Chapter 14 Gryffindor v. Slytherin
On Saturday night, it was hard for Harry to sleep. Thoughts of the day's battle kept running through his mind. He kept running over the odds in his head and wondered if it would have been possible for him to lead his friends to victory against the Slytherins that day. Malfoy must have been unsure about his own odds, or he would not have allowed them to go. But it was almost certain that if the fighting had resumed, the Slytherins would have used unforgivable curses, and possibly killed the Gryffindors.
Regardless of which side won, it would have been likely that at least one of the Gryffindors would have died in an all-out battle, which was certainly the kind that would have been offered by the Slytherins. So, overall, Harry was confident that he had made the right decision, but he was still extremely bitter about having to let the death-eaters go free. Harry was so angry for Malfoy's apparently instrumental part in the entire plot that he had a hard time restraining himself from pulling his wand on him the next morning when he saw him in the dining hall.
Ginny saw him looking in the Slytherin's direction, she just said, "Look, don't pick a fight with him now, all right? We'll get back at them in a way that won't get us expelled."
"He tried to kill you, and you're worried about being expelled?" asked Harry irritably.
"Just relax. Remember, if you get expelled, you'll have to live with the Dursleys for the next 2 years. Is Malfoy really worth that?" asked Ron, who was sitting nearby.
"I wasn't going to do anything to him anyway," said Harry, defensively. "I'm not stupid enough to try anything in the Great Hall, all right?" "I'm glad to hear it," said Hermione.
Later on that day, in the common room, they began work on the mind-reading potion, or at least began to the extent that they looked up the potions in one of Hermione's books.
"You weren't kidding about the ingredients being rare," acknowledged Harry. "I've never even heard of half these things. How're we going to get any of this stuff?"
"Well, even though some of these things are very rare, McGonnogal and Snape should have all of them in their cupboards," Hermione said.
"Fat lot of help that'll do," complained Ron. "Like they're just going to give us ingredients to make an illegal potion to read someone's mind with."
"Of course not," agreed Hermione, "but maybe they'll give us the ingredients if we say we're trying to make another potion. For instance, there's one potion that is sometimes used on the N.E.W.T's that people can drink to allow them to pass through solid objects. It has 3 ingredients in common with this potion. If you ask McGonnogal to teach you how to make this potion, then you can just pinch some of these ingredients off the top. There's another potion that I'll ask Snape if I can make as an extra-assignment over next weekend, and that'll give me another of the two ingredients. The rest are pretty common, and I can get them off of the general ingredients rack next time I have Potions."
"Do you really think Snape will let you come in for an extra class? He really doesn't like you much does he?" asked Harry.
"Well, he hasn't been getting on my case as much since you and Ron aren't in the class anymore, and how could any professor resist a student wanting to do extra work?" asked Hermione.
"Well, I hope it works," registered Ginny.
When Saturday came, it was time for the first Quidditch match of the season. At the pre-game pep-talk, Harry gave some peppy remarks, concluding with, "All right, guys, no allowing the Slytherins to provoke anyone into fighting them. If they try to harass us, it's just because they know we can beat them otherwise. We've practiced for this for months, and we all know that the Slytherins are far better at shooting off their mouths than shooting quaffles. So let's get out there and stomp some snakes!"
True to their word, the twins were there, giving free prank-supplies to anyone in the stands dressed in red and gold. The Gryffindors took to the field before the Slytherins, and so they were in the perfect position to laugh when the Slytherins showed up wearing very angry expressions along with robes that, although remaining faithful to the green and silver color-scheme, had been altered to sport such slogans as "Gryffindor Quidditch Rules," "Nothing Gets by Weasley" and "Slytherin Quidditch, Simply the Worst."
Harry wasn't exactly sure what the twins had done to charm the robes, but apparently the Slytherins could not figure out how to reverse the spell. Madame Hooch attempted to reverse the spells, but found that it would be impossible to do so.
Looking irritated, she said, "Well, I guess you'll just have to play like that then."
