Ch 73: A Match for a Lifetime
*Anos's POV*
'Gonna start any moment now.' I thought waiting for Madam Hooch to be done with her little speech about rules which was being ignored by both teams.
The Slytherin team wasn't going to follow the rules and the Gryffindor team was probably too stressed out to care. Except for the Weasley Twins.
Those two probably didn't give a flying fuck about who won the House Cup, they were having the time of their life. Now if Slytherin lost that'll just be a second dessert for them.
"Why is she so nervous?" Hermione asked, shaking her hand trying to get Harriet's attention.
On second thought Harriet was technically listening intently to Madam Hooch, if the words were being processed was another matter.
"You do know how big this field is right? It'll be a miracle if she sees you shaking your hand from up there." I said and Hermione stopped to think and then deflated.
"She's taking this too seriously." She muttered, fortunately, I was getting better at my senses so I heard her over the shouting stadium.
"Now that's rich coming from you. Who was it that insisted to add an Index to the Charms project?" I asked as the sun moved and my skin started to itch.
" How was I supposed to know that it'll take so much time?" Hermione retorted and I nodded.
"Yes, how were you supposed to know that Professor Flitwick will be fascinated by that idea and make it mandatory to add it in all homework that had more than 7 pieces of parchment used.
You instantaneously obtained our house 20 points and simultaneously made every student start a witch hunt." I answered.
It wouldn't be that much of an exaggeration to call it a witch hunt. For 3 whole days, every single student had searched for 'The Project Girl'. The title got them 0 points in creativity.
Fortunately for Hermione, I and Alucard had gone with her to submit that particular project a whole week early so not even Simon was aware of who it was.
"For someone who's so dependent on glasses, you'll never expect her to have such sharp eyes," Alucard said pulling me from my thoughts.
"What?"
"There." He nudged his head and I followed the directions to Harriet who was looking at our group or more specifically Lan who had already fallen asleep.
"I'll go fling myself from the Astronomy tower then," I said sighing, how's this shit even possible?
'Who the fuck am I kidding probably some arbitrary will of magic or something.' I thought, making a mental note to search for similar findings in Magical Theory books.
"It's starting," Simon said and I looked at Madam Hooch before she threw the Quaffle into the air and all hell broke loose.
"Remind me to never break any rules in Flying lessons. Madam Hooch has a fucking cannon for an arm." Simon said with widened eyes and I couldn't help but agree.
"The match begins and the Quaffle is immediately taken by Gryffindor, just gliding across the field towards Slytherin's pitch." The commentary began and I zoned out trying my best to keep one eye on Harriet and another on Quirell.
As long as he was in sight I could take care of him.
" Hey, Lan wake up the match has started." Draco nudged excitedly at the softly snoring Lan.
" My gratitude, I didn't wish to not partake in our watching of this game," Lan said adjusting the bandages on his eyes having forgotten to clean his blindfold.
" Bullsh-"
" Draco~ let's keep it civil," I said taking a moment off before resuming my watch.
"Hypocrete," Draco said quietly.
"It's actually Hypocrite." Hermione corrected.
"Oh god just kill me."
The match was going well, at least for Gryffindor. Leading by 40 points was only fuelling The commentary and the cheering throughout the stadium.
And then suddenly a Slytherin Chaser knocked down a Gryffindor Chaser.
"A dastardly move by the snakes in human ski-" I heard the commentary in the background and relaxed.
'It was just Slytherin being Slytherin.' I calmed down taking a quick glance at Quirell hiding under his turban.
" Lee Jordan!" Professor McGonagall stopped the 3rd year from going on a rant.
The match continued for a few more minutes, Harriet had decided to fly high above the rest of the players to overlook the entire field and get a view of the Snitch.
*Crash*
I tore my eyes away for a moment to see Oliver Wood crashing into the ground, he was carried off the field, and then the match continued as normal with the single difference being that Slytherin was leading by 20 points now.
'Everything is fine.' I kept myself calm.
"So after that very obvious and disgusting bit of Cheating-"
" Jordan."
" I mean after that foul and Sata-"
" Jordan, I'm warning you."
" I mean after Oliver Wood crashed to the ground due to no particular reason, which could surely happen to anyone."
Contrasting me were the comments by Lee Jordan who was doing his best to sneak some insults past Professor McGonagall and failing supremely.
" At least use subtlety, he literally bashed the guy's head in with that club," Draco shouted beside me in outrage.
" For being ambitious it seems Slytherin's are not particularly cunning," Alucard commented and I watched tension and then relief settle in on Draco.
" Happy to not be in that house?" I asked still keeping my eyes on the match.
" ....Extremely," Draco answered after a moment of hesitation.
"What kind of archaic rules made this okay? Just give them clubs and let them beat the shit out of each other in the air then. What's the difference." Simon said agitated.
"I'll try to explain." Draco offered and I saw Harriet's wand jerk to the right suddenly and prepared and then relaxed once again realizing that it was just her making a sharp turn.
I followed her eyesight to see that she had found the Snitch and was following it with speed and the Slytherin Seeker was beside her like a jackal.
Suddenly her broom stopped and started jerking widely trying to pull her off of it.
"And Potter's broom seems possessed to get her off of itself. That's an Ill-mannered broom if I've ever seen one."
I ignored the colorful commentary and focused on the rapidly muttering Quirell and waited.
'She won't be hurt much if she falls from this height. She won't get hurt.' I reminded myself and prepared for someone to hit a bludger.
My chance came as a Slytherin beater drew his arm back in an arc and shot the bludger towards the teacher's side.
Normally a simple ward would prevent the Bludger from passing into the stands but I was prepared.
'There.'
I chose a location and immediately used Blue attracting the Bludger to it and ignoring the cries of a few watchers that were too focused to hold onto their drinks and got them forced out of their hands.
'Red.'
I followed it up with the best and Perfect Red I could do and watched the Bludger shot at extreme speed towards Quirell who was too busy muttering to notice and got his arm blasted to pieces most likely and gave off a shriek.
I then noticed Harriet regaining control of her broom and following the Snitch.
"Fire!"
"The Bludger has gone rogue!"
I watched the watchers scatter like flies as the Bludger roamed free, not fast enough to hurt anyone but enough to knock them down.
"Anos your dad's on fire," Simon shouted.
"Wait what!" I looked to confirm and noticed the teachers trying to put off my Dad's burning cloak.
I looked to my left and noticed Hermione wasn't there.
'Oh fuck.' I thought and watched as no one decided to stop the match and Harriet barely managed to catch the Snitch in her mouth before tumbling to the ground.
"And Gryffindor wins the match! Hey somebody help! Our Potions Master is aflame!"
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Author's Note: And life has seen fit to punch me straight through the head yet again so I'll be back with the next chapter as soon as I can.
Read upto 16 Chapters ahead on Patreon.com/Ashara
Hope everyone has a nice Day/Night.