Luckily the fireworks seemed to fade away by the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin game. It was always gratifying playing Slytherin, because nearly everyone rooted against the emerald-clad players.
Isabella went down to the changing room, leaving Alex, Morgan, and Luna to find seats. She pulled on her sky blue robes and tightened her ponytail. She could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectator's stand.
"Right everyone, gather round!" Roger Davis said bossily. The team came and sat down on the benches facing Roger, who looked over their expectant faces somberly. Roger gave them his pep-talk, which had yet to change since Isabella had joined the team.
"Well... it's time," he finished, checking his watch. "C'mon everyone... good luck."
The team rose, shouldered their brooms and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them, cheers and whistles coming from almost every section of the stands.
The Slytherin team was standing waiting for them. Their Captain, Montague had vanished a few weeks ago, about when Umbridge became Headmistress. Urqhart had replaced Montague for the time being.
"Captians, shake hands," ordered the referee Madam Hooch, as Roger and Urqhart reached each other. Isabella could tell that Urqhart had picked up Montague's habit of trying to crush Roger's fingers. Roger could not help but wince slightly, making Urqhart smirk.
"Mount your brooms..." Madam Hooch placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.
The balls were released and the fourteen players shot upwards. Out of the corner of her eye, Isabella saw Cory Johnston streak off towards the goal hoops. Isabella soared higher, dodging a Bludger, and followed the Slytherin Chaser Vaisey, who was in possession of the Quaffle.
"And they're off!" Lee's voice announced. "Vaisey - Vaisey with the Quaffle. Vaisy reverse passes to Urqhart - and did you see that? Ravenclaw Chaser Isabella O'Reagan snatches the Quaffle out of the air! She's heading for the Slytherin goalposts, looking good Bella! She shoots - she - oh, bad luck there Bella!
Slytherin Keeper Bletchley blocks and passes to Warrington. Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the pitch - he dodges of Bludger from Hewgly... and drops the Quaffle! It's caught by Davies. Ravenclaw back in possession of the Quaffle, come on Davies - nice swerve around Pucey - duck Davies, that's a Bludger! He passes to Chambers of Ravenclaw who approaches the Slytherin goal posts - HE SCORES! Ten-zero to Ravenclaw!"
Peter Chambers punched the air as he soared around the end of the pitch; the sea of blue below was screaming its delight -
"OUCH!" Peter was nearly thrown from his broom as Crabbe, a Slytherin Beater, went smashing into him.
"Sorry!" Crabbe sneered, as the crowd below booed. The next moment Nick had chucked his Beater's club at the back of Crabbe's head. Crabbe's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.
"That will do!" shrieked Madam Hooch, zooming between them. "Penalty to Ravenclaw for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Beater!"
"Come off it, Miss!" Nick howled, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Isabella flew forward to take the penalty.
"Come on, Bella!" yelled Lee into the silence that had descended on the crowd. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO RAVENCLAW!"
Warrington flew forward to take the Slytherin penalty. Cory was hovering in front of the Ravenclaw goalposts, his jaw clenched.
"It's just Warrington and the Keeper," Lee commentated. "He shoots - and Johnston fails to block by that much!" Isabella watched as the Quaffle slipped through Cory's fingertips and went through the far left goal. Cory snarled and hit his broomstick's handle.
"It's all right, Cory!" Roger said, circling the goal post. "Keep your head!"
"Once again the score is Twenty-ten to Ravenclaw," Lee said. "And it's Ravenclaw in possession, no, Slytherin in possession - no! - Ravenclaw back in possession and it's Roger Davies - THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"
Pucey, a Slytherin Chaser, had swerved in front of Roger, and instead of seizing the Quaffle, had grabbed his head. Roger wheeled through the air, slipping off his broom and dropping the Quaffle. Madam Hooch's whistle rang out again as she soared over to Pucey and began shouting at him.
Isabella, Nick, and Cho touched down. Roger had fallen about twenty feet, and had hit his head pretty hard.
"Roger, wake up!" Isabella begged, tugging on the unconscious Captain's robes. Roger groaned slightly. Professors Flitwick and McGonagall descended on the field, Madam Pomfrey scurrying after them. Flitwick and McGonagall shooed away the Ravenclaw team as Madam Pomfrey cracked one of Roger's eyelids open.
