A/N: It's Freelancer Mississippi and I wanted to tell the story of the 2018 World Cup. Please rate and review!
First Two Games
I was excited.
It was time for the first match of the round of sixteen in the 2018 Quidditch World Cup. I had to write for the American wizarding newspaper, The National Wizard. I got the honor of being able to cover the entire Quidditch World Cup. So, here I was, at the round of sixteen game between Bulgaria and Senegal.
The announcer was that famous, old player, Ludo Bagman. Now 67, he was still excellent at announcing. He began to introduce the teams. Mascots had been banned after the incident between leprechauns and the Veela. They were reintroduced during the 2002 World Cup. However, they were banned after the incident during the 2014 World Cup when Inferi had eaten people, as well as others causing numerous injuries. I turned my attention back to the field as Ludo began announcing.
"For Bulgaria we have Kiranov, Ivanovitch, Stefan, Alev, Gonev, Romanov and Krum!" Ludo announced excitedly as the red robed players took to the field. People cheered harder at the mention of Krum, who had come out of retirement to win the 2014 World Cup.
"And for the Senegalese side, we have Ngekomo, Jacques, Inanda, Al-Fayid, Jared, Allende and Jujo!" Bagman said with equal enthusiasm as yellow robed players flew onto the field. The national athems played for either side. The referee, Julian Jansson, released the snitch and the bludgers and threw the quaffle into the air.
The game began with the Senegalese chasers. Jacques dodged Ivanovitch and hurled the quaffle at the far right goalpost. Alev, the Bulgarian keeper, made an incredible save, swatting the ball out. As Alev was recovering, Inanda intercepted the quaffle and threw it into the far left hoop and scored.
Stefan recovered the quaffle and made a bullet pass to Kiranov who quickly scored. The scoring had opened up. First Bulgaria, then Senegal, but Bulgaria was scoring quicker. It was about 200-110 (Bulgaria winning) when I turned my attention to the Seekers.
Jujo looked a bit lost. He was a new seeker in the international field, but Krum was circling the pitch, his sharp eyes looking for the elusive snitch. Krum went into a dive. Jujo noticed and gave chase. Krum was using his favorite tactic, the Wronski Feint, and just as it was 14 years ago, the other seeked crashed into the ground when he pulled up.
Krum kept looking for the snitch as mediwizards looked at Jujo. The Bulgarian chasers were still scoring and had raised the score to 220.
Krum suddenly went into a dive. I pulled up my omnioculars and zoomed in. He had seen the snitch. He couldn't pull up though. He jumped off the broom, snatched the snitch and tucked into a ball. He somersaulted across the ground. The crowd cheered. The final score was 110-360
With Bagman announcing the winner, I departed to the next venue: Djibouti vs Rwanda.
The new announcer was former Egyptian Seeker Rawya Zaghloul, the man who beat the great Viktor Krum. He began to announce the player from Djibouti.
"We have al-Faisal! Azana! Yaqob! as-Sayeed! ibn Muhammad! Sadawi! al-Asaad!" The crowd cheered. Most of the Arab nations were cheering on Djibouti, as they were the only Arab League country in the cup. The Rwandans, however, were also extremely popular, as they were the rising stars in Africa.
"And now the team you've been waiting for, the Rwandans! Gahiji! Alexander! Habimana! Runihura! Koje! Nybogoma! Ullende!"
The green robed players of Djibouti and the blue robed players of Rwanda took to the field. The ref released the balls and tossed up the quaffle, and the game was off. The Djiboutian chasers were clearly superior, managing to score a good eight goals before Rwanda got one in. Djibouti finally had a stroke of bad luck. Koje, one of the Rwandan beaters, hit a bludger and knocked al-Faisal (one of the Djiboutian chasers) off his broom and he fell 50 feet to the ground. The Rwandan Chasers began scoring but not for long. The whistle blew suddenly and all the players looked confused. All, except for one.
Shazu Ullende was flying victoriously, clutching the snitch and holding it in the air. People were cheering and waving their flags. I mentally smiled. What a story for the paper.
