Well this chapter took a lot longer than expected. I think I had 50% of it written the day after I posted chapter 33, but then I hit a wall known as Netflix and Breaking Bad and I'm sure you're all smart enough to guess the rest. Anyways, my apologies and I hope that this chapter makes up for it, because …. (drumroll please) QUIDDITCH! I looooooooved writing this chapter, and I hope that you looooove it too. So without (much) further ado, read away!
Disclaimer: Nothing in this chapter belongs to me, except for a few minor rules I made up for situations I wasn't sure about in QUIDDITCH!
Enjoy!
Chapter 34
"I'm going to barf." Ron said, looking particularly white that morning. For the first time since Ryou met him, he wasn't even looking at the food on his plate.
"You're going to do fine," Harry assured him, albeit not convincingly. He wasn't touching his breakfast either. Harry may have been a seasoned veteran when it came to Quidditch matches, but it was obvious that the nerves were still getting to him as well.
Ellie looked remarkably similar to when she had first woken up from her ordeal with Shadi about a week ago. Ryou knew it was just the nerves, so he wasn't too worried about that. What did worry him was the fact that he did not want to see her up on a broomstick playing an aggressive game of Quidditch, against the Slytherins of all people. Ellie frowned down at her picked over breakfast plate. She had eaten more than both Ron and Harry put together, but it still wasn't much, especially compared to her increased appetite as of late.
Yugi and Malik, on the other hand, were bouncing with excitement.
"You are going to crush them," Malik told the nervous trio confidently, punching Ron in the arm. He earned himself a glare, but he either didn't notice it or just plain ignored it. "I can't wait to watch."
"I've never seen a real match," Yugi gushed, flipping through the pages of Harry's copy of Quidditch Through The Ages way faster than any human being could possibly read. "We're - I mean, I'm dying to see how all of your tactics play out in a real game." Of course, both Yugi and Yami had both immediately latched onto the game of Quidditch and have practically memorized the guidebook already. Ryou wondered why they had bothered to even bring it along.
Hermione, whose face mirrored Ryou's own worried expression, frowned. "I'm just worried that somebody's going to get hurt," She said. "Gryffindor and Slytherin matches always wind up with somebody in the hospital wing."
Ryou really hoped that that wasn't the case today. He and his friends had spent enough time in the hospital wing in the past week. Ellie had only begun playing in her third year, Ryou knew, and there hadn't been any Quidditch at all last year. She was good, but next to Ron she was the least experienced on the team. Although Ryou was dreading the game more and more, he shot Ellie what he hoped was a reassuring smile to calm her nerves. "I'm sure you will all be fine," He said. She didn't answer, instead she smiled back tentatively.
It seemed that she bought it, but Ryou knew that Malik saw straight through his lie. L uckily the boy only laughed. "You had better be fine," Malik said, talking to Ellie. "You have training with us tomorrow and we can't do that if you're concussed."
"Concussed?" Ryou heard a familiar voice from behind him, and when he turned a pair of redheaded twins were revealed. "No bludger will touch a Gryffindor!"
"Not with Gred and I -"
"You mean yourself and Feorge -" His twin corrected, Ryou had no idea which was which anyways.
"As beaters!" The two finished together, punching the air and laughing loudly. Like Ellie, Ron and Harry, the twins were sporting their scarlet Quidditch robes. It clashed magnificently with their hair. Their stances showed no trace of nerves or fear.
"No need to worry, little Ishtar," one of them said, clapping Malik on the back.
"The Slytherin's may be a bunch of cocky pricks, but -"
"We've got this one in the bag!"
Ryou smiled a little bit. He had heard tales of the legendary Weasley Twins, apparently they were the best set of beaters that Hogwarts has seen in years. He did feel a lot better knowing that they were on Gryffindor's side, hopefully they would keep the bludgers away from all of his friends.
"Anyways, the mighty captain wants us in the changing rooms now."
"So we will be kidnapping you three!" The twins made a show of grabbing Harry and Ellie, wisely steering clear of Ron at the moment. He looked as though he was ready to punch any poor soul that tried to touch him, family or not.
"Wish us luck!"
"Good luck!" Ryou and the others called.
"Be careful!" Hermione added hastily, waving at the group. Ryou was just glad that he wasn't the only one worried about their friends.
He tried his very best to block out the jeers, taunts and catcalls that were bellowed from the Slytherin table as the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked past.
xxx
" - and Milton, your game has been terrible ever since you fell ill but I don't care. You have to pull it together out there." Angelina said fiercely. Ellie hadn't been listening to a word of Angelina's pre-game pep talk but looked up at her name. She was shocked and humiliated that her friend, teammate and captain had called her out like that in front of everyone.
"What do you know, Angelina?" She snapped back. "I've been trying really hard." The rest of the team all perked up, it was evident that they hadn't been paying attention to Angelina's pep talk either but now that something interesting was happening they all leaned in to hear better. Ron's mouth was hanging open, and George stopped in the middle of pulling a sock on. Snapping at a teammate was very unlike Ellie, but she had lost track of how many times she had done it in the past week. It was becoming a common occurrence. Ellie knew that she wasn't fooling anyone, though. She had been so distracted during Quidditch practice all week and had been dropping passes, missing easy shots and hadn't been seamlessly working with her fellow chasers like she used to. There have been several incidents when she had even bumped into teammates while flying, a feat practically unheard of from the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
Angelina sighed, frustrated. "I don't know what's gotten into you lately, Ellie, but I can't afford to have you ruin this match for me." She shook her head desperately. "This is the first match we've had with this team, and we can't lose."
