Quidditch
The parents and relatives were sorted into tour groups by houses. The prefects led the groups around the school, both inside and outside Hogwarts. Harry had accompanied his aunt and cousin through the tour inside, pointing out certain portraits and enjoying the frightened look on Dudley's face when the staircase moved underneath their feet. One thing Harry hadn't counted on were the sheer number of 6th and 7th year Slytherin girls that would stop and look at Dudley with looks of admiration then surprise when they would see Harry next to him. Dudley was still an average looking boy, very tall and muscular and clearly about their age; and obviously they had some inkling of how mean and evil he could be since Harry and Ron both noticed that the other three houses pretty much paid no attention to him.
As the tour led them through the Slytherin dungeon, Ginny (who was their guide), pointed out the Potions classroom. Harry hadn't been down here at all this year and only saw Professor Snape during meal times when he would sit next to Dumbledore. Even then, Harry refused to meet his gaze.
"You have classes in dungeons?" Dudley whispered, frantically looking for the nearest exit, maybe thinking he was going to be locked up and left for the rest of the year.
"Pretty much everywhere. Astronomy was up on the tower at night," Harry replied, turning and pointing in the general direction of the Astronomy Tower, vividly remembering the last time he was up there, his heart skipping a beat as he remembered his first kiss with Hermione. Not looking where he was going he ran into Professor Snape, who had just exited his class room.
"Potter! May I remind you to watch where you are going?" Snape sneered at him and Harry mumbled an apology, not forgetting to add 'sir' after it.
"From now on, act like---," Snape started then stopped in mid sentence, staring at Harry's aunt and cousin. Harry looked up and saw the frozen look on Snape's face. Harry's eyes swiveled back and forth between his "family" and the professor, totally taken aback by Snape stopping himself in the middle of his rampage. Harry could feel the blood start to drain from his head as a realization hit him; his aunt and Snape knew each other! Dudley looked at Harry and for the first time both of them had the same confused look upon their face.
"Miss Evans," Snape began in the way of a greeting, his voice an octave lower than normal. Dudley frowned and looked at his mother, waiting for her to correct him.
"Severus, I-," she faltered and for the first time Harry saw his aunt look totally afraid, embarrassed and somewhat shy all at once, "I didn't know that you taught here." She finished her thought in only a whisper. The tour group was ahead of them and had turned a corner, Harry could hear Ginny's voice float back to them faintly.
"I've been here about eighteen years now." Snape's eyes flicked to Harry then back to Petunia. He then set his glare upon Dudley who shrank back towards Harry, their shoulders touching as Dudley took one more step back, clearly unsettled about this man with the long black hair and piercing gaze, not to mention his cape that was pulled around him.
"Your son?" Snape nodded towards Harry's cousin and Petunia nodded, turning towards the boys for the first time.
"This is Dudley; same age as Harry," she said by way of introduction, obviously nervous about introducing her son to this person she knew. Snape turned to Harry, his voice icy once again.
"Don't you have a game to attend?" Harry recognized that as being dismissed and was about to tell his aunt and cousin to follow him when Snape interrupted him.
"I can show you two back to the Quidditch Pitch." And to Harry's surprise, Petunia nodded, her gaze directed at the floor. Harry turned and shared one last look with Dudley as he trotted down the hall and up the stairs.
Harry raced up to the tower, grabbed his Quidditch supplies and headed off at a brisk pace towards the pitch. His thoughts were turning over and over, 'How does my aunt know Snape?' He had no idea when they would have met. His aunt was a year older than his mother, she never attended Hogwarts and he was sure Snape never made it into his Grandparent's house to have a play date with his mother. It was with these thoughts that he entered the changing rooms, finding most of the team there.
Ginny came in a few minutes behind him, already changed and ready to go. Harry made a mental note to ask her about what he had just witnessed then pushed the thought from his mind and started getting his team assembled for the first, and probably most entertaining, match. Everyone had a parent or relative present that had never before seen Quidditch and the excitement was apparent. They all wanted to file out of the changing room in an impressive array of broomsticks and Quidditch uniforms, but Harry told them that they needed to keep themselves calm and they weren't going to change their routine because of other people present.
As the team put on all the protective gear, Harry got a moment alone with Ron and told him what had happened down in the dungeons. Ron was just as clueless as Harry as to how his aunt would know Snape.
"I bet we could get Samantha to ask," Ron grinned as he checked his boot one more time. "She isn't afraid of anyone." Harry gave a small laugh and shook his head.
