Saturday, May tenth was the scheduled date for Sing 'n' Swing. It was three
weeks before the start of NEWTs (Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests) so
that the seventh years would have plenty of time to prepare. The week
leading up to the event, Oliver could hear the students buzzing excitedly
about it in the corridors between classes.
He barely saw Adrianna that week because she was going crazy trying to coordinate practices and do everything that needed to be done in order for the event to take place. In fact, the only times he saw her were at meals. She went to bed long after him and was already gone when he woke up in the morning. The longest conversation he had with her that week lasted about ten minutes when she asked him if he'd like to be a judge, which he agreed to do.
Finally, Saturday arrived. Each house had a final dress rehearsal during the day, and the sixth and seventh years went back to their common rooms to get ready for the evening ahead. By seven o'clock that evening, the Great Hall was filled with students in first through fifth years, teachers, and parents who had come to watch. The judges seated themselves at a table in front of the stage. In addition to himself there were Fleur, Seamus, Minerva, and another witch that Oliver had never met.
A few minutes after seven, Adrianna took the stage. She was wearing a cute blue-green floral print dress that had a rather low cut v-neck and white strappy high heeled sandals. She wore her hair down and had made it stick straight so that it almost reached her waist.
"Good evening ladies and gentleman, and welcome to the first annual Hogwarts Sing 'n' Swing!" she announced, her voice magically magnified so that it filled the room. "I am Professor Adrianna Brighton, the Muggle Studies teacher here at Hogwarts. The production that you are about to see is in place of a final examination in my sixth and seventh year classes, so the students have worked really hard to put on a good show for you and to earn a good grade as well. Their assignment was to choose a Muggle song from within the last five years, choreograph a dance routine to the music, and choose students from their own house to perform the lyrics. They are permitted to use magic, so long as it enhances the performance and does not detract from it. Now, before we get started, I just like to introduce our judges this evening: Mr. Oliver Wood, Professor Fleur Delacour, Professor Seamus Finnegan, Professor Minerva McGonagall, and, our special guest judge this evening, Celestina Warbeck, the famous singing sorceress!"
The Great Hall was filled with applause and cheers. When it died down, Adrianna continued.
"Each of the five judges may award anywhere from one to five points to each house for their performance. Whichever house has the most points at the end of the competition wins. The order of performance was randomly selected this evening. So, without further ado, I give you Gryffindor house, performing to the song "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z!"
The curtain opened to reveal the Gryffindor boys on one side of the stage, the girls on the other. The guys all wore baggy jeans, sneakers and plain white tees, while the girls wore colorful camisole tops and either denim skirts or denim shorts. In the front of the group was a boy dressed in a loose jersey, baggy jeans, a pair of Timberland boots and a huge gold medallion necklace to look like Jay-Z. Right next to him was a girl wearing a sheer paisley peasant top with a cami underneath, a short denim skirt and a pair of large silver hoop earrings. The music started just as the curtains disappeared behind the sides of the stage, and soon the Gryffindors had started their dance and the two in front were singing.
As Oliver watched the Gryffindors performing, he heard a constant, annoying clicking in the background and realized that Colin Creevy must be taking photos. He wondered for a moment why Colin wasn't up on stage, but then he remembered that Colin was muggle born and therefore did not have to take Muggle Studies.
He looked down at a little slip of parchment that Adrianna had given each of the judges titled "Things to consider". Oliver quickly read down the list. The Gryffindors had done a good job with costumes, choreography and singing, but the only props were a couple of stools that they'd used during the dance. Everything seemed to be school appropriate. He made a few notes and wrote down a "4" as his score for Gryffindor.
As the curtain was closing on Gryffindor, Adrianna took the stage once again. "Let's have a round of applause for Gryffindor!" she called. The younger Gryffindors went wild, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws applauded politely, and the Slytherins scowled.
"While we're waiting for the next house to set up, I'd like to take a minute to thank first-year Rob Jordan, who's serving as our sound coordinator tonight," she continued when the cheering had died down a little.
She pointed to a booth in the back of the hall where Rob was prepping the music for the next group. The older Gryffindors had filed out from backstage and were seating themselves near their housemates as everyone turned to look at Rob. As he turned to face front again, Oliver saw a hand poking out from behind the curtain giving Adrianna the thumbs-up sign.
"Well, I think they're ready now... Here's Ravenclaw house, performing the song "Ojos Asà by Shakira!"