"Well maybe you should have chosen players that can rise to the occasion!" Ellie shot back hotly. When she said that, she was thinking less of herself and more of Ron. Everyone had expected him to improve to the level of all his brothers, but he was still letting in a lot of shots. As much of a prick Mclaggen was, he was definitely the better choice for a Keeper and everybody knew it.
"I'm not going to argue with you anymore, Milton, if your game and attitude don't go back to the way they were soon you are off this team." Angelina's voice made it clear that it was not open to discussion. She turned away and picked up her Cleansweep Seven for one final inspection before the game.
Flabbergasted, Ellie glared back at Angelina. She didn't know how to react and was waiting for Harry to say something in her defense. To her surprise and disappointment, he never said a word. He was her friend! He was supposed to defend her in situations like this. Why wasn't he?
Ellie knew that Ron wasn't really in the best position to be defending anybody in that moment, but that wasn't an excuse for him to let Angelina treat her like this, either. She desperately looked between he and Harry. She knew they both had tempers, why weren't they saying anything in her defense?
"Don't look at me, Ellie, she's right," Harry said, shrugging awkwardly as he realized he was caught between the two girl's argument.
It was a very good thing that Ellie didn't have her Scales on her, she thought, as there was no way that she would be able to control her rage if the Shadows had access to it.
"Alright," Ellie said through gritted teeth. "Just watch. We'll win this match."
The atmosphere in the room was tense and awkward as the team finished preparing for the match. When they heard the summoning whistle, Angelina and Ellie locked gazes and nodded at each other before Angelina led the team to the pitch. Ellie was still furious with her, Ron and Harry but she knew that she had to put that aside if she wanted to win this match. Right now the Slytherins were the enemy, and Ellie firmly told herself that she needed to focus on that for the moment.
The screams from the crowd were deafening as the team stepped onto the pitch across from the Slytherins. A sea of scarlet opposed a sea of emerald green in the stands, and Ellie heard both cheers and jeers come her way. The heat of the argument had just washed away her nerves, but they came back full force as she looked at the crowd.
Madame Hooch was calling for the captains to shake hands. The Slytherin captain, Marcus Flint, looked as though it pained him to even touch Angelina but he was determined to crush her hand anyway, and Ellie found herself growing defensive and joined in the glaring contest the two teams were holding against one another. Her anger was still present, but it was being redirected towards the Slytherins in a show of house loyalty. The Slytherin team was made up entirely of huge, bulky boys which was intimidating but not always an advantage in a game of Quidditch. Ellie knew that Gryffindor has the better chance of winning here. She resisted the urge to hex Malfoy when he mouthed the word mudblood at her because she didn't want to be disqualified before the game even started.
Bravely, Angelina showed no sign of pain as she gave the order for her team to get into position and mount their broomsticks. Ellie's stomach clenched, and her nerves peaked. This was it, this was the moment that they've all been waiting for.
Ellie was determined to show everyone that she was an asset to this team. She wanted to be the first one to get that Quaffle. She tensed and didn't take her eyes off of Madame Hooch. The game starts as soon as the Quaffle leaves her hand, and Ellie wanted to start strong and prove to Angelina that she could help pull out a win for the Gryffindors.
Ellie took off the instant that the Quaffle was thrown into the air. She collided heavily with Montague as they both reached the Quaffle at the same time. Ellie gasped as she felt his elbow shove deep into her stomach, but his foul gave her the opportunity to snatch the Quaffle out of his grasp and shoot towards the Slytherin goalpost.
"And we're off to a brilliant start!" Lee Jordan's amplified voice rang throughout the stadium. "First possession of the Quaffle belongs to Elizabeth Milton of Gryffindor!" Cheers met Lee's statement and Ellie couldn't help but smile as she knew she had gotten her fantastic start.
She ignored the pain in her stomach from Montague's hit as she dodged a bludger sent her way from Crabbe. Ellie threw the Quaffle to Katie and she immediately forgot about her nerves and the crowd watching, the only thing on her mind was the pure desire to run the Slytherins into the ground.
"Possession of the Quaffle heads to Katie Bell, back to Milton, then to the beautiful Angelina Johnson, captain of the Gryffindor team, who narrowly dodges a bludger sent her way, back to Bell, back to Johnson who shoots -"
Deafening cheers from the scarlet side of the stadium drowned out Lee's next statement as the Quaffle soared through the Slytherin goalpost, feet away from their keeper, Bletchley. Ellie applauded Angelina's shot before she went after Flint, who had snagged the Quaffle. She had to admit, Angelina was annoying but she was a fantastic Chaser.
" - 10 - 0 to Gryffindor!" Lee Jordan's voice finally was audible. "Brilliant shot by the amazing Angelina Johnson, who I hear needs some company for the upcoming Hogsmeade wee-"
"LEE!" McGonagall yelled to the delight of the crowd.
