The Totally Backwards Day at Hogwarts RETURNS!!
Chapter Eight: Quidditch Practice
Before Harry could get to Herbology, however, an owl swooped by and he ducked. A letter fell in front of him from the owl, and it had his name on it. Harry opened it.
Harry,
An emergency Quidditch meeting is supposed to happen on the pitch as soon as possible. So round up the new players and get down to the pitch.
Peace out,
Minerva McGonagall
Like, Deputy Headmistress
Okay. Phew. Well, at least it was just a meeting, not an actual game. He had to get Neville and Hermione.
Neville was not hard to find; the large group of girls surrounding him and the large peacock feather he stuck to his pointy black uniform hat made him stand out, believe it or not.
Harry was making his way through the hall to the sea of females with Neville enclosed inside when he bumped into someone else.
"Oof!" they both said as they collided, dropping their books.
"Sorry," they said to eachother in unison. They both bent down to help eachother picked up books and promptly clunked their heads together.
"Ouch," the person who collided with him said. It was a girl's voice.
"Sorry," Harry apologized. He finally looked up. It was Ginny.
"It's okay," she said. She looked the same, but he could tell she was holding herself differently even if she was bent over at the moment. She acted normal. Oh, wait.. No, she didn't. There was definitely something different about the way she acted. She had smiled when she told him it was okay, and she had looked him straight in the eyes, fearless. Her face was not pink as it usually was when he was around her.
Harry began to gather up books. Maybe she doesn't fancy me anymore, Harry thought. In a way, he was slightly disappointed. (A/N: If you read OotP and think this isn't backwards, go back to the previous chapter and reread it sloooowly.) It was exciting, having someone fancy you. But now he could actually get to know her. She could be a whole different person, for all he knew. He never got to know her that well, she was always so quiet.
She eyed him as they stood and exchanged books. "Harry?" she said.
"Yeah?" he asked. Yes, she was definitely holding herself differently.
"This is going to sound stupid, but I've fancied you for the past few years. I know you've almost definitely noticed, but I just can't figure out why I didn't say anything sooner!"
Harry swallowed. She still fancied him; it was just that she was not afraid to admit it anymore. He didn't know exactly what to say, but he did know one thing: the last time this happened, he had woken up and it was an awful dream, so it was as if the backwards day had never happened. It was probably going to be the same now. So whatever he did today wouldn't matter...
He liked it when she actually looked him in the eye and spoke to him, instead of going pink and avoiding him. It seemed right when she held her normal complexion instead of getting all pink (he used to feel like staying around her for too long would cause her to explode). Harry noticed this as she rose. Maybe it was the backwardness that triggered his noticing her, but he couldn't be quite sure.
"Want to come to a Quidditch meet with me?" he asked her.
She smiled. "Sure!"
He smiled back. "Okay. Neville's right over there, I was just going to go get him, and Hermione's outside. We need to bring them."
"Okay," she agreed, following him into the crowd of females. He finally got to the center, where tall, blonde, handsome Neville stood, a girl clinging to each of his arms. "Ah!" he said, smiling. "My good friend Harry! And Miss Ginny Weasley," he said, shifting his gaze to her. "I believe I've forgotten to thank you for tutoring me the other week, have I not?"
"It was nothing," she said, smiling a little.
"Well," he said, shaking off the girl on his right arm to free his hand, then taking her hand and lifting it. "You were a lovely--" he kissed her hand before letting her draw back, "--lovely teacher." The other girls whispered and chattered in jealousy towards Ginny.
Ginny looked a bit pained and awkward. "Er, you're welcome, Neville."
"Oh, leave her alone, Neville," Harry said. He really preferred Neville when he wasn't such a prat.
Neville raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, Harry.. I had no idea she was--"
"Neville, no--"
"With you--"
"Not like that," Harry said, going rather pink and glancing towards Ginny, who was smiling a bit in amusement.
"All right then," Neville said, though obviously not convinced. "What do you need from me?"
"McGonagall said we've got to go to a Quidditch meeting now, so I need you to come."
