Hooflequid

Lucy stood out on the pitch looking dismally at the signup sheet in her hand. Not even a full team. No wonder Hufflepuff never won the cup, their lazy-arse housemates couldn't even pitch in and help make up an entire team.

She sighed and shoved the note back in the pocket of her robes. Maybe if she was lucky, some of those Beauxbatons kids would show up. At this rate, Lucy was ready to try anything, even putting foreigners on the team. They could be honorary Huffles, she was nice like that.

Stephany slowly walked down to the quidditch pitch. she had hurd that tryouts where today though she didnt' thing she would make the team. she was grate at flying and everything but her head was so messed up from trying to find out who murddered her parents and why. it was driveing her nuts. but maybe quiditch would take everything off her mind, maybe not. who knew? she stood there not really sure what to do or who to talk to. all she knew how to do was stand there silently going mad.

Not many showed up for Hufflepuff tryouts, not even the actual house members. Luna was one of the only people in the house that actually was dedicated to the house enough to try out for the team. She sighed at the thought. A first year, along with a couple more people, could not carry a whole Quidditch team alone. No wonder Hufflepuff lost all the time, no matter how many people were in the house hardly any participated. Most likely due to their house being viewed as "useless" or a "collection house" where all the people would go if they didn't quite fit in any of the other three houses which had clearly defined traits like intelligence and bravery. Of course, Hufflepuff had loyalty, and a strong work ethic, but that was hardly shown for this house.

"Hello", her somber voice rang through the field. Only a couple others were there.

"Hey Steph, Hi Luna," Lucy greeted her two most eager quidditch hopefuls.

They would get some advantages from showing up early. Lucy liked to see house spirit in her team. Of course, the list had told her Luna was trying out for seeker and Stephany for beater, but Lucy decided to get them to repeat it to her anyway, just in case they'd changed their minds in the meantime.

"So, what position are looking to play?" she asked both girls.

"Seeker!" Luna said, she masked her disappointment behind happiness. She was so much likely to get a position on the team. The time was now to prove herself worthy somehow. This was the day she'd make her house proud. Something was finally going right for her. She'd be the one to carry her team through this, she hoped. Though, Lucy seemed a bit better than her at that. Luna was but a mere firstie, thus inexperienced and quite frankly not that promising as a quidditch player. Or so everyone would love to think. Would love to think of her as inexperienced and really horrible. But she'd prove everyone wrong, and play like a pro, that's what she thought. That's what she wanted. Wanted to do. Prove others wrong. Know that people didn't know what they were talking about and proving that she was better than they'd think. She could do that. She was confident.

OOC: Postin as Stephany. and sorry if i spelled anything wrong im not on my computer and i don't have the spell cheek on this one.
"Beater," Stephany said glanceing around. this was the first year she was trying out for quidditch and she didn't play much though she loved to fly. all she really cared about was finding the man who killed her parents though that was hard to do when she was stuck here at school. her eyes keep scaning the quidditch pitch not sure what to do. she really just wanted to be looking for her parents. "Hi Luna," she wispred, Steph had met her a while back in the library along with her friend Brinnie Request. "How is Brinnie?"

Logan strode out onto the pitch, his Nimbus 2000 shouldered as he pulled on some gloves his mother had purchased for him when he had begun to express more of an interest in Quidditch. He practiced on his own or with acquaintances but he had never really thought to join the team. This year, looking at the list, he decided he would have a good chance.

He might have resented the captain being younger than him, but it was his first year and Logan was typically good-natured and not quick to be jealous. So he approached the captain, a girl named Lucy he had seen around before, and smiled at her, holding out a hand to shake as he widened his smile. "Hi," he said, in his gentle voice. "I'm Logan. I'm trying out for Chaser, Seeker, or Keeper. I warn you, I'm fairly decent at all three, but dreadful at Beating." He grinned.

Lucy grimaced when the new guy, Logan, said he was terrible at beating. She could guess why. He'd probably been to one of those stupid new Quidditch camps where they only ever let seventh years on steroids wave a bat.

"It's okay, we'll make a beater out of you yet," she said. "I'm a beater and I can tell you now, those people who think it's all about brute strength know nothing. It's about the spin."

"See little Luna over there? We'll have her taking out huge Slytherin boys twice her size by the end of the season."

Lucy glanced around the stadium. Fortunately, it was empty. Fortunately, nobody thought Hufflepuff was worth stealing plays from. She raised her voice.

"Okay, everyone, on your brooms and grab a bat. We're all doing beater drills."

Logan sighed slightly. He looked around and realized he was probably better at Beating than the others there, seeing as they were all slighter looking girls. That would mean he would get a Beater's position unless he really kicked arse at the others. He was bit bug to play Seeker so one of the girls would get that. Surely he could beat them as Chaser or Keeper, but at this point it looked like he would end up as a Beater.

Not his hopes at all. He knew that Lucy must know what she was doing though, she was captain, so he grabbed a bat and mounted his broom. He slowly raised off the ground to ten feet, twenty feet, thirty, forty, fifty feet. He spend a few minutes trying different grips on the bat before finally choking up and hefting it into his left hand, taking a few whacks that left him a bit wobbly on his broom.

Lucy set the bludgers free and then swooped up in a long, lazy arc of the pitch, watching Logan as she did so. She could see from the way he was handling his bat that he hadn't taken her advice to heart. He'd learn.

By now, the bludgers had zeroed in on the new players. Lucy zeroed in on the nearest bludger and let her bat brush the edge of it. People had the wrong idea about beating, just because the balls were made of iron. But they were flying through the air; you didn't have to hit a bludger that hard to get it to go where you wanted, you just had to hit it the right way.

She circled round to hover next to Logan.

"See that?" she asked. "There's a trick to it. It's all geometry, you see. You've got to figure out which way you want the bludger to go, and then knock the side of it that'll make it go that way. You don't have to put as much force in as you think."

She pointed to the other bludger with the tip of her bat.

"Give it a try."