It was the 6th of November 1994. The summer warmth had long passed up north here in Scotland, and autumn was in full swing. The students' breath had long turned foggy when they marched outside in the early hours of the day, and this Sunday was no different.
Almost every single student made their way to the Quidditch pitch, even the most studious of Ravenclaws because their house was part of the first match of season.
Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor.
For the first time in three centuries, the game plan was changed up, and it was not Slytherin versus Gryffindor starting off the Quidditch season. It wasn't even something Dumbledore did to put Harry in the spotlight or anything... I put Slytherin's 'star seeker' and their keeper in the hospital wing on Friday, and they didn't have replacements. Snape pulled some strings, and his team didn't have to play today.
I stood in my newly purchased gear with my Firebolt proudly hanging over my shoulder next to Harry, who had received his very own much different looking, but regular Firebolt numbered at 0031 two days before Halloween. It was a lucky number because it was his, no our, birthday. And it was an unlucky number because it also signified a day he lost it all.
We would have to see what it will be in the end because this first match would show whether the 31 would commemorate July for luck or October for bad luck.
"Nervous?" I whispered to Harry for the fifth time today to mask my own excitement and apprehension.
"Still no," he whispered back calmly as our team captain Hilliard gave a review of our tactic going into the game.
Nobody seemed to listen to him as I was in my own head. Future captain Roger Davies seemed to be lost in thought, and the third chaser in the team, along with Roger and I, Jeremy Stretton, looked just about ready to puke. He was not okay with playing the first game on such short notice and had been trying his best to make us all as nervous as him.
Our two beaters, Jason Samuels and Duncan Inglebee - both fourth years, were the only ones truly listening to the keeper and captain Rob Hilliard. I had an inkling these two might be an item, not that I judged, but maybe they were simply in sync like two players trying to go pro should be.
They had been the two starting beaters for two years now, and I had high hopes they would pull through on protecting us from the Weasley twins.
"In a surprising twist, we see three new first year players on the two teams this season, and two of them are their teams starting seekers! Give it up for Team Gryffindor, everybody!" The unmistakable voice of semi-professional loudmouth Lee Jordan rang through the changing room we were in and indicated to us that Gryffindor was entering the field.
"Team captain Oliver Wood remains as the keeper as the team's strong, solid foundation. For our chasers, we have the charming, the beautiful, the bewitching-"
"JORDAN!" McGonagall shouted near the magiphone Lee was using.
"Alicia Spinnet, Angelica Johnson, and Katie Bell! Give it up for the three beauties on a broom, everyone!"
A few loud cheers rang through the crowd above us, and I mentally noted once more that the three year older student body was decidedly more horny than canon.
"The beaters for Gryffindor are the infamous, unbeatable duo of Fred and George Weasley!"
A few boos but mostly cheers from the lion side of the spectators rang out as the two redheads did their rounds to get more and louder reactions from the crowd I was able to see as I was looking outside from our changing room.
"And starting for the first time, a first year, the man of the hour... if you're a Gryffindor, Michaaaaeeeellll Coooorrrrneeeeeerrrr!"
Loud slogans of 'CORNER! CORNER! CORNER!' were chanted throughout the stadium and I wondered how the brat managed to get so many people on his side - I wondered even more how that was possible when we walked out side and I saw even Slytherins cheer for the first year. It was perplexing, to say the least, and even the Weasley twins looked weirded out when they flew past us.
"And now enters the Ravenclaw team who graciously accepted to be beaten by us a little earlier than usual after Slytherin chickened out," Lee commentated as we entered and was immediately chastised by Professor McGonagall for it. "Lee Franklin Jordan! One more comment out of turn, and I'm removing you from the pitch entirely!"
"Yes, yes," the boy quickly placated and continued, "Leading the team is seven year veteran Robert Hilliard who took over as captain five whole years ago. A man... of his own era."
I knew then that Lee wanted to say something less flattering, but McGonagall probably gave him the look. I knew that look all too well. We all did.
"Roger Davies and Jeremy Stretton stay on as Chasers for the claws, but in a surprise twist first year, Talion Macnair snatches the spot of Grant Page to break up the chaser trio of last year. Let's see if his fancy new broom is everything it's hyped up to be," Lee continued and earned our team muted cheers entirely from the Ravenclaw part of the spectators with everyone staying quiet.