Oliver didn't understand any of the words to the song, but he felt that the Ravenclaws performance was far more captivating than the performance that the Gryffindors had just given. The performance started with only a handful of people on the stage. There were a few girls in long, earth-toned skirts and cream colored halter tops, a few shirtless boys wearing black pants. In the middle, there was a girl with long blonde hair in loose spiral curls wearing a red halter top and red flared pants with what seemed like a train flowing behind her.
After the first few bars, the girl in red began to sing and another handful of students dressed like those already on stage entered from both wings and began playing conga drums in sync with the prerecorded music. As the song progressed, more students entered the stage from both wings and gathered around the train of the girl in red. As they danced they picked up the train, revealing that it was really made of several individual lengths of fabric. The students spread out in a semicircle behind the girl in red, creating a pinwheel effect with the lengths of material. Oliver thought that it was a really cool visual effect. There was an instrumental interlude in the song, during which all of the Ravenclaw boys crossed the back of the stage bearing burning torches. Most of the girls were either dancing or playing the conga drums, but there was one girl off to the side of the stage playing a flute and the girl in red was in the front of the dancers, leading them. The song ended in an explosion of dancing, music and multicolored sparks being shot from the wands of the students, and applause erupted throughout the Great Hall. Oliver jotted down a 5 for Ravenclaw's score, as he had been very impressed by the performance and could see no reason to dock any points.
Adrianna walked on stage again as the curtain closed and talked for a few minutes to give the next house some time to set up. Again he saw a hand give Adrianna the thumbs up from behind the curtain, and then Adrianna announced the next group: "Here's Hufflepuff house performing 'Wild Wild West' by Will Smith!
Oliver was very impressed with the opening scene that met his eyes as the curtain opened. There was a gigantic iron W near the back of the stage, the outline of it aflame. Next to that was a wagon with a tattered cover, and on the other side of the W was a tumbleweed and a potted cactus. Three figures walked through the flames toward the front of the stage, and Oliver realized that they must have cast a flame-freezing charm so that they would feel a gentle tickling sensation rather than catching fire as they passed through the flame.
The three figures were all male, wearing all black and dressed in American cowboy costumes. The costume of the boy in the middle was complete with six guns. All of the other boys were dressed in tuxedos with top hats and jackets with tails. The girls were dressed in brightly colored corset style tops, knee length black skirts that flared out around them when they spun, and ankle boots that buttoned up the sides.
The chorography surpassed anything that Oliver had seen so far. He couldn't even imagine how many hours the Hufflepuffs had put into this performance. One part that really stood out to him was a part that went "10 paces and turn, just for fun, son,". There, everyone on stage hit the ground as the boy who was portraying Will Smith pulled the trigger on a cap gun, the guys assuming protective positions over the girls. There was evidence of more magic throughout the performance, but in no way did it detract from it.
Oliver knew that Hufflepuffs were typically hard workers, but he had never expected them to pull off such a stunning performance. When they had finished, Oliver jotted down a five for Hufflepuff without hesitation. His only regret was that he couldn't score them higher.
Once again, Adrianna took the stage and talked for a few minutes before introducing the final group. "This is Slytherin house, performing 'Dirrty' by Christina Aguilera!"
Oliver did not enjoy the Slytherin performance one bit. He supposed they had worked hard on the choreography, and the girl they had chosen to sing the lyrics did have a good voice, but both the costumes and the choreography were totally inappropriate for a school performance.
The girls all wore heavy makeup and clothing that made them look as though they belonged on a street corner and not on a stage in front of their classmates, professors and parents. The dance moves were very suggestive, and they went from bad to worse as the song progressed. At one point in the song some of the boys shot jets of water out of their wands, drenching the girls and the stage. To make matters worse, the girls began crawling toward the front of the stage through the water.
Oliver was so appalled that he just sat in shock for a few seconds after the performance was over. He knew that the Slytherins were willing to use any means to achieve their end, but this time their scheme had backfired. No teacher in their right mind would give a performance like that a high score. In the end, Oliver wrote down a 3 for their score. His basis for taking away points was the issue of school appropriateness, but he had to admit that they had put in a lot of effort.
Adrianna resumed her position on stage once again after the curtain had closed on the Slytherins. "That was some show from the Slytherins, wasn't it? How about a big round of applause for all of the students that performed tonight?"
