Chapter 16
Stacojiu opened the door to his castle and admitted his guest into his home and out of the driving mountain wind.
"Back so soon Alain? Or should I call you Chrysus? No matter what you call yourself these days, it is of little importance… It is a little late to be calling on me, no?" He asked in fluent but poorly pronounced French as he ushered the man through into the main living space. Alain Belmort dried off his cloak with a flick of his cane and settled into a white Chesterfield across from where Stacojiu perched on the piano stool. He was as ever impeccably well dressed, Stacojiu noted. His elaborate goatee and whiskers perfectly trimmed rested upon a carefully schooled expression of politeness, but Stacojiu could hear his pulse beating erratically and the hair on the back of his neck rustled as it stood on end. Those sounds as usual caused the long canines in his mouth to slowly ease out of their sheaves and begin to slice into the base of his mouth with a delicious pain. Alain coughed before and tugged at his cravat before answering.
"I just got your message and decided it could not wait. Who did he send?"
"Mad-Eye Moody…" Stacojiu couldn't help smile as Belmort frowned.
"I thought he was retired, although I always believed he had died, there were enough people claiming his kill."
"Ah you remember Moody, he had that talent for popping up when you least expect him."
"I suppose it is gratifying that Dumbledore has sent the most feared Auror this century to track me down." Alain waved his cane at the side board and the tray of drinks floated over. "I presume there's something drinkable in one of these?"
"The amber one, wait no, the other amber one, it's a single malt. I find myself in a predicament Alain. I am imprisoned in this castle as you know, doomed to rot until the end of time or at least until the last blood importer goes out of business. Yet I feel a certain obligation to Albus for were it not for him I would be a pile of ash rather than standing here before you."
"Well that is awkward, I believe it's called Stockholm syndrome my friend. I hope this obligation for dear old Dumbledore doesn't extend to telling his agents that you are harbouring their quarry?" Chrysus poured himself a large glass of scotch, sniffing it before raising it to his thin lips. Never once taking his eyes off the Vampire across the room who by contrast seemed intent upon the musical score he had begun annotating on the piano stand.
"Never fear Alain, as much as I might be grateful for my hide to Dumbledore my belief in the cause burns stronger. The Dark Lord was one avenue for success, there are others…"
"Do you think if you lead them the clans would follow you again?" Alain asked quietly. The shadows seemed to lengthen in the corners and the fire burned red. Stacojiu turned to look at Alain, his demeanour menacing.
"Why do you ask?" He almost whispered, smiling to reveal his needle like fangs.
"You know why Stacojiu, it's been ten years and they still have not chosen another Grand Master."
"You seem very well-informed on the politics of the Vampire inner circle."
"Let's just say I am recruiting again." Alain sipped his drink again and glanced off into space for a moment before standing and pacing in front of the mirror. "We were ready then, Domnule, do you remember? The fighting in England was spreading, soon Europe would follow."
"I didn't have you down as a blood supremacist." Stacojiu interrupted before returning to his score.
"Just a Capitalist, Voldemort was a vehicle for success, I didn't agree with his politics, just his methods and his ambition. There was a man who could have brought real change. Instead when he was defeated the old order clamped down hard, at least they did here in Europe. In England the muggleborns and half-bloods had St Dumbledore championing their rights, but here the message got lost and muddled. Did you know in France the muggles had a revolution? Two hundred years ago the poor and oppressed rose up and killed their oppressors. They broke of their bonds literally and figuratively and took what they wanted."
"I know Alain, I was there I was in the crowd when the Bastille fell…"
"Well for once the muggles are a step ahead of us. The world is ready again. There have never been such extremes of wealth and poverty amongst wizards, such prejudice against those of lesser birth."
"I'm sorry I thought you were a business man not a revolutionary?"
"Today I am both, in the new order when it comes it will be the enterprising who rise clawing and fighting to the top of the pile and I intend to ride my way straight to the top. So to business, my offer is simple. I will break you out of your prison, you will rally the Vampire clans, and when the time comes, you will fight against the ICW." What do you say? Alain was a superb actor, in his opinion. His speech had been delivered with panache and fervour, each word measured and weighed before being spoken. He stood facing the vampire waiting on his answer.
"I must meet with these tigers on whose backs you will ride to the top. Before then I cannot make a decision." Alain smiled to himself inside, but feigned an air of dejection at the reply.
