A/N Sorry it's been a little longer in coming but I do have an excuse! I've had a temperature of over 100 for the past four days...So for all you impatient peeps out there, I've dragged myself off my death bed to give you the next chapter (so what, I'm exaggerating a little, shoot me!)
Once again, all hugs go to reviewers.
-------And I'd suggest you go and read some of jona's stuff. It's really good...
This chapter is dedicated to wapi. She was the only one to bother actually telling me whether I should do quidditch or Sirius in this chapter. So if you wanted Sirius, flame wapi...ENJOY THE QUIDDITCH!!!!!!!
As the first quidditch match of the year drew closer, the rivalry between houses grew. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were all desperate to bring down Slytherin and, as the weeks narrowed down to days, tension escalated. There had already been three fights over the outcome of the first match which had resulted in three separate trips to Madame Pomfrey.
Harry became increasingly nervous as the match came closer and, after several close misses, had to resort to careful inspection of the hallways due to a sudden increase in the number of outstretched feet. Harry spent most of his time in the Gryffindor common room with his friends. Any other time he owned was spent on the quidditch pitch.
The night before the match found Harry feverishly doing his homework that he'd forgotten to do earlier. Divination, as always, was easy: he simply made it up. But Defence Against the Dark Arts was a lot harder. Harry didn't have a clue how half of the jinxes they had done worked: he had just performed them.
After a further thirty minutes of homework, he was greatly relieved when Angelina finally stood up and announced it was time for the team to go to bed. Harry trooped upstairs with the rest of the team thinking that the match had better be worth the hype.
Harry had a restless night that night: he dreamt that the Slytherins had all got hold of Firebolts and zoomed around the pitch setting fire to the Gryffindor's brooms. To make matters worse, the Gryffindor goal posts were massive, great caves swinging in the wind and so large that one could have fit an elephant inside. Tony had no hope of defending them. The Slytherin goalposts, on the other hand, were tiny, so small one couldn't fit a seed inside let alone the quaffle. And if that wasn't enough, Madame Hooch favoured the Slytherins who, whenever Harry flew past, turned into great black robed figures wearing masks...
Harry was immensely relieved when he woke in the morning to find that the match hadn't started, that the Slytherins definitely didn't have Firebolts, the goals were all the same size, Madame Hooch was as fair as always and, generally, he could safely say that the Slytherins wouldn't turn into Death Eaters although he wouldn't put it past Malfoy...
The weather was perfect for a quidditch match: not so cold that the ground had frozen, but not so hot that the ground had dried up. After a hearty breakfast and several "good lucks" from the Gryffindor table, Harry and the rest of the team made their way to the changing rooms. Angelina gave them the usual pep talk and, minutes later, they were walking out onto the turf.
Harry was pleased to see that the entire school had turned out. Three quarters of the crowd were sporting the red and gold of Gryffindor and the crowd seemed swamped with banners of the Gryffindor lion. Only a tiny area located behind the Slytherin goalposts wore green and silver. Professor Ignia sat right in the front row in black scowling as if the sky had just fallen. In the middle area, Harry saw the commentary box. Once again, Lee Jordan, the Weasley twins' friend, was doing the commentary closely watched by Professor McGonagall. Much to Harry's surprise, several other teachers were also seated in the box including Professor Dumbledore.
In the middle of the pitch the two team captains shook hands roughly. Harry caught sight of Malfoy and they each glared. Madame Hooch blew her whistle and they were off!
Harry decided to save his glare for Malfoy for another time and kicked off with the others. He soared higher and higher, wind whipping through his robes, until everyone below was the size of a button. Harry patrolled the game like a hawk keeping an eye out for the snitch. Far below him, he heard the magically magnified voice of Lee Jordan announce the score as ten-nil to Gryffindor: "And the first goal of the game goes to Gryffindor, a superb throw by chaser Katie Bell. Of course, the real excitement this game is the new Gryffindor keeper Tony Hencher, will he be as good as Oliver Wood? And will the Slytherins' Nimbus 2002 be as fast as Potter's Firebolt? Potter incidentally, seems to be keeping well out of the way at the moment and personally I don't blame him. Those Nimbus' look like they may be able to outstrip even a Firebolt...and here comes Chaser Alicia Spinnet with the quaffle...she's powering up the pitch, dodges two Slytherins and a bludger...she throws...she
SCORES!!!!!! TWENTY-NIL TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry swept around the pitch several times when Alicia scored. The cheers of the crowd drowned out the sound of Lee's commentary so Harry spent the time searching for the snitch. When the shouts of the crowd finally calmed down, Harry once more tuned in to Lee Jordan. "And it seems that the Slytherin Seeker, Draco Malfoy, has got tired of looking for the snitch for himself and is going to trail Potter from now on. I'll guess we'll finally see which broom is better..."
