Salutations! I lied. It's not Monday or Wednesday, but here's the next chapter! (the new character in this chapter is based on my friend-not her real name-We fangirl over Drarry together. 'Tis fun.) Read! Enjoy! Review!
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Blaise was balancing on top of the Quidditch ball chest, addressing the rest of his team.
"Right. This year, as you all know, is my last year and I think there's no better way to leave this school, than with the title of Winning Quidditch Team Captain. So, we're going to be practising harder than ever to win. We are going to pull out all the stops, even if it means playing dirty. Subtly though, we don't want to be disqualified."
Harry raised an eyebrow at this. He knew the Slytherins cheated at Quidditch. But Gryffindor usually won anyway. He smirked at this, which everyone else took for him having a plot.
"We've got a good team this year, and you've probably noticed an old face had decided to grace us with his presence once again. But we need to practise hard to make sure we destroy the other teams. Let's get to work!"
Blaise clapped his hands and neatly jumped off of his perch. He walked over to Harry and lowered his voice.
"Remember, Draco supposedly hasn't been flying for a while, so don't give yourself away."
Harry wondered how he could possibly give himself away. He thought he was doing an excellent job being Draco Malfoy. He had the strut, the smirk and the drawl perfected. The modesty too, he thought, sarcastically. "I'm Draco Malfoy, I'm perfect at everything."
Blaise snorted with laughter and clapped Harry on the shoulder approvingly. "As are all Slytherins."
The Slytherin Quidditch team walked over to the broom-shed to collect their various brooms. Draco still rode the Nimbus Two Thousand and One from when he was younger, and Harry longed to untie his Firebolt, which was placed nearby. He went outside with the others, and Blaise opened the Quidditch chest, releasing the Bludgers and Snitch. Everyone hopped onto their brooms and shot into the air. Blaise had previously explained how these practises went. The Chasers scored as many goals as they could, the Keeper trying to block them. The Beaters whacked Bludgers at each other, back and forth, and the practise kept going until the Seeker caught the Snitch. Apparently the longest practise had lasted a week before, and the Seeker at the time had been immediately replaced.
Harry flew a few laps of the pitch, looking for the glint of gold a lot easier without having to wear glasses and being tricked by the frames glinting now and again. A Bludger flew at him, and he instinctively leaned to the side and flipped upside down, and when he was sure the Bludger was gone, he swung back to a sitting position. Pleased with himself, he started to look for the Snitch again. It wasn't long before he saw the shimmer of metal a few inches from the ground. He immediately tilted the handle of the broom at the ground and dived. He pulled up from the ground at the last minute possible, the toes of his boots skimming the ground. The Snitch decided to shoot upwards then, and Harry shot up after it, in hot pursuit. The rest of the team had stopped to watch. After Draco quit the team, they replaced him with a highly incompetent Seeker, but Draco had never flown like that before, even as he had before. Harry pulled his broom to a stop in front of the team. He waved his right hand, where the Snitch now sparkled, triumphantly.
"Does this mean practise is over now?" he asked, smirking.
Blaise rolled his eyes, and signalled that they could head for the showers. One of the Chasers caught up with Harry, a red haired girl that had previously dated Blaise. Blaise had pointed a lot of girls out to Harry. This one was Alexia Girard, who was also in the dreaded Arithmancy class.
"That was some good flying," she said.
"Thank you," Harry replied.
"Do you reckon you'll be able to do that in matches without being distracted by Potter?"
Harry stopped walking and froze. "Excuse me?"
The girl laughed. "I said, do you reckon you'll be able to fly that well without being distracted by Potter?"
"I know what you said. Why, though?" Harry couldn't help a bit of hope slip into his mind.
"Every time you play Seeker against him, you always lose. I figured it's because you're too busy staring at him. Either that or you're a shitty Seeker, which is clearly not true, right Draco?"
Harry gaped. Alexia had him trapped. He was extremely glad not to be the real Draco. He quickly recovered himself, no matter how tempting it would be to go into a monologue about how much he was in love with Harry Potter.
"Actually, I'll have you know, I only watch Potter, so when he sees the Snitch, I can go and catch it first without doing the work," Harry said, glaring.
Alexia grinned. "That's a shame, you'd be such an attractive couple."
The glare intensified. "Excuse me?"
"You'd be really cute together, with your light and dark hair and I'd bet you anything all that hatred is just bottled up sexual tension."
Harry wanted to burst out laughing and possibly hug Alexia and thank her that he wasn't completely mad for liking Draco. Some people would understand.
"What do you know?" Harry sneered, and struggled to find an insult to throw in response, "You're the one with red hair, what are you, a Weasley?"
Alexia raised an eyebrow. "It's hair-dye, duh."
