She woke up early, like every morning. And like every morning, she went down the stairs from her bedroom to the kitchen, on tip-toes, careful not to make any sound that would wake up her parents. The house was empty, which facilitated things as she did not have to hide from her brothers. Not that it was that difficult. None of them suspected what she was doing many days per week.
She headed to the broom shed and picked the Shooting Star that belonged to Ron. From there, she ran to the small paddock her family owned, over a nearby hill, which was surrounded by trees that blocked the view from the village below. Her brothers always played there during summer, and sometimes even during winter.
Ginny was never allowed to play with her brothers. Unknown to them, it had been four years now since she began borrowing their brooms to train in secret, early in the morning at dawn, or late at night, under the cover of darkness. Even her parents didn't know about this. She also spied on her brothers practicing, and sometimes watched them with their approval when they wanted, so she knew mostly what to do.
She mounted her brother's broom and kicked hard against the ground. Ron's broomstick was not the best. Those of Fred and George were much better, being specifically made for Quidditch, but they had brought them when they left for Hogwarts. Still, it was good to fly, no matter the broom. Slowly and surely, Ginny took altitude, the cold wind kindly whipping at her face. She made sure not to accelerate and to only climb while turning in circles. She soon reached the treetops. She maintained the altitude but continued to make circles at the same speed, pulling the brakes a little as she was no longer gaining altitude. She did those turns for quite a while, and then she proceeded to descend, again slowly, and still in circles, until she was back on the ground. She had done it.
Excited, Ginny took flight again. She performed zigzags, then turns that were more and more abrupt, at a speed she kept increasing. She even performed upswings, although not too abrupt. She wasn't there yet, and she didn't want to fall from her broom. She came back home all muddy once. She managed to make her mother believe she had just been playing in the water outside, but it might not work again.
Dawn was beginning to end, and Ginny knew she should get back home before her parents woke up. It was Saturday, and her parents always slept later these days, but they would wake up nonetheless. Ginny brought the broom back to the shed and returned to her bedroom, still in silence.
Ginny had the smallest bedroom in the Burrow. She had asked her mother if she could move to one of her brothers' bedrooms while they were at Hogwarts, but to no avail. They said she had a more than enough large chamber for herself. It was true that Fred and George shared the same room, but not Ron and Percy though. Theirs were a little larger than hers. Still, she managed to make hers quite a nice place. She had a good view on the orchard. Her parents had helped her to paint the walls in pink, and she had hung up a poster of Gwenog Jones, captain of the Holyhead Harpies, her favourite Quidditch player. She hoped she would play Quidditch one day, but her brothers never let her play with them. Ginny doubted it would ever happen.
She heard her mother go to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast, and her father followed not long after. Ginny picked that moment to go down and join them. She put on her nightdress to make it look like she just woke up.
"Hello, Ginny. Did you sleep well?" her father asked.
"Yes, Dad." She sat and her mother gave her some eggs, smashed potatoes and toasts. "Are you sure you can't come to the match?"
"I'm sorry, Ginny. Your father has a lot of work to do. With that new law I'm trying to establish. Can you believe that we need two years..."
"Arthur," her mother berated him. "Stop bothering your daughter with that. Not everyone is so passionate about Muggles as you are."
As always, Ginny was treated like the young child of the family. She knew she was, but she wished she wasn't treated like a child sometimes. She was the little sister to all her brothers, and although she loved them and they all loved her, she wished they treated her like they treated themselves, and she wished her parents did likewise.
Her father now drank a cup of coffee. "While we're talking about the game, do you know that last week, a Muggle woman in the Devonshire started to clean her house with a new broom she just brought, and the broom just flew away like that, punching a big hole through her window?"
The image Ginny formed into her mind about the broom smashing a window and getting lost in the sky while a woman incredulously looked at it flying away made her laugh.
"I hope her memory was erased," her mother said.
"Of course. I was the one to be called on the scene. I also had to erase some memories of her two children and her husband. And a few neighbors as well. We can never be too careful. But just before, I got her to explain me why she cleaned a part of her house with a broom, and the rest with a vacuum cleaner. Do you realize..."
"Arthur, if you continue talking about these toys, you'll be late for work. You said you had to get in early."
Ginny watched her father quickly emptying his plate and his cup of coffee. He kissed her on the forehead, and kissed her mother as well before he left in a hurry.
