It wasn't long before the next term started, and as had been long planned, Dumbledore's memorial cricket match was due to be played. Draco had selected a crack team from the entirety of the school, he was opening the batting with Blaise Zabini and was looking forward to putting on a big partnership with the Slytherin captain. As usual the match commentary would be broadcast throughout the school and the whole school was excited about the match, which would be the first five day game played at Hogwarts. Lee Jordan was coming back to captain the visiting team of Old Hogwartians, which contained many of the members of the team Draco had played with when he first joined. All of this added to the excitement- would the Weasley twins be indulging in any japes whilst they visiting? No-one knew, not even the commentary team, who were lead, as per usual, by Albus Dumbledore himself.

'Well, hello to all of you listening there, whether you have come to the pitch or not, it is a great honour to be able to welcome you to the first Dumbledore memorial match. The captains are standing in the middle with our independent umpires, freshly arrived from India, Messrs Ganguli and Felsinger. We are very grateful to them for making the trip and I hope that they will enjoy their time here as much as we will. In the centre of the pitch we have Professor McGonagall listening to the toss, and we're going to join her now.'

'Thank you, Dumbles, Jordan has called heads as Mr Ganguli tosses the coin. It comes down tails. Draco, what are you going to do?'

'We're going to bowl.'

'There we go, The home team has won the toss and elected to bowl, so I'll hand you back to the commentary box for the beginning of the match.'

'Thank you McGonners. So, Filchers, what do you think of Malfoy's decision to bowl first.'

'Well, it's not what I'd've done myself. The pitch is very dry and flat, a very good batting surface and there's only one way it can go. I'm not saying that the pitch is going to deteriorate significantly- we just don't know- but if it does, than batting on the last day is not going to be nice. On the other hand, if they bowl the Old Hogwartians out quickly, then there's a good chance that they can build a large first innings lead over the visitors, who lack spin options for when the ball gets old. Then again, George Weasley was a demon spin bowler when he was here. I don't know what his figures are, but presumably that's on for Veckers and her record books.'

'Yes, quite right, and with such batsmen as Harry Sidcup and John Dale returning after a good fifteen years the away team have quite a lot of experience and power in their lower middle order. And here we go, the umpires come out again, followed by the batsmen and then at last the home team take the field to a large cheer. Colin Creevey is coming in to open the bowling and bowls a true ball, good length, straight to Percy Weasley who deflects the ball of his pads to mid on. Zabini is there to pick up the ball and there is no run. Creevey comes in again, bowls and Percy tries to deflect that round the corner at it is easily fielded on the ground by first slip. It really is looking like a good opportunity to score and Creevey bowls again. Weasley pushes it back to the bowler and once more there is no run.'

'It really is just a matter of waiting to score runs, I'm sure it will happen soon.'

'Absolutely, and talking of waiting, McGonners and Sluggers are waiting in the wings to take over, so after a quick word form Argus, it will be over to Minerva.'

'Thank you Albus, it really is a brilliant day to play cricket and Weasley plays that away of his body to square leg for a sneaky single. That ball also marks the end of the over, so Percy Weasley has retained the strike.'

'Yes, and now Captain Malfoy has lobbed the ball to Colin Creevey's younger brother Dennis to open the attack from the other end. He's up to the wicket now And there's an appeal for a hit on the pads! Is that out? No. He got a good step forward and umpire Felsinger has given it not out. That looked very close. Very close indeed. Another ball and Percy Weasley has taken yet another streaky single. The score now 2 for no wicket. Fred Weasley comes on strike, batting with his older brother. He takes guard and prepares to face the next ball. Creevey minor has come up to bowl, we should call him Creevey minor, don't you think, Sluggers?'

'We have to call him something to distinguish him from his brother. Giving him the addition of minor seems like the best way.'

