Charmolypi

Chapter 62

The scene changed and the Gryffindor team was sitting in the locker room, with Oliver standing in the front, marking something on the board.

"Slytherin has better brooms than us," he began. "No point denying it. But we've got better people on our brooms. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers and we're going to make them rue the day they let that little bit of slime, Malfoy, buy his way onto their team." Oliver turned to Harry, looking extremely serious. "It'll be down to you, Harry, to show them that a Seeker has to have something more than a rich father. Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

"Come on, kiddo. I know you can do it!" James said excitedly.

The others cheered for the siblings.

"So no pressure, Harry," said Fred, winking at him.

As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly cheers, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were anxious to see Slytherin beaten, but the Slytherins in the crowd made their boos and hisses heard, too. Madam Hooch asked Flint and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary.

Just like in the movie, the houses cheered for the players. Like they had been doing in every Quidditch match, they started placing bets on who would be the winner.

"On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three...two...one..." With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Harry flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch.

"All right there, Scarhead?" yelled Malfoy, shooting underneath him as though to show off the speed of his broom. Harry had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting toward him; he avoided it so narrowly that he felt it ruffle his hair as it passed.

James winced at his son almost getting injured. Lily, who was still seated beside James, was biting nervously on her nails.

"Close one, Harry!" said George, streaking past him with his club in his hand, ready to knock the Bludger back toward a Slytherin. Harry saw George give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Adrian Pucey, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Harry again. Harry dropped quickly to avoid it, and George managed to hit it hard toward Malfoy. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Harry's head. Harry put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the pitch. He could hear the Bludger whistling along behind him.

"What the..."
"That Bludger has been tampered with..." Marlene said in realization.

"They stopped checking the equipment before the matches?" James said horrified.

Thea turned, looking slightly panicked at the Buldger's behavior. She flew to Fred who looked slightly worried. "What's happening with the Bludger?"

"No clue," he answered truthfully. "We'll figure it out, don't worry." With that he flew to the end of the field and waited for the crazed ball. Harry ducked just as Fred swung at the ball with all his might, knocking it off course.

"Good job, Freddie!" Thea yelled joyfully.

"There better not be anything between them..." James growled quietly.

"He's Molly's kid, I don't think it would be that bad if Thea happened to date him," Remus said honestly.

"She's still in her second year, don't you think it's a bit too early for her to date..." Lily said hesitantly, not wanting to sound off ass judgmental.