I was a bit nervous when Saturday morning came. Today were Quidditch tryouts, and as the new captain I had to make a good impression. Montague had been… just ok as a captain, but that was only because I had been inside the team and saw what actually went on. To the average Slytherin, he had been the captain who led Slytherin to their first Quidditch Cup win of the 90s. So, the bar was kinda high for me.

All the players from last year, that were still in school, had opted to return to the team. That was good because if someone like Zabini was willing to play under my captaincy, that meant Daphne's prediction about Slytherins hating Gryffindor more than me might be true, which was encouraging.

That also meant there were only two vacant spots on the team this year, a Chaser to replace Montague, and a Keeper to replace Bletchley. Despite that, droves of people had signed up, some twenty-five.

Many of them were girls… which you know, I don't mind. I'm very progressive like that. Except most of them didn't have brooms… and when I asked them to get into separate lines based on the position they were trying out for, they just descended into fits of giggles, so I had to kick them off the pitch.

The remaining, serious contestants numbered around a dozen, seven for chaser and five for keeper.

The turnout wasn't too bad. We had gotten a few decent chasers, but the best one was a seventh-year girl named Colleen Whithrow, who had tried out last year but had finished just behind Astoria and Zabini. She had improved from the looks of it and flew pretty well during the tryouts.

By far the best Keeper had been a third-year dude named Benjamin Avery. The name was kind of a red flag but I ignored it… who am I to judge someone based on what their family does. Besides he was really good. Miles Bletchley had been an excellent Keeper and he was arguably just as good despite having a fraction of the experience.

All in all, I was pretty happy with the turnout. I daresay we were stronger than last year.

"Alright, we had a pretty solid turnout today," I said after the last candidate had had their go. "I'll have to think it over, I'll let you guys know who I pick tomorrow evening."

There were murmurs and nods, and everyone headed back to the castle. Astoria tagged along with me and we chatted about the team, discussing the evening's events all the way till the Entrance Hall.

"Ah, Draco m'boy! Just the man I was hoping to see!" boomed Professor Slughorn, appearing out of nowhere next to me, and not acknowledging Astoria in the slightest. "I'm hosting a little supper for the Slug Club tomorrow evening, and I just wanted to confirm if you'll be…?"

"Oh- oh yeah, sure," I said. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"Splendid!" boomed Slughorn, his voice echoing through the Hall, making the window panes vibrate. "Seven o'clock sharp, then!"

And with that he went on his merry way.

"Slug Club?" Astoria said with an amused expression.

"Elite of the elite," I said. "Your plebian ass wouldn't understand."

[…]

(The next evening)

I stood in front of the mirror smoothing over my hair. It was nearly time for the Slug Club… god, that name got under my skin in all the worse ways possible. At any rate, I had put on a nice set of dark green robes, not too formal but not too casual either. Zabini was dressed in a similar manner, but in grey.

"What exactly do you lot even do in these meetings?" asked Nott from his bunk, looking over his book.

"Eat and talk I'd reckon…" I said, adjusting my robes. "This is the first one so let's see."

I left a bit earlier than Zabini. Even though Slughorn was the Potions master now, Snape still had the dungeon office, which meant Slughorn's office was on the third floor. I ran into Hermione on the way, who, despite having an anxious expression on her face, looked rather pretty in a red and black dress with her hair let down.

"Hey," I said. "How come you're alone? Are Harry and Ron not coming?"

"Oh, they were taking forever and I didn't want to be late so I just left without them," she said, slightly breathless.

"Um, are you okay? You look a bit anxious."

"Anxious? No, I'm fine… well, maybe a bit nervous. First time having dinner with a teacher, you know…"

"Oh yeah no, I get that, totally," I said. "It'll be fun though… don't be nervous."

"Yes, yes…" she nodded, before saying in one quick breath. "Youlookreallynicetonight."

"Sorry, didn't catch that?"

"I said…" Hermione said, not making eye contact. She hesitated a bit, then said. "Uhmm I was saying… you look really nice tonight."

"Oh, thank you. I got these robes over the summer at Madam Malkin's. You look very nice too… red suits you."

"Thanks," she muttered quickly, blushing… nah, no way, I must have imagined it. Must have been the lighting or something, no way Hermione Granger would ever blush over something I said… some other girl? Sure. But not Hermione.

We walked together in silence after that. Slughorn's office was close-by so the slight awkwardness was short lived. The only other person there besides from Slughorn was Cormac McLaggen, a rather tall and broad-shouldered Gryffindor. The two of them were sitting at a large round table in the middle of the office, immersed in conversation. Slughorn looked up when we entered and beamed. "Ah, you two made it! Splendid, splendid, have a seat, please! The others should be here shortly…"

I sat down on the seat to Slughorn's right. Hermione sat next to me, directly opposite from McLaggen.

"Ooh, I'll go check on the food, it should be nearly done," Slughorn said. "You three keep each other company in the meantime."

Slughorn went through a door into his personal chambers, leaving the three of us at the table, sitting in awkward silence. McLaggen was trying to make eye-contact with Hermione, who was in turn looking at everything except for McLaggen.