'Yes, and it's Creevey minor once more past Umpire Felsinger and bowls, Fred Weasley pushes the ball down the pitch to the bowler and this is going rather nicely for the away team, after surviving a close call, they seemed to have calmed any nerves they might have had and that ball has caught the edge but goes safely along the ground to the boundary for four. That ball marks the end of another over and Creevey Major come forward to take a bowl from the other end. Creevey comes in and that's looking like a devilish ball to play, just a small bit of swing on it, which is looking promising for later on, as it really is quite unusual to get any movement on the ball this early. But the ball goes straight past the batsman who has left it, right into Finch Fletchley's gloves. That was a nice piece of glovework, but you'd expect no less from Finch-Fletchley, who had been the Hufflepuff keeper for three years now. Creevey Major comes in again and THAT'S GONE! The finest of fine edges has been caught by the keeper and Mr Ganguli has raised his finger. No doubt about it, Percy Weasley is out, a shame because when he gets into full swing he can be a dangerous batsman, but it seems he was never really in and he's been bowled for two, bringing the total score to 2 for 1. A shaky start for the Old Hogwartians and now Paul Barry has come into bat. Barry left Slytherin seven years ago now and led his team to victory four times, mainly on the strength of his batting. He's not an aggressive batsmen, but he will hang around all day if he's allowed to and rare is the match in which he doesn't get a half century at least.'

Frustratingly for Draco, this wasn't a rare match and by lunch the visitors had put on 82 for 1 and were showing no sign of breaking. Sitting down in the dressing room, Draco sat and tried to think up a plan. Nothing was coming immediately and as he went to lunch in the great Hall- a splendid affair of a full roast dinner for both sides- he struggled to think of all the little tricks he'd seen others do when he'd been captained by others. The Creevey brothers were still insisting they were good to go, but it had been a busy morning session, so perhaps a change of bowling was in order. That seemed like a good idea to Draco, as fresh bowlers could often cause the batsman a bit of trouble as they bowled slightly differently. Draco didn't think it was worth going for the spin option yet- as good as Padma was, there was no help in the pitch for the spinner yet and playing her would just be inviting Fred or Barry to try and smash the ball out of the park. How could they get wickets? He'd had to put the field out earlier to prevent the batsman scoring too freely, but that in turn meant it was harder to get them out. And who was he going to get to bowl? The two Creeveys were tired and needed a longer rest than the lunch break could provide. Nigel Hacker, a promising discovery from the Ravenclaw third year was the only other seam bowler on the team. Well, there was nothing for it. He'd have to put himself on to bowl. He was something of an all rounder after all. It couldn't do any harm could it? No. At any rate it was worth a try – Draco finished his dinner and lead his team back to the changing room for a pep talk to gee them up a bit and to announce the change of the bowling attack. The Creeveys seemed a little disappointed with this, but then again, that was probably a good thing. They should want to bowl all day if they were to have the right mental attitude to win. Soon though, it was time to head out, and Draco decided that he would take the first over of the session from the castle end. Umpire Ganguli tossed him the ball and Draco handed his hat over. Fred Weasley had taken resumed the strike on 37 and before lunch he had begun to motor along, scoring runs at a rate of knots. Draco paused momentarily at the top of his run up, which caused some confusion in the commentary box.

'So, Filchers, any idea why Malfoy has stopped like that?'

'No idea at all McGonners, he may be trying to focus in, but. Ah, there he goes.'

'In Malfoy goes, my that is a long run up compared with that of the Creevey brothers we saw earlier today, he's come in and Weasley has played a neat backwards defensive stroke, the ball goes straight on to the deck and is quickly stopped by the man at gully. Now the ball is going around the field on this pluperfect day to play cricket, there are a couple of clouds in the sky, but they are very high and don't look to threaten any rain. The bowler is coming in and that is a lovely ba... AND WEASLEY HAS COME DOWN THE PITCH AND SENT THAT FLYING FOR SIX! That went straight over the bowlers head, it was well over the bowler's head so not a chance there, but that is a statement of intent. It would seem that the strategy of changing the bowling attack has not worked at all, as Weasley takes on the bowling aggressively. With no more wickets in sight, the score moves onto 88 for 1. Malfoy in again, forward comes Weasley and punches that to the covers. Hasn't looked like getting out any time soon, and that usual danger period after lunch where you have to play yourself back in doesn't really seem to be an issue for Weasley.'

