As we headed downstairs, I felt very nervous. How much success had Steve had in talking to mum? In my entire lifetime up until that point, no one had ever won an argument with Mum, and compromises were very rare. Would Steve even keep his promise of not telling mum about my night time flying? Would I actually get a chance to show what I was capable of? What would everyone else think? All these questions raced through my mind as we entered the living room. One thing I did feel was a good sign, however, was the fact that there had not been a shouting match between the two parents. Mum's voice carries clearly through the whole house when she shouts, so that's how I knew.

We found Steve and my mum sat in two armchairs facing each other. Mum was the first to speak.

"Steve and I have just had a very interesting conversation", she said, looking directly at me.

"Indeed we have" was his reply.

"Steve tells me that you and Demelza played Quidditch when you went to theirs the other day. Is that correct?"

"Yes" I replied

"He also tells me that you were better than any other player Demelza has ever faced before? Is this also correct?"

"Yes" I repeated, and Demelza nodded in confirmation.

"So let me ask this. How did you get so good, when you and I both know you're not allowed to play, or even fly a broomstick?"

I bit my lip. Was there any way of getting out of this without revealing my misdeed? Could I say that Demelza had taught me? No, I hadn't known her for long enough, and she was a great friend so I didn't want to throw her under the bus like that. I had no choice now.

"I've... I've been practicing at night" I mumbled, looking at the floor.

Immediately I knew, by her facial expression, that the fact there had been no shouting match between mum and Steve meant nothing. She didn't, to my great surprise, shout, but what she actually did do was worse.

"How long have you been doing this for?" she asked in a deadly whisper.

I had a very quick glance around at the others. Ron looked pleased, he always loved watching me get told off, especially by mum. Demelza looked sympethetic, and Harry looked very awkward and uncomfortable.

"Since 1987"

"Since you were six?!" and her voice was now starting to rise. "Do you have any idea how dangerous and irresponsible that was? You could have crashed, you could have died, you could have-"

But by this point I had had enough. I then did the bravest thing that I ever had in my life up until that point.

"Yeah, I could have crashed, but I didn't did I! Ok, maybe I did on my very first attempt, but it was into manure and I wasn't hurt! I'm still here, I'm still fine aren't I? I've mastered flying now and I can play every Quidditch position pretty well, though I'm best as a Chaser! I played at Demelza's, and she, Steve and her mother all saw it and saw how good I am! So, how about instead of you babying me all the time, you let me go outside and play today, and I can show you all what I'm capable of!

There was a long silence. I looked around at everyone again. Ron was staring at me, open mouthed. No one had ever dared shout at mum! Demelza looked proud. Harry had a strange empty look on his face, as if he didn't fully understand the situation.

Finally Steve spoke. "I think she has a point, you know, Molly".

Perhaps it was more out of shock that her youngest child, let alone any of us, had stood up to her like that, but the next words Mum said were ones that I never expected her to say.

"Very well, go ahead and play today. But I will be watching you, and if I feel it's unsafe, you'll be stopping straight away, do you understand?"

"Yes!" I said enthusiastically! I couldn't believe what was happening!

"Don't get any ideas Ronald" said Mum. "Ginny caught me by surprise when she yelled at me like that, and to be honest I do think I can be somewhat overprotective at times, but this doesn't mean you can now get anything you want just by shouting at me. So wipe that smile off your face!"

"What's all this shouting about?" came George's voice from behind us "Ginny, was it you that raised your voice?"

"Yes, and it's paid off! Mum's allowing me to play Quidditch with you guys now!"

"What, come off it, no she isn't-"

"Yes she is, George. And you will let her do so yourselves, or you will suffer the consequences"

The twins knew better than to argue at that point.

"Alright then, come on, Ginny. Ron, Harry, you coming? Harry?"

"What, sorry, huh?" He seemed to have come out of some sort of trance.

"Are you coming to play Quidditch? Ginny's allowed to join us now, apparently"

"Oh, yes, of course, let me get my Nimbus". He ran off back upstairs to Ron's room.

"Hold on a moment, Ginny can fly?" said Fred.

I gave them the same revelation that I had just given mum.

"You cheeky little sod, that's some proper shithousery right there. We've raised you right, Gin" said George.

I was tempted to point out that they hadn't raised me, mum and dad had, but I didn't want to ruin this rare moment of praise, so I just smiled.

"Ginny, I am so proud of you, that was incredibly brave, standing up to your mother like that" said Steve.

"Absolutely, I could never have done it if it was me. That was brilliant, Ginny, seriously" added Demelza. She held out her fist, and I bumped it.

Harry returned at that point, and we all headed out to the field that I'd spent so many nights practising in. Unlike what Joanne claimed, the boys had used this field to play in for years, using actual Quidditch balls, as there was no chance any muggle could see in or even access it. The field also had repelling charms just above the tops of the trees so that the balls wouldn't fly out over the village.

"Ok so there's 6 of us, 3 a side then? How about me, George and Ron vs Demelza, Ginny and Harry?" said Fred. "Ginny, if you're as good as you say you are, then that should have us evenly matched wouldn't it?"

"I guess so, if Harry plays keeper, me and Demelza will both be chasers"

"We'll play first to 10 goals, as we don't normally use a snitch in these games" George told me.

"Sounds good, shall we get started then?"

Me and Demelza had to borrow Mum and Dad's brooms as I obviously didn't have my own one yet and she hadn't bought hers from home. It would have been unfair anyway as her broom was much better than any of ours.

Mum and Steve watched intently as we all mounted our brooms and took off. I decided to show off a bit by doing a couple of loop de loops in mid-air, just to emphasise my skill. These brooms were slow as fuck though, so Demelza and I, though we imagined we'd have superior chasing skill to Fred and George, thought we might still have some difficulty beating them.

It quickly turned out however, that Fred and George had almost no chasing skill at all, so me and Demelza quickly established a 3 goal lead, with me scoring 2 of those. Everyone was stunned by my ability, and it was extremely satisfying to be proved right. They did eventually find some success with their faster brooms, reducing the deficit to 3-2, however we then fired 5 past them with no reply. They pulled 2 back, before we scored our final 2 goals for a final score of 10-4.

"Bloody hell, you two are brilliant, especially you Gin" said Ron. "We sincerely apologise for ever doubting you".

"Yeah, you're welcome to join us again any time you want" added George. "You too, Demelza"

"That sure was some superb flying skill" said Steve. "You're all very talented, not just Ginny and Demelza"

Everyone muttered their thanks and Mum apologised for ever banning me from playing too.

"Right then, Demelza, we best be off." Steve said once we were all back inside. "Oh and we're going away to Portugal for 2 weeks, so we will see you in a while"

"Have fun Demelza, defo owl me about it, i'd love to hear from you while you're there!"

"I will do Gin, and enjoy the rest of your summer too!"

And with that, they flooed home.

In my next part of the story I will describe that year's visit to Diagon Alley, which was eventful to say the least! I'm not sure when it will be up though, as I'm going to be very busy with work for the next week! I'll be visiting Austria and Bulgaria to cover England's friendly Quidditch games against those nations for the Daily Prophet! I'll let you know how that went at the start of my next post!