Uncharted

Quidditch practice is this morning; it’s been about a month since the first day, but it’s stayed rather hot. I don’t really feel it since ‘hot’ here is seventy degrees, but it’s quite a bit different than the usual sixty. The Quidditch uniform isn’t particularly warm, which is nice. I’m usually too absorbed in the game to notice any temperature, but today we’re starting off with tryouts, and from there we start practice, so I’ll be subjected to two hours of nothing with no choice but to notice the temperature change.

Lilly walked up to me and said, “Sorry I took so long, I couldn’t find my shoes.”

I nodded, “It’s fine. We’re not really needed for the first few minutes anyway.”

We left and silently walked up the stairs to the grand floor of Hogwarts. Most people were walking out of the Great Hall; it was a tad bit difficult to get to the doors, but we made it and automatically stretched our arms to further enjoy the sunlight. I groaned at the distance to the field, but then I smirked and stopped working. Lilly looked at me with an inquisitive brow and asked, “What are you doing?”

I straddled my broom and made it hover about four feet off of the ground. “I don’t feel like walking there, especially since we’re running late.”

Lilly smirked back and did the same. Once we were both in the air she said, “I accept your challenge.”

I didn’t reply, I just leaned forward and took off as fast as possible. She shouted at me, but I didn’t pay attention. I’ve been a seeker since my second year; you don’t win by helping your opponent, you win by being better. I started to slow down far back enough so I could land next Flint, but Lilly was too focused on getting there first, so she almost crashed into the stands. I laughed at her; she walked back over and ignored me.

Flint coughed and then looked at me.

I drew in a deep breath, “What?”

He raised his brows; “You’re five minutes late.”

I rolled my eyes, “What happened in the last five minutes besides you stroking your ego?” I leaned forward a little and mocked his voice, “Did ya replace me?”

He smirked, “Have you met our new player?”

I sighed, “Obviously not.”

Flint pointed to the pale blonde. He popped up with excitement and walked up to me. He offered his hand and said, “Malfoy, Draco Malfoy.”

I nodded and shook his hand with a tight-lipped, amused smirk. “Ever, Greatest Ever.”

He nervously chuckled.

I turned back around and looked at Flint. “Now, can we carry on with practice?”

He laughed at me. “We are, you’re not. You’ve been replaced.

I laughed and rested against the front wall of the Slytherin tower. I rested my broom against the wall, too, and then crossed my arms against my chest. “Yeah, with who?”

“With Malfoy.”

The blood and happiness drained out of Draco’s face. He stared at Marcus with pure bewilderment.

I ignored him, laughed again, and then said, “Good one. Now where’s my broom? The rest of you have new ones.”

Flint sighed, “You don’t get a new broom because you’re not a player this year.”

I raised my right brow.

“Malfoy replaced you.”

I took an angry step forward and asked through my clenched jaw, “Did you really replace me, Flint?”

He sucked his lips into his mouth for a quick second. “Yeah, Heeb.”

I glared and hissed, “It’s Heeee-b. Not Heh-be. Okay? I’ve known you for seven years now. How much longer is it going to take you to learn something?”

Flint rolled his eyes, “How long is it going to take you to figure out you don’t play with us anymore?”

My jaw tensed, “Why the hell did you replace me? I’ve made this team a winning team for five consecutive years.”

The small blonde boy who has been trying to get me interested in conversation for the last month suddenly squeaked. Flint laughed and then pointed to him, “He’s your replacement.”

I looked at Draco and laughed, “Him? Him? Really, Flint?” I crossed my arms against my chest, cocked my head slightly to the right, and then placed most of my weight on my back foot. “Has he even played before? How can he be better than me in any aspect?”

Flint crossed his arms and spat, “He can afford team brooms.”

“Oh dear lord.” I sighed.

Flint smirked, “And we won’t have to tolerate your muddy stench.”

I glared at him; my whole face went sour as if I gulped down the juice of an extremely bitter lemon. I gulped and retorted, “You look and act like a troll, but my blood is the issue on this team?”

Flint glared back at me. “He’s rich and he’s pure. Why wouldn’t we want him?”

I nodded and did my best to calm myself down, but then I got a brilliant idea. I nodded at Flint and then said, “Since I won’t have the joy of Quidditch year, can I see someone’s new Nimbus for a just a minute.”

Flint laughed and handed me his.

I pretended to kick him in the groin so blocking my foot would distract him; I used the broom as a club and beat him down the best I could. I hit his face quite a few times before he toppled over and pulled my ankle. I fell down, but I rolled away fast enough to not get pinned. I popped up while he was still on the ground; I slammed my body down on his lower back, causing him to fall back into the ground. I made my knee comfortable between his legs, right next to his groin, while my left hand pinned back his left arm in a terribly uncomfortable position. I grabbed a fistful of his hair with my right hand and started to slam him down while twisting his arm to hell. “MY BROTHER’S A WRESTLER, YOU THINK YOU CAN TAKE ME DOWN? ESPECIALLY AFTER KICKING ME OFF THIS FUCKING TEAM? FOR WHAT? SOME NEW BROOMS?”

