The weekend brought the first Quidditch match of the season; Gryffindor pitted against Hufflepuff.
"Hufflepuff has a good Keeper, so Chasers, you'll have to work extra hardn to get goals," Worthington told the team. "Sarah, James, Hallie, we're counting on you."
The Chasers nodded.
"Maria, they don't have bad offense, so you'll need to be on your toes. Justin, Mitchel, hit those bludgers as hard as you can. I'll be looking for the snitch, so I won't spend loads of time watching the rest of you, the defense and offense is your call. Hufflepuff may have a good team, but we've got a better one because we can work together, alright? Let's go," Worthington finished.
The team stepped out of the locker room to tremendous applause from the Gryffindor section, clutching their brooms.
Just under half of the stadium sported red and gold. Gryffindor and roughly a half of Ravenclaw supported Gryffindor. Hufflepuff, Slytherin, and the half of Ravenclaw donned yellow and black for Hufflepuff.
"Today's game; Hufflepuff vs Gryffindor!" the commentator roared over the crowd. "For Hufflepuff, Diggory, Bones, Bennet, Schpect, Lewis, Einheim, and Donner! For Gryffindor, Worthington, Klosse, Hoover, Potter, Albatram, Finley, and Rowsey!"
The two teams met in the middle and the captains shook hands. Each of the players mounted their brooms and tensed, waiting for the sound of the whistle-
A shrill squeak resonated across the pitch.
The teams took off, and the game began.
James lunged for the Quaffle, but was beat there by the opposing chaser, who streaked past him and down the pitch towards Maria.
The other chasers gave pursuit.
"Schpect races towards the Gryffindor goalposts, passes to Bones, back to Schpect, oh!" The commentator winced. "Bludger to the head for Schpect! She drops the Quaffle, which is grabbed by Klosse of Gryffindor, Gryffindor in possession!"
Hallie whipped around on her broom and began speeding towards the Hufflepuff goalposts, dodging a bludger hit by one of the beaters.
"Oi!" she shouted tossing the ball to James.
James caught it and continued their advance up the pitch.
"He's got the Quaffle- look out, there's a bludger! Nice dodge by Potter of Gryffindor. Only twenty yards from the hoops-"
James was being tailed now by the Hufflepuff beaters, who were knocking bludgers at him at every opportunity. He gained another few yards before he was forced to pass to Sarah in order to prevent losing the Quaffle because of the two bludgers that were whizzing toward him.
"Potter passes to Hoover, getting a nice blow to the stomach from Lewis, Hoover's speeding towards the goalposts, she throws- blocked by Einheim! Hufflepuff in possession, Bones with the Quaffle!"
Winded from the bludger, James hurried to try and get the Quaffle back, but Sarah and Hallie were already on it.
"Klosse coming up from below Bones, forcing her to pivot into the path of a bludger. Bones narrowly misses being hit, but drops the Quaffle, which is caught by Hoover! Excellent play by the two chasers!"
Hallie and Sarah were streaking towards James, Quaffle in hand.
Sarah tossed James the ball.
James snatched it out of the air, speeding towards the Hufflepuff rings. Thirty yards, twenty yards, ten yards-
There was a loud crack as one of the Hufflepuffs slammed into the front of James' broom, chipping the front of it.
The broom slowed slightly.
The Gryffindor section of the stands gave a shout of protest.
"Come on, come on," James muttered angrily.
"Diggory crashes into the front of Potter's broom. Potter still has the Quaffle and appears to be fine, but his broom is slowing, not good for a Chaser," the commentator noted. "Time out, Gryffindor, and a penalty awarded to Gryffindor, which will be taken after the time out."
The two teams sank to the ground, gathering in their individual huddles.
"Diggory got your broom pretty good," Worthington remarked, "but we can sort that out. Does anyone have their wand on them?"
"Oi! Mate, you alright?" came a shout from the nearby stands.
"I'm fine!" James yelled back to Sirius.
"Okay, good," Sirius said, fighting his way to the edge of the stands. "Your broom doesn't look alright, though."
"Can we use your wand?" Worthington interrupted. "We've got to fix it."
"Sure," Sirius said after a moment of hesitation, then passed it down.
"Reparo," Worthington muttered, pointing the wand at James' broomstick, mending it instantly. He then passed Sirius his wand back.
"You're doing brilliant, keep going!" Sirius shouted as he faded back into the crowd.
A shrill whistle signaled that the timeout was over, and the teams rose to the cloudless sky once again.
Hallie took the penalty shot, scoring the first point of the game.
"Ten to nothing for Gryffindor!" the commentator yelled.
The Hufflepuff Chaser, Schpect, grabbed the Quaffle and bolted down the pitch, weaving between bludgers and players, quickly nearing the Gryffindor goalposts. She passed to one of the other Chasers beside her, who sped forward a little, then chucked the Quaffle through the middle hoop.
"Hufflepuff scores their first points and we're tied! Ten to ten, Gryffindor in possession of the Quaffle!"
A roar of triumph came from the Hufflepuff section as Sarah fumbled a difficult catch and dropped the Quaffle into Bones' hands, who then passed it to Bennet.
