Chapter 8

Chapter 8: Day of the Living Bludger




"Come on, Zelma, it'll be fun." Ginny insisted.

It was Saturday, and Ginny was pulling Quen down the hallway, trying to persuade her to come to the Quidditch practice to watch.

"Are you sure about this?" Quen asked nervously.

"Of course I'm sure." Ginny said.

They finally reached the Quidditch field, where the Gryffindor team captain, Katie Bell, met with her team.

Katie rubbed her hands together.

"Okay team, our first match is in one or two months-"

"Isn't it a little early in the morning to practice right this second?" George Weasley asked.

"Yes, but Ellis," she pointed to a short girl with blonde hair. "Booked the field. Come on, where's your team spirit?"

"In the bed, where I left it," Fred Weasley muttered.

"As I was saying, our first match is in about one month-"

"No, it's not," Ellis said. "It's next week,"

"You must be crazy," Fred Weasley said. "Next week is the Slytherin and Ravenclaw match,"

"Well, not anymore," Ellis beamed proudly.

Katie tapped her foot impatiently.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"I signed us up," Ellis announced.

Ron dropped his broomstick.

"What?"

"You heard me, stupid. I said, I signed us up,"

"You're not even on the team!" Katie exclaimed. "How did you do that? Why? We're not ready!"

Ellis smiled. "I have my ways."

"I also have a plan for the game," she continued proudly.

Katie kicked at the ground. "That's all right, we'll figure something out. Okay, everyone get into your positions, we're going to have to practice hard if we have to play next week," she shot Ellis a hard glare.

The players practiced aggressively, while Ellis yelled out irritable criticisms.

"All right Johnson...that's good - Weasley! What are you doing? You're supposed to catch the Quaffle, not commit suicide... Hey you two twin people, are you going to let the chaser score? Come on, attack!" she sighed deeply and thumped onto a bench. "It's so hard to get people to do things right,"


The day of the Quidditch match: everyone was excited, rushing to get a good seat.

Ron put a hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"Wish me luck?" he said.

"Yeah, good luck Quaffle face," Ginny said sweetly.

Ron scowled and walked down the hallway.

Quen tugged at Ginny's robe.

"Come on, let's find a seat,"


Harry Potter glowed with excitement as he looked onto the Quidditch field.

The first game of the season, he thought.

Then he spotted Cho Chang. She was pretty, as always, and as she passed she smiled and said, "Hi Harry."

As soon as Cho was out of ear range, Ron struck a model-like pose.

"'Hi... Harry," he said mockingly.

Hermione burst into laugher.

"Ron, that's not funny," Harry said sternly.

"Sorry Harry, I'll make fun of your girlfriend no more," Ron said with his fingers crossed behind his back.

"She's not my girlfriend," Harry said, blushing.

Katie Bell approached them swiftly.

"Come on, where have you two been? The match is in three minutes!" she said panicky.

"See you later, Herm," Ron said.

"Good luck," said Hermione. "And don't call me 'Herm',"

"Okay Herm," Ron called over his shoulder.

Hermione took a seat next to Ginny.

"He gets more and more obnoxious everyday," she sighed.

Ginny shook her head.

"No, he just does that when he's nervous.


"Here comes the Ravenclaw team," said Lee Jordan, the commentator. "And here comes the Gryffindor team: Potter, Bell, Spinnet, Johnson, Weasley, Weasley, and Weasley,"

There was a cheer from the Gryffindor side as the players positioned themselves.

Madame Hooch blew her whistle.

"...And their off!" said Lee Jordan. "The Gryffindors are ready to kick some-" he stopped when his eyes came across Professor McGonagall's face.

"Anyway, off they go! Gryffindor in possession... Bell has the Quaffle, she shoots ... uh-oh, she misses! Ravenclaw in possession, Ravenclaw Chaser has the Quaffle, shoots ... look behind you!"

The Quaffle bounced off of Ron's broomstick, causing him to spin around uncontrollably on his broomstick.

"Well, he saved it!" Lee continued. "Gryffindor in possession, Johnson has the Quaffle...come on Angelina! She shoots...and scores!"

Katie clapped her hands enthusiastically.

"Yeah, Angelina! That's the stuff to give 'em!"


Down below, Hermione clapped her hands.

"Yes! Gryffindor's in the lead!"

Quen bit her lip. "What's Ron doing?"

Ginny shrugged. "He's gone mad, spinning around in circles,"

They sat back and watched the game for a while.

"Duck," Quen said suddenly.

"Duck?" Ginny said quizzically. "But if he ducks, he won't be able to-" she gasped with realization and ducked as a bludger came flying her way.

Sunflower chuckled and caught it. The bludger tugged and Sunflower was swept off of her feet and into the air.

It took Ginny and Quen twelve seconds to realize what happened.

