Suddenly a familiar voice came out of the Magical Megaphone: Lee Jordan. Jordan, who was currently an announcer on the Wizarding Wireless Network’s Quidditch broadcasts, announced the first year team: ”Weasley, Potter, Malfoy, Gliech, Dokes, Quince and Jones!” The first years took a lap around the pitch. It was obvious to all that one of the girls could barely stay on her broom and a second one flew at a Knarl’s pace.
Next, Jordan introduced the Gryffindor Selected Team: “Wood, Weasley, Vance, Thistlecrowne, Harris, Woolingsbee, and Potter!” The older players few a tight formation lap. The team seemed to go out of their way to brush against their younger competitors as they flew by.
On the ground in the middle of the pitch, Madame Hooch had the two team captains shake hands. Thaddeus Vance, who towered a good foot and a half over Jones, grasped Kaitlin’s hand at the signal and tried to use his bulk to force her back. She did not give in an inch.
“Good girl,” said a voice from behind Draco. He turned to see Gwenog Jones with a look of pride on her face.
Hooch released the balls. Jimber Dokes and Kaitlin Jones moved in to block Vance and Freddy Weasley as Scorpius swept in to grab the Quaffle. After grabbing the ball, Scorpius began a slow awkward looking retreat toward his own goal. The older Chasers charged straight at him. Just as the defenders arrived, Scorpius made a blind toss to Jenelle Gliech who was slowly flying toward midfield. Dodging a Bludger, Jenelle flew forward veering to her right and drawing Thistlecrowne and Freddy Weasley toward her. As the two players converged on Gliech, she tossed the ball back to the mid field where a streaking Scorpius caught it. Quaffle tucked securely under his left arm, Scorpius sped toward the goal post drawing behind him the all of the other team’s Chasers and a near miss Bludger. As Scorpius dodged the aimed shot, he seemed to lose his balance. However, it was really a crossing pass to Albus Potter who had slipped down-field unmarked. Potter reached above his head to catch the ball and in one motion threw a perfect shot through the left most hoop. The non-Gryffindors cheered.
“Unbelievable,” said Gwenog Jones’.“First Years lead 10 nil.”
The older team counterattacked with a vengeance. With Gliech stuck in the middle of pitch and Malfoy flying low over his broomstick to get back into position the path was open for the attack. Freddy Weasley zigzagged past Quince and hit a wide open Vance with a perfect pass. Rose Weasley angled her broom to cut off the right most hoop from the on rushing Chaser. As Vance approached, Rose moved to cut Vance off from the middle hoop. Draco was impressed. The girl was already a ‘smarter’ player that her father ever had been. Just as Vance was getting his shot ready, a resounding thud was heard in the stands, and Vance dropped the ball. Jimber's Bludger had hit its target perfectly. The red ball tumbled toward the ground until Freddy Weasley scooped it up at approximately knee height and flew straight for his cousin. The two Weasleys seemed to be paired in a little dance with each other, both brooms twitched to the right and back to the left. Freddy launched his shot toward the left hoop and Rose deflected it wide. However, Thistlecrowne retrieved the ball and found the recovered Vance whose shot at the right hoop deflected off Rose’s fingers and through. ”Score tied. 10 to 10.”
The first years scored two more goals before the older team figured out how to defend against the odd attack. Meanwhile, Jimber and Rose put up an amazing defense of the hoops even though they were almost always outnumbered five on two. Jimber seemed to never miss and when his balls struck they seemed to strike with more impact than the other Beaters did. Soon Jimber found himself the target of as many Beater attacks as did Potter or Jones. While watching the game with a former player’s eye, Draco saw that it looked like Jimber had time to wind up before striking with his bat. The fact became obvious, while the boy was hanging near the gallery, Malfoy saw that the Bludger did appear to slow down as it approached Jimber and the wind up caused the ball to almost unseat Thistlecrowne twenty yards away.
Draco was just beginning to analyze the action of the ball when a small hand tugged fervently on his sleeve. He turned to find Bethany Dokes and the Potter girl looking up at him.
“Does Scorpius have any cousins?” Lily Potter asked. Draco was confused by the question.
“Why does it matter?” he replied hoping the annoyance in his voice at her question would keep the girl from asking another one.
“We need someone to marry James. So if Scorpius has a girl cousin, she can marry James,” explained the child. Draco looked down at the program Bethany was holding in her lap. On the page, lines connected Lily to Jimber, Bethany to Albus, Rose to Scorpius and James was unattached. Malfoy shook his head at the girls’ inexplicable activity and turned to face the pitch.
Suddenly, James Potter and Kaitlin Jones streaked past the visitor’s gallery sideswiping each other at about one hundred feet above the ground and in tandem both dove toward the grass field. “That Kaitlin girl, she can marry James,” said one of the small girls near Malfoy.
The adults in the gallery rose as one to follow the dive of the two Seekers who were corkscrewing around each other, flat on their broomsticks with a hand extended over the front of their handle toward a blurry golden ball. Suddenly, both players seemed to launch themselves off their brooms in a final attempt to capture the Snitch. The two players landed side by side with their hands clenched hand-in-hand.
