To start the weekend well, here is a fresh chapter today.
Game Day
In the coming week, the upcoming Quidditch match was the number one topic of conversation. Gryffindor faced off against Slytherin.
"We are well prepared. How about you?", Al asked his brother, looking at him provocatively. Both of them, as well as the Malfoy siblings, ran to the Room of Requirement.
"We're going to break your winning streak. Get ready to write Father that you've lost," James returned.
"That's not even possible. We train every day. What about you guys?", Al persisted.
"Our training is secret. We don't want to give away our strategy, after all." He looked over his shoulder and grinned at Maxym. The latter rolled her eyes playfully. She had grown used to the Potter brothers' banter.
"Pah, secret strategy. As if. You guys are planning something," Al drew attention again.
"Yeah, yeah. If we win once, it'll be cheating right away. You'll see." Albus retort failed to materialise as they arrived at the Room of Requirement and entered.
"Well, what are you two discussing so animatedly?" asked Sirius.
"They're arguing about who's going to win the upcoming match," Scorp explained.
"A Quidditch match?" This piqued James' interest.
"Yeah, Slytherin versus Gryffindor," Maxym chipped in.
"And you're all playing?" Lily joined in.
"Yep, Scorp as the beater and Maxym as the chaser. I'm the Seeker with Slytherin. Dear James," Al put an arm around his brother's shoulders. "Is a chaser and captain at Gryffindor."
"It'll be an internal match then," Lily said with a smile.
"And there will only be one winner," Al said with a grin.
"Definitely Gryffindor," his brother finished his sentence.
"I agree with my grandson." James senior sided with Gryffindor. James agreed with him.
"I think the girl power will surprise you this time." Lily stood by Maxym and faced her husband. Maxym grinned at James junior.
"Well, the camps have clearly formed then." Remus joined them, smiling at this exchange. Even at this time, they could still distract themselves with such a light topic.
Throughout the week, the Quidditch players on both teams were involved in practice after school. Both teams met every free minute and practiced new attacks, tactics, defensive formations and manoeuvres.
"Gryffindor is enormously strong in attack. But their keeper, Philip, is also strong. It will be hard to score," Peter briefed his team. "We especially need to take the two drivers out of the game from the start." Scorp and fellow driver Randolph nodded.
"Maxym, Ethan and Sophie. You need to confuse Philip with lots of short passes." Peter looked at Al. "We need to find the snitch quickly. We won't be able to hold it long against Gryffindor. It's up to you." Al pushed out his chest. He would not let them down.
The hunters practised the passes. Again and again they flew manoeuvres around the poles, throwing the ball to each other quick and short.
Peter joined Randolph and Scorp. This gave Peter practice in defending the rings and gave the drivers more practice in their marksmanship. Again and again they fired the swatters to Peter, who flew in front of the rings. The latter had to fend off the swatters.
On Saturday morning, the hall was full early in the morning. Everyone could hardly wait until the longed-for game finally started. Maxym, Al and Scorp sat together at the Slytherin table. The boys were once again too excited to get a bite down. Maxym, however, was fortifying herself. She needed the energy.
James came over to them. "Good luck to you then." At this he looked deep into the eyes of Maxym, who was having trouble swallowing her toast. He had taken her completely by surprise.
"We don't need luck," Al returned bitingly, shooing his brother away. "We've got victory as good as in the bag already."
Katelyn joined them and sat down with Maxym. "And excited already?"
Maxym shrugged her shoulders. "All I can do is my best. Everything else is luck. Even if some here don't want to hear that." At that, she looked at Al and Scorp, who were engrossed in their own conversation.
"Do your best? Really? Don't you want to win? Or do you want someone else to win?" Katelyn wiggled her brows.
"Nah, I'm not letting anyone win. If he did, he should let me win. But a win like that, no one wants. We all have to do our best and then we'll see who wins."
