The Lion and the Serpent
Arthur felt like he was carrying a talisman inside his chest for the next two weeks, a secret that he was supported by through Umbridge's classes, making him able to smile blandly as he looked into her horrible bulging eyes.
He and the DA all resisted her under her nose, doing what she and the Ministry feared, and whenever he pretended to read Wilbert Slinkhard's book during her lessons, he'd instead dwell on the satisfying memories of their recent meetings, remembering how Neville successfully disarmed Chrys, how Colin Creevey mastered the Impediment Jinx after three meetings' hard work, how Parvati produced such a good Reductor Curse that she reduced the table carrying the Sneakoscopes to dust.
It became impossible to fix a regular night of the week for the DA meetings, needing to accommodate three different teams and their Quidditch practices, which were rearranged due to bad weather conditions; Arthur wasn't really sorry about this; he had a feeling that it was better to keep the timing of the meetings unpredictable.
This was so that if anyone was watching them, it would be hard to make out a pattern.
Chrys was able to come up with a clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members just in case they needed to change it in short notice, since it would look suspicious if people from different houses were crossing the Great Hall to talk to each other too often.
She gave each member of the DA a fake Galleon.
"You see the numerals around the edge of the coins?" She said, holding one up for examination at the end of their fourth meeting. The coin gleamed fat and yellow in the light from the various torches. "On the real Galleons, they're just serial numbers referring to the goblin who cast the coin. On these fake coins, though, the numbers will change to reflect the time and date of the next meeting. These coins will grow hot when the date changes, therefore, if you carry them in your pocket, you'll feel them. We all take one each, then when Arthur sets the date for the next meeting, he'll change the numbers on his coin, and since I've put a Protean Charm on them, they'll all change to mimic his."
A blank silence fell once she was finished. She looked at the faces that were upturned to her.
"It's a good idea, so even if Umbridge asked us to turn out our pockets, there wouldn't be anything fishy about carrying a Galleon, right? But if you don't want to use them -"
"You can do a Protean Charm?" Terry Boot said.
"Yeah."
"But that's… that's N.E.W.T. standard, that is." He said weakly.
"Oh." Chrys said, realising he was right. "It is… I didn't know."
"How come you're not in Ravenclaw?" He then demanded, staring at her in wonder. "With brains like yours?"
"The Sorting Hat actually considered putting me in Ravenclaw, but it felt I should be in Gryffindor." Chrys replied. "Anyway, are we using the Galleons?"
There was a murmur of assent and everyone moved forwards to collect one from the basket. Arthur looked sideways at Chrys.
"These remind me of the Death Eaters' scars. Voldemort would touch one and their scars would burn, knowing they've got to join him." He whispered to her.
"That's where I got the idea from." Chrys replied. "Of course, the only difference is that the date isn't engraved on our members' skin."
"Much better, if you ask me." Arthur nodded with a grin as he slipped his Galleon into his pocket. "The only danger would be to accidentally spend them."
As the first Quidditch match of the season drew nearer, the matching being Gryffindor vs Slytherin, their DA meetings were put on hold since Angelina insisted on almost daily practices.
The fact that the Quidditch Cup hadn't been held for so long added real interest and excitement for the upcoming game; the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were very interested in what the outcome will be, since they would be playing both teams over the coming year; and the Heads of house of the competing teams, though they attempted a decent amount of sportsmanship, were very determined to see their side be victorious.
Arthur knew just how much McGonagall cared about beating Slytherin when she abstained from giving them homework in the week leading up to the match.
"I think you've got enough to be getting on with at the moment." She said loftily.
No one could believe their ears until she looked at both Arthur and David, saying grimly "I've become accustomed to seeing the Quidditch Cup in my study, boys, and I really don't want to have to hand it over to Professor Snape, so use the extra time to practise, won't you?"
Snape was the polar opposite from McGonagall; booking the Quidditch pitch for Slytherin practice so often that the Gryffindors had difficulty getting on it to play. He even turned a deaf ear on the many reports of Slytherin attempts to hex Gryffindor players in the corridors. When Alicia Spinnet turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and rapidly that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Snape insisted that she attempted a Hair Thickening Charm on herself, refusing to listen to the fourteen eye witnesses who insisted that they saw the Slytherin Keeper, Miles Bletchley, hit her from behind with a jinx while working in the library.
