The following week was hectic, studies were starting to pick up momentum rapidly and were absolutely not holding back. But in between classes and homework I found time for other stuff as well, such as researching Horcrux lore.
I think I had pretty much exhausted all the info the Room could provide me… there wasn't much that I didn't already know. There didn't seem to be any alternate method for removing horcruxes from living things. One interesting tidbit of information I found was that, if the horcrux ritual is done improperly, the piece of the soul – if it even splits – is only loosely attached to the horcrux. So I guess that means, Voldemort's soul isn't as properly attached to Harry as it would be to say, Nagini.
That was all well and good, but I didn't really see how it helped me. I mean, what difference did it make how strongly or loosely the soul was attached to the horcrux, if the only way to kill it was to irreversibly destroy said horcrux anyway.
Frustrated, I gave up on that line of research… for the meantime anyway, and instead focused on practicing spells. The date for the first DA meeting still hadn't been finalized yet, so I figured I might as well practice on my own till then.
In the meantime, I also squeezed in another couple quidditch practice sessions. I was quite pleased with the way everything was coming along in that regard, even Zabini was making an effort to work with the team. It was after one such practice session, when I was changing back into my regular robes, that I felt a small, hot sensation in my pocket. It flared up briefly before vanishing. I reached into the pocket and pulled out the Protean coin. I read the numbers on the side, which were glowing blue for a few seconds before the glow faded. The date had been set, it was the day after tomorrow, 8 pm.
That worked for me, I didn't even have patrol duty that night.
[…]
The morning of the DA meeting, I was eating breakfast when the daily post arrived. No letters for me, just the newspaper. I opened it to see anything Voldemort-related. As had been the case for a while now, there was nothing big enough to make the front page.
On an unrelated note, there was an article about another notorious dark wizard… Grindelwald. He had died. Killed in a freak avalanche in the Alps, as he was being transferred from his old prison of Nurmengard to a brand new one, escorted by a squad of five Aurors of the Austrian Ministry of Magic. One of the aurors died as well, the other four were wounded but survived.
I… wasn't sure how to react to this. How did this even impact the timeline? Voldemort goes after Grindelwald in the books, when Gregorovich tells him that he stole the Elder Wand. Voldy then interrogates Grindelwald for the wand's location, and finds out that Dumbledore had it all along.
So, that means… Voldemort never learns that Dumbledore has the wand.
Actually no, because Dumbledore's victory over Grindelwald was a century-defining event, and Voldemort would be able to deduce that Grindelwald lost the wand to Dumbledore that fateful day, and come after Dumbledore anyway.
So, his premature death doesn't really change much in the long run… I think. There may be something I'm overlooking. I'll have to give it a think later.
The collision of a paper plane with my head shook me out of these thoughts. I picked up the plane and unfolded it.
Drop by the Room fifteen minutes early tonight.
-Harry
I crumpled it up and tossed it aside. I wasn't sure why I was supposed to come early… but I guess we'll see.
Classes finished earlier today, as the last period was a free one. So, I took the extra time to plan the next quidditch practice session. At around seven forty I left the common room for the seventh floor.
Only the trio had shown up to the room by then. Harry walked up to me and greeted me, while Ron and Hermione busied themselves with planning the lesson.
"Thanks for showing up early," Harry said.
"No problem," I said. "What'd you need me for?"
"I just wanna see how much you know already… you were pretty good at the Ministry, so I just wanna get an idea."
"Alright," I took out my wand and Harry summoned a training dummy.
"Okay," Harry said, crossing his arms. "Let's start with disarming."
"Expelliarmus!" I muttered instantly, and the dummy's wand shot out of its hand.
"Good, stunning?" Harry said.
"Stupefy!"
The dummy fell back a few feet.
"Awesome. Try shielding now," Harry said.
This went on for about ten minutes before Harry said, "Alright you're really good, actually. Now just one last piece of magic… you probably won't be able to do it but that's okay. Try the Patronus."
I closed my eyes and concentrated on my go-to Patronus memory, the one of coming to Hogwarts for the first time. Opening my eyes, I muttered, "Expecto Patronum!" and a burst of white light shot out in the rough shape of a fox. It wasn't a fully corporeal patronus, I still hadn't gotten to that yet, but it was close.
Harry looked extremely impressed by it, and even clapped lightly. Ron and Hermione stopped to look as well.
"That's… incredible, where did you learn all this?" he asked.
"Uh… my parents used to have a dueling instructor for me… but the patronus is self-taught," I said. "Probably why it isn't fully corporeal."
