Chapter Twenty-Five:
It was dark. Really, pitch black dark. We were standing in the place where we would enter the pitch in a matter of moments. My teammates faces showed different emotions - Sam, eagerness. Aphelia, anxiety. Lucy, pure terror. I patter her on the back.
"Just remember these few things. One, stay out of the way until you or Malfoy sees the snitch. Two, don't play tricks you don't know how to pull off. Three...well, you can't hurt a Snitch, so don't be afraid to grip it tightly," I muttered in her ear. Lucy laughed nervously, then pushed a tuft of strawberry blonde hair over her ear. If we win, Lucy will be a hero.
Then I remembered something. I barged my way back to wear Aaron and Aphelia were standing, holding their bats.
"Don't be afraid to give Scorpius hell for what he did to my cousin," I told them. Aaron nodded eagerly at this - usually I was against violence and more in favour of knocking the brooms or the Quaffle. This time it's war.
I hurried back to my spot just as the barrier lifted, and suddenly I felt very exposed. We're about to play the final match of the year with a substitute from the second year. Even though I had faith in Lucy, I couldn't help but be nerve-wracked about the situation. And I'm Captain! It's all on my shoulders now, isn't it? If we win, great for me. If we lose...bad day to be Rose Weasley.
Momentarily, I was blinded by the sudden light we found ourselves thrown into. However, the moment I mounted my broom, I knew that I'd be fine. My team were in fine shape to take on Slytherin. We knew our tactics - besides Lucy - we knew how to play, and we knew Slytherin's weakness - Patrick Donnell had a weak left arm. Lena Swann couldn't catch the ball from a distance, and if you interfered with Liam Jackson's face...well, you could make him cry like a little girl. I'll make sure I do that. For Leanne's sake.
We were flying. We were hovering in a semicircle, facing the Slytherins. I could see a couple of spectators whispering about Lucy's presence, but I would have been confused too if I were them.
Suddenly, something went wrong with my eyesight. Everything started happening in slow motion. The Quaffle gradually arrived in my line of sight, and even though I tried to move at normal speed I also seemed to be moving in slow motion. And the crowds were suddenly silent, too. It was as if it was just me on the pitch against...no one. I was just throwing and catching the ball. I lunged forward to catch the ball - everything still seemed about half as slow as it should be, yet nobody else had noticed. I found the Quaffle was in my hands. I gripped the end of my broomstick and was suddenly moving at the highest speed I could have possibly imagined in a world where speed seemed fifty percent slower. I arched my back, and threw the ball as hard as possible. Obviously things weren't in slow motion for Jack Parkinson, who barely had time to turn around to look at the ball as it passed through the left hoop.
And just like that, my world was normal again. I could hear the spectators cheering, and everything was at normal speed again. Good.
"Ten points to Gryffindor!" Zachary Hiller roared into the microphone, making my ears hurt form the sheer volume of his voice. I flew back to the centre. On the Slytherin team, Laticia was already passing to Kirk, who seemed to be planning to shoot from where he was. Quick as a flash, I was near Sam, defending the goalposts, but I needed have worried. The Quaffle fell short by a few metres, and Jonathan dashed forwards to catch it. He passed to Hepiliya, who passed back to him, and soon enough we scored again.
I cheered, then remembered what I'd decided to do to Liam Jackson. He was hovering by the Slytherin stands, basking in all the admiring oohs and aahs from all of the girls. I flew next to Aphelia. "Do me a favour, and hit Liam Jackson with a Bludger," I muttered. She looked at me, surprised. "Preferably in the face," I added. She grinned at me, then flew off to hit a Bludger away from Sam.
Lena had possesion of the Quaffle. "She passing left, right and centre!" Zachary Hiller cried. "Swann passes to Jomail, who passes back to Swann, who passes to Lypicious..." Damn, Slytherin are good.
Laticia was coming towards the goal. I knew she was going to score before she did, as Sam was on completely the wrong side to protect the goal. Zachary Hiller announced it barely two seconds later.
"And Lypicious has scored, yes scored! Ten points to Slytherin!" he bellowed. "What's Clarke doing?" he suddenly asked. I turned around, searching for Aphelia. Then I smiled. Clarke has just hit a Bludger towards Jackson.
Liam Jackson's cries echoed around the pitch. His nose looked like it was broken, but it wasn't bleeding. I looked into the audience to see Leanne's face. When I finally located her, she had a triumphant smirk on her face, as if to say,"You broke my heart, we broke your nose." Fair trade.
