wow! these chapters just keep coming! if anyone follows my other story i started called the rags of time i do apologise that it is not coming along very fast. i have several chapters written, just not the second one. i feel generally uninspired in that area at the moment. do not fear, i will update soon.

anyway more importantly to this story which is ending up a lot longer than i foresaw and i really am unsure where it is now going, having confused myself in writing it. my original idea for harrys child may have to be changed. who knows. not me anyway. i have the next few chapters written already so they should be up fairly soon as long as my computer stays working. the only problem being sooner or later i need more pranks and as ive said before i have verey little imagination in that quarter. for your own sake (if you want this story written quickly that is) all your suggestions are needed (desperately! although i hate to beg).

as always i own nothing here, it belongs to much greater people (J.K.Rowling) who, while we're on the subject have they're own fab official website i just discovered with loads of unknown harry potter facts. i was in heaven for hours. visit it.

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Quidditch

Alice was extremely excited. It was the day before the first quidditch match. Sure she had watched many quidditch matches before, her father being a big keeper and all quidditch had always been part of her life. Still this the first match she would see at Hogwarts and Alice couldn't wait. She felt even better that Ravenclaw weren't one of the two teams competing. Her first match against Hufflepuff wasn't until another month. She felt by watching the game first she would learn the standard she'd be up against and having a friend in both houses she was fairly neutral.

That was what made her most excited about watching the match. Both Lucious and Max were playing, even better, they were both playing seeker. The boys had been mock taunting each other for about a week now and Alice wasn't sure what to expect. She had seen them both fly, but that was just in flying lessons and no one tried to go their fastest then.

She had seen Max fly extremely fast that very first day. So personally she felt he'd be the better flier. But then there was the matter of finding the snitch. Max, not many people knew, wore contacts like her. She couldn't help wondering if this would affect his vision, although it didn't affect her own. She supposed it was different for everyone. After all, the great seeker Harry Potter wore glasses and it didn't seem to hold him back.

Lucious on the other hand, had never seemed particularly amazing at flying, but then she had to admit she'd never really watched him that closely, she didn't want Molly or Marietta thinking she cared about a Slytherin. There was also the matter of his Malfoy reputation. It was well known that his father Draco Malfoy had bought the whole team the new Firebolt 3 broomsticks, as his father did before him. She debated with herself whether Lucious was on the team through his father's fortune or because of his own talent. Most of the school thought it was the former, and taunted the slytherins for it.

Yet they didn't know Lucious like she did, and she could see it was killing him. More than anything Lucious hated being judged because of who he was so Alice had made up her mind not to pass comment until she saw the game, something that astonished her fellow Ravenclaws. They had to continually remind her, that no Malfoy had ever been good at quidditch, but somehow Alice couldn't help thinking that Lucious didn't fit the Malfoy mould.

Between the two of them, she and Katie had made a small bet, 3 galleons on the winner; it was just a bit of fun really as the lads were already placing bets on their match the following month. Her money was on Max, after seeing him fly, but she had made a similar bet with Cedric and Michael that Lucious would catch the snitch, so either way she didn't really lose out, but showed support for both her friends. She thought this was very Ravenclaw thinking of her, and tried to tell herself the hat had been wrong, she was where she belonged, even if all her friends were from other houses.

She had barely spoken to Molly, Marietta or Barty, except when they moaned to her when they thought she hadn't done her homework. Just because she hadn't done it near them. She preferred, when she was around the Ravenclaw common room to talk to Cedric or Michael, who, of course being in 'the clever house' enjoyed their studies but didn't want to overdo it. Alice also was easily bored. She found the work trivial and so preferred to read more advanced books which she found challenged her more.

Being away from the other two girls meant they weren't as close and consequently she felt a little left out when they talked about boys or something they had done. This didn't really bother her. Besides what could Alice contribute to those girly conversations, she couldn't mention what she got up to and she knew they suspected her of something. She also felt that Molly was a little jealous of her. Molly herself was exceedingly clever but unfortunately had to work hard for it, much harder than Alice did, though Alice often studied anyway for fun.

Alice didn't mind this exclusion. After all she had Katie who had grown like a sister to her. Katie had all those qualities Alice wished she had. Or more truthfully, felt she had them deep down but was too embarrassed to let them out, they would make her look very un-Ravenclaw-like and she was determined to be a good Ravenclaw. They were if she was truthful, Griffindor qualities, which puzzled her greatly as she had yet to see an ounce of Hufflepuff in her friend. Apart from the fact that she was sure she'd be loyal She remembered the first day when Katie too argued with the hat and wondered if she the hat had wanted to put her in Griffindor too, there were after all no Griffindor girls in their year. Was that because they were supposed to be in there together? It would have been great if they were. Katie was confident and pretty. Alice felt she was probably equally pretty, but didn't get the attention she would of if she didn't hide behind her books. Alice was too embarrassed to say anything or do anything daring.

