Chapter 23
Gryffindor VS. Hufflepuff
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Harry shouted but then quickly dropped his voice to a whisper when he saw the entire Gryffindor common room looking at him. "Are you serious, we caught Lucius Malfoy?"
"Yes." Lupin replied. "Ginny come over here." The professor called to the fiery red head. "This concerns you too. And where are Ron and Hermione?"
"We don't know." Harry answered as Ginny made her way over to the corner of the room where Harry and Lupin where huddled. "I was just about to check the map to find out where they were when you walked in."
"Okay you go do that. I will tell Ginny the news." Lupin replied. Harry nodded and made his way over to the boy's stairway. He could hear Ginny yelp gleefully as he began to climb the stairs. But before he could get too far, the portrait of the fat lady opened revealing his too best friends.
"Where have you too been?" Harry shouted in a parental tone. The entire common room turned to look at Ron and Hermione, which made them both blush furiously.
"We were uh..." Ron started.
"In the library." Hermione finished as they walked forward. Harry couldn't help smiling and he decided in light of the good news he would let them off the hook.
"Lupin has good news." Harry said as he approached the couple. Just then Lupin and Ginny walked forward and joined the group.
"It's not all good." Lupin corrected. "But we can't talk here. Lets go to my office." So together the five of them exited the common room and made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry looked around and noticed that everyone was very tense as they made their way down the corridor. What could the bad news be? Surely it was a good thing that the caught a dangerous Death Eater.
"Here we are." Lupin said once they arrived in his office. He closed the door behind him and made his way to the desk, conjuring up some extra chairs in the process so everyone can sit down. "Now then, as I told Harry and Ginny, we did indeed catch Lucius Malfoy."
"That's Great." Ron said.
"Oh thank God." Hermione added. "Hopefully they will be able to find Hagrid now."
"Indeed." Lupin replied. "We hope so. The Order is meeting right now to discuss strategy in those regards. I should be at the meeting, but I was sent to talk to you lot instead. You see, there were some interesting circumstances that led to his capture. And it may be a little hard for you to hear. Especially you two." He said pointing at Ron and Ginny.
"What is it?" Ginny asked timidly as if she didn't really want to know.
"Yea, we can handle it don't worry." Ron said as he sat up a little straighter in his chair and stuck his chest out. Harry however, could see that Ron had a fair amount of fear in his eyes.
"Alright, I'll continue then." Lupin responded. "Fred and George were doing some work for the Order. They found themselves at a Death Eaters meeting. Thankfully, Voldemort wasn't there. But they recognized Lucius right away. He was leading the meeting. They were discussing an attack that they were planning on Hogsmeade. Fred and George called for backup, and members of the order started popping up everywhere. The Death Eaters of course started Apparating away. But thankfully Fred, had the good sense to stun Malfoy before he even knew what was going on."
"Was anyone else caught?" Harry asked.
"Yes, they caught one other person." Lupin replied and Harry could see his face begin to fall a little. "You see, the reason Fred and George found this meeting is because they were tailing someone who happened to go to this meeting."
"Percy." Ron said angrily. Lupin nodded. Harry remembered Fred and George telling them that they were looking for Percy.
"I'm sorry to say." Lupin added. "Fred and George had been tailing him for about a week. They didn't report anything suspicious and were going to give up when he lead them straight to a Death Eaters meeting. Needless to say, while Fred was stunning Malfoy, George stunned Percy." Ginny buried her head in Harry's shoulder and was sobbing steadily.
"Where is that lousy git!" Ron yelled angrily as he got up from his chair.
"Settle down Ron." Lupin said as he made a motion for Ron to return to his seat, which he surprisingly did. "They are both being held at Grimmauld Place. They are going to be interrogated shortly. Your parents gave me strict orders that none of you were to come. They said they would see you on Saturday after your Quidditch match."
"What kind of a person..?" Ron grunted angrily as he got up and stormed out of the office. Hermione leapt up quickly and followed after him. Meanwhile, Harry patted Ginny's head tenderly as she continued to cry.
"Is there any chance that it's a mistake?" Harry asked breaking the silence. "Maybe he was under the Imperious Curse."
