Back from vacation, back to my comp, my Internet connection and settled back in my pace at work. Time to resume working on 'Staff of Merlin'. Thanks for everyone's patience and, hopefully, I haven't lost too many of you guys on the way.

Okay, bit of a history lesson, here.

This particular chapter was part of the very first draft of the story, when I started to write it, nearly ten years ago, (HOLY... that long? I'm feeling my age, right now, ouch!). Anyway, I had to change a few things around it, because of the people involved, etc. But I hadn't altered it that much. Only in this draft have I truly changed the events taking place here. I'll explain what I changed later.

I devoted the entire chapter to the Quidditch game, because in terms of dynamics, I needed a break at some point.

Consider that in the first version, the previous two chapters and this one were only one chapter! But, since then I added the 'Remus/Tonks' plot, the view of 'boys and girls' by Rob, the truth about Julie, Kalindra's POV, Alwena (who was absent from the early drafts), and the entire Silver Quill storyline! Now you can truly estimate the changes to the story since I first wrote it.

Not to mention the English that was just awful. I hope I did better, about this. Still open for offers of a Beta reader, there!

Here we go.

The Wild Snitch

Gryffindor versus Slytherin... This was the first regular event of the year. And as usual, the tension between Gryffindor and Slytherin was reaching peaks. It had now become a tradition for them to hate each other. Julie had once told Kenneth about supporters of two French Muggle soccer teams, Paris and Marseille. Whatever their position in the ranks of the Championship may be, the games between the two teams were always very tense and important for everyone, and the mood was, on the whole, hateful.

Sometimes, Kenneth wondered if this rivalry between Slytherin and Gryffindor wasn't going too far. And then he thought of Macke and Donahue and some part of him replied that the jerks had started it. That this part of him was pretty childish wasn't lost on Kenneth, of course, but sometimes, you can't fight your nature.

Terry Longwand was the new team's seeker. Since his return from the Hogsmeade trip, he had been so stressed up about his upcoming first game for the team, that he had been trying to dispel his agitation by taking it out in the common room, bouncing around the place, making jokes he hoped would be funny. Kenneth liked Terry very much, so he didn't have the heart to tell him he had been annoying to the point his own housemates had wished that he got in an accident during today's game.

Of course that sentiment hadn't lasted. Now, as Kenneth was settled in the stands of the Quidditch pitch, waiting for the game to begin, his entire House was showing their support to their new Seeker. Terry had some impressive shoes to fill. Since the days of Harry Potter, all the seekers of Gryffindor had upheld a proud tradition of being reckless, talented flyers. Kenneth could vouch for the reckless side of Terry, and now the 'talented' bit would be put to the test.

The players had all taken their positions, and the snitch was released. Brandt and Terry defied each other one last time, with one long look. Madam Hooch released the bludgers, and then engaged the Quaffle, blowing her whistle.

Julie caught the red ball immediately and started to fly right at the hoops. Soon, she had scored one superb goal. Kenneth cheered with the others, his eyes fixed on Julie. She seemed a little tired. The fact that Kenneth would spot this did annoy him. It's not like he wanted to pay attention. Actually, he had been trying to push his mind away from her since the beginning of term, but he was failing miserably. So, of course, he would see immediately, even from across the Quidditch pitch, that she hadn't been sleeping well.

With a sigh of annoyance, he tore his eyes from her to focus on Terry. As he looked at him flying, he had to admit that the kid was good. He was at least as good as Brandt, his direct opponent, and was managing some pretty wild figures.

Will Thornhill scored another Goal, and the Gryffindor stands cheered again. They were all hoping for a victory like last year, with a scoring gap that had entered history.

Kenneth saw Terry dive after something, but the snitch suddenly made a wild turn, and got out of his reach.

Too bad, thought Kenneth. Maybe next try.

He hoped that Terry would catch the snitch and win the game on his own. The first game in the team was always the most important. To end it on a victory would be good for him.

"What's wrong with this thing?" exclaimed Ian, his eyes riveted on his binoculars.

