Harry Potter and the Prince of Slytherin

Chapter 18: Team-Building Exercises (2)

2:00 p.m.

Team Counterstrike

Draco strode imperiously into the DADA classroom just before two o'clock and then stopped abruptly. Counting him, there were sixteen students in the room which was completely empty of all furniture other than a large green table divided in the middle by a small barrier made of some woven material. Draco looked around the room and immediately realized three things. First, he was the only Slytherin present. Second, with the exceptions of the Ravenclaw Cho Chang and the Hufflepuff Cedric Diggory, he was the only Pureblood in the room. In fact, if he was not mistaken, nearly half of the students in the room were either Muggle-born or Muggle-raised. Third, standing next to Chang and Diggory was Jim Potter who was actually sneering at him ... as if any Gryffindor ever had any business sneering at a Slytherin! Why it was practically a perversion of the natural order!

Undaunted, Draco made his way over to that group. He realized that the four of them represented all four of the school's Seekers. He also realized that no one outside his House was supposed to know that he was the Slytherin Seeker.

"I was expecting Harry instead of you, Malfoy. None of us have any idea how we got assigned to this group, so I'd assumed it was a Seeker thing."

"Well," Draco sniffed contemptuously. "It should be fairly obvious that I should be the Slytherin Seeker. Perhaps Lockhart took that into account."

Jim laughed. "Please. If my brother beat you as awful as he was yesterday, I don't even want to think about how bad you must be."

Draco's face reddened, but before he could retort, Chang spoke up. "Oh, cut it out, both of you! It's bad enough I'm giving up my Sunday afternoon to learn how to play ping-pong without having to listen to a bunch of Snake-vs.-Lion sniping!"

Draco did a double-take. "Ping ... pong?"

"Yeah," said Diggory. "It's a Muggle game. Justin knew what the table was immediately. He's got one at home. Says he's pretty good at it."

Malfoy looked over in the direction of the Muggleborn Justin Finch-Fletchley, who appeared to be demonstrating some sort of odd wand movements to the other students. The Pureblood gritted his teeth at the thought of fraternizing with such Mudbloods, particularly since he was under an Unbreakable Vow not to use that word in the presence of anyone who might be offended by it ... which appeared to be everyone in this room. However, the alternative to fraternizing with Mudbloods and Halfbloods in order to learn some poxied Muggle children's game was getting up at the crack of dawn every day for fitness training. He shuddered at the thought of running around Black Lake through six inches of snow once December arrived. Suddenly, the door opened, and Lockhart entered with a flourish, carrying two small oddly-shaped wooden bats (like tiny round Beater's bats, the four Seekers noticed) and a white ball about the size of a Snitch.

"Good afternoon, students. Welcome to the introductory meeting for Research Team Counterstrike. Also known as 'Ping-Pong 101,' ha-Ha!" A few of the students laughed nervously, but most just stared at the man. "Now, I assume you all know what this is, but just in case some of you aren't up to speed, I shall explain. Ping pong, also known as table tennis, is a Muggle sport dating back just over 100 years. Its three components are the ping pong ball, the bat (or paddle in some countries) and the table." He held up the ball with one hand and one of the bats with another. "Mr. Finch-Fletchley, would you step forward please?"

A bit surprised, Justin stepped forwarded and accepted one of the bats which Lockhart offered him. "Now, Mr. Finch-Fletchley, you indicated that you have actually played this game competitively?"