"I suppose I cannot ask more than that you will consider my proposal. I had hoped to have your support considering your hatred of the Mugwumps and what they've done to your people."
"You wound me Belmort." Stacojiu stood and seemed to grow until he loomed before Alain. "I have no love the ICW, but I am wary of their power. When I agreed to side with the dark lord I lead a host of thousands, now well… we are not the great threat to the wizarding world we once were." He seemed to deflate as he spoke and strode a few paces over to the drinks and poured himself a glass of dark red liquid. Alain walked over to the vampire and gripped him by the arm. Stacojiu turned and fixed him with glaring crimson, slitted eyes, eerily similar to someone else's.
"You could rise again Stacojiu; over a decade of peace has made the ICW lazy and negligent. When the fighting comes those pure-blood bigots and their pandering sycophants will be helpless to keep their titles and gold."
"Ah at last the crux of the matter. This is what it comes to is it? Gold!" Stacojiu shook off Alain's hand.
"Of course, we Wizards think we rule because of magic but it is only because the goblins are too cowardly to risk another war. For now we rule at their pleasure for our magic would mean nothing against the power of their gold. It's amazing what you can buy for a few galleons. Wands, weapons, hands to hold them, information even ministers and Mugwumps. Everyone has a price and whoever has the goblins backing will win."
"Then what is the point of this talk, the only power the goblins fear is wizards."
"Exactly my friend, so why I ask you, would they choose to get involved in a conflict between wizards?"
Stacojiu downed his glass in a single gulp before throwing it against the wall with a crash of broken crystal. "You've forgotten something Belmort." Alain raised an eyebrow in question? "What of the dark lord? When he returns, which he will eventually, your new regime will have earned his ire. You would pit yourself against everything he stood for, you are a braver man than I if you would challenge his power."
"Most think he died. Some like you believed all that crap about conquering death. Well it doesn't matter really does it because we both know he didn't really care about blood politics, he just cared about power. If he ever returns, which I doubt, let us worry about that when it happens. I will not let this opportunity pass Stacojiu. So I ask you one last time. Will you continue to be a prisoner whose existence depends upon the mercy of an old man, or will you reclaim your title and help me build a new world for both our peoples?"
Audrey Edwards was no longer surprised to see Professor McGonagall appear on her doorstep anymore. It seemed that if the doorbell was rung between half six and eight in the morning it would inevitably be a stern-faced, grey-haired woman in a pointy hat ready to turn their world upside down once more. This time Minerva's dark emerald robes were accessorised with a black and white striped scarf with a magpie emblazoned on the white.
"Good morning Professor Come in, come in? I hope you'll excuse the mess we're repainting the living room so it's a bit chaotic at the mo'…" Audrey ushered Minerva into their hallway and through to the kitchen where she busied herself with making tea. Minerva glanced around taking in the sofas moved from their normal position into the hall. She recognised the coffee table she'd turned into a tortoise on her last visit. As she walked the short way from the front door to the kitchen, following Audrey she recognised Catherine in almost all of the photos on the walls. Older ones with Cat as a baby, ironically dressed as a witch. Another showed her wearing a football
Jack, who was sat at the table looked up in surprise from his newspaper and rose to shake his daughter's teacher by the hand.
"Good morning Mrs McGonagall, what can we do for you today, not going to turn any more tables into tortoises I hope?" McGonagall was pleased to see that he was genuine in his pleasure to see her and accepted the cup offered by his wife with a quick thankyou. It seemed the Edwards's had gotten over any annoyance about last year. She quickly scanned the kitchen as she sipped the drink, taking in some rough sketches of Hogwarts and a moving photo of Catherine attached to the refrigerator.
"Well, I popped over for a couple of reasons. Firstly I thought I'd take the opportunity with Catherine away at camp to have a chat with the pair of you about her progress. I take it you received my reports?" Jack folded his newspaper and nodded to her to continue. Audrey carefully set down the toast rack she was carrying before asking the question that always leapt to her mind when she thought about those reports.
"Minerva why do you think she is having such trouble making friends? She wasn't overly popular at her last school but seemed to get along fine." Audrey looked quite desperate at the thought of her daughter hundreds of miles away feeling lonely all year.
