Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 56: The Future All Around US, Waiting To Be Born (pt 2)

The Hogwarts Quidditch Pitch
26 April 1994

Oliver Wood sat alone on a bench and stared out at the empty pitch wondering how everything had fallen apart.

"This should have been our year," he thought bitterly. "An experienced team with no replacements. Good Chasers. Good Beaters. And the best Seeker I've ever seen. And the Slytherins had four new members! All we had to do was stay 50 points ahead of them and then let Jim catch the Snitch, and the Quidditch Cup was ours. What happened?"

But he knew what had happened. It had been a failure of leadership.

Fred and George had been at each other's throats for months and suddenly couldn't coordinate worth a damn, a problem Oliver had ignored because he didn't want his involvement in the prank against SPAM exposed. Meanwhile, Jim, for all his unmistakable talent, was emotionally unstable and had been for two years, but since the Easter break, he'd been moody and distracted. When Oliver tried to impress on the boy to wait until they were up by 50 points, Jim had just looked at him blankly. To add insult to injury, the night before the match, his three Chasers (one Pureblood and two Halfbloods) got into an argument over Theo Bloody No-Name and were all still mad with each other about it.

And then, there were the Slytherins. Their three Chasers (Pucey, Black, and Montague) were as well-oiled as the year before, and Harry Black especially seemed to be as good a Chaser as his twin was a Seeker. Their Beaters (Goyle and Bulstrode) were still young and inexperienced but had grown into their roles over the season. Their Keeper (Bletchley) was adequate. But their Seeker ....

It had to be confessed that while Ginny Weasley was not as good as Jim Potter, she was still very, very good. So much so that Jim was hard-pressed to keep her from the Snitch while waiting to catch it himself until after the Lions had built up a lead. At one point, Jim was desperate enough to try a Wronski Feint, hoping she'd crash and have to sit out for a while. Instead, the Slytherin girl matched him perfectly.

After the game entered its fourth hour, the score was 270-230. Gryffindor had only managed a 40-point lead, and that was only because Oliver was simply better than Bletchley as Keeper. But finally, Angelina scored a penalty goal after Goyle fouled her. 280-230! When play resumed, Jim immediately started searching for the Snitch in earnest with Ginny right on his tail. He saw a flash of gold at the far side of the field, and for an instant he seemed entranced by it. Then, the Boy-Who-Lived rocketed towards his target. Ginny was closer. It took her a second to realize he'd spotted the Snitch, but she reacted instantly, and the two were soon neck-and-neck. As they drew ever nearer to their target, they bumped into each other a few times trying to throw the other off course.

And then, it happened. The Snitch veered left which gave Ginny a slight edge. Jim pushed his broom harder and, without fully intending to, hit the girl hard with his elbow. Ginny fell behind a few feet, and Jim reached out and grabbed the Snitch. From his vantage point across the field, Oliver screamed in jubilation. The crowd noise was deafening. So loud was it, in fact, that it was several seconds before Jim could hear Madam Hooch's whistle blowing. When the noise died down, the referee announced her call via Sonorous.

"THE GRYFFINDOR SEEKER HAS CAPTURED THE SNITCH. 150 POINTS TO GRYFFINDOR. BUT PRIOR TO THAT, HE COBBED THE OPPOSING SEEKER."

Cobbing was the official term for "excessive use of elbows," a foul move that entitled the Cobbed player to a penalty shot. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred, a penalty called after the Snitch had been caught was a mere formality, and often, the affected team simply waived their right to take a shot. But not always. The victory in this match was Gryffindor's, but they still needed to beat Slytherin by a total of 200 points to claim the Quidditch Cup. If Ginny made the shot, the Lions would only have a 190-point lead, and the Cup would go to the Snakes.