Flying High

Flying High

Chapter Eight: The Quidditch Cup

"I can feel it this is going to be ours." Oliver stated as he stood looking at the cabinet that held all of the trophies, it was always this time of year that he would take both Percy and I and anyone else we happened to be with at that time to the case, and say something about how he was going to be lifting it up one day…just for the past couple of years it really hadn't been Gryffindor's year to win it. But with this year's team it was different all we had to do was win against Ravenclaw this Saturday and he would be lifting the Cup up.

"Yes, yes Oliver it will be Gryffindor's once you win against Ravenclaw that is if you win against Ravenclaw." Percy sighed as he tried to drag Oliver by the arm away from the case, if we didn't get a move on soon we would be late for Transfiguration although I'm sure Professor McGonagall wouldn't be very angry with the three of us.

"It's going to be a difficult match, Davies is a good strategist and the Ravenclaw team are very good, but with Harry I'm sure we'll be able to win." I responded taking Oliver's other arm and helping Percy drag Oliver to class. "And then Oliver can lift that trophy."

We finally arrived with enough time to Transfiguration where McGonagall was in a sort of jubilant mood, after all she knew one more game and she may be on the winning side in Quidditch, if we won against Ravenclaw…I really hope we do win against Ravenclaw it would be such a lovely feeling to win the Cup and see the depressed and rather aggravated faces of the Slytherin team. The other thing to worry about was results of the O. ; I hope I have done enough to get good grades, what with my mind generally preoccupied with Quidditch and keeping certain people from killing themselves by training for ridiculously long hours.

Soon enough it was Friday and everyone was excited about the upcoming match, some to see Gryffindor lose it and Ravenclaw win and some who wanted the opposite like Professor McGonagall and the whole of Gryffindor house. The day had gone pretty well, nothing disastrous had occurred to any of the team and no one had been suspended the team had gathered in the Common Room.

"Right everyone get some good rest and be ready for the morning." Oliver stated everyone nodded, even Fred and George weren't messing around; when it came down to it they knew how much it meant to Oliver that we won tomorrow, heck it meant a lot to them and the whole team to win it.

"Do you think we'll win?" Angelina asked as she turned over to face me, she'd been tossing and turning for the past couple of minutes since she had gotten into bed.

"I think we have a good chance of winning, if we get some sleep." I replied laughing slightly, Angelina laughed a little before she nodded and started to drift off into sleep. I really hope nothing went wrong tomorrow and we would win the match and finally we'd be able to have our names on the trophy again after all this time.

Light shone through a slight gap in the curtains signalling it was morning, god knows what time in the morning, but the light itself meant I wouldn't be getting back to any sleep, the only problem with having the bed nearest to the windows. I sat up and stretched a bit yawning as I did so, I looked over towards Angelina who was still sound asleep as were the rest of the girls in the room. After changing into my Quidditch robes, the last time I would be wearing them this term, and possibly the first time I would be wearing them when we won the Cup. I ventured down into the Common Room expecting to see Oliver pacing around and reading his plays, but I was greeted by the sight of a very worried looking Oliver and Professor McGonagall.

"What's going on?" I asked they both turned to look up at me, I hadn't seen Oliver look so worried in all the time I had known him.

"I'm afraid Miss Stockley that our Seeker is unconscious in the Hospital Wing and it does not seem that he will be awake for the game." McGonagall explained what had he gotten up to? Had someone sabotaged us, or did he take an evening stroll and fall somewhere and knock his head?

"What happened? How did it happen?" I questioned McGonagall then explained in brief detail that Harry, Ron and Hermione had ventured to the forbidden corridor and found himself in all sorts of trouble which led to him being in the Hospital Wing. After she had explained all that she left us in the Common Room. "You've got to be kidding me."

"This is just great, no Seeker in the final match, we're going to lose, we were this close and we've lost it all!" Oliver sighed flopping down on the sofa; he kicked the coffee table with his head in his hands. We needed someone to save the day, and that someone needed to appear soon. "Bloody great…we could have won and now we've let it slip."

"Hold on, we haven't played yet. Get in a positive attitude right now, and get the team ready." I stated that someone who really needed to save the day may just appear any second now, and hopefully that person wasn't going to be in a mood that we hadn't let him keep his position as Seeker in the first place.

"And what are you going to do? Find a Seeker out of thin air?" he questioned I shook my head.

"No, much simpler I'm going to find David, you know the bloke who was going to originally be the Seeker, it's our only option. Going out there with no Seeker is absolute nonsense and we'd be absolutely steam rolled." I answered he still didn't perk up but he solemnly nodded and got up off of the sofa and went to find Fred and George who were most likely still snoring away. Hopefully David would be at breakfast and I could pull him away and tell him exactly what he was going to have to do with no option to refuse to do so.

