A/N Sorry for such a long wait! I have a couple more chapters written up, so expect them to come out quickly this week. Thank you for your patience! The next couple of chapters introduce a lot of lesser known Harry Potter characters and I am trying to be as canon as possible. If anyone notices anything I say about a character that is incorrect, please let me know, lest I will be subject to further embarrassment. Thank you guys!
The late summer dusk was beginning to hint with a foggy red above the desolate Quidditch pitch. Stripped of banners and house colors, the rising stands loomed over Harry like the melancholy, wooden bones of a giant skeleton. Similar to the rest of the school, the pitch had been remarkably rebuilt to appear as if the school had never seen conflict. But to Harry's unruly eyes, the pitch was still engulfed in fire and flooded in the cries of bloodshed. He blinked forcefully, attempting to put the image from his mind.
As prompted by the note he had received earlier that day, Harry was heading down to the pitch to meet with Madam Hooch for some undisclosed reason. He move at a fervent pace due to the note stipulating that he meet Madam Hooch at five o'clock, and the actual time being half past five.
Three darkly clad figures were huddled together in the center of the field, and Harry could discern the spiky-haired silhouette of Madam Hooch among them through the early evening brume. As he continued to close the distance between himself and the figures, he vaguely recognized one of them as a boy from the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. The other, to Harry's slight detest, was Zacharias Smith. Harry had met Zacharias as a member of the DA, but the boy had proved himself disloyal and thoroughly unpleasant throughout the meetings. Harry was, in fact, surprised to see that Zacharias had returned to Hogwarts, since the last anyone had seen of him he had been fleeing for his life before Death Eaters had swarmed the school. Harry bit back his dislike and gave the group an amiable nod to announce his arrival.
"Ah, Potter. It's about time you showed up." said Madam Hooch with her characteristically brisk elocution. "You become a war-hero and suddenly you lose all punctuality?" she chided.
"Erm, sorry." Harry grumbled. Not feeling any actual remorse for his tardiness, this was the best apology he could muster.
"Let's get started, then." decided Madam Hooch. "Potter, this is Jason Samuels and Zacharias Smith." She said briskly. "I also asked the Malfoy boy to meet us, but it doesn't look like he's decided to show."
"I'm here." Draco murmured quietly from behind Madam Hooch. His arrival had been so soundless, no one had even noticed his appearance. He kept his eyes low to the ground and slowly trudged into place among the group as Madam Hooch gave him a similar admonishing for his lateness. Harry didn't catch much of what she said as he found himself intently studying Malfoy. He looked even more despondent than he had in Defense Against the Dark Arts.
Harry couldn't help but imagine a younger version of Malfoy sauntering into this meeting and making some offensive proclamation about his own worth over everyone else. But this face Malfoy was wearing belonged to someone else. Memories of their imprisonment at Malfoy Manner flashed through his mind, with Draco staring straight at Harry with broken, soulless eyes, and lying to his family to save Harry's neck.
A twinge of erupting blood across his palm suddenly thrust Harry out from his thoughts. Unwittingly, Harry had spent the last seconds tightening his fists until his fingernails had broken through his skin. He closed his fists again in an attempt to hide the minor injury.
"I suppose it's a bit obvious why I've called you four out here." continued Madam Hooch. "It's safe to assume that each of you would be Quidditch captain this year if we hadn't committed to this ridiculous idea to get rid of the four houses."
Harry picked at his jacket awkwardly as Zacharias showed a cheeky grin at the idea of being a Quidditch captain. Draco remained stone faced, eyes fixated downward.
"So there isn't going to be Quidditch this year?" Jason Samuels asked timidly.
"Luckily, with a headmistress like Professor McGonogal, Quidditch will always be a priority at Hogwarts." Madam Hooch grinned. "But I've been left with the task of organizing the Quidditch season this year, which will prove difficult since the four house teams have been disbanded. Before I make any real decisions, I figured it would be fair to ask your opinions on the matter." She finished with an expectant look to the four boys. They remained silent for a moment as if expecting Harry to come forward with a grand idea. When none came, Zacharias perked up.
"We could just have one team for every dormitory." Zacharias said. Harry crossed his arms, deliberating whether it was worth it to point out the flaw in Zacharias' idea.
"But that defeats the point of everything we're doing." Harry explained, deciding that his own desire to stay quiet wasn't worth jeopardizing McGonogal's vision of a house free Hogwarts. "We're not supposed to associate ourselves with our dormitories like we did with our houses. They're just supposed to be where we sleep. If we're going to have Quidditch, we need to figure out a way to keep people from pitting themselves against each other like we usually do."
"Quidditch is a competitive sport; you can't do it without pitting people against each other." Zacharias pointed out, obviously annoyed at being undermined.
"Then maybe we just shouldn't have Quidditch this year." Harry said resolutely, looking toward the sky so as to avoid the scandalized expressions that were surely plastered across the surrounding faces. Unseen by Harry, Draco raised his eyebrows in agreement.
