Chapter 4

Author’s POV

            It’s already November and Quidditch season was about to start. The entire school was so excited about it because the Quidditch teams held the pride of their respective houses, so winning was an important goal. Winning a match means extra points for the battle of the houses which were much more important. The Quidditch teams had been training comprehensively for the tournament and the Quidditch pitch was always occupied every evening until the day of the first match took place finally arrived. It’s the morning of second weekend of November and the first match would begin after breakfast, between Gryffindor and Slytherin.

“Jiyeon-ah, where’s Jungkook?” Jiyeon was eating her breakfast in the great hall when Taehyung appeared and sat next to her.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t in the common room so I thought he’s already here, but when I arrived here, he wasn’t here as well.

“Maybe he had left to the pitch to get ready with his teammates. We should get going too.” Taehyung said.

Jiyeon urgently nodded as she finished her last bite of pixie puffs. They both then ran out from the great hall and made their way straight to the Quidditch pitch together with other students. No one wanted to miss Quidditch match, including the teachers and the headmaster. While other students climbed up to their seats, Jiyeon and Taehyung went down the pitch where the team members were getting ready to fly up inside the pitch. But once both of them reached the team, they were surprised to see that the members weren’t getting ready yet. Instead, they were surrounding someone. Jiyeon approached the group and saw that the team’s new chaser was vomiting and looking as white as a ghost.

“What’s happening?” She worriedly asked.

Jungkook who noticed Jiyeon’s appearance then answered with worried gaze, “Just now on our way here Mandy said she suddenly felt sick and dizzy. Now she began vomiting, non-stop.”

“This is bad! Have you told your substitutes to get ready?” Taehyung questioned.

“Unfortunately, we don’t have one. All the students that come to tryouts for chaser really , except for Mandy.” The team’s captain, Chanyeol, then answered Taehyung.

“We need an urgent replacement. What about you Jiyeon? Can you play?” The team’s best chaser, Daniel then asked while staring and Jiyeon full of hopes.

“She can! I’ve seen her dashing through the pitch so smoothly when we tested out my new broomstick.” Jungkook suddenly supported Daniel’s request.

“I can’t! I never played Quidditch and I don’t even know about the rules.” Jiyeon quickly refused.

“It’s okay. Daniel can assist you. All you need to do is threw the Quaffle through one of the three hoops, you choose whichever. Or you can just pass the Quaffle to Daniel or me so we’ll shoot it through the rings.” Chanyeol assured to the anxious Jiyeon.

“No I can’t!” She kept denying.

“Jiyeon-ah, we can’t lose to Slytherin. It’s only our first game. You know the Gryffindors are looking forward to the team, right?” Jungkook stood up facing Jiyeon and convinced her.

There was a few seconds of silence there until Jiyeon kneeled down next to the sick chaser, “Let me borrow your Quidditch gear and your broom. And you should visit the hospital wing.”

The other players just smiled in relief after hearing her. Jiyeon took the cape, jersey, the arm guards, and every gear that everyone else wore. She told the other guys to leave while she changed into the red Quidditch uniforms she borrowed from the girl. Once she finished changing, Jiyeon then joined the other members while holding a broomstick. She was pouting and she didn’t look happy about what she’s about to do. Meanwhile on the other side of the pitch, a group of seven students in green Quidditch gears were discussing their strategy.

“Lucas, what about the task I assigned you this morning?” The Slytherin team’s captain, Kris, asked while he was fixing his boots.

“Ah yes. I managed to secretly insert dizziness draught into the drink of one of Gryffindor’s chasers this morning. Too bad Kang Daniel wasn’t there. It’ll be good if we managed to exclude him from the match.” The guy named Lucas answered.

“That’s fine. The beaters can help eliminating Daniel or Chanyeol later. Make sure to hit the bludgers hard towards their chasers. I’ll take care of their seeker Jungkook.” Kris instructed them.

“What should I do captain?” Sehun who had only been listening finally talked.

“You just need to guard the hoops well. Since you’re fast, I know you will do well on your own.” Kris answered and Sehun just nodded understandingly.

Just then, a loud cheer could be heard filling the pitch alongside commentator’s voice echoing through the pitch, signaling that the match was about to begin. All the players from both teams hoped on their broomsticks and dashed through the air. They were flying across the pitch and took their respective positions. Once Sehun had settled in front of the goals, his eyes followed a group of seven people in red capes flying until they dispersed to their own positions. He saw three people were flying together and they somehow got his attention. He indentified the two guys being their captain Park Chanyeol and also Kang Daniel. But his eyes slowly widened once he noticed that a girl that floated in the between the two guys was Jiyeon, looking anxious and restless.

