Quidditch
'Look everyone, anyone who's serious about Quidditch, stay. Anyone who's here to get my autograph, please leave,' shouted Harry. There was a pause, and then a group of girls stomped off, and a few other people ran away, giggling.
'Right then, let's do the Keeper first,' called out Ginny calmly. They had decided to give the team a complete makeover, apart from Harry being Seeker and Ginny as a Chaser. Ron had agreed, but immediately asked them to help him practise.
Luckily, Ron beat everyone by far, stopping ten goals out of ten. Frank Marchbanks became the Reserve Keeper. He was good, catching eight out of ten, but wasn't quite as good as Ron.
Lizzie became Chaser, as did Michael Greenbanks, her younger brother. It turned out that the Greenbanks were quite a talented family for Quidditch, the youngest sibling Carrie Greenbanks became the first woman Beater for Gryffindor in a couple of decades. The second youngest, Mark, was trying out for commentator.
Robert Tenacon became the second Beater, managing to almost knock Ron through a goal hoop with a Bludger.
'Right team, first practise after school on Friday,' called Harry.
The practise went well. The reserve team were used as the opposing team. Theo Carter, a small, wiry third year with curly brown hair, almost beat Harry, but the Firebolt 180 and Harry's skills were too much, and he was caught out by a Wronski Feint.
The score ended up as 340 – 70, after Harry had caught the snitch behind a goalpost.
Robert turned out to be very strong. As a joke Carrie asked him how hard he could hit a Bludger, and hit one straight through a goal hoop, and the second into the pole below. There was a loud squealing, and when they went to check what had happened, they discovered that the Bludger had dented the pole so it was almost as thin as cardboard.
'Wow. I'm glad you're not on my team!' exclaimed Michael. Everyone agreed.
The first match was in November. The days were cold and frosty, and Hogwarts was filled with Heating Charms and students and staff alike wrapped themselves in scarves, jumpers and gloves. Hermione kindly did Insulating Charms on all their close friend's clothes, so that they were all comfortably warm in the freezing castle.
'Dude, I am not looking forward to our match,' said Rob, as they went into the changing room.
'Just ask Hermione for an Insulating Spell. It's great – warms up your clothes loads!' replied Harry. Him, Ron and Ginny were absolutely fine, apart from a slight steam coming off their clothes.
'You tell us now?' cried Carrie, hopping up and down in an attempt to warm her clothes.
'We can do it for the match. It will give us an edge over Slytherin, as they won't have it,' said Ron, grinning.
'I hope we have more than Insulating Spells to make us better then Slytherin,' retorted Harry.
A fine layer of frost covered the ground on the morning of the match. Harry was woken at five thirty by a freezing draft and nerves combined. Sighing, he shut the window and stumbled over to the bathroom. After a long, hot shower, he felt more awake, but much more nervous.
When he left his room at six, he found Ron sitting at the kitchen table, miserably picking his way through some cereal.
'Hey man,' he said, pulling some toast towards him.
'Hi,' mumbled Ron. 'Harry, I'm terrible. I can't do this!'
'Ron, you're an amazing player! I've seen you do some great Keeping. You even have your own chant. Remember 'Weasley is our King'?'
'Oh yeah, that thing the Slytherins made up to make me look like a loser,' groaned Ron.
'No, the version we made up because you're amazing. Come on Ron, I missed that match, and I've regretted it ever since. Show me what you can do, okay?' Ron smiled for the first time, and grabbed his broom.
'Come on Harry, let's wake up Ginny. It wouldn't do for her to oversleep.'
Ginny wasn't still asleep. She was poring over a load of diagrams of tactics.
'Come on Gin, we need to go down to the changing rooms,' said Harry, gently taking the diagrams away.
'What? Oh yeah, coming! I just need to get dressed,' replied Ginny, jumping up and heading for the closet.
Half an hour later, and the entire team was sat on the benches in the changing room, staring at Harry and Ginny.
'Right team, we're a strong side this year. I think better than any of the years me or Ginny have been here. But the Slytherins are strong too – they always have been. Okay, so they are recovering from being thought of as mini Death Eaters, but we still can't let our side down. Remember everything we've told you, and play like you love the sport, and we can win this cup!' said Harry. Everyone cheered as a horn sounded, signalling for them all to go outside.
'Phew everyone must be cold,' mumbled Rob. 'Remember to thank Hermione for those Insulating Charms.'
'Okay teams, I want a nice, clean game,' said Madame Hooch. 'No personal angst or rivalries should come into this. Minimum fouls please, and watch where you swing that bat, Boyle!' The Slytherin Beater placed his bat by his side. 'On my whistle. One, two three!' she blew her whistle, and the two teams rose into the air. Harry zoomed off in search of the snitch, and noticed the new Slytherin seeker following him.
'Let's see if this guy is better than Malfoy,' said Harry. He zoomed off down the pitch, circled the goal posts, and headed down towards the Gryffindor end.
