Chapter 11

It was the day of the big Quidditch game. Although Flint wouldn't admit it, this game meant everything to him. Beating Gryffindor meant a lot to every Slytherin in all honesty. Finally pulling a win over them after the house cup fiasco the previous year was what was on their minds.

Reece sat at the Slytherin table alone in his Quidditch attire the morning before the game. That night he was also planning to rob the ingredients from Snape's storage as well. So there were quite a few things on the young boy's mind.

"Are you nervous?" Daphne had appeared suddenly and was sitting beside him with a concerned expression. Her hair was tied back messily and she seemed to be quite drowsy in her speech.

"I'm fine." Reece lied. The nerves were eating him up inside bone by bone but he hated to show any form of weakness. "What's up with you? You're not as cheery as you normally are." She scrunched up her nose at the way it was phrased but nodded at his statement nonetheless. Daphne came across somewhat tired and down. It was definitely unlike her to be like this.

"I'm just tired Reece." She dismissed him with a wave of the hand and picked up a triangular shaped slice of toast. "Didn't get much sleep last night. No one in my dormitory did really." He frowned at her last statement. What in the world was she talking about?

"What do you mean no one in your dormitory?" He asked while reaching for some bacon and sausages. Talking to her was calming him without him even realising. Before she sat down Reece had only forced himself to eat a small slice of toast, but now he was piling up a full English like he did most mornings.

"I'm sworn to secrecy." Reece frowned as he shovelled in some beans with as much sophistication as he could manage. "It's kind of a girl code that you don't tell boys."

"I won't tell anyone. You have my word." Daphne looked like she was considering it but still not giving in. "If you don't tell me I'm just going to presume the worst."

"What do you mean worst?" Daphne asked doubtfully. Reece smirked at her and raised his eyebrows up and down. "You're actually disgusting." She grimaced before punching the side of his arm playfully. "If you must know, it was Pansy." His smirk soon changed to a frown.

"Is she okay?" Reece asked worriedly. He was genuinely concerned for his friend – and he wasn't concerned about people often.

"I think so. But she was crying all night." Daphne didn't exactly want to say anything else but the look in his eyes made her elaborate a little more. "You said Malfoy may be slightly dismissive at first but I didn't think it would be that bad. Pansy means well, but he doesn't come across delighted at the fact that she has an interest in him. Yesterday he told her to leave him alone as usual, but then started calling her names and stuff as well. It was really harsh to witness to be honest."

"You were there?" Reece asked, surprised. "Didn't you stick up for her or anything?"

"I couldn't. He had Crabbe and Goyle with him and you were nowhere in sight." He was in the library, conversing with Granger about the polyjuice. "It was in the common room and Malfoy wouldn't hesitate to embarrass her more if I said something." Daphne replied with hesitation. She also seemed quite upset that she didn't stop what was being said to her friend at the time.

"That bastard. He might be my friend but I'm not going to let him get away with that." Reece spat furiously. They may have been best friends but there was no way he was going to let Draco get away with that. He made Pansy – his friend – cry, and Reece wouldn't let him do it again. He shot up from the bench and allowed his eyes to scour the table in search for a bleach blonde.

"Reece stop it." Daphne scolded as she grabbed his forearm roughly and pulled him back down. He landed on the bench with a thud and gave Daphne a small glare. "He's your best friend. And besides, it was just a few mean names and comments. You've said a lot worse."

"I do things to my enemies. Not my friends." Reece snapped harshly as he downed the rest of the pumpkin juice in his goblet. "If he does that again I swear I'm going to smash his face in with my bat. Teach him and those two idiots not to make my friends cry." She had tried multiple times to cut him off but had no such luck. After that Daphne just left his blood to boil, praying that he would calm down after the match.

Throughout the game, Reece repeatedly smacked the bludgers whenever he got the chance. At one point Katie Bell nearly fell off of her broom trying to dodge his vicious attacks. The Slytherin team played dirtily, but not dirty enough to be penalised often.

The team was now leading by sixty points but there was still no sign of the snitch. Malfoy had been attacking those who had the quaffle every now and again but stayed out of the action for most of the game.

Reece loved being right in the middle of the action, and at one point hit a bludger at Harry. Potter managed to dodge it but it seemed to come back down and smash the front of Wood's broom in the process. Reece frowned at the rogue bludger for a second before going back to attacking Angelina Johnson (who had the quaffle) with the rest of the team. Soon after both seekers had disappeared and it was obvious that the snitch had been spotted. Reece continued hitting the other bludger at the Weasley twins whenever it came near him. One time he hit it so hard that it flew right past Fred Weasley and managed to hit his brother's back forcefully. George seemed to be dazed by the impact so Fred hit it away once again. Reece looked down to suddenly see Draco going flying through the air without his broom.

