The Chaser and the Keeper

[img]http://l-userpic.livejournal.com/75998406/6047718[/img]

***

14 people walked on to the quidditch pitch to loud cheers. The final match of the quidditch house cup was about to start.

“Let’s hear it for the Gryffindor team, which is captained by James Potter! We have Potter, Potter, Wood, Weasley, Russell, Finnegan, and Thomas!” Alyssa Lee, the quidditch announcer exclaimed watching the Gryffindor team mount their brooms.

“We are going to finally win this year!” James cheered confidently. He bumped knuckles with Jessica and Taylor, who were discussing strategy. “This game is ours,” Taylor agreed. Fred glanced at Andrew, mentally apologizing for what he was about to do. “I’m not exactly sure about this,” Tyler muttered to Fred. Fred sighed, hating the position he was currently in, “I think I might be more afraid of if we don’t do anything and lose. James would kill us.” Tyler was about to respond, but his words were covered up by Alyssa’s voice.

“Now we have the Ravenclaw team, captained by Kristen Wood. We have Wood, Neilson, Burke, Roberts, Carter, Milton, and Weasley!” Alyssa continued as the Ravenclaw team flew out on to the pitch.

Soon, both teams were in the air and the snitch, quaffle, and bludgers had been released. Everyone took their places, waiting for the game to begin. Seconds later, the whistle was blown.

“Another amazing save by Wood!” Alyssa exclaimed, “Carter has the quaffle, he passes to Weasley, who passes to Milton, who passes back to Weasley. She shoots and scores! Ravenclaw is leading fifty to ten.”

Tyler flew next to Fred, knowing it was about time to put their plan into action.

“So do you want to take out Kristen?” Tyler asked Fred.

“No! I’m really good friends with her brother! You know what he’d do if I knocked out his sister on purpose!” Fred replied.

“Wouldn’t he kill me as well?”

“You can avoid him for the next month until you graduate. I still have another year, plus I share a dorm with him where I can be easily murdered in my sleep.”

Tyler flew away, trying to position himself correctly. The bludger came in Tyler’s direction and he smacked it, sending it right towards Kristen’s head. Garret Burke saw the bludger coming as he rushed towards his captain, hoping to block the bludger before it hit her. Too distracted by the Gryffindor chasers who were headed her, she failed to notice the oncoming bludger until it was too late. The bludger slammed into her forehead causing her head to violently smack into the metal ring of the goal post. She slid off her broom and started to fall to the ground.

“Well that was surprising! She should have seen that one coming! Garret catches her and lowers her to the ground. There are a lot of furious faces out there. Is that revenge I smell?” Alyssa announced dramatically.

Tyler glanced at Andrew. If looks could kill, he would have been dead in a heartbeat. As it was, Tyler realized a month of hiding might not be so bad if it meant that he could live a little longer.

“I’ll take out Kailey,” Fred said, flying past Tyler.

He looked around the pitch for a bludger to send at Kailey. Hearing a crack, he noticed one was heading in Albus’s direction. Flying in between them, he swung his bat, sending the bludger flying in Kailey’s direction. His eyes followed her for a second before looking away in shame, knowing that in a matter of seconds, she would be unconscious because of him.

Luckily, Kailey had only been about ten feet off the ground, for she had been investigating a glint of light that had caught her eye. The crowd roared angrily at the Gryffindor’s unfair performance.

“It looks like the Gryffindor beaters aren’t playing very nice today. The Ravenclaws are pissed. It looks like Rose Weasley has taken the place as keeper. It doesn’t appear that anyone has taken the place as seeker. This game could have a very interesting outcome,” Alyssa announced.

Tony flew over to Garret. They had always known the Gryffindors to do crazy things, but never before had they been this psychotic.

“We have to do something about this,” Tony stated.

“We have two options: Continue on like we are or start taking out their team.”

“Option two.”

Tony flew across the pitch to where Jessica was looking for the snitch. He was sure that any minute she would find it. If Ravenclaw wanted to win this game, they were going to have to take out Gryffindor’s seeker. Tony followed the bludger, trying to get in a good position to hit Jessica. When one finally came, he hit it with all of his strength. Fred had seen it coming but hadn’t been able to react fast enough. He called to Jessica, hoping she would duck, but it only caused her to turn and face the bludger right before it hit her in the face, knocking her out. Fred caught her as she fell, fury visible on his face. They had underestimated what the Ravenclaws were capable of.

Using the bludger Tony just hit, Garret slammed it into Taylor’s head as she was about to save the goal. The quaffle flew through her hands as she raced towards the ground, caught at the last second by Albus.

“It looks like the Ravenclaws are retaliating! I think this might be the most people ever taken out in a Hogwarts quidditch game! The game isn’t even over yet! By the look on the faces of the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw teams, there could very well be more carnage to come,” Alyssa commented.

***

A group of teachers huddled together in the teacher’s box. This game was not going the way any of them had planned. It seemed as if children were being knocked out right and left.

“Rolanda, why don’t you blow the whistle and stop the game,” McGonagall suggested to Madam Hooch, “I believe we need to have a serious discussion with our beaters.”

