The crowd is as loud as thunder as we enter the stadium and the seats are filled to the brim with what must be nearly every student in the castle. I take it all in as we do a lap around with the crowd chanting 'Fly high, Gryffindor!' over and over again. I feel about ten thousand feet above the world right now. We fly into the half-circle as Slytherin repeats our actions before completing the circle. I can't resist catching Garrett's eyes across the circle and shooting him a wink.
His face splits with a grin as he mouths, "I'm coming for you, Ackley." My eyes snap to my right when Sirius chuckles real low.
"Just try her, Fenway." He mouths back and looks to me with one of the happiest smiles I've ever seen on his face. We all look down when the quidditch coach comes out and stands in front of the chest of equipment.
"We all know the rules! I don't want a single violation that would cause grounds to remove the cup from the winning team, nor house points from the either." She eyes both teams beadily before nodding sharply. My stomach swoops with anticipation. "Alright! Let the game...begin!" Coach kicks open the case and tosses the quaffle in the air. Then, chaos.
"Slytherin comes away with the quaffle first thanks to a sharp elbow to Captain Connelly's ribs by star chaser Garrett Fenway! A risky move given the Captain's penchant for revenge has included slipping a transfigured human arm into enemies' beds." Creary is narrating as always and his facts make me smirk. "Oh! And Fenway is slammed between Connelly and Potter which leaves the quaffle in Gryffindor's hands!" I watch the chasers pass the quaffle until Sirius catches my eye. He tilts his head towards the Slytherin keeper and I nod.
"The quaffle goes from Connelly to Smith, Smith to Potter, then Potter to Vance," As the chasers zoom closer to the hoops, Sirius hits a bludger towards me from the opposite side of the field. As Vance pulls her arm back to shoot, I swing my bat at the bludger to send it shooting towards the Slytherin keeper. "And the keeper is forced to choose between getting hit and stopping the bludger or dodging and getting scored on." The stadium winces slightly when she takes the hit to her foot and reaches for the quaffle, but her fingers just glance over the ball.
"Aw, and a valiant effort from Gaines! Ackley's hit moved her just out of position for ace Vance to score. Gryffindor is first on the board with ten points!" I nod and wave to Gaines for a good play as the dirty blonde nods to me before we both turn back towards the game. We're pretty evenly matched.
Slytherin's ambition is more than a match for Gryffindor's brave plays, so this is another game where brains will triumph over brawn. Slytherin has already shown their intelligence as both their beaters tied Sirius and me up with passing the bludgers back and forth before we started using it to our advantage. When they'd hit it to us, we'd hit one of their players rather than just hitting it back to them. After that tactic failed, they moved on to an all-out attack on our keeper. Sirius and I kept them at bay for a while, then he left it to me while he goes after their keeper. Now it's one on one, beater on beater.
My breath whooshes out of me when Sirius is hit and he rams into the sand beneath the hoops. "And half the Gryffindor dream beater team is down! Slytherin isn't wasting any time though as the beater who was keeping him busy takes a shot at Potter!" Just as Creary says the words, I see the other beater pull back and shoot a bludger towards our keeper. Either I let James take the hit or our keeper. I'm moving before I've even made the decision.
"Don't you bloody dare!" James yells as he tries to avoid the bludger, but it's hot on his tail. Shaking my head at him, I smack the bludger towards the other beater just as the other one hits our keeper in the chest.
"Ouch! The Gryffindor keeper falls back through his own goal post and into the sand. Gryffindor now has no keeper! Ackley chose to save her friend than stop a goal! Quite a Hufflepuff thing to do, really. Still! The move has granted ten points to Slytherin!" James and I groan together, but then my eyes are drawn to my mark. "Just a moment! One of the Slytherin beaters has fallen and isn't moving! Ackley has taken out a beater while Black rises! There's hope for either team yet!" Sirius is slow as he moves over to us but doesn't look too bad.
YOU ARE READING
Scars
Fanfiction*Sequel to Third Times the Charm* After the fiasco at the Potter's, Arell finds herself scarred more than just physically as a whole new side of herself is revealed. An even darker side of her lineage is just waiting to be uncovered and offers peril...
