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Chapter Twenty-Two

"This is the last game of the season and the last game of Quidditch that some of us here will ever get to play," declared Scorpius, looking at most of his team hanging on to his words in the changing room. They were dressed in their red Quidditch robes sat on the benches as Scorpius addressed stood in front of them with his broom in hand. His own heart seemed to be beating extra fast this morning, he couldn't quite believe it was his last school match. Rose was sat on the end of the bench, staring pointedly down at her shoes. He wasn't surprised, although they'd still studied together with Al most nights, she had interacted with him as little as possible. "We need to win."

"We're going to win," exclaimed Hayley, her face flush with excitement. "We're the best."

"I know we are," agreed Scorpius. "But we need to remember that Ravenclaw have got some decent players and we can't rely on the fact that we're the best. Do you remember when you need to catch the Snitch, Hayley?"

"We need to be at least forty points ahead Ravenclaw when I catch the Snitch otherwise when we win the game, we won't the Quidditch cup," recited Hayley.

"Exactly," said Scorpius. "As far as I'm concerned there's no win at all if we don't win the cup. Eli, Xavier, I want you to focus your efforts on knocking those Bludgers into their Chasers. If they're too busy dodging, they'll be too busy to score. The ones that avoid them, I'm confident won't get past Rose."

"I've got it covered, Malfoy," drawled Rose, looking up. "Just make sure your Chasers know what they're doing."

"Don't worry, we know how to score," said Savannah sweetly, with a tight smile at Rose.

"I bet you do," muttered Rose darkly. "Anyway, if you're that good I shouldn't even have to touch the Quaffle today. Besides, I think their Beaters' tactics will be to focus on me so the further the way the Quaffle is from me the better."

"We'll have you covered as well, Rose, don't worry," grinned Eli, slapping his beater's bat. "We'll smash it right back in their faces."

"We all need to make sure we're on it today," announced Scorpius, bringing their attention back to him. "I need to ace my exams just as much as this match and there's no way I'm going to be able to concentrate if I'm despairing over this match."

"We've got this," said Savannah, giving him an encouraging smile.

"As it is the last game we'll ever play together, I just want to also take the moment to thank all of you," said Scorpius, running a gloved hand through his hair. "I've loved being your captain, you're an amazing team and you're all so good you've made my job easy. It's time, guys, let's do this."

Scorpius had never got used to the surreal feeling of walking onto the Quidditch pitch for a game. It was a paradox. The crowds were cheering, cannons going off, music playing, and yet walking to the centre of the grass pitch he could barely hear it. He looked around the stadium, taking in the sea of red, and smiled. From here he couldn't make out anyone but he knew Al and Cara were in the audience with a huge banner for him and Rose, he knew once the whistle was blown the crowd would only become more of a blur but he knew he fed off of their energy when he flew. All the players did. No matter how well they flew in practice they became truly alive on match day. They reached Madam Hooch in the middle who was crouched down by the crate of balls checking everything over for the match. The Ravenclaws were there ready to go, their captain a sixth-year student, Jasmine Parker, stood in the centre of their gathering, facing Scorpius. He threw her a smile, he'd never been into the whole try to intimidate the other side thing, when frankly it wasn't needed, and honestly, he could always rely on Rose to have a scowl on her face.

"Hey, Malfoy," grinned Jasmine, her blonde hair scooped up on top of her head. "Ready for a tough match?"

"Always," remarked Scorpius.

"We've done the maths," smirked Jasmine. "Even if your Seeker gets to the Snitch before me, you're screwed if she gets it too quick."

"Giving away your game plan there, Parker," joked Scorpius. "I'm guessing your play is to get to it as soon as possible before me and my chasers have even had the chance to score."

She tilted her head. "I'm going to try."

"You'll have to try really hard," quipped Hayley, standing to the left behind him. "I'm surprisingly good.

Jasmine laughed. "You are, it's been a good year for you, I've been looking forward to going head to head with you."

Hayley flushed. "Thanks."

"Wow, you'd think we were all playing on one side the way you guys are talking to each other," complained Robbie. He was stood next to Jasmine, who rolled her eyes at him, his broom in one hand, his beaters bat in the other.

"It's called sportsmanship," explained Scorpius, testily. "I suggest you learn it."

"What's the point in pretending to get on now when as soon as we're up in the air my game plan is to mess your pretty Keeper's face up," sneered Robbie.

"I wouldn't sleep with you when you took advantage of me, is making me ugly to get me to do it a new tactic?" asked Rose hotly. "You're pathetic."

"Yeah? And you're a stuck-up bitch who's going to get knocked off her broom today."

"I'd like to see you try," smiled Rose, savagely. "Only one of us is going to look like an embarrassment today and I can assure you it won't be me. Parker, control your teammates or I'll do it for you."

"Right, captains here please," announced Madam Hooch, standing straight with her whistle in one hand and the Quaffle in the other. She hadn't heard the previous exchange, or she would have probably issued fouls before the match had even started. Scorpius and Jasmine faced each other as the rest of their teams got into position. "I want a nice, clean match from all of you. Shake."

Scorpius grabbed Jasmine's outstretched hand and shook it professionally. "There won't be any issues from our side."

"There won't be any issues from most of our side," admitted Jasmine, in low tones so it was only them that could hear. "I wanted my Beaters to focus on Rose, just like I know you've probably got yours focussing on my Chasers but let's just say one of them is a little bit too enthusiastic. I've no idea what their history is but I'm guessing there is one."