Harry turned around on his broom just in time to see the green blur heading straight for him. He managed to get out of the way in time and whirled around to find Malfoy hovering in front of him, an insufferable smirk on his face. But before Malfoy had time to open his mouth, Harry shot past him in an effort to lose him.
Harry could hear the brief curse as Malfoy was forced to do a stupid twirl in midair to avoid him and he couldn't keep himself from laughing. But moments later, he heard the unmistakeable swish of the broomstick not far behind him. Harry risked a brief glance backwards and saw Malfoy not far behind on his shining new broom. Angelina's fears were confirmed: Nimbus 2002's were fast. But, Harry looked back just to check, but it looked to him as if the broom wasn't as manoeuvrable as the Firebolt...
Harry grinned and accelerated towards the other end of the pitch followed closely by the sound of Malfoy's broom. He only vaguely noticed Lee Jordan announce that the score was now thirty-ten to Gryffindor. He didn't even notice the fact that most people weren't even watching the main game but had their eyes fixed on the two Seekers. For the next three goals, Harry wove his way around the pitch tailed by Malfoy. He had been right: Malfoy's broom wasn't as agile as the Firebolt and he was starting to have his doubts as to whether it was actually faster than the Firebolt.
In the crowd below, Ron and Hermione were watching Harry and Malfoy along with everybody else. A loud voice and large thump announced the arrival of Hagrid who caused the entire bench to sag inwards towards him.
"Dunno what Harry thinks `e's doin," he observed.
Ron peered upwards again at the specks that were Harry and Malfoy. "Trying to get that git off his tail."
Hermione nodded absently. "Pay attention to the rest of the match. Look! Slytherin's scored again. I don't believe it!"
Ron narrowed his eyes. "They're cheating," he said.
Lee Jordan seemed to be thinking along much the same lines. "So, it's forty all and goodness knows how those Slytherins are pulling this off. Despite those new brooms of theirs, there's no way they should be able to get this many goals past the Gryffindor Keeper...besides cheating of course and I wouldn't put anything like that past..."
"Jordan!..." Professor McGonagall had to wrestle the megaphone away from Lee and there was a large amount of magically magnified swearing.
High above them, Harry had finally had it with Malfoy. Glancing behind him to check that Malfoy was still tailing him, he pulled his broom around and dived. The wind whistled through his ears as he dived lower and lower. Harry could hear the sound of Malfoy's broom straining to keep up with him. He pushed his broom on further.
Harry's dive had caught the attention of the audience below. Lee Jordan had stopped swearing into the megaphone and was now yelling incomprehensibly although Harry did manage to pick out the phrases: "Firebolt go," "slimy Slytherin," and "he's gonna crash!"
But the last thing Harry intended to do was to crash, or rather, he intended Malfoy to crash. Harry plummeted straight through the knot of Chasers hovering ten feet below him and headed straight for the ground. Madame Hooch only had enough time to turn around on her broom before she saw a scarlet blur shoot past her on its way to the ground followed swiftly by a green blur. The audience fell silent and even Lee Jordan ceased his yelling. The two Seekers fell lower and lower in the sky and even the teachers in the commentary box stood up in anxiety.
Harry kept his eyes fixed on the ground as it came nearer and nearer. Behind him, he could hear Malfoy's broom as it followed his inch for inch. When it became clear to the crowd, at about six feet off the ground, that Harry wasn't going to pull out of the dive they started yelling hoarsely.
Ron, Hermione and Hagrid were standing up with the rest of the crowd, hearts in their throats.
"They're gonna crash!" yelled Hagrid.
"No they're not," shrieked Hermione.
"But Malfoy is!" roared Ron gleefully.
Ron was right. Thirty centimetres from the ground, Harry whipped his broom upwards and sank his feet into the soil where he came to a shuddering halt. Less than half a second later, Harry pushed off and was rising back up. Malfoy, however, was not as fast. Just before he slammed into the ground, he managed to get his broom tilted upwards. He toppled onto the ground and rolled over several times as Harry rose higher above him.
Harry couldn't wipe away the grin that was spreading across his face. He had pulled off the Wronski Feint and even better, he had pulled it off against Malfoy. He should use this time to search for the snitch. Harry pulled his broom to a halt and looked around. It wasn't until then that he realised just how loudly the crowd was screaming. Harry glanced down at where he had left Malfoy. The pale Slytherin was standing up and reaching out for his broom. Harry didn't have long before Malfoy was tailing him again.
