Three Chasers

Yanagi Renji

Every night for a week, they snuck out to the grounds, stole brooms from the broom shed, and flew around the Pitch with no light to guide them. Yanagi enjoyed the weightlessness of flying and the rush of the air against his face. He was quickly on par with both Sanada and Yukimura, who had been flying on broomsticks since they were four years old. When Yukimura complimented Yanagi, he claimed he merely had good teachers, though he obviously had a natural talent for flying.

After three nights of flying practice, they began to practice more seriously with a Quaffle, passing it back and forth and aiming for the goalposts. Yanagi was the best at passing, Sanada at catching, and Yukimura at scoring. Individually, their skills were nothing to brag about, but together they made a half decent set of Chasers according to Yukimura, who knew much more about Quidditch than Yanagi.

The week of sneaking out, breaking the rules, and midnight flying lessons was by far the best week of Yanagi's life. He had never had friends to do such things with before coming to Hogwarts and meeting Yukimura and Sanada.

Yanagi, Sanada, and Yukimura woke up early on Saturday morning for breakfast. The tryouts for the Slytherin team started at noon, but they heard that the other houses were going before them starting at nine with Gryffindor. Yukimura insisted they go and watch.

It was Saturday morning and not many students were awake for breakfast. The students who were awake were in various states of dress. Yanagi, Sanada, and Yukimura sat by themselves at the end of the nearly empty Slytherin table and filled their plates with food. Despite his nerves, which tickled his stomach and jarred his thoughts, Yanagi managed to eat a surprising amount of food; he knew he would need his energy for tryouts. He had no doubt gained weight since coming to school. His mother would never have to worry about him being too skinny ever again.

At least he was not the only one who was nervous. Sanada had heavy, dark circles under his eyes and had struggled with his shoes earlier in the morning, leading Yanagi to believe he had not gotten a wink of sleep last night. Sanada was also more irritated by Yukimura's gentle pestering, which was most definitely odd because Sanada typically had a high tolerance for Yukimura, who was seemingly unphased by the upcoming tryouts.

The owls swooped down in fewer numbers than usual to deliver the morning mail. A small owl belonging to the school dropped a folded up newspaper in front of Yanagi, who reached into his pocket for a bronze knut, which he then placed into a small pouch on the owl's leg. The owl pecked at Yanagi's toast then flew off.

"You subscribed to the Daily Prophet?" Yukimura asked as he watched Yanagi unfold the newspaper. "When did you do that?"

"This past week," Yanagi said. "I saw a notice in the common room that said it only costs a knut for each paper. This is the first time it's come."

Sanada frowned. "The Prophet is really biased."

Yanagi was not bothered. He had heard that as well. "It may stretch the truth from time to time, but every lie has some truth behind it. Besides, it's a major source of information for current issues in the magical world."

Yanagi opened to the middle of the newspaper. The Daily Prophet was the most widely distributed wizard newspaper in the area and Yanagi was beginning to understand why. The Prophet published daily and had assorted topics from potion brewing and "one hundred uses for household spells!" to wanted dark wizards and gossip on famous Quidditch players. No topic was too obscure for the Prophet.

Yukimura curiously read the article listings on the first page. He asked, "Yanagi, can you had me the Society Page? It should be page six."

Yanagi nodded and handed him the sixth page of the paper. Yukimura quickly skimmed the article, making small noises as he read.

"Genichirou, did you know Atobe is the son of the owner of the Prophet?" Yukimura asked conversely.

"We met the editor and his name wasn't Atobe," Sanada said, confused.

"Not the editor, the owner."

"There's a difference?"

"Of course there's a difference."

Yukimura read the article for another minute then handed the page back to Yanagi. The large bold heading read at the top of the Society Page read:

PROPHET OWNER'S SON ARRIVES AT HOGWARTS

Next to a large block of text was a moving portrait of an attractive, well-dressed family. A thin, broad-shouldered man with wire glasses stood next to a small, mousy woman that had jewels in her tied-up hair. Standing in front of the two was Atobe Keigo from Ravenclaw, though he looked to be a year or two younger in the photograph. The woman said something that the picture did not capture, causing the man to laugh and Atobe to smile. They looked like a proper, dignified family with practiced smiles and perfectly straight teeth.

"I wonder what spell they use to make the pictures move," Yanagi said with a curious expression. "It's quite strange to see."

"Most magical pictures move," Yukimura said. He frowned slightly and Yanagi knew what he was going to ask before the words came out of his mouth—but I thought you were a half-blood?

Yanagi saved them both time and said, "My parents."

Yukimura nodded curtly.

