Chapter 6) Mortal Enemies
Selected Listening: Tell That Mick He Just Made My List of Things to Do Today- Fall Out Boy
Anastasia awoke on the second Saturday of the school year to someone calling her name.
"Anastasia! Anastasia!" She startled up violently to find a moderately irritated Alicia Spinet shaking her arm. The other second year girls groaned in annoyance, leaning up to wipe their bleary eyes.
"What's going on? What time is it?" Anastasia asked as she sat up in bed. Alicia stood in full quidditch garb, and beams of sunlight barely peeked into the dormitory window from over the hills.
"It's six. Oliver heard word from Dumbledore by owl late last night. He's given you permission to play this year. Put your robes on and get ready for practice," she said and shoved a red ball of cloth into Anastasia's hand before walking off.
Anastasia unfolded the robes, saw her fake name gleaming in golf embroidery across the shoulders and smiled at Hermione before running to the bathroom.
"See you later!" she chirped and skipped off.
Nothing could dampen Anastasia's spirits as she marched with the rest of the half-snoozing team down to the pitch.
"Excited, are you?" Fred asked in a half-yawn. George trudged on the other side of him, and Harry kept pace to Anastasia's right.
"How could I not be? I don't know what changed the headmaster's mind, but I'm not going to stick around and ask questions. This could be my chance to show everyone what I can do."
"At least, if something goes wrong this year, or I'm inexplicably unconscious for the last game, I won't have to worry about being blamed for losing the cup," Harry said jadedly.
"Oh, don't worry, Harry. We don't blame you," George said with a teasing smile.
"Not at all," said Fred with the same grin.
"Shut up," said Harry.
Oliver led them into the locker rooms where he droned on and on about different types of plays all morning, pointing to his scribbles of arrows on the grid behind him and expecting them to understand.
"This is where you come in," Oliver said, and pointed at Anastasia who seemed to be the only one listening.
"What do you need me to do?" she asked.
"Well, if something happens, say, a particular seeker's broom goes bonkers," Oliver trailed off.
Everyone stared at Harry.
"It's not like it was my fault!" he started.
"I know Harry, I know, complete accident, could have happened to anyone. Anyway, it's your job to not only get onto the field to take his place, but you must also ensure he is out of bounds—completely off the field before you catch the snitch yourself. Otherwise, we will have too many players on the field and you catching the snitch will be considered a foul."
Anastasia and Harry looked at each other.
"So, if Harry's having an emergency, how do I actually do that?"
"Well, it depends on the emergency, but if it's anything like what happened last year, you'll need to knock him off the field into the out-of-bounds territory."
Harry's eyes widened like a set of pool balls.
"But what if he gets hurt?" Anastasia asked, slightly perturbed.
"That's why we have Madam Pomfrey. Now do you lot want to win or not?"
"Of course, but…" Anastasia said hesitantly.
"Alright then! Let's get out there and practice!"
When they emerged from the locker rooms into the morning sun, they found Hermione and Ron waiting on them, eating breakfast. Anastasia completely forgot they were supposed to go visit Hagrid that morning.
Harry let the others know that they would be a few more hours as Anastasia, Fred, and George hovered above the pitch. The four of them soared into the air, darting and racing amongst the bleachers as the chasers began their drills with the quaffle. Fred and George tried to bump Anastasia and Harry as they dodged, weaving between each other.
Fred landed a soft bump on Anastasia's right shoulder. George landed a harder one on her right side, almost throwing her off her broom. Anastasia firmed her resolve and sped forward, knocking Harry off his course of flight.
"Hey! What was that for?" he asked, rubbing his back where she'd hit.
"Have to get some practice being the cue ball I suppose." Anastasia shrugged, but the move didn't seem half-way effective.
"Well, that may be all you'll have today," Fred pointed down to the field where a flock of Slytherins walked onto the field. Anastasia noted a hint of blonde instantly and growled.
The four of them landed and circled up with the Gryffindor team around the Slytherin one. Slytherin's coach, Marcus Flint, towered above all of them, Oliver included.
