A/N ~ Well I did have a bit of a moral dilemma with this part of the story, but with a little help from the lovely Scout, a bit of brainstorming and a bit of explaining I was finally able to decide on what should happen here. I hope you enjoy it and I'm sure you'll all let me know what you think.
Disclaimer… Yes that's right I'm JK Rowling, well at least one of my personalities thinks I am anyway. I don't own HP and unfortunately I don't make any money from this.
`Get to that snitch or die trying' Oliver Wood COS
Consequences chpt 6
In the lead up to the match, while players were being selected, Mathew had felt a ball of panic settle in his stomach and with each passing second it grew bigger and bigger. By the time the two teams were lined up and the game was about to start it was so bad that his whole body was a jangle of nerves. The funny thing was that when he took off into the air on his broom, it was as though somehow, miraculously, all of the nerves were left on the ground. Matt looked around and grinned at his father, who grinned back his hair flapping madly in the wind. Now all he had to do was find the snitch before his dad did.
He remembered his father's words when he'd been teaching him to play seeker during their flying lessons earlier in the week.
`I always found that the best way to catch the snitch first is to focus only on that, so ignore everything else, maybe keep half an eye on the other seeker but you should only follow the other seeker if you can see that they're headed towards the snitch'
So that's what he did, he kept an eye on what his father was doing but ignored everything else and just circled the pitch hunting for the snitch.
Matt could vaguely hear Uncles Fred and George heckling Jack and JP as they wacked the bludgers around but he didn't pay any attention to them. They'd been playing for about twenty minutes and Matt had no idea of the score when his dad, who had also been circling the pitch and was currently at the opposite end, went into a steep dive heading towards the centre of the pitch. Matt looked towards where he was going and saw a faint glimmer of gold wings. Without thinking about the consequences Matt pushed his own broom into a steep dive putting himself on a collision course with his father.
He knew his dad was fast on the broom but he just hoped that his smaller size would make him faster still. They barrelled towards the ground almost in a free fall both with their arms outstretched to grab the snitch first. Matt was catching up so that now there was an equal distance from each of them to the snitch. Matt knew they would probably collide and that he would probably be hurt but at that moment he didn't care, as long as he caught the snitch first it didn't matter. He was seconds from the snitch when suddenly Matt felt a whoosh of air rush past his head, his hand closed around the tiny whinged ball and he pulled up on his broom and braced for the inevitable impact of colliding with his father. But it never came.
Matt opened his eyes and looked around sitting up and slowing his broom as he did so. His dad was perched on his broom back where he'd caught the snitch arguing with Uncles Fred & George. Matt was confused, his dad must have pulled away at the last minute, but why would he do that? He flew closer to hear what was being said.
`Look he was ahead of me anyway, and I wasn't going to collide with my own kid!' His father was saying angrily.
`But we were winning!' Uncle Fred replied.
`So? There are more important things mate…'
Before he could hear anymore Matt's team mates swooped down on him full of praise and glowing with their victory.
`Awesome catch Matt! I wouldn't have believed it but you really are better than your dad!' JP said patting him on the back
`Thanks, how did you guys do I wasn't really paying attention?' Matt asked feeling a bit embarrassed. He needn't have worried about them focusing on him one question was enough to divert them.
`You should have seen Katie, Matt she was awesome she saved nine out of every ten goals they tried for.' Jack said
Katie blushed, `Well they still managed to get enough past me, mind you they would have been able to try for more if our amazing beaters hadn't been lobbing bludgers at them all the time.'
Now it was Jack and JP's turn to blush, `well I don't like to brag,' JP began,
`but we did manage to get the bludger away from Uncles Fred and George a fair bit.'
Jack finished for him.
`Mind you,' JP said `if it hadn't been for Henry working with the two little un's here I don't reckon we would've got a single goal.'
`And without those goals they got we still would've lost!' said Jack.
Henry looked at his shoes, `Well I guess we all make a pretty good team then don't we.' He said sounding proud enough to burst.
`We sure do,' said Matt thinking that at least they didn't have to wonder if their good performance was because the grown ups had gone easy on them. The chatter continued on around him but he couldn't help but hear over and over again in his head his father saying, `I wasn't going to collide with my own kid'
The rest of the afternoon passed in a daze for Matt as he wondered whether he would really have won if his Dad hadn't pulled away and before he knew it, it was time to leave. When they got back home Matt headed for his bedroom, he just wanted some time alone to think about everything that had happened that afternoon. He knew he should be happy because he'd won but he couldn't shake the niggling feeling that it was only because his Dad had let him. He also couldn't seem to stop the constant flow of memories of times when he'd been compared to his father. His mum had done it occasionally over the years but since they'd been in England and especially this afternoon it seemed every second comment to him was some kind of comparison to his father. He suddenly understood exactly what JP had been talking about when he'd complained of always being compared to someone.
The only problem was that everyone seemed to have such a high opinion of his father, and nothing Matt had seen or heard so far led him to believe it was undeserved. He wondered how he could ever hope to live up to the standard that had been set for him. Matt sat on his bed playing with his basketball making himself more and more depressed with these thoughts when he heard a soft tap on his door. The door opened a crack and his Mum stuck her head in,
`Can I come in?' she asked gently.