Suddenly, he saw it. A brief shimmer of gold to his right and just above the heads of the teachers in the commentary box. Obviously Lee Jordan hadn't noticed it yet or the rest of the school would know as well. Harry turned his broom around and sped towards the box.
According to Lee Jordan, Malfoy had remounted his broom and was accelerating upwards at high speed. Harry ignored Malfoy and concentrated on the snitch. The teachers still hadn't noticed but Lee Jordan wasn't quite as slow. He saw Harry coming out of the corner of his eye.
"...Malfoy looks like he's going to give Potter a run for his mon...POTTER WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
If the teachers hadn't noticed Harry before, they certainly did now. Possibly, they even noticed the reason because some of them ducked. The entire school watched as Harry skimmed the Professors' heads, pulled his broom sideways, made a grab for the snitch and tumbled over in midair to avoid whacking Professor Sinastra over the head with his broom.
It was several seconds before the teachers resurfaced and even then Harry was forced to rise several feet. Professor McGonagall, although severely shaken, was definitely smiling and she muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "damn good catch!" Professor Dumbledore hadn't batted an eyelid and beamed happily at Harry whilst Lee Jordan announced the catch to the rest of the school.
Three seconds later, noise split the stadium and six scarlet blurs were speeding their way towards Harry. Harry rose still further and met them directly over the pitch.
"Great catch Harry!" hollered George in his ear.
"And that Wronski Feint..." Fred shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
The Gryffindor team sank to the earth in a yelling tangle whilst Lee Jordan still happily announced the results to the school. "ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TO FORTY. GRYFFINDOR WINS!!!!!!!!"
When Harry and the rest of the team finally reached the ground, the crowd broke and a sea of red poured towards them led by Hagrid who was plastered in Gryffindor rosettes. Harry grinned. And he'd have given it all away just to see the thunderous look on Malfoy's face again.
A/N Well, now that I've written it, I can go and die in peace. Seriously, I feel really shitty...ah well c'est la vie(pardon my French).
What did you think of the quidditch? Let me know so...ahem clears throat
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thank you!
Hugs go to:
Ickle
Casey
wapi
Hyper Princess
SuNnY GuRL
Prophetess of Hearts (sorry I'm dumb, what does *RaE* mean?)
butterflygirl
Bob
jona
elf_kitty
for reviewing chapter 7
and to the others for reviewing the rest!
Thanx and please review
Luv baasheep
Xx
Once again, all hugs go to reviewers.
-------And I'd suggest you go and read some of jona's stuff. It's really good...
This chapter is dedicated to wapi. She was the only one to bother actually telling me whether I should do quidditch or Sirius in this chapter. So if you wanted Sirius, flame wapi...ENJOY THE QUIDDITCH!!!!!!!
As the first quidditch match of the year drew closer, the rivalry between houses grew. Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws were all desperate to bring down Slytherin and, as the weeks narrowed down to days, tension escalated. There had already been three fights over the outcome of the first match which had resulted in three separate trips to Madame Pomfrey.
Harry became increasingly nervous as the match came closer and, after several close misses, had to resort to careful inspection of the hallways due to a sudden increase in the number of outstretched feet. Harry spent most of his time in the Gryffindor common room with his friends. Any other time he owned was spent on the quidditch pitch.
The night before the match found Harry feverishly doing his homework that he'd forgotten to do earlier. Divination, as always, was easy: he simply made it up. But Defence Against the Dark Arts was a lot harder. Harry didn't have a clue how half of the jinxes they had done worked: he had just performed them.
After a further thirty minutes of homework, he was greatly relieved when Angelina finally stood up and announced it was time for the team to go to bed. Harry trooped upstairs with the rest of the team thinking that the match had better be worth the hype.
Harry had a restless night that night: he dreamt that the Slytherins had all got hold of Firebolts and zoomed around the pitch setting fire to the Gryffindor's brooms. To make matters worse, the Gryffindor goal posts were massive, great caves swinging in the wind and so large that one could have fit an elephant inside. Tony had no hope of defending them. The Slytherin goalposts, on the other hand, were tiny, so small one couldn't fit a seed inside let alone the quaffle. And if that wasn't enough, Madame Hooch favoured the Slytherins who, whenever Harry flew past, turned into great black robed figures wearing masks...
Harry was immensely relieved when he woke in the morning to find that the match hadn't started, that the Slytherins definitely didn't have Firebolts, the goals were all the same size, Madame Hooch was as fair as always and, generally, he could safely say that the Slytherins wouldn't turn into Death Eaters although he wouldn't put it past Malfoy...
