Springfic: "Afternoon Quidditch" for r_becca
Title: Afternoon Quidditch
Author: Dragyn_42
Recipient: r_becca
Character(s): Ginny, Hermione, Dennis, Colin, Demelza, various OCs
Rating: G
Wordcount: 3353
Warnings (highlight to view): none
Summary: It's a nice weekend day, and some of the students are just looking for a fun time. Can you say: Quidditch?
Author's Notes: It's an extraordinary opportunity to write for you. I usually don't add OCs, but it seemed a bit necessary. Canon information on other students is woefully inadequate. But, I know you love Quidditch, and I hope you enjoy this :)
Afternoon Quidditch
It was an uncommon October Saturday where the temperature was still warm and clouds decided not to rain. But most rare was the fact that the Quidditch Pitch was not booked for any practices - though that was because Quidditch had been canceled this year.
Quite a few of the students were gleefully ignoring their homework in favor of tossing some balls around the pitch, either by hand or with the help of magic, depending on the particular group. Near one set of rings, Ginny was tossing around a Muggle softball with the Creevey brothers, two of her dorm mates - Demelza Robins and Rachel Octavios - and Antonin, a Slytherin first year whom they invited when he wandered by looking lost.
"Ginny!" yelled Dennis, laughing. "You throw like a girl!"
The red-headed girl merely looked at him, eyebrow raised, and she lifted her hand. Delia, one of Ginny's dorm mates, tossed underhanded the ball back to Ginny.
"You think so, Creevey?" Ginny asked, her eyes belying her light tone. The girls backed off, recognizing her ire, while Colin sidled slowly towards his brother.
"Ginny, he's joking. He didn't mean anything by it, did you Dennis?"
"Whaddya mean, Col? You saw her. Her arm doesn't go back right. She throws like a girl."
Colin ceased his sliding motion as Ginny's arm wound up. In the blink of an eye, she fired the ball which clipped Dennis in the shoulder, knocking him backwards and off balance, resulting in him falling in a tangled mess of his own limbs. Colin was shaking his head as he moved in to see if his brother was okay which the girls in the group were all cheering Ginny.
"How's that for 'throws like a girl,' huh?!" demanded the peeved redhead.
Hermione had been making her way around the pitch, trying to find a nice place to study when she wandered up to Ginny's group just in time to see the ball fly and hear the response.
"Ginny," she greeted in her disappointed voice. "What did you do?"
"Nothing, just threw a ball. It couldn't have hurt him too bad since apparently I throw like a girl," she sniffed disdainfully.
"Mmm," was the only response Hermione gave before she knelt down next to the fallen Creevey brother. She ran her wand over his shoulder, casting a couple spells, and announced, "It'll be fine, probably a little sore for a couple days. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could give you something for it, of course, I'd have to walk you up and explain the injury..."
There was more snickering as Colin helped his brother to his feet and stared at him, waiting to see his decision on the Hospital Wing. Dennis grinned sheepishly at Ginny and said, "Sorry, I guess it really was a stupid thing to say."
"You think?!" one of the girls teased.
"A throw like that, she could be a, um.... a Beater, was it?" asked the Slytherin first year.
"Chaser," one of the other girls corrected, giving him an odd look.
"What? My parents though Quidditch was waste of time. They never let me follow it," he explained. "Anyway, I thought that the Beaters were the ones that tried to hurt other players?"
Ginny gave him a dark look and muttered, "Slytherins." She then admonished him not to learn the game from his house-mates if he really wanted to learn the right way of playing.
It was Colin who explained it to the boy. "Beaters do aim the Bludgers at others players, but it's for the purpose of scaring and interrupting plays. They're dangerous enough, but most players consider it bad form to actively try to hurt other players. That will probably happen all on its own."
Dennis picked up the narrative from his brother, "The thing is, the Beaters don't throw the Bludgers, they his them with bats. The players that throw the balls are the Chasers. They toss the Quaffle to each other and try to get it through the rings," he was pointing up at the rings towering over them, "passed the other team's Keeper."
Antonin looked back and forth from the various other students, his baffled look belying his response of, "Oh, okay..."
