— "I'M STARTING TO GET TIRED OF HIM."
Angelina nodded in agreement. The Gryffindor-Slytherin match would take place on the first Saturday after the Easter holidays. Slytherin was leading the tournament by exactly two hundred points. This meant (as Wood constantly reminded his team) that they needed to win the match by more than that amount to win the Cup. It also meant that the burden of winning fell largely on Harry, because capturing the Snitch was worth one hundred and fifty points.
"So you must catch it only if we're more than fifty points up," Wood told Harry constantly. "Only if we're more than fifty points up, Harry, or we win the match but lose the Cup. You've got that, Haven't you? You must catch the Snitch only if we're —"
"I KNOW, OLIVER!" Harry yelled.
It was bad for Nicole too. Crabble and Goyle were constantly trying to trip her, make her fall, break a leg, maybe an arm. The whole school knew that Nicole was one of the best— if not the best— Quiddtich players in school.
Harry and Nicole didn't talk about the almost snogging incident too. It made him crazy how Nicole didn't seem like she was bothered, but every time that he would think of it he would turn bright red.
In addition to that, Wood had given instructions that Harry and Nicole should be accompanied everywhere they went, in case the Slytherins tried to put them out of action. The whole of Gryffindor House took up the challenge enthusiastically, so that it was impossible for the pair to get to classes on time because they were surrounded by a vast, chattering crowd.
All usual pursuits were abandoned in the Gryffindor common room the night before the match. Even Hermione had put down her books.
"I can't work, I can't concentrate," she said nervously.
There was a great deal of noise. Fred and George Weasley were dealing with the pressure by being louder and more exuberant than ever. Oliver Wood and Nicole were crouched over a model of a Quidditch field in the corner, prodding little figures across it with their wands and muttering to himself Angelina, Alicia, and Katie were laughing at Fred's and George's jokes.
"You're going to be fine," Hermione told him, though she looked positively terrified.
"You've got a Firebolt!" Ron added.
"Yeah..." said Harry, his stomach writhing.
It came as a relief when Wood suddenly stood up and yelled, "Team! Bed!"
The next morning, Nicole was in the common room, pacing around. Oliver Wood was talking to her about the weather conditions and Nicole was telling him about how he didn't need to be nervous since they would beat Slytherin's asses easily.
Harry went down the stairs slowly, his eyes widening when he saw Nicole and Wood discussing something. They already had their Quidditch robes on, too.
"There's our seeker!" Nicole exclaimed happily.
Harry was surprised. It was 6am. She wasn't usually happy at that time.
They spent the rest of the time they had constantly reminding Harry about how he had to catch the snitch fifty points in, which annoyed him a bit.
Nicole and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall the next day to enormous applause. Nicole couldn't help grinning broadly as she saw that both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were applauding them too.
The Slytherin table hissed loudly as they passed. Nicole laughed when she noticed that Malfoy looked even paler than usual.
Wood spent the whole of breakfast urging his team to eat, while touching nothing himself. Nicole forced him to eat two pieces of toast, and when he wouldn't agree, the girl had shoved it into his mouth.
Then he hurried them off to the field before anyone else had finished, so they could get an idea of the conditions. As they left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.
"Goodluck, Nic." Cedric called out while his hands were around her shoulder. Nicole felt herself blush for a tiny moment, but forced herself to stop.
"Okay — no wind to speak of — sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it — ground's fairly hard, good, that'll give us a fast kickoff—"
Wood paced the field, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance and the rest of the school spilling onto the lawn.
"Locker rooms," said Wood tersely.
None of them spoke while the rest of their team changed into their robes. Since Nicole had already changed into them in advance, she spent her time taping Harry's glasses into his head to ease her nervousness.
"Okay, it's time, let's go —"
No one needed to be told twice. They walked out onto the field to a tidal wave of noise. Three quarters of the crowd was wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion upon them, or brandishing banners with slogans like "GO GRYFFINDOR!" and "LIONS FOR THE CUP."
Behind the Slytherin goal posts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the very front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.
What surprised Nicole the most though, was the fact that instead of being with her housemates, Aurora was in the Gryffindor stands with Cedric Diggory, wearing a bright red.
