The Queasy Quabbleball Match
Original Works
Written by: thatgirlskyyy
Edited by: CelloIsMyLife
Gabriella had the quabble moments after it was thrown onto the field. As the star Griffin passer, this was expected. Today, however, they were playing against their biggest rival: the Serpents.
As Gabriella made her way across the field, she looked over her shoulder. Two Serpent passers were closing in on her. She took a deep breath and refocused, preparing to take a big risk. She waited until they were a few inches behind her then signaled to the other Griffin passer, who had been waiting across the field. The other passer signaled back to her, ready to receive the ball. Gabriella held on tight to her broom and stopped mid-air. The Serpent passers kept flying at lightning speed, not noticing she had left their side. After a moment, they looked back and watched helplessly as she threw the quabble across the field. The passer chucked the quabble past the bewildered Serpent defender and into the left hoop.
“What an outstanding play!” The announcer screamed into the microphone over the sound of cheers. “Ten points to Griffins!” Gabriella looked to her teammates and celebrated a momentary victory before another quabble was tossed into the field. Gabriella saw this and flew towards it. As she flew, she saw something in her peripheral vision. To her left, a formation of Serpent passers were making their way towards her in a V shape. She continued towards the quabble and checked back to make sure the Serpents were still there. As she made eye contact with the passer in the front of the V, the three dispersed. She saw one come up from below and fly directly in front of her, stopping mid-air to block her path. She quickly swerved to the left to dodge him. She refocused and saw that she was closing in on the ball. Just as she was about to reach out to catch the quabble, a shadow appeared. Looking up, Gabriella saw yet another Serpent passer making their way towards her. What made it even worse was that she heard the bruisers calling out to each other, getting ready to hit a bludgeon ball at her. Thinking fast, Gabriella backed up and allowed the Serpent passer to catch the ball. As he flew towards the goalpost, she weaved between her teammates to keep up with the passer. Gabriella quickly followed the Serpent passer, matching her altitude and stayed hot on her trail. That’s when she heard the sound of a bludgeon ball wheezing towards her from behind. She waited until she heard it come closer then made her move, swerving to the right of the passer then stopping mid-air. The bludgeon collided with the Serpent passer, causing her to fall off her broom and drop the ball. Gabriella reached out, caught the ball, then turned around then hurled it towards a teammate of hers. As they caught the ball, a loud roar could be heard, causing him to freeze with fear. This made him let go of the quabble as it fell towards the ground. Gabriella heard screams from the audience and looked up to see what was causing all the ruckus. It was a ginormous dragon!
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“We’re bound to lose. The Serpents have been training extra hard this year!” Michael, the Griffin keeper complained. They were in the locker room getting ready for the biggest match of the year.
“Oh shut it, Michael.” Gabriella snapped back, rolling her eyes. “We have some amazing plays in store that they will never see coming!”
“Yeah Michael, we will do just fine.” Ingrid said, the team captain and a bruiser. “Plus we have been practicing secretly during our weekend trips to Wigtown. They have no idea how much we have improved since our last match.”
“Yeah Michael, stop being such a downer.” muttered another Griffin passer.
“Okay everyone, cool it. We can’t have bad team dynamics right before a match. It could lower our chances of winning.” The team looked at Ingrid and nodded in approval. “Well, what do you say? Let’s go out and show these Serpents who’s boss!” The Griffin team cheered in approval. Next thing they knew, they were marching onto the field, ready to take on their opponents.
The crowd went wild as the Griffins entered the Quabbleball pitch, pumping their fists and looking at all their fans in the audience. The Serpents had walked onto the field minutes earlier, waiting for the match to begin.
“Silence!” The announcer yelled into their wand that had been bewitched to become a microphone. “Alright. Players, mount your brooms!” Gabriella got on her broom and eyed the other team. “On your mark… get set… go!” Gabriella launched off the ground and zoomed to the ball, matching its trajectory and intercepting it right before it hit the ground.
