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Quidditch Cup: Slytherin vs Ravenclaw
This is a continuation of the first Hogwarts Quidditch Cup story, which you can read here[/b][/url]________________________________________________________________ In the new year — once the holidays were over — the students got on the train back to Hogwarts. It was back to the usual studying they were doing before Christmas break. The nights were getting dark much sooner and the weather remained freezing-cold. By the time February came around, the school were anticipating the next Quidditch match: Slytherin vs Ravenclaw.
In the week coming up to the event, it became much colder as the day approached; students still had their house scarfs wrapped around their necks and kept their robes on at all times. January had the Ravenclaw team practicing three times a week to get themselves ready for the big game. The chasers had performed their manoeuvres perfectly, the beaters were knocking bludgers left-and-right, and Nefaris was saving several goals. Matthew was doing great as the seeker — he managed to catch the snitch within a few minutes after the snitch being released, a whole new record for himself.
The night before the match, Matthew laid underneath the blanket of his bed in the boys’ dormitory, slowly drifting off to sleep. Before completely blacking out, he heard the wind picking up outside his window, but he just thought it was a regular windy night and nothing more. And soon after, he passed out peacefully.
Once his eyes opened the next morning, he was greeted to the heavy sound of wind coming from his window once again. There was no way it continued through the night — he thought the wind would’ve stopped by now — but it never did.
He got out of bed quietly to move himself over to the window and was surprised by what he saw — the entirety of the Hogwarts grounds was coated with snow.
‘Oh no...’ the wolf thought.
There was a wild blizzard happening outside — and it didn’t look like it was going to stop anytime soon. He could barely see what was going on outside due to the amount of snow covering his window, but he could just about see the trees of the Forbidden Forest sway with the extremely-heavy gusts of wind, and countless drops of snow coming down hard from the pure-white sky.
In the Great Hall, the students gathered up together as usual, chattering about the game with excitement; the Ravenclaw team was huddled up on their table and went over some last-minute reminders. In about an hour’s time, Matthew would be getting on the pitch in the middle of the storm.
“So, they’re not gonna cancel the match?” Asked Ty.
“Nope,” Jan answered. “Weather doesn’t matter to the teachers. They think it’s a way to challenge the players, which I can agree on.”
“Blimey...” Seven muttered.
“C’mon, guys! We can’t just give up ‘cuz of some snow outside.”
Matthew was sitting in front of Jan, looking down at his plate as he bit down on a piece of toast; he was more concerned than he was last night. The snow outside was brutal — nothing in their practices could’ve prepared them for that. ‘How the bloody hell am I gonna find that snitch?!’ He thought to himself.
Before he knew it, it was time to go — the seven players got up out of their seats and began to make their way onto the castle grounds. From every step they took, the frozen grass crunched under their feet. At one point Seven almost fell over when a heavy gust of wind blew into them.
After struggling through the storm, they finally made it to the Quidditch stadium. Once the group stepped inside the locker room, they began to change into their navy robes — along with their pads, socks, and gloves — and gathered around the board.
“Okay, guys...” Jan started. “I know there’s a blizzard outside, but think of who we’re up against. With this team we have here, Slytherin doesn’t stand a chance; they’re fourth place in the Quidditch Cup right now, and considering how bad they lost against Gryffindor, I think this should be an easy win.”
The six boys of the team let out chuckles all around at the cheeky comment.
“But keep an eye on them — they could try to pull a fast one on us and cheat their way through the game.”
Soon after, they could hear the sound of bass drums playing, along with cheers from the students — it was time.
“Alright, it’s game time. Good luck, guys...be careful.”
The team grabbed their broomsticks from the lockers and formed a line in front of the tent’s exit. Once Matthew got at the back of the line, Jan came walking towards him with something in her hand.
“Here,” said the lioness as she gave the item to him. “You’re gonna need these out there in the storm.”
It was a pair of goggles. Since Seekers were on the hunt for such a tiny ball in the middle of a blizzard, they were advised to wear them so they weren’t flying blind.
Once they were ready, they mounted their brooms and took off into the blizzard — one-by-one — and were overwhelmed with the familiar screams from the crowd.
The stands’ banners were flapping because of the nasty wind, but despite the weather, it didn’t change the morale of the school. The stadium was divided into two — one half was a frosty blue and white, the other, a forest of green and silver. Students had the usual stuff with them — face paint, banners and flags of whichever house they supported. The grass on the pitch was coated so much with white, the centre was barely visible. It was no secret that Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors commonly supported Ravenclaw since their teams weren’t playing, while Slytherins wore their colours with pride; barely any of them cheered for the eagles.
