Disclaimer: Harry Potter isn't mine, as I'm sure you're all aware.

AN: Another chapter for you all to read. I'm actually thinking of editing the first few chapters and reposting the entire fic since there are a few bits on the earlier chapters I don't like. Also I'm not sure if anyone's still reading this since it's been ages since I updated and I think everyone had given up on it! Let me know what you think and if you are out there still reading this!

Chapter 5: To Your Defence

The term passed by slowly and the first years were now well settled into the routine of lessons and homework, when a new excitement suddenly gripped the school. The Quidditch season was starting and the first match was Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff. Slytherin were the clear favourites to win and Draco was basking in the attention that came with being the Seeker who was expected to win them the match.

Maddie too was looking forward to the game; she and Alicia had already got a run down of the team members and their tactics from Draco on a rare moment when he had been sitting alone by the fire, and they now both felt they might actually appreciate the finer points of the game.

It was with great excitement and high hopes that they made their way down to the Quidditch pitch with Sally and Josh on a rather frosty Saturday morning. Almost the whole school had turned out to watch and the four had difficulty finding a good position in the stands. When they finally settled on a spot they were right on the edge of the bulk of the Slytherin supporters, who had managed to take over one end of the stadium. Whilst they waited for the game to begin Josh almost toppled down the stands in his efforts to point out his brother Anthony, who was a little way down from them. When he finally caught his attention they waved enthusiastically but Maddie saw his eyes linger on her Slytherin scarf and his own wave wasn't nearly so enthusiastic.

By the time Sally had managed to drag Josh back into his seat the players were already on the pitch waiting for the game to start. There was a pause whilst the captains shook hands and the balls were released, then the air was filled with green and yellow blurs as the players took off and play began.

Draco swooped straight over to the Slytherin end of the stands, showing off with some tricky twists and turns, before zooming off again to hunt for the Snitch. Maddie however was too busy watching the Chasers to pay much attention to what he was doing; already Hufflepuff had the Quaffle and were flying towards the Slytherin goal hoops ready to score. The Keeper blocked the shot and the Slytherin's let out a cheer, whilst the rest of the school gave a disappointed moan. It was clear to Maddie that everyone who wasn't in Slytherin was hoping they would lose the game, but by now she was used to being a member of the most unpopular house and didn't let it bother her.

The game was a close fought one, Hufflepuff obviously had some talented players and their Beaters were particularly good at stopping Slytherin scoring any goals, meaning they were twenty points ahead when a collective gasp from the crowd drew Maddie's attention to where Draco had gone into a spectacular dive. The Hufflepuff Beaters had also noticed what was going on and lost no time in sending a bludger in his direction. Not until the last minute did Draco notice it and he swerved out of the way just in time, but in those precious few second the Snitch had disappeared and the Slytherins groaned in disappointment.

Maddie and Alicia flopped back down into their seats as the game continued and Hufflepuff scored two more goals.

"Good tactics they're using." commented Josh "Our final match is against them so our teams got plenty of time to adjust their strategies."

"That's really not helping Josh!" snapped Alicia as Slytherin missed yet another goal. Obviously the experience of the older Slytherin players didn't count for much against the young talent of the Hufflepuff team and it seemed that if Draco didn't catch the Snitch the game was well and truly lost.

"I know he boasts about it a lot, but he really can fly." Alicia said critically watching Draco swooping from one end of the pitch to the other. "Shame our Chasers aren't up to much." Much as she wanted to support their team Maddie had to agree, she must have looked rather dejected because Sally smiled at her encouragingly.

"Don't worry, Draco is much better than their Seeker, if he spots the Snitch first you're bound to win." she said trying to sound cheerful. Maddie appreciated the gesture since she knew Sally wasn't exactly Draco's biggest fan.

"Look!" Alicia's sudden shout grabbed their attention and they turned to where she was pointing. Draco was streaking across the pitch with the Hufflepuff Seeker hot on his tail. As he swerved to avoid a bludger Maddie leapt to her feet to cheer along with the rest of the Slytherin's. Even Josh and Sally got caught up in the moment and joined in the cheering enthusiastically.

