The Beater – part 2
There was a cold mist in the air when Buffy left the castle. The small band of Slytherins she was with followed the twisting pathway to the Quidditch pitch, the crunch of gravel beneath their feet loud in the ear morning air. Without the decorative fabric wrappings, the wooden struts of the stadium looked like bones in the cold morning light. Buffy eyed it with misgiving and tried not to shiver.
Fall arrived early in the Highlands of Scotland. There was the smell of damp heather, wood smoke, and the scent of pine needles in the air. Although they weren't heading in that direction, Buffy looked across to where a shadowy line of trees marked the boundary of the Forbidden Forest. She still hadn't explored in there. Why was it Forbidden? She'd asked Professor McGonagall who'd told her it was too dangerous for students and that on no account must she go in there. She wished she was heading into there now, rather than trying out for a ball game.
"What's she doing here?"
The boy's whining voice came from behind her. Buffy stiffened, pulled from her musing of the forest.
Someone else let out a sarcastic huff of laughter. "I hear she's trying out for Beater," replied an arrogant voice. "I've seen fairies with bigger muscles than what she has. I warrant, she'll take a fall within the first few minutes and have to be taken from the pitch crying."
Buffy shot a death glare over her shoulder. She knew exactly who that voice belonged to. Corvus Flint, seventh-year student and Mr Obnoxious. Uma and Fiona made a point of always avoiding him in the Common Room and, after seeing the way he treated others, Buffy had followed their lead. Sadly her death glare missed its target. Flint may have been looking in her direction but his focus was on the stadium rising from the mist beyond her.
"If there's one thing I'll miss, when I leave," he said, " it's thrashing the Gryffindors every Quidditch match."
Buffy rolled her eyes and kept walking. The Slytherin/Gryffindor rivalry was getting old – fast.
Once they reached the stadium, Malfoy opened the doors and they all filed through onto the pitch. It was the first time Buffy had been inside the Quidditch stadium and she was surprised by the scale of it. The stadium was over 500 feet long and, like many other types of pitches, it was marked by white lines painted onto the grass. At either end of the oval were three tall poles, each one capped with a metal hoop through which the goals were scored, and surrounding the entire pitch were raised tiers of seating.
There were already students climbing the stairs and filing into the seats. Buffy shaded her eyes, trying to make out their faces. From her position, she couldn't identify them but, from the colours on their robes, they were Slytherins and Gryffindors.
Buffy knew most of the Slytherins who were coming to watch. For the most, die-hard Quidditch fans along with the friends of those trying out. Uma, Fiona, Tom, and his friends had all promised to watch, but why would the Gryffindors be here? Was it to scope out their competition as Malfoy claimed? Or were they merely curious? She gnawed at her bottom lip. Was Caradoc with them? She hadn't mentioned the try out to him but Roz Moody knew and might have told him. She had a soft spot for Caradoc. Would he want to see her play? Buffy wasn't sure how she felt about that.
"... we all know why we're here," Malfoy drawled. He'd begun his introductory speech while she'd been staring up at the stands.
Buffy regard the Captain doubtfully.
"To show the rest of the students that Slytherin House is the best House in Hogwarts! With that in mind, we're gathered to prove that you're the very best Slytherin has to offer. I want to say, thank you for coming and good luck to you all... Don't forget," he quirked a smile, "to use every skill to ensure the success of our House."
"Any which way you can without getting caught." Flint laughed.
A ripple of nervous laughter went through the group. Buffy looked at her nails, wishing Malfoy would hurry up. The sooner this was over the better. She had a mountain of homework she needed to do, she had to wash her hair, and then there was the enchanted eyeshadow Lucretia had given her that she wanted to try out.
Malfoy laughed at Flint's joke. "Well... as a House, we are known for our ingenuity and ambition," he added smugly. "Before we start... Does anyone here want to try out for Goalkeeper? If so can-."
"Hey, what's wrong with me?" Victor Avery shouted, elbowing his way through the other students until he was at the front, facing Malfoy. "I was Goalkeeper all last year!"
"Avery, I'm going to be polite here. You hardly turned up to any of the practices." Malfoy's face was uncharacteristically harsh. "We had to find a replacement for you when you didn't show up at a match."