"And here are the Gryffindors!" yelled Lee Jordan, who was acting as commentator as usual. "Hwang, Potter, Bell, Johnson, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years —"
Lee's comments were drowned by a tide of 'boos' from the Slytherin end.
"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill —"
More boos from the Slytherin crowd.
Nicole giggled, looking at the Slytherin team. Malfoy was the smallest one out of them.
"Captains, shake hands!" said Madam Hooch.
Flint and Wood approached each other and grasped each other's hand very tightly; it looked as though each was trying to break the other's fingers.
"Mount your brooms!" said Madam Hooch. "Three... two... one..."
As usual, Nicole got a hold of the quaffle first. But it seemed like the Slytherins were already expecting this, so the two chasers clashed towards her direction.
Suddenly, a bludger came in her way so she dove down to avoid it. Instead of hitting her, it hit the two Slytherins which made her rush up towards the hoops and shoot the ball in.
Nicole punched the air as she soared around the end of the field; the sea of scarlet below was screaming its delight.
"OUCH!"
Nicole was nearly thrown from her broom as Marcus Flint went smashing into her.
"Sorry!" said Flint as the crowd below booed. "Sorry, didn't see her!"
"DIDN'T SEE ME?" Nicole questioned, gripping onto the broomstick. "DIDN'T SEE ME?" she questioned once again, and was about to attack him until Fred beat her to it. He chucked his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head. Flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.
"That will do!" shrieked Madam Hooch, zooming between then. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"
"Come off it, Miss!" howled Fred, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle and Angelina flew forward to take the penalty.
"Come on, Angelina!" yelled Lee into the silence that had descended on the crowd.
Nicole watched nervously as Alicia threw into one of the hoops. The Slytherin keeper narrowly almost stopped the ball from coming in, but failed.
"YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY-ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"
Nicole turned the Firebolt sharply to watch Flint, still bleeding freely, fly forward to take the Slytherin penalty. Wood was hovering in front of the Gryffindor goal posts, his jaw clenched.
"'Course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" Lee Jordan told the crowd as Flint waited for Madam Hooch's whistle. "Superb! Very difficult to pass — very difficult indeed — YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"
Katie, this time, stole the quaffle once again. However, when she passed it to Angelina, a chaser had managed to grab it.
Nicole snarled, zooming over to him as he tried to pass it to his teammate. The quaffle was hers once again, and she zoomed forward to shoot it into the hoops.
Montague, a Slytherin Chaser, had swerved in front of Nicole, and instead of seizing the Quaffle had grabbed her head. Nicole cart-wheeled in the air, managed to stay on her broom, but dropped the Quaffle.
The girl was furious. She ignored Madam Hooch's whistle and poked him in the eye harshly. Montague let out a yelp of pain, while the Gryffindor stands started to cheer very loudly.
Madam Hooch's whistle rang out again as she soared over to Montague and began shouting at him, not seeing Nicole poke his eye. A minute later, Katie had put another penalty past the Slytherin Seeker.
"THIRTY-ZERO! TAKE THAT, YOU DIRTY, CHEATING —"
"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased way —"
"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"
The quaffle was thrown into the air once again. Nicole grabbed it as usual, then passed it over to Angelina. The girl started to swerve around as two bludgers narrowly almost hit her.
The girl looked up to see Flint and Angelina having a go. Nicole was about to rush over and take the quaffle from her teammate, but Flint had managed to steal it from the older girl.
Nicole was confident that Wood would block it, but he didn't. But Flint had scored; there was an eruption of cheers from the Slytherin end.
It was turning into the dirtiest game Nicole had ever played in. Enraged that Gryffindor had taken such an early lead, the Slytherins were rapidly resorting to any means to take the Quaffle.
Bole hit Angelina with his club and tried to say he'd thought she was a Bludger. Nicole punched Bole in the face and his nose started to bleed.
Madam Hooch awarded both teams penalties, and Wood pulled off another spectacular save, making the score forty-ten to Gryffindor.
Nicole managed to steal the quaffle again, and passed it to Angelina, who passed it to Katie, who threw it into the highest hoop without it being blocked.
