I own the first and middle names and personalities of a couple of the characters, a few of the other characters, and most of the plot. JKR owns the rest, except for the portion of the plot I shamelessly jacked from the first Mighty Ducks Movie. So whoever owns the rights to that movie also owns that segment of my plot.
Thanks to my beta, Natalie, who is also my Slytherin Specialist.
You guessed it, another mini chapter featuring everyone's favorite Slytherins.
I like reviews!
That being said:
*****
"Welcome, men, to this year's Slytherin house Quidditch trials," Casey Warrington announced. He and the other four returning members of the team stood before a group of either extremely enthusiastic or extremely apathetic-looking Slytherins.
"What about the women?" Karen asked, indignantly.
"I don't see any here," Casey replied, dumbly laughing at his own joke. Karen, and Taylor, among other Slytherin girls glared at him, but he paid no attention to them. When Debra and Millicent Bulstrode both scowled at Casey and cracked their knuckles in a very menacing way, however, his laughing came to a stuttering halt. He glanced nervously at the rest of the team, but they all shied away from him in a very "you're-taking-care-of-this-one-yourself" way.
"At any rate. We need two chasers and a full reserve team," Casey said. He had been selected team captain over Adrian Pucey, the returning seventh year keeper.
"How are you going about deciding?" Karen asked.
"That will be left up to the individuals running the trial," Casey announced, "beaters will go with Derrick and Bole, keepers with Adrian, seekers with Draco, and chasers will follow me. Don't suck." The hopefuls looked at the captain with bewildered looks on their faces, but then they followed their assigned players.
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Milton Derrick and Edwin Bole turned to look at the beater hopefuls crowded around them. Crabbe and Goyle stood right in the middle of the crowd like two boulders in a sea of pebbles.
"Okay, this trial will be fairly simple," Derrick began.
"First everyone needs to pick up a beater bat," Bole interrupted, pointing to a box on the field next to them. A round of dumb looks from the gathered group ensued just before a mad dash to the box to claim a bat.
"They're dumb enough to be beaters," Derrick laughed. He received a dumb look from Bole, but before he could say anything, all of the hopefuls had regrouped around them and all were holding bats.
"Alright, you're all going to get on your brooms and when we say go, you're going to take off and the last two still on your brooms get the positions," Derrick instructed.
"GO!" Bole cried.
"And DON'T SUCK!" Derrick called after them. All of the hopefuls jumped on their brooms and kicked off. Goyle and Crabbe immediately took off for the trench around the field. They disappeared into the trench relatively unnoticed. Meanwhile, Millicent Bulstrode had taken to rocketing straight at the smaller players as fast as her broom would go. If the sheer sight of Millicent on a broom speeding straight towards the player wasn't enough to make them jump off of the broom, then the strength she hit him with sent them plummeting to the pitch below. A small second year had the idea to stay still and attempt to hit her with his bat before she could crash into him. As a result of his attempt, he received the end of Millicent's broom handle right in his stomach. He flew off of his broom and when Millicent made a sharp left to chase after her next hapless victim, the kid fell 25 meters to the pitch below. He fell with a sickening thud and didn't move. Derrick pulled out his wand, conjured a stretcher, levitated the poor boy onto it and waved it off in the general direction of the school. Millicent had already succeeded in knocking the majority of the smaller players off of their brooms, but she was having a problem with a rather large fourth year. She would fly straight at the boy and he'd hit her on her rather large back with his bat. She'd back up and rocket at him from a different angle, and he'd hit her back with his bat.
"Those two look good," Derrick commented to Bole.
"She does, but you know I don't fly on that side of the Quidditch pitch," Bole muttered, nodding at the boy.
"That's not what I meant you sick freak!" Derrick exclaimed. "They're good Quidditch players!" Bole turned red and glared at Derrick. Before he could say anything, a falling third year interrupted their conversation. They both jumped out of the way and the boy hit the ground with a piercing crack. Derrick conjured another stretcher and sent the third year following the second year.