Sanada paid them no mind and continued to dip his toast into his sunny side eggs, eyeing his grapefruit with the same great intensity he had when he put his pants on backwards earlier that morning.

Yukimura looked at Sanada and smiled. "Nervous?" he asked.

"No," Sanada said, though that was obviously a lie.

"You should eat more," Yukimura said. He shoveled what was left of his breakfast onto Sanada's plate.

"You're like my mother," Sanada grumbled, but ate the food nonetheless.

"Someone has to be. Unless Yanagi would like to take over."

"I'll pass," Yanagi said.

They made it to the Quidditch Pitch at the tail end of Gryffindor's tryouts. They climbed into the stands and sat with several other onlookers. There did not appear to be any first years trying out for the Gryffindor team, but Yanagi spotted several first years in the stands that he recognized—Tezuka from Hufflepuff, and Atobe and Akutagawa from Ravenclaw.

As the Gryffindors cleared the Pitch, a few more than a dozen Hufflepuffs took over, Tezuka among them.

"We can't hear them," Yukimura said, sounding disappointed.

"You two both knew Tezuka before Hogwarts, correct?" Yanagi asked.

Sanada nodded. "We went to school together."

"The Hawkridge Institute for young witches and wizards," Yukimura said. "It's a private institute, an alternative to muggle education or magical homeschooling. We were classmates for years, but eventually Tezuka transferred to a larger school that allowed students to play Quidditch."

"Then it would be safe to assume that Tezuka knows what he's doing," Yanagi said.

"He doesn't just know how to fly," Sanada said. "He's good at it. He was one of the best flyers at our school—although Seiichi was better."

"I wouldn't say that," Yukimura said but his tone suggested otherwise.

The Hufflepuffs flew several laps around the Pitch then began to spread out. There was only one Seeker trying out, an older girl who appeared to be a returning player, but there were four Beaters, two Keepers, and five Chasers. The Seeker played as a Chaser, allowing two teams to go against one another. Tezuka was trying out as a Chaser.

Even Yanagi could tell that Tezuka was extremely skilled for a first year. He remained calm and level-headed, passing the Quaffle where it needed to go and scoring when he could without being reckless. He was steadily racking up points for his team. Soon the score was fifty-zero.

"He is talented," Yanagi said.

The opposing Beaters seemed to be conspiring together, with their heads bowed close to each other and nasty expressions on their faces. Yanagi felt uneasy upon seeing those expressions.

When the Beater flew in front of the Bludger, instead of knocking it away from the Chasers, they sent it straight to one, to Tezuka, their own teammate, who did not realize the Bludger's path until it was too late. The ball slammed into him with enough force to knock Tezuka off path and for a moment, Yanagi thought he would fall off his broom, but Tezuka stayed in the air, clutching his elbow.

Yukimura remained strangely calm in the face of violence. Sanada tensed next to him, his eyes widening considerably.

"That was on purpose," Sanada said.

"I know," Yukimura said darkly.

Yanagi swallowed thickly, remaining silent. Quidditch was more dangerous than he thought.

The team captain loudly scolded the Beater responsible, sent him to do laps around the Pitch, and called an end to tryouts. Tezuka flew down to the bottom of the Pitch where several others surrounded him, fussing over him. Two younger boys physically restrained the older girl that tried out for Seeker as she shouted vehemently at the guilty Beater flying around the Pitch.

"I wonder if he's hurt," Yanagi said.

"He better not be," Sanada said.

"Less competition if he is," Yukimura said. "Though I hope it's nothing serious…"

The Hufflepuffs left the Pitch, ending their tryouts early—the Beater flying around the Pitch landed after his teammates had cleared the area—but the Ravenclaws waited until their scheduled time at eleven to begin their tryouts, which was smart because several other students showed up while they waited. Though when the Ravenclaws entered the Pitch, Atobe and Akutagawa were still the only first years. (Yanagi nearly mistook a short blond girl with dark skin for a first year then quickly realized that everyone was listening to her and she was in fact the team captain.)

Akutagawa did not seem to know the rules—he caught the Quaffle and looked around, confused about what to do, and then later scored for the opposing team—but he was a talented flyer. He was a fast, with sharp turns and dives that not even Atobe could keep up with. He was able to snake between the goalposts, but he was shouted at for not paying attention to the actual game.

Then there was Atobe, who was quite skilled himself. He was the youngest Chaser on his team, but he took charge and called all of the shoots and no one seemed to question him. Even if they had, they could not doubt him when he more than tripled their opponents' score.

Yanagi would be more surprised if the two did not make the team than if they did.

It did not occur to Yanagi that the end of the Ravenclaw tryouts meant the beginning of the Slytherin tryouts until the Slytherins in the stands began to head down to the center of the Pitch. His heart raced in his chest and his mind hurried to remember the rules and many fouls that Yukimura and Sanada had taught him at odd hours of the night.