"Truthfully, I don't know." Lupin answered. "He hasn't been interrogated yet. I guess we will have to wait and see what kind of answer he gives."
"How are the rest of the Weasleys?" Harry asked as Ginny slowly picked her head up.
"Mrs. Weasley is heartbroken of course. She didn't believe it at first. Not until she heard it straight from Fred and George. The rest of them had similar reactions to Ron. They're angry and hurt." Harry nodded and turned to Ginny.
"Are you okay?" He started. "Do you want to go back to the common room now?"
"Yea." She said meekly. The two students got up and made their way to the door.
"Needless to say," Lupin said. "The information regarding these captures is strictly confidential. No one must know. Especially about Percy. It might cause a panic now that Mr. Weasley is the Minister." Harry and Ginny both understood. If it was found that the Minister of Magic's son was a Death Eater, it was certainly cause a lot of unneeded controversy.
The rest of the day was very hard. Harry and Ginny came back to the common room and saw Hermione and Ron sitting on a couch in the corner. They joined them and the four sat in relative silence for what seemed like hours. Harry did mention Lupin's plea to keep the information confidential. Ron said that would be no problem because he wouldn't want anyone to know that his brother was a traitor.
The weekend passed by pretty uneventfully. Gryffindor house was buzzing with anticipation about the first Quidditch match of the year. But Harry, Ginny and Ron were walking around in a sort of zombish state. On Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wrote a letter telling them not to worry. They said that Percy was in the process of being interrogated and that they would all talk after the Quidditch match.
Before they all went to bed on Sunday, Ron called a meeting of the entire Quidditch team and notified them that they would be practicing Monday through Friday Morning at 6:00 am. He had such a fierce and authoritative look in his eyes, that no one even questioned him.
When practice got underway on Monday morning, Harry realized that Ron was channeling all his anger into Quidditch. It was the most intense practice Harry had ever been a part of, and that was saying something. At one point, Ron grabbed one of the beaters bats and was hitting bludgers at the chasers while they were running a passing exercise. Then, at the end of practice, he released the Snitch and made everyone do laps around the pitch. He said that they had to keep doing laps until Harry caught the snitch. And to top it off, Ron went against him as the opposing seeker.
Ron didn't have much seeker experience, but he was intent on keeping Harry from catching the snitch. He did whatever he had to do. He was flying recklessly and a couple times when Harry was close to the snitch, Ron flew right into him and nearly knocked Harry off his broom. Thankfully, about 15 minutes in, Harry saw the snitch hovering above one of the goals and was able to fake Ron out by going into a dive and then quickly pulling up to capture the golden ball. Ron looked angry that Harry had caught it so fast. He had obviously wanted to work his team much harder.
The rest of the week went similarly. They woke up every morning and had grueling practices before classes. When Saturday morning came around, Harry didn't think he had ever been so happy to have a weekend come. Harry noticed that Ron was already out of bed as he made his way down to the Gryffindor common room.
The first Quidditch match of the year was always very exciting, especially for the first years. As Harry walked in the common room, the place bursted into applause and cheers. There were flashes of gold and red everywhere. Harry noticed Dean Thomas sitting on one of the couches and he quickly approached him.
"Nervous?" Harry asked. He remembered his first Quidditch match and knew that it couldn't be easy for Dean.
"A little." Dean conceded. "But I think I will be okay once we get out there." Harry nodded in agreement as another loud cheer resonated through the common room. He turned around to see that Ginny had walked in and he noticed that she smiled for the first time since they had learned the news about Percy.
"Come on Dean." Harry said as he led him over towards Ginny. "We should probably go get some breakfast." He agreed and together they grabbed Ginny and made their way down to the Great Hall. Many other Gryffindor students had followed them down the corridors singing Gryffindor praises.
They ate quickly and then changed into their Quidditch gear before making their way to the pitch. It was really a beautiful day. It was a little chilly, but the sun was giving off enough warmth to keep it comfortable and the win was barely blowing at all. Ron was already out there and was practicing defending the goal with an enchanted Quaffle that kept flying at the different hoops.
