(A/N) ❤ U
Loves,
~Iresine

Draco

     BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP

     I jolted up in bed, exclaiming a colorful string of words that probably shouldn't be coming out of a 12-year-old's mouth. I heard some snickering somewhere to my left. When my eyes focused, I could see Theo suppressing giggles and Blaise smirking with his wand in the air.

     "Knew that spell would come in handy one day," Blaise grinned and tucked his wand into his pocket.

     "What was that for?" I grumbled, laying back down and pulling the warm covers over my head to protect myself from the cool draft that was wafting in through the slightly open window. The glowing slit between the waving curtains was a shade of royal blue, not quite dawn yet, but not exactly night either.

     "Did you forget? It's your first practice as Seeker!" Theo ripped the blanket from my head, making me feel cold and exposed.

     "Ugh, but it's so early," I grabbed the blanket back and rolled around into a blanket burrito, one of the coziest things to ever exist. "Five more minutes..."

     It was Blaise's turn to torture me now. He pulled the edge of the blanket, hard, making me fall off the bed and unravel my blanket burrito in the process. I stood up angrily. The little devil-

     "Hey, Flint said to be in the locker room in ten," Theo picked up the blanket and balled it up, throwing it into the corner of my four-poster bed, where it was too far away for me to reach without having to crawl across the deep green covers. And I was too lazy to do that. Sucker. "Have fun!"

     They walked out of the room chatting about breakfast, which left me no choice but to get changed. I sighed, then began digging through my drawer for my royal green seeker robes.

     After I changed into them and grabbed an apple from the common room, I headed down to the Slytherin boy's locker rooms. Everyone there was looking half-asleep. Well, everyone except Flint.

     "Big day today, boys!" Flint said, clapping his hands together. "For one, we've got a new seeker!"

     Heads swiveled in my direction, sleepy eyes trying to focus on the pathetic blob that was me. I gave a little wave and bit my apple.

     "Mhm. We'll smash Gryffindork and every other house to bits. We did it last year, we can do it again. Who's with me?"

     A smattering of half-hearted cheers mixed in with a few snores around the room was the response.

     "Aw, wake up, ya big babies. Two or three hours of sleep is plenty. Now, I have a surprise for all of you," Flint winked at me. I stared back confusedly, my teeth still sunk in the apple. What was he talking about? 

     Everyone sat up a little straighter at this news. Presents? Heck yeah! Flint smiled and beckoned at the empty doorway. In stepped a small boy, a first-year, carrying long packages wrapped in shimmery grey paper and tied with a fancy bit of silver string. There was a small tag on the piece of string with a design that I could recognise from a mile away.

     The Malfoy family crest.

     Father, what have you done?

     "Thanks to a generous donation from Lucius Malfoy, we now have new brooms for our whole team!" Flint grinned, handing one to each of us. I took mine numbly, staring at the shimmery wrapping.

     I had actually thought for a moment there that I had gotten in because of my talent.

    My senses returned when the room erupted with whoops and hollers. I was suddenly being pat on the back by who knows how many hands.

     "You the man, Draco!"

     "Thanks so much!"

     "For real?"

     "Your dad is awesome, bro."

     "This is totally wicked!"

     "Wh-wha?" I looked around the room. Four shiny new brooms, even sleeker than Potter's broom. (Sorry J.K. Rowling, I can't stand the fact that there are no girls in the team so I'm yeeting two of them in and there's nothing you can do to stop me) Could it be? I ripped off the packaging on mine, staring at the smooth, dark, matte wood, (it has a better grip than polished wood, and your hands get less sweaty. Ha, Potter!) the soft, ombre bristles, the whole body cut to perfection. It was, in a word, sleek. Better than Potter's.

     And my father bought them. Just so I could get in the team.

     I felt terrible.

     But I plastered on a huge smirk.

     "You guys deserve it. Now let's get out there! There are butts to kick, can't be late!"

     "That's the spirit! Let's go!" Flint beckoned to us, and we marched in a somewhat straight line out to the field. The grass was sprinkled lightly with dew and a very thin layer of mist swirled around our ankles, but the sun was shining brightly in the sky. Wow, that was fast. Thin clouds were laying on a bright blue backdrop, like somebody took a massive paintbrush and just swiped it over an immense canvas. The wind blew into my face, playing with my hair and erasing all traces of sleep from me. Two girls in emerald robes ran up to us, a Chaser and a Beater, high fiving everybody. Faint hollers from the right, and I turned to see Blaise, Theo, Daphne, and Pansy yelling something and waving tiny green and silver flags.

     I was almost happy, for once.

     And that's when I saw that the sky had a sprinkling of scarlet dots that were growing bigger.