The Snitch had once more flown suddenly out of reach. The game had been on for a long while, now. Gryffindor was still in the lead, but Terry seemed to be losing patience with this snitch.

"What are you talking about?" said Kieran.

"That's the sixth time the snitch evades Terry," said Ian.

"Ian, the snitch always evades the seekers," said Kieran. "That's kind of the point, there."

"No, you don't get it," said Ian. "Each time Terry heads for it, even from the other side of the pitch, the snitch goes the exact opposite way. It doesn't make sense."

"Give me those," said Kieran, taking the binocular and focusing on the snitch as bets as she could.

She looked intensely for a long moment, and when Terry took a wild turn, then stopped, looking disappointed, Kieran jerked her head off the binoculars.

"You're right, something's wrong!" she said. "I shouldn't even be able to follow its moves. It's not flying normally."

"What could be altering it?" asked Joel.

"It has to be someone on the pitch," said Kieran. "Madam Hooch always checks the balls before any game."

Ian grabbed the binoculars, struck by some intuition. He pointed them to the Slytherin stands, trying to get a view of Macke. But the Slytherin boy was waving wildly at the players, laughing at Terry, who still seemed to make the snitch flee before him. Maybe Ian had been wrong.

But then, Ian had second thoughts and went straight at Macke's right. And then he saw it. Venansius was holding his wand and muttering silently, giving swift swishes of his wand from time to time.

"Joel, look at the snitch, and tell me if it changes course… now!" said Ian.

"Yes," confirmed Joel. "How could you know? What's going on?"

"Venansius is jamming the snitch," said Ian. "I've got to warn someone."

"I guess you won't have to," said Kieran, pointing to the teachers' stand.

Ian followed his gaze and saw Kenneth making his way to Professor Potter, looking outraged.

To say Kenneth was outraged was putting it mildly. He had caught the strange behaviour of the snitch at the very beginning of the game. But then he had caught sight of Venansius, waving his wand at it. He had made his way discretely among the students, and reached the stands where Professor Potter and his friends seemed puzzled.

"I don't get it," he said to his friend Ron Weasley. "Terry has great reflexes, he should have caught it already."

"I agree, this is odd. It seems to react to his very thoughts," said Mr Weasley.

"It's not, Sir," said Kenneth, from below them.

Professor Potter lowered his gaze to Kenneth.

"Venansius is jamming it," said Kenneth, holding him his binoculars.

Professor Potter frowned, and pointed the binoculars at the Slytherin stands. Kenneth saw the snitch do another wild move.

"That son of a…"

"Language, Harry!" said Professor Weasley, behind him.

"Venansius is cheating," said Potter.

"What?" exclaimed McGonagall.

"This is preposterous," said Professor Snape.

"Harry's right," said Professor Lockenburn. "I can sense the magic between him and the snitch."

Dumbledore looked suddenly very displeased.

"We must call off the game," he said.

"How do you intend to prove the treachery?" asked Snape, on a mocking tone, as he looked at Potter and Lockenburn.

"Simple," said the Entropist, standing up. "If anyone is connected to the spells acting on these balls, you'll agree with me that he will receive a feedback shock, won't you?"

Snape nodded darkly.

"Good," said Lockenburn, standing up.

He then waved his hands.

"FINITE INCANTATEM PALLAE!" he shouted.

From his fingers, lines of light went to hit the balls in flight. The two bludgers stopped their course and fell right on the pitch, motionless. The snitch did the same, but a wave followed a trace on to Venansius' wand. The young Slytherin was struck by the shockwave and collapsed on his bench, knocked out.

"There you have your proof," said Lockenburn.

Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands, as all the eyes were rising up to him. The players were stupefied, floating on their broom, not knowing what to do.

"This game is called off," announced Dumbledore, his voice magnified. "There's evidence of treachery from Mr Venansius, with an illegal tampering of the snitch course. The game will have to be postponed and replayed. The players are asked to get on the ground immediately."

A very heavy silence fell on the stadium, as the players were heading for the ground, eyeing each other in consternation. Tension began to rise, as they were processing the information. Then, suddenly, comprehension was heard in the stands, and there was a loud clamour of protest from the Gryffindor stand, joined by some Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff.

