Chapter Eight: The First Match
There are several dialogue quotes taken from JK Rowling's Chamber of Secrets in this book. This is to convey the same story she wrote, but from another character's POV. The quotes taken directly from the book have three quotation marks (instead of two) around them to signify she wrote them and that I am citing them. Because I am transforming pieces of her work into something new this falls under the Fair Use Act. Additionally, JK Rowling has stated that she is okay with noncommercial fan fiction. All direct quotes, the Harry Potter storyline, and the characters all belong to JK Rowling.
Draco did not hear back from his father, which didn't come as too much of a surprise. Lucius was a busy man with little time to spend writing letters to his son. Especially, considering that Draco often asked questions that Lucius didn't want to answer.
Draco woke up at 5:00 am the morning of his first quidditch match, unable to go back to sleep. The Slytherins would be playing against Gryffindor, and this would be his chance to prove himself against Harry. He paced back and forth across the dorm, going over quidditch plays in his head. When he could no longer stand to be in his room, he went down to breakfast, and was the first person to sit down. He hardly even noticed when his friends finally sat down next to him.
"You have to eat something," said Daphne, sliding a piece of toast in his direction.
Draco, snapped out of his daze, glanced up at the clock, 10:00 am. "No, actually I should go. Flint wants us to meet at 10:30."
"Wait- Draco," Pansy called after him. "...Good luck... and everything."
"Thanks," said Draco, and he made his way out of the dining hall to the Slytherin locker rooms.
Draco quickly got changed and sat down on the bench, furiously shaking his right leg with anticipation. The minutes dragged by slowly and relentlessly.
At 9:40 am Flint finally spoke. "I'm not going to lie to you guys," he said. "Despite what we say as smack talk, the Gryffindor team is good."
This opening statement was met with the sounds of boos and laughs.
"Shut it!" Flint shouted, regaining control of the team. "The Gryffindor team is tough competition, and to deny that would be the worst mistake we could make. However, in addition to having superior equipment, we have something else that the Gryffindor team will never have. That something is that we have nothing to lose. Play as dirty as you need, pull any stunt in the book because at the end of the day they other houses are never going to like us regardless of what we do. If you can't make them like you, make them fear you. I'm counting on that from every one of you today. Do you understand?"
The Slytherin team clapped, nodded, and cheered in response. Draco felt as if his heart may fall out of his chest right then and there. It was like his body was on autopilot, and he wasn't controlling it. Then Flint came up behind him and patted him on the back. "Harry is great," he whispered. "But you're better."
Suddenly, Draco didn't feel so nervous. He now felt completely in control, and like he knew what he had to do. "I know," he whispered back, smirking and feeling completely determined.
As the Slytherin team walked onto the field, Draco noticed that the Slytherins in the stands must have been completely wrecking their voices trying to cheer over the booing from the other three houses. Next, the Gryffindors walked onto the field to the sounds of three houses brightly cheering for them.
Flint and the Gryffindor quidditch captain, Wood, shook hands while exchanging deadly glances. Then each player took a ready stance on their broom and waited for Madam Hooch's signal. "'On my whistle,'" she shouted. "'Three . . . two . . .one . . .'"
All fourteen players immediately shot up in the air. Draco scanned the field looking for any sign of something small, gold, and fluttery. Draco looked up and saw Harry looking down on everything. He remembered what Flint said about playing dirty, and he decided to shake things up.
"'All right there, Scarhead?'" Draco yelled, and shot forwards, showing off the speed of his broom. The Nimbus 2000 was a wonderful broom, but it paled in comparison to Draco's 2001.
Draco circled the arena, and spotted the snitch. He soared after it, but before he had a chance to catch it, one of the Weasley twins hit the Bludger right towards his head. Draco ducked and missed the Bludger by no more than an inch, but unfortunately he lost sight of the snitch and had to practically start over with his search.
Draco looked to his right and noticed that the Bludger was now headed towards Harry. He seized the opportunity and flew upwards, trying to get a good view of the full field. Draco then noticed something strange, the Bludger hadn't just happened to fly towards Harry. It was completely following him around like a magnet. Draco knew enough about quidditch to understand that this wasn't typical. Someone had fixed the Bludger to only go after Harry. Draco was so confused, that he continued to watch the spectacle until he heard the announcer, Lee Jordan, shout, "'Slytherin lead, sixty points to zero —'"
"Crap," Draco muttered under his breath. He had no idea how long he had just sat there, not looking for the snitch, when now of all times, he had the advantage. Draco swooped back down towards the field. Thick droplets of rain began to land on his head, and had just caught a glimpse of something gold, when he heard Madam Hooch's whistle, signaling a time out.
