Disclaimer: We, Leeta and Tem, do not own any of the HP characters. We DO own everything to do with Australia, the extra Quidditch teams, Erin Langhart, and all the plots and dialogue. We also do not own the scenery for Hogwarts.....etc. etc. You all get the picture, right? Right.....
A/N's: This story is co-written by Leeta and Tem, even though it is under Leeta's name. So.....give credit to both of us!!
CHAPTER ONE: The Farcical Beginning"Welcome one and all to this Quidditch match; New Zealand versus Australia. My name is Theo Elder, and I will be your gamekeeper for tonight!" He paused for a second, but there was no applause to be heard. Liam laughed and glanced at his father but, like usual, no emotions graced the perfectly white face. In the shade of their box seats, his father looked like a ghost. Liam considered telling him, but thought better of it. "Any way," continued the commentator, "the match! New Zealand versus Australia!" This time Theo had to call a halt to his commentary to let tremendous roars from the crowd subside. "We all know that this match is one of the most highly anticipated in the entire Southern Hemisphere League season, at least in this area, and it will definitely live up to it. All the way from New Zealand, lets give the Wellington Kiwis a welcome!" Elder called out the names as they sped by, "The Chasers: Geoffrey Gnasst, Beldy Boric, and Peter Gove! The Beaters: Hans Alvin and Andrew Kellet! Keeper Katie Tayene, and Seeker Hugo Narthing! Welcome!" The New Zealand side of the arena erupted with applause and wild yells. Liam clapped politely and waited for Theo to continue. "And now give a welcome to your Australian team!" Liam looked through his omnioculars and saw the seven Firebolts streak by. "I give you: Robert Maxx, Christopher Yalemon, and Zachary Blitz as your Chasers. Erin Langhart and Alan Knars as your Beaters. Ode Harrow as your one and only Keeper," a uproar from both the English and the New Zealand sides, "and Seeker Gene Davids! If the referees are ready, let the game begin!" There was a short blast of a whistle, and the game did commence.
Liam watched as the player called Davids fly strait up to circle overhead, Hugo Narthing tailed closely behind.
"What do you think, Liam?" asked someone behind him. Liam turned around to see his friend, Erick Aldin vault the row of seats directly behind Liam and sit down. Two of his friends followed. "Game's going to be good, huh?" Liam nodded and turned back to the game. Not much had happened. Ode Harrow flew almost lazily, like he had the intention to catch the Quaffle himself and score, back to the goals he was supposed to defend while the Australian Chasers, who had lost the Quaffle, took up the pursuit of the New Zealand Chasers. This had a particularly heart-stopping effect when the Australian Chasers passed Ode Harrow, who didn't seem so keen on the whole situation.
"Good gods," Erick squealed when Ode barely made it to the posts to make the save, "he's playing well today isn't he?" Liam, who was sitting on the edge of his seat as well, nodded.
"Yeah," he gasped, when Ode had safely sent the Quaffle on its way down to the other end of the field, "but he's never as relaxed as this. He must really be enjoying this."
"You're sisters not finding herself much action today," noted Erick. "Normally she knocks what, eight people, off their brooms per match?" Liam smiled.
"Yeah, something like that. Shell come to sometime." He watched as his sister, Erin, dive to intercept a bludger aimed at Davids. "She told me that they suspect the New Zealand teams strategy is to keep Davids to preoccupied with saving her own skin to look for the Snitch. That's why Erin's keeping such a close tab on Davids."
"Right," said Erick. "Isn't their strategy normally that?" Liam laughed and nodded.
"Are you and Davids still together?" asked Liam.
"Yeah," answered Erick, intent on the game. "If they so much as scratch her, I'll kill 'em." Liam chuckled at the absent-minded comment. Eric's eyes widened as the New Zealand keeper made a good save, but not as nerve wrenching as Odes was. The New Zealand Beaters aimed two Bludgers at each ends of an Australian Chasers broom as he tore across the field, but had to duck them as Alan Knars and Erin intercepted them. Elder's voice kept an ongoing commentary.
"Those were two very well aimed Bludgers; amazing that Maxx was able to maneuver around them. Maxx going for another goal, dodges another Bludger by Kellet, shoots...and Tayene saves!" There was a roar from the Kiwis. "Tayene passes the Quaffle to Gnasst, Gnasst is up the field followed closely by Gove. Bludger to Gnasst from Langhart, Gnasst spins and passes the Quaffle to Gove. Gove back up the field, dodges Chaser Blitz, shoots and... and Harrow saves the Quaffle! All I can say is that this had better not be a very dirty game, seeing as how both the Australian and New Zealand reserve teams are now playing each other at the Wellington stadium. All we can do is pray, and play civilly," added he, as Alan Knars rocketed a Bludger towards Tayene.
Liam tried to pay attention to his sister, but his eyes kept drifting towards either Harrow or Narthing. Whenever Harrow made a save, the Australians would cheer and when he made a particularly difficult save, the Kiwis would join in. One of the saves, Harrow dove from his broom and scooped the Quaffle up right before it had the chance to go through a hoop. His broom dove below him and he landed perfectly.
