Emma Potter; Going to War

70: Cheat?

The teams walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos.One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea ofgreen and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sidestoo: Amidst all the yelling and clapping I could distinctly hearthe roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.

 Harry stepped up to Madam Hooch, the referee, who was standing ready to release the balls from the crate. 

"Captains shake hands," she said, and Harry had his handcrushed by Montague. 

"Mount yourbrooms. On the whistle . . . three . . . two . . . one . . ."

 The whistle sounded, Harry and the others kicked off hard fromthe frozen ground, and they were away. 

Harry soared around the perimeter of the grounds, lookingaround for the Snitch and keeping one eye on Harper, who waszigzagging far below him. Then a voice that was jarringly differentto the usual commentator's started up. 

"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see theteam that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, givenRonald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that hemight be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendshipwith the Captain does help. . . ." 

These words were greeted with jeers and applause from theSlytherin end of the pitch. I craned my neck to look toward the commentator's podium. A tall, skinny blond boywith an upturned nose was standing there, talking into the magicalmegaphone that had once been Lee Jordan's; I recognizedZacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player whom I heartily disliked.

 "Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it'sUrquhart streaking down the pitch and —"

 My stomach turned over.

 "— Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, Isuppose. . . ."  

With half an hour of the game gone, Gryffindor were leadingsixty points to fifty, Ron having made some truly spectacular saves,some by the very tips of his gloves, and Ginny having scored four ofGryffindor's six goals. Zoe had made all five goals. 

 This effectively stopped Zacharias wondering loudly whether the two Weasleys were only there becauseHarry liked them, and he started on Peakes and Coote instead. 

"Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," saidZacharias loftily, "they've generally got a bit more muscle —"

 It seemed as though Gryffindor could do no wrong. Again andagain they scored, and again and again, at the other end of thepitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease. He was actually smilingnow, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King," he pretended to conduct them from on high.

I groaned and buried my head in Ryan's shoulder.

"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" saidZacharias Smith through his megaphone. "Yes, he's certainly seensomething Potter hasn't!" 

Then they were both racing and--

"YES!" Harry yelled. Wheeling around, he hurtled back towardthe ground, the Snitch held high in his hand

. As the crowd realizedwhat had happened, a great shout went up that almost drownedthe sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game. 

"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who had found himself trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with the rest of theteam, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almightycrash, she collided with the commentator's podium. 

As the crowdshrieked and laughed, the Gryffindor team landed beside thewreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring; I heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall, "Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."