Chapter Four – Slytherin Versus Ravenclaw

"I think you've got that one down," Brad said, waving up to Kylee, who'd just captured three thrown golf balls in a row after performing a rather remarkable mid-air half-twist. The young Seeker dropped them back toward the ground. That particular move was also supposed to add a bit of speed if she needed it… Apparently Ryan, who'd been scouting out the Ravenclaw team, reported back that their Seeker had a pretty nice Comet broom, and it was new. Therefore, it was fast.

Kylee landed between Brad and Alexia. "I think the Snitch is going to move faster than these," she commented, kicking the golf balls toward the bucket sitting in the middle of the Pitch.

"It's still good practice," Lex responded. Brad had been watching her lately, and hadn't seen any remarkably odd behavior the past few days. Neither had Kylee reported anything back that was highly out of character for Alexia. In fact, it might have been his imagination, but he thought that maybe she was acting a bit too normal. Lucas did say that she saw him looking at the restricted books she had from the library. It was possible that she suspected that they knew, and was trying to cover that up.

Brad, however, still wouldn't admit he was entirely convinced. He actually did still have a bit of doubt. Would Dumbledore actually allow her to stay at Hogwarts if she was, indeed, a dangerous werewolf?

Plus, if she'd been bitten, there would certainly be an injury… Unless, of course, that had healed the first time she'd transformed…

"Brad? Are you listening?" Alexia was waving her hand in front of his face. "Kylee thinks she's ready for you to let the Snitch go."

"Right. Yeah." He shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before leaning down over the open trunk. The Bludgers were struggling to get away, but they wouldn't be flying on this particular morning. Not yet, anyway. "Lex, d'you have the scope?"

She nodded, holding out a tiny little compass-like device. In case Kylee couldn't retrieve the Snitch, the compass would point to where it was. Of course, they'd still have to try to catch it, but at least the scope would make it easier. Kylee shook her head, though, when Alexia held out her wand to activate it. "No, let me try to catch it first," she said. Nodding, Alexia pocketed the scope.

Brad opened the drawer containing the Snitch, withdrew it, and held it in his palm. When it detected the open air, it spread its silver wings and launched itself into the sky. As if it was a curious little bird, it circled around the three Slytherins for a moment, before taking off in a totally random direction.

"Alright, Kylee," Brad said. "Let's see what you've got."

As Kylee launched herself into the sky to chase the elusive little Snitch, Green and Anna were sitting down to lunch, just a couple miles away in Hogsmeade. It had been an easy walk there; they'd talked more about Quidditch, for the most part. Each hinted at more personal questions, but neither had worked up the courage to ask them yet. It seemed like they were stuck in a safe zone where conversation was concerned.

"I'll just have a salad to start," Anna told the waiter. Green ordered a butterbeer and the house special – whatever that was. He was feeling brave. The waiter nodded, bustling onward to the next table.

They'd mutually decided against going anywhere fancy. For a first date, The Three Broomsticks was just fine, and while noisy, they were able to find an out-of-the-way table near a window. Anna unwrapped herself from her scarf, tossing it next to her cloak on the chair next to her. She hesitated for a moment, before saying, "So, tell me about where you're from."

"Is my accent that obvious?" he asked, smiling. He was Irish, but was sure he'd picked up a bit of the English accent since he'd been at Hogwarts. "Ireland. We lived in a small community with a spell 'round it so the Muggles couldn't find it."

Her smile seemed to fade, just a bit, though. "So you're…"

"Pureblood, yep."

She looked away. "I was just going to ask if you'd had the option to go to the Irish school."

Green shrugged, trying his best not to look embarrassed that he'd wrongly anticipated her question. "I did, but Hogwarts is a much better school. My parents both went here. They were Slytherins, too."

She looked more interested. "Oh? What do they do?"

"My mom's a retired Auror. She stays home now with my younger brothers." The waiter returned with his butterbeer, and set it down before hurrying off again. "Pretty taxing job, that. Especially with You-Know-Who about. My dad still works in the Ministry in the Regulation of Magical Creatures department. What about yours?"

"My parents? Well, my dad develops Quidditch stuff… Brooms and the like. He never went professional, but he still plays amateur once in a while. That's why I got into the game in the first place." She seemed to get very uncomfortable in a very short amount of time. "My mom's a sales manager."

"You mean for your dad?" Green asked, looking about for their meal. After all, if her dad developed Quidditch supplies – which was quite interesting – he'd need someone to promote his sales.

Anna looked down at the grain on the table. "No. Green, my mom's a Muggle."

He nearly knocked over his butterbeer. For the longest time, he couldn't even bring himself to speak. Then: "You're a Mudblood."