"It's a lot easier to understand when you see it," commented Demelza.
"That's a great idea!" decided Ginny, turning to Hermione who hadn't walked away, yet. "So, Hermione, how about getting us into the Quidditch shed?"
Hermione looked scandalized. "Ginny! I don't have access to that! And I'm not breaking in."
"You don't, but Harry does - all the Quidditch team players do," she reminded her bushy haired friend.
"I'll see what I can do," she huffed and walked away.
"Do you think she can do it?" asked Colin.
"Sure she can, Harry wouldn't tell her 'no' for something simple like this."
"Then let's go see if we can get some teams together!" enthused Dennis.
The spend the next ten or so minutes wandering around the pitch, discussing their idea for a pickup game if they could get the broom shed open and get the balls out. A surprising number of the students didn't want to play - which Ginny thought was silly - and they had just gotten fourteen students together when Hermione showed back up.
"Well, you can do it. But just so you know, it took Harry, myself and Angelina - all three of us - to vouch to Professor McGonagall that nothing would happen to the Quidditch gear. So, if anything happens, expect detention - for all of you."
The fourteen students glanced around at each other and arrived at a silent consensus. "Okay," Ginny answered for all of them.
"Well then, follow me," said Hermione as she lead the way to the little shed at the base of the stands that held most of the school Quidditch equipment.
She cast a spell at the door and opened it up. Inside were rows of old, beat-up brooms leaning against the walls, and a locked case next to the door. While the students who had decided to play sorted through the brooms to decide which ones they liked best, Hermione cast a Levitation Charm on the crate of Quidditch balls, then they all made their way back out to the pitch.
The fourteen broom wielding and one crate levitating students were a little surprised upon their re-entrance onto the pitch. Apparently their impromptu pick-up game had become known, and there were now students scattered throughout the stands who were now applauding as the teams took the pitch.
"Wow," said Demelza. "I guess if we're gonna put on a game, we need a referee."
"Nah," said Ginny. "We can keep this nice and informal. We just need to be fair and call our own fouls."
"Sounds good to me," piped up Susie, a second year Hufflepuff who had jumped at the chance to participate in a Quidditch game. "Let's go!" she cheered as she hopped onto her broom and began circling the other player.
Hermione, having watched the whole thing, said, "Alright, if you know your teams, mount your brooms while I release the balls."
Demelza, Colin and Corwyn, a fourth year Ravenclaw, were the Chasers for their team. Ginny was their Seeker and another fourth year that Ginny didn't know, though his robes claimed him as Hufflepuff, as Keeper. Their Beaters, Ginny likewise didn't know. Dennis was on the opposite team as his brother and house mates, and was a Chaser with little Susie. The rest of their team was similarly filled out with members of the various houses and years.
The team all mounted their brooms and separated, quickly discussing their strategies, when Hermione spoke up once more. She was pensively looking into the now open box when she announced, "I forgot to mention: we're not allowed to release the Snitch. They're only supposed to be released for games."
There was a groaning among the teams, but Ginny's eyes lit up as she shouted, "I know! I know exactly what we can do!"
The players were asking after her epiphany, but Ginny wasn't listening. She flew over to Hermione and started whispering in her ear. "That could work," commented Hermione. "Where is..." Ginny whispered a bit more. "Okay, that's easy enough, but wh-?" Some more whispering and Hermione smiled. "Perfect. Go play, I'll take care of it."
Ginny hopped off her broom as Hermione trotted of towards the stands. Motioning the teams to get into place, she waited a moment and then released the Bludgers, having to duck quickly as one iron ball had apparently decided her head was the quickest path to the field of play. Grabbing the Quaffle, she remounted her broom and took off.
"Okay, everyone," she shouted once she was up in the air. "We are all agreed on the rules? And we're going to play fair?"
There were thumbs up from all over the field, so she counted down from three, loudly, and tossed the ball between the opposing Chasers. A cheer arose from the stands, though not as loud as a house match, as the game began.
