I want to preface this by saying that although it was initially ruled that reserve Quidditch practices had to take place right before first team ones, I as captain was allowed to request extra practices in the week leading up to a match, and as I'd performed very well in my role, my request was granted. Now that I've said that, let's get back to the story.
At 7:40 that evening, Demelza, Amy, Hermione and I headed up to the second year girls dormitory, where we all sat down on Hermione's bed. Hermione magically locked the door before joining us.
"So, Hermione, what did you want to tell us about the Chamber of Secrets?" asked Amy
Hermione looked at us all very seriously.
"You have to promise, and I mean PROMISE not to tell a soul about this, it's so important!"
"We promise" we all said at once.
"It's not good enough to just verbally promise me with how important what I'm about to tell you is. Therefore, I've devised a plan to make sure that none of you rat this information out"
"What's that?" said Demelza.
Hermione pulled out a piece of parchment.
"I want you all to sign this. It's jinxed. It means that if you mention anything I'm about to tell you to someone other than myself, Harry or Ron, I will know instantly and you will have painful boils sprout all over your body."
"Bloody hell, it must be important then" I said, to maintain my cover.
We all signed the parchment.
"Knew I could trust you guys" said Hermione. "Now, Harry, Ron and I suspect that Draco Malfoy is the one who has opened the Chamber of Secrets. The reason is because he's known to hate Muggle borns, in fact you all saw him call me a Mudblood with no remorse. You also saw how excited he was when he saw the writing on the wall. We are planning to prove this by using Polyjuice Potion to transform into 3 of the Slytherins. Hopefully we can infiltrate the Slytherin Common Room and he'll boast to us about being the Heir of Slytherin."
I felt really bad that I wasn't pointing out how much of a waste of time this would be, but how could I, I'd get into so much trouble!
"Where on earth are you going to get Polyjuice Potion from?" asked Amy
"We're going to make it of course!" replied Hermione.
"Amy, look who you're talking to, this is Hermione, she can do anything!" I said
"True, I should have thought about that!" laughed Amy. "I have no doubt you'll succeed, Hermione, you're brilliant!"
"There's something we should tell you as well though" said Demelza. "On the night before the writing appeared on the wall, we caught Avery, Yaxley and Mulciber, three Slytherins in our year, harassing and threatening our dormmate Daniela. She's Muggleborn herself, so she could very well be targeted soon. We used Petrificus Totalus on all 3 of them to save her, but before we did, Avery said some really weird things to Ginny. She claimed that it was either they or Ginny that would be attacking Muggle borns and that they were wondering why Lucius Malfoy's present hadn't taken effect yet. Any idea what that means?"
Hermione bit her lip.
"Not in regards to Ginny, but that's really important to know, thanks for telling me. The fact that she mentioned Lucius means we could be on to something about Malfoy. What do you think, Ginny?"
I bit my lip, feeling so guilty and uncomfortable about this.
"I- I have no idea" I said eventually
They all looked at me disbelievingly
"You know something don't you Gin" said Hermione.
"No, I don't!" I said, more firmly and confidently this time.
"Yes, you do!" said Amy. "You wouldn't be acting like this otherwise!"
"Guys, I know nothing more than you do, stop accusing me of shit!" I let out aggressively
They all moved backwards a little, scared by my outburst.
"Alright, alright, we believe you!" said Demelza.
"Thank you" I said. "Look, let's move on to something happier for now."
I checked my watch.
"It's 7:55. Hermione, how about you put on that radio show you were talking about?"
"Oh yes, The Clipped Twig, you guys are gonna love this, trust me!"
She turned on her wireless. After a couple minutes of adverts, we heard a theme song and then, the show was introduced.
"Jermyn Clarsona" said Hermione. "He, Rich Hamster and Jamie Main are such brilliant hosts"
It turned out that the show was a humorous broomstick magazine programme, consisting of reviews, challenges with the 3 presenters competing against each other, and a celebrity guest segment, the guest in this week's show hugely surprising us! (Jeremy Clarkson, a Muggle, would later create a very similar show involving cars in the early 2000s, a bizarre coincidence)
"UNCLE LUDO!" burst out Amy, as Ludo Bagman was introduced by Clarsona. "He didn't tell me he was doing this!"
Hermione giggled. "I couldn't wait to see your reaction to this, when I saw that he was mentioned as being the guest on the radio timetable, I was so excited to listen with you!"
