Harry and Ron returned to the Gryffindor common room late that night, but without Hermione. I had been sitting next to the fire reading my Which Broomstick annual when they arrived. They walked over to me, and I was puzzled as to why Hermione wasn't with them.

"Where's Hermione?" I asked.

They sat down opposite me.

"You explain" Ron said to Harry

So he did, and I had to act disappointed when he revealed that Malfoy wasn't in fact the Heir, and that he didn't have any idea who it actually was. It therefore confused me a lot as to how Avery and co knew about my actions and "Lucius's present". How could they know about something Draco's father had apparently given me, but Draco not know himself?

When they got to the reason Hermione wasn't with them, my mouth dropped open.

"Seriously?!" I said, "she's turned into a cat?"

"Well, only partially" said Harry quickly, "she's got a cat's face and tail, and some fur but still has the rest of her human body"

"Even so, that's still terrible! Did anyone else see her?"

"No, thankfully not, it's lucky we chose Christmas Day to do this, the corridors were empty the whole way up to the hospital wing"

I bit my lip

"Did Pomfrey say how long Hermione will need to be in there?"

"At least a couple weeks, she's going to need to take specialist potions from St Mungo's to remove the cat parts from her. Polyjuice is designed only for humans, if you try to transform into anything else you're stuck with the effects until medical treatment"

"Damn, well I'll try and visit her tomorrow. Were Avery and co there?"

"No, they weren't at Christmas dinner either were they? They must have gone home"

The next morning, I did indeed go to visit Hermione, and bloody hell, Harry was not joking about her cat appearance! She now had whiskers on her face and bright green eyes, as well as fur covering most of her body. I didn't see her tail, clearly she was hiding that under the blankets. I hadn't gone with Harry and Ron because they had homework to finish that morning and I wanted to go early so that I could be sure I was free in time for the game later on.

She opened her mouth to talk, but I beat her to it.

"Don't worry, Harry and Ron explained everything" I said. "It's a shame you didn't get any answers"

"I know, it feels like a waste of time now"

"Mate, don't beat yourself up over it. You made a potion that a lot of adults struggle to make, and you're only 12. Making a tiny mistake over what type of hair you used is not a big deal. You should be proud of yourself, you did something most people your age couldn't dream of!

Later, I was sat up in my dormitory to listen to the Harpies vs Wasps game. I was excited, this was the first time I'd been able to do this since I started at Hogwarts. I just prayed we wouldn't end up losing! This game was on the national channel, as the Wasps were second in the league, and in a close title fight with the Montrose Magpies.

"Welcome once again to Holyhead. I'm David Harries, and today we bring you live coverage as the 7th placed Harpies take on title contenders the Wimbourne Wasps. After Montrose's victory in Appleby earlier, the Wasps know that they cannot afford any slip ups in their bid to maintain the pressure at the top of the table! Wimbourne have not won the title since the days of Ludo Bagman, so they'll be desperate to put an end to that long wait!"

My nerves were building.

"Holyhead make 2 changes from their last match, a defeat to Pride of Portree, out goes their injured Keeper Juliana Thomas, and she will be replaced by someone relatively unknown, 16 year old Elanor Patrick. We've been told that she is in superb form for the U18 squad, so this will be her very first experience of senior Quidditch, and what pressure is on her young shoulders today, against opponents fighting for the title! The other change is beater Samantha Thomas replacing captain Gwenog Jones, who's been out of form recently. Chaser Davies will wear the armband today"

Hearing that Gwenog was out of form was very disappointing, and probably a big reason why we were as low as 7th.

"Wimbourne name an unchanged starting XI from their thrashing of Newcastle last time out, and with that being said, it's time to begin! And their off, and Wimbourne make a strong start here, some excellent chasing moves, Darren to Morgan, to Fletcher, back to Morgan and it's in, and within 30 seconds they're in front, what a start for the Wasps, and are the Harpies about to suffer yet another defeat in this miserable season of theirs?"

I chewed my lip, it was certainly looking that way, I didn't see how we could turn this around with a 16 year old in goal!

"And from the restart Morgan is in again here, and she sco-no actually it's a great save by Patrick, what a moment for the teenager, as the score remains 10-0!"

From then on, I could not believe what I was hearing, as Elanor Patrick pulled off stunning save after stunning save to keep the score down. We couldn't do shit up front ourselves, every time we'd try to make a forward pass it would be intercepted, but this unknown girl from the academy was the only reason we weren't being destroyed!

"And as we cross over the hour mark in this game, I cannot understand how the score remains only 10-0 to Wimbourne, but it does, and now here's Davies of Holyhead, who has ducked a bludger, is now through on goal, and wow she's scored, and totally against the run of play, the Holyhead Harpies have equalised here, 10-10, extraordinary scenes! And from the restart here, everyone has stopped, as Seeker Crawley of Holyhead is into a dive here, which hasn't been noticed by any Wimbourne player until far too late, she's only inches from it, and she's done it! This is incredible, against all the odds, despite being dominated, the Holyhead Harpies have won this game, 160-10! This is without doubt one of the most sensational stories in the history of this wonderful game! Ladies and gentlemen, Elanor Patrick, remember that name, we have got a star of the future on our hands here, she will never forget this debut as long as she lives!"

And neither will any Harpies player or fan, I thought! Today my club showed me just why I love them so much, a love which still burns inside me to this day, and always will do!

I decided to wait and see if Amy would write to me first, as she had surely been following the game herself, and 3 hours later, a letter duly arrived, with a really wonderful looking tawny owl. This is what her letter contained:

"Ginny,

I cannot comprehend what has happened tonight! How the actual fuck did we lose that game?! I don't know who on earth this Elanor Patrick keeper is, but there's something dodgy about her! There is no way that a teenager is naturally that good, she must have downed a whole cauldron of Felix Felicis before the game, or there were jinxes on our chasers or some shit, cause this isn't right! We're the highest scoring team in the league, our chasers are normally ultra clinical, no I'm sorry there's something going on, and as I write this, my wireless is telling me that we're filing a complaint to the league about your keeper, and rightly so! The result of the complaint will be determined tomorrow after Patrick and our players are tested for any signs of tampering! This result could cost us the title!

Anyway, in addition to that bullshit from tonight, I wanted to ask you how you've been. Any more attacks? Did Harry, Ron and Hermione get any info from Malfoy? Did you like my Christmas present? Write back asap and let me know!

Can't wait to see you again!

Amy"

This was my response.

"Amy,

Mate, I very much doubt Elanor Patrick did anything dodgy. We both know full well that match fixing means a multi year ban from the sport, and Elanor would not want that to happen so soon in her career. We also hardly need any points deductions with how low down the table we are. Simply put, neither the club nor the player would take that kind of risk. The complaint will be dismissed, I'm sure of it.

In regards to your other questions, I've been ok. There haven't yet been any more attacks, thankfully. Sadly though, Harry, Ron and Hermione couldn't get any information out of Malfoy, turns out he's not the heir and he doesn't know who it is. I can't understand therefore how Avery and co know so much, it's mind boggling! I loved your Christmas present! Thanks so much for the Which Broomstick annual, it was such a good read! Did you like my present? Anyway, I'm now off to celebrate a Harpies win, sorry mate, it's got to be done!

See you soon,

Ginny"