After breakfast, the students slowly walked to the Quidditch pitch. The players were already in the dressing room, putting on their final pieces of equipment.
Meanwhile, Katelyn had joined them in the stands. Colin joined her.
"Have you seen who's all in today?" he asked Katelyn as he sat down next to her.
Katelyn glanced at the pitch but didn't see anything special.
"No, no. I mean in the stands." He gestured to the bleachers where the guests of honour and some of the faculty were currently seated.
"Wow, pretty high attendance," she remarked.
"Do you know them? They're all strangers to me."
Katelyn narrowed her eyes. "Yes, many of them look familiar. They almost all work at the Ministry." She pointed to one. "And that one, McManus, that's a bad dog."
"That's McManus? The head of law enforcement?" Colin blinked in disbelief.
Katelyn nodded. "Yes, I know him through my father. He despises him. I wonder what he's doing here. Can't imagine our Quidditch match being that interested in him."
"Anyway, we'll have to meet in the Room of Requirement later. I'm sure the marauders will be interested."
Before Katelyn could say anything back, the players flew onto the pitch. Fans cheered them on. Flags were held aloft and drums rumbled.
After a small lap of honour in front of the stands, the two teams took their positions and Madame Hooch loosed first the snitch and then the clapper.
Al flew next to Maxym and Scorp. "I don't believe it. He's here." Al looked towards the VIP stand. He too had spotted someone.
"Who is it?" his best friend asked.
"Ramsay Wash is here. Is he going to try again to get an interview from Professor Longbottom?" Al gestured with a nod of his head to the man who had taken a seat next to McManus.
"Maybe the Daily Prophet wants to cover our game too," Scorp speculated.
Before anyone could retort, Madame Hooch threw the quaffle in the air and the game began. The fans cheered and the chasers flew into the middle to snatch the quaffle.
James got to it first and quickly flew through the lines of Slytherin players to the opposing goals. Peter got ready to repel the Quaffle but was interrupted by a Bludger. Kyle, one of the two Gryffindor beaters, had taken the opportunity when Peter was focused on James and hurled the Bludger towards the gates at Peter. The distraction gave James the seconds he needed and the first points for Gryffindor were scored.
The red and yellow crowd roared loudly, delighted to see their team take the lead so quickly. And more points followed. Peter was having more and more trouble nipping the attacks of James, Sara and Olivia in the bud. Maxym and Ethan couldn't get to the quaffle. The quick flying manoeuvres were perfectly rehearsed and they could do little.
Slytherin, after James was able to score the next points, had the Quaffle and Maxym, along with Sophie, flew to Philip. Maxym, without another glance backwards or sideways, threw the ball to the bottom left ring. Philip caught the quaffle and immediately passed it to James. Before Maxym could even turn the broom around, he launched the next attack.
She groaned loudly. This can't all be true. She looked at Sophie. She shook her head. "I'm running out of ideas," Maxym called out to her.
"So am I. Scorp and Randolph need to get a grip on the gossips," she shouted back.
Maxym nodded in affirmation. The bludgers were working for Gryffindor. Kyle and his partner George were the virtuosos at this and the Slytherin chasers had to concentrate more on the bludgers than the rings every time they attacked. Scorp flew close to Maxym when the latter was able to grab the Quaffle, and could only fend off the Bludgers with his bat. But he could hardly hit one of the Gryffindor players.
Madame Hooch whistled back the game balls after the game had gone on for over an hour. "What are you doing?" asked James, landing next to her.
"Professor Longbottom has asked for this. There will be a break in the game. Please go to your cabins."
As captains, James and Peter led their teams back to the cabins. Professor Longbottom rose on stage and, amplified by the wand, spoke to the audience. "I apologise for the interruption. Our esteemed Ministry inspectors have requested to be able to examine the pitch. We will resume play in a few minutes."
Maxym looked at the score before flying off the field. The score was 170 to 30 for Gryffindor. An embarrassment for everyone.
