Harry Potter and the Golden Bell
Chapter 13
The Quidditch Match

A/N: This chappy is kinda short...but that's good, cuz I can get chapters out faster and because people want me to. Plus, there are only a few things left and if i put them all in one chapter, it would be WAAAAY too long. Well, I've already started chapter 14...and I have no idea where chapter 3 of the sequel is going right now. I'll figure something out. All I know is that right now it's just hilarious. AND COOL AND SUSPENSEFUL AND EVERYTHING ELSE A FANFICTON CAN BE. Okay, read.

Hermione got up early the next morning to go up to the Owlery to send the wand and a note to Mr. Ollivander. She couldn't manage a mild sticking spell and got a few owls injured by having to split the skin off of their legs in order to get the black wand off, and so she resorted to wrapping it up tight in some brown paper with a short note curled around the package and tying it securely to an uninjured owl. When she had entered for the second time, a few owls with raw skin on their legs turned away from her. After mailing the wand, she went around to collect her missed homework from all of her teachers. To Hermione, this was a very productive morning.

---::---

Harry and Ron had woken up at 8:00 AM and Hermione, having gotten up around 7:30 AM, wasn't back yet. The two boys left in the dormitory (Seamus, Neville, and Dean were already up and out) went down to the Common Room and talked strategy for the Quidditch game later that afternoon - at 2:00. At 9:30, Hermione clambered through the portrait hole.

"What took you so long?" asked Ron.

"Snape made me do all of the work in front of him," she grumbled.

"That sounds fun," said Ron a bit brightly, "Oh, Hermione...I forgot...I'm sorry."

"About what?" she asked vaguely, unpacking books and papers from her bag.

"Before you...er...left...how I - when we had that fight...thing? I'm sorry about it."

"Don't worry about it," Hermione said wearily, "I accept your apology." Even though Hermione had somewhat waved the matter away quickly, Ron had felt like an 100 pound weight had just been lifted off of his chest. Hermione took from her bag after the books and paper, a quill, and an inkwell.

"Oh, I mailed the wand this morning."

"That's great," said Harry, also feeling more light, and happy to get off the subject of Ron and Hermione's argument.

"I really hope he can identify it," said Ron.

"Yeah," said Harry. "Anyway...as I was saying...yeah, just as long as you perform the same way you did yesterday, Slytherin won't stand a chance. Watch what's going on in the air at all times, concentrate - and," he sighed, "Focus and try as hard as you can to actually catch the Quaffle. If I don't catch the snitch, Malfoy will...so I really have to pay attention as well..." he finished, trailing off.

"I think you should both should start your Transfiguration essays right now," said Hermione airily, interrupting the conversation and scribbling away on her own Transfiguration essay.

"I have already handed in mine!" said Ron indignantly.

"No you didn't," said Hermione, finishing a sentence, then looking up at Harry and Ron.

"And how would you know that?" said Ron.

"When I went to McGonagall for the assignment," said Hermione importantly, pausing at Ron's disgruntled face, and pressing on, "Her grade book was opened on her desk to our class. There simply weren't any grades next to either," She pointed the feather of her quill at the both of them, "of your names." Ron now looked offended, and couldn't seem to think of anything to say. Harry looked slightly confused.

"I started it," he said quite blankly, "I'll go get it upstairs." He went straight up to his dormitory without another word, grabbed his unfinished essay, and descended back into the Common Room again. Ron frowned and merely sat back in his chair gazing at the ceiling. After a few minutes, Hermione packed her things back into her school bag and stood up.

"Where are you off to?" asked Ron.

"Library," said Hermione briskly.

"Figures..." Ron grumbled. Harry looked up from his essay to Hermione.

"See you at lunch." She left through the portrait hole and Ron stood up when she did.

"Back down to the Pitch then?"

"You know it," said Harry. He hastily finished his essay in a manner that he was sure Hermione wouldn't accept. Then he and Ron got their brooks and spent the rest of the morning practicing, right up until lunch. Hermione did indeed show up for it ("Did you finish that essay, Ron?" she had asked. "Oh, sure. The whole thing. It's all done." Harry had snorted into his glass of cranberry juice when hearing this and concealed it with a cough so as to not make himself obvious) and didn't seem to be in much of a bad moon, which was lucky. Harry laid on his bed after it, his hangings drawn so he was in complete darkness for a long time thinking. Finally, after 1:30 PM, Ron whipped open the hangings, fully dressed in his Quidditch robes. Harry had to squint at him because of the new light pouring in at him from the window.

