You stood, shoulders back, head up, as you held your broomstick by your side, taking in every word that the Slytherin captain said.
"Pucey; you need to be more diligent, can't have any more slip ups from you. Miles; move faster! You're not here to sit around and watch!" He paced up and down as he gave out his orders, the stern expression on his face unwavering. "Okay, everyone dismissed; go and practice not falling off your brooms or something." He mad direct eye contact with Adrian Pucey as he said this, making him scuttle away with his broomstick under his arm.
You were following the rest of them when you heard Marcus calling your name, ushering you back to him. "You too, Malfoy." You knew exactly what was about to happen, and it was about to be tremendous.
"Theres no easy way to put this." He said, glancing between the two of you as he crossed his arms behind his back. "Taking into account both of your performances last game, I've made the difficult decision to switch your positions."
Draco was about to open his mouth, threaten to 'tell daddy dearest' no doubt, but Marcus shushed him, holding a finger up to his lips. "No arguing." He waltzed away.
"But she doesn't even have a good fucking broom!" Malfoy called after him, pointing to your old school-issue broomstick.
When Malfoy bought his way into being the seeker, he gave the whole team the newest, fastest model of broomstick; the Nimbus 2001, to bribe his way in. Well, that was, everyone except for you. Clearly his hate for you far outweighed his pride for the team.
Marcus simply waved his hand as he dismissed him, Draco turning furiously to face you.
"And yet I'm a better player than you. Shame that daddy dearest cant buy talent from the shops." You walked away before he could get another word in, not keen on getting extradited from the rest of the team any more than you already were.
Draco marched up behind you, whisper shouting in your ear. "Fuck you; You cant just replace me that easily."
You just huffed, obviously he wasn't gonna let this go.
"A match." He called after Marcus, stopping him in his tracks. The captain turned round, looking at him quizzically as he continued hi proposal. "A match; Just me and this mudblood, and a golden snitch. We'll see who's the better player then." He looks down to you, smiling a smile laced with poison as his eyes filled with conviction.
"Alright." Marcus said, clapping his hands together as Dracos face was smeared with confidence, chuckling as he held his head high. "But," Marcus continued, "She gets a Nimbus 2001." The sickly smug expression on Dracos face was wiped off immediately, being replace with what you could almost call; doubt?
He eventually agreed, snatching a broomstick from one of his teammates and thrusting it into your hand. It was much lighter than your shitty, school-issued broom, and face more aerodynamic. The handle had far more grip and it was easier to waft through the air—in short, it was fucking awesome. You'd never actually ridden one before, having the same clunky, slow broom through your entire stay as a keeper. Though it did mean you were used to calculating peoples moves in your head, seeing where they were going and what they could be about to do, so that you could make up for that lack of speed gifted to you.
Marcus Flint set up a game for the two of you, standing in the middle of the empty pitch as the two of you hovered just above the ground, cheered on by the rest of the team from the stands. Well, Draco was—none of them ever really like you, but you were a good player, so they stayed out of your way and you stayed out of theirs.
"First one to catch the Snitch is the winner." Marcus shouted, before throwing it up in the air without warning and jogging off the pitch.
You and Draco exchanged a single anxious glance, before both roaring to life. You knew that the Nimbus 2001 was fast, but this was ridiculous; you almost fell off the broomstick, not expecting the push back from the air. Nonetheless you kept going, locking your eyes onto the golden shine of the snitch in front of you as you leant forward.