Avery looked sullen. "My workload was stressful. Don't you remember? I had to drop Arithmancy and Ancient Runes. Plus we were all sent on a wild Thestral chase researching the Chamber of Secrets for- ."
Chamber of Secrets? Buffy's head shot up.
Malfoy held up a hand and Avery stopped speaking before Buffy could learn more.
"Enough! Miss any practices and you're out. I don't care how good you are." Malfoy nodded towards the eager group of second and third years stood holding their brooms. "We've a number trying out for the team this year including Miss Buffy Summers who wants to be a Beater."
"I might be a Chaser," Dolohov whispered to Buffy. He'd moved alongside her whilst Malfoy and Avery had been arguing. "But I can show you some interesting moves."
His warm breath fanned across her neck causing the tiny hairs to rise and not in a good way. Buffy lifted the collar of her robe and shuddered.
Dolohov went on, "I know just the right way to hold a... club."
When Buffy angled her face towards him, her smile wide, voice chirpy. "Sure, I've already heard you're big on the self-practise."
Dolohov blinked stupidly, unsure if she'd given him an insult or a compliment. Buffy turned away, leaving him to figure it out.
Malfoy continued, "...Mount your brooms and I shall release the Quaffle."
The Slytherins climbed onto their brooms and Buffy raised her arm.
"I expect to see you passing it to one another as you fly the full length of the pitch."
Buffy's hand went higher into the air. " Hey, Abbie!"
Still ignoring her, Abraxas Malfoy opened the lid of the trunk, took out the ball and threw the Quaffle up into the air. The Slytherins took off, one caught the ball, and they began passing it to one another as they flew around the pitch.
"I'm watching you!" yelled Malfoy. "I'm looking at your skill in flying, catching, and throwing. Avery! Get to the goals and let's see if you're still any good!"
"Hey!" said Buffy, tired of being ignored she poked him in the arm. "I don't have a broom. You told me that you'd bring one for me to use."
She pouted, before dropping her eyes meaningfully to where his brand new broomstick lay on the ground beside the trunk.
"If you forget to bring me one, does that mean I can borrow yours?" She was fairly confident that Hell would freeze over before Malfoy lent her his pride and joy.
As she thought, Malfoy almost had a seizure. "Certainly not!" he spluttered. "As if I'd let you anywhere near my Nimbus 1,000. No one touches my broom!"
He leaned into the trunk, took out a short wooden bat and threw it at her.
Buffy deftly caught it with one hand. She spun the bat into the air and then lay it across the palm of her hand, assessing the balance before gripping the handle, and taking a few experimental swipes. Even if she hadn't seen the runes carved into the wood, she'd have known the wood was charmed to be stronger than it should. It made her wonder... if she carved the same runes into a stake, would it be strong enough not to dust if left inside a vampire's heart? A stake like that would be handy to have around.
"You're left handed?" Malfoy asked, watching her brandish the bat.
"Oh, I can use either."
Buffy transferred the club into her right hand, and began going through another series of swings and fake strikes. It fitted snugly in her hand and she felt as if she could do a lot of damage with it.
"So what do I get to hit?" The Slayer part of her was begging to try this new weapon out.
"This." Malfoy undid a lock in the trunk and the strap holding down one of the dark iron balls sprung upwards. The Bludger shot into the air and circled around them.
Malfoy yelled, "Get ready to hit the Bludger!" He picked up the second club from the trunk and stood with his feet apart, ready to strike.
The ball flew at them. At the very last moment, it veered away from Buffy and headed for Malfoy. Abraxas sighed and prepared to strike. As he raised the bat, Buffy jumped between him and the Bludger and swung her bat. There was a thwack as iron hit enchanted wood, and then the ball barrelled off, spinning across the pitch towards one of the main seating pillars.
Crack!
Splinters of wood broke off and flew in different directions. The entire section of seating above the wooden strut shuddered. The iron ball ricocheted away, striking the perimeter wall and rebounding back to Buffy. The Slayer stepped forward, ready to whack it again when Malfoy leapt in front of her, grabbed the Bludger and wrestled it to the ground.