"Good luck guys." Hermione said as she ran up to them and gave Harry and Ginny a quick hug. "He's been out here for hours." She added glancing up at Ron.
"Thanks Hermione." Harry said as he smiled and headed airborne to join Ron. The rest of the team followed and they began doing drills to get ready for the game.
Within a half hour, stands were packed with eager fans. It seemed that most of the Ravenclaws were supporting Gryffindor and Harry even noticed Luna cheering furiously with her unusual Lion's head hat on.
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Came an unfamiliar voice. Harry had been so used to hearing Lee Jordan announce the Quidditch matches that it was odd to hear anyone else do it. "I'm Steven Cornfoot and I'll be announcing today's action."
The crowd cheered crazily as all the Quidditch players who had been warming up, landed on the ground for announcements.
"Introducing first, the Hufflepuff team." Cornfoot continued. "Captain and Chaser Zacharias Smith. Chasers' Susan Bones and Owen Cauldwell. Beaters Kevin Whitby and Ernie Macmillan. Keeper Wayne Hopkins. And the new Seeker for the Hufflepuff team Eleanor Branstone." The crowd gave an enthusiastic yell in support of the team.
"And now the defending champion Gryffindor squad." Cornfoot shouted loudly over the screams and cheers. "Captain and Keeper Ron Weasley. Chasers Dean Thomas, Ginny Weasley and Geoffrey Hooper. Beaters Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper. And returning from suspension, Seeker Harry Potter." The crowd went wild as the Gryffindor players waved graciously to the crowd. Harry quickly surveyed his competition at seeker. She was small and no doubt very fast. She had what looked to be a fairly new Nimbus broom. But she was also inexperienced. This was her first match and Harry would definitely use that to his advantage. They all came to the middle of the pitch and after Ron and Zacharias shook hands, the game began.
"Madam Hooch releases the Quaffle and we're under way." Cornfoot began. "Ginny Weasley has the Quaffle and quickly looks to start a scoring drive, she does a quick dive to avoid a screaming bludger and launches the ball upward to a streaking Dean Thomas. Man can he fly! He whips past Bones and puts a shot on the right hoop. Score! Gryffindor leads 10-0.
Harry called out congratulations to Dean and then began to survey the sky. The snitch normally wouldn't appear this early in the game but Quidditch was unpredictable. Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see that the Hufflepuff seeker was watching him intently. Her strategy was obviously to mirror him. So Harry decided to have a little fun with her. He dove straight down towards the ground. He could feel that Branstone was tailing him closely and at the last second he pulled up and zoomed straight back up to the sky. The Hufflepuff seeker had a tough time correcting herself but Harry was impressed at her recovery. Many seekers wouldn't have been able to avoid hitting the ground.
"Smith is bearing down on Weasley." Cornfoot brought Harry's attention back to the game. "It's a one on one. Smith shoots on the bottom goal. Save! Amazing Ron Weasley hung from his broom with one hand and made an unbelievable kick save."
"Now Gryffindor is back in possession of the Quaffle. Thomas passes to Weasley, back to Thomas. They are trading passes back and forth. Weasley fakes a shot, passes to Thomas who smacks a shot with the back of his broom right through the goal for another Gryffindor point. And Gryffindor now leads 70-0."
Harry was now searching the sky intently for the snitch. They had a good lead, but were still vulnerable if Hufflepuff caught the snitch as it is worth 150 points. Then, as if on queue, Harry saw a hint of the tiny golden ball near the stands on the right said. He set out after it with the Hufflepuff Seeker hot on his heals. The Snitch darted downward and Harry made a quick dive. Branstone obviously was not to keen on following Harry toward the ground again, so she was proceeding cautiously. So Harry had opened up a lot of ground and was now all alone ready to pounce on the snitch.
"Weasley takes a bludger to the back of the head!" Harry heard and saw Ginny falling through the air from her broom. He quickly broke off from his pursuit of the snitch and was able to fly underneath Ginny and catch her before she hit the ground.
