Chapter 5: An Insult Too Far
I don't own Digimon or Harry Potter
"About time!" Oliver Wood exclaimed, seeing Daisuke rushing down the steps to the Entrance Hall, her broom in hand and she had changed into a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a blue shirt.
"Sorry, it took me forever to find my shoes." Daisuke replied with a sheepish smile. "Salem had taken one as a toy."
Oliver nodded as he and the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch Team were in their Quidditch robes with their own broomsticks. "Come on, I booked the whole pitch for us today. Nobody else is gonna be spying on us." He led them off out of the castle and down to the Quidditch pitch.
"We've got some spare robes in the changing rooms; you can put those on before we start." Katie Bell told Daisuke with a friendly smile. Daisuke nodded and shared a grin with Harry and soon after a quick stop in the changing rooms, Daisuke walked out onto the pitch now with Quidditch robes over her body.
"Looking good there Ainsworth!" Fred said with a grin, his bat hanging over his shoulder as he stood shoulder to shoulder with George.
"Good. Now before we begin, I've got a new training regimen I want you all to take a gander at. I spent all summer working on it." Oliver told the team, he pulled out a large roll of parchment and unrolled it, on the paper was a large diagram of the Quidditch pitch. Daisuke saw several arrows, dotted lines, and crosses in several different coloured inks.
"Oh, fancy yourself as an artist Oliver?" George asked with a grin. Oliver gave him a small glare before he took out his wand, he tapped the diagram, and the arrows began moving around the parchment.
"I'm confused…" Harry mumbled, struggling to keep up with Oliver's frantic descriptions of each movement the diagram was making.
"I think I get it…I used to play soccer at my old school in Japan." Daisuke whispered back. "But…some of them seem a bit too complicated and confusing, trying to pull them off in a match might seem difficult."
Harry nodded in agreement just as Oliver finished explaining everything, the team sighed in relief only to gulp as Oliver held up another diagram and then a third one. "Any questions?" he asked once he finally finished.
"Yeah…wouldn't it be easier to train Daisuke on being a Chaser for today, so that she knows what she's doing rather than throwing her into the deep end?" Angelina Johnson asked him.
"Yeah. If she's going to be our substitute player, she'll need to know what she's expected to do when she's on the pitch." Katie Bell continued.
"Alright. You two and Alicia take Daisuke into the air and do some drills." Oliver told them. The three older girls nodded, and Daisuke grinned before they mounted their brooms and flew off into the air. "Harry you're with us, we'll be having you practice avoiding Fred and George."
Harry gulped. "Don't worry, we won't be using the Bludgers this time." George said, fishing out a few tennis balls from his robes. "We've charmed these to make a noise when they hit ya, and we've also added a softening charm, so you won't be hurt too badly by them. Don't want you all bruised and sore afterwards."
"Oh, I feel so much better already." Harry muttered. He mounted his broom and flew off with the others following him and the training began.
"Come on Daisuke, keep up!" Katie shouted to Daisuke, the younger girl panted in exhaustion as she did another lap of the pitch, holding an old soccer ball that was being used as a substitute Quaffle for the training session under her arm whilst she also had to avoid Angelina and Alicia who were trying to knock the ball away from her.
"Oh man this is exhausting…." She thought as she weaved her broom in between the goal posts before dashing back across the pitch before throwing the soccer ball towards Katie who caught it and sped off taking her turn to do the exercise.
This allowed Daisuke to catch her breath, she sat on her broom as it floated in the air, down in the stands she saw Hermione and Ron with Demi-Veemon sitting on Ron's head, the three noticing her as she waved to them.
"Demi-Veemon will probably wanna go for a ride after this." She thought with a smile. However, the sereness of the moment was interrupted by a clicking noise. Turning her head, she saw Colin Creevey down below in the stands, using his camera to take several pictures of the players.
"Who is that?" Fred asked as he flew past with Harry and George, the three pausing in their own training to look at the boy.
"This way Harry, this way!" Colin called from down below as the three flew past.
"No idea." Harry muttered, speeding off to get away from the young boy. While he didn't mind making new friends, he did mind people thinking he was okay with his picture being taken. Malfoy's taunts from lunch, still fresh in his mind, he wasn't like Lockhart, he didn't want fame or glory. It all just happened to him, and nobody seemed to care.
"What's going on there?" Oliver asked, flying over. "Who is that boy taking pictures of us?"
"A first year. He's in our house, don't worry." Harry reassured him.
"I don't like it though; he could be selling those pictures to the Slytherin team." Oliver replied.
