The Chaser and the Seeker

A Quidditch game only ends when the snitch is caught,
or by mutual consent of the two teams' captains. - Quidditch Through the Ages

It was always difficult to try and describe the unique thrilling chaos of Quidditch. The Quaffle being passed like a bomb around the stadium, frantically getting closer to the sixty foot high hoops. Bludgers zoomed around like bumper balls. And finally, always finally, the Golden Snitch. The hummingbird wings emitted a high-pitched whirring sound that pierced the air. The Snitch dipped, spun and flew erratically at a speed to rival a dragon in full flight. Behind it, swooping as the Snitch swooped, swerving as it swerved, Gryffindor seeker Harry Potter chased the golden ball. Easily, concentrating on the Snitch alone and blocking out all background noises, including the difficult to shield voice of Lee Jordan, Harry reached out for a few moments and grasped at the air before gripping the broom again.

The Snitch was more than a little stubborn today. For the third time he had tried to pluck the ball out of its flight path, and like the other two times, the ball dodged, spun and shot out of reach. Damn! Harry fiercely pulled back on the Firebolt as the Hufflepuff observation tower came closer and closer. At the last moment the broom pulled up, flying straight up the side and over students. Was it Harry's imagination, or was the Snitch mocking him? "Look out, Potty!" it ringed. Or sneered, really.

It wasn't until a green blur shot past his head that Harry made the connection.

"Ooohh, Potter should really pay more attention to what's going on around him! Malfoy almost knocked him off his broom!"

Lee Jordan's voice echoed over a now roaring crowd. Harry was almost deafened at suddenly going from having the air in his ears to the cheers of the stadium. Whipping around, he leaned on his broomstick and took off after Draco. For a brief moment, it looked like Malfoy had grabbed the golden, humming-bird ball but instead missed. The ball, it seemed, just didn't want to get caught today. Cursing, the pale-faced Slytherin dodged a Bludger and glared as Harry pulled up beside him.

Harry glared back for a second, breaking eye contact with the Snitch. As if it knew, the gold ball double-backed and darted behind them. As the Snitch flew away, the two Bludgers spiraled upwards at the pair of seekers.

"Harry, look out!!"

Alicia Spinnet's voice cut through the air. Out of reflex, he turned to look at her before the words registered, and then it was too late. Harry looked up in time as the first Bludger hurtled towards his face. Only at the last second did he manage to dodge the ball, his glasses flinging off his head from the speed. The second Bludger slammed into his broom with the force of a train, knocking it out from under him.

For the second time in his life, Harry Potter fell more than fifty feet. A blurred, out of focus ground shot up before darkness overtook everything....

"Time out!"

Madame Hooch stopped the game after the entire stadium witnessed the Boy-Who-Lived fall. As many of the players stayed hovering in the air, Hooch, Oliver Wood and Alicia Spinnet flew to the centre of everyone's attention. As the Flying teacher and Gryffindor captain kneeled over the fallen seeker, Spinnet stood back and merely watched.

"The boy's a magnet for trouble..." muttered Hooch, waving her wand quickly over Harry's limp form and muttering several charms and spells. Immediately, Professors McGonagall and Flitwick rushed out onto the Quidditch pitch. The Gryffindor head teacher and the tiny Charms professor went about summoning aids to help the fallen seeker. Soon, the skinny boy lay on a stretcher similar to Dumbledore's.

"Wood?" Hooch looked up at him. "What do you want to do?"

Alicia's head snapped up to Oliver who, the last time this happened, still proceeded with the game for a matter of two seconds. "End it Oliver."

Wood turned to the flushing chaser. "What?"

"Call a rematch, end the game, anything."

Oliver looked at her as if she had been hit by a Bludger as well. "Alicia..." he began. "You know as well as I do that the game can only end when the Snitch is caught...."

"Or when both captains agree." At the mere implication of ending the game early, Oliver's eyes widened. Alicia's narrowed.

"Alicia... we're down twenty points."

"You'll be down another hundred and fifty. Look." Leaning closer she whispered, "Slytherin always ends when they have a hundred to their name. They only have eighty. The Snitch is being stubborn and the Bludger missed Malfoy by inches." Alicia broke off quietly for a moment. The image of Harry being thrown from his broom like a ball getting hit by a bat was still fresh in her mind. Why not that Malfoy prat?!

"They don't want an end-game either. They'll want a rematch." Wood looked down at her. Alicia stared right back. "... fine." Oliver turned on his heels, bellowing Marcus Flint's name into the air as Alicia watched Flitwick and McGonagall carry the stretcher away. The almost lifeless body lying over it....

