By monkeymouse
NB: JKRowling built the Potterverse; I'm just redecorating one of the rooms. And one of the great things about JKR telling the story from Harry's point of view is that stuff could be happening all over Hogwarts that Harry isn't aware of.
Rated: PG
Spoilers: Everything
xxx
28. The Final Match
"Are you sure you won't come along? You've hardly been out of the castle in weeks."
"Admit it, Cho; I've hardly been out of the hospital wing in weeks."
"And that can't be a good thing for you. I mean, if you were laid up..."
"I hope you don't think THIS is a good thing!" Marietta gestured angrily toward her face. No change after six weeks: the blotches and pimples that spelled out the word SNEAK were still on her face.
"Of course not, but--"
"Look, I appreciate what you're trying to do, honestly, but I just don't want to walk into that stadium and have people stare at THIS!"
Cho bit her lip. "Do you want me to stay with you, then?"
"You know better than to ask..."
"It's Hufflepuff against Slytherin, Marietta! Matches don't get more one-sided than that! They're not even in contention for the Cup!"
"It's still Quidditch, Cho. And I like Quidditch, but you live for it. Besides, I remember times you were in the hospital wing during matches. Even though you HAD to be here, you were crawling up the walls. I couldn't ask you just to keep me company."
"You could, you know; ask me that, or so much more..."
"Except the one thing I really need to ask..."
"Please, let's not have that again!"
"Just tell me what I did to deserve this!!"
"I ... Marietta, it wouldn't change a thing, even if you knew. I'm convinced that Hermione Granger did this, and she won't undo it even if you apologise. She has her reasons."
"And somebody could still get in trouble over this, which is why nobody was supposed to tell in the first place?" Cho just nodded. "Then it really doesn't matter how I brought this on myself; just that I did."
"Marietta, I--"
"Let it be," Marietta sighed. "Go enjoy your match. Just come by after lunch. The Arithmancy final is going to be a werewolf."
"I'll come by FOR lunch, then," Cho smiled. She lightly touched the back of Marietta's hand, then left the hospital wing.
xxx
"Right-o, Hogwarts, and welcome!"
Any normal match-up of Slytherin and Hufflepuff would have been an utterly predictable slaughter, but things were hardly normal now. For one thing, Slytherin Captain Montagu was still very much off of his game. Madam Pomfrey hadn't even wanted to let him out of the hospital wing to play. It finally took Professor Snape, late Friday night, performing Legilimency on Montagu, to even begin to sort out the trouble.
"Apparently it was the Weasley twins who caused this," Snape told Pomfrey, glowering at Marietta and Cho as if they were responsible. "They shoved him into a vanishing closet not far from where he was found. Unfortunately, the missing four days is still rather a mystery. It's safe to say that he was sent to someplace swamplike and largely uninhabited; he didn't see anyone, wizard or Muggle, and apparently spent much of the time afraid he would be killed if he were seen. He was chased by something vicious; it may or may not have been magical, but I can't find out yet."
"Have you learned enough to try Memory Modification, then?"
"Not yet, I'm afraid. I might be tampering with other memories; something similar seems to have happened to him in his past, and I wasn't able to sort them out. I'm afraid I can't do more than give him a Contentment Potion for the match."
"I'm not sure that he should play the match at all, then."
"And, of course," Snape said, his eyebrows arched and his voice dripping acid, "your status as Head of Hufflepuff has no bearing on your opinion."
"No more than being Head of Slytherin bears on yours," Pomfrey replied, looking just as sternly at Snape. "I'm sure that we both put the best health of the student above all else. Just bring round the potion whenever it's ready."
Very few people simply dismissed Snape as if he were a First Year, but Pomfrey would have taken on the Dark Lord himself if he decided to mess about with "her" hospital wing. Snape gave Pomfrey a very quick nod, glowered at the Ravenclaw girls again, and left.
