The Crusaders: Year One

Chapter Sixteen

Everyone cheers with mixes of boos from a large group of Slytherins.

"Where's the Snitch? Aang hasn't had anything to do yet," Sokka said.

"He's keeping out of trouble though," Katara said. "That's smart."

Above them, Aang was gliding over the game, squinting about for some sign of the Snitch. This was Adrien's game plan, given to him at last minute. He would stay out of the way until he caught sight of the Snitch so he wouldn't be attacked.

When Adam had scored, Aang had done a couple of loop-de-loops to let off his feelings. Now he was back to staring around for the Snitch. Once he caught sight of a flash of gold, but it was just a reflection from Adrien's wristwatch. And a Bludger decided to come pelting his way one time, but Aang dodged it and Nino came chasing after it.

"Slytherin in possession," Leo continued. "Chaser Castellan ducks two Bludgers and Chaser Garrett, and speeds toward the- wait a moment- was that the Snitch?"

A murmur ran through the crowd as Luke dropped the Quaffle, too busy looking over his shoulder at the flash of gold that had passed his left ear.

Aang saw it. In a great rush of excitement he dived downward after the streak of gold. Slytherin Seeker Octavian Maximus had seen it, too. Neck and neck they hurtled toward the Snitch- all the Chasers seemed to have forgotten what they were supposed to be doing as they hung in midair to watch.

Aang was faster than Octavian. He could see the little round ball, wings fluttering, darting up ahead. He put on an extra spurt of speed-

WHAM!

A roar of rage echoed from the crowd below. Lotor had blocked Aang on purpose, and his broom spun off course, Aang holding on for dear life.

"Foul!" Screamed the crowd.

Professor Piandao spoke angrily to Lotor and then ordered a free shot at the goal posts for Gryffindor. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared from sight again.

Down in the stands, Suki yelled angrily, "Send him off, ref! Red card!"

"What are you talking about?" Zuko asked.

"Red card!" Suki replied furiously. "In soccer you get shown the red card and you're out of the game!"

"But this isn't soccer, Suki," Katara said.

"They should change the rules though," Zuko said. "Lotor almost knocked Aang out of the air."

Leo found it difficult to not take sides. "So after that obvious and disgusting bit of cheating-"

"LEO!" Professor Pakku scolded again.

"I mean, after that open and revolting foul-"

"Valdez, I'm warning you-"

"All right, all right. Galra nearly kills the Hufflepuff Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Hufflepuff, taken by Prince, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Hufflepuff still in possession."

As Aang dodged another Bludger, his broom gave a sudden, frightening lurch. For a split second, he thought he was going to fall. He gripped the broom tightly with both his hands and knees. He'd been flying all his life and his broom has never done anything like that.

It happened again. It was as though the broom was trying to buck him off, but brooms don't just suddenly decide to buck their riders off. Aang tried to turn back toward the Hufflepuff goal-posts, and then he realized that his broom was completely out of his control.

He couldn't turn it. He couldn't direct it at all. It was zigzagging through the air, and every now and then making violent swishing movements that almost unseated him.

"Slytherin in possession," Leo continued commentating. "Galra with the Quaffle- passes Prince- passes Agreste- hit hard in the face by a Bludger, hope it broke his nose- only joking, Professor- Slytherins score- A no..."

The Slytherins were cheering. No one seemed to have noticed that Aang's broom was behaving strangely. It was carrying him slowly higher, away from the game, jerking and twitching as it went.

"What's Aang doing?" Zuko asked.

Korra looked through the binoculars the group was sharing with each other. "It looks like he's lost control of his broom."

"What? Let me see," Sokka said as he took the binoculars.

Suddenly, people were pointing up at Aang all over the stands. His broom had started to roll over and over, with him only just managing to hold on.

Then the whole crowd gasped. His broom had given a wild jerk and Aang swung off it. He was now dangling from it, holding on as tight as he could.

"Did something happen to it when Lotor blocked him?" Bolin asked.

"I don't think so," Mako replied. "The only thing that could interfere with a broomstick is Dark magic. No kid could do that."

"Maybe not a kid, but a professor could," Katara said as she took the binoculars from her brother.

She frantically looked through the binoculars at the crowd.

Sokka frowned. "Why would a professor-"

"It's Professor Tarrlok! Look!" Katara exclaimed as she passed the binoculars to Mai.

"Who's Professor Tarrlok?" Meng asked.

"The Ghoul Studies professor."

Mai looked through the binoculars. Tarrlok was in the middle of the stands opposite them. He had his eyes fixed on Aang and was muttering nonstop under his breath.

"He's doing something," Mai said as she passed the binoculars to Zuko. "Jinxing the broom."

"Why would he jinx Aang's broom?" Suki asked.

"I don't know," Zuko replied as he lowered the binoculars. "What should we do?"

"Leave it to me," Mai said as she pulled out her wand.

Before anyone could say another word, Mai had disappeared. Zuko passed the binoculars to Mako and he looked through it to watch Aang. His broom was vibrating so hard, it was almost impossible for him to hang on much longer.

The whole crowd was on its feet, watching, terrified, as Nino and Applejack flew up to try and pull Aang safely onto one of their brooms, but it was no good. Every time they got near him, the broom would jump higher still. They dropped lower and circled beneath him, obviously hoping to catch him if he fell. Lotor seized the Quaffle and scored five times without anyone noticing.

"Come on, Mai," Katara muttered.

Mai had fought her way across to the stand where Tarrlok stood, and was now racing along the row behind him; she didn't even stop to say sorry as she knocked Professor Noatak headfirst into the row in front.

Reaching Tarrlok, Mai crouched down, pulled out her wand, and whispered a few, well-chosen words. Bright blue flames shot from her wand onto the hem of his robes.

It took perhaps thirty seconds for Tarrlok to realize that he was on fire. A sudden yelp told her she had done her job. Scooping the fire off him into a little jar in her pocket, Mai scrambled back along the row. He would never know what had happened.

It was enough. Up in the air, Aang was suddenly able to clamber back on to his broom.

"Bolin, you can look now!" Mako said to his brother. Bolin had covered his face with Mako's scarf.

Aang sped toward the ground and fell off his broom onto his back. He quickly sat up and spit something gold into his hand. The crowd burst into cheers.

"He's got the Snitch!" Leo exclaimed excitedly. "And he didn't just catch it, he nearly swallowed it!"

The Hufflepuff team landed on the ground. Nino helped Aang up before Hunk lifted him onto his shoulders. Aang lifted the Snitch up in triumph and the crowd cheered louder.