I do not own Harry Potter, the Wizarding World, or any canon characters.
The Family that Chooses You
Chapter 21 – The Second Game
Harry zoomed over the pitch. He was a lot less nervous, this being his second game. He still did not love being the attention of so many people, it was hard to throw off his innate fear of being noticed. He was more used to it now, thankfully.
He still loved how flying made most of his other problems seem so small. He could fly high, hear and feel the wind, taste crisp clean air. Everything seemed far away, totally unrelated to the moment. He could lose himself and worry only about staying in the air, finding the Snitch, and dodging the Bludgers.
A whistle drew him back to reality and he grimaced as he looked at Snape glaring at him.
Snape was the referee of this game, somehow replacing Hooch. No one knew why. The common theory was that he wanted to punish Gryffindor for beating Slytherin in their game. A theory that was proving to be correct with how many penalties the biased Potions Master was heaping on the Gryffindor.
"Flying too high?" Harry asked incredulously. "That can't be a rule!"
"By all means Potter," Snape said silkily, "argue with me. I would be more than happy to give the Hufflepuffs more chances at shooting the goal. Or eject you. Either would be fine with me."
Harry kept his mouth shut, much to Snape's disappointment, and flew off in a foul mood. He went to Oliver. "He can't keep doing this!"
Oliver sighed. "Unfortunately he can since he's the ref right now."
"What am I supposed to do then?"
"Try to not fly higher than the tall hoop for now and try to find the Snitch as fast as possible. The sooner we end this, the better it'll be. Hopefully it'll be before the Hufflepuffs get too much of an advantage." Oliver shrugged and smiled wanly. "I know it's a bit unfair."
"That's like saying Hagrid's only a little tall," Harry muttered and Oliver laughed.
Harry flew off as play was resumed. He did not feel much better talking to Oliver but to be fair, there was not much the captain could do in this situation. They chose not to protest Snape being referee knowing it would have made things worse, believe it or not. Instead, he had told them to just play as cleanly as possible and to do their best.
So far they have managed to maintain their lead despite Snape's best efforts. Katie, Angelina, and Alicia had scored a few goals with Oliver blocking the majority of the Hufflepuff attempts. Fred and George have managed to disrupt a few plays though George almost earned a penalty for "accidentally" aiming a Bludger at Snape.
Harry knew the best chance they had to win rested on him. Outscoring the other Chasers would not be possible with Snape as their referee. He ground his teeth as Snape blew the whistle again, rewarding the Hufflepuffs the Quaffle for an illegal pass thrown by the Gryffindor Chasers.
"Don't want me flying high?" Harry muttered to himself. "Fine, let's fly fast then."
Harry leaned down on the broom and took off. He flew faster than he normally would. Not as fast as he would if he had seen the Snitch. He had learned during practice that speed was not everything. The faster one went, the harder it was to spot things. The slower you were, the easier to spot but then you run the risk of not being able to close the distance swiftly.
You had to find that mix of speed and attention. Too fast also meant you could not react in time and that was almost as bad. It did not matter if you noticed the Snitch first if you could not react fast enough to get it. Also a Seeker usually could not maintain a high speed the entire match. The effort drained you and you would get tired too fast. You could always substitute a reserve player and the higher-level teams did that often in the Leagues, but then you run the risk of having a less skilled player when you needed your starter player.
Harry did not have a reserve Seeker but it was still interesting to learn these things. He idly thought he would pay more attention to his classes if he could relate the lessons to Quidditch.
He knew he should not go at this speed so early in the match but he needed an outlet for his frustration. Also he might be able to distract the Hufflepuff Seeker this way. The more time the other Seeker spent focused on Harry, the less time he had to look for the Snitch on his own.
He saw Snape grimace at him. He could tell that he wanted to call some kind of penalty on him.
Oliver saw that too and got an idea.
"Fred! George!" He waved an arm to get their attention. "Yee yee distraction!"
"What?!" George looked at Oliver with evident confusion. "You alright Captain?"
Oliver moved his hand up and down, opening his hand and closing it. "That Muggle toy thing!"
"A yo yo?" Fred looked slightly less confused, but only slightly.
"Yes! Between you and George with Snape in the middle!"
The twins looked at each other, identical smiles forming.
"Keep his head on a swivel. He wants to give us penalties? Give him too many opportunities! Keep him guessing and let Harry get a chance to end it!"
Snape was about to bring the whistle to his lips, already forming the penalty call in his mind. Suddenly something large and heavy flew past his face, practically knocking the whistle from his hand. "What was-" he started to gasp and flinched as the same heavy object flew right behind his head, feeling the air move his long hair.
Fred and George flew on opposite sides of Snape. One would hit the Bludger at the other, aimed carefully to go very close to Snape but never making impact. They grunted with each hit, sending the Bludger at a very fast speed between them. They changed their angles slightly each time, flying swiftly to catch it on the rebound. Each time he tried to bring his whistle up to blow, the Bludger would come perilously close to his mouth. Other times he had to fly evasively to dodge the well-aimed missile.
"Sorry Ref!" George said, sounding anything but.
"Bludger has a mind of its own!" Fred said insincerely.
Oliver blocked another shot by one of the Hufflepuff Chasers and waved Angelina over, tossing her the big red ball. "Swarm the ref. Close fly by with short fast passes with him in the line. Keep him moving and guessing!"
