Chapter Thirty-Five

The Quidditch Cup

Mia woke early on Saturday, and hurried to the window to check the conditions. The clear blue skies promised a hot day, and Mia hoped the match didn't go on too long – she didn't fancy playing under the midday sun.

Lily joined her. "How's it looking?"

"Good," Mia nodded. "So long as it doesn't get too hot."

Lily and Mia dressed and headed down to breakfast before the rest of their dormitory was awake. At the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, they found James and Fred already assembled – James shovelling down a bowl of porridge, and Fred picking at some toast.

"Morning all," James said brightly. "Ready to go out there and win this thing?"

"Absolutely," Lily said, sitting down opposite her brother. "My stomach seems to disagree, however."

"Have some bacon," James said, through a mouthful of porridge. "Bacon fixes everything." He shoved the serving dish towards her.

As the four of them ate breakfast, the Great Hall filled up around them. They were soon joined by Roxanne, Mary and Samuel, and then the team had to endure dozens of people coming over to wish them luck, or else jeer at them.

"I think they should have private rooms for the teams to have breakfast on match days," James grumbled, after the team had been forced to endure the fifth variation on 'let's hope our guys make it relatively easy for you.'

"Seconded," Roxanne sighed. "I shouldn't've thought it was too much to ask to just eat breakfast in peace."

The Gryffindor team left the Great Hall before the rest of the school, to cheers and applause from their fellow Gryffindors, and boos and catcalls from the Slytherins. The support of Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs was fairly evenly divided, since the Cup was now a straight fight between Gryffindor and Slytherin ('although it's about the wonkiest thing I've seen called "straight",' James grumbled).

Once in the changing rooms, the team waited for James' pep talk, but he merely shrugged and said,

"I said it all last night. We know what we've gotta do. Let's get out there and do it."
The seven of them walked out onto the pitch, to a roar from the crowd and an introduction from Mac,

"It's the Gryffindors! Potter, Weasley, Potter, Weasley, Cattermole, Dursley aaaaaaaaand Wood!"

The Gryffindors waited for the Slytherins to arrive, which they did a minute or so later. The captains – James, and the Slytherin Beater, Gage Bole – shook hands.

"Mount your brooms," Madam Hooch said. "On my whistle."

On Madam Hooch's whistle, Mia kicked off hard from the ground and flew toward the goal hoops.

"Aaaand they're off!" Mac shouted into his magical megaphone. "It's Gryffindor in possession – Boy Potter passes to Weasley, to Girl P– intercepted by Slytherin's Myles, he passes to McLaggan, Zabini, nice Bludger there from Weasley, Zabini drops the Quaffle, and James Potter catches it-"

Mia watched as the Chasers, barely moving from the centre of the pitch, passed the Quaffle back and forth, every couple of passes being intercepted or interrupted by a Bludger, so that possession changed almost too quickly for Mac to call it out.

It was almost five minutes into the match when Gryffindor got their first break.

"And it's the Gryffindor Captain in possession – he passes to Girl Potter, back to Boy Potter, Girl Potter, Weasley, and it's Gryffindor's Fred Weasley heading for goal!"

Mia watched as Fred headed up the pitch, dodging first a Bludger, then Ruby McLaggan, and finally the Slytherin Captain Bole, who'd sent a Bludger at him, until he was out in front, with just the Keeper, Madison Montague, between him and the goal hoops.

"And Weasley's preparing to score... he shoots... oooh! Saved by Montague, and the score's still 0-0!"

Mia sighed as Montague passed the Quaffle back to second year Zabini, and play resumed. Now it seemed like it was time for Slytherin's first attack on goal. Zabini, by far the smallest player on the Slytherin team, wended his way up the pitch, dodging players, balls, and even a stray balloon which a first year had brought to the match, and only passing when he found himself simultaneously ambushed by James and Fred. He threw the Quaffle downwards, and it was caught by Ruby. This was one of the reasons Mia found Quidditch infinitely more interesting than any Muggle sports she'd played at Primary School – it was played in three dimensions.

"It's McLaggan in possession, she passes to Myles, back to McLaggan, to Myles, McLaggan, to – whoa! Where did Zabini come from?"

Ruby had passed the Quaffle to Zabini, who came up from behind – the kid was fast, Mia thought – and was now heading towards the goal hoops where Mia hovered, waiting.

"So, it's Zabini heading for goal – he may be the new kid on the block, but-"

"Mac?" Professor Longbottom interrupted him.

"Yeah?"

"Zabini's just scored."

"I was getting to that," Mac protested.

Whilst Mac had been talking, Zabini had flown brazenly toward Mia's right hand hoop, still at top speed, and then as Mia moved to block him, Zabini had thrown the Quaffle around Mia. By the time Mia turned around, the Quaffle had gone through the left hand hoop, and Zabini had almost crashed into the right hand hoop, having to swerve hard to avoid it.

