Chapter 6
Quidditch
As the days went by, I put all my focus on my studies. The teachers continued to pile on the homework, and between that and quidditch practices I barely had any time to do anything. Once a week Draco, Pansy, Zabini, Crabbe, Goyle, and I practiced Defense Against the Dark Arts spells in a corner of the common room. It would have been helpful if Professor Umbridge would show us how to cast the spells, but we were making do. Somehow, between all of the studying and practicing, the Slytherin quidditch team found time to come up with a song to sing during the first match of the season.
"Okay, okay," said Draco as he paced back and forth in front of the Slytherin team. "We just need a couple more lines and then we can teach the rest of the house the song."
"What about, 'Weasley's hair is so ugly he can't', uh…" Crabbe's voice trailed off because he couldn't think of anything to rhyme with ugly.
"You are almost completely useless," Draco said as he rolled his eyes at Crabbe. Crabbe's face turned a light shade of red. "We've got three weeks until the match, any other ideas?"
"'He always lets the quaffle in, Weasley will make sure we win', thoughts?" I asked the group. Everyone started nodding and laughing.
"Yeah, that'll work!" Draco said excitedly. "Shall we try the whole song then?" Draco lifted his hands and conducted the group through the short, but hilarious, song meant to distract Weasley from being able to stop us from scoring.
"It's perfect," said Montague. "We have three weeks to spread the word and teach it to as many people as we can." And with that the team dispersed to either work on homework or head to bed.
Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and I headed over to the cushions that Pansy and Zabini were sitting on. Pansy was scrawling the last bits of her Transfiguration essay, her tongue poking out of her mouth as she concentrated. Zabini had his eyes closed, all of his work packed up in his bag. The fire in the fireplace was slowly going out and the common room emptied as students headed off to bed. I sat down next to Pansy, pulled out my own Transfiguration essay and began to work on it.
"Finish the song?" Pansy asked, not looking up from her work.
"Yeah," I said, "it's going to be hilarious." Draco grunted in agreement, sitting down next to Zabini. He also pulled out some homework to work on.
"Is Zabini asleep?" he asked, waving a hand in front of Zabini's face.
"No," Zabini answered without opening his eyes.
"What are you doing?" Draco asked.
"Nothing, just resting." Zabini shrugged his shoulders, still not opening his eyes. Draco gave him a confused look and started on his homework.
"Are you guys going to be busy with quidditch practices?" Pansy asked as she wrote out the last sentence on her parchment.
"Yeah, the first match of the season is only a few weeks away." Draco answered, not looking up from his notes. Pansy let out a sigh.
"What's up?" I asked, glancing at her from my work. Sadness was written all over her face, her eyes looked as though she was on the verge of crying.
"I just feel like you guys are always busy and we don't get to spend time with each other like we used to," she said softly. "I guess I just miss having my best friends around."
"What am I?" Zabini asked, opening his eyes to peek at her. Crabbe and Goyle mumbled words in agreement with Zabini.
"You guys are some of my best friends too, but it's not the same without Draco and Chloe around. I just want all of us to hang like we used to." I felt a ping of guilt in my heart at her words.
"We do hang out," I said, giving her the best reassuring smile that I could. "This year is just a little different. There's more homework, plus we have to put time aside to practice the Defense Against the Dark Arts spells that are going to be on our O. . And Draco and I have quidditch practices, we are hoping to win the Cup this year."
"I know, I know," Pansy said. She let out another sigh, trying to regulate her feelings. "Maybe one of these weekends we could go around pranking the first years, like we used to."
"That sounds like a good time, and we could use a break from practicing spells for Defense Against the Dark Arts," Draco said, not looking up from his work. "Did you have any pranks in mind?"
"Draco, you were always the one to come up with the pranks," Pansy said, a smile forming on her lips. Draco put down his quill as he thought for a moment.
"Too bad there isn't any snow around," he said thoughtfully. "I always did like throwing them at unsuspecting first years." I could see a spark in both his and Pansy's eyes.