The weather was perfect for a quidditch match: not so cold that the ground had frozen, but not so hot that the ground had dried up. After a hearty breakfast and several "good lucks" from the Gryffindor table, Harry and the rest of the team made their way to the changing rooms. Angelina gave them the usual pep talk and, minutes later, they were walking out onto the turf.
Harry was pleased to see that the entire school had turned out. Three quarters of the crowd were sporting the red and gold of Gryffindor and the crowd seemed swamped with banners of the Gryffindor lion. Only a tiny area located behind the Slytherin goalposts wore green and silver. Professor Ignia sat right in the front row in black scowling as if the sky had just fallen. In the middle area, Harry saw the commentary box. Once again, Lee Jordan, the Weasley twins' friend, was doing the commentary closely watched by Professor McGonagall. Much to Harry's surprise, several other teachers were also seated in the box including Professor Dumbledore.
In the middle of the pitch the two team captains shook hands roughly. Harry caught sight of Malfoy and they each glared. Madame Hooch blew her whistle and they were off!
Harry decided to save his glare for Malfoy for another time and kicked off with the others. He soared higher and higher, wind whipping through his robes, until everyone below was the size of a button. Harry patrolled the game like a hawk keeping an eye out for the snitch. Far below him, he heard the magically magnified voice of Lee Jordan announce the score as ten-nil to Gryffindor: "And the first goal of the game goes to Gryffindor, a superb throw by chaser Katie Bell. Of course, the real excitement this game is the new Gryffindor keeper Tony Hencher, will he be as good as Oliver Wood? And will the Slytherins' Nimbus 2002 be as fast as Potter's Firebolt? Potter incidentally, seems to be keeping well out of the way at the moment and personally I don't blame him. Those Nimbus' look like they may be able to outstrip even a Firebolt...and here comes Chaser Alicia Spinnet with the quaffle...she's powering up the pitch, dodges two Slytherins and a bludger...she throws...she
SCORES!!!!!! TWENTY-NIL TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Harry swept around the pitch several times when Alicia scored. The cheers of the crowd drowned out the sound of Lee's commentary so Harry spent the time searching for the snitch. When the shouts of the crowd finally calmed down, Harry once more tuned in to Lee Jordan. "And it seems that the Slytherin Seeker, Draco Malfoy, has got tired of looking for the snitch for himself and is going to trail Potter from now on. I'll guess we'll finally see which broom is better..."
Harry turned around on his broom just in time to see the green blur heading straight for him. He managed to get out of the way in time and whirled around to find Malfoy hovering in front of him, an insufferable smirk on his face. But before Malfoy had time to open his mouth, Harry shot past him in an effort to lose him.
Harry could hear the brief curse as Malfoy was forced to do a stupid twirl in midair to avoid him and he couldn't keep himself from laughing. But moments later, he heard the unmistakeable swish of the broomstick not far behind him. Harry risked a brief glance backwards and saw Malfoy not far behind on his shining new broom. Angelina's fears were confirmed: Nimbus 2002's were fast. But, Harry looked back just to check, but it looked to him as if the broom wasn't as manoeuvrable as the Firebolt...
Harry grinned and accelerated towards the other end of the pitch followed closely by the sound of Malfoy's broom. He only vaguely noticed Lee Jordan announce that the score was now thirty-ten to Gryffindor. He didn't even notice the fact that most people weren't even watching the main game but had their eyes fixed on the two Seekers. For the next three goals, Harry wove his way around the pitch tailed by Malfoy. He had been right: Malfoy's broom wasn't as agile as the Firebolt and he was starting to have his doubts as to whether it was actually faster than the Firebolt.
In the crowd below, Ron and Hermione were watching Harry and Malfoy along with everybody else. A loud voice and large thump announced the arrival of Hagrid who caused the entire bench to sag inwards towards him.
"Dunno what Harry thinks `e's doin," he observed.
Ron peered upwards again at the specks that were Harry and Malfoy. "Trying to get that git off his tail."
Hermione nodded absently. "Pay attention to the rest of the match. Look! Slytherin's scored again. I don't believe it!"
Ron narrowed his eyes. "They're cheating," he said.
Lee Jordan seemed to be thinking along much the same lines. "So, it's forty all and goodness knows how those Slytherins are pulling this off. Despite those new brooms of theirs, there's no way they should be able to get this many goals past the Gryffindor Keeper...besides cheating of course and I wouldn't put anything like that past..."
"Jordan!..." Professor McGonagall had to wrestle the megaphone away from Lee and there was a large amount of magically magnified swearing.
High above them, Harry had finally had it with Malfoy. Glancing behind him to check that Malfoy was still tailing him, he pulled his broom around and dived. The wind whistled through his ears as he dived lower and lower. Harry could hear the sound of Malfoy's broom straining to keep up with him. He pushed his broom on further.
