Valerina and the Link of Ravenclaw

by Obiwanlivesforever

Join Valerina and her friends as they battle a sinister long-hidden threat in their exciting first year at Hogwarts. A lighthearted, slightly MarySueish story that I wrote between ages 9 and 11. Read on if you dare! COMPLETE!

10. In which Quidditch Rules are Discarded

In Which the Rules of Quidditch are Utterly Discarded

OR, Quidditch Game

October 30, 2004

Quidditch season had begun. The Forbidden Forest, a dark woodland that lay all around the school, was growing barren and leafless. Hagrid, the school gamekeeper, who lived in a small hut beside the school, was always busy harvesting his colourful garden which contained enormous, ripe cabbages and spiralling, tangled vines dangling from tangerine-colored pumpkins. The wind, which felt crisp and chilly, whistled all around the school, and scattered dry, crunchy leaves over the sparse grass.

Hogwarts had become very busy for everybody, including me, Pamella, Veronika and Sadia. Since the start-of-the-year exams (A/N: what…?) were coming up, we were busy finishing our last homework assignments so we could fill up our tests with everything we had learned from September to October.

Sadia had decided to leave the jobberix plan until our first Quidditch match, which was against Gryffindor. Besides all the homework we had to do, we also had to go to Quidditch practice. Everyday from 3:00 to 5:00, Ravenclaw had Quidditch practice. Rumors were whispered around the school that Ravenclaw had a tough match to play, because Gryffindor's new fourth-year seeker, Timothy Yang, was excellent, maybe as excellent as Cherry Chang had been. So Bradley Labont made sure that the Ravenclaw team practised as hard as they could.

I loved Quidditch practices. I could hardly think about the LINK or the enemy, Diane, or any of the Dark Plots. Every chaser got a turn to try and shoot a goal. When it was my turn, I would hold the Quaffle and fly across the pitch towards the Gryffindor goalposts, dodging the other Ravenclaw chasers, who had practice trying to steal the ball from me, and the beaters, who had practice shooting the bludgers and defending the other players from the bludgers. Then I had to shoot it past Alicia McTamble, the Ravenclaw keeper. Then another chaser would try and shoot a goal, and I would pretend to be a Gryffindor just like the others had done for me.

And during all this time, Bradley was trying to catch the snitch.

Pamella had a little more time for homework, because she wasn't on the Quidditch team. During the game she would cheer and swing the heavy banner of Ravenclaw, but she didn't need much practice for that. So during our spare time between classes, we would study together, and then when we had to practice, we would leave and Pamella would do her homework with Pansy Parkinson.

Every class, we got more homework in order to pass the quizzes. The start-of-the-year quizzes weren't as frightening as the end-of-the-year ones, in which you had to remember everything you had learned all year, and if you didn't pass you had to take your first year again.

We were going to be tested on every subject, so every night we had big assignments that sometimes took weeks to do, sometimes only an hour. In Herbology, our magical plant lessons, we had to look up millions of magical herbs and write down how to identify them and how to make remedies out of them. Every Wednesday night, we had to study the magical stars and planets in the tallest tower with our telescopes and try to read fortunes in the stars like the centaurs in the Forbidden Forest do. For homework, we had to write down projects on the stars and constellations, and how to read astronomy fortunes. We had to stay up late to look out our telescopes, which almost left me no energy for tomorrow's Quidditch practice and all our spells homework and potions homework.

Sadia, of course, always whizzed by on her homework and had more free time, but the rest of us normally took days to complete our projects. Plus, with the Quidditch game soaring into my mind every time the teachers threw loads of homework upon us, it seemed like the homework would take a year. It did drag by as I did it and thought too much about Quidditch.

The teachers were very well-prepared for the exams. They took all our feather pens and cursed them with an Anti-Cheating spell, and said that all our library books must be brought back to the library in case we looked for the answers in them during the tests. When we finally were finished our homework, we had to study until the big day of the exams came, and after them it would be all over until the end-of-the-year exams. We weren't allowed to look for books in the library (A/N: The staff of Hogwarts has some really great teaching methods, don't they? Forbidding the students from accessing good study materials, for example – a stroke of absolute genius, huh?) and so Pamella, Sadia, Veronika, Pansy and I couldn't look for the LINK anymore. It seemed that we were losing memory of the Dark Plots, and no more attacks happened to the students. I thought that maybe, the enemy had been defeated already by the LINK, or had decided to just leave the school alone. Maybe the Dark Plots would never happen, I hoped.

Then, finally, the day of the tests came. I woke up to Sadia' gentle shakes and shoves, and wearily dressed in my capes and Ravenclaw scarf. I gathered my wand and feather pen, and then was hurried down to the common room and out the door by Sadia.

"There you are," Pamella sighed. Veronika was with her. "We've been waiting for you, all of us. We're lucky quizzes haven't started yet. Come on, we've got charms."

But as we walked slowly down the hall to our charms classroom, I suddenly saw something that made my heart stop and freeze with fear. All the fearful memories poured back into my head and I seemed to fly down the corridors.

Two other students had been attacked.

Pansy Parkinson waddled in behind us, and I saw her eyes widen as she saw the two figures lying on the floor, in just the state Priscilla Tamble was in. She filled her lungs with screaming and shouted wildly,

"ATTACK! There's been another ATTACK! No human is safe! Attack! THERE'S ANOTHER ATTACK!"

It didn't take long for the corridors to fill with students and teachers.

"Oh my, oh my, my students!" cried Madame Hooch, rushing forward tearfully. Her eyes shone with worry. I suddenly realized, from the sky blue badges on their uniforms, that these students were Ravenclaws too.

Dumbledore strode up, his crimson robes drooping. "There's been another attack; a double one. It is as we feared. The Raven has definitely been locked up, and the Evil Deeds are being plotted by the Enemy," he whispered mistily.

"It's Katrina!" shrieked Bradley Labont, rushing forwards. I noticed that one of the girls lying on the ground was Katrina Labont; the other was a third year I hardly knew, Erica Balls.

"Come, Madame Pomfrey, let's get them into the hospital wing," Mrs. McGonagall ordered, trembling. I looked around and saw the two girls being picked up and carried down the hallway, saw the fear and shock on all the students' faces, and the grief on Bradley's. I was worried he wouldn't be able to play Quidditch. (Priorities, people?)

Dumbledore looked around and said, "Teachers, proceed back to the classrooms. I will help the attacked girls, but you must carry on with the quizzes."

"How can we do quizzes in this state?" complained Sadia as we tore down the hallways. "Tomorrow, after the quizzes, comes the Quidditch game; then the day after, we won't be so rushed and we can start on the jobberix."

***

The exams went by as slowly and uncomfortably as possible. Everybody fidgeted in their desks and chairs as we wrote down our quizzes in Charms, thinking about the surprise attack, and when we were called up individually to see if we could make a pineapple tap-dance across our charm teacher's desk, my wand nearly slipped out of my hand and the pineapple stopped for a moment. I was asked to refocus it with a wave of my wand, and I did so.

