[MP] Quidditch All-Stars for Hogwarts {open to all spectators}

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"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! It gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to this International All-Star Quidditch match!" Loud cheers and uproarious applause. Jonathan lived for events like this. "Sponsored by the British Department of International Magical Cooperation," he gave his officemates their due diligence, "the British Department of Magical Games and Sports," his own team, including one Miss Emma Hennings[span style="display:none;"] @Emma Hennings [/span], "and the International Confederation of Wizards Quidditch Committee!" which he was also a part of, but he wasn't trying to toot his own horn.

"But enough with all the boring legal jargon - you're all here to see some Quidditch players, am I right?" More applause, and then abruptly the whooping and clapping of hands doubled or even tripled as all the players came swopping into the stadium. Jonathan grinned as he felt this was going swimmingly. "Hailing from Belarus, Ukraine, and Russia, members of the East Slavic League! Crossing the pond for this special occasion, members of the Iberian-Gallic League and the Germanic Quidditch League! And, players from teams you all know well, your own British & Irish League!" Another pause for the fans to express themselves, and then it was time to get down to the nitty-gritty.

"We'd like to first introduce our reserve players who will fill in on either side as needed! From France, Quidditch trainer and Beater, Edouard Pontmerci! Of former Hogwarts fame, Keeper, Casey Regan!" He went down his list of five or six other persons who had signed up late for the event and indicated them flying midair as they waved to the crowds.

"And now. On the visitors' side, I present to you: the [span style="color:#708090; text-shadow:0 0 3px #f5f5f5;"]Eclipses[/span]! Ironbellies Chaser, and Captain, Liliya Wolanski! Sprotten Chaser, Henne Hänsch! Magpies Chaser, Finn McKenzie! Caladri Beater, Diederik van Dijk! Playing Beater on her own field, Griffins Co-Captain, Roxanna Rathbone! Falcons Keeper, Sami Sadik! and Falcons Seeker, Quinn Regan!

"And now. On the home side, I present to you: the [span style="color:#f5f5f5; text-shadow:0 0 3px #c0c0c0, 0 0 5px #c0c0c0;"]Novas[/span]! Bricklayers Chaser, and Captain, Sofiya Mironova! Falcons Chaser, Alicia Spinnet! Playing on her own field, Griffins Chaser, Cloé Cardozo! Falcons Beater, Steenie Allen! Playing Beater on his own field, Griffins Captain, Harlan Bellamy! United Keeper, Oliver Wood! and Re'ems Seeker, Mariska Milenova!

"Our special guest referee, Madam Rolanda Hooch of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry! The ball is in your court now, Madam Hooch, so let the match begin!" With that, he indicated to Emma with a thumbs-up and a nod that she should cast Quietus at his throat so that his voice wasn't being amplified all over the stadium. Unlike a normal match with a constant spokesperson, Jonathan had arranged for an enormous scoreboard to be levitated at each end of the pitch and was going to let that do all the talking. Announcers were usually necessary for the fast-paced action of a Quidditch match, but these were true all-stars and they were going to not just play, but perform.

Luna Lovegood was happy to be back in England. Not that she wasn't happy when she left England, she just really enjoyed being back. She had just spent a month in Egypt, just looking around, deciding that it would be much more enjoyable as a winter expedition location. She had visited a sphinx reservation, searched for blargh noogins, and nearly come home with a camel to keep in the back garden. But once she had arrived home quite empty handed, her father had surprised her with tickets to the charity quidditch match, either out of relief she hadn't brought home the camel or out of pity for not finding anything else interesting.

Either way, she now had a great writeup about Egypt appearing in next month's edition of The Quibbler and she had nearly perfect seats for this match. Hopefully she would be able to see some familiar faces, having only been able to keep up with people through the post and not always being very consistent at that.

She had on midnight blue robes adorned with small, sparkling stars that glinted in the sunlight. She wore her dirty blonde hair down, though it was held in place by a very large, very obnoxious, and very sight-blocking for those behind it, homemade hat. The hat, for lack of a better word, was a working model of a supernova. The base fit snugly on her head, with a bright blue orb perched on top. And every few minutes, the orb would nearly harmlessly explode before reconstructing itself to restart the process.