Within seconds they saw Draco snatch something out of the air and he rose triumphantly over the crowds clasping the Snitch in his hand. The cheer from the Slytherin's almost deafened Maddie as Josh, Sally and Alicia all pulled her into a group hug. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of Josh's brother looking none to happy about the result and eyeing her suspiciously as she jumped around with her friends.

She didn't have time to dwell on it then though because Draco was doing a lap of honour over the heads of the Slytherin crowd and waved as he caught her eye. Maddie was amazed to see he was actually grinning properly. Not a brief flicker of a smile nor his usual smirk but a genuinely happy grin, and she suddenly got the impression that Draco was only really free when he was flying.

"Let's go down to the changing rooms and watch the players come out." Alicia suggested as they watched the teams finally troop off the pitch. Maddie was willing and Josh was eager but Sally looked a little unsure, probably about the idea of being so close to Draco, who she seemed to think hexed younger students at every opportunity; an impression that had only been heightened by Alicia's graphic and rather exaggerated retelling of the incident in the common room where Draco had hexed Wilfred.

Sally though was overruled and they quickly pushed through the crowds heading back to the castle and made their way to the changing room exit. Already a crowd of Slytherins had gathered around some of the team who hadn't bothered to get changed and Maddie watched with interest as the Hufflepuffs began to emerge looking dejected.

She was interrupted by Sally clutching at her arm excitedly and turned to see her starring awestruck at Harry and his friends, who were walking past. Sally's excited squeal caused them to turn and notice them and all three gave friendly smiles, whilst Hermione even went so far as to wave in Maddie's direction, a gesture which she returned enthusiastically, rather pleased to get a much more friendly reception than the last time she had seen them together.

Sally was bubbling over with excitement at what had just happened and Maddie was just about to tell her to calm down when she heard a familiar voice calling her name. Sally's exuberant mood disappeared instantly and she actually tried to edge behind Maddie as Draco strode over to them, still smiling and rather more flushed than usual from flying in the cold wind.

He stopped in front of them, casually leaning on his broomstick and cast an appraising glance over Josh and Sally who were both wearing their Ravenclaw scarves.

"This is Sally and Josh." Maddie informed him, wondering what he would think of her making friends outside of her own house, but not really caring if he didn't like it. "This is Draco" she continued stepping aside so Sally could no longer hide behind her and feeling thankful that Josh at least was acting normally. Draco gave them a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning back to Maddie.

"An easy win." He said confidently, still with a smile on his face. He looked nice when he smiled Maddie noticed, and even Sally seemed to have realised he wasn't about hex anyone and had stopped trying to hide behind the others.

"Only because you're a good flyer." Maddie pointed out "If it was down to the Chasers we would have lost." Draco suddenly wrinkled his nose as if there was a nasty smell about.

"We could do with some new talent in the team really. They keep playing the same people instead of trying out new players, luckily most of them are leaving next year though and when I'm Quidditch Captain the rest might find themselves off the team as well. First thing I'll be doing is holding try-outs for new players." He looked at her thoughtfully "You could try out, you'll be in your second year then."

"Me?" Maddie laughed "I'm not really that good at flying. Alicia is though, I reckon she'd make a great Chaser." Next to her Alicia grinned as Draco turned his attention onto her.

"I'll remember that for next year." He was obviously confident of getting the position of Quidditch Captain and seemed to be looking forward to it. Maddie had never known him talk so enthusiastically about anything, she was used to the bored drawl and look of distain that he used for most topics.

"You play Ravenclaw next don't you?" Maddie was surprised to hear Josh speak to someone who he had referred to as "a nasty piece of work" at the beginning of the year.

"Yes" Draco raised his eyebrows a little as he replied, obviously sharing Maddie's surprise at being spoken to by Josh.

"Our Seeker's called Cho Chang, apparently she's very good." Maddie held her breath hoping Draco didn't take offence at Josh's comment and was relieved when after a moment's pause he actually laughed.