After charms we had to do every Transfiguration spell we knew with Mrs. McGonagall, then spend an hour with Professor Binns in History of Magic, writing down the full names of old wizards who discovered spells and potions, and memorizing famous dates and quests.

Then we had Potions and Defence against the Dark Arts quizzes. I really wished that we had a better teacher than Gilderoy Lockhart for Defence against the Dark Arts; he didn't really teach us anything except not to deal with argotarantulas (that's what he called the giant spiders that had attacked us earlier in the year.)

Herbology was a cinch, as was Fantastic Beasts. Then we had to go to the tallest tower at 10:00 at night to do our Astronomy tests. I was sure I passed my test, it seemed so easy. Then, it was all over and we could curl up under our blankets and relax. I didn't want to wake up for millions of years, it seemed.

***
I had a strange dream that night. I dreamt that instead of riding my own broomstick, a slow brand called a Chudley Climber, I was riding a wonderful one that glided through the air like a seagull riding a current of air above a bay. I was chasing a faint blue glimmer; it kept disappearing into the trees whenever I got close. The tricky thing was, there was a dark bulk behind me that kept shifting appearance; first it was a cat, then a dragon, then a boy. A boy? Or was it Diane with a haircut? – it was very likely to be the Enemy of the LINK.

Suddenly the blue glow became brighter and brighter, the dark shape was disappearing behind me, I rounded a corner and then –

"Wake up!"

The voice sounded very much like Pamella's. Was she in this enchanted forest too?

Suddenly everything faded, and my eyes snapped open. I was looking into Pamella's face, and around me was the comfortable dormitory. My eerie dream was all over.

I stepped out of bed, wobbling at first, the world around me hazy and misty. It took a few minutes for me to adjust to the world around me.

Then I realized – today was the big day, the Gryffindor match! Heart racing with excitement, I put on my blue Ravenclaw robes, grabbed the old Chudley Climber broomstick, and shuffled down the tower into the common room. The whole team was waiting there, and all of Ravenclaw behind them. Veronika and Sadia dashed out of the team and hugged me tightly.

"Today's the day!" Sadia cheered, jumping up and down in enthusiasm.

I could hardly hold still as the Ravenclaw team stood still in front of the Ravenclaw crowd, who were cheering and chanting. Bradley, who was clearly the tallest of the team, glanced over his shoulder at me and whispered, "You can't ride that old Chudley thing against Gryffindor. I'll go get a spare Shooting Star; those are great."

Bradley slowly edged away from the crowd, when there was an enormous swoosh of air and Whisper, Pamella's owl, swooped gracefully in from the window, wings beating with enormous strokes. She was carrying a large package. Whisper lit lightly on the table, wings folding in against her fluffy white feathers. Sadia and Veronika grabbed the package and tore the brown paper open.

And what was inside was – a broomstick.

"It looks like – a broomstick," I murmured dreamily. I was so shocked and amazed that I could hardly speak. I thought again about Moonridge, who had not been heard of since she had been stolen, but my thoughts about her faded away at the astonishing delivery of the broomstick.

"That's not just a broomstick!" exclaimed Pamella, glancing at the end of the broom where there was fancy gold writing. "It's the new Comet Power Sixty-Two broomstick!"

"You sure can't ride that Chudley Climber against Gryffindor, but none of their brooms even compare to the Comet," Bradley Labont laughed, his guffaw shaking up the whole common room. "Come on, let's go eat at the Great Hall before the match. We need our energy."

(A/N: I really should have written that bit better so it was clearer that the broom was a gift from Valerina. My ten-year old mind assumed that the reader would somehow figure that out. Even when writing, I hadn't really thought of who exactly bought her the broom, though I had vague thoughts of it being a Professor, probably Dumbledore, playing favourites, or Madame Hooch, hoping to boost the chances of her house winning the match. I have no idea why they sent it via Pamella's owl rather than give it to her in person, though. One might just assume that Pamella wrote home saying how cruddy her friend's broom was, and her parents sent Valerina the new one as a gift. I'll leave it up to the viewer for their own interpretation.)

***

After an enormous breakfast, the students of Hogwarts began to shuffle out of the castle towards the Quidditch pitch. The two competing teams, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, made their way to the Quidditch planning rooms where they could plan the game. The Ravenclaw planning room was a small, dusty area with a low roof and blue banners hanging from the ceiling to match our robes. There were a few desks to sit at, and a big, musty-smelling chalkboard that Bradley was scribbling on.

He quickly told everyone that he was seeker, Alicia McTamble was keeper, Sadia and the other Bradley, Bradley Tamble, were beaters, and that Katie Bell, Veronika, her big sister Brandee, and I were the chasers. Then –

(Cue the copied dialogue!)

"Okay, men," Bradley huffed.

"And women," said chaser Katie Bell.

"And women," Bradley said again. "The first game of the season. This is it."

"The one we've all been waiting for," Sadia beamed, clutching her broom tightly.

"And the one we're going to win. We play our game and win. This is the best team we've had in years. We've got fast players, smart players, tricky players and strong players – everything a team needs. Gryffindor doesn't stand a chance," Bradley Tamble boasted.

We slowly began to make our way out of the hut and towards the Quidditch pitch. Though we still had to get to the opening gates, my heart was soaring with excitement, and my fingers were wriggling so that I could hardly hold my broom. There was nothing that could stop me from laughing out loud. But still, I was slightly nervous. This was my first game, my first game ever.

"Like I said, Gryffindor doesn't stand a chance. We're faster, stronger and smarter," Bradley Tamble laughed again.

"And not to mention we've got better brooms – and they're dead scared that if they get anywhere near Valerina her Comet will just crush them," giggled Alicia McTamble from the back of the line.

"Except," put in Bradley Tamble, "Except for Adrianna Pucey."

"Well, she's got a Silver Climber, but that will look like some joke next to the Comet Power Sixty Two," hooted Veronika, snorting into her cape.

All talking was hushed as we made our way to the entrance gates that opened onto the pitch. The Gryffindor entrance was on the opposite side of the stadium. In a few moments, I thought, those gates would open and we would soar into the ring and begin to play. Then the excitement I had been waiting for would finally begin.

"Scared, Valerina?" asked a confident voice from above me. It was Bradley Labont.

"A little," I admitted, swallowing hard and clutching my broom.

"That's how I felt before my first game," Bradley gulped. "I was keeper then."

"What happened?" I asked, interested but nervous.

"I don't really remember. Somebody threw the Quaffle too hard and it hurtled into my stomach. I saved the goal, but I woke up in the hospital a day later."

Suddenly a loud voice from outside boomed, "Mount your broomsticks!"

I could hardly wait. In a few minutes, it would all begin. I clambered onto my Comet Power, and already I could feel the power rising inside of me. I hoped the match would begin soon.

Then, the doors swung open, and we lifted into the air and rocketed into the wide, sunny stadium. I felt like the whole sky belonged to me, and all the mountains and everything beyond Hogwarts. I couldn't believe it – what once had been a dream not come true was now really happening!

