Black Soul- George Weasley

The One With Ravenclaw Vs Gryffindor

Astraea woke up the morning of the match feeling positive. She dressed in black jacket and the gloves Harry had bought her with black jeans, boots and put a bandana on her hair. Her hair was left in their natural curls. She went down to the common room to see that the team has already left, so she decided to follow them to the locker room

The weather couldn't have been more different from the match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time. She could hear the rest of the school moving into the stadium beyond. 

She went inside the locker room to see Fred and George waiting for Wood to start his speech.

"Pst", she nudged George.

"Heyy", he said face brightening.

"I came to say good luck", she said. "Good luck"

"What no kiss?" he winked.

"Maybe if you win big boy", she smiled.

"You know what we've got to do," said Wood as they prepared to leave the locker rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just — just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be okay!" 

Astraea went to her seat as the team walked out onto the field to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the field. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl on their team. She was shorter than Harry by about a head.

 "Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain. "Mount your brooms . . . on my whistle . . . three — two — one —" 

 Harry kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; he soared around the stadium and began squinting around for the Snitch, listening all the while to the commentary, which was being provided by Lee Jordan. 

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship —" 

 "Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice. 

 "Right you are, Professor — just giving a bit of background information — the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and —" 

"Jordan!" 

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal . . ." Harry streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Cho Chang was tailing him closely. She was undoubtedly a very good flier — she kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction. 

 "Show her your acceleration, Harry!" Fred yelled as he whooshed past in pursuit of a Bludger that was aiming for Alicia. Harry urged the Firebolt forward as they rounded the Ravenclaw goal posts and Cho fell behind. Just as Katie succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the field went wild.

"GO GEORGIE", Astraea yelled and he winked at her. She giggled.

Harry dived; Cho saw what he was doing and tore after him — Harry was speeding up, excitement flooding him; dives were his specialty, he was ten feet away — Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Harry veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished. 

"Noo", Astraea groaned and there was a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment from the Gryffindor supporters, but much applause for their Beater from the Ravenclaw end. George Weasley vented his feelings by hitting the second Bludger directly at the offending Beater, who was forced to roll right over in midair to avoid it. 

 "Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see it turn — Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long —" 

 "JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" 

Astraea laughed along with some Gryffindors.

 Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead — if Cho got the Snitch before him, Ravenclaw would win. Harry dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the field frantically Harry accelerated, eyes fixed on the speck of gold ahead — but just then, Cho appeared out of thin air, blocking him. 

 He dived again, and Cho, thinking he'd seen the Snitch, tried to follow; Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply; she hurtled downward; he rose fast as a bullet once more. He accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. He was winning, gaining on the Snitch with every second 

Astraea was gripping the edge of the seat when she noticed something. Three dementors, three tall, black, hooded dementors, were looking up at Harry. She went to grip her wand but noticed Harry beat her to it and roared, "Expecto patronum!" 

 Something silver-white, something enormous, erupted from the end of his wand. It had shot directly at the dementors but didn't pause to watch; his mind still miraculously clear, he looked ahead — he was nearly there. He stretched out the hand still grasping his wand and just managed to close his fingers over the small, struggling Snitch. 

 Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Next moment, the whole team was hugging him so hard he was nearly pulled off his broom. The crowd roared in happiness, cheering for Harry. Harry got off his broom and looked up to see a gaggle of Gryffindor supporters sprinting onto the field, Ron in the lead. 

Astraea ran to George and jumped on him. He stumbled back a bit and laughed as she kissed him.

"Yes!" Ron yelled, yanking Harry's arm into the air. "Yes! Yes!" 

 "Well done, Harry!" said Percy, looking delighted. "Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me —"

 "Good for you, Harry!" roared Seamus Finnigan. 

 "Ruddy brilliant!" boomed Hagrid over the heads of the milling Gryffindors. 

"You are so brave Harry", Astraea said hugging him tight.

"That was quite some Patronus," said a voice in Harry's ear. Harry and Astraea turned around to see Remus, who looked both shaken and pleased. 

 "The dementors didn't affect me at all!" Harry said excitedly. "I didn't feel a thing!" 

 "That would be because they — er — weren't dementors," said Remus. 

"What do you mean?" Astraea asked.

"Come and see —", he replied. 

 He led Harry and Astraea out of the crowd until they were able to see the edge of the field. 

 "You gave Mr. Malfoy quite a fright," said Remus. Harry and Astraea stared. 

Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team Captain, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost fury on her face, was Minnie. 

 "An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!" 

 If anything could have set the seal on Gryffindor's victory, it was this. Ron, who had fought his way through to Harry's side, doubled up with laughter as they watched Malfoy fighting to extricate himself from the robe, Goyle's head still stuck inside it. 

 "Come on, Harry!" said George, fighting his way over, carrying Astarea on his back. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!" 

"Right," said Harry, and feeling happier than he had in ages, he and the rest of the team led the way, still in their scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle. 

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1333 words