"We're in trouble," said Mr Weasley.

Professor Potter nodded sadly. Kenneth followed his gaze and saw some agitation on the various stands. Some people were heading for the pitch, looking enraged. And in the middle of the pitch, a rather confused Madam Hooch was trying to keep the mood calm, as both the teams were looking at each other with awkward looks. The Slytherins looked defensive, as if they were trying to show they weren't involved.

The Gryffindor were growing louder and louder. Kenneth saw that Julie had never looked this furious. And finally, William Thornhill, the Chaser, let out the words that inflamed it all.

"You lousy cheaters!" he spat. "Not even able to win on your own!"

"Hey, don't you call us cheaters!" roared Trenton.

One could feel the tension that was rising on the pitch. Kenneth could see both of the teams moving toward each other, in an aggressive stance.

"All players are to return immediately to their changing rooms!" said McGonagall through her megaphone.

But it changed nothing. And from the stands, people were now reaching the pitch, willing to join in the confrontation.

Kenneth suddenly took his decision. He waved his wand and created an ice slide, leading from the teachers' stand to the pitch. A nice trick taught by Professor Potter. He threw himself in the slide and reached the ground quickly. He ran to the players, who were decidedly walking toward each other, fist clenched.

He stepped between Julie and Brandt, who was looking very threatening.

"Will you cut out the nonsense?!" he spat.

"Get out the way, Lionheart!" said Brandt. "She called me a cheater!"

"Well, who could blame her?!" Kenneth shot back. "Venansius isn't from Gryffindor, is he?"

Brandt stopped, eyes widened. He must have realised that the treachery was clearly pointing at his team.

"We have nothing to do with that," he said.

"Good," said Kenneth. "So you won't need to fight over this. You'll just replay the game, and that will be it."

He shot looks to the different ends of the pitch, seeing Gryffindors and Slytherins getting on the lawn, looking furious.

"Look, Brandt," he said. "You've got to talk to your pals. We can't have a fight in the middle of the pitch."

Brandt nodded and turned to his team. He then started to call for calm. Kenneth was relieved to see that he was able to hear the voice of reason.

Julie was still looking furious. She was about to tell off Kenneth for his intervention. He knew her argument… that she was able to take care of herself on her own. But that wasn't the point of his intervention. He hadn't stopped that because he thought she wasn't strong enough.

"You may be able to defend yourself, Julie," said Kenneth, before she could speak. "But you can't start a fight or this will turn into a complete disaster, here. You understand me?"

Julie seemed to ponder what he said. Then she breathed out deeply and nodded. She was now trying to get her calm back. Kenneth was relieved by that.

Kenneth looked around and stood in the way of most of Gryffindors, who were now marching to the Slytherins. His housemates stopped dead, suddenly undecided. They knew what he was able to do. They didn't dare to get too close, before they knew what he had in mind.

"Alright, you get back to the Castle, all of you!" he said. "And the same goes for you," he added turning to the Slytherins.

"Don't you give us orders!" spat Trenton.

"He's right," said a young Gryffindor from the other side. "You're no teacher."

"Shut up, will you?" said Will Tyler, stepping out of the crowd, his prefect badge in plain sight. "You do as he says."

"And the same goes for you guys," said the voice of Donahue, who appeared from the ranks of Slytherins.

He was looking quite decided.

"There will be no fight," he told his housemates. "You may not care about it, but if you lose us the House cup by a fight, I'll make sure to make your life so miserable, you'll wish never to have come to that school. So move it, now!"

These words seemed to have some impact on the Slytherin. Kenneth was, even if the thought disgusted him, thankful to Donahue for his intervention. Only he had the influence to stop this.

"Look at that, a snake talking to snakes!" exclaimed Warren Foxworth, a Gryffindor Fifth year.

"Watch your mouth, Gryffindor!" said a Slytherin with a huge square jaw, pulling out his wand from his robes.

Foxworth reacted by pulling out his own wand in a second and they stood there, starting to gather their will for a hex.

That couldn't be allowed.