McLaggen at one point looked at me, and jerked his head towards her Hermione, as if asking me to say something to her. I just shrugged and shook my head in response, and he sighed in frustration.

Fortunately, this only went on for a couple of minutes, as the door opened and Zabini entered. A look of extreme displeasure broke across his face as he saw me sitting next to Hermione. He took his own seat away from any of us. Over the next five or so minutes the others all arrived; Ginny, Neville, some dude named Marcus Belby, and lastly Harry and Ron who sat down next to Hermione.

Slughorn, as if on cue, reentered the room as soon as Harry and Ron had sat down. "Ah, so glad you all could make it! Welcome, welcome… good to see you, Harry! And er… I suppose everyone here knows everyone? Good."

He waved his wand and a large pie appeared on the center of the table. Slughorn sat down and eagerly made conversation with everyone as we ate.

All in all, it was a fairly nice evening, the pie was tasty and the conversation was pleasant enough, though it was mostly just Slughorn asking each of us questions about our families and whatnot. Same stuff as the books. Most of us were there for either being famous (such as Harry) or being related to someone famous and influential. The exceptions being Ron, Ginny and Hermione.

Ron had gotten in because of… well, the potion he had made had just been that good. Hermione had managed to impress Slughorn as well, and Ginny had apparently done a really good Bat-Bogey Hex on the train that Slughorn had happened to witness.

A few hours later, after a lengthy supper, Slughorn finally looked at his pocket watch and said, "Oh, good gracious, would you look at that? I suppose time really does fly when one's enjoying themselves. Well, thank you all for a delightful evening, and I hope we can meet again soon! Now, off you go!"

We all left the office, murmuring goodbye to Professor Slughorn. I caught up to the trio outside the office, I had wanted to ask them something that had been on my mind for a bit.

"Hey guys, guys- could I have a word?" I asked as I jogged up to them. "I was wondering if you guys are gonna be doing the DA again this year?"

"Uh…" Harry gazed sideways at Ron and Hermione, who shrugged. "Maybe? Why?"

"I was thinking of joining, if its okay with you that is… just figured it could come in handy nowadays. You never know…"

"Er, sure," Harry said. "We'll let you know if we do it…"

"Awesome, thanks," I said. "See you, then."

So… yeah, I'd been considering this for a while. I mean, I could practice spells by myself, and that is what I had been doing for about a year now… but training with other people would definitely be more practical. Also, from the looks of it, it didn't seem like the trio was planning on continuing the DA this year, or at least not immediately. Me asking them about it may have prompted them into actually restarting it, which is a good thing.

There was no Umbridge to deal with this year. Most of the Horcruxes were dealt with. Voldemort's army was crippled and in hiding. All this meant that the sixth year at Hogwarts could be relatively normal compared to the fifth, and I would absolutely use that time to train. It's about time I started focusing extensively on my magical skills, beyond just the common spells mentioned in the books and movies.

When I got back to the common room, it was nearing eleven thirty. The common room was empty, save for Anastasia who was sitting in an armchair by the fireplace. She was drinking out of a flask and writing in a little book. The fire in the fireplace had been reduced to a couple of tiny embers.

The Slytherin common room was in the dungeons and under the lake, and the winter warming charms in the castle don't usually start till October, so the common room was pretty chilly.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked her.

"It's colder in Durmstrang," she said. "Besides, I like the cold."

"Alright then," I said. It occurred to me that this was the first time I'd actually heard her talk. She had a low, husky voice. As I stood there, I contemplated going up to bed and sleeping, or sticking around for a few minutes and getting to know Anastasia. She had been quite the mysterious figure the past few days. She stared at me a few times, but otherwise she didn't really interact with anyone that much, not even Dragomir, her fellow exchange student.

I figured I could stick around for a minute or two. I sat down in an arm chair opposite her.

"You were at Professor's Slughorn's party, right?" she said. "You and Zabini? He got here a few minutes before you."

"Yeah…" I said.

"How was it?"

"Fine, kind of exhausting," I said, running a hand through my hair.

A drop of dark red fluid, probably from the flask Anastasia had been drinking from, rolled down from her mouth to her chin, which she wiped off with her sleeve.

"Grape juice?" I asked.

"Er… yes, grape juice," she said.

"Right… and er, where'd you say were from, by the way?"

"I didn't, but Transylvania," she said.

"Oh…"

"No, I'm not related to Dracula."

I chuckled. "You get that a lot?"

"Only about ten times in the past three days… right before the person saying that tries hitting on me," she said, shaking her head. "I swear, this is probably the longest conversation I've had with a boy here without getting hit on."

"Ah, well, I'm one of a kind," I said. "By the way, I see you don't really have much of an accent-"

She started coughing abruptly mid-sip.

"Sorry, that wasn't very polite-" I started saying but she just waved my apology away as she recovered from her coughing fit.

"Iss 'kay," she said, clearing her throat. "Yeah, no, I spent a few years in er… America, when I was a kid. Learnt English there."

"Ah, gotcha."