"We could always make snowballs," Pansy said excitedly. "Surely there is a spell to make snow."
"A snowball prank during this season would be fun," I said smiling. Crabbe and Goyle started to grin at the idea of doing a prank, even Zabini cracked a smile.
"Okay, so while you guys are busy with quidditch practice I'll hit up the library and find a spell to make snowballs." Pansy said. We all nodded in agreement and the rest of the evening was spent doing homework.
It was one week before the first quidditch match of the season. With all of our homework out of the way, and quidditch practice over, my friends and I headed out to the school grounds. The sun was out, but there was a slight chill in the air. Perfect conditions to be throwing snowballs at unsuspecting first years.
The six of us wandered over to the Black Lake and sat down by one of the trees near the bank. Pansy had explained to us the spell she found to make snow. Draco, Pansy, and I began making small piles of snow while Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini turned the snow into snowballs. Soon enough we had a huge stack of snowballs ready.
It wasn't long before a group of first year Hufflepuffs walked by. The six of us armed ourselves and began pelting them. Shrieks of surprise filled the air as they attempted to locate where the snow was coming from. I began laughing, feeling pleased with the result of our prank. The Hufflepuff's ran away, their arms over their heads. I doubled over with laughter, joined by my friends.
"That was hilarious," Pansy squealed between laughs. "Oh, I can't wait until another group comes by."
I sat down on the ground next to our remaining snowballs. "I haven't laughed this hard in a long time." I mused with a smile on my face. In fact I couldn't remember the last time I laughed this much. It must have been when Cedric was still with me. I felt the smile fall from my face as my thoughts turned towards my dead boyfriend.
"Look!" I heard Pansy cry. "Another group of first years, Gryffindor's this time." She scooped up some snowballs, along with the rest of the group and began to throw them. I picked myself up from the ground, determined to not let myself wallow in my sadness. I grabbed a couple of snowballs and threw them as hard as I could.
"Oy!" I heard a voice shout from behind the first years. "Leave them alone!" I looked around to see my brother, Hermione, and Ron heading towards the first years we were hitting.
"What do you think you're doing?" Hermione asked shrilly as the first years took off towards the castle. I took a step back, trying to put some space between Harry and me.
"Having a bit of fun," Draco answered nonchalantly. "You here to spoil our fun?" He moved himself protectively in front of me.
"Tormenting first years is not-" began Hemrione in a huffy sort of voice.
"We aren't tormenting anyone," Pansy sneered. "It's not like the snowballs hurt them or anything." Ron's face turned a shade of red at Pansy's words. Harry's eyes moved over my group of friends, trying to locate me. It didn't take him long to find me, standing behind Draco. It was obvious by the look he gave me that he had something to say to me, but he held his tongue.
"You two are prefects, you set the standard for other students to follow." Hermione continued, ignoring Pansy's interruption.
"We aren't breaking any school rules. Plenty of students have snowball fights." Draco said, crossing his arms.
"How about just showing our younger students some respect then?" Ron spat out.
"What would you know about respect, Weasley? Your family is full of blood traitors." Draco sneered. Ron's face turned a deeper red at his words. While I didn't necessarily agree with Draco on blood status issues, I loved watching Ron get flustered. The whole interaction was making me excited to see how he would react to our song during the quidditch match next week.
"Chloe," Hermione said imploringly, "what would Cedric think?" Her words felt like a slap to my face. I felt a hot anger rise through my body.
"You," I said angrily pointing a finger at her, "keep Cedric's name out of your mouth." I began to move towards Hermione. "You have no right to bring up Cedric when he," I pointed towards Harry, "did nothing to save him. He just let him die." Draco grabbed my arm to stop me from getting any closer to Hermione, who looked taken aback at my reaction.
"Chloe…" I heard Harry say softly, a look of sadness on his face.
"Let's get out of here," Zabini said slowly. Draco moved his hand down from my arm and into my hand. Hermione gave me a pleading look as I passed her, but I just glared at her and continued on, letting Draco lead me towards the castle.