"Stop that!" Kenneth shouted, reacting in a lightfast movement.

He slashed his own wand in the air, and the two wands flew out of the hands of the Gryffindor and the Slytherin. They both looked at him, with eyes like galleons. Kenneth put the wands in his pocket.

"This is going far enough," he said.

"But…" began Julie, behind him.

"No way," said Kenneth. "You won't fight because of a Game of Quidditch, okay?"

"They cheated!" shouted Terry, furious.

"Shut up!" snapped Kenneth. "Venansius cheated. Only Venansius. So far, that's all we know."

"Mr Lionheart is right," said the voice of Dumbledore, from the stands.

It was again magically enhanced so anyone could hear it. The groups of students stopped dead on their walk to the middle of the pitch, to look up to the Headmaster.

"Everyone is to go back to the Castle. I don't want to see any trouble on your way back," he said.

Donahue reached Julie.

"Come on, Julie," he said. "Let's give the right example before things get mad, here."

Kenneth turned to Donahue, surprised he had such a good idea. A Slytherin and a Gryffindor walking back together to the Castle, especially a leader like Donahue and the famous Chaser of Gryffindor, would have a good impact to relax the situation. He nodded to Donahue. Julie had a look from one to the other. Then she nodded, too, and followed Donahue to the exit of the pitch.

As much as he hated the sight of the two together, it was the best way out of this dead end. Some people were following their example. The teachers were still looking tense, as if they were expecting something.

Kenneth couldn't draw his eyes from Donahue and Julie, walking away, as the symbol of calm and peace. That thought was so ridiculous that suddenly, Kenneth felt defiant. And as to prove his thoughts, Donahue turned slightly to him, and made a short wave of his hand, with a little cunning smile.

Kenneth was then suddenly hit by a Spell right in the back. He fell on the floor, his head hitting the grass. It flet like he had been struck by lightning, power running through his body. He let out a scream of pain.

"Kenneth!" shouted both Kalindra and Mandy.

"They hit him in the back!" shouted William Martins, the second Beater.

"Get them!" said George Taylor, one seventh year, with a scream of rage.

"No," said Kenneth.

But his voice was less than a whisper. All around him, he could only hear violent footsteps sounds and the noise of a huge fight starting.

"Stop it this instant!" shouted Madam Hooch angrily.

"STOP IT, ALL OF YEH!" snarled Hagrid.

But it was no use. The madness was complete. The War on the Pitch was now a pure literal term.

"What the hex are they thinking?" said Harry, jumping from the stands, into the slide created by Kenneth.

He landed in the middle of the fury. He looked up at Dumbledore, who nodded sadly. Harry pulled out his wand and started stunning the most violent fighters. At his side, looking very tense, Snape was doing the same.

Most of students were only using their fists, which was a good thing. But some of them had pulled out their wands and were casting jinxes and hexes as fast as they could.

Harry aimed at them in priority, but they were hiding among others. This was nonsense! Harry saw Hermione land right next to him and wave her wand cautiously, trying not to hurt anyone.

"If I catch the one who cast that spell…" said Harry between his teeth.

"Hurry up, then," said Hermione, "because if I find them before you, they're dead meat."

As soon as the spell had hit Kenneth, Julie had turned to see his fall on the grass of the pitch. Her heart froze in her chest. No! This couldn't be! She saw Kenneth stir a little, and saw that he was alive, but soon, his silhouette was lost in the flurry of robes from the others, who were charging in the fight.

She tried to head back to the Pitch, but Robert pulled her strongly.

"No, you must stay here," he said. "Hell broke loose in there."

"Let me go, Robert!" she said.

"Julie, I won't have you risk your life in that madness," said Robert, strongly.

"He's right, Miss Carteret," said Professor Sinistra, who was passing them, ushering terrified students that were fleeing the fight toward the Castle. "Come with me, this instant. We need to keep you safe. You are way too exposed here, and we don't know who could be on the grounds today."

Julie knew that she was right. She was still a target. The Hogwarts ground were opened for the Quidditch games, so someone may be watching her. If she got caught in the fight, it would be giving them a shot at capturing her. She knew all that, but the fierce grip on her heart wasn't letting go.

