Haunted by her second year and now with a murderer on the loose, Gwenevere Everill finds herself facing more battles that she does not think she can win.
Tormented by dementors and struggling under the impact of her new studies, will Gwen be able t...
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Gwen and the rest of the Gryffindor team entered the Great Hall the next morning to enormous applause. Gwen couldn't help grinning broadly as she saw that both the Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff tables were clapping them too. She caught Lucille's eye across the Hall. Her sister was clearly fighting to remain impassive, but as soon as the two made eye contact, she forgot her resolve and began clapping wildly too.
As usual, the Slytherin table hissed loudly as they passed. Eddie and Felix remained silent, and Gwen was grateful for that.
Wood spent the whole of breakfast urging his team to ear, while touching nothing himself. Then he hurried off to the pitch before anyone else had finished, so they could get an idea of conditions. As they left the Great Hall, everyone applauded again.
'Good luck, Harry!' Cho Chang called. Gwen looked to Harry, who's face had gone bright red. Gwen nudged him playfully, grinning.
'OK... no wind to speak of... sun's a bit bright, that could impair your vision, watch out for it... ground's very hard, good, that'll give us a fast kick off...'
Wood paced the pitch, staring around with the team behind him. Finally, they saw the front doors of the castle open in the distance, and the rest of the school spill onto the lawn.
'Changing rooms,' said Wood tensley.
None of them spoke as they changed into their scarlet robes. Gwen wondered if everyone else was feeling the same thing she was feeling; as though she had eaten something extremely wriggly for breakfast. In what seemed like no time at all, Wood was saying, 'OK, it's time, let's go...'
Gwen took her place between Angelina and Katie, sharing encouraging, nervous looks with them, and the team walked out onto the pitch.
There was a tidal wave of noise. Three quarters of the stands were wearing scarlet rosettes, waving scarlet flags with the Gryffindor lion on them or brandishing banners with slogans such as 'GO GRYFFINDOR!' and 'LIONS FOR THE CUP!'. Behind the Slytherin goalposts, however, two hundred people were wearing green; the silver serpent of Slytherin glittered on their flags, and Professor Snape sat in the front row, wearing green like everyone else, and a very grim smile.
To Gwen's shock, in the Slytherin team, Eddie stood, his silver blond hair impossible to miss. He was easily the tallest player, decked out in his Slytherin green Beater's robes. He looked paler than usual, clearly making an effort to avoid Gwen's eye. Angelina had noticed too, and whispered, 'He'll play dirty, Gwen. Don't go easy on him.'
Eddie had left the team the year before. She had no idea he had rejoined, but as she surveyed the rest of the Slytherin team, she noticed that all the players seemed to have been replaced; they were all huge, muscly boys, holding their broomsticks and staring intimidatingly at the Gryffindor team. Malfoy was easily the tiniest player.
'And here are the Gryffindor players!' yelled Lee Jordan, acting as commentator as usual. 'Potter, Bell, Johnson, Everill, Weasley, Weasley and Wood. Widely acknowledged as the best side Hogwarts has seen in a good few years--'