"Five more," Bole commented. Five of the original 15 players remained on their brooms. Six of the others sat around on the pitch. The remaining two floated lazily towards the school on their stretchers. Millicent and the fourth year were still going through their pattern of her flying and him hitting. Then Millicent halted in mid-air and slowly flew over to the boy. He swung his bat at her, but she ducked and said something to him. The two whispered for a moment before Millicent rocketed off at a remaining sixth year and the boy shot off towards a small second year. The sixth year, surprised to see Millicent, jumped off of his broom. The second year tried to run from Millicent's partner in crime, but the boy threw his bat at the second year. The bat hit the smaller child directly in the back of his head. He tumbled off of his broom and rolled quite ungracefully onto the pitch. Millicent and the boy shared a look before rocketing off to double team the last remaining beater hopeful. Before the remaining person knew exactly what was going on, Millicent had hit her in her lower back with the bat. The boy flew by and hit her in the exact same spot, and she lost her grasp on her broom and crashed onto the pitch.
"Alright! It looks like the reserve beaters for this years team have chosen themselves!" Derrick called up to Millicent and the boy who were circling around each other menacingly. Suddenly looks of realization that they didn't need to be the last person on their broom, but one of the last two crossed their faces and they lowered their brooms to where Derrick and Bole stood. Millicent hopped off of her broom and eagerly shook hands with both of the beaters. The boy was close behind her.
"So what are your names?" Derrick asked.
"Millicent Bulstrode," Millicent replied.
"Reed Portman," the boy said.
"WE WIN!!!!" came a victorious cry from the area around the field. Crabbe and Goyle flew from the trench around the field at astonishing rates of speed. Derrick looked at Bole and clamped his hand to his head. Crabbe and Goyle had been hiding the entire time and they were, in fact, the rightful beaters.
"I'm sorry Millicent and Reed, but it looks as though Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle are this years reserve beaters," Derrick said. He secretly marveled at the ingeniousness of their plan, only to realize that in all actuality, Draco had probably told them exactly what to do.
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Casey surveyed the 30 chaser hopefuls standing in front of him holding a various assortment of broomsticks.
"Alright, for the tryouts for chaser, you will each go behind the broom shed one at a time with me. The two best kissers make the team and the three second best make the reserve team," he explained, raising his eyebrows suggestively at the group. Every guy in the group except for Blaise Zabini turned quickly and started walking back towards the castle.
"I didn't know you flew on that side of the pitch!" Casey said to Blaise, once all of the people who had left were out of earshot.
"I don't, but I want to play," Blaise responded, glaring evilly at Casey.
"Well, okay, while I wouldn't mind snogging some of you here, that is a bit counter productive for right now. Maybe later when you're actually on the team. I just decided that would be a quick way to determine desire to play," Casey explained. The remaining group released the collective breath they had been holding since Casey made his announcement.
"So I suppose we'll start with some flying exercises." He conjured five flaming hoops with his wand and sent them to space themselves across the field at regular intervals. "Now the object is to fly through the hoops as fast as you can."
"Easy enough," Blaise muttered under his breath.
"Easy enough, Zabini?" Casey asked. He flicked his wand at the hoops and they immediately began to grow and shrink in size, from Hagrid size hoops to hoops barely big enough for the Weasley fortune to fit through. The hoops changed randomly, and at their smallest size, a person was too big to fit through them.
"Now fly through them as fast as you can. Points taken off for burned robes or brooms. More points taken off for burned flesh," Casey said, smiling almost demonically at the group of hopefuls.
A small fourth year with long straight black hair stepped forward, clasping a broom tightly in her right hand.
"Are you going first?" Casey asked.
"I will," she said with a fierce determination.
"Don't suck," Casey replied. The girl shook her thick black bangs back from her face and mounted her broom. She kicked off and headed towards the first hoop, which wasn't much larger than a muggle hula-hoop. She ducked close to her broom and tucked her feet in closer before speeding through, narrowly missing the flames.
"Who is that?" Casey asked the person standing closest to him.
"Finley Alexander. She's a fourth year," Taylor replied. Finley flew closer to the second hoop, which was at its smallest size. Finley only paused for a moment before flying straight towards it. Right before she entered the flames, the hoop sprang up large enough to allow her through unscathed. The third hoop was at its largest state, but again, she paused a moment before flying towards it. Right as her head passed through the hoop, it began to shrink. She put on an impressive burst of speed and the tail twigs of her broom barley escaped incineration.
