Till The End | h.p

quidditch

The four of them sit together in the Great Hall for breakfast on the morning of the first Quidditch match.

"Take a bit of toast, mate. Go on," Ron says.

"Ron's right. You'll need your strength today," Sam says while nudging his arm lightly.

He looks to her and then to Ron, "I'm not hungry."

Snape walks up behind Harry, "Good luck today, Potter. Then again, now that you've proven yourself against a troll, a little game of Quidditch should be easy work for you. Even if it is against Slytherin."

Snape looks between all four of them and then limps away while they watch him exit the Great Hall.

"That explains the blood," Harry notes.

"Blood?" Hermione inquires.

"Last night, I'm guessing Snape let the troll in as a diversion so he could try and get past that three headed dog. But he got himself bitten, that's why he's limping."

"But why would anyone go near that dog?" She asks.

"The day I was at Gringotts, Hagrid took something out of one of the vaults. Said it was Hogwarts business, very secret."

"So you're saying-"

Sam interjects, "That's what the dog's guarding. That's what Snape wants."

Harry nods, "Exactly."

An owl begins to squawk, as the four look up to see Hedwig, Harry's owl, carrying a large package. It swoops down, handing the parcel to Harry.

"Bit early for mail, isn't it?" Hermione questions.

Harry looks astonished, "But I never get mail."

Ron looks at the package, "Let's open it."

The four of them begin to unwrap it, to find it's a broomstick.

"That's not just any old broomstick, mate," Ron says awestruck, "That's a Nimbus 2000!"

"But who-?" Harry asks following the sound of Hedwig who is sitting at the head table in front of McGonagall. She smiles down at Harry while petting the owl. He gives her a grateful smile in return.

Harry leaves to go get ready for the match, while Sam, Ron and Hermione head to the stands. Before they ascend, Sam says, "I'll be right back!" She runs to the player's tent and catches Harry just before he enters.

"Good luck, Harry!" She says as she wraps him in a hug.

As she pulls away she sees a pink blush forming. She grins and races back to meet the others in the stands. Harry watches her leave as he stands in surprise.

"Well, come on Harry!" George shouts.

"She never hugs us before our games," Fred humphs.

As all the players fly out of the tent and onto the pitch, everyone cheers. The game begins and Sam watches the twins hitting bludgers left and right. Harry flies above, watching the game and looking for the Snitch. Slytherin is playing aggressively, but Gryffindor continues to rack in points. The captain of the Slytherin team, Marcus Flint, rips a bat from his teammate and smacks a bludger at Oliver Wood who falls down to the ground. With the Keeper gone, Slytherin begins to gain in points. Harry sees the Snitch and races after it, until his broom starts to jerk around, attempting to fling him off.

Sam gasps while Hagrid asks, "What's going on with Harry's broomstick?"

Hermione shouts, "It's Snape. He's jinxing the broom!"

Ron turns to her, "Jinxing the broom? What do we do?"

Sam glares towards Snape, "Leave it to me."

Ron grabs Sam by the wrist, "Wait, let Hermione go. If you get too angry..."

Sam rolls her eyes and yanks her arm out of his grasp, "Fine, go Hermione, quickly!"

As Hermione leaves the Gryffindor stands, Sam and Ron watch Harry anxiously. Her eyes dart back and forth between Harry and Snape. She can feel her blood grow hotter, until Ron grabs her hand.

"You need to breathe, before you lose it."

Suddenly, Snape's cloak sets fire. Ron looks from him to Sam.

"I swear, it wasn't me!" She exclaims.

Snape thrashes around, knocking down everyone a couple rows back and Harry finally gets control. He once again races after the Snitch, going head to head with the Seeker from Slytherin. They smack into each other repeatedly. They dive for the Snitch until the Slytherin Seeker backs off, in fear of hitting the ground. Harry pulls up in the nick of time. He stands on his broom to reach for it, but tips his broom and falls. When he stands up, he looks like he's going to hurl.

"I think he's going to be sick!" Hagrid shouts.

Suddenly, Harry spits out the Snitch.

"He's got the Snitch!" yells the announcer, "Harry Potter receives 150 points for catching the Snitch!"

Madam Hooch blows her whistle, "Gryffindor wins!"

Everyone in the Gryffindor stands cheers and shouts loudly. Ron hugs Sam aggressively as she cheers for Harry.