Match

1st of October, Saturday, the opening weekend of quidditch season, Luca stood at the entrance of Wampus tower beside nine of his teammates watching the male junior teams of Thunderbird and Horned Serpent walking back to their changing rooms, the first one smiling, the second one downcast but not too somber as they kept cheering each other up.

"With the seeker of Thunderbirds catching the Snitch after only half an hour, this torture for both teams and all of the audience ends quickly enough. I don't understand why anyone would care for this boring… Yes, yes, I apologize for the derogatory of great sport remarks Ma'am…" a projection of the commentator's table hung in the air above the bridges packed with students was showing the blonde assistant to headmaster, Miss Juno Lytras, supervising a girl wearing a robe patterned in broom manufacturer's logos and their latest products holding a microphone, broadcasting her commentary over the game.

"Call me Miss Lytras or Juno." the woman disgusted with term Ma'am sent her an annoyed look. "And don't spew wrong propaganda that the deviant way to play the game is somehow better." she helplessly stated, self-aware that it was a losing uprising she engaged in for years against her boss and all the students to get them more interested in a normal quidditch game.

"Let's applaud a wonderful performance and prepare ourselves for the main event - rematch of last year's runner-ups and champions of male battle quidditch, our unique American variation popularized by immortal Chad Jones as he chased some guy that cheated with his wife throughout the entire United States, coast to coast, casting spell after spell that without exception missed, causing panic among no-maj and decisive response from our government to mount their brooms too in an epic showdown of people who can't aim for squat adding to the mayhem staged below the clouds. That information is for our no-maj freshmen, as I'm pretty sure everyone heard his story in their childhood alongside other classics, like the time Finncus had to get a cup of dragon milk, Evans forgot her wand, or Bagley went to fight for worker rights. Best deal on used brooms at Murphy's Junkyard." she kept talking as the uniformed in brown robes and boots Wampus team walked the long way to the middle of the field where they met in a handshake ceremony signifying that they won't hold grudges after the match.

Themistocles was before the last Luca in the queue, smirking provocatively under his nose as he greeted the first of their opponents, dressed all-yellow, square-faced youth similar in height to him, the representative of Pukwudgie house's eyes gazing grimly from under the forward-leaning head. The tension generated by their eye contact was almost palpable, Luca swallowed nervously as he observed the row of prolonged handshakes and copied to the tee gazes, the rival youths unwilling to exchange words. He didn't know what expression to make, this not present in the pre-match discussion, so he settled for looking straight into their eyes trying to keep neutral. Everyone else was four or more years older and bigger than him, making the boy stressed out, even as he selectively filtered the cheering crowd from perception, surprisingly well-advised by Slate.

"The regulations are simple enough, but prohibition of the universal barrier charm and many other impossible-to-recover-from curses test the contestants' knowledge and perseverance to the limit, the game rules are as follows to remind those forgetful of us. Folks, I too sometimes completely forget those weird-sounding incantations, especially before tests, but I could never forget the excellent brooms of Aviation Heroes. Two teams of ten face against each other until only one side remains or ten goals are scored. Unlike the children's version, there are no other pointless balls, no selected goalkeeper, only an anti-magic enchanted Quaffle, twenty brooms, and twenty wands in a showdown for who knocks their foes to the grass before they themselves become unrecognizable under dozens of accumulated hexes and jinxes. Easy to memorize, right? Teams finished the preparations, any moment now, the battle begins!" she shouted and stood up at the end, the atmosphere boiling as the teams stood under the goalposts ready to fly, separated by the seemingly vast but short for the speed of flying distance.

Luca observed the judge floating upwards, holding a red ball with blue-glowing runes engraved on it in one outstretched hand. As he stopped, the stadium suddenly went silent, everyone holding their breaths in. Without dilly-dallying, the ball was released, and the battle between houses started.

"And they went for it! Giant Slate dodged the barrage incoming from across the field, it seems Pukwudgies' strategy is still the same as last year, going for the big target. It tends not to work too well for Wampus' enemies, as despite his appearance of barely not causing his broom to snap before lifting that rock, his reflexes, turning speed, and resilience are the best Ilvermorny has seen in recent years. Meanwhile, the Makris triplets went boldly close to the ground despite any part of a player touching it causing disqualification, their plan is to seem like an easy target and take pressure off…! Hit, hit! First unlucky sod growing his teeth like a walrus! Does he know the counter course, otherwise only silent casting left for him?!" the commentator started by explaining the tactics, but in the midst of crisscrossing beams as the players got closer to each other, one of them didn't spot the blue light coming for him.

Luca managed to zig-zag in order to slow down enough not to overtake the five-man formation covering Slate's approach to the Quaffle, looking for a gap between his teammates to obtain visual on the target. Such occasion presented itself as Pukwudies' three-men detachment flew up mirroring the Makris brothers, an attempt to snipe from outside the big brawl over the ball. Luca stopped concealing himself and went full speed in their direction.

"Vespertilioexi!" a wide purple beam shot from his black tentacle from close range at the leading player, hitting him by virtue of Luca's quick positioning on his flying path.

"Holy Merlin, is that a bat or a Thunderbird?!" exclaimed the commentator, the poor victim's nose literally exploded as a giant bat came out of his nostrils, rupturing them in the process. "Klein's nose is gone, I repeat, Klein's nose is gone! He has to land, and judging from the air dyed with red mist, drink a Blood Replenishing Potion! Or can he persevere in pain and also knows the healing spell?! It must have been Bat-Bogey Hex, right Miss Lytras? Can it work like this?" she had to turn to ask her strict nanny perplexed.