Ouch. I knew nobody really liked me. And while people outside of Slytherin were a little antagonistic toward me when 'me slaying a troll' was but a rumor that house Slytherin was actively fanning the flames on as they told people I was personally boasting about something I didn't do - I was still met with hostility more than interest.
Killing a troll as a first year should have made me a minor celebrity, much more than me gaining infamy as the grandson of a known, never convicted death eater ever did. But it was not to be, and someone made sure of that. Either it was Dumbledore himself meddling once more, or the entirety of House Slytherin worked together to put me down.
It would have been flattering if it wasn't so devious.
"Next up, we have the two beaters - two solid contenders for the most valuable players of their team: Duncan Inglebee and Jason Samuels!"
More cheers rang through the stadium as our two 'star players' waved toward the crowd, and Lee quickly chimed in once more to get introductions for the 'secondary' team wrapped up.
"And then we have another first year on their roster as none other than the famous boy-who-lived managed to become the starting seeker of Ravenclaw! Harry Potter takes on Michael Corner in an epic battle of the first year star seekers. The slayer of You-Know-Who versus three-time-champion of the Hogsmeade P.S.Y. broom racing tournament! Let's see who will take home this win!"
With the introductions over, we all slowly took our positions midair, and Madam Hooch started off the match after a brief talk with the keeper captains.
The quaffle, the red, leather-covered ball roughly twelve inches in diameter or around the size of a volleyball, was immediately snatched up by Angelina Johnson and Gryffindor had possession of the first chance to score a goal for ten points.
Two bludgers - ten-inch-diameter iron balls - shot into the air and started chasing players. Usually, the two beaters on a team redirected these massive iron balls - enchanted to merely concuss not kill a player. They had reinforced bats to try and change the direction of the ball with a precise swing.
But nothing in the rules prohibited a player from equipping reinforced shin guards into your gear, and that was exactly what I did. Hilliard had been skeptical at first because nobody ever tried my tactics, but our secret practice changed his mind.
And so, the beater-chaser was born. A position unique to me. A position nobody ever played because nobody ever wanted to play it.
I shot forth toward a bludger near the Gryffindor chasers, lifted myself off of my broom with both hands in a show of unrivaled athleticism among magicals and used the broomstick as leverage to kick the bludger right at Angelina's arm carrying the quaffle.
A series of bewildered gasps rang through the stadium as even our commentator Lee Jordan didn't have the words to describe what he saw when the quaffle was knocked out of Angelina's hand and was picked up by Roger Davies. I quickly mounted my broom properly once more and followed behind the other two chasers.
We passed the quaffle twice, and Jeremy finished the play off by getting the ball past Oliver Wood for the first goal. When a horn rang out to indicate the change of points from nil-nil to 10-0 Ravenclaw, Lee finally spoke up once more to break the silence amongst the crowd.
"What the...FRICK was that play by Macnair??? Did the boy just leap off of his broom to kick a fricking iron bludger toward an enemy team's chaser midair??? Is that even allowed???"
Most students in the stands looked toward the referee of the match, Madam Hooch. Overwhelmed, the hawk-eyed witch took out her wand to cast a 'Sonorus' charm to announce, "Macnair's play is allowed. No rule stops any player on the field from... kicking a bludger."
The Gryffindor twins flew closer to me and eyed me up and down. Finally, they gave me a respectful nod as one of them said, "Color me impressed, little lion."
"Yeah, that was wicked, mate."
The first twin finished it off by saying, "Let's see if you can still kick it like that when we send them to you."
Both of them gave me playful winks and flew back into their team formation. Hooch once more released the quaffle, and through sheer luck, it floated up near me.
I caught the ball and did what I do... second best. A covert signal towards Davies and our play started. The Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform featured a cape that helped mitigate the bludger damage, but it also enabled me to hide the quaffle from the eyes of the enemy team. In a daring aerial maneuver, I dodged a bludger, did a barrel roll, and a dip to get past Katie Bell and did a drop-pass toward Roger nobody was able to see.
A drop-pass was a pass where you didn't throw the quaffle at all but merely let it fall. These are usually used to for setting up formations, but this one was to covertly give it to my chaser partner, who hid the quaffle while I distracted the enemy team and the spectators with flashy flying acrobatics.
Every eye in the stadium was on me, even Wood's, as I had drawn closer to his three hoops when suddenly the horn rang once more to indicate someone scored. Everyone still looked at me, but the looks changed to questioning looks.
"Hehe, I call this one 'magic'," I quipped as I winked towards the three bewildered Gryffindor chaser girls and lifted my cape to show the quaffle wasn't in my possession any longer.
