Eyes blazing with determination, Ivory made her way down across the grounds towards the familiar large Quidditch pitch and of course the office of a certain Head of House. Her head of house. She needed to see the man, talk to him and reassure him. Yes, that's right, reassure.

Her slim hand coming up in small fist, she rapped on the door smartly with her knuckles unable to help herself from knocking in the ever familiar pattern of Shave and a haircut. Aside from that though, she was all seriousness. With her narrowed eyes, hands on her hip, and wide stance, suffice to say she did not look like her usual sweet, joking self. In fact if ever the term "all fired up" applied to a person, it'd be right now.

So, Ellie was NOT going to visit the new Charms Professor. She'd finally talked herself into greeting the woman, but after seeing that 'mailslot' thing, apparently Professor Take-over-Little-Professor's-position did not want to be welcomed. Fine.

Then there was debate about visiting Bentley or Vinditcus first. She could spend plenty of time with either teacher, but as she had a gift for the Quidditch Official, and not one for the Herbology teacher, she thought she'd go here first. How else would she explain that the not-so-neatly wrapped box wasn't for her? It would just be cruel.

She knocked on the door, gift in hand, Jacob's bag over her shoulder. Good thing Vindictus didn't intimidate her anymore... Or, so she was hoping.

Feet propped up on the desk and hiding behind the sports section of the newspaper was the Deputy Headmaster and Ravenclaw Head of House. Max was just getting to the good part in an article about a scandal involving one of the European teams when he heard several knocks on his door. He ignored the first few knocks, but then another round of determined knocking ensued.

So much for a little escapist reading.

Not even budging from his comfortable position, he pulled out his wand and used it to unlock the door and open it. The wand was quickly put away and Vindictus turned the page to the Quidditch results.

"Come on in!" he called out and hoped that intelligent conversation was about to enter the premises.

At least whoever was knocking had good timing - they missed out on hearing the contents of a Howler that arrived fifteen minutes earlier. The only evidence that the Howler had been there was the bits of red paper ripped up and scattered on the desk beneath the Flying professor's expensive boots.

Ellie glanced at Ivory first when Vindictus called for them to go in. The Prefect probably had something to tell the man, where Ellie just had something to give him, so she went ahead. Actually, she was starting to think she should have just left it just outside the doorway for him to find. Too late for that, though.

She eyed the newspaper as she approached. Not that she was genuinely curious in any way. He was just hiding behind it, and it made her feel slightly uneasy.

But she liked Vindictus. She would just have to keep reminding herself of it.

Cautiously, she set the box she had been carrying on the desk. "Just wanted to say thanks for the badge... I hope... I hope to meet your expectations..." And everyone else's. Everyone that seemed to have such confidence in her. She was doubting herself, but was honored to sport the badge all the same.

No worries, the Howler bits went unnoticed.

"Why thank you, Ellie," grinned Vindictus as he took the box from her and quickly unwrapped it. Chocolate. He sat it on the desk so that he wouldn't be tempted to start eating it.

"You're cut in the mold of some of Ravenclaw's fiercest captains, so I'm sure you'll live up to my and Headmaster Tate's expectations."

And regain the cup.

Smile.

”Professor V!”

Inclining her head respectfully, Ivory strode into his office with purpose. ”We have an issue!” Eyes blinking at Ellie, she gave her a small smile before continuing.

Suddenly realizing how worrisome that sounded, she held up her hands. ”Merlin, that came out wrong. No, no one’s absentee or possessed or hurt….unless you count in here.” Poking her chest with one finger where her heart was , she gave him a beseeching look. ”And I know you are too.”

For the girl who was usually known for going into over detail she was in fact being quite vague- though not purposefully.

Already beginning to pace, she wrung her hands and alternately turned them into small fists. ”I’m sure you realize sir, the obscene, gut wrenching, offensive, humiliating, shameful, degrading, depressing…” Over her years of reading, the brunette had acquired quite a vocabulary so it was no surprise that she could list almost every syllable imaginable for each of those words. Which was why she could go on with even more….

…

”-unpleasant, undignified, heart-breaking, dishonorable, mortifying eye sore that is the lack of the House cup in your office, sir.” Breathing in deeply at the end of it all, her eyes nearly blazed. ”It can’t go on!”

Max listened and looked at Ivory with a raised eyebrow. He was rather amused at her passionate speech. "I completely agree with you," he replied. "So what is the plan to return the House Cup to it's rightful place of honor? I'm sure you've thought about it long and hard this summer."