"I read somewhere that Ode gets that trick from a Quidditch keeper about a hundred years ago. Name of Devin Bates, I think, but no one knows that now. As far as they're concerned, that's one of Odes specialties. It works almost every time. Hah! Remember that one time when we he was playing verse Swaziland?" Liam nodded, smirking at the memory, and the game progressed. The Quaffle went in turn to the New Zealand keeper, who missed by a fraction of an inch, and the score was 10 to 0.
The Quaffle was played across the field so many times Liam lost count. He only vaguely kept track of Elders commentary. For a while he watched Harrow, but soon became bored as he saw that Harrow was now completely swept up into the game to perform any more tricks. The Seekers were far more interesting to watch. Almost as soon as he turned the omnioculars to Narthing, Narthing went into a very steep dive. "Don't follow, Gene, don't follow," Liam heard Erick whispering behind him. Thankfully Davids didn't follow, and Liam saw why. There wasn't any Snitch in the direction that Narthing was heading; Narthing had pulled a Wronski Feint. Davids took a quick look around the pitch, scanned the whole area in a few seconds, and took off in the opposite direction that Narthing had dove. "Hah!" Erick exclaimed in satisfaction. "Serves the bloody..."
"Erick," Liam warned and jerked his head to where his father sat next to him. Erick smiled but fell silent.
Narthing pulled out of his dive just in time to see Davids take off across the field. With a quick turn, Narthing was in fast pursuit. Soon he was at Davids tail, and pulling steadily up the side. Then he swerved and dove. Suddenly, a Bludger from the New Zealand Beaters collided with Davids" gut, sending her spinning from her broom. Another Bludger promptly broke her Firebolt in half. There was an uproar from the Australian crowd.
"That was a nasty trick played by the New Zealand Beaters! When the Seeker is within catching distance of the Snitch only the other Seeker can attack him," Elder lectured. "Deserves a foul, and yes there are the referees, going to talk to them. A very nasty trick indeed! Stupid, really, that's one of the things you learn the first day at camp. It's not a new rule, either! My god, what were the Kiwis thinking? I can't believe that actually happened in an international game! We're supposed to have quality Quidditch, not this nanny panny...stuff...that they just did! What the hell were they thinking?" Liam was quite shocked to see all the heads on the New Zealand side of the arena turn to where Elder stood. Cat calls and magically magnified raspberries erupted in an instant, drowning out the commentary. Someone must have said something up in the box because Elders voice grew suddenly quieter. However, the loss of Elders ridicule only drove the Australian spectators to scream louder. The chanting that undernoted Elders commentary now grew to a steady roar. Indeed, Erick was quite engrossed in it all.
"Unfair!" Erick was yelling from behind Liam. "Foul, foul!" Liam looked around and saw that most of the other Australian supporters were thinking the same as Erick. They were all, mostly, standing and making rather obtrusive gestures to the Kiwi spectators on the other side of the field, who were, in turn, sending their own pleasant messages along as well. Liam looked sheepishly at his father, and saw that a stern look had replaced the normally emotion absent face. It wasn't until Elders voice gasped until the ranting subsided enough to hear a communal oooh" from the crowd and Liam focused back on Davids, expecting to see her on the ground and lying in an odd position. She wasn't.
Narthing had her by the back of her jersey and was slowly drifting down to the ground. Medical wizards were rushing onto the field as Narthing lay Davids down and took off again. Liam looked back at Erick, whose fist was halfway down. He had a look of complete surprise on his face that could almost be comparable to relief. If Narthing had been trying to redeem his team, the effect of his deed certainly hit the spot. Almost immediately afterwards the entire stadium had returned to the normal buzz of conversation. The medics wrestled a rather bloody Davids off the field, and she didn't return. The Australians were down a player; it was the most important player that they had. Liam scanned the remaining Australian players with his omnioculars, and saw that Erin Langhart had a look of pure loathing on her face.
"Check out my sister," he whispered, back to Erick. Quickly Erick moved his omnioculars up to where she was floating and laughed.
"Someone's going to commit murder," Erick snorted. "Maybe I should postpone my trip to the hospital wing; this game might just be worth sticking around for."
Meanwhile, back on the field, the game had resumed. Blitz had missed during the penalty shot, and the Quaffle was now streaking back towards the Australian goal. Harrow came up quickly to block the shot, but the Chaser, Gnasst, dodged and put the Quaffle through the goal. There were mixed emotions from the crowd. Erick and Liam moaned, but the other side of the stadium exploded with cries of support to their team. Harrow righted himself after flipping over, and looked around. The Quaffle had returned to Blitz, who passed it to Maxx. Maxx dodged Gove, passed back to Blitz, who looped the keeper and put the Quaffle through the hoop. The score was 60 to 20.
