In November of your fourth year, you stood in the Quidditch changing rooms and stared down at your shaking hands.
Today was your first official match as Gryffindor's newest Chaser, having successfully completed tryouts in September, and you were playing against Slytherin, a notoriously strong team. And as if the day couldn't get any worse, it was a horribly cold day and if your hands weren't already shaking from the nerves coursing through your body, they would've been shaking because of the chill seeping into your bones.
"Alright, Y/N?" Oliver Wood asked you as he and the rest of the team walked into the changing rooms. The team consisted of you, Angelina and Alicia as Chasers, the twins as Beaters, Oliver as the Keeper and Captain, and Harry as the team's Seeker. You were relieved to be close with your teammates already and it made getting up early to practice a bit less painful, but that didn't do much to calm your anxiety now as you stood waiting for the match to start.
You nodded slowly, "just nervous, that's all."
He nodded in understanding and then patted you on the shoulder reassuringly, "that's normal for your first match, but just do what you've been doing in practice these past few weeks and you'll be fine. You've trained hard, Y/N, remember that," then he walked away to speak to Harry who was standing awkwardly by the tent's entrance.
You had trained hard for this, ever since the tryouts at the end of September you'd been practicing almost non-stop. You'd always been fast on a broom and you picked it up very quickly in your Quidditch class in first year. But this time around, you hadn't been given much of a choice but to work harder, and that was when you came to the realisation that Oliver Wood was intense when it came to Quidditch.
You sat down on the bench to finish lacing up your Quidditch boots and you were immediately flanked by your friends. Alicia and Angelina sat on one side, while Fred and George sat on the other, "how are you feeling, Y/N?" Alicia asked you.
You sighed loudly and turned to look at the two girls, "I think I could throw up, to be quite honest with you."
"Please wait until after the match if you can, Y/N. Or even during the match and you could aim for that idiotic Malfoy kid," George said and then he leaned across Fred and patted your knee sympathetically.
"You're a fantastic Chaser, Y/N, you'll smash it. Don't let your nerves get the better of you," Fred said quietly, more to you than to the group, and he bumped your shoulder gently with his.
You nodded and then Oliver clapped his hands to get your attention and the team stood up around him. The twins looked at each other and sighed, "here we go," they said, and you didn't understand what they were complaining about until Oliver launched into his peptalk, which was more of a speech, and by the end of it you were suddenly looking forward to the match starting.
"Alright, Harry?" you asked a few minutes later as you moved to stand next to the younger boy. He nodded, "I'm fine, I still can't believe they have bloody Malfoy as their Seeker."
Things had been tense ever since you all woke up at the crack of dawn to practice one morning, only to be intercepted by the Slytherin team who had written permission from Snape to use the pitch to train their new Seeker, Draco Malfoy. Both teams had sized each other up in the courtyard and you remembered the twins menacingly, but casually, swinging their Beaters' bats onto their shoulders, as if to remind the other team that they had them, and were willing to use them if necessary.
As if things weren't bad enough, the realisation that Lucius Malfoy had bought new brooms for the entire team had made you and the rest of the Gryffindor team livid.
Ron and Hermione had seen the confrontation beginning to unfold and joined the group, and while Malfoy had taunted the Weasleys, Hermione had bravely pointed out that they at least didn't have to buy their way onto the team, unlike him. This only made Malfoy angry and he'd insulted her, causing Ron to whip out his wand and attempt to jinx the Slytherin boy on his broken wand, which had backfired on him. Since that day, things had been even more rocky with the Slytherin team than they had been before.
Now as you prepared for your first match, Harry scowled at the thought of Malfoy being his opposition and you patted his back reassuringly, "if anyone can beat him, it's you Harry."
"Thanks, Y/N. Good luck out there," he said encouragingly and then he went to pick up his broom and you did the same. You were using one of the school-owned brooms and while it wasn't the best, it would do for the moment.
An arm wrapped around your shoulder as you walked towards the tent's entrance, "hey, Freddie," you sighed as you tried to swallow your nerves.
"Good luck out there, and try not to worry about the Bludgers, George and I will keep them in check," he winked at you and then hugged you into his side comfortingly. You gave him a small smile and then you all mounted your brooms and flew out of the tent in formation toward the Quidditch Pitch.
The conditions of the pitch were made even worse as rain began to fall, but you tried not to pay attention to it as roars and cheers erupted from the crowds in the stands.
You took a deep breath as you all rose up into the air, lapping the perimeter of the pitch to get your bearings. You all flew into your starting positions in a circle in the centre of the pitch above Madam Hooch, who stood down on the ground with the box containing the Bludgers, Quaffle, and Golden Snitch.
You looked up and met Fred's eye and he winked at you, and then you looked to George who gave you an encouraging nod. Harry and Malfoy were in their positions above you and you gripped the handle of your broom tightly as the Bludgers and Snitch were released from the box and immediately flew out of sight, Madam Hooch threw the Quaffle into the air signalling the start of the game.
"The Quaffle is released, and the game begins!" You heard Lee announcing from the commentary box.
Alicia immediately shot forward and snatched the Quaffle from the air, she ducked under the advancing Slytherin Chasers and you flew up into the air as she passed the Quaffle up to you. You swerved as the opposing Chasers gained on you from every direction and you saw Angelina had an opening, so you threw the ball towards her. She grabbed it and turned to the hoops behind her, just barely dodging Adrian Pucey as he attempted to knock her off her broom. She flung the Quaffle towards the hoop and it glided through, scoring a goal.
"Angelina Johnson scores! Ten points for Gryffindor!" Lee shouted into the loudspeaker, unable to contain his joy at the score.
