That lunchtime saw Demelza, Amy, Luna and I sitting outside to eat, enjoying the last of the proper sunshine for the year, when out of nowhere, Marcus Flint of all people approached us.

"What do you want, Flint?" I asked

"Oh just to let you all know what a joy little Sarah has been since the sorting. She's really holding up the values of Slytherin House excellently"

"I'm. Sure. She. Is" said Amy slowly, gritting her teeth.

"She's settled in really nicely. In fact, if she fufills her potential, she could be one of the greatest Slytherins of the modern day. A shame I'm a seventh year, I won't get to see most of it-"

He couldn't continue though, as Amy had gotten up and punched him square in the face! Flint staggered backwards from the shock of the sudden attack, his nose bleeding, then pulled out his wand and yelled "Impedimenta!"

Amy was blasted backwards and landed on her back about 10 feet away. Demelza, Luna and I stood up and were prepared to fight, but before anyone could make another move, we were interrupted by Professor McGonagall.

"What on earth is this all about?!" she called out, nostrils flaring.

"Bagman punched me in the face Professor, it was self defence" said Flint

"He was taking the piss about my sister. You may or may not know this, but she's disowned herself from our family, she believes all the blood purity nonsense, he was just rubbing it in, he deserved it" replied Amy, running towards them.

Professor McGonagall's face seemed to soften slightly.

"Yes Miss Bagman, I did know. Your sister herself was bragging about it in my class today. I understand this must have taken an extreme emotional toll on you, so I can understand your anger at Flint's comments"

"I made no such comments-"

"Flint, I watched your whole interaction from the moment it began. There is no reason for Bagman to have punched you other than severe provocation. However" and her face hardened again "that does not excuse either what you said or the altercation that followed. You will both receive detention, which will take place tomorrow. Please come and see me just before your first classes so we can arrange them. Miss Bagman, I also gave your sister detention for her comments earlier, but don't worry, it will be held tonight"

She pointed her wand at Flint's face and said "Episkey" and his nose healed.

"Any questions?"

Neither of them spoke

"Very well, I expect to see you both later" and she walked away.

Flint gave Amy a murderous look, then left himself.

Amy sat back down with us, scowling. There was silence for a while, before Luna finally spoke.

"I did know, of course, that Sarah would betray Amy"

We all stared at her

"How?" I asked

"She has that Slytherin's aura around her. It's invisible to the naked eye, but Ginny, you should know, those glasses I gave you give you the ability to see it. You can also feel it if you stand very still, but only if you know what you're looking for. At the sorting, she was stood right next to me when lining up, so I felt it"

I was lucky that I had an excuse here

"To be fair mate, I haven't actually worn them around Sarah yet"

"Well, do so the next time you're around her, then you'll see what I mean"

At dinner, Harry, Ron and Hermione told us of an incident that had occurred in their first Care of Magical Creatures class with Hagrid, where Draco Malfoy had been attacked by a Hippogriff that he had insulted. Of course, this was all Malfoy's fault, as anyone with half a brain knows that you should expect to be attacked if you insult a Hippogriff, but he had of course blamed it on Hagrid. Neither Ron nor Hermione were eating. I looked over and saw Crabbe and Goyle conversing with a large group, no doubt trying to create their own version of how Malfoy had been injured. I decided that they'd had enough of a bad day so far, so opted not to tell them what had occurred between Amy and Flint.

Afterwards, I headed down to the Quidditch pitch with Alicia and Oliver, to have the shootout that I'd been hoping for. Demelza and Amy also came down to watch. This year, the rules for tryouts had been changed, and both teams would now only hold them if the captain felt they were needed. Oliver and I had mutually agreed that both our teams were perfectly strong enough already, and that the only thing that could potentially change was Alicia and I swapping places. Hermione had been very relieved when she heard this, as it meant she was definitely still going to be playing this year.

Alicia wasn't taking it very well though.

"I can't believe you even considered this. She's just a second year, for god's sake" she said.

"Alicia, need I remind you that you were only a second year when I made you a reserve? You even played in a game that year when Chloe (someone who graduated in 1991) was injured. Also, you watched Ginny play last year and you've seen how good she is. You should think yourself lucky that I'm even giving you a chance to prove that you're better than her, I was seriously considering just replacing you with her without even doing this. I recommend that unless you want me to do that, you just do what I'm asking, ok?" replied Wood.