"Impressive," Casey muttered. He looked over at the rest of the chaser hopefuls, wondering if they were paying attention to Finley's flying. She had, in fact, just figured out the trick to the flaming hoops. If the person flew at them with enough determination and no fear, they wouldn't get burned.
"So Blaise, what do you use to polish your broomstick?" Karen asked the lone boy in the crowd. She raised one eyebrow seductively at him and dragged a long green fingernail down across his knuckles and onto the handle of the Nimbus 2001 Blaise grasped tightly in his fist.
Good, they weren't paying any attention to Finley whatsoever. In fact, he had missed her attempt at the fourth hoop. She wasn't flaming or smoking, so he assumed she had made it through untouched. She flew straight at the fifth hoop as fast as she could, and it sprang to its largest size to allow her to fly through easily. She looped back around the hoops and landed at the edge of the crowd near Casey. She hopped off of her broom and walked over to him.
"Was that alright?" She asked.
"Yeah," He muttered, trying not to let on that he thought that she had done quite good.
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"Alright, everyone partner up," Draco barked at the group of seeker hopefuls using what he hoped was his best angry Snape voice.
"What is this, potions class?" Keiran asked, smirking at his older brother. Draco spun around on his heel and gave his brother a stern glare. Keiran laughed nervously and then looked around the group for a partner. Draco turned his back from the group for a moment and busied himself with two buckets full of something.
"Keiran, will you be my partner?" a tall brown haired boy asked the younger Malfoy brother.
"What is your name?' Keiran asked, eyeing the boy suspiciously.
"Trevor," the boy replied.
"What is your surname?" Keiran continued, still eyeing the boy. The boy shifted nervously from one foot to the other.
"Nott," the boy replied, "Trevor Nott." Keiran instantly raced through his mental catalogue of pureblooded families and the name Nott appeared right in the N section.
"Sure, you can be my partner," he said. The boy smiled broadly at him.
"Alright, I want half of each pair to line up on this line and the other half on this one," Draco barked at the group. He pointed at two lines on the field. As the group split, he stepped over behind the buckets.
"Make sure you're directly across from your partner," Draco added. About three fourths of the people had to switch spots in their lines.
"Why do you have eggs?" Keiran asked.
"We're going to see how well you lot can catch," Draco said in a menacingly quiet voice reserved for obnoxious little brothers.
"With eggs?" Keiran asked incredulously.
"Yes, Keiran, with eggs," Draco replied. He walked down one line and handed each person an egg. "Now you're going to throw the egg to your partner. If your egg breaks, you're out. The last group standing will then be tested for flying ability and the best person in that test will be the reserve seeker." Keiran waited for Trevor to toss him the egg.
"And you must stay on the lines." Draco added. "Just remember, soft hands. And don't suck." Trevor tossed the egg to Keiran and Keiran caught it easily. Draco flicked his wand at the lines on the ground and they began to move steadily backwards. He walked over, leaned up against the bottom of the tower containing the stands, and watched the group of players tossing their eggs back and forth. Then he looked over to his own little brother. Keiran had paused for a moment and taken his wand out of his pocket. He pointed it at the egg and muttered something. Then he put the wand back into his pocket and tossed the egg to Trevor.
"I never said no unbreakable charms," Draco laughed to himself. He at least figured that's what his brother had done. It's what he would have done had he been trying out. Unfortunately for Keiran, the bought position on the team only worked for one Malfoy. Even Lucius didn't have gold to buy enough Firebolts for Keiran to make the team. Luckily enough for Keiran, Draco was judging the trial.
%%%%%
"YOU'RE A WITCH! USE YOUR WAND!" Casey shouted at the girl hovering in mid air. She erupted with another blood curdling scream and just stared at the twigs of her broom. The fourth hoop had closed down on them and her broom was now shooting flames two meters into the air.
"I think she's scared," Taylor said, almost lazily. The girl screamed again.