"To be honest with you I think it is just an issue of confidence, she is as far as we teachers can tell generally well liked by many, and there are a few of her classmates that in the last few weeks at least she seems to be opening up to. I think it would be in her interest however if these friendships were given a little nudge." McGonagall sipped her tea before continuing. "I would recommend that you organise a get together with some of her classmates over the holidays. Have any of her letters mentioned Miss Granger?"
Audrey choked on her drink, Granger! Cat had mentioned one girl in her letters called Hermione. There was no way.
"That wouldn't be Hermione Granger, by any chance?" Jack had apparently put two and two together as well.
"Yes, she and Cat seemed to become quite good friends this year, and I think it would be in the best interests of them both, if we gave that a little help on its way." Minerva smiled warmly, but was a little puzzled by the slightly amused looks passing between the two parents. "Now as you can imagine I don't normally take this much interest in the social lives of all my students. However I have known your daughter since her birth and I cannot help feel a little responsible for her. I hope you don't feel I'm overstepping my mark by saying that."
Both Jack and Audrey both jumped in to refute that. Both Jack and Audrey remembered how much help Minerva had been with Cat particularly in the early years, they had once joked that she was like a fairy godmother turning up when they needed help most.
Minerva smiled wanly thanking them. She checked her old silver pocket watch with a raised eyebrow. "I'm sorry I must cut this short but, this morning I have a few errands to run, but this afternoon I am going to watch your daughters' match against the Chudley Cannons Quidditch camp. I'm sure you're probably busy but I thought to myself wouldn't it be nice if Jack and Audrey could come to so I picked up a couple of extra tickets for you?" Jack heaved a sigh at her words and turned in his chair to look at Audrey who wore a similar expression of disappointment.
"We'd both love to go and watch Catherine but unfortunately we're both in work today for an inset between nine and two…" Audrey smiled sadly as she took a chair at the table.
"Well that's perfect because brooms up is at three which will give you plenty of time to get ready. I'll pop by at half past two to collect you shall I?" Minerva stood up from her seat and like a whirlwind was out of the door and had disappeared before Audrey or Jack could muster so much as a question about what to wear and how they were getting there.
Cat threw up into the toilet for a second time. Goddammit, pull yourself together you coward, this isn't your first Quidditch match. Well it kind of is… the first one you start in anyway. So what there won't be anything new out there, you've seen it or done it all before what are you so nervous about? Well I might screw up, I might commit a fowl or make a mistake that cost us the match. The first time someone passes the quaffle to me I might freeze up or drop it or I might forget where the chasers are supposed to fly for play seven… Or you might score loads of goals, pull of some daring stunts and become one of the youngest professional Quidditch players in history. Or I might start talking to myself and get thrown in a looney bin. Oh shit. She hurled again. Why the hell was she so nervous seriously!
"Cat get out here we're about fly out." Rory called to her through the door of the toilet. Oh god relax you coward. She thought to herself one last time before flushing the loo and unlocking the door. They were all dressed in their blue robes, fiddling with the grey leather pads and looking generally a little nervous. Only Angelina, Alun and Jonny the two Welsh beaters looked relaxed. The rest of the starting seven today were at least third years and Cat really felt like the baby of the group being at least two years younger and a head shorter than anyone else on the team. She also knew a couple of the other chasers resented her being picked ahead of them. She liked Katie Bell but she could tell that Alicia in particular was annoyed at being on the subs bench behind the ickle firstie who wasn't even twelve yet. She sat down next to Rory who was starting from the bench today. He gave her a light punch on the shoulder deciding not to mention her throwing up. "You ready Blondie?" Thankfully Carlton stomped in wearing an older set of Tornadoes Quidditch robes and banged a tin mop bucket with his broom handle.
