"Alright, guys gather close cause I'm only going to say this once!" Dominique shouts at us before our quidditch game against Ravenclaw. "Ravenclaws team is good this year, very good. Their seeker has caught the snitch nearly every game. I need the rest of you to score as many fucking points as possible before she gets the chance to pluck the snitch out of the sky. I would tell Floyd to catch the snitch before her but let's be honest here that's not going to happen."
We all stifle our laughter. Molly is the captain of the Ravenclaw team, she's also their seeker. Dom's not wrong, Molly tends to get the snitch in the opening ten minutes. Always.
"Any my parents are in the stands so if you cost me this match I will personally come to your house over the summer holiday and beat the shit out of you. Understand?" Dom says as she picks up her broom.
We all get together at the changing room entrance into the pitch and wait for our cue. "Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur are here?" I say to Dom quietly.
She straightens her shoulders, "Yeah. McGonagall let them stop by cause it's one of my last games here at Hogwarts. Aunt Audrey is here too, supporting Mol."
"Uncle Percy's not here?" I say to her.
Dom cracks her neck and rolls her shoulders, "Nope. Why would he be? He hates quidditch."
"I just – I mean it's one of Molly's last games too I thought he'd make face," I say awkwardly.
Dom looks down at me, she looks so badass in her quidditch gear and her hair braided in two long braids down her back, "You're joking right?"
"Witches, Wizards, and non-binary Wizarding folks! Welcome to the match of matches! Slytherin versus Ravenclaw! This is a very special one because our two teams are both lead by Weasleys! What's a little family competition am I right?" the commentator, Marmaduke shouts into the microphone.
The crowd erupts into cheers and applause, then the Ravenclaw quidditch chant, 'RAVENCLAW WE GOTTA WIN 'EM ALL!' Rumour has it that a muggle-born started the chant and they all joined in, none of the kids from a magic family knew about Pokémon so they went along with it.
We wait till the crowd starts to chant, 'DETERMINED TO WIN BRING OUT SLYTHERIN!' before we walk out onto the pitch.
The cheering of the crowd always makes me feel a certain kind of way. Sure they're not cheering for me specifically but I like to pretend that they are.
Besides the same name on the back of their quidditch jerseys, you'd never be able to tell that Molly and Dominique are related, let alone basically best friends. They stand in front of each other with a dark look of determination on their faces. More so Dominique than Molly but I think that's just because of Molly's glasses.
"Shake hands, girls." Madam Hooch says. Dom and Molly shake hands a few times then step away from each other. "I want a nice, clean game. I'd rather not be sending anyone to the hospital wing today."
Famous last words.
Hooch blows her whistle and everyone soars into the sky. I take my place at the keeper's posts and I can see Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur standing in the teacher's podium watching the game with big smiles on their faces. I wonder if mum and dad will ever come to one of my games?
"And Weasley sends a bludger right into Mendoza's chest! Malfoy picks up the quaffle and he soars down the pitch, dodging Nelson, dodging the bludger sent his way by Bir! He's going all-in folks!"
The crowd breaks out into screaming as Scorpius sinks the quaffle into one of the Ravenclaw goal posts.
"We're number one, not two, not three, not four! We're gonna win not lose not tie the score! We're on the top not the bottom not in-between! Come on Slytherin let me hear you SCREAM!" Someone from behind my goalpost shouts, and just like they asked, the entire Slytherin house breaks into screams and shouts.
Ash, one of the Ravenclaw chasers is flying towards me with a quaffle tucked under her arm. Lucas sends a bludger her way but she dodges it easily.
The crowd behind me starts to chat, "WEAS-LEY! WEAS-LEY! WEAS-LEY!"
Ash flies closer, so fast I can barely see her form on her broom. She aims her shot, throws the quaffle... and I kick it far away from my post.
"And I thought we were friends!" She shouts with a big, goofy smile on her face. Vania has the quaffle on the other side of the pitch right now so neither of us is really paying attention.
"Sorry love, I don't show favouritism, no matter how pretty the player is," I say with a wink.
"Weasley! Are you playing quidditch or picking flowers! Get your fucking head in the game!" Dom shouts as she flies past me.