"She should be smart enough to use a water charm or something," Casey muttered. He began fumbling through his pockets for his own wand. Blaise Zabini beat him to the girl though, and extinguished the fire with a spray of icy water. The girl shakily returned to the ground without even attempting the fifth hoop.
%%%%%
"Welcome to Quidditch trials," Adrian Pucey began. The seventh year keeper had expected to be captain of the team, but instead, Casey was given the job. Needless to say, Adrian was bitter.
"For your trial as keeper, you will each fly up in front of the goals with the quaffle. Then you will throw it at that git who gave the announcements at the beginning of the trials as hard as you can. If you get near him, he will probably throw the quaffle back at you. Then you will defend the goals from the quaffle he throws. The person who hits him or gets closest to hitting him and then defends the goals gets the position," Adrian explained. "In the case of a tie, you will go again until someone is eliminated." He tossed a quaffle to the boy nearest the goals.
"Don't suck." He called after the boy as the boy rose up in front of the goals. Then he stepped back to watch the progress of the trial.
%%%%%
The pairs of seeker hopefuls had been reduced to two; Keiran and Trevor, and two second year girls. Draco watched them carefully. They were standing half of the field away from each other and still tossing the eggs back and fourth. The girls had adopted a soft underhanded toss with a cradling catch. The boys, however, were throwing the egg over-handed as hard as they could. They had dropped the egg several times but thanks to Keiran's charm, it hadn't broken.
%%%%%
"All right men," Casey said, looking around at the group of ragtag unscathed or slightly smoking, charred chaser hopefuls.
"And women," Karen reminded him.
"And women," Casey repeated, "you've all done really well."
"Bloody Hell!" Finley screeched. She had almost been hit by a quaffle from the keeper tryouts.
"Hand that here," Casey told the third year who had picked up the offending red ball. The third year tossed it to Casey and Casey flung it back at the keeper hopeful who had thrown it. Instead of going to the keeper, it sailed through one of the open goals.
"Alright Casey!" Finley laughed. Several of the other chasers clapped for him.
%%%%%
"The next one of you who doesn't catch is out. The other is the reserve seeker," Draco announced to Keiran and Trevor. They were standing three fourths of the pitch away from each other. Draco had originally wanted to do some flying tests for the two remaining players, but his time was running out and Keiran's unbreakable charm had proved to be a lot more effective than it should have been. The pair of girls had just been eliminated when the one standing next to Trevor dropped the egg.
At Draco's announcement, Keiran took a quick look at the egg in his hand. He wiped it on his robe under the pretense of drying it off, but in reality he slipped his wand out of his pocket and rendered the egg breakable. No one noticed. He promptly drew back and threw the egg as hard as he could, straight at Draco. Draco wasn't expecting the egg to come in his direction, so he didn't try to catch it. It splattered across his Quidditch robe with a satisfying crack.
"KEIRAN NIGEL MALFOY!" Draco screamed. He brushed his fingers over the sticky egg goop running down the front of his Quidditch robes.
"Yes?" Keiran asked innocently.
"I should," Draco began.
"You should but you won't," Keiran replied, leveling a menacing glare on his older brother.
"Congratulations to Keiran Malfoy for being the new reserve seeker," Draco said, running his fingers through the sticky egg again. Keiran smirked at all of the rest of the seeker hopefuls, who were all glaring at him and Draco. Trevor was especially mad because Keiran had basically cheated him out of a chance.
%%%%%
"Can't you freaks aim any better than that?" Adrian asked after the seventh and next to last keeper hopeful had missed Casey by at least 10 meters. Blaise Zabini threw the ball back at the hopeful.
"Look at what the shit-faced whack job did to me!" Draco cried. He flew up behind Adrian. Adrian spun to look at the egg-covered seeker.
"You could clean it up you know," Adrian suggested. The eighth and final hopeful threw a quaffle at Casey. This quaffle landed close enough to Casey that he picked it up and threw it back; only he didn't throw it at the keeper. He had realized after the sixth quaffle sailed his way that Adrian had set up the trials to involve him being a target. He decided to throw the quaffle as hard as he could at Adrian. Adrian ducked and the quaffle hit Draco directly in his chest. Draco swooped down and caught it as it fell towards the pitch. He instantly spun around and threw it directly at Casey's head. Casey made the mistake of turning his back to the keepers so he could watch the chasers more clearly. Draco's quaffle struck him directly in the back of his head.