Her father was wearing her other piece of handiwork, the working lunar eclipse. Every few minutes the "moon" would be blocked from the "sun" and slowly wane to darkness, only to wax back into lightness a few minutes later. Yet, she had no idea where the other Lovegood had gone to. The seat next to her remained vacant, even after Madam Hooch had blown the starting whistle. Oh well. He'd find her eventually. They were both pretty hard to miss.

Luna tilted her head slightly to the left as she watched the pitch. The quaffle was in the air and she followed it with her eyes, only to focus on what was happening beyond the quaffle, far on the other side of the stands. She picked out different faces in the crowd; even from her vantage point far away she thought she recognized a handful of them and made a mental note to say hello at some point during the game.

Almost as if she had planned it, the supernova exploded just as one of the Eclipses' chasers made a successful attempt on goal. Nothing hard or sharp went flying, but sparks and glitter and smoke went out in all directions for a few yards. Luna looked up dreamily, as if it had absolutely bored her, happy that it was already off to a good start.

This was supposed to have been his weekend off... but Evan really couldn't complain. Even though there were no League games left, and playoffs were just around the corner, it still felt comfortable and routine to be at a Quidditch game on a Saturday, since he'd have to do the write-up for the Prophet anyway. Even better, the game was to raise funds for his alma mater which had suffered extensive damage at the beginning of the year, particularly his old home away from home, the Slytherin Dungeons. And best of all, he had his family with him - what was left of his family anyway.

He glanced to his left where little Erica - well, not so little anymore - stood on her feet jumping up and down cheering madly for the action below them as if she were eleven instead of twenty. She always was the sunny child, not calm and contained like the older two Reavleys. Despite the huge and inexplicable difference between her personality and theirs (and their late parents'), Evan and Adena still loved her dearly and doted on her. Adena was sitting, as Evan was, on the other side of Erica. She and Evan locked eyes and shared an amused grin about their youngest sister. No matter what else, it was pleasant to have the three of them together for a weekend and that they were all enjoying themselves.

When a black woman playing for the "Eclipses" scored, Erica made a huge whoop of excitement and then sat back down, bouncing in her seat, looking back and forth between her siblings and her program. "Did you know that woman is from a Ukrainian team? I think she plays where Uncle Vasel lives!" she babbled, referring to their late mother's brother.

"Really," Evan responded, his curiosity piqued. They had only met their uncle and aunt and cousin once, when they came to Natalka and Phillip's memorial in 1997 - their grandfather and grandmother had already passed on some time before it, so they were the only relatives left on the Chitileanu side of the family, besides some descendants of their grandfather's late brother. While Erica didn't know the family's dark history (and how after all this time and even the memorial she could be so clueless was beyond Evan's understanding), Evan and Adena knew that the Chitileanus used to be an integral part of the Slavic Dark magic culture, part of why their parents' marriage had been arranged to form an alliance with the blood purist Reavleys.

"Khmelnytskyi is halfway between Zhytomyr, where this lady is from," Adena said lazily, "and Lviv." When Evan and Erica both turned and gave her a fish-eye, she didn't notice at first but then said defensively, "What? I've been there, remember?"

Evan had forgotten, but yes, she had. She was the only person who had actually traveled to Ukraine to spend time with that side of the family. "Hm. Maybe it's time Erica and I took a visit next. We could watch this Wolanski woman's team, or meet her, maybe. I'm sure I could justify it as a business expense."

Erica clapped her hands in excitement at the idea (Adena rolling her eyes behind Erica's head), but then she stood up abruptly again as some other action on the pitch caught her eye. "Oh my gosh, look at 'em go!" Evan smiled tolerantly as he continued absently scribbling notes in the gameplay on the notepad set across his right leg.

@Ashley Morigan

While Jane enjoyed travel and adventure and her new lifestyle, sometimes it felt good to be home. England was always going to be her home, and its familiarity was a comfort that the former Gryffindor did not take for granted. Summer had just begun, and she and Ashley were taking some time off from work to be spectators at a charity Quidditch match. Quidditch had always been a passion of hers, and Ashley held an interest in the sport as well. So, when she had heard about the all-star matchup, he had been the first person that she had thought to invite along. This had nothing to do with her debilitating crush on him, of course.