"Come on, we need to go! Katie wants us to have a meeting before the game! You need to get changed!" Harry blinked the sun out of his eyes and got off of his bed. He then changed, grabbed his broomstick and walked down to the Quidditch Pitch with Ron. When they reached the team tent, they mulled around until Katie Bell, the new team captain, and a fairly good one at that, got everything together. Colin and Dennis Creevey, now Beaters, sprinted over to Harry and Ron and Colin took a picture, blinding Harry and leaving him with little blue squares in front of his eyes.

"Hi, Harry!"

"Hi, Colin," said Harry politely, blinking a few times.

"Er...you do know you can't take that thing out on the Pitch with you, don't you?" asked Ron dumbly.

"Yeah, of course I do!" said Colin, "I wouldn't want this to get ruined at all! Especially because of my position." Neville, a new Chaser, also came to greet Harry, followed by Ginny who was now, also a Chaser. Harry, reading Neville's worried look, smiled a bit.

"You're going to do fine. We won last game, remember?" Harry reassured him. Neville sighed.

"I suppose," he said. There was a sound of a pencil rapping a chalkboard and a few people turned.

"Come on," said Ron. He sat on a bench, and Harry took his place next to Ron. Katie talked and talked for what seemed like hours, but what was really only about a half an hour. When she had finished talking so fast and covering the whole chalkboard with notes and pictures that it was hard to distinguish the plan at all, she looked at the team and smiled a bit.

"Any questions?" she asked curtly. Dennis Creevey sniffed from the corner and Ginny gave a light cough.

"Good. Let's head onto the Pitch, then," said Katie, "Come on." The team stood and began walking in a line towards the corridor leading to the Quidditch Pitch. All that separated them now from the game was a single curtain.

"Any minute now," said Katie Bell determined not to sound nervous. They waited in their line in complete silence until the trumpets sounded and the curtains were slowly opened. Katie mounted her broom and kicked off the ground followed by Harry, who was followed by Ginny, then Neville, and Colin and Dennis brought up the rear. They all did their two laps around the Pitch as Lee Jordan's voice boomed above the crowd, Slytherins cheering for the Slytherin team that had just been released and singing predictably "Weasley Is Our King", "GOOD AFTERNOON, HOGWARTS AND WELCOME TO THE LAST GAME OF THE QUIDDITCH SEASON! GRYFFINDOR VERSUS SLYTHERIN!" When Harry neared the Gryffindor section of the stands, he was sure he heard the faint roar of a lion. When he got there, his assumption was confirmed when he saw Luna Lovegood's large Gryffindor lion hat balanced on her blonde head; it looked like a mascot from the air. He passed Ravenclaw's stands, quickly picking out Anna-Nicole, and sent her a wink. He looked back when he could, and saw her smile and turn pink. She obviously had forgotten the day before at Hogsmeade...
Malfoy was at the back of Harry, determined to get ahead of him. When he did pass him, he rammed him hard in the shoulder. Harry put his hand on his arm, frowned, and gained speed. They became neck in neck and Harry managed to yell to him through the crowd's sound and the loud wind rushing past their ears.

"ARE YOU HAPPY MALFOY?"

"WHY WOULD I BE HAPPY?"

"VOLDEMORT GOT THE GOLDEN BELL - ISNT THAT WHAT YOU WANTED? HE COULDN'T LOCATE OR KILL ANYONE IF HE HADN'T HAVE!"

"OH, VERY HAPPY. AND I'M SURE THAT HE'LL BE KILLING YOU VERY SOON, WHAT WITH KNOWING YOUR PLAN! GOTTA GO! CAN'T WAIT TO WATCH YOU LOSE, POTTER!" Harry looked shocked as Malfoy began passing him. How could Voldemort know his plan? He was in the Common Room when he had told Ron. He got his chest closer to his broom and got back up to Malfoy's neck. He passed him successfully and got in position in the circle above the ball box. Harry was sure that Malfoy wasn't going to go easy on him at all this game - especially when he gave him a meaningful sneer and his scar prickled. He wasn't sure why that would happen when Malfoy did something. It had to be something else; but it was too late: Madame Hooch had already stepped onto to field under the circle of players and next to the ball box. He had her hands on her hips and looked stern, as usual - her yellow eyes gleaming up at them in the sunlight. She kicked open the box, let the Snitch out, unlocked the Bludgers and picked up the large red ball that was the Quaffle. She looked up at the two teams where the Chasers were inching closer together in hope of their team getting the ball first.