"Not as good as me." He grinned cockily "Not as good as Potter either, much as I hate to say it. Gryffindor are the one's who always cause trouble." Josh looked a little put out by this assessment of their Seeker's Quidditch skills and didn't say anything else as Draco looked him over critically.

"You've got a brother." Draco commented after a few moments.

"Yes. Anthony." Josh seemed to forget the slight on his Quidditch team and beamed at Draco, obviously pleased that he knew his brother who he looked up to tremendously.

"He's in my year, never spoken to him though." He nodded, then turned to Maddie as someone behind called out his name "See you later." He grinned at her and gave the others a curt nod before striding off and leaving Maddie to a outburst of comments from Josh and Sally about how he wasn't nearly as bad as they expected and was actually quite nice. This assessment made her think that they had probably missed the point of much of the conversation, but rather pleased that they were no longer telling her to stay away from him decided not to point out that he had merely tolerated them because they were with her. Besides she couldn't think of a way to say it without sounding arrogant, it wasn't that she was being arrogant, it was just the way things were with Draco and whether she agreed with how he acted or not, she was willing to put up with it in exchange for his conversation.

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Josh had clearly told his brother that he had spoken to Draco because a few days later Maddie's owl brought her an unsigned note bearing the words:

Stay away from my brother.

She showed it to Alicia, who agreed that they shouldn't mention it to Josh, and then threw it in the fire when she got back to the common room. No one told her who she could and couldn't be friends with.

Apparently he hadn't said anything to Josh because when she saw him later that day in Herbology he chatted away with her as normal and over the next week they continued to meet up with Sally and Josh as usual to study in the library or visit Hagrid's Hut to stare over the fence at whatever creature he had captured that day. She had almost forgotten all about the letter from Anthony when she saw him again ten days later.

They had found a quiet area of the courtyard to practice the disarming charms that Professor Snape had taught them in Defence Against the Dark Arts. It was probably against the rules but they needed the practice and Alicia had managed to convince Sally that as long as they said 'Expelliarmus' quietly instead of shouting it the Professors would never even notice what they were doing. Maddie was getting quite good and was just about to have another go at disarming Josh when she saw Anthony staring at them as he walked past. As she caught his eye he glared at her and frowned before hurrying off to catch up with his friends.

Maddie wasn't usually one to be scared by threats, but she hadn't liked the look in Anthony's eye and over the next few days her and Alicia seemed to bump into him alarmingly regularly, which she was sure was not a coincidence. Convinced he was looking for a moment to threaten her in person she shared her worries with Alicia who agreed it was suspicious but thought that at worst he would shout a bit and they could just carry on ignoring him. She wished she could believe Alicia but the look in Anthony's eye hadn't been one of someone who was just going to shout a bit, he had looked at her almost as if she wasn't human and definitely not worthy of speaking to his brother.

Her fears were realised a few days later when she was coming back late from the library. It was nearing the time when the younger students had to be in bed and the corridors were almost empty as she hurried towards the dungeons. She was just turning down the corridor that led to the main staircase when she heard rapid footsteps behind her and a moment later someone grabbed her arm roughly and pushed her towards the wall.

"You!" An angry voice shouted, as Maddie's looked up into the face of her attacker to find it was none other than Anthony Goldstein. "I told you to stay away from my brother."

"Why should I?" Maddie returned defiantly, feeling a lot braver than she expected and determined not to let him push her around.

"I don't want him hanging around with Slytherin scum like you." He growled nastily "Giving him ideas about how that creep Malfoy is actually nice, and encouraging him to break the rules. I know what you Slytherins are like and I'm not having my brother become tainted with your evil ways."

"You can't tell me who I can and can't be friends with." Maddie spat back her eyes flashing angrily as she glared up at him. "Josh is nice and I like him and I'm not going to avoid him just because you say so." She pushed away from the wall and was in the process of walking away when she saw Anthony pull out his wand.

"Perhaps a hex might help you to see things more clearly." He said aiming the wand at her "Now lets see which one to use?" Obviously he didn't expect a mere first year to fight back but she wasn't about to wait around for him to decide what to hex to use. There was only one spell she knew that would be of any use, and before Anthony realised what she was doing she had whipped out her wand and used Expelliarmus. Taken by surprise he had no time to block the spell and his wand flew out of his hand and careered down the passageway past Maddie's head.

