Catch The Snitch

October 1

Taking in a deep breath of the crisp cool weekend morning air, Juniper entered the flying field with her broom that she had named Swifty due to its swift movements. She was out before the sun had even had a chance to start rising and was alone. Her father was getting on her nerves again and this time her older brother was in on it too, with both sending her letters, her brothers out of concern and her fathers of a far more judgmental nature. Both had found out that she didn’t have any friends at school, she was certain a professor had raised their concerns to her father but how her brother had also found out was beyond her. Why Aster had to involve himself, she didn’t know although she did suppose that he was legitimately worried about her happiness. Her father on the other hand was a different kettle of Grindylows. He was angry that she was not living up to the Kyteler name and had threatened that if she didn’t come home in the summer with news of friends and more preferably a pureblood boyfriend then her father would have to get more involved in the matchmaking. She cringed thinking of the possibilities her father would come up with. Her wellbeing was not his priority, but her future husbands reputation and fortune certainly were. He would go for a member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, some of whom were more than double her age. After burning both letters, she tried to sleep but had been unable to resulting in dark circles under her eyes. So, before sunrise she had jumped out of bed, quickly got ready for the day, threw her hair up into a high ponytail and headed to the Quidditch field. The perfect way to let loose was to fly and to fly fast, dangerously fast.

Today was the day she was going to perfect her spiral dive. She got into flying position, kicked off of the ground and flew up high. She began to whip around the field, up high by the scoring goals, flying in a circle around the pitch, picking up more and more speed as she went. After picking up enough speed she headed to the center of the pitch and began her spiral dive. Spinning and spinning, she dove down at an incredibly fast pace, the goal was to get low enough down to be barely skimming the ground but instead she chickened out and pulled up around three feet above her target. Swearing under her breath, she flew up towards the posts again and sat there for awhile catching her breath, ‘damn it Juniper, get it together.’

Her father disallowed her from joining the Slytherin Quidditch team, ‘a proper young lady does not partake in sports’ her fathers admonishment playing in her head. But Juniper still flew and learned Quidditch moves, a small way for her to rebel. Ironically, it was her father who had introduced her to flying and the game of Quidditch, he himself being a huge fan of the sport, he had not anticipated Juniper taking such a liking to it. She began to fly around the pitch again. Picking up her speed, she prepared for another spiral dive. Twirling, twirling, and twirling some more, the ground coming closer and closer. A voice in her head told her to pull up but she ignored it until the last second where she pulled up so close to the ground she could reach down and touch it with her hand. She had done it. She had perfected her spiral dive down to the ground, well as close as she could get without hitting the ground and ending up in the Hospital Wing or dead. Grinning ear from ear she slowed her broom down, lowered it a bit more and dismounted, ‘‘Well, get stuffed dad" she murmured to herself.

[[OOC: Because this thread takes place before the Slytherin dance thread, I’ve opted to put Evelyn here instead, since Juniper and Kyle are supposed to properly meet for the first time in that thread. That said… if you’d like to have Kyle in this thread too and you don’t mind doing a bit of retconning on the dance thread, do let me know too!]]


With an exasperated groan, Evelyn rolled out of bed to start her day. She had awoken earlier than usual, oddly alert despite the meagre hours of rest she had had, and couldn’t fall back asleep again. Consequently the Slytherin Quidditch captain ended up heading towards the pitch, broomstick in hand, at the crack of dawn, already dressed and prepped for a training session that wasn’t due to start until a couple of hours later. Since sleep wouldn’t take her, she figured she might as well practise hitting some Bludgers as an outlet for her frustration before the rest of her team arrived.

Thinking that she would have the Quidditch pitch to herself, Eve was not amused to find that someone else had beat her to it. Screw you, whoever you are, she instinctively thought to herself. She was grouchy on a good day and doubly so right now, and really didn’t want to have deal with another human so early in the morning. Half-expecting the other person to be Kyle Winters or one of the other usual suspects, she was surprised to find that the person whizzing around on the broomstick seemed to be someone else entirely.

