On Friday morning, Draco was cornered by the four Gryffindor fifth-year boys right after breakfast. They surrounded him, and Sirius Black eyed him beadily as James Potter spoke.
"Listen, about the other night..." he started to say.
"You mean, the detention with Lupin I had?" Draco asked. Could they know what he had forgotten?
"Yes..." James answered carefully. Draco watched the expression behind the thick glasses that Potter wore. Lupin fidgeted very nervously, and a small fat boy named Peter Pettigrew (who Draco had already found out was the biggest loser in Hogwarts) gulped audibly. "Um, well, we just wanted to tell you that, well, we're really sorry about what happened. Lupin didn't have any choice..."
"Wait! What happened?" Draco asked. But, unfortunately, his question was drowned out; Lestrange, Avery and Evan swooped down on the group. "Accio glasses!" could be heard over Avery's sneering laughter and Rosier's snickering and Sirius' inaudible retort which produced more loud laughs from the Slytherins. James' glasses flew off his face, and neatly into Lestrange's hands.
"Give them back, El Strange!" Sirius growled.
But Lestrange sneered and said, "D'you know what I once overheard a Muggle boy claim? That if you whack off too often, you go blind..." The other Slytherins, save Draco, sniggered in response. Looking at the glasses, Lestrange decided to put them on. Draco felt his face trying to restrain the grin from forming. Lestrange peered at the world with James Potter's glasses on his nose, and he declared, "Ugh! I'm getting dizzy! These are damned strong glasses you got here, Potter!"
The Slytherins all roared with laughter, and even Draco had a mighty struggle keeping his laughter in. Peter Pettigrew seemed so angry that he stepped up in front of the others, and grabbed the glasses back. The other three Gryffindors tried to hold him back. Severus stomped into the group wearing a scowl that, if he were a few years older, would have meant he was getting ready to hand out detentions to everyone.
"What the bloody hell do you want with Malfoy here? Maybe you want to knock him out before he climbs on his broom, eh?" he hissed.
"Sev, wait!" Draco tried to say, but Severus Snape, once he got riled up, was unstoppable. Draco knew this from when Severus was his professor. Severus had his wand out, ready to strike down anyone that dared to throw a spell or a fist at Draco. Sirius Black snarled, but turned and started walking away with the others. "Dammit..." Draco said under his breath and began to follow them.
He could hear Peter Pettigrew. "Why didn't you let me tell them off? I was going to tell them I knew for a fact that you aren't blind because of...you know, that. After all, my vision is perfectly fine."
Sirius actually stopped dead in his tracks and whirled on Peter. "What?" he asked gaping.
Draco watched James turn Sirius back around and heard him mutter, "It's just as well we held you back, Peter. It just would have made them even more vicious." And he gave a pointed glare at Sirius and Remus, who was sulking in the background. They all marched quickly away.
Draco spun on his heel and headed straight back to his fellow Slytherins. "You stupid fucking bastard!" he snapped at Lestrange. "I was just about to get them to tell me what happened to me on Wednesday night, and you go ahead and fuck it all up!" He was actually shaking with rage now.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lestrange spat.
"He's talking about Wednesday night, Dumb Ass! The night they made us round up everybody and hide them in the dormitories!" Severus cut in.
"Who's calling who a 'dumb ass,' Snape? Seems like you and Malfoy here are getting just a little too chummy, if you ask me. Soon I'll be hearing about you and him having a little love affair on the side. I mean, I know he's really pretty and everything, but I mean..." Lestrange said.
Draco grabbed him by the throat. "What the fuck are you talking about, Lestrange?" he growled in the hateful boy's face.
"Tut, tut," they all heard from a few feet away. "They always say it's not pretty when vipers turn on eachother..." It was Foxworth. "Mr. Malfoy, let Mr. Lestrange go. Lestrange, I suggest you keep that oversized mouth of yours shut until after the Quidditch match," he added, glaring at him.
"What Quidditch match?" Draco asked. "There wasn't one scheduled for this weekend."
Foxworth smirked. "Well, there is now. Madame Hooch just informed me that the Gryffindor-Slytherin rematch has been scheduled for tomorrow."
This announcement had quite an impact on the group. Severus drew a deep breath. Evan looked a bit shaken, like he'd forgotten that he wasn't playing Quidditch tomorrow. Avery wiped his nose with his finger. Lestrange blinked. And Draco stared at Foxworth. "But Professor Foxworth, I have a bit of a problem..." he said.
"And what might that problem be?" he wasked Draco.