The Great Hall burst into applause as Adrianna motioned for the sixth and seventh years to stand. When the students had resumed their seats and the applause subsided, Adrianna began to speak again.
"It will be just a few minutes until the final scores are tallied. While we're waiting, I'd like to take this opportunity-"
But they never found out what Adrianna wanted to take the opportunity to do, because she was cut off by another song that began to blare over the sound system: 'Because I Got High' by Afroman.
The song was not sung by just a handful of students, or even by just one house. Instead, it appeared that the whole school was in on the prank. Oliver had to admit, it was quite amusing. He looked at Adrianna, who was still standing in the middle of the stage. He could tell that she didn't know whether to be furious or to laugh. Some of the parents present looked surprised that the students would sing such a song, while others looked mildly amused. Among the other teachers the reactions were mixed as well. When the song finally ended, Adrianna seemed to regain some of her composure.
"That was... interesting, and certainly not planned. I believe that we're ready to announce the results of the competition now," she said, summoning a sealed roll of parchment from the judges table.
"In fourth place, with 14 points... Slytherin!" There was some applause from the area where the Slytherins sat, but the other students didn't even bother to cheer.
"In third place, with 20 points... Gryffindor!" The Slytherins were the only ones who didn't clap after the third place announcement.
"And in second place, with 24 out of a possible 25 points... Ravenclaw! Hufflepuff is our winner with a perfect score!"
At first the Hufflepuffs just looked at each other in disbelief. Hufflepuff never won anything; not the House Cup, not the Quidditch Cup. But as the reality sank in, cheers and shouts began to erupt and the Hufflepuff students looked as though Christmas had come seven months early. Oliver was certain that there was going to be a party in the Hufflepuff common room that night.
The next weekend was an event that everyone in the school had been looking forward to all year: the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup Final. Oliver barely had time to eat or sleep as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws practiced nearly every waking moment the week leading up to the match. He heard a lot of good-natured teasing between the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws that week.
It was much better than when he'd been a student and the championship was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Things had been so bad then that Oliver, being the captain, refused to allow his seeker Harry to walk to class without a bunch of students escorting him for his protection. There had actually been fist fights and wizards duels in the corridors then.
Saturday morning was warm and sunny, a perfect day for a quidditch match. Oliver dressed in his striped referee robes and had a quick breakfast before walking out to the quidditch pitch, carrying the chest containing the quaffle, bludgers and golden snitch. Shortly thereafter, the teams walked onto the pitch for the start of the match, the Gryffindors in scarlet robes and the Ravenclaws in robes of deep blue. Sofie and Natalie shook hands and smiled at each other.
"Good luck, and may the best team win," said Oliver as he released the bludgers and the snitch. Both teams mounted their brooms, and the game began as Oliver tossed the quaffle into the air and mounted his own broomstick to referee the game. Oliver listened to Rob Jordan's commentary as he watched the match.
"Now it's Ginny Weasley with the quaffle... she passes to- oh, and it's intercepted by Sofie Grant! Grant's making her way up the pitch... come on Gryffindor, where's your defense? She shoots... oh no good, it's blocked by Natalie MacDonald! Watch out for that bludger, Sofie! That was a well-aimed bludger hit by Corky Bell..."
And so the commentary went. Oliver found that this was a rather easy game to ref, as both teams were willing to comply with the rules and play a fair game. For a while neither team scored, but finally Sofie Grant was able to score the first goal for Ravenclaw. After she scored, the Gryffindors fought back aggressively and managed to score 3 goals in a row. The game continued for several hours with each team scoring occasionally, but it was a close match and neither team was able to produce much of a lead over the other.
Suddenly, the Ravenclaw seeker sped toward his own goalposts, and Oliver saw something tiny glinting near the middle hoop. The Gryffindor seeker had been watching the match below and hadn't noticed that the Ravenclaw seeker was after the snitch. Natalie yelled at him, and he took off after the Ravenclaw seeker. Gryffindor would have already been out of the running if their seeker didn't have a better broomstick than the Ravenclaw seeker, but since he did have a faster broom the Gryffindor seeker was able to catch up to the Ravenclaw seeker. He pulled ahead at the last possible second and captured the tiny snitch in his right hand.
"Gryffindor wins for the fifth year straight, 240 to 110 points!" Rob exclaimed, leaping for joy. He was so excited that he turned around and hugged Professor McGonagall, who was sitting right behind him.
