was forced back into her bed.

The most exciting part of this game was probably the snitch play. I may be a little biased on this since I am the seeker, but here is what happened. I kept up with Cody Lewis who just happened to have a better broom than I, and therefore sped across the pitch much faster. I wronsky feinted him first, but then moments later, he ended up getting me back, learning my old trick.

We raced around each other searching for the golden snitch when suddenly I spotted it over by the Slytherin goal post. I sped quickly towards it, and I was almost there, inching forward little by little while it had taken Cody a moment to realize what I was speeding off towards. Once he did, he began racing in my direction. I guess one of the Slytherin beaters realized that I had seen the snitch because next thing I know, a bludger came heading my way. I tried to avoid it, but it was no luck. It hit me straight in the face, and Cody sped ahead of me.

I caught my bearings quickly and took off after him pushing my broom faster and faster until I was almost there. Cody and I were fingertip to fingertip as we both reached to grab the snitch. Unfortunately, his arm span is a little longer than mine and he grasped it in his hand as we both tumbled down to the ground on our brooms. Needless to say, Slytherin won that match, but I was very proud when I looked at the score to see the team had kept up with them the best we could with a whole gang of new players against this seasoned team.

Our next game was the weekend after where we played Hufflepuff. This game went much better for us minus one of our players being excused from the game. Shadow had apparently not healed well enough from her previous injury to play and the school nurse came stomping on the field where the referee had to call time, and the nurse told Shadow to fly herself back to the hospital wing to rest. Personally I think the nurse was overreacting. That girl was rocking it from what I could tell when I snuck a few peeks. The whole team, of course, rolled their eyes at the nurse before the game started back up and play continued. Gail and Kendra, our fantastic beaters kept up such a good defense that Arielle Lemoyne barely had to defend our goalposts. Our chasers also kept up a good fight and scored many goals. As far as seeking went, I made sure to not get hit by any bludgers this time once I saw the snitch.

Katelin Ross, seeking for the first time for Hufflepuff, kept me on the edge of my broom however as she stayed close behind me. A few times I thought she may have had me, but I still managed to pull through and grasp the snitch for the win.

As you can see, the start of our season for Ravenclaw has been somewhat of an exciting mess, but we’re pulling through to give our house a good performance this year, and we hope that you all come out to cheer us on at our next game, February 24th. See you there!