Now with the witching season later passed, students and staff prepared and congregated all month, regardless if the sun was splitting the stones, or rain pelting down like brass bullets. Nothing could disrupt the jovial atmosphere that was Quidditch.
Gryffindor and Slytherin readied for battle in the final, both teams willing to achieve the trophy by any means necessary. Their rivalry, more intense than the other houses, dating as far back as the founders of Hogwarts, only drives further their need to conquer the other.
Now, Maria was a caring and adoring woman on a normal day, if sometimes a bit mischievous. Regardless, when it came to quidditch it was a completely different story.
In Magix, there was nothing like this, so Maria naturally took a liking to the sport. Yet if there is one thing that Maria despised more it is losing, specifically to Slughorn and his snakes.
The two heads of houses held a strong dislike for each other, Horace being egotistical and boisterous, and Maria considered "vain and self-orientated".
It was the morning of the final and all the staff were at the teacher's table enjoying some breakfast before heading down to the stands. Maria was situated in her usual seat, with Albus in the centre of the table and Minerva to his right.
Sadly Slughorn was to Maria's right, but that never seemed to pose a problem, most of the time they would simply ignore each other, Maria talking to Minerva and Horace conversing with Filius. Rivalries tended to change the rules.
"Well, prepared to lose again? Maria," he asked her boastfully, letting out a condescending chuckle.
Slytherin house has won every final that Maria had been at Hogwarts and even as a professor, Horace was determined to rub his so-called glory in her face. However, this was about to change.
"No. This year we will win" Maria replied confidently, keeping her gaze to the Gryffindor table, where her team were listening in to the conversation, Sirius and James gasping at her boldness.
Minerva chuckled quietly at the shock evident Horace's face. Even Albus raised an eyebrow at the comment.
Slughorn laughed it off, turning around to face Maria properly before questioning her, a daring tone hidden in his voice,
"You sound very sure about that?"
"I am because I know that the Gryffindor team will play fairly" she answered him, pushing out her chair and raving the table before Horace could say another word.
On her way out, she grabbed Sirius and James by their collars and dragged them out with her. Once they reached the courtyard Maria stopped.
"What was that for? You almost ruined my hair!" Sirius nagged as he fixed his shirt and tie.
"Now Slytherin has won the cup for the past 7 years. We are NOT going to let them win again. Understood?" She asked them.
"Yes, ma'am!" They saluted.
"Good now head down to the pitch"
"But I never finished my breakfast!" Sirius wined.
But before James could shush him, Maria smacked him on the back of the head with a rolled-up piece of parchment and sent him a glare to shut up.
"Merlin, she can be scary when she's mad!" James joked as they headed to the quidditch pitch.
The Gryffindor team consisted of James as captain and chaser, along with Marlene McKinnon and Arrow Carns. His brother Lance played in the position of beater with Sirius. Alexis Marie was the keeper and newly joined Dorcas Meadowes played as a seeker.
Heading out of the dressing rooms, everyone was deadly silent. The embodiment of the Lion, Maria Lightly stood quietly behind the captain and the seeker of her team, confident, yet nervous. Her breath subsided with the cold winds that swept past her face. They were going head-on into the battle with the Slytherin Quidditch Team and they were going to win.
"Eyes open, be ready for your commands. The Lions will rise victoriously." James roared loudly in order to boost their morale and courage.
Maria nodded to him and clutched his hand tightly. Her wings fluttered against the wind, her racing heart drowned out the racket of the crowds cheering.
"Play fair, everything else will fall into place." Maria addressed them slowly, an echo of uneasiness in her voice.
Sirius placed a measuring hand on her shoulder, reminding Maria of the family that stood behind her. With that, the seven lions marched on into the battlefield against the snakes.
A loud round of applause and clapping could be heard as they headed on towards the centre of the ground where Madam Hooch stood. They exchanged pleasantries, leaving Maria to fly over to the sidelines.
Maria smirked at Horace's outburst, demanding that Maria should have to return to the teacher's box like everyone else.
"She can't do that, she's a teacher, not a player!"
"I'm afraid my hands are tied, she is their head of house after all, " Albus calmed the situation, a deviant twinkle in his eye.
