"What the hell is that chick doing here?" grumbled Goyle. He cast a look in the direction of a slight figure sitting underneath a tree.
"That's a girl?" said Blaise. "What the hell did she do to her hair?" It was a good question, as it shone a brilliant blue in the afternoon sunlight.
"Forget her hair," said Warrington. "She looks like she got her clothes from the bottom of a trash bin." The group of young men laughed. One of them even pointed at her and guffawed in a most undignified manner.
She seemed unperturbed by the attention, the pointing and the jibes. She merely sat, her back up against the tree, underneath the little shade in the park.
"Cripes, she makes Luna Lovegood look positively normal," said Crabbe.
Draco Malfoy shrugged, spared the girl one last glance and pulled everyone's attention back to the game at hand.
"All right," he said, "let's do five on five." He named off the first team and the second half of people strode over to the other side of the field.
Midway through crossing, Goyle shouted to the girl, "Go home, Freak!" When she didn't respond, he screamed again, "Didn't you hear me? Go home!"
Malfoy looked up from giving his team instructions. "Goyle, shut your trap, and get going so we can get a game in before it gets dark!"
Goyle shot him a dark look, but kept quiet.
Moments later, they were all up in the air, shooting past each other in an impromptu game of Quidditch. They were using two trees on either side of the field as goals, and they worked quite well. Normally, the Seeker's sole duty was to catch the Snitch, but with less people on the field, they used him as another Chaser. There was only one Beater on each side as well. As aggressive as the guys were, it more than made up for the lack of another one. And, then, of course, the Keeper flew in front of the goals, trying to keep the Quaffle from passing through the make-shift hoops.
The girl stayed for a long time, ignoring the taunts flown at her by Warrington, who was playing Beater for one of the teams. Draco was a little glad that Warrington wasn't on his team. Why he was wasting his time throwing insults at an unknown girl who wasn't bothering them was beyond him.
It seemed inevitable that Draco's team would win, as his players were paying more attention to the game than the other team was. By the time Draco caught the Snitch, they had been flying for over two hours, their muscles were sore and he was tired. He landed softly on the ground.
"Same time tomorrow?" asked Draco to everyone.
"Can't," said Blaise wistfully. "We're leaving for Egypt in the evening for vacation. My father wants us all in the house, packing by noon. He was pretty adamant this morning about being on time. He's a pain the arse when he gets like that."
The other guys looked at each other. No one else declined the invitation.
Marcus shrugged. "I'll bring my little brother to even out the numbers. He's been bugging me to come along for the past couple of days."
"Sounds good," said Draco. "See you guys." With a half wave, he strode off the field towards the street, passing the object of their taunts on his way.
As he walked closer, he couldn't help staring at her. She sat with her back up against the tree, her head leaning against the trunk, her wrists resting on her bent knees. Her eyes were closed as he approached, but he sensed that they slid open as he passed.
The front portion of her blue hair was pulled into two pigtails and the rest hung down her back. Black lines were drawn thickly around her eyes, making them the most prominent feature of her face. Her lips were lined with heavy, dark lipstick. Her t-shirt clung tightly to her, and her small breasts jutted out from her narrow ribs. Her jeans were ripped and torn, her bare knees displayed because her legs were bent. Her bare feet stuck out from underneath the chafed cuffs.
He didn't realize that he had slowed down until he was directly in front of her. Her eyes opened wide and held his own. She blinked once slowly. Slightly unnerved, Draco nodded in her direction and then looked away, almost running towards the street.