Once Draco was out of the running, Harry caught the snitch quite easily. Reece was flying off of the pitch, his head lowered in defeat when he noticed Harry lying in the sand. The bludger seemed to soar down at him and the Gryffindor only just managed to get out of the way in time. Reece turned his broom sharply and flew towards the bludger that had once again bounced off of the sand. Just as it was going down for a third attempt, Reece smacked it forcefully with his bat and it was sent in the direction of those approaching. He was only just able to get out of the way of the explosion that Hermione Granger had caused and flew back to the tent without stopping to witness the gathering crowd.

Reece stood in the hospital wing. Crabbe and Goyle were buying the whole Draco's hurt act, but Reece was not. He was groaning in pain but in all honesty the fall wasn't that bad.

"Oh Mister Malfoy stop making such a fuss you can go." Madam Pomfrey said as she waved all of the Gryffindors out of her way in order to get to Potter. Reece really didn't want to be there, but Flint had said that he needed to make sure that the seeker was alright. Wanting to keep his spot on the team Reece agreed but in all honesty Malfoy was doing his head in. After all, it would have been more fun to see him in real pain after what he had done to Pansy.

After sneaking out of the common room once everyone had gone to bed, Reece had finally found Snape's storage. He was just looking for lacewing flies as he had found everything else with no trouble. But a sudden voice startled him.

"Kill, kill."

"Not again." Reece whispered disdainfully as he finally picked up the lacewing flies that were needed. "Fuck off mate, I don't care right now."

"You should care about me master. One's already down. And I can take out more at your command."

"What do you mean?" He hissed as the voice seemed to disappear slowly.

"Perhaps master should take a look at what happens to those who are not pure."

With that the sound of rumbling and thinking stopped completely. Suddenly Reece remembered where he was and left the store room quickly in case he was caught. He snuck into the bathroom with a silencing charm on his feet and deposited the ingredients in a stall. Luckily Reece was able to leave the toilets without Myrtle noticing him and was on his way back down to the common room when he saw some shoes. What on earth were some shoes doing sticking out from behind a wall? Reece made his way towards the shoes cautiously and snuck round the corner silently. There, frozen, was the irritating boy with the camera.

"What the hell?" He knelt down by the first year's side a touched his hand. It was ice cold. "Oh my God." Reece muttered under his breath as he took his hand away from the frozen skin. The basilisk had done this. The one that called him master. Did it do this for him? Reece put his hands over his face, and on the verge of a breakdown he decided to run to McGonagall's office as it was nearby. He hurtled there with no worry about how he looked and knocked on her door until she answered. McGonagall stood in her tartan robe looking down at the Slytherin in discomfort.

"It's that boy with the camera. He- he's," Reece stopped stuttering as he had no idea how to tell her that a young first year Gryffindor was possibly dead in a nearby corridor.

"Spit it out Mister Lestrange." Professor McGonagall commanded sternly. It was the middle of the night and she had no time for games. Reece had no earthly idea what to say to her, so resorted to gesturing for her to follow him. She reluctantly did so as he jogged down the corridors in search for Colin Creevey. Reece stopped in front of the boy and Minerva almost collapsed in shock as she fell to her knees beside the small boy. "Fetch Professor Dumbledore." McGonagall whispered as she touched the boy's cold skin.

Reece ran up to Dumbledore's study – only just managing to avoid Filch who was still patrolling without his beloved cat.

"Sir Professor McGonagall told me to come and get you." Reece said as he barged into the office. Dumbledore was sitting calmly at his desk speaking to one of the portraits on a nearby wall. Albus turned to face the boy who had urgency written all over his face and agreed immediately.

Reece was sat in Dumbledore's study once again. They had taken the petrified student to the hospital wing and Albus had dragged him off soon after explaining to McGonagall what she was supposed to say to the rest of the staff. Dumbledore looked mortified as he stared down at the young Lestrange, and it was obvious that he had jumped to the worst conclusion first.

"Professor it spoke to me so I followed its voice." Reece tried to explain without adding the part about sneaking into Snape's storage. "I promise I didn't do it sir. I went to get the nearest teacher as soon as I found him." The urgency in his voice was clear and Dumbledore's stared relaxed ever so slightly. "Please Professor, you have to believe me. I didn't do it." The headmaster sat in silence for a few moments before speaking something that Reece didn't expect to ever hear.

"May I ask a favour Mister Lestrange?" Dumbledore asked coolly. Reece nodded and Albus continued speaking. "If you can really swerve its ideas, I beg you to save those the basilisk hunts if you can. It has only petrified victims so far, but I cannot believe that it will not kill a student if it gets the chance." Reece got up to leave but Dumbledore hadn't finished. "Please Reece." Was he actually begging? "You're the only hope they've got at the moment."

"I'll do my best to spare a mudblood or two." He mumbled under his breath on the way out.