It was morning. The morning the entire school had been waiting for. The finale between Gryffindor and Slytherin.
They were currently tied for the championship and the winner would take it all.
Pinkie was fidgeting in her seat, rocking it back and forth. Her nervousness was understandable because it was to be her first real match.
So no pressure, no pressure at all.
Luckily Millicent and Daphne were there to keep her mind of things. They had made googly eyed snakes out of an old pair of socks and some arts and crafts stuff Pinkie had brought over during the Christmas break.
The perfect little mascots.
Daphne had one and Millicent had the other, and they were currently play fighting with them over breakfast.
Speaking of which. While Pinkie normally would be eager to break her morning fast, today she found herself having difficulty.
Too much nerves! Too much excitement!
She was about to bounce right off of her seat from all the buzz, when a bunch of owls came flying in with the morning post.
Two of which were carrying a lengthy package. With a loud 'plonck' they dropped it right in her morning porridge.
The birds flew a circle, landed in front of Pinkie, slobbered some of her porridge and flew away.
“Ooh!” Millicent shouted. “Bet you a sickle that's a broom!”
“That's a suckers bet.” Daphne replied. “Go on Pinkie. Let's see what you got!”
Pinkie cracked a smile. Who could've send something as valuable as a new broom, and why?
Right now that wasn't important. What was important was getting that wrapping paper off.
With gratuitous violence, Pinkie started tearing it up. Slowly more details were revealed.
It was obviously a green broom, it would suit someone well who was flying for Slytherin that's for sure.
The commotion had caused the Slytherin table to assemble around Pinkie.
“That's a brand new Bamboozler!” Someone shouted from out of the crowd.
Now truth be told, Pinkie had no idea what a Bamboozler was. Was it quick or nimble? Could it shoot lasers?
She didn't care because someone out there just send her a brand new broom. Holy baloney! That's so cool!
Meanwhile at the teachers table, a certain deputy headmistress was glaring at a certain potions professor, who in turn looked the picture of perfect innocence.
The byplay was missed by Pinkie. She was a little bit distracted by the shenanigans of her friends.
The googly eyed snakes were hissing at each other trying to get to the broom first. Millicent's snake had won when it pinned Daphne's snake to the table.
“Ha ha, you have lost, because you underestimated the power of my poison.” The snake hissed.
“Venom.”
“What?”
“Poison is ingested, venom is injected.”
Millicent's snake took a moment to ponder this new information, causing Daphne's snake to get away. “Ah I see, cheerio. I mean, HISS!”
“HISSS!”
They were going at it for the rest of the morning. Pinkie felt suitably distracted.
xxx
I have a confession to make dear reader. Generally speaking, I do not look forward to reporting on the Hogwarts Quidditch finale.
Oh sure, there is some fun to be had in scouting out the next British talents and of course in contrast, discreetly mocking those who fall at the wayside, bad form it might be.
On the whole though, it remains a rather slow affair. When compared to the professional leagues, Quidditch at our lovely educational institution cannot help but feel like exactly that; A place for young players who must still learn the ropes.
What I witnessed on the pitch that day made even my admittedly jaded heart beat with renewed love for the sport.
I mean, how can you not be romantic about Quidditch after a finale like that?
xxx
Pinkie was holding her new broom tightly. Her entire body made a slight buzzing noise. Nerves.
Terence tried to tell her comforting things but sadly they never quite made it through. She was staring over the pitch with a thousand yard stare.
Lee Jordan started to make the announcements.
First their captain Marcus Flint, who flew on the pitch calmly. Loud cheers from the Slytherin stand flew his way mixed in with booing from the direction of the Gryffindors.
The beaters Casper and Casius were announced and they flew in a flashy zig-zag pattern to the delight of the crowds.
The chasers were next. Edward and Adrian joined Marcus to do some very impressive aerial acrobatics.
Miles Bletchley was never much for show-boating and just flew towards his hoops.
All to quickly Pinkie thought, it was her turn. She heard Lee announce her name and just like that it was on.
She jumped on her broom a bit too enthusiastically and flipped upside-down as she zipped towards the pitch.
Her new broom proved to be a much friendlier companion then her old school broom however and she manged to do a reverse loopty-loop to right herself.