"No, no, it's still really impressive," Harry said. "This is good, you're pretty much caught up with us."
At that moment the door opened and Ginny, Luna and Neville entered. Over the next five minutes or so, a few dozen more showed up. A few of them waved at me. A few gave me odd looks… which kinda ticked me off. Daphne jogged up to me, beaming.
"You didn't tell me you joined the DA as well," she said.
"Heh, yeah, well I wanted it to be a surprise."
Harry, accompanied by the other two, went up to the front of the room and cleared his throat. The excited muttering died down and he spoke.
"Welcome back everyone!" he said. "Hope you all had a great summer, and first week back… so, er, let's not waste any time. Today we're gonna be learning a neat little spell that Ron found out about recently. It's called Levicorpus, and it… well, you'll find out what it does soon enough. Can I have a volunteer?"
Collin Creevey immediately raised his hand.
"Ah, yes, Collin, come on up," Harry said. "So, fare warning, this won't be pleasant."
Collin nodded nervously.
"Alright." Harry cleared his throat, then said with a swish of his wand, "Levicorpus!"
Collin yelped as he suddenly found himself suspended mid-air by his ankle. Then Harry said, "Liberacorpus!" and Collin fell back down.
An excited murmur broke out through the crowd. The trio divided us up into pairs, I got partnered with Zacharias Smith, which I was less than pleased with. However, as the first round of spells started to fly, a new problem appeared which was… when the girls would get suspended mid-air, it would lead to certain issues with the skirts.
Pretty much as soon as this problem arose, I requested a partner change for Daphne instead of Zacharias Smith, but this was quickly shot down by Hermione, something along the lines of 'keep it in your pants'.
As the problem became more widespread, something needed to be done, so the Room ended up getting partitioned with boys on one side and the girls on the other. Lame, but oh well.
Levicorpus took a few tries, but I got the hang of it quick, and it was actually a really fun spell to cast. There was something about it that just felt satisfying… or maybe that was just the sight of Zacharias Smith dangling helplessly in the air.
After about thirty minutes or so, most people had gotten a pretty decent hang of the spell, so we moved on to trying to cast it non-verbally, but there was little progress there. A lot of the DA members weren't even in the sixth year yet, and the ones that were in the sixth year were still struggling, myself included. Only the handful of seventh-years did well with the non-verbal incantations.
At the end of the day, when I left the Room with Daphne, I felt… happier? There was something deeply satisfying about the DA, a sort of satisfaction I didn't feel at all when practicing alone.
This year really might not be so bad, after all.
[…]
The weeks slowly passed, and as the first match of the Quidditch season, Gryffindor vs Slytherin, drew nearer, tensions between the houses grew. More than once Slytherins had tried to sneakily hex members of the Gryffindor team, which had prompted retaliatory strikes by the Gryffindors. After a few days of this, there came a point where any member of the teams had a group of 3 or 4 house mates accompanying them from class to class, a precaution should there be any attempts of foul play.
Things were always tense before a Gryffindor vs Slytherin match, but recent events had added more fuel to the fire. Everything ranging from Slytherin's victory in last year's final, to the current political situation, was contributing to the tensions.
However, the glares I'd been getting from Slytherins before had declined in the days leading up to the match. It seems Daphne had been right; their hatred for Gryffindors outweighed their hatred of me.
The weather on the day of the match was far from ideal. Rainy with the occasional clap of thunder. But we'd trained in such conditions before. I went over the gameplan once more with the team and then we headed out to greet the roaring crowd. Three-quarters of the stands were dominated by red and gold, the other quarter a sea of green and silver. Gryffindor vs Slytherin was always a spectacle, but this year, the atmosphere had a special sort of intensity.
I'd always felt a tiny bit nervous before matches – despite having played plenty of them in my time at Hogwarts – but this one was different. It was my first match as captain. I tried to ignore these feelings as I shook hands with Harry, then briefly wondered if he was feeling like I was.
Madam Hooch tossed the Quaffle in the air. Possession was quickly seized by Gryffindor's Demelza Robins, who passed to Katie Bell. Katie raced at full speed towards the Slytherin goalposts. She swerved to dodge a Bludger from Bethany McLoughlin, but left herself vulnerable to Astoria, who was able to swat the Quaffle out of her hands. Now it was Slytherin on the attack, Astoria zoomed past Demelza and Katie, dodging a bludger from one of the Gryffindor Beaters on the way, before she was intercepted by Ginny Weasley. The two battled for possession for a good thirty seconds, a battle that Ginny won – she really was great – and once more sped off towards the Slytherin goalposts.