The thousands of ear-splitting cheers, applauses, and boos from the audience elevated as we sailed freely through the air, because Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff wanted to see Gryffindor beaten, and Slytherin and Gryffindor wanted Gryffindor to win. Thousands of kids, green and white ones – Slytherin – yellow and green ones – Hufflepuff – blue and white ones – Ravenclaw – and yellow and red ones – Gryffindor – flared brilliant flags in the air, shrieking with delight.

Pamella waved and cheered hysterically as I dove past. She was waving the banner of Ravenclaw, which was white and a type of flaming, dazzling indigo colour. The flag was adorned in the middle by a powerful-looking raven which flapped so much in the wind from the players flying three laps around the stadium that it appeared to be sailing to meet the magnificent lion of Gryffindor.

"HELLO, and welcome to the first Quidditch game of the season – Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor!" roared a jolly voice in the microphone, the same voice that had told us to mount our brooms, and I saw that it was Lee Jordan, a Gryffindor who was acting as commentator. My heart sank a little as I realized he would cheer for our rivals, but I didn't care much.

Following Bradley, I flew to the middle of the pitch and hovered in midair. We were all floating in a circle, with the Gryffindors on one side and Ravenclaws on the other side. I stared fearfully at the tough-looking Gryffindor team – none of them were first years and only one was a second year, which was what our team really was – they were strong, determined fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh years: three girl chasers, two boy beaters, a girl keeper and a boy seeker. The chest with the balls in it was below us.

"Here are the Gryffindors – Humor, Johnson, Yang, Turner, Turner, Chortle and Pucey. They're a ready team that" – Lee cheered excitedly. I was getting quite annoyed with him, and I felt a bit braver when Mrs. McGonagall, head of Gryffindor house, yelled a little at him.

"Okay, okay, Professor," Lee called. "Now, here are the Ravenclaws – Tresant, Tresant, Tristont, Bell, McTamble, Tamble, Mueslin and Labont. They have eight players but are made up completely of first years who"-

"Jordan, I'm warning you," Professor McGonagall scolded scornfully.

"Okay, the players take their positions as Madame Hooch steps out onto the pitch," Lee Jordan cried. I felt braver when I saw Madame Hooch, head of Ravenclaw house. She stood by the chest. She opened it with a thrust of her arms and the bludgers erupted out of it, followed by the golden snitch, and then she looked around at us, from Ravenclaw to Gryffindor.

"Now," she ordered firmly. "I want a nice, clean game from all of you – every last one of you." Then she grabbed the quaffle and threw it into the air. My heart flopped and my teeth clenched. I would have to catch it before any of the Gryffindors.

"The Quaffle is released …." Lee Jordan exclaimed breathlessly, "AND THE GAME BEGINS!"

The Comet burst forward with a sudden blast of action, but as quickly as it had, Gryffindor Angelina Johnson punched me out of the way and seized the quaffle. She swirled towards the Ravenclaw goal posts, followed by all four of the Ravenclaw chasers.

"And the quaffle is taken immediately by Angelina Johnson of Gryffindor. What a good chaser she is!" Lee burst out.

I could not hold it in! If he thought she was a good chaser, she was bound to score a goal, and I had to steal the quaffle! The Comet swooped away from the other Ravenclaw chasers, and soon I was level with Angelina Johnson as we tore up the pitch.

I resumed speed and pulled ahead of her. She slowly grew smaller behind me – then I stopped and blocked her. My heart pounded in the excitement of the game. Angelina's Chudley 2001 tried to swerve me, but the Comet was faster. I crashed into her and sent the quaffle spinning away. She wobbled on her broom but hung in the air, growling at me, and then went speeding after the other Gryffindors.

The Quaffle fell quickly. I noticed a flash of red streaking towards it, a Gryffindor, but I darted forward and knocked her out of the way, and the quaffle was caught immediately by Katie Bell. The Ravenclaw crowd gave a roar of shrieking and cheering as the Gryffindor team moaned and booed.

Lee Jordan was finding it hard to commentate now that Ravenclaw had the quaffle, but kept up his spirits. After all, who couldn't be excited during the action of a Quidditch game?

"Okay, Katie Bell flying for Ravenclaw, ripping towards the goalposts, Gryffindor beater Gordon Turner shoots a bludger at her, Katie ducks … swoops out of the reach of Gryffindor Madeline Humor, she's going to score! Ducks a second bludger, come on now Gryffindor Keeper Marjorie, save it…"

But Katie Bell shot the first goal of the game, and the Ravenclaw team leapt up and down hugging and shrieking with joy. Lee Jordan booed so badly that Mrs. McGonagall tugged the magical megaphone away from him for a while.

The quaffle fell silently away from the hoop, and there was a rush of wind as three players swooped to get it. One was Angelina Johnson. The others Veronika and I. My broom gained speed and blocked Angelina's; then I grabbed the quaffle. The big ball felt smooth and difficult to hold in my arms, but I managed to keep hold of it. The Comet ducked out of the way as two Gryffindor chasers and a bludger shot towards me. It was difficult to hold the big ball and concentrate on who was chasing me, so the only way my eyes could look was forwards if I was going to score. My eyes scanned the field for other players trying to steal the quaffle from me, when suddenly I noticed I was flying far too close to the Ravenclaw viewing area! I pulled the Comet swiftly away from the colourful walls, only to hear a gasp from the Ravenclaw crowd. I looked up for a brief second and saw frightened faces. Bravely, I swung my head over my back, seeing Angelina Johnson and a Gryffindor beater, club raised, following me. In front of me came the other beater!

WHOOSH! A bludger, shot by the beater behind me, sliced forward, just missing my head as the Comet dipped down. I was winning, I was beating them, the Comet was too fast … WHOOSH! This time the other bludger, and the Gryffindors were gaining on me. My heart beat fast as I realized I had to think quickly. I leaned down on the Comet's handle so I would slide faster through the air, and then tilted the Comet downwards. I swerved out of the way, but Angelina and the beater behind me had been going too fast to catch up with my incredible broom, and could not stop. Several Ravenclaw chasers shot out of the way as Angelina Johnson went tumbling out of control. It took her several moments to get her broom back to normal speed before she could chase me. As for the beaters – they collided with a smash, both clubs bonking into each other, but recovered quickly.

I was once again out of reach of the other team's players; when I looked behind me there was a slight glimpse of a new Gryffindor chaser with a short, curly nut-brown ponytail on her back, presumably Madeline Humor. I gained speed and she faded away behind me. I looked above and below me for signs of bludgers or beaters, but only saw Veronika and some other Ravenclaw chasers – in fact, all of them. They were trying to keep me safe, ready to tackle any other Gryffindors willing to take me on.

I was tearing up the pitch, ripping through the skies, ground speeding below me. It felt like I was charging against the wind. The Gryffindor goalposts and scoring area came into view – and so did the other Gryffindors.

I needed to score this goal, or else Gryffindor might steal the quaffle and score against us. I heard millions of applauses and roaring cheers from the Ravenclaw side, but in front of me, the thousands of people dressed in bright red booed and jeered.

I focused on the Gryffindor keeper in front of me, a girl not much older than fourteen. But she looked tough; she was in her fourth year and had been on the team a lot longer than I had. Her broom was right in front of the goal – how could I ever score?