“Why the hell is she here?” Sehun whispered to himself.

He then saw his captain dashing closer, “Looks like they got your enemy to replace the sick chaser. This is gonna be fun. I’ll tell the beaters to oust her first.” Kris informed before he went towards their beaters.

“Does she even know how to play?” Sehun worriedly sighed as his eyes didn’t lose sight of Jiyeon.

The referee blew the whistle and all three balls were then released onto the air. Every player began dashing around the Quidditch pitch while the audiences were cheering loudly for their teams. As the seeker, Jungkook was roaming above the pitch while his eyes were sharply catching any small movement of the golden snitch. On the other hand, Jiyeon was confusedly staring around, didn’t know what to do. She could hear Taehyung and her roommates were basically screaming her name to show their support.

“Jiyeon take this and go towards their hoops!” Daniel who was surrounded by all three Slytherin’s chasers suddenly yelled as he threw the Quaffle towards the baffled Jiyeon.

“Huh? Ah whatever!” Jiyeon scolded herself as she caught the Quaffle and began dashing away with the broomstick.

From the edge of her eyes, she saw Slytherin chasers were on her left and right, showing their evil smirks to intimidate the newbie. But then she saw Chanyeol was a few meters in front of the goals, waiting for her. She looked above her and saw Daniel was assisting her. Jiyeon then told herself to be confident before she increased her speed and threw the Quaffle towards Chanyeol. The captain made a perfect turn using his broomstick and kicked the ball towards one of the three hoops but Sehun as the keeper managed to block it.

“What are you doing here, muggle? Are you trying to jinx your Quidditch team too now?” Sehun teased.

“No. I plan to jinx your team.” Jiyeon sassily replied before she dashed away from him.

After a while, Jiyeon was finally able to adapt with how the game worked and managed to create a great teamwork with the other two chasers. They were all flying in a parallel line towards the goals when Daniel suddenly shouted, “Jiyeon careful!”

Jiyeon turned her head to the left upon hearing Daniel’s voice and right at that moment a round jet black ball swiftly passing right in front of her face, so close to the tip of her nose. Her eyes widened and her heart stopped beating for a second. It was a bludger, which was a ball made of iron and could possibly injure anyone who was hit by it. One of the Slytherin’s beaters who aimed the bludger towards Jiyeon just now was just smirking when they were staring at him. Both Chanyeol and Daniel then worriedly approached Jiyeon whose face had turned so pale.

“Are you okay? You can stop here if you want. At this point it’s too dangerous. We can handle this without you.” Chanyeol said, worried that something might happen to Jiyeon especially when they were the ones making her joined the game.

“It’s okay. I’ll stay until the end.” Jiyeon refused.

“Be careful Jiyeon. I think they’re aiming to hit you with the bludgers. Always stay close to one of us.” Daniel then advised while Jiyeon nodded understandingly.

They started flying again. This time the Slytherin’s chasers managed to steal the Quaffle and all three of them were dashing towards Gryffindor’s goals. At the same time, Jiyeon, Chanyeol, and Daniel were chasing closely behind the opponents. One of the Slytherin’s chasers was about to score the goal but Gryffindor’s keeper was about to kick the Quaffle away. All chasers from both teams were heading towards the Quaffle except for Jiyeon who didn’t really know what to do. However, the five people including Chanyeol and Daniel crashed onto each other and fell onto the field. Meanwhile, Jiyeon’s eyes caught the Quaffle was rolling down the field a few meters away from the group of chasers. She instinctively flew down close to the ground and reached out her arm to get the Quaffle, which she succeeded. Alone without her two chaser friends, Jiyeon confidently dashed towards Sehun who was floating in front of the hoops, waiting for her to arrive.

“Jiyeon! Duck down!” She heard Sehun shouted. She looked straight towards him and she was gesturing her to bend down and he looked desperate.

“What?!” Jiyeon shouted back.

“The bludger!” Sehun shouted again.

Hearing his words, Jiyeon turned her head around and that was when she saw a bludger was heading towards her with full speed. She couldn’t think straight and only shut her eyes tight, waiting for the bludger to reach her. But, she suddenly felt someone was harshly shoving her body away. Jiyeon immediately opened her eyes and that was when she saw the bludger hit Sehun’s shoulder and he was thrown away from the broomstick because of the bludger’s fast speed. His body crashed onto one of the goals before he descended onto the ground, seemingly had lost his conscious.

“Sehun!” Jiyeon shout