"Why do they have to be so uptight?" Pansy complained as we entered the castle.
"They just don't like to see us having fun," Zabini said. "Like you said, we weren't hurting anyone, just taking them by surprise."
"How were you ever friends with them?" Pansy asked me, putting on a disgusted look on her face. "Did you ever have fun?"
"I'd rather not talk about them," I said curtly. I was still angry at Hermione for bringing up Cedric. Or maybe I felt a little guilty because Cedric wouldn't have approved of what we were doing. Cedric had always brought out the best side of me, but was it so bad that I wanted to have a little fun? Like Pansy had said, we weren't actually hurting anyone.
"Why are you guys still holding hands?" I heard Pansy ask.
"Huh?" I looked down and realized that Draco's hand was still in mine. I quickly let go of Draco's hand.
"Is there something going on between you two?" Pansy asked, eyeing the two of us suspiciously. Was that jealousy?
"What?" I asked, taken aback. "No, Draco was just keeping me from completely blowing up at Granger." I said, looking at Draco for confirmation.
"Right," Draco said a little awkwardly, "I didn't even realize we were still holding hands." Zabini gave us a weird look, almost like he was rolling his eyes at us, but didn't say anything.
We arrived at the Slytherin common room to Montague handing out pamphlets to everyone coming through the door. I grabbed one to see what they were for. It was the lyrics to the song that we wrote a couple of weeks earlier.
"This way," Montague said with a grin, "everyone will know the song."
"I like the way you think Montague," I responded with a broad smile.
"We also have some badges that will be ready the day of the match," Montague chuckled sinisterly. "Weasley won't know what hit him."
The following week leading up to the match, the common room was filled with students practicing the song. And just as he promised, on the day of the match, Montague was handing out badges that read 'Weasley is Our King' as students headed out to breakfast.
I grabbed a crown shaped badge from Montague and said, "these look amazing!" I pinned my badge to my robes. "They will definitely get in Weasley's head. He doesn't stand a chance at saving a goal."
"Come on," Draco said, grinning ear to ear, "let's get to breakfast." He had already pinned his badge to his robes. It was clear from the look in his eyes that he was excited to see the reaction Weasley and the other Gryffindors were going to have.
We made our way as quickly as we could to the Great Hall. I estimated about ninety percent of the Slytherins were wearing the crown shaped badges. I couldn't help but smile as I strode alongside Draco to our usual spot at the Slytherin table. We took our time eating our breakfast, basking in the stares and whispers of students from other houses. Whenever the Slytherins saw a Gryffindor quidditch player, the table would erupt with jeers. Soon enough the Slytherin team stood up to begin our walk to the quidditch pitch.
I glanced over at the Gryffindor table and saw Hermione whispering urgently in Harry's ear. He looked over at the Slytherin table quickly before rushing over to Ron and pulled him out of the Hall. Ron's face was the palest I had ever seen it. I let out a light chuckle as I waved at the cheering Slytherins as the team and I headed out of the Hall.
The frosty grass crunched out under our feet as we made our way down the school grounds. There was no wind and the sky was a uniform white all across. This meant that visibility would be good without the drawback of direct sunlight in our eyes. This boded well for us. We all quickly changed into our quidditch robes and listened to Montague give a pep talk before heading out to the pitch.
We arrived before the Gryffindor team, taking our place near the middle of the field. Up in the stands students cheered and jeered at us, but faintly I could hear singing. The corners of my mouth twitched upwards as I watched the Gryffindor team walk onto the field. Cheers and applause erupted from the Gryffindor supporters, I even heard a lion roar somewhere in the crowd. Some Slytherins jeered and booed while others were singing. The singing, however, was to quiet to make out the lyrics just yet. I saw my brother eyeing the silver badges we all had on. He made eye contact with Draco who sneered in response and tapped his badge lightly.
