The next few weeks pass by in a blur. With all the assignments that are being piled on us, I rarely had a moment to think or relax. Patrols with Aaron had gone back to normal: awkward and silent. I avoided Hestia and Jacob as best I could. The only real enjoyment I've had in the past little while have been the rare evening when I don't have patrols or a mountain of homework; I usually spend this time reading novels (mostly muggle ones, since I find they're so incredibly imaginative) and sometimes I'll spend the evening chatting aimlessly about everything and nothing with Stacey and Penelope. Quidditch practices are also enjoyable, but only when Aaron doesn't spend an hour beforehand lecturing us about strategy and team work.
Before I knew it, it was the week before Halloween, the week of the first Quidditch match of the season. Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw.
On the morning of the match, I wake up an hour before my alarm, and unable to get back to sleep I resign myself to waking up at such an indecent hour and go take a shower and get changed. By then the sun has come up and I head downstairs for some breakfast. As I walk into the Great Hall, a few Slytherins sneer at me and a Hufflepuff girl I know vaguely from Astronomy gives me a thumbs-up and a smile. It takes a good deal of effort to smile back at her, an I hurry over to the Gryffindor table before anyone else can catch my eye. Thankfully there was no one else at the table yet. I put my head in my hands, take a deep breath, and try to relax. One would think that after three years of playing on the team, I would have gotten used to this by now. But no. My pre-game butterflies were all present and accounted for, and I could not stop my leg from jiggling up and down nervously beneath the table. On top of the regular pressure and nerves, Jacob would be playing today on Ravenclaw's team, and I was completely dreading being so close to him, even in the midst of a game. I chew my all-bran cereal slowly, noticing that it tastes like cardboard but not really caring enough to switch to something better. Slowly, groggy looking and yawning students begin to trickle down and soon the Great Hall is alive and loud; there's a nervous buzz in the air that's always present before a game.
I see Aaron get up from his spot at the far end of the table. He begins locating and talking to all the members of the team sitting in their various places. When he'd finished talking to Timmy and Simon, he hesitates; I'm the last one. I watch him shake his head firmly, obviously deciding that the game was more important that our unspoken agreement of silence. He strides over to me and stopps a half a meter away. Stacey and Penelope immediately stop chatting to listen in.
"You look awful" he says.
"Thanks" I mutter, not in the mood to think of a better comeback. I lift my hands to rub the purplish bags under my eyes.
He sighs. "What've you eaten?"
"Cereal and pumpkin juice, mum" I respond. I watch as he runs a hand through his dark brown hair nervously.
"You should've eaten eggs. Protein, y'know?"
"I don't think my lack of protein is going to be the problem." I respond, a slight hint of sarcasm in my voice, although he ignores it.
"Right. Well, that's ok. Just relax, we're going to do well, we've practiced hard." It sounds like he's trying to convince himself as much as he's trying to convince me. I don't respond, and still muttering, he turns away and walks back to his seat by Patel and Neil.
"Well that wasn't awkward at all" giggles Stacey as soon as Aaron is out of earshot.
"All right team, here we go!" Aaron calls our attention in the changing room. "Perfect flying conditions out there, not too sunny. Smith, catch the snitch as quickly as you can. Let's do this quickly, cleanly, and with minimal damage. And don't let anything distract you out there." He looks pointedly at me when he says this, and I know he's also thinking about Jacob who will be playing Beater for Ravenclaw. "Ok, let's go!" He finished.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team! Lead by captain Aaron Everard, who plays chaser" yells Ernie Flood into the charmed microphone.
"Captains, shake hands" instructs Professor Blanche, the flying teacher. As usual, the captains look more like they're trying to break one another's fingers.
"And they're off!" shouts Ernie. The quaffle goes straight to Herald, the Ravenclaw chaser. He passes to Reginald, and OH intercepted by Cosgrow, the Gryffindor chaser. She passes to Boscawen, who narrowly dodges a bludger sent her way by sent her way by Davis" I seethed and tried to control my anger. Just a game. He's a beater. That's his job.
"Boscawen passes to Everard, who passes back to Cosgrow, who takes the shot and…10 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR!" Wild cheering erupts from one side of the stands.
