At school it was clear that Draco Malfoy had not forgotten about the whole 'stomping on his dad's foot' incident as he glowered at me every chance he got, but because I was two years above him – and I dare say, much better practiced at magic – there was nothing he could do about it. The best thing about the start of this year was the fact that Ron and Harry, for some reason, had decided to fly Mr Weasley's car all the way to Hogwarts because they'd missed the train. Somehow the barrier had closed on them and since they missed the train, they figured the car was their next best option. Honestly those two, I had to wonder if their heads were screwed on right. Of course, Fred and George lamented the fact that they hadn't thought of that very same idea and that their brother hadn't called them back to join them in the adventure, and they were still complaining about it now.
"Can't believe it. I feel betrayed."
"Our own brother creating more havoc than us in one day than we have our entire lives. Still, that Howler from mum was brilliant." They did gloat over the fact that Ron had been shouted at by their mother in front of the entire school after she sent him a Howler, something they had taken to quoting off by heart with wild cackles of laughter. The story was being passed around all over Hogwarts, even the ghosts knew what had happened. Ron was a little more subdued about the attention since the Howler, and Harry insisted that they hadn't meant to cause any trouble.
Still, life moves on and before we knew it, we were being woken up at dawn by Oliver Wood to begin quidditch practice. We were all sleepy and barely functioning this early, all save for Wood who seemed to be bounding around with unwavering energy. My head was leaning against Fred's shoulder, mouth hanging open as I dozed tiredly as Harry finally arrived, the last of us all to appear. "There you are Harry, what kept you?" Wood was abrupt and clearly eager to get down to business, but I was secretly wondering if I could get away with a Memory Charm and make him forget all about quidditch practice today.
Although Wood was already fully submerged in his speech about his new tactics and training programme, most of us could barely keep our eyes open. Fred ended up falling asleep against me as well, the two of us layering our heads together and with neither of us awake to support the other, we ended up falling back off our bench and crashed to the floor, though even then that was barely enough to wake us up. It was more than an hour before we even got out onto the pitch and into the air, where I hung lazily on my broom and drifted quite contentedly until Wood yelled at me to wake up as he streaked past, almost making me fall off my broom.
Before we could even set ourselves up to train, some first year boy in the stands where Ron and Hermione had come to watch was taking pictures of us all. I gave a loop and a spin as he took a photo, grinning broadly at me and waved as I then circled towards the twins and Wood who was frowning at the boy suspiciously. "What's going on? Why's that first year taking pictures? I don't like it. He could be a Slytherin spy." Unable to help it, I snorted as Harry pointed out that the kid was in Gryffindor.
"And the Slytherins don't need a spy, Oliver." George pointed out, and much to our intense displeasure, we then noticed that the Slytherin team had also joined us on the pitch. Greatly incensed about this interruption, Wood sped towards the ground and we all followed, dismounting our brooms as Wood bellowed.
"Flint! This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!" Yeah, you tell 'em captain. Stifling a yawn, Fred looked down to me then put his arm around my shoulders, letting me lean against him again as I blinked sleepily. Angelina and Katie now also joined us, meaning that both teams were now on the ground and facing off with one another as Flint smirked knowingly. Turns out, he'd gotten permission from old Snapey to use the pitch on account of the fact they needed to train their newest seeker. "You've got a new seeker? Who?" Then the team parted to reveal that reedy, unlikable face of Draco Malfoy.
"Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Fred questioned with distaste, his arm squeezing me a little closer to him as I picked up my head.
"Funny you should mention Draco's father." With directions from their captain, the entire Slytherin team then showed us the brand new broomsticks that they'd been given from Lucius Malfoy, the latest model, Nimbus Two Thousand and Ones. The entire team had them, and it immediately made the rest of us feel uneasy. Harry of course had the best broom on the team since he needed to be the fastest, then us chasers all had Cleansweeps. Basically, we were massively screwed unless we could figure out how to outmatch them. Since no one else on the team could think of anything to say, I spoke up as Ron and Hermione hurried over.
"So you're saying that since Draco has no actual talent to earn a place on the team he had to buy his way in and that he's now trying to mimic Harry in a bid to try and earn some fame for himself." Several jaws dropped at me as the twins grinned, looking at me appreciatively and even Harry looked grateful. "If you ask me, in that case, you could put that little ferret on the fastest broom on the world. Won't help him at all if he can't actually see or catch the snitch. I feel no reason to worry. Besides. You guys have no skill whatsoever when it comes to fancy flying. That's where we outrank you." Gesturing to Katie, Angelina and I, they both nodded with smug agreement. "And don't get me started on your keeper. Fancy broom? Pft. If he can't defend the hoops or block the quaffle, it doesn't matter how fast his broom is either."
"Shut up." Flint snapped at me, making me grin wickedly all the more.