There were the two other hoops – but they were smaller and only worth five points, so they didn't matter much. I wanted to get Ravenclaw as many points as possible – between my thoughts I ducked a bludger – before the snitch was caught, so we could win even if Bradley didn't catch the snitch. I was willing to take chances, knowing that if I missed and the quaffle only shot the girl's broom, it would only bounce right off. It seemed all the chasers, Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, had gathered around the hoop, waiting to catch the quaffle. I sped forwards to shoot a goal.

Of course all the Gryffindors wanted to prevent this from happening, so the three girl chasers torpedoed forwards, two slicing above me and one below. They all missed, but dove in for another shot. But the Comet was soon out of their reach. I was meters away from the goalposts, the teams were spreading out … if I missed … should I just throw to another Ravenclaw like Brandee Tresant or Katie Bell, so they could try to get a goal? They were in their third and second years, and had been on the Quidditch team for longer than I had…

With a powerful thrust of my arm I threw the quaffle towards the hoop. The Gryffindor keeper dove down to block the quaffle, the team chasers all rocketed forwards, there was cheering from the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw sides, and then…

"RAVENCLAW SCORES! Valerina Tristont gives Ravenclaw house ten points, leaving Gryffindor 20-0!" Lee Jordan whooped, glancing nervously at Mrs. McGonagall. The Ravenclaw team gave an outburst of cheering as I swooped around the Gryffindor goalposts, knocked the Quaffle towards Katie, and sped back to the Ravenclaw area.

We were winning, and it was all thanks to our talent and our wonderful brooms. Katie Bell sped off with the quaffle, and then –

"Katie Bell for Ravenclaw tearing up the pitch with a quaffle – oh, and it's GRYFFINDOR in possession, second year Madeline Humor roaring towards the Ravenclaw scoring area, ducks a bludger and two Ravenclaw chasers, all's going well," Lee Jordan shouted.

I slammed my fist against the air and then sped out in the direction of Madeline Humor. I didn't want her to score, so I would have to steal the Quaffle from her hands. She was not much older than me, only about eleven, and I could take her on easily. Angelina Johnson was a fourth year, and I had nearly thrown her off her broom.

My Comet was no match for the other Gryffindors that flung themselves at me, hoping to knock me off course, and I could have sped easily past Madeline Humor, except that I needed to stay level with her in order to catch the quaffle. I slowed down on the Comet, trying to stay even with her High Whizzer broom. But I kept pulling ahead.

"Hey, first year!" yelled a strong, gravely voice from behind me. I glanced behind me in horror and saw Bruce Turner, a Gryffindor beater, ramming his bat against the bludger and shooting it at me. I did what I normally did – ducked. But as I ducked, Madeline flew out of my reach. I was not injured, but Madeline was going to score if the other chasers didn't do something!

I couldn't let Gryffindor score; it wasn't my house! I heard the chortling laughter of Bruce Turner behind me: "Wrong move there, mate!" and heard his chuckles as he sped away, but I had to stop Madeline. I urged the speed on my Comet up and it blasted forwards like a cannon shot from a cannonball shooter. (Okay….?) It was my first year and my first match, but I was getting the hang of Quidditch. You had to stay alert and duck at the right times; swerve at the right times. Quidditch certainly was as exciting as I had imagined!

I soared above the others, even higher than the goalposts, and instantly realized in disappointment that Madeline was aiming at the Ravenclaw hoops. I could never take the quaffle now, but our only hope was that Alicia McTamble stopped the quaffle.

I swirled down, wind whistling all around me, and turned towards the Ravenclaw goalposts. The speed of the Comet made everything around me seem like a blur of red and blue and green and all the colors around me, but I could still tell who was a Gryffindor and who wasn't.

Alicia McTamble wouldn't let the quaffle past and through the hoop, to my relief. The big red ball soared smoothly through the air, diving towards the hoop. Alicia swung her broom around and it struck the quaffle, shooting it away.

I and the other Ravenclaw chasers shot after it; Brandee was just about to snatch it, when an unfamiliar hand seized it – Gryffindor Adrianna Pucey.

My heart throbbing worriedly, I streaked like a real blue comet after Adrianna. The Comet was gaining speed with her, but she pulled slowly ahead. For a moment I could feel the powerful wind from her broom crashing against me, but I slipped after her. She had the quaffle wrapped tightly in her arms; she would not let it go by accident.

I lunged ahead of her, watching her broom gain on me, and when she was even, I smashed into her, but she only tipped to one side and punched my broom away. Evidently it left no mark at all. She would not be easy to take the quaffle from.

I gained the Comet's speed and sped swiftly after Adrianna Pucey. She saw me again and the tail of her Silver Climber swirled impressively out of sight. Then, a sudden gasp and cry from Lee Jordan made her drop the quaffle; she was so surprised. "Well, you're not going to score a goal like that," I mumbled, but his following words caught my attention – "Was that the snitch?"

I was suddenly spinning out of control as the Gryffindor seeker, a Japanese boy named Timothy Yang, barrelled past me, then a flash of blue – Bradley. But I swung the Comet around and after the seekers bravely. I wanted to block Timothy,

WHOOSH! A bludger came pelting out of nowhere, shot from Ravenclaw Bradley Tamble, and it shot the Gryffindor seeker off course but missed me and Bradley. The two hundred people dressed in red behind the Gryffindor goalposts moaned and booed, but there was deafening applause for Bradley Tamble from the Ravenclaw side. Sadia, the other beater, sliced out of nowhere and directed the bludger for Madeline Humor and Angelina Johnson with a slice of her broom.

That was enough misfortune for Timothy Yang, so instead I flew to where the dropped quaffle had landed. A flash of blue swooped by below me and scooped up the quaffle, then plummeted upwards (is that even possible?) towards the Gryffindor goalposts. I saw long blonde hair and a thin, twisted braid and realized it was chaser Brandee Tresant, Veronika's third-year sister. I zipped after her as a bodyguard, ready to conquer any Gryffindor chaser who was trying to attack her. I would be scared too if I was on the other team – even though I was quite good, Brandee was very good.

A flash of red on her left side and diving at her from above told me that there were Gryffindors to fend off, but they scattered nervously when they saw the Comet. If we scored this goal, we were 30 to nothing. I ducked a bludger and Brandee ducked as well just in time, and Sadia floated up, club raised, and shot it towards the Gryffindors. Their goalposts were just coming up, when Brandee threw it at the hoops. I gasped – she was meters away and definitely would not score – or the Quaffle could be caught by a Gryffindor! I charged forward, capes flapping, and chased away a Gryffindor chaser. Glancing over my shoulder, I could tell that Brandee would not score. The quaffle wasn't heading for the big ten point hoop, but it wasn't aimed for the small ones either. I put on a short burst of speed and flashed towards the goalposts, knocking the quaffle back on course with the end of my broomstick. The Gryffindor keeper dove, trying to shoot the quaffle away, but she missed and the quaffle went flying through the goalposts, followed by an explosion of cheers, chants, and waving flags from the Ravenclaw crowd.

