A Darker Form of Magic, book two: Parseltongue

Chapter four

Harry felt his spine tingle uncomfortably and knew that he was one wrong move away from cursing Flint... and possibly Wood too.

A few days ago Slytherin House held tryouts for a new chaser. The only person surprised by Draco getting the position was Flint himself who had given it to him, but the captain hadn't known just how much time and effort the blond had put into learning the new position after the past year when Harry had become seeker. To be frank, watching the boy move through the air as naturally as breathing, Harry couldn't imagine the other Slytherin playing anything else. At least not without having to bribe his way into it.

But a new player meant more training with the team to get everyone sorted out with the new variable that was in play, which somehow translated into Harry being woken up by a certain blond before the sun had even risen. Which, consequently, led to Harry having to heal the nose that he had broken on said boy when Draco had touched him to wake him up. Something that the other Slytherin was still cross about.

Half of the older Slytherins still looked just south of tipsy and smelled of Firewhiskey from the party the night before, as the group made their way down to the Quidditch Pitch.

Another reason to not be having practice before breakfast had even started , Harry thought.

They had only gotten about halfway onto the Pitch when the Slytherin students had suddenly stopped walking and Gemma groaned at whatever sight she saw in an annoyed way that only came from being hungover. When he heard the first voice speak to the crowd of Slytherins, Harry was inclined to agree.

"Flint!" The Gryffindor captain screamed irritably as he marched righteously over to the mass of green, broom firmly in hand. "This is our practice time! We got out just for it! Clear off now!"

Harry watched as the Slyherin captain looked down at the approaching Gryffindor with a certain kind of smirk that told the boy that the older snake had been very aware that the other house would be here.

Fucking prat , Harry cursed, thinking of his lost hours of sleep.

"Plenty of room for all of us, Wood," the Slytherin captain said, his voice dipping just so as the older boy's eyes flitted over the other captain.

But Gryffindors truly are oblivious it seems, as the older boy picked up on none of the signs that he was being sent.

"But I booked the field!" Wood yelled angrily enough to make Harry suppress a flinch as the rest of the Gryffindor Quidditch team walked over to see the cause of the commotion. Harry was not pleased to see that McGlagen was still among them, the gut was a slime. He was the sort of bloke that the Plutos wouldn't feel sorry about robbing blind.

"Ah, but I've got a note from Professor Snape," Flint said, holding the parchment in question out primly to the other captain.

Harry watched as the Gryffindor read the note quickly, displeasure pooling onto the teen's face as he did so, but the smaller boy only rolled his eyes, tired and without much a filter to his words after being woken up so early and hardly sleeping the night before, nightmares plagued him until late hours.

"Can you two stop your strange flirting?" The Slyherin seeker asked, ignoring the way that some of the lions seemed to all but choke on air at his words as Gemma snickered from the boy's side. " Please ?"

Flint and Wood were both peculiar shades of red that all but matched the Gryffindor robes all too well.

"We we-re not !" Wood stammered, but even his own teammates behind the teen looked doubtful. Harry could see Fred and George pretending to swoon off to the side, causing more than one Slytherin to bite down a laugh, smoothly hidden away behind masks.