A/N: This chapter took a bit longer than I expected, but here it is. Just a note, the player Crabbe here is the older brother of Vincent Crabbe and an utter figment of my imagination, as is Danny. All other new characters are not mine. Enjoy~
xxx
It was a clear, crisp morning, perfect conditions for flying. The air was cool, but not too cold, and the sun was high in the sky. JJ smiled as she trudged across the grounds to the Quidditch pitch, nearly two hours before the game was due to start. Charlie had asked them all to be early; he wanted to do some warm-ups and last minute talks and all that stuff that captains tended to stress about.
Inside their changing room, JJ found four exceptionally nervous second-years, and Charlie, who seemed to be more nervous than the rest of the team put together. He was pacing up and down the length of the room. He looked up as she entered. "Good. We're all here. So um.. What was I saying?"
"He's been like this all morning," said Danny Cuffe, fellow seventh-year and Chaser on the team as she sat down next to him. "He's going to wear a hole in the floor soon."
Danny's father was Barnabas Cuffe, editor of the Daily Prophet. He was an excellent Chaser, and had been on the team since his second year. He was a nice guy, always up for a laugh, and very relaxed when it came to Quidditch matches.
Charlie eventually found his stride, and started talking all about Chaser strategies and game plays and a lot of other technical and confusing things, often contradicting himself. It took JJ a while to figure out what was making him so nervous. Charlie was an outstanding Seeker, the best in the school, and they had a good team. But then she realised that that wasn't what was bothering him. It was the fact that he was captain, he was in charge. If they lost it'd be all on him, and he was nervous as hell about it.
Eventually they had managed to get Charlie relaxed and his usual confident self., though it'd taken a while. The team lined up by the entrance to the pitch, and JJ could hear the commentator talking to the crowd about the teams, statistics and players. She smiled a bit as she realised that it was another seventh-year, Nymphadora Tonks speaking. Tonks was a great friend of everyone she met, and JJ liked the Hufflepuff a lot. She was also the only person JJ knew that managed to be more clumsy than her.
"Hey Charlie," she heard Danny whisper, evidentially having spotted Tonks himself. "Look who it is."
Charlie flushed, but said nothing. Danny grinned at JJ. It was no secret that Charlie had a crush on Tonks, but had never managed to work up the nerve to ask her out. They all turned back towards the pitch as the Slytherin team came flying out to deafening cheers from the sea of green clad students that, while quite large, was nothing compared to the people in red.
"Here come the Slytherins," Tonks was saying. "Bletchley, Marwood, Crabbe, Montague, Pucey, Flint and Higgs!" The team did a lap of the stands before touching down beside Madam Hooch.
"And now the Gryffindors," Tonks called. "Carter, Weasley, Weasley, Johnson, Cuffe, Spinnet and Weasley!" JJ took off and soared into the sky. The stands were full of supporters in red and gold; most of the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were rooting for them, for the sole reason that they wanted to see Slytherin lose. Touching down again, she watched Charlie shaking hands with Crabbe, the Slytherin captain and Marwood's fellow Beater. Crabbe was a formiddable opponent, six foot tall and as wide as a house.
Settling by the goal hoops when they took of into the sky again, JJ pulled her red robes with the number 1 on the back tighter around her. The air at this height was cold, with it being November. She looked over to the professors' stands and saw Severus watching her. She grinned openly at him, knowing that no one would notice. He was too far away for her to read his expression properly as he turned back to the game.
"Cuffe has the Quaffle," Tonks was saying. "He passes to Johnson, back to Cuffe, he dodges a Bludger from Marwood, but he's dropped the Quaffle! Flint has the Quaffle, he passes to Montague, back to Flint, he dodges a bludger from Fred Weasley, or is it George?"
JJ got ready as Flint streaked up the pitch towards her. He faked to the left before shooting to the right, a play she had seen many times from him and was prepared for. Diving to the right, she grabbed the Quaffle close to her chest and grinned as the Gryffindor's cheered. "Carter saves it!" cried Tonks.
Over the next few minutes, Gryffindor scored three times and JJ saved another shot from Pucey. She noticed a look pass between Isaac and Crabbe but thought nothing of it as she was too busy watching Flint come her way with the Quaffle, which she just barely managed to tip away from the goal hoops before having to roll over to avoid a Bludger from Crabbe. Luckily Danny caught it and sped off down the other end of the pitch.
The Slytherins were playing dirty; that became evident fairly quickly. The Weasley twins were having a tough time coping with their opposing Beaters, who were 5 years older and not trying to be careful. Charlie was trying desperatly to find the Snitch before Higgs, but it was nowhere to be seen. Montague was came at her again, and Crabbe knocked a Bludger towards her that Fred deflected.
"Thanks mate," she told him.
Suddenly, she noticed Marwood smack another of the heavy leather balls at her, but it was too late. Before she really understood what had happened, the Bludger hit her, and something cracked. She lost her grip on her broom handle, and fell toward the ground. The fifty-foot fall seemed to go in slow motion, before she hit the ground with a sickening thud and the world went dark.