Draco moaned, and retreated to the ground. He walked over and joined the Slytherin huddle. "Is that Bludger... your doing?" whispered Miles, Slytherin's keeper. Clearly Draco wasn't the only one who had noticed.
"No, of course not!" Flint shouted.
"Sorry" Miles responded. "It's just that earlier you said-"
"I know what I said Miles!" Flint snapped back. "But I want us to win fair and square because we can. I don't need to tamper with the balls for us to score a win."
"We know that Flint," Slytherin Chaser, Adrian, interjected. "Besides, the balls are always locked in Madam Hooch's office before the games."
"The important thing," Flint continued, completely annoyed. "Is that we not let this affect our game. Draco, keep your eyes on the snitch, not Harry."
"Right, sorry," Draco muttered.
Flint was now practically shaking with adrenaline, ready to continue the game. "Are we good to continue?" He shouted at Madam Hooch, much more intensely than he had meant to.
However, she seemed to be over the hold up as well, because she immediately turned to figure out what was going on with the Gryffindor team. The rain started to come down much thicker now, and a minute later Madam Hooch signaled for both teams to mount their brooms. On her whistle they resumed the game.
Draco shot up and started to circle the field again, when he saw Harry zig-zagging across the field, trying to rid himself of the rogue Bludger that was still following him around.
"'Training for the ballet, Potter?'" Draco shouted, earning a few laughs from his team mates.
WHAM
Draco watched in horror as the Bludger smashed into Harry, breaking his arm. "Shit," Draco muttered. He hated Harry for sure, but he wasn't trying to get his arm broke. The Bludger came back for a second attack on Harry, Draco opened his mouth to warn him, but Harry swerved out of the way just in time.
Suddenly, Harry was barreling towards him. Draco's eyes widened, as he was certain Harry was about to knock him off his broom for letting that Bludger hit him. However, Harry didn't attack Draco, he shot off right past him.
"'What the —'" Draco muttered, confusedly. "Crap." Suddenly, Draco was very aware that he was in the middle of a quidditch match, and that Harry must have gone after the snitch. Draco turned in an attempt to fix the situation, but it was over, Harry had caught the snitch. Draco watched Harry barrel towards the ground and pass out completely.
Draco landed, and instinctively took a step towards Harry to see what had happened, when he felt a hand grab the back of his robes. It was Flint.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" Flint screamed. "THE SNITCH WAS RIGHT NEXT TO YOU AND YOU DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE!"
Draco's face was bright red with embarrassment. "Flint I'm so-"
"SHUT IT" Flint screamed, pulling out fistfuls of hair.
Adrian put a hand on Flint's shoulder. "The good news is Potter won because Draco was distracted by Harry getting his arm broken... not because he is a better player."
"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?" Flint shouted back. "YOU THINK I'M AN IDIOT OR SOMETHING? THAT'S WHAT MAKES THIS SO INFURIATING. AT LEAST TERRENCE DIDN'T BEAT HARRY BECAUSE HE COULDN'T BEAT HARRY."
"Just like how Harry continued to play with his broken hand, you need to learn to keep playing even with distractions," said Miles.
Draco wished he could climb inside a hole and never come out. "I... I know, and I am sorry," he answered, looking down at his feet. Draco was surprised that only Flint seemed angry, but when he looked around at his teammates' faces, he realized they felt bad watching Draco get chewed out by Flint in front of the entire school.
Draco could hear the familiar sounds of the Weasley twins laughing in the background, Draco did not look up, scared he might accidentally meet eyes with him. Adrain was trying to calm Flint down, and Draco took this as an opportunity to try to slip away undetected. Unfortunately, this plan did not work, as he heard a familiar voice call his name.
Draco turned to see his father standing before him. "Father!" Draco managed to choke out. "I- had no idea you were coming."
"Unfortunately, I decided to stop by as a surprise," his father answered, looking down at his son. "Clearly I shouldn't have bothered."
"I- I don't have any excuse for how things-" Said Draco, trying his best to hold back tears.
"No you do not" Lucius interrupted. "But I guess this was a good lesson for me. It turns out that no matter how much money or resources you invest in someone, you can't buy talent or success. Maybe, I should just come to terms with the fact that my son is a disappointment." Lucius turned to leave, but then turned back to Draco to say one last thing, "I have no reason to share any more information with you, there's really no need when you are incompetent of following orders.
Draco watched his father walk off angrily. He turned and saw his teammates dealing with the loss for Slytherin. Crabbe and Goyle were nowhere to be seen, not that they would be of much support anyways.
Draco felt more alone in the world than he ever had. Completely and utterly alone. Then he saw three Slytherins running towards him: Pansy, Daphne, and Blaise. And even in that moment, he managed to give a sort of smile.