The morning of the match came. At breakfast, Harry came in. Carrying the broom he had stared at every day at Diagon Alley, the Firebolt.
Everyone stared at him, looking excited, minus the Slytherins. Draco in particular looked thunderstruck.
The Gryffindors put the Firebolt in the middle of the table, showing it off. Delilah rolled her eyes, and continued eating. After a few minutes Draco went over, probably to bug Harry. After a huge burst of laughter he hurried back, eyes narrowed.
"Don't do anything stupid," Delilah told him, recognizing his scheming look.
Draco just shrugged, before heading off to the field.
"Hey, want to sit together?" Delilah proposed, but he shook his head.
"Nah, I already promised Crabbe and Goyle that I'd sit by them," he stated.
"All right, I'll see you after then." Delilah tried to ignore the pang as he said no. It was fine that he wanted to sit by his other friends, even expected. After all, he hadn't really hung out with them for a while. Good for him.
Looking over the crowd, the only face she recognized was Ginny, who was sitting next to a blonde Ravenclaw. Delilah made her way over to them.
"Hey Ginny and Ginny's friend, mind if I sit by you?" she asked.
The blonde smiled. "Oh, we don't mind. I'm Luna Lovegood. Pleasure to meet you." Her voice was dreamy, and now that Delilah was up close, she could see that Luna was wearing a bottle cap necklace along with radish earrings that made her smile. Unlike some of the Slytherins Delilah knew, Luna wasn't afraid to show who she was.
Delilah ended up sitting on Luna's other side. She sat there smiling, watching the game.
Madam Hooch blew her whistle and the players all took to the skies. Harry rose the highest.
Lee Jordan, Fred and George's friend, was commentating as usual.
"They're off, and the big excitement of this match is the Firebolt that Harry Potter is flying for Gryffindor. According to Which Broomstick, the Firebolt is going to be the broom of choice for the national teams at this year's World Championship —"
"Jordan, would you mind telling us what's going on in the match?" interrupted Professor McGonagall's voice.
"Right you are, Professor — just giving a bit of background information — the Firebolt, incidentally, has a built-in auto-brake and —"
"Jordan!"
Delilah laughed along with Ginny over Lee's commentary. Personally, Delilah thought he was getting paid. But her opinion didn't matter.
Katie Bell, a Gryffindor chaser, had the quaffle. She scored. Cho Chang, the Ravenclaw seeker, dived after Harry. Before he could catch the snitch, a Bludger was thrown his way. He dodged it but lost the snitch. Luckily Chang did too.
The Gryffindors let out a great "Ooooooh" of disappointment, but there was plenty of applause from the Ravenclaws for their Beater. George let out his feelings by hitting the second Bludger straight at the Beater, who was forced to 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 it turn — Chang's Comet is just no match for it, the Firebolt's precision-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 Chang got the Snitch first, Ravenclaw would win.
Delilah watched Harry as he lowered before accelerating towards the Gryffindor goalpost. But then Chang blocked him. Honestly, why was he such a gentleman? He couldn't even play rough with her!
Harry rose, Chang following him. He dived, and she followed in his wake. Delilah scanned the ground where they were diving, but didn't see the Snitch.
Harry pulled out of the dive sharply. Cho hurtled downward; he rose fast as a bullet once more.
Accelerating, he headed towards the Ravenclaw goalpost.
Chang screamed, pointing down.
Three dementors looked up at Harry. But something was different, there was no cold feeling and the wind was roaring just as loudly. Those weren't dementors.
Harry whipped out his wand and roared. He must have said Expecto Patronum because a huge, silver-white creature shot directly at the "dementors."
A moment later he had caught the Snitch and Madam Hooch's whistle sounded. The Gryffindors erupted into cheers and poured onto the field.
Delilah slipped down and heard McGonagall shouting at the so-called dementors. Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and Flint were lying on the ground, all struggling to remove themselves from long, black, hooded robes. It looked as though Draco had been standing on Goyle's shoulders. Standing over them, McGonagall was furious.
"An unworthy trick!" she was shouting. "A low and cowardly attempt to sabotage the Gryffindor Seeker! Detention for all of you, and fifty points from Slytherin! I shall be speaking to Professor Dumbledore about this, make no mistake! Ah, here he comes now!"
Delilah sighed as Draco finally got out of the robes while the whole Gryffindor team was laughing. She slipped out of the crowd and headed to the Room of Requirement, where she had been practicing Expecto Patronum.
Once she got to the corridor, she asked the room for a quiet place to practice where no one could interrupt her. As usual, it looked like an empty classroom.
Delilah focused on her memory. How she felt when she was having fun with her friends and Harry. A small smile appeared on her face.
Concentrating hard, she said, "Expecto Patronum." A silver cloud came out of her wand. Delilah frowned slightly and it vanished.
Thinking over more memories with friends, she tried again. "Expecto Patronum." It was just another silver cloud.
Trying again, she repeated, "Expecto Patronum." This time, a small creature came out of her wand.
It started to fade, but Delilah concentrated harder and it brightened. Focusing on the details, she could tell that it was a fox, exactly like her animagus form.
As soon as it vanished, Delilah felt exhausted. She grabbed some of the chocolate she had brought, and headed down to the common room.
As soon as she got there, she saw Draco sulking on the couch. Of course he was sulking, even though it was his own stupid fault.
Slipping over to him, she sat next to him.
"So you messed up," Delilah said matter of factly.
Though Draco only nodded confirmation, she noticed that he had tightened his muscles as if expecting her to yell at him. After all, he had just tried to make her brother ruin Gryffindor's chances.
Delilah was too tired to get angry, so she simply said, "Just don't do it again, okay?"
Looking surprised, he nodded again. Delilah gave him a small smile and went off to bed.