That shut her up.

"Ok, so this will be very simple. 20 shots each against me, and the most scored will win. You may use any trick shots or techniques you can think of. Alicia, you're first, and you'll take it in turns to shoot, one by one"

Alicia scored her first shot, and and so did I. This continued until we were level at 5-5, when Alicia had her 6th shot saved by Oliver. I then scored my next one, and the continuous scoring pattern kept going until I missed my 11th shot, putting it well wide of the goal hoop in a rather uncharacteristic manner. Alicia then missed her next one though, as well as her 17th and 19th, and I scored all the rest of mine apart from my 12th and 18th, so that meant I had won, and was now on the first team!

Amy and Demelza ran down from the stands, beaming.

"Congratulations Ginny" said Alicia, putting aside her earlier attitude and shaking my hand "as disappointed as I am with this outcome, you deservedly beat me, and I have no doubt you'll make a great addition to the first team. I'll now be the most senior and experienced member of the reserve team, so I look forward to my new role as captain"

"I wanted Amy to be captain if this happened though" I said, and Amy nodded.

"I think Alicia would be a better fit for captain" said Wood "Amy clearly has talent, her famous name isn't just that, but I haven't seen much in her as a leader. Ginny, you have maturity, experience and skill far beyond what your age would suggest, so that's why you were fit to be captain. Now though, Alicia will be by far the oldest and most experienced member of the reserve team, she's a fifth year, and the next oldest person is Hermione Granger, who, let's be honest, as brilliant as she is academics wise, still isn't heavily experienced at Quidditch. She's played one game and while she was good in that game, she could have been better, and that comes with time. Alicia has also played in the first team for 2 years now, 4 games in total. I think you have to agree that with all that in mind, she is the right choice for reserve captain"

I looked at Amy, and we seemed to come to the same conclusion, that we had to reluctantly agree.

"True" said Amy, biting her lip. "I hadn't considered any of that"

"Yeah, I guess. Do you want to do the honours?" I said to Wood, holding out my reserve team captain's badge, which now had to be changed to read Alicia's name.

"I think Alicia should get that right" he replied

Alicia took the badge and tapped it with her wand, and we watched the writing on it switch from "Ginny Weasley-C" to "Alicia Spinnet-C".

"Well, now that all that is said and done, Ginny, welcome to the first team, I'm sure you're gonna smash it! Alicia, commiserations, but thank you for a good two years and I'm confident you'll lead the reserves to glory!" said Wood

As we were walking back to the castle, Demelza spoke up

"I suppose the only downside here is that we can't play together anymore"

"Yeah, that is a shame, but you 2 will be back alongside me once Angelina, Fred and George have graduated. Plus, we can always play round each others houses over the holidays"

When we got back to the common room, we started on some of our homework, and about half an hour later, Harry, Ron and Hermione walked in, looking rather shaken.

"What happened to you three?" Amy asked

"We-uh, went to see Hagrid" said Ron awkwardly

"He was drunk due to how upset he was over the incident earlier today" said Harry

"Once I'd got him outside and sobered up, he realised we were there when we shouldn't have been. He got angry and lead us back up here" added Hermione.

"Has he been sacked?" I asked, biting my lip nervously.

"No, but he reckons it'll be very soon" Hermione replied, sighing. "But we'll do anything we can to help, we'll convince Dumbledore and whoever else needs it that it that Malfoy was at fault"

"I'll help you there too" I said

"Thanks Ginny, that's really nice of you"

"No problem. I may not have yet visited Hagrid as often as you 3, but I don't want to see him sacked over something as bullshit as this. On happier news though, I've made the Gryffindor first team!"

"Really?" said Harry, now very excited.

"Yep, Wood took me and Alicia down to the pitch for a shootout tonight, and I won, so I will now be playing alongside you! Alicia joins the reserve team and she is the new captain"

"Didn't you say it would be Amy?" asked Hermione

"Yes, but Wood convinced us that Alicia is a much better option for captain. She is a 5th year and all, and has played several first team games, so it makes sense"

"I knew you had it in you Gin!" said Harry, and to everyone's surprise, and my extreme excitement, he sat down next to me and gave me a one armed hug!

"Umm, what was that mate?" asked Ron

"Oh, nothing" said Harry, standing back up, but he winked at me.

I sure hoped that meant what I thought it did.