***

Everyone could hear Madame Hooch’s whistle ringing through the stadium, but no one listened. Instead, the next time Tyler had a chance, he sent a bludger at Rose. She had seen it coming and managed to dodge it. He circled around to her blind spot, and when the bludger once again came his way, he smacked it, hearing the satisfying crack of the bludger making contact with her head. James caught her before she could fall too far, anger sketched on his face.

“Rose Weasley has been knocked out! Has anyone else realized that now all the girls on the quidditch pitch have been taken out of the game? How sexist!” Alyssa asked.

“Why did you take out Rose?” Fred demanded, approaching his fellow beater.

“James told us to take everyone out!” Tyler replied defensively.

“Couldn’t we have tried to win before we took out my cousin, moron?”

“Fred, they took out Jessica and Taylor. No matter what, this game is going to go on for a long time and a lot more people are going to be taken out unless we stop attacking people.”

Fred was about to say something when he heard Alyssa make another announcement.

“James Potter is out of the game! He never knew what hit him! Things are getting interesting. Both teams now have only four people left!” Alyssa exclaimed.

“Let’s kick these Ravenclaw’s asses,” Fred mumbled before launching a bludger at Jason Carter, who fell victim to his slow reflexes.

Back at the Ravenclaw end, Tony and Garret were discussing how to retaliate.“I’m going to take out Andrew now,” Tony told Garret, “Once he’s out, we have a good chance at winning.” “Kristen’s going to be so pissed at you,” Garret snorted. “Kristen’s unconscious. We’ll just say he got hit by a stray bludger if she asks,” Tony replied.

Knocking out Andrew Wood was easier said than done. At this point, he had realized that there was a very good possibility that the Ravenclaws would go after him. Prepared for the attack, Andrew weaved back in forth, making it very hard for a bludger to successfully follow and hit him. It was only when Tony hit a bludger at an odd angle towards his back that Andrew finally fell off of his broom. Albus tried to stop his fall, but failed. Instead, Andrew had fallen twenty feet, injuring his back even more and leaving him unconscious on the quidditch pitch now scattered with bodies.

“The game is getting dangerous!” Alyssa exclaimed, “Someone catch the damn snitch before you’re all unconscious!”

“Milton, ditch the quaffle! Just try to find the snitch! Make sure to watch out for the bludgers!” Garret yelled at Alex.

“Should we stop trying to hurt them and just see who catches the snitch first?” Tyler asked Fred.

“Hell no! They’ve taken out half of our team! We are going to continue, because otherwise the Ravenclaws are just going to take out the rest of us,” Fred replied, launching a bludger at Alex Milton’s head, where it made contact.

***

“We really need to stop this game,” McGonagall stated nervously, watching Garret send a bludger at Albus’s head.
“I’ve been blowing my whistle for the past ten minutes!” Madame Hooch pointed out.
“We could fly out there and stop them,” Professor Flitwick suggested.
“We’d probably end up getting hit with bludgers ourselves!”
“We could stun them,” McGonagall said.
Madame Hooch looked at her colleague as if she was crazy.
“Minerva, they’re on brooms. If we stun them, they’re just going to fall to the ground and hurt themselves even more,” she explained, “We can’t blow up the bludgers either, because we might hit a student.”
“Are you saying that we’re just going to have to let this bloodbath run its course?” Flitwick asked.
Madame Hooch nodded solemnly.

***

“Alex Milton and Albus Potter are out! Now the only people left are the beaters, Fred Weasley and Tyler Russell from Gryffindor and Garret Burke and Tony Roberts from Ravenclaw! Hopefully, one of them can catch the snitch, at this point I really don’t care who, before any more people get knocked unconscious!” Alyssa stated.

***

Savannah Wood and Lily Potter were trying to sneak out of the stands. The Professors had decided to not let anyone leave the stands because they were afraid they would go down to the field and cause even more chaos.

“Where are you going?” Harry Potter asked, “They’re not letting anyone out of here.”

“We thought we’d sneak out and see if Madame Pomphrey needs any help. After all, she’s going to have at least ten quidditch players unconscious in the hospital wing,” Lily replied.

Harry nodded, turning his attention back towards the game.

Savannah and Lily snuck through the cracks of the bleachers. Being small had its advantages. Soon they were sprinting down the hall towards the Hospital Wing, hoping they wouldn’t hear the terrible sound of bludgers hitting people in the head any more.

***

Fred and Tony had taken the positions as seekers. They were trying to catch the snitch while the remaining beaters were trying to knock them out. The audience was shouting at them to catch the snitch. At this point, most people didn’t really care who ended up winning the house cup; they just didn’t want to see even more people knocked unconscious. Ten people was quite enough for one day.

However, the action wasn’t over yet. As Fred and Tony raced after the now visible snitch, Tyler sent a bludger flying. It hit Tony in the head, knocking him unconscious. Garret, as the only remaining Ravenclaw, quickly grabbed his team mate and brought him to the ground. He shot up, hoping he still had a chance to grab the snitch. However, he didn’t, because Fred Weasley had just wrapped his fingers around the snitch.

“Fred Weasley has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins the house cup! The game is over! Thank Merlin for that!” Alyssa exclaimed as the remaining three players made their way back down to the ground.

As Minerva McGonagall approached, all three of the quidditch players knew that there was going to be hell to pay for what they had just done.