Gryffindor vs Slytherin
“They have to win by 170 points to get the Cup. I don’t give a shit about this game as long as I get to raise that bloody trophy tonight. We can never let them more than 10 points ahead, got it?” Flint looked ferocious around at the team looking for any sign of anyone wanting to contradict him. Nobody did. In fact, the team looked scared to death, not even Bletchley dared to open his mouth to tell one of his signum bad jokes. “I’m warning you. This is my last year at Hogwarts and I will win the damn Quidditch Cup this year as well, no matter what it takes. Anyone who does anything to risk that will regret it. Got it?”
The locker room was dead silent, every single one of them nodded obediently. Ginny thought Malfoy looked as if he was going to wet himself from fear. She did not blame him after the Hufflepuff match. She felt herself shaking. Oh, Godric, maybe she should not have pushed so hard for her to play – she was sure Warrington would have stood the pressure better. The Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw matches felt like children’s game in comparison. The last week had been open war in the castle, with Gryffindors and Slytherin at each other’s throats every chance they got. Warrington and Bletchley had taken turns to follow her between her lectures. She hated to admit it but she had needed it as well, at least twice a day they had gotten into fights with Gryffindors, older and more experienced than her, aiming a jinx or worse at her. But she really thought they exaggerated when they did not allow her to spend any time alone with Fred and George. No matter what their Slytherin classmates muttered about the twins being crazy and their enemies, she could not, not even in her wildest imagination, see her brothers ever hurting her to get better odds at a Quidditch game. Though, she had to admit, they would not go easy on her out there today.
“Good. Then come on, and do not let me down.”
With that heartening speech Flint led the team out to the player entrance of the pitch just as she heard Lee’s enchanted voice presenting the Gryffindor team.
“… AAAAAND POTTER!”
Ginny followed her teammates example and mounted her broom, getting ready to rise in the air just after Flint. She gulped and forced her shaking hand to hold the broom steady. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up. Adrian was smiling at her and whispered, low enough for Flint not to hear. “Don’t worry, he barks worse than he bites, you know that. And just follow our plays, then he will have nothing to bite about because we will be crushing them. The Cup will be ours, no matter who gets the snitch!” With that the fifth-year put his hand through his hair, messing it up in a practiced movement in a way that Ginny knew reduced a lot of the upper-year girls to a giggling state, put on his trademark grin and mounted his broom, ready to rise together with her.
“FOR SLYTHERIN WE HAVE CAPTAIN MARCUS FLINT, FELLOW CHASERS – PUCEY AND WEASLEY, FOLLOWED BY BLETCHLEY, DERRICK, BOLE AAAAAND MALFOY! YES, YOU HEARD IT RIGHT FOLKS, WE WILL HAVE A FAMILY FEUD RIGHT HERE AT THE HOGWART’S PITCH!”
Ginny whizzed through the air with her teammates, leaving her troubles on the ground, she knew this, she belonged here – she was bloody born to play Quidditch. But she felt her stomach make a somersault as Lee Jordan, her brothers’ close friend and dorm mate, announced her name to the school. She loved Quidditch but this publicity that it came with she had not gotten used to. Pushing all thoughts of uncertainty away behind her now well-rehearsed wall, she put on a calm face, finished her entrance-flight with a practiced twirl and a forced smirk. Across the field she met Fred’s eye – he scowled back at her and she turned her eyes to George who raised an eyebrow at her before he mimicked their brother’s scowl. She almost forgot herself and laughed at him but managed to keep her mask on and only raised an eyebrow back. Ginny watched as Flint tried to crush the Gryffindor Captain Oliver Wood’s hand, and as Wood certainly was doing his best to pay back the service.
*Tweeeet* Madame Hooch blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle up in the air. Blindly trusting Flint to do his part Ginny laid herself flat on her, or rather the school’s, Cleansweep, ducked under the startled Katie Bell and jerked the broom upwards with 50 yards left to the Gryffindor Goal Hoops. Safely on course Ginny dared a look to the right, Pucey was right on track – mirroring her movements, going down as she went up. Starting her inward loop to get in position Ginny looked backwards just in time to confirm that Flint had won the tip-off against Johnson and watch as he showed Spinnet out of his way and yerked his broom upwards in a seemingly spontaneous way. It seemed both her chaser-colleagues were exactly where they had planned. Ginny turned her attention towards Wood, their exploding start had left the Gryffindor chasers startled and if they managed to keep their pace up, they would get their planned opening at attacking three chasers against only the Gryffindor keeper.