"Uh oh! It seems Bradeur, the Ravenclaw seeker has caught sight of the Snitch. He's racing across the field after it, and Smith is not far behind." The stadium goes quiet and even all the other players freeze in midair. All eyes are on the two seekers. I watch with dread, my heart hammering as Bradeur goes for the Snitch, realizing that Pierre isn't going to make it. Carl Herald takes advantage of the frozen situation to score another point. Patel, who also had his eyes fixed on the seekers, lunged much too late and swore loudly as Ernie announced "20 Ravenclaw, 10 Gryffindor. The seekers are still going at it. Bradeur has a good lead."
Suddenly, the spell is broken. Timmy sends a bludger towards Bradeur, which hits him hard in the shoulder. It looks very painful, but at least it knocked him off course. However, Bradeur's sudden stop caused Pierre to veer off to the left in order to avoid a collision, and the Snitch is once again lost.
The game goes on for a while longer. I score a goal and Aaron scores two. Patel saves two out of the three shots, leaving us in the lead with 40 to 30. I dodge another bludger, this time sent by Grangley, the other Ravenclaw beater and Aaron avoids a particularly vicious one sent by Jacob, but Sheryl is hit in the arm by a bludger sent by Grangley and hovering not too far off, I hear the sickening crunch of a breaking bone and her moan of pain. She stays in the game, but Aaron and I avoid passing to her. Finally just as things seem to be getting desperate, Pierre goes into a deep dive with Bradeur right on his heels. Again, the entire stadium freezes. The two seekers race down almost at a 90 degree angle. I watch and notice that there's little chance that Bradeur will catch it, he seems to be struggling just to keep up. Sure enough, the dive becomes too deep for him and he pulls out, narrowly missing hitting one of his team members. Now it's all a matter of Pierre being able to catch it. As he dives lower and lower, the ground gets nearer, and the entire stadium is holding its breath. He pulls out at the absolute last moment, mere inches from crashing headfirst into the ground…in his hand is the Golden Snitch.
The noise from the stands is deafening, and for the first time in a while, my heart feels as light as a cloud. I race down to the pitch and jump on top of the great pile of bodies that is the Gryffindor team, other than Sheryl of course, who was immediately escorted to the hospital wing by Professor Blanche once the match had ended. I get up and am just thrown back down to the ground when Stacey runs full speed at me and tackles me to the ground, squealing all the while. Penelope is right behind her and joins our hug on the grassy earth. In a blur of noise, chanting, cheering and triumph, the Gryffindors all go back up to our common room for the first victory party of the season. The most satisfying part is, as I'm walking up to the castle with the red and gold chanting crowd, I glimpse Jacob and another Ravenclaw walking to the changing rooms, obviously seething and muttering darkly.
In the common room, I sit with Penelope and Stacey on the old burgundy love-seat amid the chaos of the party; my grin stretches from ear to ear, and I do nothing to try and control it. I look around to see how the rest of the team is celebrating our victory; Sheryl, with her newly mended arm in a cast, is talking animatedly with her friends on the other side of the room, Pierre is nowhere to be found so I suspect he's off 'celebrating' with his girlfriend Alice Gwenler somewhere secluded, Timmy and Simon are setting off a mini fireworks display to the amusement of many on-lookers, and Aaron and Adnin are re-telling the match, play by play, to a group of giggling girls who are obviously not listening and are much more interested in the two blokes themselves rather than the match.
The party lasts all day, and well into the night. Around midnight, Stacey and Penelope say goodnight and head upstairs. I stay in the common room where there are still a handful of people left, discussing the match with Sheryl. At 1 am, she goes up to her dormitory as well. Maybe it's the spiked pumpkin juice, or the excitement of the match, but as soon as Sheryl leaves, I suddenly feel extremely sleepy. My eyes start to droop and I curl up right there on the couch. I was just dozing off when I hear a voice calling my name.
"Boscawen! Oi, Boscawen!"
"Wha-?" I sit up in a hurry.
"Go up to bed Boscawen, it's late." Adnin says as winks suggestively at me. Aaron elbows him, but says nothing. Rolling my eyes, I get up and head off to bed.
Author's Note
Slightly longer chaper than usual...is that better or not? Tell me what you think by leaving a review! Constructive critisism is always appreciated! :D