I bolted out of the Common Room and for once the stairs were on my side, I'd reached the fourth level in no time, but that was when I spotted them. Marcus Flint and Graham Montague, just the people I did not want to run into at this moment in time, hopefully they had not been informed of what was going on with the team, but news travels fast around the Castle. But this was no time to let two guys get in the way of getting to David in time to get him in Quidditch gear and ready to go, thank god he'd still got some training in with the Reserve team although that wasn't the level of training that Oliver implemented.

"Well someone looks in a bit of a panic." Flint sneered as he and Montague blocked my path to the hall, damnit I was so close to getting there and then getting out with David with me. "It's as if the team is down a very important player and they haven't got a replacement. But who's that important to the team?"

"Hmm, can't be Wood he's easy replaceable, as for the two idiots you call Beaters I can't say they're important." Montague jeered these two were utterly pathetic if they were really going to do this now. "The Chasers are pretty, but that doesn't mean they're any good, well they aren't any good at all at what they do."

"Which leaves the youngest Seeker Hogwarts has seen in a century, now I think that player is pretty vital to the team don't you think?" Flint asked forming a horrid smirk with his rather wonky teeth showing, he really was a horror when he wanted to be one.

"If the pair of you don't get out of my way this instant, I swear to god…"

"What are you going to do? Can't attack us or else your precious team will lose another player and I think Wood would end up in tears." Montague interrupted even though it was absolutely infuriating that they were right, I really couldn't risk being caught fighting or even end up in a fight. Despite confidence I really couldn't take both of them in a fight…and if I was caught fighting especially by Professor Snape I'd probably be suspended and then they'd have one more person to replace for the team.

"I'll say it again, get out of my way." I ground out making the pair of them laugh, if they didn't do this and were more like Davies and Cedric's teams off the pitch I really wouldn't have a problem with them, hell we probably wouldn't interact off of the pitch. But they had to be horrible to us, I know it's the whole House rivalry and the rivalry between Oliver and Flint, but couldn't they just leave that on the pitch?

"Or what?" Flint asked getting way too close and invading my personal space, and at that point I just decided I'd have to run passed them and push them aside, which since Flint had moved away from Montague gave me some space to manoeuvre in. It was surprisingly easy considering their towering heights for me to push passed them and get into the Hall, probably because they weren't expecting me to run away from the situation and once I was free of them I just kept running into the Hall putting enough distance between us. It didn't take that long to find David who was half way through eating some bacon and eggs when I basically fell onto the bench.

"Wow, what's the emergency?" he asked with a mouthful of bacon, how did Flint know and he didn't if David is in the same House as us.

"Haven't you heard? Potter's in the Hospital Wing, we're a Seeker down." I explained at that point he dropped his fork which clattered to the plate. "You've got to play, otherwise we're going to lose everything, and you can be the hero of Gryffindor if you do this…if we win it!"

"You think I can do it?" he asked I could see he was genuinely nervous and quite excited, if he could pull this off and catch the Snitch then he would be the hero to all of Gryffindor House and he'd go down in history…well he could possibly go down in history of the students that are currently attending and maybe the next set of students. And Oliver would be his best friend forever if he was able to win it for us.

"Absolutely." I answered grabbing the plate of toast and grabbing David's arm, before once again running back up to the Common Room, it took less time to get back upstairs than it had to reach David, although there wasn't the added delay of any of the Slytherin team having a go. As we arrived in the Common Room the rest of the team had gathered around Oliver, all with solemn faces. "What did I tell you to do? Everyone needs to be in a better mood, if we go into this thinking the worst it's going to go bad."

"She has a point; we've got to give this game all we've got, no matter how good Harry is one person does not make the team." Katie encouraged standing next to me and grabbing a piece of toast. "And we have David to help us out here."

"I'm sorry to lay this all on your shoulders, but we've got to win we've all put so much work in and we've got so far. We can't just let this chance slip through our fingers, we beat Slytherin and Hufflepuff and now we have to beat Ravenclaw to win this Cup." Oliver began he was going to give a really motivating speech, and this time I believed it was going to really push the team into doing well, even the twins weren't messing around. "Everyone needs to play to the best of their ability, play the plays we've practices. I know David you haven't had the training these guys have had to endure, but play to the best of your ability, you are a good Seeker that's why we picked you in the beginning."

"Let's go out there and win this." Angelina exclaimed we all gathered ourselves and everyone grabbed a slice of toast each before making our way down to the pitch, the mood had improved but there was still that niggling fear of losing. No one liked to lose in anything they did, and the team really didn't want to lose after having won after putting all this hard work in.

The game began as it always did Madame Hooch released the Bludgers and Snitch and then threw the Quaffle into the air. Davies had possession and sped off towards Oliver and the posts followed closely by Angelina, Katie and I however he'd gotten away quicker than we had and had managed to get to the posts quick enough, ten points gained by Ravenclaw, we reclaimed possession. It went on for a while we scored a couple goals as did Ravenclaw but in the end their Seeker caught the Snitch first and well the final score was not something pretty to look at…even with a Seeker we had been steam rolled…this wasn't the result anyone wanted, even if we did lose we didn't want to lose by a lot of points. Oliver looked absolutely devastated; he'd been so close to lifting the trophy, now he had to watch Roger Davies lift it.