She looked hurt. "Don't say that…"

He stood up, and the butterbeer tottered dangerously as the table shook. "…You didn't even tell me. You knew who I was, and you lied…"

Anna shook her head. "No. We just never got around to talking about it. I didn't think it would matter. I mean…"

He slammed his fist on the table, and she fell silent… So did half of the people there. Green was suddenly very glad he hadn't offered her his arm when they left Hogwarts. Still, he felt contaminated just standing there in front of her. Without even a goodbye, he grabbed his cloak, the hem of which finally succeeded in knocking over the half-filled mug, and left the tavern.

It was then that the waiter approached with a salad and a large plate of what looked to be some sort of stew. "Hell of a House, that lot," he said, nodding toward the door. "Don't care 'bout nothin' but theirselves, y'know." He set the plates on the table. "You'll still be payin' for that, though."

Anna nodded, but pushed her plate away. She wasn't really all that hungry anymore.

---

The holiday break came and went, more quietly for some than others. Many of the students went home, but a few stayed. There were a few Slytherins in that number, though of the entire Quidditch team, only Green stayed behind. Since what he called the "Incident" at Hogsmeade, he'd been rather avoidant, even to those he considered friends. He wasn't even really sure why… He liked Anna enough, it was just that certain things couldn't be forgiven.

He was pouring over stolen Ravenclaw formation notes when he heard the door to his dorm open. Expecting perhaps one of the other sixth years to be returning, he hastily gathered up the notes into a messy pile and flipped them over on his comforter. When he looked up, though, Cory was looking across the room at him. He almost looked disappointed as he spread the notes back out on the bed. "Welcome back."

Cory waved a bit. "Hey. I just ran into Anna Emerson on my way up. She had this for you." He held out an envelope, the front of which had been painstakingly inked in calligraphy with the name, "Green."

Green reached out and took it, looking at the little Christmas tree stickers that decorated the corners. It looked very Muggleish to him.

"Where's she been, anyway?" Cory asked, sitting down on the next four-poster over. "All you did was talk about her all the time a couple weeks ago. Then after Hogsmeade, you didn't even mention her. Not even in practice." He smiled a bit, dropping his bag with a loud thud on the floor. "It's not 'cuz she's the Ravenclaw Keeper, is it? I wouldn't worry too much about that. She seems nice enough. Not the type to steal our team's formations," he added, pointing to the stack of parchment in front of his teammate.

"No, it's not that," he said, feeling his temper starting to rise again.

Cory waited for a moment for Green to tell him what it was, but he remained silent. Finally, the Keeper pointed at the envelope. "Aren't you going to open that?"

"Later."

"Alright," Cory said, slightly confused. "Well, I'll be upstairs then."

Green waited until he heard the door close, then he flipped over the topmost paper in the pile. It was a diagram of the Comet 120 – Anna's broom. Over the holidays, Green had been able to get a hold of one… Coming from a family such as he had did have its advantages. Granted, the broom wasn't in the most spectacular condition, but that was fine. Neither was Anna's.

Now all he had to do was break the weak anti-hex protections on the broom's core. That part would be easy. Switching the brooms would be the hard part. There was a bit of a plan in his mind, but he had no idea how he was going to pull it off… until just a day before the game, and it happened quite by accident.

January brought chilling temperatures and snow-covered hills as far as anyone could see. Some days were cold enough so that even the ghosts were inclined to remain inside the castle. Some could be seen idly floating about the roofs and pushing snow off – not that Hogwarts actually needed its roofs de-snowed, but it did give the spirits something to do while they waited for all the students to return.

The Quidditch teams all returned early, but that didn't come as much of a surprise. A couple days after the new year brought about the next game of the season, and that one was against Gryffindor and Hufflepuff. The former had, of course, won, but it was a closer game than some anticipated. Hufflepuff only lost in the end by one-hundred-sixty points, which meant that until the Gryffindor Seeker caught the Snitch, there was only a one-goal difference between them.

After the game, both Slytherin and Ravenclaw had practice out on the pitch. Neither was too keen on showing off the new moves they'd learned, so both teams were quite conservative in what they allowed the other team to see. Green brought with him the hexed broom, which had a somewhat ingenious hover charm on it, which would cause it to stop in midair and not move until it was asked in the proper format. He didn't, after all, want to hurt Anna. Just embarrass her enough so that she'd quit – or be kicked off the team.

Of course, when Green saw that Ravenclaw was on the field, he'd put it aside. No use in giving away the surprise before it was due. He was somewhat frustrated by this, as the game was tomorrow, and he still hadn't been able to switch the brooms… His luck changed however, just after he'd put his gear away in the Slytherin locker room. He was carrying the hexed broom back to his dorm, when he rounded a corner and ran right into Anna, who was coming in from outside. Both of them dropped the brooms they were carrying.

For a moment, he expected her to ask why he had the same broom she did, as Anna already knew Green had the newer Comet 260. However, she was looking down at both of the brooms through fogged glasses, and when she took them off, she seemed just as frustrated. It was as she was cleaning the lenses on her robes that Green finally registered the fact that she couldn't see them properly.