The Ravenclaw team, including I, punched the air; then Veronika soared back to where the quaffle was. My heart leapt and skipped a beat as Madeline Humor dove forward, but Veronika's Shooting Star outmatched Madeline Humor's High Whizzer and she ducked a bludger, blocked Angelina Johnson, and stole the quaffle. Then, readily prepared, the Ravenclaw team swooped out, ready for action, to meet any tricks their opponents had prepared.

Veronika and I rocketed up the stadium, encouraged by the millions of cheers below me. Air crashed at our sides. I tilted the Comet Power slightly so that it ducked Adrianna Pucey and, trying out my broom's comet-like power, I jolted upwards. That was enough – it sent Adrianna tumbling off course.

Katie Bell and Brandee Tresant followed us. My heart gleamed high. I remembered what Bradley Tamble had said: this is the best team we've had in years. I knew it was true. The Gryffindor team hadn't scored any goals, we were smarter and faster than them, and their best player, Angelina Johnson, almost got knocked off her broom by a first-year!

Gryffindor beater Bruce Turner shot a bludger at Sadia, but she was far too smart. Cleverly, she dipped her Shooting Star so that it tipped slightly, then rolled upside down in the air, the end of her bat waving in case the other bludger came unnoticed. She was just up on her broom in time so that she could glide over to Bradley Labont and shoot the bludger away from him.

I heard a roaring sound behind me and frantically saw that Angelina Johnson was right behind me! Another WHOOSH to my front and Madeline Humor was sailing towards me on her High Whizzer! Desperately, I shot downwards, and at my last attempt, flew right under Madeline Humor and threw the quaffle to Katie Bell, who rose out of Adrianna Pucey's way and snatched the quaffle, then soared over to the Gryffindor goalposts.

"Ha, ha!" laughed a voice – Veronika coasting up on her Shooting Star. "You'll have to wake up earlier than that if you want to catch a Comet Power Sixty Two!"

My eyes beamed with joy as Katie sped away. We were not only fast and experienced, but we used great teamwork as well. The Gryffindor team only tried to fly fast and steal the quaffle, but we were in the right spots when we knew we should be, blocked other players quickly, and all this required a great deal of working together.

I sped like a charging train after Katie Bell, in case anybody tried to steal the quaffle. I didn't want Gryffindor to get even one goal, because if they made it to 150 goals before we did, Gryffindor would win. My heart clenched, and then bucked upwards to block Adrianna Pucey. But when I looked back at her, she was grinning.

"Well, the little Comet doesn't look too powerful after all!" she sneered, then blasted over me and turned past Katie – who no longer had the quaffle! My stomach hurtled as I saw Madeline Humor heading towards the Ravenclaw goalposts – with the quaffle! I followed the same route as Adrianna Pucey.

Adrianna was riding a Silver Climber, so it was slightly difficult for me to catch up with her. I almost shrieked in fury as she punched out her hand and barrelled past me, but I pulled ahead of her and crashed at her so that she would be dazed for a few moments before she could follow.

I was now even with Madeline Humor, but I had no need to be right beside her, so I flew straight ahead to block her. Suddenly – a bludger hurtled at me and I ducked, but Madeline had gotten ahead! I gained the Comet's power and pelted forwards, but I hovered frozen in fear as I saw Alicia McTamble drop at her attempt to block the goal, and the quaffle went spinning through. Madeline punched the air in delight as Lee Jordan whooped, "GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

My fists clenched, and I saw the Gryffindor crowd screech with joy and even one sneering something awful at Ravenclaw. I couldn't let them get another goal.

I raced behind the Ravenclaw goalposts and seized the quaffle before any of the other Gryffindor chasers, who glared at me, then darted after me. The whole world spun around beside me.

"And it's Valerina Tristont on her Comet Power Sixty Two flying for Ravenclaw, grabs the quaffle, ducks a bludger shot by a Gryffindor beater, can't tell which, bludger directed at the beater by Sadia Mueslin of Ravenclaw, Valerina still heading towards the Gryffindor goalposts, she's really flying like a raven up there … still hangs onto the quaffle, Angelina Johnson dives at her, she swerves around Johnson and tears towards the goalposts, Angelina chasing her, darts around her, blocks her – knock her off her broom, Angelina!"

Knock her off her broom indeed, I thought angrily. If he thought she could knock me off my broom, I would have to find a way to get her out of the way once and for all. I had an idea – I would smash into her so that she would lose track of me. Backing up slowly amidst the excitement of the game, I spread out my plan – to smash into Angelina and push her out of the way. This would hurt me too – but it wasn't against the rules and I needed to get rid of some of the Gryffindors. Still, I hoped it wouldn't hurt her severely.

With an encouraging battle cry, I showed no sign of stopping as I ripped towards her. I could hardly see anything around me except for blurs and I could hear nothing but the wind coming from my broom. Suddenly, I smashed into something small and soft, like robes flapping, and a smash ten meters below me told me I had done my job. Slowing down the Comet's speed, I saw Angelina lying sprawled in a heap on the ground. Her broom was still beside her. Her head looked up and she glared at me, but her wrist was too sprained to shake it. My heart lurched. This was my first time I had hurt somebody – but this was Quidditch, and the ground terrain was soft. Besides, there were countless other reasons – the nurse could mend bones in an instant, and Bradley expected me to knock people off their brooms. A Quidditch game was no time to be a lady. Quidditch was a rough game.

If she gets mad at me after the game, I thought, I'll say I didn't mean to knock her off her broom (sure you didn't). That wouldn't be a lie, because I hadn't. I just wanted to shoot her off course, (yeah sure, tell it to the judge) but the Comet had been too powerful.

Once they saw what had happened, the Gryffindor crowd was furious. "Foul! That's a foul! That was a trick! Tricks and fouls aren't allowed in Quidditch! Foul!" screamed the Gryffindors.

A teacher snatched the microphone from the scowling Gryffindor Lee Johnson, and yelled into it, "Just because somebody knocks somebody else off their broom, doesn't mean it's a foul. (Yeah, it does, actually…) It's a good trick and often used. And tricks are allowed in Quidditch! It would only be a foul if Valerina grabbed Angelina and threw her off her broom, which she didn't."

Then she gave the microphone back to Lee to keep commentating.

But Lee Jordan, who was a Gryffindor, felt sorry for Angelina Johnson, and wanted to visit her in the hospital while Madame Pomfrey magically mended her twisted wrist. He begged to be let free to go to the hospital wing, and finally Mrs. McGonagall let him go and called for some of the other prefects to commentate.

I hovered in the spot, staring down at the teacher's tower, hoping that it would be a Ravenclaw who was chosen. My heart thumped, and then Mrs. McGonagall yelled, "Kalinka Wispan, how about you?"

She took the job.

My heart swooped and shone like a sunbeam as I whirled around three times in the air, then flew back to cheer with Katie, Brandee and Veronika. She would cheer for us, and wave a blue Ravenclaw flag, and rejoice if we won. I could see the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff crowds were joyful too; they were waving and yelling, and I could see Pamella and Pansy among the crowds, screeching with delight.