"Captains shake hands," ordered Madam Hooch as Johnson and Montague reached each other. Knowing Montague, he was trying to crush Johnson's hand. To her credit she had no reaction to his brutal handshake. "Mount your brooms…"
Madam Hooch put her whistle in her mouth and blew.
The balls were released and the fourteen of us kicked hard off the ground and flew into the air.
"And it's Johnson, Johnson with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me —"
"JORDAN!" yelled Professor McGonagall.
"Just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest — and she's ducked Chloe Potter, 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 George Weasley, that's a Bludger to the head for Montague, he drops the Quaffle, caught by Katie Bell, Katie Bell of Gryffindor reverse passes to Alicia Spinnet and Spinnet's away —"
I chased after Spinnet but she dodged me and continued on her way.
"The crowd are loving this, just listen to them, what's that they're singing?" Lee Jordan quieted down to listen to the song coming from the sea of green and silver crowd.
Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King.
Weasley was born in a bin,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley will make sure we win,
Weasley is our King.
"— and Alicia passes back to Angelina!" Lee shouted, trying his best to drown out the sound of the singing. "Come on now, Angelina — looks like she's got just the Keeper to beat! — SHE SHOOTS — SHE — aaaah . . ."
Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper, had saved the goal; he threw the Quaffle to me and I sped off with it, zigzagging in between Spinnet and Bell; the singing from below grew louder and louder as I drew nearer and nearer Ron —
Weasley is our King,
Weasley is our King,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley is our King.
"— and it's Potter with the Quaffle, Potter heading for goal, she's out of Bludger range with just the Keeper ahead —"
The Slytherins sang louder.
Weasley cannot save a thing
He cannot block a single ring…
"— so it's the first test for new Gryffindor Keeper, Weasley, brother of Beaters, Fred and George, and a promising new talent on the team — come on, Ron!"
I aimed towards the right goal post, Weasley's face was a disgusting shade of green as he eyed me. I gave him a smirk before quickly switching directions and throwing the Quaffle towards the center hoop. Ron had dived to the right, waving his arms wildly in the air.
"Slytherin score!" came Lee's voice amid the cheering and booing from the crowds below. "So that's ten-nil to Slytherin — bad luck, Ron . . ."
The Slytherins sang even louder:
WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN…
"— and Gryffindor back in possession and it's Katie Bell tanking up the pitch —" cried Lee valiantly, though the singing was now so deafening that he could hardly make himself heard above it.
I had the Quaffle again and made a pass to Pucey. I followed Pucey from behind, he made it past Spinnet, but one of the Weasley twins hit a bludger towards him and he dropped the Quaffle. Bell snatched the Quaffle, but quickly lost her grip and dropped it as well. Montague came flying in and swiped it from the air. Pucey and I followed our captain from behind as he made his way towards Ron. He easily made the goal, and the crowd erupted.
THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING:
WEASLEY IS OUR KING.
As the match continued Ron let in two more goals, making the score forty-nil. I spared a glance at my brother as he passed close by. He had a look of desperation on his face. He clearly wanted to end the match as soon as he could.
"— 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 forty-ten, forty-ten to Slytherin and Pucey has the Quaffle…"
Pucey threw the Quaffle at me, I caught it with ease before quickly tossing it towards Montague, who threw it back at Pucey. However, Johnson intervened and caught it. She flung it to Bell, but shortly after catching the Quaffle she was hit by a Bludger hit by Goyle. She dropped the Quaffle and Pucey caught it again.
WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN,
WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN —
The crowd gasped, and I looked around to see Harry diving. Just behind him was Draco, laying flat on his broom. The Snitch made a direction change, towards Draco, and soon the two of them were neck and neck. I watched as they both reached out, feet from the ground, for the small gold ball. It was over in a matter of seconds. Harry had closed his fist around the Snitch. Cheers grew from the Gryffindor supporters, and I heard a lion roar again.
WHAM!
The sound of a bludger hitting Harry on the small of his back made me look around. Crabbe had attempted to stop Harry from catching the Snitch, but was a little too late. Harry fell from his broom and landed flat on his back. It was a good thing he was only a few feet from the ground already. I heard Madam Hooch's whistle as well as cat calls and angry cries from the stands.
