The next morning was tense. Horribly so. The entire room seemed to realise how desperate Gryffindor was for the win today, and the Slytherins were taking full advantage of it. Their irritating, under-hand comments were starting to get the better of the team as we settled for breakfast at the Gryffindor table, so much so that even the Ravenclaw team were getting annoyed.

My cousins Will and Liam, who were both on the Ravenclaw team, Will as the Keeper and Liam as a Chaser, had gone as far as sitting down beside us at our table, glowering at Malfoy and his group with locked jaws. "Do they really think this is going to help their chances?" Will snapped irritably.

"Apparently," I shrugged with a heavy sigh. "On the other hand, it's turning the entire school against them."

"It was never going to take much of a push, Arty," Liam scoffed, helping himself to Harry's toast with a grin. I pulled a face, nodding my agreement as the Ravenclaw Captain, Davis, approached the table.

"Fraternising with the enemy, boys?" he smirked, clapping Will and Liam on the shoulders.

"Anything to annoy the Slytherin side, Davis," Will said without hesitation, lifting his goblet up and draining it of pumpkin juice. "Besides, I have to side with Gryffindor. Half of my family belong to this House."

Davis shrugged once. "Can't blame you," he admitted. "The Slytherins have been annoying the whole school all morning."

"I might have a solution for that," I scowled through gritted teeth as Malfoy and his group roared with a nasty cackle.

"No getting yourself banned, Williams!" Wood suddenly barked, and the gathered crowd laughed at him.

"Ignore them," Davis insisted. "They're only worried about their chances of winning the Cup. Anyway, good luck today guys. We won't go easy on you, but . . . well, if you do win-" Will and Liam snorted, winking very deliberately in my direction. Davis sighed. "If you win, promise me you'll flatten the Slytherins next?"

The Gryffindor team murmured their agreement, and Fred actually leapt on top of his seat, placing one hand on his chest with a solemn expression. "It would be our honour," he replied dramatically, bowing down low as everyone shook with laughter.

Davis smiled. "Get through this match, and I'll hold you to that, Weasley."

"And on the off chance we don't, I'll happily help you get the Cup," I murmured at Will and Liam. "Just don't tell Wood, he's . . . well, he's pretty determined." They laughed at me, robbing another few slices of toast from my plate before climbing to their feet and moving to join their team.

I almost felt sorry for Ravenclaw after that. It wasn't until we stepped out onto the pitch to the thunderous chorus of 'POTTER! POTTER!' from the Gryffindor house that the Ravenclaws realised Harry was riding a Firebolt. Their Seeker, a girl called Cho Chang, looked a little pale when she noticed it.

But there was no time for them to wallow in self-pity. Before I could even register most of their surprised looks, Madam Hooch was blowing the whistle and the game had started. "Ravenclaw off to a good start," Lee Jordan's reluctant commentary came. It wasn't hard to tell which house he belonged to. Whenever anything went against Gryffindor, he suddenly became incredibly disheartened.

Luckily for him, it didn't stay in Ravenclaws favour for long. Katie Bell and I were on the Chaser's tail as Fred hurtled a Bludger our way. I barely caught the sound of the gasp from the Ravenclaw player when the Quaffle dropped from his grasp and I dived, scooping it into my arms with a practised grace. "Clean pick-up for Williams!" Jordan was now saying, remarkably excited at such a simple move. "Or Artemis, should I say, since we have three Williams on the pitch today! Uh-oh, here comes the second Bludger!"

Gritting my teeth, I swerved and launched the Quaffle at Katie, just in time to somersault out of the Bludger's path. The moment I'd righted myself, I bolted forward, weaving through the players at breakneck speed until I'd caught up with Katie and Angela.

"And here we go!" Lee Jordan exclaimed. "Despite the disaster of the last game, Gryffindor obviously haven't lost their touch. Everyone will remember the amazing lead they'd built up in front of Hufflepuff – a hundred points to none – before the Dementors ruined it. But now look! Katie Bell dives . . . oh God, she's dropped it . . . no, there's the pick-up from Angela Johnson . . . clean pass to Artemis Williams – back to Bell – back to Johnson – and she scores! Ten points to Gryffindor!"