"They don't need any pictures, Oliver." Fred said with a frown, his gaze aimed down at the entrance to the pitch. "Look, trouble." The others looked down and to their confusion they saw the Slytherin Quidditch team marching onto the pitch.
"I don't believe this!" Oliver blurted out, his face turning red, and he dived down to the ground, the others on the team following him. Once he landed, Oliver dismounted his broom and stormed over to the Slytherin team. "Flint, what're you doing here!?"
"Quidditch practice." Marcus Flint replied with a trollish smirk on his face.
"I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today. So, clear off!" Oliver snapped. The rest of the Gryffindor team arrived and the Slytherins who were all tall, brutish, and not very pleasant leered at them, especially at the four girls on the team.
"Easy Oliver. I've got a note, signed by Professor Snape himself." Marcus said, handing a rolled-up bit of parchment to Oliver who snatched it and began reading it.
"I Professor Severus Snape do hereby grant the Slytherin Quidditch team permission to practice today. To break in their new Seeker." Oliver muttered. "You've got a new Seeker, who?" he asked.
The Slytherin team parted and from behind them stepped out a familiar face to Daisuke and Harry. "Malfoy?" Harry asked, surprised as the blonde boy smirked at him.
"That's right. And that's not the only thing new this year." He said as he and the other six Slytherins showed off their broomsticks, they were sleek, black broomsticks with the tips of the bristles a Slytherin green with the house crest in silver.
Ron and Hermione who had noticed the Slytherins arriving headed down from the stands and Colin had followed them but stood further back.
"Those are Nimbus 2001s; how did you get those?" Ron asked.
"A gift from Draco's father." Marcus answered with a smirk.
"You see Weasley, unlike some families. My father can afford the best." Malfoy said arrogantly.
"Don't think that makes you so special." Daisuke spoke up, showing them her own broom. "I've got one too. Even though I'm a reserve player, no doubt I'll be playing in the match against you lot. And since we've just been training, the others know how to handle a broom like mine. So there goes your advantage."
Oliver and the others smirked as the Slytherin team all growled angry at their loss in advantage. "At least nobody had to buy their way onto the Gryffindor team. They got in on pure talent. And Daisuke got her 2001 for doing great on her exams last year. And I'm guessing you didn't get your broom for doing well in school." Hermione spoke up, Malfoy's smirk fading away before he scowled at her.
"Nobody asked for your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood!" he spat. The entire Gryffindor team except Harry roared with outrage and anger at what Malfoy just said, Marcus had to pull the boy back as Fred and George dived for him, intent on breaking his face in with their clubs.
"You're going to regret that Malfoy." Ron growled, pulling out his wand and muttering a spell under his breath only for the spell to backfire and send him flying back and he landed on his back.
Harry, Daisuke, and Hermione rushed over to their friend, Daisuke picking up Demi-Veemon who had fallen off Ron's head when the boy went flying. "Ron!" Harry said in worry, helping his friend sit up and saw his face was sickly green.
"Are you okay?" Hermione asked, Ron tried to speak but instead of words to everyone's horror a slug came slithering out of his mouth, he retched and hunched over spitting the slug out before another and another followed.
"Oh dear." Daisuke said in shock, she heard Malfoy and the other Slytherin's laughing while Colin hurried over and took a picture with his camera.
"Wow…" he said as Harry and Hermione helped Ron to his feet.
"Get out of the way Colin." Harry said as he and Hermione left the Quidditch pitch with Ron. Daisuke however stormed straight over to Malfoy.
"Got something to say Ainsworth?" the blonde asked only for a fist to meet his face, cracking his nose and he fell over with a shriek and blood gushed down his face, staining his robes.
"Oh damn!" Fred exclaimed, surprised to see Daisuke getting physical like that. The other Slytherins stared in shock as Daisuke grabbed Malfoy by his robes, lifting him up and she growled.
"Listen here Malfoy, if you ever and I mean ever use that word again around me, I will do more than just break your nose." She threatened, her eyes glowing gold for a few moments before she threw him back down and hurried off after her friends, Demi-Veemon growling at the Slytherins as they passed them.
She caught up to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they made it to Hagrid's hut with Harry banging his fist on the door. The door swung open, and Hagrid smiled at them all before taking one look at Ron and he stepped aside letting them into his home.
Daisuke and Harry set their brooms against the wall before helping Ron sit down in a chair before they explained the situation to Hagrid as Ron threw up another slug. Hagrid didn't seem perturbed by the numerous slugs crawling along the floor as he brought over a large bucket. "Better out than in." he said, setting the bucket down in front of Ron. "Best thing to do now is wait for it to wear off I suppose."