"I don't want to get into any trouble with Snape. He loved taking points from Gryffindor last year, imagine what he'd be like now, when I'm not even in his class to piss him off. He would look for any reason to take them away. Even if he did help save my life." Harry grabbed his broom and tossed Ron his new broom.
"Ready to go show your girlfriend how you handle your stick?" Harry grinned and opened the door to drown out Ron's smart reply.
As Harry and his team mounted their brooms and took off into the pitch in their usual formation, he could see a significant number of stands were magically added. There were easily three times the number of people as normal and the crowd was deafening. He had to use hand signals to gather his team around him, giving Draco the evil eye the whole time. Harry quickly scanned the crowd, not sure if he would find Hermione, or his aunt and cousin in the mass of people cheering, booing and just shouting in general.
Harry settled his team, and everyone got into their positions waiting for the whistle. Draco gave Harry his usual sneer and Harry just stared coldly at him, blocking out the sounds from all around them. Harry glanced around at his team; Ginny, Demelza and Dean were set up as Chasers; Ron was moving slowly back and forth, on the ground, in front of the rings and he saw his beaters, Jimmy Peakes and Ritchie Coote who had played the year before, getting ready to kick off the moment Madame Hooch blew the whistle.
"Three….two….one," the whistle sounded, the roar of the crowd grew even louder as they kicked up off the ground, and Harry flew around the perimeter, keeping one eye on Draco and one eye out for the little golden snitch. He saw Draco come streaking at him and Harry easily moved out of his way, knowing the Snitch wasn't anywhere near him and realizing that Draco was just trying to keep his eyes off the sky.
Harry could hear Luna's voice announcing that Gryffindor had just scored, and the roars of the crowd reached Harry's ears and momentarily stunned him. It sounded as if every person was using a "sonorous" charm to be louder than normal; he could barely hear Luna above the noise. Harry swung his broom to the left to avoid the chasers zooming by him and decided to move to the other side of the pitch. He flew along side the stands, feeling Draco right behind him. Coote swerved in front of Harry and smacked a bludger up and over Harry's head, almost knocking Draco off his broom. Harry could see a four letter word come off of Coote's lips as his bludger didn't hit the intended mark.
"…looks as if Potter and Malfoy are playing follow the leader…" Harry could hear from below. "I loved that game when I was a kid, very fun until someone led me into poison ivy…OH! Slytherin scores, Weasley was faked out…," Luna drawled in her even voice.
Harry circled higher and higher until he reached the top of the last stand. He caught sight of his aunt and cousin, who were looking very bewildered by the whole game. Draco pulled up behind Harry and hit the back of his broom. Harry whirled around, saw a bludger coming right at him and ducked, hearing Draco swear as it knocked his arm off his broom. Peakes chased after it.
Harry seeing his chance pushed his broom higher and zigzagged his way across the pitch, seeing something fluttering above the rings that Ron was guarding. Ginny streaked in front of him, forcing Harry to duck under her, losing some time and enabling Draco to catch up to him. More and more bludgers were directed his way, his Beaters hanging near him like two bees, hitting it back towards the other side of the pitch. It didn't take long for the Slytherins to realize that the snitch was being pursued. Harry could occasionally hear the dull "thwack" of a beaters club hitting the ball away from him or Draco. In Harry's mind, the balls were coming mighty close like they were intentionally being aimed at him. As Harry maneuvered his way through the sea of green and maroon robes, Draco stayed with him, the beaters were unable to leave Harry's side, fear of knocking their own man off the broom with their own bat.
Harry suddenly pulled up to a stop and made the TIME OUT sign which Madame Hooch saw and she blew her shrill whistle.
"Time out called by Potter. I wonder who has been naughty enough to deserve that? Maybe…," Luna tried to say more but the roar of the crowd drowned her out as Harry motioned for his team to meet under their rings. He performed half a sonorous charm so he could be heard. He laid and arm across Ron and another across Ginny's shoulder's and leaned in.
"I can't keep Draco off my ass. I have tried just about everything, but he is glued there."
"I am afraid I'll hit you if I smack the ball too hard." Ritchie admitted and Jimmy nodded his agreement, Dean glanced around the group.
"Any ideas?" he asked. Ron just shrugged and Harry thought, moving people around in his mind.
"That's it!" Harry exclaimed and leaned in even further and whispered his plan, seeing his team mate's heads nod up and down as they agreed.
Madame Hooch blew her whistle and shouted that it was time to begin. Harry gave Ginny a quick hug as they exchanged brooms and they kicked off the ground.
"What the…?" Luna started before Professor McGonagall shot her the evil eye. "I mean…oh my," Luna backtracked, not having to talk as loud because the crowd's noise had lowered to whispers and an occasional yell.