Kenneth was there, possibly hurt, and she couldn't let that happen.

Sinistra caught her arm and began to pull her toward the Castle.

"No! Let me go!" protested Julie.

"I will not, Miss Carteret," said Sinistra. "Mister Donahue, help me, will you."

"Of course, Professor," said Robert, grabbing Julie's other arm.

She tried to resist, but she couldn't fight both Sinistra and Donahue's grip. She could only watch helplessly as the pitch was lost in the confusion of a general fight. She had lost sight of Kenneth.

How did things come to this? Where was Kenneth?

Merlin, please, protect him! she silently begged.

Kenneth was trying to get back on his feet, when another spell came to strike his back. He fell again on the floor, screaming. It was some sort of Shocking Spell, but this one was weaker. It had caught him completely by surprise, though.

But, the most important was that it was planned. Donahue had known this would happen. Kenneth was sure of it.

He could hear some strange sound. The third time he was hearing it... Another spell!

"Watch out, Kenneth! PROTEGO!" shouted a voice from above him.

Kenneth heard the sound of an explosion. He succeeded in raising his eyes.

Thierry was standing next to him, his staff raised. He had just blocked the third spell. Thierry suddenly ran to someone and knocked him out with a hit of his Staff right in the face. He had neutralized his attacker. Kenneth got slowly on his feet, getting back his wand from the ground.

He took a long look around him. The Pitch was the field of an epic battle between black sewed in green and the ones sewed in red and gold. They were fighting with bare hands, sticks of the banners and even wands. A Slytherin boy had his wand in his hand, and he was aiming at Thierry. Kenneth ran in the way, and blocked the jinx with his own wand. He walked on the Slytherin, a seventh year, who tried to hex him again and again. Kenneth was deflecting all of his attacks, most of the times on the ground. At some point, he allowed himself the luxury to make the spell rebound, and it went freezing another Slytherin who was trying to sneak in the back of Teddy Cage. Teddy was trying to separate a Hufflepuff who had joined the fight from a particularly aggressive Slytherin girl.

Kenneth reached Thierry's attacker. He disarmed him, and with a swift hook, threw him on the ground, where he laid down, knocked out. Kenneth took in the fight around him and saw his friends trying their best to separate other fighters. He saw Kalindra covering a group of younger students who were just trying to escape the mayhem. He caught a glimpse of Rob, who was pairing with Fields. Both of them were disarming student after student. Fields was pretty effective at it, too. It seemed that no matter their effort, though, the fight kept escalating.

Kenneth was about to jump into the fray again, when he had a sudden dizzy spell, and fell on his knees. He could feel the remainder of the spell still running through him. He felt hands on him.

"Kenneth, are you alright?" asked the voice of Professor Potter.

Kenneth felt himself fall in a dark pit. Everything faded away.

He hit the ground at some point. Or was it just an illusion?

All went black.

Harry turned to Hagrid.

"Take him back to the Castle," he said. "He'll need help from Poppy!"

"But yeh'll need me here," protested Hagrid.

"No," said Harry. "You're the only one who can bring him through this madness. And he needs urgent care."

Hagrid frowned, but nodded. He scooped Kenneth in his arms.

"Out of my way!" he roared.

That was quite efficient. The crowd parted, clearing the path for Hagrid. The break in the fight helped the teachers to stop some fighters from going on. Harry was relieved to see that Hagrid was obeying. He knew that he was careful and delicate, but in a fight with students, Hagrid wasn't really the perfect kind of moderator he needed. But he was the best way to carry Kenneth out of harm. A Shocker! Harry was outraged. Who could have done this? He aimed at some Gryffindor who was waving his wave dangerously. He disarmed him in a second. But still the row was going on, and at every moment, there could be serious injury.

"We're going nowhere," said Alexander, reaching Harry. "We must separate them."

"How do you propose we do that, exactly?" asked Harry, sarcastically.

