Four Hearts, Two Pathways

The sound of the crowd just beyond the curtain wall was supreme. Today was the first Quidditch match of the school year and it was Hufflepuff against Slytherin, however just about all of the school had shown up.

I let my gaze fall on my team before me, Zacharias was restlessly stretching his limbs while Trinity and Juniper were giving the newbies, Alys Elrey, Wallace Frocklid and Nigel Grawnee, some pre game tips to calm their nerves. We’d spent the past thirteen days working so very hard to prepare for this game. We’d spent just about every second we could together, we ate meals with each other, we studied in the library together, we had become a family in the time that had passed.

“Hey,” I called out, instantly grabbing their attention. “Alright, so I know we’re all very excited but lets come together and focus for just a moment.” They gathered around me and we all linked elbows, something had had become a bit of a Hufflepuff pre-game and practice tradition. “So Slytherin has a tendency to play rough, but we all know what to do if we feel that our safety is in jeopardy.”

I left a pause and they all answered with, “Fall back and zoom around.”

I smiled at them, “Very good. Now lets go play some Quidditch!” We all broke apart and began clapping and cheering, someone came in and brought us out. The crowd got ten times louder as both of the teams came onto the field and set up. I got on my trusty Nimbus ‘98 and saw that I faced the one and only, the Seeker for the Slytherin team, Draco Malfoy.

The four balls were released and I moved my eyes to look at Draco for a fraction of a second and saw something I hadn’t expected to. Draco Malfoy looked incredibly sad and tired. I was about to open my mouth to ask him what was wrong, momentarily forgetting that we were in the middle of a match, but the whistle was blown and the Quaffle released.

Instantly the chaos of the game overtook us and I put my game face on, the little moment of tenderness for Draco forgotten. I swooped lower to the ground and narrowly avoided a stray Bludger and scanned the sky for the Snitch. A quick game won was always easier and more appealing than a drawn out one.

There was no sign of it and I could see that Draco couldn’t find it either. A burst of shouts rose from the supporters of Slytherin as a goal was scored against us. I watched as Juniper waved to let me know she wouldn’t let them score again. A couple more minutes into the game and Slytherin was in the lead by twenty points but had two penalties against them. Just as the game was nearing the hour time point the snitch zoomed past my nose and instantly I took off.

It zoomed around Slytherin’s goal posts and down skirting the ground, then past Draco who saw it too and took off as well. I could feel the wind whip around me as the Snitch suddenly jumped up high in the air and I followed suit, nearly knocking over fellow teammate Trinity. Draco’s arm came up and shoved me over as he surpassed me and I felt my broom go wobbly.

I sucked in a breath between my teeth as he pushed ahead of me while I struggled to get my broom straight. “Oh come on, Foxley!” He called out mockingly.

I couldn’t help but let my anger show on my face as I finally steadied myself and zoomed up to try and match him. In the process a Bludger caught my movement and decided to track me. I had two options, keep up the speed, surpass Draco and get the Snitch with a high risk of injury to myself or move out of the way, have the Bludger possibly catch Draco and lose the game.

I chose the first.

I kicked up my speed, the hairs on the back of my neck rose as I felt the presence of the Bludger come closer. I caught up to Draco and saw out of my peripherals that the Bludger was so, so close to the both of us. I couldn’t let my decision get him injured, that wasn’t right. The snitch was right there. Two arm lengths away. Draco and I were pushing against each other, the Bludger now within very close range of the both of us and Draco had no clue.

“Move, you’ll get hit!” I shouted to him as our altitude rose even higher. The roar of the crowd increased again as Hufflepuff scored down below.

He looked at me like I was crazy, “No, you move!”

My heart began to pound as we closed the space between us and the Snitch and the Bludger was not brushing our broomtails. I couldn’t let him get hit by it, that wouldn’t be right, that wouldn't be okay. In a matter of milliseconds I elbowed him out of the way, grabbed hold of the Snitch and felt the Bludger hit my right shoulder hard.

The impact of both me reaching forward for the Snitch and the blow from the Bludger pushed me off of my broom and plummeting into the air. My eyes had stars from the pain in my shoulder and my heart sped up at the feel of gravity pulling me faster and faster. I could hear the crowd first cheer for the catch of the Snitch, then gasp at my sudden descent and then the call for Draco to hurry up.

Hurry up?

My face was pointed downward, I could see the ground rapidly approaching but my hold on the Snitch still was firm. I could see my broom fall before me. Panic set in, and I started the flail in the air, praying that someone would cast a cushioning charm or something to save me because I didn’t have my own wand to do so.

I was within fifty feet of the ground when I felt an arm catch me and pull me into a body. The crowd began cheering and I saw a flash of a Slytherin robe in the corner of my eye and a husky voice shouted into my ear over the roar of both the wind and crowd. “Brace yourself!”

He managed to slow down enough so that the sandy ground did not kill us but it was still very, very, very painful. I felt myself bounce off of the boy’s body and roll across the ground, trying to not tense up too much and hurt myself more. When I came to a stop I was instantly surrounded by people and was put on a gurney and rushed to the infirmary.

On the way there I caught a glimpse of my savior also being put on a gurney. It was Draco.