"Amazing. Potter catches Weasley before she hits the ground. But now Branstone is all alone going after the snitch. Potter will never be able to catch her." Harry laid Ginny down on the ground and then set back off after the snitch. But he saw that the announcer was right. Branstone was only about twenty feet from the snitch now and it would be impossible for Harry to catch her. Harry leaned forward on his Firebolt with all his might. The scenery around him was flying by him in a blur.
"Branstone is closing in. Potter has narrowed the gap but he wont get there in time." Harry got to within about thirty feet of the Hufflepuff Seeker when he saw her reach her hand out for the snitch, but before she could get her hands around it, a bludger struck her right in the hand and sent her flying off course. Harry took that opportunity to swoop in and gain victory.
"Unbelievable. Just when the Hufflepuff Seeker was about to catch the Snitch, Ron Weasley the Gryffindor Keeper mind you, grabbed a bat and sent a bludger which caught the Hufflepuff Seeker right in the hand. Harry Potter grabs the snitch. Gryffindor Wins!"
Harry landed and held up the snitch to the crowd who were chanting wildly for Gryffindor. Ginny, who had now regained consciousness, came up and threw her arms around Harry. Then Ron landed and Harry sprinted towards giving him a high five followed by sportly embrace.
"That was brilliant." Harry shouted. All of Gryffindor house was now on the field cheering madly. Harry and Ron were lifted up off the ground and carried off the field as the sounds of Weasley is our King echoed through the pitch. And for a brief moment, Harry felt like all his problems were gone.
Author's Note: Well I hope you like my first attempt at Quidditch. I'm interested to hear what you think. I know some people are not going to be happy about the whole Percy situation. I hope after you hear Percy's explanation of his actions you will accept it one-way or the other. Well that's it for now. Keep Reviewing.
P.S. To answer a question posed by Hermione88220. Yes McGonagall did cancel Hogsmeade trips in the beginning of the story, but that was when she thought Dumbledore was unconscious. Now that Dumbledore is back(even though we know it's Aberforth) they are allowing Hogsmeade trips. Although they may change their minds now that they know that the Death Eaters were planning an attack there.
Gryffindor VS. Hufflepuff
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Harry shouted but then quickly dropped his voice to a whisper when he saw the entire Gryffindor common room looking at him. "Are you serious, we caught Lucius Malfoy?"
"Yes." Lupin replied. "Ginny come over here." The professor called to the fiery red head. "This concerns you too. And where are Ron and Hermione?"
"We don't know." Harry answered as Ginny made her way over to the corner of the room where Harry and Lupin where huddled. "I was just about to check the map to find out where they were when you walked in."
"Okay you go do that. I will tell Ginny the news." Lupin replied. Harry nodded and made his way over to the boy's stairway. He could hear Ginny yelp gleefully as he began to climb the stairs. But before he could get too far, the portrait of the fat lady opened revealing his too best friends.
"Where have you too been?" Harry shouted in a parental tone. The entire common room turned to look at Ron and Hermione, which made them both blush furiously.
"We were uh..." Ron started.
"In the library." Hermione finished as they walked forward. Harry couldn't help smiling and he decided in light of the good news he would let them off the hook.
"Lupin has good news." Harry said as he approached the couple. Just then Lupin and Ginny walked forward and joined the group.
"It's not all good." Lupin corrected. "But we can't talk here. Lets go to my office." So together the five of them exited the common room and made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. Harry looked around and noticed that everyone was very tense as they made their way down the corridor. What could the bad news be? Surely it was a good thing that the caught a dangerous Death Eater.
"Here we are." Lupin said once they arrived in his office. He closed the door behind him and made his way to the desk, conjuring up some extra chairs in the process so everyone can sit down. "Now then, as I told Harry and Ginny, we did indeed catch Lucius Malfoy."
"That's Great." Ron said.
"Oh thank God." Hermione added. "Hopefully they will be able to find Hagrid now."
"Indeed." Lupin replied. "We hope so. The Order is meeting right now to discuss strategy in those regards. I should be at the meeting, but I was sent to talk to you lot instead. You see, there were some interesting circumstances that led to his capture. And it may be a little hard for you to hear. Especially you two." He said pointing at Ron and Ginny.