The crowd thought that she did it on purpose and roared in approval. The nervousness she was feeling lessened considerably now that she had the wind blowing through her hair.
Oh yeah, she could do this.
The Gryffindors announcements were met with considerably more applause. Harry's entry was particularly raucous.
Madam Hooch urged the stadium to calm down some as she gestured the teams to their places.
“Now I want a good clean game...” She said while eyeballing the two captains, Marcus Flint and Oliver Wood with suspicion.
The two captains shook hands and glared at each other, as was tradition, during the half-hearted promises of fair play.
The last bits of nervousness that Pinkie was feeling evaporated when she looked into Harry's eyes.
It. was. on.
The knut was called, the quaffle was released, the Bludgers followed and finally...The Golden Snitch.
All promises of fair play were forgotten.
xxx
The game started like any other. Teams feeling each other out, trying to find weaknesses in their opponents, hoping to find players that were maybe not up to snuff with the rest of their team.
The seekers in particular were subject to harassment from the beaters of the other side in the early game. It proved to be rather comically ineffective.
Both mister Potter and miss Pie were extraordinarily good at avoiding any and all projectiles the beaters threw at them.
One memorable occasion was the one where miss Pie managed to avoid getting hit by a Bludger by entangling her broom in her hair and hanging underneath it.
It was at this point I started to pay a bit more attention dear readers. You don't see moves like that in the big leagues. Mostly because they take way too much time.
Entertaining though! Most definitely.
Meanwhile mister Potter, seemed to focus more on a more classic, speed focused playstyle. Choosing to just not be where the Bludgers were.
Slowly, an interesting difference started to show itself between the teams at this stage.
Gryffindor seemed to have a better sense of teamwork, while Slytherin seemed to focus more on the individual strengths its players.
This seemed to be particularly obvious when comparing the teams chasers. The all female Gryffindor chasers were superior in the long run. Utilizing both grace and teamwork to get past Bletchley.
xxx
“And Harry has the Snitch!” Lee Jordans voice echoed over the pitch. The crowd was about to irrupt into cheers.
“Oh wait, no he hasn't. That's just a dragonfly.” He said as groans irrupted instead.
The shouts had distracted Pinkie somewhat as a Bludger came zipping by underneath her broom. Fred and George still wanted some payback for that whole polka thing it seemed. Such is the life of a seeker.
Speaking of seeking, let's see if Harry is awake.
She zoofed downward towards one of the Gryffindor chasers at high speed. Harry was in high pursuit immediately. They were about to cut it close.
Pinkie's maneuverable Bamboozler aided in dodging Katie Bell just in time.
Harry, on his nimbus, was having a much trickier time of it. It was a good thing he knew his way around a broomstick. He jumped so that his broom went underneath Katie and he himself flew over her.
He made a mental note not to fall for that one again, and secretly put it in his repertoire.
xxx
As the match progressed it was apparent that the Gryffindors were ever so slightly eking ahead in the points. 110-70 turned to 120-80.
Both teams seemed to abhor a defensive playstyle so the points tallied quickly.
The atmosphere turned electric as it became apparent that the winning team probably wouldn't be decided by chasers or beaters.
No, it would be decided by the two new rookie seekers. Mister Potter had speed, but miss Pie had maneuverability.
Yes, the finale would be decided by an old school style seeker battle.
xxx
Harry and Pinkie were circling around the pitch at opposite ends trying to locate the Snitch. Flint scored 10 points but they barely noticed as the crowd roared and jeered. They had exhausted all their tricks and now only the search remained.
The search was all encompassing.
A glint of gold! Near the Slytherin goalpost. It was blind luck that Pinkie was the one that saw it first. She zipped towards it like a dog would a stick.
Only a fraction of a second later and Harry followed in hot pursuit. His broom speed making up for his delay.
The Snitch was particularly playful today and spiffed right between them towards the ground.
The crowd realized what was going on and went completely ballistic.
Grass blades flew through the sky as as the Snitch whizzed passed, followed quickly by Harry and Pinkie. Cheek to cheek they flew as they each extended their hands.
Suddenly the Snitch decided it liked the sky more and ascended with blistering speed.
Harry was quicker on the uptake then Pinkie was but Pinkie got a better angle.
Up and up they went. They were well above the stadium and into the first clouds when it happened.