He rolled, but in a complete three-sixty, so I was still on top of him. “YOUR ASS GET USED TO THE OLD BROOM, FLINT? THIS IS FUCKING RIDICULOUS! I HOPE TO GOD YOU LOSE EVERY DAMN GAME—!”

The laughter and cheering of a group distracted me. I looked up and saw the Gryffindor team laughing at Flint, well, his beat down. Flint popped up, causing me to fall off of his back and onto the ground. He turned quickly and kicked me in the side. It was painful, but I was already too filled with adrenaline to feel any real pain. I rolled, grabbed the broom, and jabbed him harshly in the chest. Oliver ran over to my aid; he pulled on the back of Flint’s shirt, spun him to face him, and punched him in the face. I popped up and put my right foot on Flint’s groin. I smirked, “Move and I’ll smash your mangina.”

Lilly, a few Gryffindor girls, and the Weasley twins laughed while Marcus glared at me. A short girl with ridiculously curly brown hair shouted, “That’s what you deserve, you oaf!”

Malfoy, I think, turned and glared at her. “Shut your mouth, mudblood.”

The Weasley’s little brother was about to shout a spell at Draco, but I walked away from Flint and Draco. He smirked with pride at me while I squatted a bit so we could be eye to eye. I smiled and giggled, “Blood jokes are hilarious, aren’t they?”

He nodded hesitantly. He knew I wasn’t sincere, but he was thrilled I was talking to him. I snatched his broom and started to levitate it way above his head. I took a step back while he jumped up to try to get it back. “It’s hilarious to mock people for the way they are. Like you, Oliver over here could easily snatch this broom back, but you’re too small and scrawny to really accomplish anything, so why is it that you are my replacement?”

Oliver looked at me with surprise, “You serious? Flint’s replacing you? You’re the best in the school.”

I nodded and dropped the broom; it hit the top of Malfoy’s head, allowing the very hurt brunette a giggle. I slid my hands into my hair on the sides of my head since the rest of my dark brown locks were twisted into a French braid. I started to do some breathing exercise to try to calm down, but then Flint sent a silent hex my way; it missed me by a centimeter. I snapped my head to the left and glared at him. I could feel my blood boil; “You want to start this Flint?”

He glared at me; his breathing became more labored.

I took a step closer to him. I clenched my fists tightly and spat, “Just because your blood is pure doesn’t mean I’ll hesitate spilling it.”

Flint laughed and took a step closer to me. “What can you do? Besides take up space? You’re just a regular person. Nothin’ special—”

Lilly snatched my wand as I sprang my hand up, so I just focused all of my rage and magic into my hands. Usually this sort of thing is for people like Dumbledore, but I can’t handle being kicked off and so heavily degraded all in the same ten minutes. I started to just shoot explosive streams of light at Flint; he dodged them all, so I got into a slight lunge and stretched out my arms. He laughed at me until the earth around him started to shake. Everyone but the two of us backed up or ran a good twenty feet away. I started to rip huge mounds of earth and dirt out and swirled them around Marcus. I trapped him in a ball of explosive streams and huge clumps of dirt and rock. He screamed like a little girl; in all fairness, I was slinging some at him, terribly injuring him, but I stopped and let the dirt and rocks fall.

I drew in a deep breath before saying, “If you’re so much better than me, so much more powerful, than fix this shit yourself.”

He started at me, then spit out some dirt and said, “Why am I not surprised you’d use dirt?”

I screeched with rage; Lilly told everyone to back up while the magic in my veins shook my whole body. I did my best to not literally explode. I shout out streams into the earth around Marcus until I was relatively calm. I started to pant and then looked at him, “You’re lucky that I’m a muggle born. It makes me partially ‘just a person.’” I gulped, “The magic in me, if we really want to be bigoted assholes, makes me a creature. I’d kill you right now, Flint, but part of me is a person, and only people have souls.”

He screamed in rage and shot his right hand up; his wand flew into his hand, so I grabbed mine back from Lilly. I deflected all his attempts until Flint finally stopped and growled, “You’re still not special, you’re just a freak. You think you’re great because you can channel your rage? Good for you, freak.”

I shook my head angrily and started to walk away. “You’d be surprised what this freak is capable of.”

“Like what?” Flint half yelled, half laughed.

I walked over to Oliver and asked him, “Who is your team’s new seeker?”

He gulped and replied, “Harry is.”

I nodded, snatched two brooms away from two weaker players, and then walked over to Harry Potter. I handed him one broom, which he hesitantly took. I turned to face Flint and smirked. “Fuck the Slytherin team. I’m going to train the Gryffindor seeker to play so well that you’ll cry blood.”

Oliver started to protest.

I cut him off. “You’re a keeper. You’re the exact opposite of a seeker. Don’t worry about this, Wood, I’ve got it.”

Oliver nodded in concession and slight actual agreement while Flint started to yell at me and Harry looked a little scared. I looked at Harry and said, “I won’t try to kill you with dirt and rocks, okay? If anything, I’ll protect you.” I squatted down a bit, “You are the key to making Flint cry, and all you have to do is be an excellent seeker. I can help you win, it’s a two bird one stone thing.”

He looked at Oliver. Oliver nodded, so Harry looked back at me and nodded with slight fear.