Hogwarts Exchange Students
Rated T for Teen, for slight cursing
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters here; they belong to J.K. Rowling, Akira Toriyama, Yoshihiro Togashi, Eiichiro Oda or Ken Akamatsu. The world, including names for Quidditch teams and most spells, belong to J. K. Rowling, which I've used for my own convenience, albeit trying to loosely follow the Harry Potter plot. The custom for breaking broomsticks is featured in Quidditch through the ages, also by JKR.
Chapter 3: The Tengu VS The All Stars!
Soon enough, our trio was back in their camp and had breakfast without much of a problem. The twins were evaluating their business ideas, thinking of how to bet to get money to keep producing their prank inventions, and Ginny and Hermione were chatting amicably as the rest of the boys sat around Bill and Charlie to hear the exploits of their works. After a while, Mr. Weasley came to get them, and they finally made their way to the stadium.
In this huge crowd, they could see the faces of wizards of all over the world, Hermione being the first to point out any internationally acclaimed wizards.
"No way! Is that the famous Brook Rumbar?" she gawked, her face directed to an abnormally tall skeleton with a huge black Afro, dressed in elegant purple robes. "He's the second most famous wizard regarding the secret of immortality, after Nicholas Flammel of course! I never knew he was so tall! Oh! And Shanks!" She was now looking to a handsome man with a missing arm and three scars in his face. "He's one of the most famous Aurors from the United States! Expert in Alternative magic!" Her head soon turned to another famous character, a well-built, tall, silver-haired wizard of barely any robes and dark skin. "There's no way that can be Rakan! I thought he was in seclusion! He's one of the best aurors from Japan, even if he's such a master of dark arts! He used to be partner with the Thousand Master!"
Hermione's face was glowing, surrounded by such greatness. It made Harry wish he had actually learned a bit of History of Magic after all. Ron was also looking around, recognizing famous wizards of another kind: the popular kind. "Bulma Briefs! No way! That woman hasn't aged a day since she appeared in The Prophet?" He looked over at an electric-blue-haired witch who looked in her 20's, tugging at Harry's sleeves. "See her? She's the leader of Capsule Corp, and one of the richest witches in the world! And that short guy with the spiky black hair? He's her husband! Vegeta Briefs! He singlehandedly made 400 points in the game, and helped score 450! His only game in the league! They even say he flew at one point in the game, without his broom!"
Harry chuckled, quite unsure what to say. This was yet another problem of living with the Dursleys, no popular wizarding culture either. He looked around, and the only faces he recognized were people he'd met at Hogwarts or in Diagon Alley. One of the familiar faces was not so friendly: Draco Malfoy was talking to Ron's "neighbor" Eva. Apparently, she didn't like him much either, and Chachamaru was completely ignoring him. Harry couldn't wait for the game to begin, there nothing mattered but the plays, and even if he didn't know the players, he knew the game.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" The entire stadium was resounding with the voice of the announcer, a guy with greasy blonde hair, mustache, and Ray Ban sunglasses. "Welcome to the 345th Quidditch World Cup! Are you fans ready? Please raise your hands and welcome… The Sweetwater All-Stars!"
The crowd roared as seven figures spun into view, their red, white and blue robes hiding their metallic brooms. Spirit animals soon circled the stage, wolves and wolverines, buffaloes and snakes. They were see-through, their bodies dim and even partly shapeless, seemingly fluttering in the wind, and seemed to wrap around each of the players. After the third turn around the stadium, the spirit animals flew up, materializing into small flying totem poles.
"Look Harry, that's Monkey!" Ron was pointing to one of the youngest on the team, a wide-eyed boy Harry was surprised to see wearing a straw hat. He couldn't distinguish his features properly, but his arms seemed quite thin every time they peaked from underneath his robes. "They say that straw hat he has belongs to Shanks, one of the four most famous Aurors in the United States of America! And the bloke over there with the girly-looking hair?" He now pointed at the boy in the middle of the team, with lavender hair in somewhat of a bowl-cut, but somehow it actually looked good on him. His build was a lot more than most on the team, except the two bear-like creatures. "That's Vegeta's son! You gotta keep an eye on him!"
