Having come across some recently unclassified reports regarding the conduct of Fabian Prewett during his time in the Auror service, Ron Weasley was increasingly worried that he had a wayward uncle who fell to the dark side.
Hermione suggested that they should pursue this further, and on their regular trips to the Burrow for family dinners they asked Molly if she ever noticed that Fabian had any Slytherin friends.
It was at this dinner that Ginny announced she was selected for the national team in the upcoming Quidditch Euros. She was immediately congratulated by all her brothers in the typical Weasley way, which is to say she found herself buried under five sweaty men in a pile of enthusiastic hugs.
Harry looked around modestly, and made a remark that BAHWAGs were banned from the training camp and it would be a long lonely summer for him and the children.
When they were clearing up the dishes, Molly suddenly told Hermione that she recalled this particular episode where Fabian seemed to be hanging around the Black family quite a bit.
"Was it in his fifth year?" Hermione asked in reply.
"It was after fifth year. In fact, it took place at the time of the Quidditch Euros as well. Gideon had been selected to train with the Cannons all summer and he won some tickets to the Euros as a bonus for being the most diligent player in the youth squad. He took the whole family along, and it was quite a lark. It was the last time Wales managed to get into the final, and nearly all of Hogwarts had turned out in support..."
...
The seas began to part and a great ship burst out of the seas, breaking the horizon. With an unmistakable honk it steered into the Port of Genoa. As it neared, it became apparent it was not so much a ship as it was a giant luxury yacht. The ship went into dock, and out spilled a colourful tangle of the wizarding world's most storied families.
The yacht had been chartered by Edward Tonks, (yes, of the Salem Tonks), who, as everyone knew, was heir to that vast New World fortune. Born to an American father and an English mother, he spoke with a sophisticated mid-Atlantic accent that charmed the socks off Cygnus and Druella Black. It was readily apparent that he was in pursuit of their second daughter's hand in marriage, and his flawless reputation in Hogwarts, first as a gracious Slytherin prefect, then the Head Boy, filled Cygnus and Druella with an excitement that this man should be so perfect for their daughter.
He had spared no expense, so that even members of the famously exclusive Lestrange clan were willing to join the festivities onboard. Some might say that this was an intolerable gathering of the upper classes, conspicuously showing off their privilege in this most glorious of cities.
Italy was host to the 1972 European Quidditch Championship, and Genoa was host to the final. Wales were an unexpectedly good team this year, barging into the finals where they were to face the ruthless Yugoslavia.
The city, once awash with culture, was now awash with Quidditch fans from the British Isles and the Eastern Bloc, bringing with it some political tension as students of Hogwarts and the impenetrable Durmstrang clashed over values.
One day, some Durmstrangians were found to be bullying a small Hufflepuff boy barely out of first year. By chance, the person who discovered this act of bullying was one Gideon Prewett, and when he sought to interfere the Durmstrang students challenged him to a Quidditch match. Gideon Prewett, something of a Quidditch maniac, agreed before learning too late that the impromptu match would be officiated by Nemanja Illic, keeper of the Yugoslavian National Team, which meant there could be referee bias. Things got worse when it was rumoured that Nemaja Illic was the brother of one of the Durmstrang team.
Charged with assembling a team in just fifteen minutes, Gideon ran off in search of his fellow Hogwarts students. Having given much thought in his spare time to the formation of a Hogwarts dream team, he was beyond overjoyed at being able to actually assemble it.
He knew he wanted Frank Longbottom and Dorcas Meadowes as Chasers, alongside, humbly, himself. Marlene McKinnon and Alistair Thomas as Beaters, Evan Rosier as Seeker and as for Keeper, well, he'd take anyone he could find.
Marlene was easy to find, as was Frank. Both then went off to spread word of the informal match, gathering the rest of the Hogwarts crowd for support. Gideon ran off into his tent to fetch his broomstick, where he saw his brother suddenly sit up in alarm, inexplicably without a shirt, patting around his duvet nervously.
"Golly, Gid, please do not dash unannounced into our room," Fabian moaned.
"No time to lose!" Gideon huffed. "I've got a team to assemble!"
"By gosh, is two-a-side Quidditch so urgent?" Fabian asked sarcastically.
"No time to lose!" Gideon repeated mindlessly. "It's Hogwarts vs Durmstrang in the match of the century!" He emitted a high-pitched whoop of excitement. "I've got a team to assemble! Full-strength, my dear brother!"
