Different

breakouts

"I don't think I'd really be accepted there," Claire told him sadly. "I'm a Slytherin, remember? Plus, I already have plans with Daphne. But, if you can get enough people to agree, I'd love to learn too."

But Claire knew that Dumbledore's Army would only be the start of the downfall.

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Claire had never been more scared than when she got on her broom for the first match of the season against Ravenclaw. She was shaking all over and felt like vomiting.

"Play dirty. Ravenclaw is smart, but we're better," Marcus Flint instructed. Claire hated him because he always wanted to cheat and hurt the other teams while she just wanted to play. There were only a few others who actually wanted to win bad enough to hurt other players, and the quartet usually ignored them.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Claire asked Draco softly as the captains shook hands.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Draco asked. Claire frowned at him and he just smirked at her, shooting up into the air as soon as the whistle was blown.

Claire ignored Lee Jordan and the screams of the crowd and instead focused on the bludger, but she kept watching Draco. He wasn't going as high up as he normally did, and his grip on the broom was so tight that his knuckles were white.

"Hit then, Lupin!" Flint yelled. Claire rolled her eyes and hit the bludger so that it almost hit the Ravenclaw seeker, but she aimed it so that it wouldn't actually make contact. Unfortunately, the Ravenclaw beater got mad as sent a bludger her way that almost made her fall off her broom. She winced and rubbed at her side where it grazed her, holding on tighter as she remembered Draco falling.

"Penalty!"

Claire frowned as the crowd started yelling, mostly spurred from Daphne, who had Annabeth and her Ravenclaw friend sitting next to her. Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all yelling too.

Sure enough, Madame Hooch made the Ravenclaw team take a penalty. Slytherin was falling behind by ten points even after the shot, so Claire focused on hitting the bludger so that it would block the quaffle. Blaise was the other beater and he came to fly next to her, sweat lining his forehead.

"Draco needs to hurry and get the snitch," Blaise growled. Claire watched Draco long enough to see that he was searching for the snitch.

"Theo looks exhausted," Claire noted. He was blocking goals, but Ravenclaw had a good team.

"I just wanna sleep!" Blaise groaned, hitting another bludger so that it blocked a goal.

"Flint won't let us sleep if we lose," Claire yelled over the screams of the students. She tried not to look into the stands because she kept imagining all the students whispering about her.

"Don't get hit!" Blaise said as a goodbye. Claire took a shaky breath and then tried to see what she needed to do. She kept trying to block goals but Flint was glaring at her like she needed to hurt others.

Luckily, Draco caught the snitch right as a bludger hit her right where it had before. Claire winced and rubbed her side, knowing that she probably at least had a bruised, if not broken rib. She joined her team and tried to laugh and smile with them as they celebrated Draco and their first win of the season.

"You did wonderful!" Draco exclaimed when he saw her, giving her a tight hug. He pulled back and looked at her with concern when he felt her tense up.

"Not as good as you! You got us this win!" Claire reminded him, smiling through the pain. The Slytherins rushed the field, most of them ignoring Claire so she was able to slip through and make her way inside before everyone else.