I landed on the ground, not too far from where Draco and Harry had landed. Draco's face filled with fury, but he still had a smirk on his face. As I walked towards him I heard him say, "Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you? I've never seen a worse Keeper, but then he was born in a bin. Did you like my lyrics, Potter?"
A few of the other Gryffindors had landed and were hugging Harry.
"We wanted to write another couple of verses, but couldn't find any rhymes for fat and ugly. We wanted to sing about his mother. We couldn't fit in useless loser either, for his father." He called out louder. He was trying to provoke Harry, and by the looks of it, it was working. I saw Johnson tell him and the twins something, probably to not pay attention to Draco.
"But you like the Weasley, don't you Potter?" Draco continued to sneer. "Spend Holidays there and everything, don't you? Can't see how you stand the stink, although being brought up by Muggles even the Weasley's hovel smells okay."
Harry was holding back George, and all three Chasers had to combine their efforts to hold Fred back. Having been to the Weasley's home before I knew it didn't actually stink, Draco was just saying whatever he could to elicit a reaction from the team. Harry looked around for Madam Hooch, but she was busy lecturing Crabbe about the Bludger he sent towards Harry.
"Or maybe the Weasley pigsty reminds you of what your mother's house smelled…" I frowned at Draco, did he not realize he was also speaking about my mother?
Next thing I saw was Harry and George plummeting into Draco, knocking him over. Draco was yelling, George was swearing, and Harry was punching as hard as he could. The Gryffindor girls were all screaming at them to stop, and I just stood back watching. A part of me felt like Draco deserved a punch or two for his comment about my mother, but another part of me hated seeing him on the ground taking a beating.
"IMPEDIMENTA!" Madam Hooch screamed as she ran towards the three boys on the ground. Harry and George flew off of Draco, who laid on the ground moaning. "What do you think you are doing?" she screamed at Harry and George. Draco's nose was bleeding, and George had a swollen lip. "I've never seen behavior like it — back up to the castle, both of you, and straight to your Head of House's office! Go! Now!"
I watched the two of them stalk off the field towards the castle. I headed towards Draco and offered him a hand. He took it, pulling himself up from the ground. I shook my head at him, "let's get you to the Hospital Wing." He nodded as he dabbed the blood off of his nose with the sleeve of his robes. Before we could walk off, Professor Umbridge approached us. She inquired as to what happened and Draco told her he was letting off some steam after losing the match; the result of this was being attacked by Harry and George. She nodded and told us to head to the Hospital Wing. She began to make her way towards the castle, just a few minutes behind Professor McGonagall.
We left the still cheering, and complaining stadium behind. We walked in silence, except for the occasional groan of pain.
"Why'd you say it?" I finally asked, we were approaching the front doors.
"Say what?" Draco asked, giving me a short glance. I glared at him. "You mean the comment about your mother?"
I nodded.
"I don't know," he sighed, "I just wanted to get under his skin. I didn't realize you were already in earshot." I rolled my eyes at him.
"Honestly Draco, you need to learn when to restrain yourself." Draco let out a snort. "I'm serious Draco. Do you really want to be saying things that'll strain our friendship?" He went silent at my words.
We were almost at the Hospital Wing when he spoke again. "I'm sorry Chloe. If I had realized you were in earshot I wouldn't have said what I said about your mom." I looked up at him, meeting his gaze. His eyes look sincere, and regretful. "When it comes to insulting your brother, I promise to not bring up anything that'll hurt you too." He took my hand in his, "the last thing I want to do is hurt you." I felt a small blush creep up my face. Why was he holding my hand? This was starting to feel a little too intimate for an apology.
I let out a soft sigh, he was getting good at his apologies. "Alright," I said, giving his hand a squeeze. I let go of his hand and we continued on our way.
AN: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter. Leave a review if you are enjoying the series so far!