Bittersweet Victory: Part One

"I was hoping to avoid using violence, but..." Erwin said before stepping back and nodding towards Mike, his boots making a squelching sound in the mud.

Mike obediently grabbed a fistful of Levi's hair and forcefully slammed his head into a puddle of muddy water. Levi growled and thrashed around angrily trying to free himself from Mike's hold but it was all in vain; Mike had no intention of letting him go any time soon.

"I've seen your talents, the way you fly is quite amazing for someone your age," Erwin said, watching Levi carefully for a response. "Who taught you?" he questioned curiously.

"What's it matter to you?" Levi spat, breathing heavily and trying his best to keep his face out of the water.

"It matters because you insist on walking around this castle as if you own the place and terrorizing your fellow students without a care in the world," Erwin said coldly. "Let him up, Mike," he commanded. Mike silently lifted Levi's head back up by the scruff of his neck but still kept him kneeling on the ground in front of Erwin. "You show no restraint, you have no regard for others, and you deliberately and constantly break the rules," Erwin said, his voice raising sharply. "I simply can't allow this behavior to continue after what you did to that poor kid. Did you hear that he's been sent to St. Mungo's this morning? The entire staff is in an uproar and it looks like they're running out of ideas on ways to punish you."

"So what? Why are you taking this into your own hands? Just let the Headmaster deal with me then," Levi said before defiantly hawking a glob of brown spit at Erwin's boots, who sidestepped it calmly. Mike's hand tightened around Levi's collar painfully but loosened again after a warning glance from Erwin. "How does this even relate to my flying skills, Erwin? Why did you and this hairy giant drag me outside in the mud?"

Erwin began to laugh and smiled down at Levi. It wasn't a warm smile, in fact, it sent a shiver down Levi's spine but he would never let them know that. "Ah, well you see, Levi, this is Pixis' plan. He could have easily expelled you but he thought it better to have you join your House's Quidditch team instead. To be honest, I agree with Professor Pixis since detention obviously doesn't work on you. It's a good thing he reached out to me to inform you about this deal."

"That old fool doesn't know shit, he should just expel me and move on," Levi said in a low voice, looking down at his reflection in the water. He couldn't understand why they cared so much about him. After all the trouble he caused, Levi was sure they would all be better off without him. "What good could possibly come out of me joining the Slytherin team?"

"Being on a team will give you a sense of empathy, cooperation, respect, and responsibility. All things you seem to be severely lacking," Erwin smirked down at him. "For God's sakes half the school is afraid they will die if you even so much as look at them funny. Above all else, having regular practice sessions every week will hopefully keep you too busy to cause any trouble."

"Think of your team as your second family," Mike spoke up. "They will have your back whenever you need it and give you guidance without question."

"They said the same thing about our Houses but I don't give a damn about any of those snobs," Levi snorted.

"Even so," Erwin began, kneeling down in front of Levi. "As I said before, you are very talented, Levi. I've seen the look in your eyes, you can't deny you enjoy flying. Whenever you're up in the air on your broomstick, you just seem more alive than I've ever seen you." There was a certain twinkle in his eyes that Levi hadn't seen before. "I don't know about you but, as your friend, I'd like to see more of that out of you, Levi."

Levi stared back at Erwin, mulling his words over in his head. He didn't want to admit it but he was becoming increasingly thrilled with the thought of getting the chance to play Quidditch on an actual team. He had been fascinated with flying ever since he was a little kid because it was one of the only things that made living with Kenny bearable. He had spent more nights than he could count reading his mint condition copy of Quidditch Through the Ages and his obsession with the Appleby Arrows bordered on manic. Not that he would ever tell anyone that or anything.

"If I do join won't you be helping the competition? You two are both on opposite Quidditch teams after all," Levi said, trying to hide his piqued interest.

Mike finally let go of Levi and stepped back with a chuckle. "We'll take our chances."

"It's either this or expulsion, it's your choice." Erwin held out his hand to Levi with a bright and genuine smile. "Just make sure you make the right one. So, what's it going to be? Do we have a deal?"

Levi hesitated for a second before he took hold of Erwin's hand and shook it. "Deal."


Bang! A sharp noise brought Levi back out of his daze. Memories of Erwin, Mike, and muddy water dripping down his face were all quickly erased from his mind as he remembered where he was. He stood in front of a full length mirror fastening his Captain badge onto the front of his green and silver Quidditch robes in the corner of the locker room. In the distance he could hear the dull pounding of the crowd's feet as they were making their way into the stands. It was game day and the rest of the Slytherin team busily walked about the room getting geared up. Some of them, however, were getting a little too eager for Levi's taste.

"Game time everybody!" Reiner shouted from the other end of the locker room and banged his Beater's bat on the floor again raucously.

"Reiner, do that one more time and I swear I will shove that bat so far up your ass that Bertholdt will feel it," an aggravated female voice snapped. Levi glanced away from his own reflection and found a tall girl with a ponytail and freckles dotting her intimidating face in his sights. She stood in front of Reiner, hands on her hips, glaring him down even though he was far bigger than her.

"I give you my permission to do that as much as you please, Ymir," Levi said nonchalantly before going back to putting on his boots.

"Thank you, Captain," Ymir replied, sneering up at Reiner. "Better keep yourself in line or your pal, Bert, over there is going to pay for it too." At that moment, Ymir then snapped her head towards Bertholdt, who had been sitting next to Annie on a nearby bench, and flashed a wild, cat-like grin at him. Bertholdt gasped and immediately flinched away from her.

"Please, Reiner, calm down for both of our sakes!" he begged frantically, causing Reiner to burst into laughter. Levi didn't even have to look back at them to know that Bertholdt was probably sweating up a storm by now. He started to tune them out again and went to pick up his gloves but they were nowhere to be found. He checked around his feet to see if he had dropped them but the space around him was impeccably spotless and clear of any clutter.

"Looking for these?" another girl's voice spoke up close behind him sounding mildly amused. Levi turned around to face Petra who held his gloves up in front of him, a soft smile spreading across her face. Not too far behind her were Eld and Gunther standing in the doorway to the locker room, grinning back at him as well.

"Where did you find these?" Levi asked as he gently took his gloves back from Petra.

"You don't remember?" Petra asked, leaning against the wall and allowing Eld and Gunther to move in closer. "You let me borrow your gloves so I could try out for Gryffindor."