"What is it?" Ginny asked timidly as if she didn't really want to know.
"Yea, we can handle it don't worry." Ron said as he sat up a little straighter in his chair and stuck his chest out. Harry however, could see that Ron had a fair amount of fear in his eyes.
"Alright, I'll continue then." Lupin responded. "Fred and George were doing some work for the Order. They found themselves at a Death Eaters meeting. Thankfully, Voldemort wasn't there. But they recognized Lucius right away. He was leading the meeting. They were discussing an attack that they were planning on Hogsmeade. Fred and George called for backup, and members of the order started popping up everywhere. The Death Eaters of course started Apparating away. But thankfully Fred, had the good sense to stun Malfoy before he even knew what was going on."
"Was anyone else caught?" Harry asked.
"Yes, they caught one other person." Lupin replied and Harry could see his face begin to fall a little. "You see, the reason Fred and George found this meeting is because they were tailing someone who happened to go to this meeting."
"Percy." Ron said angrily. Lupin nodded. Harry remembered Fred and George telling them that they were looking for Percy.
"I'm sorry to say." Lupin added. "Fred and George had been tailing him for about a week. They didn't report anything suspicious and were going to give up when he lead them straight to a Death Eaters meeting. Needless to say, while Fred was stunning Malfoy, George stunned Percy." Ginny buried her head in Harry's shoulder and was sobbing steadily.
"Where is that lousy git!" Ron yelled angrily as he got up from his chair.
"Settle down Ron." Lupin said as he made a motion for Ron to return to his seat, which he surprisingly did. "They are both being held at Grimmauld Place. They are going to be interrogated shortly. Your parents gave me strict orders that none of you were to come. They said they would see you on Saturday after your Quidditch match."
"What kind of a person..?" Ron grunted angrily as he got up and stormed out of the office. Hermione leapt up quickly and followed after him. Meanwhile, Harry patted Ginny's head tenderly as she continued to cry.
"Is there any chance that it's a mistake?" Harry asked breaking the silence. "Maybe he was under the Imperious Curse."
"Truthfully, I don't know." Lupin answered. "He hasn't been interrogated yet. I guess we will have to wait and see what kind of answer he gives."
"How are the rest of the Weasleys?" Harry asked as Ginny slowly picked her head up.
"Mrs. Weasley is heartbroken of course. She didn't believe it at first. Not until she heard it straight from Fred and George. The rest of them had similar reactions to Ron. They're angry and hurt." Harry nodded and turned to Ginny.
"Are you okay?" He started. "Do you want to go back to the common room now?"
"Yea." She said meekly. The two students got up and made their way to the door.
"Needless to say," Lupin said. "The information regarding these captures is strictly confidential. No one must know. Especially about Percy. It might cause a panic now that Mr. Weasley is the Minister." Harry and Ginny both understood. If it was found that the Minister of Magic's son was a Death Eater, it was certainly cause a lot of unneeded controversy.
The rest of the day was very hard. Harry and Ginny came back to the common room and saw Hermione and Ron sitting on a couch in the corner. They joined them and the four sat in relative silence for what seemed like hours. Harry did mention Lupin's plea to keep the information confidential. Ron said that would be no problem because he wouldn't want anyone to know that his brother was a traitor.
The weekend passed by pretty uneventfully. Gryffindor house was buzzing with anticipation about the first Quidditch match of the year. But Harry, Ginny and Ron were walking around in a sort of zombish state. On Sunday, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley wrote a letter telling them not to worry. They said that Percy was in the process of being interrogated and that they would all talk after the Quidditch match.
Before they all went to bed on Sunday, Ron called a meeting of the entire Quidditch team and notified them that they would be practicing Monday through Friday Morning at 6:00 am. He had such a fierce and authoritative look in his eyes, that no one even questioned him.
When practice got underway on Monday morning, Harry realized that Ron was channeling all his anger into Quidditch. It was the most intense practice Harry had ever been a part of, and that was saying something. At one point, Ron grabbed one of the beaters bats and was hitting bludgers at the chasers while they were running a passing exercise. Then, at the end of practice, he released the Snitch and made everyone do laps around the pitch. He said that they had to keep doing laps until Harry caught the snitch. And to top it off, Ron went against him as the opposing seeker.