"Think you're clever do you?" sneered Anthony "I suppose I should have been prepared for that seeing as how I saw you practising it on my brother the other day." He advanced towards her slightly "I'm willing to bet quite a few Galleons that that was the only useful duelling spell you know."

Realising he was right and that even without a wand he was much bigger than her, Maddie wondered if she should make a run for it.

"What are you going to do?" She asked boldly, deciding to stand her ground. This seemed to make him angrier and he pushed her roughly against the wall.

"Slytherin scum." He spat "I don't usually hit girls but I might make an exception for a slimy little snake like you." As he raised his fist Maddie panicked, thinking that there wasn't much she could do except try to dodge his punch and hope someone came along the corridor soon to help her. Feeling her wand slipping in her now sweaty palms she raised it in sheer desperation and shouted the first spell that came into her head.

"REPELLIUS!"

Anthony flew backwards across the corridor and his head thunked against the wall, knocking him unconscious and causing him to collapse in a heap opposite her. Breathing hard Maddie was just wondering whether it was best to run away and pretend nothing had happened or go and fetch a professor when she heard more footsteps. Hermione, Harry and Ron came round the corner and were greeted by the sight of her standing, wand raised, next to an unconscious Anthony.

This didn't look good.

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"What's going on?" Hermione cried in horror, rushing forwards.

"What did you do to him?" Harry snapped glaring down at her as Ron went to check on Anthony.

They thought it was her fault she realised. She was a Slytherin and Slytherins had a bad reputation, and now she had been found standing with her wand raised next to an unconscious fifth year they were putting the blame on her.

She considered her options, and then started to cry.

"He..he attacked me!" she sobbed, covering her face with her hands "He called me scum and told me to stay away from his brother. He doesn't like me being friends with Josh." Almost at once the three friend's faces changed completely. Hermione wrapped her arms around her comfortingly, whilst Harry and Ron just looked shocked.

"He attacked you?" They said in unison and Maddie was pleased to find that bursting into tears had completely changed their minds about what had happened, just as she had hoped it would.

"He was going to hex me." She wailed, sobbing harder "Then he was going to punch me. He even sent me a threatening letter last week but I burnt it because I wanted to stay friends with Josh." Ron and Harry looked even more shocked and Hermione dug out some tissues for her before turning to the others.

"He'll need to go to the Hospital Wing," she said "And we'll have to report this to the Professors, he can't go around threatening younger students."

"I can't believe he'd do something like this." Harry shook his head, looking horrified "I always got on well with him. Are you sure he was threatening you?"

"He said I was Slytherin scum." Maddie wailed again, breaking into fresh sobs to remove all doubt from their minds. Hermione handed her a fresh tissue and patted her sympathetically as she wiped her eyes.

"Maddie?"

They all turned to find Draco had appeared at the Entrance Hall end of the corridor and Maddie hastily tried to pretend she had never been crying. It was all very well faking tears for Hermione's benefit but being caught crying by Draco was definitely not something she wanted to happen.

"What happened?" Draco was already striding down the corridor towards them and instead of his usual emotionless expression Maddie was surprised to notice he was actually looking at her in concern. The look on the other's faces told her that Draco showing concern for anyone except himself was a new event in their experience as well.

"What did you do to her Potter?" Maddie had been too busy being surprised to answer and Draco now rounded angrily on Harry. "Don't tell me you're picking on first years now?" Maddie was a little disconcerted by this comment and felt obliged to stand up for Harry, despite being slightly annoyed that he had assumed it was all her fault in the first place.

"It's not him. It was Anthony." She explained pointing to where Anthony was now groaning and obviously coming round. Draco looked at him suspiciously, then at Harry, Ron and Hermione in turn before looking back at Maddie.

"That's your friend Josh's brother isn't it? The one in Ravenclaw?" Maddie noticed Hermione looked rather surprised at Draco's knowledge of her friends and had to stop herself from grinning by sniffing and wiping her eyes again.

