Chapter 14: The Big Match
Hogwarts Quidditch team, dressed in purple, marched into the arena. As they came onto the pitch they were greeted with huge cheers from the crowd. It seemed the whole school had attended, as well as hundreds of well-wishers and other Quidditch fans. Fred and George conjured streamers, and it seemed that they had sold quite a few of their banners saying "Hogwarts Forever", "Down with Durmstrang", "Durmstrang Stink" and other messages along the same lines... All it needed was a tap of the wand and the message would change... The players truly realised what an occasion this was to be.
The Durmstrang players entered from the other end, to "boos" from the Hogwarts contingent, but small cheers from their travelling fans... The two teams lined up eye to eye as Madam Hooch gave a short speech about fairness... Viktor and Marcus squared off. Krum looked seriously angry, but Marcus simply smiled back at him.
After the speech, the teams took to the air, and the match began...
It seemed to Harry that as soon as the match began, the Hogwarts team was in trouble. Big trouble. Ron and Marcus were playing well enough, but the rest of the team seemed to be having a bad day, and before too long, the score was 60-10 to Durmstrang. Every pass the Hogwarts chasers attempted was blocked, and the few shots they did manage were blocked easily.
Hagrid observed with Hermionie and Cho in the stands...
"They're being slaughtered!" Hagrid seemed shaken, his pride in Hogwarts never diminished.
"No... You have to pass the Quaffle..." Cho was shouting at the players, obviously desperate to be making a difference herself...
"Come on you idiots, get it together" Hermionie shouted, evidently swept up by the atmosphere.
"This is bad..." Hagrid observed, looking at the scoreboard, which had just turned to 80-10...
Matters were made worse by the insults thrown from Marcus to Viktor, and back again. Krum flew close to Harry...
"You should watch out for Greenstone, he's not what he seems to be..."
"Shut up Krum!" Harry replied, and faking a sudden sight of the snitch, he dropped through a crowd of players, then pulled up before hitting the grass... Viktor was completely fooled, and spent a minute following Harry around the pitch before realising what was going on. Harry was amused...
"Little nervous Viktor? Or should I call you Vick?" Krum looked like he was about to charge at Harry, but elected not to as the Durmstrang chasers put another ten points on the score board.
Hogwarts were playing terribly. They called a time out when the score reached 140-20. Michael gave them simple instructions...
"We've just got to keep the score difference less than 150, and we can still win. Harry, Marcus, Ron... We'll only get one shot at this... When the snitch comes out, you know what to do. We'll just have to take the hits on the chin."
"Ron, you take the first attempt at Krum, I'll finish him..." Marcus proposed. The plan had been worked out way in advance, and each person knew what had to be done. Ron agreed and the team took to the sky again, this time with a clear sense of what had to be done.
Almost as soon as play resumed, Harry saw the snitch. Viktor saw it too, a fraction of a second later. Marcus and Ron recognised Harry's signal and flew in tandem, controlling a bludger between them.
Harry and Viktor approached the snitch, but Ron was almost on top of it already. Marcus hit the bludger towards Ron, who smashed it straight for Krum... Viktor saw it and dived to the right, away from the path of the snitch... However, Marcus anticipated his movement, and moved to the bludger, now out of Krum's sight... Again the bludger was aimed at Krum's head, and it was going to hit it... Hogwarts got lucky again... The score was now 170-60 (the Durmstrang team was preoccupied by the action around the snitch, so Hogwarts scored a few easy points) and the second bludger was headed for Ron. He smiled as time seemed to slow down. He again smashed the bludger, and this time, Krum had no way to get out of the way... The two bludgers arrived at him at almost the exact same time, one hitting him right on the mouth, and one half way down his back. He almost fell from his broom accompanied by the largest cheer from the crowd. Oliver Wood (who was doing an excellent job of commentating) was ecstatic... Some of the best world cup teams couldn't stop Krum, but Ron and Marcus had done it... It was not long after the first cheer died down that Harry grabbed the snitch, winning the game for Hogwarts. The crowd again went crazy. Harry too was ecstatic... He had caught the snitch, just as he promised Cho he would...
As he landed next to Ron and Marcus, the three were immediately swamped by the most enthusiastic fans, including Oliver, Fred and George. After a bit of hand shaking and congratulating, Cho and Hermionie broke through the crown, giving Harry and Marcus an enthusiastic kiss each, before crushing Ron between them... The three stars were then carried from the field (crowd surfing) and dropped off in the Hogwarts dressing room, which was now full of sweets and drinks (courtesy of the Weasley brothers, of course), and the real celebrations began...
The post-match party was short, (due to the fact that everyone wanted to get ready for the ball) but highly enjoyable. Harry was a hero, again, but Ron gained a large amount of credibility for being the one who broke Krum's jaw-bone... After the most boisterous part of the celebration had died down, Dumbledore came in and said a quick "Well done" speech, (largely ignored due to the fantastic mood of the players) and told them to finish up before they made themselves feel sick before the ball. It seemed that the team forgot any concept of anything other than Quidditch, evolving into the Oliver Wood attitude of "Quidditch is life.", and Marcus also forgot that tomorrow he would have to fight a now VERY angry Viktor Krum...
