Connivance of Silence: First Impressions

Chapter 5

The next match to be played was Gryffindor vs. Slytherin which, as always, promised to be the grudge match of the season. Slytherin had soundly beaten Ravenclaw two weeks before, but there had been a bit of a stink kicked up over the dirty tactics on display. And that was just standard play - this time, it was personal.

Sev felt a buzz of certainty that was almost like second sight. This was, traditionally, the match where students were most likely to hex each other, commit fouls, and generally resort to all sorts of deviousness. If ever there was a good window for an attack on Fletcher, this was it.

The antidote to the poison had to be brewed freshly the day it was used. Sev had been keeping the ingredients ready to go at a moments' notice, but on match day he actually made up a batch and concealed it in the inner pocket of his robes. "What's that?" asked Colin Crabbe curiously.

"Oh, just a little something I might use at the match today," he said with an evil smile. Malfoy or Avery would have twisted his arm mercilessly for details, but Colin didn't have the imagination. He just laughed and went back to gazing longingly at Malfoy's designer broomstick.

Technically, first years weren't supposed to have their own brooms - not until they'd had at least six months' worth of flying tuition, anyway - but it was more a guideline than a real rule. A number of the better-off students from wizarding families had brought brooms from home, and the teachers didn't bother to confiscate them.

Remembering who else happened to have a broom of his own, Sev had an idea. At lunch that day, he suggested to Malfoy that he arrange to show up for the match riding his own very flashy, very expensive broom. "That'll show those pathetic Gryffindors."

He wasn't sure exactly what it was supposed to show them, but Malfoy seemed to like the idea. He liked any idea that involved showing other people how what his family had was better than anybody else's.

Then, in their usual 'chance' meeting in the library, he leaked the news to Lily. "Make sure it gets around to James and Sirius," he instructed.

"Okay." She hesitated. "Um... why?"

"I want your boyfriend to be there with his broom. Fletcher's going to take a fall, and all the antidotes in the world won't save him if he breaks his neck. You keep an eye on him all through the match, and point it out to James the second he starts to fall. Trust me, he'll be in the air and after him before you can blink."

That was true enough; James Potter was nothing if not impetuous. Others might think his tendency to leap to the rescue heroic, but Snape was unimpressed. A truly smart person would see situations coming and prevent them before they even arrived.

"Okay. He's not my boyfriend, but we've had this argument before so let's just skip that. Why James?"

"He's exactly what we need. If he's the one heroically rescuing Fletcher, nobody's watching me."

"You think it's gonna be this match."

"Yes."

"Why- No, wait. Don't tell me. Because it's when you'd do it."

He shrugged and offered her a thin smile. "Exactly."

The plan had worked beautifully, as he knew it would. People were so easy to manipulate.

Malfoy's dramatic entrance was punctured when James and Sirius also turned up on their brooms, but he still got to call it a victory because their brooms were so much older and cheaper than his. James responded by going into a display of flashy acrobatics they all knew Malfoy couldn't possibly match. However, the Slytherins got the last laugh when Professor Vitae called him down.