"Yes, that is certainly it." Juno nodded to attest. "Watch the caster, Agilbert can't stop talking about that kid. Luca Granger, you all saw him at the start of the year." she knew Luca well, having personally engraved his medal hanging in Room of Notable, and from the smug superiority complex of Professor Fontaine, certain that he will win the championship for his house this year third time in a row.

"Half-dead Prince, yes! Klein manages to stop the bleeding against the odds, flying full speed up to avoid possible follow-up curses! You can accuse Pukwudies' of anything, but they are very stable at critical moments!" the girl was amazed by the grit displayed by the player. Whole audience fixated on this action missed the moment Slate snatched the Quaffle and threw it forward to long awaiting Luca, that lightning-fast, before anyone could even fully turn around, scored his first goal.

"Goal! Goal! Luca scores for house Wampus!" the girl screamed her lungs out to overtake the roaring crowds, a tribune full of ghosts causing the most noise. Luca waved his hand to the public, but then his eyes caught rows of grey-skinned Pukwudies standing there, staring at him in complete silence. He shivered and reeled in his happy demeanor flying back to the position, per rules ball automatically awarded to the team losing the goal, and no opponents allowed on their half-court before resuming the play.

"What can outplay someone so much faster?" the commentator noticed the way Luca flew around and invited Miss Lytras for discussion, not immediately sure what Pukwudgies should do in this situation.

"Leave behind a squadron circling the goals and completely focus on Luca, he's dangerous but fragile. Impossible for him to learn many counter curses in this month of classes, anything can end him." she stated authoritatively.

"That is if you land a hit. Ball in play, leader of the Yellow team decided to ignore your advice, Miss Lytras, and went with the turtle formation! Are they not worried about Luca blowing up all the noses like that?!" the team gathered in a square protecting the ball-wielder in the middle and charged forward with mighty momentum.

Their action went as the girl expected, sitting ducks for Wampus barrage, they each got hit multiple times, but eventually, the desperate play did put the ball in the goal of team Brown. The entire stadium facepalmed collectively as Pukwudgies cheered excitedly for their fellow students patching themselves up as fast as they could, half of them made noseless by Luca, one eliminated as three curses hit him simultaneously into a coma, the remaining nine in various stages of transformation from human form into something abstract, likely painted by Picasso.

"I forgot, that's Pukwudgies old style. They are too damn stubborn and think such charges have to happen every time they lose a point as some sort of matter of honour, not allowing the opponent's advantage to remain a second longer than necessary… Their captain was just bizarre like that last year, how have they not gotten rid of him…?" she lamented for the poor teammates of that maniac, one of them rescued by the awaiting paramedics ready to reconstruct his nose.

"At least they got better at mending their wounds. Also, after two or three times using this strategy, they always stopped so far. It works as an intimidation tactic, enemy scores a point, and we get it even. That's how they made it to the second place, the captain isn't too bad." Miss Lytras found a positive side, seeing them looking more human each second of the short pause.

Flabbergasted Luca had to change his spell as this one seemed to incomprehensibly wash over his enemies like water off a duck, the action resumed as the Makris brothers flanked by the rest of the team formed a vertical line, passing the Quaffle among each other, the boy left to his devices as signaled by Slate, he had free hunting permission for this round. Speeding along the edge of the field under the fragile-looking bridges holding up the weight of the whole school stomping on them, he swiftly reached the space behind the opposite goals and tried to aim from there.

"Sternius! Sternius! Sternius!" the Pukwudgie team parked in front of their goals had to dodge his well-aimed green beams as they kept an eye on the ball and the attack formation unfolded by Luca's team. Eventually, one of them hit as its recipient, a previous unlucky victim of Luca's purple hex, started sneezing blood out of two holes with jagged edges, all that was left of his nose. This proved unhealable, as the whole stadium looked at the masochistic man spraying blood out of himself until passing out from its loss bounced on the grass to the uniform applause from the school's inhabitants respecting his efforts like it was today's destiny for all of his colleagues one way or another.

"Pretty cruel, but I saw worse. It's a relief for Klein to get rest after that abuse, don't worry, we are a perfectly safe competition with measures ready even to revive our players, courtesy of Nimbus Enterprises, home of fastest brooms on the market. What kind of training did they go through to not give up even in such a circumstance?" the commentator was amazed by what this team has become during the vacation.

"Perhaps a loop of positive reinforcement to not look weak in front of brothers and resentment of finishing second even as they took in so much pain propelled them to the next level mentally." Miss Lytras speculated reminiscent of their past performance. "Or that particular young man is built different." she added after a short hesitation.

"Eight on ten, and with a super-player Granger, their chances to turn it around look bleak. Seriously, how could he hit from such a distance while going so fast?" the girl said watching the triplets break through with constant, methodical attacks chipping away at their opponent's ability to react until getting the score to once again favour the Wampus house.

The match lost the suspense as the desperate attack from the remaining eight players on Luca ended with him easily flying away looking over his shoulder at the quickly becoming smaller figures in yellow. He was too disgusted to use the charms with such extreme effects, persuaded to cast the nose-removing one by Makris triplets that suffered a lot in their rivalry with Pukwudgies last year, and wanted a little payback, but it turned out to not work as supposed to, with a sure instant KO according to Alexander he tested it on.

"And Granger knocks out the last of them, ending the game with a resounding victory for the Wampus house, he eliminated seven of them!" the girl hyped up the audience for the last time in this match. "After lunch, we will come back for the women league, hah, everyone wants to play, so we have to make extra teams that way! I will play too, fans are welcome to bring stuff they would want signed after the women's Thunderbird team wins! Glamour&Comfort Limited offers an assortment of optional broom enchantments and accessories, check out their ultra-soft new pillows!" she roared fast in the last effort to earn that sponsor money.