At his words, there was a sudden stir in the air. There was a sudden pull and flocks of students were suddenly thrown away from each other. It was as if something had grabbed them by the scruff of their necks, and had pulled each house away from each other. The students landed roughly, taken completely by surprise by the sudden pull. Harry saw that the Gryffindors, the Ravenclaws and the Hufflepuffs were roughly on the same side, while the Slytherins had been thrown in the opposite direction.

But it wasn't enough to stop some fighters. They were already getting on their feet, and were already searching for their wands.

"ENOUGH!" shouted a deep voice.

And there was a loud rumble coming from the ground. Harry began to look around him, a little worried.

A huge wall made of stone, and earth, erupted from the middle of the pitch, the shaking from its emergence throwing everyone to the ground. Harry watched in awe as the natural wall was rising, and expanding, soon cutting the whole pitch in two. He turned to Alexander, who looked impressed, though he didn't look that surprised. Alexander nodded his head over his shoulder and Harry's eyes followed his indication. His jaw dropped at what he saw.

Albus Dumbledore was walking toward the wall, all traces of age absent from his way of moving. An echo awoke in Harry at this sight. Dumbledore stepping into the Atrium of the Ministry to face Voldemort, so many years ago, it seemed. Only in this moment had Harry truly felt the real power that could be wielded by Albus Dumbledore.

It seemed that the students had also forgotten this, because they were watching him in awe, as he levitated himself to the top of the wall. His eyes were furious, and that was more than enough to discourage any further fighting.

Harry noticed that if he did the counting of the students on the pitch, including the stunned ones, there was only a fifth of the whole school. Still it had been the worst fight in Hogwarts' History, if you excluded the ones that had taken place during the War.

He turned to Alexander, who had a curious smile.

"I know," he said. "Sometimes, it's easy to forget, right?"

"Yeah," said Harry. "Well, that should all refresh our memories."

"Wow," said Ron, coming by their side. "That was ruddy brilliant."

"I'll inform Albus of your appreciation, Ron," said Alexander, with a toothy grin.

"This is totally unacceptable," said Dumbledore, his voice clapping like thunder. "All students are to return immediately to the Castle. But before that, they will surrender their wand on this pitch. It will be given back to them, as soon as we will have determined who did what in this outrageous offence to school rules. Once we sorted things out, and trust me, we will, the culprits will be sentenced with a whole month of detention, and of course, they will be excluded from the Yule Ball. You are all dismissed!"

At this last note of fury, the students gave a start. They started to drop their wands, on both sides of the walls, and to head back to the Castle. Dumbledore floated down from the wall and opened the march, looking furious. Now that the fury of the fight had faded from the students' mind, they were starting to come to grips with the fact that they had screwed up big time, now.

As Dumbledore passed before them, Harry and Alexander had a wince, when they saw the awkward, if not downright terrified look of some of the students.

"And that's why he is in charge," said Alexander with a last flourish of his wand, that restored the pitch as it was before the fight began, the wall lowering back down into the dirt.

"Yep," said Ron, with a nod.

Harry wondered how they would even succeed in sorting the trouble makers from the ones who were trying to stop the fight, since he had seen some of those, during the battle.

But first things first. Harry turned to the spot where Venansius was lying, knocked out in the stands. Snape was heading his way, a very odd expression etched upon his face, given he was facing a Slytherin. Harry doubted he had ever seen him in that state of rage. He wondered if that was the expression he had on his face, when dealing with his father, James.

You're in for the big trouble, Venansius, he thought, and he wasn't enough of a hypocrite to say that thought wasn't pleasing. This little prat had plunged the whole school in chaos, over a little ball. Even with his career of Seeker behind him, Harry couldn't understand that the Cup justified such a treachery and such mayhem.

Anyway, like last year, this game was also about to enter history.

Aaand done!

Wheww, that was pretty intense! I know we're not exactly in the 'world in jeorpady' level of action, but that felt good to get back to a little fight, there.

About the incantation used by Alexander, 'Pallae' is based on the Latin base for ball. I just made the spell up. It targets the Finite Incantatem effect to the balls and only those.

Well, I hope you liked that. Next part needs heavy work, because of many changes in the storyline. I'll try to put it up as soon as I can.