Kalinka sat down and the game was resumed. I hardly had time to duck as Madeline Humor swept down on me, tearing the quaffle out of my arms and barrelling towards the Ravenclaw goalposts. The slight wind from her broom only encouraged me on as I sailed up to her. When we were flying side to side, trying to smash into each other, I realized that her teeth were bared and she was scowling.

"Friend of Johnson's?" I asked coolly.

"You're no friend of mine, you foolish fool! And you just watch your mouth and watch what you do, because you don't know anything about Quidditch!" she hollered, and I was sure Veronika heard because she dove in alongside of Madeline.

"Yeah, yeah, Ravenclaws?" the short-haired girl screamed. "You couldn't knock me of my broom if you tried, you babies! No Ravenclaw can, but a Gryffindor could easily knock you off your broom! You think you're so good, then you challenge Adrianna Pucey! She'll pummel you into the ground with more power than your silly Comet Power! It should be called dirt power! There's no way you can win!"

But, I realized, there was no way she could escape us. We were surrounding her completely. I could see the fear in Madeline's eyes – she had to make a difficult choice: either to give the quaffle up or be thrown off her broom by Veronika and I. She slowly tried to pull ahead, when I realized she was going to try and direct us off course with a whack of her broomstick!

I tried to pull up, but I realized we had flown into a narrow gap between the pitch and the viewing towers, which were held up by wooden stilts – strong ones, so we had no worry of the tower collapsing on us. But it was slightly likely that I had nowhere to fly but forwards!

Kalinka Wispan heard the crashing and whooshing below her and glanced around the pitch, then downwards. She stared into the gap and saw a glimpse of Veronika's pigtails and my red hair, and Madeline in the middle.

"Knock her off her brook if you have to, Valerina and Veronika!" she exclaimed brightly.

Ah – another good idea. Veronika and I both squeezed so hard on Madeline Humor that she had no chance of breaking free. I punched the quaffle out of her flailing arms, and she lost grip of her broom, suddenly feeling a big space between her arms and her broom where the quaffle had been. I realized her whole body had been resting on the ball; without it there was no way for her to support herself.

Another big shove from me, Veronika ducked and Madeline Humor was thrown from her broom and bounced violently onto the pitch, her broom flinging onto the grass. She was not very hurt.

(A/N: the very first draft of the story says that Madeline "was hurt," but in my final draft before the story was officially completed in 2004 (I was eleven) I added in the words "not very," because I didn't want Valerina to seem so mean. Looking back over it, the whole chapter just seems to emphasize the point that she is a very dirty player whose actions would certainly grant Gryffindor many penalty shots were this an actual Quidditch game written my J.K. Rowling.)

"FOUL!" shrieked the Gryffindors at the top of their lungs.

"Honestly!" I heard Kalinka spit into the microphone, then, "Don't you know anything about fouls? A foul isn't if somebody gets knocked off his or her broom. That was completely natural!"

Some first year Gryffindors burst into tears. "Bad sports," I snarled under my breath.

Then we noticed the Gryffindor beaters, Gordon and Bruce Turner, circling around Madeline Humor in case any Ravenclaws tried to shoot a bludger at her body. "Wrong move!" Katie Bell yelled at them, but the beaters paid no attention. So at once all of theRavenclaw team cheered with joy and seized the quaffle, changing direction and rocketing towards the Gryffindor goalposts, and the Ravenclaw crowd burst into wild shrieks and yells of happiness. The game was resumed!

Pamella and Pansy hugged and hugged at Ravenclaw's victory, wiping the smirk off Diane's face. She was no Gryffindor, but any match against Ravenclaw she wanted Ravenclaw to lose – except if we played Hufflepuff. That was different – she hated Hufflepuff too. I guess she would hope everybody got knocked off their brooms and the match was cancelled.

Kalinka Wispan waved her arms in the air, flaring the bright blue flags with a black Raven on them, and whooping wildly. The Gryffindor team circled above Madeline, hoping she was not hurt too seriously – which she wasn't – but Ravenclaw scored another point past the Gryffindor keeper. The weather at the beginning of the match had been cool and cloudy, but now the heat of the day was tiring out the Gryffindors, and they only had one chaser left – Adrianna Pucey.

"ANOTHER GOAL FOR RAVENCLAW!" Kalinka Wispan shouted into the microphone when she saw us scoring another goal. "RAVENCLAW NOW HAVE 40 POINTS, NEXT TO GRYFFINDOR'S TEN!"

We gathered together, cheering and grinning, and prepared our next plan, then swooped away. We had the quaffle; we could easily score another goal.

"Okay, Ravenclaw in possession, no Gryffindor in possession and it's Adrianna Pucey – no, back to Ravenclaw and it's Veronika Tresant with the quaffle, come on now Veronika, shoot some points, okay, nice swerve around Adrianna Pucey, she soars over a Gryffindor beater and ducks out of reach of a bludger, come on, you can do it, she's really flying like an eagle up there, punches Adrianna Pucey out of the way – no, not really punches, Professor – Pucey recovers and she's going to sneak the quaffle away … no, GOOD JOB VERONIKA! Veronika ducks out of the way and sails around Pucey, Pucey catches up, and they're even, COME ON VERONIKA, GET HER OUT OF YOUR WAY! Okay … Pucey reaches for Tresant; she's going to knock her off her broom – duck, Veronika! – Oh, COME ON, Adrianna Pucey! She only poked her in the eye – you've got to do more than that if you want to catch up with a Shooting Star! Veronika pulls ahead and out of reach of Pucey … nice swerve around beater Turner, she ducks a bludger, she's – going – to – score! Tresant throws the quaffle, keeper Marjorie Chortle dives … misses – RAVENCLAW SCORE!"

The Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff crowd roared with delight as Gryffindor moaned and sighed. As the Gryffindor team sighed and didn't pay attention, we were planning our next goal. Veronika soared around to retrieve the quaffle, but my heart skipped a beat as Bruce Turner, the Gryffindor beater, shot a bludger at her! Veronika noticed just in time and Sadia appeared out of nowhere and shot it back at the beater, but it missed off course and rammed into the Gryffindor keeper, who fell through the hoop! (Another foul.)

"Ooh, flying like an eagle sure pays off, Veronika – whoa, YES! They've got the keeper!" Kalinka exclaimed, followed by an ecstatic roar from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff crowds. Millions of flags flared blue and silver in the air, but the Gryffindor and Slytherin crowds had enough. They booed, jeered, and even teased, shouting at Ravenclaw. But it was fair – we had fifty points. We were winning.

One little Gryffindor girl in the front row with a face that looked like a weasel's sobbed with giant tears. "That had to be a foul! Ohhh, that was terrible! She shot a bludger at the keeper! Ooooohhhhh!" She doesn't know anything about Quidditch, I thought.

Kalinka Wispan ignored her; it wasn't a foul. Veronika threw the quaffle to Katie Bell, but Adrianna barrelled her out of the way and seized it. She ducked her way past bludgers, beaters and chasers and threw the quaffle at our goalposts, but she was so angry she missed by a foot and Veronika seized the big red ball. Hovering in front of the hoops, Alicia McTamble punched the air in delight.

The Gryffindor crowd swore and roared with anger, but Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff made their cheers louder. The Gryffindor team were losing their concentration in the heat of the day, and the match had gone on for over an hour. We were sure to win – unless Timothy Yang caught the snitch.

