The Golden Wand [Harry Potter/Percy Jackson]

Chapter 11: Quidditch

Hermione POV:

The good weather put everyone in a good mood... everyone else, that is. I was miserable, trying my best to use a combination of magic and makeup to hide my puffy eyes and red-stained cheeks. 

Ron had broken up with me last night. He claimed it was because we weren't getting on like we used to; that our schooling interests made us two separate people. But I knew the truth - yes, we hadn't been perfect, but he broke up with me out of spite. He hated the fact that I had gotten in to the Golden Tournament and he hadn't. I could see the loathing in his eyes as I entered the common room after the party and he said those words to me: "We're over." So blunt and hurtful; the harshest of blows. 

But I couldn't think about that now - I had to focus on the match. Especially because Ron was in it. 

Durmstrang against Hogwarts. Just our luck that Hogwarts had been chosen against the hardest team; it would have been an easy match against Beauxbatons, no doubt, and Goode hardly had a reputation to brag about. That being said, Harry had told me he had been more than surprised when he played against Percy the other week (and, not to mention, he appeared to be almost slightly scared of Thalia, who was a brutal beater). 

It was odd watching the Hogwarts team walk out onto the pitch in their assorted house colours, because we never usually played with a mix of houses. Obviously Ginny Weasley, the team captain, walked out in her red and gold alongside Harry and Ron. The three of them walked out onto the grass pitch in an arrow formation with a smile on their faces; they didn't look nervous. They were followed by Draco, Dalia, Eve and Amy, with Draco moving from his regular position as a seeker to a chaser. Despite their history, the two worked well together. Considering that Draco became one of closest friends after the death of his father in the fifth year, our conflicted past with him had long been forgotten. 

Walking towards the Hogwarts players with a much more rigid and hasty pace was the Durmstrang team, with Krum and his menacing smirk leading the way. Their uniform was identical, as were there jet black Firebolts. All of them tall and toned and strong - they all looked like professionals.

"Isn't it crazy that someone that good can be our age!" Luna smiled as she watched Krum march forwards. 

"Harry's just as good," I defended. Whether that was the truth I couldn't say.

Madame Hooch strolled out onto the pitch with her box of magical balls and her silver whistle prepared in her mouth. As the box opened, the players climbed onto their brooms and assembled themselves into formation. 

"Now remember, students," Hooch began her usual demand. "I want a nice, clean game. PLAY!"

The bludgers were released, the quaffle thrown in the air, the snitch disappeared and the whistle was blown. Everything happened at once. 

Ginny, easily proving to be the quickest flier on the pitch, shot forwards at a terrifying speed and grabbed the quaffle. A Durmstrang beater flew towards a bludger, wacking it so cleanly that the ball blurred through the air. It shot towards Ginny, the crowd screamed, but at the last second the ginger swung around on her broom so that she was flying upside down and the bludger whistled over her head for Dalia to find. 

Ginny was just as good flying upside down as she was upright, swerving in and out of the Durmstrang chasers as if they weren't even there. As she zig-zagged towards the goals, Draco continued in a straight line behind her - this was clearly a move they had tried before. Finally, when Ginny was only ten meters from the goals she sat upright on her broom, shot towards the sky and dropped the quaffle just as the Durmstrang keeper attempted to fly up towards her.  The quaffle fell down, down, down and into the hands of Draco, who scored the first goal with ease.