"What did he do?"

"Apparently he attacked her." Hermione said still giving Draco a strange look, "Are you related?"

"What?" Draco snapped giving her a rather scathing look and turning back to Maddie. "He attacked you?"

"He said he didn't want his brother hanging around with Slytherin scum like me." she explained for the second time "He tried to hex me but I disarmed him, then he was going to punch me so I just shouted 'repellius' because it was the first spell that came into my head and he hit the wall and that's when Hermione came along."

"He called you Slytherin scum?" Up until now Draco had looked slightly annoyed by the whole thing, but now his face twisted angrily.

"That's what she is, all you Slytherins are. My brother doesn't need her setting a bad example." Anthony had finally come round properly and before anyone could say anything Draco had marched over and dragged him to his feet by his robes.

"You're right." he hissed "He doesn't need her to set a bad example, his brother does a good enough job of that already. You attacked a first year who has never done anything to you and never done anything to your brother except be friends with him and that means the only person standing in this corridor who's scum is you." He emphasised the last bit by making sure Anthony's head bounced off the wall again. "You don't even know her." He was shouting now. "You attacked and were about to punch someone you've never even spoken too, how would you know if she's a bad influence or not!"

"She's Slytherin." Anthony shouted back angrily as if this explained everything and began trying to push Draco's hands away from his robes. Hermione, Ron and Harry were simply standing looking rather stunned at the whole scene.

"Have you any idea how stupid that sounds?" Draco spat "You're a pathetic lowlife and I'm not wasting anymore time on you, but if I ever hear you've so much as looked at Maddie the wrong way in future, I swear, I will personally see to it that you never walk again!" With that he threw Anthony back against the wall and turned away.

"Let's go." He said "I'm sure Granger will sort that him out."

"Thanks." Maddie smiled at the three stunned sixth years and turned to go.

"Don't worry I'll make sure me and my brother stay well away from her in future, she's probably trying to get him to join her band of miniature Death Eaters anyway." Anthony growled.

There was a sudden sickening crack as Draco's fist broke Anthony's nose.

The last thing Maddie saw as Draco guided her away down the passageway was Anthony's nose spurting with blood as a very angry looking Harry and Ron dragged him off to the hospital wing whilst an even angrier looking Hermione stalked off to find a Professor.

"They wonder why you're in Slytherin." Draco began when they were out of earshot "They wouldn't wonder if they knew what I know."

"What's that?" asked Maddie a little confused.

"You're not really crying."

There was a pause and then Maddie laughed.

"Well they were blaming me for it all, they thought I'd attacked him!" she exclaimed as Draco grinned knowingly at her, obviously finding the whole thing slightly amusing.

"You're definitely Slytherin through and through." He observed, "If you have any more trouble off him let me know. I assume you're not going to stop being friends with Josh."

"Not if he'll still be friends with me." Maddie said gloomily her smile fading as she realised Anthony might tell his brother to stay away from her, or that Josh might hate her for putting his brother in the hospital wing even if he had attacked her first. Losing Josh's friendship would probably cost her Sally's as well she realised even more gloomily, Sally might be the complete opposite of her and Alicia but Maddie still liked her and considered her a good friend. She didn't want to lose two friends because of this silly incident.

Draco was now looking down at her appraisingly; he wasn't smiling anymore but at least the cold, detached look hadn't returned to his face.

"If I was Josh I'd stay friends with you." He said as they reached the common room entrance "Now get to bed, I've got Prefect duties to do."

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When I chose Anthony to be Josh's older brother in Ravenclaw I didn't realise he was one of the members of the DA, in fact I couldn't remember him being mentioned in the books so I thought she would be a fairly unknown character. If I'd known he was in the DA I could have chosen someone else instead, but it was too late when I found out since I'd mentioned Josh's brother was called Anthony right from the second chapter. He was a little cruel to Maddie in this chapter, but prejudices can make people do some strange and out of character things. Anyway let me know what you think!

Love and lollipops,

Sivany