Ginny spent most of her time watching the game, only keeping a peripheral eye on the rest of the field. She would rather have been playing Chaser, but volunteered as Seeker when no one else seemed excited at the prospect of having to chase down the tiny Snitch. Of course, that was before they learned that there wasn't going to be a Snitch. The replacement wasn't going to be difficult to see, however.
In the game, Colin had just dropped the Quaffle to Demelza as he erratically dodged a well hit Bludger. Demelza tossed the ball over to Corwyn and used the distraction to slip behind Dennis who was attempting to cover her. Corwyn shot down, confusing his defender and tossed the Quaffle back up to Demelza. She deftly slipped the Quaffle right through the ring the other team's burley sixth year was covering, causing cheer from the stands.
The opposing team rallied quickly and, using several well orchestrated Bludgers - one almost managed to unseat Colin when it clipped the tail of his raggedy old Comet 180 - managed to score three times in succession. This fired up Ginny's team, however, and they responded with two quick goals of their own.
Ginny took a quick glance around the stands at their last goal and smiled as everyone cheered again. Not once in the game had anyone booed from the stands. This is how the game should be, she thought, smiling.
They had been playing for almost twenty minutes, and the score was tied at 30-30. The opposing team was lining up another charge, and Ginny, from her vantage point, was able to see that both Colin and Corwyn were way out of position to stop it. The Beaters were chasing after the Bludgers following a couple diversionary hits, and they would be a few seconds too late to wrangle them back into play in time.
That was when Ginny realized she was being silly. There was no regulation Snitch, she didn't need to pretend to spend all her energy looking for it. With a glance at her opposing Seeker who was splitting his attention between the game and whatever Snitch was going to show up, she smiled that he wouldn't be able to take action against her plan.
Bending forward to ensure top speed of the Moontrimmer she had taken from the back of the broomshed, Ginny shot forward, flying full tilt at the formation of opposing chasers. She released a yell to catch their attention, distracting them, and then laughed as she flew straight through them, causing them all to scatter.
Her actions gave her team the time they needed as a Bludger clipped the tail of Dennis' broom and he dropped the Quaffle. Actually, the spinning motion of his broom caused it to be more of a sideways toss, and it ended up right in the arms of Corwyn. Her team's Chasers formed up and went in for another goal.
Upon seeing Ginny's action, the opposing Seeker took up the game and started making similar runs at Ginny's Chasers. The crowd cheered from the stands at the new development. For the next half hour, the game was a whir of brooms and balls. Ginny and her counterpart zipped in and out of the Chaser formations, causing them to veer off into the path on oncoming Bludgers. The Chasers found it much harder to dodge a flying broom than a well hit, iron ball.
Ginny's team was up by thirty points when she saw it. No one else had seen it yet, as intent as they were on interrupting each others plays. Over at the end of the Pitch, just behind the rightmost of her team's rings, was a student on a carpet.
Charlie, several years ago, had let her in on a secret. Hidden under the guest section of the stands, in a hollowed out support near the base, was an old Persian Rug - that flew. Charlie was unsure how old it was, or when it even got there, but every student who knew of it also knew to put it back when they were done. Flying rugs were fairly uncommon in England due to their reliable Floo Network and a preference for brooms, but Ginny had just the person in mind.
Wanting the game to be fair, and knowing that no one else on the field knew what to expect for the Snitch, she didn't take off after little Antonin. Instead, she turned towards the mass of players and yelled as loud as she could, "Snitch!!"
All the players looked at her, and then to where she was pointing. It took them a moment to recognize it for what it was, but then they grinned, the Chasers picked up the game, and the Seeker nodded. Ginny held up three fingers, and after another nod, she turned her broom back towards the rings while counting to three under her breath. On her count of three, she rocketed off towards the carpet.
As she got closer, she could see Antonin sitting cross legged near the front, holding onto the fringes with his hands. She was close enough to make out the enormous smile on his face as he looked at her right before he took off, flying as fast as the carpet would allow. She then saw the ribbon hanging from the back fringe, tied to a tiny, walnut sized ball with what appeared to be wings hanging off of it. She laughed at Hermione's ingenuity.
