Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, it belongs to JK Rowling. This is a series of one-shots based on the Seven Deadly Sins.

Sloth n. "physical or mental inactivity; disinclination to action, exertion or labour; sluggishness, idleness, indolence, laziness"- OED, online.

"Laziness; idleness and wastefulness of time allotted. Laziness is condemned because:

Others have to work harder

It is disadvantageous for oneself, because useful work does not get done

It, like gluttony, is a sin of waste, for it wastes time, implicitly due to pride

An equilibrium: one does not produce much but one does not need much either (in Dante's theology, sloth is the "failure to love God with all one's heart, all one's mind, and all one's soul"- specific examples including laziness, cowardice, lack of imagination, complacency and irresponsibility).

In the Latin list of the Seven Deadly Sins, sloth is referred to as acedia."- Wikipedia

Sloth

He watched the Slytherin Quidditch team from the sidelines, exhausted from just watching their exuberant physical activity. He stifled a yawn seeing the icy grey eyes of Draco Malfoy watching him; he'd learnt from experience not to show how tedious he thought the sport of Quidditch was. Sure there was some skill in it, but in his opinion it required too much energy. It was much better to simply watch from the ground.

Malfoy seemed more and more disinclined to believe him, when he protested fervently that he still hadn't quite recovered from his accident a couple of months back. Not that he blamed Malfoy, because he was right; he was perfectly fine, he just didn't want to get back on a broom and have to work.

"Goyle!" The exasperation in Malfoy's voice as he hovered above him was caustic. "Pay attention. I expect you to be in your kit and ready to play next week. Do you understand?"

"Yes, I'll be ready," he promised relishing the fact he had seven days. Seven days in which he could come up with a plan to avoid the sport.

"…don't disappoint me Gregory. I expect you…"

The letter from his father wasn't unexpected. His dad had always been far too into doing your duty for Goyle's liking. Doing your duty involved doing all the things that he didn't want to do, like becoming a Death Eater- who in their right mind would follow a half-blood preaching about the pureness of blood? Well, apart from his father's generation. Who, in his opinion, didn't seem as bright as they liked to make out.

Here was another thing from which he needed a viable excuse in order to escape. It was no use going to anyone for guidance because you didn't know who you could trust. Dumbledore could preach about loyalty all he liked, but in the Slytherin world it didn't exist. Loyalty was just another weakness that could be exploited, and he would be damned before anyone used him. 'House Unity' was a laugh as well, perhaps something as archaic as that worked in the oddly noble house of Gryffindor but Slytherin was a pit of snakes. If you wanted to survive you had to fight, and what good was unity in that!

His father's generation's brand of loyalty and cruelty was alien. In the year of his eighteenth birthday he would be expected to marry a girl of his father's choice. He wouldn't get a say. He was also expected to despise anyone whose blood wasn't pure enough, which severely limited friends and even interaction with some of his cousins. Then, of course, there was the delightful fact he would be inducted into the crazy guild of a madman. Who, when push came so shove, did not have the purity required to lead such a cause and would probably end up dead within months of his victory to be replaced with the likes of a Malfoy or a Lestrange.

He would be quite happy to sit back and watch the fireworks play out, and then choose a side happy in the knowledge that it was the right side. His father didn't quite see it like that.

"You're a lazy, coward boy!" He'd sneer. "Too big for your breeches is what you are. I ought to teach you a lesson." He'd stay silent as his father berated him, all the while wanting to hit out. To say; it's you who is the coward, because you're blinded by your own bigotry! It's you who is destroying the honourable Goyle name following a madman, not me!

"Get out of my sight, boy! You disgust me. You're unfit to carry the Goyle name."

Note: Look out for the next in the series: 'Wrath'.