Gideon then dashed out of the room muttering about tactics to himself.
There was a rustling from under Fabian's duvet. Evan Rosier emerged, hair wildly askew, also curiously unclothed. "A Quidditch match? Team Hogwarts?" he exclaimed. His eyes began to dart about frantically.
Before Fabian could even sigh, dismayed by all this interruption, Evan Rosier had leapt out of bed and was frantically reversing his disrobement, carelessly and indiscreetly running out of the tent, calling out to Gideon.
Gideon whipped his head around to see a dishevelled-looking Evan Rosier running after him. Where did he come from? Gideon wondered. He had been trying in vain to find Hogwarts' star Seeker and here he was running after him.
"I hear you are assembling a team," Rosier wheezed.
Suspicion danced about Gideon's mind. There was something not right in the way—never mind, he thought. He had Rosier on his team and they were ready to go.
The final team, comprising of two from each house except Ravenclaw, who had their Keeper Kim Gladstone as their sole representative, gathered at the training field for kick-off.
It was at this point they faced the Durmstrang team and realised they were probably, hopelessly, ridiculously outmatched player for player. The sheer physicality of the Durmstrang team was enough to beat them into submission, and truth be told the House of Ravenclaw was quite rubbish at the whole sporting lark and their Keeper was getting thoroughly thrashed.
It was with embarrassment that Fabian, who was vociferously lending his support, realised that his house was letting the school down. To his surprise, he found Alice Giggs in the crowd, yelling at their house Keeper to keep on trying. He sidled up to her and expressed his shock at seeing her here. Was she not vehemently anti-Quidditch? Why should she deign to grace such an event with her divine omniscience?
Alice told him to shut up and support the team. Besides, she said, her mother was Italian and the event presented a wonderful opportunity for her mum to take on a respectable job as a tour guide.
Team Hogwarts was really struggling out there. Fabian looked up into the sky with despair as he saw his brother get slammed into, yet again in an obvious foul that the ref didn't call out.
Fabian hurled an insult at the ref for doing a shoddy job, accompanied with a rude gesture. He looked at the scoreboard, which was a dismal sight. All around him, Hogwarts students were gathering round in horror, until that young Hufflepuff boy, the purported bully victim, begged for all of them to begin singing the school song.
There was a sudden burst of fervour as the mass of Hogwarts students broke into discordant tune. It seemed to throw Team Durmstrang off its rhythm, as they looked slightly alarmed by the cacophony of voices below. The students grew ever wilder in their individual renditions of the song, until a deep, low harmony began to cut through it. Durmstrang were singing their school song back at them! And they sounded marvellous, like a singular deep boom echoing in the mountains. This show of unity, and perhaps uniformity, really incited the Hogwarts student body further, and they began screeching in their multitude. Fabian turned to his side in amazement as he heard, for the first time in his life, Alice's voice in song. Alice Giggs! Singing! Alice Giggs, the self-confessed oxymoronic non-singing Welshperson, who, at every single year, mouthed all the words voicelessly at the start of term in the Great Hall. Alice saw him gawping at her in shock, and she gave him such a wide grin and grabbed his arm so tightly Fabian thought she must have been possessed. But her excitement was infectious and Fabian resumed singing, swinging an arm around her. Alice was so giddy and unlike herself that she put her other arm around the student on her other side, and soon all Hogwarts began to link arms and sing in one big caterwauling disharmony. There was a swell of emotion that rose and rose until they began to drown out the regimented Durmstrang chant, and then there was this one point, a point of pure magic, where all the Hogwarts contingent hit the same note at the same time, and they began to sustain it and in that moment Kim Gladstone made the most spectacular save of her entire Quidditch career to keep the score 90-340, Gideon Prewett threaded the Quaffle through the narrowest gap in the Durmstrang defence to Frank Longbottom who did a feign and a quick nudge to Dorcas Meadowes who slotted it neatly into goal, and at the same time Alistair Thomas sent a Bludger to Marlene McKinnon, who hit it onward into the path of the Durmstrang Seeker in hot pursuit of Evan Rosier, who scooped up the snitch that was fluttering within sight.
Pandemonium broke out. There was a pitch invasion by the Hogwarts contingent, overcome with emotion at this hallowed victory. Durmstrang, for the most part, withdrew swiftly, all while claiming that the victory had no credibility because the match was too informal for it to matter anyway and that only people unaccustomed to success would celebrate as they did.