On the last day before Easter, the tension between the two teams and the two houses had reached a boiling point.
Some minor scuffles broke out in the hallways. In the worst one, a fourth-year Gryffindor and a sixth-year Slytherin both ended up in the hospital wing with leeks sprouting from their ears.
Harry was having a particularly tough time.
Whenever he headed to his last class, Slytherin students would stick out their legs to trip him.
No matter where he went, Crabbe and Goyle would pop up, but upon seeing him surrounded by Justin and the others, they'd slink away disappointed.
Wood was glad Harry had a good group of friends to keep the Slytherins from sidelining him before the match.
The game was about to start.
Justin anxiously tried using the two-way mirror, but got no response.
He and Hermione had no choice but to turn their attention to the pitch, where Harry looked like he wanted to eat Malfoy alive.
Ron was yelling angrily for him, basically saying Malfoy had to pay.
The Gryffindor team walked out of the changing room onto the field, greeted by a wave of noise.
Three-quarters of the crowd wore bright red rosettes, waving red flags with the Gryffindor lion or banners saying "Go Gryffindor!" or "Lions Catch Snakes!"
Behind the Slytherin goal posts, two hundred people wore green, with silver serpents glittering on their flags.
"And here comes the Gryffindor team!" Lee Jordan shouted as usual.
"Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, the Weasley brothers, and Wood!
With Ravenclaw missing their absolute core player, many think this is the best team Hogwarts has seen in years—"
Lee's commentary was drowned out by boos from the Slytherin side.
"The Slytherin team is out too, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes to the lineup, seeming to favor size over skill—"
The Slytherins booed even louder, but Harry thought Lee had a point.
Malfoy was clearly the smallest on their team; the others were all tall and burly.
"Captains, shake hands!" Madam Hooch said.
Flint and Wood stepped forward and gripped hands tightly, as if trying to crush each other's fingers.
"Mount your brooms!" Madam Hooch said.
"Three... two... one..."
The battle was on.
"Gryffindor in possession. Gryffindor's Alicia Spinnet with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goals, looking good, Alicia!
Oh no—the Quaffle's taken by Warrington. Slytherin's Warrington tearing up the field—wham!
—Nice Bludger from George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by—Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession.
Come on, Angelina—nice dodge around Montague—watch out, Angelina, Bludger!—SHE SCORES! Ten-zero to Gryffindor!"
Lee Jordan continued his passionate commentary.
Angelina glided around one end of the pitch, pumping her fist triumphantly as the sea of red below cheered—
"Ouch!"
Angelina nearly fell off her broom as Marcus Flint rammed into her hard.
"Sorry!" Flint said amid the crowd's boos.
"Sorry, didn't see her!"
Moments later, Fred Weasley whacked Flint on the back of the head with his club.
Flint's nose smashed into his broom handle and started bleeding.
"That's enough!" Madam Hooch shouted sharply, zooming between them.
"Unwarranted attack on a Chaser! Penalty to Gryffindor! Intentional damage to a Chaser! Penalty to Slytherin!"
"Aw, come on, miss!" Fred yelled, but Madam Hooch blew her whistle, and Alicia flew forward for the penalty.
"Come on, Alicia!" Lee shouted over the silent crowd.
"Yes! She's beaten the Keeper! Twenty-zero to Gryffindor!"
Harry quickly turned his Nimbus 2000, watching as Flint, nose still bleeding, flew up for Slytherin's penalty.
Wood hovered in front of the Gryffindor goals, jaws clenched.
"Of course, Wood's a superb Keeper!" Lee Jordan told the crowd as Flint waited for Madam Hooch's whistle.
"Superb! Very hard to pass—very hard indeed—YES! I DON'T BELIEVE IT! HE'S SAVED IT!"
Harry breathed a sigh of relief, shooting upward, scanning for the Snitch but still listening to every word of Lee Jordan's commentary.
While no one was looking, he elbowed Malfoy hard to keep him away from the Snitch.
Harry would keep at it until Gryffindor was ahead by more than fifty points.
Malfoy was still dazed when Harry's second elbow hit.
"Good job, Harry! That's the way!"
Ron was jumping excitedly below.
Meanwhile, Hermione and Justin watched worriedly as Harry and Malfoy's moves got bigger and bigger; you'd think they were dueling.
Dueling, with a side of Quidditch.
"Gryffindor in possession—no, Slytherin in possession—no!—Gryffindor takes it back, that's Katie Bell of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, speeding up the field—that was deliberate!"
Slytherin's Chaser Montague had cut in front of Katie; instead of grabbing the Quaffle, he grabbed at her head.
Katie cartwheeled in the air but managed to stay on her broom, though she dropped the Quaffle.
Madam Hooch's whistle blew again. She flew to Montague and started yelling at him.
A minute later, Katie scored another penalty.
"Thirty-zero! Take that, you dirty, cheating—"
"Jordan, if you can't commentate in an unbiased—"
"I'm telling it like it is, Professor!"
The commentary box seemed chaotic too.
In the distance, Sean quietly watched it all, seeing Harry "elbow aside" Malfoy, nearly grabbing the Golden Snitch.
His Magic Hand Mirror soon showed Justin's face, and Justin's slightly anxious mood calmed instantly.
"Did you see my message? Sean, you've known about this all along, right?"
Justin asked carefully.
"Yeah."
Sean replied.
He and Headmaster Dumbledore had never let up on investigating the Malfoy family. Finally, recently, they'd caught some small clues.
Though not enough to send Malfoy straight to prison, it was easy to force him to resign as school governor, endure some investigation time, and stop him from doing more bad things.
On the pitch, Harry was furious;
Off the pitch, Sean stood beside Dumbledore, looking calm.
"I'm glad you know how to use the rules."
Dumbledore said with a smile.
"Just different methods, Headmaster."
Sean said softly.