"Then it's agreed?" Madame Hooch's voice came from far away. A pause followed. "Accio Golden Snitch!" A loud, high pitched humming sound shot passed Alicia's head and the Snitch stopped dead on Hooch's command. Without waiting to hear Lee's voiceover, she trudged off to the changing rooms.

That evening, the Gryffindor chaser hung out in the Hospital wing of Hogwarts. Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson had long since left, heading to the library with plans of finishing an essay for History of Magic. Oliver Wood had stopped by for a brief visit, followed by the twins to check on Harry's condition. Hermione had arrived soon after Alicia had, telling stories of Ron being in detention before Madame Pomfrey chased her outside for messing with a potion on the bedside table.

That left Alicia Spinnet by herself in the ward with the unconscious Harry Potter. Silently, the older girl brushed his bangs aside. The lightning bolt scar on his forehead appeared under the messy hair. At the sight of the Killing Curse scar up close, she let out a ragged breath and Harry stirred. A flicker of his eyelids and bright green eyes shone upwards, trying to focus in the dim room without glasses.

Harry looked up. Someone was sitting close by, and someone who looked familiar at that. It definitely wasn't Ron, and whoever it was seemed older than Hermione...

"Harry?"

Alicia. Alicia Spinnet.

"Alicia...?" At the sound of her name, she sat forward on the chair next to the bunk. "... Hospital wing?" he murmured. Alicia soon realised without his glasses and in the dim candlelight, Harry couldn't see much.

"Yeah. Um, your friend Granger was going to fix your glasses but Pomfrey shooed her out. So uh, sorry 'bout that."

"Don't be," he said. "I can still see you." Alicia didn't know weather to be thankful or not, considering the warmth rising in her cheeks.

Shifting slightly under the bedclothes, Harry remembered the last time he had fallen off his broom, with hundreds of Dementors glaring hungrily up at him, skeletal hands clawing upwards. When he had woken up, Alicia was shaking and pale, saying how they thought he had died. Harry shook his head at the memory, wishing he would never see such anguish on her face again.

"Um... how did the match go?" Harry looked tentatively at her. Once in his first year, he had failed to appear at a Quidditch match and the result was Gryffindor's most embarrassing loss in years. Would anyone on the team blame him for today? Alicia looked a little down at the question, and Harry's stomach twisted. The last thing he wanted in the world was to hear disappointment from Alicia. "There's going to be a rematch, but I-I don't think you should worry about it for awhile Harry...."

The younger Gryffindor's face screwed up in confusion before a cold sweat broke out over his back. Am I off the team? he thought in horror. He stared up at Alicia, mouth hung open in fear. "Did..I blow it? Am I off the team??" he asked hurriedly, watching as Alicia looked shocked and quickly perished the thought.

"Of course you're not Harry!" she said, leaning forward so he could see her clearer. She seemed agitated.

"But...you said I shouldn't worry about it...."

"I.. I don't really think you...you should fly again too soon, Harry...."

Slowly, the day's events played through her mind again. The two Bludgers collided with Harry and sent him rocketing towards the ground, only this time her mind's eye watched as he hit the ground harder than before. His limbs tumbled around and he bounced slightly, looking like a rag doll that someone had thrown to the ground. Dead. And now, he was sitting in front of her. Eyes wide and staring at her in concern. She thought earlier she would never see those eyes again...

Alicia fell forward on the bunk, wrapping her arms around Harry's waist. The built up tension broke and tears leaked out, falling onto his hospital pajamas with choking sobs.

"I saw you! I saw you fall! And I never want to bloody see it again!" Hot tears splashed down her cheeks, making her words harder to make out. Finally, she gave up trying to be angry at Harry. She couldn't even if she wasn't crying. Harry tried to move back, to sit up, but Alicia tightened her hold on him. "I....I care about you, Harry...."

For a while, she just sat there, hugging him with her eyes jammed shut tight. Soon though, Alicia felt a pair of arms curl around her shoulders. Harry's fingertips lightly smoothed the hair at the side of her face as their backs brushed her flushing, teary cheeks. A lock of black hair fell over her forehead.

"I care a lot about you too, Alicia," he whispered.

The two Gryffindors pulled back just enough to let them peer at each other. They held each other's gaze for a moment. Emerald eyes stared at chocolate ones as any distance between them closed. They kissed lightly for a few seconds, embracing each other in a warm, huddled way before Alicia broke off. Before Harry could ask, she gently moved from her chair to the edge of the hospital bed, slinging her arms over him and affectionately kissing his flushing face before it was returned.

"I love you Harry...."

"I love you too, Alicia...."