Chapter 7: The Final Quidditch Game
Hermione woke up early on a wonderful morning. She and Harry had been going steady for a good while now. They had shared secrets, kisses, and even fond memories that no one else knew.
She got dressed and walked down to the common room. After she ate breakfast with Ginny and Neville, she went to go see Hagrid, something she had not done in a very long time.
When she said goodbye to him, she went straight for the Quidditch Pitch. Half the school was already finding their seats for the big match. She walked down a center aisle one the right side of the pitch. The side that was cheering for Gryffindor.
She walked all the way down to the first row. It's only occupant was Luna Lovegood.
"Hey Luna." Hermione greeted her Ravenclaw friend.
"Oh, hello Hermione." She replied with her slow and dreamy voice. It matched her peaceful, dreamy expression perfectly.
Soon her and Luna were joined by Neville, Seamus, Lavender, Padma, Pavarti, and a fifth year named Joey. They took up all the space on the first row.
After the entire school was seated in the stands, a booming voice came across the pitch from the microphone in the announcer's box.
"Hello and good day to you all!" Came a boy's voice. Hermione had never met him but she knew who he was. He was Daniel Witwicker. A fourth year from Hufflepuff.
"The match today promises to be long and exciting." His voice boomed. "Now, let's give a round to the Slytherin Quidditch Team!"
Half of the crowd booed and the other half cheered as 7 green and silver blurs entered the sky.
"The team of Pole, Dagger, Young, Capricorn, Goyle, and Crabbe are lead by captain Draco Malfoy!" The crowed booed and cheered once again.
"And now, please focus your attention on the south corner!"
The crowd turned to see 7 scarlet and gold blurs shoot into the sky like bullets.
"The team of Weasley, Robins, Thomas, Weasley, Erickson, Opal, are lead by captain Harry Potter!"
The crowd's cheers over powered the Slytherin's boos. Hermione watched as the blur she knew was Harry soared across the sky.
"May we have silence as Madam Hooch begins the game."
The crowd's roar miraculously died down to a quiet murmur.
They watched as the referee / teacher rose into the sky.
"Alright! Let's have a clean and fun match! You all know the rules I expect. So play fair or I'll have Filch remove one of your toes!" She said with a slight grin on her face.
She speed back to the ground and got off her broom. She walked over to the chest that was shaking vigorously. She popped it open and two bludgers flew into the sky. They were followed by a red Quaffle and an equally fast and swift Golden Snitch.
They heard the whistle blow and off they went.
Hermione watched as Harry rose high into the sky. The crowd cheered as Gryffindor quickly took control off the Quaffle.
"Ginny Weasley has possession of the Quaffle. She passes to Dean Thomas. He passes to Demelza Robins. Back to Thomas. Over to Weasley. Score!"
The crowd erupted into cheers as the giant chalk board, that was fairly new to the pitch, magically erased 0 to 0 and wrote 10 to 0.
"Slytherin as the Quaffle. From keeper Mark Capricorn to Henry Pole! Pole passes to Juliet Young! From Young to Kyle Dagger! Dagger to Pole. Oh! And Pole looses the Quaffle to Weasley!"
The crowd cheered as Ginny grabbed the Quaffle out of Henry Pole's arms.
Henry Pole was a good looking sixth year, but he had a bad temper and always showed everyone that he indeed did belong in Slytherin.
"And Potter just barely missed a bludger, hit by Crabbe!" The crowd cheered as Harry looped out of the way of the speeding bludger.
Hermione's heart rate went up when she this. But she smiled at Harry's escape.
After an hour or so the score was 60 to 90. Slytherin had been behind for a good while but somehow managed to jump ahead.
"Score! Slytherin's way!"
The magical chalk boards that sat on the side of every tower, erased and showed 60 to 100.
Harry felt a little anger at the fact that Ron was not doing his job all that well.
Harry was floating up very high. His eyes searching for a glimpse of the snitch. But nothing. He had also been watching Malfoy closely, but all he had been doing was flirting with the Slytherin girls in the stadium.
Harry watched as Pole passed the Quaffle to Dagger who threw the Quaffle at the hoop the farthest left. It barely grazed Ron's finger tips as it went straight through the hoop.
"Another score for Slytherin!"
The chalk boards showed 60 to 110. Harry felt disappointed. They couldn't loose to Slytherin. This as the match for the cup!
Harry's mind suddenly went back to the night when he was reading the Quidditch Handbook. He remembered the part about how any one of the players could control the Quaffle but a chaser had to score.
Harry smiled as he saw opportunity flash before his eyes. He leaned forward and sped towards Henry Pole.
"It looks Potter has seen the Snitch!"
Suddenly all of the crowd's attention was on Harry. Something he had not expected but oh well. It would just make his plan even greater if it succeeded and everyone was watching.
Harry flew under Pole. When he was directly underneath him he was relived when Ginny made eye contact with him. He raised his eyebrows and gave her a thumbs up, this was the signal to a play that the Gryffindor Quidditch Team had never practiced.