Harry's dive had caught the attention of the audience below. Lee Jordan had stopped swearing into the megaphone and was now yelling incomprehensibly although Harry did manage to pick out the phrases: "Firebolt go," "slimy Slytherin," and "he's gonna crash!"
But the last thing Harry intended to do was to crash, or rather, he intended Malfoy to crash. Harry plummeted straight through the knot of Chasers hovering ten feet below him and headed straight for the ground. Madame Hooch only had enough time to turn around on her broom before she saw a scarlet blur shoot past her on its way to the ground followed swiftly by a green blur. The audience fell silent and even Lee Jordan ceased his yelling. The two Seekers fell lower and lower in the sky and even the teachers in the commentary box stood up in anxiety.
Harry kept his eyes fixed on the ground as it came nearer and nearer. Behind him, he could hear Malfoy's broom as it followed his inch for inch. When it became clear to the crowd, at about six feet off the ground, that Harry wasn't going to pull out of the dive they started yelling hoarsely.
Ron, Hermione and Hagrid were standing up with the rest of the crowd, hearts in their throats.
"They're gonna crash!" yelled Hagrid.
"No they're not," shrieked Hermione.
"But Malfoy is!" roared Ron gleefully.
Ron was right. Thirty centimetres from the ground, Harry whipped his broom upwards and sank his feet into the soil where he came to a shuddering halt. Less than half a second later, Harry pushed off and was rising back up. Malfoy, however, was not as fast. Just before he slammed into the ground, he managed to get his broom tilted upwards. He toppled onto the ground and rolled over several times as Harry rose higher above him.
Harry couldn't wipe away the grin that was spreading across his face. He had pulled off the Wronski Feint and even better, he had pulled it off against Malfoy. He should use this time to search for the snitch. Harry pulled his broom to a halt and looked around. It wasn't until then that he realised just how loudly the crowd was screaming. Harry glanced down at where he had left Malfoy. The pale Slytherin was standing up and reaching out for his broom. Harry didn't have long before Malfoy was tailing him again.
Suddenly, he saw it. A brief shimmer of gold to his right and just above the heads of the teachers in the commentary box. Obviously Lee Jordan hadn't noticed it yet or the rest of the school would know as well. Harry turned his broom around and sped towards the box.
According to Lee Jordan, Malfoy had remounted his broom and was accelerating upwards at high speed. Harry ignored Malfoy and concentrated on the snitch. The teachers still hadn't noticed but Lee Jordan wasn't quite as slow. He saw Harry coming out of the corner of his eye.
"...Malfoy looks like he's going to give Potter a run for his mon...POTTER WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!"
If the teachers hadn't noticed Harry before, they certainly did now. Possibly, they even noticed the reason because some of them ducked. The entire school watched as Harry skimmed the Professors' heads, pulled his broom sideways, made a grab for the snitch and tumbled over in midair to avoid whacking Professor Sinastra over the head with his broom.
It was several seconds before the teachers resurfaced and even then Harry was forced to rise several feet. Professor McGonagall, although severely shaken, was definitely smiling and she muttered something that sounded suspiciously like "damn good catch!" Professor Dumbledore hadn't batted an eyelid and beamed happily at Harry whilst Lee Jordan announced the catch to the rest of the school.
Three seconds later, noise split the stadium and six scarlet blurs were speeding their way towards Harry. Harry rose still further and met them directly over the pitch.
"Great catch Harry!" hollered George in his ear.
"And that Wronski Feint..." Fred shook his head, grinning from ear to ear.
The Gryffindor team sank to the earth in a yelling tangle whilst Lee Jordan still happily announced the results to the school. "ONE HUNDRED AND NINETY TO FORTY. GRYFFINDOR WINS!!!!!!!!"
When Harry and the rest of the team finally reached the ground, the crowd broke and a sea of red poured towards them led by Hagrid who was plastered in Gryffindor rosettes. Harry grinned. And he'd have given it all away just to see the thunderous look on Malfoy's face again.
A/N Well, now that I've written it, I can go and die in peace. Seriously, I feel really shitty...ah well c'est la vie(pardon my French).
What did you think of the quidditch? Let me know so...ahem clears throat
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review Review
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Thank you!
Hugs go to:
Ickle
Casey
wapi
Hyper Princess
SuNnY GuRL
Prophetess of Hearts (sorry I'm dumb, what does *RaE* mean?)
butterflygirl
Bob
jona
elf_kitty
for reviewing chapter 7
and to the others for reviewing the rest!
Thanx and please review
Luv baasheep
Xx