Huh, so I have," Levi said coolly, a bit embarrassed that he had forgot such a thing. He rubbed his nose trying to shake off his lapse in memory and put on his gloves. "So did Mike let you guys on the team? I know all three of you tried out."

"Yep! You're looking at the three newest members of the Gryffindor team," Eld boasted proudly. "Turns out me and Petra didn't have to compete to become Chasers after all."

"I think Mike just did that on purpose so you two wouldn't cause problems," Gunther said. He shook his head but smiled anyway.

"Knowing Petra, she probably would have punched me and Mike out if she didn't make the team," Eld joked and ruffled Petra's hair.

"I wouldn't have done that!" Petra whined and slapped Eld's hand away, a tinge of pink dusting her cheeks. "Well... maybe I would- hey stop laughing!" Petra said indignantly as the three boys started to laugh.

When the laughing subsided, Levi started to notice that something or rather somebody was missing amongst his friends. "Not that I don't appreciate you guys showing up here right now but shouldn't Oluo be here as well?" Petra, Eld, and Gunther all glanced at each other and shared the same grimace. Levi raised an eyebrow and asked, "What's wrong?"

"You'll see," Gunther said, throwing his hands up in defeat. Eld and Petra nodded in agreement.

"You're not even going to tell me?" Levi furrowed his eyebrows impatiently. "What did he do this time?"

"Trust us, it's better if you see it for yourself," Petra muttered ashamedly.

"I don't understand, why-" Levi began to speak but Gunther and Eld turned away from him mid-sentence and began to speed walk towards the door.

"Hey, look at the time, the match is about to start! We need to get some prime seats, don't want to miss any of the action!" Eld said, trying to sound cheerful while hurrying out the door."Knock 'em dead, Levi!"

"Good luck out there, Captain!" Gunther managed to say before he was whisked out of sight.

Petra stood there for a moment, fiddling with her hands, struggling with what to do next before finally deciding to give Levi a quick hug. "I'm so sorry about all this. I really do hope you guys win your match today," she said breathlessly before running to catch up with Eld and Gunther.

Levi stood rooted to the spot for a moment, baffled both by the hug and by his friends' cryptic behavior. A cough from behind him made Levi turn around to find his whole team sitting on the benches and staring at him. Some of them snickered behind their hands while others avoided making eye contact with him, trying to pretend like they weren't just eavesdropping.

"That girl was pretty cute. If you aren't already dating her, do you think you could introduce her to me?" Reiner said slyly.

"Shut your mouth, Braun," Levi growled, now extremely disgruntled. He strolled over to them, making the more timid members of the team tense up fearfully as he approached. He checked the time on the nearby clock; it was indeed almost time for the match to start. He paced back and forth, scouring them all with his eyes one by one, taking note of everything from their facial expressions to the state of their robes. A couple of them looked a bit more scruffy than he would have liked but there was nothing he could do about that now.

"Aren't you going to bore us with a pep talk before we go out there, oh great and noble Captain?" Nile jeered, aiming to get a rise out of him.

Levi sighed and pushed his hair back out of his eyes. "You want a pep talk?" Half of them shook their heads. "Too bad, now I'm going to attempt to give you one." All of them groaned but stayed right where they were nonetheless. He cracked his knuckles and pointed at their Keeper, a large boy named Mitabi with short brown hair that he rarely talked to outside of Quidditch practice. "You creep me out and your face reminds me of a troll's foot."

Mitabi looked offended and touched his face. "What is this? I thought this was going to be a pep talk!" he spluttered out.

"Shut up, I'm just getting started," Levi barked, holding up a finger to Mitabi to silence him. "You," he said, pointing at Reiner, "annoy the hell out of me and you're a god damn idiot."

Reiner didn't seem phased and simply nodded. "Fair enough."

Levi, now coming into his full stride, rounded on Bertholdt who stared back at him nervously. "You are so unbelievably big I don't know how you stay airborne, let alone how you're a Chaser." Without missing a beat he moved onto Ymir. "You're one snarky bitch, simple as that," he said bluntly.

"Cheers, mate," Ymir replied, smirking.

"Don't even get me started on you, Annie. I still remember what you did to Oluo," he continued on, only getting an apathetic shrug from her in response. "And last but not least..." Levi stopped in front of Nile with his hands behind his back. "Nile," he started, leaning forward so that their faces were level with each other. "I despise you with every fiber of my being and the only reason you are still on this team is because I take satisfaction in being able to boss you around, you slimy piece of shit." Levi took a step back as Nile angrily tried to spring to his feet. Annie had to hold him back as he shouted curses at Levi and tried to swing his Beater's bat at his face.

"You pint-sized excuse for a human being, I'll crush you!" he shouted from behind the restraint of Annie's arms.

"If you've had enough I'd like to finish," Levi said, casually pulling out a stray string from his robes. "At this point you might be wondering how in the world this is even a pep talk. Well, news flash, it's not. I said I would attempt to give a proper pep talk and I failed. But when it comes right down to it, I hate you all a little less than all the other people who tried out. Except for you, Nile."

Nile tried to get up and attack him again, now even more viciously than before. Annie alone wasn't enough to hold him back this time and needed Reiner's help to keep him seated. "We got 'em. Go on, Captain," Reiner said, waving his hand to signal for him to keep going.

"Admittedly, you guys are also not completely terrible players. I have enough faith in you to trust that together we can scrape a win out of this match... But if you fuck this up you're all dead to me. Now, pick up your brooms and lets get out of here," Levi finished, shouldering his own broomstick and heading for the door. The rest of the team neither cheered nor clapped but still hesitantly picked up their brooms and followed Levi out the door looking confused.

"Let go of me! I don't need to be held down anymore," Nile growled, wrenching himself out of Reiner and Annie's arms and walking out behind Mitabi.

"So... that means he likes us, right?" Bertholdt whispered to Reiner.

"Psh, are you kidding, he loves us," Reiner said, assuring him with a pat on the back and flashing him a wide grin.

"Oi, pick up the pace!" Levi called back to them over his shoulder. As the seven of them left the locker room and stepped out onto the field, the roar of the awaiting crowd blasted their eardrums. Levi stopped in his tracks just outside the entrance to take in his surroundings, first turning his attention to the sky. There wasn't a cloud to be seen and he could feel the breeze flowing gently at his back. Perfect weather for a Quidditch match. Lowering his gaze, he could see the Ravenclaw team standing together at the opposite end of the field with Erwin standing tall at the head of them all. He unconsciously gripped his broom tightly in his hand, the excitement in the air finally reaching him. His blood was pumping faster, he could almost hear it in his ears over all the noise. He was back where he belonged.

