The morning of the Quidditch Cup match, Eleanor had already been in the Great Hall when the entire Gryffindor team entered. It was interesting to see how divided the school had become over the match with not only the Gryffindor table but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw joining in as well to applaud the players. Thankfully, it was a good excuse for Eleanor to cheer on the twins without Cedric or Marnie starting up with their usual accusations that she fancied one or both of them. While she wouldn't admit her obvious crush, Eleanor would admit that while she was excited about the match, she was also nervous.

Even though she had been present for many of the Gryffindor practices, it wasn't like the current Slytherin team was known to play fair. Cedric and others could confirm that Slytherin liked to play dirty out on the pitch, but Eleanor was hoping for the sake of Oliver, the twins, and the rest of the Gryffindor team that had worked excessively hard, that they could pull off the win and take home the Quidditch Cup.

While Oliver was ordering his team to eat, Eleanor left Cedric and Marnie behind at the Hufflepuff table to wish the twins good luck one last time. As she approached, Oliver gave her a look that told her that she didn't have a lot of time to bother his team. Flashing an innocent smile, she held up one finger that signalled she only needed one minute before she quickly hurried over to where Fred and George were sitting.

"Alright, according to the death look that Oliver just gave me, I don't have a lot of time," she said as she stuck her head in between them, "but I just wanted to wish the two of you good luck. I know, I know, you don't need it, but all the same. I really hope you all win for your sake, Oliver's sake, my sake, and the sake of the ten galleons Marnie betted on Gryffindor winning. Okay, bye!"

With two reassuring pats on the back, Eleanor placed her hands up and slowly backed away from the Gryffindor table as Oliver watched her the entire time. As soon as she had returned to the Hufflepuff table, he called for the Gryffindor team to leave the Great Hall, even though the majority of them had yet to finish actually eating. And as the Gryffindor team, with the exception of the Slytherins, the other tables applauded them once more.

While Eleanor wore one of her own knitted jumpers, she decided to add a scarlet rosette to her attire. It was so bizarre to see so many people wearing something scarlet or carrying a Gryffindor banner, making it seem that many were counting on Gryffindor's win. Part of Eleanor felt bad for Slytherin, thinking it had to be tough for a lot of the Slytherin students to see pretty much the majority of the school rooting for the opposing team. Had it not been for her association with Gryffindor, she hoped that she would have kept a neutral stance regarding the teams, but it was hard to say at that point, she was too far gone.

Following Cedric, Eleanor walked alongside Marnie as they made their way to the stands a little while later. Cedric had insisted that they go early to make sure they would get good seats, but it seemed plenty of students and faculty had the same idea. But on their way outside, Eleanor spotted Professor Lupin, and unfortunately, he didn't look too well.

Eleanor didn't want to bother him, seeing as they were always constantly running into one another, but she thought the least she could do was say hello. She stopped before him and as soon as he saw her, he forced a smile to his face.

"Ms Ross, how are you? Have you spoken to your mother recently?"

"Well, I only managed to get my letter out to her the other day," Eleanor told him, "but I took the time to explain everything to her. As you said, honesty is key, right? Hopefully, she'll respond soon, I'll let you know if she does. But thanks again for your advice. Enjoy the match!"

"Right," he replied faintly, "you do the same."

Much to Marnie's dismay, Cedric's eagerness to get good seats had actually meant joining wherever Cho was sitting in the stands. She didn't say anything, only shooting a look in Eleanor's direction that read "Please, kill me" before she sat down. Eleanor rubbed her hands over her friend's shoulder before she greeted Cho but then turned her attention to the pitch as the Gryffindor team took the pitch first.

"And here are the Gryffindors!" Lee Jordan's voice echoed over the area. "Potter, Bell, Johnson, Spinnet, Weasley, Weasley, and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best team Hogwarts has seen in a good few years—"

Of course, while many cheered on Gryffindor to agree with Lee's statement, Slytherin didn't take too kindly to his clear bias as they started to boo.

"And here come the Slytherin team, led by Captain Flint. He's made some changes in the lineup and seems to be going for size rather than skill—"

"Oh, that's fucking beautiful!" Marnie started laughing. "Look at Malfoy next to the rest of the trolls on the team. He looks like a fucking infant out there!"

While Eleanor looked over at the Slytherin team to confirm Marnie's and Lee's observation, Madam Hooch ordered the captains to shake hands and for the teams to mount their brooms. Within seconds, the whistle was blown and both teams took to the air.

"And it's Gryffindor in possession, Alicia Spinnet of Gryffindor with the Quaffle, heading straight for the Slytherin goal posts, looking good, Alicia! Argh, no—Quaffle intercepted by Warrington, Warrington of Slytherin tearing up the field—WHAM!—nice Bludger work there by George Weasley, Warrington drops the Quaffle, it's caught by—Johnson, Gryffindor back in possession, come on, Angelina—nice swerve around Montague—duck, Angelina, that's a Bludger!—SHE SCORES! TEN—ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

Angelina looked beyond proud of herself as she punched the air but the victory was cut short as Marcus Flint suddenly collided with her.

