I forgot I had today off work, so this chapter is coming earlier than anticipated.

We all stowed our wands back in the inside pockets of our robes, shouldered our brooms and followed Angelina out of the changing rooms. We squelched through the deepening mud to the middle of the pitch; visibility was still very poor even with the Impervius Charm; light was fading fast and curtains of rain were sweeping the grounds.

'All right, on my whistle,' shouted Angelina. I kicked off from the ground, spraying mud in all directions, and shot upwards, the wind pulling me slightly off course.

It quickly became clear, however, that any attempts we made at a proper practice would be fruitless. I could barely see anything in front of me, let alone the Quaffle, and I was hit in the face with it once or twice. Cries of pain after some of my return throws made it evident I was inflicting this pain on Angelina and Katie too. The wind was picking up; even at a distance we could hear the swishing, pounding sounds of the rain pummelling the surface of the lake.

Angelina kept us at it for nearly an hour before conceding defeat. She led our sodden and disgruntled team back into the changing rooms, insisting that the practice had not been a waste of time, though without any real conviction in her voice. Fred and George were looking particularly annoyed; both were bandy-legged and winced with every movement. I could hear them complaining in low voices as I towelled my hair dry.

'I think a few of mine have ruptured,' said Fred in a hollow voice.

'Mine haven't,' said George, through clenched teeth, 'they're throbbing like mad… feel bigger if anything.'

'OUCH!' said Harry

'What's up?' said several people, including myself.

'Nothing,' he muttered, 'I - poked myself in the eye, that's all"

I held back as everyone else filed out.

"What?" Harry said once we were the only ones left.

I sat down next to him.

"Harry, I still care about you, even if we're not together. Was that your scar?"

Harry nodded.

'But… he - he can't be near us now, can he?" I said

'No,' Harry muttered, rubbing his forehead. 'He's probably miles away. It hurt because… he's… angry.'

'Did you see him?' I said 'Did you… get a vision, or something?'

Harry sat quite still, staring at his feet

'He wants something done, and it's not happening fast enough,' he said

"How do you know?"

Harry shook his head and covered his eyes with his hands, pressing down upon them with his palms.

'Is this what it was about last time?' 'When your scar hurt in Umbridge's office? You-Know-Who was angry?' I asked

Harry shook his head.

'What is it, then?'

'Last time, it was because he was pleased,' he said. 'Really pleased. He thought… something good was going to happen. And the night before we came back to Hogwarts, he was furious"

I couldn't recall if Harry had told me about his scar hurting that particular time. He looked around at me.

'You could take over from Trelawney" I said

'No, you know what you're doing?' I said 'Harry, you're reading You-Know-Who's mind!'

'No,' said Harry, shaking his head. 'It's more like… his mood, I suppose. I'm just getting flashes of what mood he's in. Dumbledore said something like this was happening last year. He said that when Voldemort was near me, or when he was feeling hatred, I could tell. Well, now I'm feeling it when he's pleased, too…"

There was a pause. The wind and rain lashed at the building.

'You've got to tell someone,' I said

'I told Sirius last time.'

'Well, tell him about this time!'

'Can't, can I?' said Harry grimly. 'Umbridge is watching the owls and the fires, remember?'

'Well then, Dumbledore.'

'I've just told you, he already knows,' said Harry shortly, getting to his feet, taking his cloak off his peg and swinging it around him. There's no point telling him again.'

I did up the fastening of my cloak, watching Harry thoughtfully.

'Dumbledore'd want to know,' I said.

Harry shrugged

When we got back to the common room, it appeared that Hermione had gone to bed early, leaving Crookshanks curled in a nearby chair and an assortment of knobbly knitted elf hats lying on a table by the fire. Harry sat down to do his charms homework with Ron, and, considering that Demelza and Amy weren't there either, I decided to head upstairs.

I found them sitting on Demelza's bed.

"Hey Ginny" said Hermione, "good timing" she said, glancing at her watch. "We were just about to listen to Portree vs Cataphilly"

"Oh yeah, forgot there were some games tonight" I said, switching on my wireless "That was fun out there wasn't it?"

"It reminded me of when we played Hufflepuff in that storm, it's a miracle anyone was even able to do anything at all that day, thinking about it" Amy said

"Hermione, Alicia and I really struggled, normally we've got such great chasing chemistry, but we couldn't see each other for shit" said Demelza

"Same with me, Katie and Angelina. We hit each other in the face several times" I said

"As much as I enjoy playing Quidditch, I really wish we could just cancel it in this type of weather" said Hermione

"Quidditch is an all weather sport mate" said Amy "Look at this game now, it's still going ahead" She pointed at my wireless, which was playing the theme song to the WBS's live quidditch coverage.

"We're not professional players though"

"You're sitting with 3 people who have aspirations of being so" said Demelza "so despite today being difficult, I'm glad it happened. It and that Hufflepuff game a couple years ago gave us valuable experience"

We then listened to the game, which ended in a dramatic victory for Portree. Their chaser scored a goal to put them 160-0 up just a split second before the Cataphilly seeker caught the snitch, meaning they were saved from the crushing blow of drawing after such a dominant display.