This kind of back and forth continued for another five minutes, before the Quaffle once more found itself between Astoria and Ginny. This time, it was Astoria who won the battle, and was able to seal it off with a goal.
I smiled. Slytherin had drawn first blood. I returned my attention to… well, the whole stadium. I had to look for the snitch, after all. More than a few times I saw a glimmer of gold that turned out to be the reflection from someone's watch or something.
In the meanwhile, Astoria scored once more, and Gryffindor scored two of their own. One by Demelza Robins, the other by Ginny Weasley. The one by Ginny was admittedly a tricky one, but Demelza's goal should have been an easy save. I also saw Zabini fumble an easy Quaffle interception. As the match progressed, the rest of the team started getting sloppy.
I tried signaling to Madame Hooch for a time-out, but she was too far away to see me, and just then, Harry took off upwards at full speed.
Shit, I had gotten distracted.
I gave chase, and spotted the familiar glimmer of gold far above. Fortunately, the snitch had been closer to me, so I ended up being slightly ahead of Harry. At first, anyway. His Firebolt was faster than my Nimbus 2001, and he started edging ahead. I accelerated my broom as much as I could to keep up with him. I flew higher and higher, almost neck and neck with Harry, the cold wind and rain hitting my face like icy needles.
The ascent grew increasingly agonizing, and I started to wonder how much higher the snitch could even go.
…and as though the universe itself heard that, and decided to fuck with me, there was a blinding flash of lightning and just like that, the Snitch disappeared. I looked around wildly for the snitch for a few seconds, but it was nowhere to be seen. A few seconds is more than enough for a snitch to disappear anyway, so I descended back to the pitch – as did Harry – where I saw that the score was now 50-30 to Gryffindor.I quickly signaled a time-out to Madame Hooch, who blew her whistle.
"Guys," I said as my teammates flew over to me. "What is going on? We're better than this! We can't let Gryffindor beat us... alright, change of plans. They're keeping their Chasers spread out across the pitch, let's use that. Remember the Power Play move we practiced? We're doing that. Astoria, you'll be the spearhead. The rest of you know what to do right?"
The team nodded fervently.
"Alright," I said with a nod and a smile. "Let's give the Gryffs hell."
The match resumed. I returned to surveying the pitch for the Snitch from high above, but also keeping an eye on the team. The new chaser, Colleen Whithrow, got possession of the Quaffle for Slytherin by intercepting a bad pass and then, in turn, passed it to Astoria.
Astoria sped-off down the pitch, and the rest of the team flew around her, to protect her from enemy chasers or bludgers, but also giving her enough room to maneuver comfortably. The Power Play was a sort of all-out attack, and worked best when the enemy team was spread apart, like the Gryffindors were at the moment. It was difficult to pull off, and could be risky if possession of the Quaffle suddenly changed, but if executed right it was almost unstoppable.
I kept an eye on the formation, Ginny Weasley tried to cut through it but Zabini and Colleen intercepted her. Then one of the Gryffindor beaters fired a Bludger right at Astoria; our Beater Jason Myers took a sluggish swing at it and missed. The Bludger passed through and Astoria was only able to dodge it purely due to her own exceptional reflexes.
I gritted my teeth. In this formation the spearhead chaser shouldn't have to dodge bludgers… not with the whole team offering protection. And Jason was a good beater, that Bludger should've been a piece of cake for him.
What had gotten into the team? It's like they weren't even trying. They'd done so well in practice. But now only Astoria was living up to that standard. Could it be… that I was a terrible captain? No…maybe… but if that was the case, why had they done so well in training?
I was shaken out of these self-doubting thoughts by Astoria scoring a goal. The Slytherin crowd cheered, and broke into a chorus of the old classic Weasley is Our King. I could see Ron going red from all the way across the pitch. In a different situation, I might've felt some sympathy for the guy, but that was not this situation. A nervous enemy keeper was a massive asset.
I gestured to the team to repeat the Power Play. I'd reckon we could squeeze out another move or two like that. The Gryffs hadn't seen anything like this before to my knowledge, so it would take them a while to adapt.
While the team worked on repeating the move – and succeeding again, levelling the scores – I scoured the pitch for the familiar glimmer of gold – and spotted it! It was floating high above the middle of the pitch. I shot towards it, just as the snitch tried making its escape. No matter, I could outfly the snitch, even from this distance.
What I couldn't outfly, was Harry's Firebolt, currently speeding towards me at breakneck pace.
Shit.
