Chapter 8 - Turmoil
Sunday couldn’t come quickly enough for Tom. Nor it seemed for the rest of Ravensnore. There had been a lot of hype about the upcoming match as Ravensnores had been filled with optimism thanks to Mark’s propaganda to all the Ravensnores. Therefore, when the match finally arrived, the general feeling in the changing room was a buzzing excitement as the team waited for the stands to fill up.
The noise outside was getting louder and louder until Mark said, “It’s time. Let’s show the school what we’re made of.”
They walked out on to the pitch to massive applause. The sky was bright, without a glare from the sun and there was little wind. Great conditions. They reached the middle of the pitch and waited for the Gryffinchairs to appear. They had to wait a few minutes. Tom wondered if they were being late on purpose to create tension. The crowd were getting restless and unsurprisingly, when the Gryffinchair team finally appeared, they received a chorus of boos for taking so long, along with the cheers from the Gryffinchairs. As they got close enough to distinguish the players, he saw Fred and George shout, “Tom! You didn’t tell us you play Quidditch!”
Before he had chance to reply, the referee was saying, “Captains, shake hands.” Her voice was magically enlarged so it filled the whole stadium. “Mount your brooms... 3…2…1…Go!”
14 brooms went soaring into the air, Ryan and Ron darted off to opposite goal posts. Tom surveyed the whole pitch, working out what everyone else was doing whilst keeping an eye out for either of the bludgers. Before he knew it, Ravensnore scored. He saw Amber do a front flip in celebration and then heard a commentator for the first time. “10-0 to Ravensnore! It’s clear they mean business. Just look at those chasers go. Let’s see how Gryffinchair can respond.”
At that moment, a bludger came charging towards Tom, he smashed it at one of the Gryffinchair chasers but George came out of nowhere and blocked it. He shouted, “Nice try.”
Grinning, Tom flew on. In the next five minutes, Gryffinchair scored 3 times bringing the score to 10-30. The commentator was loving it, he was so obviously biased towards Gryffinchair but no teacher seemed to care. After the third goal, Mark started to get serious. He flew over Tom and called over Cho. “This is embarrassing. We need to show this school what we can do. Cho, ignore the snitch for a few minutes and help us distract the others, keeping a patch free for the chasers. Just like we practised.” He didn’t wait for a response. “Let’s go.”
Their conflab hadn’t gone unnoticed. The commentator was speculating what they were doing but the Ravensnore chasers had worked out was happening and got into formation. The team darted at the Gryffinchairs, flying in and out of one another. The quaffle was being passed around so quickly, that the Gryffinchairs didn’t know what hit them. In no time at all they brought the score back to 30-30. Cho then went back to searching for the snitch but Mark and Tom carried on helping the chasers pulling out a 50 point lead!
The crowd were going ballistic. It sounded like Hufflesnuff and Slytherdin were also supporting Ravensnore. As Mark deflected a particularly difficult shot from Fred as if it was nothing, Tom started to laugh. It felt to him as if nothing could go wrong and his feelings proved true as the score soared to 190-40 in the next 10 minutes. The commentator could no longer accuse Ravensnore of simply being lucky and was now saying, “Well it looks like Ravensnore are the team to watch this year. They look unbeatable out there. Their new acquisitions of Tom and Boris seem to have done the trick.”
Fred and George were the only two Gryffinchairs who still seemed to be fighting. They struck Amber twice, who was the biggest threat, but she was determined to stay on her broom.
Mark and Tom dragged Fred and George away from the chasers and a mini battle started out. Both bludgers were consecutively hit back and forth between all four of them. The whole game had stopped, everyone was watching the fierce battle raging between them. Tom had to admit, they were great players but he was determined not to beaten. All four beaters were equally matched so they turned to insults to try and gain an advantage. Fred started it by shouting “I’ve seen better swings on a porch.”
Tom momentarily lost concentration as he laughed but Mark stayed focused and retaliated with “You couldn’t hit the ground if you fell of your broom!”
Just before George shouted “You couldn’t hit a wall if you ran into it.”
Tom regained his awareness and added “I’ve seen a better batter when making a cake.”