"Sorry!" Flint sneered with a condescending tone. "Sorry, didn't see her!"

Fred suddenly appeared chucking his Beater's club at the back of Flint's head. Flint's nose smashed into the handle of his broom and began to bleed.

"That will do!" Madam Hooch intervened. "Penalty shot to Gryffindor for an unprovoked attack on their Chaser! Penalty shot to Slytherin for deliberate damage to their Chaser!"

"THAT'S RUBBISH!" Eleanor suddenly called out as she rose to her feet, startling Cedric, Marnie, and Cho. "HIT HIM AGAIN, FRED!"

Eleanor realized how loud she had been when Fred looked over in her direction and smiled, leaving her to look around and note that her friends were also watching her. She quickly sat back down and clapped her hands together gently.

"Come on, Alicia!" Lee's voice continued. "YES! SHE'S BEATEN THE KEEPER! TWENTY—ZERO TO GRYFFINDOR!"

If Eleanor had thought the match was going to be intense, she didn't have the slightest clue of how intense it was going to be. Whether it was Lee or Cedric pointing it out, it was more than obvious that Slytherin was playing dirty, constantly trying to knock the Gryffindor players off their brooms by any means. Madam Hooch looked absolutely bewildered by what she was witnessing as she constantly had to call penalty after penalty, blowing on her whistle furiously.

Of course, Eleanor clapped her hands and cheered incredibly loud any time that Gryffindor scored, or any time Fred managed to hit a bludger for that matter. Leaving Marnie and Cedric quite amused that the usually quiet one seemed so committed to the match. She yelled, along with Cedric, at one point when Malfoy latched onto Harry's broom and held onto it, in attempts to keep Harry from getting the snitch before he did.

Once again, Madam Hooch blew on her whistle, calling another penalty.

"YOU CHEATING SCUM!" Lee Jordan was howling into the megaphone, dancing out of Professor McGonagall's reach. "YOU FILTHY, CHEATING B—"

"Get a look at McGonagall," Marnie said as she pointed in the professor's direction. The group looked over to see that McGonagall had given up on keeping Lee in check but was rather waving her finger at Malfoy in a threatening matter, enough that her own hat had fallen off.

"COME ON, HARRY!" Eleanor called out. "GET THE SNITCH!"

It seemed never-ending as the quaffle went back and forth to the point where it seemed so many in the stands were becoming dizzy. But at one point, it seemed that both Seekers had finally locked on what they were after. Malfoy had suddenly taken a large dive and seconds later, Harry was chasing after him. It was then that everyone could see the true speed of the Firebolt broom as Harry started gaining on Malfoy.

All seats in the stands had been abandoned as everyone was on their feet watching, even the other players in the air had stopped to see who would be triumphant to grab the snitch first. Both Harry and Malfoy were next to one another and while Malfoy reached for it, at the last second, Harry pushed his arm out of the way and wrapped his fingers around the golden snitch. He held his hand up in triumph as he pulled his broom up from the dive to a steady position.

"THEY WON!" Eleanor cried out before she wrapped her arms around Marnie and started jumping in place. "They won! They won!"

She hugged Marnie, she hugged Cedric, she hugged Cho, hell she hugged just about everyone around her and everyone seemed to welcome her hugs during such a time as the stands had exploded when Lee announced that Gryffindor had won.

Initially, the pitch had been flooded with students coming over to congratulate the team on their win. It had been absolute chaos for about thirty whole minutes, all the while, Oliver had been reduced to tears as he pulled his teammates into a huddle so he could hug all of them at once. Fred hugged his teammates as well before he noticed Eleanor making her way towards them. She had Cedric accompanying her, who went to offer his congratulations to Oliver.

She seemed so excited to see him that Fred felt his heart flutter in his chest, and then he felt his heart stop completely as she grabbed the sides of his face and kissed him on the lips.

All the gasps made her realise what she had done, and she quickly took a step back from Fred and looked around. The Gryffindor team, as well as Cedric, were all wide-eyed but Eleanor decided to cover her tracks as she grabbed George next and did the same thing. But she didn't stop there as she grabbed Angelina next, then Katie, then Alicia, and even Oliver. Harry was last and after she kissed him, he was red in the face but wearing a smile.

Once she had kissed the entire quidditch team, she straightened the front of her jumper and stood tall.

"Good match!" she said. "I'm so proud of all of you!"

The Gryffindors exchanged looks with one another, all of them smiling, unsure of what the hell had just happened as Eleanor walked away. Cedric, on the other hand, looked absolutely mortified as he was left alone among the team. He looked back at them for a second in awkward silence.

"For the record," he said, "I'm not kissing any of you. Now, if you would excuse me. ELLIE! ELLIE! WAIT FOR ME!"