Succumb | Fred Weasley

IV

FOUR
BLOOD STATUS

Florence and Adrian arrived early to the Quidditch stands on the morning of the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff game, wanting to secure seats along the front row to properly analyse how both houses played. It would come to their advantage in February and May, and hopefully they could still win the inter-house cup despite them previously losing to Gryffindor. Being in their seventh year, winning their final round of Quidditch games would just be a sweet end to things.

The sight of the new Hufflepuff seeker circling in the air made Florence's expression drop. She somehow forgot that they'd need to find a new one after Cedric Diggory's death.

They'd played against each other multiple times throughout their years at Hogwarts, and she'd taken a liking to the Hufflepuff boy. Not romantically, although he was devilishly handsome and brilliant at Quidditch amongst other things. Subconsciously, she knew she was saving those feelings for someone else.

The game kicked off into full swing, the two Slytherin students cheering loudly for both sides of the game. It was hard to be biased when you didn't have your own team to be rooting for. Looking through her binoculars, Florence spotted Hermione across the stands and sent her a wave. The brunette waved eagerly in return.

Hufflepuff were in the lead. She began searching for the Seekers through her binoculars, and they both still seemed to be looking for the snitch. And then, all of a sudden, the Ravenclaw seeker, Cho Chang, started flying downwards at rapid speed. All you could really see was her dark hair flapping behind her in the wind as well as a blur of blue and bronze, and then she shot back up all of a sudden with her hand wrapped firmly around the snitch.

The whistle sounded and the volume of the Ravenclaw house increased immensely. The two teams came down to the ground and while Ravenclaw were happily celebrating their win, the Hufflepuff team frowned and dropped their brooms to the ground in defeat.

'Seems like Ravenclaw's the one to beat,' Adrian spoke over the noise of the stands. 'It's us against them next.'

'Let's hope we can score enough points to secure a win,' they began exiting the stands along with the rest of the crowd. 'Cho's a much better seeker than Draco. We're going to be our only hope.'

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Hermione and Florence found solace on a patch of grass just outside of the castle. They thought it was better fit for a place to practice charms together rather than inside of the library. The november air was cold and harshly bit into their skin, but Hermione had created her perfected bluebell flames and put them into a jar to keep them both warm.

'Avis,' Florence pointed her wand up into the air and a small flock of birds appeared from the tip of it. 'Now, only use this against someone that truly deserves it. I doubt being attacked by a flock of birds is anyone's idea of fun.'

'Miracle,' the familiar voice prompted Florence and Hermione to turn to the source of it. It was Draco Malfoy, much to their dismay. 'You're just shameless, aren't you? Mingling with the penniless Weasleys, and now with Granger, a mudblood.'

'Get lost, Malfoy!' Hermione glared, wrapping her fingers tightly around her wand. She'd punched him once before, and she wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

'Don't you dare speak to me that way!' He spat with disgust laced into his tone. 'Filthy little mudblood, acting like you run the place.'

'That's rich,' Florence laughed bitterly, pointing her wand towards the bleach-blonde. 'I'm warning you, Draco. Be on your way now, and never speak to Hermione that way ever again. Didn't daddy ever teach you not to disrespect a woman?'