Chapter 11- Slytherin -vs.- Gryffindor
"Rise and shine, Harry! Today's the big day!" Harry looked up and saw a bleary image of Wood leering over him.
"Mmm…why so early Wood? Still sleep time……" Harry felt a rough shake on his shoulder and suddenly sat up. "Wha?"
"Early, because you need to be ready. So get up!!" Wood pulled him out of bed and he fell on the floor with a thud. "Haaaaarryy!! C'mon kid!"
"Argh…ok ok I'm up." He slowly stood up and put his glasses on. Oliver was standing in front of him, arms crossed. "Boy, Oliver. If you practice that look any longer, you just might turn into Professor McGonagall." Oliver laughed and they went down to breakfast. The whole team was up and eating by the time the rest of the students were making their way down the staircases, eagerly talking about the upcoming match.
After breakfast, the team made their way down to the locker room and changed into their scarlet robes. Oliver came out and gave them their pre-match talk.
"Alright guys. You know how important this game is. So do better than your best and we're sure to win. Although, if you're all as nervous as me, we might have trouble." Wood managed a smile and led his team to the pitch. The huge doors opened and they flew out, one by one, to the cheers of the crowd. Three of the four houses were rooting for them, obviously! Harry could hear Lee Jordan, the commentator for the matches, introducing the teams and welcoming everyone to the match.
"Welcome to the Hogwarts Quiddich field! Today's game will be one to remember, Slytherin -vs.- Gryffindor!! This is the last game for Gryffindor team captain and Keeper Oliver Wood, as he will be graduating this year. He seems to have wanted to win his last match, for he's flying on his new Firebolt today, the same model as Harry Potter's, who is the Gryffindor Seeker." Harry was startled out of a daze from the sound of his name, and he realized that he needed to get into position.
"Madam Hooch will be refereeing the match today, as usual, and there she is now with the official Quiddich box. The players have taken their positions, and there go the bludgers." Harry wasn't watching the bludgers. He was watching Malfoy. He had his wand out, pointing it at Madam Hooch's broom, and was muttering something under his breath.
"What do you think you're doing, exactly?" Harry had flown over closer to Malfoy, but didn't want to cause a problem. Malfoy quickly slipped his wand back into his slime-green robes and gave Harry an odd-looking smirk.
"You don't need to be in on this Potter, so keep your overgrown nose where it belongs. If you find anything out, Flint'll take care of you. I say he needed to a long time ago, but I don't make the rules."
"What…? Rules?? You think…" Harry didn't have time to finish, because just at that moment Madam Hooch released the Quaffle and the game began.
He soared high, searching for the Snitch. Malfoy tailed close behind, and Harry kept looking back. Malfoy was being a distracting little git. Oliver yelled up to Harry, "Don't let him bother you! You've got the fastest broom in the world, Harry! Let him follow!!" Harry took his advice. If Malfoy was going to learn, he'd have to do it the hard way. Harry sped into a dive straight for the ground, acting like he'd seen the Snitch. It was working, Malfoy was following. When Harry got about ten feet from the ground, he jerked his broom up, as he was so famous for, but Malfoy wasn't fast enough. He slammed into the ground, head first, and slid off the end of his broom. Harry looked back and laughed, then re-gained his height. Wood yelled a congrats as he sped past on the way up, and Harry gave him the thumbs-up. He was very proud of himself. Gryffindor would almost surely win now that Malfoy was down, with no signs of being able to fly soon.
After Harry's spectacular Wronski Feint, the team had new spirit. Angelina and Katie managed to speed around the Slytherin keeper and score the first 30 points of the game. Thirty-zero, Gryffindor. Harry was still searching for the Snitch, and Malfoy seemed to be knocked out, still on the ground where he landed. Slytherin took possession again, and this time Flint had the Quaffle. He blasted through Alicia and Katie after smacking Angelina in the side to avoid a head-on collision. Flint threw the ball with no sign of Oliver ready to block, but he suddenly came down from above and smacked the Quaffle with the end of his broom. It hit Flint right in the face, and he began falling to the ground, still on his broom. Harry could tell that his nose was bleeding, even from his high spot in the air. Flint stood up on the pitch and rushed to the locker room, coming back out with Madam Pomfrey and a towel to dry his robes. She made him drink a potion that healed his nose immediately, and he hopped on his broom, soaring back to the game. He gave Wood an evil look, before chasing after Alicia with the Quaffle. She scored. Forty-zero. The eruption from the crowd was like a thousand galloping horses. It seemed to be enough to wake Malfoy up, and after seeing the score, he yelled something about a new Keeper. By this time, Marcus had the Quaffle again, and he was driving straight for the hoops. Oliver didn't manage to get that one, so Slytherin got their first score of the game. A fourth of the stands screamed and cheered as Angelina grabbed possession. Suddenly, a Slytherin-hit bludger smacked her in the head and she fell to the ground near the goalposts.
Harry saw that she was badly hurt, and Madam Pomfrey rushed out to the field. A few teachers came out and they began to take her away on a stretcher, conjured up by one of them. Wood called a time out and the team rushed down to see her. She was still conscious, but one of her eyes was squinted shut and she was holding a cloth over her nose. As the teachers rushed her off the field, Madam Hooch blew her whistle and they resumed the game.
