A new morning, a new game and new brooms. Perfect! Fred and George had minted money in the short time since they had opened Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. They were the richest joke shop and manufacturing unit in history now. And for the first organised trial of Goofball, they had generously sponsored new brooms, specially made to suit the fast pace of the game, for each and every player.
It was called the Whiz-bolt and was even faster than the Firebolt-2, which had just arrived in the market. Harry was rearing to try out his new broom and so was everyone else. The brooms had arrived the previous night, after practice-times, and today every team was up early for some last-minute practice.
Harry's team - Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Susan Bones from Hufflepuff, Padma Patil from Ravenclaw and Greg Jones, a second-year from Slytherin, marched confidently onto the pitch. They had practiced at dawn, before the all the other teams had come and clamoured for the court. The new brooms were indeed very fast, at top speed, one could zip past your eyes without you knowing it. But of course, there were certain speed restrictions for the first game so everyone could get used to the new brooms.
Ron was the 'rebounder' of his team since he was tall and fairly quick on his broom (Hermione and Harry had taught everyone some terms used in Muggle basketball, which was quite similar to Goofball in essence). Ginny was amazing at intercepting passes. She could flit past you and take the ball, before you even realised what was happening. Harry was, of course, the seeker. Hermione could shoot really well and so could Padma Patil (but it was very annoying when they began talking about parabola angles and momentary lapses in the basket's movement). Susan Bones was fast and could avoid other tacklers easily. Greg Jones had been a hesitant addition to the team, since he was only a second-year (and moreover, a Slytherin) but he had proved that he was very good at scoring and tackling.
The first match was between Harry's team and Dean Thomas'. Dean won the toss and chose to start. Madam Hooch (who had very reluctantly agreed to referee the matches) blew the whistle and everyone was up. Dean passed to Seamus, who passed to Dennis Creevey. Dennis sped up to the goal and aimed a shot. But as soon as it left his hand, Ginny was there and she took it. She circled around the players once and passed the ball to Hermione. Hermione had got herself into a good position and she shot. It went in through the goal, which gave another crazy spin before launching into a move-faster-than-you-can-see cycle. The ball fell down, Ron swooped and caught it. In an instant Seamus was trying to tackle him. He succeeded in getting the ball and passed to Parvati. So the match was going on, when an invisible Harry ran into something he could not see. His shield knocked against the other Seeker's and before they could collide again, Harry moved off into the opposite direction. Just then, the ball came near him and bumped his shield, shooting into Ginny's hands. "Hey, Harry!", she said and sped away with the ball. Now, the entire pitch's eyes were on Harry. He thanked Merlin that he had the chameleon charm on and flew away to the other side of the stadium.
The ball was in play again and Harry couldn't help but watch as his team flew around the pitch, passing to each other. Padma grabbed the ball in both hands and leaned upwards. The goal was moving left and right periodically. She shot a little away from the goal and as the ball curved upwards the goal came to a stop underneath it and the ball flew through. Cheers were heard from the stadium. Neville and Luna had raised a flag with the colours of all houses on it and were waving it to and fro. Harry couldn't help but grin at the marvellous moment. All Hogwarts houses were at peace and for the first time, you could see red, blue, green and yellow everywhere.
He was jerked to reality when a collective cheer went through the crowd again. He looked to the goal and saw that Dean had scored a basket. Ginny was under the basket again and caught the ball in her hands. She tore off to circle the stadium again and threw the ball to Greg. Greg sped to the goal, faked a shoot and when Dean moved above him, he passed to Ginny. Ginny flew up close to the goal and shot, but the crazy-moving goal jerked away at the last instant and the ball fell down. Ginny raced after it in a dive, caught it and passed to Hermione. Hermione was about to pass, when Parvati blocked her way. Instead she turned and did a backward shot. Miraculously, the goal stopped moving and the ball sailed cleanly through it. The stadium erupted and Harry was shouting hard too. He ran into Ginny in his excitement, who looked around astonished once, and then called out, "Is that you, Harry?" "At your service!", shouted back Harry. "Got the snitch yet?", she asked. Harry cursed. He had forgotten all about the snitch in the excitement of watching this crazy game. He tore away and circled the stadium, looking hard for the snitch. He thought he caught a movement once, but it turned out to be the other team's Seeker. Their shields bumped again and Harry moved on. This bumping business was really getting too weird. The crowd cheered again and Harry tilted his head to see the ball go through the goal. apparently Ron had shot, because he zoomed around the stadium, stopped once and bowed. But while everyone was watching this little show, Harry's eyes remained on the goal. His Seeker's eyes had been trained to pick out the golden colour, which meant the snitch was there. Immediately, his eyes trained on a seemingly innocent blob floating out of everyone's eyesight, inside the goal at one of its edges. He rushed to the goal and it ran away. he chased it around its circumference of movement and finally caught it. It struggled to move away, but he held on tight. "Where've you been hiding all this time? Naughty Snitch!", said Harry in his excitement. He shook the goal, the snitch flew out and the next instant it was in the confines of his hand. The whole stadium was looking at the trapped goal, whispering and staring. even the players were astonished. "Of course, they can't see me!" said Harry and still holding the snitch, he took his wand out from his robe and removed the chameleon charm. Immediately the crowd was even more bewildered. It hit them in a moment, though, as Harry opened his palm and the snitch flew out. Then the cheers and shouting began.