I raced up to my dormitory with a hurried greeting to my friends. I pulled out the box, there was no note, but musical notes were engraved on that. Dudley had, for a time period this summer, tried to learn the flute. I had listened and learned. I knew a bit. 

I pressed the flute to my lips and played the notes, it came naturally after getting the tune, it sounded a bit. It sounded...metallic if that's a word. And gave me a weird feeling at the pit of my stomach. 

I thought of Zoe, I certainly cared for her. So I repeated the tune and immediately I felt.. sense of insecurity or dissatisfaction. Something  halfway between anger and discouragement. It is different than anger by most often being mental, and internal--when you feel the fault is either in yourself or that expressing anger will not do any good. It is different than discouragement because you are still trying. Though you may suspect your situation is hopeless, you haven't yet admitted that to yourself.

'Stupid Runes'I heard Zoe's voice, clearly irritated in my head 'Who would want to--' I had stopped playing because I was stunned. If this worked--

I raced downstairs. "Hello person who ignored us" greeted Nicholas, with a raised eyebrow. I ignored him, and set my eyes on Zoe "how are you feeling?" I asked. she scowled at me, "annoyed" she growled "these  runes are stupid". It--It worked. 

"Is your dormitory empty?" I asked Draco and Nicholas, they couldn't come into ours. "Yeah" said Draco "why?" 

"Let's go there. Now."

Clutching the flute, I hurried behind them. 

"Emma, What--" I cut him off by playing, focusing on Draco's name. A new emotion flooded through my body; Disbelief flooded through my and his voice filled my head "is she going on about that flute again? It will never work?" His face was completely neutral. 

"It did work." I said, he jumped. Nicholas and Zoe were still confused. "S-she read my mind" spluttered Draco "she-she--"

And then the whole next 5 minutes were spent explaining.

*The next morning*

I had heard about the Crookshanks-Scabber incident. It looked like the end of Ron and Hermione's friendship. Eachwas so angry with the other that I couldn't see how they'dever make up.

 Ron was enraged that Hermione had never taken Crookshanks'sattempts to eat Scabbers seriously, hadn't bothered to keep a closeenough watch on him, and was still trying to pretend that Crookshanks was innocent by suggesting that Ron look for Scabbers under all the boys' beds. 

Hermione, meanwhile, maintained fiercelythat Ron had no proof that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, thatthe ginger hairs might have been there since Christmas, and thatRon had been prejudiced against her cat ever since Crookshankshad landed on Ron's head in the Magical Menagerie. 

Personally, I'm sure Harry was sure that Crookshanks had eaten Scabbers, and when he tried to point out to Hermione that the evidenceall pointed that way, she lost her temper with Harry too.

"Okay, side with Ron, I knew you would!" she said shrilly. "Firstthe Firebolt, now Scabbers, everything's my fault, isn't it! Just leaveme alone, Harry, I've got a lot of work to do!"

"Shove Potter" Zoe had sighed, prising a book  away from hermione and pushing a plate towards her "leave her alone."

 Ron had taken the loss of his rat very hard indeed. 

"Come on, Ron, you were always saying how boring Scabberswas," said Fred bracingly "And he's been off-color for ages, he waswasting away. It was probably better for him to snuff it quickly —one swallow — he probably didn't feel a thing." 

"Fred!" said Ginny indignantly.

"I mean he isn't wrong" I shrugged, pushing away the quill George tried to hand me "he was pretty useless."

 "All he did was eat and sleep, Ron, you said it yourself," saidGeorge. 

"He bit Goyle for us once!" Ron said miserably. "Remember,Harry?"

 "Yeah, that's true," said Harry. 

"His finest hour," said Fred, unable to keep a straight face. "Letthe scar on Goyle's finger stand as a lasting tribute to his memory.Oh, come on, Ron, get yourself down to Hogsmeade and buy anew rat, what's the point of moaning?"

Harry went down to breakfast the next morning with the restof the boys in his dormitory, all of whom seemed to think theFirebolt deserved a sort of guard of honor. 

As Harry entered theGreat Hall, heads turned in the direction of the Firebolt, and therewas a good deal of excited muttering. Harry saw, with enormoussatisfaction, that the Slytherin team were all looking thunderstruck. Draco looked like someone had died.

 Wood, too, was basking in the reflected glory of the Firebolt. 

"Put it here, Harry," he said, laying the broom in the middleof the table and carefully turning it so that its name facedupward. People from the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables weresoon coming over to look. Cedric Diggory came over to congratulate Harry on having acquired such a superb replacement for hisNimbus, and Percy's Ravenclaw girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater,asked if she could actually hold the Firebolt.

 "Now, now, Penny, no sabotage!" said Percy heartily as sheexamined the Firebolt closely "Penelope and I have got a bet on," hetold the team. "Ten Galleons on the outcome of the match!"Penelope put the Firebolt down again, thanked Harry, and wentback to her table. 

"Harry — make sure you win," said Percy, in an urgent whisper. "I haven't got ten Galleons. Yes, I'm coming, Penny!" And he bustledoff to join her in a piece of toast.

 "Sure you can manage that broom, Potter?" said Draco in a cold, drawlingvoice, he had arrived for a closer look, Crabbe and Goyleright behind him. 

"Yeah, reckon so," said Harry casually.

Boys...honestly.

 "Got plenty of special features, hasn't it?" said Malfoy, eyes glittering maliciously. "Shame it doesn't come with a parachute — incase you get too near a dementor."

 Crabbe and Goyle sniggered

."Pity you can't attach an extra arm to yours, Malfoy," said Harry."Then it could catch the Snitch for you." 