Angelina grinned. "Grindylow him?"
"Exactly," Oliver said with a thumbs up. "Teach him to play favorites!"
George finally hit the Bludger wide, sending it off at too far of an angle for Fred to catch and send back. Snape looked windswept and furious, his face bright red and hair stuck out at all angles. He brought the whistle to his lips but then movement to the side made him stop. The Quaffle, though large and not as dense as a Bludger, flew past his face at shocking speed. It was even more impressive that it flew so fast since it was thrown and not hit with a bat, and it was not enchanted to fly.
Katie caught the ball, her hand tingling with how hard Angelina threw it. She flew forward slightly and dove, sending her flying past Snape within a few arms-length of him. He flinched, spinning slightly to avoid being drawn into her slipstream.
She turned tightly and threw the Quaffle up towards him with both hands. He ducked again, the ball flying quite close to his head. Alicia caught it neatly and flew behind Snape, shadowing his movements. As he turned to glare at her, she dropped the Quaffle and spun, hitting the ball with the end of her broom.
He had to roll to the side to avoid the ball. Angelina caught it on the other side and took off, putting on a burst of speed that rocked Snape's broom from the sudden displacement of air. Before he could do anything else he had to dive. The twins had found another Bludger in a good position and started their distraction once more.
The Hufflepuffs stared in amazement, stopping in their places to watch with open mouths. The students below were equally enthralled by the tactics of the Gryffindor team. More than a few began to laugh, watching the professor fly about at erratic angles, increasing loss of dignity.
The entire time Harry was flying fast around the pitch. He noticed the rest of the team distracting Snape and was glad for it. The other Seeker was transfixed by the display, practically giving Harry the entire pitch to look and the time to do it. He finally saw a glint of gold. The Snitch hovered over Snape's head, as if it too joined in the fun in playing with the irate referee.
Harry practically hugged the broom and flew straight towards Snape. It would only take a moment for the other Seeker to realize that the Snitch was floating there, and he was much closer to the action than Harry was. Thankfully he did not notice in time.
Oliver noticed Harry flying straight towards Snape and if he was, then that meant one thing. He stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled as loud as he could.
The team heard and scattered, stopping what they were doing. They flew away from the ruffled referee.
Snape, thinking he was safe for the first time in minutes, brought the whistle to his lips. He was ready to penalize the Gryffindors to the ground for what they did. Then he noticed Harry flying right at him. Before he could move, Harry flicked his broom up and stuck out his hand, handily catching the Snitch.
Harry held his hand high, the sun glinting off the futilely struggling golden ball.
"Harry Potter caught the Snitch!" Lee Jordan yelled into the enchanted bullhorn. "Gryffindor wins!"
Oliver waved his arms and pointed down. The players immediately went to land. Normally they would do a victory lap or two but he knew they would be safer on the ground. Cheers from the stands rained down on the players as they landed beside each other.
"Great catch!" Oliver congratulated. He slapped Harry on the back. "One of the fastest catches ever!"
The twins whirled Harry around until he stumbled laughing. Alicia held him steady and hugged him before passing him to Katie to hug. Angelina picked him up and squeezed him tight, letting his legs dangle over the ground.
"I couldn't have done it without everyone," Harry said breathlessly. "Snape was going to hit me with so many penalties."
"Good call Wood," George said. "Keep him moving and keep him from calling a penalty worked."
"You can't get away with that in League play," Oliver said, "they have multiple refs but I'm glad it worked here."
"I don't think we should do that to Hooch though," Fred said.
"I wouldn't want to. I like her too much."
"Unlike that bullying git," Angelina muttered, pointing with her chin at the man. Snape looked thunderous, obviously upset over what they did to him. He began to stalk over.
Angelina put Harry down, standing in front of him slightly. The others clustered around and Oliver stood out in front with arms crossed. "I'll tell him it was my idea," he said.
"We'd do it again though," Fred said and the others agreed loudly.
Before Snape could reach them he was intercepted by Hooch, McGonagall, and Dumbledore. A quiet but fierce exchange was had between the four of them with a lot of hand gestures and pointing. Finally Dumbledore and Hooch approached the team with McGonagall going to dismiss the watchers in the stands and Snape stomping away looking incredibly upset.
"A fine game," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "One of the most stunning displays of teamwork I've ever seen. Not to mention a record for fastest catch I must say." He smiled as the team cheered. "Be wary about your…choice of tactics in the future however. We may be adding a rule or two about flying about the referee."
"If any of you think to do that to me you better make sure it's worth it." Hooch waggled a finger at them, especially at the twins. "I know how to fly evasively and call penalty at the same time." She smiled. "It was quite the treat to see it happen to someone else though."
"Indeed," Dumbledore chuckled. "Enjoy your victory." He gave Harry a meaningful look, idly tapping the mirrored surface of a watch he held. Then he and Hooch left the team.
"Everything alright Harry?" Oliver asked, having noticed the exchange.
Harry nodded. "Just something we talked about over break. Nothing bad, I promise."
"Good." Oliver held up Harry's hand as the crowd of well-wishers stormed up to them. "Because I don't want to let anything ruin your well-earned victory celebration!"