More to Life

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Chapter Seventeen - Chaser

"Doesn't things seem a little too quiet to you?" Harry asked.

"I don't know what you mean," Severus answered in reply.

It was just after the Easter Holidays. The Deatheaters had been especially quiet for several months now and that fact was driving Harry around the bend. The raven haired Slytherin had gotten into a habit of asking Severus every other day, subtly of course, if he knew anything. Every other day, Harry had gotten the same reply.

"Of course you know what I mean," Harry said. "Don't play dumb, it doesn't suit you."

"You really have a habit of trying to find out things you shouldn't know."

Harry grinned. "It's who I am."

Severus smiled grimly. "And it will probably get you into a whole lot of trouble one day."

"Not if I don't get caught."

"Just wait."

The room went silent after that. Harry seemed to want to ask the Potions Master something, but sat there biting his lip instead.

"Spit it out," Severus said tiredly, rubbing his eyes.

"What?" Harry tried to ask innocently.

"Just ask me what you were debating about asking."

Harry sat in silence for a few minutes before he spoke. "Would you do anything for the greater good?"

Severus stared at the glass of water he was holding. "Like what?"

The raven haired Slytherin tapped on the table top while he thought of a way to re-word his earlier question. "Erm... lie, cheat and sneak around to eventually... win?"

"You mean like become a Death Eater to eventually end up killing the Dark Lord?" Severus asked with a small smirk.

Harry gulped. "Maybe..."

"You wouldn't think about doing that, would you?" the Head of Slytherin asked sternly. "There are better ways than to do that."

"Maybe it would cause less damage that way," Harry muttered.

"Not to you."

Harry carried on tapping on the table.

"Don't even consider it."

"Why not?" Harry snapped. "He wouldn't suspect that way."

"He's had followers betray him before. He isn't stupid," Severus said.

"What can we do then?"

"Nothing yet."

Harry shook his head as he stood up from his chair. "I should go. Curfew was hours ago."

"Remember what I said, Harry," Severus spoke as Harry walked out the door.

"Maybe I will, Maybe I won't," Harry mumbled to himself when he had shut the door to.

Harry honestly thought that if he had to sacrifice himself in order to bring some kind of peace to the world, however temporary it might be would be worth it; even if it meant being a spy. He had to admit that Severus was also right in a way. There was no way he'd be able to be a Deatheater without Voldemort watching him closely in case he was a spy, which he would be. There was no way that he would follow Voldemort willingly.

He was so lost in thought he nearly missed the fake wall that lead to the Slytherin dormitories.

"What would you do?" Harry asked Draco as soon as he walked into the Common room.

Draco blinked. "Excuse me?"

Harry sighed and dropped himself on the sofa next to the blonde. "Would you do anything, and I mean anything, for the greater good?"

"No," Draco said after a few minutes. "I mean I probably wouldn't kill myself or do something completely degrading."

"Blaise?" Harry asked the brown haired boy sat across from him.

"Same," Blaise mumbled, burying himself in the book he was reading once more.

"What's up with him?" Harry asked.

"Exams," Millicent answered him. She was sat on a chair near Blaise, currently chewing her fingernails.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," Draco said slightly disgustedly.

"I'll do whatever I want, pretty boy," the girl said with a grin.

"Exams aren't for another five weeks," Harry said.

"Try telling him that," Draco said.

With a sigh, Harry turned to Millicent. "Millie?"

Millicent began tapping her newly chew fingernails on her knee while looking thoughtful. "Yes."

Harry raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"I would," she said quite firmly. "If it was for good..."

"Depends on what your view of good is," Blaise interrupted.

Millicent looked at Blaise coolly. "I suppose it does."

With that, the conversion abruptly died and the four Slytherins began, or carried on in Blaise's case, doing their homework.

*~*~*

"What crawled up Flint's arse and died?" Draco commented as the four Slytherin first years watched Marcus Flint walk up and down the Slytherin table in the Great Hall, whispering to people as he went, his face getting sourer by the minute.

"Quidditch," Blaise answered as if it was all that was needed.

"Care to elaborate?" Draco asked.

Millicent sighed as she looked at Blaise. "Pucey burnt his hands in Potions so he can't play the last match against Hufflepuff. Flint's trying to find someone to replace him and by the lucks of it isn't having much luck."

"Oi, firsties!" Flint called from a few seats away.

"What can we do for you on this fine day Mar-"

"Do stop sucking up Draco," Harry interrupted, seeing the smirk forming on the blonde's face. "What do you want Marcus?"

"Can any of you throw a Quaffle and ride a broom at the same time?" Marcus asked.