I accelerated more, but I need not have bothered, because before either of us could get close to the tiny gold ball, Madam Hooch blew her shrill whistle, stopping the game. I let out a groan, but the more rational part of me said it didn't matter. The Snitch had been too far, and Harry likely would've gotten to it before me, anyway. Apparently, Jason Myers had committed a foul – what kind exactly, I didn't know – but it was serious enough for Madam Hooch to award a penalty shoot to Gryffindor, which was taken by Katie Bell.
As she got ready to take the penalty, I hovered to Bethany McLoughlin, my other – and so far, more reliable – beater.
"I'll try luring Potter out with a feint, see if you can get him with a Bludger," I muttered. She grinned and nodded.
The whistle blew again, and Katie scored a goal. I winced; just like that, Gryffindor had taken the lead again. Katie was a good chaser, and the shoot had been a tricky one, but I had expected more from Avery. He had veered completely in the wrong direction.
Whatever. If my feint plan worked, our chances of winning would improve significantly. So as the match resumed, I hovered around for a minute or two, then took a sharp dive, hoping Harry would fall for it. Amazingly, he did, and as he gave chase, I heard the faint *thud* that meant a Bludger had been smacked by a Beater.
Excellent… the plan had worked! Harry had fallen for it, and then- Zabini came hurtling out of nowhere from my left.
He collided with me before I could react, and I went flying right into the bludger's path, which me in the back, sending me flying off the broom, face first into the ground as everything went black.
[…]
When I woke up in the hospital wing, it was dark outside, and my head hurt. Daphne was sitting to my right, reading a magazine.
"Mmm… hey," I groaned.
She looked up from her magazine and smiled. "Hey, you're awake… how're you feeling?"
"My head hurts…" I groaned, trying to sit up straight, but giving up when the headache worsened. "Urgh, how long have you been here?"
"Like… ten minutes?" she said, looking at her watch.
"How long was I out?"
"Since yesterday…"
"What happened with the match?"
She frowned. "Draco… you should rest."
"Daphne, tell me," I said, as forcefully as I could in my condition.
She sighed. She didn't want to say but I guess she realized it was pointless to argue. "Slytherin lost… badly. 300-70."
I groaned.
"It wasn't your fault," she said quickly.
"Yeah, I know… fucking Zabini…"
Thoughts of the match began swirling through my head. Everything that had gone wrong… it made me angry… Zabini, that idiot, what was he thinking?!
At that moment, Madame Pomfrey entered the hospital wing from her office, stirring a vial containing dark purple liquid.
"Ah good, you're awake. Here," she said, thrusting the vial into my hand. "Drink this."
It smelt like molten plastic – not exactly appetizing. Reluctantly, I drank it. The thick purple concoction was predictably vile, and burnt my throat as it went down, but it also eased the headache a lot.
"I'll keep you here for the night," she said. "You can leave in the morning."
Daphne hung around for a bit longer, but eventually she left too. She had been reluctant to leave, but I practically forced her to go after her third yawn. I fell asleep again shortly afterwards, something in the potion had made me drowsy.
[…]
The next morning, I woke up feeling refreshed and energetic, and jumped out of bed. Maybe it was because of the… what, 40 hours of sleep I'd gotten? Or maybe it was Madame Pomfrey's treatment. Or maybe… it was because of my rage-fueled desire to find Zabini and hex him till he ended up in Hong Kong speaking fucking Urdu.
At any rate I stormed out of the Hospital Wing as soon as Madame Pomfrey let me. It was breakfast time so I headed down to the Great Hall, the enchanted ceiling above showing a cloudy, gloomy day outside. I made a beeline for the Slytherin table, getting an above average amount of glares.
I scanned the table but couldn't find Zabini. A monstrous grumble from my stomach told me he could wait, so I sat down next to Daphne, who greeted me with a kiss on the cheek, and just like the glares and murmurs from the other Slytherins seemed to vanish.
"How're you feeling?" she asked.
"Better," I said. "Starving."
"Alright, what do you wanna eat?" she asked, grabbing my plate for me.
"You?"
"Hmm, soon enough," she said in a sultry voice.
I hiccupped.
"That backfired," I said hoarsely.
"Hehe," Daphne giggled, filling up my plate with eggs and sausages. "Here, eat this. Pumpkin juice?"
"Yeah, thanks," I said, digging in.
"So…" Daphne said as she watched me eat.
"So?" I said through a mouthful of breakfast.
"What're you gonna do today?"
"Hunt down Zabini and hex him to the seventh dimension probably," I said. "Where is he, by the way?"
"He left for the pitch with the others…" she said.
"The pitch? Why?"