Arthur knew that Gryffindor's chances were high, having never lost to the Slytherin team. David ended up being so good that his fellow teammates said he was just as, if not better than, Wood, which helped since he had the same broomstick that the Slytherins use.
He made truly spectacular saves, like when he hung from his broom on one hand and kicked the Quaffle so hard that it soared the length of the pitch and through the centre hoop at the other end in a blur. It was compared favourably with one that was recently made by Barry Ryan, the Irish International Keeper, against Poland's top Chaser, Ladislaw Zamojski.
David was able to ignore the tactics of the Slytherin team to upset him before they got onto the pitch like they weren't even there, and if he did acknowledge them, he'd make witty remarks and comebacks that silenced them.
And since Arthur was so used to their snide comments for four years, such comments as "Hey, Penny, I heard Warrington's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday" didn't chill his blood, and instead just laughed his ass off because he knew it would never happen. He'd even remark with "His aim's so pathetic I'm more worried he'll hit his own teammates", which made David, Chrys and Mike laugh and wipe the smirk off Pansy's face.
David was able to keep a level head through all the insults, jeers and intimidation he faced from even seventh year Slytherins. He just kept silent, like he was above them, knowing he's more skilled than the Slytherin Keeper and that they won't get into his head.
Once, when Draco made a bad impersonation of David dropping a Quaffle, David made his first comeback by saying "Why are you performing your family's dating tactics? Were you all taught by trolls?", which wiped Draco's smirk and just glared at him.
October extinguished itself with a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November came, cold as frozen iron with hard frosts every single morning and icy draughts that bit at any exposed skin.
The skies and the ceiling of the Great Hall turned a pale, pearly grey, the mountains surrounding Hogwarts now being snowcapped. The temperature in the castle dropped so low that many students wore their thick protective dragonskin gloves in the corridors between lessons.
On the morning of the match, it dawned bright and cold. When Arthur woke up, he looked at David's bed to see him sitting bolt upright with his arms around his knees, staring into space.
"You're gonna be great, David, no matter what the Slytherin spectators will be doing at the match." Arthur told him firmly, which David nodded back to wordlessly.
"Come on, let's have breakfast." He then said bracingly.
The Great Hall filled up so fast when they arrived, the talk being louder than it normally was and the mood was more exuberant than usual.
When passing the Slytherin table, there was an upsurge of noise, which they ignored. In the corner of his eye, Arthur saw among the usual green and silver scarves, all of them wore silver badges in the shape of a crown and they were all waving at David.
"Remember, you're a brilliant Keeper, they're just hiding their disdain through false mockery." Arthur reminded David as the Slytherins laughed uproariously.
The two received a rousing welcome at the Gryffindor table, where everyone wore red and gold, which eased David a bit as he made his first smile when he sat on the bench and started digging into his breakfast.
Chrys, Mike and Mary sat opposite them wearing red and gold scarves, gloves and rosettes.
"Hello." A vague and dreamy voice said from behind them. Arthur looked and saw it was Luna, who had drifted over from the Ravenclaw table. Many people were staring at her, some openly laughing and pointing. She had procured a hat in the shape of a life sized lion's head, which was perched precariously on her head.
"I'm supporting Gryffindor." She said, pointing unnecessarily at her har. "Look what it does…."
She reached and tapped the hat with her wand. It opened its mouth wide and made an extremely realistic roar that anyone in the vicinity jumped, except for Arthur. He was very impressed and felt prideful as he laid his eyes on it.
"It's good, isn't it?" Luna said happily. "I wanted to have it chewing up a serpent to represent Slytherin, you know, but there wasn't time. Anyway… good luck, David!"
She drifted away, everyone not recovering from the shock of her hat until Angelina came hurrying towards them, accompanied by Katie and Alicia, whose eyebrows were mercifully returned to normal by Madam Pomfrey.
"When you're ready…" She said. "...we're going to go straight down to the pitch, check out conditions and change."
