When they woke up, they dressed in silence, staying close to each other all the way to the Great Hall. Audrina saw Jace, Fallon, and Adam dressed in Gryffindor colors, beaming at them from their table. Millie grinned at her from where she was covered in red and gold. They sat next to Demelza, across from Harry and Ron. Harry was enthusiastically offering Ron drinks. Hermione joined them minutes later, looking at Ron warily.
"How are you both feeling?" she asked tentatively, her eyes on the back of Ron's head.
"Fine," said Harry, who was concentrating on handing Ron a glass of pumpkin juice. "There you go, Ron. Drink up." Ron had just raised the glass to his lips when Hermione spoke sharply.
"Don't drink that, Ron!" Both Harry and Ron looked up at her. Ginny glanced at her own pumpkin juice in alarm.
"Why not?" said Ron. Hermione was now staring at Harry as though she could not believe her eyes.
"You just put something in that drink."
"Excuse me?" said Harry.
"You heard me. I saw you. You just tipped something into Ron's drink. You've got the bottle in your hand right now!"
"I don't know what you're talking about," said Harry, putting his hand in his robe quickly.
"Ron, I'm warning you, don't drink it!" Hermione said again, alarmed, but Ron picked up the glass, drained it in one gulp, and said,
"Stop bossing me around, Hermione." He said without even looking at her. She hissed something to Harry then stormed up the table away from them. Harry didn't appear to be affected by it and smiled at Ron.
"She's crabby for a Quidditch meet." Demelza commented, who was in good spirits despite her pale color.
"Hermione hates Quidditch." Ginny informed her, putting aside her pumpkin juice and taking water instead.
"Nearly time." said Harry blithely. The frosty grass crunched underfoot as they strode down to the stadium ahead of the other students.
"Pretty lucky the weathers this good, eh?" Harry asked Ron.
"Yeah," said Ron, who was pale and sick-looking.
They changed in their robes quietly before joining the boys. Both the Beaters looked rather pale but were inspecting their bats quietly. Audrina tried to stop the nervous jangling of her leg.
"Conditions look ideal," said Ginny when they were all gathered in the team room, ignoring Ron. "And guess what? That Slytherin Chaser Vaisey — he took a Bludger in the head yesterday during their practice, and he's too sore to play! And even better than that — Malfoy's gone off sick too!"
"What?" said Harry, wheeling around to stare at her. Audrina stared up at her as well. "He's ill? What's wrong with him?"
"No idea, but it's great for us," said Ginny brightly. "They're playing Harper instead; he's in my year and he's an idiot." Audrina was familiar with Harper, they had been unfortunate enough to have Charms with him last year and his spells were more likely to go off target than they were to go on. On the bright side, her dodging skills had improved drastically.
Audrina adjusted her gloves, trying to keep her mind on the game while all she could wonder was why Draco wasn't playing. It wasn't like him. He had been the most competitive person when it came to Quidditch when they were children and now he was dropping out of the first match? Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she followed Ginny and Harry to the pitch.
They walked out onto the pitch to tumultuous roars and boos. One end of the stadium was solid red and gold; the other, a sea of green and silver. Many Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had taken sides too: Amidst all the yelling and clapping she could distinctly hear the roar of Luna Lovegood's famous lion-topped hat.
When she looked up in the stands she wasn't surprised to see that her parents were not there. She spotted a man with Demelza's hair and smile, whooping her name and beaming. She smiled and kept scanning the crowd. No Draco meant no Malfoy parents.
"Captains shake hands," Madam Hooch said, and stepped up to the new Slytherin Captain, Urquhart, massive compared to Harry. "Mount your brooms. On the whistle... three... two... one..."
The whistle sounded, and they kicked off hard from the frozen ground, and off they went. Her nerves soared away as she moved to cover Ginny as Demelza streaked past them with the Quaffle. There was blissful silence for a second and then commentary started up.
"Well, there they go, and I think we're all surprised to see the team that Potter's put together this year. Many thought, given Ronald Weasley's patchy performance as Keeper last year, that he might be off the team, but of course, a close personal friendship with the Captain does help..."