Fifty-ten. Fred and George Weasley were swooping around her, clubs raised, in case any of the Slytherins were thinking of revenge. Bole and Derrick took advantage of Fred's and George's absence to aim both Bludgers at Wood; they caught him in the stomach, one after the other, and he rolled over in the air, clutching his broom, completely winded.
"THAT'S A FOUL!" Nicole yelled, completely agitated. She forced herself to not hurt one of the beaters since she didn't want Gryffindor to get a penalty. "FOUL! FOUL! FOUL!" she continued to scream.
Madam Hooch was beside herself —
"YOU DO NOT ATTACK THE KEEPER UNLESS THE QUAFFLE IS WITHIN THE SCORING AREA!" she shrieked at Bole and Derrick. "Gryffindor penalty!"
And Angelina scored. Sixty-ten.
Fred then threw a bludger at one of the chasers, which made him drop the quaffle. Nicole seized it and rushed to the hoops without anyone trailing after her. The Slytherin keeper seemed to not be doing a good job, because she scored.
Seventy-ten.
The Gryffindor crowd below was screaming itself hoarse — Gryffindor was sixty points in the lead, and if Harry caught the Snitch now, the Cup was theirs.
Nicole turned around and looked at Harry hopefully. Please catch the snitch now. Please catch the snitch now.
Thats when she noticed that he had spotted it. Her breath held while he stretched out his hand to grab the golden thing, but suddenly, Malfoy was grabbing his firebolt.
"Penalty! Penalty to Gryffindor! I've never seen such tactics." Madam Hooch screeched, shooting up to where Malfoy was sliding back onto his Nimbus Two Thousand and One.
Nicole rushed over to Malfoy, deciding to show her anger in words instead of hitting him. "YOU FILTHY CHEATING GIT! JUST BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO USE YOUR EYES AND CATCH THE SNITCH DOESN'T MEAN—"
The Slytherin team was happy to see that the Gryffindors were getting pissed.
"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee Jordan was howling into the megaphone, dancing out of Professor McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B —"
Professor McGonagall didn't even bother to tell him off. She was actually shaking her finger in Malfoy's direction, her hat had fallen off, and she too was shouting furiously.
Nicole took Gryffindor's penalty, but she was so angry she missed by several feet. The Gryffindor team was losing concentration and the Slytherins, delighted by Malfoy's foul on Harry, were being spurred on to greater heights.
Nicole stole the quaffle again, but was hit by a bludger which made her drop it. Flint then grabbed the quaffle out of her hands and went towards the hoops, and managed to score.
Seventy-twenty.
"Angelina Johnson gets the Quaffle for Gryffindor, come on, Angelina, COME ON!"
Nicole looked around. Every single Slytherin player apart from Malfoy was streaking up the pitch toward Angelina, including the Slytherin Keeper — they were all going to block her.
Nicole wheeled the Firebolt around, bent so low she was lying flat along the handle, and kicked it forward. Like a bullet, she shot toward the Slytherins.
"AAAAAAARRRGH!"
They scattered as the Firebolt zoomed toward them; Angelina's way was clear as she shot into the hoops.
"SHE SCORES! SHE SCORES! Gryffindor leads by eighty Points to twenty!"
Nicole narrowly avoided another bludger. Fred and George were now covering her in case the chasers tried to do something.
But then..
"HARRY POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
"MERLIN!" Nicole exclaimed mid air, looking at Fred and George who both had identical smiles on their faces. "WE WIN! WE WIN! WE WIN!"
The three of them laughed, hugging each other while they were still in their brooms. Oliver Wood let out a yell of triumph, and the team then made their way down to Harry who was laying on the grass.
Wood was speeding toward him, half-blinded by tears; he seized Harry around the neck and sobbed unrestrainedly into his shoulder.
Harry felt two large thumps as Fred and George hit them; then Angelina's, Nicole's, and Katie's voices, "We've won the Cup! We've won the Cup!"
Nicole was laughing, giving Harry the biggest hug. He started to go red again, partly because of them winning and partly because of her.
Tangled together in a many-armed hug, the Gryffindor team sank, yelling hoarsely, back to earth.