Madame Hooch blew her whistle and quickly flew over to the crash site to see if either of the players needed medical attention. What she saw instead was the Snitch wings feebly flapping between the fingers of both players. Potter seemed to recover from the fall first and began to wrestle the ball out of the girl’s grip. When Kaitlin realized what was happening, she rolled over on top of him and began to twist James’ fingers to get the prize. Hooch repeated blew her whistle, but neither player was going to surrender the prize.
Professor Longbottom took out his wand and waved it. In the middle of the front row of the gallery box appeared a corkscrew shaped slide leading down to the pitch. Longbottom was the first to use the slide to reach the field. Draco and Isaac moved in between the Potters and the Jones in the queue to use the slide. When the adults arrived, Longbottom walked forward and placed his hands over the hands with the ball. Jones and Potter glared at the interruption of their struggle until they realized who had stopped it. The thrashing stopped, but the Snitch was not released by either player. Finally, Professor Longbottom pried the winged ball out of the two Seekers grasps.
Neville and Madame Hooch consulted for about a minute before the referee took the Snitch back to the two young players. By this time all of the players of both teams (except Quince who seemed to be stuck in the middle of the pitch twenty five feet off the ground) had arrived to support their team’s claim to the ball and the victory. Hooch placed the ball in Kaitlin’s hand and waved her wand. The ball remained still and the older players cheered. Next, the grey haired referee placed the golden ball into James Potter’s hand and waved her wand. The ball remained dormant. The first years cheered. Professor Longbottom called over Ginny Potter, Gwenog Jones and her brother Owain into a conference with Madame Hooch. Finally after a two minute consultation, the referee took the hand of James and Kaitlin intertwined their fingers and placed the Golden Snitch inside. She waved her wand and the wings of the Snitch began to flutter.
“A joint catch! One Hundred Fifty points to both teams,” shouted the referee into Lee’s megaphone. “Final Score: Gryffindor team 190 the Challengers 180.” The stadium exploded into a roar and even the Slytherins cheered.
While the game was over, the battle for the Snitch was not. Finally, James appealed to his Head of House, “Tell her Professor! We won, the Snitch is ours!”
“Only half of it is, fetch me a knife and I’ll divide it for you,” Kaitlin said, a warning glint in her brown eyes.
Suddenly, James’ face lit up. He puckered his lips and announced, “Give me a kiss and I’ll give it to you.”
Horrified, Kaitlin released the ball and James raised the Snitch in triumph, until Kaitlin planted her free hand, now balled into a fist, on his chin, knocking him seated to the ground. As the boy attempted to shake the cobwebs out of his head, Kaitlin ripped the Snitch from his hand, shoved it inside her uniform tunic, and stormed off of the field toward the changing rooms.
As Harry Potter extended his hand to help his eldest child to his feet, Ginny Potter turned toward Gwenog Jones and said, “Ah, the world famous Jones subtlety. I’ve so missed it. Are you sure she’s your daughter Owain and not Gwen’s?” Ginny’s comment was light hearted although a bit forced.
Gwenog turned toward her former protégé, and said, “Well the boy is definitely your son. Taking wild leaps without any thought of what happens to yourself or others when you reach ground zero.” Owain Jones looked from his sister back to his former World Cup teammate, awaiting Ginny’s reply.
“Yes, we’ve both done that more than once haven’t we, Gwen?” Ginny said, as she laughed and reached out to her left to pull Harry into the conversation. “Gwenog Jones this is my husband, Harry Potter. The man I loved so much that playing Quidditch became unimportant,” she added. Harry and Gwenog exchanged stiff, but pleasant nods.
Gwenog smiled and reached out her hand toward the brunette she had walked in with. Smiling at the Potters, she said, “Ginny and Harry Potter, this is Giselle LeClaire. The woman I love so much that I’m not coming back next year to play for the Harpies.”
Ginny Potter looked straight at her former mentor and asked, “So Gwen, are you going to let Rita Skeeter twist the truth or are you going out fighting?”
Draco’s watching of the little scene was interrupted by a soft, sad, familiar voice saying, “Father, I’m sorry we lost and that you had to see that.”
Draco was somewhat taken aback by his son’s comment. He had been truly impressed with his son’s effort and raw ability. He also remembered his own father’s biting disapproval after Harry Potter had snatched the Snitch from his just behind his ear in his second year game. Draco pondered for a moment and pulled his son’s bowed head next to his own and said, “Son, I’m proud of you. Sure, we both wish the scores of the game were reversed, but it was five-and-a-half against seven out there. Next season, after a year of practice, I will expect victory. However, today is a day for pride.”
Draco looked to his left and saw Isaac Dokes in a bear hug with Jimber. Such vulgar displays might be fine for them, but they were not Malfoys. Draco grasped his son by the arm and openly congratulated him on his good play. Scorpius was surprised by his father’s un-Malfoy-like public display of emotion and decided never let his grandfather know it had occurred.