nineteen

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"We're going to beat you, Potter, just like I crushed you in that duel last week."

"Get a grip, Black. I clearly won that one."

It was time for the first Quidditch match of the year: Slytherin versus Gryffindor. The Slytherins had trained for weeks, and Marina was certain that the boys would win. She had dressed in all green and silver, and even stole Draco's snake pin to wear on her tie. She had almost believed that she had dressed up too much - until she saw Luna Lovegood wearing a hat shaped like a life-size lion's head.

Marina turned to Ron as they were walking to the Quidditch pit. She couldn't exactly say she liked him, but she had grown to accept him after he had stood up for her on the training. "Are you nervous?"

"I must have been mental to do this," he whispered. "Mental."

"Don't be thick," said Harry, "you're going to be fine."

Ron was playing Keeper this year, and Marina knew that the Slytherin boys would do anything to get him off the team.

They quartet parted ways, Marina finding her way to the Slytherin section of the stadium, Hermione to the Gryffindor section, and Harry and Ron to the pit.

"Marina!" a thin voice screamed as she met the end of the stars. "I've saved you a seat!" Louis was tapping the seat next to him with a wide smile.

"What a nice badge you have there," Marina said, pointing at the silver badge on his chest. As she came closer, she realized what it said: WEASLEY IS OUR KING.

"Thanks! Draco gave me it. I don't really know who Weasley is, but he said it was to support the team."

She soon realized that all of the Slytherins were wearing the badge - all except her. Had she missed something?

"But you won't need it," Louis mumbled, "you have the Prefect badge right there."

Marina smiled gently. "Do you like it?" He nodded quickly. "Then why don't we exchange our badges?"

After another enthusiastic nod, he tried to take off the badge he had been given, his short fingers fidgeting with it. He focused so hard that his eyebrows knit together, and his tongue stuck from the corner of his mouth. After a minute, she had to reach out a hand and help him take it off, letting out a giggle.

She put the badge saying WEASLEY IS OUR KING deep in the pocket of her uniform, and gave Louis her Prefect badge. His cheeks flushed pink.

"Just remember to give it back." Marina grinned. "I have some Prefect duties to do later, you know, and I'll need it back then."

"One day," he began, "I'll be like you, Marina. And we can have matching badges."

Louis leaned his head on her side, turning to look at the pit. A warm sensation spread in her. Never had she thought someone would tell her that they wanted to be like her after everything she had done. Ruffling his hair, she couldn't stop smiling.

The stadium went crazy as the Slytherin team walked out, with the new Captain Montague in the front. He was gigantic, and could easily scare off other players. Crabbe and Goyle were now playing Beaters and Draco Seeker. The applause only got louder when Gryffindor came out with Angelina first, waving proudly. Ron stumbled out right after Harry.

"Captains, shake hands," ordered Madam Hooch, as Angelina reached Montague. Marina was sure he was trying to break her hand on purpose. "Mount your brooms."

Hooch whistled, and the balls were released. Fourteen players shot upward.

"GOOD MORNING, HOGWARTS," Jordan began at once. "Welcome to the first game of the year! Today, Gryffindor is meeting Slytherin... And Johson is starting with the Quaffle, what a player that girl is, I've been saying it for years but she still won't go out with me-"

"Stop that!"

"Yeah, okay, and she's ducked Warrington, she's passed Montague, she's - ouch - been hit from behind by a Bludger from Crabbe... Montague catches the Quaffle, he is heading back up the pitch and - oh, that's a Bludger to the head from George Weasley - Katie Bell has the Quaffle, she passes it to Alicia Spinnet... She dodges Warrington..."

Suddenly, all of the serpents got to their feet and found their flags. Marina knit her eyebrows together as Pansy counted down: "Three, two, one..."

Weasley cannot save a thing,
He cannot block a single ring,
That's why Slytherins all sing:
Weasley is our King!

"The crowd is loving this," Jordan said. "Just listen to them - what are they singing?"

Weasley was born in a bin,
He always lets the Quaffle in,
Weasley will make sure we win,
Weasley is our king!

Marina watched with her jaw dropped as the Slytherins sang louder at Pansy's command, and Montague snatched the Quaffle from the Gryffindors, scoring straight. Ron was standing still mid-air, only watching the scene with red cheeks.

"So Slytherin is in the lead now," Jorda announced, and added, "bad luck, Ron..."

WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN!

"And Gryffindor's Katie Bell passes to Angelina - come on, Angelina, you can take him - turns out you can't, but nice Bludger from Fred, er, George? Eh, who cares, one of the Weasleys anyway."

WEASLEY IS OUR KING!
WEASLEY IS OUR KING!

"Oh, there Slytherin goes with the Quaffle again, and they are heading straight towards the goal - oh no - stop it, Ron!"

THAT'S WHY SLYTHERINS ALL SING:
WEASLEY IS OUR KING!

"Twenty-nil to Slytherin..."

"Did we win?" Louis asked enthusiastically, turning to Marina. It was obvious that he was watching his first Quidditch game.

"No, Lou, Draco's got to catch the Golden Snitch first."

WEASLEY WAS BORN IN A BIN,
HE ALWAYS LETS THE QUAFFLE IN,
WEASLEY WILL MAKE SURE WE WIN!

"GRYFFINDOR SCORE!"

As the Slytherins were screaming until their throats hurt, Harry spotted the tiny fluttering Snitch, just feet away from the Slytherin section. Marina watched him dive quickly...

In a matter of seconds, a flash of silver and green flew by his side. Draco had spotted the Snitch, as well.

The Snitch scooted off toward the other side of the stands. Both Harry and Draco pulled their brooms around, now neck to neck. Harry lifted his right hand from the broom, stretching towards the gold. It was over in two short seconds; Harry's fingers had closed around the tiny ball, just as Draco reached out his hand, pushing Harry off his Firebolt with immense power. Marina gasped in horror as Harry fell several feet down, landing on the ground with a thud.

"GRYFFINDOR WINS!"

Hooch blew her whistle, indicating that the match was over. Harry got to his feet, holding the Golden Snitch over his head while smiling. Marina realized only then that she had been holding her breath.

"You did it, Harry!" Angelina screamed happily, rushing to him. "We won!"

The boy heard a snort from behind him and turned around. Draco landed a few feet away from them.

"Saved Weasley's neck, haven't you?" he began, "did you like my lyrics, Potter? We wanted to write another couple of verses! But we couldn't find rhymes for fat and ugly - we wanted to sing about his mother -"

"Malfoy..."

"Maybe we should have written about your mother, Harry... Can you still remember her, though?"

Harry looked around for Madam Hooch, who was still in the sky. With his wand still in the Common Room, he drew back his fist clutching the Snitch, and-

SMACK

"HARRY, NO!" Angelina cried, watching Draco fall to the ground.

Harry drew back his fist once again, letting out a confused grunt as someone gripped his arm, twisting it around, making him fall to the ground again. Marina Black hovered over Draco now, looking at Harry with fire in her eyes.

"Will you go catch up on your best friend now, and let me take care of this fool?"



"You're so stupid, you know that?" Marina asked Draco as they were sitting outside the High Inquisitor's office, waiting for her to stick her fat head out and announce that he could come in. "Episkey!"

She pointed her wand at his broken nose, hearing an awful sound indicating that it was healing.

"How can you defend him? He ruined my nose!" Draco whined, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Why didn't you tell me about the song, Draco?"

"Well, it's not my bloody fault that you have been completely distant these last weeks! You sit with those ugly losers at breakfast, you disappear after classes, and you go straight to the dorm once you come back! You haven't spoken to me in weeks!"

"Draco!" Marina lowered her voice and leaned closer to him. "I have a mission to complete, you know that..."

"So that's your excuse? You've been so busy snogging Scarhead?" He got to his feet and stared at his cousin with empty eyes, his growling voice reminded her of darker times.

"Draco, what you did was disgusting, you can't excuse that!"

"Shut it! I can't believe you care more about Weasley than me-"

The door to Umbridge's office shot up at once, revealing a mad High Inquisitor in the doorway. She pointed a fat finger at Draco, just as Harry slithered his way past her.

"You come here, Mr. Malfoy," she said in a light voice, and Harry and Draco exchanged places without saying a word to each other.

Professor Umbridge slammed the door shut once Harry reached the end of the stairs. His eyes were blood red.

"Are you okay?" Marina asked quickly, and he simply answered with looking down at the floor. "Oh Merlin, she didn't make you write lines again? I swear-"

The girl stomped to the stairs, ready to burst into Umbridge's office, but Harry carefully put a hand on her waist.

"She didn't."

