There was a jitter in the air, people had been talking about this match for days and now everyone in the stands was waiting to see the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw Quidditch teams march out of their locker rooms and onto the pitch.
"What's taking them so bloody long?" Draco mumbled at Jade's side and she agreed, it felt like they'd been standing for a long time. Finally, the teams walked out onto the field and a huge round of applause erupted from the stands. As the Ravenclaw team made their way to the middle of the field Jade noticed that they only had one girl on their team. Jade had learned her mistakes about coming unprepared to Quidditch matches so this time she pulled out a pair of binoculars from the small bag at her waist. The Ravenclaw girl looked so small compared to her teammates, she was pretty and petite and Fred's words echoed in her head, Seekers are supposed to be light and quick, Diggory is much too big. The team captains then shook hands, a few seconds later they were mounting their brooms, waiting for Madam Hooch's whistle. When the high-pitched whistle blew, everyone kicked off into the air, Jade noticed how much faster Harry's broom was than the others. There was a considerable difference as Harry began whizzing around the sky with practiced grace.
"They're off, and the big excitement of this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor." Lee Jordan began commentating, speaking the thoughts in Jade's head. "According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship-"
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" Professor McGonagall interrupted at his side, her voice quieter, the microphone barely picking up her voice.
"Right you are, Professor. Just giving a bit of background information, the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and-"
"Jordan!" She interrupted again and Jade heard a few laughs around her. The commentary between Jordan and McGonagall was always entertaining.
"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor, heading for the goal…" Harry flew past Katie in the opposite direction, not really paying attention to what was going on around, he was too busy trying to find the Golden Snitch. The Ravenclaw girl was in fact their team's Seeker and she followed closely behind Harry, a determined expression on her face as she struggled to keep up with him. When it became apparent she couldn't go faster than he could she decided to cut across him, forcing him to change direction. Katie Bell succeeded in scoring ten points for Gryffindor and their side of the stands cheered out enthusiastically. Jade watched the twins fly around the Gryffindor team, beating Bludgers away from them as they zipped around. Harry then dove quickly, Jade tried following him and spotting the Snitch but it was too small and too quick for her to catch a glimpse of it herself. The Ravenclaw Seeker dove a second later, a second was all the Firebolt needed really because there was a large gap between the two Seekers even though she was beginning to close the gap, Harry was too focused to consider looking back at her. One of the Ravenclaw Beaters then sent a Bludger straight for Harry and he only noticed it a moment before it would've made contact with the tip of his broom and he veered off course. One of the twins hit the Bludger right back at the Beater who had sent the Bludger after Harry and he was satisfied as the offending Bludger had to scramble and roll to avoid getting hit. "Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn, Chang's Comet is just no match for it." Chang that was her name. "the Firebolt's precision, its balance is really noticeable in these long-"
"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" McGonagall's voice boomed this time and Jade turned to tell Draco a joke but he was no longer there. She looked around in the stands but couldn't find the noticeable silverish blonde of his hair.
"Where did Draco go?" Jade asked Blaise over the loud crowd and he shrugged. Another burst of cheers drew Jade's attention back to the game. Ravenclaw had scored. Gryffindor was now only up by fifty points. If Chang were to get the Snitch before Harry, Ravenclaw would win. But by the look of it, neither Seeker could find where the little gold flying ball had fluttered off to. Harry turned his Firebolt upward and was soon twenty feet above the game, trying to get a full view of the field. Chang followed him, rather than looking for the Snitch herself she had decided to just stay close to Harry. Harry dove again and Chang followed, or she tried to at least. Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply and then he rose fast as a bullet once more, Chang lost control of her broom as she tried to follow his sharp movements and took a few seconds to recover. Harry took off toward Ravenclaw's end of the field, he looked down at must've heard something Chang had said because he then turned to the three large black figures below him. They looked like Dementors but upon further inspection, Jade could see that they weren't they didn't have that dead decaying flesh and they didn't hover above the ground much, just very tall, black-cloaked figures. Harry must've thought they were though because without slowing down he cast something at them. Something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wand. The large white shape hit all three figures and they fell to the ground. There were movements under the cloaks as they tried to get up. The crowd burst into cheers once more, their hands clapping and a loud rumble sounded from the stands as students stomped their feet. Jade looked back up to see Harry smiling brightly as he held up the Snitch in his hand. Madam Hooch's whistle sounded and the teams came down to the ground, Jade told her friends she'd see them alter and made her way down the stands. She wasn't the only one, many students made their way down the stands and towards the Gryffindor team. Jade reached them as they were pulling out of their group hug and rowdy tugging around each other's shoulders. Jade caught sight of Hermione and Ron and made her way over to them.
"Yes!" Ron cheered as he grabbed Harry's wrist of the hand that was still holding the Snitch and he threw it up in the air, "Yes! Yes!"
"Well done, Harry!" Fred clapped him on the back.
"Ruddy brilliant!" Boomed Hagrid over the heads of the Gryffindor students.
"That was quite some Patronus," A familiar voice said from behind Jade and she turned to see Professor Lupin grinning down at them.
"The Dementors didn't affect me at all!" Harry told him excitedly. "I didn't feel a thing!" That white blur Harry cast must've been the product of all the lessons he had with Professor Lupin after class.
"That would be because they… weren't Dementors," Professor Lupin told Harry. "Come and see." He slowly led Harry out of the crowd until they were able to see the edge of the field. "You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright," Lupin told him trying to hold back his smile but the corners of his mouth were still upturned. Jade's eyes widened and she quickly followed them until she stood at Harry's side.
"Draco?" She blurted out. It explained why he disappeared during the game. It was so stupid of him to go and try and play a prank during the middle of a quidditch match. He was with Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, they all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. Professor McGonagall was standing over them with an infuriated look Jade had never seen before.
"An unworthy trick!" She was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin!" Well, that was great… again, so stupid. "I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!" Ron gently bumped into Jade as he hurried to their side to see the sight for himself. Ron doubled over in laughter, Jade understood it was a funny sight to see them grunting and struggling and somehow still getting lost in their robes but it wasn't funny to her, the idiots cost them fifty points.
"Come on, Harry!" George fought his way through the small crowd and towered over the three of them. "Party! Gryffindor Common Room, now!"
"Right," Harry smiled at Draco's fumbling. Ron and Harry followed George as he turned and took a few steps.
"Coming Jade?" He called over his shoulder and Jade looked at him. Harry and Ron watching her expectantly, and then she looked back at Draco who had finally popped his head out from under the robe and took a deep breath of fresh air.
"Yeah, coming." She called and then turned her back on her housemates to join her other friends. George threw an arm over her shoulder and pulled her close. She immediately tried to move from under his arm, he smelled awful, but he held her there, smirking down at her as she clutched her nose between her fingers.
"That's the smell of victory." He told her and she coughed excessively.
"Gross."