Sooner than I expected, October was over and November arrived, cold as the hard frosts that coated the grounds each morning and icy draughts that bit at exposed hands and faces.
The morning of the match dawned bright and cold as ever. Hermione, Ginny and I headed down to breakfast a little later than usual, because Hermione and Ginny had wanted to dress up a little extra to show their support to Gryffindor. I would, of course, be wearing my scarlet Quidditch robes, but Ginny insisted on at least braiding my hair.
As we were walking across the Great Hall to meet Harry and Ron at the Gryffindor table, Ginny audibly groaned.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
"The Slytherins' new badges, that's what," Ginny said in an undertone, so that only Hermione and I could hear.
I glanced over as we passed the Slytherin table, and saw that, in addition to the usual green and silver scarves and hats, nearly all of them were wearing a silver badge in the shape of a crown. I had to squint slightly to see the writing on them, but as soon as I realised what they said, I scowled.
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"I hope Ron hasn't seen those," Hermione said, as we made our way to the Gryffindor table, where everyone was wearing red and gold.
"How're you feeling?" Ginny asked Ron, who was staring into the dregs of milk at the bottom of his empty cereal bowl, almost like he was considering drowning himself in them.
"He's just nervous," Harry said.
"Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well in exams if you're not a bit nervous," Hermione said heartily. I tried to nod as encouragingly as I could.
"Hello," said a vague, dreamy voice from behind us. We all looked up, and saw that Luna Lovegood had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her, a few even laughing and pointing; as much as I didn't condone it, I could understand why. She had managed to procure a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.
"I'm supporting Gryffindor," Luna said, pointing unnecessarily at her hat. "Look what it does . . ."
She reached up and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and gave such a realistic roar that everyone in the vicinity jumped.
"It's good, isn't it?" Luna said happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway . . . good luck, Ronald!"
With that, she drifted away, leaving us all quite shocked. We still hadn't quite recovered by the time Angelina and Katie came hurrying over.
"When you're ready," Angelina said, "we're going to go straight down to the pitch, check out conditions and change."
"We'll be there in a bit," Harry assured her. "Ron's just got to have some breakfast."
I continued to eat my porridge, exchanging worried looks with Harry when Ron wasn't looking, which was often. After ten minutes, it became clear that Ron wasn't capable of forcing any more food into his body.
