Chapter Seventy

"That's it!" Araminta shouted as she smacked her palm against her forehead. "I know how Gryffindor and Slytherin can both win this game! Why didn't I think of it before?"

Araminta dropped her bat; she wouldn't be needing it anymore. She pointed her new broom toward the sky and flew to a new altitude high above the Quidditch pitch.

All she had to do, she realized, was catch the Snitch. As long as they were still tied--and they were, for the moment, because both Keepers were hopping mad and not allowing anyone to score against them--they'd have to end the game and divide the points evenly, or give them to both teams or neither team.

It was at this time Araminta also realized that a very fine rain was falling from the clouds above and making her broom slippery. She was having a hard time keeping a grip on the handle.

It was cold and wet up there, but Araminta was entertained for a few minutes while the crowd stood up and sang 'Weasley Is Our King.' She hummed along and tapped her fingers against the handle of her broomstick. She started to wish that someone would call a time-out, but she was afraid to distract either Harry or Draco from their Seeking duties for even a second.

Finally she saw it--a glimmering sphere of gold flying lower than she was but higher than where Harry and Draco were circling. She used a corner of her shimmery, cream-colored robe to dry the handle of her broomstick so that she could get a good grip, pointed herself nose down, and just went for it.

As she went like a rocket toward the ground, Harry and Draco, on opposite sides of the field, spotted the Snitch too. Now all three of them were on a crash course to win the game.

She gripped her broom tightly with one hand and stretched the other out in front of her as far as it would go. That ball was hers! It was close, so close... She could almost feel it with her fingertips... Suddenly, it changed direction and she pulled up as hard as she could.

Her cloak wrapped around her head for a second before she could bat it away. She saw something flying at her from the corner of her eye, but ignored it to close the Snitch within her outstretched palm. As she did, she felt something in her mouth, and she swallowed it by accident. All of a sudden, the world became a very dark place.

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