The Potter Twins and the Chamber of Secrets

XX

The roars were deafening as we flew out onto the field. There were more cheers than boos, because the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs always wanted to see Slytherin beaten, too. Wood and Marcus Flint met in the middle of the pitch next to Madam Hooch and shook hands at her command, both glaring daggers at each other and gripping the other's hand with bone-crunching force.

"On my whistle," Madam Hooch said loudly, as I gripped my broom so hard my knuckles went white, "one... two... three!"

All the players shot up into the sky, Harry flying up higher than any of us, squinting for the Snitch. Madam Hooch threw the quaffle in between me and Adrian Pucey, one of the Slytherin chasers. I grabbed it, and we collided heavily, but I managed to keep hold and shot off in the direction of the Slytherin hoops. Alicia, flying on the other side of the pitch, screamed for the ball as Marcus Flint approached me, so I passed it seconds before and just managed to avoid my second collision. Alicia took a shot, but the Slytherin keeper was in front of it in a blink thanks to his new broomstick and blocked it. Flint sped off in the other direction, just as a bludger came pelting towards my face.

I rolled the broom to one side, feeling the air move through my hair as the thing shot past me. George Weasley gave it a thwack with his bat and it went flying towards Harry. 

However, I didn't have time to worry about him, because Flint was nearly in front of our goalposts and I was the only one who could get near to catching him on the brand-new Nimbus. The key is in the word near, because before I got within five metres he threw the quaffle straight into the left hoop. Just as Wood swore in anger, I heard a yelp from up above while I flew to head off Pucey - Harry was still getting harassed by the rogue bludger. There was a crack as Fred hit it away, and I breathed a sigh of relief - hopefully it would leave him alone. 

By flanking Pucey, Katie and I had managed to get the quaffle off him. However, Alicia, flying a support line, screamed from behind just as we got across the halfway line. "Bludger!" she yelled, and I passed the ball to Katie, who sped further towards the posts. The thing pelted past me like a cannonball as I executed yet another roll, but without the support from my faster broomstick Flint was easily able to steal the quaffle from Katie and Alicia. Before long, they had scored again.

A combination of the clingy bludger and the faster brooms on the Slytherin team had us ninety-twenty down before even fifteen minutes had passed. Harry's search for the Snitch had been all but abandoned, with Fred and George flanking him like bodyguards, leaving me to avoid it all by myself whenever it decided to visit me. I knew exactly why they weren't giving me such protection - if Harry was injured, we would never be able to win. 

I heard George yell, "we need a time out!" as the thing tried yet again to end Harry's Quidditch career for good. 

Wood got the message and within one minute we were all huddled in the middle of the pitch, shivering from the now pelting rain and listening to the boos from the Slytherins in the stand. "What's going on?" Wood demanded. "We're getting flattened. Fred, George, where were you when that bludger stopped Sam and Alicia from scoring? That's happened four times now."

"We were twenty feet above, trying to stop it from killing Harry, Oliver!" Fred shot back. "Something's wrong with it. It hasn't touched anyone but the twins all game - someone's tampered with the equipment."

"But it's all been locked in Madam Hooch's office all week, no one could have done anything," Wood said anxiously. 

"Madam Hooch's coming," I said urgently, as she left the Slytherin huddle and they all turned to smirk at us. Everyone looked at Harry, whose pre-match nerves seemed to have disappeared. He looked determined, and above all, furious. "Look," he said firmly, "with Fred and George round me like that, the only way I can get the Snitch is if it flies up my sleeve. Leave me alone and go and help the Chasers score."