Veronika swooshed towards the Gryffindor goalposts. Three Gryffindors – Adrianna and the beaters – hurled themselves at her, but she ducked and dodged, swerving a bludger. Suddenly, the losing Gryffindor team gained control of the quaffle, punching it out of Veronika's grip. In anger she called all of the Ravenclaw team, apart from the seeker and the keeper, and we formed a large V shape, flying forwards to block Adrianna Pucey, who had the quaffle. She glared back at us, then forwards, gripping the smooth ball as hard as she could. Her Silver Climber grew faster.

I urged the speed on my Comet, and instantly I burst forwards, showing off the restless energy of my broom. It sure was doing its job. Adrianna saw me barrelling past her, and saw she was surrounded. Showing no fear, she urged her broom onwards, knowing she was the only chaser left on the Gryffindor team and therefore could not throw it to anybody. She put on a short burst of speed, but the Silver Climber's hours of victory were over. The Comet was far too fast, and I blocked her, grabbing the quaffle. We chased each other towards the Gryffindor goalposts, but she could not catch up. I threw the big red ball through the goalposts, remembering there was no keeper.

"Ravenclaw scores! They leave Gryffindor 60 – 10!" Kalinka Wispan yelled in excitement, waving a small blue flag. The Ravenclaw crowd shrieked with applause, and Pamella bent forward waving her flags so far I rushed over, worried she'd topple over the side. But she was okay.

"That was a foul; she blocked her, she could have knocked Adrianna right out of the air!" cried the little girl again, but this time Mrs. McGonagall had to come over to her and explain to her the rules of Quidditch. Blocking somebody certainly wasn't a foul.

We were winning, only a few more goals and we would win even if Bradley didn't catch the snitch. As I cheered and yelled with joy, a reserve keeper, Paige Talbot, was called onto the pitch. In surprise I realized it was the whiny girl and she was still crying and screaming as she hovered in the air above the hoop. Her long, frizzy blonde hair kept blowing in her face; she wouldn't be able to save any goals because she couldn't see.

The Comet climbed victoriously into the air, and from my lofty altitude I could see everything – the Gryffindor beaters fighting over who would get to shoot the bludger at Bradley Labont, Katie Bell and Veronika planning a surprise attack on Adrianna Pucey, the two seekers chasing the snitch viciously. Then a terrible thought struck me – if Timothy Yang caught the snitch first, we would lose!

"Veronika! Sadia! Over here!" I cried. Their Shooting Star brooms rose up level to mine. "We have to distract their seeker," I whispered to my friends, staring nervously at the two seekers, one dressed in sky blue and one dressed in blood red.

"But I'm not a chaser!" exclaimed Sadia.

"So what?" I snapped. "If Timothy catches the snitch we're steamrollered by Gryffindor. We don't need beaters now. You can serve as a chaser," I added. "Let's do it."

One by one, we swooped down to almost the bottom of the pitch, where the two seekers were fighting. Both of them were level, arms outstretched for the snitch. Timothy Yang looked up and fearfully saw us coming. "Ravenclaws!" he shrieked. I smothered a giggle.

Suddenly, a smacking sound and a whoosh of air made me turn my attention to the Gryffindor team. My heart dropped in terror. One of the Gryffindor beaters had slammed his bat across a bludger and aimed it at Bradley!

"This will take care of that Ravenclaw seeker!" he laughed to his fellow beater. I was worried – if I didn't act quickly, Bradley would get knocked off his broom and Gryffindor would win because we'd lost our seeker!

I dove down to protect Bradley from the bludger, air rushing by me on either side. I pulled ahead of the beaters, and a sudden WHOOSH beside me alerted me that the bludger was beside me. Heart flopping, I plunged into an awkward half-twist to avoid the bludger, then resumed speed. It was still roaring and crashing behind me, and I didn't have time to look back.

The bludger tore towards Bradley Labont, and at my last attempt, I dove defensively in front of the Ravenclaw seeker and took the bludger myself.

White-hot pain surged through me like a stampede of cows as the bludger ripped at my capes. Everything was going by in slow motion. I felt my body disable with pain, my arms crumple and my fingers loosen around the broomstick. My legs lost their grip and dangled from the broom. Amidst all the wild roaring, cheering and announcing, I waited to fall from my broom like Madeline Humor, Angelina Johnson and Marjorie Chortle, waited for Kalinka to call "GRYFFINDOR WINS!" and the Ravenclaw team groan, waited to fall into blackness.

But it never came.

I was hurt and my arms were limp and wounded, but I felt too strong. Instantly, the pain was sucked out of my arm like juice through a straw, and I triumphantly swung back onto my broom. But I was too confused. What had happened there? Why hadn't I fallen to the ground? Everything was moving slowly, and it was hazy and confusing. I glanced around, but only saw a faint blue glimmer – just like in my dream! Was the LINK of Ravenclaw helping me?

My thoughts were pushed ahead as another glimmer, a yellow one, shot past me, then a bundle of blue capes and blonde, bushy hair. My heart leapt in excitement – Gryffindor hadn't won yet! Bradley was still chasing the snitch! In a second's time, I saw his fingers close around the cold, struggling snitch, then –

"RAVENCLAW WINS!"

My body glowed with joy and happiness and pride altogether. My smile could not have been wider, and tears almost squeezed out of my shining eyes as I hovered, entranced, in one spot, watching Bradley soar above the goalposts, the snitch in his hand. What remained of the Gryffindor team burst into groans that sounded almost like sobs; the Gryffindor and Slytherin crowds pounded their foreheads with their fists; the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff crowds went wild, struck with excitement. It all happened so quickly – Kalinka Wispan screaming with delight, Pansy and Pamella shrieking from above, "YOU DID IT!," Veronika and Sadia thumping their hands on my back, Diane glaring stubbornly at me, Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw shouting,

"Win, win, Ravenclaw!

Fly, fly, Ravenclaw!

You can beat the odds!

You can beat any house you're against!

Yeah, Ravenclaw!"

And, yelling hoarsely, the Ravenclaw team sank back to earth in a many-armed hug.

***

We could still hear the chanting and cheering ringing in our ears as we changed back into our normal black robes in the Ravenclaw planning hut. The bright blue banners trimming the ceiling had never looked so vivid, and even the wind seemed to whistle and pipe with joy. We were still hugging and shouting out the day's exciting events. There would be no classes this afternoon; it was a Quidditch day; but there was much partying to do later in the Ravenclaw common room.

Hands were still raining down on my back; people were still hugging me. "That bludger would have hit Bradley," Sadia giggled, squeezing me tightly.

Once we had all dressed into our black robes, we would spend five minutes in the hut discussing skilled Quidditch moves. But Bradley had other plans – he thought we were so good that we could take a break and discuss the excitement of today's game.

"Great game, team, we deserved that win!" Bradley beamed. "This was the best team we've had in years, maybe ever had. Did you see the way Valerina and Veronika beat that Madeline Humor?"

The whole team chuckled a bit.

