My Firebolt sped across the pitch at such speed that the stadium turned into a green and grey blur; I turned it so sharply Katie screamed, then I went into a perfectly controlled dive, brushing the grassy pitch with my toes before rising thirty, forty, fifty feet into the air again -

"Daisy, I'm letting the Snitch out!" Oliver called.

I turned and raced a Bludger towards the goalposts; I outstripped it easily, saw the Snitch dart out from behind Oliver and within ten seconds had caught it tightly in my hand.

The team cheered madly. I let the Snitch go again, gave it a minute's head start, then tore after it, weaving in and out of the others; I spotted it lurking near Katie's knee, lopped her easily, and caught it again.

It was the best practice ever; the team, inspired by the presence of the Firebolts in their midst, performed their best moves faultlessly, and by the time we hit the ground again, Oliver didn't have a single criticism to make, which, as George pointed out, was a first.

"I can't see what's going to stop us tomorrow!" Oliver said. "Not unless - Daisy, Harry, you've sorted out your Dementor problem, haven't you?" 

"Yeah." We chorused, me thinking of my feeble Patronus and wishing it was stronger.

"The Dementors won't turn up again, Oliver, Dumbledore'd do his nut." Fred said confidently.

"Well, let's hope not." Oliver said. "Anyway - good work, everyone. Let's get back to the Tower - turn in early..."

"I'm staying out for a bit, Ron, Terry, Draco, and the twins want goes on the Firebolt again." I told Oliver, and while the rest of the team headed off to the changing rooms, us two sets of twins strode over to Terry, Draco, and Ron, who vaulted the barrier to the stands and came to meet us. Madam Hooch had fallen asleep in her seat.

I handed Terry my broom, while Harry handed Ron his, and they both took off. Us twins and Draco all walked around the edge of the pitch, chatting and watching the dorks.

Then they came down and Fred and George had goes on them. Draco then had a go on mine. Then Harry and I went on them, chasing each other and high-fiving each other on the way past. Madam Hooch woke up and told us off for not waking her up. We all dandered out of the shadowy stadium, discussing the Firebolt's superbly smooth action, it's phenomenal acceleration and its pinpoint turning.

We were halfway towards the castle when Harry stopped dead. 

"What's the matter?" I said. 

Harry pointed at a pair of glowing eyes in the dark. Terry pulled out his wand and muttered, "Lumos!" 

A beam of light fell across the grass, hit the bottom of a tree and illuminated its branches; there, crouching amongst the budding leaves, was Crookshanks.

"Get out of it!" Ron roared, and he stooped down and seized a stone lying on the grass, but before he could do anything else, Crookshanks had vanished with one swish of his long ginger tail.

"See?" Ron said furiously, chucking the stone down again. "She's still letting him wander about wherever he wants - probably washing down Scabbers with a couple of birds now..." 

Scabbers had gone missing, and Ron blamed Hermione and her cat for it.

* When we got back into the castle, we passed an empty classroom and someone yanked me into it. Floppy pinned me against the wall while Ash locked the door and Spieler and Rudd watched.

"Okay, what the fuck do you assholes want this time?" I said, pissed.

"You know what I want. And these guys want it too." Floppy grinned.

"Fuck off, Floppy." I snarled.

Rudd put his hands up. "I'm fine."

Floppy stared at him. "You first, Tim." 

Rudd reluctantly made his way over to me and switched places with Floppy.

"But -" Rudd began anxiously.

"Go on." Floppy said, his eyes glinting.

Rudd turned and gently pressed his lips onto mine. I struggled and tried to cry out. It lasted a second, then he pushed away. "There." He said, then walked off, crossing his arms and looking away.

Spieler then hurried forwards eagerly. He grabbed my hands and pinned them behind my back. He pressed his lips to mine and immediately tried to push his tongue into my mouth. I resisted, trying to push him away.