It took a few moments for Eve to recognise the unknown person as Juniper Kyteler, a fellow Slytherin and a good flyer but – to Eve’s annoyance – not a member of the Quidditch team. She knew Juniper: they both hailed from Pure-blood families with strong affinities for the Dark Arts, and Eve’s father had always been eager to associate himself with other Pure-blood families in an attempt to help the Darke Goldmans regain the prestige and influence they had lost. Consequently Eve was forced to attend various dinners and events with her father, and she hated it. She had no love for blood supremacists and their narrow-minded ways, nor was she fond of all the constant politicking amongst the various families.

Never mind, you’re forgiven. At least it was Juniper, and not some obnoxious idiot from another house or anything. (Or certain people from Slytherin – not even people from her own house were spared from her ire.) As the Fifth Year raced around the pitch and built up speed, Eve leaned against the nearest stand and watched from the shadows, observing her technique as she zoomed around the pitch. And when Juniper raced towards the middle and pitched her broom downwards into a spiral dive, the move that struck Eve as being oddly coincidental. Not too long ago, she had heard about Kyle’s attempt at a tailslide – a Seeker move, and one that a Chaser such as himself would rarely have the opportunity to perform. Though he had pulled off the stunt successfully, he was by no means the most acrobatic and agile flier. Nor was Eve, to be honest, which was why she was taking note of how Juniper was performing the dive. Based on what she had heard, this was a fair bit more technical than what Kyle had done, especially since Juniper would have to counter the momentum from her spin while levelling off from the dive when she neared the ground.

The seconds seemed to last forever as Juniper maintained her dive, until abruptly it seemed too late for her to recover. But she did, and with great aplomb, pulling up and levelling off with mere inches to spare. Such skill, but what a shame she doesn’t play for the team, Eve mused as Juniper dismounted from her broom and basked in the afterglow of her triumph. Finally stepping out onto the pitch where Juniper could see her, the Quidditch captain clapped slowly. “Well done, well done,” she called out, but her tone was not entirely a congratulatory one. “Would have been lovelier if you were on the team though.” With quite a number of her teammates in their Sixth and Seventh Year, it was her duty as the team captain to recruit new blood and ensure that the Slytherin team continued to perform well in their matches, and she wasn’t willing to let a good flyer like Juniper slip between her fingers.

(OOC: Evelyn is just fine!)

Juniper jumped slightly when a voice called out. She hadn’t expected anyone here this early in the morning. Whirling around to face the voice, Juniper was relieved to see that it was Evelyn, her houses Quidditch captain and one of the few Slytherins that didn’t seem to mind to Juniper. Although thankful that it wasn’t anyone from any other house that had seen her, she was still happy that she hadn’t ended up doing her victory dance, that would have been too embarrassing. The fifth year Slytherin couldn’t help but smile at Evelyn’s comments. She had worked so hard on that move, and despite her embarrassment of being caught out, she was pleased someone had witnessed it and was applauding her for it.

Taking a few steps closer to Evelyn, she replied enthusiastically, “thank you!” and then raised her eyebrows at the mention of the Quidditch team. If she was honest with herself, she did want to try out for the Slytherin team but worry plagued her every time she thought about it, so she had refrained so far. Stage fright was a concern for her, what if she became anxious while being watched and wasn’t able to perform as well, she couldn’t bear to let the team down like that. It was a bit of a ridiculous concern given that Juniper was in the school’s choir and was often in front of an audience, although she always refused solos, hating the attention that solo singers received. An even bigger concern of hers was how her father would react to such news. According to him team sports was for men, women should focus their energy on other activities, like poetry, singing and dancing. The young witch and her father fought often, and Juniper knew joining the team would be a catalyst for another huge fight. Of all people she was certain Evelyn would understand but instead Juniper offered by way of an excuse, “being on the team is tempting but I really need to focus on my studies this year, you know, with OWLs coming up.” Then cocking her head to the side, changing the subject, she remarked “it’s early. I wasn’t expecting anyone to be out here. Couldn’t sleep?”