"Got it." Arthur said as he and David hurried up with their breakfasts.
Ten minutes later, the two rose from the table, so did Chrys, who walked up to David and kissed on the cheek, whispering "Good luck".
This made him regain full control of his face as he smiled at first before he became stone faced as he and Arthur walked back across the Great Hall.
Arthur looked over at the crown shaped badges when they passed the Slytherin table, seeing the words on them:
Merlon is our King
"Remember, ignore all of Slytherin." Arthur said as they crossed the Entrance Hall and went down the stone steps into the icy air.
"Don't worry, I know what they're going to do, Jack warned me a few days ago that they'll do a song to get inside my head, having spied on them. It won't work." David said confidently.
The frosty grass crunched under their feet as they hurried down the sloping lawns to the stadium.
There wasn't any wind at all and the sky was pure pearly white, meaning that visibility will be good without any drawback of direct sunlight in the eyes. The two knew this without saying anything as they looked at each other and winked.
Angelina had already changed and talked to the rest of the team when they entered. The two put on their uniforms and sat down to listen to her pre match talk as the babble of voices outside grew steadily louder with the crowd pouring out from the castle and towards the pitch.
"Okay, I've only just found out the final line up for Slytherin." Angelina said, consulting a piece of parchment. "Last year's Beaters, Derrick and Bole, have left, but it looks as though Montague's replaced them with the usual gorillas, rather than anyone who can fly particularly well. They're two blokes called Crabbe and Goyle, I don't know much about them -"
"They're Draco's trollish cronies." Arthur informed her.
"Well, they don't look bright enough to tell one end of a broom from the other…" Angelina aid, pocketing the parchment. "...but then I was always surprised Derrick and Bole managed to find their way onto the pitch without signposts."
"Crabbe and Goyle are just like that." David assured her.
They all now heard hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands. Some people sang, though Arthur couldn't make out the words.
He felt butterflies in his stomach, though he took deep breaths to calm himself, knowing that he still hasn't lost his touch and that he'll embarrass Draco for the umpteenth time.
"It's time." Angelina said in a hushed voice, looking at her watch. "C'mon everyone… good luck."
The whole team rose, shouldering their brooms and marched in single file from the changing room and into the dazzling sky.
A roar of sound greeted them and Arthur still heard the singing, which was muffled by the cheers and whistles.
The Slytherin team stood waiting for them. All of them wore the silver crown shaped badges.
The new Captain, Montague, was built like he was some kind of pig with forearms looking like hairy hams. Behind him lurked both Crabbe and Goyle, who were almost as large, blinking stupidly and swinging their new Beaters' bats. Draco stood to one side, the sunlight gleaming on his white blonde head. He caught Arthur's glaring eyes and smirked, tapping the crown shaped badge on his chest.
"Captains, shake hands." The referee, Madam Hooch, ordered as both Angelina and Montague reached each could see that Montague was trying to crush her fingers, but she didn't wince. "Mount your brooms…."
Madam Hooch then placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.
The balls were released and the fourteen players all shot upwards.
Out of the corner of his eye, Arthur saw David streak off towards the goal hoops while he himself zoomed higher, dodging a Bludger with ease and set off on a wide lap of the pitch, gazing his now hawk-like eyes for a glint of gold. On the other side of the pitch, he saw Draco doing the same thing.
"And it's Johnson - Johnson has the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've been saying it for years and is unfortunately going out with Jack -"
"JORDAN!" McGonagall yelled.
" - just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest - and hse's ducked Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's - ouch - been hit from behind by a Bludger from Crabbe… Montague catches the Quaffle, Montague heading back up the pitch and - nice Bludger there from Kevin Merlon, that's a Bludger to e head for Montague, he drops the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of Gryffindor reverse passes to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet's away -"
Lee Jordan's commentary rang throughout the stadium and Arthur listened as hard as he could through the wind that whistled in his ears and the din of the crowd, all yelling and boong and singing.
" - dodges Warrington, avoids a Bludger - close call, Alicia - and the crowd are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?"
As Lee paused to listen, the song now rose loud and clear from the sea of green and silver from the Slytherin section of the stands
Merlon cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single thing,
That's why Slytherins all sing,
Merlon is our King.