Gnasst took the Quaffle back up the field, but was hit halfway by a Bludger from Erin. She was given a penalty, which Harrow blocked effortlessly. Harrow threw the Quaffle to Maxx, who sped back up the pitch. Liam held his breath as he saw Narthing dive. This time, the New Zealand Seeker had really spotted the Snitch. It was hovering at the base of the Australian middle goal. "Good lord," whispered Erick in surprise. Two Bludgers collided into Narthing one after the other. The New Zealand Seeker slid off his broom, unconscious and crashed into the sand beneath him. Liam focused his omnioculars on the Seeker and cringed. More medi wizards were rushing onto the field to hustle Narthing off the pitch.
"What is going on?" Elder yelled. "What did I just say? You cannot attack a Seeker when he is in within catching distance of the Snitch! What is this? And Hugo Narthing doesn't look like he's in fit playing condition any more, either! There are the refs, going to talk to Erin Langhart." Liam's heart sank.
"You're sisters bloody brilliant," Erick congratulated. "Top notch, that kid."
"I guess she is," Liam whispered. "But it doesn't look good for her."
"Yup, so you say, Liam," Erick agreed. "That ref there is giving her a red tag. Shell not be seeing another game for a few months." Erick paused for a second, brow contracting. "What a stupid ref," said he. "I suppose he's too stupid to realize that this is the grand finale to the whole season. Oh, wait." Erick stopped talking abruptly. "That's not good." The ref had handed her an ordinary slip of paper instead of the traditional laminated red one. "Did he just give her Quidditch contract back? Oh, man. I'm sorry mate." Erick gave Liam a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "That's really not good."
Back on the pitch, Erin looked as though she was cursing quite colorfully at the ref. She clutched her contract in her hand and was jabbing her finger in his chest. The ref whipped out his wand and Erin backed off, giving the wand a nasty look. With a few more thoughts ornamented and flourished with socially unacceptable language, Erin flew off the pitch. Boos at the ref from the Australian spectators were even louder than when Davids had been knocked off her broom. The ref gave a short blast on his whistle and the game embarked again.
Gnasst took the penalty shot and missed, predictably. As soon as the captured Quaffle left Harrow's hand, he became very alert. As the other players sped away from him, across the pitch, Harrow froze. Liam could only see his eyes moving, searching the ground and then the stadium. Suddenly, they too froze. There was a pause, and then he dove with superb grace. Liam smiled, sure that he had not seen a dive so flawless, or vertical, before. Ode had finally decided to amuse the crowd.
The stadium was completely quiet; everyone was trying to see what Harrow had. Elder's commentary had stopped, again. Maxx, who had just been knocked off his broom by Alvin and was hanging on by just one hand, turned to look at Harrow. The referees" whistles were halfway to their mouths, and even the Chaser that had the Quaffle, turned to watch. Turning sharply to the right, Harrow pulled out of the dive. His hand was clasped around a struggling, golden ball. Everyone on the New Zealand team looked very confused. Elder's voice broke the silence. His voice seemed weak.
"There you have it," he wheezed. "Ode Harrow has caught the Snitch. Australia wins, 210 to 20." The Australian supporters exploded.
"Well, Liam," said Erick, standing up, "I guess Ill see you later then. I suppose I'm overdue to check on Gene. Ah, well, she'll live. Normally does, you know." He grinned and turned to leave with his two friends. "Tell your sister that I'm sorry. She should move up to the North and then she can play again; shouldn't just let her talent go to waste, should she?" Liam shook his head and waved as Erick left the box.
"Father," said Liam, "I suppose we should go find Erin."
"I can't believe that they gave it back to me," Erin sobbed, flinging the crumpled Quidditch contract onto an end table when she stormed through the front door to their flat. Liam sighed and took her coat. "Now what am I going to do with my life? No, wait, I remember, Quidditch was my life."
"Quite being sarcastic, Erin, and sit down," Liam demanded. Erin sank into a chair and sniffed.
"I did the exact same thing as Kellet and Alvin," she complained. "So why did I get my contract revoked?"
"Well, they didn't break Gene's back and compound fracture her femur, now did they?" Erin stared up into Liam's complacent face.
"He deserved it," she whispered and buried her face in her hands. "I'd do it again."
"You don't have to tell me, little sister," Liam explained and rested a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I know you would."
"Tell me Ill never loose you," she pleaded. Liam smiled as though he thought she was half-hysterical, which she was. "Please, just promise me." Liam heaved a tremendous sigh.
"I promise," said he and knelt before her, taking both her hands in his. "I promise that nothing will ever happen to take me away. I swear it by all that I know." He bowed his head for a moment. "Still," he continued, gazing up at his sister. "There will be nothing that can tear you away from me." Erin glanced up with a wicked smile then hid her face. "Anyway, look on the bright side of things. You can now go about your wolfsbane experiments with absolutely nothing to sidetrack you." Erin's eyes lit up as she lifted her head. "And," continued Liam, "you can put your school work to use. You didn't score perfect N.E.W.T.S in potions and charms for nothing, did you?"
A/N's: We love reviews....and this story gets a lot better. I like it, she likes it, we like it.....plz plz review!! luv y'all lots....long live quidditch!