Harry and I had another nice intimate session that night. Again, the full details don't need explaining, but I think you can understand us doing it in celebration of him beating a Dragon. We were halfway through when I decided to pop him an interesting question.

"So Harry, if You Know Who ever returns, would you consider using a gun to kill him?" I said

"A gun? I'm surprised you know what those are. And the answer is probably not"

"Are you forgetting who my Dad is? And why not, I mean, I was discussing this with Demelza and Hermione a few hours ago, I know why we don't use guns in general, but think about it, you have this invisibility cloak, you could easily sneak up on him and fire several bullets from point blank range, couldn't you?"

"Well, first of all, I'd have to track him down, and that would be much easier said than done. Secondly, even if I did somehow manage to find him, all it would take would be one wrong move, one slip up, and he'd have me out of there in seconds. I'm sure he was powerful enough to detect the presence of people even if they were invisible, and he could probably detect bullets coming towards him and deflect them away or even disapparate away. Where am I even going to get a gun from anyway, they're illegal in the UK, and I'm only 14. Plus, I don't really want to fight him, I only narrowly escaped in both of the times I have so far. Also, you have to consider the fact that his Killing Curse rebounded back off me and on to him, yet he still survived. Who's to say he won't be able to come back again even if I was to shoot him down? No, if he does return, we need to find a way of making sure he'll die for good before trying to take him out. But hopefully he won't"

"Fair enough. Something else we talked about were vanishing spells, and about how they were created so that they won't work on human limbs. But if that was true, how come Lockhart was able to vanish all the bones in your arm?"

"That wasn't a vanishing spell he used. He was trying to mend them. He tried to use Brackium Emendo, but because he was so hopeless, he vanished my bones instead, which is a side effect if you perform the spell incorrectly. That's why the only people who are legally allowed to perform spells like that are healers. That's what Madame Pomfrey told me anyway"

"Why was she afraid of vanishing my eye then, if they don't work on human limbs?"

"I guess everyone makes mistakes. Madame Pomfrey is under a lot of pressure, as the health of all the students is in her hands. It's natural that she's going to make a mistake or two, but to my knowledge at least none of them have lead to anyone getting into further harm"

"Yeah well, it made her treatment of my eye much more painful!"

"Shit happens Gin, shit happens. Look, your wound was healed at the end of the day which is the most important thing"

"I suppose so"

We went back to our activity.

The next day was a Saturday, and I was woken early in the morning by the sound of Demelza's wireless.

"Whatzzz that you're listening to?" I asked groggily. I'd only gotten back from my thing with Harry at about 4am. I looked at my watch and saw that it was 7:30. "Harpies don't play till tomorrow afternoon mate, go back to sleep"

"This isn't Quidditch I'm listening to"

"What then? Can't be The Clipped Twig, that was last night"

"I know that obviously, we listened to it together! This is the Broomfast Cup"

I was instantly interested, and cast a silencing charm around us so that the radio wouldn't wake anyone else up.

"Oh really, I didn't know they broadcasted that in the UK!"

"Yeah, the WBS have finally pulled their finger out and bought some rights to it. 3 year deal they have, every practice, qualifying and race live. Quali's about to start"

Yep, you guessed it, this is our equivalent of your "Formula One" car racing championship. It's got a long history, the first official season was in 1735, though people have been having broom races since they were first used for flight. This weekend, the 1994 Chinese Swishfling was taking place. Yes, that's the official name for races, Swishflings.

"I'm assuming they've finally gotten the rights because of how close the championship is at the moment, and the fact that Amanda Jane-Cracknell is in contention for the title 2 years running" I said

"Must be" replied Demelza

Amanda Jane-Cracknell was considered to be one of the best young flyers in the world. She began her Broomfast career at 18 in 1992, after graduating Hogwarts, though she'd been competing in junior racing series since she was 11. After a single year competing in the midfield on older Cleansweeps, her serious talent showed, so she was quickly promoted to the faster Thunderstreak team. This team had the second fastest broom, however, her incredible flying ability meant she was able to compete for the title in only her second season in the sport. She had narrowly missed out to the much more experienced Christian Van De Horn, who was already a 6 time champion and had been racing for team Firebolt. This year was more of the same, with Amanda and Christian going toe to toe for the title, Amanda looking to win her first, and Christian looking to break Rasmussen Concraves's 56 year old record and win an 8th flyers championship.