Of course, I wasn't stupid enough to tell them what happened, but I was hoping that my joke would distract them even more.
The next quaffle was still in our possession and Jeremy managed to snag it after a failed pass from Michael Corner who got it because of his quick Nimbus 2000 but failed to get it over to a waiting Alicia Spinnet.
This time, the three of us did a play by the book of conventional Quidditch plays as the three of us flew in a tight turning-corkscrew-formation and made our way forward. And once more, Oliver Wood was bested as I feinted a throw to the right, dropped the ball instead of throwing it, and kicked it into the left hoop with my right foot.
The score was 30-0, and Gryffindor was looking kind of dejected already. Lee Jordan didn't sound all too optimistic either for a moment but quickly changed his tune when Michael Corner started moving.
I knew he wasn't after the snitch. He was merely trying to distract and give his team some time to get their heads back in the game - because I could use my ocular ability to see the snitch. If winning was all I cared about, I should have probably become the seeker instead of Harry. There was no way he could beat me after all. There was no way anybody could unless the snitch would immediately hide after a space-time jump or it started outside of my vision.
I could follow the golden ball right from the very start, and since it appeared golden even in my added vision just like my wand and broom, I knew where it was at any time. For instance, at this moment: Corner was flying toward the Ravenclaw hoops, but the snitch was near the staff stands floating above it leisurely.
The match relaxed a little after that anyway as Gryffindor used Corner's distraction to get their heads right. Fifteen minutes later, they had scored four goals, but those were not enough as the score currently was 170-50 in our favor in a staggering average of more than a goal per minute. For school-level plays, the score was quite high if I remembered the statistics of the game correctly.
I put in quite a lot of effort into getting our team so far ahead, and despite my increased stamina, I was starting to feel the drain. Swinging myself off of the broom, skating on it with both feet on the broomstick, kicking the balls coming out of a spin with nothing but my core strength... it was starting to take a toll, so I dialed down.
"Macnair in possession of the quaffle! Let's see what this little troublemaker has cooked up this time! Will he kick the bludger towards a hoop, have it reflect back towards Wood to get a free shot? Will he feint and do a no-look-pass towards Davies?" Jordan commentated, and this time around, even the die-hard Gryffindor fan and student sounded a little excited.
"Fred tries to get a bludger on him, but Samuels is there to block it. A second bludger comes his way, but Macnair calmly dodges it! First bludger comes back after George hits it just right! Macnair, Macnair.... MACNAIR!" A brief pause sounds, and Lee picks it back up. "Macnair... flies in a lateral move and lets the bludger fly past. You can fly sideways in a diagonal line one a broom?"
"Anyway, apparently with the Firebolt, Macnair's broom, you can and without losing any speed. Should we maybe look into disqualifying Ravenclaw for this match because they used an unfair broom?"
Lee looked toward the transfiguration professor next to him and no matter how tempted she might have been to act in favor of Gryffindor, the sanctity of the game was more important to her so she shook her head with pursed lips.
"Macnair gets past Bell once more and... AND... he passes Wood with another one of his lateral moves and dunks the quaffle in! 180-50! Corner should really look into getting the snitch fast before it's too late!"
Five goals later with a score of 210-60, both seekers picked up the snitch's position, and I could see it was accurately, too. Johnson had the quaffle, and it looked like she wanted to keep possession. No bludger was close to me for another play like the first of the game.
Inglebee stopped coordinating with Samuels and went forward to play interference with the seekers. Samuels and I switched to beater formation, and the Ravenclaw fourth year swung his bat to send a bludger my way in tacit agreement - but he missed and sent the bludger wide.
I turned around on the spot to get it back, but it looked like I was too late - Corner had his hands stretched out to get the snitch with around an arm's length still between them while Gryffindor's Johnson and Spinnet got past the chasers Davies and Stretton from our team and were ready to score.
If I was honest with myself, I didn't quite care if we won this match or not - but the whole situation turned out better than I had feared.
Not only did Hilliard deflect Spinnet's shot, Inglebee managed to stop Corner from scoring the snitch with a foul: 'broom tending'. Inglebee was sent to timeout, which was apparently a thing, but before he even touched the ground, Harry had shot past the Weasley twin's horrifyingly effective interference, past Corner and past a stray bludger to snatch the snitch out of the air.
The game ended immediately with a score of 360-60 in our favor.