Ellie, Angelina and Katie were gaining on Warrington, who had been passed the Quaffle, they got into the formation that Wood had taught them two years back. The name escaped Ellie's mind, but it had never failed the three of them yet. Katie flew below him while Ellie and Angelina approached him from above and dropped altitude simultaneously, causing him to flounder and drop the Quaffle right into Katie's waiting hands. The three turned sharply and flew straight back to the Slytherin's goalpost, the Slytherin chasers hot on their heels.
A bludger zoomed towards Angelina and Fred swooped in and swung his bat, sending it straight back to Goyle, whose bulk seemed to absorb the direct hit to his stomach. The crowd screamed their approval, and Ellie flew underneath Katie as she was flanked by Flint and Montague. She easily caught the pass and had an easy shot on the Slytherin's goalposts.
"20 - 0 to Gryffindor!" Lee screamed into the microphone as the Quaffle soared through the right hand hoop. Ellie punched the air and accepted an ecstatic and proud pat on the back from Angelina. Amazingly, her anger was long forgotten and she reveled in the praise. Ellie couldn't stop grinning as she dodged a few poorly timed bludgers sent her way, laughing the whole time as she flew after Warrington to take the Quaffle back. There was no way they were losing this match. Between her, Angelina and Katie, Ron wouldn't ever have to worry about the Quaffle heading his way.
xxx
"This is incredible!" Yugi cried, the ominioculars that Harry had lent him glued to his face. He was sitting on the edge of his seat, cheering the loudest out of all the Gryffindors surrounding him.
"Do you see how fast they're flying?" Malik nodded, snatching the ominioculars from Yugi's hands and putting them to his own face. "I can't even tell which chaser is Ellie!"
"I've lost track of how many times I've lost sight of Harry," Yugi agreed, standing up and leaning over the railing, scanning the bottom of the pitch. "He just moves so quickly."
Hermione for once was speechless. Yami amusedly pointed out that she had cheered and screamed and booed at the same times as the rest of the crowd, but otherwise she didn't say a word. She was too enraptured in the game. Her ominioculars were pressed to her face, only Malik didn't dare try to take hers because she was so keyed up.
"Look, Ellie's got the Quaffle again!" Ryou yelled, seemingly unsure about how to feel about this. He seemed to be torn between loving the game and worrying that somebody was going to get hurt. His expressions switched from smiles and frowns and laughter and groans. Yugi knew that Ryou loved watching the game, but wouldn't stop worrying about Ellie taking a nasty hit or falling off her broom. It didn't seem to be a particularly aggressive game yet, but Yugi knew better and was expecting it to turn for the worst any minute.
Yami wanted to phase out so he could watch the game with his own eyes, but since wizards could see him it would be impossible. Yugi tried his best to look the ways that Yami requested but the match was too fast paced to keep up.
They were both dying to play.
He grabbed the ominioculars back from Malik and focused on the Weasley twins. It was difficult to tell them apart from close by, impossible to distinguish them from this distance and the speed in which they were flying. The chasers were quick and played as though they were choreographed to effortlessly know where each other were at all times, but the twins were something else entirely. If Yugi didn't know better, he would have sworn that they had a mind link of their own open. They effortlessly filled every gap, caught every stray bludger and never chased the same opening. It was rare that a bludger escaped their combined reach and was shot at one of the chasers, but the girls were so agile and nimble that they could dodge the bludgers without hesitation. The three of them looked so different up close, but at the moment they were only scarlet blurs and Yugi agreed with Malik, he couldn't tell which one was which until he replayed a pass on his ominioculars.
Harry was doing what Yugi knew to be a fantastic job as a seeker, he flew high and wide over the Quidditch pitch. He tailed Malfoy and never let him out of sight. Harry's narrow frame and his Firebolt combined allowed him to fly faster than any other player in the game which was an incredible advantage. Yugi frequently found himself watching Harry one moment and losing sight of him the next.
Ron was a different story. Yugi knew he had the potential to be a fantastic keeper but let his nerves get the best of him sometimes. He hadn't yet gotten the chance to prove himself, as he hovered almost uselessly in front of the goalposts. The Gryffindor chasers were making mincemeat out of the Slytherin ones and the Quaffle never so much as came within 150 feet of Ron. Yugi was eager to see how Ron would do when it came down to it, but at the same time he was cheering on his team and hoped that it never came close to him. Yugi wanted Gryffindor to pull off a big win and that couldn't happen if Slytherin scored many points.
"And Bell regains possession of the Quaffle, passes it to Milton, back to Bell, John- I mean Milton, Bell, Johnson, Milton - Bell SCORES!" Yugi jumped up and stamped his feet, applauding the third score by the Gryffindor chasers. He was beginning to think that the Gryffindor team was out of the Slytherin's league entirely when the game begun to turn nasty.
"FOUL!" Lee and half of the stadium screamed in unison.
"Who was that?!" Ryou asked frantically, jumping to his feet and straining his eyes to see which chaser was hit by Warrington colliding straight into her. Madame Hooch's shrill whistle rang throughout the stadium and the game came to a halt.