"How long will that be?" Daisuke asked, rubbing Ron's back as he hurled up another slug into the bucket.
"Not sure. Who did you say he was trying to curse anyway?" Hagrid asked.
"Malfoy." Harry said. "He called Hermione a…well I don't know what he called her."
"A Mudblood." Ron groaned before he threw up another slug. Hagrid's eyes widened and his face turned red in anger.
"He did not." He growled, clenching his fists. "That little…"
"What's a Mudblood?" Harry asked, scratching Fang's ears as the giant dog sat beside him, covering his knee in drool. He looked to Hermione for answers, but she shook her head.
"I don't know. It was very rude of course, everyone got really mad when he called me it."
"It's the most insulting thing he could think of!" Ron said, lifting his head from the bucket, his face very pale before he threw up another slug.
"Mudblood is a foul term used to describe people with non-magical parents, Muggle-borns and sometimes Half-Bloods. There are some families like the Malfoy family who think they're better off because they're what some people call Pure-Blood. Most of us know it doesn't make a difference at all, look at Neville, he's a Pure-Blood and he can hardly stand a cauldron the right way up."
"And they haven't invented a spell that our Hermione can't do." Daisuke said with a smile, handing Hermione a cup of tea while Demi-Veemon jumped onto the girl's neck and nuzzled her cheek making her blush.
"It's a disgusting thing to call them. It means dirty blood. It's bollocks I tell ya. Most wizards nowadays are Half-Blood or less if we hadn't married Muggles we'd have died out." Ron said before he hunched over the bucket again and threw up another wave of slugs.
"I don't blame ya for trying to curse him, Ron. But I think it's better off ya mispronounced the words. Lucius Malfoy would have come up to the school if ya cursed his son." Hagrid said.
"He might still do that, only to come see what I did to Malfoy's face." Daisuke said with a grin.
"Yeah, Daisuke punched that jerk right in the nose!" Demi-Veemon cheered.
"Daisuke Ainsworth!" Hermione shrieked in shock.
"What? He deserved it, besides what's he going to say to his dear old daddy. "Oh daddy, daddy, my face, look at what a girl did to my face." Ha. His pride won't allow him to admit anything happened, he'll just say he fell of his broom during practice." Daisuke said with a sadistic grin.
"Scary…" Harry whispered.
"The Ainsworth lasses are dangerous when provoked. Be glad she's your friend." Hagrid whispered to him. "Now then, come and take a look at what I've been growing out back." He told them once Ron had thrown up another round of slugs.
They followed him out to the garden out the back and saw enormous pumpkins growing all over. "Whoa…" Daisuke gasped.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" Hagrid asked. "They should be big enough for the Halloween feast by the time they finish growing."
"What're you feeding them?" Harry asked and saw Hagrid glancing over at his umbrella which was leaning against the wall of the garden. Harry had a sneaking suspicion that Hagrid's old school wand was hidden inside it, he knew Hagrid had been expelled from Hogwarts, but he never found out why.
"An engorgement charm I suppose." Hermione said, crossing her arms and looking at Hagrid with a small smile. "Well, you've done a good job with them, Hagrid."
"That's what your sister said yesterday." Hagrid said, looking at Ron. "Only met her just before you lot turned up. She seemed a bit lost as if she were looking for something. Probably trying to find you." He then turned to Harry.
Harry flushed and scratched his cheek. "Well, um…" he stuttered only for Hagrid to laugh and pat him on the back gently.
The others shared a smile before Ron hunched over and threw up more slugs. "Hey, watch it!" Hagrid shouted, pulling Ron away from the pumpkins.
"See you later Hagrid. We'd best not bother you much longer, especially with the risk of slugs eating your pumpkins." Daisuke said with a smile. The small group soon left Hagrid's hut and headed up back to the castle.
"I think it's wearing off…" Ron groaned, burping again only for a small slug to come out of his mouth.
"Thank goodness, we don't want Filch getting mad at you bring slugs into the castle." Daisuke said.
"Yeah. He seems really mean this year." Demi-Veemon said, holding onto Daisuke's hair as she walked along.
"Well, let's stay out of his way. Nothing bad has happened yet, so best not push our luck." Harry said a hint of optimism in his voice, though Daisuke's smile wasn't a big one. Her vision from the night before still on her mind, perhaps she could visit Myrtle on the weekend to ask her a few more questions.
The End of the chapter
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