"I can't remember how to play Quidditch..." he smirked.
"You were remembering just fine last night..." Foxworth sneered, but seemed uncomfortable all the same. "Keep your mind on where it belongs. On your schoolwork, and on your Quidditch. Stay out of things that don't concern you. That includes you, Mr. Snape. The next time I catch you snooping anywhere near my offices, I will take a horsewhip to your backside, see if I don't!" Foxworth stalked off, and Draco gaped.
"He wouldn't really do that, would he?" Draco gasped.
"He's done it before," Avery told Draco.
"But, Dumbledore would never allow it!" Draco protested.
"I know; Foxworth used to do it before Dumbldore took over as Headmaster. Dumbledore had little to say about it while he was still only the Transfiguration teacher..." Avery clarified. "Now, though, with the way things are, I'm not sure Dumbledore would even know it if Foxworth were to do it again."
"Avery, stop bullshitting Malfoy. Foxworth wouldn't dare horsewhip his star student," Severus declared.
"No. That's something I'd expect more from Colton..." Draco pointed out darkly.
"Hmph. Colton's on the warpath with you. Especially if you do well this weekend at the game." Avery continued speaking as they all left the Great Hall. "While Sev here seems to have the inside track on Colton, I just happened to notice that he's got a vicious jealous streak. He's jealous of you. Maybe because you are pretty." He smirked, but not in a very unfriendly way, and left Severus and Draco behind.
"I'm sure there's more to it than that," Draco said.
"Just concentrate on Quidditch. Leave the rest to me," Severus advised.
Quidditch practice was very intense that night. Draco had a hard time seeing in the dark; none of the Quidditch matches he'd ever played lasted longer than an hour, and thus never played in the night hours. He had a lot on his mind as well, and he was a bit nervous about his first game with these players. All in all, he was glad it was over when two of the three Chasers collided into eachother. Thankfully, they were not hurt, but Roddy was a bit pissed.
"Think it's funny, do you? You'd better not be playing like assholes tomorrow; we have a score to settle!" he railed, making his other fellow Chasers wither under his gaze. "And you!" he shouted, turning on Draco. "I heard you making some comment about how you don't remember the rules of Quidditch?"
"Um, that was more of a private joke between Professor Foxworth and myself. As far as the rules of Quidditch...what rules?" he asked in mock confusion.
"Good lad..." Roderick smirked, and the others all chuckled a bit. They all knew that Slytherins played by their own rules, if they indeed bothered making up any at all. And that wasn't just with Quidditch, either.
"Oh, by the way, before we go in, there's something I made up here that I want to give everybody. I had to rush and make them up during lunch today, but I was saving them for the night before our game with Gryffindor..." Draco announced as he reached into his backpack. He produced a t-shirt, dark green in color (though it was a bit hard to see that in the dark), and they had small pictures of the Quidditch balls used in the game. Underneath, it read "Grab your balls, we're playing Quidditch!"
"We'll wear them tomorrow morning at breakfast," Draco told them.
Even though he had a big grin on his face, Roderick said, "I doubt Dumbledore will allow these in the school, Malfoy."
"But, Roderick," Draco said in mock innocence, "Quidditch is played with balls, is it not?" Everyone, even the lone female of the team, snickered at that. "He'll let it go, unless of course, he gets mad that the Gryffindors didn't think it up first."
"We'll see..." Roderick sighed.
Draco gave Severus one of the shirts right before he went to sleep, even though he wasn't on the team anymore. "I know you'll get back on a broom someday," Draco said quietly.
"I don't think so. But, it's not a big deal." He smirked at the shirt. "Just make sure you stay on your broom tomorrow. With everything that's gone on this week, I think it was a terrible idea to have this rematch this weekend. I'm worried."
Draco shrugged it off. "I'm not. The ones who should be worried are Potter and Black. I'm determined to make them feel pain tomorrow. Pain, but not death, don't worry."
"As long as its not your death... Here, take this," Severus whispered as he furtively handed Draco the dagger he kept under his pillow.
Draco looked around him, and saw no one looking at them. Then he said in a lighter tone than he felt, "Friends don't let friends go unarmed, eh?"
"Don't worry, I've got another one..." Severus murmured. Of course he would, Draco reasoned. After all, no matter how generous he seemed, he was still a Slytherin.
"That's good. Thanks," Draco murmured back, and then pulled the curtain around his bed. And when he awakened in the morning, Draco found himself slightly sickened that he had slept far better with the dagger in his hand under the pillow than he ever had since coming to the Hogwart's of the past.