"Katie, I think," Hermione said. She was on her feet as well, leaning over the railing so far that Yugi grabbed the back of her robes just in case she lost her balance.
Yugi had nearly missed it the hit. As soon as Katie had scored Gryffindor's third point the three girls had flown together to quickly congratulate her before the Quaffle was caught by a Slytherin chaser, and in the mix Yugi lost track of who was who. Then in flew Warrington and he collided straight with one of the girls, nearly knocking her off her broom in the process and causing her to double over in pain.
" - no good piece of Slytherin trash, Warrington you scum -"
"LEE!"
"Erm, sorry professor! Just telling it like it is."
Madame Hooch flew up to Katie, who seemed to be fine, and turned her attentions to telling off Warrington. Yugi relaxed and focused on his frazzled friend beside him instead.
Although Ryou took his seat again, he looked as though he wasn't feeling so great anymore. It had been a relatively clean game up until this point and Yugi knew that his worries had been beginning to slide away, but now even Yugi couldn't help but wonder what exactly would have become of Katie had she not been able to keep her balance. They were hundreds of feet in the air.
"What a prick!" Malik hissed. "Who hits a girl like that?!"
"Are you joking, Ishtar?" Dean Thomas asked, leaning forward to join in on their conversation. "It's only just beginning, mate, Quidditch is a rough game and the Slytherins are dirty players."
Yugi nodded, inching forward to the edge of his seat and clenching his fists. He knew that his housemates could beat the Slytherins, but he was beginning to worry about what it would take.
xxx
"You're alright?" Ellie asked Katie as Madame Hooch gave Warrington one last warning and flew back to referee from a distance.
"Yep!" Katie said cheerfully, flashing a grin Ellie's way. Nothing got that girl down, and Ellie smiled back.
"Okay, good luck!"
Ellie took up her position to go after the Quaffle should Katie's penalty shot miss and grabbed the opportunity to look for Harry. He was about 70 feet above her, and seemed to be arguing with Malfoy. Ellie rolled her eyes, but did nothing. Their rivalry would only make Harry fight harder to win and Ellie didn't want to mess with that.
Besides, Harry hadn't stuck up for her earlier so why should she stick up for him now?
Madame Hooch's whistle blew again, taking Ellie off guard and signaling that the game was back on. Katie threw a beautiful shot but it was easily blocked by Bletchley, who passed the Quaffle to Flint and he shot right past Ellie and towards Ron.
Ellie cursed, but it was lost in the wind and she turned tail and chased Flint. How thick was she? She knew that she couldn't afford to let her attention wander for even a second in a game, and it had been her responsibility to cover this side of the pitch.
There was no way that she would catch up to him, he was pressed flat against his broom and was gaining on Ron much faster than Ellie was gaining on him. She could see Ron's pale face even from this distance, and when he reached the scoring zone the shot that Flint made easily scored.
"Slytherin scores!" Lee shouted loudly but with obvious bitterness in his voice. "But Gryffindor still leads 30-10!"
The Slytherin supporters screamed their approval of this new development, but Ellie wasn't paying attention. She was too busy diving for the falling Quaffle. She would not mess this up. She could score and pull Gryffindor another 30 point lead.
Even though it was an illegal time to hit a chaser, she should have been watching out. Ellie was a prime target and she knew very well that the Slytherins were anything but fair. But she was still distracted. Ellie was completely unguarded when she was nailed in the ribs with a perfectly aimed bludger.
"Ungh!" She rolled her broomstick several times, holding on for dear life and gasping for breath. The Quaffle fell to the ground and the crowd erupted in more furious screams.
"CRABBE! YOU DISGUSTING, NO GOOD, CHEATING PRICK!" Ellie heard Lee scream as she thankfully recovered, but this time it seemed as though McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him to shut up this time. Or maybe Ellie just didn't hear it because her ears were ringing so badly.
That hurt. Bad. Ellie was in pain, but she was seeing red and was focused solely on her rage. Madame Hooch's whistle had blown signaling a second time out, and Fred flew down to check on Ellie.
"Alright, Milton?"
"I'll kill him!" Ellie spat. "Damned prat!"
Fred laughed. "That's what I like to hear!" He clapped her on the back, rattling her bones one more time for good measure and zoomed off. She vaguely heard him bellow a crude remark towards Crabbe, but she ignored it. Ellie scooped up the Quaffle before taking position for her penalty shot. She found it very hard to concentrate on aiming as she could hear both shouts of encouragement from her teammates and jeers and laughter from the Slytherin team.
Ellie took the shot, which went wide and missed the goal hoops completely. She wanted to cry in frustration.
The game quickly resumed, and this time the Slytherins focused all of their efforts on Katie. Flint had possession of the Quaffle, but the three chasers were circling her as though they wanted to knock her off her broom. Katie eventually escaped their circle and they zoomed towards Ron.
Angelina and Ellie locked eyes and nodded. If the Slytherins wanted to play dirty then so would they. Flint passed to Montague, who caught the Quaffle. He was about to make his shot when the pair of them slammed into him from either side. The impact hurt Ellie's bruised ribs but it encouraged her to jam her elbow deep into his side and pry the Quaffle out of his arms.
