The Quidditch Cup

"I never knew she fancied Fred," said Ron with a stricken face. 

Chris, Colin, Ron and Harry were sitting outside. Hermione had gone to meet Fred as Angelina had broken up with him the very next day and Ginny was off to meet Dean. Luna had classes that afternoon.

Chris had her Ancient Runes dictionary opened in her lap, Colin was finishing his Astronomy essay, Ron and Harry were drooling over their Transfiguration homework. 

"Yeah, I didn't either," said Chris idly. "Hermione never told us but Ginny guessed that pretty earlier. That time I thought she was kidding."

"Yes, me too," said Colin. "I mean Fred and Hermione are absolutely different people."

"I think they are perfect," said Harry smiling. "Hermione needs a person who will ask her to chill out and Fred needs someone to keep him in check."

"It's definitely a nice way to look at it," said Chris.

"Hey, why didn't you go to meet your Slytherin boy — what's his name — Fawley," said Ron.

"Jason Fawley," said Harry.

"The Slytherins had Charms class with the Ravenclaws," replied Chris indifferently.

At that moment, Alex and Colin's other roommate Elijah walked past them laughing.

"I can't believe no one noticed he was missing," said Alex snickering. "I mean he is Slytherin Captain."

"What happened, Alex?" called Colin.

They stopped and turned to them.

"You won't believe what happened, Colin," said Elijah with a great air of mystery. "They just found Montague, the Slytherin Captain. He has turned up jammed inside a toilet on the fourth floor."

Chris, Colin, Ron and Harry exchanged some startled looks.

"And what did he say? Who did that to him?" Harry asked.

"No idea," shrugged Alex. "He doesn't remember anything. A bit confused like everyone else, I guess."

The weather grew breezier, brighter, and warmer as the holidays passed, but that didn't improve the condition in school. Umbridge had made a bunch of new rules and was practically breathing down their neck. The D. A. members had to stop meeting outside the class, everyone minds their own business. The school was becoming a prison and Chris didn't like it at all. The only thing she was allowed to do other than study was playing Quidditch and meeting Jason. Chris felt as though if her friends and Jason wasn't there then she would have pushed Umbridge from the Astronomy tower or bite her being a Snake. She was getting annoying day by day. But the patience broke when one day after practice (which was going a lot better than before, because of Ron's renewed confidence), Chris saw Leon hurt.

"What happened to him?" Colin asked as Chris tenderly touched Leon.

"He must be delivering something and Umbridge —" Chris felt as though she was going to burst with anger.

She must have looked scary because Colin suddenly looked alarmed.

"Let's go and get him some healing potion, first," Colin said urgently. "Chris!"

For the first time, Chris was surprised at how quickly she was aggravated. She always believed in handling situation calmly but nowadays her mood mostly was edgy. Chris sighed and tried to make herself normal.

The final match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, was to take place on the last weekend of May. Slytherin had been narrowly defeated by Hufflepuff in their last match, and Gryffindor was hoping to win, due to Ron's new good performance.

"I wanted to support Gryffindors," said Luna at the breakfast table before the match. She had a live eagle perched on top of her head. 

"And I told you that you don't have to," said Colin firmly. "You already have very few friends in Ravenclaw. You should not go against your house just for a match."

Luna made a face and Chris and Ginny laughed.

At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the locker rooms. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze; but that didn't lift Angelina's mood. Just before going out, Angelina pulled Chris aside.

"I have just found who is playing Seeker in Ravenclaw," said Angelina looking a bit weary. "It's a fourth-year boy, Adrian Rivers. Davis had kept him under wraps until now, so there is a good chance he will be very good. Be careful."

Chris nodded in understanding, she knew that Cho had refused to play because of her face and there would be a new player but Chris was confident over her Firebolt. But Angelina's worried look made her a little bit worried too. 

They walked out onto the field to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Chris looked at the new Seeker in their team and found him looking at her. He smiled at her and looked back at Madam Hooch. Chris had to admit that Adrian Rivers was great to look at, she was even surprised that Ginny never told her about him. He was in the same year as them, that means they had classes together; Chris was mostly oblivious to good looking boys in school, it was Ginny who kept information about this matter. Chris guessed that maybe Ginny had mentioned him but as always, Chris being Chris, didn't look at him. Now that she looked at him, she thought this Adrian could give Cedric a competition. He was tall, a lot taller than Chris, his light brown messy hair fell on his eyes, making him look more gorgeous. Chris also noticed that he had a Nimbus 2000, which was good, not good as Firebolt but good.

Angelina shook hands with Roger Davis. Then came Madam Hooch's voice.

"Mount your brooms . . . on my whistle . . . three — two — one —"

Chris kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; she soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch, listening all the while to the commentary.

"And they're off!" said Lee. "And Davies takes the Quaffle immediately, Ravenclaw Captain Davies with the Quaffle, he dodges Johnson, he dodges Bell, he dodges Spinnet as well. . . . He's going straight for goal! He's going to shoot — and — and — he saved. Ron saved the first goal — Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor has the Quaffle."

Chris grinned as the Gryffindors cheered, "Weasley is our King! Weasley is our King!"

Chris streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Adrian Rivers was tailing her closely. He was a great flier, he was competing with a Firebolt while blocking Chris that she had to change direction.

Alicia succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild, Chris saw it — the Snitch was close to the ground, flitting near one of the barriers.

Chris dived, Adrian Rivers followed her. She was ten feet away when — 

A Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Chris veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished. Chris swore loudly and saw Adrian chuckling. Rolling her eyes, Chris turned her Firebolt upward and was soon twenty feet above the game. 

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to ten," Chris heard Jordan. Ron really was playing well.

Chris dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the field frantically — a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings — the Snitch was glittering way above the field at the Ravenclaw end. But this time Adrian had seen the Snitch first. He was speeding towards it, Chris zoomed after him but out of nowhere a Bludger came towards her, Chris dived and Colin hit it.

"Go! Go!" yelled Colin.

Chris accelerated her Firebolt, Adrian Rivers was two or three feet away from the Snitch. If he caught the Snitch now, Ravenclaw will win. Adrian extended his hand — Chris cut across him, her fingers closed around the small, struggling Snitch — but her speed was too much — she swerved to avoid a collision with the Ravenclaw students, sitting at the front row. 

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Chris took an entire minute to slow down her broom and calm her pounding heart, then the whole team was hugging her so hard she was nearly pulled off her broom. Down below she could hear the roars of the Gryffindors in the crowd.

"We won! We won the Quidditch Cup!" Angelina was crying. "Oh God, Chris! We won!"

Out of the corner, Chris saw a red-faced angry-looking Umbridge glaring at her, which made Chris happier.

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To be continued. . .