Another cheer arose from the stands, but she wasn't sure if it was because one of the teams had scored, or if it was that they had noticed the 'Snitch.' But it didn't matter to her. The Snitch had been spotted, and as Seeker, her focus was now on catching it. She turned her broom to follow, catch the other Seeker out of the corner of her eye. He was still a bit further back than her, and she was pretty sure her Moontrimmer was faster than any of the Cleansweeps the school had, which is what he seemed to be flying.
She was catching up to the carpet, her broom was definitely faster than the rug, but was concerned as they were approaching the stands at high speed. She was, therefore, surprised when Antonin pulled up on the fringes directly in front of the fabric covered wall that covered the entire base of the support structure. Even more interesting to her was that since the carpet was flexible, unlike her broom, his change in direction was near instantaneous, the rest of the carpet folding to follow like a billowing flag.
She noticed all this in the instant it took her to realize she needed to pull up or suffer the collision she had feared would be Antonin's fate. Her Moontrimmer responded more quickly than she had expected and made the upwards turn rather easily. But her surprise continued when Antonin pulled up once more, his carpet flying back the direction it had came, himself hanging upside down from carpet. Ginny chuckled once more at her friend's cleverness; the Sticking Charm was wonderful.
Ginny performed a roll turn to keep up with the 'Snitch' and saw the other chaser, due to the looping path, was now right next to her. They rocketed off after Antonin, who was zigging and zagging in any direction he could, laughing the whole time. He took a slanted sideways turn and flew towards the Chasers.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a Bludger, so she veered slightly to avoid loosing speed while still averting collision. Her counterpart missed her tactic and had to pull up sharply at the last minute to avoid the Bludger, losing all of his momentum. Ginny took her advantage and followed Antonin as he corkscrewed around the Chasers.
Despite the agility of the carpet, he had nothing on the speed of the broom. Therefore, it was only seconds later that she caught up and snagged the makeshift Snitch off the back of the carpet. She pulled up, holding it high, and listened to the cheering crowd. It seemed to have gotten bigger than when the game first started.
Antonin had pulled back around and was cheering at her as well. He had apparently thoroughly enjoyed his stint as the Golden Snitch. With the rest of the players looking on, she tossed the little, golden, wooden ball to Antonin.
The group of players made their way back the crate, the four Beaters working together to control the Bludgers and wrangle them into their secured spots in the crate. Susie was the last Chaser with control of the Quaffle, so she dropped it off in the crate as well. Once the lid was closed and secured, the players all shook each others' hands and congratulated each other. The crowd from the stands had started to make its way down, and the students from the crowd likewise congratulated the players and thanked them for the enjoyable game.
When the crowd had thinned out, Hermione led the players back to the shed and they all put their equipment away. As the rest of the players made their way back to the castle to get cleaned up, Hermione, Ginny, and Antonin took the carpet back to its hiding place under the stands.
"What was the score, anyway, Hermione?" asked Ginny. "I really didn't keep up with it, especially after the chase."
"The final score was 250-80. It was pretty close there at the end. I think that Bludger is what let you win."
"I know. I don't want to think what would happen if I didn't see it. I was further up, more in its path," she said. Then, turning to Antonin, she asked, "So, what did you think of your first Quidditch game?"
"Brilliant," he breathed.
"Are you going to try out next year?"
"Definitely!" he enthused. "I'm going to try for Beater."
"Why Beater?" asked Ginny.
"I was watching the game before I came out, and I really liked watching you before you started chasing me. I want to be able to control the game like that. You know, interrupt plays, influence where players can and can't fly, that was great to watch."
"It's a lot different, a lot more important, than what your house mates led you to think, isn't it?" inquired Hermione, just as they reached the hollowed out support. Ginny took one end of the rolled-up carpet and helped Hermione put it back.
"Yeah. They all made it sound like hurting players and taking them out of the game was the fun part. But, well, your way looked more fun. More important."
As Ginny levitated the cover back onto the support post, she commented, "Keep that in mind, Antonin. It's a much better way to play the game."
Together, they made their way back to the castle. Ginny and Antonin to clean up and Hermione to study.
