The Final Countdown.
When the quidditch league broke for their mid-season Christmas break, Blaise's prediction was right and The Chudley Cannons were sitting pretty at the top of the table. Although given their phenomenal start to the season, they weren't just top, they were top by quite a large margin. People were starting to talk about them as odds-on favourite to take the title, but Harry wasn't letting the squad get ahead of themselves. There was still the second half of the season to go, and everyone knew that was when the really tough work began. It was one thing to be top of the league at Christmas, but another to still be top come the end of the season.
Thrilled with how the season was going, everyone associated with The Cannons had a great festive season. While Harry stayed at home and celebrated Christmas with Ginny and her family, Hermione and Draco opted to go away for Christmas. They booked a romantic chalet in Austria and spent their Christmas in the snow.
The couple returned home before New Year, where they attended a lavish party thrown by Blaise. Not one to do things be halves, Blaise's party was the social event of the year and everyone who was anyone in Wizarding Britain was at the party. Come midnight the partygoers welcomed in the new year with everyone associated with The Cannons hoping that it was going to be their year and that they would finally get their hands on the trophy that had eluded the club for over a hundred years.
A couple of days after the New Year's celebrations, Harry called the squad back together and the team got back down to training for the second half of the season. As for Hermione, she also returned to work and she was happy to find that despite their slow start over the summer, season ticket sales had improved over the first part of the season and they'd now sold as many tickets as she's optimistically predicated at the end of last season. Of course with every game played the price of the season ticket went down, but they were still making a healthy profit and Hermione hoped that many of the people with season tickets would buy them again for the following season.
With such a good start to the season hopes were high for a continuation of form from The Cannons when the new season got underway, especially as their first match was at home and they had one of the best home records in the league. Unfortunately the game was a disaster from start to finish, and The Cannons ended up suffering their worst defeat of the season.
Barely five minutes into the game one of The Cannons beaters failed to divert a bludger heading for Blaise, and it crashed directly into his right shoulder. The injury was too severe for Blaise to keep playing, so he needed to be substituted. However, once a quidditch match got underway it wasn't stopped until the snitch was caught so the substitution had to take place while the match carried on. It meant that Blaise was forced to carry on playing with his injured shoulder while the reserve keeper got ready to take his place. The pair then had to quickly swap over when the action was at the other side of the pitch, before Blaise could then head off to the changing rooms with Theo to get his shoulder looked at.
With the commotion surrounding Blaise's injury The Cannons opposition, The Falmouth Falcons, had managed to build up a considerable lead. That in turn put a lot of pressure on the reserve keeper to keep the goals at a minimum while the chasers were under pressure to score a lot of goals. However, things just weren't working for the team and under such severe pressure the keeper was fumbling while over the other side of the pitch The Cannons chasers were struggling to score even the most basic of goals.
With the team being outscored, it then began more important than ever that Draco caught the snitch before The Falcons could get too far ahead in the scores. Unfortunately, he hadn't counted on his beaters, who were wanting to make up for their earlier mistake and were hitting the bludger's with a lot more venom than normal. Just as Draco had the snitch in his sight, he had to dodge one of the lethal bludger's, which had been aimed at a chaser from The Falcons. The momentary change of angle caused Draco to lose sight of the snitch, and by the time he caught sight of it again, The Falcons seeker was chasing it down. To his credit, Draco did everything in his power to reach the snitch first, but there was nothing he could do but watch as The Falcons seeker caught the snitch and won the match for the opposition.
The result was disappointing for all concerned, but there was still an air of optimism around The Cannons. One bad result didn't mean their hopes of winning the league had gone. All they needed to do was bounce back and not let the defeat get them down. However, that was easier said than done and while they didn't have another game as shocking as the one against The Falcons, they did start struggling for form and they suffered a string of losses.
Unfortunately for The Cannons as their form dipped their biggest rivals, The Tutshill Tornadoes, found themselves in a patch of superb form. While The Cannons were either losing or just scraping wins, The Tornadoes were thrashing their opponents and with each match the gap at the top of the league was shrinking.
As the final month of the season approached, The Cannons and The Tornadoes were virtually neck and neck in the league. The Cannons were still slightly ahead and were still in top spot, but their superiority over their opponents had gone. Over the last few weeks their form had started to pick back up and they'd recorded some impressive wins, but it now all came down to the final few games of the season.
In the home stretch, Hermione was beginning to have her doubts as to whether the team could pull off the win that had looked so likely over Christmas. However, Harry was still confident and he assured Hermione that they were peaking at the right time again and that the title was theirs to lose. He had faith in the team and he was certain they would end the season as champions.
As it turned out, Harry was right and after a couple of shock defeats for The Tornadoes, The Cannons were in the driving seat once again. A large win in their last home game of the season, which was the penultimate match of the year, would secure The Cannons the title. If they won by a big enough margin even a record win for The Tornadoes on the last day of the season wouldn't be enough to get them the title.
On the day of the match, Hermione was a bag of nerves as she took her place in the players stand. All of The Cannons had invited their friends and family to watch the match, and all of the Weasleys were present for the game. Ginny had checked it was okay to invite Ron, and although things would never be the same for them again, Hermione had assured her she had no problem with Ron attending the match. After all he was still Ginny's brother and Harry's friend. Plus they had history and Hermione knew how much it would mean to him to be there if his precious Cannons actually won the league for the first time in his lifetime.
"Can they do it?" Narcissa asked Hermione as she took her seat next to Draco's parents.
"I certainly hope so," Hermione replied.