“Studies, really?” Eve raised a skeptical eyebrow at Juniper’s rationale for not wanting to be on the Quidditch team. After all, she knew what was holding Juniper back: based on what she knew of Juniper’s father, he seemed to hold a very outdated view of what women should be like, one that Eve vehemently disagreed with. Had she been in Juniper’s shoes, she would have joined the Quidditch team out of pure spite. But alas, Juniper did not share the same disregard for consequences, and ultimately Eve had to let the matter slide.

She nodded as Juniper asked if she couldn’t sleep. “I woke up unexpectedly early and couldn’t go back to sleep,” she replied with a scowl that wasn’t directed at Juniper… or anyone specific at all, for that matter. She was just pissed at herself and the world in general. “I did feel well rested, but I think this will come back to haunt me later today.”

“I had time to kill, so I thought I’d come here. Didn’t expect anyone else to beat me to it.” Eve shook her head with an exasperated shrug. Any hopes of having a nice quiet morning to herself had been dashed, but at least it was Juniper instead of anyone else. The Fifth-Year took her responsibilities seriously, was nice to most people, and usually had the guts to stand up to those she disagreed with. And those were enough for her to earn a spot in Eve’s ‘alright’ list – which was quite an achievement in itself, considering how short said list was.

“Since you’re here, why don’t you join me for some training?” Eve asked as she began to limber up. The captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team was notorious for being disagreeable and somewhat of a loner, and at first glance it seemed uncharacteristic of her to invite someone else to join her for what was supposed to be a solo training session. However, given their relationship, she considered Juniper’s company to be welcome, and the latter’s skill at flying meant that she was a perfect training partner.

Juniper blushed slightly at Eve’s skepticism and looked everywhere but Eve’s eyes. Maybe one day she would be brave like her housemate and challenge the status quo but that day was not today. Perhaps with more of Eve's influence however that day would arrive sooner rather than later.Despite Eve’s reputation for being a little bit unpleasant, Juniper liked the girl, she appreciated her candor, a quality that seemed to be sorely lacking in their house. Slytherins tended to either be too artificial or too frank, whichever would help them achieve their ends in that particular circumstance. With Eve though what you saw was what you got, a refreshing change from many of their other housemates.

The fifth year Slytherin raised an eyebrow at Eve’s offer of some training, it had been a long time since Juniper had actually trained with another person. Her older brother had been too busy this summer to play, preparing for his final school year or rather as Juniper really knew, trying to court Valerie Donova, a witch her brothers age from a Russian pureblood family. Last she recalled practicing with him was in the Spring. She was probably pretty rusty with some of the team aspects of the game. Eve was providing her with an opportunity that didn’t arise often. The Slytherin captain would probably be hard on her but that was what Juniper needed if she wanted to get back into top Quidditch shape, so she nodded her head and replied “that sounds good. I warn you though, it’s been a long time since I’ve actually practiced with someone.”

The guilty look on Juniper’s face convinced Eve that she had been right to doubt the former’s flimsy excuse. Not that it changed anything, but perhaps the younger girl could one day be encouraged to muster the courage and stand up for what she wanted. It didn’t have to be about Quidditch – it could be anything, really. A social obligation she’d rather skip. A hobby she’d like to pick up. A career path she hoped to pursue. Or a person she wanted to befriend or avoid.

A grin crept over Eve’s lips when Juniper agreed to be her request. It was an expression she rarely wore, though only time would tell if Juniper was lucky enough to catch it, or unlucky enough to be conned into being Eve’s training partner. “Before we begin… Accio!” the Quidditch captain intoned as she stretched out her hand to the side, and right on cue a Quidditch trunk whooshed out from out of nowhere into her waiting hand. The green colouration and the crest on its lid marked it as the Slytherin’s team’s property, and the team would often use the balls and bats contained within for their training.

After Eve set the trunk down on the ground and unlocked it, she didn’t open it. Instead she just left it where it was as she climbed atop her broom and motioned for Juniper to do the same. “Let’s start with something easy then,” she declared as she unilaterally decided on what the training would entail. And it was most probably not going to be easy, despite what she had just said. “One lap around the pitch together at a good pace, and then three more laps, as fast as you can.” Without waiting for Juniper or even giving so much as a backward glance, Eve took off first, though she deliberately slowed down so that the other student could join up with her for the first lap.