Author: Dragyn_42
Recipient: r_becca
Character(s): Ginny, Hermione, Dennis, Colin, Demelza, various OCs
Rating: G
Wordcount: 3353
Warnings (highlight to view): none
Summary: It's a nice weekend day, and some of the students are just looking for a fun time. Can you say: Quidditch?
Author's Notes: It's an extraordinary opportunity to write for you. I usually don't add OCs, but it seemed a bit necessary. Canon information on other students is woefully inadequate. But, I know you love Quidditch, and I hope you enjoy this :)
Afternoon Quidditch
It was an uncommon October Saturday where the temperature was still warm and clouds decided not to rain. But most rare was the fact that the Quidditch Pitch was not booked for any practices - though that was because Quidditch had been canceled this year.
Quite a few of the students were gleefully ignoring their homework in favor of tossing some balls around the pitch, either by hand or with the help of magic, depending on the particular group. Near one set of rings, Ginny was tossing around a Muggle softball with the Creevey brothers, two of her dorm mates - Demelza Robins and Rachel Octavios - and Antonin, a Slytherin first year whom they invited when he wandered by looking lost.
"Ginny!" yelled Dennis, laughing. "You throw like a girl!"
The red-headed girl merely looked at him, eyebrow raised, and she lifted her hand. Delia, one of Ginny's dorm mates, tossed underhanded the ball back to Ginny.
"You think so, Creevey?" Ginny asked, her eyes belying her light tone. The girls backed off, recognizing her ire, while Colin sidled slowly towards his brother.
"Ginny, he's joking. He didn't mean anything by it, did you Dennis?"
"Whaddya mean, Col? You saw her. Her arm doesn't go back right. She throws like a girl."
Colin ceased his sliding motion as Ginny's arm wound up. In the blink of an eye, she fired the ball which clipped Dennis in the shoulder, knocking him backwards and off balance, resulting in him falling in a tangled mess of his own limbs. Colin was shaking his head as he moved in to see if his brother was okay which the girls in the group were all cheering Ginny.
"How's that for 'throws like a girl,' huh?!" demanded the peeved redhead.
Hermione had been making her way around the pitch, trying to find a nice place to study when she wandered up to Ginny's group just in time to see the ball fly and hear the response.
"Ginny," she greeted in her disappointed voice. "What did you do?"
"Nothing, just threw a ball. It couldn't have hurt him too bad since apparently I throw like a girl," she sniffed disdainfully.
"Mmm," was the only response Hermione gave before she knelt down next to the fallen Creevey brother. She ran her wand over his shoulder, casting a couple spells, and announced, "It'll be fine, probably a little sore for a couple days. I'm sure Madam Pomfrey could give you something for it, of course, I'd have to walk you up and explain the injury..."
There was more snickering as Colin helped his brother to his feet and stared at him, waiting to see his decision on the Hospital Wing. Dennis grinned sheepishly at Ginny and said, "Sorry, I guess it really was a stupid thing to say."
"You think?!" one of the girls teased.
"A throw like that, she could be a, um.... a Beater, was it?" asked the Slytherin first year.
"Chaser," one of the other girls corrected, giving him an odd look.
"What? My parents though Quidditch was waste of time. They never let me follow it," he explained. "Anyway, I thought that the Beaters were the ones that tried to hurt other players?"
Ginny gave him a dark look and muttered, "Slytherins." She then admonished him not to learn the game from his house-mates if he really wanted to learn the right way of playing.
It was Colin who explained it to the boy. "Beaters do aim the Bludgers at others players, but it's for the purpose of scaring and interrupting plays. They're dangerous enough, but most players consider it bad form to actively try to hurt other players. That will probably happen all on its own."
Dennis picked up the narrative from his brother, "The thing is, the Beaters don't throw the Bludgers, they his them with bats. The players that throw the balls are the Chasers. They toss the Quaffle to each other and try to get it through the rings," he was pointing up at the rings towering over them, "passed the other team's Keeper."
Antonin looked back and forth from the various other students, his baffled look belying his response of, "Oh, okay..."
