Dark of the Soul

Dark of the Soul

By Sleek Belle

Chapter Two: Tough Victory.

Below Harry, a mad scuffle for the Quaffle was taking place. He watched, but kept an eye out for a flash of gold. Ginny, as usual, stayed out of the initial fray. She was smaller than the other two Gryffindor Chasers, Niles and Hilary, but she was far faster and more agile, especially with the Firebolt George and Fred had bought for her and Ron with the money from their joke shop in Hogsmeade. She´d wait on the fringe until they threw her the Quaffle.

"And Hilary of Gryffindor has the ball!" shouted Colin.

Hilary swerved away from the general fray and took off toward the Slytherin goals. Ginny, Harry noted, was right where she should be, below and to one side of Hilary. Hilary feinted the ball toward Niles, but then tossed it to Ginny who easily caught it, tucked it under her and, leaned over her Firebolt and sped off.

"Look at Ginny go!" Colin was jumping up and down.

The fans in the Gryffindor stands were cheering "Go Ginny! Go Ginny!"

The Slytherin Chasers like dogs after a small, nimble fox, closed in on Ginny. She glanced up at them, then threw the Quaffle to Niles as she dodged a Bludger that Goyle thumped her way. Ron whacked the Bludger on the rebound and nearly knocked Crabbe from his broom.

Ron laughed and Crabbe scowled. "Good one!" Harry shouted.

Niles, now followed by the Slytherin Chasers, did a sudden halt and one-eighty degree spin. The Slytherin Chasers went screaming past him and before they could recover, Niles tossed the Quaffle into Ginny´s capable hands. She sped to the Slytherin goals hoops, threw a feint at the left hoop, pulling back at the last moment and threw the Quaffle through the right hoop.

"Gryffindor scores!" cried Colin. "Ten points for Gryffindor!"

It was a promising beginning to the game, but from there, everything that could go wrong, did. Seamus was so busy dodging Bludgers that Neville stayed in residence in front of the hoops just to fight off the Slytherins unrelenting attack. Two goals were thwarted but five others made it in.

Gryffindor ten, Slytherin fifty. Harry got one glimpse of the Snitch, but it quickly disappeared. Restlessly he rode back and forth over the pitch looking for a little golden glimmer. Then a groan rose from the crowd. Goyle smacked a Bludger close to Neville´s face and he took the full force of the ball right in the forehead. He wobbled on his broom for a moment, then tumbled off.

"FOUL!" yelled Colin. "Did you see that? Dirty Quidditch! Goyle purposely slammed the Bludger right in Neville´s face!"

Madam hooch blew her whistle. "Foul Slytherin. Bludger Backbeating!"

Fortunately, Madam Hooch used a slowing spell to make certain Neville´s landing, some thirty feet down, was a soft one, still he ended up with a broken nose where the Bludger hit him. Harry saw Ahab fly to Crabbe and Goyle and say something to him. Harry would have given just about anything to hear that conversation.

The game went on with the Gryffindor team short one Beater. Ron was doing his best to be in two places at once. His reaction time was getting slower, his flying sloppy--Ron was exhausted.

Thirty minutes into the game, Harry watched helplessly as the Slytherin Chasers flanked Hilary who had the Quaffle. They batted her back and forth between them like a ball, then one moved suddenly and the next hit sent her crashing into the Ravenclaw stand tower. The Quaffle fell from her arms; one of the Slytherin Chasers grabbed it. Crabbe hit a Bludger toward Seamus, who dodged and couldn´t prevent Slytherin from scoring. Hilary fell to the ground, tried to get up then crumpled back down.

The boos and hisses from out numbered the cheers from Slytherin.

The score was ten to sixty. Gryffindor was down two players. It was war and now the attack centered on the Gryffindor Chasers, specifically Ginny. Her flying was flawless, awesome as she completely frustrated Goyle and Crabbe´s attempts to knock her from her broom. Instead they hit one of their own Chasers. Ginny grabbed the dropped Quaffle and scored. Harry felt a swell of pride. He was the one who had convinced Ginny to try out for the team. She was a phenomenon.

"Gryffindor scores!" Colin said. "Twenty to sixty, Slytherin leads."

Ron was sweating through his robes, sped past Harry once.

"Alright there, Harry? You don´t feel like picking up a bat for a bit do you?" And he was gone, hitting the Bludger away from Ginny and knocking it toward Malfoy.

