Disclaimer: I wrote this when I was 12 to 13 in 2003. Harry Potter is hereby © to J.K. Rowling. Everything else is © to me, or its respective owners.

Chapter Twenty Three: Quidditch and the Mad Thief

The Gryffindor team was in the locker room, and Harry was discussing their strategy for the match.

"We score our goals, you keep Tran and Davies at bay, I catch the snitch, we all go home happy." Harry finished.

"Yeah!" The team cried triumphantly.

They walked out onto the pitch in their scarlet robes, and the Ravenclaws stood watching them in their navy blue robes. Josh winked at Cho, and she made a rude sign with her hand. Madam Hooch glared warningly at the pair of them, and Tai glanced back and forth between the two.

"Potter, Davies, shake hands."

Harry and Josh seemed to be trying to break one another's wrists.

"Davies, you'd better watch yourself. Try anything with Cho, and I'll have my beaters come after you. And you'll be carted off to the hospital wing in a matchbox." Harry spat.

"Oh, don't you worry about your precious Cho…I promise I won't do anything too bad." Josh replied.

Harry's green eyes blazed with fire, and he gave a curt nod, and both released the other's hands.

"Now, I want a fair game. Nice and clean. Davies, no attacking the opposing team's chasers, and Potter, make sure your chasers don't attack the Ravenclaw keeper. No fouls, no cheating, and no hitting other people unless you're beaters. Understood? Good. Now, mount your brooms." Madam Hooch explained.

Fourteen brooms rose into the air, and Tai kicked open the crate that held the four Quidditch balls. The bludgers flew up, and Liam batted them towards the field where Alexa hit them back. The quaffle, which Cho seized instantly, and the golden snitch. All the players took their positions on the field, and Josh was waiting for Cho as she approached the goal posts. Just before she reached the scoring area, she passed to Hermione and turned around. Hermione scored the first goal of the game.

"There is no way in hell I'm going to those goal posts ever again!" Cho said angrily.

Hermione flew away from the goals after passing to Akira and over to Cho.

"Why's that?" Hermione asked.

"Because of Davies…I just know he's going to try something…" Cho replied.

Then something clicked in Hermione's head.

'It's Davies! He's the one that's been hurting her! But lately, she hasn't been getting hurt, because he thinks Harry is getting suspicious and so he's backing off! Which means, these past few days before the match, he could be planning something! Oh no! This can't be good!' Hermione thought.

"Well, er Akira and I will score for you, unless you have to score. You can just pass the quaffle to us." Hermione said reassuringly.

"And that's exactly what I plan to do." Cho answered.

'I can't believe her. She thinks she's gotten smarter by having her sister and Granger score for her so she doesn't have to confront me…just wait, Cho…you don't know what you've got coming for you…I'll knock her sister and Granger out of the air! Then it'll be left up to little Cho to score the Gryffindor team's goals!' Josh thought.

"Hey Cho, check this out! Take a look at Davies over there! It looks like he's actually thinking!" Akira said laughing.

Cho glanced over and laughed.

"Well, how about I break his train of thought by scoring a quick goal right under his nose?" Cho suggested.

"Great idea. We'll use the Hawkshead formation, that way, we can get the quaffle fast." Hermione said.

The three girls nodded and put on a burst of speed flying together in a group in a closely knit 'v'. The girls soared through the blue and scarlet blurs towards a small red blob ahead of them.

"There it is! Wang's got it!" Akira shouted.

"Ok, Aki, you steal it from her, then pass it to Hermione, then we'll break formation and when we approach the goal posts, we'll resume our formation and then Hermione you'll pass the quaffle to me, and I'll score." Cho explained.

"Let's do it!" Akira and Hermione shouted excitedly.

Akira came up behind Yuri and knocked the quaffle from her arms. Hermione caught it and flew away from Cho and Akira. The two girls split up, then flew the length of the field and neared the Ravenclaw end of the field, and reformed their 'v' formation, and Hermione passed the quaffle to Cho, and the three flew nearer to the goal posts. Akira and Hermione stopped short before the scoring area, while Cho soared ahead and quickly threw the scarlet ball into the highest, middle hoop and earned the Gryffindors ten points. Cho rejoined her fellow chasers and flew off before Josh had any idea what happened.

Nick and Kira were commentating the match, but were being supervised by McGonagall.

"Cho Chang scores a goal for Gryffindor! Yay! Ok, quaffle is in Ravenclaw possession, Sakane approaches the scoring area, she shoots, and nice save by Weasley! Great job Ron! Gryffindor in possession, Granger approaches Ravenclaw captain, Davies, she shoots…SHE SCORES!" Nick announced.

A roar of cheers followed.

"30-0! Points in favor of Gryffindor!" Kira added.

"HEY! HIT THE CHASERS! LEAVE CHANG, HIT POTTER!" Josh yelled to his beaters.

His two beaters nodded, and gripped their bats firmly as both bludgers came pelting toward them. The two hit them at Cho.

"WATCH OUT! DON'T HIT HER! THE OTHER ONE!" Josh shouted, slapping his head at his beaters' stupidity.