"It's a lot easier to understand when you see it," commented Demelza.
"That's a great idea!" decided Ginny, turning to Hermione who hadn't walked away, yet. "So, Hermione, how about getting us into the Quidditch shed?"
Hermione looked scandalized. "Ginny! I don't have access to that! And I'm not breaking in."
"You don't, but Harry does - all the Quidditch team players do," she reminded her bushy haired friend.
"I'll see what I can do," she huffed and walked away.
"Do you think she can do it?" asked Colin.
"Sure she can, Harry wouldn't tell her 'no' for something simple like this."
"Then let's go see if we can get some teams together!" enthused Dennis.
The spend the next ten or so minutes wandering around the pitch, discussing their idea for a pickup game if they could get the broom shed open and get the balls out. A surprising number of the students didn't want to play - which Ginny thought was silly - and they had just gotten fourteen students together when Hermione showed back up.
"Well, you can do it. But just so you know, it took Harry, myself and Angelina - all three of us - to vouch to Professor McGonagall that nothing would happen to the Quidditch gear. So, if anything happens, expect detention - for all of you."
The fourteen students glanced around at each other and arrived at a silent consensus. "Okay," Ginny answered for all of them.
"Well then, follow me," said Hermione as she lead the way to the little shed at the base of the stands that held most of the school Quidditch equipment.
She cast a spell at the door and opened it up. Inside were rows of old, beat-up brooms leaning against the walls, and a locked case next to the door. While the students who had decided to play sorted through the brooms to decide which ones they liked best, Hermione cast a Levitation Charm on the crate of Quidditch balls, then they all made their way back out to the pitch.
The fourteen broom wielding and one crate levitating students were a little surprised upon their re-entrance onto the pitch. Apparently their impromptu pick-up game had become known, and there were now students scattered throughout the stands who were now applauding as the teams took the pitch.
"Wow," said Demelza. "I guess if we're gonna put on a game, we need a referee."
"Nah," said Ginny. "We can keep this nice and informal. We just need to be fair and call our own fouls."
"Sounds good to me," piped up Susie, a second year Hufflepuff who had jumped at the chance to participate in a Quidditch game. "Let's go!" she cheered as she hopped onto her broom and began circling the other player.
Hermione, having watched the whole thing, said, "Alright, if you know your teams, mount your brooms while I release the balls."
Demelza, Colin and Corwyn, a fourth year Ravenclaw, were the Chasers for their team. Ginny was their Seeker and another fourth year that Ginny didn't know, though his robes claimed him as Hufflepuff, as Keeper. Their Beaters, Ginny likewise didn't know. Dennis was on the opposite team as his brother and house mates, and was a Chaser with little Susie. The rest of their team was similarly filled out with members of the various houses and years.
The team all mounted their brooms and separated, quickly discussing their strategies, when Hermione spoke up once more. She was pensively looking into the now open box when she announced, "I forgot to mention: we're not allowed to release the Snitch. They're only supposed to be released for games."
There was a groaning among the teams, but Ginny's eyes lit up as she shouted, "I know! I know exactly what we can do!"
The players were asking after her epiphany, but Ginny wasn't listening. She flew over to Hermione and started whispering in her ear. "That could work," commented Hermione. "Where is..." Ginny whispered a bit more. "Okay, that's easy enough, but wh-?" Some more whispering and Hermione smiled. "Perfect. Go play, I'll take care of it."
Ginny hopped off her broom as Hermione trotted of towards the stands. Motioning the teams to get into place, she waited a moment and then released the Bludgers, having to duck quickly as one iron ball had apparently decided her head was the quickest path to the field of play. Grabbing the Quaffle, she remounted her broom and took off.
"Okay, everyone," she shouted once she was up in the air. "We are all agreed on the rules? And we're going to play fair?"
There were thumbs up from all over the field, so she counted down from three, loudly, and tossed the ball between the opposing Chasers. A cheer arose from the stands, though not as loud as a house match, as the game began.
