Traitor: A Draco Malfoy Story

fifty

For the most part, the next week was fairly uneventful. Ashton made sure not to spill about my origins, Malfoy was just his usual self but not worse, and I was on top of all my schoolwork. This year is going to be good, I thought to myself as I walked to the Great Hall for breakfast with Jenna on a warm September Saturday morning.

"Do you have your broom?" Jenna asked. "All your pads? Practice gear? Ginny better have given you practice gear."

It was hilarious and endearing to see her being such a mom about the Quidditch tryouts. I'd made the mistake of not telling her until last night, and now she wouldn't stop talking about how I didn't give her enough time to "emotionally and mentally accept that I would be putting my life on the line for a game." Which was fair, I guess, given what she knew about what I'd been through.

"You ready to kill it today?" Theo beamed at me when I made it to the table. He slid his arm around my waist when I sat by him and leaned in to whisper lowly in my ear, "You're going to look so sexy on that broom, I already know it."

I blushed deeply, and he chuckled. Since my birthday we'd made out a few more times, but I'd told him I hadn't wanted to move fast, mostly because I was still figuring out how to push Malfoy out of my head. He didn't need to know that was the reason why.

"Hey, Azalea!" Ginny called from the Gryffindor table. "Good luck at try-outs today!"

"Remember what we taught you!" grinned Ron. "And don't fall off your broom."

"That was one time, Ronald," I tried to glare at him but was laughing at the memory. I'd taken a dive right off the broom into the swamp next to the Burrow. I'll probably never hear the end of it for my entire life.

"Now that you're in with the Quidditch team, maybe you can get me a date," Jenna winked, and I rolled my eyes.

A loud voice called out from the end of the table. "Hey, all you fresh meat. Head out to the field, and don't be late. We don't tolerate tardiness here."

I raised my eyebrows and threw a look in Theo's direction. 

"Don't worry about Marcus, he's not as tough as he seems," he smiled at me. "Seriously, you'll do great."

"You've never seen me fly," I laughed.

"Yeah, but I believe in you," Theo said, taking my hand. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the guys."

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I stepped onto the Quidditch pitch with a pit in my stomach. I'd met some of Theo's favorite people, but the nervousness was coiling around itself like masses of snakes in my stomach because of one small detail: I was the only girl. Theo wasn't kidding when he told me that they needed them--they didn't have any.

"You'll be fine," Theo whispered, and I could tell that he knew I was terrified. 

"When I blow this whistle," Marcus held up a dark green plastic cylinder and the crowd died down. "it's time for a position change. The order is Keeper, Beater, Chaser, and Seeker. It will go in that order regardless of where you start. Understand?"

We all made sounds of agreement, and he nodded with finality. "This is going to go quick because quite frankly, I already know who I want on the team but Hogwarts rules say we need try-outs, so I'm stuck watching a bunch of fucking newbies. Right. You three, Seeker. You lot, Keeper. You, Chaser." Theo was part of the Chaser group. "And you bunch, Beater. Let's go, pansies."

Well, he certainly has a lovely personality, I scoffed to myself.

I launched off the ground and took my place in front of the hoops for my first position. I wasn't fabulous at Keeper, but I did manage to keep five of the seven attempted shots out of our ring. It was definitely an improvement from the summer when Ginny had annihilated me and I'd blocked only one of the ten she'd thrown at me.