"Or we could just make it open to everyone." offered Jason Samuels. "There wouldn't be as much of a team mentality if anyone who wants to make a team could just make a team."
"That would be way too many teams. Everyone in the entire school would want to play." Zacharias protested.
"Well what's wrong with that?" asked Harry. "That's supposed to be the whole theme of this year: inclusion. And yeah, it would be a lot of teams, but that just means more Quidditch."
"And we could have school-wide events, like a meeting where people try to talk players into being on their team, and maybe a dance like during the Tri Wizard tournament. It could help school morale." Jason said, excitement bubbling up in his expression.
"You've been awfully quiet, Malfoy." Madam Hooch pointed out. She turned suddenly toward him, and Malfoy looked up at her in surprise. "What's your opinion?"
Draco rubbed his hand to one of his temples, obviously uncomfortable with the sudden shift in attention. His eyes traveled back to the ground before he opened his mouth to speak.
"I agree, with what Harry said, with the inclusion, and everything." he said awkwardly, anxious for the focus to be turned away from him.
"I do as well." Madam Hooch admitted triumphantly. "I'll run it past the Headmistress, but something tells me she'll jump at an idea like this. Back to your studies, then!" She ordered with a snap of her fingers.
Jason began an excited conversation with Zacharias as they walked back toward the castle, but Zacharias seemed less than enthused with how the meeting had progressed. Malfoy made no movement back towards the castle, but instead looked up to Harry, as if about to speak. Harry took a step toward him to hear what he had to say before Madam Hooch stepped between them, oblivious to the fact that she was cutting them off.
"So you really support this crazy idea, Potter? Getting rid of the houses?" Madam Hooch asked. It was a loaded question, and Harry didn't particularly feel like answering. Unfortunately, he saw no alternative as Malfoy began to walk away.
"Yeah, I support it." he said distractedly.
"That surprises me. I always thought of you as a committed Gryffindor man." she said.
"Mm hmm." he responded. Despite Harry's refusal to give more than one word answers, his conversation with Madam Hooch lingered on, even as Malfoy's figure faded away.
By the time Harry returned to the castle, it was nearly six thirty. He had promised to meet Ginny for a walk at seven, so he decided to wait in his common room until it was time to meet up with her. He felt slightly aggravated as he marched up the tight staircase to dormitory three. After Malfoy's peculiar statement after Defense Against the Dark Arts, Harry had been determined to find out what was wrong with him. Because of Madam Hooch, he had missed what might have been his only opportunity to find out.
But, as luck would have it, Harry entered the common room to find the blonde haired former Slytherin lounging by himself on one of the couches, flipping through a wrinkled old book. Malfoy looked up when he entered, and the expression in his eyes didn't show any sign of anger. Harry decided he wasn't pressing his luck by sitting on the adjacent couch.
"Quidditch." Malfoy breathed, not looking up from his book.
"Yeah." Harry sighed, stretching his back and sinking into the couch.
"Are you going to make a team?" Malfoy asked, still refusing to look up from his book. It wasn't until this moment, with the image of Madam Hooch's cat-like eyes twinkling with the promise of Harry's Quidditch prowess still fresh in his thoughts, did he realize the startling truth: he honestly had no desire to play Quidditch this year. Once again, his apathy was getting the better of his pledge for indulgence.
"I don't think so." Harry said nonchalantly. "What about you?"
"Wasn't planning on it." He answered, turning a page.
"I thought you loved Quidditch." Harry said, remembering the boasting Malfoy had done in their youth of racing muggle helicopters on his broomstick.
"I thought you loved Quidditch." he countered.
"I did." Harry admitted. "But, you know." His last words hadn't meant to hold any real meaning, just a few throw-aways when he couldn't think of anything else to say. But Malfoy made it clear that he took what he said as completely seriously as he looked up for the first time in the conversation to meet Harry's gaze.
"I do know." he said earnestly. And Harry found that he believed him. Of everyone he had spoken to in the last few months, he knew that Malfoy was the first who fully understood what he meant. They stared at each other for a moment before they both decided it was time to look away. The two remained silent and it became obvious that their conversation had closed. Harry considered whether he should go looking for Ginny early, but when he found it difficult to gather the will power to get up from the couch, he decided to just close his eyes briefly and wait a bit longer.
With a small jolt, Harry's eyes opened to the dark, desolate common room. His muscles voiced their complaints about the unyielding couch he had apparently dozed off on. Realization seeped past his sleep addled thoughts, and a cold wave of guilt krept down his back.
He had completely forgotten to meet up with Ginny.
Judging by the star strewn sky twinkling at him from behind the windows, he had long missed their rendezvous. He groaned quietly at the idea of how much hell he was going to get tomorrow. His thoughts wandered over towards the stairs, thinking of his comfortable bed. But as his eyes focused through the musty darkness, he recognized another figure sleeping on the couch opposite him. Open book splayed across his chest, Malfoy slumbered motionlessly across from him. At this realization, Harry decided there wasn't any real point in heading upstairs, and instead nestled back into the couch.
