Sincerely, Yours (Draco Malfoy X Reader)

Chapter 13 ~ Quidditch Plays and Patronuses

 Y/n emerged from her room, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and took in the serene atmosphere of the Hufflepuff common room. The low lamps cast a soft yellow light on the walls making the room cosy. Her gaze swept over the room, and she spotted Cedric seated in a plush armchair by the fire, flipping through some book.

"Good morning," Y/n replied, stretching her arms and cracking her neck, feeling more awake, "What are you doing?"

Cedric held up the book for her to see, "It's a book on Quidditch strategies. I'm trying to come up with some new plays for our next match."

Y/n took a seat next to him on the armchair, and they delved into a conversation about Quidditch. Their upcoming match was against Slytherin, and Cedric had already mapped out each player's position and different strategies on a piece of paper.

"Slytherin is a very strong team, Cedric. It won't be that easy." Y/n pointed out and then suggested "We could always start with the Hawkshead Attacking Formation like we did with Gryffindor. It's effective at forcing players to move aside."

Cedric listened to her idea with interest, tapping his chin with his finger. "We won't be able to uphold that for long with their beaters, Derrick and Bole," he said, thinking aloud. "Slytherins are ruthless and use brute force."

Y/n contemplated for a moment, "What about reverse passing?"

Cedric murmured thoughtfully, "Perhaps, but we might just earn a hit to our head with the beaters."

Y/n thought that they would need to come up with something more sophisticated to outsmart Slytherin. They were good but somewhat predictable. They wanted to come up with a new tactic to throw the Slytherin team off their game, "What about the Hawkshead Attacking Formation with the Thimblerig Shuffle?" Y/n suggested with a mischievous smile. "First, we start flying in a V shape, then the Chaser in the centre drops back so all three are in a row. Then, the three Chasers start shuffling like shells in a game of Thimblerig while passing among them, distracting the other team's players."

Cedric nodded. "Yeah, and then we do the Porksoff Play. It might work..."

Y/n eagerly pointed at the plans, "Look, if we have Preece and me do the Thimblerig, and either O'Flaherty or Rickett - our beaters - do the Bludger Backbeat, we might throw Slytherin off their game. And then Heidi—"

"Can go in and score. We would need to test it out but this sounds good." Cedric finished, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Y/n shrugged, not entirely sure if it would work, but then an idea struck her. "Would it be too crazy if you did the Wronski Feint? It might be too much for one game. I think you'll manage, anyway Ced." The Wronski Feint was a risky tactic where the Seeker pretended to spot the Golden Snitch far below and raced to catch it, hoping the opposing Seeker would copy. At the last minute, the feinting Seeker pulled out of the dive, usually causing the opposing Seeker to crash.

Cedric picked up his pen, scribbling her ideas down. "Okay, let's see what we can do. But I don't want anyone doing anything too dangerous."

Later, they both made their way to the Great Hall for breakfast, creating a whole plan. They sat down at the Hufflepuff table, and Cedric picked up a copy of The Daily Prophet from the stack and handed it to Y/n.

"Have you seen this?" he asked, pointing to the front page. "More news about Sirius Black."

Y/n took the paper from Cedric, scanning the headlines. "It says here that he's been spotted near Hogsmeade. I thought the Dementors were supposed to keep him away."

Cedric's brow furrowed. "I don't like it. We need to be careful, especially you. You never know what kind of trouble you could get into if you're not careful."