"You mean be a Chaser?" Millicent asked in a rather annoyed tone.

"Yeah that," Marcus, totally unaware of the girl's annoyance.

"Harry can," Blaise piped up, sticking his tongue out at Draco.

"I can," Draco all but shouted out.

"Harry's better," Blaise argued.

"Harry can answer for himself," Harry interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Draco can do it, it means more to him."

Draco looked at the table then back at Harry. "You're better off asking Harry. Chaser's my worst position." He sent a quick smile towards Harry, who smiled back.

"I can play a bit," Harry told Marcus.

Blaise scoffed. "A bit? I've seen you practicing on the Quidditch pitch when you think no one's watching. A bit is an understatement. He can play well enough to replace Pucey."

Marcus' eyes seemed to light up at that. "So you'll play then?"

"I've never-"

"That's great! I'll see you at practice in the morning. The match is this weekend," Marcus said grinning. He all but skipped down the aisle and out the Hall.

"- Played a match before," Harry finished. The raven haired Slytherin looked at Draco. "I have a feeling I'm going to regret this."

*~*~*

The next morning was every bit as bad as Harry thought it would be, and more. Flint had been impressed for the whole of ten seconds before he started making the team train like they had never trained before.

Harry felt weird playing Chaser. Sure, he could play Chaser as well as anyone, but he had always been more comfortable finding the snitch. He was willing to play Chaser if it meant playing for the house team. It made him forget about all his Voldemort trouble for a while.

During a ten minute break, Harry flew down near to where Marcus was standing. "Did you ask if I could play?" Harry asked the Quidditch Captain.

Marcus nodded. "Snape said he had to ask Dumbledore, but the Muggle-loving fool said yes anyway. Snape says you have a broom at home?"

"Yeah, but it's not a new one, it's a Comet 260."

"It's better than these things the school calls brooms. They must be at least twenty years old," Marcus grumbled. "Any chance you could get it before Saturday?"

"I can ask Snape nicely, though he should since he'll want us to win," Harry said with a grin. Marcus looked slightly puzzled. "I live with him," Harry clarified.

"Oh yeah," Marcus said. He then clapped his hands sharply and whistled with his fingers in his mouth. "Break's over!" With a groan, the remaining six Quidditch players flew back into the air.

*~*~*

The weekend finally rolled around. The match verves Hufflepuff was their last match of the season. The final game would be in a few weeks between Gryffindor and Ravenclaw. Flint was forever complaining about that match because there was no way either team would be winning the Quidditch cup anyway. It was between Hufflepuff and Slytherin.

This just made Harry even more nervous. He supposed that since there were three Chasers he could just keep out of the way, but he didn't think Flint would like that much.

The raven haired boy was sat poking at his breakfast a few hours before the match, when he felt someone sit next to him.

"Don't even think about trying to make me eat because I can't," Harry said still staring at his plate.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Draco said with a smirk. "Regretting it now?"

"This is all your fault," Harry said, directing a glare at the blonde.

"My fault?" Draco said flatly. "Of course it is."

Harry grinned. "So you're admitting to it then?"

Draco proceeded to band his head against the table none too lightly. He was still doing so when Millicent came and sat down across from the two boys.

"What is the matter with him?" she asked.

"He's just getting used to the fact that it's his fault if I get flattened by a Bludger today."

Draco looked up and glared at his friend. "Yes, yes that's why I'm banging my head against the table," he said sarcastically.

"See?" Harry pointed out; taking a few nibbles out of the piece of toast he was holding.

Millicent smirked a little. "It's too early in a morning for Draco to be outsmarted."

All Draco did in reply was throw a bread roll at her.

By eleven o'clock, the whole school was outside in the stands. The Slytherin Quidditch team were stood just off the pitch, waiting for the Hufflepuff team to come out of the changing rooms.

"So," Flint began when he had the team's attention, "We need to be fifty points in front before Higgs catches the Snitch. You two-" He pointed to the Beaters, "- Try and take out their Seeker. Bletchley-" He nodded at the Slytherin Keeper, "- Let anything in and I'll kill you."

Harry saw that Flint was deadly serious about his threat. The raven haired boy couldn't help but notice the glares that were being sent his way by Higgs. He had a ridiculous urge to stick his tongue out at the Slytherin Seeker, but restrained himself.

"Potter, I am going to have to hurt you if you drop the Quaffle," Flint said looking down at the first year. Harry just gave a nod. "Try passing it to either me or Warrington if you're no where near goal. I think that's it and here come to losers now."

