Chapter 181: Quidditch Disaster (1/2)
By two o'clock Chris and Ginny reached the Quidditch field with their Firebolts. They were the first ones there. After a few minutes, Fred and George arrived.
”Everything set?” George winked at Chris.
”Yep,” Chris smirked.
Chris, Ginny, Fred and George were talking and joking among them when Harry and Ron entered.
”All right, Ron?” said George.
”Yeah,” said Ron very quietly.
”Ready to show us all up, Ickle Prefect?” said Fred, a slightly malicious grin on his face.
”Shut up,” said Ron, stony-faced, pulling on his own team robes for the first time.
”Okay everyone,” said Angelina, entering from the Captain's office, already changed. ”Let's get to it; George and Fred, if you can just bring the ball crate out for us. Oh, and there are a couple of people out there watching but I want you to just ignore them, all right?”
Something in her would-be casual voice made Chris think she might know who the uninvited spectators were, and sure enough, when they left the changing room for the bright sunlight of the pitch it was to a storm of catcalls and jeers from the Slytherin Quidditch team and assorted hangers-on, who were grouped halfway up the empty stands and whose voices echoed loudly around the stadium. However, Draco wasn't there.
”What's that Weasley's riding?” Montague called in his sneering drawl. ”Why would anyone put a Flying Charm on a moldy old log like that? Did no one get you a new broom like your little sister?”
Crabbe, Goyle, and Pansy Parkinson guffawed and shrieked with laughter.
Rolling their eyes Chris and Ginny mounted their brooms and kicked off from the ground.
”Ignore them,” Harry advised Ron. ”We'll see who's laughing after we play them . . .”
”Exactly the attitude I want, Harry,” said Angelina approvingly, soaring around them with the Quaffle under her arm and slowing to hover on the spot in front of her airborne team. ”Okay everyone, we're going to start with some passes just to warm up, the whole team please —”
”Hey, Johnson, what's with that hairstyle anyway?” shrieked Pansy Parkinson from below. ”Why would anyone want to look like they've got worms coming out of their head?”
”You need a good fashion sense and attractive face to understand that hairstyle, Parkinson,” Ginny said loudly. ”Unfortunately you've none...”
Pansy Parkinson shrieked and shouted at Ginny. Chris, Harry, Fred and George laughed.
Angelina swept her long braided hair out of her face, smiled at Ginny and said calmly, ”Spread out, then, and let's see what we can do . . .”
Chris and Ginny took two sides of Angelina. Angelina raised the Quaffle with one hand and threw it hard to Chris, who passed to George, who passed to Harry, who passed to Ron, who dropped it. The Slytherins roared and screamed with laughter. Ron, who had pelted toward the ground to catch the Quaffle before it landed, pulled out of the dive untidily, so that he slipped sideways on his broom, and returned to playing height, blushing.
Chris sighed.
”Pass it on, Ron,” called Angelina, as though nothing had happened.
Ron threw the Quaffle to Fred, who passed back to Ginny, who passed to Angelina, who suddenly passed it to Harry. Chris decided that was the right time to bewitch the Quaffle. So when Harry passed it to Ron, who lunged for it and missed by inches, Chris concentrated on the Quaffle and waited.
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”Come on now, Ron,” said Angelina crossly, as Ron dived for the ground again, chasing the Quaffle. ”Pay attention.”
It would have been hard to say whether Ron's face or the Quaffle was a deeper scarlet when he returned again to playing height. The Slytherin team were howling with laughter.