dark side • draco malfoy

4 | Quidditch Tryouts {edited}

Two weeks after school had begun, the Gryffindor Quidditch Captain (Harry) held tryouts for the team. I had always been complete rubbish at the sport, and so I sat in the stands with Hermione, Neville, and Luna to cheer on our more athletic friends.

At the moment, it seemed that Harry was having difficulties trying to get everyone's attention, and the oblivious Gryffindors continued to chatter amongst themselves, seeming to get louder and louder the more my raven-haired friend tried to get their attention.

"Shut up!" Ginny finally yelled, and I was surprised to hear that her voice had travelled all the way up to us. At least it got the students to actually pay attention and listen to Harry.

Up first were the students trying out to be chasers. I only recognized two of them; Ginny and Katie Bell, but I knew that both of them pretty much held onto their old positions. Harry would have to be completely crazy not to have them on the team, and even the other students trying out to be chasers seemed to respect this unspoken rule.

Ginny and Katie had to be on the team, and that was that.

Next were the beaters, and some of the kids were alright, although no one compared to the Weasley twins who had played in previous years. While both Fred and George were both excellent players individually, together, they were practically an unstoppable force.

I let out a pensive sigh as I realized that not even the Gryffindor Quidditch team was immune to the drastic changes that were currently taking place in the Wizarding World.

I hated it.

Last but certainly not least came the keepers, and Ron and Cormac McLaggen were the only ones trying out for the position.

"Who do you think Harry will give the spot to?" Neville quietly asked, not taking his eyes off the pitch.

"I don't know, but for our sake I hope it's Ron. I don't think any of us could stand having him mope around all day. Besides, it would surely hurt his friendship with Harry," I replied, readjusting the red and gold scarf around my neck. Although it was only the third week of September, the air held an icy bite to it, and I was certain we'd see snow before Halloween.

As it turns out, Cormac McLaggen was a pretty good keeper. And Ron was..... well Ron was a decent keeper. Things definitely weren't looking good for him though. In my opinion, the problem wasn't so much his technique, but rather his nerves. If something didn't happen in Ron's favour and quickly, there would be no way he'd get the spot of Keeper.

"Hermoine, we have to do something!" I frantically whispered to the bushy-haired girl beside me.

"I know, I know!" she replied nervously, her brows furrowing in deep thought as she wrung her hands together.

Suddenly her eyes lit up, and I watched as she cupped her hand over her mouth and whispered a single word in McLaggen's direction,

"Confundus!"

The two of us breathed sighs of relief as his broom zoomed back and forth uncontrollably, and he missed the next shot that Ginny threw at him. I nudged Hermione with a slight smirk on my face, and heard her let out a giggle.

"Blimey, what is McLaggen doing? He looks like he's been Confunded or something!" Neville spoke up, pointing at the victim of Hermione's Confundus charm.

"Nonsense, Neville — that would be extremely dishonest! I don't think anyone in these stands or on the pitch would risk breaking the rules just to cast a silly Confundus charm," I scoffed, feeling Hermione slightly stiffen beside me.

"I suppose you're right." He nodded, before striking up a conversation with Luna.

I slowly let out the breath I hadn't known I was holding in, and shot a small wink at the girl beside me.

Crisis averted.

***********************************

"I really did think I was going to miss that last one!" Ron chuckled for the millionth time.

"You did well today, Ron. I guess McLaggen's not as good a player as he makes himself out to be," I joked, sharing a knowing look with Hermione.

"Yeah, I thought for sure he'd be amazing. He looked a little funny at one point though, almost like he'd been hit with a Confundus," Ron said, and Hermione and I froze.

"Oh well, I'm not complaining." He shrugged, flopping down on the couch in front of the fire. Hermione sat down beside him, and Harry and I took the floor as my heart rate returned to normal.

I glanced up as I heard the common room door open, and saw Lavender Brown and Parvati Patil step through the portrait hole. They seemed to be giggling about something, but immediately stopped when they saw us.

"Hi Ron!" Lavender smiled and gave a small wave to the red-headed boy sitting above me.

"Hi," Ron replied absent-mindedly, before continuing his story about how hard he had practised for Quidditch with Ginny over the summer. Lavender let out an obnoxiously loud sigh, before trudging up the stairs to the girls dormitories.

"That was odd," Harry muttered beside me, only loud enough for me to hear.

"Yeah. She was at tryouts today too. She kept glaring at Hermione and practically drooling whenever she looked at Ron." I frowned, feeling disgusted. Lavender Brown annoyed the hell out of me.

"Looks like Ron's got himself an admirer," Harry chuckled, and I pretended to gag.

Poor Ron.

"Well, I think I'm gonna go to bed guys. Hermione, are you coming?" I stood up, stretching and letting out a quiet yawn.

"Um, I'm actually gonna stay down here for a bit. You go on to bed, I'll be there shortly." She smiled sweetly at me, pulling at the sleeves of her sweater.

I knew that she wanted to talk to her two best friends alone — I wasn't stupid. They were the Golden Trio, and they needed some time to themselves.

Nodding, I bid all three of them goodnight, before heading upstairs to the room that I shared with Hermione, Lavender, and Parvati. I just prayed that the latter two girls were already asleep so I wouldn't have to listen to their annoying voices before bed.

Surprisingly, I felt myself beginning to drift off only moments after crawling into bed. And before you could say Merlin's beard, I was asleep.