Flint was referring to the Hufflepuff team, who were just walking onto the pitch. Madam Hooch, who was refereeing, wasn't far behind them. They all walked out onto the pitch.

"Now," Madam Hooch began as the players started to get into position, "I want a nice clean game." Harry noticed that the Flying Teacher seemed to be looking more at Marcus during that sentence than anyone else. "Mount your brooms."

Harry's stomach seemed to sink even more than it already had. The raven haired boy nearly tripped over his broom in his haste to mount it. He forced himself to calm down as Madam Hooch brought the whistle to her lips. After she did that, she threw the Quaffle into the air.

The fact he was playing in a proper match seemed to hit home when the Quaffle came flying straight at him. He steeled himself to catch it. When it landed in his arms, he quickly flew as far away from the Hufflepuff Chaser as he could before he passed it to Flint, who was flying just below him. Flint went on to score, giving Slytherin a ten point lead.

Harry's nerves faded after that.

What did surprise Harry was when Warrington threw the Quaffle to him. Harry nearly dropped it since he wasn't expecting it. Realising that he was in the scoring area and none of the other Chasers could help him, he glided a little then flew full pelt at the right hand goal. He threw the Quaffle through the round hoop and it went sailing through. The Hufflepuff Keeper wasn't near enough to block it.

He couldn't believe it. Him, a first year had actually scored against the burly Sixth year Hufflepuff. The grin on his face didn't shift for at least five minutes.

Harry vaguely caught a few odd words of the commentary. Being a Chaser didn't exactly give him time to sit and listen to every word being said, but when he was floating at a stand still, the first year Slytherin noticed that Higgs seemed to be paying more attention to him than the snitch. A few times he caught the Slytherin Seeker looking towards the Forbidden Forest.

Harry just shook his head and caught the Quaffle that was heading right for him.

Slytherin were leading sixty points to ten just ten minutes later. Higgs and the Hufflepuff Seeker had seen the snitch the whole of once. If Harry wasn't mistaken, he could have sworn that Higgs wasn't putting his all into finding the little golden ball. It was almost as if he was stalling.

Since Marcus and Warrington seemed to have the next goal covered, Harry floated in the air and watched as the two Seekers chased the Snitch once more. Harry wasn't mistaken this time. He knew Higgs could fly much faster than he was doing. Flint seemed to notice this as well and called a Time Out.

"What the hell is up with you!?" the Slytherin Captain shouted, "You should have caught the Snitch three times by now!"

"Sorry," Higgs mumbled, but he didn't sound too sorry about it.

"Just bloody get your act together. You need to catch the Snitch before Hufflepuff try and score again and Bletchley," Flint said, spinning around to look the Keeper in the eyes, "I did warn you about letting anything in. I'll let it slide this time. Let anything in from now until the end of the game and I'll make your life hell for the rest of the year." The Captain then flew back into the air, the rest of the team after him.

After a few minutes, Harry had scored once more. He was pretty proud of himself scoring twice in his first match. He hoped it would be enough to make Flint happy. He wasn't particularly bothered if he never played Chaser again. He knew he was a much better Seeker after all the practice he'd had with Draco before coming to Hogwarts.

Just five minutes later, Higgs saw the Snitch once more and went careering after it, the Hufflepuff Seeker well behind him. It didn't take him long to scoop up the golden ball and lift it up in the air to indicate he had caught it.

Harry heard Marcus let out a loud whoop, something he thought he would never hear from the Fifth year. He almost laughed. The whole of Slytherin house was cheering in the stands.

When the Slytherin team reached the ground, Harry felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Not bad Potter," Flint commented with a huge grin on his face. "You'd probably make a better Seeker though. You looked as though you weren't comfortable with the Quaffle."

"I wasn't," Harry said quietly. "I mean I can play but I like being a Seeker better."

"Higgs is leaving this year so if you want the Seeker spot it's yours."

"Really?" Harry asked eagerly.

"Yeah."

"Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You'd be doing Slytherin a favour," Marcus said as he walked away.

"Harry!" someone shouted from the crowd.

Harry turned around to see Draco jogging towards him. "Hullo Draco."

"You were brilliant!" the blonde said with a grin.

"Flint offered to let me play Seeker next season," Harry said with a grin. He was still feeling incredibly pleased with himself. Draco gave him a grin of his own.

The crowd had already begun to thin out a little. The noise had begun to die down. It looked as though the excitement and tension had gone, until something happened.

Harry spun around when he heard a loud group of screams coming from the crowd. He looked up in the direction they were looking and saw something that couldn't be mistaking for anything else.

The Dark Mark was hovering over the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch.

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Leatrix Malfoy ~ 28^th March 2004