Or at least that's what she told herself. She'd begun to realize her increasingly inappropriate feelings for her partner, and had been making an effort, as of late, to distract herself with other men when they'd unwind at some bar after a job. Ashley has a girlfriend, she had to remind herself. The way that she felt wasn't right.

Tightening the flannel shirt tied around her waist, just below her crop top, Jane made her way through the crowd with her partner close behind. "Our seats should be just up there." She pointed ahead a ways before leading Ashley up a few more rows of stairs and to the seats that they had purchased.

"Here we are. Not too bad, right?" It wasn't exactly the nosebleed section, but they weren't expensive seats either. She turned to smile at him before sitting down. "Thank you, again, for coming with me. I didn't want to look like a loser, sitting all by myself."

Ashley was psyched up for the all-star game. There was something about seeing all of his favorite quidditch starts in one place that really got him going. It had been awhile since he stopped to have fun. He settled in next to Jane and graced the girl with a smile as he waited for the match to begin. “Of course I would.” He grinned in response to her thanks. “Any chance I get to watch people juggling balls on broomsticks.” He joked. He was a little bummed no one from the Harpies was playing. They were his favorite team, but he supposed he should be happy they were having an all-star game at all. He didn't have a favorite for the match, but figured that he'd go for whoever Jane didn't go for, and the loser would have the buy the drinks at the bar that night. That was fair, right?

Ashley had been enjoying spending time with Jane lately. It had been ages since Ash had a chance to go see Emily again, and he was beginning to miss her open a very physical, not just emotional level. He missed being with a woman, holding her close, kissing her. He missed more, too, but that was just extra. He really just missed having a warm body in his bed, and it was sometimes hard, having Jane just a wall away. He knew she would join him, if he really wanted her to. That was the hardest part of all. He could see the way she felt about him, and he was starting to think about it more often than not. Even so, he was a man of principle and he had a girlfriend. He needed to just... plan a date with her, soon. He needed to wash away those thoughts.

He focused on the game as it started, and began following the bludgers by instinct, just like he had when he was a beater on his house team. He tried to follow the quaffle instead. He cheered when one of the chasers attempted a shot. He turned to look at Jane, watching her instead of the game for a brief minute. She looked so beautiful in the golden sunlight that he really felt lucky for being there with her. He felt lucky for knowing her. He felt guilty for thinking it as he looked away.

Jane smiled at her friend's response and then turned her attention back to the game. She had played as a beater for the Gryffindor Quidditch team, and her eyes immediately found the bludgers. She then turned her attention to the players themselves. She remembered Steenie Allen, Alicia Spinnet, and Oliver Wood from school. Harlan Bellamy, she noticed, had quite a nice backside. "I'm thinking the Novas are going to win." She decided, looking back over at him just in time to miss him looking at her. She was under the assumption that she was much better at hiding her feelings than she actually was. She didn't think that he had a clue as to how she felt about him, nor did she think that he'd ever entertain thoughts about her. It was just another hopeless crush that would never go anywhere, and she was accepting of that.

Recently, she'd been fooling around with Tock Nielson when she was in London. She didn't feel anything for him, really, though she did care about him on a friendly level. He was decent to talk to, and they had fun together. Still, she didn't want to be with him... mostly due to the fact that she was fairly certain that, while he had no problem performing with her, he actually preferred men. She didn't have a problem with it, but she didn't take things with him seriously either. It really was a shame that Ashley had a girlfriend. The more she learned about him, the more perfect that she was convinced that he was. He loved Quidditch, and they even favored the same team. He liked the same food that she did. He was very much her male counterpart, though she thought that he was much more attractive than herself. She tried not to think about it, but given their usual close proximity to one another, it was hard not to. It was almost tragic. He was everything she'd never realized that she'd wanted, but she could never have him. Oh well...   

"D'you want to go for drinks, after this?"