He'd caught the snitch. He grinned to himself, seeing Cedric scowl playfully as he slowed down, the chase over. Harry turned to fly back to the starting point, handing the snitch over to Boris.
Fourteen more rounds to go.
.-.-.
By round thirteen, the competition was getting intense, but none of the seekers were showing signs of tiring. Viktor was in the lead with four points, while Harry and Fleur both had three, and Cedric was on two. Harry was sweating even in the December cold, but he couldn't stop smiling. He was having the time of his life.
"Round thirteen!" Boris "Seekers, take your places!"
announced.
They'd been out there for almost two hours already, and the crowd had thinned a little. Obviously some people hadn't realised just how long it was going to take four seekers to go for the snitch fifteen times. There were still plenty of people out watching them, though they'd even gained a couple of teachers, in the form of Flitwick, McGonagall and Sprout.
Round thirteen didn't last long — Viktor caught the snitch within the first few minutes, taking him up to five points. Harry grit his teeth, refusing to let the Bulgarian wizard get too much of a lead. If he was going to lose, he wanted to do so by only a point or two.
Round fourteen ended up with Harry hanging practically upside-down off his broom to catch the snitch above the heads of a group of sixth year girls, having to be very careful not to crash right into them. He brought the snitch back to Boris and settled in for the final round. He was only one point behind Viktor. Maybe, just maybe, he could catch it and send them into a tiebreaker.
As they reset, Viktor smirked at Harry. "Coming for my lead, are you?"
"Gonna try," Harry returned with a grin, mounting his broom and squeezing his eyes shut on Boris' command. He took off at the whistle, settling into his usual loop and seeing the other three do the same All of them were desperate to score one last point — Viktor to secure his victory, Harry to go for the tiebreaker, and Cedric and Fleur to just stop Viktor beating the rest of them by too many points.
Suddenly Fleur was dropping into a dive, determination on her face. Harry automatically moved to follow, eventually seeing what the French witch was seeing; the snitch was practically right next to Boris, back where it had started. Cheeky little thing.
Boris seemed to realise the issue and dropped to his belly on the grass, rolling away before the two seekers could come crashing into him. Fleur was just edging in front of Harry, but he pushed on, leaning as far forward on his broom as he would dare without tipping too far and going arse over teakettle. Fleur clearly wasn't as comfortable pushing the boundaries as Harry, keeping her centre of gravity squarely over the middle of the broom, and it was that hesitance that allowed Harry to edge out and grab the snitch just ahead of her. He had to lurch back as soon as his fingers closed around metal, sliding to a halt.
The crowd was roaring. Cedric was laughing. Even Fleur looked grudgingly impressed. Viktor, on the other hand, pulled up next to Harry, staring at him for a long minute. "I vas not expecting you to be this good," he said eventually, looking quite put out about that. Harry beamed. They returned to Boris, who looked utterly gobsmacked by the turn of events. "Friends, we have a tiebreaker situation! Harry Potter and Viktor Krum have both finished on five points! Cedric Diggory and Fleur Delacour will bow out for this final round, if I can please have a round of applause for their efforts."
Harry and Viktor both joined in with the applause, and the other two champions were smiling as they shouldered their brooms and walked to join their friends in the crowd. With just the two of them left, a hush fell over the audience. Boris flashed a smirk. "And then there were two," he remarked, playing with the string of his whistle. "The rules are much the same. Eyes closed, fifteen seconds, start on the whistle. This will be the round that decides it — one snitch, two seekers, winner takes it all. Are you ready?"
The two seekers shared a glance, then nodded. They got into position, either side of Boris. Harry shut his eyes, taking several steadying breaths to focus himself while Boris counted down, and then on the whistle he was off.
It was different, playing with two instead of four. Easier, honestly; fewer people to keep an eye on in case they saw the snitch. It felt more like a real quidditch match, except he wasn't having to dodge bludgers — and he'd never played a real match against such a good seeker before.
The pair of them were circling up high, Harry's eyes darting back and forth as he tried to find the snitch. Minutes passed. Of course the last round wasn't going to go quickly; it was like the snitch knew.
All of a sudden, Viktor dropped into a sharp dive. Harry didn't hesitate to follow — even though he'd seen Viktor use that tactic before, if there was even the chance he was going for the snitch, Harry had to tail him.
He couldn't see anything as they sped towards the ground, but that didn't mean Viktor didn't have it. The grass grew closer and closer, and Harry grinned to himself He's going for the Wronski Feint. He remembered seeing Lynch smash into the ground at the World Cup Harry wouldn't do that. He could handle this. Knowing Krum was just faking him out, Harry used the dive to keep looking for the snitch, unruffled by the ever-nearing ground. He was barely fifteen feet from the grass when he saw it; a glimmer of gold. He'd have to do almost a total 180 when he pulled out of the dive, but he didn't think Viktor had seen it.
Viktor was holding out until the last second to pull from his dive. Harry didn't scare that easily. He was neck and neck with the Bulgarian now, Viktor flat on his broom as if he was chasing the snitch, even though Harry knew he couldn't be. He had to wait — the snitch was closer to Viktor than him. If he pulled out too early, Viktor would see why, and he'd be able to get there first. Harry had to leave it until the very last second. The grass was even closer. Viktor spared a split second to glance Harry's way incredulously, then pulled up, shooting back up towards his previous position, convinced Harry was going to hit the dirt. There. Harry wrenched his broom level and twisted at the same time, his toes brushing the ground as he narrowly escaped ploughing head-first into it, the G-force dragging against him as he spun around, doing a little roll to take out some of the momentum and then speeding forwards until the snitch was in his hand.
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