The Unlikely Visitor

Chapter 4.
In which Quidditch is war, a Bludger makes a detour, and Ginny learns the Three D's

The more books Sauron “read” -listened to was a better description- the less bad company he was. The gloom-and-doom aura that permanently hung around him didn’t disappear, but it seemed that now the workings of their world were becoming clear to him, he managed to be courteous at least. Molly’s warning had helped a lot with that; the flood of random questions about Middle-Earth had finally subsided and that did a lot for his mood. Also, now the basic things (central heating, running water, the workings of the toilet) had been figured out, he was starting to ask questions himself.
“Ginny.”
He didn’t ask for her, he just said her name and expected her to listen. Ginny found it a little comical.
“Yes, Sauron?”
“The women on your moving pictures… They appear to be engaging in some kind of game. What is it?”
Ginny grinned. Finally, he was showing interest in something she liked!
“They’re playing Quidditch. It’s my favorite team, the Holyhead Harpies.”
“Qui-ditch?”
“Quidditch. There’s two teams of seven people, respectively three Chasers, two Beaters, one Keeper and one Seeker, and the game involves four balls: a Quaffle, two Bludgers and a Golden Snitch.”
“How does it work?”
“Well… There are three Goalposts at each end of the pitch; those are large pylons with a hoop on top. The Chasers have to try and toss the Quaffle through the hoops of the other team, each time they do that their own team gets 10 points. The Bludgers have a bit of a will of their own; they attack the players. The Beaters have a bat with which they keep the Bludgers away from their own team and try to knock them in the direction of the other team. And then there is the Golden Snitch, it’s a tiny golden flying ball and the Seeker has to try and catch it. When the Snitch is caught the game ends, and the team whose Seeker caught the thing gets 150 extra points.”
“I suppose the goal of this game is to gain the most points?”
“Yep. It’s awesome. We have a Quidditch pitch here in Ottery-Saint-Catchpole, sometimes we meet with other people for a couple friendly games.”
“Friendly games? Are these games usually unfriendly then?”
Ginny grinned wider as she had been hoping he would ask something like that.
“When it’s taken serious, Sauron… Quidditch is war. I think the best example of that would be the game between Flanders and Transylvania in the World Cup of 1473.”
“Oh?”
“All seven hundred Quidditch fouls were committed, including transfiguring a Chaser into a polecat, trying to decapitate a Keeper with a broadsword, attacking an opponent with an axe, setting fire to the opponents’ broomtails and releasing bloodsucking vampire bats on the other team.”
“I see how that can be interpreted as unfriendly.”

Quidditch sounded… surprisingly much like war, indeed. The presence of broadswords and axes in the game was somewhat reassuring on that plane; at least he knew his way around those. It would be interesting to engage in one of these games… Sauron mentally shook his head. When was the last time he had ever engaged in any type of game? It just wasn’t done when you were the aspiring ruler of a world. But then… he wasn’t on Middle-Earth anymore. It was obvious that here grown men and women played this Quidditch thing, and as he had learned on Númenor engaging in local culture was a perfect way to gain popularity. Back then he had bitten his teeth –he hated water and the most beloved pastime of Númenoreans was apparently sailing- but this game sounded like something he might find a bit of satisfaction in…
“Would it be possible for me to learn this game?”
He hadn’t estimated the girl wrongly. She seemed very enthusiastic about his question.
“Duh! We’re meeting the Lovegoods, Fawcetts and Diggorys for a game in a couple days. We’re not a full team, but that’s okay because the other families don’t manage to make a full team either. I bet you’ll love it!”
“We’ll see.”