"What are you doing here, Flint? We've had the field booked since last term." Oliver said. Flint grinned a nasty grin and handed Oliver a sheet of parchment.
"You have a new seeker?" Oliver asked after reading. "So do we." He gestured to Anastasia. Marcus looked down at her and made a noise of amusement. Anastasia folded her arms and glowered, attempting to look menacing.
"That runt? She's a reserve player, doesn't count. Hang on, wasn't she banned last season? Indefinitely?"
"Now, she's indefinitely unbanned. Dumbledore's orders," Oliver said confidently. Anastasia grinned. Marcus smiled wider and gave a hearty chuckle. His crony players followed suit.
"Doubt it will matter. Let me introduce our new seeker, Draco." Marcus held his hand out to the side where Draco appeared, carrying a shiny black broom with silver lettering. In fact, they all carried a broom exactly like his. Anastasia's gaze narrowed. Draco gave her a smug grin.
"Nice that you made it back on the team. Now you'll have the best view when I catch the snitch," Draco said smugly.
She jolted one step towards him. He feinted back but regained his confident poise quickly.
"Are those Nimbus 2001s?" Alicia Spinnet asked.
"A gift from Draco's father," Flint remarked.
Hermione, who had approached silently with Ron, spoke up.
"At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in," she remarked, crossing her arms in her stance.
Draco fumed.
"You filthy little mudblood!" Malfoy yelled at Hermione.
The blood ran to Anastasia's face, and everything happened in an instant. Ron rushed forward with a spell that backfired, sending him into the grass. As the Slytherins laughed at him, Anastasia charged Malfoy, knocking him to the ground and raising her fist. A look of utter horror crossed his face.
She hesitated for one second, remembering the black eye Ron gave him last year and how it hurt her too, and in that second, she felt herself being pulled off Malfoy by Fred and George. Draco and his friends cackled.
"Why'd you stop me?" she asked the twins as they lifted her out of hearing distance by both arms. The rest of the Gryffindor team continued arguing with the numskulls.
"First of all, you stopped yourself," George pointed out.
"Second, you just regained your quidditch position. Do you really want to get rid of it so quickly?" Fred asked. "Because beating up a board member's son will do it."
"Put me down!" she yelled. She watched Harry and Hermione carry Ron between them, running towards Hagrid's hut. The twins did as she asked. She felt her shoes hit the dewy grass.
"You hesitated, because of what happened last year with him, didn't you? All those injuries?" George asked.
Anastasia nodded.
"Yes. I gave him all that medication before the summer, and this whole season I haven't had one fainting spell."
"Which means…" Fred started.
"…there's definitely something going on." George said.
"Between the two of you," they said at once.
"Any clue what?" George asked. Anastasia shook her head.
"And what's worse, he stole my mothers' necklace the other day in class," she placed her hand on her collar where the pendant rested previously. "Says, he won't give it back unless I get him more medication…which there is none…"
"Sounds like a job for your two honorary brothers, ey Freddie?" George asked, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"You bet it is, Georgie," Fred confirmed. "We can help you get the necklace back."
"You guys aren't my brothers," Anastasia said with a bashful smirk, "besides, don't you need to go brother Ginny? She hasn't made any friends yet. I'm starting to worry. Spends all her time writing in that journal."
"We've tried." Fred said and shrugged.
"Won't be in the room with us for two minutes," George sighed.
"So, you'll have to do." They said together.
"Besides, we promised Dumblydore we'd protect you," said Fred.
"I don't need protecting. I'm not some little kid anymore," she argued.
"Beg to differ," George ruffled her hair, "but we won't stop you from plotting revenge with us."
Anastasia watched the Slytherin team take over the field, laughing, as the Gryffindor team sulked away. Draco looked up and flashed her a devilish smirk.
"Fine," she agreed, "but I have no clue where he's hidden it."
The one thing she knew was that she absolutely loathed Draco Malfoy.