“And welcome to Hogwarts’ third Quidditch match of the season! Today we have a doozy for you all: Slytherin vs Ravenclaw!” Announced commentator Chazra Dorvak.
As the Ravenclaws flew around the pitch, Matthew just barely noticed the Slytherin team emerging from their end, each of them sporting emerald robes.
Once Madam Hooch stepped out onto the field, both teams gathered around the centre in a circle.
Matthew couldn’t even make out what she was saying down below due to the wind, but he assumed it was the usual, “I want a nice, clean game,” reminder. He could just about see the hawk kick open the wooden chest beside her and he watched as the bludgers took off in other directions. Afterwards, she grabbed hold of the quaffle from inside the crate and looked up at the fourteen players — the chasers’ anticipations growing stronger.
Once she threw it directly upwards, the crowd started to cheer louder — the game had officially begun.
“And they’re off! The quaffle’s swiftly taken by Captain Titus of Ravenclaw and she’s zooming towards Slytherin’s goalposts.”
The lioness, with the leather ball tucked under her arm, began flying down to the Serpents’ end, where their keeper was waiting for her at the hoops.
“She’s getting overwhelmed by the chaser and passes to Seven — he passes to Navalia — back to Jan, and — OH! RAVENCLAW SCORES!!! That was INSANELY quick!”
The three chasers managed to pass the Quaffle to each other fluently at such a high speed, the commentator didn’t even realise Jan had already scored a goal until a loud roar erupted in the crowd. Twenty seconds — that was how long it had been since the match started. Dorvak — being a Ravenclaw himself — couldn’t help but cheer along with the school.
Matthew, as usual, hovered over the match on his Windsurfer, clapping his gloved hands. He was still sort of anxious about the thought of trying to find the snitch in that weather, hopefully the golden glint is enough for him.
“Slytherin now in possession of the Quaffle and is held by Richard Miller — manages to dodge Navalia — passes to — oh, and Titus takes the Quaff — oh, nevermind — Kodiak regains the Quaffle and escorts it to Ravenclaw’s hoops — he shoots, and — Kodiak scores for Slytherin! Both teams are now back neck-and-neck!”
The sea of green below let out cheers of joy, waving their flags and clapping for Kodiak — the deer who had scored the point for them. This was met with boos and awes from the blue side of the stadium.
With the Quaffle back in the hands of Ravenclaw, Nefaris passes to Pyro and the trio began swooping down the middle of the field in the Hawkshead Attacking Formation — a move where chasers form an arrowhead pattern — with both beaters beside them for protection. Slytherin Chaser Raine Pierce came storming in by himself, charging into Pyro and causing him to drop the ball — but that didn’t stop Jan from collecting it and splitting from the group.
“Titus flies down to the ground and is pursued by both Slytherin beaters Roland Witherspoon and Caim Nilathwyn.”
As Jan flew close to the ground with two beaters on her tail, she began to move in a zig-zag motion, dodging each of their attempts to knock her off her broom with the bludgers.
“Some lovely dodging there, she’s slicing through them like butter — OOF, she lead Witherspoon’s bludger into Caim! Let’s hope he doesn’t need to go to the Hospital Wing after that — Titus comes soaring in — she shoots — and scores! Ravenclaw takes the lead!”
Fortunately for Caim — Slytherin’s Captain — he was able to recover unscathed and the match continued.
“Slytherin keeper Miles Lawrence passes to Richard Miller and he goes flying down the field — passes to Pierce — oh, and Navalia tackles him to regain the Quaffle — he zooms down to their goals — reverse passes to Seven, and — SEVEN SCORES! ANOTHER ten points to Ravenclaw!”
Pyro flew towards Seven with his arm out, giving him a high-five for the outstanding goal.Story continues on my Patreon...[/b][/url]________________________________________________________________Here we go, another Hogwarts story! There should be one more Quidditch story coming at some point later on, but I’m not so sure when that’ll be; I wanna take a short break from Quidditch and write something else in the meantime to get some variety going^^This incredible pic was done by the amazing 
Jailbird
JailbirdLike the stories I write for my art? Support me on Patreon[/b] for more! 
Wanna support me AND see more art and stories of Matthew in the future? Consider supporting me on Patreon! Category Artwork (Digital) / Fantasy
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 1155 x 1050px
File Size 1.27 MB
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