Ron didn't have much seeker experience, but he was intent on keeping Harry from catching the snitch. He did whatever he had to do. He was flying recklessly and a couple times when Harry was close to the snitch, Ron flew right into him and nearly knocked Harry off his broom. Thankfully, about 15 minutes in, Harry saw the snitch hovering above one of the goals and was able to fake Ron out by going into a dive and then quickly pulling up to capture the golden ball. Ron looked angry that Harry had caught it so fast. He had obviously wanted to work his team much harder.
The rest of the week went similarly. They woke up every morning and had grueling practices before classes. When Saturday morning came around, Harry didn't think he had ever been so happy to have a weekend come. Harry noticed that Ron was already out of bed as he made his way down to the Gryffindor common room.
The first Quidditch match of the year was always very exciting, especially for the first years. As Harry walked in the common room, the place bursted into applause and cheers. There were flashes of gold and red everywhere. Harry noticed Dean Thomas sitting on one of the couches and he quickly approached him.
"Nervous?" Harry asked. He remembered his first Quidditch match and knew that it couldn't be easy for Dean.
"A little." Dean conceded. "But I think I will be okay once we get out there." Harry nodded in agreement as another loud cheer resonated through the common room. He turned around to see that Ginny had walked in and he noticed that she smiled for the first time since they had learned the news about Percy.
"Come on Dean." Harry said as he led him over towards Ginny. "We should probably go get some breakfast." He agreed and together they grabbed Ginny and made their way down to the Great Hall. Many other Gryffindor students had followed them down the corridors singing Gryffindor praises.
They ate quickly and then changed into their Quidditch gear before making their way to the pitch. It was really a beautiful day. It was a little chilly, but the sun was giving off enough warmth to keep it comfortable and the win was barely blowing at all. Ron was already out there and was practicing defending the goal with an enchanted Quaffle that kept flying at the different hoops.
"Good luck guys." Hermione said as she ran up to them and gave Harry and Ginny a quick hug. "He's been out here for hours." She added glancing up at Ron.
"Thanks Hermione." Harry said as he smiled and headed airborne to join Ron. The rest of the team followed and they began doing drills to get ready for the game.
Within a half hour, stands were packed with eager fans. It seemed that most of the Ravenclaws were supporting Gryffindor and Harry even noticed Luna cheering furiously with her unusual Lion's head hat on.
"Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the first Quidditch match of the year between Gryffindor and Hufflepuff." Came an unfamiliar voice. Harry had been so used to hearing Lee Jordan announce the Quidditch matches that it was odd to hear anyone else do it. "I'm Steven Cornfoot and I'll be announcing today's action."
The crowd cheered crazily as all the Quidditch players who had been warming up, landed on the ground for announcements.
"Introducing first, the Hufflepuff team." Cornfoot continued. "Captain and Chaser Zacharias Smith. Chasers' Susan Bones and Owen Cauldwell. Beaters Kevin Whitby and Ernie Macmillan. Keeper Wayne Hopkins. And the new Seeker for the Hufflepuff team Eleanor Branstone." The crowd gave an enthusiastic yell in support of the team.
"And now the defending champion Gryffindor squad." Cornfoot shouted loudly over the screams and cheers. "Captain and Keeper Ron Weasley. Chasers Dean Thomas, Ginny Weasley and Geoffrey Hooper. Beaters Andrew Kirke and Jack Sloper. And returning from suspension, Seeker Harry Potter." The crowd went wild as the Gryffindor players waved graciously to the crowd. Harry quickly surveyed his competition at seeker. She was small and no doubt very fast. She had what looked to be a fairly new Nimbus broom. But she was also inexperienced. This was her first match and Harry would definitely use that to his advantage. They all came to the middle of the pitch and after Ron and Zacharias shook hands, the game began.
"Madam Hooch releases the Quaffle and we're under way." Cornfoot began. "Ginny Weasley has the Quaffle and quickly looks to start a scoring drive, she does a quick dive to avoid a screaming bludger and launches the ball upward to a streaking Dean Thomas. Man can he fly! He whips past Bones and puts a shot on the right hoop. Score! Gryffindor leads 10-0.
