The Lewis House 56 страница

Atkins laughed. "Now there's what I like to see, a young man ready to defend his 'lassie'."

Colin hadn't budged. "Move your hand."

"Look at that," Atkins leaned in to whisper in Eloise's ear, "sounds like someone roped this boy in good and-"

Good and what, Eloise never found out. Colin had reached around Eloise and grabbed Atkins by the collar, pulling him back just for enough to dislodge the offending hand and send Eloise scurrying to Colin's left side. Colin immediately pressed into the space Eloise had vacated.

Atkins laughed even harder. "That's the way to do it! I like you, boy!"

Colin wound back with his free hand, and Eloise pulled her wand as fast as she could - she couldn't let Colin get thrown out of the game on her account, and worse, she couldn't let Atkins retaliate. She pointed her wand, cried, "Petrificus Totalus," and Atkins immediately went rigid.

It was enough to make Colin take notice and drop his hand; she couldn't see his face, but she could see his shoulders start shaking. When he turned, he was smiling widely, perhaps even fighting back a laugh. No one seemed to notice that Atkins had been immobilized, and Eloise was hardly surprised. She heard Lee and Skip bantering about a Wronski Feint, and guessed no one in the box had even witnessed the exchange.

But Colin was still smiling like that, making it impossible to turn back to the game. They were almost toe-to-toe, and for a brief second Eloise wondered how silly they must look from the outside, with everyone in their box screaming and jumping and watching the game, and the two of them staring at each other instead.

"Thanks," she said, trying to smile as widely as he was. She got halfway there but lost her nerve and gave the rest of the expression to her shoes. Blue shoes.

Colin's shoes moved closer, and she felt his breath against her ear. "You Hufflepuffs are damn fast. That was perfect."

Eloise giggled, and her head floated again.

"AND IT'S COLE KERRY TO THE HOOPS AGAIN, SHE IS JUST A MACHINE, WATCH THIS WOMAN GO!"

Eloise jumped, bumping the top of her head against Colin's chin.

"Oh! I'm going to kill you one of these days! But the game!" She whirled round to face the pitch, and so did Colin, still rubbing his chin and laughing, just in time to see Kerry swoop effortlessly past the Kestrels' keeper for a goal.

"YES, LEE, SHE'S CERTAINLY BEEN THIS LEAGUE'S BIGGEST FIND, AND YOU'VE GOT TO WONDER WHY IT TOOK SO LONG FOR ANYONE TO NOTICE HER CHASER ABILITIES."

"IT DIDN'T TAKE SO LONG, SKIP, IT JUST TOOK A MADMAN NAMED WOOD."

"WELL HE'S CERTAINLY MAD IF HE THINKS PUTTING IN A COLD SEEKER IS ANY KIND OF WAY TO - OH, WHAT'S POTTER DOING? HE'S DIVING, HE'S-"

Eloise grasped the railing and bent over the edge, watching the flawless, easy way Harry cut through the air as he soared downward. His robes flew out behind him and he was like an arrow, one beautifully straight line pelting down the pitch. She'd never seen anyone as meant for anything as Harry seemed for Quidditch, and remembered feeling the same way at Hogwarts. It was one thing about him the war hadn't touched.

It didn't even matter that he missed. It didn't matter to Eloise that he hadn't caught a Snitch, or that there hadn't been a Snitch to catch, or whatever the ruckus was about. She watched Harry fly and found herself with an angle.

But that was the last time she was able to see Harry clearly for a while. As the game rolled ahead she found she was getting a surprisingly small amount of material for her story; it was all Blatching, Stodging, ploys and feints. She didn't need to know that Abbie Friar could no longer pull off a decent Starfish and Stick, or that Knight was favored to replace Holgate on the English team later in the year. The endless relay of statistics were jumbling her thoughts, making it impossible to focus on what kind of questions she needed to ask Harry, when the game ended.

