On the last day before Easter, the tension between the two teams—and the two Houses—reached a breaking point.
Small skirmishes broke out in the corridors. In the worst incident, a fourth-year Gryffindor and a sixth-year Slytherin ended up in the hospital wing, both of them with leeks sprouting from their ears.
Harry's life was especially miserable.
Whenever he went to his last class, Slytherin students would stick out their legs to trip him;
No matter where he went, Crabbe and Goyle would pop up. When they saw him surrounded by Justin and the others, they'd look disappointed and shuffle off to the side.
Wood was grateful Harry had such good friends—friends who could keep Slytherins from stopping him from even getting onto the pitch.
The match was about to begin.
Justin anxiously used the two-way mirror, but got no reply.
So he and Hermione could only turn their attention to the field—where Harry looked like he wanted to eat Malfoy alive.
Ron was yelling himself hoarse for him, basically shouting that Malfoy had to pay.
The Gryffindor team filed out of the changing room toward the pitch, and the roar of the crowd hit them like a wave.
Three-quarters of the spectators wore bright scarlet roses, waving red flags painted with Gryffindor's lion, or holding banners that read "Go Gryffindor!" and "Lions Hunt Snakes!"
Behind the Slytherin goalposts were two hundred people wearing green accessories, the silver serpent on their flags glittering.
"Gryffindor team on the pitch!"
Lee Jordan shouted, as usual doing commentary.
"Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, the Weasley twins, and Wood!
With Ravenclaw missing their absolute core, people generally think this is Hogwarts' best team in years—"
Lee's words were drowned out by a chorus of boos from the Slytherin side.
"Slytherin team on the pitch too, led by Captain Flint. He's made a few changes to the lineup—seems he's leaning more toward size than skill—"
The Slytherins booed even louder, but Harry thought Lee had a point.
Malfoy was clearly the smallest one on their team; the rest were all tall and burly.
"Captains—shake hands!"
Madam Hooch called.
Flint and Wood stepped forward and gripped hands hard, like they were trying to crush each other's fingers.
"Mount your brooms!"
Madam Hooch said.
"Three… two… one…"
The fight was about to explode.
"Gryffindor has the Quaffle. Alicia Spinnet's got it, charging straight at Slytherin's hoops—looking good, Alicia!
Ah, no—Warrington's intercepted! Slytherin's Warrington is charging down the pitch—whoa!
—George Weasley, brilliant Bludger hit! Warrington's dropped the Quaffle—Johnson's got it! Gryffindor back in possession.
Go, Angelina—beautiful, she's dodged Montague—watch it, Angelina, Bludger!—SHE SCORES! Ten–nil, Gryffindor in the lead!"
Lee Jordan was still in full, roaring form.
Angelina swooped around the far end of the pitch, pumping her fist, and the scarlet sea below erupted—
"Ow!"
Angelina nearly fell off her broom—Marcus Flint had slammed into her hard.
"Sorry!"
Flint yelled over the booing crowd.
"Sorry, didn't see her!"
A moment later, Fred Weasley brought his bat down on the back of Flint's head.
Flint's nose smashed into his broom handle and blood began to pour out.
"That is enough!"
Madam Hooch shouted sharply, shooting between them.
"Unprovoked attack on a Chaser—penalty to Gryffindor! Deliberate injury to a Chaser—penalty to Slytherin!"
"No, miss!"
Fred cried, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Alicia flew up to take the penalty.
"Come on, Alicia!"
Lee shouted into the hush.
"Yes! She's past the Keeper! Gryffindor leads twenty–nil!"
Harry swung his Nimbus Two Thousand around, watching Flint—still bleeding—fly up to take Slytherin's penalty.
Wood guarded the Gryffindor hoops, teeth clenched.
"Wood is a first-rate Keeper!"
Lee told the crowd as Flint waited for Madam Hooch's whistle.
"First-rate! Hard to get past—very hard—AND—unbelievable! He saves it!"
Harry let out a breath and shot upward, scanning for the Snitch, but still listening to every word of Lee's commentary.
When no one was looking, he drove his elbow hard into Malfoy to keep him off the Snitch.
Harry was going to keep moving—keep waiting—until Gryffindor led by more than fifty.
Malfoy was still dazed when Harry's second elbow came in.
"Good one, Harry! That's it!"
Ron was so excited down below he looked ready to jump onto the pitch.
Hermione and Justin, though, watched nervously as Harry and Malfoy's movements grew rougher and rougher—you'd think they were dueling.
Dueling, with a side of Quidditch.
"Gryffindor possession—no, Slytherin's got it—NO!—Gryffindor's taken it back—Katie Bell's got the Quaffle! Katie Bell is racing down the pitch—THAT WAS DELIBERATE!"
Slytherin Chaser Montague swung in front of Katie. He didn't try for the Quaffle—he grabbed for her head.
Katie flipped in midair and somehow stayed on her broom, but she lost the Quaffle.
Madam Hooch's whistle blew again. She flew at Montague and started yelling at him.
A minute later, Katie sank another penalty.
"Thirty–nil! Take that, you filthy, cheating—"
"Jordan! If you can't commentate impartially—"
"I'm just telling it like it is, Professor!"
Even the commentary box looked like chaos.
In the distance, Sean watched quietly, watching Harry "elbow" Malfoy aside and come within a hair of the Golden Snitch.
On Sean's Magic Hand Mirror, Justin's face appeared. The flicker of anxiety in Justin's expression immediately eased into calm.
"Did you see my message? Sean… you've known about this the whole time, haven't you?"
Justin asked carefully.
"Mm."
Sean answered.
He and Headmaster Dumbledore had never relaxed their investigation of the Malfoy family. And finally—just recently—they'd caught a few small leads.
Not enough to throw Malfoy straight into prison, but more than enough to force him to resign his post as a governor, and keep him under investigation long enough that he couldn't pull any more stunts.
Up on the pitch, Harry was burning with rage;
Down in the stands, Sean stood beside Dumbledore, calm.
"I'm very glad you understand how to use the rules,"
Dumbledore said with a smile.
"It's just a different method, Headmaster,"
Sean said quietly.
~~~
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