He bit my lip, forcing my lips open, but was pulled off by Ash, who replaced his lips almost instantly, forcing his tongue into my mouth. I kneed him in his private area and tried to run for it, but Floppy yanked me back and fit his mouth to mine. *

"I'm getting real sick of your SHIT!" I yelled into his mouth. He only laughed into mine. I gathered up all of my strength and released it. My hands shone a bright white, and Floppy collapsed. He sat up in a daze. Ash, Spieler, and Rudd stared at me in a mixture of fear and excited greed. I read Ash's mind -

'So these are the powers that Malfoy and Riddle were talking about. Nice...think of the things I could do with them...' 

"Move." I said, my voice shaking. "Move, or I swear, I will blast you all to pieces or evaporate you or something." 

They all moved aside silently. I blasted the lock off the door and hurried out. 

Fuck. I wasn't supposed to use my powers 'in case the wrong people found out about it'... these boys probably all have Death Eater parents, aspiring to be like Voldemort soon...

We're all fucked.

~~~

I went down to breakfast next morning with Fred, George, and Lee, all three of whom seemed to think the Firebolt deserved a sort of guard of honour. As I entered the Great Hall, heads turned in the direction of the Firebolt, and there was a good deal of excited muttering. I saw, with enormous satisfaction, that the Slytherin team were all looking thunderstruck.

"Did you see his bloody face?" Fred said gleefully, looking back at Floppy. "He can't believe it! This is fucking brilliant!"

I looked at Floppy. He was still looking slightly dazed, but he smirked when he saw me, and ran his finger along his lips and kissed it. I turned back, shuddering slightly.

Oliver, too, was basking in the reflected glory of the Firebolt. 

"Put it here, Daisy." He said, laying the broom in the middle of the table and carefully turning it so that its name faced upwards. People from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were soon coming over to look. Cedric came over to congratulate me on having acquired such a superb replacement for my Nimbus, and Penelope Clearwater asked if she could actually hold the Firebolt.

"Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!" Percy said heartily, as she examined the Firebolt closely. "Penelope and I have got a bet on." He told the team. "Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match!"

Penelope put the Firebolt down again, thanked me, and went back to her table.

"Daisy - make sure you win." Percy said, in an urgent whisper. "I haven't got ten Galleons! Yes, I'm coming, Penny!" And he bustled off to join her in a piece of toast.

Harry came swaggering down just then, with all the guys in his dorm acting like a guard for him and the Firebolt. He placed it beside mine on the table, and he sat down beside me, slinging an arm around my shoulders.

"Sure you can manage that broom, Weakling?" A cold, drawling voice said.

Floppy had arrived for a closer look, his new little friends Ash, Spieler, and Rudd right behind him.

"Yeah, reckon so." I said casually. 

"Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?" Floppy said, eyes glittering maliciously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute - in case you get too near a Dementor."

Ash and Spieler sniggered. Rudd forced a laugh.

"Pity you can't attach a bat to yours, Floppy." I said. "Then it could actually hit a Bludger for you."

The Gryffindor team laughed loudly. Floppy's dark eyes narrowed and he stalked away. We watched him and those three douchebags rejoin the rest of the Slytherin team, who put their heads together, no doubt asking whether our brooms really were Firebolts.

Terry came down after that and headed over to our table, smirking slightly.

"We're gonna win." He hissed to me.

"I don't think so." I smirked back.

"You wanna bet?"

"Yeah, I do." I grinned. "Ten Galleons."

Terry pondered this. "Okay."

'Gryffindor's gonna win - Ravenclaw you suck!'

Fred Weasley, George Weasley, Oliver Wood, and 245 others like this.

The entire of Ravenclaw and Slytherin dislike this.

Oliver Wood: Gryffindor fucking rules and I won't hear anything else! LIONS, ROAR!

6 likes

Daisy Potter: yeah Oliver! We're gonna win this shit!

4 likes

Terry Boot: both of you shut up, Ravenclaw's obviously superior 

3 likes

Minerva McGonagall: Forgive me if I seem too blunt, Boot, but my honest opinion is that the Gryffindor team are better than the Ravenclaw team, and that - forgive my French - they are going to whoop your asses.

78 likes

Daisy Potter: wow, go Minnie!

1 like

At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the changing rooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from our match against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day, with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time, and I, though nervous, was starting to feel the excitement only a Quidditch match could bring. We could hear the rest of the school moving into the stadium beyond. I took off my black school robes, removed my wand from my pocket, and stuck it inside the T-shirt I was going to wear under my Quidditch robes. I only hoped I wouldn't need it. I wondered suddenly whether Professor Lupin was in the crowd, watching. 

"You know what we've got to do." Oliver said, as we prepared to leave the changing rooms. "If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just - just fly like you did yesterday in practice, and we'll be okay!" 

We walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the pitch. Terry was grinning across the pitch at me, and mouthed, "We're gonna win! You guys are LOSERS!" at me. I flipped him off, then mouthed back, "You just don't want to admit that you SUCK TERRIBLY at Quidditch!"

"Wood, Davies, shake hands." Madam Hooch said briskly, and Oliver shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain.

"Mount your brooms...on my whistle...three - two -"

I kicked off a little too early, gliding back to the ground, laughing with the rest of the stadium. Madam Hooch laughed, "One!" 

Then we all kicked off together. The Firebolts zoomed higher and faster than any other broom; I soared around the stadium - as Harry took off with the Quaffle first, like he always does - and began squinting around for the Snitch, listening all the while to the commentary, which was being provided, as usual, by Lee.