"The Slytherin team is as fashionably late as always! It's so nice that you finally could make it!" A loud, pompous voice made itself known over the cheers of the audience.

Levi's mood dropped considerably as he recognized the voice and realized what Petra, Eld, and Gunther were talking about. "Who in their right mind made Oluo the commentator?" he muttered to himself, shielding his eyes from the sun with his free hand to try to get a look at the commentator's box.

"Here we are, first match of the Quidditch season! Give a nice warm welcome to the Ravenclaw Quidditch team everybody!" The stands erupted with booming cheers as the Ravenclaw team lined up ceremoniously and mounted their brooms. "We have Keiji!" As soon as his name was called, Keiji kicked off from the ground and flew a circuit around the stadium. "Nanaba and Moblit!" The two of them kicked off as well and zoomed out on their broomsticks to follow Keiji. The crowd clapped and shouted whenever they flew close to the stands, some even trying to get a high five as they passed. "Hanji and two losers whose names I don't know-" A torrent of boos immediately came from the Ravenclaw fans in the audience.

"I wrote them down for you! Say their names or I will take that megaphone from you, Bossard!" An angry man's voice could be heard throughout the stadium.

"Sorry, Professor Hannes! My mistake, I'll get it right next time," Oluo snickered, followed by Hanji and her two unnamed teammates racing onto the field to much applause.

"Show off..." Levi shook his head as he watched Hanji do backflips and hang upside down from her broom for the crowd's amusement. Moblit broke formation and flew beside her to urge her to sit properly on her broom. The expression on his stressed face made Levi wonder if he was going to faint in midair.

"And finally, Ravenclaw's beloved Captain and Seeker, the man with the Wings of Freedom on his back, ERWIN SMITH!" The whole stadium exploded with noise as Erwin soared into the air, smiling and waving to the crowd congenially as if he was the Minister of Magic himself.

Unimpressed, Levi squinted at Erwin's back as he flew past them overhead and saw he had a pair of moving, pearly white wings on the back of his robes. "Since when did he gain the title 'Wings of Freedom', let alone those ridiculous wings?"

"It's just for show, these brainless sheep will idolize him for anything. He could be called the king of goblins and they would still love him," Nile replied from behind him.

"Stage names don't help anybody win matches, only a person's skills and determination win matches," Levi said coldly. "Let's just hope the fame doesn't go to his head." The Ravenclaw team did one final lap around the stadium before touching down in the center of the field to wait out the Slytherin team's introduction.

"Now that we're done with that lets get to the real stars of today's match!" Oluo said enthusiastically once the crowd had settled down. The solid sea of green of the Slytherins in the stands got to their feet, screaming and stomping. The rest of the stadium was not pleased with Oluo's choice in words and started to jeer at the Slytherins just as loudly.

"Mount your brooms," Levi ordered his team as he swung his leg over his own broomstick.

"We've got Mitabi Jarnach!" Just as the Ravenclaw team had done, Mitabi flew into the air and started his lap around the stadium. "Nile Dawk and Reiner Braun!" Reiner immediately took off, punching the air and shouting his head off along with the crowd. Nile, however, hung back for a brief moment and looked over his shoulder at Levi.

"Notice how he's bothering to actually say our full names? Your friend's not going to be a commentator for long with that kind of blatant favoritism," he muttered before following Reiner into the air. Levi didn't want to admit it but he knew Nile was right. Making Oluo the announcer was a huge mistake.

"Bertholdt Hoover, Annie Leonhart, and Ymir... [REDACTED]?" Oluo stopped abruptly. "What the hell? Does she not have a last name?"

"Forget about it, just keep going," Professor Hannes' voice could be heard once more.

"Are you telling me that even you don't know her bloody last name? What kind of school are we running here?" Oluo said incredulously.

"Just keep going!" Hannes practically yelled over the megaphone. Annie, Bertholdt, and Ymir joined the others in the air looking slightly uncomfortable.

"And the man of the hour, the greatest player of Quidditch ever to grace Hogwarts with his presence, Humanity's Strongest Seeker, LEVI ACKERMAN!" Oluo shouted into the megaphone. The audience let out deafening yells as Levi kicked off the ground and zoomed out onto the field. The wind blew through his hair, as his supporters chanted his name. Despite the joy he felt in being able to fly again Levi couldn't shake the gnawing annoyance at the back of his mind towards the new title Oluo had given him.

"Humanity's Strongest Seeker? Don't you mean Slytherin's Strongest Seeker?" Professor Hannes said sounding considerably tired with Oluo's antics.

"Nonsense, it's perfectly fine the way it is. What do you think everybody?" Oluo shouted to the crowd. Levi rounded the goalposts and snapped his head in the direction of the commentator's box to see Oluo standing atop his chair and holding his megaphone out towards the audience.

"Humanity's Strongest Seeker! Humanity's Strongest Seeker! Humanity's Strongest Seeker!" The mob of people below answered back, they were eating this stuff up. Levi couldn't believe his ears, this silly name was actually catching on like wildfire.

"Hear that, Professor? The crowd loves it!" Oluo could be seen sitting back down in his chair smugly. Levi had had enough of this and raised his hand to alert his team to touch down in the center of the field with the Ravenclaws. As soon as he touched back down on the ground, Hanji took no time at all to saunter her way over to him with her trademark maniacal grin plastered on her face.

"Ready to go head to head, shorty?" Hanji quipped cheerily. "Or in your case head to chest."

"Oh, don't worry about me, shitty glasses," Levi sneered. "You just keep your eyes out for the Bludgers. Braun's been itching to knock someone off their broom today."

"Ha! Fat chance!" She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at Moblit who was standing a few feet away with the rest of the team. "Moblit's one of our new Beaters, knowing him he's not going to let me out of his sight for the whole match."

"Yes, he's already turning out to be a fine Beater," Erwin said as he approached them from behind. He tapped on Hanji's shoulder and said, "Excuse me, Hanji, but may I have a word with Levi alone?"

"Sure thing, he's all yours," Hanji gave Erwin a pointed look before leaving them to join the other Ravenclaws.