I had been about to ask something, but in that moment I found myself unable to recall what exactly, so I bid her goodnight and returned to the dormitory.

As I went to bed, I went over the brief interaction I had had with Anastasia. She was definitely an intriguing person… for starters that had definitely not been grape juice she had been drinking…

[…]

(The next evening)

I had managed to get the Quidditch pitch booked for Monday evening. Not that it was particularly difficult, since quidditch season was still over a month away and most teams wouldn't start practicing for another week at the earliest.

But not me, I wanted to get a head start. I was an inexperienced captain, with a relatively inexperienced team, so all the more reason to start early, get the rhythm going, figure out strategies and whatnot. So really this wasn't as much of a practice session, as much as it was a practice practice session.

It was a short session, only an hour and a half long, but it gave me a decent idea of what to do with the team going forward. Astoria was stellar as always, the new recruits did well but there was some room for improvement… nothing a few good practice sessions couldn't rectify. My only concern was Zabini.

Maybe because last year I hadn't been captain, and stayed focused on my own duties as a seeker, and as a result hadn't noticed this, but Zabini wasn't the best team player. Often times he ignored Astoria's calls for a pass and opted to try and score directly himself. I had talked to him a couple of times during practice but he just instinctively defaulted to it. It would need some work.

[…]

While the new Slytherin team were busy with their practice session, Harry, Ron and Hermione sat in the bleachers watching them. Harry and Ron were closely watching every player. Astoria and Draco seemed, as always, the big threats, but the new additions to the team might be a problem as well. They were a bit rough around the edges, sure, but they clearly had a lot of potential. Confident though Harry was in his own team, it would be far from a cruise, come the first match.

Zabini seemed to a bit of a weak link in the Slytherin machine… maybe that could be exploited.

Harry was jerked out of his thoughts by the sound of Hermione clearing her throat.

"So… what are we going to do about the DA?" she asked.

"I guess we're doing it," Harry said.

"Yeah, makes sense doesn't it?" Ron said. "We could use the training now more than ever. Besides, we barely scratched the surface of those awesome defense books Sirius gave you last year."

"So it's settled then…" Hermione said.

"Here," Harry said, fishing out a galleon from his pocket and giving it to Hermione. "Cast the charm on this so we can give it to Draco."

She took it and muttered an incantation quickly.

"I'll give it to him tonight," Hermione said. "Our patrols are right next to each other."

"Mhmm," Harry hummed absent-mindedly, watching Draco fly over to Zabini to talk to him for the third time that evening.

[…]

That night it was thoughts of quidditch strategies that occupied my mind as I patrolled the empty-as-always corridors of the castle. I could work with this team pretty well. Some areas needed work obviously, but we had time. Practicing today was a good call, now we had a better idea of where we stood.

I walked past the secret entrance to the balcony Daphne and I had gone to, to get some privacy after the Quidditch final last year. The entrance was concealed behind a large painting of three trolls being turned to stone by sunlight… trolls didn't do that, but it was a good painting anyway. I pushed the painting aside and stepped out onto the balcony for some fresh air.

A cool breeze was blowing outside. It was a starry night, with a full moon, and I could see Hogsmeade in the distance. There was smoke coming from Hagrid's cottage, and a distant rumbling could be heard from the Forbidden Forest, mostly likely a centaur stampede.

It was a pleasant night, and I was thinking of spending the rest of the patrol time out here, when I heard someone clear their throat behind me.

"I swear I wasn't- oh, it's you," I said, turning around. "You scared me."

"Heh, sorry, I just saw you go behind the painting and thought I'd check," Hermione said. "What're you doing out here?"

"Uh don't tell anyone else but… slacking off," I said.

She shot me a look but I stood my ground.

"C'mon it's better than walking all night long, waiting for some rule-breaking that never happens!"

"It does happen!" she said.

"Well maybe in other places but never on my end… there's nothing in my area that would ever attract nighttime strollers."

"I suppose," she said, walking up to the edge of the balcony and looking out into the moonlit grounds. "It's beautiful," she muttered.

"Yeah it is…" I said. "I came here with Daphne once… last year, after the Quidditch final."

"Oh… I see," she said. "Ehrm… by the way, I came to give you this."

She reached into her pocket and gave me a galleon.

"See the numbers on the side?" she said. "That's usually a serial number referring to the goblin who cast the coin, but in this case it's the date and time of the next DA meeting."

"Let me guess, you cast a Protean Charm and all the special coins will mimic yours whenever you change it?"

"I- yes, how'd you know?" she said.

"Lucky guess," I shrugged. "Seriously neat bit of magic though, Protean Charm is NEWT level stuff…"

"Thanks," she said, beaming. "Well erm… I'll let you get back to your… sightseeing. Night."

"Night."

And with that, she left and I returned to my… sightseeing.

[…][…][…]

Sorry for the late (well, later than usual) update.

I know the past couple of chapters have had long waits between them and not a whole lot has happened, but the next one will definitely make up for it… hopefully I'll have that one done soon.

Till then, stay safe and hope you enjoyed the chapter!