Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
"So what position will you be playing today?" Uther inquired. I noticed that all sound had obliterated. I could hear the sound of a bee buzzing nearby, I could hear the unsteady breaths I was taking. That was it.
"Chaser." I replied easily.
"Great," he smiled, "I'm a keeper—in case you were wondering. I'm going to be team captain, and the other one will be you." He offered. I nodded. "We've got two seekers—Draco, and Krum. I'll take Draco." Draco obediently went to stand behind Uther.
"Which means I'll take Krum," I replied, not exactly pleased with the news. I did not know Viktor, but I could only assume that international quidditch star got to his head, "Who is the other Keeper?" I inquired.
"I can play keeper," the boy I recognized to be Viktor's Bulgarian friend from yesterday stepped forward, "It's my best, actually." He offered with a grin.
"Yeah, great," I replied. I was starting to get antsy from the way that the sun beat down on my skin. It felt itchy; I was dying to be in the air, feeling the wind blowing in my face. Feeling my hair fly around.
"Let's do chasers next. You have one. So we need five of you to be chasers," Five boys raised their hands as if we were back in first year. I laughed lightly at how much like Muggles we were currently acting like.
"I'm taking Zabini and Flint," I commanded. Uther didn't respond to this if he cared, he just nodded and the other three boys—ones that I didn't have names for joined Uther.
"Leaving the four of you as beaters," I noted Crabbe and Goyle—their identical boulder-ness a little less than intimidating, "I pick Crabbe, and Goyle." Great, there goes the two I actually know the names of...
One of them looked familiar; I'd danced with him last night...his name was Theodore...Taylor...Tyler...Thomas! his name was Thomas. The other though, stocky and with auburn colored hair, I had absolutely no name for.
"You are?" I asked, raising a brow, as I unwound my ponytail, then shoving my hat back over my head, letting my tendrils of hair roam free.
"Alberic Grunnion," He replied, "Beater at your service."
I smiled—not politely and grabbed my broom, "Okay guys, let's warm up." I kicked off the ground and zoomed into the air, feeling my muscles stretch and warm. The wind picked up my hair and knocked it around my face—just what I was hoping for. Something was satisfying and enjoyable about the way that my hair danced in the wind and tickled my cheeks and arms.
Showing off was in my nature, so after my muscles felt stretched enough I began doing spirals, my hat almost falling off in the process. I next began diving, lower and lower until I almost collided with the earth, and then straightened myself.
"If Hayley is done showing off, maybe we can actually start the game," I turned my gaze on Draco, narrowing my eyes. The vicious wind wiped around my head, making my hair fly around my face giving the same effect of the snakes coiled around Medusa's face.
"I shan't dare hesitate a moment longer."
***
"Hmmm, what was the score again?" I smiled victoriously, "Was it two hundred and seventy to ninety?"
"You actually had two ninety, we had seventy," Uther responded even though I'd been talking to Draco. He looked at me with a blank look.
"You got lucky, Bennett." He replied, "Luck. That's all. you've always had it."
"Perhaps luck in this case is more natural skill," I replied.
"You're a girl..." Draco protested and my already narrowed eyes became even smaller slits, "Not that your being a girl factors into this at all..."
"So what do you say, Verne...Did I bring it?" I asked happily.
I had shown them—shown all of them, the stupid, chauvinistic, egotistical boys I'd been playing with (I suppose that I am quite egotistical about myself, but I was good—no reason not to be happy about yourself when you're actually decent).
"Yes," he replied with a laugh, "One hundred and forty points worth of bringing it."
I laughed lightly, and Draco only gave me a rather glum expression. I quieted myself and tried to think of ways to change the subject.
Draco had pretended to be...Oh crap, I could not use that.
I'd won the quidditch match...I couldn't use that either. I did not want to annoy them with my big headed ness.
Luckily, Pansy came skipping off onto the patio and rushed over to us. I smiled, all she did was grin, "Tomorrow's my fitting for my dress, please, tell me that you'll come with me, Hayley? I don't have any decent girlfriends—"
Blaise snorted, "Did you hear that guys, Parkinson says she's got girlfriends!" He snickered.
Both of us turned to look at him with identical expressions of, 'Did you really just say something that immature?'
Apparently, he did.
"Whatever, Anyway—all the girls that I went to Hogwarts with, the Slytherins, they're alright—but I'd rather it be you." Something that Draco didn't know, and I didn't plan on, or intend to tell him anytime soon is that I did write Pansy...
It was so much easier to do. We'd both changed from who we once were, and we'd never been the best of friends, but we had kept in touch.
I don't know how Draco would react if he knew...
"I'll come, I don't mind—and it should be fun. Besides," I giggled nervously, "I don't have a dress for your coming out ball yet..."
"Hayley! It's in less than a week! How have you not picked out a dress yet?"
"It's easy—I was either hanging out with you, or overseeing the planning for the start of my season." I replied, laughing lightly, and running my fingers through my hair, twirling the locks second naturedly.
"Well, I suppose," She began pursing her lips and not looking at me, "that's a good excuse."
I laughed lightly, "Don't even try to be offended. You didn't buy a new dress for my ball," I replied, rolling my eyes. She looked at me and smiled. I was forgiven.