'Absolutely. If memory serves, he never was much of a one for restarting in first gear- always preferring to be expansive after his first couple of overs.'

'And Malfoy comes in again. It strikes Weasley on the pads and that is a huge appeal. Is he out? What will Ganguli say? The finger is raised. A breakthrough for the Hogwarts team almost immediately after lunch. That was what Malfoy was looking for when he put himself on to bowl, just changing the bowling slightly so that the batsman was less used to the bowling. That is unfortunate, but the Old Hogwartians are still in a commanding position, 88 for 2 as Lee Jordan comes in. Jordan is of course the captain of the away team and will be looking to play a captain's innings to build on the already highly successful start of the first few batsmen. He takes his guard from umpire Ganguli and Malfoy is at the start of his run up. The batsman is ready and Malfoy starts to come in. Jordan leaves it and it goes through to the keeper for no run. A promising start for Jordan, who made a good call there. Malfoy comes in again. Bowls. AND BOWLED HIM! Jordan just left that again and the ball was a straight as you could wish, middle stump has gone flying out of the ground. For a bowler at least, there is no better sight than a flying stump. Jordan is gone and is due to be replaced by the veteran John Dale. Two balls left in the over and the score has moved on to 88 for 3 as Jordan is dismissed for a duck. Malfoy into bowl and Dale plays it straight back down the pitch. No run. The batsman plays that off bat and pads and ohh. That was close it went straight to the fielder who lobs its straight back at the stumps. That's a near miss, but Dale's comfortably back in his ground as the ball is taken by the keeper. Next ball, Dale plays that firmly into the covers and that looks like its going for four. Will the fielder get there in time? Can he? No. The ball collides gently with the boundary rope and dale is off the mark with a four.'

The game carried on and despite the loss of two quick wickets, the opposition didn't look like they were ever going to be out. Dale had played himself in and was really punishing any bad bowling and neatly defending any good balls. Despite a good session- Draco had bowled far more maiden overs than otherwise- Draco was feeling tired. Determined to try one last trick, he brought himself and Nigel off, putting Padma and Colin back on. Colin was really fired up and was bowling aggressively, bouncing ball after ball at the batsmen who far from thinking of scoring were now thinking of surviving the over without injury.

'It's Creevey Major into bowl and that's hit the batsman, Barry doubles up on the floor as the ball hits him a midriff. That iis going to hurt and it is no surprise that the batsman is curled up on the floor. Madame Pomfrey is rushing onto the pitch to act as team physio, but something tells me that she's not going to be wanted where that ball hit. Barry is still down and that looks like it was really painful. Was he wearing a box? I hope so. That's better, he's getting up now and is hobbling about gingerly. Not a surprise at all. He's pulled a box out of his trousers and he's waving it at the dressing rooms. What's that all about? Oh, I see, the box has split in two due to the force of the impact. That must have hurt, I don't think I've ever seen a box split in two before.'

'Neither have I. Haven't even heard of it happening.'

'I see, well, that's not good, but, ah! They're rushing him out a replacement from the dressing room and he's stuffing his new box back down to where it belongs. Creevey's back at the top of his run up and Barry takes his guard. He'll be a bit nervous after that as Creevey comes steaming in and HE'S BOWLED HIM! That sneaked through a gap between bat and pads and the score is now 144 for 3. Now the keeper Arthur Stebbins is coming into bat. He's not bad at all but the Hogwarts team is really into the beginnings of the tail now. There are about two hours left in the day's play, and it will be interesting to see whether the Old Hogwartians can survive the day. The ball has gotten quite old now and I think Padma Patil is about to bowl a few overs of spin before they claim the new ball. Yes. Malfoy has thrown the ball to Patil to indicate that she is next in to bowl.'

