Finding my way Home

Chapter 3 Celebrations gone wrong

Eventually, the leprechauns flew off to the opposite side of the field from the veela, crossing their legs as they settled in to watch the match.

And what a match it turned out to be.

Ireland scored the first goal, and I jumped up and down on my feet, cheering with everyone else as Troy did a celebratory lap around the field while the green-clad crowd screamed in delight. I had always loved watching Quidditch at school, especially with so many of my friends being on the Gryffindor team, but I realized as I watched the World Cup final that the professional teams were just on a completely different level. The Irish Chasers seemed to read each others' minds as they flew in tight formations and then spread out suddenly only to converge at some unspoken signal, moving as one well-oiled machine. Their plays were fast and accurate too, and only ten minutes into the game I found myself on my feet again and clapping as the Irish team scored their third goal. Very quickly though, the match turned violent as the Bulgarian Beaters started to smash Bludgers as hard as possible at the Irish Chasers to try and mess with their play. After a few minutes of this, the Bulgarians managed to grab the Quaffle and finally dodged the Irish Keeper, Ryan - and Ivanova scored.

"Fingers in your ears!" I heard Mr. Weasley roar at the boys.

I laughed at them as everyone was quick to follow his orders while Hermione, Ginny and I just continued to boo with the rest of the female Irish crowd while the Bulgarians roared triumphantly and the veela danced victoriously.

The game recommenced; when suddenly Krum turned into a sharp dive. The entire crowd gasped as Ireland's Seeker, Lynch, followed Krum quickly and the two Seekers cut through the Chasers in their mad descent. But as I watched them through my Omnioculars, I was puzzled as I couldn't see the Snitch anywhere.

"Merlin's Beard! It's a trick!" Bill gasped from beside me just as Hermione screamed from the far side, "They're going to crash!"

Hermione turned out to be only half right for once: I winced as Lynch smashed into the ground while Krum sped off after pulling up out of the dive at the very last second with a skill I'd never seen before. Groans filled the stadium while Bill shook his head regretfully.

"He should have realized Krum was feinting." Bill muttered as a timeout was called so mediwizards could check on Lynch while Krum continued to search for the Snitch unhindered.

"I've never seen anything like that though." I said, torn between awe and annoyance that our team's Seeker was injured.

"Probably because the Wronski Feint is really dangerous." Bill shrugged, still eyeing Krum. "It's risky if you're not a brilliant flyer, since you risk being ploughed yourself if you don't pull up fast enough. And if you pull up too fast, your opponent has time to follow too and the feint fails."

I nodded, watching Krum too in admiration. I could see now why the Weasley boys had been so confident (and in Ron's case, star-struck) in Krum. His skill was above even professional levels and that he was only eighteen made it all the more incredible.

Lynch soon rejoined the game, amidst loud cheers from the Irish supporters, and within the next fifteen minutes, Ireland managed to score ten more goals. I was starting to grow a bit nervous at the score gap, not because I was starting to support Ireland less but because I was fully expecting the game to get dirtier as Bulgaria grew more desperate. I had witnessed just how foul the game could get last year in the Quidditch final against Slytherin, and I was not looking forward to seeing potential repeats. It was as I thought this that the Bulgarian Keeper flew out to meet the Irish Chaser and smashed her in the face with his elbow.

A penalty was awarded to Ireland, causing the Irish mascots (who had originally risen in anger like the crowd) to gather in formation to write the giant words "HA HA HA!" This caused the veela on the other side of the pitch to toss their hair angrily and, getting to their feet, start to dance again. The boys around me stuffed their fingers in their ears once again although Bill grinned at me. I smiled back, highly entertained at the figure he cut with his fingers in his ears, when loud laughter made me turn back to the pitch. At the sight that met my eyes, I burst into giggles and I turned to Bill to gesture for him to look as well.