Girls were funny that way—they were always getting 'fake mad,' at one another. Growing up as a 'boy,' I found it baffling the easy way that they bounced back and forth with fake emotions towards their friends. However, I had been able to practice, and sometimes—I was even fake mad at a friend without having to purposely orchestrate it.
After about ten minutes of standing around on Draco's back porch, the crowd dwindled down to eight. The six from my bedroom posse plus Pansy and myself. We made ourselves comfortable on the patio furniture as Draco ordered a house elf to bring us lunch, and then began a unified conversation, "I'm sorry that I didn't mention this previously, but Uther was here, as the captain of the Asps, as a scout. He was particularly looking for fresh, new talent. I think he found it," Draco smiled smugly, "Me." He clarified. I rolled my eyes.
Boys will be boys, I suppose...
Wait...talent scout? What if...and I...because I played well...and then...
I refused to let myself divulge upon that thought. I would only spend days and days in agony over it.
"More like he found it in me," Zabini argued.
"I'm a better chaser than you'll ever be," Flint replied, and a smirk took over his face. I narrowed my eyes, and without thinking first (Step Five in lady etiquette—always, always, always think before you speak) about what I was going to say, I tore my hat off my head, and tossed it to the floor.
"What is it with you sodding bunch and smirking? Is this a trait of Slytherin? Or the trademark of insufferable gits!?" I snapped, throwing my hands into the air, shaking my long mane of hair down my back.
"On the contrary, a smirk is sexy," Flint replied, keeping a smirk on his face as he smoldered his eyes at me. I ignored him, as Draco began to explain.
"Smirks are just good—they're sarcastic, they're dry, they're a reply without saying anything." He explained.
"Like I didn't know that," I rolled my eyes, "I get what you're saying, really, I do. however—have you noticed that you always are smirking. All of you. You do not have any other facial quirk. It's always a smirk. Ever heard of a smile? A frown?"
"As Draco said—it's a reply without saying anything. And it's sarcastic. They're perfect." Blaise argued for himself.
"I think they're sexy..." Pansy replied, throwing her two cents in.
"If you want to be sarcastic, why not try being sarcastic? You know, not everyone likes a man who doesn't speak," I fumed. If my Grandmummy was here she would undoubtedly be pulling me to the side and tell me to act more like the young woman that I was. I pushed her voice from the back of my head and listened to Draco's rebuttal.
"What's that supposed to mean? We speak enough."
"You just said that a smirk was the perfect reply because it wasn't say anything. You're such a walking contradiction," I protested.
"Are you guys going to be fighting like this until we die?" Crabbe inquired, "Because it seems like you do it more now than ever before."
"They did always used to fight, didn't they?" Pansy laughed, shaking her head as if she were reliving a pleasant memory.
"We're not fighting, we're just having a discussion," Draco contradicted, shaking his head, and looking from Crabbe and back to me.
"A rather heated discussion, granted," I laughed, "But it's a discussion none the less." At that moment, three house elves appeared holding trays of food, sandwiches, chips, drinks, fruit, and placing them on the tables around us. It was a square table, and there were two of us on each side. Draco and Zabini sat across from pansy and myself. On my left were Crabbe and Goyle, and then on Pansy's right, Flint and Urquhart. Naturally, the boys all rushed to grab sandwiches and chips. I sat back coolly, waiting until all hands were removed from the food I'd be eating.
"I'm going to go use the ladies," Pansy excused herself, pushing her chair back and heading inside. I stared at the seat next to me and cursed her silently for leaving me in this mess...
The seat didn't stay empty for long, ignoring flint, I reached across the table and grabbed one of the untouched plates of fruit and began nibbling on a piece of pineapple.
"I couldn't resist stealing Pansy's seat," He quickly confided, "After all who wouldn't want to sit next to you?"
Zabini laughed, and looked at me with a grin, "God job, Blaise. No smirk." I commented, popping a blueberry into my mouth.
"Actually, I was just realizing that you are the female version of Draco Malfoy." I did not quite understand what he was saying. The female version of Draco? What the bloody hell was that supposed to mean?
"Translation?" I raised a brow, and crossed my arms over my chest.
"She really doesn't need to hear this," Draco insisted, trying to stop Zabini from explaining his connection.
"I guess you wouldn't know," Zabini continued, "Not being at Hogwarts and everything. However, Draco has quite a reputation—"
"A reputation for what?" I was beginning to think I should be offended at such a comparison.
"For being an insufferable ladies man." I laughed—I had picked up on the fact that he was a ladies' man. Pansy had only drooled over him too many times. Half her stories revolved around Draco.
"So are you saying that chicks really dig me?" I replied.
"No, the opposite. You're a—I don't know what to call it. Vixen, perhaps?"
"I believe calling me a vixen would be heavily implicating that I'm a scarlet woman, and I can assure you, Blaise that, me as a scarlet woman is far from reality."
"Maybe what he meant is that we haven't been around you in which some 'male specimen' hasn't been ogling you, and making a move." Urquhart replied.
Laughing, I replied, "Oh yes—Flint warned me about that last night. How many men exactly were sizing me up for their mantle?" I teased.
"All of them," He replied.
"Can we please get through a meal without somebody hitting on her? Please?" Draco asked, and I couldn't help but laugh.