Ginny's First Match

“Stupid, stupid girl. Could you get any denser than you already are?” It wasn’t noon yet, but Ginny decided it was not going to be a good day. She paused awkwardly on her broom wondering how to get back to the castle. If anyone had told her yesterday that she would personally sabotage Gryffindor’s chance of winning the Quidditch Cup, she would have laughed in their face. Yet, that’s what had happened.

It started the previous evening after the DA meeting. Michael asked her to accompany him to the Astronomy Tower—as if she didn’t know about the serious snogging that was going to happen once they arrived—but consented anyway. That had been her first mistake. Four hours later, she managed to sneak into her dormitory undetected, thinking that she could wake up on time for the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff. That was her second.

By the time she had changed into her Quidditch robes and joined the rest of the team, Angelina was wishing the team good luck and leading them onto the pitch. As Ginny thought about the forthcoming reprimand from Angelina, she almost considered remaining lost in the Forbidden Forest rather than returning. Not that she could blame her too much. Being captain of a team was hard enough without adding the complications of having to find mid-season replacements for Fred, George, and Harry.

Harry. The Boy Who Lived. The boy who had saved her life three years ago. The boy who she had finally given up on noticing her as anything more than Ron’s little sister. Harry would never have been so reckless before a game, nor would he have been late. Quidditch was the only time he could forget that You-Know-Who was still trying to kill him. But thanks to Professor Umbridge, Harry didn’t even have that distraction anymore. It was up to Ginny to fill his shoes and win for Gryffindor—but unless she could find her way out of the forest, that wasn’t going to happen. Harry would have remembered instantly that the Golden Snitch was enchanted to remain within the Quidditch Pitch and not gone flying off after some other golden ball into the Forbidden Forest while the crowd yelled for her return.

“But it looked like a Snitch,” she said defensively to the trees. Summerby had probably already caught the real Snitch and was celebrating back in the Hufflepuff common room. How could she face the rest of her team knowing that she blown their chances of winning the Cup? How could she face Harry? Maybe it would be better to stay lost and be devoured by some wild beast.

But as she decided to give up to the dark and gloomy forest, a blaze of gold streaked before her eyes. Seconds later she was following it on her broom. It veered between trees and branches trying to escape, but she was gaining on it. Suddenly it flew upwards out of the canopy and Ginny found that she wasn’t as far from the castle as she had thought. She leaned forward, trying to make Charlie’s old broom go faster. She was within feet of the golden object. She stretched both arms in front of her trying to catch it as she sailed over the Forest’s perimeter. “Come on! Just a little further…”

She had it! Clasping the creature carefully in her hands, she somehow managed to land on the Quidditch field where the entire school had gathered waiting for her return.

Ron was the first to reach her. “What do you think you were doing?” But he didn’t look upset with the large grin on his face.

“I’m sorry I ruined the game. But I thought I saw the Snitch go into the forest. Only it wasn’t the Snitch, it was a Snidget,” she said, opening her hands wide enough to make sure that the small bird was all right but not allowing it to escape.

“That was some catch, Ginny,” Harry said as he and Hermione reached the siblings. “Even I couldn’t have done that one.”

“What do you mean? It wasn’t as fast as a Snitch. I think it’s just a baby.” Ginny showed Hermione her capture.

“Not that one.” Harry smiled and pulled something out of her ponytail. “This one.”

Ginny stared from Harry’s hands to his face and then back to his hands. He had the Golden Snitch!

“So, we didn’t lose after all!”

“No. When you dived after the Snidget, the Snitch collided with your hair and got stuck. Didn’t you hear everyone cheering?” Hermione asked.

“Well, yes. But I thought someone had scored. It’s hard to concentrate on the crowd and commentary while you’re searching for the Snitch.”

“Tell me about it,” Harry muttered.

Gryffindor Team including Fred and George finally showed up shouting “Gin-ny! Gin-ny!” The rest of the crowd quickly caught on, and before she could object she was hoisted onto her brothers’ shoulders. Looking down at Harry as he walked along side the twins, she thought that he might be beginning to think of her as more than Ron’s little sister. He looked up and smiled at her as the crowd continued to shout “Gin-ny! Gin-ny!”

“Ginny! If you don’t get up now, you’re going to be late for your first Quidditch match!”

“What?” Ginny sat up quickly in bed. So, it was just a dream—a very good dream.

“Ginny, I’ve been trying to wake you up for the last two minutes,” Hermione said. “You’ve got about five minutes to get dressed and get down to the pitch. So hurry and good luck!”

Ginny hopped out of bed as Hermione left. She quickly got dressed and pulled her hair back into a ponytail. Picking up Hermione’s copy of The Daily Prophet that had been left on Ginny’s bed, she noticed the front page headline:

Escape at Sanctuary: Dozens of Snidgets Fly Free.

“Oh no!” Ginny said aloud. “Here we go again!”