"Perfect," he said, grinning. The other girls congratulated him and assumed they were coming too. "Mind if they come?" Neville asked.
"If they don't mind missing class," Harry said. "I have to go find Hermione now, so I'll meet you on the pitch."
"Right. I'll be going then," Neville said. "Just keep your mind on the matter at hand, Mr. Potter," he said, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
"Er-- right. I will."
And Neville went on with his gaggle of groupies.
"That Neville," Ginny said, shaking her head. "I don't like him at all.."
"Me either," Harry said quickly.
The three Gryffindor Chasers, each walking sluggishly came round the corner in the hall. "We came from McGonagall's class," Angelina said gruffly. "She sent us to the meeting, so we got our brooms."
Harry noticed Angelina held two brooms, while the other two Chasers each held their own.
"Er, right," Harry said. "Go on, you can head out on the pitch, we'll be there soon."
The Chasers walked off. Harry heard someone running, a girl, probably, as the quick steps were definitely high-heels slapping the floor. Panting was heard, and Ron rounded the corner, high heels and all. Harry watched, half amused, half disgusted.
"Ugh," Ginny whispered to Harry. "My brother.. Try not to mind him.."
Ron stopped in front of Harry and Ginny and caught his breath, fanning his face with a hand so quickly it looked as if he could have recently taken in a lot of caffeine. "Phew," he said, tossing his longer-than-usual red hair behind him. "I heard there was a Quidditch meeting, Harry. Have you got a Keeper?"
"No," Harry said. "No one tried out for Keeper, I'm afraid."
"Fabulous," Ron said enthusiastically, beaming. "Fred and George say they'll give me twelve Galleons if I get out there and last one meeting."
Harry looked at him, bewildered. "Where would they get that kind of money?"
"Daddy, probably," Ron said, giving Harry an odd look. "Come on, Harry, you know how rich he is."
"Ah. Of course, yeah."
Ron smiled. "I'll be out there, then. Angelina promised me she'd bring my brand new broom with her. She's such a sweetie," Ron said, giggling. And he headed off down the hall.
Harry and Ginny headed off together onto the grounds, looking for Hermione. They found her in the small tree she was in before, poking her caterpillar.
"Hermione, come down!" Harry called.
Hermione looked around in all directions, startled, trying to determine where the voice came from. Her eyes rested on the caterpillar, comprehension dawning on her face, and she prodded it again, eyes wide and mouth agape. "You finally said something!"
Harry slapped his forehead for the second time that day. "Hermione. Look down on the ground. Do you see me?" Harry yelled and waved a hand as if they were a far distance away, when in reality it was only several feet.
Hermione looked around once more. "Oh, hello!" she said, finally finding Harry and Ginny. "Who are you?" she cheerfully asked them.
Harry let out a frustrated groan. Hermione was actually better as a bossy know-it-all than an incredibly stupid girl with the good-naturedness of a six-year-old. "Come with us," Harry said slowly. "We're going to go over there--" here he motioned towards the Quidditch pitch, "--to play a game on broomsticks," Harry said, miming sitting on a broom. Ginny was watching amusedly.
Hermione watched, eyes glazed over, and there were several moments' pause. "Okay," she agreed. "Can I bring..?" she picked up her caterpillar.
"What? Oh, sure," Harry said.
Hermione made a joyous squeal and hopped down from the short tree branch, caterpillar in hand. The trio began to head towards the pitch. Hermione took her wand out of her pocket and poked her caterpillar over and over again.
"Hermione, I don't think that's a good idea," Ginny said gently, as if telling a small child they couldn't have a cookie.
"No, it's okay," Hermione said. The caterpillar was slowly swelling. By the time the three had almost reached the pitch, it was the size of an infant. This wouldn't have mattered much if a mail owl hadn't been passing overhead. It circled them like a vulture.
"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "put the caterpillar down."
Hermione's bright smile faded quickly and she cradled the caterpillar as if it actually was a baby, turning away from Harry as if she expected him to wrestle it from her. "No."