"Here," he said, picking up the hexed one and handing it to her. He noted with satisfaction that they were almost exactly similar. His even still had the same yellowed property that hers did, and the bristles were splayed in a similar fashion. It was perfect.

She looked up at him for a moment, and smiled, and for one brief, nonsensical moment, he considered taking the bad broom back, and handing her the proper one instead. "Thanks," she said, after the moment passed. She took the offered broom, and headed to the Ravenclaw locker room.

It had been so easy. Of course, he'd still have to meet her before the game to activate the hex.

---

"It's a cold day around Hogwarts, folks, but that certainly doesn't stop two of our teams from competing on the Quidditch Pitch!" The announcer's voice boomed over the megaphone so loudly that both teams could hear it all the way in the locker room. "Today's match up is between illustrious Ravenclaw and devious Slytherin!"

"…We're not really devious, are we?" Kylee asked as she looked out the window toward the pitch. The whole school turned out for the match. Teachers had no excuse to keep anyone behind for classes, as classes hadn't even started yet.

"Some of us are," Alexia laughed as she pulled on the dragonhide gloves. "Some of us are downright sneaky." She grabbed her broom, and laced up her boots even as she headed out of the locker room toward the pitch. She was usually the first out anyway, but that was fine with Brad and Lucas, who remained behind while the others slowly filed out.

When the others were gone, Brad snapped shut the playbook that was resting on his knee. "So?" he asked, looking at Lucas.

"The holiday fell during the full moon." He shrugged. "She wasn't even here. I don't know. I did a bit of research, and she's been fidgety and nervous and… All the signs that would point toward… You know. And did you see her hands? There's all these little round cuts all over 'em. Like, maybe she got into a tangle with some thorns after she'd changed back."

Brad had noticed the little cuts, but hadn't really thought to ask about them. Now that he thought about it, though, she had been going out of her way to keep her hands hidden in her sleeves. "They could be anything. You know she works with animals now and then."

Lucas looked toward the pitch. "Game's starting. We'll have to talk later." Slinging his broom over his shoulder, he left, followed by the captain. Soon enough, they were soaring through the air to join the others. Fortunately, they hadn't missed anything, as Madam Hooch was still lugging the crate containing the Quaffle, Bludgers, and Snitch onto the field. Brad looked over toward Green who was actually saying something to Anna. He shook her hand, and they parted company, each flying back toward their own team.

Well, at least they weren't mad at each other anymore. For some reason, though, Brad noticed the fact that Green's hand was clutched around something in his pocket. It looked almost like his wand… But what reason would there be to bring his wand to the Quidditch pitch?

"Both teams ready?" Madam Hooch called from the ground. She had her broom in one hand, and the Quaffle in the other. Her foot kicked the Bludgers free from the case, and as she blew her whistle, she tossed the Quaffle into the air.

"It's Ravenclaw with the Quaffle! Jack Monaghan, a third-year student, passes to Jolene Amberal, who— Oops, that's intercepted by Alexia Valenteen, who's heading down the field now…"

As he usually tended to do, Brad tuned the commentary out, calling encouragement to Alexia as she passed the Quaffle to Ryan. He attempted a shot, but it was successfully blocked by Anna. Green seemed to linger on the Ravenclaw end of the field a little longer than normal, and almost missed getting out of the zone before their Keeper passed it up to one of her blue-robed Chasers.

Lex intercepted again, but not before Ravenclaw got a shot away and was heading for a rebound. She carried it as far as she could down the field, even beautifully executing a roll-and-dive maneuver that Brad taught them a couple practices prior. Eventually, though, she was hounded by both Ravenclaw beaters, and had to pass forward to Green. He started carrying it down the field, but suddenly stopped with just about everyone else. All attention was on Anna, who's broom seemed to be slamming her over and over again into the rings.

She held on as long as possible, which was admirable, but as the broom sank lower, she finally lost her grip and fell the last couple feet to the snow. The broom, its energy spent, flopped uselessly to the ground beside her.

Green was so shocked that he dropped the Quaffle. Despite its floating enchantment, it made it all the way to the ground, bouncing a couple times before falling still.

One of the Ravenclaws started to land to help her, but there was already a medical team racing onto the field. Madam Hooch waved everyone back into the air, and before anyone could react, Alexia had the Quaffle.

Considering the fact that Ravenclaw no longer had a keeper, the rest of the game was rather easy. As per the rules, no substitutions could be made after a game had started. The only obstacles between the Slytherins and the Ravenclaw rings were three frantic Chasers.

By the time the Ravenclaw Seeker caught the Snitch, the score really didn't even matter. Slytherin still won by two-hundred points. Back in the locker room, Brad started offering his team a hearty congratulations when he noticed that Green wasn't there.