When the captains were told to shake hands, Harry laughed and said to Malfoy, "Well, I guess just because you're stuck playing for Slytherin doesn't mean you have to root for yourselves… You know, we'd still let you forfeit now if you want," added Harry brightly.
Malfoy, clearly not in the mood to joke around, said nothing, but squeezed Harry's hand to the point of causing pain before quickly disengaging. Moments later, all the brooms were mounted, and Harry and Malfoy each began to circle the pitch.
Harry was grateful for the weather, which was about the best Quidditch weather that could be asked for. It was a clear day and there was just a slight chill in the air. Harry's eyes kept struggling to take in as much of the area as often as possible, so he wasn't really watching the game.
He only heard from the announcer (Lee Jordan had been replaced by a lively Hufflepuff fifth-year with a flair for entertainment named Gerald Rosser ) what the score was. Before long, it was 40-10 in Gryffindor's favor, Ron making 3 spectacular (at least according to Gerald, who seemed to be almost as biased against Slytherin as Harry was) saves and Ginny scoring 2 of the four Gryffindor goals. As Harry scanned the air below him again, he felt pride in how his team was playing so far, and reflected that if they lost, it would not be due to anyone but him.
He glanced at Draco once again to see if he had seen anything. However, Malfoy was still looking around in just as much frustration as Harry. Harry heard from Gerald that Ginny had the Quaffle again, and allowed his eyes to linger on her for a moment while she rushed down the field.
He justified this by the thought that it was strictly possible that the Snitch would be right down there in the thick of the action, even though it normally tried to stay away from people (Harry laughed at himself for how in depth he presumed to be able to go into Snitch-psychology). Ginny made the goal easily, and Harry looked up to Malfoy again as the crowd roared in favor of Gryffindor.
Right after Harry looked at Malfoy, the boy began to go into a dive. Harry immediately cursed himself for breaking his determined scanning for the Snitch to admire his girlfriend's ability to make a goal. He tried to determine where it was that Malfoy was angling himself toward so that he could get wherever it was before him. Harry prepared to dive as well.
But even as he got ready to make this desperate dive for a Snitch that he still couldn't see, Harry's mind was racing. It was awfully coincidental that Malfoy had dived just as Harry looked up, wasn't it? And why could Harry still not see the Snitch that Malfoy was diving for?
Looking back at Malfoy, Harry noticed him look up toward Harry again. Something wasn't right about that, Harry thought. Malfoy had enough of a head-start that he should be able to grab the snitch before Harry got there, so there was no reason for Malfoy to take his eyes off the snitch to trace his progress… Unless he was making sure that Harry was diving too. Harry realized suddenly that Malfoy was attempting a feint.
And of course, the only reason that Malfoy could have for doing that would be if the Snitch were closer to Harry than it was to Malfoy. Harry quickly whipped his broom around, and sure enough, he saw the Snitch a mere 20 yards to his back-left.
The Snitch, seeming to realize it had been spotted, attempted to fly off, but Harry was in hot-pursuit. Malfoy, having just pulled out of his feint, was desperately behind. Harry didn't even look back to see whether Malfoy was gaining as he chased the Snitch, which was fleeing behind the Slytherin goal-post.
Harry was about to reach out and grab the Snitch when he noticed that a Bludger was coming on an exact collision course with him. However, he was going at such a high-speed that he knew if he veered, he'd have to chase the Snitch back down again, and by that time, Malfoy might have it. So Harry braced himself for pain and reached out for the Snitch.
At the exact moment he grabbed it, he felt a sharp pain thud into his calf. That would be the Bludger.
Still, Harry hardly felt the pain as he eased his broom back down to the pitch to the cheers of the Gryffindors, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs in the stands. Draco looked terribly angry, but Harry thought he should have known better… Harry was practically the master of feinting… Harry reflected that even if Malfoy had been able to trick him into an unfair duel earlier that semester, Malfoy should have known better than to try to bamboozle him in his own element, a Quidditch Match.