Confusing Games on Brooms

Sports were not one of those things Stephanie was talented at but this sport of Quidditch though was interesting. It was unusual to find a sport which held her interest. The ones back home which other members of her family would watch on the television bored her to tears and usually she'd just end up daydreaming or doodling on paper. This was different and confusing at the same time.

Stephanie sat in the stands ready for the the third and final match of the season between Cerisier and Montagnard to begin. Would it be as confusing as the other two? The first one in which the Montagnard seeker caught the snitch they'd one and she assumed that was what determined the winner but the next game he'd caught it again and they lost. Now she was more confused and determined to understand what was going on. From what she could figure out, the ones with the red ball scored goals by throwing it through hoops. What she couldn't figure out was the true purpose of the beaters.

She sat forward as the game finally began. Maybe she could figure it out this time if she watched how many points were displayed every time something happened. Stephanie hadn't really paid much attention to the last two games. "Do the beaters get points for hitting anyone with those balls?" she mused completely unaware she'd just asked that question out loud.

Cass wasn't one for sports, they didn't suit her. But she did go to every quidditch game just for the fun of it. At first she didn't understand the game too much, but she soon did after going to so many games. This was the last game of the season and it was the most important of the season. This game determined who won the cup this year.

A first year spoke out and it seemed like she was just talking to anyone to get an answer. "Beaters don't get points for hitting others. Its their job to distract other players and hurt them. Say Montagnard knocks out a Cerisier chaser, it makes it easier for Montagnard. They got the old Cerisier seeker out before. It could really help the team if they get someone out. They can also use their bats to block themselves and other players."

It really was a violent sport and Stephie was surprised that it was allowed at Beauxbatons. Some of those players looked to be only a couple of years older than herself. Her brow wrinkled as she tried to come up with an appropriate response to the older girl who'd been kind enough to answer her question. It was all so hard to know how to talk to older people to begin with.

She could have asked more questions about the beater but an opening for asking about the seeker had come up in the girl's answer. "Okay so then if the seeker does catch the snitch who wins? I've only watched two games and the result was different each time." Everything about this game was confusing and to think Stephanie thought that English game of cricket didn't make sense. It had nothing on this Quidditch.

"The snitch is worth 150 points and ends the game," Cassie pointed towards Montagnard's seeker. "He's the seeker and he's gotten the snitch both games, right?" She didn't know much about the game like some but she knew the basics to the sport. 'Well, the first game, Montagnard won because they got the snitch and Cerisier didn't have enough points to win. Since the additional 150 points from the snitch adds onto the score of the team that got the snitch, it gives that team an advantage."

"Since Cerisier had scored more points than the what the snitch was worth, they won." Cass hadn't seen a thing like that before and it was a pitiful loss for Montagnard. "I can see why Montagnard caught the snitch, the other seeker is new to the sport. This game is sure to be interesting because of the last games, don't you think?"

Stephanie looked in the direction the older girl was pointing and nodded. "That's a lot of points," she remarked thoughtfully. A very big lot of points. She tried to work out in her head how often a team would win because of the lack of goals on the other side. If the goals were anything like the sports she was familiar with it couldn't be very often that the gap was wide enough for that to happen.

"Yes," Stephie agreed as she leaned forward again to watch. "It must be very hard to play up there in this wind though. How do they manage to stay on their brooms with it blowing that hard?" She'd only just mastered staying on her broom when the wind was still or just a small breeze blowing. She couldn't imagine what it'd be like to have to stay on in string winds like this.

"They've had lots of practice." There had always been something new on the pitch from time to time. Something new every year for at least one game. "This one time there was so much snow. There was a lot, it was a very interesting game." She didn't remember all that much of it though, it seemed like it happened forever ago.

"There's always something new. I think it was last year when they had some fire breathing friends on the field. Captain Hollow got burned from it." The burn was fixed quickly because of magic and it wasn't anything to worry about. "He also hit one of his players before."

"They must have done," Stephie muttered as she watched how well the players stayed on their brooms. "Snow? And people came out to watch when it was freezing cold and snowy?" It did sound a little crazy and yet for some odd reason interesting. "Would they even play in the rain?" She'd know tennis matches to be cancelled on the account of rain amongst some other sports but if Quidditch players played in wind like this and losts of snow then it would make sense if theirs was one of those sports that wasn't delayed.

Stephanie wasn't sure if this girl was joking or not. "What like dragons?" she asked. She may not have been familiar with the life she was living now but Stephanie had been at the school long enough to know that a lot of things she'd thought to be mythical were in actual fact real. The fire breathing fiends though were soon forgotten in the next lot of information to come out of the girl's mouth. She looked up at the players as she tried to find Captain Hollow in amongst them. He had to be a beater and she already knew it was a Montagnard thanks to the announcers. "That must have been good for the Cerisier's then," she muttered.