"Hermione, please," Harry said, more frantically. "See the owl up there? That owl wants your friend there."
"Wh-what for?" Hermione asked.
"To eat," Ginny explained.
Hermione let out a great gasp. The owl screeched overhead, and swooped down.
"You can't have him!" Hermione cried, protecting her hideous monster caterpillar from the furious flurry of feathers. The owl nipped her finger with its sharp beak, annoyed.
"OW!" Hermione cried, popping her finger into her mouth and dropping her caterpillar with a thump. The owl promptly landed on the ground and began to feast on the huge caterpillar. "You dung-head!" She pointed her wand at the owl, and a red beam immediately turned it into jerky. Realizing what she had just done, Hermione burst into tears.
Ginny tried to comfort her, turning her away from the scene. "There, there, Hermione. Don't cry."
"Come on, you two," Harry said. "We have to begin the practice."
"Yes, I want to fly on a broomstick," Hermione sniffed, rubbing an eye.
"Ginny, I don't think Hermione's safe in the air, with those attention and memory spans of hers," Harry said.
"Think of it this way," Ginny said. "If she lands herself in the Hospital Wing with a head injury, she can't turn out much worse than she already is," she finished coolly.
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Good point.."
Seven intruders marched onto the pitch. They were all scrawny and small, dragging their brooms along and wearing too-large Quidditch robes. They were unmistakably the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"Hey guys!" Malfoy squeaked. "Snape let us out of Potions early. Wanna play some Quidditch.. You know.. just a friendly match?" he asked nervously and quickly.
"Uh, sure," Harry said. They looked like pretty easy prey.
Harry thrust a school broom into Hermione's hands, then hurriedly taught her how to get on it. Ginny went into the stands as Neville gathered everyone on the team into a huddle, somehow leaving his groupies behind, and they rushed into the stands as some kind of cheering section.
Neville, Harry, Ron (who showed up because there was no Keeper), Hermione, and the three Chasers formed a tight circle.
"Right," Neville said. "We're going to go out there and give it a shot. Us Beaters are new on the team, but I think we will prove to be memorable players," he said with a smile and a wink at Hermione, who stared in a different direction, her attention held by something shiny.
"Anyway, you all know how good those Slytherins are at Quidditch," he went on hurriedly. "Their Chasers are really good, so our Keeper will have to stay alert," he added, gesturing towards Ron, who was busying himself by tying his hair back.
"So I think we should try the Hawkshead Formation for the Chasers, and as for the Bludgers, aim for Slytherin Chasers and Keeper and Beaters.. well.. everyone, really," Neville said.
They all thought for a moment, except for Hermione, who never did, and the Chasers, who'd fallen asleep.
"I think it's a rotten idea--" Harry began. Neville opened his mouth to protest and Harry hurried to finish his sentence. "--but since it's the only one we've got, okay."
They got ready to start. Neville shrugged off his cloak, and all of his groupies gasped as one. He never tired of that. All of the players mounted their brooms, including Hermione, with Harry's help. Neville woke up the Chasers and they mounted their brooms as well. Neville gestured up to his cheering section, then down to the box holding the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch. The first girl to get the message ran down excitedly to open the box and release the five balls, and the game began.
Harry got very bored surprisingly quickly. Not much happened, and short, stocky brown-haired Malfoy kept waving to him from the other side of the field. The Slytherin Chasers were quite good; they were small and fast and smart, completely opposite from the team Harry knew.
Unfortunately, Gryffindor was quite bad. The Chasers dropped the ball and aimed incorrectly. Ron spent the game off to the side, gazing into a pocket mirror and flipping his hair. Neville, though proving to be good for show, had the hand-eye coordination of a snail. The cheering girls supported him anyway, and every once in a while he flashed a smile at his cheering section that would've made Gilderoy Lockhart proud. Or jealous.
Hermione was a different story. It was a wonder a Bludger hadn't hit her yet. All she did was play around on her broom childishly, unable to get used to it. She had dropped her club right after kicking off, and there on the ground it was doomed to stay for the rest of the match.