"Does the truth hurt, Flinty-Winty?" Mocking him openly, Flint took a large step forwards but Wood immediately blocked his way, despite Flint being much bigger than him. The rest of my team stepped up too, getting defensive and even Harry made a move as if he were going to defend me, making me feel all the more confident in our team. Just then, Ron and Hermione reached us, registering the tense situation and worriedly glancing between us all.
"What's going on?"
"I'm the new Slytherin seeker, Weasley. Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team." Malfoy jumped in before anyone could interrupt him, showing off his broom for Ron to gape at openly. "Good aren't they? Perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives, I expect a museum would bid for them." Recovering from my attack on them earlier, the entire Slytherin team snorted with laughter, making their unpleasant faces look all the more repulsive.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent." Hermione said smartly, and I tossed her a smile as the laughter died off.
"No one asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood." All at once, everything happened. Fred and George dived at Malfoy who had to be protected by Flint as I bellowed my outrage at Malfoy whilst Ron pulled out his taped wand and pointed it at the boy, telling him that he'd pay for calling Hermione such a foul word. Unfortunately, Ron's broken wand backfired on him and next thing we knew, he was throwing up slugs. If it weren't for the fact it was Ron who was suffering, I would have laughed, but right now, everything was a mess.
There was still a great deal of confusion as I dove for my wand which was tucked up my sleeve and pulled it out, rushing to Ron in order to try and help. I muttered under my breath, trying to remove the charm or spell he'd cast, but nothing seemed to work as he continued to belch and burp up slugs. In the end, Harry and Hermione chose to rush to Hagrid's hut since it was the closest, and I doubt Filch would have let them off if they tried taking him in the castle and throwing up slugs everywhere. Instead, I turned on the Slytherin team who were howling with laughter, Malfoy in particular looking rather pleased with himself as he hammered a fist into the ground. Having no sense of hesitation, I launched a spell at him. "Mimblewimble!" Instantly the flash of light hit Malfoy whose face dropped in alarm before he then started to gag, unable to speak or talk and when he realised his tongue had literally been tied up, he started to panic.
Flint and his team were outraged, but before they could launch themselves at us I performed a few more fancy wand twirls and before you know it, all of them were in some kind of predicament or other. Flint I had hit with the Jelly-Legs jinx, the beaters were now unable to do anything but act and screech like monkeys, and the other two chasers had been hit with the Tickling Hex and the other turned into a pig, and all of them were now being beaten by their brooms which I had jinxed. "Hm. Serves them right." I muttered, putting my wand away.
Fred and George were of course now roaring with laughter, the girls giggling whilst Wood just looked at a loss for words but clearly enjoying the show. Those who could move, such as Malfoy, the beaters and one of the chasers were all running around trying to escape their brooms which continued to beat them on the backside. "How d'you like those brooms now?!" Fred cheered and I got several hearty claps on the back until unfortunately, a teacher came towards us. Thankfully it was McGonagall, whose office had a clear view of the pitch and she demanded to know what had happened and who had used spells against the Slytherin team. Fred immediately jumped in front of me.
"Malfoy called Hermione a mudblood, professor."
"I…what?" No looking enraged, McGonagall didn't know what to do. In the end she decided to stop all the racket the other team were making by undoing all of my spell work, where Malfoy immediately started to point fingers.
"It was her professor! She cursed us all! That one there, Black did it!" You little snitch. I should have actually turned you into a ferret and be done with it. Professor McGonagall turned on me as I stepped forwards and lifted myself up proudly.
"Malfoy was saying disgusting things about Hermione so I tied up his tongue, then his team came at us so I retaliated. It was mostly pure self-defence, professor. Honest." I told her bluntly and for a moment, her lips thinned further as she glared at all of us.
"Ten points from Gryffindor and detention with me, Miss Black." My team tried to defend me but McGonagall wouldn't hear of it, warning us that she would deduct more points if we continued to argue and possibly even forbid us from participating in quidditch this year which quickly got us to shut up. "And I think ten points from Slytherin and detention for you too, Mr Malfoy, should also do it." Now Malfoy was protesting, demanding to know why he was being punished as well. "Because we absolutely forbid the use of foul language in this school, Mr Malfoy, and if it ever comes to my ears that you continue to use such a word then you will be receiving even direr consequences. Now, continue with your practice and do not cause any more trouble!"
Of course it wasn't ideal to have detention on my own with Malfoy, but I was still smug over the fact he'd got caught as well. Strict as she was, McGonagall was also fair. Fred and George promptly got themselves into detention as well with McGonagall in order to join me, which made me love those idiots all the more. Thankfully Ron stopped throwing up slugs after a while, and he and Harry eagerly listened to the twins recount just how awesome my spells had been, some of them pretty advanced for a fourth year, and soon enough word got around that I'd taken out the entire Slytherin team on my own, though now of course the story had been twisted until it was almost as if all seven of them were the size of mountain trolls and I had used nothing more than a toothbrush to beat them. I brushed it all off, not particularly caring and focused instead on just carrying on as normal in school, hoping this year we wouldn't actually get another troll visit this coming Halloween.