Snape must have brought the potion later that night, since, when Cho came to the hospital wing for breakfast with Marietta, Montagu was gone. However...
"Montagu's looking a bit wobbly this morning," Lee Jordan announced as the Slytherins came onto the field. "Maybe they should have let him get sorted out a little longer, but, after all, he's the Captain and this will probably be his last match at Hogwarts. And, in a way, his condition is a final tribute to the Terrible Twins--"
"Confine your remarks to the match, Jordan!"
"Sorry, Professor McGonagall. And here comes the Hufflepuff squad!"
Cho felt the lump rise in her throat as she noted the Hufflepuff players still wore patches with the initials CD. It's a pity you couldn't have won the Cup in his honour, Cho thought; but then, I couldn't let you. And Cedric would have expected me to play as hard as he did...
"There's Hooch's whistle, and the match is on!"
And it was no normal match. The Hufflepuff players still pushed their hardest, as if they had something to prove, as if the match was indeed being played in honour of Cedric Diggory, Hogwarts Champion in the Triwizard Tournament--and victim of Voldemort and his Death Eaters. Cho remembered the Quibbler article, and the Death Eaters Harry had named--some of whose sons were on the Slytherin team.
This is about Cedric, Cho realized; it's as close to revenge as a Hufflepuff can get.
They didn't use any special plays or new strategies against Slytherin; they simply refused to be cowed by the dirty tricks and kept up an aggressive style of play that was unusual for the Hufflepuffs. The tricks were as dirty as ever; the Slytherin Beaters still targeted every Hufflepuff player, but made sure to do so from behind another player, so that Hooch couldn't catch them at it. Their favourite target seemed to be Hufflepuff Seeker Summerby, but he'd gotten much better at dodging Bludgers while keeping an eye out for the Snitch.
As for Montagu, he was clearly the worse for wear. At first he was good enough to catch the Quaffle if someone passed it to him, but when he tried to take it to his own rings ten minutes into the match, everyone knew he was in trouble. He wouldn't take himself out, though, and Snape didn't interfere; it would have been a serious breach of protocol if he had. The other Chasers tried to work around him as his condition worsened. At one point, when Montagu passed the Quaffle straight to a Hufflepuff Chaser, Lee Jordan announced that "Montagu pulled a Weasley that time."
Finally, after several false sightings and escapes, the two Seekers caught sight of the Snitch almost at once. Slytherin was up 190 to 50: catching the Snitch would be a clear victory, Cho knew, but Hufflepuff could still win it. For its part, the Snitch seemed especially agitated this day. It zipped about, changing course at odd angles, speeding around and between other players, with both Summerby and Malfoy in hot pursuit. They stayed equally close to the Snitch, with no clear advantage...
until Montagu, seeing the Quaffle going above his head, reached up, grabbed it, and passed the Quaffle to Malfoy. In the one second it took Malfoy to dodge the Quaffle, Summerby leaned forward--
"That's it! The match is over! 200 to 190, and a brilliant come-from-behind victory for Hufflepuff!"
Brilliant, echoed Cho's thoughts; that really was a brilliant match. They didn't let Slytherin stop them, they just kept pushing and pushing. That's how we beat Slytherin, and in a fortnight that's how we'll beat--
"Cho?"
Cho came to attention. She realized that she had been replaying moments from the match in her mind, and that the stadium was almost empty now; the match must have ended five minutes ago. Now, Luna Lovegood was standing by her side.
"Hey, Cho, what's the slowest breed of dog?"
What?
Before Cho could think of anything, Luna answered her own riddle: "A tarry-er, of course." She smiled and tugged at Cho's sleeve. "You'll miss lunch, silly."
Cho smiled, too, as she followed Luna back to the castle.
xxx
For the next two weeks, Cho seemed reborn. Her world pulled into a tight circle: the upcoming final exams, in N.E.W.T.-level classes; spending time with Marietta; and Quidditch. Especially Quidditch. The morning after the Hufflepuff victory, Ravenclaw had a practice, and things went perfectly. Cho pushed her old Comet Two Sixty to speeds it wasn't supposed to be able to reach. She didn't waste a second of practice doing anything but find and chase the Snitch. And it was the same story the following Sunday.
