Annabeth Chase and Things Are Getting Intense

Chapter Twenty Eight

The whole of Hogwarts seemed to be out for the Quidditch match: Gryffindor against Hufflepuff. They were all packed into the stands, set forty feet in the air to better see the players as they soared across the field. Even the teachers were out, in their own special box where the students couldn't bother them. Also in the teachers' box was Luna Lovegood, who would be commentating the match.

Annabeth, Vera, and Freddie were in the stands next to Cassie Mast, Daisy's friend from Hufflepuff. Cassie had wild, curly hair as red as a Weasley's, though she wasn't part of the family despite the amount of times she'd been mistaken for a cousin.

The match was about to start; the teams were walking onto the field, some of them shielding their eyes against the bright sun. It was a hot day out and Annabeth found herself wiping sweat off her brow every so often, but she was there to support Daisy. Also because Vera would have killed her if she didn't show up.

But the thought that everyone was out here, in the stands or on the field, made Annabeth think about how empty the school was now. Most of the school, if not all of them, were here, making it the perfect time to sneak around inside the castle.

Perfect for Malfoy to get away with anything unnoticed.

Down on the field, Madam Hooch blew the whistle, and the players were in the air.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the quaffle," Luna said from her booth. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I think he regrets that now he's playing them—oh, look, he's lost the quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's quite nice..."

"Oh my god," Vera laughed. "This is amazing. Luna should commentate every game."

"Well," Freddie said, smiling, "now I don't have to worry about getting bored."

"...but now Daisy from Hufflepuff's got the quaffle from her. I like her, too, she's very nice, she helped me in Herbology once..."

Luna trailed off while Daisy scored and Vera cheered like a maniac. The Gryffindor keeper seemed to be reprimanding Ginny, maybe for losing the quaffle. While that was happening, Daisy flew down and grabbed the quaffle again and Harry went over to the goalposts.

"And now Harry Potter's having an argument with his keeper," Luna said serenely, like this was just any other day. "I don't think that will help him find the snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse..."

"Oh, we've got this," Cassie said as Harry zoomed away from the goalposts and the game continued.

Gryffindor scored two goals in a row, but Daisy and one of the other chasers quickly evened out the score again. Luna didn't seem to be paying much attention to the game; she kept pausing to point out strange looking clouds and birds that flew by. Eventually she decided that Zacharias Smith, who hadn't managed to keep the quaffle for longer than a minute, was suffering from something called 'loser's lurgy'.

"Seventy-forty to Hufflepuff," McGonagall yelled into Luna's megaphone.

"Is it, already?" Luna said. "Oh, look! The Gryffindor keeper's got a hold on one of the beaters' bats."

"Wow," Annabeth muttered, watching Harry fly over to yell at McLaggen, who, sure enough, had taken the bat from one of the beaters and was trying to show him how to properly hit a bludger at other players.

The crowd gasped collectively as McLaggen swung the bat at an oncoming bludger and missed. Instead, the bat connected with Harry's skull, making a sickening crack that Annabeth heard all the way from the stands.