The Quidditch game day arrived, and the Weasley family gathered equipment and made its way to the town’s Quidditch pitch. There Sauron got to see the first other wizards that weren’t Weasley redheads. Two blonde and strangely dressed individuals got introduced as Xenophilus and Luna Lovegood. Sauron didn’t know much of the clothing of this world, but somehow their colorful getup struck him as unusual. Luna –a girl Ginny’s age- observed him bulging blue eyes, and eventually said.
“So you are Sauron… Ginny talks a lot about you.”
“I was not aware of that.”
“Oh, she only says good things.” She cocked her head to the side and mysteriously said, “Quite a change from what you’re used to, no?”
For a moment there, Sauron was confused. She couldn’t possibly know about his life on Middle-Earth, could she? Then he realized she had simply been talking about how this world must be very different from his home world. He curtly nodded.
“Yes it is.”
She smiled dreamily at him, her head still cocked to the side.
“Good things happen when you’re open to it.”
Eru, she was unnerving! He wasn’t easily unnerved, but this girl was just too odd. There was no physical likeness, but the way she spoke in riddles reminded him a bit too much of a certain Elven queen for his taste. They stood awkwardly together in silence, until Xenophilus called for her and she walked away without saying anything else. For the first time since his arrival Sauron was grateful he had ended up with the Weasleys… Things could definitely have been worse.
The other players arrived as well, and Sauron got to meet Cedric Diggory and his father, and the entire Fawcett family. The two teams agreed to play two games in total. For in-between the games, all families had brought picnic baskets. Sauron just got to sit back and watch the game, together with the other non-playing people.
He watched the game with the eye of a warlord, and immediately saw the holes in the team’s strategies. Or better, the strategy among the holes, because it didn’t seem as if any team had put a lot of thought in it. Slowly yet steadily he felt his annoyance rise. Each team had obviously strengths and weaknesses, but they did no effort at all to make use of those! With clenched fists he watched how the Weasley’s lost the first game because Fred got a bludger against his shoulder, Ron was too slow around the goalposts and Arthur was too clumsy a Chaser. It was downright frustrating!

When Ginny landed and caught sight of Sauron’s deeply annoyed expression and slightly orange eyes, she knew something must have happened, somehow.
“Hey, did you like the game?”
He frowned at her.
“Like it? You were terrible! The lot of you!”
A little insulted, Ginny asked,
“What? What do you mean?”
Sauron sighed deeply and dropped his head in his hands.
“Strategy, Ginny. You had no strategy, at all!”
“It’s just a friendly game…”
“When you go to war, you fight to win! Loss is possible, but you must do all that is within your might to avoid it!”
Ginny suddenly wondered whether comparing Quidditch to war had been such a good idea… She set her hands in her sides and cockily said.
“If you know it so much better, then tell me what we must do to win.”
“If you gather the others, I’ll explain.”
That was an unexpected answer. Not knowing what else to do, Ginny called the rest of her family together and told them Sauron had something to say. That sparked everyone’s curiosity, and soon the baskets of food were forgotten and the Weasley’s gathered around him. He repeated the statement he had made to Ginny, gaining everyone’s indignation.