"Now put your hands together for the… Toyohashi Tengu!" A new team flew in, their frames a lot smaller for the most part than the American team. They were sporting black robes with drawn wings in white on their backs, and surrounded by human-sized creatures with black wings and crow-like faces. Each of the creatures, called Karasutengu, wore a Japanese hakama and haori, and carried a metal staff with golden rings on either side. As the karasutengu kept flying higher in the sky, they seemed to fly in synchrony, each movement looking like a step in a dance.
Soon, each team was facing each other, and their mascots were levitating behind them on either side. Out of each team, one member who Harry supposed was the captain, flew forward to meet the other team captain. From the Tengu came a young lady of small frame and black hair framing either side of her face, a small tuff of it in a small tail to the side. Out of the All-stars, it was a young, freckled man with a wide grin and Iberian features, his wavy black hair hidden by a cowboy hat, and his eyes by goggles that had a sad or angry face on either glass.
"Here we have the captain from the All-Stars, Ace Portagas D., better known as Fire-fist Ace, the famous pyro-wizard! Ever since he joined the team, the All-Stars haven't been below the 7th ranking in any international competition!" The announcer seemed quite excited for the American team, smiling as he remembered how the fathers of Ace, Luffy and Trunks fared in their younger years. Young Captain Ace, even though he denied being his father's son, was proving to be one of the most promising leaders in the league.
The announcer then turned to the Japanese captain. "Captain Yuna Akashi, daughter of the acclaimed Professor Akashi, is known for her abilities in alternative magic and knowledge of all types of muggle sports. She's also quite the outstanding student at Mahora Academy of Japan! Is there anything this young lady can't do?"
Captain Portagas and Captain Akashi shake hands, his wide grin contrasting with her small and humble smile. They lock eyes as the announcer puts the quaffle between them and quickly both gazes fall on the ball. Sweat beading from their foreheads in anticipation, they both watched the ball as it flew into the air, and quickly rushed to meet it as the match began. Although Ace had longer reach by a good foot, Yuna's small size actually came to her advantage, letting her maneuver straight between his arms and quickly change direction towards her goal. Ace's grin now widened, how he loved a challenge.
A pass here, a bludger there, and soon the Tengu lost the control of the ball. It was as if Trunks had appeared out of nowhere to intercept the ball incoming to the Japanese player Sakurasaki. He made a pass, all the way to the other side of the court, to his captain who already anticipated it. Soon enough, the All-stars had scored.
Harry was in awe. He watched the complex plays, the impossible passes, each move completely thought out by each member of the team, and the others predicting it perfectly. He loved how the beaters of the Japanese team, a pair of brothers by the last name of Toguro, managed to pass bludgers to each other to attack the players closest to them. He was amazed at the sheer strength of the American beaters, the bearlike Bepo and Pandaman. He loved the American football-like plays of the Americans and how they contrasted with the agility ("soccer") football-like plays of the Japanese team. But most of all, he was impressed by the Japanese seeker.
Hiei Jaganshi was even shorter than he was, his black hair even messier, and his eyes reflected a childhood even worse than his own. All this time, he hadn't moved an inch from the highest point of the stadium, his eyes restless as they scanned for the Snitch. It was thanks to him the Japanese team was so successful; he usually caught the ball before the opponent got even 30 points. In this particular match, however, his competitor was one of the fastest and most intuitive women in the league: a pink-haired and ruby-lipped young lady by the nickname of Jewelry Bonnie, famous for her stunts, her tricks, and her appetite. Between Bonnie's constant feints, the All-Star's mile long passes, and those stupid American beaters who are constantly trying to bludger him, Jaganshi's concentration wasn't at it's best.