"Ready?" she shouted.

"Madame Hooch has stepped onto the field and has released all but the Quaffle. As soon as she throws the Quaffle up, the game begins!" Madame Hooch blew her whistle loudly and threw it up in the air.

"And there it goes!" Lee shouted. Six Chasers slammed into one another trying to get the big, dented, red ball, the rest of the two teams swerving to get out of the way, and some pausing to recover, only to see that Katie Bell had snatched the ball before it fell below her feet. Harry moved just in time to let a Slytherin Chaser pass so that his head didn't get knocked off. He looked over at Ron, who was hovering dumbly in front of the top goal hoop watching the game and trying to tune out "Weasley Is Our King." Harry sighed, and just as he did, heard a loud whooshing sound - getting louder and louder. He turned his head slowly and saw a spinning, black Bludger flying straight for the middle of his face. His scar seared with pain and he ducked so that the Bludger sailed over the back of his neck, making the hair on the back of it stand on end. Harry put his head up and watched the black ball make a U-Turn and head straight for Colin Creevey, who froze completely in the air.

"GET IT, COLIN!" yelled Harry, since his brother, Dennis was on the other side of the Pitch and couldn't help him, "PRETEND IT'S MALFOY'S HEAD!" He shouted without thinking, nor noticing that Draco was only a few feet from him. His head spun around to look at his rival. Harry only glanced at him, and looked back at Colin. He swung up his club and hit the Bludger with all of his strength. Malfoy took his maddening eyes from Colin, and looked back at Harry, and began flying closer to him.

"I suppose you think that's funny, Potter? Like to see my face bashed in?"

"Yes, I suppose I would."

"How about I bash your face in?" he snarled menacingly.

"No that's allright, tha - " Malfoy took a swipe at Harry and cracked him in the jaw. When his head turned from the blow, he saw McGonagall stand up from her bench, fists clenched, apparently the only one who had seen this.

"YOU WANT ME, POTTER? COME AND GET ME!" Malfoy streaked away across the field, leaving Harry with his hand under his chin. He watched Malfoy fly off and bit his lip. He followed the white-blonde boy past Neville catching the Quaffle, but being almost flattened to his broom by a pair of Slytherin Chasers, thus throwing the ball frantically to Ginny, and covering his head. Harry was gaining on Malfoy and collected all the hate he had for him to allow him to go faster. He wanted so much to knock the boy off of his broom, to see his head crash to the ground in pieces. He gained speed and could now feel the wind rushing past Malfoy and could almost touch the back end of his broom. Malfoy looked back and smirked a bit, then also gained speed.

"It looks as if Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have just spotted the Snitch! Oh wait, hang on...nah, they're just trying snog each other passionately in the air." A few members of the audience chuckled, and Dumbledore let a small smile slip onto his face, but neither Harry nor Malfoy noticed. Again, Harry's scar seared with pain, but this time, it lasted longer, and left him with a dull ache. He found himself slowing a bit as he looked over at the Ravenclaw stands at Anna-Nicole who was sitting and smiling. When she saw that he had spotted her, she waved and blew a kiss. Harry smiled and blew one back, just so that he would have a reason to "dump" her the next day. He looked back at Malfoy, who was still speeding towards thin air, regardless of the fact that Harry had stopped. He reached out his arm and began groping the air. Realization hit Harry and he began whizzing towards Malfoy.

"Ah, there we are!" Cried Lee, "Draco Malfoy has spotted the Golden Snitch! And from the look of it, Harry Potter as well!" Harry saw the glint of the ball flying away from Malfoy, going in all directions. Malfoy put his hand back on his broom, adjusted himself, and began reaching for it again. Harry whammed right into him and reached his hand out too. Malfoy flew back up, and whammed Harry right back from underneath, hitting his stomach. Harry flew off course a bit and did a turn. His scar again burned and he found himself hovering there clutching his forehead. The pain increased and his vision was blurred. He blacked out just as he heard Lee utter the words: "Draco Malfoy has caught the Golden Snitch!"

A/N: It took me so long to form the new Quidditch Team because I didn't know who had graduated or not grrrrg. But, with the help of the infamous Harry Potter Lexicon, I did it! I wasn't sure about Lee Jordan though...but it's fanfiction. He's staying at least for this one. I know this game was a little short, but they're not so easy to write. I'm trying to picture it all in my head so that I can sort of see what's happening. I'm sorry Slytherin won, but you know, that's life. lol.