Our American Cousin

XVIII

A Weasley Feint

Sara shivered in the English cold and wrapped her school issue scarf tighter around her neck. The build up to the first Quidditch match of the season had been going on for weeks. The fact that it was to be Gryffindor vs. Slytherin had not helped. The tension and energy that could be felt in the crowd was incredibly thick and the players hadn't even hit the field yet. Sara had seen a couple of Mexico Quidditch matches that had about the same level of fanaticism as their soccer matches and this was running close. Sara leaned over to Neville.

"So, who do you have your money on?"

"Gryffindor of course."

"House loyalty."

"No. The Slytherin team doesn't stand a chance this year."

"How so?"

"Their Beaters and one Chaser have joined up with You-Know-Who and dropped out of school. Their Keeper and another Chaser are missing and presumed dead." Sara shivered, this time not from the cold. No one with a face like Neville's should use words like missing, presumed dead.

"So, they basically they've got no one trained." Sara tried to get her mind back on the game.

"Right. Only Malfoy, their Seeker is any good, but Harry's always been a bit better."

"I'm still worried about Harry playing," Hermione put in her two cents worth, as she took a seat beside Neville. "He's still too frail from summer." Sara and Neville couldn't help but nod in agreement. Harry, while no longer on the verge of death, was having great difficulty putting any kind of weight back on his body. Hermione's guess was that the combination of starvation and magical speed healing did something bizarre to his metabolism.

"Doesn't matter," Neville said. "With Ginny Chasing we'll win even if Draco gets the Snitch." Hermione did have to nod in agreement. Ginny had been practicing all summer, plus Fred and George had gotten her a top-of-the-line broom for her birthday, making her the fastest Chaser on the field. "Do you have a Quidditch team, Sara?" Neville asked, raising his voice over the already noisy crowd. Sara shook her head.

"We have a Quadpot team, but those are mainly people who didn't make either of the racing teams."

"You've got two teams?"

"Yeah we've got Alpha Flight, racers who are on Seeker brooms, and Omega Flight, racers on elf brooms."

"It's starting." Hermione pointed to the field.

"Welcome everyone to the first Hogwarts Quidditch match of the season." There were cheers as a magically amplified voice filled the stadium. "Now let me introduce, emerging from their dungeons, in the green robes. Nigellus, Alphard, Derrick, Milton, Lynch, Prattchet and Malfoy. Team Slytherin." The Slytherin team took their starting positions as cheers came from the Slytherin part of the stadium. "And coming down from their tower in the red, Abercrombie, Sloper, Spinnet, Kelly, Weasley, Weasley and Harry Potter. Team Gryffindor."

Sara winced as the stands around her erupted in wild cheers. Sara squinted at Harry, who seemed to be drowning in the scarlet robes. She couldn't help but wonder what possessed Quidditch players to wear such un-aerodynamic uniforms, but the red robes of the Gryffindor team did hide the fact that Harry was still dangerously underweight.

The balls were released to Dennis Creevey's running commentary. Dennis had taken over for Lee Jordan with a good amount of success and had spent most of the summer watching basketball on mute to work on giving play-by-play commentary. It didn't take long for Sara, or anyone else, to figure out what Slytherin's strategy would be this year. They didn't have anyone who could fly so they tried to knock Gryffindor off their brooms instead. Each obvious foul and dirty manoeuvre was booed at loudly by the crowd. Sara couldn't help looking around for exits just in case the crowd got really ugly.

~

Ginny Weasley was hurt. She'd already been checked twice and had a Bludger nick her shoulder. It had been decided the previous year that even though she would be team Gryffindor's backup Seeker, she was too good a flyer not to have in the air. As a result, she had spent the summer working on her skills as a Chaser. With a flurry of movement, the ball was in her hands. A quick glance over her shoulder told her that she had a Slytherin on her tail. 'Time for the Weasley Feint,' she told herself. She has spent every free moment of the last summer perfecting the bold manoeuvre and was now going to show it off. As the Slytherin Chaser pulled up behind her, Ginny aimed her broom and dove for the base of the Slytherin goal posts. Harry took one eye off the Snitch search to watch this. Ginny sped at Seeker speeds, yanking up her broom just before hitting the posts. The post shook as the Slytherin Chaser hit it. The crowd cheered as Ginny popped up behind the Slytherin Keeper putting the ball through the hoop.

