"Look, when you simplify the role, all you really have to do is catch the yellow thing and avoid getting hit by anyone or anything else."
"Thanks Harry. That's really helpful." I get up from the sofa and begin stalking from one side of the room to the other. Ron glances up and gives me a smile then goes back to his game of wizard solitaire.
After accidentally getting lost and stumbling upon the Hufflepuff dormitory, I have discovered that my 'house elf privileges' have not yet been revoked. So now I'm pacing the length of the Gryffindor common room, trying not to destroy anything.
"That's an illegal move sonny, you can't put me there," the Jack of Spades warns Ron.
"I don't even know who my team mates are, I haven't met them." I shove my thumbs through my belt.
"They'll be the ones wearing green."
"Just be quiet and let me grumble in peace, Harry."
Snape's last minute choice has only given me a few days to train, during my free lesson and in the afternoon. Which means I've spent a grand total of seven hours learning how to find a tiny flying ball smaller than my fist while not falling off my brother's broom.
The match is tomorrow. I don't think I'll last the night.
Maybe Draco will make a miracle recovery and be able to play.
Or maybe the Dark Lord will apologise to the Boy Who Lived.
"Why are you two still up - " Hermione breaks off as she comes through the door and sees me. "What is she doing here?"
I don't move.
"Relax Mione, Leila's not doing any harm," Harry smiles. Ron pretends to be utterly engrossed in his cards.
"How well do you really know her Harry? How do you know she's not another ploy of Voldemort's?"
"Hermione, are you crazy? Leila's not - "
"A Malfoy?" she raises her eyebrows.
"Just because I'm a Malfoy doesn't mean I'm my father," I protest. "I know what side he's on, and I'm not with him."
"You're still a Slytherin."
"Slytherins are a bunch of arrogant cheating stupid purebloods and I wish I wasn't one of them."
"So what house would you rather be in? Who are you really?" she puts her hands on her hips, leaning forward aggressively. In her red and white striped pyjamas she looks faintly ridiculous.
I shrug. "I'm Draco's twin."
"And your first allegiance is to him, not Harry."
"In all honesty, yes."
She steps back and looks at the boys with a triumphant gleam in her eye. I realise I've said what she wanted me to say. "See Harry? She's not who you think she is."
"Mione - "
"I've been doing some research. She's not from Australia, there's no record of her transferring from another school to here."
"Mione - "
"She's been in England all her life, probably at Malfoy Manor. I also found out some interesting facts about wizarding twins - "
"Mione!"
"If you kill one, the other dies. Lucius wouldn't harm her because he'd hurt his only heir - "
"Mione! I know that!"
She stops, staring at Harry. "What?"
"I know Leila's not from Australia. I know she's been kept in a dungeon all her life under Malfoy Manor, I know her father did hurt her with the second illegal curse, and would have killed her if not for Draco."
Hermione takes another step back. Ron is looking at me with wide eyes; he didn't know half of this. I wish I wasn't here.
A tense silence falls. Hermione drops her eyes to the floor. I try to keep my breathing under control and restrain myself from throttling the Golden Boy.
"And I also know," Harry speaks very quietly, "that she risked her life to rescue her brother. Not because she wanted to save herself or stop the pain she felt every time Draco was beaten, but so that he wouldn't suffer any more. And I - don't - give - a - damn if her first allegiance is to him. He's her twin."
I can't hear what Hermione says, but I see her mouth form the words, "I'm sorry."
"Say that to Leila, not me."
But when she turns to where I was, I'm gone, hiding in the shadows again like a house elf caught unable to apparate. And silently I sneak back to my room through the hidden tunnels of the school.
Why did he do that? How could he spill fifteen years of secrets in just one minute?
Am I angry or am I upset? Even I don't know. I should be furious, but I think I'm relieved.
In any case it takes me a long time to get to sleep.
The day is cold, overcast and windy. What marvellous weather for my first Quidditch match. My team glares at me but refrains from comment while Madam Hooch is here. The Ravenclaws stand together, brooms held casually over their shoulders as they quietly discuss last minute tactics. Even on the ground they look like a better team. Their seeker, Groves, is small and very thin with light brown hair and wide eyes. Harry said she only joined this year, replacing Cho Chang.
My stomach seems filled with spiders. Is this nervousness? I fiddle with the buttons on my borrowed Quidditch uniform, hoping the overlong cloak won't hinder me.
"Here we go," Hooch casts a stern glance over my team. "Try and play a clean game today, all right?" with a brief smile in my direction she adjusts the whistle around her neck and marches out onto the pitch.
Dear gods, please strike me down now.