"Muggle hair-dye? I thought you were supposed to be a Slytherin?"
"It's Sleakeazy's hair-dye, idiot. Think I'd use anything else? And I am a Slytherin. We're clever, cunning and bitches, and that's what I am." she finished with a winning smile.
"New mantra for us there?"
"It's been around for ages, have you been living under a rock?"
"Ok, if you're done insulting me, I'm going to have a shower," Harry said, walking off, before he alerted her to how little he knew about Slytherins.
"Going to freshen up for a date with your boyfriend?" she called after him.
"Piss off Girard! I hate you!" he yelled.
"Love you too!"
...
"You're WHAT?!" Ron bellowed, the noise echoing around the Gryffindor common room.
This was directed at Ginny, who was sitting on the sofa next to Hermione. Ron was sitting on the floor, slouching against the armchair where Draco sat, who had shrunk up into the corner of the armchair like an affronted cat, trying desperately for no part of his anatomy to make contact with Ron.
"I'm dating Blaise Zabini," Ginny repeated.
"When did this happen?" Ron demanded, "Did he put you under some kind of curse? Has he forced you to do anything against your will?"
"Ron!" Hermione snapped.
"Hermione, she's my little sister, and as her only brother present, I have to make sure of these things!"
"Do I even need to point out that she has gone out with more people than you have, and is perfectly capable of taking care of herself?"
"But it's Zabini!" Ron protested.
"Yes, what of it?" Ginny asked, nonplussed by her brother's outburst.
"He's a Slytherin!" Ron exclaimed.
Hermione opened her mouth to object, but Draco beat her to it.
"What's wrong with Slytherins?"
Ron craned his neck around to face Draco, ready to argue, but once again, Draco interrupted.
"I know it may be hard for you to believe, but not all Slytherins are Death Eaters."
"Yes, but all Death Eaters were Slytherins," Ron countered.
"Peter Pettigrew," Hermione coughed into her hand, which Ron fastidiously ignored.
"What is your problem, Weasley?" Draco kicked at him.
"My problem is my sister going out with one of your lot!"
"One of my lot?" Draco hissed, "What do you mean by that?"
Hermione and Ginny exchanged worried looks. Even Ron's face had paled. Hermione hastily cast some Silencing charms, sensing an outburst.
"I didn't mean-"
"I know what you meant! Do you think I'm proud of what I've done? Do you think I don't spend every damn minute of every damn day remembering all the pain I've inflicted? Do you think I'm mourning the death of that monster? I did what I did to stop him from killing me and my family," Draco stopped yelling, and looked down at his hands, cringing at the vulnerability he was letting them see. "Family is the most important thing to me. It should be to you as well. Move, Weasley."
Draco got out of the armchair, 'accidentally' stepping on Ron's fingers as he stood up.
"And as for you," he said, addressing Ginny, "Blaise is my best friend. If you break his heart, I will exact my revenge."
"Isn't the phrase 'break his heart, I'll break your face?'" Ginny asked.
"Yes. But that's just so undignified."
Hermione suddenly burst out into coughing again, sounding suspiciously like: "You broke Harry's nose," Cough cough. "Sixth year."
"How Weasley and Harry put up with such a know-it-all, I will never understand," said Draco, before he left the common-room with no further words.
Hermione was stunned, she turned to Ginny, who had a grin on her face.
"Did you hear that?"
"He called him Harry!"
They squealed in unison.
"What's the big deal?" Ron said, whilst chewing on some sweets. How he had got hold of these so quickly, the girls would never be able to fathom.
"Don't worry, dear brother. It's something your brain would never be able to comprehend."
Ron looked confused.
"We're going to go and find Harry," Hermione said, grabbing Ginny's arm and tugging her towards the portrait hole.
Ron watched them go, perplexed. "Bye then. I'll just eat these by myself."
Ron pulled another of the red sticks of yumminess from the packet. "Who am I kidding? I'd never share these."
You are totally awesome if you can identify those sweets Ron's eating...
Ok, I love Remus/Tonks in the books, I'm very sad that they cut them out of the films...ALONG WITH TEDDY. Fun fact, I could possibly have the same birthday as him. Back on topic, I also like Marauder's Era fanfics that have Remus/Sirius. So, I can't decide...a cop-out, I realise.
Back onto the second half of the question. Here's the deal: I used to ship Dramione. I discovered Fanfiction, and non-canon ships, and fell in love with Draco! Then I decided to put Harry as Character B, to see what happened. Then I found Drarry. The rest, as they say, is history...(and upon discovering this, rereading the books and watching the films, I discovered how much I LOVE Ronmione.) I can't imagine either of these pairings changed...
Ok, this chapter's question!
Favourite spell, hex or curse?
See you soon! Remember to review!