I know, I know, I KNOW I promised I would stop the multiple updates in one day but I couldn't help it! The last chapter was so… boring! So here, everyone enjoy this slightly more exciting chapter and do not get mad at me for updating too much! ^_^;;
~Chapter Eleven- Quidditch~
"Well, are you ready to be amazed?" Pippy asked Lindsey as the group of Ravenclaw girls headed out to the quidditch pitch in the darkening sky two weeks later for the first game of the season. Lindsey just nodded. She still had her Potions book under her arm, and was actually anxious to keep reading. She could not believe this fact. It was just that she had come upon a very interesting section! It spoke of the brewing of potions with rather, eh, negative effects. Draught of the Living Death, for example. And that wasn't even the worst. Potions to drive the victim insane, Fever Elixirs, Dragonsand potions, and more. She was driven by a weird, morbid fascination to read all about these types of potions.
"Well, this is where I leave you!" Pippy said cheerfully, separating herself from them and joining the rest of the Ravenclaw team. "See you in the stands!" she called back. Cari and Lindsey followed Lisa and Kristin into the aforementioned stands and took seats near the middle.
"Wow, this is quite a turn-out!" Lisa remarked, scanning the near-full stands.
"Always is," Kristin replied knowingly to Lisa, and Cari and Lindsey. "Can't say I know of one person who doesn't fancy coming to watch a round of quidditch."
She stole a secret side glance at Cari, who was frowning. She turned back to the marked page with those most intriguing potions. Cari looked over interestedly: Lindsey, reading? And at her first quidditch match? It was a miracle. Then she saw the potions.
"Match'll be starting soon," she said pointedly. Cari, being the model auror's daughter, firmly disapproved of anything having to do with the Dark Arts. Except Draco Malfoy, Lindsey thought rather cattily, but not intentionally.
She finished off her paragraph and nodded, closing her book, but keeping her fingers in her page.
Sure enough, the match did start. Lisa helped Lindsey to understand the game as the two teams began to play.
"See, Pippy's a Chaser," Lisa said, pointing up to Pippy, who was passing the big red ball to another player in blue. "And see that ball she's got? That one's the quaffle…"
"Hey… hey, is that Draco Malfoy? Right there…" Cari said suddenly, trying to sound as casual as possible, although Lindsey sensed the undercurrent of excitement.
Kristin nodded. "Yeah, he's the Slytherin Seeker," she said easily.
"Ah…" Cari answered, now not taking her eyes off the action above them. Lindsey smirked and returned her attention to the air as well.
* * *
Draco's cool grey eyes squinted as he scanned the arena from a high vantage point, always looking for the snitch. He could see the Ravenclaw Seeker looking too. His heart rate quickened; he loved the thrill quidditch gave him! Suddenly he spied a familiar upturned face in the audience; Cari Green. For no logical reason Draco's stomach did an odd sort of twist and he had a sudden, unexplainable desire to show off.
His eyes searched even more quickly and feverishly for the glint of the fading sun's rays on the shiny, golden surface of the snitch. Then- no, could it be? Yes, yes it could! He saw the snitch!
So did the Ravenclaw Seeker, apparently, for he dove in the exact direction in which Draco saw the snitch. However, the Ravenclaw had dived too early; he wasn't able to see the sudden change in direction the snitch took above and to the right.
Draco smirked and urged his broom forward at an alarming rate. The wind whipped his white-blonde hair into his eyes and he tossed his head to clear his vision. In that instant when he couldn't see, the snitch moved. Now it was further above and behind Draco. Also by this time the Ravenclaw Seeker knew it had moved, and finally caught a glimpse of it as Draco turned.
Now both of them were nearly neck and neck, racing towards the snitch. The snitch itself just hovered there, glistening pristinely, as if waiting for them to come. Just as both of their fingers reached for it, the Ravenclaw's nearly closing on it, the snitch dove straight down and began to race almost along the grass.
There was a gasp from the crowd, who had been watching all this spellbound, as the two Seekers both dove determinedly to beat the other to the snitch. As this was going on the action of the quaffle had not stopped. No, two more goals had been scored by Slytherin, but three had been scored by Ravenclaw, one by Pippy. So now the scores were tied, and the crowd was going crazy.
As Draco's heart leapt to his throat in the adrenaline-pumping dive Cari's face flashed in his mind, though he did not know why, and he pressed himself just a little bit harder, just a little bit more… And that little bit lost Ravenclaw the game. For in that small little burst it had pushed Draco just enough ahead of the Ravenclaw Seeker to wrap his outstretched fingers around the whirring snitch.
He pulled up sharply and raised the hand in which he was clutching the snitch triumphantly. The Slytherins in the stands went absolutely ballistic with the excitement of winning the first Quidditch game of the school year and the Slytherin team all swooped around him on their brooms, cheering wildly and giving him congratulatory pats on the back. The Ravenclaws also swooped together, with Rupert Render, the captain, yelling, "Hey, cheer up, mates! Just wait; we'll have 'em yet!" as they flew into the locker rooms.
* * *
Cari almost couldn't keep from jumping and cheering with the rest of the Slytherins as Draco caught hold of the snitch. She looked up at him beaming; she had been hoping so much for his success. And then, as he was holding up the snitch and reveling in all his glory, he looked down at her, and this time she didn't take her eyes away. They just looked at each other in a secret, shared moment of ecstasy.
* * *
"That was amazing!" Lisa shouted as they met the rather sad-looking Ravenclaws. Kristin and Cari ran up to give their friends hugs for their valiant attempt, while Lindsey hung back.
"Oh, I'd give anything to play!" Lisa cried wistfully.
"Ha, yeah, like that'll happen!" Cari said teasingly harshly.
"Hey, if there's a spot open, I'll keep you in mind," Rupert winked and said to her in his charming Irish accent.
Cari glanced at Lindsey over her shoulder. She hadn't said anything the whole game, but she did have that weird grin of hers on her face, quite meaningful for Lindsey. She was a very melancholy girl; the whole of the time Cari had known her she didn't think she'd seen her really smile more than twice.
All of Ravenclaw House had come to see the game, and as a small mob they moved back to the dormitory talking and shouting and laughing animatedly together. Lindsey stuck to the back, off to the side, but she still paid rapt attention. Everyone went in through the picture hole to the commonroom, and stayed about there, talking for a long while. However, eventually everyone drifted up to the dorms to sleep. They still had classes tomorrow, after all.
That was the first night since arrival that Lindsey Wormtongue had a full and restful slumber, while Cari tossed and turned for about an hour before sleep found her. She couldn't stop obsessing over that look, the look between her and Draco. She so wanted to believe it meant something, but then there was a part of her heart that assured her it was nothing. He was just smiling in any direction in his elation; he probably didn't even notice he was looking at her at all. And what about Pansy Parkinson? She certainly saw them together a lot…
All of these thoughts ran around Cari's head like troublesome rodents, only to be placated by the one thought she kept returning to: Draco's face. Nothing else seemed to matter when she pictured his face, full of joy and glory and the thrill of victory, the setting sun from behind framing his face in angelic rays. That was the picture in her mind's eye when sleep finally claimed her.