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As it happened, the Gryffindor new tactic was outright insane. Fred and George Weasley stopped protecting Longbottom, and now the Boy-Who-Lived rushed into the heart of the Slytherin formations, beginning the massacre. With their high speeds and deficient Braking Charms, the Slytherins were unable to adapt to this new tactic on the fly. After thirty seconds, Marcus Flint took the uncontrollable Bludger in the arm, before colliding with Bole and being thrown off several four feet high in the mud. Not a minute later, Bole followed him, the shock he had just taken making him an easy prey for the other Bludger everyone seemed to have forgotten. In the chaos, Katie Bell took the Quaffle and marked two goals. 60-30 for Slytherin.
Things in the event grew tenser for the Boy-Who-Lived. The Bludger was still pursuing him, and was now shining of a blue electric light which augured nothing good. Impression confirmed when one of the Weasley Twins try to give Longbottom a moment of relief, struck the Bludger... and took a sort of magical shock such that he slowly plummeted to the ground, out of the game. To make matters more dangerous, the Bludger was now a corona of blue energy. Whoever was going to be hit next would be definitely in a world of pain.
The other players still in the game took the fall of the Gryffindor seriously and now rushed quickly away from the Bludger of doom and his intended victim, disrupting the play a bit further. Angelina Johnson marked twice, and Adrian Pucey once. 70-50 for Slytherin, which was losing most of its initial lead.
The only player who had a lot of fun in this... unanticipated Quidditch massacre was Draco Malfoy. With one of the Bludgers trying its best to murder his Gryffindor counterpart, the Slytherin Seeker made laps of honour over the Pitch, insulting Neville Longbottom when he passed near him, making grandiose gestures in direction of the Slytherin stands, his parents, the League recruiters who had made the travel today. A lot of things all considered, except one. He wasn't looking for the Golden Snitch.
"Once an idiot, always an idiot." Said Morag who had remarked the same thing. "Too bad for Slytherin. They had an occasion to win the match by a large margin and Malfoy is squandering it away."
Unfortunately for Slytherin, they had not the time to deal with their Seeker doing anything but his job. Flint out of the game, a new Chaser from the reserve had taken his place, his name being Cassius Warrington. Alexandra had heard of him before. Blonde-haired and with the physic of an ugly bull, Warrington was a fourth-year well known for being an ardent partisan of the pure-blood ideology. His family, the Ancient House of Warrington was known to have counted some Death Eaters in his ranks and though Cassius wasn't the Heir, he still had a sizeable income waiting for him once he finished Hogwarts. Good for him, because his grades at school were not stellar.
To go back to Quidditch matters, Warrington looked about as swift as the previously mentioned bull, and was now spreading trouble, as he, Pucey and Montague debated who had to become interim captain in Flint's absence. As the Lions were clearly not going to stop the game and leave them the time to discuss it, the outcome of the match was turning against them. Each of the Gryffindors had now made one more goal. 80-70 for Gryffindor, and the Keeper Bletchley was now shouting for help as his Chasers abandoned him against the offensive of the Gryffindor girls.
The rain was not falling harder, and the visibility fell further as the sky was now completely dark without a ray of light to lighten the scene. In these conditions, flying on broomsticks became extremely dangerous, a point confirmed by the loud rumble of thunder in the distance. The Snitch had to be caught, the sooner the better.
Alas, this awareness completely escaped one of the two persons charged of this task. Draco Malfoy was now concentrated in mocking Longbottom and doing little else, simulating and showing-off the prowess of his broom, unaware or uncaring his teammates were in the process of being laminated by Gryffindor. The arrogant pure-blood was in fact so concentrated on the Boy-Who-Lived he didn't even notice the gold streak flashing behind him!
"The Snitch is behind him!" Morag shouted, more expressive in everything Quidditch-related.
Neville Longbottom had also seen it, despite being pursued by a murderous Bludger and gave all the power of his Nimbus 2000 to rush towards Malfoy. The Slytherin, not understanding the full picture, made a roll to avoid the imminent collision and raced away, believing his rival wanted to get rid of him. As a result, it offered the Golden Snitch to the Boy-Who-Lived on a platter.
The Gryffindor Seeker did not have the time to celebrate his victory, though. Normal Bludgers had enchantments which normally forced them to return to their boxes once the referee signalled the end of the match, but this Bludger hadn't got the memo. It slammed into Neville Longbottom, who by chance had stopped his pursuit one foot over the ground, and the Gryffindor Seeker was propelled in the mud. The black object of mass destruction was about to make a second passage to kill Longbottom, when a Blasting Hex from Professor Hooch pulverised the ball in fragments.
Neville Longbottom looked like he had an arm broken, but his valid one held the tiny golden ball. And that meant...
"Longbottom has caught the Snitch!" Shouted Lee Jordan, who like the rest of the audience had not foreseen the match ending like this. "230-70! GRYFFINDOR WINS!"
A majority the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff students in the stands stood up and screamed their joy to the heavens. Many began to dance, sing or do whatever they did in such cases: launching fireworks, sounding trumpets and so on. The Slytherins stands, however, were deathly silent. The rainfalls now completely forbid watching any individual face, but there was a sea of consternation here, sure as the weather was wet. Near the teachers stand, she saw the families of many Slytherin players who had assisted to the match now leave in a hurry, as if they were worried the shame of the defeat was contagious.
On the ground, there was a commotion where Longbottom had landed, involving a Gilderoy Lockhart who was beaten in a bloody pulp by several furious Gryffindors. Alexandra wondered what this pompous fraud had done now, before dismissing him from her thoughts and preparing to leave the Pitch, a not very endearing proposal as the rain was now worse than ever.
"I was right, you know." Morag said with humour as Hermione first prepared to descend the stairs of the tribunes to go back to Hogwarts. "One Gryffindor saved the day at the end."