One week had passed.
One week of intensive training.
One week of getting ready for the big game.
Ash was staring at her ceiling before she glanced at her bedside table and looked at her clock with a sigh. 8.00 o'clock in the morning. Time to get up.
Shoving herself off the bed, Ash grabbed her green Qudditch-outfit that she had hung on one of her bed posts and headed towards the shower.
Locking the door behind her she stripped naked, throwing her sleeping gear into one end of the corner, before letting the wonderful cooling sensation of the water on her bare skin take over her mind and emptying it of the very last sleep clinging onto her.
Letting a smile creep onto her face she thought about what happened in the last week and what would happen today.
They had gone through the most intense training she, herself, had ever been through. Everyday they had been on the field for at least two hours - reserving the pitch as often as they could and if they couldn't train on the field they had spend the rest of their spare time in the weight room to strengthen themselves and think of a few more tactics.
If this week really was enough, the Hufflepuffs would be defeated by a landslide.
After she had finished her shower she got out again and started drying off - magically drying her hair. Next she pulled on her Quidditch robes and pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail.
She allowed herself one last look at the mirror, before nodding and heading out the door. The green robes fit her perfectly and showed off her hour glass figure and highlighted the bright emerald colour of her eyes. Her strawberry blond ponytail fell over her left shoulder and contrasted the darker green of her robes and framed her near to perfect porcelain skin, only a few stray freckles across her nose and cheeks showed some imperfection. But her eyes had stayed the longest on her silver gleaming Captains badge that she wore the first time on a game. The badge that had belonged to Draco.
Walking out of the bathroom, she saw her room mates slowly wake up and getting ready for the day ahead themselves.
"I'll be seeing you at breakfast" Ash told Tracy with a small smile and walked out off the room, down the hall and through the door, entering the common room.
"Captain!" someone called from one end of the room, making Ash look up.
"Good Morning, Harper," she said seeing her new seeker. "Are you ready?"
"Yes, I can't wait," he said with a smile and walked next to her through the common room.
"Sis!" another voice called out to her, making her stop and turn around, waiting for Chase to reach them.
"You're up early," she commented with a grin.
"I couldn't sleep at all! Way too excited!"
Ash laughed happily, shaking her head. "Its only Hufflepuff!" she said and rolled her eyes.
Chase nodded. "You're right... but its the first time to try our new constellation."
"That's true..." Ash whispered and let her eyes wander towards Harper, who had run ahead a few steps.
+++++++++++
"Welcome back to the first Quidditch game of the new year! Slytherin versus Hufflepuff!" Amanda shouted into her microphone while the players walked onto the pitch.
Before they stood in the centre of the pitch, Ash turned around one last time to look at her team mates. "Don't forget. We want to win this game, try to get as many points as possible."
The chasers looked at each other with a grin and nodded at her proudly.
"Good," she said confidently and walked up to Madam Hooch.
"Captains shake your hands." Ash held up her hand for Hufflepuffs captain to take, which he took rounghly. "I want a fair game!" Hooch added and looked at Ash intensely, making her scowl.
Quickly they all got on their brooms and as the Quaffle was thrown into the sky, the players shot after it.
"And the game begins!" Amanda shouted over the roar of the crowd. "Breaker caught the ball - throws it to Montague- he throws it to Donot - Donot shoots towards the goals, but Applebee interfers-No Donot passed to Breaker again who had found her way next to the Hufflepuffs Keeper Fleet. -Breaker catches and SCORES! 10-0 for Slytherin in the first minute!"
"Applebee caught the ball behind the posts and is now racing towards the goal. But a Bludger by Weasley hits the Quaffle out of his arms! Orion catches the falling Quaffle and passes it to Montague! Again a Slytherin beater catches the Quaffle! One should finally check out if thats legal!" Amanda commented and looked behind her at Professor Flitwick that was seated behind her. He just shrugged.
"Montague shoots towards the Hufflepuff goals once again and this time Catwallander is challanging him, trying to grab the Quaffle out of the Slytherins grasp. - Montague throws the Quaffle towards Breaker - Breaker to Montague again - Montague to Donot - Donot to Montague - Montague towards the goal! 20-0 for Slytherin! The Slytherin Chasers seem to be on the roll once again!
"Catwallander has the Quaffle again passes it to Apple- No Donot intercepted and is once again racing towards the Hufflepuffs goals. - What's that? Hufflepuffs Beater Rickett tries to stop Donot with a Bludger, but the Bludger is thrown off course by being hit by another Bludger shot by Slytherins new team Captian Ash Weasley.
