Part II
17th May 1997
“Your What?” Neville cried
“Shhh.” They were sitting in the library and Neville had spoken way to loudly, she did not want to summon Madam Pince over to their seat. “Yes, I’m going to be playing against Clary! What should I do?”
“I don’t know, tell her maybe?” Neville suggested “she might not get angry with you Han.”
“No but she will, we support her during every game she plays and now I’m not only supporting my team but playing against her! Plus, I’m keeper I think if I have this correct, I’ll be in direct opposition to her because I’m the one standing in the way of her scoring goals.”
“Oh merlin.” Neville said “You are right. How about we tell her at Lunch, if she gets angry just say Smith really didn’t give you a choice.” Hannah agreed, Smith was a very persuasive person Clary could not argue with that. As Hannah entered the great hall for lunch that day with Neville by her side, it was summertime therefore it was normally sandwiches for lunch as nobody really fancied having anything too warm. Hannah spotted Clary immediately on the Ravenclaw table, she appeared to be engaged in a book called ‘A Brief History of Space and Time’ and James who sat opposite her had a quill in his hand and appeared to be eagerly starching something on the parchment.
“Very sociable of you guys.” Neville interrupted sarcastically
“Very productive as well,” Clary said as she replaced her bookmark from the table. James even put his quill down and smiled up at Hannah as she quietly sat beside him “Hoping this could help me manipulate the space-time continuum to make Slytherin win the upcoming match.”
“Is that possible,” James questioned
“If only I’m sure Marcus would’ve tried it to get Malfoy to catch the snitch and not Potter for a change, come to say it I’m surprised I haven’t chucked him off the team yet because our reserve for seeker has played more matches in his place than he has played.”
“He’s been neglecting his prefect duties as well hasn’t he Hannah,” James added, Hannah nodded in agreement.
“That’s surprising considering all he did last year was flaunt himself at them, luckily Harper is a great replacement for Malfoy and with Me, Zabini and Urquhart know our game and this new replacement keeper on the Hufflepuff team may not…”
“Clary.” Hannah said, “I am the replacement keeper.”
“You’re the replacement?” Hannah observed Clary first, she did not have a very decipherable expression on her face. James’ face was drained of colour as it did when he expected a conflict. Neville held his breath
“I’m sorry Clary, I hope you’re not angry with me.”
Clary asked, “Of course, I’m not angry with you, I’m quite excited actually because I’ve never played someone I really know in a competitive match before.”
“You really aren’t just a little bit annoyed?” Hannah questioned
“Hannah, you haven’t joined the Dark Side of the Force by choosing to play on your house’s team.” Clary smirked, Neville gave Hannah the “I told you so” look, he had been right about Clary’s reaction. “But just a warning I’m not going to go easy on you.”
“And I would not expect you to.” Hannah grinned “and you can expect me not to go easy on you too.”
Clary smiled “Game on then.” Hannah nodded, Game on.
***
On the match day, Hannah was shitting herself. She did not want to leave her bed let alone her dorm because she knew what awaited her. Despite the fact, Clary had been okay about it all she could stop thinking about what Smith had told her. He said that she should not view Clary as her best friend on the pitch but the opposition chaser because Clary would not see Hannah as Hannah either but the opposition keeper. She was scared because Hannah knew she could not physically do this. When the Quaffle comes towards her what if the fact that Clary shot it phycs her out and that was a pact the girls made that they wouldn’t let the fact they were best friends get in the way of playing their best. Simply she couldn’t let it happen, maybe she could just let the game be about her and the quaffle, and not look at who shot the ball. That would be the best way of ensuring that it would not. Letting out a small exhale Hannah peeled the yellow patched blanket off herself, she changed quickly into the canary yellow robes smith had loaned her. It lacked her name embroidered on the back like the other players, but it has the number of the keeper and that was number 1.
“Hannah?” a small sleepy voice from the corner of the room whispered, it was Susan. She was barely awake when Hannah approached her bed.
“I’m half asleep now but can I braid your hair?” Susan asked, “I don’t want it to fall out while you are playing.”
“Yes of course.” Hannah agreed, Susan was fantastic at platting hair and Hannah loved it when people did her hair, it really did soothe her anxiety. Susan sat up and switched on the light beside her bed and sat up. As Sue sectioned and then tied the golden curls of Hannah’s hair into two Dutch braids Hannah closed her eyes and imagined that instead of Sue her mum was doing it as she would when she was a child, this caused a few tears to well in Hannah’s eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.
“My auntie played on the team when she was here,” Susan said Hannah knew Susan had the same thought as her in that moment. By some nasty twist of fate, the two girls had both lost their mothers or mother-like figure in the same year, they had both been there for each other as they battled through their grief solidifying their already strong bond “She was a keeper like you are today.”
“She was?” Hannah questioned astonished “I hope I can play as well as she did today for you, Sue.”
