Chapter - 19.3

"Now... I want a nice fair game, all of you," Madam Hooch stood in the middle of the field with a broom in her hand. She was refereeing the match. The two teams had just walked onto the field, and Madam Hooch started explaining the rules to them. And as she asked for a fair game, Madam Hooch appeared to be particularly speaking to the Slytherin Captain, Marcus Flint, a sixth year.

When Alex saw this, he was not very surprised. The notorious reputation the Slytherins have accumulated over the years was beyond comprehension. And it was all for the larger good, or that is what the noble Slytherins felt. But one thing that Alex had admired about the Slytherins was their comradeship. Any given situation and they will stand behind their own. No matter who might be in the wrong.

"Mount your brooms..."

All the players clambered onto their brooms. Harry's broom was the most eye-catching of all. Alex heard that it was some latest version of the Nimbus series. But ain't that cheating? After all, the other brooms looked like they would blow up if handled roughly. Looks like everyone wants Gryffindor to win.

"And..." Now that everyone was in place, Madam Hooch gave a loud blast on her silver whistle. Fifteen brooms rose up, high, high into the air altogether.

And the game finally began...

And so did the commentary. It was one funny guy from Gryffindor sitting behind the mike.

"And the Quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor... What an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive, too..." The guy got distracted. But, he was quickly pulled back by Professor McGonagall, who, along with headmaster Dumbledore, were the only ones sitting beside the commentary box.

Soon, the first goal of the match was scored, and it was Gryffindor which got those ten points. But that was all they could manage. Not long after the first goal, the Slytherin team finally started the counterattack. And in no time, Slytherin was leading forty to ten.

The Gryffindor team was also trying their best but to no avail. And now, many from the Gryffindor stand could not help but turn their eyes towards Potter, the Gryffindor seeker. If he could just catch that tiny little golden ball...

The match continued, and Alex could see why Madam Hooch was particularly instructing the Slytherin team to play nice and fair. The Slytherin captain has just sent a Buldger flying towards the girl named Angelina Johnson, which hit her right on her back. The poor girl was down for good.

"That fucking bas..." Seeing her crush go down, the commentator could not keep himself from cursing. Good thing Professor McGonagall was there to censor the commentary in time.

And not just the commentator, this stunt from the Slytherin captain did not go well with any of the Gryffindors. There were cries of criticism from the Gryffindors, but it was not a foul, so the game continued.

And with one Gryffindor member down, it was pretty easy for the Slytherins to dominate. Slytherins didn't relax and continued to increase the gap in the scoreline further and further. And before anyone knew it, the Slytherin team was leading the game with a hundred points to thirty.

The cheers from the Gryffindor stand have almost died down, and they could only watch the brooms fly around the field in dismay. But at this time, a commotion broke out. And again, who was in the centre of it? Harry Potter. Harry was high in the air, barely hanging to his broom. He had lost control over his broom.

And given the situation, one would expect Gryffindors to raise a hue and cry. But contrary to that, the Slytherin stand was in a commotion. But none of them was worried about Potter. In fact, many of them still had some hope that Potter would fall off the broom. After all, they have placed their bets on him. The sooner he fell, the better for them. But the Slytherins were not the only heartless ones. Even some Gryffindors were looking at Harry with expectations.

But while everyone looked up in the sky, Alex swiftly turned his gaze towards Professor Snape. He had something on his mind. But since Alex could not see that far, Alex grabbed the binoculars from the guy beside him and tried to look at Professor Snape. The Slytherin boy wanted to curse, but when he saw that it was Alex who "borrowed" his binoculars, the boy could only take the loss.

And it was as he expected. Professor Snape stared intently towards Potter while his lips barely but surely moved. It was a curse. But Alex knew his master, and most likely, it was a counter curse. So, where did the curse originate from?

So without wasting any time, Alex scanned through the stands. But no matter how much he tried, he could not find anybody he could suspect.

'Was it really his master?' Alex thought and turned his attention back towards Professor Snape. But this time, there was something interesting. It was Hermione. She was underneath Professor Snape's bench. And in front of Alex's eyes, Hermione left a tiny spark on Professor Snape's robes before she sneakily made her way out of there.

In no time, the spark turned into a fire, and Professor Snape's robe was burning now. Alex did think of warning the Professor, but he wanted to clarify something. And it happened. Just as Professor Snape got distracted by the fire, much to the disappointment of students from both sides of the stands, Harry regained control of his broom.

While it was a small incident for many and the game resumed. For many, it was more than that.

'Was he really behind it?' Alex thought. After all, Professor Snape did tell him once that it was not because he liked Potter that he was doing so much to protect him.

'Still, why would he want to actively attack him?' Alex could not think of a reason to support that idea.

But while Alex was thinking about Professor Snape and the reason behind his actions, the game progressed. And as the game continued, the disappointment among students grew. Occasionally curses could be heard as well.

Finally, when the Slytherin team was leading with one hundred and sixty to thirty, everyone thought the victor had been settled. Time was about to end. But in the last moments, Harry gave the most unexpected turnaround when he caught the snitch. And the game with one Gryffindor's victory. It was hundred and eighty points to one hundred and sixty points. A miraculously close win for Gryffindor.

And though many in the Gryffindor camp lost their money, they were happy. The feeling of clutching the victory from the jaws of their arch-rivals more than enough made up for it.

The stands cleared pretty soon as most made way towards the next destination.

It was time to collect the reward, the gambling dens...

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