"Donot flies towards the goals - Fleet tries to stop her with a foward attack - Donot lets the Quaffle fall! But Breaker is already there to catch it and throw it into the open goals. Montague is behind the goals, waiting. He hits the quaffle with his broom, shooting it back to Breaker who throws again, while Fleet tries to race back to the goal and stop this play. And again Monatgue and Breaker - But Fleet manages to catch the Quaffle. 40-0 for Slytherin in the first 10 minutes of the game!
"Now Zacharias Smith is trying to score a goal in the Slytherin section - But Orion wont let him. Already a Bludger is on the way! Score for Orion. The bludger caught Smith square in the chest and he is falling off the broom!" Amanda called "But whats that? Weasley is shooting down through the air and caught Smith! The Slytherin saved the Hufflepuff!"
"Quickly she flies toward the ground and is giving the hurting Smith to one of the Professors - seems the hit was stronger than anticipated. Smith is out of the game!"
"Weasley is back in the game and sees that Harper is racing somewhere! It seems as if Harper - the new Seeker in Slytherin - saw the Golden Snitch! Summerby sees his race and chases after him - Summerby is catching up! But Harper looks confused! He lost sight of the Golden Snitch! And Summerby passes him - But doesn't know where to look either! The game is still on!
"Applebee has the Quaffle again! and is racing towards Bole! But Bole catches the Quaffle and throws it at Montague. Montague has the Quaffle - kicks it hard to Breaker, who weaves in and out of the opponents - she throws back to Montague - he stops while the Hufflepuff team rushes past him - the Hufflepuff chasers turn while Montague throws the Quaffle to Donot who leaps into the air and scores! Breaker catches it and drop kicks it back towards Montague - Montague jumps from his broom - HEADBUTTS it into the hoop! Again they perfected and showed us this years perfect team play on the pitch! Another 20 points for Slytherin! The score is now 60-0 for Slytherin." Amelia shouts into the loudspeaker in front of her. "By the way, I researched a bit and this tactic is used by the German National team! Seems like our Slytherins are aiming big this year!"
"Catwallander has the Quaffle and is passing it to Applebee, who passes back to Catwallander - Applebee - Catwallander - Applebee - Catwallander - Appl- Donot interferes and the game goes back to the Hufflepuffs side of the field.
"By the looks of it, this game will be a very one sided game. Weasley got her Chasers in top form!"
"And the Slytherins score again! The score is now 140-0 for the Slytherins. Not once were Applebee and Catwallander able to make it through the perfect defences by the Beaters and Bole, while the Slytherin Chasers score one goal after the other. Fleet has no chance of stopping the hail of Quaffles rushing his way!"
"Oh, the Seekers are moving again! Harper and Summerby seem to have found the Snitch at the same time. They are rushing towards the ground by the Slytherin goals at the same time!
"The players see this - but the Slytherins don't stop their attack. Donot charges at the goals and scores! 150-0 For Slytherin - all the while Harper and Summerby are racing side by side towards the snitch! Harper is a bit faster he reaches out his hand and tries to snatch the snitch" Amanda held her breath for a second as she saw Harper reaching out and closing his hands around the golden Snitch, but Summerby's hand reached out for Harpers broom, pulling him back a bit, making Harpers broom loose momentum. At that jerking moment, Harper let go of the snitch and Summerby use this time to reach out for the snitch and close his hand around the Golden Snitch.
"Summerby catches the snitch! The game ends with the score of 150-150... The match Slytherin against Hufflepuff ends in a tie!"
The Hufflepuffs cheered as the rest of the crowd stayed silent in shock. Sure they didn't want the Slytherins to win but... they were clearly the better team in this match... still now they only ended it with a tie?
"Summerby fouled him!" Weasley called out and raced up to Hooch to make her blow her whistle.
"I didn't see that," Hooch told her
"But it was clear! why else would that broom suddenly jerk like that!? Summerby pulled on the broom!"
"Now, now dear! I said that I did not see it. I can't give a foul that I didn't see."
"But!"
"No buts. I'm the judge here. One wrong move and it could be worse then tying."
Ash stared at the teacher in shock, before cursing and flying away from her before she would do something stupid. On the way she stopped Bole and Orion on their way to her as well.
"Stop it. There's nothing we can do. She didn't see it." Ash growled. "Lets check on Harper if he's alright."
"But-" Orion started.
"No buts! If we do something she'll find a way to make us lose this game instead of tie it!" she yelled and flew towards the ground.
