The Eye of the Storm

Bat to the Head

The worst part of Ron being poisoned was McLaggen. Ron was recovering in the hospital, but as usual the one thing Hogwarts was concerned about was Quidditch. McLaggen had replaced Ron as Keeper until he recovered. It was a good thing Harry had placed me as Chaser, because if I had a bat I would be bashing McLaggen in the head.

McLaggen was rude, brash and arrogant. He tried to act like the captain and undermine Harry's authority.  He was condescending. He lectured the players when they did something wrong. Harry routinely stop practice to get McLaggen in line.

Not to mention that he didn't care about the team at all. He never passed the ball, even in situations where it would cost us points.

Every time I went to visit Ron in the hospital, Lav would give me passive aggressive hell. I tried to ignore it. I had enough on my plate without thinking about her. I had tried visiting Ron with Hermione, but I always felt like a third wheel. Besides Lav only became more upset that Hermione was visiting him as well.

Ever since Ron's poisoning, Draco seemed worse and worse each night. I didn't know what it meant, except something big was coming. I tried to convince myself that he just knew about, but there was no way he could be involved. Then sometimes I would look into his eyes and see something dangerous. Like a caged wild animal.

The fear that spread through school after Ron being hospitalized was drowned out by Quidditch. Typical. Practices were harder and often. House tensions were at a high. This meant that Harry was obsessing over Malfoy again. I tried to ignore him.

On the day of the Quidditch match, Harry was late. Ginny and I were already changed, as was the rest of the team. McLaggen took Harry's absence as an invitation to give orders. The annoying part was that they were kinda good.

Ginny and I shared and look. We both knew how much each of us wanted punch him. Katie walked in between us and put her arms over our shoulders.

"Just don't punch him until after the game," Katie whispered to us.

Thankfully Harry came bursting into the locker room just in time. I walked over to my locker and grabbed my broom.

When I turned around broom in hand, Harry was angrily marching out to the field. We followed. We kicked off and the game started. I glanced down and saw that Luna Lovegood was doing commentary.

"And that's Smith of Hufflepuff with the Quaffle," said a dreamy voice, echoing over the grounds. "He did the commentary last time, of course, and Ginny Weasley flew into him, I think probably on purpose, it looked like it. Smith was being quite rude about Gryffindor, I expect he regrets that now he's playing them — oh, look, he's lost the Quaffle, Ginny took it from him, I do like her, she's very nice. . . ."

Ginny chucked the Quaffle at me. I grabbed it and flew for the Hufflepuff goal. Ginny started ahead of me and positioned herself in front of the Keeper. I tossed the ball to her. Ginny turned to through it in the goal. Just as it left her hand a member of the other team stole it.

I chased him down, flying in his blind spot. He turned to throw it to another teammate. I flew over his head and intercepted it. I barreled all the way to the other side of the field. Ginny followed and played defense for me.

I scored.

I smiled and turned to look and Ginny, but she was being ridiculed by McLaggen. I flew back to the middle of the field where she was now.

"McLaggen, will you pay attention to what you're supposed to be doing and leave everyone else alone!" bellowed Harry, wheeling around to face the Keeper.

"You're not setting a great example!" McLaggen shouted back, red-faced and furious.

"And Harry Potter's now having an argument with his Keeper," said Luna serenely, while both Hufflepuffs and Slytherins below in the crowd and jeered. "I don't think that'll help him find the Snitch, but maybe it's a clever ruse. . . ."

For the remainder of the game, Ginny, Demelza and I used the trio formation we had practiced. It allowed us even out the score.

Harry was yelling something at McLaggen. We turned to see what it was. The Keeper has stolen on the the Beaters bats and was trying to tell him how to do his job. It seemed that McLaggen didn't know what he was saying, because he hit the ball in the wrong direction and it flew into Harry's head.

Blood poured from Harry's head, and he tipped off his broom. I dove towards Harry and caught him half way to the ground. I steered us towards the ground safely. The professors rushed to the field and Harry was carted away to the Hospital Wing.

The whole team watched him go.

"The game will continue in five minutes," said the professor acting as referee.

"What?" I exclaimed. "But our Seeker isn't here!"

The referee sighed. "It's either that or you forfeit the match."

The whole team looked at each other.

"We'll play," said Ginny.

"Harry wouldn't want us to give up," said McLaggen.

"Fuck off," snapped Ginny.

"You don't get to talk," I told him.

He opened his mouth, but shut it abruptly when he saw our faces.

"Who cares wether Harry wanted us to give up or not," I said and turned to the team. "Do we want to give up? Or do we want to go down with a fight."

Okay, maybe I was being a little dramatic for a Quidditch game, but this was Hogwarts and most of the team had known Oliver Wood.

We ended up losing. Without a Seeker we didn't stand a chance. We stayed true to our word and put up a good fight though.

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Hey Everyone, I can't believe this book is almost over.

Forever and Always,

Me.