"Ow! You bitch!" Montague cursed as Ellie zoomed off, passing the Quaffle Angelina's way. Thank Merlin, the only calls for foul came from the Slytherin end of the stadium and Angelina got to make her shot. She scored easily, and Ellie cheered her teammate on.
"40-10 to Gryffindor!"
The Quaffle was snatched up by Flint, and the game resumed. George hit a bludger in Flint's direction and although he dodged, Flint dropped the ball and Katie quickly swooped in and caught it.
Katie turned tail and headed towards the Slytherin goalpost, with the other five chasers hot on her tail. She feinted a pass to Angelina, and then actually tossed the ball Ellie's way. Met with a fantastic shot towards the goalposts, Ellie reared her throwing arm back and was immediately slammed into from behind.
Ellie's first instinct was to drop the Quaffle and instead grab the handle of her broomstick with both bands to insure she didn't fall to her early demise, which was exactly what Montague both expected and wanted. He was waiting directly beneath her to catch the ball.
"No!" Ellie cried as her moment of glory was snatched away from her. Montague passed the Quaffle to Warrington, who Ellie realized was the one that had slammed into her. Warrington passed to Flint, who passed back to Montague, who flew straight past Ron and scored Slytherin's second point.
"NO!" Lee shouted, echoing Ellie's previous exclamation. "Montague scores Slytherin's second goal of the match, bringing the score up to 40-20."
From behind her, Ellie heard George let out a stream of profanities announcing his presence before he zoomed past her to save Katie from a bludger heading straight for her head. He shot it back at Flint, who dodged it just in time.
Angelina had the Quaffle now, but not for long. She tried to pass it to Ellie, but it was intercepted by Warrington, who turned tail and headed back towards Ron. It actually looked as though Ron had a pretty good chance of blocking this shot, but before he even had the chance he got hit in the wrist with a bludger.
"Ron!" Ellie gasped as the Quaffle soared through the right hand goal hoop. He was cradling his hand as though something was broken, and his face was grey at this point. It looked as though he was going to throw up all over the Quidditch field.
"40-30 to Gryffindor!"
Katie took possession of the Quaffle, and the two of them headed for the Slytherin goal hoops but Ellie, George and Harry all abandoned their positions to check on Ron.
"Is it broken?" Harry asked anxiously as they converged on him. They were all illegally in the scoring zone, but neither Madame Hooch nor the crowd called foul.
"Dunno," Ron muttered, ears turning red at the attention. "What are you doing here?! Get the hell back in the game!"
"Are you alright to play?" Ellie asked quickly, glancing back at the game. Angelina and Katie were holding up just fine without her.
"Bloody hell, Ellie, I'm fine!" Ron exclaimed. "Get out of here before they get a penalty!"
Taking the hint, the three worried Gryffindors scattered. Harry went up to rejoin Malfoy, but George kept on Ellie's tail in order to talk to her.
"Who hit him?" He shouted over.
"Crabbe, I think!"
George let out a disgusted noise before zooming downwards to smack a bludger in Crabbe's direction, effectively hitting his shoulder and knocking the bat right out of his hand. He earned himself scores of laughter from the Gryffindor supporters as Crabbe, flinching from the hit, had to fly to the ground to pick it up.
Not quite smiling but almost, Ellie joined in on the fray all vying for the Quaffle. Using her momentum from the speed she used to fly over, Ellie focused all of her efforts into flying straight into Warrington, returning the favor from earlier and causing him to drop the Quaffle.
Recovering his balance a lot faster than Ellie had, Warrington whipped back around and grabbed the tail of Ellie's broom before she had the chance to fly away.
Ellie gasped as her momentum was lost, and she lurched forwards, practically sliding off the front end of her broom.
"Let go of me, you prick!" She screamed back. Ellie swung her broomstick left and right and up and down in an attempt to get him to let go but he held strong.
"Make me, you disgusting mudblood," he hissed back.
Madame Hooch was too focused on the much more violent scuffle between George and Crabbe fifty feet to Ellie and Warrington's left to notice her struggles. She was furious that he was doing this to her and getting away with it. Ellie shrieked in rage and turned around.
"Let. Me. GO!" She demanded, attempting to pry his hands off of her broom. Her efforts were in vain, though, as his grip was much stronger than hers. He just laughed at her.
Or, he was laughing until Ellie dug in her nails hard enough to draw blood.
"Get your hands off of me, you nasty skank!" He yelled, furious now. "I'll make you pay for that!"
Ellie heard Madame Hooch's whistle in the back of her head, but she wasn't paying attention and didn't know if she was ordering her and Warrington or George and Crabbe to stop. There had to be probably several other fights going on outside of Ellie's field of vision, otherwise someone would have come to her rescue by now.
Warrington didn't let go, though. Ellie dug her nails in deeper and though she was backwards on her broomstick she urged it forwards so he would have a more difficult time hanging on.
Ellie heard a small crack, and she realized that Warrington wasn't only holding onto her broomstick, he was trying to break it. That broomstick was a gift from Ellie's father, and she wasn't going to let that happen.
She kicked Warrington straight in the face.
"UGH!" He grunted, letting go of Ellie and spiraling back as she shot forwards, reeling in order to get seated on her broom properly before she was hit by another illegal bludger.