These words were greeted with jeers and applause from the Slytherin end of the pitch. She recognized the voice as Zacharias Smith, a Hufflepuff player. She bent low to her broom and shot ahead of a Slytherin, trying to break up their passing as they headed towards Ron.
"Audrina Black attempts to get the Quaffle and is foiled, another close Potter friend, I'm sensing a pattern here… Oh, and here comes Slytherin's first attempt on goal, it's Urquhart streaking down the pitch and Weasley saves it, well, he's bound to get lucky sometimes, I suppose…" Ron tossed the Quaffle back to her with a shocked grin and she tried to give him a reassuring nod as she took off for the other end.
They played for half an hour, Ginny scoring four times and Demelza and Audrina both once. They were smaller than the Slytherin Chasers and took to weaving and darting between them. Smith had gotten tired of bashing Ron and had turned to their Beaters.
"Of course, Coote isn't really the usual build for a Beater," said Zacharias loftily, "they've generally got a bit more muscle—"
"Hit a Bludger at him!" Audrina heard Harry call to Jimmy as he zoomed past, but Jimmy, grinning broadly, chose to aim the next Bludger at Harper instead, who was just passing Harry in the opposite direction. She was pleased to hear the dull thunk that meant the Bludger had found its mark.
It seemed as though they could do no wrong. Again and again they scored, easily finding each other. And again and again, at the other end of the pitch, Ron saved goals with apparent ease.
He was actually smiling now, and when the crowd greeted a particularly good save with a rousing chorus of the old favorite "Weasley Is Our King," he pretended to conduct them from on high.
"Well, there's no doubt these years Chasers are decent, even if they are all girls. One could wonder though, two Weasleys on a team? Could he have stacked his team with friends rather than talent?" Smith was wondering aloud. Demelza rolled her eyes.
"You'd think the score would prove him wrong!" She yelled as Ginny and Audrina were tossing the Quaffle back and forth, trying to decide who should score when Smith's next words made them freeze.
"And I think Harper of Slytherin's seen the Snitch!" said Zacharias Smith through his megaphone. "Yes, he's certainly seen something Potter hasn't!"
Harry accelerated but they all knew the math. Gryffindor was only a hundred points up; if Harper got there first Gryffindor had lost. They watched in horror as Harper neared the Snitch, Harry a ways behind. Ginny hurled the Quaffle and scored once more, but it was pointless.
"Oi, Harper!" yelled Harry in desperation. "How much did Malfoy pay you to come on instead of him?" They saw Harper fumbled the Snitch, letting it slip through his fingers, and shooting right past it. Harry made a great swipe for the tiny, fluttering ball and caught it.
"WE WON!" Demelza bellowed next to Audrina, crashing into her and tossing her arms around her neck.
"YES!" Harry yelled. Wheeling around, he hurtled back toward the ground, the Snitch held high in his hand. As the crowd realized what had happened, a great shout went up that almost drowned the sound of the whistle that signaled the end of the game. Demelza and Audrina shot towards Harry, cheering. Ginny went to opposite way.
"Ginny!" Demelza and Audrina yelled in unison.
"Ginny, where're you going?" yelled Harry, who was trapped in the midst of a mass midair hug with all of them, a tangled mess of limbs and brooms, but Ginny sped right on past them until, with an almighty crash, she collided with the commentators podium.
As the crowd shrieked and laughed, they landed beside the wreckage of wood under which Zacharias was feebly stirring, and heard Ginny saying blithely to an irate Professor McGonagall,
"Forgot to brake, Professor, sorry."
Laughing, Harry broke free of the rest of the team and hugged Ginny, but let go very quickly. Audrina dove and hugged her tightly and Demelza joined. They joined the tangle of their team, cheering their way back to the changing room. The atmosphere was jubilant.
"Party up in the common room, Dean said!" yelled Ginny exuberantly. "C'mon, Rin, Demelza!" Audrina lagged behind them, letting them get carried up in the wave of students. She broke of in the entrance hall, ducking behind a tapestry and waiting for the majority of students to pass. Then she went down the staircases, intent on finding Draco.
She knew that the party would rage in the common room for hours. They usually did when they beat Slytherin. No one would notice her not being there for an hour or so, not with the chaos that would be going on. She wanted to find him, to ask him why he hadn't played. She was desperate to reassure herself that everything was all right with him.