"Quick, go defend the goals!" Adrian commanded. Draco flew over and pushed the seeker hopeful out of the way. Casey picked up the quaffle and slung it back at the goal on Draco's left. Draco easily caught it and tossed it to Adrian.
"Draco, we need to have a quick conference," Adrian exclaimed. Draco flew over to him.
"What's up?" Draco asked.
"Who is the reserve seeker?" Adrian queried.
"My brother," Draco replied.
"How good is he?" Adrian asked.
"He's actually fairly talented. And he's small and a first year, which is a good thing," Draco said.
"With a year of training would he be able to take your place?" Adrian asked.
"Probably," Draco replied, "And it might be better for the team because he is so small and quick. I'm sure father could buy him a Firebolt too," Draco replied.
"Congratulations Draco, you're the reserve keeper!" Adrian said, shaking Draco's hand heartily. Draco's jaw dropped and he stared wide-eyed at the larger keeper.
"WHAT?" he asked.
"You're better than all of those gits," Adrian replied. "So you're the new reserve keeper."
"So I'll play keeper next year when you're gone?" Draco asked.
"Seems like it now doesn't it?" Adrian asked.
"EVERYONE GATHER OVER HERE! WE'RE ANNOUNCING THE TEAM!" Casey screamed from his end of the pitch. The keeper hopefuls and the two keepers flew over to him and landed. Draco and Adrian joined Bole, Derrick, and Casey at the front of the group.
"I trust you guys have made your decisions?" Casey asked. Draco nodded and Adrian just scowled at Casey.
"Alright, lets announce them," Casey said. He turned back to face the crowd.
"Thank you all for trying out!" Casey said, "We've finally made our decisions."
"Get on with it," Keiran insisted from the back of the crowd.
"The three reserve chasers will be Debra Bulstrode, Karen Moon, and Taylor Nott." The three girls all smiled broadly at their peers, while everyone crowded around them just scowled. "The two starting chasers will be Blaise Zabini!" Blaise instantly did a back flip and Keiran attempted to kick his feet out from under him when he landed. "And Finley Alexander." Finley showed no expression, which brought appreciative smirks from those standing around her. Casey turned to look at Derrick and Bole.
"The reserve beaters are Crabbe and Goyle," Derrick said.
"Congratulations," Bole added.
"You didn't suck," Derrick finished with a laugh. Draco smirked at his goons. He figured they had done as he told them and hid in the trenches till everyone was off of their brooms. Crabbe and Goyle weren't necessarily intelligent enough to react to Derrick and Bole's announcement. Derrick and Bole turned to look at Draco.
"The reserve seeker is Keiran Malfoy," Draco said, glaring evilly at his little brother. Keiran glared down at his nose at all of the people gathered around.
"The reserve keeper is Draco Malfoy," Adrian announced, "Because unlike Crabbe and Goyle, all of you did suck." The keeper hopefuls glared at him.
"Alright. Thanks again for trying out. Maybe next year," Casey said. The group immediately dispersed and headed back towards the castle. Draco did a quick cleaning charm on the front of his robes and the sticky egg disappeared.
"Congratulations, Draco," a small female voice said as Draco was concentrating on cleaning his robes. Draco looked up to see Finley Alexander.
"Oh, thanks Finley," Draco replied, smirking at her. Draco didn't smile. Ever.
"So will you be the keeper next year when Keiran is the seeker?" Finley asked.
"Something like that," Draco said.
"Do you want to go celebrate?" Finley asked, raising her eyebrow suggestively at Draco. Draco made a mental note to elevate her status on the Hogsmeade list, which now contained sixth-year Ariadne Smith and a Hufflepuff seventh year. Elise something-or-the-other. Or maybe Eloise. At any rate, she was a definite no, as her nose was off-center.
"Well, do you want to?" Finley asked, again raising her eyebrow.
"Sure," Draco said. He flipped his broom over his left shoulder and offered her his right elbow. She placed her hand on his arm and they headed off towards the castle.