"A Weasley Feint! A Weasley Feint! I've heard of it, but you've seen it here first folks," Dennis Creevey cried over the magical microphone. Harry looked over to where Draco was sitting, open jawed, watching his best Chaser get taken off the field.

~

Sara was impressed and a little horrified by the game that day. Enough people were taken off the field that one would have thought it was Quadpot. Nearly an hour later, Harry snagged the Snitch, but it was a close call with Draco ripping off one little golden wing.

~

The victory party in the common room was fairly subdued. Everyone knew that trouncing Slytherin wasn't what it used to be. The party was mainly to celebrate the first public use of the Weasley Feint. Neville opened the common room door to the persistent knocking, assuming it was a first year who had forgotten the password. Instead of a first year however, he found Draco Malfoy. Draco blinked a few times in the realization that Neville Longbottom was taller than he was.

"Malfoy."

"Neville." He tried to keep the sneer out of his voice. "Might I come in?"

"Why?"

"I have business with Miss Weasley." Neville squinted at him for a moment then closed the door. After a few moments, Neville opened the door again and waved him in. Draco had been rather hoping that Ginny would just come to the painting.

The party got really quiet as Draco walked into the lions' den. Gryffindors may know no fear, but Slytherins weren't quite as cowardly as they were made out to be. Ginny was standing there waiting for him. Draco stopped a polite three steps from Ginny and bowed his head slightly.

"Draco."

"Ginevra." There was the kind of silence that you got on the dark side of the moon. Most of Gryffindor couldn't have told you Ginny's full name on a bet. "I wanted to congratulate you on a game well played."

"Thank you. You played well yourself."

"Thank you." There was a long uncomfortable silence.

"Is Milton all right?" Ginny asked just to put some sound in the air.

"She hit her head, but she doesn't use it much anyways."

"Oh." Draco looked down, momentarily fascinated with the common room carpet, as Ginny became equally fascinated by the ceiling.

"I have something for you." Draco finally said.

"Really...I mean...."

"A souvenir of the game." He took a step forward and held out the Snitch wing.

"Thank you." Silence still reigned in the common room. Draco gave a half bow and turned to leave. As he was walking out, he noticed something he had somehow missed coming in. Harry was sitting in the corner of the common room holding court, a Butterbeer in one hand and the ruined Snitch in the other. He had a cold look in his eyes, shared by both Ron and Hermione. It was a look that said 'We've shared your dark lord's mind, and we're not afraid to use it.' But what really caught Draco's attention was that Harry was in his undershirt, not caring who saw his freshly bruised arms, that looked like they would break at the slightest pressure. These were connected to an overly prominent collarbone. Draco also really noted for the first time the jagged cheekbones and sunken eyes.

"Don't those Muggles feed you, Potter?" he asked, grateful to be back on the comfortable footing of snipping at Harry.

"No," replied Harry after a long moment. "As a matter of fact they don't." The two rivals locked eyes and came to a bit of an understanding. The exact details would take a year to hammer out, but it was an understanding nonetheless.

Dear Mom, Dad and Company,

We just had the first Quidditch game of the season. Gryffindor won by a good margin but had to have the most people carried off the field. It played like a Mexico match. There's not much else interesting to tell right now.

There's a nice bit of a Romeo and Juliet going on between Gryffindor and Slytherin right now. Ginny, the little sister of Harry's best friend, Ron, is being courted by Harry's main rival and student head of Slytherin house, Draco. (I suggest drawing a diagram to help keep track.) I don't mind Draco myself. Needs therapy but so does half the school. He's started coming into our common room under the excuse of reading my Wall Street Journals. Somehow, he'll read the same page for twenty minutes if Ginny's in the room. I think it's sweet, but everyone else thinks it's a little weird. I'll keep you posted on the soap opera.

Love Sara