Chapter Six
The roar of the crowd around them increased as Hermione and Jack began to walk up through the rows of seats to the top box. People cheered and pointed. A small girl toddled up to Hermione and pulled on her trousers. Hermione looked down with a smile and crouching down in the aisle she held out her arms to the girl who ran into them with a smile. Hermione picked up the girl.
"What's your name honey?"
"Her-my-nee" She replied. Hermione smiled as a woman a few years older than herself approached them.
"Is she really called Hermione?" She asked the woman, who nodded with a smile.
"She was born two weeks after the final battle." The woman said with a sad smile. "It seemed like the perfect name for her."
"I'm honoured." Hermione said.
"Do you want to take a picture?" She asked the woman who had a camera slung around her neck.
"Would that be ok?"
"Of course." Hermione said with a grin, hugging the small girl sitting on her hip and chatting to her as her mother took a photograph.
A moment later, Hermione and Jack were making their way further up the stands with a wave back to the young Hermione and her mother.
"Does that happen a lot?" Jack asked, looking extremely intimidated.
"Well, the pictures yes, but that's the first time I've ever met a young witch named after me!" Hermione said blushing. She took Jack's hand and walked alongside him smiling to those waving at her from the stands around them. Jack received several curious glances, as it was rare to see Hermione Granger holding hands with a man who wasn't Harry or Ron.
They reached the entrance to the top box and after showing their passes, a mere formality for Hermione, and a real check for Jack, they took seats in the second row next to Ginny and Draco. Hermione greeted her friends and a few acquaintances from the Ministry, she turned to see why Jack was being so quiet and saw him just staring in amazement at the scene before them. She followed his gaze and realised she often forgot what a stunning sight it was. The Canon's stadium was enormous, and there was a sea of around 5000 witches and wizards in front of them, most either wearing orange of purple and yellow stripes. It was a riot of colour, and the noise was amazing. Jack turned to her, his mouth open.
She grinned.
"I warned you…and the game hasn't even started yet! Watch what happens when the players get onto the pitch!" She yelled in his ear to be heard over the now almost deafening noise of the spectators.
They didn't have to wait long as a voice boomed out through the stadium; the magically enhanced voice of the commentator was building up to introduce the teams.
"And now, flying onto the field, one of the oldest teams in the Quidditch league…the Wimbourne Wasps! Here we have Atkins, Morgan, Jones, Stone, Chang, Smith and their Captain; Bearn! The Wasps have been flying incredibly this past season, dropping only one game so far, and are therefore currently lying in second place in terms of points scored this season. Today's match is a vital one as the Wasps take on your very own Chudley Canon's! And here come the Canon's now. Widely recognised as the most successful Canon's side in many years here we have Nigels, Johnson, Kirkham, Eaves, Miller, their Captain, Weasley and Harry Potter!"
The crowd went wild as the players flew a lap around the pitch waving to the crowds. At the whistle they took their positions and a moment later the Quaffle, Bludgers and Snitch had been released. As play began, Hermione explained to Jack how to use her old pair of Omnioculars, as it would be nearly impossible to follow the game in real time having never before seen a game. She explained the different manoeuvres and tactics that the players were using though her eyes never left the field. She hadn't been the biggest Quidditch fan in school, but since the end of the war she had loosened up a bit and she was less concerned about someone trying to kill Harry at every opportunity and she'd begun to enjoy the game. You'd now be hard pressed to find anyone who knew as much about the game, or the player's statistics as Hermione, other than the players and coaches themselves. She leapt to her feet and screamed when Jones threw a Bludger towards Laurie during a break of play, but screamed with joy when Laurie got her revenge with a penalty goal. Half an hour into the game as the Wasps called a time out, Hermione finally pulled her eyes from the game and turned to look at Jack who was staring at her.
"What?" she asked with a smile.
"Ah, well, I've never seen you like this! I never took you for a sports fan, let alone a passionate sports fan!" He said bemused.
"I love Quidditch. It's been part of my life since I was eleven years old." She said with a shrug.
"You never wanted to play?" He asked her, secretly glad she wasn't out there as those Bludgers looked incredibly dangerous, and he had thought ice hockey was violent!
"Not really. I was so scared of flying at first, and then to be honest once I'd got over that fear I never enjoyed it. Not like Harry, the first moment he held a broom in his hand he was just completely happy and in control, he's a natural flyer though…" She trailed off and snapped her eyes back to the field, her face flushed with excitement as the whistle blew and play resumed.
If possible, the game was now even faster as the Quaffle flew between the Chasers with dizzying frequency.
"What's Chang doing?" Jack asked, lowering the omnioculars.
"It's one of her diversionary tactics. She'll try and draw the Canon's bludgers away from the other two chasers on her team so they're free to try and get the Quaffle and score. I don't know why she's bothering to use it against the Canon's though!"
"Why wouldn't it work against the Canons?" Jack asked, not understanding.
"Well, Cho went to school with us, though she played Seeker then against Harry, and they dated a bit at school and then on and off for about a year after school, Harry could always predict exactly what she would do, and Ron never liked her so he's always very suspicious of her and plans strategy around her tactics. See, the Canons have maintained possession of the Quaffle anyway." Hermione explained.
"Why doesn't Ron like her?" Jack asked as the Wasps took another time out.
Hermione turned to him with a mysterious smile.
"A number of reasons I think. He's probably still holding a grudge on Harry's behalf over the way she messed Harry around when we were fifteen! But a lot of it's because of the way she looks. You wont be able to tell from here, but Cho is absolutely beautiful. She has a flawless face and amazing hair, it probably reminds Ron of Fleur in a weird way though they look nothing alike. You remember I told you about Fleur? Also, the fact that Cho tries to outwit them pisses Ron off, he's not as bad as he used to be though, and at least he's nice to her when we bump into her now!" Hermione laughed.
The whistle blew and Hermione's mind was straight back into the game. Just as she was thinking that the Snitch had only made one brief appearance so far she caught Harry's movements out of the corner of her eye.
"Oh god. Not the bloody Potter dive!" She exclaimed, her hand gripping the arm of her seat tightly as she stood, her neck craning as Harry hurtled with breathtaking speed into his signature dive. He only used the dive when the Snitch was directly below him, which was rare, and a good thing for Hermione's nerves as he had discovered that he could descend faster by spiralling at great speed vertically towards the ground.
All the crowd now stood, the noise level again escalating as Harry moved towards the Snitch, Bearn trailing behind him, not risking the Potter dive as all too often those attempting the dive had to be scraped off the pitch afterwards.
Hermione didn't even notice she was screaming encouragement, nor did she notice the rest of the stadium yelling and screaming. As Harry pulled out of the dive with his fist in the air, the struggling golden snitch held in it she jumped up and down with glee, as did Ginny, and they jumped around hugging each other and screaming as Draco laughed at their excitement and Jack watched them quietly.