Padma bowled well for a couple of overs in a bowling partnership with Colin, but soon the new ball became available. Draco took it, hoping that it might encourage a few more wickets and took Padma off for Dennis. It was a master stroke. Dennis, keen to prove that he was just as good as his brother started bowling in a really threatening way, bouncers threatening to bash up the batsman's body. These didn't put of Dale, who was quite comfortable, but it put the wind up Stebbins, who was out for 10 not long afterwards. Stebbins was followed by Harry Sidcup, who came in swinging and hit Dennis' next ball for four, just bouncing once inside the boundary rope, but the next ball, Sidcup was clean bowled as he mistimed his swing and missed totally. Then the wickets started tumbling. Colin picked up another two wickets- Andrews and Dobson bowled for 2 and 4 respectively and that left George Weasley, who got a heroic 14 but was then prevented in his progress when Draco, coming on to give Colin a break, promptly got Dale out when he played the ball on to his stumps and the Old Hogwartians had come to an end at a disappointingly low score of 294 all out.

Draco hurried in with the rest of the team to pad up. He had a ten minute break in which Hagrid would be rolling the heavy roller- in fact an overlarge boulder that had been magically smoothed into a cylinder- over the pitch to try and press it a bit. That ten minute break was soon over and Draco was walking out with Blaise Zabini.

'Well, I don't think I need to tell you this Zabini, but the general tactic for tonight is simply don't get out. Runs are an added bonus, but I want to see us survive until the end of play.'

'Yeah. How about we make it interesting? First one to get out has to pay the winner, oh, I don't know, how about one hundred galleons?'

'You're on. Though let's not run each other out. If you do, I promise you you'll be in at number 11 in the second innings.'

'Deal.'

Although the light was fading, Draco and Zabini started well, driving several bad balls to the boundary for four and, after the opposition spinner, George Weasley, was brought on to eke out a few extra overs in the bad light, Draco took the opportunity to hook a ball right into the stands for six. At the end of the day, the Hogwarts team had raised a respectable 33 for 0 and as he walked off the pitch, he felt happy that he hadn't yet lost the bet. Keen not to lose it tomorrow either, Draco lost no time in getting showered, changed and back up to the castle. He had an early dinner and then headed straight up to bed, where he lay, awake for a while before he fell asleep, thinking of his innings yet to come.

The match resumed promptly at eleven o'clock the next morning, despite the threatening presence of the looming clouds.

'And we welcome all our listeners back to the Hogwarts cricket ground where the Hogwarts team is resuming on 33 for 0 against the Old Hogwartians, who were all out yesterday for 294. Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini resume on 21 and 12 respectively. Now, here come the teams, to general applause from across the ground. The umpires have thrown the ball and then to Lee Jordan, who relays it to Quentin Andrews to start the bowling. Andrews is getting to the start of his run up where he will face Malfoy. Will Malfoy get out early? It seems that if he is given enough time to play himself in than this is one of those pitches on which you can book in for bed and breakfast, Zabini down the non-striker's end will be looking to do likewise. Andrews bowls and Malfoy plays at it firmly into the covers. It's stopped there by Percy Weasley and they take no run. Andrews comes in again and Malfoy plays a lovely reverse sweep back through the field- it's going straight to the boundary. That is an excellent start to the day for young Malfoy, really showing great intent but it could be a little risky playing like that. The score moves on to 37. Andrews in again. That's wide! Malfoy doesn't even deem it fit to play it, and it's gone past the keeper for four. Oh dear, Stebbins won't be happy letting the ball go past like that. Four byes are added to the score. Andrews in, Malfoy drives him to mid-on. No run.'

That day, Draco reflected at tea was particularly slow. Inspired by their bet and facing what was at best marginally-better-than-average bowling Draco had ploughed through the nervous nineties about half an hour before Zabini, but by the end of the day they were both still in, each had gotten their 150's and were proceeding to their double centuries. With the score 374 for 0, Draco began to wonder about making a declaration. What would be the right score to stop batting at? Well, they could always bat again, but it would be better if they didn't have to. That meant a lead of at least three hundred, although four or even five hundred would be preferable. At the moment they had a lead of 80 and with 3 days left in the game after the final session of that day, Draco found himself inclined to wait. Positive lay though would be necessary. But not so positive he did something silly and got out.