Cho easily looped the two bludgers, then scowled at the Ravenclaw beaters, and glared a look of venom at Josh.

"That bastard…" Cho muttered angrily.

Harry was frantically for the snitch, and saw Davies shouting, and watched as the Ravenclaw beaters hit the bludgers at Cho. His nerves tensed up, but he was relieved when he saw Cho dodge them both easily.

Ten minutes passed, each moment getting worse. Ravenclaw was playing just as dirty as the Slytherins. Akira had been hit at least five times with bludgers, but remained on her broom, and was still able to score goals. Liam and Alexa were doing their absolute best to keep the Ravenclaws at bay, but they were failing badly. Hermione had the quaffle and was approaching the scoring area, when a Ravenclaw chaser leapt off their broom and onto hers.

"What the hell is Sakane doing?!! That stupid, foul, cheating, bi-" Nick and Kira shouted into the megaphone.

But Professor McGonagall cut them off and started shouting at them.

"Never! Has anyone who's announced a Quidditch game resulted to using improper language!" McGonagall shouted, her nostrils white.

"Come on! What's going on with the match?!" Several students yelled angrily.

"Oh for god's sake!" Alicia muttered.

She walked over to Nick, Kira, and McGonagall and took the megaphone.

"Alright, my name's Alicia Portland, and I'll be doing Nick and Kira's job, but since both of them are being scolded my McGonagall at the moment, and you're all wondering what's going on, I'm not going to relieve your agony…Angela! Come and help!" Alicia said into the megaphone.

A fourth year with red hair stumbled up to Alicia's side.

"Ok, hi there people! I'm Angela Evans…anyway, the match…right…Gryffindor in possession, Ravenclaw keeper lets in another goal…sucker…great shot Cho! You rock! Anyway, Ravenclaw in possession, Gryffindor keeper Ron Weasley blocks it! Way to go Ron! Kick Ravenclaw's ass!" Angela shouted.

"Right…Gryffindor back into possession, what's the score anyway? Hmm…Let me think…uh…oh yeah! 40-0! Damn, that's sad…Ravenclaw can't score one goal-" Yuri finally scored the first goal of the game. "-Never mind…40-10…Don't you worry Ron…Harry can still catch the snitch, and you'll win anyway-" Harry dived. "-Speaking of Harry, he's going into a dive! And there it is! The snitch has been seen at last! Damn it! That stupid Minh jerk! He's right on your tail, Harry! But hey, the guy's got a Cleansweep! Harry's on a Firebolt! So really, I'm not worried…" Alicia said.

"The seekers are neck and neck! Harry's going for it…aaand…HE GOT IT!!! GRYFFINDOR WINS!!! 190-10!!!" Angela screamed.

"Finally this long, boring match has come to an end! Now we can all return to our common room and PAR-TAY!" Alicia squealed.

Fourteen brooms touched down on the pitch, and Josh walked over with the rest of his team over to the Gryffindors.

"See, Potter? I promised I wouldn't hurt Cho. And I kept to my word!" Josh said.

"Just because you said you wouldn't hurt Cho doesn't mean you have to send your team off on the rest of us!" Akira replied, fiercely.

"Good game." Josh said, ignoring Akira's comment.

He held out his hand in front of Harry. Both captains shook hands. Josh turned to Cho.

"You're a fair chaser. The team misses our seeker. Maybe…the young one can be on the team." Josh said, holding out his hand again.

Reluctantly, Cho took it.

"Thanks…I'll look into it." She responded in a falsely happy tone topped off with a fake smile.

"Let's go to the lockers, team. Come on! Quickly!" Josh said, turning to his team.

The seven Ravenclaws headed to their locker rooms and the Gryffindors were unable to reach their locker rooms, since the rest of the Gryffindors had carted them away to the castle for a party.

Six Ravenclaws emerged from the locker rooms. Josh Davies hadn't gone in to change and still wore his robes. Smirking, he took off for the castle, looking for Cho…

He didn't have to look very far. He found her on the fifth floor surrounded by the rest of the team and a pack of Gryffindors.

"Damn…" He muttered.

But he suddenly had a stroke of luck.

"Hey, I'm going to the kitchen, alright? I'll ask Dobby for some butterbeer." Cho said.

"You sure you don't want someone to go with you?" Harry asked.

"No. I'm fine…Honestly." Cho said reassuringly.

Harry nodded, and Cho walked away. The Gryffindors continued up a set of stairs that led to the sixth floor.

Cho had only reached the staircase leading to the fourth floor when she walked right into Josh Davies.

"Hi." He said.

"Hi." Cho replied.

'Josh! You idiot! Your plan! Hello!' Josh yelled at himself in his head.

'He's just staring at me…I'm getting really freaked out…' Cho thought.

Josh took his wand out of his pocket and made sure Cho didn't see.

"Stupefy." He muttered.

A jet of red light came from his wand tip, and Cho was unconscious on the floor. Josh put his wand away, and flung Cho over his shoulder, her body hanging limply over his side. He climbed the stairs towards the Ravenclaw dormitory. Stage one of his plan had just taken effect.