"The good side that your father is working is that we can both go to the Quidditch match," her mother told her.
That increased Ginny's excitation one more level. Her mother had told her they would go to watch the Quidditch where Fred and George would play today. In the past, they had brought Ron, and she remembered Fred and George taking their turn at following one of their parents to the stadium back when Charlie was captain of the Gryffindor team. Today, it would be Ginny's turn to attend a Quidditch game for the first time. She always found it so unfair that only two people per player's family could attend a game, leaving her always behind in the past. Fred and George were both playing for Gryffindor. Why couldn't they let four people of their family attend? Anyway, today it was her turn. And the fact she would get to see Harry Potter playing Quidditch made it even better.
Harry Potter. Everyone knew his name. Ginny had heard everything about how he defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named growing up. Everyone knew about him. But then Fred and George said they saw him on the Hogwarts Express the day they left. And Ron's first letter said he became friend with him. That made Ginny even more eager to go to Hogwarts. She wondered if she would recognize him when he would fly over the pitch.
She and her mother used Floo powder a little later to get to Hogsmeade, from where they headed towards the castle. It was the first time Ginny got to see the castle, and despite the cold, it was a beautiful day. Hogwarts was even more fantastic than what she expected. She so wished she could go there right away. Ever since the day she said goodbye to all her brothers, she had been wishing that. In previous years, Ron had stayed with her, even though he was quite often annoying, but at least she still had a brother with her at home. Now it was only Ginny and her parents, no one else.
"So Ginny, you remember? You stay close to me. Once we have found our seats, you don't leave yours until the game is over."
"What if a Bludger attacks me?" Ginny asked, worried all of a sudden. George had told her it happened that people in the crowd got severely injured.
"Don't worry. They are made to attack only the players."
"And what if Fred or George feigns to hit me with their bats?"
"They will do no such thing." Ginny believed her mom, but at the same time she was afraid that her mother might be wrong. She hated it when Fred and George tried to scare her.
In front of imposing iron gates, a group of adult people had gathered. There was no one of Ginny's age. Far away, if she tried hard enough, she could see the tops of the towers around the Quidditch pitch. She wished she could see the goalposts. Again, she wished she was already at Hogwarts.
"When are we getting to the stadium?" she asked her mother
"Soon, Ginny. We just have to wait a little."
Ginny didn't want to wait. Since her brothers' departure, the words of a kind woman she met on that day kept coming to her mind. Your years before Hogwarts are just as important as those you will spend there. So enjoy them. Use this time for yourself. But she didn't want to enjoy the year before Hogwarts. She wanted to get to Hogwarts now.
Just as she was thinking this, someone standing apart from the crowd moved. She was a woman with dark red hair, and she was reading something while most of the other people discussed between themselves. Ginny only saw her back before, but now she saw her profile. After a few moments, she recognized her. Ginny pulled at her mother's dress.
"Mom, look," she said, pointing the woman.
"Ginny, it's rude to point."
But her mother looked at the woman Ginny was indicating, and her eyebrows creased. She walked to the woman, Ginny on her tails.
"Lily?"
The woman looked up from the paper she was reading, and after a moment she smiled at Ginny's mother. "Molly, that's it?"
"Yes. It's good to see you again. I wasn't expecting we would meet again here."
"Me neither. Though I should have thought about it. Your twins are playing as Beaters, aren't they?"
"Yes, they are. Do you remember Ginny?"
"Of course, I remember her." She smiled warmly at Ginny, who smiled in return. "How are you, Ginny? Are you happy to be here today?"
"It's the first time I'll see a Quidditch match," she replied instantly.
"Well, I hope you'll see a good one."
"What are you reading?"
"Just a little flyer. It explains the rules of Quidditch and gives a list of the players in both teams today."
"Can I have it?"
"Ginny, we say please, at least," her mother berated her.
"It's fine, Molly. Here, take it," the woman named Lily said as she gave the small flyer to Ginny.