Ellie tried to get the image of blood spurting from under her trainer as her foot crushed his nose out of her mind. She put the brakes on and stopped. Madame Hooch had now had to physically step in to break up the fight that had begun with George and Crabbe and expanded with the addition of Fred and Goyle. Ron was being held back by Harry and Angelina was screaming at them alongside Madame Hooch.
Flint was glaring at Ellie as he flew over to check on Warrington, who seemed to be down for the count. Ellie smiled sweetly at him as he guided his teammate, who was blinded by blood, to the ground.
The crowd was going absolutely crazy. Warrington and Ellie's scuffle had gone unnoticed by Madame Hooch and Angelina but not the crowd or the rest of the players. Katie quickly flew alongside Ellie, rubbing her arm.
"Are you alright?" She asked anxiously. "I saw what Warrington did."
"I'm fine, not so sure about him though," Ellie shrugged, eyeing Katie's arm. "What happened to you?"
"Montague," she said, rolling her eyes. "He grabbed me when nobody was looking."
Ellie sucked in a breath through her teeth. "Arse."
Katie nodded.
Madame Hooch's whistle shrilled again as she flew over to the announcer's stand.
"And the decision is made!" Lee Jordan announced skeptically a few moments later. "Several fights had been taken into account and due to both teams initiating, Madame Hooch has not awarded any penalties. Slytherin chaser, Warrington, is not able to continue to play. The score remains 40-30 to Gryffindor, and the game will resume momentarily."
Confused and half-hearted cheers rang throughout the stadium. Katie slapped Ellie a high five for knocking a Slytherin chaser out of the game, and she felt a disbelieving laugh bubble to her lips. Ellie had knocked a boy twice her time out of the match? Malik and her brother, Ollie, were going to love this one.
Montague caught the Quaffle, passed it to Flint who deliberately and painfully grazed Ellie as he flew past her. He passed it to Montague as Katie gained on him, and he shot up and made a weak shot on goal. It soared through Ron's outstretched hands anyway, and the Slytherins went ballistic.
"NO!" Ellie heard Angelina cry from twenty feet away. Ellie groaned herself.
Lee had to wait until the cheers from the Slytherin side of the stadium died down before he could announce the shot. "Montague shoots and scores!" He yelled, but not a single person listening missed the evident disappointment in his voice. "The board is now tied with 40 points for both teams."
More cheers were bellowed from the Slytherins. And they cheered much longer than usual, Ellie thought, it was weird. It almost sounded like some of them were singing.
Ellie took Angelina's pass and tried to concentrate on both what she was doing and the singing. The wind whistling in her ears made it difficult to hear anything, so she gave up and threw the Quaffle towards Katie.
Ellie cursed as Montague intercepted the pass yet again, and he threw the Quaffle to Flint, who Ellie prayed would miss the shot.
He scored.
"No!" Ellie groaned, disappointment coursing through her very veins at the thought of Slytherin actually being in the lead. And it had been her shot that had been intercepted. "No!"
The bludger didn't come out of nowhere this time, Ellie saw it coming. It was a pure fluke that she noticed it at all, the wind had blown a hair loose from it's bun and she had shaken her head to get it out of her face. She didn't hesitate, Ellie rolled and it missed her head by inches.
Only to speed directly past her and hit Angelina squarely in the chest.
"Angelina!" Ellie screamed, hearing the thud of impact and only that as her friend and teammate was knocked unconscious and started falling to the ground. "Angelina!"
Ellie was frozen in place and she could only watch on in horror as Angelina sped to the ground. But thankfully, her teammates weren't so slow.
Fred got to her first, and he awkwardly caught her at the waist. Katie was there second, helping support the rest of her weight so he didn't lose his grip on her. The pair lowered her to the ground safely, quickly joined by Madame Hooch and Madame Pomfrey. Ellie stared, hand to her mouth and eyes wide. That shot had only just missed her head, had they been trying to fracture her skull?
Quickly regaining her senses, Ellie looked in the direction that the bludger was sent from. Goyle was the culprit this time, he had a stupid grin on his face. When he noticed Ellie staring at him, he smiled and mouthed the words "For Warrington".
Ellie felt sick, she couldn't even look at him. Instead she turned her attentions back to Angelina. She was stirring, thank Merlin, and from Madame Pomfrey's demeanor it seemed as though she would be perfectly fine, although no longer to play the game.
It seemed as though both teams were now down a chaser for the rest of the game.
Ellie gulped.
She finally tuned back into the roar of the crowd, the noise was deafening. It sounded like half of the student body had erupted into fights of their own. Ellie frantically searched out for her friends in the Gryffindor stands, her heart was racing and she found herself desperate to see one of Ryou's reassuring smiles.
It took a few moments, but Ellie finally picked out the faces of Ryou, Hermione Yugi and Malik. Only Ryou was focused on her, the other three were staring down at Angelina, who was now conscious but was being carried away on a floating stretcher. Ryou looked really angry, almost as though he were glaring at her. Ellie gave a tentative wave to him, and he did not respond. It was hard to tell from this distance, but Ellie was almost completely sure Bakura was in control. Ellie was disappointed that she wouldn't get the support she was hoping for, but she was mostly mad that Ryou had allowed Bakura to glare at her like that. She angrily jerked her gaze away and flew over to Harry.