"That's bad. By any of us. We need to catch up." Peter was disappointed with his team's performance. "We have to win this match. If only for our honour. They can't play us like this."
"Maybe you can catch the snitch?" Scorp looked challengingly at his friend.
"Oh yeah? That wouldn't save us either. The snitch only gives 150 points. Have you looked at the current score?" returned Al bitingly.
"Yes, you should have caught it much earlier" Scorp did not back down.
"If you could get the swatters under control for once, then I could concentrate on the search too, but I have to dodge a swatter every minute." Al had risen and was taking a step towards Scorp.
He too rose and faced Al. "I'll do my best to fend off the bludgers when our fighters make a charge. They at least want to score."
"But they don't manage it either," Randolph interjected.
"Yes have you seen the manoeuvres James and the others fly. How are we supposed to counteract that?" justified Sophie.
Everyone shouted at each other and Maxym and Peter looked at each other shaking their heads. "You have to do something. Say something. We have to play as a team" said Maxym to their captain. The latter was about to bring an objection when they heard Madame Hooch's voice from the pitch. The players were asked to play again.
Furious, everyone grabbed their brooms and flew back onto the field. Maxym saw the chances of victory dwindling.
After Madame Hooch blew the whistle for the second half of the game, the action continued. Again James and his fellow hunters were flying the attacks and Peter was struggling to fend off the quaffles. Maxym couldn't launch a single attack, every clapper was aimed at her.
She looked up and saw that Al and Scorp were discussing and Randolph was at the back with Peter so that at least he remained free of gossips. But they couldn't launch any more attacks that way.
"So why is your house so bad?" the headmaster asked his colleague, Professor Flanagon.
"I don't understand. They've been strong all school year and won every game." The professor shook his head.
"Well, now they seem at odds to me." The headmaster pointed at Scorp and Al.
"Look at who is arguing. You can clearly see that Slytherin's poor performance is due to blood status. Their entire heritage is based on only marrying into families, that's what makes them so bad," Wash interjected. McManus grinned but remained silent, watching as James scored another ten points for Gryffindor.
"You can't be serious," Flanagon said in shock, turning to Wash. But before he could elaborate further on why he linked game performance to blood status, she was distracted by a murmur in the stands.
Sophie had fallen off her broom, but Maxym managed to grab her by the arm before she hit the ground. Together they landed gently on the floor.
Madam Hooch came running and Professor Longbottom finished the game. "Due to the accident, the game is terminated and Gryffindor is deemed the winner." The teachers left the stands to boos from the Slytherins and the players flew back to the dressing rooms.
When the Slytherin team arrived in the common room, they immediately noticed how depressed the mood was. "Couldn't you play any better?" asked Colin, looking grimly at Peter and Randolph.
"Oh yes, do you think you would have been better?" Peter had had enough of all this and fired his broom, which he had intended to stow away in his room, at Colin's chest.
Maxym put himself between them. Colin had already taken a step towards her and she wanted to de-escalate the situation. "Please? Colin, come on. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. It's just sport and no one can win indefinitely."
"Oh yeah?" Peter looked straight at her and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we'd be winning too, if it wasn't for a half-blood from House Malfoy being one of our hunters."
"Hey, you can't just say that. Maxym did everything she could. Everyone saw that," Katelyn came to her rescue and stood beside her.
"You don't talk to my sister like that," Scorp said angrily and before Maxym could stop him, Scorp had already lashed out and hit Peter in the face with his fist.
Peter went down bleeding. Al and Collin grabbed Scorp by the arms and pulled him off Peter as he was about to lunge at him.
"Scorp!" came from the door. Professor Flanagon had overheard the scene and immediately came running towards the small group. "We're not hitting anyone. A week's detention. And everyone go to their rooms immediately. Such behaviour is pathetic for Slytherin House. Everyone think about how you want to represent the house and the community."
I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to write your thoughts and impressions in the comments, I would be very happy.