Madam Hooch called three more fouls against Slytherin, but they made three more goals. A Bludger almost took Seamus out. It smacked him in the right side of his chest and swept him from his broom. He managed to grab a hold of a goal hoop and call back his broom, but not before the Slytherin team took advantage of this and scored a yet another goal.

Gryffindor twenty, Slytherin one hundred.

This was the dirtiest game of Quidditch Harry had seen at Hogwarts. Madam Hooch´s whistle was going off constantly until she called for a time out and stalked toward the players like an angry Hippogriff.

"I better not see one more foul, do you hear Mr. Crabbe and Mr. Goyle!" She glared at the Slytherin team. "And that goes for the rest of you. This is a game, not a death match."

She blew her whistle again and they all kicked off from the ground. From far above the pitch, Harry saw Ahab and Malfoy stop by Ginny for a moment. Harry couldn´t hear what they said, but she turned as white as one of the Hogwart´s ghosts. She darted a quick look around, found Harry watching her, then looked quickly away.

After that, Ginny kept somehow dropping the Quaffle and the Bludgers were acting odd, reminding Harry of the time Dobby cursed one of them. This time instead of just going after him, they seemed to be specifically targeting the Gryffindor team. The goal of the Bludgers was to unseat players, but all players, not just a particular team. He scanned the crowds and no one on the Slytherin team seemed to be muttering a curse.

Over the next twenty minutes, Slytherin team managed four more goals easy seeing that Seamus was gone and Ginny acted like she had grease on her hands.

It was then Harry spotted a golden flash from the corner of his eye. Instead of flying toward the Snitch, he spun away from it. Harry glanced behind him and found Malfoy following as usual. Grinning to himself, Harry tipped his broom almost an almost verticle, knowing Malfoy would be on his tail. Tears from the wind streamed out of the corner of his eyes, he laughed out of pure joy. Harry was in his element. Fifty feet from the ground. Forty. Instead of slowing up, he asked for more speed from his Firebolt and it responded.

"Look at Harry Potter fly!" shouted Colin. "Is he going to do what I think he´s going to do?"

Twenty feet from the ground and at full speed Malfoy was still with him. Harry pulled up, the Firebolt responding to the lightest touch, almost as if it understood his thought. Malfoy had no such luck, a victim of a perfectly executed Wronski Defensive Feint. Malfoy´s broom struck the ground, half of the broomstick buried. The broom had stopped instantly but Malfoy didn´t and he somersaulted end over end until he came to prone, spread eagle position.

Harry pulled up his broom, turned a one-eighty degree spin and neatly captured the Snitch that had been right behind Malfoy´s head throughout the entire dive. Harry flew over to Malfoy who was groaning, and hovered above him while tossing the snitch up and down in the palm of his hand.

"Alright there, Malfoy? Liked meeting Wronski?" Harry asked in a mild tone, he then mock-saluted the dazed Slytherin Seeker and flew off to The Gryffindor stands erupted in one tremendous chanting cheer.

"Well done Gryffindor! Well done Gryffindor!"

"Harry Potter´s caught the Snitch!" Colin shouted. "Gryffindor wins! One-eighty to one-sixty."

The joyous cheers melted instantly into horrified cries. A Bludger appeared from out of nowhere and slammed into Ginny Weasley´s ribcage and completely swept her off her broom. As if in slow motion, Harry saw her tumble toward the ground some fifty feet below. He didn´t have his wand. Madam Hooch noticed and was waving her wand and muttering but nothing was happening. Harry dropped the Snitch and leaned down low on his Firebolt and asked it for all the speed it could muster.

Get under her, he told himself. Get under her.

Below Ginny, but still some ten feet above the ground, he let go of his broom and caught her in his arms. Although she was light, her momentum knocked him from his broom and together they fell the remaining distance. Harry positioned himself to hit the ground first, Ginny on top. The grass was soft and cushioned his fall somewhat, still it knocked the breath out of him and he lay gasping, Ginny, unconscious, lying on top of him. He clutched her tightly.

The first thing his bleary vision saw was Ron´s scared white face peering down at him.

"Bloody hell, Harry, that was brilliant. Best catch all year and it wasn´t even the Snitch." He peered closer at his unconscious sister. "Is she okay?"

Harry´s scar was aching dully and white-hot fury unfurled in his chest when he said. "I´m going to kill Ahab and Malfoy."