"They're off, and the big excitement this match are the Firebolts which the Potter twins are flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship -"

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" Professor McGonagall's voice interrupted. 

"Right you are, Professor - just giving a bit of background information. The Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and -"

"Jordan!" 

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Harry Potter of Gryffindor heading for goal..."

I streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazing around for a glint of gold and noticing that Terry was tailing me closely. He was undoubtedly a very good flier - we kept cutting across each other, forcing the other to change direction.

"Show him your acceleration, Softpaw!" Fred yelled, as he whooshed past in pursuit of a Bludger that was aiming for Harry.

I urged the Firebolt forward as we rounded the Ravenclaw goalposts and Terry fell behind. Just as Harry succeeded in scoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of the pitch went wild, I saw it - the Snitch was close to the ground, flitting near one of the barriers.

I dived; Terry saw what I was doing and tore after me. I was speeding up, excitement flooding through me; dives were my speciality. I was ten feet away -

Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; I veered off course, avoiding it by an inch, and in those few crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished.

There was a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment from the Gryffindors supporters, but much applause for their Beater from the Ravenclaw end. George vented his feelings by hitting the second Bludger directly at the offending Beater, who was forced to roll over in mid-air to avoid it.

"Gryffindor lead by eighty points to zero, and look at those Firebolts go! Daisy Potter's really putting hers through its paces now. See it turn - Boot's Comet is just no match for it." I turned and smirked at Terry. "The Firebolt's precision-balance is really noticeable in these long -"

"JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" 

Ravenclaw were pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead - if Terry got the Snitch before me, Ravenclaw would win. I dropped lower, narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the pitch frantically. Terry dived suddenly, but I dived to block him.

"TERRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!" Davies roared, as Terry swerved to avoid a collision. "KNOCK HER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!" 

"I know you wouldn't do that!" I called to Terry, and he grinned.

"Of course not!" He called back, and we drifted closer on our brooms. We shared a quick kiss, which turned into a longer one.

Katie threw the Quaffle at us. "We're playing a match here!"

I turned my Firebolt upwards and was soon twenty feet above the game. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Terry following me. 

I dived again, and Terry, thinking I'd seen the Snitch, tried to follow. I pulled out of the dive very sharply, he hurtled downwards; I rose fast as a bullet once more, and then saw it, for the second time: the Snitch was glittering way above the pitch at the Gryffindor end.

I accelerated; so, many feet below, did Terry. I was winning, gaining on the Snitch with every second - then - 

"Oh!" Terry shouted, pointing.

Distracted, I looked down. 

Three Dementors, three tall, black, hooded Dementors, were looking up at me.

I didn't stop to think. Plunging a hand down the neck of my robes, I whipped out my wand and screamed, "Expecto patronum!" 

Something silver white, something small, erupted from the end of my wand. I knew it had shot directly at the Dementors but didn't pause to watch; my mind was still miraculously clear, I looked ahead - I was nearly there. I stretched out the hand still grasping my wand and just managed to close my fingers over the small, struggling Snitch.

Madam Hooch's whistle sounded, I turned around in mid-air and saw six scarlet blurs bearing down on me. Next moment, the whole team were hugging me so hard I was nearly pulled off my broom. Down below I could hear the roars of the Gryffindors in the crowd.

"That's my girl!" Oliver kept yelling. Harry and Katie had both high-fived me, and Fred had me in a grip so tight I felt as though my head would come off. In complete disarray, the team managed to make its way back to the ground. I got off my broom and looked up to see a gaggle of Gryffindor supporters sprinting onto the pitch, Ron in the lead. Before I knew it, I had been engulfed by the cheering crowd.

"Yes!" Ron yelled, yanking Harry and my arms into the air. "Yes! Yes!"

"Well DONE, Daisy!" Percy said, looking delighted. "Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me -"

"Good on you, Daisy!" Seamus roared.

"Ruddy brilliant!" Hagrid boomed over the heads of the milling Gryffindors.

"Those were quite some Patronuses." A voice in my ear said.

Harry and I turned around to see Professor Lupin, who looked both shaken and pleased.

Cool. Harry had cast one too.

"The Dementors didn't affect me at all!" I said excitedly. "I didn't feel a thing - what about you, Harry -" Harry nodded, grinning.

"That would be because they - er - weren't Dementors." Professor Lupin said. "Come and see -"

He led us out of the crowd until we were able to see the edge of the pitch.

"You gave Mr Malfoy quite a fright." Lupin said.

I stared. Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Floppy, Ash, Spieler, and Rudd, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Floppy had been standing on Rudd's shoulders. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost fury on her face, was Professor McGonagall.

"An unworthy trick!" She was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage a Gryffindor Chaser and the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!" 

If anything could have set the seal on Gryffindor's victory, it was this. Terry - who still looked slightly peeved at losing, but had fought his way through the crowd to my side - doubled up with laughter as we watched Floppy fighting to extricate himself from the robe, Rudd's head still stuck inside it.

"Come on, Softpaw!" George said, fighting his way over. "Party! Gryffindor common room, now!"

"Right!" I said, and feeling happier than I had done in ages, the rest of the team and I led the way, still in our scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle.