A runaway Bludger hit Harry in the head with a sickening crack. He lost consciousness immediately and dropped like a stone, still holding his broom.
“Harry!!”
Pinkie had only a split second to make a choice; the Snitch or Harry...
She turned her broom around and raced towards the ground.
xxx
“Something seems to be wrong with Harry! He's falling!” Lee Jordan's voice echoed between the stands. The crowd held their breath as Harry descended towards the ground.
xxx
Pinkie knew that she was coming in too slow. She needed more speed. Just a little bit more speed! It was like magic itself had formed a barrier that was holding her back but she wouldn't let it. She wouldn't let it!
Not for one second.
The laws of physics twisted, warped and then broke as Pinkie flew through something she herself never saw.
Wind whipped in her face and she almost fell of her broom when she started to extend her hand towards Harry. Fingers inched closer as she could just about grabbed his hand.
Just in time! With a shout and a twist of her broom she rolled Harry on her broom. The roll also helped her turn away from the ground.
She had to do two circles around the pitch before she'd bled off enough speed to land and deposit Harry in the capable hands of madam Pomfrey.
A deathly silent hush fell over the stands after the initial gasps of terror. Everybody was wondering if Harry would be alright and collectively held their breath...
xxx
One of those great 'what if' moments in Hogwarts history. What if Pinkie had decided to go for the Snitch instead?
Well, what probably would've happened is that one of the teachers would intervene, save Harry instead and Slytherin would've won the game.
Dumbledore seemed perfectly capable of magicking Harry out of the sky.
Thinking about the game in this manner would be missing the point. No... I think what happened in that match was about more then that.
xxx
Pinkie was anxiously bouncing from foot to foot as madam Pomfrey was working on Harry.
Even for wizards head injuries were no laughing matter and it was important to get treated promptly.
Luckily Harry got treated very promptly. Madam Pomfrey waved her wand in frantic shapes and circles to assess the damage, and to get to work on fixing what was wrong. She had to work from the inside out otherwise inter-cranial pressure could build up.
Meanwhile, Flint was shouting at Pinkie to get on her broom and play. She didn't hear it. She was too busy worrying. Frustrated he raced of and continued the game.
Having hastily patched the concussion and reduced the inflammation madam Pomfrey knew it was time to give her patient a sip of Skelegrow to fix the fractured skull. Seeing nothing for it madam Pomfrey asked Pinkie to assist.
“Alright Pinkie, since you're not playing the game right now you might as well make yourself useful. When I wake him up I want you to hold him tightly like this.”
She showed Pinkie how to hold him tightly without aggravating his injuries.
“He's going to fight you when he wakes up so you need to hold him tightly. You understand?”
Pinkie's eyes were the size of saucers as she nodded her ascent. She idly wondered why there wasn't anybody else willing to help. She didn't realize that the crowd was too gob smacked by what they saw to properly think strait.
“Ready?”
Pinkie nodded again.
“Ennervate!”
xxx
“AAAARCH!” Harry wanted to grasp his head but was stopped. Something was trapping him! He needed to fight! Voldemort must've gotten him or something.
Harry was trying to move his way out but he couldn't. He was being restrained to tightly.
They poured something gross and chalky down his gullet. Was it poison? Why did his head hurt so bad? Then slowly it returned to him. The game, the Bludger and then a moment of falling.
He turned around and really looked for once. He saw that madam Pomfrey and Pinkie were the ones holding him, not Voldemort. He stopped resisting immediately. It helped that his headache was fading rapidly. Now only a dull throb remained.
Pinkie slowly let Harry go, anxious about what he would do.
xxx
During all of this. The game, which had continued unaffected, had been swayed slightly into the Slytherins favour. If the Snitch was caught now by Pinkie now, then Slytherin would win by a small margin.
Pinkie was too busy worrying about Harry to be getting on catching Snitches, to captain Flints immense chagrin.
He was shouting down at her to try and get her to move and catch the Snitch. But it just didn't register. Harry's wellbeing was more important.
The crowd meanwhile had sort of divided into two camps. Those that jeered at Pinkie saying that she was a wimp and should get on with catching the damn Snitch.
And those that thought she was being rather courageous.
Millicent and Daphne were, of course, split right down the middle.
“It's right there!” Millicent pointed. “Just go and catch it! You daft bint!”