"SUNFLOWER! What are you doing?" Ginny yelled.

The small girl made no reply, but she looked down. Then she screamed.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeee!"

The Quidditch match continued.

"Gryffindor in the possession, Spinnnet has the Quaffle, she scores-what the heck is that?"

Sunflower clung to the bludger for dear life, whimpering pitifully.

She couldn't fly, too risky. She wouldn't be able to hold on much longer, she would eventually fall. A tear rolled quietly down her cheek.

Something whistled softly past her face. It beat it's wings softly, blowing a mist in Sunflower's face. It was the golden Snitch!

Sunflower smiled softly and reached out and grabbed it. She loved the feeling of it's delicate wings beating against her knuckles.

She looked down at Harry. He was the Gryffindor seeker. He was supposed to catch the snitch.

Sunflower flung the Snitch in Harry's direction.


Harry Potter gazed around carefully. He hadn't noticed yet that Sunflower was circling around overhead.

Where's the snitch? he wondered.

Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain on his head. Someone had thrown something at him!

He grabbed what was on his head: the Snitch! Harry stared at it in disbelief.

Down below, no one noticed that Harry grabbed the Snitch. They were too busy panicking about Sunflower's situation.

"How'd she get up there?"

"Wot's she doin'?"

"Someone get a blanket or something!"


Sunflower smiled gleefully. Harry had caught the Snitch, marking the end of the game.

CRACK!

Sunflower's hands slipped from the bludger. She paused for a millisecond in midair.

Then she fell.


There was a horrified silence in the crowd.

Ginny covered her eyes.

"I can't watch,"

Quen placed a hand on her shoulder.

She found herself watching as Sunflower plunged...closer to the ground.

Quen's mouth popped open in disbelief.

She had good reason: Sunflower had stopped in midair, and then drifted gently to the ground.

A gasp rang through the crowd.

"Is it over?" Ginny whispered. "Is it messy? Tell me when it's over,"

"Ginny," Quen said reassuringly. "It's all right, you can look now,"

Ginny uncovered her eyes (reluctantly) and let out a sign of relief,

"Who caught her?" she asked.

Quen simply shrugged.

"Nobody did, she just...stopped."

"You're kidding,"

"Nope,"

"Hmm...That's something I have to ask her,"

But when asked this question, Sunflower only smiled and stayed silent, as she always did.


"OUT! OUT OF MY STORE!"

Tima ducked as a book went flying passed her left ear.

The owner of the store waved his fist madly in the air.

"...And don't come back!" he roared.

Tima dusted herself off.

"Great job Lathor. Why'd you tell him we came from Knockturn Alley and we were looking for a Dark Arts book?"

Lathor shrugged.

"Well, we were looking for a Dark Arts book-"

"Shut up, I'm trying to think," Tima snapped.

Five minutes before-

"I have an idea!" Tima shouted.

"What idea?" Lathor asked, rubbing his ear.

Tima only smiled mischievously.

"You'll see,"


Quen watched the sunset as it formed the sky beautifully into various shades of orange, then pink, then red, purple, and then finally, blue.

She was outside and everyone was in the Gryffindor Tower, celebrating the Quidditch match.

Quen didn't feel like celebrating. She felt like exploring.

She stepped out into the Quidditch field, where just a few hours ago, people were shouting in excitement. Now it was as silent as the night sky itself, except for a fluttering sound near Quen's shoulder.

It was a snowy owl, taking an evening flight toward the horizon.

Quen looked around, mystified as she came to a door.

She opened it without a second thought.

Inside, there was a huge storage of red robes, along with a bunch of old and useless broomsticks.

"What are you doing?"

Quen jumped, sending a huge pile of useless broomsticks tumbling to the ground.

Ron was standing in the doorway with his arms crossed.

"I was just looking," Quen answered innocently.

Ron's gazed shifted from Quen to the broomsticks on the floor.

"You should pick those up," he pointed out.

"I know," Quen mumbled, she could feel herself blushing as she reached for the first broomstick.

"Did you follow me?" she asked suspiciously.

Ron only smiled and picked up a pile of broomsticks.

Then he spoke.

"Hehe, just curious,"

"Oh," Quen muttered, looking away towards the window.

"Where you really following me out of curiosity?" Quen blurted out after a while, absent-mindedly tossing the last broom up in the air.

Ron shrugged. "That, and the fact that Lee Jordan was just about to pull out his giant tarantula," he shuddered. "So, are you coming back to Hogwarts or not?"

"O-okay," Quen stammered.

"Well, you better hurry up. Filch'll have a fit,"

"Sure," Quen said narrowly, walking towards the door.

"Um, the door's that way,"

"Oh," Quen blushed.

The two walked toward the castle, unaware of the jealous eyes watching them from the Slytherin Tower.

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