Ginny spent most of her time watching the game, only keeping a peripheral eye on the rest of the field. She would rather have been playing Chaser, but volunteered as Seeker when no one else seemed excited at the prospect of having to chase down the tiny Snitch. Of course, that was before they learned that there wasn't going to be a Snitch. The replacement wasn't going to be difficult to see, however.
In the game, Colin had just dropped the Quaffle to Demelza as he erratically dodged a well hit Bludger. Demelza tossed the ball over to Corwyn and used the distraction to slip behind Dennis who was attempting to cover her. Corwyn shot down, confusing his defender and tossed the Quaffle back up to Demelza. She deftly slipped the Quaffle right through the ring the other team's burley sixth year was covering, causing cheer from the stands.
The opposing team rallied quickly and, using several well orchestrated Bludgers - one almost managed to unseat Colin when it clipped the tail of his raggedy old Comet 180 - managed to score three times in succession. This fired up Ginny's team, however, and they responded with two quick goals of their own.
Ginny took a quick glance around the stands at their last goal and smiled as everyone cheered again. Not once in the game had anyone booed from the stands. This is how the game should be, she thought, smiling.
They had been playing for almost twenty minutes, and the score was tied at 30-30. The opposing team was lining up another charge, and Ginny, from her vantage point, was able to see that both Colin and Corwyn were way out of position to stop it. The Beaters were chasing after the Bludgers following a couple diversionary hits, and they would be a few seconds too late to wrangle them back into play in time.
That was when Ginny realized she was being silly. There was no regulation Snitch, she didn't need to pretend to spend all her energy looking for it. With a glance at her opposing Seeker who was splitting his attention between the game and whatever Snitch was going to show up, she smiled that he wouldn't be able to take action against her plan.
Bending forward to ensure top speed of the Moontrimmer she had taken from the back of the broomshed, Ginny shot forward, flying full tilt at the formation of opposing chasers. She released a yell to catch their attention, distracting them, and then laughed as she flew straight through them, causing them all to scatter.
Her actions gave her team the time they needed as a Bludger clipped the tail of Dennis' broom and he dropped the Quaffle. Actually, the spinning motion of his broom caused it to be more of a sideways toss, and it ended up right in the arms of Corwyn. Her team's Chasers formed up and went in for another goal.
Upon seeing Ginny's action, the opposing Seeker took up the game and started making similar runs at Ginny's Chasers. The crowd cheered from the stands at the new development. For the next half hour, the game was a whir of brooms and balls. Ginny and her counterpart zipped in and out of the Chaser formations, causing them to veer off into the path on oncoming Bludgers. The Chasers found it much harder to dodge a flying broom than a well hit, iron ball.
Ginny's team was up by thirty points when she saw it. No one else had seen it yet, as intent as they were on interrupting each others plays. Over at the end of the Pitch, just behind the rightmost of her team's rings, was a student on a carpet.
Charlie, several years ago, had let her in on a secret. Hidden under the guest section of the stands, in a hollowed out support near the base, was an old Persian Rug - that flew. Charlie was unsure how old it was, or when it even got there, but every student who knew of it also knew to put it back when they were done. Flying rugs were fairly uncommon in England due to their reliable Floo Network and a preference for brooms, but Ginny had just the person in mind.
Wanting the game to be fair, and knowing that no one else on the field knew what to expect for the Snitch, she didn't take off after little Antonin. Instead, she turned towards the mass of players and yelled as loud as she could, "Snitch!!"
All the players looked at her, and then to where she was pointing. It took them a moment to recognize it for what it was, but then they grinned, the Chasers picked up the game, and the Seeker nodded. Ginny held up three fingers, and after another nod, she turned her broom back towards the rings while counting to three under her breath. On her count of three, she rocketed off towards the carpet.
As she got closer, she could see Antonin sitting cross legged near the front, holding onto the fringes with his hands. She was close enough to make out the enormous smile on his face as he looked at her right before he took off, flying as fast as the carpet would allow. She then saw the ribbon hanging from the back fringe, tied to a tiny, walnut sized ball with what appeared to be wings hanging off of it. She laughed at Hermione's ingenuity.