"Slytherin score," Mac said, slightly grumpily, although Mia guessed this had little to do with the goal and a lot to do with Professor Longbottom interrupting his commentary.

Mia retrieved the Quaffle and passed it to Lily, and play resumed. As the game wore on and neared the hour mark, Mia had to admit that Zabini was a dynamo. Whilst she managed to block over half of Ruby and Myles' attempts on goal, she had so far been unable to block any of Zabini's gaols. He didn't even need the rest of his team to be able to score, and the Quaffle seemed to be magnetically attracted to him, so that he rarely dropped it, even when rolling and diving to avoid Bludgers.

"SLYTHERIN SCORE!" Mac yelled into the magical megaphone. "Another superb goal from Asher Zabini extends his team's lead – Slytherin lead, 90 points to 40."

Mia passed the Quaffle back to James, noting the grim frown on his face. Regardless of the outcome of this match, Gryffindor were guaranteed at least second place in the Quidditch Cup, but second wasn't something any of them even wanted to contemplate, despite the fact that first was looking more and more unlikely as Slytherin pulled further and further ahead.

"SNITCH ALERT! SNITCH ALERT!" Mac practically screamed into the magical megaphone.

Sure enough, Mia watched as Scorpius and Samuel both dived – Scorp after the Snitch and Samuel after Scorp. James had spent the past two or three weeks drumming it into Samuel – and often the rest of the team too, or so it felt to Mia – that the Snitch couldn't be caught until Gryffindor were at least forty points up. Gryffindor were in this for the long game.

"Bludgers! Bludgers! Bludgers!" James screamed, hugging the Quaffle to his chest as he watched the Seeker's progress. Roxanne obligingly sent a Bludger at Scorpius, which James had to roll to avoid, as he was directly in its path. He dropped the Quaffle, and Zabini caught it. Mia tore her eyes away from the race for the Snitch, and forced herself to focus on attempting to block Zabini's attempt on goal, a mission which proved fruitless. As she returned to playing height from retrieving the Quaffle, Mia heard Mac announce,

"Well, the Snitch appears to have disappeared... can something 'appear' to have 'disappeared'...? Isn't that a contradiction...?"

"Score, Mac?" Professor Longbottom sighed. "And then perhaps some commentary?"

"100-40 to Slytherin, and some member of the extended Weasley family has the Quaffle... neither of which are nearly so interesting as my philosophical musings..." Mac pouted.

"Then perhaps you should host a talk show in the Inter-House Common Room one night?" Professor Longbottom suggested. "But right now, commentary if you please."

"If you insist," Mac sighed. "So, it's Slytherin in possession now – Myles, Zabini, McLaggan, My- intercepted by boy Potter, he passes to Weasley, back to boy Potter, Weasley, boy Potter, girl Potter, Weasley, girl Potter, she shoots... she scores! Nice goal there from Gryffindor's Lily Potter, but Slytherin still lead, 100 points to 50."

In the next half-hour, Gryffindor began to claw back some more territory, which was then all lost back after a three-goals-in-five-minutes blitz from Zabini.

"So, Slytherin still lead, 140 points to 80," Mac said. "But... is that the Snitch again?"

Mia looked to where he was pointing. Sure enough, she could just about make out a glint of gold at the foot of the stands, not far from the goalhoops she was guarding. Zabini scored again. Okay, well maybe she wasn't guarding them very well. She watched as Samuel and Scorp dived again.

"Come on, Samuel!" Mia yelled. All he had to do was what he'd done last time – block Scorp for long enough for the Snitch to disappear, to buy James, Fred and Lily time to score more goals.

Samuel flew directly into Scorp's flight path in an attempt to block is opponent, but Scorp merely rolled to avoid him and continued on toward the Snitch. Samuel wheeled round and was soon hot on his tail, gradually gaining on him, so that they neared the Snitch neck and neck.

Scorp reached out for the Snitch... and Samuel beat him to it, snatching the Snitch from the air and holding it aloft in his clenched fist, somewhat defeatedly.

"GRYFFINDOR WIN!" Mac shouted. "FINAL SCORE: 230 POINTS TO 150! GRYFFINDOR WIN THE MATCH BUT SLYTHERIN WIN THE CUP!"

Mia few down to the ground, feeling disappointed, but not particularly surprised – she'd know after Zabini's first goal that it was going to be a tall order to get forty points up before catching the snitch.

Mia landed beside Lily. "What did Sam catch the snitch for?" Lily grumbled, as they waited for the rest of the team to join them.

"To save us from complete disgrace," Mia told her. "Imagine if we'd lost the match 300-80, and the Cup."

"I guess," Lily sighed.

A/N: Sorry for the long delay in updating - when I reached the end of the chapters uploaded and ready to go, I just... stopped. But the last nine chapters are all edited and uploaded, so with any luck you should get two a week (Monday and Thursday) until this thing's finished.