Chapter 76: The Thing About Quidditch
If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
I would like to thank my beta, Akisu, for his help in this chapter.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
5 September 1992, Hogwarts
Of course, Harry's streak of normality was unfortunately about to come to a rather screeching halt, when a grinning Malfoy, followed by his lackeys, made his way to him. The Potter scion suppressed a groan; he just knew that this wouldn't go well.
Harry hadn't spoken a word to the blonde for months, ever since June really. After he had scared the crap out of the boy last year, Malfoy did his best to avoid Harry as much as possible. Although the Potter scion had seen him in Diagon Alley once or twice, he didn't really see the point of talking to Malfoy of all people, especially since he was more interested in the boy's father and Tom Riddle's Diary.
Still, the blonde was very frightened of him and left Harry alone, which was exactly what he wanted. Unfortunately, Draco had somehow returned from the summer holidays with a bit more confidence than usual. Honestly, Harry was too preoccupied with not dying at the hands, well at the gaze, of a giant thousand-year-old snake.
That seemed to motivate the Malfoy scion for some reason. Perhaps he thought that Harry was intimidated for some reason. He didn't really know what went on in the boy's head, and he didn't really care about it.
The boy walked up to him with a smug grin on his face and Harry suppressed a groan. What now?
"Potter," the boy greeted. His two minions Crabbe and Goyle grunted in greeting as well. The Potter scion didn't know why anyone would like to act like a bodyguard when they're twelve, or why anyone would follow every order from someone their age. It was probably something their families asked of them, or if their actual families still practised vassalage, even if it's been technically abolished for centuries.
Well, before the Statute of secrecy, lords from lower houses swore themselves to High Lords as their vassals. Technically speaking, with the abolishment of nobility, these oaths were declared null and void. However, if someone was a blood purist who wanted to show how much they hated giving up their lands and titles to the muggles during the Statute of Secrecy, Harry could see them imitate the vassalage system somewhat just to prove a point. And it's not like it was servitude, the High Lords provide their vassals with protection and sometimes even financial aid for their loyalty. It is an antiquated concept that would only make sense if there still were Magical Lords and Wizarding Nobles.
The Malfoys were one of the wealthiest families out there who lost a lot when the Statute was put in place. A lot of their business was in muggle markets, and they held a rather large amount of land, all of which they needed to give up. It was logical why this family in particular would resent the muggles who took away much of their power.
Harry gave the Malfoy scion and his friends a soft smile, "Draco, Gregory, Vincent, it's nice to meet you. Did you have a nice summer?"
For some reason, the young Malfoy was confused by his tone, but his two minions relaxed, "We went to the Quidditch Season finale. Puddlemere united against the Holyhead Harpies. Puddlemere won, the game was almost three days long. They had to change the team around a lot so that the players could sleep."
"That sounds fascinating. I hope you all had fun there," Harry replied.
Crabbe answered this time, "Yeah, we did. It was nice, even if my mother didn't really like it."
Draco seemed to get redder and redder as Harry talked and just exploded, "Potter, we didn't come here to talk about our Summer Holidays."
"You didn't? Then why did you bring it up, then?" Harry asked with a confused tone.
"I didn't. You're the one who talked about it," Malfoy said.
"Oh, right, I did. Well, this was nice. We never really talk, do we? I'll catch up to you later," Harry pretended like the conversation was over and that he was leaving.
"We're not done!!" the young Malfoy exclaimed.
"We're not?"
"Of course, we're not. Why do you think I came here to talk to you?"
"If I had to guess," Harry mused out loud, "I'd say you were here to talk about our Summers. But didn't you say you didn't really want to talk about it? You're really giving away mixed signals, Draco dear."
"No! I didn't want to talk about my summer!" the blonde protested.
"Then why did you bring it up, then?"
"I already said that I didn't!!" the boy was so red Harry was starting to get worried about him. It was honestly hilarious, and he wished that his friends were there to see it.
"Oh, right. What were you talking about again?"
"We didn't even get started!" Draco Malfoy yelled.
"Really, we've been talking for a while now. You really should go to the infirmary; you're looking awfully red, and that kind of temper isn't normal. Did someone curse you? I'll admit to knowing very little about curses, but I can try to help you if you want. I would still recommend you go to the infirmary though."
The boy seemingly had enough because he yelled, "I GOT INTO THE QUIDDITCH TEAM!!"
The entire corridor stayed silent for a few seconds as the boy was gasping in exertion for some reason. Harry, who honestly didn't give a damn about Quidditch, put on a smile on his face, "Oh, that's great news. Which position did you get in?"
"Seeker," the boy answered in a confused tone.
Yeah, Harry knew that the boy had bought himself a spot in the team, well, his father did. It was what happened in the stories, and it didn't seem to be any different there, especially because the tryouts were in a week.
"And such an important position, too. Now that's very impressive indeed," Harry nodded.