'We return to the day's play as the Old Hogwartians are desperately trying to break this opening partnership. The ball, now quite old has been given to George Weasley to try and spin them a few. Weasley comes in and bowls a rank full toss, Malfoy has seen that and skies it. It's going straight to the fielder at deep mid-off. What a sad way for the innings to end. No! He's dropped him! Malfoy dropped on 191. That could prove costly. The batsmen managed two runs there, Malfoy now onto 193. Weasley in again. Malfoy takes a big step down the wicket and gives it a huge heave-ho. That's going for six, straight into the stands, where it's caught by. Well, I can't quite see, but it looks like a young Gryffindor from here. The ball's been thrown back onto the pitch and play will resume shortly. That was a huge hit. Malfoy now on 199, needs only one run to get his two hundred. Weasley in again and that is absolutely dispatched, same as the previous ball, going straight to the boundary for six. That takes him past the two hundred mark and the ground rises in spontaneous applause. A very nice innings, possibly a match winning one unless someone in the Old Hogwartians team pulls something off. Certainly the run of the green is going all the way of the home team.'

That prediction proved sadly true, as by the last over of the day Draco had put on 261 runs whereas Zabini is on 230. Desperate to try something, Lee Jordan had come on to bowl an over himself, in a last-ditch attempt to bowl out at least one of the home team before the end of the day's play. It wasn't promising as Zabini blocked out the last six balls of the day, leaving Draco to face the first ball of the next day.

Draco came out the next day ever so slightly nervous- he'd have to declare at some point today if there was to be any chance of winning the match, and it'd have to be soon. It was therefore with an almost suicidally positive intent that Draco came out. Before long he had smacked three sixes and another five fours, bringing his score round to 299. Alicia Spinnet ran in to bowl and Draco deflected the ball slightly off his edge and started to run. Zabini came running from the other end. The ball had gone straight to the fielder, who threw the ball at the bowler's end- straight to the stumps Draco was running at. Draco dived, his bat out ahead of him and the ball hit the stumps. Had his bat crossed the line before the ball had hit the stumps? Was he in, or was he out? Had he scored three hundred or was he out for 299? No. Yes. Draco raised his head to look at the umpire from his position down on the ground. Slowly the umpire considered the appeal. Draco waited for what seemed like an age. Then the umpire made his decision. Not out. Draco slowly got to his feet and celebrated, taking his helmet off and showing his bat to the crowd, which had gone wild. Spinnet came in, and bowled to Zabini. The ball clipped the edge of his bat and carried in down and back. Draco smiled a small inward smile. One hundred galleons up and a commanding match position. Well. Now seemed as good a time as any to declare. Draco walked off with Blaise, waving at the opposition just so they knew he was declaring. Well, that was a respectable personal best, 300 not out. Shame it couldn't go in the muggle record books, but he'd have to accept the wizard ones. That was a good score. There wasn't time to focus on that, though; Draco needed to focus on the next phase of the game, how would they bowl the opposition out? Secretly, he suspected it would be quite easy as scoreboard pressure was probably beginning to tell. 564 for 0 declared plays 294 all out and, well that would be the question, wouldn't it. A lead of 270 was useful, but by no means decisive. Should he have stayed out for longer? No. It was best to give plenty of time to bowl the opposition out and then knock off the final total, if there was any, in the last day. It wouldn't be that much anyway.

How Draco came to regret that thought. Fate had been tempted and seemingly didn't have the self-control to resist as the Old Hogwartians did spectacularly well. Percy and Fred Weasley started with an excellent opening partnership of 107 and it went downhill from there. Whilst the wickets fell at a regular interval, the runs kept mounting up and by the evening they had already romped to 305 for 3 and there was no sign of where the next wicket would come from. That declaration was looking ever more like a mistake. With only two days left, Draco knew that tomorrow would have to go differently if there was to be any hope. Issuing orders to the team for an early night, Draco headed to bed immediately after tea. He couldn't sleep, lying there thinking of how he could win. He turned scenario after scenario over in his mind, trying to formulate plans for getting the opposition out cheaply tomorrow. What could he do? Draco didn't get much sleep that night, despite the early night and the next morning he was exceedingly grumpy as he ate breakfast with his team.