She shrugged. I quickly finished my breakfast and headed out to the windy grounds, Daphne trailing behind me. As I approached the stadium, I could see small figures whizzing around the goalposts… were they training or something?
I stormed on to the pitch and called out, "Zabini! HEY, ZABINI!"
He was too far up to hear me, so I took out my wand and pointed it upwards, and a jet of red sparks shot up into the air. That got his attention and he flew down.
"Ah, Malfoy," he said with an awful smile. "Good to have you back, just in time too, we only just started tryouts."
"Tryouts…? What do you mean, what's going on?" I asked, briefly forgetting to be angry in my confusion.
"Well, Greengrass quit, so we need a replacement," he said. "And seeing as how I'm the captain now, I-"
"Sorry, who made you captain… you're not even the vice-captain! And why did Astoria quit?"
"All of that can be attributed to your horrendous captaincy," Zabini said smugly. "And the team made me captain. Proper captain, not acting captain."
"That's not… possible."
"It is, you can ask Professor Snape if you want," he said.
"Who the hell voted for you to be captain anyway! You're the reason we fucking lost!" I said, clenching my fists.
"Is that so?" he said, with an expression of mock innocence. "I was just following your lead…"
"Fuck no, you weren't…" and then it dawned on me. All of it clicked, all the baffling mistakes the team had made. "Oh, you piece of shit, you did all of that on purpose. Everything. And what, was the rest of the team in on it as well? For what, to make me look like a terrible captain and kick me out?"
"My, my, sounds like someone's in denial… perhaps it would be better if you just acknowledged your shortcomings," Zabini said, his face becoming ever more punchable by the minute. He dismounted from his broom and walked up to me, then spoke in a low voice. "This is for Elliot, you blood-traitor swine."
"…who?"
"My brother," Zabini muttered. "Because of what you did at the Ministry, he's rotting in Azkaban right now… this was for him."
I was… honestly stunned for a second, then I burst out laughing.
"You… really are a fucking joke, you know that, Blaise?" I said. "What, so your brother got chucked into Azkaban for attacking the Ministry with his fascist Death Eater pals, and you avenge him by… sabotaging a Quidditch match and replacing me as captain? Are you really that fucking pathetic? Oh, Merlin's balls, this is just sad…"
"Shut your mouth!" he spat angrily, taking out his wand and pointing it at me. I took out mine as well and pointed it back at him.
"Oh please, Zabini, go ahead," I said, laughing. "Try and hex me, make my day… I've foughtDeath Eaters – real ones, not pathetic wannabes like you – so do give it your best shot."
Zabini kept his wand raised, face twitching with anger. The rest of the team were now hovering stationary, looking at the scene unfold tensely.
"Draco," Daphne said, putting her hand on my shoulder. "Let's go… he's not worth it, c'mon."
She obviously wanted to avoid trouble, and I suppose she was right… Zabini just wasn't worth getting into trouble over. Reluctantly, I lowered my wand and began walking away. Turning away from someone who had his wand pointed at you wasn't the wisest move, but it was sort of intended. If Zabini was looking for a fight…
All of a sudden something sharp hit me in the back, and I fell forward onto the ground. I quickly got back up and turned around to see Zabini with his wand still pointed at me. Oh, this was perfect. He had been stupid enough to attack first!
He fired another Stunner at me, which I easily blocked. He fired another one, just as I fired one myself. The spells met in mid-air, but mine cut through Zabini's spell like a hot knife through butter and hit him square in the chest, sending him flying back. I then quickly disarmed him, and yelled, "Levicorpus!"
Zabini got yanked into the air by an invisible force, dangling from his ankle, yelling and cursing at me.
"Hey, now, that's not very polite!" I said, in a tone of mock affront. "Scourgify!"
Zabini coughed and sputtered as his mouth briefly foamed with bubbles.
"Draco…" Daphne pleaded again, voice slightly strained. "That's enough, please… let's just go now…"
I sighed. A part of me wanted to keep going, but the more rational part knew I shouldn't. I let Zabini dangle for a few more moments, making sure the team got a good look at him, then muttered, "Liberacorpus," and he fell back down, still coughing and sputtering.
"Don't go picking fights you can't win, moron," I spat at him, then turned around stormed off the pitch. This time, Zabini didn't dare fire any more spells at me.
As I stomped my way back to the castle, Daphne caught up to me and said, "Was that really necessary?"
I stopped in my tracks and looked at her incredulously.
"What do you mean-?"
"Humiliating him in front of everyone… you'd already beaten him, was dangling him necessary?"
"Wha- where is this coming from?" I asked, genuinely taken aback by her words.