And if the game ends right now, how am I going to get to him? she thought, suddenly panicked. Harry had just dove after what he thought was a Snitch; what if the real Snitch showed up in the next five minutes? Now? It was a long way from here to the ground, and it would take a miracle to cut through the post-game crowd with any sort of ease. Though she was sure her press pass could get her into the usual press conference, later on in the stadium's press room, that wasn't going to be much help when it came to Harry.

And Leon wanted the human angle. There was no way she was going to get it from up here. She tugged at Colin's elbow, and a flash of light exploded in her face.

"Whoops, sorry," he said.

"It's okay. Colin, I think this might sound crazy, but we have to leave."

"Leave? We can't just-"

"Not the game. This box. I can't focus, I'm not here for the same type of story - McCall's in here somewhere for that." She was yelling, but she was sure Colin was hearing her. "I need to be-"

She stopped, and followed her pointing hand to the lowest partition in the stadium, where, just visible against the wall nearest the pitch, several dots with bright red hair were jumping up and down. "THERE! Colin, it's the Weasleys! THERE! We need to be THERE!"

Colin didn't even look to check. "You're right." He grabbed her wrist and tugged Eloise back through the crowd, a maneuver that was considerably easier than getting to the front had been. They stopped behind everyone else to catch their breath, Colin to refill his camera for the sixth or so time. Eloise looked up at Lee.

"WHAT A DELIBERATE FOUL! LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE'S GETTING WORRIED, SKIP!"

"AND FOR NO GOOD REASON LEE, IF THE SNITCH COMES OUT BEFORE THE CANNONS HAVE MANAGED ANOTHER TEN GOALS - AND IT'S LIKELY THAT IT WILL - THEN THE KESTRELS ARE PRACTICALLY A SHOE-IN FOR THE WIN."

Lee seemed to forget he was holding a microphone and turned to face Skip full on. "OH, IS THAT SO?"

"YES, THAT'S-"

Lee grabbed Skip's microphone and pitched it over the back of the box. Eloise laughed.

Colin's camera snapped shut, and he and Eloise took off again, running at top speed down several flights of stairs, Lee's uproarious and uninterrupted comments bouncing off the cement walls. No one was around - not a vendor, not a guard - to stop them as they entered at the ground level. Everyone must have been watching the game, and Eloise was struck again by what a huge story she had been assigned. Colin led her straight to the front without incident; no one nearby was willing to take their eyes off the game long enough to inspect their press passes with any kind of scrutiny. Or discover they weren't tickets.

Three carrot-topped figures were nearly scaling the wall that separated the pitch from the stands, and Eloise and Colin ran toward them as if they were beacons. As they got closer, Eloise recognized them as Fred, George and Ginny, surrounded by Professor Lupin, Sirius Black and Angelina Johnso- no, Angelina Weasley. Eloise's heart thudded with relief. But where was Ron?

"THAT'S RIGHT HARRY, YOU GET HIM, SHOW THAT PONCY LEPRECHAUN PRAT HOW TO DO IT!"

There was Ron. He was screaming like a lunatic from above and behind, loud enough for the entire stadium to hear, next to a squat, bald man who was doing the same. Eloise made a note to double-check her hunch that Ron had tickets to the game from the off, while the rest of the family showed up when they heard Harry was playing.

And they were like a family, Eloise thought warmly as they skidded to a halt behind the orange blurs that were the Weasleys. A very big, happy one who'd run out at a moment's notice to support one of their own, blood brother or not.

Some sort of explosion happened in the stands; all of a sudden everyone was on their feet, leaning left, and Eloise squinted up just in time to see Adam Holgate tearing downward with half Harry's grace, bolting after a small, glittering item. Harry pivoted in the air and tore after, and Eloise fought the urge to scream for Harry to tear Holgate's arms off.

"TEAR HIS ARMS OFF, HARRY!" yelled Colin, almost dropping his camera. Being around so many Gryffindors again seemed to be going to Colin's head. Eloise welcomed the nostalgia. She almost expected to look into the top box and see Dumbledore cheering Harry on.