Harry called out congratulations to Dean and then began to survey the sky. The snitch normally wouldn't appear this early in the game but Quidditch was unpredictable. Out of the corner of his eye Harry could see that the Hufflepuff seeker was watching him intently. Her strategy was obviously to mirror him. So Harry decided to have a little fun with her. He dove straight down towards the ground. He could feel that Branstone was tailing him closely and at the last second he pulled up and zoomed straight back up to the sky. The Hufflepuff seeker had a tough time correcting herself but Harry was impressed at her recovery. Many seekers wouldn't have been able to avoid hitting the ground.
"Smith is bearing down on Weasley." Cornfoot brought Harry's attention back to the game. "It's a one on one. Smith shoots on the bottom goal. Save! Amazing Ron Weasley hung from his broom with one hand and made an unbelievable kick save."
"Now Gryffindor is back in possession of the Quaffle. Thomas passes to Weasley, back to Thomas. They are trading passes back and forth. Weasley fakes a shot, passes to Thomas who smacks a shot with the back of his broom right through the goal for another Gryffindor point. And Gryffindor now leads 70-0."
Harry was now searching the sky intently for the snitch. They had a good lead, but were still vulnerable if Hufflepuff caught the snitch as it is worth 150 points. Then, as if on queue, Harry saw a hint of the tiny golden ball near the stands on the right said. He set out after it with the Hufflepuff Seeker hot on his heals. The Snitch darted downward and Harry made a quick dive. Branstone obviously was not to keen on following Harry toward the ground again, so she was proceeding cautiously. So Harry had opened up a lot of ground and was now all alone ready to pounce on the snitch.
"Weasley takes a bludger to the back of the head!" Harry heard and saw Ginny falling through the air from her broom. He quickly broke off from his pursuit of the snitch and was able to fly underneath Ginny and catch her before she hit the ground.
"Amazing. Potter catches Weasley before she hits the ground. But now Branstone is all alone going after the snitch. Potter will never be able to catch her." Harry laid Ginny down on the ground and then set back off after the snitch. But he saw that the announcer was right. Branstone was only about twenty feet from the snitch now and it would be impossible for Harry to catch her. Harry leaned forward on his Firebolt with all his might. The scenery around him was flying by him in a blur.
"Branstone is closing in. Potter has narrowed the gap but he wont get there in time." Harry got to within about thirty feet of the Hufflepuff Seeker when he saw her reach her hand out for the snitch, but before she could get her hands around it, a bludger struck her right in the hand and sent her flying off course. Harry took that opportunity to swoop in and gain victory.
"Unbelievable. Just when the Hufflepuff Seeker was about to catch the Snitch, Ron Weasley the Gryffindor Keeper mind you, grabbed a bat and sent a bludger which caught the Hufflepuff Seeker right in the hand. Harry Potter grabs the snitch. Gryffindor Wins!"
Harry landed and held up the snitch to the crowd who were chanting wildly for Gryffindor. Ginny, who had now regained consciousness, came up and threw her arms around Harry. Then Ron landed and Harry sprinted towards giving him a high five followed by sportly embrace.
"That was brilliant." Harry shouted. All of Gryffindor house was now on the field cheering madly. Harry and Ron were lifted up off the ground and carried off the field as the sounds of Weasley is our King echoed through the pitch. And for a brief moment, Harry felt like all his problems were gone.
Author's Note: Well I hope you like my first attempt at Quidditch. I'm interested to hear what you think. I know some people are not going to be happy about the whole Percy situation. I hope after you hear Percy's explanation of his actions you will accept it one-way or the other. Well that's it for now. Keep Reviewing.
P.S. To answer a question posed by Hermione88220. Yes McGonagall did cancel Hogsmeade trips in the beginning of the story, but that was when she thought Dumbledore was unconscious. Now that Dumbledore is back(even though we know it's Aberforth) they are allowing Hogsmeade trips. Although they may change their minds now that they know that the Death Eaters were planning an attack there.