Chapter Ten

Bludgers and Broomsticks

Saturday, the morning of the match, dawned cool and drizzly, and Alexander Abercrombie, whose Muggle mother was a weather reporter, and was therefore seen to be an expert on the subject, predicted that it was only likely to get worse.

Mia hadn't thought she was going to be nervous, but when she woke up that morning, the butterflies were so bad that Lily had to practically drag her out of bed.

"Come on," she said. "You have to have breakfast, get some energy... or something."

Mia shook her head. "If I do, I'll only throw up... in mid-air..."

"Great," Lily said with a grin. "I've always wondered what vomit falling from fifty feet looks like," she said.

"Sickening," Alice put in from the other side of the room.

Lily rolled her eyes at the awful pun. "Seriously, Mia, you need some breakfast."

Grudgingly, Mia followed Lily down to breakfast. When they reached the Great Hall, Lily led Mia to the far end of the Gryffindor table where the rest of the team was already assembled. The two of them sat down opposite James and Fred.

"Alright?" James asked Mia.

Mia nodded, pouring herself a bowl of cereal, more to have something to do than because she actually wanted to eat.

"Nervous?" James asked, and Mia nodded again. James laughed. "That good, huh? I always think being a bit nervous before a game's a good thing."

"Not when it feels like I'm going to throw up if I open my mouth," Mia said through gritted teeth.

James just laughed again. "You'll get used to it," he told her, reaching for his fourth slice of toast.

Hugo and Louis joined them, Hugo decked in red and gold and Louis sporting a hat which was a roaring lion's head.

"Nice hat, cuz," Fred snicked. "Where did you get it?"

"Luna leant it to me," Louis grinned.

"Why didn't she give it to me?" Lily pouted. "I am her goddaughter."

"Because she likes me better," Louis grinned, poking his tongue out at Lily.

Their banter made Mia feel a bit better, momentarily taking her mind off the fact that in an hour's time she'd be out on the Quidditch pitch, in front of the entire school, trying not to let her team mates – and Will – down.

As the Great Hall filled up around them, several Slytherins made the detour over to the Gryffindor table to insult or jeer at the team. The team members who had more experience with this, particularly James, Fred and Danielle, just took it in their stride, and often insulted back. Mia just tried to ignore them and eat her cereal.

"Hey Potter, how much would you bet me that the Mudblood'll be the first to fall off her broom?"

Mia turned around to see a tall Slytherin girl who she didn't recognise stood behind her.

"How much do you bet me that I could hex you into the middle of next week if I could be bothered to get off my good-for-nothing-half-blood butt?" James retorted lazily.

The girl glared at him and then walked away as Fred and Samuel laughed.

"You're not technically a half-blood, though, are you?" Samuel mused.

James shrugged. "Maybe not. But I'm not a pure blood, and that's all that matters to people like her."

"Who was that, anyway?" Hugo asked.

"Ana Kallous," Fred practically spat. "Hey, hasn't she got a sister in your year?"

Mia nodded. "Ilonka."

"And isn't that her walking over right now?" James asked.

Mia turned around, along with Lily, Hugo and Louis, to see Ilonka and the three other Slytherin girls whom Mac called her sheep, walking towards the Gryffindor table.

"Hey, losers," Ilonka said.

Lily tried to get to up, but Mia and Hugo, sat on either side of her, grabbed her arms and held her down.

"Hey, pint-sized loser," Fred responded, grinning.

Ilonka ignored him. "Hey Brooke," she said, turning to the girl next to her. "Which one d'you think our guys will hit will hit with a Bludger first?"

"Puh-lease," James said. "Bole and Warrington are so abysmal it ought to be Slytheirn worrying about being hit by Bludgers from them."

Ilonka glared at him. "Well, you've got a Mudblood on your team, so-"

James gasped, faking shock. "Hey Fred, did you know we've got a Muggle born on the team? I wonder who it is... hey, is it you?" he asked seriously.

"No, she didn't say 'Muggle born', she said a very dirty word," Fred said, equally seriously. "D'you reckon we ought to wash her mouth out with soap, since her mummy obviously never taught her that swearing's very naughty."

