Once and for All

Chapter 12

"No one told me it'd be the Antarctic over here," Ron muttered, shivering in his seat. They had gotten fairly close seats since they were family of one of the players, but that didn't mean it was any warmer.
"Hey, at least you're not playing in it," Harry replied, wrapping his jacket tighter around him. The Holyhead Harpies stadium was huge-not as big as the World' Cups but still impressive, with yellow and green banners swaying in the freezing wind and the field painted with their moving mascot, which appeared to be cawing and swiping its talons threateningly. The line for concessions was trailing far from the window, which is where George and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were still waiting. Bill and Charlie were still on their way.
"Who's she playing, anyway?" Ron asked.
"This women's team from Spain, I think," Harry replied, wishing he remembered more. "Dunno what their name is, though."
"They're the Biting Bats," Hermione replied, shivering. "Founded in 1304, nearly a century after the Harpies were founded."
Harry snorted. "A bat? That's pathetic."
"Exactly," she agreed. "Ginny's going to squash them."
"Well, I'd rather watch it in Spain than here," Ron muttered disapprovingly, pulling his hood up.
"Honestly, Ron, man up already," Hermione chastised. "My hands are freezing but you don't hear me moaning like Myrtle, do you?"
"First off, you never said that you were freezing so I couldn't have known-here." Ron grabbed a blanket next to him and put it over Hermione, in a rather annoyed manner that still seemed strangely affectionate to Harry. "Second, did you just compare me to Moaning Myrtle? I threw a book at her head, remember?"
"Is that an invitation for me to follow that motion?" Hermione immediately shot back, glaring, and Harry, expecting another argument, was surprised when Ron instead grinned before kissing her.
Unfortunately, George and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley arrived right at that moment. Pretending not to see anything, Mrs. Weasley said quite loudly to them, "Are you sure you're bundled up enough, dears? Ronald, you were shivering."
"And complaining," Hermione added as Ron broke away to glare at her.
"Was not-!"
"Here," Mrs. Weasley said in her no-nonsense voice as she threw a blanket at Ron before moving further down the bench. "And not a word more from you, you're perfectly old enough to know how to dress warm."
Mr. Weasley followed, carrying a large amount of warm butter beers, chips, and sandwiches, which he passed or to everyone.
George sat to the left of Harry, on the opposite side of his parents. "Want to try some?" He muttered to Harry, discreetly showing him an open bottle.
"Firewhiskey?" Harry whispered back skeptically. "Isn't that supposed to burn your mouth off?"
"That's what makes it good. Don't tell Ron, though, or he'll want the whole thing."
Harry nodded and took a cautious sip, immediately choking as it burned his throat. George thumped him on the back as Harry tried to control his watering eyes.
"That's disgusting," He said in a slightly choked yet awed voice before sipping his butter beer to get the sting out.
"Don't worry, you'll man up to it after a couple more sips. Might want to keep your voice for the match, though-it's about to start. Bill and Charlie better get here soon."
Right after he said so, the announcers voice cut through the night stadium. "Greetings, witches and wizards! We are now five minutes away from the first HOLYHEAD HARPIES and BITING BATS match, so if you could quickly take your seats we'll begin shortly."
George shook his head in disgust. "If Ginny loses to a team with a pathetic name as that, I'll never let her hear the end of it."
"She won't," Harry replied confidently. "She's been working on a ton of new tricks."
"This'll be interesting to watch," George mused, sipping the firewhiskey with hardly anything more than a grimace.
Sure enough, when the match started five minutes later, the Holyhead Harpies burst out on their brooms, a trail of gold and green sparks shooting from the back of their brooms as they swerved around, the sparks forming the claw mascot mid-air.
"There's Ginny!" Ron yelled, pointing at where her red hair was zooming around, a gold 3 on her back.
"I KNOW!" Harry yelled back, whooping as loudly as he could.
After them came the Bats, which looked surprisingly intimidating, with black cloaks and serious expressions. As they swarmed around with similar sparks from their brooms, it formed a menacing looking large bat that snarled and swooped towards the crowd before disintegrating, causing many to yelp in surprise.
