The Slytherin Transfer

12: "Sorry I don't meet the criteria."

I wake up Sunday morning to someone shaking me violently, and I groan, rolling over in my bed and stuffing my head under my pillow.

"Go away," I mumble to whoever is trying to interrupt my beauty sleep.

"James told me to come get you," I hear Mary say, "something about Quidditch."

I groan, glancing at my watch and groaning louder as I realize it reads twelve on the dot, "I shouldn't have agreed to this."

"You definitely shouldn't have," she agrees as I sit up, my hair a complete mess around me, "but he'll hate you if you back out, so."

I sigh, combing a hand through my dark brown locks before reluctantly throwing the covers off of me and hopping out of bed.

"Fine. Tell him I'll be down in ten."

"Roger that," she says, somehow extremely chipper. I look to my left and see Marlene still passed out, which makes sense since she snuck out with Caradoc Dearborn last night.

I quickly find my most breathable shirt and a pair of track pants before layering it with a windbreaker and tying up my hair. Yesterday I had to summon my broom all the way from home, which meant it took a day to arrive, and woke everyone up at two in the morning. Luckily, it's really good quality, because my dad gets me and Josh new ones every summer for our birthdays since he doesn't know what else to give us. I thought it was stupid, since I haven't touched a broom since I was like, eight, but I guess now it's paid off.

I grab the object in question from under my bed, resting it on my shoulders and swinging my arms over it as if I was trapped in a pillory. I enter the Common Room, yawning hugely as James looks up from where he was watching Peter and Remus play chess. He quickly walks over and takes my broom from me.

"Sweet. A Comet 200. Second best out there, but no one's got the Cleansweep 5 yet, so technically it's the best in the school." He quickly goes full captain mode, "I've got the same one, and so does Caradoc, who'll likely be our seeker again this year."

He begins rambling, and I look over his shoulder at Remus, a solemn expression on my face as he smiles in amusement.

"Wish me luck, Lupin."

"Yeah, you'll need it," he answers as James tugs me out of the Common Room, still chattering on about what broomsticks are coming out soon. We pass Alice and Sirius, who are heading inside, and they stop.

"Where are you two headed?" Sirius asks, his grey eyes narrowing.

"It's not obvious?" I cock my head to the side, "we're just taking our broomsticks and heading to the library." I shake my head, "Dipshit."

He rolls his eyes, an amused glint in his eye as he takes a step away from the portrait.

"All right, I'm coming."

"For what?" I ask, crossing my arms as he grins.

"Well, if I'm going to win you over, I'm gonna need to spend as much time with you as possible, Milton." He slings an arm around my shoulders, and I pick it off of me with two fingers as Alice bids us farewell and slips through the portrait hole.

"I thought that was some drunken idea that you've already forgotten about," I say as we begin walking again, descending a staircase as I walk backwards to speak, "I was hoping that that was the case."

"Nope, I've set my mind to this, and now I'm not stopping until I get what I came for."

"So you're saying you're coming for me?" I raise an eyebrow, still walking backwards and smiling coyly as James snorts with laughter.