"I seem to remember just a year ago that Moblit said he wasn't going to join the team. What changed his mind?" Levi asked, raising an eyebrow at Erwin.

"You don't miss a thing do you?" Erwin said, placing his hands on his hips. "Well, if you must know, my team has been doing a little research on yours."

"So you've been spying on us, huh? Is that what I'm hearing?" Levi folded his arms and glared up at him crossly. "The just and righteous Erwin Smith, admitting to getting a leg up on the competition. I thought I'd never see the day."

"Hold on now, I just felt that after your new choices in teammates," he said, gesturing at Reiner and Bertholdt, "my team needed a little extra protection. Especially for Hanji, she is our best Chaser after all."

"Your team already has a couple years of experience over my team, you don't need even the slightest advantage," Levi shot back and wrinkled his nose in disgust. "This whole thing is starting to wreak of foul play if you ask me."

Erwin nervously rubbed the back of his neck for a brief moment but Levi didn't seem to notice. "Why do you say that?"

"I'm surprised they're even allowing you to play."

"Why is that, Levi?" Erwin asked, puzzled.

"Those wings you call eyebrows should be able to make you fly without a broomstick at all," Levi looked back at him, his face deadpan and serious.

"Nice one, although I'm honestly shocked you don't need someone to help you get onto your broom," Erwin said with a chuckle as Levi gave him the evil eye.

"Are you trying to win the crowd's favor with those crappy wings on your back?" Levi huffed, changing the subject.

"Oh, these?" Erwin twisted around to show Levi a closer look at the drawn on wings on the back of his Quidditch robes. On closer inspection they were quite masterfully detailed and were bewitched to move up and down like real wings. The craftsmanship of it all was extraordinary to say the least. "Hanji came up with the idea and did the spell work while Moblit was the one who drew the wings. I wasn't too keen about the idea at first but I just couldn't refuse after all the work they put into them. I think they came out pretty well, I must say."

"Mmh," Levi grunted. He crossed his arms over his chest again and a calm silence fell between them. In their lull in conversation Levi noticed that Master Shadis wasn't there. "When is Master Shadis getting out here with the damn balls?" he said tapping his foot impatiently. "The match should have started by now. I bet he's taking a shit but the shit just won't come out."

"I really have no idea why he isn't here... It's not like him to be late," Erwin checked his watch and glanced around the field for a sign of their missing referee. "Anyway, I've been meaning to ask you but are those two really second years?" he said changing the subject quickly. He had his eyes set on Reiner and Bertholdt, who were chatting with Ymir and Annie in a tightly knit group the farthest away from everybody else. "I think they could pass for fifth years."

"It gets even worse, Erwin," Levi said with a hint of a shudder as he watched Reiner swinging his bat around. "I saw the big blonde one shaving once."

"That's just not right; I didn't get my first couple of hairs until I was fourteen!" Horrified, Erwin started rubbing his chin as if he was trying to reassure himself. "And you made him a Beater?" he asked incredulously. "Are you trying to get everyone killed, Levi?"

"As captain of the Slytherin team I'll take full responsibility for any injuries you may sustain," Levi said nonchalantly. "Besides I thought you took protective measures against him. You better hope they hold up, Erwin."

"Speaking of your captaincy," Erwin began airily, ignoring the jab. "Did you ever think when you started your second year that you would become the Captain instead of Nile?" He beamed at Levi and softly punched him in the arm. "Congratulations, by the way."

"I was definitely not expecting it, especially after all the trouble I've caused around here. I also can't say it was my goal. I just wanted to play Quidditch... It does have it's perks though, my uncle bought me a brand new broomstick," Levi brushed his hand over the polished wood of his broomstick fondly. "The day I got my badge he said he's never been more proud of a runt like me. That's probably one of the nicest things he's ever said to me."

"I suppose some people, like your uncle, have weird ways of showing their affection," Erwin said in an undertone. "Professor Pixis made the right choice in making you Captain nonetheless. He knows you can make the right decisions, and so do I."

Levi didn't answer, not really knowing what to say. He thought Erwin was laying the compliments on pretty thick for someone who was out to see him lose today. He didn't like it. Something was up with him and he wasn't going to fall for it. As he watched Erwin closely he noticed he seemed a bit more antsy than usual although he knew Erwin was never one to show any nerves before a match. Before he could interrogate him the crowd all of a sudden began shouting again and both he and Erwin turned around to see Master Shadis walking out onto the field carrying the crate full of all the necessary equipment for the game.

Master Shadis was a tall and intimidating man. He was bald, with a slightly tan complexion, a well kept goatee, with prominent wrinkles on his forehead, and dark circles around his eyes. He was infamous around Hogwarts for his tough, no bullshit attitude. People tended to avoid him if he happened to be walking their way, if he saw one toe out of line he would demand for them to drop and give him twenty push-ups while shouting how much they were garbage. Levi knew him particularly well, he always was the one watching over him when sentenced to detention. Today he was sporting a disdainful scowl as he approached the two captains, his glare was trained curiously onto Levi in particular.

"My office has been tampered with and I will find out who did it," he snarled just loud enough for only Levi and Erwin to hear.

"I didn't do anything to your shitty broom closet of an office if that's what you're thinking," Levi defended, his eyebrows furrowed in irritation. Levi had a well-deserved bad reputation but he wasn't the type to go skulking around in a professor's office over a Quidditch match. Levi turned to Erwin who had suddenly become unnaturally stony-faced and quiet.

"I'll be the judge of that. After the match I want a word with the both of you maggots. For now, let's get this show on the road." Master Shadis turned to the two teams and blew his whistle. "Gather round!" he shouted. When both teams finally got into position behind their respective Captains, Shadis nodded to Levi and Erwin. "Shake hands," he ordered. Wordlessly, Levi offered his hand to Erwin who grabbed it more forcefully than he expected.

"Crushing my hand won't-"

"Levi, I'm absolutely sorry for this," Erwin said with a pained expression on his face. He was holding on so tightly he was unknowingly starting to pull Levi closer to him. "I need you to understand that I didn't plan any of this and I'm sorry that I failed to stop it."

"Stop what? What are you saying sorry for?" Levi said bewilderedly, trying to take his hand back out of Erwin's grasp. Erwin didn't say anything more and let go of him as Shadis blew his whistle again, signaling them to get on their brooms. Shadis opened the crate of balls and unstrapped the Bludgers which immediately took off into the air. He did the same with the Snitch which Levi lost sight of in a matter of seconds as it zipped away to freedom. Once Master Shadis picked up the Quaffle and situated himself on his broomstick, fifteen people kicked off the ground and soared into the air once more.