I grinned, circling the posts and re-joining the match with a nod in Angela's direction. Something had changed since last year between the three of us, I noticed. Last year, we were good, but we weren't as in synch as we were now. This year, we'd barely slipped up once. Training was longer and harder, but somehow easier, and Katie and Angela somehow seemed to be able to anticipate my moves before they saw it, just as I could theirs. With that, the Weasleys, Wood and Harry, the match was in the bag.

And everyone knew it. By the halfway point, Gryffindor were leading sixty to twenty, and we were still pushing ahead. The problem was, Ravenclaws were buying time for their Seeker. Chang was no closer to finding the Snitch as I was, but I could tell Harry had had a few near misses. His eyes were narrowed as he hovered at the side of the pitch and his jaw was locked.

"Keep hitting Bludgers at him!" George called as he alerted the course of one heading for us. "He keeps having to veer off course!"

"Then mark him!" I called. "Leave Fred to deal with us, and we'll manage." He shot me a doubtful look, but I took a deep breath and halted the conversation long enough to dive at a Ravenclaw Chaser. Caught by surprise, he yelped loudly and swerved, losing grip of the Quaffle. Catching it easily, I launched it through the air at Angela.

"Cheers!" she laughed loudly, swerving around another Bludger and shooting back down the pitch with the Ravenclaw Chaser close on her tail.

"Tell Wood!" I yelled back at George, and he nodded, rushing to confer with Wood, one eye still on the match. I hesitated, torn between helping Katie and Angela and hearing the verdict.

"Looks like Artemis Williams is being held up," Jordan's voice came slowly over the commentary. "Technical problems wouldn't be good right now, don't want a repeat of last time. But here comes Bell and Johnson closing in . . ."

Then George gave me a nod and I knew it had been cleared. Setting my expression, I bolted down the pitch, swerving past another Bludger that missed by an inch and tearing past a confused Harry.

"Bell dives past the Ravenclaw defence," Jordan was saying. "Johnson's there for support but . . . No, Bell drops it! Picked up by Liam Williams-" Steeling myself, I bolted straight toward the defence and plunged my palm into the Quaffle hard enough to knock it from Liam's grasp before he even knew what was happening. "And there's his cousin Artemis out of nowhere with the recovery!" Jordan yelled and the Gryffindor fans roared in excitement. But we barely noticed. Instead, Angela bolted for Quaffle with the other two Chasers on her tail. "Now Johnson with the pick-up . . . passes to Bell . . . back to Williams . . . and she scores! Gryffindor lead seventy to twenty! But wait a minute . . . ARTEMIS WATCH OUT FOR THAT BLUDGER!"

I gasped and dived, but the unseen Bludger slammed into my shoulder with such force my broom actually rolled sideways. Agonising pain shot through my left arm and I could almost feel every bone in my arm shatter. The crowd gasped and winced, unable to hear the yelp and string of curses blurting from my mouth.

"Gryffindor look like they're down a Chaser," Jordan groaned. Then the crowd drew breath collectively and I blinked away the pain long enough to see Harry dive for the ground, closely followed by Cho Chang. "And Potter dives, has he seen the Snitch?"

The moment the question had been asked, Harry alerted his course, pulling the Firebolt into a steep climb and leaving Chang confused and stalling a metre off the ground. "Great move from Potter!" Jordan roared with laughter. "He diverts Chang to the ground and . . . here we go! Look at the speed of that Firebolt!" The Gryffindors exploded into a mixture of cheers and laughter and the next second – "POTTER'S GOT IT!" Jordan roared. "POTTER CATCHES THE SNITCH AND GRYFFINDOR WIN TWO HUNDRED AND TWENTY TO TWENTY!"

"Arty!" George's voice called as I hit the ground, stumbling slightly. He landed in front of me as the crowd burst into celebration, catching my uninjured arm to steady me. I grimaced gratefully, but he only scowled back at me. "I knew I should have ignored you!"

I managed a weak chuckle. "We won, didn't we?"

"When I said Wood would rather we died than lost, I didn't think you'd take it literally," he sighed.

"I didn't," I argued, wincing as I took a step forward, watching the rest of the Gryffindor team land a little further back. "I just let my concentration slip for a moment, that's all."