'Come on Skipper, cheer up. We're not that far behind.' Colin said, trying to cheer Draco up. It didn't particularly work, although the large bowl of porridge did and it was with an entirely different frame of mind that Draco took the field.

With the wicket deteriorating and plenty of footmarks to bowl into Padma began to take wickets quickly, Percy was out to a bowl which pitched outside leg and knocked the bail off the off-stump and from there on Draco knew that today was going to be a hard day to bat. It was time for the spines to come out, and desperate to get as many wickets as possible, Draco brought Terry Boot on at the other end. Together the two spinners caused some carnage to the middle order of the Old Hogwartian team and soon the tail-enders were floundering. A decent couple of overs of slogging proved costly for the home team, but that didn't matter- the visitors were all out for 512. That set a target of 243 to win. That was going to be difficult.

Draco and Blaise got off to a good start, whacking 40 quick runs off of the seam bowlers, but soon the new ball lost its shine and Lee brought on the deadly spin of George Weasley. First Draco fell, nicking a ball to first slip and soon after Zabini. It was time to see how well the west of the team could do.

201 runs to go.

Justin Finch Fletchley and Katie Bell formed a good partnership, making 20 runs between them until Justin too fell to the spin.

181 runs to go.

Marcus Belby came in with a defensive mindset and before long had played himself in. The spin bowling didn't really seem to worry him at all and Katie's innings was going along nicely and before Draco- who had to force himself to watch-knew it, she had got her 50.

126 runs to go. That was better.

Then, disaster. Belby got out playing at a wide and Dean struggled to play himself in, eventually getting run out for nine.

117 runs to go, 5 wickets left.

Boot, who had done so well to keep the opposition score low in the third innings carried some confidence with him, which was just as well, as he was the last member of the team who could do anything useful with the bat. Together they steadied the ship, waiting for the welcome break that lunch would represent. After lunch the Hogwarts team resumed on 146 for 5, needing 97 runs to win. Almost immediately Katie started by hitting the first ball to the boundary for four. Much better. Another hour went by without much happening- the occasional run was scored but with plenty of time left in the game, Bell and Boot were being careful to play themselves in. Then suddenly Dobson bowled a ball which moved a bit more than the previous ball and Boot was out.

78 runs to go, four wickets left.

Nigel Hacker came in next thinking aggressively, but restrained by Bell's good sense he played steadily for a while. In the commentary box they were thinking that the game could only go one way.

'Well, this looks like it can only go one way, eh Sluggers?'

'Oh yes indeed, the home team seem to be going forward nicely with a pluperfect innings form Katie Bell forming the backbone of this innings.'

'Quite so. Andrews into bowl to Bell and that's up in the air, going straight to the man at mid on. Is she going to be caught? Yes! She's gone! That's going to cause an upset.'

'Yes it is. With Bell, the last recognised batsman out, the tail-enders don't have anyone to guide them through. We've already seen how Bell helped Hacker keep calm and that probably prevented a wicket. Still fifty-two runs to go for the home team to win, but with only three wickets left can they do it?'

'Well, here comes the next batsman- or should that be batswoman? Padma Patil has come in. She hasn't made a big score since her second Hogwarts match where she scored 53, but since then there have been far too many low scores for her comfort. Andrews comes in again and Patil deflects that neatly through the slips for three runs. Hacker back on strike for the last ball of the over. The ball is back to Andrews who comes teaming in like a man possessed. That hits Hacker in the chest. He's still standing so I think we can assume he's got a chest pad on underneath his whites, but that is going to leave a mark. They've survived Andrews over and it's looking as though that's going to be the last over of Andrews' spell, so it would seem like they've survived him. 49 runs left to go. Jordan has thrown the ball back to Dobson, so it looks as though he's going to have one more over too. Dobson's at the top of his run up. Comes in. Bowls and that is dismissed by Patil. An ugly ball, full of a length and wide of off stump, that was just asking to be hit. 43 runs left with three wickets in hand. It's a little tight, but at this rate Hogwarts will have won by teatime. Dobson in again, and Patil flashes at that, she missed and it goes down past the keeper. They run a bye and the home team are now chasing only 42 runs. Hacker on strike. Dobson into bowl and he has a big swipe at that. Ball through to the keeper. Stumped! Was Hacker out of his crease there? Certainly Stebbins thinks so, but what does umpire Ganguli think? He raises his finger. Hogwarts now need 42 runs with only two wickets in hand. The momentum has swung in favour of the Old Hogwartians. What is going to happen next? Dennis Creevey comes to the crease.'

