Chapter 14: Quidditch through the ages

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"What on Earth are you doing?" Gwen asked when she entered back into the warm dorm after her morning shower. Angelina was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed and humming to herself.

"I'm meditating. Helps you calm your nerves down." Angelina replied with her eyes still closed and then presumed with her humming.

Today was the first Quidditch game of the season and everyone was feeling anxious.

"Okay then. Come on get up, we have to get ready." Gwen told Angelina as she took out her Quidditch uniform from her trunk. "Shh. You're messing with my mojo!"

Alicia sighed once she finished polishing her broomstick. "Just let her be, she'll be ready when she is." Gwen nodded her head and got dressed.

After she changed, she grabbed her broomstick that laid with Angelina's by the window. She took one look out of the window and one glance of the weather was enough to make her shiver.

"This is very depressing," Gwen stated as she kept looking at the grey clouds and pouring rain. "The weather is only getting worse, it's going to be a hard game."

Alicia went behind her and placed her hands on her shoulders as a source of comfort. "There's nothing to worry about. It's only a little rain, what's the worst thing that could happen?" Gwen refrained from saying anything else.

Both Gwen and Alicia knew that it was indeed something to worry about, despite their attempts to make things better. "I'm going to get some breakfast."

Gwen grabbed her broom and a hairband to tie her unruly hair up. "See you later."

The nervous girl descended left the Common Room. She could hear Sir Cadogan yell after her but Gwen paid no attention to the babbling idiot.

"Oh suck it! I'm not in the mood this morning!" Gwen yelled in annoyance. The last thing she needed was a headache.

The Great Hall was nearly empty at that hour since the game didn't start until the afternoon.

Gwen sat at the table, placing her Nimbus 2000 beside her. While she was pulling her hair up in a ponytail she felt the presence of someone sitting in front of her.

Gwen looked up and gave a smile. "Well, hello there Harry. How may I help you?" Gwen asked as she checked her reflection in the silver goblet.

"Listen, I've been meaning to ask you this for some time, it's about the dementors," Harry explained.

Gwen shivered a bit at the mention of the dreadful creatures. "What about them?" She asked, grabbing a bowl of porridge. She hoped that Harry couldn't detect the fright in her voice that she tried to hide.

"You remember the effect they had on you and I. Do you know anyway, a spell of some sort, to get rid of them?" Harry asked with desperation in his voice. Gwen dropped her spoon gently in her bowl.

"I do know of a spell, the Patronus Charm but I haven't been able to cast it. It's difficult to master. You have to think of a happy memory and cast the incantation. May sound easy but trust me it isn't."

Gwen noticed the way that Harry's face died down at the news. Her heart ached for him, she could tell how much the dementors bothered him.

Gwen reached out and grabbed his hand causing Harry to look up instantly. "I'm sorry that I'm not of much help but maybe you could ask Professor Lupin. I'm sure he would be happy to help."

Gwen saw the rest of the team arrive in a group that was lead by Oliver. Oliver had a look so intense and focused that Gwen mistook it for constipation.

Fred and George sat on both sides of Gwen. "What were you two talking about?" George asked as he grabbed a piece of toast and started to butter it.

"Harry here was telling me that he was feeling nervous about the match. But I reassured him that he'll do great." Gwen covered for Harry and gave him a wink. She knew that Harry probably didn't want to share his fear of the deadly creatures.

A rumble of thunder was heard and lightning lit the Great Hall. The entire Quidditch team looked up at the enchanted ceiling with a look of horror flashing across their faces.

Gwen swore that she heard Oliver let out an odd gulp. Angelina who was next to him placed a hand on his shoulder for reassurance.

"Stop worrying, Oliver," said Alicia soothingly, "we don’t mind a bit of rain." But everyone knew that it was anything but a little rain.

When the team was finished with their breakfast (except for Oliver who didn't eat anything) they all grabbed their broomsticks, hoisted them over their shoulders and made way for the Gryffindor locker room.

Everyone was so nervous and worried that they didn't even speak to one another.

Even Oliver's pre-match speech didn't commence as the Captain wasn't able to. Angelina started to mediate again while Harry was polishing his broom nervously.

Gwen unlaced and redid her shoelaces to make sure that they were secured enough and tried to put her gloves on her shaking hands. Fred noticed Gwen's shaking hands and quickly went up to lend a helping hand.

"Let me get them for you," Fred said as he reached his hands out for the gloves. Gwen gave him the pair with a sigh.

"There's no need to worry Gwen. You'll do fine, we all will, you just need to calm down." Fred reassured and proceeded to the other glove.

"I know that but I just can't help it," Gwen explained. Fred made sure that the gloves were on right.

"We'll be fine. We are way better than those Hufflepuffs and Harry is the best Seeker in the school. Way better than Cedric." Fred added which made Gwen sigh at the insult but didn't say anything else.