"I want a good, clean match, got that?" Shadis shouted at them, his beady eyed stare trained on Levi as he said it. Levi couldn't care less, all he was thinking about was getting his hands on the Snitch which was circling around Hanji's head at the moment. Out of the corner of his eye he saw that Erwin's gaze was also intensely focused on the Snitch. Levi had no idea what Erwin was talking about before but something told him that he would need to end this match as quickly as possible and he could tell that Erwin was thinking the exact same thing. With another blast from the whistle, Shadis threw the Quaffle high into the air, signaling the start of the match.

"Our match begins with Hanji effortlessly taking possession of the Quaff-" was the only bit of Oluo's commentary Levi managed to catch before it was drowned out by the roar of the wind as he approached his top speed. The Snitch had zipped towards the Ravenclaw goalposts as soon as the whistle sounded and Levi had immediately darted after it like a bullet. To his right he could see Erwin hurtling towards the Snitch just as fast as he was and in a matter of seconds he closed the gap between them. They raced alongside each other for a stretch, neither of them gaining the upper hand, until their shoulders collided violently, forcing them to break away from each other.

Levi recovered first and began to speed towards the Snitch again but had to stop as a Bludger shot past him like a cannon ball, just narrowly missing his face. He glanced around to find Moblit glaring up at him, his Beater's bat still raised. A loud cracking sound pierced the air to Levi's left and he instinctively ducked down just in time for the Bludger to miss him again. Without missing a beat, Moblit flew up to meet the Bludger and immediately shot it at Levi for a third time, this time managing to shred a few bristles from the end of Levi's broom. Irritated, Levi sped forward in hopes of breaking free of Moblit and Nanaba's pincer, to no avail. It didn't matter how much he serpentined or how many sharp turns he made, the Ravenclaw Beaters hunted after him with an almost professional level of teamwork and tenacity, only missing him by a few inches at every pass.

While this was going on, Levi furiously scanned the field for any sign of Nile or Reiner. How could they let the other Beaters pressure him so easily, especially so early in the match? He was losing too much time because of them, as well as any sign of Erwin and the Snitch. If he was going to get any momentum back he would have to start taking matters into his own hands. After dodging the Bludger yet again, he stopped in midair and watched it carefully as it flew towards Nanaba. Instead of dodging or trying to get out of its path, Levi turned his back on the Bludger and let it follow directly behind him before diving straight at Moblit like a hawk. The shrill whistling of the Bludger cutting through the air made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. Moblit caught on to what Levi was doing but was too slow to react in time. Just as it looked like Levi was going to crash into Moblit, he pulled up sharply. The Bludger hit Moblit squarely in the chest, knocking him off his broom.

"Down goes Moblit! You got to get up earlier than that to stand a chance against Levi, try again next time! Excellent play by Levi right there, he's so amazing he doesn't even need Beaters to defend himself," Oluo's commentary started to reach Levi's ears again. The crowd had groaned and gasped at Moblit's nasty hit but the Slytherin's started up another rousing chant of 'Humanity's Strongest Seeker' again.

Now that he was sure he was safe from harm Levi didn't stop flying upward until he was overlooking the entire stadium from above, taking in the whole situation clearly for the first time. Checking in on his pursuers, Nanaba could be seen helping Moblit back onto his broom. He would have to move fast before they completely recovered and came after him again. Averting his eyes from them for a moment he spotted Erwin circling the stadium down below, the glint of his wings against the midnight blue of his robes making him easy to spot. Luckily for him, Erwin seemed to have somehow lost sight of the Snitch during all the commotion.

"Hanji scores again! Ninety-zero to Ravenclaw!" Oluo bellowed. "I don't get this dancing strategy that Mitabi's doing but it doesn't seem to be working, folks!"

"Ninety? Dancing? What?" Levi said aloud, shocked. How could those idiots have let them score nine times already? He knew they were better than this. Infuriated, he dove down back towards the field so fast that some people in the audience started gasping and screaming as if they thought he'd seen the Snitch. He ignored them and swung behind the Slytherin goal posts to look at Mitabi. Mitabi's broom was shaking him around wildly like a wild horse trying to buck him off. "What the hell are you doing? Stop it right-"

"It's not me -AH!- Captain! My broom's -WHOA!- been tampered with! The whole team's been sabo- SHIT!" At that moment, all six Chasers started barreling towards them from the other side of the field. Instead of using their hands, Annie, Ymir, and Bertholdt were all desperately trying to kick, tackle, and headbutt the Quaffle out of the air but the Ravenclaw Chasers kept passing it between each other with ease, as if the Slytherins weren't even there. Mitabi was too preoccupied with trying to stay on his broom to block the shot, allowing Ravenclaw to score again, bringing the score to a hundred-zero. Ymir let out a roar of frustration and started pulling at her broom angrily with both hands as if she was trying to snap her broom in half. Eyes widening in disbelief, Levi swiveled around to find Erwin high above the Quidditch pitch watching the match unfold, his face dark with shame.

"Captain, c-call off the m-match!" Mitabi urged him as he clung to his broom upside down like a sloth. "S-something is wrong, we need to tell M-master Shadis!"

"No, we can't," Levi said adamantly.

"What? Why not?" Mitabi squawked as he nearly got thrown off his broom again. Levi glanced at Master Shadis, who was preoccupied with following the Chasers flying down the middle of the field, and then back at Erwin.

"So this is what you were talking about," Levi thought, still not taking his eyes off Erwin. "So who are you covering up for then?" He was certain that Erwin had nothing to do with the sabotage. Not only was it not in his nature but he also had too much to lose. He was captain of the Quidditch team, a Ravenclaw Prefect, shoe-in for Head Boy, the Wings of Freedom. There was no way he'd risk all of that on a Quidditch match. Furthermore, if he knew that any of his teammates were responsible for this he would have them cut from the team on the spot. This had to be the work of a third party entirely. However, knowing all that didn't change anything in the slightest. Levi knew that if called the match off now Erwin would take all the blame on himself regardless. His reputation would be dragged through the mud and Levi wouldn't learn the truth until it was too late.