Matt just shrugged and kept playing with his basket ball.
She came in and sat gently on the foot of his bed, `I noticed you were a bit quiet when we left the Weasley's, is anything the matter?'
Matt shrugged again a lump forming in his throat, he really loved his mum sometimes.
`Did someone say something to upset you?' she prompted gently.
Matt was silent for a moment, `I'm sure they didn't mean it,' he said finally.
`Who didn't mean it sweetheart?' she asked now really concerned.
There was another light tap on the door, `Can I come in, or should I leave the two of you alone?' Harry asked through the door. He desperately wanted to help his son with whatever was bothering him but didn't want to intrude on mother and son privacy.
Hermione looked at Matt who just shrugged again, `it's ok Harry you can come in.'
Harry came in and sat beside Hermione taking her hands in his.
`So what's happening?' He asked gently, he could tell from Hermione's body language that she was very worried about her son.
`Someone said something that's upset Matt.' Hermione explained squeezing Harry's hand.
`Do you want to tell us about it Matt?' Harry asked, he wasn't really sure how to approach the situation.
Matt shrugged again, `I'm sure they didn't mean it in a bad way,' he said softly, `it wasn't like they said anything mean really,'
`Well what did they say honey? You don't have to tell us who it was if you don't want to.' Hermione said gently pushing her son to explain what had happened.
`It was everyone really,' Matt said his throat clogging, inexplicably he suddenly felt as though he were fighting back tears.
`Everyone?' Hermione queried confused, `but what did they do, I thought you liked them and they all certainly seemed to like you.'
Matt nodded not trusting himself to speak.
`You even won the quidditch match and caught the snitch, you were the big hero.' She added, not understanding how what had seemed like such a fun afternoon had upset her son so much.
`Only because he let me!' Matt blurted unable to hold it back any longer.
`Me?!' Harry bleated shocked.
`Everyone was comparing me to you all day, and they don't think I'll be as good as you and if I am it's only because you helped me, like when you let me win the quidditch game, but then if I do something really well they'll just expect even more and what if I'm not good enough? Everyone's just going to think I'm this big looser and that I'm not good enough to be your son or something. I'll never be as smart as my mum and I'll never be as good at quidditch and defence as you are and I'll just be a big disappointment to everyone all the time.'
Harry and Hermione sat stunned for a moment, shocked at the stream of self doubt from their son.
`You're not a disappointment…' Hermione began but Matt cut her off.
`You don't even know what I'm talking about' he said angrily, `you never had anyone to live up too like I do.'
`Now just a minute,' Harry interrupted, his voice stern, `I know you're upset Matt but that's no reason to talk to your mother like that, we are on your side, ok?'
Matt closed his mouth and nodded, silently fuming.
`Besides it's not true that we never had anyone to live up too.'
Matt looked up again, `who?' he asked a trace of his former anger still evident in his voice.
`Well you're mother had the stigma of being a muggle born, and I know that a lot of the effort she put into her studies was to try and prove that stereotype wrong..'
`What about you, you didn't have anything like that everyone loved you.' Matt accused.
`Sometimes they did, other times they didn't. I had "The boy who lived" to live up too.'
Matt stared at his father for a moment, `I don't understand' he said finally.
`At least you were prepared Matt, you came out here and your Mum gave you the best idea she could of what you'd be facing. Me, I had no idea.' He paused for a moment,
`I spent the first eleven years of my life being pushed around by my cousin and being told at every opportunity by my family that I wasn't good enough. Then suddenly I find out I'm a wizard and everyone is expecting great things from me because I'm "the boy who lived" I spent a long time trying to come to terms with that.'
`So you're saying I've got it easy then?' Matt asked his anger now directed at his father.
`No not at all,' Harry rushed to reassure him, `I'm trying to say, probably very badly, that we both understand exactly how you feel.'
`Oh' said Matt feeling a little foolish now for having misunderstood so badly.
`We're here for you Matt, whenever you need us.' Hermione said putting her arm around her son.
Harry joined the family embrace, `we both are mate, as long as you do your best and stay true to yourself, we'll both be proud of you.'
Matt smiled, `What if I never play quidditch and I'm only average in my classes?'
Hermione ruffled her son's hair affectionately, `Scruff…' she said a teasing note of warning in her voice.
`Even if you live as a muggle and work as a street sweeper, as long as you're happy, we're happy.'
`A street sweeper!' Matt exclaimed horrified.
`Speak for yourself Potter,' Hermione said pushing him playfully, `if my son ends up a street sweeper I will be disappointed… in myself!'
Harry laughed and helped Hermione to her feet, `Seriously though Matt, just be yourself and try not to pay any attention to the hype, that's what I do, and about the quidditch match. I only swerved because I could see you were going to reach the snitch first and I didn't see any point in ploughing you into the ground, and incurring your mother's wrath, if I was going to lose anyway.'
`Really?' Matt asked needing to hear it confirmed.
`Really,' Harry said giving his son the confirmation he needed, `Now do you want to come downstairs and watch T.V with us?'
`Sure,' Matt said getting up and following his parents downstairs. As he followed his father downstairs Matt thought that if was going to be compared to someone, he was glad it was his Dad.
A/N~ Well there it is the long awaited chapter 6… so, what did you think?
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