Oddly, she didn't have to search long. Her knowledge of the castle from Fred and George let her get herself to the dungeons quickly without encountering any of the angry Slytherin fans. She found him in the potions classroom, staring at an empty cauldron pensively. She entered slowly.
"Stealth never was your strong suit." He commented without looking up. She raised an eyebrow.
"Skipping a match against Gryffindor goes against your entire nature." She commented and then before she could help myself, continued with, "And if you had played, maybe your house would've won."
"I'm a big boy now Audrina. I don't have time to play around in a stupid game on broomsticks." He said tightly, still refusing to look up from the cauldron, and she laughed, rolling her eyes.
"A big boy? You're a big boy? One that whines about doing homework and gets detention? Sounds like me as a third year. And even then at least I got detention for worthwhile things." She scoffed. He spun, rage flaring up in his eyes. She took a step back.
"You don't know anything. Nothing that I have to go through. Nothing, you hear me? NOTHING." He thundered and she stared at him in shock. "Go run along to your cozy common room and be with your little family you have there, Audrina. Not like you care for anything left here." He said the last part with a sneer and her heart sunk.
"Draco…" She said quietly and he stared at her. She noticed his disheveled hair, sallow skin, and deep dark bags under his eyes. His suit no longer clung to the slim angles of his body but hung on him. "I care about you." She went to put a hand on his cheek but he slapped her hand away, looking away with his jaw clenched. She looked at her hand in disbelief then spun on her heel and hurried back to the light of the common room.
She managed to stay in the common room for as long as she could, accepting the pats on the backs and excited whoops as best she could. She watched with a small smile as Ginny and Dean spent the entire evening glued to each other's sides and as the stammering third year she recalled from tryouts attempted to compliment Demelza. Then someone tapped her on the shoulder and handed her a butterbeer. She looked up in surprise at Seamus.
"Hell of a game today. You're a bloody good Chaser." He complimented her and she smiled despite herself.
"Thanks, but I'm no Ginny." She said and he grinned.
"That's why I can compliment you." He said with a wink and disappeared. She watched him go in surprise then shrugged and took a long drink from her butterbeer.
The party didn't wind down; rather it ramped up as more students brought in treats and food. Eventually she snuck upstairs and sank into her bed, happy to be away from the noise. She pulled her covers up around her waist and reached for her diary.
Dear Dairy,
Why is it that some victories don't feel like you've won them at all? I know I should be sitting down in that common room, drinking what Seamus claims is Firewhiskey but is just butterbeer, dancing with the seventh year boys because they're funny and it can't be anything serious. And yet here I am in my bed, curled up into a little ball. I hate him for it. I hate that I don't even have to say his name to force my heart into skipping a beat. I hate that one man has the ability to make something that I should be so proud of feel like nothing. I have imagined what it would be like to be on the team that beat Slytherin since I was a first year. Here I am. I did it. They chanted my name. I got to fly around the pitch afterwards and watch as all the Slytherins had to walk out, all sulking. But how can I be happy about this when I know something has to be deeply, deeply wrong with Draco for him to give up playing seeker? Missing a game is not like him. He would never miss a chance to beat us. Plus he's given up rights to be a prefect and for Draco to resign any position of power is a cause for concern. The worst part is that I can't do anything to reach him. It's not for lack of trying. But he slapped me away. Literally. I try to tell him I care and I think he's knows I do. He just doesn't care. Why should he? He's got his two goons to watch out for him. He's got Pansy to be his woman. And I hate myself for wanting desperately to be the person that he confides in. I want him to pick me up after games and spin me around, to be proud of me, to look my way and smile during class. It's something that I shouldn't ask for. I have no right. To have that with him would mean risking everything within my house. It makes me so angry that I spend time thinking about him. I lose sleep over him. I daydream about him. I dream of him. And I know I still will, even if he slapped me away.
-Audrina Carona Black
She set her diary aside and pulled the blankets up so they were crumpled around her neck. She drew her knees in and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, hoping that the excitement of the day would mean sleep would take her quickly. Instead she was awake until Ginny entered the room, giggling about Dean, and long after she was snoring lightly in her own bed.
AN: Please let me know what you think!