Ellie would not even be able to explain the relief she felt when he accepted the chocolates. Part of her was sure he'd turn them down. The reasonable part thought that stupid, though, because it was chocolate and NO ONE could turn down chocolate. How silly of her for thinking so.

The 'thank you' was completely unnecessary. That was her thanks to him. Vindictus was committing a double 'thank you'. Ellie was fairly certain that was illegal. She didn't tell him he was welcome, either. She didn't want to be guilty for the double 'thank you' by association. It was best it was just left alone.

She couldn't argue with him. Both Nia and Jacob were fierce. Even if it was only one of Nia's traits, while it was basically Jacob's entire personality. She was now quite proud of herself. She didn't know why, it wasn't like she had caused her former Captains to be fierce. Maybe she was just glad she'd had amazing Captains. The fact that Vindictus thought she'd live up to his expectations didn't hurt, either. "Thank you." Different 'thank you'. The double/triple/multiple 'thank you' rule no longer applied here.

THEN Ivory spit an entire thesaurus of vocabulary out.

Ellie was interested, she was. She could stay and watch, yeah? She didn't much care for the House cup, but she was intrigued by what ideas the Prefect might have come up with.

Slowly, she backed off to the side, perching herself on an arm of one of the couches. Totally unnoticeable, right?

While waiting to hear about the brilliant plan to reclaim some hardware, Vindictus turned the talk to the sport that was dear to his heart. "So what are your plans for tryouts, Ellie?" he asked the new captain.

What?

Ellie blinked. So she hadn't been sneaky? Ah, well.

Tryouts. Right. Uhm... "..." How did you plan for tryouts, exactly? She hadn't given this much thought. She'd been a lot more focused on practices, with strategies and plays and such. "I suppose..." Uhm... "Mini matches, I guess?" She was thinking more along the lines of Nia's regime. "A large team. That way I can see their passing skills...Alternating Keepers..." Depending on the amount of people trying out.

She hadn't thought this through too well. Obviously.

Ellie bit her lip and kept her eyes off Vindictus. Intimidating man of Pro-Quidditch experience and power.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demented_death_eater

Max listened and looked at Ivory with a raised eyebrow. He was rather amused at her passionate speech. "I completely agree with you," he replied. "So what is the plan to return the House Cup to it's rightful place of honor? I'm sure you've thought about it long and hard this summer."

He completely agreed? He did?

Well, of course he did!

Large eyes dancing with excitement now, she began to pace. "The plan is still a bit in the works sir, but with your permission I would love to organize some sort of Ravenclaw meet and greet."

Pausing in front of the man with an ever so faint curious look at the littering of red paper, she continued. "Perhaps a mixer of sorts. To rally the troops so to speak." And boy they had a quite a few troops this year. "Everyone could introduce themselves and we could maybe announce a Big sib/Little sib program which would require a Ravenclaw upperclassman to adopt a younger student or transferee to show them the ropes and help with classes." Nodding enthusiastically, she brought up her next idea. "We could even ask for other older volunteers so we could host a sort of weekly study group where we could talk about upcoming topics on lessons to be prepared and to go over any trouble spots in previous lessons."

With a deep breath she paused to let her ideas sink in. Did he approve???

Vindictus nodded. "And don't forget about having fearless Beaters. Make sure they're not scared of hitting things and have an accurate aim." He was about to say something else when Ivory spoke up.

"Sounds good to me. Now how are we going to combat our negative status? It hurts my eyes to see Ravenclaw in the red," he said.

The negative status. Yes. That was a problem.

"Well," she began hesitantly as she started to think on the idea. "The only way to combat negatives are with positives so perhaps during the meet and greet we can have it as an orientation. Describe what the major actions that result in points loss are. Like being late, and speaking rudely, and talking during class and emphasize the good attributes like turning in homework on time, and contributing to discussions, and saving outside conversations for after class."

At least that seemed the best option outside of intricate going back in time plots.

"And for now well perhaps Theo and I should talk to those students and just encourage them to apologize to the professor in question and do their best to not let it happen again." Smiling, now she added. [b]"And of course we're going to work hard to speak up in all our classes and earn some points ourselves. By we she of course meant Theo herself and of course Ellie. That's right, Captain we're looking at you too.

Oh! The Beaters need good aim! That's right. Ellie forgot what was needed for a Beater's mindset. "Of course, Vindictus." Nod.

Her eyes traveled to Ivory. The Prefect was suggesting a party?! Ooooo! It felt like forever since Ravenclaw had a fun little shindig. She didn't much approve of this Big Sibling program thing. She acted as a Big Sister to enough people, she thought. But she was only listening for now.