"I'm just saying…" she said, looking uncomfortable. "Things are already bad enough with the rest of the house… Zabini attacked you first, yes, and you were well within your rights to fight back, but going the extra mile of humiliating him like that isn't going to help anything, it'll only make matters worse… worse than they already are."
I stared at her, first in disbelief, then that disbelief changed into something else. For the first time ever, I found myself angry at Daphne Greengrass.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" I said through gritted teeth. "He humiliated mein front of the entire school during the match, so no, what I did wasn't extra. Quite the contrary, really."
"Look, I know you're angry, Draco, but I just don't-"
"OH I'M ANGRY? WHAT GAVE IT AWAY?"
Daphne flinched, then said in a pleading voice, "Draco-"
"You know," I said, cutting her off. "I'd have thought you'd support me… seeing as how Zabini set me up in front of the entire school, then hexed me, but nooo, you're right, I shouldn't have given that arrogant, delusional prick his comeuppance! How awful of me!"
"Draco, Draco, stop this, right now!" Daphne said, her voice rising as well. "You know bloody fucking well I'm on your side-"
"Well, to me it seems like you've still got a little soft spot for Zabini!" I spat back at her.
A silence fell. A cold, deathly silence.
After what seemed like an eternity, Daphne spoke, her voice cold and shaking, "Fuck you."
She turned on her heel and stormed back to the castle.
I watched her walk away all the way back to the castle, the door closing with a loud thud behind her. I hung my head in exasperation. I needed to clear my thoughts, and the noisy castle wouldn't help me with that, so I took a walk down the grounds in a random direction. The Quidditch pitch was visible from this side, and the thoughts of Zabini's betrayal flooded my head once more. His motivation may have been laughable, but the deed itself still stung.
The plan itself had been pretty smart too, I reflected bitterly. One or two players playing poorly could be attributed to the individuals, but if almost the entire team was sloppy then the blame falls on the captain. As for the players themselves… it made sense they'd side with Zabini. Benjamin Avery, I had been naïve enough to look past his surname, in spite of everything that was going on. Colleen and Adrian also hung out with the more questionable Slytherin crowd… god, I had been so stupid. Apart from Astoria, Bethany McLoughlin had been the only one who hadn't screwed me over. So it was a bit comforting, knowing at least one other person hadn't been scheming behind my back for weeks.
Frustratingly there was nothing I could really do… or at least nothing I could think of at the moment.
As per the rules, the team could vote out captains if they had a valid reason (it didn't happen often, but it was still possible), and this match gave them an ostensible one. If Zabini had gotten most of the team on-board, then there wasn't really a way I could become captain again, unless they themselves voted me back in, which wasn't gonna happen. So, my options were to either accept it and keep playing as a regular player… or just quit altogether.
And no fucking way I was playing for Zabini.
Of course, I could try explaining that Zabini had sabotaged the whole thing, but who would believe me? Zabini could just deny it, and I didn't have any real proof, even though I knew it was true. So that was a dead end too…
I kept walking, thinking of Zabini dangling in the air by the ankle, and smiling a bit. What a moron. But that satisfaction was short-lived; I couldn't really think about it without thinking about what had happened next.
I let out a long sigh. Now that some of the anger had dissipated, I could see that I had… overreacted, to say the least, with Daphne. It was just… in that moment, I had been so angry at Zabini, and having her call me out on humiliating him had just made me… snap.
She had been right… sort of. Humiliating Zabini wasn't gonna make things any better, if anything it would just be yet another reason for Slytherin House to hate me, on top of the whole blood-traitor business and the match. It also meant that I now had a permanent enemy in the house with a personal hatred for me… well, more personal than before, anyway.
I was shaken out of these thoughts momentarily as I realized where I was standing. It was the same slope that Daphne had once pushed me down, a long time ago. We'd flirted a bit at the bottom of the slope. She had also told me about her former-crush on Zabini back in the fourth year, but that she was mostly over it. It had been a touchy subject then, and I guess it still was for her now…
All that seemed so long ago. I guess you could say ten months was long, but it felt like way more. So much had happened since then…
The whole memory made me want to find Daphne and apologize for being a colossal prick to her, but I decided it might be better to give her some space for now, then try later once she cooled down. Daphne rarely got mad, but when she did, it was best to leave her alone till she calmed down.