"Alright kiddies gather round. This is it, the last one for another season. Now I know we've spent the last week getting ourselves nice and worked up about how important this game is, now for some of you thinking about the scouts in the audience that's good this is a great opportunity. You guys are paying to learn and improve and show the professionals how good you are. But don't today out in the sky I want you to remember why we play this game. It's not for the money, or the fame not really. Those just help. We play it because we love it. We love the freedom of that big open sky. We love it because of the excitement from a fantastic play or daring manoeuvre. Most of all we love it because it's fun to chuck a ball around with our mates." He looked at them each in the eye, they were alright these lot he thought to himself. Some kids took it too seriously, these ones might have their eyes and minds on the future but for now their hearts were in the game. "Alright on three tornadoes and lets go and kick those cannons asses! One…Two…Three…"
Audrey and Jack looked more out of place than they did last time they were went to Diagon Alley. McGonagall was leading them through a jubilant crowd outside the stadium. They were walking through a crowd of jubilant wizards and witches. It was a strange experience as they were pulled across what McGonagall informed them was a ward line. When she had apparated them from London to this small Welsh village they had been confused when she dragged them towards an abandoned coal mine with many 'keep out' and 'danger' signs. But then suddenly, she'd pulled them across a rusty cattle grid and suddenly instead of a few low tumbledown walls they found themselves faced with a huge structure of curved glass and steel. It looked like a bird's nest that with twelve twisted towers set into the outer ring. Frankly it looked very odd.
"It's supposed to look like a tornado hit it." McGonagall explained at their puzzled glances.
"Oh so this is the home of the Tutshill tornadoes." Jack exclaimed, stating the obvious in the opinion of both Audrey and Minerva."
"Hrmn, anyway a word to the wise. We are quite an insular folk so try not to stand out too much now."
"Us stand out?" Jack looked disbelieving as he was led past a stand selling hats shaped like twisters that span and caused the bunting on the stand to flap wildly. Minerva led them towards the ticket barriers. It was only a hundred meters from the edge of the ward line but there was a medium-sized crowd between them and their destination. Jack and Audrey couldn't help but stare at their first taste of Quidditch fans. They were in general bedecked in robes of either sky blue or bright orange. There were people of all ages ranging from grey bearded elders to young children running between adults legs or in some cases whizzing around on small broomsticks at waist height. McGonagall explained that it was a small crowd by Quidditch standards. It was only a youth camp match but entrance was free and the tornadoes and the cannons always commanded good attendance, McGonagall was a Montrose Magpies fan but she couldn't help but respect Cannons fans for their undying optimism that this season would be the season they finally won the league again. The tornadoes as the up and comers after storming to the league last season in her opinion were supported by glory followers but you couldn't fault their teams talent as they had led the league since mid-January before defeating the Wimborne Wasps in the final. She explained all of this to Jack while Audrey zoned out from the conversation a little trying to take in all the strange behaviour and clothing on display.
"These youth matches are becoming increasingly popular in recent years, ever since the daily prophet began doing an excerpt before the beginning of each season rating the youth players before they sign for a team. It generates a lot of excitement around the incoming crop of players and increases their exposure and chance of being signed as teams compete to acquire their signature for their developmental squads ahead of the new season."
"Wait so this is a big deal! There will be scouts from other teams here watching these kids?" Jack looked shocked, he'd honestly thought this camp they'd let Cat go on was just a bit of fun.
"Well less so for younger players like Catherine. They will be focused upon gaining experience and learning and improving their skills. But for kids in the last two or so years of school it becomes hugely important, as if they perform well in these exhibition games they can greatly improve their chances of being signed immediately out of school. Catherine as an advancing second year will most likely start from the bench and will probably only come on if the Tornadoes establish a decent lead." Minerva led the two parents through the revolving barriers and towards the elevators. "The tickets are free for these exhibition games, but I flood ahead to an old pupil to get us some tower seats. I thought you might like to get a good view for your first Quidditch match."
"QUIDDITCH FANS! PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO YOUR SEATS. BROOMS UP IN FIVE MINUTES!" a jovial Welsh voice came booming across the tannoy as the trio exited the lifts. The view drew immediate gasps of amazement from the Edwards's as they stepped out into the tower interior. They were hundreds of feet in the air standing on a circular viewing platform with a couple of rows in the middle. Most of the dozen or so others up their already were standing at the hand rails around the edge looking down over the pitch. The three made their way to the railing and looked down. Jack whistled and Audrey blanched slightly.
"So they really fly on broomsticks." She wondered aloud as she saw the referee flying around inspecting the pitch. Down below them in the lower stands she saw hundreds of people in orange and blue singing and doing Mexican waves, up hear only the occasional sentence filtered up but it sounded like the fans in Orange were singing 'when I get knocked down I get up again you're never gonna keep me down.' Then their voices would be carried off on the wind to be replaced by strains of what sounded like Bob Dylan's blowing in the wind. Audrey was surprised by this as Cat had suggested in her letters that most wizards didn't know anything about muggle culture.