Ginny looked shocked but nodded anyways. She gave a different signal to Dean and Demelza, and they gave the signal to Ron, Jeremy Erickson, and Teresa Opal. Teresa and Jeremy are both in their third year but both a skilled beaters.
Harry quickly spun around so that he was upside down. He was still in the same flying position but he was now looking at Pole's underside.
He found the Quaffle was under Pole's left arm. He some how managed to get left foot from the tangle it was in holding him to his own broom. He stuck it up towards Pole.
When Pole looked down and saw this he was shocked and a little stunned. This was perfect. Harry kicked the Quaffle out of his arm and Ginny swooped down and caught it. Harry quickly looped back into the regular flying position and got into the formation.
Ginny passed the Quaffle to Dean who passed it to Demelza, and before the Slytherin's even knew what was going on, Jeremy and Teresa had hit both bludgers at Pole and Dagger.
Now they had the Slytherins off guard. Demelza passed the Quaffle over to Ginny who flew by Harry and dropped into his arms. Harry flew towards the hoops.
Dean had found his ay next to Harry's side and Harry outstretched his right arm. In it, the Quaffle. Dean's left arm reached for it. It was like they were in slow motion. They were so close to the hoops they could hear the Capricorn's broom speeding towards them.
The Quaffle left Harry's hand. It slowly grazed Dean's fingertips and then entered his palm to where it was quickly thrown into the goal. Dean and Harry pulled up just in time.
"Oi! Harry!" Dean yelled, he was pointing to something. Harry looked to where he was pointing and saw a tiny Golden Snitch flying in front of Dean. Harry swerved and his arm instinctively stretched towards the Snitch. Dean looped out of Harry's way and joined Ginny in chasing Pole.
Harry was so close to catching the Snitch. It was centimeters away! Harry jumped off of his broom and grabbed the Snitch. He did it! He caught it! Only problem was that he was know plummeting towards the Earth from being at least 1000 feet in the air, if not higher.
"Harry!" He heard a scream. It sounded like Hermione. A very distant Hermione. This snapped his attention back onto what was going on. He looked for his broom. He outstretched his hand. "Broom!"
Harry had never tried doing this before, but to his surprise, his broom sped forward and he grabbed on to it for dear life. He found his way to the ground and held up the Snitch in his right hand. He felt kind of nauseous at first but then he felt lighter then a feather when his teammates flew down to the ground and jumped on him.
The crowd cheered as the announcer made his last announcement.
"And Gryffindor wins! With a score of 220 to 100!"
Harry soon found a small crowd surrounded him. He spotted Hermione within seconds. He ran through the cheering crowd and found her running towards him. They hugged. He lifted her off of her feet. "I'm so glad you're ok." She whispered in his ear.
He set her down and pressed his lips against hers. She kissed him back hard.
The crowd seemed to see this too and cheered even louder. They started chanting. "Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry! Harry!"
When Harry and Hermione broke the kiss the joined everyone in cheering. After a while they all collected themselves and started departing. Harry waved to Hermione as she walked with Neville back up to the castle.
Harry walked into the locker rooms.
"Great move out there Harry." Demelza's voice echoed off the walls.
"Thanks, and you guys all played brilliantly out there." He said to the team.
"Not as good as you." Teresa called out.
"At least we all played better then Malfoy." Ron laughed.
"Did you see how the whole game all he did was talk to the Slytherin girls? I bet Snapes going to really angry." Jeremy replied.
"I heard there's going to be a party in the common room." Ginny said after a few moments of silence.
"Seamus said that they even got some Firewhiskey past Filch." Dean added.
"Bloody hell." Ron smiled at the possibilities.
"Wont we get in trouble for having that?" Jeremy's squeaky innocent voice asked.
"That just makes it all the more fun." Ginny laughed.
Harry laughed along with his teammates as he closed his locker door.
"Right, so great game everyone." Harry said. They were all kind of sad. This was their last Quidditch game together. And Harry's last at Hogwarts.
"So, I expect Ginny to be captain next year." Harry began and everyone nodded while Ginny smiled with pride.
"I think it's safe to say to Demelza, Jeremy, Teresa, and Ginny…that you'll definitely have a great game next year. And you'll bring home the house cup again." Harry smiled weakly.
"Only if we find another seeker, keeper, and chaser that are as good as you guys." Ginny smiled at Dean, Ron, and Harry.
"I'm sure you will." Dean replied, also baring a weak smile.
"Bloody hell, look at the time. We better get going or we'll be late to our own party!" Ron laughed.
They walked up to the castle together. When they entered the common room they were greeted by cheers, every single Gryffindor, and a whole lot of butterbeer and Firewhiskey.
After finding his way through the crowd and being patted on the back several times, he found Hermione sitting on one of the steps of the staircase that led to the girls dormitory rooms.
Harry sat down next to her. She greeted him by gently placing her lips on his. It was over as quickly as it came.
"Want to dance?" Harry asked over the loud music that had just been turned on.
"Sure." Hermione laughed.
And they danced with the rest of the Gryffindors. They danced until their feet hurt, and then danced some more. They danced until the sun went away and came back up. And they never wanted to stop.
