A/N: I love you Lucius, I love you I love you I love you. *cough* *cough* Back to the story. :D

Chapter 18

The day of the match dawned, unusually cold, even *for* autumn weather. Despite having had very little sleep the night before, I was as wide-awake and energetic as I always was before a game. That, however, was more than I could say for my teammates. Their skin was green enough to match their robes. Were they really *that* afraid of the Gryffindors? We'd beaten them countless times before. Not bothering to finish my breakfast, I mumbled "Meeting, on the grounds," before walking out of the great hall, without even turning around.

The footsteps behind me told me they were following.

The wind attacked our robes violently, cold and biting. I ignored it. We'd gotten the cup for 3 consecutive years, and this year would be no different. We weren't really overestimating ourselves; Gryffindor *was* our only challenge. Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw were easy prey. Their defense was weak, and their seekers wouldn't be able to see a snitch unless it came up and bit them on the nose. And, as far as I knew, Snitches didn't bite.

"You're all worried about *Gryffindors*?" I said the house's name with disdain. They were silent. I toned down my glare a little; I didn't want to have them *too* scared. They were Slytherins, and it wasn't proper to have Slytherins trembling with fear. After a moment, Twilus Higgs, the seeker, spoke up.

"The Gryffindors-they've got a new chaser. And. . . he plays quite well. We've seen him during practice. And their seeker--" I raised a hand to stop him.

"A chaser. That's *one* person. You two." I pointed to our beaters: Parkinson and Zabini. "Make sure he doesn't *have* a chance to score." They replied with identically maniacal sneers. We never played *dirty*, I wouldn't allow it. There was, however, no harm in stretching the rules as far as possible. "The other two chasers disagree too much to do any good, and chasers only work well together. You've practiced your formations and signals?" The chasers nodded solemnly. "Twilus. *Get the Snitch*."

Surveying my team, I noticed that, although they still looked a little queasy, their sickly green tinge had disappeared. It was a good thing I had more than enough confidence to rub off on them. "Good luck, then, to all of you. Not that we'll need it."

Madame Hooch blew the whistle, and both teams soared up into the air. The game had started. I flew to the rings, watching the quaffle. Higgs had been right. Potter *was* a good chaser. He seemed to be the connecting force between the other two, and, for once, I saw them move together. Our two beaters looked like blundering idiots, trying to block him with bludgers and, eventually, as a pathetic last resort, with their own massive forms.

I, on the other hand, managed to deflect the quaffle two out of three times. That, was quite annoying. I usually managed to deflect it three out of three. They hadn't made me team captain just for my good looks (although I must say that would have been enough).

Fortunately, the Gryffindor's keeper was horrible. He seemed to be blocking the wrong rings.

"30-80 to Slytherin!" McGonagall said, a hint of annoyance in her sonorous- charmed voice. Well, I couldn't blame her; after all, she *was* the head of Gryffindor.

I cursed out loud as Potter scored yet *another* ten points. I hated him, but I had to admit, he wasn't at all *bad* on a broomstick. Anyone who could get past me 'wasn't at all bad', in my book. I cast a glare at the beaters, who both seemed to have lost the ability they'd been chosen for.

"DON'T JUST SIT AROUND THERE, USE THE BLOODY BLUDGERS!" I bellowed, infuriated at their lack of common sense. Just because they hadn't been able to block Potter, it didn't mean they had to spend the rest of the blasted match moping about it.

A bludger, hit by the other team's beater, barely missed me. I gave another glare to prove my point, and swerved to block Potter from scoring.

Five minutes later, the score was 60-100, in our favor. Loud gasps and whispers from the stands brought me out of my anger-induced stare at the quaffle.

"It appears Potter has-" I could almost *feel* McGonagall's eyes widening, "Albus, this isn't a-" Her statement was cut off as she removed the voice- magnifying charm.

I looked up, to see Potter swaying dangerously on his broom, with nothing but his hands keeping him on it. Jelly Legs Jinx. Sure enough, Peter (Parkinson) was sneering, the tip of his wand barely visible in the folds of his robes. Loud shouts came from the Gryffindor stands. I allowed myself to look at Lily. She was leaning forward, anxiety and worry written all over her face. Potter had slipped off his broom, and was dangling precariously with one hand.