Ginny immediately started reading it. She knew the rules of Quidditch, but she was always happy to hear about them. There were two teams of seven players each, and four balls on the pitch. Three Chasers in both teams tried to control the Quaffle, a big scarlet ball which they tried to throw into one of the three goalposts of the other team. Each time the Quaffle got through a goalpost, the team who threw it made ten points. A Keeper in each team defended the goalposts. There were also two Bludgers, two spheres made of iron moving on their own, trying to knock players off their brooms. There were two Beaters in each team, like her brothers Fred and George, equipped with bats, whose mission was to protect their teammates and send the Bludgers on the other team. Finally, the Golden Snitch spent the entire game running around the pitch, and a Seeker in each team tried to catch it. The first to succeed earned his team one hundred and fifty points, and this put an end to the game.
The names of the members of each team, along with their positions, were indicated on the other side. For Slytherin, there were Adrian Pucey, Graham Montague and their captain Marcus Flint as Chasers, Peregrine Derrick and Lucian Boyle as Beaters, Miles Bletchley as Keeper and Terence Higgs as Seeker. Ginny noticed how they were all men. The Gryffindor team, however, was way more interesting. They were Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell as Chasers, her brothers Fred and George as Beaters, their captain Oliver Wood as Keeper, and of course Harry Potter as Seeker. The whole flyer was populated with little animated drawings showing simple characters playing Quidditch.
"Welcome to Hogwarts, everybody," someone said. Ginny couldn't see who spoke, but she thought the voice came from the other side of the iron gates. "The game is about to begin. We will escort you to the stadium where we will show you your places."
Ginny heard a metallic noise. That was it. They had opened the gates. Her mother and Mrs Lily, who had continued to speak while Ginny was reading the flyer, interrupted their conversation.
"Well, here we go," Ginny's mother said. "Stay close to me, Ginny. Hold my hand."
Sometimes, she really wished she was treated like an adult, just like her brothers. "Will we visit Hogwarts once the game is over?" she asked, hopeful.
"No, Ginny. We cannot enter the castle. We are only here for the game."
Her hopes were crushed within seconds. She looked with envy at the huge castle as they proceeded to the terrain. She remembered her brothers leaving, and also that boy, Mrs Lily's son, when he left. She remembered how she had held him into her arms, then kissed him on the forehead and ruffled his hair just before he left. Ginny had found it very sad, but she had wished for a moment she had been in this boy's place, and it was her who was leaving for Hogwarts.
They climbed stairs leading to the top of a tower, from where they had a fantastic view of the whole terrain. Ginny's mother kept holding her hand at all times. Only when they sat down did she let it go. Mrs Lily was with them, sitting on her mother's right while Ginny was on her left.
"Lily," Ginny's mother asked the other woman. "You have an older son who's playing for Gryffindor?"
"I have a son who's playing for Gryffindor, yes," Mrs Lily replied.
"Oh, who is that?"
"You'll find out very soon. I think you are going to be surprised."
Ginny barely listened to their discussion. She was taking in the full view of the terrain. In the benches down, people were gathering. She heard the lower benches were for the school's students, while the towers were meant for the school's staff, parents and special guests. They were being filled quite quickly. She looked on the side where Gryffindor students seemed to gather. She tried to make out if Ron and Percy were there, but the benches were too far away for her to distinguish anyone. She watched the terrain, where only a single woman was flying for now. She had short, spiky grey hair. She supposed she was the flying teacher her brothers talked about.
As people joined the stadium, the noises around Ginny grew. She noticed now that Hogwarts houses were separated in the lower benches. Gryffindor and Slytherin were facing each other from the extremities of the pitch, probably each behind their own goalposts. The houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff were between, but they harbored scarlet colors. That meant they were on Gryffindor's side for the game. Ginny was happy about it. She also noticed something on the Gryffindor side. A large banner had been brought up. It was red and gold, with a drawing of a lion magically moving on it and the words Potter for President written in big letters which changed colors regularly.
Ginny smiled. She couldn't wait for the game to begin. The stadium was filled to the brim. She couldn't wait to see her brothers play, and she couldn't wait to see Harry Potter, finally. She would be one of the first people to watch him play Quidditch.
"When does it begin, Mom?" she asked.
"Soon, Ginny. Be a little patient."
She didn't want to be patient. She wanted the game to begin now. But she didn't have to wait long anyway.
"Hello, everyone." A voice resonated through the entire terrain. Immediately, everyone in the stadium cheered. "I am Lee Jordan, and welcome to Hogwarts' first Quidditch game of the season. Today, Slytherin versus Gryffindor."