“What? We’re not that bad!”
“We are definitely not bad at…”
“…this, we are the Gryffindor Beaters!”
“What do you know about this? Ginny said you’d never heard of Quidditch before!”
Sauron took a deep breath and explained.
“Fred, George, from what I understood Beaters are supposed to distract the other team. Playing a Bludger from one Beater to the other is not distracting the other team, not to mention that there are two Bludgers and you were watching only one, resulting in shoulder injury. It’s perhaps only a friendly game, but that doesn’t make it a playground.”
“Oh…”
“…Right.”
“Arthur, you are not a good Chaser. I’m sorry, but you’re really not good at it.”
The oldest Weasley smiled a little sheepishly.
“Well… I guess that’s true. My aim isn’t what it was anymore…”
“Ron, you are slow. From what I can tell, you’re not a bad Keeper at all, but those girls on the other team are lightweight and fast. Without focused Beaters…” He looked sternly at Fred and George when saying that, “you stand little chance against them.”
Ginny smirked. This guy was really something special… Never played quidditch, apparently never even seen a flying broom before, and he pointed out all the mistakes in their game after watching them for only thirty minutes!
“So, what do you suggest we do?”
“We take Arthur out of the game, and Fred takes over from him.”
“Then who will be the second Beater?”
“If you’ll allow me, I’ll give it a try.”
Everyone stared at him with wide eyes. Ginny’s mouth fell open a bit.
“But… you’ve never flown on a broom before!”
“I’ve flown on plenty of other things in my world, I’m pretty sure I’ll manage this.”
They all hesitated.
“Err… are you sure about this?”
“I am.”
Ginny decided that this was the very first time she saw Sauron being enthusiastic about anything. It was not exactly the cheerful and energetic kind of enthusiasm… but in its own right it was enthusiasm and it felt wrong to deny him. It wasn’t as if falling off a broom would damage him so much, he had survived a fall through the Burrow after all.
“I say we should let him try.”
Now they all looked at Ginny. Arthur, who looked longingly at the waiting picnic basket, shrugged.
“Well, I suppose you know him best. I’m okay with it.”
After that, the others didn’t see much use in protesting anymore, and Sauron continued his explanation.
“The other team has two big advantages: very fast chasers, and a good Seeker. Their major weakness is their Keeper. She’s too small and obviously unfocussed, it should be easy to sneak the… what was it again…”
“Quaffle.”
“Yes, to sneak the quaffle through a hoop she isn’t watching. They have only one good Beater, so there we should have an advantage too.”
“Right… so it’s mostly a question of distracting Luna and Sarah Fawcett from scoring.”
“Am I right to suspect not all brooms are equally fast?”
“Definitely!”
“Diggory’s broom is far faster than yours, Ginny.”
“I know… So we forget about catching the Snitch?”
“Not at all… What you lack in speed you can make up for in strategy.” A rather evil smile formed on Sauron’s face. “Distraction, Deception and Determination, Ginny.”
Ginny felt a shiver run down her spine. Those words sounded as if he had used them more than once already… but in a much more sinister context…
“I’ll try my best.”
“I may hope so.”