But Holgate was close, and Harry was flying desperately, faster than Eloise had ever seen him go. She dug her fingernails into her cheeks.

THWACK!

"YEAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

It was one long, simultaneous Weasley shout, and Eloise exhaled. The game wasn't over, thanks to Marty Gudgeon and Medusa Francis' deadly execution of a textbook Dopplebeater Defense. The Weasleys grabbed each others' limbs and jumping up and down as one ecstatic unit.

Except for two of them. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin stood to the side of their group, Black's hands in such tight fists that white knuckles showed through the skin. They both stared upward as if in some sort of trance, and Black looked to be fighting a swell of emotion. His eyes were bright as he watched his godson.

The teams pulled back for the called foul, and Colin sneaked up behind Ginny, whose hands were buried in her hair, pulling at either side of her face. Colin snapped a picture of her profile, and she swung around.

"COLIN!" she screamed, and hugged him. "Did you see? Of course you saw!" she yelled, looking up and down between Colin and the game. "Isn't it wonderful? He's - oh - YEAH OLIVER! NO GOAL! - we heard it on the wireless and ran here, they were almost out of tickets, and, Eloise! Hi! Hey, wait, are you two here-"

"On assignment, yes," answered Eloise, smiling at how different Ginny looked from the last time she saw her. She was shining, her face flushed with unabashed love, and all of it was very clearly for Harry. Even at the wedding she had not looked this open; gone was the practiced, guarded expression Ginny had worn all throughout Hogwarts, and Eloise thought it a welcome change.

"Ooh, they gave you this story? Good for you, Eloise!" said Ginny, and Eloise knew she meant it.

"Yes, but we sort of need to, you know," she bit her lip, looked at Ginny's questioning but happy face and decided to just come out with it. "We need to speak to Harry. After the game, that is."

Ginny tutted. "Of course you do! Just stick to me after he catches that Snitch. I'm sure he'll talk to you."

Relief so complete swept over Eloise she thought her knees would buckle. "Oh, thanks, Ginny. Really."

Ginny tsked again, then patted Colin on the shoulder and whirled back to the pitch.

Colin was grinning.

"What?"

"Nothing. It just took me six years to get Harry to let me take his picture, that's all. Six months, and you've got exclusives."

"Oh shh, I haven't got anything yet."

"Right," said Colin, still grinning, and he hoisted his camera toward the game again.

It was easily the fastest and most brutal minutes of Quidditch Eloise had ever seen. Harry flew steadily above it, blanketing the pitch in a swirl of speedy orange. So many things were happening at once Eloise was sure she was missing something vital; she scribbled a few tactics that she was able to spot, but she only needed a few major points for reference in her story, if necessary. She needed the basics, but the important basics, and she didn't trust herself to come up with the right comparisons so quickly; she needed an outside voice, someone who knew Quidditch better than any other fan, and well enough to read between the maneuvers...someone who used to be a team captain....

Eloise positioned herself behind Angelina Johnson-Weasley.

"Ooh, that was a great Backbeat." Angelina pointed at a dot Eloise could just make out as Medusa Francis. "She has such grace."

Fred, standing next to her, snorted. "Grace my arse, she should have taken his head off."

"Honestly, I can't believe what Oliver's done with this team. That - that right THERE! Just a perfect reverse pass, I've never seen a team have such precision, it's astounding, it really is."

"It's not so astounding," put in George right after Firoza Newland had looped around Hollwedel and under Boomer for yet another Cannons goal, "considering Oliver's actually getting paid to do what he did to us at Hogwarts. I'm just surprised no one's died of bloody exhaustion."

Eloise stood for nearly fifteen minutes, scribbling notes on the Weasleys' talk and keeping one eye on Harry as the Cannons rocketed to near invincibility. Angelina's tendency to point to the widest angle possible was far more helpful than the mad volley of statistics up in the press box, and Eloise allowed part of her mind to wander as she took notes, making herself a mental list of questions to ask Harry.

