Author's Note: As a Christmas gift to my loyal readers, here is a new chapter, The Quidditch Match. Merry Christmas to everyone reading!
Chapter 7: The Quidditch Match
Lily ran down the steps leading to the Great Hall three at the time. She burst through the doors and her housemates at the Gryffindor table immediately surrounded her. Her brother James noticed and managed to retrieve Lily from the crowd. She excused herself from her housemates.
"So. Today's the day!" He punched his fist into the air. "You excited?"
"Definitely. I'm ready to beat the Slytherins, I can take 'em right now!"
"That's the spirit. Well, I got some news for you. Apparently Slytherin's Seeker's out sick or something, so there's a sub. It's Scorpius Malfoy. If he's anything like his father, he should be easy to beat."
"Let's hope so." Lily tried to not sound like she was nervous or even doubtful, but inside she wasn't that sure. When they were trying out the Firebolt last week, he seemed like he could be quite the opponent. He could fly well, but it doesn't seem like the Seeker role fits him best, honestly. Then again, he's just the substitute.
"Look, we'll win anyway since I've got the broom, so you wanna start seeking when we've got a good enough lead, we want to get the most out of this match as possible, all right?"
"Sure. As long as we win, I guess."
Walking onto the Quidditch Pitch to cheers and applause from the entire school was nothing new to Lily, she had been to the team for quite a while now after all. She looked at the Gryffindor section of the stands to see them all decked in red and gold, filling her with pride for her house as always. She, along with her team, stood at the center of the Pitch, waiting for the referee's whistle. She caught eyes with the Slytherin Captain, clutching her bat, looking more than ready to smash those Bludgers at Lily's team. Lily saw Scorpius at the back with a determined expression, he seemed to have gotten over his nerves. She readied herself.
James and Solphina shook hands and all of them mounted their brooms.
A loud whistle was heard, and fourteen players kicked off into the air.
"The Quaffle immediately gets claimed by Gryffindor Chaser James Potter, who's riding the newest Firebolt, wonder if that's because of his father's influence . . . ?" Lily shook the commentator's words off; people will talk, and she couldn't care less. "He goes straight for the goalposts – dodges a Bludger – shoots – score!" Not even five minutes in and already a goal, she felt much more confident that they'd win.
After fifteen minutes, Gryffindor is still leading, but not enough to start Seeking. She stopped in mid-air just to catch another goal being scored. She cheered for her team, while keeping balance, but groaned when it was discovered that it was a foul, since there were two Chasers in the scoring area, though the offender just barely crossed the border.
Slytherin got a free shot, and they managed to score. According to the commentary, it was their first goal. Lily saw Scorpius cheering, and glared at him, though he didn't notice. She resumed circling the Pitch.
Gryffindor was shooting the Quaffle much faster than the Slytherin Keeper could intercept them, and soon enough it was eighty – ten, which was more than enough of a lead to start searching for the Golden Snitch.
A while later, she finally saw it: flitting amidst the chaos on the Pitch, near the ground. She dived towards the Snitch, urging her broom to go faster, when her view was suddenly obscured by a Bludger headed for James, at such a speed, not even an inch from her face. She stopped just in time, and when her heart rate returned to normal, the Snitch had gone.
She looked at the score: 100 – 20. She heard the commentator say: ". . . seems as though the only way for Slytherin to score is through penalties, when James Potter with his Firebolt, and Roxanne and Fred the Second with their bats, aren't there to stop 'em." And it was true, even the Slytherins seemed to realize it, so it came as no surprise, when they, in true Slytherin fashion, tried to provoke the Gryffindors into attacking them, which would be a foul, and to them, a chance to catch up. It didn't work, though she could tell that Roxanne had half a mind to whack the Slytherin Chaser in the head with her bat.
When it reached 120 – 20, Gryffindor having scored two more times, Solphina Nott, Slytherin's captain, decided to intervene and called for time out. All fourteen players landed, and Lily rejoined her team.
Meanwhile, the Slytherins were discussing amongst themselves.
"I assume you've seen his broom, so what are we gonna do about it?" Solphina began, referring to James' Firebolt. "We've gotta do something, they're literally a hundred points up, we can't let that continue."
"Well, we could take him out. Problem solved," said the Keeper. "Look, he's the main reason why Gryffindor is leading, we could have more players focus on knocking him off his broom, not just the Beaters, because they obviously haven't managed to, seeing as he's still here."
"The Keeper hasn't managed to do his duty either, has he, since there's been twelve goals let in already, and he's supposed to be guarding it? Also, I've managed to deter him a number of times with a Bludger to the arm, and did you notice, Captain stopped Lily from catching the Snitch and James from scoring with a well-aimed hit. Can't have everyone abandon everything just to knock him off, highly suspicious. Flying with intent to collide is a foul, though it'd be worth it, I suppose, if he's out."
"I agree. Penalty is worth it, but let's not go out of our way to kick him off his broom, shall we? And Scorpius, catch the Snitch immediately. We won't be able to catch up, it's now or never, understand? We'll resume play if it's cool to you." said Solphina Nott, addressing her team.