"Professor McGonagall!" A slim woman of around thirty, with dark brown hair and dressed in forest green robes, strode over and enveloped Minerva in a hug.
"Miss Jones, well that was…um." McGonagall seemed quite flustered after being released from the embrace."
"Unexpected I'm sure." The brunette smiled cheekily and turned to the Edwards's, "I made it my mission from fifth year onwards to try and surprise Minnie whenever I saw her. I'm sorry we haven't been introduced. I'm Gwenog, Gwenog Jones. Captain of the Holyhead Harpies."
"And assistant coach now if I remember correctly." McGonagall appeared to have recovered some of her composure and fixed her former pupil with her trademark disapproving frown. "Audrey, Jack this is one of my most troublesome pupils to date. Miss Jones these are Jack and Audrey Edwards, the parents of Miss Catherine Edwards who is playing for the Tornadoes this afternoon. "
"Ah I saw your daughter in the game against the Catapults on Wednesday, she's a spectacular flyer, and completely fearless if I recall, some of those stunts looked professional, what year is she in at school?" McGonagall could see a charm offensive a mile away but she decided to allow this one continue for now at least. Audrey answered that Cat was going into her second year at Hogwarts, which elicited an exclamation of amazement from the Harpy captain. You knew that already, I know you've got your cousin spying for you. McGonagall thought to herself. "Well she's fantastically advanced for a second year, you must be very proud of your young lions Minerva."
"Very, we've got an excellent team this year and we were very unlucky to have missed out on the cup last term."
"Well there's always next year." Gwenog's smile disappeared looking wistful. No doubt thinking back to her days as captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
The commentator's voice boomed out across the stadium "WELCOME WIZARDS AND WITCHES, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. BOYS AND GIRLS TO THE FINAL YOUTH EXHIBITION MATCH OF THE SUMMER! The crowd cheered loudly and Jack caught himself grinning, he loved sports matches. WE HAVE A TREAT FOR YOU TODAY PLEASE WELCOME TO THE SKY THE VISITORS FROM THE CHUUUUDLEEEEEY CANNONS! There was an especially loud cheer from the orange contingent in the spectators.
"This is only a summer camp right?" Audrey had to yell over the noise of the tannoy announcing the Chudley Cannons team onto the field.
"Yes but it's also Quidditch." Gwenog grinned back.
"BLYTHE PARKIN. AND NOW TO THE FIELD THE FUTURE LEGENDS OF TUTSHILL, PLEASE GIVE A WARM QUIDDITCH WELCOME TO THE TUTSHILL TORNADOES LED BY CAPTAIN ANGELINA JOHNSON, PREECE, EDWARDS, PAGE, WILLIAMS, JONES AND WATSON!
"Edwards? Our Edwards? Jack asked McGonagall who looked a little surprised. Gwenog frowned. She had been the only scout other than the one from the cannons at the catapults game and was already planning five years down the line to make the girl an offer. There would be scouts from every team here today and if the girl played well they would no doubt keep an eye on her for the rest of her time at school. Minerva conjured a pair of rudimentary binoculars and passed them to Jack who immediately used them to train his eyes on the streak of blue with shining silver for hair.
Cat had felt such a thrill hearing her name called out as she took to the sky. She was borrowing a cleansweep six for this game and it certainly handled better than any of the school brooms she'd used before. She tumbled and span through the air performing loop the loops and barrel rolls for the sheer joy of the g forces before corkscrewing round one of the Chudley cannons players who were also out showboating.
"You ready to get your ass kicked titch?" The cannons player called to her as she zoomed past.
"In your dreams slow-poke!" she called back with a laugh. He was a boy of about fifteen, with curly dark hair and big brown eyes. He gave her a cheeky grin.
"Is that a challenge?" He shouted as he turned to fly next to her.
"Maybe, what did you have in mind?" She leaned back on her broom focusing with the tendril of magic connecting her to the broom keeping it level while she reclined on the over the bristles.
"How about a race? First one to touch both middle hoops wins." Cat narrowed her eyes trying to look menacing.