"Yeah, but unfortunately, that means that you can't be on the team too," the boy answered with a solemn tone that was completely proven to be fake by the wide smile he was wearing.
Harry simply shrugged, "I wasn't even planning on playing. I didn't even bring a broom with me, although now that I think of it, I should get one. I like flying; it relaxes me."
"Wait, you weren't going to try out for a spot on the team?" Malfoy asked incredulously.
"I don't really like Quidditch all that much, to be honest."
"HOW CAN YOU NOT LIKE QUIDDITCH?"
"People have their preferences," the Potter scion calmly answered, "just like you don't like eating vegetables, but I do. People can just not like things. I just find Quidditch to be needlessly violent with too many senseless rules that don't really mean much, and that's too hard to follow because there are four balls in the game. But that's just my opinion, I'm sure there are merits to the game I'm not seeing, but it's a personal preference. Quidditch isn't for everyone, I guess. Although, now that I think about your situation, if you're going to be the seeker, what's going to happen to Warrington?"
The boy held himself from exploding from the fact that Harry just didn't like Quidditch and calmed himself the more he explained it, "Well, Flint practically threw him out when he saw the brooms my father offered the Slytherin Quidditch team."
"And what kind of brooms were those?" Harry asked while already knowing the answers.
"Nimbus 2001. My father bought seven for the team. He likes to do things for me like that. It's a shame that you don't have anyone like him in your life, and even if you did, you'd probably end up broke. I heard the Potter finances were in a very bad shape after the war, so even if you had parents, they wouldn't have been able to do this," the boy's confused look turned triumphant at that.
It was a petty dig and Harry wasn't particularly bothered by it. Yeah, he didn't have a parent, but he didn't really need one. As for the Potter finances, they didn't really look that great. It was enough for him to get by, but Harry had a few things planned to fix that.
Still, the boy wanted to anger him, but Harry was a little above that. Instead, he put on a smile, "I think I have enough to buy a few brooms, right? But you're right that it's a very expensive purchase. The Nimbus is like what, 200 Galleons, right?"
"More like 350," the boy corrected.
"Alright, 350. That means that your father paid 2450 Galleons just to help your team. And as admirable as that is, it looks from the outside that you bought your way into the team, while I'm sure that you have enough skill to back it up. It looks like favouritism, like what happened to Longbottom last year."
The blonde nodded, still not getting Harry's point, "Yeah! Why should he get special treatment."
Harry shook his head, "You're not seeing the point. Do you remember what happened to our precious Boy Who Lived when he lost that Hufflepuff game last year? His teammates utterly hated him. People made fun of him when he spoke, calling him a hack and a cheat. You'll have to work a lot to make sure that no one thinks you're unworthy of your position like Longbottom is his own."
The boy paled finally understanding what Harry was trying to get at. Yeah, the Potter scion understood how to make Malfoy tick, and that was to throw Longbottom in his face and let the boy's obsession and jealousy do the rest.
"But my father…" the Malfoy scion protested.
"Your father is a very powerful man, Draco dear, but he's not a god. He'll do his best to help but even he can't just stop people from thinking that you just bought your way into the team, that you're just a rich boy with money that likes to think he's good at Quidditch while he's horrible at it. Isn't that what they said about Longbottom? That he used his fame to get on the team when he was just mediocre. Do you want people to call you that? Or do you want to prove to the entire school that you're better than him?"
"I want to show them that I'm better!" the boy practically shouted.
"Well done. You have the passion, now you need dedication. Train like your life depends on it. For every hour Longbottom trains, you'll do two on your own. I want you to show the entire school that you're the best seeker around. Make them understand that the brooms are just tools and that you're just that good. You are that good, aren't you?"
"I'm the best seeker in the school," the blonde answered with a proud smile on his face.
"Then I look forward to seeing you play, Draco Malfoy."
The Malfoy scion gave him a wide beam and practically ran to the Quidditch field, followed by his two minions who hadn't said a word after their greetings at first. Sometimes messing with that boy was too much fun. Draco was, at heart, a spoilt brat that wanted people to acknowledge him but didn't want to do enough effort to make it happen.
Harry just gave him a little push to dedicate his time to Quidditch a bit more. For all the boy wanted to brag about his father bribing the Quidditch captain with an absurd amount of money for something as asinine as a Quidditch team position, one that the blonde didn't even need since he sure as hell wasn't going to play professionally, he was being quite foolish by talking about it so openly.
However, Harry just scared him and motivated him at the same time. A boy with such a large ego would do his best to not be humiliated by the public, and that's not even counting his competitive desire to defeat his rival. Yeah, the boy was going to train night and day to make that happen.
This was how Harry was able to give the entire castle a vacation from Malfoy for at least a couple of months. Yeah, you're welcome, Hogwarts.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you want to support me check out my patréon at https://www.patréon.com/athassprkr
I tend to upload drafts of early chapters on there to get people's opinions of them so you can read up to 20 chapters ahead as a bonus.
Thank you guys for your support in these hard times.