Merlon was born in the trash
He always lets the Quaffle in
Merlon will make sure we win
Merlon is our King.
" - and Alicia passes back to Angelina!" Lee shouted, Arthur knowing that he was trying to drown out the song. "Come on now, Angelina - looks like she's got just the Keeper to beat! SHE SHOOTS - SHE - aaaah…."
Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, saved the goal; he then threw the Quaffle to Warrington, who sped off with it, zigzagging in between Alicia and Katie.
The singing from below now grew louder as he drew nearer to David.
Merlon is our King,
Merlon is our King,
He always lets the Quaffle in
Merlon is our King.
Arthur saw the long figure of David at the far end of the pitch, hovering before the three goal hoops as the massive Warrington pelted towards him.
" - and it's Warrington with the Quaffle, Warrington heading for goal, he's out of Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead -"
A great swell of song rose from the Slytherin stands below:
Merlon cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring….
" - so it's the first test for new Gryffindor Keeper Merlon, brother of Beaters Jack and Kevin, and a promising new talent on the team… come on, David!"
The Slytherins all groaned as David rose up suddenly and spun forward, the tail of his Nimbus Two Thousand and One hitting the Quaffle so hard that it flew over Warrington's head and Katie Bell caught it.
"DAVID'S SAVED IT! SPECTACULAR!" Lee's voice boomed out in joy.
The Slytherins now saw that the song had no effect on him so they all just stopped, seeing that their strategy didn't work.
" - and Katie Bell is in possession of the Quafle, taking up the pitch -"
Arthur now ignored this as he went back to trying to find the Snitch, going into a dive and circled the pitch again staring around for it. He saw that Draco was still circling the stadium as well. The two Seekers passed one another midway around the pitch, going in opposite directions.
" - and it's Warrington again…" Lee bellowed out. "...who passes it to Pucey, Pucey's off past Spinnet, come on now, Angelina, you can take him - turns out you can't - but nice Bludger from Jack Merlon, I mean, Kevin Merlon, oh, who cares, one of them, anyway, and Warrington drops the Quaffle and Katie Bell - er - drops it, too - so that's Montague with the Quaffle, Slytherin Captain Montague takes the Quaffle and he's off up the pitch, come on now, David, you can block him!"
Arthur zoomed around the end of the stadium behind the Slytherin goal hoops and sped past Bletchley.
" - and Pucey's dodged Angelina again and he's heading straight for goal, stop it, David!"
Arthur heard a loud cheer and applause from Gryffindor and a rightly terrible groan from the Slytherins as David clearly saved a goal once more, Arthur glimpsing that he punched the Quaffle with his fist.
So far, the score was nil on both sides.
David was able to save two more goals, keeping Arthur at ease, seeing that David was truly a great Keeper, even better than Wood.
" - and Katie Bell of Gryffindor dodges Pucey, ducks Montague, nice swerve, Katie, and she throws to Johnson, Angelina Johnson takes the Quaffle, she's past Warrington, she's heading for goal, come on now, Angelina - GRYFFINDOR SCORE! It's ten - nil, ten - nil to Gryffindor and Pucey has the Quaffle…."
Arthur was able to hear Luna's lion hat roaring amidst the Gryffindor cheers, which made his heart swell. They had the advantage now with the points.
Arthur ducked from a Bluder that Crabbe sent rocketing in his direction and continued his search for the Snitch, keeping an eye on Draco as well in case he showed signs that he spotted it, though he, like Arthur, soared around the stadium, searching fruitlessly.
" - Pucey throws to Warrington, Warrington to Montague, Montague back to Pucey - Johnson intervenes, Johnson takes the Quaffle, Johnson to Bell, this looks good - I mean bad - Bell's bit by a Bludger from Goyle of Slytherin and it's Pucey in possession again…."
Arthur had finally seen it: the tiny fluttering Golden Snitch hovering feet from the ground at the Slytherin end of the pitch.
He dived instantly.
In a matter of seconds, Draco streaked out of the sky on Arthur's left, a green and silver blur lying flat on his broom….
