It is the last weekend of November and I wake up from my restless dream as soon as the light shines through the window. I fling my bedsheets towards my feet and practically jump out of bed. Today is the Quidditch match against Hufflepuff! I am nervous, but also excited, hence the restless dreams.

I move my head from left to right, popping the vertebrae in my neck while doing so, and then change into my Quidditch robes. The blue color looks a bit dull in the dim light of the bedroom, but as soon as I descend the stairs towards the common room, it becomes its usual bright color once again.

Since it is still early, there aren't many students awake yet, but Cho Chang is already up and dressed in her Quidditch uniform as well. She is reading the Daily Prophet but looks up from the page when she hears me coming.

'Ready for the match?' she asks with a small smile, and I shrug.

'As ready as I can be. You?'

Cho pulls a thoughtful face but then grins. 'We're going to beat Hufflepuff. I can feel it.'

'That's the spirit,' Roger Davies says as he comes down the stairs too. He glances at the grandfather clock next to the window with stained glass. 'Time for breakfast,' he continues when the clock strikes eight o'clock.

My stomach starts rumbling at the idea of breakfast and I set course towards the door opening. It takes a few minutes for us to cross the distance between the Great Hall and the Ravenclaw tower, and when we finally get there, the Hall is already buzzing with students from Hufflepuff and Slytherin whose common room is closer by than ours.

We sit down at our table and I start putting some toast, scrambled eggs, and sausages on my plate. Cho, however, looks as if she can vomit any minute.

'You have to eat something,' Roger encourages her but she shakes her head in denial.

'What happened to we're going to beat Hufflepuff?' I ask and she shoots daggers in my direction.

I chuckle but focus on the oaken doors when I spot Beatrice entering the Great Hall. She is walking hand in hand with Ron and though I was about to jump up to greet her, I decide against it now. I can't help but to smile as I watch them walk towards their table, chatting happily to each other. It was about time.

I finish my breakfast, only partly listening to Roger who explains this game's strategy once again -- I am a Beater so my sole purpose is to make it the opposite team as difficult as possible while protecting my team members from Bludgers as well. Nothing ever really changes about that strategy so I only hum when he takes a pause to breathe.

'Alright, team,' Roger finally says loudly and other heads at the table perk up as well. 'It is almost time, let's go.'

I stand up and wave back to Beatrice when we walk past her.

'Good luck, Thomas!' she shouts.

'Thanks, B!'

It is frisk in the Ravenclaw dressing room, and I throw my bat from hand to the other to keep moving.

Roger wrings his hands together while the other five team members take place on the wooden bench as well.

'Our first match of the season,' Roger starts. 'If we win this game, it will give us a nice head start for the Cup, but if we do lose, all is not lost yet.'

'Gee, nice pep-talk,' I say sarcastically, throwing the bat a few feet in the air and it makes some somersaults before I catch it again.

'I wasn't finished yet, Ridley,' Roger scolds me and I grin at him.

'However,' he continues with emphasis, looking me dead in the eye, 'if we play as we did during the training, we can definitely win this. I have observed the newest team members and the seeker doesn't have the natural skill Cedric had. Not to mention their new chasers.'

I freeze when he drops Cedric's name, though, and I glance at Cho who had paled a bit as well.

Roger realizes his mistake as well and clears his throat a bit awkwardly while checking the time on his watch. 'Right. . . er, yes. Almost ten o'clock. Grab your brooms and let's line up.'

I grab my broom, swinging it over my shoulder, and clang my bat against those of the other Beater: Caleb Lockwood, like we always do before training or match. Just like the Chasers have to play well together during a game, so do we.

'That sounded like your head,' I joke, and Caleb shoves my shoulder.

'You're the one to talk,' he retorts.

I pretend to be hurt by gasping for air, but then I take a step towards Cho. 'You alright?' I ask her, and though her hands tremble a bit, she nods her head.

'Yeah, we can do this.'

On Roger's signal, we walk out of the dressing room and line up in front of the wooden hatch that will open when our team is being called out onto the Quidditch Pitch. I can hear the students chattering outside and Lee Jordan's voice as it echoes through the air.

'. . . Hufflepuff versus Ravenclaw!' he shouts, and the hatch is being pulled up. I jump on my broom and side by side with Caleb we fly into the frisk November air, but at least it is not storming and snowing like with the match Gryffindor against Slytherin. The sun is quite bright, but if we play it wisely we shouldn't be bothered by it too much; we just need to keep the light behind our backs.

Madam Hooch walks onto the field as well and opens the chest in front of her feet. The Bludgers and Golden Snitch fly away, I think I can see a flash of the Snitch before it disappears out of sight. I never had the gift for the position as a Seeker, but hitting Bludgers is my specialty.

