This Time its Personal

It had only been a mere few days since the abomination that was the first Quidditch match of the year and honestly Osmund was still trying to recover. He couldn't get the bright blue color that was the pitch, now restored to it normal color, out of his nightmares and spent most of his time in classes, rather than paying attention, thinking about what they could've done right to win that game.

"What a lousy way to start the year," He grumbled to himself, but within the hearing range of the team that was slowly collecting in front of him. Extra practices weren't unusual for the Montagnard team, especially since Osmund was in charge. The captain wasn't sure where he was going wrong that his team kept losing, but he was going to get to the bottom of it with this practice in particular. If anyone dared not to show up, they would get an earful from Osmund and then a full year of bad luck, provided by Osmund as well.

Once everyone seemed to be there, Osmund ordered everyone to put down their brooms. "Let's talk a bit first. Communication makes a good team, right?" He said it calmly, but one could hear annoyance in his voice. "To say in the least, I was not pleased with last game." A scowl then filled his face. "Montoya, give me one good reason why you slept through nearly the whole game? Didn't sleep last night? I hope you were having nightmares about me wringing your neck for that bloody disgusting performance! If it were in my power! You wouldn't be on the team anymore!" Osmund spat at the young blonde. He then turned to their seeker. "And you! I took time out of my own life to train you personally! Bloody hell, I sent a bludger towards the other seeker and she still got the thing before you even noticed where it was!" He didn't have anything to comment on about their chasers, not being impressed with the newbies work, but had nothing in particular to complain about. There was also Bellerose, his fellow beater. She seemed a bit more useful than the one they had last year, but he wasn't going to tell her that and have her head swell.

Payton had felt bad that he hadn't caught the snitch, but he had tried his best after all. He was willing to practice even more if it would help their team win. All he wanted was for Osmund not to be mad at him. "I'm sorry I didn't see the snitch." He knew it was his fault that they had lost and he took the blame. The seeker for the other team had just seen the snitch first, it had to have been beginners luck.

He didn't like Osmund yelling at him, but all he could do was take it. There was no other choice. He wouldn't dare talk back, he was already on his bad side. He didn't need to be first on the list of people Osmund hated. So, he kept his mouth shut and went with what the captain was saying. Maybe his rage would disappear once he was finished ranting. But Payton didn't think so though, Osmund was too into the game to calm down.

Annaliese glared a little at the older boy. "Sorry boss." She snapped at him. "Guess I'm still recovering from that injury you gave me last term." She scoffed at him. One thing was for sure. She wasn't gonna put up with his crap this year. Sure he was the captain, but he wasn't a very good one. All he did was yell and discourage his team. No wonder Cerisier had won all three games last term. They were in for another loosing streak if they didn't get their acts together. Anna had a theory that it wasn't the team not practicing, it was Oz's attitude, and she was going to call him on it. "Look Oz, I think I speak for the whole team when I say that it isn't our playing that is the problem. It's your attitude towards the game and it's players. Why don't you try saying something encouraging, like 'We'll get them next time.' or 'You tried your best.'" She looked at him with a strong anger in her eyes. "I'm willing to practice just as much as the next person, but your negativism has got to stop." Finally it was said. She knew that she'd probably get in trouble, but she also knew she was right and if he knew anything. He'd take a page from her book.

Marie-Laure did not like losing and at the last match she'd also learnt the Captain of their team had hit their keeper. Her mouth twisted as she studied the less than perfect captain and his grouching at all of them. Someone who would hit his own players was someone not worthy of such an important role. He may not have done it in the last game but what was to stop him from making a repeat performance next match?

"Now that you've finished your grouching maybe you can actually get on with starting the practice," she suggested. "If you want us to win then maybe there should be less talking and more doing." She knew that she could do with the practice. Marie-Laure suspected she'd had less experience with Quidditch than any other player on the team. She had, after all, only heard of the game not long before the school year began.

With every person he singled out, Oz watched the expressions on their face through glaring eyes. Most seemed intimidated, which was just as well with Osmund, since that meant they kept their mouths shut from annoying him further. Payton wore a look humorously similar to a dog that was cowering as it was getting yelled at for peeing on the rug. Payton looked like he feared that Osmund would hit him. Osmund wasn't exactly physically violent with people, but didn't mind it when people feared him.

Montoya, on the other hand, he desperately wished she feared him. Ever since he had first met the girl, he hadn't exactly liked her. For one thing, she liked to poke in his business, for another, she talked back. He rolled his eyes in disgust as she mentioned how he had accidentally hit her with a bludger last year. As if he could forget with everyone mentioning his blunder every time his name and the word Quidditch appeared in the same sentence together!

"Holy shit, Montoya, just let it go or else next time I will do it on purpose!" He was sick of people rubbing in his failures in front of his face all the time. He was not a well tempered boy in the first place, and it didn't help that every failure of the Montagnard Quidditch team, whether it really was his fault or not, was always blamed on him by the other students. Montagnard needed a win, horribly, and so did Oz.

"Listen Montoya, and everyone else who thinks the same, for that matter. This is how it works. I will be encouraging and say 'you did your best' when you guys actually do your best! Are you all satisfied with how you played last game? Hmmmm? Is the amount of effort you put in last game really how you want to be remembered? It wasn't for me. So we keep trying and you'll get your reward when you guys actually deserve it," He scowled, glaring mostly at Montoya. How dare she criticize his leadership skills, as if she knew more about it than he did.

