The Past Meets the Future at Hogwarts: Part 3

Chapter 27: Zagan

The Easter Holidays were packed with work, but some good did come from it. Victoria had came up to me a day before the end of holidays and showed me a letter.

Victoria,

Feel free to do as you would. You will just merely have bad dreams, feel weak, and a little fatigued until your birthday this summer.

-Hecate

"Oh my gods, V, that's amazing!" I cheered pulling her into a hug.

She laughed and for the first time in a while a real smile appeared on her face. I kissed her and when we pulled away she said, "I get to go to your last quidditch match."

"Maybe I'll convince Wood to let me shoot a penalty or something," I said, kissing her forehead before rushing off to find Wood.

Unlucky for me, I wasn't able to get to him one on one until the night before the match. Wood had called one last practice and on the way back to the tower I sidled up next to him. "I was wondering if it was aloud for me to shoot penalties but to not play the entire game because I don't want to take anything from you guys."

Wood looked up at me with a grin. "Absolutely. I'll talk to Madame Hooch before the game. Get ready though. It's going to be one tough match."

That night I didn't sleep. Everyone told me I should even if I was just the understudy. With the way they thought Slytherin would play the game, I might have to sub in for the first time.

Sleep never came though and the next morning caught me dead on my feet. "Liven up Zagan. The games in a few minutes," Bianca said, pressing coffee into my hands and using a little bit of healing magic to wake me up.

Victoria walked over, and I smiled when I saw what she was in. It was the scarf I had given her in Hogsmeade. Her hair fell over her shoulders, and I resisted the urge to stand up and hug her. "Good luck." She chirped before heading off to her table.

The entire Gryffindor team headed to the field much to early which just made me question wanting to play. It was quite a large field, but I had to remind myself that I'd already played on it before. This was nothing new. I'd be fine.

It was even harder to tell myself that as we headed back into the locker rooms to change. I pulled out my Nimbus Two-Thousand and marched onto the field with my team. It was hard to watch the game from where I stood so I based how the game was going solely off the commentary.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Jason Grace of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Jason! Argh, no -- Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing UP the field -- WHAM! -- nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by -- Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina -- nice swerve around Montague -- duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!- SHE SCORES! TEN-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

The crowd went wild, and I cheered with them. My heart was racing. For the first time I realized what this meant. This game was it. We could win this year, and I was pumped.

I looked up to see Angelina nearly knocked off her broom by Flint. I scowled but had to stifle a laugh as Fred threw his bat at Flint's head. Two penalty shots were taken and the score was now twenty to zero.

The next penalty shot, Wood turned to me with an expected look. Everyone on the field was wondering what the delay was for. I kicked up into the air and took the quaffle from Katie who grinned at me. "Get it in, Zhang. We need this."

Needless to say, I scored. The crowd cheered, and I lowered myself to the ground as the game continued. Everything else was a blur until Harry stood on the field raising the snitch high in his hand.

I kicked off again and joined the team hug that was going on. We all dropped on the floor and were surrounded by the rest of the school. We were raised up on their shoulders, and I spotted Victoria a few feet away grinning at me.

I couldn't hide the smile that stayed on my face for the next week as I remembered the exact feeling of the quidditch cup in my hand. It was an amazing feeling, and maybe next time I'd actually be a full member of the team when we won.