She took her hands out of Fred's and grabbed a pair of goggles from a pile on one of the benches.

The whole team noticed that Oliver had stood up and turned their attention to him. Angelina finally opened her eyes and uncrossed her legs.

The Captain opened his mouth but only a series of strange noises came out. He then shook his head hopelessly and beckoned them to follow him outside after grabbing a pair of goggles.

Gwen felt a strong, cold wind as soon as she left the Locker Rooms. The stands were full of students and teachers covering themselves with a bunch of different colours of umbrellas.

From the opposite side of the Pitch came the Hufflepuffs wearing canary yellow Quidditch robes which made them impossible to miss.

Oliver and Cedric walked up to each other and shook the other's hand. Cedric gave him his signature smile but Oliver simply looked back with a blank stare.

Before Cedric went into his position, he smiled at Gwen quickly and mouthed 'Good luck' along with a cocky smirk. Gwen replied with a playful roll of the eyes.

Gwen saw Madam Hooch’s mouth form the words, “Mount your brooms.” No sound could be heard with the loud wind in the player's ears. Gwen removed her right foot from a muddle of mud and swung it over her broom.

The loud whistle was still heard despite the stormy weather and all the Quidditch players rose into the air.

The Quidditch game had begun.

It didn't even take three minutes until Gwen was soaking wet. She couldn't see well through the harsh storm and found it difficult to find her teammates.

"GWEN!" Gwen listened to where the voice was coming from and saw a Quaffle flying towards her. Gwen could see a figure which she guessed was Alicia because she knew her voice so well.

Gwen gripped the Quaffle tighter, holding it to her side for it not to slip and fall. She raced her broom towards the hoops when she was hit by the back of one of the Hufflepuff beater's brooms.

Gwen knew it was unintentional when the Beater apologized, clearly not being able to see either.

The keeper, a girl named Celeste, was looking at the right side of the pitch. Gwen quickly threw the ball with all the strength she could muster and it passed through the left hoop.

The game went on for a few more minutes. Gwen scored once more, Angelina twice and Alicia three times, while two shots were scored from the Hufflepuffs.

Gwen at one point was also hit in the foot by a bludger. Gwen exhaled deeply when she heard the whistle and quickly splashed down into the mud.

“I called for a time-out!” Wood roared at his team.

“Come on, under here-" The soaking wet team huddled at the edge of the field under a large umbrella. Gwen brought her hands to her face to wiped off some of the rainwater and then reached down to touch her foot which was throbbing in pain.

“What’s the score?” Harry asked as he wiped his glasses on his robes. “We’re fifty points up,” said Wood, “but unless we get the Snitch soon, we’ll be playing into the night.”

“I’ve got no chance with these on,” Harry said exasperatedly, waving his glasses. An idea suddenly came to Gwen. "Wait! I have an idea. Does anyone have their wand with them?" Gwen asked thinking of her wand that she placed in her locker for safekeeping.

Angelina shook her head, causing water to spray all the players. "Of course not! Who would be stupid enough to bring it with them while playing?! It would have snapped in two the minute we started playing!"

Well, the mediating didn't work.

Gwen sighed. "You're too smart for that," Gwen looked at the twins. "So... Do you have your wand?" She asked. The twins raised their eyebrows simultaneously. "NO!" The replied. Gwen raised her hands, saying sorry.

Just then Hermione appeared. “I’ve had an idea, Harry! Give me your glasses, quick!” Harry handed them to her and the team watched in amazement as Hermione tapped them with her wand, “Impervius!”

“There!” she said, handing the glasses back to Harry. Gwen looked at the third year Gryffindor. “They’ll repel water!” Hermione explained.

It was a different idea from what Gwen had thought. Her idea was to cast an Episkey spell to fix his eyesight and now that she thought about it, it probably wouldn't have worked. Everyone has their dumb moments.

Wood looked as though he could have kissed her. “Brilliant!” he called hoarsely after her as she disappeared into the crowd. “Okay, team, let’s go for it!”

The Gryffindor team were back in the air and this time they were a little bit more optimistic. The game continued and Gwen tried her best to find the Quaffle, except the weather was only getting worse.

Then suddenly Gwen felt colder than before if that was even possible, and she looked down and saw about a hundred dementors. Gwen felt weaker and dizzier she tried to shrug it off. However, that failed when she saw a figure falling from the sky.

She knew who was the victim when a broomstick came towards her, which she dodged right in time. She recognized it as Harry's Nimbus 2000.

It was then that she started to panic, Gwen flew towards Harry not caring that the dementors were still there. But by the time she reached them, they were already gone as a silvery mist passed through the ghastly creatures.

Gwen jumped off her broom when she was a few feet away from the ground.