Levi let out a long, solemn sigh. If it weren't for Erwin he would have never have been able to play Quidditch in the first place. He supposed he at least owed Erwin the chance to explain the situation to him, man-to-man, without any interference from Shadis. The only way this match was going to end was by catching the Snitch and it needed to happen quickly.

"You heard me, the match goes on. Just try not to die," he said, giving Mitabi a quick pat on the back.

"You're just going to leave me like this?!" Mitabi cried but it was too late. Levi had already left him behind and was racing forward at top speed to catch up to his Chasers. On the way, he jetted past one of the Ravenclaw Chasers so fast that he yelped and dropped the Quaffle, inadvertently buying the Slytherins some time. Once he caught up to them, all three of the Slytherin Chasers crowded around him and all started talking at the same time.

"Captain, our hands are stuck to our brooms!" Bertholdt said, panicked. "I think we've been jinxed!"

"Yeah, no shit we've been jinxed!" Ymir snapped. "We haven't so much as touched the Quaffle at all this whole time!"

"What do we do now, Captain?" Annie asked.

"You guys were holding your brooms just fine before..." Levi narrowed his eyes at their hands. An idea suddenly struck him. "Have you tried-"

Levi was interrupted by a Bludger whizzing past his ear. Bertholdt, Annie, and Ymir all scattered away in different directions immediately to avoid getting hit. Levi looked behind him to find Moblit and Nanaba coming after him once more. Veering to the left, he tried to buy himself some time to find a way to get rid of them again. He knew that they weren't about to fall for the same trick twice.

"Damn, what is their deal with me?" Levi growled, punching the handle of his broom. Out of the corner of his eye he fortunately spotted Nile hovering nearby. "Nile, get them off of my tail!" he shouted at him.

"I don't think you want me to do that..." Nile said wryly.

"One hundred ten - zero to Ravenclaw," Oluo interjected.

"Just do it!" "Levi yelled, losing more and more of his patience by the second.

"Alright, you asked for it." Nile then turned sharply and flew in the opposite direction of Levi, towards Moblit and Nanaba, and hit the Bludger with full force. The heavy iron ball flew back at first but instead of going after the other Beaters it rolled behind Nanaba's head and launched itself back at Levi again. Before Levi could react the Bludger crashed directly into the back of his head, jerking him forward and smacking his face into his broom handle painfully. Eyes watering and ears ringing from the heavy blow, Levi heard the crowd both gasp and laugh at him in reaction. Holding the back of his head with one hand, Levi glared daggers at Nile, who was clearly enjoying all of this. "I tried to warn you. My bat's been jinxed so that the Bludger targets our players whenever I hit it."

"So you still hit it, knowing full well that that would happen?" Levi hissed, resisting the urge to kick Nile off his broom.

"Just following orders, Captain," Nile said with a smirk before flying off. Levi opened his mouth to say something but was cut off by Oluo's commentary.

"Annie has the Quaffle! Slytherin gains possession of the Quaffle for the very first time in the whole game!" Levi looked up to find Annie racing towards the Ravenclaw goal posts, followed by Ymir, followed by a confused Bertholdt, followed by the Ravenclaw Chasers. He noticed that she was holding the Quaffle with her bare hands and that her gloves were still standing straight up on her broom as if they were made of stone. Once she was in scoring range, Annie tossed the ball high into the air. Ymir, whose hands were still trapped in her gloves, immediately seized the opportunity and did a somersault with her broom, hitting the Quaffle with the tail end in the process. Keiji, who hadn't had to do anything for the whole match, reacted too late and the Quaffle soared through one of the goalposts.

"Looks like Slytherin is finally on the board with ten points to Ravenclaw's one hundred ten! I knew they weren't out of the game just yet!" Oluo cheered over the roar of the crowd.

"Damn it, why didn't we think of this earlier?" Ymir said as she slipped her hands out of her gloves. "How could we be losing to something so stupid?" She shook her head in anger before she and Annie flew off back to the center of the field. Bertholdt, who just caught up with them, slipped his hands out too and turned around, desperately trying to keep up with them. Satisfied, Levi flew up high until he was overlooking the entire stadium once more. He had decided to not worry about the rest of the team anymore and concentrate on finding the Snitch again. His Beaters and Keeper were basically useless but as long as he had Chasers there was still a chance to win.

Darting his eyes around the pitch, he caught a glimpse of Erwin shooting across the field and immediately dived down to follow after him. Ending the game quickly and getting the truth out of Erwin was important but Levi still had no intention of losing either.

"Here we go! Slytherin has just made its second goal of the match and Leonhart is already back in possession of the Quaffle!" Oluo cheered. "I don't know what's changed but it looks like Slytherin is shaking off their funk and finally getting back in the game! GAME ON!"

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field, Reiner was sitting idly on his broom and clapping as Annie scored the goal.

"Way to go, Annie!" he cheered as she raced past. "Get in there, Bert-" he was cut short as he heard the whistling of a Bludger coming up from behind. He instinctively ducked down and watched as the Bludger followed by Moblit and Nanaba all flew past him like he wasn't even there. "Damn it, I have to get in there too! But..." Reiner thought, looking down at his bat with a scowl. Ever since Nile's bat malfunctioned at the start of the match, Reiner hadn't dared to hit the Bludger at all just in case his was jinxed too. He hated having to sit back and do nothing but he just couldn't risk making things worse for his team now that the Slytherin Chasers were actually a threat, Moblit and Nanaba couldn't focus all of their attention on Levi like they had done earlier and Reiner couldn't sit back and let his friends go undefended. Without thinking, he raced after them as fast as he could, putting all worries about his bat behind him.

Suddenly, Moblit broke away from Nanaba and flew upwards, lining himself up to shoot the Bludger down at Bertholdt, who had just gained possession of the Quaffle. Reiner made a wide turn to the right to get himself in front of Bertholdt's path in time.

Once he was in position, he raised his bat up to his ear like a baseball batter and shouted, "Duck, Bertl!" at the top of his lungs. Bertholdt understood immediately and flew at Reiner head on. Just when it looked like they were going to collide Betholdt swooped down just as Reiner took a swing at the Bludger with all of his might. The triumphant smile on Reiner's face twisted into a grimace in less than a second. With a resounding crack that could be heard around the entire stadium, his Beater's bat shattered into thousands of splinters, and the Bludger continued to chase after Bertholdt as if nothing happened. Dumbfounded, Reiner stared in horror at the jagged stump left in his hands.

