Before the Dawn | George Weasley

32

Fred and George's prank was, unfortunately, rather funny.

My team dressed in the locker room wearing expressions of disgust. Overnight our emerald-green jerseys had been turned a foul yellowish-brown colour, the Slytherin letters across the chest manipulated to read 'Sleepy Snake Squad.'

I fought the laugh that bubbled up in my throat at the sight of my team dressed in our ridiculous apparel, then caught Draco's eye and steeled immediately.

"Right," I said, clearing my throat. "I know this isn't how we imagined this day would go so far, but the colour of our jerseys won't affect how we play. We stick to our plan, play our game, and everything will be fine."

I led the team to the doors to await release. The doors opened, and my team took to the air, lining up in our respective spots. My eyes swept over the stadium, and I tried to absorb the pulsing energy that radiated from the humming student sections.

The Gryffindor team flew out to meet us and I clapped a hand over my mouth, a laugh escaping me. In preemptive revenge, Jamie had turned their jerseys a bright bubble gum pink, and as Angelina lined up to take the toss across from me, I noticed that the griffons in their house logos were fast asleep and letting out loud snores.

I met George's gaze briefly, seeing my own amusement reflected on his face. Angelina, on the other hand, did not look pleased, and I ducked my head to hide my laughter. 

Over in the teacher's box, Dumbledore giggled quietly while Umbridge looked simply delighted to see so much of her favourite colour in one place. Neither McGonagall nor Snape had cracked a smile.

"Looks like there was some late-night extracurricular activity in the locker rooms on both teams," remarked Lee over the loudspeaker. "This may be the ugliest match Hogwarts has ever seen, jerseys and otherwise."

Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and the match began.

I dove in and caught the Quaffle first, tossing it quickly to Cassius, who fumbled the pass and turned it over to Katie Bell.

"Bell takes the Quaffle from Warrington, making it look easy!" Lee called. "Bell passes to Johnson, who dodges a Bludger from Goyle and SCORES!"

I gritted my teeth, flying over to grab Goyle's jersey, interrupting his blooming shoving match with Fred and yanking him away. 

"I need you to make that hit next time around, alright?" I said as calmly as I could, and he nodded. I flashed a glare at Fred as he flew away, but he just waved me off.

I peeled away to catch a pass from Adrian.

"Pucey passes to Doyle, the new Slytherin Captain! She's looking rather determined, nearly flattens George Weasley as she moves up the pitch, but that's no surprise, anybody who's been paying attention at all would know they've broken things off and rather hate each other now..."

"JORDAN!"

"Sorry, Professor, just keeping everyone up to date. Doyle looks like she may pass to Warrington, but decides against it—probably smart, after he dropped that last pass. She dodges a Bludger shot from her ex-boyfriend and swings around to take a fiery shot, almost knocks Ron Weasley, Gryffindor's new Keeper, off his broom! A score for the Sleepy Snake Squad!"

I swung around, grinning as Pucey gave me a congratulatory punch to the shoulder, catching a glimpse of Miles cheering at the other end of the pitch. The Slytherin student section began to sing a chant, apparently each and every one of them having learned all of the words to some song.

There wasn't time to celebrate, though, and I didn't hang around to figure out what the students were singing about. Katie Bell got ahold of the Quaffle and was flying down the pitch, Cassius in close pursuit. Crabbe sent a Bludger crashing into her side, knocking the Quaffle loose, and Cassius nabbed it, swinging it across the pitch to me.