"Yes well so is Minerva yet she's up here like the rest of us; in that case, I'm going down as well seeing as my team is playing as well, " Slughorn made an effort to leave, but was quickly stopped.
"Stop whining like a child, the match is about to begin, " Minerva promptly ended the conversation, veering around to look at Maria with a disapproving look. Maria simply smiled, blowing a daring kiss to Horace, then turned her attention back to the match.
Shockingly, as the Slytherin Quidditch team approached towards the centre of the field, the cheering was deafening. Maria surveyed the ground and realized that more than half of the gallery for the audience was full of Slytherins. It was infuriating.
Madam Hooch went through the rules, directing her speech to certain Slytherins, then released the quaffle high up in the air. The players had already mounted their brooms and as soon as the quaffle was released, a swift whooshing sound swept past the Quidditch gallery as they glided on. The game had begun.
Sirius stuck close to Marlene, who had shown tremendous improvements in her chaser skills during the practice. She was by far their best chaser, marginally surpassing James. Maria knew she was the one who needed to be protected from the bludgers, with experience from Slughorn's gameplay, he tended to sense his beaters after the girls.
Maria gazed in admiration as Marlene snatched the quaffle within seconds, and Gryffindor scored their first goal.
She seared through the wind like a wild eagle, hunting down the quaffle each time like her prey. Sirius revolved around her with a 360° sight around her for any bludgers. Their partnership was so nice that in no more than five minutes, Sirius had beat off the bludger ten times and Marlene had scored 70 points single-handedly.
Maria roared and followed the match up the field, shouting words of encouragement, praising Marlene as if she was her own daughter.
However now, it was the time for Slytherins. As they scored twenty points, Maria noticed that the bludgers had started to move more wildly. Her attention got focused even more on Marlene. As she looked out for her, and as Marlene easily scored thirty more points, Sirius had to kick off a bludger which instantly retreated back and hit Alexis in her arm.
"Alexis!" Maria yelled and looked for the other beater, Lance.
The boy was trying to manage the other two chasers on his own. Maria couldn't ask more of him. But she was in a very dangerous position now. If she sent Sirius to guard Marlene, the best chaser would get hit and points would be lost. If Sirius continued guarding Marlene, Alexis would get pulverized and the Slughorn's snakes would score wildly without the keeper.
However, she chose to continue on the way things were and flew down to Alexis herself. Looking over at the stands, Maria caught the evil smirk Horace displayed, coming to the conclusion that he hand somehow tampered with the bludgers.
"If that's how he wants to win, so be it" Maria thought to herself, just dodging in time as the bludgers headed down the pitch.
They were aimed directly at Alexis' chest, hitting her one after the other. She coughed up blood, leaning her front against the broom for support. Her hands grabbed the broom more tightly than ever. She was a Gryffindor at heart, after all, she couldn't allow herself to fall weak at this point of time.
The Slytherins scored ten more points. Obviously, Alexis was unable to guard the three hoops in that condition.
She still pushed herself beyond her limits and kicked off the quaffle, blocking the chaser. Maria flew behind her, inconspicuously casting a healing spell, hoping to relieve some of her pain.
"Come on Alexis, hold on my dear" Maria whispered, watching out to make sure no one had seen her.
Just as James was flying past, Maria called him over, "what's going on out there? Alexis is getting beaten to a pulp?"
James ran his hand through his hair before answering, " They're not playing fair! Were going to have to fight fire with fire!"
With that, he flew off in search of the quaffle, alerting Sirius to the bludger heading his way
Sirius' head turned towards the beater of the Slytherin team. A menacing grin rested on his lips as he beat the bludger in his direction. He gritted his teeth angrily and darted forward to kick the bludger pretty hard. Sirius revolved around Marlene and made sure that not a single hit landed on her.
Fortunately, the Lions scored another seventy points, leading their total score to be 170. Maria saw the clear lead they were in. That was thanks to all the practice they had done during the month. Yet she frowned deeply. If the players got injured like Alexis was, it wouldn't take much time for the Slytherin team to overthrow them.
She then glared at the person in a black cloak, sitting in the gallery smirking, sneering. Maria's wings fluttered rapidly in anger, the fairy dust surrounding them turning a deadly red, channelling her fire elements.
