1 Chapter 12

After eating in the Great Hall, Aurora and Nitrotic met on their way to the change rooms for the Quidditch match.

"Good luck Aurora. Your team's gonna need it!" Nitrotic cackled evilly.

"The same could be said for yours" Aurora smiled, almost as evilly as she walked off sniggering. Haer'Dalis, who was watching the two, spoke to himself.

"Well, this will be an interesting match. The Raven vs. the Eagle."

At the Quidditch field, Madam Hooch was just about to start the game, after outlining the game for them.

"Now you know the rules. No wands, no hitting, and play fair" Madam Hooch commanded

"I always do!" Nitrotic said, grinning at Aurora, in his evil fashion, and she returned the evil grin with one of her own. She posed a bit, on her broom, followed by Nitrotic. Then Madam Hooch released the balls, and the match began.

Aurora watched for balls heading towards the best player of the Hufflepuff team, which were chasers and for the other vital players of her team. Immediately Nitrotic grabbed the Quaffle, and flew towards the goal. A Bludger flew towards Aurora, and she took off in a shot, and whacking the ball away with her Beater stick. Meanwhile,

one of the Hufflepuff blocked Nitrotic's way, causing him to lose his grip on his broom. He fell, but grabbed it from underneath and pulled himself back on. Unfortunately, he lost the Quaffle in the commotion, and the Hufflepuff got it. Nitrotic growled, as the Hufflepuff Catcher took off like a shot towards the goal.

Aurora beat a Bludger away that was about to hit the Quaffle carrying Hufflepuff Catcher, then caught sight of Nitrotic chasing him, with an angry fire burning in his eyes. He easily evaded the Bludger sent at him by the other Beater on the Hufflepuff side, and Aurora deliberately blocked his way as she watched for the Bludgers. Haer'Dalis, who was watching from the sidelines with Beth, commented on the match.

"Ahh, what a thrilling match, isn't it, my swan?" He said to Beth, who blushed.

Aurora spotted one of the Bludgers, and she hit it away from one of her best players, spinning it towards Shamus, the Ravenclaw Seeker. Nitrotic, in an attempt to confuse the Hufflepuff Seeker, quickly shouted to Shamus.

"Shamus, the Snitch! It's at the Hufflepuff goal end!" He then quickly made the signal that told anyone watching that he was lying. Shamus instantly understood, and took off down the other end, the Hufflepuff Seeker following closely behind. Then the Bludger that Aurora hit; slammed into another of the Ravenclaw Chasers, who was shaken, but managed to stay on his broom. Nitrotic stole the Quaffle from the Hufflepuff, and headed down towards the goal. Aurora shouted to Samantha, a Hufflepuff Catcher, who blocked Nitrotic's way. Aurora called to Nitrotic, gloating.

"I know all of your tricks, Nitrotic! They won't work as long I'm on the team!" Shamus grinned as the Hufflepuff Seeker got to his end of the playing field, only to find that the Snitch wasn't actually there.

"You haven't even SEEN all my tricks yet!" Nitrotic told Aurora at the top of his voice, before doing a quick dive to avoid the Bludger she sent his way in retaliation. Aurora flew over to the Hufflepuff Seeker, and told him to go the other way, which confused the already puzzled Seeker even further.

Nitrotic passed the Quaffle to Alex, who took the ball, and scored, making the score 10 – 0, Ravenclaw way. Aurora lost her patience, and shouted at the Hufflepuff Seeker, which scared the poor boy into going back to the field. And it continued like this…

"You dirty, stinking cheaters! I saw that little Bludger trick you did Aurora!" Nitrotic complained at the 70-minute mark of the game. They had been given a ten-minute break, which they had sorely needed. "I swear it, another minute out there without rest, and I would have fallen off my broom!"

"Man, this is going on forever! But at least my team has 190 points" Aurora said smugly. "And what Bludger trick?"

"You had two Bludgin' Sticks! I saw it with my own eyes!" Nitrotic replied, angrily as they awaited the water flask.

"What?! I did not!!" Aurora protested. "I had one stick thank you very much! I just know how to switch to different hands in a flash... That's all. Yeah, they're working us so hard. But hey, it looks like my team is winning. I guess you'll be coughing up 50 Galleons." To the passing Hufflepuff Seeker she said.

"Hey, look for the Snitch and let's end this game already!" Aurora smirked at Nitrotic. "Looks like the guy on your team can't even spot it." With a voice dripping in sarcasm, Nitrotic responded.