I look up at the stands, searching for familiar faces. Harry and Ron, are waving. Hermione is a few seats away them. Across the pitch on the green side, the Slytherins are on their feet yelling. Draco sits in the front row, wrapped in a thick black cloak and wearing his school scarf. When he sees me he gives a small, tight wave.
I shouldn't be here. They should have postponed the match until he could play.
"Mount your brooms," I automatically swing my leg over Draco's Nimbus 2001. When the whistle goes I kick off, soaring above the rest of the players, Groves close beside me. I see the quaffle thrown high, a red blur, and then I switch off. Catch the yellow thing and avoid getting hit by anyone or anything else. That's all I have to do.
I hover over the game, scanning the field for a familiar golden sparkle.
"So, Malfoy. What are you?" I don't look away from the pitch as Groves comes closer to me. "Another glaring example of nepotism?" When I don't answer she flies under me and looks up, blocking my view. "Cat got your tongue, squib?"
I pull to the side and begin to circle the perimeter of the oval. "I thought Slytherins were the only cheaters in this school."
"Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire."
"You'll only end up with ashes, Aisling." I lean into the broom, going faster to get away from her. Everything dims as I focus, the crowd is only a muted hum, I only notice the commentator when he calls out the points tally. Fifty Thirty, Ravenclaw leading.
But it's only just begun.
I fly lower when I see something near the Hufflepuff stands, but it's gone in a second. Above me I hear Groves laughing.
Focus Leila, focus.
I hear it before I see it. And I respond without thinking, throwing myself to one side as the bludger whooshes through the air where I'd been. I hang upside down from my broom by the crook of one knee and a hand. Laughter ripples through the crowd and for I second I see Harry, shaking his head and smiling. Quickly I pull myself back up and fly higher again. That was a keeper move, not a seeker move. Stupid Leila. Don't forget about the flying cannonballs.
Groves is almost cackling when she swoops by me. "That was one of your's squib! Even your own beaters would rather lose than have you play."
"Ravenclaw scores again, now leading by forty points!"
"Go back to Australia squib, no one want's you here."
I scan the crowd. Draco is looking up at me, worried. For his sake I'll win this.
If I can find the snitch quickly I can beat Ravenclaw. But if I don't then at this rate we'll quickly be too far behind.
I begin to circle again, flying carefully around the pitch above the other players. The wind makes the Nimbus buck roughly under me and my hair slowly comes untied.
"Ravenclaw scores again! Now leading by sixty points!"
I'm tempted to repeat some of Draco's wide vocabulary but I concentrate harder as platinum obscures my view.
Wait! I see it! Hovering unsteadily in the middle of the pitch, level with the first seats in the stands, is the 'yellow thing'.
I can't let Groves see it. She's closer to it and her broom's faster than mine is.
"Hey squib!" I look behind me as a Ravenclaw beater swings his club, and then all I see is the cannonball coming straight for my head.
I skid around and aim for Aisling Groves. Leaning forward, I speed toward her, the bludger so close behind me I know she won't be able to see it.
"What the - ?" she stares blankly at me, and I hear Hooch's whistle. They think I'm going to ram the opposing seeker.
I'm not that stupid.
Groves tries to turn but she can't handle the Firebolt like Harry can and she's slow. Busy trying to escape me she doesn't see the sparkle still dancing about ten feet below her.
At the last moment I throw my weight forward and to the left, swerving into a side-dive and dropping like a stone, one arm out.
Above me Groves squeals as the bludger slams into the back of her broom, snapping it in two.
My fingers close around the snitch.
And someone lands on me. Both of us almost fall as the Ravenclaw slides off the side of the Nimbus, and I have to grip it hard to not go upside down again. Lying flat I hold the broom tight and the snitch tighter, and hope my robes don't tear as Groves dangles below me, clutching my overlong cloak.
Madam Hooch rescues the girl, catching her around the waist so she can let go of me. Balanced again, I sit straight and hold my fist in the air.
Draco is laughing hard for me as the commentator yells, "Malfoy has caught the snitch, Slytherin win by ninety points!"
Groves is taken to the ground and the Slytherins race around the pitch in a victory lap they didn't earn. Harry and Ron cheer and even Hermione claps politely.
This shouldn't be my moment. This should be Draco up here.
But I allow myself a second of happiness. I won.
To quote Ron, this feels 'bloody brilliant'.
Man I love Quidditch. Do you think it's possible I'm a muggle-born squib and don't know it? In that case I could learn how to fly a broomstick . . .
To everyone who's reviewed: thankyouthankyouthankyou!!! But seeing as this site is giving me grief I may have to remove this story and completely re-post it; not every chapter shows and some are out of order. If I re-post the story I'll lose all the reviews. But hopefully it won't come to that. Wish me luck.