"On three, one, two…" they both raced off towards the opposite posts, he had a slightly newer broom but Cat felt confident she could win being lighter. She poured magic through the bond to the broom as the hoop neared. She flattened herself to the handle accelerating instead of slowing down. To the shock of the crowd, including her parents she flew straight through the hoop and caught the rim with her foot spinning herself round the rim and shooting off towards the other hoop, in time to see her opponent touch the rim with his hand and fly round it accelerating towards the streaking silver bullet of Cat. His face changed from concentration to one of disbelief as she corkscrewed round him again still a hundred meters into his half. She pulled up her broom just before smashing into the centre hoop and looped and twisted till she was flying back to the middle of the pitch where the two teams were beginning to congregate. "THAT WAS SPECTACULAR FLYING FROM CATHERINE EDWARDS, LOOK OUT CANNONS. IT'S NICE TO SEE THEM GETTING INTO THE COMPETETIVE SPIRIT OF THIS GAME. She heard the commentator over the wind noise and couldn't help but grin. This was going to be brilliant. She pulled up next to Angelina who gave her a serious look, clearly admonishing her for the dangerous stunts she'd pulled before the game even started. At that point Cat couldn't have given a flying fig, about that, this was supposed to be fun and she was having fun.
Jack whooped when Cat span around the hoop by a shoe and span away to the other one, it was incredible seeing her fly and tumble spin through the air and frankly insane speeds. Audrey was a lot less happy about it but she could see Cat grinning through the binoculars and decided not to comment and reserve judgement for the actual match.
AND THEY'RE OFF. EDWARDS PUT SOME OF THAT SPEED TO USE AND TAKES THE QUAFFLE EARLY, PASSES TO JOHNSON, NEAT OFFLOAD TO PREECE, BACK TO JOHNSON SHE SHOOTS, AND HARTLEY SAVES EDWARDS BURIES THE REBOUND! TORNADOES TAKE THE FIRST POINTS. BAD LUCK FOR HARTLEY. BUT A WELL WORKED GOAL FOR THE TORNADOES.
The crowds of blue clad supporters roared their approval of the streaks high above. Jack was loving it. The atmosphere was reminiscent of a friendly football match between Arsenal and Tottenham. No points to fight for but bragging rights were just as important. He was so proud of Cat and the confidence with which she pulled off aeronautical stunts. She had always been good at sport and had loved football but she took to this game like a duck to water. Swooping and diving, making his heart rise into his mouth and then pulling up and passing while rolling to avoid these flying cannon balls 'bludgers' Gwenog informed him they were called. The match was so fluid and fast but anyone could see it was close, five minutes might pass with both sides failing to keep possession for more than a few minutes before being tackled or hit by a bludger or having a slow pass intercepted. Then there might be a flurry of goals but even these were distributed almost evenly. The Chudley cannons chasers seemed to work better as a team as there were fewer easy passes to pick off but overall the Tornadoes team seemed the more talented as heroic saves from Grant the keeper and some great tackles were paying off as at the hour mark the Tornadoes led by thirty, no forty.
Cat was beginning to wonder how fast she could fly on this broom, if she really hunkered down and increased the stream of magic into the broom it accelerated faster. It was so manoeuvrable and she was having a lot of fun dodging the bludgers and tackles in more and more spectacular fashion. The guy she had raced at the start turned out to be the keeper and she loved giving him a playful wink every time she scored which had to be at least three times as many as the other chasers. She always smiled at him before shooting and he began to make this slightly dazed goofy grin as he reacted slowly to her shots or even fell completely for her dummy throws and went the wrong way. She glanced at the scoreboard and saw that the Tornadoes had slowly built their lead to eighty points but they had to do better or catch the snitch. She glanced at the subs bench and saw Alicia Spinnet warming up. She sincerely hoped that Carlton wasn't going to bring her off she felt like she was just getting started. It was probably a replacement for Preece though. He had taken a bludgers hit to the shoulder and had been throwing with his left hand for a few minutes causing him and Cat to swap places in their attack formation. She decided to try for top speed and dive bomb the Cannons smallest chaser, a freckly third year she thought might have been on the Hufflepuff team. The broom began to buck a little as she thrust forward but she exerted a little more magic and kept it straight. It rocketed forward and she thought the urge to scream as she nearly crashed straight into the boy he dropped the quaffle in his haste to escape her she caught with her outstretched hand, flashed a smile at the hapless keeper and buried another with a casual pop. She wished someone would explain to her how to control the broom at those high speeds, at the moment she was just guessing and it seemed to be working but a few tips on the proper telepathic controls would be helpful. The blues amongst the crowd seemed very appreciative of the last goal, but the oranges were subdued into stunned silence by the speed with which the silver haired child had scored twice.