The insults weren’t working either so Mark and Tom decided they had to go for their secret weapon. The double tap. Tom threw his club to Mark who caught it and sent both bludgers towards the twins. However, the Weaselby’s stopped the move in its tracks. They both managed to hit a bludger back at Mark and they both made a connection, knocking him off his broom. Many things then happened in quick succession. As Mark fell to the ground, Tom zoomed after him with both bludgers chasing him but couldn’t get to him in time. However, Mark threw both clubs towards Tom. In one fluid motion, Tom caught both bats, spun around and rocketed both bludgers at the Weaselby’s with such force that he knocked both of them off their brooms.
Subsequently, Amber scored a goal, being the first person to react to Mark being hit, bringing the score to 200-40 and not a moment too soon. Harry caught the snitch, being the only person who had not watched the beater battle. The game was over in the blink of an eye with the Gryffinchairs thinking they’d won. Only when the referee announced the final score as 200-190 and the commentator said, “Oh no, Gryffinchair lose! Harry didn’t see Amber score and unfortunately, he caught the snitch.”
The crowd went mental. Most of them hadn’t realised what had happened either but now that they knew. ¾ of the stadium were roaring and cheering. He then said, “But it looks as if Mr Collivander is a hidden gem. I guess playing with Victor Dumb pays off.”
The Ravensnore team were all flying towards Mark who lay on the ground celebrating. As they dismounted, Mark struggled to get up but he managed it. “Nice one guys. It was kind of you to make it interesting for the fans,” he said.
They all burst out laughing. Then the team turned to Amber and Tom said, “Amber, you were amazing. That goal at the end!”
“Not as good as you. I’ve never seen skill like that before.”
“It was nothing.”
“You’re being modest,” she said and out of the blue and full on kissed him in front of the whole Quidditch team and the rest of the stadium. Half the stadium broke into cheers.
Tom and Amber were embraced very tightly and it was a long time before they broke apart, even though he’d been completely caught off guard by it. Tom was oblivious to the commentator saying “Well that’s game, set and perfect match! In more ways than one for Amber.”
It just felt right to Tom, he felt more alive now than he ever had done with Isabelle, although that could be because of the Quidditch match.
When they finally broke apart, he found the rest of the team staring at them avidly. Mark shouted, “Don’t mind me, I only fell 40ft from my broom. Carry on making out in front of everyone.”
They all laughed. Ryan and Tom got him around their shoulders and started to walk off to the pitch exit. It was then that the team became aware of the Gryffinchair team sulking and looking angry. He could hear a couple of them challenging the referee about the alleged foul by Tom on the Weaselby twins and Ambers so called illegal goal. However, Harry was nowhere to been seen and Fred and George were coming over towards the Ravensnore team. Tom prepared himself for a fight but it didn’t come. Fred and George both said, “Amazing shot Tom!”
Mark then said, “Yeah it was, but Fred, George, yours were pretty good as well. You sent me flying.”
The three of them started laughing but Tom couldn’t understand it. “I thought you lot would be fighting each other. That’s what happens at Durmprang.”
Mark was first to answer, “Why would we be mad. It’s part of the game and they were some excellent shots. Part of the excit
ement of Quidditch is the potential injuries, especially for beaters.”
Fred then added, “Not to mention, that banter was top notch. I thought I was going to fall of my broom from laughing so hard.” He then changed his tone. “Listen, we’ve got to get back to our team, they’re not as accepting in a fair defeat as us but let’s catch up over a pint sometime.”
The Ravensnore team then went back to the changing rooms for Mark’s match evaluation speech. Amber was holding onto Tom throughout the speech and when it was over, they let everyone else leave before them. However, once outside, they came face to face with Isabelle. Tom didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t even sure what he wanted to happen. Luckily, Isabelle had decided for him. She ranted at him for a few minutes about betrayal and lies, none of which was true but Tom didn’t want to make things worse by arguing. When she eventually finished, she didn’t wait for a response. She just turned round and stormed back up to the castle. Tom watched her go back, dumbstruck.
Amber then brought him back to his senses. “I’m really sorry I put you through that. It’s just by winning the match, I was in a moment of such euphoria I wasn’t thinking.”
He looked at her and smiled, “Don’t apologise. Our relationship wasn’t going that well anyway.”
Amber seemed really pleased to hear this. “Oh, that’s a relief. I thought I’d created a nightmare.” Tom thought that sounded a bit harsh but knew she wasn’t trying to be.