Ginny fine-tuned her course, and glanced around after the bludgers. The ideal plan had been for Derrick and Bole to hit them both away from the attack but with her brothers as opponents that was nearly impossible. It seemed as they had failed miserably. As she watched Pucey rolled around on his broom to avoid getting smashed by one of the bludgers the twins had gotten their bats to. No worries, he was too experience to even sway out of course. With a bit of a glee, Ginny realised they had sent the other one after Malfoy. Gryffindors. They always played with too much emotion. While she could sometimes sympathize with wanting to sending bludgers after Malfoy, the logical thing would be to focus everything on stopping the ongoing three-on-one attack going on. Now everything was up to how well they could execute the hundred-times-rehearsed play. Against Ravenclaw they had played on her inexperience and on the Ravenclaws underestimating her gravely. That had worked brilliantly. Almost so brilliantly that she had been insulted. But no way that would work against the Gryffindors, Flint knew as well as anyone what a strategic mind Oliver Wood had. And as he had drilled into her and Adrian – Wood did not leave anything to chance and neither should they. He had watched her play against Ravenclaw and likely also gotten sneak-peaks at some of their practises.
Wood’s eyes were darting between her and Pucey, only stopping to zoom in on Flint coming against him with the Quaffle. She almost felt sorry for him, three-on-one was almost impossible to save. But if Flint did not hurry up both Johnson and Bell would have caught up with him. Ginny gave up a yell in warning before she darted towards the top left hoop. Wood reacted the natural way, positioning himself hovering between that hoop and the lowest one, the one Flint could easily drop to if he used his signature move. Ginny realised Wood was playing on the hope that Spinnet would catch up with Adrian and him only having to block her as Flint became hindered by the threat of the other two Gryffindor chasers. A good plan as any, if not for the fact that Adrian might have been the fastest chaser Ginny ever seen. Spinnet was good, but no match for Adrian who also had had a flying start on her. Flint acted at the last second before Johnson and Bell body-blowed him, with a practiced move he passed the Quaffle to Pucey who easily heaved it into the right hoop.
“TEN POINTS TO SLYTHERIN”
The second Madame Hooch had blown the whistle to mark the goal Flint gave up a yelp and dropped handless out from the Gryffindor chasers double tackle. With great effort he seemly managed to keep his grip on the broom with just his legs and miraculously got his hands back on the broom and stopped the fall with his head just half a foot from the ground. It all looked very dangerously and dramatic. Ginny forced back her smile with all her will-power.
*Tweeeet* Madame Hooch blew the whistle again looking extremely upset “Double blatchning girls?! After he already had passed the Quaffle? He could have fallen of and landed on his head. I thought better of you two! Penalty shoot for Slytherin!”
Ginny fought hard to change her face-mask to a shocked, slightly upset emotion. As if Flint would be thrown of his broom from an attack he knew was coming and was prepared on. All those times at practise when she done her best to tackle him of the broom he had not even wobbled. Not even Warrington and Montague doubling up on him usually got him off course. If Pucey was ridiculous fast, Flint was annoyingly stable on the broom. Her Captain caught her eye, and as if he could read her mind he put on a dramatic shocked face and grimacing as if in pain before raising an eyebrow at her, putting back his smirk and turning towards Wood to take his own penalty shoot. With practiced experience Flint feinted left, went right and easily put the Quaffle to the lowest hoop. Madame Hooch blew the whistle signalling Slytherins second goal.
“20-0 TO SLYTHERIN AFTER THAT OBVIOUSLY UNFAIR PENALTY SHOOT FOR SLYTHERIN!”
“MR JORDAN”
“SORRY PROFESSOR BUT DON’T SAY YOU BELIEVED THAT ACTING?”
The Slytherins’ booing at Lee joined together with the rest of the schools booing at the Slytherin’s scooring, and drowned the rest of Professor McGonagall and Lee’s fight. Ginny felt her stomach turn a bit on when she looked down at her schoolmates as she zoomed back towards their side of the pitch. Most of the school was all docked in red, of course, she already knew there was a cliff between Slytherin and the other houses but it was a bit unnerving to see it so visual. But what was that? Ginny saw a giant, green serpent sticking up from the Ravenclaw section. Looking closer Ginny saw Luna, her childhood friend and transfiguration partner, waving at her while the snake on her hat loudly made cheering hissing noise. Breaking her cool demeanour, she grinned at Luna before looping to get back in position. Maybe the whole school was not against her.
