Hogwarts Nights

Chapter Seventy-One

Albus POV:

On Friday night, there was the big "Love is the most magical thing" party in Ravenclaw tower. I went there with Rose, Mary, Scorpius and Charlotte. The Revanclaws had organised some beautiful decorations, delicious snacks, great music and many possibilities to spend a nice evening. First, we had some drinks, then we played table tennis with some younger students. In the course of the evening, some people went to bed and some others arrived. The music was turned louder and we spent the rest of the night dancing and laughing. Rose and I had decided to stay until past midnight, because it was her birthday on Saturday.

"Hey Mary", I said at a moment when Rose wasn't around, "let's ask the DJ if we can do a countdown to midnight for Rose's birthday as a little surprise for her."

We went to look for the DJ and he agreed to do it. By the time it was midnight, I had almost forgotten about the countdown, when the DJ suddenly screamed into the microphone: "Okay, everyone, it's Rose's birthday on Saturday, so let's all count down together and then sing for her!"

Rose looked at us in astonishment; Mary and I winked at each other. The whole crowd counted down together and then we sang 'Happy Birthday' to Rose. I could see that she was a bit embarrassed but at the same time really happy.

We stayed at Ravenclaw tower for almost two more hours, until we decided to go to bed. "This was such a great night!", I said. "There should definitely be more parties in Ravenclaw!" Back in my bed, I fell asleep immediately. When I got up the next morning, I remembered that it was still Rose's birthday. I took her gift from my cupboard: I had bought her some Quidditch gloves and a scarf. When I came downstairs, Rose was sitting at a table surrounded by people: Leah, Mary, Daniel, James, Jessica, Lily and Hugo. Leah and Daniel had both just returned to Hogwarts that morning because they didn't want to miss the Quidditch match that was taking place on Sunday. Rose had received some gifts already and when I joined them she was just opening them. I kissed her on the cheek and put my gift next to the others. Then I went to say hello to Leah and Daniel.

After a while, we all went downstairs to have breakfast together. On the way and in the Great Hall, many other friends congratulated her and occasionally she received some more presents. While she was busy talking to everyone and thanking them, I asked Daniel shyly: "How is your grandmother doing?"

Her illness had been the reason he had spent the entire holiday at home.

"She's okay, at the moment", he answered, "she can still talk, so I'm glad I got to spend some time with her. We're pretty sure that she won't make it until summer, though."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

On the next day, I woke up early because I was nervous: Today was the last Quidditch match of the season, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin. If Gryffindor was going to win this one, we would win the tournament this year. If we lost, we would have another match against Hufflepuff. I wasn't usually nervous before a Quidditch match, but today I did feel some pressure. Last year, our team hadn't been doing particularly well at Quidditch and I knew Gryffindors didn't enjoy losing.

"Okay, everyone", our captain Joe said to the team in the changing rooms. "We can do this!"

We walked on the field together. The Slytherins joined us and so did the referee, Marco. Scorpius winked at me and I winked back.

Five minutes later, the game had started. No one had scored yet; the snitch was nowhere to be seen. There was a big crowd: Nobody had wanted to miss this big showdown. The weather was perfect: The sky was clear blue and it was neither to warm nor too cold. For a while, nothing too interesting happened. About 20 minutes after the start of the game, Slytherin scored their first goal. That was where I started to take more action. And it payed off: Minutes later, I scored for Gryffindor.

Two hours later, the weather conditions were still the same, but on the field, everything was different. In the Slytherin team, not everyone was nice like Scorpius: There were two boys who always tried out every possible move without actually breaking the rules. You could feel they didn't care about you as a person or about a particularly fair game. The commentator, a young boy from Hufflepuff, remarked that: "I'm not going to say any names, but there seem to be players on the field who are testing the referee today. If I was him, I'd keep an eye on them." The Slytherin crowd understood what he was talking about and booed him for that comment. "Freedom of speech, everyone", he said, "freedom of speech!" I grinned.

Suddenly, the crowd screamed. I didn't see why but I had been playing Quidditch long enough to know that they had spotted the snitch. I turned around to James: He had seen it too.

"The snitch, everyone!", the commentator said, "the snitch!"

James and Scorpius were already racing behind it, staying close to each other.

"Malfoy and Potter are racing behind the snitch, like in the good old days!", the commentator joked. I grinned again.

Butsuddenly, one of the Slytherin beaters, who had been playing really roughly throughout the entire game, flew right into James. It looked like an accident, but knowing the player I was sure that it wasn't an accident. The crowd screamed again, this time in anger. James was falling down, but he had his broom still in one hand and for a moment, it looked like he was able to start flying again. But just a few seconds later, it became clear that this wasn't the case: James was approaching the floor rapidly and I began to fear for his safety.