"Quite irresponsible," Cormac said in his most annoyingly pompous voice. He made a show of checking his wristwatch and shook his head. "The match is starting in four minutes and the Captain is missing."
Ginny, who was sitting on the bench beside Demelza and Dean and shaking her leg nervously, glared up at the Reserve Keeper. "I swear, McLaggen, if one more word comes out of your mouth, you'll be playing the match with no teeth."
McLaggen glared at her and continued. "If he isn't here soon, I, of course, would be willing to be the stand-in Captain."
With a growl Ginny leapt up from the bench and fumbled in her robes for her wand. Cormac was saved as Harry darted breathlessly into the changing room, pulling off his school tie as he hurried to his locker.
"Where have you been?" Ginny demanded as Harry came into view. She grimaced as she heard just how much she sounded like her mother.
As he attempted to pull his Quidditch robes over his head, Harry quietly responded, "I met Malfoy."
Ignoring his hushed tones, Ginny shouted, "So?"
Harry winced at her volume and replied in a voice that was barely above a whisper. "So I wanted to know how come he's up at the castle with a couple of girlfriends while everyone else is down here..."
"Does it matter right now?!" Ginny's voice was so loud Peakes jumped about a foot in the air.
As Harry grabbed his Firebolt and resettled his glasses on his nose, he rolled his eyes and said, "Well, I'm not likely to find out, am I?" He walked purposefully towards the door to the pitch with a final "Come on, then" to the rest of the team.
Ginny growled under her breath, but grabbed her Cleansweep and followed her Captain out onto the pitch, to the deafening noises of the crowd. A slight breeze pulled at the hem of her robes; the sky was a mix of sun and clouds.
"Tricky conditions!" McLaggen began to instruct the team. Ginny glared at him as he continued, "Coote, Peakes, you'll want to fly out of the sun, so they don't see you coming - "
Harry turned back to face the team and angrily interrupted him. "I'm the Captain, McLaggen, shut up giving them instructions! Just get up by the goalposts."
As McLaggen marched towards the Gryffindor goalposts, Ginny, Dean, and Demelza mounted their brooms and took off towards the center of the pitch. The three Chasers stopped their brooms in a half circle, facing the Hufflepuff Chasers. With a shrill blast on her whistle, Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle high into the air. Ginny urged her broom forward as the ball began falling back toward the ground, but it was snatched up by Zacharias Smith of Hufflepuff. He turned sharply and sped towards the goal with Ginny close on his tail.
Ginny couldn't help but grin as Luna's voice drifted up from the announcer's stand. She flattened herself onto her broom and pulled up level with Smith just as he drew his arm back, getting ready to aim towards the goal hoop.
Just before he threw the ball forward, Ginny snatched it out of his hand. Smith swore as Ginny wheeled around and sped away towards the opposite goal. She firmly gripped the handle of her broom in one hand and kept the Quaffle tucked securely under her other arm.
Dean shouted a warning from somewhere on her left, and Ginny saw a Bludger pelting towards her. Keeping a firm hold on the Quaffle she pulled her broom into a tight roll as the Bludger streaked overhead.
As she righted her broom, she verified Dean's position on her left, and passed him the ball.
Out of nowhere, Cadwallader surged upwards and grabbed the Quaffle, just before it reached Dean.
"Damn," Ginny yelled as she sharply turned her broom to chase after Cadwallader as he raced in the opposite direction. As she and Cadwallader drew nearer to the hoops she heard McLaggen shouting over the wind in her ears.
"Weasley, you've got to check your sides thoroughly before you let the Quaffle out of your possession! If you had looked carefully you would have known exactly where the other Chaser was! You can't just throw the ball wherever you want!"
As he continued to lecture Ginny, Cadwallader aimed and threw the Quaffle straight past McLaggen's right ear and through the center hoop.
As Harry began shouting at McLaggen, Ginny flipped Cormac off and dove for the Quaffle as it fell towards the sand at the base of the hoops. Demelza reached it first and the two Chasers flew side-by-side towards the Hufflepuff goal. As they passed the halfway mark Ginny sped ahead. She turned as she neared the goalposts to accept Demelza's pass and, before the Hufflepuff Keeper could react, she threw the Quaffle through the left hoop.
