Chapter 18 - The Bloody Baron

                                        

                                              
The Bloody Baron
                              
The first few weeks back flew by. Nemesis's belly was getting larger, classes seemed to be getting longer, and the dread of end of the year exams spread over everyone, but the Quidditch season was coming back to help ease their troubled minds. The battle for the pitch carried on. The Slytherin team booked it whenever possible and leaving the worst times for the other teams. Snape would always give the Slytherin team permission to use the pitch, no matter who signed up for it. 
                              
Ron again decided that they were not going to sign up, just agree upon the time. This worked out fairly well. They would get an hour or two of practice in before the Slytherin team could claim the pitch. It worked especially well when the Slytherin captain and most of the other players were in class. The only problem was, they would usually come and spy on them when they could not take the pitch. 
                              
Ron also encouraged the team to practice by themselves or with others. The reserve, Euan, practiced with them when one of the other players was in class. Ron spent as much as time as possible working on their individual positions. Harry was perfecting the Wronski Feint, and Williams and Sloper were getting better. Sloper, at least, had stopped hitting members of his own team by accident. 
                              
Most of the improvements were to the Chaser line, which Ron had training the most. He stretched Ginny, Seamus, and Katie to their limit, but they were on their way to rivaling the predecessors. Ginny was by far the best. She was so small and speedy that the other two could not keep up with her, much less the other team. She, with Ron's help, studied Chaser books for tactics to learn. She only stopped for food and studying for her classes. The team was doing great. The only mistake that could happen was if Harry did not get the Snitch first, which put a lot of pressure on him.
                              
The match against Hufflepuff was in days. The Slytherin team continuing their attacks on the Gryffindors, and tried to get the Hufflepuffs to side with them, but it did not work. While they wanted to win the match, Ernie, Hannah, and Susan made it clear to the Hufflepuffs to not join in on the Slytherin attacks. 
                              
Still, the buildup to the match was intensifying. The Slytherins, despite their rejection from Hufflepuff, constantly surprise-attacked the Gryffindor team, trying to incapacitate any of them. The rest of the Gryffindors, however, did not allow their team to walk unprotected in the halls. They rose to occasion and accompanied their team through the halls. Harry was the only one who flatly refused an escort. He did not mind being attacked by people, most of whom did not even know how to duel. 
                              
The Hufflepuff team had beaten the Gryffindor team the last year, not to mention their previous match three years ago, but now everything had changed. The Hufflepuff team was under new direction, from whom Ron and Harry agreed must have been their last choice, Zacharias Smith. They had developed a rigorous training program and had been doing better since their last match against Slytherin. 
                              
When the day came, the team was in good spirits. They had a fighting chance. Harry was the one feeling the nervous instead of Ron. It rested upon him. They all had breakfast in the Great Hall, and went to the changing rooms followed by jeers from the Slytherin table.
                              
"Alright, we've come this far, and we've taken a lot from the Slytherins, but we will deal with them later. Right now, it is Hufflepuff we need to deal with. They've beat us the last two times we faced them. It is our turn. Now, some of us wouldn't mind beating Zacharias Smith," Ron said, heatedly.
                              
"Some? You mean all of us, don't you?" Katie said.
                              
"Here, here," Ginny said.
                              
"We got our chance. Enough said, let's go shove it in his face," Ron finished.
                              
They followed Ron out to the pitch. It was still chilly as it was the middle of February. There were a few piles of snow, but most of the ground was clear. The sun was high in the sky and warning off the chill. The Hufflepuff team came out in their canary yellow robes, led by Zacharias Smith. He strode right up to Ron, and roughly shook his hand.