"He'll be perfectly all right!" Madam Pomfrey. "I'll just take him up to the hospital wing." Cho, Nick, and Isabella mounted their brooms again and kicked off. Peter Cambers took the penalty point, sending the Quaffle right through the Slytherin goal posts.
"THIRTY-TEN!" Lee shouted into his megaphone. "But that's Roger Davies, Captain of the Ravenclaw team, out of the competition. Will Ravenclaw manage to keep its lead? Chang has called for a time-out..."
"Right you lot," Cho said, gathering the team by Cory's goal posts. "We'll have to gone without Roger. Isabella, you take center."
"But Cho!" she started to protest.
"No, you've got the fastest broom," Cho insisted. "Peter, you help her out, you hear? All right, let's go." They flew off again, Isabella taking the center field, traditionally the position reserved for the best and most experienced Chaser. Madam Hooch gave Isabella the Quaffle, because Roger had had it before the penalty.
"It's Ravenclaw in possession again, as O'Reagan takes the Quaffle!" Lee said as they playing began again. "Warrington alongside her - turn him into a rabbit, Bella! - it was a joke, Professor, it was a joke - O'Reagan tries a pass to Chambers - intercepted! Warrington in possession, Warrington flying towards the Ravenclaw goalposts, come one, now, Johnston, save - YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"
Cory caught the Quaffle and threw it to Isabella. She streaked down the pitch with it, Nick and fellow Beater Jason Samuels flanking her.
"O'Reagan with the Quaffle, O'Reagan down the field - BLOODY HELL!" Lee swore. "WHY YOU DIRTY, CHEATING -!" Professor McGonagall took the magical megaphone away from Lee. On the far end of the field, the Slytherin Beater Goyle had sent a Bludger into Cory Johnston's stomach.
Cory fell off his broom and slammed against the goal post. He plummeted forty feet and lay on the sand. Madam Pomfrey returned to the pitch and escorted Cory away. He had only broken his arm during the fall, but he was very pale and swearing at the Slytherins at the top of his lungs.
"You do not attack the Keeper unless the Quaffle is within the scoring area!" Madam Hooch shrieked at Goyle. "Ravenclaw penalty!"
Cho called yet another time out.
"What are we going to do?" Nick demanded, shouldering his Beater's bat.
"They're playing dirty, so you play dirty," Cho said fiercely. "Not you, Bella and Peter. Just get the Quaffle past that lump of a Seeker as often as you can! I'll try and find the Snitch and end this!"
"We've got no Keeper and only two Chasers," Cho continued. "So Nick, Jason, try and take out a few of their players. But for God's sake, don't let them get any penalties!"
Isabella scored the penalty point for Ravenclaw to tumultuous applause from below.
"Forty-ten to Ravenclaw," Lee announced. "And it's Pucey in possession of the Quaffle." Nick sent a Bludger towards Pucey, but the Slytherin rolled in mid-air and avoided it. Jason hovered near Isabella, in case any of the Slytherins were thinking of taking her out, too.
Crabbe hit the Bludge that had missed Pucey back at Isabella. Jason gave an almighty swing, sending the Bludger back towards Pucey and knocking the Quaffle from the Chaser's hands; Isabella seized it and put it through the Slytherin goal: fifty-ten.
Cheers came form the Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, and Hufflepuff sections of the stands. Isabella punched the air and high-fived Cho as she sped by.
But as soon as Cho passed the Chaser she pulled into a sharp dive. She had caught sight of the Snitch. But Isabella couldn't worry about that now. Urqhart had the Quaffle and was speeding down the pitch with it. Nick and Jason shot Bludgers at him but the Chaser swerved and threw the Quaffle through the unguarded hoop.
"Penalty! Penalty to Ravenclaw! I've never seen such tactics!" Madam Hooch screeched. Isabella braked and looked around, confused as to why they were being awarded a penalty.
It appeared as though Malfoy had elbowed Cho in the face. She had bruise blooming across her right cheek.
Isabella took the penalty yet again, but it was blocked by the Keeper. Peter swooped in and tried to grab the Quaffle, but Crabbe hit his broom with his Beater's bat. Peter managed to stay on, but Warrington claimed the Quaffle.
