The first Quidditch match of the teacher season and everyone was on the edges of their seats. The teams were picked. There were four seekers and four captains who picked the rest of the team. Starr and Shiji hadn't talked all morning, he was talking to professor McGonagall and she was talking to professor Trelawney. Professor Snape was edgy. Professor Dibbs, the apparition teacher, was whispering to him.

After breakfast, the students were ushered to the stadium by Hagrid and Filch. The teams were sorted before the match and the remaining teachers were in the teachers' box. The wooden doors were opened and the teachers flew out. On Gryffindor, professors McGonagall, Hooch, Pomphrey, Thentear (the Flying tutor who flew to the United States to teach), Hetak (the Foreign Arts teacher), and Kaek (the Ancient Arts teacher). On Slytherin, professors Snape, Dibbs, Trelawney, Kilth (the new Dark Arts teacher), Cragshaft (the Dark Arts tutor who flew to the United States to teach other students), and Matwick (the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher).

The seekers were last to be let out. Starr and Shiji flew though the doors like rockets, their wings streaked across the grass below them. Starr flew toward the Slytherins and waved to her team. Her wings were stretched to their full extent, she had a twenty foot wingspan. Shiji raced past her and she turned and dove for the ground. Her hands brushed the ground, leaving dark streaks of dead grass behind her. She was graceful in the air, as if it was her second home.

A substitute referee from the Hufflepuff house came to the middle of the ring. Her name was Gina McMalifer, the Hufflepuff head-girl, she had red- brown hair and brown eyes. She strode to the center of the pitch. The snitch and bludgers were set loose, then the quaffle was thrown up. Starr and Shiji hovered at fifty feet above the pitch.

When Gryffindor was ahead by eighty points, Starr's eyes opened wide. She started into a 'Dead-Man's Dive' to the pitch. Shiji hadn't noticed until the Slytherins started yelling with joy. The snitch was a few inches off the pitch, and Starr was closing fast. Shiji was closing in on her. The snitch flew a few feet in front of her. Shiji flew over her, they were equally fast. Starr flipped herself over and started talking to Shiji. When he wasn't paying attention, she whipped her tail around his waist and threw him as far as she could while still flying. She flipped herself over again and raced after the snitch. Her arm was out-stretched to the flying ball in front of her. She made a grab for it, catching it, and slammed into the ground, sliding a few dozen feet.