The Gryffindors shouted in satisfaction as Justin sent a well-aimed bludger into Bennet's back, causing him to drop the ball.
The game continued for a few more minutes without any points, making things only more intense.
"Gryffindor has the Quaffle again, Hoover to Potter, Potter to Klosse, Klosse back to Potter, Potter shoots-"
James knew he would miss the moment the ball left his hands. The Hufflepuff Keeper was right there.
"Einheim blocks just barely blocks that shot, sending the Quaffle towards the ground. Potter dives and grabs it, looks like he's going to try again- no, he throws it to Hoover, Hoover's headed for the other Chasers, not the goalposts."
"Worthington was right, this guy is good," Sarah said hurriedly, glancing behind them. "We need to get past him, but speeding isn't working. Any ideas?"
A bludger zoomed past James, only inches from his face. They would need to move fast.
"We can go for a far hoop, that might work," Hallie said.
A plan formulated in James' mind. "No, I know what we've got to do. Hallie, go towards the left hoop, Sarah, you take the center on, I'll go right. We can pass the Quaffle between us, confuse him," he explained quickly. "We've only been going for one hoop, let's change it up a bit on him."
"Are you playing or not?" one of the Hufflepuff Chasers shouted as they rushed towards them.
"Brilliant, let's go," Sarah said, turning to speed for the left hoop.
"And the Gryffindor Chasers are back! Hoover at the left hoop, she passes to Klosse, Klosse heads for the center, back to Hoover on the left, to Potter on the right hoop, back to Klosse, to Hoover, to Potter- extremely dizzying and confusing for the crowd and the Keeper- It's to Potter, to Hoover, to Potter, to- wait! Potter shoots and scores on the right hoop!"
The Gryffindors screamed their approval below.
The Gryffindor Chasers grinned at each other and raced to their side of the field to intercept Hufflepuff.
"Hufflepuff with the Quaffle, Bennet is almost knocked off his broom by a bludger hit by Finley. Gryffindor in possession- hold on, Worthington and Lewis are speeding down the pitch towards the teachers' box, they've seen the snitch!"
The crowd held its breath as Worthington and the Hufflepuff Seeker dove from above the pitch towards the box, where a flash of gold caught James' eye.
Worthington extended his arm towards the golden ball, he was about to grab it-
A bludger struck him in the gut, causing him to tumble backwards, halfway off his broom.
The sections supporting Hufflepuff applauded, the Gryffindor section booing and calling for a penalty.
"No penalty rewarded, but Lewis didn't get the snitch, it slipped away from them. Down at the Hufflepuff goalposts, Klosse shoots and misses, blocked by Einheim. Hufflepuff in possession, Bones with the Quaffle."
James glanced toward where Worthington had been, but he was gone. That meant he could still play, and so long as he could play, they could win.
"It looks as though they've seen the snitch again- no, false alarm, it was a feint by Worthington, who's still hanging in there. Bones shoots on the right hoop- blocked by Gryffindor Keeper Rowsey! Gryffindor in possession, Hoover to Potter to Hoover again, to Klosse, to Potter, to Hoover, Klosse, Hoover, Klosse, Potter, Hoover, Potter, Klosse- they're back up with confusion as their tactic! Klosse shoots, ten points to Gryffindor!"
The game continued for another ten minutes before there was anymore mention of the snitch.
"Fifty points for Gryffindor, fourty to Hufflepuff. Both with great defense and offense, this is running long! If someone doesn't catch the snitch soon, this game will- Speaking of the Snitch, Lewis is pulling into a dive!" the commentator shouted excitedly, "He's seen it, this could be it- Worthington is on his tail, they're neck and neck- Lewis catches the golden snitch! Final score, fifty points to Gryffindor, Hufflepuff wins with one hundred and ninety!"
Down in the locker room, the team changed out of their robes and made to leave, but was held back by Worthington.
"I know we didn't win," Worthington said, "but that's on me. The rest of you did great. Maria, you had some great saves. Mitchel, Justin, you did well with your aiming, much better than the other day at practice. Hallie, Sarah, James, you three did really well against Einheim, he's hard to get past. Our next practice will be Friday. Take a break from the pitch so we can work harder than ever, we've still got a chance at getting the Quidditch Cup."
Despite their loss, the Gryffindor team left the locker room with their backs straight as they could.
"That was brilliant!" Sirius told James the moment he got outside.
"You did really well," Remus agreed.
"Especially that first shot you made," Peter said enthusiastically.
"Thanks," James said tiredly, though he grinned.
"If you keep playing like that you'll end up playing professionally," Sirius said confidently.
"I don't know about me, but the Hufflepuff Keeper, Einheim, he could," James shrugged.
"He may have blocked a few shots, but you helped keep them at bay," Remus said. "For a first game, that's pretty good."
"Or you could both play professionally," Peter offered.
"Guess what happened when you made your first shot?" Sirius said. "Minnie was clapping for you. Actually, she may have smiled. If you made Minnie smile, then you can play professionally."
James laughed. "If anyone who made McGonagall smile could play professional Quidditch, you'd probably be playing, too."
"Don't give him any ideas," Remus said.
"Too late," Sirius grinned.