"You've got to be kidding-"

"Looks like Braun doesn't know his own strength, folks! His bat's been completely destroyed!" Oluo interjected, barely able to keep the amusement out of his voice. "Up three Chasers but down one Beater, what's going to happen next!?"

"This isn't happening!" Reiner growled furiously. Desperation getting the better of him, he tossed the remains of his bat away and bolted through the mob of Chasers to where Nile was, nearly knocking into him in the process. "Nile, give me your bat," he demanded.

"What? No! Why would you even want it anyway? It doesn't work, remember?" Nile said, snatching his bat out of Reiner's reach.

"I know but I can't just sit here and do nothing! Give it here!" Reiner insisted, grabbing the front of Nile's robes.

"Get off me, you ape!" They clumsily grappled with each other for a few seconds before they were interrupted by the whistling of an incoming Bludger. Reiner was the first to react and yanked the bat out of Nile's grip with brute force. "Don't!" Nile screamed but it was too late. Reiner had already swatted the Bludger away as hard as he could. Just as Nile had feared, the Bludger redirected itself and shot towards Bertholdt again, who was lining up to take a shot at the goal. The Bludger hit him squarely in the back and launched him off his broom entirely and dropping the Quaffle in the process. "You idiot!" Nile roared as Reiner dived down frantically to catch his friend. Taking advantage of the situation, Hanji snatched the Quaffle out of the air and tossed it to one of her teammates, cackling like a madwoman all the while. With a few quick passes between them, the Ravenclaw Chasers stormed down to the opposite side of the field and scored again.

"How embarrassing, I'd hate to be on the Slytherin team right about now. Ravenclaw scores, one hundred forty to forty!" Oluo said.

"God damn it..." Reiner grunted as he struggled to keep Bertholdt's heavy body airborne with one hand.

With the Quaffle already back in her possession once more, Hanji jeered, "Thanks boys," at them, giving them a wink as she flew past. However, her fun was cut short as Annie swooped in from the side and kicked the Quaffle out of her hands which was immediately caught by Ymir.

"Pay attention, Hanji!" Erwin shouted as he flew past her.

"You pay attention!" She pointed out as Levi dashed past Erwin, hot on the trail of the Snitch. Bewildered, Erwin turned his head back to Levi and hastened to catch up with him without another word.

"Sorry about that, Bertl," Reiner said as he helped Bertholdt back onto his broom. "I got a little carried away there." He thumped Bertholdt on the back and said, "But we can't let this stop us. Let's get back in there!"

"I can't do it, Reiner," Bertholdt said sullenly, hanging his head. "Annie and Ymir have just been pulling my dead weight the entire match... I don't think I'm cut out for this..."

"No, no, don't give up, pal! You have to give it your all no matter what, Captain Levi chose you for a reason." Reiner suddenly lit up with a determined look on his face."You know what? I've got an idea."

"Huh? Wait, Reiner- no!" Bertholdt gasped as Reiner grabbed his sleeve and dragged him bodily back towards the other players. Reiner ignored Bertholdt's pleas and whistled loudly to Ymir to get her attention.

"Ymir! Give Bertl the Quaffle for a minute! I've got a plan but you guys have to cover us, just trust me." Ymir cocked an eyebrow and turned to Annie for an answer.

"Should we?"

"Why not, I don't see how it could possibly get any worse than this," Annie said with a shrug. "Let's do it." Ymir lobbed the Quaffle to Berthold, who clumsily caught it in his free arm.

"Ready, buddy?" Reiner asked with a mischievous grin. His face growing paler by the second, Bertholdt frantically shook his head. Ignoring that, Reiner punched the air and said, "Great, we've got a goal to score!" Without warning, Reiner took off down the field at top speed with Bertholdt in tow, both of them screaming for different reasons. Like vultures, the Ravenclaw Chasers immediately tried to dive in after them but Annie and Ymir repeatedly cut in front of them and effectively blocked their paths.

"The Slytherin Chasers have suddenly changed up their strategy and are tearing down the field! But what the heck is Braun doing, is he trying to make up for his previous blunder?" Oluo shouted out.

As they got closer to Ravenclaw's goal posts, Reiner grabbed Bertholdt's arm with both hands and started rotating in tight circles. Bertholdt yelped even louder than before and desperately tried to hang on to his broom without dropping the Quaffle.

"Blimey, what the hell is Braun doing? Is he trying to rip his arm off?" Oluo frantically shouted into the megaphone. Reiner tuned him out and concentrated on spinning faster and faster, gaining more momentum with each swing. Unbeknownst to him, everyone in the entire stadium had stopped to watch what he was doing out of dread and confusion. All the players had stopped in their tracks, everyone in the crowd had risen to their feet, and, for once, Oluo was stunned speechless.

With a mighty bellow, Reiner finally launched forward and at the height of his swing he hurled Bertholdt off his broom towards Keiji and the Ravenclaw goal posts. Keiji's survival instincts overpowered his Keeper instincts and immediately flew out of the way, allowing for a screaming Bertholdt to soar right through the center goalpost with the Quaffle. The stadium became a volcano of noise as everyone in the stands cheered, clapped, threw their hats, and stomped their feet, the whole school united under the sheer absurdity of the play. No one was more excited than Oluo, who had dropped what little pretense of professionalism he had and was jumping up and down in the commentator's booth with excitement.

"Unbelievable! I've never seen anything like that in my life! Is that- Is that even allowed?! Please tell me that's allowed!"

"W-Well, there's technically no rule against it but..." Professor Hannes said exasperatedly. "No one's ever done anything that stupid before..."

"Where's the ref? WHERE'S THE REF?!"

During all the commotion, Master Shadis had caught Bertholdt in midair with the Wingardium Leviosa spell and was leading him back to his broom. He glared up at Reiner unblinkingly the whole time, his eyes wide and his mouth curled into the deepest scowl he had ever made in his life. Once Bertholdt was safely back on his broom, he gave one last scathing look to Reiner before pointing his wand at his own throat and mouthing "Sonorus".

"Quiet!" he barked, his voice booming like a megaphone. He paused for a long moment, grinding his teeth and trying to get his thoughts together. Finally he said, "... As Professor Hannes said, that move technically wasn't against-" He was cut off by a chorus of cheers erupting from the Slytherin section. "-BUT AS OF RIGHT NOW, IT IS! DON'T EVER DO IT AGAIN!" he roared, causing permanent hearing damage to several people in the crowd.