They muttered assent and soon enough, all players were back in the air.
Gryffindor still scored but at a much slower rate, with half the Slytherins trying to assault James with Bludgers that he kept having to avoid. As for Scorpius, he was zooming around, weaving between players, scanning the Pitch for the familiar tell-tale glint of the Golden Snitch.
He was in luck, because just then he caught sight of it, fluttering near the Gryffindor goalposts. Then Lily saw it too, but from the other end of the Pitch, and could only look helplessly as Scorpius went after the Snitch. Soon the Snitch was within his arm's reach, and he almost captured it, until – wham – an accidental collision of another player knocked him off course, and the Snitch was gone again. Lily thanked her lucky stars, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Lily gaze drifted up to the goalposts, and witnessed the first goal of Slytherin's that wasn't a penalty. The score was now 170 – 30, and as the commentator says, if Malfoy caught the Snitch they'd win.
Their words spurred Lily into action, and maybe it was luck, maybe it was true talent, but she spotted the Golden Snitch. Once again Scorpius was closer, and as she was speeding towards the Snitch, the wind whistling in her ears, he saw it too, then Roxanne, who was also close by, realized what was happening, and sent a Bludger at Scorpius that he just barely avoided. By that time, Lily had caught up, and they were both at the same distance away from the Snitch, which was just fluttering a few hundred yards away, and both of them were racing closer by the second.
Then the rest of the players noticed the competition between the two, and stopped to watch. The Quaffle was dropped, its holder having abandoned it to cheer for her team, not realizing before it was too late that it might just have caused her team irreversible damage. The Quaffle was caught by a Gryffindor Chaser, who threw it to James, who saw that the Keeper wasn't even paying attention and scored two more times before the game ended. Turning, James caught a glimpse of the stands.
The people in the stands knew what was happening, could feel that the game was going to end, and stood up in waves of red and gold, or alternatively, in green and silver. They all waited with bated breath, for the results to come in, and the commentator to announce who won.
Both Lily and Scorpius were less than a few feet away from the Snitch, and both reaching an arm out to capture the Snitch. Lily urged her broom to go faster, and it gave her a spurt of speed that allowed her to overtake Scorpius. Her fingers were now only an inch away, and she felt like nothing could stop her at that moment, until something did. At the last second, the Slytherin Beaters moved in unison, and in a feat of astounding teamwork, they hit the Bludger at the same time, resulting in a Doppelganger Defence and a much more severe attack. When Lily saw the Bludger hurtling towards her right arm with remarkable precision, the exact arm she uses to catch the Snitch, it was already too late, a second later it had collided with her arm with a sickening crunch. After she managed to steady her swaying broom, Scorpius' fingers had already closed around the Snitch, its wings fluttering madly within his closed fist. He waved his fist in the air, grinning triumphantly to the crowd below.
Slytherin had won and Gryffindor had lost. And Lily had been so sure of their victory then. She looked at the Scoreboard, which read in flashing letters: Gryffindor: One Hundred And Ninety, Slytherin: One Hundred And Eighty. Lily was dumbstruck. They had won? But Scorpius caught the Snitch . . . She only had time to share a shocked glance with Scorpius before the stadium exploded, cheers filling the air.
"And the game ends with Gryffindor winning, despite Slytherin having caught the Snitch. Bet Malfoy didn't bank on James Potter scoring twice when he caught the Snitch, no? Final score: Gryf . . ." Ah. That explained it. She joined in the celebration, yelling for her team, shaking hands with her house, even though she didn't do anything that deserved their admiration. Even green and silver supporters were rejoicing, despite their defeat. Apparently they were delighted that Slytherin had caught the Snitch, recreating the effect of the 1994 Quidditch World Cup.
Lily felt kind of disgruntled when she saw people rushing to congratulate James, after all it was his broom that did most of the work. But it seemed that they shared the same view, when, upon closer inspection they almost completely ignored James, instead focusing solely on the Firebolt, asking to feel it, to hold it, even to ride it; all requests were denied, as could be expected from someone like James.
In the changing rooms, James told Lily that he wasn't angry at her, but wished that something different had happened during the match. "But hey, at least we won, and that's all that matters, right Lils?" And while Lily didn't say anything, she felt like Scorpius deserved to capture the Snitch, this time. Because he did.
Author's Note: I used Quidditch Through the Ages as a reference, as you might have noticed, it's been really helpful. "A very interesting read" indeed. Rest of the story won't focus on Quidditch, sadly.
It's been a year with Covid. Guys, how yallz feelin'? It's finally Christmas, and 2021 is literally right around the corner. Here's to hoping for a better year. Thanks to all of you for sticking with this story, there are so much better ones out there, but you chose mine, and I really appreciate that. Pls leave a review, just Merry Christmas or Happy New Year will be more than fine. Even a number from 1 (complete trash) to 10 (best story ever) helps me a great deal, knowing what you think. Thanks!