Jane dragged me to the locker room while Carly stuffed my mouth with toast. I tried to grumble I was alright, but Georgie was already fixing the taps in the shower. I screeched as I was shoved in unceremoniously.
Finally, I joined the rest of my team in my robes, gripping my Firebolt tight. "BENEDETTO," the announcer roared.
I soared into the air and into position. I focused on my breathing and listened for the whistle. As it sounded shrilly, I started my usual slow laps of the pitch, being careful of bludgers and other players. There was no sign of gold yet. I eyed the other seeker, Devin Hobbs. He was clueless, too. I rubbed my eyes, hoping that would help. They were still puffy from crying last night.
Georgie's brother was guarding the goal post. Jack had just tried to score, but Robert had punched it away. His teammate Chrissy Lakes had caught it and was speeding off towards Ary. Ary would have no problem handling her. Chrissy was always obvious in which post she was aiming for.
I circled around again, and ended up having to do a sloth-roll to avoid a bludger. "Cheers, Lin!" Hugo gave me a smile as he whacked it towards Chrissy, who had the quaffle again. She screamed and dropped it, and Reggie picked it up. He scored quickly.
I strained my eyes, and saw a flash of something. I raced towards it, with Hobbs on my tail. I dipped down, and the saw the snitch streak to the left. As I followed, I was only a few feet above the spectators. I heard the thump of a bludger and a cry of pain, but I didn't focus on it.
Two minutes later I had the snitch in my hand. Ary and Jack pulled me into a group hug, and soon we were all in a pile drifting to the ground. I laughed as we became a mess on the grass. We slowly untangled, and I was hoisted onto Jack's and Reggie's shoulders.
"LINNY! LINNY!" my teammates shouted. I beamed. We were in first place for the Cup and only had one game to go. I looked around and saw James getting yelled at by Professor Longbottom and the referee, Master Gerard. I pushed it to the back of my mind.
The common room had never been so crowded. Butterbeer was flowing freely, and I had a shot of firewhiskey, too. My head was spinning and I still had the snitch in my hand. Ary suddenly hopped up onto a table. "ORDER!" she yelled.
The commotion quieted. She took a swig of her butterbeer. "Yes, yes, this is all fine and dandy, but we've still got a game to go. We haven't won yet." She looked around at us all. "That being said, we're going to have to train harder than ever." This was met with groans from the players. "Need I remind you that we lost the Cup last year?" she snapped. "I want to go with a bang! And other than last year, ever since I joined the team, we've kept it. So it'll be ours again this year if it's the last thing I do!" she hollered as she raised her glass.
The crowd roared, and drinks were passed around again. I caught up with Ary as she stepped off the table. "Nice speech, Captain." I saluted her.
She snorted. "I'm still in charge, Benedetto, even if for just a month and a half." She finished off her drink. "You know, next year, I'm making Jack the captain. Should've been you, but Jack's been on the team longer." She eyed me. "He'll be able to keep you and Potter from murdering each other anyways."
I looked around. "Speaking of which, where is he?"
She glanced around, too. "Somewhere around here, I reckon. Got an earful from Master Gerry, that's for sure."
"What'd he do?" I took a sip of my drink.
"Snatched the beater's bat off of Hugo and whacked a bludger into the stands." She snorted. "Idiot cost us ten points in penalty." She shook her head.
"Who was he aiming for?" I was curious.
She paled. "Ah, well, the thing with that is, you see…" she trailed off.
"Tell me, Ary," I ordered.
"Dunno who he was aiming for, necessarily, but he hit Kyle Richardson straight on in the head."
I shook my head. "He did what?"
She shrugged, eyeing me carefully. "Knocked him out, flat. It's perfectly reasonable, however, that he was aiming for Hobbs, since you two were close enough."
I growled. "What. An. Idiot. If he was aiming for Hobbs, he should've let Hugo handle it!" I refused to believe the other option, because why would Potter want to whack Kyle with a bludger?
She laughed, and clapped me on the back. "Well, Richardson deserved it. Still," she muttered, "ten points."
I didn't approach James after what had happened, but, even if it had been an accident, I was grudgingly grateful that he had done that. Judging by his appearance the next day, Kyle Richardson wasn't going to be labeled as a pretty boy anymore. Hopefully a few hearts would be spared in the future.
Mary came up to me the next night with an apology. Her sister's best friend had been cheated on, too, but Mary hadn't wanted me to worry. She had hoped he had changed.
I told her that she didn't need to apologize, and I was glad she was my friend.
She beamed.