Kestrel Keeper Abbie Friar was looking worse for wear now, and goal after goal soared past her helpless tending, making the crowd around Eloise thunder and the ground beneath her tremble.

Harry lurched forward toward something Eloise couldn't see - then stopped just as abruptly. Ginny threw out an arm and grabbed Fred's jumper.

"Fred, what's he doing?" asked Ginny. "What's going on up there?"

Harry had flown toward Oliver and the two of them seemed to be having a heated conference near the hoops while the game raged at the opposite end of the pitch. Fred squinted.

"Dunno, Gin - only time Oliver ever stopped to talk during a game was to tell one of us off."

Harry suddenly flattened himself to his broom and took off like a shot, screaming backward to a stunned-looking Oliver. Ginny sucked in a breath and brought her hands up in fists.

"He's after it," she said simply. Eloise scribbled.

"YEAH, HARRY! IT'S YOURS!" came Ron's voice. As two slipstreams on brooms zoomed toward the center of the pitch, the drone in the stands grew to a feverish buzz, then to a deafening roar. Eloise's entire body thrilled; she could see Colin working his camera so hard that it began to smoke in places other than the flash. She dropped her hands to her sides and clenched her robes, her notes forgot in the unbelievable rush that was the last few seconds of a Quidditch match.

Colin dropped his camera on its strap and took hold of Eloise's forearm, his knuckles white against her now-flushed skin.

She threw objectivity to the wind.

"GET IT, HARRY!" she shouted, surprised at her own volume. Colin jumped, a little, and looked down at her with a smirk. Eloise smiled back, but only for a second, because Harry and Holgate were neck-and-neck, two reckless blurs of speed, their little golden prize trapped between them. Eloise's heart lurched with the hope that Harry would get to the tiny, surrounded Snitch first. One more second - they were equal distances apart from the winking gold speck, closing in at matching speeds and - if they kept going like that they'd surely -

CRUNCH!

It might have been pure imagination, but Eloise could swear she heard the sickening crush of shattering bones as Harry and Holgate slammed into each other. She heard it over and over and over again, thinking she might be sick with it, her head ringing and her arm painful in Colin's grip.

Holgate, his entire face covered in blood, slumped wholly against his broom, which was lucky; the Firebolt immediately kicked into emergency mode, spinning away from the crash and wafting his bleeding, bruised form gently toward the ground.

But Harry was still floating in the air, performing what any broomstick would take to be a decent Starfish and Stick. One arm hung limply at around the shaft of the broom while the other was rigid, making an awkward angle with his body. The one leg that looped the bristles of his broom gave way and he hung, the sudden, lopsided shift of weight causing him to spin out toward the stands. The other Cannons were rushing toward him but it didn't do much good; he swirled to a stop and though his Firebolt seemed to have got the hint, starting a slow float to the ground, Harry's fingers finally uncurled, one by one. He released the broom.

"Lentes!" shouted Oliver, and Harry's limp form instantly slowed, hitting the ground with only a slightly upsetting thud.

There was a split second of silence in which Ginny, her face like ash, made a dry, rattling sort of sound. Then the crowd started up again, humming at first but quickly working themselves into frenzy; they were streaming down from the top boxes, pushing against those at the bottom level for a look at the field. Flashes of light exploded everywhere, though Colin made no move toward his camera. The mediwizards had already rushed onto the field, where all the Cannons and Kestrel players had landed and were standing helplessly by their fallen teammates.

"Out of my way - out of my - oh, hell, move -" There was a great thump, and next second Ron Weasley had appeared next to Ginny, wide-eyed and horrified, and silently took her hand.

Ginny suddenly nodded, as if she had made a decision. In one swift, businesslike movement, she hoisted herself over the barrier and onto the pitch. Ron followed instantly, and the two of them ran.

"Well, come on!" shouted George, and the rest of the Weasleys hopped the gate.