Another cheer arose from the stands, but she wasn't sure if it was because one of the teams had scored, or if it was that they had noticed the 'Snitch.' But it didn't matter to her. The Snitch had been spotted, and as Seeker, her focus was now on catching it. She turned her broom to follow, catch the other Seeker out of the corner of her eye. He was still a bit further back than her, and she was pretty sure her Moontrimmer was faster than any of the Cleansweeps the school had, which is what he seemed to be flying.
She was catching up to the carpet, her broom was definitely faster than the rug, but was concerned as they were approaching the stands at high speed. She was, therefore, surprised when Antonin pulled up on the fringes directly in front of the fabric covered wall that covered the entire base of the support structure. Even more interesting to her was that since the carpet was flexible, unlike her broom, his change in direction was near instantaneous, the rest of the carpet folding to follow like a billowing flag.
She noticed all this in the instant it took her to realize she needed to pull up or suffer the collision she had feared would be Antonin's fate. Her Moontrimmer responded more quickly than she had expected and made the upwards turn rather easily. But her surprise continued when Antonin pulled up once more, his carpet flying back the direction it had came, himself hanging upside down from carpet. Ginny chuckled once more at her friend's cleverness; the Sticking Charm was wonderful.
Ginny performed a roll turn to keep up with the 'Snitch' and saw the other chaser, due to the looping path, was now right next to her. They rocketed off after Antonin, who was zigging and zagging in any direction he could, laughing the whole time. He took a slanted sideways turn and flew towards the Chasers.
Out of the corner of her eye, Ginny saw a Bludger, so she veered slightly to avoid loosing speed while still averting collision. Her counterpart missed her tactic and had to pull up sharply at the last minute to avoid the Bludger, losing all of his momentum. Ginny took her advantage and followed Antonin as he corkscrewed around the Chasers.
Despite the agility of the carpet, he had nothing on the speed of the broom. Therefore, it was only seconds later that she caught up and snagged the makeshift Snitch off the back of the carpet. She pulled up, holding it high, and listened to the cheering crowd. It seemed to have gotten bigger than when the game first started.
Antonin had pulled back around and was cheering at her as well. He had apparently thoroughly enjoyed his stint as the Golden Snitch. With the rest of the players looking on, she tossed the little, golden, wooden ball to Antonin.
The group of players made their way back the crate, the four Beaters working together to control the Bludgers and wrangle them into their secured spots in the crate. Susie was the last Chaser with control of the Quaffle, so she dropped it off in the crate as well. Once the lid was closed and secured, the players all shook each others' hands and congratulated each other. The crowd from the stands had started to make its way down, and the students from the crowd likewise congratulated the players and thanked them for the enjoyable game.
When the crowd had thinned out, Hermione led the players back to the shed and they all put their equipment away. As the rest of the players made their way back to the castle to get cleaned up, Hermione, Ginny, and Antonin took the carpet back to its hiding place under the stands.
"What was the score, anyway, Hermione?" asked Ginny. "I really didn't keep up with it, especially after the chase."
"The final score was 250-80. It was pretty close there at the end. I think that Bludger is what let you win."
"I know. I don't want to think what would happen if I didn't see it. I was further up, more in its path," she said. Then, turning to Antonin, she asked, "So, what did you think of your first Quidditch game?"
"Brilliant," he breathed.
"Are you going to try out next year?"
"Definitely!" he enthused. "I'm going to try for Beater."
"Why Beater?" asked Ginny.
"I was watching the game before I came out, and I really liked watching you before you started chasing me. I want to be able to control the game like that. You know, interrupt plays, influence where players can and can't fly, that was great to watch."
"It's a lot different, a lot more important, than what your house mates led you to think, isn't it?" inquired Hermione, just as they reached the hollowed out support. Ginny took one end of the rolled-up carpet and helped Hermione put it back.
"Yeah. They all made it sound like hurting players and taking them out of the game was the fun part. But, well, your way looked more fun. More important."
As Ginny levitated the cover back onto the support post, she commented, "Keep that in mind, Antonin. It's a much better way to play the game."
Together, they made their way back to the castle. Ginny and Antonin to clean up and Hermione to study.