Inferno | Draco Malfoy

048 | Quidditch Season

It hasn't even been a week since Halloween and Hogwarts has already switched into its Christmas mood. I don't blame the school, I have as well. I've already started wearing my festive and fuzzy gingerbread man socks around the dormitory. Don't judge, they are amazing.

Apart from lunch, there are bowls of peppermint sweets on each of the four tables in the Great Hall.

A few of the Slytherins are in a bit of a rush. Not Blaise though, he's completely calm and collected.

Today is the proper Quidditch practice. I say proper because tomorrow is the big kick-off. It's the first match of the season between Slytherin and Gryffindor.

Because Blaise is the new Chaser on the team and because Daphne is a supportive girlfriend, she's going to attend the practice just to give her man some extra luck. I'm going to watch the training with her, just so I can make fun of Malfoy like the jovial person that I am. I do hope the wind knocks him off his broom. Even better if one of the players knocks him off. I dearly do love to laugh.

See, I had no idea that he actually possessed any flying talent at all so you can imagine my face when I found out that he's still on the team. He flies like a bee collecting pollen in the spring flowers rather than your typical macho muscleman player.

Since the training doesn't start for another ten minutes, I sit down with my friends on the Slytherin table.

"What a dream." Theo smiles. "I get to swing Bludgers and defend my lovely Chasers." He winks at Blaise.

Theo and Gregory Goyle are also new additions to the team, they are both Beaters. Theo would do good, he's got good aim and it was demonstrated in that snowball fight. Seriously, he kept on hitting everyone. Pansy was his biggest target, he tackled her too many times when she got distracted by the snowflakes on her fringe.

"Careful with your words, you don't want Daphne to enlarge a butter knife again." Malfoy laughs, taking a bite of a green apple.

I look at the bowl of peppermint sweets intently, trying to figure out what types of sweets are there. Soft squishy sweets, hard sweets and lollipops. Malfoy pulls the bowl away from the other table and closer to me. I guess he realised what I wanted.

I reach my hand for a lollipop. It's flat, not round, with a red and white peppermint swirl. Unwrapping the lollipop, I first lick the very top of it. I wonder if I could follow the swirling pattern of the lollipop with my tongue. That'd be a weird but a wicked thing to try. I continue to lick, thinking why on Earth is this not pepperminty enough? My toothpaste does a better job at this, it makes me feel like I'm in a winter paradise.

A sort of bang sound under the table catches my attention. I look forward to Theo yelping in pain as he holds his leg. Ah, Malfoy had kicked him under the table again.

It looks as if Malfoy is also affected by the cold, his cheeks keep a pink shade to them.

"You asked for it." He mutters.

Theo rolls his eyes. "Is it my fault that your imagination is wild—"

Another bang and another yelp.

"Come on players!" Graham Montague, the Slytherin Captain this year claps his hands as he approaches our table. "Get changed and start training!"

The Quidditch pitch has been reserved by the Slytherins for lunch so I'm guessing the Gryffindors get their hour after school. The usually fresh-cut grass has a gloss of frost over it. Needless to say, it's cold. There's Quidditch equipment neatly laid on the floor and also a trunk full of the different balls.

Daphne and I take our seats in the stands. Tracey, Pansy and Milly are sitting on the other stand, the one on our left, because that way, they get a better view of Theo and Goyle. A few other students are here as well, Camden is sitting on the stand to my right with Cassius Warrington. They are both here to support the team and their friends. Three girls sit below them, the blonde one hugs Cassius' leg. I'm guessing that's his girlfriend.