"You heard him, folks! That spectacular play brings the score up to one hundred forty to fifty! GAME ON!" Oluo said, recommencing his commentary.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the field Levi was quietly hovering in place, stony-faced and unmoving. The game had resumed but time seemed to have stood still for Levi even as all the other players flew around him. His first match as Captain had been an unmitigated disaster. Between the sabotage and Reiner's antics, he would forever be known as the Captain that orchestrated the most absurd Quidditch match Hogwarts had ever seen. He was mentally exhausted to the point that he actually considered just letting Erwin catch the Snitch so the match would finally be over.

"Look alive, Captain!" Annie shouted abruptly as she rode past him with the Quaffle under her arm. Levi looked over his shoulder and watched her, Ymir, and Bertholdt pass the Quaffle between each other even faster than before. Moblit and Nanaba raced after them, passing a Bludger between them as they went. Just as Moblit launched the Bludger at Ymir, Reiner unexpectedly rushed in from the side and tackled the Bludger with all his might, causing it to fly completely off course and making the crowd go wild once more.

"THERE'S NO STOPPING THIS MAN! I SWEAR HE'S GOT ARMOR UNDER HIS ROBES OR SOMETHING!" Oluo screamed, to Professor Hannes' dismay. Reiner met Levi's gaze for a moment and gave him a knowing nod. He then turned back to Moblit and Nanaba and, without warning, raised his arms and roared at them like a bear before charging at them headlong. Fearing for her life, Nanaba immediately flew out of harm's way while Moblit panicked and tried to keep him at bay by swinging his bat at him.

"Back! Back you animal!"

Levi allowed himself a slight grin. He had no business thinking about giving up, not when his team was still doing their damnedest to win. With renewed determination, he got a hold of himself and sped back into the action. To his chagrin, it didn't take him long to find Erwin already in pursuit of the Snitch down below him. Instead of going after him immediately, Levi turned and followed along Erwin's path from above. Once the moment was right, Levi put on a burst of speed and dove down like a hawk in front of Erwin, abruptly cutting him off and giving Levi a few seconds advantage. Just as he expected, the advantage didn't last long because Erwin had recovered in no time and was soon racing alongside him just like at the start of the match.

Instead of going towards the outskirts of the arena, the Snitch flew directly towards the other players and Levi and Erwin followed after it without slowing down at all, right into the heart of the action. Levi felt like he was flying through a swarm of angry blue and green bees; all six Chasers were playing faster and more aggressive than ever before, scoring faster than Oluo could announce the scores properly. But as far as Levi was concerned, the only things that mattered to him at that moment were him, Erwin and the Snitch. He and Erwin swerved, ducked, rolled, and twisted around the other players, never losing sight of the Snitch no matter how hard it tried to evade them.

"Ninety - two hundred, Ravenclaw!" Oluo breathlessly managed to blurt out.

Suddenly, the Snitch broke away from the crowd of players. With no one in the way anymore, Levi and Erwin both sped up on their brooms as hard as they could, their robes whipping wildly behind them as they reached their top speeds.

Twenty feet.

They raced shoulder to shoulder, neither one of them gaining the upperhand.

Ten feet.

They both stretched their arms out for the decisive catch.

Five feet.

Out of the corner of Levi's eye, he saw that Erwin's hand was closer than his, his longer reach giving him the advantage.

Out of nowhere, a Bludger turned sharply around and shot itself at them like a cannon. The Snitch effortlessly swerved around it but Levi and Erwin were going so fast that neither of them could fly out the way in time.

"KEEP GOING CAPTAIN!" Reiner roared from above. Before Levi could fully register what was going on, Reiner had jumped off of his broom completely and dropped down onto the Bludger in midair.

"Good Lord!" Erwin exclaimed, pausing to watch in astonishment as Reiner plummeted with the Bludger clutched to his chest. The crowd collectively burst into screams of terror and the Slytherin Chasers and Nile all immediately stopped what they were doing to try to save their comrade. Taking advantage of Erwin's hesitation, Levi nose-dived after the Snitch which had flown all the way to the ground during the commotion. In less than three seconds he passed Reiner on the way down and just before it looked like he was going to crash straight into the ground he made a sharp turn after the Snitch. Sensing that Levi was near, the Snitch tried to rise back into the air but Levi refused to let that happen. Lifting both legs on to his broom, he got into a crouching position before kicking off and lunging at the Snitch.

Doing a couple rolls on the ground before coming to a stop Levi stood up again and lifted his arm high in the air. He had caught the Snitch, the match was over.

"HE'S DONE IT! LEVI HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Oluo's voice boomed over the cheering crowd. "With that the score is two hundred forty to two hundred fifty, Ravenclaw wins- wait a minute? That can't be right!"

"No, that is correct you neglected to keep an eye on the Ravenclaw Chasers who took the opportunity to score more points in all the confusion," Hannes stated, taking the megaphone from Oluo. "Everyone did their best today but Ravenclaw has come away with an astounding victory!"

"Just ten points," Levi muttered to himself as he started to walk off back to the locker rooms, ignoring the people now storming onto the field. He could hear people congratulating him for the amazing catch, patting him on the back, others were outright avoiding catching his eye. All that didn't matter as Levi made his way through the growing mass of people, he could see his team huddled together a short distance away berating Reiner. On the other hand the Ravenclaw team were back on the ground celebrating with their fans, but the only face that stood out was Erwin's. He could see Erwin was trying to grab his attention and maneuver around people coming up to him, his mouth moving, calling out to Levi, but the swarm and noise of people around him was overpowering.

With the Snitch feebly beating it's wings against Levi's closed fist, he turned away and made his solitary walk off the field.


A.N - Woo, this chapter is finally done! It took a lot of time and effort to get everything just right. I have to give so much props to J.K. Rowling, Quidditch matches are hard to write! Anyway I wanted to get this chapter done because today is the 1 year anniversary of this story! Exactly one year ago today Eren, Armin and Mikasa were all ready to go off to Hogwarts. Brings a tear to my eye, damn it.

I know it's been a long time since I updated but thanks in advance for all of you still reading this story! I'd really appreciate it if you guys review and tell me what you think about this chapter. Until next time guys, hope you enjoyed this and have a nice day.