Even though I kept a calm mask on, the adrenaline pumping through my veins was making me jittery.
The entire team was relying on me, I couldn't fuck this up.
The balls were released and at a sharp whistle from Madam Hooch, the game began in a flurry.
Blair caught the Quaffle in a quick nosedive, she had an innate talent for grabbing hold of the Quaffle.
This sent the Gryffindor Chasers right after her.
I also flew in that direction, Tanner keeping a close right.
We swept past them and the Quaffle quickly changed hands.
With the Quaffle in my hands, I felt more grounded, it was a familiar sensation, holding the oddly shaped ball, it helped me concentrate.
The Gryffindor Chasers hadn't been expecting the Quaffle to be passed to me and were briefly blindsided before turning around and shooting after me.
This move by Slytherin also caught the attention of the spectators and the commentators.
"A brave move by Slytherin, leaving all the work of scoring to a single Chaser… Splendid hit there Blythe Tessel of the Slytherin Beaters… The Seekers are still on the search for the Snitch…"
I zipped past the Gryffindor Chasers, spinning under and above the Gryffindor Beaters to avoid them.
I already had a mental plan on how to score my first goal of the match, the Gryffindor Keeper was on high alert as he guarded their hoops against my approach.
I decided to go with a bluff, going for the middle hoop like I planned to score through it.
The Gryffindor Keeper wasn't as easy to mislead as our previous Keeper Jon and he also kept a sharp eye on the right hoop.
I was coming from the right center so the right hoop was also within my throwing range, a smirk slipped past before I could stop it.
I dropped a couple of feet down abruptly, catching the Keeper off guard, and in the same move, I threw the Quaffle with considerable strength and pin-point accuracy through the left hoop.
Time seemed to stop in the stands, everyone falling quiet as the Quaffle went right through the center of the hoop.
Even the commentators fell silent, the goal had been so unexpected that they couldn't react to it fast enough.
Madam Hooch's whistle broke the silence and the stands were thrown into deafening cheers, Slytherin students leaning over their stands in excitement.
"Oh! Oh! That was such a beautiful goal that I was stunned speechless, don't you think so Avery?"
"Why yes! It would seem that the Slytherin team had an ace up their sleeves this entire time… and goal! Unbelievable, Slytherin has scored two goals within the first couple minutes of the match…"
While everyone had been distracted with the first goal, Tanner, who was assigned to retrieval, grabbed the Quaffle and passed it to me.
I had drifted over to the Gryffindor's left hoop as well as their Keeper who had shot in this direction at the last minute in disbelief.
It was already too late though because I had already scored and was about to win the second goal.
Tanner launched the Quaffle to me who caught it with ease and threw a straight long toss to the right hoop before anyone could react.
This time the Quaffle fell into the hands of the Gryffindor team but not for long as Blair was quick to snatch it back, returning the Quaffle to our possession.
The Gryffindor Chasers had immediately flown across the pitch to our goal hoops to try and score a comeback goal but as soon as the Quaffle got into Blair's hands, she passed it to me.
The struggle was once again moved to Gryffindor's side of the pitch and with Tanner's assistance, I scored another double goal.
The cheering didn't go down once, not when we were scoring back to back.
"Unbelievable! Unbelievable!" The commentators had to shout to be heard above the cheering.
The Quaffle was back in Gryffindor's possession and their looks of disbelief immediately changed to one of determination, determination to keep the Quaffle out of my hold.
"The Gryffindors are changing tactics, they're cornering Slytherin's Ace Audric to create a loophole to score a goal! Will they be successful?" Avery's gleeful voice rang out.
"The Seekers are still hard at work, flying through the battle to find the match-ending Snitch…"
Avery was right, one of Gryffindor's Chasers and their two Beaters had been sicced onto me, the other two Chasers zooming for our hoops with Tanner and Blair in a chase behind them.
The Chaser was a girl, I think I'd seen her in one of my joint classes with Gryffindor while the two Beaters were boys.
"Block off his left, Cassi!" One of the Beaters called to the Chaser and she moved to comply.
They had me hemmed in from either side but they didn't take into account my willingness to drop from tall heights and the perfect control I had on my broom.
Blair had predicted this, if I was doing all of the scoring, it would be expected for the opposing team to try and stem that from the root.
I wasn't just skilled at throwing impossibly fast and accurate shots, I was also quick on my broom and my reflexes were at the top of the pyramid.
I could easily keep up in any position on the team but it was best for me to be a Chaser to rack up points, catching the Snitch wasn't always everything.
I dropped from below, causing them to run into each other.
Cassi was accidentally elbowed off her broom, the Beaters accidentally pulling a Cobbing foul on their own teammate.
I caught her arm to stop her from falling, only briefly because she caught her broom and got back on it.
"What a gentleman!" The commentators were going wild from the fact that I had helped Cassi. "Helping out the enemy team…"
It had been a reflexive action, she was falling beside me plus it didn't impede my playing, I would lose nothing by helping her.
"Done flirting?" Blair quirked a brow at me when I caught up with them.
A Gryffindor Chaser was in the Scoring Area with the Quaffle, facing off Bak Ji-hun. Tanner was just outside the Scoring Area, trying to tilt the struggle in our favor.
"Tanner! Swap out with Audric!" She called over the din to him, ducking when a Bludger came too close to her. "Blythe! Crawley! What are you playing at?!" She scolded them sharply.
"Sorry, Captain."
Tanner and I swapped out, he came over to give Blair assistance because Ji-hun was free game for all now that the Quaffle was in the scoring area.
It was over in a matter of minutes, Ji-hun stopped the Quaffle and he then passed it to me. I shot across the pitch to the other side in a matter of seconds, stealing the fifth goal.
The game followed a similar pattern after the first try that Gryffindors put up in an effort to defend against our tactics.
It was a staggering victory but Gryffindors weren't to blame, we had hidden our hand exceptionally well.
They had gotten a good 5 goals in during the match but it dwarfed in comparison to the 20 goals that were racked up by us.
90% of those goals were scored by me and the Slytherin House must have cheered themselves hoarse by now.
It was a fast-paced match, and the winner was defined in less than 15 minutes.
We had 200 points to Gryffindor's 50 points but it could still end up as a draw if their Seeker caught the Snitch… scratch that, I just scored another goal to tip the marks.
It was now 210 points to 50 points.
"I think the Seekers have their eyes on the Snitch! Might this be it? Will the match be brought to an end?"
"It does seem quite disadvantageous for Gryffindor no matter who catches the Snitch." Avery countered wittily. "Unless of course, they manage to score another goal or two before the Snitch is caught."
Jason and the Gryffindor Seeker were going nose to nose, Jason had done a great job of keeping the Snitch unseen for most of the match.
He could go ahead and catch the Snitch now but it was easier said than done. The Gryffindor Seeker was going neck to neck with Jason, I was also not given the chance to pay any attention to their play because the Gryffindor suddenly renewed their efforts.
They no doubt planned to take Avery at her word and score a couple of last goals to even the odds. As long as their Seeker caught the Snitch, they may yet win the match.
