ADDICTED | j.p x oc

8

The Saturday morning of the Slytherin quidditch trials rolled around fairly quickly, El was awake before most of the castle, she put on her green quidditch robes, grabbed her broom and head down towards the pitch. As she approached she could see Marlene, Evan, Regulus and a few other of her house mates who would be trying out.

"El!" Evan called as he saw her approaching, to which she jogged over, accepting the invitation to the conversation Evan was having with Regulus and Marlene. "Looking good, Burke." he commented, catching El off guard with the compliment but thanked him nonetheless.

Shortly after Eleanors arrival, a few more Slytherins had walked down to the pitch to try out, and several friends of theirs had started to fill out the stands. Evan clapped his hands together and shouted, "right" to get everyone's attention. He explained the drills everyone was going to be doing depending on the position they wanted to play and El found herself standing in a group of about eight people who were all trying out for chaser, one of whom being Marlene.

Eleanor turned to her friend as they both examined their competitors, "who'd you reckon will be the third chaser this year?" El conversed. Last year it had been Jason Greengrass, but with him leaving, there would be someone new on the team. Their eyes scanned around the six others, noticing Lucius Malfoy and Theodore Nott standing amongst them.

"Well we can rule out malfoy," Marlene replied with a laugh, looking at him as he put his glove on the wrong hand.

El and Marlene did Evan's drills with ease, neither of them missing a single goal, both already confident they were on the team.

Once planted firmly on the ground, the pair watched the keepers and beaters run their drills, analysing who they thought would be best for the team. Finally, Evan dismounted and called everyone over to gather around him.

"Okay so seeker is obviously still Black," Evan said, gesturing to Regulus who didnt even need to try out, being the only seeker. "Beaters are myself and Mulciber," El recognised him as one of Snape and Malfoy's friends, already not taking a liking to him. "Chasers are Burke, McKinnon and Nott, and the keeper is Avery," El and Marlene high fived each other, with not an ounce of surprise on either of their faces.

***

The two slytherin girls walked back up to the castle, only to hear someone run to catch up with them. "Burke, can i- erm- talk to you for a sec?" The pair turn around to see Evan looking expectantly at Marlene, as a way of asking her to leave.

"Oh - right yeh! I'll go," Marlene said, while winking at her friend and turning to leave.

"I'll walk you back to your dorms, fifth floor right?" Evan asked, to which she nodded and he began walking next to Eleanor, deliberately brushing their arms against each other every few seconds. "How was your summer?" El looked at him suspiciously, not entirely in the mood for small talk at nine in the morning.

"I'm fairly certain you didnt ask Marlene to leave so you can ask me about my summer," El said bluntly, to which Evan chuckled.

"Ever the charmer, Burke," She laughed a little at his sarcasm, "but yeh your right, thats not why i wanted to talk to you. Theres a party, in the slytherin common room tonight, you can bring whoever you want. Its just a start of term thing."

El weighed up the idea in her head, there wasnt really any downsides, "And Marlene had to leave for you to say that?" she asked, still confused by the boy.

They'd arrived at the tapestry entrance for the heads dorm and Eleanor stopped walking and faced Evan as he spoke, "well no," he scratched the back of his neck, taking a few steps towards her, "thats just because i think we dont spend enough time alone."