His panic must have been noticeable because Yukimura smiled at him in a way that Yanagi thought was reserved for Sanada.

"You'll be fine," Yukimura said confidentially.

Yukimura's smile and natural confidence calmed him.

Everyone trying out was given the same, old brooms from the broom shed so that no one had an advantage. Little did the captain know, Yanagi, Sanada, and Yukimura had spent the last week flying those brooms.

Yanagi mounted his broom and pushed up, taking to the sky. The air rushed past his ears, the sun was warm on his skin, and he could see Yukimura and Sanada to his right.

They tossed the Quaffle back and forth as they flew from one end of the Pitch to the other. When they closed in the goals where the Keeper was flying, Yukimura scored. They repeated this several times, doing different passes from different heights and speeds, each of them scoring twice before the captain told them he'd seen enough.

Yanagi had been so preoccupied coming up with worst-case scenarios—falling off his broom and no one bothering to catch him was the worst one that came to mind—that he hadn't even thought of best-case scenarios.

This was the best-case scenario.

They only dropped the Quaffle once and they were able to dodge every Bludger the Beaters sent there way, though Yanagi had a close call with the last one, which skimmed the twigs on his broomstick.

At the end of tryouts, they landed and dismounted their brooms. The captain called them together and began to call out positions, having already made his decision—Keeper, Seeker, Beaters, then—

"Chasers and the only new members this year," the captain said. "Yukimura Seiichi, Sanada Genichirou, and Yanagi Renji."

Yukimura smiled, Sanada gripped his broom so tightly that his knuckles turned white, and Yanagi could not believe that he had made the team without having flown before a week ago.

"But before we make you official members of the team, I need to ask you something important," the captain said, eyeing them. "Are you newbie Chasers mud-bloods?"

Yanagi suddenly felt sick to his stomach.

He had read about the word in textbooks and heard it spat from the mouths of older students in the Slytherin common room. It meant dirty blood. Common blood. It was a disgusting term used by disgusting people, but so many Slytherins, so many pure-bloods said it with ease. Yanagi had never heard Yukimura or Sanada use the word.

"I'm a pure-blood," Yukimura said, slowly, obviously put-off by the captain's question and choice of words. "So is Genichirou."

"We know Sanada—you're his brother, aren't you?" one of them said, grinning maliciously.

"Wouldn't call him a pure-blood," another said. "Though I could say something about his blood…"

Sanada tightened his hand around his broom and inhaled sharply. Yanagi did not know what that was about, and he had the feeling he was not close enough to Sanada to ask.

"Yanagi is a half-blood," Yukimura finished. He looked like he was fighting back the urge to say something.

The older students turned to Yanagi, who felt as though falling off his broom would be better than this. One of them asked, "Was one of your parents a muggle?"

"No," Yanagi was quick to answer. "They both have magic."

The older students seemed happy with that. Yanagi was thankful they did not prod for more details.

"Then you're on the team," the captain said.

Yukimura did not smile at his teammates. After several seconds, he looked at Sanada and Yanagi, and smiled at them. Yanagi, while happy to have made the team, had to force his smile.

The team had a late lunch in the Great Hall, but Yukimura, Sanada, and Yanagi sat by themselves. Yukimura was ecstatic about making the team and even Sanada was smiling more than usual.

Yanagi listened to their animated conversation but did not jump in, his fish and chips going cold on his plate. Yanagi did not want to eat, or talk about their blood-purist teammates. He was thankful Yukimura and Sanada chose not to talk about it as well. However, that meant Yanagi could not ask about what their new teammates were saying about Sanada.

Marui and Jackal came over to ask how tryouts went.

"We all made the team," Yukimura said with a brilliant smile.

"Congratulations!" Marui said. He clapped Sanada on the back, nearly causing the boy to choke, or point his wand at the redhead. "Jackal and I found the passage to the kitchens—we followed a fourth year. We should grab some butterbeers and celebrate."

"You found where the kitchens are?" Yukimura asked, sounding surprised. "You'll have to show me."

"You want to go now?" Marui asked.

"We have Charms homework," Sanada said.

"And Astronomy," Yanagi said.

Jackal nudged Marui with his elbow and said, "We have Herbology to finish."

Marui groaned. "Yeah, okay. Next time, though?"

"Next time," Yukimura promised.

"I hate Herbology," Marui muttered as Jackal and he left the Slytherin table.

The three Slytherins finished their lunch quickly after and headed down to the dungeons. They had long since memorized the complicated path to the common room and no longer got lost in the dungeons. But today, Yanagi's mind was elsewhere and he would have missed a right turn if Sanada had not grabbed his elbow and steered him in the right direction.