"Some sort of one," muttered Scorpius. "Thanks for the warning."

Madam Hooch blew the whistle and then throw the Quaffle up in the air. The Bludgers and the Snitch rose from the crate and whooshed upwards above their heads, he felt his team kick-off behind him and saw Savannah swiftly take hold of the orange leather ball, Nathaniel close behind her. He mounted his broom and kicked the grass hard, rising into the air. His fellow chasers knew he would sit out of their first play, preferring to go high and circle for a moment to take stock of what people were doing. He aimed straight towards Eli, who was the closest of his stocky Beaters.

"Eli," shouted Scorpius, trying to get his attention.

Eli whipped his head around and brought his broom to a holt. "You alright?"

"Their Beater is going to be aiming at Rose and he's going to be playing dirty," explained Scorpius. "I know I wanted you to focus on their Chaser's, but I need you and Xavier to protect her instead. We won't be able to maintain a lead if we lose our Keeper."

"It'd be a shame to mess up her pretty face as well, right?" grinned Eli, surprising Scorpius. "If I were with her, I'd want her in one piece too. Don't worry, we'll have her covered and we'll aim it back on that Beater." He flew off with a wink leaving Scorpius dumbfounded. Were his feelings seriously this obvious to everyone but Rose? He shook his head knowing he needed to focus, he knew his Beaters would do their job and he didn't have to worry, all he needed to do was to help get that Quaffle through those hoops. He grinned as he heard the magnified shriek of Lysander confirm that Gryffindor scored ten – nil and went into a dive into the action.

The crowd cheered as Scorpius feinted left before pulling his broom back and throwing the Quaffle through the now undefended centre hoop. He grinned knowing they were in a wonderfully comfortable lead an hour in. The three chasers worked well together, and he didn't want to blow his own trumpet, but he knew he was playing some of the best Quidditch he had all year, saving his best for last. Eli and Xavier had helped him do that as he hadn't worried too much about Rose. He had felt nervous at one point when the Ravenclaw Chasers had gotten near her hoops and he saw her hanging upside down from her broom in a Sloth Grip Roll to avoid a Bludger. The Quaffle had soared past her through one of the hoops but he felt better when she was back on her broom properly albeit with a grimace, and Xavier had smacked the Bludger back at Robbie, hitting him squarely in the chest.

The Ravenclaw Keeper, Darren Doyle, threw the ball back towards his teammates and Scorpius started in pursuit when he heard the tell-tale deafening roar from the stadium of the Snitch being caught. There was a moment where all the players, including himself, halted in confusion. He furrowed his brow trying hard to listen over the thunderous rumble of the crowd drowning out Lysander.

"Gryffindor wins!"

"Yes," exclaimed Scorpius, waving his fist in the air. They'd won. They'd actually won. He knew how far ahead they were; they'd not just won the match, they claimed the Quidditch Cup as well. He flew a few figure-of-eight loops, mainly trying to fly off the excitable energy he had. He glanced across the pitch and saw Savannah and Nathaniel in the air hugging, his Beaters either side of Hayley whose skinny arm was still shaking the elusive golden Snitch above her head. On the other side, Rose was hovering above her hoops, waving her maroon leather helmet in the air as she wore a huge grin on her face. He knew this had been just as important to her as it had been to him if not more considering her family.

Scorpius frowned as he saw a blur of blue fly near her and based on her celebrations not pausing, she wasn't aware of anyone approaching her. He shouted her name instinctively, even though he knew there was no way she could hear him over this distance, as he saw the Bludger connect with her face. Time seemed to still as he saw her body slide off her broom and suddenly, she was falling. He pointed his broom down into a dive, pressing his body close against the handle to try to get faster. He was shouting into the wind, nobody else seemed to have noticed, the crowd was still cheering.

"Come on, come on," shouted Scorpius, ignoring the sharp whips of wind against his face. He urged the broom to go faster, regretting that as a Chaser he had never really practiced dives. She was falling too fast and he was too far away, there was no way he was going to catch her. He lifted one hand from his broom, using his legs to clench it tighter to keep control, and reached into his robes for his wand. He aimed it at the ground whilst shouting the incantation, blue sparks surged into the grass below seconds before Rose made contact. He breathed a sigh of relief as he saw her body bounce back up as she hit the ground, before closing his eyes as the ground rapidly caught up with him and he intuitively tucked his body around his broom and rolled so his left shoulder and hip took the brunt of the impact and he too bounced up.

He groaned as his body came to a stop, sprawled on his back. He let go of his broom and flung it to his side as he sat up. He saw Rose in a heap a few metres on the pitch away from him, her red Quidditch robes draped over concealing her. He crawled towards her, his body grumbling at the effort, and pulled her by the shoulder so she was on her back. Bile rose in his throat as he took in her bloodied and bruised face. She was unconscious, her body not protesting as he had rolled her over, her limbs falling limply into unnatural positions.

"Rose, Rose," cried Scorpius, urgently. He crouched over her, his hand cupping her face shaking it gently, trying to wake her. "Please, Rose, open your eyes."

Scorpius carried on shouting as he felt two arms hook under his armpits to hoist him up and pull him away from Rose. He struggled against them, not even registering who it was despite them urging him to calm down, he needed to make sure Rose was okay. Someone else appeared in front of him and forcibly opened his mouth, swiftly emptying a vial of something down his throat. He felt lightheaded suddenly and sagged against the person holding him up. He could make out someone pointing their wand at Rose, her body rising into the air just as the world fell black.

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