At breakfast the next morning, Harry entered the great hall surrounded by all the boys from his dormitory, who seemed to think that the Firebolt deserved a guard of honour. Heads turned in the direction of the Firebolt, and there was a good deal of excited muttering. We saw, with enormous satisfaction, that the Slytherin team were all looking thunderstruck.

'Did you see his face?' said Ron gleefully, looking back at Malfoy. 'He can't believe it! This is brilliant!'

Wood, too, was basking in the reflected glory of the Firebolt. 'Put it here, Harry,' he said, laying the broom in the middle of the table and carefully turning it so that its name faced upwards. People from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were soon coming over to look. Cedric Diggory came over to congratulate Harry on having acquired such a superb replacement for his Nimbus, and Percy's Ravenclaw girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, asked if she could actually hold the Firebolt.

'Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!' said Percy heartily, as she examined the Firebolt closely. 'Penelope and I have got a bet on,' he told the team. 'Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match!' Penelope put the Firebolt down again, thanked Harry and went back to her table. 'Harry – make sure you win,' said Percy, in an urgent whisper. 'I haven't got ten Galleons. Yes, I'm coming, Penny!' And he bustled off to join her in a piece of toast.

I facepalmed. Why be so stupid to take such a risk?

'Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?' said a cold, drawling voice. Draco Malfoy had arrived for a closer look, Crabbe and Goyle right behind him.

'Yeah, reckon so,' said Harry casually.

'Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?' said Malfoy, eyes glittering maliciously. 'Shame it doesn't come with a parachute – in case you get too near a Dementor.' Crabbe and Goyle sniggered.

'Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy,' said Harry. 'Then it could catch the Snitch for you.' We laughed loudly. Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed, and he stalked away. We watched him rejoin the rest of the Slytherin first team, who put their heads together, no doubt asking Malfoy whether Harry's broom really was a Firebolt.

At the same time, Avery, Mulciber, Yaxley, and Sarah had arrived right behind me.

"The teachers playing favourites again when it comes to Quidditch I see" said Avery "I know they gave Potter a Nimbus Two Thousand two years ago, and let him join the team as a first year, when it was still banned. Now this. It's a shame how Gryffindor can't succeed without outside help"

"We don't know who sent Harry the Firebolt" I replied. "And I'd get myself on my actual house's first team before worrying about anyone else's. Also, Lucius Malfoy sent your entire first team Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones last year. You've got a remarkably short memory haven't you Avery?"

"I'm very excited to play today, said Hermione, as the Slytherins left. "Much better conditions than last time, I should be at my best!"

"Thought you were still pretty good in the rain mate"

"Yeah, but I know I can be better"

The weather couldn't have been more different from our matches against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day, with a very light breeze; there would be no visibility problems this time. The reserve game gave us a perfect start, as Sloper caught the snitch within 5 minutes! Hermione was slightly frustrated that she hadn't managed to have as much of an impact as she had expected to, but was happy all the same.

"That snitch catch from Sloper was very similar to Harry's early one 2 years ago!" she told me.

'You know what we've got to do,' said Wood, as we prepared to leave the changing rooms half an hour later. 'If we lose this match, we're out of the running. Just – just fly like you did in practice yesterday, and we'll be OK!'

We walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous applause. The Ravenclaw team, dressed in blue, were already standing in the middle of the pitch. Their Seeker, Cho Chang, was the only girl in their team.

'Wood, Davies, shake hands,' Madam Hooch said briskly, and Wood shook hands with the Ravenclaw captain. 'Mount your brooms … on my whistle … three – two – one –

I rose into the air, immediately snatched the Quaffle and charged towards goal. I had to make sure I didn't repeat my early mistake against Hufflepuff. At the same time, I was listening to Lee Jordan's commentary.

'They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Firebolt which Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship –'

'Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?' interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.

'Right you are, Professor – just giving a bit of background information. The Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and –'

I looked for Katie and this time successfully passed to her.

'Jordan!'

'OK, OK, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindor heading for goal …'

Harry streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, and I saw that Cho was marking him very effectively, she kept cutting across him and forcing him to change direction.

At that moment, Katie scored the opening goal, and I looked down to see that Harry was diving towards the snitch, but to our great disappointment, he was denied by an admittedly very well aimed Bludger. George vented his frustration by aiming the next one straight at the offending Ravenclaw beater, who had to roll over in mid air to avoid it.

I shook that near miss out of my mind and got back on with the game, and I scored 5 goals and also set up a further 2, both for Angelina, putting some of the moves in my Professional Chasers Guide to great effect.

'Gryffindor lead by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now. See it turn – Chang's Comet is just no match for it. The Firebolt's precision balance is really noticeable in these long –'

'JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!'

Ravenclaw were pulling back; they had now scored three goals, which put us only fifty points ahead – if Cho got the Snitch before Harry, they would win.

As I scored my sixth goal of the game, the Gryffindor end went wild, and I saw that Harry had caught the snitch! I also saw a rather strange heap of tangled black robes and 7 people lying on the ground, but that wasn't important as I went to embrace Harry along with the rest of the team and all our supporters.

Angelina, Katie and I all got to kiss Harry, myself feeling much more when I did it than they would have, and Fred was holding him so tightly it looked like he was going to pull his head off!

'Yes!' Ron yelled, yanking Harry's arm into the air. 'Yes! Yes!'

'Well done, Harry!' said Percy, looking delighted. 'Ten Galleons to me! Must find Penelope, excuse me –'

'Good on you, Harry!' roared Seamus Finnigan.

'Ruddy brilliant!' boomed Hagrid over the heads of the milling Gryffindors.

'That was quite some Patronus,' said Lupin

'The Dementors didn't affect me at all!' Harry said excitedly. 'I didn't feel a thing!'

'That would be because they – er – weren't Dementors,' said Professor Lupin. 'Come and see –'

He led Harry out of the crowd, and I decided to follow, curious. Soon we were able to see the edge of the pitch.

'You gave Mr Malfoy quite a fright,' said Lupin. We stared.

Lying in a crumpled heap on the ground were Malfoy, Crabbe, Goyle, Avery, Mulciber, Yaxley and Marcus Flint, the Slytherin first team captain, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Malfoy had been standing on Goyle's shoulders, and the same applied to Avery with Yaxley. Standing over them, with an expression of the utmost fury on her face, was Professor McGonagall.

'An unworthy trick!' she was shouting. 'A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!'

It was a rather stupid plan in my opinion, as the Dementors that Malfoy and Goyle, as well as Avery and Yaxley had been playing, would have been taller than the others, and adult Dementors usually grew to the same height. That goes without mentioning that their black robes didn't look a whole lot like them anyway. It would have been obvious to everyone that they weren't actual Dementors.

If anything could have set the seal on Gryffindor's victory, it was this. Ron, who had fought his way through to our side, doubled up with laughter as we watched Malfoy fighting to extricate himself from the robe, Goyle's head still stuck inside it.

'Come on, Harry, Ginny!' said George, fighting his way over. 'Party! Gryffindor common room, now!'

'Right,' said Harry, and we and the rest of the team led the way, still in our scarlet robes, out of the stadium and back up to the castle.