The Slytherin Chasers scored another spectacular goal. They didn't really need to try, it wasn't like Ron was doing anything to stop them. Very soon, the score was Slytherin: lost count at 240, Gryffindor: nothing at all.
Harry spotted the Snitch. He had been praying the practice would end the second they kicked off. Malfoy had seen the Snitch too, and just kept waving to Harry, so Harry flew over to Malfoy.
"See the Snitch, Harry?" Malfoy asked.
"Yeah," Harry said slowly. "What're you playing at?"
"You can catch it," Malfoy said with a generous smile. "Go on, my team doesn't need the points."
"Okay," Harry said slowly, and sped off to look for it.
After a few minutes of chasing the Snitch, Harry reached out as far as his arm would allow him to, and soon his fingers closed around the Snitch. Everyone applauded, the well-mannered Slytherins included. The final score being Gryffindor: 150, Slytherin: a lot more, Slytherin clearly won, but didn't seem to notice. They were caught up in being so polite.
The players landed, save for Hermione, whom Harry had to go back up and fetch, muttering something about nobody telling him he'd have to babysit.
"Great practice, Harry," Neville said, smiling, before being swept away in an ocean of girls pouring out from the stands. Hermione dragged her broomstick along as Harry kept a hold on her arm so she wouldn't get away. She was watching in mild interest as a small flock of owls finished off her caterpillar she had dropped before the match.
Ginny came out of the stands after them. "That was very good," she said, smiling at Harry and Hermione.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "We lost horribly."
"It was fun!" Hermione said, her eyes shining gleefully.
"I bet it was, Hermione," Ginny said to her slowly and nicely. She turned back to Harry. "Well, it's difficult to win against Slytherin. They always play clean, quick games, but they're always so nice about it."
"Then why did you say we did so well?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Well, I suppose what I meant was, at least you didn't catch them on one of their good days."
*****
Proud of this chapter. You know what to do. I crave reviews.
Chapter Eight: Quidditch Practice
Before Harry could get to Herbology, however, an owl swooped by and he ducked. A letter fell in front of him from the owl, and it had his name on it. Harry opened it.
Harry,
An emergency Quidditch meeting is supposed to happen on the pitch as soon as possible. So round up the new players and get down to the pitch.
Peace out,
Minerva McGonagall
Like, Deputy Headmistress
Okay. Phew. Well, at least it was just a meeting, not an actual game. He had to get Neville and Hermione.
Neville was not hard to find; the large group of girls surrounding him and the large peacock feather he stuck to his pointy black uniform hat made him stand out, believe it or not.
Harry was making his way through the hall to the sea of females with Neville enclosed inside when he bumped into someone else.
"Oof!" they both said as they collided, dropping their books.
"Sorry," they said to eachother in unison. They both bent down to help eachother picked up books and promptly clunked their heads together.
"Ouch," the person who collided with him said. It was a girl's voice.
"Sorry," Harry apologized. He finally looked up. It was Ginny.
"It's okay," she said. She looked the same, but he could tell she was holding herself differently even if she was bent over at the moment. She acted normal. Oh, wait.. No, she didn't. There was definitely something different about the way she acted. She had smiled when she told him it was okay, and she had looked him straight in the eyes, fearless. Her face was not pink as it usually was when he was around her.
Harry began to gather up books. Maybe she doesn't fancy me anymore, Harry thought. In a way, he was slightly disappointed. (A/N: If you read OotP and think this isn't backwards, go back to the previous chapter and reread it sloooowly.) It was exciting, having someone fancy you. But now he could actually get to know her. She could be a whole different person, for all he knew. He never got to know her that well, she was always so quiet.
She eyed him as they stood and exchanged books. "Harry?" she said.
"Yeah?" he asked. Yes, she was definitely holding herself differently.
"This is going to sound stupid, but I've fancied you for the past few years. I know you've almost definitely noticed, but I just can't figure out why I didn't say anything sooner!"