"Good to have you back," Roger said to her as that second practice ended; six days until the Cup match with Gryffindor. "I haven't wanted to say anything about your focus this year."
"You don't need to, Rog," Cho smiled. "I know how rough the year's been, and how rough my play's been."
"At times."
"All right, at times. But I think everything's pretty much in place now. Saturday Ravenclaw gets the Cup back: your leaving present."
Roger slapped his forehead and pretended to moan. "Thanks for reminding me about my N.E.W.T.s; every owl my family's sent since Christmas has been on about the tests."
"I'm sure you'll do well."
"Just be sure about yourself; I'll worry about Roger."
As she briskly walked back to Hogwarts by herself, Cho's mind stayed in the train of thought it had been in for over a week:
Harry. I'll show you, Harry. I'll show you how good a Seeker I can be. I showed you in the Army how good a witch I can be; I made a Patronus. A Patronus, Harry! Only Granger did as much, and hers wasn't nearly as impressive as mine. And, Harry, I am going to play such a match on Saturday that you won't mind that Gryffindor loses; you'll come looking to congratulate me, and you'll tell me I was brilliant, and I'll see it, Harry, I'll see it in those brilliant green eyes. The light, Harry, the light that told me I wasn't just another witch to you, the light you must surely have seen in my eyes because you aren't just another wizard to me, you aren't even The Boy Who Lived because we all get to share that, because I meant what I said, Harry, I meant what I said under the misteltoe ...
xxx
"Right-o, Hogwarts, and welcome!"
The morning of 30 May was fine and clear, perfect for Quidditch. Cho was up early, as usual on a match day, but she was calm. Two nights earlier she'd been woken up by another nightmare (the one where she was in the maze with Cedric), but she'd slept soundly Friday night and felt perfect on Saturday morning.
She pulled back her hair into a ponytail, got dressed, went down to breakfast early and, as she had since early April, ate in the hospital wing with Marietta. She ate very little herself, which was normal for a match day, but she also spent a lot of the morning trying to talk Marietta into coming to the stadium to watch.
"It won't work!" Marietta shouted for the tenth time. "Raina's veil makes me look like a fool, the beekeeper's bonnet makes me look like a fool, and I'm damned if I'll wear them both at the same time!"
Cho knew that already, but was running out of suggestions. Pomfrey had already tried every possible remedy she knew; she'd even asked Snape whether he could come up with something, but he proclaimed himself as perplexed as the others.
"Some spells leave a signature of their creator," Snape pronounced after examining Marietta, "but this one does not. If it was done by a student, that student is brilliant but also cold and spiteful. I trust a word to the wise is sufficient." After he spoke those words, he glared at Cho and Marietta, as if he knew that Cho know what it was all about.
Marietta decided to stay in the hospital wing. "Well, then, I'll just have to smuggle in some treats from the victory party," Cho smiled as she gathered herself to go to the stadium.
"Don't know how much of a party mood I'll be in," Marietta muttered. "Final exams are Monday, and there's still a colossal lot for me to recall."
"Well, we'll help each other there, too, of course," Cho said on her way to the door. "Please try to feel better, Marietta. It looks to be a glorious day!"
She had actually stayed a bit late and had to dash back to Ravenclaw. She met the rest of the team in the Common Room; like her, they all seemed relaxed--except for the Fifth-Years facing their O.W.L.s on Monday.
Cho seemed the happiest of the lot--happier than she'd been since Cedric was killed. She chatted on with the team about anything and everything as they prepared to go out onto the pitch as Lee called their names.
As they lined up, Roger turned back to Cho: "Listen, you haven't been Cheer-Charming yourself again, have you?"