Oliver grinned as he flew back to the ground. Technically speaking he wasn't supposed to choose sides, but he couldn't help but feel proud that Gryffindor had won.
He barely saw Adrianna that week because she was going crazy trying to coordinate practices and do everything that needed to be done in order for the event to take place. In fact, the only times he saw her were at meals. She went to bed long after him and was already gone when he woke up in the morning. The longest conversation he had with her that week lasted about ten minutes when she asked him if he'd like to be a judge, which he agreed to do.
Finally, Saturday arrived. Each house had a final dress rehearsal during the day, and the sixth and seventh years went back to their common rooms to get ready for the evening ahead. By seven o'clock that evening, the Great Hall was filled with students in first through fifth years, teachers, and parents who had come to watch. The judges seated themselves at a table in front of the stage. In addition to himself there were Fleur, Seamus, Minerva, and another witch that Oliver had never met.
A few minutes after seven, Adrianna took the stage. She was wearing a cute blue-green floral print dress that had a rather low cut v-neck and white strappy high heeled sandals. She wore her hair down and had made it stick straight so that it almost reached her waist.
"Good evening ladies and gentleman, and welcome to the first annual Hogwarts Sing 'n' Swing!" she announced, her voice magically magnified so that it filled the room. "I am Professor Adrianna Brighton, the Muggle Studies teacher here at Hogwarts. The production that you are about to see is in place of a final examination in my sixth and seventh year classes, so the students have worked really hard to put on a good show for you and to earn a good grade as well. Their assignment was to choose a Muggle song from within the last five years, choreograph a dance routine to the music, and choose students from their own house to perform the lyrics. They are permitted to use magic, so long as it enhances the performance and does not detract from it. Now, before we get started, I just like to introduce our judges this evening: Mr. Oliver Wood, Professor Fleur Delacour, Professor Seamus Finnegan, Professor Minerva McGonagall, and, our special guest judge this evening, Celestina Warbeck, the famous singing sorceress!"
The Great Hall was filled with applause and cheers. When it died down, Adrianna continued.
"Each of the five judges may award anywhere from one to five points to each house for their performance. Whichever house has the most points at the end of the competition wins. The order of performance was randomly selected this evening. So, without further ado, I give you Gryffindor house, performing to the song "Crazy in Love" by Beyonce Knowles and Jay-Z!"
The curtain opened to reveal the Gryffindor boys on one side of the stage, the girls on the other. The guys all wore baggy jeans, sneakers and plain white tees, while the girls wore colorful camisole tops and either denim skirts or denim shorts. In the front of the group was a boy dressed in a loose jersey, baggy jeans, a pair of Timberland boots and a huge gold medallion necklace to look like Jay-Z. Right next to him was a girl wearing a sheer paisley peasant top with a cami underneath, a short denim skirt and a pair of large silver hoop earrings. The music started just as the curtains disappeared behind the sides of the stage, and soon the Gryffindors had started their dance and the two in front were singing.
As Oliver watched the Gryffindors performing, he heard a constant, annoying clicking in the background and realized that Colin Creevy must be taking photos. He wondered for a moment why Colin wasn't up on stage, but then he remembered that Colin was muggle born and therefore did not have to take Muggle Studies.
He looked down at a little slip of parchment that Adrianna had given each of the judges titled "Things to consider". Oliver quickly read down the list. The Gryffindors had done a good job with costumes, choreography and singing, but the only props were a couple of stools that they'd used during the dance. Everything seemed to be school appropriate. He made a few notes and wrote down a "4" as his score for Gryffindor.
As the curtain was closing on Gryffindor, Adrianna took the stage once again. "Let's have a round of applause for Gryffindor!" she called. The younger Gryffindors went wild, the Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws applauded politely, and the Slytherins scowled.
"While we're waiting for the next house to set up, I'd like to take a minute to thank first-year Rob Jordan, who's serving as our sound coordinator tonight," she continued when the cheering had died down a little.
She pointed to a booth in the back of the hall where Rob was prepping the music for the next group. The older Gryffindors had filed out from backstage and were seating themselves near their housemates as everyone turned to look at Rob. As he turned to face front again, Oliver saw a hand poking out from behind the curtain giving Adrianna the thumbs-up sign.
"Well, I think they're ready now... Here's Ravenclaw house, performing the song "Ojos Asà by Shakira!"
