Whose side is truly the dark one?

Whirlwind of a time - 42

The next two days were practically torture for the two second years. They knew Marcus more than likely had decided on results within a few hours after tryouts and was having fun messing with everyone. No one wanted to say it to his face but his smirk said it all every time he saw someone nervously glance in his direction. He seemed to have picked up on Professor Snape's dramatic flair and copied it just as Draco had, due to the man spending so much time with him as his godfather. Tryouts had taken place Monday afternoon and it was currently dinner time Wednesday night. Blaise had been the main one to keep the brothers' spirits up while Pansy scolded them for not eating enough despite their nerves. She claimed they couldn't remain great players if they didn't eat enough to stay nice and strong but didn't mention size as she knew Hadrian was still a bit insecure about that fact. He may use it to fly quicker but he still didn't like being one of the smallest students, if not the smallest in the entire school.

Their entire group of nine were making their way back to the dorms when Marcus saw them and mentioned practice started Friday at 4pm sharp before walking off as if nothing had been said at all. Hadrian and Draco made eye contact for a split second before rushing the rest of the way through the dungeons despite knowing some one from other house could see them and couldn't find it in themselves to care. Adrian Pucey seemed to be waiting for them with the portrait wide open to run through and thanked him as he nodded to where the list was. Just as they had hoped, Hadrian was one of the three Chasers along with Marcus and another older year from last year and Draco was the new seeker. They technically had already known Draco was seeker but they couldn't help but be nervous as they were only second years.

   Draco was more than happy to write a letter to their father informing him of the events from the past couple of days and let Hadrian add his own little notes at the end as well. Not wanting to miss curfew, the pair tried at act casual as they rushed up to the owl tower and Draco's eagle owl, Hercules, flew down to receive the letter. Making it back to the dorms with a few minutes to spare, the boys went to bed with smiles on their faces and were just as happy when they woke up the next morning. The two went to breakfast with matching smirks to cover up their smiles and were congratulated by many on making the team. Hercules arrived with a letter and landed on Hadrian's shoulder as he patiently waited to be rewarded with some bacon.

   Lucius received their letter the previous night and had written back to them. His letter was filled with praise and Narcissa added a little note promising that a bag of sweets would soon find its way to them as congratulations were in order. Their mother hinted that their father had a little surprise planned as well but didn't mention what it actually was to build up the suspense. It would seem Severus's dramatic nature rubbed of on her as well. However Narcissa and Lucius have both been known to be dramatic so maybe all three adults rubbed off on each other and made each other's dramatic levels increase. Maybe a more dramatic side was a secret attribute of the entire Slytherin household as they are known for being cunning which can also be seen as prideful and arrogant and always uphold masks to hide their actual emotions. Theatrics aside, the two young Slytherins were very excited and their emotions could be seen clearly on their faces.

Classes seemed to drag by but it was finally 3:45 and both boys were patiently waiting in the dorms for Marcus and the rest of their teammates. As he had told them previously, Marcus arrived right at 4 pm and handed them their practice robes. He led them to the changing rooms out by the quidditch fields and told them to be ready soon because the rest of the team was waiting on them. They changed faster than ever before and rushed out to the field to see a smug Marcus with no one else around him. "Alright boys, rest of the team is getting here at 4:30 so let's see some flying to show the rest of your team you earned your right to be on this team." So the two hopped on their brooms, Marcus pulled out a training snitch, a soft charmed bludger, and a beater's bat. Practice was hard but Draco and Hadrian had plenty of fun. They showed off a few harder moves on their brooms with Marcus forcing them to weave around the bludger he hit towards them when the team arrived and flew down faster than most when Oliver Wood angrily stomped onto the pitch.

   "I booked the pitch! Get off!" The quidditch obsessed teen screamed. Hadrian struggled not to laugh at the wizard's whining as the twins imitated him from behind. Marcus ignored the actions of all three boys and pulled out a small bit of rolled up parchment from his robe pocket and handed it to the Lion's captain. He snatched it out of the Slytherin's hand and began to read it out loud. "I professor Snape give the Slytherin team permission to use the field to train their new players... what new players!?" Wood demanded and glared at Draco and Hadrian as they stepped forward. "This is Hippogriff shit! I have a new seeker that my team also needs to train and I booked the pitch first!" Another voice spoke up and Hadrian had to force himself not to cringe at the sound of it. "At least Seamus didn't buy his way onto the team with his families money!" The youngest male red head proclaimed as his twin brothers just shook their heads in annoyance. The Slytherins all ignored the boy's failed taunt as did most of his own house and he whipped out his wand. "Eat slugs you spoiled bastards!" He shouted as his face grew red enough to match his hair and Hadrian just flicked the hex back at the nuisance.

   Needless to say, Ron's face quickly changed from red to green as the first few slugs slipped out of his mouth. Wood shouted a few more times in attempt but eventually gave up and the Slytherins finished their practice in time to shower before dinner at six. Ron could be seen and heard at the Lion's table puking slugs into a bucket and left Hadrian and his friends alone for the next few days as he recovered. A bit more time passed and the morning of their first game arrived. It was Gryffindor vs Slytherin and the snakes had a secret weapon. The surprise Narcissa had mentioned in her congratulations letter from Lucius had arrived earlier that week. Hadrian and Draco received their promised bags of sweets while the rest of the team were given new Nimbus 1800s.

   At the start of the game, Hadrian noticed Seamus looked nearly ready to be sick and sent Draco a smile before flying up on his broom. Marcus and Wood could be seen trying to crush each other's hands and then the game was on. Draco immediately went after the snitch and Hadrian was frequently passed the Quaffle just like the team had practiced. He easily flew past the Gryffindor players and did a few fakes as well before passing to another chaser to score. Wood was fuming and could be heard screaming at Seamus to hurry up across the entire field making Hadrian snicker. The score was 150 to 40 and if the Snakes kept scoring, not even catching the snitch could help the Lions win. Draco suddenly shot forward and Seamus tried to follow but couldn't keep up. Draco's hand wrapped around the snitch and he did a victory lap as he held it tightly in his fist.

Hadrian flies up to his brother to pull into a hug but panics at the sight of a bludger heading right towards them and wraps Draco in a hug around his wings before a crack sounds. Hadrian cries out as the bludger collides into his left wing and feels it flop down at an odd angle. Draco calls out his name but it sounds almost far away and watches woozily as Draco flies both their brooms down to ground. Vision hazy from the pain, Hadrian barely recognizes Marcus as he hops off his broom to carefully check his wings and someone yells a hex to stop the wild bludger from harming anyone else. "Hurts..." Hadrian mumbles out and a hand with a familiar smokey smell calms him down. A body clothed in all black robes connected to the hand, soothingly running through his hair and blasts away the loud man with a flashy smile. Hadrian giggles as the pain leaves him feeling disoriented as the fraud now reminds him of a peacock with ruffled feathers before everything fully goes dark.