And right at this moment, two lines of people on broomsticks, one in red, one in green, came out from under the benches in the middle of the pitch. They flew very quickly, and most of them reached fifteen metres of altitude within seconds. Ginny couldn't imagine herself doing that. She quickly spotted her brothers, always together even on the terrain. They flew by their tower, and both waved their hand at Ginny and her mother. She waved her hand excitedly at them as well. That was it. The moment had come.
Whoever was commenting the game named all the players from each team. He only mentioned the names and positions of the Slytherin team before going to Gryffindor.
"For Gryffindor, Angelina Johnson, a veteran Chaser from last year who returns today, along with Alicia Spinnet, a reserve from last year, and Katie Bell, the new recruit among Chasers. Oliver Wood, the team's captain, as the Keeper. What a wonderful team he built up this year. My best friends, Fred and George, are back as Beaters. And the new Seeker for Gryffindor this year, the youngest Quidditch player in Hogwarts since a century, riding a Nimbus Two Thousand... You all heard about him... Harry Potter!"
The crowds burst into applauses, and Ginny joined the cheering. No matter that her mother was trying to get her to stay calm, she didn't. She was standing up from her seat to make sure she wouldn't miss anything because another spectator blocked her view. She looked to each of the Gryffindor players, who were still flying all around the pitch, but she couldn't make out which one was Harry Potter. She only knew he was neither the girls, all Chasers, neither her brothers.
She spotted a scarlet figure which was flying very high, making a complete turn of the terrain along the towers right at the level where Ginny stood. When he approached them, he waved his hand in her direction. And Ginny recognized him. He was the boy Mrs Lily said goodbye to on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters.
"Good luck, my dear," she heard Mrs Lily shouting to her son.
Ginny didn't understand. Ron had complained during the summer that he wouldn't be able to try for the Quidditch team because first-years were not allowed to play. they couldn't even bring a broomstick with them at Hogwarts. How did Mrs Lily's son... Then she realized something. He had climbed into the same wagon than her brothers, and they returned later saying they had met Harry Potter. The boy she saw on the platform and who she saw flying just there... He was Harry Potter!
She heard her mother saying something next to her, but she didn't understand what it was she was talking about. She had met Harry Potter on that day, when he was leaving for Hogwarts, and she had not recognized him. And here he was, flying like a professional player. And he was her brother's friend.
The commentator said something she didn't understand either. She was only looking at one player, following him from one side of the terrain to another. And now, he made another pass near them. He waved his hand shortly in her direction. Ginny sat back. She was afraid, all of a sudden, that he might have seen her, that he might have recognized her from the platform. He took position in the central circle of the pitch, at a higher altitude compared to his teammates who had gathered at the same position. The Slytherins positioned themselves in a similar fashion as Gryffindor on their own side of the field. Ginny's eyes were glued to what was happening right in front of her.
"Please now welcome the referee for today's game, Madam Hooch," the commentator declared.
The flying teacher Ginny witnessed before the players arrived flew to the central point. She had a huge red ball under her arm, certainly the Quaffle. Two players, one from each team, came close to her and shook hands. She seemed to be telling them something. They then went each their way, the Slytherin captain taking back its place among the Chasers near the center, and the Gryffindor captain flying to his goalposts.
Madam Hooch positioned herself under both teams on the central circle, and threw the Quaffle up.
"The Quaffle is released. Let the game begin!"
The moment Lee Jordan said the words, players from both teams charged the ball in the air. Ginny almost hid her eyes behind her hands, afraid that someone would get hurt, but players just flew past each other, with Gryffindor taking the ball.
"The Quaffle is taken immediately by Johnson. What an excellent Chaser that girl is, and rather attractive too..."
"JORDAN!"
Ginny barely listened to the commentator. She rather looked at the game. The Chaser known as Angeline Joghnson flew through the ranks of the Slytherins, avoiding all those who tried to take the Quaffle out of her hands. Ginny watched in awe as she zigzaged through the terrain. At one point, a Slytherin Chaser sent her off course and she avoided one of the towers by a small margin, going off the terrain. She returned inside the limits quickly. Ginny feared the worst when a Bludger charged the girl's head. She bent over just in time and avoided another enemy Chaser, while two others were after her from behind. She flew straight to the enemy goalposts, free of opposition and threw the Quaffle into the centre ring. The Slytherin Keeper tried to stop it, to no avail. The Quaffle got through and a resounding cling went through the pitch as three quarters of the crowd cheered.
