Authors Note: Hey! I'm back, sorry for the delay. Hope you enjoy this chapter; one more left!

PS: This fic. is not Beta-read, so consider yourselves warned. If you find any mistakes, feel free to inform me and I'll fix it.

Chapter 3 – The Snitch!

In which Ria tries a new move.

Ria was touched by their concern for her, but really, it was nothing so major! After all, she had taken worse damage than this. 'Actually, compared to what I have gone through in my own timeline, this is possibly one of my tamer matches!' Being used to taking such risks (diving after rememberalls, standing on broomsticks and playing on with a cursed Bludger after her came to mind), there was no way she was going to let the fourth year Hufflepuff Seeker get the Snitch!

'Compared to James; Oliver, and even Angelina, for that matter, were so much more concerned about the match; I wond -...'

Her thoughts were cut-off abruptly as she saw a glimmer of gold and without a second thought she took after it. The rest of the world seemed to vanish once again.

She followed it: left, right, right, up, a loop and then left and right. Weaving after it from between the beams supporting the stands; flying over the heads of the spectators and around the players; barrels, rolls, loops and dives; she did 'em all. Yet, she couldn't catch up with it. For now... Ria was vaguely aware of being followed but it didn't matter to her since he was even further behind.

Never taking her eyes of the Snitch, she soared into the blue sky. It stopped somewhere in mid-air at a great height before streaking to the scarlet stands. By the time Ria levelled her broom and followed it, Owen had caught up. They were a fair few paces behind the Snitch near the Gryffindor stands when suddenly it plummeted to the ground. Ria had to force the handle of her broom down for a dive.

There was a good deal of distance between her and the fluttering ball of gold, not to mention the intervening players and Bludgers that filled the gap. Manoeuvring between the players would slow her down and by the time she'd recover her speed the snitch would be too close to the ground to let her pull out of the dive safely with this model of Nimbus.

'Stupid old brooms and their stupid speed- control ratio. Speed. Speed! What I need now is speed... hmm, I wonder if that'll work...'

Eyes glinting with an idea, Ria adjusted the Nimbus so that she shot straight over the players instead of flying between them.

This made the distance she'd need to cover more, yes; but it let her pick up enough speed to compensate and to pull her next stunt.

When she was directly above the Snitch, Ria kicked her legs back and sharply pushed the handle of the broom downwards, streaking down right behind the Snitch. She slid a bit o her broom, but it was nothing she didn't expect. Ria immediately tightened her grip and forced herself to the right, spinning thrice as she slightly raised her body off her Nimbus to bleed off the excess momentum without any compromise.

Ria soon tucked herself against the broom once more, left hand outstretched and green eyes blind to all things except the Snitch. The world around her became a blur of colours, the winds whipped her hair and clothes as she gained speed and sounds turned so mute and yet so loud.

She felt like she was plunging in a tornado and the Snitch was the eye of the storm.

A golden bulls-eye with a green patch around it.

It was awesome! Exhilarating! And most definitely working!

Yes, the Snitch was coming closer and closer (or rather she was) and with a smack it hit the palm of her hand and she quickly closed her fingers around it and brought her hand back to her broom.

Elation fizzed in her chest like Butterbeer even as she worked on slowing her speed. Ria spun once before tugging the handle of the broom with all her might and pulling out of the dive.

'Whew! Another fifteen feet, and I'd have been a huge splat on the ground,' the green eyed sometimes-adrenaline-junkie thought despite her wide grin. Abruptly, she felt her ears pop and almost burst as the raucous sound of applause, whoops, yells and roaring of the crowd broke out and made itself known to her. Ria felt giddy; high on the adrenaline rush and her capture of the Snitch.

"Seeker Robin's caught the Snitch! And an astounding catch if there ever was one. Gryffindor receives 150 points making a total of 210 points against Hufflepuff's 80 points. Well played Hufflepuff but the Lions win the first match of the Season. Congratulations! And what a spectacular victory it was! New moves and tactics promise a very eventful Season this year, folks! This is your commentator Julie Martin, Fifth Year Ravenclaw, signing off!"

Ria had caught the Snitch several times before, yet never this way; and after so much of grief and hardships, this light-hearted and ridiculous happiness bubbled in her for some reason. It was the most happy she felt in months.

She circled the pitch once, twice, reluctant to get off her broom, until she saw Lily and Alice on the pitch. Heart still soaring, she flew down and landed a few steps away and then ran to them. Ria flung herself on Lily hugging her hard and talking or rather babbling and squealing rapidly.

"LILY! Did you see me?! Merlin, that was so amazing – I don't even know why I never tried that move before! The wind and the speed and those spins and-and...and everything! . !" she was grinning so wide that her face felt like it was going to split. She let her go and hugged Alice, who had finally reached the pair, repeating the same thing.

"Ria!" she heard a familiar voice arriving next to her call out. Ria turned to him happily, her mouth frozen in a perpetual grin and she hugged him tightly, talking nineteen to dozen.

Poor Remus didn't think he had ever been more frightened in his life than when he had seen Ria nearly collide to the ground. When, at last, she landed, he ran fast to make sure that she was really alright.

He most definitely didn't think he would be hugged to an inch of his life, but it didn't matter, she was real and alive. With a sigh of deep relief, he hugged her back, almost desperately, letting her inane babble wash over him soothingly. Finally, she let him go but she kept talking.

Remus managed, with great difficulty, to focus on her saying, "…it was like after my first ever match – except, I didn't swallow and nearly choke it this time – it was like I did something great. I mean it felt great! Being in the air like that was just so-" she never got to finish her sentence since six "Robins!" sounded at once.

It seemed the rest of the team had arrived. Hardly being able to stand still, Ria launched herself at her teammates, congratulating them one by one before they turned and left feeling a bit bemused but also hyper. Apparently, her enthusiasm was contagious. The last two were Sirius and James. Ria had hugged the dog animagus tightly, catching him off guard. He looked surprised before he realised his oxygen supply was being cut-off and he gasped, "Robins, you're...choking me! Can't...breathe!"

She let him go with a sheepish smile, but Remus noted her eyes were still sparkling with joy. She did the same for James and started talking once again.

At first, James had wanted to yell at her for taking an unnecessary risk...again and scaring them silly. But then, he saw how energetic and bubbly she was. Her hands kept moving in wide gestures and she kept hopping slightly as if she felt restless. For a moment, James wondered where she got all her energy from since her breakfast was so meagre. She was certainly more animated than he had ever seen her.

Finally, he decided, what the heck, as long as she's happy and safe.

"Enough Robins," he told her commandingly; that made her stop short. He grinned at her, "If you keep nattering so much how am I supposed to congratulate you? That was one wicked dive! I'm really proud of you Ria!"

Her eyes widened and to his astonishment she hugged him again. This time, he thought he felt her tremble a bit, but he didn't have much time to speculate since she was called by Hooch.

"Ms Robins. Stop dawdling. You sustained an injury to your knee. You better go see the matron. Mr Lupin, please escort her to the Hospital Wing."

Ria nodded with an enthusiastic grin, handing her broom over to James before leaving with Remus to the Infirmary.

TBC

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