A single drop of rain, cold and stinging, fell on my nose, snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked up at the sky, as another drop fell on my face. Then another, and another, and another. It was raining again. I didn't really want to go back inside just yet, but I also didn't want to get soaked; it was chilly enough as it was with the wind. Also, I suddenly became aware of a sharp, stinging pain in the palms of my hands. They were bleeding; I hadn't realized how hard I'd been clenching my fists. A quick trip to Madam Pomfrey seemed to be order in well. So reluctantly, I returned to the castle.
[…]
Astoria stepped out of the empty classroom; her heart pounding so hard it felt as though it might burst out of her chest. Her body shivered with giddiness, and mind racing with the thoughts of what she had just done. It felt… good.
She wasn't entirely sure how it had even happened… one minute she had been walking down the corridor, in a less-than-pleased mood for reasons that escaped her – oh yeah, quidditch – then she had seen Anastasia, the mysterious, attractive exchange student from Durmstrang, walking down the corridor. One thing had led to another, and soon she had found herself being way more intimate with Anastasia than she would have thought possible less than an hour ago (though Astoria had not been displeased by this, quite the contrary in fact).
Astoria had been aware of her bisexuality for quite some time now, though she hadn't really told anyone. Partly because she didn't know how, and partly because there never really seemed to be a good time to bring it up. That said, this had been Astoria's first time with another girl, and it had been… amazing, really. Kissing Anastasia's soft lips, savoring her taste, running her hand through her long, dark hair, and feeling Anastasia's hands explore her body, and the jolt of surprise and pleasure she had felt when Anastasia had bitten her shoulder. She watched as the other girl came out of the room behind her, adjusting her hair. The two girls made eye contact. Astoria blushed; Anastasia grinned.
"That was…" Anastasia began.
"Amazing," Astoria finished, slightly out-of-breath.
Anastasia's grin widened. "See you around, Astoria," she said. Astoria watched her walk away, slightly puzzled. Then she realized Anastasia was probably playing hard-to-get… or something like that, Astoria wasn't exactly an expert when it came to these things. But for some reason, to her, it felt right in that moment to jog up behind Anastasia and give her derriere a well-deserved slap.
Anastasia yelped in surprise, and Astoria made sure to follow it up with a nice squeeze. Astoria savored the experience, and in particular Anastasia's reaction. The normally cool, quiet and ever-so-slightly haughty girl was now a deep shade of red, biting her lower lip. She wore a rather peculiar expression on her face. Again, Astoria was no expert, but she was fairly certain (or at least, hopeful) that face meant 'I'll get you back for that.'
Giggling to herself at the thought, she bid Anastasia farewell and set off down the other direction only to run into none other than one Draco Malfoy.
"Oh!" she said, nearly running into him. "Draco, hey- I didn't know madame Pomfrey let you out…"
"Hmm, well I'm already headed back," he said ruefully, holding up his hands. There were short deep cuts on the palms, bleeding.
"What happened?" Astoria asked.
"Nothing, just… an accident," he said, shaking his head. "Anyways, I uh, just caught up on Quidditch lore…"
Astoria sighed. And just like that, the moments of bliss were over…
"Yeah… you think Zabini sabotaged the match?"
"Obviously," Draco agreed.
"Are you planning on doing anything about it?" Astoria asked.
"Yeah, quitting," he said darkly.
Astoria hadn't quite been expecting that.
"Wha- quitting?! You can't do that, I thought you would push back or something… not give up," she said.
"Firstly, didn't you also quit?" he retorted.
"Uh…" shit. He had a point. "Well that was a tad impulsive of me… I was mad at what Zabini was doing…"
"Join the club," Draco said bitterly. "Anyways, there's not much I can do."
"Why not! You can talk to Professor Snape-"
"Tori, even if I go to Snape… what's gonna happen? I don't have any proof… more than that, I don't want to be on the team anymore. I'm not gonna play for Zabini, and even if I'm captain, him and the others will just keep pulling shit like this. We can't kick them out, because like it or not, they were the best players the house had."
Astoria considered all this for a moment, then let out an exasperated sigh. "Yeah, I suppose you're right…"
"In a way, I suppose this is better," Draco said.
"Really?"
"Yeah… frankly without you and me, those morons don't stand a chance. I'd reckon even Hufflepuff could beat them…"
There was silence for a moment, before Draco spoke again.
"So uh… you and Anastasia, eh?" he said with a small grin.
"Huh- how much did you see?" Astoria asked.
Draco looked a bit puzzled by this question. "Uh… just the end, when I entered the corridor."
"Oh…" Astoria said. Then turned slightly red as she realized he had probably seen her spank Anastasia.
"How long have you guys been together?"
"About uh…" she checked her watch. "Forty-five minutes? Honestly, I'm not even sure if we're a thing. It just sort of… happened suddenly."