The game went on Slytherin having control of the Quaffle most of the time, Flint scored two more times, Ginny managed to score twice and Adrian three times. Though they could not stop Johnson from doing the same and both the other two Gryffindor chasers also got the Quaffle in twice. The largest problem though, was that Wood was ridiculously good, Ginny had to admit, most of their attacks had been miraculously saved by the fanatic keeper. With the score up to 90-80 for Slytherin, both sides played harder and harder, Pucey – who normally was the one of her teammates who avoided breaking the rules – flew straight into George as he was directing a bludger straight towards Bletchley while Johnson was trying to score her fifth goal. The bludger missed its target, Bletchley got his hands on the Quaffle, and Madame Hooch missed Pucey’s blatant blatching but definitely saw George going after him with his bat raised.
*Tweeeet* Madame Hooch blew her whistle with force again. “Outrageous behaviour Mr Weasley! Penalty for Slytherin.”
The crowd belove them booed and Ginny had to give it to them. Adrian deserved to get chased with that bat. It was not as if George would actually hit him with it. Would he?
“You take it Weasley. Time for plan AR.” Flint passed her and handed her the Quaffle. Plan AR. When she became Captain, she would fix those names. It was impossible to keep them all apart. They had from Plan AA up until Plan BY trained in and was expected to keep track of them all. She had had Alex quizzing her on them the whole week. Plan AR was easy to remember though. But harder to pull off. It started with her taking a penalty, surprising even Wood since both Adrian and Flint was notorious good at taking penalty shots. It did not make sense for her to do it. Which of course was why she did it. As she lined up for the shoot Ginny did not have to look to know that she had Flint 200 yards behind and that 50 yards away, Adrian was lazing around on his broom to her right, a few yards ahead of her, looking – even to her – as if he was judging her up and down while questioning why Flint had her take the shot and not him.
At Madame Hooch whistle Ginny fumbled with the Quaffle, just a couple of seconds, hearing the crowd jeering at her, before taking off towards the hoops – aiming just a couple of meters to high.
“Watch out Wood, she is up to something!” George calls out to Wood. She might have been able to fool most of the school into thinking the pressure of taking a penalty shot was taking its toll on her, but apparently growing up with her had its advantages.
Wood went up to block even though her angle was weird, normally it is easy enough to make a feint and just score on a penalty – there is no reason to go into this weird flying. She drops as if realizing she was completely out of course, but with the speed she already had she had gotten to close to the hoops, making her hitting the goal post with her wildly swinging foot and as if losing control over her broom makes a somersault over the hoop. The crowd explodes in laughter and Wood just stares at her as she goes headfirst down on the backside of the hoop. She observes the second Wood realizes he needs to get through the hoop and save from the other side. But too late, Ginny lobs the Quaffle straight into his outstretched hands as if passing, but through the hoop. The laughter from the crowd ebbs out into confused whispers, not even the Slytherins remembering to celebrate when Madame Hooch whistle once again signalling the goal. Did she mean that or was it a weird coincident? Why not throw it next to Wood so he had to dive for it before making a throw-out? That would give the Slytherin team needed time to get back into defence.
“What are you up to, little sis?” Fred hovers at her left shoulder as she gains back control over her flying.
Ginny shrugs, “Scoring”
Looking unthrustingly at her he soars away hunting a bludger on its way towards Harry.
Above her part 2 of Plan AR takes place, but she tries to keep her casual appearance and flies toward their side of the pitch getting their defence ready for a counter-attack. Behind her she hears the indignant yelp from Wood as Adrian boxes his throw-out away before Bell got a chance to catch it. Ginny whirls around to watch. If Flint timed this right then he should be exactly in position to...
“YEEEES!” Ginny screams as she watches Flint time his sprint-whiz perfectly, in time to hit the Quaffle straight through the left hoop.
“110-80 TO SLYTHERIN, THE LITTLIEST WEASLEY SHOWS HER SNEAKY SIDE ONCE MORE. HIT ME UP AFTER THE GAME TO GET THE STORY OF THE TIME WHEN SHE PUT BEETLES IN MY CEREAL!”