The intensity of the game was overwhelming. Half of the time, Harry couldn't see Trunks anywhere, just to have him pop in at amazing speed and make the longest of passes. A quarter of the time, Trunks had the ball, and was usually either scoring or passing it to Ace, or the other chaser on their team: Eustass Kidd, a pale spiky-haired red-head of a wide grin and a scary look in his eyes. And the rest of the time, the excellent Japanese chasers, two raven-haired girls and a happy, elf-looking young man of bright orange hair were trying their luck with Luffy. Ron was right; no matter what plays they attempted, Luffy had a way to block it. Out of 25 tries at lightning speed, only two had managed to enter the hoops, one by Jin, the young man, and one by the other chaser, Sakurasaki. In contrast to the Japanese team, the American team had an 85% success rate at passing the ball through the hoops. Poor Japanese keeper Makie, a delicate and agile girl of pink hair and incredible acrobatics, was already covered in bruises due to the inhuman speed and force of the American throws.
Fred and George were crossing their fingers, hoping Jaganshi caught the snitch. They were making the most unusual of bets: that the American team would win over the Japanese team, but the Japanese team would catch the snitch. Right now, the American team had the advantage by 220 points, Japan only managing 2 goals. The way this was going, there was no way the Tengu could catch up. You could see the karasutengu, mascots for Japan, squawking and raising their staffs, quite willing to hit the mocking spirit animals at the other side of the field with them.
Hiei was getting anxious, even though the match had lasted less than half an hour. He had to catch the snitch as soon as possible. Forget winning -that seemed impossible at this point- if he couldn't catch the snitch soon, his whole team would be humiliated. He kept his eyes on the field, and soon noticed Bonnie was darting across the field at an intense speed. Was this another of her feints, or did she actually see the snitch?
Hiei closed his eyes, concentrating. He was able to feel the snitch, its small wings fluttering in the direction Bonnie was flying; time for a dive. Using gravity in his favor, and complete trust in his skills and his teammates, he used the momentum he had from the broom and let go. Now nothing could hold him back, and he more than made up for the fact that his adversary had a better broom. He focused, directing his body to the snitch just as Bonnie did, pushing back her hand with his left hand as his right grabbed the golden little ball, his honor saved. He felt a strong pull on his robes, seconds before hitting the ground.
"Really, you must have quite the death wish, little man." The strong hand that kept him from too many broken bones was Jin's, the elf-like wind master with a tongue almost as fast as his movements on the broom. "There was no need to almost kill yourself just to get that wee little ball. It's just a game, after all. Quite the fun game too! I wanna play them again already!"
"We lost, don't look so excited" said Hiei, quite annoyed at his teammate's happiness.
"You should learn to enjoy things, little man," said Jin, setting him on the ground. "This lost just means we have to get new brooms. But on the bright side, we have something to look forward to next year."
Jin and Hiei both stood on their side of the field, waiting for Yuna and the rest to join them in their dishonor. Soon, all the members of the Japanese team were standing in front of their karasutengu. They each gave their brooms to their mascots, the mascots taking it and breaking their broomsticks, a sort of non-lethal hara-kiri, the Japanese way of admitting an honorable defeat. As the brooms broke and burst into magical flames, these flames entered each of the Toyohashi Tengu, fueling their resolve to win in their next competitions. They wouldn't be overwhelmed like this next time.
The Sweetwater All-stars were celebrating, their mascots flying all over the stage, the crowd cheering as they saluted with the cup. The announcer raised Ace's hand proudly, his favorite team winning a bit too soon for his tastes, but an amazing victory nonetheless. Fred and George were also celebrating: they had won their bet. Just as they were about to collect their dues, screams filled their ears. Out in the distance, they could see in the sky something that hadn't been seen for ages: the Dark Mark.
A/N: Alright, I'm no J.K. Rowling. I'm no good at writing sports games and much less trying to make particular events happen in the game. Still, I'm hoping it didn't turn out too badly. As you can notice, its not particularly focused on any character, so get ready for an omniscient point of view, usually focused on the character doing or viewing the actions. I'm really hoping to get your opinions soon!