Chapter 7: Gold & Red

As they flew through the blackness of outer space, Hagrid blubbered.

"Hagrid? What's the matter?"

The giant wiped his tears with his bushy black beard. "Hogwarts has been blown up! Dumbledore's dead! Great man, Dumbledore."

They flew on in silence after that . . . all the way to the moon of Yavin. When they landed, Dumbledore was waiting to greet them.

"Sir! You're not dead!"

"Yes, Hagrid. That would appear to be the case."

"But Hogwarts, Professor! It was blown to pieces!"

"The planet, yes," admitted the long-bearded wizard with the sparkly blue eyes behind half-moon glasses. "But the school, no. What kind of a grand wizard would I be if I couldn't predict complete and utter ruin? So, I simply moved the school here to this moon."

"But sir," Hagrid protested. "How is that possible?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "Magic."

"So we're all safe and sound?"

"Well yes we would be . . . if it weren't for Quidditch."

"Beg pardon, sir?"

"Quidditch, Hagrid. It's a game. Played on broomsticks with five balls and - -."

"I know what Quidditch is, sir. The whole bloody universe knows what Quidditch is. But why would it put us in any kind of danger?"

"Well, contrary to what it says on my chocolate-frog card, I can't think of everything. It seems that the Death Star has a Quidditch team, quite a good one, I'm lead to believe. And, as luck would have it, its next game is scheduled here at the moon of Yavin."

"So once the Death Star gets here . . ."

"Precisely, Hagrid. Its advanced sensors will detect us, and the moon of Yavin will suffer the same fate as the planet of Hogwarts."

"Unless," interjected Harry.

"Unless what?"

"Unless we win."

۞

"Once the Weasleys told us the secret of how to read the Marauders' Map," announced Professor McGonagall, "it was easy to examine the schematics and detect a weakness in the defenses of the Death Star. Precisely, here." She pointed to where the diagram showed a heat vent right below the three hoops of the home team's goal.

"Instead of driving the quaffle through one their hoops, we must drive in into the vent. The quaffle will proceed down, jamb up the central reactor here, and cause a chain reaction which should blow up the entire battle station."

"Fred and I can help," added George. "There's only one quaffle, but there are two bludgers. We beaters could smash a bludger down the vent and also cause an explosion."

"That would be a mistake," said McGonagall. "Bludgers are enchanted to attack the nearest Quidditch player. So, if one of them goes down the shaft, it will reverse its course and come back out. Not only will it not make it down to the central reactor, but if the quaffle is hit while the bludger is down in the vent, when it reverses course, it will sweep the quaffle back out along with it."

"What about the golden snitch?"

"It's too lightweight to start a chain reaction. So our strike must be with the quaffle. Is that clearly understood?" She waited for any questions, but when there weren't any, she continued:

"Gryffindor House, having the best Hogwarts team, has been selected for this mission. I have divided the team into two squadrons, named for the two Gryffindor colors: gold and red. Gold Squadron shall be made up of chaser Angelina Johnson, chaser Alicia Spinnet, and chaser Katie Bell. It shall be the task of you three ladies to deliver the fatal blow. Supporting Golf Squadron shall be Red squadron. Red Squadron shall consist of keeper Oliver Wood, beater Fred Weasley, beater George Weasley and seeker Harry Potwalker."

Hands shot up faster than toadstools on a foggy morning. "Who?"

Professor McGonagall gave the group a cold stare. "You've all been obviously snoozing through your class in Divination, or else you would remember the legendary prophesy:

Harry Potwalker, he's our man.

If he can't do it, no one can.

The Gryffindors looked suitably embarrassed.

"We must destroy the Death Star before the end of the match. For if we do not, the spectators will return to their work stations, and those on the battle station's advanced sensors will detect our hideout here. I needn't tell you the ramifications of such a detection - - complete and utter destruction of this moon and its entire population."

۞

The next morning, Harry found Ron and Scabbers piling bag after bag of galleons into the boot of the flying car.

"Where are you two going?"

"Mate, I wish you all the best. But if you fail, this place is going to be turned into a well-charred asteroid belt. I'm not going to be here when that happens." He slammed the boot closed, picked up Scabbers, and they both climbed into the flying car. Scabbers took up station on the dashboard. "Try hard not to get yourself killed, eh?" Ron started the engine, and then he and Scabbers flew off.

Harry went over to where the Gryffindor team was forming up. Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, Katie Bell, Oliver Wood, Fred Weasley, George Weasley and Harry all conjured glass bubbles over their heads so they could breathe. Then they mounted their broomsticks and flew out to meet the team from the Death Star.

Already circling the Death Star's Quidditch pitch were their opponents, the green-and-silver-clad team of chaser Graham Montague, chaser Adrian Pucey, chaser C. Warrington, keeper Miles Bletchley, beater Vincent Crabbe, beater Gregory Goyle, and back from his recent stay in the hospital wing for a badly botched cruxiatus curse: seeker Draco Malfoy.