"He'd better not be trying to drown himself in there." I stated as the twins came out of the changing rooms along with a very sad looking David, Angelina and Katie had already gone back to the Castle, while I had decided to make sure that Oliver didn't do anything rash.

"Well he's been in there for a while, you know more than anyone how hard he takes losses, especially this one." Fred replied glumly, out of everyone on the team Oliver took losing the worst, he'd always believe it was his fault that we lost.

"Yeah I know, well I won't keep you I'll make sure he gets back to the Common Room, and don't take the lose too hard, especially you David." I reassured they nodded and shuffled on back up to the Castle. I waited outside the changing room before making up my mind to get him out of there and up to the Common room. "You better be wearing something around your waist or so help me god!"

I couldn't see Oliver when I first went into the room, it was rather steamy from the shower being in use, but it had been turned off now. So at least he wasn't in the shower.

"You know you shouldn't be in here." He sighed scaring me slightly he'd been on the side behind the door, to make sure I wouldn't see anything I was supposed to I kept facing away from him. "But since you are in here, I'm fully dressed you don't have to keep facing the opposite way."

"Well you know I was just checking you weren't trying to drown yourself." I replied turning round and sure enough he was fully dressed and sat down on the bench with his head in his hands again.

"We were so close to winning, and we through it all away." He groaned his leg kicked the bench as his hands raked through his short hair; I sat down next to him.

"We tried our best out there; no one could have given any more than they did. David put everything into trying to catch the Snitch." I reassured putting a hand on his shoulder. "I haven't seen the team more motivated to win a match and try their socks off like they did. You were on your best game; they just were able to take advantage of David being new and expose the weakness in the team."

"I know, I know…but we were so close." He sighed finally leaning back against the wall and staring up at the ceiling.

"And if we take anything away from this year it's that we have our team and we can win this, just we really need to keep an eye on Harry and make sure he doesn't get up to any trouble the night before a match." I encouraged standing up and offering my hand to help him up, "Now let's get back to the Castle, I'm starving and could do with a good couple of slices of Pumpkin pie."

"You and that bloody pie." He laughed taking my hand and standing up, and pulling me into a tight hug. "What would I do without you?"

"You'd probably be in the shower drowning right about now."

The last couple of days seemed to go so fast, of course we got a few sneers and nasty snide comments off of Slytherin, but that wasn't something new. It was just a shame that the year was coming to an end.

"Another year gone and I must trouble you with an old man's wheezing waffle before we sink our teeth into our delicious feast. What a year it has been! Hopefully your heads are a little bit fuller than they were…you have the whole summer ahead to get them nice and empty before next year starts…." Dumbledore announced Gryffindor House were not in a good mood the Hall was decorated in Slytherin banners, of course they had won the House Cup. And many of the house members blamed Harry, for losing a lot of the points and of course going off and fighting Professor Quirrell on the Fourth floor corridor.

"Now, as I understand it the House cup here needs awarding and the points stand thus; in fourth place Gryffindor with three hundred and twelve points, in third Hufflepuff with three hundred and fifty two, Ravenclaw have four hundred and twenty six, and Slytherin with four hundred and seventy two." Slytherin began cheering worsening the mood of the table, a few heads turned to glare at Harry, Ron and Hermione, but in all honestly other house members also lost points.

"Yes, yes well done Slytherin, however recent events must be taken into account." Now this was interesting, were we going to lose more points because Harry, Ron and Hermione broke the rules and went to the corridor or were we going to gain points? "Ahem I have a few last minute points to dish out let me see, yes…"

"First to Mr Ronald Weasley," Dumbledore paused looking down the Gryffindor table to Ron, everyone's heads turned towards him. "For the best played game of chess Hogwarts has seen in many years, I award Gryffindor house fifty points."

"My brother you know! My youngest brother! Got past McGonagall's giant chess set!" Percy exclaimed turning round to everyone in his vicinity which included; Oliver, Angelina, Fred, George and I. It seemed we were going to get points for the trio's actions.

"Second to Miss Hermione Granger for the use of cool logic in the face of fire, I award Gryffindor house fifty points." We all cheered again, we had suddenly overtaken Hufflepuff. "Third to Mr Harry Potter for pure nerve and outstanding courage I award Gryffindor house sixty points."

"There are all kinds of courage it takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to our enemies but just as much to stand up to our friends I therefore award ten points to Mr Neville Longbottom." I couldn't believe it; we'd actually won the House Cup.

"This means we need a little change of decoration." Dumbledore announced clapping his hands together, the banners changed to the absolutely wonderful red and gold with the lion emblazoned on.

"We won!" Oliver exclaimed jumping up out of his seat along with every other house member, he picked me up out of my seat hugging me along with Percy who was stood next to him. "We won!" Charlie had clambered onto the table and was hugging one of his friends, even Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw students were celebrating. I couldn't believe we had actually taken the Cup from Slytherin right at the end of it all and for crossing the line between bravery and stupidity.