"Oh wait, I remember now! YOUR Seeker grabbed the Snitch straight off, and nobody noticed! Silly me!" Haer'Dalis came down at that point to visit Nitrotic and Aurora.

"Don't take that tone of voice with me! In fact I bet 5 more Galleons that your guy can't even find the Snitch, before my Hufflepuff guy over there does!" Aurora challenged.

"You're on!" Nitrotic instantly replied. At this point, Haer'Dalis spoke up. "Greetings!" He said.

"Yo, Haer! What's up?" Nitrotic greeted, delighted.

"Oh hi Haer'Dalis." Aurora mumbled. Haer'Dalis got into one of his Epic moods.

"Such an epic battle this is becoming! Luckily I have the entire thing on this Recording Stone," Haer'Dalis said grandly.

"Well you'll have to let me borrow it after the match, so I can see myself kicking Nitrotic's sorry ass again and again!" Aurora shouted. A glare from the tired team members in the tent made her quiet down.

"In your dreams!" Nitrotic scoffed as he grabbed a flask of water as it passed him, and took a drink. While nobody was watching, he slipped some liquid into the flask. "Want some Aurora?" He offered, holding out the flask.

Nah, no thanks. I go very well without water for a while." Aurora declined graciously.

"You sure? You look pretty flushed." Nitrotic pressed.

"I'm sure. Besides, I had some sprite before I came over to talk to you. It's powering me up quite nicely" Aurora assured him. Nitrotic swirled around the flask innocently, actually mixing the two liquids. Haer'Dalis was confused. "Sprite? What's that?"

"A Muggle drink. Contains an incredible amount of sugar." Aurora informed the confused Tiefling.

"Ah, interesting! Maybe you'd like to have me try that sometime. I don't drink much Muggle drinks." Haer'Dalis sighed.

"I'll have some water!" The Hufflepuff Seeker said, and Nitrotic tossed him the flask, and he drank it with great relief. Nitrotic didn't even grin evilly to celebrate. Too late Aurora noticed what had happened.

"Hey! Don't do that! He's from the other team, he might cheat!" Aurora warned. Haer'Dalis scoffed as the Hufflepuff Seeker went pale.

"I notice you haven't done much cheating this match Nitrotic. Why such a departure from normal?" Haer'Dalis asked.

"I wanted to see what not cheating was like. So far, I'm not very fond of it," Nitrotic grumbled as Haer'Dalis laughed.

"Well, it makes for an interesting change, your not deflating the Cushioning charms on peoples brooms, and throwing blinding powder in peoples eyes when nobody's watching"

"I know, it makes for a boring match, doesn't it?" Nitrotic offered, and Haer'Dalis nodded vigorously. Madam Hooch walked in.

"Time's up teams. Captains, get your people onto the field"

"Yo! Lets move out people!" Nitrotic motioned towards the field. Aurora ran out, got on her broom as fast as she could, and in a full minute she was doing her stuff. Nitrotic took it more slowly, climbing leisurely onto his broom, like the rest of his team. He faced Aurora as Hooch prepares to release the balls. The sky was slowly getting darker, in preparation for a large thunderstorm. Nitrotic looked up

"Boy, there are some clouds!" He whistled. Rain started falling onto the field, and a lightning bolt arched across the sky.

"Ready to lose now, Aurora?" Nitrotic cackled.

"Ha! You wish!" Aurora replied instantly. The Hufflepuff Seeker let out a huge yawn. Aurora quickly looked at him, and back at Nitrotic suspiciously. The balls were released, and Nitrotic grabbed the Quaffle. The Snitch flashed by, almost as if it were daring them to chase it. Aurora sighed, and beat off some Bludger while yelling into the Hufflepuff Seeker's ear, but in vain. The Seeker was falling asleep, leaning against Aurora. Nitrotic looked back and laughed.

"C'mon Aurora! Wake up your Seeker, and get going!"

"Come on! Wake up. This is not normal, that's not for sure!" Aurora ordered desperately. She glared at Nitrotic.

"You did this!" Nitrotic nudged aside the Hufflepuff keeper, and scored, throwing the Quaffle through the hoop just before the keeper flew into him.

"You can't prove a thing! Even if I DID do something!" He shouted at her.

"Yeah, right!" She muttered. Shamus was after the Snitch, but his broom started wobbling badly. Nitrotic spotted this, and he desperately flew after Shamus.

"SHAMUS!" He screamed. Shamus looked back at Nitrotic, his expression one of pure panic.