Ash soars off back into the middle of the pitch where the quaffle is. Dom looks like she might hit me with her bat, "Flirting with the other team? Seriously Leah?" She says. A rogue bludger comes flying over and Dom easily bats it away.
"Hoffman with the quaffle now! He shoots... and Butler saves it! The score is still 10-0 for the Slytherins!"
The game continues, the team manages to get forty more points, I accidentally let in a quaffle making the score fifty to ten.
"Looks like Floyd has spotted the snitch! And there they go! Seekers head to head, I don't think Floyd has a chance! Weasley is riding the Thunderbolt eight! A fantastic broom, in my opinion, the steering alone is worth every knut." Marmaduke starts to go off about the broom, "Oh and both the seekers seem to have lost the snitch. Don't worry folks, they'll spot it again soon."
The game continues, the quaffle flying back and forth between the blue Ravenclaw plays and the green Slytherin ones. The score goes up to 80-30 for Slytherin.
Then, down below me, in the stands, people start stomping their feet and clapping, 'boom, boom, clap. Boom, boom, clap." Then the Ravenclaws start singing "BUDDY YOU'RE A BOY, MAKE A BIG NOISE, PLAYING IN THE STREET, GONNA BE A BIG MAN ONE DAY! YOU GOT MUD ON YOUR FACE YOU BIG DISGRACE, WAVING YOUR BANNER ALL OVER THE PLACE!"
It takes a lot out of me not to sing along with the crowd. I mean who can resist Queen? They start singing the chorus and it looks like the song has given Ravenclaw an extra energy boost because they start playing a lot better. I let a quaffle in the far left goal post, 80-40.
"WEASLEY IS OUR KING! WEASLEY IS OUR KING! SHE DIDN'T LET THE QUAFFLE IN! WEASLEY IS OUR KING!" The Slytherins start chanting, their voices drowning out the second verse of We Will Rock You. They're chanting Uncle Ron's old quidditch chant.
Maynard Frost, one of Ravenclaws chasers comes towards me with a quaffle and I block it easily, which gets the Slytherins to chant louder, "WEASLEY CAN SAVE ANYTHING! SHE NEVER LEAVES A SINGLE RING! THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING! WEASLEY IS OUR KING!"
Scorpius manages to get three more quaffles past Butler and the crowd goes absolutely wild. The score's up to 110-40. Mendoza and Ash gang up on me and get a quaffle into my goalposts. "FUCK!" I scream and I almost lose my balance on my broom.
"I don't show favouritism either Weasley, no matter how cute the Keeper is," Ash shouts at me with a wink.
"You're a lot less cute now!" I shout but she's long gone, flying after Conrad Hoffman
The game moves closer to my goalposts, it looks like every player is in front of me right now, fighting for the quaffle. Dom whacks a bludger towards a Ravenclaw player, the player dodges swiftly and Hughes, the Ravenclaw beater slams the bludger in a random direction.
"And it's Floyd with the snitch!" Marmaduke shouts. But right before Hooch blows her whistle a bludger hits me right in the face.
And then I'm falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Falling.
Fuck.
It's like I'm living in slow motion. I can see Molly and Scorpius diving out of the sky towards me. I land on my back and I can feel my head bounce off the ground a few times, something in my chest snaps.
I think I'm screaming but I can't hear anything, my vision goes blurry.
Domonique is now on the ground, shoving someone, I guess it's the guy that hit me with the bludger. Half the Slytherin team have got a hold of her, trying their hardest to drag her away. Then Freddie is there, and he launches himself at the guy Dom is trying to get to. People are bound to be screaming now But I can't hear it. Why can't I hear it?
Molly's face pops up and blocks the view of the fight. I can tell that she's trying to say something, I can see her lips moving but I can't hear her. Scorpius is on my other side.
I close my eyes, just for a second. And when I open them again I'm on a stretcher floating behind Longbottom. I can see Cassiopeia out of the corner of my eye, she looks like she's crying. But I can't hear her. I want to reach out to her but I know that it would be a bad idea.
It hurts to breathe, my leg is pulsing with pain. My head is cloudy.
Why can't I hear anything?
I close my eyes again and allow myself to relax into the stretcher. I'll be in the hospital wing soon. Pomfrey can put me together again. I'll be okay.