Before the Dawn | George Weasley

14

The second half of the school year went by in a blur, the end of the school year approaching far too quickly for my taste. I wasn't quite ready to say goodbye to these grand halls, or any of the faces that had grown so familiar this past year.

Luckily, we still had one Quidditch match left before the year concluded, and it was for the Cup.

Gryffindor's team had quickly regained traction, defeating both Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff handily to rise to the championship, where we had been seated early after defeating Ravenclaw in our fifth match of the season.

The locker room was quiet as we prepared ourselves for what was sure to be a brutal match. 

"You alright?" Miles nudged me with his shoulder as he pulled on his Keeper's helmet. "It's alright to be nervous. It's only natural, after what happened last time."

"What happened last time isn't going to happen again, not on my watch," Peregrine spoke up before I could answer. "You'll be keeping all your teeth today, Doyle."

I gave them both a small smile. The truth was, I was nervous. Gryffindor was the only team that could match our physical style of play, and there would undoubtedly be injuries before the end of the match.

"Gryffindor is behind two-hundred points in the standings." Marcus spoke now, drawing all of our attention with his gruff voice. "That means they need two-hundred and ten points. Any less and the Cup is ours, even if they outscore us in this match."

We nodded in understanding, my eyes meeting Draco's. He knew the match would likely come down to his catching the Snitch, but he carefully hid any nerves, his expression calm.

We lined up at the door in silence.

"Give 'em hell, boys," said Marcus, and the doors opened.

The stadium roared. All four houses attended the match, and by the sound of it, only one house was rooting for Slytherin. I mounted my broom and followed my teammates into the air, my heart hammering in my ribcage.

The match began, and we were off.

Lee's voice rang out over the intercom. "Johnson is quick to the Quaffle and starts the match with a possession for Gryffindor! She dodges Bole, makes it look easy, and SCORES! Gryffindor takes an early lead!"

I flew around to where Miles was glowering at having missed the shot. "Forget it, Miles. We've still got a whole match ahead of us."

He gave me a curt nod, and I returned to the field. Graham had the Quaffle under his arm but had it knocked away by George, who passed it off to Alicia Spinnet.

Marcus flew full speed into Angelina Johnson's side, nearly knocking her off her broom. Madam Hooch blew her whistle, but not before Fred whizzed by and threw his Beater's bat at Marcus, which ricocheted off Marcus's broom handle and bloodied his nose.

The two stared each other down as Madam Hooch called a second penalty on Fred. Offsetting penalties resulted in a tossup, which Marcus lined himself up for, blood dripping into his teeth.

A few minutes later, we were down by three goals and the match was growing vicious. Graham grabbed Katie Bell's arm and nearly pulled her off her broom, granting Gryffindor a penalty shot, which widened their lead to four goals.

I gave a huff of frustration, watching my team fall to shambles around me. Miles saved the next shot and passed the Quaffle to me, and I flew with a vengeance up the length of the pitch.

"Doyle's got the Quaffle now, looks like she's about ready to burn this pitch to the ground, if you ask me," Lee's voice boomed. "She dodges an attempted body shot from Johnson—that would have been fun to see—and makes Fred Weasley miss with the Bludger."