With one Chaser down, Slytherin managed to get the Quaffle past Oliver two more times, making Gryffindor twenty points up instead of forty. It was now or never for Harry to find the Snitch. He glanced over at Malfoy, who after slowly getting back up and in the game, seemed to be in a daze and not paying attention. Harry flew over to George and whispered something in his ear. George smiled and flew off to chase down a bludger. Harry focused back on finding the Snitch, and there it was! Hovering ten feet under Malfoy, a shiny gold glint caught Harry's eye. He dove after it and felt his stomach turn from the speed of the Firebolt moving under him. Just then George hit a bludger towards Malfoy, who wasn't paying attention at all, and Harry was coming right up underneath him. The bludger whisked past Harry's head and he felt the wind on his hair. It had missed them both, but now Malfoy realized what Harry was doing and sped after the Snitch as well. He came up behind Harry and grabbed his leg, but a little too close. Harry kicked, hard, and smacked Malfoy in the face. He stumbled backwards on his broom, did a few somersaults in the air, and continued to race after Harry. The whole team was watching, even though Slytherin was in possession and twenty feet from the goalposts. Harry raced up, down, to the right, back up, and he was finally gaining on the little ball. Malfoy was still tailing him, but not close enough to do anything (that Firebolt was just too fast for him!). Harry swerved around a goal post, raced by Oliver and Marcus Flint, who were hovering close to each other, and turned completely around after the Snitch made an odd turn. He reached his hand out when something distracted him. Madam Hooch's broom was swerving and flipping, completely out of control. She managed to get it to the ground and stumbled off, but it continued to act like Harry's had during his first match.
***
Oliver seemed to think Madam Hooch's broom disaster was a perfect time to screw up Flint for good. He asked Fred to borrow his club and raced around to where the bludgers were hovering. They seemed to be waiting for something to happen just like everyone else. While Madam Hooch was getting a new broom, he took aim and whacked one of the bludgers as hard as he could straight for Flint's head. Bingo. Flint fell for the second time that day, this time worse than the first. Oliver quickly gave the club back to Fred so he wouldn't get caught, just as Madam Hooch was returning from the supply room. She rushed out on to the pitch where Flint lie, and called for both teams to come down. The audience was booing now, sick of all the time outs in the game. Oliver stood behind Harry and Katie while Madam Hooch began to lecture.
***
Harry had seen the whole thing. The club, the bludger, the blood. He didn't think any of the Slytherin players saw it, but Oliver was gonna be in deep trouble if he got caught for this one. Madam Hooch began, "This," she pointed to Flint, still lying on the ground suffering, "is completely uncalled for. I don't care how much hatred there is between these two houses. This student's life is on the line, and if that bludger would have hit a few more inches down his face, he would already be dead. Whoever did this will pay the price, and we will find out who did it. But, if you have the courage, you will face up to what you did and your punishment will not be so great. I think I have said enough. The game will continue without Mr. Flint, with a penalty shot for Slytherin and a possession." She conjured up a stretcher and Flint hovered away into the Slytherin locker room, followed by some teachers. "Ok, everybody back up! Penalty shot for Slytherin and a possession from the center line!"
***
Oliver felt himself shaking as he mounted his broom and went to defend the hoops for the penalty shot. He wasn't sure how he caught the Quaffle as it whizzed towards the left hoop. He wasn't even aware that Slytherin got another possession and was coming towards him again. He suddenly heard the familiar sound of the Quaffle pushing away the air around it, and he looked up in time to barely grab it with his fingertips. This wasn't going to work- he was too preoccupied to play like this. He called another time-out and beckoned for the team to gather around him.
"You guys saw me, right? I don't know how the Slytherins missed it, but they obviously did. The thing is, I'm so shaken up that I barely caught that last shot, and it was practically right to me. Harry, you need to find the Snitch. Now. Katie, Alicia, I know we don't have Angelina anymore, but they don't have Flint so it's pretty much evened out. Just try to make as many steals as you can and get in front of them when they're driving for this end. I'm not sure how much longer I can stay up here, so just do whatever you need to do. Alright, that's it…good luck guys." The team flew back into the game, but Oliver pulled Harry back. "Harry, do whatever it takes. Anything. Just find it!"
Because of Oliver's pleading, Katie and Alicia managed to block two straight Slytherin shots, while knocking another 10 points on the board for Gryffindor. By this time, Wood was feeling a little better and could at least pay attention to what was going on. He caught the Quaffle that was speeding toward his head and looked up to see Harry, hysterically searching the entire field for the tiny winged ball. Wood began searching himself when the Slytherins had possession, but was no match for Harry and Malfoy's eyes.
***
Harry was determined to find the Snitch as soon as possible. He frantically scanned the entire field with his eyes, from one side to the other, but couldn't glimpse the gold shimmer from the sun's rays. The score of the game was now Slytherin 20 and Gryffindor 50- it was one of the highest scoring games Harry had seen- and he knew Oliver wasn't going to last much longer. As one of the Slytherin chasers threw the Quaffle past Oliver and scored another goal, Harry saw a glint of gold high above Oliver. He put on a burst of speed from his Firebolt and went zooming up, sure enough with Malfoy close at hand behind him. Harry kept his eyes focused on the snitch, determined to not let it get out of sight this time. But little did Harry know that Malfoy was getting closer, wand outstretched……