>>p l a n s<< |Gabriella|

[bugock]

"You're an excellent chaser," said Safira. "I'd consider you mad if you didn't try out at least once." She had been trying to persuade Isaac to try out for a professional team for ages, but he finally told her that he thought of Quidditch more as a hobby, not something he wanted to do as his career. Safira respected that, but she of course, thought differently than her older brother. She wondered what he would think if she decided not to finish school. Or her relationship with Professor Oriole. Safira had yet to tell anyone about that.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella chuckled softly. "Well there are a few teams in need of a new Chaser," she replied with a smile. "I suppose I'll try out. Apparently a few teams are having emergency tryouts pretty soon, due to injuries." It seemed like an awful lot of players had gotten injured recently. Gabriella hoped that there wouldn't be more, even if it meant more open spots.

[bugock]

"Yeah, I've read about that," said Safira, adjusting her position on the couch to a more comfortable one. "They are trying out a new enchantment on the bludgers to make for more exciting matches, just a tad too strong I think." Sure, more active bludgers made for more interesting games, but it shouldn't be at the expense of injuring players to the extent of them having to retire early in their careers.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella nodded. "If they're going to have stronger bludgers, than they're also going to need to invent strong healing spells," she said. It must be horrible for the players that had gotten hurt and had to retire so young, especially the really good players. "Or I guess more beaters could be helpful as well," Gabriella added as an afterthought.

[bugock]

"Well, it's a thought," said Safira. "Or they could tone down the spells just a little bit, it wouldn't hurt them. I mean, I would think that the stadiums for popular teams would still be packed only if there was one, lazy bludger." In her opinion, beaters were the unsung heroes of the Quidditch scene. Everybody talked about the seekers, the chasers, and the keepers, but none of the great players in those positions wouldn't have been able to pull it off without good beaters.

[igloogirl]

"Probably," Gabriella replied, giving Safira's thought a nod. Quidditch matches were already incredibly exciting, stronger bludgers definitely weren't needed. "The whole thing's stupid, but I guess all we can do is wait until they figure out their mistake," she added.

[bugock]

"I suppose, but perhaps they're trying to distinguish themselves more from simple school leagues." Safira said thoughtfully, resting the end of her quill against her chin, notebook still open on her lap. "Make it more of a thing to brag about surviving the season." True that professional Quidditch teams played a lot more than three matches a year (as the Hogwarts team did), but it did make some sense that their matches would be harder than a simple Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff.

[igloogirl]

"Yes, perhaps," Gabriella replied with another nod. "But it already is fairly distinguished, seeing as the professional league is so much more competitive than school leagues, due to the vast number of players from all around the world. Loads of people want to play Quidditch for a living, but only a few actually get to play." Gabriella paused for a moment, wondering why the league suddenly wanted to make more of a distinction. It seemed stupid really, why fix something that wasn't broken?

[bugock]

Safira shrugged. "Well, I guess the only logical explanation left is that people can be really thick sometimes." she said with a smile, and then closed her notebook and left it on her knee. Safira gently laid her quill atop it, looking into the grate. There wasn't a fire in it as it was too early in the day, but the cinders from yesterday's still remained in the grandiose fireplace.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella laughed for a moment, then nodded to Safira. "Yes, that certainly seems to be the only real explanation for this whole bludger thing," she replied. "They obviously didn't think through it very well." Gabriella then fell into silence once more, not knowing where else to turn the covnersation now that they had exhausted the topic of Quidditch.

[bugock]

Safira then felt the topic of Demetri surfacing in her mind again, she hadn't told a soul about their relationship, afraid of what the consequences might be. Of course, once she turned seventeen the only thing anyone could do would be to frown upon it, but for now it could get the both of them in trouble. It was surprising that no one else knew yet, there were rarely secrets in Hogwarts. But so far, she and Demetri had covered their tracks well. Safira opened her mouth, knowing she could trust Gabriella, but promptly closed it again, she might misunderstand her.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella's sharp eyes caught Safira as she opened a closed her mouth quite quickly. It was clear that something was on her mind, though as to what, Gabriella had absolutely no idea. "Something on your mind?" she asked her friend, wondering what it could be. Knowing Safira, it was probably something to do with school. She seemed to overwork herself a bit sometimes.

[bugock]

"Is it wrong for a student to have a romantic relationship with a teacher?" Safira blurted, and then instantly covered her mouth. She couldn't believe that she had lost control of herself like that! But Gabriella's mind might not necessarily jump to Demetri... Stupid strike number two. Demetri was her only male professor this term, except for Professor Bletchly, who was currently teaching Care of Magical Creatures, but he was ancient. Safira felt her face grow hot with dark blush.

[igloogirl]

Gabriella's eyebrows raised at the sudden, blurted, question. Was Safira having a relationship with one of the teachers? Actually, the only male teacher that was anywhere near their age was Professor Oriole. Gabriella knew that a lot of girls had a crush on him, but she had no idea that he would ever fall in love with a student. "Are you dating Professor Oriole?" she asked incredulously.

[bugock]

Safira gave a quick nod, still not being able to believe that after all the hard work she had gone through that she could just suddenly blurt something out like that. "You won't tell anyone, will you?" Safira whispered through her hands that were still clapped over her mouth in shock that she could have been so stupid.