Eloise wasted no time; as loathe as she was to take advantage of Harry's unconscious - or worse - state, she had to stick to the Weasleys, just in case. Colin jumped the barrier with ease and held out his hand to help Eloise over; they ducked the first onset of security wizards putting up wards to stop people from doing exactly what they had just done, and ran to catch up with Ginny.

"Get back now, all of you," said a lumpy official to the group of Weasleys that had surrounded him. "Only team members and mediwizards - back to the pitch, come on now." The guard took a look at Ginny, who had planted her feet in the ground and was sending him darts with her eyes, and did a doubletake. "Hey wait a minute - you all, you're the minis-"

"We are family of Harry Potter's," said Sirius quietly, but with lethal intonation. "And we're going to see him."

The man saw Sirius and visibly jumped. "Right, yes, of course, Mr. Black, go on, go on." And he shuffled off, half-bowing.

Harry and Holgate, both bloodied beyond recognition, lay deathly quiet on the grass. Ginny yelped and lurched herself forward; Professor Lupin gently - but firmly - held her back by the shoulders.

"No, Ginny."

"But," said Ginny, her voice full of tears, "but Remus look at him - I have to - they don't know what they're doing - Harry - oh Harry - "

No sooner had she said the words than Harry stirred; he appeared to be trying to turn his head. "Ginny?" he said weakly. "You're...here?"

"Yes, of course," she sighed, and a tear started down her cheek. "I heard your name on the wireless and came right up - but they won't let me in there and oh, you're talking - thank god - I thought -"

She was crying fully now, and Ron came up beside her and tapped Professor Lupin, who stepped back. Ron took Ginny's hand. "Shh, Ginny, it's all right."

A mediwizard bustled over Harry, obstructing the view. Ron and Ginny stayed close, Ron's hand making small circles against the spot between Ginny's shoulders.

"Leprechaun gold! Never, in all my years, leprechaun gold on this pitch!" someone shouted, and Eloise pivoted to see the Kestrels' Tim Boomer standing sheepishly in front of an irate league official, his pockets hanging out of his robes.

"SUSPENDED!" shouted the official, evoking a chorus of groans and curses from the Kestrels that made the official's face an even brighter shade of red. "INDEFINITELY! At least for the rest of the season, and I'll be taking your case up with the League, see if we can't make it longer!"

Boomer's curses fell deaf on the orange roar that was the Cannons. Oliver looked as if he'd bust, seeming to forget, for the moment, that he was two Seekers down and the game had yet to be called, or even postponed.

"I caught it - I caught it - Oliver - where's Oliver Wood?"

It was Harry, half passed-out on his stretcher. His left hand extended high above him, and glints of silver extruded from his palm. Eloise sucked a breath, and she was not alone; the Weasleys froze, gripping each others' robes.

The silver glints trembled, like trapped wings.

"Yeah, Harry!" yelled Ron, who had jumped so high he nearly knocked Ginny to the ground. Eloise nearly tripped over her own robes to follow Ginny, who had run after the stretcher, Colin snapping pictures at her heels.

Oliver's mouth was hanging open; he had to be pushed forward by his teammates. When he got to Harry, he just looked at the Snitch, and then back down at the Seeker who had saved his season.

"I knew you would," he choked. Eloise could barely write his quote through her tears, and somewhere to her right, Colin was jumping around like a madman, taking pictures faster than she'd ever seen him try.

"AND HE'S GOT IT! HARRY POTTER'S DONE IT AGAIN! HARRY POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH WITH A PERFECTLY EXECUTED PLUMPTON PASS-"

"PERFECTLY EXECUTED, LEE? THAT'S AN ACCIDENT IF I EVER-"

"HARRY POTTER EXECUTES A TEXTBOOK PLUMPTON PASS, AND THE GAME IS OVER! THE CANNONS REMAIN UNDEFEATED!"

"WE-SHALL-CON-QUER! WE-SHALL-CON-QUER!"