~~~

It felt as though we had already won the Quidditch Cup; the party went on all day and well into the night. Fred, George, and I went to Hogsmeade for a couple of hours and returned with armfuls of bottles of Butterbeer, pumpkin fizz, and several bags full of Honeydukes sweets.

"How did you do that?" Angelina squealed, as George started throwing Peppermint Toads into the crowd.

"With a little help from Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs." Fred and I whispered simultaneously, grinning.

Only one person wasn't joining in the festivities. Hermione, incredibly, was sitting in a corner, attempting to read an enormous book entitled 'Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles'. Harry and I broke away from the table where Fred and George had started juggling Butterbeer bottles, and went over to her.

"Hermione, are you okay?" I sniggered. "Why are you sitting here reading when you could be partying?"

"I'm very glad we won, and I think you did really well." Hermione said in a strangely high-pitched voice, not looking up. "But I need to read this by Monday."

"Come on, Hermione, come and have some food." Harry said.

"I can't, Harry, I've still got four hundred and twenty-two pages to read!" Hermione said, now sounding slightly hysterical.

"Come on, Mynee." I said, dropping my voice so only she could hear. "Just use the Time Turner to read it all if you feel pressured and that you don't have enough time. Just twist time!"

Hermione sighed. "Yes, I suppose."

And she tucked away her book and Harry and I cheered.

The Gryffindor party only ended when Professor McGonagall turned up in her tartan dressing-gown and hair-net at one in the morning, to insist that we all went to bed. Fred, George, Lee, and I climbed the stairs to our dorm, still discussing the match. At last, exhausted, I climbed into bed, flung a rubber band at Lee and laughed at his "Ow!", twitched the hangings of my four-poster shut to block out a ray of moonlight, lay back, and felt myself almost instantly drifting off to sleep...

I woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. I yawned and decided to annoy my brother. I skipped down the spiral staircase one level to his dorm, then slipped in. But everyone was still awake. So we all just sat about and bantered until we all fell asleep. 

"AAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH! NOOOOOO! FUUUUUCK!"

I woke as suddenly as though I'd been hit in the face. Disorientated in the total darkness, I fumbled with Harry's hangings - I had fallen asleep on his bed - I could hear movements around me, and Seamus's voice from the other side of the room.

"What the fuck's going on?"

I thought I heard the dormitory door slam. At last finding the divide in the curtains, I ripped them back, and at the same moment, Dean lit his lamp.

Ron was sitting up in bed, the hangings torn from one side, a look of the utmost terror on his face.

"Black! Sirius Black! With a knife!"

"WHAT?" 

"Here! Just now! Slashed the curtains! Woke me up!"

"You sure you weren't dreaming, Ron?" Dean said.

"Look at the curtains! I tell you, he was here!"

We all scrambled out of bed; Harry reached the dormitory door first, and we sprinted back down the staircase. Doors opened behind us, and sleepy voices called after us.

"Who shouted?"

"What're you doing?"

The common room was lit by the glow of the dying fire, still littered with debris from the party. It was deserted.

"Are you SURE you weren't dreaming, Ron?" 

"I'm telling you, I saw him!"

"What's all the noise?" 

"Professor McGonagall told us to go to bed!"

A few of the girls had come down their staircase, pulling on dressing-gowns and yawning. Boys, too, were reappearing.

"Excellent, are we carrying on?" Fred said brightly.

"Everyone back upstairs!" Percy said, hurrying into the common room and pinning his Head Boy badge to his pyjamas as he spoke.

"Perce - Sirius Black!" Ron said faintly. "In our dormitory! With a knife! Woke me up!"

The common room went very still.

"Nonsense!" Percy said, looking startled. "You had too much to eat, Ron - had a nightmare -"

"I'm telling you -"

"Now, really, enough's enough!"

Professor McGonagall was back. She slammed the portrait behind her as she entered the common room and stared furiously around.

"I am delighted that Gryffindor won the match, but this is getting ridiculous! Percy, I expected better of you!"

"I certainly didn't authorise this, Professor!" Percy said, puffing himself up indignantly. "I was just telling them all to get back to bed! My brother Ron here had a nightmare -"

"IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!" Ron yelled. "PROFESSOR, I WOKE UP, AND SIRIUS BLACK WAS STANDING OVER ME, HOLDING A KNIFE!"

Professor McGonagall stared at him.

"Don't be ridiculous, Weasley, how could he possibly have got through the portrait hole?"

"Ask him!" Ron said, pointing a shaking finger at the back of Sir Cadogan's picture. "Ask him if he saw -"

Glaring suspiciously at Ron, Professor McGongall pushed the portrait back open and went outside. The whole common room listened with bated breath.

"Sir Cadogan, did you just let a man enter Gryffindor Tower?" 

"Certainly, good lady!" Sir Cadogan cried.

There was a stunned silence, both inside and outside the common room. 

"You - you DID?" Professor McGonagall. "But - but the password!"

"He had 'em!" Sir Cadogan said proudly. "Had the whole week's, my lady! Read 'em off a little piece of paper!"

Professor McGonagall pulled herself back through the portrait hole to face the stunned crowd. She was white as chalk. 

"Which person," she said, her voice shaking, "which abysmally foolish person wrote down this week's passwords and left them lying around?"

There was utter silence, broken by the smallest of terrified squeaks. Neville, trembling from head to fluffy-slippered toes, raised his hand slowly into the air.

"But d'you think - Daisy visited our dorm and fell asleep in Harry's bed - d'you think - Sirius Black got the wrong bed - and -" Seamus was trying to say.

"You think that Black got the wrong bed, thinking that it was Harry's bed - the one that Softpaw was also staying in - intending to slice them open?" Fred said, his voice wavering.

Seamus nodded shakily. 

"Well fuck." I said. "We're screwed."