One of the newbies interjected then, and Osmund was half-thankful for the change of topic. However, it didn't make him act any nicer towards her. "Communication makes a team, Sylvian. Of course we will get to the work portion, but first tactics! Plus, I expect all of you to be practicing on your own time as well as when we meet," Osmund bossed. "So let's talk. Anyone have any suggestions as to how to not be a complete and utter failure?"

Annaliese took a deep breath and looked at the raven haired boy. "Look, I know you have a lot on your shoulders being the head of the team." She said trying to make him understand that she knew where he was coming from. "But still being the head of the team means you have to carry us in an orderly manner. Not yelling and insults." She continued even though he looked like he was frustrated. "We need a better strategy." She stated. "Something that Cerisier won't be expecting....we'll have to take out that seeker of theirs though..." She sighed. Looking at Oz she smiled a little bit. "I know you've been itching to knock them out." She smirked. As sweet and innocent as she came off to be, Anna had her devious moments of plotting revenge. A side of her that no one usually saw. "Also. Chasers... You have got to be on the ball! Always have the quaffle.' She said. "Don't let the other team touch them." She looked up at everyone. "We need to work together in order to win." She said with confidence. "I'm positive we can do it if we all try." She looked to Oz who had remained silent for a while. "You with us?" She asked with a soft smile.

Payton was kind of scared of Osmund, but he would never admit to it. What that boy needed to do was smile every once and awhile. His mood was probably the thing that was bringing the team down. They would perform better if they weren't consistently getting yelled at. Some positive words would make them perform much better. "I agree with Annaliese, it would be better if we had some positive words of encouragement. Its hard to perform well when all you hear is yelling and being told to do better. Maybe if you tried being more positive, we had perform better. And have more fun."

Payton had joined to have fun and this wasn't fun at all. He didn't like being yelled at. He didn't think anyone did. "I joined to have fun and I'm not having any fun. You're bringing the mood down." He hoped that Osmund wouldn't be too mad at him for stating his mind, but it had to be said.

Knocking the other seeker down would make Payton have a better chance at catching the snitch. "Her plans are great. We should go with them." He gave Anna a smile, she was good at this. "Plus, knocking out the seeker might be fun for you, Osmund. I mean not actually knocking her unconscious, but out of the game." He didn't want to actually hurt someone like that.

Paige didn't know how much she loved playing quidditch until she was up in the air the other day playing. She just couldn't describe how great it had been, that was until they had lost the game of course. She had gotten so competitive during that match that she had hit the captain of the other team, and one of her brothers friends, and didn't bat an eyelash. She was starting to get so serious about the game and her position it was starting to surprise even herself. So of course when Osmund called for a practice she was there bright and early. At first she was content to just listening to the captain tell everyone how bad they were, and she braced herself for her turn to be insulted. When it didn't come she smiled a bit, but just because he had nothing negative to say about her performance it did not mean it was perfect. She listened to the others talk, and when the keeper started saying it was basically only the captain's fault for being so harsh, she started to get upset.

Finally she couldn't listen anymore and spoke up. "Can I say something?" She asked hesitantly at first. She continued without listening for an answer. "Montoya is it?" She asked addressing the blonde keeper. "First off I would just like to say that if you're still recovering from an injury from last year, maybe you're in the wrong sport. Also, and this is for anyone else that feels its the captain's fault we're losing. While I agree maybe he could be more supportive, it's no where near his fault. I was there at the match too okay. Osmund and I were trying to hit as many people with those bludgers as we could but obviously we didn't hit enough. The chasers need to be more aggressive about getting the quaffle. The seeker needs to try new techniques, there are ways to distract the other seeker of get them off track while still looking for the snitch. Also the keeper needs to actually try to block some of the goals, it looked like Cerisier scored every time they got close to our end. If they had scored a lot less we still wouldn't have won with the snitch being caught but we wouldn't have looked so stupid." She said getting more confident with every word she said, being sure to emphasize the keepers job.

Once she was done with that she stepped back to where she was, not realizing she had gotten closer to the blonde as she talked. She seriously hoped that no one said anything mean back to her about that cause she was sure she was only going to get more heated about her opinion here. She sure was glad that Osmund was the captain and not her or she would be the one everyone was mad at fro being mean, she was sure she would be acting much like him after every losing game.

Okay so maybe he did have a point. They did need to talk strategy and she hoped it would happen soon. She shook her head at Montoya. "I'd much rather have honesty than encouragement," she put in. "It's much more beneficial than saying something like 'good try' or any other pathetic nonsense." That was something she liked about this captain. He didn't go with all that rubbishy stuff. Though she wasn't too happy with Montoya's suggestion. "And maybe you should also be more on the ball and block the quaffle so Cerisier can't get so far ahead."

Her dormmate had much better advice. "I can do aggressive. I can also turn and move quickly between the other chasers." She may have only been flying since her first flying lesson of the year but Marie-Laure had found it was rather easy. "Now that we have some decent strategy ideas can we now actually start practising? I've only been playing Quidditch for a very short while and need all the practice I can get." She wasn't sure how long any of the other new teammembers had played this game but Marie-Laure still suspected she'd played less than any of them.

She glanced around at the other two chasers and wondered how good they really were. Would they also become more aggressive as has been recommended? If they didn't then the chasers were doomed to failing yet again to get a decent number of goals.