Ch 6 - Quidditch 2

or

To Snape or not to Snape

...

"Yes Lee, there were a lot of rumors this year of a special addition to the Slytherin's roster following Potter's surprise addition to the Gryffindor's. The student we are talking about is none other than Draco Malfoy, however, the application was sent a bit too late sadly, otherwise we would have a big showdown between the two rivals this year. We are certainly expecting him next year, he could get in with merits alone, but we might see fresh new brooms for the whole club to seal the deal." I quipped earning the ire of McGonagall.

"Wielding!"

I proceeded to ignore the professor and Lee chimed in.

"The tension is rising up as the teams are getting ready..."

...

"What's is wrong with Potter's broom, Chris, you got anything for us?"

"Yes Lee, I was watching closely Potter's movements, there is a slight possibility someone from the crowd is Jinxing the broom, Potter never lost control of it himself. As soon as the snitch appeared the broom moved on its own without inputs from the Seeker. The movements are too random and abrupt for it to be just common mishandling. This is very big Lee, if it was proven that someone actually tried to curse a player or to tamper his broom during a Quidditch match there could be heavy repercussions."

"Slytherins are making use of this debacle however as their seeker has finally found the snitch and is now in hot pursuit," ends Lee

...

"Gryffindor is getting manhandled Chris, this is beginning to look like one of the worst matches in ages"

"This is getting absurd, thank God that the rule change of the points given to catching the snitch is not coming until after the world cup, or Gryffin may lose this even if they get the snitch. Look at the formation Gryffindor is employing when attacking, they keep trying to make use of their fast chasers to get into the enemy lines, then try to keep possession of the bludger from there, but their initial formation, resembling a broken spearhead with two attackers on one side and three on the other, is always blocked by the Slytherins " V formation", the greens just overpower the speed with pure strength making it impossible for Gryffindor to apply their gameplan. Captain Oliver needs to get his robes together or his team will inevitably be headed towards self-destruction."

Lee gave me a big thumbs-up and kept going with his commentary.

...

"And Potter catches the snitch! After a series of bad years, Gryffindor is finally victorious again in the Hogwarts derby!" Lee was ecstatic and understandably so, he ran towards his friends with speed resembling Barry Allen leaving me to officially end the show, I am a professional after all.

"Gryffindor cheering and laughing marks the end of this historic match, what an introduction from the youngest seeker in decades, welcome to the team Harry Potter and what a great win." cheers erupted again and I saw Harry getting swarmed by the team while giving me a bright smile I return with a nod. I was getting attached to our resident Thunder Forhead here.

...

-Gryffins coommon Room-

"Harry, Harry, Harry..." the chants kept coming and Harry was having a blast

I was a bit worried worried Ron would become a bit jealous his friend was getting all the attention but he was having a blast as well, the night was young and the Gryffins couldn't seem to be able to stop partying. I admit fanfictions had the bad habit of displaying kids as adults and aggravating some personality traits. This is the case for most Ron / Weasley bashing fics, evil Dumbledore Fics and other atrocities.

This world is supposed to be magical, "technologically" weird, morally grey and most importantly emotionally charged. This world isn't supposed to make sense, since magic for starters lives on the premise that it doesn't, at least, for us Muggles.

Don't get me wrong Ron IS a jealous person but it is not all he is, his whole existence is not for the sake of jealousy like some fics try to make you believe. I paid much attention to him, I realized he is emotionally starved, his parents gave all the attention to Ginny, and he got the short end of the stick. Give him a bit of attention, treat him as a grown up, acknowledge his strong points, like his tactical mind in chess, and he will treat you with respect and care in his own particular and unique way.

Now the golden trio and me were sitting down, some on the sofa some on the ground near the fire. Smiles on all our faces.

"Now..." started Harry

"Are we not gonna talk about that Chris became the co-host of today's match?" they all turned to me curiosity in their eyes. I just laughed and grinned.

"What can I say, I live to amaze" Hermione rolled her eyes at that Harry and Ron smiled.

"How did that happen anyways?" asked the bushy-haired teen.

"Just asked McGonagall for a tryout and I passed, I

just wanted to surprise Harry on his big day" I grinned and Harry smiled.

Ron chumed in a smile still on his face "And what happened to all those praises for Slytherin?"

I shrugged and answered "McGonagall asked me for fairness Lee clearly lacks otherwise no job for me. Now that we are on topic" I immediately became serious and everyone mirrored my countenance.

"What the hell happened to Harry's broom?"

"Before that, we got new information regarding the Bbg Three-Headed dog, which is related to that" said Hermione. Hermione recounted what Hagrid told them while I was doing the finishing talk post-match with professor McGonagall to get the job for the rest of the year, she seemed very happy about my performance.

"You were right during the match, someone was Jinxing it, Snape to be exact, I had to get his robe on fire to make him look away from Harry" said Hermione.

"So THAT was you, nice job Mione" I said and she smiled a bit

"However I don't think thats the full story myself" I started "I believe Snape to be that much learned at magic that if he wanted to make Harry fall he would have done so with ease, so there must have been someone else muttering counter-curses, was Snape only looking or also whispering something?" I asked Hermione and her eyes became wide at the realization.

"He was also whispering things! I didn't think about that, jinxes don't need muttering or whispering but counter-jinxes do! Maybe he was actually trying to help, it is also strange for a professor to actively try to kill a student" reasoned Hermione with her authority complex but Ron shot her down.

"I think it was Snape, he is a snivelling Snake after all" yup Ron still had that problem, not that I would bother with trying to change that, he would grow up from it eventually. Harry was busy thinking about it, his life had been in danger after all. I decided to cut in.

"Ah well, we don't have enough information anyways, let's just roll with it, but let's be careful, if someone tried to harm Harry once he might try again, in any case let's not get too paranoid. Sleep on it?" I asked the group and everyone agreed

"I'm dead tired anyways" said Ron.

...