Ginny flipped Lee off with a scowl before taking her position in the defence. Really, he had deserved it. Who throws a nine-year-old’s teddy out the window?
Sudden action above her caught her attention. Harry was diving and Malfoy laid onto his broom to keep up.
*Tweeeet* “Shameful, Mr Malfoy, blagging is strictly forbidden!”
“You idiot!” Ginny heard Flint yelling at Malfoy. “Potter won’t get the Snitch with us ahead; they would lose the Cup! And if he actually would try, BLOODY LET HIM” Ginny felt sorry for Malfoy, a feeling she never thought she would have. But she was sure that Malfoy had not forgotten the aftermaths of the Hufflepuff-game any more than she had.
Johnson took the Gryffindor’s penalty shot, feinted and shoot. Bletchley had not the tiddliest of chances to get it. Ginny swore over Malfoy to herself, all sympathies was gone.
As the game proceeded Malfoy’s blagging started to look as kids play. Flint smashed into and threw Spinnet through their own hoop while she was holding the Quaffle, leading to a heated debate whether that was a valid way to score. Madame Hooch gave him the goal but also awarded Gryffindor a penalty shot that Bell flew up to take but missed as she was shaking of anger directed at the Slytherin Captain. Flint followed up with knocking Bell of her broom, only saved from plummeting into the ground by George who managed to catch her. Bletchley accidentally caught Johnson’s head after knocking the Quaffle over to Adrian with his foot, claiming to have gotten confused with which actually was the real Quaffle. Ginny did not understand how Madame Hooch could believe that. On the other hand, she also believed Ginny only wanted to give Fred a sisterly hug when she flew into him just as he was aiming a bludger meant to stop Adrian from scoring.
Ginny would, maybe, have felt bad over the Slytherin tactics if it was not for Gryffindor answering with the same means. She herself was sent flying from her broom after getting tackled off it by Angelina, thankfully Ginny as well was saved by George who grinned and awarded himself the award of ‘the white knight of the game’. Admittedly he did not have much competition for that title during this game. Fred swung his bat dangerously close to Flint’s head and Wood boxed Ginny straight into the head, claiming to have aimed for the Quaffle. That one Ginny actually believed as he looked genuinely upset and managed to caught her robe just before she went flying from her broom for the second time in that game. Spinnet and Bell teamed up and repeatedly double-blatching Adrian every time he got into their half of the pitch. Even Harry let himself into the foul play of the game when he knocked straight into Bletchley, allowing Bell to score, claiming to have seen the Snitch behind his ear.
“GRYFFINDOR SCORES! 200-190, SLYTHERIN HAVE LOST THEIR LEAD!”
“210-190 TO GRYFFINDOR!”
Bloody Salazar, Ginny swore to herself as Spinnet had just scored on a penalty shot gotten when Bole had thrown his bat after Johnson as he could not found any bludger to shoot at her. If Harry got to the Snitch now…
Pushing all those thought aside she pulled herself into position on the left side of Adrian with Flint a good twenty feet above them. Time for Plan BC. Ginny zoomed through the air, letting Adrian get ahead of her – not letting so much as it was inevitable with his flying skills and her broom, but in this plan, it helped them as it made it look natural. Flint dived; he was practically vertical against the ground. Adrian stood up on his broom. Them banning her from doing aerial tricks in games did not stop any of them from showing off, Ginny thought, not without bitterness. Though if she was honest, she knew she did not have the flow and safety in her tricks to do them in a game situation with opponents and bludgers flying around. Just as she thought the word bludgers Ginny looked up and saw with abhorrence how Fred drew back his bat to send a bludger straight towards Adrian who already was on his way to make the jump.
“MALFOY HAVE SEEN THE SNITCH AND ARE AFTER IT”
“POTTER IS HUNTING HIM, COME ON HARRY!! THE SEAKER WHO GETS THE SNITCH GETS THE CUP”
Oh, Merlin, they were going to lose. Adrian was not going to make the shot. If not… Ginny climbed up on her own broom hastily as she watched Flint making the pass. It was a perfectly timed pass, as always. Flint and Adrian were as synced as ever, though none of them had seen the danger. She did not think. She did not take the time to direct her broom for her landing. She just jumped. Straight into the bludger that just changed direction towards Adrian after Fred’s strike. After that everything seemed to explode.
