On Halloween, the entire place was decked in ghostly themes, huge pumpkins, bats fluttering their black wings. Peeves was in a particularly black mood, throwing dungbombs at everyone and sending little first years scattering in terror. Thankfully, I managed to evade his reign of terror and emerged from the castle unscathed, carrying my Firebolt and dressed in my old Durmstrang Quidditch robes. On the back, it still had my number, 7, and my surname, Burke, and on the front, the embroidered golden words "Serpents' Captain" right above my heart, all against the sea green colour of the robe.

I was one of the few females there. Most of the others were male, and they leered at the few of us that were there for tryouts.

Our captain was Malcolm Vaisey, a tall and slender boy with pale skin and sharp blue eyes. He swept back his dirty blonde hair as he assessed us, and informed as coolly that just because we were on the team last year we might not be guaranteed a spot. Then he let the keepers try out, to see how many goals he could put past them. There, I saw his lightning agility and speed, and knew that he was a fantastic Chaser, which was no doubt the reason why he had been awarded captain.

I had been the Quidditch captain of my team for the past few years, and couldn't help but easily dinstinguish the two best keepers. One of them was broad and stocky, but used that to his advantage, blocking the hoops with his huge size. He stopped the most number of goals, but I could see from the rigidity he had little room for improvement. The other didn't stop quite so many, but he was slender and quick, light on his broom and I could see in his eyes he enjoyed the thrill. He had potential. If I were Captain, I would have picked him. But from the way Vaisey looked at them, I knew he was picking the solid, steady one. Vaisey wanted trustworthy members, not wildcards.

Then it was the Chasers. Vaisey used the two best performing two Keepers to block the hoops, and chose three chasers each time to go up against the Keepers, individually. I could see what he was looking for - less about how well you scored, and more on teamwork. I approved of that method - personally, I would have done the same, if I were Captain again.

Then came the Beaters, and once again he appeared to be judging them based on how well they could work as a team. There, Ulysses beamed at me and waved, before he got started clobbering balls and sometimes aimed to unseat the chasers, sometimes intentionally hitting to the other beater so that the other beater could take out the players. I hoped he got the beater position - I was proud to see that I had trained him well, and he was one of the best on that pitch. Then, finally, the Seekers. And I saw the true mad genius of Vaisey, for he insisted the Beaters stay on to aim bludgers at the Seekers as he let all the aspiring seekers into the air and sent only one snitch up.

I sighed. How was I going to fight in that huge crowd for the snitch? Then I remembered that the aim was teamwork, so I flew over to Ulysses. "A small favour. Hit a bludger into that crowd and scatter them."

Then I flew over to the other Beater nearby, a thickset guy with a large build, and studied him quickly. "A new Beater's bat for your bludger aimed to the right of that crowd."

He looked at me and grunted, and I had to pray that he would do as I asked. I heard screams as Ulysses sent his first bludger into the crowd, scattering them two, even as I descended. Then, thankfully, the other beater sent the other bludger to the right, causing them to flee to the left.

I was right. There, in the thick of the crowd, the golden snitch zipped about. Before someone else could take advantage of my ploy, I had already reached it, and stretched out a hand to grasp the snitch.

The other Seekers glared as I landed and returned the snitch to Vaisey, but he alone looked amused. "You've been flying long?"

"All my life," I answered.

"Well, you're in luck. Harper there used to be our Seeker, and his eyes are fairly good, but he hardly ever keeps his mind on the game. I reckon if you gave him a few pointers this year, next year he could be a superb seeker. This year, though, would you like the spot?"

I felt my grin spreading across my face. "Of course."

Vaisey made a note on his clipboard.

"Alright, everyone, listen up. The results will be posted tonight, seven. Don't forget, training every Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at five."

I sighed. One more extra burden on my schedule. All the same, I wanted it, and I was determined to make time for it. And I was quite impressed with Vaisey for being an effective captain, and hoped we had the chance for a win.

"That was brilliant," Ulysses cried, teaching for me. "Really, really awesome."

"As awesome as that was, I still want a new bat," said the other Beater gruffly. I looked at him keenly. "What type? There's a Nimbus B270 on the market now, and a Cleansweep 40B."

He hesitated, glancing at his own bat. As I had noted, it was a Nimbus, and it seemed to suit him. It was a very heavy thick wood bat, which was made for speed - the heavier the bat, the faster the bludger moved. I could almost predict his response. "Nimbus B270."

I nodded. "And you, Ulysses? Would you like a new bat?"

Ulysses looked startled. "I couldn't."

"Early Christmas gift. Nimbus as well?"

Ulysses hesitated. "I prefer Comet."

"The newest Comet then," I answered. "Await my owl."

I turned and headed in the other direction. There at the stands, all my friends were standing, waving. "That was so awesome," Tracey gushed.

"Smart move," Millicent commended.

Toni shook her head. I could see the book in her hand that told me that she hadn't been paying attention to everything, but the fact that she had bothered to come, and drag the rest of the Slytherins along, warmed my heart.

"Lunch? Let me just change out of these robes and have a quick shower, and we can head down to the Great Hall. I'm famished," I suggested hopefully.

Daphne smiled. "Thought you'd never ask."

We didn't go to the Great Hall in the end. It turned out that Daphne's intention was instead to lead us to the kitchens, but the food was even better there, surrounded by merry house elves cooking our chosen dishes and desserts. And the next day, we would be heading down to Hogsmeade.