'Hey Potter – quit bullying that kid and find the snitch!' yelled Ginny as she raced passed him, clutching the Quaffle. Grinning, Harry pulled his broom to a halt and looked around him. The day was clear as can be, but the snitch was nowhere to be seen. The Slytherin seeker, Wyre, stopped a safe distance away.
Ginny scored two consecutive goals in the next five minutes, and Michael and Lizzie scored one each. Slytherin only scored one, where Ron had to duck out the way because Boyle had sent a Bludger straight at him.
Frowning, Harry scoured the pitch for the snitch. Once he saw a glint of gold, but it was just Professor Sinastra's star earrings. Scowling now in exasperation, he turned away and flew down the pitch.
A massive ooh from the crowd caught his attention. Looking up, he saw Boyle and the other Slytherin Beater, Puncton, were flying straight at Carrie, bats raised. Harry knew that even if Madame Hooch blew the whistle, they wouldn't stop. Carrie had seen them, and was frowning in concentration. As they were about a foot or two away, she suddenly shot off at the speed of a bullet, swinging around a few metres away and pelting a Bludger at them. Rob whacked from halfway down the pitch, his face contorted in anger. His one hit Boyle in the chest, making him double over in pain. Carrie's hit Puncton with what looked like the force of a train into his stomach. Rob also flew at them, his bat raised angrily. Michael and Harry flew up to him, and grabbed his arms.
'Rob, stop it, they're not worth it! Come on Rob!' shouted Michael over the noise from the crowd.
'How – dare – they' growled Rob, fighting against them. Madame Hooch blew her whistle for time out, flying up to the small group.
'And disgusting play from the two Slytherin Beaters!' shouted Mark from the commentator's seat. 'Let's hope for some hefty penalties. Yes! Two penalties against Slytherin. What? One for Gryffindor? Oh come on!' But Madame Hooch was adamant.
'No, Tenacon, you flew at them with intent to physically maim. Yes, I know that they did it first, but you shouldn't retaliate in the same way!' she said firmly. 'Anyway, time out first!'
'You okay Carrie?' asked Rob as they touched the ground. 'Did the bastards hurt you?'
'I'm fine, Rob. Boyle just clipped my arm. No, don't go and kill them,' she said, grabbing his arm.
'You can fly, right?' asked Harry. 'I don't think you need a Healing Charm. I saw you hit a pretty mean Bludger at them in retaliation.'
'I'm fine! I don't think they are though,' laughed Carrie, pointing to the Slytherin team. Boyle was having Madame Pomfrey give him a resuscitation treatment, and Puncton was vomiting on the ground.
'No more then they deserve,' said Ron.
'Come on, let's get back into the air,' said Harry, signalling to Madame Hooch. Boyle was quickly healed, and the teams rose into the air.
Ron saved his penalty, and Michael and Ginny scored, making the score 60 – 10. Gryffindor were way ahead, but if Wyre caught the snitch, they would still win.
Suddenly he saw a flash of gold about a hundred metres away. He looked at it hopefully. Sure enough, the little round ball was fluttering near the Slytherin Goal.
He flew at it as fast as he could, but Wyre was closer! The Firebolt 180's speed was too much for Wyre's poor Comet 260, and Harry soon overtook him. He was nearly at the snitch, his hand was outstretched –
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a Bludger swoop towards him. He braked suddenly, and the Bludger passed about an inch from his nose. Wyre crashed into his back, and started yelling because his broom had broken. In all the commotion, the snitch disappeared. Angrily, Harry flew off towards Ginny and Lizzie, who were flying down the pitch, chucking the Quaffle back and forth.
'Relax, Harry, we're way ahead,' said Ginny as Lizzie scored. 'The Slytherin team is pretty crap this year.'
'Whatever. We still can't let our guard down!' replied Harry.
'Of course.'
Harry sighed, and flew off down the pitch. Madame Hooch had fixed Wyre's Comet, and Wyre was back on his old trick of tailing Harry. Harry did a few loop the loops and complicated twists to shake him off. But he didn't see the snitch for about ten minutes, by which time Slytherin had scored twice more, but Gryffindor had scored five times, making the score 110 – 30.
Finally, Harry saw the snitch hovering just off the ground. He streaked towards it, a blur in the sky. He pushed the Firebolt to its limit, making about 200 miles per hour. Struggling from the amount of wind and G-force, he stretched out his arm, and grabbed the snitch. He held it tightly in his hand, and pointed the broom upwards, rising into the air with his fist punching up. The team converged on him, hugging and cheering him like crazy.
'And the final score is 260 – 30 for Gryffindor!' shouted Mark happily. The Gryffindor stands were cheering like crazy; drowning out the Slytherin's boos and hisses.
'Party in the Common Room!' shouted Ron as the team went inside, bearing Harry on their shoulders. More and more Quidditch supporters joined them, until there was a crowd so big that no one could get past them, and the Slytherins, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had to go different routes. Loads of the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws followed them up to the Fat Lady though, as they were also supporting the Gryffindors.
'Harry Potter is the best! Harry Potter beats the rest!' was the chant. Harry laughed and partied until about two in the morning, before leading Ginny upstairs to his room. They made love for hours, before falling into a blissful sleep.