"I think we should, Fred," James said. "Otherwise she might grow up not knowing right from wrong, and who knows where that might get her?"

The two of them got to their feet and Ilonka snorted, and turned on her heel and marched off, the other girls following her. James and Fred both laughed.

"And that's how you deal with idiots like her, Lil," James said. "Don't get angry – she feeds off it."

"Hmm..." was all that Lily said.

Fifteen minutes later, Danielle decided it was time for the team to be heading down to the pitch. As they stood up, there were cheers from the Gryffindor table and boos from the Slytherins. Once in the changing rooms, Danielle began her pep talk.

"Roxanne and Mary, make sure you work together and keep the Bludgers off Sam so he can concentrate on the Snitch, and off us chasers and Mia, so we can concentrate on the score. James and Fred, just behave, and don't show off. Mia, do your best, but don't be too hard on yourself if you let a couple of goals in, or you'll put yourself off. Sam, get the Snitch before Malfoy does. Alright, let's go."

Mia followed the rest of the team onto the pitch, where Mac Walter was giving his usual pre-match commentary.

"And, there haven't been many major changes to either team's line-up this year," he was saying. "Just one change a piece – Slytherin replace last year's captain, chaser Aiden Belby, with fifth year Luke Conlin, and Gryffindor replace keeper Will Darrow with second year Mia Dursley."

The teams stood in two lines, facing each other.

"Captains, shake hands," Madam Hooch said.

Danielle stepped forward, along with a tall Slytherin boy, whom Mia knew to be Buzz Derrick, a chaser. The two of them shook hands, and Mia could tell that they were both doing their best to crush each other's fingers.

"Mount your brooms."

Mia got ready for the whistle – this was it, her first match, and she was going to do Gryffindor proud.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and Mia kicked off hard from the ground, heading for the goal hoops, listening to Mac's commentary so she knew what was going on, but not concentrating on it too much.

"And it's Gryffindor's Wood with the Quaffle," Mac was saying into the magical megaphone. "She passes to Weasley, intercepted by Derrick, nice Bludger from Cattermole there, Derrick drops it, picked up by Potter, and it's Gryffindor's James Potter heading for goal!"

Through the rain, Mia could just about make out what was going on at the other end of the pitch. James was heading for goal, he passed to Danielle, who dodged a Slytherin player, and then passed to Fred, who scored.

Cheers erupted from the Gryffindor stands, but Mia didn't let herself get too distracted. The Slytherin keeper, Montague, had retrieved the Quaffle, and she now passed it to one of the Slytherin chasers, who flew up the pitch towards Mia.

"And it's Slytherin's Scarlett McLaggan in possession, she passes to Conlin, to Derrick, back to McLaggan, intercepted by Wood, who passes to Potter, back to Wood, to Weasley, nice Bludger from Warrington, Weasley drops the Quaffle and it's caught by Slytherin's newest team-member, Conlin. And he's heading for goal – could this be the first test of the match for new Gryffindor keeper Dursley?"

Mia steeled herself. This was it – time to show what she was made of. Unlike McLaggan and Derrick, the other Slytherin Chasers, Conlin was an unknown entity. In all the Quidditch games last year, she'd alternated watching the Keepers and the Chasers. She already had a fair idea of how McLaggan and Derrick played, and the rest of the team had filled her in on what they knew, but she knew nothing about how Conlin played.

He was flying towards her now, Quaffle under his arm. He dodged a Bludger from Roxanne, heading for the left hand hoop. Mia turned slightly to face him, making sure she was still covering all three hoops. She couldn't rule out Conlin passing to one of the other chasers who came up her other side; it was a manoeuvre James and Fred were fond of.

Conlin threw the Quaffle towards the left hand hoop, and Mia caught it. A roar swelled up from the crowd, and Mia thought she could just about make out Louis' lion hat through the din. She'd done it – she'd stopped a real goal in a real match. With a new sense of confidence, Mia passed the Quaffle back to Danielle, who was waiting for it, and watched her fly off down the pitch.