That's why she enjoyed the company of the others. By helping with their pranks she felt like she was doing something naughty for a change, something that she knew was wrong but felt so right. It was the Griffindor in her she was fighting against. She read more and more books to try and make herself more like the typical Ravenclaw, even so, if the subject of a prank came up, or quidditch, she was sure the others must have noticed she joined in immediately, she couldn't help herself.

As Alice was making her way to the quidditch pitch with Cedric and Michael she caught Katie's glance and grinned. It would be great to play against Katie. They would have a right laugh. She noticed that Katie walked with Joe and this made her grin even bigger. She was the only one who knew that Katie liked Joe and Alice had agreed he was pretty fit. She was happy for her friend as it looked like Joe liked her too.

In a few minutes, Alice was up in one of the Ravenclaw stands and the game had begun. Griffindor were by far the better team and the standard was a lot better than Alice had thought it would be, and the game was a lot rougher than she was used to. She hoped this was just down to old Griffindor-Slytherin rivalries. Quickly the Griffindor team were winning 50- 10 and from that they just kept scoring and scoring. Their chasers were pretty good but Alice supposed it was the uselessness of the Slytherin keeper that increased their goals.

She thought even she would do a better job that he, after all her dad had, for many years trained her as a keeper in a failed attempt to squash the seeker out of her. Her mother said he had been gutted when he'd taken her to one of his practises for the first time when she was one and she'd gone straight to the snitch and refused to let go for hours. He later told himself that it was just because she was little and it was the shiniest ball but she'd gone to prove him wrong.

After another half an hour griffindors' score had tripled but Slytherin had only scored the two more goals. If Alice thought the game was rough before then she realised it was petty compared with what it became and she was glad to see her two friends flying above the chaos scanning for the snitch. Neither seeker had seen much of the golden ball, apart from on small dive made by Max, which he'd been forced to pull out of when a bludger came inches from his ear.

A gasp came from the crowd as suddenly both seekers dived together toward the end of the pitch. Alice looked and could see the snitch glittering far away. Instinct told her to fly for it but she hadn't a broom. It was now when she finally got to see the quality of both boys flying. Max, she wasn't surprised at, but the majority of the spectators were clearly gobsmacked that a Malfoy could keep up. Hey, this Malfoy could fly, and was almost at the snitch. First she thought it'd be Max, then Lucious, then Max. In fact, Alice was amazed at how similar their way of flying was. They looked so much at ease. Finally (she had to admit he was helped by the better broom) Lucious caught the snitch, and eruption occurred at both the Griffindor and the Slytherin houses. The slytherins, and Alice for that matter looked confused, until she heard the commentator shout the scores, Slytherin had caught the snitch but Griffindor had won. While everyone else was watching the two first years, the lions chasers had scored a further three goals, putting them just ten points ahead of the snakes.

Alice heard a groan behind her; it came from Cedric and Michael. They were after all, forced to give her three galleons, three galleons that she would then have to give to Katie, but that didn't matter. As she walked back to the castle she noticed the Slytherin team crowded around Lucious yelling at him. Then Alice realised why they would be mad. Sure he'd caught the snitch but not quick enough to win them the match. By catching the snitch Lucious had shown the school he wasn't just a Malfoy with money, something he'd always wanted to do but Alice felt sure that most of the Slytherin team would give him the silent treatment for a long time. In fact, knowing slytherins she doubted it would stay very quiet.

Then again, Max would need far more consoling. Sure Lucious would be the one who got yelled at, but all he had to do was remind them of his family and they would shut up. Slytherins were brainwashed to respect Malfoys, no matter what they did. Plus there was the broom that he had given them all to bring into the equation. Alice was quite glad they had come in handy. Max would feel a lot worse. He'd think after everyone's high expectations of him as the first of them to show he could fly he would feel he had disappointed them all. It would however probably be forgotten in the midst of victory and Alice was certain she would remind him it had been very close and they were both exceedingly good flyers. Some of the best she'd ever seen.

In a way she thought the loss might do Max some good, bring him down a peg or two. After all he was one of the more high profile first years, known as the good flier and good looker, with charm and brains to match was going to his head a bit in her opinion. She considered it a good thing that no one knew it was him that was planning the pranks because adding excellent prankster to the list may have been the finals straw.

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thankyou, and please please review

kate x