Echo | Harry Potter - George Weasley

Chapter 20: In Broad Daylight

It was a warm, overcast day on the grounds of Hogwarts. Shaye had a million things to do, like potions homework and solving the mystery surrounding the disappearance of her sister, but she instead found herself jammed in the Quidditch stands, ready to watch yet another brutal Gryffindor versus Slytherin match.

This would be the first game that Harry would be battling it out against Draco in search of the Snitch.

By then, Shaye had gotten so used to the Quidditch matches that she knew the player's names and the rules of the sport quite well. However, that didn't make her any sort of devoted fan, like some students. Hermione was much of the same; pretty uninterested but supportive because Harry and Ron loved it so much. Not to mention, Harry was actually on the team and it would be rude if they didn't show up to watch him play. 

Besides, whenever Gryffindor played, it was usually bound to be an interesting match. 

Things this time, however, weren't shaping up quite as the Gryffindors had hoped. Thirty minutes into the game, Slytherin was dominating. It was almost hard to watch. The worst part was, it wasn't that the Gryffindor's were playing poorly at all—in fact, most of the players were performing really well. The problem laid with the new brooms that the Slytherins had been gifted from Draco's father—they were simply much faster than the Gryffindors' brooms. 

"Another goal for Slytherin!" Lee Jordan announced. "They lead Gryffindor ninety to thirty."

The Slytherin team did a celebratory lap around the pitch before the match continued. It was then when Harry nearly got hit in the head with a Bludger—a rogue Bludger that then looped back around and crashed into Oliver Wood's broom, snapping of the tip and sending the team captain into a spiral toward the ground.

The Bludger then went after Harry again and again and again. Harry tried every evasive maneuver known to wizard-kind but the ball never gave up the chase, pursuing him around the pitch and in and out of the stands.

"Blimey!" Hagrid watched the scene through his binoculars. "Harry's got himself a rogue Bludger. That's been tampered with, that has!"

"I'll stop it." Ron pulled out his wand.

Hermione took one look at the broken wand and pushed Ron's arm down. "No!" She stopped him. "Even with a proper wand, it's too risky. You could hit Harry."

The Bludger, still on its warpath, smashed through the stands, sending chunks of wood raining down on Harry. Yet somehow, through all the chaos, Harry was still able to spot the Golden Snitch. 

Harry and Draco soared after the Snitch, pushing each other and trying to knock one another off of their broom. At one point, the two even dropped underneath the pitch to the wooden support beams below, the Bludger continuing to crash after them all the while. 

When the two finally resurfaced, Draco had been thrown from his broom and Harry was quickly catching up with the Snitch. Arm outstretched toward the little golden ball, his tunnel vision on the Snitch distracted him from noticing the rogue Bludger approaching from the side. The Bludger smashed into Harry's forearm but he persevered, clutching his injured appendage to his chest and reaching out with his other arm instead. Just when he was inches away from snatching the game-ending object, Harry slipped off of his broom, dragging along the terrain a metre or so before landing in the sand. 

Everyone gasped, but the news wasn't all bad. The crowd had been so preoccupied watching Harry's crash and wondering if he was all right that they had failed to see him capture the Snitch seconds before hitting the ground.

"Harry Potter has caught the Golden Snitch. Gryffindor wins!"

Everyone cheered as the rogue Bludger once again appeared out of nowhere, as determined as ever to smash Harry into a pulp. Rolling left and right, Harry dodged the persistent Bludger as it crashed hard into the sand over and over again, aiming for his head each time but just missing.