"My broom! It's too old, it's not working properly!" Shamus cried. Aurora was still trying to wake up her Seeker, shouting at him.

"Come on, wake up!!" She nudged him, and he twitched, said the name of his girlfriend, and snuggled into Aurora. "Ahh! It's no use!"

Nitrotic flew in front of Shamus, turned, and flew underneath him as the old broom finally stopped working, sending Shamus plummeting onto Nitrotic's shoulders.

"Damnit you're heavy! But don't worry, I have a plan!" Nitrotic told him. "But no more pie for you!" Nitrotic sped after the Snitch, as the teachers converged to discuss whether this unexpected piggyback was a legal move. Aurora growled and smacked a Bludger their way, but one of the Ravenclaw Beaters hit it right back.

"Whatever you're planning, do it quick" Shamus complained.

"Here we GOOOOO!!!!" Nitrotic screamed as he threw Shamus from his shoulders. Shamus caught the Snitch, and he fell towards the ground before Nitrotic caught him again. The announcer was shocked.

"Ravenclaw gets the Snitch... But Hufflepuff WINS!!!" And the stands erupted into wild cheering. Aurora smirked as the teams came in to land.

"I knew Hufflepuff would win, but it's a shame that they got the Snitch, though." Aurora said to herself. While this was happening, the sleeping Hufflepuff Seeker fell from his broom. "Ah well, who cares anyway. As they say, all well that ends well." Madam Hooch flew out to the center of the field.

"Many of you are contesting the legality of that last maneuver. Well, myself and three other teachers have checked the rulebook thoroughly, and there is nothing against throwing the Seeker at the Snitch, so long as he catches it. Ravenclaw gets the Snitch." Nitrotic sighed.

"Well, at least we got the Snitch"

Haer'Dalis ran onto the field, followed by Beth.

"That was a wonderful maneuver my raven! A pity it didn't win you the match, but you only lost by ten points" Haer'Dalis congratulated Nitrotic. Aurora looked over to Nitrotic and smiled.

"Way to go, Aurora! You, like, so totally kicked their asses!" Beth gossiped.

"I know, Beth! Yeah. How about that, Nitrotic? I won anyway, even if you did cheat! I totally, like, kicked YOUR ass!" Aurora giggled. Nitrotic fingered his wand angrily, contemplating blasting her with a Hotfoot curse.

"I did not cheat!" Nitrotic protested. At that moment, the Hufflepuff Seeker stirred slightly and said, "Mommy?"

"Then why did our Seeker over there start falling asleep a while after you gave him that water?" Aurora demanded.

"I heard he had a pretty late night," Nitrotic suggested.

"And how did you know that? For your information, I know that he went to bed early, even missing out on a date with his own girlfriend so that he would win the match for us!" Aurora countered.

"I repeat what I said earlier, you can't prove a thing," Nitrotic stated. Haer'Dalis pretended to be shocked.

" Nitrotic, cheat? Never?!!"

"Fine. I'll let it drop it this time… That Seeker you see over there is an idiot anyway. But the next time we ever face off again like this, I will so totally kick your ass in more than one way if you cheat!" Aurora said. Beth glared at Nitrotic.

"I heard he broke a guys leg so that Ravenclaw would win" Beth eyed Nitrotic suspiciously. Auroras bad mood having ended, she just smiled and then hugged Nitrotic.

"That was a cool move you made, though… I would have never thought of it myself, Nitrotic." Aurora grinned.

"Heh. You just wait until the ball, I'll show you moves you've never seen before there, as well!" He countered easily.

"Jeez, your mood swings way too fast! I swear you aren't even normal, Aurora!" Beth complained. "I don't know how you can like such a dirty cheat"

Beth's last sentence came out, registering with Nitrotic's mind in a flash.

"You like me?" He demanded of Aurora.

"Errr, I mean..." Beth stumbled helplessly. Aurora just shrugged and giggled.

"I hope you're prepared to be wowed by my good looks at the ball tonight, Nitrotic. I can't wait to see what you look like either. Speaking of which, we have to go and clean up. The ball starts tonight, so we can't afford to stall when we could be cleaning ourselves up!" Aurora sped towards the castle.

"It'll have to be some wowing, " He muttered under his breath, as he strolled after her, taking his time.

"That was a spectacular match. A pity the team with the Mudblood captain won." Joshin complained, as she left the stadium.

"Can't have everything my dear. Still, at least we saw some… Interesting maneuvers from that Nitrotic boy." Snape said to her. He then walked off to the castle, whistling.