The Quidditch match had stopped completely, with everyone, including the Slytherin players, watching Potter.

I didn't know why, but I moved forward, to help him. For Lily probably, I certainly didn't do it to *help* him.

Just then, a flash of gold caught my eye. The snitch. THE SNITCH! I paused momentarily, a few feet short of Potter, to look at our nearly catatonic seeker, "Twilus, get the SNITCH!"

All right, I admit, it really *would* have been much more valiant to swoop in and save James. But I was a Slytherin, not a *Gryffindor*. Luckily, for James, at least, my shout had managed to distract Peter, and the curse had broken.

Need I really say what happened next? Yes, we got the snitch. And yes, we beat the Gryffindors. I should have been happy, really. I should have. But. . . when Lily went over to see if Potter was all right, instead of joining my horde of adoring fans. . . well, let's just say I was disappointed.

No, let me rephrase that.

I was jealous.

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A/N: Aww, isn't it sweet? Lucius is jealous!!! *laughs in an odd-sort of way* *feels a familiar poke at her back*

*"Lucius!! You're back!!"* *receives another poke, paired with an evil smirk*

*"So I am."* *another evil smirk* *"I must be quick, I need to cook up more evil plots to get rid of that insanely old wizard they call a headmaster."* *evil laugh* *"I did the imperius on those muggle geniuses they have that that little web-sit --"* *

*"WebSITE, Lucius"*

*"I needn't dirty myself by learning muggle terms, you know."* *evil smirk* * "Going to thank me for my charitable little act?"*

* "Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU!"* *jumps on Lucius and hugs* *Lucius is temporarily stunned* *Lucius coughs*

* "Remove yourself off my person, Muggle."* *Lucius hides a tiny, evil-yet- pleased smile, before disapparating with a POP!*

*Author gives a strange, nervous giggle, reminiscent of Dobby* Yes, well. . . the thank yous, yes, right back to it then *cough cough* I love you Lucius *cough cough*

Thank you all so much for reviewing!!!! : D I know say that all the time, but really, your reviews keep me going!! And another thing, I'd also like to thank my friend, Iz, for helping me with the quidditch part : D I had a horrible case of writer's block, but she gave me the idea to write what I did, so thanks Iz!! : D

Jen-I've set this chapter free! Free! Free! *cough* I seriously think all this school work is roasting my brain. We had two quizzes today, and it's only the second week of class!! What's wrong with these teachers! Drat, and I forgot to ask Lucius to Avada them. Oh well. Lucius says he's free on Mondays, 3 am to 5 am, and Fridays, 6 pm to 10 pm. The rest of the time, he says, is for his *ahem* beauty sleep, muggle terrorizing sessions, and Anti- dumbledore plotting sessions.

Dark Rose-- *gasp* My, what a horrible psychiatrist! *tut tut tut*. Stealing his computer *was*, after all, the only rational thing to do! There can't be many computers in white, rubber coated rooms, can there? Dreadful, dreadful man. *shakes head* What *are* muggles becoming these days? We're morphing into the very images witches and wizards have made for us! Horrible. Absolutely horrible. I'm sure Lucius will be infuriated by this when he finds out. I'll make it a point to tell him.

Willow Isilme Edra-- : D I've written some more with a whole lot more to come, and I hope this after comment is funny enough! :D I think it's just plain weird, since school drains all the humor out of me *sigh* *shakes head and tries to think of Lucius instead of school* Thanks for reviewing! :D I know what you mean, I always feel speechless when I'm about to review a story :D

Dwen-- *smiles apologetically* I know, I know, my chapters are really short :D but I don't get much time to write long ones anymore (although I can promise chapter 20 will be nice, long and fluff-filled!), so just bear with me :D Lucius was, strangely, touched when you called him adorable, although I could tell he was trying to hide it. :D I think he would have liked you to call him Horribly Adorable, that way, it integrates evil-ness into the phrase :D Well, you all know how our Lucius is :D