"Harry, you need to fini -"
"I know! I'm trying!" He interrupted, frustrated. "It's pretty hard to concentrate on catching the snitch with you lot trying to bloody kill each other down there."
Ellie sighed exasperatedly, throwing her hands up in the air. "Isn't Quidditch supposed to be fun?" Harry just shrugged. "I just want this match to end already."
Harry nodded, and nothing else was said. The two of them watched on in silence as Madame Hooch lectured Goyle. Ellie was trying to hone in on what she was saying, but she couldn't hear it over some obnoxious chant coming from the crowd.
"Poor Ron," Harry finally murmured, looking around. "He's never going to want to play another match again."
"He's not doing that bad." Ellie commented. Sure, he hadn't blocked a shot yet, but then again the chasers weren't exactly on the top of their game anymore either.
Harry looked at her funny. "Haven't you heard that song they've been singing this whole time?"
Realizing he wasn't talking about that, Ellie looked over to the Slytherin section of the stands. Malfoy was floating in front of him on his broom, waving his arms at his housemates. It took a second, but Ellie finally realized what was going on …
… Weasley was born in a bin
He always lets the Quaffle in
Weasley will make sure we win
Weasley is our King …
Ellie once again involuntarily slapped her hand over her mouth and felt her eyes widen and she looked towards her mortified friend, who was looking green and had his eyes on the ground. She realized what Malfoy was doing, conducting the song.
"That's horrible!" Ellie cried, horrified. She felt stupid for not noticing it earlier. No wonder Ron was letting in so many shots, that awful song would get in anyone's head and psych them out.
Harry nodded angrily. "I told Malfoy to knock it off earlier, but I might have well been talking to a bloody blast ended skrewt. Wait, no, I take that back, the blast ended skrewt would have been better looking and more fun to talk to."
Ellie nodded in agreement. "I suppose it only egged him on?"
"Course it did," Harry mussed up his hair in frustration, while scanning the arena at the same time. He was not allowed to continue pursuing the snitch while the game was on time out, but that did not mean he could not look for it. "Goyle made that shot, didn't he?"
Ellie snorted angrily. "Yes, it was. He told me it was for Warrington." Ellie made air quotes with her fingers on the last two words. She rolled her eyes for good measure. "He had it coming, and Goyle will too. Just you wait."
Harry stopped his scanning of the pitch and stared at her with a weird look on his face.
"What?"
Madame Hooch's whistle shrilled, effectively shutting down any efforts at conversation. Lee announced that Katie would be awarded a penalty shot on Angelina's behalf, and Ellie and Harry parted ways in order to take their positions.
Ellie was beginning to feel her nerves come back. This was a dirty game, even by Gryffindor/Slytherin standards, but she had never played in a game of Quidditch without both Katie and Angelina at her side. Ellie prayed that she and Katie could still pull it off without their captain present.
The whistle blew again, and Katie took her shot. It was a fantastic throw, and Ellie was sure it was going to go in until Bletchley caught it by his fingertips and hit it towards Montague.
Ellie deflated with disappointment, but she didn't let it consume her. She flew into action and intercepted the Quaffle when Montague tried to pass to Flint.
Flying straight up to avoid a bludger aimed her way, Ellie unthinkingly threw the Quaffle to the empty space where Angelina always flew.
She realized her mistake as soon as the Quaffle left her hands, it soared pathetically through the air and towards one of the spectator stands.
Mortified by her mistake, Ellie felt her cheeks flush red when Katie shot her a look as she took off towards it, racing Montague. They both reached it at the same time, and predictably they collided roughly. From Ellie's vantage point it looked like they were wrestling over the Quaffle, and neither of them knew what was coming when they flew right into the stand.
Ellie sucked in a gasp of air through her teeth. They were ripped apart and the Quaffle fell to the ground. Montague dived for it, while Katie cradled her arm and remained in place. George flew over to see if she was okay, and since Angelina wasn't around to call a time out for the Gryffindor team they would have to continue playing.
Ellie cursed. Her team was paying for yet another one of her stupid mistakes. But no matter, she thought, she couldn't dwell on it. Ellie shot after Montague like a bullet. She had a game to win. Ellie didn't know what was hurt worse, Ron's wrist or his ego, but she certainly knew that it wasn't likely he would successfully block a direct shot. She needed to help.
Ellie was directly on Montague's tail with Flint directly on hers, so she began frantically trying to come up with a way to gain possession of the Quaffle. It was next to impossible, though, to do so alone. Even if she did somehow manage to make him drop it, she had no teammates there to catch it for her. Ellie cursed again, and realized that the best she could do for Ron at this point was to just slow down Montague's momentum so the shot would be easier to block.
Aware of Flint right behind her, Ellie abruptly dropped a few feet and sped up so she was below and slightly ahead of Montague. Ellie knew she was about to commit a foul that would surely grant him a penalty shot, but at this point she didn't care about the repercussions. She raised her arms and pushed up as hard as she could on the handle of Montague's broomstick, grunting in effort, but it worked even better than she had hoped. He flipped backwards several times magnificently and spiraled out of control.
