Emerald (Lazuli Book #2) Harry Potter Fan Fiction (Draco Malfoy)

Chapter Nine - The Last of the Noble and Ancient House of Black

The first Quidditch training of the new season goes abysmally. Poor Sophia has intense difficulty in not only recruiting decent players to fill the empty spots, but getting those that did bother to turn up to pay attention for longer than 20 seconds. After she spent 15 minutes trying to get everybody to shut up, she shot me a pleading look. With a sigh, I walked down from the stands and onto the pitch.

Taking my place beside her just as she had done for me last year, I placed two of my fingers into my mouth and made a high pitched whistling noise. People rushed to cover their ears at the noise and the talking instantly stopped. "Thank you," I drawled sarcastically. "As the Slytherin prefect, I'll be taking 10 points away from anyone who speaks whilst Sophia is giving her explanation."

A couple of the fourth years shot me glares, but I ignored them. The opinion of a group of fourth years is insignificant to me. A fleck of snow landed on my coat, but I brushed it off. It was already snowing heavily, and a thick layer had appeared on the ground.

Sophia smiled gratefully at me before clearing her throat. "So we have 2 Chaser spots open, 1 Beater and the Seeker. We'll need substitutes for all positions of course - Quidditch is a nasty game and people always get injured."

A hand went up somewhere in the group. "Yes?" Sophia asked, looking at the third year boy who was watching me curiously. "I thought that Weasley played as Seeker?"

Before Sophia can answer, I replied "I used to. But I resigned my position as Captain and Seeker this year." When the boy frowned in confusion, I added "I had a nasty fall over the summer. A very nasty fall."

"Were you hurt?"

I shrugged. "Depends what you mean by hurt."

The boys eyes gleamed with curiosity. Be careful what you say, I warned myself.

"Got any scars?"

Once more, I shrugged and raised my eyebrows. "Something like that."

The third year doesn't ask any more questions to my relief, and Sophia continues. "Juliet will be assisting me in helping to choose the team, so you've got to impress her as well as me. Ok, lets get started. First, lets see how well you all fly."

They all start off flying at once, taking turns to fly as quick as they can between the two sets of goal posts. I watch from the stands, shivering as I take notes like Sophia had asked, whilst she flies around the entire group, watching from a closer angle. I note which people show promise and who (which is a large majority) are useless.

As the time passes, the snow gets deeper and Sophia appears to be growing more and more downheartened as nobody really displays any skill. She gives up on the flying exercises and divides them into groups determined by the position they want. The chasers go first - Sophia has them split into two sides and then gives one side the quaffle and tells them to keep it away from the other team who will try to intercept it. I boredly watched along with everybody else as a third year tumbled from her broom, two fourth years crashed into each other and one second year seemed to have forgotten how to fly at all. By the time Sophia had tested those who wanted the beater position and moved onto the seeker, it had begun to rain and I was getting increasingly agitated.

Sophia looked frustrated too. "Ok, first one to find the snitch gets the spot." She pulls the golden orb out of the case of Quidditch equipment and throws it up into the air. The snitch comes to life instantly, tiny silver wings emerging from it's sides and fluttering so fast that it would be impossible for a regular person to see. But I have seeker's eyes, and I could see the snitch a mile off.

The snitch shoots off into the distance and the 4 Slytherins trying out for seeker shoot upwards on their brooms, frantically scanning the sky for it. I follow the snitch with ease as they struggle to locate it. Finally, one of them catches the flicker of gold between two of the watchtowers and shoots after it. It takes the other three at least 5 seconds to realise what is going on and by the time they've streaked after him, the boy that I've never seen before catches the snitch. Along with everybody else, I clap in a congratulatory fashion when he zooms back to Sophia and the other angry looking seekers, an arrogant smirk on his face.