The crowd exploded when Mysti scored and for a second, Figaro took his eyes off the snitch.  Then, in a rush, Slytherin had the Quaffle again, and yet another Hufflepuff player was down for the count.  There was just too much going on for Figaro to focus.  He knew he had to, that the team was counting on him, but every second, there was some big flashy movement to catch his eye, all of them more brain-grabbing than the little sparkly snidget.

He swerved on his broom, but kept streaking forward after the snitch which was heading straight at Erin Harper, who was headed likewise straight back at him.  Figaro's eyes widened behind his goggles - they'd collide! 

He opened his mouth and let out a bellowing hollar as he neared closer and closer to Harper, to the snitch. 

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

'Don't flinch! Don't flinch! Don't flinch!' he yelled at himself in his own skull, remembering all the flinching he did on a regular basis.  In last fall's fight with Erin.  With Callum.  With Cinaed Tawse. 

And then, Figaro flinched.  He cut off his yell short and hauled his broom hard to starboard.  He'd imagined the crunch of colliding with Erin - an image that made his teeth hurt.  As soon as he was clear, he sped around to see what became of Erin.  And the snitch.

The world dropped away for a long moment and Ayla thought she might have actually passed out. When the pitch stopped spinning and wild colours became images again she was thankful to know that she was still on her broom and not falling towards the gravel below like she had suspected she'd be doing. She was still down by the Slytherin hoops, her left knuckles white as they clenched her broom to try and keep her small frame steady. Though the pain from her back was excruciating it also gave her the strangest sensation of not being able to feel much past her right shoulder. She had never actually broken a bone before, perhaps her small toe once but nothing that had ever felt like this.

Thankfully, Adrenaline was one hell of a drug.

She sat up straight on her broom trying to balance herself and used her left hand to grab her broken right arm. With a cry of pain she moved it so that her right hand was sitting inside her Quidditch robes in an attempt at a makeshift splint. She then had her good arm back on her broom. She looked sideways at the small girl that had flown up beside her with a beaters bat. Though she had not taken much notice of her earlier there was no mistaking that rough and tough look. She had seen her hanging around the twins often enough, "Mairead?"

Without trying to figure out why or how the small Gryffindor had gotten on the team she shook her head, "I'm still in this game." She spoke through clenched teeth not sure what she'd actually be able to do with one dead arm, "You go get that bastard that nabbed me." Though she had no idea which of the Slytherin beaters had taken her out she wasn't going to shed a tear to see either Tawse or Knight go down for this.

Adrenaline pumping, the small Hufflepuff sped back down towards her own hoops desperate to give that blonde wench a little pay back.

They were headed right towards each other, the Snitch flicking desperately between the two charging Seekers, but Erin put on another burst of speed, his broom finally pushed to its limit. Distantly, he bared his teeth in answer to the other boy's yell. A fierce smile, or a fierce snarl - most of his attention was fixed on that tiny, flitting bit of gold.

Against the wind, barely conscious of the coming collision, Erin eased a hand off his broom. Nearly flat against his  Nimbus, he threw an outstretched arm forward. His fingers strained; his sight was locked. If Sellaphix hit him - and they both went down together - he would be the one with the Snitch caught tight in his fist. Now, unlike his initial hasty race to meet Figaro, he was quite calm. Focused. It didn't matter if they collided. And when Figaro wheeled sharply away, Erin didn't notice. His fingers closed around the Snitch and it beat rapidly once-twice-thrice against his skin as he swooped away in a dizzying upside-down circle, just because he'd caught it and just because he could. He let out a whoop as the world turned over, then he was right-side up again and flying to the center of the pitch with the Snitch held high and a wide, triumphant grin.

Xiomara had to break off sharply from her investigative sweep towards the mysterious Hufflepuff beater when she saw that the Snitch was making an appearance and that both Seekers were in pursuit. 

She watched as another disaster began to unfold, but mercifully the Hufflepuff balked and the Slytherin Seeker came out with the Snitch and totally unscathed!

Hooch blew her whistle hard.

"Fweeeeeeeeeeeeet!"

At last the carnage was over!  Hooch smiled - despite the chaos, the match had been ... interesting. 

"Match to Slytherin! One-seventy to twenty! Bludgers in the crate!"