"It looks as if Potter gave up his broomstick to Ginny Weasley!" laughter erupted from many of the boys in the stands. "They switched places… watch out Draco! Better cover your face and look out for bats!" Luna laughed and the Gryffindor side roared.
Draco looked momentarily confused until Ginny gave him a little finger wave from her spot near her brother and she took off to the other side of the pitch, with Draco a beat behind her. Harry saw the Quaffle coming towards him and reached out at the last moment and caught it. Tearing his eyes from Ginny and Draco he streaked off towards the hoops, Harry was close but needed to be closer. Flattening himself against Ginny's broom he felt a bludger tear by his robe and streak to the other side of him. Harry looked up, threw the Quaffle then immediately turned to the right, doing a U-Turn.
"Brilliant! Potter scores his first goal in… well… EVER!" Luna actually yelled-her usually dreamy voice abandoned for the moment. Luna then realized she was getting a bit to excited after getting another look from McGonagall so she sat back down in her seat, moving her eyes to the sky as the Seekers moved about, searching for the snitch.
Demelza scored another goal and Ron was saving goals left and right…the score was close, 80 points to Gryffindor and 60 to Slytherin. Harry finally caught sight of Hermione, her cousin and both sets of parents, sitting in the first row in the same section as his aunt. He didn't even have time to glance or nod at them as he saw a Quaffle coming towards him and a Slytherin chaser trying to outrun him to it. A blur of red robes, Dean's, streaked up and grabbed it, tossing it to Harry who headed towards the goal posts. He looked up and realized he was blocked and tossed it to Demelza who promptly threw it like a basketball hook shot through the hoop. Goals were scored on either side, one for one.
Then, out of the corner of his eye he saw the snitch, still liking its spot near Ron. Ginny saw it too. She spun around so fast that Draco overshot her and had to pull up before he plowed into the stadium supports….
Meanwhile in the stands….
"OH MY GOD!" Samantha was screaming. "This is the best EVER!" she was jumping up and down, screaming as Ron saved another goal. "I LOVE THIS GAME! GO HARRY!" she yelled as he streaked by on Ginny's broom.
"Why did they switch brooms?" Samantha asked as there was a lull in the deafening noise around them. Hermione glanced up at Harry dodging the other teams Chasers and Beater's.
"I think because he couldn't shake Draco and since Ginny is lighter than Harry she might be able to go faster on his broom and get the snitch before Draco does." Hermione actually impressed herself with that thought, given she didn't have much knowledge of the game at all.
"No wonder he's captain." Samantha, her aunt and uncle shrank back in surprise as Ritchie put himself between them and an on coming Slytherin. Hermione didn't blink, being used to such maneuvers…her eyes were glued to Harry who was only about twenty feet away. How she loved those Quidditch uniforms, especially the pants. Realizing she was blushing for what she was thinking, she turned to watch Ron flip upside down on his broom and catch the ball, saving a goal. Samantha grabbed Hermione and hugged her, screaming something about "Ron", "cute" and "hanging".
Hermione pushed her cousin off of her as she saw Ginny do a nosedive for the pitch. The crowd was quiet as Draco followed her, slowly gaining. Hermione craned her neck around her parents, screaming at Ginny to go faster and BOOING Draco at the same time.
That's when Hermione saw it; a Slytherin had hit the bludger right at Ginny, it was behind her so she couldn't
see it and with the noise level she couldn't hear any of the shouts, many yelling 'FOUL!' for her to turn
around and look behind her. The snitch was now below Ron, the score was 120-110, Gryffindor with the small lead.
Ron saw Harry, across the field, pointing at something behind Ginny and he followed Harry's finger pointing to his sister.
Ron could see Ginny, red hair streaming out behind her, streaking for the snitch, Draco next to her and the Bludger about ten feet away from Ginny. Without thinking, he left the rings, leaving them wide open and headed as fast as his broom could go towards Ginny, trying to get to the bludger before it hit her.
Everyone on the team raced after the bludger (the Gryffindor Beaters having been involved in a scuffle on the other side of the pitch), but Ron was the closest…without thinking he pulled his broomstick to a halt between his sister and the bludger, hearing one half of a cheer from the crowd before he was knocked off his broom and hit the ground, hard, and blackness laid down over him like a blanket.
Harry let out a four letter curse word as he headed towards the ground.
Hermione gasped as Samantha screamed Ron's name and was held back from jumping over the wall by her uncle.
The Weasley clan (Molly, Arthur and the twins) were led down the stairs to the field by Professor McGonagall, to see Ron's condition for themselves.
A stretcher was conjured and he was carried off the field.