"Hmm… honestly, I kind of feel you," he said. "The suddenly-happening thing, I mean."
Astoria wasn't an expert, but she could tell Draco was upset about something, and it wasn't quidditch.
[…]
(The following day, Hogsmeade)
"One firewhisky, please," I said, slapping a handful of sickles onto the table.
"No," Madam Rosmerta said firmly.
"Aw c'mon," I said. "Let me drink my sorrow away, please."
"Wow, that's definitely one I haven't heard a million times before," she said dryly. "Answer's still no. Drink your sorrow away with butterbeer, like everyone else who ever used that line."
"Okay, how about now?" I said, putting a galleon on the table next to the sickles.
"Oh, love, sooner or later you'll learn you can't just throw money at every problem," she said, with a slightly amused expression.
"C'mon Rosie, I'm sixteen and a half…"
"And let me guess, if you round that off, you're actually seventeen?" she said.
"Heard that one, too?"
"From your uncle, no less," she said.
"Uncle?" I asked, puzzled.
"Sirius Black," she said.
"Oh…" I said. "Did you give it to him?"
"Yep," she said.
"What?! So why not me, then?"
"Because," she said, handing me a butterbeer. "I was also sixteen, and stupid. And quite frankly, you're no Sirius Black, hon. Now run off."
"Ouch," I said. Knowing it was a lost cause, I grabbed my butterbeer and took a sip, glancing around the student-filled pub to the corner where Daphne sat. She was with a dark-haired Ravenclaw girl named Helena, a fellow DA member. Helena was talking rather enthusiastically about something, and Daphne was nodding along absent-mindedly.
So, twenty-four hours later, I still hadn't apologized to her yet. I still believed what I did to Zabini was justified (I hadn't gotten any detention for that, oddly enough), but it was even clearer to me now that what I had said to Daphne hadn't been.
God, I hated this so much.
It wasn't losing the Quidditch captaincy that hurt, I was over that (heck, I was even glad to be out of the team now). No, what really hurt was losing Daphne. She had been more than just my girlfriend… she had been my friend, my ally, the only one I really had in Slytherin…
The optimist in me believed that I was, again, overreacting a bit… yeah, that fight had been pretty bad, but it probably wouldn't be the end of us. I really hoped that bit of me was right. And the fact that the fight had been over something so stupid was also eating me up inside. Fucking Zabini…
Stop feeling sorry for yourself and go apologize to her, nitwit.
I wasn't sure where that voice in my head came from… maybe it was the butterbeer, but suddenly I found myself filled with an odd sort of determination. The kind you got as you were trying to fall asleep late at night, and were suddenly filled with the fiery motivation to sort your life out.
But as fate would have it, it was not to be. Because the moment I was about to get up from my stool, Daphne and her friend were joined by two other girls I only vaguely recognized.
And just like that, that fiery motivation was extinguished.
I slumped back onto my stool with a sigh. I didn't want to keep sitting in the loud, crowded pub, so I grabbed my drink and walked out of the pub. The High Street was less-crowded than usual, probably because of the cold. We were in early October, but it had started snowing already. The chill hit me like a thousand sharp knives as I stepped out the door, but I ignored it and began walking down the street towards the local bookshop.
All of a sudden, a blood-curdling shriek rang out through the air, cutting through the howls of the cold wind, and making the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. The butterbeer slipped out of my hand, as I stood momentarily shocked by the scream. Then I broke into a sprint towards where the sound had come from, it had been close-by, next turn left.
I arrived at the scene to see Katie Bell on the ground, twitching violently. Tonks was knelt besides her, checking her pulse (I had forgotten Tonks was stationed in Hogsmeade now, thank god she had been nearby). She took out her wand and silently cast a spell on Katie, and the twitching calmed down. Another girl – Katie's friend, probably – was standing nearby, hands clasped on her mouth, looking straight up traumatized.
Then I noticed it, on the ground besides Tonks… a paper package, slightly ripped around the corner, revealing an ornate necklace inside.
Oh shit-
[…][…][…]
hi hello eid mubarak it's been a while
so a couple of things
firstly, hope you enjoyed this beast of a chapter…ik the last few have been relatively slow so this was me trying to make up for that.
Secondly, I'm aware some of you guys may not be pleased with the events of this chapter… and that's all I have to say about that but DON'T WORRY THOUGH, draco and daphne aren't through-through… probably
Also as of writing this author's note, it's really late so if there are any grammatical or consistency errors in this long ass chapter that I missed, lemme know and I'll fix em when I can!
Anyways byeee 3