He saw her eyes pierce his own while glaring at him, losing his smirk. Horace glared back but the intensity of fury in the eyes of the lioness was far greater than his.
Maria turned to the other beater Lance "Protect Sora while Sirius' checks up on James and Arrow!" She yelled, catching the announcement from the dais in front of the headmaster's gallery.
"Gryffindor in lead with two hundred points! Slytherin remains at fifty still!"
Maria's eyes shone in pride.
Yet poor Alexis was barely hanging in. Her body was covered in blood and her head was revolving round and round. Maria's heart ached to see how he struggled to stop the goals even in that condition. She had no choice now.
She flew past the crowds and stuck beside Alexis. "I'm in great debt to you..." Alexis whispered as Maria hugged her bleeding body. She glared hard at the Slytherins in front of her. She could not take up after Alexis as the keeper. That was against the rules. But there was no rule that the head of house couldn't help the keeper.
She wrapped her one arm around her and held her other arm out, ice shield already cast, facing their opponents. It was now or never. Maria ignored the ruckus stirred up by Horace and continued to support her team.
She blocked the bludgers that had been hitting Alexis constantly. Minerva stood up from her seat with her hands joined together, her eyes shining below her arched eyebrows. To see her students and friend struggle like that was becoming unbearable for the woman.
Dumbledore remained emotionless behind his twinkling eyes. It wasn't like he couldn't understand what was happening. He knew very well what Maria and Horace had in mind. Yet as he wasn't able to find any rules being violated, he couldn't oppose them.
Maria dragged Alexis as she beat the bludger and blocked the quaffle off simultaneously. It was getting very difficult now. With Lance now guarding Marlene, she wasn't able to focus properly as she had to protect herself, while the other Gryffindor chasers were easily monitored by the Slytherin keeper.
Alexis' head dropped on Maria's shoulder, her blood drenching her own clothes. She turned to look at her when suddenly a bludger came at her and collied with her leg.
She heard the bone crush as it happened, not able to contain the scream that the bubbles from her throat. She seethed in pain as she shot a furious glare at Slytherin beater, Lucius Malfoy. The boy oozed evil, having caught him practising dark magic, Maria knew that the blow was intentional.
The quaffle came closer to them. Maria growled in pain with one arm around Alexis who was almost unconscious now. But before they could score, the announcement came.
"The Slytherin seeker has caught the snitch! The match concludes!" Maria dropped down with Alexis still in her arms to the ground.
Alexis!" Marlene and Dorcas came screaming as Maria clasped her in her arms. Sirius, James and the rest of the team gathered around too. The Gryffindors cared less about the results of the match. Alexis' life desired the most attention at that point in time.
"Take her to madam Pomfrey at once...!" Maria yelled as Marlene and James immediately got her on a stretcher and followed the medics.
"Maria!" Minerva came running to where Maria struggled to get up, her wings long gone as energy drained. Horace and Albus also ran to where they were.
"So... the victory is clearly ours, isn't it, headmaster?" Horace asked in his low pitched voice. Maria growled in Minerva's embrace. How dare he.
"The scores are equal, Horace." Dumbledore turned around and looked at him with annoyance in his eyes.
"Indeed, headmaster. But you see, as the rules say, the team that catches the Golden Snitch wins." He answered back calmly.
All eyes widened in disbelief. There were no objections to that. Dumbledore stood there without an answer.
Maria and Minerva refused to stay silent though. "I object! You cannot just let them win, Albus! You saw how the Gryffindors played... And..."
"I'm sorry my dear." Dumbledore cut Maria short as everyone gazed at him aghast. "Rules are rules."
Maria didn't say a word. She just breathed heavily, not showing the deep throbbing that travelled through her leg. Minerva wanted to take her to the hospital wing immediately but she resisted her hold. She wanted to hear the final results with her own ears.
It was the most unpleasant thing she had heard in all these years of her life.
Albus stepped towards the centre of the ground and pointed his long wand at his throat. "Sonorus." He said everything becomes clear and audible. There was no chance of any confusion about anything that he would be declaring now.
And then it came. Maria's eyes gazed in sorrow and fatigue. "The winner of the Quidditch Cup is..." Dumbledore announced as the silent audience listened from the gallery.
"SLYTHERIN HOUSE!"