He had three millennia of battle experience. He had flown on dragons. He would not be bested by a piece of cleaning equipment. With a look of solemn determination, he took the gloves and beater’s bat from Fred and eyed the other team. They had no idea what they were in for…
After a short 101 from Ginny, he knew the basics of broom usage. He mounted the thing with caution, but quickly got the feel of it. For a piece of wood it didn’t sit too uncomfortable… He flew a small test round while the others had some snacks, and then the game began. The other team clearly didn’t know what to think of the Weasley’s new player… and they made the mistake of underestimating him. Terrence knocked a Bludger straight his way, probably hoping to destabilize him… Sauron’s grip on the beater’s bat tightened. He had singlehandedly knocked down whole cohorts of Men and Elves at the Battle of Dagorlad; he could easily handle a measly magic ball… With that image in mind he swung the bat and hit the Bludger, knocking it with a remarkably loud bang out of the Quidditch pitch. Out of vision, actually.
“Merlin’s beard!”
“What the fuck!?”
“He did not just do that… It’s impossible…”
“Where did it go?”
“Bludgers always come back…”
“I can’t even see it anymore!”
They were all distracted, even the Weasleys. Watching out for the other Bludger, he quickly steered his broom to Fred and hissed,
“For Mordor’s sake, make use of the distraction!”
They did. Both Fred and Bill stopped peering at the sky and went after the Quaffle. Meanwhile, George hit the Bludger straight at Sarah Fawcett, making her release the ball. Next thing, the score shifted in favor of the Weasley’s with thirty points. Sauron observed it all, when suddenly he heard next to him,
“Sauron, can you do me a favor?”
That was not something he often heard…
“What?”
“It would be a great help if you could stay somewhere around me. I’m going to distract Cedric when I see the Snitch… but to catch it myself I’ll need some extra propulsion.”
“Wait… what?”
“Hang around and you’ll see!”
Ginny flew off, and Sauron saw how she hovered in the air a bit, waited for Cedric to notice her, and then suddenly took a dive down, as if she had seen something. Having a hunch of what she was up to, he followed her. Close to the ground she suddenly flew right next to him, so close that the foot supports of their brooms locked together.
“Up, now!”
He didn’t hesitate, and their locked brooms steered upwards, where Sauron indeed saw a small fleck of gold. Cedric followed them, but their two brooms together were faster than his, and when Ginny stretched out her hand she caught the Snitch before him. With the fluttering golden ball in her hand she grinned at Sauron,
“Distraction, Deception, Determination.”
Ginny Weasley was a good student, he decided.
“Good to see my advices are heeded.”
Cedric interrupted their conversation.
“That was foul play! You’re not allowed to Blurt!”
Ginny grinned widely.
“Not at all, Blurting would be locking brooms with an opponent. Sauron happens to be on my team.”
The older boy frowned at them.
“This was not a fair game.”
Ginny laughed and shrugged.
“Life isn’t fair!”
Ginny was still laughing when she descended, and Sauron couldn’t help but feel… could it be a tiny bit of pride? No, of course not. He pushed it to the back of his mind, but doing that Luna’s words suddenly occurred to him again.
“Good things happen when you’re open to it.”
Perhaps he was proud. After all, Ginny had used his strategy, and his strategy had won them the game… And that was definitely a good thing. He came down to the ground, and got practically ambushed by the other Weasleys.
“How did you DO that? You knocked a Bludger completely out of the field and the thing didn’t come back!”
“That was a shot worthy of the World Cup, really…”
“Seriously, and you’re saying…
“… That you’ve never played Quidditch?”
“That was just brilliant, Sauron. Never seen anything like that before!”
Sauron felt he had to blink a few times. Sure, he had received congratulations more than once… but he was quite certain he had never received them so freely for him just being himself. Perhaps Melkor had told him once or twice that he had completed a task well… but usually his deceptive strategies didn’t exactly bring him praise. Not quite knowing what to say, he shrugged.
“I told you we would win this.”
The other team wasn’t so happy, at least Amos and Cedric Diggory weren’t. They kept going on about it being foul play, that what he and Ginny had done was forbidden, and that the Bludger must have been tampered with for Bludgers always came back to the pitch… Sauron almost tuned them out and ignored the twosome, when he suddenly saw something small and black in the distance, quickly approaching. He kept a straight face while the Diggory’s continued arguing, and when the missing Bludger hit Amos Diggory full force in the backside, knocking the man to the ground… all he did was smile mockingly.
“You see no tampering occurred, for even this Bludger returned to the pitch.”
With that he turned his back on them and walked back to the Weasleys, whom were all laughing at the situation. Bill remarked however,
“I don’t think the Diggorys are going to forget this…”
“That’s all right, I’m used to having enemies.”
And he crushed them, mercilessly. It was too bad no broadswords had been involved in this particular Quidditch game…

(Author's Apologies)

These are apologies, so I apologize hereby for any mistakes I made in the description of the Quidditch game.
The Teams were:

TEAM A1
Keeper = Ron
Beater 1 = Fred
Beater 2 = George
Chaser 1 = Bill
Chaser 2 = Arthur
Seeker = Ginny

TEAM A2
Keeper = Ron
Beater 1 = Sauron
Beater 2 = George
Chaser 1 = Bill
Chaser 2 = Fred
Seeker = Ginny

TEAM B
Keeper = Lucy Fawcett
Beater 1 = Xenophilus Lovegood
Beater 2 = Terrence Fawcett
Chaser 1 = Luna Lovegood
Chaser 2 = Sarah Fawcett
Seeker = Cedric Diggory

The Fawcetts are a family known to live in Ottery-Saint-Catchpole, but I made up their names.
Also, I just couldn't resist having Sauron play Beater; he would be SO good at it xD
Comments, critics, questions, always welcomed!