Oliver didn't understand any of the words to the song, but he felt that the Ravenclaws performance was far more captivating than the performance that the Gryffindors had just given. The performance started with only a handful of people on the stage. There were a few girls in long, earth-toned skirts and cream colored halter tops, a few shirtless boys wearing black pants. In the middle, there was a girl with long blonde hair in loose spiral curls wearing a red halter top and red flared pants with what seemed like a train flowing behind her.
After the first few bars, the girl in red began to sing and another handful of students dressed like those already on stage entered from both wings and began playing conga drums in sync with the prerecorded music. As the song progressed, more students entered the stage from both wings and gathered around the train of the girl in red. As they danced they picked up the train, revealing that it was really made of several individual lengths of fabric. The students spread out in a semicircle behind the girl in red, creating a pinwheel effect with the lengths of material. Oliver thought that it was a really cool visual effect. There was an instrumental interlude in the song, during which all of the Ravenclaw boys crossed the back of the stage bearing burning torches. Most of the girls were either dancing or playing the conga drums, but there was one girl off to the side of the stage playing a flute and the girl in red was in the front of the dancers, leading them. The song ended in an explosion of dancing, music and multicolored sparks being shot from the wands of the students, and applause erupted throughout the Great Hall. Oliver jotted down a 5 for Ravenclaw's score, as he had been very impressed by the performance and could see no reason to dock any points.
Adrianna walked on stage again as the curtain closed and talked for a few minutes to give the next house some time to set up. Again he saw a hand give Adrianna the thumbs up from behind the curtain, and then Adrianna announced the next group: "Here's Hufflepuff house performing 'Wild Wild West' by Will Smith!
Oliver was very impressed with the opening scene that met his eyes as the curtain opened. There was a gigantic iron W near the back of the stage, the outline of it aflame. Next to that was a wagon with a tattered cover, and on the other side of the W was a tumbleweed and a potted cactus. Three figures walked through the flames toward the front of the stage, and Oliver realized that they must have cast a flame-freezing charm so that they would feel a gentle tickling sensation rather than catching fire as they passed through the flame.
The three figures were all male, wearing all black and dressed in American cowboy costumes. The costume of the boy in the middle was complete with six guns. All of the other boys were dressed in tuxedos with top hats and jackets with tails. The girls were dressed in brightly colored corset style tops, knee length black skirts that flared out around them when they spun, and ankle boots that buttoned up the sides.
The chorography surpassed anything that Oliver had seen so far. He couldn't even imagine how many hours the Hufflepuffs had put into this performance. One part that really stood out to him was a part that went "10 paces and turn, just for fun, son,". There, everyone on stage hit the ground as the boy who was portraying Will Smith pulled the trigger on a cap gun, the guys assuming protective positions over the girls. There was evidence of more magic throughout the performance, but in no way did it detract from it.
Oliver knew that Hufflepuffs were typically hard workers, but he had never expected them to pull off such a stunning performance. When they had finished, Oliver jotted down a five for Hufflepuff without hesitation. His only regret was that he couldn't score them higher.
Once again, Adrianna took the stage and talked for a few minutes before introducing the final group. "This is Slytherin house, performing 'Dirrty' by Christina Aguilera!"
Oliver did not enjoy the Slytherin performance one bit. He supposed they had worked hard on the choreography, and the girl they had chosen to sing the lyrics did have a good voice, but both the costumes and the choreography were totally inappropriate for a school performance.
The girls all wore heavy makeup and clothing that made them look as though they belonged on a street corner and not on a stage in front of their classmates, professors and parents. The dance moves were very suggestive, and they went from bad to worse as the song progressed. At one point in the song some of the boys shot jets of water out of their wands, drenching the girls and the stage. To make matters worse, the girls began crawling toward the front of the stage through the water.
Oliver was so appalled that he just sat in shock for a few seconds after the performance was over. He knew that the Slytherins were willing to use any means to achieve their end, but this time their scheme had backfired. No teacher in their right mind would give a performance like that a high score. In the end, Oliver wrote down a 3 for their score. His basis for taking away points was the issue of school appropriateness, but he had to admit that they had put in a lot of effort.
Adrianna resumed her position on stage once again after the curtain had closed on the Slytherins. "That was some show from the Slytherins, wasn't it? How about a big round of applause for all of the students that performed tonight?"
The Great Hall burst into applause as Adrianna motioned for the sixth and seventh years to stand. When the students had resumed their seats and the applause subsided, Adrianna began to speak again.