"They're all going to have to be on the ball," Lucius said. "To win the league today, they need to win by a margin of over two hundred. That means Draco has to keep an eye on the score at all times. If he catches the snitch too early, they'll win but not by enough to secure the title."
"But surely even a win will help take them one step closer to the title," Narcissa checked.
"It will," Hermione confirmed with a nod. "A win today, even if a small one will give us breathing space for the next match. All we would have to do then is not lose by too big of a margin, and the title is ours. But the team want to do it today."
"Of course they do," Lucius said with an understanding nod. "They're at home today. The reaction if they win the title today will be phenomenal."
"It would be special if they won the league at home," Hermione replied. The Rising Phoenix Stadium had really started to feel like a fortress for The Cannons, and to end the season with a big win and take the title would be a great achievement.
"Here they come," Fred suddenly shouted from his place nearby as the players streamed out onto the pitch.
"Come on, you Cannons," George yelled as he and Fred waved their scarves in the air. Both of them had painted their faces orange and purple to match the team colours and they were both wearing official jerseys with their girlfriend's names on the back.
Hermione herself was wearing an official Cannons vest top with Draco's name and number on the back. Draco had appreciated the sight that morning, and if it hadn't been for Theo's no sex before a match rule, he undoubtedly would have ravished her over the kitchen table. Sadly, he hadn't been able to, although Hermione had promised him that she would keep the top on for him that evening, when hopefully they would be celebrating The Cannons winning the league.
As the match got underway, Hermione found herself caught up in the game in a way she'd never been before. Quidditch had never really been her thing, and although it had grown on her since taking over The Cannons with Harry, she was usually able to keep calm during matches. However she was on her feet practically from the start and she was cheering and yelling just as much as anyone else in the crowd.
In The Cannons box, every goal was cheered wildly and every goal conceded with met with loud groans. Fortunately the trio of Angelina, Alicia and Ginny were on fire and they were easily outscoring their opposition, The Holyhead Harpies. Knowing what margin the team needed for a big enough win to secure the league, Hermione kept checking the scoreboard and checking her boyfriend. Draco seemed clam enough and he seemed to have The Harpies seeker well within his sights at all times, just in case she spotted the snitch and he was either forced to catch it early or try and stop her from catching it without breaking the rules.
One of the few times Hermione's focus wasn't on Draco, she suddenly heard a collective gasp from the people around her. Turning her attention to the other side of the pitch, she spotted Draco and The Harpies seeker diving towards the ground at breakneck speed.
"It's too soon," Lucius cried in dismay. "If he catches the snitch now, we'll only win by a hundred and eighty."
"I'm sure he knows what he's doing," Narcissa said, nervously biting her lower lip as her son plummeted towards the floor.
Second later, Draco's broom skimmed the floor as he abruptly turned back upward and only just stopped himself from dive-bombing into the ground. The Harpies seeker wasn't that lucky as she actually fell off her broom and had to take the time to remount before getting back in the game.
"Where's the snitch?" Narcissa asked with a frown.
"It was never there, he was pulling her out of the game," Lucius explained with a proud chuckle. "Now she'll think twice about following him if he takes off again."
Relieved that things had worked out, Hermione returned her focus to the rest of the game and spent the next half hour cheering several goals for The Cannons. By the time the match had been going ninety minutes The Cannons had built up a lead of a hundred, and people were starting to look towards Draco. The time was now perfect for him to catch the snitch and not only win his team the game, but the league as well.
However, the snitch was proving pretty elusive and it was another twenty minutes before Draco finally caught sight of the golden ball for the first time in the match. The second he had eyes on the snitch, Draco was a focused man and the only thing that mattered to him was catching the snitch. As it turned out his earlier ploy with The Harpies seeker worked perfectly and when he first took off after the snitch, his opponent held back, not wanting to be made a fool of again. By the time she realised that he wasn't playing her, and he was actually in pursuit of the snitch, it was too late and she was too far behind in the chase. In the end, Draco was all alone and he had all the time in the world, to swoop up behind the snitch and grab it in his large hands.
"Draco Malfoy has caught the snitch," the announcer called. "The Cannons win by two hundred and ninety points."
"We've done it," Hermione squealed as the stadium exploded in noise. "We've won the league."
Sharing hugs with Lucius and Narcissa, Hermione found herself engulfed by well-wishers. She hugged several family members of the team, including a few Weasleys. At one point she even found herself in front of Ron, and unable to help herself she gave her old friend a hug.
"Thank you," Ron whispered in her ear.
"What for?" Hermione asked.
"For making my childhood dream come true," Ron replied with a soft smile. "I've always wanted to see The Cannons win the league, and everyone told me it wouldn't happen."
"Hopefully this is the first of many," Hermione said.
"I hope so," Ron said. "I really do."
Hermione could see that Ron was genuine in his sentiment, but she could also see the regret in his eyes. No doubt he was thinking that if he'd done things differently and handled things in a better way, he could have been part of the winning squad. Chances were he wouldn't have played in the first team as aside from the match he was injured and the one after, Blaise hadn't let anyone else take his place as keeper. But he still would have been part of the squad, and right now he would have been down on the pitch celebrating along with his other teammates. Instead he was in the stands, watching as a spectator as his beloved Cannons won the league.
Making her way from the players' box, Hermione headed down to the pitch where the squad and all the support staff had gathered to celebrate and thank the fans. Making her way over to Harry, Hermione shared a hug with her best friend before she found Draco and was swept up in his embrace.
Laughing and cheering The Chudley Cannons and their loyal fans finally got to celebrate winning the title and being crowned champions of the British and Irish Quidditch League.