Harry swallowed. She still fancied him; it was just that she was not afraid to admit it anymore. He didn't know exactly what to say, but he did know one thing: the last time this happened, he had woken up and it was an awful dream, so it was as if the backwards day had never happened. It was probably going to be the same now. So whatever he did today wouldn't matter...
He liked it when she actually looked him in the eye and spoke to him, instead of going pink and avoiding him. It seemed right when she held her normal complexion instead of getting all pink (he used to feel like staying around her for too long would cause her to explode). Harry noticed this as she rose. Maybe it was the backwardness that triggered his noticing her, but he couldn't be quite sure.
"Want to come to a Quidditch meet with me?" he asked her.
She smiled. "Sure!"
He smiled back. "Okay. Neville's right over there, I was just going to go get him, and Hermione's outside. We need to bring them."
"Okay," she agreed, following him into the crowd of females. He finally got to the center, where tall, blonde, handsome Neville stood, a girl clinging to each of his arms. "Ah!" he said, smiling. "My good friend Harry! And Miss Ginny Weasley," he said, shifting his gaze to her. "I believe I've forgotten to thank you for tutoring me the other week, have I not?"
"It was nothing," she said, smiling a little.
"Well," he said, shaking off the girl on his right arm to free his hand, then taking her hand and lifting it. "You were a lovely--" he kissed her hand before letting her draw back, "--lovely teacher." The other girls whispered and chattered in jealousy towards Ginny.
Ginny looked a bit pained and awkward. "Er, you're welcome, Neville."
"Oh, leave her alone, Neville," Harry said. He really preferred Neville when he wasn't such a prat.
Neville raised his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, Harry.. I had no idea she was--"
"Neville, no--"
"With you--"
"Not like that," Harry said, going rather pink and glancing towards Ginny, who was smiling a bit in amusement.
"All right then," Neville said, though obviously not convinced. "What do you need from me?"
"McGonagall said we've got to go to a Quidditch meeting now, so I need you to come."
"Perfect," he said, grinning. The other girls congratulated him and assumed they were coming too. "Mind if they come?" Neville asked.
"If they don't mind missing class," Harry said. "I have to go find Hermione now, so I'll meet you on the pitch."
"Right. I'll be going then," Neville said. "Just keep your mind on the matter at hand, Mr. Potter," he said, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.
"Er-- right. I will."
And Neville went on with his gaggle of groupies.
"That Neville," Ginny said, shaking her head. "I don't like him at all.."
"Me either," Harry said quickly.
The three Gryffindor Chasers, each walking sluggishly came round the corner in the hall. "We came from McGonagall's class," Angelina said gruffly. "She sent us to the meeting, so we got our brooms."
Harry noticed Angelina held two brooms, while the other two Chasers each held their own.
"Er, right," Harry said. "Go on, you can head out on the pitch, we'll be there soon."
The Chasers walked off. Harry heard someone running, a girl, probably, as the quick steps were definitely high-heels slapping the floor. Panting was heard, and Ron rounded the corner, high heels and all. Harry watched, half amused, half disgusted.
"Ugh," Ginny whispered to Harry. "My brother.. Try not to mind him.."
Ron stopped in front of Harry and Ginny and caught his breath, fanning his face with a hand so quickly it looked as if he could have recently taken in a lot of caffeine. "Phew," he said, tossing his longer-than-usual red hair behind him. "I heard there was a Quidditch meeting, Harry. Have you got a Keeper?"
"No," Harry said. "No one tried out for Keeper, I'm afraid."
"Fabulous," Ron said enthusiastically, beaming. "Fred and George say they'll give me twelve Galleons if I get out there and last one meeting."
Harry looked at him, bewildered. "Where would they get that kind of money?"
"Daddy, probably," Ron said, giving Harry an odd look. "Come on, Harry, you know how rich he is."
"Ah. Of course, yeah."
Ron smiled. "I'll be out there, then. Angelina promised me she'd bring my brand new broom with her. She's such a sweetie," Ron said, giggling. And he headed off down the hall.