Clarsona interviewed Ludo for about 10 minutes, before Ludo set a time on a broomstick obstacle course, and ended up being the 4th fastest in the shows history up until that point, in between Gwenog Jones and Celestina Warbeck. I was impressed by how close Celestina was to a current and a former professional Quidditch player.
The show ended at 9pm.
"Same time next week guys?" asked Hermione
"Defo" I said "This has been a lot of fun! Now let's all get some sleep, we have a big match tomorrow!"
10am the following morning saw my whole team in the changing room. Something I was especially happy to see was that they had gained a lot of confidence, something I had worked very hard to instill in to them.
"Alright everyone listen up!" I called out, and suddenly everyone's attention was on me.
"This is the moment everything we've been doing in practice has led up to! I'm counting on you all to put what you've learned into effect today! You've all shown fantastic progress, so it's time to do it for real now! I have full confidence in you all, so let's go out there and show everyone we're a force to be reckoned with!"
We all strode out on to the pitch. I looked up at the stands. They were about half full, as we were only a support match to the first team fixture later, as I've already said. Lee Jordan announced the lineups of both teams to the stadium, ours with enthusiasm, Slytherin's in a monotone.
"Jordan, please for once in your life, make your bias less obvious" said Professor McGonagall exasperatedly.
"Captains, shake hands" called Madam Hooch
Avery and I grabbed each others hands as viciously as we could.
"I want a good, clean match" she said, in a resigned tone which indicated she knew she would get nothing of the sort.
We all rose into the air and Hooch released the Quaffle.
"And they're off, Weasley with the Quaffle, passes to Robins, then Granger, back to Robins, who dodges a Bludger expertly, brilliant move there, passes back to Weasley, then to Granger, who scores! 10-0 Gryffindor!"
I high fived Hermione and Demelza as we headed back to the middle of the pitch for the restart.
"Excellent work you two, keep it up! Amy, I need to see a bit more bludger work from you though, Demelza nearly got unseated there!" I said.
"Sure thing!" called Amy.
"Avery now with the Quaffle for Slytherin, passes to Ramsdale, now Lestrange, who is hit by a bludger, great shot there from Bagman, Lestrange drops the Quaffle, and it's Weasley with it now, dodges one tackle, then two, then three, and scores, my word what a goal from Ginny Weasley, her talent is indeed as good as her looks it seems!"
I did some loops to celebrate, but Lee's last few words stopped me. That was frustrating, why had he not known I was a great player already? I shook it from my mind and got back to the game.
After the next restart, Demelza found herself through on goal, but was then stopped in a ridiculous and obvious manner by Mulciber, who as the seeker had no right to be making moves such as that! Hooch awarded us a penalty and Demelza clinically dispatched it.
Slytherin got their first goal of the game shortly afterwards, as Avery was put through on goal via an admittedly very clever bit of tactical movement involving their beaters causing a distraction, and she finished calmly past Tina. That was annoying, being outsmarted like that, so I set up Hermione for her second goal of the game from the restart, with a superb long throw that put her in prime shooting position, as she'd made an excellent move in behind the Slytherin beaters.
From then on, it was all Gryffindor, and we scored goal after goal, the Slytherins simply couldn't handle us! All we needed now was for Sloper to catch the snitch to seal the win our performance deserved! When the score got to 160-10, it happened. Mulciber and Sloper were neck and neck for the snitch, and everyone paused to watch. I was worried, if Mulciber caught it, we would draw, and our dominance would all be for nothing! They were racing along almost at ground level now, as they sped from one side of the stadium to the other, and just before the Slytherin goal hoops, Sloper straightened up, with the snitch clasped firmly in his hand!
We had done it, we'd won, and in spectacular style too! What a moment! By that point the entire stadium was full so there was a huge cheer from the Gryffindor end!
Our whole team landed and hugged each other, jumping up and down in celebration! I was a victorious Quidditch captain, this was utterly wonderful! Sure, we didn't gain any points from the result, but we didn't care at that moment! I saw Avery looking livid and I laughed out loud at the sight of her face! I may have gone on to achieve so much in life as a pro player, but I'll never forget that first win at school!
After I had congratulated the team on their performance, we changed and then the rest of the team headed up into the stands to watch the first team match. I needed the toilet however, so I went into the bathroom next door.
I didn't use the toilet though, because I didn't get the chance. I felt a blissful feeling, but this wasn't natural, or anything to do with the win. Everything went black, and when I awoke, I was outside Moaning Mrytle's bathroom again. As I straightened up, this time I saw something that was much much worse than before. Lying before me, with his camera in his hand, was the stiff, frozen body of Colin Creevey.