As the match lengthened, Mia began to enjoy herself, rather than feeling nervous, and with every save she made, she grew in confidence. It didn't even bother her too much when she let her first goal in – it was a spectacular one from Scarlett McLaggan, which Mac referred to as 'epic'. Thinking her friend needed to learn some new adjectives, Mia passed the Quaffle back to James, and watched him, Fred, and Danielle fly off up the pitch, passing the Quaffle between them, and score another goal, bringing the score to 40-10 in their favour.

Mia glanced up to where Samuel and the Slytherin seeker, Rose's on-and-off-again boyfriend, Scorpius Malfoy, were circling high above, looking for the snitch. With only 30 points in it, it was anyone's game; if either of the boys caught the snitch anytime soon then their team would win.

"And it's Slytherin Captian Derrick with the Quaffle, he passes to Conlin, back to Derrick, to McLaggan..."

The three Slytherin chasers were flying in formation toward Mia, passing the Quaffle back and forth between them so quickly that the Gryffindor players didn't have a chance at intercepting, although James and Fred had wormed their way into the formation, so that the players now stretched out in front of Mia in a Christmas-like red and green pattern.

Just as the Slytherin captain was about to shoot, a Bludger came out of nowhere, straight towards Mia. She dived to avoid it, but could hear from the roar of the crowd that Derrick had scored. Ravenclaw had used this exact technique against Will last year.

"Sorry, Mia!" Mary yelled, flying past her in pursuit of the Bludger.

"We were stopping the other Bludger braining Danielle," Roxanne added, also flying past.

As the match lengthened, Mia really got into her stride, helped by Roxanne and Mary keeping the Bludgers away from her. There was still no sign of the Snitch, although there was one incident where Samuel and Scorpius both dived after a glint of gold which turned out to be Madam Hooch's watch.

"And it's Gryffindor's Fred Weasley with the Quaffle, he passes to Potter, to Wood, back to Potter, and it's James Potter headed for goal!" Mac said.

Mia watched James streaking up the pitch, dodging Bludgers and players alike – he'd obviously inherited his namesake's Quidditch ability. "And the 'unstoppable Potter' really is tearing up this pitch – can he extend Gryffindor's lead?"

Mia expected he could, and sure enough, he dodged round keeper Montague, and put the Quaffle through the centre hoop.

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!" Mac yelled into the magical megaphone. "That's Gryffindor's James Potter, extending his team's lead and bringing the score to 110-50. And now it's Slytherin in possession – Scarlett McLaggan to be precise... but wait – Malfoy's diving; has the Slytherin seeker seen the Snitch?"

Everyone, including the other players, looked up to see Scorpius diving. Scarlett McLaggan, the Slytherin chaser, had stopped in mid-air, still holding the Quaffle, but suddenly not at all interested in it. Samuel was hot on Scorpius' tail, but Mia knew from experience that Scorpius could usually out-fly the older boy. Mia still couldn't see the Snitch itself, but could tell roughly where it was by the way the boys were flying, and could also tell when it moved in Samuel's favour.

Something hard stuck Mia in the side, and she gasped for breath. It was a Bludger – she could see it careering happily off down the pitch.

"WOOD'S CAUGHT THE SNITCH!" Mia heard Mac yell, and looked down to see Samuel stood in the middle of the pitch, triumphantly holding the snitch aloft. "GYFFINDOR WINS WITH 260 POINTS TO 50!"

"Mia, are you alright?" James called, flying away from the celebration to towards the goal hoops.

Mia was suddenly aware how much her side hurt where the Bludger had hit her. She was finding it hard to breathe.

"What happened?" James asked over the din, pulling up in mid-air beside her. "Did that Bludger hit you?"

Mia nodded. "I think it might have broken some ribs."

"Can you fly?" James asked.

Mia shook her head, breathing through the pain. It was all she could do to stay on her broom, let alone fly it.

"Alright, climb on the back of my broom and I'll get you down," James said.

Scorpius had seen what was going on, and had come up to help. Together, he and James manoeuvred Mia onto the back of James' broom. They'd almost reached the ground when Mia passed out.