"Angelina Johnson scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!"
Ginny stood up to cheer the Gryffindor team. There wasn't any board showing the game's score. Ginny found it sad, but her attention was quickly brought to something else. Over all the other players, a Gryffindor player was performing a few loops in celebration. Ginny recognized him for being Harry Potter. He was only one year younger than she was, and he was doing stuff with his broomstick she would never dream to do.
"Your son likes to put on a show," Ginny's mother said next to her.
"Maybe he's more like his father than I thought," Mrs Lily said.
Ginny used the opportunity to ask the question that burned on her lips. "Are you really Harry Potter's mother?"
"Ginny!" her mother berated her again. But Mrs Lily slightly nodded her head, then she returned her attention on the game. Ginny did as well, sitting back at her mother's insistence.
Harry Potter was back at flying high over the pitch, doing rounds. Slytherin was now in possession of the Quaffle. Marcus Flint first got it, but made a pass to another Chaser named Pucey. Only half of Ginny's attention was on the Quaffle. The other half was on Gryffindor's Seeker. He remained far away from the game.
"Why doesn't he catch the Golden Snitch right now?" Ginny asked, to no one in particular. It was Mrs Lily though who answered.
"The Snitch is hard to find, Ginny. And even harder to catch. When I was in my fifth year here, a game lasted a whole week-end because no Seeker managed to catch the Snitch."
Would that game last that long? In the meantime, Slytherin had reached the Gryffindor goalposts and a Chaser threw it. Ginny thought he was going to score, but instead the Keeper just made his appearance and bounced the Quaffle back to a Gryffindor Chaser.
"Johnson... she passes to Spinnet... Then back to Johnson... Montague intercepts. Slytherin got the Quaffle... Montague avoids a Bludger... He avoids Bell... A pass to Pucey... Pucey loses it to Spinnet. She just grabbed the Quaffle, and it is back with Gryffindor... She makes a pass to Johnson... But Flint intercepts... He passes it back to Pucey... Wait a moment... Was that the Snitch?"
A rumour went through the crowd. Ginny thought she saw something glistening near the Slytherin Chaser. He let the Quaffle drop, and a Gryffindor Chaser, probably Angelina, took it back and flew towards the Slytherin rings. But Ginny didn't follow her for long as she saw Harry Potter and the Slytherin Seeker rushing towards the glitter. Time seemed to slow, everything else stopped in the stadium. Only a cling that no one cared about indicated that Gryffindor had scored another ten points. In the meantime, the two Seekers were shoulder to shoulder, Ginny stood up again to see everything. Ginny's heart pounded up in hope as she saw Harry Potter get ahead of Terence Higgs. And she saw what a Slytherin Chaser did.
In the last minute, the green player had put himself on Harry Potter's trajectory, and they collided. A cry of stupor and anger went through the crowd as Ginny screamed in terror, her hand over her mouth.
"HARRY!" his mother shouted, but Ginny was too scared herself to give attention to this. She watched as the boy spun. She thought he would fall from his broom, but in the last instant, he straightened up and regained his stability.
"FOUL!"
The shouts came from everywhere in the crowd, including from people next to Ginny in the tower. On her side, Ginny only had eyes for Harry Potter. The other players of Gryffindor came to see him, but they quickly disbanded, and he took flight again, taking altitude over the other players, certainly searching for the Golden Snitch again. Ginny wondered how he could fly as if nothing had happened after this.
The commentator was making bad comments about Slytherin after this foul from their captain, and a professor berated him for not remaining impartial. Alicia Spinnet took the penalty shot and scored, to the renewing delight of the Gryffindor crowd. They now led 30-0.
The game resumed. One of Slytherin's Chaser, she thought it was the one named Montague, took the Quaffle and rushed forward. He avoided two Gryffindor players, then hit the Quaffle with the tail of his broomstick when he reached the middle of the pitch. The ball traveled half the terrain to the goalposts. Ginny looked in awe until it was caught by Oliver Wood who sent it back quickly to his teammates. Katie Bell got it, and passed it along to Spinnet when Pucey happened to be just there to kick the red ball out of her hands. It was useless since Johnson recovered the Quaffle and headed towards Slytherin's goalposts. She avoided a Bludger, then a second one, and sent the Quaffle to Spinnet as Flint rushed on her. Spinnet approached the goalposts and entered the scoring area. She didn't shoot though. Instead, she sent the Quaffle behind her, towards Katie Bell. But the Quaffle was intercepted by Marcus Flint who then...