Minerva and Gwenog looked at each other with slight frowns of a very different sort after that last goal, and Audrey noticed out of the corner of her eye. Gwenog was troubled because she knew that that broom was not capable of acceleration that fast. McGonagall on the other hand knew that Cat was attracting far too much attention. Ever mindful of her parentage Minerva was deeply troubled by both the slight arrogance with which Cat seemed to be playing. That cheeky smile just before scoring was far too similar in her opinion to another smile, one that was sometimes the last thing a person saw in this life. Then again she may be reading in to this too much, she had suggested this because she felt Catherine needed a confidence boost and it certainly seemed to have paid off. It wouldn't do to draw too much attention to herself but it looked unlikely that anyone at the match would forget her in a hurry. Of the twenty eight goals scored already she had now racked up a very impressive solo century. Audrey wondered what the frowns were about, Jack was practically crowing with pride in his daughter next to her, but the other two they stood next to both clearly looked unhappy about something and she guessed it had something to do with Cat.
AND EDWARDS SCORES AGAIN, THAT GIRL REALLY CAN FLY, IT SEEMS THE CANNONS HAVE ASSIGNED ONE OF THEIR BEATERS JUST TO TRY AND KEEP HER QUIET!
Jack decided he was doing a very poor job of that as Cat casually leapt off her broom over an incoming bludgers before passing to Angelina who knocked it into the hoop. Having one of their bludgers on Cat and one on the seeker, meant Angelina and Alicia were finding life a lot easier than they had at the start of the match. The tornadoes lead now stood at 120 points and the cannons seeker was flying more and more desperately around the pitch looking for the snitch to salvage a win. Cat was convinced someone had bewitched the cannons keeper as he smiled goofily at her and didn't even move when she scored her last one. She wrestled with guilt for a few minutes and then decided she couldn't keep it quiet. She flew over to Angelina in a timeout while the cannons brought on another chaser.
"Angie, what's wrong with their keeper?" she spoke quietly as she pulled close to her captain.
"I'm not sure, but he can't stop any of your shots and has been getting worse and worse as the game goes on." Angelina replied, panting slightly and nursing a couple of bruised fingers. The game was nearly three hours old now and everyone was picking up a few bruises by now.
"I think we should tell the ref, it's like he's been bewitched." Cat said looking over to where the mustachioed Scottish ref was hovering by the benches talking to the cannons coach.
"This is a premiership stadium the wards around the pitch stop people from tampering with the players." Angelina replied before flying off to the centre circle for the restart. Cat followed her frowning thinking to herself he seemed completely normal before the match now he was riding his broom like a sack of potatoes and couldn't stop grinning at her. He was still making a few saves from some of the other chasers, but every time she went near him he seemed to become all dopey, it was almost like someone was confunding him every time she flew into the scoring zone.
The match started up again and pretty soon, Cat found herself through on goal with the quaffle. He seemed more alert this time and shook himself a little staring intently at the quaffle trying not to meet her eye. She shimmied in front of him trying to look in his face hoping to see some indication if he was ok. He glanced up and caught her eye, just as she noticed a bludgers coming her way and shot at the goal. As soon as he looked her in the eye the glazed smile returned to his face and off his broom he went Cat screamed and dived after his falling figure.
A shout caught the spectators attention as the Cannons seeker Blythe Parkin, a seventeen year old with a blonde pixie cut suddenly dived to the base of the Tornadoes posts, she rolled to avoid a bludger but clipped the edge of the post with her broom and leapt from it thirty feet in the air hand outstretched towards a glint of gold. At the other end of the pitch Cat dived after a much larger quarry. The cannons keeper was falling still smiling in a dazed way as Cat plummeted to catch him. The ground was rushing up towards them at a tremendous pace but for Cat it seemed like she was moving through treacle as she strained to press her broom fast enough while reaching for the falling boy. He just smiled dopily up at her.
AN: Ok guys I know it was a long one, but if i'd tried to split it in half then the first one would have seemed a little full on filler, and a little light on plot. Hope you enjoy as always I love it when you guys review. Thanks.