By a sheer miracle, he even dropped the Quaffle.
Both she and Flint dived for it.
They both heard Madame Hooch's whistle, but they ignored it. It wasn't even about winning the game at this point, because it didn't matter who caught it. It was just a race to see who could get to the Quaffle the fastest.
The rush that Ellie got was awesome, she imagined that this is what Harry felt like when he was in a neck to neck race to catch the snitch. They were both diving straight down, hundreds of feet in the air and the ground was getting nearer and nearer very quickly.
Ellie was inching ahead of him. She was much smaller and lighter, an incredible advantage to those flying. But it wasn't enough. Ellie reached out and grabbed a fistful of Flint's robes, using him as an anchor to propel herself forward. She shrieked in delight as it caused her to instantly gain several feet and she snatched up the Quaffle about fifteen feet from the ground.
It was lucky that she was so low, because when Flint's boot kicked her in the head it knocked off her glasses, and she lost her single-handed grip on her broom. Then when the rest of him hit her, it caused her to slam into the grass so hard that she saw stars and tasted blood.
Ellie groaned, a cough catching in her throat. She had landed on her stomach, and the blow made it difficult to breathe properly. Thinking that sitting up would help, she did her best to support her weight with one arm while using the other to reach up and rub her head. She was vaguely aware of a couple of figures descending and landing on either side of her.
"Stay off the ground, you three!" A voice sounding very much like Madame Hooch's ordered a few figures that Ellie couldn't make out. "Give her some air!"
"Ellie, you idiot!" Katie yelled as a pair of firm arms rolled her over onto her back and she was instantly able to suck in a delicious breath of air. She was still dizzy, but the oxygen at least made the stars disappear from her vision. She identified the arms holding her as those of Madame Hooch when they slid her glasses back onto her face.
"Shut up, Katie," she snapped unkindly. "I'm fine."
"Watch your mouth, Milton," Madame Hooch told her firmly. "Your teammate is right, what you did was incredibly stupid!"
Ellie glared at her, shaking her off. "I said, I'm fine." She didn't feel fine, she hurt all over. She was slightly disoriented, but her senses were coming back to her. Her head was the worst, though. She was dizzy and her blurry vision never cleared up, even when she adjusted her glasses.
Madame Hooch sighed. "I wish I could pull you right out of this game, but you were certainly not the only player today to exhibit such aggressive behavior." She straightened up instantly, hands on hips and glared down at Ellie. "But that does not mean I won't be punishing you later! Any more displays like that and I will make sure that you never sit on a broomstick again, young lady, do I make myself clear?"
Ellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She stood up shakily, but still angrily. "Fine. Can we resume the game now?"
"Not until I check on Flint and Montague," Madame Hooch snapped. "You could have killed them both with your reckless behavior." She stalked off to see to Flint, who was laying on the ground a few dozen feet away from Ellie.
"Like that would be a loss," Ellie muttered. Katie continued glaring at her. "What?"
"What the hell is wrong with you?" She demanded.
"They started it, Katie!" Ellie said, trying to sound calm but her voice was rising in volume. "Am I supposed to just let them wal - er, fly all over us?!"
"No, but you don't have to stoop to their level!" Katie sniffed, and Ellie then remembered that she was hurt, too. Her expression softened, and her anger faded.
"How's your arm?"
Katie frowned, cradling her left arm and shrugging a bit. "I think it's broken."
"Oh, Katie, you can't keep playing like that!" Ellie gasped, horrified.
Katie shrugged again. "I can't leave you to fend for yourself against, those … them. No matter how angry I am." She giggled halfheartedly. "I can hold out until the game ends. How's your head?"
"Hurts." Ellie sighed, rubbing her temples again. "I'm sorry for snapping at you. You didn't do anything to deserve it."
"Just now or all week?" Katie asked, raising an eyebrow.
Ellie frowned. "All week, I suppose."
"Make it up to me by helping me win this," Katie said.
Ellie grinned hugely. "I think I can manage that."
"Any day now, ladies!" George called down to them, and the two girls looked up only to notice that everyone was waiting on them to take their places.
"Coming!"
xxx
Is it horribly pathetic that this Quidditch match was supposed to be, oh, I don't know, 1500 words or less? Oops. I had originally intended to have several other things happen in this chapter, but it was getting too long. I can't even bring myself to finish the match itself in this chapter because I can't bear to make y'all wait any longer.
I'm trying to cut down the length of my chapters so you won't have to wait so long for updates, but I'm finding that pretty difficult as well. Seriously, when I want to write, I write. I can't help myself. Hopefully that's not too much of an issue.
I wanted to mention again that I made up a few rules for Quidditch, as I sadly do not own my own copy of Quidditch Through the Ages and couldn't reference anything other than the internet. So if you see something that you don't think is correct, don't bother mentioning it because I made up half of the rules anyway. Also, as for players continuing to play while hurt, I'm operating under the assumption that no healing is allowed during a match otherwise that player needs to withdraw. (There are no substitutions) There are several instances in the books where people have continued playing while bleeding and/or concussed.
I know you guys all hate me because I haven't updated in forever, but reviews motivate me and maybe I'll post a chapter 100000x faster if I get lots. ;)