Chapter 25: The Cup

"We did it! We're going to the Quidditch Final! We did it!" Oliver ran up to Fred, George, Angelina, and I in the hallway. "Slytherin beat Ravenclaw so we're officially in!"

We shared Oliver's excitement. I was particularly eager to beat those Slytherin scum and take the Quidditch House Cup. But the four of ours excitement fell short when Oliver gave us our practice schedule for the week. The match was two weeks from now, and we had practice every single day in between, alternating from being early in the morning to late at night.

"It's brilliant. Don't you think?" Oliver asked, referring to the practice plan. "I had to pull a few strings with McGonagall, but I was able to get us time at the Quidditch pitch every day. Slytherin will have no chance."

"Ya. 'Brilliant.' That's just the word I was going to use for this-err- masterpiece." I said, holding up the piece of paper. Fred and George scoffed, receiving an elbow in the ribs from me and Angelina.

I was now counting the days until the match. Today we had 6 days left, and I have to say, our team looked great.

Divination on the day we had 6 days left was… surprisingly enjoyable.

I sunk into my chair next to Hermione, nonchalantly glancing at the silver ball sitting in front of us and vaguely listening to Professor Trelawney blabber. If I heard her say "the Inner Eye" one more time, I was going to poke her inner eyes out. I scoffed in my seat at another one of Trelawney's predictions, but I sat up straight when I realized I wasn't the only one laughing. Hermione- of all people- next to me had just laughed out loud at a teacher. A teacher. Good Lord, was this an interesting turn of events.

Trelawney instructed us to gaze into the crystal ball and try and see something. Lavender and Parvati across the room looked ever so intently into the glass object. I snorted, "If you see something big and furry in there, Lavender, don't worry. It's just your reflection." I heard several people choke back their laughter as Lavender's eyes threw daggers across the room at me.

Professor Whack job came over to Ron and Harry's table, asking if we had seen anything. She looked into their crystal balls and claimed, once again, that Harry's death was near. At this point, Hermione exploded. She made several rude comments about Divination, to which Trelawney responded: "I am sorry to say that from the moment you have arrived in this class, my dear, it has been apparent that you do not have what the noble art of Divination requires. Indeed, I don't remember ever meeting a student whose mind was so hopelessly mundane."*

The room was deathly quiet, before Hermione stood up angrily and stormed out of the classroom with her books. "Screw it." I said out loud. "Later guys." And I followed her out of the Divination room for the last time.

0 days left. I knew the game was going to be a rough one, once I saw the dirty looks on every Slytherin I saw. As well as the tripping and the kicking from them as well.

I don't remember breakfast too well. I remember a few pat on the backs from Gryffindor supporters, and a few jeers from Slytherin supporters, but I was trying as hard as I could to listen to what Oliver had to say about the game and keep a conversation going with Fred and George. This was difficult as my mind was somewhere far away on the Quidditch pitch.

Fred kissed my cheek just before we stepped onto the field, having to lean down considerably as he has grown much taller and I have stayed at just above five feet. "Don't let those Slytherin brutes get in your way." He said. "Oh don't worry about that. Just be sure to give them a few Bludgers in the head too."

I saw a sea of red and a patch of green in the stands above the field. People were shouting, "LIONS FOR THE CUP," and at the same time you heard a soft mumur yelling something about Snakes. Lee Jordan was the commentator, and he called our names as we entered: "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Coy, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood!"

And we were off. I had the Quaffle first, and I dodged and weaved through the Slytherin team, quickly scoring the first point for Gryffindor. The crowd roared. I was about to through my fist in the air when I tumbled over. Marcus Flint of Slytherin had knocked straight into me. "Didn't see you." He said. "Oh I see now. The poor quality of your team is due to your horrible eyesight. I'm surprised you can even catch the Quaffle." He was about to retort back when an object- a Beater bat- slammed into him. I glared at Fred, who was empty handed.

Gryffindor and Slytherin both received penalty shots. I scored ours, but the Slytherin Chasers missed theirs. It was 20-0. More penalties on Slytherin lead to use leading 50-10, one of the penalties being for when a large Slytherin beater hit Katie Bell with his club, claiming he thought she was a Bludger. How thick could you get?

Fred hit a Bludger, knocking the Quaffle out of a Chaser's hand, and I swiftly caught it, scoring again. Fred winked as me as I flew by, causing me to roll my eyes.

One more penalty shot for us. Another shot for them. And we scored again. And much cursing from Lee Jordan, who was voicing what we were all thinking about those Slytherin Scumbags. 80-20. If Harry caught the Snitch now, we would win. My heart was pounding as we passed the Quaffle back and forth.

And Harry caught the Snitch.

I felt every emotion there is to feel as I stepped off my broom. I hugged and kissed a sobbing Oliver, causing me to sob as well as I jumped for joy with Katie and Angelina. I kissed Harry, who looked like he was in a daze. I cried some more. I hugged and kissed the twins. I kissed Fred as he picked me up in his arms. It was a sweaty kiss, but it was wonderful.

Oliver carried the Cup, but passed it to Harry, and we all lifted Harry up on our shoulders. "We won the cup. We won the cup." We sang with joy.

We won the cup.