Harry and Ginny headed off together onto the grounds, looking for Hermione. They found her in the small tree she was in before, poking her caterpillar.
"Hermione, come down!" Harry called.
Hermione looked around in all directions, startled, trying to determine where the voice came from. Her eyes rested on the caterpillar, comprehension dawning on her face, and she prodded it again, eyes wide and mouth agape. "You finally said something!"
Harry slapped his forehead for the second time that day. "Hermione. Look down on the ground. Do you see me?" Harry yelled and waved a hand as if they were a far distance away, when in reality it was only several feet.
Hermione looked around once more. "Oh, hello!" she said, finally finding Harry and Ginny. "Who are you?" she cheerfully asked them.
Harry let out a frustrated groan. Hermione was actually better as a bossy know-it-all than an incredibly stupid girl with the good-naturedness of a six-year-old. "Come with us," Harry said slowly. "We're going to go over there--" here he motioned towards the Quidditch pitch, "--to play a game on broomsticks," Harry said, miming sitting on a broom. Ginny was watching amusedly.
Hermione watched, eyes glazed over, and there were several moments' pause. "Okay," she agreed. "Can I bring..?" she picked up her caterpillar.
"What? Oh, sure," Harry said.
Hermione made a joyous squeal and hopped down from the short tree branch, caterpillar in hand. The trio began to head towards the pitch. Hermione took her wand out of her pocket and poked her caterpillar over and over again.
"Hermione, I don't think that's a good idea," Ginny said gently, as if telling a small child they couldn't have a cookie.
"No, it's okay," Hermione said. The caterpillar was slowly swelling. By the time the three had almost reached the pitch, it was the size of an infant. This wouldn't have mattered much if a mail owl hadn't been passing overhead. It circled them like a vulture.
"Hermione," Harry said slowly, "put the caterpillar down."
Hermione's bright smile faded quickly and she cradled the caterpillar as if it actually was a baby, turning away from Harry as if she expected him to wrestle it from her. "No."
"Hermione, please," Harry said, more frantically. "See the owl up there? That owl wants your friend there."
"Wh-what for?" Hermione asked.
"To eat," Ginny explained.
Hermione let out a great gasp. The owl screeched overhead, and swooped down.
"You can't have him!" Hermione cried, protecting her hideous monster caterpillar from the furious flurry of feathers. The owl nipped her finger with its sharp beak, annoyed.
"OW!" Hermione cried, popping her finger into her mouth and dropping her caterpillar with a thump. The owl promptly landed on the ground and began to feast on the huge caterpillar. "You dung-head!" She pointed her wand at the owl, and a red beam immediately turned it into jerky. Realizing what she had just done, Hermione burst into tears.
Ginny tried to comfort her, turning her away from the scene. "There, there, Hermione. Don't cry."
"Come on, you two," Harry said. "We have to begin the practice."
"Yes, I want to fly on a broomstick," Hermione sniffed, rubbing an eye.
"Ginny, I don't think Hermione's safe in the air, with those attention and memory spans of hers," Harry said.
"Think of it this way," Ginny said. "If she lands herself in the Hospital Wing with a head injury, she can't turn out much worse than she already is," she finished coolly.
Harry smiled sheepishly. "Good point.."
Seven intruders marched onto the pitch. They were all scrawny and small, dragging their brooms along and wearing too-large Quidditch robes. They were unmistakably the Slytherin Quidditch team.
"Hey guys!" Malfoy squeaked. "Snape let us out of Potions early. Wanna play some Quidditch.. You know.. just a friendly match?" he asked nervously and quickly.
"Uh, sure," Harry said. They looked like pretty easy prey.
Harry thrust a school broom into Hermione's hands, then hurriedly taught her how to get on it. Ginny went into the stands as Neville gathered everyone on the team into a huddle, somehow leaving his groupies behind, and they rushed into the stands as some kind of cheering section.
Neville, Harry, Ron (who showed up because there was no Keeper), Hermione, and the three Chasers formed a tight circle.