     Uh oh.

     Gryffindorks.

     I immediately knew it was not going to be a good day.

     The Gryffindork captain (I think his name was Oak or something) landed on the ground with a thud, staggering towards us and looking like he wanted to throttle Flint. Boy, he has some anger issues.

     "Flint!" he practically screamed. "This is our practice time! We got up specially! You can clear off now!"

     Flint walked over so that he towered over Oak. I couldn't see Flint's reaction, but the look on Oak's face told me that whatever expression he had on was irritating Oak to no end. "Plenty of room for us all, Wood." Oh, it was Wood. I was close, though.

     "But I booked the field! I booked it!!" Wood's face was tomato red, and his voice was so high it was girly, globs of spit coming out of his mouth as he screeched at Flint. Ew.

     "Ah," Flint said cooly, pulling out a small piece of parchment. I could almost hear the smirk in his voice. "But I've got a specially signed note here from professor Snape. 'I, Professor S. Snape, give the Slytherin team permission to practice today on the Quidditch field. owing to the need to train their new Seeker.'"

     "You've got a new Seeker? Where?" Wood asked, looking around. Um, excuse me? Are you blind? I stepped forward so he could see me better, although I was already at the front of the group.

     One of the Weasel clones frowned. "Aren't you Lucius Malfoy's son?" Ughh. I'm only that, Lucius Malfoy's son, nothing more. Just a mini version of my vile father, that's all. That's why I decided to act so repulsive. I mean, if the world's only going to see you as horrid, immoral, and foul, why be anything else? It's not like they're wrong.

     Flint chuckled, bringing me back to reality. "Funny you should mention Draco's father. Let me show you the generous gift he's made to the Slytherin team." All of the Slytherin team held their brooms out proudly. I held it out as far as I could, mostly in disgust. The Gryffindor team's eyes bulged as they stared at the gleaming brooms. "Very latest model," Flint grinned, running a hand down the smooth wood. "Only came out last month. I believe it outstrips the old Two Thousand series by a considerable amount. As for the oldCleansweeps... sweeps the board with them."

     The Gryffindor team was silent. I wanted to drop my arm because I felt so conceited just waving the brooms under their noses, but the rest of the team didn't, so it would be weird for me to do it. I also plastered a smug smirk on my face, just to add to the effect, because I thought it would be weird to have a disgusted look on your face if you just got a nice new broom. Flint suddenly took a step sideways, looking at something behind the Gryffindorks.

     "Oh look," he said, pointing, "A field invasion."

     I followed his finger and saw...

     Hermione! She was jogging over to see what was going on. Oh! She'd never seemed so pretty to me, so dewy and fresh and-

     Ugh. The Weasel was trailing along like some lost puppy. He looked over at me and his face twisted into an expression you would get if you saw disgusting at the bottom of your shoe.

     "What's happening?" he asked Potter. "Why aren't you playing? And what's he doing here?" Weasel pointed a finger at me like the immature arse that he was (and still is).

     "I'm the new Slytherin Seeker, Weasel. Everyone's just been admiring the brooms my father's bought our team." I said, trying to put as much stuck-up into my voice as possible. Honestly, I gotta tell you, it was really hard with Mione over there watching my every move. I literally had to say, don't stare at her, don't stare at her, don't stare at her. I mostly succeeded.

     Weasel finally noticed the broomsticks that we Slytherins had been holding out in front of us for, like, half an eternity. The expression on his face must've been priceless, but I was too busy staring at Hermione. She was staring at the broomsticks too, but on her face was an expression of something other than amazement. Then, her eyes met mine. 

     And my heart shattered right there and then. 

     Her expression was... like she couldn't believe that I was such a monster. That she didn't want to believe that I was such a monster. That she thought I was better than this, but was let down once again. It lasted only a second before she looked away, but I knew I would never be the same. I lowered my broom even though no one else did, biting the inside of my lip and fighting back the tears that were building up. Draco, no, this is not the time, this is NOT THE DAMN TIME. Quick, do something before someone notices that you're weak!

     As usual, my mind autopiloted to its regular, disgusting self.

     "Good, aren't they? But perhaps the Gryffindor team will be able to raise some gold and get new brooms too. You could raffle off those Cleansweep Fives; I expect a museum would bid for them."

     The rest of the Slytherins cackle behind me. I plastered a smirk on my face.

    "At least no one on the Gryffindor team had to buy their way in. They got in on pure talent."

     I felt like I was slapped by the tone of Hermione's voice. I couldn't argue with her, though. Honestly, I deserved it. But the tears stung the back of my eyes anyway.

     And, unfortunately, my mind went autopilot again.

     "Nobody asked your opinion, you filthy little mudblood."

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