Chapter Nine

First Match

"So, will you be rooting for us?" Lynne asked.

Courtney stared blankly. What was there to…?

Lynne caught on to Courtney's confusion. "For Ravenclaw. In the match against Gryffindor."

Now it clicked. "Quidditch, right," Courtney finished. "And of course I'll root for Ravenclaw. And this match would be…?"

"Today..." Lynne said slowly. "In about three hours… Guess you haven't been keeping up with that?"

"It's the first match of the year. What's there to keep up with?"

Lynne shrugged. Then she smiled. "Let's make it interesting. I'll say Ravenclaw wins by… one hundred seventy points exactly."

Courtney couldn't pass that up. "I say Gryffindor will actually be in the lead before you get the Snitch. Make it ninety. Whoever's closer wins."

The sun barely made its way through the silvery gray clouds. The air was somewhat chilled, but thankfully there was little wind. In the stands, both the Hufflepuff team and the Slytherin team were in the front, parchment and quills ready to take notes on the competition. Courtney was only mildly surprised to see Genale in the Hufflepuff team.

Courtney and Lynne both sat in the stands beneath a blue banner as the teams made their way onto the field. The Gryffindor team made a show twirling their broomsticks as they stepped to the center. The Ravenclaws were far more subdued, making slow, careful strides without any embellishment.

"This seat taken?" a boy's voice asked Courtney.

"No, go ahead-" Then she saw who it was. "Oh, hey, Albus. Why aren't you with your House?" She gestured to the blue banner - blue for Ravenclaw. The red banner was on the opposite end of the field.

"This is where the goalposts for Ravenclaw are," Albus noted. "My brother James is Keeper…"

"Is that him?" Lynne pointed to a boy in red on the field. He had messy black hair that immediately reminded Courtney of Potter.

Albus nodded. "Yeah. By the way, I never got your names."

"Lynne Ibrams of Ravenclaw," Lynne introduced. "And this is Courtney Glass of-"

"Hufflepuff, right," he finished. "You were at that Defense lesson."

Before more words could be shared, a girl's voice exclaimed, "And they're off! Calem gets the Quaffle and is making a mad dash for the goals."

Judging by the uniform, Calem was one of the Gryffindor players. He wasn't trying to dodge the Ravenclaws or even trying to ascend for a shot, just going as fast as his broom would allow until he got to the goals. When he reached the posts, he turned ninety degrees and started flying straight upward, tossing the Quaffle when he was at point blank range.

"Ten points for Gryffindor!" the commentator declared.

One of the Ravenclaw chasers got hold of the Quaffle and rose to level with the goal. "Kalani's got the Quaffle…"

Kalani tossed the ball lightly into the air, then spun her broomstick rapidly. The end of the broom collided with the ball and sent it flying straight for the goals, but it only reached the hands of the boy guarding them - James Potter.

Potter pushed the ball out of the goal area, only for a second Ravenclaw waiting below to grab it and toss it past him.

"Reeves scores! Both teams now have ten points!"

Courtney got the gist of how both teams were operating. The Gryffindors, or at least just Calem, ignored long range shots in favor of speed and power, going up so close to the goals that they couldn't miss. The Ravenclaws, on the other hand, actually threw from a distance, but kept close-range Chasers near the goals just in case of a miss.

Albus winced a little at his brother's miss. Courtney suddenly understood fully that she was right between two supporters of opposite teams. Regardless of how the match turned out, either Lynne or Albus was going to be disappointed.

"Found it," Lynne muttered. "There's the Snitch, right behind Mason." Courtney found Mason, the only person in red who wasn't wearing gloves - the Gryffindor Seeker. The tiny golden ball was fluttering just behind his head while he looked obliviously the other direction.

"This is going to be tough for Verres," Albus noted. Verres was Ravenclaw's Seeker. "It's true that Mason doesn't see the Snitch now, but Verres can't go for it without him finding out. If Ravenclaw wants to win, he'll have to play the waiting game until the Snitch moves away from Mason. But if Mason turns his head at any point before that happens…"

Verres made his decision. He started flying purposefully, in the opposite direction of the Snitch.

"A feint?" Lynne asked. "That's his plan?"

Indeed, it seemed to work. Mason flew in the same direction, chasing Verres toward the Snitch that was not there.

"Calem scores again! Twenty points for Gryffindor!"

Right. Courtney, Lynne, and Albus had been so wrapped up in the Snitch that they'd forgotten about the Chasers.

"What is with Maclay?" Lynne asked. "She hasn't managed to block once."

"She's no James, that's what," Albus said. "Then again, it's only two shots she missed."

Meanwhile, Verres took a dive and Mason tried to follow, but a speeding object whizzed past him. One of the Bludgers.

Now, Courtney realized that both of Ravenclaw's Beaters had been waiting there for Verres and Mason to arrive. They had both Bludgers and were knocking them back and forth in synchronized shots to keep Mason there.

Courtney pointed to Mason and the Beaters. "Is that legal?"

"I suppose technically," Lynne said. "You can't fly in the Seeker's way to block them, but the Bludgers are meant to be obstacles for the players. As long as they don't go into the stands, there's no rule against it."

Clearly James Potter noticed it as well. "Gwen! Wes! Get control of those Bludgers before it's too late!"

The Gryffindor Beaters soared at James' command. One of them - Gwen - knocked a Bludger upward while Wes knocked the other one downward. When Ravenclaw's Beaters flew after the Bludgers, Mason flew out of there and started following after Verres again.

"A clever trap, but the Gryffindors got out of it," the commentator noted. "But it looks like it's too late… Yes, it is! Ravenclaw's got the Snitch! One hundred sixty to twenty, Ravenclaw wins!"

"So who won?" Courtney asked.

"Ravenclaw," Lynne said. "Weren't you watching?"

"No, I mean our bet," she amended. "You said Ravenclaw would lead and win by one-seventy. I said Gryffindor would lead so Ravenclaw would only win by ninety. Gryffindor led, but the final score was closer to your guess. So who wins?"

"I do," Albus said with a small smile. It was clearly forced, and Courtney couldn't blame him. According to him, this was James' first Quidditch match and he had lost. Granted, it wasn't through any fault of his, but that didn't mean James wouldn't think it was.

"Fair enough," Courtney laughed.

All of a sudden, Courtney heard someone speak in her head.

Go to Vector's office…