Fire On Fire

2: The Dirty Word

At 7:00 in the evening, Emma found out that she was the new Hufflepuff keeper and quickly passed the information on to El. Only one day later, El had made it onto the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a chaser. They were both now on their house teams.

It was early in the morning when the Gryffindor Quidditch team was walking onto the field for practice.

"I spent the summer devising a whole new Quidditch program," Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor Quidditch team captain spoke, "We're going to train earlier, harder, and longer."

He looked across the field, "What the- I don't believe it!"

On the other side of the field, seven people in green were marching forward. Oliver led the Gryffindor team over to the Slytherin Quidditch team who all had smug looks on their faces.

"Clear out, Flint!" Oliver demanded, "I booked the pitch for Gryffindor today."

"Easy, Wood," Marcus Flint, the Slytherin team captain, smirked, "I've got a note."

Oliver snatched the parchment Flint was holding out of his hand and read it out loud, "'I, Severus Snape, do hereby give the Slytherin team permission to practice today, owing to the need to train their new seeker,'" he looked up, "You've got a new seeker? Who?"

From behind six large Slytherin Quidditch players came a much smaller Slytherin. He was blonde with a pointed face, and his expression was full of pride.

"Malfoy?" Harry asked in shock.

"That's right," Draco confirmed, "And that's not all that's new this year."

As one, the seven Slytherin players held up the broomsticks they were carrying, showing them off. They each had brand new, gleaming, black broomsticks.

"Woah," Ron, who had recently joined the Gryffindor team on the field, gasped, "Those are Nimbus 2001s."

"A gift from Draco's father," Flint spoke.

El looked at Draco with shock written all over her face. Did he really need his father to go out and buy the whole team new brooms just so he could be on the team? She didn't think that was something he would do. But she had been proven wrong.

Hermione crossed her arms and huffed, "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."

"No one asked your opinion," Draco said, his eyes narrowed at Hermione, "You filthy little mudblood."

Gasps escaped the Gryffindor Quidditch team's mouths. Fred and George looked ready to fight, Angelina Johnson had shrieked "How dare you!" and Harry just looked confused.

"You'll pay for that one, Malfoy," Ron said angrily, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Draco, "Eat slugs!"

There was a blast and Ron was swept off his feet. He landed hard against the grass twenty feet back. The Gryffindor team rushed up to him. The spell had backfired because of his broken wand. Slugs were sliding out of his mouth, large, slimy, and gross.

"Let's take him to Hagrid's," Harry said urgently, "He'll know what to do."

El glared at Draco. He was laughing along with the other Slytherins, and she was not at all pleased with him. Harry and Hermione helped Ron up and carried him along to Hogwarts while the Gryffindor Quidditch team was left to return to the locker rooms.

"I can't believe it," George shook his head in disbelief, "Nimbus 2001's. I can't believe it, can you believe it?"

Fred shook his head, "I can't believe it."

"Hey, on the bright side, their players aren't half as good as ours," El pointed out, nudging the much-taller-than-her twins in the sides.

When they had changed back into their usual school robes, they began heading back up to the castle.

"Hey, El," Fred spoke as they walked up the sloping grassy lawn, "The last one to the doors is a rotten dragon egg."

"You're on," El said and she set off at a sprint.

She could see Fred from the corner of her eye but as far as she could tell, she was ahead of him. Just as she was getting closer to the front doors of the castle, the blur of Fred Weasley passed El, catching her by surprise. It caught her by such surprise that she tripped over her own feet and fell against Fred, them both toppling to the ground.

"Ow," El said as she rubbed her head. It didn't hurt much because Fred had caught her fall. Realizing that she was still on top of Fred, she quickly rolled off of him and stood up.

"Ow, indeed," Fred groaned. He looked up at El standing in front of him and held out his hand, "Help me up."

El grasped onto his veiny hand and pulled, bringing him onto his feet.

"Thanks," Fred grinned. El couldn't help but smile and she was 90% sure she was blushing as well.

"El!"

El looked around to see her friend Lily running toward her with Emma and Vadie not far off behind her.

"El, are you okay?" Lily asked once she reached her.

Emma ran up and shot a dirty look at Lily, "El, asking as your sister, are you okay?"

"Yeah, guys, I'm fine," El said, "Fred caught my fall."

"I'll be happy to do it again someday," Fred whispered in El's ear then entered the castle after the rest of the Quidditch team that had previously walked through.

"What'd he say?" Emma asked.

But El was distracted. Cedric had just emerged out of the castle and looked as though he was walking straight towards Emma. In fact, he was, because only seconds later he walked up, grabbed her hand, and pulled her away from the other girls.

"Hey," Cedric greeted Emma who was raising an eyebrow in confusion, "Sorry to pull you away from your friends and all, but I've got an important question to ask you."

Emma suddenly felt as though she couldn't speak so she just nodded. Was this the moment she's been waiting for since last school year?

"Well, the stars are supposed to be really bright tonight," Cedric began, "And the Astronomy tower at midnight is supposed to have the best view. I was wondering if you'd like to come watch the stars with me?"

Emma smiled as she regained her voice, "Yes. That sounds fun."

Cedric grinned and the bell for the start of classes rang. He hurried off back into the castle, leaving Emma outside. Her smile faltered just a little. Not the question she had been expecting. Still, she couldn't complain too much. Stargazing with the boy she liked? Not too bad.