Dennis and Padma put on forty runs between them and the game was looking like it was in the bag.

'And it's Weasley into bowl to Patil and she's bowled! That's a blow for Hogwarts who need 2 runs to win with only one wicket left. Colin Creevey comes out to bat and it looks as though it's all over for Hogwarts. His top score in Hogwarts matches is six, which while enough to win this match, was scored with a top order batsmen in with him. Now he only has his brother for support and neither of the Creevey's are notable batsmen. Weasley in again. That's well left as that ball marks the end of the over. Dennis Creevey now on strike. Spinnet is taking the next over and she comes in and bowls. That's a wide. The scores are now level and that eliminates the opportunity for a draw or an Old Hogwartians victory, of course the tie and a victory for the Hogwarts team are both possible. Spinnet in and they take the run. The balls gone straight to the fielder and he takes a shy at the stumps. Colin's fallen over! Colin Creevey's fallen over and is just short of his crease, he's crawling desperately along the ground, bat out in front of him as the keeper whips the bails of the stumps. So, is that a tie or a win for Hogwarts, what does umpire Felsinger think? This is a difficult decision, certainly I'm not going to call it from here. Any ideas Filchers?'

'No, none, that really could have gone either way.'

'Felsinger is considering it, what is he going to do? Is he going to raise the finger? No! Not out! Hogwarts win the game by one run with no wickets to spare.

Draco felt elated - his stomach had gone up and down and with that last run it had sunk to an all time low to an all time high in no time at all. Floating on a cloud of happiness he did his duty as captain and thanked Lee Jordan for the game before accepting the small ceramic trophy from Dumbledore. He took the trophy in one hand and shook hands with Dumbledore with the other. Suddenly the old man collapsed. Draco began to panic. What had happened? From all around the ground people came running onto the pitch, desperate to help in any way they could. Snape was the first man there, he lifted Dumbledore's wrist and felt for a pulse. Sadly Snape shook his head. Then Draco realised.

'He's dead, isn't he?'

'Yes.'

Draco fell harshly from his adrenaline induced euphoria. Dumbledore was dead. Certainly a funeral would follow and all sorts of other things, but the protection that the great man had given Hogwarts, and indeed much of the wizarding world was gone. Unable to do anything useful, Draco went back to the changing room to get out of his whites. Somehow it didn't seem right.

Despite what should have been a happy event, the mood in the common room that evening was depressive. No-one was happy, and keen to get away from everyone Draco headed up to the dorm to write a letter to Noctifer.

Dear Uncle Noctifer,

We won the match. When Dumbledore was presenting me with the trophy he collapsed. Professor Snape declared him dead within minutes. Thought you ought to know.

Draco.

The reply came just before Draco was going to head to bed. The envelope felt oddly bulky.

Dear Draco,

Thank you for your letter. I have enclosed the key to the house as I will be unable to collect you at the end of term- I'm going to Italy for business. I'm afraid to say that you are not the only one with bad news. I dare say you will see it in tomorrow's Prophet, but a nasty incident happened today. I was in the Leaky Cauldron with Sirius Black when Death Eaters burst in. I managed to get away, but Sirius didn't.

Stay safe,

Noctifer.

Then Harry walked in, tears in his eyes. There could only be one reason for that. Draco got up and went over to give Harry a supporting embrace.

'Sirius.' Harry said, between tears.

'I'm sorry.' Draco said, unsure of what to do. In the end, Harry broke off and went sadly to bed.