"Aggressive, much?" George muttered, glaring at the team swooping around.
"Okay, am I the only one who thinks there's a bunch of female snapes on the field?" Ron muttered, and Harry spewed butter beer, choking with laughter.
      "Great, now I'm never getting that out of my head," George muttered, annoyed as the three snorted with laughter.
       Bill and Charlie arrived ten minutes into the game, exclaiming how long the ticket line was. "We should've bought some ahead of time," Charlie moaned. "I was so busy with getting the Ridgeback under control, I completely lost track of time-"
      "Look at that!" Ron interrupted, looking through his Omnioculars and clearly not listening as Ginny swooped in and scored the first goal. "Blimey, that was fast!"
     The game did prove to be terribly close though, as the bats played almost as dirty as the Slytherins. Harry called at least two foulplays that the refs did not count, and was growing increasingly frustrated with her seeker. "Come on, it was right there," he muttered angrily as she barely missed it when a Bat seeker swooped over and blocked her. "Unbelievable-"
      He was so immersed in the game that it took him awhile before he realized who the unusually silent person behind him was. "Mr. Whiffler!" He exclaimed suddenly as he turned around to grab his butterbeer. The man looked at Harry with his usual serious expression, though this time it had a bit of shock mixed in. "What're you doing here?"
      Ron, George and Hermione turned around in interest to see this curious figure, who was dressed almost completely in black. "You're not supporting the Bats, are you?" Ron asked suspiciously, taking in his clothes.
        "Course not," he replied, though his eyes were fixed on Harry. "Truth to be told, I'm not here for the game at all. Though I'm surprised Harry realized the same conclusion as I did-truly remarkable friend you've got there."
       "Er-" said Harry, completely lost. "Actually, we're here for the game. My girlfriend-"
       "How could you not have seen it?" He hissed, making Harry jump back in surprise as he clutched the collar of Harry's shirt to shake him. "Don't you see? This was Bluffer's next target!"
      "What?" Harry said in a low voice, jerking out of his grip, his head spinning. "How can you be sure?"
       "Because of the wand!" He hissed impatiently. "I stole-" suddenly he stopped himself, and instead glared at the alarmed crowd of listeners he had gained, which now included the while Weasley family.
       "Stole what?" Harry asked. "A wand? Surely not his-"
           "I can't say here," he muttered, fumbling for parchment and scribbling a note before folding it and handing it to Harry. "Just know that I'm positive Bluffer's here, and his next target is somewhere here. I've seen two of his partners here already-have to follow them."
        With that he turned and ascended the stairs, with many stares at his back.
         "Who was that?" Mrs. Weasley demanded, her hand still on her wand, eyes narrowed.
         "His boss," Ron explained, still looking alarmed. "Blimey Harry, you weren't kidding-he's a real nut."
          "Guess he really likes the game," Charlie said, who hadn't heard most of the conversation, and Mr and Mrs. Weasley reluctantly turned around, casting concerned looks at Harry.
        "What does the note say?" Hermione muttered to Harry, who quickly jerked out of his frozen state and opened it.
        In a hasty scrawl, it read:
CONFIDENTIAL
I stole one of the wands he used against a muggle as evidence, using Priori Incantam to track his movements. There's a pattern-he's after someone here. Keep your eyes open.
     "Ginny," Harry immediately whispered, causing Ron to glance at him with a terrified look.
      "It can't be, it's a whole stadium full of people-"
        "Ron, what are the chances Draco would say Death Eaters are after her, and one is right here with a target to kill someone?" Harry hissed, clenching the paper tightly in his fists. "We need to-"
     Suddenly a collective gasp rose from the stadium, followed by Mrs. Weasley's scream. Harry spun around just in time to see a player slam into Ginny and see her slip off her broom.

Hey everyone, sorry for the huge cliffhanger buuuuttt....is this an attempt on Ginny's life?????? What else does Whiffler know that he's not telling Harry(which seems to happen in every book lol)?
     Comment what you think!