When Myths Meet Magic || 5

23|| Hazel

The Quidditch match, Hufflepuff versus Gryffindor, was too easy. Hazel flew up on her Nimbus 2000 and immediately tailed Annabeth, who had grabbed the Quaffle first. As Annabeth threw the ball to Angelina, it hit Zachariah on the shoulder; he had been trying to intercept it— and it plummeted into Heidi, the other Hufflepuff Chaser's arms. She passed the ball to Hazel who zoomed away, making sharp turns and sudden loops as to throw off Jason, who definitely was slowing her broom down. Mid-turn, She threw it back to Zachariah who in turn tossed it to Heidi who took aim and fired. It was an awful, slow, spinning off fingers throw and Heidi had already begun her apologies when it bounced off Ron's broom and into the goalpost.

The crowd went wild with clapping, cheering, laughter, and in the Slytherins case, a new round of Weasley Is Our King.

After another fourteen points of Ron trying to swim to the ball rather than fly to it, Hazel looked upwards to see if Cedric had made any progress with his Seeking. But he and Ginny Weasley were still circling above the stands, each trying to go higher than the other. They were distant specks in the air, and Hazel doubted they were paying attention to the match. But she was proved wrong when Ginny went in a sudden dive towards the Gryffindor posts, her arm extended. There were shouts of anticipation, Ron turned eagerly to see what was going on— his broom swept a clean circle around him and Ginny reeled back lest she get knocked off her own broom, and in her hesitation, the Snitch disappeared.

A moan of disappointment rang out through the Gryffindor stands. Ron's face, which was already beet red, now looked like so much blood had gone to his face he was going to explode.

Seizing the Quaffle which Ron had accidentally tossed to her, Hazel threw it immediately back through the goal. On the other side, Heidi caught it and threw it back to her, and she scored again, but this time Annabeth darted in front of the falling ball and knocked it from Heidi's hands. Jason snatched it and sailed across the pitch when a bludger sailed past his head. He swerved to the side and rolled under his broom, but as he ducked, Zachariah wrestled the Quaffle from his hands. Jason kept a firm grip, and they tugged back and forth as their brooms tried to pull their owners apart.

Madam Hooch blew her whistle. "Penalty for Gryffindor!" She yelled, but no one could be mad. It was almost like a pity point, thought Hazel as she glanced at the score which read 170 Hufflepuff, 0 Gryffindor. Well, now it was 170 Hufflepuff, 10 Gryffindor, as Jason was scoring.

As they darted back into play, Hazel circled around the Slytherin stands for a moment until she found Piper.

"Tell your boyfriend to stop cheating," she teased accusingly. Piper rolled her eyes and Hazel flew back to formation. Meanwhile, Zachariah and Heidi had managed to score a total of four more times. The score was now 210 to 10.

Angelina grabbed the Quaffle and took off zooming high into the air at a steep incline. Heidi pelted after her while Zachariah began to hover below them and Hazel circled to guard Annabeth and Jason. But Angelina crossed the full pitch and, looping around the back of the goalposts, flew under them and scored at a terrific angle.

210 / 20.

Annabeth, who Hazel hadn't noticed in her enraptured watching of Angelina, caught the ball Angelina threw to her. She passed it to Jason who in turn threw it back to Angelina who threw it directly upwards and Annabeth caught it and threw it with a curve into the middle goalpost.

210 / 30. This time, Andy, the new Hufflepuff Keeper, flew to the back and caught it before Angelina could. He chucked it to Heidi who detoured around the stands and wove between the players in a complicated path through the pitch. She threw it to Zachariah who flew in a straight path, faking several turns and throwing it at the left goalpost. Ron, still hovering around the right, lunged forward without actually moving, and nearly flipped off his broom.

220 / 30.

Jason grabbed the falling Quaffle and rocketed off to the other side, arcing high before twisting and throwing it in a curve to the right post. Annabeth caught it as it passed through, the force pushing her back a few meters before she passed it to Angelina off to the side who dipped down low then flying closer then making a sharp turn into another arc, forming a sort of heart-shape, and pinned it neatly in the goal. As Andy reached out to catch it, Annabeth intercepted the ball and chased after it as it fell. She grabbed it and threw it to Angelina, but Zachariah nearly crashed into her trying to intercept it. The Quaffle tumbled downwards, rather slowly, and Jason snatched it up as he threw it at the center goal— Andy caught it before it could clear the hoop and he passed it to Zachariah who tried to send it to Heidi but was intercepted by Annabeth; the Quaffle was nothing but a blur as it nearly took off Zachariah's head and flew into the left goal.

Cheering erupted from the Gryffindor stands and suddenly there were cries of excitement and many pointing as Ginny and Cedric suddenly dove down the pitch towards the Ravenclaw section— it was a race between the two seekers— it was nearly impossible to see who grabbed it when they slowed, Ginny with her fist raised in the air.

The final score was 220 to 210.

Hazel was beaming too hard to take notice of Ron's brilliant purple face. She hugged Heidi and high-fived Duke and Hudson, the beaters, before quickly going to change her sweat and sun-soaked robes.

The following Monday morning, her eyes were still drooping with heaviness. Her long-procrastinated homework had kept her up all night in her need for an E (exceeded expectations), and as some older Hufflepuff students had nipped extra food from the kitchens right next door, the small Hufflepuff party had taken up the evening after the game until night.

Dragging her feet into a chair, Hazel barely had time to sit down when Nico and Annabeth waltzed up to the Hufflepuff table, a newspaper clutched tightly in hand.

"Did you see?" Nico burst eagerly as he smacked Will with the rolled up paper to get his attention.

"See what?" Ernie Macmillan asked from the opposite side of Frank, leaning forward to steal Susan's bacon.

"The Quibbler—" Annabeth began, but was cut off by Hannah Abbott's snort as she sprayed pumpkin juice over Hazel's face.

"Not the paper edited by Loony Lovegood's father?" She asked as Hazel mopped up her face.

"The very same," Annabeth said icily.

"What've they got this time?" Justin asked, fighting to keep a straight face.

"What's up with all this hate to the Nibbler?" Will asked.

"The Quibbler," Nico corrected. "And it's just... odd."

"Yes, well moving on," Annabeth said impatiently. "Look!"

She unfurled the paper over the potatoes and the Hufflepuffs peered at it.

Harry Potter Speaks Out At Last: The Truth About He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named And The Night I Saw Him Return

"Ooh!" Hannah said, evidently forgetting her initial incredulousness. "Let's see it!"

But Nico snatched the paper back.

"Uh-uh," he said, wiggling his finger. "This is my copy."

"It's mine," Annabeth corrected him. "I paid for it."

"You want your own, you order one," Nico continued.

"Where do we get a Kibbler—"

"Quibbler."

"Just send an owl," Annabeth replied vaguely. "Now we've got to get to class, see you around! And Hazel," she added before they left. "Nice game yesterday."

Hazel grinned. "You too," she said truthfully. It wasn't Annabeth and Jason's fault they lost, it was, not to point fingers, all Ron and the beaters' fault.

"Well, Cara just left," said Justin, looking at where the owls left. "I'm going to the Owlery, see you guys at charms?"

They left the Great Hall, still talking about what could possibly be in the news article.

"My mother says Harry's a load of dung," Hannah said that night as they read and re-read the article. "She sent me an owl earlier, saying I can't read the Quibbler."

"And you still are?" Will said, eyes wide in mock astonishment.

Hannah hit him on the head with the news article.