As they walked up to the castle for lunch, holding hands, Tom properly noticed Amber for the first time. She had long, way brunette hair. She was just under 6ft tall, slim but with curves in all the right places. Her smile radiated happiness and the softness of her skin and warmth from her hand felt comforting.
When they entered the great hall, they were greeted by more cheers. Tom could hear people shouting out stuff like, “Fantastic match,” “Dude, you can play,” and “Bet you enjoyed that.”
Interestingly, no one appeared to give Amber much notice, something Tom wanted to rectify. He praised Amber in front of everyone for her game winning goal and said that whilst the beater battle may have been entertaining, it hadn’t made any difference to the score. But the hall wasn’t having any of it. He just received choruses of stuff like “You’re being modest.” Amber didn’t mind though. She just pulled Tom over to the Ravensnore table where the rest of the team was. Tom found himself in between Amber and Cho, both of whom wanted to talk to him in private but had no opportunity during lunch.
The celebrations didn’t stop at lunch though. The rest of the day was spent in Ravensnore tower. It looked like Bonky, with the help of some other house elves, had filled the room with food and drink. The majority of Ravensnore were amazed at the appearance of the food but Tom, Mark and Ryan gave each other a knowing look as they helped themselves to drinks. As far as the party was concerned, Tom realised that there was something missing. Decent music.
He went and got his phone and stereo system from his room and brought it to the party to the amazement of most of the house, who hadn’t seen a wizard with a phone before. Or speakers like the ones Tom had. Most wizards were used to, and even content with, a crummy old analogue radio which Tom just couldn’t understand. You’d think with all the wizards in the world, they’d have come up with some better way to listen to music. He put on his ‘classics’ playlist, which included The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Queen, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin. The music was an instant hit and soon the party was really in full swing. Ryan started up a game of beer-pong and Tom became rather drunk because he was so bad at it.
Mark and Ryan were the life of the party. Everyone was watching them and that meant that Cho finally managed to get Tom on his own. He was relaxing on a sofa in the corner of the room when she found him. She sat down and hugged him before saying “Thank you so much for everything.” He could tell that she meant it. “Harry and I have finally got together.”
“I’m glad you’re happy,” he replied.
“Thanks, I’m much better now. But what about you and Amber?”
“I dunno to be honest. We haven’t had chance to talk yet. I don’t understand where it came from, she’s never shown any interest in me before.”
Cho gave him a pitying sort of smile. “For someone who is really good at advising other people, you’re not very good at noticing things about yourself. Amber’s been dropping hints for ages.”
“Really!?”
“Come on Tom, you really didn’t know?”
“No,” he said firmly.
Cho took a softer approach with him, “Well, she kept slipping in comments about how you two have a special connection and how she likes you and so on.”
Tom thought back, trying to remember any of these occasions and to his dismay, he did remember. “I can remember but I thought she was just referring to Quidditch. I suppose I didn’t notice the true meaning because I wasn’t looking for it. I had Isabelle.”
“Had? Have you split up now?” she said in a raised voice.
Tom shrugged, “I think so. She had a massive go at me after the match and left me there.”
“Oh I’m sorry. Trust me though, Amber would never intentionally hurt you or your friends.”
“I know, she’s already apologised.”
“Look, here she comes. I’ll leave you two alone.”
Cho got up and left, high fiving Amber on the way. Amber then sat down, facing Tom and opened her mouth to speak but Tom cut her off. “Wait. Before you say anything, shall we go to my room for a bit of peace and quiet? Bear in mind that I don’t want to do anything until I’ve had a chance to sort things out with Isabelle.”
“I understand. Again, I’m sorry for the mess I’ve put you in. Let’s go.”
They got up to leave and Tom noticed Mark wink at him before distracting everyone else by challenging anyone to an arm wrestle so that Tom and Amber could slip away unnoticed.
Once inside Tom’s bedroom, they talked. They talked about the Quidditch match, their situation and how the rest of the school had reacted. Tom kept steering the conversation away from anything too personal. They talked for hours and they only paused to go and get some food from the party. By the time they finished, it was pitch black outside and the party music had died down. Amber kissed him on the cheek and left his room.
Tom couldn’t get to sleep that night. He had too much floating around in his head. Amber. She was a year older than Tom and beautiful. He was still amazed that she liked him. By morning, he’d had no sleep but he had come to a few decisions and conclusions about what steps to take next.
Tom Collivander and the Order of the Thunderbird, A Potter Parody Page 12