And don't count her in the study group, either. Not if books were going to be there. Maybe she'd help the new kids with the practical portions. Help them preform their Charms and stuff. That was all that really mattered anyway, right? The ability to preform?

Ellie didn't care much for the points loss, in reality. It wasn't even that much by the 'Claws last she checked.

But wait...was Ivory looking at HER? "Wait... Work hard...in class????" Ew ew ew ew ew. Ellie didn't like that at all. Wasn't Quidditch enough?

Seriously. "We'll win the Cup this term, too." She offered. The Quidditch Cup, of course. The only one important to the redhead. And THAT was how she would be contributing as far as points went, thanks. She was not going to put extra effort just for the sake of others' points loss.

"I love winning," replied Vindictus with a grin. "And I loathe losing. So go ahead and plan the little shindig, and let's see if we can leave the other Houses in the dust."

Leave them in the dust. That sounded....GREAT!

Somehow it all seemed more solidified now that she'd spoken to her head of house, as if it was all more possible. And it was possible! Entirely possible! Especially considering how many new Ravenclaws they had this year. It was just a matter of enticing them to meet up and encouraging them to work together and work hard. Speaking of which-

"Professor and about this shindig, we, that is Theo and I, were wondering if it would be alright with you to have it be a type of Halloween type get together. The concept of dressing up for costumes might lure," For lack of a better word really. "everybody to attend."

See? And THAT was what made Vindictus such an epic Quidditch player! And also why Ellie had such respect for the man. Even if losing the House Cup didn't bother her. Losing Quidditch did. It was somewhat the same thing, right?

Yes. Theo and Ivory. Ellie had nothing to do with this. She was quite content that way, too.

Dressing up? Dressing....up? Yeah...maybe...if they got to choose their own costumes. The candy part of a Halloween type shindig was enough to lure HER there, at least.

So like...

Evelyn was bored. So so bored.

And even though it was January and still feeling like the beginning of December, the Slytherin girl was taking a leisure stroll out on the grounds, getting away from all the studying, homework, head girl duties, and everything else. Merlin could only understand that she'd do anything to get away from the first years in the Slytherin common room. Them and their...big mouths. Which was why she...was...

Here.

Knock knock knock

Max was the first to arrive at his office and he held the door open for Hecate and Josephina who were trailing behind him. His eyes were on the two ladies and not the athletes/curious onlookers who would possibly show up.

"Come in and sit down," Vindictus said and the fire roared to life in the office's fireplace to take away the chill. "On opposite couches."

His coffee table was going to be the space between the two and hopefully it would survive unscathed.

Hecate followed Max in, her beater's bat on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow and looked over at Hadley. "I prefer to stand Maximus," she said leaning her bat on her leg and herself against the wall by the door.

Josephina was annoyed and Hecate had not been making it any better by insinuating things about her house members. It wasn't as if her house members were acting like the most mature, angelic students.

Giving it some sort of excuse - precisely right.

But before she could answer back the Snake House Head, Max was paying attention to them. Not the Pitch dramatics. Well he was sort of, as one couldn't very well ignore ALL the drama from BOTH houses, but he was talking to them in particular and Fina knew better than to argue against it. Giving an apologetic look toward her house - she would still be in the common room for tea - she walked off the pitch in the direction of the Deputy Headmaster's office....

And upon hearing his dialogue as she approached, she nodded and took a seat on the couch on the far end... away from Hecate and fixed her gaze on something trivial as she waited ....

"No, Hecate," Max replied as he shook his head. "You'll sit down for this."

But there was something intriguing about her leaning against the wall with her bat . . . .

Focus. Heads of two houses arguing. On the pitch. After a game. Not good. Nope. FOCUS.

He cleared his throat and motioned his left hand towards the leather couch.

Then Josephina saved the day by showing up and Max closed the door.

She looked at him, then at Fina, then at Max again. She did not like being told what to do. She pushed off the wall with her foot, her hand wielding her bat and going to the OPPOSITE couch than the Hufflepuff Head of House. She sat down, the way a lady should, crossing her legs, and allowing Lucille to rest her bat on her lap.

"Well? Are we going to resolve this?" She asked impatiently.

There was something ... authoritative in the way Max spoke to Hecate. Something that Fina wouldn't dare to disobey and seemed, albeit unhappily, that Hecate refused to as well.

Even if she did seem a tad ... impatient. Honestly, Slytherins. Patience was thankfully one of her traits she inherited from her mother.

She wasn't going to rush this; Max knew what he was doing. Let him do the talking first. She would distract herself with a ...

... chocolate frog. Nevermind the fact that she generally banned herself from consuming such sweets during the school term.