Hogwarts Quidditch team, dressed in purple, marched into the arena. As they came onto the pitch they were greeted with huge cheers from the crowd. It seemed the whole school had attended, as well as hundreds of well-wishers and other Quidditch fans. Fred and George conjured streamers, and it seemed that they had sold quite a few of their banners saying "Hogwarts Forever", "Down with Durmstrang", "Durmstrang Stink" and other messages along the same lines... All it needed was a tap of the wand and the message would change... The players truly realised what an occasion this was to be.
The Durmstrang players entered from the other end, to "boos" from the Hogwarts contingent, but small cheers from their travelling fans... The two teams lined up eye to eye as Madam Hooch gave a short speech about fairness... Viktor and Marcus squared off. Krum looked seriously angry, but Marcus simply smiled back at him.
After the speech, the teams took to the air, and the match began...
It seemed to Harry that as soon as the match began, the Hogwarts team was in trouble. Big trouble. Ron and Marcus were playing well enough, but the rest of the team seemed to be having a bad day, and before too long, the score was 60-10 to Durmstrang. Every pass the Hogwarts chasers attempted was blocked, and the few shots they did manage were blocked easily.
Hagrid observed with Hermionie and Cho in the stands...
"They're being slaughtered!" Hagrid seemed shaken, his pride in Hogwarts never diminished.
"No... You have to pass the Quaffle..." Cho was shouting at the players, obviously desperate to be making a difference herself...
"Come on you idiots, get it together" Hermionie shouted, evidently swept up by the atmosphere.
"This is bad..." Hagrid observed, looking at the scoreboard, which had just turned to 80-10...
Matters were made worse by the insults thrown from Marcus to Viktor, and back again. Krum flew close to Harry...
"You should watch out for Greenstone, he's not what he seems to be..."
"Shut up Krum!" Harry replied, and faking a sudden sight of the snitch, he dropped through a crowd of players, then pulled up before hitting the grass... Viktor was completely fooled, and spent a minute following Harry around the pitch before realising what was going on. Harry was amused...
"Little nervous Viktor? Or should I call you Vick?" Krum looked like he was about to charge at Harry, but elected not to as the Durmstrang chasers put another ten points on the score board.
Hogwarts were playing terribly. They called a time out when the score reached 140-20. Michael gave them simple instructions...
"We've just got to keep the score difference less than 150, and we can still win. Harry, Marcus, Ron... We'll only get one shot at this... When the snitch comes out, you know what to do. We'll just have to take the hits on the chin."
"Ron, you take the first attempt at Krum, I'll finish him..." Marcus proposed. The plan had been worked out way in advance, and each person knew what had to be done. Ron agreed and the team took to the sky again, this time with a clear sense of what had to be done.
Almost as soon as play resumed, Harry saw the snitch. Viktor saw it too, a fraction of a second later. Marcus and Ron recognised Harry's signal and flew in tandem, controlling a bludger between them.
Harry and Viktor approached the snitch, but Ron was almost on top of it already. Marcus hit the bludger towards Ron, who smashed it straight for Krum... Viktor saw it and dived to the right, away from the path of the snitch... However, Marcus anticipated his movement, and moved to the bludger, now out of Krum's sight... Again the bludger was aimed at Krum's head, and it was going to hit it... Hogwarts got lucky again... The score was now 170-60 (the Durmstrang team was preoccupied by the action around the snitch, so Hogwarts scored a few easy points) and the second bludger was headed for Ron. He smiled as time seemed to slow down. He again smashed the bludger, and this time, Krum had no way to get out of the way... The two bludgers arrived at him at almost the exact same time, one hitting him right on the mouth, and one half way down his back. He almost fell from his broom accompanied by the largest cheer from the crowd. Oliver Wood (who was doing an excellent job of commentating) was ecstatic... Some of the best world cup teams couldn't stop Krum, but Ron and Marcus had done it... It was not long after the first cheer died down that Harry grabbed the snitch, winning the game for Hogwarts. The crowd again went crazy. Harry too was ecstatic... He had caught the snitch, just as he promised Cho he would...
As he landed next to Ron and Marcus, the three were immediately swamped by the most enthusiastic fans, including Oliver, Fred and George. After a bit of hand shaking and congratulating, Cho and Hermionie broke through the crown, giving Harry and Marcus an enthusiastic kiss each, before crushing Ron between them... The three stars were then carried from the field (crowd surfing) and dropped off in the Hogwarts dressing room, which was now full of sweets and drinks (courtesy of the Weasley brothers, of course), and the real celebrations began...
The post-match party was short, (due to the fact that everyone wanted to get ready for the ball) but highly enjoyable. Harry was a hero, again, but Ron gained a large amount of credibility for being the one who broke Krum's jaw-bone... After the most boisterous part of the celebration had died down, Dumbledore came in and said a quick "Well done" speech, (largely ignored due to the fantastic mood of the players) and told them to finish up before they made themselves feel sick before the ball. It seemed that the team forgot any concept of anything other than Quidditch, evolving into the Oliver Wood attitude of "Quidditch is life.", and Marcus also forgot that tomorrow he would have to fight a now VERY angry Viktor Krum...
