My Multiverse Trip

It was Quidditch as Ryan had never seen it played before. He was pressing his Omnioculars so hard that they were cutting into the bridge of his nose. The speed of the players was incredible – the Chasers were throwing the Quaffle to one another so fast that Bagman only had time to say their names. Ryan spun the slow dial on the right of his Omnioculars again, pressed the play-by-play b.u.t.ton on the top, and he was immediately watching in slow motion, while glittering purple lettering flashed across the lenses and the noise of the crowd pounded against his eardrums.

HAWKSHEAD ATTACKING FORMATION, he read as he watched the three Irish Chasers zoom closely together, Troy in the center, slightly ahead of Mullet and Moran, bearing down upon the Bulgarians. PORSKOFF PLOY flashed up next, as Troy made as though to dart upward with the Quaffle, drawing away the Bulgarian Chaser Ivanova and dropping the Quaffle to Moran. One of the Bulgarian Beaters, Volkov, swung hard at a pa.s.sing Bludger with his small club, knocking it into Moran"s path; Moran ducked to avoid the Bludger and dropped the Quaffle; and Levski, soaring beneath, caught it – "TROY SCORES!" roared Bagman, and the stadium shuddered with a roar of applause and cheers. "Ten zero to Ireland!"

Troy did a lap of honor around the field. Ryan looked quickly over the top of his Omnioculars and saw that the leprechauns watching from the sidelines had all risen into the air again and formed the great, glittering shamrock. Across the field, the veela were watching them sulkily.

They worked as a seamless team, their movements so well coordinated that they appeared to be reading one another"s minds as they positioned themselves, and the rosettes kept squeaking their names: "Troy – Mullet – Moran!" And within ten minutes, Ireland had scored twice more, bringing their lead to thirty-zero and causing a thunderous tide of roars and applause from the green-clad supporters.

The match became still faster, but more brutal. Volkov and Vulchanov, the Bulgarian Beaters, were whacking the Bludgers as fiercely as possible at the Irish Chasers, and were starting to prevent them from using some of their best moves; twice they were forced to scatter, and then, finally, Ivanova managed to break through their ranks; dodge the Keeper, and score Bulgaria"s first goal.

"Dimitrov! Levski! Dimitrov! Ivanova – oh I say!" roared Bagman.

One hundred thousand wizards gasped as the two Seekers, Krum and Lynch, plummeted through the center of the Chasers, so fast that it looked as though they had just jumped from airplanes without parachutes. Ryan followed their descent through his Omnioculars this was much more intense in real life. squinting to see where the Snitch was –"They"re going to crash!" screamed Hermione next to Ryan.

She was half right – at the very last second, Viktor Krum pulled out of the dive and spiraled off. Lynch, however, hit the ground with a dull thud that could be heard throughout the stadium. A huge groan rose from the Irish seats.

"It"s time-out!" yelled Bagman"s voice, "as trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aidan Lynch!" "He"ll be okay, he only got ploughed!"

Ryan hastily pressed the replay and play-by-play b.u.t.tons on his Omnioculars, twiddled the speed dial, and put them back up to his eyes.

He watched as Krum and Lynch dived again in slow motion. WRONSKI DEFENSIVE FEINT – DANGEROUS SEEKER DIVERSION read the shining purple lettering across his lenses. He saw Krum"s face contorted with concentration as he pulled out of the dive just in time, while Lynch was flattened, and he understood – Krum hadn"t seen the Snitch at all, he was just making Lynch copy him.

Play now reached a level of ferocity beyond anything they had yet seen. The Beaters on both sides were acting without mercy: Volkov and Vulchanov in particular seemed not to care whether their clubs made contact with Bludger or human as they swung them violently through the air. Dimitrov shot straight at Moran, who had the Quaffle, nearly knocking her off her broom.

"Foul!" roared the Irish supporters as one, all standing up in a great wave of green.

"Foul!" echoed Ludo Bagman"s magically magnified voice. "Dimitrov skins Moran – deliberately flying to collide there – and it"s got to be another penalty – yes, there"s the whistle!"The leprechauns had risen into the air again, and this time, they formed a giant hand, which was making a very rude sign indeed at the veela across the field. At this, the veela lost control. Instead of dancing, they launched themselves across the field and began throwing what seemed to be handfuls of fire at the leprechauns. Watching through his Omnioculars, Harry saw that they didn"t look remotely beautiful now. On the contrary, their faces were elongating into sharp, cruel-beaked bird heads, and long, scaly wings were bursting from their shoulders –

women are scary.

Ministry wizards were flooding onto the field to separate the veela and the leprechauns, but with little success; meanwhile, the pitched battle below was nothing to the one taking place above. Ryan turned this way and that, staring through his Omnioculars, as the Quaffle changed hands with the speed of a bullet.

"Levski – Dimitrov – Moran – Troy – Mullet – Ivanova – Moran again – Moran – MORAN SCORES!"

But the cheers of the Irish supporters were barely heard over the shrieks of the veela, the blasts now issuing from the Ministry members" wands, and the furious roars of the Bulgarians. The game recommenced immediately; now Levski had the Quaffle, now Dimitrov –The Irish Beater Quigley swung heavily at a pa.s.sing Bludger, and hit it as hard as possible toward Krum, who did not duck quickly enough. It hit him full in the face.

There was a deafening groan from the crowd; Krum"s nose looked broken, there was blood everywhere, but Ha.s.san Mostafa didn"t blow his whistle. He had become distracted, and Ryan couldn"t blame him; one of the veela had thrown a handful of fire and set his broom tail alight.

"Look at Lynch!" Harry yelled.

For the Irish Seeker had suddenly gone into a dive, and Harry was quite sure that this was no Wronski Feint; this was the real thing. . .

"He"s seen the Snitch!" Harry shouted. "He"s seen it! Look at him go!"

Half the crowd seemed to have realized what was happening; the Irish supporters rose in another great wave of green, screaming their Seeker on. . . but Krum was on his tail. How he could see where he was going, Ryan had no idea; there were flecks of blood flying through the air behind him, but he was drawing level with Lynch now as the pair of them hurtled toward the ground again –

"They"re going to crash!" shrieked Hermione.

"They"re not!" roared Tonks.

"Lynch is!" yelled Harry.

And he was right – for the second time, Lynch hit the ground with tremendous force and was immediately stampeded by a horde of angry veela.

"The Snitch, where"s the Snitch?" bellowed Ron, along the row.

"He"s got it – Krum"s got it – it"s all over!"

The scoreboard was flashing BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170 across the crowd, who didn"t seem to have realized what had happened. Then, slowly, as though a great jumbo jet were revving up, the rumbling from the Ireland supporters grew louder and louder and erupted into screams of delight.

"IRELAND WINS!" Bagman shouted, who like the Irish, seemed to be taken aback by the sudden end of the match.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH – BUT IRELAND WINS – good lord, I don"t think any of us were expecting that!"