Gwen went near his body and panicked. "Harry, Harry!" She started shaking him desperately hoping to get a response. Gwen was tearing up when nothing happened.

The rest of the team arrived shortly after Gwen and they went closer to Harry and kneeled next to him. "Is he-?" Alicia asked with panic in her voice.

Gwen wasn't sure and didn't say anything. She instead grabbed Harry's arm and placed two fingers on his wrist, trying to find a pulse.

Gwen gave out a sigh of relief when she felt his heartbeat, even if it was unsteady but at least it meant that he was alive. "He's alive," Gwen announced and the entire team felt instant relief.

"Get out of the way! We need to take him to the Wing this instant!" Gwen looked up and saw Madame Pomfrey, a couple of teachers and a stretcher floating in mid-air.

The team stepped away from the unconscious boy and saw him getting lifted on the stretcher from the sidelines.

Madame Pomfrey took off with the stretcher floating behind her. Gwen shared a quick look with Fred and George and then they all speed up after Harry and the nurse.

The only one from the team who wasn't with them was Oliver who was conversing with Madame Hooch and Cedric.

"No, you won fair in square. Congratulations." Gwen heard Oliver say in a depressing tone as they passed by them.

Gwen was upset by their loss of the game but she was more concerned and worried about Harry.

At first, they weren't allowed to enter the Wing as Madame Pomfrey said that he needed some time to rest. Half an hour or so later, the doors opened and Professor McGonagall along with Flitwick and Lupin came out.

They took it as a sign that they were pretty much allowed to enter.

When she looked into the hospital wing, Gwen was relieved to see Harry lying on the bed and Madame Pomfrey nowhere in sight.

Gwen took the lack of the nurse as a good thing since he might be in a good enough state to be left alone.

George was the first to enter the Hospital room, underneath the mud he was looking rather pale, and sat down next to the bed.

Gwen could see that his head was bandaged and his face was decorated with a few scars. His round glasses were stained with the brown-greyish mud.

Gwen, who like the rest of the team was covered head to toe in mud, reached out and got a hold of his glasses and wiped them with a tissue paper. When they were cleaned, she put them back gently on Harry's face.

"It was a good thing that the ground was soft," Alicia muttered as she pulled pieces of torn out grass out of her hair.

The doors of the hospital wing burst open again and in came Ron and Hermione, both looking terrified. What caught Gwen's attention was a small bag in Hermione's hands.

"Is he alright?!" Ron exclaimed as he started running faster at the sight of his best friend. Just then Madame Pomfrey came into sight.

"He'll be fine Mr Weasley. Just a few scratches," Multiple sighs came from the group of worried Gryffindors.

"They're crazy for letting you lot play in such horrible weather! And those dementors! I knew that it was going to be a disastrous idea as soon as I heard of it!" Madame Pomfrey told the group and herself.

"You dear, Miss Hamilton. You hurt your ankle, let me wrap it up for you." Madame Pomfrey said.

The school nurse must have seen her leg which was slightly shaking but now that she mentioned it, Gwen was well aware of the pain in her foot.

"Oh, yeah. I got hit by a Bludger but I'm sure it's nothing. I'll just walk it off." Gwen said. Madame Pomfrey gave her a stern look and Gwen knew that there was no use for arguing, so she just laid her leg on another chair.

Pomfrey cleaned her ankle and without all of the sticky mud in the way, Gwen could see that where bruises formed. It didn't take long till Madame Pomfrey had her ankle all wrapped up.

"Thanks," Gwen said and dropped her leg from the chair. She turned back to Harry and the others who were conversing in whispers.

At first, they heard Ron's rendition of the game and all the details, when the team heard by how many points they lost, they all let out a groan. Then the conversation turned for the more serious.

"I thought he was dead for sure."

"But he didn’t even break his glasses."

"That was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen in my life."

Harry's eyes finally snapped open and Gwen smiled instantly.

"Harry!" said Fred excitedly. "How’re you feeling?"

"What happened?" he said, sitting up so suddenly they moved away from him in shock.

“You fell off,” said Fred. “Must’ve been- what- fifty feet?” George continued.

"We thought you’d died," said Gwen. "But the match," said Harry. "What happened? Are we doing a replay?"

No one said anything and tore their eyes away from him. "We didn’t- lose?"

"Apparently, Cedric caught the snitch just after you fell," Gwen begun to explain. "He had no idea what happened at first but when he saw you on the ground he tried to call it off. Wanted a rematch but both Hooch and Oliver said that the Hufflepuffs won fair and square."

Fred scoffed silently. "She's defending his honour. How sweet." He muttered bitterly which made George elbow him harshly.

Luckily Gwen was too worried about the sake of the boy to pay attention to him.

"Where's Oliver?" Harry asked looking around the flood of people. "Probably still in the showers," said Fred. "We think he’s trying to drown himself."

