From the Daily Prophet of 13 September, 2000
Harry dives to victory
Boy Who Lived's heroics wow Welsh fans
By Ceridwen Myfyr
CAERPHILLY, Wales -- The Seeker dove straight toward the ground at breakneck speed, spinning precariously to avoid successive Bludgers from different directions, nearly levelling an oncoming Chaser and grabbing the Golden Snitch just in time to pull up and avoid a potentially fatal crash by mere inches.
Judging by the audacity of the play, and the fans' reaction to it, one might have guessed Dai Llewellyn was back from beyond the veil for another shot at glory. But it was another legend -- in another uniform -- Caerphilly Catapults fans cheered on this day.
Harry Potter made his Welsh Quidditch debut and turned in a daring performance even Llewellyn, the late Catapults hero still celebrated for his recklessness, would have been pressed to match. It took Potter just 37 minutes to fight through heavy defensive pressure to find the Snitch, and his breathtaking plummet for the capture gave Puddlemere United a 210-70 victory over Caerphilly in an exciting reserve-team clash Tuesday.
"They were very aggressive toward me," Potter said afterwards, "so when I saw the Snitch I knew I needed to be aggressive as well."
Aggressive is putting it mildly.
The Boy Who Lived was racing high above the centre of the pitch, seemingly besieged by the Bludgers and Catapults Seeker Jimmy Weir, when he sighted the Snitch in the open just above ground level. But the Boy Who Lived's hopes of an easy capture disappeared before he could close in as the scrum of Chasers drifted between him and the golden ball.
"I was shut off," the Boy Who Lived said. "I lost sight of the Snitch from where I was so I kept going until I found an opening. Luckily, I spotted it again right off."
Spotting the Snitch was the easy part. It was almost 100 feet beneath the Puddlemere Seeker, forcing him to make a quick decision on a long, dangerous dive through a potential gauntlet of five nearby Chasers if he wanted a direct run at the ball.
"Nobody tries for the Snitch from that angle," said Glenn Watson, Potter's manager during his weekend stints with the Puddlemere first team. "It's far too dangerous. Most Seekers would have flown around the Chasers and looked for the Snitch once they were below the traffic."
Not Potter.
"I couldn't not go for it," the Boy Who Lived said.
He rolled into his dive as Catapults Beater Jari Ylonen fired a Bludger from close range, and he kept twisting as he spotted the other Caerphilly Beater, Fred Smith, taking aim from below. Potter narrowly dodged the iron balls -- and team-mate Kate Towne, who unsuspectingly flew across his downward path -- before breaking into the clear. That gave him just enough space to level off as he snatched the Snitch and the cheers of the home side's fans.
"When he went for it, I thought, 'No bleeding way. In a second, they're going to have to pluck him out of the turf, living or dead,'" Weir said. "But somehow he got past Fred and Jari and pulled it off. It was an amazing capture. There certainly wasn't anything I could do to stop him."
"Sensational," Watson called the play. "Simply sensational. One might also say it was foolhardy, but since he caught the Snitch, I think 'bold' is more appropriate."
Potter downplayed the move, saying, "It was just a dive. There was plenty of room to reach the Snitch if I could get past the obstacles so I took the chance and things worked out for the best."
But the fans were impressed. They rose en masse as the Boy Who Lived hurtled downward and gave a thundering roar when he caught the Golden Snitch. Not even the visiting side's brief celebratory gathering at midfield dampened the reaction. For several minutes, unwavering applause poured from the stands, eventually spurring Potter to hold up the Snitch in recognition of the cheers.
"It's really nice for our team to receive so much support," the Puddlemere Seeker said humbly. "I'm just glad (the fans) enjoyed the match."
It was an especially stirring moment considering Potter was playing in his first professional match away from Nimbus Arena and the crowd was comprised almost entirely of Caerphilly partisans. In order to prevent the influx of Boy-Who-Lived supporters expected to follow United around the league this season, the Catapults gave free passes to Tuesday's reserve match to anyone who has purchased tickets to the Caerphilly senior team's home debut against Kenmare on Saturday.
"It's hard to believe (Caerphilly's) fans cheered for us -- or for Harry, at least -- after we won on their pitch," said Adam Briscoe, the manager of the Puddlemere reserves. "But Harry definitely earned the support today. He flew superbly."
Potter needed to perform well for his fast capture because he was the target of the Caerphilly defence. Weir played a tight, marking style, and seemingly every Bludger struck by Ylonen or Smith was sent in the direction of the Puddlemere Seeker.
"Their defence was tough," Potter said. "It could have been a long stalemate if I hadn't been so lucky. I just happened to be looking in the right place when the Snitch came out early."
"We wanted to put pressure on (Potter)," Weir said. "We tried not to allow him any room to work because last week Portree gave him space and he took over the match. I think we actually contained him fairly well, not that it did us any good in the end."
Caerphilly's defensive scheme toward the Boy Who Lived had a more positive impact on the rest of the match, however. United's Beaters, Erik Hansen and Joe Smith, were compelled to spend most of their energy protecting the Seeker, leaving both sides' Chasers free to wage a lively, back-and-forth game that averaged a goal every third possession.
United seemed to be taken slightly off guard in the opening minutes as the Catapults deployed a Hawkshead Attacking Formation to good effect. Caerphilly's Emrick Wynn scored the game's first two goals, and after Madori Sato found the mark for Puddlemere, the Catapults grabbed a 40-10 lead at the 12-minute mark on scores by Li Zhao and Fenton Chesterton.
A series of crisp passes from Angelique Rouselle (two goals) and several stellar saves by Keeper Tamika Simmons helped Puddle U establish greater influence in the rest of the short contest. Towne's goal in the 29th minute equalised the score at 50 and the last of Sato's three tallies gave United its only lead. Li and Wynn responded by breaking away for their third goals just before Potter ended the match.
"There were certainly a lot of chances," Briscoe said. "Both sides moved the Quaffle well and made plenty of effort to attack the goal hoops. That's the kind of match everyone enjoys watching -- except the Keepers, of course."
Ekaterina Petrova was another player who might not have enjoyed her day at the pitch. The Puddlemere Seeker -- who backed up Potter, her former boyfriend, in a match staged just hours after news of their break-up became public -- was heckled relentlessly as she paced the sideline. Several fans also lustily booed the young Russian as she walked off the pitch, with the jeers stopping only after the Boy Who Lived suddenly jogged over to walk beside the blonde teen.
Potter, who will travel to Appleby on Saturday with the Puddlemere senior squad, refused comment on his relationship with Petrova.
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Ceridwen Myfyr covers Caerphilly for the Daily Prophet. Owl her at thedpreporting(at)yahoo(dot)com.
A/N: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter. I really appreciated the great response, especially considering the content. I'll try to give you lot at least one or two more chances to review before this goes AU.
Thanks, of course, also go to my betas, R.G., Kate and Nancy.