Secrets I have held in my heart (part 1)

Chapter 36: Ravenclaw vs Gryffindor

It was now March, miraculously, Harry's Firebolt was now in his hands again. A couple of days before the match, he had used it to practice. The whole team was fascinated by its speed, somehow, it flew as fast as the Snitch and we could hardly catch him from how fast he zoomed in the air.

The night before the decisive match, the team was huddled in the common room after practice. Harry had insisted to not let go of his broom and would carry it virtually everywhere.

'alright team, tomorrow will be the match that decides whether we move forwards or not' started Oliver, his face was illuminated by the fire and he carried an anxious expression

'you have all proved your talent and have improved your skills beyond I could ever hope for, Ravenclaw has no chance against us' he said, now looking more motivated

We all concurred with this with mixed exclaims, the tense atmosphere set by Wood now dissolving in the air.

'off to sleep then, I want you all up at 7 sharp, I want to get some warm ups done before practice and a digested breakfast before the match' eyeing a couple of team members that had lost their breakfast in previous matches.

We headed off to bed but as I lay in mine, I couldn't fall asleep. I was scared to fail Oliver, he wanted that win so bad and what if I didn't score at all, what if I was hit by a Bludger and forced to step out of the game? I couldn't even begin to think of the embarrassment of that, I had worked on my reflexes so that I could even avoid the Bludgers with my eyes closed. Still, that anxious feeling prevailed in my stomach until I fell asleep at the late hours of the night.

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*TIME SKIP*

'let me help you with that' whispered George, who was seeing me struggle to serve my coffee. I was shaking with fear and the drink was going everywhere but the cup.

I thanked him and raised the toast to my mouth, trying to at least eat something to remain energised in the match but it felt like I was chewing on sawdust. 

'hey, it's going to be okay' said George, holding my hand under the table in reassurance

I just nodded because I couldn't choke out the words. We sat like this until Wood lead us all out, taking us to the pitch to do some warm up laps. The stands were slowly being filled by students that wanted to get the best seats, Hermione being among them and carrying my Gryffindor scarf to display and show her support. Ron was also there but he was sitting far apart from Granger.

After the warm up, we had all moved into the changing rooms to have the last pep talk. The cheering from the stands was gradually growing louder to the point that I could hardly hear what Oliver was saying. I saw the team stand up and head outside and I followed. George was still holding my hand, but he let go when we stood in our respective spaces. From a distance, I saw the team captains shake hands and also, saw Harry goggle over the Ravenclaw Seeker, a fourth year girl named Cho Chang.

Madame Hooch blew the whistle and everyone kicked off the ground, Harry going into the air faster than anyone and already on the lookout for the Golden Snitch. Angelina, Katie and I were in possession of the Quaffle, I could hear Lee's hilarious comments which made Professor McGonagall outraged. Katie scored first, giving us a 10 point head start. Fred and George were beating the Bludgers out of the way while Harry was zooming around the pitch, Cho trailing behind trying to catch up on him.

The match continued its course, Ravenclaw was almost ahead of us in points. Harry had previously been so close to catching the Snitch but he had almost been hit by an unseen Bludger, making him lose the chance to snatch it. Then, Harry began flying upwards, but there was no Snitch in sight, the dove to the ground and up he was going to go again but three hooded figures were now looking or so it looked like, at him. I felt a paralyzing fear but I heard Harry's clear voice bellowing