You cheered and high-fived Angelina as she flew past you, but the feeling of triumph was cut short by Harry's yell of fright behind you. You turned your head to look at him and saw a Bludger almost knock him clean off his broom, with an aim that was almost too precise, but you couldn't spare it another thought as the Quaffle returned to the pitch.
"Slytherin takes possession of the Quaffle! Bletchley passes to Captain Marcus Flint," Lee reported to the crowd.
You raced towards the Slytherin captain who was speeding towards the Gryffindor hoops and watched as he dodged both Angelina and Alicia who tried to cut him off. You swooped in from the side and your fingers barely grazed the Quaffle under his arm, but he leaned back and violently kicked the handle of your broom, sending you spiralling. Your heart leaped into your throat as you plummeted to the ground, but you managed to regain your balance and steer yourself back up into the air.
"Alright?" Fred asked as he flew past you, you nodded and watched as he sped to hit a Bludger that was flying towards Harry, and you spun around on your broom just in time to see Oliver blocking Flint's attempted score into the hoop.
You and the two girls passed the Quaffle between you after it was thrown back into the pitch, you each swerved between the opposing Chasers as you tossed it back and forth in perfect coordination. Angelina passed it to you and you soared up into the air to grab it and then dove, flinging the Quaffle through the hoop and scoring.
You felt elated at your success and your spirits were lifted by the screams of encouragement from the crowd.
"Another ten points to Gryffindor as Y/N Y/L/N scores with magnificent dexterity! Proud of you Y/N! You showed those wretched- right yes, sorry Professor," you smirked as Lee's biased praise for you earned him a scolding from McGonagall who was sitting next to him in the commentator's box.
"Absolutely smashing, Y/N!" George yelled to you as he slapped you on the back in congratulations as he flew past.
Harry yelled again as another Bludger raced towards him, he ducked as it flew past his head but it turned around and darted towards him once again. Fred and George flew over to beat the Bludger away but it was relentless and as they tried to fend it off, Flint snatched a bat from his Beater and sent the other Bludger hurtling directly for Oliver. Oliver's broom jolted with the impact as he was hit and he dropped from the air, allowing Flint to score a goal.
Oliver angrily swerved back into the air and demanded to know where his Beaters were, the twins raced over to him and demanded he call for a time out. He begrudgingly agreed and the game was paused while you all converged on your side of the pitch.
"Will the pair of you explain to me what the bloody hell you're playing at?" Wood questioned the twins, clearly fuming.
"Wood, there's a rogue Bludger that keeps trying to hit Harry clean off his broom," Fred explained, bristling at Oliver's tone.
"It's definitely bewitched, I've never seen anything like it," George agreed defensively.
Wood nodded and apologised swiftly, "okay, sorry lads. So what's our play then? The game can't continue if my Beaters have to constantly protect the Seeker."
Harry interjected, "they don't have to," he turned to the twins, "leave me to deal with the Bludger alone, I won't be able to find the Snitch if you two have to constantly flank me."
The rest of you immediately protested but Oliver held up a hand, "I have to go with Harry on this, if he says he can handle it, then we give him the chance to. Otherwise we jeopardise our chances of winning," he looked at Harry as you held in another interjection of protest, and the younger boy nodded in agreement with the captain.
"Okay team, let's go. Harry, be careful," Oliver said, signalling you all to go back to your positions while he called for the game to resume.
The game continued and you winced as Flint and another Chaser flanked Angelina and drove her into the side of one of the stands, the momentary shock of the action resulting in another score for Slytherin. George dove down and pulled Angelina back up into the air and she gave you all a thumbs up to show you she was alright.
The score was tied, with twenty points to each team. The pressure now landed on Harry to catch the Snitch and you watched as he weaved in and out of the pitch while the rogue Bludger pursued him. He suddenly pivoted in the opposite direction, chasing after what you assumed was the Snitch, and held his arm out to reach for it. He sped past you and Alicia, and then you watched in shock as the rogue Bludger suddenly appeared and launched itself at his outstretched arm.
A sickening crunch filled the air and Harry gasped in pain, but you couldn't do anything as the Quaffle headed in your direction. You intercepted a pass between two Slytherin Chasers and dove with it under your arm, and then tossed it to Angelina. You spared a glance over your shoulder as Harry carefully leaned forward with his other arm outstretched, the one that was hit by the Bludger held close to his chest, and then he tumbled to the ground.
He held up his hand from where he lay and you exhaled in relief, both at the fact that he was conscious and at the sight of the glittering golden Snitch in his fingers.
"Harry Potter has caught the Snitch! GRYFFINDOR WINS!" you all cheered and pumped your fists in triumph and then flew down to land on the pitch below.
As soon as you landed you were swept into the arms of the twins, who were elated at the win and you turned to hug the girls who were jumping up and down with delight. Even Oliver hugged you joyfully and patted you on the back, a move which, unbeknownst to you, irritated Fred, though the boy didn't understand himself why it made him feel that way.
You all then ran over to Harry who was sitting on the ground and you watched in disgust as Professor Lockhart attempted to fix Harry's broken arm and instead removed all the bones from it.
"Stupid prat," George muttered quietly as you watched.
When you visited Harry later in the Hospital Wing, he told you that fortunately Madam Pomfrey had been able to mend the arm with Skele-gro potion, and he insisted that he wouldn't let Lockhart near him if he got injured in the next match against Hufflepuff. Unfortunately his words were in vain as the Quidditch Cup was cancelled that year when Muggle-born students, including Hermione, were attacked and Petrified by an unknown threat.