"Right," Neville said. "We're going to go out there and give it a shot. Us Beaters are new on the team, but I think we will prove to be memorable players," he said with a smile and a wink at Hermione, who stared in a different direction, her attention held by something shiny.
"Anyway, you all know how good those Slytherins are at Quidditch," he went on hurriedly. "Their Chasers are really good, so our Keeper will have to stay alert," he added, gesturing towards Ron, who was busying himself by tying his hair back.
"So I think we should try the Hawkshead Formation for the Chasers, and as for the Bludgers, aim for Slytherin Chasers and Keeper and Beaters.. well.. everyone, really," Neville said.
They all thought for a moment, except for Hermione, who never did, and the Chasers, who'd fallen asleep.
"I think it's a rotten idea--" Harry began. Neville opened his mouth to protest and Harry hurried to finish his sentence. "--but since it's the only one we've got, okay."
They got ready to start. Neville shrugged off his cloak, and all of his groupies gasped as one. He never tired of that. All of the players mounted their brooms, including Hermione, with Harry's help. Neville woke up the Chasers and they mounted their brooms as well. Neville gestured up to his cheering section, then down to the box holding the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch. The first girl to get the message ran down excitedly to open the box and release the five balls, and the game began.
Harry got very bored surprisingly quickly. Not much happened, and short, stocky brown-haired Malfoy kept waving to him from the other side of the field. The Slytherin Chasers were quite good; they were small and fast and smart, completely opposite from the team Harry knew.
Unfortunately, Gryffindor was quite bad. The Chasers dropped the ball and aimed incorrectly. Ron spent the game off to the side, gazing into a pocket mirror and flipping his hair. Neville, though proving to be good for show, had the hand-eye coordination of a snail. The cheering girls supported him anyway, and every once in a while he flashed a smile at his cheering section that would've made Gilderoy Lockhart proud. Or jealous.
Hermione was a different story. It was a wonder a Bludger hadn't hit her yet. All she did was play around on her broom childishly, unable to get used to it. She had dropped her club right after kicking off, and there on the ground it was doomed to stay for the rest of the match.
The Slytherin Chasers scored another spectacular goal. They didn't really need to try, it wasn't like Ron was doing anything to stop them. Very soon, the score was Slytherin: lost count at 240, Gryffindor: nothing at all.
Harry spotted the Snitch. He had been praying the practice would end the second they kicked off. Malfoy had seen the Snitch too, and just kept waving to Harry, so Harry flew over to Malfoy.
"See the Snitch, Harry?" Malfoy asked.
"Yeah," Harry said slowly. "What're you playing at?"
"You can catch it," Malfoy said with a generous smile. "Go on, my team doesn't need the points."
"Okay," Harry said slowly, and sped off to look for it.
After a few minutes of chasing the Snitch, Harry reached out as far as his arm would allow him to, and soon his fingers closed around the Snitch. Everyone applauded, the well-mannered Slytherins included. The final score being Gryffindor: 150, Slytherin: a lot more, Slytherin clearly won, but didn't seem to notice. They were caught up in being so polite.
The players landed, save for Hermione, whom Harry had to go back up and fetch, muttering something about nobody telling him he'd have to babysit.
"Great practice, Harry," Neville said, smiling, before being swept away in an ocean of girls pouring out from the stands. Hermione dragged her broomstick along as Harry kept a hold on her arm so she wouldn't get away. She was watching in mild interest as a small flock of owls finished off her caterpillar she had dropped before the match.
Ginny came out of the stands after them. "That was very good," she said, smiling at Harry and Hermione.
"What do you mean?" Harry asked. "We lost horribly."
"It was fun!" Hermione said, her eyes shining gleefully.
"I bet it was, Hermione," Ginny said to her slowly and nicely. She turned back to Harry. "Well, it's difficult to win against Slytherin. They always play clean, quick games, but they're always so nice about it."
"Then why did you say we did so well?" Harry asked, bewildered.
"Well, I suppose what I meant was, at least you didn't catch them on one of their good days."
*****
Proud of this chapter. You know what to do. I crave reviews.