One Day They'll Know Your Name

Name any challenge

Halloween arrived swiftly and with it Slytherin's first and only match of the first term of the year. Flint only had this year and the next year to get the Quidditch Cup and he wanted it as many times as he could get it. His determination to win was doubly compounded when it was against Gryffindor, which made sense because he was hopelessly in love with Oliver Wood, the Gryffindor captain, and the only way he knew of to show affection was by beating Wood in Quidditch. Harry hoped he was invited to the wedding.

The Slytherin team huddled up for Flint's usual pep talk, which as always, ended with some variation of "and Kikagi, catch the snitch or die trying." Harry figured that a personal threat put him pretty high up in Flint's regard and just grinned. A moment later the two teams walked onto the pitch for the captains to shake hands, or, in Flint and Wood's case, squeeze each other's hand as tightly as they could and stare so intensely at each other that Harry could feel the tension from the back of the team.

The whistle from Madam Hooch startled the two captains and Harry managed to turn his laugh into a cough as he shot up into the air to start the game. He flew around for a few minutes, not actively looking for the snitch but keeping an eye on Ginny, the Gryffindor seeker. She seemed to be doing the same, so Harry flashed a grin at her and started doing some dives to see if she could follow. After a while Harry started looking more seriously for the snitch, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Harry reached up to rub his arms a little bit as he glanced around high above the game play. It was a little cold all of a sudden. He slowly started to descend, figuring he'd just been so high that it started to be colder, like when you climb a mountain, but if anything it just got colder. He breathed out and his breath fogged in the air. Suddenly he heard a faint scream. He jerked around and saw, to his horror, that the dementors had decided that the Quidditch game was a perfect time for a feast. He quickly started descending, but not quickly enough, as he felt the world go dark and his grip on his broom slip as a green light flashed in front of his eyes and a horrifying scream ripped through his subconscious.

When he woke up, he was in the hospital wing, surrounded by the entire team. Draco noticed he was awake first and his face did a strange combination of a glare and a grin. The glare won out.

"How dare you scare me like that! You could have died! You could have been hurt!" Draco nearly yelled. "Well, more hurt," he admitted a second later as he grimaced at the hospital wing around them.

Harry smiled sheepishly up at him. "Sorry. But to be fair it's not my fault the dementors decided to come see the game. Did Ginny get the snitch?"

Flint glared at him. "No, you did. I told you to get the snitch or die trying, not and. You almost asphyxiated on the thing because you fell face first and it flew into your mouth."

Harry gaped at Flint. "You mean I caught it? While I was falling to my death?"

"It wasn't to your death. Dumbledore sent some kind of spell that slowed you down while some of the other professors cast about a bajilion cushioning charms on the ground," Clearwater said.

"Bajilion isn't a number, Florence," Bearbuck said with a scowl. "Shouldn't you know this with your sister in Ravenclaw?" Clearwater just stuck her tongue out at her friend.

Flint scowled at the beaters and turned back to Harry. "I'm never telling you to catch the snitch or die trying again because clearly you take that too literally. The next time you get this close to dying in Quidditch I'll murder you myself."

Harry just grinned at the captain before looking around wildly. "What happened to my broom? Is it ok?"

Flint grimaced. "It flew into the Whomping Willow before any of us could grab it. Sorry kiddo. It's only good for kindling now."

Harry winced but nodded. At least it hadn't been him flying into the Willow.

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

The night of November's full moon, the older five of Les Amis met in the Chamber after dinner. Harry happily greeted Salmissra while Neville handed everyone a mandrake leaf. Hermione looked at them all and nodded.

"Remember," she started, "we can't speak with the leaf in our mouth or everyone will know. So we'll need an excuse."

"A good one," Draco clarified. "Professor Snape won't let us off the hook if we don't have a really good reason to not talk for a month."

"I've always wanted to learn BSL," Hermione said. "I'll say now was as good a time as any and that I want to learn by immersion, without being able to say anything."

Ron shook his head fondly. "Only you, 'Mione."

"You know what would make life better?" Harry asked suddenly. The others turned to look at him curiously. "Socialism. If someone asks why I'm not talking that's going to be my answer."

Draco smiled. "You're absolutely right. That's a great reason to take a vow of silence. I'm also too pretty to engage in talking. It causes wrinkles."

Harry nodded in agreement. "Wrinkles would do something to your pretty face."

There was a beat of silence and Harry glanced over at Draco to see why no one was talking, only to find the blonde's face getting steadily redder by the second. "Are you ok, Dray?"

"I'm fine," Draco squeaked.

Harry was skeptical, but he let it go.

Ron grinned. "I'm going to say that it's because I can't let this wanker be better than me at something," he said, motioning towards Draco. Draco huffed at him and Harry laughed.

"I'm just going to say it's because of solidarity," Neville said, smiling sheepishly.

The kids grinned at each other, cast a sticking charm on their leaves, and stuck them under their tongues.