Percy Jackson and the Hound of Hogwarts [Book 3]

30) The Grim Game

I woke up early the next day, making my way to the Great Hall without my friends. I was surprised to see Harry in there, eating some porridge.

"Hiya, Harry," I said, grinning as I sat beside him. "Ready for the game?"

Harry glanced at the dark windows, "Not really."

I nodded, grinning, "Ah, but we are going to be paying less attention than normal. Ya'll just have to get through the rain."

Harry raised an eyebrow, "And why will you be paying less attention than normal?"

"Well," I started, "we don't take anything seriously. Like, ever. Sure we do crazy stunts, but that's more for fun than anything. You better believe we're going to be jumping off our brooms when there aren't any balls around. We can just argue that we thought we saw it."

Harry tried not to smile, "Would you jump on Mal — Slytherin players during your next match with them?"

"But of course!" I exclaimed, ignoring the fact that he nearly said Malfoy. "We already have! Katie nearly killed Bletchley when she 'accidentally' fell off of her broom. And the Stolls, they dive-bombed Flint just to kiss him on the cheek. The only one who is not willing to jump off his broom is Cedric, and he argues it's because he needs to catch us if we can't summon our broom back in time."

Harry scowled at the mention of Cedric, "Why do you have such a big Seeker? Small Seekers are better."

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow, "He's a great Seeker. He's still fast and speedy. Now, I want to know why you hate him so much."

Harry opened his mouth to say something, but the rest of the Gryffindor team showed up.

"We'll talk later," I pointed my toast at his face, getting up to move to my own table.

***

The rain was terrible. I could see my friends struggling against it, and for once I felt lucky to have been a son of Poseidon.

I couldn't hear anything over the roaring thunder, and I knew the others couldn't either. Hooch had to motion for the Captains to shake hands, and when they did, Wood didn't smile back at Cedric.

Hooch mouthed something about brooms, and I mounted Arion beneath me. Arion had been sent to me by Hecate herself, and was rightfully named after the fastest horse in existence.

After a shrill, but distant, whistle blow from. hooch, we were off.

I watched the other players struggling, though I could tell my team was having fun. Katie was whooping and hollering, and the Stolls were spinning with their bats, watching the water fly off of them. Gryffindors would glance at us as if we were crazy.

I was about to make another shot, but Alicia Spinnet, one of the Gryffindor Chasers, slammed into me.

I struggled not to slip off my broom and she steadied me, shouting, "Sorry!"

"It's fine!" I shouted back, then lifted the ball as if I were about to throw it at her. She recoiled, and I threw the ball at the goalposts behind her, grinning at the extra point. She stared at me with surprise for a moment.

Not long later, Wood called a time-out, and we sat beneath a large umbrella, most of us shivering. We soon stepped out from under the umbrella, instead deciding to run around and play in the rain.

We probably should have been strategizing, considering that Gryffindor was fifty points up, but this was a lot more fun.

We soon got back on our brooms, and back into the fun of the game.