"Slytherin in possession, Slytherin heading for goal - Warrington passes to Urqhart - Urkhart scores -" Lee was practically groaning. "Fifty-twenty to Ravenclaw... Peter Chambers gets the Quaffle for Ravenclaw. He passes to O'Reagan... she passes back... THIS ISN'T TENNIS!" Lee shouted. Isabella and Peter were passing the Quaffle back and forth so rapidly that the Slytherin Beaters couldn't keep up with who had it.
The Slytherin Chaser's were moving in between them, so Peter kept a hold of the Quaffle, moving closer to the goal. The Slytherin Keeper focused his attention on Peter until at the very last second he passed to Isabella. She shot it through goal, the Slytherin Keeper didn't even have time to turn his broom.
Peter swooped in behind and passed the ball back to Isabella, who scored again.
"That's incredible! What teamwork!" Lee complimented. "Seventy-twenty to - no, wait! - Eighty-twenty to Ravenclaw!" Nick and Jason moved in, blocking the Slytherin Chasers. Peter stayed behind the goal posts, catching the Quaffle as Isabella sent it sailing through again and again, and then passing it back for her.
By the time the Slytherin Beaters broke through Nick and Jason's defenses, Ravenclaw was ahead by seventy points. The Slytherins burst through, sending Nick and Jason wheeling away. Someone, possibly Crabbe slammed into Isabella. She tried to keep her hold on the Quaffle, but another pair of hands snatched it away.
All of the Slytherins turned and headed towards Cory's undefended goal hoops. Isabella's broom began to twirl lazily to the ground. She was winded and her vision was swimming. And then, fifty feet in the air, she slipped of the end off her broom. Peter was shouting her name... someone was screaming.
Lee's voice came over the megaphone: "CHANG HAS CAUGHT THE SNITCH! RAVENCLAW WINS!"
Isabella woke in the hospital wing. There was a swirl of blue that gradually came into focus. She was in a bed, still wearing her grass-stained and sweaty robes. The Ravenclaw team was standing nearby, hovering over Roger Davies.
"Is he okay?" Isabella croaked. The team turned and grinned to see her awake.
"Madam Pomfrey reckons he'll be fine," Nick said. "Has a bad bump on his head. You got off lucky, just broke a few ribs and sprained an ankle."
"We won, didn't we?" Isabella asked, sitting upright. There was a glass of water by her bed, which she took and drank gratefully.
"Yeah, we won," Peter smiled. "Don't know how we could've gone on if Cho hadn't caught the Snitch when she did." Cory was there, his arm well mended but still bruised. Suddenly the door of the hospital wing burst open and Terry, Alex, Morgan, Luna, Harry, Hermione, and Ginny burst in.
"Only six visitors at a time!" Madam Pomfrey moved to intercept them. Nick, Peter, Jason, Cho, and Cory turned back to Roger's bed so that Isabella's friends could see her. The Gryffindors in the approaching group left the Ravenclaws.
"You gave us a right turn!" Morgan scolded her, sitting down on the bed. "If Peter and Nick hadn't caught you...!" Isabella winced.
"That was the most brutal match I can remember!" Terry said, his face white.
"Quidditch is brutal," Alex said, frowning disapprovingly.
"But we won," Isabella said, taking Terry's hand. It was cold and clammy.
"Is winning all you care about?" Alex scoffed, rolling her eyes.
"Roger will be happy," said Isabella, glancing at the unconscious Captain. Madam Pomfrey gave her one last look over, then sent her back up to the common room with the rest of the Ravenclaw team. They climbed the steps, too tired to speak much.
The raven brass knocker opened it's beak and asked, "What is fire?" The team looked at each other with dull eyes, unable to think.
"Um... a parasite?" Isabella said wearily. "Because it feed off others in order to live."
"Well considered," the knocker said, allowing them to pull the door open. Cheers greeted them. Cho and Isabella were lifted up and paraded around on people's shoulders. Blue banners with bronze lettering were strung around the room. Someone had been down to the kitchens and gotten some house-elves to give them food.
Isabella suspected that the reason everyone was celebrating so hard was that they were trying to forget Umbridge and her stupid Educational Decrees. The party did not last long, largely because the Quidditch team was so exhausted that they crept up to bed before eight o'clock.
Isabella started to write a letter to her cousins to go along with the pictures of the fireworks, but she fell asleep over the quill. Luna woke her up and helped her into bed. Her friend hummed softly to herself as she tucked Isabella in. The Chaser wanted to say thank you, but her eyelids were heavy and she was asleep once her head hit the pillow.