"Yanagi, are you alright?" Yukimura asked. "You haven't talked much since tryouts and didn't eat anything at lunch. Do you need to go to the Hospital Wing?"

Not only was Yukimura looking at him with concern, but so was Sanada. Sanada never looked at anyone with concern except for Yukimura. They honestly cared about him. They thought of him as their friend.

Yanagi could not keep it a secret any longer. He had to tell them.

"Would you two really be able to team up with a mud-blood?" Yanagi asked.

"Don't say that word," Sanada said, turning his head, as if checking to see if anyone was around to hear. "It's a bad word. Don't you know that?"

Yukimura frowned. "Yanagi, what's going on?"

Yanagi took in a deep breath. It did not calm him like he had hoped it would.

"I have something to admit," he said quietly. "When I met you on the train, I said I was a half-blood. And again after tryouts, I said my parents had magic. I lied."

"Then what are you?" Yukimura looked confused. He obviously did not understand what Yanagi was trying to say.

"You introduced yourself and Sanada as pure-bloods," Yanagi said quickly, flustered. He could feel himself beginning to panic.

What if Yukimura and Sanada hated him when they found out? Yanagi would lose the only friends he ever had. But could he really be their friend without telling them his secret? Would the pure-bloods conspire to torture him, to make it so he never had a peaceful day at Hogwarts? The other houses hated Slytherin. If his own house began to hate him, he would have no place at all.

"I read all about politics in the magical word before coming here and I knew some pure-bloods only associated with other pure-bloods. I couldn't lie and say I was a pure-blood, you wouldn't recognize my name, so I said I was a half-blood instead."

"Yanagi, what are you trying to say?" Yukimura asked in a slow, calm voice.

"I'm a muggle-born."

Silence hung in the air.

Yanagi wanted to disappear.

"So?" Sanada said after a moment. His eyebrows were pinched together in confusion. "Is that a big deal?"

"I—" Yanagi found himself at a loss for words. "I lied to you. I told you I was a half-blood."

"You lied because of something I said, didn't you?" Yukimura asked. "When we met, I said we were pure-bloods, like that was important to us."

Yanagi nodded. He could not meet their eyes. "I could have left the compartment instead of lying, but I… I did not know how you would treat me if you found out I'm a muggle-born. I was afraid that you might tell others when we got to school and that they might hate me too. So I lied."

Yukimura looked uncomfortable. Yanagi knew he would be. Wouldn't a pure-blood be upset to learn they had lived a muggle-born for so long without knowing?

"If you are upset with me, I can ask a prefect for a room change," Yanagi said. He knew he must have sounded miserable. He felt miserable. "I can quit the Quidditch team and—"

"No!" Yukimura said quickly. "No. I'm just mad with myself. I didn't know that introducing myself as pure-blood could affect people like that. I never thought about it. I was raised that way. I never questioned it."

"I never corrected you," Sanada said to Yukimura.

"We're sorry."

"You're not mad at me for lying?" Yanagi asked. "Or for being a muggle-born?"

Yukimura shook his head. "That doesn't matter. We're the ones who put you in a position where you had to lie. It's our fault, not yours."

"You're our friend," Sanada said. "Being a muggle-born doesn't change that."

Yanagi felt so relieved that he did not know what to say. He felt as if he may cry. He had carried on the lie by himself for nearly a month. He had lied to the only two friends he had at this school. Now, he didn't need to lie to them anymore.

"All I ask is that you don't tell anyone," Yanagi said. "Especially the other Slytherins. I know that blood purists are rare now, and most people in our house aren't like that, but the few that are…" Yanagi trailed off. He knew that Yukimura and Sanada would know more about that than he did.

Yukimura nodded, looking serious and determined. "I won't tell, promise."

"Me neither," Sanada said with the same intensity.

Yanagi nodded.

For a brief moment, they were silent. Then, smiling easily, Yukimura grabbed Yanagi by the arm and began walking again. He said, "I have to teach you Exploding Snap. Do muggles know any good card games?"

"Have you ever played go-fish?"

"What's that?"

"You don't know what go-fish is?"

"No." Yukimura looked at Yanagi with large, curious eyes and a warm smile. "Does it involve real fish?"

Yanagi smiled and explained that no, it did not involved real fish. He walked closely to Yukimura the entire way to the common room with Sanada several feet behind. They celebrated making the team with the special sweets Yukimura kept hidden away in his trunk. They finished their Charms and Astronomy homework together before playing Exploding Snap until dinner.

Nothing had changed and Yanagi was never more thankful for his friends.