"Well next time, don't."

"Artemis!" Katie and Angela called from ahead, rushing forward with worried frowns. "Hey, are you alright?" Katie asked.

"I'll be fine," I dismissed. "Just broken, I think."

"Just?" Harry frowned. "And who's idea was it for George to mark me instead of the Chasers?"

"Mine," I snapped back. "And it worked, didn't it? It isn't his fault, Harry, I wasn't paying attention." His lips pursed, but he said nothing as Madam Hooch pushed her way through the crowd to get to me.

"Hospital wing, Williams," she instructed sharply. "But all in all, good match. Shame I won't be able to say that for your next game." I wasn't entirely sure we were supposed to hear the last part, but she was right. Slytherin knew they couldn't compete with us on an even playing field; they couldn't have done it last year, let alone this year. So they'd play dirty. It was a match where I really couldn't afford to lose concentration.

The rest of the team headed to get changed after the match, and I managed to convince Harry to do the same while I went to get my arm checked out by Madam Pomfrey. Injuries were so frequent in Quidditch matches that a broken arm was no big deal, but I was incredibly grateful when Hermione and Ron turned up outside the Gryffindor changing rooms, their argument about the Firebolt completely forgotten.

"Where's Harry?" Hermione frowned disapprovingly.

"I told him to go back to the changing rooms," I winced, cradling my injured arm with my free hand. "He's already on edge, I don't need him hanging around and attracting more attention. Besides, it's just a broken arm. She'll give me some vile potion, bandage it and I'll be fine by tomorrow morning."

Even Madam Pomfrey agreed that it was nothing severe. She did exactly as I said she would, and even discharged me that night. Most of the Gryffindors had gone to bed by the time I reached the common room, but Harry was sat in the armchair by the fire, watching the flames with a small frown and running his quill through his fingers thoughtfully.

"Hey," I smiled as I stepped inside.

He started at the sound of my voice, glancing at me in relief. "I didn't think Madam Pomfrey would let you out until tomorrow," he said and I shrugged my uninjured shoulder carefully.

"It's not too bad," I grimaced, indicating to my arm. "Should be fine by this time tomorrow. How about you? I'm sorry I was a little short with you on the pitch this morning."

"Forget it," he dismissed. "Saying I'm going to back off and actually doing it are two very different things and I'm beginning to wonder if it's possible." I pulled a face, shifting awkwardly as I sat down in the chair opposite. "I should probably tell you . . . Lupin agreed to teach me to cast the Patronus charm."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? What's that?"

"Repels Dementors," he told me. "Lupin gave me a very long, technical description but I can't really remember most of it. But since we're surrounded by Dementors and I'm really bad around them, he agreed he'd teach me."

"Good," I nodded, ignoring the awkward shifting in my stomach. "When do you start?"

Harry pulled a face. "Already have. I just got back. I spoke with him after the match, I think I needed something to do, you know? He said we could start tonight, so I agreed. I'm going back the same time next week. And with everything else . . . couldn't hurt, right?"

There was a moments awkward silence, but I forced myself to take a ragged breath and smile as convincingly as possible. "Good," I repeated uncertainly, and I didn't miss the way Harry's eyebrows rose a little. Pursing my lips, I straightened slightly, eyeing his cautious expression. "Please don't get me wrong, I'm really pleased for you and I'm incredibly grateful that Lupin has agreed to do it. But . . . doesn't it feel weird to you, knowing that things like this are just going to get more frequent?"

"What do you mean?" he frowned. "I only asked him to help because of what happened on the train at the start of term."

"Yeah, but the fact that you thought about it helping you defend yourself because of me just shows that maybe we need it. We've already said that it's only a matter of time before someone comes looking for me and when they do-"

Harry held his hand up, sighing heavily. "We'll worry about that when it happens," he dismissed and immediately I made to argue. "Arty, seriously! You can't spend the rest of your life expecting the worst. Sure, the Patronus charm can't hurt, but that doesn't mean we have to spend hours learning every defensive spell backwards."

Taking a deep breath, I leant back in my chair thoughtfully. "I know I just . . . I can't shift the feeling that we need to be ready, that's all. Does that make me paranoid?"

He laughed. "After the last two years, that makes you sane."