Stay - Mattheo Riddle

Hufflepuff v Gryffindor 2

Kirra woke early on Saturday morning and lay for a while thinking about the coming Quidditch match as she mentally thanked merlin that the mandrake leaf was still in her mouth and that she hadn't swallowed it in her sleep. 

Her and Nott had both put the leaves in the night of the full moon, and they were determined not to let the leaf leave their mouth otherwise they would have to wait till the next full moon and start all over again. 

As she began to think about quidditch again, she was nervous, mainly at the thought of what Blythe would say if Hufflepurff lost, but also at the idea of facing a team that her brother and two of her best friends were on. 

She had known that no matter what, she had to try her best and try to catch the sitch for her team, they were counting on her after all. After half an hour of lying there with her insides churning and whiskers sitting on her stomach getting pats, she got up, dressed, and went down to breakfast early, where she found the rest of the Hufflepuff team huddled at the long, empty table, all looking uptight and not speaking much. 

As eleven o'clock approached, the whole school started to make its way down to the Quidditch stadium. It was a muggy sort of day with a hint of thunder in the air. JJ, Theodore and Blaise had gone down to the Hufflepuff tent and wished her good luck before she went in there, and told her that she had to catch the snitch.

Kirra couldn't help but wish that Maxine had come down to wish her good luck, but she was happy her other friends did. The team pulled on their Yellow and black Hufflepuff robes, then sat down to listen to Blyhtes's usual pre-match pep talk.

"Gryffindor is a tuff team to beat and we know that they have got could players and this is going to be a hard match," he began. "No point denying it. But we have got more teamwork, we are going to work together to win this. We've trained harder than they have, we've been flying in all weathers, and not to mention our seeker is the best one this school has ever seen—" ("Too true," muttered Ashleigh, one of the chasers and the players around the room nodded their heads. 

 Chest heaving with emotion, Blythe turned to Kirra. "It'll be down to you, Kirra, to show them that Hufflepuff isn't a useless house, we won the quidditch cup last year and we will do it again. Get to that Snitch before Harry or die trying, Kirra, because we've got to win today, we've got to."

 "So no pressure, Kirra," said Ashleigh, winking at her. As they walked out onto the pitch, a roar of noise greeted them; mainly cheers, because Slytherin and raven were anxious to see Gryffindor beaten by Hufflepuff.

Madam Hooch, the Quidditch teacher, asked Blythe and Wood to shake hands, which they did, giving each other threatening stares and gripping rather harder than was necessary. "On my whistle," said Madam Hooch. "Three . . . two . . . one . . ."

With a roar from the crowd to speed them upward, the fourteen players rose toward the leaden sky. Kirra flew higher than any of them, squinting around for the Snitch. 

"So are you ready to lose lil Hufflepuff?" yelled Fred playfully, and he and his twin grinned up at the girl. Kirra had no time to reply. At that very moment, a heavy black Bludger came pelting toward her; she avoided it so narrowly that she felt it ruffle her hair as it passed. 

"Close one, Kirra!" said Amina (Hufflepuff beater), streaking past her with her club in her hand, ready to knock the Bludger right at Fred. Kirra saw Amina give the Bludger a powerful whack in the direction of Fred Weasley, but the Bludger changed direction in midair and shot straight for Kirra again. 

Kirra dropped quickly to avoid it, and the other Hufflepuff beater managed to hit it hard toward Angelina Johnson. Once again, the Bludger swerved like a boomerang and shot at Kirra's head. Kirra put on a burst of speed and zoomed toward the other end of the pitch.