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The dragon now was leering down at the stadium, visibly intrigued. Screams erupted from the people in the stands as the winged-beast made its way towards them. Even though everyone else saw a scary dragon, Gabriella saw an opportunity. Despite all the chaos, she had a Quabbleball game to win. The dragon beat its wings, making a wind so strong that it knocked some of the players off their brooms. Gabriella paused. She had to help her teammates. She yanked her wand out of her pocket and cast Mollio to help the falling players bounce instead of tumbling on the ground.
Looking to the skies once more, she noticed the dragon becoming agitated. Its wings flapped harder and flames emerged from its mouth; It was breathing fire! Gabriella watched helplessly as a Griffin teammate struggled to get out of the path of the flames. He narrowly avoided it, but the end of his broom caught on fire. He flew around in panic, hoping the air would put out the fire. To be safe, Gabriella raced after him and used Aquamento, extinguishing the flames in an instant. Although the fire had been put out, the now wet bristles of the broom were weighing it down and made it harder for him to control. He freaked out as he lost altitude and could no longer steer it upwards. With the fire extinguished, she refocused. She had to win the game for her teammates.
As the dragon made its way closer to the field, Gabriella swooped down and picked up the quabble. She held onto it firmly and resumed playing, her other Griffin teammates noticed and followed suit. While everyone else was scared and screaming, the Griffin's took advantage of the chaos. Gabriella reached the goal fast and hit it into the hoop using the back of her broom. The Serpent keeper had been knocked off from the dragon's wings and ran away after landing in the Mollio slime. Even though it was obvious that Griffins had won at this point, they wanted to continue playing. Gabriella and her teammates gathered around the hoops, scoring goal after goal and racking up points. Gabriella took a moment to look around and noticed the teachers had made protective barriers around the students and were preparing to fight the dragon head-on. That's when the snidget came into view, whizzing past her nose and taking off in the other direction. The Griffin's searcher, Melody, was hot on it's trail. In order to catch the snidget and win the game, she then did the unimaginable. All the students behind the barriers watched in awe as she stood up on her broom, reached out, and snatched the snidget. The game was over and the Griffins had come out victorious. The whoops and hollers from the students were muffled but still loud enough to be heard by the Griffin team. Gabriella flew up and patted Melody on the back. Just when they thought everything was over, the dragon roared once again and prepared to breathe fire once more.
"What do we do now?” Melody yelled over the roaring. As she screamed, Gabriella got an idea.
"Everyone, take out your wands and cast Immobilio on three!" Gabriella ordered. She watched as all seven members of her team pulled out their wands and waited for her command. "One… two… three!"
The entire Griffin team hit the dragon with Immobilio from different angles. The dragon felt the effects immediately and fell in the middle of the Quabbleball field, causing an earthquake that shook the stands. With the dragon temporarily incapacitated, teachers quickly made their way onto the pitch to help. “Students, get behind us!” Droobledore yelled. Gabriella and her teammates flew around Droobledore, hopped off their brooms, and stood behind him.
As the teachers prepared to cast on the dragon, it began to struggle. It was trying to escape! The beast’s mighty claws tore into the ground, ripping up the grass. Gabriella gasped. The field was being shred to pieces! At that moment, the teachers cast numerous spells on the dragon. It stopped moving completely and froze. The teachers advanced on the dragon, securing it in magical chains.
“Prefects, take the students back to the castle. We will take it from here.” Droobledore yelled. Students filed out of the stands, led by the prefects, and made their way back to Hogsworth.
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The day after the match, Gabriella decided to visit the injured players in the hospital wing. As she entered, all the Serpent players looked at her, visibly embarrassed. The captain of the Serpents, however, was not. Meanwhile the Griffins looked on smiling.
“Thanks for that, Gabriella. Our injuries would be ten times as bad if it weren’t for you!” he said. Gabriella smiled in response.
“It was a no-brainer. My instincts just kicked in. Also, nice plays! I barely avoided you guys.”
“Yeah, nice dodges and stuff…” One of the Serpent passers mumbled. Gabriella walked over to him, reached into her pocket, and placed a handful of Bellies Multi-Flavored Jellies on the table beside him. He looked at her, starstruck. She then went around and did the same thing to all the others in the hospital wing and left, smiling to herself.
