Smile When You Dive In

Chapter 6

When a pillow hit Regulus' head, he groaned. He had been having a nice dream, although even as he thought that, the details were beginning to slip away. He had definitely been in the greenhouses because he could still practically feel the hot sun kissing his skin, though who he was there with was a mystery. He thought that he could remember eating chocolate in the dream, but it could've been something else. If he was going to complain about the disruption though, any thought of it dissipated when Regulus saw Shafiq's face staring down at him.

Enver Shafiq played as beater on the Slytherin team, and took the game very seriously. On days they were playing, he would usually march Regulus down to the Great Hall and personally fill his plate to make sure he'd had a 'good breakfast'. Quidditch days were the only time Shafiq made any real effort to be friendly towards Regulus, but that didn't bother him in the slightest. He'd never had the easiest time making friends with the boys in Slytherin, even before he made friends with the girls. While the girls called him 'Reggie', and took great pleasure in petting him like a dog, the boys only ever called him 'Black', and he wasn't offended by their indifference. Their respect had been earned only by his abilities on the pitch and by nature of his blood, but the frolicking with the girls and fraternising with elves gave Regulus a certain reputation that they quietly disapproved of.

Since he was still refusing to eat in the Great Hall, Regulus evaded Shafiq and made his way down to the kitchen. Things seemed to be business as usual, though he faced less resistance than usual when he put together what he considered to be a 'good breakfast'. Shafiq wouldn't have been so liberal with the cream Regulus dolloped on top of his strawberries, but it had always been a favourite of his.

By the time he dragged himself onto the pitch, Shafiq and most of the other Slytherins were already there. Up in the stalls, he could see Sirius and Potter talking to some of the Gryffindor team. The quidditch robes definitely suited Potter more than the muggle styles he'd been wearing the previous day, even if they were red and gold. Regulus noticed that the Gryffindor seeker hadn't shown up yet. Alistair Spinnet was a sixth year and had been on the Gryffindor team far longer than Regulus had been on the Slytherin one, though that didn't stop him beating the lion to the snitch every game they'd played so far that year. For one glorious moment, Regulus thought that perhaps he'd been scared off.

As it happened, Spinnet had not been scared off by his prowess. Madam Pomfrey had refused to let him play, according to Selwyn, though the exact reason changed each time he heard it mentioned. He stopped caring why Spinnet wasn't playing when he heard who was replacing him as seeker. Potter. He would be playing seeker while McKinnon played chaser. Regulus had never seen Potter play as seeker, so he didn't have any idea what he ought to expect from the game, but he suddenly wished he had stuck to Shafiq's strict breakfast regime.

The match started as any other did, Regulus circling slowly with one eye out for the snitch but mostly letting his teammates score some points below. Of course, if he spotted it then, he wouldn't let Potter beat him to the snitch but nobody really wanted to end the match that early. The first years had barely unpacked all of their sweets, and were prone to start throwing them if they thought the match too short. Regulus' focus early in the game was knowing his surroundings. If he had everything in check, there would be less to think about when he finally caught sight of gold. That meant everything from noticing that Shafiq was playing more defensively than usual, with McKinnon on his tail, to watching with scorn as Potter waved to his adoring fans in the stands. Lupin was there, along with the muggleborn girl Snape had once been friends with. She was pretending not to watch Potter. Not doing a very good job of pretending, but Regulus appreciated anybody who didn't feed his or Sirius' ego like that.

Half an hour in, he was scouring the air for the snitch. Slytherin were up by ten points, which technically put them in the lead but if Potter caught the snitch at that point, Gryffindor would take the game. Regulus was playing his preferred position, but he wouldn't let that advantage go to his head. From the corner of his eye, he could see Potter trailing behind him. Perhaps he thought Regulus had seen something, or perhaps he was just trying to psych him out. Hoping it was the former, Regulus dipped to see if Potter would follow. He did. When Regulus moved west, Potter did the same. He supposed it was a valid way of playing seeker, but that didn't make it less annoying.