“I know, you’ll do amazing.” Susan beamed tied up the end of each braid with a Sleekeazy’s Splendid Sturdy hair tie so that along with Susan’s tight braiding there was no chance it would fall out. “You’ve got this Hannah.”
“Thank You.” Hannah smiled
“Bye, see you on the pitch.” Sue waved, Hannah raised her hand as a goodbye, not to Hannah’s surprise as it was an ungodly hour to be awake Susan turned off her bedside lamp and went straight to sleep again. Hannah attended Smith’s pre-match tactics talk in one of the spare classrooms near the charms department, he had a blackboard and everything. Part of his lesson was on Clary’s gameplay and theory. Something that Hannah found quite entertaining, the fact that she was being given a lecture on her best friend was amusing.
He kept repeating that Clary would try anything to get the cup and that they should all be warned, though Hannah did not believe Smith. He made it sound like she would condone cheating in order to win the cup but that wasn’t true at all, she had once said that she wanted to eradicate aggressive behaviour and cheating from the team because it gave them a bad reputation and it also ensured Slytherin got many penalties ultimately losing them more points. It seemed Clary had been successful, during the game against Gryffindor normally the most aggressive of the whole quidditch calendar at Hogwarts was a lot less violent than normal.
After the lecture, it was onto the changing rooms, where they changed into their gear. Hannah wore some brown leather gloves and a helmet to help protect her from the quaffle. She hoped she wouldn’t need to use it. As she thought about the upcoming game, she felt her body begin to tremble and she fought off the urge to bite her nails as she did when she was scared.
“First game nerves?” Christie Cadwallader asked, she was one of the chasers. She took a seat beside Hannah on the bench.
“Yes,” Hannah answered, she could say that with some certainty. She was so nervous to play quidditch let alone Slytherin.
Christie said “Hannah, considering you have never played a proper game in your life, you are great. In training this week you were easily as good as Tomlinson.”
“Really,” Hannah questioned Christie nodded. Though her compliments meant a lot they didn’t soothe Hannah’s nerves as much as they should have.
The whistle went off outside, it was time to begin. “Here we go! Now let’s smash this game. Send them serpents Slytherin to their lairs in disgrace.” Smith yelled rather eagerly. The team shrieked in agreement, she hoped she could help them win. Hufflepuff had a chance this year unlike many others, they had beaten Gryffindor and Ravenclaw narrowly they were third on the league table if they played astonishingly this game, they had a real shot.
Hannah noted as they entered the pitch it was quite large and intimidating from the ground, from the stands it had never felt like this. In practice, she never noticed how tall and wide the rings were, and it wasn’t like muggle football, she would have to defend three goals. She noticed Clary with her game face on and her team entering the pitch from the opposite end. When the two captains met in the middle, they shook hands as par routine. Madam Hooch after observing this commanded both teams to mount their brooms, Hannah made eye contact with Clary as they did as madam hooch asked, she gave Hannah a small nod. Every player rose into the air and the keepers flew to the goalposts as the snitch and bludgers were released onto the pitch.
“The Quaffle has been released, this signifies the start of the game.” The commentator boomed into the speaker.
After a small scuffle in the midfield Hannah noticed Zacharias had possession of the quaffle, she breathed almost a sigh of relief. She would have a bit of time to prepare herself. Smith zoomed towards the Slytherin Goalposts on his Nimbus 1990, he made good progress despite Blaise Zabini tailgating him. He thrust the ball into the middle hoop, but the Slytherin keeper Alfie Scheelite managed to catch it, he banged his hand against his broom handle in frustration. Before she knew it Clary had possession, the Hufflepuff beater Lottie Keighley attempted to aim a bludger at Clary, but it missed as she sped past, the speed of the Nimbus 2001 was after all unmatched on the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch after Harry Potter’s firebolt. Hannah had both her iris’s following the quaffle, she followed her instincts. Clary had attempted to place the quaffle through the right hoop, but Hannah managed to slap the ball away with her right palm.
The landed safe in Cadawallder’s hands and it was flown away from the shooting area. Thank Goodness, Hannah thought. She had defended the hoops from her best friend for the first time, and once you did it once you can do it many times. Hufflepuff scored a few minutes later, thanks to Smith and Cadawallder. This made the Hufflepuff supporters in the stands cheer, among them Susan, Neville, and Ernie who Hannah could see slightly below her. Susan appeared the happiest of all, seeing Hannah succeed in her Auntie’s old position gave her a bittersweet feeling.
This seemed to frustrate the Slytherin Chasers but none more than the two Slytherin beaters Crabbe and Goyle. One word to describe them would be brutes. They were good beaters however frequently last year they had broken the rules, earning Slytherin many penalties. This year Clary told them that if they did this again, they would be off the team so far, they had toed the line. However, within this game, they appeared to be very violent. They were hitting bludgers so hard Hannah thought their bats would break from the impact. Smith, Cadawallder and Skelwith had many bludgers pelted towards them and luckily none of them had hit their intended targets.