'I expect a fair game from each and every one of you,' Madam Hooch says, eyeing us -- the players -- with her cat-like eyes, but then she blows on the silver whistle and throws the Quaffle in the air.

Immediately, the Chasers shoot towards it and I fly away to one of the Bludgers soaring through the air with the speed of cannon balls.

'Incoming!' I shout before hitting it in the direction of Caleb, who redirects the Bludger with his own bat to one of the Hufflepuff Chasers.

The sixth-year didn't see it coming until the last few seconds, and she drops the Quaffle with a yelp before ducking out of the way.

Roger catches the Quaffle and flies in the opposite direction of the pitch, towards the goalposts of Hufflepuff.

'10-0 for Ravenclaw!' Lee Jordan announces, and I grin to Caleb before I spot something in the corner of my eye. One of the opposite Beaters smashes a Bludger towards Cho, and I turn my broom quickly around; racing towards her with my bat at the ready.

'Thank you, Thomas,' Cho says as I hit the Bludger with all of my might. Caleb had followed in my trail and though I wasn't looking where I hit it towards, Caleb smacks the Bludger towards the leading Hufflepuff Chaser.

'Of course,' I say to Cho. 'We might as well resign if you get hurt.'

Cho smiles and flies off to continue her search for the Snitch. Caleb and I watch as one of the Hufflepuff Beaters try to get to the Bludger before it hits the Chaser, but she is too late and the Chaser has to swarm out of the way; flying almost straight into one of our Chasers. Samantha manages to capture the Quaffle and flies towards the goalposts, escorted by the other two Ravenclaw Chasers. She aims, and. . .

'20-0 for Ravenclaw!'

Caleb and I clang our bats together in a small congratulation before spurting off again to intercept some more Bludgers. We fly back and forth over the field, protecting our own teammates and trying to hit the opposite team of their brooms. Minutes pass by and Ravenclaw scores four times while Hufflepuff manages to score one time as well.

Suddenly, I see Cho spurt downwards, her black hair flicking around her head and her eyes squinted in concentration. She has seen the Snitch!

The Hufflepuff Seeker is too far away to catch up with her, but as if in slow-motion, I see one of the opposite Beaters reaching for a passing-by Blugder. It soars towards Cho and without thinking, I race towards her. Just in time, I intercept the Bludger and send it back to the Hufflepuff Beater while letting out a grunt of effort. Cho can continue her dive to the Snitch but I hadn't noticed the other Hufflepuff Beater had sent the second Bludger towards her at the same time as the other, and it hits me square in the face. The impact sends me flying off my broom and I can feel the warm blood streaming out of my broken nose.

Everything turns black for a moment and the next thing I know is a soaring pain all over my body as I lay flat on my back on the sand of the Quidditch Pitch. I struggle for air since all is knocked out of my lungs.

'Thomas? Thomas!' I hear Beatrice and Hermione scream in the distance. My eyesight is a bit blurry but suddenly, I can see two silhouettes kneeling next to me.

'Thomas?' Hermione asks carefully, and I groan, still struggling for air and I try to sit up straight. She pushes me back into the sand though, gently but firmly.

'Don't move. Harry and Ron are getting Madam Pomfrey.'

'That was quite the fall, Thomas,' Beatrice says worried

I let out another groan, the blood streaming out of my nose makes it even harder to breathe.

'Can't you do something about the bleeding?' I manage to ask, my voice croaked and out of breath.

'Oh, I don't know, Thomas. We should really wait for Madam Pomfrey. . .' Hermione starts.

'Please? I can barely breathe.'

Hermione bites her lip, concern written all over her face, and I grab her wand, pushing it in her hand.

'I trust you,' I say while still holding her hand and with a smile, though it would probably look rather gruesome with all the blood.

Hermione sighs. 'Fine.' She points the wand on my nose and my stomach kind of twists and turns as I stare at the tip of the wand. I know Hermione is the brightest witch of her age but it still feels kind of dangerous to have a wand pointed right at your face.

'Episkey,' Hermione says confidently.

A cold feeling immediately washes over my nose and then it turns a red hot as the bone snaps back to its rightful place. Slowly, I raise a hand and feel my nose tenderly. It seems to be mended, and above all, the bleeding seems to have stopped.

'Thank you, Hermione,' I say. 'I thought I was going to choke.'

Hermione shakes slightly her head in disbelief but when I reach out my arms in a silent cry for help to sit up, both she and Beatrice grab my arms and help me sit up straight.

'Did we win?' I ask my Quidditch team who are all standing in a circle around me.

Cho lets out a giggle and shows the Golden Snitch captured between her fingers.

'Totally worth it, then,' I joke, still partly focussed on Hermione who shakes her head again, but then leans forwards and gives me a quick kiss on my cheek. A warm, tingling feeling spreads through my body which, to be honest, wouldn't leave for the rest of the day. Oh yes, totally worth it.