Harry put his face to his knees, his hands gripping his hair. Fred grabbed his shoulder and shook it roughly. “C’mon, Harry, you’ve never missed the Snitch before.”

"There had to be one time you didn’t get it," continued George.

"And you lost, it's not the end of the world," Hermione added.

The entire team including Ron gave her a hard stare. Hermione forgot that she was talking to a group of Quidditch Fanatics.

"It’s not over yet," said Fred. "We lost by a hundred points, right? So if Hufflepuff loses to Ravenclaw and we beat Ravenclaw and Slytherin..."

"Hufflepuff’ll have to lose by at least two hundred points," said George.

"But if they beat Ravenclaw..."

"No way, Ravenclaw is too good. But if Slytherin loses against Hufflepuff..."

"It all depends on the points- a margin of a hundred either way-"

Gwen threw the tissue which she used to clean Harry's glasses at them to shut the two up.

"Please just stop. We don't need this right now, and you two plus maths equals disaster." That shut the two up quickly knowing exactly how true it was.

Gwen stood up from her chair. "I'm going to go if you don't mind. Get well soon, Harry." Gwen said with a smile which Harry gladly returned despite the aching in every inch of his body.

The truth is Gwen was not feeling very well, with the shock, her ankle, and the Dementors, Gwen felt very tired.

The Dementors may not affect her as much as Harry but she got affected more than her friends. All she wanted to do was take a shower and go to bed. Plus, she also had to go back out in the rain to grab her wand from her locker.

Gwen was so deep in her thoughts that she bumped into someone.

"Really? This day can't get worse!" Gwen stated from the floor.

"Oh, sorry bout that." Gwen looked up and saw Cedric in front of her holding out his hand.

Gwen grabbed it and Cedric pulled her up. He, unlike Gwen and the rest of the team, wasn't muddy but his hair was damp indicating that he had just come out of the shower.

"No, I'm sorry. I'm just tired." Gwen explained as she sat on the first step of one of the staircases.

Cedric followed her, his eyes not leaving her face. "I got this back for you," Cedric said. Gwen looked sideways and saw him pass a broomstick. Her broomstick. "You must have forgotten it on the Pitch with all the panic."

Gwen smiled as she looked at her broom with pride.

"Nimbus 2000. Nice broom you've got." He stated. Gwen wiped the mud off the handle.

"My brother gave it to me the summer before my third year. That summer was the summer where Laurence- well you know-" Gwen said, despite the sad memories she still had a reminiscent smile on her face.

"Seb gave it to me, thought it might cheer me up. It didn't work at all. An object isn't going to fill the hole in your heart where a loved one once was, it's nowhere near enough. But still, he at least tried his best, that I'm thankful for." Gwen explained. She did love both of her brothers, that would never change.

"Congrats, by the way," Gwen added as she finally tore her gaze away to look at Cedric.

"What? For the game?" He asked. He was confused as to why she was congratulating him when her team had just lost.

"Of course I'm talking about the game, what else? You did great... at least I think so. I couldn't see anything."

Cedric scratched the back of his neck. "I didn't actually. Harry would have won if it wasn't for the Dementors and for almost falling to his death-" Cedric paused when he saw Gwen raise an eyebrow at him. "I'm glad that it didn't happen."

"Oh, come on, don't be so modest. You can brag if you want to," said Gwen as she shoved him gently with her shoulder.

Cedric smiled at her. "Okay, fine. It was nice to know what it feels like to kick your arse." Gwen looked at him dumbfounded.

"You know what? I like Modest Cedric better. You're more likeable and charming that way." said Gwen.

He felt himself go red at the compliment. He may act cool in front of people. He acted as if girls flirting with him was no big deal but Gwen the way Gwen acted towards him was different. She didn't like him because of his good looks but she liked him for him, as a person.

Cedric leaned closer. Gwen didn't know what was happening at first, it was when she felt Cedric's hand touching her chin gently that she was aware of the upcoming situation.

Her awareness made her heart beat faster. Cedric stopped for a second, waiting for some sort of sign. Gwen nodded her head slightly in response.

And then they kissed.

It was awkward at first as Gwen stayed motionless for a while. She had no idea what to do with her hands which were still holding on to her Nimbus 2000.

Gwen let go of the broom and let it fall down the stairs, not caring about it, and her hands went to grab Cedric's shirt to pull him closer.

When they finally broke apart, the two just looked into each other's eyes, their foreheads touching. Gwen saw that some of the mud staining her face went on him but Cedric didn't show any signs of bother.

Gwen couldn't help but smile and let out a small giggle of enjoyment.

The two were oblivious to the group of fifth-year Gryffindors who saw the whole ordeal and left before the pair could notice them. Two were thrilled, one was worried, and the other had to fight the urge to cry.

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