Demelza and I had both become fans of Amanda during the 1993 championship, with Van De Horn showcasing the incredible speed of the broom before it was made avalliable to Quidditch teams and the public that summer.

"How's practice been going?" I asked. There were usually 3 practice sessions, 2 on a Friday and one on a Saturday before qualifying.

"Dame Renya Torrero's been quickest in all 3 sessions, but you know how Comet are. Super quick over one lap but always fall back in the races" Demelza replied. It was true. Torrero had been on pole for the 3 previous races but had slipped back to 4th, 6th and 5th in each. The Comets simply aren't designed to sustain such pace over a whole race distance.

The theme song played, and soon the commentary began.

"Welcome to the Beijing Sky Circuit, where it's time for qualifying for the final race of the 1994 season, and the most momentous Broomfast race of this generation. This weekend, we will make history, no matter the outcome. Will Amanda Jane Cracknell show us that the torch has passed, it's time for a new era with new champions, or will it be Christian Van De Horn yet again, to cement himself as the greatest of all time, to break Concraves's record? Well, today we'll see who can give themselves a better starting position. I'm Davido Croffa, and joining me as always, it's Marvin Brandle...

"Greatest of all time my arse, he's always been on the fastest brooms!" said Demelza disparagingly.

"Even so, it can't be easy to fly a Firebolt, he's on one cause he deserves to be. The best flyers get the best brooms. I'm as big of an Amanda fan as you are mate but Van De Horn deserves credit. Plus, he started out on Cleansweeps just like all of us"

"All his wins have been on the fastest brooms"

"All Harry's Quidditch wins have been on the fastest brooms. Is he not a good seeker then?"

Demelza bit her lip.

"Nope, actually he won a game on a Nimbus 2000 against Malfoy on a 2001" she said.

"Wasn't a huge performance difference"

"Still, he won games on a slower broom, which Van De Horn can't claim to have done"

"He was outperforming those Cleansweeps hugely though, he got so many 4th-6th places and a couple podiums, when his teammates were finishing out of the points. He deserves to be on a Firebolt"

"You sure you're not a Christian fan in disguise?"

"Look, I'm just giving credit where it's due. He's our biggest rival for sure, but he deserves credit for getting to where he is. Whoever comes out on top here will be a deserving champion"

"I guess" Demelza conceded

The first part of Qualifying ended with the typical expected outcome, with the Bluebottles and Smithwicks making up the back 2 rows, unlike F1, Broomfast qualifying is in 2 parts, with the first part deciding the bottom 10 for the grid, and the second part deciding the top 10.

"You've got to wonder why they bother even entering" I said

"Bluebottle have a great history, 12 championships" replied Demelza

"Yeah but none since 1937, and they've not been higher than 6th in the championship since 1980"

"Broomfast's Chudley Cannons equivalent then"

"Yeah, we should get Ron interested, they'd defo be his team"

Eventually, Van de Horn took pole, with Amanda lining up second. Van De Horn's teammate Juliana Albertson would start third, with Caseon Danvid, Amanda's teammate, down in 8th. Comet's pace in practice hadn't lead to their usual qualifying form this time around, with them only down in 5th and 6th.

"Not looking good for manufacturers is it?" I said

"Nah, but we always knew that would be the case. Firebolt are clearly the fastest broom, they've always been favourites for that title" Demelza replied.

"It all comes down to this doesn't it!"

"Yep, I'm so nervous but so excited for the race tomorrow! Fingers crossed Amanda can do it!"