"The perimeter wall is magically warded," explained Malfoy, "It can't go any further. You strike did well and I'm impressed enough to want to see you hitting it while you fly." He pushed the Bludger down into the hollow in the box and fastened the strap. "There are two of these. It's the Beater's job to knock them away from team members from them and hit them in the direction of the other team. Preferably, towards the other team's Seeker or anyone holding the Quaffle." He gave her a hard look. "How experienced are you in the air?"
"Are you saying I'm air-worthy?" Buffy asked. "Because I'm not seeing a broom and the last time I looked I hadn't grown wings."
A smirk appeared on Malfoy's sharp face. He walked to the nearest tower and took out a broomstick that had been hidden behind one of the pillars. "I stashed this here earlier. It's my second-best broom, the Comet 140."
He held the broom out and Buffy put her hand out to receive it. But Malfoy wasn't ready to trust her with it yet. "This is an exceptionally good broom and I'm doubting my sanity in agreeing to lend it to you. I've won countless matches on this broom and I've had it since first year. Father sent it to replace one that caught fire."
There were scorch marks on this one too. Buffy remembered Dolohov saying Malfoy would have been severely injured if it wasn't for Dumbledore dousing the flames. Setting fire to the stick had been Tom's revenge for Malfoy's bullying. Buffy had the sudden urge to whack Malfoy across the head with her bat for bullying Tom.
"I'm trusting you with this," Malfoy went on, he reluctantly handed her the broom and morosely watched her straddle it. "I know this will be vastly different to anything you've ever ridden before, so don't let me down by doing anything stupid and damaging it. What broom did you learn to ride on?"
"Uncle Peregrine said that it was an Oakenshield or something. He said it was a family heirloom and the shops don't sell them any more."
"Do you mean an Oakshaft? An Oakshaft 77? Are you sure?" Buffy nodded, and Malfoy looked a mixture of aghast and intrigued. "Those brooms are death traps! They were withdrawn from sale due to a faulty Flight Charm. Countless Wizards died or were badly injured due to the poor quality Rune work!"
Buffy nodded glumly. "Kinda not surprised that they killed people. It was pretty intense trying to ride it. Luckily, ours has an irrational fear of heights so that when it crashed you just banged your knees on the ground."
Incomprehension on Malfoy's face. "What? I don't understand."
"It never flew higher than four feet. I think it must be scared of heights or something." Warming up to the subject, Buffy went on, "Getting it to take off was a big problem. You had to tuck it between your legs and run up and down the garden path until the airborne charm kicked in. If that failed and you were really desperate for transport..." she rolled her eyes. "Because Wizards hate catching Muggle buses and there's not many buses about since Devon is, like, in the armpit of England..."
"Knight bus," Abraxas mumbled. "Wizards catch the Knight bus. Just stick out your wand arm and it appears."
Buffy made a tsking sound with her tongue at the interruption. "Riding the Knight bus is supposedly worse than riding a dodgy broom... What was I saying? Oh, yes. Sometimes the only way to get the broom to start was by finding a big rock and jumping from it."
Malfoy gaped at her. Buffy thought he might not believe her. She didn't blame him. When Lovell had first explained how to get the broomstick flying, she'd thought he was joking.
"You can ask Lovell about the broom," Buffy said. "He'll tell you. He won't even ride it any more. It threw him off when he was six and he broke his nose and three of his teeth."
In the end, the novelty of a flying broomstick had worn off. If you were going to be a Witch and ride a broomstick, Buffy thought you should at least be able to fly so high that no one could see you. She'd felt stupid hovering just above the ground with her toes trailing the ground. Every time she'd heard a Muggle car in the distance, she had to jump off and tug the broom into the bushes to hide it. It, sort of, sucked all the joy from the experience.
Buffy smiled at Malfoy. "I'm sure your broom won't be anything like ours. Thanks for lending it to me and I'll try not to go through a crisis whilst riding it!" And then she kicked off the ground with her heels, shooting straight up into the air, scattering circling players, and rising high above the Quidditch arena.
...
A/N;
thanks to all who reviewed. Sorry for not replying to each of you personally. I have been completely knocked out by a flu like virus. I could hardly get out of bed! Not covid 19 as I was tested.
Anyway, next chapter Buffy has a surprise, Dumbledore is confounded and Tom is torn.