The screams of delight from the Gryffindor supporters were immediate. "Nice one, Ginny!" yelled Dean.
Ginny grinned at him and flew after Smith, who had been thrown the Quaffle after it was retrieved by the Hufflepuff Keeper. His possession of the ball was short-lived, as a Bludger narrowly missed his left side and he dropped the Quaffle. Demelza caught the ball and sped across the short distance back to the goal. To screams of excitement from the stands, she threw the Quaffle through the center hoop.
Ginny gave Demelza a high-five as she the Chasers passed each other. "Good shot," Ginny said with a smile.
Demelza grinned back and the girls raced after the other Hufflepuff Chaser, Andrews, who now had possession of the ball. As Ginny drew closer to the tail of his broom he passed the Quaffle to Cadwallader, who was just a bit in front of him. A moment later, the Quaffle soared past McLaggen again, and the Hufflepuff supporters cheered their approval.
The match continued at a fast pace. Ginny scored another goal and Dean scored his first. Hufflepuff was still steadily pulling ahead, however, as their Beaters both had great aim, and Coote and Peakes seemed to be unable to hit moving targets.
Hufflepuff was ahead by thirty when McGonagall's voice rang out announcing the score. Apparently, Luna wasn't keeping up very well.
"Oh, look! The Gryffindor Keeper's got a hold of one of the Beater's bats..." Luna's voice drifted over to Ginny as she wheeled around to pursue Smith, who was pelting towards Cormac. Sure enough, Ginny could see Harry speeding towards Cormac, who had taken Peakes' bat. She couldn't quite tell from this distance, but it looked like Cormac was attempting to teach Peakes how to properly hit a Bludger.
Instead of pelting towards the Hufflepuff Chaser, the Bludger raced towards Harry. The Bludger made contact with a sickening noise and, seemingly in slow motion, Harry fell backwards off his broom. The entire team, minus McLaggen, sped towards their falling Captain as several people screamed from the stands.
Coote and Peakes reached him first and each grabbed one of Harry's arms. Slowly they lowered him to the ground. Harry's face was covered in blood, which was steadily streaming from a deep gash where the Bludger had struck his forehead. Demelza switched directions as soon as Harry was safe and retrieved his broom. Dean, who had landed on the pitch next to Ginny, let out a bark-like laugh as Coote and Peakes struggled to set Harry down.
Ginny turned to face Dean, who took a step back at the look of fury on her face. Madam Hooch's whistle blast signaled a pause in the match at which McLaggen finally flew down to join the rest of the team.
As he landed he said loftily, "You shouldn't leave your posts until the whistle is blown." Demelza and Ginny both glared at McLaggen as Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall charmed Harry onto a stretcher.
Ginny made to follow McGonagall and Harry's floating form, but Dean grabbed her by the collar of her robes. "We've still got a match to finish," he whispered. She glared in response but made no more effort to follow them into the castle. As she turned to face Madam Hooch, she saw Hermione pushing past spectators, as she hurried to catch up with the stretcher, and Ginny's panic subsided marginally.
Madam Hooch, her face much paler than usual, turned to face the Gryffindor team. "Will you forfeit or continue with six players?"
Before the rest of the team could comment, McLaggen responded forcibly, "Of course we'll continue the match. Ginny, you're the Reserve Seeker. Dean and Demelza can continue Chasing. I'll be Captain and man the hoops."
Ginny opened her mouth to retort but Dean put a hand on her shoulder. "It's not worth it, Ginny. Let's just finish the match and then we can..."
She mounted her broom and flew into the air before Dean could finish his statement. At the sound of the whistle the remaining Gryffindor players and the Hufflepuff team flew back into position. As the action resumed, Ginny flew in slow circles, scanning the pitch for the glint of the golden snitch. She couldn't focus on anything. She was furious with McLaggen, she was mad at Dean, and she was worried about Harry.
She was finally brought back into reality by McGonagall, who had evidently returned from the Hospital Wing to keep an eye on Luna, announcing that the score was now one-hundred and ten to fifty, with Hufflepuff in the lead. She swore and looked down at the players flying below her. There was no one guarding their goalpost. Instead Dean and Demelza were trying to keep track of the Quaffle as it passed between the Hufflepuff Chasers, and McLaggen was flying straight for Ginny.