Daphne was pondering the implications of Pinkies actions and figured they were actually... useful for lack of a better term.
Any Slytherin that was told that they were slimy or evil could now just point at this incident and just say 'nope.'
“Oh, let her be Millicent. Look at that.” She pointed at professor McGonagall who was practically sobbing at what was happening on the pitch.
Quidditch was a brutal sport and to have sympathy for your opponent was unheard of. To see it happen from the side of her fiercest rivals, well maybe it got a bit too much for the old professor.
xxx
Pinkie patted Harry on his shoulder and gave him a cheesy thumbs up. They kicked off and the crowd got excited again as the seearch for the Snitch was once again resumed.
The score was now 430 to 330 in favour of the Gryffindor team. Meaning that if Pinkie managed to catch the Snitch quickly they could still win this.
Fluttering impatiently, the Snitch seemed to taunt Harry and Pinkie both with dreams of victory. It hovered right in the middle of the pitch. 'Can't catch me!' It seemed to say.
Neither seeker could live with that. They raced right through the others' game, coming from opposite sides.
The Snitch zipped right through the Slytherin goalhoop as Angolina scored 440 for Gryffindor. Pinkie had to dodge the Quaffle which allowed Harry to edge closer to the Snitch.
Knowing that she would lose if she just out and followed them, she decided to gamble and hoped the Snitch would follow the angle of the pitch and the stands as it descended.
Harry was inching closer. He knew it was do or die time so he shoved himself closer to the front of the broom, becoming dangerously front heavy, just to extend his hand a little bit closer.
Suddenly out of nowhere, Pinkie barreled into him from above. She was hanging upside down with her hand extended.
Harry couldn't help but noticed that she was a little bit closer then he was. How did she managed that?
The other players meanwhile hadn't been idle either. Fred and George saw the situation as it was unfolding and decided to act.
They whacked a Bludger back and forth between them as they closed in on Pinkie. Fred had to be pinpoint accurate or he might hit Harry. Then again, if he missed they would lose anyway.
George passed the Bludger one last time and with an herculean effort Fred battered the Bludger in Pinkies general direction.
Pinkie, who was fully focussed on catching the Snitch, didn't even feel her Pinkie sense's warnings.
With a thundering crack, the Bludger hit her broom. Were it any other broom it might have survived. The Bamboozler was made with lightness and maneuverability in mind. It cracked right down the middle causing Pinkie to fall.
There was a moment of confusion as Harry instinctively dodged out of the way.
The rear piece of Pinkies broom fell in between Harry's elevator twigs, forcing him to descend. Pinkie fell holding the front piece.
Bang! She landed hard and rolled a good distance all over the grass. Her arm made a nasty crackling noise when she bounced at an unfortunate angle.
Harry's landing meanwhile was much more sedate. He tried to wrench the bamboozler chunk out of his broom while at the same time making sure that nothing was damaged.
When he finally managed to yank it out, he threw the piece over his shoulder and tried to further asses the damage to his broom. He was no expert on brooms by any stretch of the imagination but to his untrained eye it looked fine.
Harry was about to put it between his legs when he heard something.
As he turned around he was met with a rather pitiful sight. Pinkie was trying to put her two broom halves together. She was crying and he could tell that she was pretty beat up.
Great! Getting the Snitch should be easy now!
Harry dusted himself off, got on his broom proper and was about to kick of. He could see the feast already. The team would carry him on their shoulders. The party would last well into the night. Pinkie would congratulate him with a smile because that is who she was and...
It wouldn't be right.
'...Fuck...Fuck!'
He tried to kick of again, looking at Pinkie was too hard. He couldn't do it. He couldn't just fly of on his merry way.
Rubbing his head in frustration, which was still a little tender from his encounter with a Bludger, he made his decision.
'Fuck.'
With a deep breath and a soft groan, Harry made his way towards Pinkie.
'Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck, fuck.'
xxx
She felt like such a failure. Not only was her shoulder acky, her broom was completely ruined. Someone went out of their way to give her an amazing broom and it got destroyed on it's first outing. Probably completely beyond repair... Poor broomy.
A gentle hand landed upon her shoulder. Harry spun her around gently with a look of resignation.
“Hey Pinkie.” He said. “Do you think I could leave you crying? When I've got room on my broom for two?”