The Gryffindor team laughed loudly. Malfoy's pale eyes narrowed, and he stalked away. They watched him rejoin the rest ofthe Slytherin team, who put their heads together, no doubt askingMalfoy whether Harry's broom really was a Firebolt.

"Don't get a big head" I said to them.

"Your just mad that your team has no shot of winning" Scoffed Seamus

I smirked "please, I don't care about Quidditch, I care about my brother. Also, you lot aren't doing to well in House points. Winning this with maximum will bring you equal to us. So, we've got a better chance of winning the house cup. Good Luck."

 At a quarter to eleven, the Gryffindor team set off for the lockerrooms. The weather couldn't have been more different from theirmatch against Hufflepuff. It was a clear, cool day with a very lightbreeze; there would be no visibility problems this time, and I,though nervous for my brother, was starting to feel the excitement only a Quidditch match could bring.

"Wood, Davies, shake hands," Madam Hooch said briskly, andWood shook hands with the Ravenclaw Captain."Mount your brooms . . . on my whistle . . . three — two —one —" 

Harry kicked off into the air and the Firebolt zoomed higherand faster than any other broom; he soared around the stadiumand began squinting around for the Snitch, listening all the whileto the commentary, which was being provided by the Weasleytwins' friend Lee Jordan. 

"They're off, and the big excitement this match is the Fireboltthat Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to WhichBroomstick, the Firebolt's going to be the broom of choice for thenational teams at this year's World Championship —" 

"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in thematch?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice. 

"Right you are, Professor — just giving a bit of background information — the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brakeand —" 

"Jordan!" 

"Okay, okay, Gryffindor in possession, Katie Bell of Gryffindorheading for goal . . ." 

Harry streaked past Katie in the opposite direction, gazingaround for a glint of gold and noticing that Cho Chang was tailinghim closely. She was undoubtedly a very good flier — she kept cutting across him, forcing him to change direction."Show her your acceleration, Harry!" Fred yelled as hewhooshed past in pursuit of a Bludger that was aiming for Alicia.Harry urged the Firebolt forward as they rounded the Ravenclaw goal posts and Cho fell behind.

 Just as Katie succeeded inscoring the first goal of the match, and the Gryffindor end of thefield went wild.Harry dived; Chang saw what he was doing and tore after him —Harry was speeding up; dives were hisspeciality, he was ten feet away —

 Then a Bludger, hit by one of the Ravenclaw Beaters, came pelting out of nowhere; Harry veered off course, avoiding it by an inch,and in those few, crucial seconds, the Snitch had vanished.There was a great

 "Ooooooh" of disappointment from theGryffindor supporters, but much applause for their Beater fromthe Ravenclaw [us included] end. 

George Weasley vented his feelings by hittingthe second Bludger directly at the offending Beater, who was forcedto roll right over in midair to avoid it. 

"Gryffindor leads by eighty points to zero, and look at that Firebolt go! Potter's really putting it through its paces now, see itturn — Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt'sprecision-balance is really noticeable in these long —"

 "JORDAN! ARE YOU BEING PAID TO ADVERTISE FIREBOLTS? GET ON WITH THE COMMENTARY!" 

Ravenclaw was pulling back; they had now scored three goals,which put Gryffindor only fifty points ahead — if Cho got theSnitch before him, Ravenclaw would win. Harry dropped lower,narrowly avoiding a Ravenclaw Chaser, scanning the field frantically — a glint of gold, a flutter of tiny wings — 

Harry accelerated, eyes fixed on the speck of gold ahead — butjust then, Cho appeared out of thin air, blocking him — 

"HARRY, THIS IS NO TIME TO BE A GENTLEMAN!"Wood roared as Harry swerved to avoid a collision. "KNOCKHER OFF HER BROOM IF YOU HAVE TO!" I burst out laughing.

Harry turned and caught sight of Cho; she was grinning. TheSnitch must have vanished again. Harry turned his Firebolt upwardand was soon twenty feet above the game. Out of the corner ofhis eye, he saw Cho following him. . . . She'd decided to markhim rather than search for the Snitch herself. . . . All right,then . . . if she wanted to tail him, she'd have to take the consequences. . . .He dived again, and Cho, thinking he'd seen the Snitch, tried tofollow; Harry pulled out of the dive very sharply; she hurtleddownward; he rose fast as a bullet once more.

He accelerated; so, many feet below, did Cho. He was winning,gaining on the Snitch with every second — then — he was nearly there. He stretched out the hand still grasping his wand and just managed to close his fingers over the small,struggling Snitch.

 Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. Harry turned around inmidair and saw six scarlet blurs bearing down on him; next moment, the whole team was hugging him so hard he was nearlypulled off his broom. Down below he could hear the roars of theGryffindors in the crowd. We groaned.

"That's my boy!" Wood kept yelling. Alicia, Angelina, and Katiehad all kissed Harry; Fred had him in a grip so tight Harry felt asthough his head would come off

. In complete disarray, the teammanaged to make its way back to the ground. Harry got off hisbroom and looked up to see a gaggle of Gryffindor supporterssprinting onto the field, Ron in the lead. Before he knew it, he hadbeen engulfed by the cheering crowd."Yes!" Ron yelled, yanking Harry's arm into the air. "Yes! Yes!" 

"Well done, Harry!" said Percy, looking delighted. "Ten Galleonsto me! Must find Penelope, excuse me —" 

"Stop sulking" I groaned to Draco, that evening "Please!"

"I will if you kiss me" he said smirking, he was flirting. 

"No." I said, swishing my wand and dying his hair green "and if you want your hair back to normal I suggest you apologize."