"Harry, your hand!"

Marina wrapped her hands around Harry's. The hand he had used to punch Draco was still covered in blood, and bruises had started to form on his knuckles. Before he could even react to her comment, she had dragged him to the nearest bathroom. She turned on the spring, and he leaned against the wall.

"I had nothing to do with that awful song, Harry, you know I would have told you if I knew Draco was up to something..."

"I know. I didn't suspect you anyway," Harry said without much expression in his face. He reached to put his hands in the running warm water. "She - Umbridge, I mean - suspended me from Quidditch."

"What? For how long?"

"My whole life. Says I deserve it."

"She can't do that! There is no way she can do that!"

"Doesn't matter. Maybe Quidditch isn't my thing after all," he whispered, biting his lip.

Marina froze. For a minute, she didn't say anything. Instead she looked down at the sink. Blood was blending with the water and going down the drain. Somehow, she could taste it - the melancholy tang of the blood. It lingered on her lips. She reached to scrub blood of Harry's knuckles, not thinking much of what she was doing, and soon, she could smell the bitterness of what seemed to not go away. Red, dark blood. Matching his voice when he spoke.

"You're the best Seeker Hogwarts has seen in years, Potter."

He sat down on the sink. "Well, thanks, but-"

"So tomorrow, I will send an owl to Lucius Malfoy, okay? He works at the Ministry. He'll talk to the right people and have that hag fired."

The next time she looked up at him, he was no longer frowning or grinding his teeth. Harry was smiling. "You're close to the Malfoys, aren't you?" he asked.

She released her grip around his hand. She had not expected him to ask such questions. What would she answer if he started asking about her family?

"Well, yes. I grew up in Malfoy Manor. Lucius is like a father to me, even though he gets on my nerves sometimes," she paused to smile. "And Narcissa is an angel."

"And your real parents?" Harry suddenly asked, turning his face to look her directly in her eyes as she flinched.

"Er- they're not in the picture anymore. I can't really remember anything, but they say I was left at the staircase to the Manor," she lied easily.

"I'm sorry," Harry said.

"What about you? You're close to the Weasleys, right? Spend the holidays there and all?"

"Yeah. They're lovely. You should join us sometime," his face lit up as he spoke. "Mrs. Weasley thought you looked so badass winning the Triwizard Tournament last year. We talked about you for weeks."

Marina let out a loud giggle and immediately brought her hands up to cover her mouth.

"She didn't!"

"She did!"

She brought her hands under the faucet, cupping a hand of cold water, and smirked as she splashed it in his face.

"Don't you lie again, Potter!"

"I know you didn't just do that!" Harry hopped off the sink within a second, grabbing a handful of water himself. He threw it at her without hesitation.

With now water dripping from her dark curls, Marina laughed evil laughter as she reached for the faucet again, cupping water with both of her hands. She slowly lifted her hands above Harry's head, as he shook his head dramatically, with his jaw dropped. Then, she dropped the water down on his head, and he let out a groan as the cold took over his body. Marina's eyes widened just before she ran away from him.

"You're going to pay for that," he roared in-between laughter. He took one final spoon of the running water and paced towards Marina, who had now run to the other side of the room. She was clutching her stomach, trying to contain her laughter (though it seemed nearly impossible).

With his body, he pressed her up against the wall and splashed the water on her face. She let out a loud shriek.

"I yield! I yield!"

She brought her hands up to brush the water away from her eyes, the laughter slowly dying out.

"I guess we're even now," Harry blurted, bringing his hand up to her face to help her remove the water. She finally opened her eyes, realizing that his face was only inches from hers. The butterflies went crazy in her stomach as his light eyes met her dark.

"I guess we are," she whispered back, feeling like her legs were about to give out. Her heart thumped faster as his hand carefully slid down her face, cupping her cheek. She was blushing, she could feel it.

Harry stared at her in silence for a moment, and she felt her heart race. Automatically, she felt himself leaning in...

"Marina?" a whiny voice cried from the entrance. Harry jumped backward, bringing his hand up to his lips. Draco Malfoy walked into the room with a sour look, "I thought I heard your voice."

"Yeah," Marina said, her eyes meeting the floor. She was still red, biting her lip. Harry silently walked into the nearest stall, making sure that Draco didn't notice him. "You found me."

"Well, will you walk me to the Common Room, cousin? I've had such a terribly long day."

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