He threw the red ball on Angelina Johnson with so much force that she got it in the face. She had been rushing fast on Flint, and now she held her face with a hand. The commentator shouted at Flint for that, but no foul was called. Ginny thought she saw blood when Johnson flew close to them.
Slytherin was back with the Quaffle, and this time, everything seemed to turn in their favor. Montague and Flint exchanged the Quaffle several times, avoided Bludgers, and reached the goalposts of Gryffindor, only the two of them against the Keeper. Montague made a pass to his captain, who punched the Quaffle. Oliver Wood couldn't stop it this time. Slytherin had scored their first points.
Ginny raged. Only a quarter of the crowd roared in joy, the rest booing. She looked at Harry. He was still above the action, turning around the terrain. He had to catch the Snitch now. Ginny tried to scan the pitch in search of the small golden globe. Maybe if she saw something she could scream loud enough for him to hear her. But she couldn't see anything. And then Harry dove into the field. There was hope then. He must have spotted something. He avoided a Bludger targeting his head, then made a huge swerve to his left.
Ginny let a small cry when she saw this. She would never have been able to do that. She wasn't even sure how to command a broomstick to do such a move. And then Harry made another swerve to his right this time. How did he do that? He was barely capable to hold onto his broom, from what she could tell. Then his broom shook heavily from right to left, then up and down. Then he made a few loops in series.
"What's going on?" Ginny's mother had asked the question she was asking to herself. What was Harry doing with his broomstick. He was moving so quickly, in movements so abrupt and without coherence, Ginny started to be afraid that he would fall if it continued. And he kept gaining altitude.
Ginny's whole attention was on him as he kept going up. He wasn't far from them now, and she saw how he was squeezing his broom. No, he wasn't doing it on purpose. Something was wrong.
"Lily, what are you doing?"
Ginny looked on the side, and saw Mrs Lily take out her wand and pointing it towards her son, her eyes half-shut. She finally fully opened her eyes after a moment. "Someone is casting a jinx on Harry's broom."
"What?" Both Ginny and her mother shouted at the same time.
But the woman ignored them. She stood up instead and pointed her wand again in her son's direction.
"Lily, wait!" Her mother seized the wand and made it drop. "You can't do that. Not during a Quidditch game."
"I don't care. My son is in danger. His broomstick is being enchanted."
"Wait, he's getting help."
Indeed, other people of the Gryffindor team had gathered around Harry. They finally realized the trouble in which he found himself. Ginny's brothers tried to pull him to their brooms, without success. Each time Fred or George approached him, the broomstick was making another swerve which brought Harry higher, out of reach. He made one so sudden that Harry fell.
Ginny screamed, and for real this time. She was relieved when she saw him still clutching the wood with a single hand. She prayed he wouldn't let go, but the broom kept getting higher. The Chasers were also trying to help him now, but they found no more succees than Fred and George.
"That's enough!" Mrs Lily pointed her wand up and pronounced a formula Ginny didn't understand. She felt a force leaving from close to her. She looked again at Harry, who had managed to get a hold on his broom with his two hands, but the mount kept going up, much higher that the tip of the towers. If he fell...
Ginny was crying now. No, that couldn't be. Harry Potter was about to die.
"It's no good." Mrs Lily dropped her wand. "My counter-spells seem to make it worse."
His altitude kept increasing, and her brothers still couldn't manage to save him. Even the captain Oliver Wood was with them now. The whole team of Gryffindor was flying in a tight pack under Harry. He was holding his broomstick with only one hand again. Ginny hoped they would be able to catch him if he fell. At this height... Would he survive if he fell to the ground?
"Mom, he's going to die?" she asked her mother, crying like she never did. Even despite all the jokes and tricks her brothers made to her since she was born, she had never cried like this. Her mother hugged Ginny very close to her, but she couldn't take her eyes out from the scene that was happening right over her head.
And then, the broom ceased to move in all directions. First slowly, then it only swung a little as if it was on a quiet wave, and finally it stabilized. Her brothers flew up and helped Harry get back on his broom. And then Harry rushed down.