"You should be circling at least twenty feet lower! Summerby's down about forty feet from you and if he spots the snitch you won't be able to catch him in time."
Ginny tried to put every ounce of fury into her eyes as she glared at Cormac. "If you say one more word to me, I swear I'll knock you off your broom. Get the hell back to the goalposts." She sped off without waiting to see what McLaggen did. Hufflepuff had scored another fifty points while McLaggen had been distracted.
With a jolt of excitement, Ginny saw a golden streak circling the Hufflepuff goalposts. As she urged her broom into a steep dive she heard Gryffindor score another goal, shortly followed by Hufflepuff getting their seventeenth. As she drew nearer and nearer to the goalpost, keeping the small golden ball fixed in her vision, Summerby came into view, his hand outstretched. Just as Ginny reached him, Summerby's hand closed around the snitch, and Madam Hooch's whistle blew, announcing the end of the match.
As Ginny landed on the pitch she heard Luna's surprised but still dreamy voice ring out from the announcer's stand. "Oh, is it over already? Did Gryffindor win? I was rooting for them, you know..."
"Hufflepuff wins, three hundred and twenty to sixty!" McGonagall cut in. Without waiting for the rest of the team to join her, Ginny shouldered her broom and stalked to the Gryffindor changing room.
When the rest of the team joined her, she was already out of her robes and was standing attempting to straighten out her school shirt, wearing only her skirt and a sports bra.
"I think this match will serve as a valuable lesson to all of us," McLaggen said in the same pompous tone he had used at the beginning of the match. "I'm sure..."
He was cut off when Ginny pushed him up against the wall, her eyes blazing and her wand under his chin. "Do you ever stop talking?" Her voice was low and dangerous. "Really, do you ever just shut up. You lost us that match. You knocked out our Captain. You are the most idiotic, pathetic excuse for a Keeper who has ever sat on a broom." Her voice was getting louder as she continued. "So, do us all a favor: shut up and never set foot in this changing room again." With a final shove, she released McLaggen, pulled on her shirt, grabbed the rest of her school things, and stalked out of the room. As she made her exit she could hear applause and an impressed whistle from Demelza.
She was halfway back to the castle when she heard someone running to catch up with her. "Ginny! Ginny, hold up!"
She didn't stop. Panting, Dean drew level with her and asked tentatively, "You alright?"
Ginny stopped and turned to face him. "Am I alright? No, I am not alright, Dean Thomas." Dean took a step back as she continued. "What the hell was that? A little support would have been nice, but no! No, you decided to laugh. Seriously Dean? Your Captain is unconscious and bleeding and you think it's funny?"
"Ginny, calm down."
That was the exact wrong thing to say. Ginny made a noise of disbelief and, turning her back on Dean, she continued up to the castle. She could hear Dean spluttering behind her as she stalked away.
She passed through swarms of chatting students, many of whom were acting out the various facial expressions of the Gryffindor players. She scarcely noticed any of them: her concern for Harry and her anger at Dean and Cormac were battling for every bit of focus she wasn't using on walking.
She was distracted enough that she took several wrong turns and accidentally walked in on a seventh year couple snogging in an old classroom. When she finally made it to the Hospital Wing the rest of the Gryffindor team, minus Cormac and Dean, had caught up with her. Demelza shot her a questioning glance but Ginny shook her head.
Harry was settled in a cot next to Ron, gauze wrapped tightly around his head. Ron was propped up by several pillows and gave the team a curious look as they walked towards the beds. "So, what happened this time? Tell me it wasn't dementors..."
Demelza gave him a weak smile in return. "McLaggen hit him with a Bludger."
Ron looked for a minute as if he couldn't decide if he should be angry or laugh. After a moment's battle, he opted for a grimace. "Harry's gonna kill him."
A/N: I'm most definitely not J.K Rowling and do not own any part of the Harry Potter Universe.
Thanks for reading everyone! I'm really excited about this fanfic. Please review and let me know what you thought! I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as I can but feel free to start badgering me if it's taking a while!