The cheer started low, on the field with the Cannons, and then worked upward until the entire stadium rocked with the sound. The press had broken the wards and started to stream onto the field. Tears clouded Eloise's eyes, and her notes, at the beginning of the night so orderly and legible, were now nothing more than haphazard scribbles tearing across crumpled parchment. She was trying to record everything - the crush of the crowd, the celebratory (orange) fireworks, the way tears were falling freely from Ron Weasley's eyes - but to write any of it down meant looking away or at least dividing her attention, and that was not an option.

The stretchers bearing the unconscious Seekers rose and started floating toward the teams' bunkers; Eloise and Colin immediately ran to the front of the crowd, keeping close to Ron. Ginny, on Ron's right, walked quietly, her bloodshot eyes ever focused on Harry's quiet form. Sirius and Remus stayed close as well, though neither of them had yet said a thing. A squadron of mediwizards surrounded the stretchers, making movement toward the changing rooms very slow business, but also preventing the rest of the press from getting too close to the Cannons, Kestrels or Weasleys. Or me and Colin, Eloise realized, struck by the bizarre confluence of events that had pushed her ahead of all the other reporters.

The door to the changing rooms swung open and the two stretchers floated through, followed by the legion of mediwizards; the Weasleys, starting with Ron, moved to enter as well, but the door slammed shut, and the same lumpy guard that had tried to stop them from running to the pitch stepped in front of the door

"CAPTAINS ONLY! I SAID CAPTAINS ONLY!"

"No!" shouted Ginny. "But that's my - we're family!"

"I SAID CAPTAINS-" the guard glanced sidelong at Sirius and quivered, "-only. Sorry, miss. Sir. Captains only."

Oliver Wood and Kyle Kirkpatrick maneuvered to the front, glaring at each other out of the corners of their eyes. The guard shifted away to let them through, then slid right back in front as the door slammed once more. The crowd groaned.

"Go on, Angelina, you're a captain," prodded Fred. "She's a captain!" he shouted, pointing atop Angelina's head. "Bossed me around for a whole year!"

"Was, and at Hogwarts, you git," Angelina muttered.

"Oh, she's still captain," George whispered to Eloise. "But not on the pitch."

Ginny stared forlornly at the closed door while Ron swore under his breath.

Eloise was starting to lose hope. The way it looked, no one was getting in to see Harry. She scrolled through her notes, frantically looking for a way to spin the story with what she'd gleaned in the stands.

Nothing. There was nothing. Her article was going to have to feature Harry Potter's family watching him play Quidditch. She let out an impatient whimper. Leon was going to be so disappointed.

"MIDGEN!?"

Eloise's heart dropped. Her press pass was glowing. She brought it to her mouth and stuck a finger in an ear.

"Y-y-YES, LEON?"

"You didn't check in! What's happening?"

"NOTHING - I'M WAITING...TO...GET INTO THE CHANGING ROOM," she fibbed.

"Oh, good show, Midgen, let me know when you've got that interview."

"Harry's, um...injured!" Eloise added, panicking for a distraction.

"Can he talk?"

"Er..." No no no no no no no... "Yes."

"Great! See you in a bit!"

The pass clicked off. Eloise looked at it sadly. Colin shifted his camera bag on his shoulder and offered a sympathetic nod.

"But I liked my job," Eloise sighed.

Colin laughed and nudged her in the shoulder. "You won't be fired."

"Fired?"

Ron Weasley was standing there, his eyes bright and red, his face full of worry. "You're not getting sacked, are you?"

"Not yet," said Eloise, and smiled at Ron. "But it doesn't matter. You're all right? And Ginny?"

"Yeah, it's not like we're not used to this by now." He laughed softly and shoved his right hand in his pocket, leaving his left clenched at his side. "You're here for work?"

Colin nodded. "Congratulations on being cleared, by the way," said Colin. "We knew those charges were ridiculous."

Ron smiled. "That might not have happened, without your help," he said. "Thanks. Really. Both of you. And thanks for Hermione, too, because if she were here I'd have to pry her off you two."

"How is she?" asked Eloise. "She's with the Thinker, right?"

Дата добавления: 2015-11-04