malice. |harry potter|

1.4

"i'll simply cheer for everyone"

♥

Mali felt terrible, just awful, really, while the first years shuffled out of the potions classroom. She'd earned ten points for Slytherin, but at the cost of her new friend's humiliation. Speaking of, she saw the black-haired head bob a few students in front of her.

"Harry!" She ran up to him. He turned around, and the two moved to the wall of the corridor so as not to be trampled by the herd of first years.

"Hey, Mali." Harry smiled at her, a smile that didn't properly reach his eyes.

"Harry, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to make him insult you like that, I swear. And he was so awful to you, too."

"Don't worry about it Mali, really." Harry watched as Mali breathed a sigh of relief, "I'm not mad at you, Mali. It's not your fault I'm a dreadful student."

"Oh Harry, don't say that." The pair quieted for a moment, before Mali added, "You know, if you ever need any help, with anything, my memory is essentially perfect, so I'm quite a good tutor."

Harry's eyes lit up, "Really?" Mali laughed.

"Of course, Harry. That's what friends do." They smiled at each other, before being interrupted.

"Fallon!" Malfoy yelled from down the corridor. "Any day now." Astoria and Blaise Zabini stood beside him, all impatiently waiting for Mali. She shot Harry an apologetic look.

"Sorry, Harry. Daphne Greengrass has planned some sort of bonding experience for the first years, so I must be off."

"Don't worry about it."

"But I meant it," Mali threw over her shoulder. "I'm a fabulous tutor!" She laughed melodiously before scurrying after her friends.

♥

"Okay," began Daphne. "You will all be splitting into pairs, I don't care who, honestly. This is my first planned activity as a prefect, so if any of you morons mess it up for me, I will personally feed you to the Acromantula in the forbidden forest." The other first years gulped nervously, noticing the fact that she was dead-serious.

"She's full of shite," Mali whispered to Lottie, who was anxiously fidgeting beside her. "The Acromantula is sworn not to eat first-years,"

Lottie sighed in relief, "Oh thank Merlin, she seemed so genuine."

"So," Daphne called out. "You and your partner will be hunting around the grounds, you're allowed to be out, all the professors are aware, you all don't have to go to your flying lesson." The first years cheered.

"Yes, yes. About an hour ago, I released a golden snitch off the astronomy tower. It's charmed to evade you, but it's forced to be caught within the next two hours, and if won't fly more than five feet off the ground. First partnership to find it gets to pick their teammates for the next stage."

She paused for a moment. "Oh, and it's silver, so you won't be confusing it with anybody who's just practicing."

They all started whispering with each other about where it could be, how they could catch it, etcetera. "Why are you imbeciles still standing? Go!" They all scrambled to find a partner, and Mali turned to Lottie just as her and Astoria were walking away together.

Mali strode towards a platinum-blonde head. "Come on, Malfoy, you're my partner."

He looked a bit apprehensive, but soon realized that both Blaise and Theodore had coupled up.

"Well, alright."

♥

"Okay, where do you think it could be?" Mali asked Draco as the pair walked through the corridors. They had already been looking for forty-five minutes, the flying lesson must have been close to over by then.

"Greengrass is an idiot. This stupid scavenger hunt is making my brain rot."

"Oh, hush up, Malfoy. We should check the grounds!" She started forward towards the open part of the corridor, dragging the blonde boy by his arm.

"Should we check the lake bed?" Draco suggested, a bit flustered.

"Brilliant! Let's." The pair walked to the bed of the Black Lake, looking around nervously, trying to spot the snitch. "Malfoy, do you think it would be at the pitch?"

"That's far too obvious," Draco huffed.

"It's a snitch, Malfoy. It's home is the pitch."

"Well, fine. But I already know it won't be there."

♥

Malfoy and Mali strolled down to the quidditch pitch, looking around constantly for any sight of the snitch. They walked underneath the stands, onto the field, where Oliver Wood and Harry Potter were standing, next to a trunk of Quidditch balls. When they made eye contact, Harry's eyes lit up.

"Mali!" He ran over excitedly, then noticing Draco. "Malfoy," He greeted stiffly.

"Potter," Draco sneered.

"Mali, I've been chosen as the new seeker for the Gryffindor team!"

Mali's jaw dropped. "WHAT! But first years are never-"

"I know! But that girl, Parkinson? She grabbed Neville's remembrall during our flying lesson, and chucked it, and I grabbed it right before it hit the window and I guess McGonagall saw it because she introduced me to Wood and now-" Mali cut off a very out-of-breath Harry.

"Harry! Slow down, please," Mali asked while laughing.

Harry blushed before continuing, "Anyways, now Wood is teaching me all the rules!"

Mali beamed. "Blimey. That's amazing Harry, truly."

"You'll come to my first match, won't you?" He asked shyly.

"Of course! I wouldn't miss it," She shot Harry a coy wink before Oliver called him back, and her and Draco walked away.

"You realize that their first match is against Slytherin, right Fallon?" Draco stated.

"I'll simply cheer for everyone."

"That's moronic."

"Does it really matter?"

"Yes."

"Well, not to me," The pair was bantering when Mali caught a glimpse of something shiny in the air, darting around. "Malfoy, Malfoy, look." She pointed to where the snitch was lazily flying around the trunk of a tree.

The pair split, both going on either side of the snitch. "One, two" Mali mouthed. "Three!" Draco and Mali came from opposite sides, trapping the snitch in-between their hands. Draco pulled his hands away, clutching it close to him.

"Nice one, Malfoy! We got it!" Mali watched as Draco smiled. Not his usual smirk, but a genuine smile, the first one that Mali had seen cross his face. "Let's go show Daphne."

♥

hey to the three ppl that read this- ily.
-grey<3