"It will be just a few minutes until the final scores are tallied. While we're waiting, I'd like to take this opportunity-"
But they never found out what Adrianna wanted to take the opportunity to do, because she was cut off by another song that began to blare over the sound system: 'Because I Got High' by Afroman.
The song was not sung by just a handful of students, or even by just one house. Instead, it appeared that the whole school was in on the prank. Oliver had to admit, it was quite amusing. He looked at Adrianna, who was still standing in the middle of the stage. He could tell that she didn't know whether to be furious or to laugh. Some of the parents present looked surprised that the students would sing such a song, while others looked mildly amused. Among the other teachers the reactions were mixed as well. When the song finally ended, Adrianna seemed to regain some of her composure.
"That was... interesting, and certainly not planned. I believe that we're ready to announce the results of the competition now," she said, summoning a sealed roll of parchment from the judges table.
"In fourth place, with 14 points... Slytherin!" There was some applause from the area where the Slytherins sat, but the other students didn't even bother to cheer.
"In third place, with 20 points... Gryffindor!" The Slytherins were the only ones who didn't clap after the third place announcement.
"And in second place, with 24 out of a possible 25 points... Ravenclaw! Hufflepuff is our winner with a perfect score!"
At first the Hufflepuffs just looked at each other in disbelief. Hufflepuff never won anything; not the House Cup, not the Quidditch Cup. But as the reality sank in, cheers and shouts began to erupt and the Hufflepuff students looked as though Christmas had come seven months early. Oliver was certain that there was going to be a party in the Hufflepuff common room that night.
The next weekend was an event that everyone in the school had been looking forward to all year: the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup Final. Oliver barely had time to eat or sleep as the Gryffindors and Ravenclaws practiced nearly every waking moment the week leading up to the match. He heard a lot of good-natured teasing between the Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws that week.
It was much better than when he'd been a student and the championship was between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Things had been so bad then that Oliver, being the captain, refused to allow his seeker Harry to walk to class without a bunch of students escorting him for his protection. There had actually been fist fights and wizards duels in the corridors then.
Saturday morning was warm and sunny, a perfect day for a quidditch match. Oliver dressed in his striped referee robes and had a quick breakfast before walking out to the quidditch pitch, carrying the chest containing the quaffle, bludgers and golden snitch. Shortly thereafter, the teams walked onto the pitch for the start of the match, the Gryffindors in scarlet robes and the Ravenclaws in robes of deep blue. Sofie and Natalie shook hands and smiled at each other.
"Good luck, and may the best team win," said Oliver as he released the bludgers and the snitch. Both teams mounted their brooms, and the game began as Oliver tossed the quaffle into the air and mounted his own broomstick to referee the game. Oliver listened to Rob Jordan's commentary as he watched the match.
"Now it's Ginny Weasley with the quaffle... she passes to- oh, and it's intercepted by Sofie Grant! Grant's making her way up the pitch... come on Gryffindor, where's your defense? She shoots... oh no good, it's blocked by Natalie MacDonald! Watch out for that bludger, Sofie! That was a well-aimed bludger hit by Corky Bell..."
And so the commentary went. Oliver found that this was a rather easy game to ref, as both teams were willing to comply with the rules and play a fair game. For a while neither team scored, but finally Sofie Grant was able to score the first goal for Ravenclaw. After she scored, the Gryffindors fought back aggressively and managed to score 3 goals in a row. The game continued for several hours with each team scoring occasionally, but it was a close match and neither team was able to produce much of a lead over the other.
Suddenly, the Ravenclaw seeker sped toward his own goalposts, and Oliver saw something tiny glinting near the middle hoop. The Gryffindor seeker had been watching the match below and hadn't noticed that the Ravenclaw seeker was after the snitch. Natalie yelled at him, and he took off after the Ravenclaw seeker. Gryffindor would have already been out of the running if their seeker didn't have a better broomstick than the Ravenclaw seeker, but since he did have a faster broom the Gryffindor seeker was able to catch up to the Ravenclaw seeker. He pulled ahead at the last possible second and captured the tiny snitch in his right hand.
"Gryffindor wins for the fifth year straight, 240 to 110 points!" Rob exclaimed, leaping for joy. He was so excited that he turned around and hugged Professor McGonagall, who was sitting right behind him.
Oliver grinned as he flew back to the ground. Technically speaking he wasn't supposed to choose sides, but he couldn't help but feel proud that Gryffindor had won.