The shy smile on her grubby face made it worth it for Harry. He gestured for her to hop on. She was still holding her arm stiffly as they flew of.
The crowd looked on in stunned silence. Never in the history of Hogwarts Quidditch had anything like this happened before. Even the Snitch was just sort of hovering in place unsure of what to do. The other players were still playing when the crash happened. But now they started to wizen up on what has been going on.
The Snitch let itself be caught by Pinkie in an 'Oh, alright.' sort of way.
Professor Snape and professor McGonagall immediately started shouting over the Pitch on how the points should be distributed but madam Hooch had the rules clear in her head.
Whoever catches the Snitch gets the points and in this case that was clearly Pinkie.
The game was declared over.
First to stunned silence. Then Dumbledore slowly started to clap his hands. Then the Hufflepuffs joined in as well, and after that it became quite loud indeed.
xxx
So after all that, the game ended with four hundred and eighty points for Slytherin and four hundred and eighty points for Gryffindor.
A tie.
Nobody won, yet everyone felt like a winner. I know I did.
It's easy to say that what we saw was just two adorable and talented firsties not yet understanding the point of competition. The cynic in me could see your point.
There is a different part of me. A bigger and much fuzzier part, that tells the cynical me to stuff it.
Yet, that raises a philosophical quandary. If this is the end result we can all cheer for, what is the point of competition in the first place? Why even play Quidditch or Quadpot?
There is an avenue of play involved to be sure. Flying around and chasing things is entertaining. But the keyword here is competition. Why compete?
As I was pondering these things late at night, driving my wife barmy with this silly article, I feel I might have stumbled upon an answer.
It is to gain the respect of those we would deem our rivals. Maybe even our enemies, considering the infamous Gryffindor - Slytherin state of affairs.
Viewed from this angle, mister Potter and miss Pie were the only ones that did understand the point of Quidditch.
And doesn't that just take the cake?
Miss pie, mister Potter. My hat is off to you. For your seeker prowess, your strong sense of sportsmanship and being all round good people. I sincerely hope we will see a lot more of you both in this sport.
- Q.D. Brumhilde
Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet.
xxx
It was quiet in the hospital wing. Pinkie thought that there were probably parties going on all around the castle by now. End of year parties, Quidditch parties, parties just because.
She felt rather torn. She wanted to join in, but was also very tired from all that fancy flying and...other stuff. The whole ordeal made her a bit... wary of the wizarding world.
When she looked at Harry's eyes she could tell that he felt something similar.
They were being treated for the injuries that they had gotten from the match. Harry had to be kept overnight for observation and Pinkie was currently enjoying the after effects of imbibing skelegrow.
Madam Pomfrey cast some spells on her to see if it was working. Thank goodness it was. Imagine if she had a weird reaction to that as well. Pinkie shuddered.
Madam Pomfrey left to stock up on some more potions from professor Snape, leaving Pinkie and Harry alone together.
“You know, playing Quidditch with you was a lot of fun. But the wizarding world is completely mental.”
Harry, who was staring at the wall lost in thought, couldn't help but agree. Though he felt that the muggle world wasn't much better. Perhaps people in general are just barmy?
“They do things differently that's for sure.” He said noncommittally.
A silence fell once more over the two of them. It was just a little bit awkward after all that sports drama.
“So... Why did you help me? I wasn't about to go splat like you were.”
Taking a moment to think it through, Harry actually didn't get very far. In the end he just decided to go with his gut.“... It wouldn't have been right if I didn't.”
Pinkies eyebrows raised a bit but she didn't really know what else to say.
“...”
“...”
“Hey, remember the last time we were here?” Harry asked.
Pinkie looked the other way. “I've been trying to forget to be honest.”
“...Yeah, me too. I wonder if Quirrel really was doomed or if Dumbledore just said that to make us feel better.”
“I don't think Albie would do that. I mean, he did die from a piece of cake. He couldn't exactly have been in tip-top shape.”
“Funny, I thought he died because I bounced my fist on his face and he turned into soot?”
“Fine, we'll just have to agree that we killed our defense teacher equally.”
For some reason, they thought that was funny and laughed. But the ominous feeling didn't really leave. They both knew that the shadow of Voldemort was still out there.
And who knows what else...