The whole of Gryffindor House was obsessed with the coming match. Gryffindor hadn't won the Quidditch Cup since the legendary Charlie Weasley (Ron's second oldest brother) had been Seeker. During Dudley's first year, they had finished dead last having lost every game. The second year, the season had been cancelled early on because of the Chamber of Secrets.
Gryffindor were the favorites. They had beat Slytherin and Ravenclaw, but there was an outside chance that if Hufflepuff picked up a wide enough victory, that they could pinch a victory as they had beaten Ravenclaw. Slytherin could also snatch a win if they beat Ravenclaw in the last game of the season. It was still wide open, despite Gryffindor's prior triumphs.
"Good luck," Ron, they all said, heading to the stands to take their seats. Dudley and his friends were sat together, Ginny and Luna joining them. Ginny was wearing a red Gryffindor hat which clashed horribly with her hair. Luna wasn't wearing anything unusual—unless you counted the dirigible plum earrings or the necklace of butterbeer corks.
"Cedric Diggory is the Hufflepuff seeker," she stated, sitting next to Ginny. "He's very handsome, many of the girls fancy him."
Dudley looked at Diggory. He was tall for a seeker and quite muscular with brown wavy hair. He was giving some last minute instructions to his players.
"Diggory's put together a good team this year," Ginny stated. "I heard he's been scouted by the Ballycastle Bats and the Chudley Cannons."
Oliver Wood, it appeared, had chosen to play defensively. The Gryffindor seekers weren't taking any risks—passing the ball cautiously and sticking in a tight formation. Fred and George patrolled for bludgers, disrupting Hufflepuff's attacks.
After 10 minutes, with the score died at 20-20, Ron dived suddenly.
"Go Ron!" Ginny cheered.
"Why's Diggory not following?" Dean said.
Sure enough, Diggory was ignoring Ron and was circling the other end of the pitch.
Ron pulled up, even from this distance, Dudley could see his ears were red.
"And Ron's feint failed," Lee Jordan announced. "He tried to bait Diggory in like he did Chang during the last match. It appears Diggory has the Gryffindor seeker scouted."
Almost as if they wanted to punish Diggory, the Gryffindor team upped the tempo, widening the lead. First Angelina Johnson scored, then Katie Bell scored three on the trot. Johnson scored a penalty and Spinnett grabbed two,
"And it's 90-20," Jordan said. "The Hufflepuff seekers are no match for the Gryffindor three, with the beautiful and talented Angelina Johnson leading the attacks—and Johnson scores again! 100-20."
The Hufflepuff's tried, but each shot they made, Oliver Wood somehow got to.
"And another fine save by Wood!" cried Lee Jordan as he got his finger tips to a Hufflepuff shot to tip it away from goal.
Almost out of nowhere, Diggory went into a dive.
"Has he seen the snitch?" cried Lee Jordan. "He has! There! A glint of gold."
Ron was too far behind to catch up and Diggory caught the snitch with him trailing 10 yards behind.
The Hufflepuff's cheered.
"Do they win the cup?" Dudley demanded of Hermione.
"No, they needed to win by a huge amount to stand a chance," Hermione said.
"Why'd he dive then?" asked Neville.
"I suppose he wanted to win the match," Ginny said, thoughtfully. "The score was just getting wider and wider. This way, Hufflepuff get a good win over Gryffindor, even if they don't win the cup."
"It stops them finishing last, too," said Dean, doing the maths on his fingers. "Ravenclaw can't catch up now."
"So, we need Ravenclaw to beat Slytherin," said Dudley.
"Or Slytherin to not win by more than 300," Hermione said, having done the maths quicker than anybody.
"Got a chance, then," said Dudley.
The final quidditch match of the season took place the following Saturday. Dudley and his friends saw the Ravenclaw team, led by Roger Davies, on the way to the arena.
"Good luck," Ron called. Most of them ignored him, but the seeker, Cho Chang gave him a smile.
"Thanks Ron," she said. "We'll try and win the cup for you," she grinned wickedly.
Ron blushed and Hermione looked irritated for some reason.
The Gryffindor quidditch team all sat together, Ron with them. Dudley and his friends sat on the row behind so they could still talk to Ron who was sat next to Fred and George. Luna was sat with the Ravenclaw supporters today.
"What do you think their chances are?" Dudley said, leaning forward.
"Poor," Fred said, immediately.
"We flattened Ravenclaw, didn't we," George said. "Hufflepuff won pretty comfortably too."
"Davies doesn't seem to be a good captain," Ginny pointed out. "He's picked his friends rather than the best flyers."
"He's a good seeker though," George said, fairly.
"Cho Chang is pretty good," Ron said. "I mean, she flies quite well and has a good eye—if she had a better broom, they'd probably win." For some reason, he blushed as he spoke.
Ginny saw and grinned. "I think Ron has a crush," she whispered to Dudley.
"Are you going to tease him about it?" Dudley whispered back.
"Of course, just waiting for the right moment," Dudley laughed.
"What are you two laughing about?" Hermione said, suspiciously.
"Ron's got …" Dudley began.
Ginny gave him an elbow to the ribs to shut him up.
It was an exciting match. Since the whole school hated Slytherins and especially Malfoy, the Ravenclaw players were flying better and dirtier than they had before. The Ravenclaw beater gave Flint whack on the back of the head and then tried claiming he thought Flint was a bludger. Montague of Slytherin punched Roger Davies on the nose.
With the score tied at 40-40, Dudley got a cheer from the ground by throwing a bottle at Peregrine Derrick as he passed, hitting him on the head.
"If I catch anybody throwing items at the players, it's detention!" McGonagall announced, loudly, so Dudley settled for booing and heckling any Slytherin player.
In the Ravenclaw stand, some of the 7th year students had started a chant "Malfoy's a loser!" "Malfoy's a loser!" which the rest of the stadium picked up too. Dudley stood up, chanting with gusto.
Suddenly, Malfoy dived!
"No!" Dean shouted, above the roar of the crowd.
He reached for it, lunged, and missed!
"Ha!" Dudley jeered.
Malfoy wobbled, off balance, which gave Cho Chang enough time to fly past him and grab the snitch.
"We won!" Wood bellowed.
The Weasley twins were leaping up and down, their arms around each other. Dudley, Hermione and Dean were hugging. Ginny had leapt wildly onto Ron's back. Neville was pumping his fist in the air shouting "Yes!" over and over and Wod had been mobbed by Angelina, Katie and Alicia. Even McGonagall was applauding, her hat askew as she cheered.
"Ravenclaw win the match, which means Gryffindor win the cup!" Lee Jordan boomed. "What a catch by Cho Chang!"
On the pitch, Ravenclaw were celebrating too, congratulating Cho on her success.