Before Cho could answer, they heard Lee Jordan:
"And here's the team from Ravenclaw: Davies! Bradley! Chambers! Becksnee! Jenkins! Millbanks! And Chang!"
They marched out onto the pitch, the sun high in a clear sky, a light breeze pulling at Cho's hair. She felt as if the match had already been won.
"I'm serious," Roger muttered as they prepared to mount their brooms. "I haven't seen you like this lately."
"Roger," Cho laughed, "we're playing a team with a novice Seeker, two replacement Beaters and a hopeless Keeper. Maybe you should tell me why you're worried!"
"Because this is still Quidditch," Roger said, "and anything can happen."
They kicked off the pitch and into the air, Hooch blew the whistle, and...
"Davies takes the Quaffle immediately." Jordan sounded less than interested in announcing the match. Understandable; he was a Gryffindor, and seeing Ron Weasley as Keeper probably gave him indigestion. But then, others said Jordan had been pining ever since the Weasley twins made their dramatic exit.
Roger eluded the Gryffindor Chasers handily and shot the Quaffle through the ring for the first score of the match, all in the first minute of play.
This will be perfect, Cho thought. Just let Roger run up the score a bit, do some basic Seeking, just to make sure the Other Weasley doesn't see the Snitch first, which isn't too likely, then grab it and end it and get the Cup back for Ravenclaw. I wonder if it would be too much to hang onto the Snitch and actually give it to Harry...
As she thought it, she glanced at the Gryffindor benches.
There's Harry; he's standing up. He's making for the stairs.
He's leaving the match.
And Granger is leaving with him.
At that moment, the match was over. No matter how hard she tried, Cho couldn't keep her focus on the Snitch for more than a minute at a time. Her mind kept jumping: to the articles written last year by Rita Skeeter linking Hermione Granger romantically with Harry Potter, to the first meeting of Dumbledore's Army at the Hog's Head where Granger tried to run the show, to the scroll that they all had to sign--and to Marietta's face, now blighted for two months by that damned scroll, and to the Room of Requirement, where Harry and Hermione were probably headed at this very moment, a Room which might have another sprig of misteltoe hanging from the ceiling now, or--worse--a day-bed...
Stop that! Cho scolded herself. I can't let myself fret about that now. Get the Snitch or die trying; I'm a Seeker, and that's what a Seeker does...
Cho glanced at the scoreboard and almost stopped dead in mid-air. Ravenclaw was in the lead, but only by 60 to 40! The impossible has happened: Ron Weasley had figured out how to be a Keeper, and he kept turning back shot after shot by Ravenclaw.
Have to end this now, she thought, as she rose up, trying to find the Snitch, not even caring where the Gryffindor Seeker was. She looked, thought she saw something, kept looking, turned back... There it was, hovering above the center of the pitch.
She turned and went into a dive straight for the Golden Snitch, for the prize that would end the match, give the Cup to Ravenclaw. The Snitch took off as Cho drew near, but she just put on more speed. No, you don't; today you're mine, and the game is mine, and--
A hand reached up into Cho's field of vision and plucked the Snitch out of the air just as she pulled within three feet of it.
"GRYFFINDOR'S GOT IT! GRYFFINDOR'S GOT THE SNITCH AND WINS THE CUP!!"
Cho screamed "NO!"; she could barely hear herself over the cheering of the crowd.
She hardly felt it as she settled onto the pitch. Ginny Weasley was ecstatic, jumping up and down and still holding the Snitch as she was mobbed by her teammates.
I should be holding that, Cho thought dully, and looked down at what she was holding: an old, worn-out, shabby, outdated Comet Two Sixty. With an angry shout, she hurled her broom to the grass and ran from the pitch, tears burning her eyes.
xxx
to be continued in part 29, wherein Cho is confronted by Madam Hooch, confronts Roger, and finds that her feelings about Michael Corner are unexpectedly changing ...