"My face! My face!" Liam was screaming. He was taken down for a brief examination, however Madame Pomfrey proclaimed she didn't see any difference, to which Liam shouted, "My nose looks ugly! None of me has ever looked ugly before!" but he was sent back up to play a minute later, with a very ugly scowl on his face. I grinned. "Serves you right," I muttered. Suddenly, someone threw me the ball, I'm not sure who, so I shot off to attempt a goal. I saw that Hepiliya was open, so I passed to her, when suddenly Kirk Jomail tackled her broomstick, wrestling with it. She let out a little shriek, and Madame Lawson blew her whistle sharply.
"Foul! Blagging! Blagging! Penalty!" she cried.
Kirk bellowed, "I wasn't grabbing her broom! I wasn't!" but Madame Lawson shouted him down, and insisted on the penalty. I told Jonathan to take it - he was the best at scoring. Sure enough, a minute later the score was thirty to us, ten to them.
From then on, we alternated scoring. Not deliberately, but that was just the way it happened. Gryffindor would score, then Slytherin. Gryffindor, then Slytherin. Half an hour later, the score was seventy to Gryffindor, fifty to them. I nudged Sam. "Up your game, a little. If we work a little harder we could win this match brilliantly. Red alert, constantly, ok?" I told him quietly. Sam nodded, the smirked. "Do I get a kiss good luck?" he asked. I paused, then pecked him on the mouth quickly. "Good luck," I grinned at him, then patted his shoulder and flew off. I probably shouldn't have, if I'm going to break up with him later. Maybe I'll wait a bit, though. Break up with him in a week or so.
As promised, Sam stopped letting in the Quaffle almost every time. Another thirty minutes passed, Slytherin only scored once, we scored four times. Fifty points in the lead. We can do this.
We worked out a fairly efficient system. Sam would stop the opposing team from scoring, then get Hepiliya to shoot long straight from the other side of the field. She was particularly good at that, and only missed once. After the match had been going on for almost two hours, the score was Gryffindor, one hundred and fifty, Slytherin, one hundred and twenty. We were just beating them, but a Snitch could change all of that.
"Oh, and Tomlinson, the Gryffindor substitute, has dived, I think she's seen something, but Malfoy's hot on her heels, oh they're getting very close...yes there's the Snitch, but neither of them has caught it yet, I hope it doesn't go too high or else we won't be able to see them..."
I whipped round, looking upwards, craning my neck to see them. This is it. The deciding moment.
Lucy and Scorpius were neck and neck - Lucy was more agile, and as she was using my broom was just faster than Scorpius, but he was longer and more experienced, and could reach further than she could. It was impossible to tell who would catch it.
"Oh, look, while this exciting moment is going on, Weasley is about to get hit by a Bludger," Zachary Hiller chimed in. I barely had time to register his words before I knew I had to duck, and sure enough, a small iron ball flew through the spot where a second ago my head had been. I breathed a sigh of relief. Thank you Merlin for Zachary's whimsy!
"And Gryffindor's Lucy Tomlinson has caught the Snitch!" Zachary suddenly roared after I ducked. "Malfoy seemed to lose focus for a second back there, and by Merlin, it cost them the game! Gryffindor are awarded one hundred and fifty points, meaning that they now have three hundred points to Slytherin's one hundred a twenty, what an amazing match, but Gryffindor have done it, they've won the championship for the first time in five years!" Zachary screamed. I screamed too, out of pure joy - our first win in five years! Has it really been that long? When we'd won last time I'd been a second-year, it was my first year on the team, and I'd thought that if we'd ever won again, it wouldn't have felt anywhere near as good - but this was a thousand times better, because I was Captain this time!
I dashed over to where Lucy was hovering, holding the Golden Snitch aloft in the air, her face radiant. I threw my arms around her. "We won, we won, we won!" I laughed, jubilant. When I had squeezed the life out of Lucy, I leaned back so as to see her face. I knew her joy must be even greater than mine.
"Thank you," she whispered, "for letting me play."
I laughed out loud. "Thank you!" I cried, just as Hepiliya arrived next to Lucy to hug her too.
The rest passed in a blur. I shook hands with Scorpius, the Slytherin Captain. We all dismounted our brooms. The Quidditch Cup was decked out in red and gold ribbons, and my team were photographed holding it up, laughing, our faces all turned to it, not the camera, our joy echoed in every single one of the Gryffindors. I arrived back at the common room, and this time I got there early. That is basically all I remember. Because I got really, really drunk at the victory party.
But I know that it was without a doubt the best day of my life.