Zabini attempted to score but once again failed, as Hannah kicked away the ball from the centre hoop.
“Abbott despite the fact she’s new to the team for this game has shown herself to be an amazing addition to the team, I do wonder where Smith found her.”
Hufflepuff was in the lead by 30 points now, Slytherin had yet to score. Hannah knew by the look on Clary’s face she was stressed about this if they didn’t get a goal in soon Hufflepuff would be too far ahead of them. Smith on the other hand was very happy, in his element as they say. Hannah had proved to be a good decision on his part, he was very happy he had spied to Clary Mackay that day in September. Slytherin however had come up with a strategy.
Urqhart came up to the goal followed closely by Clary and Zabini. Urqhart appeared to want to throw the ball into the left hoop but unexpectedly he threw to Clary, then she punched the ball into the middle hoop. Hannah didn’t get there in time. Hannah cursed; it was a good manoeuvre and they had outwitted her with their cunning. Clary was good at strategy, normally helping their little group with strategy-based homework. Now the score was 30-10. Hufflepuff however was still on their winning streak, despite feeling slightly disheartened Hannah continued to try her best. She protected against 4 more Slytherin attempts but had missed one. The score stood at 40-20.
Clary had possession once again and Cadawallder was chasing after her. Luckily Urqhart and Zabini were too far behind to try their manoeuvre again. Hannah kept her eyes locked on the quaffle under no circumstances would she take her eyes off it, if she hadn’t, she would have seen them. A force that could be compared to being knocked backwards by a stunning spell sent her falling through the centre hoop. Whatever had knocked her backwards had hit her on the chest and head, it bloody hurt. She was vaguely aware of something catching her, and subdued skreiches before her world went dark.
***
Hannah came to her senses 8 hours later, in a soft warm bed in the hospital wing. The searing pain in her chest and head were gone and replaced with a tingling feeling, there was pressure around her chest and head as though it had been wrapped up in bandages. It was nighttime when she came round, she noticed many chairs around her but all of them were empty except one. Clary was there, still in her quidditch robes. She had obviously been there since the game ended not even leaving to change.
“Hey.” She spoke, “Are you okay?”
“Hi,” Hannah replied groggily. “I-I think I am.”
“That’s good. Hannah, I’m so sorry! I know you’re going to ask me what happened because that’s what they all do so. Crabbe and Goyle hit both bludgers at you at the same time just before I were about to score, then you fell through the hoop, but I managed to catch you in time. They’re off the team, I dismissed them at the end of the game.”
“Please don’t be sorry, it wasn’t your fault,” Hannah reassured reaching for Clary’s hand to squeeze it. She could barely believe it had happened, that she had been attacked in such a purposeful way.
“I feel I owe you one, as captain. But anyway, we did win in the end, but only because Harper got the snitch. You were fantastic I have to say.”
“Really?” Hannah said in astonishment “Cadawallder said so, but I thought she was trying to raise my confidence.”
“Genuinely Hannah, you’re trying out next year that’s for sure and certain,” Clary explained as she squeezed Hannah’s hand again.
“You sound like you’re about to force me.”
“Ah a bit, yeah, but you have to even if I have to drag you there. When you’re good at something there’s no point not doing anything about it otherwise, you’re wasting your potential.” Clary advised, it sounded oddly like something her mother had once told her, and as always Hannah’s mother had always been right. Maybe it would be good for her just as long as she wasn’t injured again.
Hannah grinned “I’ll think about it.”
Clary smiled “James and Neville were here a few minutes ago but Nev was beside himself when you fell so Jem sent him to bed to get some rest. Ernie convinced Jem to get some rest too though I doubt they are actually sleeping much” Hannah couldn’t resist laughing during the last part, but she couldn’t help but think about Nev.
Neville had been frantic, his scream when Hannah got hit was loud enough to be heard from Cornwall Clary had thought, additionally, there had been many interactions over the past few months that would make it obvious that they both liked each other.
Hannah replied, “I didn’t mean to worry Nev, or Jem or you.”
“Neville especially.” Clary grinned
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hannah asked
“Absolutely nothing.” Clary sniggered. “But anyway I’ve heard Malfoy has a secret girlfriend and that’s the reason he’s not been coming to matches.”
Hannah was glad to hear Clary’s weird hypothesis because as normal they were back to discussing the random going’s on at Hogwarts. Even though Hannah had been worried about competing against Clary at the start her fears appeared to be completely unfounded, she hadn’t given Clary enough credit. Despite how Hannah’s actions in her mind could have been considered a disloyalty Clary had only seen it as an opportunity to test herself and for Hannah to gain confidence. In the future, Hannah would make sure she gave her best friend that credit.