“GINNY!!” She heard Fred’s panicked scream.
“AAAAAOOUCH” Ginny felt the air leaving her body in a horrible scream drowning out the pain that soured through her body.
“PUCEY SCOREJUMPED!!”
“SCORE! SLYTHERING SCORES!”
“GINNY JUMPED INTO A BLUDGER!”
“POTTER GOT THE SNITCH GRYFFINDOR WINS THE GAME!”
“WAIT… SLYTHERIN SCORED, THAT MEANS… SLYTHERIN GETS THE CUP!”
She zoomed through the air for the second time this game, bracing herself for the unenviable slam into the ground before someone suddenly seemed to come from a deep dive, pluck her from the air, and pulling them horizontal again.
“WEASLEY, WHAT THE BLOODY SALAZAR ARE YOU DOING?!” Ginny looked up at her captain’s pissed face. “Didn’t I fucking tell you not to jump of any brooms before you knew how to land?”
“But Captain, Adrian scored before Harry got the snitch, we won the Cup!” Ginny tried to grin at Flint’s shocked face but ended up gasping for air as the pain from the bludger caught up with her once again.
“We did?” Flint locked around and his eyes darted up to the scoreboard. “WE DID! Weasley, you are bloody brilliant!”
“IS THE LITTLE WEASLEY OKEY?” Ginny heard Lee’s still enchanted voice flicker with worry and she gave him a little wave from her place on Flint’s broom as he had started the lap of honour with the rest of their team to the jubilant crowd dressed in green below them.
“OH, DRAMA IN THE WEASLEY HOUSEHOLD THIS SUMMER! WOULDN’T WANT TO BE YOU FREDDIE WHEN YOUR MUMMY-” it sounded to Ginny as if the microphone was ripped from Lee kind of violently.
As they finished the lap Ginny heard another familiar voice yelling and looked down. Ron, dressed completely in red, was hanging out from the stands yelling such profound words at Fred that he would be in as much trouble as Fred if their mother had been there.
Ginny looked up at her Captain just before they touched ground, “I guess that means he finally gotten over the Slytherin debacle, don’t you think?” Or at least that was what she tried to say, gasping for air through the pain.
Before Flint got the chance at answering Fred was at her side, looked more sombre than Ginny had ever seen him. “Gin, I’m bloody sorry. I would never-” he stopped and tried again, “you know I never would hurt you?” Ginny nodded, trying to keep the pants of pain in. “Anything I could do to make it up for it?”
Ginny smirked, or tried to – it probably came out as a grimace and she accompanied it with gasping out some words, “Yes. One. Thing.”
“Anything!”
“Heal. Ribs. Don’t Hospital. Party.” Ginny felt her voice flicker on the words she managed to get out. It was not widely known but both twins had a talent for healing magic. Or maybe not talent for, just a lot of practises. It was not as if they could ask their mother to heal them every time an experiment would go wrong. She would get way to suspicious.
Fred looked as if he very much more wanted to send her to the Hospital Wing than to a Slytherin party but he nodded reluctantly. One by one he trailed her ribs, muttering “Episkey”.
“Thanks,” Ginny grinned – most of the pain was gone!
“Just little sis, promise me you go to Madame Pomfrey tomorrow?”
“Maybe,” Ginny smiled Fred’s own trademark grin at him as she worked to get her cool demeanour on before turning back to her waiting team.
“I’ll tell Percy!” Realizing what he said, Fred started to laugh.
George showed up next to Fred. “Way to cement my position as the best big brother, Forge!”
Shaking her head Ginny turned around only to be hoisted into the air and she found herself placed on Warrington’s shoulders as a little kid. Weirdly she did not care, just smiled happily down at her teammates who were smiling like idiots watching Flint raise the Cup towards the cheering Slytherins filling the stadium.
Adrian came up to them, holding her old Cleansweeper, looking unusually serious. “If we can’t keep you from jumping of your broom then I guess I just have to spend the rest of the term teaching you how to land. I guess I owe you that for taking a bludger for me!”
Before she could answer he got swept away by Aiden and Alex jumping around with joy around them. Teasingly Ginny encouraged Warrington to join them. He did, with her still on his shoulders and Ginny felt herself laughing with teammates, almost not feeling her bruised ribs. Life was pretty good.