SAFE HAVEN

Game Day Baby

Students of all houses made their way down to the quidditch pitch, sporting their favorite teams colors. Those on neutral ground represented their own houses, but the crowd was mainly a sea of blue and red.

The Gryffindor and Ravenclaw game was often a fan favorite, considering most of the teammates were close friends. Everyone adored Ravenclaw's all girls team; it was beyond impressive.

Up in the Slytherin stands, Ethan, Beth, and Pansy all wore blue and bronze garments in support of their favorite fifth year player, Jacy Jones. Standing with his arm around Beth was Theodore Nott in his usual green quidditch jumper, alongside Draco, dressed casually in all black. Surprisingly, Maggie Li had joined the group with Blaise, who had dragged her to the game to support her own house. She had insisted on staying up in her dorm to finish studying.

"Maggie please," Blaise had pleaded, "It will be fun I promise. You can hang out with me and Malfoy"

"Yes but the Slytherin trio will be there"

"What's wrong with  Ethan, Beth, and Pansy?"

She sighed and gave in, "Nothing, nothing. It's just not my crowd, but I'll go. History of Magic is going to be the death of me anyway"

They all seemed to be enjoying themselves so far, ready for the game to begin.

"What's up with you, Malfoy?" Theo asked.

Draco seemed to have been deeply distracted, almost startled when his friend had addressed him.

"Mates got his eyes stuck up in the Hufflepuff stands" Blaise sniggered.

"Quit it Zabini" Draco snapped harshly.

"Draco" Beth said leaning across Theo, "you can just admit that you're into her"

With a scoff, Draco Malfoy didn't say much after that. His face was twisted into an expression so difficult to explain, because it was almost impossible to tell what was going through his head. It was clearly anger, a sort of burning, but it was hard to see what it was really about. Confusion. Annoyance. Fire. Rage. Hatred. But under it all, he mostly seemed lost. Like he didn't know what to feel.

While Maggie Li was one of the smartest witches of her year, she was often oblivious in social situations, particularly ones that regarded her boyfriend's friend's love lives. She knew it wasn't her place to meddle, but the only Hufflepuffs she knew they had any connection to were Ainsley and Nikki, and Ainsley wasn't in the stands with her friends. Glancing up to the clump of black and yellow, she could see Nikki smiling alongside Hannah and Jess. Like the other Hufflepuffs, she was wearing her own house colors, likely because she had best friends on both teams. Li wondered what team she wanted to win and didn't even think about the fact that the girl was a bit of a sensitive topic.

"I hope she's rooting for Ravenclaw," Maggie announced to the group.

"Who?" Theo acquired, having moved on from the topic.

"Nikki of course"

Draco growled, "You're still on that? I don't give a fuck about the mudblood"

"Geez Draco, we literally know that's not true" Beth said angrily.

"Please" Ethan added, "He's just mad he's not allowed to be blood racist anymore"

Blaise and Theo both burst out laughing, earning a deathly stare from their oldest friend.

"Cheer up mate we're only joking" Blaise choked out through his laughter.

Draco only rolled his eyes at that, but his gaze managed to land up at the Hufflepuff stands once again. Eyes fixed and lip curled, he remained silent once more. The rest of the group's conversation was interrupted by a voice booming across the pitch.