Veronika took my arms and led me into a corner where Sadia was waiting. While the rest of the team chortled and laughed, Veronika said seriously, "Valerina, don't you think it's a little odd that you didn't fall off your broom – I mean, you're a great flier, it's just – no, you're really very good, no offence, but" –

"Yeah, but it was great that I didn't!" I laughed, patting her on the back. "You were brilliant too, both of you."

Veronika's eyes looked dull and solemn. "But – but Valerina, this is bad."

"I don't get it!" I piped up, confused. "What's so bad about me not breaking my neck, about me not falling off my broom?"

"That's where it got out of hand!" Sadia gasped. "You must have been protected by good magic, really strong good magic, which is great, except for this: if you're defended by really good magic"-

"You must be hated by really bad, sinister magic!" Veronika exclaimed. "What if the bad magic is too strong – what if it destroys you completely?"

I sighed and rolled my eyes, although I was a little scared. "We'll talk about that later, when we work on the jobberix. Right now, let's celebrate!"

Alicia McTamble leapt in front of us and yelled, "Come on, party at Ravenclaw tower! Begins five o'clock!" Then she sprinted away after the rest of the team, followed by Veronika, Sadia and I.

Suddenly somebody grabbed my arm. My heart skipped a beat – was it Diane? But my thoughts were answered by a soft, proud voice.

It was Bradley Labont.

"You know what, Valerina?" he asked.

"What?"

"Remember my Quidditch superstar, Cherry Chang?"

"Yes."

"Remember how good I said she was? I just wanted to say – after the way you defended me from the bludger, I declare you … the Cherry Chang of the present. That's how good you are."

I didn't know what to say.

***

The party at Ravenclaw tower was wonderful. When the Ravenclaw team reached the common room, there was a great feast of sugary candy laid out for all of Ravenclaw. The others welcomed us with great applause and cheering. Everybody was surrounding me, jumping up and down and laughing. I couldn't say anything, but I was deafened by Pamella's shriek and crushed by Pansy's hug.

"You did it! You just flattened those Gryffindors!" Pamella beamed.

"You couldn't have played better!" Pansy cried, then hugged me again.

"I saw everything! You were great!"

"What a superstar! Knocked a second-year and a fourth-year off their brooms!"

"You steamrollered Gryffindor!"

"Valerina, you're the best Quidditch player in history!"

"Well, Sadia and Veronika were great too. Go tell them so!" I told Rebecca, the girl whom I had saved from the wild broom, who was now tugging eagerly on my cape.

The Ravenclaw team was awarded with more thanks than they needed, and we had to push our way through the crowd to reach an empty space. They chanted and cheered the same song they had when Ravenclaw had been declared the Quidditch match winner, and then showed us all the candy they had received from Madame Hooch, who was almost near to crying with joy.

There were sweet, every-flavoured Mooncraters, little round candies packaged onto cardboard sticks so you could pick them off individually and eat them. There were gummy worms which were so chewy you could hardly eat them without getting lumps stuck to your teeth, and packages of chocolate wizards' hats. There were giant boxes of caramel-, vanilla-, and chocolate-flavoured taffies, and giant, round chocolate balls filled with strawberry mousse and clotted cream. There were giant chocolate sherbet balls that made you float a few inches off the ground after you ate one, and tiny black pepper imps which I did not like much; they were too spicy. There was chocolate and caramel twisted into every shape that you could imagine, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. All sorts of different candies were lined up in rows: glistening pink coconut squares … Ice Mice (hear your teeth chatter and squeak) … peppermint creams shaped like toads (hop realistically in your stomach)… Fizzing Whizzbees (feel the gummy bees whizz and fizz inside you) and exploding fruity sweets (feel them explode with a fruity sweetness inside your mouth!) Everything looked mouth watering and lavish.

We partied wildly into the night, and I thought for sure we would have rotten teeth when we woke up because we ate so much candy. When you weren't eating, you were playing, dancing, or reciting the day's big game. Pansy and Pamella provided the music for a while, singing and cheerleading and waving the banner of Ravenclaw. Everybody enjoyed themselves, and I couldn't believe that the bright, wild common room would tomorrow be a dark, lonely area where my friends and I plotted breeding an illegal bird. (Pansy wasn't in the jobberix group because we thought she was too young and might do something wrong or get hurt by the jobberix.)

But I hardly had time to think about that, because Veronika, mouth full of wizard's chocolate hats, offered me a small bag and I plopped down beside her on a couch to eat and talk about our favourite moves in the game; then Sadia grabbed our hands and pulled us into the dance. We clapped, sang, and twirled around the room, hardly noticing night was creeping on and we were making quite a commotion – and a mess. But that would wait until later.

Probably everyone's favourite candies were the chocolate sherbet balls, because everybody wanted to float a few inches off the ground. But things really got out of hand when Terry Boot grabbed the last one and used his want to make it hover into the air, so he could try and leap up and grab it. But in order for things to be bewitched to float, you need to wave your wand at them for at least a few minutes, which he didn't, and even before he could jump it fell down and splattered all over his face.

Pamella and the other Parkinsons – Pansy, Paisley, Charlotte, Susan and Marvin – stood up in front of the class and shouted out tons of cheers. Here they are:

"Ravenclaw strikes again

Soaring o'er fields and plains

With all our wisdom and power

That Quidditch cup is ours!"

Here's another one:

"Win team win!

Fight team fight!

We're the Ravenclaws

And we're out of sight!

If you put your mind to it

And knock them off their brooms

Then you'll get that Quidditch cup

And you'll get it soon!"

This one's Pamella's favourite:

"2, 4, 6, 8

Who do we appreciate?

8, 6, 4, 2

Who does the Quidditch Cup belong to?

Ravenclaw! Ravenclaw! That's our team!

We use all our plans and schemes!

Yea, Ravenclaw!"

The party turned into a rock and roll dance, and everybody was acting crazy and excited. People ran around screaming and yelling, candy was being thrown all over the place to act as balls in a fake game of Quidditch, and too many messy games were being played. Too many people played Exploding Snap and Gnombles, a game a little like marbles, except that the magical marbles shot an inky liquid all over a player's face whenever he or she lost a point. Lots of people dodged and the ink hit somebody else, someone's food, furniture, walls, or worst, the silky, well-spun tapestries. I had little time to dodge a stink pellet being used instead of a tiny marble in Exploding Snap. Then I tripped and fell on a jelly slug, squiring the liquid everywhere. It was becoming a mess, and midnight was coming on.

Finally, Madame Hooch burst in and exclaimed scornfully, "The party is over. There's a big mess and you're keeping the whole school awake. Yes, I am overjoyed that Ravenclaw won the match, but Kalinka, you're a prefect! You should do something!"

"Yes, Madame Hooch," Kalinka laughed, but she was too embarrassed to be solemn. "Okay," she ordered, "Let's all go up to the dormitories. We can quietly do our homework because we don't have to go to bed for half an hour. To bed at 12:00 sharp!"

I was still giggling and singing as we climbed into our bedrooms. All my homework was finished, but if it wasn't, I wouldn't see any harm in writing about the Golden Snidget…

Little did I know that the unexpected should be expected.