The Snitch skirted the foot of one of the goal hoops and scooted off to the other side of the stands; its change in direction suiting Draco, who was nearer. This made Arthur pull his Firebolt around, now making him and Draco be neck and neck….
Feet from the ground, Arthur lifted his right hand from his broom and stretched out towards the Snitch. Draco did the ame to his right.
In two breathless, desperate, windswept seconds, Arthur's fingers closed around the tiny, struggling ball, moving his hand away from Draco's, who would've dug his fingers into the back of his hand.
Arthur then pulled his broom upwards, holding the struggling ball in his hand and all of Gryffindor screamed their approval.
"ARTHUR, DIVE!" He heard Jack bellow out and he instantly did as told, seeing a Bludger zoom past him, making him look back to see Crabbe being the one responsible.
Arthur landed hard on his feet on the frozen pitch as he heard an uproar from the stands full of angry yells and jeering. Madam Hooch also blew her whistle.
Angelina then landed next to him.
"You okay?" She asked Arthur.
"That Bludger wasn't even close." Arthur hissed, glaring at Crabbe, who was being yelled at by Madam Hooch.
"Even if he whacked you, we still won, Arthur! We won!" Angelina said.
Arthur then heard a snort from behind him, seeing that Draco had landed close by. He was white faced with fury.
"How'd you do it, Pendergast?" He said. "Did you give Merlon some special potion to make up for him being born in the trash?"
"No, that was just pure and raw talent and skill, something you and every other Slytherin lacks." Arthur retorted before he turned to meet the rest of the team, who all landed one by one.
They all yelled and punched the air in triumph when not embracing David for being the MVP of the team.
"We wanted to write another couple of verses for the song!" Malfoy called as Katie and Alicia hugged Arthur "But we couldn't find rhymes for old and ugly - we wanted to sing about his mother, see -"
"Talk about sour grapes." Angelina said, casting Draco a disgusted look.
" - we couldn't fit in stupid loser either - for his father, you know -"
Both the twins and David glared at him as Arthur was now just getting sick and tired of Draco constantly trying to make fun of their parents.
"Just let him yell and look like an idiot, you three." He told them. "He's just sore that he lost yet again -"
" - but you like the Merlons, don't you, Pendergast? Just like your ancestors did." Draco sneered. "Spend holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, but I suppose when you've been dragged up by Muggles, even blood traitors like the Merlon's hovel smells okay -"
Arthur was now so tempted to just pummelled that stupid git to a pulp, but he couldn't, knowing that Umbridge would do something like ban him from Quidditch for life. So he'll just call Draco out for his poor attempts at mockery.
"Or perhaps…" Draco said, leering as he backed away. "...you can remember what your mother's house stank like, Pendergast, and Merlon's ruins reminds you of it -"
"NONE OF THAT IS INSULTING, DRACO! YOU'RE LOSING YOU'RE TOUCH!" Arthur retorted before he and the rest of the team went off to the changing rooms, ignoring Draco's further attempts to insult Arthur, the twins and David.
All of Gryffindor celebrated their victory in the common room, the atmosphere being energetic and David was treated as a hero, patting his shoulder and giving him food if he was hungry.
The celebration lasted all the way into the evening when it was dark out and snow was now falling.
Most of them all went to bed, leaving only the trio, Mike being the last to go to bed, congratulating both Arthur and David, the former especially for not letting his temper get the better of him.
Chrys decided to go and look out the window and enjoy the sight of snow falling.
"You showed those Slytherins that nothing would get to you, nicely done." Arthur shared a fist bump with David.
"Guys, you're not gonna believe this!" Chrys suddenly said, her voice trembling slightly.
"What is it?" Arthur asked.
"Hagrid's back." Chrys revealed with a broad smile spreading across her face.
I originally planned for Arthur to full on rant on Draco to grow up, bellowing right in his face, but I realised that Umbridge would see that as a terrible temper, so I just made Arthur do a retort, therefore meaning that he and the twins aren't banned from Quidditch.
And David may seem too perfect, but he's actually always been a great Keeper, but he just needed to be refined by the training and is now excelling even Oliver Wood.