All his teammates and Ginny looked at him. Then she followed the direction he was heading and noticed the Seeker of Slytherin running after something glimmering. He had seen the Golden Snitch. Ginny cried in joy now. Even after what happened, his first instinct was to hunt the Snitch.
"EVERYBODY, BACK TO YOUR POST!"
She heard the Gryffindor's captain very clearly, and waves of red headed back towards the game.
Ginny got free of her mother's hold. She looked at where she thought the Golden Snitch was, catching the glimmer just ahead of the Slytherin Seeker. Harry caught up with him. They were side by side and giving elbows to each other. Higgs pushed Harry so hard once that he fell off the terrain, but recovered the right trajectory very quickly. In the meantime, Lee Jordan was announcing a new score for Gryffindor, but Slytherin now dominated the game 70-40. They had scored several points while the Gryffindors were trying to save their Seeker.
But Ginny was still only looking at the Seekers. They made a descent towards the field, so straight that they were perpendicular to the terrain. Ginny feared the worst. The Slytherin Seeker disengaged, but not Harry. She was biting her fingers now. He was very close to the ground. Too close. He straightened his broomstick just in time, and Ginny sighed in relief. He was flying horizontally to the ground now, and Ginny knew for a certainty now that the Snitch was just ahead of him. She couldn't miss it. Harry stood up, still on his broom, his hand stretched forward. He was approaching the central circle. And all of a sudden, like that, he stumbled.
Ginny squeaked. Was he hurt? His broom tumbled on the ground before it was immobilized. Harry Potter himself made several tumbles on the ground, but he got back up. He had a hand on his mouth, as if he was about to puke. Ginny held back her breathing. And then he threw something into his hands. It was small, but Ginny saw it shining immediately. Harry raised his hand in the air.
"Harry Potter got the Golden Snitch!" the commentator said triumphantly. "Gryffindor: one hundred and ninety points. Slytherin: seventy points. GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
Ginny felt she exploded at the same time as the stadium. She cheered and screamed of joy like she never did before. She was jumping into place. She screamed until she had no voice at all while the Gryffindor team was surrounding their Seeker, then carrying him triumphally on their shoulders around the pitch.
She turned to her mother, who kept applauding like so many other people. And then she looked at Mrs Lily. She thought she would be overjoyed with the end of the match. But she wasn't applauding. She wasn't screaming or shouting. Instead, she was crying. Ginny leaned to better see. She was crying, her face being littered with water, but she was also smiling like Ginny never saw the woman smile before.
Later, she and her mother left the tower and joined her brothers in the park. They were still wearing their Quidditch uniforms, and they were with Ron and two other girls from the team. Since none of them had blood on her face, Ginny thought they were probably Alicia Spinnet and Katie Bell. She was still excited and shaken from the game that just ended. She would never forget that day.
"Hey, here are our biggest fans!" her twin brothers said together. She ran to them. They both hugged her strongly. She hugged Ron last, her mother following suit. Fred and George made the presentations. Ginny was right, it was Alicia and Katie who were with them. They both shook her hand. She was shaking with real Quidditch players.
"You've seen us sending those Bludgers into Flint's face at the end. I thought he was going to have a heart attack," Fred laughed.
"Fred!" Ginny's mother admonished.
"What, Mom? He broke Angelina's nose during the game. With a Quaffle! At least, he wasn't hurt. We only gave him a good scare."
"I wouldn't mind if you had broken his nose too," the girl called Katie said.
"Please, your little brother and sister are here. Think about the example you're giving them," her mother said angrily.
"Well, that's what we do," George said. "We show them the spirit of competition."
"Can I see Harry Potter?" The question had been burning in Ginny's chest since the end of the game. She so wanted to see him, from close, not from far away, and not when she didn't know who he was.
"Oh, he's probably removing his robes in our changing rooms right now," Fred said.
"And preparing to join his girlfriend," added George.
"Oh, shut up, you two?" Ron snapped.
Ginny felt as if someone just dropped a bucket of ice on her head. "His girlfriend?" she asked. She asked it so low that she thought no one heard her, but it seemed her brothers did hear her.
"Oh, yes. This girl, Hermione Granger. All the time he doesn't spend with Ron, he spends with her," Fred declared.
"He's not spending all his time with her," Ron said, exasperated. "And she's not his girlfriend."
Despite her brother Ron's affirmation, Ginny felt a heavy lump take shape in her stomach