No one was sure if it had really been a foul or not, but Hooch didn't blow the whistle.
When they reached the ground, Ash jumped of her broom furiously and rushed over to Harper.
"You alright there?"
"Yeah... But that git just pulled my broom!"
"I know. I saw it." Ash said with her lips in a tight line. She was looking over at the cheering Hufflepuffs, who where energetically throwing their Seeker up in the air.
Letting go of Harpers shoulder, Ash stomped to the other team. Getting a tight grip on Applebee - the Hufflepuffs captain - she swiftly forced him to turn around to look at her. She would have loved to slam his grinning face into the nearest wall, but she caught herself and willed to stay calm.
"Congratulations," she said through her teeth with a small forced smile and held out her hand for the Hufflepuff to shake.
Surprised Applebee took her hand with a smile of his own. "Wow, I didn't think that a Slytherin would ever congratulate someone after losing."
Ash's eye twitched slightly. "We didn't lose, we tied."
Applebee looked at Ash mockingly before leaning towards her and saying: "In Quidditch there is no real tie. The one with the Snitch is always the winner. Hence, you're the loser here."
Seeing red Ash attacked. Without a second thought she let her fist rush into the guts of the Huffflepuff. When he sank to the ground in surprise, she flung herself on top of the boy and began pounding her fists one after the other into his face. She let all of her pent up frustration hail down on the boy underneath her. The anger of not winning this game. The anger about his words. The anger that she felt towards Draco. The anger that she felt ever since the death of her parents. It all came out of her at once, and she didn't stop it as she used all of her strength to mash up her opponents face.
Only seconds later she could feel herself being ripped of the Chasers body and she managed only one more kick into his crotch before she was dragged to far away.
Seeing his pained expression, she let herself slump in exhaustion and be dragged away without a fight.
"Weasley! In my office! Now!" Snape bellowed as her team mates finally let go of her again and she was standing 10 yards away form the Hufflepuff team.
Looking up at her red faced professor, she mentally slapped herself for flipping and glanced back at her concerned team mates. "Don't do anything stupid," she joked with a loop sided grin as she started to follow the professor back to the castle.
"What was that, Weasley?" the professor asked loudly when they entered his room and the door had closed behind them.
"Applebee challenged it."
"Do I look like I care?" he bellowed and paced the room. "You're a Slytherin! It's finally time you start behaving like one!"
"And how do they behave? Back-stab and bow to some freak in a cloak?"
"What did you just say?"
"You heard me."
The professor fell silent and looked at his student. "What do you mean?" he asked, finally sitting down on his seat and gesturing for her to copy him.
"I don't mean anything... It just slipped..."
"But what did you mean?"
Ash shifted uncomfortably on her seat. "It's... It's common knowledge that most of the Death Eaters are Slytherins..." she mumbled silently. "Not that I mean, all of the Slytherins are Death Eaters! I mean I ain't one and I know loads that don't agree with the Death Eater believes either... but... yeah... it just slipped... with the building tension and everything," she tried to amend her words helplessly when she saw the professor frown at her.
Seeing that he was still frowning, she let out a defeated sigh and asked quietly "Could we go back to Quidditch?"
The professor stayed quiet for another minute, just staring at her, before nodding. "What exactly did the Hufflepuff say to provoke you?"
"That we lost. That our team is the 'Loser'... That git knew exactly that his stupid Seeker only got the snitch by fouling Harper! I saw it in his face. And then he has the nerve to call my team a Loser, when I was trying to be nice and civil by congratulating them!" Ash said furiously, jumping from her seat when she remembered his words.
"Sit down, Weasley," Snape reminded her and continued when she followed his order. "I know you're angry, but you have to calm down again," shaking his head slightly, he stood up and got something out off his cabinet. Carefully he handed it to her.
"Its a calming draught," Snape told her, while sitting down again. "Normally you're a very focused, clear minded and rational girl. In your normal mental state you would have just smirked and make him pay later, with one of your little pranks - yes we know all to well about all your little plans and pranks, their quite entertaining at times - but today..." Snape shook his head. "Today you were rash, stupid, you didn't think. The only reason to explain this is that something is bothering you. Some kind of frustration is building up in you and is hindering you from thinking calmly. Use the potion and try to work it out rationally."
Looking down on the floor, Ash nodded her head.
"As for your punishment... I'll try to make Hooch not take away all of you points that you made this year. But you'll have to serve detention for at least a week. I want to see you straight after your classes in my office, understood?"
Ash nodded her head again and stood up to walk out of the door.
"Good day, Professor"