A roar of rage echoed from the Slytherins below — Black had blocked Darcie on purpose, and their broom spun off course, both holding on for dear lives.
"Foul!" screamed the Slytherins.
Their anger was just, though.
Black, knowing the risk he would be taking, had been preparing for the upcoming collision.
He spun furiously, but the Nimbus 2000 let him have good control over it, making him come to a stop without falling off the broom.
Darcie wasn't as lucky as Black. For once, his blatant foul had taken her by surprise.
Now, she was hanging onto the broom with one hand, her head spinning. In the chaos, shouts, and raging emotions, Darcie's grip… loosened.
Suddenly, unknown to everyone but a few, the broom itself rushed toward her hand, letting her grip its handle once again.
Under the broom, Darcie's poisonous green eyes stopped glowing with Magic.
It would have been considered cheating… if there had been a rule against the use of non-verbal and wandless magic in Quidditch's rule book.
She had remembered all the rules, obviously.
With a perfect display of agility, she pulled herself up and mounted the broom.
As the Slytherins cheered, she sensed something amiss. Looking down at the broom, she saw a long crack running along the length of its handle, making the broom lean toward the left constantly.
Slowly, Darcie tore her eyes off the cracked wood and looked up at Black.
Her stare was the flattest she had ever given to anybody.
Madam Hooch spoke angrily to Black and then ordered a free shot at the goalposts for Slytherin. But in all the confusion, of course, the Golden Snitch had disappeared again.
"Are you alright?" Flint asked, approaching Darcie. There was a nasty frown on his face.
Darcie looked at him and then ignored him. Instead of explaining herself, she took the broom up in the sky, immediately beginning to familiarize herself with the left-flying tendency of the broomstick.
Standing between Ron and Draco, Hagrid was having a hard time deciding what to do. He wanted to cheer for Gryffindor, but then there was Darcie, his friend…
Contrary to Hagrid, Lee Jordan was finding it difficult not to take sides.
"So — after that obviously, wrong call on the foul —"
"Jordan!" growled Professor McGonagall.
"I mean, after that innocent, little accident…"
"Jordan, I'm warning you —"
"Alright, alright. Black nearly kills the Slytherin Seeker, which could happen to anyone, I'm sure, so a penalty to Slytherin, taken by Pucey, who puts it away, no trouble, and we continue play, Slytherin still in possession."
However, the plan Wood and the rest of Gryffindors trusted in so much, had just begun.
In the last week, Black and Wood had broken no less than two dozen brooms, practicing hitting one broom's tip on the other broom's handle's neck at high speeds.
Given Darcie's shocking momentum and Black's broom's motion from sudden stop to blurry rush, it wasn't just luck that let him crack her broom in one go.
Now, they needed to press her before she adjusted herself to the broken broom.
To everyone's surprise, it was Draco who had let them know about it.
She will adjust, he had said nonchalantly, with a twist on his lips. She always adjusts. And once she did… the game's over.
So, it happened.
Darcie was leaving the playground, going up, her broom steady.
It was obvious she was trying to hide the broom's broken flight.
Gryffindors couldn't afford to lose such a chance. Now, even if Golden Snitch were to dance in front of Black's eyes, he had no time to go after it.
For their best interests, the Gryffindors must take care of the threat flying overhead.
Black and the Weasleys exchanged a glance and shot up.
By the time Darcie heard Slytherin's raging roars, it was already too late.
Fred sent a Bludger flying menacingly toward her. George circled, appearing behind and over her. Black was again on a collision course, his face determined.
Slytherins, as greedy and selfish as most of them were, saw this as a chance to score as many points as they could under Flint's orders. They ignored Darcie and tore through the gaps, scoring points after points.
In the sky, Darcie dodged the Bludger, but then it got slammed towards her by George.
She again directed her broom off course, dodging both Bludger and Black.
Surrounded by three Gryffindors, Darcie kept dodging one Bludger and Black after another, her face showing signs of tiredness.
Minutes passed after seconds, and she kept dodging somehow by a hair's width, her green eyes still holding the shine within them.
Under them, the score had become Slytherin 120 - Gryffindor 40!
The audience kept throwing their gazes from players flying between hoops to the battle in the sky, but, of course, it was the latter that grabbed most of the attention.
The boys had closed on Darcie so much that there didn't remain a gap to dodge the next attack.
Suddenly, under the shocked gazes of Black, Fred, and George, Darcie grinned and... disappeared.
A blur slithered between the boys and shot toward the Quidditch Pitch so fast that the eyes failed to perceive its speed.
However, just before she had disappeared, the boys had noticed something. They noticed because she had shown it to them.
Darcie had lifted her hand off the broom's handle… with no crack to be seen anywhere. Reparo Spell!
Like a green-white wraith, Darcie descended among the players, spinning between them so fast that they couldn't help but stop wherever they were.
In a matter of moments, she picked up on the Golden Snitch, catching the golden flash blurring through the field.
From above, Black and Weasleys came roaring, already hitting the Bludgers.
They had a solid plan! They just needed to make her incapable of flying, even if it came at the cost of Black! They had Harry in reserve! They were meant to win! Win!!!!
Darcie laughed, her voice reaching far and wide on the Quidditch Pitch.
Everyone became silent.
They just listened.
They saw her doing things with the broom only the official players had ever attempted.
The Z move was perfection. The S was marvelous. Once she just hung onto the broom with one leg, dodging the Gryffindors coming at her, without losing an iota of her speed.
The chase never ended.
She was uncatchable.
Giving up on her, Black finally decided to just catch the damn golden bug. He didn't even use the Snitch Seeker, instantaneously using his senses to know the Golden Snitch.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
For the first time in years, a sense of deep foreboding rushed to his brain, opening some locks. The Ad Infinitum woke up, voluntarily letting out the suppressed intuitions.
…
Lucky Intuition No. $%^$% — Contestants are watching me.
…
[Initiating Absolute Lockdown…] The AI beeped. [Suppressing all senses to normal.]
Darcie narrowed her eyes at Black and guessed something, seeing him changing directions deliberately in midair. She saw the tip of his Nimbus 2000 and her gaze snapped in that direction, landing on the distant golden flash.
Darcie's broom lashed at the space.
Spinning between the players… Dodging the Bludgers… Laughing… A sudden drop… Darcie's hand flashed, and the Slytherins roared.
The game ended.
1991, 1st Quidditch Match — Final Score: Slytherin 290 - Gryffindor 50!!
**************
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