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Chapter 24

Unexpected

Making the Polyjuice Potion wasn't as difficult as they'd all thought it'd be. Yes, it was incredibly advanced, but that was mostly due to the ingredients required. Luckily, he and Ron had Hermione, the brightest witch in their year helping them with it. 

The first thing they had to do was get the book with instructions on how to make the Potion. According to Hermione, Snape had stated it was in a book called Moste Potente Potions, a fact that both he, Harry, and Ron had missed. Getting Lockhart to sign the pass they needed to get into the Restricted Section for it was easy enough. 

Most of the ingredients were easily available in the student cupboard in the Potions classroom, and they had a good amount of time before the more difficult ones needed to be added. With the Polyjuice Potion brewing, Harry was free to let himself focus on other matters. Quidditch.

The entire Gryffindor team was a wreck, feverishly preparing for the upcoming match. The main reason for their nervousness was their opponents. They were playing Slytherin on Sunday, and they had a point to prove. Knowing that they had the best broomsticks had clearly got to the entire team's heads, and they took to making snide remarks in the hallways. 

Wood was constantly pulling him aside, informing him that he was counting on him for the weekend's match and that the entire game would come down to him catching the Snitch.

"Way to go, Oliver," Fred drawled. 

"As if he wasn't nervous enough already," George tutted.

Harry agreed with the two. He just had to beat Malfoy, especially with how he'd been acting lately. And maybe, if he won the match, the school would finally be able to focus on something other than Harry being the Heir of Slytherin. A Quidditch victory for Gryffindor against Slytherin would have the school distracted for at least a week or two. 

★

Sunday arrived, and with it the dawn of the match. 

Harry woke up early, though ended up spending a good part of the morning trying to fight off his nerves. It was a lot of pressure after all. Not only did they have to show the Slytherins that good brooms didn't mean they were better than everyone else, but after the way they'd been acting, they needed to be put in their place. There was also the threat of what Wood would say if Gryffindor lost, and Harry didn't want to find out if he could help it.

He went down to breakfast and found the rest of the Gryffindor team sitting there as well, huddled up. No one spoke much as they ate, all of them mulling over the possible events of the match.

Ron and Hermione came over to wish him luck close to eleven as the school made their way to the Quidditch pitch.

Once in the locker room, they were given an inspiring pep talk from Wood. Harry only registered the last bit. "Get to that Snitch before Malfoy or die trying, Harry, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

They made their way out, greeted by the noise of the crowd. Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were eager to see Slytherin lose as well, so it was mostly cheering. The Slytherin side of the pitch managed to make their boos heard, however, over the uproar.

"On my whistle," Madame Hooch started. "Three... two... one..."

They shot up into the sky as the whistle blew, Harry getting higher than all of them, looking around for the Snitch.

"All right there, Scarhead?" Malfoy yelled, speeding under him, showing off.

Harry was about to make a comeback when a Bludger pelted toward him, and he dodged last minute.